Right now.

Right now, my heart is about to burst out of my chest with love. This hasn't been an extraordinary day, but perhaps it's the sheer normal of it all that makes me want to freeze time and just hug the moment to death.

I just put Elle to bed, and I'm listening to her call out "Elle Belle! Elle Belle? Elle Belle!" like I do when I place peek-a-boo with her. This comes after a giggle fit that necessitated me calling Tim at work so he could hear the pure belly laughs of a silly baby who finds the act of her mother poking at her through crib slats in the near-dark to be better than anything Comedy Central will show, EVER. Elle was nearly falling down laughing as I blew her kisses through the crib.

I am so thankful that I'm able to be with her every night now - that I eat dinner with her, play with her for a few hours and give her a bath before our nightly routine of books and staring at the "stars" (projected by our dear friend, Twilight "Durdle"). As I rocked her for a few minutes, we looked at the stars and I pointed out the crescent moon. Elle pointed up at it and said "Moo." (Who can be bothered with an extra consonant when you're 14.5 months old? Not my daughter!) A minute later, she pointed to the moon again and said, "Manana?" It took me a second, but I realized that she'd processed the crescent moon as a banana shape. I then told her she's so smart it's scary.

She's talking so much now that I can't keep up with a list of words. And her pronunciation and diction is getting better every day. Just three weeks ago, she said "Melmo." Now, she says "Elmo." She says "dank du" for "thank you." Every fish is called "gookie." Some puzzling - but consistent - "words": Grams is called "mee." Muffins are "mommy." (Thanks, Elle.) Elle's versions of "flower" and "water" are pretty much the same - gotta look for context clues with this one :) And she's slowly figuring out that not all trees and bushes are flowers.

She copies my exclamations, with an "oh my" or an "uh ...... oh" or an "oh no!" thrown in every now and then. Proof that she's Tim's daughter: She says baseball ("bayball") and "touchdown!" (complete with hand motion).

"Touchdown!"

Proof that she's my daughter: Tonight her eyes lit up and she made a beeline for my "copy" (coffee) cup.

I told her the kitty, Sidney, was a good boy, and she said "Girl." (That's gonna be a fun one to explain.) Mario is now called Mar Mar. Sidney is "Tidnee."

"Mar Mar!" (Mario isn't as excited about Elle.)

Elle can say the names of her babysitters, although poor Jessica is relegated to "Essica," and Ashley is "Astley." She loves shoes and "dopping" (shopping) with Mommy.

Elle likes to tell you when she's pooping. But to her, farting equals pooping, too. So you'll hear "Poopy" or "Pooping?" a lot from her. Usually if there's a red face and a grunt along with her proclamation, you'll know there is something in the diaper for you.

The girl who once dropped to her knees and took off in a crawl if you tried to get her to put weight on her feet is now asking constantly to "alk?" So we walk. Up the hall. Down the hall. In to the kitchen. Back out. She'll sometimes walk by holding on to one of our hands, but usually, she doesn't feel confident unless she's holding a hand in each of hers. She'll stand on her own briefly - something she didn't do even four days ago. Baby Girl is going to be walking, and soon.

Loving her walker.

She's climbing on everything, too. Yay.

For Elle, if happiness came in TV form, it would be the Sprout network. Specifically, the Sunny Side Up show with Chica and Nina (or "Mina" as Elle says). She likes to sing Wiggles' songs - if you sing "Fruit Salad" to her, you'll get "Yummy yummy" back. She still loves her books, too - right now she is loving the Llama llama books (she calls them "ama ama"), Susan Boynton books and any "first words," "first colors" and counting books. If the book has animals, she'll read it over and over. She'll bring a book to us now, say "book," then "rea" and follow it up with a spoken and/or signed "please."

She loves spicy food. She loves fruit. She's eating three meals a day and 1-2 snacks. She hardly throws any food on the floor anymore during meals (I never thought I'd see the day that happened). She drinks water like she's been in a desert for the last 10 years, gasping to catch her breath after gulping, gulping, gulping.

The molars are s-l-o-w-l-y (and painfully) moving in, and she's sporting eight other teeth (four top, four bottom.)

She loves having her blankie - it's magic. She will lay down and/or start sucking her thumb the minute she touches it. When she was struggling with molars last week, she was constantly cuddling up with me and the blankie and sucking her thumb, which would have been absolutely precious except I knew she was miserable.

Molargate.

She goes to sleep easily - she'll sleep from 9 p.m. until 7:30-8:30 a.m. and then nap for about two hours after lunch. She LOVES taking a bath. If you so much as mention "bath," you darn well better have the water ready and the toys in the tub or you're going to hear about it.  

