Happy Holidays!

Liza has become a pro at sitting up on her own, and standing while holding on.  She showed off these skills on Thanksgiving in Gates-Mills to our parents and great grandma Shelly.  She also fell in love with her new favorite toy - a stainless steel colander! Good thing we have one at home for her to play with.

We've been enjoying Born to Read, and just picked up two awesome books for Liza. One is phrases in English and Spanish, and the other is "Press Here" a New York Times bestselling children's book.

We've also been having fun play dates with other moms, enjoying mom group, and even took a "Music Together" preview class (we still have the songs stuck in our heads).  We've gone running a few times with my friend Shannon and her 1 year old son Tyler/

Liza laughed for the first time a few weeks ago and it was such an emotional beautiful and joyful moment!  She was laying in our bed while Ryan changed out of his work clothes and she was doing her "Baby Thor," where she slams her legs down.  Ryan walked over and slammed his arms on the bed to imitate her and she cracked up!  We got it on video and she laughed for a long time!  Just last night she laughed for the second time (she took a long time to find humor again!).  When the rice boiled over and started hissing on the stove she giggled a bit, I was able to keep her laughing by imitating the hissing sound.

She also started solids as she is now 6 months old!  She is doing pretty well and has had baby oatmeal and sweet potatoes so far.  She likes the sweet potatoes best.  Im working on teacher her how to drink from a water bottle, cup, and straw.

I had my first craft show and sold a bib and a cloth maze.  A school teacher later ordered 10 mazes, and several mom friends bought bibs and blankets.  I have my second show on Saturday - when grandma and grandpa will be in town visiting.

My friend Angela took some family pics for us, Liza was pretty good for the photo shoot but got a little hangry by the end.

Jump around!

Liza officially has a favorite toy- her jumper!  I bought it at the huge consignment sale back in August, and just this week she's really gotten to love it.  I put her in it a few weeks ago and she clearly wasn't ready - she just sort of dangled there.  But now - She LOVES it...she bounces and bounces and gets really excited.

We've also gotten a few giggles out of her.  I had barely gotten a peep until a few days ago, but now she will give us a giggle maybe a couple times a day if we blow "raspberries" on her belly or feet.  Its really the cutest thing!

She's going through a developmental leap right now according to "the wonder weeks" and we are in the fussy period.  She's a little more needy the past few days. And her sleeping...well lets not even go there.  Last night though, she sleeps from about 11  to 5 (in bed with me) and then 6 to 8:30, so that wasn't too bad.  Ryan volunteered to sleep in the guest room, we all need a good nights sleep.

Cant believe we have a 5 month old!!!

Happy Fall!

WOW I am so overdue on blogging, and I can't believe Liza is almost 21 weeks!  I feel like so much has been happening!

Liza rolls now, belly to back and back to belly, she's been doing this for about a month now.  She also reaches for things and grabs them with her hands and studies them, often trying to put them in her mouth.

She was baptized on 8/15 with Jen and Billy as Godparents.  She slept through the whole ceremony!

We've had 2 "play dates" although they were more like mom dates, with 3 moms from the mom group.  We've also started the "Born to Read program at the library and we love it!

My mom watched Liza for a whole week while Ryan and I went to Utah - we had a great time and Liza and grandma had a great week!  She is 13 lbs now and I will weight her again on Monday.

I brought her into Dr Seto a few weeks ago because I thought she had thrush - she didn't!

We visited with Ryan's side of the family a few times, most recently to remember Nana Williams who passed away in September, she held Liza several times and took several pictures with her before she passed away.  We are so thankful for that.

Liza was giving Aunt Nicole huge smiles this weekend while she was in for the funeral.

We don't use the swing much anymore, and Liza loves spending time in the "exersaucer" that my mom got for her.  She sleeps in her crib at night now, but often moves to our bed in the early morning for a while.

