Updates

So, last week we suffered the big snow storm, as you can see from my previous pictures! The next day we went to our midwife appointment, which was just an absolute joy getting to in all that snow. Everything is going well, though; she said I'm measuring right on schedule (no more measuring big) and the baby's heartbeat is still going strong. It's dropped down to the 130s, though (I think she said 132?) which is normal for babies as they approach full-term. I'm 31 weeks tomorrow, so it's getting close!

This weekend, we had a bunch of fun holiday get-togethers, which is always nice. I got together with friends on Friday night for our annual Christmas party, while Dan went to his company's work party (I was going to join him there, but the party ended before I could even leave Meghan's house!) Then on Saturday we went and saw the Princess and the Frog movie with Tracy and the girls; it was so cute! I really liked the music, and it's a good film for all ages. That night, we went to my company's Christmas party, and they picked us up in limos (which they do every year; it's very nice!) before heading over to the owner's house for dinner.

Sunday we just kind of lazed around (well, I did--Dan actually had to go into work since he has a big project due soon) and then we went to see A Christmas Carol that night. It was a really good movie; I was surprised I liked it so much.

Other than that, not too much going on this week. We have our next midwife appointment on Monday the 21st (I can't believe I'm already to the point where I need to be seen every other week!) and we start our first childbirth class on Saturday. I'm really excited for that--can't wait!

Is it any wonder that my office said we could work from home today?

Dan's car....



My car...

Yeah, it's no wonder we have a snow day today! Dan's working from home, too; I told him yesterday (since we knew this big blizzard was coming) that he better bring everything he has in order to work from home, since he has to drive 40 minutes in good weather; I don't even want to think how long it would take him (or how dangerous it would be!) to drive in this. Plus, there's all those warnings on weather.com saying, "Absolutely do not travel. Travel is extremely dangerous," etc. etc. So here we are working from home, and I love it! It's so much more productive!

Oh, and here's a shot after the plows came; this drift would be so much fun to play in if one was little!

Our weekend

We got quite a bit accomplished this weekend, which is always nice (although my living room is still a mess from getting the tree up--boxes and tree needles are everywhere!) We picked out our people for the Angel Tree; we got a nine-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl, and we had SO much fun shopping for them. (Well, I did anyway; Dan just dutifully tagged along and only said, "Can we go now?" once or twice.) I like shopping for the older kids, because I feel like everyone wants to buy for the 2-5 year olds, so the older ones kind of get left out. So we've always tried to pick out older kids, and it's just as much fun shopping for them as it is for toddlers!

We were also able to pick out an eight-year-old boy, because on Friday I had mentioned to some co-workers that we were going to go shopping for our giving tree/angel tree (people call it different things) this weekend, and they both asked, "What's the giving tree?" I explained it to them, and they both said they would participate if it wasn't for the fact that they wouldn't have time to go shopping. I just said, "Hey, give me your money, and I'll go shopping for you!" I was surprised (but so happy!) that they said, "Sure!" So we picked out an eight-year-old boy who likes Legos, and Dan was having SUCH a good time finding just the right Legos for him. So that's how we spent our Saturday night...

Yesterday we went over to Tracy's house, since it was her birthday. That was a lot of fun, too; we just hung out and ordered pizza and chatted. Then we woke up this morning to a couple inches of snow; not much, but enough for me to get excited! I love the way our Christmas lights look with snow!

Our Christmas Decorations

We finally got our tree up and decorated; I'm so excited!






This is this beautiful Irish nativity set my mom got us. We're not even religious, but I love nativities; they seem so traditional! And this one is especially beautiful; I love the way the green and white looks.

Our Thanksgiving weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. My mom was here, which was awesome!! I love having her around for the holidays :) On Wednesday night, we got off work and went to my grandma's house in Deerfield to pick up my mom and grandma (my grandpa doesn't travel a lot, so he was staying behind and was going to spend Thanksgiving at Tracy's). We headed down to Long Grove, where we had dinner at Lou Malnati's (this excellent deep dish pizza place). So yummy.

