The Secret's Out!

First I'll tell you about my family's reaction. I had told my mom to call me as soon as the flowers got there so I knew they were delivered, etc. My phone rang around 10:00 a.m. Christmas Eve and it was her, "The flowers just came." That was all she said! I then asked, "So?" "They're pretty," she responded. WTF?? "Have you read the card yet?" I asked. "Your dad is opening it now." I could hear him reading it in the background and then she finally said something like, "Oh!" I don't really remember but it was good. They're happy and excited for us. I guess when it was delivered my dad made the comment that it looked more like a 4th of July arrangement than a Christmas one so I heard him say, "Now it makes sense!" lol.... She did say she was surprised...to which I replied, "you aren't the only one!" lol... We talked for a bit and then I asked if she had received the second card I had sent them and she said yes. I told her to wait to open it till they opened their other presents on Christmas Day.

When my grandparents and aunt got there for lunch (on Christmas Day) she had them read the card for the flowers and I guess my aunt started to cry. Mom called around 2:00 after she had opened the card...the one with the heartbeat recorded into it and said that it was pretty neat. My sister-in-law said she told my brother at Thanksgiving that she bet I was pregnant since I was sick all weekend! They are excited, too.

Moving on to my husband's family. We gave the wine bottles to his mom and sister right before we sat down to dinner. They opened them and each caught on fairly quickly. Then our nieces read the bottles and there was lots of screaming. His mom gave me a hug and screached so loud into my right ear that I swear it was bleeding internally! OUCH! In the meantime his dad was like, "What's going on?" since he hadn't seen the bottle yet. Someone yelled out, "She's pregnant!" and then he was excited, too. It took about 10 minutes for everyone to calm down. The nieces are thrilled that they're finally getting a 1st cousin. The girls are older; 14, 19, and 21 so they will be more like aunts to them but they are thrilled. (My husband's only sibling is 13 years older than him.) The middle one has already offered to babysit whenever we need her to since she's going to college in town and the youngest informed us that she'll babysit once she's down here for college, too.

So it's safe to say that the baby will be more than welcome in its new family. =)

I still haven't broke the news to my coworkers (well, a few of them know but that's it). We always take treats for the whole office on our birthday so that's when I'm telling....January 5...a week from tomorrow. I'm going to bake cupcakes and frost them in pink and blue. If I'm feeling ambitious I might make the gender symbols on top of each with gel or whatever that stuff is. I'm going to have to make 4 dozen though so we'll see.

As for me, I'm in the last week of the first trimester. All I have to say about that is GOOD RIDDANCE! lol... The last week or two have been pretty good so I think I'm on the upswing. I weighed myself this morning and I'm only up 1.8 from where I started but my abdomen is definitely larger. My pants that were once slightly baggy (especially at the end of the day from being stretched out) are fitting a bit snug. I bought some elastic pony tail holders today to use when I can't comfortably button my pants anymore (you put one end around the button and weave it through the hole and back around the button to give you more room). I'm putting off buying maternity pants for as long as I can! I did buy some roomy shirts at Penney's a couple of days ago. They're all from the regular women's section but the style right now is long and flowy...perfect for expanding bellies! All are lightweight material so I'll be able to wear them this spring, too.

We're going to have a really wild New Year's Eve this year as our plan is to go see Marley & Me around 7ish and then 'attempt' to ring in the new year. My husband is still on I.V. antibiotics and will have to do his nightly infusion at 10:00 p.m. so if we decide to stay out, he'll likely be doing it a bar, which is weird but whatever. If we do go somewhere, it'll be to Libations II which is a comfy sort of place. But given that the medicine makes him drowsy and the slightest amount of alcohol has the same effect times two, I'm not promising we'll see 2009 make its debut. We might end up coming home, having a glass of wine (my doc says that would be fine) and heading to bed before the fancy ball drops at midnight. We'll see though.

Have a happy and SAFE New Year's and I'll chat with you next year! ; )

Wine Labels

I finally got around to printing the labels for the wine we're giving to my husband's parents and sister. The pics don't show the detail, but the background is a light green and white plaid.

We have a Heartbeat!

I went to the doctor two days ago and I was able to hear the heartbeat! It was beating very fast at 173 beats/minute and was loud and clear. It was really good to hear it and to know that things seem to be progressing just fine. Since my hubs wasn't able to make it to the appointment I recorded it on my cell phone and played it for him later. I won't go into all of the details , but he spent 5 days in the hospital and had 2 surgeries due to a staph infection in his knee which developed 4 weeks after his initial knee surgery November 14 (sigh). He wasn't out of the hospital yet at the time of my appointment....thus the recording. He's home now and recovering well but will be administering his own antibiotics every 8 hours via an I.V. in his arm until January 10. Sounds fun, eh?!

Back to my appointment...I FINALLY met my doctor! She's SUPER nice and I'm so glad I chose her over my PCP. She was really friendly and easy to talk to...I felt very comfortable with her. She asked if I feel like I'm eating healthy and I told her that until this last week, which included lots of fast food runs (due to spending so much time at the hospital away from home), I had been doing well with my eating. I also told her that prior to becoming pregnant, I had lost almost 70 pounds via WW. She said that was great and she's going to help me watch my weight during pregnancy so I don't gain a lot of excess pounds since I worked so hard to get them off in the first place. We are shooting for a 30-pound gain which will put me at 180 (still 40 pounds less than when I began WW). She asked if I minded if she told me that I had gained too much in between my visits and I told her no. I need that accountability! So far I've gained exactly 3 pounds and I'm this close to the end of my first trimester, so I'm doing fine!

I'm feeling much better, too. I still get a little sleepy in the evenings but I've been able to stay up past 9:00 the past few nights (it was after 11 last night...stayed up to watch a volleyball game). I also don't feel as queezy, which is really nice...and the "girls" aren't as tender either. I'm very happy about that! lol.... What I'm NOT happy about is the fact that my chin has TWO pimples on it...thanks pregnancy hormones! Argghhh..... I feel like I'm 16 again. =( Oh well...this too shall pass.

I almost forgot...I told the nurse why I was recording the heartbeat and I also wanted to play it for family and she had a great suggestion. You know those greeting cards that you can record a personal message in? Well, I bought a Christmas one for grandparents and recorded the recording of the heartbeat into it. When you open the card, it plays the heartbeat for 8 seconds and then starts playing "Away in a Manger." I'm going to send it to my parents with a "do not open until Christmas Eve NIGHT" message on the envelope. I don't want her to open it before she gets the flowers because she might be a bit confused. ; ) On the inside I wrote, "This is my heartbeat at 11.5 weeks." I'm glad she suggested it because now my parents will get to hear it, too, and I won't feel like they're being left out since my husband's parents will hear it 'in person'.

I'll let all of you know how the telling of the family goes after next week. Only FIVE more days and everyone will know! The best part is that I can finally quit lying to my mom and mother-in-law about my WW weigh-ins! lol.... ; )

I still don't have a tummy pic to post...although I must admit...some of my pants are getting tight and I do have a pooch that isn't just a fat roll! ; ) lol... One of these days, I promise.

I hope all of you have a very blessed Christmas and a safe New Year. =)

Two Years Down....

Yesterday was our 2-year anniversary and it was a great day. When I got home from work I found a neatly wrapped package in the bathroom on the vanity. I could tell it was from Kaye since it looked exactly like the packaging that held my engagement ring and I had a hunch what it was. I opened it and was thrilled to see the diamond hoop earrings that I had been looking at off and on for many, many months! I love, love, LOVE them! =) Aren't they gorgeous?!

For dinner we went to a fairly new restaurant in town, Carmela's Bistro & Wine Bar. We went there shortly after they opened but we didn't eat; we just had some wine. It's a very intimate place...dim lighting, candles on the tables, fancy curtains on the windows, wine bottles everywhere...perfect for celebrating an anniversary. I was slightly worried about what to get because the list of foods that set off my gag reflex is growing...but I went ahead and ordered what sounded good, the Chicken Milano. It was a grilled chicken breast with sauteed mushrooms, onions, artichoke hearts and spinach in a creamy sauce served on orzo with sauteed green beans and red peppers. OMG! DELICOUS! And best of all...it didn't make me gag! =) My husband went with a strip steak stuffed with buffalo cheese and it had some sort of glaze on it with orzo and I believe squash. He said his was perfectly cooked and yummy as well. I asked if they had any non-alcoholic wine and unfortunately they didn't so I drank water....but the hubs went with the Bistro Red Flight. It was 3 samples of red wines....probably 3 oz of each. We had a really nice time and highly recommend it if you ever get to Lincoln, Nebraska. =)

After dinner we went to Target (how romantic! haha) to pick up a few things then we headed to Granite City for dessert. =) They have a "GC Big Cookie" that is an 'enormous almond toffee chocolate chip cookie' that comes warm in a small pizza pan (10" or so)....with vanilla bean icecream on top drizzled with caramel. TO. DIE. FOR! I had a glass of milk with it and the hubs had a mug of their stout which pairs perfect with chocolate. We ate almost all of the cookie (oink, oink!) and took a little bit with us in a to-go box.

I was stuffed and slightly uncomfortable by the time we got home. It was past my bedtime so I put on my big elastic-waisted pajama bottoms (they fit when I was still 220) and my thermal top and headed for bed while the hubs stayed up and watched some tv.

It was a perfect night and I couldn't have asked for more. =)

Suckiness

That's how my Thanksgiving holiday was....sucky. I had body aches and chills last Tuesday. I was constipated Wednesday and Thursday. I had diarrhea all freaking day on Friday. Saturday my bowels still hurt. Sunday I was finally feeling somewhat better. I had read that constipation goes along with pregnancy but I figured I ate enough fiber that I wouldn't have to worry too much about it. Wrong. I've now resorted to prune juice to help things 'move' along better!

The good thing about being sick all weekend was that no one questioned why I wasn't having at least a glass of wine. I actually spent Thanksgiving Day alone in the basement, except for the 15 minutes I was at the table eating lunch and maybe an hour in the evening after everyone had left. I still went to bed at my normal 9:00 time each night and no one questioned it.

So the secret is still safe. =)

We went to the florist Saturday morning and ordered the arrangement for my parents. I decided to go with the one below. I found a square vase just like the one pictured and a small flag so I took those in with me and also left the picture with them. It will be delivered by noon on Christmas Eve.

A couple of you have asked for belly pics...but really there's nothing to show just yet. Up until Thanksgiving I had only gained 2.4 pounds....but due to my stomach issues I ended up losing 1.4 which leaves me only 1 pound heavier than when I found out I was pregnant.

The lower tummy pooch I started out with hasn't changed much...it might be more round, but not noticeable to anyone but me. I'm still able to wear all of my regular jeans and pants with no trouble.

What are getting bigger though are my boobs. I had to buy new bras last week...I'm a FULL CUP larger! Already! In certain shirts I feel I look like I got a boob job. lol.... ; )

But yes, as soon as my tummy starts showing a bit more I will take a picture and post it.

My next appointment is two weeks from tomorrow and we're looking forward to hearing the heartbeat. I wish I had a video camera just so I could pick up the sound from the machine and post it here, but we don't have one yet.

I almost forgot...one of our friend's has offered to help paint the nursery and the other bedroom as a shower gift! She likes to paint and had some really neat ideas so it should be pretty fun. Too bad we can't start for several more months!

That's all for now...and thanks for still checking in on me. =)