Turkey Day!

It's Thanksgiving Day, and Brandi is eating for two. Can she live up to the hype? Full report to follow. I'll have to rely on my informants in Atlanta, because I'm not there. Brandi is home gearing up for the biggest gift giving day of the year... her Atlanta baby shower. I'm sure we'll hear all about it when she returns.

Catching up

Got a little behind in posting belly pictures. Here's 24 and 26 weeks. I hit 27 weeks this week, just in time for Turkey day!

First Shower!

So we've had occasional baby gifts arriving at our door for a while now.  But the first baby shower took place last weekend,on the day after my brother's wedding.  And it was a bit of a surprise!

My mom called me on Saturday to let me know that my Maine relatives had a few gifts for me and wanted to do a little impromptu shower Sunday morning.  I arrive at my parents' house to see this.

A table full of presents, cupcakes, and a kitchen full of breakfast foods!  Hash brown casserole, biscuits and gravy, and bacon.  Mmmm!  My mom is getting everything ready and says "Oh, I didn't make eggs or anything.  Brandi, do you want to me cook up some eggs?"  My mother, who had hosted a rehearsal dinner, married off her only son, was hosting a house full of people, and just cooked a big breakfast the morning after said wedding, wants to know if I want her to do more work to make some eggs??  That was a definite no.

The baby received a lot of great presents.
Clothes (a small sampling):

Bibs:

Mommy and Daddy represented equally!

And books!

And last, but CERTAINLY not least....handmade gifts from my talented mom and aunts:

Adorable hats from Dori

Sweater from Val with little ducky buttons!

Booties and a hat to go with the sweater

My mom checks out the little booties

Gorgeous blanket made by my mom

Me imagining using the blanket to sleep on the plane

There's a family history for the sweater set that my Aunt Val shared.  The knitting pattern was my grandmother's.  It's one she used to make the same set of items for many babies while she was still able, including me and my older cousins.  My aunt took the pattern and used it to make a set for our little girl. It's such a great continuity in the family and a way for grandmother to be a part of it even though she's no longer with us.  Guess this means I should learn some sort knitting or crocheting skill so I can fit in!

And mommy-to-be wasn't forgotten in the gift department either.  I got a few maternity clothes to add to my collection.  A big thanks to everyone involved from gift giving, to planning, to executing!

Looking ahead, the main event shower-wise takes place next weekend with the family shower in Atlanta.  I'm sure that means more pictures of cute baby stuff to come!

My Brother Gets Married!

Jeff and I were in Atlanta for the big wedding festivities for John and Jess on November 13th.  It was a busy but fun weekend.  I flew in on Thursday.  This allowed for an important mani/pedi outing with some family on Friday!  My parents' house was full of activity all weekend with relatives coming and going.

Jeff flew in just in time to arrive at the rehearsal dinner Friday evening.  My sister made some gorgeous fall centerpieces to decorate the tables at the dinner site.  My parents provided the booze and the site provided a "bartender."  A bartender who said they didn't do anything as "fancy" as a White Russian and found my request for a half sprite and half orange juice "interesting" and "a new one."  My dad quickly schooled the guy in White Russian making, as having that drink available for Simpson events is as important as having brandy old fashioneds available at Baker events (Jeff's mom's side of the family).  Everyone was welcomed back to my parents' house after dinner for more socializing.  Jeff and I were there for about 5 seconds before I decided it was too much noise and people for me to handle.  So I grabbed my stuff and we escaped to the quiet of his parents' house.

We had a laid back morning at the Schulze's on Saturday, with the requisite trip to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  We headed to the reception site late afternoon to be present for pictures.  The reception site just happened to be the same one Jeff's sister had her reception 10 years ago!  The evening ceremony was outdoors.  Jeff and I were front and center, with my assigned seat being right on the aisle in the front row.  So we had a good view as my grandfather officiated the ceremony to make my brother a married man.

It was a beautiful ceremony!  But then it was time to party down! The DJ was a little on the naughty side, but definitely entertaining.  It seemed a good time was had by all.  And I can now say my brother is married to Jessica Simpson!!


Here are a few more pictures.

Jeff Posts... again!

Well, it's now been over 2 weeks since Brandi last posted on here.  So, you're stuck with more of Jeff's perspective on pregnancy.

What I've noticed so far:
The belly is definitely getting bigger
Brandi pees a lot

Hrm, that's about all I've noticed.  I should either be more observant or just thank God that I'm not the one who is pregnant.

In actual baby news, Brandi had her glucose test today.  She had to drink this little orange drink.  It looked just like the cheap sugary drinks you find in the unmarked bottles at the grocery store. 

We'll find out later if she has gestational diabetes.  I think I got diabetes just watching her drink that stuff!

I'll see if I can get Brandi to post something before her big trip to Atlanta (again) this week.

The Countdown Continues

So, that little countdown thingy I put on the side there ---------------------------------->
is really getting down there.  As I type this, there are 105 days and 9 hours left.  These things being unpredictable, that baby could pop out well before or after the countdown reaches zero, but it does put in some nicer perspective.  We'll see how I feel once that thing reaches single digits.

I had a friend ask me how I'm doing.  Am I getting excited?  Am I ready?
My response... well, it really hasn't affected my life much.  I'm not the one growing the little thing.  My life doesn't change until the baby comes home and expects me to care for it.  So, ask me again in late February.

In other news, baby bump is all set to make it's Atlanta debut this weekend.  Brandi and I are headed home for her brother's wedding.  It should be quite exciting.  Unfortunately, I won't be there for the initial revealing because Brandi will be heading home a day earlier than me.  Even without me there, I'm sure they will still find some way to be happy and excited!

[Brandi's note: Here's hoping everyone will keep in mind that the only appropriate thing to say to a pregnant woman, if you must comment on her appearance, is how great she looks.  Not "AHAHAH YOU'RE SO PREGNANT!!!!  It's cute!!!" as my sister recently commented about the pictures I emailed of my dress choices for the wedding.]

[Jeff's note: Don't edit my posts. Make your own darn posts.  If that doesn't work, there is a fancy comments section you can access clicking the button below.  Just remember that I know where you live!]

Halloween Weekend

It's our last Halloween without a little rugrat of our own to dress up in costume. (Side note: can we use our 8 month old to get candy for ourselves?) Anyway Jeff actually had the weekend off! So what did we do?

Friday was the day for celebrating Halloween at school.  I was happy to see that I could make my Halloween shirt still work, with a little help from a longer tank top underneath to cover the rest of the bump.  And I had the requisite candy corn earrings to go with it.  One of my schools does their Christmas card picture at Halloween so I participated in some themed dress up in the morning.  We were all chefs.  Aprons from home, 50 cent paper chef hats from Oriental Trading, and some utensils in hand....voila!  Chefs!

Jeff spent the day on a fairly uneventful ambulance ride along.  In the evening we grabbed some dinner at Sweet Tomatoes (a salad and soup buffet place) and visited Jeff's favorite store--Fry's!  It's a computer/electronics place.  Heaven for a computer guy like him!  I believe he wanted to scope out a monitor he had recently added to his Amazon wishlist.  That boy really takes the "wish" part of the name very seriously!

Saturday was errand day.  First we had to deal with Jeff's car.  It was making a noise in the front that he was only able to troubleshoot to a certain point (pulleys or pumps or something, I don't know).  He decided to take it in and let the mechanics figure out exactly what was wrong rather than replacing the front end himself one part at a time. (But once that issue was resolved they found another issue on their test drive that needed replacing. Jeff's irritated that he paid someone else to fix things he could have done himself.  I, on the other hand, am happy that he did not have to spend the whole weekend working on his car.)

So after dropping off Jeff's car we headed to Babies R Us.  I wanted to measure the changing table to see what options I had for storage containers. This is the second time I've dragged Jeff with me to Babies R Us.  He's (mostly) a trooper about it but I'm sure he's dying on the inside.  I did put him to work with the tape measure, but otherwise he just followed me around, probably counting the minutes until I was done.  I also wanted to pick up a lampshade I had fallen in love with that I was afraid was going to no longer be available.  Jeff was making fun of me, but hey, when it's suddenly no longer available online and is on sale in the store I get a little worried. Anyway, the cute multi dot lamp shade is all mine!

Since we were near Jeff's grandparents, we stopped by to visit with them and share ultrasound pictures.  It had been a while since we stopped by.  After that we were going to go grocery shopping, but Jeff had a headache.  When it gets bad, sleep is the only effective treatment for him so we headed home so he could take a nap.

While he was sleeping, some local friends stopped by to drop off some fabulous baby gifts--hand-me-downs from their little girl, a case of wipes, and a big box of diapers! Add that to the clothes my mom sent a few weeks ago and the bedding I bought and we've got a pretty big pile of loot.