She goes by Elle Belle, Belle Belle, Belle, EB, Baby Boo, Boo Boo and Mimi. There are also several "Elizabeths" and "Elizabeth Irenes" thrown in nowadays. My favorite thing in the world, aside from her giggles and belly laughs, is hearing her identify herself in pictures or the mirror as "Elle Belle." I also enjoy her mocking me - when I'm making her meals, I'll often tell her "Hang on, Elle. I'll be right there." So now when she's frustrated that I'm not getting her something fast enough, she starts furiously chanting "Ang on. Ang on." She'll gleefully yell "gooooo!" when you set her up with a "Ready ... set ..." And if she knows we're going to the park, she'll say "wheee" repeatedly when we're near the swings.

She's stubborn and sweet - testing her limits one minute and then giving a hug the next. She squeals with joy when she's near the cats. She could help load and unload the dishwasher for hours at a time and be happy (she LOVES spoons). She's constantly keeping me on my toes and cracking me up.

She's amazing.

P.S. This serves as Elle's 14-month update. No stats from the pediatrician this month, anyway, and I broke format because I got carried away with wanting to remember exactly how she is, right now.

Vanity, in short-form video; a short update

Elle has discovered many things in the past few days. It's pretty cool :)

She's grown increasingly fond of the adorable little baby in the mirror:

And she's waaayyyy more aware of the kitties these days. Whenever she sees one walk by, she coos and stares. She's especially entranced by their tails (uh-oh!). If they are close enough, she'll try to reach for them. Sidney, always the more skittish kitty, has gotten pretty quick to dart away if she so much as glances in his direction, but Mario patiently sits, tensing up only if she starts to "pet" him. We're doing supervised visits at this point, but the cats have been more tolerant than I expected, and Elle absolutely loves these new "Elle-sized" creatures that she's recently noticed. Sidney will sometimes lick her or curl up against her, knowing it is the closest he'll be getting to us at that moment. Elle mostly grabs at their fur, and we're trying to keep their faces a "hands off" zone. The biggest problem so far is that she gets a ton of hair sticking in between her fingers when she pets Mario.

Elle is also starting to reach for us! And for things more and more every day, like toys and cups while we're drinking. It is awesome to see her strain to get out of the car seat so she can be in our arms, and it is just another cool development that proves she kinda knows who that woman and man who call themselves Mama and Dada are.

She's also becoming increasingly more interested in the food we eat. She watches everything that we put in our mouths and likes to feel the textures of different things - I'm excited that we're only a little more than a month away from introducing solids.

Tim and I are off together (GASP!) for a few days and are looking forward to celebrating his birthday and Christmas and just spending some down time as a "normal" family for a few days. Maybe I'll get a chance to catch up on some blog posts ... :)

Elle's belated three-month stats

Wellllll, I don't really have any. Which is why I didn't really post this earlier, but as her four-month well-baby visit approaches I realized I wanted to make sure I documented this month on the blog. I didn't even make it to her pediatrician's office for an official weight check, so I'll tell you all that we estimated her to be about 13 pounds on her three-month birthday. And as always, she's long. Her big three-month fell on Halloween, so she wore some fun hats during her photo shoot :)

This hat was knitted by the sister-in-law of one of my coworkers. She made two for his son because she wasn't sure what size his head would be, and Elle's huge noggin barely fit in to this one, the smaller one :)

And for some comparison, here are her first two month shots:

She's definitely a little taller, porkier and stronger in her most recent monthly photo! (And perhaps has a little more attitude!)

Elle's two-month stats

Elle's two-month pediatrician appointment was supposed to be last week, but since we were out of town it got pushed to this week. I had her weighed on her two-month birthday, though, and she was 11 pounds, 9 ounces (which put her roughly in the 60th percentile for two month olds). Here are her stats as of today:

Weight: 12 pounds, 5 ounces (88th percentile)

Height: 23.5 inches (90th percentile)

Head: 41 cm (92nd percentile)

The doctor said she's doing great, and her head/neck control while on her tummy was at the level of a three month old. She nearly rolled over on the exam table! 

She also had her first round of vaccines, which was probably harder on me than her. I made Tim come to the appointment and hold her down during the shots, and I stood behind him where she couldn't see me ... then I swooped in to comfort her after the shots were over. We think she screamed and cried more because the nurse and Tim were restricting her movement than from the pain. So far, she's been great - she's been in a fantastic mood all day except for the during the shots, and we're just watching for possible reactions. They gave her two cute bandages, too - one of which is already gone because she got poop all over it.

Elle has been sucking her fist like it is going out of style - it is funny to see/hear, and it is nice that she can self-soothe when we're not able to pop a pacifier in her mouth. She is very chatty with her toys - she's a big fan of an aqua elephant, a pink flower rattle, a Tigger rattle and a yellow giraffe. She sleeps extremely well at night, although her nap times and lengths are still a bit unpredictable. Every morning, when she wakes up, we hear her grunting and making little noises. When we go in to the nursery to get her, she looks at us and gives us a huge, cheesy smile, despite the fact that has been hours since she had her diaper changed or ate. She's on a pretty steady eating schedule and eats about every three hours, and in just the last few days she's been spitting up a lot less, which is a nice change :).

Basically, she's a fantastic, happy little baby - when she's crying, I know why 98% of the time. She's very good at going with the flow as long as she can eat and sleep, and although we're slightly biased, we think she's extremely advanced (and when the doctor tells you she's got skillz of a three month old it just adds credibility to our prejudice!).

She traveled fantastically to, in and from Ohio - I'll be posting more about our trip when I get a chance. For now, here is a video of her from Ohio, holding a rattle for the first time (and bopping her Uncle Doug in the face, too!):

Quick update on us

We've all been quite busy lately - Elle is smiling, "talking" and growing like a weed (11 pounds, 9 ounces on her two-month birthday!). Tim is working a lot, following the MLB postseason closely and living and dying with the Bengals. And I'm running around trying to get oodles of stuff done before my maternity leave ends :(

My sports editor's mom knitted Elle a beautiful hat and blanket (photo at left). Elle was thoroughly confused as to what I was putting on her head (she really hasn't been one for headbands or hats yet) and why I thought she needed it in Florida, but hey, the weather *is* starting to cool off, and she totally looks cute in it!

My sister came to visit last week, and Elle had a great time meeting her aunt. We gave Elle a good dose of outlet shopping one day, ate a picnic on the beach in near-stormy weather, went to one of my mommy-baby groups, had some yummy food, and Marti helped me run a lot of errands and finish up projects. I was also able to get to the gym a few times and leave the baby for quality aunt time.

On Marti's first night in town, we left Elle with a sitter for the first time (this sitter will also be watching her a few hours a week when I go back to work). Tim, Marti and I went to St. Pete to meet up with my friend Traci and attend a Rays game ... and a Bret Michaels concert! I've been looking forward to this concert since it was announced in May, and I feared that Bret would cancel or be ill. I was more excited about the concert than the game (which we missed half of, anyway). It was nice to get out for a little bit and know that Elle was in good hands, and the concert was pretty cool, too. It was the second time I'd seen Bret in concert :)

This week is full of family and friends for Elle - she's meeting lots of important people! Next week will be significantly less happy for both of us - she has her two-month well-baby visit, which means her first vaccinations :( And then I return to work at the end of the week - I was trying to arrange it so that I would ease in to things with a half-week, but my days off changed and now I'm going to be slammed with a full-time return. To say I'm not looking forward to the transition would be an understatement :(

*cough cough*

Tim and I have been battling colds this week - poor Elle has been startled a lot by loud nose-blowing or coughing. Luckily, she hasn't shown any signs of being sick, and we hope it stays that way. We are pretty miserable but hoping we are on the upswing of the sickness and are looking forward to a relaxing, restful weekend, which for Tim means a lot of football and for me means catching up on some stuff around the condo and maybe some crafting. We are going to try out a new sports bar near our place on Sunday to watch our teams, and Elle is excited to see the Steelers win and eat some wings.

I must say being sick with a newborn is a lot worse than being sick while pregnant. I'm basically in the same boat on the medication front - what I can take is pretty limited because I'm breastfeeding. But at least before I could nap whenever I wanted and didn't worry about infecting a little person. And Tim and I are rarely sick at the same time, so this has been extra rough. I had just started to get used to the lack of sleep and the constant picking up of blankets, burp cloths, bottles, etc., and now I need more sleep and have to pick up tissues, replenish hand sanitizer, etc.

And because I have plenty of photos to go around, here is a photo of one of Elle's newest tricks: Pouting. She was moving around a lot, and this is from my cell phone, but you'll get the basic idea:

A quick update

I know I've been slacking a bit on the blog front lately, and for that, I apologize. I have a post started about a visit from my mom and youngest brother, and I've been taking more pictures, but they're really been "different outfit, different day" kinds of photos, and the bottom line is that time to blog has been scarce and fallen to the bottom of the priority list, but I thought I'd write a quick post about our first 3.5 weeks with Elle. In short, it is a blur - a blur of our daughter changing slightly every day, a blur of watching for little hints of the person she's becoming to peak out, a blur of diapers, feedings, spit up, feedings, burps, naps, feedings and diapers.

