round ligaments are awesome.

can't really type sarcasm :) i have discovered this new form of pain over the past few months. it ranges from the constant burning pain in my lower right side to a sharp, stabbing pain. these days a simple walk from the parking lot to the office will kick the pain into high gear, i.e. the sharp, stabbing pain. fun. dr. jeremy correctly diagnosed my pain. from web md: Round ligament pain refers to a type of pelvic pain caused by stretching of the round ligaments. This occurs more commonly on the right side of the pelvis. Your uterus is normally the size of a pear. Thick ligaments, one of which is called the round ligament, hold your uterus in suspension within your abdomen. As the uterus grows in size and weight, these ligaments become very long and thin, stressing and tensing like rubber bands. - The ligaments pull and tug on nearby nerve fibers and sensitive structures, causing pain. The severity of pain can worry you. Although round ligament pain is uncomfortable, it is also very normal. A ligament spasm, an involuntary contraction or cramp, usually triggers a sharp pain. These spasms are found more frequently on the right side than the left because of the normal tendency of the uterus to turn to the right. You might awaken at night with pain after having suddenly rolled over in your sleep. The pain may also be brought on by exercise.

we really don't know!

oh yeah - to clear up some confusion / speculation... we really don't know if roo is a boy or a girl. we swear. really. several shower attendees were / are convinced that we know it's a boy and just aren't telling. some folks noticed that our babies r us registry had a distinctly boy vibe. it just so happens that all the cute onesies, blankets, and other baby accessories that have puppies and dogs on them are boy-ish. we just love doggies and know that roo will too, regardless if roo is a boy or a girl :) i personally think it's a boy (and have since it was the size of a grain of rice) but have no clue if i'm really right. we'll be happy either way!

surprise!!

man. my coworkers got me good yesterday with a surprise baby shower. i had no idea they were planning anything!

a few of us went out to lunch at chili's. my friend jay had to leave early to run some errands, but i didn't think anything of it. we headed back to the office to the conference room we spend all day in working on our current project. i walked in and there were a lot of people in there (which is normal) including jeremy (which is not normal!) at first i didn't realize that it is weird for jer to be in a conference room at work. then i did. then i noticed the balloons, streamers, cake, and presents and it finally dawned on me. sneaky sneaky!!

a bunch of folks chipped in and got us all kinds of goodies, including the play yard we just adore! we'll be able to use it as a play pen, changing table, and bassinet. little baby roo is starting to acquire a lot of stuff, a trend that's not likely to change any time in the next 18 years :)

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love my coworkers! and i can't believe that jeremy knew about it and kept it a secret!

open house #3 update

so while we were out of town on sunday, our realtor held another open house to make up for the botched one the previous weekend. it was our best attended open house to date, but still only had 4 people came through. we did get a potentially good lead. a man and woman came through. they are scoping out houses for their daughter who is moving to richmond very soon. they really liked the house and thought it was what their daughter is looking for. the daughter will be coming to town in 2 weeks to look at houses so we're hoping to hear from her soon! we're not getting our hopes too high, but this is the most promising movement we've had! fingers still crossed!

wilmington weekend

alrighty i am way behind on all kinds of blog updates :) i'll plug through them tonight!

saturday we drove down to wilmington to see our friends krissy, jeff, brendan, and mrs. o. the drive down was pretty smooth - traffic heading south from richmond is so much more bearable than traffic heading north!!! plus we got to use our new tom tom for the first time. all we had to do was type in the address and off we were. jeremy even got his bojangle's fix :)

mrs. o threw and barbecue / baby shower for krissy and jeff on saturday afternoon. krissy and i got to compare bellies again. it's amazing how different babies grow. krissy is due 2 days before me, but she's carrying her baby much higher so her belly appears much bigger. she's so cute! the shower reminded us of just how much stuff babies require. one of the guests there brought her 2-week old little girl who was wearing her 5th onesie of the day. yikes! i see a lot of laundry in our future! :) mrs. o is just too generous. she got some awesome presents for us. jeremy received a baby medical book and kit (yeah doctor jer!) and a really neat digital baby book. it will allow us to capture this blog and other baby memories for posterity to embarrass roo with years down the road! mrs. o found some cool vintage stuff websites for snoopy stuff and got me a really cool painted mirror of snoopy and woodstock, as well as a red and white snoopy throw blanket which will look awesome draped across a glider chair in the nursery! the icing on the cake (hehehe) was the diaper cakes she made for both me and krissy (see picture above!) she used rolled up diapers, bottles, and other little baby things to decorate the cakes. so clever and so useful! thank you so much mrs. o!!! it was such a relaxing weekend away from all the stress of home (probably our last for a LONG time!!) we ate well, played lots of wii, and got to hang out with great friends we don't get to see often! fun fun fun!

27 weeks

wow. 27 weeks. it's just flying by! from babycenter.com: - Your baby is really starting to fill up your uterus. This week he weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn't bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what he's thinking? - roo is definitely thinking about how much it loves kicking me. this week it has discovered that it can wake me up with a really solid kick :) you can even see my belly move as roo rocks and rolls in there. i was holding jeremy's stethoscope to my belly to listen to roo and it decided to kick that too! - we're getting ready to head down to wilmington, nc for the weekend - we'll get to see krissy and jeff and grammy jean :) krissy and i can compare bellies again. her's was much bigger than mine last time but mine has gotten huge over the past two weeks! - the realtor is having another open house here this weekend, after the botched attempt last weekend. not sure many house hunters will be out on memorial day weekend, but who knows. maybe we'll get some bites. we really need to get it sold soon - jeremy has to be up in boston in a matter of weeks. if nothing happens soon we need to determine plan b (renting, buying a house without selling this one, etc.) fingers crossed that it just works out!

really? hadn't noticed...

home sales slump in april, further hitting home values

introducing dr. jeremy!!!!

as many of you know, a chapter of our lives came to a close this past weekend as jeremy FINALLY graduated from mcv after 7 long, hard years of studying. he is now officially a doctor doctor with his md and his phd. what a smartie pants!

