12 weeks

baby is the size of: a lime
how far along are you: 12 weeks 2 days
what's happening with baby:  baby's fingers will begin to open and close, toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and mouth will make sucking motion.  if you prod your abdomen, baby will squirm!  baby's intestines start to move into the abdominal cavity, and the kidneys start producing urine.  nerve cells are rapidly multiplying and brain synapses are forming.
due date: jan 10
maternity clothes: nada.
sleep: pretty good
best moment this week: telling my dad.  it's his first grandchild, so it was so exciting.  he can't wait to be grandpa!  a super-close, only-losing-by-a-hair second was seeing baby on the ultrasound on tuesday.  absolutely.amazing.
what are you looking forward to: today we tell my mom and jeff, matt's parents, and matt's brother and his 2 kids.  we'll also send a text to his other brother, who is in toronto at a bachelor party.  cannot wait!!    
food cravings: spicy. yesterday we were picking up dinner and i absolutely had to have jalapeno poppers!
food/smell aversions: nothing particular this week.
what do you miss: beer.  luckily, odoule's amber ale is pretty good.
symptoms: bloating.  exhaustion.  boob tenderness.  and i've had a migraine since monday.  not sure if that's pregnancy-related or weather-related.  either way, it blows.
gender: still thinking girl.
belly button: in.  i have a really deep belly button, so i really wonder if it will pop at all.
wedding rings: on

on my heart

wednesday afternoon, my friends karen and greg lost their son from complications from cerebral palsy.  christopher was 29 years old.  karen is one of my very dear friends and her husband (who also happens to be my train conductor) is one of my favorite people.  their oldest daughter, who is my age, is due to have her baby next week, and is unable to come home for a funeral or any kind of services...even to say goodbye to her brother.  my heart just aches for their family. 

please keep them in your thoughts and prayers this week. 

news notes

could the heroine of pixar's 'brave' be gay? - ok, i find this article a little offensive.  not in that i think it would be offensive or some great tragedy if the character were gay.  what i find offensive is the "evidence" being used to support the theory that the character might be gay.  that a young girl who challenges traditional gender roles (obedient daughter, soft-spoken fiance) and who enjoys more "masculine" recreational activities must be gay, because little straight girls are so eager to please and abide by traditional roles.  come on!  are we really still stuck in this idea that little girls must love dressing up and ballet and disney princesses and wearing pillowcases on their heads for their pretend weddings?!  god forbid a little girl use her brain and decide how to act based on what she wants!  i can only hope that my daughter - gay or straight - will challenge the traditional roles and think for herself!

survey: 70% of teens hide online behavior from their parents - in other news, the ocean is wet!


high court strikes down key parts of arizona immigration law - good!  that law was out of control and to me sounded far too closely related to making jews wear stars.

monsignor william lynn convicted in clergy abuse trial - guilty on one count of child endangerment.  let's hope more and more court cases start moving in this direction.


jerry sandusky trial: the verdict - this verdict came through on friday night and my facebook exploded.  this review of the verdict is beautifully written.  this was a true victory by the justice system.

a confirmation

you guys, we got to see our little bug last night!  it was so amazing.  we got to see him/her moving around, kicking its legs.  we got to see the heart fluttering away at 169 bpm.  i just could not believe it when that little body showed up on the screen - it's real!  there's an actual baby in there!  the ultrasound tech said that everything looks good.  we saw the arms, legs, and umbilical cord.  she moved the little wand thingie around and we saw the spine.  it was so amazing, and totally made me forget the fact that i had to pee so bad i thought i was going to burst.  seriously, i've never had to pee so badly in my life.  my appointment was at 5:30, so they told me to empty my bladder at 4:15 and then drink 32oz of water by 4:30.  by 4:40, i had to pee.  by 5:30, i was pretty sure my eyeballs were floating.  but i forgot all about it when that little baby popped up on the screen. 

