Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!






























In a year when so many are struggling, I am more thankful than ever before for all the blessings in my life.

I wish the same for all of you.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Me and a Gold Medal


Olympians
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas

Two New Jersey Olympians stopped by our office and we all got to meet them and see their medals. It was exceptionally cool. That's me in front with the gold!

Week 14

This was a big week. I had my second midwife appointment this week. I got to hear the heartbeat again which was exciting. Everything else looks really good and she told me I had a very "roomy pelvis" which was reassuring!

Also we bought our stroller! I've wanted a Bugaboo forever. I love the way you can switch the handle bar back and forth. I love that you have a pram and a regular stroller. I love its versitility and I love that it isn't one of those light green plaid and plastic monstrosities that I see on the street. Of course, what I love the most is I got a lightly used one off Craigslist for half the price! I am super-happy with our purchase and Nicholas and I spent several hours last night ohhing and ahhing over it.

Two downs:
1. My skin is NOT getting better and I'm so over it. This baby is going to owe me for acne scar removal.
2. I'm still not totally over my food aversions. I wish I could just go back to eating whatever I want.

Two ups:
1. Nicholas is getting really excited about the baby, which makes me very happy. I know it's not constantly at the forefront of his mind like it is mine (for obvious reasons). But I think it's getting more real by the day for him and it's fun to talk about all the baby stuff together.
2. I know this is technically next week but I'm super excited about going home and all my family seeing my baby bump! It's getting bigger and cuter by the day and I can't wait to show it off. :)

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Week 13

This week I've been obsessed with my belly - or absence there of. I definitely think my stomach has pooched out a little due to relaxed abdominal muscles but the baby is still down low in my pelvis. I won't really start to show until, in the immortal words of the Jeffersons, she start movin' on up! This should start happening any time.

Two downs:
1. I've been getting headaches the past couple of days. They're not too bad but I could do without them.
2. I recently learned I'm supposed to be getting 80 grams of protein, which seems all but impossible.

Two ups:
1. Overall, I'm still feeling much better - I even did prenatal yoga twice this week. :)
2. I got to see a former coworkers twin baby girls, which always lifts my spirits and reminds me of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Christmas Music Inventory

So, for those of you who still need help understanding my obsession with Christmas, I did a little inventory of my holiday music collection.

I have:
- 7 versions of Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
- 7 versions of O Holy Night
- 9 versions of The Christmas Song
- 9 versions of I'll Be Home for Christmas
- 9 versions of White Christmas
- 11 versions of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I will not obey your arbitrary deadlines!

You know one of the best parts of being pregnant? You get to do what you want and no one can be mean to you because you're pregnant.

So you know what I'm doing today?

I'm downloading all of my several hundred holiday songs today and I'm going to start listening to them today. I've decided it is officially "the holidays," which means I can listen to holiday music.

If you don't like it...I don't care. Take it up with the baby. ;)

The Worms

So, I had a super weird dream last night about worms and I think it was the universe's way of telling me I can't put off the worm update any longer. I clearly shouldn't have put it off this long or I could have at least posted a successful update before things went down hill.

The worms died.

All of them.

In my defense, they were really thriving for several months. They seemed to suffer when we were away in Tunisia but I thought I'd got them back on track soon thereafter. However, once I got pregnant, I had bigger things on my mind like rolling around on the couch trying not to hurl and the worms took a back seat. I think the real problem was that since I only wanted to eat peanut butter and jelly and PopTars there wasn't much to feed them and they starved.

I feel really bad and if I ever get a yard I will definitely attempt outdoor composting. However, doing it indoors and making sure they ate enough but not too much or that things didn't get too acidic or mold didn't grow was a lot of work.

Nicholas was right. I was wrong. I don't want to talk about it.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Can you tell a difference?

Week 12

So, now that I'm out of the pregnancy closet and free to talk, I've had several requests for updates on how I'm doing. I want to clarify that I wasn't posting because the pregnancy was a secret. I wasn't posting because pregnancy made me feel like A BIG BALL OF CRAP! Seriously, I had about two weeks of feeling good and then I felt nauseous pretty much 24/7 for the next 11 weeks. After about three weeks of feeling like that, I began to refer to our future daughter/son as the baby dictator. I'm not quite ready to change the title yet. ;)

I have felt much better over the past several days. I've gotten more energy and feel more like eating, although I've realized that I still mainly crave my comfort foods. The weirdest symptom is I can't really read or have no desire to read. It's like I can't focus or something but my friend Annie said she had a similar reading aversion and it eventually went away.

So, that's basically it. Nothing too exciting. We've only had one appointment with our midwife where we got to hear the heartbeat, which was amazing. We don't go back again for a couple more weeks and we don't find out the gender until January. I'm going to try to post every week and I thought I'd start a little weekly tradition based on my favorite pregnancy podcast - Pregtastic - where every week each woman lists 2 Ups and 2 Downs of her pregnancy.

Two Downs:
1. The nausea isn't completely gone and I'm still afraid to drink orange juice, which is one of my favorite drinks but sets my stomach on fire.
2. I do feel good enough to exercise so I can no longer use feeling crummy as an excuse. ;)

Two Ups:
1. I bought two very cute pairs of maternity jeans at H&M that I can't wait to wear this week.
2. Now that I've completed my 13th week, I'm officially in the second trimester! Wohoo!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Monday, November 03, 2008

The Future

Tomorrow is Election Day. I will wake up early, go to my polling place, and cast my vote for Barack Obama for the next President of the United States. In past elections, I've written long explanations for why I am a Democrat or why I voted for Hillary Clinton. To be honest, I could write a book the size of War and Peace about why I am voting for Barack Obama instead of John McCain.

Instead, this post seems to coincide with another post I've been working on for awhile. The coincidental timing seemed to make sense so I thought I would combine the two.

At the end of May, Nicholas and I will welcome our first child into the world. We are beyond excited and cannot wait for our lives to be changed in every way possible. So, I can't help but look at this election through the prism of not only how this election will affect me, but also future generations, and this is what I know for sure.

On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama stood on the stage of the Democratic National Convention and stated these words:


He offered a vision of America that took my breath away. It is an America I believe only he can deliver.

Most importantly, it is an America I want to raise my baby in. That is why I am voting for Barack Obama.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

We are so clever!




It's ok you can admit how jealous you are of our totally awesome costumes.