18 weeks... it's a GIRL!

Mommy's institution is always right. My baby Soto is a girl! We found out at our ultrasound appointment on November 2, 2009. My mom came with Josh and I to see our baby for the first time. Presenting the first pictures of Miss Julianna Hope Soto:

We are so thrilled to be having a little girl! I absolutely cannot wait to hold her in my arms!

heartbeat

Josh and I heard baby Soto's heartbeat for the first time on September 30, 2009. I think this was one of the most exciting moments of my life. At that point, it felt a little more real. I knew for sure that there was living little one in my belly. Amazing! After the appointment, we celebrated by having a delicious breakfast at IHOP before we both had to head into work.

17 weeks

My baby belly just keeps getting bigger... I think it got bigger in the matter of 7 days:

At 17 weeks, we painted the nursery. Or I should say.... Josh painted the nursery. We still didn't know the sex of the baby but I wanted a neutral color either way. This is what it looked like after he painted it:

16 weeks

I meant to take belly shots every 4 weeks for the first few months but I was off by a week. But my goodness! My belly grew a lot between weeks 11 and 16. Check it out:

By this point, my morning sickness had started to improve. But not completely. I spent the first 16 weeks of pregnany, VERY VERY sick. Nausea, vomiting.... ugh! My doctor prescribed two types of medicines for me that got me through it. I'm proud to say that I didn't miss a day of work during the icky time. I'm a survivor of morning sickness!

11 weeks

One month later, I suddenly had a little bump! At PTO that night, several people commented on my growing belly. I hadn't realized the change so when I got home, I took this picture:

From my 7 week picture, there is definitely a change. This was a very exciting day for me!

As far as school and teaching goes, I told my class on the very first day of school that I was pregnant. I wanted them to know why I might throw up, be ill, or just eat all day long. The kids were really excited and they predicted it was a girl! Hmmm... we may just be on to something!

7 weeks

When I got pregnant, I guess I just assumed that I would get BIG fast. But that is definitely not the way it was at first. This is my "baby" belly at 7 weeks:

Yeah, no belly, right?! But this is what the baby belly started from.

At this point, I thought the baby was definitely a girl. I just had that gut feeling and I had so many dreams about "our little girl." I just knew...