Cry Baby

I guess this whole pregnancy hormone thing is kicking in. Last night, as Lane and I were putting our groceries away in the kitchen, I bumped my head. Now, it didn't really hurt that much at all, but all of a sudden tears just started streaming down my face. Lane was so sweet, he just gave me a big hug, told me he'd finish and to go sit down. He brought me some water and even a little snack. While I sniffled away, Lane cleaned the kitchen and finished putting away all the groceries. I felt much better later and thanked him for giving me a time out ;)

Holiday Feasting

I am very proud of my chef of a husband. Just look at his fine cuisine! For Christmas eve, we ate this delectable feta cheese & veggie pasta, which Lane was able to master after an intensive learn by doing course provided by my mom the last time she was visiting us.

On Christmas morning, I got up early to make a fancy -schmancy breakfast for Lane. I made french toast. But I put tangerine zest and tangerine juice in the egg batter. I was sad that I didn't have enormously thick toast to use, but improvised. I toasted two slices of bread and then slathered them with goat cheese, pressed them together, and then battered and made french toast with those "sandwiches". I also mashed up some fresh strawberries with a splash of balsamic vinegar to top the french toast. I roasted breakfast potatoes and fried up some ham for side dishes and Lane concocted a delicious berry smoothie to top it all off. We were so stuffed we couldn't even finish.

For Christmas dinner, I seared some bacon wrapped filet mignon and made a gravy with red wine, fresh garlic, and butter. We had herbed mashed potatoes and sauteed asparagus. When we went in the kitchen to put away the left over food, the aroma of my red wine gravy filled the air. When I commented about how good it smelled, Lane was quick to point out that it was because it had been cooking the whole time. That explained why the pan was all dark yucky looking. I was *so* looking forward to that on top of my lunchtime mashed potatoes today.

Week 10

This is a big week for Baby Grover, who is graduating from embryo to fetus status. By the end of the week, Baby Grover will be nearly two inches long. Also starting this week, there will be a 40 to 50 percent increase in my blood volume!! Holy Moly.

Lately I get to wake up every night to go pee. I can't really sleep in on the weekends because I get so starving!! I usually get up, have myself a little mini-breakfast, and then eat Second Breakfast with Lane. Because by that time, I'm hungry all over again. It's hard work growing a baby :)

Christmas Weekend

Christmas weekend was fun and relaxing. We started it off at a friend's party where they were showing super odd Christmas videos, such as the California Raisin's Claymation Christmas Special. But the one that took the cake was the Star Wars Holiday Special, which apparently aired only once (what a surprise!). This was the most bizarre, odd-ball video ever! It was a story about Chewbacca's family (all speaking to each other in their unintelligible language), with random Star Wars video clips... interspersed with the strange music and weird colors and moving kaleidescope shapes; it seems like a drug-induced project gone wrong. We watched about 45 minutes of it in complete awe and still weren't able to figure out what made it a Holiday Special. Nevertheless, it was entertaining in a strange sort of way.

After I learned that my co-worker Mark had never seen The Christmas Story, I ordered it on Netflix. We had a special showing on Saturday night with Mark, Richard, and one of our interns that is here from the Indonesian Red Cross. I was a little nervous that the movie wouldn't be quite as entertaining as I remembered it being, since I hadn't actually seen it in years. But it was still every bit as enjoyable. As usual, I cooked too much food and we were all stuffed to the brim by the end of the evening.

Lane and I did some holiday shopping over the weekend and were excited to finally buy some new suitcases. We love sales, and got two carry on bags for 50% off, plus had a $25 coupon, and we got an additional 20% off for using our Macy's card. We were kind of high after getting that super special deal, so we were looking for more things to buy - wine racks, le creuset cookware, picture frames, but they didn't have any of the items we were looking for. It's probably for the better.

Cat's out of the Bag!

Lane and I have been bursting at the seams waiting to tell our families, but trying so hard to not say anything until Christmas. All day long we were wondering when our parents would open their presents and when they'd call us.

It was great that so many people could find out at once with the Christmas gift opening. Lane's parents, sister, and both grandmas were on the phone when they called to say that they'd gotten the best Christmas gift ever!!

As soon as we got off the phone with them, we started calling the brothers. Grandma Chaney also warned that she couldn't keep her mouth shut, so we better tell them soon :) It was exciting to hear everyone be so thrilled with our big news.

Meliss literally SCREAMED for like 20 seconds upon hearing the news. Nate told us that our nephew, Chaney was jumping up and down with excitement, and having recently learned the art of sarcasm exclaimed, "Oh that's a bummer!" in jest. Adie & Ian were so sweet to send us an e-card and offer any advice we needed, and Cati let me know that she couldn't wait to start shopping and how well-dressed our baby would be!!

My Dad told us what a good job we had done, and it sounds like my parents might be planning a trip out here soon! My sisters were both practically crying with happiness, which made me get a little teary eyed myself.

I'm feeling much more excited now that everyone knows our big secret. Now I have to figure out when and how to tell people at work.

Here's a cute video for your viewing pleasure: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1789889456

Merry Christmas to Us!

Check out our Christmas surprise here

Picture Time!

Until today, Lane and I had taken pictures together just once since we'd gotten married seven and a half years ago. That time, he asked and asked for us to have our picture taken. Lane decided it was time again for another photo shoot. Here are the results:

A Little Inappropriate Christmas Cheer

Lane was really insistent that we use a certain Halloween picture for some christmas cards. I didn't think they were the most appropriate things to send to people like our parents, aunts & uncles, great-aunts & uncles, or nieces & nephews. So I compromised and got regular cards for most people and ordered the least amount possible of the Halloween style. We only sent them to very few people, and of course had to keep one for ourselves. Here it is, in all its inappropriateness!

