More fun to blog about

Ok, we've been very busy over the past couple of weeks with my Dad and Lisa here, as well as Natalie and Jason. We've had such a great time finishing out the year that i'm almost a little sad that it will be over soon.

I'm also dreading going back to work to see what my future holds there - I can't lie. It's scary to not know what's going to happen with work, and i can only hope and pray that i at least get to keep my job long enough to go on maternity leave. How about everyone who reads this hopes the same?!?!? Thanks.

Anyway, we had many adventures while Natalie and Jason were here and so little time to squeeze it into to. Friday (after Christmas) we headed into Philly to eat Jim's famous cheesesteaks on South Street. Nathan and I had only been to Pat's, but my cousin's husband Ronnie insisted that we go to Jim's this time...so we did. Here are some shots:

This is Nate and Natalie standing in line. Yes...a line. It wrapped around the side of the building and then wrapped around twice inside. Insanity. It was very much worth it - and Natalie and i were both glad that we decided not to share one - especially since sharing with a pregnant girl would have no doubt resulted in Natalie getting less.

The next day (Saturday) we were off to NYC for some sights. We saw the tree, Central Park, Times Square and much more. There were craploads of people there. At one point Nathan had to walk in front of me with his hand blocking my belly because loads of people just come at you. I hadn't seen it like that in a couple of years - but that's probably because i had learned the last time that it was way too crowded right after Christmas to go and haven't since. We did have a lot of fun, and did a ton of walking.

Right after we were in Rockefeller Center to see the tree we stumbled upon the best discovery ever...they put a Magnolia bakery in!!! There was a line (yes, another line) outside the building to get in, but as soon as Natalie saw what it was we were standing in line with drool coming out of our mouths. Here are some pictures of us enjoying our prizes for waiting in the cold:

(Please note Jason in the background looking at Natalie like's she insane)

The whole time i was eating my cupcake i kept thinking about my upcoming glucose test and how i know i'm going to fail. I guess i should just prepare to take the three hour test that comes after you get the phone call that you suck and failed the first one. Ugh.

Anyway - it was a great few days with Natalie and Jason. Until now Nathan and i hadn't spent much time with Jason, so it was great to get to know him better. We absolutely love him and we're so happy that he's a part of the family. Nathan was so happy to have him around. It was like they were old buddies. The four of us were like old couples who had been hanging out forever. Everytime we went somewhere the men would sit up front and Natalie and i would sit in the back just shaking our heads at the things they would say. I only hope that we didn't scare Jason away to much by having him spend Christmas with my family...which can be a bit overwhelming. His memory was great (far better then Nathan's) since he seemed to remember everyone from the wedding - their names and all! If he learned anything from being here for the holidays it was this: Just drink, and you'll get through it.

This was before the festivties really started on Christmas Eve:

On Christmas Day i wore this red sweater that made me look gigantic (yes, i'm blaming the sweater). Since i matched the chair i was sitting in, Natalie took a picture:

Tonight's New Year's Eve. I have to run to the store so i can make a chocolate cake to bring - and it's snowing outside. Again. Sucks.

Tomorrow we're off to NYC again to meet Quincy and Tierney who are flying in today to spend New Year's Eve in Times Square. We're having dinner at Rosa's tomorrow (yay) and then we're all headed back here where they will be staying for a few days. Something tells me i'll be eating another cheesesteak soon.

Happy New Year! Hope it's a safe and enjoyable one.

As Kerri pointed out in my last blog - we have less than 100 days to go until the baby arrives. I can't believe it. Next week i'll be 7 months pregnant. To that point i almost forgot...i ordered the furniture two days ago. I'm so happy it's done with and i just got an email that it's on it's way! Now Nathan needs to finish painting so we can get the carpeting put in! So much to do in so little time :)

More to come soon!

xoxox

Another Christmas Over...

I know. I'm really bad at this lately. The holidays took over and we've been really busy. It's not an excuse, but just my reason for not updating in a couple of weeks.

First off, we totally forgot to even take my 25 week picture on that Sunday. I remembered the following day, so I'm including a front bare belly shot for you Since Sunday is really three days after i turn another week along, and this was taken on a Monday, this was only 4 days before 26 weeks...so there's a little inconsistency here:

As a little follow up to my last blog, i made monkey bread and the delicious pasta dish that Sue had given me the recipe to. It was DELICIOUS. Of course by that time i was running around like crazy with company so I didn't remember to take a picture (pregnancy takes away your memory, by the way). Here's the monkey bread:

Also, Nathan and my dad got a start on painting the baby's room. Here are some before pics of the room. I'll post more soon. The first coat is on, but with Christmas and the company we've had, Nathan hasn't gotten around to the second one. I can't be around it, or else i would do it:

Lastly (for now), here is a picture from Christmas Eve, one day before i turned 26 weeks pregnant and officially entered my THIRD!!! trimester:

And my normal 26 week picture taken tonight:

Natalie and Jason drove up from North Carolina to spend Christmas with us! We had such a great time. I have so many fun pictures to post from their visit, but will have to do that another time. I'm using Nate's computer (mine appears to have a virus...yay!), and he needs to do some work.

