good days, sunshine.

Mike and my weekend schedules don't always coincide, but this past sunny weekend we were both off.  On Saturday, we visited the Gig Harbor Farmer's Market and had the most fun looking at people's cute dogs.  There were a lot of good deals on plants and homemade items from local sellers.  After the market, we headed to Uptown Gig Harbor since I remembered there was a car show benefiting breast cancer research going on.  It was huge!  There were a bunch of neat cars to see, including an Aston Martin with a Sean Connery lookalike you could take a picture with.  My dad met us there as we strolled around and visited the new toy store (Teaching Toys, Too), which is our new favorite place to buy toys for Baby B.  After the car show, we headed north to Bellevue and had lunch at Pagliacci Pizza, which has excellent ice to crunch.  Then it was off to the REI flagship store to look for new shoes and clothes for the summer weather and upcoming trip to San Diego.

Today (Sunday) Mike's friend Dave came over and they went riding around Gig Harbor in their tight shorts.  Dave's wife is a few months ahead of me in her pregnancy, and it was nice to chat with him about baby stuff.  Mike commented that now on their rides, instead of "talking shop" like they used to about fancy bikes and whatnot, they'll be comparing baby gear and diapering tips.  Who knows, maybe our children will decide to ride the STP together someday and follow in their fathers' footsteps.

After his bike ride, Mike joined my family on a fishing/clamming trip over at Illahee Park.  When my family first moved to Bremerton from San Diego, there was about a 6-month period where we caught everything we ate, whether it be fish, crabs, clams, mussels, or oysters.  We used to do this all the time.  This was the first time in over 10+ years that we went fishing together again.  It was nice to spend the day out in the sun and next to the water.  Mike even caught a small cod on my sister's hot pink Barbie pole.  He was the only one to catch something, but we released it since it was small and we don't want to have to clean a fish we wouldn't eat.  Bee and Keith harvested a bunch of clams and oysters from the beach.  Good times for everyone.  Mike even admitted to having fun with fishing, so I'm going to see if I can get him to go squidding some time.  

Hooray for local outdoor activities, and hooray for family, friends, and sunshine.

good baby

We had an appointment with the maternal-fetal medicine doctor who did a first trimester screening and ultrasound for Downs syndome, neural tube defects, and trisomy 18, along with taking a blood sample from me to screen for other genetic weirdness.  As soon as Dr. Read scanned my belly, he said, "Great!  Looks like the kid's gonna work with us today."  Baby B was laying on its back, giving us an excellent profile shot.  He did a couple crown-rump measurements and decided to change my estimated due date to December 7, which makes more sense with my LMP and cycle length.  December 7, in addition to being Pearl Harbor Day, is also my cousin Jakey's birthday.

We watched as Dr. Read peeked into Baby B's living environment for like, 10 minutes.  It was amazing.  Baby B looks like a person.  The doctor pointed out the nasal bone, saying it was good and prominent, which meant Downs syndome was probably not an issue.  The nuchal folds were normal, as did everything else.  When we heard him make the comment about the nose, both of us intantly thought "It has a nose!  It has Mike's nose!"  If you look at the pictures (on our fridge, since I'm too lazy to hook up the scanner and put it online), it does have a rather pointy schnozz.  Dr. Read was trying to get the baby to change positions to get other measurements, so he'd thump on my belly a couple of times.  Baby B would bounce around and move its arms and legs, as if it were saying, "Hey!  What's going on?  I'm trying to relax here."  Mike heard the heartbeat for the first time as well, and it's still at 170 bpm.  Amazing!

Our anatomy ultrasound will be mid-July, and that will be when we'll be able to find out if this baby is Zoe pink or Baxter blue.  I'm so excited and relived that Baby B is healthy and doing well.  It's all starting to sink in...I love it!

on being pregnant

In the past few weeks of my pregnancy, I've noticed some new things about myself.  My hair is oilier, my face is greasier, and I'm breaking out in acne all over my face.  I'm nauseated most of the day despite my daily ginger ale intake and the Sea Bands Mike bought me.  I thought I would die of fecal poisoning a couple of days ago due to pregnancy constipation, but thanks to the wonder that is colace, I'm doing better in that department.  I'm tired during the day and dizzy whenever I stand up for long periods of time.  I can't wait until the second trimester which is when all the pregnancy books say these symptoms will pass.

As far as the food department goes, I haven't been eating as much as I used to (which is probably a good thing) because of the nausea.  I've had some aversions to food, which I find completely strange.  If I see or even think about greek salad, whole olives, or KFC grilled chicken, I get the dry heaves.  Things that would normally taste good to me, like hot dogs and bacon, no longer appeal to me (again, probably a good thing).  On the other hand, I'm craving things like milk (?!), yogurt, waffles, freshly cooked calrose rice, fruit, spaghetti, and ramen noodles.

According to the baby widget, I'm in my 10th week of pregnancy.  My next ultrasound appointment is May 20th.  I hope Baby B makes a good showing and that s/he is healthy and well.  In the meantime, we have to disassemble the new double bed we got for the guest room so we can transform it into the baby's room, and maybe come up with more potential baby names for the little one growing inside me.

Mango Tango

Last weekend, my entire family was in Seattle for my cousin Rosanna's wedding.  We stayed over at a hotel overnight thinking the weather was warm enough for the dogs to stay outside like they do sometimes during the summer.  While we were enjoying the company of family and watching a certain sister get plastered out of her mind, there was a big windstorm in Gig Harbor that blew a patio umbrella over and probably scared the dogs, prompting Mango to jump the back fence.  When my parents returned that night to check on their menagerie of animals, he was no where to be found.  Buttons was still in the backyard barking his little head off, but they weren't able to find Mango.

The next morning they searched for him again and spotted him on Hwy 16, muddied up and running across the highway.  My mom got out of the car and tried to flag him down but it was hard to do, since she was on the opposite side of the highway and Mango was panicked.  That morning Mike and I came back to town and he questioned my parents' neighbors.  It turns out that one of the neighbors had heard seen Mango standing outside my parents' fence, so they tried to corral him.  He got scared and ran, thus ending up lost for the next three days.

After repeated searches in the rain, posting flyers all over Gig Harbor, and checking the kennels and deceased dog folders at the Humane Society, I was almost ready to accept I'd never see my crazy little OCD dog ever again.  Then, on Tuesday, after I got off work, my family showed up and Mango jumped out of the car.  Someone had noticed him walking in their neighborhood (which apparently looked very similar to my parents' neighborhood), enticed him with a biscuit, and managed to get close enough to him to check his tags and call the number.  The place he was found was 10 miles away from my parents' house.

My parents said Mango was so happy to see them when they went to pick him up.  He started yelping nonstop, even when they all came around to hug and pet him.  Buttons was so excited to see him as well, and his bark was already hoarse from barking while Mango was missing.  Mango's eyes were all red and he seemed pretty tired, but otherwise he seems okay.  My dad said he just slept all day yesterday, his first day back at home.  We're all glad to have Mango back safe.  Although he's always been a little nutty, we love this silly dog who likes to sit on our feet and steal bathmats.