Big Announcement Number 3: Baby!

As if moving to Austin and quitting my BigLaw job wasn't enough excitement, there's another reason things have been really interesting around here...

We have a new {very tiny} member of la Famille Curieuse!

Waving hello!

Ultrasounds are funny things.  Whenever someone would show me an ultrasound photo of their baby, I would squint and tilt it and squint again and STILL not be able to make heads or tails of it.  Now that it's MY little person cooking away in there, I can see every detail.  Not so much Mr. Curieuse, who {while he is very excited about all of this} despite his smarts, looked at the photo above and had no idea what it was. {For those of you in the same boat, it's a profile of the head and belly with one little hand floating near the forehead.}

As someone who loves spending money on myself, caffeine, wine, unpasteurized cheeses, and sushi, I spent a good part of my fertile life wondering whether I'd ever want to get pregnant. Then I met Mr. Curieuse.  I still wanted to shop, drink bubbly and eat potentially deadly food, but I also wanted to get his fabulous genes into circulation.  The world needs them!  After all, in high school Mr. Curieuse won the prestigious title of Mental Math Champion of Texas. And yet somehow he's also (1) not a huge nerd and (2) built like a viking.  See?  How awesome are those genes?

One month after our two-year wedding anniversary, on Mr. Curieuse's birthday no less, we found out that a little guy/girl was in the early stages of rocking the best parts of our DNA.  It felt a little unreal. What did feel real, however, was how absolutely tired I was, all the time. I felt like I was on a NyQuil drip for 8 weeks.  Luckily, I had essentially no morning sickness.  Still very happy about that.

Due date is set for July 21, and hopefully we'll have settled into a house in Austin well before then. My absolute deadline for move-in is May 1, but I'm gunning for April.  So excited that this bebe is going to be born in Texas!

Source: babywallpapers.net via Jennifer on Pinterest

I didn't post about this right away because I wanted to wait for our fully integrated screen to be completed, and wow - that process takes a whole lot LONGER than I anticipated!  The screening results were just fine, thank goodness, and our mid-term anatomy ultrasound is scheduled for next week to make sure all fingers, toes, and organs are in the right place and about the right size.  While I'm not a particularly nervous or worried preggo, I wanted to wait and make an official "announcement" until I was sure the little person was healthy and "normal" {such a loaded term - I realize everyone has a different take on these things and I respect that}.  But I'm starting to realize that I will ALWAYS worry about this little guy/gal being healthy and normal, so there's no sense in keeping this a secret any longer!

Back when I was about 14 weeks pregnant, I started creating "weekly update" posts - part of me feels a little silly writing them, but the other part of me (1) remembers how much fun I had reading other preggo bloggers' updates, and (2) thinks it will be fun to look back on those posts.   Now that the secret's out, I'll be posting those saved "bump update" posts soon and will post future ones on a weekly basis.  At 18 weeks, I definitely have a small bump, but it's easy to hide - no one aside from those "in the know" has any idea I'm pregnant.  Pretty sure the folks at work just think I've been slacking at the gym.

I'd love to know your guess: boy or girl?