Orzo's Room

John and I have been hard at work getting the baby's room ready. You might remember from earlier posts that it was a very bare room that initially was an office. We have cleared out all the office furniture, taken away the computer (though my father thought Orzo should start off with her very own computer), installed a new light fixture and a new closet system, painted the room, and finally just added furniture.

We knew we would have to put together the crib, but had assumed all the other furniture would come in one piece. The deliveryman informed John that the rocker/glider would have to be put together and that it was incrediably difficult to do. Everyone either paid him to put together the chair or called him back within a few hours to get his help. With all the things we had to do around the house I would have paid to have it done, but the delivery man put so much emphasis into how difficult the chair was to put together that John saw it as a challenege and proudly told him we would do it ourselves. Fortunately, John was right and easily put the chair together, the crib was another story and took all afternoon.

PS If you look closely at Franklin's tail you will notice that he got covered in white paint after a painting mishap!

Parties all around

It was overall a very festive week, my brother in-laws birthday was on Sunday, Franklin's birthday on Thursday (Rob isn't always so happy that he has to share his B-day with the dog!), and my friend Kelli threw me a surprise baby shower yesterday. It was a complete and total surprise, I thought I was arriving at her house for a Pampered Chef party and instead arrived to find all my coworkers with baby gifts yelling 'surprise'. How a group of 30 women kept the baby shower a secret I will never know. Thank you Kelli and everyone else it was so exciting to see everyone there and 'oh and ah' over all the adorable baby clothes and toys!!!

Happy Birthday Franklin

Thursday we celebrated Franklin's 3rd 10th birthday. It was 2 years ago on Thursday that Franklin arrived at our clinic as a stray unable to walk and covered in ticks. (I should note that it is because of Kelli that I ended up adopting Franklin) He made a full recovery from his 'stray days' and has made a full recovery from his tumor removal surgery in August. He does look a little unhappy in his party hat, but take a look at a video of him on a typical day prior to bringing him out for a walk.

10 weeks left

It is hard to imagine that I am in my last trimester and only have 10 weeks left to go. Considering the long list of things John and I want to get done around the house and we have to fit in Thanksgiving and Christmas in between, I'm not quite sure how all of that is going to happen. My family has recently been making all of our plans for the holidays, but the funny part is that while we can do all the planing and scheduling we want to, Orzo prefers to keep her time of arrival a secret and could drop in unannounced at anytime.

10 weeks

20 weeks

30 weeks

Happy Halloween

On Saturday, Lisa and Rob had their annual halloween party. My neice, Ella, was dressed up as a fairy and her friends were dressed in costumes ranging from Indiana Jones and Darth Vader to Ladybugs and Princesses. John, Orzo and I all dressed up as well.

Orzo as a bun, me as an 'oven', and John as the baker.

We can't take all the credit for our costumes since we borrowed the idea from my friend Manon and Alex, who had the same halloween costume last year when they were almost 8 months pregnant. Thanks Manon, Alex, and Margaux!!

Happy Birthday to Me

B-day photo at 26 weeks

October 14 was my 29th birthday. John and I celebrated by going out to dinner and a play in Hartford. Everyone seemed to think that was an excellent idea since it will be my last birthday that we can make plans to go out without having to find a babysitter.... I prefer to think of it as my last birthday without homemade fingered painted, glittered, crayon colored birthday cards from my kids.

I did get one homemade B-day card this year. My neice Ella finger painted this card for me and on the inside Ella dictated what she wanted to say and Lisa wrote it down. "John, Roie, goat, feed them. Fun! Milkshake, lick, tongue, feed them, Reggie".

Food Cravings

All my aversions to meat are gone and I'm back to having a normal appetite, while I'm not currently having any strong cravings, this weekend would have been perfect for filling many cravings (they even had Fried Pickles). John and I and my family all went to the Center Sandwich Fair in New Hampshire. My niece Ella spent most of the time riding the carousel and looking at all the animals, while John and I spent the weekend eating fair food.

Enjoying an Awesome Blossom

Onion Rings

Sharing cotton candy with my grandmother

Satisfying our sweet tooth with a box of fudge.

Philadelphia and several firsts

This weekend John and I went to Philadelphia for our friend's wedding.

The new couple, Tara and Jaron, enjoying a

toast on the balcony after the wedding ceremony.

It was an exciting weekend not only because I got to see many of my friends from vet school, but also because John, Orzo, and I experienced a lot of 'firsts'. I experienced round ligament pain after rolling over too fast during the night and sciatica pains shooting down my right leg while trying to walk from the car into a restaurant for dinner. I would prefer to forget those firsts. The real exciting moment, that we will remember, is that John finally got to feel Orzo kick for the first time.

24 weeks and counting . . .