Special delivery

Meet our new baby, Jamal...

Clearly, he's already wondering what Willis is talking about.




(This is the baby we [or should I say "I"] picked in our Baby Basics class last night LOL Every time I looked over at it, sitting in Rob's lap, I cracked up! I mean what is WITH that FACE??)

Pics!

Me at 27 weeks...





Comparison shot of 13 weeks, 21 weeks, and 27 weeks...





Our living room...




Our dining room...





Our kitchen (taken from the dining room)...




A panoramic view of what we see outside of our bedroom sliding glass door/balcony...

Holy exhaustion, Batman!

Well, the apartment is almost totally taken care of. We/I have boxes to go through before we can store them in the closets and I need to put all of my clothes away, but otherwise things have really come together nicely. We bought a coffee table and a bookcase (our first furniture purchases as a couple) as well as some floating shelves for the living room walls. We also bought paint and Rob painted the baby's room on Saturday! I'll take some pictures when we have better light in there - we only have a small table lamp on the floor right now. But the wall the crib will go against is "Whisper Yellow" and the facing wall, where the changing table will go, is called "Rejuvenate" which is a pale green. We're talking about changing the curtains in the room to a kind of slate grey, which is the other color in the "classic pooh" collection stuff we registered for. Just don't want them to look too heavy on the white wall. ANYWAY, this is only interesting for a few of you so...

Rob took some belly pics last night and, as soon as I get them from him, I will post them. In them I'm wearing a black sweater with thin white stripes on it (thank you, Heather!)
and from the front you can't really tell I'm pregnant LOL It's a total optical illusion... but when I turn to the side... BLAMO! I was laying on the couch last night while Rob was making peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips (mmmmmmm!!!!) and Violet was going crazy (she moves a LOT now). I looked down and could actually watch my belly jump and undulate every time she moved!! I called Rob in from the kitchen and made him sit and stare at my belly until he saw it!
It was so funny and exciting and just WEIRD! Of course Rob says "Hey!!! There's something in there and it wants to get out!!!!" ;)

It's hard to believe that, as of yesterday, I only have 3 months to go. We're gearing up for our trip to Los ArkanMaine (we're visiting family in Los Angeles, Arkansas, and Maine all within one week starting Feb. 2) and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm a little concerned about the traveling, if for no other reason than my on-going rib pain. Just sitting here typing this out has made my ribs hurt so I can't imagine what 4+ hours per flight is going to feel like. Maybe if we tell them we're pregnant they'll bump us to business class for free on each flight ;) We definitely plan to take advantage of the "If you need extra time to get to your seat, you may board now" policies!

I suppose that's it for now! I have to make an appointment to get my gestational diabetes test tomorrow and I have my next doctor's appointment on Jan. 28. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes and will update with pictures soon.

I promise I will update again very soon...

... but I HAD to post what Rob just said:

"It's like 6 months ago I was a single guy with a cat. And now, not only are we a couple, but in 4 months we're going to have this other person here that's never gonna go away!"

LOL

Pics in the next post, I promise!

Stuff and more stuff

Picture time!

Me at 21 weeks... (please ignore the bed head)



Our first Christmas tree together...



As most of you know, we got the new apartment we really wanted, so I've spent all day on Rob's PC using AutoCAD (semi-successfully) plotting out where the furniture will go! We're both extremely excited that we got this place. We're more excited that the owner apparently knows nothing about what it's worth! I googled the address and a real estate listing came up for another unit in the same building (they are condos) and it's selling for over $450K! He's only charging us $1400/mo rent, so we totally lucked out and are thanking the Universe for it!!

Here it is on Google Maps:

View Larger Map


I'm doing really well over all. My ribs hurt quite a bit, especially when I'm sitting for a long period of time or laying on my sides in bed. Been trying to use the body pillow we bought but it's really awkward. It's hard to get my belly on top of it while still having one leg underneath it. I'm wondering if I should have sprung for the "pregnancy" body pillow that's more S-shaped. Anyway, I really can't (read: shouldn't) complain because I don't have sciatica or heartburn or nausea and I feel pretty good in general. Violet is kicking up a storm every day (especially near my bladder and especially when it's full!) and Rob felt her for the first time last night! He was very excited, although he couldn't feel the rest of the tossing and turning she was doing after that for some reason. The doctor said it would be week 24 before he would feel anything on the outside, so we're 2 weeks early at this point anyway.

Work is going well and, so far, I haven't felt limited in my duties much. The only thing I can't do is lift the door to the trash bin area in our building, so I have to take the elevator up a floor and drop it down the chute :) No biggie.

Hope you are all well and warm!!!

Because Emma told me to...

Well, we found out the sex!

Wow!

Well hello all! I know, I know, I'm slacking again. But here's a list of what's happened...

• Rob and I will find out the sex of the baby on Thursday at 1:30pm :) We originally said we were going to be surprised but, after talking about it, we've decided to find out. THAT I will be sure to update immediately ;)
• I got a job! I'll be working as the receptionist/front desk person for a salon called 17 Jewels in Oakland. I really like the vibe and tomorrow is officially my first day. It's a load off our minds, for sure, and it will be nice to get out of the house on a regular basis.
• We went down to L.A. for Thanksgiving and it was just great. We spent Turkey day with Rob's family and my parents joined us for dinner. It was so awesome to have our parents meet and see them get a long so well. Friday we had breakfast with Rob's mom and then drove in to L.A. to spend the rest of the day and Saturday with my parents. Sunday we had a grueling 8 hour drive home in stop and go traffic. It pretty much sucked, but both Rob and I were glad we were stuck with each other of all people :)
• I felt the baby kick for the first time a few days ago :) It felt like a dull toothpick poking my bladder! I know that's a really weird way to describe it, but it's definitely a hard thing to describe. Sometimes it feels like that feeling you get in your stomach when you go over a hill in a car or hit the peak of a rollercoaster only down near your bladder. It's exciting and weird and kind of gross all at the same time ;)

That's pretty much it for now! More pictures and updates Thursday after the 20 week screening! Halfway point! Woohoo!!