New Years?? really?

I can't believe it's almost 2010??? December flew by, as did 2009. Dave and I were all over the place this year.

2009 Travel recap:

We made a trip to New Jersey for Dave’s Grandmother’s funeral , she was 93 and spoke her mind completely. I think when you hit 80 you no longer have use for a word filter. I have some very funny stories about things she said to me about other people....who were in the same room as us.

In April we hooked up with Dave’s best friend Ryan and his wife Tara in Florida for Spring Training. The Phillies practice there and we got to catch a few of their games. It was pretty cool to be in a small stadium and see them play.

May was all about Dr. Natalie! Mom, Dad, Liv, Dave and I all flew to Boston to see Natalie official become a doctor. (Doctor Natalie...sounds so cool) It was amazing to see her in her funny little hat. I was very proud of her. (still am) We also traveled to North Carolina for Sol’s (my cousin) Bar Mitzvah.

Back to Philly in June for Dave’s friend Ken's wedding. The wedding was amazing. The food, the band, the food. Dave and I were in heaven with all that food. Dave’s brother Tim and his son Joey drove back with us to Charleston and they stayed with us for a week and a half. It was pretty sweet because Tim cooked dinner almost every night AND cleaned up the kitchen after. He is officially on my "visit whenever you want" list.

In August we went to Chicago for a Baseball Bingo game. Besides the fact i was sick when we left and VERY sick when we came back, it was a sweet trip.

September we went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for my friend Dominic’s wedding. It was pretty sweet they got married on this coast! We bunked with their San Diago friends and now have about a dozen new friends in CA....yes we'll make it out there at some point, I promise.

In October we drove to Amelia Island Plantation in Northern Florida for a long weekend. We did the spa and played a full round of golf...well Dave played, I drove the cart.

WOW. For a "let's take it easy this year" we did a lot. We'll see how 2010 shapes up. Hopefully we'll still get some vacations in, though my maternity is going to suck up all my vacation time.

I still can't believe we're having a baby. It's still surreal. My belly is getting so big, and every time I change I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and just stop dead in my tracks.

We're working on the nursery this weekend a little and should have it ready to paint by the first weekend in Jan. Dave's parents bought us the crib, and it was delivered (i might have mentioned that already) last week. Once that room is painted we'll be able to move a bunch of stuff in that room and start to create a little space in the guest bedroom, garage and game room. (which are all just storage for baby stuff right now)

I'll be 24 weeks on Friday! WOW. My Virginia Shower is Jan 16 and I can't wait. I'm so exited!!

Christmas 2009

Well I passed the 23 week mark, but i've been off the computer for 4 days (glorious). So here's the update on the past few days.

Thursday I had quite a scare. Day was going normal until about 11:00. I went to the bathroom and when I got up there was blood in the toilet, a lot of blood. I tried to stay clam and figure out where it was coming from. I couldn't tell so I went back to my desk and called my doctor. They told me to come right in. Of all the days to have left my charger at home, my cell phone was dead. I tried Dave but got voice mail. I made it all the day to the waiting room before I started to loose it. They didn't even have me sit down, they took me right back and did an ultrasound. There she was heart beating away, she was fine. At this point I'm not sure if my tears were of relief or if i was still in panic mood. They checked my cervix to make sure it was ok and everything was fine. The doctor on call saw me and checked everything. No blood in my urine, no blood in my vagina. From what I can tell a blood vessel popped in the back. The doc said to keep up with my stool softens (which i now take everyday with my vitiams) and drink plenty of water. (which i already do).

They told me to try and lay down as much as possible and not sit for too long. I think I need one of those donuts pillows.

Thursday night was Christmas eve dinner, and everyone came over to our house. We did the seven fishes and I had a little of each. Everythign was really good and I even have some of the pasta from that night with me today for lunch.

Friday: Christmas!
We headed over to my parents house around 10ish. Everything just hung out in PJ's all day. we opened presents and took our time. I got a ton of cool stuff. I got black boots, a sweet water bottle, a massage at the Mom Spa and beautiful earnings and a necklace. The biggest surprise was a Wii! Dave got us a Wii, and on the present it said to Melyssa and Dave, from Dave. We played bowling and golf for the rest of the day. Dave and I played Saturday and Sunday too, and we'll most likely play again tonight. I love it, but i suck at baseball.

Saturday everyone slept in and we didn't get moving till around 2:00. We headed downtown and walked around the battery and took some photos (I'll add them when i upload them). Then went to dinner on King street and went to the lights at James Island. We even stopped for hot choc. at Santas Village.

Sunday we did a little shopping and just hung out. Natalie's flight left at 8 and Carole and Enzo left early this morning. so everyone just wanted to lay low and be together.

Last night I got sick. Not sure what caused it, but i threw up for quite some time. Felt fine about 20 minutets later. And today i feel pretty good.

Heartburn

What's with this heartburn?? I was totally under the impression this didn't start until the 3 trimester. Other then that and some fatigue I feel pretty good. I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I lost the entire month. I have no idea what happened to December.

