20 Week Ultrasound Pics

Here are the pictures from our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. If you remember at 12 weeks, she had her hand up by her face in all of the pictures. She did the same thing yesterday, so it made it hard to get a good profile shot. Even when I rolled over and back, she loved that hand by her face!

Cute little profile.

Cute little foot.
Cute little bum.

On Chris's side of the family we have one niece (Hannah, age 6) and four nephews. Hannah was so hopeful at first that she would have a little doll of a cousin to dress up. But since I kept saying I thought it was a boy, her mom started prepping her for the news by telling her how special it is for her to be the only girl on that side of the family.

Yesterday after our ultrasound, Chris's mom called Hannah to tell her the good news. She was going to have a girl cousin to play with! Instead of being happy, Hannah broke down and cried because she wouldn't be special anymore.

Crap.

It's a Girl!!!

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning and it's a girl! I couldn't be more shocked. I was just so sure it was a boy! And Chris keeps saying 'I told you so,' because he "knew" it was a girl. But we are both so excited and so happy that she is healthy!

Chris and I invited both of our moms to come with us to the ultrasound and experience the excitement. We went to breakfast beforehand at Cafe Normandie and it was sooo yummy. I think all the women subconsciously wore pink today because deep down we knew it would be a girl. :)

Even my mom is tanner than I am. I give up.

Chris and his mom.

Our friend Janeal was the ultrasound technician for us. She brought the baby up on the screen and went through all of the things they check for -- she showed us the 4 chambers of the heart, the brain, the head measurement, the femur measurement, the kidneys, the stomach, the feet, the arteries in the umbilical cord, the mouth and nose, etc. As she was getting to the end of the evaluation and everything looked good, Chris said "so do you already know what it is?" She sort of smiled and chuckled and said, "yes, I'm pretty sure I already know." Then she brought the view down to the bum and showed us the legs, the bum cheeks, and what she called "the hamburger" that let us know it was a girl! Too funny!

We got lots of cute little pics (and a dvd!) from the ultrasound, but the little munchkin kept her hand up by her face the whole time so we never got to look at her features in 4-D like we were hoping. Janeal kept having me roll onto my side and then back to see if we could get her to move her hand away but she was always went right back to the same position because she was just too comfortable. Stubborn little thing takes after both of her parents!

Ultrasound pictures to come. :)

I've waited for this day all my life...

Last night I went to Babies R Us with my little sister Amy to buy some of these, along with a baby shower gift.

When we drove into the parking lot, I started to squeal with delight (no joke...ask Amy) because I realized I'd be able to park here for the first time ever:

The sign is hard to read, but it says "Stork Parking for Expectant Mothers." Genius.

I heart Babies R Us.

Oldschool Rewind

My mom found some of my photos and awards from 1st grade when she was cleaning the other day. They made me chuckle so I scanned them in for safe keeping.

Was there ever any question that I would someday become a super-nerd?

These are a few of my friends and classmates from 1st grade. I had to laugh when I saw it. I'm so posting this on facebook and tagging them all. Can you find me?

And another one of my 6-year-old adorableness. This was taken a mere few days before I knocked out my two front teeth by smashing my face into a steel pole on the monkey bars at recess. True story.

Soakin' Up The Sun

We finally got out waterskiing last week! We've had such crazy rainy weather the entire month of June that we haven't been yet. But we finally got out with our friends the Hansen's and the Martin's. We went to Utah lake and had beautiful, sunny weather!

Chris on the wakeboard.

The Martin's with one of their three adorable little girls.

Rach & I and the Bentley man.

How adorable is this picture of Bentley snuggling with Chris? He's gonna make a good daddy.

Thanks, Hansen's for getting us out on the water! Lets go again soon if the weather keeps up...we all know I could use the rays. :)

Father's Day

It was Chris's first real Father's Day yesterday, so I thought it deserved something cute and special. I gave him a framed picture of our 12 week ultrasound along with a poem called "My Daddy's Hand" that sits on a cute little rod-iron easel. The poem made me cry the first time I read it, I thought it was so adorable. Happy Father's Day, Chris. I love you!

My Daddy's Hand
Daddy, Take my hand in yours and you will plainly see,
How very much I need you now to love and care for me.
As my little hand grows, I will need you even more,
Everything I do in life, I have never done before.
Teach me to be kind and loving, sharing and forgiving,
Show me through your acts of love the pure joy of living.
The years will pass by quickly and one day I will be grown,
I will pass what you have taught me onto children of my own.
Hold me always in your thoughts and remember when we are apart,
The special love between a child and a daddy's heart.

18 Week Belly Pic

Here's my 18 week belly pic! We've been taking weekly pics since the day we found out we were pregnant, but nothing much seemed to be happening until week 17. And in the middle there while I was sick, Chris kept telling me it looked like my belly was shrinking...and it was.

But finally here at 18 weeks, you can see the belly even with clothes covering it, and I'm up about 3 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight. Hooray! I checked out a bunch of books from the library about eating healthy when you're expecting, and for a while there reading them made me feel so guilty. I could hardly keep anything down, the foods that sounded good weren't exactly healthy and fluids were a real struggle. I felt like I was permanently screwing up my baby because of how I was eating.

