Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Why I never wear slippers

Things like slippers just aren't safe in our house...
You never know where the Zo-Zo might be lurking...


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Tom will kill me for this one...

A picture of my boys snuggling all cozy in the pink sheets.... How cute!


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Weekend at Mandy & Austin's House

Last weekend we went to Mandy & Austin's house after work on Saturday. Mandy made a fabulous lasagna for dinner. Bailey tossed most of her green beans and oranges to the floor where the dogs patiently waited and ate everything. I never realized they liked fruit & veggies so much.
On Sunday we went to church and then hung around the house all afternoon watching tv, napping and playing with Bailey. Here's Mandy snuggling with Zoey.
Then Bailey snuggled with Zoey.

After her nap, I read Bailey one of her Elmo books - she is still kinda sleepy in this picture.

Now she's a little more awake.





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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Things I miss while pregnant

There are so many restrictions when you are pregnant... some of these aren't that important and some are just downright irritating. I'm limiting this discussion to the food/drink category.

Example: Steaks
I have always been a medium rare kind of girl. In my opinion, cooking all the pink out of the meat just cooks the taste away. I was reminded again this evening of how much this ticks me off. We ordered in dinner at work from Outback. I got a steakhouse salad and had to order medium well. Result - nearly tasteless steak. Ugh.

Example: Alcohol
I've actually been pretty good with this one. But sometimes you don't realize you miss something until you get a little taste. The other weekend we hosted my parents 30th anniversary dinner at our house (Congrats Mom & Dad!!) and while I was cooking, I stole a swig of Smirnoff Grape from my sister's bottle.... OMG! I don't remember it tasting so good. It was like tasting it again for the first time. A heavenly experience. Now I crave it like crazy!!

Example: Seafood
Being limited to 3 oz of seafood a week is ridiculous. Do you realize how hard this is when seafood is one of your favorite foods? No crabs - that also means no crab soup, no cream of crab, no crap dip, no crab pretzel, etc. And what about scallops - my favorite. Even a simple thing like tuna - I used to eat probably 2 tuna sandwiches a week. Now I don't eat any b/c I try to save my seafood limit for the weekends so I can order it at a restaurant.

Example: Caffeine
This hasn't been a big deal b/c you can get almost anything caffeine free - soda, tea, lemonade, etc. But if you have always had caffeine in your diet every day... guess what happens when you don't get it. A freakin' headache!!! I get one almost every day now and no amount of Tylenol will take it away. Tylenol is another irritant - its totally worthless to me. I miss the days of Excedrin use.

Anyways, I could go on and on... but those are some of my recent rants. I know all those who have been through pregnancy know what I'm talking about... and for those that haven't - you're not my friend anymore... well, maybe you are... but only if you let me swig some of that Smirnoff Grape! Click Here to Read More..

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Two in one day?!

Okay, I finally downloaded some holiday pics...
Here's Zoey going to town on a treat from her stocking.

I got Tom a couple of onesies which he could appreciate dressing the baby up in. This one says "Metal Baby", another says "If you think I'm a mess, you should see my daddy" and the last one is a little baby hand holding up the rock 'n roll horns. I think Tom was overwhelmed by the idea of how small the baby would be... kinda eye-opening.

And since Tom has been so jealous of Bailey's one-piece feet pajamas every time she visits, I had to find him a pair of his own to wear Christmas morning. Plus, a shot of the tree (which we took down this past weekend... so sad).

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Ohhhh, We're Halfway There!!

We are just over 20 weeks which marks the halfway point. Had a doctor visit today and met the 4th doctor in the practice, Dr. Zern (there are 6 total). She reminded me of a really sweet grandmother. Incredibly nice lady - I hope we have her for delivery.

Today was the first measurement of my stomach - from pelvic bone to the top of my stomach it was 21 centimeters. They expect it to be close to 20 so that's good. And I've gained 9 pounds and they expect around 10 pounds. Over the next 20 weeks I'm only supposed to gain about 3/4 of a pound a week so that I total out at 25... right... we'll see about that. The heartbeat was good at a consistent 150. She actually said I'm doing "perfectly". Well, I guess we all have to have one thing we do perfectly.

Here are some comparison pics of the belly. The first picture was at 6 weeks.

And this is 17 weeks.
Now, in the past three weeks, I swear it's expanded another couple of inches b/c nothing fits or is comfortable. I can't imagine how much worse it's going to get. You'll also notice how "top heavy" I'm getting too - but that's actually a bonus. Right, dear? Click Here to Read More..

Monday, January 19, 2009

Prego Belly

The newest irritation about a growing pregnant belly: the wet mark across my shirt from leaning against the sink to wash my hands.

I first get mad at myself for not being more careful and keeping the belly away from the countertop. Then I realize that it isn't me - it's the idiot who washed their hands before me and left the countertop soaking wet!

Come on people... have some respect for the people with expanding waistlines! We can't help it our arms are too short and our guts are too big to keep from pressing against the sink! Help me out here!! Click Here to Read More..

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Maddie Sees Metallica

Well, Maddie is definitely going to be a rock star... or at the very least, she will be exposed to some awesome rock and metal music. In her very short 20 weeks in the womb, she has seen Joe Satriani, The TranSiberian Orchestra, AC/DC and now to top it off - METALLICA!!!!
Here are some pics of the show at DC's Verizon Center from our seats... the show was sold out and the place was packed with people of all ages (12 year olds to 60 year olds) and every one of them was throwing up the fist and the horns.
Here's a view from our seats (Sec 118 Row R)
From our seats with the lights on...
Here's a couple pics of the tour that I found online...