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we attended 2 graduations totalling 4 hours. friday was the medical school graduation ceremony where jer got his green medicine hood. he also got to stand alone in front of the entire crowd because he was called out as this year's only graduating md/phd student. the dean called him the epitome of a physician/scientist. his mom and i are very proud, though she was much more vocal about it during the ceremony. :) we're fairly certain we'll be able to hear her on the dvd we ordered for her of the whole graduation ceremony! saturday was the overall college graduation for all of vcu. the ceremony was scheduled from 10-12 but as of 11:28 they had yet to confer a single degree. with over 3,000 students we thought there was no way we'd be done by noon. but because only the phd students walk and all other degrees are conferred en masse we actually finished by 12 - very impressive. saturday jer received his blue phd hood, giving him two and me none :)

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yeah for jeremy! is there a doctor in the house????? :)

26 weeks

i am way late on this one - it's been a crazy week - more later! from babycenter.com: Your baby now weighs a little under 2 pounds and measures about 14 inches, from head to heel. The nerve pathways in her ears are developing, which means her response to sounds is growing more consistent. Her lungs are developing now, too, as she continues to take small breaths of amniotic fluid — good practice for when she's born and takes that first breath of air. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

house update

still no action on the house, but hopefully we'll kick up some this weekend. we're having another open house on sunday. will be lots of fun considering that saturday is jeremy's graduation so we'll have folks in and out of the house, plus less time for cleaning. fortunately we've kept it pretty clean since the last open house and for each showing so there's really not that much to do. interestingly, the house for sale next door finally dropped in price - quite dramatically to 299,950- over 15K down from what they had been asking. guess they're having no luck either!

happy mothers day!

happy mothers day to all the mommies, mommies-to-be, dog mommies, cat mommies, grandmas, and grandmas-to-be!

25 weeks

25 weeks. it's crazy - it seems like we just found out we were having a baby! from babycenter.com: "Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after he's born." had another appointment this week. found out i gained weight for the first time - but still down based on how much i lost early on. 5 pounds this time. i was freaked out, but the nurse said that most pregos have one crazy month where they put on a bunch of pounds and then stabilize to a slower weight gain. it was really cute when i was at the doctor's office. a couple came in for their first appointment including their first ultrasound. they were so excited. it seems like just a short while ago that was us. but now we're dealing with an ever-expanding belly, heartburn, and all the other fun stuff you experience during pregnancy. also this week, i moved on to the full belly panel pants for the first time. gosh i love them. so comfy. i think everyone should have a pair of those, even if they're not pregnant! :) now it's time to start researching all the gadgets and gizmos we need to support this baby - strollers, car seats, playpens, bathtubs, baby monitors, etc. we don't even know what we need! any advice from experienced parents would be helpful - what do we need? good brands? that thing you just can't live without? anything babies r us will tell us we need but we really don't?

i heart jenny and suz!!!!

jenny and suz - you two are too sweet!!! thank you for the very, very comfy pants!! it's so nice to have pants to wear! thank you thank you thank you!!!!

24 weeks

no wonder my pants don't fit!!! from babycenter.com:

Your baby's growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when she was just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long, that makes a pretty lean figure, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon put on more baby fat. Your baby's skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, her brain is growing rapidly, and her taste buds are developing. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily. The top of your uterus is now an inch or so above your belly button, which means it's about the size of a soccer ball.

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just for reference, the non-pregnant uterus is only about the size of a fist.

Jackie's Home

After a hard night of drinking, er iv fluids, Jackie is back home with us and almost good as new. You could just see it in his face that he was feeling a lot better. He's on a diet of hamburger and rice for the next few days, now sure how that is a bad thing for a dog. He's also got some antibiotics to take to help restore his normal colonic flora. His brother was very excited to see him too! We're really relieved to have him back home and happy!

Jackie Update

We didn't get any calls from the vet last night or this morning. So, no news is good news. I called this morning and they said Jackie was very "frisky" this morning. He is still getting IV fluids but is doing well. The vet will call us later to give us the details but this was welcome news especially for Bailey. He knows something is wrong with his brother and has been very sulky and clingy. Hopefully Jackie will be coming home soon. We will let everyone know what the vet says when he calls!

we love you jackie pants

Jack's In the Hospital

Our oldest beagle Jack is spending the night at the hospital. He was vomiting and had really bloody diarrhea all day. We took to the vet as soon as the vet could see us. He was diagnosed with hemorrhagic enterocolitis. It sounds a lot worse than it is. Basically, his bowels are so inflamed that he is pooping blood. It can be serious if not treated, but he is getting excellent care as I write this. However, it is still scary and we are anxiously awaiting word that our special dude is doing better. We will keep everyone posted. Please keep Jackie in your thoughts. We love him very much and miss him a lot right now.

good call cate!

cate - thanks for the tip on motherwear.com! my order got here yesterday :) i got loads of cool new shirts and stuff to wear that actually fit! woo hoo!