First appointment and a close call

4/30/09


Yesterday was our first doctors appointment! I guess I can say that we are officially pregnant. Yay! Poor Jason forgot his school work at home, but fortunately they had one lone Sports Illustrated magazine for him to read cover to cover. We left him in the waiting room for the exam portion of the visit. If I haven't said this, I really like my doctor! She's got a similar style to me - pretty "non beat around the bush" but not pushy. I like it.


I spent a little time going through my questions and got some answers I wanted to hear. First, I can go back to the gym! I should keep my heart rate under 140, and I can also lift weights as long as they're not too heavy. Also, I can get my hair highlighted. It's ok right now, but in the next week I'll hit that point where it just looks neglected.


One of my first questions was if she could give me anything to take care of my horrible indigestion. After talking somethings over, the suggestion was that I probably need to change my diet. Cut back on the Lean Cuisine type things (too much MSG), spicy foods (that may be hard) and smaller, more frequent meals. Seriously - I already feel like I eat all day long! But, if it works...I'm all for it. She also wrote a prescription for something that is typically given for nausea, however she thinks it may help. So we'll see. Honestly, if I had to pick between indigestion and morning sickness...I'll stick with what I've got. The biggest downside is that it comes with horrible bloating. However, my friend Kelly (my hero) passed on her Bella Bands, so I can use those when it gets past the pant buttoning point.


After getting some blood drawn and dragging Jason all over the medical building, we went back upstairs for the ultrasound. THIS was the exciting part. Jason was able to join me for that and we spend about 20 minutes looking at our baby. Boy, that sounds scary. The heartbeat was about 160 and everything else looked great. We also got to bring home quite a few pictures.


The good and bad thing about the visit can be lumped in to one thing. First, according to most calculators I would be due 12/6 and be about 8.5 weeks pregnant. I disagreed with that by about a week. Sure enough, the ultrasound measured me right at 7.5 weeks with a due date of 12/13. I was pretty excited that I knew the correct date...until I realized I've got to redo a whole week! Bummer...


The funniest part of the trip was on the way home. As we left the office and drove through the medical center, my sister called!

Lin: "Did Jason drive to day or ride the van?"
Me: "He drove. Why?"
Lin: "Oh, well, I thought I just saw Ms. Pearl (Casi named my car) with a Jason look-a-like driving. Guess not."


I'm surprised she didn't see me, but she was on the lightrail. Dodged that bullet!

Still moving along

4/27/09


Today makes 8 weeks and 1 day. Man...that seems like a long time. I have officially had 5 days of horrible indigestion. And with said indigestion, I get really freaking bloated. I white-trashed it on the plane to Philly by unbuttoning my pants. So number one on my list of things to ask the doc this week is what else can I do. I get that most women suffer through this in the 3rd trimester, but come on! I'm still in the second month!! This is NOT fair. The issue is that I'm so bloated in the afternoon I'm not going to be able to keep this secret for long...


Last week we helped Maegan paint Jett's room and convert the bed for his new big-boy room. He is such a cutie! Then she sent home a crapload of old baby stuff and clothes for us to store in the attic. No, she does not know. Which was kind of cute because Jason and I were able to have a silent conversation about how it will be awesome if this kid is a boy. Instant baby gear. Not to mention almost everyone we know has boys. Though I will say girl stuff is just really super cute.


Over the weekend we went to Philly to visit Jason's new godson - Matthew David. What a cutie. He's also a chunk, which explains why my arms are sore today. Matt's dad is Jason's best friend from forever so they did what boys do and stayed up too late and the girls were more sensible and got some sleep. Though, I'm still not getting much. Insomnia (combined with excessive bathroom breaks at night) are making it hard to sleep more than 6-7 hours. Shouldn't pregnant women be dead on their feet by 7pm at night?

Obviously we told Brian and Abby about the kid. It was really nice because they were both SO excited - I think they were initially more excited than we were. It also felt real. Which made it scary. But I digress. I felt bad about telling them so soon, but since they'd stocked up on (alcoholic) drinks for the weekend and I was turning down everything but water...I had to spill the beans.