oh, and i bet you're thinking "you caved!"  i didn't.  my friend abriel suggested that i double check and make sure we would have an ultrasound at our next appointment, since she said she had one at 8 weeks and then not again till 20 weeks.  so i called the office and sure enough, this was the only one we'd have until the anatomy scan.  so matt decided to leave work early so he could come with me last night.  i'm so glad he was able to be there for it.  it was such an amazing moment to see our baby, for the first time, together.

doing the impossible

i have the first stage of my sequential screening tonight.  sequential screening, for those not aware, is a series of bloodwork, ultrasounds, and tests to determine a percentage of risk for congenital defects like down syndrome.  it does not tell you if your baby will have these, it just gives you a percentage of a chance, and then allows you to opt for or out of further testing.  matt and i chose to go ahead with the screening because we decided that we would rather know ahead of time so that we can start to prepare ourselves, our families, and our home for a baby with a disability.  we could look into available resources and be better educated about the prospect of raising a child with said disability.  it is not a decision we made lightly, and our decision is not the right one for everyone.  but it was what we decided would be best for us and for our family.

anyway, todayis the first stage, in which i'll have some bloodwork taken and i'll also get an ultrasound.  in case you've lost your way, this will be the first ultrasound.  matt isn't going to be coming with me for this appointment.  i am dying to see our baby, but i also don't want to see it for the first time without matt with me.  so i'm thinking about asking the ultrasound tech to turn the screen away from me so i can't see it.  i'll ask her to turn out the sound so i can hear the heartbeat, but i really think i'm going to control the urge and wait to see the baby until our next appointment, which is only one more week away. 

it feels like an impossible goal that i'm setting for myself, here.  i mean, the baby will be right there!  just inches from my eyeballs!  but i really want matt with me to share that moment when we first see our baby.  it's so important to me.  so i'm going to suck it up and tell the tech to hide it from me.

am i nuts??

hero worship

ok, this might sound weird to some, but i love me some michelle obama.  all politics and party lines aside, just take the woman for who she is.  a fiercely independent, strong, woman.  an excellent parent.  a supportive wife.  and her main focus as first lady?  childhood hunger and obesity.  not to mention, a fashion icon.

i was watching a marathon of restaurant impossible this weekend, and caught the one where michelle obama brings in robert irvine to help a struggling food pantry/children's education center/community center in washington, dc.  she really cares about the health and well-being of those children and it was so adorable to watch her interact with them and talk to them about making healthy choices in food.

i love that she started the big white house vegetable garden and promotes clean eating for her family and the white house staff.  her let's move initiative not only promotes healthy eating but also exercise.  she realizes that not everyone lives in a neighborhood where gardening space is available, so she teaches you how to build container gardens and even windowsill gardens!  that she's championed this issue for her reign as first lady is so great.  laura bush chose education, but how do you really promote that?  michelle obama chose something real and tangible.

source: via michelle obama on pinterest

i love seeing photos of her and president obama and of them with their girls.  they just look like a genuinely happy family headed by a couple who are deeply in love and committed to each other. 

source: via michelle obama on pinterest

source: via michelle obama on pinterest

source: from instyle via rachel on pinterest

i mean, that picture of the 2 of them on the elevator?  it's like there's no one else in the world but the 2 of them.  swoon.

i've never been one to have a "hero" per se, but i do love michelle obama and i think she is a fantastic role model.  as i face the idea that i'm going to be a mother soon, i think about women who could be role models for our daughter.  the names and faces out there these days that young girls know aren't exactly the ideal heroes.  i'm hoping to be able to show our daughter what a truly brilliant woman looks like.  and i think michelle obama is a great place to start.

who do you think is a good female role model for young girls today?

11 weeks

baby is the size of: a fig
how far along are you: 11 weeks 2 days
what's happening with baby:  baby's hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under the gums, and some of the bones are beginning to harden. baby is kicking and stretching, and may be hiccuping now that his/her diaphragm is forming.
due date: jan 10
maternity clothes: nada.
sleep: pretty good
best moment this week: i told my boss, so now i won't feel quite so bad if people start to figure it out.
what are you looking forward to: omg, telling my dad today!  i cannot wait!!!  and then on tuesday i have the first step in my sequential screening.  and then on friday we have the day off to tour daycares.  
food cravings: mexican!  all i want is tacos, enchiladas, burritos....last night, we ordered take out from the cheesecake factory, and even though we had enchiladas and tacos for dinner this week, i still wanted mexican.  so i got their spicy chicken chipotle pasta. 
food/smell aversions: nothing particular this week.
what do you miss: beer.  luckily, odoule's amber ale is pretty good.
symptoms: bloating.  exhaustion.  boob tenderness.     
gender: still thinking girl.
belly button: in.  i have a really deep belly button, so i really wonder if it will pop at all.
wedding rings: on

news notes

female legislator who dared say vagina during abortion debate banned from speaking - i am so freaking over these unbelievable displays of republican abuse.  seriously?  this is outrageous.  i know (or at least, I'm pretty sure) the hello giggles writer was kidding when she suggested this, but i'm actually seriously tempted to do it.  banning these women from speaking just goes too far. 

jerry sandusky didn't testify after defense raised significant doubts in case - "significant doubts?"  not exactly.  and people were surprised that sandusky didn't take the stand?  really?  have they heard his abc interview?  the man is a detriment to himself.  every time he opens his mouth he creates more problems. 

bristol palin says no sex until marriage - better late then never, i suppose


a few drinks during pregnancy ok, study says - huh.  not that this is going to make me run out and hit the sauce, but it's an interesting study.

deep-fried cereal kicks of summer of fair food - i don't know, but that sounds completely gross to me.  deep-fried snickers?  sure.  deep-fried oreos?  absolutely.  deep-fried samoas?  bring it.  but deep-fried kool-aid balls?  gag me. 

world's best cities for architecture lovers - i've seen only a few of these in person (renaissance, gaudi, and gothic revival), but those few i saw were pretty damn impressive.

what would you do if the world were ending - if i knew, for sure, with absolutely certainty, that the world were ending?  i would do much like the guy from new zealand mentioned in the article did - i would take trips around the world, eat amazing food, and rack up huge credit card bills.  pretty sure discover isn't going to come looking for me after the rapture.

the bloat

ok, so i wasn't kidding.  want to see the effect of a day's worth of bloat on my belly?

here's my "before" picture - saturday morning, 8:30am, before any food.

and the "after" - saturday night, 10pm, after a full day of meals and about 64oz of water.

ugh, please excuse my disheveled appearance.  we spent the day doing yard work. 

10 weeks

baby is the size of: a kumquat
how far along are you: 10 weeks 2 days
what's happening with baby:  tissues are organs begin to rapidly grown and mature.  tiny nails are forming on fingers and toes and peach-fuzz hair is beginning to grow on baby's skin.  baby is swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm.  the kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver are in place and starting to function.  baby's limbs can now bed.  the spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to strecth out from the spinal cord.  baby's forehead is temporarily bulging with the brain and sits very high on the head. 
due date: jan 10
maternity clothes: nada.
sleep: pretty good
best moment this week: telling my friend karen. 
food cravings: peanuts
food/smell aversions: apparently black licorice is my kryptonite.  i was sitting next to a kid on the train yesterday who pulled some black licorice ropes out of his bag.  i could not switch seats fast enough!  i thought i was going to lose it right there on the train!
what do you miss: i had a really rough day on wednesday and would have killed for a dirty martini to take the edge off.  instead, i had a bowl of mint chocolate chunk ice cream.  good, but not the same.
symptoms: bloat, bloat, bloat.  exhausted.  some lower back pain.  and my boobs feel like they're getting more tender.   
gender: still feel like a girl
belly button: in
wedding rings: on

news notes

phillie phanatic mascot sued for tossing woman in hotel pool - ahhh, philly.  now even the mascots are getting in on the violent action.

