Bye bye, Flu

Flu, Fly Away Already!
Dave came down with the flu this past weekend, so I was busy taking care of him. Then, he was so kind to give me some of the symptoms. I had a flu shot, but they are saying it might not work as well as they thought it would. I didn't get the full out flu, just felt achy and sick at times. We both ended up resting for a few days together...at least we weren't alone!

A lot of people at work are sick as well. There are a lot of illnesses going around. I've been working from home, all last week and this week too to stay away from it all.

Sono to Come
I have another doctor's appointment and (whoo-hoo) sonogram this coming Tuesday. Dave and I love sonograms...it is definitely are favorite. I want to include all his/her sonogram pictures in a baby book once the baby is born. Ha--if I have the time to, that is!

I'll definitely try to post some sonogram pictures on here next week for all of my faithful viewers.

25 Weeks & Counting
I'm nearing the end of my 25th week. At my sonogram I will be 26 weeks, but right now they say the baby rivals the average rutabaga in weight -- about 1 1/2 pounds. (Length: 13 1/2 inches, head to heel.) I've included another picture for the visual people in my audience.

I guess you are considered "full term" at 37 weeks, but most babies are born closer to 40-41 weeks. (I'm learning a lot by reading, can you tell?)

Hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. Take care!

Movement Galore!

I've been scolded by Baby Stern's Aunt Rachel that I need to update my blog more, so here is my first entry since the scolding. :)

Baby Update

I'm about 24 weeks into my pregnancy right now and things have been going quite well. The baby is getting bigger every day (as is my belly), and according to a newsletter I get every week it is now about the length of an ear of corn! (See visual below.)

The baby is also very active, which is comforting to me. Sometimes I worry if I can't feel the baby, but then he/she will kick me to remind me that it's still there. Dave can't wait to be able to feel the kicks too, but at the moment they aren't strong enough to be felt on the outside. Poor Dave, he'll have to wait a little longer.

I checked my Expectnet.com BabyStern game last night and was surprised to see that 13 people have guessed! It's really fun seeing what people think it will be-so far most think it will be a boy. Guess we will have to wait to see who's right!

Life News Update

Dave's Back
In other news, the battle with getting Dave into his back surgery is still ongoing unfortunately. We are duking it out with Workers Comp and Blue Cross Blue Shield to get someone to pay for it. I hate red tape! It's very hard on us because everything is so uncertain, and it's hard to know what to expect or plan for in the near future. The first tentative surgery date has come and gone now, February 13th. Hopefully things with the insurance companies will move forward and someone will agree to pay for it. Then the question will be will it be too late before the baby comes or not. Guess we'll deal with that when it comes.

Border Patrol
My friend Hillary was accepted into the Border Patrol program down in Texas just a few weeks ago. They told her to be ready to go in two weeks, so she was frantically going around to everyone to say goodbye. She visited our house for the first time and brought along some baby gifts, since she said she wouldn't be able to make my baby shower. She got me pretty much everything I'll need for anything bath-related. Thanks, Hillary! She said goodbye to us, then went to visit more of her family/friends before she had to leave February 11th to Texas. I told her she should start a blog about all her experiences there...maybe she will still.

Wedding Season?
Into Memories Photography has been getting a lot of wedding inquiries these days. We've been to a few wedding interviews with some couples and we are looking forward to hearing back from them. So far though, we have four weddings booked for the summer months. Obviously I can't shoot anytime from May-June, but I am scheduled to shoot two weddings, one in August and one in September. I'm really excited about how much we have grown. We've even increased our prices a bit, we're still cheap as ever, but we have a lot more experience now.
Check our latest on our site and blog - intomemories.com and intomemories.com/blog.

Brrrr
Well, it's February in Liverpool and you'd think Spring is just around the corner, but nope. It's been colder than ever here. We have our wood furnance going to try to keep our National Grid bill down, but still...brrrr! I can not WAIT until Spring though. I miss the green, the birds, the smell of SOMETHING other than snow. I guess this is what you call Spring Fever?

Okay, that's all I can think of for now. I'll try to be a better blogger and update this more. I'm still hoping to get some belly pictures taken by our own Into Memories Photographer, Laura, but we still have to set up a date for that. For now, this is Momma Stern, signing off...leave me a post sometime! :)