Off to Meet Baby Carson!

At 6 months along, I took my last solo flight - out to Colorado to visit my friend Jess, and her 3 month old, Carson. My best girlfriends from college all met at her house in Colorado Springs and had a girls weekend (plus husband / babysitter Chris and action-loving dog Coty!) Here's the little man - who is the first of our group to break the gender barrier - meeting us for the first time...

We got a kick out of posing him with his Aunt Sarah, Jess' twin - who he was very taken with - and posing poor Coty with his new baby brother and in Carson's hat.

And finally - the girls reunion pictures, taken at Garden of the Gods with Pikes Peak in the background, and at Jess' brother- and sister-in-laws' in Lakewood. What a difference clothes make - you'd think I was 9 months in the outdoor picture and 3 months in the indoor one! I'm seriously considering writing a "How to Dress 10-20 Pounds Lighter/Heavier While You're Pregnant" book after some of these shots:)

Babymooners

We decided to take a long weekend away at the The Homestead for a mini-babymoon, with our friends Mike and Amber and their 2 year old Alden. It was a great weekend, with golf for the boys, spa for the girls, and Southern hospitality with some nice room upgrades!

Easter in Arlington

For Easter, Jamie, TJ & Chambers came up to visit from North Carolina, and we all went to Easter dinner, mass, and brunch. Chambers did a good job of showing her cousin and his future parents what they can expect in about 2 years - she is quite the ball of energy! We explored the slides and tunnels on the playground in the sunny 40 degree weather with Mozzie and Opa - my parents. I'm now just over 5 months along. The last picture shows Chambers figuring out where her cousin is - Jamie asked her where the baby in the belly was, and after a few misfires, Chambers reached over and lifted up my shirt to point at my belly :)

Trip to LA & Tahoe

Singy had his first trip out west - we went to LA to see David & Marlene, who are pretty excited to be grandparents again soon. We got a couple of new outfits for him, went to the Pacific Palisades farmers market, drove to Santa Barbara to see the sights, and relaxed on the front balcony overlooking the Santa Monica Pier. It was great to see family and be in the sunshine while DC was getting more snow:) And even though we were in LA, I failed to make the tabloids in the "Bump Watch" section. Sorry, Ravi - I tried!

Our next stop was skiing and spa'ing in Lake Tahoe with our friends from UVa and spouses. This is becoming an annual trip, and we were happy to take part. Chris' wife Keli is also 5 months pregnant with a boy, so I was glad to have her company, and it was fun catching up with everyone since we're all scattered across the US. Steph & Lance, we missed you, and thanks to Chris & Keli for the great house and entertainment!

The incredible views of the lake from the deck (above) and on our walk....

Kevin pointing out the now obvious...

I'm officially outnumbered...It's a boy!

We had our 18 week ultrasound today, and everything went great. We got to see the heart valves, kidneys, eye corneas, fingers and toes - all major organs looked good. And we found out that it's a boy! We're not deciding / telling the name until he is born, but we did manage to go straight to Babies R Us and buy him - what else - his first jersey. Kevin's family has a lot of girls, and this is the first grandson for Jennie's family, so it will be a nice balance. Welcome, MR. Singy!

The Bump - 17 weeks

I'm definitely showing now, so we thought we'd post some pictures to see the growing belly! We find out the sex on Monday so we'll be sure to update everyone.

2nd sonogram

We had another sonogram at 13 weeks, and couldn't believe how much Singy has grown! We totally expected to see more of a ball of cells like the 8 week picture, but this time we could see feet, ribs, bone structure for the face including eyes and a nose - it was literally amazing. At 13 weeks Singy is about the size of a medium shrimp, according to Babycenter.com. Unbelievable to think that our shrimp has so many parts developed already. The first picture shows the profile of the head; in the second you can make out the ribcage and armbone. If you have trouble seeing it, the baby is lying on its back looking straight up, so you're seeing its right side from a profile: