Has It Really Been That Long?

It doesn't seem like it's been nearly a month since I last came around the old blog, but I guess it has! Things have been CRAZY here so I guess I'm not totally surprised. What a whirlwind we're living in. With any luck it is coming to an end...

So, since we last touched base, we have pretty much gotten everything in line as far as the business. Unless by some bizarre occurence, we will be closing on the practice on February 1. Mark already has his name on the door...how neat is that? And, he's receiving his 1st paycheck on Friday of this week. A whole $10. Woo! We decided to pay him a small amount to take advantage of a special the bank was running on their payroll service. By making this one payment, we'll be saving $40. Not too shabby. :)

In other news, we are now officially back in Colorado after a horrid week of moving last week. It was awful, but we made it through it....with 1 1/2 PODS. We could't get everything into one. If you ask Mark, it is because we have too much stuff and need to get rid of some. If you ask me, it is because we have a baby and because I wasn't really given anytime to sort through what we had and get rid of things. I wasn't even able to take what I did have to donate to goodwill...I had to get a friend to volunteer for it!

With respect to our house, the good news is that we actually found some renters for it. They're probably going to be moving in toward the end of February. I was able to meet with the husband of the family and he seemed quite nice...he's actually a vice principal at a school in the area. I hope they like our home...if so, they plan to do a lease option and with any luck eventually buy it. That would be lovely.

As far as the news that everybody really wants (hee hee!), Nicholas is doing just fine. He's 8 months old now and just as much of a doll as ever though he has learned how to throw a fit. He's just not at all fond of wearing hats. He has a total of 7 teeth popping through at this point. Thankfully he's gotten used to all of them again and so he isn't gnawing on me. I don't like that much and it seems to happen every time he gets a new tooth.

Let's see, he's also sitting up on his own which makes him quite a bit of fun...especially at bath time. I'm still taking baths with him for safety's sake, but he's close to getting to be in the tub by himself...I'm just looking for a bit more stability. He's really come to love bath time....he loves to splash and kick and just smiles and smiles all the while he's doing it! He is also scooting around now. He looks sort of like an army guy scuttling along on his tummy especially when he has his one "dead" leg. Too funny! Finally, he seems to have discovered his feet...I always thought that happened a little sooner, but whatever.

Eating wise, he's still getting formula, breastmilk and he's been trying new little goodies in jars. I'd always planned to make all his food, but so far it's been a bust. Every time I try the consistency is too chunky and I end up pulling out a jar of something. I'll give it a try again soon I'm sure since he's getting into the land of "normal" food. We started trying meat out on him a few days ago and he seems to be quite happy with it, but then, he's pretty easy to talk into trying things as long as apples or pears are mixed in and it happened to be Chicken Apple. I just bought him a bunch of other goodies to try this evening.

Allergy-wise, we're still combating combinations with formula and what not right now. We seem to have cleared prunes and squash with formula, but we tried feeding him those in California and he was just a bit too stressed out with all the moving. His tummy was mighty upset and sending back everything including apples and pears. Thankfully he's feeling better now that we're at my brother's house, but I worry about how he'll do when we move into our new house at the end of the week...if we actually do.

It will be available, but we have the family timeshare this weekend in Frisco so we're probably going to enjoy some time away. I need it! I have been overworked and up to now quite underpaid for my services. Dr. Rocco totally owes me! ;)

Sleep-wise, Nicholas seems to do okay. We still have one night waking which I have grown weary of. We kept it up for a while there so that I could keep my milk supply up, but we need to get rid of it. Unfortunately, with Nicholas being so agitated with all the changes and what not, it just isn't the best time. So, we'll have to wait until we get settled into our new dwelling and then we'll have to endure a few very long nights, no doubt, as we refrain from giving him the breast or bottle when he awakes. We're going to need some serious patience for that activity I'm guessing.

I suppose that is it for now. The only other thing going on per se is that I've been contemplating maybe starting a new little business venture here in Colorado. I'm not sure what it would be. I'm not sure I really want to do wedding or event planning, but it's always a consideration. I really don't have time to focus on that right now anyway given my responsibilities to Nicholas and to Mark's business. I think the entrepreneur in me longs to give something a go, though, so I'm thinking on it. At least this time, hopefully, I will be able to do it in a way that I won't look back on it and realize that it was a "very expensive bout of therapy" like I do when I think about the wedding business.

Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and post a little more frequently now that things should be dying down a little!

Graduation Weekend

We're heading into a very busy weekend here in the Rocco household. For that matter, it's likely to be a very busy couple of weeks what with finishing up packing, moving and the like.

Saturday is the big day that Mark walks across the stage and gets to be called "Doctor Rocco," though, technically he is already. They just only have two ceremonies per year and so he has had to wait a few months to do the ceremony thing. We have all sorts of visitors planned for that big day - Mark's Uncle Timmy just arrived tonight and of course his parents and brother will be along as well. It should be a pretty fun weekend.

Speaking of fun weekends, my birthday weekend was also quite nice. We thoroughly enjoyed our little B&B tour in Napa. I totally overindulged....way too much sugar and way too much wheat. I was not feeling so hot the next day at all, but it was worth the experience. Our inn that we stayed in was very nice as well...even if there was a mix up as far as which room we were supposed to be in. As luck would have it, I liked the Winter room which we ended up in better than the Autumn room anyhow! :) Here are a few pictures of the room:





Isn't it nice? It was quite a joy to stay in. I was really glad I'd taken a picture of the bed when we first went up...when we returned after a quick bite to eat the bed had already been turned down.

As for the little tour, it was so neat. It was almost like a little progressive dinner party except there were only appetizers and desserts. It's actually like a kind of party I've always sort of wanted to set up...maybe once we're back to Colorado Springs I'll see if a bunch of our friends would be interested in a fun little tour of our houses at Christmas or something. Anyhoo, probably my favorite house on the tour was the Cedar Gables, but then, that is because the innkeeper there was dressed up as Santa Claus and took a nice little picture with Nicholas. It's the cutest picture ever...and sooner or later, it will be in the 7th Month group of photos on his website. Of course, I have to get the 6th month photos up there first!

We had so many goodies and yummy appetizers. I really appreciated that one of the inns even gave us the recipes for what they served. This was the Old World Inn which is run by chefs. They had some wonderful croissants there that made me happy as a clam. Wine-wise, I had a sip or two here and there of wines Mark tried. Since we decided against using the limo/shuttle transportation provided to tour-goers so that we could ensure Nick's safety in his car seat and because I'm still nursing him, I went easy on the vino. We had a lot of really yummy ones. Mark's favorite typically hails from the area of France where I spent some time back in college, too. Isn't that spiffy?

Nicholas really enjoyed the tour himself. He had all sorts of people fawning over him. We even had the good fortune to have some people take some pictures of us. Following the no Nicholas pictures without a pass rule, here's one that was taken of us while some nice ladies cooed over him. :)


Other than that, Nicholas has been doing great, too. We finished up his formula treatments and we have really noticed a great change in how he's been doing (yea!). He actually is able to pass a lot of his own gas which is refreshing (well, you know what I mean). We still have to help him out sometimes, but not super often. We've tried to introduce some other foods as well, but we're not having much luck allergy-wise. It seems that Nicholas' body doesn't seem to like most foods as of yet. One of the strange parts is that we have tested him on every food we've tried at the grocery store and he'll test okay, but then after we feed him the stuff his body "changes" it's mind.

We get some pretty decent indicators when he's eaten something his body doesn't like - the most prevelant one is that the food doesn't stay down very well. This is quite frustrating for everyone. For me, it is on a few levels...not only do I want the little guy to be properly fed, but I also just really am not a fan of trying to get the stains of out his clothing.

And, that, I guess, is the update for tonight since Mark and his Uncle Timmy who joined us this evening are chatting and I'm going to be social!

Nicely Outfitted

Nicholas' wardrobe has increased in size again. This is probably good since he's getting close to moving into a new size also. He's starting to approach the 6/9 mark. He's hit in in many cases height-wise, but the waist is still too loose on most things (in fact, I still have some 3/6 pants that are too big for the little guy!).

