Beekle

John came home from work one day a few weeks back and told me he bought a book for our baby. He was all excited to tell me about this book and said it came recommended from his co-works's daughter (she's 1 and this book is one of her favorites). The book is titled "Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend". The book is absolutely adorable and I find John's level of excitement to be even more adorable. 

John insists on reading this book to our little man as we get ready for bed at night. I will say he must like the book because he is not shy to give us some kicks and punches. These moments make me excited for the days ahead when we can read to our little man as we snuggle him in our laps.

There's a Party

Man is our boy moving around A LOT!! Over the past week his kicks and punches have seemed to get stronger. I'm loving it and I know John is too! This boy loves to party any time of the day. His biggest times to party seem to be early in the morning, mid afternoon as I sit at work, and then around 8:00/9:00 in the evening. The feeling is truly indescribable and is so amazing. Each time he moves it gives me reassurance that he is still in there just growing away! :)

He also must be partial to my right side as that is where he is mainly located. As I lay in bed in the mornings I can sometimes tell he's on my right side as my belly is a little lopsided. :) At our sonogram his head was on my left side and his feet were on my right side. I should also note that this child shows no mercy on my bladder already so I already fear for weeks 20 and beyond.

Keep on partying little man! We are so in love with you and love feeling your mighty moves.

It's a....

BOY!!!!!!!!!

John and I were super excited to learn today that Baby Leach is a BOY! We have been waiting for this OB apt for weeks and it's so crazy to finally know that we have a little man on our hands. The boy was not shy with his private parts. In fact, the sonographer stated that even if we didn't want to know the gender, it would have been hard to hide as he was NOT modest. 

As usual, the sonographer was great. She took her time with us and really pointed out different things along the way. He is one active boy as he was punching, kicking, opening and closing his mouth, and just constantly moving. He was a little apprehensive to show us his 4 chambered heart. After a few belly taps and coaxing he finally gave in and gave us a good picture.

His report is great! He is just a few ounces away from 1lb, his heart rate was in the upper 150's, and all vital organs are growing as they should. We are truly greatful!!

My part of the check up was uneventful. BP and urine test was good and my bump is measuring on target. Thanks to our weekend NYC trip, I was highly displeased with the number on the scale, but the nurse practitioner was not concerned. I guess I need to take it easy on the desserts. :/

So without further ado, I give you our Baby Boy! 

P.s.- he has a name and has had it since his parents got married. It will be revealed on this "Birth"day. :)

Profile- he really liked his arm above his head and at one point looked like he was sucking his thumb.

Boy parts or as our oldest niece calls it "his peanuts". :)

His leg- which looks so long!

Spine

Cute, little foot

Another profile shot

19 Weeks in NYC

Baby L had quite the eventful Memorial Day Weekend and a big start to week 19!

We took of for NYC early Saturday morning to enjoy the weekend in the big city. We had lots to accomplish on our agenda as we would only be there until Monday evening. Grandma Linda and Uncle Mikey were also in attendance.

Our plane left KC Saturday a.m. We arrived in NYC just in time to check-in to our room and grab some lunch at a favorite food cart for a falafel sandwich. Once our bellies were all full, we headed straight to the new 9/11 Museum and Memorial. John and I had previously seen the Memorial, but the Museum was new to us. I could share a million pictures of the museum but, they will not do it justice. The museum is full of every event that happened leading up to, during, and after 9/11. We probably spent close to 3 hours in the museum just soaking in all of the stories, etc from the day. Such a humbling experience and so many innocent lives lost. The Memorial pools were gorgeous lit up at dusk. After walking all day around the city we grabbed pizza then headed to our hotel for bed.

Once we got back to the hotel and into bed our little peanut must have thought it was time to party. He/she put on quite a show! So much so that dad was able to feel the movement. I'll never forget the look on John's face when he felt our baby for the first time. :) I'm so blessed to be experiencing this journey with him.

Sunday was another busy day. Bagels at Ess-a-bagel, a stroll through Central Park, devouring more delicious food, then roaming through the city to find some ice cream. Sunday evening was our evening to see our musical, Avenue-Q. Avenue-Q is a funny musical that inculdes puppets (hard to explain). We finished up the night at a nearby Cuban restaurant for a light snack then went back to the hotel for bed.

Monday was yet another packed day of fun. We started off the morning again at Ess-a-bagel. This bagel place is seriously amazing!!! After our bagel we packed up and went to Ellis Island. We tourned the museum, learned about the history of Ellis Island, and soaked up the gorgeous view of the Statue of Liberty and the city skyline.

Once we wrapped up our Ellis Island tour, we booked it to the Bronx to watch the Royals play the Yankees at Yankees Stadium. Both John and I have never seen the Royals play outside of Kauffman Stadium. I will say, taking the subway to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx was awesome! The stadium was pretty neat also! Due to the excessive sun and heat, we spent majority of the game standing behind our seats in the shade. Despite the Royals poor performance (14-1 loss), it was awesome to see them play in NYC.

We had a great trip packed full of activity. Admittedly this momma is ready to be home in her own bed. We have a BIG day ahead tomorrow as we will have our mid-pregnancy sonogram and we'll hopefully leave our appointment knowing if we're having a BOY or GIRL.

NYC pictures to come soon....

1 Week To Go!

1 week from today we will be just a few hours away from knowing if this little peanut is a boy or girl!!!! AHHH!!! We are so excited to know what we're having so we can start planning more for the nursery, register, etc. John and I have been having nightly conversations about the topic. :) Either way we'll be happy, we just want he/she to be healthy!

That being said......it's time to cast your vote people!! Are you on Team Boy or Team Girl?

Belly Pics

 I realized last night that I have been slacking on my weekly belly pics. Here are weeks 16-18. Time is flying!!!

 

 

16 weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks

18 weeks

First Flutters

I had thought about a week ago that I had felt a few flutters one afternoon. I wasn't sure. The locaion of he "twitch" I felt was a little higher than I had thought it should be, but I went with it.

Then, Monday came. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon. I was sitting at my desk at work, legs crossed, and kind of leaning over my desk when all of a sudden I felt a litle "tap" in my lower abdomen where my uterus is. I knew instantly that it was the baby. That was probably his/her way of saying, "hey mom, give me some room in here!"

I cannot begin to describe what an amazing feeling it is to feel those first flutters. In those moments I forget all of my worries and know that there is still a little one in there continuing to grow.

Since Monday I have had a few flutters each day. The happen mostly later in the afternoon and have occasionally happened right before bed.

Keep on growing little one! I can't wait to feel those kicks and punches get stronger with each week. Your dad is just as excited to feel them, he told me so. :)

Mother's Day

Dear Baby,

Words cannot expressed how excited I was to be recognized on Mother's Day this year. Before I got pregnant, I would wonder when I would get to celebrate this special day. I will say that I feel so blessed to be able to celebrate this years Mother's Day as a mom-to-be. You are such a blessing to your momma and daddy and we cannot wait to meet you in October.

Love,

Your Mom

16 weeks, 6 days

Dreams Part II

Ok little one, now you're just playing games with your momma!

If you've been reading along, you have learned that I have had 2 boy dreams and 1 girl dream. For the longest time it was tied, 1-to-1, until the 2nd boy dream. Well, this past Wednesday was another game changer.

As I've mentioned before I (and we) are so excited for our appointment on May 26th when we find out the gender of this sweet babe. I woke up Thursday morning and realized I dreamt about the baby's gender again. This time..... a GIRL!!! In the dream John and I did not find out the gender of the baby until I delivered. Then, when we had our girl I had to frantically run around buying pink clothes!

So there you have it. We're back to a tie, 2 boy dreams and 2 girl dreams. What's crazy is that we only have 17 more days until the BIG REVEAL!

Stay tuned.......

Growing into 15 weeks

If I had to pick one word to describe my 15th week it would be "growth"! This little one is definitely growing and I have started to see a huge change in my body.

• I have to consisently wear a bella band with any form of work slacks now.
• My regular spring tops from last year are becoming a wee bit too short. :)
• I started wearing maternity jeans and capri's and LOVE how they feel. I much prefer the full panel vs the shorter panel. The shorter paneled pants seem to creep down as I walk around causing a saggy crotch situation.
• I have become obsessed with GAP's maternity tanks. In fact, I bought 5 more this weekend and I have a feeling they'll just be in a weekly rotation. They are so comfortable!!