It's Christmas Time in the City!

Christmas time is turning out to be quite exciting. We have had our tree up for weeks now, and let me say, it is a beauty! I love that so many of our ornaments have special meaning - like the one that is engraved with our wedding date and names for our first christmas, or the elf engraved with Lane's name that he's had since he was little, or my Chaney ornaments, or the handmade felt ones from Lane's mom, 0r the snowflakes we made together (seriously, I could go on for days).

I received specific instructions to not wait until Christmas to open my present from Meliss, my awesome, super duper creative and Christmas-loving sister-in-law. I don't know how she found the time to make me such wonderful gifts, but boy was I happy to get a cutsie bird christmas ornament, adorable Christmas placemats, that can be reversed and used for Valentine's Day, and a beautiful matching double sided Christmas apron made with vintage buttons from Grandma Chaney. Thank you, Meliss!!

Lane's parents sent us a delightful Tower of Treats from Harry & David which we have started to enjoy. And today we got the sweetest magnet of Claire & Natalie in the mail. We can now look at their darling faces all year round.

I have been really lagging in sending out Christmas cards. I barely got them out in today's mail. So, if you don't live on the east coast, you probably won't get your card until after the holidays, I'm embarassed to admit. I was also a little sad since we had only received a very small handful of cards so far. I was starting to wonder if people forgot about us out on the east coast.

Not so. Today, after dropping off some cards for our lovely friends we've made in the building, I got a huge stack of season's greetings in the mail! As I opened each one, they made me laugh and smile for different reasons. Our DC friends Ben & Raquel said that their grandmother's cooking doesn't quite taste the same after having eaten my cooking, our Hawaii friends Andrew & Malia miss Neil Diamond (Lane), Taryn & Parker, the kids I used to nanny for are now SEVENTEEN and THIRTEEN!!! I think they were 7 and 3 when I started working with them. Taryn is applying for college!! Cati & Noal got us a funny card, as usual, and my sister sent the most darling card with pictures of Andrew.

We have a four day weekend in store for us, filled with friendly visits, good eats (although I haven't quite decided on the menu yet), spending lovely time together, sleeping in, a viewing of The Christmas Story and the excitement in waiting for the actual big holiday.

Happy Holidays!!!

Week 9

Baby Grover now measures about the size of a quarter from "crown to rump" - that's about an inch long. Here is Baby Grover's photo debut:

Cubicle Love Part Three

We love decorating cubicles at work, as you can see in previous posts (June and probably April or May). Clearly, we eagerly jumped to the challenge when a CONTEST was announced in honor of the holiday spirit. Our early enthusiasm was also our downfall. People saw our outstanding decoration skills, got inspired and took it to the next level, leading the entire area to complete and utter decoration mayhem. It was fun to see everyone participating. Here are some photos of our creations: Yes, we handmade all the snowflakes hanging from the ceilings.

It may be hard to tell, but we wrote all our names on the stockings and handmade this fireplace as well.
The outer walls of our cubes were covered in wrapping paper and we had two end tables with Almond Rocca, Peppermint Rocca, and Christmas cookies, which we shamelessly offered to the judges. One of my colleagues even wrapped up little boxes of chocolates as gifts for the judges. Speaking of shamelessness, I even complimented a judge on her Christmas sweater. We had Christmas songs playing, and were even continuously running a video of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
In true Red Cross style, the judges decided they couldn't just award 1st, 2nd & 3rd prizes, but rather gave some sort of prize to each participating group. We won for most creative.

One more person in the know.

We knew we were taking a chance in David finding out our big news over the weekend. The instant I walked in the door he started offering me drinks – margarita? Beer? Wine? Gin & Tonic? Uhm, no, no and no.. After that, I surprisingly made it through a dinner with three other people and two bottles of wine without suspicion. It was a little hard though when the waiter brought out a glass of wine on the house for me.

Later that night, we went to one of David’s favorite hangouts where the manager insisted on buying us drinks. David said I needed one, that I hadn’t had anything all night. When I politely declined, he told me how rude it was of me to not accept the offer. I realized that we couldn’t go on much further like this, especially since a sushi dinner, cocktails, and karaoke bar madness were in store later that weekend.

When I explained that I *couldn’t* have a drink, David looked so confused. Suddenly, he gasped, put both hands to his mouth, and wide-eyed asked, “are you pregnant?!?!?!?” He immediately got tears in his eyes, gave me the biggest hug, and told me how long he’d been waiting for this for us, and what an amazing mother I’d be. It was super duper sweet. Later on, David actually threw his arms up in joy, as if having witnessed a soccer goal and yelled, “My sister’s having a baby!!!” Even the next morning, he woke up saying over and over again how happy he was for us.

And for as many times as he expressed his happiness, I reminded him that he needed to keep it a super duper top secret until after Christmas. At first, I was worried that he’d blab to everyone, but he promised not to, and really gets a kick out of being the only one in the family who knows. I gave him full permission to tell his friends and co-workers, in hopes that this would get the telling itch out of his system.

It was really weird hanging out with a bunch of people and not having this big secret. No one looked at me weird when I just had water to drink at the bar, people were giving up their seats for me, and they didn’t think it was strange when I used the restroom over and over and over again. I realized how much I’ve been holding back my own excitement – not really talking about it except to Lane and very few others.

Can’t wait for everyone to finally be “in the know”.

New York

My colleague Mark and I had to go in to New York for work last Thursday and Friday. I decided to spend the weekend there and Lane came up on Friday.