Ive been wearing her a lot and so has Ryan.  Most recently the Moby Wrap has been a favorite.    I gotta go, we have to run to target!

I'm absolutely loving being with my baby every day!

Mom group

Today Liza and I went to the Camp Hill new mom group.  It had a lot more people than the Linglestown meeting usually does.  It made me appreciate the intimate feel of the smaller group we have.  Liza has been sitting up more (against me) and looking around during the meetings.  I bring her "Puppy Tails" book for her to look at while the moms talk.  I just slowly flip the pages in front of her.  

She fell asleep after a little while and I laid her down on her cow mat and covered her with her hedgehog blanket.  She was wearing a denim dress than Jen got for her.  

Ryan's dad stopped over on his way to Lititz and said hello to Liza.  We will see him again on Sunday.

Tonight I think we'll have avocado pasta from the Oh She Glows cookbook.  So good!

1/4 Italian

Liza got a shot at the pediatrician on Tuesday.  To calm her down in the car I played "Mambo Italiano" louder than she was crying - it did the trick! Another thing to add to the baby arsenal.

Hello Hello Again!

Wow - my litte Liza is 8 weeks old already and I haven't blogged at all!  I have to say the first 2.5 weeks were a really tough adjustment for me.  I was very emotional and anxious, and still very sore from the delivery.  Things have improved so much since then and I am really enjoying this little bundle.  I love spending my days with her.  We are developing a nice routine at night with daddy and in the mornings with Kathy Lee and Hoda ;)

We are doing well and enjoying watching her learn new things - like smiling and following things with her eyes.

A few weeks ago we had a great overnight trip with Ryan's family in Ocean City.  Liza hung out at the house with the grandparents and cousin Josh, and had her first of many visits to the Positively 4th Street coffee shop.  She even took a spin on the boardwalk.  She will be playing putt-putt in no time!

A week later we spent the 4th of July in Ohio with my family.  During both trips it was wonderful to see her meet and interact with her great-grandparents.  She enjoyed listening to Grandpa Greg teach her bout african tree frogs and frog that eat guppies.  She did better than I expected, stretching, smiling, and kicking for everyone. Ryan went home on the 5th, but Liza and I stayed a week in Canfield, and she got lots of Grandma Nay-Nay time. We went to a Greek festival, out to eat a few times and a elk at the mall. Next weekend Aunt Jen and Aunt Noreen are coming for a visit.

My little one is in the 10th percentile for weight. and 25th for height and head circumference.  She recently started on Similac "total comfort" and seems to be tolerating it better than the Similac advanced, which makes me happy!

I've really been enjoying the New Mom Group that meets on mondays.  It's fun to meet other new moms and see their babies at 3, 4, and 5+ months.  The nurse that facilitates is really kind and helpful.

I'll try to check in more often!  Pics below - having trouble loading the once from Ocean City - working on it!

Liza Renee is here!

Thats right - she's here!

On Wednesday May 20 I called my mom and told her that I'd been having contraction the night before.  She drove in from Ohio and got here early in the afternoon.  The contractions subsided and we got root beer floats while Ryan and his Dad did some work outside.

Around dinner time (we made pad thai) the contractions started up again, and got progressively stronger and more frequent.  I still didn't think they were close enough to go to the hospital by bedtime, so I told everyone (Ryan and my Mom) to go to bed and we'll see how things go overnight/in the morning.

No sooner did we lay down when Ryan told me I should just call the OB and tell him whats I'm feeling and see what he thinks.  I called, told him about the timing of my contractions (I was using an app to time them) and he said "It sounds like its time to come in."

So, everyone got back out of their PJ's and into their clothes again and we headed for the hospital.  I had contractions all the way there, and they were getting more and more painful.  We got to the hospital at 10:30pm.  They took me into an assessment room in Labor and Delivery and the nurse checked my cervix.  OMG, did that stir up some super painful contractions.  Right after she checked me she asked if I wanted pain medication - um, yes please!  I was 3cm dilated.

