Birthday Wishes

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The Birthday Boy

How did this happen?  Another year gone by and my baby is three years old.  THREE.  YEARS.  OLD.

Happy birthday, son.  Momma loves you more than you can imagine.

Another Year Older...

... and how do we celebrate?


We're off to the land of pastelitos, mid-day rain showers and most importantly, Abuelo and Abuela!






Miami - here we come!

One Restful Weekend Before It Gets Crazy Again

Memorial Day is supposed to be the onset of summer here in Jersey. And every year, I wind up at a party or BBQ, driving on the Garden State Parkway, getting stuck in some kind of traffic jam.

This year, I opted out of all festivities, and stayed home. And even though it meant missing my nephew's bithday party, I'm glad I did.

After a busy May, workwise, I was happy to sit around my house with no schedule. I sat out by the pool one day and shopped another. I slept in. I read. I watched too much television. Way too much television.

But it was good. Quiet. Restful.

And tomorrow, Mike comes home from his business trip. It's been so long since I've seen him (over three weeks!), I am going to have to look at a photograph before he gets home in order to identify him. Tee hee hee.

Once he gets back, we are in full mode again. We have to go baby furniture shopping. And add stuff to the baby registry (I started one, but there are soooo many things I need. I am totally overwhelmed by the whole thing). And finalize details so we can bank FeeNo's cord blood when he's born.

And yes, I have to get to taking some pregnancy pictures. I haven't felt any motivation to do so, since I have only gained two pounds and in my opinion, don't look any different. But I must be growing, because it actually hurts to button some of my regular pants. I broke down and bought some maternity capris, ones with an elastic waist. Elastic! Ugh. And I am wearing a pair today and I don't know, I feel so free!

I realize that I am nearly halfway through this pregnancy and while a part of me thinks the next few months will take forever to get through, I know they will go by in an instant.

I'm looking forward to meeting FeeNo, my kid. My kid that doesn't like pictures.

Oh yeah, and before I forget, I have to send out some birthday shout-outs to my Dad and Ma-in-law: happy birthday to you both! You're both so young!

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Okay, folks, I promised details. Here is a chronicle of the last few weeks:

Wednesday, February 21 – Period is due.

Friday, February 23 – Take pregnancy test. Negative. Fly to Miami for Heather’s wedding.

Wednesday, February 28 – Still no period. Decide to take another pregnancy test and have Mike read it. Conversation goes like this:

Me: Take a look at this. What do you see?
Mike: What am I supposed to see?
Me: I’m not telling you. Just tell me what you see.
Mike: It looks like a line. And then another light line next to it.
Me: A. Light.Line. Next. To.It?
Mike: Yes.
Me: Holy shit. I’m pregnant.

Mike begins to strut around the house and begins calling himself “Macho Man.” He begins to talk about his virility. The strutting and talking continue for days.

Thursday, March 1 – Have blood drawn to confirm pregnancy.

Saturday, March 3 - Call Miami and let the Abuelos know what's going on. Abuela is happy. Abuelo is beyond happy. Drive down to see Grandma. She dances an Irish jig.

Sunday, March 4 - Have a birthday dinner with Mike's side of the family. Am secretly jealous that I cannot partake in the Sake Bomber drinking escapade. But really not that jealous.

Monday, March 5 – Hear from my OB/GYN. She congratulates me on being pregnant and sends me to a perinatalogist to have me checked out. She also sends me for more bloodwork.

Wednesday, March 7 - Feeling paranoid because I don't feel any different. Take another pregnancy test. It becomes positive in about 3 seconds. Just to make sure the tests are functioning properly, I have Mike take one too. His result (thankfully): negative.

Thursday, March 8 - My birthday. I work all day. Then I go home and fall asleep at 8:30 p.m.

Friday, March 9 – Mike takes me to the Melting Pot to celebrate my birthday. On the drive there, I get nauseous and Mike threatens to take me home and celebrate another time. I refuse to go home because dammit - it's my birthday dinner. And it's damn delicious.

Monday, March 12 – Hear from my OB/GYN again. My bloodwork is back and my hcg and progesterone levels are even higher. I ask the nurse if I am ‘really knocked up.’ She laughs and confirms that I am.

Tuesday, March 13 - Visit the perinatalogist. My blood sugars* have been wonderful for the past few years. Not too much concern over that. But, my blood pressure is elevated. Am referred to a cardiologist (WTH?) for treatment. But, thankfully, I am cleared for treatment and sent back to my regular OB/GYN. Before I leave, they do an ultrasound and we see the blob that is FeeNo. We can see the heart beating! Holy smokes. Mike and I share a moment. We are having a baby! Baby is due November 1. It's all very cheesey.

Everyday - I'm tired. I'm sleepy. I can't keep my eyes open. I fall asleep during my favorite television shows. Did I mention I'm tired?

Saturday, March 24 - I stay indoors all day. I finally take a shower at 9 pm. I put on fresh pajamas.

Sunday, March 25 - I get morning sickness. It lasts all day long. Stay in pajamas all day again. Make Mike go out and buy me plantains. And a skirt steak. And white rice. I love that man.

Monday, March 26 - Mike cleans the entire house because I was 'resting' the entire weekend and didn't do a damn thing.

Friday, March 30 - Have a regular OB/GYN appointment. Everything is fine with FeeNo. On my way out of the doctor's office, I experience a hypoglycemic episode. My blood sugar drops too low, they have to call the paramedics. I am given glucose through a vein in my hand and 'revived' me. They sent me to the ER for observation. While there, my new doctor came down to see me - a perinatalogist. I am now back to being a 'high-risk pregnancy.' I asked him, "So, you are going to delivery my baby?" and he responded by saying, " I am going to deliver your healthy baby." That's all Mike and I needed to hear. The doc sent me home to rest. Told me to take it easy.

Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1 - Spent time at home, taking it easy. On Sunday night, Mike begins to explain the ins and outs of baseball statistics to my stomach. I fall asleep immediately.

Monday, April 2 - The Gators are playing for the National Championship for the second year in a row. I watch 5 minutes of the game before I fall asleep from exhaustion. When will this fatigue end?

Tuesday, April 3 - Wake up to the news that the Gators won AGAIN. The day is a good one. Except for the morning sickness. Ugh.

Friday, April 6 - The anticipation of telling everyone about the pregnancy is making me very anxious. I just want it to be Easter already!

Sunday, April 8 - We finally spill the beans to people. There is an excess of merriment and joy. Who knew that FeeNo would make everyone so thrilled?

More reports to come as the weeks and months pass, I promise.

* I have never written anything in my blog about my blood sugars and the type 1 diabetes I was diagnosed with when I was 18. It's never been an issue for me and over the years, I have learned to control it, live with it, and even embrace it as a part of my life. But I have never let it define who I am. There are many other things in my life that define me. However, having diabetes is going to play a significant part in the development of FeeNo and I will be writing more about it and how it affects my pregnancy. Please be patient with all the terminology and most importantly, send us good thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Celebrating Birthdays

My birthday celebrations began over the weekend. I spent Sunday afternoon with my family, celebrating at a hibachi restaurant. It's definitely a show, one that we all enjoyed (even the godson/nephew, who's two, loved it).

Baby Tommy liked the hibachi restaurant. He's not really a baby anymore, huh?

Earlier this week, a new computer arrived. Mike had been trying to turn the purchase into a birthday gift for me, but it seemed to big, so exagerated. I told him we could consider it a new purchase for the house - BUT - it's my computer. All mine. No sharing allowed.

Then last night, he mentioned to me that he had a birthday card for me, but that my gift had yet to arrive. When I questioned the late arrival of the gift, he explained that he ordered me a University of Florida coffee table book, commemorating both the basketball and football championships of 2006 (it's for our coffee table that we ordered before Christmas, already arrived, and has yet to be picked up - we're working on that). Then I remembered something, and I said, "Wait a minute... isn't that my Valentine's Day gift?" He gave me a sheepish grin: "I thought you might have forgotten about that by now. Go to sleep. Tomorrow it'll be your birthday."

(sigh) He's a character, that husband of mine.

The men (and woman) celebrating my birthday with drinks. The Irish (and Polish and Japanese as it seems in the picture) will celebrate any occasion, I guess.

Needless to say, today, I turn 32.

That's 1664 weeks. 11,648 days. 279,552 hours.

That's a long time to be alive. But at the same time, not nearly long enough.

I'm thankful that in 32 years, I've lived the best life I can and continue to do so everyday. I wouldn't have done anything differently.

Bad Use for Kitty Litter

The annoyances (is that a word?) of winter are quickly grating my nerves.

It snowed earlier this week. Not much, just a few inches accumulated. But it's been cold, so the snow isn't really melting. Worse, in the areas where it did melt, sheets of slippery ice have developed, making it dangerous to walk near.

Since I am somewhat of a klutz (even wearing boots with grips on the soles), I am even more paranoid at the sheet of ice that has developed right at my door, as well as in the area where I park my car.

I mentioned this to Mike, and he ran out to buy kitty litter. We had read somewhere (I wish I could find that article now.) that kitty litter was wonderful because it was safe for the environment and created a nice barrier over the ice, avoiding slips for the oh-so-graceful like myself. Mike came home with the kitty litter, sprinkled it all over the concrete outside our door, along the patch of grass that runs from our house to our driveway, and on the driveway itself.

Fast forward a few days later (and pardon my French): kitty litter sucks.

It is all over the house. All over our shoes. All over the interior of our cars. And. it. won't. come. off.

Last night, we trekked out to Wal-Mart to buy salt. Now, we have salt sprinkled over kitty litter, sprinkled over ice. It's a royal mess. And I am going nuts.

As if I wasn't crazy enough already.

Oh yeah, and it's one of my best bud's bday today - my fellow white girl Cubanita. Happy Birthday, Lisa!

The Trip

Yes, I survived the 2006 trip to Buffalo.

No, it wasn't horrible. It was actually nice and I had a lot of fun.

Unbeknownst to me, the first stop of the trip was not Buffalo. It was Niagara Falls. I loved being there, having not seen the falls since I was a little kid. Mike had never seen them, so it was great to share that with him.

Luckily, the weather in Ontario, Canada, was ideal. It wasn't cold, so we spent Saturday afternoon walking around the falls and taking in the 'tourist' attractions of the area.

Sunday, we drove into Buffalo, to tailgate and enjoy the game. About an hour before kick-off, however, it began to rain. Large, cold drops of rain fell on us for the entire game.

So, no snow, but plenty of rain.

I can't believe I am even writing this now: I would do it again next year if asked.

Ugh. Mike has turned me into a monster. An awful sports watching, couch warming sports fan.

As an aside, I must wish Mike a happy 38th birthday. Yes, I married an older man. He got lucky when he married a baby like me. Ha!