34 weeks = 8.5 months

Are we there yet? Baby Nate is the size of a Honeydew and might weigh as much as 5 lbs already!

Some of the other bloggers I read do this thing called Mighty Monday where they talk about all of the things they just might or might not have done. Since I happen to have time today, I am going to participate in my very own Mighty Friday (doesn't have quite the same ring to it, oh well).

I might have bought an entire double cream lemon meringue pie from Marie Callender's last night and had it for dessert and breakfast today.

I might be looking a little bit silly in my dress today because the front comes up a good two inches higher than the back due to my baby bump.

I might have bought an inflatable pool last night that I plan to beach myself in since we are STILL on the waiting list for the local swim club.

I might have opened 3+ boxes of online orders from Amazon and Target for Baby Nate last night. I might love online shopping.

I might have forgot to put on my stand-in wedding band that I borrowed from my mom since my other rings are too small for my puffy fingers. I might look like I am single and knocked up...sweet.

I might have turned our nice, neat nursery into a complete disaster zone by unwrapping all the shower presents and leaving piles of baby laundry all over the place.

I might have panicked slightly (ok, maybe a little more than slightly) when I was forced to hold ice in my hand for 90 seconds in our childbirth class last weekend to test my ability to stay calm and breathe during labor. It might have really hurt my hands. Mike might be worried about my ability to handle pain.

THANKS!

My sisters, sister-in-law and bestie hosted a fabulous baby shower for Nate and I at our house this weekend. Thank you so much for all of the special touches that made my shower so cute and fun. They were working hard prepping and setting up for hours on Friday and Saturday am. Note my eight plus month pregnant belly above...there is a good chance this is the last belly pic I am posting. Baby Nate is getting BIG.

Thank you also to all of my family and friends who attended. You thoroughly spoiled baby Nate and I. This baby is going to have everything and then some!

Grandma and Grandpa Lederman and Mimi and Grandpa Davidson spoiled me and the baby by surprising us with the super cute stroller we wanted!!

Knowing that we were going to have 40 people at our house was a fantastic motivator to get the nursery done as well. Though we are not 100% there, it feels pretty darn good to have all the essentials in place.

Is your white couch ready for this?

We received an email from Mike's cousin Josh yesterday with the above title and the below picture of Josh and Leslie's almost 2 year adorable son Brennan and his handiwork. I won't post Mike's response to Josh's email because it's not blog appropriate.

Josh is obviously trying to scare us...but what he doesn't know is that we didn't buy a white couch (it's gray-ish, thankyouverymuch). So yes, I guess we are ready.

59 Days and Counting...

I am well aware that I have been neglecting my blog duties big time, but we have been busy busy busy. To my shock and excitement and a bunch of other feelings I can't quite sum up in words, I logged on to the blog today to see that we have 59 days until our due date. Whoa. I think I would be more freaked out if I really knew what life was going to be like in 59 or so days, but I really can't even imagine. Ignorance is bliss, right?!

In the past three weeks, we went on our babymoon, I co-hosted an engagement party for baby dude's godmother and my bff (Haav), I went to Ojai on my friend Wren's bachelorette party, I was a bridesmaid in Wren's wedding in LA, we received and put together our crib and we bought a new car.

As I regularly tell Mike when he is cooking dinner, doing the dishes, cleaning the house (ok, letting the housekeeper in to clean the house), etc., I have also been growing a brain and lungs and various other complicated pregnancy tasks. No wonder I haven't had time to blog!

So without further ado...long overdue babymoon pics.

Pic of our happy hour at the bar at Madera at Rosewood in Menlo Park. I highly recommend these yummy tempura green bean things. And I felt really good about myself because I was eating vegetables for the baby!


The menu with the name of my mocktail. How perfect is that?


Gorgeous pool at the resort at Rosewood. We didn't stay here, but I would like to sometime soon. Hint Hint Mike.


Here is our lovely room service breakfast at the Four Seasons. I really love eating breakfast in my PJ's, not cooking and not doing dishes. Bliss.


The gorgeous Ritz.


And kicking back by the firepit. It was a bit chilly, but luckily I brought my uggs.

I Heart Babymoons

Thank you to whoever thought up the fabulous concept of a babymooon! My husband bought right into it (ok, who am I kidding, he thinks it's a bunch of bs, but we are going anyway!)