I guess that meant she had to call the Dr in, who wasn't actually in the hospital yet.  By the time he got there the contractions had become more manageable, and I didn't want the medication anymore.  Sorry, Doc!

I sat in the labor room and just tried to breathe through the contractions while holding my mom and Ryan's hands.  By 3:30am I was only about a centimeter more dilated, and that was disappointing.  I asked for the epidural as the contractions were becoming too much.  The anesthesiologist came in and I assumed the forward leaning position.  I prayed the entire time for God to guide his hands to the right spot and for the epidural to be safe and effective.  It's scary to have something go into your spine.

The epidural burned a little bit, and took affect about 15 minutes after he gave it.  It was glorious to be out of pain.  However, it made my legs feel "dead" which was a really weird sensation and rather unpleasant to not be able to move your legs.

Around 9 am it was decided that we start piton to move things along. t (I think, its all kind of a blur at this point.)  We were 12 hours in now and all getting tired.  I sipped my water and convinced my mom to give me some mints to suck on.  

Every now and then the baby's heart rate would start some funny business and they would roll me this way and that way, occasionally putting oxygen on my to try to help it out, which it seemed to.  At one point my mom was looking at the wrong monitor and ran out into the hall to the nurses station yelling for a doctor because "the heart rate is 26!" they all just kind of looked at her and assured her they were watching the monitors.  My mom finally realized she was looking at some other measurement on the screen and the heart rate was fine.  We were all getting a little delirious at that point I think.

Around 5pm we asked the Dr to come check me.  I was fully dilated!  He wanted me to labor for another hour before I started pushing.

The hour came and went and it was go time.  The Dr had broken my water a couple hours earlier.  I started pushing with Ryan holding one leg and my mom holding the other.  I had this notion that I was going to be very modest and have Ryan just facing me at the head of the bed.  Yeah right, at that point I really didn't care - Prince William and Kate could have been in the room and I probably wouldn't have noticed or tried to cover up!

It was so hard to know if I was even pushing because I was numb from the belly down.  The doctor was becoming increasingly concerned about the baby's heart rate and thought the cord might be around her neck.  At one point they talked about having the NICU team come down, but they decided we didn't need them.  I heard the doctor say "We need to get this baby out," and he used the vacuum (which is way less invasive and intimidating than it sounds) as I pushed to help her head come out.  A few pushes later and there she was!  My baby!  I just sobbed and sobbed while they gave her a quick wipe and placed her on my chest.  Ryan cut the cord.

The doctor held up my placenta like a prized Buck and pointed out that the cord was marginally placed instead of central, and it was wrapped twice around her foot when she was born!

She was here at last, my little Liza.  After a bit they weighed and measured her, and Ryan's parents who had been in the waiting room for who knows how long were able to come in and meet her.

After an hour or so they rolled me up to the post partum floor, Ryan and the nurse had to help me in and out of bed on my wobbly legs.

Ryan's parents were able to visit briefly in postpartum, but there was so much going on and the nurses and aides were in and out, that soon they had to go, and take Ryan back home, as my mom was staying the night with me.

The night was pretty rough.  I was super sore, and had to be catheterized which hurt like the dickens if I'm being honest.  It was awful.  Neither my mom or I slept, I don't think Liza did either.  Breast feeding was not really taking off.

I don't remember a lot from the 2 days in the hospital.  Ryan spent the second night with me, and the baby was up again pretty much all night long.  Finally we determined that we needed to be giving her formula because breast feeding was not working.  I was so dead tired that I barely had any interest in the newborn photos they offer.

Greg came over that night and he and my mom kept Liza in the guest room so that Ryan and I could sleep. It was really all hands on deck, and I felt so many emotions, especially gratitude for the support and my healthy baby.  And worry.  I suppose it starts and never really goes away for moms.

Welcome to the world, Liza.  We love you.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Renee and my mother-in-law Nancy.  As highlighted in my past post, they never cease to amaze us with the depth of their love and support for all we do.  Thanks, Moms!

We also have to wish a happy Mother's Day to our Grandmothers who always welcome us with warmth, love, generosity, and home cooked delights.

In about 9 days I'm going to be a mother myself!  I can't believe it.  I am excited, and just a little nervous.  One thing that makes the whole process much eaier is knowing that our parents will be around to support and help us.  We can always count on them and that means more than anything else.  We are so fortunate for that - many people go through life without that kind of support, and we are very thankful that we have it.

Baby Shower and Easter 2015

Right after our fun overnighter in Baltimore we were off to Canfield to celebrate Easter with my family and to attend a beautiful shower for us hosted my our moms.  We got in on Friday night and headed out to Caffe Capri around noon.  The room for the shower was perfectly decorated with potted daffodils (my favorite spring flower) centerpieces, bowls of wrapped chocolate, favors of sugar cookies with cute birds on them, and a tower of delicious cupcakes for dessert.

There was a really great turnout and its always nice to see relatives and friends who I don't get to see as often as I'd like.  Baba even had her friend bring her video camera and record the shower.

While waiting for lunch to be served we played a couple games.  Everyone guessed how many candies were in a giant baby bottle, and everyone cut a piece of yarn that they thought would fit around my belly (some of them were waaay to long!).  I walked around with the truly sized yarn and each table had a winner.  Throughout the shower names were drawn for several prizes that Ryan's mom brought beautifully wrapped.

The food was delicious and everyone said so.  Chicken francaise, pasta, wedding soup, bread, green beans - all terrific.  As soon as we were done eating I stared on the massive pile of gifts.  I was overwhelmed by how generous and thoughtful everyone was.  We got so many nice things for the baby. A new diaper bag, a bouncy seat, tons of adorable outfits, a gaggle of cute books, and lots more.  This is on top of the stroller and crib our families had already gifted to us!

It was a really fun afternoon and we can't thank our moms enough for putting together such a perfect shower!


After all the fun on Saturday we had even more planned for Sunday.  The whole family (except Billy - missed you!) met at Mr. Anthony's for an Easter Buffet.  They had a great salad bar this year and lots of dinner options.  3 different "meat-under-the-light" choices and pasta, 2 kinds potatoes, chicken, rolls, and plenty of desserts.  It was nice to sit and talk with everyone.  They whole family together twice in one weekend!  What is this, Christmas?  Although technically it was just the girls plus Ryan on Saturday.

On Monday we had a leisurely morning and then went out to lunch with my mom after stopping at Burlington.  We found a changing table there for a great price - something we'd yet to find.  We went to Aladdin's for a fresh healthy lunch and then back to Burlington to pick up the table.  It barely fit in my mom's car, so I ended up getting left behind while Ryan and my mom took the table back to my mom's house.  They unloaded it, then Ryan cam back to get me while my mom started dinner.  Before coming home Ryan and I took a side trip to Ghossain's Middle Eastern store and picked up some spinach pies and grape leaves to take back to PA.  We also stopped at Handel's for the world's best ice cream and brought my mom home a pint.

We had a great dinner of stuffed cabbage when Greg got home from work.  Our weekend had gone so fast!  It was really fun and I'm glad that my mom got to feel the baby move a bunch of times.  She's been pretty active every since (the baby I mean).

We headed back to Harrisburg on Tuesday morning.  We stopped at Trader Joe's in State College and got a couple groceries for the week.  It's never as exciting coming back home as it is going into a little vacation.

Although - we didn't have to wait long for more family time!  Ryan's parents came out the following weekend to help with a few things around the house.  Ryan and his Dad took down a big ugly tree in our front yard and painted our living and dining rooms.  They look great!  We had dinner at The Garlic Poet on Saturday night, a place Ryan and I like to go for burgers.  Ryan's Dad is planning on coming back the first weekend in May to help with a couple more projects.  We are so fortunate to have such supportive families behind us!

