Can't complain

Having a wonderful time with my husband... =

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Having a wonderful time...

View from our hotel room in Carnac (western coast of France)... Been eating a lot of wonderful bread, cheese, and wine (just a little) and have seen some amazing things... Don't want to think about coming back... =(



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well, i'm off

this week has been such a flurry of activity... between work, doctors appts, finalizing places to stay, making lists, stopping the mail, checking-in with the cat sitter, approving colors for the house, and shopping for last-minute items - i cannot WAIT to board that plane tomorrow... oh, and because my credit card company sucks - an order i placed for euros was cancelled and now we won't have any on-hand when we get there... i know there are ATMs, but i was hoping to have some cash beforehand... c'est la vie...

for the past 2 days, i've been researching places to stay in the normandy and mont saint-michel area... i thought it would be cool to stay in a small chateau (some were dirt-cheap compared to a hotel) so i contacted about 20 of them... i heard back from a few and because we had waited so long to make arrangements, most places were booked unfortunately... but someone must have blessed-us with good luck because just this morning - 2 of the places that we really liked were available and will cost under $75/night (see pic of one of the kitchens)... that's crazy! though they are not the majestic and large chateaus that i had originally looked at - they are instead smaller type farmhouses in the country that will be just perfect... i think i'm more excited about this part of the trip, more than anything else, but know that will change... =)

here is a map that i created, showing our route in blue and noting the places where we will be staying... we fly into Paris on saturday, then it's off to Tours for a few days, then to La Rochelle on the west coast, and then up to Carnac, which is also on the coast... both are quaint, sea-side towns, and have lots to see and experience (medieval ruins, etc.)... from Carnac - we are headed to the north coast and will be staying between Mont Saint-Michelle and the Normandy beaches - both of which should be amazing... and then it's back to Paris for a few days... i'm tired already, but am looking forward to getting a lot of exercise and eating a lot of french bread and cheese (in moderation, of course)... and though some say it's not recommended - i will also be having some wine but will limit my intake and not have it every night...

i will try and post some pics, but can't promise anything... hope you have a great 2 weeks and i'll see you on the 29th... =)
 
happy thursday... 

i think your scale is broken

it was a busy weekend, that's for sure... i had quite the success on saturday with mom - we hit 3, big yard sales and though it may be early, i picked-up some great baby clothes... this one woman had THE nicest things (gap, ralph lauren, etc.) for dirt cheap, so my mom and i went thru the rack and picked-out a few things... eric had thought i spent a fortune, but when i said i only paid $4 - he was flabbergasted... i have no issues with buying clothes that i know were probably only worn once or twice - why pay full price for something the baby will either throw-up on or poop in... ;)

after the yard sales - we hit some normal stores and i grabbed some more stuff for my trip... i found the cutest pair of lands end shoes, a reversible jacket, some socks, a few shirts, and a bigger belt since all of mine (ahem) are now too small... i treated mom to dinner for mother's day and bought her a new purse (might as well have her pick-out what she likes, right)... i finally pulled-up to my house around 9:00 pm and was exhausted...

yesterday, we had a new roof installed... there were some times that were questionable (like running out of shingles), but they finished around 7:00 and it looks great... the weather was a bit windy but otherwise gorgeous - seemed like fall really... i did some more shopping at target last night and should really make a point in going every sunday at 9:00 because the store was empty!

this morning i had 2 doctor's appointments - my endocrinologist upped my lovenox dosage so now i'm doing 2 shots a day (AM and PM)... he said because i've had a clot before, that i'm at a higher risk of getting another while pregnant so that's why i'm going up to 60mg... he said my levels are perfect otherwise, so that's good news...

as for my OB - i was utterly shocked when the nurse said i hadn't gained anything this month... i really feel like i have, but i guess it's just my body shifting around? i also have to start getting a sonogram of my cervix every 2 weeks since i had a LEEP procedure years ago and my cervix may become thinner much sooner... with all these appointments, i'm glad i'm organized and can keep track of everything because it's quite overwhelming... guess i should get used to it, huh...

the last pic is of my salad today - the lettuce is straight from our garden and contains: baby romaine, arugula, and green leaf... i also mixed in some cranberries, walnuts, gorgonzola, tomatos, and grilled chicken... yum-o... =)

hope you're having a great monday...

oh la la

since eric has been busy with the contractors - he put me in charge of finding a hotel in paris... i have been researching and reading reviews on tripadvisor.com for days (many that i had found two weeks ago, were booked) and finally decided on this one... hotel val girard is located in the 15th arrondissement and as you can see, not far from the eiffel tower... and to make it even better - i found a great deal on expedia.com as well, so at least we have the beginning and end of trip taken care of... as for everything in between - that is TBA... =)

last night was our big, annual meeting dinner - i was able to take a few shots of the signs that i created, and then hit the exhibitor reception beforehand (for some yummy guacamole/chips and tonic water)...  eric came around 6:30 so we scooted around the hall, grabbed a nice j.p.morgan totebag, and then headed upstairs to the ballroom... the menu was short ribs and scallops, but my boss had said that for the veggie option, they were doing ravioli... unfortunately that's not what appeared on my plate, but rather some over-salted risotto... the salad was good and the chocolate ginache dessert was okay, but i didn't finish anything... felt very "full" yesterday for some reason... maybe it's just my belly growing, who knows... by the time the entertainment started, it was close to 9:00 so we headed home...

