Christmas. Bird Style.

So we've had a successful Christmas-time! Our trip to Ohio went fairly uneventfully (minus a sore tooshy on my side of the car). We've had a great time hanging out with all of Andy's family, eaten lots and lots of unhealthy/delicious goodies, and laughed almost hard enough to pop the baby right out (thankfully, he's staying put for the moment)!

Speaking of which - I am now 36 1/2 weeks, and finally starting to feel hugely pregnant (and uncomfortable)! My pregnancy has been so easy and wonderful, I kind of thought I was home free... but I guess experiencing the normal aches and pains for only a matter of weeks isn't anything to complain about - I've really loved being pregnant so far! Here's what the current state of things looks like:

36 weeks!
(sorry for the shocking amount of skin in these later photos... I can't really help how huge it is though!)

Even though my mid-section looks like a wart on a blue-whale's face, the Birds decided they wanted to capture us all, in our current glory, for a Christmas card! Since Andy and I are both bad about making things like Christmas cards, this is the closest thing we'll ever "send" - so enjoy!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

In other news, I finally convinced Andy to try to grow his first beard (he's supposed to grow it out until I have Oliver, but we'll see...) Conveniently, this was also a great year for the return of classic Christmas sweaters. Please enjoy the following. I know I do.

Andy and big-brother Jim!
So regal... or something akin to regality. Or not akin to it at all. I'm not quite sure.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, introducing, for the first time ever, Mr. Beard, on my husband.
My handsome man - his blue eyes and Mr. beard's first official appearance! He still has a long way to go (it's only been 1 1/2 weeks), but he's making great progress!
I think Mr. beard is looking pretty great! Andy just says it's really itchy...

Well, that's about it... I might someday take a picture of myself (for posterity's sake), that includes more than just my gigantic stomach... but then again, I might not. I am not currently growing a beard, so the pictures won't be quite as exciting.

Merry Christmas, happy New Year's and all that!
Please do keep me and Oliver in your prayers - he really could come any day between now and February, and I'm really hoping for a healthy and safe delivery (so I can go naturally), so pray for us a lot in the next few weeks!! Hurray for Baby almost being here!!

love to all!

COOKIES!!!!!

We had a cookie party with a few of our friends on Sunday. This is what it looked like.








this is what our party sounded like!





We love you all!

-A

The day you held my hand

This past week I have spent quite a few hours late into the night working on finishing a set of songs for my friend Jacob's online record label called Holiday Records. Over the past year or so Holiday has been giving away free downloads from bands around the world every Friday and this week it was my turn. When I started talking to Jacob about contributing to his project I wanted to do something a bit different from my usual work so I set out in a new direction that I have been quite pleased with. While taking bits of old songs, bribing friends to play real instruments for me and pasting together snippets of me poking around on instruments I have no business touching, I finally ended up with four tracks that I'm pretty darn excited about. It's called A. bird - The Day You Held my Hand, you should go download it...www.holidayrecords.net

Enjoy!

-A

the day my computer died and we almost had to quit our business and I made a pumpkin cake.

Want to hear a terrible story? Eh? EH?
So yesterday, my unfortunate husband lovingly/jokingly threw a notebook at my desk and accidentally caused a glass of water to spill all over my laptop. In a moment of desperation I grabbed my laptop, ran into the kitchen to dry it, and promptly dropped it (smashed into metal stove and then onto floor). We dried it off as best we could (including faithful blow-drying by said husband) and then left it to keep drying for a couple of hours (meanwhile, I took a nap). After said nap, I decided to give it a try and turned it on (even though my brain said, "hey, you should probably open that sucker up to make sure there isn't anymore water inside"). It worked perfectly... for 3 minutes... and then died... and wouldn't turn back on... I mean, it totally died... My unfortunate husband (racked with guilt by this point), got on his trusty old laptop and googled the heck out of solutions to the problem. He ended up taking the entire thing apart, only to find that the hard-drive (you know, the only important part of any computer) had a great deal of water on/around it. We dried everything out, and left it all sitting in front of a fan overnight. Things weren't looking good. Several prayers were said (although I think we were both a bit embarrassed about asking God to heal a computer). We went to bed.

This morning, when I woke up, I had a good feeling about the whole thing. And, lo and behold, my very fortunate (and now non-guilty) husband smiled broadly and said "it's working perfectly!" Disaster averted. Several lessons learned. Allow me to share.

Lesson #1: if you have a business that you run out of your home - you should probably keep a backup of all of your business files because, if you don't, you may have to quit the business when a glass of water spills all over your computer and destroys all those important files (I now have 2 backups)
Lesson #2: don't leave glasses of water next to your computer. EVER.
Lesson #3: don't throw notebooks at your wife's desk (even as a joke) if she was dumb enough to leave a glass of water next to her computer.
Lesson #4: don't leave glasses of anything liquid next to or near your computer.
Lesson #5: make a pumpkin cake whenever you realize that you may have destroyed your computer without backing up any of your business files. Eat as many pieces of the cake as possible.
Lesson #6: kiss your husband when he is racked with guilt for spilling a glass of water on your computer and possibly ruining all of those important business files you didn't back up. Remind him that you also dropped the computer on the floor. Chuckle. Kiss him again.
Lesson #7: NEVER LEAVE ANYTHING LIQUID BY YOUR COMPUTER.

The end.
Curtain.

New Friendly Arctic Clothing Line

After months of putting it off, being swamped with too much other work and a healthy dose of designers block - if that even exists - The winter 2009-2010 FAD line is finally complete. Despite having ridiculously overshot my original July 30th deadline - yeah...I know it's almost November - I feel pretty good about this one. Although we haven't had a ton of success in the past with our clothing line we did have a sit down meeting with the buyer at our local Whole Foods/whole body and they are planning on picking up the line, which for the clothing line is a huge success. We'll keep everybody up to date if we have any other major progress come up as a result of it but for now feel free to click the mountains above to skim through the digital catalog.

-A

the mysterious case of the disappearing belly-button...

So more weeks have passed... Baby Boy is growing like... like something that grows really fast... kudzu? He is quite the dancing machine - especially when I try to take a nap (a rare occasion, these days)! I'm telling you - he is going to be completely out-of-control once he's born... *sigh* I suppose I deserve it - I was quite rambunctious myself... I do seem to recall throwing elaborate dance recitals with my big brother *ahem* that lasted for hours and hours... my poor family lovingly watching all the while.

Anyway, here are the latest belly pictures - SERIOUSLY my stomach is getting huge! Every day I look in the mirror and I'm like "WOAH - slow down!" It's kind of freaky, and also exciting! I did read that this month he is going to double in weight (he's about a pound, right now), which is a VERY frightening thought!

Hard to believe that, in just a month, I've gone from this...

19 Weeks
To THIS...

23 Weeks

And the absolute worst part of this whole thing... Okay, well, first off... I'm REALLY weird about belly buttons. They kind of freak me out (especially those "outies" - no offense to those of you that have them... kind of). Okay, they really freak me out... and my worst fear was having my very own, ultra deep belly-button make it's way to the outside world... well, it's so close to happening already that I'm afraid it's too late...

(sorry for the creepy close-up...)

Every day I look down at it slowly dissipating... and it's very disturbing. I don't know what to do, but it seems like it's going to be completely flattened within a matter of days... what about the next 3 1/2 months??? Ugh... I shudder to think!

Anyways, besides being melodramatic about things like belly buttons, I'm feeling pretty good. Living in our new spider-free house is SOOOOO wonderful, I truly can't explain it. We're slowly getting through the "Baby Room" - which has thus far been a catch-all for random junk and boxes that truly belong in the attic (or the trash). I can't wait to clear everything out and start imagining baby land (I got some paint swatches today - wooohoooo!) It's all very exciting - it's silly how "girly" I'm getting about all of this, but I think it's good for me to indulge for once! :)

Things with the business have been pretty tricky lately... it always seems like we have these potentially HUGE jobs looming in the near to distant future, but making it until that time is the difficult part. It's constantly a humbling and emotionally/spiritually challenging thing, and I honestly know it's been so good for both of us. I've learned more about trust and faith in the last year than I think I've learned in my entire life. God truly is good and I KNOW He is going to continue to provide for us - no matter what that may look like. Trust me, we're not above considering shoe-less gyspy life at this point! ;)

Besides that, I'm still eating a lot... and some weird form of heartburn is my constant reminder to KEEP eating a lot! I can't seem to escape food no matter how hard I try (and seriously, how many different meals can their possibly be when you eat 6 times a day??) - although... 6 is WAY less than when I had to eat something every 45 minutes to keep from throwing up! Wow, those were strange times!

Well, I think that's about all the news for now... please keep us in your prayers (in terms of the business/finances/patience and faith)!

Toodly-oo!

