Celebrating Michael's Birthday

Michael's actual birthday was yesterday, but he ended up having to work late and I had to teach dance class so we decided to celebrate tonight instead!!

You're how old. honey?!  33!

Michael and his yummy ice cream cake with extra frosting!

Allie hanging out before cake with her bagel

Katie tried to help Uncle Mikey blow out the candles, but she was sitting a little too far away!

"Look Cioci, I have a blue tongue!!"

Dad feeding Allie ice cream...don't tell Mommy!

Ice cream is yummy in Allie's tummy!

"Look Katie, I have a blue tongue too!"

Playing with Katie

Wednesdays are usually the day Kimmy takes my weekly picture for the blog.  We head over to my mom's house and while Allie is sleeping, Katie usually comes outside with us and Kimmy takes my picture.  Well, today Katie wanted to play in the sandbox while we were busy with the camera.  Here are a few images from the day...

Katie looking down at all of her toys in the sandbox

"No Cioci - don't take my picture!!"

Kimmy holding Katie because she was scared of the spider in the sandbox

Piggies in the sandbox!

37 Weeks

In about three weeks time I'm going to be a momma!  I still can't believe it... it doesn't seem real - even with all the kicks I feel on a daily basis, the nursery being finished (blog entry to be posted soon), the car seat installed and everything else baby related in our house.  But soon enough, Michael and I will be holding our little bundle of joy and those sleepless nights will make it feel VERY real.  I will admit - and you can call me crazy if you want - but I'm looking forward to those sleepless nights with our peanut because it means he/she has arrived and is a healthy baby! :)

At my appointment this week I met with Dr. Briggs.  I never thought I would feel comfortable with a male OB doctor, but his bedside manner and personality made me feel so at ease with him.  He was very easy to talk to and he gave me a quick ultrasound peek at our peanut!  I definitely wouldn't mind having him deliver our little one!  In health news though, my blood pressure was perfect this week! YAY!  I talked to Dr. Briggs about how the swelling doesn't seem to be getting any better and that it's actually happening in my hands now at nighttime (along with some numbness), but he is not at all concerned since I don't have any of the other warning signs for preeclampsia (protein in my urine, swelling in my face, headaches, etc.).  He told me to keep an eye on everything, but that it's very normal for all of this to be happening at this stage in pregnancy.

While Dr. Briggs was measuring my uterus and feeling around for the position of the baby, he said the baby was definitely head down.  But then while we were listening with the doppler, he was trying to locate the position of the heart, which happened to be 2.5-3 inches below my left breast.  Dr. Briggs thought that was a little high considering our peanut is supposedly head down so he pulled in the ultrasound machine and started it up.  While we were waiting for it to warm up he started to go over the options if the baby was breech, but like two seconds later the ultrasound picture was up on the screen and there was our baby's ginormous (it's gonna hurt!!) head facing down.  So Dr. Briggs said 'nevermind!' and he proceeded to tell me the baby is not transverse and he/she has a perfectly symmetrical head.  Now, if you know me, you know that made me smile - I love symmetry! :)  He tried to show me the face, which is the freeze frame picture below, but our peanut did not want to stay in one position for too long so it's kind of hard to see the details.  And if you're like Michael, you will just call it 'a blob'!  Silly daddy!!

If you tilt your head to the left, you can see the outline of the head.  Then you'll see the forehead, left eye and nose.

Our Birthday BBQ

For the past three years, Michael and I have been throwing a joint birthday BBQ/picnic since our birthdays are only three weeks apart (mine is 5/25 and his is 6/15).  This year we didn't have the beautiful sunny weather like we've had in the past, but that didn't stop us from celebrating and having a good time with friends and family!

Yummy cake!

Dad and Allie-Cat

Dan and Chris

Colin and Michael playing some ladder ball/golf..whatever it's called!

Mom #2 and Cioci Sue

Gram and Uncle Steve

Dad #2, the chef for the day and Dan

Kimmy, Matt and Stacey (aka Monkey) playing a game

Laurie and I

Conner (apparently not happy at what he is watching), Cameron, Lilly and Katie-Bug

Cousin pic!

