I got a new camera last week and have been literally photographing everything that moves!
>>Fast-forward to yesterday>> We were puttering around outside checking the pumpkins etc., and I snapped this picture of Katie. I have to say it is my favorite piccy of all time, it captures everything I love in a single frame!

Finley, we saw you today and you looked back at us…
We reckon you’ve got Momma’s nose but your big old heeeead is probably from Dad!
You were weighing in at a healthy 2 lbs. 13 oz., in the 73rd percentile for weight, and your Momma got very hungry during the several hour long examination which included drinking a very sugary drink and then testing for gestational diabetes. A trip to The Corner Bakery cured our hunger and we drove home happy that we had seen so much of you

You were sat on your right foot and your left foot was next to your head! Quite the contortionist

Check out a video too;

No, no, no!! This is not about Martin and I taking body shots off each other’s bellies…it’s much sexier!! I haven’t posted belly pics in a long time, and figured it was high time I remedied that fact. So you get not one, not two, but four belly pictures to feast your eyes upon. Drink it in, drink it in. : ) In other news, we have our 28 week appointment on Thursday of this week, where we get to check in on Fin and I get to experience the much buzzed about Gestational Diabetes test. Will I pass? Will I fail? Will I still be able to see my toes over this belly by then? All you can do, folks, is tune in then and see. I promise a new post Thursday or Friday with all the nitty gritty on what’s going on with Finley and my blood sugar. I’m so excited, either way!! I can’t believe I’m almost 28 weeks!! Our little Fin-Flam is going to be here sooner rather than later, and that’s a blessing indeed! See you later this week!

This weekend went by way too fast but the highlight for me was feeling my son’s first hiccups!

Katie called me over to place a hand on her belly and sure enough, hiccups… Finley was hiccuping every 5 – 10 seconds and it was really neat, although perhaps not so much fun for him.

I read that all women will experience their babies hiccuping whilst still in the belly; it must be a very surreal feeling.

Anyway, my message to little Finley is;

Thanks son, you made my weekend.

The last three months have seen an exciting transformation to our upstairs rooms, most importantly to the future nursery for little Fin!

The renovations started with a complete clear out, a fresh coat of paint on all the walls followed by ripping up the old smelly carpet and installing clean hand scraped wood floors;

New Wood Floors in the Nursery

Shiny Floors

The next stage involved spending too much money, multiple visits to Babies R Us, Lonestar Baby and Ikea!

Hey Presto… Instant furniture;

MTV Cribs

The Salty Sea Dogs and Changing Table

The last and most ambitious phase of the transformation was too incorporate a large Pirate themed mural on one of the walls. We had the best artist in North Texas (you know who you are… Mum!) helping us and it looks amazing!

Phase 1 - Tree, Chest, Map and Ship

Phase 1 continued - Finleys Pirate Ship!

Phase 2 involved filling in the details on the Pirate map, it was alot of fun

Phase 2 - More Detail Added

The final product, we love it….

Finleys Ship

The Treasure Chest

They're All After My Treasure!

Watch Out for Coconuts

Finished!

Nothing special to write about today. I just wanted to tell you, Finley, how so very grateful I am to have you. Every night before I go to sleep I say ”Goodnight, Fin” and I thank God for you, this little life nestled inside of me. I am so excited to meet you and to see your tiny face, which I plan to kiss every available inch of. I see so much struggle around me to conceive and give birth to strong, healthy babies, and it brings tears to my eyes. We are so lucky, not just to be pregnant (even though I am incredibly thankful just for that) but that God gave us you specifically. I don’t know you yet, but I already KNOW you like the back of my hand. I can see you, all of you, what you are and what you will be. I want such great things for you, my son, but I also want all the little inconsequential things for you that make life…life. For now, just keep growing strong and healthy and developing everything you need to face the world in December. Every time I rub my belly, tickle you from the outside, prod you, and talk to you (and sometimes even sing, very badly), just know it’s just a tiny taste of what’s to come. You will get so tired of all the hugs, tickles, and kisses I plan to torture you with. And every time you say “Oh, Mom, come on!! No more!!” I’ll just smile my secret smile, and thank God that he gave you to me.  I love you, Finley.

