You know you live in Suburbia when....

1. The HOA has a 4th of July Parade and the kids out number the adults 8 to 1.

2. You are convinced the neighbors around the corner are Swingers.

3. When you go for walks around the neighborhood - you must participate in the mandatory "hello" exchanges from those that are sitting on their front porches...which is of course every other house.

4. You meet your neighbors for the first time, and they immediately start telling you the age and gender of every child under 10 on the block. They can't remember parents names, but they know the kids...and that's only because of their kids. Oh - and they of course know their dogs names.

5. You are at the neighborhood pool and the lady next to you is 50+ but has had enough surgery to make her seem around 35...drinking Dos Equis in cans...by herself. And of course she was also covered in bling. Maybe she's part of the Swingers Club too.

6. There is an awesome Sno-Cone Truck that rolls through the neighborhoods at night...driven and run by a girl no more than 16 years old, cute, blond and very tan.

7. The average number of kids per household is 3.5.

8. Everyone has lawn service, even though most yards are so tiny it would only take 15 minutes to mow it yourself.

*Disclaimer* - I know this post was a little out of the ordinary for my Baby Blog, but I just had to share and shake things up a bit. We have many more additions to this list...so I'll add more as they come in. We can't wait!

Maybe a boy....maybe a girl

Matt and I found out today what the gender of the newest little addition will be. However - to keep my immediate family from finding out prior to our telling them, I'm not posting it here just yet (sorry Middlebury & Houston - you have to wait too!). The Abram/Heign/Guggenheim's will be celebrating me and Mom's birthday's next weekend - so I am making everyone wait until then.

In the meantime - here is a snippet from our Ultrasound today (push the play button). You can see the profile of the baby and in the lower right hand corner you can see the little heart beating super fast. The end of this video is where they start getting into the 4D image. I think at this point the baby had enough and put it's hand in between the camera and it's face. :)

And here is a sonogram of those cute little feet!

This is the 4D picture that Matt and I think is a little freaky looking....:) The baby is using my uterus as a pillow.

Baby bump

Matt and I finally snapped a few pictures this evening. I'm now at 20 1/2 weeks...so halfway there! I, of course, hated all the pictures and feel the camera truly adds 10 (maybe 15) pounds - to my face, arms, neck, legs, etc. It's a small bump - but it's there. :)

Is it a BOY or a GIRL???

I had my monthly doctors appointment yesterday and got to schedule the date for the next Ultrasound that will tell us if we'll have a boy or girl.  We go in on July 2 - so be watching around that time for blog updates!

Vote on what you think/want/hope it will be!

It's official: we are homeowners!

Matt and I are officially first time homeowners!  We closed last Tuesday on our house (via conference call while I was in Philadelphia - but oh well).  Here are a few pictures that I have - I'll try to remember to post more when we get moved in.  I will send out our new address soon via email.

Why is the blog blue and brown?

We won't find out if it's a boy or a girl until probably the first week in July.  I did the blog in blue and brown only because I liked the combination.  However, here is a funny story about if it's a boy or girl...

I took an Apple group to Baltimore for a meeting in the middle of April.  One of the staff waitresses (older Gypsy-ish woman) for our banquets at the Marriott hotel came up to me out of the blue and said:

"You're expecting, and you are having a boy"

I was speechless nonetheless since at that point we hadn't told anyone - and I certainly wasn't showing!  She must have seen the surprise on my face because her next question was:

"I'm right, aren't I?  You are expecting, no?"

I then say a "uh - yes" and she proceeds to tell me again it's a boy and that:

"I'm never wrong"

So - would you believe the Gypsy lady?

New Due Date - November 14

At our appointment today - the sonogram showed that I'm actually not as far along as we previously thought.

Meaning -the NEW due date is now November 14 (instead of Nov 5).

At least it won't be a Halloween baby.  Well, hopefully not.

Crazy Baby!

Today was our first Ultrasound.  The baby is around 2.5 inches big - and already really cute. :)

The doctors were measuring and testing for chromosomal abnormalities and the baby passed with flying colors.  If the blood test comes back normal (which we assume it will) then we are hopefully in the clear!

Baby Gugg was moving and shaking and bouncing all around.  Which is supposedly a good sign.  We got to see all the major organs as well as the heartbeat.  It definitely has two legs and two arms - all good so far!

Here are a few pictures below.  Our favorite is the one of the legs - I think he/she was practicing it's synchronized swimming routine. 

Baby Legs!!

Baby Head

Baby Body

So who was more shocked???

That would be Shannon.  Most definitely.  I like how everyone just assumed it was Matt!

Getting up to speed

Since we wanted to wait a couple months to make sure everything has been progressing smoothly before we told everyone - I thought I'd get you all up to speed as to where we are at this point if you are interested.

1.  We found out we're expecting sometime in March.

2.  My first doctors appointment was March 23.  Not much happened here except confirmation that there was indeed a baby in there.  I did have to give lots and lots of blood which as most everyone knows is just not fun for me.  Matt was there though and for the most part it went well.  

3.  The estimated due date is set for Nov. 5, 2009.

4. My second doctors appointment was on April 7.   At this point I was almost 10 weeks and they decided to try to find a heartbeat.  After much searching (seemed like the longest 5 minutes ever...even more so to poor Matt) they finally found it.  And it was a good solid 180 beats!

5. My next doctors appointment is scheduled for May 5.  This will be our first sonogram - and the first tri-screen test.  This test will determine if the baby is at risk for any chromosomal problems.  So keep us in your thoughts and prayers that all goes well!

So nothing really exciting at this point.  But I guess boring is good news - right! :)