Introducing Layne Elizabeth

Layne Elizabeth arrived early Monday morning the 29th. She was born at 5:45 am weighing 6lbs, 9.5 oz and was 18.25 inches long. For being a "big baby" according the ultrasound she ended up even smaller than Nolan started!! We were more than surprised. She also is the spitting image of Nolan. Completely. As in when she came out we were totally taken aback by the sameness. It's pretty cool though. Since we think Nolan is adorable it works for her as well :)

My labor itself was pretty quick once I got out of latent. I had been having contractions that were semi-painful on Saturday, but nothing regular and they tapered off. All day Sunday I had random contractions, nothing regular. By Sunday night they were every 15 minutes and kind of painful. Then apparently my body decided to kick into high gear. Between 9 and 1 they were every 15 minutes and then every 10 minutes and getting much more painful. Between 1 and 2 in the morning they went from 7 to 6 to 5 minutes apart and became excruciating. I was having trouble breathing they were so hard and so strong. So at 2 I woke Matt and told him it was time for us to go in mainly because I couldn't handle the pain anymore. We got all of our stuff together and headed in, having to stop walking a few times because of contractions. In the car they got to about three minutes apart so we figured things were really happening. Got to the hospital at 3, by the time we got in, through the ER and up and into a room and gowned it was 3:30. I was checked and was 6cm, 100% effaced and the baby was at -2 station. They got me my epidural (which was a LIFE saver. Women who do this drug free are my heroes.) and thirty minutes later when the doctor checked me I had gone from 6 to 10 cm dilated and basically ready. The baby was still high up so since I had my epidural we decided to give it an hour to just move down. So an hour later a little after five it was time to push. Three or four slow contractions later, out she came! It was extremely easy!! And in all I delivered less than three hours after I arrived - thank God I told Matt we had to go in when I did!!

We are home now, we got discharged the next day because I was going stir crazy. I felt really great right after the birth and continue to feel good. I have to remind myself to take it easy still - that I did just push out a small child two days ago. :) Layne is doing great, she is nursing like a champ and just doing really really well overall. Here are some of my favorite pictures. I only took the last one - one of the third year residents, Jenny, who we asked to participate in the labor (one of the only people I would have considered) used to do photography so knew what she was doing and got some precious precious photos.

I will post some pictures with Nolan a little later, wanted to get these up.

Taken by Matt right after they pulled her out :)








With Auntie Sara :)

A few quick notes for those relatives (mom) that copy the photos from the blog. I have started watermarking them (not because of you) because where I host them online, anyone can access them. And I don't like unwatermarked pictures of my kid floating around the internet should someone choose to take them...

Now that that's explained. Nolan this morning got out his aquadoodle and started spelling names. As in writing the letters in some of his classmates name. As in legible, readable letters. Let me tell you, I had no clue that he could do this!!! I knew they were working on letters and tracing at school but still. Wow. Scary. Since apparently Matt was reading things at 3 and 4 this must come from his side. We know he is starting to recognize words in books that we read. Not things he's memorized (although he definitely has memorized some of his books) but separate words. Or we'll be driving and he'll recognize letters... So pictures of his spelling and then pictures of his cute mug with my new camera. Yes, I took the opportunity of being on maternity leave and sold off all of my Canon gear and went back to Nikon, my first love. I am in LOVE with this camera because I will finally be able to take photos of Nolan in the house now!!

Drawing...


His names. They aren't always in a straight line (except for Aaron) but the letters are all there. And pretty well formed. (Dylan had started to dry and fade at this point)


Cutie pie :)

Ultrasound!

Matt ended up not having any surgeries today, in essence a free day, so we switched my ultrasound to this morning. Everything looks great. All fingers, toes, nose, eyes, everything accounted for. The baby is measuring in the 60th percentile so that is great news and they are estimating the weight at 5.12 right now. I am reallllly hoping they are off because with six more weeks to grow that could be a big kid. Nolan was only 6.11 so I was kind of hoping that this one would be small as well. Apparently my lack of weight gain means nothing to this baby. It is just eating everything that I *do* put inside my body!! They did a bonus 3d ultrasound (really helps to know the right people!!) and we got some really cute pictures. This baby looks just like Nolan did - the exact same nose and round little cheeks, but it has my lips. (Hard to tell on here but they are bowed little cupid lips on the picture.) If it is a girl it will have pretty lips!! :) It was so neat to see the baby at 34 weeks on the 3d, it really looks like a baby since all of the fat has really started accumulating under the skin. It kept its hands up by the face for most of the pictures but at least it held still the entire time. Here are some of the pictures (with pointers for those of you that get confused by these)

Ten on Tuesday - November 18

1. First and most important, we had our family session this past Sunday with my friend Bernadette. While I'll get the CD with all of the photos later this week, she did edit a few and put a sneak peek up on the blog. Check them out - I'm really excited!!

www.buphotography.com/blog

2. I will be getting to see the baby again at an ultrasound on Thursday. Turns out that despite my trying to eat and not even eating things that are healthy when I *do*, I have not gained any weight. I am back to 0 total. So to make absolutely sure even though everything else looks fine, she is sending me for a growth scan on Thursday. So here's to seeing the baby again! And maybe getting another cool picture. Good news is everything else looks fine. No swelling, blood pressure is back down, fundus (top of uterus) measurement is good, heartbeat nice and strong, etc.

3. The baby is moving a lot. This has resulted in both those lovely visual shows that all pregnant women can recall well AND the baby wedging various parts up into my rib cage. While I the shows are kind of cool, the butt and foot wedged in my ribs I can do without.

4. Nolan has named his elmo guitar Rosa. Why, I have absolutely no clue whatsoever. He decided on it the other day and now refers to it as Rosa, not his guitar. "Rosa wants to sleep in my bed." "Rosa wants to be over there." "Where's Rosa?" etc etc etc.

5. We had our first outing the other day without a pull up!!! We went to get haircuts for both the big and small boy and do a little grocery shopping. He did great and stayed dry, letting us know when he had to go! He has also dropped the pull up at naptime, so he is only wearing one overnight now. Yay!

6. This is my last weekend coming up with photo sessions. I have one makeup next week and one newborn who should be born hopefully tomorrow but that is it! Then blissful maternity leave here I come!

7. I have reached the point of no return in this pregnancy. If I go into labor from here on out, they will not stop it. Joy. I think part of me doubts anymore that this will be a problem, but another part of me (and Matt) still thinks I'll go early.

