DEALEYupdate

Mr. d went in for his two week check up today and he weighed in at 6lbs 7oz and 20 inches long, our little guy is a growin' fool! He got a perfect check up and is as healthy as a little boy could possible be. I don't think I've said it enough but we feel so blessed to have Dealey. He completes us in ways we never imagined....dreams do come true!

FATrolls

I'm so excited to see Dealey's first little fat roll forming on his arm! The lines on his wrist are just extra skin, but hopefully they'll fill in a bit too as he puts on some much needed weight! He has his two week doctors appointment tomorrow morning and I'm anxious to see how much weight he's gained! I'll be sure to post an update on Mr. D tomorrow when we get home.

WORDLESSwednesday


I'm so excited to be posting my first "wordless wednesday" that I had to say a few words. I promise we'll have shots of Dealey awake someday but right now our little man just sleeps...ALOT! He wakes up ALOT as well....sigh, that part isn't quite as fun...

SWEETspirit

Those are two words I'd use to describe my sweet Dealey. We've been home for almost 5 days and while I'm completely exhausted I've never been happier to be so tired. However I think we have the sweetest baby ever he's so mild mannered and laid back like his daddy. He's sleeping good waking up every 3 hours for some yummy food and then dozing right back off for another three hours. It's seems so funny to me that eating could be so tiresome...

We've been to the doctor twice this week for weight checks and I am happy to report that Dealey is only an ounce off his birth weight which is wonderful. He's still small and we have to work hard to get some junk in his trunk over the coming months but I'm confident everything will be fine. Some of the funniest pics we have are of D sleeping he sleeps just like I do, all over the place and he loves to dangle his arms over the side of his wedge or the boppy pillow however here he is soaking up some zzz's in daddy's lap....so precious I can't stand it :o)

COMINGhome

Okay I have to admit it's been hard to want to do a new post I just want to keep looking at the pics of my D but we have so many pics to share and thoughts so here we go....coming home, what a rush that was. When Matt and I were driving away from the hospital we looked at each other and thought "are they really letting us leave with him" we both kept expecting someone to run out of the hospital and say "oh, just kidding" you don't get to keep him. It's been amazing since the moment we walked in the door sure we haven't slept much and we find ourselves in tears just starring at him while he sleeps just realizing how perfect he is.

This morning was especially perfect as I woke up on my 28th birthday I can't imagine a sweeter gift. For me it has been a life long dream come true and for over 8 years it's been a dream of ours to have a family. It's still just seems so surreal that Dealey is here.

NEWlife

We brought our precious Dealey into the world Saturday June, 16 2007 @ 4:48 pm. With such an "interesting" pregnancy we expected labor & delivery to be nothing short of CRAZY! However we were pleasantly surprised I went into labor and my water broke on Friday night at 11:30 and by noon on Saturday I had my patosin (sp?) drip and my epidural and just shy of 5 hours later he was here. I only had to push for about an hour and 15 minutes and it was surprising pleasant and much easier than I expected it to be. Our Dealey is as cute as can be with a good amount of hair, it looked dark at first but after his bath we looked again and it's more a light brown with blonde highlights....Anyways, I feel like I could ramble on for hours about sweet D but I'll stop for now and share some of his first pics........Dealey weighed in at 5lbs 15 oz & 19 1/4" long!

Matt and I just before we started pushing...

Me and Dealey stealing away a few moments to gaze at each other...

Matt loving up on Dealey, he was so happy and such a great coach, I couldn't have done this without him by my side...

Dealey bright eyed and alert....he's got some big eyes, I suppose that's my doing but they're going to gorgeous these big blue eyes are going to melt hearts...


Dealey has huge feet and long toes just like his Dad....


Dealey holding Matt's finger....


Sweet D sleeping and hanging with me....

There will be billions more pictures as we enter into this new life so check back often to stay up to date with how Dealey is growing into an amazing little dude, our move to NY and many more adventures! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEALEY JAMES!

OURhome

Well in the midst of all the craziness I am happy to finally be able to post pictures of our new home in Staten Island, we are so excited about what this next season of our life will hold! It's a great old home on a quiet street where D and I can walk and enjoy the seasons of New York! Our home is always open and we look forward to lots of visitors, now all we need is our baby Dealey and we'll be ready to go! Enjoy the pics I'll post more when we get there and get settled!

NOTE: Several people have asked when the house was built. We're not sure of th exact date but we know it was built in the late 1800's.

CRAZYpregnancy

This morning started off a little stressful I woke up in a lot of abdominal pain (which I later found out were contractions) this morning but decided not to call the doctor as I had an appointment at 2:00 for my sonogram. I let them know as soon as we got there that I was hurting and not feeling well they monitored Dealey for about 15 minutes and he was doing good, then we went ahead with my appointment which was great Dealey looked great as he has each time he weighed in at 5lbs 90z which is a good weight.

Dr. Patton then felt the need to violate me to check my cervix which is never a pleasant experience he then decided that because of the contractions I was having that my circlage needed to come out today so I went to see my doctor they monitored me for about 20 minutes and I was definitely still having sporadic contractions so she removed my circlage (very violating and PAINFUL) however not as painful as the contractions....I'm back at home now resting and looking forward to a yummy dinner as ready as I am for baby D to come I really don't want Matt to miss anything so we need to keep him in there until next Saturday....what a crazy pregnancy this has been and it's looking like it'll be throwing us for loops until the end!

My blood pressure is still high but not okay it was obviously high today with the pain of contractions and the circlage coming out and worrying about D being okay but it seems to be staying under control for now so that's a great thing for me and Mr. Dealey!

SOCKmolester

Upon Matt's arrival to Texas from Canada last week, his suit case exploded, okay not really but that's what it looked like. This was not an odd or strange occurrence but what happened next was well, just odd. For hours our sweet Abby molested Matt's poor socks, (not in a perverted way but in just this intense couldn't pull her away obsessed sort of way) it was just weird so we grabbed the camera knowing this was a moment we would laugh about for years...Then I thought it might fun to share on the blog, so here's a few shots of the "sock molester" just for giggles....

BABYfeet

I have to say there is nothing cuter than baby feet, I know I can't wait to see Dealey's tiny little feet and just think about all the amazing places those feet will tread, around New York City and the beaches of Long Island, the Vineyards of upstate New York and the streets of Little Italy in Boston and with his friend Mags in Chicago and Colin on the beautiful California beaches and who knows were else. He'll definitely be taking long strolls on the streets of Vancouver & Whistler Canada when we go on shoots with Daddy! So with all these amazing thoughts in my mind I was so excited to get the coolest gift from Matt, he got it on his first trip to Vancouver, our little sapling will look so cute in these huh?!


On a different note I just want to give a quick update after my appointment today. Dealey is still doing amazing he's a trooper poor thing being cooped up in my messed up body. The circlage surgery is finally scheduled and is a few days later than I thought, but it's okay, it's scheduled for the 18th and I can't wait. But then in an unexpected turn, at least unexpected to me, she wanted blood work and some other stuff I won't go in to detail about they are testing me to see if I have preclampsie so after all this waiting and scare of the circlage it would really suck for it to end this way. It will all be okay and I'm just happy that Dealey is so strong and healthy so no matter what my crazy body decides to do we can take comfort in knowing born now or a month from now D will be happy and healthy! I now have appointments weekly and another sonogram with the specialist next week, so I'll definitely keep everybody posted! Hugs & Skittles....

ROCKIN'chair

I just had to show off our rocking chair (or "rockin' chair" as Matt keeps calling it) for D's room! The rocking chair is one my parents bought 30 years ago when they were preparing for my brother's arrival. My mom stripped the old (and very dated) finish off and we stained the dark espresso to match the crib my dad built for D. I found this fabric over a year ago and loved it for all it's quarkiness (imagine that :o) but didn't know what to use it for. I was so excited to find it matched D's bedding. We just picked it up today from the upholstery place! I love it, it makes my heart ache to get moved to NY so I can finally set D's room up for the first time and see it all come together!

