Only God and the Nurse Practitioner Know

We had a doctor's appointment last week on Friday, and to our surprise we got to see the baby! First sonogram in the books, and for the record our child is very squirmy. The nurse practitioner (who is very quirky and odd...so of course we love her) got very frustrated because little bebe Parr was moving around so much. This kid is gonna be a handful.

So to give the official report, all's well in-utero. The baby is growing normally, and all of his internal organs are in the right place. Heartbeat was normal (FAST!) and bones and skull were looking good. We saw brains too! And the face! It looked like Pele has received my unfortunate nose gene, instead of Tommy's cute little petite one, but ya can't win em all I guess...I haven't done too bad in spite of my olfactory inheritance, so I'm sure the bambino will still be pretty :) What else...the fetal femur measurement was 3.6 centimeters and the baby weighs almost a pound!

Speaking of weight, I've gained 13 pounds in the first half of my pregnancy, bringing the LB total to 144 - officially the most I've ever weighed in at. It's worth it, and honestly I don't feel like I've gained that much. So here's hoping my 5'7 frame can stand up to the 15-20 pounds yet to come, and still bounce back on the other side!

Apparently this sonogram was just a "dress rehearsal" for the "real" one we have to make a special appointment for in the radiology department. I guess the "real" one is more in-depth and takes a whole slew of measurements of different areas and stuff. And if we want to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl the NP said we would be able to because she could tell on the "unofficial" sonogram. So yes, ladies and gents, there is one person in the world (besides God) who knows the gender of our baby! And it's not meeee!

So I leave you with a few pictures of my belly growth over the past few weeks. It's like the baby bump just jumped out one day and decided to make itself known. Two season ticket holders at the ballpark told me I had finally "blossomed." Ew. Save your blossoming proclamations, ladies, it sounds gross. The good news is: I still have some semblance of a waist!

Yes that's a pug shirt :) I even had it before I became Stockton's mom!


And the side view...


This shirt was a good pick-up!


I still have a bit of a waist...


But not so much from this angle...21 weeks to the day here.

We Are Registered...Done and Done

So we're all registered for Baby Parr, and everyone out there in blogland can visit the registries and buy us stuff. I mean, I'll just put it out there, that's why people register, right? So other people will buy them stuff? Hopefully it goes without saying that any and every gift received will be immensely appreciated, more than you could ever know. Especially being so far away from everyone.

Where are we registered, you ask? Target, and an all-organic online registry called Eden Home. "Organic, eh?" Well, sure. If it were economically feasible we would do the all-organic thing, "go green," if you will, on everything from toys to clothes to diapers to food. But we're realistic and know ourselves too well to believe we would or could keep up with that. But! We feel like we can make a commitment to some organic basics, which is what we registered for on Eden Home. It's actually a very cool site. Sooo much good stuff, not just for babies, but for everyone and everything. Maybe by next time (did I really just say that?) we'll be able to have a green baby. Something to shoot for!

Aside from the organic wildcard the rest of what we registered for is pretty standard. The Target registry covers everything and has a very wide variety of price points. A few of the items are somewhat "wishlist" related (do I need a jogging stroller? No. But I really want one to pick back up with the marathon training that was in the works when we found out about el bebe. So, two strollers :))

I'll tell you what you won't find on the registry, and that's anything involving breast pumping. Who puts that on a registry? Gross. I don't want breast pump refill bags to be a gift option, so no breast pump apparati are present. There also aren't a lot of clothes on there. There are some clothes, for both genders, mostly basics like sleepers, but since we have decided to be delightfully surprised by the girl/boyness of our baby, a few items are pretty much all we're gonna have on hand until the baby is born. Of course there will be "coming home" outfits handy, and plenty of feathery hairbows (there's a lady in Modesto who makes them and sells them on Craigslist - KLONDIKE!) but I wanna pick those out myself, and it'll be easy to save receipts. Except for with hairbow lady products - she probably has a no-return policy. In which case I'll wear them myself if the baby has boy parts.

So feel free to peruse the registries! Email me with questions - christaparr@hotmail.com. I'm not gonna post our address on here in an effort to prevent creeptastic stalker scenarios. You are more than welcome, and invited to send stuff to the baseball field (quite possibly more reliable than sending anything to our house) and here's that address:

Modesto Nuts Professional Baseball Club
ATTN: Christa Parr
601 Neece Drive
Modesto, CA 95351

Thank you, and good night :)

Link to Target Registry:
Tommy and Christa Parr's Baby Registry

Link to Eden Home Registry, search "Christa Parr":
Eden Home Registry, Search for Registry

It's Moving Day, It's Moving Day, Hey Baby, Hey

FYI: If you know what TV show that title quote is from it means you're awesome.

Sooo, it's moving day! FINALLY! We have a house! It's a perfect little one-bedroom bungalow, complete with humongous living room picture window, tons of storage for our mounds and mounds of stuff, a fireplace, TWO closets in the bedroom, a nice sized kitchen for Tommy to cook in and a delightful little nook perfect for the baby's room. We're beyond excited to have gotten the place, after finding it while driving randomly in our favorite part of town one Saturday afternoon. By the time Tommy articulated the words "baby get your phone out and call that number," I was already on the phone. It only got better when we walked inside and were ecstatic to find a refrigerator in the kitchen, and a lot more room than you would expect for a one-bedroom (a bit over 900 square feet.) We were like kids in a candy store and had been inside the place for approximately 45 seconds before we had seen every room and declared it the house we wanted to bring Pele Parr home to. Awwww :)

But wait! There's more! The best part about the place is the location. It's in a quaint older neighborhood on a tree-lined street a block away from a beautiful park. And not just any park. The very park where Tommy and I kind of started out as a couple. We met there for picnics over my lunch break while we were "courting" (for that whole entire month we dated before getting engaged, haha.) The "picnic" would consist of McDonald's from time to time, but I loved it anyway :) Besides all the mushy stuff, though, it's also just a sweet, sweet park. There are lots of festivals there every summer and it'll be great for the dogs since we don't have our own yard.

What a relief! Don't tell Tomas I said this, but the miserable search for a place was worth it if this house is what we got out of it. CP, out.

Alien Ninja Baby Pele Parr

Baby kicks! We've got some baby kicks! Make that LOTS of baby kicks. I actually felt the first one a few weeks ago, just a couple days before Tom hit the road to head to Modesto from Champaign. Of course he was the first person I told, and of course his immediate response was "Honey, are you sure it wasn't gas?" Seems that's a common confusion, as both of my ma's had the very same initial reaction. It was the real thing people, I promise! Since that first little fluttery movement (I was nearing the end of my 17th week, currently in the middle of my 19th) I've felt el bambino moving and shaking in there every single day. Pretty weird, folks, pretty weird.

But speaking of moving and shaking - this baby is all over the place! He kicks me all the time! Michelle's reaction to this news: "I'm not sure how I would deal with a small person constantly kicking me." Not to worry Mich, I poke him back from time to time :) Never too soon to assert the parental dominance. The movements have been so strong that Tommy has actually felt them too. He's only felt it once, but not for lack of trying! He has successfully branded the child with a new nickname that we BOTH enjoy, however - Pele Parr. Born ready. I have also shifted from referring to bebe as an alien to calling her my little ninja baby. Because without fail, the kid kicks/punches/head butts me every night under cover of darkness when I go to bed.

The Baby Bible says I'm in for an active pregnancy...I hope so.

An Update On Baby Parr's Parents is Severely Overdue...

So I suppose I should update this a bit and apprise the universe of exactly what Tommy and I are up to these days. Much has changed in the last couple of weeks!

We are officially back in Modesto, CA. I know, I know, we can't believe it either, but it's true! After a short hiatus I'm back with the Modesto Nuts, and actually started back three weeks ago in my old position as Director of Marketing and Public Relations. Tommy arrived in Motown last weekend after staying behind in the ILL state for a couple weeks to cover the final Illinois basketball games and pack all of our stuff in a big truck, and then drive our car out to Cali with the puppies. I flew out three weeks ago and have been staying with friends of ours and searching for a house for us to live in (which has gone somewhat miserably, but that's a whole blog post in and of itself...I'll just say this - who doesn't put a refrigerator in a rental?? California renters, apparently. What a treat.)

SO! With the little addition I'm carrying my job has changed a bit from what it was last year, but it's all been for the better. I've thoroughly enjoyed the last few weeks back at work and am excited and relieved to have secured gainful employment once again. Tommy has returned this season as the Nuts PA announcer, with some added production duties.

Opening Night for the team was Thursday and it was faaaantastic! Now we're just getting through the rest of this 4-game home stand before we both have a complete day off on Monday...finally a day to sleep in!! But not to worry, I'm taking care of myself and getting as much sleep as I can, and still managing to eat pretty well, in spite of spending 18 hours a day at a ballpark. So that's the update, more to come, as opportunities to add content to this delightful blog are always more plentiful on the weekends.

If you're ever in the Modesto area, give us a call, we <3 drive-bys. :)