The first belly shot

Markus took this picture of me on December 17 - there's a little baby belly starting to pop out!



And in the spirit of belly pictures - don't eat too many sweets this weekend or your belly might pop out, too. :-)

Happy holidays!

My favorite things

I love that Mary Poppins song! Since people tend to ask pretty frequently, I figured I'd report on what pregnant Christie likes to eat these days - and what she doesn't. It's a pretty strange list, but not like peanut butter and pickles strange. Strange like I never thought I'd lack a craving for chocolate or wine...Oh well, guess that's better for the baby. :-)

Favorite things, in order of favorite-ness.
1. Tomato juice. Can't get enough of this stuff! I took a break this past week, and I'm dying to go pick up a jug this week. Yum!!!
2. Raw carrots. And not the baby kind. I'm talking full-length, gotta peel 'em carrots full of beta carotene goodness. I've always liked raw carrots even as a child, so this is not a big surprise.
3. Raw veggies of any kind, minus the carrots. The carrots are my favorite. The others I'm enjoying now include cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers, celery, and peppers.
4. Vitamin Water - this is my most recent discovery. I really like it! It's not too sweet, and it's better than drinking high calorie juice from concentrate. I asked my parents to pick up a couple cases for me at Sam's.
5. Plain yogurt with Trader Joe's Peach sauce. Yum! I picked mango sauce yesterday while I was at TJ's. These add a little sweetness to the plain yogurt and hey, I'm getting protein - and calcium! Woo hoo!
6. Smart Ones Tuna Noodle Casserole. This one surprised me. I have issues with protein and meat most days, but for some reason tuna has been my friend all along. It's weird because tuna has what most consider to be a pretty strong and somewhat offensive odor. Oh well, guess this baby likes its tuna. I don't eat too much canned tuna, though, because I know it has mercury. Anyway, I especially like these frozen meals and considering there aren't many protein sources I'm able to eat right now, I pick these up at the store.
7. Get ready - milk!!! I drink glasses of milk now. Considering I was lactose intolerant as a kid and tend to watch my dairy intake, this one was a surprise. I crave glasses of milk occasionally. Weird.

Guilty pleasures. I don't buy these often, and almost NEVER bought them during regular, non-pregnant shopping trips. I'm giving myself a little leeway now, though.

1. Herr's ridged potato chips with Heluva Good french onion dip. I love, love, love this, which is why I eat so much of this at one sitting that I end up feeling sick. That's why I don't indulge in this guilty pleasure very often. It tastes so good I can't stop. I feel a little sick often enough - I don't need any help!
2. Kraft Mac and Cheese. Comfort food, what can I say?
3. Lipton Chicken Noodles and Sauce. Another comfort food. I'm returning to foods I ate growing up. :-)

The few things I have trouble eating are most meats. I feel bad, because I know protein is important so I'm trying to make sure I eat dairy food and some nuts. Overall, though, I can't complain because I haven't physically gotten sick once. I'll deal with the occasional bouts of nausea no sweat, especially if it means I spare myself from getting physically sick!

I have to do some work now, and then finish up some Xmas shopping, and perhaps even bake. We'll see how energetic I'm feeling as the afternoon wears on. Happy weekend!

It's official!

I think most of you know, but Markus and I are having a baby! I'm due on June 5, 2007, so we're starting to look into the types of things we'll need in order to prepare for a little one in the house. We're both excited about the news and looking forward to meeting our new son or daughter. We're not going to find out the gender of the baby; we have another ultrasound scheduled for January 2 but we just want to make sure baby is healthy. So far, everything looks great. At the first ultrasound, the heartbeat was 156 beats per minute and at my second check-up yesterday, it was 150 beats per minute. The ticker is working just fine! We'll keep you posted on baby progress as we have news to report. For now, my pants are starting to get snug, but I can still go incognito. :-) I don't expect that will last much longer, though. We're going to take photos throughout the pregnancy to track how my body changes, and though I won't release my weight, I might consider occasionally reporting how many pounds I've gained (unless it's an obscene amount!).

In other big news, Markus and I decided to take one final pre-baby trip. I think since more and more people are doing this lately, a new term has been coined: babymoon. So yes, we're taking a babymoon in February over Markus' birthday. We booked a 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise that departs from San Juan. I've always wanted to vacation in that area and take a cruise, so we decided this would be a good time. A 6 hour flight to Europe or the west coast wasn't sounding good to me, especially with the dollar conversion rates in Europe. Who wouldn't want to go somewhere warm in the winter? We'll visit some of the less traveled islands or ones that aren't on a lot of cruise routes that leave from Florida, like Tortola, St. Lucia, Grenada, Curacao, St. Maarten, Aruba and a couple others. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and with some luck, we'll be sporting suntans when we return.

We hosted Markus' father for his first visit to the US since he moved to Ireland. It was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with the other siblings, who we don't get to see as often as we like, and with Markus' Aunt Bea and Uncle Jerry. There were lots of family dinners and excursions and good times in general. We're hoping to see Markus' dad again soon, and were so glad that he enjoyed his visit.

Of course, we've also been getting ready for the holidays. Cards were mailed, the tree's been up since Black Friday (since we didn't get to decorate last year because of moving, I'm making up for lost time this year), and all the gifts we have are wrapped. We're not quite finished shopping, but almost. I haven't been into sweets too much lately, so I haven't decided how much Christmas baking I'm going to do. I had intended to try some new recipes, but I might hold off or just make one or two of our favorites. Besides, who needs the extra junk food at this time of year?

Oh, the last thing - today is the one year anniversary of buying our house. Our settlement was on this date last year. It's hard to believe that we've been here a year already. We're glad to be living here, despite the occasional challenges we've faced. Here's to a less challenging year two in our home!