as of late....

the wonderful fabulous, genius, beautiful baby Amory and my sister Kristen came to visit.

And if only i didn't look like such a complete loser shlumpadinka who has given up on life these days...there would be more pictures of all of us.

Its getting rough people. I think that "cute pregnant lady" thing ended a few weeks back.
I am starting to really look BAD.

In my defense, i did have a pretty rough couple of days last week.
Some time on thursday at work i started to get this stabbing pain in my back. It kind of wrapped around to my front and ran along side the baby bump all the way to my hip. It hurt, but it wasn't horrible so i chalked it up to growing pains. We went to Pats parents house after work for a little bit and i started to feel nauseasous as it got worse. A few more hours passed by and it was still there and still getting worse so i called the doctor at like 9:30. We scheduled an appointment for the next morning but since i didn't have a fever and i wasn't technically doubled over in pain (yet) i just stayed put at home.

That night I didn't sleep and at one point after a trip to the bathroom I couldn't stop crying i was in so much pain. I went into the doctors frst thing on friday and they were convinced i have a kidney stone. The sent me for a renal ultrasound and did some other tests......my doctor also gave me this reassuring anectdote: "the good news is, you don't have to worry about having a baby now - lots of people say a kidney stone is worse"

wow. thank you?......that really isn't good news. Especially since apparently now i am faced with both situations.

She said that there was no way to tell when this would happen (passing the stone that is). It could happen in an hour, it could happen in a month. i just have to wait

But here is the weird part.... i waited and I really do feel better now. The pain has gone away. I don't know if that just happens or if the whole kidney stone thing is still waiting to happen and i am just getting a break ? My theory is that maybe i just passed a small stone on thursday and/or i have a super human tolerance for pain and i am done with this fiasco? orrrr the scaredy cat part of me thinks that maybe this is just the calm before the storm where i will supposedly be puking all over myself screaming for someone to kill me???

I t is all very unnerving. And yes that is a real description descriptionof the circumstances most people find themselves in when they have a kidney stone)

SO which one is it going to be?
I am scared, but at the same time I am cautiously optimistic that i am out of the woods.

Has anyone else had this problem - where you were told you have a kidney stone but the pain just magically disappears on its one without any monumental torturous experience??

please say yes. please say yes.

the stress of worrying is bad for me.

It also makes me feel like a crazy lunatic when i am at work becasue i just cant seem to stay focused. That whole "pregnancy brain" thing....that is not a myth.

I am having such a hard time keeping all of the details in my life straight. I can't remember so many things that used to be a lot easier tasks to tackle. i would say that i hope that things get easier and i can get back into the swing of things in a few months but that seems pretty unlikely once you add a baby into the mix.

soooo this post could ramble on all day if i don't put a lid on it. I need to close this up and start trying to remember all fo the things that i know i am forgetting to do...and hopefully i can also work on the part where i forget that an imminent attack is coming where my kidney basically explodes and knifes my insides.

happy Tuesday!

Cravings

I literally woke up this morning and the first thing that came to mind was "mmmm Meghan's carmel apple Salad" - weird right? You wont think so once you try this. My cousin sent me the recipe today and honest to God, it might be the least healthy recipe i ever post on this here blog.

Regardless.....I can gaurantee you that the calories do in fact translate to full blown deliciousness.....and the main ingredient isn't bad at all - Apples- so really i think you will survive if you do decide to indulge:

Crazy Caramel Apple Salad
-1/2 C Butter/Margarine Melted
-1 C Powdered Sugar
-1 Large Tub Cool Whip...
-1 C Peanuts (I used honey roasted peanuts)
-6 Full-size Snickers Bars - chopped
-6-8 Granny Smith Apples
-1 Can crushed pineapple, drained

Melt 1/2 cup butter in large mixing bowl. Add 1 C powdered sugar and stir. Fold in the Cool Whip and whisk until smooth.

Meanwhile combine peanuts, Snicker's pieces, apples and pineapple in large bowl. Pour the Cool Whip mixture over and stir until evenly coated.Refrigerate overnight and serve. Enjoy :)

it tastes so much better than it even sounds........I might have to stop by the grocery store later.
Oh and please, if you are reading this and feel like commenting, leave me a suggestion for a great workout or a healthier recipe that i can enjoy while preggggggggnant ( i obvi need it).

yeah thanks.

