Snow Day!...and not so snow days.

Yesterday was a snow day! Hooray! Of course, we were already dressed and Brad had shoveled out half the Trailblazer from the over one foot of snow when they called to tell us. But, hey, better late than never, right? I was secretly hoping that today would be bad enough to keep us away, but that was wishful thinking.

Despite the giant snow, we did manage to break out into public and do a little baby browsing- cribs, gliders....plasma TVs, you know, all the baby "basics". I wonder if you can put a new tv on a baby gift registry? :)

Otherwise, it's been pretty quiet because of the weather around here. Brad got $10 from our neighbor from his shoveling efforts...and because he smells so good (this is the neighbor that loved him before I did). I think he should start making nice with all the other folks in the complex, too!

That's all for now from the Stuffy & Girton house.

Morning Milk Mayhem

Soooo.... baby doesn't share my enthusiasm for a nice glass of milk in the a.m.! We think we've pin-pointed that as the culprit for the most recent morning sickness triggers. Granted, I've been cutting back on the morning milk consumption, but someone brought me a giant Entenmann's cheese danish Sunday morning and yesterday, I was so blinded by the possibility of eating it straight out of the box, it didn't even occur to me to have anything else to drink besides milk. Can you blame me?

Well, Stuffy could, because within 15 minutes I said so long to the danish and milk that I had just eaten. Hmph. This kid is already calling the shots!

That was yesterday...today, I assert my motherly rights to eat what I want and dared the child to reject some yogurt and pop tart. One hour later, I have won this battle. However, I know it's not over yet...I know better (Stuffy is, after all, a combination of two of the most stubborn people ever!)

My saddest news on the food front is that the pickled sausages my parents worked so hard to bring from Tennessee at Thanksgiving are now utterly disgusting to me. How can this be? Can a child of mine truly not like this food only found in the south and next to the beer aisle? Say it isn't so! I've been rationing the three jars mom and dad brought, since I had scarfed down a jar and some change in the week after turkey day... maybe I waited too long? I was excited to have one with lunch on the weekend--- I didn't even get to swallow it before I had to eject it out of my mouth and into the sink. Now, I know some of you are thinking "it's about time you realized those things are gross"... and I know you only say that because you're not true southerners, so I forgive you.

Sorry, mom & dad...looks like we've got our work cut out for us to introduce some down-home food to this kiddo. I can't make any promises on taking part in any pintos and onions, though! :)

Brunchies, baby gear & cupcakes!

This weekend is already coming to an end and it feels like we just got started. This was a carb-loaded weekend for us...but in moderation! It all started with a new breakfast place we found Saturday morning called Brunchies -- YUM! Someone described it as a Waffle House, but friendlier and cleaner. I'd have to agree. It was super delish. Then, on a whim we decided to get cupcake mix at the store and oh darn, we now have cupcakes. We just finished making our famous (in this apartment, at least) spaghetti and meatballs and as a shout out to my late, great Aunt Nell - some homemade yeast rolls. I have to wonder though, what she'd think about the invention of bread makers and if they're cheating just a little? Either way, I'm pretty sure she'd be tickled that I think of her every time I make them now.

Our big adventure this weekend was Friday afternoon going to Cincinnati to buy our first Craigslist purchase. Stuffy is now equipped with a stroller and car seat. Not just any stroller-car seat...one that would have cost us about $350 at Babies r Us, but we paid HALF that price. Oh yeah, we saved half! More money to put towards freakishly expensive cribs! Those things are priced as if they're made out of gold...that is, the ones that aren't likely to be recalled or cause your baby's head or limb to get caught between the bars. Those of you who know us know that a child of ours is bound to be that kid at some point who can't resist the urge to see if it's head will really fit between those tempting spaces. Heck, Brad and I stand in the store thinking if we could fit ours in there!

Other than that, I'm just marveling at the fact that I look so very pregnant but haven't really gained tons of weight. Let's hope that stays true...then again, when tasty, fluffy cupcakes are floating around the house my chances do go down, right?

The ultrasound countdown has begun - two weeks from tomorrow, we'll get to see the next photos of Stuffy!!! Hooray!

Have a great week everyone!

Wow! Time flies!

Sorry for the big lag in posts...you'd think we had a long weekend or something! We must say we're super proud of ourselves from this past weekend, more work was done to turn the former "purple room" into a future nursery. This weekend's big task was putting everything that we had dumped out of the room for painting back into a proper place and clearing out about 6 years worth of papers that I had thought I had done a good job of filing. 6+ bags of shredding later...

The big 'whoa' moment this Sunday was seeing how BIG my tummy is getting-- Stuffy had a growth spurt! Thank you to my fabulous mom who thought enough ahead at Thanksgiving to graciously buy me some maternity pants with nifty adjustable elastic in the waistband. I had to move the button out one spot yesterday. Finally, I'm kinda excited about needing bigger pants. Today also marks the first day of getting oodles of comments at work that sound something like this: "Oh! You're starting to show!" I'm not minding it so much now, but hopefully it won't turn into "Oh! Are you having quadruplets, or one giant-sized baby?"