We've been blessed with a very good eater (that's my girl!). But she is young, has no schedule and is cluster feeding as she grows, which means that I'm often feeding her every hour. It is frustrating, especially at night, when she falls asleep while eating, or acts ravenous and then is "full" within five minutes and then wakes again an hour later, wanting to eat again. I feed her on demand, but as she gets older and starts to settle in to a pattern, I sincerely hope that she stops "snacking" and uses me only for "full meals."

She's had some nasty episodes of spit up, too, and isn't the world's best burper, so after she eats, I have to keep her upright for 10-15 minutes and try to coax a burp out of her. Since I'm breastfeeding, Tim isn't able to take over feedings (although I've recently started pumping, so he will be able to soon), and although he has gotten up to change some diapers during the night, I usually try to let him sleep. I figure if I have to be up to feed her, anyway, I might as well change the diapers, too. So we get lots of quality time together, and in the morning, Tim changes her diaper before work so I can get a few extra minutes of shut-eye before she eats again.

Elle and I spend our days napping (well, mostly she naps - she seems to have an alarm that goes off if I try to join her), feeding/eating and trying to get a few things done around the condo (laundry is always high on the list, thanks for the previously mentioned spit up and diapers). Her sleep patterns depends largely on her eating patterns, and she sleeps best at night when swaddled - this is a doubled-edged sword, though, because she hates being swaddled. If she is dead to the world when we put her down, she'll stay asleep for 90 minutes to 2.5 hours, when she wakes to eat. But if she wakes before that and realizes that she's swaddled, she gets very angry and fights to break out of the swaddle, which completely wakes her up. She usually ends up in the bouncy seat, unswaddled, after her second feeding of the night, just because I don't have the energy to fight her anymore. But we're working on a few different ways to swaddle her and put her to sleep, so hopefully soon we'll find a magic fix.

In the last two weeks, she's started making some very interesting noises in her sleep. She grunts a lot, but she also makes noises like a little puppy and sighs a lot. She is a super gassy little chica, and she often startles herself with her farts.

Elle has been quite the traveler in her first few weeks, too, although there are some days I just can't muster the energy or focus to time simple errands around her erratic and demanding feeding schedule. I have been caught many times already in a grocery store or on the way home from Target with a screaming child who has suddenly decided she needs to eat and she needs to eat five minutes ago. Unless I am confident that we'll make the trip without a serious meltdown, we often just don't run errands that day. We did venture out to my favorite aquarium while my mom and Doug were here, and Elle is no stranger to grocery shopping. We went to the beach this weekend for the first time - not for an extended stay, but we ate lunch at a cafe on the beach and walked Elle down to feel the gulf for the first time. (Photo of her unimpressed reaction is at the top of post.) We've been attending a mommy/baby group at our hospital, too, and I hope to continue to be active in that, as well as a breastfeeding support group and baby-wearing group that I'm hoping to attend in the next few weeks.

For my sanity, we have been taking frequent walks at the park - I think the fresh air and activity have helped us both. We both love it on the nights that Tim is able to join us, but on the nights that is just me and baby girl, we go as late as possible to avoid the heat, and we walk slowly and only as long as either of us can take it.

The weekends have been much better for me sleep-wise, as Tim takes Elle for a few hours around midnight and I head to bed, getting a few extra hours of precious sleep before she needs to eat, and then I sleep in as much as possible.

Every night when he gets home from work, Tim takes over the diaper changing and holds Elle as much as he can - basically, whenever I'm not feeding her. It is great for them to have bonding time (I think her first words will be along the lines of "Brandon Phillips" or "Votto"), and I appreciate a little break to be able to type two-handed, tidy up around the condo or just collapse on the couch. Life is very different now for me - there are many days where I don't get anything done, or items on my to-do list that get transferred over from week to week to week. Phone calls are made whenever Elle is soundly sleeping. Dinner is made - or sometimes, eaten - after Elle eats. But I remind myself that we'll never have these days back, and there are many things in my life that can just wait. That e-mail can be written tomorrow, the photos can be uploaded this weekend, that trip to the library is unnecessary.

Soon this chaos that is life with a newborn will be a distant memory (much like the woes of pregnancy already feel like they were years ago), and while I miss the simultaneous structure and flexibility of life before baby, I have a new appreciation for life that revolves around the structure of Elle's life, however unstructured that may be. I'm grateful that I'm able to stay home with her for several weeks as we start this new journey, and while I fear how things will go when we transition back in to "two parents working full-time and raising a baby", I know that the three of us will figure out a way to make it all work, and I'm just going to soak up this transition before I worry too much about that one.

Gigantor update

We had our big "How big is Elle" ultrasound today. It was an interesting appointment. First of all, everything looks good, and Elle is not as huge as originally feared. The ultrasound tech estimates her at 8 pounds, 1 ounce. She's head down, which I've known, although somehow she's still finding room to move from side to side. It was confirmed once again that we *are* having a girl. Her bladder was full and her heart looked great. Other than that, she just looked majorly cramped in there. We got a few good looks at her face and her chubby little cheeks, and the tech tried to get some 3D photos, but her face was smashed against the uterine wall, so they didn't turn out all that well.

Baby's smashed face.
(If you want to come out, you'll have more roooooommmmmm!)

The tech also said that I have "A LOT" of fluid. Awesome.

Then I did my normal "peeing in the cup" and "standing on the scale" routine and we were taken back to our exam room. As I was otherwise occupied, Tim was inspecting the ultrasound photos. Apparently he thinks our daughter is going to look like an Easter Island statue.

Easter Island Statues.

The doctor came in, looked at the chart and said 8 pounds, 1 ounce was not bad, but she still seemed big, haha. He said I do have a lot of fluid (I can only imagine Elle swimming in an Olympic-size pool of amniotic fluid, so I'm glad I can make her stay in Wombville that much more comfortable.) We had another internal exam and apparently I'm now 2 cm dilated, my cervix has softened and things are slightly more thinned out, but the baby's head is still high.

The doctor then gave us some options. He said that the longer the baby has to chill in utero, the bigger she will get. He said I could wait to go in to labor on my own until 41 weeks, at which point they'd want to induce. He said if we waited until next week, we could have another ultrasound just to see how the baby was doing in terms of weight and fluid (although he "doubted a lack of fluid would be an issue." OK, I get it. Lots of fluid.) Or he said we could induce before that.

I asked what he recommended from a medical standpoint, and he said there really wasn't much of a difference. An induction with a first-time mother carries a slightly higher risk of resulting in a c-section, but we're looking at a slightly higher risk of needing a c-section because she's big, anyway. And the longer she cooks, the bigger she'll get. (Side note: Tim thinks she's going to come out with a tan, looking all oven-roasted.) He said that if it were him having the baby, he'd likely opt for the induction before 41 weeks because of her size (despite all of her laps in the swimming pool).

We told him we'd be OK with scheduling an induction, and he went to check the hospital's schedule. (Maybe this is what she needs to come on her own!) We're currently scheduled to arrive at Labor & Delivery bright and early on Monday morning to start things. If Elle comes on her own terms before that, that would be great. But if she continues her stubborn streak (seriously have NO idea where she gets that), we'll still get to meet her early next week!

Holy ouchie, Batman.

Random update post:

So I've had this pain in my stomach once before. It went away, and I thought it was gone for good.

But two nights ago, it came back. It's right next to my belly button and feels like I'm suffering from a bruise left over from being whacked with a hammer or have experienced the muscle pull of all muscle pulls. It especially hurts when I get off the couch or out of the car, but sometimes it just hurts when I'm sitting, walking, lying down ... I had tried to do my core Pilates workout yesterday and it just wasn't happening. I quickly abandoned it for one of the other segments.

So of course I turned to my friend the internet. I thought if there were any serious implications mentioned I would then call the doctor, but I've had round ligament pain, I know there are a lot of things going on in my belly to accommodate the growing baby and I don't want to be a panicky patient. (Plus they'd probably just want to weigh me again!)

Luckily, my fears of terrible things were put to rest quickly. It seems this pain-near-the-belly-button is common but comes at different times in pregnancy for different people and different pregnancies. The most likely cause for this pain is just the stretching of the body and the ligaments being pulled in new directions. It could also be an umbilical hernia, but there's mot much that can be done about it while pregnant. Soooo I'm going to stop worrying about it and mention it to my doctor at my next appointment unless it gets unbearable. I'm still feeling the baby move a lot and it's not a constant pain - just not a pleasant feeling!

