Turkey Day is finally behind us…..

Hope you all had a fun and restful holiday and everyone's tummy was filled to the brim with yummy stuff......I know our tummies were VERY happy this year!!


Now....it's ALL about prepping for our anniversary trip!!!! I know I keep mentioning it, but…..I’M EXCITED!!!!!!!! We’re leaving early on Saturday, December 20 and aren’t due back until the 30th or 31st depending on how much fun we’re having. We’ll be traveling approximately 2325 miles in Brandon’s trusty Blazer over those 10-11 days and will be hitting New Orleans, LA, Destin, FL, Daytona Beach, FL and Jacksonville, FL. As most of you now I’m a total beach bum and can’t wait to get some sand in my toes, but I think I’m most excited about taking Brandon into New Orleans. I found out recently that my food and music lovin’ husband has never been…..gasp!! It was definitely a shocker since he’s so well traveled, but his only Big Easy time was driving through…..but all of that will be changing in a few weeks. I’m already doing some of my famous pre-trip, options planning so that he’ll have plenty to pick from when we get there.

I’ve been made fun of because I sometimes take the pre-trip planning a little too far (three-ring binder with tabs), but it does really come in handy when you’ve only got a short amount of time and you don’t want to spend it deciding on where to go or what to do……you want to be doing, right!! Anyway, we’ll be moving pretty quickly through New Orleans because the bulk of our trip will be spent in a beachfront condo in Daytona Beach. We went there the summer before last and totally fell in love with the area. It’s the spot where we will spend our Anniversary and Christmas days. The condo has a full kitchen, so I’m sure we’ll be whipping up some home cooking for the holiday. We’ve found that we enjoy the food we cook more than anything we can get going out…..except for when we’re in New Orleans, of course!!

So, to get to the topic that everyone is really here to read about……the kiddo. All is still good with me….just feeling tired most of the time. We had our CVS last Monday and that went well, although I wasn’t allowed to get back on the treadmill for 48 hours….hmmmph! and then Thanksgiving ruined my return to the machine…..double hmmmph! Brandon was such a trooper…the test is very uncomfortable and I ended up squeezing the crap out of his hand, but we both survived. I have to admit I felt a little wimpy afterwards thinking that if I thought this was bad…..how the heck was I going to get through delivery? But, decided we’ll just cross that bridge when we get there and maybe just plan to bring Bran a pair of work gloves or something to protect his hand from my nails.

Anyway, back to the test…..the doc was able to get a good sample and we should have results back last this week or early next week. We’ve got our fingers crossed that we’ll receive good news. We also found out that the test results also include the code that tells us what the sex of the baby is. We were already planning on finding out through the normal ultrasound when the time came, but now we don’t have to wait for that money shot…..we’ll know ahead of time!! We did go back and forth a little on whether or not to keep it a surprise, but figured that medicine hasn’t come this far along for us to stay in the dark about what we’re having, right?

During the counseling session, we found out that my blood test results from Dr. Winn’s office had been shared with the prenatal clinic and apparently all is well there, too. We’ll get into further details on those as well as the CVS results when we meet up with Dr Winn again on 12/12, but it looks like I’m a fairly healthy gal and should be able to pull this thing off. YEAH!!

That’s all I’ve got for now, folks.

Talk to you guys in a week or so. Enjoy your Monday….uuuugh! ; )

First look....

Well, I was wrong about my first doctor's visit....it was more than talk, blood, and urine. Dr. Winn actually performed a sonogram and we got our first look at the bambino. There was no audio, but I did get to see the heart fluttering which was very cool. The kid is obviously cursed with our good looks and brilliant minds , don't you think? ; )

When I found out she was going to take a look.....I was excited but totally bummed that I had talked Brandon out of coming to the first appointment. I just had no idea going in at 9 weeks that she'd be doing a sonogram. Lesson learned, folks. Brandon was definitely disappointed, but ultimately thrilled to see the pictures she sent home with me to share.

Dr. Winn was exactly as Dr. Lozano described her....a great doc who is very laid back with a great sense of humor. She actually just had her first child 19 months ago and was very open to sharing her story because, as you all know....I'm a curious soul and ask lots of questions when I first meet someone. Nothing about the appointment felt rushed and I'm totally in love with her and the staff there. It's already a great fit.

