End of Week 14

As of this week, Baby Minton can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his/her thumb!  Thanks to brain impulses, his/her facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another.  His/her kidneys are producing urine, which he/she releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he’ll/she’ll keep up until birth. He/she can grasp, too.

In other news: Baby Minton is also stretching out. From head to bottom, he/she measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he/she weighs 1 1/2 ounces.

Week 15 starts on Monday and here’s what we can expect:

Baby Minton will measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple).  He/she’s busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in his/her lungs begin to develop.  His/her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and he/she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although his/her eyelids are still fused shut, he/she can sense light.  If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, he/she’s likely to move away from the beam.  There’s not much for your baby to taste at this point, but he/she is forming taste buds.  Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby’s a boy or a girl!

I won’t be having another ultrasound until week 20 (as far as I know!) but my co-worker Terri and I tried the string test yesterday at work.  Here’s what the test told us to do:

Take a pin, needle, or wedding ring and attach it to a thread or strand of hair.  Hold the dangling item over mom to be’s belly while she is lying down. If the needle or wedding ring swings in a strong circular motion, you will be having a girl.  If it moves in a to and fro motion like a pendulum, you will be having a boy.

We used a pink piece of thread and my wedding ring and the it swung back and forth…so I guess that means we’re having a boy! 

Another friend on Facebook asked me if I checked the Chinese Pregnancy Calendar.  I hadn’t heard of it, but here’s what it said:

The Chinese Pregnancy Calendar is based on legend, and has been used to predict whether an unborn child will be a boy or a girl.  According to legend, the Chinese pregnancy calendar was buried in a royal tomb almost 900 years ago and was just recently discovered.

I took my age at conception and the month I conceived and it says we’re having a girl!

So…I guess we’ll have to wait until week 20 to find out if it’s a BOY or a GIRL.

Our Peanut at 13 Weeks

By now, you’ve probably heard the news…Mike and I are having a BABY! 

During the 13th week (which was last week) we had the First Trimester Screen which is a new, optional noninvasive evaluation that combines a maternal blood screening test with an ultrasound evaluation of the fetus to identify risk for specific chromosomal abnormalities, including Down’s Syndrome Trisomy-21 and Trisomy-18.

The Dr’s office called on Tuesday (which just happened to be my birthday) and told me that everything came back fine.  While this doesn’t guarantee anything, it does give us some comfort in knowning that there were no red flags.

Here are a few pictures of Baby Minton from the ultrasound that was performed:

This picture shows Baby Minton’s face.  Its amazing that you can see the structure of the skull.

Here Baby Minton is waving to us.  Can you see the fingers?  Pretty amazing, huh?

Our next visit to the OB will be for my 16 week appointment on Tuesday Feb 16th.  Stay tuned for more updates!

The Kids Christmas

The kids remained in California until Monday, December 28th.  They got in late that night, so they didn’t get to open their presents from us or their Grandparents until the following evening.  Here’s a picture of them all seated on the couch as they start to dig in…

A Dog Gone Good Christmas

It’s incredibly hard to get both dogs to sit still in order for us to take a picture, but I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the outtakes from Christmas Eve.

Attempt #1 – Guinness decided to yawn mid-picture.

Attempt #2 – Dakota is now distracted by something.

Attempt #3 – Not bad!

Now it was my turn…I didn’t do so well.

Attempt #4 – Guinness ways 56 lbs these days…it’s like trying moving a buffalo.

Attempt #5 – I tried to bribe them with treats.  They are sitting nice, but facing the wrong way!

On Christmas Day we headed over to Jessica and Chris’ for dinner and seeing as we had to leave the pups in the basement for a few hours while we were gone, they each got a nice new favored bone.  Here they are just before Mike let them have at it.

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve

The Quinn family has in the last 5 or so years adopted a tradition where we open all of our gifts on Christmas Eve.   This year we spent the evening alone as the kids were in CA celebrating Christmas with their Mom.

Here are a few pictures of Mike and I opening our gifts that were sent to us from Michigan.

This was a Puma workout shirt from my brother.  To my left is my new Wii Fit Plus that I got from Mike as well as a pair of silver earring from my parents.

New fleece PJs from Michael.

Michael also sent Mike and I a joint gift which was a photo of each member of my family.  You can see the one of my Dad here.  My Mom had a crazy hat on in her  picture and Michael’s was him in a hot dog bun.  We need to figure out where to hang these!