My Week as a Mama

So since Sunday morning, I've been watching Ari & Ivy while my dear brother and sister-in-law are reunited after 8 months of Air-Force induced separation. That's right, completely on my own. I watched them both for a week in January (at the very beginning of this journey - how fitting that I'm here at the end) but I had Andy there to help me last time, so it's been quite a different experience. I still have a couple days left, but we're picking up Nana and Papa from the Airport today (after their week-long missions trip to France), so at least I have some very jet-lagged reinforcements coming! :)

It's been interesting to see how different both of them are, in a relatively short time... they really do grow up SOOO fast and now I'm already thinking about what my own son is going to be like in 2-4 years (because I know it will go by so fast). It's also neat to see how they've grown through this whole thing - even though I know it's been trying for Emily and the kids to be separated from Nathanael, and even though I know it's been hard not to have a real home... I can see how God has been so gracious and loving, providing for their emotional and spiritual needs and how He has brought Emily and her kids closer in so many ways. He has taken care of all of them (including my dear brother) and I know that it has taught at least me a lot about His measure of provision and grace for us through ALL circumstances.

It's been an exhausting week (but what isn't exhausting these very-pregnant days?) - but a good one. I'm looking forward to going home to my own dear husband (sigh), sleeping in my own comfy comfy bed and not having my "dear" dog bark at nothing 10 times a night (she's been MAJORLY on edge since we got here - my pregnancy is really tipping her over the emotional and mental edge)... It's been good for me to be here, learning what it REALLY feels like to be a stay at home mom, and learning how to balance taking care of children with having some personal time and space to get some work done... I have to admit that I'm pretty nervous about keeping up with the business after Baby gets here - I know that God will help me and of course my husband will be there to stand in the gap (although he'll probably be just as tired as I am) - but it's still scary. Ahh the modern world, in which women are expected to be mothers, housekeepers and businessmen all at once... well, I guess our modern world doesn't place much emphasis on the mother part, but I certainly do. Just give me a business call while Baby is crying and see where my true priorities are... mhmm.

I did start a new project this week. Andy and I have picked out Baby's bed-set and room "theme"... I know, I know... I wasn't planning on going all out and registering for a full bedset and all the extras... but then we went to the Baby store and saw the most ADORABLE set ever, and we just couldn't help ourselves. *sigh* What do you think....?
Yeah, exactly... foxes, bears, turtles frogs, BIRDS, there's an owl you can't see in this pictures... SOOO cute! Anyway, Andy used some of the animals from the wall decals:
as well as the tree from our wedding invitations to make me a piece of artwork that I turned into a cross-stitch pattern! I just started it yesterday and I'm so excited! I think it's going to be really cute, and I really enjoy cross-stitching, so it's all quite wonderful! I can't WAIT to get home, finish unpacking all the last annoying bits of our move, and then start nesting!! Boy am I ready!

Sigh. I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow... 5 1/2 months... that means I only have 4 more to go! Ahhh! It's equally exciting and terrifying!

Alright, time to get the troops into the bath - oh how domestic I feel!

Carrots!

Well hopefully he'll have red hair and freckles too (just to spite Nathanael)! ;)

Baby boy is growing growing growing - and I'm seriously thinking that he's going to be a gymnast or something because he is CONSTANTLY dancing around my insides! I keep talking to other mama's who say they barely felt fluttering at 2o weeks... I've been SEEING my stomach getting kicked for weeks already! It used to be every once in awhile, and now it's all day long! He's such an active little guy, I'm a little frightened to see how energetic he is when he comes out!

Anyway, it's really fun to experience all of this, but still sooo strange and surreal.

Here are the latest baby pics - I'm officially getting HUGE and I think people can tell that I'm pregnant now (instead of looking like a bit of a beer-belly fatty)!!

21 weeks

Along with the hugeness comes the intense feeling that a bowling ball is resting in my pelvis (not a pleasant thing) - I guess I'm carrying really low... It's also getting more and more uncomfortable to do "normal" things - moving from the spider mansion to the new house (more to come later) was really exhausting and I kept forgetting that I couldn't do all the normal things! It's still a constant adjustment, even just in what positions I can sit or lay down in... *sigh* but it's still exciting!


So I'm in South Carolina dog/niece/nephew-sitting for the week... poor Andy is left to finish moving the last bits from the spider mansion, and cleaning it out... but as of Monday night we will officially be FREE from the wretched house and will never think about it ever again! It's been SOOO wonderful to be living in a house where I don't have to shake the sheets and blankets out every time I get in bed, or kick my shoes around before putting them on my feet, or feel freaked-out every time I sit on the couch and think about all the spiders that MIGHT be crawling towards me, or jump every time I see any sort of bug at all! Honestly, I forgot what it was like to feel COMFORTABLE in my home! *sigh* Ahhhh, it's a wonderful feeling!

I'll take some pictures of our new place when I get back next week - it's cute and the perfect size for us (other than the shop being a bit small for Andy)... I think it will work well for us hopefully until we're ready to buy something in a year or so!

I can't wait to start getting Baby's room ready too! Mmm, nesting!

That's it for now!

MISTER Banana Bird!

Well, it's a bit late - but it's time for the formal announcement!
To the immediate left and a tiny bit below "boy" is the little manhood! Our baby is officially known to be a beautiful, strong and healthy boy! I have been SURE that he was a boy the whole time, but it was still sooo exciting to find out for sure! Andy was definitely secretly yearning for a first-born son, so I know he is ecstatic! Here are some more pictures!!

Isn't he handsome????








10 fingers!! And in the second picture, he stopped squirming and hiding long enough to give a quick wave!!



























This is where I get to brag about him being just like mama! In the left picture, he is most definitely giving the peace sign - "peace. love. save the baby whales!" And in the picture on the right, he has his 2 little feet crossed (1o toes), which is exactly what I do when I'm laying down!!!




















We'll end baby pictures with a grand ol' from the bottom of his adorable bum, thighs and little manhood! He was squirming and kicking ALL over the place during the ultrasound, and made things a bit difficult for the dear nurse - she was a trooper though and got all the shots she needed. She said he is right on track and kept my due date exactly as it was before: Jan 23rd! He is in the 50th percentile in terms of size, so apparently he's not the big fat baby I was expecting (since he eats all of my food and leaves me starving all day long)! :) It was so incredible to see him and to find out for sure that he's a HE!

I think everyone on Andy's side of the family was expecting that first-born Bird son, but everyone in MY family was completely shocked (based on the shocking amount of girls born to my sister, and the fact that girls always seem to come first with the whole family)! I, for one, would have been shocked and delighted either way (because it's shocking and delightful enough just knowing there's a HUMAN growing inside of me)! I am sooo excited to meet our son - and I'm officially half-way through my pregnancy, so it won't be long now!

Other things have happened lately that I could write about... but, honestly, who cares??? :)

(Nathanael, I promise to put up the Weiss Family pics/videos soon!)

HURRAY for Baby!

Voting Time

Look over there >>>>>
and vote on the poll - is Baby a girl or boy? Only a few short days left till we have an answer!

I promise to post a HUGE post in the next few days - we've been so busy I haven't had time to get to anything!

Quick updates:
We signed our new lease today (HURRAY) and get to pick up our keys on MONDAY instead of Tuesday!! I am SOOOO excited to never sleep in this house again!!!

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have another all-day event (similar to Earth Day, only in-doors) at the Williamson County Green Expo! We're both completely wiped out (it's been a long and busy week for both of us, especially Andy) but I'm hoping we'll have a burst of energy to make it through tomorrow! We actually paid to get a table at this event, so I'm praying that we make a bunch of great contacts and get some orders coming in! Things really picked up this last week or so (quite unexpectedly) so I'm hoping it will continue after this weekend! Pray!

Baby is VERY actively throwing him/herself all over my womb lately - it's been so noticeable that Andy actually felt it (he never seems to feel it when I try to show him) and I SAW a few huge kicks bouncing my poor little stomach around! It was very exciting and apparently this child is going to give us a run for our money - I can't keep up with him/her already (I refuse to refer to Baby as "it")!

All the other stuff (including belly pictures) will have to wait for a few days.
Pray for the Green Expo tomorrow - for energy and also for some new business connections!

Bum bu-du-bu-dum-bum-bum-BUMP!

Last weekend, Andy and I traveled up to Ohio for my dear friend Mindy's wedding! Andy takes every opportunity to make faces while eating, while I take every opportunity of making grumpy faces about the fact that we're on the road AGAIN (seriously, we travel more than anyone I've ever met!) This is, quite possibly, the least attractive picture of me yet. I laughed after I saw it and said, "that doesn't look like me at all!" Andy looked at it and said, "yes it actually does!" (He got smacked)





The wedding weekend was long and tiring (I was a bridesmaid and Andy therefore ended up being a "helper" for everything that could possibly need helping-with [grammar?]) but nonetheless, a lot of fun! The theme was a 50's Soda Shop, complete with ice-cream floats, live band (and a terrible DJ too) playing exclusively 50's music, and a lot of food!
All the bridesmaids got to get our hair done at a spa and, of course, in 50's styles... although mine just ended up looking kind of awkward, I think... The bridesmaids' dresses were cute though, eh? And, of course, Andy and I were cute to! ;)

The whole thing was quite fun, and it was great to be there for Mindy (since she was there for me when I got married!) Phew! So many weddings in the last few years, I really only have a couple of friends who haven't joined the fun yet! Of course, along with all those weddings (and general getting-older), come all the babies! I have been to my fair share of baby showers and far-away visits to best friends with gorgeous babies of their own!








Which brings me to my MAIN news item...
It seems like Baby bird has finally decided to make an appearance! While we were at the wedding, Mindy's aunt actually asked Mindy's mom (without my overhearing of course, so as not to offend) if I was pregnant!! That must mean that people don't think I just look kind of fat anymore! It's all very exciting, and it's helping me feel not quite so sad about all the new discomforts of having your insides (and outsides, for that matter) stretched and pulled every which way but the way they naturally want to go! :) The most exciting news is that we finally have our first ultrasound scheduled for September 2nd... and we'll be finding out if Baby is a girl or boy!! I am VERY excited about this (I've been SO good about not getting too impatient) - FINALLY we'll be able to start thinking about names!

Besides gearing up for boy or girl land, we're also getting excited for my BIG BROTHER who is going to be graduating a month from tomorrow! We're all so very proud of him and we can't WAIT until he and his family are reunited and settled into their new home (so we can finally visit them all again)!!!!
[Just so you know, Nathanael, using commas in the label area is really irritating and I only do it because you asked me to.]

The last and final thing is that we've finally applied for a new house (to rent, of course)! We turned everything in yesterday and should be hearing back by Monday. If everything goes well, we'll start moving in on Sep. 1st and be completely out of the spider-mansion by the 14th!! It's all VERY exciting and I can't even tell you how delighted I am about the prospect of NOT living in this house!! Keep praying though, because we are still dealing with a landlord that wants to gauge us for money that we should NOT have to pay him (because of the circumstances)! I'm hopeful that God will show us favor and that we'll be released from everything with no penalties financially, but please keep praying for us!

Cheerio for now!

The Spider Saga.

Ahhh yes, life in a poisonous-spider-infested house. What a joy it has been.

I'll spare you all the horrific and miserable details, but will inform you that we are all trying to be moved out of this miserable excuse for a "home" in the next 3-4 weeks. The search for new residences has intensified over the last week or 2 and I spend hours every day searching desperately for something that will work for Andy and I (price, location, space for workshop, etc.)

Living here has been the most challenging living situation I have ever experienced... bar none. I've always taken for granted that general feeling of safety and well-being that has accompanied me throughout the numerous homes I've lived in... but now I know the true value of such feelings. Living in a house where you feel unsafe, uncared for by your landlords, and incapable of bettering the situation in any way... it's not a good feeling, let me tell you. This has certainly been a test of patience and faith for all of us, and I'm praying that God is going to swiftly take us away from this place and bless our endurance through the last 6 months.

The search for new homes has been frustrating but is NOTHING compared to living here. Even though moving again so soon is not something any of us relish doing, it is WORTH IT just to get out of here! The Mossesses are looking into buying a home in East Nashville - a fixer-upper of a home with great potential for a good living situation and a great investment for future profit. Pray for God's favor for them to get the finances needed to purchase and renovate the house into a comfortable home for all of them. Andy and I have looked into several different rental properties but have yet to find the house that meets all of our needs (or even most of them). We thought we had found a place but are running into many potential difficulties for his workshop, so I don't think it's going to work out after all. It is discouraging, because the house and workshop were the perfect size, location and price... but there are challenges with the shop that we can't come up with good solutions to, and this is one of the most important features that we need to work out. I'll continue the daily searching - but please be praying that God opens up one door very clearly for us and very soon... I would love to have something decided by the end of this week, so we can have time to pack and get everything in order for the move and be out of here by the 1st or 2nd week of September.

PLEASE be praying.

Besides all of that excitement, things are going pretty well. The business has started to pick back up (after a painfully slow July) and we continue to trust God's provision for all of our needs. I'm feeling pretty good these days (getting some of my energy back - although still TIRED), and still enjoying pregnancy overall. I'll put belly pictures up again soon - it is finally starting to make an appearance that has people asking if I'm pregnant! Yay! We have about 3 weeks before we find out if we're having a boy or a girl and I can't wait! I'm getting more and more nervous about being a parent, but also more excited!

