Stress, Subs, and Stuff

So Shazam's job situation continues to be shaky and is getting more so. This sucks. I am trying not to stress too much but hell could the timing be any worse??? We will just have to wait in see but as Shazam said the other day "the writing is on the wall". It is just a matter of time we think. In fact Shazam thinks that she will get laid off next week.

We are trying to be frugal and pretty much eating our way through the freezer and the pantry. I was facing another day of soup, apricots, and rice cakes here at work but my friend Jen came to the rescue. When I got to work today Jen had left a note on my desk saying, "No soup for you!" along with the sub order form (one of the teachers orders subs for teachers on Thursdays and picks them up). So I am now eating my BLT sub and am very happy! The baby seems to like BLTs too!

I am very much looking forward to my weekend. We have very few plans and I am excited to just chill with my wife a bit. Friday I have been promised that I can go to the new burrito place around the corner. We have tons of great restaurants a few blocks away from our apartment including a decent Mexican one, but we were lacking a quick place to pick up a burrito. A few months ago a sign went up in an empty store front announcing that Tang.go Man.go, a burrito place, was opening. Then 6 months went by with no change. After a while the sign fell down. I was sad, I was mad, I wanted a burrito! I would pass the store with raised fist and angrily say "Dam you Tan.go Man.go, Dam you!" Then a month ago there seemed to be some activity, the sign went back up, some chairs went in, painting was done, and a neon sign went up. This all seemed like good signs. Then last weekend we drove by and there was a grand opening sign!!!! I yelled, "Oh my god!" and almost made Shazam crash the car thinking there was an impending accident. It was just my excitement about my burrito place. I love you Tan.go Man.go, I will see you in a few days!

Saturday I have yoga in the morning, then my best friend and her family are coming to us and we are going to go and get ice cream.  Then in the evening we are meeting some friends for dinner that is just down the street. Sunday we have no plans and I am loving this. I really want it to be the weekend.

Lastly, today I am having a crazy day in school. I am doing a rock candy bar lab and there are chocolate chips and frosting all over my room. It is nuts and I still need to wash and prep for my last class. Middle school students are crazy enough add some chocolate and straight sugar into the mix and it is bedlam. I still have my worst class to go. I will be pulling my hair out for sure. I have said, "Keep your grimy hands away from my chips" way too may times today. Also "Don't eat the chips off the floor" has been quite popular.  With some of the things that come out of my mouth, I guess I am just getting ready for motherhood.

This may be the most boring post ever, sorry things are boring over here.

Half Way Done!

I really can't believe that I am half way done cooking Baby G! Things are progressing well. I have been able to feel Gaby G moving around this past week and Shazam even felt the baby move the other night. I will let her blog about that though. It is really cool to feel movement although it makes me feel a little car sick sometimes. Baby G also seems to prefer my right side. I looked down at my belly the other day and it was totally lopsided. The right side sticking out way more than the left. Crazy huh! I often look down Baby G is over hanging out on the right. We will see if that continues. As for symptoms, my latest is heart burn. I had never had heart burn before. That was until last week and an unfortunate experience with salsa. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life (ok that may not be true but boy did it suck). I began popping tums like candy but have been doing pretty well since then.

We also bought me a Sno.ogle yesterday! It is really just a fancy body pillow but boy do I love my Sno.ogle. I recommend it to anyone. The one drawback is that it is warm but I love the way I could snuggle in and get all comfy so I can deal with the warmth. We had a coupon for Baby Dep.ot so it was a little cheaper. I am sure that Shazam is happy that I am no longer whining about wanting a Sno.ogle.

When we were in the store we also saw the quilt for the crib bedding I really like. Shazam liked it in person too so we have made a decision and now we are definitely getting Car.ter's Elephant stitch for the nursery! They didn't have anything other than the quilt so we are going to order it online so we can get the whole set. I am very excited! Once we have it I think we can pick out some paint and perhaps get the nursery painted at some point (that is if we get it cleaned out).

I also started to write in the baby book last night. This is really good since we are way behind on it. The blog has been really helpful in figuring out the dates of some of the firsts. I am so happy we have been blogging about this whole experience. It is such a great record of the process.

That is it for now. I guess I should include that we had a great time in Puerto Rico. The weather was great and Shazam and I want to go back at some point since we didn't get to do very much (just beach and pool mostly) site seeing. We did buy a woodblock print from a local artist that we both really liked. More on that later.

So Ready for a Vacation

Well in looking at previous blogs it looks like I've been pretty silent lately. It's not that I don't have anything to say (that is never an issue) but I think I've been so consumed with all that needs to happen before Baby G arrives, worrying about how we're going to swing the expenses, and probably the big thing is the shaky status of my job. If it were just me or even Sam and I, I could get by. My job has been unsteady for a while but over the last 3-4 weeks I have received word on two occasions that "we don't have work for May or June". This is clearly an issue as a PM among 3 other PMs. I've been warned of this lack of work but not word on who they will cut or exactly when. So this unknowing is driving me insane and to say I'm wound a little tight lately is an understatement. I'm trying to not stress SSG out and trying not to get all consumed with it. I don't want it to squash my excitement about Baby G's arrival.

On top of this all we had dinner with SSG's parents, aunt and uncle who were in town, and SSG's sister and boyfriend last night.  Without telling a long story and having this blog be completely negative, I'll give the short version.  SSG's sister is still showing no interest in her first niece or nephew and made it completely clear last night that she still doesn't. Actually she said pretty much she's just too busy for this child between working and grad school. It's hurtful but as I said to SSG last night on the way home, "It's understandable that you feel hurt and disappointed. However if she chooses not to have any relationship with this child then it is her loss. She's pathetic and miserable." We can't make her want to experience the joy of being an aunt. My only hope at this point is that this resentful attitude she clearly has toward SSG and her pregnancy doesn't get directed at my child.  

We're just moving on today and we're going to get pedicures so when we're in Puerto Rico we have pretty toes!  This trip to Puerto Rico is great timing actually. We leave tomorrow a.m. and we're looking forward to sun, warmth, and just relaxing. We worked really hard to be able to go on this trip, really budgeted and buckled down so I feel like it's a well deserved getaway.   

All is Good!

Our appointment went really well. We got lots of great shots of Baby G and his/her heart rate was great. It was really cool to see all four chambers of the heart and the different parts of the brain. The scan was very thorough and we now know that Baby G has ten fingers and ten toes (that don't seem to be webbed..phew!). All the correct bones are in its arms and legs. The baby had great looking spine and he/she still as cute as he or she was at the last ultra sound. I gained 2 pounds since the last visit and my blood pressure was low (as usual). Since I am in that period between throwing up and actually feeling the baby it was good to see Baby G moving around on screen as happy as can be. Both Shazam and I are very happy. Here are the latest shots of the baby!

Newly Weds No More!

Today is our first anniversay. I must say it has been a great year and I couldn't ask for a better wife. I feel so lucky to have found Shazam and I can't wait to spend another 50 years married to her. Love you baby!

I also can't believe that a year ago we were celebrating our wedding. I think Shazam and I agree that while we loved our wedding we are glad that we are not planning one this year.

This and That

I had today off so I did some cleaning, caught up on some laundry, and got my hair cut. We are going out to dinner to celebrate our 1st anniversary. Tomorrow we are off to NH to celebrate Easter with Shazam's family. I am looking forward to the weekend and think it will be a good distraction from the excitement that I am feeling about our ultra sound on Tuesday.

I got a call from Maternal Fetal medicine yesterday with the results of my NT scan and blood tests. All is looking good. I screened negative for neural tube defects and trisomy 18. My risk for down's syndrome is 1:2400 which is good. My age risk was 1:240 due to my age before the screening. So the testing decreased my risk 10 fold. These are numbers that I like. We will talk to the Dr on Tuesday but we are leaning on not getting an amnio since the risk seems so low. This is a big relief!

