One Week To Go!!!

In exactly one week, 4 hours and 40 minutes we will be departing for our annual vacation to the most beautiful place on earth...Traverse City, Michigan. So, in honor of that, the above picture is from our cabin deck where we get to watch beautiful sunsets like this one every night for a whole week. Ahhhhh paradise.

In other news, I've been swimming lately for even more exercise. My trainer and great friend has a beautiful pool in her back yard and she has INSISTED that I use it as often as I want. So, the last few weeks I've added swimming laps to my exercise routine. I've done laps, kicking, etc. and it all feels great to be weightless for a while. Yesterday, however, I totally hammered in the pool. We counted that I swam 80 lengths of her pool...now granted, it's not an Olympic sized pool, but 80 lengths was a lot. She also gave me some ankle weights which I put on and did running in the shallow end and leg lifts. I'm feeling every muscle in my body this morning and it feels great! Today, I'm hitting the elliptical as I've been doing like a good little girl...trying to keep the weight gain to a minimum and keep the baby healthy!

Have a great Thursday...it's the weekend eve!

Potpouri Post

This post is going to skip all over the place with no particular subject, hence the title.

First, notice at the side that I have an image you can click on. When you click on the image, it'll take you directly to my flickr page (flickr is an internet photo sharing site). I got the flickr account so that I can post pictures of the baby when she comes and it'll go directly on the blog. I can post more pictures that way, so all of you great readers can see our peanut when she enters the world.

Speaking of, little miss karate has been going at it in my belly quite a bit lately. She played a major role in my sleepless night last night. And, for the first time in this pregnancy, I woke up STARVING (at 9:30), so I had to go get a bowl of cereal at about 11 p.m. when I finally decided that just lying there wouldn't make the hunger go away. I don't want to make a habit of eating during the night, but it was necessary last night. I never really got back to sleep because the cereal made her boogie even more so I'm a freekin' zombie today. I'm going over to my friend's pool to swim laps again today...which I've done quite a bit now and it feels GREAT. Hopefully that'll wake me up a bit.

The countdown is on for our vacation. We leave a week from tomorrow and I seriously don't know if I can wait. Just to get back to northern Michigan where it is so beautiful it just gets our feathers all going in the right direction as soon as we step off the plane, is what we both need right now. We're staying in a small fishing village (called Leland) at a B&B for the first two nights and then it's off to the little cabin on Grand Traverse Bay for a week. Ahhhh. It's so wonderful. Of course I'll post lots of pictures on flickr when we get back.

Oh, and one more random thought: the Philadelphia Soul arena football team won the national championship this past weekend. If you aren't from Philly, know that there has been quite a championship drought in this city since the 80s. No major sports team has brought home a title since. Key word: major. The Soul fans (all 25 of them) and owners are claiming that the drought is over...Philadelphia now has a title...blah blah blah. Well, that's just plain crap. The proof is in the video from the night the team came back to town...there were dozens of fans at the airport, not hundreds as there would've been had major team won a title. Heck, they can't even sell out the arena for home games! So, Jon Bon Jovi (the owner of the team), your success is with your music, your team doesn't matter to this city, unless you buy the Phillies, Sixers, Eagles or Flyers.

Trying

I'm trying to add a photostream link to the blog...that's what I've been working on this morning and I've been having some trouble, so that's why there's no real post for today.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Squuuueeeeezzzzzeeeeee!

I'm giving in.

I've decided to buy the dreaded pregnancy jeans, and I'm not happy about it.

See back when I was running everyday, I could wiggle my tushy into the cute (and outrageously expensive) designer jeans and look relatively presentable in them. Well, add one baby and subtract daily five mile runs, and one's ass tends to spread a bit. Nevertheless, the cooler weather is coming and I'm going to need to wear something other than skirts and sundresses. The poke in the butt to get these jeans purchased now is that I looked at the extended forecast for Traverse City, MI (where we're going for vacation in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS) and it's going to be chilly when we first get there, which is totally fine with us, hence the need for jeans.

The maternity store jeans are gross: stretchy denim-like polyester fabric that are bunchy and tight and I REFUSE to wear them. So, my savior, Nordstrom.com has a rockin' maternity section on its website where they sell the good jeans...Citizen of Humanity, Chip and Pepper, Seven for All Mankind, etc. Sure, they're pricey, but if they can make my wide load look halfway decent until November, I'll gladly shell out the bucks. We'll see when they get here.

It's Been a While

Ok, so it's been a while since we've taken a belly shot, so here it is at 25 weeks....next to one of our cute polar bears, of course!

Pictures!

My mom just sent me pictures this morning...my nieces, Erin and Emily are with "Gamma" and "Papa" for about six days...and yesterday, Papa took them to the driving range (notice Emily's new clubs)? Aren't they cute!!!!??!!

I am a ROCK STAR!

Yeah, that's right...in case you didn't know it...know it now...I ROCK!

Ok, well maybe I'm taking it a bit too far, but after VERY fast weight gain during months 3 through 5 of this pregnancy I'm happy to report that I went to the doctor yesterday and most importantly: the baby is doing fine...but running a very close second in importance...I DIDN'T GAIN ANY WEIGHT THIS MONTH!!!! In fact, I lost a pound! Now I know you're not supposed to "lose weight" while pregnant, but one pound won't hurt...plus I wasn't trying to lose, so don't go calling children's services on me, ok?

My uterus is measuring 24 centimeters which is right on target (about the circumference of a soccer ball) and the heartbeat and my blood pressure are both fine. I was literally in and out of there in like 25 minutes. I met another new doctor (the last in the group) and he was pretty cool, but another fast talker/in a rush type guy and I really hate that. But, he would be fun to have in the delivery room because he's just a cool dude. As for the rest of the doctors in the practice, they're o.k....I still feel like a bit of just a number with the doctors, but the nurses are warm and wonderful each visit, so it kind-of makes up for it. I can't complain too much, my questions are always answered but it just isn't the long conversations I used to have with my AWESOME doctor in Toledo. Oh well, they can't all be like that.

In the Middle of the Night

No, not the upbeat Billy Joel song...but it describes my life the last two nights and what I'm afraid is a disturbing trend: up in the middle of the night (9 p.m. for me) to pee and then I can't get back to sleep. Remember when that happened during the first trimester? Ugh. I hope this doesn't continue.

In the meantime, I've been entertaining myself with some interesting TV during my sleepless hours. Usually I can find a re-run of "Jon and Kate Plus Eight", but last night's episode has been on like 10 million times, so instead, I got hooked on Discovery Channel's "The Deadliest Catch." If you haven't seen this show yet, you've got to check it out. It's a reality type show (what show isn't these days) about commercial crab fishermen in the Bering Sea. Trust me, when you watch the show you'll think that $20/lb. for crab in a restaurant is a bargain. These guys go through hell for not a lot of money to bring us the goods. Now THAT is a job that would totally suck.

There's a guy here in our office who's dad owns a lobster boat in Maine and he just told me that last summer he left his job here for two months to help his dad on the boat. He said first that the TV show is TOTALLY accurate AND he confirmed how much the job sucks. He said he never got his sea legs and he had to deal with the battering waves, rough seas, biting flies and all around extremely hard work all while stopping ever so often each day to hang over the side and toss his lunch.

So the next time I hesitate to buy lobster at the market because it's too expensive, I'll remember all of those guys (and even a few women) out there and go ahead and buy it. Good thing pregnant ladies can eat shellfish!

Bambi Sucks

I have a beautiful garden "area" in front of our townhouse. I planted bright pink wave petunias underneath our flowering crab tree and have more up by the front porch. I bought a beautiful and huge cobalt blue pot where I have a large tomato plant with a few big tomatoes on it...or shall I say had.

Yeah, Bambi paid a visit to my garden and ATE EVERYTHING...EVEN MY YET TO RIPEN TOMATOES! My lovely and lush flowers look like a lawnmower ran them down and not only did she eat the tomatoes and most of the branches of the tomato plant, but she snapped the main stalk of the plant right at the base!

The flowers will come back but I hate to say it, it's trash time for the tomato plant. Seriously, Bambi...couldn't you have picked another garden to munch? I wish I would have taken a before picture so I could show you the after...but oh well. Pig.

You Look Mahvelous

At least that's what I've been told about 9 million times lately. Is it just something people say to pregnant ladies no matter what? I mean, let's be honest here: I've put on 20 pounds since the stick turned blue...how on EARTH can I look great? I think it's just one of those things that people just say when you're pregnant. Just like when you first tell people you're expecting they ask if you're excited or my favorite...'do your parents know?' DUH! Don't get me wrong...I LOVE having throngs of people (strangers too) constantly telling me that I look amazing, but let's be real, people. I'm a blob...and I'm o.k. with that! I guess the other option would be for people to take one look at me and say "wow are you ever fat" so I guess I'll take what I can get!

I'm also happy to report that no stranger has placed his/her hand on my belly in public yet. Ooooo if that happens, I'll be totally grossed out and probably say something snappy, which the evil pregnant hormones in me think would be kinda fun!

Finally the best news of all: my appetite is back. I've finally been able to eat a full meal (yesterday) which was great...and right now as I type this, I am dying for my pre-workout peanut butter sandwich which is waiting for me at home.

Oh and one more thing. Nicole Kidman had a baby about two weeks ago. Search for a recent image of her online. The bitch is back to her rail thin body ALREADY. I know I know, this is a family blog and I promised not to swear...but she deserves the moniker. Nobody should be allowed to be that skinny that soon after birth. She should've hidden in a cave until at least six months post birth before she revealed that bony body. Grrrrrrr.

Fire and Ice (or almost lack thereof)

I had my first experience with pregnancy heartburn this weekend...and let me tell you, it wasn't fun. See, I promised to be DD for Jon and take him to his favorite wing place in Delaware on Saturday night. I like it there too, but I still am recovering from whatever I had last week so I really wasn't hungry. I decided to forgo the wings and I got a tortilla with grilled chicken and salsa in it. I get that all the time there...no biggie. Well, by the time we got back to Philly, my throat was ON FIRE! Thank GOD I had Pepcid at home (and can take it while pregnant). It went away quickly. I guess no more spicy food for me.

The almost lack of ice was scary. Last night about 9:45 our power went off. We are almost at the end of a SEVEN day heat wave (90° or higher temps) and the thought of being pregnant with no A/C scared me so badly in the middle of the night that I could barely get back to sleep. Luckily, it came back on about an hour later. I'm still draggin' butt today so naturally, I'll take a nap as soon as I get home...in our icebox we call home. I feel for those who don't have A/C (and there are a lot in Philly)...I really do. I grew up without air and so did Jon and I know how uncomfortable it is. We feel lucky each day that we can afford such a necessary luxury.

Why?

Why is it that when I get a stomach bug when I'm not pregnant I can still eat? And then why is it when I get a stomach bug while pregnant and need to eat...I can't? Seriously, food just turns me off right now. Yesterday, I force fed myself a half of a turkey meatloaf sandwich....and it took me like a half hour to choke it down. That's all I ate...all day. After work yesterday I got into bed and stayed there all day and had no problem sleeping last night. I feel better this morning but VERY weak. So, I'm trying to get my strength back by eating little bits of food, but really, food just doesn't sound good still. I just need to eat for the baby. I actually can't wait to have hunger pains again. The baby seems unaffected by this brief pause of her gravy train...she's moving around like crazy in there.

In other news: our muralist finished yesterday. The above pictures are of her and the almost finished work. I'll take more pictures when the whole room is done...furniture and all. It's going to look so dang cute! As you can see, she was able to paint a few clouds on the ceiling too...which is exactly what we wanted. Awesome!

Under the Weather

Ok...so I'm under the weather today. I'm still here at work because although I felt sick all afternoon yesterday, I thought it would just pass. At 1 this morning when my alarm went off I felt worse and have a low-grade fever. So, in my business...that's just too late to call off. So here I am. I don't feel much like blogging, but I did want to share the pictures of the room as it is so-far. Our wonderfully talented muralist came yesterday and she'll finish today. The last picture is of her. Isn't the whole thing so cute?

The Culprit

So, I was trying to figure out who was eating my lovely sunflowers. See the finch on the sunflower on the left? Yeah, he's on the top of my list. He and all of his little finch friends have destroyed the last two bunches of sunflowers I've had out. I really don't mind feeding them, but can't they use the damn feeder which is about 5 feet from the flowers?

By the way, this was my first attempt at adding video to the blog...you like? I just discovered that my camera also takes short videos...with audio. Cool. Good to know with baby on the way! Although I gotta admit...I watch a ton of those "A Baby Story" shows where 90% of the daddys are shooting video of the birth and I've decided to officially ban video cameras from the delivery room. Just our personal preference, but I don't think we'll be wanting to re-watch that anytime soon. Ewww. Plenty of time to capture cute cooing and smiling later.

Fun Weekend!

I'll start from Sunday and go backward because the picture from Sunday is at the top...but...the painter came Sunday and got the base coat of the room done. He took A LOT longer than we had planned, but it was worth it. It really looks like the sky! It's so pretty. The muralist comes Tuesday!!! I can't wait!

Jon's mom was here this weekend and we really had a great time. She came in on Friday afternoon and we had a nice dinner at home Friday night. Then Saturday, she took me shopping to Destination Maternity (a maternity superstore with THREE stores in one) and I got a TON of great maternity clothes. It was so nice of her to take me shopping...I'm so lucky to have such a nice MIL! As if she hadn't done enough already, she took us to a nice dinner on Saturday night and then on Sunday, she and I went to the Phillies game while Jon stayed home and was with the painter. What a guy (Jon, not the painter). Then Jon took her to dinner last night while I went to bed.

I haven't talked about this on the blog because I wanted it to be a surprise when my mother-in-law came for this visit...but...in May, we rented a hand-held doppler so we could hear the baby's heartbeat. I did it so I could take it home in June so my family could hear and then we kept it through July so that my MIL could hear it too. She loved it and thought it was great! She also got to feel the baby kick as she put her hand on my belly. For those who are pregnant and interested in renting a Baby Beat, just click on the link...it's totally fun!

It was a fun, but busy weekend for sure! I have a feeling I'll nap today!

Fun Weekend

Grandma Claudia (Jon's mom) is coming to town today to do some maternity mama shopping and to have some fun! I'm sure I'll take pictures and post during the weekend if I can.

Have a great weekend!

First Official Craving

I know I've written a past post about my "first craving"...but now I really don't think the tabouleh was an actual craving. Yesterday, however, I REALLY got a craving.

At 6:30 yesterday morning (keep in mind people that I do get up at 1:15 a.m. so that is really like noon for me) I WANTED TUNA FISH! I've really been careful about my tuna intake during the pregnancy and in fact, before yesterday I'd only had it twice since the stick turned blue. A little extreme? yes...but safe nonetheless. ANYWAY, nobody mentioned it, it just popped into my head. Mmmmm a nice tuna sandwich on some yummy bread with crisp lettuce and tomato. I had to have it. So, I emptied my purse of all its change and wandered back to the vending machines here at work (which contain nothing but crap I learned) hoping to find one of those little tuna kits to nosh on. I'm a food packer so I don't use the machines and was shocked and quited saddened to find that there was plenty of beef jerky, but no tuna. Well, I can't leave the building until the show is over (can you imagine..."sorry that I missed a half hour of the show, boss...but I had to have tuna") so I began my search for the closest place to work where I could get my fix.

We have COSI and Panera right close by so at 9 a.m. I made a beeline for Panera and by 9:25 I had finished every last crumb of the most delicious tuna sandwich. Mmmmmm. And that was that, craving over. The only problem was that it was rather large so I wasn't hungry for dinner so I made something of a leftover concoction for Jon and had a handful of pretzels and called it a day.

In other news: I had my blood pressure checked yesterday. Jon was really encouraging me to get it checked this week so we'd really know if last weeks spike was just because of my high altitude travel or if I really have an issue. I'm happy to report that my pressure is back to the status of it being so low that the nurse asks if I'm alive. That's normal for me. AWESOME! Bring on the salty snacks! Well, in moderation of course.

Guilty Pleasure

Ok...I know that A LOT of you will be disappointed in me for this admission, but I'll be o.k. I have to admit, that I've been watching trash reality TV. There. I said it. My show in particular: ABC's The Bachelorette. Let me explain.

See, ABC was one of the first network to air its prime time programming on the internet. As you all know, I'm normally sleeping during " regular" prime time, so my only way of seeing Grey's Anatomy is to watch it the next day online. It's been great. I actually can watch shows during the show here at work in my limited downtime during the four hour show each day (thanks to the pause feature)! However, during the writer's strike I was desperate to see something to keep me occupied during the show. Believe it or not, just 'cuz I'm on every five minutes for four hours doesn't mean I don't get bored. I started watching the Bachelor series. So in June when ABC began a new season of The Bachelorette, Grey's was done for the season, so I watched.

I watched as the 25 dudes were whittled down to one and the woman chose the most unlikely chap to marry. She chose the one who had beauty on the inside and a great personality (and not a bad little bod, too). So, that made me feel better for watching trashy TV. I watched the finale yesterday morning during the show...so that's why I didn't post.

A new season of Dance Party USA (remember that show?) began about a week ago, but you can't see it. It's airing only in my uterus every night from about 9 to midnight. Yes, our little girl is becoming quite active lately. It's totally fun and Jon can even feel her little kicks if he's patient. Maybe she's just excited because Grandma Claudia is coming to take mommy shopping this weekend!!! I know we are!

Coming Together

It's all coming together...the baby's room, that is.

As most of you know, I'm a planner. I like to get things done sooner rather than later so that I'm not all rushed and flustered at the last minute. As a first time mommy, I fear the thought of going into labor without the baby's room done. And, since we have so much time before our little peanut makes her appearance into the world, I'm really bustin' a move on the room right now. Jon, however, likes to take his time, but to his credit, he's really letting me just go with it...the painting, mural and all. He did ask that we wait until August to order the furniture. I'm cool with that.

So, as I mentioned, we found a woman who is going to do a mural. Problem is: we didn't know of a painter who could come and paint the room fairly soon. And no: WE DON'T PAINT! We've (I've) tried it before and it didn't work out too well and let's just be honest...if Jon were to paint, it'd take him a month to do the room and I'm just not that patient. Sooo, in spin class this morning, I discovered that one of my fellow spinners is a PROFESSIONAL painter!!!! Cool. So, he came over to see the room and told us he could paint NEXT WEEKEND and get the whole thing done in like 4 hours (amazing) for only...get this...$100!!! If we would have done it together, it would have cost that much in rollers, brushes and tarps before we would have even bought the paint. Factor in the frustration and time we would have spent and I'd say we're getting a pretty sweet deal. Then the mural will be done within a few weeks of that. I know I know, I've said before that getting the room painted so early is kinda creepy, but the muralist is a teacher and she can't do it once school starts. So, paint we will.

Yesterday we (Jon and our friend Tripp) moved all of the furniture out of the room for the painting. The above picture is what the room looks like now. We left the computer in here so that we'd have access to it until the furniture arrives and then who knows where we'll put it. I think we're going to come into modern times anyway and get a laptop. As you can see, we've got a dinosaur computer...we bought it in 2000, so it's time for it to go anyway. It's VERY slow. Took me 15 minutes to boot 'er up just so I could post this. Usually I post from work, but since I'm going to enjoy yet another lazy day off tomorrow, I thought I'd post today.

Hope everyone had a great Fourth!

Here SHE Is!

Finally...I made it to Rite Aid to have the ultrasound images put on a CD so that I could share them with you. They aren't the greatest ultrasound shots I've ever seen, but she's there nonetheless.

This morning while I was drawing my weather graphics at work I felt her moving and looked down and you could actually see my tummy twitching. It was very cool. She's in there bustin' a move quite a bit now.

Yesterday, the woman who will paint the mural in the baby's room came over. She was terrific! She gave me a sketch and as soon as I saw it, I cried. The walls and the ceiling will be painted sky blue (YES for a girl...I started to tell my next-door neighbor this and she disapprovingly blurted out 'for a GIRL?'). Anyway, the muralist will then paint all different sized puffy white clouds and the larger clouds will have polar bears on them...not scary ones, but happy or sleepy ones. The sketch was so damn cute. The only hitch with this woman is that she is a teacher and she wants to do the mural before the end of July. I feel a little strange doing it this soon, but it's got to be done, and this is what we want.

I took the Fourth of July and the following Monday off so you may not hear from me on this blog until Tuesday. I may surprise you, though. After all, I'll for sure post pictures of Jon and our friend Tripp moving furniture :-)

Doctor Knows Best

I just learned that when a doctor gives you suggestions, usually they know what they are talking about. On Monday, my doctor told me to keep my feet elevated a few times a day and take it easy to help reduce the swelling I experienced while in Denver. Well, it worked. Yesterday I spent much of it "taking it easy" and I even sat with my feet up a few times during the day. This morning I'm proud to report that my cankles are back to ankles.

Other than that and reducing my sodium intake, things are going great. Little Miss Priss seems to be either a night owl or a future Olympic gymnast. Last night after my nightly trip to the bathroom, I crawled back into bed and that's when she started doing all kinds of flips and twists. This lasted for over an hour. It was thrilling, yes...but I was so thrilled with it that I couldn't get back to sleep for a while so I'm a bit groggy today.

Maybe she was excited because we are getting started on her room this weekend. On Saturday, our friends Tripp and Kathleen are coming and Tripp and Jon are moving the furniture into the basement. I'm of course feeding them a wonderful dinner as a thanks. Today, a woman is coming to the house to give us an estimate on the mural for the baby's room. I can't wait!

Pics and Update

First, here are the pictures as promised. As you can see, this baby is the cutest baby in the world. He belongs to my friend Khristin and her husband Bill. I got to see them in Denver this weekend. They also are quite ambitious, as a couple of months ago, they got a puppy...a BULL MASTIFF puppy who now weighs 80 lbs. on her way up to 180 lbs.!!!! Her name is Daisy and that's Khristin's husband's hand which is the same size as the dog's front paw.

The update is that I did go to the doctor yesterday...and my blood pressure is indeed elevated. I have NEVER had high blood pressure before. In fact, the first time the nurse took my blood pressure when I was early on in the pregnancy she asked if I was o.k. because it was so low. Well, not so much now. The doctor was aware but not too concerned so they sent me home with the instructions to rest more, put my feet up more and to reduce my sodium intake. This shocked me because I've never cooked with a lot of salt, but when I thought about it, I realized that the bad foods I've been craving have all been salty and not sweet. So, now I will of course be overly anal about salt and will reduce my intake significantly and immediately. I was quite frightened after the visit yesterday.