Thursday was, obviously, Thanksgiving, and we had a good time just hanging out, watching movies (I think we got through Elf, The Holiday, and The Grinch) and, of course, eating. Here's a shot of us at the Thanksgiving table:


From left-right: my cousins Katrina, Karissa, my aunt Christine, me, Dan, my mom, my grandma, my cousin Matthew. My uncle Mike was the one taking the pic.

On Friday, we slept in; no Black Friday shopping at 4 am for us! But we did go shopping at around 11, and I got some great clothes at Motherhood Maternity; two really cute tops and some super comfy maternity jeans (that I'm contemplating wearing after the birth, since they're so comfortable and they don't have some stupid snaps or buttons poking into my stomach!) We also got some great deals at Victoria's Secret; I was able to stock up on lotion for only $4.50 a bottle, when normally it's $9.50 or more.

That afternoon, we went and saw Hairspray at the Lincolnshire Theatre. It was SO good; seriously Broadway material. Dan even really liked it, and he is not really into musicals. But this was excellent; the singing and the choreography blew us away. Here's a shot of us at the theatre (I am wearing one of my new maternity sweaters and my jeans, although I don't think you can see those):



We came back late Friday night, and on Saturday went to breakfast with my grandparents, Tracy and the girls. My mom's flight had to leave around three, so we took her to the airport around two and then just spent the rest of the day lounging around at the Hines' house. Today I think Dan's going to finish putting up the outside lights and we'll get our tree up as well. I'll post pics when done :)

My doctor's appt.

I'm so excited that my mom is here for Thanksgiving! She flew in yesterday, so I picked her up from the airport (good thing I work so close!) and then we went to my midwife appointment. I was glad I could show my mom around the place where the baby will be born, since she won't be here for the actual birth.

I had to do the glucose test (ick, needles!) to check for gestational diabetes, so I'm hoping everything will turn out ok with that. I'm no longer measuring big, either, which is good! She said I'm 29 cm, which is perfect, since I'm 28 weeks. My mom got to hear the heartbeat, which was nice, and the baby was hiccuping a lot, which was funny.

Now I'm just looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Some more pictures...

So today my wonderful husband surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of fall flowers! Isn't he sweet?







And here are some more belly pics (I know, I know, I've been posting a lot of them lately, but I feel like the ones I posted the other day were hideous; these are much better!)

I love getting things done!

We had an incredibly productive weekend, even though it doesn't really sound the most exciting. I got both of my bathrooms cleaned, my master bedroom closet cleaned out (we were able to donate five HUGE bags of clothing to charity), both upstairs and downstairs vacuumed, and Dan is in the middle of putting Christmas lights up right now (no, we won't actually turn them on until after Thanksgiving, but since it was almost 60 degrees here this weekend, he decided to take advantage of the warm weather and get them up now).

Oh, and we finished over half of our Christmas shopping! We went to the mall to get the stuff for my brother and my mother-in-law, but everything else was done online. I love how convenient amazon.com is--and it's so much cheaper!! I got three hardcover books for some people on my list, and my total, even with shipping, was $30 LESS than I would have paid at Barnes & Noble. Wow! I admit, part of me does like going to the mall and hearing the Christmas music, seeing the decorations and the shoppers and everything, but I'm fine only getting one or two gifts there; the rest of me is all about doing online. So much more convenient!

So, with the click of a mouse, I finished my shopping for my mom, my sister-in-law Nancy, and Dan. Since we got my mother-in-law's and brother's gifts at the mall, we now only have to get stuff for my dad and my brother-in-law Jason. (Oh, and Dan still has to buy stuff for me--his words, not mine!) Not bad for it not even being Thanksgiving yet!