8. It's snowing outside. I am sitting here on my couch watching it come down. So pretty!

9. Nolan is doing really well. He is still into the baby, gives my belly plenty of kisses and hugs. He told us the other day again that we need a door for the baby to come out of. I know that he doesn't really know what is coming and how his life is going to change but I am getting more excited about him seeing his new brother or sister and watching him be a big brother. (Although he told me the other day that he wants to be a big sister, not a big brother.)

10. It's college basketball season!!!!! That means that I will pretend to cheer for UConn basketball to make Matt happy and Matt will genuinely wish the best for Syracuse basketball - as long as his team is ranked higher. Makes for a fun fall and spring ;) The good news for me is that after football season, Syracuse can ONLY be better in basketball. The bad news for Matt is that starting the season ranked #2 doesn't leave a lot of room for improvement but a TON of room for disappointment.

11. A bonus one!!! Nolan has finally gotten a little into sports. He will watch a game with us and pick one of the teams that has whatever color tickles his fancy that day. Yesterday it was the Michigan State game and he said "I like the green team. Go green team! You can do it guys!" Too too cute!!!! It only really sucks when he picks against OUR teams. And speaking of, I have informed Matt that despite moving to Providence that does NOT mean that he will be raising Nolan a Patriots fan, rather it means that I will be stepping up my efforts to make him a good old fan of the Black and Gold. GO STEELERS!!!

That's it for this week. I'll post any pictures I may get at the u/s on Thursday.

Seven on Wednesday

1. First and most important - teddy has been found. Matt found him in about 30 seconds. Apparently he was behind Nolan's chair between the armoire and the wall. Why wouldn't he be?? Isn't that where everyone puts their teddies?

2. I paid $1.99 for gas today. I still had a 1/3 of a tank but I just wanted to be able to say that I paid that little. Two good things about Jersey - cheap gas and Wegmans.

3. Seven more weeks to go until baby arrives. And that is as long as I plan to go. In fact, if baby goes according to MY plan it's only 4 more weeks. That gets me home before my birthday and Christmas. The fact that there are that few days left is really exciting and really terrifying.

4. I finally found something that upsets Nolan about the new baby (I am sure there will be many many more things to come). I mentioned that we are going to move Nolan over to the other side of the car (he's behind the passenger seat) so that we can put the baby where he is. He did NOT like that idea. He said "No mommy! I won't be able to seeeee you!!" He keeps telling me to just put the baby over on the other side. He doesn't understand that I'll have to see the baby. We'll keep working on that.

5. Nolan's nose has completely recovered. He must have his daddy's skin after all. There is a little tiny flake of skin left but that's it. Just in time for pictures THIS Friday!

6. Nolan is in love with Blue's Clues this week. We must watch at least one every day, even though we have seen all of the ones that are available on demand. At least it's not annoying like some of the other shows he likes.

7. I asked Nolan what he was thankful for after watching one of the Blue's Clues episodes on being thankful and he said "Mover Dave" (from the Imagination Movers on Disney). Glad to know we rank highly in his mind.


Okay, I've been staring at this since last night and I just can't think of anything else. I'm sure I will after I post it though :)

Minor (or major) problem

Teddy is lost. Somehow Nolan has lost him in our house. Not only in our house but in the three minutes he was upstairs with him last night before I got up there. NO CLUE where he is. I have turned things inside out and upside down. Can't find him anywhere. I have tried to have Nolan help me but he can't tell me anything. I asked him if he made teddy hide and he says "Yup." And if I ask where he made him hide "I don't know." GAH. He went to sleep without him last night but came in this morning with big puppy dog eyes and the first thing he said was "I really want my teddy."

10 on Tuesday late

1. Had my 32 week appointment today. My blood pressure was lower which makes my doctor happy and makes me happy because I get to avoid the test where I apparently collect urine in a jar for a week. Joy. Mini has it's butt in my upper right stomach and feet in the upper left and is head down so that is good. Now if only it would stop trying to do exercises in there (I told Matt I think it does squat-thrusts) life would be a lot better. I did lose the pound I'd gained so I'm back to square 1. Or 0 really. The doctor said if I haven't gained at my next appointment in two weeks she may send me for another growth scan even though she's sure the baby is doing just fine in there.

2. Nolan and I had a conversation about the baby on the way home from daycare tonight. He still says that the baby is a girl and said he will feed the baby "bottles and spaghetti" and that he thinks "the baby is going to cry." I pointed out that he also cries. He chose to ignore that remark. There was a brief discussion in which he said something about "when the baby goes back in your tummy." I told him that once the baby comes out of my tummy it will stay out. He then told me that he thinks we "need a door" for when the baby comes out of my tummy. Rather than attempting to discuss how babies actually come out, I just agreed.

3. Why wear them on your bottom?


4. We had a great time trick or treating on Friday night. At first Nolan woke up late and VERY grumpy and Matt and I were joking that he was going to be "Pissed Off Mouse" instead of Mickey Mouse. We finally convinced him (with the help of a lollipop) to get his costume on and in the car. We met up with our friends Monique and Gerard and their little boy Blaize. Monique and I were both dressed up as pregnant tired mommies (she's 38 weeks). Nolan got the hang of it about halfway through and even tried to take some random kid's pretzels when the kid made the mistake of holding them out in his direction.

5.


Nolan vs. the stairs. After getting home on Halloween we did a late dinner and Nolan went upstairs to get Teddy. Apparently on the top step he stopped to adjust his sock or scratch the bugbite on his foot and next we knew, he had tumbled down all 14 stairs. Yup. 14. And amazingly, his most serious injury was basically skinning his nose. He had a small lump on his forehead that night but after applying ice there was nothing the next day. Matt and I are still completely amazed that there was NOTHING else wrong... Obviously this canceled our family pictures we had scheduled for Sunday. This picture is from yesterday and his nose looks SO much better than it did before.

6. Nolan has decided that "5" is when he will be big. If you mention something about when he gets bigger he will ask "When I'm five?" Or he'll say that he'll be able to do something "When I'm five." Not sure why five, but that gives us two years to work with. I can handle that.

7. I can't wait for the election to be over. I like politics and all but I just want this part to be over. I did my civic duty (as did Matt) and voted at the corner bar. Seriously, a bar. Now I just want the results to come in. And I want them to come in before I go to bed but I don't know if that will happen.

ETA: Nevermind, results are in. How wonderfully exciting!!!!!!!!!