I'm sure everyone is wanting to know what the next steps are, so here goes.

We are working right now to get an appointment set up to have a CVS test. This is a test that can be performed between 10-13 weeks (I'm 10 weeks today) and will confirm whether or not there are any abnormalities in chromosomes 21, 18, and 13. It also detects other 'like' abnormalities, but 21, 18 and 13 are the big ones. The reason this is recommended for us is because of my age. 35 is the age where the chances for abnormalities really starts to increase. We're lucky enough to have a friend who is a genetic counselor in the biz and after discussion with her .....we feel it's the right step. I can confidently say that the chances for abnormalities with us is already lower because of all of the healthy, gorgeous kids that have been born and raised on both sides of our families, but knowing for sure is important to us. Anyway, once I get the authorization number from my insurance company, we're going to get on the schedule and have this little hurdle behind us.

My next appointment with Dr. Winn is 12/12 and Brandon will definitely be there this time....promise!!! I'll be getting all of the results of my blood and urine work back and doing the first ultrasound. I'll also be getting a prescription for prenatal vitamins...she sent me home with a bag full of samples to try out and determine which one I like best. I had already been taking an OTC prenatal vitamin, but figure that doctor knows best, right?

After our CVS test and second appointment are behind us (whew!), we'll start packing up ourselves and the Blazer for our anniversary trip!!! I'm so excited about heading out of town and getting some sand between my toes again....I can already feel the ocean breeze in my hair....*sigh....... Don't worry, I'll be boring you with the all of the trip details in the coming weeks. We're going to be traveling 2,300 miles so there will be plenty to chat about!! = )

Thanks for checking in. I'll be back next week with more!

Green Olive....

We're now in Week 9 and I'm carrying around a green olive!!! It's been really fun to discover that in the all of the pregnancy books I have and on babycenter.com they compare the size of the baby to a food. We started out with a sesame seed, then it was a blueberry, a kidney bean and now a green olive or a grape.....I think I'm missing one of the hors d'oeuvres, but you get the idea.

I'm still feeling fine and sleeping much better at night. I had a cold or something late last week and into the weekend, but 'tis the season for me. This is my least favorite time of the year because of the constant battle against what that cold wind carries. I've always said I was a bear in a past life. I really think their approach to the whole Winter thing is right on!!

In an effort to combat my wintertime blues and chunky thighs, I've been pushing myself to get on the treadmill everyday and complete a minimum of two miles or 30 minutes whatever comes first. I figure that I'm one of the lucky pregnant women that doesn't have to battle morning sickness and nausea and I should definitely do something productive with the time that I don't have to spend hanging over a toilet bowl. I've been a pretty good girl about it and with our Anniversary trip coming up in December.....well, let's just say that toning up my little chunkies before strolling on the beach ain't going to hurt anything either.

Our big Halloween Bash is behind us. It went extremely well even though UT lost the game...

in the last EIGHT SECONDS!!!!
I'm over it....really I am. Anyway, it was great seeing all our Austin peeps that we've been out of the loop with for a while....we even saw a few new faces in the crowd which is always cool. And, thank the goddess above!!!! I had a lot of help this go 'round in getting things ready for the party thanks to a scheduled weekend visit from my Christopher and his Holly......and I can't forget the Lopez clan who came up big before the party and got all the last minute touches taken care of while I finished up in the kitchen. The chili was a hit and so was that heaven-sent Gooey Pumpkin Butter cake I made for the first time......OMG!!!! It's definitely a crowd pleaser.....I actually saw the last little sliver of that cake get picked up with a butter knife, of all things, and quickly swallowed up by Mr. J.P. Lopez. = ) It'll be a Thanksgiving given from this year forward.....no more battling the crust and doneness of a boring old pumpkin pie anymore. I'm FREE!!!!!

I'm headed to my first doctor's appointment this Friday. I'm a little nervous, but from what I've read and been told the first visit is an easy one.....lots of talk, a little urine, a little blood and you're out the door. I'll definitely update our fan club with the boring details next week....no worries.