Introducing...

Today was a very, very, very, exciting day.

Today was my first ultrasound for little Baby K.

I was so nervous beforehand because I haven't had the opportunity to hear the heartbeat, yet. I know that the chances of anything bad happening decrease drastically after you hear that heartbeat. So, when the sonographer first started scanning around on my belly I had my head cranked trying to see her screen. There was the baby! Such an excited moment. It all becomes so much more real once you actually get to see the baby on that little monitor. I could see the head, and the body and even some arms and legs, fingers and toes - but I couldn't see that flickering heartbeat. I had to ask her: "Is the baby's heart beating? I can't see it". She quickly said, "Oh, yes. See - there it is". She moved the wand a bit and then I could see it - clear as day - pumping away. What a huge relief! She said, "158" (that was the heart rate).

The baby was very comfy c0zy and laid pretty still for a lot of the scan. The lady asked me to cough (so I did). Then she asked me to cough, again. I said, "Are we trying to get the baby to move?" Yep. And, the second cough did it. She said, "Oh, that woke the baby up!" and you could see the little one moving all over the place. Then, the cutest thing...hiccups! I could see the baby hiccuping clear as day.

I think they've really improved the equipment because I could see everything so well (the picture is about the same as always, but the image on the screen was really good). Once the tests and measurements were done the lady went to call Dave into the room. "Well, is it one or more than one?" he asked. Just one, honey! Just seems like my belly is getting bigger, faster, this time around, but maybe that's more from the late night ice cream than from the baby (side note: I've ordered two preggo-girl work-out DVD's and shall be starting my preggo-girl fitness routine as soon as I get them. I got one yoga one, and one general work-out one).

The lady who did the ultrasound this time around was so nice, too. Believe it or not, I've had some real witches in the past. Which, to this day, still shocks me. How can you be rude and miserable to a pregnant lady who is coming in to see her baby for the first time? It's unbelievable. I got a real ordeal once about getting a photo and the woman was just BRUTAL. I'll never forget that. I didn't mention it, but apparently Dave hasn't forgotten either. He even mentioned how nice this lady was. Super friendly and happy and just really nice. She showed lots of views of the baby and explained what everything was and gave us a nice chance to see. It was just amazing. Then she gave us our photo.

Meet Little Baby K!

(I know I promised a post about my new toy and that will come soon...hopefully tomorrow...but for now...nothing tops this). What a fan-freaking-tastic day.

Honey Bunny

So now you all know the big news of the new addition we are expecting to our family. That baby is due on February 8th. That makes me just over 10 weeks along right now, but my belly is already getting big. Seriously. When I was pregnant with Maddie no one knew I was pregnant until I was about 7 months along. At 8 months I had people saying, "I wasn't sure if you were pregnant or not, but then I noticed your belly button". Yeah. My belly button almost grew bigger than my whole belly! My boss actually asked one of my co-workers several months into the pregnancy, "Is she really pregnant??". LOL. But, I don't think I'll have that problem this time around. Let's see if I can take a quick "self-portrait" a la Widney Woman of my tummy for you to see...

See. It is definitely already out there. I go for my first ultrasound on the 28th. Let's all hope we're not having twins. We were out test driving potential new vehicles on Monday (yes, my wagon has definitely seen better days and needs to go to wagon heaven soon) and Dave and I both really loved the Honda CR-V we took out. She's a `bute! Then it dawned on me..."Dave - if we have twins all the kids won't even fit in here!". So, we had to delay buying her right there and then (as we wanted to) until I go for my ultrasound. Our other choice is another big lug of a pick-up truck which is a great right-off for the business, but not so great for just booting it around town to pick up groceries and stuff. Parking is a bit of a challenge. But, anyway...

My real point of this post was to tell you about the new addition to our family that just arrived on Monday.

Meet Chloe!

Chloe was adopted from an organization called "Rabbit Rescue". She was one of hundreds of rabbits and bunnies that were saved from the horrible conditions they were being kept in at a meat processing business in Barrie, Ontario. The cruelty case is currently ongoing so I don't have a lot of details but when you consider the fact that rabbits aren't even protected under the "Humane Slaughter Act" (which means they must be rendered unconscious before they are killed) in the U.S. or Canada, and that these poor animals were "just" being raised for meat (so who really cares how they were treated)...you've got to know the conditions must have been pretty shocking.

I am very grateful to Rabbit Rescue for saving all these bunnies and for letting me adopt little Chloe who, as it turns out, is one of the cutest, gentlest, funniest little bunnies you'd ever want to meet. She has made herself right at home here and is even coming right over to my girls for pets and snuggles (then she's hopping off to play again). For how her life started out...how she had been treated by people...it's quite amazing how sweet she had remained.

If you would like more information on the "Humane Slaughter Act" and to sign a petition to fight for *some* rights for these lovely little animals then please go here. As for me...I've just bought two new vegetarian/vegan cookbooks.