Pardon Our Progress - We're EXPANDING!!!

We've had a busy past 3 weeks or so with the 4th of July, Jill's 30th birthday and a low key weekend of running errands and checking things off the to-do list. Sometime during all of that, I started showing!!

Here are a couple of pictures (taken after work, don't judge). You can't tell from the front, but the side is definitely "bumpin!"

One of the errands that I ran last week was to start our registry! Even though I realize we need unisex things in case this baby wants a brother or sister in the future, but being in the store made me really want to know if we are having a boy or a girl!

We find out in two weeks and are soooo excited. Of course I've gone completely overboard in prepping for the big announcement, but at least I have something fun to focus on without driving FJ bananas with my rambling.

Our first month of having a roommate has gone by very smoothly. Liz is a great roommate and so much help to both of us. I'm glad she's with us for this time and I'm really glad she doesn't hate unloading the dishwasher like I do!! Ha ha!

In unrelated news, Big Brother is on for the summer and FJ and I have been addicted since we started dating years ago (wow...years...) so on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings you can find us on our couch glued to our TV's! Better enjoy it while we can, right?

The nausea is mostly gone, I'm sooooo thankful for that!! I was sick every day multiple times a day for about 5 weeks and it just kind of slowed down at some point around 13 or 14. I have much more energy and can be very excited about the baby. My appetite is back in full effect...welcome back appetite!! I missed you! Not wanting to eat what I usually wanted to eat was very inconvenient. I still don't have any crazy cravings and I'll refrain from listing any other symptoms I might be experiencing for now :)

We have so much fun stuff coming up over the next few months and I'm really excited. I'm about to bite the bullet and buy some maternity clothes, so this should be interesting. It's hard not to be able to shop for a wedding or occasion in advance because I have no idea what size I'll be! I did break down and get some workout clothes in maternity sizes (I'm back to Crossfit at least 3 times a week, just modifying some of the workouts).

That's about it for now. I'm going to try to take some pictures regularly for the bump watch!!

Happy Fourth of July!

I'm one of the 4 people in the US that are at work (notice I didn't say working, I said AT WORK) the Friday before the 4th, so I thought I would stick with my theme of the day and do absolutely NO work! This means I get to shop online, play on my iPhone, catch up on personal email -- well so I don't neglect that even on the busiest days-- and update the blog.



I don't have a whole lot of new information. We have our sonogram to determine the sex of the baby on August 5 so we'll have that mystery solved shortly. We're talking more and more about names and narrowing in on a few that we really like!



I've been fortunate enough to realize more and more every day how truly blessed we are with our circle of family and friends. I had a terrible couple of days at work this week. I'm in sales so the end of the month/beginning of the next month is not an easy time and with my partner out on maternity leave (something in the water here), I'm running this ship solo. I got home Wednesday night around 7:30 after an incredibly long last day of the month and all I wanted was Mexican food and my new body pillow. FJ had laid out the mail we had gotten that day. We received two gorgeous wedding invitations for August weddings and there was a big burgandy gift certificate propped up on the counter.



I dug into the wedding invitations as though they were edible and I was...well a pregnant woman. I know all of the details. I've been to the websites, I've talked to the people getting married and asked the questions. I'm even a bridesmaid in one of the weddings. But I still love reading every word of an invitation and taking in the style and nuances, especially since I know how long it takes to pick out and design these things! It didn't occur to me that the gift certificate, which I immediately recognized as Spa Sydell would be for me. I'm not sure whose I thought it was. But FJ nudged me towards it and was so excited. I opened it up and Ollie and Anne, two of our very close friends who are actually tying the knot in April had sent me a gift certificate. It wasn't just a gift certificate, it was an invitation to pamper myself in a stress free environment! I've said it before, but we are so lucky and this baby has no idea what is in store for it with all of his or her aunts and uncles!



We are headed out on Saturday afternoon to visit one of my best friends from college (and since!), Janna and her fiance Michael AKA Travis. They bought a house last year and we haven't been able to go see it yet so I'm really excited to see them, their pups and catbaby and to go to their pool party and to the river with them. It's going to be a lot of fun! I've spent the past 2 4th of July with Janna and Michael so I'm happy to keep it going! I'm finishing off the weekend with another tradition that has nothing to do with the Fourth. I'm going to see the third Twilight movie with Jill who has of course already seen it. She previews them for me so she can give me a heads up on what's coming next since I've never read the books. Much candy and processed nacho cheese will be consumed that evening and I'm prettttttty excited for that!



I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend and is safe. I promise to have more news or at least more entertaining stories soon!

I'm BACK...and quite possibly with a bump!

