Happy Birthday To Me

Not only was I surprised this morning with breakfast and a ride to work from my Michael, but I came home from work to find this in our front yard:

Mike and Steve were smiling at me from the window behind the lawn chair

Then we decided to take our pup for a nice walk around the neighborhood...



Now I'm relaxing and Michael is making me a delicious dinner of steak, baked potatoes, and steamed carrots with garlic. Mmmmmm. It's been a good day.

Big thanks to Michael and everyone else who wished me a happy day!! I'm one happy 32 year old :)

Babymoon and GT pics

We went to LA over the weekend. It was HOT and BEAUTIFUL and so much fun. My former boss, Daniele, was having her 40th birthday party on Saturday... and having had experience partying at her house (she hosted a bachelorette party for me), I knew I wouldn't want to miss it. Plus, I miss her and the other people I used to work with so much... I loved having an excuse to see some of them again. We stayed two nights in Woodland Hills with our good friends Jen and Rob. It was so much fun to see them! Jen and I had lots of time to chat and catch up - while Mike and Rob had fun being dudes and doing dude stuff.

We spent some time in Malibu before Daniele's party - here are a few pictures...

Paradise Cove Cafe - Malibu

Daniele and me
Jen, Daniele and me

Jersey (Jen & Rob's dog) and me the next morning... she sat like this for nearly an hour. She's the cutest. Even though she farted on me twice :)

On Sunday, we met up with more of our favorite people - Gabe, Ryan, Kelli, Kim & Scott. I am a super huge dummy and did not take a single picture with them. But we had lots of fun at Rick's on Main Street in Santa Monica, then at dinner at C&O in Venice Beach. Mike and I stayed at our "usual" place in SM called Embassy Hotel. It's on 3rd just south of the promenade. It's an old building with tons of character and located smack dab in our old hometown so we love it. On Monday, we decided to go out to breakfast on the pier in Hermosa Beach. We ate outside at Hennessy's then went for a walk on the beach and did some sun bathing on the pier. After that, we checked out Sharkeez, where we used to go for their "Make Your Own Bloody Mary's" on the weekends. It burned down 3 years ago and we hadn't seen it since it reopened. It's MUCH nicer than it used to be and I think it would again be one of our faves if we still lived there. I'm not a fan of the looks I get when I walk into those places with my belly leading the way... so we just did a quick walk through and left. We stopped at Fat Face Fenners Fish House (another old fave) for a Bud Lite and a soda water before heading off to the airport :(

At least we flew over Vashon on the way home :)

Yesterday I had my final ultrasound. Baby GT looks healthy as can be and did some good posing for the camera. She's a big girl already - weighing in at 3 lbs 1 oz (average at this stage is 2 lbs 13 oz), putting her in the 71st percetile. But the doc said that's still considered normal. I had a check-up following the ultrasound. Mike came with and we got to listen to her heartbeat. For the first time, it actually sounded like a heartbeat! Rather than the "woosh-woosh-woosh" sound, it was a "gugung-gugung-gugung." Pretty amazing!

Profile - hard to see, but her head is on the left, facing up with her arm in front of her face Here she is looking at the camera - the blob above her left eye is her elbow Her perfect little right foot - it's up by her forehead :)

26 Weeks!

I've been posting new belly shots every 4 weeks and intend to keep that going until our girl arrives - so here we are at 26 weeks!

Don't neglect to notice the "filled out" face :)

I told someone the other day that sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant because I'm pretty darn comfortable lately. Unless I eat too much. There's nothing more uncomfortable than a full, bloated, belly pushing your ribs out and testing the limits of even your stretchiest maternity wear. Add to that the little baby moving around and kicking what she pleases... ouchie-wah-wah! But I don't let that happen very often... usually only once or twice a day (you'd think I'd learn, but my darn pregnancy brain is relentless!)

We have the basics of our nursery set up. The walls are painted with cute decals decorating them, the rug is covering most of the hardwood floor, the crib and changing table are in their place, and the closet is organized and holding GT's tiny, adorable clothes. MT deserves all the credit. I did assist him with parts of it (handed him the carpet tiles as he placed them, helped with the wall decals and hung some of her outfits)... but he's the one who got it done! He even rewired and replaced outlets in the room so we know it's good and safe for our girl! We're pretty sure that hadn't been done since 1951. Here are a few pics:

BEFORE

AFTER

As you can see, we still need a few items... but it's getting there! Once it's completely done, I'll post another blog about it. I'll try to figure out my camera settings too so I can show better views of the room. Obviously we are in need of a bit of pink - she is a girl after all!!

Craughter!

Okay, I know the whole combining-two-words-into-one thing is soooo 2002-2004 (AKA the years of Bennifer). But there's just no better way to describe what happened to me last night. Was I laughing? Or was I crying? It's really hard to tell!

It all started when Michael was filling something out for us and said, "Okay, is it h-a-I-l-e-y?" This is just one of those simple ways Michael makes a funny. Of course my husband of nearly 3 years (and boyfriend for 5 and a half years before that) knows how to spell my name. He says things like this and doesn't even think he's being that funny, but to me it's hilarious. I went into complete hysterics. I laughed so hard, tears were rolling down my cheeks. I felt like I was laughing but I sounded like I was sobbing... and my nose even got all stuffed up!

Maybe I needed to release both emotions but rather than cry for no reason (as I've done before) my body took advantage of the surge of emotion and combined the two into one ridiculously cuckoo display (thank God MT was the only one to witness it).

Hence the need for a new word: Craughter. Or we could call it "Lying" - but that just doesn't sound right.

Glow-Schmo

An old wives tale says that when you're pregnant with a girl you lose your looks because your daughter steals them. I'm 100% okay with this! I will gladly give up anything of mine for my baby.

Sure, I can still look cute (with the right outfit) and have a good hair day when I put in the effort (rarely). Sometimes I even find that my make-up is doing its job of making me look fresh and pretty. But I ain't glowing, y'all. Not even a little.

Unless...

When they say "glow" do they mean, "getting all dry and flaky around the nose and chin?" Cuz if that's the case, I be glowin' big time!

I've been told by two men in my office that I'm glowing. Sure, it's nice to hear, and of course I'd like to believe them. But then I remember these guys are Financial Advisors. Schmoozing is what they do best. Maybe they see my dry patchy skin and dark circles under my eyes (oh, did I mention the acne?) and their instinct is to "rebalance my portfolio" with some good old fashioned sweet talk. It's nice, actually... but it only lasts until I see my reflection in the mirror.

All for you baby girl :)

Over halfway there - 22 weeks!

This past month has been one of extreme growth. On Sunday, I was asked by the Home Depot cashier when I was due. It totally caught me off guard. I didn't know what she was talking about at first! I swear I went to bed one night and woke up the next day with a balloon in my belly - a squirmy balloon that likes to kick me in the bladder. Sleeping has become more of an issue. I'm a "back sleeper" but am supposed to be a sleeping on my side nowadays. I have impingement syndrome in my right shoulder so my left side is more comfortable - but Michael's on my left and he tends to favor his right side. As you can imagine, this makes for a lot of "air sharing." If this lovely experience doesn't wake me, rolling onto my back will because Baby GT has discovered this is the BEST position in which to practice her dance moves. Either way I'm awake now and wouldn't you know it, I gotta go to the bathroom...

Steve insisted he be involved in the belly shot this time. We have jealousy issues.

Another development - anytime I exert more than the normal amount of energy on something, I'm overcome with exhaustion. It doesn't last long, but it's annoying. Especially since we're in the middle of trying to set up the nursery. Every few minutes I gotta take a break and sit down for a bit. Michael has been very understanding, but I'm sure it's annoying that he has to pick up so much slack. While he spent Sunday stripping off the molding, sanding the walls and moving furniture up from and down to the basement... I spent the day sitting on the bed, folding clothes, and watching re-runs of America's Next Top Model. Sometimes I feel guilty, but then I remind myself that I'm actually two people right now.... a thought that often talks me into taking a quick nap.

Other than that, I'm still doing pretty good. No more major neck/back issues (knock on wood). My ribs still ache, but the doc confirmed this was totally normal and just something I gotta live with. I have found I can live with a lot - as long as I'm assured that it's normal and not something wrong with me that I'm probably going to die from. This is what goes through the mind of a pregnant lady who was already a worry wart to begin with :) My poor daughter is in for it.

Having a day

I just got back from bawling my eyes out in my office bathroom. Want to know why? So do I. I was sitting here at my desk trying to get some work done and BOOM - suddenly I'm overcome with the urge to cry and need to make a run for the bathroom before my co-workers can see.

What the hell??

Okay, I KNOW it's normal to have your emotions be all over the place when you're pregnant... but it's one thing to let your eyes well up at work when you read a sad (or touching) story online. It's another thing to find yourself sitting in a bathroom stall, blowing your nose and wondering why your tears won't stop flowing!

On the flip side, I do appreciate the random bouts of giddiness I also experience. When Mike or Steve do something that's probably not even funny, I'll laugh like no tomorrow. That stuffs awesome.

Tammy, if you read this... I am so grateful you wrote about your similar experiences because it allows me to feel somewhat normal. It's so great to have a support group of pregos to relate with!