Family Pics - August 2011

Jim set up our living room to be a home studio and got some awesome family pictures! I really wanted some family pictures with me pregnant (35 weeks here) and was starting to get worried that Cash wasn't going to cooperate! Whew, we got 'em! Good timing too because Walgreens had a promo running for discounts off of poster sized pictures -- got ourselves a new picture to update the scene over our engagement photo!
Lovin' from my Bug!

Belly shot

Proud Papa and Momma -- almost a 5 year anniversary picture, too!!!

32 Weeks of Cookin' Cash

32 weeks of cookin' Cash = 1 huge Momma! Jim and I are convinced he's going to be bigger than James, although the weight gain is still right about even (12 lbs with 7 weeks left, perfect for a pound a week)! Went to the doctor on Tuesday, July 19 and all is looking good! Holding steady at 14cm of amniotic fluid (normal 10-25) and he is DEFINITELY a boy ;-) haha! He's moving around a ton and has finally flipped himself into the head-down position (thank you for a bit of breathing relief) although he's on the edge of my pelvis walls, pushing out a bit (not so much thank you for the continued pelvic pain). His heart rate is consistent, still at 146bpm (perfecto!) Going to appointments once a week now and non-stress tests starting in 2 weeks -- getting close, better get ready for C$ to come!!!
Jim won a lottery for 2 free tickets to the VIP opening of the new Rivers Casino. I was the lucky one to be his date, so we enjoyed a night of awesomeness (technically, there is a basement below it that has water in it to count as being on water) as James hung out with the Schillingers.

One of my favorite parts :: the parking garage has colored lights above each spot so you can tell if the spot is open or not without having to drive down the aisle (although I wouldn't trust them, some were green that had cars in them)!

They had some interesting characters walking around all night with plates of desserts and other samples. Something I over heard, the imported wooden design on the ceiling in this picture cost approximately $3 million.

The delicious desserts at the buffet -- we came back just before leaving for a re-tasting :-)

The way my VIP card hung made it look like Cash was the VIP and I was just the body who was transporting him around :-)

Belly Pics

Jen and Dominic are expecting their first baby girl in June -- can't wait to meet Ms. Sofia!!!
Who says you don't carry boys and girls differently?!?! Jen is 37 weeks and I'm only 25 weeks in these pictures -- boy = all out front and girl = wrapped around nicely (and what looks more comfortably to me)! Our ham bone, James, had to get in on the photo session :-)

Jen and Dom watched James this night so Jim and I could cash-in their Christmas gift -- dinner at Melting Pot (yummy)! James had a blast playing with them!!! Unfortunately, after we left, I had Jim go downstairs to check on the fans we had running (we had gotten about 3.5 inches of rain in less than 5 hours and had seepage through the foundation)....I knew things were bad when I heard all the cursing downstairs -- the sewer clean out valve had popped as it was a "fill up" and at least all of James' bath water (and some yucky sewer water) had made it's way all over our basement floor. Ben and Rachel were awesome and helped clean up some of the water (I was useless downstairs anyways as pregnancy and sewage don't mix well) and the emergency plumber charged an arm and a leg to work for, literally, 7 minutes. Update :: sewer has been fixed, check back later to see those pics -- not a good way to spend a free day off work, but Jimmy did a good job with it all.

Jen's Baby Shower

My wonderful mom came into town over her spring break to help me throw Jen a baby shower! I wouldn't have been able to get everything together without her help -- THANK YOU SO MUCH, GG!!!! We went with an "A-B-C" theme and asked people to bring a book to help start Baby Sofia's library for her :-) I think she got a decent start! Jen ordered the cake to go with the A-B-C theme and the elephants that are on Sofia's bedding -- soooo cute!

Grandma Jane with Jen showing off the quilt she made for Sofia

Grandma, Great Grammy and Mommy (4th generation on her way in June)!

A really cute Noah's Ark cross from Great Grandma Joann

Two preggo ladies :-) Jen (approx. 28 weeks along) and Dani (17 weeks along)

And So My Summer Break Begins

I made it through 38 weeks, 2 days at work! The drive was getting to be an event I dreaded every day -- 45 - 60 minutes each way of being kicked and having nerves hit was getting old. The CNW (cert. nurse midwife) had told me to stop at 38 weeks, but I figured the 2 extra days would be good to round off my semester and hand it all of to my guest teacher and then I'll miss a nice even 60 days of work -- good thing I haven't taken many sick days since I've been working and they'll all be paid (cha-ching)!

I'm glad I married an engineer so I don't have to do all this baby-gear assembly! Jimmy got the stroller/car seat all set up and it's pretty surreal but we've had the car seat chillin' in his car for over a week now, just in case ;-) Easton is also trying to figure out what the heck the pack-n-play is doing in his spot in the family room -- sorry pupsters, we have limited space in that room.

I had pushed back my weekly visit to Thursday so I could see either the Dr. or the CNW that are the only 2 people in the office that can deliver me right now..well, of course, they were both in doing C-sections, so I got to meet the new PA. She was very nice and informative but the physical part isn't yet her forte as she just switched to obgyn from peds. To the best of her knowledge, I'm still not dilated AT ALL (which I can't believe bc of all the hip pain and the Braxton-Hicks I thought I was having). So I'm going back Monday to get 'er checked out again (so not fun) and they'll tell us the plan for later in the week. If lil' man doesn't come out on his own, they are going to induce bc my pelvis has measured small and they're not sure he'll fit (OUCH)! So if I'm dilated = probably go in Thurs. very early and start Pitocin; if not dilated at all still = go in Wed. night for Cervadil medicine to get the parts ready and then start Pitocin early in the a.m. on Thursday. They said usually babies are born around dinner time on the day they start, but it could potentially go into Friday. If labor isn't progressing, it means he probably can't fit through my pelvis, so they'll have to do a c-section...I just hope they don't let me labor all day long w/ Pitocin contractions (I've heard wonderfully awful stories about them) to only make me go under the knife. At least the Big 10 Bball Tourney starts and Jimmy and I will have something to watch to help distract us during the day! Will update more after my appt. Monday.

My friend Jenny keeps telling me my belly has definitely dropped and gotten bigger -- well, she's finally right. I had been at the same circumference since the 1st of November and when I measured last night, it was actually 1.5 in. bigger -- so looks like Peanut has dropped (easily seen) but also probably put on some weight finally. The PA said she's not very good at estimating weight, but she thought "we have a pretty good sized friend in there" much to my amazement because he was only estimated at 5lb 2oz two weeks ago!!! WOWZERS! The fundal height was measuring at about 39 weeks, so still one week ahead -- maybe he will say Phooey to this induction and just get things done himself!

One of my fav pictures below.

Amazing Baby Shower Weekend Extravaganza

We had a fun-filled President's Day weekend with 2 baby showers! On Valentine's Day, Jen K. and Amanda threw Peanut an amazing co-ed shower. We had family and friends from both near & far come to celebrate! Thank you to everyone for your thoughtfulness and generosity -- can't wait for you all to meet the Lil' man!

The wonderful ladies in charge of getting the party off without a hitch -- Amanda and Jen K. -- we cannot say enough "Thank yous" to let you know how grateful we are!

The happy parents-to-be

We love Grandma's -- Jimmy, Dani & Grandma 'Chele

I love my Mom -- g.g. (Grandma Gross)

I heart my Dad too -- Me and Pops

Aunt Kris and Aunt Cass drove in for the occasion too! They can't wait to meet their first nephew, but do enjoy rubbing the Buddha belly to try and feel him moving in the mean time!

Jen K. made a cupcake cake, Twon, who was magically delicious :-)

Marketing pitch warning: Tasha made this amazing diaper cake -- it makes me sad that I will have to take it apart bc it's so stinkin' cute (I'm sure after use it will be "stinkin" of a different sort, hehe) -- she should think about making some extra moola on the side doing this...if you're interested, I'll play the middle man for you!

