Growing and growing and growing

Hey everyone....
I figured I would leave a quick update on our little peanut. Right now I'm 22 weeks along, which means she is about 7 1/2 inches long and about 12 ounces. She is moving around a lot, especially at night...either because my movement during the day lulls her to sleep or because she is taking after her night-owl dad. She can also hear the outside world by now, so I have been sure to indoctrinate her to the joys of Motown the way a proper McCarthy should be raised. While I'm cooking, I'll get down to some Aretha or Stevie....I just know she enjoys it. Bruce has also been on the playlist, of course.

I've gotten a lot of help and advice from my two new-mom girl friends, Jessica and Kara. Jessica's peanut is about 10 months old, and Kara's is 4 months. They've been great about giving me the honest truth about what John and I are about to experience, while still enjoying watching me marinate in the total happiness I am in over this pregnancy. They have been great new-moms and I appreciate it so much. Kara told me about a moment she had in which she realized the amazing/terrifying physics of pregnancy and birth....I had one of those recently, but it was more a picture that just popped into my head while looking at my belly in the mirror. Here is that picture:

Appropriate name for the boat, coincidentally.

Not to be ignored, John has had his own dad-things to think about during the pregnancy. I can't always read his mind, but I do see a lot of head scratching when he looks at my belly. Importantly, he's kept his distance from the many many boxes of Girl Scout cookies that I've attacked in the last week, which may be more self-preservation than will-power. If I give birth to a 7-pound Thin Mint, I accept all of the blame.

It's a....

It's a girl!! John and I had a wonderful time today getting our 20-week ultrasound. We are very excited about our little girl, and cannot wait to meet her. Everything looked great, and it is clear that she is already very advanced. Her mouth was open, which I assume means she is already either talking (if she takes after me) or singing (taking after John). I think the idea of a daughter may scare John a bit more than a son, but as Brian pointed out today, she will have John wrapped around her little finger within minutes of her arrival.

I'll update everyone on anything else, once I get down off of Cloud 9.

Baby update

I'm 19 weeks along, and feeling fantastic. Up until recently, all of this baby business has been a very abstract thing to wrap my head around. But now, I'm starting to feel little kicks and movements of our little peanut. This has not only been amazing to feel, but also makes this whole transition that much more real. And, on Monday, we find out if I'm cooking up a little boy or little girl in my belly. I think that will give John and I an actual baby to picture in our heads (sort of), as we start to think of names and our life with a little girl or boy. We are so excited to find out, and know that you guys might be too. We'll be sure to post Monday or Tuesday.

And, not to be ignored, Winston appears clueless about it all. He does seem to want to cuddle in my lap more than ever, but I don't know if that is because he senses something different about me. He did extremely well when sweet Eleanora came over to watch the Super Bowl with us...he was curious about this 4-month old little girl at our house but kept his distance and his cool.

I figured that I would post a few baby pictures of John and I. Feel free to picture your own Campbell-mashup.

John (maybe about 18 months or so?) and Mary-Mitchell

Me on my first birthday with Mom and Dad

He's a "Sheep-zu"

A few posts ago I wrote about a dog breed analysis test that we were doing for Winston. Well, now we are even more stumped about his background, as is the vet. It could not detect dominant breeds in his background, but did identify two breeds that are somewhere in his genetics. (As a side note for my biology friends out there, it looks for SNP variants between breeds.) So, based on the results, Winston's background says he is part Shitzu and part Old English Sheepdog! We hadn't even imagined that he could have either of these backgrounds, so we were totally surprised. Here are pictures from Wikipedia of each:

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While I have to admit that the Shitzu part threw me off (I mean, they're nice and all...they're just yippy and little), I know that Winston is still the coolest dog in the world. So, it's likely that he has other breeds in his background that the test didn't identify....a true mutt. While this doesn't completely stop the speculation of his background, friends have enjoyed trying to picture a 10-lb Shitzu running off with a 75-lb Old English Sheepdog.

Mary-Mitchell takes Tucson

I wanted to post a few pictures from our visit with John's sister Mary-Mitchell. We haven't seen her since the summer we moved to Tucson, so it was wonderful having her here. And, MM brought her great friend Heather, who we've been lucky enough to know for several years. We ate lots of Mexican food, visited the Desert Museum, and took a road trip to the Grand Canyon. All four of us (plus Winston) drove up there and went to bed early, planning on waking up nice and early to watch the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. As residents of Tucson, we're accustomed to not relying on the weather forecast, so we were surprised to wake up to several inches of snow. After waiting a few hours for visibility to improve, we finally did make it to see the amazing view. And, Clark Griswold-style, we got back in the car and drove back. We did stop in Sedona, which is absolutely beautiful, for some lunch, coffee, fudge, and sunshine. It was great to see MM, and we can't wait to see her again!!

Yes, John wore shorts. Raise your hand if you're surprised. Anyone? Anyone?

Baby love!

Hi everyone!!

By now everyone around us has heard, but I will announce it here on the blog anyway....we are having a baby! John and I are completely over the moon and excited about our little peanut. I am in my 16th week, and feeling wonderful. In the first trimester I was queasy at times and extremely exhausted...I seem to be in the lucky minority of women who don't have to live with their heads in the toilet. I have managed to sprout a wee Buddha belly, and am wearing it proudly. John is also feeling wonderful (I'm sure you were wondering), and keeping pace with my voracious reading of pregnancy- and baby-related books. Winston is of course clueless, but will no doubt have the shock of his little life when he realizes (1) that he has to share attention, and (2) that he was adopted (ha!). The baby has already been exposed to all sorts of Demon Deacon sports, as well as cell biology from a big meeting in San Francisco that I attended. The holidays in NC were fantastic, and it was really touching to see how excited our families are for the first grand-baby on either side.

I'll be posting some pictures from the past few weeks soon, but in the meantime, below is a picture of a baby at 16 weeks. I'd like to think it is from a webcam installed in my uterus, but that baby doesn't look like a ginger to me (you'll have see John's very cute baby pictures).

Stuffed turkeys, and stuffed bellies

Last night we arrived back home from a great trip out to L.A. to visit Brian and Heather. They just moved into their beautiful new house a week ago, and were still willing to have some company. The house was built in the 1920s, and has a lot of the original charm mixed in with modern updates. For Thanksgiving, Brian got a deep-fried turkey that had a great Cajun seasoning (according to the meat-eaters), and I cooked the side dishes (just the basics).



On Friday, Brian, John, and I went to see Wake Forest play in the 76 Classic in Anaheim. Since there aren't too many Wake fans out there, we got seats right behind the Wake bench. We felt like we were part of the huddle, and could hear everything the coach was saying. John did have to watch his mouth (oh the pain!), since we knew the players could hear us too. We even made a bunch of the close-ups on ESPN2.

Anybody else like the guy right behind me? Doh!

The rest of the weekend was spent napping, unpacking, eating Yummy Cupcakes (which will make an appearance as Brian and Heather's wedding cake), and just hanging out. Loads of fun! Many thanks to Brian and Heather!