Welcome

You're here! Well, you've been here for a while now (over 5 months) and I'm just now getting back to this blog. I will add some recap and highlights coming soon. But importantly, you're here, everyone is doing well, you're a large baby, you're still working on sleeping better, it's about to be summer, we think your teeth and crawling are coming up soon, and we love you. More to come soon.

Already August

Hi Yamz! I hope you are doing well in there. You seem to be moving quite a bit so I assume you are learning a lot about yourself and the sounds and flavors of the world right now. Sometimes when I'm laying down, your Dad likes to come by and jiggle or poke you until you kick him. It's good to learn this about him now.

Right now the house is very still. Jessie is sleeping on the staircase and your Dad is helping out at Special Olympics. He has been working really hard on the house lately. We have a brand new wood floor that looks beautiful! I'm sure it will be a fun place for you to drive cars around or race ponies on.

It was great fun seeing you last month. We brought your Grandma and all three of us saw many of your tiny parts. We saw the bones in your legs, the chambers of your heart, your brain...we even saw you swallow. It looks like you are doing a lot of work in there. When the technician left us, you were floating upside down, showing off all the bones that make up your spine. She said you are a girl. She left the image of your spine floating on the screen for a long time while your Dad, your Grandma, and I all sat around thinking about you as a girl person and looking at the print outs of your ultrasound. Several of the print outs were very surprising. You weren't bashful about showing off your skull. It's pretty cute when you look at it closely.

The other pictures were very sweet.

It's nice to see you have skin and a nose. 

Lately it's been very hard to concentrate on my school work (though I have...because school can be important) because I want to make you so many things. So far I have made you an afghan with lots of fuzzy bits and ropey bits ...

and some little elf-y shoes for xmas. Maybe someday I will teach you how to crochet and sew little felt things too. It's nice to know you could make your own socks if you had to- peace of mind. 

I'd better get some exercise in before your Dad comes back. It's nice to be able to move again without feeling like I'm going to throw up.  I am constantly surprised by how fast you are growing! Every time I look in the mirror I'm shocked by how far we have come already.  This is a very sweet time, knowing you are in there doing your thing while I'm doing my job outside. I hope you are having a sweet time too. I'm eating a lot of chocolate just to make sure. 

things are moving along

at this point we are almost halfway there! i hope things are going well in there for you. the 2nd trimester has been a big improvement in daily living for your mom. she has been doing pretty well with exposing you to a variety of different foods, so maybe you will not be a picky baby. we'll see. we have been working on fixing up the house. we bought new kitchen appliances...so get ready to enjoy those. i've also been doing some painting and we have plans of replacing the current carpet. this has all been very expensive. i'm not necessarily saying that you should hurry up and get a job, but if you were to happen upon a legitimate method of bringing in some additional funds to the so household, i wouldn't get in your way.

allow these to serve as a jumping off point

i don't know who that other kid is

it's summertime now and it is quite hot out. july and august in maryland are particularly rough. you should get used to it, though i'm sure we can find a pool or something for you. we went to brookside gardens yesterday, which was really nice. we saw lots of flowers, butterflies and bees. last weekend we went to frederick, md (your mom's current favorite place) and also hiked at cunningham falls. we noted some parents bringing babies up to the top of the falls. it looked a little precarious, but i'm going to just go ahead and mark you as down for going to the top next year. you seem like that kind of baby. it was also july 4th weekend, aka independence day. we saw fireworks near our house. as long as you're cool about it, we will bring you and enjoy the show together.

we're also going to get to see you tomorrow. this is the anatomy scan where they will be checking you out and making sure you're looking healthy. we are both really looking forward to seeing you again, as it has been way too long since the last time. we should also be able to find out if you are a boy or a girl. for no apparent reason, most people are predicting you are a boy. once we find this out we can start to figure out your name. this is a lot of pressure, that mainly your mom is feeling (but i acknowledge its presence). we will do our best to figure out something that will work for all 3 of us. so far tevin, kelvin, and kevina have been ruled out by your mom and she doesn't seem to be budging. i'm sorry, i tried. see you mañana!

another in the long line of fabulous tevins.

Helloooo Yamz! Mom-style.

We just got your baby bath in the mail today. I always enjoyed bathing my toys in the sink when I was little so I'm pretty excited to try it with you in a few months. Don't worry, I was always very gentle.

A lot has happened since we found out you were on your way...

In April we celebrated my 32nd birthday at the Cherry Festival. This was the first year I can remember when the cherry blossoms were at their peak on the 10th.

I think the blossoms were delayed because this spring was really cold. I was still wearing my winter coat when we went to Philly for a day trip in May. We visited a cool candy store (your dad got gummy candy and I got lemon drops), ate at a restaurant called Farmicia, and visited Reading Terminal Market. It was funny how many other pregnant ladies were having brunch at Farmicia that day too. We must have been in the right place.

It got really warm a few weeks later when your Dad and I visited Artifact in Baltimore and then went to Ladew Gardens close to where Grandma and Grandpa live. It was great to walk around in the sun and see all the flowers. We went down a nature trail that promised that there would be snakes but we didn't see any.

Your Dad and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary in December but we still went out to Sweet Frog to celebrate the first anniversary of the wedding we had at La Scala last year. If you look closely at the first picture, you will see that Jessica is pregnant with Ryan! I can't wait for you two to meet!

Shortly after our La Scala wedding, your Dad and I became members of the National Aquarium. We'd never been to the one in DC, so a few weeks ago we made a special visit. When we were parking, I saw a helicopter land on the mall. I didn't get a picture of the helicopter (sorry) but Dad got some great pictures of cute fish. 

The week before last, Dad and I went to Anastasia's for her summer solstice party. I made a delicious strawberry shortcake (the secret is to add a little lemon zest to the whipped cream) and we walked through the woods thinking about the summer and seasons and, of course, I thought a lot about you and all the things you will experience for the first time next summer. 

It's so nice to be alive and to feel the grass on your feet and the sunshine and to see fun things like cute fish and beautiful flowers. Maybe the year after next you will get to taste candy and strawberry shortcake. By then you will probably have outgrown your new bath tub. I'm probably still going to try to give you a wash in the sink though. 

oh hai.

so...you're not here yet, but you're on your way. i'm not quite sure what this blog is or will be, but i have felt compelled to record this period of time. this may be insightful and enlightening and fun for you (us) many moons from now, or it might be neglected and considered no longer worthy of your future time. time is money (life lesson #1). either way, my blogging days have been sparse and it's something i usually enjoyed.

we are about 14 weeks in. your mom has had a tough 1st trimester. lots of nausea and cramps...i'm not trying to point the finger solely at you, but maybe you can cool your jets a little from time to time. i kid. i do have a lot of thoughts about your upcoming arrival (though we are still a good 6 months out).

here's some fun facts:

• as of right now, we don't know if you're going to be a girl or boy
• no idea what your name will be, hence your nickname (kind of a lot of pressure...)
• we've seen you on sonogram/ultrasounds - you were being uncooperative and kept turning your back, then acted cool by crossing your legs and putting your hands behind you head
• you have an elf foot
• because of your presence, your mom does not like the smell of most of the food i cook
• amongst a great extended family, you already have a barrel-chested big sis named jessie
• we love you already
• your birthday is going to be pretty close to christmas - looks like your getting the short end of the gift stick
• you are currently somewhere between the size of a lemon and a fist

this blog is probably going to include a lot of random stories, words of "wisdom", non-sequiturs, one-liners, and miscellaneous items i feel like recording and possibly sharing with you at some point. also, ignore my style of keeping everything lowercase, unless its considered cool in 2031. i don't think this will get too sappy. i would be pretty happy with keeping things fun, loose, and with a slight hint of obnoxious. i think we'll just agree to keep this casual. i tend to be a little wordy, so buckle up and enjoy (or try not to be too embarrassed).