weekend plans: lots of yard-saling with mom tomorrow, so i'm pretty excited... i also have some shoes to return and then have a few items i need to get for the trip, like a spring jacket of some sort and maybe a few pairs of walking shoes... as for sunday, we have much to do for our trip - eric wants to put together a slideshow for the family we are staying with, so that will take some time... the guys will be working on the roof as well, maybe they'll get everything done by monday... the dumpster was delivered this morning and will live in our driveway until the job is complete... i won't post pics until everything is done, then there will be a good before/after comparison... =)

and i WILL get outside for a walk today - no ifs, ands, or butts!

happy friday...

pollen blows

our annual meeting is going on right now, so the office has been dead (though i've been extremely busy, go figure)... i was supposed to be in charge of updating 1 website, but now it's grown to 2 and i've been busy all day... i may head to the hotel later just to see everything (like the million signs i did) but also because the dinner is tonight and it's always nice to go and have fun (entertainment is mary chapin carpenter)... i'll try and take some pics...

eric finally took some belly shots of me last night and i have to admit, i just look fat... i guess that's normal... i probably won't start posting any until you can really tell...

though i've been incredibly lucky so far - i'm still in the high-risk category because of my clotting disorder and have to give myself a shot of lovenox every day... it's not that bad and most days are good, though the times that i hesitate is when i bruise... besides that - my family doctor upped my synthroid to 75 mg and so far, so good... my allergies have been pretty bad this week too so i called the OB yesterday and got the okay to take claritin - seems to have helped... =)

in other news - we have hired a contractor to do our roof and have the house painted... i picked out some nice colors for the paint (khaki and navy blue) and shingles (mixed greys and browns) - can't wait to see the end result... after that, i told eric that i'd like to have a new kitchen floor and countertop... i can't stand the one we have now - it's old and always looks dirty, and i'm not having that with a baby around... we can handle doing the cabinets and painting, so it shouldn't be that much work (hahaha!)... eric really wants to head back to pittsburgh in the next few years, so the more we do now - the less we'll have to handle when it comes time to put the house on the market...

in honey/babymoon news - we have yet to reserve a room, anywhere... pretty funny considering we leave in 8 days...

so that's it for me - hope you're having a good day!

happy thursday...

oh yea, i forgot to tell you

i'm pregnant... =)

i apologize for not telling you guys sooner, but we were waiting for the right time and then my dad passed away and well, you know the rest... we just told eric's family 2 weeks ago, the rest of our close friends last week, and my coworkers last thursday (still haven't said anything on facebook)... i admit - it was fun keeping a secret, but i'm glad to finally have it out there... =)

so our little "spicy meatball", as eric likes to call him, is due the week of october 18 and puts me at 16 weeks... i found out that i was pregnant after having my pre-op bloodwork done before foot surgery - the doctor called me at work and said, "so we have your results here and i'm not sure if you know this or not, but you're about 5 weeks pregnant"... i had been about 2-weeks late, but thought nothing of it since my schedule was sporadic anyway... i had to keep quiet the whole day and didn't tell eric til we got home from work that nice - talk about stressful... he wasn't really surprised either - shocked maybe, but not really surprised...

to be honest - i NEVER thought, in a million years, that i would get pregnant this quickly... i had even asked my OB back in january about how long should we try before getting concerned - he had told me that if i wasn't pregnant by june, to come back... you should've seen his face when i went back for my 8-week appointment - he said, "wow, that didn't very long, did it"... i feel truly blessed and very lucky because i know there are a lot of women out there who have issues with getting pregnant - i really, really thought that was going to be me... guess i was wrong...

so after finding out - it threw a wrench into my foot surgery plans since i could no longer be put under anesthesia... so i had to get a note from my OB saying it was okay to have a local instead, and the rest is history... i was awake for the whole thing (which sucked) and couldn't take any pain medication afterward (which sucked even more)... will i be going thru that again any time soon? probably not and so far, my foot hasn't been hurting as much... yay!

overall - i've been feeling good... no morning sickness (at all) but i'm still pretty tired at the end of the day... the first few weeks were brutal - like as soon as i got home, i put on my PJs and was on the couch ready for bed... the doc says this should pass soon, but that i may start to get headaches (yup)... i've had a barrage of prenatal testing (because of my age) which has consisted of ultrasounds, sonograms, a triple screen test, and most recently - an amniocentesis... everything has looked perfect so far and we were able to get a firm confirmation on the sex --> a boy... again, i'm not surprised - i have always said that i would have a boy and would've been shocked if they said "it's a girl"... needless to say, my family (especially my mom ) is thrilled since we've only had girls... =)

so as you can imagine - my eating has been all over the place and same with my weight... i did not start this pregnancy at a weight that i am happy with, but there's nothing i can do about it now... they say 25-30 pounds is a good amount to gain, so that will be my goal though it's been hard during the last few weeks... i've hardly exercised because of all that's been going on - work, being extremely tired, and my dad, but know i have to make it a priority... just going for a walk is good they say, so that is going to be my focus...

i've had to buy new clothes already, though i don't think i look pregnant, and nothing from last summer fits (pants anyway)... size 16s are a tad too big right now so i'm trying to make do with buying stuff i can either grow into or wear for more than a month... i can't stand anything tight either so most of my shirts will have to be replaced soon as well... good thing i like to shop! =)

well, there's my news and hopefully this site won't turn into a total baby-blog, but i'm looking forward to sharing things with you since many of you are moms and have been thru it... and feel free to pass along any tidbits of advice - websites, stores, books, etc... =)

happy hump day...