As the immortal Bon Jovi said...

Whooah, were half way there!

Dad-to-be here. Waiting for grandma and grandpa-to-be K to knock on the door any minute. Baby Bibab is excited to have them here, and hopefully will prove it by starting to kick the heck out of Chris for the next week plus.

Soooo much ice cream... mmmm....

We had a great time yesterday at the Ben & Jerry's festival on Clapham Common! It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day. I think we each had 5/6 ice cream cones, including: Caramel Chew Chew, Mango & Strawberry sorbet, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cheesecake Brownie, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and Strawberry Cheesecake. We also had some cotton candy (or candy floss, as they call it here)... I ate all of mine and some of Jason's. It was soooooooo good.

Luckily we both went to the gym yesterday pre-festival, and went for a nice long walk afterwards, stopping to hang out on Wandsworth Common and enjoy the day. I was pretty beat last night and our bodies were in shock from all the sugar and activity!

All in all a great day. (:

-Chris

Ice cream - mmmmmm.

Ahhhh the weekend. Today we are off to the Ben & Jerry festival - what a perfect event for a pregnant woman! Lots and lots of ice cream. Mmmm.

I feel pretty good overall these days. Headaches seem to have left me (knock every piece of wood you can reach) and I'm mostly just tired. I can get through the work day but crash pretty hard at night. But, the good news is that in just a few days I'll be halfway through my pregnancy!!!!!!

How far along?: 19 weeks plus 2 days.
Total weight gain/loss: 10-12 pounds, depending on the day.
Maternity clothes?: Yes sir, may I have another.
Sleep: Good, and I need lots of it. Went to Birmingham for the day for work on Thursday and was SO beat.... last night I slept 11 hours.
Movement: Hellloooooo baaaaaaby.... are you in there?? Each night when Jason chats with the baby he tells it to give mom a big kick, but alas, baby does not follow directions well.
Food cravings: COOKIES! Luckily, Connie sent us a huge shipment of her mint chocolate chip and peanut butter home made cookies. So delicious!!!
Gender: Yellow, green, beige, orange, etc.
What I miss: I still yearn to sleep on my back. Only 20 weeks to go! Although I probably won't be 'sleeping' much then....
What I am looking forward to: Seeing Grandma and Grandpa K this week
Best moment this week: Best hubby ever surprising me with sold-out Ben and Jerry's festival tickets! He is full of surprises these days!
Weekly Wisdom: I really do need to get 8 hours sleep a night at this point in my life. Maybe it's being stored in my body in preparation for the first months baby is in the world and I'm not sleeping much at all??
Milestones: Baby might be getting hair!!

Enjoy your weekends!

-Chris

Mmm...Ben & Jerry's

Surprised the mum-to-be with tickets to Saturday's Ben & Jerry's festival in Clapham Common. Hopefully we'll have good weather, so we can spend a few hours listening to the different bands and enjoying loads of ice cream. Cookie Dough, Fudge Brownie, Cherry Garcia...mmm.

Chris seems to be sleeping a little better these days, which is bizarre considering how much I'm flopping around at night due to the heat. Luckily I don't think she can feel me from inside her question mark-shaped body pillow.

Spending a few minutes in bed each night bonding with the baby. So far I must not have said anything too interesting because I don't get any sort of reaction. Anyone have any good jokes I can use?

Thanks to Grandma-to-be V for all the cookies. The baby is enjoying them thoroughly. I have only had one or two. (The sound you hear is Chris rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter.)

The long awaited bump is almost here. We'll get a picture up here again soon.

Almost half way there!

Hi! So I had a midwife appointment yesterday. Got to hear the baby's heartbeat, which was great, although it took the midwife a solid 60 seconds (this is a LONG time) to find it, during which time I started to freak out a bit. She reminded me that 'the baby is very small right now'. A few women had gone in before me - much much further along - and I could hear the baby's heartbeats through the closed doors! Guess I forgot I still have a mini-bump compared to their ginormous bumps. Everything else was fine.

I am still feeling pretty good and trying to appreciate it, as I know in a few months I'll slow down considerably. We've started to plot when we will make our big purchases... goal is to be done end September/ early October before I am too big to function.

How far along?: 18 weeks plus 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: 10 pounds. I'm attributing some of this to the fact that I know have 25% more blood that I did pre-baby. Crazy! Also, that's according to my scale as they don't weigh you much here during pregnancy.
Maternity clothes?: Heck yeah. Just did some shopping yesterday in London for shirts, and ordered some stuff for my Mom and Dad to bring when they come to visit in a few weeks. Shirts are the tough part now as my belly makes it pretty difficult to look acceptable in normal-people shirts.
Sleep: Much better than a few weeks ago. I credit my special pillow.
Movement: Still waiting....
Food cravings: Nope. Although Jason brough me peanut M&Ms the other night, which satisfied a craving I hadn't known I had. (:
Gender: We are less than 4 weeks away from our 22 week scan that could potentially give us the answer... but are still in the 'yellow' camp.
What I miss: Not being so lame and going to sleep at 1030. But there's a chance I was doing that pre-baby too, I don't remember.
What I am looking forward to: My parents coming to visit in a few weeks and our trip to Germany!
Best moment this week: Hearing the baby's heartbeat yesterday. Happy to know the little guy is still in there! Now just need it to give me a reassuring kick.
Weekly Wisdom: Don't ditch my husband on Tuesday nights.... it's our night to go for pizza at the pub across the street, but I made plans with a friend for dinner, and he happened to get out of work super early. Sorry honey! x
Milestones: Bibaby is probably about 6 inches long and might be able to hear my voice.

That's it for now!

-Chris

Why? That's just unfair.

So, nobody told me that my calves would get fat. Seriously.

I have grown a LOT in the past 72 hours. Wow. I almost look actually pregnant, and I am pretty much incapable of wearing normal-people shirts. Looks like I'm doing some work maternity shirt shopping this weekend...

-Chris

TOTALLY the best moment of the week...

One of the 'symptoms' of pregnancy is a really bad memory. The surprise Ben & Jerry's delivery on Thursday night was definitely the best moment of the week!!

Just wanted to make that clear. (:

-Chris

Life's guilty pleasures

Dad-to-be checking in again

Little bummed that the "best moment of the week" wasn't when I showed up on Thursday night with two pints of Ben & Jerry's. I was trying to make mom-to-be feel better about finding out that tickets to the Ben & Jerry's festival in two weeks were sold out. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was a not-so-surprising favorite.

Baby Bibab is definitely looking forward to his/her first concert this evening. I'm letting Chris get some extra sleep right now as it's going to be a long night at Wembley rocking out to Oasis.

This new question-mark shaped pillow that Chris is sleeping inside is hilarious. It takes up half the bed, and she's having a bit of trouble adjusting to it. But it seems to make her hips and shoulders feel a lot better, so I'm all for it.

We were out yesterday with a bunch of people with kids under three and those who were expecting their first a few weeks before us. It was by far the most time I've ever spent discussing things like prams (why can't they just call it a stroller over here?). Chris was pretty excited to see how noticeable the bump was on the girls due a few weeks before us. So we're very excited a major bump will arrive in the next few weeks.

Grandma and Grandpa K are coming over in a few weeks, and we're planning to go to Munich for a long weekend. The major to-dos include a trip to Neushwanstein (the castle used as the base for the Disney castle), a trip to Augsburg (where dad-to-be spent a life-changing summer), and most importantly a stop or two in the Hofbrauhaus (not getting to partake in the litre beers is going to be disappointing for the mom-to-be).

Cheers,
Jason

Getting thicker.

Time is flying by! I am definitely still pregnant. I'm getting..... thicker. See the 17 week photo of me on the right. Next week I have my next midwife appointment. Looking forward to it - hopefully they'll let me hear the baby's heartbeat but I'm not sure they do that at the clinic. Might have to wait until Aug 13 which is our next scan.

Today we are going to the going away party of our friends who have a little girl. Too bad as she is my closest girl friend with a kid and would have been really useful to have around! Tomorrow is the Oasis concert - can't wait but it'll be a looooong day.

Here's how I'm getting along:

How far along?: 17 weeks plus 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: 9 pounds. I swear it's still within 'normal' even though it sounds scary. For all you lacking the know, I'm scheduled to gain a pound a week until the baby comes. Holy canolia.
Maternity clothes?: All in.
Sleep: Still struggling a bit, but I bought this gigantic funny-looking maternity pillow to sleep on. It takes up well over my half of the bed, but it's done a pretty good job supporting my hips and back and shoulders so I'm not as achy any more.
Movement: Nada.
Food cravings: Not really.
Gender: We're not going to find out, almost for sure. When we tell people that half of them look at us like we're crazy, and the other half think it's the best idea ever.
What I miss: Having a glass of wine with some smelly cheese. Mmmmm.
What I am looking forward to: Feeling the little guy move. Any day now!
Best moment this week: I told a few more coworkers I am pregnant and had some great reactions - mostly from women who are mums already, which isn't surprising. They were soooo excited for me it was cute! One was going on and on about how much they'll miss me when I leave for maternity leave because I'm such an asset to the team... that was nice. This was also the woman who admitted she noticed I'd gained a few pounds but thought I was just relaxing after getting skinny for the wedding. She is awesome - she doesn't beat around the bush! (:
Weekly Wisdom: I need to work out more.... I was all in last weekend then lost it during the week. Trying to get my pregnant butt to the gym right now...
Milestones: Bibaby's eyes are now they should be, in front of its head. Apparantly, the eyes were previously on the sides of its head. Weird.