At any rate, last weekend, I took advantage of a sale at Gymboree (one of my favorite stores) and got him a couple of nice holiday outfits and quite a few other things. Then, because they didn't have all that I wanted to get for him, I ordered the remaining pieces online. They're pretty reasonable shipping-wise so I don't mind getting clothes from them in that manner (as long as I've had a chance to check them out in-store first).

As luck would have it, Nicholas actually will have one more bodysuit than planned when all is said and done because they made a mistake with the order. I called them to see how to make an exchange in such circumstances and they told me just to keep the extra. I love companies when they do stuff like that. :) So, all in all, I'm thrilled with the way things went.

The shopping spree on Sunday, by the way, was with my friend Lisa. I haven't hung out with her for quite some time so it was awesome to get to see her. She was quite a helpful shopping buddy, too. :) I drug her to my other favorite store as well...the one I rarely buy stuff from because I feel a little odd spending the kind of money they're seeking (until they've had some serious sale markdowns!) on clothes that Nicholas will go to the bathroom in, spill food on (especially now with the solids!) and spit up on. Maybe once Mark is doing really really well, it won't bug me, but I think I'll probably still go for the sale stuff and use the extra for college savings, cool toys, etc...

At any rate, the store I went on and on about is called Janie and Jack. It's actually a subsidiary of Gymboree. Did I ever mention that I interviewed with them before? That was quite some time ago. I wasn't so into them then...funny how things change when the product a company sells actually is one you need in some way. Ha! I am full of tangents tonight. Anyhoo, I found a couple of really nice pairs of shorts for Nicholas there for under $15 total. I was quite thrilled. :)

Allergy-wise, we've been just going to town here. Mark is through the first 4 of the first 15 and I am on my redo of the 2nd after having cleared my allergy to Pixie. :) We're a little less than pleased to discover that on many of these I was weak..given that we already had them treated and I'd passed, but we've also discovered that the lady who was treating me also cheated by not doing all of the first 15 treatments. She only did the ones that showed up positive but by doing so she may have lessened the effectiveness of the treatments as a whole. Oh well..we're fixing it now.

As for Nicholas, we've started with him as well. He is finished with the Egg Mix treatment and has moved onto calcium mix which is tricky given that his formula is something he's not supposed to be eating while being treated. We're probably going to have to do extra treatments since we can't really avoid it completely. Hopefully this one will help the formula be a little less grumpy to his tummy.

By the way, if you're curious about the technique we're using to eliminate our allergies, have a look at www.naet.com. It's pretty nifty stuff!

Tidbits

I figured I would stop by and give the latest scoop on Nicholas' eating habits. He's been devouring rice cereal like there's no tomorrow. He loves the stuff...and frequently is quite displeased when the bowl has nothing left to offer him. We may be eaten out of house and home before the little tyke is a teenager.

Last night, though, he discovered something much better (though my taste buds disagree) than rice cereal - sweet potatoes. He liked them so much that he devoured an entire jar. (!) The only problem with that is that he'd had formula beforehand and the latent bubbles it caused led to several sweet potato spit ups. Yuck.

This would be why we usually try not to do formula and baby food in the same feeding, but he was famished last night and we broke the rules...and then paid the price! Part of the reason he was so hungry is that Mommy and Daddy's curiosity finally got the best of them last night.

We've been practicing the allergy elimination technique Mark learned at last weekend's seminar on each other (yes, I have been treating Mark...and somewhat successfully, I might add - isn't that neat?). Since sometime toward the end of last week, Nicholas has had a rash on his chin and cheeks that at first I thought was due to the dry air down south but it hasn't gone away so I started contemplating that he's allergic to something. Joy.

Since we were supposed to be moving on from rice cereal to some other solid food, I decided I wanted to first test the rice cereal as I suspected he might be allergic to it. Believe it or not, he is...just slightly, but it explains the rash. We need to do one treatment to clear it...not too bad. We continued on to see what we could feed him last night without causing any additional problems. Tests on peas, carrots and bananas yielded unpleasant results, but he only needs a treatment or two on each of those as well.

Then, of course, we decided it was high time we test our belief that the formula stuff is just not a substance his body is into. Preliminary tests show that he's so allergic to the stuff that he's going to need sixteen (16!!) treatments to clear the allergy. This technique is a little crazy and puts you in connection with the patient's subconcious (really, I've done it on Mark...and he's done it on me!) and so you can actually ask what it is in something that is causing the problem. Surprise, surprise, soy and dairy both came back positive. At any rate, we're going to start treating Nicholas today for the basic 15 (you treat these first on everyone). I am hoping we can make some leaps and bounds toward helping the little guy finally feel better! Oh, and by the way, we also tested breastmilk I'd expressed from two different days and whether he was allergic to either of us (yeah, weird, I know). Thankfully, all of these were fine by him. I can't imagine how disturbing it would have been if any of these would have been a problem!

With respect to the two of us, we're also having some success with our treatments. I've been treating Mark for his previoulsy unknown egg mix allergy (the mix contains egg whites, yolks, chicken, tetracycline and feathers) and although I'm not as good as the lady who was helping me we've decreased the number of times he needs to be treated and the distance he needs to be from the substances being treated. Go me. Mark's been working on my allergy to animals (including our cat Pixie which has been fun) and has also made some progress. The animal allergy is a big one for me that I didn't actually notice until we cleared out a lot of the others. I was a little surprised when I finally figured out what the cause was. We're making progress, but it's going to take a while...much to Pixie's chagrin since I don't pet her as often now that she makes my nose itch and run.

In other news, Mark is now a licensed doctor! His license was waiting for us when we got home from L.A. Now we just need that loan to go through and we'll be set! That's coming along...probably another month or so before we are finished with that process.

As for the house sale, it's just not going as we'd hoped. Despite dropping our price by $50,000 (yes, $50K!!!), we haven't had any offers and really not much interest for that matter. It's probably just the time of year, but it's annoying none the less. We're probably going to rent the place out at a loss until we can find a buyer...but it's still up in the air. We have another open house this weekend and hopefully that will bring some good news.

We'll keep you updated.

Long Lost Update

Sometimes you have every intention in the world of doing something. Then life gets in the way. That's my excuse for why I never got an update out to you - life. :)

It has been super busy as of late as you can no doubt imagine. And, thanks to some recent developments, I can finally be open and frank about a lot of things I've been skirting around so we'll just jump right in to what promises to be a post that resembles a novel (but then, my posts often do, don't they!)

First, we'll start with Mark since he's been the center of a lot of activity lately. He's a doctor without a license as of yet, but hopefully that will all change with a good set of test scores tomorrow on those Part III exams he took in September. He's been a busy little beaver working to find himself a "home" once he has that special piece of paper (his license - we have the diploma in our possession!). He found a practice in July and we visited it and now, finally, several months later, it looks like it is still a great opportunity. It is centrally located in Colorado Springs which is just perfect and it is what he's always wanted - a practice with multiple disciplines. Whether it be chiropractic, sports rehabilitation, or massage (and other stuff), this practice has it. We're currently investigating funding options since we've had an appraisal and the doctor is willing to go with the appraised value as the price. I'll provide more details as time goes along...

In other Mark news, he should also be getting his guide dog when we are established in Colorado. He's received notification from a training school in New York that they'll send a trainer and a dog to work with him once we know where we'll be living, etc. So, there's another positive thing.

As far as living arrangements go, we'll be renting for the first few months so that we can find a house that we are pleased with and that meets our needs near his office. The idea is to get something relatively close such that he can walk to and from work. We have quite a few options since the housing market in Colorado Springs is simply not the best.

Speaking of houses, ours here in California is on the market. Much as I feared when we first purchased our home, the market here has also slowed and so we're not seeing a lot of activity at this point. We're keeping our options open, whether they be reducing the price or renting it out - whatever way we go, we're pretty likely to come out ahead in the venture.

With respect to me, I'm still at home with Nicholas. My doctor has been keeping tabs on me and didn't think it best to send me back to my job when the time came and so he's extended my maternity leave. Since I have always really wanted to stay at home with Nicholas, it was an answered prayer in a sense. Thankfully it hasn't been a detriment financially since in California we do receive disability pay while we're out after having a baby as long as our doctor feels we need to be and can provide reasoning behind his decision.

