Bump shot and a little sad...

First, I finally took a new bump picture...

Let's compare:

Week 11:

15w4d

I weighed in today and so far, my total weight gain has only been 3lbs which sounds silly because I look so much bigger than I did pre-pregnancy.

So now for the "little sad" part...

Maybe I am just emotional from my crazy hormones, but a thought struck me a couple of days ago and I can't let it go. I realized that I was going to be missing out on a part of pregnancy that I've been looking forward to for years. Decorating the nursery.

What I mean is that most pregnant women get to experience decorating their nursery and having pictures of it prior to baby's arrival. In our case, our new house will just about be ready, so it doesn't make any sense for me to decorate a room upstairs that I will never put our baby in. Our bedroom is the only one downstairs (we have three upstairs) and I will be keeping the baby with us. (In our new house, most of the bedrooms are on the main floor).

Anyway, I'm sure I will have everything bought and ready to go but I am just sad that I don't get to put the room together until after the baby is here. OK, totally lame, I know!

Sox's new toy...

I think I mentioned awhile back that Chris and I bought a Razorback stroller two years ago. Well, since then a new version has come out so we wanted to check ours for safety. We were thinking of what we could put into it to simulate a baby and so we picked up Sox (our 25lb cat) and put him in the stroller:

Please ignore my house cleaning clothes...

Anyway, Sox loved it and refused to get out, so being the crazy animal people we are, we pushed him around the house for 20 minutes. Needless to say, the stroller is safe!

Baby Stuff

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I had gotten these cute flip flops and a changing pad/blankie set and a lot of you wanted to see a pic so here it is!The strap on the flip flop says "mom to be" and under the picture it says "expecting in style."
Outside of things people have sent us and a Razorback stroller Chris bought two years ago, we've made the decision not to purchase anything until we know the sex of the baby. I strongly feel it's a girl and he strongly feels it's a boy so this way we avoid potential disagreements! But when I saw this stuff I could soooo see myself using it for either one and I couldn't pass it up. Oh, and the flip flops are for me so they don't count!

Wednesday and Thursday I was gone on a semi/sorta mission trip which I will tell you all about later when my dad sends me the pictures (I forgot our camera). I hope everyone's having a great Friday!

Dancing Zorba's and Baby Stuff

Yesterday my best friend Amy and I went to lunch. She found this place in our town (well...it's been there for two years but if you know me you also know how observant I am...) that serves Greek food. When we were in high school every time we would go to the mall I had to get a Gyro from the philly cheese steak place. Anyway, she went to lunch one day with a girl from work and discovered they have gyros so we had to go!

If you've never had a gyro it looks like this (pita with lamb, beef and Greek cucumber yogurt):

The name of the place is Acropolis but I can never seem to say it right, so in my head I've started calling is Dancing Zorbas (from the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"). Oh my goodness, it was every bit as good as I had imagined. In fact I took my mom there today...she loves gyros too. There used to be this place right up the road from our house in good ol' California that had great gyros. Oh how I miss it...

Anyway, Amy brought her adorable little girl Natalie and we had a great time. She wants to take me to Tulsa to the Babies'R'Us, which should be fun. I need a crash course in all this baby stuff! So much of it confuses me!

Thank you all for your comments on my last post. I actually feel better knowing that I'm not the only person who hates being the center of attention! I am thinking about cutting out the shower the church gives me...but I will have to convince my mom on that one. I decided against it when I got married too. That would still leave me with two, possibly three (which is where I draw the line!).

I actually bought something for our baby today...and then left it in my moms car so I can't take a picture of it. It's a changing mat thing with a coordinating blankie in light blue damask (I'd still use it if it's a girl...which I think it is. The whole blue/pink thing doesn't really bother me). And I got the cutest flip flops with a preggie lady on them and they say "Mom to Be!"

I absolutely love that store...if you're in the NWA Area then check it out: It's called RSVP at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers.

Dr. Appt

I went to the doctor today instead of waiting for my appointment on Monday. I started having these annoying/bad cramps and pinching feelings and it scared me (since my miscarriage wasn't long ago...). Everything checked out fine! Baby's heartbeat was 164 (down from 178 at 10w3d which is good according to my OB).

