Finally!

Brian edited this clip of the ultrasound down from the hi-tech one we had at 12 weeks. He says that this is the only good part of the whole 20 minutes because you can see his business. Pay close attention to his "special area" for confirmation.

More Stuff!

Here is the diaper bag that Aunt Sara picked out and Grandma & Grandpa bought for us. We thought the green was a nice neutral color so Brian would feel comfortable carrying it around. Probably with Evan strapped to his chest!
Here is the crib bedding we bought in MN. This isn't a great picture, I will try to find a better one!

Outfits

We had a great weekend in Minnesota for Sara & Jim's couples shower. It was quite an experience to be the designated driver for once! There were several jeers that I should just stay pregnant (Britney Spears style) so I can continue to chauffeur.
This past weekend also marked the official beginning of Evan's wardrobe. Grandma Gail & Grandpa Ross, Aunt Sara & Uncle Yimbo & Uncle Andrew all contributed mightily to Evan's closet this weekend with onesies, pjs, a blanket, a baby book and a diaper bag.
Andrew contributed the "My Uncle Rocks" onesie. We will be sure Evan is decked out in that every time Andrew babysits ;)
While we were out shopping for the newest Clarkson addition, James, we stumbled across some baby Vikings gear, which of course, Brian could not resist! You can see Pearl is more than happy to share the Football Sunday dress up torture with her little brother!
We are back to Minnesota tomorrow for 9 days of relaxing and cooler weather!

Classic Cruiser Silver Speedster

Evan's first gift from Granny Annie!


A lot of expletives went into its construction by Brian!

An uneventful doctor's appointment

Finally! A doctor's appointment where Brian didn't miss anything spectacular!
I went in this morning for my first exam. Ladies, you know what I mean. Pretty standard stuff. Everything looks good. The nurse practitioner tried to listen the the baby's heartbeat with a hand held speaker type machine but he was moving around so much she could only find it for a second or two at a time. Again, is there any doubt who this kid is taking after already?
We ended up down at the ultrasound machine again which was fun to see but after the high tech ultrasound from last week, the pictures were pretty boring. The NP did say that he seemed to be sucking his thumb which means he does take after me some, too. I am having visions of headgears with denim neck straps in about 12 years!
So, to wrap it up...we have a confirmed thumb sucking jumping bean - A perfect mix of Brian and me!

Our FIRST baby purchase!

How adorable is this? I got it in brown and can't wait to bundle him up in it next winter!

A Little Surprise...

Well, I’ve been informed that in order for me to solidify my role as the “other parent” of this child, I need to make a blog entry tonight…apparently just providing the swimmers that got us here wasn’t enough. So, officially all of the cool stuff seems to happen without me there (well, I suppose it’s not entirely true to say that ALL the cool stuff happens without me, in that obviously ONE pretty cool thing that required my presence happened about 12 weeks and 5 days ago)! Anyway, Elisabeth went in for what was supposed to be a standard appointment to have some tests run at a more specialized fetal clinic that apparently had some pretty high tech ultrasound equipment…an appointment where nothing overly spectacular was supposed to happen in the way of new developments. So with a hectic work schedule today, we figured that I would be safe to sit this one out. Wrong. Elisabeth called me when she was finished to say that she had received an interesting bit of news during the visit, but when I pressed her to fill me in, she said it was news that she couldn't share with me over the phone. As it turns out, after having gone through a series of 3D ultrasounds, they were actually able to determine (with at least 90% certainty) the sex of the little jumping bean growing inside her! So, I promptly ducked out of a meeting at my office in order to drive up to hers. Shortly after opening the door she mandated that I close my eyes. Now, as anyone who has been familiar with this pregnancy thus far knows (not to mention the many months/years of “baby conversations” prior) we were DEFINITLEY going to be having a girl first…which I suppose should have been my first clue. Once I got the green light from Elisabeth to open my eyes, there she stood in front of me with a blue lollypop in her hand…across the front of which it read “IT’S A BOY”. Unreal…I was completely floored…absolutely incredible that we're going to have a SON…and immediately my mind snapped to thoughts about exactly how small they make Vikings jerseys?! Needless to say we were both teary-eyed as we hugged each other tightly for a while, first for love and then almost just to absorb the enormity of this surprise. So...it's official...it's a boy!
Now, when I was informed that I would be contributing to the blog this evening, given the newly discovered gender of the baby, my immediate inclination was to post this under the subject line heading of “Holy Balls!”…but apparently I’ve been informed by the mother-to-be that such a tag line isn't as much a “creative play on words” as it is “wildly inappropriate language” for a baby blog. Man, parenting is tough.
The pictures that I posted below were from the ultrasound today. One of which is a 3D pic, where the baby looks uncannily like an old man, and in the other non-3D pic the baby's making his old man proud as it looks uncannily like he’s hoisting a cold beer. I will also try to figure out how to post a video clip that I harvested from the ultrasound dvd that they gave us. If I manage to get that posted, pay particular attention to what I think is a pretty sweet "ween shot" about 3 seconds in…definitely a Peterson. If for some reason I can't figure out the video post and you are interested in seeing it, I'll make sure that both Elisabeth and I have the file to send by email.
So, it’s official…Elisabeth is going to have her hands full...now that there’s going to be two of us running around!

Second Doctor's Appointment

I had my second doctor's appointment on August 7th and actually met with the doctor this time. Brian was along for the ride and let me tell you...Gail, I can imagine what it must have been like for you to have to sit in an examination room with Brian waiting for the doctor for half an hour...he was a mess! I guess it is a good thing that I have plenty of practice with short attention spans!
The doctor came into the exam room and started looking through my chart and the notes from my last visit with the Nurse Practitioner. The doctor mentioned that she was concerned about my first ultra sound. What?! I looked at Brian like, "Concerned? She is already concerned??". After some clarification, it was determined that she thought the dates on the ultrasound were wrong. So back to the ultrasound machine to see if we could get a better read on the kidney bean.
It is amazing how much the baby has developed in the last 3 weeks! He/She is no longer a bean but a little person with a face and arms and legs flailing (DEFINITELY Brian's kid!). Once he/she had stopped jumping around so much the doctor took another measure and lo and behold, instead of 10 weeks 2 days, we are 11 weeks 4 days! At this rate, I will be having this kid next week!
Our new due date is February 22nd so the good news there is I am done with my first trimester. This has been the fastest first 3 months ever. I went from 5 weeks to 7 weeks to 11 1/2 weeks in a flash! Soon it will be time to break out the muu muus. :(

The doctor also said that she gave no stock at all to the theories that girls have faster heartbeats so I guess as far as evidence goes, we are back to 50-50 on what we will have. I am still pretty sure it is a girl!
I think the whole situation has finally become reality for Brian. Last night he kept charging at me and grabbing my belly saying, "You have a person in there!".