15 Weeks

Sorry this is a little late... yikes. Starting them late already.
We had a great 3 day weekend, got lots of relaxing done as well as lots of laundry. We're getting excited for Disney!

Date: Feb 18, 2014

How far along? 15w 1d (Baby is the size of an apple)

How is Mama doing? Feeling pretty good.  Enough so that every time someone asks me how I'm feeling I kind of get annoyed. I'm feeling pretty normal.  The stabbing pain largely went away after getting that prenatal massage (looks like I'll be going back for more!) and the only real issue I had this week was some really bad tummy cramps from not drinking enough water/eating enough fiber (to put it in a nice way).

Weight Gain:   Weighed myself last night which is not my usual time of day, but according to the scale I gained 2.5 pounds in a week.  I'm going to guess that 1-1.5 of that is water/food/clothing but since I'm too lazy to do it again, we'll just say that I'm up +.5 (i was -2 last week).

Sex of the baby: We're going to sneak a peek in the very near future to see if we can tell the sex of the baby early via elective ultrasound. No big announcements will be made until the official 20 week ultrasound at the end of March. Get your votes in!

Movement:  Still haven't felt any movement.

Maternity Clothes? Still wearing a mix.  At home, I'm wearing mostly Joey's shorts and tee shirts.  All my workout stuff is too tight around the waist and I like the baggy tee shirts because they are more comfortable.  I rocked Kappa Sig shorts like it was my job all day Sunday and Monday.

Pregnancy Fitness:  This week I did some treadmill walking and some halftime dancing- My college dance team does an alumni performance every year at homecoming. I figured one last year wouldn't hurt.  It was a great workout and showed me how far I can push myself cardio-wise. I've been kind of a weenie about "hurting the baby" but this showed me that I am capable of doing far more...as soon as I can walk again ;) 

Symptoms: Dehydration/headaches/stomach cramps.  All because I'm having some trouble staying hydrated.  I feel like I am drinking a ton of water but I'm not drinking enough, apparently.

Belly Button: Still looks like your average belly button.

Stretchmarks? No new ones. I was thinking last night they'll probably wait to show up until like week 39 when I just don't care anymore.

Cravings? Not craving anything. I will take this opportunity to share that I ordered pizza for us the other night and somehow missed that it said "BBQ" for sauce.  BBQ sauce on a pizza, while it sounds like it might be a weird pregnancy craving, is actually disgusting.

Sleep:   Still the same, just waking up to go to the bathroom. Still able to sleep on my stomach, which is nice.

Looking Forward To:  Our sneak peek u/s!

What I miss: Being fun.  I am no fun anymore. I hope the funness comes back :(

Doc/Chloe: are super excited that Grandma Davis is here visiting for a couple of days! (She's staying at the Gish Hotel for a work meeting.)

Weekly wisdom: Drink more water!!!

Other: I thought I should mention that I already had my glucose test.  I have a family history of diabetes so I had to do the test at 13 weeks instead of 28 (oh but don't worry, I get to do it again!).  In all honesty, the "fruit punch" tasted pretty good.... and I passed!

This week's picture below. Looks like a beer belly... not a baby :(

14 Week Bumpdate

I took this survey from several Mom-bloggers I follow and picked out my favorite questions to answer. I actually started doing this survey the day I found out.... My answers were alot like "Don't feel any different. Um.. none. Nothing. Nothing." SO I decided to wait a few more weeks to start doing them again. THEN the exhaustion kicked in. And here we are at 14 weeks. So without further ado...

Date: Feb 10, 2014

How far along? 14w 0d (Baby is the size of a lemon)

How is Mama doing? Feeling so much better lately. Energy is definitely back, as is my appetite. Two things that were missing for a really long time and I wondered if I'd ever want to leave my house ever again. New this week is some sciatic/nerve pain that pretty much feels like I'm being stabbed in the a$$. Good times.

Weight Gain: Since we're being perfectly honest here, I'll admit that I was +10 before I even GOT pregnant. I am going to blame this partially on going off BCP but also partially on drinking alot of wine because "I'm not going to be able to drink for a while!". That said, though, due to my severe lack of appetite/interest in eating ANYTHING during the first trimester, I'm actually still down -2. I'm ok with that. I know it will alllll come back.

Sex of the baby: [The original survey said "Gender". There is actually a difference between sex and gender. The sex refers to the reproductive parts on the baby- which is what I believe we are talking about here.] Anyway- I have no idea. I have tried to have motherly instinct but I got nothing. As (I think) is common with most couples, I'd love a baby girl and Joey would love a baby boy. So while we will be thrilled with a healthy baby, one of us will be extra thrilled ;)

Movement: Haven't felt anything yet.

Maternity Clothes? My friend/coworker gave me 2 huge bags of maternity clothes which I welcomed with open arms. My pants are starting to feel a little tight so I'm quickly running out of options for work. She gave me 3 Bella Bands which have saved my life as well as basically a whole new wardrobe. I won't have to start from scratch, THANK GOODNESS. So, with all this new stuff, I'm basically wearing a mix. I feel a little silly since I don't have a bump to speak of, but it's all about being comfortable!

Pregnancy Fitness: My original goal was to work out in some way 3 times per week. I've been doing a good job at maybe once per week. This needs to change. I have been pretty good about doing prenatal yoga, and I think I need to add a short walk/run and some light strength training. 

Symptoms: As I said above, the new symptom this week is the pain in the butt. I booked myself a prenatal massage for tomorrow (too soon? I don't care) and I believe this is the literal kick in the a$$ I need to get myself moving again. Now that I have the energy, I don't have an excuse.

Belly Button: I have a belly button. 

Stretchmarks? I prefer the term “zebra stripes". No new stretch marks at this time. I've been using Belli oil for a while now.

Cravings? Haven't had any cravings at all. Sometimes I'll see something on TV and go "that looks good" but I really haven't craved anything. I've been interested in sugary cereal and fruit snacks lately.

Sleep: I generally wake up to go to the bathroom and then I'm stuck awake for about 2 hours every night. This is further complicated by the fact that I'm now sleeping with a pillow in between my legs to try to help my hips.

Looking Forward To: Baby's first trip to Disney World (in utero).... in 2 weeks!
(Fun Fact: I also visited Disney World in utero.)

What I miss: Wawa turkey hoagies.

Doc/Chloe: They both are interested in snuggling up to my belly lately, but I don't know if that means they know or just that they are cold because Joey keeps the fan on at night...

Weekly wisdom: Try not to worry about everything. I had a sudden realization earlier this week while I was googling my 4th thing for the day. In the end, our bodies know what to do. We just need to fuel them properly and make sure not to do anything too crazy. Worrying won't help anything.

Aaaand since my belly hasn't changed all that much in the past 2 weeks, I'm posting the 12 week photo since I look much cuter than I do in the 14 week photo that I took this morning...
Note: You will not always get a bare belly pic so don't get too excited.

 

That's all for now :)

~SG

Start Spreadin' the News....

Well hello there.
I've taken a few months off from the blog because I've been busy growing a baby.

Yes, you read that correctly.

With a little bit of faith, trust and pixie dust, a new baby will be joining our family in August.

Joey and I are excited, scared, all those normal emotions.  We're still getting used to the idea of a little miniature person joining us on all future Disney trips.

We decided to go public after our 12 week sonogram, which was met with a TON of well wishes, love, advice, and general awesomeness that we will never forget. 

I decided to get back to the blog so I could answer some of the Frequently Asked Questions we've been getting.  So here goes:

You're pregnant?  Was this on purpose?
Yes. If you've ever met me you'll know that I like to plan things and write itineraries. For fun.  Yes. This was planned.

OMG when are you due?
August 11th.  And hopefully this baby will follow in my footsteps, as I was one of the 5% born on my actual due date.  Talk about being a planner...

Have you been sick?
Don't be mad peeps, but no. I really wasn't.  Exhausted? Yes. Food aversions? The worst. Barfing? Proud to say the last time I puked it was after a night of too much wine.  And no, it was not during my pregnancy...  This is not to say my first tri was a piece of cake.  Weeks 7-9 were probably the worst.

Wait.... how far a long are you?
14 weeks today.  Baby is the size of a lemon.

But I SWORE I saw you drinking at your brother's wedding/Christmas/the company holiday party/etc.
But did you....really?

Are you going to find out the sex of the baby?
Duh. ASAP. 

Are you going to do weekly bumpdates?
I'd like to! Hopefully I can remember to do them every week.... First one coming right up!


Any other questions? Let me know. Also I am still taking unsolicited advice. For now.

Picture of a Picture.... 12 weeks 4 days

Merry Christmas!

I hope each of you had a very merry Christmas and are on your way to a fabulous new year!!!

We kicked off the holiday season this year with a visit to ICE! at the Gaylord National Hotel.  We've been in past years, but this year they set it up differently and completely oversold the tickets.  We waited in line for AN HOUR AND A HALF for a 10 minute walk-through exhibit.  None of us were very happy :( Also, it was raining outside and you had to walk through the rain to get to the actual attraction and because it was 9 degrees in there, the rain froze immediately upon entry.  We made the best of it though, and snapped a few shots:

A Love and Ryan, our next Disney Trip Victims (come on, FEB!)

Aren't we cute? (and COLD)

Joey's homemade Ugly Christmas Sweater.

TAXI!!!

 We also got to participate in several events such as work holiday parties (4, so far), Joey's Mom's annual Christmas Shopping Spree for needy families, and my favorite event- my book club meeting for December.  We each brought a book from our shelf or the store and wrapped it up and we did a White Elephant exchange for new books!  IT WAS SO FUN.  I ended up with a Disney World Mystery book.......... so obviously I'm pretty happy :)

Christmas eve we headed down the street to Joey's Parents (I'll be seeing my parents in a week for ALEX AND CORINNE'S WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) where we opened gifts and consumed adult beverages.  The "gift of the night" was Joey's gift to Jason- a blow gun.  Basically blow darts, and it came with everything from rubber practice darts to wood skewers to metal pointy blades that would absolutely maim/kill a Min Pin on contact.

Of course, the guys HAD to test it out. In the house.

Nobody got hurt thankfully.

Christmas morning, Joey and I opened gifts under our tree.  I snapped the below shot trying to be artistic but instead I captured a huge orb.  Joey says it's the light coming through the window but I'm not so sure.  I wonder who was sharing Christmas with us?

The Pins really enjoyed their presents- we actually caught Doc under the tree a few days before Christmas playing with his new ball.  Still in the wrapping and everything.  Hilarious how he managed to find the gift with his name on it.  Maybe he can read?? ;)

After opening gifts and watching the Disney Christmas Parade we headed down the street again where there was more blow gun action (and some roof action, when they were told to take it outside and a dart ended up in the gutter) and some delcious feasting!

We had a great Christmas.  Joey got a new watch (if you remember what happened to the last one) and I got a new iPad which I'm pretty excited about playing with!! I got to talk to my family and we will be seeing them VERY SOON at my brother's wedding.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!!

Feelin' Frosty

Brrrr!!! The winter weather has arrived and I have to say, I was much happier posted up in the bar drinking cocktails under the palm trees Old Key West Resort...

But now that we're back from Disney and Thanksgiving is over and Winter has arrived (and bringing the holidays with it!), the trees are covered in ice, there's snow on the ground too cold for little Min Pin paws, and we even had a rare power outage :(

Today I just wanted to write a quick Ode to Grandmother Willow- you may remember her from other posts like this one.  The old woman has made it through countless storms including hurricanes.  But apparently the ice was a little more than she can handle:

Poor thing.
We'll be working hard to see if we can save her at all.  Either way, I'm looking forward to some great evenings around the fire pit this winter :)

Hope you are all staying warm and cozy.  Bonus points if you live somewhere where it's always warm and cozy.

~SG

Corinne & Co.

Hello friends!! Goodnesssss my last post was "Hello November" and here it is almost Thanksgiving. 

Joey and I are back from yet another wonderful Disney vacation.  We enjoyed some beautiful WARM weather, a nighttime half marathon, some early Christmas celebrating, and some realllyyy good eats (oh my... I think I need to get on that treadmill stat).

Since we've been back from Florida, we've been busy getting our lives back to normal.  We're also watching this little nugget for a few days:

This is Lucy.  Lucy's Mommy had a baby and she's hanging out with Doc and Chlo until it's time to go home!  Needless to say, it's been an exciting week.

Last weekend, Joey and I returned from Florida with one extra passenger.  Once we landed in DC, my sister Laura and I headed up to PA for the weekend so we could shower our sister-to-be, Corinne.

The theme was Corinne & Co. and everything was fabulous, darling!  We had brunch at the Shannondell club in Audobon, PA.  All the girls wore black and their finest pearls, while our bride wore the cuuutest white dress and turquoise heels!

Nametags my Mom made

Some of the presents

 

Favors: Water bottle in pearls, little wine bottle, and some candy in a dress

Cousin Jaime modeling the Banner

Can't wait for her to become a Davis

Cake and Mimosas. What more could we want??

Toilet paper brides.

Corinne with Timon and Pumbaa....

CUTEST SHOES EVER

Nice hat ;)

Alex showed up right at the end and I made him help cut the cake

Of course it was a delicious brunch, with lots of mimosas ;) and some fun games and prizes.  Corinne was appropriately showered and now the only thing left to do is... get married!!! The wedding is fast approaching and we couldn't be happier for the future Mr. and Mrs. 

Counting down the days!!!

~SG



Bride and Bridesmaids

Hello, November.

The Halloween decorations are put away and I'm trying to hold off Joey from racing down the basement steps and bringing up 5 crates of Christmas....

The weather has turned crisp and the leaves are crunchy under my feet.

Sigh. I love Fall.

First things First.  Gotta carve pumpkins! We made it to Oct 30th before we decided it would probably be a good idea to carve the pumpkins that were sitting in our kitchen.

I tried really hard but Joey is just better at this than me...

Bonus: check out our new(ish) dishwasher!

Super artsy photo edited with Snapseed

 

Then Halloween happened.  It was a Thursday and it was raining :( So we didn't get too many trick or treaters.  We didn't dress up, either.  But I went and pulled out some old costumes for the dogs.

Oh look! A Third pumpkin!!!

This past weekend, Joey went hunting again and I didn't have class for the first time in a month.  I really enjoyed relaxing around the house.  Saturday night, I went over to A Love's for a little Halloween get together.  Nobody could have predicted where the night would go...

Somebody brought face paint

A photo shoot ensued

Between the shenanigans and the DELICIOUS food, I'd call that party a success.

Bonus: I was able to get up and make it into DC for a 10K the next morning.  (The extra hour of sleep did not hurt either.)

What's on the docket for November???

-Our Disney trip is fast approaching
-Corinne's Bridal Shower!
-Thanksgiving (Duh!)
....and... I think that's it.

And I am really OK with that!!

~SG

MCM 2013!!!

This weekend was the 38th running of the Marine Corps Marathon.  Joey was initially registered to run, but after aggrivating his stress fracture from the last marathon during the Shamrock half this March, he decided to defer to next year.

My sister, Laura, flew up from Orlando, FL to run the race.  Joey and I (and Laura's boyfriend Chris) went along for the fun as well as to cheer on our friend Mike and help him out along the way.

The morning started bright and early with a 4:30am wakeup call. (Hey! It's better than 2:30am at Disney!)  We headed to the Springfield metro station where we met up with Mike and got our tickets and boarded the slowest moving metro train EVER.  It finally picked up speed after an agonizingally slow first 20 minutes.

We arrived at the Pentagon and walked with thousands of our new best friends over to the start area.
Security was TIGHT.  All bags were searched.  I heard at the expo, people were actually patted down and scanned.  I'm actually glad for that. I don't mind at all. When we got to the finish line at the end of the race, NO BAGS whatsoever were allowed.  I'm so glad we read up ahead of time and followed directions! I stuffed everything into my jacket pockets!

It was also FREEZING!!! It was sooo cold :*(
We did all the usual start line activities- wait in 45 minute bathroom lines, get confused about where to go, take stupid pictures, etc etc etc. 

 

Finally it was time to say goodbye to Laura and Mike, and me, Joey and Chris headed out past the start line to get a good vantage point for the starting gun!

BOOM! The Howitzer went off and the race began!

We scanned the crowd, watching the pace groups, and finally we saw Laura and Mike!

After they passed, we headed off to the Lincoln Memorial to post up at Mile 10-11.  We had some time to kill, but we didn't want to stray too far.  We watched the hand cyclers pass and finally, the front runner of the marathon.  He was FLYING.  He was way ahead of the other runners.  Slowly but surely, more runners started coming through.  We cheered and yelled encouragement.  I kept checking my phone waiting for the first splits to come through, but I guess the system was overloaded because I only got one person's 10K split all day :( (I was tracking a ton of people!).

My friend Teresa is a freaking speed demon and I got her 10K split (45 mins!) and knew to expect her soon.  Joey and I spotted her amazing American Flag shorts and Joey had to jump in front of her to get her to notice us.  (Sorry Kanye)  She lives in Colorado and is a Marine wife. It was so great to see her, even though she was totally in the zone and almost missed us.  I'm going to brag for her because she finished in 3:17!! HOLY CRAP. GREAT JOB T.

While waiting for Mike and Laura to run by, I was also noticed by two of my sorority sisters who were running!!! I didn't realize it was them until they had almost passed- I jumped up and started yelling anyway! It's great to know SO many people out there.  They both also killed it in ~4 hours. 

Since we didn't have splits, we had to base our whole day off of the pace groups.  We saw the 5 hour pace group and shortly after, there was Mike! Joey ran in to give him his first gatorade refill.  He ran with him for a bit and then it was back to waiting.

A little while after, Laura came by! She was looking strong.  She had been running the entire time and actually ended up running the entire first half before her first walk break.

After they passed, it was time to head over to the gauntlet at the Mile 17.5 marker (aka the dreaded Mile 18).  We actually had to cut through the course to get there, which I HATE.  I hate it when people cut through the course in front of runners. It's rude.  Joey had a genius idea, though.
 We were all dressed in running clothes anyway because we anticipated that we might have to run for a little while to help out our friends.  So we waited for a natural break in the crowd, and hopped into the race!! We crossed diagonally, basically running at speed with everyone else- sort of like merging onto a highway.  Please remember this if you ever spectate a race- do NOT cross straight across like a crosswalk. That will make people angry.  If you MUST cross the race course, merge in like you are a car into traffic.  And use your turn signal/look behind you. These people are TIRED. They should not have to waste energy trying to avoid your dumb a$$.

ANYWAY


We got to the gauntlet area and Chris and I went to a food truck because we were all STARVING (next time, we're eating breakfast).  We got hot dogs, sausages, pizza, soda... omg. It was amazing.
We posted up around 17.5 and waited for Mike to come along.  We finally saw him and Joey jumped in again and ran with him a bit, helping him refill his gatorade again and encouraging him.  Mile 18 is the hardest part of the marathon for most people. 

We waited for a while and then we saw Laura.  She was in tears.  Did I mention she did little to no training for this marathon?!?! She is CRAY CRAY.  Her knee was killing her and she was so upset and frustrated.  I jumped in and walked with her up to the medical tent where they sat her down and she had a chance to calm down.  We waited outside for a little and then suddenly, she popped out and had her game face back on.  She was so determined, I have to admire that.  She jumped back in the race and said she'd see us at the finish!

At this point, we had walked all over DC.  We headed to the nearest metro station and rode back to the start/finish area (7 metro stops. holy. mileage.).  When we arrived at Arlington Cemetary the Marines were turning people away who had bags or backpacks of any kind.  I was thankful for the added security.  We went in and posted up right before Mile 26.   I had a great time cheering on the runners who were about to accomplish their ultimate goal.

We watched for our telltale pace groups, and we were actually getting some splits by this time, so we were ready when Mike came along! He was tired and sore, but we screamed and made a scene and Joey actually went running along side of him (through the crowd, not on the course) yelling all the way through the last .3 mile to the finish line. 

 

Now it was just time to wait for Laura! We finally saw her, and she was ALL SMILES!! I don't know what happened between  miles 18 and 26, but she was happy as a little clam.  We screamed and yelled and she went off running into the sunset, er, huge hill that is the finish (terrible. just terrible).

 

After everyone collected their medals and goodies, we (slooowwlllyy) walked over to the metro- the line was terrible.  We decided to get lunch at Quiznos instead.  After lunch, we made it to the metro and after a really long day that started at 5am, we got home around 5:30pm. 

CONGRATULATIONS to all of my friends, co-workers, sorority sisters, fraternity big brother (Mike!) and sis (Laura!) on such a huge accomplishment.

<3