More soon, i swear.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a safe and memorable New Year!!!

xoxoxo

Pictures

Ok, I'm finally posting belly pictures for weeks 23 and 24. I will be 25 weeks on Friday.

23 weeks:

24 weeks:

I had my 24 week check up today. Everything seems to be moving along fine. I heard the heartbeat right away this time. Nice and strong! I got my belly measured for the first time, although i didn't ask what the measurement was. I wouldn't really know what is normal, etc. anyway. The doctor gave me an A+ for this visit.

I've gained 15 pounds so far in almost 25 weeks. When i asked her if that was ok she said "Oh yeah...you can gain lot's more weight!" Ummm...no thanks, but at least i know i have some wiggle room still. It is pretty amazing to think that next week I'll be 2/3 of the way done with this pregnancy.

My next appointment i get to take the glucose test for gestational diabetes. I have a bottle of orange fluids to drink an hour before getting my blood drawn. Yuck. It looks like Traiminic that i used to take when i was sick as a kid. I have a feeling there will be a lot of gagging the morning of January 14th (my next appointment).

I have monkey bread cooking in the oven as i type for my Dad and Lisa's dinner visit tomorrow! They just arrived this morning so Ellie and i are off to see them in a little while. I leave Lou at home because he's grumpy around other dogs. Ellie needs to burn the energy, lord knows, so she'll come along and hopefully refrain from raising hell once we arrive.

I'm using a new recipe i got from Sue Brunton tomorrow. I hope it comes out as good as when she makes it - but it's doubtful. I usually have bad luck with those types of things....but we'll keep our fingers crossed. There's always monkey bread for the main course ;)

Finally...we got snow yesterday. It lasted a while and did stick. There is still some on the ground but it's starting to melt. Good riddens! I don't enjoy the snow unless it's a weekend where we have nothing to do, and need the excuse to stay in. Katie also told me they had snow in Sacramento yesterday. What is going on?!?!

Anyway, that's all for now.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Ohhhh yeah....i pulled a dumb move on Sunday and fell down our entire flight of basement steps. It does sound funny, i know, but at the time i was scared shitless. I felt so bad for putting the baby in danger. We called the doctor right away but there wasn't much they could do. She just told me to take it easy and feel for kicking, etc. and keep an eye out for bleeding. Thank god I fell on my side and NOT my belly which the doctor said is good. I have a sore hip (nothing new there) and hurt my arm, but was so thankful that the baby seemed to be ok. Apparently pregnancy causes you to lose your sense of gravity as well. I just chalk it up to another one of those things that nobody bothers to tell you about when it comes to being pregnant.

xoxoxo

Updates

Ok, I've been bad again about updating this. We did take a picture last week for 23 weeks, but of course i haven't loaded it yet. I will admit we almost totally forgot to even take one! I'll load it so i can post it next time around with my 24 week picture.

Speaking of, i will be 24 weeks tomorrow...which makes me 6 months pregnant. Where does the time go?!?!? Anyway, there are a few updates worth mentioning...

First of all, i think I've mentioned on here before that all the baby dreams I've had so far, even before i knew i was pregnant, were dreams that involved me having a boy. Well, that went out the window the other night when i had a very vivid dream that we had a baby girl. The dream was very funny and strange but we had a little girl and even named her the name that we have chosen should we have a girl. Apparently, after telling my sister, i come to find out that she had a dream that we had a girl on the same night. Doubt it really means anything but it is fun to see how things can change during your pregnancy - and how your brain will play tricks on you like that.

We did get the baby bedding, which i think is perfect considering we have no clue what we're having and i was trying to avoid any characters, etc.

Here's a link to the bedding:
http://www.rhbabyandchild.com/rhbc/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=rhbc_prod142239&navCount=1

I will warn you that it tends to look blue on most people's computers for some reason, but the color is a sage and is very pretty. They have it displayed on the site in both a girls room and boys room - so that really sold me. So depending on what we have i can either add blue or pink and i still think it will look good. Most of the accents I'm going to add in the meantime will be white and silver.

I also created a registry on the site since there are some cute things that would be great to add to the nursery.

