Houston, We Are Go For Baby!

We've made it! I'm full-term (this was actually a bit of a surprise to learn this morning since I thought next Monday was the day, but regardless - HOW COOL IS THAT?!?)!

The Sprout is now officially all ready to make his grand entrance (sometime between now and the 16th of May or after the 20th of May, of course!) as everything except for his little immune system is adequately developed for life "on the outside." It's all so exciting and mind-numbing to think that we're so close to having a little bundle of joy instead of just a big ol' belly (which I may actually ever-so-slightly miss when it goes away...maybe).

So, that's this morning's quick announcement. I do have some other updates to share, but I need to get busy on some work here at the office (they do pay me for that afterall!). Tomorrow is my next check-up with the OB so I'll be sure to get back here and let you know how it went. Have a great week!

9 Months!

Where has the time gone? Before I know it, little sprout is going to be a teenager (a well-behaved little angel of a teenager, of course - hee hee!) if time keeps going at this break neck speed.

As far as updates, nothing too new in the way of the pregnancy. I'm still having back issues, but the chiropractic care I'm receiving seems to be helping keep me in a state where I can at least tolerate things.

We didn't really do too much baby shopping this week either. For the most part, we have most of the really important stuff. There are a few "wants" that we may still invest in, but until we have some real life experience come our way, we figure we have a good start. Thus, most of the purchases this weekend were for yours truly. :) However, I did start a little blankie for the sprout which should be quite lovely when finished....

We picked up some slippers and a nightie and robe that I can wear in the hospital during/after delivery. The robe and slippers are for sure before. The nightie - well, we'll have to see if it still fits in a few more weeks (that belly of mine is g-r-o-w-i-n-g it seems - pictures will be forthcoming...) and we also have to take into account that I'm going to be hooked up to an IV. Either way, it should get some use. Finally, to save me a lot of time and trouble, we invested in a little MP3 player for me to put my favorite music on since music can really effect my mood. So, I now how a cute little pink MP3 player that holds plenty of music to keep me moving and grooving. I'm going to give it a bit of a trial run here at work today (if my right ear stops being stupid and feeling all stopped up).

Other than that, we packed my hospital bag and started brainstorming some ideas of food to bring to the hospital for me. Since I'm allergic to so many things, we figure we better have a pretty decent stash on hand to ensure that when I'm done helping sprout make his grand entrance I don't turn into an angry (and very hungry ogre - you may or may not know that I'm not the most pleasant individual to be around when I'm starving). So, I have to do a little preparatory baking/cooking over the next two weeks for that. I packed everything I should need and then some (including my favorite surgery buddy - a stuffed mouse whose been through all of my major surgeries with me!) and several movies to keep myself amused as well. I decided to go for cute and not too hard to follow so the doctors and nurses who get to come visit me will be amused by two Legally Blonde movies and Bring It On (I figure some cheerleading in the birthing room could be a good thing!).

Other than that, yesterday was my parents' 30th anniversary! Happy day mom and dad!

Week 35 OB Update

It's hard to believe that we're so close to getting to meet the sprout in person! Only 34 days to go by that little counter over there. Who knows it could be even earlier...we've given sprout clearance to come out before May 17 and after May 20. :) The dead days are, of course, the days Mark will be taking his test. So, yeah, unless I change my mind, we're going to go for letting sprout determine when he comes. We kind of want that "surprise!" experience just in case we decide one little sprout is enough for us.

Today, of course, we had our next little OB update. We picked up our cord blood banking kit at this visit...now I can start filling out the big ol' application. Aside from that, everything seems to be going well with the little guy and with me (aside from the back thing which seems to be a bit better today and which will hopefully improve with tonights appointment with the world's greatest chiropractor!). We'll have our OB next appointment in two weeks and then we'll have weekly visits with the doctor until it's time for the little guy to grace us with his presence. How exciting all of this is! It became a little more real today, too, since I made my first appointment in May...it was a bit surreal! I am honestly in shock at how quickly time has passed!

After our OB appointment, we visited with one of two candidates for the esteemed and much sought after position as the sprout's pediatrician. This visit was with a doctor who was recommended to us by one of Mark's classmates....she may be a bit partial since he's her husband (hee hee...kind of like how I think Mark is the best chiropractor on the planet!), but we agree with her that he's a class act! We also met one other pediatrician who our doctor had recommended to us and he was nice as well, but we think the first pediatrician will be a better fit and so he's hired. :)

Finally, we visited the hospital's lactation center (and store) today while we were in the area....and we're glad we did! They had a great selection of breast pumps and supplies at awesome prices! We ended up getting my "wish list" breast pump which comes with a really cute bag that can be used without the pump when all is said and done. What made it really cool is despite going for the "limited edition" bag, we actually paid less than we would have paid at a retailer for the "boring" normal version of the pump. I figure I'm allowed a few "silly fashionista girl" purchases here and there, right? :)

Other than baby news, we attended my firm's after-tax season party last night. It was so much fun. I just wish we could have visited with more people. The food was absolutely wonderful, though and we had a blast. Today, then, was our after-tax season holiday, though it was terribly busy! I sure wish I had tomorrow off, too, but it is back to the office tomorrow. At least things will be really calm!

It's Raining Again!

Welcome to the Bay Area. Just as I started to pen this post, it started pouring...no wonder I was able to sleep in this morning! I always have the roughest time staying in bed when the sun is out. I may take advantage of this weather and crawl back in since I might even be able to get back to sleep now that I've eaten breakfast!

Despite the rain, today should be a pretty decent day here. I don't have anything planned really. I might put our car seat base in so that (hopefully) I can make it sometime this week or next to have one of the checkpoints give me the thumbs up or needs improvement sign.