* * *

Our crib mattress has arrived! For some reason I'm stupidly excited about it. I did a lot of research and found that foam mattresses are highly recommended. Then there was a particular brand that was recommended to me by several people, and within that brand a particular model that people love because it's reversible. We went with the Colgate Classica III mattress. One side is meant for cribs and infants, the other side is designed for toddler beds and toddlers. Our crib converts to a toddler bed, daybed and full-sized headboard. While we plan on having at least one more kid, and ideally the timing of the next kid would eliminate the need for the use of a toddler bed (and they could graduate to a twin bed when the baby needs to move in to the crib), this dual-firmness mattress was only $10 more than the single-firmness mattress. I figured it was worth the investment in case for some reason we decided to utilize the toddler bed feature of the crib. And the crib should arrive this week :)

* * *

One month til our ultrasound! Woohooooo! :)

Recent - and not so recent - highlights

Today I pre-registered at the hospital we plan to deliver at, whee! My doctor's office requires that certain things be taken care of before the 28-week mark (including registering for childbirth classes), and this is one of them. Basically, if I were to deliver any time in the next 14+ weeks, I'd be all set on the hospital/new patient front.

We also got a new microwave. It might be because I someone put a paper plate in the microwave the other while making her lunch ... and coincidentally, the paper plate (left over from a certain someone's 40th birthday party) might have had a design on it that contained metallic properties that might have started a fire in the microwave. (For the record, I never thought there was actual metal in the plate, just that it was colored. And I know better than to knowingly put metal in the microwave.) The microwave then stopped working, which is especially sad because I've had it since college. I bought a new one last night, which we set up today. Yay!

And I've been meaning to blog about this for oh, months, so I thought I'd throw it in with the other more timely updates. Right before we left for Ohio last fall, we had a weird phenomena in our master closet. The floor was wet. And we couldn't figure out why.

At first we thought it might be our washer, like a connection was loose. But no. That wasn't it.

Then we thought it might be the washer in the unit behind ours, because that might be seeping in to our closet, too.

But no.

There was some discussion that it might some sort of leak in the pipes in the walls, even stemming from the vacant unit above ours.

But that's wasn't it, either.

We were puzzled, and the maintenance staff in our complex wasn't exactly helpful. Eventually, a maintenance worker came in, and within about five seconds, he told me that the bathtub was leaking and that we needed a new tub.

Uhhh ...

After thinking about it, it made sense - the closet carpet got wet when we showered. At this point, we'd removed all of our stuff from the floor of the closet, but it was a nightmare - I worried constantly about mold.

I made a few calls and found someone who insisted that our bath tub didn't need to be replaced, it needed to be refinished. I had never heard of this, but the price difference was substantial, so I was sold. The next morning, the guy came over and hooked up a massive ventilation system and got to work. After about four hours, we had a beautiful, reglazed bathtub that looked like new and - most importantly - wouldn't leak.

The problem? We needed to let it set for several days. Like, not use the water at all in there. Really, this wasn't a terrible time for us to do this, because we *were* flying out to Ohio two days later. The first day, we showered at the YMCA. The second day, though, we did quick sponge baths and prepared for our day of travel. As soon as we arrived at Tim's cousins' house, we showered and then headed off for the weekend's wedding festivities. And when we got back to Florida a few days later, we had a sparkly, unleaky tub. And it should hold up for several years.

Whoa.

So I know in a few months I'll look back at this and laugh, wondering how I ever thought *this* was big or that *this* was a big change. But at the moment, it is - and since I wore the same trendy comfy outfit for my 9 week photo and my 12 week photo, I thought I'd share the fact that you I can tell a difference in my belly's appearance.

I offer you exhibit A:


It looks like the photo from 12 weeks is crooked, but that was just Mario poking in to open the blinds. Alas, ugly white belly has grown! I can definitely feel and see the difference, even from head-on, as my normal weight gain patterns (i.e. alllllll around the middle) are definitely concentrated in a more central area where one might carry a baby!

* * *

I also wanted to note some things - ahem - important items from my experiences as a pregnant lady that I hope to not forget in the future. For the three days before I got the positive pregnancy test, I was going to the bathroom a lot more often. Then it kind of died down, although I did go an additional time every night. In the last week, I've found that I go to the bathroom at least 2-3 times a night. And the cats are going to have to learn to stay out of my way, because last night Mario almost tripped me in my 6 a.m. stupor.

I've had a hard time keeping up my water intake. Why? For the most part, water tastes disgusting to me. Nice, huh? I've turned to flavoring it and mixing in vitamin waters. That has helped a lot. Which also is contributing to the above problem. Blah.

I've had vivid dreams for the last few weeks. Dreams, nightmares, you name it. Last night I had a dream about cross-stitch samplers. (True story.) Probably more on dreams in a later post.

The extra saliva crap? Finally over. But for the first month or so, I was spitting like a trucker. Absolutely disgusting. And if I didn't spit it out, it made me gag. Especially fun when it flared up on my drives home from work.

