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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Almost Time!

... For our trip to Monterey! I love that we have a "place" (it's no Aruba, but it does the trick) - we already have lots of fabulous memories (our first vacation was there...AND we got engaged there!). This time tomorrow I'll be dining on something delicious with an ocean view!!
I got my results back today and actually PASSED my Gestational Diabetes test. I was surprised but what a huge relief! I'm a sugar/carb junkie now... what would I do if they cut me off? I am, however, low on iron which is a little annoying... I now have to take iron Pills in addition to prenatals. Yucky! Oh well. It's worth it!

Have a fabulous weekend... When we get back I'll be another year older! Yikes.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

99 Days!!

Yup. That's right. I thought that deserved a post. We officially have 99 days to go. It's a huge landmark that I honestly didn't think we'd ever get to but now that we're here, the days and weeks seem to be flying by! That could be due to the fact that we've been busy every single weekend lately.

This is the point at which I must comment on our busy Memorial Day weekend. My sister and her 2 daughters were visiting from Boston so we made the (5 hour!) trek to the Orange County to be fully-immersed in kid-city. We had an 8 month old, a 1.5 yr old, a 3.5 yr old and a pregnant whale present. And I mean that in the nicest way. It was so much fun interacting with all three of our nieces and learning their personalities. I hate that we don't live closer, I miss my sister tons! My family also had a nice birthday dinner for me complete with Sprinkles cupcakes and gifts (it's been a few years since we've all been together for my birthday...so fun!) Oh yeah... I can't forget to mention that Chris found himself a little girlfriend in our 8 month old niece who literally could not look away from him... she reserved her good behavior and googly eyes for him. (yes, the same man that swore up and down to me that he scared babies). The weekend really did go way too fast.

So, for anyone behind on Chloe's developments, this past weekend was the first time we were able to see her move from the outside. She started going crazy Saturday night while I was lying in bed and Chris and my dad were playing drunken Wii bowling (meaning he missed the really crazy movements but caught some smaller ones). I'm pretty sure we lost track of Christopher's margaritas at #8... evidently he's a big hit smashed... Anyway - Chloe is obviously getting strong and I'm growing more uncomfortable by the hour...but it's all worth it. Today I also got to drink the fabulous sugar drink to test for Gestational Diabetes. Let's all cross our fingers they don't cut me off from delicious sugary treats!! I would probably wilt. Or at least Cry.

I hope everyone had as much fun this last weekend as we did... I was so sad this morning at work when I looked at the clock and realized it was 7:00 and my sisters plane was on it's way down the runway back to Boston... We'll have to take Chloe out to visit them next!

Friday, May 16, 2008

I Think We Have A Winner!

Sooo Chris and I toured a hospital last night and found a winner!


Now I'm not going to call myself a nut-and-berry kinda gal,

...but I wanted to have Chloe in a setting where they don't push medical interventions on you but let you do things as you'd like.


They even assured me that there would be a supply of Popsicles upon request!


Initially we thought we only had one hospital we could deliver at but it looks like we are able to go to French Hospital's Family Birthing Center in San Luis Obispo...


and YES...


I'm sure I'll have an epidural but they offer a lot of the options I'd been hoping for (some rooms have labor tubs, they don't require constant monitoring, there isn't a maximum amount of time you can labor, etc.) and the nurse that gave us our tour was fabulous. She answered a lot of my questions and put to rest most of my fears about having a C-Section if it came down to that. I can't believe the anxiety I have about being left to recover without Chris OR Chloe if I had a C-Section...


I'm not completely over it but the hospital is small and just had a very homey feel, a far cry from it's more modern behemoth counterpart which was our alternate option. So that's that. For Chris' sake, please pray I'm not a raving lunatic on the 1/2 hour drive to the hospital...

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Fess Parker

Mom and I had a great Mothers Day weekend together at the Fess Parker Resort. It was even better than I could have expected! Our room was AMAZING and the company couldn't have been better. We got our fill of Eggs Benedict and baby shopping and she even found a few scarves she loves! Please enjoy these pictures - Can you believe how great moms Stuffed French Toast looks?? It was even tastier than it looks! I had bundles of fun - can't complain when I'm getting spoiled by my mom!

My Brand New Motherly Do!

...Hair-Do that is !...

We've officially made it to 24 weeks today and to show off my excitement, I got my hair did! Haha. It's been getting great reviews and was MUCH needed. I sat down in the stylists chair and I think I frightened her. Evidently I was looking very 'motherly' already - AKA - Lookin' like crap. Oh dear. At least she covered all the gray hair!! Please forgive the creepy picture... I promise better pictures to come, especially after our Birthday/Anniversary/Babymoon trip we have planned to Monterey May 30th-June 1st!!! We're both getting so excited to get away for a weekend alone.


Friday, May 9, 2008

Happy (Early) Mothers Day! ...And Lots More.


I know it's early but I won't be around to say Happy Mothers Day since I'll be vacationing at the *gorgeous* Fess Parker Resort on the waterfront in Santa Barbara for a couple days with my very own Mamacita! I'm very excited to catch up with her.

As we get farther and farther along in this pregnancy I reflect more and more on my own relationship with my mom and want so badly to have a fabulous relationship with my own daughter. It just puts into perspective the whole mother/daughter thing.

It took 23 years but I am finally able to look at my relationship with my mom from the other side and I am finally coming to understand just how strong and unconditional a mothers love really is! It's amazing how Fifi isn't even here and I'd do anything in the entire world to give her the best chance at happiness and success in life; I can't wait to tell her that I'm her biggest supporter! (My mom was good at that one...she was also great at cheering me on during games from the sidelines, much to my pre-teen and teenage dismay!). This mothers day will be my last quiet one for a long time and I'm sure I'll spend a good portion of it reflecting and looking forward to the future and all the good times (and perhaps frustrating times) that having Fifi will bring to our family.

