Another Fabulous Appointment

Today, we had our routine 4 week appointment and I'm happy to report that everything went well! LGR was moving around like crazy and had a very strong heartbeat yet again. Whoever made up the old wives tale that boys have low heart rates and girl have fast ones clearly has not met our little guy! He was in the high 140s again this visit. Weight gain was fabulous - only 2 lbs and the doctor was very happy with that. I also raised my concerns about weight gain but he told me that as long as I was eating healthy and the weight gain was coming from good foods, he wasn't concerned. He was also impressed with my workout routine and that I've been able to keep it up for so long, so all in all a very reassuring visit for me!

On the downside, Dr. Tchabo did tell me that I need to start switching to flats over the next couple months. His main concern was balance and my center of gravity shifting over the next few months. As you can guess, I'm super bummed about this, but I'm not even going to worry about it until after our next appointment. Right now, wearing flats makes my back hurt, so I'm going to avoid them as much as possible and raise the issue at our next appointment if I'm still noticing the same thing.  However, while I was doing some last minute shopping for Sri Lanka, I did pick up a cute pair of flats that I'll try out while we're on vacation...we'll see how it goes:P

LGRs First Clothes!

This weekend was absolutely fantastic and I can't believe that this time next week we'll be in warm Sri Lanka getting ready to celebrate Shad and Leshika's wedding! Saturday was superb - I had a prenatal massage, did some holiday shopping, saw some family, and we had a fabulous holiday get together and got to see some friends we hadn't seen in a looong time. Sunday, we went to a potluck at a friend's place which was also a blast - I really got my fill of socializing this week and this weekend and feel so rejuvenated after it! In addition to all this socializing, we got to see my brother, Tariq and his girlfriend Raabia and they brought us a surprise...gifts for LGR! Since we're totally impatient, we had to open them right away and we were soo excited to find that they bought the first clothes to date for LGR (and did an amazing job too!) So now, in addition to a crib, dresser, stroller, car seat, and Winkie the lamb (courtesy of Grammie and Papa Skrzypek), our little grain of rice now has some very fashionable clothes! He got a cute little navy blue onesie, an adorable monkey themed pant and shirt set complete with little monkey feet, and, quite possibly the coolest thing ever, a Kenneth Cole leather jacket and jean set!. Here are some pictures of the awesome goodies that Tariq Uncle and Raabia Auntie got for their little nephew:

Mommy's Little Monster

Leather Jacket

Monkey Feet!!

One really cool thing about all the clothes was how real it made it all seem! Eric and I couldn't believe that in just a few more months, LGR would be big enough to fit into these clothes. I think right now he's just about as long as a banana and doesn't even weigh a pound yet. I can't believe that this time next year he's going to fit into that jacket and that he's going to be crawling around and starting to make noises and starting to eat some solid foods! It's just amazing to me how quickly he is going to grow and develop and how much is going to change over the next year. It's already been a pretty eventful year for us - this time last year I was getting ready to go to Abu Dhabi again and we were anxiously awaiting our wedding and now we're getting ready to go to Sri Lanka and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby, and I wouldn't have it any other way:)

A Note to LGR

Dear LGR,

Please stop jumping on mommy's bladder. I already have a hard enough time trying to control it when I sneeze or cough too hard without added acrobatics. I love that you are active, but maybe you could find another organ to use as your trampoline for the next 4.5 months? Thanks!

Love,
Mommy

In all seriousness though, how come I never knew how much I would value bladder control while I was pregnant?? I knew that after delivery there are sometimes issues, but seriously I feel like an old lady. Oh well, it's a small price to pay and it could be so much worse. As you can tell from my note to LGR, our little boy is an active one! I definitely don't feel him all the time, but when I do feel him he's definitely a squirmy worm. I'm thinking that all the workouts I've been doing are rubbing off on him and we're going to have one active kiddo. In all seriousness though, each day I get more and more excited to meet our son. I can't wait to see what he looks like and to hold him and cuddle him and watch him learn all the things we as adults take for granted, like how a zipper works or the color of the sky or the smell of a rose.

As a follow up to my last post, I'm trying really hard to get more used to my body and not worry so much about the weight gain. It's still a challenge, but it's definitely something I'm working on. I think I definitely look pregnant now, but I'm still really struggling with clothes. I love my maternity jeans and I feel really cute whenever I wear them (and I feel like I actually look pregnant), but I'm still having a hard time finding maternity clothes that aren't designed for older people. Case in point - I bought a dress from Motherhood Maternity online to wear for our upcoming trip to Sri Lanka. When I tried it on it was huge up top, and super long and frumpy looking even though it looked so cute online! And the kicker - I ordered a small! On the bright side, I did find a skirt to wear for the trip in my closet that I can still wear and look cute in, plus I got some cute regular shirts in Old Navy in a size bigger than normal that worked really well. Not sure what I'm going to wear on the beach, but I might be able to make one of my side tie bikinis work - I will apologize in advance for any distress this may cause to onlookers, but I refuse to spend $100+ on a bathing suit that I will wear for 2 days. Regardless of the clothing snafus, I am really really looking forward to our trip to Sri Lanka! It is going to be so great to see family and be in the warm weather and celebrate Shad and Leshika's wedding on New Year's Eve! Eric has always wanted to celebrate New Year's Eve in a different country and I'm so excited that he'll get to do that this year. Plus, it will be a great last trip before LGR makes his appearance and I'm so glad that Shad and Leshika decided to do their wedding in Sri Lanka so we could have an excuse to take such a cool vacation!

Growth Spurt/Weight Gain

I have no idea what has changed, but I have seriously been soooo famished the past few days! I don't know if this is a growth spurt or not, but my appetite has been relatively insatiable. It's getting a little out of hand, it's not like I haven't been eating, and contrary to popular belief I am not eating for 2!! Well, technically I am, but the second person in this equation is teeny tiny and only weighs in at around 11oz. LGR does not need an extra 2000 calories a day, he actually only needs an extra 300 in addition to my normal consumption (1500-1800, so a total of 1800-2100 a day!). I do work out so I know I have a little leeway, but I'm terrified I'm going to gain like 5 pounds in the next 2 weeks (which I definitely do not need to do), instead of maintaining or going up a pound or two max.

I know that a lot of people think that when you're pregnant, it's the one time you can eat whatever you want whenever you want and not worry about weight at all. For me, I feel like it's the complete opposite. I am more concerned about what I eat now than I was before (and I was pretty conscientious before hand) - I want to make sure Baby Peks is getting good nutrition and I don't want to eat things now that I wouldn't feel comfortable feeding him if he were actually able to eat solid foods. Plus, since I know that he's now able to decipher tastes from my amniotic fluid, I want to try to eat healthful things so he develops a taste for them (and hopefully so that he'll like lots of vegetables when he's little and will save us the trouble of trying to hide zucchini in his meatloaf later on down the line:P). I also feel very very strongly that pregnancy is not the time to stuff your face to your hearts content. It is definitely important to eat enough calories and the right types of calories, but at the same time it can be just as dangerous to eat too much. Mothers that gain an excessive amount of weight during pregnancy are often at risk for complications during labor and delivery, and babies have a higher risk of being born too large (also resulting in complications).

There's also that whole issue of losing the weight after LGR arrives. I know that a good 10-12 lbs will get lost as soon as I give birth and my uterus contracts, but whatever is left is going to have to be worked off. After losing almost 30 pounds nearly 3 years ago,  I can tell you that this is not something I am looking forward to doing. It's really hard to lose weight, and it was hard when I was single and could work out for an hour a day 5-6 days a week. I know I'm not going to have that kind of time once LGR arrives and while taking care of a baby is a lot of work, I know my body. I know my body needs serious cardio and weight training to get into the shape it was in before. I've read and been told that for many women, the weight just melts off while they're breastfeeding, but I have an inkling that my body just isn't going to do that. That, on top of the fact that I'm not going to be able to work out for approximately 6 weeks postpartum and that I'm going to be extremely sleep deprived leads me to be very very fearful of gaining more than the recommended 25-30 pounds.

What really concerns me now is that I have definitely been watching what I eat and been very active since the late part of my first trimester. I go to the gym 4 days a week for 45-50 minutes a day (about 15 minutes of weight lifting and 30 minutes of cardio). I am very cautious about what I eat - generally I start the day with a banana and half an arnold thin with 1 tbsp natural organic peanut butter (no salt or sugar is added). I usually have a snack of some sort of vegetable with 3 tbsp hummus. Lunch is usually a lean protein and a big salad with balsamic vinegar. After lunch I have a couple (6-7) chocolate covered raisins, and then later in the afternoon I have a piece of fruit and maybe a serving of cottage cheese. Dinner is usually a veggie of some sort (lots b/c I LOVE my veggies), a lean protein, and a tiny bit of starch. Dessert is either an orange or a piece of fruit or 1/2 a cup of lowfat frozen yogurt or sometimes both (yes - I actually measure all of these things out...ask Eric, it annoys the crap out of him:P). I try really hard to watch my sodium intake as well, and I drink 100 - 120 oz of water a day. I swear - I'm really really trying, and it's just getting so frustrating to see the scale go up in such large intervals. I would love it if I could just maintain my weight until the start of my third trimester, then gain the recommended 1 lb/week.  It doesn't help that I started this pregnancy about 5-7 lbs heavier than I wanted to because of all the weight I gained on our honeymoon!

I guess to point of all of this was to just get out all of my frustration and vent a little bit...I'm definitely not opposed to gaining the weight I need to make sure our baby is healthy, but I'm just tired of hearing about how I need to eat for two and it doesn't matter what I put into my body and that all that excess weight will some how magically come off as soon as I deliver our child b/c I just don't believe it!!OK - vent over. For those moms out there, what's your take on this? Any advice or experiences you can share?

So told my parents...

and it's a BOY!! I cannot tell you how excited we are to be having little baby boy:) Annnd, while I did think that we were having a girl,  I am very very happy and thankful for our little boy. Plus it sorta works into my grand plan (if you can have one for these sorts of things!) - I always always wanted to have a big brother growing up and I always thought it would be cool if whatever children I had got to have that, and now it's coming true:)

As you know, I really wanted to surprise my parents with the sex of the baby, but it didn't go off quite as I had hoped. My big plan was to make cupcakes, fill them with blue icing, frost them with white icing, then make my parents eat a cupcake to figure out what we were having. Eric thought that I should make marble cupcakes because 1. he wanted them and 2. he made some comment about how white and brown swirled together represent our baby (or something equally as thoughtful) so that I would go for the symbolism. In any case, I made said marble cupcakes, filled them with blue icing, and frosted them with white icing and lots of sprinkles (so they would be festive). I knew that my dad already knew what we were having (he found out by accident), but I was really really excited to surprise my mom, plus my Nanima and Khati Maasi were going to be there, so I thought it would be even more special.  Well, apparently blue filling inside cupcakes isn't self-explanatory. When we got to my parents' house, my mom wanted to cut into a cupcake right away, so I said fine. Well, she has my Nanima cut into the cupcake and my mom is looking on, and then I had to do some prodding...what color is inside? "blue" they say. And that means..."blue?" they say. And blue is for..."boy" they say. So we're having a..."boy" they say. It was actually really anti-climactic and disappointing, I didn't think it would be that difficult to figure out and I thought it was a cute idea, but I guess I know for next time not to bother. I guess I was also hoping for more of a reaction and excitement - add all that together with hormones and you end up with a disappointed/PO'ed pregnant lady that can't stop crying (fun way to start of a visit, I know). At least my dad was excited! And Eric was fantastic - I seriously don't know what I would do without him...he always knows how to make me feel better!

