My Twenty-Sixth Week

Hey all!  I'm now 27 weeks pregnant!  My many accounts, this means I am starting the third trimester, or about to!  Wow!  Tuesday was three months from my due date!

I am posting a little late this week because things have been crazy busy.  My family is coming to my house to celebrate Christmas early, so we've been prepping all week for their arrival.  As you can see- my Christmas tree is up and waiting for decorations.

Things are going pretty good, but I will say that I'm experiencing more noticeable discomfort from being pregnant a lot of the time.  It's harder to get up (where are my abs?), flip over in bed, and move in general.  I'm probably going to be waddling pretty soon!  I also did the long(ish) car trip to my parents, which is about 3 1/2 hours, and I noticed it bothered me more than usual to be sitting in that position for a long time.  I did take breaks, but even still, things are just a lot less comfortable now.

Heartburn is still happening sporadically.  A newer thing I have gotten a few times lately is indigestion in general.  I'll eat a pretty normal meal and then it'll really bother my stomach.  I won't go into a ton of detail (TMI), but I can tell things are sometimes different digestively.  I'm hoping it's a passing thing and won't have that for the next three months.  I'm going to ask my doc about it when I go in later this week.

I think I'm carrying kind of high, and like I've mentioned in previous updates, my belly tends to get into my lung area, so I notice that it's harder to breath sometimes.  I have a really short torso, so expanding upward much more is not really an option.  I'm guessing she's going to have to start poking straight out to get more room.  This should be interesting.

Movement is better.  I still don't really feel what I think of as kicking that much, but I can feel movement almost all the time now if I just sit still and put my hand on my belly and sometimes I can even see it from the outside.  It's like something is slithering around beneath the surface of my skin.  Very strange!  I also think the baby had hiccups this week.  I was sitting at my desk one day and my stomach was jumping every couple seconds. I asked a friend that had a baby with hiccups what it feels like and she said that was it.

I'm pretty tired lately.  I'm regularly going to bed by 9:30-10pm, even on weekends and nights when I could be up later.  Sometimes I fall asleep even earlier when I'm sitting watching TV.  The good news is that I'm usually up early, even on weekends, and mornings are usually pretty productive for me.  That's usually when I get the most motivated to do my "nesting" projects, like cleaning or baking.  After like 4-5pm, forget it.  It's a struggle and I'm really just pushing myself to get stuff done.

I think I'm up another pound or two this week, so I'm hovering around 18ish pounds gained.  This was the first week I tried on some non-maternity shirts I've been wearing for a while and found that they didn't really fit.  A lot of people comment on how huge I am now, but the other night someone said I looked small, so I'm not really sure which it is. I still can't believe the baby is likely to be about 5-6 lbs bigger than it is now if it goes full term.

In other news, Greg put assembled the stroller, which really just involved putting the wheels and tray on.  We practiced putting the car seat in it for a while, and it was actually kinda funny watching each other struggle.  After a few practice attempts we both got the hang of it. I proceeded to put Clyde in the basket and wheel him around the kitchen.  I'm sure he was totally confused about what the heck we were doing.  We figured we may use the stroller (without the car seat), when my niece is here this weekend, so we might as well have it ready.

I'll have more to report next week, because we go in for the glucose test and ultrasound today!  Eeek!

How far along? 27 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity, except for cardigans and really big stuff.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: heartburn, digestive issues.
Best moment this week: More constant movement, and the hiccups were funny.
Miss Anything? Running, especially races.  Watching all the runners at the turkey trot made me miss it.
Movement: Yup!
Food cravings: cheeseburgers, ice cream, coconut flavored things.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, I've even been told that I'm huge.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In, but it's pretty flat at this point.
Mood: Really happy.
Looking forward to: Seeing the baby on the ultrasound this week, my family's visit this weekend.
What I am NOT looking forward to: The dreaded glucose test.
Weekly Wisdom: Stay calm, carry on.
Milestones: Hiccups!  Reaching the third trimester.

Thanksgiving 2012

Greetings!  I'm down in Hilton Head again for Thanksgiving weekend with my parents.  I was just rereading my recaps of Thanksgiving from previous years and this year was fairly similar to 2010 and 2011.  There was a turkey trot, a walk around the plantation, and the usual excellent turkey dinner with fixings.

The big difference was that this year my mom did the Hilton Head Turkey Trot instead of me, being that I'm on my running hiatus since I'm preggo.

Earlier this year my mom decided to get into running and even wears the same sneakers (Asic GT-2160) I do.  She's usually does about 2 miles, but I told her a couple months ago, I knew she could do a 5K if she just kept increasing the distance a bit.  A couple weeks ago she sent me a text saying she was signing up for the Turkey Trot because she'd run 3 miles :)  I actually wanted to walk it, but then thought I should return the favor and spectate for her and also keep my dad company.

My mom was so cute, she actually got up and made herself the typical pre-race breakfast of toast with peanut butter and banana, and had pizza and pasta the day before for appropriate carb-loading.  She took this seriously!

She had some issues with her IPod and heart rate monitor, but tinkered with them to get them set up before the start.

Finally it was time for the racers to line up, so we followed her to the start line to see her off.

My dad and I hung out in the car for bit because it was pretty chilly, but then made sure to head over to the finish line with plenty of time to catch my mom come through.  Soon enough we spotted her shirt and she was bobbing towards us!

Looking strong!

She did great, her gun time was 43:45.  I was totally impressed!  Great for her first 5K :)

After racing we headed home to have a little more breakfast (fruit and pumpkin bread).  We started some Thanksgiving prep and took some time to relax.  We put the bird in the oven.  Later, my mom, Clyde, and I went for a walk on the plantation.

Still my favorite place for a walk or a run!

Clyde loves the trails on the island portion of the walk.

It was a really gorgeous day- perfect for a scenic walk around the plantation.

Back at the house we got serious about cooking.  On our agenda- stuffing, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce shaped like a can (love that stuff), and of course the turkey and gravy.

Clyde went nuts as usual once the turkey came out of the oven.

My meal!  Mmmm.

Everything was delicious.  I enjoyed every bite.  We had pumpkin pie with whipped cream later.  I copped out and bought the Costco pumpkin pie this year instead of making my usual pumpkin cheesecake, because I was just too frazzled to bake this week, but Costco's pumpkin pie is seriously awesome too.

I know I have a ton to be thankful for this year with my pregnancy and our baby girl on the way.  Greg was on a trip, but we celebrated earlier in the week.  I made him his favorite sides, since he's not a big turkey guy.

Anyway, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well!

My Twenty-Fifth Week

I'm 26 weeks pregnant!  This is probably considered the last week of the second trimester.  Unbelievable!

Not a ton has changed since last week, except I feel like I've ballooned into full on preggo.  I'm sure you can see from my pictures that in the last couple weeks, I have really expanded!  I really do feel pretty big now, and am trying to imagine that the baby is going to grow to about three or four times the size it is now (it's approximately 2 lbs) and where it's going to go in my belly.  Crazy.  I was 8 pounds 11 oz when I was born, and my mom said she was about 8 1/2 lbs too, so this could definitely be a sizable baby if she takes after her family!  I'm up to about 16 lbs of weight gained.  That's still the low end of the scale according to my pregnancy books.

We (well, Greg mostly), hung the curtains, pictures, and mirror in the baby's room this week.  It looks really cute, I'm excited!  I promise to show you guys once it's a little more done.  I also did my first load of baby laundry, washing some sheets, clothes, and the liner from the bouncer chain in Dreft to prepare.  I know I'm ahead of schedule on some of this stuff, but my family is all coming to my house for an early Christmas on November 30th, so I'm trying to get a lot done before then because my niece will probably sleep in the nursery and I want them to see it looking at least close to complete :)

Heartburn is still happening sporadically.  I'm still just taking a Tums if I get it and it usually does the trick.   

My sleep is pretty broken these days.  I guess it basically has been ever since I got pregnant.  I flip back and forth from right to left side all night, and I'm usually up about twice to pee and drink water.  It's not a huge deal, but I can't remember the last time I slept 8 hours straight through.  I'm guessing it's going to be a long time before I experience that again!  I have made it without a pregnancy pillow so far, just holding one pillow kind of between my legs, but sometimes I wake up with some hip pain.  Not sure if I'm going to cave and get a pillow or not.  I've always been an early riser anyway, but I found myself waking up at about 6am both weekend days this week.  The good thing is when I get up that early, it's usually because my mind is racing on things I want to do, and I tend to be fairly productive.

Which brings me to my next topic- cleaning/nesting.  Greg worked on our kitchen grout with a Dremmel tool this week, making a lovely film of dust on everything.  He did it while I wasn't home and ventilated the area fairly well, using fans and an air purifier to help, and he covered everything he could with old sheets, but it still made a pretty big mess.  Once his project was finished, we did a deep clean of everything in the kitchen, removing everything from the counters and thoroughly cleaning each thing, the counters, and the floors.  We're trying to do that to the whole house in preparation for my family's visit and for the baby.

I can't stay off Zulily.  I think I've ordered about three things from it in the past couple weeks.  That site is dangerous!  I'm addicted to shopping for baby related stuff (except for that pair of boots I ordered).  Luckily I've pretty much stopped over analyzing my registries and I'm hoping I will mostly leave them alone except for a couple items I need Greg's help with.  I also ordered The Happiest Baby on The Block from Amazon after hearing how great it is.  I heard Baby Wise is great too, so I may pick that up.  Anyone have any other books they would suggest that I should read?

I would say the baby's movement and kicking has picked up a bit.  Greg (and me) felt her thump from the outside again a couple times this week, and I can usually feel her a bunch later at night and that's when the kicks seem to be the strongest.  I wonder if she'll be a night owl like her dad is.  I also even saw my belly move while she was moving/kicking.  Maybe she is active after all, but it's just not how I thought it would feel.

How far along? 26 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Big boobs, big belly.
Best moment this week:  Probably feeling more movement.  I like it when she's active in there.
Miss Anything? I could use some wine and I'm sure I'm going to miss it even more when I see my parents drinking it this weekend for Thanksgiving.
Movement: Yes, seeing and feeling the thumps from the outside was cool.
Food cravings:  cheeseburgers, berries, ice cream (I usually want ice cream around 2-3pm and have to drag a co-worker out with me to get some at least once or twice a week).
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty much no doubt what's going on there now.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Really happy.
Looking forward to: Thanksgiving, my family's upcoming visit.
What I am NOT looking forward to: The dreaded glucose test.
Weekly Wisdom: Stay calm, carry on.
Milestones: Stronger kicking that can be felt from the outside. Feeling obviously pregnant, with a more distinct round belly.  More nursery progress.  Received first registry gift in the mail from my friend Lisa :)

My Twenty-Fourth Week

Alrighty, we have arrived at 25 weeks of pregnancy!

The twenty-fourth week went pretty good.  I'm in really good spirits and feeling happy and excited about what's to come.  It's feeling more real every day.

I would say I had decreased heartburn this week, which was cool.  I even tested it with spaghetti with tomato AND red pepper flakes in it the other night and didn't have any re flux.  I was surprised.  I guess that just proves my theory that it doesn't really matter that much what I eat (although I still think heavy amounts of citrus makes me get it)- if I am going to get it, I get it.

Even more people are commenting and remarking about the bump now, so I think it's really in that definitely looking pregnant territory now.  One thing I haven't really mentioned is that my chest has also grown.  Greg has been saying it was bigger for a while (how nice of you to notice) and for a while I didn't agree, because I was still fitting in to my normal bras, but recently I have actually had to buy some new bras so I guess I have gone up about a cup size now.  My friend Sarah also noticed and commented on it.  Nice.  I'm okay with this side effect since I've pretty much been smallish on top my whole life.  Bring on the Jessica Rabbit boobs...haha.

We finally did our registries this week.  We took a night to go to Buy Buy Baby and do that one in person.  We were there about three hours and despite all the neurotic research I have done on every baby thing imaginable, I still found the experience to be semi overwhelming.  We did a pretty good job starting it at the store, and then in the days to follow, I added more online to that and our Amazon registry after a little more research on a few items like the Pack N Play.  The registries actually ended up being sort of even in terms of how much stuff is on each one.  Amazon had some things that were not at Buy Buy Baby and/or were so much cheaper on Amazon (BOB Revolution!), I couldn't justify putting them on the Buy Buy Baby one.  Still, I loved the experience of getting to do the Buy Buy Baby one with Greg in the store.  He clearly wants to make sure our little girl gets plenty of girly pink stuff, despite her mama gravitating towards gender neutral options a lot of the time.

While at Buy Buy Baby, we ordered a glider for the nursery, which is the last major piece of furniture we need.  It will take a little while to come in, so we probably won't have it  for about a month.  I also got a couple bins at Target this week that we'll probably use for toys or changing supplies.  I have my eyes out for little touches to add here and there, but really I think the major stuff in the nursery is set.  I put our prints in our new frames and really like how they look- they just have to go up on the wall.

Our Graco car seat came!  It's very cute!  We ended up getting the girly version (not at my request), and I actually don't mind it, despite the fact that if we have a boy in the future, it might be slightly awkward if he uses it.  It's pretty surreal to see it sitting in our house and know that our baby will be using that soon!

I took my first hospital class this week.  It was on epidurals (and analgesics).  Like I said in my last post, I don't really have a strong opinion of whether I want a natural or epidural birth., but I just think it makes the most sense for us, with the situation we're in for this birth, to go with the epidural.  I will say, that I'm not one of those people that thinks epidurals are the best thing on earth and will make everything wonderful and perfect.  The class didn't change my opinion and make me want one any more or less.  Honestly, I am nervous about the epidural.  I am not a huge fan of needles, and frankly the idea of one going into my back near my spinal area (it's actually below the cord, more in the nerve area of the spinal column I learned), doesn't sound that appealing.  Still, I also didn't change my mind on getting one- I plan to.  I think if done properly and if I'm lucky enough to not have side effects, I will be glad that I did get one.  The nurse that taught our class recommended that we try to labor without the epidural while moving around (jacuzzi, birthing ball, walking, etc) to progress labor for a while and I think this is a good plan if I can handle it.  They recommend getting the epidural when you are between 4-6 cm dilated, so if I can, I will try to make it to about that point before opting for one so that it doesn't slow my progress down.  I do know that I don't want the analgesics, which are more the injected/intravenous drugs.  Those may help my pain, but they go into the blood stream and can affect the baby, which I definitely don't want.  Epidurals don't go into the blood stream and don't affect the baby.  Whatever happens, it's going to be interesting...

Movement/kicking is still kind of light.  On the night we registered, when we were sitting filling out the paperwork for the glider, I got a big string of thumps in a row and grabbed Greg's hand and put it on my stomach.  He immediately felt her!  That was cool!  She's most active between about 4pm and bedtime, and usually around 9pm I can usually count on some decent thumps.

I went to see baby Michael and Erin this weekend.  He was very cute and sleepy.  He slept through most of the visit, but woke up right before I was about to leave, so I did get to see him alert for a little bit and hold him.  He was a squirmy little guy!


How far along? 25 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Big boobs, big belly.
Best moment this week: Greg feeling her move from outside.  Working on the registries.
Miss Anything? Turkey sandwich.  I went to Panera twice this week and missed the Sierra turkey sandwich, one of my favorites.
Movement: Yes, feeling the thumps from the outside was cool.
Food cravings: Donuts (we had some at work and I had trouble keeping myself away), cheeseburgers, smoothies (yay), double chocolate cookies, Greek salad.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty much no doubt what's going on there now.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Really happy.
Looking forward to: Seeing the curtains and pictures up in the nursery, Thanksgiving.
What I am NOT looking forward to: The dreaded glucose test.
Weekly Wisdom: I might be ahead of schedule with stuff like the nursery and registering, but it's really helped me to feel like it's more real, and I need all the help I can get!
Milestones: Stronger kicking that can be felt from the outside.  Feeling obviously pregnant, with a more distinct round belly.

My Twenty-Third Week

24 Weeks pregnant!

Apparently this is the beginning of slight viability, where the baby has a slightly better chance of survival than before if it were to come early.  So yay for that!

So, the beginning of the 23rd week started with a trip to my OB for a check-up.  It was actually a really quick appointment.  I got to hear the heartbeat with the Doppler (in the 150's), had my vitals and weight checked, and that was pretty much it.  The midwife I saw reminded me I should pre-register at the hospital where I'm delivering and also told me to pick a pediatrician.  I did the pre-registration this week and know the practice I of pediatricians I plan to use, I just need to call and get set up.

In other news, I started a registry.  I decided to go ahead and start an Amazon one online last week and have gradually been adding items to it.  I plan to drag Greg with me to Buy Buy Baby this week to do the other one if we can fit it in.  My strategy is to put more of the essentials on the Buy Buy Baby one and I've been putting more of the "secondary" type items on the Amazon one.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I know for myself when I buy registry items, I like to physically go to the store and look at the options, so I'm thinking more people will use at the Buy Buy Baby one?  I could be wrong.  If you guys have input, let me know.  I'm a newbie!

I finally found some frames for the nursery prints that I think will work.  I actually found them at Kohls and got a pretty good deal, four 11x17 frames with the 8x10 matte for about $50.  Only thing?  I had major pregnancy brain and forgot to return the other ones I had originally gotten at Michaels, even though they were sitting in the car ready to go back.  Oh well, I will do it on another trip!  The curtains I ordered also came this week, so hopefully Greg will want to put them up soon so we can see how they look.  I'm excited though, they seem to match the colors of our bedding perfectly :)

Plans for my baby shower are getting underway, which is really cool.  That's another one of those milestones I sometimes didn't know if I'd ever hit.  In addition to my friend/family one, this week a co-worker asked me if she could throw me one at work, which I thought was so sweet.  I'm really looking forward to those, which will both be in January after the holidays.

Let's talk pregnancy body and physical symptoms.  The belly is really out there now.  No doubt.  I was asked when I was due and what I was having by a sales lady at Belk last weekend.  I also had another person at work ask me if I was pregnant.  It's still funny to me that I'm noticeably pregnant to all now.  So weird. I'm up about 13 lbs in weight now.

Cropped my head out because my eyes were closed...

I had a couple more bouts with heartburn this week.  I feel like it's completely random for me though, sometimes I have it bad and other nights nothing.  I can't even really establish a pattern of certain foods that are triggering it or anything.  I'm thinking citrus juices is one thing though, because I know one time I had a bunch of lemonade and another day I had a tall glass of OJ and I definitely had it those nights.  I think I'm going to steer clear of citrus drinks for a while.  The other stuff seems to be a crap shoot.

I'm also still noticing how easily I get tired from standing, walking, etc...  I've gone to bed early a lot in the last week and on nights when I stayed up later, I was pretty exhausted.  I think my uterus is also pushing stuff up into my lung area and I'n noticing that I'm short of breath easier.  I think because I have a short torso all the space is getting used, so I'm probably feeling it more than some people with more room in their torsos.

I'm admittedly a little frustrated with where I'm at with movement/kicking at this point.  People keep telling me that it'll eventually get so frequent and strong that it'll be borderline annoying.  At this point, I am feeling movement everyday, but it's not that frequent and not that strong, it's still more like most people describe it in the early weeks of feeling it.  Just like with all my other pregnancy stuff, I just kind of want the clear symptoms to confirm that everything is okay in there.  Lack of movement/kicking just makes me kind of nervous.  Come on baby, kick me!  

How far along? 24 Weeks
Maternity clothes? Mostly maternity.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Symptoms: Physical tiredness, heartburn again, protruding belly.
Best moment this week: Hearing her heartbeat.
Miss Anything? Running.  I had a non-alcoholic beer one night this week, so I got that out of my system ;)
Movement: Yes, but I'd still like it to be stronger and/or more frequent.
Food cravings: Cake, cheese burgers, Basic 4 cereal, popcorn, and carbs in general.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing this week.
Have you started to show yet: Yes, pretty much no doubt what's going on there now.
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No, thank god!
Belly Button in or out? In
Mood: Good!
Looking forward to:  Registering, my first hospital class (this weekend), seeing the curtains and pictures up in the nursery.

The Hurricane and My Weekend Recap

Before I get into my weekend, I wanted to touch on Hurricane Sandy.  Charlotte was basically untouched by it, save for cold temperatures and a little drizzle last week, but I do have family members that were directly impacted.  My brother lives in Hoboken, NJ, and he, my sister-in-law, and one-year old niece were at their condo when the storm hit.  When I first checked in with him Monday, they were all just home together waiting it out, but by Tuesday, things had taken a more serious turn.  I didn't get the details til later Tuesday night, but eventually he was able to contact me to tell me how things were going.  Overnight, my brother was up almost every hour to check the water level in their lobby, which reached about four feet.  They are on the second level, and he was worried the water would reach their apartment.  Thankfully, it didn't.  Their parking garage also sits on the ground level of their place, so once the water level receded on Tuesday, they were able to check out the damage and see that their car is most likely totaled from water damage.  They, like so many others, lost power at their apartment.  They had a good amount of food and water, but with my one-year old niece they still worried and felt that getting to somewhere safer was a priority.  Word was that the water needed to be pumped out of Hoboken before the power could be turned back on, and this process might take about six days.  Luckily, my sister-in-law's family was able to come get them and take them to south Jersey for the rest of the week.  Last night I talked to my brother and power has been restored at their building, so he was on his way back to check everything out.  He also spoke of wanting to get back up there to help others in some way too- to try and donate clothing, water, or food if he could.  I spent a good amount of time in the past week watching all the news footage of the events.  I donated to the Red Cross, and also made a clothes donation to a friend's family in need.  It wasn't much, but it was something.  Anyway, my heart goes out to those impacted.  I really can't even imagine even what my brother and family have been through, let alone people who have lost love ones, homes, and even entire towns.  It's really terrible.

I have to say, about the marathon, I am conflicted and feel as many others do- it was probably the right decision, but made at the wrong time.  I can't even imagine traveling all the way to NY, picking up my race bib and getting excited at the expo, and then finding out a race I'd trained months for was called off.  That's terrible and heartbreaking in it's own way.  If you've trained for a marathon, you know the amount of time, suffering, and just general effort that goes into it.  For me it was kind of all I thought about for the months leading up to mine, and I just can't fathom throwing that away.  That's why despite the devastation and obvious need to cancel the race, I still really feel for the runners and think that people that haven't trained for a marathon don't quite understand what those runners are feeling right now and should not be angry with them for feeling the loss.  If it were me, I would definitely do as many NYCM runners have done and find an alternate marathon to run so that my training was used.  It's just a terrible situation all around though.

Anyway, speaking of races, Saturday morning I headed to the Rock and Read 5K, to spectate at a slew of my runner friends participated.

(There's a picture with me and Tanya in it as well if you check Kelly's blog).

I was able to spectate with Tanya, who I have not seen since summer and is now 38 weeks pregnant.  We had a good time discussing our pregnancies while the runners were out on their 3.1 mile loop.  Everyone did great!  Tanya's speedy husband was the first to come barreling through of our group.

Next up were Kelly and Michelle.

And then came Caitlin and Cindi.  This was Cindi's first 5k and she accomplished her goal of not walking at all, despite the reportedly hilly course.

I was proud of all my friends, and a little jealous.  I'll have to find a comeback 5K to do in the spring once I get my bearings after the baby is born :)

A bunch of us followed up the race with breakfast at Bad Daddy's.  Though I've been a bazillion times, breakfast is one meal I have never had there.  I got an omelet with cheddar, applewood bacon, tomato, and spinach, with potatoes, and OJ, which went unphotographed- sorry.

After breakfast I decided to check out a local maternity consignment shop I had heard about, called The Womb.  I scored a cute shirt.  I also did a mall run and found a maternity sweater at Gap Maternity, along with a few Christmas presents for some of my family.  We're doing Christmas early this year, so I need to get a jump on my Christmas shopping!

I was going to spend the afternoon with a little downtime, but then opted to check out a local festival with Sara, her husband, and little Elena.  I again neglected to take any pictures, but it was basically a little street fair with food, drinks, and assorted booths.  I scored some free dog food for Clyde, a Publix giftcard, and a chocolate covered strawberry.

Last but not least, I went to Cowfish for dinner with Jen, Michelle, and Dion, along with spouses, and some strategically placed "dates" for Jen, which kept us entertained all night.  We got the always delicious Crab Rangoon dip and some edame to start.  For dinner, I opted for cooked sushi.  I have only had it a couple times since I got pregnant and it seems to fix my cravings for sushi.  This was was particularly special because the roll is named after Dion (she's a TV news anchor).

A closer look at at the roll...  The Neon Dion Roll

Tempura coconut shrimp, kani and English cucumber roll coated in crispy tempura flakes. Topped with fresh papaya, avocado and Cajun marmalade, and dusted with coconut flakes to finish

So delicious!  We didn't stop there though, we ordered two desserts, which was cool because in my many trips to Cowfish, I have never had dessert there.

We got the Mousse is Loose, which was chocolate heaven...

And the Very Berry Tall Cake... which is lemon poundcake layered with berry and ice cream goodness.

The Mousse is Loose was my favorite of the two, but both were awesome.  The group I was with was truly hilarious.  That's the hardest I have laughed in a while.  Hope the baby didn't mind!

Anyway, I had a great weekend, and after all the action I partook in on Saturday, Sunday was definitely more leisurely.  Hope you had a good weekend too!

Halloween 2012

Halloween was good this year!  I kind of did the usual stuff- a party, a neighborhood parade, pumpkin carving, and then the actual night of handing out candy to the kids with Greg.

First up was the Halloween party.  It seems that every year one of my friends has a party and invites the crew.  This year it was Caitlin.  Costumes were mandatory, and I thought about wearing one of those shirts with the skeleton baby or pumpkin on the belly, but thought it might be a cop out.  Not to mention they are almost as much as an entire costume.  Then I looked at maternity costumes online.  The same 5 maternity costumes kept showing up everywhere I looked, which were an angel, a devil, a witch, a pirate, and a fairy.  The funny thing was that they were sort of like the "sexy" versions of each character only with room for the bump.  Kinda weird.  I decided to look through the regular costumes and came across a lady bug one that I thought would work because it had this big cloth shell that would fit over the bump.

Sorry, I know the quality of this picture is terrible.  It was really dark and we had trouble getting a good shot.  Anyway, you get the idea.  Probably not the most flattering costume ever, but it worked.

Diana, Jen, Me, and Dion

Katy, Diana, Dion, Jen, and Michelle

There was food, flip cup, and Karaoke, which was hilarious.  A couple of us sang K$sha's Tic Toc.  It wasn't pretty.  I called it a night around 10pm, because this preggo girl needs her sleep.

The next day the Halloween fun continued with my neighborhood's annual Halloween parade.  I'm always the lame-o without kids that dresses up her dog and walks him in the parade.  Next year we'll have a baby to take to the parade! This year Clyde was Bat Dog

As usual, Clyde was a big hit with everyone.

We had fun :)

Greg missed the weekend festivities but got home on Monday and we carved our pumpkins.  As per usual, he did a design (a bat) and I did a face.

Also as usual, we waited til the last minute to decorate the house.  Greg loves Halloween though, so he always does a good job and gets really into it.

The big spider and orange lit tree was a new addition to our decor this year.  We also did our usual smoke machine, purple lights on the bushes, and Greg added a soundtrack of spooky sounds.  I'm pretty sure the little kids were terrified...

We all had a great time passing out candy and Clyde was a good sport about the doorbell ringing constantly.  He wore his bat wings and would go out on the porch to hang out with each group of trick-or-treaters each time the door opened.  It was so cute.

I greatly over estimated the amount of candy I should buy this year, and probably have three bags left.  Ooops.  Not the best month to have that amount of sugar in the house when I have my glucose coming up at the end of November!  I might have to bring some in to work and try to unload it there.

Anyway, it was another fun Halloween, and I'm really looking forward to experiencing it with a little one next year.  That's going to be really cool!