"Big Sister" instincts kicking in already

Tyra was about to leave for work this morning when she found Gabi napping in Noah's room by his bed like she was waiting for him to wake up and play. She's going to be so protective of her baby brother! :)

Wake Up Call

I (Eric) am well known as an early riser. Tyra...not so much. But we were both equally happy to be awake about 5:15 this morning! I was about to get up to go on my morning run, and could tell that Tyra was awake. She said that Noah was moving around, so I put my hand on her belly. I've been able to feel him moving around just 2-3 times so far, but Noah was putting on a show this morning.

He was the biggest wiggle worm!! For about 10 minutes, both Tyra and I were able to feel non-stop kicks, punches, wiggles, and twists. It was so exciting, and a GREAT way to start the day. It was so exciting for me to actually feel all of this so well, and Tyra and I would just look at each other and laugh every time he moved. Thank you God for such blessings!!

Now that we're 1/2 way through the pregnancy (it's flown by), and getting to feel and see him yesterday, it's amazing to think how close we are to having our son here with us. And, he's already practicing on waking us up early in the morning! ha!

Noah Allan Haag

After confirming in the 20 week ultrasound that it's still a boy, we are pleased to introduce you to NOAH ALLAN HAAG!

Noah
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: Rest, Peace, Comfort

Allan
Origin: Celtic
Meaning: Handsome, Cheerful, Noble
(Allan was Eric's dad's name)

The ultrasound yesterday was amazing!! This video is a 10 minute portion of the ultrasound. At about the 1:15 mark you can hear the heartbeat, and later on you can see 3D images and even see him moving his mouth and tounge. He had the hiccups too!He's 10 inches long, weighs 3/4 of a pound, and he was so fun to watch! Tyra and Noah (I'll have to finally get used to typing and saying his name to everyone!) are both doing great, and February 1 is still the due date.

We've had this name picked out for quite some time, and have been 100% sure on it for weeks, but we wanted to confirm that he was a boy before telling everyone!

Noah can't wait to meet you all. He'll gladly accept being spoiled by everyone! :)

Baby's First Game

Well, it wasn't a victory, but we had a fun time in California nonetheless. We're certainly glad to be back in Tennessee though. We had fun in the city, in Napa, and Berkeley. We also loved driving in our rental car (Mustang convertible) from San Francisco to Napa.
Our little son is certainly starting to make himself at home, as he's been wiggling around a lot lately. Soon, the light "taps" Tyra feels will be full fledged kicks!

Trip to San Francisco

We're still in California, but wanted to share a brief video of our trip down the famous Lombard Street ("The Crookedest Street in the World"). Pretty fun to drive!

Baby Furniture and other tidbits

Like we said in the last blog post, our baby furniture arrived much earlier than we expected. We were hoping to get a lot done before fall arrived, and having the furniture in place is a pleasant surprise. We love the crib, chest, and dresser, which we ordered from Crib ‘N Carriage in Knoxville. We have most of the window treatments ready to put up, but some are on back order from Pottery Barn Kids until late September, which is no big deal. We're excited to begin to decorate the room.
Here are a few pictures of the furniture in the room:



Tyra is almost 17 weeks along now, and it's hard to believe that we're almost 1/2 way there! Tyra's belly is getting bigger each day and I love feeling her belly! We went to the doctor for her appointment last week. We thought we'd be getting another ultrasound, but we were told since we got one at 12 weeks, we'd have to wait until the 20 week appointment in mid-September. We were disappointed, but we did get to listen to the heartbeat for a little while. The 20-week appointment will be fun, and they'll spend a long time doing the ultrasound, so we'll get a good look at our baby boy. We're pretty much 100% decided on a name, but want to wait to announce it to anyone until we get another confirmation that Baby Boy Haag is indeed Baby "BOY" Haag!

One week from tomorrow, we leave for our big vacation to San Francisco!! We're very excited to get to see the sites of the city on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, then head to tour Napa Valley on Friday before heading to Berkeley, CA (which is just about 15 min. from San Fran) to watch the Big Orange take on CAL in the football season opener. I've never been to California before, so I'm excited. We're hoping for a fun trip, nice (COOL) weather, safe travels, and a BIG WIN for the VOLS!
Our baby will be well-traveled in the womb...as we've ventured to Seabrook Island, SC; Charleston, SC; New Orleans, LA; Orlando, FL; Greensboro, NC; and now San Francisco, CA in the 17 weeks since he made his debut in Tyra's belly!

Fun Week

It's been a fun and eventful week. Last Thursday-Saturday, Tyra and I visited Orlando for a conference she attended for work. It was nice to get to see her Mom while we were there. Then, this week, our friends had their baby girl, Addison Margaret! She's so cute, and we got to see and hold her in the hospital the day she was born.

Also, our baby furniture arrived much sooner than we expected! We orderd it from Crib 'N Carriage, a great baby store in Knoxville. Our crib was supposed to come in mid-August, and the other pieces, they said, wouldn't arrive until sometime in October. So, although it was unexpected, we're glad to have all of the baby furniture in the room and set-up! I (Eric) styed up until after midnight last night putting the crib together, but it was fun to do. We'll post some pictures of the room on here soon.

We go back to get another ultrasound next week, so we can't wait to see how much our baby boy has grown. Tyra has been feeling his little flutters for the past few weeks, and it's so exciting to know that in just a short time, those flutters will be kicks, jabs, and karate chops in the womb!

B....O....Y....!!!!!!!!

We went in for the 2nd ultrasound this morning. Although Tyra is 12 weeks, 3 days along, and they typically can't determine gender until 16-20 weeks, they were able to say with about 99.9% certainty that Baby Haag is a BOY!!!! We were so excited!!

The images on the ultrasound screen and the pictures they printed out were amazing! He was moving all aorund and even wiggled back and forth a few times. In one picture, he was turned completely toward the camera (as if he was posing) and you can see his nose, head, and belly! I told Tyra he looks cute and chubby already! :)

He was definitely not shy or modest about showing us his "man-hood" and it was clear on pictures and ultrasound screen that Baby Haag is a boy! It looks like we're going to have a "camera-ham" on our hands. The nurse told us that we better rest up, because he was being so active! Today has been a lot of fun, and we can start envisioning him in more detail now. Of course, the "NAME" bonanza now begins, but luckily Tyra and I have the same top 2 or 3 right now. No telling how many times (or even if) it will change between now and February 1.

We feel so blessed to get this news and to have a healthy little Baby Boy on the way!

Thump, thump, thump...

Tyra went for her "Mommy" doctor visit on Monday. It was basically a check-up visit for her and no ultrasound was planned. The doctor did let her listen to the baby's heartbeat and Tyra said it was "awesome!" 160 beats per minute! Everything checked out great, and we're both very excited about next Monday when we get the next ultrasound. Tyra will be more than 12 weeks along by then, so we can't wait to see the ultrasound pictures!

We're also awaiting the arrival of our good friends' little girl...due any day now! It's been a HUGE blessing to see them go through their pregnancy, and Tyra and I have both learned a lot through their pregnancy stories and advice. We're having a baby shower for them at our house on Saturday, that should be a lot of fun!

Mr. Sandman...Bring Me A Dream....

(Posted by Tyra)

So I don't know exactly why, but my recent pregnancy dreams have involved celebrities.

Celebrity Dream #1: It all started when Mandy Moore and I went to a play together. At intermission the director came up to me and said I've got to fill in for one of his actors. Since Mandy and I were BFF's (best friends) in the dream, she of course encouraged me to do so.

Celebrity Dream #2: If only the following had been true...I flew on a luxury jet to France to have dinner with the one and only Julie Andrews. She wasn't dressed in normal clothes, but rather a royal ensemble like the one she wore for her character in the "Princess Diaries" -- white dress, red sash and of course a beautiful crown. The table we dined at was a long rectangular one and there were butlers to serve our meal.

Celebrity Dream #3: Peyton Manning, his wife Ashley, Eric and me were all crusing the "strip" in Knoxville trying to find a place to get our party on.
Although Peyton's wife was 6 weeks preggo and I was 10, the boys wanted to find a place to celebrate what they'd done to their wives. It was not the strip as we know it today, but rather a cleaner-looking futuristic strip with neon lights. The only weird part of the dream was that Peyton and I were holding hands, but Ashley and Eric didn't seem to mind one bit.

Celebrity Dream #4: This one has been the most difficult to recall for some reason, but Jessica Simpson, Eric and me were in a skybox somewhere waiting for her to perform on stage. She didn't look like the normal blonde bombshell all men seem to salivate over. She had put on weight, dyed her hair black and didn't take the time to blow it dry, so it was a complete mess of frizzy hair (much like what mine looks like when I fail to do the
same!) She wasn't wearing much makeup and kept going to buffet of food to get snacks.

(Not So) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Here are some pictures of the rearranging we've been doing. I (Eric) painted the baby room this week. Since I repainted it the same color, it was light work. However, I did make it semi-fun by decking out in my "painters uniform" of ROOKIE DAD hat and t-shirt (compliments of Adam & Elizabeth)and knee high orange and white tube socks. The guest bedroom is now in the old office, and we actually like it better that way! Tomorrow we're hoping to go browse through Crib 'N Carriage, a Knoxville baby store that specializes in nice baby furniture. After last weekend's two hour romp through Babies "R" Us, I'm geared up!

Another book down

Both of us read this book in less than 2 hours! It's hilarious to say the least, and its short, 2-3 page chapters were right up my ally! Thanks to Jesse and Kelley for letting us borrow it!

Lunchmaking Loonies

As I went to the kitchen pantry to reach for some peanut butter for a before-bed snack, I thought to myself, "I should make Eric's lunch for tomorrow." Since I've been hitting the sack around 9 p.m., my evening lunchmaking routine has been a bit interrupted. Making lunch for my husband everyday is a little June Cleaver, but it's the least I can do since I don't believe in ironing (or for that matter, feeling responsible for 100% of household chores.)

I looked in the fridge and thought, turkey or bologna? I went with bologna.
So I also grabbed a slice of cheese and the upside down squeezable mayo.
For those of you who don't know, I can't stand mayonnaise. I liked it when I was a little girl and would make cheese and mayo sandwiches at my grandmother's house all the time, but something turned my "mayo" switch off as a teenager and now I can't stand it....or so I thought.

I unwrapped the cheese, put the bologna on top, grabbed a slice of bread and squeezed the mayo out. Even though the squeezable bottle had a nice slit perfect for sandwich making, it wasn't enough to satisfy my Type A personality, so I had to grab a knife to spread the mayo perfectly on what was sure to be the best bologna and cheese sandwich my husband had ever had.

But then, something strange happened. As I was spreading the mayo, I started to long for the taste of it. I thought, this is crazy...you hate mayo. I topped off the sandwich with the newly mayonnaised piece of bread and just stared at the glorious sandwhich I'd just made. Then, it dawned on me--why not take a bite of this magnificent creation? I mean, I'd just spent the time making it and I knew Eric wouldn't mind one bite missing of his sandwich anyway. So, I did. And it was amazing. And then, I took another. Pretty soon, I found myself wanting to finish off the entire thing.

Then I realized, that if I ate the precious bologna, cheese and mayo sandwich, I'd have to make another one, something that would delay my date with my pillow. I also remembered why I went to the pantry in the first place--to eat a tablespoon of peanut butter to hopefully relieve my 4 am wake up calls feeling starved to death. I also remembered reading an important little tidbit about cold cuts carrying a nasty little thing called listeria and how dangerous it can be for pregnant women to consume. I sadly put the two-bite missing, listeria-laden sandwich in a ziplock bag. I put Eric's lunch in the fridge and looked unhappily at the peanut butter I was about to consume. It was no substitute for a bologna, cheese and mayo sandwich though.

It's Official...

After the past few weeks of expanding my knowledge on all things related to pregnancy and birth......Women are far superior to men when it comes to pain tolerance and overall macho-ness! And I am a wimp! That is all!

Sincerely,
Eric (co-signed by all fathers and expectant fathers)

First Ultrasound

We went for the first ultrasound yesterday. What an exciting moment to see and hear our little baby's heartbeat for the very first time!! It became more "real." In the picture, the baby is the little white speck inside the black area. Tyra is exactly 7 weeks along, and the due date is still February 1, 2008.

Think we're anal?

Since it's summer, and all of our TV shows have gone into hibernation, we've got plenty of time on our hands after work. So, leave it to us to get into "re-arranging furniture" mode for the baby. The baby's room (formerly the guest bedroom) is now empty, the guest bedroom is now all set-up in the former office, and the office has shifted downstairs to the living room (which surprisingly, doesn't look half-bad). Tyra did a great job of coaching me on where to move the furniture, while I made sure to work up a sweat right before bedtime.

Even Tyra commented that she was "surprised we were so ahead of schedule."

I just figured it was better to get it done now than wait until football season, when the weekends are, shall we say, a wee bit pre-occupied!

Nevertheless, we may have taken our anal, organized behavior to another extreme.

Pregnancy Increases Book Reading by 1,000%

I had never read an entire book in 4 days...until I found out we were having a baby! Who knew that birthing facts, details of morning sickness, and hormal changes could be so interesting!?

So far, here are the books we've started and/or finished:

1. What to Expect When You're Expecting
2. The Expectant Father
3. The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy