No hiding it anymore! Yesterday someone even offered me their seat on the metro...Today, however, no such luck.
The story of one little family, three little boys, and our many adventures in DC and beyond.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Bump
25 weeks 1 day bump:
No hiding it anymore! Yesterday someone even offered me their seat on the metro...Today, however, no such luck.
No hiding it anymore! Yesterday someone even offered me their seat on the metro...Today, however, no such luck.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
25 weeks!
Baby Lamont(from BabyCenter): Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average eggplant, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.
I can't believe that Baby L is now longer than the ruler I had been marking his/her growth on--OR that something that long fits in my belly!
Here's a pregnancy update:
Sleep: Getting worse. The pee breaks are waking me up 3-4 times a night and I'm having trouble falling back to sleep. On Sunday, my solution was to go to bed at 9:30....and then I was wide awake at 4am. But I think going to bed earlier still has the potential to help.
Gender: Still unknown, but (as you'll see tomorrow when we get pics), my bump is straight out in front and low, so I'm thinking it's a boy. I re-tried the online quiz and it said 67% boy, 33% girl.
Feeling: Great! I got tired spells and definitely get out of breath a lot easier, but other than that I'm happy :-). The blood flow to my face has definitely increased so I'm truly glowing now.
Health/Exercise: We're slower and walking more, but Mueller and I are still running! 45mins with walk breaks at 20 mins and whenever I need after that, but still going strong. The one day it rained I did a Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred video on On Demand and even though it was only 20 mins, it kicked my butt!
Movement/Kicks: Lots of kicks on a daily basis. In fact, the baby is now kicking me on the lower right side of the bump. I can sometimes tell where the baby's head is because I feel it and then I'll look down and my bump will be lopsided! And Stephen and I can feel my bump and usually find a harder part where the baby's trunk or head must be. Today the baby was especially active in the morning between breakfast and lunch, but mostly doing a dance on my bladder.
Maternity Clothes: Ugh, I don't want to talk about them. Can someone please design a line of moderately-priced, attractive maternity clothes? I can still wear some tight tops (thanks to a straight-out-in-front bump), which is good, but I don't know what I'm going to do when they don't fit anymore. Most maternity clothes are NOT cute, and the ones that are halfway decent are expensive. There's a huge niche that needs to be filled.
Belly Button: Still in, but getting shallow.
Highlight of the week: Spending Sunday afternoon with Veronica & Josh and Jen & Brendan and their baby girl, Delaney. We caught up and talked babies a lot, and it was so nice to just hang out with old friends.
Upcoming milestones: 26 week appointment next Wednesday. And only 15 weeks to go!
I can't believe that Baby L is now longer than the ruler I had been marking his/her growth on--OR that something that long fits in my belly!
Here's a pregnancy update:
Sleep: Getting worse. The pee breaks are waking me up 3-4 times a night and I'm having trouble falling back to sleep. On Sunday, my solution was to go to bed at 9:30....and then I was wide awake at 4am. But I think going to bed earlier still has the potential to help.
Gender: Still unknown, but (as you'll see tomorrow when we get pics), my bump is straight out in front and low, so I'm thinking it's a boy. I re-tried the online quiz and it said 67% boy, 33% girl.
Feeling: Great! I got tired spells and definitely get out of breath a lot easier, but other than that I'm happy :-). The blood flow to my face has definitely increased so I'm truly glowing now.
Health/Exercise: We're slower and walking more, but Mueller and I are still running! 45mins with walk breaks at 20 mins and whenever I need after that, but still going strong. The one day it rained I did a Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred video on On Demand and even though it was only 20 mins, it kicked my butt!
Movement/Kicks: Lots of kicks on a daily basis. In fact, the baby is now kicking me on the lower right side of the bump. I can sometimes tell where the baby's head is because I feel it and then I'll look down and my bump will be lopsided! And Stephen and I can feel my bump and usually find a harder part where the baby's trunk or head must be. Today the baby was especially active in the morning between breakfast and lunch, but mostly doing a dance on my bladder.
Maternity Clothes: Ugh, I don't want to talk about them. Can someone please design a line of moderately-priced, attractive maternity clothes? I can still wear some tight tops (thanks to a straight-out-in-front bump), which is good, but I don't know what I'm going to do when they don't fit anymore. Most maternity clothes are NOT cute, and the ones that are halfway decent are expensive. There's a huge niche that needs to be filled.
Belly Button: Still in, but getting shallow.
Highlight of the week: Spending Sunday afternoon with Veronica & Josh and Jen & Brendan and their baby girl, Delaney. We caught up and talked babies a lot, and it was so nice to just hang out with old friends.
Upcoming milestones: 26 week appointment next Wednesday. And only 15 weeks to go!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Genes?
I've given a lot of thought to what the baby will look like. Of course it will be red and puffy for the first few days (Stephen did not know this was the case and is still a perturbed that babies are not cute the instant they are born--or for about 2 weeks after that), but will he/she have hair? Will it be dark? Will his/her eyes be big like Stephen's or small like mine? Whose nose will he or she have?
Instead of just wondering, I decided to use the clues we have to make some guesses. And then I got a little carried away with watching us change as we grew up.
Here we are as infants:
So my guess is that our baby will pretty much be bald, and any hair that he or she has will be blonde. Baby L will also probably have giant cheeks. And, if she/he inherits Stephen's lips, I think the baby will look like Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.
Stephen & Helen as toddlers:
At this point the eyes could go either way, but Baby L should still be blonde. And the preference for presents/candy will apparently come from one of us.
Stephen & Helen in nursery school:
Some physical traits will start to become apparent by nursery school- Baby L's hair could be blonde or brunette, but either way his or her eyes should be bigger. Talkativeness and studiousness may start to become apparent.
Stephen & Helen in elementary school:
Blue-eyed with brown or blonde hair.
The middle school years were tough for both of us. We're considering home schooling our children during these years if they start to show some of our awkwardness.
Then again, some contacts, a brow waxing, better fashion, and Noxema might do the trick.
And now it's just fun to see us grow up. High school:
College:
Our first date:
Married!
And, in 15 1/2 weeks: Parents.
Instead of just wondering, I decided to use the clues we have to make some guesses. And then I got a little carried away with watching us change as we grew up.
Here we are as infants:
So my guess is that our baby will pretty much be bald, and any hair that he or she has will be blonde. Baby L will also probably have giant cheeks. And, if she/he inherits Stephen's lips, I think the baby will look like Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.
Stephen & Helen as toddlers:
At this point the eyes could go either way, but Baby L should still be blonde. And the preference for presents/candy will apparently come from one of us.
Stephen & Helen in nursery school:
Some physical traits will start to become apparent by nursery school- Baby L's hair could be blonde or brunette, but either way his or her eyes should be bigger. Talkativeness and studiousness may start to become apparent.
Stephen & Helen in elementary school:
Blue-eyed with brown or blonde hair.
The middle school years were tough for both of us. We're considering home schooling our children during these years if they start to show some of our awkwardness.
Then again, some contacts, a brow waxing, better fashion, and Noxema might do the trick.
And now it's just fun to see us grow up. High school:
College:
Our first date:
Married!
And, in 15 1/2 weeks: Parents.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
23 weeks and BUMP
I now have a real bump, so I figured it was time for a picture.
I think it looks smaller in person and if I wear loose (okay, VERY loose) clothing, you can barely tell. Of course I'm trying to "own" the bump and therefore wearing fitted tops when appropriate. I figure that the bump won't fit under normal shirts for much longer so I might as well enjoy it.