24 hours in Inner Harbor

I can't believe its April already!  March went pretty fast.  My mom brought my grandparents down to see our house for the first time.  We enjoyed a great lunch at the Hershey Hotel and even took them to see Chocolate World.

Around that time I started experiencing a rapid heart rate off an on during the day.  This went on for a few days and I told my OB about it.  He ran some bloodworm which came back normal, and referred me to a cardiologist.  The cardiologist gave me a 48 hour heart monitor to wear.  The results ended up showing tachycardia (which just means fast heart rate) and a few irregular beats here and there, but nothing of any concern.  He thinks its just pregnancy related, and since I've had some vasovagal syncope in the past, that its just getting a little kicked up (remember the fainting at the apple store in February?)

Ryan got a pair of tickets to a charity auction from an Orthodontist in the the area.  It was at the Clarion Hotel in New Cumberland.  I was able to squeeze myself into the dress I wore to his graduation in 2013.  I've since entered the "beach ball" phase and I don't think I'd fit into it today.  The auction was fun, we bid on a few items but didn't win.  The food was ok.  The main reason I say it was just ok is because at two am I decided to wake up and tell the toilet about the meal we had.  No fun.

I felt (gastrically) better by about noon the next day, but a full loan cold had set it.  I was super congested, and trying not to take any medication.  I bought a humidifier, nose strips, vicks vaporub, puffs plus lotion tissues and cough drops.  Nothing really helped.  I finally broke down mid week and took some guiafenesin to help me sleep.  A couple night later Ryan was finally able to come back to our room from the guest room, as my constant nose-blowing had subsided.

Ryan worked 5 days in a row that week instead of two and two, so this week he had an extra day off.  My caseload has lessened lately so I was able to take Thursday off.  We decided to priceline a hotel in Baltimore and go to the National Aquarium.

It was only about a 90 minute drive and we left right after my OB appointment. We got there around 2:30.  We walked all around the harbor area, got some gelato and ate dinner at a mexican restaurant.  It was a nice afternoon.  We came back to our hotel and I showered and put my feet up.  All that walking really tired me out, but of course sleeping wasn't really happening, as it doesn't seem to nowadays.  Lots of tossing and turning - glad we got a king sized bed!

The next morning we went down to the hotel breakfast, and we were a little disappointed.  We spotted a Corner Bakery on our way back the night before, so we walked there and had some Swiss Chilled Oatmeal.  This always seems to happen to us - but they forgot about our order.  After sitting for 20 minutes without our little number card sucking up off our table I went up and asked.  The kid felt bad so he gave us 2 chocolate chip cookies with our oatmeal - all was right with the world!

We headed into the aquarium and were very impressed with the huge sharks, enormous rays and sea turtle, and lots of other interesting fish.  It took us about 2 hours to get through, and we headed to lunch at a pizza place where both got chopped salads.

We checked out at 1:30 and we were pulling in to our driveway at about 3 - it was a really fun and quick little trip!

Thawing out in Sarasota

Ryan and I had a great opportunity to head down to Sarasota, FL for 4 full days last week.  His boss owns a home down there and offered it to us for a vacation.  Ryan left work a touch early on Friday, we grabbed some (huge) burritos from Neat-o Burrito and headed to the Baltimore airport.  We arrived in Florida around 10pm, and got to Sarasota around 11.

Dr. Friedman's home is beautiful.  We went straight to bed and woke up to the sun shining.  It was a little cooler of a day, so we put sweatshirts on and headed to Simon's Coffee House for breakfast. I'd read some good reviews on TripAdvisor, and they were right.  Ryan really liked their strong coffee and his omelette, while I gulped down a big glass of Florida OJ and enjoyed a yogurt parfait.

