Time Goes By...

I cannot believe that it's 2010 already. Every year seems to fly by faster and faster. I'm sure it gets worse the older you get. I am so so ready for this year though. There are SO many wonderful things to look forward to!

So to start off... things are going great with the baby and my pregnancy in general has been smooth sailing. Thankfully I didn't gain a crazy amount of weight during the holidays (like I thought I would!). My weakness these past few months have been buckeyes. Oh those sweet delicious rounds of peanut butter dipped in chocolate... I just couldn't resist them... and I didn't. Thankfully they are completely gone from our house so they won't be tempting me anymore. Otherwise the baby's heartbeat has been pretty steady at 145. I'm starting to see my doctor every two weeks now which means I'm in my final trimester! (or will be at the end of this week) How exciting! I've been feeling a ton of movement from the babe in the last couple of months. He or she is very fond of my ribs. I haven't noticed a pattern as far as when I feel the most activity... whether it's day or night, but I do cherish every movement. I love it! I feel as though if the baby is moving then it must be doing ok in there. It still absolutely amazes me how far we've come and that this is actually happening to us! We've slowly been preparing the nursery... it seems like it's taking forever. People ask all the time if the room is ready or what kind of things we've bought so far and so far, nothing. In which I get a super surprised face saying -Really?! You better get going! Nope, we don't have the furniture yet, nope, I haven't bought a single thing for the baby... wow this baby is coming in roughly 3 months, maybe I should get busy?! We've finally registered though, does that count?? I guess I haven't quite hit the 'nesting' period yet because otherwise I'd probably be going crazy stressing about it. Anyway, without further ado here is the most recent belly shot at 27 weeks. It's getting huge!!

We have also decided to get a 3D ultrasound which I am SOOOO excited about! Our last time seeing the baby before it's born... it's going to be amazing. :) I'll be sure to post pictures!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! Here's to a wonderful, exciting, and happy 2010!

Babymoon! :)

Can I first just say if you've never taken a cruise in your life you are missing out. I LOVE to go on cruises, you get to see soooo much without having to worry about how you're going to get there and what you're going to do. It's definitely an awesome way to travel. So this last cruise that Matt and I went on was no exception. We had such a wonderful time together and it was so incredibly relaxing and fun! We met some great people, saw some beautiful beaches, ate delicious food, did a little shopping, enjoyed some wonderful entertainment on the boat, got a little sun on our pale white skin, and just had the best time. :) And then to top it all off how lucky are we that we were departing from Tampa Florida and my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin live in Cape Coral, which is about 2 hours away. So we flew into Tampa a day early and got to spend the night with them then they dropped us off at the ship the next day. It was SO great to see them. Thanks Cindy, Rick and Nate!! :)

Our first stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We visited this beautiful fort called Castillo San Felipe Del Morro and took a ton of pictures... it was really beautiful!

The boat! Grandeur of the Seas - Royal Caribbean

Next up was St. Maarten where we took a little tour of the island (did you know that one half of it is Dutch and the other have is French??), did some shopping, then went to the beach. This is also where we discovered these AWESOME coconut smoothies (which we are holding)... OMG they were delicious!!

Next up, St. Kitts-Basseterre! We took a fun scenic train ride through the countryside and got to see almost the entire island. (it's a VERY tiny island... only about 80,000 people live there)

did I mention it was an open train ride?? So awesome! (loving the windblown hair!)

black sand beach...

It actually started to rain really hard while on the train ride but only last about 5 minutes (still managing to get us pretty wet though) Everyone on the second level of the train fled to the bottom where it was enclosed but we decided to tough it out. So I think that's why we're laughing here?? :)

Our third stop was in St. John, Antigua where we went sailing on a catamaran, enjoyed some snorkeling, and soaked up the sun at 2 of their 365 beaches.

...and finally our last stop was in Tortola, British Virgin Islands where we took a crazy 90 degree drive to get to a beach on the other side of the island! (no kidding! It was a little scary!)

When you go on a cruise you have a set table that you eat at every night so obviously on a 10 day cruise you get to know the people pretty well. We had a really great group of people sitting at our table. It's so fun to meet new people on cruises.... hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch with some of them throughout the upcoming years. Here's a group picture with our wonderful waiter Lee in the middle. :)

Thank you to my wonderful husband for planning this vacation for us. I love you babe!!!

Goodbye Thanksgiving!

