Thanksgiving 2010

I know it is late, but late is better than never!  For Thanksgiving this year we paired up with the Tingey's to co-host a Dinner at the Church for Thanksgiving.  It was my first time actually doing most of the food by myself instead of helping my Mom, so I learned a lot!  It was a lot of fun and was really yummy!

 My First Turkey!  We brined it using a combination of Pioneer Woman  and Alton Brown's recipes.  It was super moist.

 We took over the gym and it was perfect to fit everyone

 The Tingeys supplied games like bowling (or throw the bottles really far)

Allie especially enjoyed the ice cream cones.

Later that night we went to the Christmas street lighting ceremony down by the Galleria mall in the rain and wind to watch the lighting and the fireworks.  After the fireworks, we went back to our car and we were stuck in the parking garage so we just sat and talked with the Tingeys in our cars until everyone left.  At that point, we noticed a family that couldn't get their car to start, so we went to go help them and in the process the Tingey's car battery died as well.  It was all fun until we got home and found our Kitchen just they way we left it that morning, full of dishes!  Too bad the dish fairies didn't come to my house.  

Hermann Park Fun

I have been feeling a lot better lately and my energy is coming back, after 3 months.  Yea!  A couple of time this week, we walked over to Hermann Park to go play on the toddler playground they have there as well as to feed the ducks.  Luckily, we have some awesome friends who come along with us and enjoy this beautiful weather we are having this fall.  

So this past Monday for family night, we had a lesson on being happy and smiling and we play the smiling game where if you smile you get an M&M and you give them to others because smiling makes other people happy.  Well, ever since then, Allie has been a pro-smiler.  Bonus: whenever you give her an M&M she'll give you a huge smile!

We love this little girl, although we were noting the other day that she is looking so old lately, our little Alligator is growing up.

Daddy's Shoes

Allie has a love for shoes.  She changes her shoes multiple times a day and loves to play with my shoes as well.  On Friday morning before Mike left for work, Allie came out of our bedroom saying "daddy shoe" and this is what we found. She has big feet, but not this big yet!

It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes

Allie had such a fun time with my Mom when she came out to help when I had the blood clot.  Allie quickly became Grandma's little side-kick after about 1/2 a day and would go around looking for "Bamma" all day long.  I just got out a new toothbrush the other day from the cabinet and Allie started looking around for Bamma because it looked like the one that she used when she was at our house over a month ago.  Allie has a great memory!

Once I was taken off bed rest, we took Grandma to the Houston Zoo to go trick or treating there with Madison and Angie.  We had such a great time (even though I couldn't really do much) and cannot wait until we come out in December to visit!

 Allie and Grandma looking at the baby Elephant

 These were both impromptu costumes that were easy and not hot

Allie got to ride the Carousel  with Grandma!

Look Who's Going to Be A....

and we could not be more excited!  

We are due May 14th so we are a little over 13 weeks along right now.  We have had a roller coaster of a first trimester but hopefully things will calm down and we can enjoy the best part of pregnancy, the 2nd trimester!  

When we were about 9 weeks along, I started bleeding and cramping really badly after we were at the zoo on a  Saturday so we called my doctor and went over to the hospital to get an exam and ultrasound to see what was happening.  I thought for sure we were losing this baby and was very emotionally drained.  It turns out that I had a 5 cm blood clot in my uterus where the placenta tore away from the lining. The baby was okay and the heartbeat looked good, but at this point, the blood clot was larger than the baby and the sac, and the doctor on call at the hospital said that there was still a big risk that we might miscarry.  He also said that I basically need to be on bed rest for the next couple of months and cannot lift Allie, etc.

Well, at this point I didn't know what to do as Mike was starting a new rotation at MD Anderson Cancer Center which was going to be the hardest rotation of his residency and he was not going to have any time to help.  So, I called my Mom who flew out that night to come and save us.

So, I was on bed rest for the weekend and on top of it I had a cold/cough that had started that I am just now getting over 6 weeks later.  I was still bleeding some but it was starting to slow down and on Monday I called my doctor and went in right away to go see her for the first time (I had seen the Nurse Practitioner/Midwife for my first visit).  Most of our fears were calmed when she explained it MUCH better than the doctor at the hospital who said that I had a 5 cm tear which was much scarier than a blood clot.  She also said that recent studies show that it does not make a difference if you are on bed rest or not  so that also caused a huge drop in our stress levels.

Fast forward 2 weeks

My angel mother went back home and I was trying to take it easy and I started bleeding again (much older looking blood) and there was a lot coming out.  We went back to the hospital, got another ultrasound (we have seen a lot of this little baby) and it looks like it was the 5 cm of blood coming out which is a good thing.  Hopefully that is the last of the bleeding!  This baby is a tough little guy and seems to be growing just perfectly.  The last ultrasound we got see all sorts of body parts and it really brought the excitement back to me that we are going to have a baby!   

Thankfully the nausea is starting to wane, I haven't thrown up in over a week!  Being sick and having all the emotional stress, I had lost 10 lbs from my first appointment but with the help of halloween candy and feeling much better, I am up net 1/2 lb.  

Sorry for the super long post, and the long blogging hiatus that ensued since this whole ordeal.  We are super excited and am anxiously awaiting this little baby.  We find out the gender right around Christmas so that is what we are looking forward to next.