side view --looks like Hitchcock's profile  

belly in full glory--check out the weird bellybutton 

28 weeks happy belly 

3.5 Months left

Wow this goes fast. Sorry we have been lax in posting. I can't believe Brett put a picture of our very messy room for everyone to see. Doesn't he know you are supposed to hide that sort of thing? We do hope to work on it over the weekend and get it going. Obviously time will dictate that we have to get it done. My belly is now 33 inches around, so I have expanded seven inches since conception--very strange. At least my chest is growing proportionately to my belly :) Thanks to my sister and Vicki Hoefler (Tyle) I got a few more maternity outfits to wear, so I should be all set. And speaking of maternity outfits--the one in the picture is just ok--I like the shirt and I like the pants, but I like them better in other combinations; I have some really cute maternity outfits, but the day we took the picture, I wasn't wearing one of the cuter ones. How sad. :) I really like what I am wearing today, but unfortunately, we won't be taking pictures today. I realize this may not be something all of you have the least interest in reading about, so I'll move on. I am still not experiencing discomfort or any other problems on a regular basis--I did, however, wake up with a bit of a cold, so I have that to look forward to for the next week or two. Other than that, I have a few little pains here and there--some weird feeling in my rib cage and lots of kicking and pushing, but nothing to complain about. I have been eating a lot more, though. It seems like if I am not busy, I am in the kitchen looking for food. I tend toward ice cream the most :). Tonight Brett and I are hosting the Senior Banquet for the Class of 2005. I am excited to see how much the kids enjoy it, but I am dreading the late night--I'd like a nap right now, but I can't go home to get one. Anyway, my next appointment is next Wednesday, like Brett said, so we'll see if anything has changed at that point. We'll also see about the ultrasound. Now I have to go get ready for the banquet.

Haven't updated in a while.

So we have been pretty busy with work and what not. I am finally getting around to updating the blog. New pictures added below. Leslie is feeling fine. She was supposed to have a doctor's appointment this evening, but her doctor went on maternity leave, so the new appointment is next week. The bad news: the old doctor hinted at possibly getting another ultra-sound. Now we probably get to wait until August to find out the gender.

Our short-term goal is to work on the nursery. We finally got rid of the big furniture. We now need to store all the hand-me-down baby clothes that are cluttering the floor in the room. After those are gone, I will remove the carpet. That should happen sometime this week.

Les had always mentioned that she wanted to do Dr. Seuss themed nursery. More proof that we are not very original: http://sheknows.com/about/look/182.htm

Les thinks we will be doing this, but for some reason, I don't think that either one of us is talented enough, but I am sure she will try to prove me wrong.

This is the future nursery. We got rid of the bed and the dresser. The room is a disaster. 

Close up of belly at the end of end of week 24. There is no belly button. 

Here is the close up of belly at week 24 from the side. 

Here is Leslie at 24 weeks. Tomorrow is the beginning of week 25. 

I couldn't resist including Henry--look how cute he is! 

Brett hasn't shown up on here, so I thought I would include him. We are at my Uncle Ed's 75th birthday party. 

Here I am in my e-bay jeans and my noticeable belly. (it's water, I swear!) 

here we are--all five of us! :) 

Sydney is all smiles with her mom. 

20 weeks

We had a check-up appointment today. Everyone knows of my disappointment at the ultrasound--I can't believe the kid had its legs crossed! However, my doctor gave me encouraging news that it may be possible to have another one. She said we can't do it too soon, since I just had one, but she gave me hope. :) So we may know the gender in another month or so. Other than that all is well with the little guy. This baby moves around a lot--which is cool. I am wearing maternity clothes full-time now. I was able to find a couple of pairs of pants at the Old Navy by my school, which was very lucky. Melissa was right--that was the place to go. My sister also just sent home some more pants and shirts for me, so I think I am all set. Plus I got two very cute dresses that I plan to live in all summer from Motherhood. We just got back from North Carolina--visiting Sydney (my niece) and my siblings. But Sydney is the most important :) (just kidding Matt, Terra, and Jason--I loved seeing all of you and miss you so much!) Sydney is fantastic! Perhaps I will include a picture or two of her on here. Speaking of pictures--it is time for a new belly picture for me. I weighed 111 lbs. today at the Dr. office--so that is 11.5 lbs gained so far. My waist is 31.5 inches--5 inches growth. The baby is about 5-6 inches long and weighs about 10 oz. I am trying to get my exercise--but I didn't do it at all when I was on vacation--I need to be better about staying on schedule. I will try to do it everyday from now on. Nothing strenuous, of course, but just to be sure I don't get lazy or unhealthy. I might sign up for a prenatal yoga class with a friend of mine at the Beverly Arts Center.
On a Henry note--no destruction lately. Hooray hooray! He did not go on vacation with us--he stayed at Grandma andGrandpa Shobe's and got himself spoiled for the week. He was very happy and very exhausted when we got home. The day we got home, he wouldn't leave our sides, but he also wouldn't stay awake. He would travel to each room with us and then curl up and go to sleep as near to us as he could. It was cute. He was worn out from his exciting week. That's all for now.

We also know that the baby likes its fingers--yum yum. 

We don't know the gender, but we can tell it is a healthy baby with a good looking profile :) 

Finally

I posted the pictures. I realize it took a while longer than I said it would--oops. Obviously, a much more pronounced belly than previously. Brett and I went materninty clothes shopping today--my pants are all at the rubberband stage, so I thought it was time. As the indecisive duo that we are, it took us about 5 hours to decide if we should actually go or not. I was just going to go, but Brett felt bad that I was going by myself, but he also didn't know if he could give up the time himself. He was worried about a hundred different things as usual and wanted to know what my shopping plan was. (Of course, one must have a plan of action for shopping before going so that as little time as possible can be spent in each store.) Unfortunately, I did not have a plan--I knew what stores I wanted to go to, but not exactly what I wanted to buy--so this posed a problem because then how did I know what I was going out for? So I thought, "well, I don't have a plan; I don't know what I want or need, so maybe I shouldn't go until I figure that out." Then a little while later, Brett came back to me and said that I should go, but he still didn't know if he was going to be able to join me. After a little more discussion and time, at 5:00 p.m., we finally went together. Brett was a good sport, and we had a fairly enjoyable shopping experience. Unfortunately, my pants hunting was not too successful. Maternity clothes are expensive. It hardly seems worth it since I won't be wearing them for very long. I will keep watching the clearance racks! :) However, it was not all a waste. I did get a couple of cute tops and a skirt, but more exciting than any of that was my greatest purchase of the day. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a tablecloth because we needed one and I had a 20% off coupon :). And when we left, we just happened to go into DSW because it was right next door. On the clearance rack was a fantastic pair of converse l0-tops in light blue on sale for $34.89 with 60% off. So I got my first pair of converse for $14. As Amanda Callas can attest to, I have wanted these shoes since at least my senior year of high school. We would search endlessly every time we went to Sportmart, but they never had them in my size. I feel so lucky! I love shopping days like this. The pants didn't work out, but I am not so discouraged yet, and it was a successful day overall. I did get one pair of jeans through e-bay a couple of days ago. I feel very lucky about those, too. They were the only normal looking jeans in my size and they are regularly $80 jeans that I got for $25. They are very comfortable and fit great with plenty of room to stretch. And they came very quickly--so it's a start.

16 weeks. 

16 weeks.