Yay for the Doctor's Office!

Today I finally spoke with someone at the doctor's office who was very pleasant and polite. The woman checked my chart, spoke with the doctor and confirmed that the visit was coded incorrectly. She said the billing company would void the charges, and it will be all taken care of.

BUT, she also said that while they were voiding the charge, they would still not code the visit as prenatal. Apparently, you get 2 ultrasounds per normal pregnancy. This way, I will still have another ultrasound covered by the insurance. That was a nice surprise to hear.

Hopefully my insurance woes are over for a while.

Week 16

This week Baby Grover is about 4.5 inches long. During this month, Baby Grover's weight will increase SIX times!! In other news, Baby Grover's tiny toe nails are just starting to grow.

I've been doing yoga back stretches in the mornings and evenings before I go to bed, which seems to be helping with the back pain I've started to feel. I guess it's good practice to get used to backaches and not sleeping through the night ;)

While I am definitely growing fast, I have to put a little disclaimer out there because I took this picture right after dinner, so it might look a little bigger than usual. Although, last night I even noticed a difference in my belly button. It's not pushed out, but it's definitely stretched and doesn't have all the little creases it did before.

Weekend Fun

On Thursday night Lane got to go to a hockey game with the bosses at work. I was sound asleep when he got home. We decided to go on a date on Friday and had dinner at this little pizza cafe across the street from our apartment. They have delicious pizza, and it's totally casual. Lots of people go there with their kids and have pizza and play games. My pizza had fresh parmesan cheese, prosciutto, and fresh spicy arugula. mmm. We went home and watched the 40 Year Old Virgin, which was a cute movie, until it got all crazy at the end when they all sang Aquarius and were prancing around strangely. That was a little cooky.

We were fortunate to laze around during the day and then had an exciting afternoon being introduced to the wonders of Wii by our friends Sean & Jessica. And let me just say that I am much better at tennis and bowling on Wii than in real life. I even beat LANE! This is unheard of.

Saturday night we went to Ben & Raquel's. We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving - way too long! They had a group of people over and we played the old stand by game of Apples to Apples, and a new fun one called Fact or Crap. There were lots of laughs that evening.

We finally finished putting away Christmas - all the ornaments, decorations, the big beautiful tree are all stored safely and ready to come out of hiding promptly as soon as Thanksgiving is over.

Sunday, we had Marc & Katie over for dinner. Lane had a great idea of making them pizzas. After we rushed around at three different grocery stores, we got busy getting ready for the evening. I started the pizza dough since it has to rise for so long while Lane (the lifesaver) cleaned our apartment up. We had a goat cheese, fresh tomato and fresh basil pizza and a spicy pizza with hot italian sausage, marinated mushrooms, and pepperoncinis. Lane also made the salad and salad dressing, and if this weren't wonderful enough, after dinner he whipped up an apple crisp. I love that guy.

It was great feeling back to my normal self, seeing friends, laughing, and eating good food.

Thanks, Sarah Crawford!

So our friends Sarah & Ben, back from the days of San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly, are having a baby too. They are due on Valentine's day, so Sarah is much further along than I am. She has been awesome at letting me in about cool products for pregnant ladies. Thanks, Sarah!!

First, I am loving my Snoogle pillow. It's a big huge C shaped pillow that works wonders for staying comfortable throughout the night.

Sarah also told me about the BellaBand, which I just got in the mail yesterday. It's going to be a wardrobe saver. Weeks ago I had to put away all my pre-pregnancy pants, but everytime I stand up I have to hike up my saggy maternity pants. The BellaBand is this elasticky band that you can wear over your pre-pregnancy pants (unbuttoned), and it just looks like you have a cute tank top under your shirt. I also put it on over my maternity pants and they didn't budge! They stayed right on, it was awesome. My little package says they help keep your pants up later when your big ol' belly is pushing them down, and then you can use it again after the baby is born with the too-loose maternity pants and too small pre-pregnancy pants.

Okay all you mamas out there. If you have any tips for awesome mama or baby products, now's the time to dish 'em out!

Venting.

One of my newfound pastimes, now that I’m regularly going to the doctor and getting prescriptions, is disputing charges with pharmacies and doctor’s offices. The other day after several phone calls to both my insurance company AND the pharmacy, I was finally able to get reimbursed after I was charged more than double what I should have for my prenatal vitamins, due to an error of the pharmacy’s (who swore up and down that they entered everything correctly, and that the problem was with the insurance company).