As far as a thumbs up, Mark got a big one yesterday! He has been waiting for the results of the clinic exit exam he took at his school about a week or so ago and they finally came in! I'm happy to report that our boy passed! Yea! Three cheers for Marky Mark! This means that once he gets his numbers in at the clinic, he can decrease his time there to make more time for spending with the little fish (or should I say kickboxer now - ouch!) that lives in my tummy! At any rate, it is very exciting. Now he only has one more "big" exam to go...that would be the one that our dear sprout is not going to interrupt. :) Mark's attending a review course all this week to ensure that he's ready for that big test, but passing his school's exam is actually a big booster in that area - it's been said that if you can pass the school's exam, the board exams are a little easier. We're not buying it, but it's a nice thought anyhow!

In other Mark news, he's been looking into offices and what not for when he is a bonafide doctor. He's been talking to a lot of docs in Denver and Colorado Springs since we think we'd like to move back to Colorado. Yesterday he was able to talk to a doctor who has a place on North Carefree and Powers and is looking for someone to share office space with (this is apparently the newest trend). I thought it was funny that this is in the same general area that we lived when we moved.

Other than that, I can tell you that coming up this week is sure to be full of fun and blogging fodder. We have my company's after tax season party on Monday, our OB checkup and two introductory pediatrician appointments on Tuesday (a day off for me!) and who knows what the rest of the week will hold besides my parents' anniversary on April 22 - Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Here's to (wow!) 30 years!

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!

Some Nice Friday Surprises!

Well, today has been a banner day despite it following a rather sleepless night. I don't think I quite understand why it is that in the time shortly before giving birth our bodies decide that sleep is something we don't need. It seems like I'll have plenty of sleepless nights after little sprout arrives...can I please have a good night's sleep before he does? :)

Anyhow, I received a couple of nice surprises today at work. First, I don't have to come in tomorrow. In a word, YEA! This is awesome not only because I can sleep in tomorrow but because maybe I can spend some quality time with Mark (which will become quite scarce after this weekend due to his busy class schedule and his reviewing for his last big board exam). Furthermore, it makes it much easier to make it to Easter Sunday services. We haven't been to church forever (well, not since tax season began) and I'm going to enjoy showing off my little 'buddah belly' to all the people. :)

The second neat surprise I received was a little giftie from one of my co-workers for little sprout! She made him the sweetest little cardigan sweater with the most adorable little elephant buttons. It is just precious. I always just love gifts that people make for you...they're just so much more precious than words can convey.

Little sprout is cleaning up this week as always. I went on a little shopping spree yesterday afternoon with my friend Yanna from work. She and I found some adorable surfer boy and girl tub toys/gear and we got him a cute little tummy time play mat that will convert to a little tunnel for him to crawl through when he makes it to the mobile stage. :) Both of these fun toys have a little "sailing, sailing" ditty that plays and lots of neat little fishies to keep him occupied. He's just going to love it!

The other acquisitions for the week were our diaper bags and another round of clothing from Babies R Us. We chose one large and one small diaper bag from Land's end and they are just awesome. I am anxious to get them packed and ready to go for baby's trips away from home. For the most part, I think we're about ready for the little bug to arrive! That's probably a very good thing since we only have a month and a half to go....I can't wait to hug, cuddle and fuss over him and I know Daddy is just as anxious!

Maybe to at least tide me over (and since I'll have some free time this weekend) I'll get some pictures of some of the nifty things we've purchased for the little guy. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of some of them...though it is going to be hard to top the "tax deduction" bib. ;)

Buddah Shots - Part II

Well, it looks like I'm pretty far behind on the belly shots thing (I blame it on tax season) so I'm sitting down right this minute to catch myself up. :) Following that, we'll do our typical update...

Without further a-do - March 10, 2007 (I would have been at the tail end of week 30):

It's amazing how what you wear can change how slim you look...something I learned way back when I was overweight as a kid. And, if you don't believe me, look at that belly again and then look at this picture which was taken at the beginning of week 32 on March 27, 2007:

And now we have a picture of the belly sans clothing...taken today.

As I've mentioned, my belly is pretty small compared to a lot of people who are 8 months pregnant! And, I suppose that's why people look at me with a look of surprise (and on occasion worry) when they find out just how far along I am. I figure I still have plenty of time to "blossom" as my dear friend Jenny described it. I will try, now that tax season is winding up (2 more weeks to go folks!) to be a bit better about posting pictures that show my progress....

Aside from belly shots, we actually do have some things to speak of here in Roccoland. For one, little sprout is just kicking up a storm right this very moment. Apparently he's very excited that I'm chatting to all his adoring fans. ;) He definitely is one active little boy. I've started telling people that he's destined to be either a soccer or a dance star. The Rockettes have nothing on him!

All that aside, though, we did have an appointment with the OB this week as I mentioned we would. We heard his little ticker beating away as usual and the doctor did our strep B test. I'm now back to less modesty in the doctor's office for the rest of our little visits. Joy. :)

So, we discussed with the doctor what the latest I could stay at work because after looking into the financial situation, I would just feel better if I could stay as long as possible. In the doctor's opinion, I am good to go until my due date or, if earlier, the day I deliver. That gave me a good boost of confidence because it obviously means he's pleased with how the pregnancy has gone so far and doesn't forsee any problems. That is always a plus! So, that's the plan - I'll stay in the office as long as I possibly can (and hopefully I won't go into labor there - wouldn't they love that?!?) and then I'll be able to stay out with baby longer...which is when I am really going to want to be home anyhow!

As for other activities around here, we were busy today with lots of errands and we also were able to sell Mark's mountain bike which is great - one less piece of equipment to take care of and a little extra $$ to add to the kitty for the tandem bike we're hoping to get at some point so that Mark can go riding again with me at the helm (which is, in some respects a scary proposition!).

Errands-wise, we went to Babies R Us for our weekly "get a few things at a time" drill. This week's acquisitions included a Diaper Genie II which we're hopeful will keep our house smelling decent when we have lots of diapers running around. We also actually bought our first box of diapers - the book we've relied on for insight suggested 100 newborn size and 400 size 1s were a good start to have in your arsenal. We ended up going with Pampers Swaddlers for our newborn diapers (which are the only ones we bought today) because they have aloe in them for soothing instead of some other "stuff" which we'd never heard of before.

