The Pond

Today, Michael got down and dirty in and around the pond and tried to clean it all out.  Since we bought the house back in 2008, the foliage around the pond has gotten to be a little (ok, a lot!) out of control and cattails had started growing in it.  We were starting to get worried about the fishies in the pond because the cattails had taken over! So, we decided that this was the year, before the baby arrives, that we were going to show the pond who is boss! haha

Michael started out by cutting down all of the old flowers and plants from last year and then literally stood in the pond for a few hours this afternoon and ripped out almost all of the cattails.  Who knew that the root systems of cattails were so intense?!  My poor Mikey's arms are about to fall off from all of the pulling he had to do.  But nonetheless, the pond is almost all clean (even though the water is super murky from all the mud that was moved around) and the fishies finally have some freedom to swim around!

If you look closely, you can see the orange fishies swimming around!

The finished product, so far.

Pretty daffodil around the yard

The trees are blooming!

30 Weeks!

Wow - only 10 more weeks to go!  I met with one of the midwives on Monday and everything continues to look good.  My blood pressure is fantastic at 96/76 (considering what it was in the very beginning.. everyone is ecstatic it's so good!) and the baby's heartbeat is hovering around 135-140 beats per minute.  The little one has finally made his/her way up to the upper part of my uterus and likes to make his/her presence known to mommy all the time! I'm loving it!

My mom finally got to see the baby move yesterday!!  We were sitting down watching tv when I told my mom to watch my belly as the little one had been moving up a storm.  And almost as if on cue, the baby moved and my mom got to see my belly go up and down! So exciting! :)

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came to visit Katie-Bug and Allie-Cat at Babcia and Dziadzi's today.  And let me tell you, the Easter Bunny thought the girls were SUPER GOOD this year - they are so spoiled!!

29 Weeks

I've reached the third and final trimester.  I can't believe it's here already - this pregnancy is flying by! Our little one loves to kick mommy in the lower abdomen and it's so fun to watch my belly move with each kick or punch.  Since I have only been feeling the movements in my lower abdomen I'm curious to know if the baby is in the breech position.  I'm not all that concerned about this as he/she still has plenty of time to move around to the head-down position, but I do plan on mentioning this to my OB when I go next week so we will see what the doc has to say then.

Sorry for the blurriness - my photographer must have been distracted while taking this photo!

In other news, the nursery is coming along.  As far as the walls go, the painting and chair rail have been completed and now we just have to put up the wallpaper border, which Michael's father is planning on coming over to help with this week.  Michael set up the crib this past weekend and I am in the process of cleaning the sheets/blankets/valances.  Soon enough it will be time to decorate the walls and then pictures will be forthcoming!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today was my mom's birthday so we went over to celebrate with pizza and yummy cake!  This time next year Mom will have a third grandchild to help her blow out the candles, but for this year Katie stepped up to the plate to help (Allie was a little too tired!)!  Happy Birthday Mom - we love you!

Goodbye for Now

Tonight our family celebrated my cousin Lauren's 30th birthday with a surprise party at her and her husband's house.  I will spare you the picture of Lauren's shocked and surprised face (she might kill me if I post the pic since this blog isn't private yet!), but needless to say, Lauren had NO CLUE what she was walking into when she got home from shopping at the Wrentham Outlets.  She was quite surprised  to see about 35 or so friendly faces in her house which, of course, then prompted her to ask her husband if he had cleaned the house! Too funny!

Tonight was a lot of fun, but it had a bittersweet ending.  This party was also the last time that we would all be seeing my other cousin Kristin for quite some time.  Kristin is moving to San Diego after having accepted her dream job as an occupational therapist at a hospital.  I will admit that I am super excited for Kristin to start her new job and I wish her all the best.  But there is a part of me that is being very selfish and doesn't want her to leave CT.  See, we all grew up together - Kimberly, Lauren, Kristin and myself - we've shared many laughs (who stole the keishka, someone call the cops!), embarassing moments (barbie dream house) and lots of fun times (george bush and saddam hussein)!  And I want us all to continue to grow up together, but her moving to San Diego is kind of putting a kink in that plan.  It hit me pretty hard on Saturday night that she was leaving for good.  I shed an enormous amount of tears, which I only partly blame on the pregnancy hormones (even though Kristin believes it's all due to my hormones because I cried when I saw Goofy at Magic Kingdom too!), but I'm really going to miss her!  We hope Kristin will eventually make her way back to CT sometime in the near future, but for now, we wish her good luck in her new adventure.

