Baby Crazy

Getting ready for a baby has been a lot of fun. We're already getting to know her personality and she's not even gonna be here for another 3 months. I can honestly say she's gonna be quite the princess. So far we've learned:

• She does not like loud noises. Branden and I got to go to the Detroit Pistons game this weekend and everytime they'd announce anything or play music or the buzzer she would kick my ribs. Which by the way she only does on my right side so they're constantly bruised on the inside.


• She doesn't like alfredo sauce. So much for the never ending pasta at Olive Garden.


• Grape juice gives me heartburn. I'm attributing that to her because that used to be my favorite juice ever, and now I can't even look at the stuff.



• She'll be a night owl just like her daddy. I wish Branden could carry her at night so I could get some rest, because come 10 or 11 every night, I want to go to bed but she wants to stay up and watch football with him.

Since she's not going to have a bedroom while we're out here, there's really no reason for us to get any decorations and things like that for her. Instead of getting to prepare a room for her like most mommy's do, I'm keeping busy with crafts and things. I've decided that she needs a bow to match every little outfit she has. Branden says she's not going to like wearing flowers as big as her head, but until she can tell me that herself I'm gonna enjoy every minute of it. Here's a few things I've made so far.

Believe it or not, Branden is already wrapped around her little finger. We went back to a store 2 times to get the full set of some stuffed animals for her "just incase she wants all of them". Also he picked out these Michigan State onsies for her cuz he thought she could wear them while she was in the hospital. He was pretty disappointed when I told him 3 months wont fit a newborn even a little bit.

And this is for those of you that want a belly update. I do not like pictures at the moment, so bare with me if I'm a little hesitant at posting these. I feel gigantic.

Oh and by the way I'm gonna be home next month for a week. Anyone that's around before Thanksgiving let me know because I haven't seen anyone in 11 months we need to catch up! Still not for sure on a name yet. We're getting closer though!

It's a GIRL!!

Big news!! We got to find out today what we're having and we couldn't be happier! It was such a great moment although it almost didn't happen. We had the ultrasound tech taking pictures of her bones and organs and measuring her from head to toe, but she couldn't figure out whether it was a girl or boy. We were trying everything poking her feet, changing the center of gravity, I was wiggling my tummy around thinking c'mon babe we've only got 1 shot for this. Finally after an hour, she woke up and rolled over.

When the lady said it's a girl I teared up and started laughing. I couldn't believe it. I've never been so happy to be wrong in my life. Branden just turned to me with a big grin and said, "told ya". He's very sentimental... We went right over to Babies R Us and bought 2 outfits, a skirt, and a swimsuit for $12 total. I didn't know their stuff was so cheap! I can't wait to go to the craft store. I'm gonna start arts and crafts right away.

We don't have a name for sure picked out yet. We did for a boy, but girls are just so much more difficult! All we know is that I want it to be different like my name. My boss says I should just name her Breezy, (I'll be honest-I'm kinda vain cuz I almost considered it) cuz it's so different. I think we can do better. Branden doesn't want nicknames though. That's gonna be a little more difficult for me, cuz that's my family tradition. We'll see. Anyways here's our beautiful baby girl. We love her so much and cannot wait to hold her for the first time!

Her side profile

Her little foot poking back at the camera

This is my favorite although we will stop this immediately. She's sucking her thumb.

So precious.

Half way there

So were officially half way there. According to the book we're at 5 months, but technically we're only 18 months. I'm saying half way. I went to the Dr. a few days ago and got to hear the heartbeat. Besides that they really don't tell me much. Just that I'm pregnant. I want to be like... no kidding is that what you call this? I did find out one thing though. Lately I've been waking up with really bad pain in my lower back and down. They say it's a little bit early, but they think it's my sciatic nerve (spelling?). Basically the baby gets comfortable in a place that makes me miserable.

We get to find out what we're having in 2 weeks and I cannot wait! I thought for sure I'd be able to tell by the heartbeat by now cuz a lot of times boys heartbeats are around 120-140 and girls are 140-160 ish. Unfortunately our baby is too smart for us.

9 Weeks: 191 bpm

13 Weeks: 146 bpm

18 Weeks: 145 bpm

This tells me nothing because it's so close to the middle. Which means whenever I go to hear the heartbeat the little boy gets excited so his heartbeat speeds up, or the little girl is sleeping. I was hoping for 120 or 160 but really we're just happy everything sounds good and we haven't had very many complications. We can't believe how fast the time is going by but at the same time it feels like a dead stop sometimes.

This is a picture of me on our nightly walks. My only exercise cuz the gym downstairs doesn't have air conditioning. It's too hot to get on that stupid treadmill.

I offically had my 1st stranger ask me when I was due. I was very excited about that! Branden said the only reason they could tell is cuz I was walking funny after eating. I get really full and my tummy gets huge when there's food in it. My mother inlaw is a life saver for getting me 2 belly bands. I still can wear all my clothes, without the bands, I wouldn't be able to. They're too tight on my bladder! I recommend these things to everyone who plans on having a baby!

I'll keep everyone updated as soon as we know more! Thank you for all the well wishes we really appreciate the love and support while we're so far away!

You thought I was kidding

"For years, the 118 rooms of the Deluxe were frequently occupied by hookers and often visited by police officers. A few recurring motifs run through newspaper stories about the Deluxe’s final days: “prostitution bust,” “assault,” “murder,” “drug paraphernalia,” “body found.” After years of embarrassing many REO Town residents and infuriating many more, the Deluxe was closed down last summer after the owner was unable to pay his tax bill; last September, the Ingham County Land Bank purchased the site for $400,000."

That's a direct quote from an article about the hotel that I featured in the post about where we're at at the moment. Remember the one that's right across the street from our apt.? Well they've decided to bring out the community and let them all vandalize it before they tear it down. It was actually pretty cool... but kinda weird. You could recognize all the tags that people put on the building as those of ones they'd signed on the city park or the side of buildings and stuff. Not the smartest bunch huh? What better way for the cops to set up a sting operation than to allow all the hoodlums to spray paint their murals on the walls of the hotel really really big. I don't know if they did but that would have been so easy.

I didn't take all these pictures but they're pretty great!

Team Work Award haha

Rumor has it the guy that painted this picture and his friend were given community service hours for spray painting under a bridge. They suggested that they be allowed to use their art work as their way to fulfill their community service hours. Way to go Lansing... punish by allowing the kids to professionally vandalize a building. I'm sure they learned a lot from it.

This art project brought out a lot of creepos, but it turned out trashy/cool at the same time. The community has really enjoyed it. We liked it too... But it kinda reminded me of driving though Detroit where all the buildings off the freeways were spray painted and burned to bits. Keeps the city interesting...

Big News!!

So we've kept the secret pretty well... Actually, Branden told a ton of people already so it's about time I get to announce it too since we're so excited! We're having a baby! It's due January 30, 2011 so I'm about 3 months and some weeks along. We couldn't be happier!!

Here he/she is. We're calling it Baby Roo. Branden says it's a girl, I'm positive it's a boy. This is Roo at only 9 weeks so it's still a blob. But goodness isn't that the cutest blob you've ever seen?

It's been pretty fun so far. Minus the sickness. I'm pretty lucky because I don't really get sick in the mornings very often and it's already starting to get easier. Night times aren't much fun for me though. Thank goodness for bread and water. But let me start from the beginning...

We found out for real that we were pregnant on Brandens birthday. I wanted to keep it a secret and tell him a special way but c'mon you just can't keep a secret like that for more than 2 minutes.

About a month ago, I had a Dr.'s appointment and instead of getting to meet my Dr., I met an LPN who measured me and told me I was either 3 1/2 months along or having twins or even more possibly. But noooo of course they won't give me an ultrasound for another 2 weeks or so. Plus she couldn't find the heartbeat. If I'm over 3 months along and you can't find a heartbeat, there's something wrong with the baby. She didn't seem to care. I on the other hand was silently freaking out. So after waiting a very long 2 weeks I got to go get an ultra sound. The Sonographer (yes still not my Dr.) took a picture of our little one found out I was only 9 weeks along, confirmed it had a strong heartbeat, and that there was only one in there. Whew.... Thank goodness. Not that twins would be a bad thing, but I was positive I was not that far along so it had to be twins. Which would be really really hard to do out here alone with no family and Branden in school full time. Law School is not like college. It's like a full time job plus no paid overtime.

And now for pictures. I've promised the baby bump. So here it is. Do not laugh at me.

I feel huge. Branden says you can't tell, but my pants don't fit right, my toes are slowly disappearing, and when your husband tells you "wow you look good baby your tummy is getting so big!" I tend to feel like a blimp already.

It's a lot bigger from my view anyways.

It's finally setting in. We're gonna be a mommy and a daddy! It's weird to love something so much and never even see it or hold it. We love our baby Roo more than anything. It means the world to us both. We cannot wait to meet baby Roo! Less than 6 months to go!

So for now we're just waiting as patiently as possible until September 14th when we get to find out what it is. Anyone care to take a guess?

Grand Haven

We finally decided that it's about time we get out and do something. We've lived here for 2 years and never gone on a vacation within driving distance. Apparently we're really close to a lot of things: Canada, New York City, the UP, and Grand Haven. So guess where we chose to go 1st?

They have this awesome pier that we walked along. A lot of kids were pier jumping into the water. Lake Michigan is huge! It looks just like the ocean!

Branden was really excited about the lighthouse. It looks a lot bigger from far away. He was hoping to get to go inside. He's convinced it's haunted because all the lighthouses on Ghost Hunters TAPS find ghosts in the lighthouses.

They have this huge musical water show.

They claim it's the biggest in the United States. I was pretty impressed.

So that's how we spent the 4th of July here in Michigan this year.

Hope everyone enjoyed the sunshine as much as we did.

We miss you all! The count down has begun, less than a year and we'll be back home again for good this time!

Detroit

We got to go to a Tigers game on Saturday. I've never been to a professional baseball game before. It was pretty cool to see how huge it was and how many fans were there.

