House-hunting

This past weekend we met with Realtor Joe and found a house that we really like. It's on Richmond and has a cute little backyard. The best part is that it is across the street from the park, which is a guarantee to always have a well-kept yard to view from our living room window. We met a neighbor and she has lived there for 52 years! She said that the neighbors are quiet but the street is noisy (you can't win them all)!! We are hoping to make an offer on it this week - we can't wait to get out of this apartment!!!!



Isaac spent the weekend with Gram Gram - Rob and I enjoyed our weekend immensely! We basked in the luxury of Aunt Jenny's house while they were at a convention in Ohio. It was so nice and quiet! On Saturday Rob had a concert in Fountain and then we drove to Whitehall to spend the night at Gram Gram's house. She made us french toast and bacon on the grill - mmmmm delicious. We eventually made our way home and I took a nap while the boys went to the grocery store.



As for belly news, I have grown another inch. I purchased a Belly Band so that I can continue wearing my shorts/capris, unbuttoned! With the belly band I can continue to wear my "non-pregnant" shirts and I still have enough coverage in the mid-section. I haven't had any morning sickness yet, only a little nausea and fatigue, but nothing to complain about yet! We are keeping our fingers crossed that I don't measure bigger than normal at our appointment next Friday. We don't know what we would do if we had twins?! Probably buy twice as much stuff - ha ha!!

Thought I would add a belly-pic - Isaac took the picture and then made me take a picture of his belly, too! I think he is winning!

Does it look like a Benjamin or a Genevieve??

Oh yeah - I almost forgot!!! Joe will be home tomorrow with his fiance, Sara!!!! We can't wait to see them and will add pics as soon as we can!

A miracle in the making...

Although my body doesn't look entirely different from the outside, so much is happening on the inside (and all I have are the emotions to show it)!!

Growth

My body has decided to begin its preparation for baby! Since Friday, my belly has grown to plus 2 inches, as has my chest. I haven't yet measured my rear, as I am not interested in the details of its measurements!
My mom and Rob are in agreement that being pregnant is a great excuse for getting "big" - however, I haven't been eating excessively. Believe it or not, my most desired meal at the moment is a scrumptious, crispy-green, leafy salad, piled with tons of feta and balsamic vinaigrette (and almonds). It doesn't get any better than that!! I would say that I am newly craving chips and salsa, but that's far from the truth as that has been my snack of choice for many years. The only (fairly) new component to my craving is that it has to be fresh salsa. Before we moved into the apartment, I was happy to eat Garden Fresh Salsa. Because my husband is Mexican, I love Mexican food, and Garden Fresh Salsa is about $3 a pop and lasts about 2 days max, I have been making it myself (sometimes I let Rob help)!! Sometimes we have to make it several times a week... Rob can't wait to have our own garden so that we can grow our own tomatoes and peppers - I can taste the yumminess now!
I keep teasing Rob, telling him that we should have known that we were pregnant before we knew that we were pregnant. Over the course of the past two weeks, I have baked two -dozen cinnamon rolls, cheddar-garlic biscuits, and chocolate chip cookies. I have also made a couple of batches of flour tortillas as well as corn tortillas to fry up for taco shells! Needless to say, I have been enjoying being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen :o)

On a non-pregnant note, we went to Granny and Grandpa Ben's on Sunday afternoon. Grandpa Ben seems to be doing much better, although he is still tiring easily, as to be expected. Isaac decided to be super-brave and swam out to the raft. Rob approximates it to be a 30 foot swim or so. Rob swam next to him the first time, and Isaac made me swim back and forth with him several more times! He even jumped off of the raft a couple of times with Rob - this kid is a fish. We put him in swimming lessons at 18 months - the best investment we ever made!!

Well, I am off to the storage unit to search for maternity clothes and all of my books and magazines that I used for Isaac. We went to the library yesterday and I found a couple of books for Rob - he has finished one already and has started on the one titled, The Guy's Guide to Surviving Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the First Year of Fatherhood.
Here is an excerpt from the Introduction:
"I'm a guy. Therefore, I'll give you a guy's point of view on parenting. What I won't do is try to tell you new and/or expectant fathers what to do (incidentally, why the hell do they refer to those about to become parents as "expectant"? Believe me, you have no idea what to expect. The correct term would be more like "poor suckers who have no clue what you're in for")."

Baby #2 is on the way!

Thought we would make the announcement that Rob and I are expecting a little peanut! Our due date is approx. March 13 according to all of the calculators that I have used. We have an appointment with Dr. Pete on Friday, August 10 - we can't wait!

So, I am somewhere between 3 and 4 weeks along. As of right now, I have no symptoms, but I am enjoying it while I can. I am also enjoying sleeping on my belly, because I know that in a few more months, it will no longer be an option!

My head is swarming with thoughts about what needs to be done to prepare?! I am also more paranoid this time about a miscarriage. I am hoping that this subsides, as I keep telling myself that everything happens for a reason. The only thing that I am not worried about is how Isaac is going to react. We were at the mall the other day (before we knew we were pregnant) and he was playing with all of the babies. He met one-year-old Casey, who loved to throw his giraffe on the ground, and Isaac would continually pick it up for him. They giggled and laughed for a good 15 minutes at their fun game! He also had the "job" of babysitting Clara a couple of weeks ago at the Blues in Rockford. He actually tackled her as she was running towards the river, so that she wouldn't fall in. But, rest assured, if she went in the water he would jump in after her! And yet another example of how he is going to be the bestest big brother ever, is that when we were at Aunt Jenny's house, Christie's baby Nadia was there and he wanted to cuddle with her the whole time. Any time she whimpered, he would run over to me to inform me that she needed attention. Isaac also has suggested that Baby Joe, as he is calling it, should sleep in a crib in his room so that he can make sure that he (sometimes he says she) doesn't fall out. And if she wants, she can sleep in his big boy bed with him, because he has lots of room. He even points out that he will sleep on the edge and the baby would sleep against the wall!

As for Rob, he is so excited about our new addition. I asked if he was nervous and he claims he isn't yet! He would really like a girl, and Gram Gram put her order in for a girl, so that's what we are hoping for. But, I suppose if it's a boy, we'll have to be okay with that, too - ha ha ha!
I think that we were both pretty surprised that we got pregnant this quick. We probably would have started trying during our honeymoon, but we knew that our lease wouldn't be up until December. So, we decided that we would start trying in May, that way I would still be able to help move into a house in December. Although, we really thought it would take at least six months!!!

Rob's sister-in-law (Katie) is due in December and his step-sister (Amanda) is due in January; Thanksgiving should be interesting this year ;o) By March, John and Sherry will have 6 grandchildren, and Mike and Julie will have 5. Thank goodness Brad and Doreen will only have the 2, even though I can't wait for the boys to get married and have kids... in about 10 years!