Kristin - It won't be the same around here without you.  Timber and I will miss our play dates with you and Quincy. We love you!

28 Weeks

I had my 28 week check-up today and everything is going well.  I'm measuring right where I'm supposed to be, the baby's heartbeat is in the 140-150s, and I passed my glucose test! YAY! :)  I had been a bit concerned about the glucose test because about a half-hour after drinking the sugary solution on Monday, I began to feel really nauseous and I had the feeling that I was going to throw up.  The waiting room also seemed to get really warm, really fast - it was as if I was sitting in a sauna - so I had to take some layers off (don't worry - I had a shirt on underneath them all!).  The only way I could think of to help shake the nausea was to stand up and walk around the little waiting area.  Luckily for me, it did the trick!  After about ten minutes it faded away just as quickly as it came - thank goodness!

The reason why this concerned me though was because my first glucose test experience was a lot different.   [Due to my high BMI, when I found out I was pregnant I had to complete a glucose test as a precautionary measure.]  The first time around, I drank the solution and then an hour later my blood was drawn and I was out the lab door, free and clear.  The only weird feeling I had that I remember was some tingling in my legs, but other than that I felt fine.  So for the second time around to be so different, I became a little concerned and thought maybe I had failed the test, but I didn't.  Woohoo!

In other news, it seems as though I've finally escaped the superbug that has been floating around my family for the past two months.  I still have a minor cough that is lingering around, but I can handle that.. now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it is gone for good this time and won't come back!

Our Babymoon 4/2 - 4/9

As I mentioned in my last post, Michael and I decided to take a babymoon to Orlando, Florida to enjoy some 'us' time before our little one arrives.  The trip didn't start out so great as I was super sick and ended up making a trip to the walk-in clinic the day before we left.  The doctor prescribed me a z-pack (pregnancy approved!) to help with the nasty congestion, icky cough and my lost sense of taste and smell.  And luckily for me, by the time Monday rolled around I was feeling a lot better and could finally taste and smell (but the cough was still lingering)!  Unfortunately though, Michael started to come down with a bit of a cough as I started to feel better.  But his didn't seem to wreak as much havoc on him as mine did on me and he was still able to enjoy our trip!

We didn't have a lot planned as we just wanted to relax and enjoy our time together, but we ended up keeping pretty busy while down there: we did some shopping at the Premium Outlets, visited Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy at Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios (thanks to my old AC friend Shelly and her hubby, Jolyon!), made a trip to Gatorland, saw Manny Ramirez play his last game at Tropicana Field - Home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and even visited a couple of breweries (sans beer for me - sad!).  All in all, it was a nice, relaxing trip in sunny Orlando!! 

Our ride for the week

Our home for the week - Sheraton Vistana Villages

Outside of Spaceship Earth at Epcot

Gatorland!

Michael being silly

Couldn't pass up this photo op!

Michael enjoying his gator nuggets (gross!!) at Gatorland

We saw some Gator Wrestlin'

This bird ate the fish right after I took this picture and swallowed it in one whole piece... ick!

The gators were kind enough to let me take a pic of them

We were excited about this BBQ meal until we started to eat it... it was disappointing!

Enjoying a beer at Cigar City Brewing

We look happy here, but we were really ticked off that the stadium is domed. I couldn't work on my tan - boo!

This was taken at Magic Kingdom right after I had cried my little eyes out because I had just seen Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy!

Enjoying our time at Hollywood Studios

Michael hamming it up during our lunch at Joe's Crab Shack

Walking around the Sheraton Vistana Villages property

27 Weeks

These belly pictures are coming to you from sunny Florida!  Michael and I decided to take a trip down to Florida for our last vacation as a twosome to just relax and enjoy some 'us' time before we welcome our little one into the world.  I must admit though, I'm not looking my best in these photos as I have been trying to fight off a nasty cold and cough....