We are leaving the cold gloomy city a bit early today and heading down to the warm sunny Peninsula where we are checking in to the Four Seasons. And I CAN NOT WAIT. We are having dinner at one of our favorite peninsula spots, the divey/yummy Dutch Goose (hey people, it's all about compromise, right?) Saturday morning is going to be spent doing my favorite things - swimming, room service-ing (like my new verb?) and spa-ing.

Then we are off to the Ritz. Doesn't that cute little lion head just give you warm fuzzies?

We are spending Saturday night at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay and dining at their restaurant Navio. Hopefully we will also get the chance to enjoy the fire pits and have some s'mores (another one of my favorite things - can you figure out who planned this trip?)

You too can have a babymoon, all you have to do is get morning sickness, gain lots of weight, give up alcohol and oh, have a baby.

Drumroll please....

Baby Led aka Baby Dude will officially be known as...

NATHAN COOPER LEDERMAN

(Nate for short!)

We hope you like the name... and if you don't, please lie to us!!

Third Trimester.....

And I just keep growing.

And yes, this picture is taken in the bathroom at work. And yes, I do wear gray and black pretty much every day.

Little Baby Dude Has...

A Godfather (aka Uncle Brian)

A Godmother (aka Auntie Haav)

And this really cute Juicy outfit that says "Lord Dude" from Mimi (aka Grandma Teri, though she has decided that she doesn't want to be called Grandma!)

He also has a name...TBA soon!

I Hate Painting

In the words of my good friend, Chip, I hate painting. Less than 48 hours after this picture of Chip & Jenn's son, Connor, was taken at the Harmatz House in Sacramento, I spent the day painting the nursery. It was not fun, but now it's done, and if I do say so myself, I did a damn good job! The problem, though, is that now Danielle knows that I can paint, so of course she came up with 2 or 3 more projects. I had already painted Baby Dude's changing table, so I think I'm retired from painting for a little while.

Today we are going to shop for things for the nursery... a nice little Sunday (anyone besides Brian get the "Old School" reference?).

27 weeks AKA Almost Seven Months...

And I know why pregnant women aren't supposed to wear horizontal stripes!

I have been a bad blogger...I know. Here are a couple of pictures from Alysen & Rick's wedding in Newport.

Alysen looking gorgeous on her wedding day

Jennie, Domi, Christina and I at cocktail hour.

We are so getting this...

Love it!

We are off to Newport Beach this weekend for the wedding of two fellow Cal Poly alums.

Have a good weekend!

I Passed!

Good news, I passed my glucose test and don't have gestational diabetes! This is very exciting because I can't imagine cutting out anything and everything that's yummy (klondike bars, sour strings, marshmallows, cookies, chocolate...)

We heard the baby's heartbeat yesterday at our doctor's appointment and it was very loud. I just read on thebump.com that Mike might even be able to hear the heartbeat by putting his ear to my belly. How cool is that??

The baby is growing (as is my stomach!) and is now as big as an eggplant.

We are going to a rock concert in the park tonight. It has been hot and gorgeous out in the burbs all week. Fingers crossed that this summer weather is here to stay (especially since I don't really own any pants that fit.)

Baby Brennan

I spent last weekend in Portland celebrating my good friend Katy's BIG 30. We had a blast exploring the city, eating, checking out breweries (no, I didn't partake!) and shopping. Since I couldn't participate in one of Portland's favorite pastimes (beer drinking), I took advantage of the second best thing (tax free shopping)! I bought my diaper bag/birthday present. And yes, I know my birthday is not until September, but I just wanted to make things as easy as possible for Mike.

One of the higlights of the trip was hanging out with Katy's three month old son, Brennan. He was one of the best babies I have ever been around. He posed for pictures, barely cried and was just all around a super sweet boy. On top of which, did I mention how totally adorable he is? My fingers are triple crossed that our little baby is as much of an angel as Baby Dude's future BFF, Baby Brennan.

Six Months

In honor of hitting the six month mark, I have decided to post a couple of belly pics.

AND

As my stomach grows I have become more and more obsessed with the scale. I have never really been that weight obsessed, but there is something fascinating (ok, who am I kidding - petrifying!) about seeing the numbers tick upward every time I weigh myself. I am getting dangerously close to a number that I have never seen before - even after my college Euro-binge. I guess that's what happens when you eat a whole bag of Mother's Animal cookies. But really, how good are they? And I thought I was never going to be able to have them again with the whole going out of business fiasco.

I should probably apologize in advance to my friend Wren who has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding come August. I promise, I will stop eating cookies. Ok, no I don't....

He's getting bigger...

Danielle's been feeling the baby kick for quite some time, but Monday night was a first for me. I put my hand on her growing belly and felt quite a few big movements! It was pretty amazing. I cannot believe that we are less than 4 months away from meeting this little guy. We're getting closer to being ready for him, and Danielle has a new idea for the nursery every day. I told her that she can decorate the room any way she wants as I really don't want to be too involved in this. If she was ever deciding between two options to get for the nursery, and wanted my opinion, she doesn't need to ask. My preference will always be the cheaper one!

Baby Dude Goes to Mendocino

We spent Memorial Day weekend at a cute little house on the Mendocino coast that we rented with Allegra, Lisa, Dom, Jon, Haav and Kevin (the newly engaged couple!). There were great views of the ocean and sunsets from every room and we could hear seals barking day and night.

Most of the trip was spent reading gossip magazines and playing bocce, dominoes and of course, Catchphrase. We brought some gourmet caterers (aka Haav and Allegra) that made sure we were well fed at all times. It was also the first trip to Mendocino for Ben, Baby Dude’s future buddy, and Dom &Jon’s darling son. He was very well behaved and was usually already taking his morning nap by the time we woke up in the morning (uh, oh).

We mainly stuck around the house, but did venture out to the Little River Inn for a fabulous breakfast. The waitress brought out complimentary champagne for everyone as well, the irony, sob sob. Here is a picture of Mike and I in front of the cute little Inn:

Next Memorial Day we are going to have a 7 month old son. How crazy is that?

We are Halfway there!

As of today, I am five months pregnant and halfway there (yes, pregnancy is 10 months….we don’t get it either). So far, Baby Dude has all kinds of goodies. Cute board books, stuffed animals and of course, clothes! Mike and Grandma Robin went to Build-A-Bear at AT&T park and built a Lou Seal stuffed animal (this was before we knew we were having a boy, btw!). Mike was very proud of himself until he took me to the store and I pointed out that our friend Lou was for ages 3 and up. I guess that means Lou Seal is sticking around for a few years.

I also succumbed to a recent Neiman Marcus sale and stocked up on some pretty adorable clothes. I got baby this super cute Ralph Lauren newborn gown (below). When I sent Mike the order confirmation his reply was: “You bought our son a gown? Take it back now!” I have since confirmed that gowns are for boys as well and it is now hanging in baby’s closet. I have a feeling Mike is never going to dress Baby Dude in the gown on his own…oh well.

I have also experienced a pregnancy milestone that I was pretty sure would come at some point: inappropriate pregnancy comment #1. Upon finding out that I was pregnant yesterday, a girl at my work (who I don’t know very well, but who seems very nice), proceeded to tell me how funny that was. She told me that she was walking by my desk the day before and noticed that I had a little stomach and since she always thought of me as such a twig (her words, not mine), she felt a lot better about herself after seeing my belly. Then she said, “And now I find out that it’s because you have a baby in there, shoot!” OMG.

Our Future Soccer Player…

I have been feeling the baby kick for a few days now and it is just so darn cool. I know Mike’s super jealous, but I don’t feel too bad for him since he wasn’t the one that felt totally sick and nauseous for three plus months. I don’t really know how to describe how it feels, but since I know it’s a kick, that’s kind of what it feels like to me. A very, very, very soft kick.

Mike and I played some Dave Matthews for Baby Led (or Baby Dude as we have taken to calling him) last night and I kept expecting him to kick, but nope. Maybe he’s just not a DMB fan?

Mother’s Day is Fun!

Yesterday was my first mother’s day and boy was I spoiled. I woke up to fresh cut roses from our garden followed by a tastykake (it’s like the East Coast version of a hostess treat) in bed.

We then headed up to Santa Rosa where we hosted brunch for Robin. Adina and I put together a citrus/orange and yellow theme, which turned out very cute...

