BIG 20 Week Ultrasound

Just a little Lily update for you all. We had our BIG 20 week ultrasound today and it went as perfectly as possible. For those who don't know, this is the ultrasound (also referred to as Anatomy Scan) where they review the entire anatomy of the baby in detail to check for growth progress and any abnormalities. She (yes she is still a she, we were afraid she may have grown a twig & berries) is growing at a perfect rate measuring 10.5 inches, and 9 ounces which puts her in the 53 percentile for her "age". All of her organs look great and the technician & doctor saw nothing of concern whatsoever. A big relief! Both Thad and I were a little anxious about the whole thing as we've heard some horror stories about this....so we're happy that it's over and done with and that she is looking great! Of course her mouth was moving oh so frequently during the entire hour long ultrasound and in all of the ultrasounds we've done so far, she is always using her hands all of the time. They're either over her head, clapping, being stuck in her mouth, etc..Also we've noticed that she is never sleeping. Many people we know have trouble during at least some of their ultrasounds because the baby is sleeping, but it seems like she is always wide awake and being all crazy. I think Thad and I should start getting plenty of rest now :)

I can't believe we're just about 1/2 way there. It's going by quickly and I hope the rest will go by just as quickly so that we can have little Lily here to play with & cuddle! I think she is going to look like Thad because her face is long and narrow - may just be because she has no body fat yet, but I think it's because she will look just like him....except with my blue eyes of course :)

Here are some pics from today's ultrasound for your viewing pleasure. Just click on each one to see them larger. Enjoy!

4 Years!

Well today marks 4 years from the best day ever...the day Thad and I both lost our virginity...our wedding day!! It feels like a lot less than that. It's hard to believe that it was really 4 years ago already. I have such joyous & special memories from that day that could never be forgotten. I just wish we could do it all over again!! Vow renewal at Montage?? Haha, I won't push my luck. :) Celebrating our anniversary this year feels so much more special knowing that it's our last one to celebrate alone with Baby Lily on the way. What an exciting time in our lives.

Time is really flying by these days - feels like just yesterday that we met at LMU and were doing keg stands and hitting up the Sunset Strip like crazy animals...but really that was 9 1/2 years ago! Gosh I am getting old. To celebrate the big #4 we're going to Ruth's Chris for dinner tonight and today, I am going to Burke Williams Spa for a pregnancy massage that my mom & dad got me for Mother's Day. A marvelous day planned if I don't say so myself! We opened a beautiful card from grandma & grandpa this morning. They are just the best & most caring grandparents that exist! In fact we already received a call from my grandma at 8 AM on the dot singing to us this morning. She is a riot :) My mom forgot to mail our card/gift so she mailed it yesterday overnight to make sure we get it today! I really do have the best family in the world. They make Thad & I feel so important & loved.

Speaking of family, we went up to Norcal this past weekend for a short family visit and to attend my friend Cara's wedding. It was a great trip but sailed by - way too short! Cara's wedding was so beautiful and she looked so gorgeous like always! It was such an intimate wedding, only 50 guests, so we felt really special to even be there. Cara & Danny are such a sweet couple and are just perfect for one another. We are so happy for them! Thad was pretty sad that "wedding Jen" could not come out to play. Usually I am the life of the party but this time all I could think about was going home and crawling into my bed to sleep for 12 hours. Quite a difference. :) My aunt Anne was visiting from Philly with her boyfriend Tony and just after we left, he proposed to her in Carmel! We are so happy for them too. It was my grandpas 86th birthday on Sunday and we celebrated my brother's HS graduation on Saturday. Such a busy weekend! It was truly a weekend filled with love, family & friends - three of my favorite things! I was very sad to leave.

I will post some shots of my belly soon. It's growing pretty rapidly these days! I can't even imagine what it will look like next month. This past month has been a growth spurt if I've ever seen one!

O'Grady Out.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

I was just watching the unveiling of the new wimbledon center court and eating an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from the batch I had just made, and BAM, I started to feel Lily moving like crazy in there! It was the first time I've really felt her moving! Amazing!! I'm not 100% sure that it was the cookies she liked. She also could have been signaling a strong interest in playing wimbledon one day. Either way it was crazy to feel her moving in there for 10 whole minutes! I'm glad that I have 24 cookies left....maybe I will eat them all at once and then see what she does...no, no I am trying to stay on the wagon here not fall off on my hiney which already has some generous padding these days.

I'm making another recipe tonight from my favorite foodie blog that my mom & I found. If I haven't already told you about it, it's www.fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com. This housewife created the blog and she has some really yummy recipes that both my mom & I make on a weekly basis. I am making her asian chicken tonight which we absolutely love. A few of our other faves are her Kung Pao Chicken, Carne Asada Marinade (for steak tacos), and Slow Roasted Basil, Garlic & Lemon Chicken. She has TONS of great recipes with great pics and easy to follow instructions. Check it out!

Thad played in the club doubles championship this weekend and he made it to the finals. I watched the final match today and unfortunately they lost 6-4 in the third. He played well but his partner was not very good (hopefully he never reads this blog...). I think next year he will crush the competition with a solid partner like me :) He is so tired and at the jacuzzi soaking his tired muscles. I wish I could have gone with him but I didn't want to cook little lily. She doesn't deserve that.

We're headed up North on Saturday for a quick family visit and to attend my good friend Cara's wedding! I'm really looking forward to it. To-do list for this week - find a dress that doesn't accentuate my growing waste line, preferably in a dark color in case I pee my pants again.. Wish me luck!!

LILY MAY is on her WAY!

SO EXCITED!!! We had our gender determination 2D/3D/4D ultrasound today at Picture an Angel in Lake Forest and found out we are having a GIRL!! While it's not truly 100%, the ultrasound showed a very definite "three lines" down there, which means a baby girl! They also call it the "hamburger" method because the three lines resemble a hamburger with the middle line being a little longer than the other two. If it were a boy, especially considering that Thad is hung like a horse, we would have seen a "hot dog" if you will, even this early in the game! There is no hiding that monster.

We've decided on Lily May O'Grady (middle name is also the month we were married in!). The last name was a tough decision. I was pushing for Nadal but we thought that may confuse little Lily down the line..."No, mommy was not sleeping with Rafa, sweetie..." and so on...so anyway, we settled with O'Grady. I'm okay with it I guess :)

The 3D/4D is amazing. She still looks a little skeleton-like with the lack of body fat and oversized head, but we were amazed at how much she has already developed. She was sucking her thumb a lot of the time and it looked like she was talking up a storm in there - moving her mouth constantly. At one point she gave us a tenacious Nadal fist pump..it was awesome! We will be doing at least 2 more 3D/4D ultrasounds down the line. Probably one in 10 weeks when I'm about 25 weeks, and another one towards the very end too. By then we should be able to see full facial features and everything! Yay!!

Here are some pics for you! I think if you click on the pics you can view them larger. One is 2D of the "girl parts", look for the three lines in between the two sets of arrows. The other is a 3D pic showing you our baby Lily! Enjoy!!

The Crazy Bambino!

We had another doctor's appointment today - 11 weeks along! We had another ultrasound and got to see so much more of the little crazy bambino! Yipee! Thad now thinks the baby will take after me since they were moving around like a little spaz - waving his/her hands around like crazy, doing really fast somersaults, and at one point we think doing "jazz hands". lol It was really funny. The heartbeat is 152 bpm, strong & healthy! Getting to hear it again was so special. All of my bloodwork testing came back great and things are looking perfect. YAY!! Oh and my blood pressure is an ideal 120/80 which is literally "optimal" on the BP chart. I knew I measured optimal status in something.. :)

It was so neat to see how far the baby has come since our last visit 4 1/2 weeks ago...went from a little dot to a real baby! We got to see the baby's profile and everything, so sureal that it's grown so much & resembles a real human being now! The machine was acting up so we didn't get any pics to take home this time :( We did however decide to find out the gender after all which can be done now by 3D ultrasound at just 15 weeks! So when we go home in 4 weeks to Danville we have an appointment already set to find out at my good friend Erin's cousin's 3D place. So excited!! Besides finding out the gender, we will get some super detailed 3D pics at that appointment too which I will definitely be posting afterwards for you all to oodle over ;)

There is an old wives tale that if the hearbeat is over 140 at anytime during the pregnancy it's a girl but there isn't much truth to that I guess :) According to the Chinese Gender Chart, which is said to be over 90% accurate, we are also having a girl! Signs are all pointing in that direction hehehe. Look out Thad, a mini Jenny could be coming your way..and when I say "look out", I mean "BRACE YOURSELF FOR A CRAZY NEXT 18 YEARS!" Well maybe more than 18, I am 27 and still driving my parents crazy! Uh oh..

The baby is a Plum now and is so cute!!!

Yummy Yummy Dave's Tacos in my tummy!

It's a beautiful day today, almost 90 at the beach with a little ocean breeze - Sunday perfection at Casa OG! Earlier this week we went to Dave & Tasha's house in San Clemente for some Tacos, well, so we thought! It ended up being a super yummy mexican feast! Dave cooks the best mexican food I've ever had and this was no exception. He made carne asada tacos, homemade tortilla soup, two different types of fresh homemade salsa, yummy mexican rice and horchata! It was so yummy. We had a great time with them as always, watching the sunset over the ocean & chatting/laughing up a storm until the lame pregnant chick (a.k.a me) had to retire to her bed, at a measly 9:20 PM. :) I actually couldn't believe I made it that late! It was a great night and we love those two little lovebirds. They are engaged & getting married next October in Tasha's homeland, Hawaii!

Dave's food was so good that it inspired me to cook my own mexican meal for tonights dinner. It won't even compare to his but I just had to try & was dying to have it again. I found a great recipe for carne asada marinade and started the process early this morning. I'm making some homemade fresh guacamole, tomatillo salsa, carne asada tacos with all the fixins and beans and rice. Our kitchen has smelled like garlic & lime all day and it's driving me insane! The meat needs to marinade until at least 4:30 so we will be eating shortly after that. Can't wait! Thad was at the gym when I decided to make this scrumptuous meal that we just had, and I thought he may not be too excited since he ate 5 tacos the other night, but when he called me on his way home from the gym some of the first words out of his mouth were "god I just want more mexican food!". I told him he was in luck :) I told my mom about Dave's meal and it inspired her too! She is making a full carne asada feast for sunday family dinner. She is really going the extra mile and making homemade roasted tomato salsa too, I bought mine in a jar. :)

Well I guess that's about all to report for now. We shall call this the food post. We rented "The Reader" and will be watching that later too. Looks good!

The baby is a lime this week - how exciting! Next week - a plum. Geez they grow fast, to think only 7 weeks ago he/she was a poppy seed. I will be posting on Thursday after my doc appointment & ultrasound! Yay!

Adios!

Knocked UP!

Well I think all of you who read my blog already know this news but we found out in early March that we're PREGNANT!! I'm currently in week 9 of my pregnancy and my due date is November 14th. The excitement set in instantly but hearing the baby's heartbeat a couple of weeks ago made it REALLY REAL. This pic above is the first ultrasound pic of Baby OG - from when I was 6 weeks 3 days along. Kinda blurry but you can see the little bambino! The heartbeat was 126 bpm already at just over 6 weeks - very strong the doc said! There is a person inside my belly. Crazy! I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far until this week, when a lot of morning sickness set in. I had an episode at Baja Fish Tacos on Wednesday that I won't mention details about on here...just know that it was disgusting and extremely embarrassing. :) Only other major symptom (aside from my gargantuous boobs & relocating to the bathroom since I need to pee about every 2 seconds) is that I have been extremely tired since prior to even knowing I was pregnant..oh yeah, back to that, we found out the amazing news in Hawaii at my favorite hotel that I have many childhood memories from. It was so exciting and just perfect timing! We think the baby was conceived on Valentine's Day but we could be a day or two off...we will tell it that anyway...our little love child :) Coincidentally, my due date is the same as my mom's due date was with me however I was exactly 2 weeks late making my birthday 11/28. How crazy is that? So I am actually hoping my baby will be born late, at least 11/23 or later so that it's a Sagitarrius like me, my mom and my grandma. Sags are the best! Sags are awfully crazy though..I was jumping out of my crib at 7 months...so maybe I am setting myself up here for payback.. :) Yes, I am willing to carry around a watermelon for an additional 9 days just to make the baby a Sag!!

Thad (a.k.a "Daddy" as he has started to refer to himself in the third person as) has been super cute about everything. He even has his little daddy book already that he is reading (or supposed to be reading..) and he has been very inquisitive about everything I am going through. For example, at our first ultrasound visit I had to pee in a cup in the bathroom while he waited in the ultrasound room...when I returned, he had this serious look on his face and was like "so what did you do exactly? You pee'd in a cup and then what?" like he was being left out or something. Next time he can come in with me if he wants. haha he cracks me up and has actually gotten so much funnier since we starting dating 8 1/2 years ago...not that he wasn't funny then..but he is just SO funny now. :)

We have already started thinking about names and have narrowed it down to a few for each gender. Oh yeah, we are NOT finding out the gender ahead of time. I know this has been shocking to everyone but we just think that there are not enough suprises in life and for some reason I have always had this picture in my head of Thad running out to the waiting room in his scrubs announcing to the whole group of family & friends what the gender is...oh yes, and a tear streams down his face too...hahah This is definitely my imagination but since I won't actually be out there to witness this I will just continue to imagine that is how it happened afterwards..:)

Well I guess that is all I to report right now...I have pee'd twice since beginning this blog. It is really annoying! I am off to get a bagel for breakfast and Thad is playing old man doubles at 8:30 at the tennis club. He loves those old guys...I think they make him feel like he's still a young buck...if that were the case he wouldn't be loading up on Advil right now to prepare haha :)

I will keep you posted on the bambino (currently the size of an olive, soon to be the size of a plum!)...next doctor's appointment is 4/23. YAY!!!