Baby Shower Invitations

A few of my friends offered to throw me a baby shower since my family is so far away.  My friend Maria created this amazing invitation for the event (I covered up some of the personal information):

I am quite excited about the shower, but also sad that my mom and sister and many other close relatives and friends won't be able to make it because they are on the East Coast. :(  

Santa Was Very Generous to Honeydew

Honeydew isn't even here yet and she made out like a bandit this Christmas! 

I have been trying my best not to buy things for the baby yet.  I'd like to know exactly what we need before I jump in.  I'm so excited to have some cute things to enjoy though.  Thank you to all the relatives who are already helping to dress her!

6 Months!

Wow, it's hard to fathom that it has already been 6 months and I am now entering my final trimester.  The time has flown!  I am starting to feel big, so this concerns me considering there are 3 months to go.  I can still fit into a few pairs of my jeans (low rise) but mostly I've been embracing the legging/long sweater look that seems to be current at the moment.  This week I plan to buy some maternity pants (ugh!!) for work.  Thankfully my friends have been gracious enough to share many great maternity tops that should fit for a while.

Here is a photo taken yesterday, prior to my husband's business Holiday Party. 

The Honeydew

Yesterday my fifth grade students nicknamed my bump "The Honeydew."  It came about through a conversation, first about the current size of the baby, which is approximately two pounds, and then in attempts to compare something concrete to this size.  They first generated "Canteloupe" but realized this wasn't a sufficient baby nickname.  Then they came up with "The Honeydew" (after the melon) and it sounded perfect.  Therefore, until we settle on a name, the baby bump will now be referred to as "The Honeydew."  I am really enjoying my student interest and involvement in this pregnancy.  The girls are especially cute about it and have several names to offer.

""Flutterings""

It is an amazing thing to feel something moving around inside of your body that you know is the act of another person.  The first time it happened, I thought I had a stomach ache from a huge meal.  Then, she continued to jump and spin in the mornings and evenings that followed and I was able to distinguish the feeling from that of anything else.  The literature says she is close to one pound and is about the size of a small doll at this point.  At her size, she is still free to move in all directions within the womb without restrictions.  I am enjoying picturing this tiny being swimming around inside me.  With each bump into the wall, I hope that my husband can feel her from the outside.  But, unfortunately she hasn't reached this level of intense exercise yet.  Soon enough, I hope! 

The Word Is Out

Finally.  Everyone knows.  I was able to share the news with all my coworkers, students and parents last week.  I was nervous about the response to me needing to leave work for six weeks in the middle of the school year, however everyone has been really supportive so far.  The only worry was about who would replace me during March and April, which we do not have an answer to yet, but we are searching.  The kids have been excited to offer name suggestions.  The funniest one yet has been "Creekstar" which was suggested because apparently I love hiking and this is the name my student saw on a trailhead one time.  "Amber" was another suggestion because a student thought my daughter should be named after a stone, like me!  It is a great relief to have everything out in the open now.  It's amazing that in less than four months there will be a little person to show for all this.    

Nesting

The last two weeks have been grueling, yet quite rewarding, as we moved up the street into our new rental house!  You would think that moving four houses away would be a nice, easy move.  However, the closer move proved to a challenge.  Being pregnant at any stage while moving is not fun.  I am so glad we did it now though, versus in a few months.  I was already challenged by maneuvering boxes around my growing belly.  Thank goodness for friends who were willing to lend a hand!

The house was built in the 1940s and has been a family home for many, many years.  It is filled with charm.  We especially love all the beautiful built-ins, detailed ceiling in the living room, and the amazing sunroom with an ocean view.

As we've set up the house, we have had baby-proofing in mind.  Here are some photos of some of the nearly finished rooms in our new nest:

The living room (still in need of curtains) and bright sunroom:



The dining room and neat archway leading into the living room:



The sunroom, which will transition into a playroom for Baby Foley:

The beautifully detailed ceiling in the living room which makes it feel so beachy and bright:

Our newest adopted addition to the family: Cookie 



We are so lucky to have found this terrific home!  We look forward to starting many new memories here with Baby Foley.  Her room will one of the next fun projects.

It's a girl!!

We had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound today.  We saw a little baby girl on the screen!  She is 19 weeks and two days old.  She currently weighs 11 ounces, and based on this and some other measurements, she is now due on March 17, 2012.  She might be a St. Paddy's Day baby after all!  We were a bit surprised by the news of a girl but I redid the Ancient Chinese Birth Chart predictor using this new due date and sure enough, it said "GIRL" this time around. 

The technician seemed very positive while viewing all Baby Foley's little organs so this is a huge relief.  The following photos show a side view, a face front view, and a lovely one of me and my belly (not my favorite picture, I must say).

Changes, Changes

It's been a crazy month!  The start of the school year was insane.  I also just returned from a week long trip to the Santa Monica mountains with the fifth and sixth grade.  Camping with middle-schoolers while pregnant was not the most enjoyable experience, but the kids had a blast.  I spent many a sleepless night, bringing kids back and forth to the bathroom and sitting with those who were so homesick they could not sleep.  I also struggled to refrain from coffee during the most desperate hours of tiredness.  However, I made it!

The Assistant Head of School now knows I am pregnant and he is quite happy for me.  He recommended I wait until before Thanksgiving to share the news with the whole staff and the students.  I am planning to tell the middle school staff on Tuesday, which will be a major relief.  It was hard not to share with my teaching partner as I struggled through camp last week.  I just hope my tummy doesn't pop out too much before Turkey Day!

Our most recent news is that we are moving.  We found a wonderful two bedroom place only a few houses away from our current home here at the beach.  The house has the same view as our current place, but much more space.  It will be perfect for our new family of three (plus the kitty).  Life is changing quite a bit for us these days, but we are excited by these changes.

Below is a picture of my belly at the end of the first trimester.  I am now into my 17th week of pregnancy and am feeling a little bulge in my tummy.  I plan to take a photo at the end of each trimester in order to compare.  My pants are getting tight!      

Overall, I feel great.  More to come soon...

Trimester One

Yesterday we officially finished the first trimester!  Time is certainly flying by.  Only 6 months to go.  WOW!!

Baby Foley suddenly had a craving for ice cream today.  Is this a second trimester thing?  I haven't really had any cravings yet.  I am an ice cream fan so I guess it's hard to say if this is directly related to Baby Foley's wishes or just a natural response to the hot weather we have been having.  Either way, I am completely fine with it! ;)

Back to School

I have had the luxury of relaxing for most of the summer since I am a teacher.  I do work part-time with students, but my days during the summer are nothing compared to the craziness ensued during the school year.  However, tomorrow is my first official day with my fifth and sixth graders, so I am gearing up for a very tiring month ahead. 

I feel fortunate that I was able to spend most of my time at home this summer, while I fought off morning sickness and extreme fatigue. I have been feeling really good these past few weeks so perhaps the timing is perfect.  I will find the most relief once I have been able to share the news with the staff, students, and parents though.  I have been dodging free coffee and Happy Hours for weeks now and it is a lot of work to do so without offending anyone!  My plan is to share the news with my job at the end of September, once all the back-to-school craze has settled a bit.  I am quite nervous about this, but I believe everyone will understand.  There is another teacher who is pregnant at the school, so at least I will not be the only one!

Wish me luck...  ;)

Ultrasound #1

Today was the first ultrasound for Baby Foley.  Everything looks good so far!  The doctor thinks it's going to be a boy because of a little something she spotted on the screen.  She was surprised at how active the baby was.  The heart was puttering away a mile a minute.  Perhaps we have an athlete on our hands!! 

Check out the photos below.  Sorry they are blurry.  We had to take photos of the photos :)

Gender?

Recently, my husband and I have been thinking a lot about the gender of the baby.  We definitely won't be able to wait until the due date to find out.  A friend told me about this fun online website that uses an Ancient Chinese Birth Chart method to predict the gender by using the mother's age, the conception month, and the due date.  I checked it out and according to:

http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-baby/gender-prediction/boy-or-girl-ancient-chinese-birth-chart/?ordersrc=google013chinesechart_app&s_kwcid=TC|6870|chinese%20baby%20sex%20prediction%20chart||S|b|8809142458

it's a BOY!  The site claims 93% accuracy and several friends have tried it and had positive results.  I guess only time will tell.  We would be happy with either... :)

The Pregnancy Diet

I have survived several weeks now on my new diet.  However, it hasn't been easy!  I am finally adjusting to it though and feeling good. The most challenging things to avoid have been:

feta/goat/blue/Mexican soft cheese
cold cuts/deli meats
sushi
tuna
coffee
wine
spicy foods (I live in one of the best places in the world for spicy Mexican food!!)

The foods I have been eating, yet not enjoying are:

nonfat milk
nuts
leafy greens (I typically enjoy these, but have had so many lately that I feel like I might sprout spinach leaves out of my ears any day now.)

Everything else has been great and is making me feel VERY healthy.  I am making a conscious effort to buy only organic and local food.  Thanks Mom and Dad for the Sockeye Salmon Oil supplements.  They arrived today and I will begin taking them a.s.a.p. in addition to continuing to take the prenatal vitamin each morning.

Going OUT to eat has been the biggest problem.  I am realizing that most menus are filled with junk.  I knew this before, but indulged anyways once in a while.  Now I do not have the luxury of "falling off the health wagon" if I feel like it.  I am most disappointed in the drink selections though.  Aside from alcoholic beverages, I am finding mostly a selection of soda, coffee or tea, or high fructose filled juices.  I shouldn't have any of these.  I've been mostly sticking with water, which I find terribly boring when I'm out for a nice dinner.  Can someone please invent a yummy (yet healthy) beverage menu staple for us pregnant ladies??  I'm going to think on this.  Perhaps it's my future money-making deal?  Baby Foley's college fund could certainly use some help!

July 22, 2011...The Pregnancy is Confirmed

Today was the first big trip to the hospital.  Within minutes of peeing in a cup, the status was confirmed.  We are pregnant!  After filling out a huge stack of paperwork, and relinquishing a few viles of blood, the first visit to the obgyn was over.  Baby Foley is due around March 16th/17th.  My husband quickly realized that it could be a St. Patrick's Day baby!!

We just had to tell someone TODAY.  We were too excited to keep this to ourselves but also recognized that we really should wait until at least 10 weeks to break the news to everyone.  Therefore, we decided to tell only our parents.  What a fun few hours we had sharing the news with them!  They were all certainly excited about a new addition to the family too.  Unfortunately, we had to make them promise not to tell anyone else until around 10 weeks, which was tough to ask of them, but thankfully they understood.  It felt GREAT to share the news with those who had given life to us so many years ago.  Now the big question: How in the world are we going to keep this a secret for the rest of the summer???

Please forgive our secret for those of you who are finally reading this now. ;) 

"What to Expect When You're Expecting"

Finding out you are pregnant, yet not sharing the news with others, can be quite stressful.  We wanted to tell EVERYONE but recognized a trip to the doctor to confirm the status was important first.  So, while waiting a week for this first medical visit, I decided to begin reading the highly recommended book What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg & Sandee Hathaway in order to pass the time.  Socializing with our friends was going to be tough, especially when we constantly get the question about whether or not we are "trying."  I didn't think I could handle it without blowing our cover.  We had been dodging the "trying" questions for months.  It's hard to tell people you are "trying" but it's not "working."  I've realized that starting a family is an incredibly personal thing.  I think sometimes people harmlessly assume that since you are not pregnant yet, it means you don't want to be.  Anyways, having some good reading material would at least help us avoid the conversation, until at least we knew for sure.

I headed to the public library and picked up a copy of this pregnancy bible I had heard so much about.  Once I began reading about the nine month (really ten month!) journey through pregnancy, I had a variety of mixed emotions.  Morning sickness, tiredness, swollen ankles, varicose veins, 30+ weight gain, stretch marks, no caffeine, limited food, and bye-bye to that evening glass of red wine...could I even do this??  How do people work and live normal lives and do this??  I should have known what to expect; our good friends had been through it all twice, recently.  People around us everywhere were having babies.  But somehow, it became VERY REAL when it became MY BODY involved.  However, I had already made the choice to do this.  And with this, I decided that I was going to do the best damn job I possibly could at being pregnant and developing a healthy, happy baby to join our little Foley family.  Thank goodness I have a fantastic husband to help me along the way... 

To our wonderful friends and families..

This blog is dedicated to all our friends and family members who live so far from us.  We hope to keep you involved in our journey throughout the next nine months and can't wait until the day you can all help us welcome Baby Foley into this world!

When you stop "trying"...

My husband and I had been looking forward to starting a family for some time.  We have been together for nine years.  Once we were married last July 11, 2010, we decided the green light was on...go time!  So, we began the very strange emotional process of trying to get a bun cooking in the oven.  I started watching the date, marking the calendar, and almost even bought a thermometer to assist us in our attempts.  However,we failed miserably, month after month, one "not pregnant" sign after another.  It was then that we began to question our ability to even have children.  My husband swore that his skateboarding days as a youngster had "ruined" him.  And at 31, I feared I was too old.  We decided to put the whole process on hold in May and then begin to "try" again in August or September, when it would be better timing for me to take maternity leave (if it worked) as a teacher.  The relief with this decision was incredible which lead to many other emotions about whether we were even ready to be parents. 

However, soon after we stopped "trying" we received a little surprise.  The day of our one year marriage anniversary celebration dinner, I suddenly felt the need to just see...just take one more little test since there was an extra in the cupboard.  Women get that funny feeling sometimes.  And low and behold it stated "Pregnant" as you can see above.  I almost fell off the toilet, sure it was a mistake.  I then went to the local Rite Aid and purchased several more tests of different brands to prove this malfunctioning Clearblue test wrong.  It couldn't possibly be true.  To my dismay, one after another said there was a little Foley in the works!  I was in shock...not sure how to feel, nor react, but excited too.  We were pregnant!

How to tell my husband?  Since we were planning on having a special dinner out on the town that evening to celebrate our one year anniversary, I decided a fun way to tell him would be give him a little "gift."  I wrapped up two of the tests in a jewelry box and sealed it with a ribbon.  After sitting with the box for some time, I realized that I needed to give it to him the second he walked in the door from work, versus at dinner for two reasons: 1) I couldn't possibly wait any longer and, 2) I felt that he would prefer to hear this news at home versus in a restaurant downtown.  I wasn't entirely sure how he would react considering we had stopped "trying."  The funny thing is that at first he was so upset that I had gotten him a gift. (We had agreed that a fancy dinner out was our gift to each other.)  However, when he opened it up, he was shocked to see the contents, yet thrilled.  His eyes were big and his mouth dropped WIDE open.  After a very genuine hug of joy, he took the picture below with his phone so he could eventually share the story with our friends and families...

 
Here is the beginning of the nine month chronicled development of Baby Foley...