Because the doctor didn't give any indication as to when he'd release me to work, I was actually let go by my accounting firm. That was a little uncomfortable...especially since they didn't extend me the courtesy of calling me with their decision. I received the news via a Fed Ex letter. Granted, the letter did say that they were pleased with my work and would hire me back if they had space, but it just really left a bad taste in my mouth. And, of course, it presents another challenge since Nick and I have health insurance through them. We've decided that we're probably not going to do a COBRA thing since the plan we were on would not work in Colorado (other than for emergencies) and since Mark is trying to get group health coverage set up when he gets the practice going.

In other health news, I have knocked a few more foods off my allergy list - soy (believe it or not, though, I'll still avoid it as much as possible since it just isn't the healthiest substance), wheat/gluten, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and joy of joys peanut butter! We've actually been able to go out and have some food at some restaurants and it has been great. Today, in fact, we went to Macaroni Grill and I had a yummy salad and a tomato, basil and italian sausage soup that was fabulous...if only it hadn't had crushed red pepper in it, it would have been perfect. Ah well, we'll get those on another treatment.

The chiropractor that has been helping with my allergies has also been trying to help me with my milk supply and I believe we're making some headway. I've been helping the process by feeding Nick or pumping every 2 hours. I can actually sort of measure progress since I am feeding him via bottle first and then I breast feed to top him off. When he gets to a point where he doesn't seem to need to empty both breasts to be full, I take him down a 1/4 of an ounce. We started at 4 ounces about a month ago and we're currently at 3 ounces every two hours (except at night). In addition, he's started to have 2 "dirty, dirty" diapers per day (at least the past two days) and so I think we're finally really making significant progress here. If we keep things up, with the introduction of solids coming around the corner, I'm hoping that maybe we can really minimize his formula intake and avoid the gassy problems he has. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me on this - please keep them coming!

Mark and I have also started excercising every morning. We try to walk and then lift weights daily. Since the rainy season has started here, it is difficult to make it on our walks sometimes which is unfortunate because Nick usually takes his morning nap via that route. When we don't walk, he becomes a pretty grumpy bear by lunch time. I have a goal with respect to all this activity (aside from losing those last 19 pounds of pregnancy weight) - sculpted upper arms. I've always wanted them but have never really put in the effort that needed to be put in to have them. This time, though, I'm going for it...and I will succeed. It essentially means (according to my personal trainer, Mark - hee hee!) that I have to do push ups every day and that I have to get to the point that I can do real military style pushups. I'm already doing better after just a week or so doing them using the ledge that divides our kitchen and dining area...I'll be on the floor in no time!

And, now, for the update you've really been wanting, The Sprout is doing very well. He is such a little person and has such a sweet disposition. He's also pretty easy going other than when he's having that gas attack stuff. He's currently sporting his two front bottom teeth and looks as cute as ever with them. I did get some pictures up on his site through his 3rd month "birthday" - go check them out.

We have the little guy's costume as well. It is quite neat and something you've probably not seen before. We've been giving him a little time in it most days so that when Halloween arrives he'll be okay with wearing it. I can't wait to show him off! :)

Nick is getting closer to crawling and has actually come to enjoy tummy time. He really didn't like it in the beggining. He'd cry and cry when you put him on his tummy. Now, though, he can lift himself up and he grins quite a lot. He's also figured out that he can bat at things and grab things which is pretty fun to watch and yet a bit scary given that it makes me think of what trouble he might get into.

I almost forgot to tell you about our Adventures as of late. We've all had some it seems. Mark went on a tandem bike ride a couple of weekends ago with a group toward the Marin headlands. His partner and he never made it because they got two flat tires, but he really enjoyed the experience. We will look into getting a tandem bike ourselves at some point in the future. On that day, Nick and I bummed around Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. We also went to Ghiradelli Square. We didn't do too much other than wander around, but Nicholas did get to see his first parade. Funny, since he does have a nice bit of Italian blood, that it was an Italian parade of some sort...

Then just a couple of days ago we all went to Alcatraz. Can you believe that during the time we've lived here, we've never gone? We picked a doozy of a day, but we still had fun. It was very wet, though. With all the feeding and caretaking we have to do for Nicholas, we barely made it out of there at closing time. We're lucky we didn't have to spend a night on "the rock." ;) It was a really neat outing - I only wish we would have made it before Mark lost his sight. I think he really would have enjoyed it. I tried to describe things as best as I could.

You know, I think I'm running out of stuff to talk about here...which is good because frankly, this post is out of line! ;) So, we'll leave it be at this and if I have anything else, it will make it into our next marathon post (or not, if I actually succeed at keeping up with the blog again). See you next time!

Chew On This

My apologies for a rather lengthy absence (again!). There's been a flurry of activity around here with Mark finishing school last Friday (YEA!!!), painting, carpeting, Nicholas, etc.

I had to come back today though to share with you that my little boy is growing up much too quickly. :( I had already come to this conclusion, but then, yesterday, we discovered the most concrete proof yet - Mr. Sprout is getting his first tooth! What?!? He's only almost 4 months old. I guess after reading a few different resources this is not completely unusual, but I am just left with a wave of emotions. I'm so excited that he's reached yet another milestone (he's been laughing and squealing lately, too), but I am sad that this milestone is just another indicator that he's growing up at the speed of light.

At any rate, he seems to be doing quite well all things considered. He isn't sleeping as well as we'd like during the nighttime hours, but he's content to swing in his swing and suck on his little hand so we've been making use of this tool to get some sleep for ourselves.

Other than this, the formula we tried from the allergy doctor does seem to have helped. We ordered 2 cases last week and it should get here. Total cost for a month's supply - $250 (with a first time buyer coupon). Ouch. Worth every penny if it helps Nick feel better but ouch.

Mark, as I mentioned, finished school. :) It is weird having him home all day now every day, but also very nice. We enjoyed a number of outings last week to celebrate with his classmates. We missed most of the BBQ (the thing we wanted to attend most) due to the carpet people who took 12 hours to do their thing. Our house looks quite nice now, though. :)

As far as being a chiropractor, we're just waiting for the results of his Part III boards which he took on Sept. 8 (the day before his birthday). He's also seriously looking at a practice in a location to be announced if everything goes as planned. It's a great opportunity in a great location so hopefully it will!

We had a little BBQ for our friends to make good use of our 1/2 cow we bought. It was a very fun time despite the fact that I had just had an allergy treatment the day before and couldn't have anything with sugar in it (can you say just kill me now?) for about 2 hours of the party. In fact, I pretty much lived on tater tots that day...yum, I think. Luckily, pretty much everyone came about 2 hours after the start time we designated so I didn't have to really suffer too much. Which is not to say if that Nick and I didn't the next couple of days after. :)

That will do it for today I suppose... Until next time, I hope all is well with you and your loved ones! :)

Go Ahead! Egg Me On!!!

I have some egg-cellent news, my friends...truly egg-cellent news! I visited the chiropractor who is helping with my food allergies today. We had worked on the egg mix which has eggs and related "stuff" in it last time and I had my fingers crossed that it would work despite the fact that I ran into a feather within my post-treatment avoidance period. I'm happy to report that we succeeded despite this little slip up and today I showed no allergy to eggs!!!!! YEA!!! YEA!!! YEA!!! (Um, yeah, I guess you could say this has made me very happy).

Of course the true testament will be me eating me some eggs and not feeling icky afterward. I think it is possible since yesterday I cheated and ate part of a muffin and didn't seem to have any trouble. Breakfast will be so much more interesting now, I have a feeling.

So, after checking that out, we worked on, of all things "calcium mix" which has a bunch of calcium-rich stuff in it like milk and stuff. This one is tricky...and it's all Nicholas's fault. Okay, not really. I suppose the blame could be mine... Essentially the problem is that I have to avoid contact with his formula until 2p.m. tomorrow. So far, we've already messed this up. I was holding Nicholas earlier and he spit up on me. Oops. So, we've decided that I will avoid contact with him, other than to kiss the top of his cute little head and stuff like that until I'm in the safe zone tomorrow. I sure hope that formula thing doesn't mess everything up. I'd hate to have to do this twice. I think it's pretty much torture for both of us. On the bright side, apparently there is some chance that fixing this up could help with the breast milk supply. I guess we'll wait and see...