I was going to post pictures of our Christmas lights, but Dan just informed me that we are out of some and we'll need to go to Target and get some more. Oh well, guess I'll have to wait until next weekend! :)

Entering the third trimester...

Here's a couple shots of me on Wednesday, November 18, the day that I officially turned 27 weeks, aka entering my third trimester!! Please ignore the PJs (it was right before I went to bed) and the fact that I look huge all over, not just my stomach ;)

Some more pics...

Last weekend, it was so nice here and uncharacteristically warm; mid-60s in early November is not exactly the norm in Wisconsin. So we took advantage of the warm weather and went to the farmer's market (and got some yummy squash--which Dan made an excellent soup out of--tomatoes and cheese), and while we were there, Rori wanted to play around on the capitol square. So here are some shots of her:







On Sunday, my aunt Chris and cousin Katrina came up from Chicago, so we went to breakfast with them, Tracy's family and my grandparents:


Maxine was most excited about me getting my new laptop (for when I work from home) since that meant she had a new box to play in :)


This past weekend was more of just a "stay in and do nothing" weekend, although we did get to go to a Badger basketball game; one of my co-workers had two extra tickets, so Dan and I got to go. It was not a very close game, since we beat then something like 75-43, but it was still fun to go support our alma mater! :)

Some Halloween pics

On Halloween we went over to Dan and Tracy's to see the girls in their costumes; Kirsti was an enchanted fairy and Rori was Alice in Wonderland (and so was Tracy).










The two Alices and the fairy


Dumping out her candy...


Surveying her stash...


Tracy got us these really cute clothes for the baby next year; the purple onesie is definitely for a girl (it says "Ghouls just want to have fun" so we'll save that for the next baby if this one is a boy!) but the hat could go either way :)




On Sunday, November 1, we went to the Grey Rock Mansion for brunch to celebrate my grandparents' 63rd anniversary. Here they are, with Tracy and my aunt Chris (their two kids who were there; my mom is obviously in Utah, and my uncle Alan is in California).



All of us at brunch (except for Dan Hines, who is taking the photo)


And here's Nancy and me at Old World Wisconsin (they visited October 23-25).

Our doctor's appointment

Our appointment with our midwife went well, as always. We heard the heartbeat again, and it's so crazy how much louder it is and easier to find than it was when we first started hearing it! The heart rate did go down, though, from the 160s to 146, so for those putting stock in old wives' tales, it might not be a girl as originally thought! (I, of course, still think it's a boy).

She said I'm measuring big, though, and although she didn't seem concerned at all (she just mentioned it in passing) I kind of had a mental pause at this information. Apparently, your uterus is supposed to be 2 inches either way from how many weeks you are; since I'm 24 weeks, I should be measuring anywhere from 22 to 26 inches. Apparently I'm bigger than that (she didn't say by how much, just that I was "measuring big".) Hmmmm.... I'm all for having a big, healthy baby, but I am worried about having one that's too big!

24 Weeks Today!

So I'm 24 weeks exactly as of today, and I'm really happy about this milestone, since 24 weeks is considered the viability point. I'm thrilled to have made it this far! (Not that I didn't expect to, but you just never know). We have another midwife appointment today, and hopefully everything will still be going well.

I have a feeling that this baby is going to be one contrary little bugger. Whenever I feel it kicking a lot and squirming around, I'll say to Dan, "Give me your hand," which he does, and the minute I place it on my stomach, the movement stops. Dan will have to wait five minutes or so to feel it kicking again, and even then, it'll just be one or two movements (so at least he's felt it, which is good). But the minute he takes his hand away, the baby starts moving like crazy again and is practically doing gymnastics in there. It's like the baby is purposefully being contrary and saying, "Nope, Dad, you don't get to feel me kick as much as Mom does." *sigh* (And yes, obviously I know this is beyond the cognitive ability of my child, but it just seems kind of funny :D)

Fall Fun

We had so much fun with Nancy and Jason over the weekend! They got in Friday night and we decided to go to the Essenhaus, which is this really good German restaurant. I can tell my cravings must be kicking in, since I actually wanted German food--not something I'm known for!

Saturday we went to Old World Wisconsin, which is this really neat place near Milwaukee that recreates life as it was in the nineteenth century in Wisconsin. They actually brought all these authentic cabins, barns and farmhouses from across the state and then put them together in this 576-acre park. They have separate villages for all the prominent immigrant groups, so we saw the German area, the Norwegian, Polish, Danish, Finnish, etc. (Hint: the German area was the nicest; we saw some tiny one-room cabin that the Norwegians lived in, and both Nancy and I said right away, "Uh-uh. No way would we be able to live here; we're heading back to the German part.") I was so happy the weather was nice; people had predicted that it would be so cold and icky, but it was actually sunny and beautiful (albeit a bit chilly, but since we had sweatshirts and jackets, we were fine).

Saturday night we went to Ginza of Tokyo, which is this excellent Japanese restaurant near our house. Soooo yummy; I love their hibachi chicken and shrimp. This morning we went to our new favorite breakfast/brunch spot, Marigold Kitchen (Dan and I really like to support non-chain, local restaurants), and it was sooooo good. Then we just hung out at our house for a little bit before they had to go to the airport. I got a few pictures, although not as many as I'd like to, and I'll post them tomorrow. All in all, it was a great weekend!

Some belly pictures... (and my crazy cat)

Here I am at 21 weeks, 3 days. This was the night that we went out for Dan's birthday, and before I got into bed, I figured that since I actually had my hair done and I looked halfway decent, I should take some pictures to chronicle how my body is changing. So this is me a little over halfway through my pregnancy.




ignore the fact that this picture is crooked; Dan took the shot from a weird angle lying down

And then because I'm like the crazy cat lady that you always see in sitcoms, I found this cute pharaoh hat for Maxine at Target for $5 (yes, I dress up my pet for Halloween). She looked really cute but was NOT pleased about this.




"Why must I go through this humiliation?"


Resigned to her fate


"OK, maybe I could kinda get into this pharaoh thing..."

This past weekend

We went to the Epelgaarden with Tracy and Rori to pick some apples; it's become kind of a fall tradition for us. It was such a beautiful day out and we had so much fun. (Plus, I'm excited because Dan makes the best apple pie, so I'm sure he'll be doing that pretty soon in order to use up all the apples we picked!) I'm really looking forward to THIS weekend because Nancy and Jason are coming to visit; that'll be so much fun (and I'm sure I'll have lots of cool pictures from then, too!)

Some pictures

My mom threw me a surprise baby shower in late July when we went up to the Dells for our annual summer trip (I know, I should have posted this three months ago! :D) It was really cool; we just went out to dinner and then returned to the resort (we always stay in this really nice condo; I swear it's bigger than the townhouse I actually live in!) to find a shower with our family! It was me (obviously!), Dan, my mom, my aunt Tracy and uncle Dan, my aunt Chris, her daughter Karissa, Tracy and Dan's girls Kirsti and Rori, and my grandma. It was really, really fun and an amazing surprise! Here are some highlights.



I love the decorations/plates/napkins my mom picked out.


The whole family (minus my mom, who's taking the pic!)


My mom's orange chiffon cake; so yummy!


Tracy got me this really cute maternity dress; I love it!


Just in case my mom does get her granddaughter ;) Don't worry, I got tons of cute gender neutral stuff, too!


If this one is a boy, I'm saving these for the next child, because they're so cute!


Tracy and Dan got us this "Whale of a Tub" for the baby, although when we first brought it home, I think Maxine thought it was a bed for her. :)


Kirsti gave me some cute ugg boots for the baby! (Ignore the fact that this is a horrible picture of me!)


Rori being silly...








Don't worry; it's non-alcoholic! ;)




Tracy and Dan






The two Dans with their fake cigars :)