Something to Brighten Your Day!

Can you believe that our little David is now 7 Weeks old?! Holy crap where did the time go?! This update includes a new video as you can see from the title he gets the hiccups a lot but that doesn't stop him from getting the giggles. It's been edited down to show only the cute stuff! My favorite part is when he makes a dolphin sound at the end. At least that's what it sounds like to me it could be a mouse sound...I leave it up to you to decide!

In other news, and I am hoping that I am not jinxing myself by mentioning it, David slept for 5-1/2 hours straight the last two nights! I am not sure, this could be a fluke or a stroke of good luck, but it seems as if he is starting to come up with some sort of schedule! I am not going to get too excited just yet! He is also smiling and laughing more and more everyday!





The Doc and I had a discussion the other night about how you don't realize just how much having a baby interferes with your everyday life. Even watching your favorite TV show becomes a challenge. While I wouldn't trade this for the world it was just an interesting observation that we made!! So I have decided to come up with a list of things that change once you have a baby even typing this blog post is a challenge!! Check it out below:

P. Sophie's Top 5 Things A Baby Changes:

1. Sleep - forget about ever getting a good night sleep again...EVER! When you have a baby (especially if you're nursing as I am) remember the baby makes the schedule. So you can just forget about the days of sleeping in until noon because those days are now OVER!

2. Eating - whether it's eating a home cooked meal, ordering take-out or even being brave and going to a restaurant...how you eat will never be the same.

Trying to cook a meal becomes a challengebecausee it's either I wait for the Doc to come home or hope that David will nap long enough so that I can be in the kitchen. And when he naps long enough for me to cook the food...guess who wakes up just in time for me to eat the food and wouldn't you know he's hungry too!

Ordering take-out usually is a little easier but again if the baby is awake and I ordered a tasty Italian Hoagie for dinner...I have to wait until I can put the baby down to eat it.

The Restaurant is the most fun/challenging because while the little angel falls asleep during the car ride over to the restaurant he will most likely wake up at some point during the meal. And while he is sleeping you're holding your breath the whole time hoping that he won't wake up so you can finish your tasty cheeseburger and fries without having to take him out of his seat and bounce him. So while it can be done (we do it all the time) it is very different than when it was just the two of us!

3. Watching Television/Movie - Unless you have TiVo or any other DVR be prepared to be interrupted at some point. The Doc and I hope that if David is going to be fussy that he will fuss on a commercial but that wasn't the case during the last 5 minutes of House last night. My secret trick (which doesn't always work) is to nurse him during the show! A movie is easier because it can be paused but that just means it takes longer to watch. For example the Doc and I are trying to catch up on Season 2 of Lost and so while we can pause the DVD it takes over an hour to watch 42 minutes of show.

4. Shopping - used to be just pick up and go. Not anymore. It's feed the baby before we go, get him into is car seat, grab the diaper bag, put the baby into the car (while he is usually fussing), hope he falls asleep in the car (which he usually does) and go! Once we get to the store/mall and get him into the stroller it's pray he doesn't wake up and start screaming! Now the advantage to nursing is that you don't have to worry about bottles but if your not very good at it like me, nursing in public can be awkward. If I have to feed him while I am out I usually do it in the car and that just means I have to take him out of his car seat and go to the car (very time consuming).

5. Personal Hygiene - the days of taking a nice long hot shower are now gone. If he is sleeping I worry he will wake up and if he is awake I have to sit him in his bouncing chair and hope he doesn't start fussing. There were even a couple days I was so tired I didn't get to brush my teeth - know, your thinking how gross - and it is, but it happened to be on a day that I didn't sleep much and I crashed on the couch all day and slept in between David's feedings - believe me if you were as tired as I was I don't think clean teeth would've be a high priority to you either.

So there you have it - the top five things that have changed for us in the last 7 weeks - more for me than the Doc because I am pretty sure his patients wouldn't like it if he hadn't brushed his teeth and took a nice long hot shower. And as long as David gets his num nums and his diapers are changed regularly he doesn't care if I have stinky breath! There are other things too but those are the big ones. I suppose our circumstance makes it a little harder since the Doc has an unconventional work schedule and we're away from friends and family. But we're surviving and the cute pictures that you see make it so much easier! Although, it would be nice to have the grandparents close by for babysitting so we can go on a date once in a while. It's not easy to keep the romance alive when you smell like spit-up (wink)!!!