Next we headed to Myakka State Park.  We walked the nature trail, walked over a canopy bridge, and finally found ourselves by the airboat dock.  Across the little bay we saw about 3 alligators laying in the sun!  It was Ryan's first time seeing a gator in the wild, I was so glad that we saw them!

We we ready for lunch by the time we left the park.  I searched on TA again and it brought is to a little grove shop that also served sandwiches.  We didn't feel like eating there once we saw that it wasn't an actual restaurant, but we did buy 4 oranges and a grapefruit.  The oranges were so good!

Getting increasingly hungry, we decided on Gecko's Grill (a sports bar).  It was pretty crowded so we sat at the bar, and we weren't expecting much.  However, we both enjoyed the fish tacos, and we were so full that we etched ended up getting a box.  We stopped at Whole Foods and bought a plantain and some key lime pie.  We had left overs for dinner with fried "patacones" and key lime pie for dessert.

The next morning we ate breakfast in.  Dr. Friedman had been there at the house the week before and told us to finish the eggs that they left in the fridge.  We made banana pancakes with the eggs and had the grapefruit from the grove shop.

We headed off to Bradenton to find the Surferbus - we had reserved a kayak to explore Robinson's Preserve.  They guy handed us a map, two life jackets and shoved us off into our kayak.  In a few minutes we were going right under the mangroves and seeing all kinds of herons, egrets, ibis, pelicans and osprey.  It was a calm scenic paddle down to the end of the preserve where we hopped out an used the bathroom before coming back to the bus.

We had kayaked for a few hours and we were ready to eat.  It was Sunday, and unfortunately, online, it said that "Jose's Real Cuban Food" was closed.  We called anyway and found them open!  We headed over and sat at the bar (again!) and each had a delicious "cubano," or Cuban Sandwich with black bean soup (Ryan) and garbanzo bean soup (me).  We paired them with yuccas fritas and it was one of the best meals of our trip!  The service was also really friendly.

We walked on Bradenton Beach for a while afterwards and drove through St. Armand's Circle on the way home.  Ryan spotted a Ritz Carlton shuttle which reminded me that I needed, I mean, er, wanted, cookies from the Ritz.  We followed the bus, grabbed our cookies from the over-the-top friendly staff and headed home to cook our fish (we also got some cod at Whole Foods.)

We cooked dinner and watched the Westminster Dog Show with key lime pie for dessert :)

Monday morning we ate breakfast in again before heading out to the Venice area.  We stopped at the Venice Audubon building and borrowed some binoculars from a naturalist to look out at the rookery.  There were a bunch of nesting egrets, herons, and anghinas.  It was neat to see so many birds congregated in one area. Next we drove down toward Venice and stopped at Caspersen Beach.  A bunch of people were using sifters big and small in search of shark teeth, which the beach is known for.  Just buy spending some time and having Ryan scoop piles of shells onto some rocks we found 5 shark teeth!  It was pretty fun.

We drove around a little and ended up back up near Sarasota and hung around there for a while.  We drove down Long Boat Key and walked on Lido Beach for a bit.  We swung by St. Armand's Circle again to pick up some paella to take home.  We also picked up another little key lime pie from Whole Foods.  Hey - we're on vacation!

Tuesday morning we took a walk around Celery Fields, a little wetland area and bird watching spot right near Dr. Friedman's house.  There was naturalist at one of the look outs telling folks about the birds. We went back to Simon's for breakfast.  We had a blueberry scone which was delicious, and "porridge" which was pretty much oatmeal.  We also got a huge peanut butter chocolate chip cookie for the road and I ate 75% of it.  Ryan enjoyed his 25%.  What can I say.  I just can't be trusted with a cookie in my hands and he should know that by now.  No regrets! Party on!

