Playing Catch-up

Inspired by other friends' dedication to consistent blog updates, coupled with the fact that I'm now on summer break, brings me back to our "Little Chow Liddell" blog after a 13-week hiatus. If you're reading this, thanks for not losing all hope and for coming back to check on our progress!


Time is flying by! The previous post shows our ultrasound at about 20 weeks, and while we don't have any new ultrasound pics of the growing baby to share, we do have a few pictures of my growing belly.



Rewind to 18 weeks...March 23rd...I remember thinking, "Oh my gosh! I'm really starting to pop!" Little did I know what nature had in store for my belly....

Fast forward to 25 1/2 weeks pregnant...May 14th...okay, NOW we're really poppin'!

Taking a break from the profile shots, here are some pictures taken in my 2nd grade classroom on June 9th at the baby shower organized by a couple of amazing parent volunteers.

In the first picture, you can see Ryan waving hello to the shower guests with one hand, holding our new digital recorder from Grandpa Andre in the other hand.











Here is some of the food that parents brought in, the most impressive of which was a homemade cake decorated to match our nursery bedding, "Bunny Meadows". This parent even mixed colored icing to match!

Finally, the third picture shows me enjoying this food while testing out the glider and ottoman given to us by the generous families of my students. SO comfy!! I wanted to keep the glider in my classroom and teach from it for the remainder of the school year! On the side, a new bookcase holds dozens of unwrapped gifts that turned out to be the beginnings of a collection of great children's books and baby board books selected by my students! Kids loved commenting aloud as Ryan and I opened each one in front of them: "Oh, that is SUCH a good book!" Or, "I have that book!! I loved it when I was little!"



I am currently 33 weeks pregnant, and we hear that babies are typically about 17 inches long (is that really accurate?!)and weigh a little over 4 lbs. so, we'll go with those stats, as recent check-ups put me right about average for weight gain and belly measurement. This picture was taken just last week at my friend, Karin's baby shower. Karin is having twins (a boy and a girl) and may deliver around the same time as me, as twins tend to want to join the world about 4 weeks early! (Note: we did not purposefully coordinate our outfits or the wall hanging backdrop for this "photo shoot"!)

And last but not least for this posting, the ultimate sign that life as we know it is about to change dramatically. We traded in the zippy little silver VW Beetle that I've had for 8 years and purchased a 2008 Mazda5, which can hold up to 6 people! As you can see in the photo it's a cross between a wagon and a...dare we say, mini-van. The size of it makes it seem more station wagon-ish, but the convenient sliding back doors and some other features make it seem like it's a bit more in the family of mini-vans. No matter how we categorize it, this vehicle is pretty darn cool and we love its versatility. With great gas mileage, heated/leather seats, a sunroof, lots of cupholders, and Bluetooth compatibility, we feel as if we are soaking in the lap of family vehicle luxury! Ryan's expression in this photo demonstrates that he is not the least bit fazed by the Mazda5's resemblance to a mini-van! We're ready to carpool! Bring on the rugrats.