BIGbaby

Well, today went just as I expected. Dr. Reinhart graduated me which is great for the situation and for the financial aspect of it! He said D looked absolutely perfect in every way and is growing like crazy. He weighed in at a well above average 4lb 8oz! If I were to carry to 40 weeks I could possibly be delivering an 8lb 8oz baby....the thought of that makes me clinch my legs together in pain! But hopefully, in 4 weeks when the circlage comes out because he's on the bigger side gravity will aid in Dealey coming a few weeks early as they expect him too. I am still on bed rest mostly just to make sure I get to 36 weeks without any problems but also for my every climbing blood pressure. So I'm hoping to move around a little more than I have been just watching those numbers to make sure they don't creep up too high.

I'm feeling excited though nothing about this pregnancy has been what I or the doctors expected which is great. I'm so happy that it looks like we've made it through this, not without some big sacrifices but of course Matt and I always knew it was worth any sacrifice to have this dream come true. But we are definitely ready to be together again and get moved and settled in the greatest city ever, NY! Here's a picture of our big 'ol baby he's got his fist up by his forehead and he's blowing a bubble! I feel like his movements are warning me we've got quite a character on our hands, but hey what else would I expect considering D's daddy?!

THEhorror

Okay well as promised here's a prego pic of me....of course I don't do tight clothes so you can't see my belly as well as you might like....Matt may get to stay a night in a couple of weeks as he passes back through Dallas on the way to NY if he does I'll get him to take some more artistic shots in something tighter or maybe in a button down shirt that I can open some to show the belly....I am completely horrified that I'm putting this up for the world to see but whatever.

But before I post the pic a quick update....this week I have what will probably be my last appointment with the specialist as I am sure my cervix will look fine and D will look amazing. So be sure to check back I hope to have a new and probably the last sono pic of D and updates on weight and length. D has continued to get more and more active especially at night, I'm hoping that means he's going to be a night owl like his mom and dad and enjoy sleeping in in the mornings but who knows. I have started to have a lot more painless contractions and braxton hicks contractions but with no sort of regularity except that it's usually at night time and early morning it's exciting and scary as hell to think we're only weeks away...the list of things I still need to get and do is crazy and I'm desperately trying to get myself organized while my mind can still function on some normal level.

So I'm sure by now your like okay already shut up and show us the pic....fine here you go....

MOTHER'Sday

I received my first mother's day card ever on today and it brought tears to my eyes. For so many years I never thought I'd get the joy of celebrating Mother's Day I've always hated the holiday and usually just hid away from the public eye on that day wishing I could just sleep through it thinking about my friends that had kids and loving and hating them all in the same breath. I never understood why God chose to bless so many people around me and just, I don't know forgot about me. I still don't understand why the years of pain were necessary, but I am so amazingly glad those years are over. Words cannot express the joy Matt and I feel inside about all the amazing changes to come in the next several weeks. Yeah for Mother's Day it's no longer the worst holiday in the world!

And on that note, I want to wish all my beautiful friends who are wonderful moms and amazing moms-to-be a wonderful and joy filled Mother's Day. I love you guys!

P.S. Sunday I'm getting to escape briefly for a lunch with my brother and his wife and my parents and I'm going to have my dad take some pictures of me an my pregnant belly if by some random miracle one of them turns out good I'll be shocking you all with the first and only full prego shot of Rachel, so be sure to check back Monday!

BABYupdates

Well, another two weeks has gone by and so I got to have a little visit with Dr. Speight. Dealey is growing really well, I'm still not gaining any weight which is nice but I didn't lose any this time, just stayed the same....The only new news is that my blood pressure is creeping up and up. I'm already on bed rest so if it gets too crazy Dr. Speight said she'd have me in the hospital so fast. So I'm relaxing and resting which is needed anyways since I picked up some crazy sickness from somewhere....But I'm feeling good otherwise and Dealey is still perfect! I have another sonogram in two weeks which if everything looks good it will be my last! It's bittersweet thought, I'm totally spoiled getting to see him every two weeks, but I know no more sono's means that we're getting close and circlage has done everything it was supposed to do and more. The house stuff I mentioned in the last post is still moving forward and I'm so excited I can't stand it. I can just see us making amazing memories in our new NY home with a balcony that stares at the Manhattan skyline. I can tell you there will be many glasses of wine drank on that balcony!!!! Here's a few new pics from NY one my sweetness Matt and the statue of liberty in the background and two just very cool ones taken on one of his ferry rides out to Staten Island! Love, Hugs & Skittles to everyone......

DREAMINGagain

Today marks another week, another accomplishment! Week 29, the whole pregnancy seems more real this week than ever. I was telling Matt the other evening that I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I couldn't be more excited. I've been working on typing all these loose recipes I had, to make a fun little cookbook of some of my favorite foods and drinks and while typing them in I kept catching myself day dreaming about the days to come of being a stay at home mom something I always dreamed of but never knew if it was something that would happen for me. But I just kept seeing me at home chasing D around and having a wonderful meal on the table for Matt when he got home from work. I know it's the fantasy side of being a stay at home mom but I know you've all had those same dreams and in whatever way they come true for each of us in a way that make sense with our life, at least that's what I'm choosing to believe. I realized too that being able to dream like this again means that my heart has found a new hope. Every week Matt sends me pics he's been taking around NY just to help me feel more connected to what he's been up to and I wanted to share them with you guys...so enjoy a little NY through the eyes of Matt. Oh and another happy note we found a really cool home the first real prospect in NY it's actually on Staten Island and it's pretty perfect so pray that if it's the place for us everything will work out!

BABY D & me

Well this has to be the most exciting update I've written so far. Baby D is doing awesome he gained another 6 oz weighing in at 2 lbs 9 oz which is great he's around the 68th percentile for weight which is good news if he decides to come early. However on that note my cervix is still holding strong and I don't have to go back to the specialist for a month! So after that appointment if everything still looks good then Dr. Reinhart will release me from his care! How great is that, it makes me feel so good that all this bed rest (which I'm still on until further notice from Dr. Speight) and being away from Matt is paying off in such a wonderful way. This news couldn't have come at a better time emotionally, Matt and I are both struggling missing each other like crazy. Thanks to everybody for your prayers over the last two months I'd say they've definitely been answered!

BLACK&white

Okay I don't know why I haven't blogged about this sooner but I was leaving a comment on a friends blog and I realized I need to blog about the greatness that is the black & white cookie!

There it is the best "cookie" ever! If you've never had a black & white cookie just wait I plan on perfecting my own recipe once we get to New York and it will be the #1 item on the menu for the Christmas goodies. It's shaped like a cookie but the cookie it's self is a little more cake like. Like a pound cake but not as dense and then the challenge is to decided which is your favorite the vanilla icing or the chocolate icing. Me I'm chocolate girl (what girl isn't huh?) but when I had my first b&w cookie I must admit I was drawn to the vanilla side! Which will be your favorite? Jerry Sienfield said the best way to eat a b&w is to get a little vanilla and chocolate in every bite, I'll have to try that next time I get to have one! So prepare those taste buds!

BITTERsweet

That is the perfect word to describe this Easter weekend. Will start with the sweet stuff! Our good friends Dave & Gloria had their precious little girl Aliza Sahar 5lbs 15oz 19 inches long. Gloria had an awesome labor 6 hours, I can only hope for such a sweet experience! Here's a picture of me holding Aliza.....