coronor: dingo took baby in notorious case - so elaine was right, all along.  ok, seriously, 32 years later?!  how did this possibly take so long?

massachusettes town approves $20 fine for swearing in public - i mean, i can see where they're coming from.  look, i can swear like a drunken sailor if you get me going, but not in public. not around children.  nothing irks me more than standing at the train station and hearing some asshole on the phone screaming obscenities while 3 kids are staring up at him.  like, come on, dude, have a little class.

new tehnique to prevent olive oil fraud - so my sister is a chemist.  she majored in chemistry at penn state and (eventually, sometime) plans to go to grad school for a further chemistry degree.  yeah, she clearly got the brains in the family.  anyway, she works for a neutraceutical company - she tests the raw materials before they go into the products that they make.  so she has kind of an obsession with materials in things.  she only buys all-natural bath and body products now.  and she's had this thing with olive oil for the last few months.  i remember her and my mom (also a food chemist) talking about it over christmas and i thought it was ridiculous.  so what if there are impure ingredients in olive oil?  it's not like a chug it by the gallon.  well, apparently, there was a big crackdown on some company in spain and so now they're making the process much more hard to fake.  callie's thrilled, even though it will only last a short amount of time until someone else figures out some other way to cheat the system.  i told her that i'm very excited for my limited-edition pure evoo.  i love having science nerds in the family.

newborn seized in pa hershey medical center - this story breaks my heart, you guys.  for so many reasons.  those poor parents.  how terrifying that experience must have been for them.  it breaks my heart for social workers every where - this stupid, awful woman has given all of us a bad name.  people already have this negative preconceived notion about hospital social workers, and now this?  i'm shocked beyond belief that this happened at hershey medical center, one of the top hospitals in the region.  i always thought i would some day move back to hershey and get a job at the med center - it's where anyone in central pa in the health field wants to be.  now?  not so much.  i would not want to be associated with that social work department.  what an embarrassment.  i'm anxious to see how this lawsuit is going to play out over the next few months, or years. 

pregnancy purchases

up until today, i hadn't bought much for me or baby.  i downloaded what to expect when you're expecting a few months ago on my phone and have been slowly working my way through that.  other than that, though, i hadn't really spent any money on anything.

on our trip to georgia, abriel lent me a few books.  i finished the girlfriend's guide to pregnancy, which was funny.  it also gives you real advice about what to expect and how to deal with it.  it doesn't shy away from topics that other books might.  parts of it really felt like i was just gossiping with an old friend.  it was a good starter book, i think.

source: from amazon

abriel also lent me the pregnancy instruction manual, which is almost like condensed version of what to expect.  so far, i've only read through the first trimester. 

source: from amazon

she lent matt the new dad's survival guide, which he plans to start reading once he finishes lovely bones.

source: from amazon

 and she lent us the happiest baby on the block.  i'm really glad she lent it to us, because i was definitely planning to purchase it if she hadn't.  from what i've read, it is one of the the books for sleep training.  

source: from amazon

she recommended we find the latest version of baby bargains.  she said it saved her and dave probably $500 on baby gear.  so i was out and about an picked that up today.  i'm definitely looking forward to digging into that.  i'm always looking for a good bargain - moderate price with great reviews! 

source: from amazon

i also picked up the baby name wizard.  i have a few names in mind for a girl, and only one for a boy.  and i'm not sure matt really likes any of them, ha ha.  hopefully by going through this book we can find something that we both like. 

source: from amazon

last but not least, i ordered the book pregnancy, childbirth, and the newborn. 

