Anna is two months old!

We are having so much fun with our little girl. She has really changed alot in the last few weeks. Smiles are often now, and she is cooing and interacting alot more. We love her so much!

Anna is one month old today!

So, apologies for waiting a whole month to update the blog. Little Anna is doing great and so I am. It feels so good to be up and about again. I went for a 45 min walk the last two days and it feels so good to move! Hopefully will write more soon about what the last month as been like.

Things not to say

Thought this article was funny. And yes, I have gotten quite a few of these.


Written by: Tom Iacuzio, Three8Six Editor
August 14, 2009 10:23 AM

Lindsey is a loyal Fatherhood reader. She's also pregnant.

A few weeks ago, Lindsey emailed me to tell me the story of her decision to wear a dress to work. After explaining to me that it took a lot to work up the nerve to wear the dress, a comment from a coworker had her quickly rethinking her decision.

"Oh my gosh! Are your legs always that big or are you swollen?"

OK, once you've finished your gasp, let's move on.

When I told my wife this she was hardly surprised.

"People say offensive things to me all the time," Kayla said. "They don't mean to. They just don't realize its offensive."

So with a nod to Kayla as well as poor Lindsey, I thought it might be a good idea to come up with a list of things to never, ever say to a pregnant woman.

"You can't even tell you're pregnant."

Maybe at one to three months this is acceptable but once you reach the third trimester all this means is "Wow, you're so fat normally I didn't even know you had an infant growing in there."

"Are you sure you're not having twins?"

By this point, pregnant women have been to a doctor numerous times. Odds are, someone would have noticed. Again, this just says "Hey, fat."

"Was it planned?"

No, the condom broke. This was a complete accident. C'mon people, even if it wasn't planned do you really think you're gonna get that kind of information?

"Should you really be eating that?"

Unless you want that hand bitten off, I would never suggest trying to take food out of a pregnant woman's hands/mouth. If the girl is hungry let her eat. She's "eating for two" as they say. Count your own calories, momma's hungry.

"Those stretch marks/excess hair will go away when the baby is born, right?"

If by some chance these words come out of your mouth, run, don't walk, to the nearest exit and pray to God she doesn't find you. And since preggos seem to have a keen sense of smell, odds are you're done for.

"I never had any morning sickness."

Do you really think saying "Nanny-nanny-boo-boo" to a pregnant woman is really in your best interest? I've learned that to every preggo, hers is the worst pregnancy in the history of pregnancies. So telling her how much better yours was than hers is not recommended.

"Got milk?"

Really? A lactation comment? We're really going there?

Any labor horror stories.

I think that most pregnant women are like my wife: hormonal and borderline crazy. When you add those wacked out baby deliver shows on TLC to the equation you have a hypochondriatic mess. The last thing a woman needs is you telling her how some doctor missed with the epidoral needle or how a nurse dropped some baby and broke its collarbone.

And finally, under no circumstances should you ever utter the words "Oh look, you're waddling."

Two ice packs later, I learned my lesson on that one.

Sleep!

I have not been sleeping well at all over the last weeks. But last night I actually slept (pretty much) the whole night through. As in when I woke up I could go back to sleep. I am so thankful!

I think one of the worst things people can say to pregnant women is "Sleep now while you can." When you are exhausted from not sleeping and know there is no hope for good sleeping in the near future, this is NOT something you want to hear. Also on the list of things not to say to pregnant women would be, "Wow, you are huge!" Just a word to the wise.

Waiting Game

All of the responsibilities I needed to complete before Anna came are done. I am done working now--today was my last day. It is kind of a weird mix of emotions. We're ready for you, Anna! Its also strange because she could come tonight or not for another 3 weeks. My family has a history of being late (you don't have to take after us here, Anna!)

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself next week if she does wait a while. Sure, there are lots of things I could do...like cleaning the house and cleaning out the junk room, etc. etc. That just doesn't sound very exciting, though does it?

The wait continues...

Maybe I'll make a post...

We are getting close. 3 weeks according to the calendar. My belly is getting bigger and bigger. Anna's room is ready. My cloth diaper shipment will get here Monday. I get an ultrasound on Tuesday. Hopefully she will come sooner rather than later!!

6 and 7 month pics

So, I know that I kind of suck at blogging. But, I will try again. Here are some pics (just for you, Fany!) of how my belly and little Anna are progressing.





This is me about the middle of my 6th month. Before I was pregnant, when people would tell me they are at 24 weeks or whatever, I would just want to know what month they are in. But now I realize how big a difference there is between the beginning and the ending of the month!



Here I am at 28 weeks, just starting my 7th month.

It looks like I'm carrying really high, but it's just b/c my tank top is so long. I'm actually carrying pretty low. She kicks all the time. It is so funny to see my belly dancing. : )

A few othere tidbits of info:

-Matt is done taking the CPA exam!!! This makes me (and him : ) very happy. He should get results back in a few weeks, but he is pretty confident.

-The non-profit Matt and I serve on the Board of Directors for, International Cultural Exchange, is having its first annual gala in October. I am heading up the silent auction for it. It is a big undertaking, but I am excited. Let me know if you are interested in donating something!! If you want to learn more about it, go to internationalculturalexchange.org.

-I have been working at a place called Learning Rx and I really enjoy it. We work with kids (and a few adults) who are having trouble in school. But insted of tutoring in a specific subject, we train the brain and improve cognitive skills in general, i.e. short and long term memory, processing speed, comprehension. It is a very effective program and I have really enjoyed it.

So long for now!

About a month later...

Well, at long last, here are the ultrasound pics. These are her feet.

And her hands. Her fingers are partially closes up.

And here is one of her hand by her face. It almost looks like she's sucking her thumb.

Our first pictures of our sweet little girl.

baby girl

We are having a baby girl! We think so anyway…

I’m enjoying a night of hanging out with my hubby, eating cheese fries and watching basketball. I’ll try to upload the images from the ultrasound tomorrow.

We'll have to wait a few more days...

Well, Baby Foster didn't really cooperate on Friday, so we still don't know for sure if it's a boy or girl. The technician thought it was about a 75% chance it was a girl. (Although he also said not to paint the room pink yet : ) I had convinced myself for some reason it was a boy, so I was a bit surprised.

The good news is he wanted us to come back next week for another ultrasound because he thought I was more like 17 1/2 weeks than 18 weeks. It is important I am at least 18 weeks because they do alot of measurements and it helps to determine how the baby is developing and if there are any problems. So, this coming Friday, we go back. Hopefully we know more definitely!

Which one will it be?!?!

Well, I know it's been a while, but I have recently been inspired by the Wilson blog and Lee's incredible ability to blog. Thank you, Lee. So, I am going to try to blog a little more often.

To start with, I have some BIG news that many of you probably already know. Matt and I are expecting a baby in August! We are very excited. I am 17 weeks, and we should be able to find out the sex this Friday. I can't wait to find out. I do not see how people can wait.

It is a little funny to think about how very different my life is than it was just a few months ago. I knew this would be the case, and I am very happy--it's just a different lifestyle.

Hopefully I will be better about keeping up with my blog, esp. as there is going to be more exciting and fun posts to come as the little one's arrival gets closer.

Here is a baby Foster's first picture, taken several months ago when I was only about 6 weeks. Hopefully after Friday I will have some better ones to share!