The exhaustion. I've touched on this, but since I *think* my energy is finally starting to return slowly, I'll just say I have no idea how I managed two jobs, continuing to develop my business and doing anything else (including sending Christmas presents and cards) during these first few weeks. I'm taking my final class for my Web design certificate this spring and am not sure how much longer I'll work the part-time job (I have some financial goals in mind and really do enjoy the people and work 90% of the time, so it's not a job I'm DYING to get rid of at this point), but I think if more of my energy returns, I'll be golden. The part-time job has been great working with my schedule and new-found pregnant needs. I went from working 5 a.m. to noon three or four days a week when I was hired to working 8-10 hours a week when they found out I was pregnant. My shifts now usually start at 9 or 10 a.m. When I asked for reduced hours, my manager also suggested later shifts. Just another reason to like that job. I don't think I would have survived the exhaustion if I was still working the early shifts and more hours.

A Tim funny and mid-week update

About a month ago, Tim had his hand on my stomach. He said, "I can feel the baby's heartbeat!" I quickly explained to him that it was *my* heartbeat he was feeling.

***

Meanwhile, baby has been making his or her presence known over the last few days. My nausea issues have continued - not terrible, not constant, but definitely present - and dizziness has moved in. I had to call off from my part-time job on Friday because I felt so dizzy and sick. For the last four days, I've spent the first two hours after waking up trying to slowly get out of bed, eat some crackers or toast and then make it in to the shower. In addition to that fun, I was sick on Monday and then again yesterday when I was getting ready for work. The weirdest thing about the times when I've actually been sick (as opposed to just nauseous) is that I've always felt almost better before one of the episodes comes on. And then I'm totally ruined for the rest of the day and part of the next as I try to gingerly approach food again. But dear baby, Mommy is nearing the END of the first trimester - there's no need to be making me throw up in my 11th week! Let's just be friends. Give me my energy back, my appetite back and keep the nausea and we can be pals, OK?

My dad has pointed out that this is all payback. But Daaaddddd, I was the perfect child! I think this is just baby's way of reassuring me (again, we could go with less dramatic signs) and rebelling against certain foods. (Sorry, kid, you're going to have to deal with Chinese food and chocolate milk. Not at the same time, but c'mon.)

Sorrrrryyyyy.

So I know I promised updates from our California trip months ago. And those never happened.

But then November happened and was full of some fun stuff. So I'll try to recap some of that now!

In early November, Tim and I traveled to Ohio for his cousin Ryan's wedding. We were greeted by some rare, warm weather. We flew in to Columbus because it was cheaper, and we picked up our rental car and headed to Gahanna, where we were married almost a year before. We met up with our friend Aaron (aka "Cookie") at Mezzo, the restaurant where we'd had our rehearsal dinner. We were able to walk around for a bit before lunch and saw the Sanctuary, where we had our ceremony and reception, and look around the park surrounding Mezzo, which we'd really only seen in the dark the year before. It was a great afternoon and we had a blast catching up with Cookie, whom we both knew from our days working at The Lima News.

(Us walking in the park near Mezzo)

After lunch, we drove to Cincinnati and arrived at Tim's cousin Jeff's house just in time to change for the rehearsal dinner. We stayed with Jeff and Allison all weekend and had a blast. The rehearsal dinner was a great chance to gather some of the cousins

(Jeff, Tim, Travis)

and their gorgeous and patient wives together.

(Travis' wife Jessica, me, Jeff's wife Allison)

We headed back to Jeff's and Allison's and the boys played some games before bed. The next morning, Allison had to join the female half of the bridal party early for hairstyles and photos, but the boys took some time to get ready before heading to the church. Tim was an usher, so we basically just went wherever and whenever the other cousins (Jeff and Travis) went, because they were best man and groomsman, respectively.

Before the wedding, Jeff and I ran a quick errand to Walgreen's - Holly had a small stain on her dress and we were sent to get a Tide pen. So off we went, me in my dress and Jeff in his tux, and we headed to the detergent aisle. There, a woman who was probably about 75 or 80 asked us we worked there. We politely told her no, wondering what kind of uniforms she thought Walgreen's employees wore these days. I barely made it out of the aisle before I burst out laughing.

(Tim and I with the newlyweds, Ryan and Holly)

The wedding was beautiful, and it was a great occasion to get the family together. We had a blast at the reception - it was so good to see Tim's parents, brother, one of his nephews (the other nephew and our sister-in-law had to stay home because the nephew was feeling under the weather), and alllll of the aunts, uncles and cousins. They'd all been able to get together for another family wedding the month before, but I hadn't been able to attend, and it was the first time I saw them since OUR wedding.

