BUMPdate: 18 weeks (and more!)

Here I am to 18 weeks! Getting closer to half-way. I am still getting sick in the mornings, but am so grateful still because I am feeling better the rest of the time. I can feel movement now which is even more exciting. 

And this week we made our first purchase for the baby: a new car seat. Since it's been over six years since we've had Brynn, the car seat we used for her has now expired. We just got back into town today and it was on our doorstep. We opened up and really liked it, so hopefully baby will too.

On St. Patrick's day we have our next appointment which is the 20-week ultrasound where we hope to learn the gender of the baby. Right now, it seems the consensus is BOY! Here are the reasons why I think so - if you would like to leave a comment at the end, I'd love to know others' guesses as well. I will definitely post on the 17th with the verdict.

1. I wasn't sick this long with Brynn.
2. At my last appointment the heart rate was in the 140s ("they" say slower like 140's means boy and faster like 150s means girl). Brynn's heart rate was never below the 150s. 
3. I do think that I'm carrying a little higher this time, but I didn't have a 4-month pic to compare from before, so that's a little sketchy. I do remember thinking I carried really low with Brynn. 

So, I guess only few reasons, really, but that's what I got. :-) I don't remember being this tired with Brynn, but I didn't know if that was a reason for boy or if it's just because now I'm six years older. Ha. I am very much looking forward to finding out, so I am hopeful he or she is cooperative that day.

Now to catch up on the other recent happenings around here. I am still quite tired in the evenings, so I haven't been very good on keeping up with the blog.

 A couple of weekends ago, Grandma Laurie and Papa Kim came to visit. They brought with them some gifts from Auntie Shelly and Uncle Lester for Valentine's and Christmas. One of them was a bird house. Grandpa and Brynn had a fun time putting it together and painting it. 

 Today we were in Hurdsfield celebrating cousin Benjamin's 2nd birthday. It's hard to believe he is that old already. Dana even commented when looking at the pictures how much older he looks every time we see him.  We had a lot of fun celebrating with him at his Elmo birthday party today.

A card Brynn made for Ben. Love her Elmo drawing!

The birthday boy with his cake. The cake was so yummy and very cute.

Pin the cookies on Cookie Monster!