Holiday Cheer!

Just wanted to take a moment to congratulate our dear friends, Fred and Nicole.

They're engaged!!!

We were able to meet up with them for a post-holiday luncheon to celebrate the news. Plus, Aunt Nicole and Uncle Fred had a surprise gift for baby. An ongoing joke at Mitch's former workplace and at the fire department is a web address where a banana jumps around singing "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time." Yes, I am aware this seems rather silly, but people love it. So, baby will happily wear it's new shirt with pride. Thanks Nicole and Fred!

Side note- Right after I opened this gift during lunch, Mitch got a text message from a colleague at work. What did it happen to be...a sound message of "Peanut Butter Jelly Time." So, he promptly texted back a photo of our baby t-shirt. Impeccable timing!

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone. Our Christmas this year was perfectly peaceful. Mitch and I headed out to an early holiday dinner at Ruth's Chris. We dined on fillet, crab cakes, asparagus, and creamy potatoes. I, even, took a small sip of Mitch's yummy wine. Bad mommy-to-be:)
We enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Milchak house on Christmas Eve. The event of the night was sitting around trying to make the baby kick. Baby was showered in lots of fun gifts this holiday season, even though Sweet Pea still has a ways to go before blessing us.
Mitch headed to work on Christmas Day, while I headed with the family to my grandpa's for a Xmas Brunch. So, many delicious foods for baby. We arrived back at the house pretty late and I fell asleep on the couch. I awoke to people talking to the baby and, once again, trying to get baby to put on a show. Michael played ridiculous music from his cell phone to provoke a reaction from the womb. Baby has now heard some fine rock music and great 80's tunes, along with the Flash Gordon theme song. Nice!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

24 Weeks

We headed to our 24-week appointment on December 23rd. Which actually put us at 25 weeks. They did the normal checks on me and baby. Everything is coming a long fine. We met with our third and final physician, Dr. P. So, we have Dr. W,-very serious, old school doc-he makes me laugh with his no nonsense, one word answers. (Bueller, Bueller, Bueller.) Dr. G, whom I love because she jokes and giggles through every exam. And Dr. P who is very sweet and reassuring. She answers every question we can conjure up for her. It was important to us when we chose a OB office that there would be multiple people "on call" for baby's big debut. This way we will hopefully know our baby's doctor, instead of being surprised. Plus rotating doctors has been nice and takes away from the hum drum of the check-ups.

We listened to baby's heartbeat, which as usual was strong with an occasional muffled kick. Baby has become increasingly active, especially in the morning and evening. Sweet Pea loves to pound away in the morning before I am ready to get up and in the evening just before I fall asleep. Baby has, also, become more active after afternoon meals. Baby loves to start squirming after mommy eats yummy food. We, also, have discovered that we can now see baby kicking and punching my belly. At night, Mitch will talk to Sweet Pea and in a matter of moments my belly starts dancing. It kind of reminds me of the scene in Alien, when we first see the baby alien come out of that guy's stomach during dinner, hee, hee.

I was assured that from here on out baby would become even more active and my adorable 2nd trimester belly was going to start growing rather rapidly. We, also, have appointments made through March, many of which will be only 2 weeks apart. Wow, our calendar consists of nothing else besides OB appointments.

24 Weeks

Holiday Fun

This past weekend we headed to not one, but two holiday parties on Saturday. For the first party, we headed out to Culpeper. The party was hosted by one of the firefighters on Mitch's medic unit. Although, it took us about an hour to get out there-it was well worth the trip. We enjoyed a buffet of awesome food and entertainment by the host's son, who played the piano for us. It was, also, nice for me to put faces with names. I had met a lot of Mitch's co-workers at Station 25. However, when he finished his Advanced Life Support class a few months ago, he moved to a new station. So, I loved putting stories with faces and loved hearing fun tidbits from the rest of his unit about my dear hubby.
After a few hours in Culpeper, we got back in the car to head to Leesburg for the annual Vannoy Christmas party. We missed the group opening of presents, but were bale to open ours after things had calmed down a bit. Mitch was excited about his hilarious "animal" t-shirt and firefighter ornament. You can never have too many of those:) I was showered with a few gorgeous maternity tops. And thanks to Jeremy, baby was not left out due to a few cute onesies and a stuffed alligator. What a fun night? Although, we got home a little after 2am, so we both slept the day away on Sunday.

Turkey Day Flutters

Well, actually they used to be flutters-now they are full-on kicks at mommy's belly. I had been trying to distinguish between other funny stomach feelings and baby moving. But, ever the fairly calm person-I would not convince myself that every little feeling in the gut was baby.

