Pampered Brian

On Sunday, I convinced Brian (it didn't take much) to join me for a mani/pedi before we take off on our trip to Florida.  I was able to snap some photos of the mister getting pampered.  He he.  Don't worry, he didn't get any polish after being teased shamelessly after his first ever pedi where he got "clear" polish.  It was a fun little afternoon for the both of us and now our fingers and tootsies are looking food for sunshine and flip flops in Tampa!

Billboard Memories

When I was younger (well, to be specific for as long as I can remember until I moved to Denver), whenever we'd come to San Francisco to visit my grandparents (who lived in the house we're now residing in), we'd drive by this billboard on the freeway.  It's just a simple Coca Cola billboard, but at night it lights up and fades in and out.  It's my favorite billboard of all time and I love that it hasn't changed in years and years.  We drove right by it last week leaving downtown SF to cross the bridge to Berkeley....

Baby Groovin'

Today, I put my Ritmo Sound System to use for the first time.  What's a Ritmo, you ask?  Well, it's a cool sound system that allows you to listen to music with your baby or play music for your baby.  It hooks up to your iPod or iPhone or any MP3 Player.  So, I charged it up last week and today headed out to walk Riley and strapped this bad boy on.  I wore it under my sweatshirt so I didn't look like a complete tool like this lady here (and my dog is obviously way cuter):

It's pretty neat!  Baby and I grooved to some ABBA, Enya, Alabama, Ace of Base and Black Eyed Peas - tried to keep it baby appropriate - looks like I'll be needing to make a baby play list.  I'm sure Brian is stoked for today's music choice for his child.  Apparently, higher IQs are linked to babies who are read to or have music played for them in the womb.  Pretty crazy!

Birthday Shindig

I had a GREAT birthday yesterday.  Not only did I get lots of calls, texts, facebook posts wishing me a happy birthday, but Brian and I had a nice lunch, did some baby registering AND then headed to my parents house for an impromptu big family dinner.  Last minute dinner actually worked out well - the first time all the cousins were together in a long, long time.

Not only did we celebrate my big 2-9, but more importantly we got to meet Baby Faith for the first time.  12 day old Faith is BEAUTIFUL and perfect and I could not get enough of her.  Such a good baby!  Definitely gets me excited for our little bundle of preciousness.

 Since we were all together, of course we had to take the ol' staircase photo, but we're getting too big (too many of us and we're physically too big to cram into the staircase)!  This tradition started long, long ago when there were only 4 or 5 of us grandkids.....now, there are 9 of us, 3 great grandkids (+ 2 on the way), and 6 significant others!

 We even remembered to take a family photo.  I'm exactly 22 weeks pregnant in this photo, but strategically hidden between the 2 big buys and with Nicole slightly standing in front of me. 

Couldn't have asked for a better way to ring in the last year of my 20s!  Looking forward to what this next year brings - new house (cross your fingers!), new baby and many exciting times!

30 Years?! 30 Years!

I've been a bad blogger AGAIN, but I'll try to redeem myself AGAIN.  It's been a busy few weeks, lots of activities and birthdays and ANNIVERSARIES!  My parents celebrated their 30th anniversary on January  31.  Wow, what a long time.

 

My brothers and I gave them a getaway in Reno - 2 nights in a luxury room, 2 60 minute massages and a gift certificate for dinner. Sounds fun to me!

Happy big 3-0 Mom & Dad!  Have fun on your trip!

Punxsutawney Phil FAIL

For those of you who are Ground Hog Day fans, you know that ol' Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this week which means another 6 weeks of winter for us.  Well, Punxsutawney clearly hasn't made a recent trip out to the SF Bay Area.  We're having better weather in SF than we typically do all summer long!  Yesterday, was a sunny 70 degrees.  We slept in, headed to the Marina for brunch with Riley, followed by a few hours at Crissy Field for Riley to run and swim at the beach.  The day could not have been more beautiful!  Stefania and Raja even rode their beach cruisers down for a bit to say hi.  Here's a photo of Riley (evidence of the awesome weather) soaking up the sun (and the view!).

After our day at the beach, we headed to Costco.  You see, we'd "picked out" our nursery furniture a month or so ago from www.costco.com however this week I logged on to check it out and they've sold out!  So, we went on a mad hunt to find any local Costco that had our furniture in stock.  We, unfortunately, couldn't find a single one with the Sydney Collection that we were looking to buy, however we found ONE local Costco that sold a similar set, by the same manufacturer and we decided we better just buy it and if for some reason we find something we like better, we can always return it (LOVE Costco's return policy!).  So, we made a run across a few bridges to get our nursery furniture.  The photo below doesn't do it justice - it is SUCH good quality stuff!  For now, it's tucked away in its boxes in my parents' garage until we transport it to our place in SF (or hopefully to a new house!).



20 Week Scan

Yesterday, we had our "big" 20 week scan.  We were so excited, and our moms both can into the city to join us for the appointment.  Everything is looking good, but baby did not want to cooperate for the camera.  He/she stayed rolled in a ball, facing down the majority of the time, with the occasional kick of the leg or wave of the hands. 

 When the tech pushed on my belly with the wand to try to encourage the baby to flip over, the baby just waved its fists at us, as if to say (like its Daddy), "Leave me alone!  I'm sleeping!".  OR we have a Jersey Shore fist pumper in there!

The tech said even if we'd wanted to know the gender, the baby did not cooperate - legs crossed, pressed together, hiding from us!  Sneaky baby!  It sounds like I'll go back for another ultrasound at the end of my second trimester or beginning of my third to make sure my placenta is in a good spot.  It's low lying and they just want to confirm it will move out of the way 100%.  I'm excited for another scan (thought this was my last), but also anxious because I don't want placenta previa.  Let's hope that thing moves!

19 Weeks and Counting...

Here's a photo from today - 19 weeks, 2 days along.  We're almost halfway there - can you believe it?  We can't.  Riley looks depressed in this photo, but don't worry, he was just anxious to get his walk.  The bump is growing and becoming more obvious.....definitely fun, but also weird!  We go for our "big" ultrasound on Friday so look for more photos then - but there will be no big "reveal", we're still keeping the sex of this baby a surprise (to us and to all!).