Wednesday is my first doctors appointment. It cannot get here fast enough. I'm getting horribly impatient. Mostly because I just want confirmation. And I have a long list of questions to ask. We plan to tell our families in the next few weeks. I want to tell them in person - I think that's a big deal. We'll be seeing Jason's parent Mother's Day weekend and will probably spill it then. But I'm not sure. As for my family, we'll see them the weekend after and it will have to come out. I think I got lucky faking a hangover the weekend of Easter, but trying to get out of drinking up and down Northgate while celebrating Adam's (Lindsey's boyfriend) graduation will be impossible. Especially when we walk in to the Sake bar. My mom's been asking me for an album of photos from my wedding. I've been married 3.5 years. So finally I'm going to make a scrapbook and put a sonogram photo on the back page of the album. I'll have to force her to look at it that night, but after she sees the photo...well, poor Adam. I'm going to steal his graduation thunder. Although, if I buy him a bottle of Crowne as a gift I think he'll forgive me.

Things I should be doing:

1. working, obviously
2. throwing my radio across the office if I hear that freaking Poker Face song one more time
3. picking out bedding for my mom's mythical house (yes, for some reason my step-dad thinks it needs to be done now...even though they don't even have a slab poured. But since she's driving me crazy because he's driving her crazy I'm going to find something)
**wait - this one is done! Jason and I agreed on this so it's a done deal! What do you think?
4. my expense report...but I found out they lowered our mileage and I don't know the new amount
5. coming up with something to get my mom and MIL for Mother's Day - got any ideas???
6. not eat the banana sitting on my desk. I don't need it. (yeah...the banana didn't stand a chance)
7. email the Foodie GTG recipes to the girls. One problem, I have to find them first. (still working on this...however I hope to get it taken care of tonight!)
8. drink another bottle of water
9. finish the contract I've been working on for an hour
10. update this blog with real posts and not random crap! 3 to come - Birthday Bash, Foodie GTG and Easter Brownies. (something else I will work on tonight!)

Taking it easy

4/20/09


I learned a lesson last week. In case you don't know me (well) I can be a little...strong willed. I like that term a lot better than hard headed. :-) After convincing Jason that 30 minutes of light activity would be ok in the form of working out...I've decided to just chill out and relax. I've also been keeping up with the housework and I haven't been exhausted so I never thought twice. Until I completely flipped out on Friday when I started cramping. Nothing bad happened, but I finally decided to listen to Jason and take it easy. ((big sigh)) Don't worry - later that day I felt much better and after resting all day Saturday, I had a great weekend!


I'm not a "take it easy" kind of person. I've never been one to sit still for a few hours watching tv, or just leave dishes in the sink. There is just too much to get done in a day! But, I'm learning. And until I go to the doctor next week, I'll be taking it easy as per Jason's request. Honestly, I think I can handle a few weeks of relaxing and taking it easy. Plus, Jason has agreed to vacuum the house for me so that's a plus!


In other news, after 25 years the BP MS-150 had a hiccup this year! Texas had quite a bit of crazy rain and thunderstorms over the weekend and they cancelled the first day (from Houston to LaGrange). Jason typically does this ride with a former coworker and this year his wife joined along. Funny story - when Jason told me that Kelly was going to do the MS my response was "ok, I'll keep the kids." She was really hoping that I'd say "great idea, maybe I will too" but we all know better than that. So after the rain out Saturday, we all got up at 5am to head to LaGrange for Day 2, then I went on to Austin to wait with some friends at the finish line. Until 4:30. We finally made it home about 9 Sunday night and crashed. Who knew waiting on three people to ride 75 miles on a bike could be so exhausting!

If you're going to San Francisco...

On our third day in California, we left the wine country behind and headed back to the city. I was sad to leave, but my body was happy not to have to start another day drinking wine at 10am! We did, however, leave the nice weather behind. Bummer.

Our first stop was Muir Woods National Monument. Jason wanted to see real redwood trees. It was actually pretty cool. And kind of...nice. Like I mentioned, the weather was crappy (misty and humid) but we ended up doing a 3 mile hike through the park. None of the trees were HUGE, but they were still pretty old. Plus, we got a kick out of the "quiet zone" for the day.

After that we headed back to SF to return the car and check in. Jason wanted to drive down Lombard Street on the way. Scary!!! Driving in San Francisco is scary as it is (especially on a wet day) so going down this street was a little nerve wracking. We walked back over there the next day and everyone does the same thing. They get to the top of the street and STOP...freak out...then slowly drive down it. I just kept thinking about the real estate prices on that street.

Jason and I are supporters of public transportation. In NY, we're huge fans of the subway. We don't have a whole lot of public transportation here in Houston, so getting to use it when we are out of town is a plus. Besides, who can't go to San Francisco and not ride the cable cars? It would be a travesty!

The first afternoon we headed to the Wharf area and grabbed lunch at Boudin Bakery. Everything was so crowded and the weather was still nasty so we made a it a quick bite. Their soup did wonders to help me warm up though. This place is pretty cool in that you can watch them baking the bread - they also make really neat animal shaped breads!

From there we headed down to check in for our Alcatraz Tour. It's one of those things that you just have to do. Plus, I'm a HUGE fan of The Rock. (remember the conversation with my mom?) What they don't tell you...is that you have to hike uphill for about 2 miles before you actually get to the tour. Good grief...I thought I was in shape! The tour is self paced - they give you headphones and you just walk at your own pace and listen to former prison workers and inmates give the tour. I think I would have enjoyed it more had it not been really wet and cold. But there are some great views of the city looking back from the island.

View of the island from SF...the warden's house after a fire...the island from the ferry boat.

The view of SF from Alcatraz

For dinner that night we headed back toward Pier 39. Apparently this is the most famous pier on the Wharf. They've got quite a few restaurants and shops and are home to the sea lions. We decided on Pier Market where Jason tried Clam Chowder for the first time. It sort of tastes like gravy. The really thick kind you put on biscuits. We also split this stuff crab artichoke - so good!

The next day in SF was spent doing a whole lot of nothing. My kind of day! We headed back down to the Wharf area for lunch...In-N-Out Burger. Our faithful guide back at Clos du Bois told us to get the fries with everything on them. They come piled high with cheese sauce, burger sauce and grilled onions. My request for SF was a stop at the Ghirardelli Store. I love chocolate. AND I love ice cream. Heaven for me. We waddled out of there and back toward the hotel where we ended up at Johnny Foley's Irish House. I think I fell in love with Smithwick's beer. It looks like a dark beer...but tastes like a light beer. In fact, I ordered it again a few weeks ago when we got back to Houston!

Getting full use of our cable car passes, we went back to Pier 39 for dinner at Neptune's. I wanted crab cakes before we left (worth it!) and they have a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge. This was the only night on our trip where we managed to stay awake past 11pm and watch a movie!

We had a great trip and I would go back to the wine country in a heartbeat. I'm sure we could find other things to do in SF, but really...I'd rather drink the wine.

Sinking in

4/13/09


According to these calculators, I'm currently 6 weeks pregnant. Funny thing...I don't feel pregnant at all. Well, not really. I feel like I should be tired, only I can't sleep well. My "girls" are thinking about getting a mind of their own, but haven't made the commitment yet. I did wake up every night last week sweating my butt off, which is rare for me. However I changed the bedding Saturday to something more lightweight and that did the trick. For now. I have had horrible indigestion, but after taking Zantac for a few days that's gone away. Success! I'm not really counting that as a symptom because I'm pretty well prone to indigestion on a regular basis.


I've also spent a little too much time freaking out. Will we have a healthy child? Will we be good parents? Will I have an easy or hard pregnancy? The only one I can answer with confidence is the second question. I'm sure I'll freak out quite a bit on a regular basis and call my mom crying, but any time this question comes across my mind I think about some people I know who have kids and think "if they can do it, so can I." Plus, I've always heard that it just comes to you. We'll see on that one.


I'm also really excited. And it is HARD being excited and not telling anyone about it! My brain keeps shouting "I'm pregnant!!!" but my mouth has cooperated and stayed shut. I spent Sunday with my entire family and didn't tell a soul. I want to...I really want to. But I know I shouldn't. 6 weeks is not a long time and I haven't even been to the doctor yet. So for now, it is something that I get to talk to Jason about. Which is also kind of fun. He did admit that it is killing him not to be able to tell his best friend. Guys are so cute.


As for other updates, Jason and I disagreed on something this weekend. I figured that since I've been working out quite a bit that I could continue that schedule. So last week I went to the gym a few days for my regular 45 min work out. Jason thinks I should take it easy the 1st trimester. Then he called his boss who agreed with him. I'm going to have to have a talk with her!! We did finally agree that 30 min of walking (very moderate activity) would be ok. Of course, I'll ask the doctor in 2 weeks if I can step that up a bit, or if I should continue with a light routine. I'm still a bit sad to have given up my weight lifting class, but I know it is for the best. I also bit the bullet and stepped on the scale this morning. As someone who has always fought the scale and my body image this could be a long road. I'm hoping that since I started a good workout after the first of the year I'll have the stamina to keep going and it will make things easier in the end. Of course, we did order pizza last night...


One final thing...I think I found my first food aversion. Sweets. I haven't reached the point where thinking about them makes me sick, but I LOVE sweets. And candy. And dessert. You name it. Saturday I made brownies and I'm the person who would have normally eaten one brownie, a hand full of M&Ms and maybe...licked the bowl. Instead I ate 2 M&Ms. That's it. And on Sunday I grabbed half of my own brownie to try for dessert and really didn't even want that. I haven't decided if this is good or bad.

We're pregnant! Well, I am at least.

4/7/09

Wow. Just wow. I'm in total complete shock. When I decide to do something, I'm going to do it right. But I'm also realistic to a fault. So earlier this year, Jason and I decided to try at this having a baby thing. He was going to finish school earlier than planned (August instead of December) and we just felt...ready. So being the anal planner I am, I decided to read Taking Charge of Your Fertility and start charting. I was also pretty firm in telling Jason I wouldn't get impatient for six months. Realistic, right? So imagine my shock when we were on the first real cycle and...wow. Just wow. I put off taking a test until Sunday (one final weekend, right?) even though I was being really realistic in that it was probably unlikely. Jason left for a bike ride and when I rolled out of bed at 9am I decided to bite the bullet and take that test. And then I stood there in shock. Shock that there was no questioning that second line. No "is that a line?" "Is it an evaporation line?" "Maybe it's not quite dark enough?" "Maybe I should take another one..." Nope, that sucker came up bright pink. Really quick.

Now what? I couldn't really call or text Jason. He was on a bike...I didn't want him falling off in shock. And we'd make a deal to only tell a few people. My very good friend Jess and his boss (they are really close). I've seen so much heartbreak and loss in very dear friends that I just wanted to be cautious and wait to tell people when I knew (as much as possible) that it would be ok. Well, my brain was like a super speedy futuristic freeway. Question after question after question. Is this ok? Can I do this? Can I eat that? What about this thing?

Instead I did what my mom would have done. I went to church and prayed. A lot. Then I went to Target a la my friend Rachel. And bought a book to read so that (anal planner here) I could answer all of my questions. And then I hunted all over the freaking mall looking for a cute little Cowboys outfit to give Jason. I thought something cute would help with the shock. Instead, all I could find was a cheerleading outfit and well...that's a little risky. So I went with A&M. Cute, huh?

Then I waited on Jason to get home. Didn't quite go as I planned. He walked right past the test and onesie and saw the book that I'd been reading on the coffee table. And then stopped in his tracks. He had the same deer in the headlights look that I think I did. That look of pure shock. Apparently I'm more like my family than I ever thought. My family...the ones who (mostly) were those people who would decide they were ready to have a baby and...ta da! Baby on the way! Yep, that's me.

So I'm on day three and the shock is wearing off...but it's still there. It is being replaced by cautious excitement. Back to the dear friends here. I have my first appointment scheduled for April 29th. So until then I have to manage to hide from everyone I know that I'm not drinking. If you know me, this will be a MAJOR task to accomplish. Hello...I just got back from the wine country!

Take me where the wine is! (pt. 2)

So our third day of vacation was probably the most jam packed one. After a suggestion from the Napa Visitors Center, we made an appointment to tour the Castello di Amorosa. Apparently this guy built a castle in California. He is part of the Sattui family and decided that since he loved castles, he'd build one. Ok...either way, it's worth seeing! I've never been to Europe, so I'm not familiar with what a real castle would look like, but this looked pretty authentic to me. The tour basically takes you around the castle and down to the caves where they store all of the wine. It was pretty cool and we tagged along with a group of 10...who I think had a few drinks before the 10am tour!

Castello di Amorosa

The front of the chapel - they have service every weekend. AND a torture chamber. This guy is just a little crazy about being authentic.

While on the tour, we did a barrel tasting. The wine had just been harvested in September...and we were told it will sit in the barrel for 2 years and then in the bottles for another 2 years. After tasting it, I now know why wine needs to age! It tasted like some homemade moonshine. The other cool thing is that their wine is only sold at the winery. So...we bought two bottles. At this point, we had quite the collection going.

Caves where the barrels were stored and the barrel we did the tasting from.

One really cool thing about the Castle was the location. This man was thinking when he built it! First, you cannot see it from the road. However, you can see it from Sterling Vineyards. Sterling was our next stop of the day. It's a pretty popular winery that is located on a hill and you have to take an aerial tram to the top. It reminded me of Astroworld! Sterling is kind of like Mondavi - everyone knows about it and everyone knows about the aerial tram. So...perfect location to build a castle!

Moving on, though, the thing I really liked about Sterling was the the first 2 wines in the tasting were poured as you did a self-guided tour through the winery. So, you can go at your own pace and they have a fantastic patio with a great view to linger at for a bit. The last 3 wines are poured in a tasting room. Boy was that crowded! And...we had "sucker" stamped on our foreheads when we sat down. They were offering a great 'discount' on the 5 wines you tasted that day. The Chardonnay happened to be about $50 individually...we did not pay that. But we did get some great wine for a great price. It was also at this point where we realized the wine we had been buying was not going to fit in the suitcase for the trip back. We even added another small suitcase so that we would have room, but instead we just over packed. The solution - they sold these really cool wine shippers at Sterling that would hold 12 bottles (we'd have to buy a few more, darn) and ship back on the airline!! Great...until we realized that we'd then be over the 2 free bags checked deal that we got. So, I'm skipping ahead, but somehow when we checked in for the flight home, all 3 bags were free. I didn't ask questions, I just took my bag claim slip and ran!!

Really large wine barrels...and the view from Sterling. See the castle?

By the time we finished our second winery, we were in need of food! So, taking the advice of dozens of people, we headed to V. Sattui Winery. This is WAY more than just a winery. They have a great grocery store that sells all sorts of sandwiches, salads, cheeses and breads...plus little picnic packs so that you can fully enjoy their grounds. It was a little chilly that day, so we didn't linger long. We also skipped the wine here, but split a roast beef sandwich and some broccoli salad before we were on our way again.

Our final wine stop for the trip was Peju Province Winery. My boss went to the wine country last year and went on and on about Peju. The grounds...the winery...the wine. It was the one place I insisted on going. Plus, my boss was also getting married a few weeks after our trip, so I thought a bottle from the winery would make a great gift.

He was right - it's a great place! I could have spent hours there. Beautiful grounds with sculptures all over the place. The winery carried quite a bit of art, but we weren't really in the market for that. They also have this ice cream sauce that is made with their wine - so good! In fact, my boss bought a jar and then lost it when he moved to his new home, so we added that as a wedding gift. The best thing about the winery was Alan. Alan is an older guy who pours for the tastings...but he loves to sing. Everything was in a rap! Hilarious!

By this time we were ready to head back to Napa and drink a cold beer. I am definitely a Texas girl. There is only so much wine this body can take before it screams for a frosty cold one. We headed to Downtown Joe's in Napa before having some great hole in the wall Mexican food for dinner. And crashing by 10pm. So old.

Take me where the wine is! (pt. 1)

When Jason and I began talking about a vacation for this spring, we tossed around a few ideas. His was Mexico - Pacific coast, all-inclusive. Mine was the California Wine Country. In case you don't know yet, I won. :-) We've been to Mexico. For our first anniversary, we went to Playa del Carmen for a nice, relaxing vacation. I wanted something different. So...we were off.

We had a great time. I could go back. Tomorrow. Seriously. If work would let me, I'd be gone. I went to a conference in Las Vegas last summer and behaved pretty well. If they ever send me to the Wine Country for a conference...I just hope that nobody notices my empty seat during the meetings! It was SO nice!! The weather was perfect, crowds were minimal and overall it was a very relaxing trip. Great for just the two of us...and we both think we'd have tons of fun with other couples.

The first day we landed pretty early in San Francisco. Since we knew we'd be driving around for the next few days, we rented a car. After leaving the airport, we headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge and through Sausalito. I hear it's a cute little town, but we didn't stop. I had other things on my mind!

We dropped off our bags at the Hilton Sonoma (in Santa Rosa) and headed up to Clos du Bois winery. I highly recommend going here! We had the best time - we were the only people in the tasting room. Plus, if you google you can find a 2 for 1 coupon and that gets you a free wine glass. (they both made it home, by the way) Gillian, the girl pouring the wine, was fantastic. An hour and a half later, we'd managed to taste a lot of wine and had a lot of suggestions on where to go and what to do during the rest of the trip.

Her first suggestion was to head to the Simi Winery in Healdsburg. This place is really cute! A huge courtyard with a really nice patio. Plus, I had another coupon...so I think the tasting was complimentary.

After two tastings, we needed something to eat. Since we were still on Central time, it was almost dinner time for us! Taking another suggestion from Gillian, we went to Bear Republic. Yes, I know we were in "wine country" but the weather was so perfect! 70 degrees...and sunny! Notice I'm in just a t-shirt. So to me, that is beer drinking weather. Plus, we felt we needed to pay tribute to my cousin, Bear. We were told to order the garlic fries...so good! I noticed them on quite a few menus, so they must be a California staple. Who knew something so easy could taste so good?

Healdsburg is a really cute town. We didn't get to explore much of it. I somehow missed the cheese store that was on the map. We did make it over to the La Crema tasting room before heading back to the hotel. The Hilton is in a great location. We stayed in a room that was on the lanai deck. Apparently that means you have access to the deck and pool. Of course, the heater was broken and I wasn't about to test the water! I do recommend the hotel, though.

Taking another suggestion, we went to Tex Wasabi's for dinner. When we heard it was Guy Feiri's place my first question was "is it commercial?" I didn't want it to scream "I'm a Food Network celeb!" like I've seen some other places do. After a prompt response of "no" we decided to try it out. It was apparently a popular hang out. The concept is BBQ and Sushi. Interesting. They have a Texas Sushi menu that was definitely something different. We tried a few items and ended up hanging out in the bar for a while. And to top it off, the only indication that he was involved in FN was a tv in the bar showing the channel!

The second day we checked out and headed toward Napa. Our first stop on the way was supposed to be Blackstone Winery, but I needed some lunch. After taking the direction from someone at the Winery, we went to Kenwood to grab something. The suggestion was actually for a deli, but we went to Dolce Luna instead. If you are ever in the area, you HAVE to stop here. It's owned and ran by a couple - the husband is the chef and the wife does...everything else. They have a set menu, but also have a huge list of specials for the day. I ordered the Pulled Pork Pita and Jason had one of the specials - Veal Schnitzel. Both were fantastic!

We drove back over to Blackstone for a quick tasting and then into Napa County. I recommend a stop at Artesia Winery. The place was really crowded, but has great views. We didn't do a tasting because we wanted to check in to the hotel and rest a bit.











The view from Artesia...who knew they had sheep???

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the hotel and in Napa. Dinner that night was at Ristorante Allegria - an Italian place in Napa Town Center. Funny thing...we didn't really have Italian food. We had appetizers, salad and split a dessert. Good food, though, and they keep the place packed. Almost everywhere you go will try to pass on a "free appetizer" coupon for the restaurant. I guess it works!