After breakfast we headed to Mixon Fruit Farm and unfortunately missed the tour by about 10 minutes.  We wandered the gift shop a bit, got to see the industrial juicer juice 5 oranges a second, and bought a bag of temple oranges.  These oranges were the sweetest, juiciest oranges we'd ever eaten - the best!! We hung around Bradenton a little more.

We decided we loved Jose's Real Cuban Food so much that we went back again for lunch.  Ryan tried the "lechon asado" and really liked it, and I got another cuban sandwich, it was so good!  The staff remembered us and we sat at the bar again.  We left fat and happy, patting ourselves on the back for taking a walk that morning.

We headed next to "Save our Seabirds," a sanctuary in Bradenton.  We saw injured birds of all kinds, some being rehabilitated for future release and others that will live there permanently.  It was pretty neat to see all the birds.  It started raining just as we were leaving and we headed back toward Sarasota.  The way back once again took us though St. Armand's Circle, and this time we stopped to get a little souvenir.  We bought a metal painted gecko to hang on our bathroom wall.  We named him Gilbert - he's cute!

It ended up pretty rainy, and we went back to the house to pack up and hang out.  We had left over paella for dinner with some salads, the rest of our pie, and tried to stay cozy while it stormed outside.

We drove back up to Tampa the next morning to catch our flight back to Baltimore.  We dropped off our car, flew back, picked up our car from long term parking, and then got some lunch at a Greek restaurant in Baltimore.  We also stopped at Ikea on the way home and got a small lamp and some baskets to put on the shelving in the baby's room.

We loved our Florida vacation and we can't wait to go back!

Hello February!

It's Sunday and we are just finishing up cleaning the house a bit.  Ryan finished sanding a wall in the front room so that he and his dad can paint later this month.  The bird feeders are full, lunches are packed, and pretty soon we'll be getting our Super Bowl dinner together.  We used to make loaded nachos ever year, but this year we decided on chilaquiles - inspired by a dish we was on a Rick Bayless show.  Should be tasty, and not too far off from our nacho tradition.

Yesterday we went to Lancaster to the central market.  We got some breakfast sandwiches and greek cookies, found a table runner we liked, and made sure to pick up some treats (stroop waffles and scones) for home.  Ryan enjoyed a cup of "Mean Cup" coffee and I got a tropical smoothie.

After the market we headed to the Park City (not the Utah Park City!) mall.  Ryan had some issues with this phone, and this mall had the closest Apple Store.  It was packed, and about 85 degrees in there.  Ryan was discussing options for his phone with an employee, and I was playing with one of the iPhone 6's on the display.  After a few minutes I got a familiar feeling of my head feeling funny and feeling weak.  I knew I had to get out of there so I tapped Ryan on the shoulder and told him I was going to step out for a minute.  He asked me if I was feeling ok, as I made a "so-so" motion with my hand I apparently began to fall.  The next thing I know I'm waking up out of a funky dream and Ryan is looking down at me along with the Apple guy.

Fortunately Ryan was able to "catch me" and lower me to the ground, making sure I didn't hit my head (or belly).  He said I was only out for a few seconds.  The staff handled it well, brought me some water and a chair, and the day was pretty uneventful after that.  I felt normal again after a couple minutes.  I do have a bruise on my back when I kinda leaned/fell into the table, but I'm thankful that Ryan was there to protect my head and belly.

We had lunch at Zoup! and headed home.  Ryan went for a run and when he got back we made some salmon burgers for lunch.  They turned out really good, we will definitely be making them again.  

This week is our last full week before our trip to Sarasota, FL.  Can't wait to get down there!

January in Harrisburg

Hello again!

We've had a busy couple weeks around here.  Ryan's parents visited and we were able to celebrate christmas with them, the Nanna's, and rya's aunt, uncle and cousins over at Nancy's cousin's house.  It was a fun day with gifts exchanged, and a delicious dinner of roast beef in Beth's beautiful home.

