i just realized....

i can't do rollercoasters this summer!  that means no hersheypark.  we were planning to go once or twice this summer since they opened up a new coaster that looks pretty awesome.  guess that's out!

source: from pennlive

that means no six flags.  every year, my work hosts a day at six flags in nj - for $90, you get two park tickets (which includes the amusement park, water park, and safari), a parking pass, and free lunch at their designated picnic area!  matt and i have gone the past 3 years.  cuz we're total rollercoaster junkies.  not this year!

source: from wikipedia

that also means no universal studios and - worst of all - no harry potter!  we've been talking about going back down to orlando in the fall with my sister and her husband.  we'd stay at my parents' place in the villages, which is about an hour north of orlando.  matt and i went in october and it was probably our favorite vacation ever.  we relaxed a lot and we also spent a few days at universal studios.  we did harry potter world, of course, which was, like, the greatest place in the entire world.  the best ride of the day was definitely the harry potter ride.  and the rip, ride, rock-it rollercoaster.  both of those are definitely out of the question for me this year!

source: from orlandosentinel

man, that's a bummer.  i love me some summertime amusement park fun!

7 weeks

baby is the size of: a blueberry
how far along are you: 7 weeks 1 day
what's happening with baby: hands and feet are emerging.  baby has doubled in size since last week.  eyelid folds partially cover baby's eyes, which already have some color.  both hemispheres of the brain are growing, and the liver is churning out red blood cells.  baby has an appendix and a pancreas.  a loop in the intestines is bulging into baby's umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to/from baby's body.
due date: according to babycenter.com's estimation, jan 11

maternity clothes: nope.  in fact, everything fit a bit better this week
sleep: not so great, but i've been hot and stuffy
best moment this week: when matt told me he's going to start reading the book for dads-to-be that we borrowed from abriel (after he finishes lovely bones)
food cravings: nothing out of the ordinary
food/smell aversions: no aversions, but i had a square of dark chocolate on thursday and it left the absolute worst taste in my mouth.  i hope pregnancy isn't ruining the taste of dark chocolate for me.  i'll seriously cry.
symptoms: still some bloating and very mild boob soreness.  i was nauseated monday and tuesday morning, but i also felt like i was fighting back a migraine
gender: still feeling girl
belly button: in
wedding rings: on

spreading the news

so i have seriously been agonizing over this decision.  because that's what i do.  i overthink and worry about things to the point of total exhaustion and then i give up and make a decision and then i still think about it too much and wonder if i made the right decision, even after i make the decision and the event happens.  i'm awesome like that. 

so far the pregnancy is known to: me, matt, callie (my sister), anthony (her husband), and abriel, dave, and cal (our friends in georgia).  and a few of abriel and dave's friends in peachtree city.  but i'm pretty sure i can trust them.  i've been trying to decide when and how to tell our families, followed by my bosses, and then a slow trickle to our closest friends, followed by the official facebook announcement to the general public. 

timing-wise, it looks like it's going down like this.  matt and i have hosted a small, immediately-family-only party for the 4th of july every year for the past 3 years.  since the 4th falls on a tuesday this year, we had to alter our plans.  so we thought we'd throw the party on one of the weekends before and make the announcement to our families then.  my hope was that we could have the party on the 23rd of june.  i'll be 11 weeks on the 22nd, so it seemed like good timing.  we could tell our parents then, and then over the next week i'd tell my bosses and our closest friends, and then on/around july 4th, make it facebook-official.  unfortunately, the 23rd didn't work for all parties (namely, my mom and jeff) so we had to make it the 30th.  i'll be 12 weeks.  i know it's only one additional week, but it feels like a big difference.  i could be showing by 12 weeks.  i really want to tell our families and my bosses before i get a response like, "uh, yeah, duh...i kinda figured."  i'd like to avoid that, if at all possible. 

then, my sister brought up the excellent point that maybe we should tell my dad separately.  he hasn't remarried and would be coming to the party alone.  it could potentially be awkward for him to hear the good news with his ex-wife, her new husband, and his entire family.  at first i thought it was silly, that he would just be happy, but the more i thought about it, the more i realized she was probably right.  so now, i've scheduled a haircut in hershey (yes, i still drive 90 minutes back to hershey just for a haircut!) for the 23rd and we'll  meet up with my dad for lunch or dinner and tell him he's gonna be a grandpa!  then leave it up to him to come to the party or not.  since i'm definitely worried about showing by 12 weeks, i'm going to keep an eye on my belly.  if i feel like i'm starting to look pregnant by the 23rd, then we'll alter our plans and we'll just visit each of our parents and give them the good news separately. 

