Disneyland!

Kyle and I had an amazing trip to California! Sunday morning the Halls and I flew out of PDX and we met up with Lindsey at our hotel (she flew in from Montana), which was only about half a mile from the park... the weather was amazing the whole week, sunny and in the mid 80's. Kyle flew in and joined us on Wednesday morning, and I was so glad to see him! It was sad how much I missed him after spending just a few days apart... I'm pretty spoiled. :)

The boys waiting for our flight...

Mom-in-law and future momma! :)

Sunday evening the girls went grocery shopping for the week and we relaxed and played card games... but the rest of the week was pretty much go go go! Monday was our first day at Disneyland and California Adventure, and our feet really hurt by the end of the day! It was a lot of walking, but totally worth it. We walked to the parks and stayed there most of the day, coming back only for some lunch.

The park was definitely all decked out for Halloween!

Walking in on our first day!

The girls

Lindsey and I at Minnie's house

Hanging out in Toon Town

The view from our hotel balcony! You can see Paradise Pier from California Adventure in this pic, we could see Disneyland as well... it was awesome because we got to watch the firework show every night from the comfort of the couch!

Tuesday we did some shopping and everyone kind of did their own thing. We only had three days at Disney and didn't want Kyle to miss more than one so we went to the parks with him on Wednesday and Thursday.

The whole gang!

Story of my life this trip lol

The boys rocking the O!

Muppet show

Boys in their coonskin hats!

Sexy 3D glasses :)

The wait lines were not long at all, which was really awesome... and it wasn't so bad not being able to go on lots of the rides; I got to eat a lot of Churros! :)

On Friday we rented a car and drove to LA to go to Universal Studios, where I was quickly reminded that driving in LA rush hour traffic was not fun... but we made it and had a blast!

Hangin with the crew of Apollo 13... I'm not sure what Kyle and Bryan are doing :)

The Citywalk at Universal

Trying to save Kyle from Jaws!

On Friday night, Rick and Sue treated all of us to Medieval Times, which was quite an experience! The food was great, but there was WAY too much of it... I was so stuffed when we left I could barely walk to the car! Our knight was the worst in the bunch, but that didn't make it any less fun to watch all the jousting action. :)

Saturday was another laid back day, so we shopped some more, played pool and shuffleboard, and watched lots of football. We went to Bubba Gumps for dinner for our last night in Cali... and even got to eat outside, which would not have been a very pleasant experience in Oregon!

Our last night



It was a fantastic trip, thank you to all present and future Halls for an amazing time! :)

My belly started to really show on the trip, and I was really excited because I started to feel the baby moving! It's very faint and feels like little butterflies... I can't believe she's going to be here in just 4 months!

I start four 10 hour shifts at work next week, and for November my day off is Monday, which means I get three day weekends! I have a lot planned for my days off, mainly getting baby stuff ready and in order... Kyle and I are going to start working really hard on our registries, and we'll definitely let everyone know when they're ready and finished. I had my official ultrasound today, and everything looks healthy and happy with baby Hall! :) I tried to take pictures of some of the pictures they gave me, but they're not the best quality... I'm going to try and figure out a way to scan them, and then I promise I'll post them! I also got my H1N1 vaccination today, which I was very relieved to get... now I'm as immunized as it gets!

I'm 21 weeks this week, which means that baby weighs about 14 ounces (almost a whole pound!) and is about 10.5 inches long; the length of a carrot, according to babycenter.com. Weird how they always compare them to fruit... last week she was a banana! :)

Alright, time for bed... I'm working another double tomorrow, and although I don't work them very often, it's still really exhausting... hopefully the ER will be nice to me!

Hope you all have a great week, and a safe and happy Halloween!

Pictures

Baby's future room... currently storing all of her stuff on the guest bed!

All of our baby loot so far... I'm reading many baby books, as you can see! :) That's one of the advantages to so many of my work friends having babies, I get to benefit from all their knowledge!

Baby profile... super cute!

Soo.... funny story! I was going to post a new blog after my doctor's appointment, which was rescheduled from last week for this Tuesday, but I got a call from them in the morning that she had to go to an emergency surgery... and so unfortunately I had to reschedule again! They wanted to see me before I went on vacation (I leave this weekend for Disneyland!) but had no available appointments that I could make because of work, so we arranged for me to see the nurse midwife for this appointment, which I did today. She was really nice, and everything looks great. She said my blood pressure is perfect, my labs are perfect, the baby's heartbeat is perfect, I'm measuring right on... so everything looks good! :)

Here is what's going on at 19 weeks:

Baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for taste, vision, hearing, smell, and touch. Some research even suggests that she may be able to hear my voice now! She is about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her kidneys are continuing to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin, which prevents it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

I think I'm starting to feel some of baby's movements, which is very exciting! It's so hard to tell for sure, it's such a soft little fluttery sensation... I really look forward to the day that Kyle can feel it too!

