Baby Brain is real :(

I thought it was an old wives tale, that pregnancy will cause forgetfulness and short-term memory issues.....but now I'm not so sure.  Recently I've forgotten some things that I have never forgotten before, and it's scaring me!

Last Thursday night, Wombat and I were packing for our trip to NYC.  I was exhausted after a long week at work, but not more so than usual.  I let our dog, Jack, outside to potty before bed, then went to brush my teeth and finish packing while he did his thing - sniffing, circling, exploring, etc.   Then, leaving the back door unlocked and the lights on, I went to bed and promptly fell asleep.  I woke up about an hour later because Dorian wasn't in bed and things were oddly quiet.  Suddenly, Jack burst into the room, excited and wanting attention - it was then that I noticed he was cold and slightly damp - OMG I left him outside and went to sleep!  Dorian did too, neither of us realizing he wasn't sleeping in his bed next to ours, until Dorian heard him barking outside and went to let him in.  I am a horrible horrible mother!  I have never EVER forgotten to let Jack inside after pottying, the poor guy!

As if that wasn't bad enough, as soon as we arrived in NJ for our first night stay, I realized I had forgotten everything hair related - brush, hairdryer, and curling iron.  Wow.  That's also a first.  Luckily I got away with letting it air dry curly all weekend, but still.  All Dorian brought was a small hand comb, so it was fun detangling my curls with that every night.

Now I'm terrified what I'm going to forget next, especially at work!  Just this morning I already walked out the door forgetting to bring the checkbook that I left out and a container I meant to return to my mom today.  I've already asked Dorian to try to watch my back and find any other slips ups; let's hope we don't miss anything else major!

Trip to New York

We are back from a big weekend on the east coast!  We left Friday morning and drove to meet Dorian's friend, Robert, in or around Allentown, PA.  Yes, it was in the middle of nowhere, rural Pennsylvania, but Robert was in Philly for the week, and it was the closest place to meet up for a quick bite.  We met around 3:15 or so and ate at Friday's, which was way more expensive and not as good as I remember.  No wonder we never go there. Anyway, Robert got us a baby gift - diapers haha!  After the guys spent most of the hour catching up on sports stats, we got on the road again and headed for New Jersey. 

We were only about 2 hours from Dorian's cousin Evan's condo in Jersey, and we arrived just after he got home from work.  Evan is newly married to Meghan; their wedding was 2 weeks prior to ours, so it's been fun comparing notes with them - especially since we are both figuring how to combine Jewish and non-Jewish holidays.  They honeymooned in Hawaii and it was fun to finally see all their pictures, which they have already made into an awesome album (I'd better get on that....)

Anyway, Dorian was dying to have some NY pizza, so Evan got some from a local place and it was devoured in about 5 minutes.  Then we all played UNO until Meghan and I had to head to bed.  I fell asleep trying to watch the OSU bball game, but I'm glad I didn't make it since they lost :(  I won't even talk about how my bracket is doing now....

In the morning, Dorian and I were up by 9 and out the door by 10 to hit the city before meeting with his family.  We found free parking on the street in Chinatown - Score!  From there we had fun haggling down the prices of a few fun gifts for Dorian's grandma (it was just like Thailand!) and then found a great Asian place to eat for lunch.  Since we were so close to Little Italy, we walked on over and also bought some delicious Italian desserts - cannolis for wombat's dad, and New York style cheesecake for my mom and Ron (for dog-sitting Jack).

By the time we were finished, we figured we had better get over to see Dorian's family since a 10 mile drive could take 2 hours, even on a Saturday.  We met at Dorian's aunt's house in Long Island and chatted for a few hours before dinner, which was at a local Italian place.  It was really fancy (compared to Ohio) and the 3 course dinner lasted at least 4 hours.  There were about 13 of us, and the appetizers, pasta, and desserts were wonderful, including Junior's raspberry cheesecake, yum!  After dinner, we took Dorian's dad with us to stay at Grandma Bea's house a short distance away, since the house was really full at Aunt Vicki's place.  Although we had a little trouble getting the key from the elderly neighbor, and the heat hovered around 56 degrees, I was exhausted and had no trouble sleeping while Dorian stayed up chatting with his dad. 

Sunday, we took Mark back to Vicki's and said our goodbye's, then hit the city again to visit MOMA.  After 3 hours of walking and viewing the fun exhibits, I was starving, so we got a hot dog and pretzel from a street vendor and walked down to Central Park, where we watched some fun break dancers and drooled over really expensive candy in FAO Schwartz.  We thought about leaving for Ohio then, but decided to catch up with old friends in town instead, so we went to Brooklyn and met up with our law school classmate, Luwick, and Dorian's old high school friend, Amy.  Lu gave us a quick tour of Brooklyn, which was much nicer than the movies make it out to be!  There were so many beautiful old homes and tree lined streets, alongside miles of boutiques and mom-and-pop stores.  Then he took us to an actual Junior's restaurant for dessert, which was amazing.  I tried to meet up with my sister-in-law, Margot, too, since she was in Chelsea for work for a week, but we had already left the downtown by the time she was off work, so it wasn't meant to be this time.

Finally, after one more night at grandma Bea's, we left at 4 AM so we could beat NYC rush hour (which we did!) and hopefully get back to Ohio by 1 and work a half-day at the office.   However, that did not go as planned, since we hit a huge accident in PA that forced us to sit for about an hour before turning us around and making us find our own detour around route 80, THEN another accident on I-70 in which we sat 2.5 hours at a stand still while the entire accident was apparently cleaned up before letting traffic pass.  We finally made it home around 4:30, whew!  

Finally, some bump pics!

Now that I'm 4 months along or so, I've been getting more than a few requests for pictures of the "bump" from OOT friends and family, so without further ado.......

Just to remind everyone how I used to look, here I am around 2 weeks pregnant:

Here is now, around 16+ weeks:

And here are a couple more bonus pictures from charity bowling with friends tonight:

Wombat trying to eat the bowling ball in my tummy ^

Wombat and Brian being weird ^  

Fun Baby Prediction

Stumbled across a cute program on the Bump today that combines parents' pictures and predicts what your baby will look like.  Here are the predicted pictures of our future BugBat:

Not sure how the first one got brown eyes since we both have green/hazel, but maybe it's smart enough to know Wombat's Jewish background haha.  Anyway, we look forward to seeing how accurate these are!  Maybe we'll catch somewhat of a glimpse at the next ultrasound in 2 weeks......     Is it horrible of me to be scared that we might have an unattractive baby?   I just wonder what would happen if the poor kid got Wombat's Jewish nose and my absence of a jaw/chin.  I also hope it has the same dirty blonde hair color as we both do - though it could potentially have dark hair from Wombat's parents, or red hair from both sides of our families.  The poor kid could also be oddly skinny, with my bony elbows and wombat's narrow face.  Oh well, let's hope for the best!  At the very least, I'd like to think it will have a great smile :-D

Grins!

I'm finally sure enough that I'm feeling our little BugBat move to post about it!  About a week ago, while lying on the couch with our dog, Jack, against my tummy, I thought I felt little bubbles below my belly button.  Never having felt it before, I wondered if it might be the baby, but thought it may also just feel weird since my organs are squished into different places now.  However, last night when I went to bed, I definitely felt the same bubble feeling, in the exact same place, and it lasted for 5-10 minutes.  Wombat noticed me grinning to myself and looked at me as if I were crazy until I told him I thought I was feeling the BugBat, which he thought was fun, but obviously couldn't share the same enthusiasm I had.

Today the feeling was distinctively stronger, and the bubbles are beginning to feel like little taps.  I'm a little nervous to speculate how strong they will get over the next 5 months, especially since Wombat was a great soccer player haha.  Can't wait until they are strong enough for Wombat to feel!

Second Trimester!

Wow, I haven't updated in quite some time, sorry!

So now that I'm in my second trimester, life is SO much better!  I finally have time and energy to be productive, so here's what we've been up to:

Last weekend we made it down to Cinci and visited my brother and sister-in-law.  While there, they took us downtown where we had a drink (or soda) and watched Cincinnati win their last game before March Madness.  On the way, Wombat and I stopped at IKEA and finally purchased a crib, dresser/changing table and bookcase for the nursery!  The grand total was only $450, so we are really pleased.  The crib even converts to a bed:

Yay us!   This weekend, we plan to paint the nursery a gender-neutral cream, and find some cool fabric with which to make our own curtains.  Here's what we like so far:

Just fun, colorful fabrics that make us (and hopefully the baby) feel happy to look at them.  We might actually pick 2 different ones and purposefully clash them together for a more homemade look.  We could edge them in the same green or red, to tie the room together. Then, I'd use the same green or red fabric to make a floor poof pillow that our little one can use when it begins to learn to walk.

Anyway, we're also busy scheduling many family and friend visits while we still can.  So far, here's our second trimester schedule:

Tonight:  March Madness mini-party with wombat, dad, and another good friend at our house.  Meal plan:  wombat's famous burgers, soy-and-maple glazed salmon, and some sort of potato dish.  Side of peas for the baby :)

Tomorrow:  Tour of the Maternity center at Riverside, followed by coupon-shopping, then more bball for the wombat and friend(s) while I attempt to move our gutters, rip up the back deck, and design a garage barrier with dad.

Tuesday:  Mom's birthday dinner at our house with step-dad, aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Meal plan:  chicken cashew casserole, parmesan broccoli, and mac n cheese for the young kids.  Dark chocolate brownies with ice cream for dessert.

Thursday, March 24th:  Young Professionals of Lancaster charity bowling at Tiki Lanes for $2.50/person

Friday, 25th - Sunday, 27th:  Road trip to New York to celebrate wombat's grandmother's 90th birthday!  Hope to see the city and cousins while we're there as well.

Thurs, April 7:  GENDER ULTRA-SOUND in Cbus!   Can't wait!

Thursday, April 7th - Monday, 11th:  Wombat's mom comes to visit - hope to have nursery started by then!

Saturday, April 16- Sunday, 17th:  Wedding in D.C. and staying with law school friends in Alexandria the night before.  It's a Sunday brunch wedding, so should be fun!

Sat, April 23rd:  Birthday Bonfire for wombat at our house for his 27th birthday since it falls on Easter this year.

Friday, April 29 - Sunday, May 1:  Visit cousins in Indiana and paint matching pregnant (3 of us!) bellies like Easter eggs haha.

Whew.  Then we have my brother's birthday on May 14th, the Ohio Warrier Dash (don't ask) on June 4th and 5th, and then we are taking our "Babymoon" (last childless vacation) to the west coast!  Leaving Thursday, June 9th, flying into Seattle, spending my birthday (June 10th) having lunch in the Space Needle, driving to Cheney, WA for wombat's sister's graduation, driving to Vancouver to see friends and family, stopping in Portland to see more family, then driving down route 101 along the west coast for a week!  Staying with friends when we arrive in San Diego, then ending our trip in Vegas for two night before flying back home.   We just scored plane tix yesterday for less than $300 a person!  I'm so proud of myself and told wombat I should be rewarded with a maternity pedicure for my $200/person savings.

Map of Babymoon Trip

We are scheduling NOTHING after June since who knows how uncomfortable and tired I will be in the third tri.  However, if it goes well, I'll either volunteer or just watch Lancaster's Tour de Cause bike race in mid-July, and hopefully attend the Lancaster Festival concerts the last two weekends in July.  Hope to have our house updated by then, if not, wombat will be busy rushing to finish our safety projects, such as:

• building a garage wall to block car exhaust from being sucked into our house ventilation
• painting the living room and hall
• fixing and installing electrical updates (light fixtures, outlets, grounding)
• building a safety wall along our staircase so baby won't fall down the steps
• installing a safety railing on the steps outside our front door
• installing a safety railing down the staircase to the basement
• hopefully installing a new bathtub in our upstairs bathroom so baby won't hurt itself while getting a bath!  And, ok, also for me, since I've been dying to have a whirlpool bath for years.  If wombat wants to get me a "push present," a new whirlpool tub would be number one on my list haha.

New windows, new roof, new deck, and a backyard fence are also on the wish list.  

I think this is a thorough update for now, cheers!