Furniture!

Well, our new bedroom furniture finally arrived! Everything fit way better than I imagined so I was very pleased! We were even sure to leave a spot in the corner for the glider and the little bed where baby will sleep and still have a good amount of room.

I threw on the comforter just for sake of the pictures so you can see!

We were so excited to get our new bed all made up and sleep in it for the one remaining night at home before we leave for Texas, but then we realized they gave us the wrong mattress. We ordered a plush and they gave us a firm. Ug. I don’t sleep so well on firm mattresses, especially now that I’m pregnant. So now we are waiting to see when we can get our correct mattress delivered. Such a hassle but I know it will all be worth it and then hopefully we can finally get a good night’s sleep! So, we will stay camped out in the guest bedroom til we get the correct mattress.

In other news, we wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! We’ll be away in Texas for a while so I’ll be sure to get lots of pictures of our trip! God bless!!

new bed!!
different view with nightstand on each side

the big dresser we will share

close up of the nightstand

Christmas Fun

This Friday we had a fun Christmas night with Becky & Brendon. We went to a lake called Lake Phalen and they had a display of Christmas lights around part of the lake. There were some pretty impressive ones too - pirate ships, UFOs with little aliens, and a Santa playing golf.

Then after that we went to downtown St. Paul to see their lights display and big Christmas tree. There are so many lights and it really is so pretty. Unfortunately when we went it was about 12 degrees and super windy so we didn't stick around too long. We had a nice dinner with the Andersons and then headed home.

Yesterday, we went and registered for our baby boy!! It was really fun - we registered at both Target and Babies 'r Us. I'm sure we'll have lots of changes to make to our registries but we at least have a good start of the list of things we'll need. It made us both so excited for our little guy to get here and made it seem even more real for us.

Today, we've spent getting the house ready for our new bedroom furniture that is (finally) supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. We've done a lot of rearranging...I've taken a lot of pics so once we get the new furniture I'll probably make that my final post before we take off for Christmas, so be sure to check back in a few days!

I'm still about a week behind on my belly shots, but here is my 22 week Christmasy pic!
At the light display in St. Paul - burr!

Such pretty lights!

Hark the Herald Angels Sing!

Me and Becky - my first friend in MN! :)

Basketball & Snow

Last night, we went to the Timberwolves game with Heather, Jim and Sheena. Our friend Amara was performing a Zumba dance at half time so we went to support her. Jim's dad's company is a sponsor so we got free tickets on row 4!! They were SUPER good seats! It was such a fun experience to get to watch the game that close! We were basically directly across the court from where the Timberwolves sat! Free throw time for the Pistons

Today we had a massive snow storm/blizzard come through. It started snowing on the way home from the basketball game last night and just stopped snowing around 6pm tonight! The National Weather Service says that our city got 15.2 inches!! It's the most snow in one storm in 19 years! Luckily we went to the store last night and got stuff to make a big pot of yummy chili for dinner! The tricky part about the storm is that it's been super windy all day - wind gusts of 30-35mph! So the snow drifts have been insane! The wind blew all the snow on our back deck - poor Michael is still trying to figure out how he is going to shovel that off one day! ;)

Side view of our deck from our living room window

The top of our driveway was totally bare. See the orange pole to the left of Michael? (That helps the plows know where our driveway is.) All the snow was blown to the end of our driveway near the street. The orange pole at the end of our driveway was almost covered except an inch or two at the top that was showing!

Enjoying some baby kicks on a snowy day! :)

Snowed in! This is the snow blown up against our back door!

Happenings

We had a very fun and busy weekend last weekend! Friday night we braved a big snow storm and had a nice dinner with Heather & Jim. When we woke up the next morning we saw our fresh 9 inches of snow!

Saturday, we spent the whole day shopping for bedroom furniture. After years of going back and forth, we finally convinced ourselves that we NEED a king sized bed. Michael and I aren't the most compatible sleepers. And now that I'm pregnant and limited to only sleeping on my sides, apparently he's not a fan of me sleeping in the middle of the bed with my knees in his back. We went to 5 different places. I have to say that I don't really enjoy furniture shopping. The sales people totally stress me out and I don't like the feeling of being watched/stalked. I know they are just doing their jobs, but they really ruin my furniture shopping experience. Anyways....we finally found a set we both loved. It should arrive in the store later this week and we are hoping to have it delivered over the weekend or early next week at the latest.

Sunday, we had our friends over to watch the Vikings game - really just a reason to party. :) Michael grilled fajitas (despite the fact that the high was 15 degrees that day) and we all had a great time.

Today we got our Christmas tree and got it all decorated. It's so pretty and the perfect little size. It's so fun to think about what next Christmas will be like with our little guy possibly crawling all around! :) Speaking of which...I think I finally have felt the baby move!! I felt him over the weekend and have been feeling him every day since. At least I'm pretty sure that's what it is - that or I have some serious twitches in my stomach area. :)

Our typical snow shot - showing how much is piled on the BBQ pit :)

Amara, Sheena, Heather and me

Decorating the tree

Christmas 2010 (Michael makes me look a little underdressed) ;)

The finished product!

I'm in Love

Well when people told me I would love being a mother, I had no idea it would start this early. It's safe to say that I'm completely in love with our little guy!

We went back today for our repeat ultrasound to try to get the last couple of measurements that they couldn't get at the big ultrasound a couple of weeks ago...the upper lip and the profile. When she first started the ultrasound, he had his back to us (great view of the spine though) and had his legs crossed - little stinker. :) Luckily though as she was getting a few other pictures, little guy flipped our direction and there was the most precious face I've ever seen.

He looked right towards us and did a huge yawn - we both saw it! Of course, it brought tears to my eyes. :*) (Michael is still trying to figure out why he is so tired in there) ;) She got the picture of his lip - everything looked good. She also got a good shot of the nasal bone which was neat to see. As she was still looking, he was just moving all around and then we saw him pull his hand up and put his fingers in his mouth. It was so cute!!!! Heart rate still looked wonderful at 161 bpm.

We had a different ultrasound girl this time and she asked if we knew the sex. We told her boy and she asked if we wanted her to double check for us. :) Sure enough, he is DEFINITELY still a boy! :D

I know most of you have already experienced these moments with your own ultrasounds, but it just amazes me. I seriously almost missed my exit for work because I couldn't quit thinking about him.

Here are his new pictures!

Precious profile - you can see the nose and little mouth

Here is his action shot where you can see him putting his fingers in his mouth.:)

The white dots at the bottom (direclty below the word "chin") are the bones of his spine.

And please don't think I'm vain for posting so many belly shots, but this time is just so special and it's so hard to not be near our family and friends in Texas - so frequent belly shots is my way of being there in person. ;)

This is actually last week's 20 week picture - half way there!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving 2010! I hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We had a big cold front and snow/sleet storm move in on Wednesday, so our high on Thanksgiving was 15 - burr! It was sunny and pretty though with the fresh snow.

We had a big breakfast and enjoyed a quiet morning. Then we got things ready and had Thanksgiving dinner with Heather and Jim and Jim's parents at his parents house. We had quite a feast - turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and spinach salad. It was so yum! Then later once we made room in our tummies, we had some delicious pumpkin pie and apple caramel pie with homemade ice cream. It was a very nice day and we're so thankful that Jim's parents invited us to spend the afternoon with them!

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving day!

Updated pic of what things look like here - the snow on Wednesday was very wet so it was so pretty the way it stuck to all the trees
Me & Heather - our first belly shot together! She is due on Christmas Day! :)

Our sweet friends

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day. I could go on and on (and on) but here are a few things I'm so thankful for.....

-Being a Catholic Christian and for the way God has been always by our side and giving us countless blessings

-My incredible husband and our sweet baby boy who we can't wait to hold!

-Our wonderful parents, brothers and sisters and precious little people on both sides and all our families! Their support and prayers mean the world to us!!

-Our amazing friends - both back in Texas and here in Minnesota

-Our jobs, our home, the clothing we have to wear and the food we have to eat

-The sight of watching our sweet baby boy's heart beating on the ultrasound

-The way I look down at my stomach and each week it gets bigger and bigger

-The opportunity to live in MN and all the experiences we've had

-Our health, our struggles and our blessings

-The beautiful sunshine after a snowy day

-And for a more light hearted one....yesterday after eating a huge Thanksgiving dinner, I was very thankful for stretchy maternity pants! :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone & God bless!

Sweet Baby Boy

Ok, time for more details from yesterday's appointment! It's safe to say that yesterday we both felt completely giddy all day long after having such a great appointment and learning that we were expecting a precious baby boy! :)

The most important thing of the appointment though was all the measurements. The ultrasound tech said everything seemed to be right on schedule, but of course she's really not "supposed" to say anything. The radiologist will read the results and then our doctor should call in the next week.

It was so amazing to see the baby again and to see how much he has changed since the last time we saw him on an ultrasound. He looks so big even though he's probably just about 6 inches long or so. The first thing she (the ultrasound tech) saw were his little feet. It was the cutest sight with our little guy's feet side by side. Then she did the measurements on the head. Wow - it was amazing to see the brain. And then on to the spine - so many tiny little bones in a perfect little row. I think my favorite again was seeing the heart beat again...it just gets me every time. The heart looked so strong and was just beating away and we got to see the blood pumping through.

