Baby Bump!

Here it is folks, my 5 1/2 month baby bump! Thank you Rachel for insisting on taking this picture!

Thank you to all my blog friends who posted pregnant pictures! I will try to post more of these as I the baby grows. Right now, he or she is really movin' around and I'm really enjoying it. I still can't believe I'm almost 6 months along, before we know it we'll have a new baby here.

We're starting our childbirth class on October 30th, and I am so excited. I'm not good at reading books, so I'm hoping to learn a lot in the class.

Hopefully soon, I'll have pictures of the nursery! Oh wait, we're still procrastinating! Ha ha! Ta ta for now!

8 Random Things

So, I woke up this morning not wanting to get out of bed and decided to check some blogs (I think I'm officially addicted to blogging) and when I read Rachels, I was tagged! Here are 8 random things about me:

1. Pizza makes me sick since I've been pregnant, but I really want to eat it anyway.
2. I can't read books, they put me to sleep, no matter what. I still try, I love to curl up in front of the gas fireplace and try, but it just turns into a nap.
3. Our baby is due on Valentine's Day.
4. I LOVE anything pumpkin or pumpkin spice.
5. I used to be a big Starbucks girl, but now that I'm pregnant, I have an aversion to coffee.
6. I like to go to bed early and wake up early.
7. I am a Representative with Demarle at Home ( and LOVE IT! )
8. Fall is my absolute favorite season.

If you've read this, now you're tagged. Post 8 random things about you on your blog for us all to enjoy! Thanks Valerie and Rachel!

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Tuesday!

Baby

The day is finally here! We got to see our baby on a video screen!

After waiting for an hour, we finally were called back to the ultra sound room in our doctor's office. We were so excited for the ultrasound, but more excited when we realized the machine our doctor has is a 4D!

We, or I should say I, held my ground of not finding out the sex and turned away when the doctor told me to. Eddie tried his darndest to see, but was not succesful. Sorry Eddie, we'll just have to be surprised together when he or she is born in a few months. The baby was SO active during the ultrasound the doctor had a really hard time getting a good shot. He was really trying for a face shot, but baby just wasn't going for it! We saw the heart, the stomach, little feet, little hands...all dancin' around like crazy! A note about the picture we did get: This is a profile of the baby's face, and NO that's not a HUGE nose! Right before the doctor locked in the image, the baby cupped his or her hand over the nose and if you look closely you can tell its a hand. Sure looks like he or she is going to be ornery...just like Daddy! We are even more excited now to meet this little one...only a few months left!

One Year Ago...

One year ago today I was about to embark on one of my life's greatest challenges. I had trained for 7 months, working on my own during the week and with my group every Saturday morning at 6 am. Yes, I got up at 6 am every Saturday for 7 MONTHS! I am not a person you would consider "athletic" or even outdoorsy, I never played sports in high school (although I tried to convince many people that Cheerleading and Dance Team were sports, I did afterall, LETTER in both of them!). But here I was, at the starting line of the Portland Marathon. I was seriously considering just stepping off to the side to be a spectator, but I didn't. I had so many things going through my head, but most of all, the finish line. I had worked hard for this day and I was going to do this.

The reason I wanted to do this? My dear Aunt Margo was a runner and she had always tried to encourage all of us to be a part of her healthy habits, but most of us just couldn't ever discipline ourselves to do it. She ran Hood to Coast, Portland Marathon and many other local races. We lost Aunt Margo to cancer and at some point after that I decided I wanted to do this for her, because I knew she would be so proud of me. So, that's what got me to where I was on this chilly fall morning in 2006. I set my mind to doing this, and I was gonna do it.

I had experienced all kinds of crazy things while training (blisters, avoiding certain foods, almost fainting from not eating enough after a run, nausea from dehydration, learning pepto bismol was a cure all on the running trail), but best of all I made some great new friends! Elizabeth and I had decided to run together (even if she did ditch me at mile 19 only to beat me by 8 minutes over all!!) and we encouraged each other, popped pepto bismol together, stopped at the porta potties together...etc. I was also lucky enough to have a cheer team who stopped at 5 spots along the run to cheer me on, I was so lucky to have them there, they have no idea how much their cheering and support helped me! My Mom, My Sister Erica, Eddie, Rachel, My nephew Hank and his Girlfriend Tess all got up early that day, too and made the trip to Portland and followed a map (almost getting killed along the way, thanks to Erica's crazy driving from what I heard!) and stopped to snap pictures and cheer me on.....they are the BEST! They even walked with me through a water stop! My Dad and Valerie met me at the finish line, too!

