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!