Month 5 and Painting...

I really feel like my appetite has increased lately. My stomach is a bottomless pit. Now instead of giving Ronnie all my leftovers, I'm eating his! And its rare that I pass up the dessert menu. I have a feeling I'll start to put the pounds on now that I'm in the latter half of the pregnancy. I can feel Hunter rolling around all of the time now. I felt what was either his head or his butt roll from one side to the other of my lower abdomen the other night as I laid down for bed. It was unlike anything I've ever felt and was with so much more strength than his kicks and punches have been.
I think he really likes to eat like his mommy and daddy. He LOVES when I eat chocolate...I know he moves more because of the sugar, but I like to think that my son is enjoying the dessert as much as I am. I did read that they can distinguish between sweet, sour and bitter tastes and that they will not swallow as much when there's a bitter taste in the amniotic fluid...so maybe he really is enjoying that cake too!

We painted his room this weekend. We had a jungle theme in mind before we knew the sex. Actually, we knew we were doing a jungle theme before we were even married!!! The walls are green and the furniture we picked out is a cherry finish. I plan to paint a large tree in the corner, so I'll let you know how that works out. haha We knocked out the job in about 2 hours. We already have a huge collection of stuffed animals from all over the world, literally. We have a polar bear from Mom and Steve's Alaska trip, stuffed animals we got from our trips to the Atlantis in the Bahamas, a koala bear from Emily and Chris' trip to Australia, and a chipping bird from the Stonewall Jackson Resort in WV when we told mom and Steve the news about having a baby. Hunter has his first Webkin which is a stuffed lab like Bella, my old bunny from when I was a child, and a HUGE stuffed lion that Ronnie's parents got us. There are more but I'll not run down the whole list... We loved collecting them over the years because we knew this time would eventually come. Here's the before and after picture of the nursery and a shot of the crib that Mom and Steve got little Hunter...

Its a BOY!

Well, here's Hunter Thomas' profile at 18 weeks. He's definitely put some weight on since his last puny picture at 10 weeks. We are so excited and we just can't believe we are going to have a son. What am I going to do with a miniature version of Ronnie running around!? The ultrasound was awesome. He was moving around so much, kicking his legs, rolling over while the tech was trying to take his heartbeat and do measurements, and even giving us a thumbs up (see second picture). Also, when that picture was taken, he had just opened his mouth to swallow. It was an amazing thing to see. Its unreal how detailed these sonogram machines are...the third photo down shows his entire spine. The technician said everything looked great. The heart was beating strong and even his little ears were visible. I had gained 4 pounds for a total of 8.5 lbs. I'm pretty much in all maternity pants now. They are the best things ever invented! I might just keep wearing them for the rest of my life. I think Ronnie wants a pair too! haha... Well, my 26th bday is tomorrow, so maybe I'll just indulge in a carton of ice cream or put some candles in a Big Mac!!! Mmmmm...