In other random news, disaster was averted on Monday. It's fairly well-known that if you live in DC, you'll get jury duty like clockwork (1) six months after converting your driver's license and (2) exactly 2 years after every jury duty you serve. Apparently there are a lot of cases and not so many felony-free residents. Stephen had a week-long, murder one (naturally) trial for jury duty last year. So I wasn't exactly shocked when the summons appeared in the mail on Friday since I finally got my drivers license in late July. But what I wasn't ready for was a summons for GRAND jury duty-- a 27 work day commitment! And of course it was scheduled for months 7 1/2-8 3/4 of this pregnancy! I was so worried--how could I manage that? I wouldn't be able to get to weekly dr's appointment. And I did not even want to think about how my poor boss, who has two analysts going on maternity leave a week apart, losing me 6 weeks early. I had even prepped a "How do you get out of Grand Jury Duty?" blog post, but....
When I got to work Monday (after telling said boss, who almost had a heart attack), I called the DC Courts. I got the nicest lady on the phone who was more than happy to delay my duty for "as long as you'll need after the baby is born" and changed it to regular jurty duty. PHEW. I could not be happier. Disaster averted.
And the final random note for this email is that one of the kids that Stephen used coach (well, assistant coach) and whose Mom and sister were my buddies at basketball games, is now playing for Boston College (currently on TV vs. Duke). #24 Evan Ravenel.
GO DUKE!
I think it looks smaller in person and if I wear loose (okay, VERY loose) clothing, you can barely tell. Of course I'm trying to "own" the bump and therefore wearing fitted tops when appropriate. I figure that the bump won't fit under normal shirts for much longer so I might as well enjoy it.
In other random news, disaster was averted on Monday. It's fairly well-known that if you live in DC, you'll get jury duty like clockwork (1) six months after converting your driver's license and (2) exactly 2 years after every jury duty you serve. Apparently there are a lot of cases and not so many felony-free residents. Stephen had a week-long, murder one (naturally) trial for jury duty last year. So I wasn't exactly shocked when the summons appeared in the mail on Friday since I finally got my drivers license in late July. But what I wasn't ready for was a summons for GRAND jury duty-- a 27 work day commitment! And of course it was scheduled for months 7 1/2-8 3/4 of this pregnancy! I was so worried--how could I manage that? I wouldn't be able to get to weekly dr's appointment. And I did not even want to think about how my poor boss, who has two analysts going on maternity leave a week apart, losing me 6 weeks early. I had even prepped a "How do you get out of Grand Jury Duty?" blog post, but....
When I got to work Monday (after telling said boss, who almost had a heart attack), I called the DC Courts. I got the nicest lady on the phone who was more than happy to delay my duty for "as long as you'll need after the baby is born" and changed it to regular jurty duty. PHEW. I could not be happier. Disaster averted.
And the final random note for this email is that one of the kids that Stephen used coach (well, assistant coach) and whose Mom and sister were my buddies at basketball games, is now playing for Boston College (currently on TV vs. Duke). #24 Evan Ravenel.
GO DUKE!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
23 Weeks and Nesting!
Today we hit the 23 week mark which means Baby L is now the size of a papaya! His or her lungs are developing and producing surfactant, the substance that allows the air sacs to inflate and keeps the lungs from sticking together. 
The baby looks like a baby, but is thin with no body fat and wrinkled, loose-hanging skin. Over the next 17 weeks, he or she will gain fat so that they'll look like a baby (and not an older adult) when they are born. The sounds that the baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him/her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as the dogs barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him/her when s/he hears them outside the womb.
Both Stephen and I can feel Baby L move everyday, particularly after meals (and chocolate!), right before bed, and very early in the morning (between our alarms). Some of the kicks are really big, and I still find myself gasping or putting my hand to my stomach. Needless to say, people at work have noticed when the baby is moving.
I'm still feeling good, still running/exercising almost everyday although the bladder pressure has made running for more than 30 minutes extremely difficult. So now I run for 15-20 mins, walk for 5-10 mins, and run for 20 mins. This arrangement works pretty well except that Mueller HATES walking after running. He's apparently got places to go and clearly does not understand the needing-to-use the bathroom problem while running (probably because it's not a problem for him). The good news is that he's a dog, so he doesn't have much of a say. We're working on the "SLOW" command.
