As requested

Fireman Stephen
























Fireman William

Week 19

Christmas week was a whirlwind. We left Saturday morning early and drove all the way to Atlanta. We got to spend a couple of days with Nicholas's brother Geoffrey and his family before they had to return to Florida. It was a little sad having Christmas without them but we were happy to be able to visit at all.

The most interesting part of them leaving was we got to see our nephews separate from our little niece Elizabeth. It was hilarious to see how different the little boys played from the little girl. Stephen and William would come in and dump the entire bucket of legos on the floor and go straight for the bulldozers and "scoop-a-truck." Elizabeth took one lego out at a time and played with the dinosaur and "flowers" aka the palm trees.  However, no matter how differently they played, they were all completely adorable and really into giving hugs and kisses. I'm also proud to report that our Christmas gifts were a big hit, particularly the fireman costume I bought for Steven under the excellent advice of my friend Laura. 

Two downs:

1. My skin: Not. Getting. Better.

2. The rib thing is driving me freaking crazy. 

Two ups:

1. My new little silver bell Pamela gave me for Christmas. It should come in real handy as I get bigger and bigger. Nicholas is not a fan. ;)

2. All the fabulous baby gifts Nicholas's family gave us. They were all so adorable but Pamela wins the award for purchasing us the first baby gift actually on our registry. We are now the proud owner of our first big ole tube of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. 

Merry Christmas, One and All!

Christmas in New York
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas

I hope your day is filled with food, family, and LOTS of presents! ;)

Week 18

Almost halfway there!!! Who's excited?

We had a good week as everyone can see from the great heartbeat video below. We are now in Atlanta after a very long car trip - the entirety of which I felt like I had to pee.

Two ups:
1. I still feel great with lots of energy.
2. The baby moves more and more and it never stops being awesome.

Two downs:
1. I'm having more and more trouble getting comfortable at night. Recently I've felt like one of my ribs is asleep most of the night, which is superweird and annoying.
2. I just realized today that my belly button is starting to strain under the pressure :(

For those far away...

Baby Heartbeat from hollandnm on Vimeo.

I thought it might be fun for everyone to hear the baby's heartbeat and I know I might be biased but it sounds like the most awesome baby heartbeat in the history of the world.

New York, New York

We had a fantastic weekend in New York. Our dear friends Laura and Daniel put us up for the weekend and ushered us around to one great restaurant after the other. On Saturday, we went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes and it was all the spectacular it promised complete with 3D glasses, Santa, the Nutcracker AND the Nativity. They really covered all their bases.

Afterward we did some baby shopping around the city, then Laura and I met her sister Julia for Christmas Tea at the St. Regis. The best part was Julia works for a children's magazine and brought me some free swag from her work! It was so incredibly generous of her and I love few things more than free stuff.

On Sunday, we met my dear friend Dave for brunch and did some Christmas shopping at the market at Union Square. Then Nicholas and I made our way to all the classic New York at Christmas stop - FAO Schwartz, Rockefeller Plaza, Saks. It was really nice because we got to see it all lit up at night, where the last couple of years we've only walked around during the day.

Week 17

This week I've begun feeling the effects of the baby's current three week growth spurt. Little Bell Pepper (the current size equivalent) is supposed to double in size over the couple of weeks and I can sure feel it. I've been really, really hungry and I also feel like my belly looks noticeably bigger every day.

Two downs:
1. I had a very paranoid day or two where I felt like everything that possibly could go wrong would.
2. I've been getting tired really really easy lately.

Two ups:
1. I have felt the baby move several more times over the past couple of days. It's pretty awesome, except by the time I realize what it is it goes away!
2. While we were in New York, I bought the hippest baby toy I've been coveting at a discount!

Week 16

We had a great week, mainly because of our fantastic weekend. We had Nicholas's holiday party on Friday night, which was a swanky affair at Ritz. It's always fun to get all dressed up (even though my options were a bit limited) and see his coworkers.

On Saturday, we went to the White House to see all the Christmas decorations. The tour is very short and I can see how it would be less than impressive on a regular day. However, the decorations really made it exciting and interesting. They were beautifully done and it was fun to hear about all the Christmas traditions. More important than anything of the decorations was that I saw my favorite members of the Bush administration - Barney and Ms. Beasley!!! They were playing outside and I was ridiculously excited to see their adorable little faces. :) After the Tour, we went to see Milk, which was excellent, and went to a cocktail party thrown by my friend Amy to showcase her mother's art.

On Sunday, we had brunch with some friends and then went shopping. We drove out to Maryland so I could go to an Old Navy Maternity and Gap Maternity, mainly because I despise shopping online. Man, was it worth the trip! I bought a ton of stuff and no longer feel like I'm wearing the same things over and over.

Two Downs:
I've got nothing - it's been that good of a week :)

Two Ups:
1. I think I felt the baby move on earlier this week, but it was really light and I haven't felt anything since so I'm reserving the full level of excitement. :)
2. All my new maternity clothes!

Week 15

I spent the majority of this week home with family, which wonderful. It fun to see everyone and hear all the advice on pregnancy, baby names, labor, and childrearing. This baby is going to be so blessed to be born into such an amazing and loving family.

Two downs:
1. I had a crazy bad sinus headache for like 3 days in a row. It was apparently due to the dryness because once I got some nasal spray and a humidifer it went away.
2. I thought shopping for maternity clothes would be fun. It is not.

Two ups:
1. I've gotten almost all of my energy back and I feel amazing. I still get tired easy but overall I feel great.
2. I also don't food aversions anymore and I'm basically eating whatever I want (within reason of course).