28 weeks down 12 to go

Well, I've currently hit the 28 week mark, which means I am beginning my 3rd trimester. It's sometimes hard to believe I'm going to get even bigger! I just noticed this morning that if I am standing up straight I can no longer see my toes. How sad, since they are a pretty red.

The baby boy is as active as ever. He is regularly kicking, punching, and stretching. So far it hasn't kept me awake much at night, but I have a feeling that will be changing soon as he gets stronger.

School is now out and I've moved out of my classroom. That was a bit sad, but I'm so thankful that I don't have to be on my feet all day during the end of my pregnancy. We just bought an air conditioner, so in the heat of the summer expect to find me with my feet up reading the last Harry Potter book. I'm so glad the series is ending before the baby arrives. I doubt I'll have much reading time with a baby.

Finally, the announcement many of you have been waiting for.... the name! We have come to a decision, and although we reserve the right to change our minds, no more input is necessary (unless of course you like the name we have chosen). The new addition to our family will be known as:

Dean Howard Hardy

Kicking it at Babies R Us

Over the past week, Beka has been feeling increased activity from the baby. At one point, as she was getting ready in the morning, she could actually see what looked like repeated kicking (and rapid-fire at that). I suppose it could have been punching, elbowing, or head butting, but at the rate she described, I would guess it was kicking. Whatever it was, he's as active as ever.

After the ultrasound last week, the due date has been revised to September 16 (three days earlier than the original due date of the 19th), so mark your calendars. They estimated the weight to be about 13 ounces, which seems pretty big for being around 20 weeks old.

A necessary part of this whole process is figuring out what "baby accessories" we need. I'm not too keen on walking down aisles and aisles of baby paraphernalia, but I've been a sport. This past weekend, we started our registry at Babies R Us, but could only take so much before it was time to go. Needless to say, we have some reading to do before we choose many of the necessary items. I just have to look at it like a game... the whole thing is a racket and it's our job to decipher the good investments from the waste.

"Block out the bad, harness the good..."

Supersonic Ultrasound

Those of you who thought the last post was baby news, I apologize for the false alarm. THIS posting is the latest baby news.

I took work off early today so Beka and I could go in for her scheduled ultrasound. It was a pretty cool experience! I was expecting to have to really "search" to see anything on the monitor, but it was VERY detailed (it wasn't 3D or anything, but everything was quite clear). I saw eyes, femurs, hands, elbows, knees, a skull, feet, a spine... oh yeah, and we found out it's a boy.

Now that we know, we just have to finalize a name. As many of you know, we were originally pretty set on the name Korben, but stinkin' Western Baptist College had to go and change their name to Corban College (different spelling, but it sounds the same). Originally it didn't bother us because we've had that name picked out for 8 or 9 years. However, we saw "Corban College" printed out the other day and it hit us... now we're not sure if we want to use the name or not.

At any rate, we're willing to accept name suggestions, but I can't promise any actual consideration will be given (especially suggestions like Herbert, Percy, Garth, Wii, or Jeep). For all we know, we may end up with Korben, back where we started.

Besides, I'll always see Corban as "the school formally known as Western Baptist."

To finish things off, here are some ultrasound photos.

Cheers!

First post

For those of you who are eagerly anticipating the first post on our brand new blog, here's the rundown on the "big stuff" going on in the Hardy household.

1. As of yesterday, Beka is now 16 weeks along. I took her shopping last night so she could have some clothes that fit. Thanks to Old Navy, now she does.

2. One week from today, I will take the first of four tests for my black belt in Tae Soo Do. Between now and then, I'll be practicing almost every day, attempting to streamline and perfect what I've learned in over two years of TSD.

3. As many of you know, Spring Break is hardly a break for us. For the past three years, we've taken on indoor painting jobs in our home. This year, we stripped all of the wallpaper and painted in the family room, dining room, and kitchen. We'll try to get some pictures up soon, but it looks much, much better than before.

Stay tuned for more exciting news that's "Hardy worth your time."