How fun is that? I can't wait until it's Dealey but it was fun to hold a baby especially since Aliza's size is so close to what they are expecting Dealey to be at an early birth! Here's a shot of cute little Aliza by herself. I love the lips, it's like she's saying "what's up, yo!"

The second sweet spot for the weekend was having an Easter dinner with Matt's family, yes I'm on bed rest but it was important to do this as it's Matt's final weekend in Dallas. But it wasn't just the dinner that was so sweet, the sweetest part of the night was Matt's sister Megan announcing she's PREGNANT! It's so awesome because now our little ones will be about 5 or 6 months apart which will make family gatherings too much fun. So now we just need to get my brother and his wife in the pregnant ring so we can have lots of babies running around at the same time! They're trying so it's totally possible we'll be praying extra hard now!

Now for the bitter part as I mentioned it's Matt's last weekend in Dallas until the call is made that baby is on it's way. There is a possibility there might be a commercial shoot that's going to be done here in Dallas in May but I'm not going to get my hopes up until we know for sure! So we were sure to get a picture tonight while we were looking all cute! Here's my Matt and I with him sporting his new longer hair!

While I'm going to miss Matt like crazy one thing I can be sure of is he'll be sending me great shots of New York, here's a shot he took from Roosevelt Island an area we are looking at to live in once D and I get to move up there! We'll call it "Manhattan Skies"...

GROWINGbaby...

That's right I've got a growing baby inside me! Can you guys believe it? I think it still shocks me from time to time. Like I said in the previous post D's an active little guy which is fun I can't help buy cry sometimes when I feel him kick late at night it's like he's telling me hey mom, I'm coming!

My doctors appointments went pretty good today D weighed in at a beautiful 2 lbs 3 oz he gained almost a pound in two weeks! I lost a pound and I told him if we could keep that up for another 30 lbs that would be great! Just kidding, however I am very happy that I've done so well at not gaining weight I haven't really been trying not too, it just happened that way. I've only gained 1 lb so far how great is that!? Anyways the doctors said he looked perfect and all doctors involved are so pleased that I've made it to the 25 going on 26 week mark. Dr. Speight did tell me I needed to go back to strict bed rest because it is important we get to the 30 week mark. So that's a little disheartening but I know she knows what's best for me and D.

Overall I am feeling pretty great, I just know this baby was meant to be a part of all our lives and he's proved that to some doubting doctors that 6 weeks ago feared the worst! It's hard to not have my Matty here but I'm so excited about his new job in NYC and what the future holds for me and D because of Matt's hard work and amazing talents. D and I are going to rule NYC!

TOOlong!

I know it's been a while since I wrote and updated and I can't use the excuse I've been busy God knows bed rest is nothing close to busy! I just didn't have much to update on and I still don't have much but wanted to say that it looks like Matt's found a room in NY living with 2 girls and another guy! It's exciting because Matt's anxious to be concentrating on his work so now he'll hopefully have a couple of down months before he has to start looking for a home for the three of us & before Dealey comes! I have 2 dr. appointments tomorrow and am anxious as always to hear everything is going well. D has definitely increased his daily calisthenics in amount and strength, which is fun I do love feeling him kick and the cat seems to enjoy a little belly time these days she just stares at my stomach I think wondering what the crap is going on in there!

So watch for an update late tomorrow or Thursday on how baby D is doing and what my time line is looking like!

NEWdevelopments

Well, my excitement was short lived as we found out today Matt leaves for New York on Monday. He will get to come home for a couple of weekends but by mid April he'll be up there full time. I'm excited for Matt because I know he's excited about his new job and is dying to get started. I know I'll be okay here there are some personal stresses that come with this but we'll work through those as they arise. My biggest concern is that Matt is going to miss Dealey's birth if God would just let me plan it out, that would make it so much easier, but I've asked and haven't heard anything back yet, I believe I already know the answer.....sigh I know it will be an overwhelming experience and I'll be so excited about Dealey being here but I also know that I'll be in tears and broken hearted that my love missed this amazing moment in our lives. I hate to sound so defeated but it's hard right now I'm still trying to digest it all....