Two days after resolving this, my next insurance woe came in the form of a bill for one of my recent doctor appointments. Remember when I went in a week early because I was having pelvic pain? Well, at that appointment, the doctor told me to cancel my appointment later that week since we’d already done everything that would have been done at a normal 1st prenatal appointment (ultrasound, exam, answering questions, what’s okay and what’s not in pregnancy). When I called the billing office, they said the visit wasn’t classified as a prenatal visit because I was complaining of pain, and as soon as you do that, it’s considered an “office visit” and not a prenatal visit. It’s ridiculous! What am I supposed to say when the doctor asks how I'm feeling at a prenatal appointment, if when you say you’re having pain it’s no longer a prenatal appointment? Is that supposed to be a trick question?! I haven’t gotten this issue resolved yet. My next steps are talking to the doctor’s office, and if that doesn’t take care of it, I will speak directly with the doctor at my appointment next week.

It’s a hassle. And I really like the doctor’s office, it’s just a pain dealing with their billing people. Grr.

Hotel Grover

We are so excited to see lots of different people this year. Our first guests of the year just might be Ian, Adie and company from Santa Barbara. They are definitely coming, I just say might since it's possible we'll see Malia (and maybe Andrew) before then!

Malia and Andrew are our dear friends from college, our partners in the original game-a-thon weekends including such madness as twister, cranium, and other wild shenanigans. Malia and Andrew had a beautiful wedding in 2005 in Hawaii, where she is from, and they've lived there ever since. She has a short term job assignment from March to July in Baltimore and we can't wait to see her!!! Bring on the games!!!

Lots of other people have talked about visiting us, including Noal & Cati (one of Lane's brothers and his wife), my brother Matthew, and our bestest friends from high school and earlier, Tim & Heather have talked about coming out as well.

Of course my mom is going to visit in July to help out with all things baby, and my sister Cynthia mentioned coming out shortly after as well. Wow. that's a lot of visitors. We can't wait.

Squirming Around

I am determined to feel this baby moving around. Some books I read say you should start to feel movements between weeks 16 and 22 or so, but that if you start out extra slender before pregnancy, it's likely you'll feel the baby on the early side. That's me!!!

I have my hands all over my tummy all the time and I feel little flutterings or whatever, but how the heck do you tell the difference between little stomach gurgling and babies squirming around?

I'll keep you guys posted.

Goodbye, Christmas

It's true. Today I took down the Christmas cards and removed all the ornaments from the tree. When Lane noticed that Christmas is going away, and knowing how much I dread taking down the deocrations, he rushed to me and asked me how I was doing :) So silly.

This job is not over yet. I still have to find the individual boxes for each ornament and put them away snugly so they are all ready for next year. **sigh**

Week 15

This month, Baby Grover is pumping 25 quarts of blood through its tiny little body (about 4 to 4.5 inches long) every day. That's like 25 jars of spaghetti sauce!! It sounds like a lot, but after being born Baby Grover will get serious and start pumping 300 quarts of blood per day.

Baby Grover is busy practicing hand and arm movements - making a fist, moving its thumbs, bending the wrists and grasping. As if this weren't enough, Baby Grover is practicing all sorts of other things like swallowing, sucking movements, turning its head, opening its mouth, and pressing its lips together. What a busy little bee!

I spent most of yesterday doing baby related things. I cleaned out my entire closet and put away clothes I knew I wouldn't be wearing anytime in the next 9 months or so, and cleared some space for the cutsie baby clothes I am slowly starting to acquire. I also spent lots of time on the Babies R Us website picking out registry stuff.

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning at 2:30 and didn't really get back to sleep until about 10 minutes before it was time to wake up. My back was bothering me. Since I was up all night and don't feel so hot today, I decided to stay home and rest up.

Boy or Girl???

I have always believed I was destined to have a boy first. It's really kind of a silly reason why. I am basically a freak and find weird patterns in everything. For example, in my family (and not just my immediate family), boys usually have girls first and girls have boys first. Let's take a look at some case studies: David had Christianne, Tim had Mina, Theresa had Andrew. My cousin Steven had Ruby, Michael had Nicolette, while Suzanne had Teddy and Melissa had Adam. I could go on, but I think you get the point. And of course, not *everyone* has followed this pattern.

