Happy New Year everyone!! It seems 2010 is going to bring with it a wee Symes! We are so excited and as my little bump continues to grow, it becomes more and more real for us! The little bundle of joy is expected to arrive June 10th!
I am 17 weeks as of today, which is just about half way already! I’ve heard that the first and 2nd trimester fly by, but that from here on in, things seem to go on forever!! In any case, we are definitely trying to make sure that we enjoy every second of it and feel so blessed to be given such a gift from God. The pregnancy so far has been a pleasant experience. I am one of those fortunate ones who has not been sick! I had some minor feelings of nausea for a while at the start, but other than that, things have been good!
We are going to hold strong and keep the sex of the baby a surprise! This is going to be so hard, but we think it will be more fun this way! For the record, we think it’s a boy! It makes me laugh to hear all the old wives tales and what people predict based on the needle on a string trick, the online Chinese birth predictor or the way I’m carrying! Haha! One girl, working at Smart Set said she thought that I was carrying a girl because I’m showing only in the front. Another person said “it’s a boy, you’re carrying low!” and I’ve even heard ”if you don’t have morning sickness, it’s a boy!” but “if you get breakouts, it will be a girl!” So I guess that means I’m having one of each? We are not having twins! There is only one baby in there, we already know this for sure! Anyways, we know that waiting it out will be so worth it in the end!
The first ultrasound was fascinating! I didn’t really know what to expect (to be honest, all I could think about was how long before I could relieve myself because I drank waaaaaaayyy too much water!! I won’t make that mistake again!) We were both in awe because it made everything seem so real! Wow, that’s inside of my body?? Crazy! It was so tiny at the first one we had (12 weeks) and we can’t wait to see the growth at the upcoming ultrasound (I’ll be 19 weeks at that point).
The photo above just makes me smile! Our wonderful friends Rob and Daria surprised us with this enormous baby balloon one night! They brought us this balloon, along with some sparkling grape juice and a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I just love this balloon! It is now deflated but we do plan to keep it as a momento! (I’m sure one of many!!) Seriously though, how adorable is this balloon!!?? I sincerely hope our baby’s head isn’t this big, though I’m told that Andrew had a huge head when we was born and they needed the vaccum to get him out! haha! I’ve just been informed that in fact, it was the forceps that were required!! LOL
Once we actually found out, which was Thanksgiving weekend, we were so excited and it was soooo hard not to tell anyone! My family came to visit that same weekend and I couldn’t say a word! I wanted to tell my mom so badly, but we were advised of course to wait until at least 14 weeks. Alright, so we did bite our lips for 3 mos, however, we did tell our immediate families in early November. We were traveling to see them one weekend for a wedding and we really wanted to be able to tell everyone in person and not over the phone. That said, I prepared a little surprise for everyone to announce our wonderful news!
I started by purchasing some cheapie soothers and made little personalized tags to attach with some pretty pink and blue ribbon–this one the one I gave to my mom.
After that, I made these little triangular boxes (a little trick I learned from Stampin up!) and delivered them like this!
I really thought that all the pink and blue on the boxes would give it away, but it seems that it didn’t! My mom was elated and had to wait a few more weeks before telling anyone (which was like asking our dog to stay when she sees a treat! haha!!) She definitely did it, but was soooo excited when we gave her the heads up to tell others! I think the entire town of Thorold knew within 24hrs! haha! My dad was emotional and very happy, of course, and Andrew’s parents were beyond thrilled as well!! Andrew’s mom asked me if it was a joke! LOL…that would be a pretty cruel prank!! So the baby will have Uncle Adam (who says he’s going to be the coolest uncle ever– and to be honest, he probably has more toys than the baby ever will!) and Andrew’s sister Catherine will be an Aunt or Auntie 
Catherine was so excited that she stopped by to congratulate us in person and came bearing gifts, which was so thoughtful and sweet!! Here are a few of the first gifts Baby Symes has received! In this photo: a little onesie, some organic cotton baby toys and in the background, a plush photo album that’s actually designed for babies–to let them look at pics of those who love them! Awww…. so cute! I guess she figures I might take a few photos once the baby is born? ;P
A day or two after my dad found out, he bought us this little stuffed Chipmunk, which Andrew has already named “Mr. Chippy!” Haha!
This next one came as a surprise! One of my current grade 9 students bought us/the baby a complete outfit! He brought the gift to me before the Christmas holidays started! So cute!! I was really surprised! He also told me that he picked it out himself! It’s even the right size becuase by next winter, the baby will be about 6 mos. Teachers usually get crappy mugs and chocolates (not that chocolate is ever a bad thing! lol) so this gift was much appreciated! I know, it’s blue, but it’s light baby blue and girls can wear blue too! haha!
I also received these adorable little ornaments from my mom and from Adri and Ange. I love Christmas ornaments and am definitely looking forward to being able to spend baby’s first Christmas together next year! We really never have been able to spend Christmas in our own home because of the distance factor, but now we’ll have an excuse to have our families come to us!
The snowflake ornament is from my mom and it says parents to be (Yay!) and little prego is from Adri! (May be hard to see, but she’s holding pickles in one hand and ice-cream in the other!) Too cute! For the record, I havent’ had any crazy cravings! I pretty much eat everything (some things never change!) I did however see pickles in the grocery store while shopping one day and decided I wanted some and well, there are currently 3 tubs of PC Candy Cane ice-cream in our freezer—which probably would have been the case whether I was pregnant or not!! haha!
And the last of the gifts for now at least: Andrew put a little something together for me Awww…he’s so thoughtful! In the bottom righthand corner, you’ll see a photo that looks like a CNN report. This is something that Andrew has been doing for me pretty much since we started dating. He creates news articles about the things that are happening in our lives. I’ve got one from when we started dating in 2004, a wedding one and this one and maybe another one too! He always makes them very comical as well! He also always includes a photo. In this one, he added one of the shots from our first ultrasound. I’m personally not a big fan of posting ultrasounds online, so I’ve blurred it out–I know many people do, but I feel it’s a bit invasive, so I’ll just leave it for us to enjoy 
Well, after thinking about ice-cream for a bit, I think it’s about time I had some. The baby is actually the one who wants it, so how can I say no! 
Look at this pepperminty goodness!!
(I will admit, I definitely felt like a preggo lugging 3 tubs around in the grocery store to the checkout–this after calling about 5 stores in Ottawa to see who had some!!) I have to enjoy it while it lasts, it’s only out for a while…I actually think it’s already over!!
I’ll leave you with one last shot–this is me at 15 weeks–for those of you who have been asking! We’ve been taking pics every 5 weeks (we started at 10 ) to document the growth! I’m eager to see if there’s a difference between 15 and 20, because there was a big difference between 10 and 15! So exciting!!!
I hope you enjoyed the first pregnancy post! I have been wanting to blog about it for weeks now, but we really wanted to make sure that we could tell the rest of our friends from Thorold in person before putting it up!
Happy New Year to you all and may 2010 be filled with many blessings–big and small,
Amy, Andrew and Baby Symes xo
Oh and Madison is who super excited too…(even though she wouldn’t smile for the camera!)
by Amy Symes
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