Fingers crossed, Brad and I may have found a great deal on a stroller/car seat combo on Craigslist. We've test drove and researched the one we want and it just so happens that a family in Cincinnati has a gently used one that would save us about $150! If they don't sell it before Friday, we're making a road trip (which, oh darn, would include a stop at the new IKEA!)

Hey-- here's a shout out to Michele Borst, who you all know is now habitating in Italy and who has recently taught me that although it may sound glamorous...it's not. We were happy to hear from Michele that they have a house and are getting settled, and more importantly can now communicate with the rest of us. I miss you very, very much Michele and just to cheer you up, thought these pictures would make us all smile and show a glimpse to everyone else of why we're still friends after all these years (almost 15 years now!!) and examples of how fun your kids are!

That's all for now, I'm off to figure out where to get a cheeseburger for dinner (yes, the baby needs one!)

Bubble Shooter...Twinkie...Overexpensive Childcare...

Time for a little note from the baby's daddy! We've gotten plenty of comments from all of our fans that they wanted to hear from the dad (actually we just talked about it over lunch)...so here ya go!

The title of this post just explains the things running through my head this morning so far in no particular order. Bubble Shooter - A very addictive online game (click here to try it out). This game has made time pass by day in and day out (and most of this morning)...had to give it a shoutout! Twinkie - The determined size of our child. Some websites list this upcoming week as the size of a mascara. So after groaning about it this morning to Heather, she knew a way to get me back in the spirit of the baby's size...a twinkie! Although this only raises the thoughts of having a twinkie and anything else i'm craving on behalf of my lovely wife! :) Overexpensive Childcare - Take a minute and think of as many things as you could do with $1,000 a month. Yes...that is $12,000 for the first year of childcare here on average. Bet you came up with some pretty good ideas of what to do with that huh, I know I did. Maybe Heather and I should just stop working and start a day care...that was my first idea! $12k per year/per kid...oh yea, that's what we need to do! Yes there are ways around it, but that involves making "deals" with our workplace and praying that a church has room for our little one!

Things are a little hectic right now. A new weight challenge from my brother has pushed up the level a little bit. Whoever loses the most weight by March 1st gets a prize, for right now we're settling for a $50 prize. Sounds good to me, but yes that involves spending some money for a gym membership, which is month by month thankfully, and it involves spending time at the gym! Yes I'm actually going, not as much as I'd like...but I'm going - sometimes in the mornings, sometimes at night to watch some basketball or football there on the tv's. It's pretty funny when I go in the morning and the sound sleeping Heather doesn't even hear me get out of bed, yes she sleeps very hard (especially lately) to not hear a 300 pound man get out of our bed, haha. And yes, that makes a fun morning of waking her up (although it was both of us this morning not wanting to get out of the bed).

I did learn today that I have 8 vacation days to roll over this year and usually have to be used by the end of June, but I think they might let me use them in July for the baby, but you never know with my bosses! Plus my vacation time for this year, makes us not worry about how I'm going to get time off for Christmas too!

That's about it for now, I'm just keeping focused that we have a 3 day weekend this weekend and I plan on spending every hour of it in my soft pajama pants and a t-shirt and us not leaving the apartment...unless I go work out so I can beat my brother.

How to lose weight, just get pregnant!

Today was a great day in the a.m. - Thankfully I left early to make it to the doctor on time, the roads were pretty gross because of the sudden snowfall. The same nurse took my blood pressure about 5 minutes after I walked in the door, but this time she wasn't surprised to see that it was up a little bit (anyone's would be after that drive!) I'm pretty sure Brad's blood pressure was higher than mine since he couldn't make it to this appointment.

I've actually lost 3 pounds since last month. Seriously? I go on diets that have entire books written about how to shed pounds and nothing. I get pregnant and finally feel totally guilt free about eating anything I want (which I've been doing) and I lose weight. Hmm. Doctor Garrett wasn't too worried, she's assured me that it'll catch up here soon and it most likely has to do with that I've been sick the past few days and dare I say it... a little bit dehydrated. I'm drinking Gatorade now, so no worries.

The fun part was hearing the heartbeat---turns out Stuffy must be like me - likes the personal space. About 5 seconds after she put the doppler wand on my belly she started to laugh a little bit and said " I hear you, but you keep running from me!" Evidently Stuffy wasn't keen on being found, but since there's limited space in there, she found the heartbeat not too long after that and it was a lovely 150 -155 bpm. My new favorite sound! They did a screening blood draw that we'll get some results for next week.

Made it back to work, went for a little lunch and then by the time we were getting up from the table I started getting dizzy and thought I may get sick again. Went back to work and didn't even make it out of the car before I asked Brad to take me home. Made it home, made some coughing noises that I'm sure Nala took as me making fun of her for the noises she makes when she gets sick...then maybe one of the biggest headaches ever. I'm coming around the corner of that now, thanks to some Tylenol and an ice pack. Oy! Dr. Garrett and the nurse both thought that I've gotten a little virus/bug that's going around.

