Say Hi!

We had our 2nd doctor's appointment today. Everything seems to be progressing well. We heard the heartbeat for the first time (at a rate of 165!), which was amazing. What was more amazing was being able to catch a glimpse of the little one. Here is a profile:
And here's another one of the baby facing us.

It wasn't real until this afternoon! I was almost in denial that the big boobs, evening nausea, lack of the monthly visitor, and the extreme fatigue pointed to pregnancy. I needed the boost this afternoon to make it a complete reality!

This is when you know that people take things too far:

I am at my parents' house and watching CNN with my Dad, when they reported with breaking news about an assault that occurred in Bloomfield, which is a town just outside Pittsburgh. My Mom's family lived their for years after they immigrated here and I spent every weekend running up and down Liberty Avenue. Here is the article describing the incident from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Things like this make me happy to know that the election will be over in less than 2 weeks. But then again, what the hell is going to happen afterward - when either one wins?

Scary!

Made in Italy

Yes, it's true...John and I are expecting and the baby was conceived in Italy. So, I guess the vacation was an absolute success now! John has been jokingly saying that he wants to get a "Made in Italy" tattoo on the baby's behind. I said that we can just get a onesy made with that symbol instead. I am 12 weeks along, so almost done with my first trimester. We have our second doctor's appointment next week, and we should hear the heartbeat, which I am really excited about.

Answers to frequently asked questions:

When are you due? April 30

Are you going to find out the sex? Nope...we're excited for that one last surprise!

Have you chosen any names yet? We've discussed a few, but we are keeping those a secret till the baby is here.

How are you feeling? EXHAUSTED! I swear that I NEVER knew that pregnancy this early could make you this tired. I nap almost every day.

Do you get morning sickness? No, evening sickness. I am fine in the morning, which is a relief since I am at work at 5:30am on most days. I eat great for breakfast and lunch, go for a swim after work, nap when I get home, and then I want nothing to do with dinner. Peanut butter and jelly has been my savior!

Are you showing yet? No, although I feel like a fat ass and my pants are tight on me. I went out to buy comfy yoga-like pants, which I have been living in. I also purchased a "Tummy Tube" which allows you to wear your regular pants without buttoning or zipping them. I haven't tried it out yet, but I will soon.

So, that's the current run-down on the pregnancy. I am sure that many more updates will follow!

Finally Done!

After I downloaded, organized, and captioned all of our pictures from the cruise onto Snapfish, I ordered them. There are a lot of people who either don't have the internet or don't have the patience to wait for all of those pictures to download, so I knew that I was going to have to make albums.

I received the box of pictures about 2-3 weeks ago, and it has been lingering in our kitchen ever since. There were times when I wanted to put it somewhere else to rid us of the eye-sore (I CAN NOT stand clutter! - which I know will dwindle once we start having kids), but I kept it out as a constant reminder of what I had to eventually tackle.

And I finally did it - this weekend. Surprisingly, I only needed 2 albums. The large one holds all of the pictures from the cruise, while the small one holds the pictures from the hometowns. I even made little 4x6 cards to separate each port - indicating the date, port of call, and excursion - along with a description of what we did on each. I know, I sound a little too obsessive, but I don't want people to look at them and ask "Where is this?" and "When were you there?" when they flip every page.

Now I am considering even labeling each picture as I did on Snapfish. John says that I am nuts for even thinking it - but I am already forgetting names of the some of the churches and such.

What do you guys think?

What I wish I could be doing right now...

So, the Steelers won in overtime...yea!

But all I want to do is go back to bed.

At the end of the 3rd quarter, John looked at me and said "Let's go." I was shocked because we had just scored 2 TD's and had the lead again. But I wasn't arguing either. Once we were out of the seats, I asked him what time it was - 11:15pm! YIKES!

By the time we got home which was around midnight (because we park about a 15 minute walk away from the field for free and it takes about 30 minutes to drive home), the game was still on! So, at least we got to see the game winning field goal.

Thank God we left when we did!

I have one more quick case to assist on, and then it is home for me!

Will I make it?

Alarm off at 4:00am

Actually out of bed at 4:15am

In the car at 4:45am

At work at 5:00am

Just got home - 2:30pm

About to take a nap

Leave for the game around 6:30pm

Kick off at 8:30pm

Have to be at work at 6:00am tomorrow

Will I make it tonight?

The things I do for the Steelers!

Home Sweet Home

Yes, we are back at our house and yes, our power has been restored!

So, let me fill you in on some of the events over the past 24 hours:

Since the electricity has been out - I would call the house to see if it was back yet. If the answering machine picked up, it was back. Of course I was disappointed a lot. When I stopped by the house yesterday after work and a swim, I checked the freezer in our garage. I remembered that we had a big bag of ice in there along with frozen bottles of water. When I checked, the bag and the bottles were still solid ice. So I was determined to salvage the necessities from the frig: milk, lunch meat, left-overs, eggs, and cheeses by placing them in the garage freezer. What a brilliant idea!

Last night I ended up spending the night at Dani's because she lives about 5 minutes from the hospital. When I called the house to check on the status of the electricity at around 10pm - no answering machine. When I called again at 5:00am this morning as I was driving into work - GLORIOUS - the answering machine picked up! I was so happy, and then I realized that all of the food that I had so brilliantly transferred to the freezer was now going to be FROZEN!

By the time I got home, the milk was a solid brick gallon of ice and everything else was pretty rock hard too. I let it all thaw out a little in the sink for a few hours and now everything is back at home in the frig. That is except for the eggs - I pitched those.

Hopefully we won't have to go through 3 days of no electricity again - it really sucks! I am thankful for a cold refrigerator, lights, and of course cable!

It's great to be home!