After Brunch, Mike and I went antiquing in Petaluma. This is pretty much Mike’s least favorite activity and I wish I could say that he was patient, but not so much. After hearing about how much he “hates old junk and only likes pottery barn” for about an hour, we headed back to the car empty handed.

After a little pit stop at Mike’s favorite store in the whole wide world (The Container Store – and for those that know Mike, this is so fitting), we headed over to Sausalito. My Mother’s Day treat was dinner at the restaurant at Cavallo Point! I had been wanting to go here forever and it did not disappoint. The weather was gorgeous, the views phenomenal, and the food absolutely scrumptious.

To top off my lovely day, I even got presents! Robin and Richard got me a cute blue wallet for my little purses and Mike got me a little pregnant teddy bear named Ima Late AND a fancy Digital Elph camera. Perfect to capture pictures of our little boy. So far, I like this whole being a mother thing.

It's a...............BOY!!!

It's official...Baby Led is a boy. I already bought him an outfit to wear for St. Patty's Day 2010, so I forced Mike to pose with it. We will post pictures from the ultrasound tomorrow. The technician said our baby was very photogenic, evidenced by the 20+ pictures she sent us home with! Will post more later, time to shop.

Baby Led Goes to Vegas

Baby Led and I spent the weekend in Las Vegas for Alysen’s bachelorette party. We arrived really late on Friday night (love those SFO delays) with Melissa, Jennie and Christina and proceeded to spend our first half hour in Vegas in the taxi line. We stayed at Green Valley Ranch which is about 30 minutes off the strip, which was perfect for me since it was a little less rowdy, smoky, slutty and all those other things you find in Vegas. Saturday night was our big night out and we had a really nice dinner at Nove in the Palms followed by The Playboy Club (I heard Hef was there, but I didn’t see him) and Moon Nightclub. They were playing some great music (they had Mash-ups, Ped) and I even did a little sober dancing..gulp. As much fun as I had celebrating the end of Alysen’s single days…I am going to try to never visit Vegas again sober. It’s hard to visit sin city and be so sin-free.

The Heartbeat

Mike and I had another doctor’s appointment yesterday. This was a quick one with no ultrasound, but we did get to hear the heartbeat. It was pretty cool to listen to it beating away and knowing it was inside my stomach! The nurse said that so far my pregnancy has been perfect. This kind of made me giggle…since I have pretty much felt crappy this whole time.

Today I broke the news to my bosses at work. They were super excited and very supportive. They also claim that they knew all along. One of them even went so far as to tell me that I could take time off for shopping. I thought this was pretty funny. Don’t tempt me mister….

Totally changing topics, but two of my Facebook friends that happen to be pregnant wrote on their status updates today that they have cankles. For those of you that don’t know, cankles is a combination of calves and ankles and it’s not pretty. I guess it happens to pregnant women??? Pleeeeease don’t let this happen to me. Pretty please.

The Giant Pillow

We are 15 weeks as of today! It feels like a looooong time since I have had a glass of wine.

I am supposed to stop lying flat on my back starting next week…so I have been practicing sleeping on my left side (I guess this is best for the baby). The result? I wake up in the middle of the night flat on my back. I tried putting pillows around me so I wouldn’t roll around, but just end up knocking the pillows onto the floor in the middle of the night…which of course wakes me up. It was time to take drastic measures.













Yesterday, the most expensive pillow I have ever bought arrived from Diapers.com. I ordered a Leachco Back ‘N Belly Contoured Body Pillow. All I can say is, poor Mike. This sucker takes up at least half of our gigantic Eastern King bed. It feels like I am sleeping in my own world, it’s pretty hysterical. The good news is, I was stuck between the giant arms and didn’t roll onto my back. Mission accomplished. Only 6 more months Mike…and then maybe I’ll let you borrow it.

Six Months Away...

It's hard to believe that my 30th birthday has come and gone, and the baby is due six months from today! I've had quite a week so far, between the birthday party on Saturday, Opening Day on Tuesday, and my birthday and a Giants game with Danielle on Wednesday. This was the baby's first of many Giants games, but may be one of Danielle's last night games of the year! She is a trooper, but since she's not a baseball fan her favorite parts of the going to games are always hot dogs and beer, and she can't have either of them while she's pregnant! Maybe she'll actually pay attention to the game now? Regardless, I had a good time explaining the game to her a bit more and teaching her how to keep score (what does E2 or FC mean?). I told her that she'd need to know how to keep score so she could do it at the baby's little league games, but I think she'd rather work the snack bar!

