31 Weeks

I've only been really surprised one time in my life - when Brian showed up at my door step in North Carolina the day of my college graduation. He told me he couldn't make it .. and there he was. I was totally shocked, to say the least.

Well, last week I had another one of those jaw dropping, knees shaking, sweat rolling down my back surprises - at work, none the less. My friend and boss, Lisa and good friend and colleague, Kate managed to pull off a surprise shower with several of my New York colleagues, in the New York office. My conclusion - they are damn good liars. They had me going for weeks - - planning fake meetings, fake updates with our partners, etc. etc. At 3:00, I was with Lisa and Kate, having just enjoyed a piece (well, two pieces as Lisa pointed out) of King Cake - sent from New Orleans - we were off to our 3:00 meeting with our partner and a couple other colleagues. Lisa led the way and opened the door to the conference room - right when I said, "I don't think this is the right room Lisa, there's too many people in there!"

But when I walked in I saw our partner and everyone yelled "Surprise!". Or so I am told - I don't really remember because I couldn't figure out why there were 20 extra people in our "scheduled" meeting for five! Literally, I could feel my brain reeling "I know these people, but why are they in our meeting?!" Lisa and our partner had to repeatedly tell me that there was no meeting... and there weren't other meetings which we were suppose to "prep" for.
The rest of time was filled with great company and great food. Honestly, I never would have expected anything like this in a million years! And at the end of it all, I walked away with a real appreciation for how incredibly lucky I am to work with such wonderful people. I really felt special and can't wait for Baby "g" to meet all these great people in the coming months. Here's a picture of some of the folks that attended the shower - - unfortunately by the time I rallied the troops, a good chunk went back to the grind... just call this group "the slackers". Hee hee.

Front row (L-R): Danielle, Rachel, Laurie, Brooke, Kate, Dom, Richard
Back row (L-R): Liana, Raquel, Carrie, Dan, Lisa, Paul, Dave

Spinner also got a little something at the shower from Kate - a "muscle" shirt that says "I'm the big brother". It's so cute! He tried it on the other night - he was less than thrilled to wear it, but was a good sport none the less.

Oh, and my "emoticon" made its debut. Dan, back row, white shirt and tie, is the culprit. Everyone has an emoticon that he has created - and they are damn funny. Here's mine - - I "grew" over the past few months and my "quote" changed.

This weekend Brian and I (and Spinner) got out of dodge and took a mini-trip to the shore. Nothing like eating out for every meal and not having to do dishes! (Our dishwasher has been broke for almost two months now. We have been waiting (and waiting) on parts from Sears and I'm just about at my wits end!!) Saturday night we had a great dinner overlooking the ocean (in a closed room with heaters!) with steaks and crab legs. It was great to just see the water again - I am sooo looking forward to the summer! Sunday we took the long, scenic way home from the shore in our new digs. We still love it - which is a good sign. And Spinner loves it to - -he is KING of the back seat, check this out! Wait till the baby comes....

Last but not least....(although, I'd like it to be.. it's getting harder and harder to hide the triple chin! groooossss!!!) .... 31 week belly shot.

30 Weeks

For some reason, now that I am at 30 weeks I all the sudden feel like I will have the baby any day now.... but in reality, I still have 10 more weeks (or so I hope!). I'm not sure why I feel this way, but I do.

I spent most of the last week fighting the a bug - stuffy, runny nose and horrid cough. I still have most it, but feel more like a human now. The cough has been the absolute worse part. If I talk too much or laugh, I have a coughing fit. It was so bad last week, that while on a call for work I got into a coughing fit mid-sentence and couldn't stop. I was in such a panic I couldn't find the mute button so I threw the phone on the couch and ended up throwing up on myself. Delicious, I know. Needless to say, I cancelled my calls for the rest of the day. But, this wasn't the only time it happened. For the next two days, if I got into a coughing fit, I knew what was coming next... even Brian witnessed this on Saturday night after making me laugh during the world's stupidest movie ever - Nights in Rodanthe. So much for trying to watch a romantic flick on Valentine's Day.


I've also started nesting. All I want to do is play in my nursery, organize my nursery, mess up my nursery and put my nursery back together again. Since that takes a whooping 10 minutes total, I do it a few times a day. The current thorn in my side is what nursery chair I should get. I want the big, cozy, plush kind the rocks and swivels. (Note: this such chair probably won't even fit in my nursery. Chances are it will be a chair for the guest bedroom - or as Brian calls is, "the baby crying room", where I imagine I'll be spending most of time - because there is actually room in there. Our nursery is tiny.) Back to the chair - I've had my eye on such chair at Pottery Barn Kids but I refuse to spend the astronomical prices they have set for such chair. So, off to Craigslist I went. And I found myself a perfect chair, just not in the color of my choice - but, it does match the guest bedroom! Problem solved, and money saved. I pick up it up tomorrow!



Now, I'm addicted to Criagslist! It has everything!



Last but not least, a video and a belly shot. I know this is a baby blog, but since we don't have our kid yet, here's a short clip of Spinner going crazy for a balloon.

And my 30 week belly shot. Not feeling so pretty today - so you ain't gonna see my face.

29 Weeks

Hard to believe that 30 weeks is right around the corner. I never thought it would get here, but now I am amazed that it's less than a week away!

For the first time during my pregnancy, I've come down with some kind of bug. And just last week I was telling myself how great it was that I avoided getting sick so far. I was all pats on the back and "way to go me". Guess I spoke to soon... on Sunday afternoon I went down hill - tired and achy accompanied with that deep gross cough. And if that deep gross cough isn't enough, it's even worse when you're pregnant. It feels like your pulling you stomach muscles even more than they are already being stretch at 29 weeks pregnant. I wonder what the baby thinks/feels? I find myself trying to surpress the cough - which sound like I am dying or chocking, but hopefully prevents the belly-quake that my little one would feel otherwise.

On Saturday night I pulled off a big feat - I threw Brian a surprise 30th birthday party AND he was more than surprised - shocked is a better way to describe it! I've been planning it for about 2 months and in the beginning it was no big deal keeping it a secret. But as the days drew near, it became increasingly difficult. With the help of the Palsky's we were able to come up with a "plan" to get him to the party without any idea of what was to come. We were originally going out for Hibashi, but my pregnancy cravings were screaming Uno's deep dish pizza. And as any sane person would do, they didn't argue with the pregnant lady (Brian even admitted later he was not in the mood for Uno's but wasn't going to argue.) Once we arrived at Uno's, the hosted walked us into the back bar that was reserved for the party and the rest was history. Forty of Brian's favorite people in the world showed up for the special event... he was so overwhelmed and happy it was so awesome. He deserves it - and I had to get it in before our lifes are no longer about us, but about our child. Our birthdays will be a thing of the past (although, I still insist I should get a trip to Hawaii or Italy for my 30th - Grandma and Grandpa can babysit! ;) )

Here's some pictures from the party.

28 Weeks

We had a really great doctor's appointment this morning! We had my favorite ultra sound tech, Danielle, who spoiled us with a quick 3D ultra sound of our baby's face. We weren't expecting this so when the 3D pictures popped on screen we were in awe! We can kind of tell what our baby is going to look like. Her conclusions were: s/he has my nose, Brian's full lips and no hair on its head. (Brian came with a full head of hair and I was a baldy!)


What do you think? (sorry if they are a bit hard to see - they are pictures of the ultra sound pictures.)

I'm #1!

Other than our exciting ultrasound, the doctor said we were pretty boring. The baby is 3 lbs 3oz and in at the 67% for size. Which is perfect. I measured right were I need to be and I've gained 26 pounds so far. The only thing that really came up was that I have to the hospital this week for my Rhogam shot since I'm O negative blood type.


Aside from our doctor's appointment, the other big news is we finally bucked up and bought a car. I decided the Camry was just a little too small for our new family and Spinner. After kicking tires for over a year, we knew exactly what we wanted - a large SUV. Well, we went large alright. We found a used Suburban in mint condition - like Henry Holzapfel condition. We brought it home last night. I love it! Here's a picture - I promise, it's midnight blue, but we drove it home in a minor snow storm last night. At least we know the 4 wheel drive works!




And last but not least, here's the 28 week belly shot!