An NYC Thanksgiving

For anyone who tuned back in for the full story- below are some pics from our fabulous Thanksgiving vacation to NYC. We stayed with Jeremy's sister Jessica who lives in Midtown Manhattan.

We arrived Wednesday night just in time to go down to the parade area and see the baloons getting blown up (see pics below). I'm really glad we did this cause we got really close to them and got great pictures. That night we also had greek food (my one food request for the trip-opah!) and went home to cook.

On Thursday Jess has the greatest hookup for us for the parade. Though pulling some strings with her hotel friends we were able to use the rooftop terrace of the Dream Hotel on Broadway as our viewing spot. Perfect! We could see very well, and there was a tented area we could escape the rain. Bonus for the pregnant lady?...potties too! It was a cold and rainy day, and by the time we got home I couldn't feel my feet, but we still had the best spot.

Jessie made a wonderful meal for us with all the trimmings. One good thing about getting bigger- it's getting harder and harder to sit up straight in a chair and eat big portions, thus my turkey day plate was much smaller than years past. Don't worry I had leftovers!

Friday was recovery and movie day as none of us felt very well. On Saturday we hiked the city after a Chinese Dim Sum brunch (again the automatic portion control was handy) and found market and shopping areas to peruse. We also saw "Stranger than Fiction"...good flick, two thumbs up. That night we had some real italian food (no diss to Greenwood's offerings of Olive Garden and Johnny Carinos) and the aforementioned portion control was handy with pesto Gnocchi as well.

Sunday we had just enough time to check out the Rockefeller Tree (they were still decorating) before we headed home. It was a fun trip- wish it didn't go so fast!

In baby news not much to report. I am definitely feeling the 'flutter' of little feet and have been for about a week- it was hard to identify at first. My weight gain is right on track as I have only gained 1lb in the 3 wks since my last appt.

And lastly but most exciting- tomorrow we will have our first snow of the year in IN....YAY!!!!!

Flat Stanley saw the balloons being blown up the night before the parade

So did we! (Those are big balloons in the background)

Our parade viewing spot from on top of the Dream Hotel. Thanks Jess for this killer hook up!

And here's what we could see!

Our rain hideout under the tents- a pile of cousins enjoying bloody marys (or mix in my case)

We could see all the way down Broadway

Jeremy getting beat up by his little cousins. One reason to love holidays :)

No Shakespeare

Well we started our reading venture last night and to kick things off- we couldn't find our "Complete Works" book...so it looks like Shakespeare has been put on hold. Jeremy chose from my collection of books from Lit classes at Purdue- and we chose East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

It's a long one so this might take us through the rest of the pregnancy!-- but we will be trying to read out loud every night that Jeremy is home. Yes this is also my secret plan for getting Jeremy into books. And guess what- he actually likes it so far! Next thing you know he might be opening a book...baby steps.

But of course the second goal is for the baby to hear our voices. Maybe once it's out the baby will always let me read it the classics at bed time- who knows?

Pictures and Things

18 week belly shot. Not the greatest picture but you can see the bump!












Now's HERE's a good picture! Jeremy tested the stroller out on our current "babies". Hayden doesn't look too happy.












Well as you can see things are moving along well and Jeremy's starting to play with the new 'toys' in the house. Yesterday he and Dustin moved furniture out of the 'palm tree room' and into the 'purple room'...now the palm tree room is officially the nursery! Which at the moment is a collection of a few things, a stroller and a rocking chair. No crib yet- but we have one picked out!

We're getting ready for our trip to NYC for Thanksgiving- so excited! I'll be on a plane for the first time since April, so I'm happy to get out of IN. We'll be staying with Jeremy's sister and apparently watching the parade from a roof top along the parade route where we won't have to deal with crowds! I'll be watching what I eat but know we will enjoy some good food- nobody goes hungry with Jessie!

Last week I signed up for our Expectant Parents class and a Breastfeeding class at the hospital. We'll be taking these in January. Hopefully I'll learn all I need to know- and maybe be able to decide against drugs or natural- who knows?

I also got a book called "what to expect the first year". I figured we've been studying our Pregnancy Bible so much- it's time to learn about what happens after! Also this week we are going to start reading Shakespeare outloud at night- as the baby can now hear us! Jeremy wanted something funny so we're starting with Much Ado About Nothing.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!
Laura

16 Week Doc Appt.

Well I flew solo to my 16 week appointment yesterday. No worries- nothing important happened so Jeremy didn't miss anything. It was actually very quick.

-- I heard a heartbeat with the dopplar. It was much stronger and more clear than when we heard it in the ER (11wks). Kinda sucks Jeremy missed that- but we'll hear it lots more times!

-- I was informed I'm gaining too much weight, just as I suspected. I've gained 13 lbs since beginning of pregnancy- about 10 of it since my appt one month ago-yikes! So I'm going to be very careful about charting my food. In addition to my daily walking in Bradford Woods- Jeremy and I have decided to spend our xmas money for each other to buy a used exercise bike. Good present!
So from now on I'm to gain 1 lb a week and no more- that puts me at around 35 total. Wish me luck!

-- I set our 'big appointment' for December 14th. We will get a good ultrasound and will be able to see the sex. He said to bring a VHS tape if we want it on tape- but we don't have a working VCR anymore- haha! Will have to figure out how to convert to dvd!

So yes we have decided to find out the sex! Not so much for the merchandise issue (nursery will be jungle either way)- but I like the idea of having that extra 'bonding' and plus I'm too impatient- can't wait any longer!

That's all there is to report right now. Jeremy gets in late tonight and I get him for about a day and a half before he heads to MI to go hunting! We're going cosmic bowling tomorrow night- I will use a kiddie ball!

:) LB

technical difficulties

Not much to report at the moment but I noticed there's some technical weirdness with our registry.
--- First- the items where it says 'not currently available' that means in ONLINE (for whatever reason- backordered I guess) so all items are available at the store.

--- Yes I realize our due date shows as 4/24/06. I don't know why because in our account info it is correct- trying to fix that. But to be clear- no we do not have a secret 6 month old baby you don't know about.

Ciao!! LB :)

Happy Halloween Baby!

Hello All!
I haven't blogged in a while, although there's not much to report. Things are going just fine, feeling pretty good nowadays. I'll be 4 months next week!

Jeremy's in Switzerland right now, which makes his 26th country visited. Wish I could go with, but that would require both money and days off, so oh well...holding down the fort as usual.

I have gained 10lbs since the beginning of pregnany and I'm pretty sure that about 5lbs of that is just from eating too much junk food the past two weeks. I suddenly become pretty picky and only want "comfort foods", buying things I wouldn't normally buy (like nacho cheese). So I need to stop that...gaining too much too quickly!!

In honor of Halloween I thought I'd share some cute pics of cute goblins I know. Just think- this time next year Bambino could be dressed as a pumpkin- wow! Gracie, who is pictured below was born on 4/24/06 (exactly one year before our due date) so that's some perspective...she looks so BIG!!


Melissa's kids Gracie and Nicolas- Bambino will be exactly Gracie's size next Halloween!

Don't mess with these Deputies- they'll throw you in the slammer!
Our nephews Mark (left) and Bob

Our neice Vicki as a scary witch!