The placenta is anterior which means it is on top of the uterus. This just means that it may take me longer to feel him kicking. Basically he has to kick through the placenta before I can feel it. This also explains why we couldn't hear the heart beat at the 14 week appointment - which is what the doctor suspected when she did the ultrasound. Again, not a problem but can just make hearing and feeling the baby a little more tricky since we have that buffer in the way.

She also pointed out the kidneys, bladder and diaphragm. It was all so amazing. Every body part she would point out I would just smile with delight and pride. I remember thinking "Awww! Our baby has a bladder!!" :D Then she was measuring the thigh bones. Michael and I kinda looked at each other because we both though we saw a little something in between those legs, so I asked about the sex. She seemed kinda surprised that we both wanted to know and of course warned us that it's never guaranteed despite the fact she has only been wrong once in 17 years. :P So the first picture she got she said she though it was a boy, but then said she wasn't sure if what we were seeing was the umbilical cord or not. But the more she moved it around and the different angles we saw, it was quite obvious that it was a little boy!! hehe

The tech got all the pictures she needed except for an overall profile picture of the baby's whole body. It seems our little guy was folded in half. She said most likely they'll have me go back in at some point to get the profile picture - which is fine by me!

Michael and I absolutely had no preference on the sex of the baby - we just feel so blessed either way. We've spent the past 24 hours imagining our little guy and what he will look like and what our new life will be like with him. It's all too fun and I just can't believe this incredible journey.

We have his name narrowed down to two names, so as soon as we get it figured out, I'll be sure to announce it here!

In the meantime, meet Baby Boy Zajicek!!

Little face - looking right at us!

Tiny little feet - basically looking up at the bottoms of the feet - the very first thing we saw

His little manhood indicated with the arrow in the middle - hehe

Above and below it are the thigh bones

Picture of the knees, lower legs and ankles

Elbows, forearms and hands :)

It's a......

Ok, this is going to be short because I'm totally at work - but I had to share the news....

It’s a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are SOOOO excited and beyond happy!!!! At first the ultrasound lady was a little unsure but she got a few other shots and made it quite obvious and she said "Oh, it's definitely a boy!" We are thrilled and I've just been giddy ever since!

I have TONS of pictures to scan in. I'm going to try my best to get them scanned and uploaded after work before we meet up with friends, but if not, I'll put them up tomorrow for sure. So be sure to check back. We have incredible pictures of his face, tiny feet, arms, and legs. It was so amazing. It's SO fun to be able to call him a HIM! :)

Thank you God for the blessing of our baby BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cast Your Votes!

Guess what time it is! It's guess the gender of Baby Zajicek time! On the right side of the screen you should see the poll. Be sure to cast your vote as to whether you think Baby is a boy or a girl!

We go this Friday at 9:45am for our big ultrasound appointment. Most importantly, we are praying that everything checks out good with our sweet baby as this is the appointment where they will be doing all the measurements on the baby to make sure it's growing normally. And then if the little sweet pea cooperates, we hope to get a little glance to know if we are expecting a he or a she baby! :D

The thought of either makes us SO happy so we really will be thrilled either way! So cast your vote and tell me why you think what you do.

For those that follow some of the old wives tales, here are a few of my stats to help you in your decision:
-no morning sickness issues
-haven't had any heartburn issues
-most obvious symptoms include strong sense of smell and a little tired in the 2nd trimester so far
-have had several dreams it was a boy but probably my last one the baby was a girl

Stay tuned for the big announcement on Friday!

Snow Pics - Part 2

Wow, what a snow storm! We ended up with 9 1/2 inches total yesterday!

We did our little trek to the gas station to get eggs for the baking and ate at Burger King for lunch while we were there. It's right in front of our neighborhood so it was nice that it was within walking distance - we actually saw a couple of other people doing the same thing!

Michael grabbed the camera for our walk over so we caught up some good pictures on the way. The snow was blowing horizontal pretty much the whole time, so if we're making funny smiles it was because we were getting snow blown in our faces. :)

One funny story to mention - after we took these pictures, I stopped to pull back my hood so I could tuck back all my hair into my hood again. Well wouldn't you know that the tree I happened to stop under dumped this big load of wet snow right on top of my head. My hair was completely drenched! :P We both laughed pretty hard at that!

Trying to find the sidewalk trail

On our walk...

I thought this pic was neat with the contrast from the green leaves
For my family & friends in Texas - here is your updated weekly belly pic - 18 weeks!

A not so typical Saturday

This morning, we woke to a very white site. A big snow storm is on top of us and as of 11:30am we have already received 6 1/2 inches of snow! So crazy for November 13! It's still going strong and they are prediciting we could get another 3-4 inches by the end of the day.

I have to say that as nuts as it is that this is only mid November, it is quite fun that it's happening on a Saturday and we can stay home and enjoy it!

It's about 33 degrees, so it's a very heavy and wet snow. We're assuming (based off neighbors) that our satellite has 6 inches of snow caked on it because we haven't had satellite since we got up bright and early this morning. Michael, being the handy guy he is, found a way to hook up the old antenna system to our big tv. It took it a while to start working but he finally got it. He's still been pretty much in panic mode because he is missing college football on ESPN. But, don't worry - he's recovering because he just found a game on CBS that is coming through.

As for me, I have been super productive in the 4 hours I have been up. I've done a couple loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, folded towels, washed sheets and put them back on the bed, and cleaned up the disasterous nightstand and corner in our bedroom that had become overwhelmed with maternity clothing bags and books. :)

As for the rest of the day, I decided it would be fun to do some baking since we can't really drive out of the neighborhood with unplowed streets. Unfortunately, I only have one egg, so we are about to bundle up, put our boots on and walk to the nearby gas station to get eggs and eat at Burger King while we're out. Happy Saturday!

Michael got this video right when some BIG snow flakes were coming down - it was so pretty!

The Sweetest Sound

Today, we had our monthly doctor's appointment and boy was it a good one. For the first time ever, we were able to hear our sweet baby's heart beat. It just took our breath away and we both got the biggest smiles on our faces.

The nurse practicioner said we could record it with our phones if we wanted but we told her we just so happened to have our camera with us. :)

Michael was under strict instructions to not show my bare belly, so turn up your volume a bit and listed to my most favorite sound I've ever heard. And in case you're wondering - I don't say anything...mainly because I was crying pretty hard and I was trying to stay really still so I didn't mess up the sound. :)

Heather's Shower

This weekend, I had the priviledge to host a baby shower at our house for my good friend Heather. She is due Christmas Day! They don't know the sex of the baby (despite my attempts in trying to talk them into finding out, hehe), so we decorated with just general baby colors.

It was a small shower with some friends and family friends - but we had a blast. We played a couple of little games, had some yummy food and Heather opened lots of great presents! It was a very special day and we all enjoyed the shower!

Here are some pics from the fun day:

Our friends Sheena and Kate
Heather talking with her guests

The mommy-to-be,! (I was so sad after the shower was over because I realized I never got a picture of us together!)

Me and Sheena

And for those on bump watch (hehe), here is a 17 week baby bump update pic! I really felt like between week 16 and 17 that my belly has really changed alot, although you may not be able to tell much from the picture. Even Michael has noticed and he just rubs my belly and smiles with delight every time. :)

17 weeks

So this is not a very cute pic, but after we took the belly shots, I sat down in the chair and Michael said "Ooh! Your belly looks big sitting like that, throw me the camera!" :)

Celebration

This past Saturday, we went to dinner with our good friends Becky and Brendon. They took us to Kona Grill for dinner to celebrate the news of our sweet baby.

As soon as we sat down, our waitress came over with another server caring a tray of 4 champaigne glasses with a bottle of bubbly. She said "I hear we are celebrating something tonight!" I looked at Becky in a way to say "Um, you know I can't drink right?" and right then the waitress pulled the bottle out of the chiller and showed me that it was sparkling white grape juice that Becky had called ahead and had them special order just for us! :)

It was so nice and I of course got teary because of how sweet our friends are. So we had a toast to Baby Zajicek and then enjoyed a yummy dinner with the entertaining visions of Michael and Brendon severely overeating and rubbing their bellies like old men.

Thanks again B&B for such a special night!

16 weeks = Shopping Spree

Well this week I am 16 weeks. I've been down to 2 pair of pants that I can squeeze into for work, but after days of not being able to hardly breathe at work, I decided it was time for maternity clothes shopping!

I went with my friend Heather who is pregnant and due in December so we had such a fun day shopping. I had gone with my mom when she came up a few weeks ago and had such a blast at my first maternity shopping trip! Today I really just needed some essentials. So off we went! I got several new shirts, 2 pair of work pants, 2 camisoles, another pair of heavenly maternity jeans and a pretty sweater. (and a new purse, just because it was super cute and was a must have, hehe)

I feel like my belly is finally getting bigger and making some progress. I feel like I'm showing more up in the top of my belly than I am the lower part which is kind of strange to me. I suppose it could just be weight gain, but I haven't always had that so I am calling that my "bump" for now. :)

Here are some pics - including my first ever belly shot!

If you look closely you might see a TINY little buldge in the middle.

My new clothes! Motherhood Maternity LOVED me today.

Also, here are some of the clothes Baby has received! My mom and my friend Carrie bought these for Baby - they are so sweet and tiny and I can't wait to see our little blessing dressed up in it! Baby also has a little A&M outfit and blanket too!