David, who is addicted to Kebab Palace had been talking up his new favorite Afghan restaurant, which is only a couple blocks from his apartment. Since Mark was the one who introduced us both to the Afghan madness, we decided to let David introduce us to Ariana and judge for ourselves whether it was better than Kebab Palace. In fact, in preparation Lane and I ate at Kebab Palace on Wednesday night with our new neighbors. The waiter there thanked us for bringing our friends and said we were now ambassadors to Kebab Palace.

As we walked in the door with my brother, the owner Rafi loudly greeted him (by name). He gave us menus only to take them away and serve us what he thought we should eat. We had delectable samosas - meat, spinach, and pumpkin ones, another lovely appetizer, a plate of kebab madness, basmati rice with raisins, pistachios, and carrot slivers, salad, and wine. Hands down, it was fresher, less greasy, and more delicious than our local place. I also had the chance to meet some of the ladies David works with over dinner. They were really fun, and I understand why David has such a crazy time in the office. They are just as wild as he is!

David tried to convince us to go Mangia e Bevi afterwards, this is the restaurant where people dance on their chairs and use tambourines, etc. We were all tired and protesting a little. So we walked in, only to turn around and head back out. We crossed the street and started walking home when we heard this really loud whistle. The waiter was standing outside, cupping his hands and yelling that William, the manager, wanted to buy us drinks. How can you refuse that offer?! So we turned around and went back, chatted with William, and danced a little before heading home for the night.

A typical night at Mangia e Bevi

Totally random strangers at Mangia E Bevi:
Friday evening, David and I went to Bryant Park where they had Christmas songs, an ice rink, and all sorts of booths for artisan crafts and Christmas ornaments. I bought some hot apple cider, got a super warm winter hat for myself, and a present for Grandma Grover. I was hoping to find something for Grandma Chaney also, but I didn't find anything calling her name. David and I decided to cook dinner for Lane so we made one of his favorites - green curry. mmm. It was delicious!

We did more christmas shopping and even braved the ridiculous crowds on fifth avenue on Saturday and had a late lunch at this INSANE barbeque place. When we walked in, it was like we were transported to Texas, and nowhere near NYC! You order meat and sides at these counters and they give you the meat wrapped in butcher paper. David ordered us jalapeno sausage, brisket, ribs, chicken, and more. We also had side dishes of this amazing sweet corn pudding, green bean casserole, and black bean salad. We ate and ate until we could hardly move out of the chairs. I was sound asleep in the cab home, and promptly took a THREE HOUR nap. That was some serious food coma.
Before:

After:
Thank goodness we rested up because later that evening we went out for Chrissie's b-day party. We hit up this cute sushi place on the lower east side. Hours after our late lunch none of us were hungry in the slightest, but we gladly downed a spider roll, dragon roll, and this delicious shitake mushroom and pumpkin roll. mmmm. This was followed by cake and drinks at a nearby dive bar, which was then followed by karaoke bar madness. There was lots of singing/yelling, in all sorts of keys at the same time, and it was a total blast. We got home around 3:30, at which time we decided to feast (again) on curry leftovers and the boys stayed up playing the guitar until 5 in the am!!

We had a lovely weekend in NYC with David, as usual. He introduced us to some wonderful new places. Although I got in trouble for not waiting for Lane to go to Afghani (but now we have a good excuse to go back). Best of all, David has a huge Christmas tree and is very excited about starting up an ornament collection. I brought him a DC ornament to get him started :)

Thanks for an awesome weekend!!

Week 8

Lane swears I'm pushing my tummy out here, but I'm not! (boo for the double chin look I'm sporting in this pic)

Unexpected Doctor Visit

Yesterday morning I ready my weekly pregnancy email from webmd which advised that I might have a little cramping due to stretching ligaments. And, boy, did I feel what they were talking about.

This dull aching lasted all through the day, especially on one side. I started wondering if this was really normal, or not. I went to bed and still, the next morning I felt this continuous aching especially in my left side. So I did what any sane person would do, research on the internet. Researching things on the internet when you think something is wrong is never a good idea, but I did it anyway and read all about ectopic pregnancies and how they are usually noticeable in the 6-8 week range. That’s right where I am. Not good.

All this time, I hadn’t even really considered the possibility of something going wrong. Suddenly, my mind was flooded with all the bad results and reactions and telling people, having to explain our Christmas gifts to our parents, and whatnot. I decided to test the after hours telephone line at my dr’s office and it worked out great. You leave a message, and are supposed to receive a call back within 10 to 20 minutes. I got a call back 4 minutes later. The doctor was very friendly and recommended that I make an appointment to come in today. She said she would advise the staff that we spoke and make sure they’d fit me into today’s schedule. I called right when the office opened, advised them of my conversation and they scheduled me for this afternoon with the doctor I spoke with this morning.

I am still feeling this pain, and having better feelings about everything being okay. I thought it would be better to have them tell me it was nothing, than to assume it wasn’t anything and find myself regretting not contacting them.

...

Well, having just returned from the doctor, I can safely say that everything is a-okay. I had a culture taken, a blood test for Cystic Fibrosis, and a sonogram. It was so weird to see with my very own eyes that there is actually a little rascal growing in there. The heart rate was 144, which the doctors say is normal. I’ll post Baby Grover’s photo debut shortly. According to the "crown to rump" measurements, I'm 9 weeks along, although the doctor said we should stick with the original due date of July 22, 2008. That's right, one day before our wedding anniversary and four days after my birthday.