This past weekend Dave and I saw Avator in IMAX 3D. It was amazing. Dave and Dad worked on the nursery and i can't believe how cool it's looking.

22 weeks

Wow 22 weeks! Are you kidding me. I was looking at a calendar yesterday and noticed that the middle of January is my 3rd Trimester!! WOW I can't believe this.

I feel pretty good. I'm starting to feel a lot of stretching in my stomach. It's like that feeling where you ate too much and you think your stomach is going to pop. Except for me I get that feeling, then the next day I'm bigger. I had some lower stomach cramp/pain last night. So I'm guessing that part is only going to get worse. I'm going to try and up my Yoga and hopefully get the treadmill this weekend if it's not raining.

We don't have anything on the board this weekend except for working on the house and the baby's room. So nice. We are going to get the white couch from my sister and bring her the flower chair. (which should be a pretty good trade) The office/sitting area is getting there, the closets are an entirely different story. So I'm sure i'm going to have to tackle that at some point.

22 weeks! (took it this morning)

Big

I'm getting Big. No other way to describe it. It's bazaar. You see women every day that are pregnant, I've seen a lot of tummy's too. But when it's on you, it's an entirely different story. It's so strange. I keep staring at myself in the mirror without my shirt on. I do love it though.

I have felt her move a little hear and there. At least few times a day. Nothing Dave can feel yet, though i keep trying. I did my Yoga tape last night and it went well. I was much more aware of my belly this time. I'm trying to find my other prego work out tapes but I seemed to have lost them. Considering our entire upstairs is in shambles it's understandable. Hopefully this weekend and tomorrow night I'll be able to work on it.

The baby's room has been primed and the trim goes up this weekend. We should be done by February at the latest. It will be nice to get the room going and have somewhere to put all the baby stuff. I really want to re-do the closets in both out room and the baby's room to create more space. There is very little storage in our house.

Dave hanging the window trim:


Dad/River after he primed the room:

21 weeks!

I have crossed over the half way mark! But i'm enjoying being pregnant and I'm not in a rush.

Again, i learned the hard way that taking my strong vitamins 2 hours after I eat does not count as "taking them with a meal". Last night we went to dinner with Mike, Melissa, and Stella. It was really good....unfortunately I took my vitamins when we got home, around 10PM, and we ate about 8:15 or so. So that takes us to midnight last night when I found myself in the bathroom violently throwing up. Can't say I ever remember throwing up like that in my life. So I went back to my Publix brand of vitamins this morning. I was going to try and alternate publix brand one day, "Prenatal Complex Mega Formula" the next. but the PCMF is 4 pills a day. So I was going to do two in the morning and two at night. It's a better pill, but not if it doesn't stay down. So I won't be buying that again.

My friend Monica welcomed baby Reid into the world late Tuesday night. He arrived at 2:00AM on Wednesday. We are so excited to meet him! I can't believe Baby X will has 6 friends already...and she's not even here yet! There is Margot & Caleb who were both born in May (not related to each other), Stella in June, Noah in August, Ava in September, and Reid in December. Not to mention we are awaiting the arrival of baby Hatcher next month, and baby Herndon in May. CRAZY!

Before Dave and I left for dinner last night Cyndi and little miss Savannah came over from next door and brought Baby X her first gift. Talk about cute! I can't wait to see her wear it!

On a high

little dresses....barbies....I can't wait!

It's like the rest of the world just floated away. Dave and I both shared our small panic attack stories. I saw a toy for an older kid and it hit me, this isn't just a baby. She's going to be 3 then 5 then 13...oh my! So hard to think about that when you're getting a nursery ready. Dave (ahhh i love him) was thinking more along a different line....dance lessons, horse back riding lessons, money for the movies....oh how our lives will change. We are so excited though that all these little worries keep going by the waste side. Parents, we're going to be parents!

I was talking to my dad today about Disneyworld. I mean come on, it's 6 hours away! It was 18 when I was a kid. This is a freaking day trip! I can see it now....me and Dave, baby 1 and possibly baby 2, my parents, and both my sisters and their boyfriends. That's 8 adults to 2 kids. No matter what they want to do SOMEONE will go with them. AHH I can't wait! Liv and I were talking about how much more fun Christmas will be from now on.

i'm so excited!

It's a GIRL!

Yesterday at 2:20 Dave and I met in the parking lot at the doctor's office. We were both smiling ear to ear. Dave even changed into nice shoes and put a sweater on for our big appointment. I can't even explain how I felt. I had stopped by McDonald's to get a coke to get the baby moving, but i wasn't sure when to drink it so i just brought it in with me. (ok i took one sip) We walk in and wait in the waiting room. We are joined by a women and her 4 year old son, who is pretty cute and shows us his age on his fingers.

We're up! They call our name and we go right into the ultrasound room. Dave is sitting on my left and the tech is on my right. I told her I brought the coke just in case, she said don't worry about it. She seemed very confident that she'd be able to see the sex. She puts on the jelly (from the warmed tube, NICE) and puts the ultrasound wand on my belly. Right away this little spine pops up on the screen. I couldn't believe it. It was so clear!! She moved around the baby and showed us the heart, the head, an arm and a leg. Well the baby did a tumble and the tech got a clear shot, and she says almost under her breath "looks like a girl to me"...I was like excess me?? She said yea it's a girl. I said are you sure. She said yes. So I asked how offend they get the sex wrong. She said she's never been wrong...ok well how long have you been doing this....10 years. OK got it. IT's a girl!!! We continued to watch her take all 50 photos that she needed to take. Little baby girl was moving all over and kept grabbing her feet. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I could have sat there for hours and watched her. Both Dave and I were in aw.

After the photos were done we waiting for Nurse Stone. We did the normal blood pressure and weight and went into a separate room. Nurse Stone said everything looks good and the tech was able to get all the photos she needed. She even said it was a perfect ultrasound. Looks like little baby girl cooperated. We had a few questions and just chatted for a bit. Dave and I went back to the house to let the puppies out (we're pet sitting for mom/dad) and left for babies r us.

We got some great news there as well. The car seat from Reena fits with the stroller I got a while back at the consignment shop! So we now have a make shift travel system! They don't match but hey, the price was right. We also were able to registrar for the pieces we needed for the breast pump the Kit gave me! Only possible mistake of the evening...letting Dave has the scan gun :) I checked this morning to go over what we registered for and there were a few items from the toy department I don't remember picking. We were pretty hungry after that so we grabbed some Mexican near by and headed home. We took turns calling people and everyone was so excited!

I just can't believe I'm going to have a daughter.

Today

Today is the big day. It's the first thing i thought about this morning...well the second. The first was "oh my god shut that dog up". The dog next door barks every morning about 6:15AM, and of course Wrigley and Shea are staying with us and have to react to that.

ok so back to the good stuff. We go in today at 2:30 and will be there until about 4:30 or 5:00. We are going to pick of the dogs from day camp and take them home and we're off to Babies R Us. Can't wait!! We have a conference video call with my parents, Olivia, Natalie, and Erin tonight to tell them!!

I did make a mistake today. I went on babycenter.com where i'm a member of the April 2010 babies. Well of course the first post is birth announcements...what? So I opened it thinking, we're just half way there. And of course it's not good news. Very sad stuff and for some reason they all got the H1N1 shot and made sure they mentioned it. So I had to look at the numbers. 3-5 lost babies out of 5,000+ people in the group. I'm pretty positive, but it's still scary.

Back to good news, we are going to start a pool to see when the baby comes. Mike and Melissa did it with football squares and i think we're gona do the same thing. 1/2 the winnings go to baby college account, the rest goes to the winner!

Ok I just went to have a friend at work take a photo of me with my iphone:

20 weeks!

Are you serious?? I'm 20 weeks pregnant! Hard to believe considering sometimes I think it's all in my head. I feel great besides the pains in my behind. I just received my new book "You Having a baby" and i'm super pumped about it. I really don't like "what to expect when you're expecting" I mean come on it starts with questions like "is it ok to drink"?? What kind of moron women needs to ask that. So this book is much more my speed. It's a fun read so far and I love Dr. Oz.

So we weren't to thrilled at the choices in bedding we found at babies r us, so we have been looking at babysupermall.com too. I found an amazing set that is an all underwater set. Of course Dave loved it! (as he would fish every day if he had the option) So that might be out pick if it's a boy. We are still up in the air on the girl pattern but we both do like the babies r us one. We will know the sex on Tuesday and will pick the final winner in bedding that night. We are going straight from the Dr to babies r us. I can't wait!! So next Wednesday I'll post the ultrasound photos! We have some names picked out but we're not sharing them until the baby comes. We aren't set on anything right now anyway.

I have getting to the point where I feel i look pregnant enough for strangers to start to tell. I was out last night for an event for Dave's work. It was a vendor of theirs. There were a few people there I knew. One of them said to me "you don't even look pregnant". Now this is a strange comment. A) you're saying i look like this all the time?? B) How is that a good thing?? I know people stay weird (mostly inappropriate) things to pregnant women so I'm actually looking forward to studying this from the other side. My friend Melissa was 8 months pregnant when a women said to her "you have a balloon under your dress" Thinking about it now, I have no idea how Melissa restrained herself from punching the women. I think I would have liked to say "no you idiot it's a baby" or "well a balloon is better then the cottage cheese under your dress" I mean seriously who says that to a pregnant chick. The only people who have touched my stomach so far have been friends, and it's mostly in a joking or loving manor so it's been fine. I will be sure to keep an update on those who are not friends touching me and what I might say or do in return. Who knows maybe I'll rub their belly. We'll see who likes that. haha I do plan on having some fun with it.

that's all for now. If i don't feel the earge to blog again before Tuesday my next post should be a good one!

Less then ONE week

We find out the sex on Tuesday...therefore I can't focus on anything. I'll all over the place this morning. I'm so excited! My parents and Liv will be in Indy for work and Nat will, of course, be in Boston so we have a 9:00PM webcam conference so we can tell them all at once.

I had some extreme pains the other day, and low and behold i'm bigger today. ahh growing pains.