In other news, we had a very productive week/weekend since finding out the sex of the baby! First, we managed to finally put up our Christmas tree on Friday! We have two sets of ornaments - blue and silver, and red and green. This year we did blue and silver in honor of our little boy and we'll do red and green next year to give our little man's first Christmas a traditional feel:) In addition, we rearranged our furniture and set up LGR's dresser. We were both super impressed with the quality and man was that thing heavy!! It does look really really nice though and I can't wait to fill it up with lots of clothes:)

Also, since finding out that we're having a boy, we were able to pick out crib bedding and nursery decor! Now this was a really big challenge - I am so not into the super cutesy cartoon characters or the nurseries that look like they were designed by a small child. I have nothing against them per se, but I just feel like those rooms are more appropriate for a toddler. For our nursery, whether it was a boy or a girl, I wanted something that was sophisticated, but still cute and kid-like. I had found some awesome stuff for a little girl's room (a pink and black damask theme and a pink black and white zebra print theme) that could easily be kid appropriate with some accessories, but still sophisticated (b/c I figure the baby doesn't care what it sleeps in or what its room likes like....that's really more for the parents at this point). For boys though, I was running into some problems though. EVERYTHING had lots of cartoon like animals and prints on them, and the ones that didn't cost like $900 for a set (and there is no way I am paying more for our child's nursery bedding than I paid for ours!). On Friday though, we found the PERFECT bedding - it was from Restoration Hardware and they also had some pretty awesome accessories to make it look like a kid lived there (like this awesome dog chair:). I was so excited that we found something we both loved and that totally fit the look we're going for. Now, we won't really get to set up the nursery properly in this apartment because we're moving about 2 months after LGR makes his debut, but I'm very excited to get it all set up in our new place, wherever that may be!

So all-in-all a very fabulous weekend:) Now with all that baby stuff out of the way, hopefully I can concentrate on my applications....

Baby Peks is a.....

Surprise! We had our anatomy scan yesterday afternoon and everything looked really really good. Baby Peks was measuring right at 19 wks 1 day,  which was exactly what they told me it should be based on my first ultrasound (well it should be 19 wks 3 days, but that is pretty darn close!). That means that they should officially be pushing back my due date to April 23, annnd that means that there is a very good possibility that this baby will be born on my birthday, just like I thought! The baby's measurements all fell pretty much exactly in the 50% percentile, except for the head which was a bit smaller, but still within the normal range (hoping this means that delivery won't be too bad!!), and our little grain of rice is not so little anymore....it weighs a whopping 10 ounces (+/- 1 ounce)!!

Seeing the baby at the ultrasound was so awesome! It was moving around all over the place and I was amazed at how much we could see. It was really cool to see the spine and the head, but I think for me, the coolest part was seeing the heart beat. I've never seen anything quite like it. LGR still loves the camera and was constantly waving the whole time (I think this part comes from me...and I'm predicting a photogenic baby:P) There was a slight moment of panic when they had to look at my placenta because they thought it was attached to my cervix (since that would mean I have to have a c-section, but no harm to LGR). Luckily it turned out that everything was fine and my placenta was not attached to the cervix.

So I know the question you all want to know the answer to is "what is the sex of the baby??" Well, I'm going to have to leave you hanging on that until the weekend. We're going to Warrenton to see my parents on Saturday and we really wanted to tell them in person, so we're keeping it a secret until we get a chance to tell them. We have told Eric's parents since there's no way to surprise them from here, but I have a very creative and fun reveal planned for my parents (kind of funny because originally we were going to surprise Eric's parents with this reveal since we were supposed to get the ultrasound the day before we went up for Thanksgiving, and just call my parents:P). In any case, I promise to share all the details on Sunday after we have a chance to share the news with my parents. For now, I will just say that we are both very excited! In the past 24 hours I have become obsessed with baby bedding and just found a site where we can design our own...this could get dangerous:P

Coming out from under my rock..

I know it's been forever since I posted on the blog and I'm finally coming out from under my rock! We've had a crazy/busy few weeks. I was crashing on a couple big deliverables at work that kept me away and, as many of you know, I also recently took my GMATs. Add that in with the holiday, and that brings us to nearly 3 weeks without any blog posts. Now that my deliverables are done, and the GMATs are over, I hope I can post more regularly!

My first non-baby update is with regards to my GMATs. Most of you know that I'm a horrible horrible procrastinator and though I had good intentions of studying in advance for this, it didn't really happen. Instead, I crammed all my studying into 4, 2 hour study sessions the Monday - Thursday before the exam. By some small miracle I managed to surprise myself and do really well. So now with that out of the way, I have resolved to not procrastinate too much on my applications that are due on January 15....we'll see how that goes:P

A very awesome recent baby update is that I have finally begun to feel the baby move (I think). I've been debating whether or not it's been actual movement for a couple weeks, but I'm pretty sure I felt a small kick or punch as we were driving up to PA for Thanksgiving, and I have definitely felt something similar since, so I'm gonna go with movement. It hasn't been anything consistent, but definitely a very very exciting development!

And for another exciting development, we have our anatomy scan tomorrow!! We are so so sooo excited to get to look at the baby again and are hoping that LGR cooperates with the tech so we can find out the sex. Speaking of which, when Eric's mom saw me this weekend, she changed her guess from boy to girl, so now I think we have more people thinking it's a girl instead of a boy. We really eventually want at least one of each, so as Eric keeps saying, there's no pressure either way on this one! But really, as long as our baby is healthy, we'll be happy! Some days, I really can't believe we're already half way through the pregnancy...it feels like April is going to be here before we know it and each day I get more and more excited to meet the little person growing inside of me:)

We Have a Nursery!