I didn't get an ultrasound and I thought that when I left I would be scheduling my BIG ultrasound, but no such luck. I go back on Aug 14 and then I will schedule my u/s for 2 weeks after that. Bummer. My doc apparently likes to wait until about 19-20 weeks to determine the gender.

I've gotten several offers from friends who want to host a baby shower for me. I think I am in the minority but it makes me so uncomfortable! I hate being the center of attention. I about died during my bridal shower. If it were up to me I would probably not have any showers and just go buy all the things I need myself! But people really want to get involved so I guess I should let them! Am I alone on this one?

A Birthday, A Funeral and A Wedding

Wow, what an eventful couple of days!

I think I've already touched on my birthday a bit...but then again, my brain seems to have gone on vacation, and with my sense of direction it will never find its way back...

So to recap, Chris took me on an overnight trip to Tulsa to go clothes shopping. Yippie! We also ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Then, Friday night, we had mine and Jeff's favorite meal, Pepper Steak at my parents house (Jeff = brother with same bday as me). It was a fun yet low key night. When I got home I had several voicemails from friends and family including one from from FIL, step MIL and Chris' brother/step sister serenading me with Happy Birthday. It was really sweet!

My friend Teresa is an AWESOME chef. (She made the grooms cake pictured below). For my birthday she did the cutest thing ever...she re-created the chocolate chip cookie Throwdown (from the food network show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay). She made her version of Levain Bakery's chocolate chip cookies and she also made a batch of her own chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to me with a Throwdown Challenge note (like Bobby gets on the show). They were so yummy! Oh...and I had mentioned my love for Choco Taco's and she sent a whole ice chest of them to me!

Friday morning/mid afternoon was spent at Chris' grandmothers funeral. I regret to say, this part of our day did not go well. We were ignored by his mother and step father and it was very apparent that MIL had let everyone know that she doesn't like me. I really don't want this post to be a downer, so that's all I'm going to say about the funeral.

Now...THE WEDDING!

Well, it was beautiful. I sat down and was checking out the program and the bride and groom had given us a shout out thanking us for setting them up! How cool is that? I started bawling...thank you pregnancy hormones!

The Bride and Groom:

The Grooms Cake (The groom works for a mexican food vendor...the cake has chocolate taquitos, rice krispie chimi's and choco tacos on it!):

A pic of Chris and I:

And totally unrelated....my 13 week bump shot (and yes that mirror is clean, it's just a weird picture!):

Le Shrimp

I wanted to give a quick baby update - tomorrow I'm going to post about my birthday, the funeral and the wedding.

Baby W is now the size of a shrimp - about 3" long! I thought the morning/noon/night sickness had vanished but no such luck! Hopefully it makes a departure fast! But it's a small price to pay for finally being pregnant - no complaints here!

My next appt is July 21. I won't be having an ultrasound (darn!) but they will do a doppler read on the heartbeat again. At that appt I should schedule the BIG ultrasound! I can't wait to know what we are having so I can start designing the nursery and shopping! I already have a good idea of what I want if it's a girl, but I haven't the slightest if it's a boy!

Chris got me the book "100,000 Baby Names" and we STILL can't find a girl name we like! Ah! The frustration! We have a boy name and we have both a boy and girl middle name but we just cannot seem to agree on a girl's first name.

I will take and post a belly pic - probably tonight. It doesn't look like much but my clothes don't fit so that says a lot!

I love my husband...

First, let me say a big thank you to all of you who are praying for us. The funeral is tomorrow (on my birthday, which is a little weird for me) and I just hope for Chris' sake that his mother will be on good behavior. She already called today saying she would "come get him" so the three of them could go to the funeral together...and by three of them she meant her husband, herself and Chris. He let her know that the three of us (him, me and baby) would meet them there.

But now, it's time for me to really brag. If you know me, then you know I am a shopaholic. I love clothes. I used to design clothes for a major retailer. I've always wanted to wear maternity clothes.

So, as a surprise, Chris called me right after he got off work last night and told me to pack a bag. He picked me up after work last night and we drove to Tulsa, and then today he took me on a maternity shopping spree! It was so sweet and so thoughtful especially with everything else he has on his plate right now.