Oh! The best news is we have our appointment for the next ultrasound- Feb. 9th! Hopefully we'll get to reveal if it's a boy or a girl after Valentine's Day (we're putting the results in an envelope till then so we can have a great surprise for V-Day just for us.)

All for now!

Q. What's the best thing about being pregnant? (from the diary prompts)
A. Other than having something to totally obsess over every day? Other than having an excuse to start crying at random from watching shows on TLC? I'd have to say the not talking myself out of eating ice cream every day (or when available). There are things I could do without, but the best is when I notice something new - like how much bigger my tummy is or wondering if that weird little flutter I felt really was what I think it could have been!

I stayed home again today (ugh) I was all set and had my new favorite Life cereal this morning, then about 5 minutes later I was running to the bathroom where Brad came in from walking Mazy to find me "visiting" my Life cereal again in reverse. Blech. I felt pretty crummy all day, but I have a feeling it's not the normal morning sickness from a few weeks ago --- this may have something to do with (okay, hold your judgement till the end) the fact that I "needed" to finish Sunday morning's biscuits and gravy for dinner Sunday night. It was questionable seeing that it wasn't really put away in our snazzy ziploc containers. But I had one of those ravenous, wild animal sort of moments where I caught myself eating it out of the pot then decided to heat it up and finish it off....so there, judge - JUDGE all you like. My name is Heather and I eat old, leftover (yet tasty) gravy.

Hmmm..could that be why I don't feel so great? Couldn't be that OR the vast amount of fried things I seem to be wanting every night. I am eating fruits, though, so cut me some slack!

Doc appt. in the a.m. which should provide for a good post tomorrow.

Off to hunt something cold to eat! -H.
ps- Hurrah for Brad who is in the middle of "StudyDome, Night 2" he's cracking the whip on those online classes, with the help of Nala, of course who REALLY likes his books!

All out of sorts

I've been so grateful the past week or so because it seemed like I was finally rounding the corner on all the not-so-fun parts of early pregnancy...the nausea, exhaustion, etc. The biggest complaint lately has been a return of some doozy headaches here and there, but most of them occur at the end of the work day - not terribly pregnancy-specific.

However, I woke up this morning feeling like that commercial with the person walking around with the giant teddy bear head that says "feeling stuffed"? I told my boss that it felt like my head was stuffed with cotton, that was the best analogy I could think of because describing myself as a big teddy bear head at 7am to my supervisor didn't seem smart. I craved Ecedrin. I actually craved a medicine, mostly, I'm sure because I can't take it. Then, just when I got comfortable and ready for a pain-reducing nap...15 minutes later, Mazy reminded me that I need not worry about the fear of raising a future toddler - she's given me 10 strong years of practice for that! She's now fascinated with getting into the cat's space to score some nibbles of cat food.

After 5pm I called Brad in what must have sounded like the most pitiful, whiny conversation and when he asked if there was anything that I wanted to make me feel better, the only answer I could think of was "cheeseburgers". Ah, the cheeseburger, better than Ecedrin any day!

Wednesday's our next doctor appointment and when they begin all genetic testing and such. I'm mostly looking forward to hearing the heartbeat again- I love that sound! As an awesome substitute, thanks to Aunt Toni, we can hear the kicking sounds of Stuffy via a baby listener thing with headphones she sent us. Best way to describe it is it sounds like a timpani drum being played with absolutely no rhythm (for those of you who have seen me and or Brad dance, that's no surprise that our offspring would inherit that trait).

Here's to a clear head / no headache day tomorrow!! Oh! PS - as of tomorrow we'll be 15 weeks, which places us at the Kit-Kat chocolate bar size or an apple, depending on your preference!

Here we are!

I've done some blogging here and there, but never was there a better reason to start a blog than the impending arrival of our little Stuffy! We'd gotten a great booklet from the doctor that has some fun diary prompts and then after keeping up with a co-worker's fantastic blog about expecting triplets (thanks for the inspiration, Sam & Abby!) Brad and I thought this would be a good way to keep in touch with our family and friends out there.

The goal is to put at least a few words in each day, or as often as we can so that we can look back and remember all this...fun (that is the word I'm supposed to use, right?) of being pregnant.

So why do we call the baby "Stuffy"? It was our code word when we were talking about starting a family before we were married. We knew if people even heard us say 'baby' we'd get all sorts of reactions. The name "Stuffy" refers to a funny bit in one of the books Heather used in a kindergarten program from work : if you're really curious, click here. We'd been planning for Stuffy long before the wedding, figuring it would take a while after we got married for a positive sign to appear. Little did we know that "a while" was actually only 2 months!

We're excited, thrilled, anxious and all of the things soon-to-be parents are. We're officially 14 weeks, 5 days today and looking forward to our due date of July 7th, 2009.

So with that, here we go!

Today's question from the diary book:
Q. When did you think you might be pregnant?
A. I was charting my morning temps via a book we bought, at the very end of the famous 2 week wait (the time between ovulation and enough hormones produced by the possible baby) was also the same day Christy and I were headed to Louisville on a girls trip. I went to bed the night before I tested, noticed that my arms and chest were super veiny. Thought that was a good sign (at least according to the book, it was). The next morning the digital test agreed!