Big Belly....Big Closet

2 Big things going on at Casa de O'Brien:

Huge Katie

&

Huge waste of a closet.

Yep. Its true.

I have a cribs-worthy ridiculous closet (see it in the background?).....cool right? nope.- it is a total waste of space these days. it bums me out.

The racks are filled with clothing that does not fit me and it is kinda sorta big time depressing.

kinda not though too. The bump is endlessly entertaining. I am turning into more of an alien giant as we speak!

I do like the shelf with all of the cute maternity clothes my sister gave me and I can still wear all of the comfy pajamas and yoga pants that i used to wear too. The bathing suits work also, but HOLY GOD do they look "different"....the rest of it - ummmm useless - anyone need extra storage space in Ohio?

so anyways...i only took this picture in this mirror with the closet in the background because this is a "skinny" mirror in my house (convenient that it is located in my closet huh?) and the lighting tends to be favorable as well ( i need all the help i can get). oh and reason #2 for this shot - i figured i should have one more belly photo on this blog seeing as how this is the only place i am recording them. So here you go - 21 weeks :)

oh and I wasn't trying to brag about the closet. I am not a big enough diva to deserve this space (2 rooms, shoe storage for about 200 pairs of shoes, an island...so not me - i struggle to fill it with my losery clothes) BUT one day, i do plan to add a chandelier, paint the walls, and actually wear some of the clothes contained inside of it without looking like a stuffed sausage....and at that point, i might actually brag.

Sorry.

You have a long time before that can happen though.

20 weeks - 14 vs. 2

14-2. That is the count for girls vs. boys born in the last 31 years on my side of the family . We have Lauren, Kristen, Katie(me), Brandy, Kelly, Meghan, Amy, Allison, Jillian, Jackie, Shayla, Jennifer.......Amory and now ?????????

BABY GIRL OB!!!!!

(Marty and Finn are still going to have to wait it out as the only boys)!!

Pat and I went for our ultrasound yesterday to get the good news on our baby's gender. It was my first ever which seems nuts because i am officially 20 weeks as of Thursday but the really good news is everything looks healthy and on-track - which is such an unbelievable relief. We are soo excited to have a little girl! and kind of surprised too. I think 90% of the guesses ahead of time were for a boy.

Funny story about the ultrasound....Pat and i and lots of other people have been dying to find out for sure what this little baby was going to be. I, of course, just had this feeling that the baby wasn't going to be in a great position to show us his/her business. I guess i was joking when i thought about it and i didn't really think it would happen, but then when we got to the appointment it seemed like my anxiety might have been more intuition.When the appointment first started we asked the nurse what the likelihood of finding out the gender would be. She said that they almost always find out....unless of course the baby is breech and has its legs crossed.

Ummm guess who was breech with their legs crossed? yup. baby O'B!

the nurse gathered all of the normal measurements and we had to laugh when she measured the femurs.....They are 2 weeks ahead on the development schedule. There is no doubt this baby is going to have some long legs! ...wonder where those came from?? :)

So anyways, those legs did do a little twist right as the nurse was finishing up - and we did get a little sneak peak of what looked like a very girly baby. She said that she was pretty sure but that she would let the doctor take a look without telling him what we thought.

He only spent like 5 minutes in the room but said "yeah she looks pretty girly - i'll say 70% chance its a girl"

Ummmmmm 70% huh? that is enough to get me very excited about little princess dresses but it is also enough to lump me in to that poor category of girls that decorates a whole pink palace, has a girl themed baby shower and then ends up with a little boy at birth!!!

this could be interesting. I am really hoping to get some more "concrete" numbers at a follow up ultrasound that i am going to insisit my doctor schedules again for the near future.

for now - I still really think "it" is a she.....We might even have a name picked out but we didin't want to really make any names official until we knew the gender. We still really like the name we picked but i think we want to use it for a while just to make sure it feels right before we announce it to the world. it's a great name though. Cute, Irish, and not too common but not weird either.

Ummmmmm - as far as her first picture (posted above) check out those cheekbones! Holy supermodel....and i am pretty sure she has her dads big full lips

:) this one is going to be a little cutie!

cant wait to meet her!!!!!

baby ticker

is it just me or does the floating baby in my baby ticker look like an avatar?
i don't think babies (even my baby) are typically that lanky and tall.
Hmmmm????

Bump pictures are awkward.....

