Where Has the Time Gone?

I got off the phone with Sean today and realized that Baby Marks is fast approaching his debut into the world!!! And only 17 days left untl Sean come home! It just seems like yesterday we got married and started our life together even though it has been literally miles and miles apart (for now!). Since my last blog, many things have changed. I have been slowly making my transition into motherhood with various experciences, typical worries and anxieties and of course those of you that know me well- prepartion! I had two rounds of wonderful baby showers- one in San Diego and a virtual one in NJ where I got to see family and friends. Both were great and really got me into an excited but nervous mood about labor and after labor. I am sure a year from now I will be repeating, "I can't believe how old the baby is!" but for now I am trying to imagine life with the baby. I have put my focus this week on balancing my life so that I am a great mother who is very happy. My first priority is my family and my faith and then everything else follows. I am looking forward to the little things in life that I had once just walked by and ignored. For instance, spending time on a blanket with the baby just looking at the trees and the sky, spending the day at the beach with the baby and Sean. I cannot wait to go to the lake cottage in Michigan and watch them both on the dock fishing. I cannot wait to have the little guy jump onto both of us at 6am on a sunday morning to wake us up. Instead of shooing him away I see both of us grabbing him and having an informal playful WWF match in the mountains of pillows and sheets...I cannot wait to hear his laugh, see his face and just sit and stare at his toes and little fingers for hours on end. Baby is going to teach me much more about life than I ever thought- he will reintroduce me to it!

6 Months Down, 3 Months to Go!

So I have made it 6 months into being pregnant and there are alot of things I am experiencing along the way. The most sacred is late at night or early in the morning. I will lay in bed or slowly wake up to Baby Marks kicking me telling me to get up. "Mom," I can hear him saying in there, "Get up, Now! Baby is hungry!" And that he is after gaining 23 pounds in 6 months! I have found myself changing my diet to better my energy levels and make Baby Marks much more happier and he has responded very well and so has my energy....it's funny, everyone asks how I am feeling. I reflect back on the past 6 months and I have dodged morning sickness, I don't have weird cravings, and I have stayed in fairly great shape for a normal person riding out my former athletic body but there is one thing I did notice......one small thing....not sure if I have always been this way or the pregnancy magnifies it, but being 6 months pregnant and 23 pounds front heavy I have noticed...that I am now extremely clumsy!



I guess it happened 2 weeks ago. I was cooking company some hamburgers and was walking around the pool. I happened to step right through a plastic cover for the pool filter and well you can see the damage in this picture....afterwards I found it pretty funny but of course I freaked out and decided to get no topical pain killers to be the best mom ever. I endured the stitches and blocked out the pain (precursor for labor perhaps?). 1 week later I needed to treat myself and so I rode my bike over to the nail salon. After elongating the ride to a full hour around town I wheeled it into the salon exhausted and everyone turned at my grand entrance...I knocked down their Buddha shrine with the bike! After apologizing and trying to fix their bowls of sacred water and oranges I did a quick 'in the name of the father, son and holy spirit' and then couldn't help myself. I burst into laughter right along with the nail technicians....after all a pregnant lady busting into a nail salon with a bike knocking over a Buddha shrine is not something you see everyday!

Thumbs Up Mom & Dad!

In this first ultrasound the baby's head is on the left side, you can see its big belly and the feet are on the right hand side!!! The baby is posing picture perfect!

The 2nd picture is looking down onto the baby's head on the right hand side, on the left hand side, the baby is literally giving a thumbs up sign! The baby is saying "Everything's ok in here mom and dad!!!"

The doctor put two ultrasounds side by side in amazement....In the ultrasound on the right hand side, the baby is making fun of me! I was watching the whole thing with my head propped up by my hand and my elbow up in the air....on the right hand side ultrasound, we literally watched the baby put its hand behind its head and prop itself up----what a little bugger!!! The doctor was amazed!

I don't want to be one of those moms that thinks there baby is the best in the world, but come on, the kid is giving a thumbs up sign!!! It definitely has a personality already; a combination of Sean and I. I know both sets of grandparents are laughing because we were both handfuls when we were little....this little one knows exactly what's going on! When I am talking about the baby, the baby tends to kick to remind me its right there with me....when I put my computer on my belly two weeks ago the baby made it known it doesn't like hot radiation on its head! And the baby's favorite food seems to be beef as it drains all the iron out of my body! This baby is a character but I would expect nothing less! I accidently found out the sex of the baby at this appointment so I am leaving that out because Sean would like to be surprised....for those that know what the baby is please don't comment on the sex on this blog just in case he reads it...I know that snooping Sean is going to try to figure out like a little kid on xmas eve but I doing my best not to spill the beans!!!!

Future Soccer Player at Iron Mountain

He/She is def. going to be a soccer player! The baby knows that something is going on...I haven't been exercising like I use to or for that matter at all so my days have been short covered with exhaustion and going to bed early. I decided this weekend that things would change and I would allow myself to have the easiest delivery of all if I picked back up and started exercising. I considered it a favor to myself and only the best for the baby!

I had veered away from my workouts being discouraged from the Olympic Trials but decided that was an excuse that had runnout by November 1st. So I rolled out of bed on Sunday, consumed some fantastic fruit and headed out toward my big literal obstacle~ Iron Mountain. Iron Mountain was something I couldn't even do when I was in shape! So conqueoring this would be a fanstasical start to getting back into the swing of things. It just so happened this was the one day a year it rains in San Diego! Lucky for me, since otherwise the tempature and feel of the mountain would resemble a desert since we happened to live in the desert and I would often forget. It would just be silly to do it on a normal day. Today, temps were cool with a cool mist- perfect!

I set out and at first didn't think I was going to make it. The first part of the hike was strictly uphill and exhausting on me since my normal oxgyen is reduced and shared with the little guy. Halfway through, I smiled as I passed a bunch of boy scouts! heeheehee! I reached the top and sat down with a Nutri Grain bar, a big bottle of water and a journal I've been writing in to give to our baby when they turn 18. I shared all of my hopes and happiness overlooking beautiful San Diego and then headed back down to complete my 6 mile hike for the day!

We reached the bottom just in time for the rain to start coming down and for me to hit the living room and curl up and rest from the exercise. I felt energized and ready to attack the week. And the baby, well.....she/he was fluttering all over the place- so she/he loved it!

I woke up, rolled out of bed on a gloomy Monday morning to do it all over again and hit the weight room, just baby and I hanging out and gettin' in shape. I took it much slower than the training in my past but enjoyed every second of it. I know baby had to as well!

Ok the baby's first picture-is finally scanned and uploaded! I think the baby looks more like me at this point but I'm sure will take on Sean's features soon! If you're confused, the baby's head is to the right! My next doctor's appointment is in 8 days so all the girls over here are counting down! More Soon!

The First Time on TV!

So today was my first appointment at the doctor's! I met Dr. Eastman who was very nice, but stern, a little East Coastish but won me over when she told me I could eat sushi! She made very logical sense when concluding that Asian women do not stop eating fish and Greek and Italian women do not limit themselves on feta and certain types of cheeses!

We first listened to the heartbeat. Kristie, one of my best friends, came along for support. As soon as we heard it we just looked at each other in astonishment! The heart was beating at 160 beat per minute! Doc said it was normal. Then baby made the first TV appearance of his/her career!

We saw the little tyke on the ultrasound TV and he/she wasn't shy. I started laughing, my nervous way of crying, and with each laugh the baby moved in delight! We saw its head, arms, legs and body, mainly its skeleton! The doc said everything looked normal, the length, measurements, head, spine was great, and the abs. That was a big relief. When poking around at different angles, baby did not like that and turned its back on us!!! Can you believe it- only 15 weeks old and sporting a 'tude! That sounds like Sean and Beth's kid!

Baby turned back around for us, and gave us one last wink. I got to see the heart beating and it seemed like a small miracle---I don't know how anyone actually thinks at one time this was never a life form. My hear melted seeing its heart beat....I raced off to Trader Joe's and bought some organic vegetable and chicken and cooked up a healthily meal for baby and me. There was no longer a need or desire for fast food or gross packaged food- I was back to my training days for the Olympics- although this time something much better was at the end of the training....

Baby Marks!