8. No more movement on the names. I think we're still on Charlotte (maybe Layne) and Quinn. Now the wait's just on to see which it will be :)

9. We are now busy researching our new city. The good news for me is that there are really no portrait photographers in the Providence area that do what I do (non-studio work). Very few, and I am right on par quality-wise with the best of them which makes me feel pretty good. And I have several different connections to people in the area which will hopefully allow me to build the business up before I even get there!! We're also looking for housing somewhere within a 30 minute drive of the hospital but haven't decided the rent vs. buy thing yet. A winning powerball ticket would come in realllllly handy. ;)

10. Nolan's favorite song at the moment is Old McDonald. We sing it every night and Nolan tells us how many animals we are "saving" (don't ask me why we are saving them) and then tells us what they are going to be. He takes the task very seriously!!! He is also really into an alphabet book from VTech that reads a story and has the child push the next letter in the alphabet when it sings. I think it's a little simplistic for him but he loves it!


I would just like to take the opportunity to point out that it is not yet midnight so I *did* get this in on Tuesday :)

Results are in...

And we're going to Providence! Matt matched his first choice at Brown!! So Providence here we come as of end of June!

10 on Tuesday

1) Okay, let's get right to it. We find out tomorrow at noon. Yikes. I have all of these thoughts in my head - wondering where we'll match,if we'll match, what we'll do if we do, what we'll do if we don't. I realize also I'm saying "we." So technically only Matt matches but, whatever, it affects us as well.

2) I am now a silver-haired-free woman (not grey, silver). I got color done today for the first time in I don't know how long and I feel SO much prettier. Just what I needed. I am putting some pictures from last week up for you all to see of me at the end pre-color. My friend Bernadette and I traded sessions to get pictures for our websites and blogs.

3) Nolan is excited for Halloween I think... I told him that Friday is Halloween and while he wasn't super thrilled he did like the idea that he could wear his Mickey Mouse costume.

4) It's funny the words that kids say. Whenever we are watching a video in the car, or somewhere that it needs to be stopped, Nolan asks us to "plause" it. We have said several times "pause" but he doesn't quite get it through his head. The problem is becoming that we have also started to say it!!

5) Nolan had a great weekend in CT with the grandparents while Matt and I went to UConn homecoming. He carved a pumpkin with Grammy but apparently was not into grabbing all of the pumpkin innards and pulling them out. The pumpkin turned out really cute though!!

6) The baby is doing well. It moves pretty much nonstop the past few days and has apparently decided that it doesn't like me sitting down. That would be fine except for the fact that I sit most of the day... I'll go back to the doctor next Tuesday so we'll get an update on my blood pressure and other things then.

7) We can actually hear the roar of the crowd after home runs from our bedroom, we are that close to the stadiums. It's pretty cool, actually. The annoying part is that since I am not a huge Phillies fan I want to just go to bed but the fireworks wake me up. It will probably be very crazy when / if they win the series, especially in the city itself near us. What worries me is that they have a dumpster full of stuff from a house they are gutting two houses down and I am afraid someone will do something stupid after a win...

8) Nolan has become a bit obsessed with Dora recently. He got a new DVD at Grammy's and brought it home and it has been All. We. Have. Watched. Seriously. Every day in the car, every night after schol. If I have to hear the "pate pate chocolate" song one more time or listen to the "map" song I just might scream. It's just that Dora is always at volume ten, excitement level ten the entire freaking time. There is no downtime or quiet with Dora. Sadly Nolan really loves it and responds to it and interacts. But still.

9) Nolan has developed a very Elaine-like dance (from Seinfeld). He kind of jumps in the air and kicks his leg out to the side. It is absolutely hysterical. Thankfully it hasn't caused him to fall down yet.

10) We are having family / maternity pictures done this weekend by my friend Bernadette. I am doing her family and she is doing us. I am really excited! We have never had family pictures done and while I am obviously a photographer, to have professional pictures taken of Nolan excites me greatly :) And Bernadette is fabulous so that makes me even more excited!!

And now pictures of me :) Maybe I will continue to usurp Nolan on my parents' screensaver???

Ten on Tuesday

Let's see how many I can get...

1. It is so so nice to just send Nolan to the potty. Seriously, it makes my day!!! No more diapers, no messes, it is such nice freedom. Still have to wipe a poopy butt, but it's okay.

2. Nolan had his flu shot today. This would normally be a very easy process. Take child, stick needle in child, send child on his way. But not with an egg allergy. Flu vaccines are actually created in egg embryos, who knew?? First, we have to go to the allergist - the pedi won't touch him. First step is they have to apply a topical reaction kit that shows a positive and negative control, an egg reaction and the flu vaccine reaction. Then we wait 15-20 minutes and measure the response. If the reaction that develops is the same size or smaller than the negative control he can have the flu shot. After that, you get the shot and then you have to stay in the office for 30 minutes in case you are the one in four million person that has a severe allergic reaction. After that we get to go home. Nolan did great with all of it, probably helps that he LOVES his allergy doctor. Seriously. Also probably helps that I didn't mention the whole shot part until we had his pants pulled down and the needle out. But with a lollipop and some Elmo he was fine.

3. I had my 30 week check up today. The good news first - the baby sounds great, heartbeat is nice and strong and fast. I tested negative for gestational diabetes, in fact I was way at the low end of the spectrum - I got a 74 on a scale of 69-139. So wayyyy low and absolutely no concerns. My hemoglobin and platelet counts look good. Also, after the growth scan everything looks good and baby is in the 45th percentile so they are happy. I have officially gained a pound for the pregnancy as of today. But my doctor is not concerned about weight because the baby is doing so well. I am measuring a little ahead in terms of uterus size - 31 weeks instead of 30. Now for the only not as good news - my blood pressure was pretty high again - 130/80. If you know me I don't think I have ever been that high in my LIFE. I run reallllly low. They are not concerned (ie I don't have to go to the hospital) until 140/90 but she does want me to go to the Rite Aid or somewhere with a BP cuff if I start to get headaches or floaters and take a measurement. The part that concerns me is that I was relatively stress free and relaxed this morning so I expected a nice low pressure... There is no protein in my urine (sorry for the extra info) so they are not worried about preeclampysia but in talking to Matt I can still have Gestational Hypertension. If that is the case my pressures will likely continue to rise towards the end of the pregnancy and they will induce me early to relieve it. But we'll take it one step at a time. I told Matt the BP and the measuring 31 weeks thing and he just said "Yeah, you're so not going to your due date..." We'll see.