The Birthday Kids :)

The Brewery Tour gang - Matt, Lauren, me and Michael

Holy Heat Batman!! - 36 Weeks

This past week has been an absolute scorcher!!  So much so that I even had to not take timber for a walk one of these past days because I was scared both of us would overheat!  The humidity continues to do a number on my facankles and toes and the heat has made me absolutely exhausted.  I'm sort of in nesting mode, but sometimes my exhaustion wins and I just end up sitting on the couch all day.  (Shhh... don't tell Michael this! haha)

As far as our little peanut, he/she continues to be head down and is looking very healthy!  Some days he/she is very active and other days he/she likes to chill out and make mommy very nervous.  The heartbeat is in the 150s and is very strong - yay!  My blood pressure has slightly increased from last time so they have me going back for my next appointment on Monday versus Wednesday - a 5 day period versus 7 days.  The one good thing though is that I don't seem to have any of the other symptoms (i.e. headaches, protein in my urine, etc.) that go along with toxemia.   So for now, I don't mind the frequent trips to the OB's office - I would rather be safe than sorry with our little one!!

Don't pay any attention to the wet spots on my belly - they were from sharing fruit salad with my adorable niece Katie who had just come out of the pool!

Don't mind how I look - I was a complete hot mess in the 90+ degree weather!

Melannie and Katie-Bug Playdate

Today was the last Wednesday of the school year that I had to watch Melannie while Jen took Kaleigh to Daisy Scouts.  It was so nice outside and Kimmy and the girls were at my parent's house so I figured I would have Jen drop Mel off at my parent's and the girls could have a playdate.  Here are some pics from their fun afternoon together!

Katie staring off into oblivion while tasting her Ariel toy

Cousin love

Katie having fun on the hobby horse!

Mel looking innocent - don't let her fool you!

35 Weeks

Can you say holy swelling?! Little Sevigny has decided to wreak havoc on mommy's feet and ankles.  By the end of the day, my toes look like mini sausages, my feet are all puffed up and my ankles are no longer cankles - they are facankles (pronounced fuh-cankles - yes, I now make up my own words!).  I know it's not really my little one's fault, it's more due to this horrible heat and weather, but if it wasn't for my peanut in my belly I wouldn't be having these issues!! It's alright though - he/she is so totally worth it and I would deal with it the entire pregnancy if I had to (please God, do not allow this to happen for my next pregnancy - haha)!

My feet normally (don't make fun of my tiger paws!)

My poor swollen feet - and this isn't even on one of the really bad days!

 

I've started going to the doctor every week now.  At my last appointment, my blood pressure had gone up significantly and I had a 7lb weight gain so the doc wanted to monitor me and make sure it's not due to hypertension/preeclampsia.  [Sidenote -I'm pretty sure the increase in BP was due to the fact that they weighed me first and then took my BP - umm... hello? Did you see that I just gained 7lbs?!?!?! Of course my BP was going to be up! DUH!]  Luckily though, when I went this morning my BP had dropped a little bit and I only had a 2lb weight gain.  The nurse is convinced that the huge weight gain in the past three weeks is due to my swelling, which of course I whole-heartedly agree with!  :)   

I finally was able to meet another doctor in the practice this week, too - Dr. Hendsch.  There are about 8 or so doctors in the practice I go to and I had only met 2 before this morning's appointment.  They try to have you meet all of the doc's before you go into labor so you feel comfortable with whoever is gonna be down in your hoo-ha area!  Hopefully I'll be meeting some other ones in the weeks to come. But anyway, Dr. Hendsch was really nice.  She told me that I'm measuring just perfectly and the baby's head is down, he/she weighs about 6lbs and the heartbeat was in the 150s.  YAY!  It seems as though our little one is perfect!! :)

As for a nursery update - it's ALMOST ready for pictures, I promise!  Just a few more things to do/clean and pictures will be posted.   I've washed all of the blankets and clothing we received at the shower and it's all put away.  I also got a chance to vacuum and febreze the glider and bleach all of the toys we bought off of craigslist.  I swear, I think I was in nesting mode this past week!  Hopefully the next post will have the long-awaited nursery pics!