It was a sea of pink at the Baby Shower!!

My girls know how to take care of me...it's all about sweets, burgers, and pink of course! I had my Raleigh friends baby shower this weekend at a Beth's house (also known as our "Martha"), and the girls went all out. We had made up games by "TOY 2005" Tara, a goodberry's cake, pink funfetti cupcakes, and of course great times with the best friends a girl could have. The little one is well taken care of; now we just hope for sure that we are really having little girl :)! Fitz managed to spend the weekend relaxing with the boys (mostly napping on Tara and Matt's couch). I can't thank my girls enough for all they did and do for me they all hold a very special place in my heart! The photos show the classic belly shot (6 weeks and counting down), the spread (can you believe they actually had burgers for me?!), and some of the books to read to the little one. We are still working on the name, but we will have it all figured out come her "birth" day in May. She got some really cute gifts including but not limited to a Kasey Kane bib and onesie, satin ballet slippers, very soft blankets, and much more. I can't forget to give props to my #1 hair gal, Jill, at crazy combs. She can do wonders with my hair!!

In other news; it is a rainy forecast for MHC today and all week (YUCK!), but it is suppose to be warm. I will have to see if I melt in the rain because I'm so sweet. I might just hit the gym for a spin class this evening, but somewhere in here Sophie NEEDS to go for a walk to get rid of some of her excess energy. I'll keep checking the radar!

Deceivingly sunny outside...but boy that wind can bite!

It is a beautifully sunny day outside, the temperatures without the wind are nearly 75 degrees, but then the wind picks up it can be cool. Oh well, once summer comes we will be wishing for the wind to cool off the temperatures. We had our 33 week check up yesterday, and all went well. I had a small scare that my water had broken or I had a slow leak, but alas it's just extra leakage from the pressure of the baby being low in my pelvis. Baby girl even had an acceleration of her heart rate while they were checking her, and they were happy to hear that indicated that she is receiving adequate oxygen. I still have to check my blood sugar 2x/day and start going in to the doctors' once a week. At least I only have 7 weeks to go and I've managed to only put on a little under 19 pounds, so hopefully that 11 pound baby is not growing inside of me :)

In other news, we are heading to Raleigh this weekend for some time with our friends and my Raleigh baby shower. We are really looking forward to Lilly's pizza, Goodberry's custard, and of course seeing our buds we left behind when we moved down. Hopefully the trip will not be as painful as the trip to PA, but it seems anytime in the car over like 45 min is painful for me.

It took 10 pieces of toilet paper to fit around the Belly!!

We had a great trip up to PA for my baby shower with the family and to spend Easter with my Mom's family. We left of Thursday for what turned out to be a 10.5 hour trip with 3 stops to Lancaster, PA. Not really the best idea for a 32-33 week pregnant girl, but once we were there it was all worth it. We got to hit the farmer's markets on Friday and Saturday, and see family that both live in PA and made the trip into Lancaster for the weekend. On Saturday the shower began at 2pm with nearly 20 guests (all female) and ranging in age from 8 to 88! The first photo is of the beautiful cake that my Aunt Elise and cousin Kit picked out and "designed" for the shower, followed by a photo of the table spread with some decorations. Then the third photo is of the "three old ladies" (my great Aunt Ruth, my grandmother, and my grandmothers' nursing school friend Rosemary) putting their heads together for one of the shower games. And the final photos is of the TP game where you had to guess how many pieces of TP it took to fit around my belly.... 3 people got this one correct!! Then we had a low key Easter with family, and then hit the road in the early afternoon so we could complete the trip in two parts.

The shower was great, it was so nice to see everyone (family and friends), and of course all of the gifts will be so useful once the baby arrives. Now we are in the process of decorating the nursery and organizing. It has been really cold recently (both in PA and MHC), so we have been struggling with running outside, but the spin classes are always a good alternate.

And for those worried about Mr. Fitz while I was gone....well he had plenty to do with our neighbors across the way....boating, drinking, frothing, golfing, eating, hot tubing, and just generally goofing off with the boys. Hope he gets it all out of his system soon because the baby will not do well on a golf course; I think the baby bjorn will decrease his swing efficiency!!

Trying to train the D-O-G or the D-A-D; not really sure which!

We have been reading up on how to begin training your dog for when you baby arrives. Since Sophie has been getting basically undivided attention of either me or Fitz in the recent months, we knew we needed to start soon. So one thing we read said to get a stuffed animal and wrap it in a blanket and begin spending time with the "baby" and not allowing the dog to nudge for attention while you are "feeding," "changing," or just spending time with the baby. Fitz decided to try first, mostly because he wanted to sit in the "big chair" and fall asleep with the baby. Sophie is learning, but I'm not sure anything can really prepare her for what will come her way in May. She is a quick learning when she wants to be, but she really likes to be pet so she will keep trying to get your attention even after being corrected. Oh well, at least "the Dad" seemed to have no trouble falling asleep with the baby in his arms. He even managed to put the baby in the crib before going to bed for the night. It has now been two days and poor Opus the baby is still in his crib. He is a very well behaved training baby; I don't think our really baby will behave quite that well.