4. I think we have a decision on names. Possibly. We think for a girl it will be Charlotte Leigh although I am still really liking Layne. And for a boy Quinn something. We are stuck on the middle name, maybe Oliver or Elliot.... Although if this is like last pregnancy I'll 37 weeks and change my mind :)

5. Seven days and 17 hours until match. Closing in quickly.

6. We are now officially living in a World Series town. It is kind of cool to see everything that is going on. And the fact that the stadium is a mile from our house is neat as well. We will get three games here in Philly. The city went a little nuts after they won the pennant so I'll be curious (and dreading) to see what happens if they win the Series. Literally, the day of the clinching game they chained all of the trashcans in the city to light poles :)

7. Nolan keeps asking if it's Halloween and wanting to put on his costume. He told me the other night he wanted to go trick or treating right then. I told him it didn't work like that. I think he was a little disappointed.

8. Nolan continues to stay up wayyyy after he is in bed. Every night we are leaving his room no later than 8 or 8:30. And every night he is wide awake until 9:30 or 10. The other night he was still awake at 11!!! And then he is wide awake and bright eyed ready to go at 7am the next morning. SO frustrating. Of course he is super grumpy come about 1:00 when he is home with us so we have to give him a nap or he will fall asleep on his own at 3 or 4. Then we start the cycle over again. Joy. I was sure the other night that I would get an extra hour but nope, didn't happen. And to top it all off, every night he cries for about 30-45 minutes after we leave.

Eh, that's it, I give up :) See you soon!

A picture of ME (rare, rare occurrence)

At my session today I saw this sign and my client wanted to take a picture of me. I thought it was really cute! She did a great job for the only time she's ever used my camera :) Enjoy because except for one time coming up that we are having professional pictures taken, this is probably all you're going to get of me!

A halloween sneak peek

For the past month we have been asking Nolan what he wanted to be for Halloween. He said everything from a blue pig to a cow to, most recently "I don't WANT to be anything. I don't WANT to do trick or treat." (Again, I wonder how this child can be mine sometimes???) He had completely refused to go shopping, started shrieking "NO" if we mentioned buying a costume...I was ready to give up.

We went out today to do a few different things, looked for shoes, got a few things at ACMoore to decorate the house and picked up some groceries. So imagine my surprise when I casually mentioned stopped at the cool halloween store and he agreed!! I drove there as quickly as I could before he could change his mind. After picking out several different costumes (including Scooby which was $50!!!!!, eeyore, minnie mouse (yes, minnie), Thomas and cookie monster) we settled on Mickey Mouse. It was sealed when I put the ears on him and he giggled uncontrollably. I did tell him he'll have to wear the ears the whole time.

I don't think it will be a problem because since we got home an hour ago and decorated outside, he has worn his costume (including the ears) nonstop. I think he might be in it until bedtime... He even let me take a few pictures of him :) We'll do different clothes underneath on Halloween but this gives you a preview!

Ten on not-Tuesday

Okay, a day late again. Oh well. :) Your ten things for this week...

1) Nolan is on a "12 Days of Christmas" book kick. He wants to read it more often now and we have to read half of it and then sing the second half of it. Do you know how tiring it is to read that book? Especially over and over?

2) I am doing well. 29 weeks yesterday. I have still been having contractions but nothing too serious. It's also getting more painful. Just to stand, to walk, etc. More pain in the low stomach area and (sorry) groin. I remember being uncomfortable with Nolan but I don't remember pain. I'll ask my doctor next week about it, although she has not been pregnant so I don't know how much she'll know about it. I am definitely developing a little bit of a waddle though to deal with the pain. Attractive.

3) Nolan has gotten really good at sharing. Of course he is only really good at sharing when you have something that he wants. The other day he asked me for something I was eating and when I told him that it was my food and he had his own he said "Remember mommy? We have to SHARE. Remember?" If you ask him for something HE has it's 50/50 you'll get a positive response. He also forcefully shares with you - he'll offer you a bite of something he is eating (usually with grubby hands) and if you say no thank you he'll say "yes you do" and basically shove it in your mouth. Lovely.

4) For a while Nolan was changing clothes in the middle of the night. I mean entire outfits. Most of his clothes are in the trundle drawer beneath his bed. So after we went downstairs, he would open the drawer and pick out clothes. We'd come up later to find him sleeping in khaki shorts and a button down shirt. It was quite amusing :) He seems to have stopped recently though and will actually still be wearing what we put him in.

5)We find out two weeks from today here we are going. I wonder if it will go quickly or slowly?

6) I am swamped with work. It seems that all of a sudden people are miraculously available for weekday sessions when they find out my weekends are booked. I have had seven sessions in 11 days. That's craziness. (As a side note I am super happy with how some of them came out so check the blog!) So now I have all of the work to do that goes along with them. Add that to one session this Saturday and three mini sessions Sunday along with a newborn next week and you get one tired preggo. I do have next weekend off though. The baby does remind me every once in a while that I need to slow down... Note to future self, stop at 30 weeks or so... Only five more weeks to go...

7) Nolan still believes he has a baby in his belly. It went away but it came back. He'll say that his tummy hurts because the baby is kicking him. I told him to just rub his belly because that is what I do when the baby kicks me. He doesn't understand though that a baby kicking in utero is not a violent thing - just how the baby moves.

8) Speaking of, we got Nolan his first "big brother" book this past weekend. We've read it one or two times. On one of the pages the big brother talks about how he helps give the baby bottles and change diapers. I asked Nolan if he would help give the baby bottles and change diapers and he said "No." I asked why not and he said "Babies cry and scream and whine." Great. This could be fun. On the other hand he does like to give the baby kisses and say "Hi baby!" to my belly. He'll even come over and randomly rub my belly. I think he kind of gets it but not really. We'll see come December.

9) I have been making a list of things we need to get before the baby gets here. Exciting things like new washcloths, a sleep positioner, some receiving blankets, a boppy etc. Nothing too big. I stopped yesterday at Target and figured I would look at the baby stuff while I was there and maybe get a few things. Yeahhh. That was overwhelming. I got washcloths and then I started looking at all of the other things and I went to the bottle section and all of a sudden I was just like, okay yeah...washcloths are good for today. Gotta go gotta go. I don't know where it came from but it was just...overwhelming. To think about, to realize, everything. You get so used to a way of life with a toddler and then you are thrown back into newborn land. I don't even KNOW what to do with bottles - it's been two years since we used them!! Ahhh!!!!

10) And last but not least. Halloween is fast approaching and we have yet to get a costume. I went through two different websites with Nolan each featuring over 100 costumes and he negged each one. Not Little Einsteins, not Backyardigans, not a fireman, not ANYTHING. He said he wants to be a blue pig. ????? Where on earth will I find a blue pig costume if they even exist?? ETA: They do not exist.

28 weeks ultrasound picture

So I had my ultrasound today to check the size of the baby. Everything looks okay I think - the tech said that it looked like a good size. Since they see a million babies a year I am pretty sure she knows what she was talking about. The weight was also estimated at 2lbs 9oz which is pretty typical for right now. She also surprised me by pulling out the 3d scanner. I had never had a 3d before!! Baby wouldn't exactly cooperate and turn over to show us it's full face (and had a foot in front of it as well) but we did get a little peek. :)



The baby looked good though. He/she is currently breech but that's not a worry at this point.

10 on Tuesday

So hopefully I can *actually* come up with 10 things today...

1) I had my 28 week check up today. I got to drink the lovely super-sugary drink and then have my blood drawn an hour later for the glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. Fun. Results are pending lab testing. I have gained back the pound I was down so that puts me at an even nothing lbs for overall weight gain still. As a result of that, I get an extra ultrasound!!! Kelli (my wonderful doctor) wants to check for growth of the baby and make sure everything is on track. The heartbeat is nice and strong, I am measuring right on with the measuring tape, she just wants a definitive scan of the baby itself since there's been no gain. (No worries at all for the concerned people out there.) So I get to see the baby again on Thursday!! Can't wait! And I am under doctor's orders to eat whatever sounds good. Sadly that's pretty much nothing. I get to go every two weeks now so there will be more frequent updates. I'll also (if they give me a pic) post pictures of Mini on Thursday.

2) I made the mistake of telling Nolan that uncle John (going to school in Orlando) lives near Mickey Mouse. Nolan is now convinced that uncle John lives WITH Mickey in the same house. He is very excited by this.

3) He also has taken a real liking to underwear. On his head. Takes after his mommy when she was little (not now). I am sure somewhere there are pictures of baby/toddler Matt also wearing undies on his head. I don't think (hopefully) I was the only wacko doing it at 3.

4) Still continued great success on the potty!!! Not one accident yet! I yearn for the days we can not do a pull up in the car "just in case" but I'll still take it. And I put in a firm request for TWO toilets the next time we go through this because my pregnant nauseous self is getting tired of emptying the training potty. And of having it in the middle of my living room.

5) Only 21.5 days until we find out where we're going. I have a feeling it's going to speed up now. I guess Matt's residency director spoke to someone at Brown (he can't tell Matt what they talked about) but it might be a good sign... No promises though.

6) Nolan told me that his baby went home. For those of you that don't know (or don't remember) Nolan believes he also has a baby. You can ask him where it is and he'll tell you some part of his body. But he told me the other morning that his baby had gone home. Apparently, however, it's back now. And now teddy has a baby as well. His is in his ear. Apparently babies are contagious.

7) I am very excited for the opening of the movie The Express. It hearkens back to a day when Syracuse football was great and exciting. Unlike today. Polar opposite of today. I cannot wait for it to open and am planning a date night to see it later this month! If you haven't read about it, it's the story of Ernie Davis who was the first black heisman winner from SU. Sadly he died of leukemia before he ever played a day in the NFL but left a lasting mark on the game. And no I didnt copy that from anyone, it's my own wording :)

8) I may have mentioned this before, but Nolan is very all about daddy at this point. I get kicked out of bedtime quite often in favor of daddy. And he wants to sit with daddy, wants daddy to read his books - if daddy can do it, he asks him to. It's very sweet and a very nice change. It's going to suck, however, when Matt starts his night float rotation in two weeks and is gone 5 nights of the week working...

9) Nolan's phrase of the week is "I'm not talking to you" If he says something and you don't hear him and you ask him what he said, chances are 50/50 you'll get that in response. "I'm not TALKING to YOU mommy!" I have told him that that is not a nice thing to say but we'll see if that sticks.

10) Last, but not least we didn't get to go to Pumpkin Land last weekend but we do plan on going this weekend. Should be a fun time, so look for pictures after Saturday :)

Ten on Wednesday

Eh, I'm a day late. Story of my life :)

1) Well, it's October 1. That means as of midnight last night (or something like that) our final rank list had to be submitted for fellowship. This is what we ended up with. I am sure about 1-5, 6-8 gets fuzzy as to which was where so the real order for those might be different.

1. Brown University - Providence
2. UNC - Chapel Hill
3. Good Samaritan Hospital - Cincinnati
4. Mt. Auburn / Harvard - Boston
5. Loyola - Chicago
6. Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland
7. Northwestern University - Chicago
8. Greater Baltimore Medical Center

You may notice that there are no Philly programs on there. After some good discussion, Matt decided to leave Penn off of the list. He realized that he wouldn't have been truly happy if he matched there and, on the chance that that was the only place he matched, that he would have been happier NOT matching and doing something like the Drexel program. So the only way we stay here is if he doesn't match. I am excited, I think. I am just more nervous than anything. Will he match anywhere, where will it be, how will it work, etc etc. Only 28 days until we find out. The good news is that Matt is on night float when we find out so he'll be home with me and we can find out together! Noon on the 29th...let the countdown begin.

2) I am doing okay. Ended up going into the doctor last week. I had been having some headaches with floaters and some contractions and pressure. Everything is fine, closed up nice and tight, blood pressure looked good. No reason to worry, the doctor just wants me to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Fluids I can do, rest not so much.

3) Still no real movement on the baby name front. It occured to both of us the other day that there is probably no way I'll go full term with this baby, more like 37-39 weeks probably. That means that we are looking at only 10-12 more weeks. Guess we should start deciding on things like names, yes?

4) Nolan is doing GREAT with his potty training!!!! He has not had any accidents so far except once or twice when he forgot to "point it down." (See what we girls never have to worry about??) He gets himself up and out of bed to go to the bathroom all by himself at night and doesn't even bother us. He will however stand in his room and bang on the door in the morning until I come get him, no matter how many times I have told him to just GO. I was pretty frustrated that it took until he was three but at the same time I think it's worked out really well because he understands well and has the physiological controls in place that needed to be there so it's gone really smoothly. I don't think it would have been this easy even six months ago. We have to figure out when to switch to just undies for nap and bed time but I think we still have some time before that.

5) Nolan has also discovered how to become "scared" of things. I remember visiting my friend Nicole a few months ago with her son Will who is 6 months older than Nolan. They were going through a lot of the same things. It is almost like there is a magic switch when they turn 3. The imaginations go wild and with that comes fears, no matter how irrational. With Will it was the giant bird in his ceiling fan. With Nolan it is a giant turtle that comes in and waves its wand over his mouth and makes him sick. ??????? So every night I tell him that I am sprinkling magic dust over his bed and that the turtle is sleeping and can't come get him. Where do kids come up with this stuff?

6) Along the same lines, Nolan told me that I have a giant turtle in my belly. Let's hope that doesn't mean he's scared of the baby. He also told me though that I have boo boo chicken (Donald Duck's pet chicken) in there as well. I think I'd rather birth a turtle - no claws or beaks.

7) School pictures were today. I got Nolan all dressed up and then on the way in realized that he wore the same shirt last time they had pictures. It's going to look like he owned one nice outfit. He didn't want to get them taken but did better once he got in the room. She told him to smile and he gave a lovely grimace that made him look constipated. Can't wait to see those. Seriously though, he did give a few smiles during the whole process. We'll see.

8) This whole economic crisis thing scares me. I took a look at my 403b that I opened starting back in 2001 and I just had to laugh. In 7 years it has gained all of about $200 because of the market. It was much higher at one point but now back to nothing. 3 1/2 years of putting money into it with my one job and that is what it has done. Joy. I haven't even looked at my one from my most recent job. At least there, Drexel matched your donation so there was a good amount going in from the beginning... I know when it's time for me to retire and this to actually be useful the situation will be drastically different. But right now - laughable.

9) I officially entered the third trimester yesterday. I should now lose any bursts of energy that appeared within the past trimester. The good news for me is that there never were really any bursts of energy so it probably won't be that different. I so think this is a girl...messing with me before she's even born :)

10) Last but not least, I got nothing else!! Hahaha. This 10 thing list is hard work! maybe when there are two of them it will get easier! For us, life just kind of goes along day by day pretty normally. :)

3 yr stats

We had Nolan's 3year check up today. He's 40 pounds (yikes!) and 38 inches tall. A big big kid. No head measurement but he appears to be catching up to the size of it! Hahaha. Everything else looked great they said he seems just fine. We just have to start bringing him to a dentist because we're supposed to start at age 3. Joy.

As a side note, it kills me that they don't do specific well-visit days or times. The pediatrician was absolutely PACKED today, both rooms with practically no open seats. And the geniuses there have only put toys and books in the sick room, nothing in the well waiting room. So you wait and wait and waiti with a child who has no access to toys or books because you are afraid of the germs just to go in and have a five minute visit. I can't wait to find a new pediatrician. Hopefully someone that has less than five million patients.

On the other hand there were MANY two week olds there for their first visit and I got to see a bunch of teeny tiny cuties!

Ten (Okay, eight) on Tuesday

Okay, so I am going to keep up with this. For this week. Hahaha.

1) Nolan has decided it is much too fun to go to sleep at night anymore. For the past four nights he has been awake until after 10. Every.Single.Night. We aren't doing anything differently, he is still going to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 but he's wide awake come 9, 9:30, 10. We even go in and try to tell him that it's time for bed. Matt mistakenly gave him trains last night to bring to bed. He won't be doing that again. No toys in bed. We tried going without a nap but because little man is so intent on staying up yet still waking at 7:30 he is too exhausted come 2 or 3 to stay awake.

2) On that note, Nolan is all about daddy right now. Last night I let him watch his "movie" (a show before bed) in our room. Our conversation went something like this:
"I want to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed tonight."
"No, honey. Mommy and daddy have to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed tonight."
"I can sleep in the middle."
"No, honey, the bed isn't big enough."
"Daddy and I can sleep in mommy and daddy's bed and you mommy can sleep in the back" (our guest room)
"No, mommy needs to sleep in her bed."
"I can sleep with daddy in the back and you can sleep here."
"No, you're going to sleep in your room tonight."

Notice I was nowhere in those sleeping arrangement plans. And when he got off of the bed and discovered Matt was home he shouted "bye mom!" and slammed my door shut. Then when I went into his room a little later he said "Yeah, daddy's doing bedtime tonight."
Gotta admit, it's a bit of a welcome change but a little bittersweet as well.

3) I think as my belly is getting bigger, my brain is getting smaller. Seriously. I was trying to understand the bank bailout stuff that is going on and, granted my degree isn't in finance, but I sat there reading the same paragraphs over and over and finally had to just give up. Give me a toddler book anytime.

4) Related to that, the pregnancy is going well. I am not feeling well this week for some reason and it appears that my headaches have returned. I was told all along that you don't normally get headaches when pregnant. This is why I signed up for it twice!! The baby is moving a ton and is pretty much settled in one position but likes to rotate back and forth from my left side to my right. Matt felt the other day and said he thinks that the butt is up and the head is down. Good thing.

5) Matt is totally done with fellowship interviews. We have to make our list before October 1. Our top four are similar but in different orders.

His: Brown (Providence), UNC Chapel Hill, Loyola (Chicago), Cincinnati
Mine: UNC, Cincinnati, Providence, Chicago. I think.

Cincy and Providence keep flip flopping in my mind. Key to this is the cost of living (COL) aspect and quality of life with that COL. I don't think Matt quite appreciates that part of it though. When I look for houses and rentals in some of these cities/suburbs and am not finding anything NEAR what we can afford, that scares me. Then I look at Chapel Hill, Cincy and Cleveland and they are right in our price range. I am scared of living some place and having all of the money go to a mortgage or rent and not even being able to afford something halfway decent with the space we need... And what makes it even more interesting is that the salaries in each of the cities vary by maybe $4k tops. He would actually make MORE living in NC than he would in Chicago. Something wrong with that equation. He's meeting with the woman that heads the program here for advice tonight. We'll see how that goes.

6) I appear to be living on oatmeal and grilled cheese and water. Do you think that's enough of a range for me? Hahaha. Though I did crave and then make lasagna the other night. This kid better like sauce. I still have no idea how Nolan can possibly be my child and not like tomato sauce!

7) I am so excited about premier week this week that it's kind of sad. How I Met Your Mother was last night some other shows are other days and of course my favorite, Grey's Anatomy, is Thursday!! Kevin McKidd is joining the cast of GA and I am ALL about that!!! (For those of you that don't know him, I first saw him in HBO's Rome series as Lucious Vorenus and he had another short lived series "The Journeyman" last year that I never watched. He's a fantastic actor and HOT to boot.)

8) And most important for last - Nolan is about 75% potty trained!!!! He stayed dry all weekend, Friday to Monday!!! He told us when he had to go and did. He even did it standing up and didn't make a mess. (Thank goodness the second time he expressed an interest in standing, Matt was home to show him how because I was doing it ALL wrong.) No poop and still in diapers for naps and overnight but whatever. I'll take it! We are so so proud of him and he is so proud of himself!

That's all for this week. I am too tired to think of more :)

Fun Saturday

I've been to this great park in NJ twice now for shoots for clients. It has two different ponds, two different playgrounds, ducks, fish, turtles, lots to do. So since Matt was off and we had a relaxing weekend we headed out there on Saturday after I got home from my session. Nolan had a great time feeding the ducks and fish and got to see turtles and explore woods. A great boy adventure :) He was pretty tuckered out at the end of the trip as you'll see.

Pure joy feeding the geese and ducks. He was SO excited. There really were ducks, you just can't see them in these pictures...







Not sure what I did to deserve this look :)


On the bench at the first pond, Nolan pointing out the water to daddy.


Matt teaching Nolan how to throw the bread into the water. Nolan had a problem making small chunks and liked to throw massive pieces into the water at the beginning. Then we moved him onto crackers.









Off to explore the woods and see the turtles. This is right before he went off of the path and got into a mess of pricker bushes. He survived just fine but has several scratches on his ankles.


I think the entire trip was worth this picture. Nolan insisted that Daddy ride the other one.






He LOVED the monkey bars. You can see pure joy (mixed with concentration) on his face in these :)






On the way home after a hard day of playing :)

And once again I forgot...

One thing I wanted to put on the ten list thingy is Nolan's new greatest joy - he can go through the revolving doors at his daycare building all by himself. This leads to wild shrieks of happiness and cries of "I did it mommy!!!" Of course this also leads to him running headlong towards them while they are still rapidly spinning from the previous adult person (usually a big strong male) while my pregnant self lunges after him yelling "Wait til it stops Nolan!! Waaaaaaiit!" There are even two sets in the lobby so we get to do it twice.

Of course it is totally worth it when I don't have to do the "straddle the small moving child in front of you while you both squeeze into the revolving door and oh by the way don't catch your toes or theirs" revolving door move.

Ten on Monday...and some photos

Okay, so my first attempt at a weekly update sucked. Sorry about that. I am not so good at keeping up with this blog because I *have* to keep up with the other one. In an ideal world I would combine both but that's not happening because as you will see, my pictures of Nolan are nowhere near the caliber of my photos of other people's kids!! Hahaha.

Okay so the ten for this week

1) Nolan's new phrase is "Oh Man." except it's said like "Oh maaaaaaan" in this nasally whiny voice. Annoys the stuffing out of me to be honest.

2) He got a haircut today. All of a sudden he looks so much older. A real boy. I know we keep saying this but he is just getting so BIG. When I see him laying on his bed or our bed when we let him nap there, he's just so LONG.

3) The pregnancy is going well. I am 25 weeks tomorrow and still no weight gain but a whole lot of basketball belly. I am still pretty tired overall but not as bad as it was before. I still can't stomach the idea or taste of meat or really much of anything. I haven't really developed much of an appetite yet. I guess it will come but right now the most appealing thing in the world to me is grilled cheese. That is a pretty common staple for my lunches. And sometimes my dinners. (Not my breakfasts, though. Yet.)

4) Matt and I had a really good time in Chicago. Definitely Matt more than I did. It's not very fun when you are in a strange city and your spouse is in meetings all day. But it was neat to see a new city and be right in the middle of everything! It was quite something to walk down the Magnificent Mile and pass Burberry, Coach, Tiffanys, Cartier, La Perla, etc etc. Serious shopping. Needless to say my only purchase was at the Payless that was hidden under some construction.

5) Matt has one interview left this Friday (Harvard) and we will be done!!! Then it comes time to do the difficult task of ranking the programs. We are each making a list and then we'll compare it. Thankfully I think our lists will be almost identical, at least at the top. It's the middle/end that might differ. Matt has been really impressed with some of the programs and not as much with others but now comes the decision - do you take a match anywhere you can get it rather than not match at all? The list is due October 1 (????) and we find out October 29.

6) Nolan's birthday party went well. It's hard to believe we own a three year old. Three just seems so old and although the memories are fuzzy, it seems like he was just born... The party was a small occasion, only about 20-25 people I think. He did great the entire time and got a ton of new toys that are now completely cluttering my house. I am beginning to think I will never have my house clean ever again. Someone save me.

7) Nolan moved up to a new room at daycare. Actually he skipped a room due to summer vacation. He is now the only child in his room who is not potty trained. Or at least not in training pants. Sigh. I just want to cry. He greets me at daycare with cries of "I made pee in the potty! I want to wear underwear!" But then we get home and it doesn't continue. The teacher did request that I bring in pull ups with underwear (no diapers) so I am hoping between the teachers working on it and peer pressure it will happen. I keep telling myself like everyone says "No one ever went to kindergarten in diapers. No one ever went to kindergarten in diapers." I am starting to think that's a lie.

8) Nolan is still giving concerts. In fact he gave a private concert to Auntie Sara who put it on youTube for us. The web address is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci8Y9rN89TQ

9) The business is going well. Only a little over two months until I begin my maternity leave and I have only three days left that are empty on my calendar. I'm pretty happy. Recently the vision of me attempting a photo shoot at 35 weeks pregnant has been creeping more and more often into my mind. Let me tell you, it's a pretty funny picture!!!

10) Nolan has finally let us modify his bedtime routine. It used to take forEVER. But now we have it down to change into pjs, read two books in bed and sing two songs and we're done. It's helping that we don't do potty at all because that definitely adds time. (I offer every night but he refuses.) He's also going to bed more easily and without a fight most nights. Also a welcome change :)

That's it for this week. And now some photos:

From the birthday party


Wearing the hat that Auntie Sara got him in Turkey. It has little mirrored pieces all around it but he modified the design with stickers. :)


Not a great photo but you can see what I get from him now whenever I want to take his picture. Lord help me I am tired of this face...


After his haircut today. Excuse the nudity, he has been going through a no-shirt-wearing phase.




Nolan requested that I take these last two...

How could I forget????

On my list of ten I forgot one HUGE funny thing.

Nolan likes swimming. A lot. Not swimming himself, but the swimming that has been on the TV for the Olympics. He is kind of addicted to it. I am actually pleased and sad at the same time that it's all over. If he is in the room and anything related to swimming, the trials, pictures, videos, interviews, etc comes on he stops what he's doing and shrieks "Mom!! Dad!! It's SWIMMING!!!!" Not sure when the love affair began but it's in full force. So much that when we got the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated, Nolan sat on the floor with it for about 20 minutes looking at the swimming pictures. Not only that but he made me tear out a page to hang in his room. On the page - Michael Phelps. It's a view from the bottom of the pool looking up at him swimming. And it is now proudly hanging behind Nolan's red chair on the wall in his room. Nolan even decorated Michael Phelp's tummy with a blue star.