I'm leaving on Sunday with the Halls (and Lindsey, future Hall!) to go to Disneyland! We're super excited! Kyle can't come until Wednesday morning unfortunately, because of school... but we'll save a lot of the fun stuff for him! We're going to hit up Disneyland, California Adventure, Universal Studios, and downtown Hollywood... I'm really excited to have a vacation from work, I haven't had more than a day or two off since my honeymoon over a year ago. It was definitely time for a vacation! I won't be able to participate in a lot of the rides and stuff, but I know I will have a blast no matter what... and my first day back at work I get to have my screening ultrasound! So that's something to look forward to. That's the one where we look at the heart, spine, brain, fluid, limbs... no, you do not go to your ultrasound just to find out your baby's gender, even though that's what many of my patients tell me. Got to make sure it has all it's parts! :)

For some reason I can't get pictures to upload today, but I'll try again tomorrow before I leave... and I will definitely have lots of pictures when I come back!

I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment today, but unfortunately I don't have an update because I had to reschedule... my doctor was off delivering a couple of babies! I can't really complain, considering she'll be doing the same for me in a couple months. :)

I'm 18 weeks this week, which is crazy to me because that means I'm almost halfway through! Here is what she is up to this week:

Baby is about the length of a bell pepper and weighs about 7 ounces. Her blood vessels are visible through the skin, and her ears are now in their final position. She is busy kicking and moving, something I should start feeling anytime! Haven't felt anything yet... a protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for about a year after she's born. Her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place, and her ovaries already contain all the eggs she will ever have.

I haven't really gained any weight lately, which I'm actually really grateful for... I gained a lot more than I thought I would in the first trimester, so I was afraid that my weight gain was going to continue at that rate throughout the pregnancy and I would end up gaining like 70 pounds, but it's slowed down a lot as I've settled into my second trimester. I've gained about 10 pounds so far, not bad at all!

We've told some people this, but Kyle and I have definitely decided to keep the baby's name a secret until she's born. We're doing this for several reasons, the most important one being that we decided we're not going to pick one until we meet her! We're going to make a short list of like 5 names, and then pick one of those once she's born and we get a chance to see her and her little personality. There are many reasons that this makes a lot of sense to us... and since there's no surprise about gender, everyone will get another surprise when she makes her first appearance... including Kyle and I! :)

Picture of girl parts! Kind of hard to make out, but the three little white lines that the arrow is pointing to are the folds of the labia

Baby looking straight at us!

I've had a lot of people expressing concern about the flu... since I'm pregnant and a healthcare worker with constant patient interaction I'm in a high-risk category, but I just wanted everyone to know that I'm doing what I can to prevent it. I'm obsessed with hand sanitizer at work, and I got my regular flu shot last week, the first day it was available. The swine flu shot isn't available in Oregon yet, but when it is I'll be first in line, unless my doctor advises against it for some reason (and I don't see why she would). Please remember that if you're experiencing flu like symptoms (cough, runny nose, etc. with a fever) do NOT go to the ER or Urgent Care, those places will be a breeding ground for germs and other problems, and you want to avoid them... just stay home and call your doctor, they will let you know what to do. OK, that's the only lecture I'm going to give tonight. :)

This last weekend was pretty fun, Kyle had a boys night at the casino on Friday night so my friend Kali and I went out to dinner, shopping, and a movie... it was a good girls night! Saturday was our friend Pearl's birthday, so a bunch of us went to a restaurant in the Pearl district to celebrate... we were not at all impressed with the restaurant unfortunately, in fact it was probably the worst service I've ever had... one of the waiters tipped a beer over when he was putting a plate down and it spilled all over one of our friends... and he just walked away and never came back! Needless to say, we got out of there as soon as we could and went across the street to another bar to hang out. Kyle and I split off when everyone went dancing because we were both tired... then Sunday we went out to breakfast and then to the movie theater to watch Toy Story 1 & 2! It was really fun! We both remembered waiting in line to see the original one in the theater, so it was like a walk down memory lane. And they were in 3D! I forgot that for some reason this can make me feel kind of sick, but I got through and am really glad I stuck it out. We would highly recommend!

Kali and I...

So on Saturday I went to Target and Old Navy just to browse through baby things... it's so hard not to buy a lot of stuff! I didn't, I managed to only get a couple outfits, but I had to put a lot back... everything is just so freaking cute! I got a little fleece sleeper that says I Love Daddy on it (I couldn't resist), a fleece jumpsuit with a matching onesie, and a couple other things. It's hard because you actually have to think about when she'll be wearing them... for example, it's fall so all the warm winter stuff is starting to come out, but since she'll be born in early spring, she'll only get to wear that stuff for a little while, and then it will be mostly summer stuff... but it's still so cute I want to buy it anyway! :)

This weekend we're going to Albany to have a family BBQ on Sunday with the Hall family, Rick's brother's family... we don't get to see them very often so we're excited to spend some quality time! Hopefully the weather will still be sunny, I don't know about you but I am LOVING the weather! It's finally cooled down, but it's not stormy or anything yet... I actually get to cuddle up with a book and a blanket in front of the fireplace at night with a cup of hot cocoa! Fall is my favorite! :)