But now that I'm feeling better, I've been focusing on eating a variety of foods, and making sure I get my fruits, veggies, whole grains, and water every day (among other things...but those are the things I wasn't getting enough of before). Even with my raging appetite every hour and half all day long, I don't feel guilty filling up because I'm filling up on nutritious calories. I finally feel great physically and emotionally I'm at peace with my responsibility to feed this baby. Wahoo. Plus I think Chris has enjoyed having such a variety of healthy snacks around, too.


Big thanks to Jules Bunny for expanding my maternity wardrobe by this cute pink shirt and a giant rubbermaid tub of adorable maternity clothes. I think I'm set for a good long while!

My Sentiments Exactly.

This is how I am feeling lately. (Little) belly pics to come soon.

In other news, does anyone have any carseat/stroller/babygear advice or suggestions? Chris seems to be going through a little sticker shock after walking through his first baby store last weekend. I'd love to hear what carseats and strollers you went with especially, as well as any other baby gear items that you loved or hated!

Mmmmm...

I made THIS for breakfast on Saturday. It was soooooo good.

Pace Family Picture

The Pace family has this tradition of standing around behind the birthday person at their party and taking a group photo. Over the years it's been fun to look back at old birthday photo pictures and watch everyone grow. (We have some seriously funny ones...I should dig 'em up and scan 'em in.)

Last week we celebrated Brent's birthday with the whole family (minus Michelley who's in Key West for the summer). As a result, we got a picture with the whole family, which we haven't had for a while (minus Michelle and my dad, who's taking the picture). It's nothing fancy, but it's cute. We're so glad to have Brent & Melissa & Jameson back in town for the summer!


P.S. How cute is Nora Jane's cheese smile in this picture? That girl is too cute for words.

P.P.S. Melissa is hiding her belly in this pic, but you can sort of see mine. I was actually wearing maternity pants that day. It's starting to get round!

Memorial Day Weekend Part 2

Okay, I finally gathered the rest of the photos from my mom's and brother's cameras. Here are the pics from the day we went boating in St. George. We had a blast in the great weather and warm water!

I wasn't allowed to waterski or wakeboard, but they let me take a leisurely ride on the tube with Chris & Amy.

Tucker & Nora Jane, with thighs cute enough to eat. They LOVED being on the boat.

Nora Jane also LOVED her tube ride with Dada and Grandpa. That girl is fearless - didn't make a peep.

Nora Jane helping Dada drive the boat.

Chris taking a wild tube ride with Stu and Amy. It looks like he's pulling Amy's hair in this picture, but he's really not. :)

My man Tucker chillin' on the boat.

Tucker taking a tube ride with mama and Stu.

Chris and I chillin' on the boat.*

*Note: I have attempted to remedy the serious white situation I have going on, but it seems that the rays simply reflect off me these days and tan those around me. Seriously. Even when I don't have any sunscreen on. Suggestions?

Dress Ups

Last Saturday we celebrated Chris's aunt's birthday (Happy birthday, Lynne! We love you!) with the Spencer family. After dinner, the kids started playing with the dress ups and Hannah decided she wanted to dress the grown ups. One by one she took us downstairs to dress us, and then we came back up and had a fashion show.

Here's how I ended up:

Here's how Chris ended up:
Here's how Preston ended up:
And here's a shot of me with the fashionista.

Dinner a la Chris

On Friday, Chris made himself a salad for dinner. He'd been craving veggies all week.

Chris: "Honey, where are the salad bowls?"
Annalisa: (opens up the cupboard for him)
Chris: "No, like the salad serving bowls."
Annalisa: "Why do you need a serving bowl?"
Chris: "I just do..."

He was right -- he did need a serving bowl. And he ate the whole thing.

But hey, at least it was salad.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Last night Chris and got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house with some tickets he got from a friend at work. We missed the Draper Temple open house because Chris was still in school and we never found the time. We sort of felt bad about that. So even though we were super busy this week, we decided just to squeeze it in and go anyway, and we were glad we did.

They started the tour by showing a 10 minute movie about the history of West Jordan as well as info on what goes on inside temples. It was a really sweet movie that even made me cry a little. (So sue me, I'm pregnant.)


After the movie they let us loose to walk through the temple, and it was gorgeous! My favorite part were the paintings inside. They were giant and vibrant and amazing. I could have stood for hours looking at the paintings. The chandeliers were also beautiful, as well as all the glass between rooms that made it feel so open.

When we got to the top floor where the sealing rooms are, they had us file in and sit down and then a volunteer couple shut the door for a few minutes and spoke to us about how the temple had blessed their lives. The couple that spoke to us talked about their three adopted children, and it brought tears to my eyes. It was very sweet.

If you get the chance, go walk through! It's a beautiful temple and a sweet experience. Chris and I were really glad we took the time.

View of the Wasatch mountains and the Draper Temple from the parking lot. I had no idea the Oquirrh temple had such a great view!

New Moon

Is everyone else as excited for this as I am?



In other news, my sister-in-law Julie pointed out that my due date is 2 days before this movie opens. Hmmm. He's either coming early or he's coming late, because I have to see this on opening night! Think happy thoughts for me, people.