James (or as Tom kept saying- the "pussy" b/c Metallica requested that no beer be sold once they hit the stage)

Kirk (nice ESP - where have I seen that before?)

Lars (drum kit in center stage but he insisted on jumping off during the show so he could spit his water on the crowd... the crowd actually loved it I think)

Robert (newest addition to the band but still kickass on the older stuff)
And as you may recall from some of my other posts - my concert mission is always to try to get a copy of the set list... and no, I'm not referring to going online and downloading it. Well, this concert was no different. We weren't near the sound boards or the stage, so I wasn't sure if it would happen. At one point, I had to exit our section (due to a certain sweet odor in the air) and as I made my way to exit, I noticed that there were some lighting boards at the back of our section. The dudes had to have set lists of some kind so I ventured back there during the encore and the guy gave me his copy. I didn't have to flirt or buy him a beer or anything (see Metal Masters Tour). So here is the list (italics mine):
house song (tape)
ecstasy of gold (tape) - this starts every concert and we also used it to start the intros at our wedding reception
heartbeat (tape) - this is the intro on the new album "Death Magnetic"
LIFE
LINE
HORSEMEN
HARVESTER
one (tape)
ONE - this was freaking amazing
BBS
CYANIDE
SAD
rob solo
roam (tape)
ROAM
nightmare (tape)
NIGHTMARE
kirk solo
DAY
PUPPETZ - they did the full album version... this is my personal favorite
battery (tape)
BATTERY
kirk doodling
NOTHING - JoshMan used this song as a basis for our prelude music in our wedding
SANDMAN
===========
DIE
MOTORBREATH
SEEK







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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It's a Girl!!!

We had our sonogram yesterday and found out that we're having a little girl!

We were very anxious for this visit but trying not to get our hopes up because it seems a lot of people have trouble getting a good shot on their first try. I was particularly concerned because I was sick on Monday - I think it was some kind of stomach bug that had me running to the bathroom all day and also pretty bad cramping. I still managed to work all day (gotta love busy season) and just used antibacterial wipes on everything I touched. But anyways...

Madison Emily Chopper was pretty cooperative during our sonogram. She squirmed from one side of my belly to the other but she didn't hide the hoo hoo. She looked very healthy and all the vital organs appeared to be developing properly. We were able to get a couple of pictures and she has a very cute profile.... okay, no you can't really see that well, but the doctor said it was cute and I'll trust her opinion for now. Her weight was below the average (9 ounces vs. 11-12 ounces) but nothing to be alarmed about according to the doctor. It's probably a result of me being so sick during the first trimester and not gaining a lot of weight. I'm sure we'll make up for it during this second trimester because I finally have an appetite and seem to be holding food down pretty well (excluding that darn stomach bug).

Speaking of eating - it seems there a couple of questions that everyone asks: (1) the due date (2) what we're having - now I'll have a response and (3) any cravings. Well, let me respond regarding the cravings. No there aren't any weird cravings - no peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. But I definitely crave certain foods at certain times. Example: I learned a long time ago not to buy groceries while you're hungry but while buying groceries last week, I was passing the Little Debbie display and despite not being hungry, I had to have an oatmeal cream pie. So I grabbed a box, pulled one out and ate while I finished shopping. Another Example: I like bagels but I never had a habit of eating bagels for breakfast. Lately, I will wake up and can taste the cream cheese and a smear of jelly. So I've had to start buying bagels and cream cheese or I've had to stop at the Big Apple Bagel on my way to work if there weren't any in the house. These kinds of cravings aren't difficult to fulfill but sometimes it's a pain (and expensive) when you plan on eating something for lunch, pack it in the morning and then at noon you absolutely need something else and have to run out and pick it up. And it can be frustrating when you are hungry for dinner but can't think of a single thing that will satisfy it and nothing seems appetizing to you.

A good thing is that I've really been enjoying a lot of fresh fruit. I've been buying pineapples, strawberries, apples, etc. and they are very satisfying. And also milk. I was never a big milk person (lactose intolerant), but this entire pregnancy I've had milk almost every day without any problems. Of course, most of the time it also has chocolate syrup in it, but hey - the baby's getting milk and that's good, right?! Click Here to Read More..

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

18 weeks

Well, we are just over 18 weeks. That means the baby should be 5 1/2 inches long (about the size of a bell pepper) and well on its way in all phases of development (including the hoo-hoo and haa-haa area). We have a sonogram next week to make sure everything is fine and hopefully find out the sex. Personally, I'm praying we just find out - it doesn't matter as much to me what it is... I just want to know already! If you ask Tom, I think he'd tell you that he'd prefer a boy... but once again, it doesn't matter... he just wants a son at some point.

So much has been happening the last couple weeks including all the holidays and I've been meaning to post with all kinds of pictures... but I'm a slacker. I promise I'll get some updates in here by the weekend. Here is a pic from my phone from this past weekend. We met up with Amy, Anthony and Hailey for dinner on Friday night. We had a really good time catching up and swapping our holiday stories. Hailey (just turned 8 months) was a sweetheart, the calmest baby we've ever come in contact with. Seriously, not a peep all evening. And she had no problem being held by either of us. We're hoping for a similar experience for our first.... I don't have my hopes up though, we'll see.



Well, stay tuned for more pictures and updates. Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and New Years!


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