That's it for now... please be praying about our housing situation...

thump thump thump.

Well I had my 2nd Dr's appointment today - it was a brief affair but I got to hear the heartbeat again! It actually made me a little weepy this time for some reason (and sadly Andy wasn't there to see me trying not to cry in front of the Dr)... I think I'm still just shocked that God has chosen me to be a mother at this point in my life (or at any point, really) - there are so many people that I feel would be more deserving and better prepared than I am, but I guess that's just how He works - mysteriously.

I am humbled and awed by the entire thing... I know He has a perfect plan for us, and will fulfill it in perfect time... even for those who have lost a child or struggle with infertility... I don't understand why He has kept me and my baby healthy, but I am thankful.

I have another appointment in 2 weeks, and then 3 weeks after that we'll get the first ultrasound and find out if we're having a girl or a boy!! I really think it's a boy, but I am totally excited no matter what gender Baby is!

And, even though people say it's rare or even impossible at 14 weeks... I'm almost 100% positive that I've felt the baby... I thought that I did a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't sure. Now, each day, I think I'm feeling more and more and it is very very strange and exciting! I asked the nurse about it and she said that it could be possible, since I haven't gained hardly any weight - so I'm just going to believe that I am feeling Baby moving! It's bizarre and sometimes seems a little creepy to think that there is a human being inside of me... but it's very wonderful too!


I don't have much other news besides Baby things... Andy and I have hit a (hopefully brief) rough patch with the business, and the next month or so is going to be very interesting financially. I know we'll be fine, and I know God is going to provide for all of our needs, but it is very difficult and scary (please be praying for our faith and patience). We have a lot of exciting things lined up for the near future with the business, but July was a very very slow month and it's just hard to make it during those slow times. We continue to feel like this is still our calling, and are trusting God to work everything out and keep us going.

Other than that... Andy and I have enjoyed playing the Wii lately, and I'm trying really hard to finish a VERY belated BD present for my poor brother. I promise it will be finished before your next BD... *nervous cough* I know you know what it is already, so please understand how painful of a process it all is... I don't want to hate what I'm giving you, if at all possible.

My stomach is really getting pretty big these days... but you'll have to wait until a Saturday for more pictures.

Cheerio!

Lemon Bird.

I'm running out the door to drive to Atlanta for a Bridal Shower - but here are the 14 week Baby belly photos!



Baby is getting bigger!!!

I have another Dr's appointment on Tuesday - hopefully they'll be scheduling an ultrasound for next month to find out if it's a girl or boy!! Hurray!

SCIENCE!!!!!

This past week I finished printing a job for the Nashville Adventure Science center which I was super excited about. For those of you who aren't familiar with Nashville this is our version of COSI or the Children's museum in Indy or any other fine establishment for nerdy kids that love to learn about science like me. It's still strange to me that we've landed jobs with big well known companies and organizations in Nashville and somehow, perhaps accidentally, found ourselves creating much respected and much prized work. On this job not only did I design the main print but they specifically requested that we put our name on the shirt somewhere and a breif explaination about what we do and how we got to be so awesome. Here is a picture of the print I put on the inside of the shirt under the tag.

Plum Bird.

Well I'm officially 12 weeks today! I don't know if that means I've just completed my first trimester, or if I have 1 week left... either way, it's already gone by so fast!

Here is a reminder of Baby belly from 2 weeks ago...


And now, Baby belly at 12 weeks!!













It's quite larger than before, eh?? Miraculously, I still haven't gained any weight (a pound or 2 here and there have hung out for a day or 2, but then I've always gone back down to my original weight) - even though I definitely look a little fat now! I can't wait for Baby belly to be big enough that people can actually tell that I'm pregnant!

Not much else in Bird news at the moment... we had a great huge party last night for the 5 people that have birthdays in July: Eva (niece), Josh (cousin), Aaron (friend), Jessica (friend), and me (me). It was a lot of fun and wonderful to have most of our friends together at once!

Other than that, we're VERY loosely contemplating the idea of trying to buy a house this year (sounds impossible, but maybe worth a try?) so we shall see what happens in that department...

Andy wants me to stop blogging and play Wii with him now (I think maybe he secretly wanted one too... "birthday present" HA! ..... just kidding Andy, I know you got it for me!)