Working on the Nursery!

Today I worked on some of my nursery projects. Here are some photos from what I got done! I painted the wooden letters and attached the ribbon to them. The shelving unit was wood, but Jay painted it black and I bought baskets as "drawers".

22 weeks

I just got home from my OB appointment. I hadn't mentioned it to many people yet, in case it was a fluke, but they thought at my last appointment that they only saw a two vessel umbilical cord. That is something that could cause G not to grow properly, or indicate a more serious problem. They wanted to check it again today. Guess what? They saw a third vessel! That problem is checked off my worry list! He still has the choroid plexus cysts, so I am going to a specialist on Tuesday to have a more detailed ultrasound exam. 9 times out of 10, it will be nothing that affects him in any way. He is currently in a breech position, which explains the stomps on my bladder and was grabbing his umbilical cord and playing with it. Here are a few profile pictures:

Babies and Birthdays and Blogs, Oh my!

Hello Fans! Right now, I am getting beat up from the inside, while my ribs feel like they are starting to separate from the rest of my body...Ouch! The joys of having this little guy inside of me! Oh well, in 3 1/2 months or so, I will certainly miss him being in there. I have everything for the crib but the mattress. Here it is:

You get the idea. Franca made the curtains, and she is bringing them over tomorrow! They are black and white gingham. So cute. As for as my fat self, here is the most recent picture. I think the pattern on the dress definitely adds a few pounds. Some days I swear I don't look that big!

Ignore the wet hair and "airbrushed out" braces!
Last week was Jay's birthday! We celebrated with Granddad and Franca on the Sunday before, where Jay got his favorite dessert, sorbet.

Then on Monday, his actual birthday, I bought and decorated a cake for him.



Needless to say, he had a great birthday! We sort of continued the celebration with our families when we went to Jesup for Memorial Day Weekend. We skipped Brunswick, because I was really sick with a cold. But, I did go over to my best friend Kendyl's house to visit with her and my two precious "nieces"! That is where I got the ONLY picture of the weekend. (I know I MUST have been sick!) So here is my little hippy Reese...

I love her to pieces! Anyway, the rest of the weekend we shared with our families, eating meals, visiting and even going to the movies. It was nice to be home despite being sick and the weather being awful. While I was home, I got my grandmother's recipe for her famous blueberry cake and tonight, I MADE IT!!! My FIRST layer cake! I am so excited, so HERE IT IS GRANDMA!

I will be eating it tomorrow night. Can't wait. Other than all that, we are doing fine. I have a doctor's appointment on Friday and another with a specialist next Tuesday! That means more ultrasound video/pictures soon. In other good news, I found out that I am finally getting these awful braces off in August!!
Have a good week, and I will end with a great quote:

"Fear less, hope more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Hate less, love more;
And all good things are yours."
-Swedish Proverb

Kidney Stones

So, I'm in the kitchen last night about to make dinner, and I have this sudden blinding pain in my right flank, as if I got hit with a baseball bat. I started sweating and fell on to the couch. Through shallow breaths I told Jay I needed to go to the Emergency Room. To the E.R. we went! They did blood work, urine testing, put my on an IV and did a Renal Ultrasound. They determined that I did in fact have kidney stone(s). Nothing they can do for it, I just have to wait it out. They gave me a prescription for pain medicine should I have another "attack".
They checked on Grayson while we were there and he is fine! He was partying in my tummy while I was dying from the flank pain. :-)
He has a pretty regular sleep/wake schedule. He is awake right now and punching around in there. Plans this weekend are: movie night tomorrow and Jay's birthday lunch at GDad and Franca's on Sunday. Here are some photos from the last week.
The diaper bag on my wish list! Vera Bradley, Bali Blue, Baby Bag

Franca in the Survivors Lap in Relay for Life


Cutest little Ralph Lauren bodysuit ever!

Me at 19 weeks

This week went by fast!

I hope everyone is having a great week. Tomorrow is Friday, so I am feeling pretty great! To begin the week (on Sunday)we went to TN to see Madraye and Halle. It was a good trip as always. It rained, but we still had a good time. I didn't take any pictures this time! I forgot all about it, which everyone was probably thankful for! Jay and I just worked all week other than that. Tomorrow I will be doing Relay for Life with The Breast Center, so I am looking forward to that a lot. Relay is such a great cause, and so much of their proceeds actually go to cancer research. My Grandma Franca is going too for the first time as a survivor, so I look forward to publicly supporting her and her fight against cancer. Saturday we are getting a Costco membership. (I know, party on- right?) And Sunday, just church and Mothers Day of course! It is my first Mothers Day regardless of what the haters say! I am fostering my child inside my body, so Happy Mother's Day to me! :-) Plus, as my oldest step-daughter pointed out last night, I am a step-mom so I can celebrate Mothers Day for that alone! Happy Mothers Day to all of you too.

In conclusion, here are some quotes that I love this week:

Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. ~Benjamin Franklin

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. ~Mark Twain

That the birds of worry and care fly over you head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent. ~Chinese Proverb

How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened. ~Thomas Jefferson

Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway. ~Mary C. Crowley

some pictures

Here are a few photos I took last night. Some of the angles are so funny, because he was lumped up on one side.

18 week visit

Happy Friday, again! These weeks are flying by. We had a nice week. We didn't do much, but on Thursday we went to dinner at GDad and Franca's and then we all went to a film showing at the Italian Film Festival at Georgia State. And what an incredible movie it was. This weekend our plans are nothing for tomorrow, and church on Sunday (at our new church, that we LOVE) and then to Cleveland to see Madraye and Halle. On to baby news... I am 18 weeks tomorrow, and I had my first visit with my new OB practice today. I switched for a combination of reasons, and I am SO glad that I did. I am very impressed with my new Doctor and his staff. I was there as a new patient today for 3 hours. I had a very thorough exam and lots of testing, talking, and planning. I have gained 4lbs so far. Normal weight gain for this gestation is 10-13 lbs, so I am not putting away the marshmallow fluff just yet! :-) The staff is much nicer and much more professional than the practice I just left. They attempted an anatomic survey (or anatomy scan) which they do between 18-22 weeks to measure the baby, take a closer look at the baby's organs and check many other things like placental position. It is a longer, more detailed scan. The scan revealed that Grayson has a Choroid Plexus Cyst on his brain. It happens in about 1 in 100 pregnancies. Basically, this is a cyst that is not a danger to his health or his brain development, and they usually disappear by the beginning of the third trimester. The only potentially negative thing about a CPC is that it can in rare cases indicate a chromosomal disorder called Trisomy 18. However, if it is an isolated CPC (just a cyst, no other internal or external abnormalities seen on ultrasound), it most likely is not in any way linked to a chromosomal disorder. If you are interested to read more about it, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choroid_plexus_cyst for some more information. I am not worried, and I am staying positive, but please keep this in your thoughts/prayers. If you a parent I am sure you understand that feeling when you are worried that something is wrong with your child. It is unlike any other feeling. Also, his estimated weight is .5 lbs and he is 16 cm long. I am posting a video of the ultrasound today and a few of the pictures. I had the ultrasound on a DVD, so I had to play it on the computer and record it on my camera, so sorry about the poor quality and the background noise. And here is the video: