Last day

So tonight we check into Labor and Delivery to have Baby Simon since he does not want to come out on his own. I am excited to meet our little one who has been baking for so long in my belly. I am also completely nervous about this whole birthing process. And while I understand that women have been giving birth for thousands of years it offers me no comfort to know that there is a good possibility that something the size of a grapefruit is going to squeeze itself out of a hole the size of a golf ball. YIKES.

Dan seems to be taking it in stride...tonight we leave the house as a couple and when we return we will be a threesome. We will have this little person who is half me and half Dan living with us for the next 2 decades. Again we are excited. Being able to see my precious niece Sofia blossom into an amazing toddler has us excited to watch Simon grow and change. I am also nervous about being the best parent I can be - an incredibly important job which I feel like I will never be ready for no matter how much I read and how hard I try.

On that note I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I promise to post pictures of our newest addition when he arrives...hopefully without much fuss...tomorrow!

Hero worship

Last year I posted about my friend Lizzy who gave up her comfortable life in Washington DC to move to New Orleans and start the St. Bernard Project. She was interviewed by Anderson Cooper - you can see the video and read the original post here. I had no idea that she had been nominated for CNN's Hero of the Year award...not only was she nominated but SHE WON!!!!

I am so truly proud of her and all her accomplishments. The pre-taped telecast airs on CNN this Thursday (Thanksgiving) at 9 pm. I plan on watching - unless I am in labor of course.

It just goes to show that when you put your heart and soul into anything you can be successful!! And not monetarily successful but you can really change peoples lives one person at a time! Liz could have easily visited New Orleans and gone back to her life in DC but she didn't. She let that seed of inspiration grow into something meaningful and important and in the end so many people have benefited from her courage and perseverance.

To quote my favorite band..."She's gonna dream up the world she wants to live in, she's gonna dream out loud."

It makes me wish I was more like her.

Are you ready....

for Twilight?!?!?!?!?

Le sigh...I definitely am. Hoping to sneek in a matinee on Monday...hopefully Simon will stay put long enough for me to see this. If not I am not sure if I will be able to wait until it comes out on DVD. I have one book left to read in the series...I am trying to get my paper for grad school finished before I allow myself to pick this up. Just in case Simon does come this week school work comes first...grrrrr.

So for those of you that have read the book...are you team Edward or team Jacob? Like there is even a question about who Bella belongs with (team Edward).

Belly - 38 weeks

Thanks to Lisa for taking this beautiful picture of my belly...it actually looks normal and not like I am having triplets!

Rock a bye

Well, 16 more days until my due date and we finally put the finishing touches on the nursery.

Yes, there is a cow theme...in my defense I figured it would be suitable for any future female children we will spawn.

My belly gets bigger and more uncomfortable. Today I noticed my first stretch marks...figures that I make it this far to get them only weeks from delivery!

Other than that things are going well. I am completely enthralled by the Twilight saga and have been reading the books non stop instead of doing work for Grad school. Sad and pathetic but true. I have been on modified bed rest for about 2 weeks now and reading has been my salvation...that and my DVR. I just cannot wait for Simon to be here so I can sleep on my belly again and at some point in the distant future get a semi-decent nights sleep!

On a different note...it is time for the African Well Fund annual ebay auction. Click here to see what goodies we have up for sale. 100% of proceeds go to clean water projects in Africa. I know that it is difficult during times of financial distress for people to donate money...charities tend to suffer around this time but take a gander and see if there is anything you might like...the holidays are right around the corner after all!

OK, I am off to bake some pizza crust with my Pampered Chef Pizza Dough kit. Hopefully I won't completely mess it up!

An important day for America!

No matter who you vote for....please, please, please go out and cast your vote!!!!

Book talk

I know I may seem a little biased but my niece really is the smarted baby ever.

Enjoy.

Bump watch

I look like I swallowed a ______________. I will let you all finish this sentence.

Giggles!

Congrats to my sister in law, Lisa, who celebrates 1 year of blogging today. You can check out her site here to see pics and an AWESOME video of Sofia giggling her heart out. I love this child so much...I cannot imagine what will happen when Simon arrives my heart might explode!!!

I am off to Babies R Us today with my mom..I cannot wait to see what goodies we come home with. The nursery is almost finished...we are waiting on the crib mattress and for Dan to paint a bookshelf and we can start putting it all together. In 5 weeks I will be at 37 weeks - which is considered full term even if I am actually due on Nov 28 so we are definitely in the home stretch now!!! Luckily for me my hospital room has free wifi so you may get an incoherent post while I am in labor cursing my husband for getting me in this situation to begin with...ha ha just kidding!!!

Ciao peeps!

We are family....

....I got all my sisters with me.

I poached this from my SIL's Facebook page. Me and most of my sister-in-laws after seeing Mamma Mia in Philly this summer.

All of Dan's sisters are in this pic as well as some of the SIL's. There are a few missing - at least three if not more but it is so hard to keep track!!!

We had a blast at the show and it was great to get together - as you can imagine with a large number like this it is hard to get everyone together in one place.

Yay for family!!

Big foot

I have been sick for the last 3 days...my adorable little snot monsters, a.k.a. students, managed to infect me with some virulent strain of the common cold so I have been in my PJ's for 3 days.

Yesterday afternoon I actually took a shower and got dressed because I needed to go to the mall and look for maternity panty hose and a new pair of shoes to wear to a wedding today.  I am sad to report that I am now a size 9 shoe...formerly a size 8.  I bought a cheep pair of patent leather ballet flats at Payless and then another not so pretty pair of black ballet flats (Clarks) at Marshalls.  I am pretty sure neither of them will look good with my dress today but beggars cannot be choosers I guess.  I mean I have to wear shoes - I cannot show up barefoot - as much as I would like too.

So my fear is that my feet will never be a size 8 ever again.  If this is the case then I am going to have one hell of a shoe sale on Ebay...sigh...I mean it is really not fair that I only got to wear my Manolo turquoise patent leather pumps a few times.  Or my fantastic Bestsey Johnson leopard print flats.  Or any of my InBlu Italian sandals.  How depressing.

The good news is that my feet seem to be just swollen - not necessarily longer - so maybe once Simon is here and the swelling goes down my feet will be healed.  A girl can dream, yes?

My first Georgetown Tee

As pics from my shower come pouring in I thought I would post some for those of you that could not make it.

The shower was this past Sunday at La Locanda. If I had to guess there were about 60+ people there. Needless to say Simon got a TON of presents. As usual I feel so blessed to have so many generous people in my life. My son is one lucky little guy.

It was so fun to see my friends from DC who were kind enough to roadtrip up for the occasion. It was also great to see my best friend from high school, Angela, whom I never get to see anymore as our lives get busier and busier.

My mom's friend Josephine pats my belly.

Piles and piles of gifts!

Handmade blanket from Zia Rosina.


Simon's first Georgetown Tee.


Sofia checks out the presents.


Mom and Dad to be!

All in all it was a great day! When we took all our presents home it was fun to look through again and see it all...Simon is going to be one well dressed baby that is for sure. It was great to spend time with Pat and Jen who came down from NY and then Marianne who was visiting from Gettysburg.

Dan has already put the stroller/travel system together as well as some other items...I still am not sure where we are going to put everything!!!

We have another appointment next week so I will update you with Simon's stats...we are in the home stretch people!!!!

Our little man

So I went to the Doc today for the 28 week appt and was lucky enough to get another ultrasound. The tech let us see Simon on the 3D screen for a minute and this is what we saw

You have to use your imagination...it's kind of like that picture of the woman that if you look at it long enough it looks like a cat. I see a nose and eye and a mouth - his hand is in front of his face (as usual) so it was hard to get a clear shot. Anyway, he has supper chubby cheeks and weights 3.3lbs and measures 15 inches. I was in love before and now I am 100% super-dooper in love with my son. I cannot wait to meet him...11 more weeks!!!

Now I get to go to the Doc every two weeks - the perks of the 3rd trimester - and they will do another ultrasound in 4 weeks (so they say - this is a perk of being AMA (of advanced maternal age - ie 35). I am not complaining...the more I get to see my baby the better!!!

What an amazing thing to see on the 7th anniversary of the WTC and Pentagon attacks. To think on that day I was one of thousands fleeing Washington DC as the city evacuated. I had to find a different route home since my usual route took me by the Pentagon. The next morning when I left for work I stepped out my front door and could smell the Pentagon still burning from a few miles away. Such sadness and loss. 7 years later I feel proud that I am able to remember this day by celebrating life.

Has anyone seen...

...my feet? I cannot seem to locate them. Where they once were are only stub like appendages. Lucky me I have 12 weeks to go.

Hats off to Labor Day!

Has it been 2 weeks since my last post already? Sheesh where does the time go? I hope everyone is enjoying Labor Day...I know many are headed back to work/school/life tomorrow so I hope you enjoy this last day off.

I leave you with a new pic of my awesome niece...because she is the cutest.

Ciao!!!

Rocking and Rolling

I actually got a whole 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. I usually wake up 3 times a night to pee or re-adjust my position to alleviate my aching back. So I am up early enjoying some quiet time before Dan awakes, reading my blogs and having some coffee.

Simon is also awake and literally rolling around in my belly, kicking and punching. My belly looks like a popcorn popper - sporadically bulging out here and there. It is the strangest feeling this little person inside of me. I have a constant companion, one who loves to let me know he is here, especially when it sit or lie down.

My doctor says lots of activity is a sign of a healthy baby...I think it is also a sign of hyperactivity. If he is this active in utero I can ONLY imagine what he will be like once he is out. So much for uninterrupted sleep!!!

Sweet baby girl

It has been a while since I posted a pic of my niece.

Isn't she such a big girl? Here she is in Italia on vacation this summer. Really she is the cutest baby girl ever. Me love.

Oooh Baby Baby

I finished registering today and am quite pleased with all of my registry items. I have to admit I was NOT looking forward to this. Lately I have had a serious inability to make up my mind about anything so deciding on what to register for seemed like almost an impossible task especially in this day and age of completely unnecessary and superfluous baby items at our disposal. I mean do people really need a little purse for their pacifiers? Can't the passy just go in the diaper bag? This is only one of a million examples of stupid things which you can buy at Babies R Us and The Right Start.

Here are some of my favorite things I registered for at BRU:

The Carini Bambini diaper bag. This bag is sooooo cute and only $25!!! They have it in pink too. I suspect I will have more than one diaper bag...I want a Vera Bradley one too but I could not resist this one. I got a Diaper Dude for Dan as well...so he does not have to be embarassed carrying this one.

This humidifier will match the baby bedding. I mean seriously, how freaking cute can you get? For those of you that know my obsession with cows this will make perfect sense. I hope it works well because I will be sad if I have to return it!



Seeing as Simon will be arriving during football season it is only appropriate that he has some Eagles gear to help him cheer the team on when he watches the game with Daddy. It is really soft too.

We also registered at The Right Start which has some cool organic and more unique things than BRU. Here are my favs from Right Start:



I love this blanket. My friend Suzie has a similar one and it is great to spread on the grass or on the sand. We will definitely use it when we go to see Daddy play softball next spring.



I got the Mary Jane version of these socks for Sofia. I am so glad they make them for boys too. Although I will admit the girl ones are so much cuter.



Last but not least...I got this for Sofia also but I wanted my own copy. I also registered for the Bob Marley and Beatles versions as well. Sofia loves her Coldplay one and listens to it every night before bed. I wonder when she is older if she will have a subconscious narcoleptic reaction whenever she hears a Coldplay song. I guess we will have to wait and see. They also make Led Zeppelin and The Cure which I may buy later on at Amazon...I mean serious what a great gift for a music lover who is about to have a baby...why did I not think of this!!!

My shower is in Sept so I will keep you posted with more pics of the cute things I get. Yay!!!

What a Croc

Ok, I finally broke down and bought a pair of Crocs. In my defense, they are flip flops, but they are still Crocs. Now I know why people are so smitten with them. These may be the most comfortable pair of flip flops on the planet. Behold the Croc Capri in Charcoal/Sea Foam:

My feet have never felt so happy - and trust me lately they have been hating me and all of my shoes...even my beautiful Italian In Blu shoes do not make my feet happy anymore. Sigh...I hope once Simon arrives that my feet will go back to normal and I can wear my shoes again. Until then I can only look at my beloved Italian shoes and wear my Crocs. At least my feet don't hurt anymore!

Big Belly

My belly at 22 weeks...huge.

Here I am with my brother who just got home from Italy. Clearly I am huge...and I still have a long way to go. I am already having trouble sleeping because of the discomfort...what will happen in Nov?