She's a chunky monkey...

That's right. I will never call her that, of course, once she is old enough to understand. But right now, Little Miss is a chunky monkey. When we had our ultrasound last month, the pictures of her heart weren't adequate. Since her heart is of the greatest importance, we went back today for more. This also meant that I got another round of 4D pictures. We got great pictures of all her important parts today, including confirmation that she is, indeed, a she. She was incredibly active, moving constantly. At one point, we visible saw my stomach move from where she was doing her morning jazzercise routine.

Despite all that exercise, sweet pea is a chunky monkey. She weighed 1 lb 3 oz, which doesn't seem like much, but she's about a week ahead. I'm 22 weeks and 3 days, and she is measuring closer to 23 weeks and 3 days. The nurse said it was genetic - that if Kyle and I were big babies, then she was likely to be a big baby. Not what I wanted to hear. This girl...8 lbs 15 oz. That's right. The idea of a 9 lb baby makes me a little nervous, but hey, it just means she will fill out her Juicy Couture bloomers. Here are two pictures from our appointment this morning. We've decided that she has my nose and Kyle's mouth. If she had my mouth, there would be no way to tell that she had lips. She still has a lot of growing to do, though.

How weird is the top of her little head?! Since she is still pretty new, the bones at the top of her head haven't fused yet.  My girl likes to have her mouth in front of her face. She kept it there almost the whole time. She stretched once, but it went right back into place. 

Out with the old...

Yay! New background! I decided that since I now know Gretel is a girl, I could girl up my blog a little. The last design wasn't exactly masculine, but it was my idea of neutral. This one is aptly titled "Fairy Tale," and since I'm having a princess (note the crown to the right side), I decided it was appropriate. It makes me happy. And since I'm in a good mood, here are the things that make me happy today...

1. The princess ballerina in my belly. Or soccer player. Whatever she prefers. But every time I feel her bumping around, which she does often, I imagine her doing pirouettes in there. I can only feel them, obviously, so she may actually be working on her free-throw shooting form. I've said before, she may be her mother's daughter, but there's a distinct possibility that she is actually her father's. In which case, it would be her 3-point shooting form.

2. Capri Sun! I freaking love Capri Sun. Kiwi Strawberry only. I take a lunchbox to work with nothing in it but Capri Sun. That is all.

3. Driving a red car. I kind of feel like a rock star.

4. Having two computer monitors at work. I'm somewhat of an online mogul at work (mostly website...Mallory rules the social realm). I have my laptop monitor and then extend my desktop onto another monitor. I can't imagine my life without it:)

5. The husband. He gave me four tickets to tonight's Thrashers game (awesome seats) so that I could give them to someone I work with (hello, brownie points!). He even drove them to me at work. And then he is taking me to the Hawks/Heat game tomorrow night. Although he did change my channel last night when he realized that Glee was a rerun (I chose not to offer that information up)...

6. Thriller. As in MJ. We worked on the Aquarium's Halloween e-card this morning. Think Thriller and Flash Mob. It's going to be AWE-some.

7. Modern Family comes on tonight. Yay!

8. Willow Smith's video for "Whip My Hair." Kid is 9 years old. Insane! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymKLymvwD2U

9. Did I mention Gretel?

10. And pretty much everything else. I think today is a good day. Tomorrow may be different, and yesterday wasn't fab, but today...so far, so good.

I can explain...

I suck. I know, and I'm sorry. It's been two weeks since my last post, which I promised myself I wouldn't do. But to be completely honest, I didn't really have anything new to write about. I'm in that stage where things are just consistent, nothing really changing except my circumference. Which is also why I haven't written anything - because I've been a bit negative lately. And I didn't want this to be painful to read. It's supposed to be fun, right?

See, it all started when a volunteer at work leaned over to a colleague of mine and said, in reference to me, "She's having a girl." The colleague said, "How do you know?" The volunteer said, "Because she's round all over." Knife. Heart. Plunge. I've always known it would happen, but a sweet lady telling someone else, while standing in front of you, that you're round all over doesn't do a lot for your self esteem. Don't get me wrong. My mother-in-law took me to A Pea in the Pod, so I'm totally rocking this pregnancy thing, and the clothes have made me a lot more confident in my growing self, but it still got me where it hurts.

Writing posts after that was therapeutic, but I couldn't publish any of them. They were all about the things that make pregnancy less than glamorous, and sometimes, just downright difficult. I told myself if was okay to write about those things because I had made a vow to be honest. But there's a difference between venting because you're a little down on your appearance and being honest. So I wrote and deleted probably six different posts. After that, I decided to stop trying for a few days and just wait. It wasn't perspective I needed, because I know how fortunate and blessed I am, but it never hurts to step back and take a minute to think.

So now, instead of talking about those things, or trying to create something to talk about related to pregnancy, I'm going to tell you about the two awesome things that happened over the last four days that I know are really only exciting to me.

#1 - I bought Wrestlemania tickets before they go on sale! It's in Atlanta in April, and it's a pretty big deal in the WWE world. That's right. This girl. And you thought you knew me:) Kyle and I are taking my Dad, but he won't know until Christmas. Since he doesn't know how to work a computer, I'm not worried about him finding out. Gretel will make her debut in February/March, so this may be my first big girl outing.

#2 - I got a new car! It's a bright red 2010 Mercedes C300, and it's B.E.A.utiful. I put a picture of its hotness below. And more importantly, it's super safe, so Gretel will have no worries. It has the safest record in its class, and it has plenty of room for Gretel in the back. I will also still have bluetooth in the car so that I can drive with both hands, and (new for me!) it also has iPod integration, which means my iPod can be controlled via my steering wheel controls or the little spin wheel that operates my screen. This means that I won't be looking down at my iPod to shuffle through my songs, which means a big WIN for me. I'm a little sad about saying good-bye to the Acura, but my lease was up in January, and a new baby meant it was time to purchase instead of lease again. The Acura was a good car - my first brand new one and the first one I paid for - so it's special to me. But if the last 5 months have been any indication, things change...usually for the better:)

Excuse me, do you have this in pink?

Gretel is training to be an acrobat. Yep. Little Miss, which Kyle's sister Allie named her, moves around a LOT. I felt my first distinct kick on Sunday night, and it about took me off the couch. It shocked me more than anything else. She moves constantly though. I had a doctor's appointment this morning just to hear the heartbeat, and the nurse commented several times on how much she was moving around. Her bpm was 160, which I was afraid was high. The nurse said it's just a sign of her being active. I guess that means we may need to find outlets for her to express all that extra energy:)

Gretel made her first official shopping trip to the mall this this weekend. Kyle's family was in town, so his mom, sister and I made a day of it at Lenox and Phipps Plaza on Saturday. We found some fabulous things for her, including Juicy Couture diaper covers, beautiful dresses and her first pair of shoes - hot pink, sequin-covered Stuart Weitzmans. Most everything was pink, but we did fit in some classic Burberry, not the pink check. So far, she is absolutely her mother's daughter. Technically, it's because I'm still the one doing the shopping, but it's nice to think that maybe she's a little like me. Allie took care of the toys, so she will have something to entertain her after I entertain myself with baby dress-up.  I kept having to remind myself that I don't have to dress her for the entire first year of her life before November. I want to buy everything I see right now, so I'm trying to pull back a little. The kid may need more than a pink dress and sequin shoes to get through life. I mean, that's all I've ever needed, but I better not bank on that. Here are her diaper covers and my three favorite dresses:) Some of them will have to wait until she's older, but they were too adorable to not get now.

I got a text message from her Aunt Allie at 11 p.m. last night. She has added two onesies to the mix - a red one that says "Born to Rock," which should go nicely with the pink Aerosmith and pink AC/DC onesies I got her (hey, the girl's gotta have some street cred), and a blue one that simply says "meh..." I retract my previous statement. She is her father's daughter.