LIFEdecisions

After much deliberation and tears we have decided that I will stay here in Texas for the duration of the pregnancy. It makes us sad of course, we were so excited about getting to New York before Dealey's birth but life happened and here we are making decisions that have nothing to do with us and everything to do with Dealey's welfare. I'll be moving in to a small one bedroom near my hospital so that when Dealey's born if he has to spend time in the NICU I can live close by to be with him every day. Matt will be traveling back and forth from Dallas, Vancouver and New York over the next few months. His new job is being fabulous about letting him be here as much as is possible. So while spirits are low about our "situation" we are excited that I will be 23 weeks on Sunday and that means only 1 week until we're past our first major milestone. I have appointments next week to check everything again and hopefully get a more accurate idea of when the hospital will become my new home. We're excited to see Dealey again and get new stats on weight and development it's just so amazing to me and I cry just thinking about how amazing it is that Matt and I are getting to go through this it's something we thought would only be a dream.....

BRIGHTmoments

With all the stress of decisions and facing months apart, today Matt and I got a very special gift. My dad arrived from New Mexico with our handmade, gorgeous crib for Dealey! So of course it had to be set up and we put in the bedding that Matt's stepmom Jill made! It's such a special piece of furniture and I just can't wait to see Dealey in it, his big blue eyes are just going to pop with all the great lime green and teal tones! Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment!

CAPTIVITYcontinues

I know the title sounds kind of daunting but it's not so bad. We had good appointments today. First off (and most important) Dealey's doing great he's still happy and healthy and I can now feel him punching and kicking me all day long, he's an active little trouble maker. His heart rate was right on track at 153 beats per a minute and they did a once over on him just to check that everything was still on track growth wise. The only good thing about everything that's going on is that we'll get to see and hear Dealey a lot more than most people get to. Today he was feeling photogenic and gave us some sweet shots, once again he was NOT shy at all giving us a good look at his "stuff" so here's a couple of pictures, definitely the highlight of our day!

Isn't he cute! sweet little profile with arms in punching position which he does often, usually around midnight or so. We're hopeful this means he's a night owl like us who likes to sleep late in to the mornings.....

Yeah so there's definitely no doubt it's a boy....huh? And he has a cute little heart shaped baby butt!

Okay so that what's going on with Dealey. I'm doing good, my spirits are high right now, I did have a little bit of a break down this evening but mostly feeling good. My surgery is proving to be a success so far and my chances of carrying to a healthy date are looking brighter. I am still on bed rest and will continue to be on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. The doctor said I have about six weeks until I'll most likely be admitted for the duration of the pregnancy because although the procedure is doing it's job as Dealey grows bigger and stronger my cervic will give and the stitches will no longer be able to hold so they want me in a safe environment so when labor comes it can be as smooth as possible. So what all this information has left us with is so much stress we just want to scream. Do I wait the 6 weeks out here and go in the hospital here where I am surrounded by friends and family? Or if they give me a small window to fly (which is a possibility in a few weeks) do I take that, only to be admitted in to a hospital in a new city with Matt working hard at his new job and no friends or family around? If I stay here Matt won't be here most of that time which will be hard but so would be being alone in New York while Matt works, travels, looks for apartments, etc. I don't know?! Then there's the actual move and the questions of when do we move our stuff. Now? Or put it in storage here or storage there? AAAAHHHHH it's just so much to figure out. I knew Dealey would change our lives and I've/We've been looking forward to that for 8 long long years but I had no idea he'd have such control before he even got here!