source: from amazon

i wanted a book that would tell me what to expect, not from pregnancy, but from the actual labor and delivery.  i wanted it to be unbiased.  i just want the facts.  i looked into the ina may gaskin book, but some of the reviews said that it was very unbiased against hospital births.  since i plan to deliver in a hospital, i don't want to read all the ways in which hospitals are terrible.  i thought about the bradley method book, but again, it had horror stories about hospital births, and that's not what i want to read.  not that i don't want to hear about the things that can go wrong, but i want it to be presented in such a way that it's not "hospitals are terrible, home births are best!"  the reviews of the book i ended up with said that it was fair and balanced and provided a real, honest look at childbirth.

today while i was out at target i picked up a couple of belly bands.  some of my work pants are close to being uncomfortable, and all of my shorts are.  so hopefully this will help me get some more wear out of them. 

based on reviews on hellobee, i ordered 2 coobie bras.  i came across it because one of the bees had a bogo coupon code, and everyone started raving about the bras on the post.  so i went ahead and ordered 2.  dude, they are so comfortable.  they are one-size-fits-all, and they grow with your expanding cup size as you go through your pregnancy.  they are also nursing-friendly.  i bought them mostly for sleeping because it's starting to get a little uncomfortable at night, but i may get a few more and make them a regular part of my wardrobe.  definitely check them out!

i'm hoping to hold off a bit longer on maternity clothing, although if this bloating keeps up, i see maternity pants nearer in my future than i anticipated.  anything you think i'm missing?  any books you couldn't live without during pregnancy? 

9 weeks

baby is the size of: a grape (my sister asked me what kind of grape - red, green, or concord?)
how far along are you: 9 weeks 2 days
what's happening with baby: baby is officially a fetus now!  baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers and the valves start to form.  so do the teeth!  organs, muscles, and nerves are starting to groove.  eyes are fully formed but fused shut.  baby has tiny earlobes, and the mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct.
due date: official doctor due date is jan 10
maternity clothes: nada.
sleep: pretty good
best moment this week: first doctor's appointment, even though we didn't get to see/hear baby
food cravings: nothin
food/smell aversions: nope!
what do you miss: dippy eggs, poached eggs.  i love me a runny yoke, and that is a pregnancy no-no.
symptoms: so bloated, still.  and exhausted.   
gender: still feel like a girl
belly button: in
wedding rings: on

a move

tuesday morning my sister called to check in on how our doctor's appointment went.  once i finished telling her all about it, she casually mentioned that she and my brother-in-law had put in an offer on a house in hershey.  *record scratch*  say what?!  callie and anthony have lived in baltimore for the past 6 years.  they've talked over the years about moving - their ideas have ranged from colorado to southern virginia to hershey to san diego to new mexico.  i really started taking all the talk with a grain of salt.  callie is one of these people who has a lot of ideas but takes centuries to actually move on them.  so when she told me they put in an offer, i was floored.  out of all the places they'd talked about moving, i thought they were least serious about hershey.

matt and i have talked on and off about moving back to hershey.  he feels much more strongly about it than i do.  he grew up around his entire family, and i honestly think he misses that a lot more than he'll admit to me.  his whole family is back in hershey - his parents, his brothers, and all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins.  and they are rooted in hershey.  in the 5 years we've lived in our house, most of them have never been here.  "it's too far" they say.  it's an hour and a half.  seriously.  it drives me crazy and it hurts matt's feelings. i, on the other hand, grew up seeing my cousins once or twice a year.  they lived in michigan and wisconsin.  so i'm used to not seeing them at every single minor holiday and birthday.  and my parents are willing to drive the 90 minutes to come and see us.  living "far away" from them doesn't faze me.

but it's more than that for me.  to me, moving back to hershey is becoming rooted.  and i'm not ready to do that yet.  i like living a short train ride from center city philadelphia.  i love the cultural and foodie options available to us.  i love taking the train to work and getting a nice, brisk walk in every morning before i start my day.  i feel like moving back to hershey sort of means that we're stuck.  i mean, i know we're not - there's an airport 20 minutes away, and we're still a quick road trip away from tons of major cities - an hour from baltimore, 90 minutes from philly, 3 hours from d.c., 3 1/2 from pittsburgh, 3 hours from nyc.  but i don't know...it feels like a defeat of some sort.

not to mention that i love my job here.  i mean, it's hard and frustrating and exhausting and all that other stuff.  and some days, i really can't believe that i chose this as my career.  but the people i work with make it all worth it.  these people are some of my closest friends.  i actually, genuinely like my fellow social workers.  i invited them to our wedding.  i hang out with them outside of work, by choice.  they make this job easier to bear.  and i fear i won't find that anywhere else.  in fact, i'm pretty certain i won't.  so at this point in my life, i'm not ready to walk away from that.

now that callie and anthony are moving back, i know there will be more pressure to move back to hershey.  from matt, from my parents, and definitely from his parents.  especially once they find out we're pregnant.  and i'm really not looking forward to that.  i like our little life here outside of philadelphia.  could it be better?  sure - we could have more normal neighbors.  but honestly, that's my only complaint about where we are.  i'm perfectly content with the fact that we don't live 15 minutes from our parents - then they can't just "drop by" whenever they feel like (and believe me - they would).  i like having a little distance between us.  would i love to be closer to my sister?  yes, definitely.  am i willing to sacrifice all the stuff i named above just for that?  nope.  it's an hour and a half.  they can drive.  the turnpike goes both ways! 

post-appointment follow-up

so the appointment went well.  unfortunately, we didn't get to hear the heartbeat, which was a major disappointment.  the doctor just felt it was too early, and even with a trans-vaginal ultrasound, she thought she might have trouble finding it and she didn't want to upset us by not finding it.  so she just did a quick internal exam and checked out my cervix (healthy) and measured my uterus (8 weeks).  after the internal exam, she had me get dressed and had matt and i meet her in her office to go over the pregnancy and any questions we had. 

she told me about stuff not to eat - high-mercury fish, raw shellfish, raw meats, etc.  i asked about deli meats and she said meat from the deli is a no-no, but prepackaged stuff is fine.  good to know, cuz now and then i really crave a good turkey sandwich.  she also said that an occasional glass of beer or wine is fine.  i doubt i'll imbibe, but it's nice to know i can do so guilt-free.  i also asked about bagged salads, since that's all matt and i eat, and she said that's a-ok, too. 

she gave me a script for bloodwork, including an hiv test and a screen for toxoplasmosis, since we have a cat.  she also gave us information about the sequential screening to test for disabilities.  she encouraged us to discuss it together and decide what we want to do.  we talked about it a little bit in the car on the way home and matt says he doesn't think he'd want to know because he'd be a big ball of stress about the baby if the screen is positive.  i pointed out that if we know ahead of time, we can start looking into available resources and lining up help.  we need to discuss it some more, but i am leaning towards getting the screening done. 

she also told me that i can't travel far after 36 weeks, so mid-december.  i told her that our families live in hershey, which is about 2 hours away, and we usually go home for the holidays.  her answer?  "tell them the turnpike goes both ways - they're going to have to come to you!"  that's gonna be interesting.  matt's already anticipating major bitching from his family.  i have said for years that i would love to host christmas at our house a few weekends early.  perhaps this is the year we start that tradition.  i mean, you can't argue with doctor's orders, right?  don't worry, somebody will. 

she told us that in their practice there are 5 doctors who do deliveries.  throughout the course of the pregnancy, i will see each doctor at least once so that i won't have a complete stranger at delivery.  i'm really happy with that.  we can take birthing classes through the hospital or through the office.  she said that through the office, we'd also get a tour of the hospital and everything.  so we'll probably just do that.

my next appointment is scheduled for july 2nd, at 12 weeks.  at that point, we'll be able to see and hear baby.  it feels so far away!  i hope this next month goes a little faster than this last one, because the last one was absolute torture! 

nursery thoughts - animals

another thought i have for the nursery is an animal theme.  there are so many great animal-themed bedding sets and nursery sets out there - monkeys, safari, birds, woodland, etc.  but i keep finding myself gravitating to giraffes.  this set, in particular, i love.

source: from babysupermall via nicole on pinterest

i also found this, and thought it would be really cute to do.  you could do it with all different animals and fabric prints.  it's a great way to be a little creative!

source: from flickr via bee on pinterest

i saw this print somewhere and thought it was so adorable.

source: from sarahjanestudios via leah on pinterest

this print is so sweet.  it's definitely something i think i'd love to put in the nursery, possibly no matter what theme we go with. 

source: from etsy via sarah on pinterest

here is a really cute idea for clothing hooks or hat hooks or what have you.  the project nursery link that the source is from doesn't actually take you to this nursery anymore, so i searched high and low for these hooks and found them at ikea (of course).

source: from projectnursery via bee on pinterest

this photo features a fox, which would go great with a woodland creatures nursery, but in theory you could probably do any stuffed animal.  i think it's a great idea!

source: from matsukeblog on pinterest

so those are just some ideas for an animal- (ok, giraffe-) themed nursery.

first appointment

today is our first appointment!  i can't.freakin.wait.  i'm really hoping we'll be able to at least hear baby's heartbeat, if not see something.  i have my list of questions ready and told matt to think about any questions he might have. 

in other news, i think i'm finally starting to experience some real symptoms.  i felt really exhausted all weekend, despite the fact that i got plenty of sleep.  even this morning, after sleeping like a rock all night (minus a trip to the bathroom, of course), i found it nearly impossible to get out of bed.  it's 8:48am and i could seriously crawl back into bed and sleep for another 3 hours.  on top of that, i woke up this morning and by the time i got out of the shower, i felt pretty queasy, so i ate a few graham crackers and that helped.  matt suggested i take a sleeve of crackers to work with me to keep in my desk for any queasy moments, but the nice thing about working in a hospital is that i have limitless access to saltines and ginger ale.  i just have to make my snacking inconspicuous for the next few weeks. 

i do plan to tell a couple of my coworkers today, just the ones that i'm really close to (the ones who were invited to our wedding).  i start my week of on-call today, and i'm hoping that one of them will be willing to take my pager tonight so that i don't have to worry about getting paged in the middle of my doctor's appointment.  could you imagine?  we're in the middle of the (likely) transvaginal ultrasound and my stupid pager goes off?  ack, awful.  so hopefully one of them will do me that favor, just for tonight.  plus, it'll be nice to have someone to talk to about it.  my coworker stacy just had her baby 6 months ago, so she's still pretty familiar with the whole pregnancy process and stuff. 

i'll be back tomorrow or wednesday with the updates from the appointment!  wish us luck!

georgia on my mind - part 4

i just realized i never finished our georgia trip recap!  oopsie!

so i left off when we had finished our shuttle and walking tour of the city.  we wanted to eat dinner at this rooftop restaurant called rocks on the roof.  it was right on the river walk and had a great view of the river.  unfortunately, when we arrived, we found that it was closed until 9pm for a private event.  booo.  so we ate downstairs in their regular restaurant, rocks on the river.  the food was ok but nothing great.  we definitely should have tried somewhere else.

after dinner, we headed up to sit in ellis square for a bit before walking over to johnson square to meet up with our haunted tour guide.  i was definitely smitten with ellis square.  it wasn't all shaded and green like the other squares, but it had this great fountain that kids played in all day long.  it was so fun to sit and watch them.  plus it was adjacent to city market and they always had live music at night, so you could sit in ellis square and listen to the music without having to sit in the noisy bar seating. 

at 7:30 we walked over to johnson square to meet our tour guide for the evening.  if you are ever in savannah and want to do a good, authentic haunted tour, definitely book with this guy.  the company is savannah ghost walks, and i'm pretty sure it is only this one guy who does the tours, chase anderson.  he was kind of creepy, but in a good way.  he obviously loves what he does, and takes it very seriously.  he has clearly spent a lot of time researching the history of savannah and delving into various ghost stories and urban legends.  the tour was fantastic.  we walked all over the city and by the end, i was definitely creeped out by a few locations.  chase encouraged us to take pictures in each location, with our flash, because sometimes that's how you catch ghosts or spirits.  unfortunately, my camera battery started to die about halfway through our tour, so i didn't get many pictures.  and most of my pictures were duds, but there are a few that definitely have matt and i thinking we caught something watching us!

after the tour was over and we were sufficiently freaked out, we walked back to rocks on the roof and had a drink up at the rooftop bar.  by the time we got there, all the tables around the perimeter of the roof were taken, so we just sat inside by the bar.  halfway through our drinks, i felt like i was crashing, so we finished up, went back to the hotel, and went to bed.

the next morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel again.  same thing as the day before.  last night, i actually had dreams about those biscuits.  they were that good.  i may have to bake some this weekend - that may be my first "craving!"  after breakfast, we packed up the car and checked out.  we drove out to bonaventure cemetery, which is about 15 minutes outside of "downtown" savannah.  it is a beautiful spot.  i know it's kind of weird or creepy to walk around a cemetery, but i'd heard so much about how picturesque it is, i had to see it for myself.  and all the hype was true.  it really is pretty.  tons of big live oaks with spanish moss.  lots of big tombstones and monuments.  it was neat to walk around and see how old some of them were - we saw a few dating back to the early 1800s!  i took tons of pictures and definitely plan to blow one of them up for our "vacation wall" at home.

after walking around for about an hour, we got back in the car and drove back into downtown savannah.  we wanted to try to find this bbq joint we'd seen on man vs food nation called angel's bbq.  the challenge was to eat a huge bbq sandwich with their super-hot voodoo juice on it.  we did not attempt the challenge because, well, we like our taste buds.  the bbq was good, but it wasn't the best i've ever had. 

finally, it was time to hit the road and head back to atlanta.  we spent tuesday night with our friends mish and ryan.  it was great to be able to visit with them for a bit, since we hadn't seen them since our wedding.  wednesday morning we flew home, picked up padfoot, and got ready to return to the real world!

8 weeks

baby is the size of: a kidney bean
how far along are you: 8 weeks 1 day
what's happening with baby: webbed fingers and toes are poking out from hands and feet, eyelids practically cover the eyes, breathing tubes extend from the throat to the branches of the developing lungs, and baby's tail is just about gone.  nerve cells are connecting with one another.  baby is constantly moving and shifting!
due date: according to babycenter.com's estimation, jan 11 
maternity clothes: nada.
sleep: pretty good
best moment this week: sounds stupid, but being able to successfully hide not drinking at our niece's party
food cravings: biscuits.  thursday night i made matt stop at the grocery store to pick up a pack of pillsbury buttermilk biscuits.
food/smell aversions: nope!
symptoms: god, the bloating!  after a meal, i look 4.5 months pregnant! 
gender: i'm still having all-girl dreams.  the other night, i dreamed that our little girl grows up to play elphaba in wicked on broadway, ha!
belly button: in
wedding rings: on

news notes

day late, sorry!

witchita boy's garage-sale buy holds a treasure for his family - this is amazing.  and creepy. 

appeals court: denying federal benefits to same-sex couples is unconstitutional - ok, we're getting somewhere now!

steel magnolias' remake cast - no. this is unacceptable.  sally fields was absolute perfection in this movie.  you cannot remake that.


hundreds of sheep strike cars after crash in australia - some of the comments on here are kinda funny.  but could you imagine?  suddenly it's raining sheep on you?  wacky.

new york mayor michael bloomberg proposes ban on on large sodas - i come down on both sides of this debate.  on the one hand, i think anything they can do to help the obesity crisis in this country should be tried.  on the other hand, people have to want to change their behavior and no amount of legislation is going to make that happen.