LG

Hi.  So here we are.  Saturday night.  I'm sitting on the couch with The Patch 'cause I'm not feeling so hot.  I just ate the last piece of leftover Easter cake though so hopefully that'll make me feel better.  Lately LG is moving around like a jumping bean and I swear she had the hiccups 2 days ago.  Low-and-behold Mike read today in this week's baby-update that babies at this stage do indeed get the hiccups!  So funny.  Anyway, here are 2 pics of me and LG both from today at different points:

Clearly, she is growing.  and growing fast!!  As I just typed that LG did a flip, kinda felt like how my stomach feels when I'm riding on a roller coaster.   Also notice in the first pic my insane-ly hitch-hiker-ish thumbs...  yes, they do make perfect 90 degree angles. 

Anyway, LG and I are doing well.  And now that her name is no longer a secret, I'll fill you all in... Ready?  Lena.  (Rhymes with "Tina" & "Gina")  So yes, LG's name is Lena.  But you'll have to wait to find out her middle name... we have to have 1 secret left!!!  And besides that, we are still on the fence with middle names anyway.  

And speaking of middle names, they are kind of a weird thing.  Why do we have middle names at all?  I don't know.   They sure aren't used a whole lot and aside from your family, no one ever knows your middle name anyway.    but I do like them.  I like when someone's middle name is their mom's maiden name, like Michael "Benson" Roth.  Although as much as I love "DeGregorio" I will not make that LG's middle name.... even though it is now one of my 2 middle names, but that was my own choosing and I had 25 years of it as my own personal last name first.  No, middle names for little girls are supposed to be pretty.   add some extra charm to the first name/last name combo.  But I digress.  Wanna suggest me a middle name to go with Lena Roth?  If you've got one, go for it.