I still think we just might have a boy first, but the other night I had a strange dream. I was going through all these elementary school pictures and toddler pictures of a little girl who I thought was me at first. But I realized they couldn't have been MY school pics, although they were of a really cute little girl who looked strikingly like me. weird.

It's anyone's guess.

Terribly Exciting Weekend

The weekend had an early start - on Thursday I had a lovely dinner with my dear friend Katie who I haven't seen in ages. We feasted on Thai food and caught up on each other's happenings like girls do. Later that night Lane and I went downstairs to celebrate Sean's birthday by eating some delicious chocolate decadence cake. And thank goodness for Thursday, because the rest of the weekend was not so eventful.

While we had plans to meet up with Dan & Julia on Friday night for Jaleo, I sissied out and stayed home sinc eI wasn't feeling well. Instead Lane and Dan went and got kicked out of a bar. Lane thought it was a good idea to bring his own beer to the bar. The bartender didn't agree and the night ended early for those fellows.

We watched some episodes of 24, did some grocery shopping, and went a little crazy buying a pepper mill at Costco that is like 3 feet tall. Not much else due to yours truly feeling crappy all weekend. ah, well. There's always next weekend.

My Boxing Coach

If you've voted on the Baby Grover Pool, you may have noticed that one of the guessers identified himself as my former boxing coach. If you haven't voted yet, now's your time to make your guess! http://www.expectnet.com/games/Baby_Grover_Pool

So yeah, my boxing coach. When I was about 4 years old, and my cousin Justin was 3, our loving older brothers had the brilliant idea that we should have boxing fights against each other. We'd go down in the basement and basically punch each other. I don't remember so clearly, but I think the coach role involved convincing us not to cry, to keep boxing, and probably to not tell our parents.

Blah.

Blah. That is how I've been feeling all weekend. Tired, not really wanting to move around too quickly and so much for the headaches going away. It's kind of a bummer, since I thought that madness was supposed to decrease or go away in the second trimester.

On the plus side, I did get a lot of rest this weekend, and I even did 40 minutes of prenatal yoga today. The prenatal yoga is a 2nd trimester video, and is more challenging than I thought it would be. At one point I decided that the instructor was only pretending to be pregnant, because how else could someone power through it like that?

Even though I've been feeling yucky, my appetite hasn't gone away. In fact, I want to eat everything I see cooked on the Food Network. This resulted in me concocting my own version of Shepard's Pie after I saw Rachael Ray make one. I also wanted to eat soft tacos and numerous other dishes that looked delicious on tv, but succeeded in only making the shepard's pie.

My Birthing from Within book has some techniques for dealing with pain that you're supposed to practice while holding onto ice cubes. We tried some of those this afternoon. For one, Lane was supposed to time me holding the ice cube for 60 seconds, and the end, he actually timed it for 2 minutes and I didn't even realize. Of course, it's nothing like the pains of labor, whatever those may be like, but it's good to start practicing dealing with unpleasant and painful sensations.

Wowwa Weewa

This month, Baby Grover is supposed to grow faster than it ever has or ever will!! This growing must be starting already, because I've started to feel little pains in the sides of my stomach, which I'm sure are growing pains of stretching ligaments. I've noticed that around 4 pm or so, even when I eat a nice big lunch i am absolutely famished. I am going to need to restock on snacks at work. My afternoon headaches are largely a thing of the past and I am even sleeping through the night without getting up to pee. Ahh, the simple pleasures in life!

Our nephew, Andrew

Today Andrew called me at work, when I answered the phone I heard him say this: "A B C D E F G...Hello, How you doin???" Andrew is just two. He then proceeded, without any prompting, to tell me that A is for Alligator, L is for Lion, M is for Monkey and N (but, of course) is for Necklace.

Theresa then told me that the other day Andrew woke up and then exclaimed, "I want to make tamales!!!"

I love that kid.

Lane's Ridiculous Super Power

Yesterday Lane went to sign some papers at our insurance agent's office. He called me because the office wasn't where he thought it was. I gave him the address and the guy's phone number. Later on, when I got home, I asked Lane what happened. It turns out the guy relocated, but to somewhere on the same street. I was a little confused here, wouldn't you look up the address before going, and see that it's different? Maybe if you weren't Lane! Lane *remembered* where the office was, in a city that's like 25 minutes away. He had only ever been there ONCE before, and that was in 2005. If the guy hadn't moved, Lane would have been there no problem. This guy is crazy, man.