Baby G received his/her first Easter gift yesterday. My Mom sent Sue and I some Easter candy and in the box was a stuffed piglet for baby g! I had a stuffed piglet as my lovie when I was little so it was so cute that my Mom got one for Baby G!!!

Piglet the 2nd!I love how my Mom is calling the baby Super Baby G...Makes Super Sammy G happy!

Piglet the 2nd with Piglet the 1st. I wonder if Baby G will chew the nose like I did?

We also picked up another outfit last night. We found a super cute gown at Bloomies which was on sale for 11 bucks. I couldn't resist!

I hope every one has a great weekend and Happy Easter if you are celebrating.

One Item Off the List!

Shazam and I have several things we need to do, buy or fix before the baby gets here in September. One of these things was get a china cabinet for the dining room. We have a nice set (table chairs and credenza) that we got off Crai.gs Li.st when we moved in together and have been in search of some more storage for a while now. We have had no luck. Anything that we can afford is in a dark stain or too country. It has been so annoying. So back to Cra.igs List we went. Shazam found a nice piece that fit our needs and for $300 bucks! Yeah Shazam. We picked it up last night and put some of our surplus goods in it. I am very happy and I think it looks pretty good. It is darker than our very light maple furniture but I am not going to complain. It holds quite a bit of stuff and I feel one step closer to being ready. I'll post a picture when I get home tonight.

Now we just need to complete the nursery clean out, buy a crib, dresser, rug, glider, and stroller. There is more but those are are big items. Oh and paint and decorate the cleaned out nursery. We have time I know, but I want it done.

Shazam also went on a bit of a shopping spree and bought some really cute Petit Bat.eau outfits for Baby G! The striped one is a soft terry cloth material and is actually in a blue/green.  I can't wait until they come!

Bathing Suit

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions and support in my quest for a bathing suit. I went to the mall yesterday because the Ma.cys near us has a pe.a in the p.od maternity department and the Se.ars has a La.nds En.d. I ended up not getting any but I did learn that the medium pe.a in the pod bathing suits fit me well. While expensive (about the price of a nice j. cr.ew bathing suit) they do provide "the girls" proper support and I don't look obscene in it. This in no means I look good in it but at least mothers will not shield the eyes of their children from me. Unfortunately they did not have the style that I really liked that I had tried on in the large. So we ordered one and it should arrive in a few days. Here are some pictures from the web site. I have a feeling that I will not be posting any pictures of me in the actual suit anytime soon.

The Quin.ny Has Landed

Ok so the bassinet has arrived and I feel that much closer to actually owning a stroller. We went and picked up our craig's list score today after Shazam returned from basketball. We had to pick it up from our seller at the seller's apartment in the South End of Boston. After a fun time trying to park the car the Saturday night in the city we were not looking forward to another 50 minute parking adventure. The parking gods however were with us today and we got a spot a block away from our destination. We arrived at the most beautiful brown stone and met the nicest people. We definitely have house envy but I certainly don't have parking envy. Anyway the bassinet was in it's original box still safely wrapped in the plastic. We happily handed over the money and are the proud owners of piece of our stroller system. These very nice people even told us they would email as more of their gently used infant items needed a new home. Since they are due in a month I have a feeling we will be stocking Baby G's nursery with many lovely items from these nice well off Bostonians. All I have to say is bring it on!!!

We also picked up some more maternity clothes for me. My mother did a great job with buying some basics but many of the items will fit later on in my pregnancy and I needed some more long sleeve shirts to get me through our cool New England spring and some smaller sized summer items to wear in Puerto Rico. I got some good stuff but I must say that I failed in 2 important areas.

Area 1 I need a bathing suit. I just am not feeling a bikini right now. My belly looks pudgy and my boobs are huge. I tried on several suits and found that some styles are just down right horrible on me. One in particular was just plain obscene. The one style I liked was out of my size and while the large didn't fit at all but seemed to be headed in the right direction. I am going to try and find it at another store or order it online. It was the only one that seemed capable of controlling my bazookas at this point. This brings me to my second fashion problem.

