Christmas Day Thoughts for Baby B.

Merry Christmas Baby!

I had such a nice holiday -- these last 3 Christmases have been extra special. In 2005 Ken and I were engaged, 2006 we were married, and 2007 we are expecting our baby girl in just 6 weeks! (At least according to the Feb 3rd due date.) I do feel bad that I haven't written since October because I've been going through so much change with the pregnancy, and just getting ready for your arrival!

Since October, I had a really fun birthday knowing it'd be my last before entering the parenthood club, knowing that was extra special to me. The day after my birthday we went to order the crib and dresser for you which was so fun. It should be here any day. (I can't wait to get organized!)

Then in November, there was Thanksgiving which I was so thankful for my soon best gift in the world, you! We spent the holiday dinner at Uncle Leo's which was a lot of fun to see so many people who hadn't seen me in months and suddenly I'm a lot more round than usual! In the end of November we drove up to Boston so I could visit in work where they threw a surprise baby shower for you. So sweet. And we saw Tony and Josh on our trip, who we hadn't seen in a year so that was really nice.

Then on December 8th we had your big baby shower where you got so many beautiful gifts from family and friends. Between then and now I spent a lot of tume preparing for Christmas and was basically done a couple days early! Still exhausted myself daily from cleaning and cooking and baking, which is just how the holiday always seems to go. It's not easy to be 8 months pregnant on the floor wrapping gifts! I've gotten so much bigger that Kenny often has to pull me up from a sitting position, he's so good to me. :-)

So yesterday we had Christmas Eve, we went to Church and then to your Aunt Dana and Uncle Steve's house with all the family. It was really fun!! Even Baby Bigora got a few cute gifts, like a box of great baby books and a musical lamb friend. I got a pair of maternity PJs, money for a bike to take rides with you next summer around Remsenburg, and lots of other cute gifts. We really are so fortunate in our family to get to share things with each other like this. We had a delicious dinner from Dana, I skipped the salmon just for you since we weren't sure if it was wild or farm raised. We ate a delicious pasta dish, asparagus, salad and potatoes. Dessert was yummy Red Velvet Cake that I made, and pastries from Simon's Bakery. YUM... if you wonder what I've been drinking lately, I have to say I haven't had a drop of alcohol my entire pregnancy. Over the holidays I've had sparkling cider and pear juice, which was been really nice actually. (In one of my last Dr. appointments to see how you are doing, they actually said I should drink a cup of coffee to help my blood pressure go up a bit! So I occassionally have my half a cup of coffee in the morning... just for the taste more than anything.)

Anyway, back to Christmas.... so Christmas Day had been up in the air as to what we would do. Grandma Fern hasn't been well and wound up in the hospital which was a bit sad for me, but we visited her and she really looked better than I'd thought. So instead of the typical piling into Mom and Harold's house, we had a Christmas breakfast at our house with Mom, Harold, BJ, Stav, Maya, Loretta and Jeff H, (not sure where Jeff P was.) We had a really good time opening gifts and being your Cousin Maya's first Christmas, it was really a lot of fun to finally have kids in the family again to see the excitement of opening the toys and just enjoying the day. Kenny gave me a new digital camera so I'll be prepared for when you arrive! I can't wait to play with it! And I gave Kenny a bunch of fun gifts, like the musical Red Sox mobile for your crib, and a KISSology dvd which he loves. Lots of other fun things... So then we went over to Greenport to have a mid-afternoon lunch with the rest of the Greenport crew, and to see Granny at the hospital. It ended up being a really beautiful day here. I ended the evening back at home with a call to your Grandpa Bernie, who sounded to have a nice holiday back in Tulsa. He'll be here soon to meet you too!

So, you're probably thinking this is quite a long monologue here... sorry.... It was really too much catching up to do so I will try to be better and write more often so it's easier to read. I just wanted to make sure I wrote to you this Chritmas Day, to let you know how excited I am that you're now just 6 weeks away, and I can't wait to hold you and love you... Kenny and I are so lucky to have you in our lives already. You are by far the best gift we could receive this year... it's just a matter of time before you're here with us! We can't wait!