Other odds and ends...

I think Chris is getting more and more excited on a daily basis...
We were at Trader Joes after dinner tonight and he keep looking down at the cookies I had in my hand oddly (I swore he was thinking that I don't need to consume any more cookies), so finally I said, "WHAT are you staring at?!" He said, "It's just that...You really look pregnant now... There's definitely a Fifi in there!" Uhhh DUH! Silly boy. Needless to say, he didn't stop looking. Then...(and this could have been the margarita talking) he put his hand on my stomach and rubbed it...

WHAT is THIS?!

PDA in Trader Joes?! How very un-christopher-like! Haha.

Ok. SO it could have been his 2nd El Presidente margarita talking.

He's getting so cute about Fifi and it is so fun to watch as he comes to recognize Fifi as being real and tangible. I had been worried it might take him until I'm either looking like a total whale or even until she was born... So I'm definitely looking forward to the next 4 *quiet* months with him in our unborn parental bliss. Not to mention the John Mayer concert that I bought tickets for when I'll be 34 weeks along. The concert will take place in the armpit of California at the end of July in Paso Robles (well above 100 degree temps on a daily basis during summer)...miserable much, Jen?? Haha. I can't wait!!

Chris thinks we'll get more room this way as nobody will want to be near a woman who looks like she is about to "explode at any moment". Thanks Dear.

This post and the entire blog for that matter jumps everywhere and is quite random, but I explained to Chris the other day (although he still thinks I'm crazy I'm sure), that I want to make sure I write down as much as I can so that I have a way to look back on this pregnancy. This blog is as much for me as it is for keeping everyone who is so far away in the loop!

Which reminds me, the last couple of weeks Chloe has really been going to town and kicking up a storm. They started as little flutters at first but now she can easily be felt kicking from the outside (Chris even felt her last week!). She's an early bird like her mommy too; She is squirming by 5:30 AM on my drive into work!


Anyway - if you made it this far in the post, it's about to get ugly. I try not to write too much about work because it's made this pregnancy pretty stressful but this weekend will be a much needed girls getaway following a CRAZY week at work ... to those of you who don't know, Chloe's adopted Aunt Sandee (my fabulous co-worker whom I've come to LOVE and look up to as a mentor) resigned due to some ugly issues surrounding recent changes and a falling out with our new director. I can't say I blame her and I will try to remain impartial for the sake of the blog but it's a huge loss for the surgery center. We've had countless (repeat) patients in the last few days that are devastated to hear we lost Sandee and I keep expecting her to walk through the door or to see her car coming down the street in the dark at 5:45 am on our way to work like I have so many times in the past. I will stop here, but I have to admit the pregnancy hormones are making this really hard to deal with. I seriously feel like I should get my 3 days of grievance pay for losing a loved one!! (Funny thing is most of the people where we work feel the same way)...

Thanks for sticking it out through the long post. I hope you all enjoy your Mothers Day weekend and if you're a mother I hope you get spoiled rotten on Sunday and if you're a husband with a baby named Chloe on the way... thanks for the peanut shell sling someone I know got early for mothers day. It's ridiculously fun to wear stuffed with baking goodies as a pretend baby!

Monday, May 5, 2008

I WANT TO BUY IT ALL!

You heard me!!! I want to buy EVERYTHING I see that is made for babies! My rationale behind this is that well... we NEED lots of things for her...right?? Ok...bad rationale, I know....

For example... I'm currently stumped as to which of the burp rags on the following site I want to buy: http://www.yourbabysroom.com/EmbellishedRags.html
I know I'm going to make a purchase but they're ALL so cute! How do you decide?? What is Chris's response to my inability to decide on which ones I want to have made for Chloe you might ask? "Why do you have to get a fancy one, she's just going to barf on it!" Silly boys! Our princess will have nothing but the finest BARF rags :)

So in more tangible Fifi Purchase news... My fabulous hubby decided to humor me and buy me a Peanut Shell Sling for Mothers Day! (Considering I'm already being kicked around by babycakes I think this should count as my first mothers day!) And Look! It's not pink!!...



Maybe I'll try it out with a bag of flour when it comes. :)

OH yeah! And in HUGE purchase news, we made our biggest (and hopefully last large) baby purchase... Our Glider!! WOOHOO!

What an interesting adventure...

Chris went with me (which should worry everyone immediately because not only were we going shopping but it was BABY Shopping, not even Best Buy shopping) but in the end all was well... Minus the fact that he made me cry in the store...Just kidding. Kinda.

So in any case, I had pretty much decided which chair I want and my heart set on a fully upholstered glider that was also a recliner, but when we got to the store, not only did Chris hate it (He'd LOVE a crusty ole granny rocker if he had his choice I think), but he made me realize that there was NO way my HUGE, ridiculously comfy chair would go up our stairs and then gave me a detailed story of how I'd be going up and down the stairs in the wee hours of the morning with Fifi and he didn't think it was safe...blah blah blah... (Ok, ok...so the man had a point)...

Chair that got the boot:


End Result: I gave up my big comfy chair dream and we came to a really fabulous middle of the road conclusion where we were both quite happy and in just 6-9 short weeks (which in the baby furniture industry means 12-16 weeks), we'll have a gorgeous micro-fiber chocolate brown glider with ottoman!! I'm so darn excited.

Chair that Triumphed!