2011 Quarterly Update

Well not writing until now has been a little unexpected, but that's ok. I'll do my best to catch everyone up!

Baby: Found out on Monday February 14, 2011 that we are having a bouncy baby BOY!!! At first I was a little disappointed, but now I'm super excited. I realized that my lack of thrill came from the fact that I never really "bonded" or connected with Nathan and so in my mind I thought - well, if I have a girl I'll bond with her. I have since come to recognize that it's not because Nathan's a boy, it's because he's not 'mine'. I mean, I love and adore him and he's known me since day 1, but still. It's not the same as his relationship with his mom. Which it shouldn't be anyway. But yeah, all is good. Aaron is excited and most everyone else is happy for us. My mom said that she's disappointed for me because she knew how much I wanted a little girl. However, something I thought was funny... until we found out everyone was like, "Oh, it's a girl for sure." Then I break the news its a boy. Everyone says, "Oh you know what... little boys love their mommies. They are your best friend until they are teenagers. And little girls hate their mommies. So you'll have fun." Super. Thanks people. I love the idea that my kid might hate me.

Anyways... I'm almost 26 weeks along and so far all is well. I had a midwife appt the other day. I've gained 10 lbs, which is terrific because until this point I had been in the negative on weight gain. But weeks 21, 22 and 23 I was an eating machine. I could not get enough to eat. Never felt full. Just ate and ate and ate. It paid off! My belly size is perfect at 25 cm. Baby's heartbeat is around 140bmp and my blood pressure remains super low and ideal. We are also officially registered for a highly recommended childbirth class in June. It'll be a 3 day event, but the lady that give the class is supposed to be really good. I'm excited. Still need to register for the breast feeding class. That'll be in June too.

Baby shower is fast approaching. It will be Saturday May 14. Of course I didn't take into consideration high school / college graduations so a few people have already told me they can't make it. Plus it's the start of wedding season. I was a little down for a week or so knowing these ladies wouldn't make it. But I know I'll see them another time. I just wanted to have all my chicks in one place at one time, ya know? Put faces to names so folks know who I'm talking about. We registered at Babies R Us and Target. That was actually a lot more fun than I imagined. I had gone to Babies R Us a few days prior with a friend and got a lay of the land, so to speak. That helped a LOT. The store wasn't nearly as overwhelming when we registered. A note on registering though... I find it highly frustrating that new parents go through all this effort to register for items they really like and/or need. Yet people still completely disregard the registry and buy what THEY want. So I put a note on both registries to please include a gift receipt. We seriously don't have the room for unnecessary items. We registered for what we truly need.

Which on that note I have to say - we are soooo blessed. A close friend is loaning us her crib, my boss gave us her car seat with two bases AND the stroller that goes with along with a bassinette. Then another friend is loaning me her breast pump. And we've already received a huge bag of bottles and baby toys. All the big items are covered, with the exception of the baby monitor and a couple other things here and there. But still.. that's a lot of stuff we don't have to worry about.

Overall, the pregnancy has been awesome. I haven't had a migraine in 12 weeks. YAY!!! I haven't had any sickness. My biggest thing is that I'm tired, pretty much all the time. But aside from that, I feel great. Pregnancy agrees with me :-)

The Squirt: So he started soccer a couple weeks ago and that's been really fun. He also started swim lessons last week and is doing GREAT. Which is a huge relief to me because I was worried how he'd do this summer when we play with other kids at the pool. Now I can feel confident that he will have fun and not be stressed out by being in the water. Once soccer is over, t-ball season will start up in June. Not sure how many of those games I'll make, but looking forward to it still. It's so fun to watch little kids play in jerseys and little shorts with shin pads and helmets and chase balls around. Fun stuff. He tried out preschool for a little while. Jan - March. That, unfortunately, didn't go as we had hoped. Turns out coming into a class mid way through the year is frowned upon. Whatever. Jerks. The kid is good. So now he's home with mom full time and that seems to be going well again. In general, having a 5 year old hasn't been too challenging. But he is defiant and has his own agenda, which can be frustrating. He and Daddy had a battle of wills last week and that was not fun to witness. Stubborn, strong willed kids are HARD! Regardless, we are all going to do our best to prep him for kindergarten in the fall. It's coming quick. Crazy how fast they grow!

Daddy: Not a whole lot new here. He's shown a lot of different art pieces in various exhibits. There was one at a spa, one at the Jeffco Sheriff's office, another one at a huge art gallery near down town and then this week it's a golf club. The exposure is good, but nothing has sold yet. What is the 'sweet spot' in pricing for good art? Work is still the same. He hates it. Still no raise and no room for growth or other opportunities. He's on the hunt now for a part time job so that we can afford child care come September / October. He did join a softball league for 6 or 8 weeks and that's been fun for him. They have won a couple times and I think most of the guys on the team are pretty focused. It's a good group of men.

Furry Kids: Briseis is doing alright. She's still crazy and super attached to me, which can be good and bad. Right now I'm a little worried just because she gets excited and jumps a lot. I've gotten two firm paws to the lower belly a few times and that doesn't feel real good. Plus she's just not real obedient. We need to really carve out time to work with her and hopefully that will help. Otherwise I'm scared to bring a baby in the house. She pawed me in the face 3 times last week! The cats are fine. They've slowly been getting used to having a dog in the house so Roxy creeps out to the living room every once in a while. Only took 6 months! But when all 3 are in the bedroom, it's fine. They know each other is there but don't mess with one another.

What else? Work is the same for me. Busy busy. Just pluggin along and hopefully moving toward getting my next promotion in July. Gotta attend some training in May for that, but it's cool.

I think of stuff to blog about ALL the time but obviously it hasn't made the transfer over to here. Sorry about that. I'll try to write more and maybe even post a new pic or two! In the mean time... thanks for reading. Hope you feel more in the loop on our life. Adios! xoxox