{23 weeks}

Only 4 more months to go!

Our baby boy is slightly over a pound and will be doing some serious weight gaining from here on out. He's the size of a mango. Skin pigment is being developed and lips are becoming more distinct. Skin is wrinkled & loose, and appears red due to the blood vessels under it. He is probably starting to recognize repeated loud noises, like the vacuum cleaner (ok, bad example considering I don't vacuum).

Baby's mama is doing fine. I'm "comfortably pregnant" at this point. Not many complaints and I haven't started waddling yet. I can see where things are going to become increasingly more difficult (small things like reaching into the washing machine or tying my shoes), but the belly's not quite in the way yet.
I did go on a small shopping binge... I ordered the crib & dresser for the nursery, our diapers bags, a high chair and infant seat. It'll be fun when those things start arriving. Matt's diaper bag (Gamecocks, of course) already came! This weekend I got my pregnancy scrapbook caught up.

{themed albums}

i had a low key weekend and was able to get a lot of scrapbooking done. most of it was done at home, but i did go over to a friend's house last night for a mini-crop.

I completed a 6"x6" Tea Time album as part of a themed basket for Spencer's school fundraiser. Click the picture below to see the whole album.

i also got my pregnancy album caught up. Click below to see all the pages.

photo {spencer's baseball portrait}

this is spencer's professional portrait from this baseball season - looks almost identical to last season's because their uniforms were so similar :)

photo {22 weeks}

Seems I've managed to grow quite the belly...

photos {pumpkin patch}

Last weekend, we went to two local pumpkin patch type places - Windy Hill & Peach Place. It's a fall tradition...love checking these places out each year.

Spencer chooses his pumpkins

Spencer in the maze.

Isn't this a gorgeous display?

I love, love sunflowers.

{22 weeks}

The baby: 22 weeks now. Baby boy is 11 inches and finally has made it to a pound! This week we were told to leave the produce section and the baby's being compared to a one pound box of sugar (seriously). He is supposedly starting to look more like a normal baby. Though his eyes are formed, his irises don't have pigment yet. The hair is also bright white, with no coloration yet.

Baby's Mama: I want to know why my belly is so much bigger than the chick in this drawing??? Anyway... I got registered at Babies R Us this weekend (thanks for your help Sherry!). The baby's bedding arrived yesterday. It's cute - very exciting!! Now just to convince *daddy* that he needs to paint right away. Lots to do on the nursery now. I'm feeling pretty good with the exception of a bad tummy day yesterday.

photos {dogs}

there's been a lot of baby talk around here lately, so i don't want to neglect my four-legged baby boys...both have horrible green eyes in the pictures, but oh well.

rio

cooper (with a fresh hair cut & new bandana)

photos {baseball game}

a few shots from spencer's game last week. this was their second full game (they keep getting cancelled or rained out mid-game), and it was their first win! he pitched a little at the end of the game, but i didn't get any good shots of that. we aren't supposed to use our flash so the night games are a little tough.

photos {usc v ky}

Last weekend, we had a couple of people over to watch the game with us (we won, by the way ... four in a row!!!).

Spencer playing football with Sydney

I thought this was a good picture of Spencer.

Halftime entertainment: Scott gives Spencer some baseball pointers

photo {totem pole}

here is a picture of spencer with his totem pole that he had to do for a school project. it is covered in photos of people and things that are important to him. He made a 101 - way to go!
i'd also like to take a minute to brag. we learned this week that he's been accepted into the school's GT program (gifted & talented). we are VERY proud and he was super excited!

photos {cross country star}

my sister just sent me these pictures of a recent meet. my oldest nephew, bo, runs cross country for his high school. turns out that he is quite good. the last two meets he has come in 2nd and 8th - and as you can see in the photos, that's against a LOT of kids.

that's bo on the far right of the photo

here is again, in the front
and one more time...

{21 weeks}

Baby Blackwell: 10.5 inches long and about 3/4 of a pound (hard to believe he's still not a pound yet...my belly sure looks like he weighs more than that!). My produce resources say he's about the length of a carrot. He has eyelids & eyebrows. He is swallowing a good bit of amniotic fluid these days, which can have a varying taste depending on what I eat (weird). They say your eating habits can affect what the baby likes and doesn't like after birth. I guess he'll love some mexican and White Horse! The coolest part: I finally felt him move. I have only felt it twice, but I'm 99% sure that it was actually baby and not a remnant of indigestion.

Mama Blackwell: My ankles are already starting to swell, which sucks - but it isn't constant (yet)...it comes and goes (I'm listening to Karma Chameleon on my iPhone right now - how funny). This past weekend, Matt, Spencer & I got registered at Target. I still have to tackle the big one - Babies R Us, but at least we got started. I'm seriously craving milk. I bought a body pillow this weekend too - love that thing.

{20 weeks}

Officially half way there!!!
The baby is now measured from head to toe (instead of head to rump) and is at about 10 inches, weighing in at approximately 10 ounces. If you are missing your produce...don't worry...he's about the length of a banana. Doesn't seem too much exciting going on at this point. Apparently he's swallowing a lot (we learned from the doctor that he is peeing and then swallowing that - nice image, huh? Did you know pee is incredibly sterile - who knew???).

Me: Just got back from a business trip, thus the delayed weekly update. I think I gained a few pounds while I was there - not good. Need to watch that. I'm feeling fine. We are making progress on baby decisions now that we have the gender. I have started working on a pregnancy scrapbook as well. I will definitely share that here as I make progress on it.

photos {the big reveal}

Today was our first ultrasound, and ultimately…The Big Reveal! We picked Spencer up from school and headed to our 3:00 appointment. The ultrasound was first and it was just awesome to see the baby in there, moving around. There was a lot of activity (possibly due to the Dr. Pepper I intentionally drank before hand). The ultrasound nurse was really great and showed us so much. She pointed out everything they look for and measure. She printed a ton of pictures and recorded a DVD. We told her we wanted her to seal the gender in an envelope for us. Here is our baby:

Next we met with Dr. Garcia and he took us through all of the important ultrasound photos as well. He was wonderful at explaining even more about them – what signs they look for when it comes to certain issues, and reassuring us that our baby seemed quite healthy. Even though the computer had measured me at only 17 weeks and 3 days, Dr. Garcia decided not to change my due date.

After a couple of very long hours, we met Chip, Sherry, Bo & Teddy for dinner at Red Bowl. With Teddy on video duty, we had Spencer open the envelope for the big reveal. It took him a minute to figure out where it was written on there, but he finally found it. And then he announced to all of us (with Michelle on speaker phone) that IT’S A BOY!!! You can see the video of the reveal here or it should show up at the bottom of this post. Here is the photo that *supposedly* proves we're having a boy.

Later we took our first official family photo. We made tons of phone calls that evening sharing our news with friends and family!!

Here is the video of "The Big Reveal"

photo {18 weeks}

I forgot to post this last week - me at 18 weeks. And just for the record, I don't live in my PJs or anything. It's just easier to take the photos after I'm in them because my tanks are usually more fitted than my normal clothes.