We also picked up a monitor so we can keep tabs on baby when he's snoozing and we're in a different room. After contemplating many bells and whistles models, we decided to go for a simple sounds and lights monitor that was recommended by, you guessed it, the book. ;)

Aside from this type of stuff, we also bought some fun articles of clothing that little sprout is going to just be so adorable in....primarily hats. We got one that looks like a little dog with blue corduroy ears and another cute little hat and slipper set that looks like a little bear with ears....too cute, I assure you. The last couple of knit hats we got were rather plain and chosen more for their utility...they're still cute though. We also got a cute little swimwear cap with fishies on it that we found amusing. Perhaps the best article of clothing we found today (at least in my opinion) is this bib:

Isn't it just perfect for little sprout given what I've amused myself with during most of his time in my tummy? I simply couldn't resist it. And, I also can't stop giggling about it because seirously, I find it just too funny. But then, I am a tax accountant and I guess it's to be expected that I would find a bib declaring my offspring a tax deduction too funny. Lucky for our little sprout that I see him as more than just a way to decrease our tax liability. Speaking of which, our personal tax season is over - the returns are in, the refunds have been received and life is good! :)

The only other thing we did today is that I ordered our diaper bags (one large and one small) from Land's End. After much contemplation, I decided I liked the baby blue/black combo better than the mint green/black combo. So, that's what we have on the way. We used a gift card we were able to get from our Discover cash back bonus to buy these so we have two very nice and useful bags on the way for an outlay of $10. :) Not too shabby.

Well, with that we probably have covered all there is to cover as far as what we've been up to goes. Tomorrow Mark starts his next quarter at school which should result in his being extremely busy with 33 credits and I will continue plugging along on the tax returns assigned to me.

There's only one final observation to make then - as of today there are only 50 more days to go until little sprout comes out to play. As I've said many times before, wow! It's hard to believe!

Five Bits of Food Do Not a Meal Make

Unless you're pregnant apparently. Yes, I know, the statement defies all logic, but it is true. I haven't had a meal that I actually *ate* an adult-size portion in what seems like forever. It's actually only been a couple of weeks, but it is definitely already old...especially since we cook dinner every night and I can barely eat it. I'm not a big fan of leftovers but that's basically how I get to have dinner...as lunch the next day.

So that's one of the latest developments as far as our pregnancy goes. Otherwise, we hit 32 weeks on Monday of this week which means we're cruising in our 8th month now. Can you say wow? Time has really flown. And, despite the fact that it is still small compared to most of my pregnant friends' bellies at this stage, my belly has grown quite a bit as well. I need to get the latest picture up soon...

We've acquired more baby stuff over the past week or so including a mattress some additional cute outfits that I couldn't resist - my favorite is a little shorts set with a cute little crab and sheets and other bedding stuff. I also got a nursing video which was helpful. I'm just not sure how all that is going to work out...my "girls" are admittedly quite small still. I never even had to get a maternity bra (yes, I realize this is more info than you wanted - sorry, I'll stop). At any rate, I figure babies and breasts were pretty much made for each other so little sprout and I will figure it out.

Mark is on break this week though he still spends a lot of time at the clinic. He's going to be a very busy guy this next quarter as he's trying to get as many classes in as possible so that we can avoid daycare once I return to work after my maternity leave. It looks like I won't be leaving for that until about a week before my due date or our induction date (we're still contemplating whether to go this route or not) because I want us to not have to worry about our financial status while I'm away. I do receive some state benefits while on my leave, but they're not nearly as good as that salary I can earn when I'm at the office. At any rate, it looks like I'll probably be back at work by August 20...

Other than that, we have our next OB appointment tomorrow morning. I believe this is the beginning of the "less modest" visits that we moms-to-be enjoy. I can't say that I'm looking forward to that, but I guess it's just part of the deal...and so I'll deal. :) I don't really expect any real earth shattering news to come from this visit - it's still a bit early for anything "exciting" to be happening so there may not be an update afterwards. We shall see! What I can offer those of you who are privvy to the logon particulars for the sprout's special site is that there is a new poll up that is a little more on the light-hearted, fun side of things. The plan is that I'll be introducing a new poll each week (or two or three or whenever I get around to changing it!) to just see how well the masses can predict our little guy's movements as we get closer and closer to his joining us outside of the womb. This week's topic - what day of the week do you think he'll arrive? I can't wait to see the responses!

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!

Rollin' Along...

Not a lot happened this week that is really worth mentioning. We do have our next OB visit on Monday (the first of the every two week drills) so perhaps that will spice things up a little. I sure do miss the days when I knew an appointment meant I'd have some new pictures to post at least. :)

As far as what excitement has occurred, we have created a new website for our dear little sprout at a site called Totsites. We've decided that with all the weirdos lurking on the internet we'd prefer to post pictures and intimate details of our little guy's progress on a password protected medium and this site is just perfect for that. We currently have some "fun facts" up about our pregnancy and a couple of journal entries - the first commemorating only 75 days to go until he arrives - can you believe it? We even have a little poll going on to see what people think about our inducing labor so that we can have the baby before Mark's all-important last set of chiropractic exams. Isn't that just fun? If you would like to be invited to see our little sprout's spot, drop me a line via email (I think there is a link to my email in our profile).

In other baby (what else!?!) news, we received his car seat and stroller last night. Yea. I even put them together as we enjoyed Rocky IV...something, believe it or not, I had not yet seen. Mark was amazed. This is the one where he fights the Russian dude. It was a pretty good movie. At any rate, the stroller is together and we know how to lock the infant seat into it to create a nice little baby carriage. I think baby will be quite cozy in there.

In mommy news, I am having even more "fun" symptoms to deal with as time progresses. I'll try not to complain too much, but allow me a bit of a whine, won't you? Among the most troubling are the mood swings (which have been magnified this week by a number of encounters with a particularly stressful client at work and a couple other people) - I'm doing my best to cope, but I have to say I kind of miss those 2nd trimester days when I seemed to be a little less "on edge" about things. On a more physical note, I've been being very good with my excercise program - I usually get out and walk at least 5 days a week...hopefully this will be helpful once we make it to the delivery room. Unfortunately, I'm also experiencing a lot of achies (especially when it comes to my back and legs) and now, joy of joys, I've noticed that my ankles are starting to swell. *sigh* Cankles...they're coming my way. The bright side (?) of this is, I guess, that now I have an imperative to come home at night and put my feet up. This could be challenging since I always feel like I have "so much to do" and not enough time to do it. I'll manage, though!

The only other thing we've done this week is "almost" signed up for our cord blood banking for the baby. I need to make a phone call to finish up the process on Monday and then we'll be good to go.

Oh When the Saints....

It's March! Crazy wacky stuff...and the reason for the post title. I couldn't quickly think of anything else that had "march" somewhere within it phrase wise. I love that tune though, so it's workin' for me. Just like the song, I'm feeling kind of peppy (and yet still exhausted...not quite sure how that works, but I'll go with it)!

So it has been a bit since I made it over here to post...that means we have a lot of catching up to do! Shall we get started?

First up is a big shout out and congratulations to my buddy Christina who just had a bouncing baby boy of her own. Little baby Timothy is a doll folks...but then, I adore his mommy so I'm a wee bit predjudiced toward him. :) At any rate, I can tell those of you who are wondering, if you were...and as I was, that Christina's baby name is not the same as the one we picked out for the sprout. There I've narrowed it down for you - his name isn't Timothy and it isn't Aaron either (which is Master Tim's middle name just so you're not lost here).

With our congratulatory wishes out of the way, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming...

And, of course, we'll just go chronologically since it seems to be the easiest and most efficient way. Thus, we begin with a follow-up from my last post. I don't think I was having Braxton Hicks contractions. I'm not sure what I was having but the doctor said he wasn't worried and so I stopped worrying about them. I still have them periodically and I can't say that I'm terribly thrilled, but maybe they're helping me raise my pain threshhold so I guess we'll deal! I still plan to mention them again to the doctor cuz even though I say I'm not worried, I am a little....you knew that already, I'm sure. ;)

On the allergy front, we had some excitement this week. I had a bit of a rash for most of it. Actually, it's just finally seeming to clear today (finally!). We're not completely sure what caused it though we have our suspicions. Mark thinks it's the lotions his parents brought this Christmas for me to use because they have dyes in them and he's convinced I'm allergic to dyes. I'm not convinced of this at all but I did stop using them. I will probably try to use them again at some point to see if they were actually the cause. My theory is that it was due to the "voodoo" water.

I can't remember if I told you about the "voodoo" water or not. Basically it is distilled water that one of Mark's teachers jazzed up for me using a little Rife machine which puts electrical impulses into the water and has been known to help people conquer their allergies. Since it didn't cost anything, couldn't be harmful to baby and couldn't hurt we're giving it a try. My reasoning for why this might be the culprit is that the rash started a couple of days after I started drinking the water and I'm thinking maybe my body was going through a little bit of a detox process or something. We shall see. We haven't tried any allergy foods yet, but I'm hopeful that when I get the courage up to eat that potato that we bought last week you won't be hearing me gripe about how yet another attempt didn't work. Keep your fingers crossed. :)

Other than that, the majority of the interesting stuff I have to speak of here happened today (with the exception maybe of the Mr. Potato Head bunny that I bought the other day - too cute!). Today was eventful, I guess you could say. I didn't have to go to work....always a plus. Mark did have a seminar to go to for his extra neurology degree he's working toward (little overachiever that he is!), but I had nothing. And, so....I slept in until I couldn't any longer. I have found that about 9:30 a.m. is my absolute max regardless of how tired I am and regardless of when I went to bed because that is when my little body says "FEED ME NOW." Arguing and trying to ignore it doesn't seem to do much good so I give in. Pixie prefers this since it means she gets fed, too. :)

At any rate, after enjoying a few extra moments in the bed, I got up, made an extraordinarily gourmet breakfast of....wait for it....Cocoa Pebbles and decided to have a gander at the computer. I have finished the Baby Bargains book that Mark and I bought to help us with choosing baby gear and the like and just wanted to do a little surfing to see about diaper bags and a few other little choice items we want that the book gave some tips on. Ultimately, I decided that we're going to follow the book's advice and go with Lands End's diaper bag offerings...they have two - one's full size and one's smaller for everyday type trips out and I think we'll get one of each. Then I have to decide if I'm going to be silly and get a third one just because it has cute little jumping frogs on it. It looks like the perfect bag to go to the beach...to help me decide on my frivolous desire, I've ordered a swatch of the fabric (for free - love Lands End!) as well as swatches of the colors I'm contemplating for the "normal" diaper bags. It will be like Christmas finding such fun things in my mail box...okay, yeah, maybe this isn't exciting for you, but well, I've never been accused of being difficult to amuse/please. ;)

I also had a look at shopping cart cover options. The book basically said that it receives tons of "this thing is junk" regarding the shopping cart cover we were planning to get from Babies R Us. And, you know, I'm sooo glad that I went and looked at the other options it mentioned. There is one site which has the CUTEST (ever! really!) fabric with baby sea turtles on it. I am in love. And, the cost is only about $10 more than what we were going to spend at BRU....and it's hand made with lots of quilting and even a little pillow. Soooo cute. If you want to check it out, have a look here. I also love the turtles and starfish option on the "unisex" page. :)

My final little find was the Mother's Mate Milk storage system which the book mentioned and which you can see here. I think this is the way we're going to go if I ever need to pump milk for work or whatever. I really like the idea of just pumping into the bottles and then feeding from them....and it's so reasonable from a cost standpoint especially since it works with the two brands of pumps that I'm considering (Medela and Ameda - both highly recommended).

I think that is all of what I researched today....I looked at a ton of stuff. Oh, I guess I did look at our stroller and infant carrier choice again. Believe it or not, I think this is the last time you'll have to read this. :) We finally bought them today...because for some odd reason, I went and looked for them at Target.com and found them and that the site was offering free shipping on two or more baby gear items. Since I also had a 10% off coupon for Target and since both the stroller and the car seat are items that can be returned to the store, we decided to jump on the deal...how could we resist when with tax the total was less than the pre-tax price of these items at Babies R Us? So, yes, we've ultimately decided on Peg Perego's Primo Viaggio infant seat and Centro stroller. And, they should be arriving in a couple of weeks - yea!

Before we bought them, we decided to go to BRU and just "kick the tires" at least one more time on the stroller. We're shelling out a pretty penny for this little puppy...and we want to be sure that it is exactly what we want. After what was probably a ton of amusement for the passers-by at BRU as they watched us try to decipher how exactly one folds and then (more importantly) reopens the stroller, we finally became pros and decided that this was indeed a stroller that we would like. Part of the impetus for us going to BRU was that we had a bunch of coupons for gear and what not from there that expired today. They were, unfortunately, out of a few things that we wanted, but we still came out pretty nicely. We are now the proud owners of a Baby Bjorn carrier...midnight blue with red edging...very cute and comfy (unlike the active model which had just waaaay too many straps and felt more like a straight jacket to me - Mark of course preferred this one, but knew since I was fighting to get it on and off that it wouldn't be used by me!). I can't wait to carry baby around in it. We got a couple of other things, too, but those were the big buys of the day. And, now, we pretty much have all the expensive stuff purchased - all that is left on the hefty price tag items is a mattress, a breast pump and in the future a convertible car seat. Coolie.

So there you have it - another issue of "How the Rock Turns" or something like that. :) The only thing left to say is that I've totally found the best treat today. If you can find coconut sorbet (Sharon's is the brand I buy at Trader Joe's), drizzle a little (don't go nuts or you'll only taste chocolate) chocolate syrup on it and enjoy...if you're a fan of Mounds candy bars, you'll be in heaven. Like Almond Joy's better, add some toasted almond pieces...yum!

I hope you all have a wonderful week...

OB Update...

So we had our first third trimester visit today. I still am in shock that we're in the third...why is it that time flies like crazy when you're an adult and crawls when you're a kid? Anyhoo...

Everything seems to be going well. We have "graduated" to every two weeks visits again so that should be fun to fit in with my increased hours at work. I've been pulling about 52 to 53 a week lately which is pretty good given that I wasn't sure I could even pull 50 off! The only problem is that I have a very bad habit of not stretching and going on my walks like I should, but given the fact that the whole labor process is looming before me, I am committing myself once more to not being a slug. I must get myself into better than good shape by the time my "marathon," as Mark calls it, comes. I want quick and speedy...or as quick and speedy as I can get!

So, the plan is that Mark and I will start getting ourselves up a bit earlier (like 15 minutes) to do some body weight bearing excercises in the morning and then I will go on at least a half hour (and preferably an hour) walk every day for the next however many days until it's time to greet our little sonshine. :)

I discussed my whole trepidation with Mark's test being right around when I'm supposed to deliver and the doctor said he would be fine with inducing me a few days to a week before our scheduled due date. We're going to talk about that one. It sounds like it isn't a bad process these days. They basically just give you a little something "up there" that dissolves your cervix and then nature takes over. If it doesn't do the trick, you aren't stuck at the hospital forever since they don't break your water and what have you.

And, in the spirit of labor and delivery, I am experiencing my first real bout of Braxton Hicks contractions today. To put it mildly, they aren't much fun...and I'm ready for them to be over after about 3 hours of this. I can honestly say that I've had worse cramps due to another natural process, but these, even though I know they're normal and just my body's way of practicing, have the added effect of making me nervous because, well, it's too early for the sprout to come out. I'm just trying to take it easy and wait for them to subside...feel free to subside anytime now...

Let's see, other than that, Mark has been looking into chiropractic practices to either join or purchase or something. He's found a few, but mainly in Denver. I have to admit that I'm just not a big fan of Denver as a place to live (no offense, Jenny). It's just waaaaaay too big for the small town girl in me (I know, I know...like Colorado Springs is small, but it feels small due to the way it's laid out, I guess). I could probably handle something in the "outskirts" toward the south like Highlands Ranch or Cenntenial or something, but anything much further in and I'm not so sure it wouldn't be something to make me growl. Of course, the alternative he came up with to go to a practice Burlington isn't much better...more for him than me. I lived on the Eastern Plains for the first 2/3 of my life...I'm cool with prairie and not much going on. My dear Mark, though, goes through torture every time we visit my home town and so I can definitively say that one isn't going to happen. I'm glad he's looking now...hopefully he'll find something that will work before we move back.

And, I guess that is it for tonight. I just wanted to let you all in on what we learned today. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

The Home Stretch...

Huh. Well, would you look at that...27 weeks gone by, 91 days to go...where has the time gone? It really seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was dealing with feeling awful and yet being so happy to feel awful. I think only pregnancy can make a person enjoy being sick. And, yet here I am in trimester #3 looking at a little more than 3 months until I will be holding a bouncing baby boy in my arms. Whoa. This is heavy...

I will admit I am a wee bit nervous about being a mom. I inherently know I'll do fine, but I do have those moments when I think about how I really don't feel old enough to be a mom. I'm not sure I can explain that, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had that feeling. And, then, of course, there are the musings running through my mind about how I'm going to manage to get everything I already need to do with the increase in responsibility that comes with a new little baby and then a toddler and then a young child...you get the idea. No doubt I'll find a way...I always seem to manage somehow, but it is a little scary to think about. I think part of the pressure comes from knowing that I will be responsible for raising a responsible adult...a contributing member to society. That is the ultimate goal of child rearing as I see it and it's one heck of a responsibility to have and there are countless examples of how even the best of intentions can fail at producing a good end result. No pressure...

So now that you're in the know about the things running through my psyche with respect to baby, how about a little update on the past week? To be honest, there isn't much to relay that's exciting. First up - Mark is one step closer to graduating! He passed his clinic mids. One more test down. Now all he has to do is get enough adjustments to take his clinic exit exam. And, of course those two big board exams which are approaching...

Of course, there always has to be uncertainty to make things more interesting and we have some with respect to Mark's last board exam. Guess when it is? May 18, 19, and 20....the weekend before the sprout is due to join us. He assures me he'll not miss our son's birth, but we're both hoping that sprout will be patient and be maybe a bit late. :)

Otherwise, I had my second (though much shorter, thankfully) bout of stomach flu, bought more baby clothes at rock bottom prices and felt pretty spiffy. :) I also bought us a little s'mores making set when I returned the maternity clothes I didn't like from JC Penney. It was 75% off and I thought it would be a good alternative to our typical marshmallow roasting ritual which involves the fireplace...something I just don't really want to pass along as a good idea to the sprout. Fireplaces and little fingers are not a good match if you ask me!

And, that is about it. I pretty much spend most of my time doing taxes. I am actually enjoying it. I'm even contemplating ditching the wedding business to go back to my original plan in college of doing taxes out of our home or maybe doing bookkeeping....we shall see what transpires. If nothing else, it's going to be a heck of a lot easier to get business and make money with an accounting gig...and if I'm doing it on my schedule it might be quite enjoyable indeed.

So that's it for tonight. I'm finally feeling a bit hungry and am going to go partake of a little dinner that Mark made. I hope you all have a fabulous week!

One Hundred Days?!?

Wow! That counter over there on the side bar says that it's only 100 more days until Baby Rocco, the Sprout, the Sweet Pea, Rocky, ********, will be here! (How you like them stars? I'm just sort of taunting you now, aren't I?). It's pretty hard to believe that we're so far along here...

That said it has been a somewhat eventful week here in Roccoland. We started our progress off last week with our usual trip to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. This has become tradition with us...and it's a good one on several levels. It's healthy (well, for the most part if you don't count the whole ice cream fest at the end of the meal), it isn't terribly expensive and it helps keep me feeling fine on several levels. During this particular lunch we actually accomplished something aside from feeding our faces, though. It is decided...the baby has a first name. Go us! :) Of course, I don't actually plan to tell you what it is until he is here with us, but at least you can rest easy that he won't be signing his checks as "The Sprout" when he's 30-something...and hating us every minute of every day. ;)

As for the middle name, we're still contemplating. We have four names that we like. Two of which seem to be the front runners since Mark technically gets more weight when it comes to choosing this one since it will be of Hawaiian origin. I like one of the names better than the other, buuuuuut I have a hang up with the one name we both kind of like...I don't particularly like writing the first letter of this name. Yep, you've contemplated it for some time and now you know it to be true...I'm a wee bit eccentric. :) I have a feeling that the favorite name will win out despite my "issues" since in all honesty the most frequent use of our little one's middle name will be the whole you are so in trouble first, middle and last name at once use. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about...more to come on the name game when we have made more progress.

Another thing we accomplished this week was that we ordered the sprout's crib. We decided ultimately to go with an inexpensive but highly rated model (per our Baby Bargains book which is based upon parent reviews primarily). We ordered it from Sears because we figured that the extra money we'd spend to get it from there was worth the time and money we'd save if we needed to return it. since we could return it to the store. I have sent Sear's a little email to see if maybe we can get a little money back as a result of their price matching policy since we could have ordered it cheaper from Target (but no in store returns there). It's a simple crib in white which does, I believe, convert to a day bed. Now we just have to get a mattress and maybe some bedding...

Speaking of bedding, I do really like the set I found, but I am mulling whether we'll actually go that route. I go through stages. Sometimes it seems a little more logical and financially savvy to just buy separates in solid colors. I guess we'll see where we ultimately go.

We've hit another milestone with respect to my whole pregnancy experience as well....I have a cold. Thankfully, it seems to be rather mild and the ear ache that I was having yesterday seems to have been abated, but nevertheless, I have one. It seems that every pregnant woman I've know or know has had a cold at some point during their pregnancy so I guess it's just one of those rights of passage. I just hope mine stays manageable since most colds I've had result in my hacking and coughing the night away until the doctor dopes me up with codeine cough syrup...which isn't really an option right now.

The last development for the week in the world of baby madness is that my office threw a lovely baby shower for me. I was very appreciative since I wasn't sure I'd really have one otherwise. They gave us some great gifts including a nice china setting made especially for kids for special occasions. It has a luncheon sized plate, a bowl and a little cup with a barn yard animal theme...so terribly cute. We also were given the full set of Beatrix Potter books that came out recently and that I thought were so awesome when I saw them on Martha Stewart's show. I'm sure the sprout, daddy and I will all have a blast reading these cute stories. The two partners in my firm pitched in for a nice Babies R Us gift card and my supervisor and a co-worker picked up some great necessities at Target for us including an adorable layette set that I can't wait to put baby in. :) One final gift came from an intern at our office whom I've given a ride home to a couple of times. It is the cutest little outfit with a pair of pants and a zip-up cardigan. I love it. I definitely appreciate how sweet they were to me!

In non-baby news, tax season is going well for me and school seems to be going well for Mark. I've already worked about 20 hours worth of overtime. I have opted to bank my first 80 hours so that if I return to work I'll have some time off for if baby's sick or what have you. I, of course, would prefer not to return to work, but I don't want to close any doors so I'm keeping my options open on that one. I just may see if we can go down to 2 days per week...

And, that is about it for us. I hope you all enjoy 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!). :)

Nine Days...

As opposed to nine months of course. I'm actually, if you're counting about ready to move into week 22 of my little experience with pregnancy. The past couple of weeks haven't been too awful on that front. My biggest complaint is that I'm just so darn tired so often.

At any rate, this has been quite the whirlwind of a week plus to be sure. Lots and lots of things are going on....some wonderfully pleasant and others, well, not so much. I guess that's just life, though, huh?

So, first up, I don't think I mentioned in my last post that my dreams of an office to myself were crushed. It totally stunk finding out that I was going to be put in a cubicle while a younger person who was promoted to senior auditor shortly after I started but who's been with the company longer would be getting the office that I'd been told would probably be mine. It was a bummer especially since the audit staff is out of the office so much, but whatever. I was able, at least, to talk them into letting me stay where I am so I am still sharing an office with another lady who is nice but gets on my nerves often...at least it's only for a few more months.

Tax season is upon us and my work load has increased quite a bit which means I'll definitely not be posting super regularly, but I'm still shooting for once a week here if there is something worth posting about. We have an "issue" with doing our taxes currently which just isn't fun at all either (I'm trying to get all the "bad" news out first so we can dwell more on good news later!). That would be that my computer has died. My hard disk is fried and so now I have signed my life away - or at least up to $1600 (no, I didn't back it up....I was in the process believe it or not when the stupid thing finally said it gave up) to send said hard disk to a restoration company that will hopefully rescue countless pictures of importance (thankfully most of our pictures through 2005 are on a disk somewhere), family recipes (though this is suspect because I'm not sure exactly where I put these for storage and I have a funny feeling they're going to be missed - sigh - glad a lot of them got posted to our recipe exchange site), every business file I ever created for my wedding business and most importantly, our financial data (!) for the past couple/few years. This alone is worth that $1600 price tag...and more. The thought of having to recreate those records makes me shudder. I think maybe I'll back my computer up a little more often once I get it back. That is a bit of good news - we did have a service plan so the dead hard disk will be replaced free of charge.

So, I think that about covers all the not-so-pleasant items on the docket...let's move on shall we?

Mark's parents came for their "parting" visit on Friday, Jan. 5. It was nice to have them around again. His dad busied himself with various minor repairs around the house which seem to have been successful with the exception of the caulking which I redid yesterday since a good portion of it had come off...probably because we needed to use the shower prior to the 36 hour period you're supposed to wait was up. My "redo" isn't nearly as nice as his job was since I've never done it before, but it looks "good enough" as Mark would say and it's getting it's 36 hours of dry time since we had notice of it so it should be fine (though I'm cringing today that I can't get a shower in...grr!).

The rest of us did a lot of galavanting (per Mark's terminology) last weekend including visiting Babies R Us to finish up our registry which we're thrilled to have done because now we know what it is that we want for our little guy. The simple knowledge that we don't have to pour over strollers and car seats and what have you anymore makes me one happy camper. The tricky part now is that we just have to start buying the stuff....we figure we'll do a little at a time.

And, I've already started! I actually bought baby's first article of clothing this past week at Old Navy. They had the cutest little sleeper with owls and mushrooms (why these go together I'm not sure in case you wonder as Mark did) that I picked up for around $4. I also had another little whirl at baby clothes shopping at Babies R Us this past Friday where they had a lot on clearance with an additional 30% off. I found about 10 pieces (most are separate tops and bottoms since Pat (Mark's mom) clued me into the fact that separate tops and bottoms mean quicker diaper changes. I spent a little over $40 so I am feeling pretty psyched about the experience. Most of the clothes I bought are for when the sprout is a bit older (in 3/6 mo. and 6/9 mo.). We kind of have a feeling our little guy is going to waste no time growing and so we're not planning to invest in a lot of newborn clothing...

In addition to finishing up the registry, we also went to a store called Lullabye Lane and found a crib that we really like. It's made by a company called Munire who comes highly recommended and converts into a toddler bed and a full size bed when the time comes. We are still contemplating whether or not we want to wait to get it until after we move just so it doesn't get banged up in the process.

In other furniture news, we actually have purchased a dresser for baby! We found one at Ikea last night (after Mark's neurology class which was nearby) for $59...on sale from $150. It is pine (an easily dinged and damaged wood) so we may not keep it forever but we couldn't pass it up the great deal especially given the fact that this chest of drawers has a fold out changing table on top of it. It is basically perfect. We were glad we found it, but if not, there was a suitable $30 changing cart that we were going to get to make due with. So now I have something to put together....

And, let's see, it's sort of related to furniture so for those of you who know about the Consumer Reports car seat study, we have done our homework and will be getting a seat that passed the tests. We originally had chosen the Graco Safe Seat which we were going to combine with a little stroller attachment to use until the baby outgrew his infant car seat at which time we were planning on moving to a Peg Perrego stroller and a convertible car seat. Since the Peg Perrego car seat seems to have passed the tests as long as safety belts rather than the LATCH system are used to secure it (and we're not even sure our car has the LATCH system) we're just going to go for that seat with the Centro stroller and we'll be just fine.

And, finally, we hit another milestone on Friday with respect to our little one - I felt him move! Since then, I've picked up the weird little feelings of his synchronized swimming moves off and on. He was especially active this morning after my breakfast of oatmeal waffles with blueberry sauce (yum!) - apparently I wasn't the only one who really liked them. ;)

I hope you all have a nice week. I am now off to finish taking down what little bit of Christmas decor I haven't yet while Mark is at his second day of Neurology study stuff (I think I get the better deal here, but he actually enjoys this a lot). I also get to go for groceries, do laundry and try to relax since tomorrow is sure to be a taxing (ha ha ha - CPA humor rears its ugly head!) day. :)

Pictures...Finally!

Yes, I've been a slacker. I admit it. Well, sort of. I have been kind of busy but I could have made time to do this before now. I just haven't - hence the slacker moniker. Maybe I'll tell you about what I've been up to (it's really not that exciting to be honest) once I get these pictures posted. :)

Wow...kind of liking the new picture uploading interface here...hopefully things will be a little less problematic. So just as a reminder, these pictures are from our visit to the ultrasound specialist doctor on December 20...they're probably the last ones we'll get until we have the little one to show off if I'm guessing correctly. We've been pretty fortunate with all the pictures we've had, though, so we can't really complain. :) Incidentally, I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do as far as posting pictures of the little guy once he's arrived. There are some pretty sick people out there and the thought of them oogling over my baby's pictures kind of creeps me out. I have plenty of time to think about it and let you all know! I'll probably just set up an album on York Photo or something and then have people contact me to get the login info...we shall see. All that aside though - pictures are here!

So, here's the first shot. Baby is right side up here with head to the left. You can sort of make out some facial features. He's cute don't you think?

The "alien shot where you get to see his little face from the front view. His eyes should have moved in closer to his nose by now so he probably looks a lot more normal. :)

Cute little baby feetsies...

And, finally, a face down shot...head is to the left.

So, like I said - not a lot of excitement here over the past week or so. We spent most of our New Years working on a registry at Babies R Us which we're sort of using to help keep track of what it we want to buy as time comes closer for the lovey...or, of course, to give family and friends who are so inclined ideas about what we need. We found a great book that is helping us make wise decisions on things like cribs, etc. so we're probably going to move most of our Target registry over there as well (we've heard they are just not the best if something needs to be returned and just would prefer to avoid that mess!). We'll probably have a few things left there since some of their items don't seem to be sold at BRU. Seriously, that is about all that we have really accomplished...and we only made it through a third of the store. :) I was pretty tired after that and we had to call it a day.

We hope you all had a nice New Years and we wish you many blessings in the coming year!

Christmas Recap...

It's almost been a week since Christmas (time flies when you're having fun!) so I guess I better get you all updated on how it went! :)

I think it is safe to say we had a very nice Christmas this year...filled with surprises and only the occasional snafu. I had the day off the Friday before and so I started preparing for guests on Christmas Day. Somehow, as is often the case, I forgot we were only having a few people over and prepared enough food for about 20 people. :)

Due to the stormy weather in Denver (which seems to be somewhat reincarnated), we had the pleasure of having Mark's parents come stay and celebrate the holiday with us beginning early Saturday morning. While they were here, we busied ourselves with home improvement projects such as replacing our kitchen sink. It is now quite nice and a big improvement over the original 20 year old faucet. I guess we won't get to enjoy a replay of my pulling the faucet handle off here...which is fine. I did that in Colorado once and it was about as much fun as pulling off the one in the bathroom. :) We also ordered closet doors for our hallway which hopefully will arrive soon. We've not had doors in our hall closet since we moved in and I am ready for that to be taken care of!

On Sunday evening, Mark's mom joined Mark and I for Christmas Eve services at church. We had a nice time watching the nativity pageant the children put on and celebrating the birth of Jesus. It was really neat having Mark's mom there with us...and we all were thinking that maybe next year our little on could be playing baby Jesus...though it is probably a long shot since we'll be relocating and such. :)

That evening, Mark and I opened one gift each...kind of a tradition we're carrying over from both of our families. He received a game called "Would You Rather..." that should probably amuse us when we have a chance to play it! As for me, I received a very nice fondue set from Williams Sonoma which will also provide plenty of amusement. In fact, it started early by providing amusement on Christmas day since Mark figured that since WS had displayed it with a candle as the fuel supply he didn't buy a sterno. :) It was quite a timely gift since we were planning on fondue for Christmas dinner!

On Christmas morning, we made oatmeal waffles and then went to see what other fun things were under the tree. Mark enjoyed his gifts which included another game, some clothing items and gift certificates for movie rentals and theater tickets (Rocky Balboa is the first movie we'll probably see with those!). Many of his gifts were centered around a theme of our getting to spend more time together and remembering to be husband and wife instead of just mom and dad when our little one comes along. The "superstar" gift that tied these all together was a date jar which has a bunch of different date ideas for us to draw on when we need some inspiration. Many are things we can do here at home for little $$ and with a baby or little child near by...Mark really loved this gift!

As for me, I received some CDs for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra that we saw in concert, the Harry Potter book I need to read before the next one comes out and other nifty things. One of my favorite gifts was a choo choo train bundt pan that I had wanted but didn't get from Williams Sonoma. Since we have a little boy on the way, I think I know what his 1st birthday cake is going to be! :)

We also had some fun gifts for Mark's parents. Since we'd sent most of their gifts to Colorado, many of what they opened on Christmas were re-gifts that we thought they would enjoy....hopefully we were right. Their big "planned" surprise was the digital camera that we recently replaced. They were very happy with that once they figured out that we hadn't went out and spent a ton on a new one. :)

Christmas afternoon was a big party with the addition of our friends Kai and Tina from Sweden to our little family. They treated us to goodies from their homeland and we al enjoyed chatting and eating. Since I was pretty worn out by the time all the festivities were over, it was a good thing we had leftovers...which we're still working on. Hee hee!

As for the past week, there wasn't too much in the way of excitement. We did have a little visit with our Obstetrician and gave him a copy of the birth plan we've written up which he seemed to think would be okay even though it was very "chiropratic" oriented...I doubt he expected anything less! :)

Yesterday, since I was out at noon from work, we met up with a couple of friends - Lydia and Jeff and had a nice lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Then we went to Target and set up a baby registry. We're planning to do one more at Babies R Us this weekend and then we should be finished with that process. We found lots of little things that we think will be quite helpful in making our little one's first year or so quite pleasant...and of course we found quite a few fun toys that we can't wait (oh, wait I mean, the baby - ha! ha!) can't wait to play with. :)

In just a bit I'll finally (with any luck) get the last ultrasound pictures up for you all...until then, we wish you a super Happy New Year! :) On New Year's Day, we'll be 1/2 way to the sprout's delivery day!

Pink or Blue and Maybe Some Pictures, too!

So I suppose everyone is just anxiously awaiting the announcement of what gender of baby we're having? I know I was! Thus, without further a-do, here's the verdict!

It's a boy!

Yes, my friends, we're having one of those little ones that is filled with snips and snails and puppy dog tails. Boy oh boy oh boy! :)

We do have pictures of him (yes, jus him instead of him/her!) to share, of course, but I am just a little tired and not in the mood to deal with them so please be patient and I will get them up in the next few days or so. :)

Until then, we'll sign off as proud members of team blue!