30 Weeks

I'm 30 weeks, 6 days today!  Everything is going great still - we have doctor appointments every two weeks now, and soon they'll be every week.  Our little guy is about 3 pounds, and he's still moving like crazy!

I look exhausted, but here's another picture!

Merry Christmas!

This year my parents came to see us for Christmas - it was our first time spending Christmas in New York, and it was a lot of fun!  They brought lots of delicious things to eat, and we made a few different cookies while they were here - including the famous Christmas Sugar Cookies!

We were able to spend Thursday evening with my aunt, uncle, and cousins in New Jersey, and I had never been to Rockefeller Center during the holidays before, so we went down there on Friday.  We ate, watched Christmas movies, ate, did a Christmas puzzle, ate, made Christmas dinner, ate... and ate some more!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas as well!

Gingerbread House

My Grandma sent us a gingerbread house kit!  We put it together over the weekend while watching Home Alone and eating the candy and icing we were supposed to be putting on the house.  My favorite part is the tall-as-a-tree snowman.

It smells so good, I can't wait to eat it!!  Thanks Grammy Caryl!

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Ohio!  We drove over on Wednesday, and stayed until Monday - we did a combination Thanksgiving/Christmas this year, and we had a great time!

Here's a video of Gram feeling the little guy move!

Third Trimester

6 months down, 3 months to go! I can't believe we're going to have a new member of our family in just a few months!

So I seem to have popped since the last picture! I look like I could bust out of my winter jacket at any moment, so I think I'll have to switch to a maternity jacket soon.

Overall everything's been going smoothly with my pregnancy. I'm just now starting to get a little uncomfortable now and then, but I've really been feeling great overall! I have my next doctor's appointment next week, and I passed my glucose/anemia tests last visit with flying colors. Which is great, because I really didn't want to have to do the 3 hour test - I can't imagine drinking that stuff again.

We're getting our apartment ready slowly but surely, and it's coming along great! I'll post pictures once we get his area set up.

Heartbeat

Today Matt and I went to the doctor for a checkup on the little guy, and we got to hear the heartbeat! It was the first time we'd heard it, and it was amazing.

24 Weeks!

I'm 24 weeks now, and I have my next doctor's appointment tomorrow. It feels like forever since the last one!

Here's a video of him moving around! The video is pretty small, but hopefully you can still see him moving:

4 months to go... It seems like it's right around the corner, and so far away at the same time. We're starting to plan out where the little guy is going to go in our apartment - we don't have a ton of space, but I think it will be just right. We can't wait!

My Husband, The Movie Star

After doing "scratch" or temporary recordings for lines in the movies he's worked on, Matt's been picked to be an actual character's voice in the next movie!

Awhile back, the editorial department recorded him reading lines for several characters in the movie. Usually they get replaced when they record the actual actor who is cast on the role, but this time, since they liked the way he read the lines so much, they decided to let HIM be the actor, and record them for real! So, he had to get together an actor resume and a head shot, and go down to NYC with the director and producer to officially record the lines for the film. It was a mix of full sentences to screams, yells, impacts, efforts and coughs! He said it was really an awesome experience, hopefully he'll be able to do again some day!

I think it's the coolest thing ever, and now I REALLY can't wait to see the movie!! Here is a photo of him from the recording session:

Sweet Home, Chicago!

We went to visit my family in Chicago right after the ultrasound appointment! It was so good to see everyone - especially since we hadn't seen Kim and Dan in so long! We had a great time catching up, and did a little sightseeing while we were at it.

Later on we went to check out Navy Pier. I hadn't been there in a long time, and Matt had never been... I forgot that there really isn't a whole lot to do there, but they had an Oktoberfest celebration set up, so we all split a bratwurst and walked around.

We had a great time and miss everyone!!

Halfway Through!

On October 7th, we went to get another ultrasound - this time a very detailed one called the anatomy scan. We got a great profile picture of him, too!

And here is a picture of me from last week!

Matt and I can both feel the baby move now, and it's such an strange, weird, wonderful feeling that makes me smile every time!

Santa Fe

At the end of September I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a "girls trip" (Our little man sort of crashed the party, but I don't think anyone minded!) and I had a great time with everyone! We were just in time for the hot air balloon festival, and got to watch them inflating the balloons at night! The next morning we woke up super early and got to see hundreds of them take off! It was so amazing, I've never seen anything like it.

Labor Day Weekend

Matt's parents came to visit us in September!

They hadn't been here in years, and we had a great time!! We took them to see Blue Sky Studios, ate a lot of good food, and checked out a few towns to see what the houses looked like. It was great spending time with them and we can't wait until next time!

It's a Boy!