Love you my sweet baby!
xxoo, "Mommy" (I like the sound of that!)

Butterfly belly at beach

Here is a fun belly shot! It's really fun to see myself grow. I decided to go to Cupsogue Beach a couple weeks ago to check out the butterfly migration. It was really amazing. They're on their journey down south now... it was awesome to see so many monarchs all in one place. If I were more dramatic and into creative writing, I'd probably compare myself to one of these butterflies making a transformation and taking its life on a journey... but I'm too tired at the moment to get that deep. :-) Funny though, the baby's movements feel like a fluttering butterfly now. Really fun to know she's in there moving around. I wonder what she's doing and thinking. All I could think of was how next spring how different my trips to the beach will be with my little baby coming along! I can't wait to enjoy those times with her and Hub. It's going to be a lot more work, but a lot more fun!

Five Months Along

I can't believe my calendar is telling me I'm 5 months along, so in 4-5 months (depending on if you go by the 9-month or 10-month pregnancy books,) our baby will be here! Wow. She was moving so much last night that it actually woke me up. She's got quite the jungle gym inside there I guess!

Hub and I are still working on a name, and finally coming to some agreements. Which I'm sure will change again and again before February. It's a fun process. Makes you wonder what she'll actually be like when she grows up. Some names are really somber and sweet, others are graceful, and some are just fun and cute. It'd be nice to get a combo of all of these traits... luckily we still have time.

For October, the weather has been spectacular. I am pretty lucky that the summer was not too hot, and it's now perfect temps out. We could use some rain, which would make me stay inside to get more stuff done. I just hope that winter isn't too unbearable before she arrives. They're calling for the worst winter we've had in a long time. Let's hope the weathermen are wrong, like usual! Once we get home with our bundle of joy I don't care if there is a blizzard. We'll enjoy all our time that much more with her warming our hearts and home.

Here is a picture of Kenny and I the weekend we found out that we're having a baby! Memorial Day 2007. I'll never forget telling him because I really didn't anticipate having a "positive" reading when I did the test!!

Our baby GIRL!

By now most of the friends and family know, we're so excited to be having a baby girl!! It's really amazing that when I found this out, it made everything so much more real. I've always imagined myself with a daughter, and am very excited to now start thinking of a name. Kenny and I should have a lot of fun figuring this out!! She might be upset if we're still calling her "Baby Kenny" in February.

After our sono that told us "she's a she", I sent the latest picture of her to everyone I knew, and also sent a clip of her heatbeat, which was fun as a lot of people have never heard this before. It's fun and rather special to be able to share things like this will everyone, especially since technology didn't exist like this when I was born 34 years ago.

Here is an attempt at posting her pictures... really awesome to see how the development takes place. From a tiny little peanut to a little baby with tiny nose. She's waving to us (the white spot) above her head is her little arm moving (in 21 week pic.)

21-week sonogram picture

12-week sonogram picture
6-week sonogram of Baby Bigora..

Baby on the way

First, let me preface this that this is my first attempt at blogging, so if it gets really boring please excuse me. I'm just trying to find a way to pass the time while I am "Sleepless in Remsenburg". I'm officially 20 weeks and for the most part feeling good! We're excited to see if we're having a boy or girl, which we'll know on Thursday (Sept 20th.) Our due date is Feb 3rd, '08. Lots to do before then...

Tonight I'm watching the Red Sox/Yankee game (Hub is working tonight - sometimes I feel like watching so I can keep up with conversations between him and his brother.) Sadly the Sox lost, 8-7, lost it in the 8th inning really. I've got my "Future Fan" Red Sox tshirt on in honor of the little one on its way...

Spent some time on babycenter.com, where I found out a few not-so-pleasent parts of pregnancy. I'll spare you the details, but it's nice to have a place to hear real live issues! And to know that basically all us mommys-to-be are not getting any real sleep, everyone's legs are cramping up, and none of us are fitting into our clothes! At least the teeth brushing sickness has ended (knock on wood!)

Well once I figure it out, I will post some pictures. Now that the game is over I am going to attempt to get some sleep. I'm sure these posts will get better once I get the hang of it! So stay tuned!