All else is good, I am getting ready for my trip up to PA for a family baby shower with my Mom's family. It will be a girls road trip, with lots of potty stops. I have not seen much of my family since last summer, so it will be nice to spend time with everyone. Fitz is looking forward to a boys weekend with the neighborhood men that will include lots of beer and chicken wings. Hopefully they don't get into too much trouble!!

Happy St. Pattie's Day....after all I'm 1/8 Irish!!

Hope everyone has recovered from their weekend of festivities honoring St. Patrick. Anyone who still needs to fulfill their drinking needs I have a toast for you.."as you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way."

We had an interesting night here in MHC last night; I woke up at 12:30am thinking that I had some heart burn from my little baby moving all of my organs around too much. So I took some TUMS and did a few laps around the house (inside of course). But to no avail; I ended up sick to my stomach, from both ends at around 1:30am. Luckily Fitz was in town and he did his best to take care of me (not that there is alot to do other then just be there and clean up). Then we were both alittle worried because in out birthing class last week we learned that a sign of early labor is diarrhea and nausea; so Fitz kept a close eye on me. So far nothing strange this morning other then being really hungry!!

Other then last night, we had great weekend with mostly great weather. Our usual Friday night pizza date night at Luigi's Pizza was great. The owner has started to recognize us and told me that I am for sure having a baby boy based on how I'm carrying!! I think Fitz is starting to second guess if we are having a girl or a boy now! At least we have an ultrasound in 5-6 weeks or we can just be "surprised" when I deliver. Saturday was a the start of tourist season due to the sunny day with high temperatures. We tried to take Sophie for a walk on the beach, but there were too many people to let her run off lead so we just walked alittle way and then came home and ran around the backyard with her. Sunday was low key with some NASCAR watching at a friends house with beer of course.

Happy St. Pattie's Day; Hope everyone get's lucky today!!

Finally feeling better, able to enjoy the sunrise!

It's been a good 5 days of fighting a cold/sinus thing-y that can about on Monday. But after some serious nasal irrigation with salt water last night; I am finally feeling better and was able to run a big 20 minutes this morning. With the time change I was able to enjoy the sunrise over the Bogue Sound and Calico Creek. The above photo is not mine, but is very close to what my view looked like this morning. For my super interested friend Dustin; we left Sophie sleeping in her bed in her usual position while we ran this morning. She is SOOOOOO lazy!!!

Last night we got an update from little bro Bob-O! And we passed his IronCross PT test (or something like that) and with that he is able to travel off base on the weekends by himself. The dive class before him all did not pass their final AIT PT and they are waiting to find out their fate so the mood is not very good about the bunks. So it will be nice to get away for the weekend!!

Fitz and I are looking forward to spending a weekend at home, and being able to enjoy the nice weather that is coming our way in Morehead City. It is suppose to be in the 70's today and tomorrow and then in the 60's on Sunday. Today I think I will test and see if I can still fit in the bikini from last summer and get some more Vitamin D!! Hope everyone has a nice sunny day!

There's a BOB on my doorstep!!

I returned from some errands this morning to find a BOB stroller on my doorstep!! So exciting, it's red and everything!! It looks super fast too!! I can't wait until Fitz is back and we can set it all up. I'm not sure if someone is trying to tell me to start getting back into shape, but it sure makes me think I'll be racing in a new category come May, June, and July. I better start practicing now on my runs. A BIG THANKS GOES TO MY MAN DUSTIN for making it possible. I might be out there as soon as tomorrow morning for a jog around the neighborhood with a stuffed animal holding the place of the baby. I will take photos of that if I do.

In other news, I only have to prick my finger 2x/day now, and the doc is not really sure how I tested positive in the first place. It does mean that I have another ultrasound between 37 and 38 weeks to see what size baby I'm gonna have, and if she needs to be brought into this world early. Fitz and I were joking that they might take the ultrasound and find that I'm only carrying a 5 lb baby due to me cutting down on the sugar and carbs to prevent having a huge baby, guess we will see in a few weeks. All else looked great at the appointment, other then my lack of weight gain from 11 days prior, but I still have an upward trend so that's all they look for.

1/2 Marathon in a Monsoon....anyone?

So on Saturday Morehead City has it's inaugural Crystal Coast 1/2 Marathon in conditions that were sub-par to say the least. When the alarm went off at 6am, the weather channel was reporting "gail force winds" (over 20mph steady) with gusts up to 35 mph for Carteret County. So what do we do, we wait and watch the radar to see if Fitz is really going to try to run this thing. At 7:20am we left our house to register and make the 8am start. The race director had to delay the start by 30 minutes due to having to re-set up the start line after taking it down the night before. My dad of course had on 3 layers of clothes (to protect him from the balmy 67 degree temperatures), long pants, a poncho, gloves, and a baseball hat. He ended up ditching the poncho in hopes that it would not rain anymore. The race start and my mom and I trekked up to the only hill on the course, the bridge over to the beach to cheer and watch the racers. At 57 min in to the race the skies opened up with rain that felt like mother nature was shoot droplets at you out of a nail gun (and we were standing still). I can not imagine what the racers must have felt like; Fitz said he actually had water going up his nose. Then us cheerers started our trek back to the finish line to see how everyone did. Fitz ended up 5th overall and still beat the first woman; I am not 100% sure of the time because we did not make it to the finish line in time, and they have not printed the results in the local paper.