New Kid on the Block:

On Sunday we introduced David to Brady. Brady didn't quite know what to think and tried to pat his head and instead whacked him...it was cute. It was funny to see the two next to each other. I mean Brady is almost a year so of course he is going to be bigger but just seeing it in person was too funny! We figured that it's the GIANT head that makes the difference! Check out the cute picture:

My Little Angel:

This past weekend we were in NH for David's baptism. What a wonderful weekend it was. It was nice to see family and friends and introduce our little guy to everyone. We got into town at about 2am. We left Philly around 8:30pm because we were picking up our new car!! We are now the proud owners of a 2007 Toyota Corolla. Saturday morning I got some "me" time and was able to spend the rest of the weekend off duty from being a Mommy (with the exception of feeding time!) I enjoyed every minute of it! Put a baby in a room full of family and friends and I didn't have to hold him once!

On Sunday we had our baptism ceremony. It was really nice and David was an angel. He slept the entire mass and even when the pastor poured the water over his head. His baptism gown is made from my wedding dress. It even includes a cute little bow tie at the top. The woman who made it did a wonderful job, he looked like a little angel. After the ceremony we held a reception back at MIL and FIL's. It was really nice. My Aunt made homemade meatballs and baked ziti and we ordered cold cut platters and mini sandwiches. We couldn't have asked for a better day, it was absolutely gorgeous outside.

Thanks to everyone who was there to share it with us!

David's First Babble!

Tomorrow David will be 5 weeks old and yesterday we went to the doctor for a one month weight check and wouldn't you know our little porker gained exactly two pounds since his birth. David is now 10lbs 2oz. He is also a lot more alert and awake during the day so we try to spend some time with him on Gymini Super Deluxe Light and Music activity mat. He is also starting to babble more. It's so cute. I was able to get a couple babbles on video and just had to share.

David's Birth Story:

Today marks David's 1 month birthday! I can't believe it has already been a month. I am still tired although some days are better than others. I have spent most of my days on the couch watching TLC all day long. On the good days where I actually get a little sleep we will go out for a drive or a walk. Some days I envy the Doc when he leaves for work because he is able to be with adults and have adult conversations. David is cute and all but our conversations are pretty much one sided!!

On Monday we will go back to the pediatrician to see how much he has grown over the last four weeks. The way he has been eating lately I would guess that he is upto 9lbs - but who knows! To mark this milestone - I have finally finished his birth story and even included some video clips from our birth video. Enjoy!

David Charles Birth Story

We arrived at the Hospital at 9:15am - we were scheduled for 7:30am but they had a full house at the time so they asked us to come in later. We sat in the waiting room until 10:30, at which point the charge nurse came and told us that they still had no rooms available - instead, she put us in a recovery room just so she could get us set up. I changed into the gown and she proceeded to put in my IV and take my blood pressure etc. We finally got to our room around noon time. The nurse hooked me up to all the monitors and then we waited for the doctor to come and check me so that they could come up with a game plan for the induction process. I was 3-4cm dilated and 2cm effaced so they opted to only use Pitocin - I wouldn't need Cervidil.

At 1:15pm they started the Pitocin - the labor has now begun. I would say that I started to feel the contractions soon after. Nothing that was painful, but I could tell when they happened and it was confirmed by the monitors. They would check the progress every two hours. It was slow going and by 5pm as the nurse increased the amount of Pitocin in my IV to the point at which it was no longer very comfortable. I had declared early on that I wanted an epidural, and at this point we reminded the nurse. She told me she wouldn't increase the pitocin any more until the epidural was in, and that she would get the anesthesiologist to put it in. It turns out, however, that we had to wait for the doctors OK to have the anesthesiologist set up the epidural. It ended up being almost a four hour wait. My anesthesiologist was really cool, though. He got it in and I was so happy. I felt like I could fly! I got my second wind and so with that I tried to nap because we both knew that we were not going to have this baby on Tuesday. With the epidural in place they began to increase the Pitocin every 15 minutes but since I couldn't feel the contractions anymore I was happy!

At 1am after another check from the resident I was still stalled at 5cm. I was very discouraged because I was tired and I couldn't seem to get comfortable and just wanted it to be over. The decision was made to break my water. As soon as she did it I felt a surge of pain - it sucked. I was not happy anymore. Apparently, when the epidural was placed it came out a bit when the anesthesiologist pull the guide needle out, so the positioning was less than ideal, a situation that was coming back to bite me. My two awesome nurses (one was in training) paged the anesthesiologist and he came and gave me a boost in my epidural. In about 2o minutes I felt some relief.

At 3am I was still at 5cm - I couldn't believe what I was hearing but the resident told me that since I was fully effaced that she would expect more change in the next two hours. Well, she wasn't kidding; after about an hour of feeling this intense pressure the resident come back to check me and told me that I had gone from 5cm to 8-9cm. I was so happy I started to cry. By about a half hour later the pressure was so intense that I told the nurse that it felt like I may have to push soon. She paged the resident again and sure enough I was ready to go - fully dilated and fully effaced! She had to go get permission from the doctor (I was considered a "private" patient) but that she bet I could start pushing soon.

The chief resident came in at 4:30 and said that he had a message for me from our doctor (he was a really funny guy) - he said the message was "wow, and go ahead and start pushing!" I thought that this would be over in no time. I couldn't have been more wrong. Two and a half hours later the Doctor came in to check on me and said that everything was fine and I was pushing well. I was having some decelerations in the fetal heart rate, but that was likely from the baby getting his head squished on the way out. They put a nasty O2 mask on my face (Charlie was a bit annoyed that they didn't have any nasal cannula on the floor) and had me not push every contraction to keep my baby's heart rate up. The doctor also told me that if anything went wrong he was far enough out that they could have him out in about a minute. That sounded nice because I was exhausted. I think I may have even zoned out in between contractions.

He came back 15 minutes later and told me that they were going to get the baby out "now". He had a vacuum in hand, and they turned the room into a delivery room. All I remember was a lot more people were in the room and I just kept on pushing. The head came out and the baby was delivered about 5 minutes later! It turned out that the real reason for the vacuum was because his heart rate went from 140's to 80-60s and wasn't going back up. Poor guy! The last 20 minutes were awful; it wasn't the pushing or the baby coming down - I got a leg cramp so bad that after each contraction I remember screaming "rub my leg, rub my leg!" and after three hours of intense pushing we had a baby!

Happy Birthday John!

Happy Birthday little brother! The Big 25! Hope it was a good one!

Mood Swings:

Below you will see two pictures of our little peanut...take a guess at which baby we like better?!

Happy Birthday To Me:

So today is my birthday. I am 27 today. How did I celebrate you ask? Sitting on my couch in my normal position with a baby in my lap. We did however get out today to pick up lunch from the Cheesecake Factory and finished our Season Two DVD of House, M.D. - awesome show by the way. I am a slave to David's schedule and wouldn't you know that it's different every day! Did I mention I miss my sleep?! My Dad says that this is it...no more ever feeling like my old self again. Until this child moves out on his own my days of a goodnight sleep are officially over. I don't remember signing up for that! (wink).

At least I got my cake this year! Well it was cheesecake but it's good enough for me!

Oh yeah - and a happy anniversary wish to P. Bride and her man...the days of being a newlywed are now over! Can't believe it's been a year already! Someday this will be you! Wait as long as you can!!!!!!! Just kidding!

First Day of School!

It's the first day of school and my little Scottie is a first grader! I can't believe that he is already in the first grade! It just seems like just yesterday he was a little munchkin! My sister got him all ready and then they went down to the end of the road to the bus stop and took some pictures. He looks so grown up! Good luck Scottie on your first day!!

My Eating Machine:

So this is the position I spend most of my day in with my boppy pillow in my lap sitting on my couch with the little guy curled in the boppy. He eats all day long. Just call me Bessy the Cow!

I just spent the week with my mom and it was really nice to have someone here to wait on me hand and foot. I never had to lift a finger! I am slightly spoiled. I had a homemade breakfast every morning, lunch and dinner. She even made a prime rib one night! It was awesome! My mom even cleaned my entire kitchen from top to bottom and did all of our laundry!

Then on Thursday we picked up SIL and she was an added help by vacuuming our upstairs! I don't know what I will do now that they are gone. David and I dropped them off at the airport first thing this morning. I had to make my own breakfast when I got back. I know I am spoiled!

This afternoon the Doc and I will pick up MIL and FIL who will be with us until Wednesday afternoon - then I am on my own. The Doc is on call that day so after noon time it will just be me and David until Thursday afternoon. I suppose that not having someone here to spoil me will help me lose more weight! Like I am going to have time to make myself a hearty breakfast every morning...remember I am a cow! I spend about 60% of my day on the couch feeding the baby!

Sleep Deprived:

I am starting to understand what the Doc feels like each call night. Even if he doesn't get paged in the middle of the night - the anticipation that he could get paged makes sleeping uneasy. That is how I feel each night. There is no sleep pattern yet. Each night is different which makes it harder because one night you're up every hour and the next you get a three hour stretch.

We decided we like him best when he is sleeping - because when he isn't sleeping he is hungry even if I just fed him an hour ago. No sleeping schedule and no eating schedule is the life of a breastfed baby. We hope that as he gets older he will find a rhythm.

The cats have felt a little neglected these days - they pretty much stay upstairs in the guestroom sleeping and usually they are together. I think they find comfort in each other. Trot is mildly curious to come and see what we're holding in our arms but if David moves and/or cries then he will run away. They try to sit with us when the other one has the baby!

As for mommy and daddy - we're hanging in there. The Doc starts his CCU rotation on Monday - we're gonna miss him. Mostly for the diaper changes - that has been his job for the last two weeks. His Grammy (my mom) is flying in tomorrow morning for a week so it will be nice to have someone around to cook for us and keep things somewhat clean and organized while the Doc is back to work.

One Week Old

It's been one week since our little guy made his entrance into the world. In that week we've had our ups and downs. Nights that we could sleep and nights that we couldn't. Mostly he eats and sleeps and so when he sleeps I sleep!

We're still learning about each other and so hopefully as the weeks go on we'll finally have a schedule instead of all this uncertainty. Like last night he fell asleep so I decided I had at least two hours to make dinner and eat it. Well wouldn't you know the little bugger woke up just as I called Charlie to tell him it was ready. Guess who was hungry too!

Homecoming:

So we've been home now for a couple days. No more shipping the baby off to the nursery when you want a couple hours rest. No more nurses bringing me water and being at the call of a button. We're on our own. We got home at about 8:30 on Friday night and thankfully he slept the entire time. That night...not so much. I don't quite remember how much sleep I actually got but it wasn't much.

The cats took the arrival better than we thought. As you can see they were very curious from the start. You can see from the two pictures just how curious they were. I think their first meeting went better than expected because David was sleeping. They still don't know what to make of him but don't hiss. I think they are starting to feel neglected so we try to make sure that we pet them and rub their bellies. Poor guys!

We had some company in town over the the weekend from P. Bride and her man and they were a huge help to us. They cooked us two amazing dinners of pasta and homemade meatballs the first night and a chicken dish with rice and beans on the second! YUMMY! We spent some time in the park and then on Sunday we all took David to his first trip to Perkins! I figured after what I just went through I deserved to have some pancakes! Let me tell you it was worth it!

David was great! On the 15 minute drive he was awake and his eyes were open and taking the car ride in. He seemed very content. Once we were there we were seated right away. I was a little nervous that it was too good to be true and sure enough shortly after being seated he fuss. All I could think was just give me a half our and then we can go home. As his fussing continued I took him to the ladies room and sure enough he was fussy because he needed his diaper changed. Once he had a clean diaper he fell fast asleep until we got home! He was so good letting mommy enjoy her pancakes!

Overall we are doing really well just getting used to each other. Daddy changes the diapers while mommy feeds him and then he pretty much sleeps all day. Last night he even gave us four straight hours. Screw the La Leche League - I am NOT waking up my sleeping child to feed him. When he is hungry he will let me know! Now it's off to relax while he naps. Our next visit will be from his Grammy who will be with us for a week beginning on Sunday. That will be nice because the Doc begins a two week rotation on the Cardiac Care Unit. That is it for now until the next update!

Happy Birthday Baby David

Born: August 9, 2006 at 7:25am
8lbs 2oz and 20 inches long

Today's the Day!

Ok so it's 4am. I know what you're thinking - WTF are you doing up at 4am? Well I can't exactly sleep. I can't say that I even slept much at all. I know that right now I am wide awake and its 2 hours before we even call the hospital to find out if they can take us at 7:30 or if we should wait until noon. I think I will die from anxiety if I have to wait until noon.

In any case - with great anticipation we should have a baby by the end of the day today! I will be interested to see how much further along we are from our last appointment a week ago. I am at least hoping that all the walking we did paid off a little.

Since there is no internet access at the hospital we will post the big news as soon as we are back home - probably by Thursday night - Friday at the latest. Not sure how I will survive without the internet for two days...but I suppose I will be occupied by other things (wink).

Just for fun - the Doc and I think that he'll be born at 3:30pm today and that he'll be 8lbs 6oz (and I have stuck by my 8lbs even - no 9 pounder please!). I only hope that the induction will work that fast!! And can you say EPIDURAL?!

Wish us luck and send many happy thoughts our way as we get ready to welcome the little guy into the world!

*6:30 edit: I just called the hospital and they're busy and told me to call back at 8am to see how they're doing then...not sure if I can keep up with all this waiting, waiting waiting.....

*8:00 edit: Called again - was told to come in at 9am!! Hooray! Perhaps I will take a quick cat nap for strength!

Going for a Long Walk!

So last night the Doc and I went to the local mall to walk around. We walked for an hour and a half before heading back home. It obviously didn't work so we're off to do it again today! We need labor inducing vibes! Get this thing out of me!!! ARGH!

Celebrating Four Years:

Today the Doc and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. Hard to believe it has already been that long. We have been together for 10-1/2 years as you can see from the pictures above. The first picture is our Semi-Formal junior year of high school, which I suppose you could say started it all. Next picture is our Prom - which coincidently was held at the same function hall that we had our wedding reception. And the last picture is our wedding four years ago today!

So far in four years of marriage we have survived: Four years of Medical School, a big move to a new city, a year of residency and hopefully in the next couple days we'll add a baby to that list! Although it's not looking like he's ready to join us in the real world. He has decided to start the not listening to his parents routine a little too early for my liking.

The Doc yells at my belly every night "get out!" and it obviously isn't working. But little does he know - his eviction notice has been signed for Tuesday August 8th. We will go in at 7:30am and start smoking him out! So there you have it. We're still hoping he will decide to arrive on his own but it's not looking very likely.

Today is my birthday pick – maybe he’ll surprise us all and labor will begin.

A Baby Story: Still No Baby...

So...here we are 39 weeks - and all I have to show for it is fat swollen feet/ankles, fat belly, fat fingers, fat pretty much everything. The forecast for tomorrow in Sunny Philadelphia - 100 degrees, hazy, hot and humid. You've got to me effin' kidding me.

Today's appointment went well. No contractions, no signs that this baby is ever going to leave so I had no choice but to sign the eviction notice for this weekend. Just waiting for a call from the doctor to confirm an exact date and time. David seems all too comfortable right where he is so induction it is. Unless he decides to change his mind and arrive on his own beforehand.

I thought my luck had changed when my blood pressure sky rocketed to 138/80. As a precaution I was sent over to Labor & Delivery to be monitored in the PEC (Perinatal evaluation Center). I was hooked up to a high tech BP monitor and I sat there for two hours so they could tell me - OK you can go now. What?!! Are you sure I don't have pre-eclampsia??! Anything to get this baby out of me!! So not only is David not cooperating but neither is my BP. So unfair!

Tomorrow is my last day at work for a while and I will enjoy my last couple of days by sleeping. I plan to sleep as much as I can so that come baby day - I won't be exhausted. More updates to follow...sorry to those who have lost the baby pool - I was REALLY pulling for you!!

The Nursery 360 Degrees:

So as you can see from the counter on the side - we have 13 days left before the arrival of Baby David. I can honestly say that I hope it isn't that long! I wouldn't mind if Brian won the baby pool. Which you can still make a guess on if you haven't already!

Brian has been using a video on his blog lately and it's pretty cool (aside from there being no sound - not sure what's up with that) and I wanted to check it out for myself because I know that everyone is going to want to see the "LIVE BIRTH" that the Doc is gonna tape...Uh Yeah Right....you know I was totally joking...and if you thought that I was actually serious about that well then you're just plain crazy! But we do plan on using our brand new video camera AFTER the baby has come out and I have at least had a chance to take a shower!

So this was a test - using my video sharing website Photobucket - I highly recommend it. Just click on the picture above and it will bring you to a new window to see our nursery in a 360 degree view (ala the hotel websites) and there is some sound. The sound would be the Doc on the phone with a fellow resident going over the patient list he was about to take over for his rotation at Penn Presbyterian.

Brian - I would switch if I were you!

Tummy Time - I'm So Jealous:

It has been a long time since I have been able to lay on my tummy. It wasn't until I saw this cute picture of Miss Maddie enjoying some quality tummy time that I started to reflect on just how much I miss my own tummy time!

It used to be how I slept at night. I am a tummy sleeper and I can't even remember the last time I was able to lay flat on my tummy. Maddie you have no idea how good you have it! Enjoy all your tummy time while you still can.

Can you believe she is already three months old!

A Baby Story: Down to the Wire

15 days and counting. I have a week left of work before I start my maternity leave. I can't believe it is almost here. We had a fabulous weekend starting with the arrival of Stephie late afternoon on Friday. We went to Pizzeria Uno for dinner and then to pick up our brand new coffee table!

Being pregnant has had it's perks such as getting things that you want. I told the Doc that since I had to carry this baby for 40 weeks and get fat and swollen and have a gazillion stretch marks that I am entitled to a new coffee table. It's awesome. It's shorter than the old one but taller and it lifts up to become a table.

The fun part was getting out of Stephie's rental car and into our house. We had good timing because a guy saw us from down the street and came to help Charlie. Stephie and I weren't much help so we went to pick up some ice cream and left the Doc to put the table together!

Then on Saturday Stephie treated me to a wonderful morning of a pedicure and manicure at a salon in center city. It was nice and relaxing and just what my big fat swollen feet needed. I decided to paint my toes blue for the upcoming arrival of our little guy. You can see below how cute my toes are. At least that is something! After the spa treatment we did some shopping and then lunch at El Azteca (our favorite restaurant). It was a wonderful way to spend the weekend.

It's kinda weird to think that we really only have one more free weekend before we have to be responsible, mature, grown-up people.

A Baby Story: A Retrospective

We are now full term at 37 weeks. I thought it would be fun to go back to the old pictures I have taken and do a pregnancy retrospective. The first picture on the left is me at 17 weeks. It seems like so long ago. I can't believe how short my hair was. That was also back when being pregnant was cute and fun!



The next picture on the right is me at 24 weeks. I was still not too big! I still enjoyed being pregnant and even started to feel him moving around. It was when there was plenty of room for him to move so he was able to play gymboree using my bladder as a trampoline!




Moving on to 27 weeks the picture to the left. At this point I was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable. I was getting bigger and swollen. I stopped wearing my wedding ring at this point because some days it was too tight. We started working on the nursery assembling some of the furniture.



Moving on to the picture on the right is me at 30 weeks. This is when the nice doctor kindly told me to switch to carrot sticks instead of the sweets I craved so much. I decided that I wasn't going to listen to the nice doctor and continue to eat my candy, chocolate cake and ice cream! The time to eat healthy will come after the baby is born. I mean what other time in life do you have an excuse to eat as much as you want and gain this much weight. So I say - ice cream it is!


Last we have the 36 week picture or as I like to refer to as - the Shamu picture. Pregnancy is no longer cute or fun. I am too big to do anything. I get winded from moving across the room into the kitchen. I do not feel bad when I whine to the Doc that I need another soda or glass of water. I am going to enjoy being lazy until this baby comes out and I don't feel guilty at all because we both know who will be the one getting up to feed the baby and change the baby and rock the baby back to sleep. Me. So in return I get to enjoy these last few weeks being a spoiled pampered princess who gets rides to work and back rubs!

Today at our appointment we found out that David is in the head down position and so hopefully he won't turn back! I have yet to feel even a single Braxton Hicks contraction at this point but he has dropped so who knows what nature will decide for our little guy. Will we have a July baby or an August baby! We know that we would like him to come no later than August 5th. The issue is that our doctors are very conservative when it comes to inducing and they won't unless they see some changes. Which they may or may not check next week. So your guess is as good as mine. We do know that they don't let you go past 41 weeks. Until next time!

A Baby Story: 24 Days to Go!

Here are a few things that I would like to share as we near being considered full term:

(1) Movement - Function: noun

The act or an instance of moving; a change in place or position.

A particular manner of moving.

Something that I will NEVER take for granted again. You don't realize how easy it is to sit up from a lying down position or stand from a sitting position until your belly has taken over and your girth is massive and cumbersome. Or when walking (or should I say waddling) has become so arduous that people stare and laugh at you as you make your way across a street (I won't mention any names...eh-hem the Doc) because you look like a penguin. And forget about bending over to pick something up off the floor. If the Doc isn't around and it's not important - it stays right where it is. Unfortunately it does me no good when it's my work ID badge that I dropped on the elevator floor while making my way to my office yesterday morning. Thankfully I wasn't alone and the nice lady riding with me took pity on my gargantuan size and picked it up for me.

(2) 90+ degrees, six blocks of walking to meet the Doc so I don't have to ride the bus home (yeah I know it makes no sense - but that's how much I HATE riding the bus) and no shade equals jumbo ankles; the biggest the world has ever seen. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture until a couple hours later when most of the swelling had subsided but let me assure you (and you can ask the Doc to prove it - he loves making fun of my "kankles") they were impressive.

(3) Just when I thought that I couldn't get any bigger - well check out this belly. It's as if I grew bigger overnight. More stretch marks have emerged. I could knock someone out by just using my belly. Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked someone so hard that his foot broke the speed of light - Chuck Norris tried to roundhouse kick me in the belly and his foot was sucked in and lost for all eternity - he is no match for my pregnant belly.

You can also see how much it's dropped since the last belly picture at 34 weeks. That is a good sign - maybe we'll have a July baby instead of an August baby. Random people at my work say that I am going to "drop" this baby any minute now. They also can't believe I have three weeks to go, although I have been listening to this for about two months now. People just look at me and say "Wow" - Yeah I get it I look like Shamu - we already established that from the last post.

(4) To Pee or not to Pee - I pee at least 10 times a day and that's no lie. Sometimes I just feel like I have to pee but there is no pee. They say that getting up three to four times a night to pee is natures way of preparing you for when the baby arrives. You know, because instead of peeing you'll be attending to the baby. You know what I have to say about that....well let's just say it's not appropriate for this blog.

(5) I am feisty these days. I have an extremely low tolerance for stupid people. I have an extremely low tolerance for the heat. I have an extremely low tolerance for just about anything. The Doc thinks it's funny so he likes to push my buttons. He will pay once I have the energy.

(6) The cats got a sneak peek at what it is like to have a baby in the house but I am sure they have already forgotten the scary "creature". In the meanwhile they have called dibs on the Pack N' Play. Oh silly cats - you have no idea that your world is going to change. Run to your hiding places now and don't come out for at least three years.

Well those are my latest updates. Our next appointment is on Monday when we will officially be full term!

The Nursery: It's Done!