Now he's moved on to diving. He watches it and goes "jump jump jump DIVE!!! Hahaha Mommy he's so SILly!!!" I think he only has moved onto that because they swim over to the wall when they're done...

Ten on Tuesday

A few people whose blogs I love have started doing a "10 on Tuesday" post where they talk about random things going on in their lives. I figure if nothing else maybe THIS will get me to post on here... We have been insanely busy recently, Nolan and I took two week long trips and then I made an additional short jaunt to Vegas for a few days. I do have some pictures of him but nothing great... Anyways, on to the ten things.

1. We have hit halfway with this pregnancy! Actually over as I am now 21 weeks. We had the anatomy scan (aka the BIG U/S) a week and a half ago and everything looks great. We didn't find out the sex even though I grilled Matt nonstop for a while afterwards to make sure he hadn't seen anything. The nice part about an OB for a husband is that if I change my mind I can just head in one day that he's on call and have him scan me! We've come up with a few names but I think in some ways this just isn't real and imminent to us yet so we haven't gotten serious about it.

2. Nolan believes he also has a baby. But his baby lives right about where his neck meets his chest. He makes me wash the baby in the bathtub and keeps saying "My baby's up HIIIIGH." He does like giving the real baby kisses though. We'll see if that lasts.

3. Matt's gone on three of his interviews so far. He ended up getting an interview everywhere he applied except for one place that decided to go with an internal candidate and not interview anyone. Pretty good! Our contenders are:
Providence (Brown)
Boston (Harvard)
Philadelphia (UPenn)
Allentown, PA
Baltimore
Chicago (2 programs, Loyola and Northwestern)
Cincinnati
Chapel Hill (my first choice!!)
Cleveland (my absolute LAST choice)

We'll find out on October 29 if he has matched anywhere... Scary. I'm not nervous about it now but I know that I will be.

4. Nolan is very in to Santa Claus recently. Why, I have no idea. But if you ask him to do something, wear something, etc, he'll tell you that he'll do it "for when Santa Claus comes in December."

5. Our little monkey turns three (3!!!!!) in 17 days. That is insane to me. Where did this little boy come from? Sometimes I still marvel that he is ours and he's already turning 3! He decided that he wanted a Backyardigans theme for his birthday, so Backyardigans it is!

6. The baby enjoys kicking / punching me. Whenever I am sitting or leaning back it just kicks away. It's nice because it's that reaffirmation that there really is something in there. (As of the U/S the feet were on my right side and the head was on my left.) The nice part is is that Matt can now feel it from the outside. Of course smartypants medical husband puts his hand on there and is like oh yeah, there's its back. Party pooper. I'm excited just to feel it move and he has to get all technical and smart on me. Also, the baby likes to do barrel rolls...

7. Nolan as of this past week is now giving Matt and I (and probably anyone who would listen) concerts. He pretends to put on a guitar (complete with the strap over the head) then holds his shirt taut in his right hand and strums the shirt with his left. He then announces "This song is called ___" and proceeds to sing / shout at pretty much the top of his lungs. His songs involve a bunch of gibberish mixed in with random phrases like "If I fall down I can get hurt" or "I had french toast for breakfast" or "I just sat on the potty." It's really really hysterical. Then he will "take off" the guitar, go to a spot in the room or yard, "put on" another one, announce the name of the next song and continue the concert. This usually goes on for seven or more songs. I have to get this on video somehow...

8. Matt and I are going to Chicago for a week after Nolan's birthday party. I can't wait! A new city to explore while he is attending a conference. We're flying out from CT and staying in the Sheraton in downtown Chicago (thank you department for picking up the tab for a conference!!!) Should be a good time and hopefully I will get to meet some of the women I have known for over a year on my photography board.

9. Nolan is in his big boy bed now! We got a twin bed for him and my family was nice enough to rearrange and clean everything while I was in Las Vegas. He is doing great in it so far, no problems (knock on wood). He stays in bed until we come and get him and is loving all of the room he has. I love the room too, especially as I get bigger, I can just climb in there with him to do books, songs, etc.

10. And last some good news, I am finally starting to feel better! I have somewhat of an appetite back and the nausea is almost 100% gone. I still am having headaches but I think they're more tension related than anything. (I also strongly believe I am in need of a prenatal massage!! Hint, hint honey!) All of my weight has apparently transferred to baby belly since I am still at a negative gain. If I can make it to my 24 week appointment with still no positive gain I will be one happy momma. Oh and I *do* have a belly now. It popped while I was in NC so now I just have this basketball in front. Hmmm...they say basketball is a boy but craving sweets / sweet things (which I am doing with a vengeance) is a girl. Hmmmm....

Whew. That was a lot harder than you would think it would be!! That's it for now. I promise grandma and grammy that I will try and post some Nolan pictures soon...

Updates

Thought it was time to post some new pictures. Also, it's timely because I had my 15 week check up today. Everything seems fine. Heartbeat is good and strong (med student couldn't find it which made me a bit nervous but doc did fine) and my weight gain so far is negative 8 pounds. Yup, rather than gaining, I am losing. But the doctor isn't concerned. As long as I gain later that is what is important. So I won't worry about it. For those of you that know me and saw me during my first pregnancy you wouldn't believe it. I'm 15 weeks and hardly showing at all. All I have is the lovely bloat but no baby popping yet. Sooo weird. Add it to the list of reasons we think it's a girl. Speaking of I had a dream last night I gave birth four weeks early to a girl named Abigail and she was 9 lbs 10 oz!!! And she was 9 inches long. Hahaha. Weird dreams. I am still exhausted and waiting for that 2nd trimester good stuff to kick in but two weeks in it hasn't yet. I just want to be done with the tired!! Four weeks until the "big" ultrasound where they do the anatomy scan. This is where we would find out the sex but we're skipping that step this time. :)

By the way, if you ask Nolan what the baby is he'll say it's a girl. We have never prodded him to say this, he just always has. But when you ask him if he wants a brother or sister he is very insistent that he have a brother.

Nolan is doing well. We have started our three day daycare weeks, so he is home with me on Mondays and Fridays. We had our first craft day today. I had SO much fun doing the projects with him. I even took a picture of everything we did. In the top left is out painting with sponges and gluing a mini wheel pasta into a circle shape and then painting them. Then there is the bumblebee, ladybug (love his spot placement!) and a tree. He had a great time, too!



He also got a helmet for his trike. We are still working on pedaling but he has gotten up so much speed I am convinced he's going to topple over! He really likes his helmet and wears it around the house at random times.





And some random pictures from a few weeks ago when we went to DC to visit family. Okay, so it's like a month ago...I am behind, what can I say??