Joshua in 3D!!

We had scheduled a 3D/4D ultrasound as mom's Christmas gift (and because we really wanted to do it) and today was the big day! As Ben says, "this stuff never gets old". Seeing Joshua in 3D was unbelievable. We watched him open his mouth, stick out his tounge and chew on his umbilical cord. Yes, you read that correctly...he was chewing on his cord. He kept his left arm up over his head and his face right up against the placenta so it was hard to get a good picture of him, but it looks like he has his daddy's chin and jawline and possibly my nose. Regardless of who he resembles, he is perfect.

Joshua with his left arm over his head. Can you see all his perfect little fingers?!

Joshua's face. Look at those perfect lips!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas, dear friends & family!! Ben and I hope that you are warm, happy, and surrounded by those you love. We are enjoying our first (and last!) Christmas by ourselves. While it's strange to have it be so quiet, it's nice.

Joshua celebrated his first Christmas with a dance number that would put the Rockettes to shame. He kept me up from 2am until 6am with high kicks, low kicks and all sorts of tumbling moves. He's never been that active for that long. While he may have his father's love of pizza, he most definitely already has his mother's love of Christmas! We will be quite the pair in years to come. I picture us racing each other down the stairs to see what Santa has brought. Poor Ben will be ripped out of a cozy slumber by Joshua's shouts and my jumping on the bed. He'll love it. :)

We hope that your Christmas and this last week of the year is a beautiful one! We send all of our love, kisses and hugs to our families who we are missing terribly.

"Someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow.

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough,

and have yourself a merry little Christmas now!"

Oh. My. Goodness.

OK. Does it freak anyone else out that the ticker at the top of the page says that there are only 100 DAYS until Joshua is due to arrive?!?! Because it makes me panic just a little bit. One hundred days is not a long time. I feel like there are so many things to do and so little time. This is more stressful than planning our wedding!!!

On the bright side of things...somewhere around 100 days from now, I'll be holding my son in my arms. That makes it all better. :)

Timothy!

We did a whirlwind trip to visit friends and family this weekend. It was the weekend of the Nodine Men Annual Christmas "Shopping" Trip. I actually think they did really shop this year too! Impressive, huh? :) The ladies stayed at Kim's house and talked and fawned over the newest addition to our family - Timothy! He is a very happy baby, but does NOT like having his diaper changed! Brian are Carly are wonderfully proud parents (with good reason!) and were so nice to let me completely monopolize my nephew. Of course, I shared Timothy with Ben and both seemed to enjoy the experience.
Timothy is just beginning to smile as well and it was wonderful to see him give his Uncle Ben an example of his newly aquired skill.
We had such a great time this weekend seeing everyone. Thanks to Todd & Andrea, Tori & Jay, Matt & Rebecca (Matthew & Natalie too!) and the Birtwistles for taking the time to visit with us! We miss you all and can't wait to see you again once Joshua is here!!

Ahhhh.

We were given a wonderful gift from Grandma & Grandpa (aka Chiefy) Nodine. Here it is!

It rocks (well, it glides really) and swivels and is probably the most comfortable place to sit in the whole house. It fits both Ben and I perfectly...my feet even reach the ground! I'm sure there will be many nights spent rocking our little one to sleep in this chair. I have no doubt that it's up to the challenge. :)

Thank you so much, Grandma & Grandpa!! We love you.

So Thankful...

Happy Thanksgiving! Dinner here was a huge success and we are all sitting around in a turkey coma. My mom flew down from Rochester to be with us and my sister, Jodi, and her husband, Jay, drove up from North Carolina. We are so happy to have them here! The only thing that could've made it better would have been to have Gina and David with us. We miss you guys!!

Joshua has been quite active today and both Jodi and mom were able to feel him wiggle and kick! Today is also Jodi's birthday. She said all she wanted was to feel Bean kick. Thankfully, Joshua obliged. Happy Birthday, Aunt Jodi! :)

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We have been so blessed. We have a home that we love, Ben is happy in his job, the weather has been wonderful, we've had opportunities to see both sides of our families, we have a new nephew, a new brother in law, and we have Joshua. What more could we want?!

So tell us...what are you giving thanks for this year? :)

Halfway Point...

Today marks the half way point of my pregnancy. It's hard to believe that it's half over already! Time really does fly when you're having fun. Joshua decided to mark this momentous occasion by making his presence known. There was no mistaking him kicking this morning! This was the first time Ben got to feel him too. I definitely haven't felt him kick like that before. It was so exciting! We're pretty sure he's going to be a soccer player and he is starting to practice all those game winning goal shots.

We went to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia today on a whim. It's about 40 minutes away and was so pretty. It was such a beautiful, crisp fall day! Here's a picture of Joshua's first trip to West Virginia. :)

Three cheers!

Congratulations, Brian and Carly!!!

Ben and I officially have our first nephew and Joshua has his first cousin! Brian & Carly's son, Timothy, was born last night at 7:40pm, 21 inches long, weighing in at a whopping 8lbs, 11 oz! I am in awe, Carly!!! You're amazing. Both mom and baby are doing well, and dad is hanging in there too. :)

We are so excited and can't wait to meet this new little addition to the Nodine family!

We're very prepared parents!

We decided it was high time to put together Josh's crib and start to convert our guest room into the nursery/guest room. I honestly thought that it would take a while to put together our little one's bed. As it turned out, it took Ben less than 30 minutes. We're pleasantly surprised at how sturdy the crib is and we really like the way it fits in the room. We've put some of Joshua's new clothes (see his little Hawaiian print swim trunks? And he already has polos just like Daddy's!) and blankets in the crib for now.

As I'm sure you've seen, all the Christmas stuff is starting to come out. Yay!!!!! What's that? It's too early, you say? I beg to differ! It's never too early for Christmas! Besides, there's only

Anyway...we were in Target the other night and found a stocking for Joshua. So he's all ready for Santa to visit! Yes, I know that Santa won't really visit him until next year...I'm just being a prepared mommy. :)

We've decided to name our son

~*~ Joshua James Nodine ~*~

We'll call him Joshua, Josh or Bean. No JJ. Aunt Jodi already calls him 'Joshuabean'.

Joshua because we love the name, James after my dad. I called dad to tell him this morning and he was "tickled" (as he would say). He said that it makes him "real proud" to have his first grandson be named for him. I can't wait to see them together! Now we only have 150 days (give or take) until we can put a face with a name. :)

"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails..."

Our ultrasound went well today...except for the fact that our SON likes to lay with his ankles crossed, knees together and all squinched up. That makes for a very difficult gender prediction! The ultrasound tech made me lay on my right side, flip to my left side, drink a bunch of orange juice, jump around a bit...then we finally got the shot. It was quite obvious, left no room for doubt and was crystal clear that this baby was a boy! Ben's so proud. :) We are so, so, so excited that we have a little boy on the way!!!

Baby's profile with his hand on his nose:Imagine the baby is sitting on a Xerox machine...that's what this shot is. Solid white circles on either side of the boy parts are his hip/pelvic bones:

"Boys are found everywhere. On top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them. A boy is truth with dirt on its face, beauty with a cut on its finger, wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the hope of the future with a frog in its pocket."

- Alan Beck

Sing-Along Time!

"The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar

That tomorrow

There'll be sun!

Just thinkin' about

Tomorrow

Clears away the cobwebs,

And the sorrow

'Til there's none!

When I'm stuck a day

That's gray,

And lonely,

I just stick out my chin

And Grin,

And Say,

Oh!

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

So ya gotta hang on

'Til tomorrow

Come what may

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow!

I love ya

Tomorrow!

You're only

A daaaaay

A waaaaaaay!"

Patience is a virtue. I think I'm out of luck.

One week from today, we get to see our little Bean again!! This wait to find out if it will be 'snips and snails and puppy dog tails' or 'sugar and spice and everything nice' is killing us. We're counting down the days until it's time. Thank goodness I got the first appointment of the day! I don't think I could stand the wait if our appointment wasn't until the afternoon.

Today is not only special because it is T minus one week until we see Bean, it's special because it's my mom's birthday. Yay! All together now...

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Mom/Marcy/Nana....

Happy Birthday tooooooo youuuuuu!!!!

Have a wonderful day mom! We love you!

Today is just a good day all around! We're finally getting some much, much, much needed rain, I made a huge pot of yummy soup for tomorrow's dinner so I don't have to cook tomorrow, I'm roasting a chicken for tonight's dinner and the house smells divine. Better than all these things though is feeling Bean move around! Yesterday, he/she did a somersault and I felt the roll around my whole stomach. Today, I've been feeling more somethings...it's hard to explain. Kind of like someone put a pager in my stomach and it keeps going off. Except its a much faster vibration and only lasts for a few seconds. I didn't realize that the vibrations were the baby...honestly I thought I was having regular muscle spasms. Yeah, I'm a little slow. But today, as I was sitting with two of my neighbors (both are pregnant) it happened and I stopped talking to press on the "spasm". They asked if I was ok and I told them what was happening. At the exact same moment they both said "It's the baby!". Duh Jamie. Oh well...so now I know and I'm sitting on the couch willing it to happen again. How wonderful this pregnancy thing is! :)

How do I spell relief? N-E-W P-A-N-T-S!