K

Seems like we’re always playing catch up here at Holland Baby Book. We are officially bad baby bloggers! Say that five times fast! All is well here in the baby growing department. Finley is doing really well as confirmed by our 20 week appointment last week. Dr. Moser measured and checked every conceivable part of little Finley and everything was perfect. Two stand-out things to know, Fin is weighing in at hearty 14 oz. and Dr. Moser made the comment that he is definitely going to be a tall one. Martin’s already planning basketball practices and drills!

I’m feeling him move with some regularity. Some days I’ll only notice a few nudges, and other days he’ll be busting out with some ju-jitsu ninja skills. So, it still varies from day to day, or at least my noticing it does. I know his movement is only going to increase, so I’m actually looking forward to some good jabs and kicks in the days ahead. This will be the only time punching and kicking will be acceptable. Fin’s going to be a lover…not a fighter!

I can’t believe that we are already half way there! My December 10 due date seemed so far away, but now I really feel it creeping ever closer. Even though, to me, it still seems like forever. Getting Fin’s nursery together is in full swing. So far, we have our crib, bedding, chest o’ drawers (which we’re using as a changing table), and bookcase. Martin took a week off work to put wood floors in the two upstairs bedrooms with the help of my wonderful brother, Chase, and it all looks great. Check out the latest photos of the beautiful room for Finley to come home to;

Everything is good with me. I’m actually feeling pretty good, and the only major gripe I have is some major acid-reflux. Still, it’s worth it and I’ll take every bout with heartburn, since I know it’s all part of being wonderfully preggers.  I’ll leave you with my 17, 18, 19, and 21 week belly pics. Steadily growing, if I do say so myself. I can’t believe we have to post four belly pictures at the same time.

(Note from Martin: It’s good to see that Katie has at least four different pairs of Pajama pants )

We really are bad bloggers! Martin, we need to get with it, son!!!  Until next time…

K

Well here we are at 20 weeks and our baby heartbeat monitor, or “fetal doppler” as they’re known in the trade, has just arrived.
We ordered a SonoTrax fetal doppler online from ClinicalGuard.com and although it took over a week to arrive, it is AWESOME!

Our SonoTrax Fetal Doppler

I unpacked the relatively small doppler unit from an overly large USPS box and scrambled around in our garage to find a square 9v battery. Once it was powered up I quickly bumped up the volume and tried to find my own heart beat… It work almost straight away and I have to say, it is a very strange feeling listening to your own “whooshing” heart beat. The clear display monitors and presents a live update of your beats per minute, there is even a line output for listening with headphones or recording the sounds to a computer (We will have to do that for another post).

Katie and I wasted no time, we grabbed one of the tubes of goop that had arrived with the package and set out to find Finley’s heart beat. It didn’t take long and we monitored his wonderful little drum beat for a minute or so. He was making a steady 150 bpm.

I have to say, we love our SonoTrax doppler. It is the basic model but it comes with a 3MHz probe which is supposed to be ideal for listening to baby beats!

So anyway, up until this point I thought that hearing little Finley’s heartbeat was the best thing since sliced bread, but I wasn’t prepared for my next surprise. We were sat watching TV and Katie called me over;

Place your hand right here, she said, and apply a little pressure.

I placed my hand on her belly and we sat for quite a while, glancing every now and then at the ridiculous show on TV (Real Housewives of New Jersey!). After about five minutes we figured he has just gone to sleep so I was ready to sit back down but then Katie told me to quickly put my hand back on the bel-bel!

A KICK, I ACTUALLY FELT A KICK!!!

OK, this is the best thing since sliced bread, it was an amazing feeling and one that I will never forget.

I have to leave on a business trip today but little Finley has given me plenty to think about and I doubt I will be concentrating much on work. I can’t wait to get back home, get a second coat of paint on the nursery walls and feel some more of those amazing kicks.

