January 29, 2010

Its Friday! This should be a fun weekend. We will once again not have any rain and will be able to keep working on the backyard. Tonight we are going to drop Mali off at my mom's "Grandmas" so she can play with "Uncle" Duke. Chris and I are going to the Americana for some maternity shopping and dinner. I am running out of clothes at a very fast rate. We are also celebrating accomplishing another financial goal this year. After I got out of culinary school our money was not stable and I wasn't able to pay off the Honeymoon. That always seems to just escalate when you aren't bringing in what you used to. Luckily in October of last year I was able to go back to my job in a different position and start over again. I was making good progress but then when we decided to get pregnant we thought we should put some money away first. We also had to get a new car, one because the bug just died on us and two the bug was not big enough for a child. I hadn't had a car payment for over a year and that was a large expense to take on. So after shifting our financial goals we got the amount of money we feel is secure enough at this time in savings and then with the help of selling the bug I was able to pay off my credit card today! Now we have one more goal to accomplish before I go on maternity leave and I don't think its going to be a problem. I hope our child will listen to our financial mistakes and be better with money. Its not easy to dig your self out of a hole its just better not to get in one in the first place. Chris and I are lucky that we have stable jobs that allow us to work out our financial shortcomings. I think we have learned a lot over the past years and will never have to pay off a credit card again.

January 21, 2010

I cant believe that I forgot to mention the car accident I was in last Thursday. I guess because I am fine and the baby is fine I haven't been dwelling on it. Last Thursday I need to take my car to Star Ford to have the shocks in the hatch fixed. My appointment was on Friday morning so I thought it would be a better idea to bring it in the night before. I asked Shannon to follow me there for a ride home. Mackie came over to watch Mali and we were going to attempt walking after I got back. The rain was really heavy and seemed like it was never going to end. Even though Shannon didn't want to go out in the rain, I have no fear of driving and felt it would be fine. We left right after the rain had stopped and were heading east on the 210 in the number 5 lane about to get onto the 2 when I saw a car coming perpendicular to the flow of traffic. Once I realized they were heading towards me I slammed on my breaks and braced for the hit. We hit at about 50 miles per hour my front passenger side to their back passenger side. I thought for sure I was going to be hit again and Shannon was going to cream the back of my car. Lucky for me she saw what was going on and stopped in time. We were the only two cars involved in the crash. So lucky! They sent a lot of police and a fire truck and an ambulance to the crash scene. I was fine and there was only a mild injury in the other car. We all opted to drive ourselves to the emergency room and save ourselves the expense of an ambulance. We had to wait a few hours at the ER, but eventually they had an ultrasound technician come to the hospital and give us an ultrasound. I guess our child is going to enjoy roller coasters and thrill rids because it couldn't have looked more content. The baby was moving all around and had a very strong heart beat of 145. We asked the technician if she could see the sex of the baby but it was still too early to tell. I am still not afraid to drive in the rain. I actually feel more confident in my driving abilities. I was able to stop with out jerking the wheel and potentially hurting me or another driver. "Thanks Dad" I think being taught to drive by my dad was a good thing. He dries without fear.

And finaly we are all caught up

Since that last doctors appointment I have gotten to 16 weeks. I have officially grown out of all of my jackets, jeans and button down shirts. I would like to say that all my weight is boobs and stomach but I have used the extra calories to my advantage. So far I have gained 10 pounds. I have definitely reintroduced my healthy eating habits, since I am no longer nauseous. The foods that I crave the most are chocolate, fried anything and cheese. The cheese has been the hardest one to deal with because there is a lot of controversy over which cheese is ok to eat during pregnancy. And I like it all! The information I received from my doctor said that you could eat soft cheese as long as it is pasteurized. But Chris did some research and said that he read only pasteurized hard cheese were ok. I am not really sure how I feel about the subject and definitely will be talking to my doctor in a couple of weeks when I see him.

My only pregnant friend moved away which was hard. It was nice to have some one to talk to and discus things with. Since she was already on her second child she was able to give me good advice.

Last night Chris and I started, what we hope to be, a weekly sister dinner. All of the older aunties came over for some burn your mouth off chili. Chris, in an attempt to make the chili not taste like tomato, added 4 chipotle chiles. That was enough to make me cry. Luckily we received some good advice from our cousin who has experience in kitchens. He said adding brown sugar will help calm the spice. That did help, but adding almost a block of cheese and having the chili in a bread bowl wasn't a bad idea either. We all sat in the living room and watched American idol. It was fun to laugh and make fun of all the bad people trying out.

Tonight is our big recorded TV night. We record all the comedies on NBC. Starting with Community, Parks and Rec, The Office and 30 Rock. Then you have my guilty pleasures of Vampire Dairies and CSI.

Chris and I have been working our butts off every weekend in our back yard. So far we have made a patio and cleaned and beautified all the planters. We are now getting ready to plant seed for grass. Mali has made keeping grass back there almost impossible. We are going to fence it off until we have it established and then keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Chris has been back in the gym getting all ripped while I get the opposite of that. Hopefully this means he will be strong enough not to catch the head cold I am now dealing with. I guess it comes with working in an office where you share paperwork. Mali has also been sick. She was diagnosed with bronchitis. Luckily it was treatable with antibiotics. I will just have to ride my cold out with hot tea and rest.

This weekend we are looking forward to birthdays, including a snow boarding trip for Chris. I don't think he has been in 10 years.

My next doctors appointment is February 8 and I hope to get some belly pictures up soon. I am also going to start the great tattoo watch of 2010. Maybe it wasn't such a smart idea to get a tattoo on my hip?!

January 7, 2010

The best part about going back to work was knowing that I had a doctors appointment that Thursday morning. This was a special appointment where the thickness of the baby's neck is checked as a way to determine downs syndrome. This test is called Nuchal Translucency Screening. The best part was that a ultrasound technician comes in to do the test. She was super sweet and allowed my mom and Chris's mom in during the ultrasound. The baby measured in at 1.6 which is normal. The baby was so active and had a heart beat at 167 and then later at 150. The pictures we got that day were just incredible and everyone was amazed at how far technology had come. The weird looking picture in the right upper corner is in 3D but right as that happened the baby turned around. This appointment marked a huge milestone in our pregnancy. It meant that we were into the second trimester with a very health looking baby. At that point you have a 90% chance of caring the baby to full term. This was also the first time we were able to hear the heart beat. At this appointment I was 13 1/2 weeks, still not showing even though I could not button or zip my pants. Thank goodness for my cousins gift of the belly band. That helped me hold my pants up until I went shopping for maternity jeans.

We wont have another ultrasound for 8 weeks when we find out the sex of the baby.

Hello 2010, The year of our baby

New years wasn't the same this year. I had already gotten tired of being called the 9 month designated driver. I kindly asked Chris if we could just stay home. My Christmas vacation was almost over from work and I was feeling a lot better but still really tired and none of my cute clothes fit anymore. Even though he was a little reluctant he is a great husband and understood how I felt. We ended up eating In-N-Out for dinner and drinking a whole bottle of apple cyder while watching the count down. It was a awesome new year private party because I didn't have to do my hair or make up and I got to stay in my sweats.

December 21, 2009

We didn't have to wait the standard 4 weeks to see the doctor again because I started having really bad stomach cramps and was asked to come in and be checked. There was still no heart beat from the outside since I had only progressed to 11 weeks so again I had to do an internal ultrasound. There was a big sigh of relief from me, the doctor and my cousin who is my nurse when we saw the little bugger moving all around and its little heart beating strong. I went back to work with the knowledge that my uterus and ligaments were stretching and that I might have a bout of constipation. The worry was worth it to see the baby looking more like a human. I can even see a face in this picture.

Next came the holidays, which are never easy on my husband and I. But despite the fact that I still wasn't feeling too well everything was great and we couldn't stop talking about how much more fun next year was going to be.

From my mom and step dad we got a video camera and all the accessories. From Chris's Mom we got cute baby bibs, a stuffed animal and a gift card for maternity clothes, which I desperately need. It was great because my grandparents also gave my a gift card for clothes. Shannon got us some of her most fond baby books which was super sweet! My friend Cristina gave us some cute baby socks that Mali did get a hold of off the kitchen counter, but they were recovered before any damage could be done. My dad got me shoes that tone your butt when you walk which is exactly what I need since all I can do is walk. And Chris and I decided not to exchange gifts but to save money for the baby.

December 15, 2009

This is the baby at 10 and 1/2 weeks. I was still not showing at all but I knew I was still pregnant by the constant nausea and bloating. I did experience a good three months worth of not being able to eat anything and not being able to get off the couch. I started to feel really bad for the baby because all the books say how important it is to work out and eat right and I couldn't do either. I was just happy I made it to work each day. The first week I felt sick I could only eat soda crackers. After that I would eat weird stuff I haven't eaten in years. I had things like 2 bagels with cream cheese for dinner, Taco Bell burritos and mashed potatoes. I only threw up twice, so I got off easy with that one. I also had to cancel my cycling membership. It was a very sad day. I loved cycling and TRX workouts and both had to be put on hold.

The picture is another internal ultrasound. We were not able to pick up the baby's heat beat so they wanted to make sure everything was still OK. Umm I saw he heart beat but I couldn't make out anything in the picture. Still it was a very exciting appointment.

Picture of the tiny spec

This is our fist picture of the baby taken November 17, 2009.

Our Tiny Spec

Some of the gruesome details of our pregnancy are my last period was October 4, 2009, we conceived on or around October 18, 2009 and had a positive pregnancy test on October 31, 2009. We told my mom the next night at dinner and Chris's mom the following night. I called the doctor the next Monday and had my fist appointment on November 17, 2009. My Doctor did an internal ultrasound and we were able to see the little spec that was flickering in side this black blob. It was our baby. We were so excited. We then told our grandparents and fathers. Can any one guess what my dad had to say? "It better be a boy!"

The Big Question

The actual talk about pregnancy did not happen until after my awesome "EXTRAVAGANT" birthday in Las Vegas in August. It was labor day weekend and I was on my last birth control pill. Chris and I went to, what was my favorite place to eat, Chipotle and I asked the big question: "I was thinking about not getting another pack of birth control and that maybe we could start trying to get pregnant. what do you think?" Of course Chris said "YES" and we went to penguins, another one of my old favorites, and then home to start discussing the due date. I don't think most people would put this much effort into planning a baby, but we have huge families and were desperately trying not to interfere with any one else's special time. We figured if we were lucky enough to get pregnant in September then the baby would be due in June and there was still a chance that we would make it to Chris's cousins wedding in New Jersey in July. We knew that October would be tough for the wedding but there might be a chance that Chris could still go. We were going to stop trying in December because at that point we were moving into a fall due date, which we were shooting for summer since we have summer birthdays, and Chris's step sisters wedding that I am doing the cake for. We got lucky in a way because we got pregnant in October, Due July 11, 2010. Lucky because it only took us one month of trying before we were able to conceive and not so lucky because it looks like we both might be missing the July 3 wedding.

Mali

The baby talk started about a year ago when going out wasn't as fun and the thought of having a family was more on our minds than drinking and partying. We decided to get a dog first. It was a good thought. They do depend on you for life and you have to make arrangements for them. Unfortunately we got Mali! Even though we couldn't love anything more, right now, she almost destroyed the thought of children. But in the end kids will eventually be able to talk and at least we have become calm and patient with sudden illness or injury. Some of the best Mali moments include: Crying all the time because she wont stop biting, loosing countless pairs of underwear and sun glasses, eating 20 tums, chipping her tooth on keys, getting stung by a bee, running across the street to play with the neighbor dogs, and last but not least dragging 6 foot long pieces of wood in the house and shredding them all over the living room!

First One

So I am a little late since I am already 16 weeks. But I guess its better late than never. My sister in law, Shannon (the babies auntie) told me that this would be a good way for family and friends I don't see all the time to be a part of my pregnancy. I was even more excited to learn that I can turn this into a book for the baby. I am going to start from the beginning to fill in the time from thinking about a baby to now.