Sunday brought another wonderful day as Jim's mom, aka Grandma 'Chele (pronounced: "shell," name not set in stone, but I do find it sort of flows off the tongue nicely), hosted a beautiful shower for Peanut at Boston Blackies. Montalbano-side family and friends were all there to get us ready for his arrival -- boy did they hook us up with some great items -- from necessities to toys to clothes and everything in between! Thank you very much to all for your words of wisdom and your thoughtfulness :-) (I didn't have my camera, so pictures will have to be added at a later date).

34 weeks = swollen feet and baby dropping

So the Super Bowl ended up being a much better game than I anticipated, which made the game fun to watch even though one of my or Jim's teams weren't involved. A few of the Halicki's made it up and it was great, as always, to see them along w/ Jim's mom and brother. The commercials seemed to lack some compared to past years, but I'm guessing advertising budgets are getting cut back and I still was cracking up at some of them, so way to go advertising/marketing guys & gals.

Sometime on Monday the baby "dropped" and is sitting a bit lower -- now I have to get used to my belly being gigantic at a different level, which should mean lots of accidental belly bumps at work :-) The school nurse even noticed it today as she was helping one of my students that twisted her ankle...she said usually about 6 weeks from when they drop is when they pop out, which would put us right at Peanut's due date! We'll see though because I've also heard the Old Wives Tales that it could be 4 weeks and I'm sure others have gone 8 weeks -- never can tell what's in store for you! These pictures are from a week ago, before the baby "dropped" (I hate saying dropped bc it makes me feel like a bad mom for some reason, like he literally just hit the floor)...I've been wanting to get a good one but I'm usually in sweats after work! Also, these ankles are killer -- I thought maybe I would miss out on cankles -- but NOPE, mine are UBER-cankles by the end of the day...and that's with only being on my feet to teach 3 classes each day, not my normal 5!

Bloggo for Blago

This week in review: ILLINOIS OUSTED GOVERNOR ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH FROM OFFICE! Way to go Illinois -- one crooked politician down before he takes us all with him. I am happy this is finally complete because that is all they have been talking about for weeks on the news! My favorite part was one night after he was arrested and he didn't want to grant interviews.... until..... one of the reporters in the crowd asked how it felt that Drew Peterson took over the headlines from him again -- interview: GRANTED! I tell ya, I don't know how these people do it!

Anywho, had another baby check-up...33 weeks and counting! They are estimating Peanut's about 4lb 14oz (+/- 4oz) now! I don't know how (because I haven't gained any weight) but this child of ours has managed to gain about 1.5 pounds in the past 2 weeks!?! This baby-making stuff baffles me sometimes (well, most times). The weight gain ups him to the 64th percentile, which I'm going to need to have a talk to him about because I was just fine with him being in the middle of the road on this category...we don't need him over-achieving here now, he should save that for his school days! He is getting some really good 1-2 punch-kicks in on me as he gets stronger and standing to teach PE has become much more interesting to say the least. I only have 3 PE classes now though and 2 PE Study Halls, so I do get some time to get off my feet (which often feel quadruple their size by the time I get home to a hyped up puppy that wants to play).

I found this link, Obamicon.me, from my friend Sheryl's blog and thought it was a good way to a) get a new belly pic for everyone and b) introduce Peanut to politics and his new President. The poster is a much more flattering picture as the original was taken with the web cam and was very pixelated.

Have yourself a most excellent Super Bowl -- don't know if I really care who wins as I'd rather see the Colts vs. the Browns, then I couldn't lose (no, I'm not high, just wishful) but the commercials are usually worth it...although I hear they haven't been able to sell all the ad spots yet -- maybe they should change the pricing, hmmm...or are those companies too busy purchasing $50 million private jets with government bail-out money? You decide!

2nd Anniversary

We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary with a tour of the Labor & Delivery department at one of the hospitals and then went out to dinner.

I made sure I wore a maternity shirt to actually look pregnant (T-shirts for teaching PE don't always cut it). Here is the front and side views at 24 weeks! Baby Monty is checking out well still according to doc. He's starting to kick, punch, roll and who knows what else a lot more these days, which is a very cool experience -- just need him to kick me hard enough so Jimmy can feel now!