Parker's first Thanksgiving...well...sort of.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends old and new...and family near and far.  Well, mostly far. :)

It's been a really fun day.  Kelly joined us for Thanksgiving this year, and showed me how to make my mother's stuffing.  Isn't it a crime that a close friend had to show me how to make the stuffing?   Here's a picture of it before cooking, doesn't it look amazing?

Mumsie's amazing stuffing! Brought to you by Kelly Edwards.

So the bird is in the oven, loaded with herbed butter under the skin. Cookies are made, pies were baked yesterday...so all that's left is to make the corn pudding and mashed potatoes.  SWEET.

I almost died laughing when I turned around and Paul was standing here with a "please make us martinis" look on his face!

Pretty please?

The men enjoying their afternoon martinis and snacks.

Right now I am sitting here wondering...is it inappropriate to have pie as an appetizer??

Kelly bought us a really nice bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue for Thanksgiving.  Paul isn't a scotch person, but he's really enjoying it too.  However, it could be the two martinis he had first...

Busting out the Blue

Rhyme has been drooling since I put the turkey in the oven this morning.  Once I took it out, I had his undivided attention.

Carving away!  The belly did push the roasting pan at one point.  It was pretty funny

Is any of that for me? It is my Birthday, after all.

Quite the spread!!  Charlie was eyeing the dinner.

And of course, after dinner...the animals had to have their plate.  Since today is also Rhymes birthday, Paul made him an extra special plate, with lots of gravy.

Rhyme waiting patiently

The animal chef at work.

And now, it's time for a well-deserved nap.  And then pie.  Maybe two slices of pie.  Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.  And, in case you were wondering...Parker loves Turkey.  She was dancing around in excitement and is now experiencing her first food coma.

Yep. That's a pregant belly.

There's a baby girl in there!

So I'm just about 23 weeks (that's a little over 5 months now) and it's pretty clear that there's a baby on board. 

She's starting to become pretty active these days. She loves to headbutt my bladder on a regular basis, especially when I'm at work...usually on a conference call or on the phone with a client. Pretty much when it's most inconvenient. She also loves to wiggle around when I settle into bed for the night.  Since her inner ear is developing, it's probably because she senses the shift in my position and is getting comfortable herself. Paul can feel her kick, and the other morning she kicked me so hard that I saw my stomach move.  It was kind of creepy. But really cool.

Been trying to stay active, but I'm just so freaking tired this week.  We did go to our neighbors' wedding last weekend and had a blast.  Was so much fun, even being the DD! In between the ceremony and the reception, we hit up the bar. Naturally.

Smile!  You have a designated driver!

As my belly grows, I'm dealing with the usual stuff...round ligament pain (NOT FUN), bloating, back pain, general crankiness.  But, all things considered I am still very healthy and lucky to be feeling as good as I do.  Sometimes when I start complaining about back pain and stuff, I feel like a real asshole because there are so many women out there who would do anything to be pregnant...

If you've read this far - WOW.

For those of you who haven't heard, we have decided to name our daughter Parker Morgan.  Morgan is Mumsie's maiden name...and Parker was just kind of pulled out of thin air. Needless to say, Mumsie was really excited that we chose Morgan as a middle name.  She'd been hinting, sometimes subtly, sometimes not, that we should name the baby after her in some way.  What she didn't know, is that we had that picked out long before she decided to drop a hint. ;)

Okay.  I'm really tired.  We had a big night - it's Paul's birthday so we went out for Hibachi at Kome Steak House...it was delicious.  I am not looking forward to the soy-induced bloating in the morning.  Guess it's time to go fill my water glass...

Until next time - wish us and little Parker well!!

It's A.........

Girl!!

We had our 20-week ultrasound today and it was determined that the baby is a girl! Now, I just have to stop calling her "the baby".  I really had to work at not calling the baby "it" or "he" or "she" for almost 5 months now, it's kind of a hard habit to break.  Harder than you'd think.  Here are pictures of her and her various body parts. 

Little baby!

She has long legs like her mom and dad. Look at how the little bones are already there. CRAZY.

In the middle there is a foot, toes and all.

The "gender" picture.  The ultrasound tech was nice enough to put a little pointing hand to show that there's no penis here!

As for my gender test experiments - THIS TEST LIES.  Don't waste your money.  I followed the directions to the letter. :) 

So if you're reading beyond the cute baby pictures, they also took 20+ pictures of the heart and brain and everything looks normal.  In fact, the baby is a little larger than usual...which the doctor says is a good thing.  I'm still on the fence.  :) Really though, I'm just happy she is healthy.