Now we have to paint the walls, get carpeting put down and then deal with the furniture. Speaking of...I'm hoping to order that in the next week or so. We're going with an espresso color. Something that we can use for any gender and many more babies to come (the word many is up for debate - I'll get back to you once this one arrives).

We also went to Babies R Us this past Saturday and created our main registry! It was fun, but quite overwhelming since you really don't know what you need if you've never done this before. Nathan had a lot of fun scanning everything he saw...i mean everything. I had to regulate a few times, but we managed to get through the store without making a scene. It took us about two hours.

Here's a link to their website. You can look us up by name:

www.babiesrus.com

I have to admit, the things that you really need for a baby are expensive. I felt so bad (and a bit nervous) about choosing certain things, even though i know we need them. BUT i had a few people tell us just to add what we need and want and see what happens. So that's what we did.

I'm a bit annoyed with the Babies R Us site and how they listed our items. There aren't images for everything, which is fine, except that there are some main items at the bottom without a picture and who the heck wants to sort through something that doesn't give you a visual?!?! I, myself, enjoy a visual and will admit that i may not pay attention to something on a long list of items if it doesn't catch my eye. So...our infant car seat is lost in that list without a picture, along with some other necessities, but whatever. I'm over it...kinda.

So at this point in my pregnancy the baby is a little over 11 inches long and weighs one pound. They say that sometimes Daddy can even put his ear to your tummy and hear the heartbeat. I had also just read that at this point the baby's moves are strong enough and the baby is big enough where you will probably see your tummy move when the baby does. We just tested that theory before i logged in to update this - i felt the baby moving pretty good so i lifted my shirt and you could see my belly jumping like crazy. It's so much fun.

Tonight after dinner Nathan put his face on my stomach and started talking to the baby...he kept saying "are you in there?" and all the sudden the baby kicked him right in the face! It was so funny! I have to say, finally feeling the baby move more, and knowing it's not just gas, has made this experience so much more real and fun.

Well i guess that's it for now. My Dad and Lisa arrive on Wednesday for a few days. I can't believe the holidays are upon us, and Christmas will be here in a couple of weeks.

Work has continued to be dreadful, but i have 7 1/2 days of vacation still and those start next week when my Dad and Lisa arrive. Then I'll take off the day after Christmas and the entire following week. When i get back to the office I'll officially be a Bank of America employee. We just got a firm wide email before i left today letting us know that Bank of America will be cutting 30,000 to 35,000 jobs in the future. Nice. Someone forgot to add in "Happy Holidays" at the end of that email. Jerks.

I promise there will be pictures in the next one! We're slackers lately.

Love to all!

xoxoxo

P.S. Happy Birthday Auntie Laura!!!

Long Overdue

This blog is way overdue...sorry. We had our appointment a week and a half ago where we got an ultrasound and got to see the baby. Our appointment was at 8 a.m. I did this thinking that we wouldn't have to wait - but boy was i wrong. They didn't take us until 8:50 a.m. By that point i was pretty pissed off, but also excited to see the baby again.

We had no idea - but the ultrasound process at 20 weeks takes an hour. They go through and measure all sorts of things to make sure the baby is growing how it should, and to see if your due date is still accurate. Apparently I'm right on target since the doctor didn't say anything to us. She also said that the baby looks great!

And yes...we managed to NOT find out what we're having. When she got to the "goods" she told us to look away. We did, but it was hard to not just look over real quick. I did say to her "if i look, would i be able to even tell?" Since i don't have a trained eye i thought maybe i could look and just guess....but she said "It's quite obvious to me what it is right now, so if you don't want to know then don't look." Not sure what that means, although most people are translating that into it being a boy. A part of me, and i think Nate, wish we would have found out, but now we have no choice but to be surprised which is still exciting.

At one point Nate did sneak a peek, but he said he had no idea what he was looking at.

Next was our trip to California. We had such a good time. It went by way too fast, as i expected, and now with work looming tomorrow I'm wondering why we even came back.

It was very interesting to see what everyone out there had to say about their gender guess. Since they hadn't seen me since getting pregnant i figured they would be better at guessing since they would notice changes in my face, etc. The consensus for the most part is boy, but a couple of people said girl. People still say my face hasn't changed and that i don't look pregnant from the back - but man when i look at pictures i think i look so fat. I really do think the camera adds weight - but maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

There were a couple of people who also said that my stomach is pretty big for 5 1/2 months (you know who you are). Until those comments i didn't think i was doing that bad in the size department...but I've now resorted to being a little self conscious about it. I mean i love having a belly (what the hell is the point of being pregnant?), and i don't' think i look that big, but you can't help but let it bother you a bit when people tell you you're big already. Either way, according to my doctor, I'm right where i should be, and there are a lot of people that are much bigger then me at this point in the pregnancy. So there.

