Phay and Marc's baby girl and what happened to week 17?

Seriously, what happened to week 17? I remember saying "I'm sixteen weeks, I'm sixteen weeks," and then I looked at my calendar this morning and it said 18 weeks. Huh. I thought that was wrong and had to double-check. But sure enough, I'm 18 weeks today. Supposedly I should start to feel the baby soon. I read this morning that she's very active now. She's yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing.

In more exciting news, Phay and Marc are having their baby girl today. (This is the only picture I took at Phay's shower. And it's a terrible picture. How sad is that? See what happens when Khan's not there and I get stuck with the camera. No pictures.) Her name is Tailia, but I don't know how to spell it. It's pronounced "tie-lee-ah." Khan and I will go visit our newest niece tomorrow.

Mr. Professional Engineer

Khan got his big fancy professional engineer certificate in the mail today along with his license. And although he never has to take that test again, I hope he remembers to renew his license every two years.

Nothing too exciting going on right now. Had to go to the lab for bloodwork before work, have to run to Target to pick up Rhogam (hurray for being Rh negative) after work, and I have three visits to the doctor over the next three weeks. It's OK for now, but it sure makes me wonder how people do it when it's the second or third baby.

Oh - and I added 17 week pictures in the pregnant Kate album. I'm not sure I'm enjoying these pictures though because it looks to me like my bum is growing as fast as my belly.

I heart maternity clothes

I've made the switch and I'm never going back. Ever. Okay, most of it's not great to look at, but it feels fantastic. Today I'm wearing elastic-waist (roll-top) khakis and a big brown bag of a shirt from Old Navy, but it feels like I'm wearing pajamas.

I had my last hurrah with regular clothes on Friday when I tried to wear a pair of jeans to work. They were pretty big; I bought them when I had gained some weight. Anyway, put 'em on at home and thought these will work. Got to the office, sat down at my desk and realized I was completely stupid. They cut into my belly for about 10 minutes until I gave in and opened the button. Sat at my desk all day with my button undone, but there was no way I could make it through the day any other way. And that's when I went online and bought myself a new pair of maternity jeans from Old Navy.

daddy's girl

Just soon after her last blog about not knowing whether it's a boy or a girl, well...IT'S A GIRL. We went for an ultrasound today and...you know what? Our baby girl may have looked like a shadow on the move and we wonder is that an arm? is that a leg? that's the heart beating?!!...but boy was she pretty. After we found out, naturally we went to look at some baby stuff. We got a little one-zee (I think that's how they pronounce it). And it says..."daddy's little princess.'' Need I say more.

Khan

Car and baby gear shopping

Well, we spent the weekend shopping for baby and baby related stuff, I guess. I also tried to learn how to use the manual settings for the camera, but as you can see (Kitty and her mice), I'm no good at it.

So, we looked at minivans first. We don't know what we'll do. We might just leave the cars alone until the blue Altima is paid for. Or maybe we'll trade it in. We don't know. I think if we do trade it in, we'll get a Mazda MPV. Probably a 2005.

Then, we went searching for more maternity bargains. Found a few things at Old Navy and the Motherhood store. And not a moment too soon, actually. I finally updated the "pregnant Kate" album with my 15-week picture. It's getting harder to hide my little belly.

Last stop was Babies R Us, and we started our registry there. Not much on it yet because we don't know if Junior is a boy or a girl. The registry will help us keep track of what we have and what we need to buy, so it will be a good tool for us. We have the stroller and carseat combo on it already, and just found out we won't be needing a swing, a bouncer, or a bassinet. Joy is giving us hers because Pearl will most likely outgrow them by the time our baby arrives. Every little bit helps, there sure is a lot of crap out there.