Girls' Weekend in NYC!

Last weekend Bonney and I met up in NYC for something I'd been wanting to do for a really long time - a girls' weekend!!  Since Bonney has been in Rhode Island for her residency since July, we haven't gotten to see much of each other at all in the last few months.  We filled the weekend with lots of catching up, some amazing food, shopping, a trip to the spa and the best massages we've ever had, Mary Poppins on Broadway, a really nice walk in Central Park, and quality time together.  It was a really great trip!!  I did learn to not take Bryan's picture taking for granted though - we only ended up with a few iPhone pics of the trip, but I'll share them anyway!

Lauren, me, and Bonney enjoying dinner at the Standard Grill our last night there.  Lauren is one of my very best childhood friends and it had been 10 years since we really go to catch up! Since she lives in NYC I took a chance and sent her a message to see if she would be busy (and in the country - she had just spent 8 months in Manila for her MPh program).  It was really special to be able to catch up with her!

I just happened to find the only Laduree in the US.  Bryan and I were obsessed with these macaroons in Paris, and I definitely drug Bonney in there and spent a small fortune on them!  Luckily she loved them too, so it was a hit! 

And continuing with the food theme - I also had been wanting to try the Bouchon bakery that I see in the background of the Today Show every morning. :)  I went to the Bouchon restaurant in Vegas and absolutely loved it - best steak I've ever had.  The pain au chocolate did not disappoint! 

Dinner before Mary Poppins.  We ate at an amazing little Italian place right near the theatre.  Like I said  - we ate well. :) 

Mary Poppins.  This was SUCH a fun show to see! When I was little, I would beg my parents to let me stay up late whenever it was on TV.   The Broadway version did not disappoint. 

At the show with Babywagon. :) 

This was at the New York City public library.  Where Carrie and Big were supposed to get married on SATC - any fans out there?  Anyway - we both had to get our pics there.  See the newlyweds in the background?  

Trying to get a pic of both of us.....it kinda worked! 

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23 & 24 weeks

The second trimester is still treating us well!  Weeks 23 and 24 were full of lots of time with friends.  At 24 weeks, I took a trip up to NYC for a girls weekend with Bonney (more on that in a separate post) and Bryan went down to Brunswick for some kayaking on the Okefenokee with his dad.   I still have plenty of energy and haven't quite yet started to feel uncomfortable.

Favorite thing: I LOVE to feel him kick, and Bryan has gotten to see and feel him kick more and more over the last few weeks.  Most mornings I'll wake up, but won't get out of bed until I feel him moving around.  It's my favorite part of the day even if it makes me a little late for work. :)

Most "real" moment:  At our 24 week dr's appointment, Dr. Lawson asked us questions for the first time (other than just how are you feeling, etc.).  Thankfully we've had very uneventful visits in the past (which we are constantly reminding ourselves to not take for granted), so this was the first time that she had lots of questions for us.  Am I okay with drugs during delivery?  Have we thought about a birthplan, pediatrician, etc.?  What are our thoughts on cord blood banking? Have we scheduled all of our childbirth and other classes?  It was definitely a sureal moment having all of those conversations with her.  She was incredibly helpful though and gave us some great things to go home and think about.  Now we're all scheduled for all of our classes and we start rotating through dr's at our next visit (28 weeks).  After that we start going ever two 2 weeks until the last few weeks where we'll go every week.  It's getting closer and closer!

Looking forward to: I am really excited about the showers we have coming up!!  I feel so blessed to have friends and family who want to shower Babywagon with love, and am really looking forward to seeing everyone!

Nursery progress:  We have two curtains hung, and the other two are waiting for us to get up the energy to hang them as well.  The look great though and the blackout liners I found are exactly what we were looking for! The dresser has been purchased and now just needs to be repainted, and the glider should be here in the next few weeks.  So 95% of the nursery has been acquired, we just need to get it all in there!  I can't wait to see the finished product - I think it's going to look just like what we wanted!

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22 Weeks

I started writing this last week, but just now got around to getting the pic up and posting - oops! 

This has probably been one of my favorite weeks so far! We discovered earlier this week that we can not only feel him moving, but we can also SEE him moving!  SO FUN!  I was lying in bed one night and he was moving around a ton so I told Bryan to come feel him move.  Bryan sometimes has a hard time feeling some of the movements b/c he's also feeling me breathe and move around a bit too.  It's of course much easier for me b/c I feel it on the inside and the outside.  So I pulled up my shirt just to see if it was noticeable, and what do you know - you could very easily see him kicking away!  This is now my favorite past time.  I have to remind myself that it's not appropriate to do at work. ;)

We also may have a name for the little guy!  I'm 95% sure, and my only hesitation is that I can still change my mind.....hahah. We still aren't sharing though, so you'll all just have to wait until he makes his debut.