Long story short - sometime during the 6th inning, we were freezing and it was late and they were losing by 5. So we left. 2 hours later when we got home we turned on the tv and saw that the game had just ended after the 12th inning and they had come back to win 7-6. Oops...






We were there really early so I apologize for all the random pictures. Erin O'Bryan and I had a lot of time on our hands, and our husbands were good sports. Most of the time.

It was our first time out to Detroit and we were really leery once we got there. All the houses you can see are either burned or ripped apart. All buildings have bars on the windows, there are shady characters everywhere. The stadium is really nice and 1 block in every direction was pretty too. But you shouldn't go any further than that.

I just have no idea why this is in the top 5 most dangerous cities in the United States.
You know all those pictures and stories you hear about Detroit? They are all true.

Eminem's home town and local street. "Eminem is full of it." -Adam O'Bryan

No but seriously, 8 mile has embassy suites and target and clean landscaping and everything nice. It is nothing like the movie portrays it to be.

We can't wait to come back!!

When in Rome... I mean Michigan

We're starting to become the locals around here so we figured we might as well act like them. For the first baseball game of the season they have all you can eat and drink for just $15. It was pretty sweet. Worrying that they'd run out of food quickly, we grabbed as much as we could carry along with the baby and the diaper bag, and found our seats. They obviously didn't run out of food so we kept going back for more and more....and more....and more. Pretzels, BBQ pork sandwhiches, dip n dots, lemon chill, nachos, fries, pizza, ice cream, and several sodas. I couldn't believe people were still getting beer when everything else was free and one beer was over $7. Dummies...

After the game I grabbed Brandens 3 cans of Mountain Dew and headed for the exit. (Here in MI you get 10 cents per can. They're a hot commodity around here, you never see them on the side of the road.) Next thing I know we've got a bag and are collecting cans laying all over the stadium. We felt like such bums but it was so funny we just kept going and going. Other people started copying us too.

Here's the boys with our 2 big bags of cans. We had over 255 cans! We thought we were gonna get mugged by the bums outside of the stadium. They were really eyeballing us and one even came and asked for them in exchange for a dollar. He was higher than a kite.

Thanks for inviting us Riley, Chris, and Arista! We had a blast!

p.s. here's my disclaimer for anyone that feels this is offensive. If you don't like it, stop reading my blog.

The Cat Walk

I came up with a brilliant idea once that if we started Tony on a leash when he was little, that he'd someday go on jogs with me when he got big enough. It didn't work. So we waited til he was bigger. Looks pretty good here right?

30 seconds into the walk

45 seconds into the walk aka time to go back

At least we made it out of the parking lot this time. We're working on it...

Geez I'm turning into one of those crazy cat ladies.

Home Sweet Home...sorta

This is for all you out there that are wondering where we've been for the last few years. Mom and Dad no need to come visit.

Here it is. Our big ugly apt building we've lived in for the last 2 years. We'll be out of our contract in May and will be moving to East Lansing to a bigger place so that we can have people over again. Oh, and can you see the silo's in the back? That's how we find our way home. There's no mountains so I can never find East. But these always point home. They're at the GM plant right behind our house. It's the one that no one works at hence the reason Michigan has a 35% or more unemployment rate.

Murder River... I mean Grand River. Dead bodies and grafiti are the local attractions. It's about 2 feet deep and you cannot see more than than an inch into it. It stinks soooo bad!

This is the hotel across the street from us. Locals around here know it as the place to go get drugs and prostitutes. It's been closed for a few months now thank goodness. All the creepos have moved a little bit north.

The local Stab and Grab. Where you'll never get by without getting asked for money. Branden's even been hit up by the bums for a check or a credit card since he doesn't have cash on him. Apparently the bums are more modernized and accept several types of payment?

This is the overpass we walk on everyday. You have to be so careful not to get hit. We've figured along with the crazy laws that you can turn left on a red light, blinking yellow does not mean yield, and blinking red does not mean stop. Cars have the right of way NOT the pedestrians.

Once you walk 1 more block you'll get into the big buildings. Most are empty because businesses cannot survive here in the capital city. The rest are Branden's old Law School Thomas M Cooley.

This is the capital building. Notice the bum going through the trash? It's a really pretty building though. Only about 5 blocks from our apt. too.

This is Branden infront of the Attorney General's office. He just got a job there and starts next week. We're really excited can you tell?

Here's a better shot of his building (on the left) and the capital from the back. It's cool cuz they have this huge walkway that goes over all the streets that connects all the state buildings.

Another picture of us infront of the capital building. This is the only part that's really pretty so I took lots of pics.

The court house.

There's a lot of really old churchs around here. They're all built in the 1800's. We wanna go to a service at each of them before we leave. So far we've only been to this one. It was pretty inside.

Another church.

That's about it for now. I wanna get some pictures of Michigan State University. It's so stinkin huge you wouldn't believe it. Thanks again to my mother and father inlaw for my new camera for my birthday. We're gonna have a lot of fun together!