One of the greatest parts of our visit was a baby shower tea party that my mother-in-law, Vickie, threw for me along with Sarah and Natalie. It was at the cutest little tea house in Lafayette, and we had such a nice time. I got to see so many people i hadn't seen since the wedding (!!!), and we got so many cute things for the baby.

Since i didn't take an official 21 week picture while we were there, I'm using the following as that, as well as a chance to show off some cute pics:

And for the 22 week picture:

I want to comment again on the size this week...but i won't.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had three!

xoxoxo

Kickin' It

This weekend was my sister's Sweet Sixteen party. We had a lot of fun. My brother stayed with us from Maryland and since the theme was Hollywood we all got to get somewhat dressed up for the occasion. I'm not usually a fan of dressing up much, but when you're getting fatter by the day you'll take any excuse you can get to make yourself look somewhat attractive.

Here's my 20 week picture, dressed up for the party last night:

It took us three hours to decorate on Saturday morning. I literally went in my pj's thinking we would just drop off the centerpieces i made and the 76 cupcakes i did. Once we arrived the decorating ended up taking a little longer then anticipated.

Here are a couple more shots worth including:

The Birthday Girl.

John dancing to his signature song: TNT - by AC/DC

Mikey - wearing a pair of glasses that the DJ gave out, and lookin' good.

All in all it was a good time. Today we've been really lazy just recovering. First we went to the diner for breakfast where i devoured eggs benedict (eggs poached hard of course). Then it was back home to nap and watch football.

I got the title of this blog from the baby who has been movin' and groovin' all this week. I can actually say that i feel the baby move now. There is no guessing with these movements - it is definitely the baby. Friday night i was laying on the couch and started feeling kicks - pretty strong ones in fact. So i had Nathan come over and put his hand on my belly. He got a bit impatient, but i told him to just sit there for a minute. Sure enough the baby kicked Nathan's hand nice and strong! I'm so glad that he finally got to feel it for himself, since I've been talking so much about how i can feel it.

We have our next doctor's appointment this Wednesday. We get our ultrasound (where most find out the gender), and then I'll get weighed and meet with the doctor. Since my appetite has kicked in since my last appointment I'm curious to see what the total pounds will be this go around. I also have something that i have never had before - a sweet tooth. Almost anything sweet makes me happy these days, which i still have to be careful with since i will eventually get tested for gestational diabetes, something i don't want!

Other than that we're gearing up for our California trip. I can't wait - as I've mentioned in my past two posts. The weather got really cold here all the sudden, and I'm ready for a break from work. I'm also ready to be home since it's been too long.

So...the next post will be from California!

This Thursday marks 5 weeks until Christmas. Where does the time go? This past week also marked my half way point for this pregnancy. On Christmas, I'll be officially in my third trimester. Amazing.

That's it for now! More to come from the Golden State :)

xoxoxo

19 weeks!

Well i'm doing better this week with posting my picture more on time...kinda. I guess since i just blogged, even though it was late, i kept feeling like it wasn't time to post anything yet.

Here's my 19 week picture:

it's not the best picture...but you get the idea. It's hard to tell which part is my gut and which is a shadow from my black shirt. Oh well. Better luck this week with my next one.

Speaking of this week - on Friday i will be 20 weeks pregnant! That's half way done. Not only that, but i'll be a week away from flying home to California for a week. Woot woot!

Nothing new otherwise. I took this funny picture of Ellie. She actually slept like this on Nathan:

A week from tomorrow is my next appointment. We'll get another ultrasound and i'll get weighed in. More on that next week!

It's cold here - hopefully not everyone is suffering from winter weather already.

xoxox

18 Week Picture...Finally!

Once again - sorry for the delay, but the long awaited 18 week picture has finally made it's way to my computer:

I'm definitely showing to the point that strangers can tell. I catch people staring at me like I'm a freak all the time. I think sometimes it's because i look about as old as a 16 year old on the weekends. Sorry - but i do my hair and makeup 5 days a week...Saturday and Sunday are my days off even if i do look like a teenager.

Anyway - apparently in the pregnancy world, 18 weeks also means I'm in my 5th month. Don't ask me why - this is my first time too - but it sure is nice to move up one in the month bracket. I came across this nifty little chart online and thought it was helpful. I should be clipping this out and posting it on our fridge:

Two and half more weeks until we're off to California! Yah - freakin' - hoo. I can't wait.

Sorry for the short blog. Hopefully i'll have more for the 19 weeker.

xoxoxo

Insanity

Insanity. It has ensued at work and has no end in sight.

This is my excuse for not yet blogging for my 18th week. I do have a picture but it won't be posted tonight. Sorry.

Unfortunately, my 5th finance fire drill of the week (kindly note it's only Tuesday) has me working yet again at 9:30 p.m. at home, after working at the office all day.

They keep saying this Bank of America merger is a good thing. Those are the people who clearly aren't pulled into these fire drills.

Anyway, hopefully i can come up with something a bit interesting to write about when i do post my 18 week picture. I hope to make that tomorrow night. I'll be sure to ask Bank of America for permission to devote time to blogging from now on.

Good night!

xoxox

P.S. I hope you all voted. Seriously - if you didn't don't complain. Period.

One more week...

Of October! I can't believe how fast this month went by. Friday is Halloween which i love and then we're on to a new month.

We bought 14 bags of candy today! I hope that's enough. We really do get a lot of trick-or-treaters so I'm sure I'll have to get greedy toward the end of the night and let them only take one piece instead of all their choices (which i do at the start of the evening). It's so hard to believe that this Friday last year we were moving into our house. Time sure does fly.

Not much to report. We're gearing up for my sister Kristen's Sweet Sixteen party which is going to be a Hollywood theme. I did the centerpieces yesterday:

It's hard to see all the details, but they have silver stars on the outside. They'll be filled with water and have floating candles in them. We're also going to line each one with four additional candles on the tables.

I'm also on cupcake duty for the cupcake tower. Today was the trial run. I think we're going to do black frosting with gold and silver flakes. Here's today's batch:

Other than that, we finally filled a bare spot in our living room, with a leaning shelf:

We put the Christmas tree in that spot last year so i guess we'll have to find another option for this year, but oh well, that bare spot was getting so annoying. Now on to the next area of the house...none of it ever seems done!

Last but not least, my 17 week picture:

Growing every day!

Tonight i hope to make it all the way through Desperate Housewives. Last week i was so exhausted from the football game that i think i made it about 30 minutes in. Tomorrow i have to go to NYC for work. Blah. Yuck. No thanks.

Ehhh...another weekend come and gone. How is it that the days we're at work seem to drag on endlessly but when we're home actually doing things we enjoy and being with people we want to look at, it goes by so fast.

Oh well. I'm not saying anything that you don't already know.

Ok...Happy Halloween! Only 4 more weeks until Thanksgiving!

xoxo

Ahhh...Relief

Well i waited until today to write since we had a doctor's appointment today. For the first time since being pregnant i had a doctor that i loved! She was so nice and let me ask all sorts of insane questions and answered them all. Then she had me lay down while i was still talking so she could use the doppler, so i stopped what i was saying and told her "last time we were here he couldn't find the heartbeat..." and she finished my sentence for me: "and you're freaking out?" Of course i answered: "Yes."

She did a little searching (she actually had the doppler higher up on my belly this time since the baby is getting bigger!), and within less than a minute we could hear it. She said "the problem is this little one is moving around, so catching the heartbeat can be tricky." We also heard him/her moving around - so it was all so much better then the last time.

I told her about my round ligament pain (actual medical term) that I've been having. It's shooting pains from your hips all around through you groin area. It's basically from the baby and your tummy stretching. This morning i turned over too fast and my right side just started shooting these horrible pains into my groin. Anyway - it's completely normal which is what i had figured since i had been reading about it on my own. The other "issue" i mentioned was that my hips pretty much feel broken. It's terrible. It wakes me up in the middle of the night, even when i have a pillow between my knees. Sometimes it's so bad i can hardly walk up the stairs. She told me i could go to a chiropractor...but her actual words were "welcome to pregnancy."

Ok. Thanks!

Here's my 16 week, 2 day picture. We were getting ready to head out to a Giants vs. 49ers game so i was bundled up. The weather here has arrived at fall in a serious way:

I have to say - the camera makes it look much bigger. Here's a bare belly one that i was hesitant about posting...but what the hell:

In other doctor appointment news: Our downs syndrome and trisomy test numbers came back and our chances are 1 in 4500. The doctor said that those were "better than great" numbers, so we were very happy to hear that. I had to get the second part blood work done today so those won't be back for another week or so.

I also got weighed in. The grand total for the last month: gained 2 pounds. Since i lost 3 in my first trimester I'm basically back to the weight i was at when i got pregnant so that's nice. I asked her what my goal should be and the answer was 25 pounds knowing that almost everyone exceeds that by 5 to 10 pounds. Let's hope i don't exceed it by too much, but time will tell! Nathan was disappointed since he was betting i had gained 8 pounds! I guess since my belly is showing pretty well now it's easier to think I've put on more weight. I wasn't upset today to disappoint him with a grand total of only 2!

