Ocean City Vacation

Just the two of us…but not for long! We took our last vacation alone (at least for a while!) this past weekend to Ocean City. We rented this really cute little condo that was one block from the beach and had a beautiful view of the bay and the sunset. We got in late Thursday night and got up Friday morning with no plans! We had a minor issue that first day - the electricity was out for about 6 hours so we had to pack up all of our food in the cooler, and we decided since we didn’t have AC we would go ahead and hit the beach. We spent a few hours there, enjoying the hot sun and cold ocean water. I had to sit under the umbrella a lot because I didn’t want to get burned, but despite my efforts I still got pink. After an afternoon nap, we hit the boardwalk and got some boardwalk fries. What a disappointment! The boardwalk wasn’t as cool as I remember it, and the fries sucked. I guess things just aren’t as you remember them, huh? Plus, the fries were so salty that I felt dehydrated for the rest of the night. :( We made it an early night and just enjoyed the evening on the couch watching tv, then got up early Saturday morning for another beach day! We spent most of the day on the beach…reading, chatting, taking dips in the water, and building a sand fortress. We even got to listen to the World Cup on our radio! Then we sought out an awesome all you can eat crabs place and had some delicious crabs and corn on the cob. I even got a “mocktail” - virgin strawberry daquiri. It was cute and fun.

stuffed from the crabs!!!

Enjoying some delicious Maryland Blue Crabs

Playing in the sand!

View from the top…

My bump at 27 weeks (almost 7 months!!)

He got sooo sunburned from this!!!

We had an absolutely wonderful trip and can’t wait to make it back to Ocean City again next year with our little family of three. Next Up: We are headed down to the Virginia Beach area to visit our friends Denie and Kristie in July, so we are looking forward to getting to hit the beach one more time this summer. After that, we’re pretty much just gearing up for the arrival of our little baby Falcon. Whooooo where did this time go???

I am 27 weeks right now and have an appointment this coming Thursday. Everything is pretty much smooth sailing lately, nothing new to report. I feel the baby moving around very often - in the morning, a little after lunch time, and then all evening. I think the baby must be in the head down position because it feels like she is trying to poke her way out of my uterus by way of my bladder. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but what I’m trying to say is that I feel a lot of movement down low. It kind of hurts a little, but it still makes me pause and smile every time I feel it. We are taking our tour of the hospital next Wednesday, and I can’t wait! I am so excited to see the rooms and ask all the questions I have. Then, we should be starting our Bradley Method birth classes the following day, which will last 10 weeks. In other news, I’m still not getting cravings!!! I was really looking forward to making Josh get out of bed to make me some crazy sandwich or something, but no. Nothing. Although, a friend did point out that I am eating two bowls of cereal a day, so maybe you could call that a craving. A craving I’ve had my whole life….

That is all for now, I suppose. I will update with anything new that happens at the doctor this week! Hopefully it will just be another routine appointment though. I had another dream that the baby is a girl - that is the third and none for boy. Unfortunately, this dream also had little Audrey being delivered 11 weeks (about 3 months) early. So that wasn’t a good part of the dream, but seeing my baby girl was. I can’t wait to see her again soon. In the meantime, I’ll be patient and settle for my dreams.

Moving Right Along!

Joshua’s belly - he isn’t growing so I don’t know why he has me take pictures of him! Although he isn’t getting a sympathy belly, he has started to get into a “nesting” phase. The other day we were on our way out the door to go to work and he was saying how he can’t wait to get started on the nursery and get the house clean and ready for the baby. I guess that is nesting. I don’t have it yet, really. I am very excited to start on the nursery and I totally feel like we are behind on things, but I don’t think I’m into the nesting and cleaning phase at all yet. I will get there soon, I hope.

Me, Josie, and Pussycat - Josie insists on sitting on my LAP when I’m on the floor, but that’s hard now that I don’t really have a lap. You may or may not be able to tell from the pictures, but my boobs have gotten big! Along with my rock hard bulging belly, I’m starting to feel like I really am pregnant. Lauren surprised me last week with some really cute maternity clothes, which was great. I have a wardrobe that should last me through the rest of the pregnancy, since I bought some things at Target and Old Navy, plus the stuff I got on Craigslist. I feel like I have done well budgeting a good amount of maternity clothes into our budget. :) That makes me happy (saving money always does!).

This is my bump at 24 weeks: It is getting bigger every day! I am 25 weeks now and I am having such a hard time believing that there are only 15 weeks left. I am getting more and more excited, especially since I can feel so much activity going on in there these days. He is really active at night after dinner and Josh and I have both gotten to see him bump and roll around. It is so crazy to see! I keep trying to catch it on video but I swear the baby knows when I’m trying to do that because he stops immediately.

I recently started having pain in my lower back/hip area that I think (from what I’ve read in my books and online) that it is my sciatic nerve. It is apparently somewhat common for the nerve to be pinched during pregnancy due to the extra weight and posture changes. It was really bad on Wednesday, but a warm bath made it feel better. Sitting down for too long makes it worse, I think.

I went to the doctor last week for my checkup, and everthing was great, except for my weight gain. I gained 10 pounds in 4 weeks!! Oops! That puts me at 11 pounds total weight gain at this point. When I weighed myself this week at the gym (one week after my appointment) I was 4 lbs less than at the doctor’s, so I don’t know if I lost weight or if the two scales are just a few pounds off. Either way, I am no longer indulging in ice cream sundaes every night. I’ve switched to Fudgesickles instead since they are only 40 calories each. I also drank a lot of sodas for a while, which I never did before I pregnant, so I went ahead and cut thoes out as well. Other than those two things, I don’t eat anything bad, so I should be able to stay on track by just stopping those two bad habits. Ice cream is hard though, I think about it all day, every day. I will only indulge every now and then though, I have to be strong! I am very focused on maintaining a healthy weight throughout the pregnancy so that once the baby is here, I can really be at my best, mentally and physically.

Frankie and DoJo, aren’t they cute?!

For the nursery, I found this glider on Craigslist and picked it up for $95! Great deal! It doesn’t have any stains or flaws that I have found, and it feels as though it has never even had anyone sit in it. It is very comfortable and I the wood color should be a perfect match for the crib, which should get here any day now.

We got the crib from Babies R Us and it is the convertible kind, so we can change it into a toddler bed when the baby is big enough, and then convert it again into a full size twin bed. You can see the crib here: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3427804&fromRegistryNumber=45308543&product_skn=205624

Josh and I both happen to get giftcards at work last month. I got $50 for filling out a health wellness survey, and he got $100 for performance (I think). So we used those towards the crib and only ended up having to pay out of pocket for less than half of it! This was the same weekend as we got the glider, so I felt like I had really had a great, money saving weekend!

We are headed to see our friends Paul and Angela tonight that had their third baby in March. I also got to visit my friend Brett this week, that just had her daughter 3 weeks ago. It was great to see such a sweet little baby, and it made me so excited (and scared) for what is to come. Talking to other moms of newborns is definitely is helpful though! It helps prepare me for the things that are coming, especially the things most people don’t tell you.

We are going to the beach in 2 weeks….stay tuned for updates and pictures!