Other than that, no new big developments to share.  We have our next Dr's appointment next Thursday the 17th.   It should be pretty routine, but I do get my yummy drink for the gestational diabetes test which will be done at the following appointment.  It's crazy to think that after this appointment, I only have one more 4 week appointment, then we start the 2 week appointments, and then every week!  I can't help but feel like things are just going by so quickly.  I know, I know, I keep saying that.

22 week pic:

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Vienna & Budapest 2012

We were so blessed to be able to take our annual Christmas trip again this year.   After a lot of deliberation, we decided to go to Vienna & Budapest.  We heard so many amazing things about Budapest, that we felt we had to give it a shot, and we originally wanted to go to Prague as well.  However, we realized that with a relatively short trip, a 7.5 hour train ride was just too much.  So we settled on Vienna instead.  It was supposed to be beautiful, and a place we hadn't been to before - plus it was only a 2.5 train ride.  Much more reasonable.

We planned this trip to be just like every other European adventure we've been on: non-stop. :) This was our first "city" trip with the Whitworths, so we did try to tone it down just a bit.  We are fully aware that most people do not do trips the same way we do.  I should also take a minute to differentiate between a trip and a vacation.  A trip is going to Europe and trying to see every last thing you can before you leave b/c you know you'll probably not come back as there are too many other European cities to visit.  A vacation is going to the beach and sitting on your butt for a few days.  Two VERY different things!  This was definitely a trip.  The Whitworths were troopers for keeping up with us as we are fully aware that waking up early, going non-stop all day long, and going to bed late only to get up and do it all over again isn't normally their cup of tea.  But boy was it worth it!  In 5 days we got to see two AMAZING Eastern European cities.  Let's go on a little trip, shall we?

We flew into Vienna and went exploring the first night!  This was the Hapsburg's palace.  Quite impressive, huh?  The next day we returned here to tour the royal apartments.  

That night we also found this beauty.  We had absolutely no idea what it was despite trying to find a sign or find it on the map.  We assumed it was someone's castle.  Wrong.  It's city hall.  Yep - that amazing building is city hall.  Crazy.

The next morning we had breakfast in a really cute cafe that Franklin found.  It had great history and architecture, and of course, amazing food! 

Vienna is known for a more than a few great dessert places.  Demel and Hotel Sacher have a long standing argument over who has the best sacher torte.  We tried the one from Demel - quite rich!! 

We toured the Vienna Opera House before going to see the ballet that night. It was very impressive.  I didn't know that it had been almost completely destroyed during WWII and has since been rebuilt.  I loved all the history in both cities! 

Babywagon's first ballet! 

Proof that Bryan was on the trip too! :)  Thanks hubby for always taking such great pictures of our trips. 

We saw The Nutcracker and it was really amazing.  The Nutcracker in the Vienna State Opera House with the Vienna Philharmonic playing?  Pretty much a childhood dream - truly impressive! 

The next morning Bryan and I got up and went to the Shonbrunner Palace.  We heard great things about it, but weren't able to fit it in to the previous day's sightseeing.  We weren't able to go in, but it was beautiful from the outside!

Then we all hopped a train to Budapest!

First stop: food tour.  We didn't quite anticipate just how useful doing a food tour would be.  Let's just say that Hungarians have a much more "adventurous" palate than we do.  It was very helpful to know going forward that just because a restaurant had a lot of things on the menu that we might not recognize (or ever want to eat) it didn't mean it was just an unusual restaurant.  That was actually just the norm.  Thankfully we were always able to find something on the menu that we all liked.  Though we did avoid a few restaurants that were just a little too "fancy" for our likings. :) 

I certainly didn't complain about their love of pickling everything though!  Bring it on! 

The Danube's waterfront at night was completely stunning.   It was very cold, but totally worth the views! 

Our hotel - loved it! 

Exploring the next day at St. Stephen's Cathedral.  This was right after I lost one of my gloves and my amazing hubby went back to retrace our steps and try to find it.  He didn't have any luck, but thankfully Elizabeth had an extra pair that I borrowed for the remainder of the trip.  Darn pregnancy brain. 

We did a self guided tour of the Buda side of the city.  Bryan and I took turns reading about all the sites.  

The holes in the walls of this building were all made from bullet holes.  Crazy to see that.

The whole crew.  We are so thankful for friends to travel with!

Bryan got this amazing picture of the city as the sun was setting.  Budapest was truly one of the most beautiful cities we've seen! 

The last night we took a boat ride down the Danube.  The waterfront was just breathtaking.  That's Parliament (we toured it the day before).  Only 1/8 of this building is currently used - overbuild much?  :) 

 So that's a taste of our trip.  We had so much fun! I'm very thankful we were able to take this super adventurous version of a babymoon. :)

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20 & 21 weeks - HALFWAY!!!

I truly cannot believe we are halfway through this pregnancy!! It is so cliche, but time is just really flying.  The biggest change (other than getting bigger) is that I can feel him move so much more these last few weeks.  Bryan even got to feel him kick for the first time when we were in Vienna! We had just gotten to our hotel, and I sat down on the bed to rest for a minute.  When he started kicking I called Bryan over (like I always do) and he actually got to feel him!  It was so special and so much fun!