Our next appointment is on November 19th - right before we head to California for Thanksgiving. We get our big ultrasound, which is normally where people find out the gender. We're still holding out, but it will be fun to see the baby again! We also get a cd with 50 something images on it to keep and share with friends and family.

The game on Sunday was fun! It was very cold as we sat on the visitor side (49er side) that gets absolutely no sun. The fans on the other side of the stadium were in the sun the entire time and were walking around with short sleeves on. Bastards.

The tickets were great! We were on the field - so close we could touch the players. Our tickets also got us into the president's club before and after the game that offers free drinks (alcohol and all) and food. The 49ers lost (shocking) but it was really fun. Here's a picture of us all bundled up:

Tomorrow i start my last training program of the year. I'm happy about that, but i also know how antsy i can get sitting in the office all the time. I suppose with budgets being at the forefront and the holidays it won't be too bad.

Speaking of work, Kathy starts her first round of chemo tomorrow. A few of us at the office got together and bought her an iPod and portable DVD player to bring back and forth with her. Hopefully it will make the time go by a little faster - or entertain her at the very least. I'm nervous for her, but I'm also happy she will be starting what needs to be done to get rid of that crap cancer. I just talked to her yesterday and she was feeling excited in every meaning of the word. All in all she's keeping a positive attitude. I'm hoping to actually see her in person soon!

I guess that's it for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather wherever you live and looking forward to Halloween!

xoxoxoxo

15 weeks

Not much new to report today. I've been sick for a few days now, and even though I've started to feel better i decided to take a sick day from work today. Nathan got home from his golf trip early Sunday morning, and has today (Columbus Day) as a holiday, so i thought it was a good time to call in sick.

We went pumpkin picking today which I've been looking forward to doing since probably September now! The weather has been great, and today it's 77 degrees and sunny out. Nathan always insists on having the largest pumpkin he can pick and actually carry to the car. This year he chose one that weighed in at 48.8 pounds.

Here's a picture of it on our porch (with the dogs looking out - it's their favorite spot):

We also got a really cute gift in the mail this week from my in-laws for our lawn. It was our Happy One year in our house gift:

I hit the 15 week mark this past Friday, which makes me 15 weeks and 3 days today. Here's my picture that was taken last night. We actually almost forgot - so i apologize but I'm in my sweats and a t-shirt with old paint stains on it:

Other than that, nothing else. I have my next appointment one week from tomorrow. I'm preparing myself for the whole doppler experience again. I pray every night that it won't be an issue again since i know it will scare the crap out of me. I'm trying to think positive. I also still don't feel consistent movement from the baby. I know it's completely normal to not feel anything at all until around 18 to 21 weeks - and even then it won't necessarily be consistent. I do feel him/her once in a while which always makes me smile when i do. I'm just being grateful that i get to feel the baby as early as i have.

I made brownies last night which are delicious...especially with a glass of milk. I've also taken a liking to blow pops which is fantastic since that only means my teeth should be rotting out of my head by the end of this pregnancy.

That's it for now. If i feel creative between now and the next picture I'll write...but that doesn't strike me very often!

xoxoxo

Look out below

Yesterday morning i had a bit of a delay getting off to work. I basically had a nervous break down and cried because i have nothing that fits me anymore. Even though i have purchased a couple of things for work, you start to feel gross wearing the same pants all the time. Anyway, i finally did leave for work - about 30 minutes late - and felt like poop the whole day.

Nathan called me at some point in the day and said "let's run to the mall tonight and get you some things, ok?" Of course i didn't decline the offer.

Anyway, we met at home and off to Macy's we went where they have a Mimi Maternity inside along with Motherhood Maternity. I grabbed some things (mostly things that Nathan found all on his own) and off to the dressing room i went. I came out with my choices and we went to the counter. Just as i was about to pay i started to feel sick, and all i kept thinking was "wait...i haven't felt like throwing up in quite a while now." Aside from scooping dog food, I've been feeling pretty good on the puke front. Then i broke out into a sweat and everything went black - and down to the ground i went. I had to swoop down and get myself on the ground before i fell over. I guess i was about to faint but caught myself in time to get down before i hurt myself.

All i remember is Nathan looking down at me, along with the nice lady at the register peering over the counter, asking "are you ok?" I looked up at Nathan and just said "I was about to faint." So he paid, managed to buy me a lovely bottle of Macy's water and we sat for a while. I made my way over to a sitting area so, no, i was not sitting on the floor in front of the counter this whole time.

We were going to have dinner together since Nathan is off on a golf trip now for a few days, but we just came home. We thought that was the safer of the choices.

So I'll add that to my list of pregnancy experiences. Good times. I just thank god i was with Nathan and not alone, because i probably would have been too embarrassed to swoop down and would have ended up going down for the count. As if that wouldn't have been more embarrassing...but hey I'm pregnant so rationality is not my strong suit right now.

Anyway, i have a crazy few days at work coming up, and I've also managed to catch the nasty cold that Nathan had. I know all i will want to do this weekend is sleep and all i have plans to do is work!

xoxoxo

B is for...

Booty (not mine...thank god):

Nathan and i received our first baby clothes package this weekend from my Dad and Lisa! The stuff is really cute, and feels so strange to get as a gift - i mean we're actually going to be using those things in a few months. Here's some pictures of what we got!:

Bailey:

My cousin Jessie and her husband Ronnie had their baby boy this week. Bailey Robert Mitra was born on Thursday, October 2nd at 5:55 p.m, weighing in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 22" long. I went to see them the next day...and here's a couple of pictures:

He's so cute! Every time i took a picture he made this face like he was not amused by the flash. Jessie had about 8 hours of labor with one hour of pushing. I had just arrived at the hospital when they had taken the poor baby to get circumcised. Leave it to me to show up then! When they brought him back he was all wrapped up and sleeping so nicely. Then i got to hold him...thank goodness since i was so anxious to get my hands on him! Seeing Bailey made me even more excited for our baby to arrive...all in due time.

Belly:

Here is my 14 week (really 14 weeks, 2 days) belly picture (excuse the folded over panel):

I've been reading a lot lately that other girls almost looked bigger around this time then they did/do at 20 weeks or so. Apparently bloat, which i know i had a lot of in the beginning, can still be contributing to some of this belly growth at this point. I'm not sure if this is just bloat, just baby or a little of both. It's strange because i don't feel bloated anymore - i really feel like i have a legitimate belly. I guess time and pictures will tell.

Bad news:

Bad, sad and everything else. My boss Kathy, whom i really do love very much, was diagnosed with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. She had been out for about a month after landing in the hospital due to on going stomach problems. We've kept in touch every week (at least), so i knew in the back of mind that this was a very probable outcome, but it wasn't until she called me on Thursday and actually told me herself that it sunk in. I promised myself when she called that i wouldn't get upset, since it's not very fair for me to be crying when she's the one going through this horrible experience. I lasted almost the entire conversation - then i lost it. Once i cried so did she, and that really made me feel horrible. I told her how much we love her and miss her and are praying for her. Then i had to deliver the news to others who are close to her in the office.

It's never been a secret to those close to me that Kathy was always one of the most loved "things" about my job. It never mattered how much i liked or disliked my job at the moment - i always knew i was staying because i really don't believe there is anyone better out there to call a boss. Not only has she made me a better person in my professional life, but she has been through so many of my personal experiences with me: having this first "real" job in Corporate America, getting my first apartment with Nathan, getting engaged, getting married, buying our house and now having our first baby together. Telling Kathy all of our good news, and sometimes bad, was normal to me - it's like telling a family member when talking to her.

Anyway - i could go on and on as there are so many more good things i could say about her. I'm just so devastated for her, her husband Tom and her daughters Hannah and Erin. She's only 49.

Kathy is just another example of how this nasty thing called cancer can change a life over night. It seems like Nathan had i have gotten too many examples lately, including Nathan's godfather Robert who lost his battle in April, my Grandmother Faye who is having surgery this week due to uterine cancer and countless others.

I know, I'm such a Debbie Downer, but honestly, i think it's important to remember just how blessed we are to celebrate things such as new babies and pregnancies. It's so easy on a day-to-day basis to take it for granted to a certain degree, and it just puts life into perspective.

Anyway...it's another Football Sunday in the Albano household. We're having bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado for dinner tonight. Hmmm...i wonder who was craving that?!? That leads me to that last thing, but it doesn't start with a B:

Appetite:

My appetite is back in full force now. I guess losing 3 pounds in the first three months or so was God's little gift to me...and his way of preparing me to gain weight! Now if i could just get my energy back - I'll be in real trouble!

Grrrr...

So today was my doctor's appointment. All i had to do was three things, two of which weren't the things i was looking forward to. Let's see if you can figure out the one thing i was looking forward to:

• Get weighed
• Pee in a cup (every time)
• Hear the baby's heart beat on the doppler

Well i did the first. I lost three pounds! I'm not proud or anything, but i had no idea what to expect. This, the doctor assured us, was normal for those of us who had morning (or what i like to call i-feel-like-crap ALL day) sickness.

