Letters to Lyla and Lottie

We were itching to get out this weekend. Although it was a bit rainey, the warm weather is so very alluring....so took the dogs to Three Peaks for a little fun. We are Melissa's psuedo parents this week bc my mom is in CA so she came along. There was a big rock at the top of a large hill that spurred a photo shoot. We are nerds. Hope you enjoy....

A few weekends ago, we decided the weather was just too nice not to take advantage of. So we high jacked my mom's park pass and headed for Zion. We've been wanting to drive through the tunnel that serves as a gateway to Bryce. It's basically a tunnel blasted through the mountain side. We were astonished to learn that it was built in the 30's. In the pictures below, you can see one of the three windows in the tunnel. After that, we just did a few small little hikes like the Weeping Rock hike. I'd never done it. I hardly call it a hike but the views were beautiful. We intended to just go to the water-in the Narrows (a standard hike we always do) but it was closed because the water level was too high! Instead we just sat by the river for over a half hour enjoying the beauty and nice cool breeze. I am giving my standard disclaimer on these pics as well....not feeling so hot in them. Look a little bit like walking death. Todd took the pictures as you might can tell-quite artsy!

17 weeks

21 weeks

Another shot: 21 weeks

• Of course the day we found out-such an amazing day
• The day I bought my first stretchy pants
• The day we told the family
• The day we picked up our prescription prenatal pills-and felt special
• Our first ultrasound-just a speck and it made me cry
• The first night I threw up and we celebrated over it-man we were dumb
• The day I started throwing up and never quit
• The day I pee'd my pants for the first time and cried about it
• The day I cried because I couldn't find my shoes (Ty had drug it under the bed)
• The day I craved salt and vinegar chips
• The day my boobs became planets
• The day I started waking up 50 times a night to pee-and never quit
• The day I had to pull over on the freeway to hurl
• The first day I puked at work-and scared all my coworkers
• The day I broke a bag hurling so much
• the day I broke blood vessels in my face from hurling
• The day we saw the heart beat for the first time-such a beautiful sight
• The day we heard the heart beat on the doppler-such a beautiful sight
• The day I thought it was all over-for the 100th time-due to a UTI
• The day I thought it was all over for the 200th time-due to "endo-cervial pollups"
• The day we saw her moving for the first time
• The day I started having a pregnant waddle
• The day girlfriend pinched my siadic nerve...ouch!
• The day I felt her move for the first time
• The day we learned she was a she!
• And the day I bought my first pink outfit
• ...Can't wait for many more firsts!!!!

Things I have worried about...

• That I have that crazy cat disease that causes birth defects because Ty eats cat poop
• That I have whooping cough/swine flu/you name it
• That I got salmonella from peanut butter I'd eaten out of 100 times already
• That I got my shower too hot and cooked the baby
• That Ty gave me rabies because he caught a bat (he really did catch a bat-sick huh?)
• that the bee that stung me sent poison into her
• That Ty stepping on my belly and crushed her skull
• that eating a poppyseed muffin would give her an opium high

...And the list goes on. I love you Poppy. It's been the most amazing 20+ weeks. Can't wait for the rest.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get these pictures up! Work is out of control. I am sure you are all dying to see pics of our little gal in utero right? Bare with me while I shamelessly justify not having a journal and just a blog. March 4th. I felt girlfriend move for the first time for sure. I sort of braced myself on the desk and went "holy crap" when it happened. There was like, no doubt girlfriend was doing somersaults. It was awesome. I kept trying to get Todd to feel it the rest of the night but he never could (and still can't-but he will soon I'm sure). Well, the things I felt were confirmed when we finally got to see her one day later, March 5th! She HAD flipped from the ultrasound we had just five days earlier! I was a nervous wreck when she first started the ultrasound. I always look for something flickering and I couldn't see anything. I finally asked, "is there a heartbeat?". She kinda laughed and said yes. Each time she zeroed in on some organ or bodily function I kinda held my breath, hoping she would say everything looked good...and so far everything does! We saw the flow of fluid in the bladder, a complete spine, all four chambers of the heart (even so detailed as the aorta), the flow of blood in and out of the heart, her little kidneys, all 10 fingers and toes, and all sorts of other really cool/vital-to-life aspects of her perfect little body. It was so cool how much we could see! I am going to try to attach the video which shows the entire ultrasound! It even shows things labeled out. Just skim around and see how cool it is. My favorite part was the side profiles and when she zeroed in on her face. At about 13.20 you can see her trying to suck on her fist! It was so funny-she couldn't quite get er done but she was tryin. ...And at 11:26 you can see the money shot. I was expecting the tech to ask if we wanted to know the sex and then there to be some anticipation-filled moments, but nope, she just said, "looks like a girl". Then later she zoomed in on her little vag (totally violating her privacy as I will when I upload the pic) and we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is a girl (if not our boy has serious problems). I think we were both a bit shocked by the news-we both had ourselves convinced it was a boy. I think I was secretly happy she's a girl and Todd is secretly freaking out that it's a girl. Anyway, it was super fun sharing the news with everybody. That day, Elsie called me and said, "Chelsea? is it a girl or a boy? I hope it's a girl". haha. Good thing it is! Our girl and Addy will be such good friends-only 9 months apart! There are also lots of young girls on Todd's side so that will be fun for her too (sorry Jayden:0). Nothing beats getting to watch her. I think I could've laid there for hours and just watched...if it weren't for the fact that I had to get up to hurl. Unfortunately, girlfriend was smashed so far down into my uterus we didn't get any fantastic face shots. Anyway, here's the photos of girlfriend at 19 weeks 3 days.

My cute lil face (the first thing I said was "does she have a clef lip?" haha. I'm already a bad mom.)