Gender Reveal!

Happy almost Halloween!

I had two doctor's appointment's last week, one was just a checkup with the nurse (who I hate and will do my best to never see again) and the other was with a perinatologist (I think) that screens for down syndrome and genetic defects.The perinatologist was much better than the nurse, although the wait was looong, and Joe didn't get to go because he went to the other awful appointment instead. An ultrasound technician spend a long time taking all kinds of images of Joni. She had to measure the neck, so we needed to baby to turn over. She was poking my stomach with the ultrasound device and I could see the baby's tiny legs kicking. I also heard the heartbeat for the first time, which sounded like galloping horses. She gave me three very nice ultrasound pics. I also found out that I'm about a week further along than I thought - 13 weeks instead of 12, which means I'm officially in the 2nd trimester. When the doctor came in he did some 4D ultrasounds, and....a gender ultrasound! I thought it would be at least a month before we found out the gender.

Drumroll.....

Joni is a boy! So we get to start thinking of real names and planning the nursery and all that fun stuff :)

 Joni at 13 Weeks

 Joni's 13 Week 4D Ultrasound

Joni's a Boy!!

13 Weeks Update

 13 Weeks Belly

Total Weight Gain:Up a total of 2-3 lbs for the first trimester. Still not really showing though.
Maternity Clothes: Nope, I got a couple long baggy tops from Gap (2 for less than $10!), but I'm hesitant to buy anything new until I'm bigger.
Symptoms: Morning sickness is supposed to end with the first trimester, but I have had a few days of nausea recently. Nothing too bad, and usually in the evenings. Also, my skin, especially my stomach gets so itchy! I have some coco butter lotion that I need to use more regularly.
Best Moment of the Week: Skipping work after the first (awful) doctor's appointment and going to Disneyland!! The weather was so clear and perfect, everything was decorated for Halloween, and we got to ride everything we wanted to. Plus I finally gave into my cinnamon roll craving at the new Jolly Holiday Cafe and it was soooo good! The only kinda sad thing is all our pictures got deleted - which may be a blessing in disguise because Joe insists we are going back next Saturday and retaking our pics. Awww!
What We're Reading & Watching this Week: We've been watching Halloween movies lately: The Ring (creepy!), Rear Window (I liked Dial M for Murder better), & The Nightmare Before Christmas - Joe had never seen it, so we're preparing for our 2nd Disneyland Adventure.
Food Cravings: The only way I'm going to eat my veggies is if I cook them myself. Last week I made baked Eggplant Parmesan using this basic recipe, but subbing Greek Yogurt for the sour cream - soooo good! Sadly, I'm still liking donuts a lot, as well as pb&j, and ice.
What I Miss: Nothing at the moment, although sushi gets brought up a lot.
Happy or Moody? Moody. I nearly had a breakdown at the doctor's office after waiting at hour, then asking the receptionist how much longer and finding out it would still be another 45 minutes!
Movement: I saw him move!! Still haven't felt anything though.
Looking Forward to: Planning for a boy - getting nursery ideas, picking out his name, buying him his first books :) Also looking forward to another trip to Disneyland.

Goodbye Summer! A Snapshot of our Favorite Summer Activities

It still feels pretty summery here in Los Angeles, but last week we had some clouds and rain, so I'm officially saying goodbye to Summer and hello to Fall. I'm so ready for sweaters, and home-cooking (it was way to hot to turn the oven on in July - September), and, of course, holidays! In honor of the end of Summer, I'm posting a handful of snapshots from our favorite Summer activities. It took a long time just to upload and organize all these photos (because someone has an iPhone camera obsession), but it was fun to look back on all the places we went to over the past few months. PS - you can click on all the links if you want to view even more photos.

1) Griffith Park at Sunset: This was a spur of the moment decision to head up to the observatory after work, and I have to say that sunset is the BEST time to go. These pics can't do that sunset justice.

2) Arcadia Arboretum: I'm not quite sure why we decided to wander around here on what felt like the hottest day of the year, but the sight of that hummingbird (my favorite bird) next to that huge orange flower made it all worthwhile. We also saw lots of peacocks and peachicks (not sure what baby peacocks are called), as well as turtles and tons of pretty flowers.

3) The Gun Store, Las Vegas: This was a birthday gift from me to Joe. Our birthdays are two days apart, so we headed to Las Vegas for the weekend. I got him the World War II package, in honor of Saving Private Ryan, one of his favorite movies. He shot a Thompson, an MP40, & a 1911 Pistol. I got myself and his mom the Ladies Package, which included an AK47 & a Glock. I was the only one who had ever shot a gun before, and my experience was very limited. We got there early and had a private room and instructor. It was so much fun and such an adrenaline rush!

4) Redondo Beach: We set out for Redondo Beach on a Sunday because we somehow found out about a chalk art contest and decided to check it out. After we worked out and ate some lunch we were headed toward the pier when we happened to pass a peddle-boat rental shop and impulsively decided to try it out. Let me tell you, that is WAY harder than peddling a bike. There's no way I could have moved that thing on my own without a second person. It took us a long time to go not very far, but we did see a lot of pelicans and a seal came swimming right up to us. Afterward we rewarded ourselves with ice cream :)

5) Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, Hollywood: We were lucky enough to get two free tickets to the museum through work and decided to check it out on our Thursday date night. First we ate dinner at Cafe Med, which has the absolute best chocolate lava cake with pistachio ice cream. The museum turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. They actually encourage you to wear props and pose with the statues. And there are three floors, so there's plenty to see.

6) Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Hollywood: Since we wound up loving the wax museum, we decided to try out another tourist attraction. Between the two, I would rate the Wax Museum higher, but we had a fun time at Ripley's too. Some highlights were all the trivia of weird or famous people. Joe also liked the Star Wars statues, and I was a fan of the entire room devoted to Marilyn Monroe - including some of her makeup and nighties. As a side note, we ate at the Cat & the Fiddle and saw Jean Claude van Damme!

7) LA Sparks Game at the Staples Center: This was my very first basketball game. Joe found cheap tickets online and we went with his mom. Our seats were amazing! The team walked right by us at halftime.

8) LA County Fair & Karmin Concert: I became a lil obsessed with Karmin's rapping after hearing her on YouTube, so when I found tickets to see her at the LA County Fair on Labor Day we had to go. This was less than a week after we found out about Joni, so it turned out to be Joni's first concert!

9) San Diego Zoo: Zoos are not just for kids! We had so much fun, and the San Diego zoo is one of the best zoos in the country. Our favorite animals were the tiger, the panda, the polar bears (the female was ready to fight the male) & the kissing hippos (aww!), to name just a few. Afterward we went downtown and had a sundae at Ghirardelli - yum!

Sorry for the long post, we just have so many pictures I wanted to organize them all in one place.

Belly Pics: Weeks 7 - 10

We started taking belly pics at week 7 (I'm a lil over 10 weeks right now), but I haven't posted them because I don't see much of a difference. I actually think my stomach looks smaller this week than week 9, but my weight is the same. I've gained about 1.5 lbs since I found out I'm pregnant (but was already up 5lbs from my normal weight because of the surgery in May and not being able to work out for 2 months). I like to pretend all the weight has gone to my boobs (which may actually be true). I also have a belly pooch leftover from the surgery. I'm not sure if it's from scarring on the inside, or from them cutting through my muscles, but it makes me look more pregnant than I actually am.

In 3 weeks Joni went from blueberry-sized to prune-sized, pretty amazing, huh?

Total Weight Gain:Up 1.5 lbs in the last 2 and a half months.
Maternity Clothes: Nope, but we've browsed at some maternity stores, and I've looked at plenty of Pinterest "Pregnancy Style" pics. I have a feeling I'll wear lots of dresses with leggings during the Winter, cause I've pretty much lived in dresses all Summer.
Symptoms: We were just talking about this yesterday! Since week 6 I haven't felt sick at all. Every now and then I'm tired, but I don't think that would surprise anyone who knows me - I've always loved sleep. Also, my boobs are bigger - I've already had to buy 2 larger bras and I just keep rotating through them. I also bought granny panties and they're soooo comfy!
Best Moment of the Week:Visiting the Queen Mary and Ghost Harbor! So much fun, I love holiday stuff. I was definitely a target in the mazes, and Joseph pretty much just laughed through the whole thing (but he did promise to protect Joni before we went in - too cute!) Also, we told my aunt and cousins bout Joni & the new house on Thursday over dinner. They already knew we had news, so they were taking bets on if we were: A) Pregnant B) Bought a House or C) Were Getting Married. They were right on 2 out of 3, not bad!
What We're Reading & Watching this Week: I'm still only 25% through Anna Karenina on my kindle. It was in the free library, and at this rate I will probably continue reading it for the rest of this pregnancy. I'm also caught up to week 10 of What to Expect When You're Expecting. We've got a week til Sons of Anarchy comes back on Netflix, so we've watched a few movies instead: Looper, Training Day, & Dial M for Murder in honor of Halloween.
Food Cravings: Last week I wanted fish sticks, which I ate with butternut squash macaroni - it was the perfect comfort food meal (with veggies snuck in!). Also had some sweets cravings last week: candy corn (ate a small bag in 2 days) & donuts (co-worker brought some in on friday and I had 1) & circus cookies - just bought some this weekend. Also got a craving for apples yesterday, so I bought a big bag and have one for a snack today, plus I'm planning on making baked apples for dessert tonight.
What I Miss: Kinda missed alcohol this past week - everyone was drinking margaritas at Mexico Cafe on Thursday, plus lots of beer around us at the Queen Mary.
Happy or Moody? Happy! I was much more moody in the beginning, but I feel normal now.
Movement: None yet.
Looking Forward to: More Halloween stuff! We may do the Griffith Park haunted hay ride & my friend has a pumpkin carving party on the 26th. I'm already trying to figure out what dessert to make for the party...

Two Lines!!

I'm beginning this blog over a month after peeing on a stick, but now that I've decided to follow Joni's journey, I figured the best place to start is at the beginning.

I took the test before work on August 29th - the day I was supposed to get my period. I absolutely couldn't wait a day longer. When I saw the two pink lines, I re-read the instructions about three times to make sure that meant pregnant, and then I immediately showed the stick to Joseph. I've seen a lot of cute ideas about telling/surprising the hubby/significant other, but I'm no good at keeping secrets, and we work together so there was no way I was going to keep the secret for 9+ hours.

He may have cried a few tears of happiness. He still claims he's more excited than me (it's a tie).

As for the name Joni - That's a combo of our names: Joseph + Nina. As a result, we often slip up and call Joni a "she" but we're so excited for a healthy baby - boy or girl.

This will be our first baby, but I was pregnant in May and wound up having an ectopic pregnancy and emergency surgery. The bright side of that experience this time around means by 7 weeks I had already had 3 ultrasounds. The first, right around 4 weeks, didn't show anything.

Here's Joni at 5 weeks! Just a tiny little sack:

And here's Joni at 6 weeks, 4 days, when we saw his/her little beating heart!

So that means we're having a baby in May, 2013!