20 Week Ultrasound

Ok. So this picture isn't that different from the 12 week ultrasound. And we didn't get one of the girly bits...I'm still not convinced that it's a girl. However, it does explain this pregnancy! She supposedly weighs 12 oz.

Oh, so based on the last ultrasound and my estimates I thought that I as 21 weeks; however, this ultrasound estimated that I was 20 weeks. It's still within a normal range (the tech said that she could be up to two weeks off of the estimate and everything was still considered normal). But, the due date could be off a little bit and put us closer to Lu's birthday. I guess we'll find out in a few months!

Say what?!

It's a girl. I'm in shock...still absorbing this information. I'm already worried about adolescence...Tom's already worried about paying for a wedding.

Everything else appeared healthy.

Ack! A girl! What am I going to do?

Will post pics later.

Lu Observations

"Lucius say 'yes', Mommy say 'no'".

"Daddy say 'no', Lucius say 'yes'".

Lu hasn't quite grasped the idea that Mommy and Daddy have the final say. He thinks that everything is up for negotiation. Classic two-year-old.

The baby is kicking and other happenings

Tom felt the baby kick this week. We can't remember what night it was, but it was recently!

I started painting the nursery (while trying to not breathe in the fumes). It's going to take several coats to cover the ugly dark blue trim and matching blue pineapples but then it shouldn't take too long.

I had to take Lu to the university the other day to drop off some scantrons from my test and wouldn't you know they had a bowl of Halloween candy sitting out on the desk. Of course Lu spotted it immediately and asked for some. The lucky duck got a bag of M&Ms. Now when I tell him that I'm going to work he says "Mommy go to work, eat candy?". In his mind that's what I do all day at work. In actuality I sit at home at my computer and eat candy all day.

Visit from the cousins

Darren, Kay, Cameron, Ryan, and Scott came to visit for the weekend. Boy, did Lu have a good time with his cousins!

We played Bingo. "I-49" was a popular number. It's the only one that "caller Lucius" would say.


We ate s'mores



We played at the park



Lucius got pushed around in the tractor


We ate donuts (Lu ate two. As much as his cousins!)


We went to the park, again.


Lu really wore out his cousins, and vice versa. Lucius kept poor Scott up until almost 10p on Saturday night. Scott kept trying to go to sleep, but Lucius kept chatting away. "I want play. I want talk. Go Mommy." He was not the party-pooper that night!

Trick or Treating!

I took Lu out trick or treating for the first time this Halloween. The weather was beautiful and Lu got lots of candy even though we only made it around the block. Tom stayed home to pass out our candy. A lot of kids come to our neighborhood. It's a great place to trick-or-treat.
Lu was shy and didn't say "trick-or-treat" and rarely said "thank you" unless I repeatedly reminded him. Perhaps next year he'll have the whole thing down. It was great to see our neighbors and meet some new ones though. I haven't really seen anyone since we first moved in.






"What dat Mommy?"


He made it 1/2 way around the block and decided that he needed a rest -- right in the middle of someone's yard.

Carving Pumpkins with Daddy

Unfortunately Mommy's pumpkin was rotten inside and I had to take it back to the store to get a refund...so no pumpking carving for Mommy this year! And the jack o' lanterns didn't even last until Halloween. Never buy cheap pumpkins from the grocery store...they were probably leftovers from last year.

The Wedding

Long live the lab!


A grad school friend.


Two more grad school friends.


The beautiful bride and her new husband. Another match made in the psychology department at Kent State.


For some reason blogger is uploading the pictures in the opposite order of what I intended...not sure what's going on but I'm not changing the order!

Preggo Stats

Lu and I went to see the midwife on Wednesday. Lu got to hear the heartbeat...but he was much more excited about opening the trash can lid with the foot lever for the nurses and the midwife. He was very helpful. I've gained 3lbs so far. I don't remember how much I had gained with Lu at this time. Maybe I wrote it down somewhere...probably not. I'm just glad that my sugar levels were OK. A little mouse has gotten into the Halloween candy over here ;) I noticed today that I've already gone through almost one whole bag of peanut butter cups. Oops. I think Tom finally understands why you don't buy candy until Halloween day.

I also got my blood drawn for the quad screen. Lu promptly got in the seat after me. Hoping to get a needle in his arm too? He did do really well when he got his blood taken a couple of weeks ago...hmmmm....I better keep an eye on that.
My big ultrasound is scheduled for Nov. 18th. Man, they book up fast! That was the first appointment they had available.

The rest of Domestic Wednesday (that's what I'm calling it) included a trip to the post office, Target, the store inside Target with the hot chocolate and donuts (that was all Lu, I swear. Although, I was hoping that he'd nicely ask for it.), and Lowe's to buy the paint for the nursery. Yes, that's right. I'm painting a nursery! I have to admit that I'm feeling a little guilty the second time around. Lu didn't have a nursery or really much of anything at all...this baby will have a whole house! I'm just glad that babies don't really care about matching decor, toys, and fancy equipment. However, every time I talk about painting the baby's room Lu has to chime in "paint my room too!?". Of course, little man! I let him pick out his paint colors at the store and he always seems to gravitate toward fuscia and pink. I think I'm going to go with classic blue. But first we need to take down that god awful paneling.

Oh, and Lucius is now into buying toys at the store. He's been asking to go to the toy store (not sure what store that is) and when we're in Target he starts showing me all of the toys he wants me to buy. I've already started talking about Christmas and making a list of toys for Santa to bring.

"I want dis hebacopter."
"No Lucius, you can't have it."
"Why Mommy? I want it."
"No Lucius, put it back."
"Why Mommy?"
"I don't have any money for toys. Do you have any money?"
"No"
"You need money to buy toys. So no money, no toys."

Of course now Lucius asks for money every chance he gets. If he finds some change lying around he immediately puts it in his pocket.

Halloween Party

We went to a Halloween party over the weekend and I got to display my craftiness. I can't tell you how proud I am of Tom's costume. What an accomplishment for me! I'm putting that on the resume.

Any guesses as to who we are?






So the vast majority of the fellow party goers had no clue who we were. I'm pretty sure most thought that I was a party pooper and not even dressed up. Ok, I admit that's how I normally look most days -- minus the weird hairstyle.



Oh, and that's not a prosthetic belly that I'm wearing. That's the real deal. Yes, I'm huge for only being 4 months. I'm nervous as to how big I'm going to be by the end of this pregnancy. Tom is REALLY nervous. He thinks that I might pop.

Here's my precious astronaut. Sorry, I mean "super astronaut".


I guess that astronauts don't wear clothes under their spacesuits? At least this one refused to. Then he decided to strip down in the middle of the party.


Once it hit bedtime the kids got to watch a movie in Miss Bonnie and Mr. DJ's room...and eat cookies on their bed! Then Lu went to sleep in Drew's room while the other boys chatted away. Poor Lu is going to be the party pooper at sleepovers...just like his Mommy. Every time the parents would go up to tell the other two to be quiet they would report that Lu was snoring away on the floor.


We had a great time, per usual. I actually made it until 1am when I told Tom that it was time to go. At least Lucius slept until 7am the next morning. I was a little worried since we had to wake him up to get him in the car and back into his bed.

He doesn't shut up.

That's what my Mom told me after she babysat Lu for the weekend while Tom and I were at a wedding. It's true though. From the moment he wakes up in the morning until he falls asleep at night Lu is a little chatterbox.

"Wake up Mommy, go downstairs, watch cartoons"
"Just be patient Mommy" ( I get that one a lot)
"Lucius have some candy please please please?" (with sweetest evilest grin that you can imagine)
"I go new daycare, play my new friends, eat lunch, take nap, Daddy pick up, go home, eat dinner, watch cartoon, go to bed" (that's what you'll get if you ask him his plans for the day)
If you ask him about daycare he'll now give more details "I play with tow truck, car wash, go up ramp, crash...*** said 'no mines', **** said 'get out of my way'"

"I have two cookies, sound good Mommy?" (um, no)
"No five, I want five dems" (if you ask him how many he wants, the answer is always 5)
"I say halloween, trick or treating, thank you" (if you ask him what he's supposed to do on Halloween)
"Ichabod bite my arm" (doesn't surprise me)
"Daddy be sooooo happy" (when we bought two packages of batteries at the store)

Oh, and speaking of Ichabod...I think he's the one that wakes up Lu at 5am!! That damn cat. Last night I went into Lu's room at 10p to shut off his light (he's supposed to shut it off himself when he's ready to go to sleep, but it never seems to happen) anyhoo, I found both Tacit and Ichabod curled up on his bed. I thought it was cute until Tom mentioned that maybe it's the cats that wake him up so early. Sure enough, this morning Ichabod was banging on our door at 5 am (yes, he actually bangs on our door). I could hear him running from Lu's room back to our room trying to get someone up.

Oh, Lu's also a healthy eater. And by healthy I mean that he eats a lot. Mr. Mark at daycare commented on the fact that after he gives the boys lunch, he'll turn his back for second and Lucius will be done already. What can I say. He's a Sledjeski-Dinzeo...that there's some eatin' genes.

My America

I know, I know, I need to update the blog. I promise I'll do it within the next two months...anyhoo, I just had to post this youtube video from a friend of ours. Tom grew up with Mischa -- the lead singer of Mighty Fairly. They just posted this video and I must say "job well done!". Thought I would share...

When Mom and Dad are away....

Tom and I spent some time in Rhode Island last weekend for a wedding (it was great!). Sitty and Jagee came up to watch Lucius for us and in our rush to get out of the door I didn't really tell them any of the "rules"...over even where the diapers were for that matter. I guess that's what you get when you take on too much work and not enough daycare.
Anyhoo, these are the pictures I saw when we got back. Oh, how grandparents love to spoil. But seriously, I'm so glad that Lu gets to spend time with his grandparents. He truly loves it.

Starting the day with a healthy breakfast from the Amish Market.


Washing it down with a vitamin enriched drink.


Burning off all of that "energy". Hmmmm, who's watching Lu to make sure that he doesn't fall? Oh, there's Sitty, waaayyyy in the distance.

Ultrasound Pictures

I think that these are self-explanatory.

There's only one baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's only one baby! Woohoo. Everything looks good so far. My gestational age guess was 12 weeks 5 days, the computer estimated 12 weeks 4 days. Damn, I'm good.

Ultrasound pictures will follow soon. Tom has to scan them.

Heartrate = 153 bpm

Yay!

Lucius was excellent throughout. He was actually serenading us with his "wakeup" song. Wake up sleep head, time to rise. Wake up. Wake up!....

There's a baby in there.

I went to my first midwife appt this afternoon. It was a little rushed and a little weird, but I think it'll be fine in the end. Based on the miscarriage the midwife was guessing that I was between 8-10 weeks...that is until she examined me. She said I'm definitely farther along than that...and oh yeah, maybe it's twins. Ha. I kind of doubt that it's twins but just to make sure she wants me to get an ultrasound ASAP. So, by Monday evening I should know 1) how far along I am and 2) how many babies there are. Let's hope there's just one.

I did briefly hear the heartbeat. She found it immediately which means that I'm probably around 12 weeks. Which is what I originally thought....

Birthday Fun

I got lots of yummy chocolate for my birthday. Lucius picked out the peanut M&Ms all by himself.

First Belly Pic

Well, there's something growing in there. Not sure what it is yet!

This is me pregnant with Lucius...at almost exactly the same gestational age (11 weeks, 4 days; assuming that my guestimate is right). I guess you do show a lot faster the second time around.

>

Oops, I took the picture from the wrong side. I guess you can see the tattoo progression this time around.

Happy Birthday To Me

Well, I'm officially 30. I was trying to avoid it for as long as possible, but I just couldn't hold out anymore.

Classes started here, so Tom and I have been in a prepping frenzy. Hence the lack of blog updates. Oh, and our good computer died so I can't easily upload pictures. I'm borrowing a friend's laptop so that I can actually do some work (thanks Bonnie!). I hope that we can still recover our files...most of them being pictures...at least the good pics make it to the blog.

Lucius is really talking up a storm these days. I'd love to post video but 1) we don't have a computer with a working fire wire connection and 2) Lu shuts up as soon as the video camera is on him. He's saying a lot of phrases such as "maybe someday" and "it sure is". He loves is astronauts and space shuttle (thanks Grandma!) and can't get enough of floating on the moon. He's still a little leery about the new daycare, but I'm not concerned about irreparable damage. Plus, he's only going for 2 days a week until December. Then he'll be home full time with Mommy and the new baby!

Oh, speaking of the baby. I guess I haven't really said anything about that. I'm pregnant. At least I think I'm pregnant. I could just be growing a large tumor that's testing positive for pregnancy. Due to the move and insurance switch I still haven't been able to see a midwife. However, my appointment is scheduled for this Friday (9/19). Tom and I are cautiously optimistic. I'm not even sure how far along I am. Based on a miscarriage in late June I could be 12 weeks (due early April), but who really knows. I should be getting an U/S on Friday...or at least hear a heartbeat on the doppler. All I know is that I'm showing already...which is ridiculous. AND I've had some pretty bad fatigue, all day sickness, and just general yuckiness feelings. I spend most of August on the couch. Food is finally becoming my friend again. Wish us luck with a healthy babe!

Best Buds

Connor and family came for a visit on Labor Day. Yay!!! Connor and Lucius started daycare together as infants and have been best buds ever since. It was finally hitting Lucius that we were in New Jersey for good, and that Connor was still in Connecticut. When I bring Lu to his new daycare (which is turning into a crying/screaming match) he asks "Go daycare? See my Connor?". No, little man, no Connor at this daycare.

But at least they can come visit us in New Jersey!

Playing Rescue Heroes


Dancing


Chatting about the good ol' days


Uhhhhh....


Cheesin' it up for the camera


More cheese.


Throw in some huggin'


and some kissin'


And you've got a great play date!

Oh, did you notice the red walls in the dining room? Tom did that. Only 7 coats of paint, plus a primer. Tom has decided that he's never painting again.