Most of what I picked out will be great for fall (I have a soft spot for that season...I love everything about it from the leaves to the clothes...) but I got some cool summer things too. It's funny because in the morning I don't look much bigger than I was pre-pregnancy, but by night time, I'm huge. I really don't eat much either....nothing sounds good, and I am still throwing up (bummer...I thought I was past all that).

As I wear my new outfits, I will have to post pic's. The only thing I didn't get was long pants. Not a huge surprise...my inseam is 36" and hardly anyone makes pants that fit me. I'm not that tall, I just have super long legs. If anyone has suggestions on maternity dress pants made for us tall folks, lemme know!

***OH, and a shoutout to my parents...Chris let them in on the plans (funnily enough, he told mom the day of because he was afraid she would tell me...she is NOT a good secret keeper) and the said to get some clothes on them too! So extra yay!!!

Sad News

Last night we got a call at 3:30am that Chris' grandmother had passed away. She had been dealing with several life threatening issues and they determined that ultimately, the killer was cancer.

To make a bad situation worse, the funeral will be the first time since Decemeber that I have seen or talked to Chris' mother. Chris hasn't spoken to her either with the exception of a few calls regarding the health of his grandma. The whole situation is extremely tense and uncomfortable. She said a lot of terrible things to both of us, as did her husband, and frankly I don't know what to do or say when the time comes.

We would both really appreciate your prayers.

Birthdays and Bachelors

Well, the time is upon us again. Birthday time. My birthday is coming up and I could really care less. Do you remember when you were a kid and your birthday would be fast approaching? If you were like me you were sleep deprived for weeks because you would lay awake all night thinking about the day to come. The only difference between you and me is that I wasn't the only one counting down til' July 11. Nope. My brother was too. We were born on the same day 7 years apart.

So, the other day, we were all at our parents house discussing where to go eat for our birthday. And for once, neither of us could come up with anything. I think we named every place in a 50 mile radius, and nothing sounded good. When we were little, my mom would cook a huge meal for the entire family finished by her mothers chocolate sheet cake recipe. Since our family lives in CA, it's a little hard to have that type of celebration, so now we just go out to eat. And since most resturants have banned doing the candle in the dessert thing, its lost its touch. So, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open!

Now to Bachelors....has anyone else heard that ABC is thinking of making Jeremy (Deanna's latest castoff) the new Bachelor? Yikes. That guy has the personality of a brick wall. But if you know me, then you know I would watch anyway. I've seen every, single season of the Bachelor (and Bachelorette) and frankly, I doubt that I could dislike Jeremy as much as I disliked Alex (Season 1).

Deanna will be making her big selection tonight...I hope she makes the right choice (whoever that may be) and that she has her wedding televised. I just loved watching Trista and Ryan's wedding. So cool!

WOW - I just paused in writing this to go snag that picture of Jeremy from the article that said he would be the next Bachelor and found this:

OK Magazine is reporting that Paula Abdul's ex, restaurateur JT Torregiani has officially signed on as Bachelor #13!

Well, I am off to go get my hair done! Bye!

Bump Shot...and My Favorite Room

Thank you all for the sweet comments on our ultrasound picture! I was so excited that the baby actually looked like a baby this time! Last time it looked kinda like a tadpole! Ha!

Here is my 11 week bump shot (pardon my whiteness):

Pre-pregnancy I had finally lost the weight from all my medicated infertility cycles so I was back to having a pretty flat tummy...so as you can see I'm starting to show a little bit. Those are my new Seven For All Mankind maternity jeans. I got a great deal on Pea In The Pod's website - over $100 OFF!! Note to self: Don't press arm against body...makes arm look FAT! =)

Awhile ago, when I was in Hawaii, Kelly posted about her favorite room in her house. I thought that was so neat but totally forgot about it by them time I was home (perhaps because I was too busy throwing up nonstop!). So, I'm a little late but what they hay!

My favorite time of the year is fall, hands down. Maybe because where I am from in California, we really don't have a fall season like we do here. Chris and I were married in October because I love how the trees look. So, I choose a picture of our breakfast nook decorated in all of its fall glory:

For some reason in this picture, my gourds look white. They are actually green and orange and they have these little beads all over them that make them glisten. The reason I don't have the sliverware and everything else out is because at the time this was taken we had just adopted our newest cat, Roscoe and he had not yet been trained to stay off my table!