The rest of the weekend was great; we made the drive to Raleigh then Fitz continued on to Richmond for a bachelor party. I got to have goodberry's (heath bar speciality sundae with rainbow sprinkle) with my bud Dustin. Got to do a bit of shopping at REI, picked up Tara and had dinner with my good friend Leslie from CA, Michele and Brett from FL, and Jessica. Then I faced the cold weather for a "long jog" of 45 min in Cary, NC followed by a fabulous brunch at 518 West with my girls to catch up sans kids on everyone's goings on. All in all a great weekend. I am now fighting a bit of a cold, but will be back in the swing of things tomorrow. One thing I can say about being pregnant is the baby will take all that she needs and leave me feeling like crap. So I'm not so worried about her even though I feel under the weather.

So sorry, no photos for today.

It is a rainy, but warm day in Morehead City today. I keep meaning to go outside a take a photo of our daffodils that have come up with the warm weather, but again; it's rainy and I'm so sweet that I melt when I get wet. Hahahaha! Yesterday it got up to at least 75 degrees in the sun, with few clouds, and little wind. So I took the opportunity to head outside for some tanning....yes my friends I still fit into my bikini...woohoo! But of course I over did it alittle bit, and now my whole front is alittle pink-ish, very normal for me, but I got tons of comments at the pool today when I went for my swim. I know my girl friends are glad that I am not going to be pregnant during beach season, because I always threatened to be that girl on the beach with a huge belly and still sporting the bikini. For now I will only sport the belly uncovered in my own backyard. Part of the reason I am still willing to sport the bikini is due to me continuing to workout; this week I have logged 6,000yds swimming, 3hr of spin class, and we think around 25 miles of running. I'm sure this will have to be cut back soon, but until then....I'm going to keep going.

The Fitzula's are heading to Raleigh/Richmond for the weekend, I am getting dropped off in Raleigh-wood for some girl time, and Fitz is heading up to Richmond for a bachelor party. We should be well worn out when we return home at the end of the weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing my girls, and catch up with all of them.

Last night I had the opportunity to chat with my baby bro, and he is sooo glad to be done with boot camp, and into the beginnings of training for diving. He has about 5 weeks until the real 2 week diving basic training starts at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO; then if he can pass the PT for the diving program he will be moved to Panama City, FL to train with the Navy Seals. I am really hoping he can make it through the Ft. LW training and move on the Panama City, FL because then we can travel down there and take him off base for the weekend. Send him good vibes so hopefully we can introduce him to his niece in June/July sometime.

The Baby Furniture is finally in and set up....well mostly!

So the saga of the baby furniture is finally over and the room is looking more like a nursery each day. We have all parts of the crib (minus the bed rails to convert the crib to a bed, but the lady at the store forgot to order them), the bookcase and baskets, and the dresser/changer. In the lonely corner next to the bookcase is the rocking chair my Mom used for both Bobby and I while we were little (it's just on lone, but matches really well). Now we just need to decorate the walls, get some room darkening curtains, and make it completely ready for the baby. Luckily we still have 10 weeks to make all of this happen.

I have managed to keep running thus far in to my pregnancy, and then there is the swimming and spin classes I am taking to make sure I stay active and healthy. Since I have to check my blood sugar regularly, I have found the staying active allows me to still sneak a sweet treat here and there. Fitz is usually a help with keeping me on track to eat well, but he has cravings too sometimes (like last night when we made a quick run to Cold Stone for some ice cream). By morning my sugar was back to normal so I do not think I caused any real harm. In any case I am looking forward to traveling to Raleigh for the weekend to see my girl friends and catch up on the goings on in their lives. Can't wait to see everyone!!

Beautiful Sun-Shine-y Day!!

Yesterday was a very bright sunny day, and with our backyard being surrounded by trees, and in the sun for most of the afternoon, we took advantage of enjoying some Vitamin D through sun exposure. It was only about 50 degrees, but the sun was too inviting, so the family took a nap in the sun for around 45 minutes. I remained in full clothes plus a jacket, while Fitz ended up in a T-shirt and jeans for his nap. The above is a photo of me a Sophie-girl taking a nap before Fitz joined us. The first photo is the 30 week belly shot, where things are really starting to pop out. And the "pelvic pain" has really started with the muscle fighting to stay in-tacked, while the baby is pushing for them to release and spread.

The Docs seem to think that I am able to control my diabetes with just diet and exercise, so that is the plan for the rest of this week. Then on 3/10 I go back in for another evaluation and perhaps I can cut back on my finger sticking to maybe only 2 times a day. WOO-HOO!! But it seems that even if I keep it all under control, they will still not let me go past my due date of May 14th. But we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

A big congrats goes out to my little bro, Bobby, who graduated from boot camp last week at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. My folks made the trip out there and said he looks great. He will be starting AIT (advanced individual training) for the dive program soon. All the best to him, and go ARMY!!