if we're able to hold out until the party, our plan is to tell everyone that we want to get a group photo.  matt and i will take the picture, and when we count down for the photo, we'll just say "1, 2,....we're pregnant!"  i'll set my camera to take multiple shots at once and we'll be able to document everyone's reactions.  i'm hoping we can wait and do this, because it would be so fun to get a good shot and frame it in the nursery.  right?!  how cute would it be for baby to see how excited his/her family was to learn he/she was coming?!  i die. 

once the family knows, then i'll tell my bosses, coworkers, and bffs.  what do you think?  is 12 weeks too late? 

i'm talking myself out of pregnancy

i'm 6w5d and don't feel pregnant.  my boobs are a little sore.  the past 2 mornings, i had a headache and some nausea, but it was also dreary, rainy, humid weather, which is a perfect trigger for migraines.  this morning i felt fine. 

you've heard of psychosomatic pregnancy, right?  where a woman believes so strongly that she's pregnant that her body starts to mimic actual pregnancy symptoms?  i wonder if there is an opposite kind of thing.  where, like, i'm still not really convinced that i'm pregnant so i'm making my body behave as if i'm not? 

i'm dying here, waiting for our first appointment.  it's still a week and a half away.  all i want to know is if i'm legitimately pregnant and if everything is measuring ok!  it's a whole new 2ww and it's fucking brutal.

also, something outside my office door is making the most obnoxious sound in the world and i want to find it and kill it.

mom enough

love this. 

a motherhood wish list.

georgia on my mind - part 3

monday was our only full day in savannah, so we tried to pack a lot into it.  first we went down to breakfast, which was the only disappointing thing in our entire stay.  we stay at a lot of holiday inn expresses and places that offer a pretty extensive continental breakfast in the mornings.  this consisted of the usual stuff: cereals, yogurt, danishes, juice, coffee, tea, etc.  oh, and instead of oatmeal they had instant grits packets.  the only hot food they had were biscuits (which were freaking amazing, especially with butter and drizzled honey on top, omg) and then sausage patties and bacon.  none of the usual breakfast stars were there, like eggs, waffles, etc.  both mornings i had a couple biscuits, yogurt, and a piece or two of bacon or sausage.  it was good, just not what we expected.  afterwards, we headed back to the room to shower and get dressed.  while there, i decided to take a few pictures of the room, cuz it was really neat.  it was 2 levels, with just the bedroom upstairs.  there were skylights in the bedroom that let a lot of pretty light in.

from the entrance

up the stairs to the bedroom

the living room

looking up to the bedroom from the living room

while matt was showering, i heard more commotion outside and went out on the balcony to see what all the noise was.  the singapore tall ship crew was out in full dress getting ready to set sail.  it was kind of a disorganized mess, unlike what you would expect to see with drills and straight lines and stuff like that.

when we were ready to go, we decided to ask about the trolley tours in the city.  there are about a million different companies that offer trolley tours, so we asked the front desk if they recommend a company.  she told us to take the oglethorpe tour, and offered to call a shuttle to come pick us up right at the hotel.  that worked for us, so we got picked up and taken over to the actual trolley.  the tour was a 1 1/2 hour long ride around the city that you don't get off of.  after the tour is over, you can utilize the shuttles and/or trolleys as you please.  there were certain stops where you could stand and if the driver saw you with your oglethorpe sticker on, they would stop and take you to wherever you wanted to go next - either one of their stops or your hotel.  it was pretty convenient!

they drove us all over the historical district of savannah.  savannah was where the state of georgia started.  for several months (years?) the state of georgia existed as a single square in savannah.  that's it.  just one square.  like, 200 square feet, or something crazy like that.  now, there are 22 squares within the historical district.  it's really a beautiful city with all those squares.  you literally can't walk more than 3 blocks in one direction without having to walk through or around a square.

right outside our hotel, waiting for the shuttle

the whistle stop cafe, at the old savannah train station

first georgia bank - pure georgian marble

right in front of the sign is where forrest gump sat waiting for the bus to jenny's house

one of the squares

homes on the square

jonny mercer's house

georgia's first hospital

old police cars.  for $1500, you can be arrested in one

as you can see, it started to rain during our trolley tour.  by the time we got to the hospital and the police station, we had the flaps down and it was absolutely pouring.  luckily, we were just about done with the tour.  the tour ended at city market, which is a strip of shops, bars, and restaurants, so we ducked into the wild wing cafe and had lunch.  it stopped raining while we were in there, but i was getting tired so we headed back to the hotel to rest.  it started pouring again while we were there, so we sat down and put on a movie and both ended up napping for about an hour.  when we woke up, the rain had stopped, so we decided to go check out one of the house-museums we'd seen on the trolley tour.  on our walk, we wandered through several parks and took our time getting there.  it was really lovely.

a backyard courtyard garden

ain't he handsome?

first synagogue

clary's diner, from midnight in the garden of good and evil

city market

we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house-museum, so that's why i don't have any.  after wards, we walked over to rocks on the river for a yummy dinner on the riverfront, then headed over to johnson square to meet our haunted tour guide.  in part 4, i'll tell you about our creepy haunted tour and our trip out to the beautiful bonaventure cemetery.  i know, it sounds totally weird to take a drive out to a cemetery, but it is such a beautiful place.  you'll see...

6 weeks

ok, so i decided it's time to start the weekly progress updates and belly pictures.  i'm going to do them on saturdays, which means i'll be whatever week and one day.  i'm only 6 weeks so i'm not supposed to be showing yet, but i've been insanely bloated since pretty much the day we got the positive test, so i look like i've got a bit of a belly.  ew.

baby is the size of: a lentil (marcel the shell with shoes could wear it as a hat)
how far along are you: 6 weeks 1 day
what's happening with baby: baby's ears, nose and mouth are beginning to take shape.  baby's heart is beating 100-160 bpm and circulation is beginning.  intestines and pituitary gland are forming.
due date: well, according to babycenter.com's estimation, jan 11

maternity clothes: no, but i've had to do the rubber band trick for a few pairs of pants
sleep: sleeping very well, even without my melatonin
best moment this week: no big moments, pregnancy-wise.  on sunday, matt gave me a mother's day card from padfoot, which was totally adorable
food cravings: nothing out of the ordinary
food/smell aversions: nothing out of the ordinary
symptoms: out of control bloating, and my boobs are sore (my left more than my right).  i've also had a few random bouts of nausea here and there
gender: i have a girly gut feeling
belly button: in
wedding rings: on

i can't believe we're still 2 weeks away from our first appointment!

georgia on my mind - part 2

ok, i know i didn't take many pictures in peachtree city.  i took more in savannah, though.

so matt and i headed out sunday morning.  the drive took us about 4 1/2 hours, which was actually longer than i'd anticipated.  i though it would only take about 3 1/2.  i underestimated it and it was kind of disappointing.  oh well.  we made it.  oh, and our rental car, a nissan sentra, got absolutely amazing gas mileage.  for the trip to savannah, it averaged about 41 mpg.  we made that whole round-trip, plus driving to/from the airport, and only had to fill up 2x.  i was pretty impressed.  maybe i'm a nerd.

anyway, we arrived in savannah around 4:15 and checked in to our hotel.  the street by the hotel was packed and we didn't know what to do or where to park, so i called.  the woman at the front desk said to come down the street above the hotel and she'd have the bellman meet us there to get our luggage.  then we had to go and ask a police officer to move his car so we could get down to factors walk, where the hotel parking lot was.  there was a big festival going on at the riverfront, so the street was closed off to car traffic.  but i thought it was really great that they sent the bellman up to get our luggage and put it in our room while we parked and checked in.  major "plus" for the hotel, right there.

the hotel was great.  after much research, i chose the olde harbour inn, right on the river.  i booked us in a queen suite with a balcony on the river.  it was great.  i also chose it because they have breakfast in the morning, a wine and cheese reception in the evening, and they bring you a free klondike bar every night.  i mean, what's not to love about that?!  matt and i didn't end up taking part in the wine and cheese reception, but we sure enjoyed those klondike bars!

our first night, we decided to just walk around the river walk for a bit.  we checked at the front desk about haunted tours to see if they could recommend one.  they gave us a brochure for one and the lady told us that the tour guide is kind of creepy, but really good, cuz he's really into this whole ghost-hunting business.  we were sold.  we also asked about getting reservations at the olde pink house for dinner and she said that for sunday night, it would probably be impossible.  she offered to make us reservations for monday night, but then she told us that they have some first-come-first-served seating, too, and if we get there by 6:30 or after 9, we shouldn't have to wait too long.  it was about 5:45, so we decided to head on over and take our chances.  we got the last free table!  the olde pink house is kind of a savannah institution, and it specializes in low-country cooking, which i absolutely love.  i was so glad we got to eat there!  after dinner we walked around a bit more, checking out ellis square and city market, then made our way back to the hotel along the river walk and checked out the tall ships, which were in town for the tall ships festival.  we got back to the hotel, turned out the phillies game, enjoyed our klondike bars, and had an early, quiet night in.

that night around 10:30 or so, we heard singing or chanting coming from outside.  i walked out onto the balcony and found the singapore tall ship crew engaging in what i can only guess was their physical training for the day.  they ran laps around the parking lot, then did some situps.  and sang the entire time.  it was nuts.

i'll be back in a few days to tell you about our trolley tour and haunted tour, which was great!