Also, during our 21st week, we were on our big trip to Vienna and Budapest!  I'll write much more about the actual trip (which was SO MUCH fun) in another post, but in order to keep all the pregnancy stuff from encroaching on everything I write about, I'll keep the pregnancy related travel thoughts here. :)  To be honest, being pregnant while traveling to Europe really wasn't that big of a deal.  I'm sure that was only the case though because of the fact that I was smack dab in the middle of the pregnancy, when you typically feel the very best.  I couldn't have asked for better timing!  The flight over there was fine - I just drank a ton of water and followed Dr's orders to get up every hour.  No biggie.  While we were there, I felt like I had even more energy than normal.  I didn't have any problem getting up early in the mornings, and we were typically up pretty late most evenings as well.  I didn't sleep as well without my body pillow though.  Yes, that has officially become a nightly thing now (when at home), and let me tell you - it makes a world of a difference in how I sleep.  The only downside of traveling while pregnant was the flight home - I literally felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin on the 9 hour flight from Amsterdam.  However, a few hours of discomfort was well worth a big European adventure!

I had been nervous about the eating situation, but it really wasn't that big of a deal.  In Vienna it was very easy, and in Hungary they eat so many strange things that my focus was mainly on finding things that I would eat even not pregnant.  All of those things were also fine for the baby.

Overall, I feel so thankful to still be feeling great!  I treat everyday as if it will be the last day I'll feel so comfortable!

Symptoms: Now that the body pillow has alleviated my hip pain problem, I'm feeling great again!

Best part of the two weeks: Bryan getting to feel the baby move for the first time.  I have felt like I was hoarding all the joy of feeling him move, and now Bryan has experienced it as well!

Excited about: Getting the house organized and working more on the nursery.  I feel the nesting settling in for sure, and I'm ready to clean out some closets and make room for this little one!  As we were working on the nursery, it hit me how much stuff is going to come along with the baby - so it's time to break out the trash bags folks!

Bellybutton status:  The top of my belly button is now officially an outtie.  The bottom is holding on for dear life.  Keeping track of the status is still keeping us thoroughly entertained. ;)

Here are the 20 and 21 week bump shots!

And a recap of how far we've come:

     













I can't believe I thought I had a baby bump at 8 weeks - HA!  I'm sure in 10 more weeks I'll be looking back on these pictures and think how small I was at 21 weeks.  Though it certainly doesn't feel like it now.

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Christmas 2012

We're back from holidays and traveling, and I have quite a few posts to get caught up on.  First up - Christmas!!!  We had so much fun this Christmas!  Bryan's family came into town starting the weekend before Christmas, and we had lots of fun spending time together and working on the nursery.  The walls are now painted, the closet organization is installed, the crib is set up, the rug is in, and we've found quite a few little accent pieces for the nursery.  Now we just need the glider (picked out, but need to order), a dresser for a changing table, and bookcase (need to get from Habersham).  Oh, and a baby - but that one can wait until May. :)

So back to Christmas.  I always LOVE having the house full of family.  It's a little crowded, but it's always so much fun.  We ate great food, spent a few hours opening presents, and enjoyed the heck out of spending time together.  We actually celebrated Christmas on Christmas eve this year.  The fam needed to head home Christmas afternoon, and Bryan and I flew out late that night (much more on the trip in a later post).  I love the way we do Christmas though - we spend lots of time enjoying it!  I'm pretty sure in the coming years it will be very different as I highly doubt our little one will have the attention span to keep up, but we'll happily adjust! Here's a few pictures!

Early Christmas morning - there were presents crammed everywhere! 

Mandatory morning (decaf) tea. 

A delicious breakfast of Paula Deen's french toast casserole. 

The puppies LOVED their stocking stuffers! 

We all failed on the whole "don't buy anything for Babywagon rule".  :)

I got Bryan a new camera bag. Big hit! 

Possibly the biggest hit of Christmas was Bailey's new bed.  We got him an orthopedic foam bed to replace the one he's had for the last 5 years.  I have never seen him love something so much.  This little guy is in heaven! 

An adorable outfit for Babywagon!

And another....I bought this to match a gingham shirt Bryan has.  Apparently his dad has the same one as well.  I see a three generation picture in our future! 

Okay, this was just too hilarious not to share.  Amy and I both bought this book for each other (it's a DIY book written by some of our favorite bloggers).  Neither one of us asked for it, and each of us thought we were being completely original in coming up with the idea to get it.  Best part: we opened them back to back.  Priceless! 

Bryan totally spoiled me by getting me a new Macbook Air.  I had been wanting one to use since we don't have a laptop anymore, and now you can expect more frequent blogging. Thanks, hubby!!! 

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas as well!!!

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