I am happy to say that our little guy's room is all ready. If you can't remember what it used to look like see the pictures to the left and right. It was white with a silver rug. It used to be the "computer room" and so now the computer is now in the guest room.

To recap the making of the nursery we started with paint. We chose a color by Behr paints called Scotland Road. Once the walls were painted with the green paint we repainted the trim using a white satin finish. Then in the next phase we tore up the carpet and had a pergo floor installed. It was expensive but worth every penny! The Doc and I would highly recommend pergo! If we could afford it and were planning on staying here longer we'd do our bedroom too!

Next was to add the furniture. We put together the crib and changing table and then we added the armoire. The last piece of furniture we got was the glider which came last week. The Doc was on a mini vacation and put it together while I was at work. It was a nice surprise and very comfortable. He also installed some new shelving in the closet. It's set up so that there is a hanging rod with a shelf above and then another shelf towards the bottom. We added some rubbermaid bins for storage. Hey at least one room in our house will be clean and organized! We're hopeful this whole organization thing will rub off on us and we can keep the rest of the house that nice!

Add some finishing touches like the shelf on the wall over the changing table and the Finding Nemo picture over the crib and we have ourselves a finished Nursery!!

I want Cheesy Poofs!

Here I am at 36 weeks...the Doc and I came up with some adjectives to describe my size: voluminous, hefty, king sized, packed, prodigious, vast & heavy duty. These days I refer to myself as the Hungry Hungry Hippo. You can see the comparison from the picture below.

I can't stop eating. Let me give you an example of how much I can eat these days! Today for breakfast I had two eggs over easy and an english muffin. Then we decided to go see a movie and on the way we went to Wendy's and I had a Jr. Cheeseburger and a medium fry.

We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and we got a large popcorn which is a tub at this theater. Then we walked around the mall and went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and you can bet there was cheesecake involved and no I didn't share. I have never been so hungry in all my life. All I want to do is eat. At this rate you can just start calling me Shamu...

Four more weeks to go!

Happy Birthday Stephie!

Wishing you a very Happy 27th Birthday. We've come a long way since kindergarten! We were so cool in our saddle shoes and tights!

A Baby Story: 35 Weeks

35 weeks! I can't believe that it's almost here! 37 Days to go! This weekend we had Benny, Robyn (not to be confused with my sister) & Maddie over. They arrived Friday night and we got a sneak peek at how Trot and Drew would react to a baby in the house. Let's just say they FAILED!!

At first they were very curious walking around smelling all the baby stuff that they brought and then slinking close to get a sniff of this foreign "creature" but then the "creature" cried. They didn't know what to think. Trot hissed at the "creature" and Drew hid from the "creature" - make it stop!! I am not sure if it was jealousy or anger but Trot bit Robyn in the leg. Yup...those are my boys for you. The little brats. Last night they just hid until the "creature" went to sleep!

Yesterday we took a trip to Atlantic City. We walked the boardwalk and then walked the beach. Baby strollers and beach sand don't go well together. The Doc and Benny had to carry the stroller until we got down by the water and then it was fine! The water was very cold so Maddie didn't get her first experience of sticking her toes in the Atlantic Ocean maybe next time! It was really nice down by the water but very hot on the boardwalk. After that the beach we headed back to Philly to El Azteca our favorite Mexican restaurant and then to get water ice! After all that walking around and being out in the sun I was beat so I left the boys to the x-box 360 and went to bed!

We had a blast! It was fun being with Maddie and seeing what the we have to look forward to in five weeks! Here are some things that we learned:
(1) The Doc's goofy looking face can turn a fussy baby into a giggly baby.
(2) Never underestimate the power of singing 80's songs to stop a fussy baby!
(3) It takes a little bit longer to get ready when you're carrying the baby outside your belly!
(4) Babies can sleep through an incredible amount of noise!

We're ready, REALLY ready! If my belly gets any more humungous, well I am not sure I will be able to move! Let the countdown to baby day begin!

To the Dread Pirate Roberts:

Happy Birthday Dread Pirate Roberts - the other half to the P. Bride. He's another year older and so maybe wiser too? Nah! Happy Birthday - hope it's fun!