This past weekend was pretty eventful. We had First Food Truck Friday on Friday night, a busy day at home Saturday, then a 5k and Sporting KC soccer game on Sunday. Needless to say, as I lay here and finish this post in bed, this momma is t.i.r.e.d. 

15 week, 1 day bump pic. This day also happened to be John's grandma's bday. We couldn't help but think how much she would love to hear of our baby news and progress.

Food Truck Friday....notice that baby bump?! :)

Post 5k- this momma actually survived with a slow jog.

Proud of John for taking 2nd in his age group!!

Finishing the weekend at the Sporting KC soccer game.

Week 15 has been good to us. We pray that weeks 16 and beyond continue to do the same!

Dreams

Not a day goes by that I don't wonder if this little miracle is a boy or girl. The anticipation of May 26th is eating at me! :) We have had several mixed opinions of our baby's gender (as you would expect). John is convinced it's a girl. But me, I'm pretty sure it's a boy. Here are my reasons.....

1. I had a dream earlier in my first trimester that when I finally delivered the baby, my doctor held up a baby boy.
2. A few weeks later I had a dream that we were at our sonogram and was told we were having a girl.

I have been waiting for this "tie breaker" dream and just Thursday night it happened. I had a dream that I sonogramed myself at work with a 3D sonogram and found a boy. What confirms my suspicion more is that my sister Megan text me on my way to work Thursday morning tell me she had a dream that we had a boy and we were calling him Robert and Mr. T (haha). 

Last weekend I also had John try the "ring on a string" wives tale and the ring swayed back and forth over my belly indicating boy.

Regardless of what we find on the 26th, we just want a healthy baby. While it's fun to dream and guess, we really do not have a preference. We pray daily that this little peanut continues to do well and that we get a good report on the 26th.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We celebrated the main man in our lives last weekend! John's birthday was on Sunday, but we made it a point to spoil him the entire weekend. We first started the fun Friday night by going to his mom's for dinner/presents and enjoyed catching up and making an itinerary for our upcoming NYC trip over Memorial weekend. John was spoiled with some new cycling bibs that he has been wanting for quite some time now.

Saturday we took part in the Parkville Brewfest for the afternoon. This was a first for us. The Parkville Brewfest is hosted in the main park in Parkville and they have tents of several micro/craft beer vendors. You buy a ticket, they give you a small tasting glass, and you just roam around tasting beer for 4-5 hours. Of course John enjoyed himself as he had his wife for a DD this year. Despite the off-and-on rain with cooling temps, it was a fun afternoon!

Waiting for Brewfest to start.

Saturday night I had made dinner reservations for us and 8 of our friends to go to Anton's. Anton's is our favorite "special occasion place" in KC. Despite the pricey-ness, they literally have the best steaks in the world and have an entire wall of taps of delicious craft beer. Their steaks are either grass fed or grain fed, dry aged. This place never disappoints! I'm sure there will be one more trip to Anton's pre-Baby Leach.

Out at Anton's.

Some of these pictures are a bit out of order. I made sure to have John snap a pic of me pre-dinner as all of a sudden the tiniest little bump made it's appearance. :) Momma also threw on a pair of maternity pants for the first time and they did not disappoint in its comfort factor and helped ease the pain after a huge meal.

15 weeks & 5 days

Daddy got a gift from some friends at dinner. A baby bag full of delicious tasting beer. Well done, Fallons!

Sunday was John's actual birthday and he awoke to his gifts. This year, a special one from Baby L.

I had gotten John a Royal's T and some funky work socks. The baby got him what he has been asking for from day 1...... The Boba Wrap. Anytime we are out and about he would mention this wrap and had done research on which baby wrap was best to get. Needless to say, I think this item is going to get a lot of use.

How does this thing work??

The pillow baby will do for now.

The finished product!

I'll spare you the picture of me posing in the wrap. The thing is huge and totally consumes me so, pretty sure I'll be registering for something that works for me.

John- I wish you nothing but the best in your 29th year! May all of your dreams and wishes come true. I cannot wait to be parents with you and I have no doubt that our little one will love celebrating your 30th birthday next year in person with you. We love you and are so thankful you are in our lives! Cheers to 29 years and more! xoxo