Emskyrooney

And I'm finally getting around to posting pics from our weekend in PA with the fam... Been super busy formatting history papers at work all week and am exhausted when I get home so I apologize for not posting these earlier! Here are some highlights of the big Easton Weekend: There were canals  and trains...   And there were mules...   And deep thoughts... Some general goofiness... And some strolling. There was a dog obsessed with playing with the pool ball...   So obsessed she fell in... Twice. (and yes I'm posting a photo of me, in a swim suit, pregnant... look away now if you're easily frightened....) But she kept going.... And going... And going...   Until she had to stop and lounge on her beach towel. And then there was chatter.... And funny faces... And food... And eating.... And more deep thoughts... And before we knew it the weekend was over...   And there was a good-bye photo...

A pic of me and my pregnant belly... So this isn't quite a glamour shot but hey, what you see is what you get! I'm wearing my new "I'm so crafty I make people" shirt (which the cashier at Stop and Shop totally LOVED!). This is me, at 21 weeks and a few days.... I'll start posting photos monthly so you can see me go from the chunky monkey I am now to the size of a whale....

So I'm just past the halfway mark- woo hoo!!!! I'm still feeling pretty good, since I'm not that big yet I can still see my feet although I'm having a harder time getting up out of bed in the morning- I can't just sit up without using my arms for leverage... I'm still not having any serious cravings or raging hormones so that's good too! And I promise that tonight I'll make Paul take a pic of my belly so that you all can see what I look like pregnant since so many of you are asking!! Here's the babycenter.com week 21 update! "Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot . You may soon feel like he's practicing martial arts as his initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to his activity as you get to him better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now."

Not terribly exciting but for those of you who asked here are some photos from Paul's birthday... First there's the traditional "shake the gift to try to guess what it is...." (and isn't it lovely how he put on a nice CLEAN shirt to celebrate his birthday....??) Then he reads the card... And finally models his new outfit... which he can wear as a hat til the baby is born... (and yes to my immediate family, I spent money on that and fully expect to be shunned by you all weekend.) And then comes the victory lap around the backyard in the new wheelbarrow... Wheeee!!!!!! I'm off to PA for the weekend for a weekend with the fam so you can expect some super exciting photos when I return!

I Make People! One of the blogs I read regularly is The Broken Plate . She makes pendants out of... broken plates... I'm not sure how I came across the blog but somehow it's made its way to my list of regular reads. A year or so ago the Broken Plate posted that she was selling cute little buttons and t-shirts on Etsy.com that said "I'm so crafty, I make people..." At the time I wasn't pregnant so I didn't buy one but I really thought they were great.... Today I zipped over to the Broken Plate for my daily perusal and found that she was selling t-shirts again on her Etsy site !! YAY! I just snapped up a baby blue one and can't wait to wear it! Too cute! photo from Broken Plate's Muthacrafter etsy site .

To my husband, my so-called "better" half (although I think "other" half is more appropriate!), my snack monster who sneaks downstairs at 11 p.m. for cookies... That's my hubby, one of my favorite photos of him from our wedding day ... Paul turned 36 yesterday and we celebrated by having his parents over for dinner and dining on Caesar Salad, Garwoods Pasta (his favorite meal from our honeymoon that the chef was kind enough to send me the recipe for) and individual chocolate mascarpone cheesecakes, all made by yours truly (and as a result I was too tired last night to post this!) I managed to surprise him with a certificate for a plane ticket to Las Vegas so that he can visit his brothers "baby-free" one more time before our little one arrives... If any man deserves a vacation it's this one- anyone who leaves for work at 5:15 a.m. and doesn't get home til 5 p.m. and then gets up on the weekends at 8 a.m. and does all the laundry deserves a ...

I'm now 20 weeks and a few days along... Here's the weekly update: "Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana . (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.) He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery)." Meconium... sounds like lovely stuff :)

To quote the ultrasound technician. We're still having a boy! Everything went well. All of his parts are there, everything is functioning and he measures at 19 weeks and 6 days so we're right on track! It took a little while for the technician to get all the measurements and photos she wanted as he was really wriggling around but eventually she got what she needed... And now here are the glamour shots! Baby profile Baby Profile Baby Face- Kinda Creepy! Baby Profile Baby Foot, Getting Ready to Kick Me!

Tomorrow... (imagine that I'm singing... or, if you've actually HEARD me sing, you might want to imagine that someone else is singing...) Anyway... Tomorrow morning is our ultrasound! It's the 18-20 week ultrasound and I'm barely squeezing it in before I'm officially halfway through pregnancy! Paul is coming with me and we're hoping to confirm that it's a boy and of course that all of his bits and pieces are accounted for and working properly.... In other news, this kid is jumping around in me A LOT. It's not always noticeable as it's still at that "fluttering" stage but he loves to turn somersaults at fairly regular times every day. It's generally around 10 am, 3 pm, 6 pm, and then 8 pm or so... Right now it feels like there's a whole mess of butterflies inside of me... He must have really loved those nachos I ate for lunch! So tomorrow there should be photos and other news on the baby front!!!

