I have been horribly slow posting updates about me and baby and how things are going.  I promise to try to do better, but be forewarned that this post is long.  Right now I’m at 16 weeks.  I was very lucky through the first trimester and didn’t have any morning sickness.  That good feeling has continued into the second trimester and so far everything is going so well that most of the time I forget I’m even pregnant.  (I’m hoping that will change soon!!)  Physical changes are definitely starting to happen, but I’m not showing just yet.

During the last 2 doctor’s appointments I got to hear the heartbeat, so we know everything is still going well.  The most exciting news is that on October 17th we have scheduled another ultrasound and get to find out the sex of the baby!!  I promise to let everyone know as soon as possible once we find out.

A few days after I got home from Salt Lake City I shared the news with my office.  I couldn’t wait any longer because I’m currently scheduled to go to Long Beach, San Francisco, Mandan, ND and Kenai, AK in the first 4 months of 2009.  Obviously that is not possible.  It felt like the right thing to do even though I probably could have waited another few weeks.  Needless to say I will be leading those audits from San Antonio,

As I mentioned before, I thought Salt Lake City would be my last work trip before baby comes.  That didn’t quite work out for me.  I’ll give you a short explanation of what happened…

I have unofficially become the Maintenance Turnaround and Capital Projects senior.  I love going to the refineries and enjoy operational audits much more than SOX or financial audits.  I also tend to get along with the refinery guys very well so it is a perfect fit.  The 4 trips I mentioned I was scheduled to take in 2009 are all for maintenance turnarounds.  One planning step performed by each turnaround team is a Peer Review.  The Peer Review takes place 6 months prior to the turnaround.  Engineers from each refinery attend the review, walk the units, and go through the plan in place and offer recommendations on how to improve the plan and shorten the length of time the plant is shut down.  As the turnaround senior I also attend these Peer Reviews.  Today I’m in the thriving metropolis of Bismarck, North Dakota and the last week of October I will be in Kenai, Alaska.  After these two trips I should be grounded until our vacation to Mexico in early December!!

One thing that’s fun about my travel is that so far baby has been to the lake, the mountains, the beach and while in Alaska, baby will also be in snow.  Lucky kid!!

So there you have it…long winded update!!

Julie

Baby Baldwin has already been given a multitude of nicknames.  Much to my mom’s dismay, the one that pops out of my mouth the most is Roscoe.  I did not come up with it…I promise.  In Randy’s family the first born male in the family is supposed to have the initials RMB.  As such, we have been trying to come up with good “R” and “M” boy names.  While in Salt Lake City for work (it was supposed to be my last work trip, but I will go into that in another post), I was having dinner with two of my favorite co-workers.  We were discussing names and Todd decided we should go with Roscoe.  Since we work together, and he is stuck working with me on most of my jobs, I see him more than most people.  He asks how Roscoe is doing quite often, so it stuck.

Mom is not happy about the nickname and thinks Kip is much better, but it will only be baby’s name for a few more weeks.  We will be finding out the sex of Baby Baldwin in just a few short weeks.  Then we can get serious about names…

Julie

It’s your mom this time.  I can imagine that most of the posts will come from your dad, but I will try to contribute as much as possible (I’m just not a good writer…trust me, you will figure that out).

We found out about you on Sunday night, and this is Wednesday.  I’m in San Francisco for work this week and therefore we can’t get to the doctor until next Tuesday.  It feels like an eternity to wait!

Every night I pray for you to be healthy and that you will grow strong.  I also pray that I will be able to do everything in my control to keep you safe and healthy.  I will continue to pray for you every night that you are a part of me.  (However, I’m sure nothing will change once you are born)

One day I hope that you will understand what an unbelievable blessing you are to us.  Randy and I love each other very much and have built an amazing life together, but something was missing.   You are that something and I can’t wait to meet you!!

-J