22 weeks!!

Here's my belly pic for week 22:

The average baby is about 11 inches long and weighs about a pound at this point.

Ivy has started wearing big-girl panties!! We've pretty much stayed around the house this week and skipped the diapers all together (well, she still wears one for nap and bedtime). Today was day 4 of panties-only and Ivy is doing really well. Every day has gotten better and better. We'll keep going with it and see how things go!

We picked our first veggies from the garden tonight! Two yellow squash! They were delicious. And we should have more tomorrow or the next day.

swim lessons, ultrasound pics, a festival...

Ivy has started swim lessons. We are just doing it a couple of times per week and as long as she likes them, we'll do them all summer long. She doesn't last long so her lessons are only about 20 minutes long. She just can't concentrate on the structured swim time for much longer than that.

Here is Ivy reaching for a ball. This helps get her arms moving up and over her head...

And here she is practicing her kicking...

ULTRASOUND PICTURES!!!

I don't think I've posted about this yet! Here are some pictures of our little GIRL!!!

This first one is a 3-D picture. At this age (19 weeks, 3 days) she still looks a little alien like. You can see her face and then she has her arm (L-shaped) up in front of her face - her hand is up by her forehead...

Here's a regular ultrasound picture. If you don't know what you are looking at it's hard to see...

The smaller oval on the left is her head (you can see an eye socket too) and then her body is down and to the right of her head...

And this one is pretty obvious...one of her feet!

I wish I knew how to put labels on my pictures....

We spent last Saturday at the "Gotta' Be NC" Festival at the fair grounds. It was very similar to the State Fair, just on a smaller scale. Ivy had a great time. We went with our friends Ken and Jess and their two kids, Corbin and Alyssa.

Zoo, Beach, Belly Pic

We headed to the zoo last Wednesday. We met up with some great and long-time friends, Jay and Meghann, along with their little girl, Grayce. Grayce is only about 3 months younger than Ivy, so they had a great time together!!

We got there right as the zoo was opening. We started out in Africa, hoping to beat the crowds later in the day. We got to the giraffes just as they were letting them out for the day...

Ivy looking at some animals...

Ivy holding hands with Grayce...

"Cheeeeeeese!"

Ivy and Grayce on a lion statue.

"Turbo" the giraffe - a view from the giraffe deck.

A black snake we spotted on the path - not part of a zoo exhibit!!

Ivy and Grayce in the helicopter.

Ivy and Grayce on an elephant.

When we got to the elephants, there was this male elephant playing in the pond... He got ALL THE WAY IN!!! It was so cool to see this...

Ivy and Grayce in the polar bear cave!!

After spending the day at the zoo, we headed down to Sunset Beach to visit Richard's Aunts Judy and Sandy. They just recently moved into their new house and this was our first visit with them. We had a wonderful time and hope to go back soon!

Who doesn't love digging a hole and filling it with water???

Fishing with Daddy - Ivy loved her Disney Princess rod...

Judy and Sandy have their own pool - we swam some every day! Ivy loved it!!

And I hit the 20 week mark while I was there!! I'm halfway!!! I'm a little embarrassed to post this picture - I look HUGE!!! I do seem to be carrying a little higher and more "out" this time...

Maybe for my next belly picture I'll wear a darker more slimming color!! :)

Birthday & Mother's Day

It was my birthday on Friday - I celebrated by going out to dinner with some girlfriends. Richard stayed home with Ivy and they made me a cake!! Those squiggles of pink icing on the right side (below and behind the candles) are done by Ivy...

Ivy and Mommy at the park...

A family picture at the lake...

Just some updates...

Ivy's doing great in her "big-girl" room. She still isn't sleeping great, but at least she isn't sleeping any worse! She is still waking up most nights, sometimes just once, sometimes several times. She calls for "Mommy!!!" or "Daddy!!". I go up and tuck her back in her bed and she goes right back to sleep.

Naps are another story... Ivy will now only nap if she happens to fall asleep in the car. I've even driven her around a few times so she'd fall asleep.

Richard got the ceiling fan in Ivy's room put up a few nights ago. Since her room is upstairs and we have the a/c set pretty warm, it is nice to have the fan to help move the air around.

Baby #2 Update: I'll be 19 weeks (out of 40) tomorrow. We go for the BIG ultrasound on Monday. We'll get to see all parts of the baby - they'll check development of organs and bones. They'll measure things like the baby's head and bone length. And of course, if the baby cooperates (meaning no crossed legs), we'll find out if Baby is a boy or girl. I'm sort of thinking a boy; Richard thinks it's a girl. I seem to be looking at mostly boy things when I browse the stores. Mother's intuition?? We'll find out Monday!!! Ivy has consistently said girl or sister so we'll see who's right. When I was pregnant with Ivy, Richard and I made a bet that whomever was right got to go out to dinner to their favorite restaurant... I thought Ivy was a boy so I didn't win that bet. I haven't mentioned the bet again this time... :)

That's all for now. We've got a zoo trip planned next week and after that a long weekend at the beach so I'll have lots of pics to post in the coming weeks!!