AKA two new cars in less than two months.... When I first met Paul he drove a Pontiac GTO, a new version of the classic muscle car. It was Barbados Blue and one of only 317 Barbados Blue GTOs ever made. He was in LOVE with his car. Swore up and down that he'd never get rid of it and even asked me to bury him in it when he goes (and I'm pretty sure he was only half joking). At first I didn't get the infatuation with the GTO. After all, I don't come from a family that's into cars particularly. Sure, we all want to drive a nice car but none of us can change our own oil or would even think to modify parts of the car- we just drive them the way they come and take them to the shop for service. But Paul is different. He loves cars, and he knows a ton about them. He's become the go-to person in the family whenever there's a problem with a car (i.e. "Are they ripping me off by charging me $500 for xx??"). He can happily spend hours under his car an...

I'm now 19 weeks and a couple days along... On Thursday we're going in for another ultrasound, the "survey" ultrasound where they take all sorts of measurements, make sure everything is looking healthy, and confirm the sex of the baby (hopefully still a boy!) Here's the week 19 update from babycenter.com "Your baby's sensory development is exploding! His brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, taking to him, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato . His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. His kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on his scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on his ...

OK so I went a little crazy with fabric for the nursery. Last weekend I went to Joann's armed with a 40% off coupon and purchased 5 yards of blue and white ticking, 2 yards of red cotton with white pin dots, and one yard of this super cute striped home decor fabric which had all of the perfect colors. You can see these fabrics below on the color board I've put together, they're all on the left hand side of the board. Then I went online just to order a little bit more of the Dick and Jane fabric (also to the left of the board) and ended up purchasing 3 more coordinating fabrics. Two of them are also from the Dick and Jane series and the third fabric was on super clearance and has little loops of yarn sticking out of the fabric in the perfect colors... These fabrics are on the right side of the board... So I think I now officially have more than enough fabric.. I just couldn't control myself! I'm planning to sew curtains for the 2 windows, some throw pillows fo...

Here's a symptom I'd read about in one of my pregnancy books but hadn't really paid much attention to. That is, until today. From now on I will be paying attention and prepared at all times for the onset of this side effect. I'm talking about nosebleeds. Apparently "Pregnancy can cause the blood vessels in your nose to expand, and your increased blood supply puts more pressure on those delicate vessels, causing them to rupture more easily. Although it's unpleasant and inconvenient, an occasional minor nosebleed is generally harmless." So this morning I'm sitting on the train on my way to work when I sneeze. And my nose starts running a little bit. Since it's July, not cold and flu season, I don't have any tissues in my purse. I figure I'll just have to be that gross sniffling person on the train who's occasionally wiping her nose on her hand. I wipe. And I discover that my nose isn't actually running, it's bleeding. Lovel...

I'm completely fascinated by my experience with pregnancy so far. Somehow (and I'm sure that I'm jinxing myself so I'm knocking on wood as I type this) I've managed to avoid a lot of the usual symptoms and side effects of being pregnant. For example, although in real life my stomach is usually pretty sensitive I had very little morning sickness. And while in real life I'm pretty emotional and cry at stupid commercials and sporting events I've been surprisingly calm throughout the first 4 months of this. In real life I crave all sorts of food but while pregnant I haven't really craved anything specific. In real life I'm fairly hormonal, but in pregnancy life I've been very even-keeled- no hormonal rages at my husband or random crying jags... Strange... So I've decided to keep track of some of the "typical" symptoms and side effects of pregnancy and then check back in with the list every month (or whenever I feel like it) to se...

On Tuesday last week my little brother Spencer came to visit for a few days. He took an overnight flight from San Francisco where he was visiting his girlfriend (!!!) and arrived in Boston Tuesday morning. He hung out around my office on Tuesday (exciting stuff) and on Wednesday hung out at our house since I had to work. Thursday he came into work with me in the morning and then in the afternoon we decided to go and see the John Adams birthplace and house in Quincy. After driving in circles in Quincy we finally managed to find the visitors' center where we purchased tickets for the tour. You hop on a trolley to the first site where a ranger takes you on a tour of the two homes which were the birthplace of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The houses are the oldest presidential birthplaces in the U.S. Spencer in front of John Adams' birthplace. After touring the birthplaces you hop back on the trolley to go see the "Old House" where the Adams family lived from 17...

Well I'm now 18 weeks and a few days into this pregnancy. I'm still feeling pretty good although I'm having a hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep. I have to get up several times every night to go to the bathroom and I'm not supposed to sleep on my back any more and can't sleep on my stomach so I'm trying to adjust to side-sleeping. As a life-long stomach sleeper that's been tough! Here's the weekly update: " Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long ( about the length of a bell pepper ) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born." I ...

Had my monthly check-up on the baby yesterday. Both the nurse and the doctor were very surprised that the ultrasound technician told us it was a boy at only 14 weeks. They said that she's probably right but that they thought it was too early to tell the parents just in case. I've got another ultrasound scheduled for next Friday, so hopefully they'll confirm that it is a boy or I know one husband who's going to be pretty disappointed not to have a namesake! Otherwise the appointment was fine. I'm right on track for gaining weight and the baby's heartbeat sounded good- the doctor actually said that it was one of the strongest heartbeats he's ever heard so that's a plus! That was the entire appointment- they weighed me, took my blood pressure, made me pee in a cup and listened to the heartbeat. Lasted less than 10 minutes (although I did sit in the empty waiting room for 40 minutes before they saw me.) Should have more baby pictures to share next week!