CAPTIVITY : day 3

Well, I wouldn't really call it captivity it's definitely for a greater good, the greatest good in mine and matt's life. For those of you who know me though, you know that me and bed rest are not a good combination. Today started with some excitement though, definitely not healthy for me but it was nice to breath some outside air for a few minutes. At 5:45 this morning we hear banging on doors and a man yelling you must evacuate the building, there's a fire! We're like what? Fire? My first words....crap....so we grab all the laptops and the cat and head down the stairs, I was sure I was going in to labor at any moment and was ready to be pissed if this was some stupid drunk college student. It turns out it was a transformer that blew and overheated and started smoking. The nice thing was we were back up and in bed by a little after 6:00 am but I was hurting. Everything settled down and by mid morning we had got our sleep back and I was feeling much better. I must praise my husband for a few minutes, he's been so great the last few days, encouraging me in my "what if" times and cleaning the loft and getting it ready for a baby shower tomorrow that my sweet friends are bringing to me. Matt's just been so amazing I've never felt so lucky he loves me and Dealey so much and it shows!

IT'S A boy!

That's right we're having a baby boy! The name will be Dealey James Maples and we are so freaking excited! However the day was mixed with a little rough news. After finding out we're having a boy the doctor took a look at my cervic and said that it was short meaning that there was a 90% chance I would deliver in the next month (not a good thing at all) so the solution was that I have surgery and have my cervic stitched closed giving us a 75% chance of carrying to full term. So I had surgery today about 5:30ish and Matt and I will be spending tonight at the hospital. Unless something crazy happens I should be home by tomorrow afternoon sometime. I'm on bed rest for the next week and after a check up next week, that will be updated. More than likely the dr. believes I'll be on bed rest for a while. We'll keep the blog updated with the latest news. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared and emotionally upset but I am hopeful and do believe the little Dealey will hold on tight and we will not be greeting him to the world any time soon! It was great to hear that he was happy and healthy in there and has no idea anything is going on right now. He weighed in at 14 oz. and everything measured perfect, he had the the cutest profile! We love you guys and know that many of you are thinking of us and we appreciate and feel the love....

NEW YORKcity

Okay so I started off on the first night writing what I hope to be a daily journal of our trip to NYC but after the first night I was sick and very tired and just wanted to go to sleep so here's our first day in NYC really the rest of it was spent exploring the city, we spent a ton of time on the subway and looking at neighborhoods and a few potential apartments, except for Tuesday night when we went to see RENT which was awesome and it started in true NYC winter fashion as it began to snow while we were standing in line!

Monday : Day One in NYC

We had the queitest and least like the movies cab ride ever, a very nice ethnic dude drove us to the SoHotel in, you might of guessed SOHO! After checking into our hotel we walked a few blocks in to Chinatown which was quite the adventure! As we got deeper and deeper in to Chinatown there was little if any english being spoken around us and we realized pretty quick while we might find the authentic Chinese food we desire we may be in way over our heads. However had done some research and found our way to the Golden Unicorn where we dove head first in to a world we couldn’t understand at all except for the lovely pictures on the side of the dim sum carts. The food was good yet mysterious in a odd sort of way. We finished lunch and headed towards our first subway ride headed to Times Square once there we hit a few stores saw the most amazing site, a Garett’s Popcorn, that’s right we are going to live in a city that sales fresh hot melt in your mouth Garett’s Popcorn! We stopped for a quick snack and then began a twenty something block hike to what turned out to be a really incredible baby store called Buy Buy Baby where we got to test drive the stroller we’ve had our eye on as well as check out some products we hadn’t seen before. By the time we got done with baby dreaming I was starving so we began our quest for great pizza and found it at Roco’s Pizza, the picture says it all, and we’re still wondering, we did order the small pizza, right? We treked back down to SOHO thinking it must be late and we’ve been up since 3:30 am and our feet were feeling it. We got back to the hotel and got settled and then realized that it was only 6:30 and we have never felt so old in our lives. But we decided it was okay to be old as we had 3 very full days still ahead of us, meetings with new co-workers and lots and lots of apartments.

See what I mean, we ordered a small.........................................................we think?!


Matt and I waiting outside to see RENT on Broadway, if you've never been to a Broadway show I highly reccomend it! Mary Poppins just came out on Broadway and I can't wait to see it! If we look bundled we were it was FREAKING cold in NYC!

The trophy shot of Times Sqaure it was quite fabulous, I can't wait for everybody to come visit us New York if you've never been you're in for a treat, but the great thing is no matter how many times you visit New York it's like a new world with yet another billion things to discover!

The next five pictures are matt having fun in the subway, we did see a Prince look a like we think and a host of other interesting characters providing fun entertainment as we wandered through the maze that is the NY subway!


And finally Matt loves taking pictures of me, I don't know why he knows it makes me want to crawl in to a deep hole but I do love my new NY hat especially mixed with my lovely (yet pale) glow of pregnancy!

So that's a very short version of a very long week in NY, the apartment search is far from over and we are anxious to get through the next few weeks of packing and and goodbyes it's going to be so hard to leave the life I've known for 27 years. But I'm also excited about this new season in our lives! Dreams really do come true!

MOVING on up

...to the East Side? Okay not the East Side, but definitely east! Well just a few days ago I was writing about the frustration of life being all up in the air then yesterday morning, the first and biggest piece fell. Matt was offered the job in New York, so we're moving!!!!! The scary part we have to be out of our loft by end of February to avoid paying an extra $1300 so 3 weeks Matt will probably be gone and I'll be here at least through March 7 for my next dr. apointment but OH MY GAH! I don't think it's set in completely yet I just now we're moving to New York and I could not be more excited! So our trip next week has become more of a quest than a vacation, not to worry we will definitely have fun but the big thing is we need to find a place to live! So lots of pics to come as we begin our search for the perfect neighborhood and the perfect place to begin the biggest adventure in our lives!

NEWbeginnings

Today was a bitter sweet day for me. The wonderful part was hearing my baby's heart beat so strong and excited about life in there. But it was sad that sweet Matty couldn't be with us. It's also been a rough week emotionally, I LOVE change, but it's been hard preparing for these coming months with so much of our lives up in the air. The next weeks will be amazing with the upcoming trip and having some of our questions answered about what life will be like in the coming months. I'm also struggling with leaving my job. The new designer is here (Erin) and it's so hard to slowly see my responsibilities taken from me and as she gets more and more settled it will be harder and harder to cope with giving up my design time here at Firewheel. Ultimately my heart and mind know it's going to be an amazing thing to take on the job of motherhood (with a little graphics on the side for sanity) the waiting game has just never been so hard. But enough sad crap, yeah for a happy, healthy and according to the doctor EXTREMELY active little baby, it's better than I ever dreamed it would be and every moment of the pregnancy makes the 8 years we tried worth every tear, heart ache and minutes of frustration we felt. Our next appointment is February 28th so be on the look out that day as we will be introducing our baby boy or girl to all our friends and family!

160days

That's right we're 17 weeks pregnant we have 160 days left and are 42.5% of the way there! Yeah, that's almost 50%! We have an appointment Wednesday and I have no idea what to expect other than I know I'll get to hear the baby but I'm hoping to see the baby too. It's such an exciting month for Matt and I. We leave for New York next Monday for an awesome trip together. It's also exciting because Matt has his final interview for the job in NY Valentines day @ 10:00 am. I promise lots of pictures on the blog when we get back. Oh and then the next week we find out the sex of the baby! What a great month, I think I have to say February is now my most favorite month ever! Big hugs to everybody!

FUELUPfridays

Matt and I are always on the look out for incredible music and artist so I wanted to start sharing some of our finds with you guys, in what I hope can be weekly insight in to new or interesting artist of all kinds. So to kick off FUELUPfridays lets check out this guy from Canada he's just an amazing guitarist, I asked Matt if he could learn how to do that by the time the baby got here, hee hee, he just looked at me and changed the subject...here it is : AirTap de Erik Mongrain