So as far as husbands go, Paulie Levis is totally boss.

He is the cheese to my macaroni. And I know that people are supposed to fall in love before they reproduce....so we did. (That one's for you Lovey!! And Little Plum [aka Baby Levis] that was a movie quote...you'll hear about 10 trillion of them throughout your life. In fact, most of the things that will come out of daddy's mouth with be direct quotes from movies adjusted to fit the real life circumstance that is actually playing out. In fact, you can probably tell when he's quoting a movie because he'll look at you with this ginormous smile and try very diligentely to stifle a giggle. Stifling giggles is not one of your dad's strong suits. It's what I love the most about him!)

I can't say it enough, but I really am the luckiest girl in the world. You may actually see this said many many many more times throughout this blog. Bear with me though, I'm experiencing the 'fatherly' side of Paul for the first time, and I'm just absolutely amazed by him. Not that I expected anything less of course, it's just that it's so wonderful to know (and see!) that he's equally as excited about our Little Plum as I am. So thank you once again Paulie Levis, for bringing more warmth into my heart with your last post. What a great daddy you'll be to our little one! Cheese + Macaroni = Love!

Well, you did read correctly! We are at plum stage! Actually today is the last day of Plum stage. Tomorrow...PEACH! And today is also the last day of our first trimester! YAY! Time actually kind of flew by. But then again, it kind of didn't. In retrospect, we've known about this little baby for 9 weeks now. Wowza! That's been quite some time! But, then I get that little tinge of nausea and I remember quite vividly that I've been nauseous for 7 weeks straight now. And bleh, that sounds like forever! Paul is right, things have gotten a lot better. I definitely am not feeling terrible all day long. But I'm still struggling at night some times. And actually, I am struggling after any big meal. I'm hoping that things continue to progress and get better as time goes along. I'm sure it will, just a little more patience =)

Last week was a very big week for us. First of all, on Monday we had our regular doctor appointment (which I mentioned to you before). Dr. Trites told us that all of our blood work came back perfectly! I tested negative for cystic fibrosis, fraggle X syndrome, and I think spina bifida. It doesn't mean that the baby definitely won't have these disorders, but the chances that it will are very very slim based on the results. I'll take it! She said my protien levels, iron levels, and other important levels all looked great and that things seemed to be progressing along just fine. We then heard the heartbeat which I mentioned in my last post. Great start to the week right?

Well things got even BETTER on Thursday! We had our NT scan that day. The NT scan is a rather new type of ultrasound (combined with a blood test [sorry Bani!]) that helps to rule out a few other genetic abnormalities such as Downs Syndrome, Edwards Syndrome, and a couple others. It was a rather long ultrasound, and rather uncomfy at times, but it was the most amazing experience of our lives! Paul mentioned in his conversation with the Plum that he actually teared up....well Momma Bear was tearing up too! You all know how hard it is for me to cry under pressure (lol!) so this was quite big! It was unbelievably amazing to actually see that the little alien looking thing that we previously posted actually looked like a real life baby. Utterly unbelievable! And to top it all off, he/she was moving!! JUMPING! SWIMMING! PLAYING WITH IT'S FACE! Woah! We actually have a video of it, which I'm hoping to be able to somehow crop and post on here. But in the meantime, behold our beautiful creation:

That's our little baby! Little nose and all! I cannot believe that we actually saw such a clear picture. We saw everything from fingers, to toes, to kidneys, to brain, to heart valves, to 12 little ribs on each side of it's chest. Just incredible. The best part of the whole thing was that the doctor indicated that based on the ultrasound, it looks like our child is healthy and right on track! The chances of developing any of the aforementioned disorders were incredibly slim. The blood test results will confirm it all, but he said normally if you get a good result on the ultrasound, the blood work should come back perfect. What a great appointment! And what a load off of our shoulders! It definitely made me feel so much better about it all....I am finally beginning to realize that this is all very, very real. That plus I can't hold my gut in any more on my own...it's poofing out whether I like it or not. =) So we are both SO excited that everything is going the way it should and that we are continuing to grow a wonderful little baby that is already amazing us every day! I can't wait to be able to see it in real life! Hurry up and grow little one!


Speaking of poofing bellies....fyi it happens out of nowhere. One day you can suck your belly in and act like nothing, then all of a sudden that power just goes away. This morning I ironed some pants that I literally wore less than a week ago. Sure they were a little snug around the waist last time, but they were completely buttonable. Today? Not so much at all. Not even a little bit. So that was a bit of a surprise! I called my mom to whine to her and she said "well Sandy, what exactly did you expect? You're over 3 months now...it was bound to happen!" Gotta love her...she always throws reality right into your face rather raw. But she was right...so I hopped on the Old Navy website and did a tiny bit of shopping. I won't lie and say I wasn't slightly excited at the prospect of new clothes! I intend to do some more very soon!


And finally, I did have to mention that I took a trip out to New York this weekend for a very fun trip with the girls. It was Auntie Roomie's bachelorette party weekend so I packed her two sisters Cyndy and Lisa, Aunt Bani, Aunt Nins, Aunt Lints, Aunt Mons, and Aunt Bea all tightly in to Abuelo and Abuela's apartment in NY and we had a wonderful weekend running around New York! The Plum and I did a bit of dancing, a lot of walking, and a lot of worrying about gum on the carpet (shhhhh don't tell Abuelo!). The weekend was awesome and I'm so glad we all got to spend the weekend together celebrating Roomie's last few days of singledom. As soon as I get some pictures from the weekend, I'll post one up.


In the meantime, I guess I should end this ultra long post. I'm glad I could share the exciting news of our doctor's appointments with you. As always, both Paul and I continue to be ultra excited about the anticipated arrival of our very first little Levis! Thanks everyone for continuing to follow the blog...we love sharing our story with you!


Love always,


Cheese + Macaroni + Plum