Not that anyone is following closely, but I've been neglecting the blog for a few weeks. I was so excited to share the news and everything upcoming that I somewhat wore myself out! With sharing the news came a new level of reality. We are having a baby. In a few months we will have a baby. These seem like simple ideas or simple realizations, but they are really much more profound. I stop at the gas station to get gas and I run inside to grab a water or a coke (yummmmmm...I quit Diet Coke before I got pregnant, but I figured since I'm ALLOWED to have coke and don't drink coffee, it's a fun treat...don't mess with my logic). This seems like a very simple task, but now I realize that I can't do that in the future. Even the smallest things are going to change. Over analyze much?!

We had our housewarming party last weekend. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see so many of our friends. Everyone was very complimentary of the house (not like people would say "thanks for the invite, the house looks like crap, but the buffalo chicken dip was astounding)! It was great to get the house in order, too. Even after the party, the house was cleaner than it's been in weeks! It was also a great way to make sure the to do list got done for the shower for Kate and Reid this coming weekend.

We moved some furniture around to accomodate Liz's move, which also accomodates having an empty room for Mini T later this year. This involved my least favorite activity outside of yard work - throwing things out. I donated 4 bags of clothes to Goodwill, threw out a few bags of trash and gave away some clothes to friends (good cute shirts shouldn't go to waste just because I can't wear them!).

And as the title of this entry indicates, I guess I'm starting to show a tiny bump. I know people who said they showed before 12 weeks and people who didn't show till month 5, so I'm not sure if there is a normal or what it is, but my pants and skirts don't fit anymore and I'm wearing a lot of loose dresses or using the Bella Bands for pants. It's an interesting phenomenon to see the growth. I'm sure I could eat better, who couldn't, but it's really weird to go from working out and eating healthy to growing in my belly! I don't exactly look pregnant by any means, but if you know me, you can see my little bump :) and apparently, you can also see some growth a little further north! ha ha ha!

We're hosting a shower this weekend heading to the lake with friends for the 4th of July. Then it's Jill's birthday and then we get to calm down for a little bit. One of FJ's cousins got engaged (congrats Mike and Leslie) so I'm really excited to get to Chicago this summer to celebrate with the family!!

Things are going well, I feel sick less and less often and have been able to start cooking (with Liz's and FJ's help) again! My energy is starting to come back and so is my focus. I'm still working out a few times a week at Crossfit and next week is my last week training :(.

We have a doctor's appointment this Thursday and actually have some sonogram pictures from a few weeks ago that I need to scan and post... I knowt it's hard to see what's what in those things, but it's still so crazy how far technology has come!!

Cat's outta the bag!!

We've been able to start sharing the news and it's been great! Our friends and family have been so supportive and excited about the addition to our family. Of course I enjoyed playing with some folks as we revealed the news. You only get to tell people you are pregnant for the first time once, so why not have fun with it?

I was really pleasantly surprised with how excited a lot of our male friends are about our news. I guess I just assume boys aren't as excited about weddings or babies as girls are, but everyone seems genuinely excited...if they aren't they all get points for putting on the show!

The past 6 weeks have flown by. I know I willed them to, but I still can't believe how quickly it's gone! We'll know whether we are having a boy or girl in the next 7-11 weeks so I can only imagine that will be here before we know it, too.

As for everything else - life is good. Work is a bit more stressful than normal since my outside partner left early for her maternity leave, but I'm slowly getting things organized and running how I like them and I'm sure I'll enjoy the total control over the next few months!

The painters have started on the house. They pressure washed first, which actually pulled some of the paint off, so the house looked pretty rough. Then they started pulling the boards that needed replacing off of the house. Now our house looks like that scary house on the block with exposed insulation, flaking paint and absolutely no landscaping in the front (FJ pulled it all out and we are replacing it after the house is painted). Of course I will be taking pictures for the comparison!

I'm excited for our housewarming party which kind of doubles as a coming out party! That's coming up on the 19th of this month. Hopefully I'll have my culinary skills back in check by then. I miss my kitchen.

The house warming is just a dry run for Kate and Reid's couples shower that we are hosting at the house the following weekend. I'm so excited for them and glad we're able to host the shower and have so many people come together to celebrate for them! Their wedding is right around the corner in August and I can't wait for the festivities to begin (see Kate, no short jokes, just pure excitement).

Liz is moving in next weekend and we are glad to have her around for the summer...and not just because she cooks! Liz's arrival and Kate's shower actually sparked some of the projects we started with the house and the timing was obviously perfect.

This will be our first year not going to Hilton Head for the Fourth of July but we are still planning to celebrate with some friends, a body of water and fun! We're just staying a bit closer to home. And of course July brings Jill's birthday and pregnant or not, that must be celebrated... Jill this is our 12th Jill's Birthday together and I love every one of them!

I guess I'll wrap this up before it comes the shout out blog post. I'll start sharing the blog link soon, though I'm sure there's way too much to read on here!

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DINuAWoxy4Q

For our anniversary, we enjoyed a long weekend at FJ's parents new place in Myrtle Beach. It was sooooo relaxing and the weather was perfect. Of course they all lucked out with a permanent designated driver, but I actually had a great time and along with foregoing any beach cocktails or cocktails with dinner, I also passed up the hangovers and foggy heads!

We left Wednesday night and stayed through Sunday. We ate a ton of food and spent some time in the sun each day whether it was bocci ball on the beach or one of the pools at the resort. FJ actually ate some seafood and liked it and we got a lot of much needed rest.

We broke the news to FJ's parents that we wouldn't be able to join them on their 20th anniversary trip to Europe. We had all planned a Mediterranean cruise and our tickets for the boat and the airfare were already booked. Luckily we are canceling in time to avoid fees. The trip is scheduled for mid September and while I should still be early enough in to travel, we figured that going to a foreign country for a week and the costs associated were not smart decisions given our situation. I was so excited about the trip so I was really sad that we had to cancel.

Before we left we also started planning a housewarming party for June so we're really excited to have people over to see the house and also about the chance to see some of our friends that we haven't been able to see in awhile!!

We have our second doctor's appointment tomorrow and I'm so excited and so nervous all at the same time. Even though everything should be fine and we got rave reviews at the last appointment, there's a small nagging fear that this has all been a dream. If my physical condition is any indication, we are moving right along! Ha ha! I've gained about 4 pounds so far which is in a good range. Especially considering I've slacked off on working out or eating right. The past few days I have had terrible nausea and sickness (not limited to the morning at all). I read an article that said this week (the 10th) is probably going to be the worst as far as feeling tired and nauseas. I hope that's the truth but unfortunately there is no definitive information out there.

Our appointment is at 9:40 tomorrow morning so if everything goes well, we will start spreading the news shortly after! I'm really excited to share the news with friends and family. I'm even more excited to stop being so noncommital and flaky when I'm invited to wine tastings, happy hours and things I would normally jump at! I'm actually pretty proud of myself for keeping the secret for this long. I didn't think I had it in me.

8 weeks and counting

I can't really figure out when I go from week to week. I don't know if it's on a Tuesday or a Thursday or a Saturday. If you know me at all, you know I count down. It's just a thing I do. I count down to vacations, my birthday, Christmas, my birthday, my wedding, my birthday. I even countdown to my countdown (ie: it's 2 days until it's less than a week till_______). It's just one of the things that I do.

I have NO clue when I go from week to week! I went to the doctor on a Friday and she declared me 6 weeks. I go back on a Wednesday which she referred to as my 10 week check up. My due date is on a Thursday. This makes no sense to me and is obviously driving me crazy! So I'm calling myself 8 weeks this week. I guess I'm supposed to start glowing next week at 9 weeks, but from what I have read that means that my face will be flushed from extra blood flow and my skin might get oily. This really doesn't sound exciting! I thought that pregnancy glow referred to being happy, which I most definitely am, but I didn't realize it was a real, medical thing. I guess I have a lot to learn!

I still haven't picked up a book. I'm pretty sure that it'll be bad for everyone involved when I do. And we all know I'll pick and choose what to believe. For example, I've decided that despite what the doctor said, feta cheese is fine, but I'm sticking hard core with her belief that I can't do yard work because of the rare parasites in the dirt or something to that effect -- I just know FJ was in there when she said no gardening/yard work!!

Speaking of, side note, our colors were approved for our house so we'll get to start painting the outside soon. By that, I mean that we'll get to pay someone to start painting the outside soon! Too bad I can't help with the yardwork that needs to be done before the painters come...

After this paint, we are a half bath and some landscaping away from being done with the house for awhile. We still have a lot of work to do with decorating and upstairs. Obviously, we'll have a nursery to put together. But still, we get a few months off! We've done so much to the house since we bought it so I'm really excited to show it off and have a party in June!

There's really no exciting news at this point. I'm trying to keep going to the gym even though I'm ridiculously tired. I'm starting to get my regular appetite back. For awhile I was eating whatever I could tolerate the thought of which was a lot of what I consider junk food (I love it, but it's junk). I'm sure I used the excuse to indulge a bit, too...who wouldn't?! I finally was able to go to the store this week and bought some stuff to munch on at work to make sure I can keep something in my tummy. I'm excited about all this dairy and grain that I haven't really had regularly for the past several months! Yogurt, cheese, triscuits, cereal!! I still can't handle raw meat so I'm still not cooking, but I'm taking steps back in the right direction after my 2 weeks of total nutrition abandon.

There has been an interesting development. My partner at work was set to go on maternity leave in mid June. I knew that there would be a lot to handle this summer while I worked our module solo, and even more when I realized I would be pregnant while doing this. I still haven't spilled the beans at work and wasn't planning on it until the end of the month. My partner went out earlier this week and is on bed rest. We're about 95% positive she's out for the count and not coming back until October. This means we didn't get to do any of our transition planning so this week has been a bit of a storm, but it's calming down!

I'm really excited for our anniversary trip to the beach next weekend! We leave on Wednesday night. The forecast is rainy all weekend so I can't understand why I can't catch a break with the weather and the beach, but I'm looking forward to relaxing with FJ! His parents recently bought a place at the beach and we're going down with them. We're all bringing the dogs so I won't have to worry with the hassle of boarding Tucker, either! I'm really pumped about this trip and am counting down the days (literally) till we leave!

I'm also excited that we'll get to spend 4 days with people who already know our big news! Once we get back, I'll have to get through 2 more days then we go to the doctor on Wednesday and as long as everything checks out, we will let all of our friends in on the big news!

This weekend we are getting ready for the painters to come and going to a wedding reception for a friend of FJ's so I'm sure it'll fly by. May 26 will be here before I know it!!

Another week down!

I've determined that the reason people don't reveal that they are pregnant until the 12th week is because if women knew about the first trimester, they would stop procreating all together! Okay, it's not THAT bad, but I'm amazed at how quickly things have changed. I'm frustrated with food because I'm used to planning my meals in advance, grocery shopping, cooking, etc. I like the routine of it and the control behind it. I can't do that right now and I've had to reintroduce foods that I haven't really been consuming regularly in months so that can't be helping how lethargic and gross I feel!

I don't have any "cravings" just aversions to foods. And they aren't constant, they are on a whim. Figuring out lunch and dinner has been interesting to say the least, but I think FJ's enjoying falling off the healthy eating bandwagon for awhile! And I must admit that I've been enjoying the excuse to munch on abnormal quantities of Mexican food. Side note, my doctor put queso dip in the list of cheeses to avoid. I'm pretty sure she's gone absolutely crazy and perhaps that is a cultural barrier she doesn't get. She's Canadian so I'm convinced that she doesn't understand the importance of Mexican food in American's diets! Just work with me here...

For the past several months, people at work have told me that I'm next to have a baby (pretty sure AT&T is running a fertility clinic...there are always a minimum of 5 pregnant people in my vicinity and they cycle them in and out)...or they go the other way and tell me that I should wait and enjoy time with my husband. It's one of those things I learned a long time ago that everyone has an opinion about this. Similarly to folks chiming in when we planned the wedding, it goes a lot faster and more smoothly if I just let them go, nod and smile. But now I am laughing to myself as people make their predicitions and give me advice. If only they knew!

I'm still very tired, but I'm getting used to it and getting in a better pattern with sleep (BORING). I had given up all cokes/sodas for awhile, so I'm secretly enjoying my morning ginger ale. I didn't feel great this week so I didn't get to work out a lot, but got in a good workout yesterday after work and it felt great so I know I need to get back to it! It'll definitely help out!!

It's definitely getting more and more difficult to keep the secret! I feel terrible misleading my friends but I know it's for a good cause and they'll understand. I can't wait to be able to share the good news! We are hoping that we'll be ready to tell after our next doctor's appointment which is the week before Memorial Day. I am just willing time to go by between now and then and trying to stay busy, but under the radar. I might even venture to a pool this weekend or next. I'm definitely not "showing" but I'm also definitely feeling and seeing the effect of eating out and eating foods I had previously reserved as treats or cheats for pretty much every meal.

We have a 5K tomorrow (the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure) that we signed up for before we knew that we were pregnant. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal, the race is at 8:30...but I found out that we have to be there at 7am for team pictures. We are running on a team for Wachovia/Wells Fargo and a lot of folks from FJ's leadership team will be there so I originally signed up for this to support him. So we have to get up at 5:30 tomorrow and it'll just be a gamble as to how this turns out. Hopefully I feel great and the race is fun!!

So finally, another week (work week at least) has come and gone. We're 7 weeks and counting. We've got the race, Mother's Day and some friends' parties this weekend. Next weekend we have a wedding reception and the following week we leave on Wednesday for Myrtle Beach with Joani and Mark (FJ's mom and step dad) for a long weekend to celebrate our anniversary. So I'm pretty sure the next few weeks will fly by and we'll be able to share the news in no time! In the meantime, I'm plotting how I will torture a few folks when I tell them the news... if I have to sit on this secret for a month, then I'm going to have a blast telling our friends!! Muuuhahahahaha!!!