New York Trip, 2nd Ultrasound and Screening, Kobe Shoes!

So we're back home after visiting Jamie's extended family in New York.  Shweew!  Glad to be home!  The trip was quite enjoyable, and of course everyone fell in love with Connor and his cute personality and had a great time playing indoor basketball and baseball, cars, etc... for a full week!  Connor probably recieved more attention in that week than he has in the last year (and this kid is in no need of attention, let me tell ya) and averaged about an 11:30 PM bedtime, so what a relief it was to come home and get him back in school and back on schedule. (more about that below)

These are the new "Kobe" Nike tennis shoes we got him while in NY .... they are so cute and he calls them his "Kobe Shoes"!  Not sure they would be cute in a man's size, but very cute in a little-boy size!


It was good to get a little mommy-break (we stayed at a difference aunt's house than Connor and Jamie's parents) and we even made it into the city for a night on the town ... dinner, shopping, hotel and then breakfast in the morning.... nice!  On a sour note, I got extremely motion sick on the bus back out of the city and had to bail about 5 stops before where we were supposed to get off, leaving Jamie on the bus by himself with all our crap.  Luckily I made it off in time .... we'll leave it at that.  Gotta love making a spectacle of yourself in front of strangers... but isn't that what motherhood is all about like 75% of the time (starting with child birth) so I guess I'm used to it.

But, as nice as it is to have a little vacay from the norm, it's even better to be home to my own bed, bathroom, closet, kitchen, etc... (minus all the laundry, sorting mail, putting clothes away, and all the other crap you have to do when you get home)  Plus, I need to get back on the "eating right" train ... on-the-road and vacation eating will seriously do a number on your stomach and how you feel in general.

And we didn't have a second to breathe once we got home.  Monday morning was my early-pregnancy screening called a Nuchal Translucency (spelling... ahh, not sure about that one and too lazy to Google it).  It's a combo blood test/ ultrasound that checks the baby for Down's Syndrome and 2 or 3 other serious chromosonal abnormailities.  I went to a specialist, not my regular doctor, which was the same specialist we saw when I was prego with Connor. We received nothing but good news ... thank goodness. 

As a bonus, the ultrasound tech had some extra time to play around, so I got to see the baby for about 30 minutes.... unfortunately they didn't take a video this time like they did with Connor, which is a super-bummer because SOMEONE recorded over my ultrasound tape of Connor (which honestly makes me want to cry right now).  With all the extra ultrasound time, we spent a lot of time down south looking for any signs of a penis or otherwise.  They found maybe a penis, then a vagina, then a penis, then maybe a vagina (or the "three lines" as they call it) so basically we confirmed that the baby is DEFINITELY a boy OR a girl.  Ha!  It's just too early to tell for sure.  But now I'm even more anxious than before .. March 8th can't come fast enough!  It's just so amazing to see such a small creature living inside of your own body... there is nothing quite like experiencing an ultrasound of your baby.

So, as for today.... more exciting times.  Roads in the area were ice-covered all morning, making travel especially difficult and dangerous.  I never would have left the house this morning had I known the extent of how horribly bad the roads were.  There was basically no way out of my neighborhood, and even with an SUV with 4WD and even a "snow and ice" driving setting, I had NO control of the vehicle.  CRAZY!  It took me an hour and a half to get Connor to school (which doesn't even compare to how long many people were stuck out on the road) and saw many close-calls and scary situations.  Many men were out in their suits and dress shoes helping push cars up hills and back onto roads.... it made me proud to live in such a nice and helpful society .... and also scared to see how many dumb-ass people (such as myself) didn't bother to turn on the news this morning before heading out the door!!!


Coming soon.... belly pics (13 weeks pregnant and officially can't button my jeans now.... trying to hold out on the prego jeans as long as possible, because once I go the way of the comfort waistband, there's no going back!) and some great baby-finds on clearance at Target!  Happy Tuesday!

Finally Home!

We made it home from New York ... finally. I made Jamie stop at a hotel in Charleston, WV last night instead of driving all the way home in one day (12 hours is just way too much sitting for a one-year-old, and me, for one day!) so we're home a bit later than what we planned on. Oh well, it was definitely worth it!

I hate getting home to a messy house (which it was, of course) and I HATE unpacking even more. There always seems to be way more fun things to do, like open mail and look through the Sunday paper, than unpack and tidy the house. aka: When we got home, there were about 15 boxes on the porch from a giant Discovery Toys order I placed before we left, plus, of course, other random things I had ordered, plus our regular mail. Overwhelming... yet WAY more fun than unpacking ... which I still have not done!!

On top of everything else, it started to spit some sort of icy, white precipitation once we were about an hour away from home. Great. I thought leaving New York would get us away from the snow and freezing weather.... apparently not. They are forecasting about 6 inches and maybe some ice over the next day or two ... but we'll see what happens! I'm always of the opinion that the further out they forecast bad weather, the more UNLIKELY it is to actually occur! This reminds me, I need to go join all the other crazies at the supermarket in a few minutes because we have NO FOOD in our house. Just my luck they are predicting snow... so it will be a madhouse dash for things people don't really HAVE to have anyway (I mean, who ever died from not having bread and milk for 2 days? Really?!)

I am crossing my fingers for some good sledding snow for Connor, though :)

Busy Busy Week!!

As usual, getting back to the hustle and bustle after the holidays is hard. After a devastating loss to U of Smell in basketball, I wasn't much in the mood to hop on the happy train and take down Christmas decorations in the house .... therefore, they are still mostly up and it's a little bit embarrassing ... especially since I've had to DT parties at my house this week... so people notice!!

This week (and last!) has been a real booger as far as my schedule! OMG we have had so much to do! Now, reality is setting in that we are going to be taking a 9-hour mini-van trek to New York in less than a week and MAYBE I need to start planning for that a little bit!!

SO far, I have stocked up on Gerber Puffs and Crunchies (moms, if you have not tried these Crunchies yet .... get in the car now and go buy them!! Connor LOVES them... they are my new favorite thing to bring to the mall as a 'happy maker'! They are like puffy Cheetos for babies... amazing!) and we bought a portable DVD player for the car (this is our third one since our honeymoon.... I suggest getting an extended warranty on these puppies! What a load of crap!). These things might be the only way we have even a chance of making it up to New York without me jumping out of a moving car or resorting to heavy drinking.
side-thought: Lisa just had her tonsils taken out and has some great meds .... too bad I'm not a pill head!! (haha) - actually, I guess that's really not funny....
moving on...

So right now I'm waiting on Connor to awaken and we are headed to the gym. Unfortunately, my laziness over the holidays and not going to the gym for OVER a month has caused Connor to regress back into crying while in the kid's area at the gym. We went through this before and then got over it ... so we'll see if it's any better today!