It's a....

So last week I was in Salt Lake City, and let me say - it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. You fly in and see this:

Mountains and the Great Salt Lake!

But everything else is totally flat! Then you drive into the city and it's just got the most gorgeous backdrop to a city I've ever seen.

Like Seriously?!

I did some walking around town and wandered through the Mormon Temple Square. They had some gorgeous buildings there.

Had my first In-And-Out Burger experience. YUM. Brad is still SO jealous.

And here's the view from my flight home!

Overall, the conference was a bit of a bust. It was an awkward mix of people for me to talk to, but hopefully we get some okay leads out of it in the end.

I flew back into town on Saturday and hung out with my brother for a bit. Then on Sunday I met my friend and her 7 month old for breakfast. She gave me the lowdown on registry items to get and avoid, which was pretty helpful.

And on Monday we got to see our sweet little baby again!!!!

Brad had to know (almost immediately) whether it was a boy or a girl. Luckily the baby was super photogenic and flaunted it right away, so we found out that IT'S A GIRL!

We listened to her heartbeat - a solid 148 bpm.

Look at her sitting with her legs crossed! Just like a little lady :)

Little baby footprints! Her feet are only 4 cenitmeters long right now.

Covering her face with her hands.

But once we switched to 3D, we got a great shot of our beautiful little girl!

I'm pretty convinced she has my nose :) Brad thinks I'm nuts, but we'll see. Either way, it feels so amazing to feel her rolling around and kicking all the time and know that this is what she looks like! She was moving around a lot during the scan, and the tech said we were going to have our hands full with this one :) Based on her measurements, she's got some loooong legs (not surprising, since Brad and I are both tall) and weighed 1 lb 4 oz. I think that's also a little bit bigger than most babies at 22 weeks, but as long as she's healthy I don't really care too much. Her heart and organ development all looked great, which was such a relief. Now we just need to wait until August to meet her! 

Last but not least, I'll finish with a belly pic:

Some outfits moreso than others, but I'm starting to look noticeably pregnant. Yowza!

Whoops

So I'm 21, almost 22 weeks along now! I can feel the baby move pretty regularly these days, and it's absolutely amazing. Brad has been able to feel him/her kick a few times now and loves it. I'm glad he's finally able to feel it too - I felt so bad every time the baby would kick and I would be like 'did you feel it?!' and he would look all dejected and say no.

We are getting SO anxious to figure out if it's a boy or a girl. My appointment is scheduled for Monday and I just can't wait! I'm actually sitting in an airport now on my way to Salt Lake City for a conference, so that should help the time between now and Monday fly by.

We toured our first daycare last week. It's all so surreal! This place (First Steps) seemed great, but it was really expensive and they don't offer part-time care -- two big hiccups to our current plan. We'll see how it all works out though! We're touring a bunch more on Monday after the ultrasound.

Here's my belly pic from last week. I'll take another one soon. I'm slowly feeling more-pregnant-less-chubby, so that's definitely nice.

Halfway there

Hmmmm... This should have posted a while ago but didn't. Whoops.

I'm 20 weeks along as of Wed/Thurs/yesterday (depending on which due date you go by...)

Baby is the size of a banana! Huge, right?! 6.5 inches long. No wonder my belly is starting to pop out a little more.

I think I can feel him/her moving around from time to time. It's hard to be sure though - my stomach is pretty active and noisy, so it might just be that and wishful thinking. I can't wait until I know without a doubt :)

So far I've gained about 5 pounds. I'm okay with that, so we'll see how it continues. Cravings include random meals here and there (and Brad is wonderful about obliging), but mostly center around Mexican food. Thursday after class I was having such a strong desire for chips and salsa, I actually stopped at the store on my way home (and then polished off half a bag). Classy.

I got some new maternity clothes from thredup - an online gently used clothing boutique. Brad thinks it's weird, but you only wear them for such a short amount of time - I think it makes sense to buy brand name clothes for $8-$10 that have only been worn a few times! Plus it's free shipping and returns, so no real risk! I've got a few returns to make this weekend, but really liked most of it!

It's supposed to be a gorgeous 70 degrees today, so we're heading out to a vineyard for some wine tasting (actually the vineyard we got married at, so I'm happy to just hang out there!) then to watch the UVA lacrosse game! Tomorrow has church, waffles, and homework on the menu, with the UVA basketball second round game at night.

It's shaping up to be a wonderful weekend! Go Hoos!

20 week bump pic: