19 weeks (& 1 day)

Time is moving along! I guess now that I feel good and we're out and doing things (plus it's the holiday rush season), the time can fly by. Maybe, it's just that time for the first 3 or so months went by so slowly because I felt so crappy. I don't know, but I'm lovin' it!

We are 19 weeks along today! According to the internets, our baby is now 8" long and 8 oz. Wow! Tot is growing! I can tell. My belly is now the biggest part of my body by far. Last night, E said "Wow!! You're pregnant!!" This morning, i caught myself in the mirror from the side, and I can see her sentiments!

I don't have many reasons to complain these days as my pregnancy symptoms have died down significantly. I sneeze a lot - especially in the afternoons at work. I have had some pretty bizarre dreams, but other than that and still tiring a bit easily I feel completely normal. Oh, except that the night before last, I think I felt the baby kick. It continued for a few minutes and was a bit random. I can't say for sure yet as it was a sensation I'd never before felt, but I'm hoping to feel it again soon!

Snow Day

We were both sent home this afternoon due to weather. E shoveled the driveway, we took Gladys to the park, and then we took some pictures of us in our front yard:





I am actually sitting with Gladys in our front yard. LOTS of snow!

And, because I finally got the camera out, here are a few pics of our tree and our mantle, nicely decorated for Christmas (awwww...):

Time to reconsider that stay at home mom job...

Ok, not really at this point (first of all, money aside, since we can't legally get hitched in any way, both of us need to work in order to have insurance...). However, today, we started looking into daycare. We found a place across the street from my work (and E works very close to me), that looks great and we're headed over for our first daycare tour. (This place comes highly recommended, so getting on a waiting list is the way to go.)

We can (barely) afford this place, but I started thinking about our plans to have two children, and I can't figure out how on earth we will pay for two children in daycare in a couple of years. This stuff is expensive!

I'm sure it's not as big of an issue as it feels right now; my pregnancy hormones have been doing some crazy emotional things to me lately (and to E, poor thing!!) It is actually exciting to start looking and getting a feel for what is out there, and I can certainly see why it makes financial sense to have someone stay home with the kids (not to mention emotional and bonding sense too!) Perhaps down the road it's something that would make sense for us too.

Let it Snow

E & I had a fabulous appointment last night. We met with the only m/w we hadn't yet met, and she was fantastic. I liked her within about .3 nanoseconds. It turns out that the intern has finished her rotation, so we don't have to deal with her again. In addition, MW was very open to E's lactation plan, and is going to review it, then call in her meds. Yeah!!! She had to have gotten the impression that we were very organized given that E handed over a crisp clear outlined report with supporting documentation attached. It was quite the document!

Of course, the highlight of the appointment was Tot's steady heartbeat. Up around 160! My eyes well up with happy tears every time we hear our baby!

Afterwards, we felt so relieved that we had made the right decision about where to go for our prenatal care, that we decided to celebrate by going to one of E's very favorite Italian places downtown. We devoured a pesto pizza AND a slice of key lime pie. Yumm!

Now, we just have to last 11 more days before we can see Tot again. SEE TOT again! It is too exciting to think about!

The snow keeps on coming, and that's fine with me. It's beautiful right now. It feels wintry and cozy, and we're looking forward to a weekend where we can do all kinds of holiday preparation. It snowed last night, and rumor has it that the snow will be here again tomorrow.

Let it snow!

Midwife appointment

We are planning our strategy for the MW appointment today. Hopefully it goes better than the past appointments. I have my lactation protocol all typed up and ready to give them. We have a few questions and a few comments for them regarding our future care. Most of all we are looking forward to hearing the heatbeat again!

18 weeks!

This last week has really flown by. We've been quite busy outside of work, which always makes the time pass quickly.... always good when you're counting weeks until you get to see your baby again (less than 2 to go!!).

In the last week or two I've had some notable changes. I have definitely grown again. Tot is growing, and my tummy is growing too. I'm VERY thick around the middle now, and nearly looking pregnant, rather than like I've been eating too many donuts - call me crazy, but I prefer pregnant to gluttonous.

I'm still fruit crazy, but I'm also eating more veggies. I love feeling like I eat normally again. I'm still carb-heavy compared to my pre-pregnancy food choices, but last night's dinner included not one, but TWO vegetables (zucchini and broccoli) in addition to whole wheat pasta. I also love, love, LOVE milk. I was never really a milk drinker before being pregnant, but now I have 3 - 6 servings a day... that doesn't include any yogurt or cheese, that's just milk. I don't really notice any other major cravings, although the other day I realized that in the last four months I've had four donuts, which is at least 2 more than I have in any given year.

We meet with the midwife tomorrow. Depending on how it goes, we will probably decide whether to stay with them, or to go back to our old NP's office and do a hospital birth. I'm not stressed out about it anymore; I just want to have Dr.'s appointments that aren't so annoying.

So, we've made it 18 weeks! I'm feeling good - lots of energy over all, and we are staring at the halfway mark: Christmas. Wow! I can't believe we've made it this far. How wonderfully fortunate we are!

He is here!

The greatest dad on earth is visiting us till Wednesday! What do we plan to do with him? We plan to eat, talk, eat, drink a little wine, and laugh! We love having him visit. He is laid back, fun, and one of our favorite people!

Here he is with one of his best friends, my niece Maureen!



In other news, we took G to a local non-profit that helps adopt out cats to have her picture taken with Santa! It was the group's big fundraiser and S's boss volunteers for the group so it all made sense. G was terrified. She is a bit of a chicken about a few things but when a scary, hairy, man in a red suit approached you fast and in a hovering manner, who wouldn't be scared. I know this is a group of cat lovers but for goodness sake, if you are having dogs come in...learn how to approach them. Well, to get the picture taken I had to be in it. Look at her face, she thinks this man is about to kill us!



Happy Holidays from G!