But, over thanksgiving break I gave in and had Mitch patiently lie on our bed with his hand on my belly waiting for baby to move. Of course, our now famously stubborn child would not cooperate the first few nights. Not surprising. After all this is a kid that refuses to be found by the heartbeat monitor, stays still during sonograms when he/she needs to move, or won't move when they need a different angle. Again, baby is just like mommy. So, the other night while quietly laying in bed, Sweet Pea, became very active...while Daddy was in the shower. Figures:)

When Mitch came to bed, I told him that baby had been moving-but stopped as soon as he came in the room. So, daddy gave baby it's first scolding. He told baby to stop making mommy out to be a liar and let daddy feel all the kicks I have been feeling. With a little persuasion and sweet words, baby started kicking daddy's hands. And harder then usual too. I guess baby does not like being "called out."

Since their little heart to heart baby seems to know when daddy's hand is on mommy's belly and will start to tap to say "hello." Baby seems to like daddy's voice too, because if Mitch says something close enough to my tummy, baby will start pounding away. It was an exciting Thanksgiving break and I am so thankful that baby and Daddy are bonding. Disgustingly cheesy, I know.

Thankful for Relaxation

We headed to Lifetime Fitness over Thanksgiving break to get his and her massages. If you have ever been to Lifetime you would realize that it is more than just a gym. It is a lifestyle..haha. We are not current members, though we both have been at one point or another. However, we had a gift certificate to the spa at the club and finally found the perfect time to use it.
With Mitch completely done with his medic classes and finding myself at the half way mark in my pregnancy, massages seemed like the perfect way to start the holiday season. Mitch was treated to a hour long Swedish Massage, while I opted for the Pregnancy Massage. Let me just say that this was a godsend and I recommend every pregnant lady get one.
Now, you may be asking yourself where this post is going-here it is. After my massage was over, I headed out to the lobby. My masseuse met me to take me back to the spa lobby. On our way there she mentioned that Mitch's massage may run over. Okay...I am thinking maybe they got started late-except he was taken about 10 minutes before I was from the lobby. She then proceeds to tell met that while she and his masseuse were washing their hands and getting ready to come in that Mitch's masseuse was ecstatic to get to massage Mitch. Okay...I am wondering where this is all going. Lucky, I am not a jealous wife:)
She goes on to say that the girl was thrilled to learn Mitch is a firefighter. At this point, I realize that the girl is not attracted to my dear hubby. Seeing as we often get the same reaction whenever someone learns Mitch is a firefighter. My masseuse lets me know that the girl is currently going through the process to become a firefighter and thought this was a nice opportunity to get some inside info.
The masseuse laughs and asks if I heard Mitch through the joining walls to our rooms. I had heard a Mitch version of a Charlie Brownish "wha, wha, wha" during my massage. I said I had heard him and we both laughed. Seeing as I was yelled at the first time I ever got a massage for talking, I usually just stay quiet. But, not Mitch- he talked away during the first half of his massage. So, I sat in the lobby for about another 10 minutes waiting for Mitch. He struts in all relaxed and I dare say glowing from being allowed time to hand out knowledge about the road to becoming a firefighter.

Here is my issue people...why did Mitch get the perk to a longer(almost 20 long minutes) massage, than his poor pregnant wife. It's the career, I tell you. Being a firefighter is like being a celebrity. It even got a discount on our nursery furniture. I guess I cannot complain because I often reap the benefit, too. However, I was a bit jealous of his extra massage time. LOL!

Halfway There...20 Weeks!

It's hard to believe that we have reached the half way mark already. It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating the good news, and in 20 more weeks we will get to meet our sweet pea.

We have nicknamed baby "Sweet pea." We were at Babies R Us beginning a registry and MItch saw a bib he thought was really cute. Yep, it came about all because of a bib Mitch liked. I was overruled when I mentioned it sounded like a girl nickname, because Popeye's baby was a boy and named Sweet pea. how can I fight that logic. Since we are unaware of baby's gender, giving him or her a name seemed better than referring to baby as an it.

On November 21st, we headed to our 20-week appointment. All the usual tests and procedures were the same. Everything looks great, mommy and baby are both in good health. Hearing baby's heartbeat was a bit different. As we listened, a strange noise caught me off guard. It was sort of fuzzy, like if an announcer dropping his microphone at a football game. the doctor laughed and informed us everything was okay. The sound we heard was baby kicking up a storm. Doctor G let us know we have a "maniac child" on the way. I guess it is good that I am still blissfully unaware of all this kicking.

20 Weeks-this may be my last week wearing my pre-pregnancy pants:)

I had to turn to show off my "Ciao Bella" shirt that Momma Milchak got on her last visit to Italy.