Natalie Kate Rodrigues!!

It's a GIRL!

We had our GENDER Party Thursday night and it was so incredible. Everyone showed up around 6:30PM in either their pink and blue. What's so funny is that most people called RSVPing that they'd be wearing their PINK but when they showed up they had on BLUE? LoL. When word got out that the majority were wearing PINK everyone decided at the last minute to change and wear blue b/c what if it was a boy?! =)

So, with that being said, we had the majority wearing BLUE and my mom, me, Leah and 1aunt & uncle wearing pink! We all ate pizza and I showed them the NOT finished baby room and things I had thus far in it. My oh so cool stroller and how it worked. By 7pm everyone was so anxious they wanted their cupcake!! Of course - so we got the cupcakes and started passing them out.

I announced the rules, No biting until you hear 3 - 1, 2, 3!!! And everyone screams, "IT'S A GIRL!" I was so excited! Over elated with excitment - I wanted a girl so bad! The night was simply perfect. I had one person explained to me, "This is the coolest idea because back in the old days you didn't know the sex of the baby until everyone who was at the hospital was gathered around and the daddy walked down the hallway and with his new baby and made the announcement, well, what I did was just like that but without a baby. Everyone was there and we all found out together just like the old days." So, I must say - that was a really cool idea and we will try somethng like that everytime. Maybe not cupcakes the next time but something cool and different.

We've named her:

Natalie Kate Rodrigues

Natalie: Christmas Child

              God's Gift of Joy

Psalms 9:2

I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will

sing praises to Your name, O Most High

Kate: Innocent

          Godly Example

Philippians 2:15

So that you will prove yourselves to be

blameless and innocent, children of God

above reproach.

I pray she will live up to the meaning of her name because the meaning of a name is so important! One thing is for sure she is a gift of JOY, especially to Marcos and I. The book that we used to name her is called, "The Name Book" by Dorothy Astoria and it gives you the inherent & spiritual meaning along with the scripture.

18 week APPOINTMENT

So, yesterday morning M and I were at the DR.'s at 830AM. Got to go straight back to the sonogram room!!

I informed the sono lady that we wanted to see our baby but we didn't want to know the sex. Well, that we did want to know but not until Thursday, so she needed to write it down or something.

She was very excited and eager to do this! She took baby's measurements and mine (I have a low lying placenta - but hopefully it will resolve itself). Baby was perfect, measuring 17.3weeks and not 18 weeks like my Dr. said.
The sono lady said, "Ok guys, close your eyes and no peaking!" M and I closed our eyes kinda looking at each other and then she says, "Alright, all done!" M smiled sooooo big and said, "You mean, you know what we are having?!" Her reply, "Yes, I do!" He couldn't believe it was that fast. We were so excited. It was so weird to be in a room where she knew what we were having and we didn't.

We closed our eyes one last time as she labeled the sono picture Boy or Girl and tore it off and cut it from the photo sono strip and placed it in an envelope. =)

Tonight at 630 family will come over and they will be wearing either PINK or BLUE and we will eat pizza and socialize. Then after we eat we will pass out CUPCAKES> On a count of 3 everyone will bite into there cupcake and will find either a PINK or BLUE gumball!!

I'll be on tonight to post what baby is?! I'm thinking GIRL ... M keeps changing his mind?!

I got a BABY BuMp! BuMp! BuMp! =)

So, I woke up this morning and my Baby BuMp appeared out of nowhere. I am exactly 17 weeks and 1 day today. I decided I'd take my first real sign of a baby inside of me. =) Here they are:

Frontal View

Side View

Relaxed view:

Sucking in as much as I can view:

I can look bigger view:

My first PURCHASE!

Marcos and I made our first big purchase for baby! I'm a pretty active person (shopper that is) and I know this baby will be going on a lot of outings with me. I needed the "perfect" stroller that could do everything and I found it!

It is the Mutsy 4Rider! In Rebel red of course. =)
http://www.mutsy.com/products/4rider/option

This is when I need to use the car for my stroller:

This is when baby might need a nap later on, I've got the carrycot:

This is the seat part of it with the sunshade attached

Here is what it looks like without the sunshade:

The first picture shows the different reclining stages and the second one shows how the seat can be reversed:

When baby gets bigger we have a fun seat to keep baby entertained:

I am just REALLY happy about this stroller. A lot of great reviews. There is so many things you can do with it. It can even be a high chair at restaurants. There are a lot of  "adapter" pieces I will be registering for! =)

16 / 17 weeks and I feel skinnier?!

Skinnier?! Yes, I think I feel skinnier but my husband informs me it is all in my head. LoL. =) Maybe so. We went to our 16 week appointment w/ the Dr. and we heard baby shiloh's heart beat again. Marcos told the dr. he thought it sounded slower (the volume wasn't really turned up and I thnk that confused him, to me it sounded the same) and the dr. informed nope it was "perfect". Yes, my dr. uses this word alot. Everything to her just looks perfect, is perfect and I am going to have the most perfect baby in the world. Gotta love a dr. like that. =) She goes on to say, "it's just perfect, not slow at all... beating in the 160s".