I went in early because I was worried about the pain, which is normal, they say. Lane was supposed to go with me to the 12/21 appointment, but the doctor said I should just cancel that one and schedule another one for 4 weeks from now. I didn’t have a sonogram last time because I wanted Lane to be there, and now I ended up having one without him there anyway which I was really disappointed about. I needed to get it done to make sure everything was all good, and thank goodness it is. Lane was really sweet. He said it was okay, and that he's just glad his babies are okay. :-)

I’m going in for a Down Syndrome testing sometime in the next couple of weeks. I believe they do sonograms for those as well. Hopefully, Lane can come along for that appointment.

Christmas and other stuff.

Lane and I are so excited for Christmas. Mostly because we have sent gifts to our parents sharing the big news with them. We got them both cutsie baby photo albums engraved with "Baby Grover". It will be a great surprise for them, and mostly everyone will find out at the same time. Yesterday morning, Lane and I were talking about how we thought our families would react.

In other news, Week 8 has begun and Baby Grover is now the size of a grape, while my uterus has grown to the size of a grapefruit.

About six or seven weeks ago I started getting the Economist. I'd avidly read as much as I could before the next week's edition came out. But my, have my reading interests shifted. Now all I read is the Pregnancy Journal, From the Hips, and What to Expect in the First Year. When I went to my first appointment last week, I had already read everything that they told me, and there was almost no new information in the powerpoint presentation. So I decided to concentrate on eating healthy, exercising (haven't made much progress here yet), and referring to my pregnancy books when I have a question. I figured I might as well use this reading time to study up on how to take care of a little baby after it arrives :)

Weekend Recap

We finally hung out with our new neighbors on Friday night. The day before Daylight Savings time ended, we found a little pumpkin candle on our doorstep reminding us to "fall back" and wishing us a happy autumn from our new neighbors. (I admit it, I thought Martha Stewart had moved into town and was getting ready to put me in my place)We stopped by to say hello, and even brought some cookies shortly after, but Friday was our first time hanging out.

We suggested Jaleo, but mostly because of the awesome Bolivian brothers who play guitar on Friday nights and sing so beautifully and sound *just* like the Gipsy Kings. We arrived to two IMPOSTERS. Apparently, the one night we try to introduce new people to this place, our fabulous guitar duo had another gig in DC. These other guitarists weren't nearly as good. We still enjoyed getting to know each other. Later on, we went back to the apartment and hung out in the pool table room. Our 11th floor friends, Sean & Jessica jpined us as well. It was good times for Friday night.

We were really excited to see Bill & Julie for lunch on Saturday. We hadn't seen them in FOREVER. Julie is pretty much super-woman. She recently completed an Ironman race - almost 3 miles of ocean swimming, followed by a 100 plus mile bike run, followed by a marathon!!! WOW, congrats Julie!

Saturday night was the official start of the holiday cheer. Our friends Alex & Matt hosted a Christmas party full of delightful friends, holiday songs, a gift exchange, awesome game they MADE UP, and tasty treats and drinks.

Lane had to go into work on Sunday so I decided to start cleaning the house. We watched Sicko, the Michael Moore movie. It really was sick. Lane and I are tempted to move to France or something crazy like that. (like that will ever happen)

Happy Birthday, David!

My big brother and fellow east coaster, David celebrates his birthday today. I won't tell you how old he is, but he's seven years older than me. When I was really little I called him Day-ha (don't ask me why).

David protected me when I was little. He also introduced me to a lot of cool music that I wouldn't have heard until years later if it weren't for him. One day he had me go in his room to hear this really cool new song that came out, so he played me the tape and it was Depeche Mode's People are People.

Even though he never let me sing along with the Oompa Loopa songs when we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (only HE was allowed, apparently), he's still a great brother and friend to Lane and me both. At his wedding, our photographer wanted a picture with David and just his brothers, he said Lane *was* his brother and needed to be in the pic.

Happy Birthday, Bro.

First Doctor Visit

Like I said before, this doctor visit was just for the initial blood work and to answer questions. I met with a very nice doctor who gave me some prenatal vitamins samples and a year's prescription. He took me in his office to show me a really detailed power point presentation with all the do's and don'ts as well as what to expect for the first visit, info about testing, and recommendations. He emailed it to me at home and said I can email him whenever. The office phone is answered 24/7, so he said to call with any question at any time.

Then the doctor said it was a really slow day, and that if I wanted, I could have a sonogram to see the baby and maybe even hear the heartbeat. Lane and I had talked about the appointments and decided that since I was just getting bloodwork and such done, that he'd come for the next appointment. I thought about how cool it would be to have a little picture and that we could somehow incorporate it into a Christmas gift for our parents, but I declined. I wanted Lane to be there. So hopefully, we'll get one done on the 21st.

These days I've been feeling like I have this huge secret. I also feel as if my body is emanating "I'm pregnant, people!" waves and that everyone can just tell. It's probably all in my head, but it's kind of weird.

Yesterday my boss was talking about how stressed out she is with everything at work and how she keeps getting more things thrown at her. It made me feel really uncomfortable thinking about how to tell her (probably sometime in the next month or so) about our pregnancy. I'm already not sure about wearing quite a few items of clothing - i can make my way into them, but then it seems even more apparent that I'm either "chunking out" or that there's a little baby growing inside of me.

Week 7

According to my Pregnancy Journal, Baby Grover is growing at a phenomenal rate. If our baby grew as fast right after birth as it is growing right now, it would measure 15 feet tall by the time it was one month old! Holy Moly!

The Pregnancy Journal is super cool. Each day has info about a new development in the baby's growth, what the mother should expect (sheesh, I'm going to be a mom!!), and tips for healthy eating. Each evening before we go to sleep, Lane and I read what happened that day.

It seems weird that I have this little bump so early. I tried reading online to find out when you start "showing". Basically it's different for everyone. But I did read that if you're really thin, it's much more apparent earlier. My mom has always told me that she got big right away with each pregnancy, so quickly that the doctors always thought she was carrying twins.

Preggers in Miami

Baby Grover is barely seven weeks old and has already traveled to the Dominican Republic and most recently, Miami. All I have to say is goodbye window seats and hello aisle seats. I've always loved sitting by the window and getting a little preview of my destination before even landing. Another benefit has been not being bothered when other people have to get in and out of their seats throughout the entire flight. Well, that is who I have become. It took one flight of being seated next to two tall men, who were fully engaged in their reading and video watching, behind an entire row of people with reclined seats to learn that it just wasn't meant for me anymore. As soon as I got to the airport for the return flight, I promptly switched to an aisle seat.

It's hard to eat properly when you're limited to Cuban restaurant food. It's quite delicious, but full of tons of meat, various fried foods, plantains, plantains, and more plantains, buttery and unhealthy pastries, and very few vegetables, salads, or calcium. After I got home, we spent Sunday at the grocery store stocking up on lots of fresh fruits and veggies and healthy snacks to eat throughout the day. I've been feeling a lot hungrier lately, but also get full much faster.

Over lunch one day with Miami chapter volunteer, she learned that I had been married for seven years, and when I responded to a question of hers saying I didn't have any kids yet, she immediately asked if I had considered adoption. I was kind of taken by surprise by that response. I guess some people don't just spend time enjoying each other's company after getting married or there's automatically something wrong with you if you don't have kids. And there she was thinking how sad it was to be me, unable to get pregnant, when in fact I was exactly that. I told her we planned on having some kids of our own, and yes, we'd actually talked about adopting also, but that's not in our immediate future. I guess I should start getting used to personal/intruding questions and how to graciously respond.

My first doctor appointment is tomorrow.

Miami y el resto del fin de semana

After a short recovery from Thanksgiving madness and requisite left-over feasting, I headed off to Miami for a couple of days to teach class at the chapter on how to do Restoring Family Links casework.

It was kind of a shocker to leave 40 degree weather and arrive in Miami at 8:30 pm to twice the temperature and sticky hot humidity. When the chapter staff found out I was leaving right away, this little old lady insisted that she take a colleague and me out on the town to see at least some of Miami.
So we hopped into her little corolla with extremely tinted windows and made our way to the best Cuban restaurant in town. It’s called Versailles, and apparently all the bigwigs eat there when they’re in town. It’s also where all the Cubanos eat, and gather when there is big news. Rumor has it that when business is slow at Versailles, the owners leak to the media that Fidel Castro has died. I ate so much meat and plantains – fried, mashed, fried, flattened, and then fried again (tostones). And while I’m not a big coffee drinker at all, I really enjoyed Cuban coffee. They serve it in these tiny cups that are about the size of a large thimble. It’s somehow sweet and quite tasty.

Later, our gracious host drove us to South Beach where they had many restaurants and stores out by the Beach, tons of outdoor seating and WOW, were there a lot of lights in that city! Entire buildings were bright neon colors – some even changed color before my very eyes. Bridges were lit up with flashing pinkish purple lights. It was like being in Las Vegas or something. I flew home early on Friday evening.

Lane and I ate at Kebab Palace on Friday night and got together with some friends to play games on Saturday night. It was a relaxing weekend, very welcome after almost a week of Thanksgiving overeating and entertaining.

We’ve been without a dishwasher for a week and a half now. Hopefully, a new one will be waiting to greet us in our kitchen tonight.

Do I really look *that* different?

Today I was talking to my office mother, Habiba. Habiba is a wonderful Somali woman. She is so in tune with people and all the touchy feely intuition girl stuff, which is why I guess I shouldn't have been so shocked when out of nowhere she said, "so tell me, Elena. Are you pregnant now?" I wasn't going to lie, she is my office mother after all.

She said that I looked different - more "glowing" and that my face was rounder. So the body changes have begun, apparently.

I never would have thought that someone would be able to tell so soon.

Doctor, Doctor

I spent half the day at work trying to find a doctor to go to. My first appointment is scheduled for December 5th. At this appointment, the pregnancy will be confirmed, they'll do routine blood tests, and have lots of time for questions and answers.

My first exam will be on December 21st. I can't believe this is all happening!

The Baby Blog

So I thought it would be a cool idea to start a baby blog so I could document everything that is happening and be able to share it all later, whenever we decide it's okay to tell people. Can you imagine how disappointed I was to see that the blog name babygrover.blogspot.com already existed!?!? It's kind of strange because this girl is due at the very end of this year. The strange part is, their family's last name isn't even Grover, it's KELLBACH!!! I guess her maiden name is Groves. Oh, and another weird thing is that her wedding anniversary is the same day as ours. And you're probably wondering how I know all this. The answer is that I'm nosy. That's all there is to it. I read the whole blog, looked at her baby registry and flickr account and now I know. This is why I am good at tracing and finding people.


You're probably not reading this to learn the details of some random lady's life, so I will end this post with my first belly picture. Here we are at end of week 5 (I think):

For real?!?

Early November I started feeling a little funny in the boob department and also feeling a little yucky after eating dinner. I wasn't sure what to think. I kind of thought I was possibly pregnant, but hadn't missed my period yet and didn't want to get worked up about it either way. Although, I'm not going to lie, I bought a package of cute green and yellow onesies.

However, the night before we went on vacation I thought the responsible thing to do was take a test to make sure. After all, we were going to have 24 hr access to all the alcohol we wanted. So I came home and waited for Lane so we could do the test.