This is The Patch tearing the stuffing out of a striped snake.

~~~~*~~~~

The Post-Easter Post

Ahh, back from New Orleans.  It was so much fun.  Here are some pictures:

Me and Jen eating beniets and cafe au lait.  YUM YUM!!

me and Mike eating the best fried chicken ever fried.  SO GOOD.

The best BBQ food ever.  (sensing a theme yet?)

and then just chilling out in some grass.  Ahhh, eating, relaxing, and fantastic music, that about sums up our trip.

Sadly, there are no "belly pics" for this week's post, but believe me, it's there... espeically after all that N'awlins food!!!

And now here we are.  I'm between 26 & 27 weeks, and into the 3rd trimester.  Feeling pretty ok.  Super bloated.  and my feet are swollen.  and there's someone inside me.  but all in all, pretty good!

So here's a story:  On Easter Mike slipped and accidentally told my family the name we are choosing! hah!  It was sooo funny too because he was the one that was so set on us not telling anyone.  oh well, so much for that one.  HAH.

and really, she'll be here before we know it anyway- only 3 months!!  whew.  we're getting more and more excited.  and more and more anxious too.  and a bit scared.

Until next time...

Story time & Sunny time

Hello 25 weeks Hello.

Here I am:

I look like I have way-big hair in this picture, but that is mostly being caused by a shadow on the top of my head... at least that's what I think...

Anyway, onto the post:

So.  LG (little-girly) is moving around quite a bit these days.  She seems to like to do flips when I lay down to go to sleep at night.  I dont mind.  It's kind of cute.  Sometimes Mike reads her stories (or "story" because we only have 1 kids book thus far called "Are you my mother?" I think it's a Dr. Seuss and it's about a little birdie.)  As for LG's name, we're still in the discussion phase and it's taking a bit longer then I would have thought... but no matter, we've got some good ones to choose from and it'll be very awesome to have one decided on.  (Although that will be a secret til she's born, Mike's rule)  

It's Also Spring.  and what better way to celebrate spring then with a manicure with your mom & sister:

You can't really see it but we all got easter-y pastels, mine are green.  Green?  yes, green.  I thought it would match well with the sunniness of New Orleans, which is where Mike and I are headed on Tuesday!!!!  YAY!!!  Vacation time!!!!  We are headed down south to visit my cousin Jen, see the sights, and have a "babymoon".  Probably will be the last time just Mike and I get to go anywhere by ourselves in a looooong time.  So bring on the sun!! 

I will return to the blogging world after Easter.  And that's my story.

Perspectives.

Hello friends.

So here we are.  I hit the 24 week mark yesterday... does that mean I'm 6 months?  or does "6 months" mean actual months like Oct 3-April 3?  I don't really know.  I guess I could always google it so maybe I'll just do that later...

Patch is now back to his good ol' puppy-self after a week and a half of illness and 2 seperate dog attatcks.  whew.  that was intense.  Anyway I have a couple pictures to post and a couple of thoughts to think upon... so here we go:

 These are pictures of a wreath I got for little-girly's room.  The colors of everything else are earthy greens and browns, but there'll be a couple splashes of pink mixed in with this wreath, a pink lamp, and a pink blanket for the chair.  :-)  The room is still a junk/fooseball-table room right now, but at least it has this pretty wreath in it now...

Here is a picture of the pattern that I have to make shoes!  How fun is that?!  I'm pretty excited about it.

This is me yesterday at the 24-week mark.  I can wear regular jeans still by looping an elastic band around the button and keeping them closed that way (only works with a long shirt, as shown).  It is kind of cool to have a for-real belly although it does seem to send the message "touch me" to people... even strangers... touching my stomach... weird.  Also my belly button is disappearing.  THAT is weird. 

and how 'bout THIS: my cousin Matt and his wife Sukey are expecting IDENTICAL TWINS in September!  How cool is that?!  Little-girly and the twins will be same-age-cousins (or 2nd cousins or whatever it is).  yay!  
The thing is, Matt and Sukey live in Africa.  So while I'm registering for all this baby-stuff, they are pounding out grain to make flour and wondering how to cart around 2 babies without a stroller... puts things into perspective, no?

Those are all my exciting pictures for the week and that's my story for today.... life as usual, ya know.  July 10 will be here before we know it... but we're trying to just live in March right now ;-) 

~Love~

Parent Practice and Other Matters.

This is our sick baby this week.  POOR PATCH!!  I'll spare you the disturbing details but let's just say Mike and I got our parenting practice on this little guy...

Now, I really DO know that puppies and babies are different, but they are also similar in the sense that neither of them can tell you what's wrong with them.  How frustrating!  The poor things (puppies and babies alike) are just forlorn little creatures and in pain and you are pretty much powerless to fix it!  poor little guys.  This week was sad enough with a sick puppy, I can only imagine what it will be like when it's a sick little girly... and at least puppies don't cry that loud...

On to other matters, apologies for last week's site "spamming"!!  That no-good countdown thing I had at the bottom of this page was re-directing everyone to some commercial spam websites!!!  BOO!!  So yes, sorry if that was happening to you.

and thirdly, we are registered at Babies R Us just in case you wanna check it out... now that we've completely re-done the registry using the online features.  The only things on the site we're still re-thinking are the crib/dresser set.  BUT when you try to look for us beware that there's ANOTHER Michael and Kimberly Roth that are registered there too!!! How weird!!  We are listed as "Mike and Kim" and check the location, which should be Philadelphia.

Hope you're all having great weeks!

baby stuff

21 weeks down, 21 more to go.  HALF WAY ALREADY?!  Sheesh.  So this is a picture of me at 21 weeks.  I didn't realize how big I had gotten (nor how cool my colorful reindeer pants are) until I looked at this picture!  Although, I had just eaten dinner so that could have added to the big-ness.

Last night Mike and I traveled across state borders to go to a baby-super-store.  OH MAN.  How is it that someone so small can require so much?!  And how does anyone ever make a decision being as there's 300 choices for everything?!  Unbelievable.  Luckily, and quite surprisingly, Mike and I managed to register for all of the "big things" and it was, equally as surprisingly, super fun!  Thanks to the help of a very knowledgeable store-worker named Skip who talked us through these big things, little girly is registered for some cool baby stuff.  and I am excited to decorate her room... once we get all the junk out of it :-)

We seemed to go for things with multiple functions... a crib that turns into a bed one day, a pack-and-play that doubles as a travel crib & a changing table, a stroller that includes a newborn carseat, etc....  I'm assuming that was a smart decision, but I really have no way of knowing.  

And are there rules on what you're supposed to register for and not register for?  furniture?  toys?  books?  diapers?

Ok, well those are my Sunday morning musings on baby registering.  If you read this, you're awesome.  More next time.

Oh boy...

Oh boy, it's a girl!     i KNEW it.    yay!  This is going to be SO fun (minus the whole "labor and delivery" portion...)  Anyway, here are some pics of the day :-)

here is us waiting... who knows what it's going to be???!!!

In the room finally just before the ultrasound....

and I'm wearing my super-cool rain boots because it was horrible out today...

anyway, here is a great profile shot of the little girly

and here's her little footprint!

yay!  how fun!  

All you people who voted for "boy"' or "twins" were wrong.  I was right. (not to rub it in or anything).

I've also got to hand it to anyone who is able to read ultrasound pictures... don't be fooled by the clarity of these shots, about 85% of what we saw on that screen was totally un-recognizable.  and the technician kept saying things like "here's the baby's liver"  and  "here's the baby's right flux capacitor"  to which we're like "oh... good."   All that aside, the other 15% of the pictures were awesome, like these ones here, it was so crazy to be able to look at her while she's in me... SO WEIRD and AWESOME.   

It was funny though because it took awhile to get a profile shot at all, at first she was standing on her head with her arms and hands in front of her face like "hehe i'm not going to let you see me!!"  The technitian tried for like a good 10 minutes and couldn't get a shot of her face at all; the doctor had to come in later and do it for us!  Silly girl.

good times.