At my 16 week checkup, we found out that we're having a baby boy! We are so excited!! This was our last appointment with our doctor - we go to a new one next week. She only sees patients up to a certain point, and then refers you to another doctor. We're going to miss her!

We got a few more pictures of him during the appointment - he was waving to us :)

Hannah and Josh's Wedding!

The wedding was beautiful, and we had a great time! I wish we could have stayed to visit longer, but the time we had there was wonderful.

They also had a photobooth area, so we took some pictures with Billy and ESandra!

The beautiful pictures are from their photographer, Delbarr Moradi

Congratulations Hannah and Josh!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

I love you, best friend!

You're the best husband, and are already an amazing father.

Hope you had a very happy birthday :)

Love,

Gwynne & baby graham cracker

12 weeks 6 days

I had another doctor's appointment today. We were beyond excited - I still feel so amazed that this is even happening! She did another ultrasound, so we got to see the baby again! This is what we saw first:

It was mooning us!! It's definitely a Simmons ;) After the baby got that out of it's system, it started to roll over and cooperate. We even got a profile shot!

We were able to take a video again, which is always better than pictures!!

Our baby is about 2.3 inches from it's head to it's bum - and growing bigger every day! High five!

San Francisco

Last Thursday evening, we left for San Francisco! We went for the wedding of our friends Hannah and Josh, and were getting there a little early to spend Friday exploring the city. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans! This was our view on the plane ride to Atlanta (the first leg of our trip):

So, we were delayed in Atlanta that night, and ended up getting to San Francisco Friday afternoon. When we got to the airport in California, we were supposed to take the bus to our hotel in Palo Alto to drop off our bags before heading into the city... however, we accidentally ended up on the bus going the other direction... to downtown San Francisco! Poor Matt carried the bags around all afternoon so that we could see as much as we had time for.

The first thing we did was ride a cable car up to Pier 39!

It was a little foggy, but we could sort of see the Golden Gate Bridge from the pier! Pier 39 was full of restaurants, people, and seals! After we were done exploring, we walked over to Fisherman's Wharf.

After hanging around the piers, we walked up to Ghirardelli Square to get some chocolate!

It was amazing.

Then we had the best idea of the day: renting a GoCar! We had seen people driving around in them, and couldn't help but laugh every time we saw one. We had to rent one!

These little guys go up to 30mph and are pretty much like a small golf cart...

Once we watched the training video, we were set loose on the city of San Francisco!

After the GoCar, we decided nothing could top it! So we took the train down to Palo Alto to check into our hotel, and rest up for the main event the next day: Hannah and Josh's wedding!!

O Canada!

Last week we were in Vancouver, British Colombia! Matt went with Blue Sky to give a talk about the crowds in the movie Rio at Siggraph, an industry conference. I went to hang out!

After a long day of traveling, we finally got to our hotel. And of course, first thing's first!

When Matt had free time, we explored the city together. We went to Stanley Park first and walked all the way to the tip to have lunch. It was beautiful!

On Wednesday Matt gave his talk - this was the sign outside of the auditorium.  His talk was "Staging Carnival: Ray Tracing Crowds in 'Rio'"

On his way back to the hotel from a Siggraph party, Matt found himself walking behind this guy!

We also explored Gastown, and a few other areas.  Vancouver was a really cool city - it felt so open and full of life!  There were huge art pieces all over the city, and lots of fountains around as well.  But we were anxious to get back to New York to see what was happening with the house!

9 weeks 6 days update!!

We've been blessed with 3 pictures of our baby so far, and Gwynne is only 9-10 weeks along! This ultrasound was a mind blowing experience. I'm baffled by everything that is happening as our baby grows so much each day! This time, along with the sonogram, we were able to take a video of the ultrasound screen! Here is a video of our little gummi bear! Videos are sooo much better!

When we saw the baby move and dance around we about lost it! Both Gwynne and I have probably watched this video over 50 times, and every time it makes us laugh with joy. Can't wait for the next appointment! But we are loving every minute of the journey!

7 weeks

Today we went for our second appointment to see the baby! This time we got to see the heart beat for the first time. It was amazing to see just how much a few flickering pixels could mean to us. The doctor said our itty bitty child looks great so far! In this sonogram, the baby is the little grain of rice looking-shape holding the hula-hoop!

What a reason to start a blog!

WE'RE HAVING A BABY! It doesn't look like much yet, but the little black spot is where our baby is growing. Gwynne and I are ecstatic about our teeny tiny child, and want to share it with our loved ones! Sadly, even though we'd love it if we were next door neighbors with all of you, we aren't able to be. We hope to update this blog often, but would always love a phone call or visit over anything else! So be prepared for posts from either one of us as we embark on this new chapter of our lives!