Skeleton Baby Madrid! 18 weeks and 4 days.

My fur babies!

My belly between 19 and 20 weeks

Charlie Brown Madrid - 18 weeks & 4 days

Sorry I've been M.I.A. Work has been stressful & crazy and the last thing I feel like doing is logging online once I get home. Things have been busy at home as well. Stephen & I have been organizing the house and rearranging furniture. I even did some gardening & replaced our dead potted plants. The nesting instinct has come early! We're also busy preparing for Christmas! Yippeee! I love Christmas! The only bummer is that I'll be working over the holidays. My office is closed but they need two of us to be there to collect & process donations. Grrr...Oh well. It will be the last year of that B.S. At least I can slack off & maybe even bring Woody to work to keep me company. I'm really frustrated with work right now and even though I know that I'll be out of there soon I can't exactly have the attitude of a "short timer". I still have to act as though I care. It's hard to care about anything else when all I can think about is this baby. I'm daydreaming about the baby all day. I can't wait to be a full time mommy!

I had my BIG ultrasound last week. We held strong and did not find out the sex. I didn't even see anything that gave me any idea of what it might be. They did all the measurements & then the tech brought Stephen in to show us both the baby moving around. It was so cool. The baby was moving it's arms & waving at us. At one point the baby turned it's head and grinned at us. It was so funny! The ultrasound photos weren't that detailed but they were still pretty amazing. One of the photos the baby has a Charlie Brown profile and on the other it looks like a little skeleton. We also got a photo of the little legs and feet which is so cute. After the ultrasound Stephen and I went to dinner at the mall & I bought some maternity clothes & belly butter. My belly is growing leaps & bounds and I'm terrified of stretch marks - among other things! I got a glimpse of my naked self in the mirror and I was like Whoa, whose beer belly is that!!!??? My body has changed so much and despite the warm and fuzzy feeling I am having about having this little baby growing in my belly I am feeling a little self conscious. I can't wait to get back on my mountain bike again. I'm hoping to be riding again by July...but we will see how I feel and if I have the time and energy.

The other news in the Madrid house is that our little dachshund Woody was neutered. Poor guy! He really needed it though. He had become quite the little nightmare and was enamored with the cat. He had his surgery on Friday and by Sunday my little man was back! I forgot how sweet and loving the old Woody was! Those hormones made him a terror. He's healing up nicely and hasn't exhibited any of his bad behaviour. The only problem now is that it's raining and he refuses to go outside to pee! We keep puppy pads for him but the little devil peed in his bed this afternoon. I guess it's better there then on the carpet!...My pets are so lovable. I know that they are inevitably going to have to take the backseat when the baby comes but I am going to really try hard to give all my babies love. I've been doing some research about introducing the baby to the animals. Luckily they are angels with my baby nephew. People keep telling me how the animals will be kicked to the curb when the baby comes but I think any loving and dutiful pet owner has the responsibility of making time for their pets as well. The baby will come first but I am adamant about making time for the fur babies as well.

Tomorrow I will be 20 weeks! That means I am officially at the half way point. Boy, does time fly! I am just over the moon with excitement. By the way, I have had 4 baby dreams! Here's what they were about:
1. I had an indian baby girl

2. I had the most beautiful baby girl I've ever seen

3. My belly grew like a pyramid (it was a Boy)

4. I had an adorable baby boy & Stephen grabbed him & ran off. (LOL)..

So far...I'm 2 and 2 with dreaming of the sex of the baby. My mother's intuition stinks!