So, off Elizabeth and I went on this great adventure through Portland. We laughed and cried, but we made it! The biggest challanges? The St John's Bridge...1.5 miles UP HILL at mile 18...was a killer but once we reached the top of the hill and ran over the bridge, it was gorgeous! After about mile 20, I honestly felt like I had been drinking. I felt really silly and just started screaming with the spectators and really talking myself into finishing this thing! Elizabeth was long gone, so I was acting sillyl by myself. :) I rounded the final corner with BAD cramps in my quads, but I ran as fast as I could across that finish line! 5 hours and 5 minutes after I started I crossed the finish line of the Portland Marathon, I did it, I was done, and I had never been so relieved! I made my way to the "finishers area" and had some gatorade and ate some snacks...oh, and best of all, got my medal.

The funniest thing about finishing the marathon? I stopped running! I can't believe its been a year, time sure flies when you're having fun!

Disappointed!

So, our doctor had to cancel our ultrasound appointment today due to some emergency surgeries. Now we have to wait until next Thursday! We are both disappointed, but we'll live. :) Stay tuned for pictures next week...

Worst Blogger Ever!!

Ok, I have to admit, I am the worst blogger ever! I am a devoted reader to all my blogging friends' pages, and I haven't updated my own in almost two months...I am feeling the pressure. :) I don't have any pictures right now, I'm going to need some lessons from you moms out there on taking millions of pictures, I've never been very good at it. And, for some reason, I feel really weird posting just pictures of myself. I promise a belly shot soon.

Our ultrasound is this Friday, so look for some fuzzy shots over the weekend...I'll do my best for a belly shot, too (Eddie's not much for taking pictures, either!). I'll tell you all right now, we have decided against finding out the sex of the baby...well, I decided and my husband lovingly went along, even though I know he's dying to find out. If you know me, you know I might be one of the most impatient people in the world, but I made my mind up about this and we're going to be surprised. I think it will be a very special moment in the delivery room for us when we find out!

Since my last post I have grown a lot and I'm now feeling the little one move around quite a bit, right now in fact! I think he or she is dancin' around because he or she wants some ice cream, yummy! Since we're not going to find out the sex of the baby, I needed to come up with a neutral nursery theme. I found an adorable bed set on the Babies R Us website called Froggy Tales, so I've decided to do froggies. Hopefully it will be cute. I'm not the worlds greatest decorator, so we'll see, it will be interesting. I'm also a terrible procrastinator...here we are 1/2 way through the pregnancy and I haven't even cleaned out the room for the baby! UGH! Oh well, I work best under pressure, I think?

Not much else is new with us at the moment, but I felt the need to write and was feelin' the pressure from Liz and Rachel! Thanks Girls!

Best Birthday Present!

On Thursday, we had our 2nd doctor's appointment and heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It really made this whole experience real...we were both so excited to hear it...this is all such a miracle! My Birthday was Friday and that was the BEST birthday present an expecting Mommy could ask for! I told Eddie I wasn't sure if I would laugh or cry when we heard it...I laughed, which made extra noise on the machine! Later that day, I wanted to cry tears of joy and excitement... We are really bringing a baby into this world, and right now he or she is growing like mad!! I am already feeling big, but the Doctor says I'm "measuring" just right for 12 weeks. I had to include this picture of my belly this week, just to show that I can't button my pants anymore! I wore my first pair of maternity pants on Friday and the comfort was just amazing! I'm definitely hooked!!

I had a great birthday...besides the fact that I had to work! My Mom sent be the beautiful bouquet you see in the picture below, such a wonderful surprise and they brightened up my non-window office for the whole day! Max came and had lunch with me and we had a great time talking and eating. I just don't see him enough. I made him promise that we would spend more time together!! In the evening I did exactly what I wanted, nothing! I layed on the couch with Eddie and we had Chinese take out. Another gift, I have felt great for about 4 days now!! The nausea is very minimal, whoopeee!!