Then i peed in the cup. This is just so they can test your sugar levels each time you go in. Unless he says something about it, then you're good. Since i didn't buy the candy corns until after the appointment, i passed for this week.

Here comes the exciting part...the doctor gels me up on the belly and puts the doppler on to start listening for the heart beat. Well he searched, and searched, and searched. Then he just shrugged his shoulders and said "Well the baby is still very small, and they move quite a bit." After that he gave us two options:

1. wait until next week and come back since you can definitely pick something up by then (I'll be almost 15 weeks a week from now)

2. Go down the hall right then and there and have a quick ultrasound, where it's easy to pick up since they can see the exact location of the heart.

DUH. Take me to the ultrasound! So off we went, the took me right away, and sure enough there he/she was and the woman pulled up the heart beat over the monitor speakers right away.

Phew.

I have to say, i felt frustrated and guilty once we left today. I felt frustrated because i was SO looking forward to being able to hear the heart beat through the doppler, because that (to me) would make it feel "real." Even after last week's ultrasound. I know, I'm insane.

I felt guilty because here i am all upset that we didn't hear anything BUT saw something and then did hear something through the ultrasound machine. I realize that it could have been a lot worse, and has been for many people who aren't as lucky as us to see a healthy, living baby on the screen. It just goes to show you what kind of surprises and emotions this experience can bring out i guess.

Anyway, my next appointment is October 22nd. All i want to do is hear that heart beat through the doppler now. These next three weeks are going to drag on I'm afraid.

In other news it's almost October! I LOVE Halloween...so i went and did some shopping to decorate the house. Since we moved in on Halloween last year i never bothered buying anything. The shopping trip is also when i purchased the candy corn which are staring at me as i type this.

That's it for now. Oh yeah - the heart rate today was 151.

13 weeks and shopping

Well today i took my 13 week picture. I'm technically 13 weeks, 2 days since i hit each new week on a Friday. For whatever reason, since the start, we've been taking my picture on the Sunday after...so in an effort to be consistent we're still taking them on Sundays.

The next few pictures are me through the end of my first trimester, and today.

10 weeks

11 Weeks

12 weeks

And the big 13 week

I have to say something about today's picture. First off, it does NOT look this big underneath by clothes. In fact, most people keep saying "well you're still not showing." I'm not sure where this came from!?!? Also, in case it means anything at all, i hate a delicious bagel sandwich today for breakfast AND had almost my entire delicious Chipotle veggie burrito. I then came home and and had this taken. Perhaps i should have waited...mmmm....

Don't fear - i won't be posting too many more bare belly pictures - especially if they look like this last one!

All i can say is it never looks this big in the morning, but once the eating begins...here comes the belly!

Today was also a fun day since i went shopping with my friend Jen. I need work pants since my regulars ones aren't comfortable anymore. They do fit (well the 4's don't anymore, but the 6's do) but they leave this horrible purple line around my gut which just hurts and itches all day. To me, that's not worth it, so why not just be comfortable?!

Mimi Maternity proved to be my most successful store. I bought three pairs of work pants, a cute fall sweater, and a cute little coat for the fall. Jen was so patient with me and kept looking around while i tried on about 100 pairs of pants. The strangest thing (and I'm not complaining here) is that the mediums were all HUGE on me. I could have fit two of me in them. So, i bought all smalls...yippee!

Anyway, I'm home now, watching football and prepping for my next meal.

My second pre-natal appointment is tomorrow morning, so more then.

One more thing...there's really a baby in there!

On Tuesday, September 23rd we had an ultrasound done as part of the NT Scan. I was so excited for this appointment because from what i had read, the baby was actually going to look like "something" instead of a grain of rice.

We drove to St. Peter's University and had a very nice lady do my ultrasound. She even let us listen to the hear beat through the machine (which i didn't even know was possible. The hear beat this visit was 157 bpm.

She got some great shots for us (including 3D which i haven't scanned yet). Here is one for now:


12 weeks, 5 days

I also had blood work done which goes along with the measurements they got from the ultrasound. I have to go back between weeks 16 and 18 for another round of blood work as well, as part of the same test. This is the down syndrome test that we chose to do, as i didn't want an amnio done.

After the ultrasound, Nathan and i split up the pictures (we got about 8 in total!) and headed off to work to finally share the wonderful and exciting news with our co-workers.

We've also decided we're going to try and leave the gender a surprise. As i told Katie B. and many other friends - it's one of the only surprises in life that we won't be disappointed with. I hope we can stick to our guns!