As promised, here’s the succession of belly pictures so far. Definitely noticing a little rotundness here lately. I think it looks less like a baby belly right now, but more like I just ate a huge bowl of pasta…with garlic bread, a side salad, and a huge piece of cheesecake. Mmmmmm, pasta… Anywho, I think I’m just ready for it to pop a little bit more, even though I actually notice a little roundness now.

6 Weeks 2 Days

8 Weeks 2 Days

11 Weeks

13 Weeks

15 Weeks

17 Weeks

In other big news, we went in for a quick check-up on Wednesday, June 30th when I was 16 weeks. We were hoping for a peek at what’s going on between Papergrape’s legs, but no go. The little one was absolutely not cooperating and was laying really low in my abdomen with most of his lower half hidden behind my pubic bone. We were just there for a medical history visit, so we didn’t have time to try to get Papergrape to move around, and we went home a little disappointed at not knowing what we were having.

We immediately called Stork Vision to set up an appointment for Monday July 5th at 11:30 to have a 2D ultrasound for gender determination. That Monday as soon as we took a peek in side the ole’ uterus, Papergrape was turned around facing my spine, hunched over like nobody’s business. I was kinda proud our little one wasn’t giving up the goods so easily, but also quite frustrated. I was ready to know boy or girl, and ready to do a little shopping! : ) After about 10 min., it was clear we weren’t going to make any progress because PG just wasn’t budging. Our ultrasound tech, Pam, gave us the option of coming back in about 30 minutes after her next appointment to see if there was any change in the baby’s position. We jumped at the chance, even though my bladder was about to burst! I had drank two bottles of water prior to the appointment to try to ensure that my full bladder would push my uterus up and out, hopefully giving us a better view of the babe. Ughhhh!! I needed to pee, but there we were 30 minutes later. Martin calmly waiting to see if there were any changes, me squirming with a grimace on my face trying not to disgrace myself on the ultrasound table. And….NO CHANGE!!! Papergrape had shifted up a little but still no money shot. Pam, the tech, was super nice and said I could try anything to try to get the baby to change positions. I’m trying to imagine myself and Martin getting me into a headstand…maybe I could use the wall…when my genius husband suggested I try a little yoga. He’s a quick thinker, I tell ya!! I immediately got on all fours on the table with my butt in the air and my head on my arms on the table. Then, I moved to the floor and got into a downward dog position to see if maybe it would shake that baby up a bit! The visual now is hilarious, and I forgot to ask if the tech had ever seen that method before.

Following the yoga session I got back on the table and as soon as we got a look, the tech and Martin called out simultaneously, “It’s a boy!!!” And there it was, in all it’s glory, our son’s little frank and beans!! We were elated but also in shock! A son…oh my gosh…a son! So that is exactly what’s growing in my belly (well technically uterus), our son Finley Arthur. We are so excited to meet you, Finley! You are already so loved and anticipated by not only your parents, but so many others. I promise to love you, encourage you, laugh with you, sing with you, dance with you, and appreciate you always. We love you so much, Fin!

I have to admit, Katie’s last post left me a little damp eyed! Yes, I’ll admit, I almost teared up reading back through her experience of that special day when we finally found out! It is an amazing feeling after trying for so long but it also feels very surreal, a feeling that we’re still dealing with.

Things have been moving along slowly, we count each hour, each day, each week and we’re anxious to see our next sonogram and hear that little heartbeat again. Speaking of sonograms, we recently had our 12 week sonogram which included some groovy 3D video captures. I hadn’t seen one of them before and was amazed at the clarity of the video, you can actually see arms waving and a hint of a face every now and then.

Apparently little Paper Grape had his, or her, face planted warmly into the placenta (what a great mental picture!) and he/she didn’t exactly feel like being captured facing forwards so most the images are side on or facing P.G.’s back.

If anyone wants to see little P.G. in his/her first movie then you can view our little vid below… (Warning: The music is extremely cheesy!)