I have serious issues peeing on sticks and into cups, by the way. I just can't do it. Anyway, I immediately left the bathroom after taking the test and Lane and I both went to check the results exactly two minutes later. Here's what we found:


We were so excited and Lane told me what a good job I had done, as if this were a one person accomplishment ;) He also said he already knew I was pregnant! So I immediately pulled my What to Expect When You're Expecting book and started studying.

A friend of ours asked if we were going to bring home a Baby Grover from our vacation, I laughed and said I didn't think so. I had no idea we'd be taking a Baby Grover with us to the Dominican Republic!

It was really good timing. We were able to read all about being pregnant, talk about it tons and just soak it all in. For ages I've daydreamed about us having babies. It's so surreal to think there's actually a little rascal growing like crazy inside of me.

At dinner one night Lane told me how happy he was that we were starting our family. I think we both got a little teary-eyed.

Our Elfamorphosis

If you've been searching the internet to see Lane and Elena dressed as Santa's little elves, doing a Christmas boogie, look no further! We have elfed ourselves, and are sharing the results for your viewing pleasure!!

Check it out:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9600613872

Thanksgiving Week

We returned from vacation on Monday night to a mostly messy apartment and an empty kitchen. We had just enough time to pick up a turkey and some other essential items at Trader Joes before David and Christianne arrived.

My 10 year old niece is such a sweetheart. Even though I had just seen her in June, I was surprised to see that she was nearly as tall as me, and wore a bigger shoe size than me. Before she even arrived to DC, she knew she wanted to go to the top of the Washington Monument, see the Jefferson Memorial at night, and go ice skating. We were sure she got to do all of these things. One night she decided to write a story. So she just sat down and immediately started writing, only stopping to give us paragraph by paragraph updates. Christianne amazed me with her descriptive accounts of being caught in a rainstorm - the clouds trembled, the lightning flickered, and she was safely covered under a blanket of trees... I loved it.

We spent Wednesday cooking and cooking, and cooking some more. It was nice, because there wasn't much to do on Thursday except clean up a little, which made the day more relaxing. We had David, Christianne, and several friends over for the following feast:

1. Mixed greens with apple, dried cranberries, candied pecans, and goat cheese

2. Roasted turkey with an herb paste rubbed all under the skin. We stuffed it with fresh herb sprigs, onions, celery, and fresh citrus fruit.

3. Dressing, which my brother called hippie stuffing. I made it with asiago sourdough bread, spicy italian sausage, dried apricots, fresh apples and cranberries, pecans, pine nuts, fennel, other regular veggies, tons of fresh herbs, and moistened it with spicy apple cider and white wine.

4. Spinach Gratin (which I could have added a little extra spinach to)

5. Roasted sweet potato and roasted banana puree with a nut streusel topping

6. Mashed Potatoes

7. Sauteed Green beans

For dessert, Lane made delicious Pumpkin Crunch, a recipe shared by our dear friend Malia, and I made an apple cranberry pie. It was a serious feast.

I truly thought I was going to pass out after I finished eating my dinner. Lane was in all his glory. We purposely got an extra big turkey so we could have tons of leftovers.

After running about 8 cycles in two days my dishwasher decided to crap out after Thanksgiving dinner, leaving us to wash all our dishes by hand.

The next morning, we put on the Christmas music, decorated the tree and the rest of the apartment. I just love getting a head start on the Christmas holiday. The rest of the weekend was spent checking items off of Christianne's list, in addition to visiting the American Indian museum, the Smithsonian visitor center (the castle) and the Botanical Gardens.

June and October

In June, while Lane and I were in Indiana one night, Lane looked at me and said we should decide when we want to have kids, and it should be soon. I was so surprised and excited to hear this come from him. So I cried.

Later on, we talked about how we wanted me to stay home, and what we'd need to do to make that happen. We decided we'd have to sell our house in CA. This is quite possibly one of the most overwhelming things to figure out, let alone trying to do so from 3,000 miles away. So we procrastinated and did nothing.

In October, we had this moment where we both just realized that if we got pregnant we'd be happy and totally ready to take on the new challenge, adventure, and stage of our lives that a baby would bring. And, that maybe actually having a 9 month deadline would get us into shape to do the things we've been dragging our feet on.

Ahh, Vacation!

We had a wonderfully relaxing trip to the DR. We went kayaking in the ocean, ate lots, and just chilled by the pool, and then by the beach, walked on the beach at night, read, and enjoyed being able to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted to. We really needed that break.

It was in the high 80's the whole time we were there. Rain was in the forecast every single day for our trip, but it only rained once. We were on the beach and all of a sudden this roaring thunder came from no where, and the rain immediately began pouring while everyone ran frantically off of the beach. Lane and I used the opportunity to snag one of the huts and went swimming in the ocean. We practically had the whole beach and the ocean to ourselves.

One night they had this "arabian nights" entertainment show. Lane and I thought we'd go check it out, not having very high hopes at all. We thought we'd go check it out, promising that we'd leave if it was totally lame. So we stood in the very back, allowing us an easy escape route. The thing was, we had found ourselves transported to this bizarrely bad live Sabado Gigante-esque show. It was terrible, but in that way that you want to see what happens next.

They picked four ladies for this "Miss Oasis Hamaca (the resort name)" competition. They told the ladies to watch this other lady as she demonstrated what they'd have to do. The next thing we knew, the song, "I'm Too Sexy" started playing and this lady pranced around stage with a boa, walking all sultry and sexy. She ended up on this chair in the middle of the stage with her leg up in the air, as if she were being dipped.

The first lady was kind of big, and obviously not very excited about her turn to repeat this fiasco. She went backstage, and then the music started. But she was nowhere to be found. They restarted the music, and still, nothing. The host had to go back stage and give her a little pep talk or something. She finally walked across the stage with the boa, but wasn't too happy about it.

Contenstant number 2 started, but she didn't seem very coordinated. She hardly bent her legs as she went across the stage. Lane and I were asking eachother why she was walking so strangely. As she dipped down to go into the final pose on the chair, she just kept going and somersaulted over herself completely losing her balance and fell on the stage. We quickly realized that her lack of coordination was due to her inebriation.

Contestant numero 3 was a crazy 65 yr old Canadian lady. She must have misunderstood the directions, because she came out MARCHING across the stage, using the boa as if it were a set of nunchucks, she was karate kicking her legs around and doing 360s. She was ninja lady. It was SOOO funny. It was like she was trying to intimidate the audience, rather than entice them.

The last girl actually followed the directions. She was also the only girl the audience would have liked to see follow the directions. She was a young hot Spanish girl.

Next, they each had a minute to go out in the audience to kiss all the guys they could. Canadian Ninja lady misunderstood the directions again. She went out in the audience and just kissed her husband over and over again. Afterwards, the husband (who was clearly drunk off his ass) stood up and started flexing his muscles and grunting.

The last round that we stayed for was all out mayhem. Each girl was supposed to go out in the audience and collect as many articles of clothing as possible, each of varying point value. Some of the girls were pulling clothes off of people, but some guys in the audience were taking off their own clothes and chasing the girls down to give them the "points."

At the end of the round there were huge piles of shirts, shoes, and pants on the stage. The host said everyone would have ONE minute to go on stage to collect their belongings. They started flashing lights, blasting house dance music, and even used the strobe light. It was absolutely ridiculously retarded. We just couldn't pull ourselves away from this Sabado Gigante inspired extravaganza. It gave us a lot of laughs.

Pics from the Dominican Republic

This is a busy weekend. More on our trip soon :)

Wacky Weekend

We were supposed to go out to this jazz club called Vegas Lounge on Friday night with some of my co-workers. Lane and I decided to rest up before a night out on the town. Unfortunately, this plan didn't work so well for us, because we ended up just staying home. So, we are old, what can I say?! Sometimes it's just a good idea to have the party start right after work so you don't have a chance to realize how tired you are.

Saturday, we went to an afternoon picnic for Lane's work. It was outdoors with all the bbq food you could ask for, beer and wine, even crab, but I'm not really down with using a hammer to my food and all the mess, so I held back there. It was also super cold. We were all bundled up and stood by the fire. Lane and I decided to jump in the kids bounce house to warm up. It was funny. Trampolines are way better though. We also decided to be the first to use the sumo wrestling costumes... YES, sumo wrestling. So, after I wrestled a while just to get into the costume, I battled against Lane who wrestled his whole childhood (sans the huge costume). Needless to say, he totally kicked my ass. We were laughing so hard, and I kind of didn't want to get out of the costume that enveloped me because I was finally cozy warm. It was so liberating when we did take the costumes off. I could see the ground, i could actually hug Lane. wow. Here we are all sumo'd out:

So at the picnic, we made plans with some of Lane's co-workers to go out later that night in Chinatown. Lane and I went home and sat in the car deciding if we should go upstairs. The reason we had this conversation was that the power was off in our apartment building for the WHOLE day (this was planned). But this meant no hot water, no using the fridge, no lights, and most importantly to those who live on the twelfth floor, NO ELEVATOR!!!! We braved it and I realized quite how out of shape I was.

Later that night we had fun out on the town with Lane's co-worker Wes and his lovely wife Ioana and some of their buddies, one of whom was Jesus for halloween also. What are the chances?!?! I got to see my long lost dear Katie that night also. It has been way too long since we've caught up.

The fiasco began as soon as we left. We were waiting and waiting for the metro, but the yellow line wasn't even on the schedule board. During this time, I realized how much I had to go pee. Lane went upstairs to check on the schedule, and seriously, the second he went up was when the train popped on the schedule, scheduled to arrive in just two minutes. I tried franctically to call him, but it wasn't working. I even yelled his name. The train came, and was waiting an extra long time.. i ran up the escalator to find Lane, but didn't see him, so I went back down. (in this time, unbeknownst to me, Lane ran down the escalator, ran up the platform, looking for me, and since he didnt' see me, he hopped on the train, thinking I was on it also). In the meantime, my urge to pee was growing exponentially by the minute. And the next train wasn't arriving for 13 more minutes. I finally realized Lane was on the train already. He turned around, went back to meet up with me, and made it 1 minute before our train arrived. By this time, I was ready to burst. I'd never had to pee this bad in my whole life. I was also ready to cry, because, well I never had to pee this bad in my whole life. Our train ride was about 10 minutes. After we got off the train, Lane suggested that I pee in the bushes. I was *not* going to pee in the bushes, are you crazy!?!? I started walking away and realized how much I really, really, really, REALLY had to go. So, I walked up a little hill and peed. I can't believe it came to that. I had a glass of wine and a glass of juice, it wasn't like I was drinking all night. so that was a first. But I felt like a new person afterwards. I said, at least I'd have sometime to put in the blog.

Sunday, we did pre-thanksgiving shopping for all those non refrigerated items. And since Lane had to work on Veteran's Day, I decided to be super duper housewife and did laundry, cleaned, organized, cooked, etc. It was so weird to be finished eating dinner before I usually start cooking it.