Well, at least we have the furniture! That was one of the biggest baby-related accomplishments of the weekend. After a fabulous lunch with our cousins Tasanee and Adam, we headed out to Babies R Us. We have done tons of research on just about every baby item imaginable and were just tired of guessing what we'd like. So we decided it was time to test our top picks in person, plus Babies R Us had a sale for 20% off nursery furniture plus 10% back on all purchases until November 24 so we figured it was as good a time as any to start.  Our intention was to spend about 1 - 2 hours checking out the furniture we liked and some car seats and strollers. We ended up spending about 5 minutes looking at furniture (we loved our first pick in person!) then spent 3.5 hours debating the merits of the Graco SnugRide, Chicco Keyfit, and Peg Perego Viaggio infant seats and whether we wanted a travel system, a stroller frame, or a really nice stroller with an infant carrier attachment.  If you're confused by all that, don't worry - we were too...for 3.5 HOURS!! It was so much easier to narrow it down in the research than in person. I HATED the Graco SnugRide carseat - it looked like cheap plastic and I didn't want to have to walk around carrying that thing. I loved the Chicco Keyfit, but the colors and style didn't seem to go with any strollers other than the Chicco ones. And finally, I loved loved LOVED the Peg Perego Viaggio - by far my favorite. It was so stylish and aesthetically pleasing and it looked sooo fabulous with the Baby Jogger Citi Mini stroller and with the Peg travel systems, but it is a bit more expensive than the other car seats (go figure - I fall in love with the most expensive car seat :P).

After car seats came strollers. Our original plan was to get a Snap n Go stroller frame where you can put in any infant car seat and it becomes an instant stroller.  It would work for about 6 months, then we could go see what the baby really liked in terms of strollers and get something fancy and nice that would last through the toddler years. Well, turns out, we don't like the way infant car seats look on the Snap n Go - it just doesn't look right and there is no way either of us wanted to be seen pushing that around for even 6 months. We had initially vetoed the travel systems b/c they seemed really bulky, but we gave them a look anyway. Turns out we were right - we felt that most of them were really heavy and while they matched the car seats perfectly, they just didn't seem feasible for the long run. Next, we checked out another option - the nice fancy strollers with a car seat adapter. We could use those as travel systems while the baby was small, then go straight to the stroller once it could hold its head up. We LOVED these ones - the strollers were fun and fashionable and functional, and we even found some that were reasonably priced. We've narrowed it down tot he Citi Mini and the Peg Perego SI - both are really light weight and the Citi Mini collapses with one hand - you just have to pull the snap! It's awesome! And you can buy a car seat adapter. It only took 3.5 hours and a bit of frustration, but it was well worth it to finally figure out what we liked and didn't like in person. We'll call it a success. We'll also give Eric lots and lots of points for DVRing the Penn State game so that we could go baby shopping:)

I have to say that first experience in Babies R Us was totally overwhelming. We walked in and I had a mild panic attack.  There was so much stuff, and what really makes it scary is that most of it really isn't for the baby. It's for the parents. Because let's face it - my child isn't going to care if it's in a Graco car seat or a Peg, it's not going to care if it's in Bugaboo or a Snap 'n' Go and it's definitely not going to care if it's furniture is a $1000 crib from Restoration Hardware or an $80 one from Ikea. All those items have to meet basic safety requirements and the cheapest item will definitely serve the function of the most expensive item. The difference is what you as a parent feels is a reflection of your own style and lifestyle. And that, I've realized, is how all of these places make crazy amounts of money - lots of parents (myself included) want to still feel fashionable, trendy, and cool. When your designer bag must be replaced by a diaper bag,  your fancy jeans are covered in toddler food and spit up, and your sexy dress from last year just doesn't seem to fit the same no matter how many crunches you do, it's really hard to feel fashionable and trendy and it feels like one way that you can still get that feeling is by choosing baby items that reflect your sense of style and taste. Now I'm not saying this is how you should get that feeling back, but just my sense at how a lot of baby items are being marketed, and why a lot of people spend a lot of money on a lot of things that are completely unnecessary. I am 100% sure a lot of the purchases we will make will be more expensive than they have to be, but the way I look at it is that a lot of these purchases are going to be my accessories for the next 2-4 years, so I might as well get something I enjoy looking at (as long as we can afford it:P)!

A Change of Plans

The past week or so I've been doing a lot of thinking. As most of you know, I'm applying to business schools and while this is definitely something I want to do, I simply haven't been super motivated. So, I sat down and thought about why that was the case. Was I trying to force myself to get an MBA because it is what I am supposed to do? Am I not applying to the right schools? With all this thinking came a very sudden realization - I WANT an MBA, but I was very very concerned about how we were going to move somewhere completely new, have Eric quit his job, hope he finds a new one wherever we move to, live on 1 income for two years and still find a way to raise a baby. Before we found out I was pregnant, grad school seemed like it was going to be this romantic adventure - we could live in a 1 bedroom or a studio, we'd get by however we had to and we'd get to explore a new area. Now that we're throwing a baby into the mix, we just don't have the same flexibility and that is what scares me - we need to have a 2-bedroom apartment, we need a new car so we can fit baby+dog+us for all of our trips, we need to buy diapers, and books and spend time with our child much more than we need to go out with friends on Friday and Saturday nights. All of our priorities have suddenly changed - that's not a bad thing, but it is a change that I hadn't fully thought. 

My conclusion from all of this thinking was that I want to get an MBA and I want to get it by the time I'm 30, but I need to find a program that allows me some flexibility. The more I thought about it, the more a part-time MBA program seemed to fit my new needs, especially a program in the area. It would mean that Eric could keep his amazing job, and I could still work part time which would allow us to save some money while I'm in school, cut back on childcare costs, and let me spend more time with the baby. Now, I don't think doing this will be easy by any means, but I think that going part time gives me the piece of mind to know that I can still make sure we're financially taking care of our future while I get my degree (and ultimately, me getting an MBA is really an investment in our financial future). It also gives me some piece of mind to know that our families won't be so far away and that our parents will be able to see their grandchild on a regular basis (and maybe even babysit a weekend or two so Eric and I can go to a movie or dinner or something:). I feel so much better and more energized after thinking this through and coming to my decision about part-time school. I am still going to apply to Harvard and Wharton and if I get in, we'll cross that bridge, but I'm happy to say that I've come to a point in my life where I don't feel like the place I go to school defines who I am. Just because I don't go to Harvard or Stanford or Wharton doesn't mean I'm not as smart or motivated as people who get their MBAs from there and it doesn't mean I'll be any less successful. My priorities are becoming completely different right now and I am finally OK with that and it's an amazing feeling. What feels even better is that Eric has been so supportive during all of this and not once did he weigh in on my decision - he made me make it myself, and told me that we will do whatever we need to do so that I could go to school wherever I wanted to - whether that was full time in Boston or part time in DC. Such a smart man - now he knows I have no one to blame but myself if I end up regretting my decision later (which I don't think I will!).

In other news, we have one more change of plans, but this one, we're not as excited about...we got a call earlier this week saying we'll have to postpone our anatomy scan until after Thanksgiving! We were so excited to see the baby again and find out it's sex, but looks like we'll have to wait an extra week. Now the big day is on November 30. I was soooo hoping to do some Black Friday shopping for the baby, but I guess I'll have to wait :P Plus, we had a really cute plan for telling our families the gender, so now we'll have to think of something different since we won't know when we see them around Thanksgiving. Hmmm.....time to get creative!

Success!

Lately, I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed at the whole thought of parenthood and juggling work, applying to business school and preparing for motherhood. Add on top of that the crazy mood swings that seem to have come out of nowhere and it's made for some pretty interesting times around our house. Thank goodness Eric is so understanding and patient and loving...I seriously don't know what I would do without him:)

This weekend was the perfect way to put behind all those crazy feelings and anxiety and really feel fabulous! Saturday was wonderful and my my husband gets an extra gold star for awesomeness- first we went to Loehman's in an attempt to find some much needed support for my ever growing chest, and to find some shoes that don't have 4 inch heels. Poor Eric was holding 4 bras, a belt, my jacket, and my purse as I tried on a pair of shoes...I wish I had a picture! Luckily, everything fit, looked cute, and was super on sale...success number1 for the day! Next we went to Fair Oaks Mall to check out Gap Maternity...remember how I was complaining that I couldn't quite fit in regular clothes, but maternity clothes were too big? Well, I no longer have that problem! My jeans, that buttoned (snuggly) last week, would barely stay zippered! On the advice of Baby Bargains and friends, I decided that we needed to check out Gap Maternity. Sooo glad we did, b/c I found an amazing pair of jeans and a really cute dress. I am sooo excited to have comfortable jeans again and they look so cute, plus, they're the perfect length for my new lower heels:) I've also decided that I am going to try and wear maternity jeans to Thanksgiving every year from now on...that stretchy panel will be clutch after all that eating:P We wrapped up a wonderful day with a movie and dinner with my parents - a very nice way to start off the weekend.

Sunday also was fabulous! I met up with Liz, who recently moved back to the DC area and has a gorgeous one-year-old daughter. It was so great to meet up with her and her daughter, Audrey, and Audrey was just so much fun to watch and play with...it made me really excited to be able to see and hold and play with our little baby! Plus it was so nice to get some advice and get answers to all those random questions first-time moms have (thanks, Liz!!). Since we're the first one amongst our close group of friends to have kids, it's hard sometimes to find the right people to go to for advice. Of course our moms are awesome sources of advice, but sometimes you just want to talk to someone your age to figure out if the newest gadget/gizmo is worth buying, and where the heck you can go to find cute maternity clothes that don't make you look like you're 40 years old.  After meeting up with Liz, Eric and I headed to DC for a quick photo session. Our cousins Tasanee and Adam got us a Groupon for a photo session as a gift and we couldn't have picked a better day to use it! The weather was gorgeous, and we had some great foliage in the background. After photos, I ran around for the next couple of hours doing errands, grocery shopping and the like, while Eric made an incredible chili which we then enjoyed in front of the TV as we watched some football. It was the perfect end to an awesome weekend.

I Don't Feel Pregnant!

I was talking to Eric about this yesterday evening and thought it worthy of blog post. I really don't feel like I'm pregnant yet! I clearly know that I'm pregnant and I'm very thankful that I didn't have crazy morning sickness for 13 weeks, that I don't feel tired all the time, and that I can still button my pre-pregnancy jeans (although with some challenges after about 3 PM), but I'm just wondering...when does this start to feel real? I guess I always expected to feel more real once I heard the heartbeat or had our first ultrasound, and while it felt very real at the time and both those occasions were incredible experiences, it doesn't feel real on a daily basis. Other than giving up drinking and my coffee on the weekends (never really drank coffee during the week), and having to eat something small before I workout in the mornings (I used to go to the gym first thing on an empty stomach - eating before used to make me sick!), nothing in my life has really changed that much.

I'm definitely not complaining about all of that - I think I'm actually pretty lucky that things have stayed close to normal. However, I think that I'm just excited for the time when I really feel pregnant. I'm just not sure when that will be - Will it be when I start having a real bump? Will it be when I start to feel the baby move on a regular basis? I know that I'm going to completely melt into a million pieces once I actually see and hold this child, but until that happens, I'm just wondering when it actually sinks in that I'm growing a human inside of me!

Maybe this lack of sinking in is nature's way of making sure I'm not freaking out on a daily basis or stressing about all the changes that are going to happen soon, because as Eric can attest, I've definitely had crazy freak out moments when I've thought about it too much. I know everything is going to work out - people with a lot less than us manage to do it, so I'm sure we'll be able to as well, but when I stop and really think about it, my mind starts racing in a thousand directions. I'll end with a question for all the moms out there...when did you start to feel pregnant? Was it right away? Was it never? Sometime in between?

Baby on My Birthday?

In one of our earlier posts, I mentioned how Eric was hoping that the baby would be born on my birthday. Well, the past few weeks I feel like I've been seeing so many signs that the baby might actually be born on my birthday. For example, take the clock - about 3 or 4 times in the past 3 weeks, I found myself looking at the clock around 4 PM and when I checked it said 4:18 (which happens to be my birthday). And then, when I was at Nanima's (my grandmother) house I was talking on the phone to my mom, and when I hung up, the timer on the phone said 4:18. And again today when I went to make a call at work, the time on my phone said 4:18 PM. Now this could just be a coincidence and maybe I'm more aware of the times now that Eric mentioned something about having the baby on my birthday, but still...it seems like it's happening way to frequently to not be a sign of something! Plus, even with the difference in due date estimates 4/18/2011 is perfectly reasonably for both...it would put me at 41 wks 5 days if I'm due on April 6 and 39 wks 5 days if I'm due on the April 23...both completely within the normal realm for a first time mom (I heard that the average first time mom usually goes to about 41 wks, but that it is also normal to deliver 2 weeks on either side of your due date). I know at first I was completely not looking forward to being in labor on my birthday if it happened, but now that I'm thinking about it, it would be kind of cool. I mean, it would probably not be the way I'd choose to spend my birthday every year, but how amazing would it be to be reminded every year of my wedding, honeymoon, and the amazing love that I have with my husband that created a new life on each birthday when I look at our child and celebrate it's birthday as well?? I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

So am I 14 weeks or am I 16 weeks?

This weekend, Eric and I enjoyed some much needed R&R in Pennsylvania with some awesome friends. Our good friends Cindy and Chris had rented 2 cabins just outside of Breezewood and got a group of 14 people together for an amazing weekend .We arrived on Friday night for a fun filled trip that included bonfires, mountain pies, jungle gym obstacle courses, and a trip down memory lane as we finished the weekend with a costume decades party with music commemorating each decade from 1950-Present. So in a word, AMAZING. I forgot how completely awesome it is to be completely disconnected from cell phones and the internet for 2 days. To put the cap on a perfect weekend, Eric and I managed to watch the first 6 episodes of Mad Men Season 4. Like I said, a fabulous weekend.

Seeing as how awesome our weekend was, I expected today to start out equally as fabulously. Big mistake. I was supposed to go in for part 2 of my blood work associated with the NT scan and my appointment was really early. I thought I'd still be able to sneak in a quick workout but no such luck. Then, halfway to my appointment, I realized I left my cell phone at home. Once I got to the Maternal-Fetal Health Office, I ended up waiting for 30 minutes for the nurse to take me back and tell me that they couldn't do the blood work today b/c according to their records, I was only 14 wks 4 days and I needed to be at least 15 wks. Well, my doctor hasn't changed my due date, so according to him, I'm 16 wks 6 days. WTF!! This is so frustrating and I'm actually just really mad at my original OB's office b/c they didn't bother to do an ultrasound early in the first trimester to date the pregnancy (which I've since found out is pretty normal now), and also because they still haven't sent over my medical records to the new OB...I was supposed to have those records 2 weeks ago and they keep giving me the run around. So glad that I switched practices, but alas, I digress. So back to the blood work, now I have to go back to get it done in a couple of weeks. At least I was able to schedule it for the same day as my next pre-natal visit with my current OB, so no extra trips to the office:) I cannot wait until our anatomy scan so they can final resolve this due date issue. I never realized how annoying a couple weeks difference could be! All in all I suppose it could have been worse, but somehow all the hormones amplify all the little things that I used to not even think about and make them a huge, earth-shattering deal. Oh well, at least I can recognize when I'm being slightly neurotic (thank you honey for being so awesome when I fly off the deep end for really stupid stuff:P).

In other news, I am sad to report that I think my 4 inch heel wearing days are nearing an end. For the first time ever I am noticing a slight dull pain in my lower back. Now I know that this probably mostly my uterus is pushing down on something in a funny way, but I have also noticed that my general body alignment seems to be off a bit when I'm wearing super tall heels. I'm definitely not giving up heels all together, but I do think the time has come to start investing in a couple of pairs of lower heeled shoes to take me through the next couple months. I think this weekend I'm going to go on the prowl and see if I can find any cute shoes for work and life that are around 2 inches..I think that's a fair compromise! If you have any suggestions for cute brands or shoes that fit the lower heel, non stiletto requirement, let me know!

No more high heels:(

This afternoon we had our second visit with our new OB, Dr. Tchabo. Couple pieces of good news:

1. I didn't gain any weight (yay! i gained a good amount of weight in the first trimester b/c I couldn't work out and because all I could really keep down was massive amounts of bread. I am hoping things even out  weight-wise from here on out)
2. LGR's heartbeat was so good - 153 beats per minute. S/he was hiding from the doppler and kind of gave both me and Eric a little scare, but the doctor found it after a little searching:)

In addition to the good news, we got some bad news (well, not we so much as me)....the doctor told me no more high heels! I told him that I literally owned no flat shoes outside my tennis shoes. Good thing Eric was there b/c now I have a doctor's orders to go shopping for shoes! And since all my pants are long so they work with heels, I'll also have to replace those. Eric's exact words for the doctor were "Well I guess you just gave her a reason to go shoe shopping!"

We also talked to the doctor about how I was measuring at the NT scan, since that was my first ultrasound. He said that even though the baby was measuring about 2 weeks behind that it wasn't really a concern so he wasn't going to move the due date. That means that I am currently 15 weeks 5 days pregnant and we are now due on April 6. The exciting part about this is that we'll get to find out the sex of the baby sooner than we thought! We're in the process of scheduling the anatomy scan, which can be done anywhere from 18-22 weeks. We are so excited to find out what little LGR will be, and I am so excited to finally be able to start picking things out for the nursery (and if it's a girl, go and buy that GORGEOUS black and red dress I saw at the Gymboree Outlet for next fall/winter :P)

Babies Cost a Lot

The past week has been kind of hectic for both me and Eric with lots of things going on at work, and of course, in life! We've both been a little bit overwhelmed by all there is to do in terms of preparing for a baby - what do we have to buy before the baby is born? how much does it cost? where are we going to store it? how far in advance to do we have to buy? and many more of those types of fun questions I'm sure every first time parent has. Being the planners and researchers that we are, we went to work trying to find answers. We started with Baby Bargains which several colleagues and acquaintances suggested. This is quite possibly the.best.book.EVER. No joke - it goes through everything you could possibly imagine from car seats, to cribs, to diaper bags to the layette it takes Consumer Report findings, plus reviews and feedback from actual parents and reviews nearly every single brand out there in every category. Then, they even make recommendations based on price, lifestyle, etc.

Eric is pretty awesome and got cracking on the research pretty much as soon as we got the book. He looked up cribs, car seats, strollers, bedding and so much more and really narrowed it down to the top brands so that I didn't have to do too much research. Now, I know that I tend to have expensive taste in things, but I had no idea how expensive some of these baby items could be until we started looking. $1000 for a crib? $250 for bedding? $800 for a stroller? Ummm I don't think so. I don't even have bedding that expensive and I'm a grown adult that can appreciate high thread count sheets! Luckily, after a little bit of digging we were able to find some very nice options that were much friendlier on the wallet. I think narrowing down our top choices to three or so per category will definitely make it less overwhelming when we set foot into the crazy baby stores, and help us not spend crazy amounts of money on things we'll never need/use (or at least not now).

We've got a fun start to this week, with tomorrow being my next OB appointment! We'll go over the results of our NT scan and find out if the doctor is going to officially change my due date. At my NT scan, the baby measuring about 2.5 weeks behind where it should have been which lead the doctor overseeing the ultrasound to suggest changing my due date from April 6 to April 23. So tomorrow I'll find out if I'm actually 13 wks 3 days or 16 wks! Also exciting news (at least for me) - I finally got to eat eggs this morning! I've been really put off by the look/smell of eggs since right around the time I left for Rwanda, but for some reason this morning after my work out, I really wanted an egg and cheese sandwich. I made one, and not only did it NOT gross me out, I thoroughly enjoyed every bite. I'm so excited I get to have one of my favorite breakfasts back:)

In other news, we finally found a boy name that we both like! We had a girl name picked out even before we got engaged, but the boy names were the ones that stumped us. I had been seeing really cute girl clothes and nursery items, and this weekend I also managed to find some really really cute boy ones. Which brings me to my next point...who wants to place bets on whether we're having a boy or a girl? In light of our upcoming appointment with the doctor, we decided to do a little polling. So far Mama Skrzypek thinks its a boy, my dad thinks its a boy, and the daddy-to-be thinks its a boy. I, on the other hand am leaning towards a girl. So what do you think? Leave a comment below and let us know! Or, if you have thoughts on how to tell before the anatomy scan, let us know:)

Successful Shopping Trip...Kind of

This weekend, Eric and I had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather with our families. On Friday evening, we headed down to Aunt Cindy's to hang out with some of Eric's family. We got to see his cousins Frank (who we hadn't seen since the wedding), Duane (who we hadn't seen since before the wedding), and Laura and her son Jordan (the ring bearer at our wedding). It was a gorgeous evening and we got to relax by the fire. The guys enjoyed some cigars and beer and I enjoyed a nice glass of water:) It was so nice to catch up with everyone and the perfect way to start our weekend.

On Saturday we started the day at my parents house and then headed to the outlets to do some shopping. I had been complaining for a while about how none of my clothes really looked right anymore - I'm kind of in an in-between stage right now where everything still technically fits, but nothing looks quite right. So to remedy the situation, we went shopping! We got to the outlets super early (like 10 am) and even got parking right up front! We explored Old Navy for a bit and I found some cute leggings and a long sweater in normal sizes that I think will work for a while. I did get quite frustrated though because I have no idea to shop for my current body. After Old Navy, we went to the maternity store where I tried on a bunch of tops in the hopes that I would find something more suited to my current shape. Two problems with this: 1. I was drowning in the tops - even the small, 2. All the tops and clothes looked like they were designed for 40 year old women. Just because I am pregnant does not mean that I suddenly forgot about fashion or that I don't want to look/feel attractive and stylish! Luckily after the maternity store, the shopping got much better:) I found a very cute purse and wallet and got a couple more very nice (and stylish) sweaters at Banana Republic. We finished off the day with dinner at my parents' house with my brother, Waheed and my Nanima (grandmother), and Khati Masi (aunt).

All in all, a very fabulous weekend! Definitely not ready for another week of work, but I'm crossing my fingers that next weekend will get here quickly:)

The Meaning of LGR

I finally remembered to scan in some of the sonogram pictures and post them! Yay for checking one thing off my list! Hope you all enjoy them:)

On another note, yesterday Eric was reading through the post and realized that I hadn't actually explained what LGR means or how that nickname for Baby Peks came about (Hussein Mama also asked, so he gets credit for reminding me too:). So, I figured I would take the time to explain this great little nickname now, before we get too far along:)

First, LGR stands for Little Grain of Rice. A very random and arbitrary thing for it to stand for until you hear the story. Probably a week after I found out I was pregnant (right before I left for Rwanda) I was having pretty bad morning sickness, that was basically lasting all day (I hadn't figured out the eating every couple of hours or as soon as I got up thing yet). While I didn't actually get sick, I was feeling really nauseous and just not like myself - I couldn't even make it through a 30 minute workout, and as Eric will tell you, I am not fun to be around when I don't get my gym time! In any case all these changes were going on inside of me and one night I said to Eric "I don't understand how something smaller than a grain of rice could be causing all of this!" To which he replied "Yeah, I don't know either...that's pretty small to be causing all these issues." From then on whenever Eric would ask me how I was doing, he would also ask "How is our little grain of rice?" and whenever I would feel sick or just off, I would say "I think our little grain of rice is not happy with me." We then got tired of saying "little grain of rice..." I mean, it is kind of a long nickname, so Eric shortened it to LGR and the name just stuck! So on this blog you'll probably see us using LGR and Baby Peks interchangeably, but at least now you'll know what it means!

We're Having a Baby!

In case you haven't heard, we're having a baby! Eric and I are so so excited for this new chapter in our lives and feel so lucky that we're going to be parents soon.

Just for some background, Eric and I got married on July 17, 2010. We met in September 2007 through match.com. My girlfriends and I were tired of meeting the same types of guys over and over at happy hour and clubs so we decided to give Match a shot. I decided that since I was young and hot, I wasn't going to settle for just anyone, so I made up a list of all the superficial criteria I wanted in a guy (at least 6 ft tall, blue eyes, and of course drop dead gorgeous). I didn't respond to a single person that didn't meet all of my criteria, and since I only had pictures to go by, I didn't respond to anyone that didn't have an amazing picture (I know this sounds shallow, but it gets better). One day, I stumbled across a wink from Eric so I looked through his profile. On the surface, he met all of my criteria, but the only thing that had me on the fence was his pictures. He had one stunning picture, and one not so stunning picture. As I debated responding to him, my friend Anna weighed in - she told me that he looked so much more interesting than all the lawyers and political types I had been going out with and that I should give it shot. I figured all I had to lose was a free drink or two, so I said yes. We went on our first date on September 19, and the rest, as they say, is history:)

Now, back to the present. Before we got married, Eric and I discussed having kids and we both knew that we wanted them pretty soon. After figuring out how we could juggle work, grad school and finances, we decided that we wanted to start trying as soon as we got married. We thought it would take a couple months (well, I thought it would take a couple months - Eric was pretty confident we'd come back from our honeymoon pregnant), and we (I) were (was) completely shocked to find out we were expecting. We found out in mid August - right after our 1 month anniversary and just a week before I was scheduled to go on a 3 week business trip to Rwanda! We of course told our parents right away, but swore them to secrecy until I got back from Rwanda and had a proper appointment with the doctor to make sure everything was OK. I think Eric's mom and my dad get the award for best grandparent reaction - Dad sounded like a kid at Christmas that just found out he was going to Disney World and Mom (Eric's mom) was so happy she was in tears!

On Monday, we had our second prenatal appointment and accomplished several major milestones! First, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat. That was probably one of the most amazing things ever and it made everything feel so real ( the nausea and motion sickness and bloating made it real too, but in a different way:P). The other big milestone was our first sonogram! Seeing the baby inside of me was so incredible and so reassuring. It's really hard to imagine that there is an actual living being growing inside of you, but being able to see that just makes it that much more real. And, we definitely know that this baby will take after me in one way - it loves the camera! In the sonogram pics, LGR was waving it's hand! We'll post those in the next day or so once I remember to scan them! The sonogram technician said that LGR was very well behaved..we're crossing our fingers it will be well behaved when it arrives as well. After reviewing the sonogram, the doctor came in and talked to me and told me that my due date was wrong - originally, they thought I was due on April 6, but after checking the baby's growth, we are now expecting LGR to arrive on April 23 , 2011 (that should put to rest all questions about conception prior to marriage from a *certain* individual - you know who you are:P).  Eric always joked that it would be very convenient for him if the baby was born on my birthday since that would mean he wouldn't have to memorize a new birthday...looks like now that might be a possibility! I on the other hand, am hoping not go be delivering a child on my actual birthday - I mean I think having a child is going to be an incredible experience, and if it so happens that I have LGR on my birthday I'm not going to complain, but from what I've heard about childbirth, I think I might just prefer a romantic dinner with my husband. But if LGR does decide to come on my birthday, I think diamonds would be a great replacement for said romantic dinner (just giving you some ideas honey:) - it would definitely compensate for not being able to eat and you know, delivering a baby!

Our next prenatal appointment is on October 19. At that point, I should be nearing the end of my first trimester (I'm 11 weeks 5 days now), and according to my book, Your Pregnancy Week by Week, I should be less fatigued and many of the uncomfortable symptoms experienced during the first trimester should have dissipated. Plus, then I get to take my flu shot and go to the dentist - I think I'm long over due for both of those things! In the meantime, I think a shopping trip is in order...I think leggings, some long sweaters and some waist defining belts (while I still have a waist) are a definite must for the next couple months.