-Chris

I love the weekend, which has nothing to do with this post.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We had a pretty mellow day with Jason working most of it - booo. No bbq or fireworks for us - maybe next year. The weather has been crazy in London for the past few weeks - hot and sunny. Really nice except for the fact that we don't have air conditioning in our flat....

I continue to feel fairly normal, with the continuing tiredness and headaches. Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time in, oh, 8 weeks or so (!). I need to keep that up while I still can and am feeling okay. My belly is getting bigger - I still mostly look like I've gotten a bit fat, but when you look closer it's clear that's not all it is. Belly shot will come soon, when I'm feeling mentally strong enough. (:

How far along?: 16 weeks plus 3 days
Total weight gain/loss: oh lord. ok - here goes.... 8 pounds. Ok maybe 8.5. But in my defense, that is still in the 'normal' range. Jason did say to me today "you're a lot squishier than you used to be", followed by a little giggle. *sigh*
Maternity clothes?: Yes. I still wear a lot of non-maternity shirts but that will stop in the next week or two I think. Many many thanks to Nicole and Gwen and Connie for all their contributions to my collection!
Sleep: Not very good. My hips and legs bother me due to the stupid have-to-sleep-on-my-side thing.
Movement: Nope.
Food cravings: Nope.
Gender: Have no idea. We are now debating finding out with the new factor being the baby clothes people have been wonderful enough to send us - such cute stuff! But, we'll have 1 of two problems. Either an entire wardrobe of yellow and green, OR, both pink and blue stuff. We've already agreed that the adorable pink jumpsuit with flowers on front will not be worn by a son, even in the secrecy of our own home. (:
What I miss: Sleeping on my back.
What I am looking forward to: Feeling the little kiddo move!
Best moment this week: My wonderful husband surprising me with Oasis tickets for next Thursday night! Baby's first concert!!!!
Weekly Wisdom: Am I really supposed to have weekly wisdom?
Milestones: For me - getting back tot he gym. For baby - Bibaby is the size of a pear by now and, when it's bored, might be playing with the umbilical cord. Funny.

-Chris

Dad to be checking in

Hello all,

Here we are at 16 weeks, and life is getting pretty interesting. I've been working a lot lately, so I don't get to spend nearly as much time as I'd like with my ever-expanding (but TOTALLY adorable) wife and Baby Bibab (or Bibaby as our friend Moobs coined). But I make sure I'm home in plenty of time to kiss the belly.

Our collection of adorable baby clothes got a major upgrade yesterday with lots of cute stuff arriving from grandma- and grandpa-to-be V and the Hagners (is Nancy the baby's great-godmother? - this is the kind of stuff that runs through my mind when I'm out for a pre-work run at 6am).

Chris is anxiously awaiting the next few weekends, with lots going on (a tame 4th of July, birthday parties, going away parties). But the highlight of July's social calendar is very clearly the Ben & Jerry's festival in the park by our house the last weekend of the month. The baby is very excited for his/her 3rd Ben & Jerry's experience (Baby V certainly enjoyed the multiple cones in Stockholm).

It's been really fun this week continuing to break the news to our friends. Of course, none of the girls were surprised at all. Apparently, you can only get away with so much when you follow "I gave up alcohol for Lent" with "I'm on a prescription" and "I have a headache". But all the boys were truly shocked.

This weekend we're heading out for our first baby gadget shopping expedition. Luckily we live in Clapham, a.k.a. "Nappy Valley" or "Yummy Mummy-ville", so there are plenty of options. Chris really needs to start showing more so she fits in with all of the others down here.

Bizarrely enough, Chris has not had any strange cravings thus far. I definitely have, but I don't think that's pregnancy related. So jealous that Sarah gets those cravings addressed.

I have been trying to be as supportive as possible, doing extra chores (when I've been home) and buying all the nutritious food I can carry. To show their support, some men will go so far as to put on loads of weight during the pregnancy. I've decided to do them one better, and have gone so far as to develop hayfever like Chris.

More from us soon.
Love,
Jason

P.S. Happy 25th Sarah!!!