Birthday and Baby Shower Fun

My birthday (Kay) is two weeks after Greg's birthday. Our friend Tom also happens to have the same birthday as me. So since we've been friends, we get together on our birthdays. Greg was so patient with me this year as every other day I would change my mind about what kind of cake and dinner I wanted. Finally, I decided I wanted a cookies 'n cream ice cream roll cake and belgian waffles with fresh fruit for dinner (we'd just bought a waffle iron). For some strange reason, however, ice cream roll cakes are not as popular as they once were. Greg could not find a good one anywhere. Some employees didn't even know what a roll or log cake was (deprived children). I gave Greg other options, but being the engineer he is, he had to make one. He found a recipe for an ice cream log cake and off to the kitchen he went. The waffles were relatively easy (but SO good) so he spent most of his time on the cake. Tom wanted apple pie, so his wife Steph obliged and they both came over after the cake was done. It was so much fun and I was SO impressed with Greg's baking skills. The cake was chocolate with cookies 'n cream ice cream. The white on the outside is powdered sugar. We had a great time celebrating with Tom and Steph and their daughter.

Then, as if our birthdays weren't enough fun, I had my first baby shower today with Greg's family. Considering I am only 36 weeks and this is my first pregnancy, it was a little surprising when my doctor told me I was already 3 cm dilated last week. I still don't think I'm having this baby early, but it was freaking us out a tiny bit that we weren't at all prepared. Which is why this baby shower was such perfect timing. Greg's stepmom, her sisters, and Greg's sister did an awesome job with everything from decorating to the games to the food. Marilee (Greg's stepmom) even went out of her way to make me pink pizzelles (an Italian cookie which I LOVE and which I now must purchase an iron for). We got every essential that we didn't already have which you HAVE to have to take care of a newborn. So, now it's okay if she comes early. And I am seriously hoping that now that it's okay if she comes early, she waits 4 more weeks! Reverse psychology works on the unborn, right?

More and More Pictures

Greg's birthday on April 21 was nice and relaxing. The chocolate peanut butter molten lava cakes took a little longer than planned, but were very yummy and turned out exactly as expected. Greg and I both love peanut butter so there wasn't quite enough for our taste. If I make them again I will put more peanut butter filling in. Also, I used semi-sweet chocolate rather than dark. I found the recipe here: http://www.mysweetandsaucy.com/2009/03/chocolate-peanut-butter-molten-cake/

And I finally took pictures again. Here I am at 33 weeks (a couple days ago). I feel huge and am starting to have trouble moving around a bit. We went shopping for a recliner to put in the nursery and after reclining in one, I couldn't get out. Luckily Greg was there and helped me out. :) We also had the first-half of our childbirth classes this morning. It was very informative and the instructor was great. I was concerned that she would push certain methods or techniques over others, but she was great about presenting just the medical facts about options or reasons for doing things. It was also very interesting as she would ask questions and I realized I knew a lot more about pregnancy and labor than I thought. It was reassuring to only have 2 or 3 new pieces of information thrown at us rather than 50 pieces. Then again, the second-half of the class is next week, so maybe that will be information overload. :)

Happy, Happy Birthday Greg!

Today is Greg's 28th birthday! He's an amazing husband and will be an amazing father (which I can't wait to see!)!!

I love you, Greg. Happy Birthday!

We are celebrating with chocolate and peanut butter molten lava cakes. If they turn out well, I'll post a picture and the recipe.

More Photos

People keep asking how I'm doing and usually I'm okay and just so THRILLED to be pregnant that I don't really focus on the annoying parts. But today was annoying, so here's probably one of the only times I'll vent about the annoying parts of pregnancy. The thing that is most uncomfortable for me is the constant pressure on my abdomen while doing....well, everything. Eating, sleeping, sitting, standing, bending over, sitting up straight...it doesn't matter what you do, it's not comfortable. I dropped a piece of paper in church today and tried to bend over to get it....um, that didn't work so well. I'm still really nauseated and I already had acid reflux, but it's gotten worse. I still vomit every 2-3 weeks. My gag reflex has become so sensitive from vomiting so much that sometimes all it takes is a hard cough, which was really annoying when I was sick a few weeks ago. My energy level is okay during the day, but fades faster than it used to. If you want to call me past about 9-9:30 pm, don't count on me being awake for long. Anyway, here are photos of 28 weeks (last Tuesday). I don't feel much bigger, but I guess there is a perceptible difference.

