Baby update

I had another prenatal appointment today.  It was basically just a heartbeat and blood pressure check.  The baby's heart rate was approximately 152 beats/minute.  It kicked while she was checking so I heard a little "thump" when that happened.  It was kinda funny.

My next appointment, another heartbeat and blood pressure check, is on Tuesday, October 27th.   The ultrasound to find out the gender is on Thursday, November 12th.  I'm bummed they are making us wait until Week 20 but hey, all good things come to those who wait, right?  :)

Our kitchen is done!

Didn't they do a fabulous job?

Kitchen - Day 2

On Tuesday I came home to find all the tiles on the wall for our back splash and half of it grouted.  I asked how everything went and Shaun replied, "Well, I only got electrocuted once." I thought he was joking.  Then, later that night I was taking pictures and came across the light switch below.  

ME - "What the hell is that?"

SHAUN - "That's where I got electrocuted."

ME - "OMG, are you okay?  I thought you were joking."

SHAUN - "Yeah, luckily holding the bowl of water in my other hand."

And he wonders why I require him to be supervised during these projects...

14 weeks

Nursery Furniture

Soon after we found out I was pregnant, Abby emailed me about a fabulous deal for a nursery set on Craigslist. We got a crib, changing table and dresser for $500!!! :) I was very satisfied with the deal. Unfortunately, I have decided I really want it painted. Fortunately, I have an amazing husband and a fabulous dad who are going to paint it for me when they're done putting in the kitchen back splash. Lucky me!!

New spaces

We got our living room and kitchen painted last week. We're very excited with the results.

Here is what the living room looked like before...

And now....

With the kitchen painted and Dad here visiting, he and Shaun are putting in a tile back splash. So far, it looks fabulous. Here is a pic before the paint and the tiles...

And now as a work-in-progress...

13 weeks

I can't believe I'm posting this.  Oh well, enough people are bugging me.  Today I'm 13 weeks. Some people say I have a bump.  I say it's my body fat all shifted around.  Belly bumps should be hard.  My tummy is not very hard.  But I'm not pushing it out or anything, it's just what it is right now I guess.

Pics from Friday, September 18th

Here are the pics from our ultrasound on Friday. Shaun was able to go and had a great time seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat. Our little munchkin is approximately 3 inches from head to toe. Here are my top 3 favorites...

Little Z just relaxing.

3D image of Little Z rubbing his/her eye. SO PRECIOUS.

Sucking it's thumb. Can you see it's hand curled up above it's mouth?

BOY or GIRL???

That's the million dollar question. I have to admit, my curiosity has gotten the best of me. I don't care what we have but I'm dying to know what color to paint the room!! So, I spent $34.99 for an over-the-counter gender prediction test.

If my pee stayed the same color (or at least a yellow/orange) then we're having a GIRL. If it turned green, it meant a BOY. Well, the magical mix turned GREEN. Between those results and the card readers prediction (she too said a BOY), I figured we better be buying blue.

Well, we went for our NT Scan on Friday. We definitely got some GREAT photos of Baby Zemanek but the technician threw a wrench in my planning. Without telling him what we thought we were having, he said that he would wager a 51% chance of us having a GIRL. Seriously? You've been doing this how long and you can't man up and give me a better prediction than 51%?!?!? Of course, that being said, it has put everything on a hold until our anatomy scan, which will hopefully be right before Halloween.

2nd appt pics

Okay, so I finally got smarter than the scanner and took pictures of the ultrasound pics. Smart, right? :)

I'll try to go in later and edit them to make them easier to see if I can.

A whole profile pic

It's waving. The dot on the left is it's elbow.

Shaun & Anna snuggle

Abby & Anna came over one Sunday afternoon to visit when Shaun happened to be home from work. Anna painted and then joined Shaun on the couch for a snuggle and a bit of TV watching. I had to snap a pic.

Daycare hunt

First of all, I have not forgotten about the ultrasound pictures from my appointment last week. Sadly, I still can't get the scanner to work, which is such a bummer. I think I might just unplug the silly thing and reboot it. I am working on it though, I promise.

Last Thursday Shaun and I started the daycare search. How stressful! Our little one isn't even 3 inches long and we're looking for someone else to help care for it. How unnerving. If we could afford it and I wouldn't go absolutely crazy, I would just stay home. Please don't judge me but as much as I know I want to be a mom, I know I need to work. I would go crazy if I didn't. I love kids but I need that adult interaction and responsibility. However, it is stressful to find someone that can care for our child as well, or better, than we can and not do something like this when I'm at work and oblivious to their ways.

We went to two places that friends have recommended. The first place was small and the woman was so nice. She was incredibly friendly and we both liked the feel of the place. The bummer is that she doesn't have an opening until September 2010. However, she did say that sometimes things happen and an opening comes up.

The second place was a bigger center. I almost had to run out of the baby room it stunk so badly. I don't know if they had just changed a really stinky diaper or what but it also seemed like it was a permanent smell. It was gross. The rest of the place was okay but I couldn't take that infant room. They did have an opening for May 1st that they would hold until June 1st but I would definitely have to go back and make sure that nasty smell isn't permanent. And honestly, at this point, I think both Shaun and I are both just more interested in finding other options.

So, this Thursday we're going to three places. An in-home and 2 centers. Abby's kids both went to the in-home and love the woman. I'm interested to check her out. I've already been warned she's not talkative with parents but amazing with the kids so this should be interesting. :)

Then after the visits I'm off to Cape Cod for the weekend for work. Challenge Walk is this weekend. Participants walk 20 miles on both Friday & Saturday and then 10 on Sunday. We have a staff meeting at 5:30am each morning. God help me. Exhaustion has moved in and kicked my butt. Yesterday I fell asleep on Abby's couch with Anna on top of me as we watched a movie. Then I fell asleep on the couch watching TV later that evening. Of course when I went upstairs, brushed my teeth and went to bed I was wide awake. I swear my toothpaste is spiked with caffeine or something. And then just today I came home and passed out on the couch after telling Shaun I just needed to sit down for 5 minutes before I made dinner. He had to wake me up an hour later but luckily he made dinner.

With that in mind, I'm off to bed.

First appointment

I had my first appointment with the OB today.  Well, actually the woman I met with is a midwife, not an OB.  She was nice and I liked her.  I had an ultrasound and got to see Baby Z moving around like a Mexican Jumping Bean.  It was waving and seriously, jumping up and down like crazy.  The midwife thought it was so funny and had the hardest time getting a good shot to measure him/her.  I also got to hear the heartbeat.  I really wish Shaun had been there.  He would gotten a kick out of it all.

Now we have to decide if we're doing any genetic testing.  UGH!  I don't know.  There is a part of me that says "no, because it wouldn't change anything."  But, and don't judge me, there is a part of me that says even though it won't change anything, if there was something wrong it would give us a heads up and a chance to prepare for it.  One of the tests is an ultrasound and blood test which would have to take place soon so I guess we better figure it out.  Blah.

Tomorrow morning we are looking at two daycare centers.  Crazy! Both of them are places that people have recommended.  One is my co-worker's daycare, which is right around the corner from my office and she loves it. The other one is where our friends Rey & Ann's daughters go and they RAVE about the place.   It is between our house and my office.  So both are ideal locations.  The only other one I have even thought about, or know anything about, is the in-home program that Anna and Oliver go to.  Abby has always seemed very happy with it and the kids are happy so that's probably our first choice.  Other than that, we have no ideas on other places so I need to do my homework.  Oh goody.

Well, I'm sure you're wondering where the pics are from today.  The scanner isn't working. BOO!  So, as soon as I can get them uploaded, I will.  I promise. 

8 weeks preggo

Here's a pic of me that Abby took while we were at Oakledge a few weekends ago.  I promise you I'm not showing - sadly enough, it's just my usual body fat.  And at 10 weeks, I'm no closer to looking anything more than thicker around the middle.  Now that I've posted the token picture of me with no belly, I will not be posting anymore until there is something to see.

