Happy 2 Months Jackson!!

The many faces of Tank:

Maternity Leave

With my maternity leave coming to an end far faster than I want it to (next week!?! *tears*) Jackson and I have been taking daily walks exploring his birth city. I think we are bonding and absorbing culture.... but he mostly just sleeps and drools.

Testing...testing....

Just seeing how to blog from my phone. If it works then my blogging might increase 100%....

In the meantime, here is Jackson looking sharp in his first Adidas warm-up outfit. How very euro of him

Best excuse for lack of blogging....

....I've been busy creating life in my belly!!!!

Baby Marshall is due January 8, 2012


As I enter my 7th month and THIRD TRIMESTER (hip hip hooray!) I thought I would give some of the pregnancy statistics I have seen on other people's blogs:

How far along? 27-28 Weeks 

How are you measuring? At my last Doc appt they told me I was measuring maybe 4-5 days ahead.


Size of the baby? Tank.

Total Weight Gain/Loss  Right on track with the average weight gain for being this far along according to the Dr. and my books.  Although, people asking me if I'm having twins does not make me feel very secure about it. 

Heartbeat?  148 I think he said?

Wearing maternity clothes?  Yes, mixed in with my old tops streeeetched over my growing belly. Nothing sexier than jeans with an elastic waistband!
Any stretch marks? Not yet!!!! (fingers crossed!)

Sleep?  On average I get up about every 2 hours, toss and turn all night and miss sleeping on my stomach and back more than I miss Diet Dr. Peppers (which is a lot!) 

 

Best moment this week? I went on a girls trip to London (ok, well Baby Marshall was there too technically- so not ALL girls) and when I got home Jon had cleaned the whole house, finished months (yes, months! Stop judging me!) worth of laundry, washed the dog and put together the crib while I was on vacation.  **Sigh**  That my friend, is how you speak my love language

Movement?  The baby always starts his karate practice when I'm in important meetings it seems.  Just today a coworker caught me staring at my belly in a meeting right when the baby was giving me a swift kick that was visible from my belly. The coworker who saw my shirt poke in and out where he was kicking looked at me with big eyes and said "You've got an alien in your stomach!"  Yes, Sir. Yes, I do.   
 

Food cravings? Just living in Italy for over a year has made me crave all sorts of things from the States that we can't get here...but nothing new since pregnant.  You could say I have more of a sweet tooth than I used to- but it's probably less of a craving and more of me just using the baby as a fat girl excuse to go eat gelato all the time.

Food aversions?  In my first trimester I had major aversions to all things spearmint/ peppermint flavored.  Ugh. The smell of toothpaste/gum/ fresh breath sent me gagging to the restroom daily.  (Thankfully I got some cinnamon toothpaste to prevent me from completely avoiding all oral hygiene)  I still can't stomach chewing minty gum. Just typing it kinda makes me squirm.

Gender predictions   No prediction needed: BOY!

What I miss: Honestly? A glass of wine after a hard day of work.  Being pregnant all I can do now is whine after a hard day of work.  It just doesn't have the same satisfaction.   

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting our little man!

How are you feeling? Great! A little back pain and lack of sleep -- but I'm sure the worst has yet to come!

Here is a picture of me (and baby) in London last weekend:




In London:  Big Ben and an even Bigger Sara



Business As Usual

Jon is back in the States for the next 3 weeks for work.  As much as I miss him, I'm also consumed with jealousy because he is getting to see some of our old friends we haven't seen in years.  In DC he met up with his old college roommates:

Good to know they can always pick-up right where they left off.

I'm baaaack (again)

Look!! I didn't forget I had a blog!!

I just went on hiatus for a while during our whirlwind of summer travels and visitors.  So I thought I would give the ol' blog a quick update on what we have been up to for the past 2-3 months.  We have been so busy that the only down time I get to update this is at work (your tax dollars at work ladies and gentlemen...)

Jon, Me, Ben and BK (Sherman was there..just not pictured.)

At the end of March, Jon's sister Bonny Kate and her husband Ben came to visit.  In the picture above you can see us posing on the side of the road at Lake Garda- one of my favorite little spots.  We had such a blast catching up with them- my only complaint is that it was too short of a visit.  Hopefully this was the first of many visits to come in the future with them. They have to come back...we are storing some of the wine they bought here and holding it hostage until their return!

You can totally tell they are related in this pic!

 In April, my sweet Aunt Kathy, Uncle Randy and Randy's brother Walter came to visit on their first European Vacation!  We filled our days with wine tasting, food and more food!  Throw in getting lost  "touring the backstreets"  in Venice, impromptu jam sessions with wine-makers and trying to dodge the train employees as we illegally attempted to steal a train trip and we had an unforgettable time together!

Uncle Randy jammin' with the winemaker of Ca'Bruzzo Winery

Group Picture in the Colli Berici wine region at Ca'Bruzzo

Well, it's almost 5pm here...which means quitting time and time to go pick-up Jon's Uncle Buddy from the train station!

 More to come soon !

My Three Nans

Now that the month of April is almost over- it seems like a good time to update my blog on the happenings of March! Better late than never!

March was the month of my Nans! I had 3 visitors named Nan come see me in March:


Nanci....

Nanci and I in Bassano del Grappa

Nancy Beth....

Nancy Beth and I in Florence

and Nancy Pelosi

Representative Nancy Pelosi and I in Venice

Ok, so the last Nancy was strictly for work...but I'm sure she will stay in touch! Ha!

I miss my Nans so much (well, I miss 2 outta 3) and I hope they come visit again soon!!  You can figure out for yourself which Nan I don't miss.