This week I got a new pregnancy symptom...Nesting. Our guest bedroom, which is where I keep most of my clothes and do my hair and make up (also known as my dressing room), will become the nursery. And our sitting area, which has mostly just been full of random stuff including boxes, books, craft supplies, and gifts, is going to become a real sitting area (for rocking and feeding) with a functional desk and sewing machine. We have a LOT of work to do in the next 17 weeks!
First step: PURGE. I've spent the last three nights getting rid of random stuff we have accumulated over the past 4 years.
I have a lot of clothes that I never wear anymore. We don't need 4 extra sets of sheets, 3 of which don't match. And I've decided that there is no point in saving all my old purses, even as nice as they are, because I'm never going to carry them again (there are a few exceptions, obv). [SIDENOTE: Let me know ASAP if you want any of these things before they go to Goodwill this weekend]. Let me apologize for the mess in these "before" pictures. I really want you to see the difference ;-)
This process is very therapeutic and has yielded some unexpected finds like my Boston Marathon medal, the newspaper from the day Obama was inaugurated, cards we exchanged early in our relationship, and clothes I had forgotten I had. There's still more work to do, but the goal is to be mostly done by this weekend.
Step 2: Go "window" shopping. We've got ideas about what baby gear we need and want (including a crib), but the rest of the furniture for both rooms is up in the air. So we're going to measure the rooms, get some graph paper and map them out, and go to (you guessed it) Ikea. Then we'll hit the baby store to pick up some supplies, make decisions about other supplies, and see what furniture they have.
Needless to say, I'd started a list of everything we need to buy and prioritized it based on when we will need it for the decorating/preparation process. For those of you who were involved in any part of planning for our wedding (probably 99% of the people reading this), this will come as no surprise. What can I say, I just like checking things off my to-do list.
Upcoming milestone: Next Tuesday is 24 weeks when the baby is considered viable! Of course we want Baby L to cook for another 17 weeks (maybe just 15, but at least 14).
The baby looks like a baby, but is thin with no body fat and wrinkled, loose-hanging skin. Over the next 17 weeks, he or she will gain fat so that they'll look like a baby (and not an older adult) when they are born. The sounds that the baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him/her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as the dogs barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him/her when s/he hears them outside the womb.Both Stephen and I can feel Baby L move everyday, particularly after meals (and chocolate!), right before bed, and very early in the morning (between our alarms). Some of the kicks are really big, and I still find myself gasping or putting my hand to my stomach. Needless to say, people at work have noticed when the baby is moving.
I'm still feeling good, still running/exercising almost everyday although the bladder pressure has made running for more than 30 minutes extremely difficult. So now I run for 15-20 mins, walk for 5-10 mins, and run for 20 mins. This arrangement works pretty well except that Mueller HATES walking after running. He's apparently got places to go and clearly does not understand the needing-to-use the bathroom problem while running (probably because it's not a problem for him). The good news is that he's a dog, so he doesn't have much of a say. We're working on the "SLOW" command.
This week I got a new pregnancy symptom...Nesting. Our guest bedroom, which is where I keep most of my clothes and do my hair and make up (also known as my dressing room), will become the nursery. And our sitting area, which has mostly just been full of random stuff including boxes, books, craft supplies, and gifts, is going to become a real sitting area (for rocking and feeding) with a functional desk and sewing machine. We have a LOT of work to do in the next 17 weeks!
First step: PURGE. I've spent the last three nights getting rid of random stuff we have accumulated over the past 4 years.
I have a lot of clothes that I never wear anymore. We don't need 4 extra sets of sheets, 3 of which don't match. And I've decided that there is no point in saving all my old purses, even as nice as they are, because I'm never going to carry them again (there are a few exceptions, obv). [SIDENOTE: Let me know ASAP if you want any of these things before they go to Goodwill this weekend]. Let me apologize for the mess in these "before" pictures. I really want you to see the difference ;-)
This process is very therapeutic and has yielded some unexpected finds like my Boston Marathon medal, the newspaper from the day Obama was inaugurated, cards we exchanged early in our relationship, and clothes I had forgotten I had. There's still more work to do, but the goal is to be mostly done by this weekend.
Step 2: Go "window" shopping. We've got ideas about what baby gear we need and want (including a crib), but the rest of the furniture for both rooms is up in the air. So we're going to measure the rooms, get some graph paper and map them out, and go to (you guessed it) Ikea. Then we'll hit the baby store to pick up some supplies, make decisions about other supplies, and see what furniture they have.
Needless to say, I'd started a list of everything we need to buy and prioritized it based on when we will need it for the decorating/preparation process. For those of you who were involved in any part of planning for our wedding (probably 99% of the people reading this), this will come as no surprise. What can I say, I just like checking things off my to-do list.
Upcoming milestone: Next Tuesday is 24 weeks when the baby is considered viable! Of course we want Baby L to cook for another 17 weeks (maybe just 15, but at least 14).
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
2009 Holiday Update
As I mentioned in the previous post, there has been a lot going on. The first was the big snowstorm (SnOMG as one news blog in DC put it) on the weekend of December 18-20. The weekend started with a great "freshmen dorm reunion" dinner with Veronica & Josh, Jen & Brendan, and Kristin (who was in town from the UK). Everyone is so happy and doing so well :-). We had terrific Mexican food followed by some cupcakes ;-). We decided on Thursday that we would probably not be leaving the house during the storm on Saturday and stocked up on food and baking supplies. When we finally woke up (around 11am), there was already 9 inches of snow!
Stephen had to go outside to shovel a walkway so that Madison, with her 5 inch legs, could get out to use the restroom
Which was successful:
.
Mueller was especially excited about the snow and bounded through like a little bunny. Sadly for him, but hilariously for us, he is nothing like a bunny and his bounding jumps were really funny to watch. He also kept losing his ball in the snow which really frustrated him (to say the least).
We baked molasses cookies and biscotti and watched movies and basketball. When all was said and done, we had about 15 inches of snow! It took about an hour to clean off the car and clear the sidewalk in front of the house, but walking around the neighborhood Sunday afternoon there were many uncleaned sidewalks and cars still piled high with snow, which just froze and got more difficult to clear the next day, so we were glad we (well, mostly Stephen) did it.
After our fun in the snow, we headed up to Massachusetts for the holidays and got to spend lots of long-awaited time with Debbie, Alex, Carrie, Geoff, Amelia, and Owen. We lounged around the house, played with the kids, only had to go to the mall once, wrapped lots of gifts, and ate tons of delicious food.
Stephen and Geoff caught a Celtics game (and picked up Celtics attire for the children and child-to-be) and we got to see the kids in Boston at the Stimello Christmas Party (see facebook for pics). Christmas started a bit early (6:19am thanks to a very excited little 2 3/4 year old), but it was worth getting up early because Santa was very good to everyone.
We got down to NY in time to hang out with Joey and Meg before Joey left for the ship on Sunday morning and then had a mini-Christmas celebration at Grandma & Grandpa's house where we were again overwhelmed with great gifts.
On the way back to DC, we stopped in and saw Stephen's grandparents, so we got ANOTHER Christmas celebration. Overall, our week of travel and holiday celebrations was fantastic-- we got to relax some and were surrounded by our families.
On the pregnancy front, the only news to report is that the bump is now babybump-like rather than too-much-beer-and-pizza-like, which means that I can wear tighter tops again! This effectively triples my wardrobe (it would be more, but not all tight shirts are appropriate these days) and encourages more bump pictures. Here I am at 21 weeks 1 day:
We got a fabulous SLR camera so we can take (and post, obv) high-quality baby photos. In the meantime, we've taken many pictures of Mueller and Madison. Unfortunately, we have not downloaded the software so we have not been able to get the pictures off the new camera yet...so check back soon!
Stephen had to go outside to shovel a walkway so that Madison, with her 5 inch legs, could get out to use the restroom
Which was successful:
.Mueller was especially excited about the snow and bounded through like a little bunny. Sadly for him, but hilariously for us, he is nothing like a bunny and his bounding jumps were really funny to watch. He also kept losing his ball in the snow which really frustrated him (to say the least).
We baked molasses cookies and biscotti and watched movies and basketball. When all was said and done, we had about 15 inches of snow! It took about an hour to clean off the car and clear the sidewalk in front of the house, but walking around the neighborhood Sunday afternoon there were many uncleaned sidewalks and cars still piled high with snow, which just froze and got more difficult to clear the next day, so we were glad we (well, mostly Stephen) did it.
After our fun in the snow, we headed up to Massachusetts for the holidays and got to spend lots of long-awaited time with Debbie, Alex, Carrie, Geoff, Amelia, and Owen. We lounged around the house, played with the kids, only had to go to the mall once, wrapped lots of gifts, and ate tons of delicious food.
Stephen and Geoff caught a Celtics game (and picked up Celtics attire for the children and child-to-be) and we got to see the kids in Boston at the Stimello Christmas Party (see facebook for pics). Christmas started a bit early (6:19am thanks to a very excited little 2 3/4 year old), but it was worth getting up early because Santa was very good to everyone. 
We got down to NY in time to hang out with Joey and Meg before Joey left for the ship on Sunday morning and then had a mini-Christmas celebration at Grandma & Grandpa's house where we were again overwhelmed with great gifts.
On the way back to DC, we stopped in and saw Stephen's grandparents, so we got ANOTHER Christmas celebration. Overall, our week of travel and holiday celebrations was fantastic-- we got to relax some and were surrounded by our families.
On the pregnancy front, the only news to report is that the bump is now babybump-like rather than too-much-beer-and-pizza-like, which means that I can wear tighter tops again! This effectively triples my wardrobe (it would be more, but not all tight shirts are appropriate these days) and encourages more bump pictures. Here I am at 21 weeks 1 day:
We got a fabulous SLR camera so we can take (and post, obv) high-quality baby photos. In the meantime, we've taken many pictures of Mueller and Madison. Unfortunately, we have not downloaded the software so we have not been able to get the pictures off the new camera yet...so check back soon!
Monday, January 4, 2010
And the baby is.....
....Right on track for 22 weeks! Today we went in for our "BIG" ultrasound. This is the ultrasound where they do tons of measurements, count organs, and (for many) determine the baby's sex. Since Baby Lamont's sex won't be revealed until May, we enjoyed the first two and asked for lots of pictures. The baby has two kidneys, a four-chambered heart, ten fingers, ten toes, a long spine, ribs, a giant brain, and weighs 1lb. But we know you want pictures--Enjoy!
"Feed me" or (since this is our child) chatting away about whatever:
Another profile:
Waving hello (and see you in 18 weeks):
Which one of us does the baby look like? Neither of us will take it personally ;-). This picture is actually less alien-like than at 17 weeks.
And finally, the giant foot. Anyone who has heard Stephen coming down the stairs will know exactly where the baby gets this characteristic from.
We have lots to update you on, like the 15 inches of snow (woo hoo!) our wonderful holidays in the northeast, New Years Eve in Bethesda, and a growing baby bump. Check back soon!
"Feed me" or (since this is our child) chatting away about whatever:
Another profile:
Waving hello (and see you in 18 weeks):
Which one of us does the baby look like? Neither of us will take it personally ;-). This picture is actually less alien-like than at 17 weeks.
And finally, the giant foot. Anyone who has heard Stephen coming down the stairs will know exactly where the baby gets this characteristic from.
We have lots to update you on, like the 15 inches of snow (woo hoo!) our wonderful holidays in the northeast, New Years Eve in Bethesda, and a growing baby bump. Check back soon!
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