Ryan's dad was kind enough to sand our walls in the front room while we were at work, getting ready for painting next month.  It's going to look so much better in there.  We enjoyed a dinner at the Mt. Hill Tavern with his parents, and got to see the original walls and flooring of the restaurant, built in the 1700's.  I wore the maternity clothing that my mom gave me on Christmas - I've been wearing it a lot more often the past couple weeks!

We've been getting a few things ready for the baby.  We moved a bookshelf to her (yes, her!) room after getting a love seat for the living room.  We also moved the recliner up there.  We got a car seat and stroller, a pack-n-play, and some other items as gifts.  It's exciting to see the fun books and cute blankets and things that people have given us.  Baba, too, has been enjoying shopping for the little one.

The sewing mating that Ryan's mom got for me is finally getting some use.  I took a sewing lesson about 2 weeks ago and have made a bib, burp cloth, pillow, and two stuffed animals.

I've been feeling her move quite a bit which is a really cool feeling.  Ryan even felt it once when I put his hand over the area.  We had an ultrasound on Wednesday to check her progress because of this large uterine fibroid of mine.  It was the first u/s Ryan was able to come to, as the others were short notice.  It was fun to see her face on the 3D portion.  Her measurements all look good and we go back in about 6 weeks.

We are also getting ready to go to Florida in few weeks.  Ryan's boss has a house there and has offered it to us for a vacation.  We will be in Sarasota for about 5 days, and I can't wait!  I love Florida.

The house is still coming along.  After getting the love seat for the living room, we got a new TV stand that Ryan is going to put together this weekend.  It should look a little nice next to the fireplace.

This is my first weekend "on" at work.  I'll be working one weekend a month now that I am off of orientation.  I had to admissions yesterday and I have two more today, not too bad of a weekend schedule.  We went out for Greek last night at our (so far) favorite restaurant "Hellenic Kouzina," and had salads.  I had a gyro and Ryan has grilled chicken and rice.  It was really good!

A few pics of the babes room so far:

Stuffed animals and a pillow I sewed

The books heft, never mind all the stuff on it

These will hang above the crib

Happy 2015!

We had a great holiday season with family.  My mom hosted Christmas Eve, which is always a warm and cozy evening with family, Ryan's parents were able to celebrate with us again this year.  We stayed until Sunday, enjoying a Christmas Day dinner with at my Aunt's house, and visiting a couple times with Baba and my grandparents.

We got some really nice gifts from my parents.  My mom got me a pretty sterling silver necklace that symbolizes motherhood along with some maternity clothes I'll be needing very soon (I already wore the purple sweater twice!).  Ryan was all stocked up with gift cards, some new shirts, and a Turtle Fur scarf that he'll use for hiking, biking and running.  My parents also gave us a fireplace set with a poker, broom and pan for our fireplace.  It looks nice by the fire, and we used it on New Years when we lit our first wood fire.

Ryan's parents are coming out to Harrisburg in a couple weeks to have a family Christmas with the grandparents, and Ryan's side of the family.

I had an amniocentesis done just before Christmas after a questionable round of blood work.  I'm happy to report that the results have all been good news.  We also found out that we are having a baby girl!  Somehow finding out the sex of the baby has made the whole thing a little more "real."  We've started a registry, started thinking about things we need, and mentally preparing for parenthood.  Aside from some pain a few weeks ago from a benign uterine fibroid, the pregnancy has been pretty smooth sailing.  Hoping the smooth sailing continues!

On New Years Eve we foolishly tried to eat at two restaurants without a reservation.  The third place we tried was closed, but at our fourth pick we were the only ones there!  We went to Pho Kim's and had a great Vietnamese dinner.  We ordered two items that were new to us and really enjoyed them.

We are getting back into the swing of things with a regular work week this week, and the last of the holiday cookies eaten.  This month we'll be working on getting LG to replace our squeaky dryer, I'll be working my first weekend at my job, we will have another ultrasound and ob appointment.  Happy 2015 everyone!