You know how tight your pants feel after a big Thanksgiving meal? After eating all that turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole and green beans, pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate cream pie? The feeling that makes you unbutton your pants because it hurts to sit down with them buttoned? That's pretty much how I've felt everyday recently. I didn't want to buy maternity clothes too early, so I waited until I couldn't take it anymore. I reached that point on Friday (see Friday's post!). So yesterday, Ben and I went to the mall to walk around and find me some new pants. I walked into the store, bought the first pair I tried on and walked out wearing them. Ohhhh, how I love them. They don't squish Bean, which I'm sure he/she's thankful for, and they let the bump roam free. See?Can you see it? Now if you're thinking that I just look pudgy, my husband will come to your house and scold you like he scolds me. "Jamie, stop it. It's a baby...not fat. And it's cute." Then he rubs my stomach in little circles. Just like you'd rub a Buddha for luck. :)

Arrival of the bump!

It's finally here! I have a bump! Ok, ok...I realize it's not very exciting for you, but it sure is for me. It means our baby is growing and getting bigger! Way to go, Bean!! The bump has been easy to see for a while if I was lying flat on my back, but now it's hard to miss in any position. Of course, to the casual observer, this bump that I'm so proud of probably just looks like I've been drinking too much beer. Either way, this weekend we're going shopping for maternity pants. :)

Yes, it WILL be a very Happy Halloween!!

I had a checkup today. It took the doctor all of 2 seconds to find the heartbeat and she said it was strong and sounded wonderful. Best news of all...I scheduled our BIG ULTRASOUND! Big ultrasound = Boy or Girl!! Let's hope our baby is a little exhibitionist and wants to show off his/her parts. :) So on October 31 at 8:15am, we will *hopefully* know if we're having a boy or a girl. I think the next four weeks are going to kill me!

Totally not about Bean...

I have a program that analyzes visits to this website. It can tell me how many visits the site has had total, how many each day, where the hits are coming from, and even if you're using dial-up or broadband! It's really fun to see all the reports. The one thing it can't tell me though, is who is visiting. For example, since I installed the program a week ago, we have had visits from Rochester (Hi Mom & Reeves Family!), Ft. Bragg (Hi Jodi & Jay!), Syracuse (Hi Nodines!), various places in Pennsylvania (Hi friends!), San Francisco (Hi Diana!) & No. California (Hi Gina & David!). The most confusing hits, however, are the visits from someone in Tampa. How exciting! I had no idea we knew anyone in Tampa! Ben thinks it could be his uncle & aunt, but we're not sure. So rather than driving myself (& Ben) crazy trying to figure out who's checking us out from the Tampa area, I'm just going to put up this message. Whoever it is visiting our site from beautiful Florida, would you please either email us or put up a comment on this message so we know who you are? We'd be ever so appreciative. I love that Bean is going global. :)

***UPDATE*** We know who is hitting us up from Tampa! Turns out they're not in Florida or anywhere near it. It's Len, Suzy & baby Griffin in Iowa!! Why if they live in Iowa does it show they're looking at the blog from Tampa, you ask? We don't know. Maybe it's just wishful thinking now that they're getting closer to those horribly frigid northern winters. :)

Too Wonderful For Words

We had an ultrasound today and it was incredible!!

I am in awe. We were in the ultrasound watching our baby for about 30 minutes. Honestly, I don't think I've ever witnessed something so miraculous. Hearing the heartbeat was amazing, but seeing this perfect little one bouncing around like an astronaut in space was indescribable. Our baby is still so tiny, and yet we could see each finger, each vertebra, each little rib. We watched as he/she moved, jumped, stretched, & somersaulted. We watched the heart beating (145 beats/min!) and saw him/her opening and closing her mouth! The doctor said everything looks wonderful. Bone structure is good, nuchal translucency is normal, baby is measuring 13w2d...right on schedule.

After we left, Ben just sat in silence, shaking his head. I asked if he wanted to call anyone to tell them about it. His reply? "No, I don't. I don't think I could even come up with words to describe it. Wow." Exactly how I feel, honey. :o)

The empty "hole" in the middle of Bean's body is the stomach! It's full of amniotic fluid so it appears black. A little further down is another tiny "hole"...that's the bladder.

Shhh...the baby's sleeping!

When I was born, my dad built me a cradle. It's made of solid oak and it weighs a ton! Ok, not a ton, but around 50 lbs. He shipped it to mom's house and it arrived without a problem or any damage. Woohoo! So this wil be Bean's first bed. Ben is currently trying to devise a support system for it so it can sit up higher, closer to the level of our bed. I love this cradle. It will be the most beautiful piece of furniture we own, by far. It's the kind of piece that you pass down for generations. We're waiting for mom to find the liner she had made for it when I was born as well. How's that going, mom? :)

In addition to the cradle, Bean has another bed. We've purchased a crib! A little early...I know, I know...but it was such a great deal that we decided why pass it up?! So this is where our little one will lay his/her (honestly, I think it's going to be a her) head when they arrive. Maybe it's wishful thinking that the baby will actually sleep in the crib, but it sure does make us feel like this whole baby thing is really happening!

More beautiful than Jodi in her wedding dress...

Jodi and Jay's wedding (#2) this past weekend was beautiful. Jodi was the most beautiful bride I've ever seen - myself included! Jay looked amazingly handsome in his uniform too.

Even more beautiful than my sister in her wedding dress, however, is the sound I heard at the doctor's office again today. Our baby's heartbeat is so strong and so steady! :) I didn't get to have an ultrasound at the office, but the doctor is sending us for a screening ultrasound in two weeks. Hopefully we'll get to see our little jumping Bean then. Until then, take a look at THIS website! The ultrasound shows a baby at 10 weeks which is where I am now. Isn't it amazing that all that movement is going on already?! This pregnancy thing will never cease to amaze me. How unbelievably blessed we are that we get to experience it!!!

We told the rest of our family and friends about our baby this weekend. Jodi got Ben a "Dad-To-Be" button and me a "Mom-To-Be" button that we wore to tell my side of the family. The award for the best reaction goes hands-down to Aunt Lisa! I'll just say that screaming, yelling and lots of tears were involved. Anyone who knows Aunt Lisa can imagine how exuberant her response was! :) Both sides of the family have been so supportive and so excited about this baby. We've loved telling everyone. I've been asked often how I'm feeling. I'm feeling really really good! A few weeks ago, I was pretty miserable. As a result, I've lost weight so far. When they did the dreaded weigh-in at the doctor's office today, I was surprised at how much weight I've lost since this pregnancy began. The doctor didn't seem worried though. She figured I'd start gaining soon enough. I always wanted to be that beautifully glowing pregnant woman, but at the beginning I was afraid that I might be green and nauseous instead! Maybe the fact that I only felt really sick for a week or two is a little perk since it took so long to get pregnant. :) Maybe I'll get to glow. Either way, I'm thankful that I'm feeling so good and so thankful for the technology that allows me to hear my baby's heartbeat!!

Houston, we have a HEARTBEAT!

Today Ben and I went to the doctor for a repeat sonogram to date the pregnancy. The last time I went, the doctor couldn't find a baby so she figured I wasn't very far along. Blood tests proved that I was pregnant, but we couldn't tell how far along.

After a 45 minute wait in the office - seriously, I think that is a torture technique! - we saw Bean and even saw AND heard the heartbeat! It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Ben just kept repeating, "That is so cool!". How amazing technology is!! Bean's heartbeat looked like a little tiny strobe light in his/her little tiny tadpole like body. Unbelievable! The heartbeat was strong and Bean is measuring 6 weeks, 4 days old. My due date is now April 1, 2008. :) Happy April Fool's Day!!

Here's Bean's first picture:












Bean is the little white blip between the +'s in the black circle on the left of the picture. You can click on the picture to make it bigger and easier to see. :)

Telling Ben

Being pregnant came as quite a surprise to me. I had pretty much given up hope that it would happen without further medical intervention. I mean, when the doctors tell you that it probably won't happen without IVF or some other serious procedure, you tend to believe them! Taking a pregnancy test at 3am at my sister-in-law's house was a spur of the moment decision I made so that I would have time to grieve in private when it came back negative. The thing is...it came back positive! For 15 minutes I stared at this little stick that had just changed my life. Then the giggles started. There I am, sitting in the bathroom at 3am, covering my mouth and laughing hysterically. It was easily the most surreal feeling ever. Not wanting to tell Ben while he was sound asleep (cause you know how well that would've gone over!), I layed in bed for the next 3 hours and thought about how I was going to tell him. Finally, I figured I would tell him that I wanted to make a video diary of our vacation and I could tell him then. When he FINALLY woke up at 6am, this is the resulting video. You'll have to listen pretty carefully to figure out what I was saying and watch it sideways...I was too excited to think ahead and turn the camera the right way. Oh, and all the shaking and Ben looking down is me showing him the positive test. :o)

Click here for the video: Telling Ben (if you need a password, use 'bean' with no quotes)

Two lines!!??!!

After almost two years of waiting, invasive tests, side effects from the medications, and more tears than we could possibly count...

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!

I found out I was pregnant at 3:05am on July 18, 2007. We still can't believe it. Ben is beyond happy as am I. I can't believe it's finally our turn!!

Jodi has already named the baby "Bean", and has declared it will be a girl. Let's see if she's right. :)