34 years and 24 weeks...

A month has gone by since we found out our adorable Baby Hall is most definitely Baby Girl Hall. We still can't settle on a name, and truly, I've lost hope of making a decision before the little Doodle makes her debut. We'll just have to look at her and decide what name suits her best. Our pool has been narrowed to five. Her middle name will be Ann, because, well, it has to be. My middle name is Ann, my mother's is Ann, my grandmother's is Ann, and Matt's mother's is Ann. I've always known we'd use Ann. So, in no particular order, the running five favorites (with nicknames in parentheses) are:




Magnolia Ann (Lola)
Beatrice (or, possibly, Beatrix) Ann (Bea)
Ellie Ann
Matilda Ann (Mattie)
August Ann

On any given day, I can fall in love with one, and find fault with the others. But I truly love them all, which is part of the problem in making any kind of decision. Poor baby girl, maybe you ARE destined to be "The Doodle" forever.... ;)

My parents, grandmother, and aunt all chipped in to buy us our crib for my birthday, and with that last piece of furniture, the nursery is essentially finished, all except for decor on the walls. I've arranged and rearranged all the elements until it's exactly the way I want it, and usually I'll wander in there to sit and bask in all the baby glory at least once a day. One of my decorating projects was this little mini-clothesline, with these vintage cotton shirts and dresses we picked up at Goodwill here and there. My other pet project was this branch full of these tiny stuffed birds, cut from patterned scraps and hand sewn and stuffed by yours truly (only noteworthy because, while I may be a painter, I am NOT a sewer, but I still managed to pull it off). For over the crib, I have plans for a set of four square canvasses, two with silhouettes (a branch with a tiny bird perched on it, and a branch with a birdhouse hung from it) and two with Baby Girl's name (once we finally decide on one) and her length and weight when born. The rest, well, it will come in due time. Much like The Doodle herself :)



We had our 24 week Fetal Echo ultrasound today. Examining all the parts we couldn't see very well last month, and in particular her little heart. All, it seems, are perfect. All chambers of the heart formed correctly, beating away beautifully as it should. She's an active little wiggler, and for the first time ever I was able to SEE and FEEL her move at the same time, which was, quite frankly, surreal. She weighs 1lb 7oz today, falling perfectly and squarely in the "average" category. As diabetics tend to have larger babies, I'm completely thrilled with 67th percentile, size-wise! She treated us to several views as she twisted and turned in there, and confirmed that she is still 100% Girl.

She's already developing a routine, as far as the squirming goes. 6am, 10am (after breakfast), and between 10pm and midnight are her most active times (the latter does not bode well for her Daddy and I in terms of "bed time") In fruit and vegetable terms, she's a papaya. And tomorrow, 24 weeks old, will mark her as "viable". Of course we want her to continue to cook in there for the next three months, but there is some satisfaction in knowing that, were she to come early, she'd now have a shot at surviving--a battle as a preemie, true, but, surviving.

Just a few weeks more, and we're in the third trimester. The home stretch. This is the time I've been waiting for my whole pregnancy. It's time for farmer's markets, and fresh Tennessee strawberries, blooming flower gardens and growing tomatoes. Freshly mown grass and driving around with the windows down. Soon there'll be lightning bugs. And before we know it, it'll be Doodle time :)