I've been feeling our little one move for quite some time now as I think I might have previously posted about. Obvioulsy it's gotten much stronger as she has grown. It's still a weird feeling that tends to make me giggle. Sometimes it's a sharp little kick or punch but most of it still feels like a tennis ball being rolled around in there.
About two weeks ago, I noticed you that if you concentrated on my stomach really hard, you could notice it flicker when she kicks. Around that same time, Eric finally was able to feel her kick as well. It's kind of fun to watch the little twitches and I know it's only going to get bigger and better.
During our appointment in October, I happened to ask our doctor if there was anything that helped determine the baby's birth weight. She mentioned that there were 5 main factors: mother's birth weight, father's birth weight, whether I was overweight when I got pregnant, how much weight I gained during pregnancy and whether I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Considering that I was 8 pounds, 14 ounces at birth and Eric was 8 pounds 2 ounces, I started to think that I may give birth to a giant baby. Not exactly something I would be looking forward to, if you know what I mean.
So last week, we had another doctor's appointment. At each appointment she measures the size of my stomach to estimate the size of the baby. Well, at this appiontment, she measured me and then went to write the number in my chart. She stared at my chart for a minutes and said "wait, let me re-measure that.". So she measures me again and says "huh, you're measuring big". Well, no kidding. So slowly my initial thoughts are starting to come true. Cross your fingers that she slows down on her growing - I really, really, really don't want to have a 10 pound baby. In fact the thought kind of terrifies me but we'll stop talking about that now.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Cake Decorating
As many of you know, I've been getting into cake decorating for awhile now, pretty much just for the fun of it. I remember growing up, my mom used to always make and decorate our birthday cakes. She was pretty darn good at it too. Ultimately I'd like to be able to make my daughters birthday cakes (and first day of school cakes).
So my first class was over the summer. It was a beginner class so I learned the basics of baking and icing a cake with buttercream frosting. Yes, I was pretty clueless about how to bake a cake and get it out of the pan properly - feel free to laugh at me now. I'll get the last laugh.
I learned a lot of basic decorating ideas as well. I learned how to make clowns out of frosting. I learned how to make pretty roses. I also learned a few different styles of cake borders. After that class, I made cakes for every function I could get away with. Thanks to my family for being willing to eat so many cakes made from a box, decorated by yours truly. Here are pictures of some of my work.
I recently decided to expand my horizons. So I signed up for Wilton's Flower and Cake Design Class. It's held at my local Michael's by a great instructor who's been doing this for years. The first class was spent playing with fondant and gum paste. You can make easy cut-out flowers that dry hard. We made button flowers as well as pansies. Here's my handiwork.
The next class was my first experience with royal icing. Now, I love royal icing. It's made with powdered sugar, meringue powder and water. So easy and clean up is a breeze (as opposed to buttercream frosting, which is made with shortening and a pain in the rear to clean up). And the frosting dries hard so you can make a bunch of flowers, let them dry and then save them for a future cake. At this class we learned to make the base of a rose, apple blossoms, primroses, and rosebuds. I had my challenges but I think my flowers turned out pretty good.
My third class consisted of more royal icing frosting. We finished up learning how to make roses, and we learned violets, daffodils and lilies. I think the lilies are one of my favorite - easy to make and so pretty to look at.
So my first class was over the summer. It was a beginner class so I learned the basics of baking and icing a cake with buttercream frosting. Yes, I was pretty clueless about how to bake a cake and get it out of the pan properly - feel free to laugh at me now. I'll get the last laugh.
I learned a lot of basic decorating ideas as well. I learned how to make clowns out of frosting. I learned how to make pretty roses. I also learned a few different styles of cake borders. After that class, I made cakes for every function I could get away with. Thanks to my family for being willing to eat so many cakes made from a box, decorated by yours truly. Here are pictures of some of my work.
I recently decided to expand my horizons. So I signed up for Wilton's Flower and Cake Design Class. It's held at my local Michael's by a great instructor who's been doing this for years. The first class was spent playing with fondant and gum paste. You can make easy cut-out flowers that dry hard. We made button flowers as well as pansies. Here's my handiwork.
The next class was my first experience with royal icing. Now, I love royal icing. It's made with powdered sugar, meringue powder and water. So easy and clean up is a breeze (as opposed to buttercream frosting, which is made with shortening and a pain in the rear to clean up). And the frosting dries hard so you can make a bunch of flowers, let them dry and then save them for a future cake. At this class we learned to make the base of a rose, apple blossoms, primroses, and rosebuds. I had my challenges but I think my flowers turned out pretty good.
My third class consisted of more royal icing frosting. We finished up learning how to make roses, and we learned violets, daffodils and lilies. I think the lilies are one of my favorite - easy to make and so pretty to look at.
I just had my final session of the class this past week. This time I had to bring a frosted cake to class. We learned how to do basketweaving on the side of the cakes. Very pretty but really, really time consuming. Then we got to decorate our cakes however we wanted using the flower designs we had learned so far. I decided to go with....
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Baby Movements
So about 2 weeks ago, I thought I was starting to feel the baby move. Of course, I have nothing to compare it to so it was just a wild guess for me. But now I'm positive I can feel it.
It's kind of a strange feeling. Sometimes it feels like something is poking me from the inside out. But mainly it feels like there's a tennis ball just under my skin and it's slowly being rolled from one side of me to the other. It actually kind of tickles.
She's pretty calm and still when I'm just sitting and working or watching TV. If I get up and move, that's when she decides it's time to play too. I kind of look forward to feeling her move more strongly but mainly so that Eric can feel it too.
It's kind of a strange feeling. Sometimes it feels like something is poking me from the inside out. But mainly it feels like there's a tennis ball just under my skin and it's slowly being rolled from one side of me to the other. It actually kind of tickles.
She's pretty calm and still when I'm just sitting and working or watching TV. If I get up and move, that's when she decides it's time to play too. I kind of look forward to feeling her move more strongly but mainly so that Eric can feel it too.
Friday, October 1, 2010
It's a girl!
We had our second trimester ultrasound yesterday and found out that Baby Fagan is a girl! We're very excited about it. I feel bad for any guy this precious little one eventually wants to date because Eric's going to put him through the ringer.
Ultrasounds area always fun. I go through every day, wondering what's going on inside. Is she turning flips, is she just hanging out, how is she growing, does she like the foods I eat. But when you have an ultrasound, you actually get to see what's going on. At the time of the ultrasound, her head was up near my belly button and she was facing my back. At first, she was just chillin'. But when the ultrasound tech tried to get measurements of her leg bones, she was kicking them back and forth.
All of her measurements are normal, which is a great thing. She also weighs 9 ounces. How they figure out what she weighs, I have no idea but that's what we're told. It's amazing the level of detail you can pick up on an ultrasound. Some of our pictures are below. Are they kind of creepy looking? Sure, a little bit but I don't care - it's our baby girl!
Here's one of her face. I was amazed that not only could you see her eye sockets, you could see the lens starting to form. It's the circle within the black spot in the middle of the picture
We could also see her spine. Each little vertebrae...
A great shot of her two little feet...
And last but not least, a 3D shot of her little face and her left arm hugging her body. She looks so peaceful.
So continue growing well inside there, little one. You've got 5 more months until you're ready to enter this crazy world we live in. And mommy and daddy need that time to prepare for your arrival :)
Ultrasounds area always fun. I go through every day, wondering what's going on inside. Is she turning flips, is she just hanging out, how is she growing, does she like the foods I eat. But when you have an ultrasound, you actually get to see what's going on. At the time of the ultrasound, her head was up near my belly button and she was facing my back. At first, she was just chillin'. But when the ultrasound tech tried to get measurements of her leg bones, she was kicking them back and forth.
All of her measurements are normal, which is a great thing. She also weighs 9 ounces. How they figure out what she weighs, I have no idea but that's what we're told. It's amazing the level of detail you can pick up on an ultrasound. Some of our pictures are below. Are they kind of creepy looking? Sure, a little bit but I don't care - it's our baby girl!
Here's one of her face. I was amazed that not only could you see her eye sockets, you could see the lens starting to form. It's the circle within the black spot in the middle of the picture
We could also see her spine. Each little vertebrae...
A great shot of her two little feet...
And last but not least, a 3D shot of her little face and her left arm hugging her body. She looks so peaceful.
So continue growing well inside there, little one. You've got 5 more months until you're ready to enter this crazy world we live in. And mommy and daddy need that time to prepare for your arrival :)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Labor Day Weekend
Eric and I went up to Show Low with a friend over Labor Day weekend. Our friend has a great cabin up in the woods, which also is a part of a great golf community, so it's right up Eric's alley. We arrived on Saturday just in time to eat lunch and for the guys to head out to play golf. So I took a nap - windows open, nice cool breeze. Gotta love it.
The boys golfed again on Sunday so I took a little walk in the woods. I desperately need more exercise becuase my 1 mile walk required me to take a nap afterwards. Not that there was anything more pressing to do but really? 40 minutes of exercise requires a nap? I also spent a lot of time reading and watching tv. The boys cooked an awesome dinner of asparagus, mushrooms and steak for them, salmon for me. I spent half my time drooling over Eric's medium-rare steak so he was nice enough to find a well-done bite for me to have.
The guys played golf on Monday morning so I decided to ride around the course with them. It is a beautiful course with lots of pine trees and green grass. Unfortunately it started to rain after 9 holes so they decided to call it quits and head back to Phoenix early. The traffic sucked but we weren't exactly in a hurry to get from 80 degree weather to 105 degree weather.
It was a great long weekend, out of the oven that is called Phoenix. Makes me want to move to Show Low permanently.
The guys played golf on Monday morning so I decided to ride around the course with them. It is a beautiful course with lots of pine trees and green grass. Unfortunately it started to rain after 9 holes so they decided to call it quits and head back to Phoenix early. The traffic sucked but we weren't exactly in a hurry to get from 80 degree weather to 105 degree weather.
It was a great long weekend, out of the oven that is called Phoenix. Makes me want to move to Show Low permanently.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
What I've learned so far
I officially reached the 3 month mark a few weeks ago so good bye first trimester! I've learned a lot so far but I'm not going to be sharing all of it. You'll be thanking me for that.
1) I'm tired. I'm ALWAYS tired. I'm hoping that ends soon but even if it doesn't, there's two things I love about it. I take a lot of naps. And who doesn't love naps? The other thing is I've finally gotten to the point where I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. That's always alluded me before and I'm hoping this continues long after the baby is here. I've also been able to fall asleep just about anywhere, which is also a new thing.
2) If I'm hungry, give me food immediately! I've never been one to deny myself food (that's pretty obvious) but eating has been very important to me. Two things could happen if I don't eat - I become a raving lunatic and/or I get faint. Neither of which is fun for anyone. My purse has become a walking grocery store. If you're hungry, come find me. Chances are I could feed you a whole meal just out of my purse.
3) Like all other pregnant women, I no longer can sleep through the night without getting up to go to the bathroom. The plus side is that our room is usually kept cleaner now as tripping over your shoes at 2 in the morning is not a fun thing.
4) Sports bras are the best thing ever. Enough said.
5) Baby stuff is confusing. There's so much stuff out there but who knows what you really need. I guess I still have 6 months to figure out the big stuff but man, it's a bit overwhelming. And by a bit, I mean alot!
So that's what I've learned so far. I can't wait to see what I learn over the next few months. It's such a fun experience.
1) I'm tired. I'm ALWAYS tired. I'm hoping that ends soon but even if it doesn't, there's two things I love about it. I take a lot of naps. And who doesn't love naps? The other thing is I've finally gotten to the point where I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. That's always alluded me before and I'm hoping this continues long after the baby is here. I've also been able to fall asleep just about anywhere, which is also a new thing.
2) If I'm hungry, give me food immediately! I've never been one to deny myself food (that's pretty obvious) but eating has been very important to me. Two things could happen if I don't eat - I become a raving lunatic and/or I get faint. Neither of which is fun for anyone. My purse has become a walking grocery store. If you're hungry, come find me. Chances are I could feed you a whole meal just out of my purse.
3) Like all other pregnant women, I no longer can sleep through the night without getting up to go to the bathroom. The plus side is that our room is usually kept cleaner now as tripping over your shoes at 2 in the morning is not a fun thing.
4) Sports bras are the best thing ever. Enough said.
5) Baby stuff is confusing. There's so much stuff out there but who knows what you really need. I guess I still have 6 months to figure out the big stuff but man, it's a bit overwhelming. And by a bit, I mean alot!
So that's what I've learned so far. I can't wait to see what I learn over the next few months. It's such a fun experience.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A little bit about us
Eric was born in Arizona but spent much of his life in different states as his father was in the Army. He's lived in California, Louisiana, and Germany, just to name a few. His primary love in life (besides me) is golf. He's played golf since he was a small kid and is really quite good at it. He currently does inside sales for Cox Communications, our local cable/internet/phone provider.
Beth was born and raised in Phoenix, Az. She's a bit more of a nerd than Eric is as her primary obsessions are reading, cross-stitching and, lately, cake decorating. I work as a meeting planner for a healthcare association and absolutely adore planning events.
We got married on October 2, 2004. We live in Anthem with our yellow lab, Fergie. We've got a great group of friends that we enjoy spending time with and really couldn't imagine life any other way.
We recently learned that we are expecting our first child on February 28, 2011. We hope to use this blog to keep our friends and family, both near and far, informed on how things are going on our new and exciting adventure.
So there you go. Our first post. Hopefully the ones in the future will be a little more exciting.
Beth was born and raised in Phoenix, Az. She's a bit more of a nerd than Eric is as her primary obsessions are reading, cross-stitching and, lately, cake decorating. I work as a meeting planner for a healthcare association and absolutely adore planning events.
We got married on October 2, 2004. We live in Anthem with our yellow lab, Fergie. We've got a great group of friends that we enjoy spending time with and really couldn't imagine life any other way.
We recently learned that we are expecting our first child on February 28, 2011. We hope to use this blog to keep our friends and family, both near and far, informed on how things are going on our new and exciting adventure.
So there you go. Our first post. Hopefully the ones in the future will be a little more exciting.
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