Under the Weather pt 2 & pt 3

Yup, now we're ALL sick with the stomach bug. It first started with Jacob, then Jess, and then me. Luckily, for me, I had a mild case, but Jacob and Jess have had it pretty bad. Jacob's still eating bland foods, and eating very little. I'm almost feeling 100% and I'm hungry, but I'm afraid to eat. So bland food has been on my plate. Jess thinks he can eat whatever he wants, but HE CAN'T! Will he ever learn?! Oh, and get this, it's not the best time to have plumbing problems. Yeah, you heard me. Try having no toilets for the last 16 hours. Uh, yeah...thank goodness it was at night, and no one was as severely sick like the last few days. But it doesn't stop there. The bug has also hit my brother-in-law. I'm hoping, for the rest of my family's sake, it stops soon. We have a big party next weekend, my niece's sweet 16, and everyone's got to be there. There's going to be a big celebration. I can't wait to share pictures.

On another note, our little bean is doing good. I saw it last Thursday and its little heart beat. It gets me every time. I tear up. And the dilemma of the moment: Should we go have an early ultrasound to find out the gender? Like tomorrow? Jess thinks we should wait 'til the big U/S, but I'm impatient, and we did it early with Jacob. I want to know what it is now...actually I wanted to know 14 weeks ago! Ah, decisions, decisions.

Under the Weather

My poor Jacob has been sick. He had his first stomach virus. We believe he got it from his grandpa. It all started Sunday morning when Jacob got sick during his nap. It was off and on for hours after that. He barely ate a thing and I tried to get him to sip pedia water and Gatorade. At around 7p, he started to feel better. He was walking around, dancing, and was talking up a storm. This morning he was hungry, and he actually had half a banana and drank a lot of pedia water and Gatorade. It was a stressful 24 hours, especially when he had low grade fever this morning, but I've been on it. And praying he feels better and he doesn't have a seizure.

29 Years...Young!

Ack, it's my 29th birthday today. One more year 'til the big 30! I still can't believe I'll be moving into my 30s soon. I feel like I'm not a day over 26. Where has the time gone?! I still remember celebrating my 21st birthday and now here I am, almost 30. But I'm okay with it. Let the celebrations begin!

For my birthday, Jess took me to Vegas. We had a great time. A much needed mini vacation/babymoon. I actually had the chance to sleep in and sleep like a log. Something I haven't done in a looong time. We headed out to Vegas Friday morning. We left around 10:30a and arrived at 2:30p. The ride was cool. Jess and I decided on our baby names. Yup, we have our names for a boy or a girl. Now we need to find out! Anywho, Friday afternoon we checked into our hotel, The Riviera. A friend of mine hooked us up with a sweet deal, and we only payed half price for our stay. More money to play with! Friday night we headed to our most favorite dining spot in Vegas, Gonzalez y Gonzalez. We love their food, and we go every time we're in town. It was delicious! After that, we hit up some slots, and the hay. I was exhausted by 11p. But Jess stayed out a bit to play. Saturday we woke up late. I'm telling you, I slept like a log. We eventually got ready and headed out to lunch at one of Guy Fieri's Triple D spots he had on the show. It's called Four Kegs and they're known for their Stromboli. And it was to die for. So good, unfortunately, I got something else and it was gross. Yuck. But I highly recommend the Stromboli combo with ham, turkey, and cheese. Mmm mmm. After lunch, Jess and I went on a wild goose chase to look for some Uggs I want, but of course, being the middle of winter, I didn't find them. So, I had to buy them online. Another B-day present. Saturday night we headed out to The Imrpov. The headliner was Kivi Rogers, it was a good time, but kind of bummed we couldn't get tix for "O" since they were sold out. Boo. After the show we headed out for a laaate dinner to Gallagher's steak house in NY-NY. I had the filet mignon, and their mac 'n cheese that was scrumptious. Yum! Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to get ready to head back home, but Jess had one request. He wanted the breakfast buffet from Stratosphere. He loves that they have pineapple juice. And the food was good, for buffet. I've learned to have an omelet made, and to stay away from watery eggs. After B-fast we were on our way home. And we were sooo exited to see Jacob. We missed him terribly. Even considered leaving earlier to see him, but I'm glad we "toughed" it out. It was sooo much fun! I hope to make it a yearly trip.

* I didn't feel like taking pix so here are some I stole from the web. Again, these are NOT my pictures.

Our hotel...


Gonzalez y Gonzalez...


Four Kegs...


Chasing these Uggs...


the Improv...


Gallagher's...

The 12th Week

Okay, I'm actually a little over 12 weeks, but still in my 12th week. Yesterday I had the NT screening. Jess and I were able to see our little bean. It was amazing. I can't believe that just six weeks ago this little thing was just a tiny sac and pole. Now it's a baby. Seeing our bean for the first time as a baby, it hit me that we're having another one. We saw it move and wave it's little hands, and hearing and seeing that it was okay, I was ecstatic! It put me at such ease. I definitely did not have this many ultrasounds with Jacob. I feel very lucky that I've been able to see the bean at least once a month. I hope it continues, but I doubt it. As for the pregnancy so far, I still have morning sickness, but not as bad as weeks 7 thru 8, and I've lost some weight. A good thing for my pregnancy. The nausea comes on whenever it wants, and my boobs are sore. I'm still tired, but that could be due to the fact that I'm running after a 17 month old all day. And because it's my birthday next week, and mommy needs a break, Jess and I our headed on a mini babymoon. We're going to Vegas this weekend. We haven't been in almost 4 years! Yikes. We used to go at least twice a year since I turned twenty one which was a span of five years. I'm excited to have "me" time, but I'm going to miss Jacob. But he'll be in good hands with my family. And if I feel up to it, I'll take some pics. but for now here's a pic of our little bean...

Not the best picture, but you can, kind of, see a head and part of its tummy.

My new toy...

So it's not exactly new, a Xmas gift, but Jess got me a new gadget for my camera. It's awesome! I love it! It's called a Light Scoop and it attaches to my Canon and diffuses the harsh flash that's on board the camera. It makes such a difference in pictures, and costs a lot less than an external flash unit. However, there are some cons, like you can't use it outdoors, in a room with really high ceilings, or in a room with dark walls. But you can see the difference in the pictures. Here are some examples...

With the camera's on-board flash...


With the Light Scoop...


Using natural light, no flash...


With the Light Scoop...


And some pics using the Light Scoop...

Christmas Projects

So now that Christmas has come and gone, I can now share some projects/gifts I made for everyone this year. We were on a tight budget so I got creative. I scoured through many blogs and found tons of ideas for gifts to make. I still have some in mind for next Xmas. However, this year I decided to make everyone a set of personalized coasters and a mini travel mug with the ingredients for snowman soup inside. When making the coasters, I followed this blog's directions, and everyone loved them. I did too. I got the idea for the travel mugs from this site, and did my own little variation on them.