Books for the Baby!

Last night, as I was walking out the door to go run some errands, I noticed a little brown box sitting on my porch. When I picked it up, I could tell it was from Barnes and Noble, and I wondered what books I had ordered in a flurry of online shopping and then forgotten about . . . but when I opened the box, I had the most exciting and happy surprise! It was two amazing books for the baby from my Aunt Phyliss (famous for her rhyming name, cute haircuts, supernatural typing skills, and for making the best lemon merringue pies in the world). She got us Pat the Bunny and Beatrix Potter - The Complete Tales.


I like how she went with a bunny theme. Pat the Bunny even came with a little plush bunny toy. And the Beatrix Potter book has the most lovely stories. Last night I treated myself to sitting down for a bit and reading the first story about Peter Rabbit's naughty adventures in Mr. McGregor's garden. It's so funny to me how there is clearly a division between the human and animal worlds in the book, but also how the rabbits wear clothes and carry umbrellas and go shopping in town. I can't wait to read these to the little one, even if s/he doesn't understand a word at first.

Everything with the pregnancy is still just fine. I'll be fourteen weeks tomorrow, and yesterday I had my first day without nausea in about seven weeks, so I'm hoping that will continue. I've been going to prenatal yoga for a few weeks now, which is really nice. It's great to spend nearly two hours in a room with a bunch of other pregnant women, and the teacher has taught me a lot so far about breathing techniques and anatomy that will serve as a nice supplement to the birthing classes Matt and I will take later this summer at the doctor's office. This week, my friend Beth went with me, and it was very nice to have a yoga buddy with me. I hope we'll keep up the tradition for a little while - at least until one of us is so enormous that we can't even imagine getting out of bed.

Family

Becoming pregnant has developed a new sense of connection to both of our families. It's something that everyone can share with us in some way, and it evokes old stories and brings back happy memories from our mothers and grandmothers who have all shared in this experience of becoming mothers.

Today I got a sweet letter from my Grandmom (my dad's Mom) about her memories of my birth.


I'm not sure how readable this scanned version of her letter is, but she writes about how happy my dad was the day I was born and how he made the nurses laugh by running down the hall and picking my Grandmom up and sweeping her off her feet in his excitement.
And, a couple of weeks ago my Mom sent me a really nice box with some old, sentimental baby things of mine and some amazing pictures of our family after I was born. I'll just post some of my favorites of my mom and I for today.

Visit with Dr. Neyman

As of today, I am officially twelve weeks pregnant. This morning, Matt and I went to my prenatal visit together, and, as we were waiting for the doctor, a nurse swooped in with a doppler machine and searched for the baby's heartbeat. Which, after a few moments, she found! It was very exciting - all 176 beats per minute of it. The visit was good - Dr. Neyman was very nice. It was our first time meeting her, and she was sweet, energetic and comforting about all of my questions and concerns. At the end of the visit, she shook Matt's hand and gave me a hug. I've had some wonderful doctors, but no one has ever given me a hug before - I loved that she did.

The only trouble I had during the visit was when I had to beg Matt not to ask the doctor if he could have her retractable tape measurer for measuring scrolls on his metal work. I had to threaten to bite him before he finally let go of the idea. No exciting pictures to post today, but in about 8 weeks we'll have another ultrasound and will most likely discover the baby's gender. We'll definitely post pictures of that.

The very first baby picture, taken at 9 weeks and 4 days, in the comforting office of Dr. Darby - Our next prenatal visit is Thursday morning with Dr. Neyman.