At any rate, that's all I have for today. I'm just pleased as punch! It's just too bad that we don't have a single egg in the house (by design since we didn't know if I'd be avoiding them again).

A Once in a Lifetime (I Hope) Experience...

Ah the joys of parenting. I haven't written about them lately...sorry for my absence. ;)

Nicholas apparently felt for you all and helped to get me to the computer today so that I can recount the thing he did that made me laugh the most I have laughed for who knows how long. It is hilarious. You want to know what it is? Well, stay tuned then...I'll get to it. First, though, we'll work through the usual updates.

First off, Nicholas who is now 3 months old (can you believe it?) has learned a couple of new tricks since I last wrote a post. He can roll over both from tummy to back and back to tummy (just one way or the other, though). He doesn't do this consistently, but he's done it often enough that I figure it counts. His favorite place to practice, much to my dismay, is the changing table. I have to watch him like a hawk. I spend quite a few extra moments putting him in his crib just so I can find him clothes or whatever and not have to worry about him rolling right off the table. So that's one thing.

His other trick is that he's learned how to give kisses! I got my first on Sunday. At first I wasn't exactly sure what it was he was doing, but after thinking about it and paying attention to when he does it and such, I've determined that my little boy is a kisser. :) He's kind of slobbery, but I don't mind at all. It definitely isn't a "normal" type of kiss (he's only 3 months after all!), but it works for me.

The gas still plagues the little guy, but I may have mentioned that we discovered the swaddling, shhhing and patting seem to bring him some relief. It's nice to have another tool in our arsenal since I have a hard time bouncing on the swiss ball continuously and find the sling rather uncomfortable.

Another development is that I will be home a bit longer with Nicholas since my doctor has not yet released me to return to work. Since I am totally enjoying my time with him, I'm not complaining. The doctor has also been quite helpful in obtaining some formula for Nicholas from the formula maker. That is truly helpful. I love my doctor.

The insurance company on the other hand is not helpful. We had the pediatrician write them to see if they would help us pay for donated breast milk for Nick since it seems that the formula does not agree with him. They denied our request because, they say, there are so many types of formula that it isn't a high priority. Not happy at all with that. Perhaps they'll change their minds if after the visit with an allergy specialist we're taking Nicholas to on Thursday of next week, we discover, as I suspect, that he's allergic to soy (which is in every formula in existence!). I just want the poor little guy to feel better...no little baby should need suffer as he does.

I'll be quite happy to know what stuff he's allergic to since he's got another "mystery rash" now. Actually, I don't think it's a mystery. I tried some baby oil on the tyke (just a little) a few nights ago to give him a little massage. I promise not to do it again.

I'm also trying more voodoo to rid myself of allergies. This time it is a technique called NAET. We'll see how it did at the last treatment session which was supposed to clear eggs and egg-related things. I was supposed to stay away from eggs, feathers and chicken afterwards for 25 hours and pretty much botched that with the feather thing (a cat toy got me outside...I forgot it was there!) and so we'll see. I may have to redo that one. Otherwise, we'll move onto calcium.

Mark is also doing well. He's been checking out a practice in Colorado Springs that looks pretty good. It would be nice if it worked out as it seems just what he's been looking for.

And now, the recount of my experience. Nicholas and I were sitting on the couch. He'd just woke up from a short nap on my lap and was wrapped in his burrito blanket...he's such a cutie when he's baby burritoed. :) At any rate, he'd eaten before his nap and I was reminded of this in a rather unpleasant but terribly funny way. I put Nicholas above my head in a superman position and then saw coming toward me a pillar of spit up. It landed in my hair and trickled down my face. I couldn't stop laughing despite how utterly gross it is to be thrown up on. I don't suppose it will be so funny when he throws up on me and it is more than just spit and milk. Perhaps it isn't nearly as amusing to you, but it's definitely one of those "I must remember this" moments of my parenting career. I may think twice before holding him over my head like that again...

And, that is it for now! I hope you all are doing well...and I hope I didn't forget to tell you something. I should think not given the length of this post!

Photos!

We're enjoying a visit with Mark's parents at the moment, but I had time to upload new photos to Nicholas' site including a nice selection of the professional photos we took in early July with my friend Lucie. They turned out so awesome. I seriously am having one heck of a time trying to figure out which ones we should have printed. I guess that's the problem with having a cutie pie as a baby! If you don't have the login information for the site, let me know via email and I'll get it to you.

Other than that, we had a pretty uneventful week other than the visit from Mark's parents and his brother Michael. Our days have been rather calm with most of the festivities centering around eating beef. We've made a small dent in the cow, but we still have plenty for people who'd like to come over for dinner!

I guess I did, however, go for my first voodoo treatment for my allergies. I don't think it was successful because I was supposed to avoid eggs (no problem), chicken (no problem) and feathers (a problem). I wasn't supposed to go within 5 feet of these things and darned if I didn't forget about the fact that all the feather things in our house were quickly thrown out on the porch and go out there to turn on the grill. *sigh* I hope I'm wrong but I'm having some seriously unpleasant allergy reactions... I guess we'll see how we do the second time around.

That's about it for updates this week. I hope you're doing well!

T-7 & More Mother’s Day Surprises!

Still no sign of anything. We’ll have our check in with the doctor tomorrow morning after our ultrasound to see how big of a little boy we are looking at having. I say, let’s stick to a nice average 7lbs and some ounces. Let’s go easy on mom, here. And, as for you Mr. doctor...find something! anything! Um, but not so much that it looks like sprout will arrive during those blackout dates. Daddy still has that test to pass!

So, I already mentioned my little gifties from Mark for Mother’s Day, but wait! There’s more. :) I think I mentioned I was supposed to go to dinner at Mimi’s Cafe with a couple of my friends in his class. Oooh, they’re sneaky these chiropractic students and I love it! My friend Laelle came to pick me up and take me to the restaurant where I discovered that a group of friends had gathered to celebrate the sprout’s arrival with a little surprise baby shower. They rock. :) I can definitely say that on my first Mother’s Day I felt very appreciated and loved...and I didn’t even have my baby boy to join in the festivities yet! He’ll just have to be a delayed present. :)

So, we had a yummy dinner (and I misbehaved and ate the muffin and the carrot bread!! It was worth the resulting allergic reaction, I assure you) and then it was time for presents! Everyone was so thoughtful and generous and got the little sprout lots of nifty things that he needs for bathtime, bedtime, dinner time, etc. It was fun seeing all the neat things they found and I am anxious to try them out. So a big thanks goes out to all the girlies (and of course to Mark!) for making me feel special on my first Mommy’s Day!

A Real Weekend...

This was a great weekend since it was the first in several where I got two days off! We made good use of our time especially since it is the last that Mark will really be able to "hang out" much since he'll be reviewing for those board exams that dear sprout is not going to interupt. We have faith.

Speaking of which, we've sort of come to the conclusion that we'll probably let him choose when he's ready to come out rather than inducing labor. The ultimate decision will be made as we get closer, but for now I'm (and I'm pretty much the one who'll be making the decision since I'm the one with the test anxiety...go figure) really wanting to have a surprise. I don't want to miss out on the whole "honey! I think it's time!" experience...and again, our little sprout is a good boy so I know he'll cooperate and not interupt daddy's test. Please?

So anyhow, we made good use of our weekend. We had lunch at Red Lobster yesterday...it's lobsterfest time! :) And, then we did some grocery and other errands at the shopping center next door. We sure were reminded how grumpy people in this part of the world can be during this experience, too. I'll spare you the details.

Once we made it home, I engaged in many nesting activities such as getting baby's crib ready to go (including making a cute bed skirt so we can store stuff underneath it) and washing all his cute little clothes which I simply can not wait to dress him up in. I was never much into the whole doll thing when I was a little girl, but I may make up for it with my little boy! :) I sure am anxious for him to come out and play, but I'm also just enjoying having him kick my innards...even when it hurts it still makes me smile. :)

I do have to admit I'm getting rather uncomfortable and I do think I'll be ready when he's ready to grace us with his presence. It's kind of funny since most people who see me seem to think that since I'm not utterly huge (of course, most of these people didn't see me when I was a skinny minnie either) I must be feeling grand. Not so...I definitely have all the challenges that come with those last few months of pregnancy. The only thing I have on a lot of those ladies is my live in massage therapist and chiropractor...yet again I am thrilled with the man I've chosen to spend my life with! :) Now if only he could help me stay asleep...

This morning we attended Easter services at church and enjoyed seeing all of the people we haven't since tax season started up. They all are anxious to hear when the little sprout has arrived. I think they were a bit disappointed to learn that we'll be having him baptized in Colorado, though.

After church we came home and finished up the laundry and then had a visit from our friends Penny and Brent who brought us lots and lots of neat baby stuff. From clothing (primarily for 12 months and older which we haven't really started to accumlate) to crib mobiles and a Peg Perego high chair, they treated us to some great "loot" for our coming addition. We're especially excited about the co-sleeper that they've passed along. This will be so helpful in baby's first months so that I can nurse him without too much fuss. We just need to reorganize our bedroom a little to make room for it to be by my side of the bed.

The last bit of excitement is we had pizza for dinner and I tried out a new rice flour crust recipe that performed beautifully. I think we've found a winner and my whining about not being able to have pizza has come to a full stop (except for the part where I can't just go out and grab a pizza which may persist!). ;)

So, all in all, it was a great weekend filled with stuff to make me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'm glad we're finally to this point...I'm not sure how much longer I was going to be able to keep up with those 6 day work weeks. Tomorrow is the last official week of tax seaon and our 34th week of pregnancy...very exciting stuff. Our next doctor appointment is on the 17th (a day off for me!) and so until then we may not have too much excitement but we'll keep you posted if we do!

Spills & Thrills

Well, as is customary, I'm here for your weekly update on how we're all doing and how, most importantly, the little sprout is doing. Surprisingly, despite the fact that most of our week was spent studying and doing taxes, I do have some "excitement" to discuss. Of course, if you know me, you know that I'm guilty of proclaiming that "excitement" is frequently overrated. This week's excitement falls into that category for the most part. Now that I've teased the excitement sufficiently, I think I'll go back to my typical chronological method of filling you in...it seems to work best for not forgetting (well, too much...I usually forget something).

So, we did have our appointment with the OB this week on Monday. I'm on for every other week visits again....which, as I remember, make the time go by much more quickly than when I'm only going every month. Nevertheless, we had a good visit...everything is going well save that slight swelling I'm having in my legs (taxes and baby growing...not a good match, I guess in this respect). The doctor gave me some tips on how to keep it from getting too serious which is, of course, my goal - I really want to avoid the whole "cankles" thing as long as possible!

I got some additional advice and had a lightbulb go on about this when I visited my favorite chiropractor for our scheduled visit. Okay, the advice didn't come from Mark, but he is my favorite chiropractor. We have to give credit to one of his advisors, though, who kindly relayed that blood typically goes down deep (i.e., inside the leg) and comes back up shallow and that the socks which were not a problem "back in the day" were causing some constriction and probably inhibiting the blood flow. Soooo, I'm glad it's spring since I've pulled out the sandals. The only part I'm not crazy about - I am having to wear them without nail polish. I can't really reach to paint the ol' toe nails and the verdict isn't in on whether putting a concoction of tons of not so good for you chemical components on your toesies can have an effect on your little baby so I'm abstaining. I figure I can handle 9 (yes, only 9!!) weeks of not having beach ready toes.

We also discussed maternity leave with the doctor which led to us having a decent discussion that night about our finances, whether or not we can make it if I stay home from work, etc., etc. The doctor suggested that I take off about a month before my due date but wasn't super firm about it. Since I am the "money source" in our little household, Mark and I have decided that I'll stick it out as long as I can...up to a week before my induce date or delivery date if we decide to let the sprout come out when he wants (we're still leaning toward his coming out sooner rather than later). And, we've decided that I'm just going to have to suck it up and go back to work in probably August so that we don't have to worry about how we're going to pay our bills and such. Luckily, it will only be for three days a week (maybe more since I've seen Mark's schedule and am going to see if they would be open to my coming in all five days but for only 4 or 5 hours each day). We're hoping to arrange the schedule such that our little bundle of joy will be watched by either mommy or daddy rather than a day care provider...partially because the day care thing will practically negate the positive cash flow we estimate my going back to work would provide. These things are always so tricky!

Aside from the OB update, a friend of mine sent us a nifty little site this week: http://howmanyofme.com/ where you can see how many people in the US share your name. Now, they don't go on symantics so I'm going to say there is only one of me (thanks to that capital L) though in total there are 14 Melissa Roccos....still pretty unique. There are also 28 Mark Roccos. The most interesting statistic for those trying to figure out what we've named the sprout, though, is that he is quite unique as well as there are only 8 other people in the US with his first and last name. What could they be? You're getting closer to finding out every day! :)

Other than that, the week was pretty quiet until today. We did do a little experiment allergy-wise with baked potatoes for dinner one night. Oh, they were sooo good may I say and it seems that my water helped keep them from causing too many issues. The tricky part is that potatoes never really caused a huge reaction as I remember so I'm still kind of wondering (especially since we had some again last night in celebration of St. Patty's Day and I forgot to ever take the water). I do have to admit that I've snuck a few little bits of things that have eggs and flour in them and they've done okay after a dose of voodoo water, though, so maybe we're onto something.

So, aside from that, we have today. Mark is still in the midst of his Part III Chiropractic Board Exams. They started WAY too early this morning at 6:45. Yikes! And, here's where the excitement comes in as well. I got up a bit before we needed to leave to take him over to the school and did some email checking while he wrapped up all he needed to do with himself to be presentable (which isn't much, I assure you...he's pretty low maintenance as most guys are). Once he was ready to go, I, in my most graceful (he he!) way got up out of my chair and headed toward my keys, purse, etc. Before I made it very far, though, something happened and I sort of tipped over, stumbled and ended up on the floor surrounded by several papers from the coffee table. I'm fine...I managed to land on my right hip and elbow so that's a little sore and a I have a few achy muscles here and there, but I don't have a scratch. Nevertheless, it was a bit of a surprise and a little scary after a bit. Luckily, I know that little sprout has one of the best shock-absorbing spaces one could wish for. So, there you go...there's our excitement for the week.

I did take a quick break to go get Mark from his test before finishing up that last paragraph. He thinks he did okay on it. I guess we'll find out in a month or so...stay posted and have a great week!

The Week in Review

So this week's activities can be summed up in a few words/phrases - shopping, baby shopping, pizza eating and, of course, taxes. We'll even throw a little wedding in there for you just to spice things up. So, yeah, in general, not a very exciting week per se in the lives of "normal" people, but since when have Mark and I ever fit that category? Don't answer that. ;)





So, because all girls love shopping (well, okay, I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan unless I have something I'm trying to find), we'll begin there. I bought more maternity clothes this week. Because the whole tax thing pretty much saps all my time, I did it online at Penney's. I'm usually not a big fan of ordering things off the internet, but I've usually had good luck with Penney's catalog and online offerings and they make it easy to give things back if they don't work for you so I figured it was a good place to go to see if they had anything I'd like at a price that I'd like because afterall I'd rather spend more money on the sprout (or Rocky as my mother has recently taken to calling him since we're still not spilling the beans on the little tyke's name...which we technically can't because we haven't officially decided, but there is a front runner).





At any rate, all the name stuff aside, I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did they have a pretty decent sale going on, they had some pretty cute looking stuff that was on sale. And, not only that, but I happened upon a page where I found a coupon for 25% off...and wouldn't you know a lot of things I ordered actually qualified for it. I think I figured out that I saved about $175 with the selections I made. Another reason I chose Penneys was my height. I wanted to invest in talls size clothing since as my little guy grows, my typical buy a size up and they'll ride lower and look longer method doesn't seem to work so well...my hips are somewhat altered. :) Oh, and lest I neglect to mention it, the impetus for my going shopping was that I've had two pairs of maternity pants sustain "injuries" which I simply do not have the time nor motivation to deal with and another pair has just become downright uncomofortable at this point because I'm not into even remotely "hugging" pants right now. So, I'm kind of down to about 3 pairs of pants that I actually can/will wear. Not so good...and a bit of a pain when it comes to doing laundry.





Anyhoo...I'm on a tangent roll today, but I bought 6 pairs of pants (2 each of 3 different types in my current size and a size larger in case I outgrow my current offerings which definitely isn't the plan, but you never know), 6 camisole tops (which I needed because my regular ones are starting to not fit so good at all), 2 cute sweater cardigans and some pantyhose that should, I hope, fit me even as I continue to grow so that I can wear some of the cute maternity skirts and dresses I bought. I've never been able to get out of the pantyhose wearing thing. I can't stand it when my shoes stick to my feet... So, that was the shopping for me.





As far as shopping for the sprout, I spent a good chunk of time yesterday (because at the last minute it was determined that there wasn't enough work for me to bother coming into the office - yea!) looking at bedding sets. I have finally found the one I think we'll go with. Here's a sneak peek:



It's called "Bubbles" and is made by Lambs and Ivy. We've both been going a bit gaga over sea-themed items and this bedding set is the cutest - not too girly, lots of colors to play upon and lots of neat little accessories to add to the mix. The only regret I have? That I don't really have a nursery to set up. Baby will be staying with us in our room. In a way, I guess it is a good thing since it will keep me from going to crazy buying stuff to decorate with...curbing the whole nesting thing is probably not a bad thing in its entirety. ;)

Other than this shopping, I have been checking out some clothing sites that a book we bought called Baby Bargains suggested. I found a couple that seem to have excellent merchandise at pretty affordable prices and I also found the cutest baby shoes that won't cause any problems with baby's feet since they're soft leather. Perhaps I'll post a picture of some of the ones I like at a later date.

And, then there's the pizza experience which I know has you all on the edge of your seats if you've been following my allergy journey at all. I think, my dear friends and family, my exile from the land of pizza is over. We tried the crust mix that I purchased from the Gluten Free Mall place and it worked fabulously...well, other than the fact that I didn't grease the pan enough and was sort of chiseling off the pieces last night. Hee hee...that amused Mark immensely and scared the cat to death! I'll be a little more careful next time I imagine! So, yes, I can have my pizza and eat it too without feeling like I have been hit by a mack truck afterward. This is defintiely a good thing...especially since pizza cravings have been running rampant as of late...I better go order some more crusts!

As for the other foods I purchased from the mall, we've had some great ones and we've had some duds. A caramel apple snack bar I got to try was in the pretty darn near a dud category...it's texture, it's flavor, etc...just not something I would get excited about. The worst so far has been the shortbread cookies I tried. I've decided that maybe if I crushed them up and made a pie crust out of them or something of the sort, they would be more palatable. The two winners so far have been the snickerdoodle cookies I bought which have a little weird texture but taste fabulous and the boxed macaroni and cheese stuff. I had that for lunch yesterday and was totally psyched that it only took 3 minutes to cook the pasta...well, I think it took 4 to get it to where I wanted it, but still...less than 5 minutes and you have mac 'n cheese. It was pretty tasty, too...all things considered (meaning you don't really expect gourmet mac 'n cheese out of a box, but then if I wanted gourmet, I would have made it from scratch!).

And, now, finally the wedding thing. I got a call at work on Friday about coordination. I seriously don't think the lady will email me as I suggested a location to meet on Tuesday. She could surprise me, but I just don't see it happening. I was so totally not in a customer service mindset...but that's because I was in the middle of a tax return and that tends to turn me into a drone. Whatever. At any rate, it was exciting since it was the first call I've received from someone based upon one of the print ads I paid for. So there you go. :)

And, with that,I think I will go jump in the shower (I've been taking it easy this morning) because my dear Mark and I are going to go to lunch, I think, this afternoon and then maybe we'll go see a movie...we'll see on this last one. Lunch will be our weekly Sweet Tomatoes run and I'm naturally looking quite forward to it. There's nothing like a big plate of salad followed by a big dish of ice cream with strawberry and caramel sauce to make you a happy pregnant lady. ;)

Hope you all have a great week!

Buddah Shots

So to begin today's post, I have a little equation for you:

Tax Job + Pregnant = No Time/Energy to Post :)

This pretty much sums up why I've not made a sound for two weeks now and why you probably won't hear too much from me until after April 17...especially since this is my last Saturday when I am not required to be in the office. Not a lot has actually gone on during that time, but we'll give you an update on the high and perhaps low points anyhow. We'll start with the pregnancy-related stuff.

First thing's first, we have an extremely active little boy...or perhaps fish swimming around in that belly of mine. It's quite amusing when he really gets going which, from what I've noticed is about mid-morning, mid-afternoon and then shortly before I call it a night and head to bed. I'm sure he's active during the night time at some point, but since I'm sleeping and he's not yet quite big enough to wake me up with his baby gymnastics moves, I can't tell you for sure. I read somewhere that the baby's activity in the womb is an indicator of what you'll be dealing with when he's outside of it. If so, I'm going to be one busy little beaver of a mommy which is good since I can't think of any better way to pass the time. ;)

In addition to enjoying knowing there is a little being in there and that I'm not just indulging a bit too much in twinkies (which honestly I haven't had a one of, but man would I like to!), I have had the pleasure of experiencing two other pregnancy joys - the nose bleed and the soppy sneeze . They're both a little annerving. If you're a woman and you've been pregnant (or if you're not), I'll let you figur out the sneezing thing as I don't really feel like spelling it out for you. As for the nose bleed, it was a little annerving.

Thankfully, I've been doing my homework re this whole process and I didn't freak out about it, but that feeling of something trickling just isn't one I enjoy. We have since mitigated the problem for the most part by investing in a pretty decent humidifier which we run in the couple of hours before bedtime in the bedroom (I'd never get to sleep if we ran it all night) and which follows me out to the living area during the weekend. Since I haven't had an incidence since last weekend before we brought the humidifier out to the living room, I think we've nipped it in the bud! Oh, and I seemed to have nipped the other problem as well after some advice from some friends regarding how to manage it. :)

On Monday of this week, I had my last (because I passed!) test for this little pregnancy experience. I took my one hour glucose tolerance test to see if I had devleoped gestational diabetes. I'm happy to say that I am perfectly fine and that my doctor has let us know that since I passed all my tests, I'm cleared to have the baby. What a relief...I don't think he's going to want to stay in there forever (and I don't think I want him to either!). At any rate, the test was kind of amusing since I really am not much of a sugar junkie anymore (I still love sugary foods, but I try to go easy on them). I drank that syrupy orange otter pop tasting drink and within a few minutes felt like I could easily bounce off the walls. I wasn't the only one...you would have thought there was a pinball game going on down in my belly. It was pretty funny to feel the baby's first huge sugar rush...especially since he couldn't get into too much trouble given his location! ;)

I did have my monthly check up on Thursday and that went well. The little sprout made thing easy for the doctor to check his heart beat and we had a few questions answered...including one regarding cord blood. We've been planning on saving our baby's umbilical cord blood, but I just really wanted another perspective from someone who I figured actually knew about it. Now I am feeling that this is definitely something we should do.

In non-pregnancy news, I have started posting recipes to our recipe group again in response to the whole computer dying thing. I was fortunate to have a rather old backup of some Mastercook recipe books I had of our family recipes and such and I've printed out a lot of the recipes I enjoy as I go along. So, if you're looking for something to eat, or if you have something yummy you think others would enjoy eating, sign up using the button at the bottom of the lefthand side bar over there. We'd love to have you! :)

In other computing news, I'm happy to report that the geeks at Best Buy have had success with my computer's hard disk recovery. That means I didn't lose all my business files, my pictures, my financial data, etc. afterall. *PHEW* The whole thing scared me enough that I ponied up for an external hard drive for them to put all my stuff on, though...now I won't have an excuse to not backup my important things periodically. It's going to set me back about $600 for the whole process, but it is so worth it and given my next topic, I'm not out too much money in a net instance.