Oh my Gosh I'm so glad Thanksgiving is over so I can STOP eating so much food!! I think I outdid myself this year. We had a total of 4 Thanksgiving's to attend to this year. That's just crazy in itself I think. And oh yes, I proceeded to have two helpings of food at each location... well scratch that I only had dessert at Matt's Aunt's house, BUT STILL! And the whole 'eating for two' deal... no that does not count. I don't think people realize I'm going to have to step on a scale the next time I go to my doctor's and she's going to say... looks like someone enjoyed the holiday's a little TOO much! It's really no fun that my pants don't fit in the first place but now, it's just really a loss cause to even try and zip them up. It was quite amusing though to have my Dad try and push his belly out to try and match mine. And look at that, I don't even have to try. :) It was also VERY amusing when I made myself a turkey sandwich last night for dinner and Matt was just astounded that I had any room left because we had just had a huge Thanksgiving lunch with family at around 2:30. Oh yes, I aim to impress. :) So yeah, I am very glad to have said hello and goodbye to Thanksgiving this year.

Now I MUST be good and workout every day this week before we leave for vacation on Sunday!!! Have I mentioned that yet? Matt and I are going on a 10 day cruise to the Caribbean! This is our 'Babymoon'... soaking up the sun, relaxing and of course, eating lots I'm sure. I can't wait but I'm also a little teensy bit nervous. I'm not technically supposed to be on the boat after I enter the 24th week of pregnancy. Well I'll be 24 weeks right smack in the middle of the cruise. I'm hoping no one will ask how far along I am.... maybe they just won't even notice I'm pregnant and just think I ate too much food on Thanksgiving?? I also fear I won't be able to do much... like the activities and excursions they offer. Seriously my lung capacity has gone downhill, and fast. I can no longer breathe through my nose (except on a few rare occasions) so that makes breathing all that much harder. I've now started a new ritual before I go to bed to help me sleep (and hopefully breathe) better. I try not to watch T.V. an hour before I go to bed and focus on reading a book (thank you Lise for that idea :) ). Hopefully this will help relax my mind so I won't lie awake at night thinking about who knows what. I've also borrowed a humidifier from my friend Beth (thank you Beth!) that I've placed on the night table next to me to also help me breathe. It also holds a Vicks vapor release thingy so that there's a cool menthol scent in the air. Aww, so relaxing. Then there's the cup of tea that I also try to drink on a nightly basis.... also relaxing and soothing. Ok have I turned into a complete basket case yet?! Oh and I can't forget the extra pillow I have to put between my legs otherwise I wake up with excruciating back pain. So I wonder how I'm going to be able to keep up that ritual while we're on our cruise.... hmmmm.

Pop!

Wow time has flown, I've thought about posting about so many things these past few weeks but never got around to it. Unfortunately I only feel like doing the minimum!

This week I had the big 20 week ultrasound. What an awesome, amazing, surreal, experience. I never wanted it to end. At the first ultrasound way back around 7 weeks when I first heard the baby's heartbeat I immediately signed up on a few websites to get weekly update emails that tell you the baby's growth, development, all that fun stuff. The day I hit 20 week I got the standard email telling me the baby is around the length of a medium size banana and will weigh about 10 1/2oz. So imagine my surprise when the sonographer tells me the baby weighs 13oz!! Holy crap! This is going to be a big baby! I was also surprised to learn the heartbeat had changed drastically from my last doctor's appointment. It was at 147... interesting. All is well though and the baby looks good! Here's a good look at the little guy or girl. :)

I know it's hard to see but you get the idea! The second picture are of his/her tiny feet!

and here's the belly shot.

Have I mentioned that I CAN'T WAIT for April!?!

Welcome baby Max!

We have a new baby in the Rings family!!! Meet Max Benjamin, isn't he the cutest little thing?!

One proud papa!

He found his thumb already! :)

He weighed a whopping 6lbs 15oz! Tanya had just about given up that this baby was ever coming out. Her due date was 10/16 and had to go in to be induced on 10/22 (late at night). Luckily there were no complications and little Max was born at 6:07am on Friday 10/23. I'm bummed we haven't gotten to meet the little guy yet but look forward to a weekend with the family in just over a week. You better believe I'm taking a TON of pictures. :)

I had a doctor's appointment this past Monday for our own little baby Rings. Everything is going great so far. I've been feeling pretty good lately, eating like a horse, still having trouble sleeping and catching my breathe at times but otherwise great! :) Baby's heartbeat is 160. Last time it was at 150... seems to be climbing! I will have my 20 week ultrasound on November 16th. We are so excited to be able to see the baby!! Finally! Normally at that point we would find out if the baby's a boy or girl but sorry to disappoint because we aren't finding out! It's a surprise for everyone! :) Although I have a strong feeling, at this point, that it's going to be a girl. Could be the heartbeat that's leading me to believe that... could be that I feel karma is going to come back and bite me in the butt for being such a rotten hormonal teenager to my parents! Never-the-less we will be happy either way, boy OR girl!

So without further ado, here I am at 17 weeks...

No fat jokes, please! haha, just kiddn':)