36 weeks

First off, sorry for such a long time between posts!

I am now 36 weeks along and only 4 weeks to go until my due date. If you'd asked me a month ago, I would have told you that I had a feeling that Evan was going to come 2 or 3 weeks early...now not so much... As of Wednesday of last week, there's no indications that Evan will be arriving early. I think he's head down, but the nurse wasn't sure. They said that if they can't tell for sure if he's head down at my next visit (Thursday) they will do an ultrasound just to make sure. The reason I think he's head down is that one of Evan's favorite things to do seems to be to push himself out one side of my belly. When he does, it seems as though his whole back is pushing out against my belly. It's kind of funny actually, I'll look down at my belly and the right side of my belly will be sticking out at least an inch or two more than the left side!

Manny and I are getting excited as the due date gets closer and closer, but there's still a few more things to get ready before Evan arrives. I hope Evan gives us enough time to get everything done! Manny's mom and I are both hoping that Evan has my green eyes...although I'm fully expecting to see dark hair and brown eyes. We'll love him just as much either way! We know he'll be a handsome little boy and we can't wait to see the little guy that's been growing and kicking around inside me for 8 months and counting...

baby Rivas has a name!

Well, I thought we were going to have a hard time deciding on a name for little baby Rivas once we found out we are having a boy...but it didn't end up being tough at all! Last week, I sat down with a list of about 25 boys names that I had previously written down as names that I liked. I ended up immediately scratching off all but 2 or 3 of the names. Of the names that remained, there was one that Manny and I both agreed that we liked, thought would be a good name, and that met all of our criteria. Halleluiah! Soooooooooo..... baby Rivas will now be known to the world as:

Evan Manuel Rivas

...and we can't wait to see him!

drumroll please...

Well, we had our 20-week ultrasound this morning and the whopping 4 people who took my poll were right! We're having a BOY! We're super-excited and I am already seeing visions of Little League baseball games in our future...

All the baby's organs, bones, etc. looked healthy and normal (YEAH!), and thanks to technology we even have a DVD of the ultrasound. Pretty cool, huh? If I have time, I'll try to isolate a good pic of the baby from the video to add to the blog... I have been feeling the baby moving around and kicking me, and am DEFINITELY showing! In fact, on Thursday of last week, I was at the grocery store and was asked for the first time by a complete stranger when I'm due...I took that as a pretty definite sign that I'm looking pregnant. :)

Finally, we (or at least I) would welcome any suggestions for names! Shoot me an email or leave a comment on this post with any great suggestions you have. My only parameters: nothing so weird that it's hard to pronounce (remember our family contains both English and Spanish speakers...so it can't be too complicated), and nothing so common that there will be 5 other kids in every class with the same name (ie: Michael). Thanks in advance for any help you can give!!!

new experiences

Pregnancy is definitely an interesting new experience... Between when I found out I was pregnant and when I had my last doctor's appointment, I had lost 4 pounds despite the beginnings of a baby bump. I was starting to think that I was doing something wrong, so when I stepped on the scale a few days ago and found that I had gained a couple of pounds back I started to celebrate! But, after a few seconds of celebration I stopped and realized that I was celebrating GAINING WEIGHT! That was a new experience that I definitely wasn't expecting...

I am now 16 weeks along and my baby bump is getting very noticable. In fact, Manny says that every time I turn around, my belly is bigger. :) We have an ultrasound scheduled on June 15th, and assuming the baby is cooperative, we are very excited to find out if we are having a baby boy or baby girl. We've already had several predictions...one of which from the nurse practitioner at my doctor's office...all of which are that we are going to have a girl. I guess we'll see how accurate all those predictions are pretty soon.

Baby Rivas at 9 wks, 2 days! Already the cutest baby you've ever seen, huh??? Okay, so I'm a little biased...

Big news!

In case you haven't already heard...

Who has dimples and a nose,

Ten tiny fingers and toes,

Sweet, chubby, little cheeks,

Who in 7 months the world will meet?

Answer: the baby that Manny and I are expecting!!!

Click on the link to see a 5 1/2 minute video of pictures from our trip to Venezuela. Hope you enjoy it!