Mike showing off his new Michigan hoodie that my parents got him.

He also got some new dress shirts.

And my favorite…I’m not sure where my Dad found this, but it’s perfect for Mike.

I cooked Mike a ham for dinner and we had a nice meal together and then watched the Hangover which was another one of Mike’s gifts.  We are very thankful to have such a loving and caring family who knows us so well.  Maybe next year we can spend Christmas with them in Michigan.

Ryan’s Birthday

I know it’s almost the end of December…but at least I’m getting this posted before the New Year!

On Ryan’s birthday we headed out to the Red Robin in Parker for his birthday dinner.  Here’s a few pictures from when they were singing to him.

Christmas lights are up!

On Friday morning Mike and I woke up early to head out and try to get a deal on lights.  We were by no means trying to compete with the other Black Friday shoppers as we didn’t even get out of bed until 6:30am , but we did hit Target hoping to get some new LED holiday lights.

Here’s the ad from the circular:

They were 50% off and Home Depot was selling the same lights for $34.  Thankfully they still had some available when we arrived at the store on Quincy around 7am.  After a little more shopping at Target we hit Home Depot, Sports Authority and Best Buy and then headed home to hang up the lights.

Here are some pics of Mike up on the roof:

I haven’t taken any pictures at night time yet, so watch for those to be posted as it’s too chilly to head out there tonight.  I think I might have a cup of hot chocolate to warm up!

The Dogs Get Bling

This morning Mike and I went out to breakfast and while we were out we left the dogs in the backyard to play.  Upon returning home we noticed that Guinness did not have his collar on.  When we looked outside, we noticed that it had been shredded.   We know that the dogs pull on each others collars when wrestling in the backyard, but who knew that they were this rough with each other!

So I headed to PetSmart and picked out the following new tags for them.  Mike put them on new collars along with their rabies tag and they are ready to go to Camp Bow Wow tomorrow to show off their new bling!

Annual Turkey Picture

Every year it’s tradition that one or two people (usually the cook!) have their picture taken with the turkey.  The last two years Mom has been in the picture by herself, but this year I joined her.

I should gather up and scan in some of our old turkey pictures as I have a few with my Grandparents as well as other family members.  Makes for good memories!

Thanksgiving Saturday

Knowing that my parents were leaving prior to the official Turkey Day, we decided to celebrate early.  Not only did this allow us to spend the “holiday” with Mom and Dad, but it also ensured that Mike and Ryan got to eat all the fixings that are normally served on Thanksgiving.

On Friday morning Mom and I set out to the grocery store to buy the ingredients that we needed for our early holiday celebration.  I wanted to get a fresh turkey this year, so we headed to King Sooper as Mike heard an ad on the radio that they had fresh birds in stock.  When we got to the turkey section it was rather humorous as they had small turkeys (7-9 lbs) and really BIG turkeys (19+ lbs).  Knowing that our friends Jessica and Chris would be joining us for dinner we opted for the BIG bird.

After we got home we left the bird out for an hour or so as it was partially frozen.  The guy at the grocery store said that this was because they flash freeze them before transporting them as it helps reducing the number of bruises that appear.  It’s funny that the grocery stores seem to care more about the turkeys once they are dead!  (Yes…that’s the vegetarian in me speaking!)

On Saturday morning we got up around 7am and started cooking.  Here’s what was on the menu:

Turkey – basted with white wine and butter
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Corn Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry Sauce (I think Mom was the only one who ate it!)
Rolls – both wheat and white
White Wine

It wasn’t extravagant, but it reminded me of past Thanksgivings at home in Michigan.

Before dinner we spent time catching up with Jess and Chris and we even snuck in a few games of Euchre.  I don’t know why more people in Colorado don’t play cards.  I need to start a Euchre or Pinochle club.  It would make my Grandma proud!  Also, not that I’m bragging or anything but Jess and I were partners and we were undefeated!

We only had one mishap during the day and it was my fault.  When I was taking the corn casserole out of the oven, my oven mitt slipped and I spilled corn all over the bottom of the oven.  It even leaked in to the bottom of the door.   Oops!  The following day Mike had to pull out the owners manual to figure out how to take the door off.

After dinner we were all stuffed, but we burned off some calories by playing Wii Sports Resort in the family room.  We bowled, we played archery and we even shot basketball hoops.  All in all, it was a great holiday celebrated with family and friends.  What more could you ask for?