It's a girl!

Final poll results:

36% Boy

64% Girl

Majority rules; the baby is in fact a girl!

It wasn't the easiest finding out that the baby was a girl. Austin and I learned that this baby is very stubborn! She was very modest and didn't want her Mommy and big brother to know that she was a girl. Other than being a girl, she is healthy and her heartbeat is beating at 147 beats per minute! Here are some pictures of our new little girl!

No outside plumbing, it's a girl!

Side profiles. It was really hard to get a good side profile of the baby because she kept her face pressed against the placenta the whole time. No amount of poking and prodding was going to move her away from it! The second picture is a little clearer with her ribs on the left and head on the right.

Front profiles. Ribs on the left, face on the right. The thing that sticks out the most is her nose with her eyes just above!

This is by far the cutest picture of them all! Although she was shy about letting us know that she was a girl, she was happy to show one of her little feet! Yes, those would be her toes sticking up straight in the air with her toes spread way apart on the left hand side! The line going horizontally accross is her other leg crossed over the leg showing the "big foot" (or the big fot as the ultrasound technician stated)!

All in all it was exciting finally finding out that the baby is a girl! We can now really starting telling and teaching Austin about his little sister! Daddy has been telling him that the baby is his sister all along, now we can really talk about it! Austin made his first official big brother purchase after finding out that he was going to have a little sister! His favorite part was posing for the picture!

I have a feeling that he is going to fall in love with his sister! That is, after the fact of getting used to the idea that she's not going anywhere and she is going to get some of Mommy's attention too! We'll have to wait and see!

Here are some other pictures of Austin from this weekend! We went to the Air Force base where Daddy is at school in San Antonio! Austin got to see some cool planes and we even went to the zoo! Here are some pictures of Austin and the airplanes! Look for the zoo pictures to come in a later post!

Final chance to vote

This afternoon is everyone's final chance to participate in the "Is the baby a boy or a girl" poll. Austin and I will be going to the doctor this afternoon to find out if he is going to have a brother or a sister! Check back later for the final results of the pole, the real result of the sex of the baby and pictures of our newest addition!

P.S. I'll also post some pictures of Austin from this weekend in this evenings post!

Back home

Austin and I just arrived home from our trip to Michigan. Unfortunately we had to go earlier than expected to honor the life of a wonderful man, my Papa, who unexpectedly passed away. The following link is a wonderful way of explaining who he was and why he was the greatest. He will be forever missed...

http://www.lifestorynet.com/memories/16292/

Here are some pictures from our short time in Michigan!

Wearing Grandpa Richards hat!

Huh? Me grouchy?

Austin and Grandma & Grandpa RingmanAustin and Grandma & Grandpa Richards

So, we now find ourselves back to reality. The idea of going to work and school tomorrow is not sounding very exciting, but we need to get back into our routine sooner or later! I think Austin is more excited about going back to school to see his friends than I am about going to work! Oh, and I forgot to mention back to the high 90 degree temperatures!

Our plan for next weekend is to travel to San Antonio to visit Daddy and go to the Zoo! It should be exciting! Austin asked where his Daddy was at when we got home from the airport today! I had to explain to him that Daddy had to go to school too and we will see him soon!

Watching a movie

Austin has been into watching movies lately! On this occasion he was watching a movie and eating grapes! I love how he kicks his feet up to relax and rock himself!

Being a boy

"Who takes the child by the hand takes the mother by the heart"

-German Proverb

Cleaning ears

Here's Austin's way of cleaning his ears with q-tips! I asked him to get a couple q-tips so that I could clean out his ears and he brought them to me like this!

Playing Play Doh

All of these pictures were too cute not to post! It amazes me that he has the attention span at two and a half years old to sit at the table and play with Play Doh for 45 minutes to an hour! He had a blast making shapes and worms, evident by all of his goofy faces!

A little fun...

Some of you might have seen it and some of you may not. If you look under our picture on the right you'll see a little poll that I'm conducting! Make your choice and vote! If you just want to see the results make sure boy or girl is not checked and then select the Vote tab. (That makes me feel like I'm at work...instructing people on where to go on a website to do certain things!) I know we have a few more weeks until we find out what the sex of the baby is, but I wanted to have a little fun to see what people are thinking. After you've voted, leave a comment for this post letting us know which one you picked! I don't know who has voted so far, but after you vote you'll find out which sex is in the lead...

Ear update!

Daddy took Austin to see Dr "R" yesterday for his 1 year post op appointment. Finally after the third attempt at this appointment they got to see Dr R. He told the guys that Austin's right tube is still in place but the tube in his left ear is about to fall out! Austin has to go back in 3 months to determine if just the left tube or maybe both have fallen out by then!

Everything is going good down here lately. We've had a little bit of a break from the 100 degree weather this week! It's only been in the 90's most of the week! Today was a little chilly when we left for work and "pool" (translation: school), it was only 67 degrees outside! Sounds nice to some people, but it's usually around 80 degrees when we leave the house around 7:15 in the morning!