Fortunately Jeff's nap cleared up his headache.  So he was ready for the big event of the weekend--dinner and a show!

Every once in a while Jeff and I enjoy a fancy dinner out followed by a little musical theater.  I started getting the urge again a few weeks ago.  I mean, it's been since May that we saw Billy Elliott.  But none of the shows in the big theaters downtown were grabbing my interest enough to justify the cost.  So we visited a mid-priced theater in the 'burbs to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  It was a great show!  Definitely entertaining with numerous laugh-out-loud lines, catchy tunes, and pretty good singers, especially the female lead.  The theater also had a pre-show dinner option that we tried.  The food was pretty good and not too pricey.  So I'd say it was a successful night out.

Sunday we had church followed by their pancake breakfast.  I've been looking forward to pancakes and sausage for a good two weeks.  And it did not disappoint.  Yum!  Unfortunately I had to follow that up with finally getting my flu shot.  :(  My arm is still sore!

Jeff was excited to actually be home for Halloween this year and to hand out candy.  I did it the first year we moved here, but last year I turned off the lights and hid inside.  It's more stressful than fun for me.  Always waiting for that doorbell to ring, hopping up off the couch without busting the laptop to quickly get to the door, wondering if we had enough candy, and so on.  So this year I got to sit on the couch under a blanket and watch Jeff hop up.  And let him deal with a few greedy little boogers who reached their hands into the bowl and tried to grab big handfuls.  Now that was a good Halloween!

We rounded the evening the off with a trip to Starbucks for some warm drinks.

And there you have it.  A blow-by-blow account of our weekend.  It was actually a pretty eventful one for us, but I suspect it loses some luster in written form.  :)

A Look Back: Food

Since this blog has become as much documentation for myself as for everyone else, I thought I'd take the chance to document some things that I'm already forgetting.  Today's topic: food.  Although I haven't really had a desire so strong that I would call it a craving, I've had some interesting food phases.

At first I thought I'd do right by the developing baby by going organic with fruits, veggies, and dairy. And try to cut out artificial stuff.  I wasn't eating much meat anyway so I didn't worry about that.  So there off to Whole Foods we went, buying produce and gummy bears with natural coloring and flavorings.  Then I started feeling yuckier and more tired.  So dragging myself to Whole Foods every few days was not happening.  And then there was the day I realized that I had just popped a handful of peanut M&M's into my mouth.  Yes, those brightly colored gems of chocolate-y goodness that just happened to be full of artificial stuff.  I read the writing on the wall.  Going organic was not going to happen. I guess a week and a half is better than nothing.

So I moved into the eat-anything-that-sounds-remotely-palatable stage.  Because I felt like crap and very little sounded good.  Chocolate milk was a popular item. I consumed quite a few little Horizon chocolate milk boxes (left over from the organic phase).  Saltines were essential, of course.  I bought protein powder and baby spinach to add into smoothies to improve my nutritional intake.  I also bought bottles of Ensure to increase my protein intake in the morning.  String cheese was a go to snack for on the go.  Fruit went down pretty well.  And I always, always needed COLD water.  If I left home without water, I could get a little panicky.

During this time there was also the see it, eat it stage.  I would see something on TV or hear about some food and suddenly think "Hmm, I think I could actually eat that."  Take, for example, buffalo wings.  The thought of a plain, baked chicken breast sounded repulsive.  I saw a commercial with buffalo wings.  And they sounded good.  Plain chicken = bad.  Fried chicken dipped in spicy sauce = good??  The next night we were having dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. 

At some point I entered the various snack foods phases.  I was feeling better so I was able to eat most regular foods, but had preferences for some specific snacks.
-First the snack of choice was Baked Cheetos.  That one lasted multiple weeks.

-Somewhere in there was a brief lived affection for orange soda.  It only lasted for a few days but during that time my snacks were very orange.

-Then it was the infamous Butterfingers.  A previous post suggests that Butterfingers and Cheetos overlapped a bit.  But the Butterfinger phase was on its way out by the time Jeff rudely consumed two of them in front of me.

-Then it was Goldfish.  Mmm, salty.  I was carrying around the smaller bags of Goldfish for a while.  Once I saw this phase was sticking around a while, I gave in and bought the big box.  And about a week later, I was done with Goldfish. Totally over them but still more than half of the box left. *sigh*  But since our special ed teachers are always feeding some of their kids, I found a good home for the poor goldfishies.

-I moved on from Butterfingers (and chocolate in general) to Skittles as my candy of choice. Mmm, fruity.

-The Skittles may be on their way out though.  I've been grabbing strawberry Nerds from our candy bowl.  And yesterday I passed up Skittles in favor of some Starburst.

Who knows what's next?

22 weeks!

Here's the 22 week belly from Friday.

The beginning of the end?

For my belly button that is.

I've noticed it getting a little shallower.  But today it was a little achy, especially at the top and after I reached to get something off of the top of the fridge.  So I suspect this is the beginning of the end, at least for a while.  And I'm sad to see it go.  It's been such a good belly button.

:)

20 week Ultrasound

Today was the big day (well, one of the big days)!  We had our 20 week ultrasound.  Brandi got to lie there while I pried my eyes open.  I do not recommend sitting in a dark room at 5pm after working an overnight shift.  So, below you will find a few selected pictures.  We did find out the sex (and I've opted to observe state and federal child pornography laws, so the picture she gave us of our child's genitalia will not be placed on the web).  The answer is below, after the pictures.  No leads on a name yet, we'll keep you posted.  Enjoy!

The baby's face on the left, body on the right, and part of the hand up top.

Profile of the baby, possibly sucking it's thumb.

The foot, so kindly labeled by the ultrasonographer.

Now for the answer:
It's a GIRL!  Let's try to keep the onslaught of pink to a minimum!

Registry Theater

The scene: Bedroom. Morning. Brandi has just woken up for the day. Jeff has just come home from a night shift and is getting ready for bed. 

Jeff: So what are your plans for the day?

Brandi: [blah blah blah] and if I'm out that way I may head to Buy Buy Baby and do some research so I can finish the registry.

Jeff: What do we need to put on it to finish it?

Brandi: [etc etc] bathtub [etc etc]

J: Bathtub? We have a bathtub.

B: Yes, but they make little baby bathtubs.

J: Isn't that called a bucket? $5. Home Depot.

B: [laughing at the image of trying to wash a baby in a bright orange bucket]

J: How often do you bathe a baby anyway?

B: I don't know. Well, when they're real little, not until the umbilical cord falls off, then maybe every other day or so. Depends on how dirty they are I guess. [I think to myself, but don't say aloud, that if the baby has skin like Jeff's (prone to dryness, sensitivity) we'll need to make sure we're not bathing too often].

J: Dirty? They don't do anything!

B: Sure they do. Spit up, poop...

J: Yeah, but you just wipe up those areas when it happens.

B: This is true.

J: Well, if it has skin like me, we won't be bathing it very often anyway!

Hopefully, between the two of us reasonably intelligent adults, we'll manage to figure out how to take care of the poor, unsuspecting little newborn. 

Ta-da!

20 weeks!  The bump has appeared!

Belly Pics

As promised, here are some pictures of the growing belly. You can click on the image for a larger view.

I've lost my 6 week and 9 week pictures, but they looked pretty much like the 12 week one. The 18 week picture is from September 22nd.  All 4 shirts are non-maternity.  I think week 16 was regular pants (buttoned up normally) but 18 weeks is definitely maternity pants.

So there's still not too much belly-wise to look at up to this point. I've grown just enough to make me feel chubby. And for people at work to say wonderful things like "Ooh, I see a little bulge" or "You got a little something there." For future reference, the most palatable comment thus far has been "Oh, look how cute you are." With that, you've acknowledged that I am growing while making me feel good about it too.

The deep, grumbly voice is back

So Jeff was off partying attending a conference in Vegas last week.  He was gone Monday through Friday night.  I managed to keep myself awake long enough to pick him up at the airport around 10 on Friday night.  Actually, I stayed up until about 11:30, when the lucky guy had to head in to work for a midnight to 8 shift.  Yep, off to work two hours after getting off the plane.  But anyway, we were hanging out on the couch for a little bit before he left for work.  After a while, Jeff asks me if I've had any more wiggly-worms in my tummy.  I stare at him briefly as I work out what he;s referring to (another baby in there? some sort of stomach issue?) and then realize he's asking if I've felt anymore movement.  I inform that actually the baby has been quite active since I picked him up from the airport.  So Jeff identifies what must be exciting the baby...."The deep, grumbly voice is back!" 

This week's baby development email indicates that the baby might be able to hear voices by this point, so it's a reasonable thought.  And one I considered as well.  I also considered the possibility that my being happy that Jeff was home created a change in the hormones/chemicals in my bloodstream.  Or there's the more likely explanation: it was just a happy coincidence.  :)