Area 2 I need new bras. My current bras are not cutting it anymore. So I decided to get remeasured and pick up some nursing bras to wear. Our fav maternity store woman helped me out and I found out that my pre-pregnancy bust of 34 D has ballooned (literally) to a 38 DD/E. Gulp...and this is before I am nursing! For gods sake I will be having Shazam latch Baby G on to my boobs from another room. Anyway, I tried on several bras with no luck. I just didn't fit into any. Too big on the sides or straps didn't adjust short enough they just didn't work. So I will be taking a trip to La.dy Gra.ce to have the professionals see what they can do. If you have never been to one of these stores it is an adventure. The sales ladies take a real ummm...hands on approach to bra fitting. As embarrassing as this may be the results are always so nice, bras that fit!

I have a four day week this week and and one of the days is a state testing day so really only 3 days of teaching! Yeah baby. Can you tell this teacher needs her spring vacation? A total of 7 teaching days until vacation. I am dreaming of a beach in Puerto Rico and Baby G. Neither can come soon enough!

A Few Things

As you know Shazam and I have been getting rid of crap in the soon to be nursery. Some of the things are being trashed, some donated, and some sold on craig.slist. It is so great to get some cash for items that we no longer need or use. We sold our full sized mattress last week and Shazam's neglected golf clubs yesterday. The man who bought the clubs said the most annoying thing. Shazam introduced me as her wife which he seemed fine with. When he asked why she was selling she said that we were clearing out some things since her wife was pregnant. He then looked at me and said, "How did you manage that?" How rude! I replied "My wife, she's that good!" That seemed to shut him up!

We will be picking up the bassinet for the stroller on Sunday. I am so excited. As Shazam said we both inquired about the bassinet and I was told that the seller was going with someone who would pay her asking price. I was so sad we didn't get it and the whole day I was hoping that the full price buyer was my wife (Shazam did email me to to tell me she got it but I missed the email). I was so happy when I found out we got it! What a bonus, from disappointment to joy all in one day all over a silly stroller accessory. Now I need the rest of the stroller so I can reach stroller nirvana.

I have a blood test today. It is the second part of the bloodwork for the nt scan. We have an ultra sound and Drs appointment on Tuesday the 14th. I am very excited to see the baby again. If we wanted to find out the gender this would be the ultra sound but we are letting that be a surprise so we will be just checking out how much he/she has grown in the past few weeks. How fun. I am interested to see how the baby is measuring. At the nt scan I was measuring behind (not so much to worry but I would like to make sure we are progressing). The Dr. said that since the fetus was all curled up it was hard to get an accurate measurement sometimes and also I could just be having a small baby. Which since I was only a 5 pounder would make some sense. We will have to see.

Oh and I have to apologize to the avocado. It seems that the stomach bug is going around school. Several people that went on the bus trip to Fo.xwoods last Friday have come down with it. So I think I have indeed turned the corner and Monday's sickness was a virus and not my problem child. Sorry Cado that I jumped to blaming you, although you have been pretty guilty of making me sick over the last three months!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I am hoping that we make some progress on the nursery. It makes me feel calm when it looks more like a baby can live in there.

We Heart Craig's List

For those not using Craig's List, you should.  There are deals to be found for sure. Yesterday I stumbled upon a Drea.mi bassinet for the Quin.ny Buzz stroller in the color we want. It is brand new, in the box, for HALF of the original cost. I didn't act on it right away because I wanted to check with SSG. Once I brought it to her attention she e-mailed the person with a slightly lower offer. We didn't hear anything and just assumed it was gone. I however shot out an e-mail separately last night to see if it was still available and wouldn't you know I got an e-mail this morning saying it was available. It also appears at the same time SSG got a reply saying she got an offer for full price so she had to go with that offer. Yup, that "other" person was me! One hundred bucks off the original price is great, especially since 1) it's new and 2) baby is due in September so we will have limited time to use the bassinet and it's hard to swallow full price on something you will use for like 3 months. I've arranged to pick it up on Sunday and here is what it looks like: