We had our last ultrasound yesterday.  The baby's head is already down low and tight on my cervix so there is no way the placenta has any room to be growing down there.  This was good news, it has moved up like it is supposed to.  Right now I am 28.5 weeks along but when they measured me they said I was measuring as if I was 31 weeks along.  This either means that the baby is growing larger or I have a lot of fluid surrounding the baby.  This surprised me because I only gained about 3lbs between the last two appointments and have gained less than 20lbs total so far.  It appears that the baby is growing larger.  Based on the ultrasound technichian, he is currently at about 3lbs 4oz already.  At 28.5 weeks, they "say" that the baby is usually just reaching over 2 lbs so we may have a chunky monkey developing. 

Everything else is great and we got some great photos of him.  With the 4D images on the screen you can really see him clearly.  At one point he was frowning like he was unhappy then he tried to smile.  He even stuck his thumb in his mouth for a second before taking it out (uh oh...I was a thumb sucker).  He is very active and I can feel him all the time.  He is constantly up in my ribs (or "rims" as TJ used to call them).  We only have 11 weeks to go...

We took TJ to Charlotte on Saturday to his good friend Aniya's birthday party.  They played Laser Tag, enjoyed pizza and cupcakes and got to try out the rock climbing wall.  He loved it!  Here are some pics of him testing it out...

Last Monday the 8th, Ed & I had been married for 6 months.  I was planning to surprise him with a nice dinner (since I have so much time on my hands now) complete with dessert & everything.  I started cooking at 4:30 and made my mom's special chicken supreme with twice baked mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms.  I also made mini oreo cheesecakes for him for dessert.  I must say I was pretty pleased with myself... :)

Ever get that feeling that someone is watching you?  While I was so involved in my cooking, I felt compelled to turn around and there was my wonderful husband standing  and watching me cook with a beautiful arrangement of purple tulips.  I am beyond lucky...

Dear Chris,

I cannot wait for you to come out. That day May 9th when I will see you I will think you are cute. I felt you kick on Friday. Your full name is Christopher William Geer.

I love you.
your brother,
TJ

Thanks to my mom, the nursery is painted!  She volunteered her time on her day off and came up and painted it for us...we chose a khaki color called "burlap" that would be neutral enough that it wouldn't turn off potential buyers when we attempt to sell.  This is definately due to the staging knowledge I have gained from HGTV...lol!

26 weeks down, 14 to go.....
I had  doctors appointment last week and all is well and normal.  The baby's heartbeat is in the 150s and my weight gain is right on track.  I have another ultrasound scheduled for February 16th to check out my placenta.  At my last ultrasound (Dec. 7th) it was determined that I had a low lying placenta at the time.  What the heck is that you ask?  My placenta was very close to the opening of the cervix.  Typically as the uterus grows upward with the increase in size of the baby, the placenta grows upward as well.  They want another look via ultrasound to make sure it has indeed moved up.  If not, the placenta can potentially cover the cervix blocking the baby's path to the birth canal.  This can result in placenta previa where I would most likely be put on bed rest.  It is very manageable and from all that I have read and all of the info I have gotten from the doctors, there is nothing to be worried about!

I also have to take the sugar test at the next appointment to test for gestational diabetes.  I have to drink a really syrupy, sugary drink and then have my blood drawn an hour later.  After this appointment I will be down to appointments every two weeks.  He will be here before I know it!!!

This site keeps messing up so this is my 3rd attempt at writing this entry...I have been slack at keeping it updated and if it keeps going down on me, I may have to give it up altogether!  Only kidding.  It's just that not much has been going on lately other than keeping house clean and looking for jobs (to which I've had no luck so far).  I try to meet Ed for lunch on days when he can get away from the office and he keeps me positive.

We got quite a lot of snow over the weekend and TJ had an early release from school on Friday.  After I picked him up at noon, we met Ed for lunch.  Then we hit up the grocery store and headed home.  We haven't left since!  After being cooped up on Saturday, we decided to venture out yeterday for a walk and some sledding.  There are a lot of hills in the neighborhood where TJ goes to school so we decided to make the nearly 1 mile walk with sleds in tow.  After the long, hilly walk I was pretty tired but it was well worth it when we got there.  There were so many kids from TJ's school (and older) along with several parents and some of his football coaches.  One of the coaches even had his snow shovel out there and was replenishing the slopes and building a ramp as if it were a ski mountain.  They had a great time!  The kids were all sharing their sleds and tubes and those toboggan things as the northerners call them.  We stayed out there for 3.5 hours and I think TJ was near tears when we told him it was time to go.  I was pretty bummed that I couldn't sled with everyone because I know we never had hills like that by our house.  Ed spent most of the time catching the kids at the bottom of the hill before they hit the road while I took pictures and video.  Luckily a friend offered to give us a ride home so I didn't have to walk all the way back.

Here are some pictures & video of TJ sledding: