Three months to go!

Hello! It's hard to believe that June is already here, and we have just three months until little Peanut Butter makes her debut! (Prepare the marquee! For some reason the Muppet movie is coming to mind with all of the characters running every which way trying to get ready.)

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend attending our friends Aaron and Arian's wedding in the Berkshires. We had a great time!! I'm sure you're all dying to know...did the dress fit?! Yes -- thank goodness! (She looked beautiful!!! Glowing, some would say...see for yourself in the pic). And Todd looked as handsome as ever in his tux. (Did the tux fit? Sadly, not the one I wore way back when at our wedding so I needed to rent a tux...this pregnancy is rough on the ol' waistline). We got a chance to catch up with our friends Kate and Nate (Kate is pregnant too), Mara and David (they had their first baby just a few months ago), and Bragg and Haley (no pressure guys...), plus Aaron and Arian, of course. At the reception we spent most of the night on the dance floor. (Something had to take the place of drinking our faces off). It seems that Peanut Butter likes to dance as much as her parents!

In the cab on the way home from the airport, Todd got to see Peanut Butter moving. We've been feeling her move for several weeks now but this was Todd's first time actually seeing my belly contracting. (Weird, gross, freaky, but inexplicably amazing...It is a little bit like the movie Alien or moving your hand underneath the covers in bed...It is weird to think that she may actually be reacting to us).

In other strange pregnancy news, last week I went to Atlanta for work and experienced a very weird thing...strangers guessing the sex of my baby. (My baby? What happened to our baby?). It began after I went through security at O'Hare. The TSA agent watching the belt looked at me and said, "Girl." I was confused and just looked at him. He said it again. Finally, he looked down at my belly and said, "Girl" one more time (yeah, he thought I was an idiot). I finally got his meaning and said yes it was a girl. He turned to the woman next to him and said he could just tell and he was "28 for 32." Weird. Then in Atlanta I was sitting in my cubicle at The Home Depot when a guy walked by and said, "Girl?" I was hip to this game now and said yes, it was a girl. (Ironically, anyone that uses the word "hip" is not). Finally, in the Atlanta airport on my way home I walked by two security guards and one called out, "Good luck with your boy!" I turned and said, "Thank you! But it's a girl!" Is it just me or is it really weird that strange men seem to like guessing the sex of my baby? (Again with this my baby crap...jeez...I guess only one of us will be changing diapers).

Moving on, this past weekend we took another big step and went to Babies R Us to pick out the essentials for raising a perfect child. I must say that I am a very big fan of Expectant Mother parking. If you have to be big and uncomfortable for a bunch of months, why not enjoy parking close to your destination? (Listen up guys, stick with your woman on these trips...close parking rocks).

For those of you who have been following this blog, you might (justifiably) assume that this trip to Babies R Us would be an exercise in futility or at least a really painful experience for all involved. However, this time we were armed with tons of information and recommendations from Todd's sister Alissa and our cousin Debbie. There is absolutely no way we could have made it through without them! (Wow is that an understatement...this is how it went...hey, look at these 97 choices in X baby item that we never knew existed...which one should we pick? What did Alissa and Debbie say? Ok, go with that). It's just too bad they couldn't come along in person to show us exactly how to use the things that they recommended...I had no idea you needed three advanced degrees to figure out how to collapse a freaking umbrella stroller, not to mention attach the tray to a high chair. Heaven help our poor little Peanut Butter...the pictures tell the story even better:

(For the record, Ms. Mom-to-be also had issues, but she controlled the camera). Totally true! My battle with the umbrella stroller was epic. Todd was laughing too hard to take pictures. (Classic!)

We nearly forgot! The highlight of the week was finding out that Alissa was having a girl, too! (Woo hoo!) Now Peanut Butter will have someone to play with when we go to Syracuse. We can't wait to see our two little girls side by side at Thanksgiving!!

So there you have it...another episode in Todd and Sarah's grand adventures in pregnancy. We'll post another update soon. In the meantime, thanks as always for following along and for all of your good wishes and advice. Having our friends and family share this time with us means so much. Now bring on the third trimester!

Where did May go?

My goodness...I can't believe we're more than halfway through May! (Gulp...less than 3 1/2 months to go).

Shortly after our last post we spent a great weekend in Syracuse (thus the orange color tonight for my writing) to celebrate Todd's adorable nephew Zachary's second birthday (super cute and already a golfer) and his sister Alissa receiving her MBA. She works full time, has a two year old son and got her MBA...if I didn't love her I would hate her. (Sarah wrote that line...I learned long ago that Alissa aces school without breaking a sweat...unlike me, to whom the word 'homework' still sends me into a panic attack...and then I have to go ahead and marry a girl that loves school, too...but of course she would, she got straight A's...I just hope my daughter takes after the women in my life). The weekend also marked my first official Mother's Day. Not surprisingly, my too good to be true husband treated me like a queen all day. (I treat her like a queen every day...what? Am I an idiot?). It was great to see everyone and show off my growing belly.

Last weekend was a dream weekend for me -- running tons of errands and crossing lots of things off of our pre-baby to do list! (We have a list? And no, this was not a dream weekend for me.) We even bought a few little outfits for Peanut Butter. Peanut Butter you ask? Yes, our little one has now become known in our house as Peanut Butter. Not only does it sound great with Pinsky (try it...Peanut Butter Pinsky...they just go so well together!) but now that we know our little one is a girl, Barack doesn't really fit anymore. Truth be told, I would have happily continued calling her Barack but Todd put his foot down. I think he was afraid I would seriously consider naming her that. (Does anyone doubt that left to her own devices, she would?)

Our Memorial Day weekend will be spent in the Berkshires at Todd's friend Aaron's wedding. You know what's not fun? Buying maternity clothes. You know what's even less fun? Looking for formal maternity dresses! (And what is less fun that that? Looking for formal maternity dresses with your wife. I mean, c'mon, clothes shopping with your wife is stressful enough. It's like a never ending oral exam that is graded on a pass/fail basis. If you fail, life sucks, trust me...ask any guy you know...they'll know what I'm talking about. Seriously though, it actually wasn't that bad for me because the number of dresses to try on is actually quite limited, so it goes pretty quick.) Let me tell you what I just can't understand. Why is it that designers seem so convinced every pregnant woman likes ruffles? Seriously, you can't avoid them. Either the top is ruffled or the bottom has some weird ruffles on it. Do they think that ruffles somehow disguise or distract people from the fact that a woman is pregnant? All they do is make you look even more puffy and boy, isn't that every pregnant woman's dream. (She looks great...even in ruffles...the other pregnant girls probably hate her). Given my rapidly expanding body I didn't want to buy a dress for the wedding too early, which necessitated the last minute shopping. As luck would have it, we found a very nice, non-ruffled dress at the first store we went to on our quest.

Meanwhile, Peanut Butter has been really active the last few weeks. It's still strange to feel her moving around but when I'm home and Todd and I can feel her kick together, it's very sweet. (Sarah only cries every 2 hours or so about how cute it is.) Those are my favorite moments by far. The other night she had the hiccups and that was pretty cute. (Super, super, super cute...very weird, but very adorable.) Nothing else new to report at the moment...but we will update again soon. Keep your fingers crossed that the dress still fits now that a whole week has gone by. (It better fit or I'm high-tailing out of the Berkshires.) Talk to everyone soon! (Have a great Memorial Day!!!)

What a month!

Hello everyone! It's been a busy few weeks in the Pinsky household! If Todd were writing this, he would say that the 'biggest' update in our world is my rapidly expanding belly (I am not writing this but Sarah has offered me the chance to comment and yes, I would say that was the biggest update -- it's big!). In the past two weeks I have definitely gotten a lot bigger. In fact, at work the other day, I had a stranger ask me when I was due for the first time. At first I had no clue what she was talking about...then I remembered I was indeed due in September. Thank goodness people expect pregnant women to be flighty. It took me forever to answer her! So it would appear I have passed the 'hmmm, she looks a little pudgy' stage and entered the 'she's definitely pregnant' phase.

It seems I'm going to have to conquer my fear of elastic waists and maternity clothes awfully soon as I am running out of non-maternity options. Each night, Todd graciously lets me pick out one of his t-shirts to sleep in. (If she wore one of her tiny t-shirts it wouldn't cover that basketball she calls a belly.) Finding something to wear to work is more problematic. I think if I had to name my least favorite part about being pregnant it would be getting dressed in the morning. I'm a little too small for the maternity clothes I have and getting too big for regular clothes. What's a girl to do? I will say, however, thank you to Banana Republic for making a great pair of pants that I now have in 3 different colors. (To be fair, she always buys the clothes she loves in 3 different colors...or just 3 of the same color if need be...she's weird).

Inspired by the news that we will soon have a daughter joining us (and the reality that we are now in our 6th month...holy shnikees), we have been attempting to tackle some more baby-related tasks of late.

Last weekend we took a field trip (terrifying safari) to Babies 'R Us. Todd had never been (I have been so deprived) and I certainly have never been there as a serious shopper, so we went to learn about all the stuff for babies that we didn't know even existed. We started with furniture, which seemed the least frightening (because, you know, how tough can it be to pick furniture for a tiny human and that tiny human's tiny clothes...I mean, c'mon, the booties can fit our cat!). Todd was surprised by the seemingly endless array of choices. (That's a nice way of saying that I was confused as s**t about the 'conversion' furniture that changes a crib to a little kid's bed...but, I will say, after figuring it out, I think it seems like a cool idea). We did enjoy trying all of the comfy gliders, but Todd had to help me up from a couple of them. (I insisted on sitting in each and every one just in case I find myself feeding my daughter at some point). (Poor Todd, he has NO idea how his life is about to change...)

From furniture we moved on to strollers and swings and bouncy seats...oh my! Unlike most of the other couples in the store who were experimenting with different strollers, taking notes and generally looking very engrossed in the differences between one swing and another, our tour was very quick (mostly to keep me from running out the door screaming from information overload). We realized that there are definitely a million things you don't need mixed in with the four or five that you do. The trick is figuring out just what those four or five things are. (We also realized that no one is making these choices for us...which is a little scary but kinda cool that we are the adults in this relationship with our unborn baby). Thank goodness we have so many sisters, cousins and friends who have offered guidance. We're very grateful!

We moved on to the other miscellaneous baby items, e.g. diaper bags, bottles, bathing items, first-aid stuff, monitors, etc. While it could get overwhelming at times, even a little scary and weird, I love going through all of this with Todd. (Ditto. At least we were together...unlike that time that Sarah sent me to the American Girl Doll store alone...now that was scary and weird). To end our field trip, we of course had to look at baby clothes, which are undeniably cute (like I said, tiny). Looking at the clothes definitely made me excited to be having a girl. (Me too). We resisted the urge to buy anything yet. Soon enough, I am sure we will be stocking up on all the Strawberry Shortcake, Smurfette, and My Little Pony stuff that we can find, not to mention Michigan cheerleader outfits.

I'm happy to report we made it out of Babies R Us alive and with our senses of humor intact. In a strange way, we even feel a little better about our ability to actually pull this thing off.

We are working hard getting things in place to get ready for our little girl (little miss life changer is the name that I have just invented...or how about, little miss 6 stroke handicap). Today, we worked on cleaning out the room that will become the nursery. I only cried a few times at the thought of us having a nursery (don't let her fool you, there have been some unexpected sobs lately at seemingly innocuous commercials) (Don't get me started about Extreme Home Makeover. They should make that illegal for pregnant women.) We still have a lot of work to do, but it was definitely a good start.

In the next couple weeks I have my glucose test for gestational diabetes then in another month or so I have another check up. Meantime, we'll continue to get a thrill when she kicks (it's still odd to me that there is something living inside of me but it is nice when Todd and I can feel her kick together). (The University of Michigan football team could use a kicker like our daughter!)

Talk to everyone soon!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Drumroll Please...It's a...GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, our future could be filled with princesses, the color pink, tea parties and Todd trying to figure out how to put hair into pigtails.

We went for our 20 week ultrasound and check up today and learned that we're having a girl! We are absolutely thrilled!! Going forward, we think we need to start calling her Michelle O'Baby instead of Barack, though.

Officially, that makes the score Modern Technology 1, Sarah's Maternal Instincts 0.

The ultrasound was just amazing. It was so much fun seeing her on the screen moving around and clenching her fists (just like Mom!). By all accounts she is developing normally. She has all of her parts and everything is in the right place. Forgive us for sounding like 'those' expectant parents, but we think her profile is just adorable. Todd even thinks her upper lip looks like mine. (When you see her nose, there's no question she's ours!) In the picture above you can see her spine and heart (the black spots in her chest) and near the bottom of the image you can see her left hand. The big gray thing on the right is the placenta.

Today capped off a really great weekend. On Saturday, we went to Ann Arbor to watch the Michigan Football Spring Game (really an intra-squad scrimmage). It was baby's first trip to Michigan Stadium! The highlight was definitely seeing 1991 Heisman Trophy winner (and my first love) Desmond Howard (I don't think that was the highlight for Todd).

After the game we spent the afternoon at my sister Carrie and her husband Dolby's house playing with their two adorable kids Anabelle and Sonny. We got to dye Easter eggs with Anabelle and I got to rock Sonny to sleep. We can only pray our little girl is as clever and sweet as Anabelle. Carrie gave me some great advice and assured me it was normal to be creeped out by the things that are happening to my body right now. I needed that!

We came home Saturday night and spent Sunday watching the Masters. That was when Todd felt her kick for the first time, which we can only assume means she has a future in the LPGA...or wanted Todd to change the channel.

Time for us to turn in...we'll post another update soon. In the meantime, we'll be here on cloud nine...!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Great Family News, Weird Body Changes and NCAA Heartbreak

Hey everyone! I decided to write the blog today but Todd is making comments (I'm writing in red because it's gender neutral).


This week brought some amazing news...Todd's sister Alissa is also pregnant!!! (YEA!!!!!!!). She and her husband Scott are due with their second child on October 15, just six weeks after our due date. We're very excited that Barack will have a cousin his own age to play with in addition to his older cousins. And, selfishly, I am thrilled that I won't be the only pregnant one unable to enjoy Margaritas by the pool this Fourth of July!

Pregnancy-wise, we learned even more unpleasant things about how the body changes during pregnancy this week. First, and particularly horrifying (stop reading now if you have not had a child yet and are easily grossed out) is that my cute little baby bump is not really a 'baby' bump, but is mostly the organs that have been displaced by my growing uterus. How gross is that!?!! On the one hand, it gives me a whole new respect for how a woman's body adjusts to carrying a child. On the other, it's so completely bogus I can't even think about it. The books point out that our baby is still lower than my bellybutton. I'm told that after 20 weeks or so the bump is mostly baby. Who knew?! Well, probably most people but we had no idea. There's something to be said for a clueless pregnancy. The more we learn, the more we feel like the less we know, the better! (And knowing is half the battle...GO JOE!...that is a GI Joe reference for those that didn't get it...our kid is going to have the coolest toys).

The other body news I learned this week is that, evidently, my abdominal muscles have already started to separate. Normally this happens after 20 weeks but according to my prenatal pilates instructor, in very small women or women with developed abs, it can happen earlier as the body expands and things move around (see previous paragraph). It won't really impact me now, although it does mean there are certain exercises I have to avoid in class, not to mention I can't do any heavy lifting (which means Sarah's goal of winning a clean and jerk weightlifting Olympic gold will have to be put on hold). After the baby is born it will come into play as I try to get back into shape. That's what I need...something to make it harder to get my shape back! Man, this kid better cure cancer someday or at least play football for Michigan. (No pressure from Mommy, kid...geez).

This last week hasn't all been about weird body news, though. On the brighter side, we took advantage of the gorgeous weather last weekend and did some shopping in the neighborhood. (yawn). At one maternity store catering to moms-to-be who are way cooler than I am, we picked up a Barak O'Baby tank top! And here we thought we were so clever and original. (Check out the super cute picture of my wife in her tank...I tried to get her to pose in the weird-ass positions that the women in the books pose in, but she said she would kill me...you would never guess that this girl builds playgrounds for a living).

We're still counting down the days until our 20 week appointment on April 13. We are super excited to find out the sex but we're also excited to see the little guy or girl again. It's been a month since our last ultrasound. (Oh, and as our wonderful cousin Debbie pointed out in the comments section...we may be able to get some sort of videotape or something, but we had never heard of anything like that before, so it goes to show how much we still have to figure out. Oh, and if we get a video you can bet we are going to show it to everyone who says they don't want to see it). We haven't felt Barack moving, yet, but we know he was cheering for both Michigan and Syracuse during their noble runs in the NCAA tournament. Alas, Michigan lost to Oklahoma in the second round and Syracuse couldn't make it past the Sooners in the Sweet 16. (It's fair to say that our child won't be named Blake or Griffin...that's Oklahoma's stud player that whooped both of our teams). On April 11, Barack will make his first trip to Ann Arbor when we go watch the football team's Spring game at Michigan Stadium and see Sonny and Anabelle, my sister Carrie's two adorable kids. I asked Todd if we could go to the first football game of the season on September 5 if I haven't delivered yet but he put his foot down. Evidently he doesn't think it would be as cool as I do to have our child delivered in Michigan Stadium. (Cool? Yes. But with our luck it will happen during an important part of the game and Sarah won't want to leave).

There isn't too much else to report. I am fully past the sickness of my first trimester but I don't have much of an appetite. I'm pretty close to where I should be weight-wise but expect in the next couple weeks my appetite will return to make it an easier process. Todd's appetite has not diminished at all. (Hey...was that necessary? Ok, I guess if pictures of Sarah's belly are going on this thing then I have to put up with whatever pay back I get). Talk to everyone soon!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Barack's Bracket-Buster

We were pleasantly surprised tonight to learn that Barack Obaby has an amazing talent...he can predict the NCAA brackets! Well, more specifically, he accurately predicted that those lovable Michigan Wolverines would upset Clemson in the first round. (Sarah typically does not fill out a bracket, but this year she channeled thoughts from her belly and made picks). We were excited that Michigan basketball is restoring some pride to our alma mater, but we were happier that we got to sing the fight song. The books say (yes, those same books that our doctor specifically warned us against reading because they are filled with lies, dirty, dirty lies) that in the 15th to 16th week, a baby starts to hear. The books also say that sounds won't have much meaning (other than starting to recognize the sound of the mother's voice), but if there is even a possibility of brainwashing our kid to be a Michigan fan, well...Hail to the Victors!

In other news, not much has changed. Now in the 16th week, Sarah's belly continues to grow (she is getting proficient at forming weird shapes when she tightens her stomach muscles), nausea is basically gone (but food aversions are as strong as ever...don't mention any type of food to Sarah that rhymes with "rasta"...unless you are her mean ol' husband who forgets every so often), and we have done some more shopping for new pants (not just for Sarah...cough, cough). Through it all, the anticipation is continuing to grow for our April 13 appointment for the 20-week ultrasound when we will know whether the stork will deliver a little boy or girl (wait...a stork is going through the delivery? Phew...Sarah is really relieved!). Either way, it will be exciting to find out. Luckily for me, the NCAA tournament is on until then so I have a nice little distraction (much to Sarah's delight...not really).

Ok, well, we will update again soon. We'll try to post an updated belly picture this week. Oh, and to those of you that have checked back to the blog more than once, thank you, thank you, thank you. As you can tell, this is a fun little way for us to share the strange little stories that may be mundane to people who have gone through it already, but to us are still just so, so surreal. Bye for now!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Where did this belly come from!!!!!?

New pants here I come!

As you can see in the picture, my belly has officially arrived. This morning it took me several extra minutes to find a pair of pants that fit and I don't think I have too many more options. I don't think I'm ready (emotionally or physically) for full-on maternity pants but I don't think they're too far off, either!!

Other than my bfb (big fat belly as we lovingly call it), there is thankfully not too much else to report. I guess that's good news pregnancy-wise but probably makes for a boring blog! We're in our 15th week now and the second trimester is shaping up to be what most people say it should be. Generally I feel great and my nausea is definitely lessening. That's good for Todd, who is practically wasting away from not having normal dinners (okay, wasting away may be overstating things a bit but it's a definite plus for him to have this pass).

I'm dealing with all the same really weird things that women experience with pregnancy. Some make me laugh because they're so absurd (why does my stomach itch so much?!). Like all pregnant women eventually do, I've come to the realization that no matter how many people you know who have had kids or how many books you read or how great a doctor you have, there's just a lot of crazy stuff that you can't prepare for. For the most part, though, I'm really loving being pregnant. I know I have tougher months ahead so I'm trying to enjoy each day and not look ahead too much. It helps to have an amazing husband going through this with me. Fortunately, he finds the same things I do funny and hasn't been horrified by anything (or at least he's smart enough not to tell me that he has -- I'll let him blog about those another day!).

That's all for now. Thanks to everyone for your continued good wishes and for following along as Barack continues to change our lives. We are so lucky to have the friends and family we do...it's a wonderful feeling to know our child is going to come into the world surrounded by so much love.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)