After the wedding, we all pretty much crashed at Jeff and Allison's again. The next morning, much of the aunt/uncle/cousin contingent got together for one last group meal at IHOP.

(Jeff and Tim map out football plays while waiting for breakfast)

Then, Jeff, Tim and I headed off to downtown Cincinnati for the Bengals/Ravens game. Thanks to Jeff's connections, we had some awesome seats, and although I will always be a Steelers fan, it was nice to watch Tim's team get a win, especially against a division rival.

(Our seats were awesome!)

After the game, Tim and I drove to Columbus to drop off our rental car and meet up with my sister and brother-in-law for dinner. We spent the night at their place, and as Marti and I planned a rendezvouz with our mother for the next day, Tim and Jeff plotted a way to take advantage of a unseasonably warm November day and go golfing.

(It's not a trip to Columbus without a game of poker.)

The next day, Marti and I met up with our mom for lunch halfway between Columbus and Louisville. Tim and Jeff golfed, and then Tim flew back to Florida. After our lunch, Mom took me to Louisville, where I spent a few days hanging out with family and friends.

(I always make Doug take self-portraits with me)

(Meeting up with some of my favorite girls!)

I even got to meet the new baby of my college roommate, Kristine. Baby Joey was adorable and oh-so-well behaved!

(Baby Josephine)

Whew! (And sadly, this is pretty typical of our trips to Ohio. Trying to cover both sides of the family and state, trying to visit with several groups of friends, spending quality "down" time at home, etc.)

It was a great trip, and it was awesome to see so many different people and have some busy times and some down times. And we couldn't have asked for better weather!

October

It's been a pretty calm month for us, which is partly why there hasn't been much blogging. But this past week I took a few photos and thought I'd share them with our few loyal followers :)

Earlier this month, I completed the Race for the Cure 5K. I didn't finish in my best time, but I finished, and I was happy about that :) I was really proud of the fact that I ran the race on about three hours of sleep, too (more on that in a minute). I raised more than $600, which I am extremely happy about, especially considering the current economic climate. Buuuttttt about five days later, I had serious pain in my hip and leg and then some numbness and back pain. The theory that seems most likely is that I had bursitis in my hip or a groin pull, and then possibly overcompensated for that pain and ended up pinching a nerve in my back. Let me tell you, it's been awful and frustrating to try to recover. I'm finally starting to feel better and have been doing some light workouts at the gym.

But back to the three hours of sleep - Tim and I both worked the night before the race, and then I took him to the airport early in the morning so that he could fly to Ohio for his cousin's wedding :)


Above are the newlyweds :)

Tim has been reporting for his paper two-three days a week. It's been fun for him to report again and break away from the copy desk, but it also does a number on his sleep schedule, as the reporting shifts are day shifts and the desk shifts are night shifts. Here, I caught him and Mario napping during a baseball game:


This past weekend, I headed up to St. Pete early before work and met up with my friend Traci to check out some of the events going on downtown. This is the bridge I drive over every day to get to work, which connects St. Petersburg with the greater Bradenton area:


We went to the St. Petersburg Times' Festival of Reading first. We checked out the food and booths before going to hear our friend's boyfriend speak about his book. Then we visited for a bit in the courtyard of the St. Pete campus of USF, which is were I took this photo:


On the other side of that water is the Salvador Dali Museum. You can't see it in this photo, but it's a squat building across the water :)

After our day of walking, lunching, festivaling and marketing, we figured we might as well stop at the Cupcake Spot, a cute little store that opened a few months ago in downtown St. Pete. They recently announced that they've started carrying a seasonal pumpkin cupcake, so I knew I had to get over there to try it. Luckily, when we got there, we were second in line and there were two pumpkin cupcakes left. I think the little girl ahead of us saw me giving her the evil eye and selected only one pumpkin cupcake in the half-dozen she was choosing for her mom :) I got the last one, and it was AMAZING.


Traci, who un-Americanly hates pumpkin, got a lemon cupcake with raspberry buttercream. This place is a must-visit :)

On Sunday, I was a bit under the weather with a cold, so we stayed home and watched the Steelers before work. On Monday, though, we went to my favorite aquarium, the Mote Marine Laboratory. We are members there and hadn't been to the aquarium in months, so we wanted to take advantage of some free time to visit with the animals. The place is all decked out for Halloween, too :)


The stingrays weren't being very social :(

And now we're gearing up for another trip to Ohio :) Another cousin of Tim's is getting married, so we'll be venturing up north for the nuptials. I can't believe it's already the end of October!