With regard to that I have solved an issue that was plaguing me a little bit - I finally got a hold of the bridal fair people and am getting at least part of my money back for the bridal faire I just don't really want to participate in...especially since I can't really do much as far as setting up wedding clients anyhow. I'm not even sure if I will continue with that business. We've actually been talking about me maybe (and for those of you who know me very well...especially those of you who've worked with me and have enjoyed one of my "diva" moments with regard to this subject!) taking up a little bookkeeping once the baby is here to earn a little extra money and still be able to stay home. From working at my current firm, I can totally see how my offering such a service at a reasonable rate (TBD but not less than my hourly rate at my current job) would benefit a lot of people and, in the long run, save them money. The overhead costs shouldn't be too much and finding clients should be somewhat simple given my contacts with other CPAs. So, we'll see what we do with that.

One last little tidbit that I'm excited about as far as this week goes is that I ordered a bunch of goodies that I found that I'm not allergic to! I found them at the gluten free mall online and I can't wait until they arrive. There's a cake mix, cookie mixes, boxed mac 'n cheese (don't laugh...if you can't have it starts sounding really good!), already baked cookies, snack bars and even cornbread and pizza crust mixes. It should be fun to try them all out and see which ones will become favorites in our house!

And now, as a little surprise for some of you and to fulfill requests made by others, the section of the post which was alluded to by the post's title. For those who know Mark and I in "real life," my belly and sometimes the belly/baby combo are referred to as "the Buddah" and I have been documenting its progress as time goes on. I have some 'issues' with putting pictures of one of the parts of my body I'm not usually comfortable with on the internet, but just this once (and maybe from this point on as we continue to grow and get closer to our due date) I thought I'd give you a peek at my belly and how it's developed.

I am actually kind of amazed looking back at these pictures just how big I've gotten. Here I was just yesterday telling a buddy of mine that I look like I've just indulged in a few too many twinkies (yes, it is one of my favorite lines), but um, after looking at these shots, I'm thinking maybe I've moved past the a few to an entire warehouse full. My goodness! At any rate, give me a little slack with these because I took them, in most cases either early in the morning when getting ready for work (yes, you get to see some of my cutie maternity clothes!) or after I'd gottne dressed on Saturday and Sunday mornings after showering. So my hair isn't gorgeous, I rarely have makeup on and I may look a little scary...maybe it's a good thing for once that you'll be focusing on my belly. ;)

Without further ado...my preggie-morphosis:

The first shot I currently have is from November 11 when I was 12 weeks along. I may have an earlier one, but it is currently with the Best Buy folks...

And, here's another from 11/12:



















Here's one from my birhday (12/1 - as you remember I was recovering from sickies and yet it's one of my better pictures):


















Here's one from 12/8:


















And, one from 12/15 (around week 17 I think):


















Here's the one opportunity the world will have to see my belly sans clothing (also from 12/15):


















Here's a pic from 12/26:



















And, one from January 4 (week 20 - the halfway point!):


















Another from 1/12 (week 21):


















Yet another from 1/24 (earlier this week - week 23):


















And last but not least...here's what I look like as of today! :)




















and a front view just because I don't have any others really.



















Hopefully I don't look too ghastly in those photos up ther but at least you can see that I'm defintiely pregnant. You can also see that I have a knack for dressing in the same clothing to take pictures and that for the most part, my maternity clothes (at least I hope) do not scream - I'M HAVING A BABY to the world which was rather important to me when I picked them out cuz I like a few of them enough that I probably will keep them in the wardrobe even after I'm not. But who knows, I still have several weeks to wear those and only those clothes and I may be just plain old sick and tired of them by the end of this adventure!

I hope you all have a nice week or two - I'll try to get back to post as soon as I am able. Until then, the little sprout sends a couple of kicks out to all of you (seriously...he just did!). :)

Feeling Deprived?

I haven't posted in quite sometime have I? I have to admit that there just hasn't been much going on this week. I did have a visit for an ultrasound/finger prick blood test to screen the baby for Down Syndrome and other disorders. Based upon the ultrasound things seem to be looking fine, but definitive results won't be in until later. As I'm sure you can guess - ultrasound = pictures. They were pretty generous so I have five pics to share today.

Our little one is looking like a human now. :) He/she (still don't know yet what we're having!) was striking some cute poses as you'll soon see. My favorites are the ones where he/she's scratching his/her little head wondering where all the room went. This is because on the day of this lovely screen I was having mild (thankfully) contractions. The doctors and nurses told me it was perfectly normal and that my body is just practicing for the birth process. Fine by me...as long as I don't have to endure pain yet!

Let's see in other news, I'm finally sporting just a wee bit of a baby belly. If you know I'm pregnant you can barely tell, if you don't you think I'm hitting the twinkies a bit too hard (which proves you're totally out of the loop since I'm allergic to them...alas!). Yeah, twinkies are sounding good...yet another allergy-laden craving that I'm resisting. There have been so many I won't even bore you!

One thing that is sort of "exciting" with respect to the whole food situation is I actually found a cracker recipe I like. It's for oat crackers and if they're rolled thin enough and baked to just the right state, they taste like a cross between a triscuit and a wheathin. Yummy. I've been enjoying them all week long and I think I might just make some more! :)

Okay, okay...enough chattering (or Jibba Jabba as Mr. T would say - have you seen his new show on TV Land? It's quite a trip...we love it!) - let's get onto those baby pictures! :) I'm not sure these scans are quite as nice as previous ones, but we take what we can get, right? :)

So here's picture number 1 of our little girl or guy. You can see the head to the left, the arm toward the bottom, etc.

Well as is all too often the case, blogger is now not cooperating so I'll bring this post to a close and try to get pictures into another. *sigh*

Not Much to Speak Of...

Nevertheless I'm going to do a quick little post (yeah, sure....little) anyhow with just a few highlights.

First of all, the spaghetti episode seemed to go reasonably well. I did indeed have a bit of a reaction which is still sort of hanging on today; however, it has been pretty mild and tolerable...and therefore worth it because I'm over the spaghetti craving. I did buy stuff to make lasagna. I may make it and freeze it in case another one of these "must have real Italian food" episodes comes to haunt me.

Next up - I rode BART (rapid transit) to work today and it made going to work a much better experience. It was nice to be able to relax and just read a book. I contemplated sleeping a bit, but I fall asleep so easily lately (though I seem to not sleep terribly well despite this fact!) that I decided it would probably be a bad idea since I have transfers to make and such. I also was treated to lunch by my two supervisory people today. We went to the Yacht Club in Walnut Creek and when Mark's parents come next I'm thinking they might like to try it out. Lots of great seafood preparred in so many ways even I had a few choices as far as things to eat. :)

Speaking of Mark's parents, we've heard a rumor that they might pay us a visit either before or after the big family bash at Christmas and New Years. We were happy to hear that was a possibility since we're going to miss the party. We figure that with impending maternity leave and my planning to go down to a reduced schedule, we'll need to save as many pennies as we possibly can over the next few months...

We're thinking we may have some guests, if they'd like to come, over for Thanksgiving as well. Right now, we're kind of leaning toward inviting people from other countries to come join in the festivities. We'll keep you posted on where we actually go with it. We've also sort of decided to table the Christmas party. I am so worn out lately that the thought of adding responsibilities to my schedule isn't terribly appealing and again we're trying to save a little $$. Mark has asked if he could maybe throw a very informal birthday party for me instead (our party usually coincides with my birthday - it's my tricky way of having a party without too much of a hullabaloo) and I told him he's welcome to do so. It might be quite fun to get to sit back and enjoy something someone else has planned!

That is pretty much the extent of what is going on here...no baby pictures or news other than that my clothes seem to be fitting a little snugger this week. Since we're in week twelve (almost done with the first trimester!), I suppose it is to be expected. I've got a nice little wardrobe of clothes to step in to, but I've kind of been trying to really enjoy the last little bit of wearing my "normal" clothes. Once I actually have a baby belly to show off, maybe we'll treat you to a before picture I took a couple of weeks ago...I'm not sure most people could tell the difference if I took one at the moment. I think I just look like I have been overeating a bit! I assure you've that's not the case. I'm actually right on track as far as weight gain goes...

So here's to a great week for all of us! Time is just flying by....

It's Going...

Well, my first week at work was okay. I have to say that I like where I work, but I hate the commute and I'm pretty sure I was right about my tolerance for accounting being pretty much used up. C'est la vie...work I must so that I can provide for my family. I can't wait until Mark can take over.

Speaking of Mark, I may have already told you, but it bears repeating - he passed his second set of chiropractic board exams. Yea! Only two more sets to go until he's all done - he'll have Part III in March and Part IV in May. If all goes well, he'll be finished up by the end of December at which time we're still pretty sure we'll return to Colorado Springs...but things can always change. I sure hope they don't, though...I miss home.

As for other "stuff" to chat about, I made crackers today. They turned out pretty well and will allow me to enjoy some goodies I got today without having to resort to allergy foods. I do want to try one more recipe before I pronounce these "the ones," though. :) Also, I've broken a vow...I'm sorry and I won't make the mistake of making it again. Tonight for dinner we had spaghetti...with marinara sauce. I know, I know...I said I wouldn't give into allergy-food cravings. I'm weak. I admit it. I was hoping things would go a little better...

As luck would have it, they seem to be slightly better - I don't feel the need to toss my cookies...yet. It's an improvement. I do unfortunately have a bit of asthma and a very tingly tongue, though. I really gotta go find out more about those allergy curing techniques I've heard about....

Final bit of news - tonight we wandered around our community and talked to residents about Mark's school and receiving care. We met some great neighbors and a couple of them seem to be great contacts for Mark...our favorite is a guy who is president of a union. If you need some nice affordable chiropractic care, give Mark a call - he's anxious to help as many people as he can!

Miscellaneous Topics of Interest - A Very Long Post!

So, I didn't get around to posting about the true after-effects of the doughnuts the other day. Let's just say that it wasn't so much of a victory. They made me pretty sick after all...I just can't win for losing, can I?

My theory is that the oil temperature on the recipe was a bit low and so instead of just frying in the oil, the lovely little doughnuts became saturated with the stuff. It was two days of pure unpleasantness as my stomach just didn't seem to want to give up on making me feel just wretched. In the end, I actually threw the whole batch in the trash, but that wasn't before I tried to wick some of the oil out of the little buggers...after I'd went through about 3 rounds of sopping paper towels, I decided it was a lost cause. C'est la vie.

I'm tempted to try this doughnut experiment again (with an oil temperature of about 25 degrees higher or so), but I have to admit I'm a wee bit scared about that! But, we can't let the doughnuts win, can we? If they work out maybe I'll feature some little donut puffs at our Christmas party this year...which I think we're going to have but I really need to work on plotting it out if so! :) I'm guessing that will be a task for today.

In other bittersweet news, Mark's grandmother has passed away. It happened a few days ago. We're sad that she won't be able to meet her great grandchild in person, but we know she will be here watching over all of us. She is already greatly missed - she was a very special lady who had a fabulous life. :)

For today, besides contemplating the Christmas party, other tasks will include looking through the book of Hawaiian names that Mark wants me to check out. I figure since he's pretty much told me that I can choose our little one's name (I do plan on bringing him into the process so that I'm not making a unilateral decision - I don't feel that's exactly right!) the least I can do is consider the names in Hawaiian that I like to add to the list of names that have been pulled out of a couple of online baby name sites. I have about 9 each of male and female names at this point which I really like. Mark thought most of them were good as well so we have a start.

As for using a Hawaiian name (probably as the middle name of our little one), I'm not sure I'm excited about it. There are sooo many names that have special meaning to me, but other than one particular Hawaiian name (okay two if you count Mark's middle name, but for the most part we've decided we're not going to name our children after ourselves), none of them really have special meaning for me so far. I also just have an issue with picking names that will be misprounounced, mispelled or butchered and since I can't pronounce most of the names, I have to admit I'm a bit worried! With a name like MeLissa, you can probably guess why...it's abnormal and pretty much everyone I come in contact with has to be gently told that the L is not a mis-spelling. Then we have to go through the whole "so how do you pronounce that?" game. Is is Me - Lissa, Melissa, Ma Lisa, what? I love my name, but the drama that comes with it is sometimes frustrating so I'm kind of trying to shield our little one. :) We'll see what transpires as I make my way through the book...

A related name game consideration at this time is whether or not we should be only considering names which start with an 'M.' Surprisingly, there are quite a few people who seem to think this is the way to go. I can understand the concept, but well, I'm not sold on it. That is not to say that there are no 'M' names in the lists of boys and girls names I'm considering. I have 3 girl's and 1 boy's name that do begin with the fabulous letter. But I'm not a fan of limiting myself and there are a ton of non-M names that I love. Besides that, I remember how silly I thought it was that one of the families I grew up with had everyone in their family with the same first letter in their name....and I don't want to have to roll my eyes at myself. ;) I'm sure we'll figure it all out in the end...

And, now for the part everybody really wants to read and see...the update about our latest visit to the doctor. Naturally, we have more pictures. :) I'm assuming that just like me you've not grown tired of seeing how much the little guy/gal is changing in even a short amount of time. If you are tired of it, please just keep that little fact to yourself! You'll get a bit of a break, I think, for a couple of weeks since our next appointment with the doctor isn't for another four weeks. In two weeks, I get to go get a nuchal translucency scan and a first trimester blood test (which, thankfully, involves a finger prick - yea!). These two tests are used to detect Down syndrome. They tell by measuring the fetus's neck length at week twelve and then checking the blood for certain qualities. It's pretty cool in general.

Speaking of screenings, we're probably not going to pre-screen for aniridia (the eye condition Mark has). A year or so ago, we did discuss the possibility with the genetic counselling department at Stanford. We also discussed the possibility of actually having eggs and sperm combined by the geneticists to ensure that our baby wouldn't have the condition (they can detect the gene when as few as 8 cells are present). We ultimately decided against both of these routes and are leaving matters in God's hands. If our child is born with aniridia, we will ensure that they have the best medical care possible and that they grow up in an environment where they learn that they can accomplish whatever it is they set their mind to. I figure that just having Mark as their daddy will make that pretty clear!

So, aside from all this screen stuff, we watched the little baby on the ultrasound. As you see from the pictures I've posted, he/she is looking more and more like a little human every day. The doctor said he/she looked like a little monkey yesterday - rightly so. He/she (have I mentioned lately that I'm anxious to know where we have a he or she coming so I can stop writing both genders?) was squirming and rolling around the whole time - it was pretty cute. The doctor did actually try to get a glimpse at the baby's sex, but it was still a bit too early to tell and our little sweet pea apparently also got mommy's modesty and just wasn't letting anybody have a look. ;)

Well, as usual, I can't seem to get the pictures to upload - curse you Blogger. I'll try again later....

Victory!!!!

Woo Hoo! I have conquered one of the "issues" that surrounds my pregnancy and allergies. Homer Simpson would be proud and a craving has been foiled without resorting to making myself ill!

I have made doughnuts!!! They're technically more like beignets which I am totally mispelling, but without eggs and without wheat (for those who aren't aware cuz I've had a couple of people ask this recently, regular all-purpose white flour is made of wheat). The only thing I didn't accomplish is making them good for you, but well...you can't everything!

So anyhow, this is today's major accomplishment and after having secured victory and nibbled on a few of the spoils, I'm exhausted and heading off for a nap with my little kitty, Pixie, who probably thinks I've lost my mind given the extreme display of happiness that I participated in after tasting my first doughnut and finding that it was very good! :)

Update...

In terms of an update, first things first. I will be ignoring all future cravings that involve allergy foods. The chili tasted great but it was quite evil. C'est la vie!

As for the job search, things are coming along. I have an interview next week with a CPA firm in Walnut Creek and there are a couple of other interviews also possible. I'll keep you all posted on how things are going.

Other than that, we've been busy this week with various things. Mark is learning how to use the internet and seems to be enjoying his first week of the new quarter. I've met with a few different wedding-related vendors (despite the fact that I am not sure where I plan to go with my business now that we have a little one on the way). I'll probably keep things pretty low key until January when I have one final bridal show. I am thinking I will basically just start being very selective about who I "hire" as my clients. With a full-time job I will be able to serve as many or as few clients as I want. I do really like that aspect of returning to corporate life.

Not too much else is going on so this will be a very short post today. We will be going for our first official OB appointment on Monday so hopefully we'll have some new news to share about our little pea (who is probably closer to the size of a raspberry by now) and how he/she is doing.