Week 14

Today I am exactly 14 weeks pregnant, and exactly SIX months away from our due date. That doesn't sound like enough time to do everything we need to, but we're going to have to make it work!

Baby Grover has been practicing facial expressions. At the end of last month, Baby Grover was about 1 inch long and weighed 0.4 ounces. Now, Baby Grover is more than 3 times that size. That's some serious growing!!

Still feeling (mostly) great.

Just like my mom

This morning, as I sulked around in the kitchen thinking about eating cereal for breakfast all I could think of was how much I didn't want cereal for breakfast, that I was already running late, and really? cereal for breakfast? I've been trying to eat me some fortified grains in the mornings and not leave the house without eating lately but I just wasn't having it.

I suddenly remembered how my mom would make us burritos in the mornings and send us off to school with them wrapped in foil so they stayed nice and warm. And everyone thought it was strange I wasn't eating breakfast food for breakfast. Brilliant!!

I heated up some spanish rice, carnitas meat, doused it with salsa and skillfully wrapped up my tortilla, and folded the foil all around. It was the tastiest, most satisfying breakfast around. Not only because it was delicious, but it reminded me of eating such breakfasts as a kiddo and super duper comforting.

There you have it people, another post all about food. I just can't help myself!

Dinner Party Madness

Wednesday we had dinner with our neighbors, Dan & Julia. They invited us over for dinner and a movie. We had a good time, and were entertained by their cute little bird, Leo.

Friday was no dinner party, but we finally went back to Jaleo with Dan & Julia to hear the real singers play. Last time we tried taking them, we talked up the Colombian brother guitarists and how wonderfully they played and sang, and how they sounded like the Gipsy Kings, only to find there were imposter guitarists there instead. This Friday they were great. They came and talked to us a little bit and we learned that they actually made friends with the real Gipsy Kings. Apparently, they call these guys when they're in town and they get together and play. I suggested that they call US the next time the Gipsy Kings call them.

After WAY too long, we had our friends Frank & Darin and Erin over for a Mexican Fiesta dinner. Lane and I were in a play with Frank and Erin when we lived back in Reston. It was great to all be together again and just feast and have good conversation. Nothing like carnitas, spanish rice, and black bean burritos with all the fixings. mmm.

Tonight we went over to Bill & Julie's for dinner, bearing crazy cake dessert to share. We got to meet their two dogs, Coffee & Tea. Coffee really didn't trust Lane at all, especially when he stood up. Tea was so happy and agreeable and sweet. I would totally have a dog like her if I could guarantee the temperment of my pet ahead of time. Bill made a cool pasta dish with grilled veggies that were pureed as a pasta sauce.mmmmm. It was nice to catch up with them. Lane and I are convinced that my dad and Julie's dad were separated at birth. We talk about our dads and they are exactly the same. I even showed her a picture of my dad, and she was absolutely flabbergasted because she said her dad looked just like that. And, they're both married to Marias. weird.

The scale was RIGGED.

The more I think about it, the more messed up I think the scale is at the doctors office. How could I possibly have gained 9 pounds in 4 weeks?! We have a scale at home, which we have tested to confirm it was calibrated correctly and, according to that scale, I weigh like 5 lbs less.

I'm not worried about gaining weight in pregnancy, that's what's supposed to happen. I was just shocked to hear that I had gained so much in such a short period of time. I've decided that it's time to start getting myself in shape for a number of reasons, like having more energy, being more prepared for giving birth, and carrying a baby (and car seat and diaper bag) around with me everywhere I go.

So working out started this week. Let's hope it lasts.

Make your guess on the Baby Grover Pool!

So, I stole this idea from the other Baby Grover's parents (at http://www.babygrover.blogspot.com/). This is your chance - Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunties & Uncles, cousins and friends of all ages, take your best guess about Baby Grover's arrival stats. Come on, everyone. If you are reading this, you better guess :)

Here's the link and happy guessing!

http://www.expectnet.com/games/Baby_Grover_Pool - the link doesn't work in FireFox, but works fine using Internet Explorer.

p.s. Just so you know, I made Lane make his guess before he could see mine and I didn't say ANYTHING about what my guess was. It's really funny to see our guesses next to each other.