I continue to look at the ultrasound picture from last week, and really can't believe how much the baby has changed from the prior picture. The whole thing is now very real, and I couldn't be more excited. We're going to start the remodel work at the house next month to get the baby's room ready, which means I am getting kicked out of my closet and losing my desk. I have come to figure out that these are the first of many sacrifices I'll be making from here on out! I tell Danielle all the time, though, that I appreciate the sacrifices she is making by being pregnant! After the week I've had, I think I may join her in the "no drinking club" for the next few weeks. I can't wait for her to start showing a bit, though, since I've started talking to her belly at night but sometimes it doesn't really seem like there's anyone inside yet!

Mike Celebrates the Big 3-0

This weekend Baby Led went to Mike’s (aka daddy) 30^th birthday party at 1515 in Walnut Creek. All of the Davidson’s and Lederman’s were in town to celebrate. Good thing Baby Led is still in the womb because daddy wasn’t setting a very good example for baby to be. He had a little bit too much fun on his birthday. I guess you only turn 30 once… I, on the other hand, was very well behaved and stuck to Shirley Temples and water shots. Oh, the joy of pregnancy.

Mike got some really great presents including a newborn size “Giants first t-shirt” and a San Francisco Giants 101 Board Book. Baby Led is going to be a Giants fan whether I like it or not….

Thanks to all of our friends and family for coming out to celebrate. As referenced above, Mike had a REALLY great time.

Lots of Information

I thought this might make ya'll laugh, though unfortunately it's not a joke. These are the pregnancy books that we are currently reading: What to Expect When You Are Expecting, Pregnancy Week by Week, Pregatini's (thx Dom & Jon!), The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy, The Best Baby Names Book (thx Haav and Kevin!), The Girlfriend's Guide to Baby Gear, Diary of a Mad Mom to Be (thx Christina!), The Little Black Book of Hollywood Pregnancy Secrets (thx Robin!), It Could Happen to You (this one's really good), The Baby Name Wizard, The Expectant Father (thx Robin!), and of course, Pregnancy Sucks for Men (thx Katy & CJ!)

I guess once we finish all these it's time to start on the newborn books, since neither of us really have the first clue what to do once we actually have a baby!

Growing Tummy...

After taking a good look at the baby yesterday, this is all feeling very real. We took my first belly pictures last night, which I will definitely not be posting. I thought my tummy was flatter than it looked on film, oh well. We are at the beginning of week 13 today and I think my tummy is starting to grow a bit. I am finally starting to eat real meals again, so I guess I will gain back all the weight I lost in the first 3 months. I guess since I am eating again, it’s time to start exercising!

Last night, Mike and I were talking about how well traveled Baby Led is already. So far baby has been to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa Davidson, LA for the Oscars, Scottsdale for the Giants Spring Training (Mike’s 30th bday celebration), and Palm Springs.

12 weeks 6 days

Early this morning we headed to UCSF for our first trimester screening. This is basically an ultrasound where they measure the fluid in the baby’s (or fetus, as the doctors say) neck to determine the probability that the baby has any chromosomal abnormalities. Our results were good, which we are very happy about!

This was also the longest ultrasound that we had so far. The baby was moving its arms and legs around, which was very cool. We also saw the heartbeat and lots of my insides (gross). The ultrasound technician kept pointing out my full bladder (you have to drink 24 oz of water an hour before the ultrasound and hold it!), which made us laugh since I had been complaining to Mike for the last hour about how full my bladder was. We were also told that the baby’s bump looked “very prominent” and the technician thought it was a boy. I am not 100% convinced because I have heard about a lot of mistakes this early on, so we will just have to wait and see.

Second Ultrasound

Our second ultrasound was on March 17, and we could make out a head, arms, feet, and saw the heart beat! The nurse said "we had a wild one" as the baby didn't stop moving around, but then fell asleep very quickly. We also found out the official due date is October 9. Baby Led might share a birthday with Aunt Caitlin who is turning 21 on October 11!