Spring Training - Goodyear, AZ

Since spring training is coming to an end this week its time to post. Arizona is beautiful. Goodyear is a new city so everything there is new...and brown. Brown landscaping, brown homes...brown brown brown. I could only stay there so long without having color withdrawal. Anyway its so amazing that we live in a country that has so many different terrains depending on where you are. The mountains were beautiful! Phoenix is in a valley so the mountains were everywhere. The stadium was really nice and Chris even gave me a backstage tour of the clubhouse. It is an amazing facility both indoors and out. He's very lucky. Here's a quick rundown of my week:

We went to the professional bull riding competition and saw real cowboys perform. I am not thrilled with how they make the bulls crazy but that's for another day:

Raul & Teresa's - amazing home style Mexican food. I asked what was in a burro and the waitress laughed and told the bartender...he looked at me and laughed too (I figured it was short for burrito but I don't like beans so I wanted to make sure there weren't any)


Goodyear Ballpark!


Black Bear Diner: one of the many items we ate for breakfast one morning. This is what a real bear claw looks like! YUMMY

Ultrasound 2 - 11 weeks 4 days

I am still at the doctors office. Today's ultrasound was so much more exciting than the first (sorry Court) I couldn't wait to write! I got to see the baby swimming all around using its arms and legs! Its approximately 2 inches now and about 4 days ahead of schedule. I can't believe how much its changed since my last visit only 3 weeks ago. It looks like a little person now :) The baby would hardly stay still long enough for the technician to take the measurements of the neck fluid for the nuchal translucency test! When it did, she said the space for the fluid looks good and it has a nasal bone. I'm about to have blood drawn to finish up the testing but so far so good!

My First Ultrasound!

Yesterday was my first ultrasound! After reading more than one sad story on my babycenter.com October 2010 babies chat group about a mom going in for her ultrasound and there just being an empty sac I wondered if I would be the same since I've been feeling so good. Thankfully that was not the case. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT but there's actually a baby inside of me! My own little alien :)


First the technician pointed out the beating heart and then the stubby arms and legs, head and then she put the sound on and I could hear the heart beating! It was beating so fast. It was so amazing! The baby is growing on pace and even 2 days ahead but the doctor wants to stay conservative on the "due date". No worries though I like the 15th-it's very even. My next appointment is March 30 for my 11-12 week ultrascreen. I'm 9 weeks now and thankfully I'm not so tired all the time anymore. My skin is even starting to improve! The second trimester is just around the corner and I can't wait!


P.S. If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

The Self Directed Search

Lately I've had some trouble figuring out what to do with my free time so I thought it would be a good idea to take the Self Directed Search. It is a questionnaire that helps you find the career which best matches your interests and abilities...I would translate the result into a volunteer opportunity perhaps or a part-time job. It also gives you a listing of hobbies you might enjoy. The theory is that there are 6 groups which people can be loosely classified into:

Realistic-likes to work with things more than people.
Investigative-likes to explore and understand things or events, rather than persuade others or sell them things.
Artistic-likes to work with creative ideas and self-expression more than routines and rules.
Social-likes to help, teach, and counsel people more than engage in mechanical or technical activity.
Enterprising-like to persuade or direct others more than work on scientific or complicated topics.
Conventional-likes to follow orderly routines and meet clear standards, avoiding work that does not have clear directions.

So 20 minutes later my results appear:

The three groups that best fit me in order of most to least were conventional, social and enterprising. The top career that might interest me...systems accountant...types of hobbies I might enjoy-playing card games and the collection of random items like souvenir spoons...I believe this is where the saying FML comes in handy.

Fun at the Theater

What do you do when you get to the movie theater a little too early to see your movie of choice? Sit in the theater waiting for your movie to start or go to the screening of another movie at the theater?

When was the last time you saw two movies for the price of one? Prior to today the last time I can remember was when I was a kid in Brooklyn...our trips to the movies were quite infrequent as taking 4 children to the movies can be quite a handful. I guess thats why we stayed for two!

Today, my sister in law Courtney and I were 45 minutes early to see Valentine's Day so we decided to sit in on the movie least likely to require background information an hour deep - Shutter Island. It ended up being a very engaging movie so when it came time to switch over we wanted to know what the ending was going to be! Soo after Valentine's Day was over we made a daring dash across the snackbar and snuck into a later showing of Shutter Island which happened to be at the point right where we left off! How perfect. The rush of getting caught didn't hurt either!

I love this commercial:

It's Official

Two things are official: 1-I'm pregnant and 2-baseball season is under way!

Chris and I went to our first OB appointment this past Tuesday and were bombarded by a massive amount of questions, pamphlets and information. How do you feel? What is your family history? Are you taking prenatal vitamins? Our due date is October 15th. Take more Calcium. There will be many sonograms. A visit to the OB once a month then twice a month, then once a week! Oh my! Talk about being overwhelmed and this is only the beginning. I'll be heading back to the doc March 1st for the first sonogram to make sure the baby is developing correctly and everything is going alright. Chris and I are really excited!

I can't believe how fast this off-season flew by and it’s actually been one of the longest yet. Chris packed up yesterday and flew out to Arizona today...given my hatred for packing, I'm feeling pretty good that I didn't go to spring training with him but I'll miss him. This will be the longest we've spent apart since he went to play in the world cup but now we'll be using the magic of Skype to stay connected.

That’s all for my first post...stay tuned for more