This week marks week 15 of 40 in my pregnancy! Only 5 more weeks until I have my second ultrasound and we can find out the sex of the baby! 2 out of the 4 pregnant women at work are having girls, maybe I'll join the trend, or maybe I'll go against the trend! We shall see, 5 more weeks to wait!

As I write this update, Austin is sitting on the floor next to me singing "Happy Birthday to me..." and playing with his weed whacker. He has become quite the singer since going to school (daycare) full time! He is constantly singing a song whether it's his ABC's, the Bumble Bee song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, BINGO, Row Row Row your Boat, or his choice tonight, Happy Birthday to Me! He is quite the character! Here's some cute pictures of him really concentrating on playing Thomas on his Leap Pad!

Hope Uncle Duane is feeling better, we're thinking about him!

One year ago...

Today is Austin's one year anniversary for his tubes! He's going to the doctor later this afternoon to find out if they are still in his ears or if they have fallen out. I don't beleive that they have fallen out yet. He's had some drainage from his right year the last couple of months indicating that the tubes are still doing their job!

Good (grouchy) Morning Austin!

Watching his morning cartoons! He gets so mad when I have to turn Little Einstein's off in the morning!

Those of you who know Austin really well know what he's asking for in this picture! "More juice please" with his little demanding voice!

The Bird-day Party

Sorry it's taken me a while to put pictures on here. For some reason I couldn't upload photos!

Here's Austin after playing pin the number on the car at his friends birthday party!


Here's Daddy playing pin the number on the car!

Swinging for the fence...I mean swinging at the pinata! It's pretty bad when your kid is 2 1/2 and your teaching him to keep his eye on what he's hitting! I'm sure he will one day be a baseball player!


Riding with his friend in his new car! Austin thought he was a pro at driving a power wheel since he has his tractor. He wanted to drive rather than ride!

Saturday morning

Saturday morning I decided to do some laundry and cleaning upstairs. As you can see, Austin found plenty of things to play with while I was accomplishing this!

Not only did he decide to get out all of his toys, he wanted to get out his tent too! I was putting some of his clothes away and he saw all of his stuffed animals. Not only did he want to get them out, he proceeded to dump all of them on the floor. Dumping all of his toys on the floor seemed to be a trend yesterday, noticeable by the picture above! In this picture he's playing cars with the Monkey! After playing cars with the monkey he piled animals in his tent an then dove into the tent! I don't know where he came up with that one but he thought it was pretty funny!

Smiling for the camera while he's playing in his tent. I tried to get him to take a nap by putting his pillow and blanket in there by he didn't want any part of going to sleep. He thought it was pretty funny to lay down in there and even invited Mommy to join him, "Lay down with Austin Mommy!" It was a little tight with both of us laying in there!

Peek! Austin posing for a picture with the Monkey again! He's so silly! After this I made him get ready to go to a birthday party. He'd been talking about the birthday party for a week, he was so excited. I'll post some pictures from the party at a later date! All of the kids got to play pin the number on the car (it was a Cars themed party), including the Daddy's! They were pretty silly! Anyways, we will talk to everyone soon! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Something to make you smile

Not the greatest picture because I cut his head off, but what can you do when he's right there in your face all the time!

Doesn't he make you smile! I love him...

How tall am I?

He wasn't standing up as tall as he can, but you get the idea...

Just add an inch!

Anybody need their weed's trimmed?

What a great smile! He has a little bit of a cookie mouth! Isn't he funny! The bottom part lights up and spins when he pushes the button on the handle!

Austin's brother or sister...

Side profile. Head on the right, an arm in the middle and the belly on the left.

The best image. Front profile. Face is on the right, arm, belly and foot on the left!

Side profile again. Head on the right, arm, belly and foot on the left.

Oh the life of being ten weeks old! Front profile. Face with eyes, nose & mouth on the top right, belly on the bottom, and yes, that is an arm covering the face!

So my due date is officially set for February 20th, 2007. Could end up being on may people's birthday's or other events! We shall see! Only 10 more weeks until my next ultrasound, then we'll know what the sex is! I'll have to take a poll of what everyone thinks it's going to be! Oh, and my doctor is the greatest! He has perscribed me some medication to curb the morning sickness! So far it's working! You better beleive I went directly to the pharmacy to get it filled after leaving the doctor's office yesterday! And heartburn, I feel sorry for the people who get that all the time when they're not pregnant. It sucks! Hope everyone has a great Friday and a great weekend!

Climber!

I can't remember what this climb was for...I think maybe for a marker? He thinks he can just climb on the computer chair to get on the desk! Oh, the joys of a two year old...

"Fwimming in our baby soups!"

Translation of the title of this post:

"Swimming in our bathing suits"