We have to pack for our trip soon because we leave on Thursday. yay! The very day after we get back, David and CHristianne arrive. That's when we have to do mad thanksgiving grocery shopping and start the cooking bananza.

Weekend in the Kitchen

Since it's been almost two whole weeks, without any mention of my kitchen adventures, I thought it was time to share.

Lane was feeling under the weather this weekend, so we stayed in and he rested. Thank goodness he's sick now, instead of next week. So I made him a HUGE pot of chicken soup.

Yesterday, I made banana bread, but just for the fun of it tossed in a bunch of fresh cranberries. Hadn't ever tried that before. After I tasted it, I wish I had put in more cranberries. They are wonderfully tart bursts of flavor. I decided plain banana bread is just boring.

But the grand finale of the weekend kitchen adventures was my butternut squash ravioli. On Saturday I roasted the squash and made the filling. Lane and I cheated by using wonton wrappers as the pasta. We cooked them up in a delicious sage butter sauce with red pepper flakes and garlic. We finished them off with toasted pine nuts. Lane made a salad with fresh apple slices, goat cheese, dried cranberries and pecans. We are definitely making this recipe again.

....

So, in my (long ago) 100 things about me post, I shared that I always have weird dreams. Here's a little tidbit to give you the picture: I had this dream that I was supposed to be at work, but was with my mom in Santa Cruz instead at this little international crafts bazaar and then remembered I should call work. She handed me her cell phone which was this oversized big yellow, juicy half pear shaped number. When I pressed the buttons they squished around and I couldn't remember who my boss was or who to call. The next thing I knew, Lane and I were at our apartment and someone was banging on the door. We opened it up to some really raggedy looking neighbors this one guy immediately punched Lane in the face. I gasped in horror and tried to yell at him, but nothing would come out. This guy stormed inside and started yelling at Lane for stealing his 3/4 cup measurer.

??? I don't get it either.

Vacation Update

Today I had to send an email to a colleague at the Dominican Red Cross who I met at my conference in Panama. Since I was already corresponding with her about the affected disaster areas for Tropical Storm Noel, I decided to ask her if Boca Chica was affected. I needed to know if I had to cancel my trip or not. Yeah, it may have been a little inappropriate, but I knew I wouldn't get more accurate information anywhere else.

I was elated to learn that the beaches at Boca Chica were minimally affected. Now I know exactly the areas that were affected and can see them on a map in relation to where I'm going, and can finally breathe a huge sigh of relief.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

No vacation for us??

I just came back from a total bummer of a meeting. It was a disaster briefing on Tropical Storm Noel, which is headed toward the Bahamas and has recently hit Cuba, Haiti, and (what luck) la República Dominicana. Yes, that Caribbean vacation hot spot I am supposed to be heading to (for a much deserved 5 days of complete sunshine and utter relaxation with my over-worked, loving husband whom I rarely see these days) in exactly two weeks. I learned all sorts of interesting factoids about the current haps of the DR– for instance, the rains from Tropical Storm Noel have caused flooding and landslides throughout the country. About 34,000 people have been affected and more than 19,000 have been evacuated. Infrastructure including roads, bridges, electrical power lines, and agriculture has been damaged. But my personal favorite tidbit of unconfirmed 411 was that while the DR is reaching out to international aid organizations for assistance, they are not officially declaring a state of emergency, as it could impact local tourism.

HELLO!

I’ve checked the maps and the actual storm hit the westernmost portion of the country, while we are supposed to be staying in the south east. I will have to do some research. I thought I was being so smart by taking a trip at the last two weeks of hurricane season (June 1 – Nov 30) and getting hurricane insurance. We’ll see what happens.

I am still very determined to take this vacation. Stay tuned for more.

Halloween Weekend

Lane and I were planning to attend a party on Saturday night. Last week, I ordered a costume from Amazon.com. It was this awesome pirate wench costume. But Saturday morning it hadn't arrived, but I was sure it would be in the mail that afternoon.

We went to Party Depot and Party City looking for a costume for Lane. For three years he has wanted to be JESUS, the big J.C. for Halloween. We thought we might find a costume that could be modified for use as Jesus. We didn't think he'd be lucky enough to find a Jesus Costume! We bought some accessories for my costume that would be arriving too.

After the mail arrived, we realized my costume wasn't coming until Monday and had to trek back to the party stores. They were horrendous. The lines were practically as long as the stores themselves, there were huge crowds, screaming children, and practicially every costume I wanted to try on was out of stock. As I was in line, I found myself thinking about how much I hate shopping the day after thanksgiving, or after Christmas because of the ridiculous lines and utter chaos... I was kind of glad my costume was arriving late - it means I won't have to do this again.

We had a great time at the party. EVERYONE was dressed up. The whole place was wonderfully decorated, there were tasty treats and drinks, and Jesus, who came bearing wine, won the costume contest. Here are some lovely photos from the evening. (more are on the "Our Pics" link of the blog)

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, who reminded me of Teen Wolf, actually.
Yes! I love Rainbow Brite. Here she is escorted by a lovely Power Ranger, who was co-champion with Jesus of Beer Pong. So what are the chances of Jesus *and* Adam & Eve showing up at the same party!?!? Their real names are Adam and Genesis. They won for the most original costumes - they bought a plant at Michael's and just hot glued it all over their underwear. Very impressive. I tried like 15 different costumes before I got this one. All the others were sold out. It actually ended up working quite well, since my date was Jesus. You might be seeing this pic again, oh around the holidays. ;) Overall, it was good times. We left just after the police arrived. whoops. I don't think I've ever been to a party where the police were too. I guess there were some noise complaints. But come on, people, it's Halloween!