Week 25 Already?

Hello Everyone,

So here we are, week 25 and everything is going really well. At my most recent doctor's appointment, we found out that the baby is about 1.5 pounds and according to the doctor, everything is right on track. Even though my doctor said that my weight gain is on track, I feel like I'm getting huge and am really trying to stay away from the scale! According to babycenter.com, she is now the size of an eggplant, though it looks like there's something larger than an eggplant inside my belly! On Tuesday, I get to take a test to see if I have gestational diabetes (oh boy!), and if all is clear, no more tests for awhile. I've heard that the test isn't all that bad, but I'm definitely not looking forward to it. Fingers crossed...

At Wednesday's dr. appt., I received my hospital admission documents and sometime in March, we will be scheduling my c-section. Yikes! Where does the time go?

Today, Allen and I looked at paint colors for the baby's room and seem to have settled on a sage green tone. We still haven't picked out the crib/changing table, but are planning on doing that sometime soon. We've started to receive a few gifts for the baby and it has been a lot of fun setting everything aside for her. One of the most fun gifts thus far was given to her by Cari, Amy & Caitlin. The three of them spent an entire afternoon sewing a sock monkey for her and it is ADORABLE (see above)! Like Ricky (the monkey toy mentioned in a previous post), this one will have to be hidden from the dogs. I literally had to hold Scout back while I took a picture of the monkey, as she seemed to think that we had brought home a new toy for her!

In other news...All is well with Peter, though Scout had a traumatic week. As she is already 7 months old, we decided that the time had come to get her "fixed". There is no way that we would be able to handle a baby, a chihuahua/terrier, a 55lb black Lab & potentially a litter of puppies, so this past Thursday, Allen dropped her off at the vet for the big procedure. We both anticipated that she would be groggy for the next few days, but no such luck! She is literally bouncing all over the place and going stir crazy as she is stuck inside the house. The vet wants her to wear a "radar dish" so she stays away from her incision, and she is less than thrilled about it. Allen is much nicer about letting her take it off, so I will have to take a photo when she's sporting it and post to the blog.

Hope everyone is well!

A Busy Weekend

Hopefully everyone had a chance to relax over the holiday weekend! We had a great weekend and are looking forward to the short week at work. On Friday night, we had a great dinner at Ron & JoAnn's, but sadly, it was also a goodbye meal as Benoit went back to France on Saturday afternoon. It has been so much fun to have him here for the past two weeks and we hope that we will get to see him again soon.

Cari, Ron & Mike made a great meal! We had prime rib, homemade mac & cheese & green beans. While the dinner was awesome, I have to also acknowledge dessert--Sprinkles Cupcakes--my favorite!

Saturday was a very lazy and relaxing day. I went to a great yoga class in the morning and shopped for a new canvas in the afternoon. For Valentine's Day, Allen & I went to see the movie "Milk" and I thought it was great! We had dinner downtown and finished the evening with frozen yogurt (my favorite). It is kind of crazy to think that this will be our last official Valentine's Day as a twosome!

The rest of the weekend was very low key, as the Tour de California has started and Allen is a HUGE fan! Needless to say, he has been pretty enthralled by all the tour coverage over the past few days.

Hope that everyone is enjoying the gloomy weather!

Scout's Story

With the discovery of Peter's degenerative disc disease, it has been "all about him" for awhile. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Scout (our black lab), I thought this might be a good time to share some info about her.

We got Scout back in late September, 2008. A friend mentioned that a breeder in Gilroy was looking for good homes for some of his puppies. Allen and I are both suckers for puppies, so once we saw this face, we knew that she would be the newest addition to our family!

Scout is a curious dog and a great companion. She has A LOT more energy than Peter and needs a lot more exercise and stimulation. Most mornings begin with Allen and Scout taking a run around the neighborhood with the hope that it will tire her out (at least for a few hours!). She and Peter, while polar opposites are starting to become good siblings and they love to chase each other around the house and play.

Ultimately, Allen is hoping that Scout will prove to be a good hunting companion and he is planning on taking her out for the coming duck season. In preparation, he got a membership to the San Jose Retriever Club and has been taking her out to "train" whenever he has free time. On a few occasions, I have gone out with them and watched her "progress" :) I have to say that she is turning out to be a pretty smart little dog and it has been neat to watch her grow up over the past few months.

Allen even built her a dog stand--as you can see, she can't wait to hop in the water and stand on top of it!

By far, one of Scout's biggest adventures to date was her first trip to the snow. With the storms in the area, Allen thought it would be fun to take her up to Henry Coe to see how she liked the snow. The two of them woke up REALLY early on Saturday morning while Peter and I slept in. I can't say that I'm too upset about missing this expedition, but fortunately, Allen took a few pictures.

Not much to report in baby news. She is definitely kicking around and I really notice it in the late mornings while I'm at work. I have my next doctor's appointment on the 26th of this month. We have started looking at cribs and changing tables and need to figure out what we want to do with the nursery. Once we have some ideas in mind, I'll be sure to share. Also for those who are wondering, we still can't seem to settle on a name!

A Rough Week for Peter

As you all know, Peter is our "first baby". We rescued him from the San Martin Animal Shelter in 2004 and he's been with us ever since. Actually, the background story on Peter is pretty funny. Our good friends were on their honeymoon and entrusted us with their beloved chihuahua, and when they returned we really missed having a little dog around, so needless to say, Peter was an addition to our family within about a week and a half. Peter is a great family member, and though a bit tempermental, he is an absolute LOVE. Happy to be wherever we are, he has moved a total of 5 times with us and was a wonderful companion when I recovered from spinal surgery. Peter's actual age has been up for debate ever since we got him. We have had him checked out by a couple of vets and the general consensus is that he is anywhere from 6-8 years old.

On Wednesday of this week, I was getting the dogs ready for the day and Peter didn't want to get out of bed (not really cause for concern--those who know Peter will understand). When he did actually get up, he started to cry and shake and it was very obvious that he was in some pretty serious pain. After a rough day on the couch, I rushed him to the vet, convinced that he would need the spinal fusion that I had about 2 and a half years ago.

About 45 minutes and $93.00 later, I found out that Peter is suffering from degenerative disc disease. According to the vet, "every breed has his cross to bear" and it looks like this is it for Peterman. Ironically, he doesn't really have a "breed" and has been referred to as a chihuahua, terrier, min-pin & dauchsund to name a few. The good news is that with a shot and about 2 weeks of steriod medicine, Peter should be in much better shape. The bad news is that this does mean that Peter may be a bit older than we originally thought and this could be a sign of what is to come for the poor little guy! :(

See above for a picture of Peter after we returned from the vet. He was pretty sad and I tried to cheer him up by sharing one of the baby's toys with him. From an earlier posting, you may remember that Uncle Benoit and Aunt Cari gave us a little stuffed monkey and we have vowed that we will be keeping it away from Scout.

In baby news, everything is good. This was a very busy week for me at work and I am really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. I did miss yoga this week due to the Peter emergency, but am planning on doubling up next week. I am feeling the extra weight for sure and a few people have told me that I definitely have a "baby belly". I have been really lucky throughout the pregnancy as far as back pain goes, but the past two nights have been a bit rough. There is a strange spot on my upper back (thankfully nowhere near my fusion) that has been bugging me pretty persistently. I am hoping that a prenatal massage tomorrow afternoon will be just the ticket!

Christmas Celebration - Round Two

This week was really special for a number of reasons. Not only did we find out that "Baby I" is a girl, but Uncle Benoit arrived for a California visit! To properly celebrate, we had a family Christmas celebration at Ron & JoAnn's house on Saturday night. The food was delicious and we had a blast playing games and visiting. Poor Benoit was a great sport and stayed up for most of the festivities, despite the fact that he had arrived on a long flight from France just that afternoon! Aunt Cari and Uncle Benoit gave the baby one of her first gifts--a little monkey named "Ricky" that makes funny noises when you squeeze his belly. Allen and I agreed that we will have to keep that toy away from Scout if we ever want the baby to see it!

We also threw around some of our ideas for names to the family to see what they thought. So far, Allen and I can't seem to agree on a girl name and have a "short list" of 3-4. My friends Natalie, Courtney, Cari & Kristin have suggested "Natalie, Courtney, Cari or Kristin" so, needless to say--it's still a work in progress!

This is the middle of week 21, and I am still lucky to be feeling really good. My crazy work schedule slows down starting in February and I am really looking forward to that. I am feeling the baby move and my doctor said that in the coming weeks, the movements will be coming with much more frequency and regularity. Hope everyone else is doing great!

"Christmas" dinner picture -JoAnn is the photographer!