San Francisco Trip

Mark and I took our last trip before the new arrival. It was nice to get away just the two of us! We both loved San Francisco.


Driving up to San Francisco.


Steep streets with trolleys - just like in the movies!


Chinatown was Mark's favorite part of the trip.


I scouted out a hospital, just in case... :)


Panoramic view of the city from Twin Peaks.




Castro - the gay neighborhood of SF.


The painted houses from Full House.


The fog set over the bay, creating a fitting atmosphere for our cruise to Alcatraz...


The cell blocks on Alcatraz.


Locked up!


The cells were very small.


Out on the town with friends.


On our way back home, we drove through Monterey...


... and down the Big Sur.


Beautiful Views!



We met with Maggie, Brooks, and Fin on our way back home.


2 preggos!!


Last stop was Malibu! The whole trip was wonderful!

4th of July

4th of July was great! We had a wonderful view of the Vista fireworks from our patio. Party next year at our place? :)

Garden Steps

Well, another project checked off the list! We needed steps to go behind the vegetable garden. Mark's first attempt at pouring concrete... I'd say he's a fast learner!

Started off with digging.


Lots of digging!


Here's the frame for the concrete.


Freshly poured concrete! Still wet! Nice shorts, Mark... :)

And this is the final result!

May Trips

We were looking back at some of the nice moments we had on our trips in May, so I thought I'd share a couple pictures.



So nice to see everyone again and enjoy great food!


Happy Birthday Urse!


Mark's golf trip to Ireland was a great success!


The 12th at Kinsale.


Royal County Down.


The 18th at Kinsale.

26 weeks

Just getting bigger! :)

23 weeks 6 days!

No comment. :)

Garden

Having Sunday breakfast in the garden on new lounge chair!


Flowers picked from our garden. (No, we don't have green thumbs... just nice weather! :))

It's a boy!

Here is a profile of our beautiful baby boy at 22 weeks! :)

The Swaddle

I think I might have the swaddling down, thanks to a great teacher. (Thank you, Patty!) Monkey looks pretty comfy, what do you think? Yes, Mark thinks I've lost my mind, too... :)

Bump at 21 weeks and 2 days

Bump's getting bigger, baby's kicking harder, and you can see my belly move from the kicks! Everything's right on schedule so far!

Vegetables

When we got back from our trips, we found ripe tomatoes and 5 zucchinis where there were none before we left!! It was a nice surprise to come home to!


One zucchini was over a foot long!

What do you do with such big zucchinis? Stuff them! Yum!

Irish Invasion

Mark came back from Ireland with a couple of gifts for "Seamus". :) I guess I'm going to have to go to Poland and bring back some Polish things! Have to even it out! I'll be fighting for the Polish side! They ARE quite cute items, though...

Baby Shower

The Baby Shower was a big and pleasant surprise! Thank you, Jane, for organizing it! Thanks to everyone for coming!


Cute table decorations!


More decorations!


It was so nice to see everyone!


It was so new to me to look at baby things and think that I will need them soon!

Such a nice turn out!


All the things were so cute!


I tried to display all the gifts I got. Hope you can see yours! Thank you again so much for everything. The books are still on their way home, so I couldn't take a picture of them. And the Maternity clothes are being used and very much appreciated! Thank you!

Kicks

It's been exactly 2 weeks now, since I felt the first kicks. I was sitting at a red light, when all of the sudden "kick...kick"! It was a wonderful feeling. I've been feeling movements everyday since, and they got much stronger yesterday. At first, they felt like little "nudges" or "pokes" from the inside. Now, they feel like I have a fish swimming in there trying to get out. I know that before long they will be much stronger and maybe not as enjoyable... but it's still a wonderful thing... :) This morning, Mark finally felt a kick! He describes it as a "bump". I was so happy he felt the baby before he went to Ireland! A nice going away present! That's all for now. We're scheduled for "the" ultrasound in 3 weeks, so stay tuned until then!

My Bump at 18 weeks and 5 days

I have finally succumbed to Maternity pants and it was soo worth it. I'd say I have a bump now, what do you think? :)

Wild Animal Park

We went to the Wild Animal Park this weekend. Had a great time. It's a wonderful place!



The elephants gave us quite a show!



Mom and one month old baby!



Lion Family chillin' on a Jeep.



Gorillas finding sanctuary in the shade.



My growing belly!


Happy couple! :)



Beautiful cheetah.


Meerkat striking a pose...

15 week belly

So, I'm 15 weeks today!! I DEFINITELY cannot button my pants anymore. I have fallen in love with the belly band that allows me to wear my pants unbuttoned... and no one knows... I hope. :) I will try to hold off on the maternity pants for a few weeks, but won't be able to do it much longer in my normal clothes... It's exciting to see something is changing.

Alive and Kicking!

We went to the doctor's today, and everything went well. I'm the size I'm supposed to be, and we heard the heartbeat. It was loud and clear, interrupted by a loud "KICK"! It was a very nice sound... :)

Happy 30th Birthday Mark! :)

Mark had surprise guests for a nice evening finished with a cake and a lot of candles!!

Belly shots

A wonderful friend of mine gave me the idea to post some of my belly shots here. See a difference?


This is me at 5 weeks and 5 days.


This is me at 12 weeks. Getting bigger... Am I just getting fat?

9 weeks 2 days

We went to the doctor's yesterday and they did lots of tests on me and asked us many questions. The nurse decided it was a bit too early to hear the heartbeat, so we got another ultrasound! Baby's grown from .55cm to 2.52cm. You can see the head, body, arms, and legs! It was doing a little dance for us, when we were looking at it. :) And you could see the heartbeat. Pretty cool!