The tale of the awful dinner

A few months ago our friends Abby and Dave had us over for dinner. They made this fabulous dinner called Aromatic Noodles with Thai Peanut Sauce. Or something very close to that. Anyway, it was awesome and both Shaun and I loved it. Dave told me where to find it online and I printed it out the next day. A couple weeks later I made it with the one addition Shaun insisted on, chicken.

This morning I decided I really wanted to have it for dinner. This dish consists of rice noodles, snap peas, broccoli, peanuts, homemade peanut sauce and of course, Shaun's chicken. It's easy to make and super yummy. All day I was looking forward to having it tonight. Well, that was a mistake.

I made dinner and just as I thought I was almost done Shaun pointed out I hadn't made the chicken. D*%n chicken! In my pregnancy pissyness I made the freaking chicken. I was hungry and moody. Never a good combination. Well, I'm not sure what happened but everything went downhill from there. The noodles congealed together and it was just hard to mix up.

We sat down to dinner, took one bite and almost got up and threw everything away. It was awful. I don't know if I built it up so much that I just screwed up or what but it was terrible. It also didn't help that Shaun was trying to be funny about how it wasn't bad when it was obvious he disliked it as much as I did. Grrr.

Then to top it all off, I was doing the dishes and when I was throwing away the leftovers, I almost lost the dinner I did manage to get down. What a crappy dinner!!!!

Getting used to things

So while there's not a ton of things to get used to yet with being pregnant, some things have already come up that have made life interesting...


...Exhaustion. That has been the biggest thing. I am usually a go, go, go kinda of person. There have been several times that I've passed out in the middle of the day and woken up an hour, or three, later. Luckily never during work. I'm also usually a night person and up until at least 11pm. These days I seem to only be able to keep my eyes open until about 10pm. If I am lucky enough to stay up past 10pm, I find that I'm in bed early the next day.


Last night I worked the Budweiser VIP tent at the concert that was at the fair. I had a great time and didn't get in bed until approximately midnight. I surprisingly woke-up fairly easy and didn't yawn too much throughout the day. Shaun IMed me twice throughout the day to ask me how I was doing. I think he is betting I'll be crashed on the couch by 8:30 tonight. I guess we'll see!


...Food. Luckily I haven't had any cravings yet. It's probably also why I haven't gained even a half a pound. I have had morning sickness, sometimes worse than others, but no real food aversions or cravings yet. I did get sick after hot dogs (yes, they were well grilled and I read online that it was okay), lasagna, a chimichanga, and even just fruit and toast. Needless to say I will not ever eat a hot dog ever again. The others, I may try again but never hot dogs. I'm done with those.


The other bummer is that I've been dying for a margarita on the rocks with salt. It's like the moment I found out I was pregnant, I really wanted a margarita. Whatzup with that? And sushi. No sushi. Such a bummer.


And last night, I was at the concert and was starving. They had meat and cheese platters and pretzels. I wasn't thinking and had some pepperoni, salami and cheese. Only 1 of each until I remembered that I wasn't supposed to be eating it.


...Clothing. I find it hilarious that one day a pair of pants can fit alright and other days, they are so uncomfortable that I can't even bring myself to wear them. As I said earlier, I haven't gained any weight but all my pants are starting to get snug. Someone said that while I haven't gained any weight, my weight is changing. Umm, okay - I guess I believe that. Either way, I just feel fat in my clothes but I'm not even close to being able to wear any maternity clothing.


...Peeing. I have always gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Even if I don't drink something after 6pm, I have to get up to pee. Even before I was pregnant. Now, I get up like 3 times a night. It's very obnoxious. Luckily I'm very good at "sleep walking" when I do get up to go.


...Lifting. One of the hardest things to get used to is remember that I shouldn't be lifting anything heavy. On top of being a go, go, go person, I'm also used to doing whatever I need to do to get a job done. If said job requires a keg to be moved, I move the keg. Last night, I wasn't thinking and went to help someone lift a full keg onto a cart. My friend Rey snapped "NO" at me like I was his 2 year old. I definitely backed away and said "okay, my bad." I think that his response will pop into my head every time I go to lift anything I'm not supposed to. Rey has made himself stuck in my head.

I can't think of anything else at the moment. I have my first OB appointment tomorrow. I wish Shaun was going with me.