Photo Update

The nursery preparation has continued, but the painting is still not quite done. In the meantime, we had to relay the drop cloths to protect the carpet, which resulted in an overlap of the drop cloths. Rajah discovered the overlap and loves it. Did I mention he has a habit of going under things? Under the table, under the blankets, under the bed (when he darts into our bedroom), under whichever book I happen to be reading, under anything. We have a blanket hanging over the back of the couch that he crawls under so that just his head is showing and sleeps there. He loves it. So, if you look closely at the picture below, you'll see an odd lump in the middle. So while we're painting, he runs around under the drop cloth and chases imaginary foes. It's quite funny until he starts attacking your feet.

Also, I am trying to have Greg take pictures of me every few weeks. Here I am at 25 weeks (almost 2 weeks ago). I do not feel as big as I look, which makes me question how big I looked when I felt skinny :) People ask me how the baby is doing and all I can say is "She's growing." She's moving a lot, but is mostly still when other people are around (much to the dismay of my friends and coworkers).

Preparing the Nursery

We spent the weekend starting to paint the nursery (not quite finished). Don't worry, I was using zero-VOC paint and took frequent breaks. However, this is our first redecorating project since we got Rajah, and he is simply too dependent to stay out of things like a normal cat. For example, he did NOT understand the following things:

• why we were home on a weekday (we both had President's Day off and we both took Tuesday off)
• why, since we were home on a weekday, we were not getting up at 6 am, which led to scratching and meowing at our door
• why he couldn't come in the room when he's always been allowed in there before
• why he couldn't attack the mysterious white stuff sticking out from under the closed door (the drop cloth)
• why he should not eat the crumbly white stuff on the floor (spackling)
• why he could not run across the room and jump in anything in the room (i.e., wet paint)
• why we were smart enough to catch him when he tried to sneak up on the wet paint by only moving a few feet at a time

Thus, it was a very interesting weekend and will continue to be interesting until we're done. I'll post pictures when we're done. A question for everyone: what is your opinion on nursery must-haves? I'm referring to the actual furniture pieces rather than supplies like diapers, etc. Crib or just use a pack 'n play? Dresser? Changing table? Recliner vs. glider? I'd love to get everyone's opinion!

Baby Pictures

We had our 20-week ultrasound today (half-way, yipee!). This was our fourth ultrasound. Here are all the pictures we have of our baby:

Picture of the embryos we transferred on day 3. The embryo on the left is more advanced than the one on the right and, personally, we believe it is our baby.

After the blood test was positive, we had one ultrasound with our RE. This was 5 weeks after the embryos were transferred, so at 7 weeks pregnant. See the little white dot in the bottom right of the black sac? That's the baby. We could even see its heart fluttering. In the top photo, on the top right hand side, you can see the other sac (containing the embryo that stopped growing a week before).

This was the first ultrasound done with my OB. This was 2 weeks after the RE ultrasound, so at 9 weeks pregnant (7 weeks since transfer). Since one embryo had stopped growing, we had to make sure it was going away as it should. These pictures don't show it, but you could see the other sac had started disappearing. The baby in these photos is the white blur at the bottom of the sac. The bottom photo alos shows the heartbeat. At Christmas, my awesome brother-in-law, Jason (who's a radiologist), did an ultrasound when I was 15 weeks along. The baby was very cooperative and we were about 80% sure of its gender. Today, we were able to confirm it.

Here is our beautiful little GIRL. The above picture is a profile and you can see her spine, eye sockets, nose, and upper lip. I think it looks like she's blowing bubbles!

I think this is cool because it shows her femur bone. It's amazing that things develop so fast, and all without me even realizing what's happening. You can also see her hand and one arm.

So there you have it! Jason is right and we're having a GIRL!