So in addition to a nice little 5 inch long baby (crown to rump as they say)I have been filling my belly with a wonderful assortment of other fabulous things.....all thanks to the little farm down the street from my house (okay down the street a ways but still).

I am seriously obsessed with this place. It is called Szalay's and i think i have been about 5 different times in the last 2 weeks. All of their produce is beyond delicious and the atmosphere is just so fun. It is basically a big barn that feels like an open air grocery store. It is surrounded by corn fields and walking trails and in the front of the barn there are huge outdoor swings made so that entire families can sit on them while they enjoy the ice cream, frozen lemonade and grilled corn that they make right out front.

In the fall, there is a corn "maze" that kids can run through before they get their pumpkins at the pumpkin patch and i am pretty sure they do hey rides from here too.

It is so idyllic. I really do think that this might be my favorite place in all of Ohio.

So anyways, here is a small sampling of what i have been putting on the menu for Baby O'B.
lucky baby!

delicious, juicy, non grainy, unbelievably good peaches!!! i would say i eat 1-2 of these a days.

strawberries! Most of the time I eat them plain, but sometimes i get them all dressed up like this with heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar. It is beyond good and so easy. If you wanted to make this for guests just put the strawberries in a martini glass to add a little jooj. This really is the perfect light summer dessert and it works well with raspberries too (my dad's favorite)

Holy GOD this salad is also my favorite!! Caprese salad with basil cut from my own garden. Even if it didn't taste as delicious as it does, i would still love it just for the simple fact that i feel like a freaking Martha Stewart rockstar every time I incorporate a home grown ingredient into something i am eating. Salt, pepper, olive oil, good balsamic, basil, fresh mozzarella and Farmy delish tomatoes = perfection.

and these cherries...I don't even like cherries but seriously (again) i love these ones! They are pricey at $6/lb, but so worth it.

So what has all of this (plus a baby) done to my physique? Ummmmmmmm, let me show you.

...yeah there are some chips and french fries in there too.

a couple of baby updates

So just in case you were curious about what I am getting super excited about these days, I thought i would share. Pretty much, i stay 100% preoccupied with baby business and these pictures of Pat when he was little doesn't help. I mean seriouslyyyyyyyyyyyy - how cute was he? I would have posted some me pics too but i didn't have any readily available. Picture this little guy as a girl though and you get the picture. We so could have passed for brother and sister

doesn't he just look like the kind of little boy that would pick you flowers?

he still makes this face...

annnnnd....

I just hope our little Baby O'B will be just as cute as his dad is :)

In other news....I am loving these bedding options - And believe me, that is saying a lot because i have probably scoured through 100 websites and not liked 10,000,000 different sets for one reason or another.

This first set was one that my mom and sister found while they were shopping in Paris a few weeks ago. I didn't pay much attention since buying little boy bedding in Paris for a baby whose gender we do not know sounded pretty unrealistic, but then, my mom came to visit me in Ohio after her trip with a catalogue from the store and I remembered that they have this particular french baby store at south coast plaza in California - SO exciting. Not only do i love the bedding because it is so simple and cute and not overly babyish....but it is called "voyage en afrique" and this little babies dad went on a voyage to Africa last year so it is kind of cool and meaningful.

These are just some of the cute accessories/stuffed animals available within the collection.

And this little activity board was a deal sealer. How cute is that?


And then.....don't think my mind is made up that i am having a boy or anything. Long before i was introduced to the boy bedding, i fell in love with this little princess room from restoration hardware. Again, I love the fact that it is subtle soft baby colors and not so much a crazy print. I guess i am kind of boring ,but i figured the little bling accents will be enough to keep this little girl stimulated.

in case you didn't notice - that beautiful crib is pewter. The finials at the top have this very subtle little crown inlay that is perfect for a little princess room. Pat is not sold on it, but i feel like i cant live without it sooooo we'll see what happens with this one. The changing table and dresser have crystal drawer pulls and we actually already own a perfect little pink crystal chandelier.

the one thing i think i will do with either room is get a white glider so that it can be used for either a boy or girl baby down the road - with either set of bedding. The one i like is exactly like the pink one above, but there is an ottoman and it is all white.

So anyways - that's what i am thinking.

We find out which one of these delightful little palaces will become a reality when we go in for our ultrasound on the 29th!!!

Pat totally thinks boy and i am totally confused, but maybe leaning towards thinking it is a girl.

I guess we will find out soon!!