People have been guessing what we are going to have. My parents and his parents think boy but me and marcos think girl along with our friends. A girl would be great, "daddy's girl" is what she most definitely be and I will no longer be the center of M's world but baby Natalie would be. How fun is it to just think about how in love M will be his little girl. Also, all of my friends have GIRLS so what would I do if I had a boy and birthday parties, a majority of girls would be attending. I guess that wouldn't be too bad?! They are all pretty baby girls. Now, they say boys are "momma's boy" and I think I could like that, having a boy listen to anything and everything his momma says. LoL. He'd be the 3rd grandbaby boy in the family. My parents have 5 grandbaby girls right now and I think they just want the boys to start catching up. Well, you all will know what we are having VERY SOON! =) Like 9 days soon.

"A baby picture of Marcos. This picture was used for his

birthday cake. It was soo cute. "

I'm 16wks and 5days today (Monday) and Wednesday I will be 17 weeks. Next Wednesday, January 20 at 8:30am we have a dr. appointment that will change our world forever. We will find out whether we will be having a "daddy's girl" or "momma's boy". How exciting! Either way, I am just happy to have our first addition to the family. I'm sure the gender will matter more the second time around but right now we could care less, as long as baby is healthy and beautiful!! =)

14 / 15 Weeks - Second Trimester!!

Merry Christmas!! Wait?! Christmas just passed, it has been a super busy month with shopping, cleaning and cooking and day dreaming of baby. =) I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

I had Marcos, my husband, home this Christmas and I really appreciated it. Last year, I thought it would be fine for him to go see his parents in Brazil for Christmas and I'd stay here. It was a really hard thing to do. At first it didn't bother me, well the idea of him leaving, but once he was gone it was just bad. Marcos is literally my best friend, the love of my life and he wasn't celebrating Christmas with me. I thought deep down that this would be a good lesson for him, for him to realize that it was stupidest idea ever to be separated at Christmas. I'm still not sure how he feels about it because I know he never gets to see him family and I see mine almost every day if  not 2xs a day. I know I couldn't do it though, but I don't think he'd think twice about going back to Brazil to spend Christmas with his family and leaving me here in MS with my family.

(Cutest Ornament EVER! Thanks Mom!)

Speaking of family, this is when the issue gets tricky. I'm trying to explain to him that we, as in ME & HIM are a family now. I don't think he gets it quite yet but maybe this baby thing will open his eyes some to see what I see. Or maybe I am just being selfish... who knows?!

At 14 weeks, nothing was to exciting. I was hoping to find out the gender of this baby, but Shiloh just wouldn't cooperate. I am really concentrating on my weight. In the first trimester you should only gain about 5lbs, and I was trying my best to do that. I really think it is unneccessary to gain sooo much weight do to over eating. Don't get me wrong, I definitley over ate for Thanksgiving and Christmas but now it's over and I can stay focused. Every  morning I try and eat a banana and yogurt. The text books say that a baby only needs 300 extra calories a day, so eating that every morning I have taken care of my baby for that day. Then, I go about my day eating and doing things I'd normally do on a normal basis. I have a friend, Kristy (shoutout to you sista) and she is preggo with baby #2 and I saw her at 18 weeks and she barely looked pregnant. She was tiny, and still in her old jeans. It was a real reality check to me after seeing her and reading books that if your small you are less likely to show until your 5 or 6 month. Sometimes I look big, but that is due to bloating or water retention one day. I'll get on the scale and flip out that i gained 5lbs over night but then the next day i'm back to my normal weight, it's mind boggling but reassuring to know it techincally wasn't me.

Today marks, 15 weeks. on Monday we got to see baby Shiloh and baby was very active, kept sucking it's little thumb too! That was soo cool to see and watch. We couldn't get baby to cooperate with us so we could tell if it was a Natalie or an Asher but hopefully soon we will know. This week is NEW YEARS and we have plans to spend it at my brothers house, cooking out steaks and playing games - family fun! =) New years day we are packed up and headed to Dallas Cowboy Stadium where we will celebrate my 26th birthday and watch Rebels play OSU. My best friend from college who lives in TX will be coming to celebrate with us and bringing her fianance, Dale. I met him back in September (a trip I will never forget because I wasn't goign to go because I knew I was ovulating and I didn't want to miss the day, which I thought was a Sunday the day I'd been on the airplane all day - but I guess I was wrong, maybe it was Monday ;) Ha ) I'm really excited about going to Dallas and seeing my friend and spending my birthday w/ Marcos, Nicole and baby!

Well, that's it. I'm tired of typing and want to take a nap! I hope you all have a Happy Happy New Year - and May God reveal himself to you in a MIGHTY way in 2010!

Much love,

Jana

Good Morning!

So, It is early and I am AWAKE. Not sure if I wrote about the name thing but we have a girl name if Shiloh is a girl.

Natalie Arianna Rodrigues
Natalie Gisele Rodrigues
Natalie Nicole Rodrigues

Which one do you like?

For a boy - this has been dificult. We knew Natalie would be the name from the beginning - we BOTH love it. But for a boy - a whole other story. Here is what we have for a boy.

Asher Giovanni Rodrigues
Dylan Asher Rodrigung
Marc "Sterling" Rodrigues

If you are wondering about the name Asher - well, it is one of the 12 tribes of Israel - 8th son of Jacob.
The name Asher means: Blessed & Happy child. =) And I like that!
Dylan means: Resolute Courage or Faithfulness
Sterling means: Pure & of High Worth

So - Let's here your votes! =)