Week 13 (my, how time flies!)

It seems only yesterday I was barely 12 weeks pregnant, yet today I am a whole week more pregnant. I asked the Dr. what was going on at my appointment today, since according to my last ultrasound, I was 13 wks 1 day preggo, while I believed I was 12 weeks. Based on the two ultrasounds, they are switching my due date to July 15th, so change your calendars, everyone! This means everything is happening sooner - when I'll start to feel the baby, when we'll find out the sex, when I'll be off of work... wow.

I also discovered that since December 11th I have gained NINE pounds!! This is crazy talk. Sure, I’ve been eating a lot, but a lot of blueberries and tangerines and sugar snap peas, not a lot of chocolate cake, lard, and other crappy junk. The Dr. also said not to be surprised if I didn’t gain much between now and the next appointment. I’ve been trying to work up the motivation to do my prenatal yoga more often. I think I just found it.

Week 12

This week Baby Grover doubled in weight to a whopping 1/2 ounce!

In other news, I found out one of the girls at work is 12 weeks pregnant also. She even has the same due date as us! While she is in Indonesia right now, I look forward to her return so we can talk the preggo talk together.

Last night, we went to a happy hour organized by one of Lane's co-workers in honor of his leap into daddyhood. We had a good time with lots of friends.

I was supposed to have a Dr. appointment yesterday. When I tried checking in, they let me know that they'd been trying to reach me because the Dr. had just left to deliver a baby. I turned around and walked right back. And sure enough, I had missed calls from them. At least it gave me the chance to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather (73 degrees!). My appointment is rescheduled for tomorrow.

One of our preggo friends recommended that I get this C-shaped Snoogle pillow. It is totally rad. It helps me stay in the most beneficial sleeping position (on the left side), and is just super cozy.

And just for comparison, people, this is my stomach less that two months ago:

The Santa Barbara Grovers are coming to town!

We just got some really fabulous news!! Ian, Adrienne, and their beautiful daughters, Claire & Natalie are coming to visit us in DC during spring break! They just made their flight arrangements today! Yahoo!!!!

It has been way too long since we’ve seen them. We are excited to finally have our turn to host them, albeit in our cozy apartment. Last year for Christmas, we got the girls a matching art game all with paintings from the National Art Gallery. I was so excited to hear that Claire asked if she could go see the paintings in real life! She also asked to meet the president, but we’re not sure we can pull enough strings to make that happen for her.

There is just so much planning to do – where we’re going to go, what I’m going to cook for them, fun stuff for the adults and fun stuff for the girls. As you can see, we are thrilled they are going to visit us. Just a little more than two months go to!!

My Nana

I'm named after my Nana. She died shortly after we moved to DC. While I was at the hospital visiting her, she introduced me to the nurse and told her I came all the way from Washington DC just to see her. Even then, she was trying to be a good hostess.

Last night I had a dream that I was in a church, and I looked and there was my Nana. Of course I was confused. But she came up to me, grabbed my hand with her tiny soft Oil of Olay scented hands, looked me lovingly in the eye, with tears in hers, and then it was over.

It was like I got to sneak in a little extra special moment with her.


Here she is with my mom, my Aunt Del & Uncle Jack

Baby Grover is Growing!

Lane and I had our appointment today for routinely recommended Down Syndrome testing. A blood test along with a specialized ultrasound in which they measure the thickness of the skin in the back of the neck is a good indicator of whether or not the baby will have Down Syndrome. They said the skin measurements are perfectly normal. We don't get the blood results back for a week or so, but we're sure everything will be fine.


I'm so glad Lane was able to get off of work so we could attend this appointment together. We saw so much of Baby Grover - little fingers, arms, toes, some ribs, a spine, legs and little feet, and we could see Baby Grover move its tiny arms around. It was amazing. Here are the pics so you can see for yourself. Of course, they aren't as detailed as the live images on the ultrasound. But you can see the little spine :)




Lane said that he's sure the baby has my cheek bones.

It's True!

I finally told my co-workers we're having a baby. They were super duper excited. This one lady says she could tell because of how I walked differently. I have a sneaking suspicion that she really just overheard Habiba and me talking about it one day, since she sits right behind her. Another girl said she wanted to ask me, but thought maybe I was just enjoying the holidays. As some people congratulated me, about three other people or so came rushing over to find out who was being congratulated and what for. I swear, this news is spreading like wildfire!!

At Lane's work, Ben the guy who spilled the beans for Lane, spilled them even further by sending a meeting scheduler for a congratulatory happy hour. Sounds sweet, right? Well he didn't include Lane on this scheduler, but DID include Lane's boss, who Lane had not yet shared the news with. She had to ask him why she had to find out from some other guy about his news. She was cool, but still! Wildfire I tell you.

Tomorrow is 12 weeks. Today we had to buy some storage bins to put away the many, many pairs of pants I can no longer wear. While we were at Target, we browsed some of the zillions of baby products out there. It was a little overwhelming to say the least.

I've been reading a book about the Bradley Method - an all natural childbirth method. We'll see how that goes. Lane is reading his dad book I got him and learning lots.

This weekend we got a sweet card in the mail from my Aunt Annie and Uncle Dave. My mom also sent us a card saying we couldn't have given them better news over the holidays. yay :)

Weekend Wrapup

We started out the weekend early by having our neighbors, Dan & Julia, over for dinner. We made a spicy italian sausage spaghetti, salad and some of Rachael Ray's cheesy pepper garlic bread. mmm. Dan & Julia are awesome. They left us a little thank you gift baggy with a cute note and some chocolates on our front door. This is becoming their signature move - they left us an ornament on our doorstep for Christmas, and a little pumpkin candle to remind us to "fall back" when Daylight Savings time was over. I am impressed.

Friday night we met up with Jess & Sean and friends we met through them, Alex & Matt for some Hibachi style dinner at a place right by our apartment. It was fun. We were mesmerized by the fancy chopping, suprised by the sudden bursts of flame, and entertained by the corny jokes.

On our 5 minute walk back to the apartment, I realized how tired, full, and just yucky I felt. Imagine my delight when we got to our front door and realized that neither of us had our keys with us. Lane went downstairs to get an extra key. I was ready to fall over, and told him I'd just wait upstairs. I sat down on the floor in the elevator lobby and waited. Ages later, Lane came back up, but without the front desk guy. He said the guy told him only I was on the lease (not true) and that they could only talk to me. They needed to see my ID, which Lane already advised was locked up in the apartment. I grumpily went downstairs to tell this guy what Lane had already told him, and the monster in me came out.
Mean Front Desk Guy: Ma'am, as I already explained, I need to see your valid photo ID before I can let you in.
Grumpy Elena: As my husband already explained, my ID is inside our locked apartment, so I can't show that to you.
Mean Front Desk Guy: Well, I need your ID before I can let you in.
Grumpy Elena: I don't have it with me. It's inside the apartment. Are you saying you won't let me in my apartment!?!? Because if you are, we have a serious problem!!
Mean Front Desk Guy: That's not what I'm saying....

In the meantime, Lane had been searching all over through his wallet and found an insurance card that has my name on it. He asks if this is okay, they guy agrees, and then spends at least 20 minutes or more helping other people and randomly walking from one part of the lobby to another, disappeared for a while and then FINALLY decided to take us upstairs and unlock the door. When we got to the top, he insisted I show him my photo ID, which I was glad to do, but he was walking away before he could even glance at it. whatever. I guess I don't have very much patience these days. :( It was really funny because Lane was telling me how there was no point in being angry, that it wasn't going to change the situation. Usually it's ME telling him that!

Saturday was much more relaxing, and spent reading, watching netflix, eating left overs and napping. ahhh. We have been getting spoiled with 4 day weekends. Somehow we'll make it through this 5 day work week.

Dinner Last Night - another post all about food!

So Lane asked me to make this Kale dish that I hadn't made in like 4 years. Its a mixture of kale, white beans, tomatoes, garlic, onions, red pepper flakes, and oregano atop a slice of garlic toast with parmesan cheese on it. I was so excited to try it again. I also sauteed some asparagus on our griddle and cooked up some steaks I'd been marinating for a few days. Here is the lovely result:

Week 11

Baby Grover is now the size of a large lime. It is swallowing and kicking too, although I can't feel the kicking yet, and probably won't for 6 more weeks or so.

Starting this week, I'm supposed to gain 1 pound per week. Wowsers. Lately I've been getting really tired in the afternoons, headaches, and feeling a little queasy in the evenings. They say these symptoms are supposed to go away around the beginning of the second trimester. I hope that's the case for me too, even though they're just starting toward the end of the first trimester.
I found the best book for me - a book TO-DO LISTS for moms-to-be! If you know me at all, you know I'm an insane planner and list maker, so this is perfect. I also got a couple other books, so I have lots of reading in store for me.


About 5 minutes after we took this picture I was sound asleep in bed, which explains why I look so fabulous here.

We've been taking pictures in the evening and thought recently that it probably wasn't the best idea to take them after dinner, that my tummy might look extra big...but we forgot until after we'd already eaten dinner that it was picture day again.

Even *more* people in the know!!

This weekend we told our neighbor friends our big news. They were both super excited for us. Jess & Sean immediately started putting all the pieces together - how I haven't been drinking at all at our recent get togethers, how I just bought a SCALE, and why I was eating an orange and a hippie fruit bar during the movie we saw yesterday.

I also told my boss. She congratulated me, asked how I'd been doing, and gave me some tips for getting in touch with the right people to discuss the ins and outs of maternity leave.

One of Lane's former co-workers stopped by his work to say hello today, since he had a meeting at the Pentagon. He told Lane he had a bone to pick with him (quite loudly), and asked why Lane never told him I was pregnant. Everyone gasped when Lane responded that he hadn't told anyone yet. It was an interesting way to tell people at work. At first, I thought Ben was just trying to play a trick on Lane, but he read about it on the internet - aka my myspace pic/profile.

The end of 2007

Our last weekend in 2007 was filled with much of the same as the rest of our year – friends, laughs, games, and good eating!

Mark and Richard had us over on Friday for a screening of Waiting for Guffman. It’s a hilarious mockumetary about community theatre, which is oodles more entertaining when you’ve dabbled into community theatre yourself.

We spent Saturday evening with our 11th floor neighbor friends learning how to play their new game, Charoodles, a present from the Hanukkah Fairy. It’s a fun game that incorporates props into Charades. At this fateful evening, Sean gifted Lane a set of dice. These were not just any dice, but percentage dice, 20 sided dice, triangular dice, etc. It was all part of Sean’s plan to rekindle the Dungeons and Dragons fire burning within him. His plan worked, because as soon as we got home, Lane started searching through boxes that have remained unopened for years looking for his D&D books.

We spent a quiet new years eve with our 12th floor neighbors, Dan & Julia. We played games, had snacks and toasted to the new year. I’m so glad we’ve made friends with people in our building.

Yesterday, we used up some of our gift cards and then caught a movie with Sean & Jess – Charlie Wilson’s War. It was really an interesting film based on events I had little knowledge of before seeing the movie. It was informative and also entertaining. Sean & Jess joined us later that evening to help us attack the remaining Special Dessert in our refrigerator.

Some of our memorable 2007 moments have been:
Starting out the new year at a Gov't Mule Concert in NY
A visit from my mom early in the year
Going to Africa!
Our trip to CA to visit family and attend Matt James’ wedding
The Keane Concert
Our trip to Indiana
Our new niece, Mina, who was born on our wedding anniversary
Countless Game nights
All our New York visits
Another Gov't Mule Concert
Our vacation to the Dominican Republic
Sharing Thanksgiving with my brother and niece
Making new friends
And, of course, deciding to expand our little Grover family :)

I didn’t even bother cooking a splendid New Year’s dinner since we had tons of left overs from our culinary adventures earlier in the weekend. First, I am delighted that I can buy Gilroy garlic in Arlington, VA. On the side of my Costco sized garlic clove container was a recipe for garlic pasta. It was delicious. We heated up some olive oil, added lots of minced garlic, diced Portobello mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and a TON of chopped fresh parsley. We mixed that up with spaghetti and lots of parmesan cheese. Alongside that, we feasted on spicy Italian sausage sandwiches with bell peppers and onions that were sautéed in red wine, Dijon mustard, and a little tomato paste. Mmmm.

I also marinated some flank steak in a cilantro garlic pesto mixture and then used it in a stir fry loaded with green veggies – cabbage, sugar snap peas, broccoli, edamame, and bunches other. It was perfect with our basmati rice.

While I love being in the kitchen, it’s sometimes hard to decide what the heck to have for dinner every night without repeating lots of dishes. This is why I LOVE when Lane asks me to cook something. More on this after tonight’s dinner :)