It's a...

I am officially at the halfway mark of this pregnancy!  One of the special parts of reaching 20 weeks, is the chance to look at baby through an ultrasound.  With Joshua, our ultrasound was entirely done in 2D.  This time, we had the ultrasound in 4D.  While it's still a surreal experience to see your baby in 2D, it's even more fun seeing your baby in 4D!  We got to see a more realistic picture of our baby, as well as see each movement that was made...pretty cool!  It looks like we'll have another thumb-sucker, as Baby Dos couldn't get enough of that thumb.  All of Dos' organs and bone structures looked great, and Dos weighed in at 10 ounces.  Based on the measurements, it looks like we're sticking with the due date of January 18th.  Here are some pictures from the ultrasound (you'll see the face on the right-side of the first two pictures):

Okay, so I guess we can stop referring to this little one as Baby Dos because we now know that we are having a................................GIRL!!!  Come January 2012, Lord willing, we will welcome Makayla Joy Grundstrom to the household of crazy : )  I, honestly, had a feeling it was going to be a boy.  Andrew, on the other hand, made it two-for-two in the baby predicting department.  He's like the baby psychic or something. We are thrilled with this latest news, as are the grandparents.

Here is a picture of the 20 week baby bump:

Belly Bump to Date (12, 16, 20 weeks):

Guest Post

Joshua wanted to get a word in, so here he is with a guest post...

"D rxac3rwsdf wdzzaE6MH D VEGF4GRFY6TRYT56Y77UY6YD7GHTTTTTTTTTTTTTEY7YU68R!"

Hungry, Hungry, Hippo

Joshua LOVES to eat.  We have been transitioning him to "real" food, and he can't get enough.  He is also becoming more independent, and would rather feed himself.  We do have to slow him down a bit as he likes to stuff everything into his mouth all at once.  He reminds me of a squirrel preparing for winter.

Bed Head

Fun in the Sun

Now that the mornings are cooling off a bit, I like to take Joshua to the park to use up some energy.  He has all the open space one could want, fun balls to play with, and yet in the end all he wants is to play with the wheels of the stroller...

 

Meet Geoffrey

Geoffrey is the newest animal to be added to the family.  Geoffrey is a really soft pillow, in the shape of a giraffe. Joshua loves to cuddle with Geoffrey, and often has to have at least one foot touching him when playing with his toys.

W-H-E-E-L

Joshua and I share a love for the TV show, "Wheel of Fortune."  He likes the bright colors and sounds, but Andrew and I also think he has a crush on Vanna White.  If we're watching anything else, he's crawling all over the house, finding various ways to create havoc.  As soon as he hears the intro to "Wheel," he cruises right up to the TV, and is glued to it for the next 30 minutes (minus the boring commercials).  I know I shouldn't let him watch TV, but I rationalize it as him getting his English lesson for the day ; )

 

11 Months Old

Joshua is 11 months old today!  I can't believe we will be celebrating his first birthday next month.  Last night, in what is a rare occurrence around here, he woke up crying (luckily we hadn't gone to bed yet).  As I held him in the rocker, I couldn't help but wonder where the last year went.  My baby is not so little anymore...

 

Sorry for the Delay

So I know many people have been waiting for new pictures... And I (Andrew) haven't done a good job keeping up.  But, your patient waiting means that now you have a ton of new pictures to look through all at once.  See the panel to the lower right for 4 new album links ("Girls' Visit", "Joshua's Tenth Month", "Grandma's 80th Birthday", and "Joshua's Eleventh Month").

Think of it as a present to commemorate Joshua's 11 month birthday tomorrow!  Hope you enjoy!

 

They Grow Up So Fast!

Andrew here...
Lately, Joshua has been learning a lot of new tricks, but this latest development definitely surprised us... and gave us quite a laugh too.  Our little man has been crawling all over the place, learning new things, trying to play with everything in sight, and being told "No" quite often these days.  It just so happened that during one of his adventures around the house, he discovered a ball of Ally's hair, and well, you can see the result below.

I am pretty sure I didn't start growing facial hair until I was at least in high school.  Somehow Joshua got off to an early start before the age of 1  ; )

Full of Expression

Baby Dos - 16 Weeks

I like to affectionately call our new addition: "Baby Dos."  Baby Dos and I had our 16 week appointment yesterday.  The appointment was quick and easy, which is always a good thing.  The doctor found the heartbeat really quickly, and it was loud and fast.  Since Joshua was a large baby, I get to do two glucose screenings this pregnancy, to ensure there are no signs of gestational diabetes (insert a sarcastic, "yay!").  So, this weekend, I will reunite with that oh-so-good sugary drink, and settle in for some blood draws.  Let's hope Joshua was just showing off, and this baby is much smaller at his or her arrival.

Speaking of his/her...we have a date set for the ultrasound.  We will get to see our baby up close, and find out the sex, on August 31st!  Andrew is convinced this baby is a girl.  He was right the first go-around, so we'll see if he can make it two-for-two.  My maternal instinct hasn't kicked in yet, so I have no feeling either way.  I'm thinking we need to go to the Isotopes' 50-cent hot dog night in a few weeks as a test.  With Joshua, I ate my way through 5 hot dogs, and it was then that I had a sneaking suspicion he was a boy.  I figure if the Dippin' Dots can woo me more than the hot dogs, I'll go with a girl.  But, if I can break my hot dog record, I might have to side with Baby Dos being a boy : )  We would love to start a poll with our friends and family, so please leave a comment if you have a guess as to the sex of the baby.

Here is a picture of my belly at 16 weeks, as well as a comparison of what it was a month ago (not much change):

16 Weeks

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Videos

Here are a couple of new videos of our little man:

Joshua is all about faces these days.  He likes to take his hand, and move people's heads back and forth:

Joshua moves at lightening speed: