18 Weeks

Sorry for the lack of posting this week! It is due to the fact that Chris and I have been on spring break. Oh, how I love spring break!!!! I think everyone should get spring break, no matter what their age. Wouldn't that be great?!?!?

Now for the updates on the baby this week......our baby boy is 5 1/2 inches long, about the length of a bell pepper, and he weighs approximately 7 ounces. He's currently busy flexing his arms and legs and his blood vessels can be seen through his still very thin skin. His ears are also in their final position although they're still standing out from his head a bit.

I personally think he has done some major growing this week as I have as well. Check out the pics below for proof.

See, don't I look bigger?

See, still skinny!

It's a Circus!

Last week, my best bud Elizabeth and I attended the Britney Spears/Pussycat Dolls concert at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Pussycat Dolls opened the show and I was shocked at how much I enjoyed hearing them sing and watching them dance. They definitely got people out of their seats and dancing around.

The Pussycat Dolls...we had really good seats!

"Hate this Part", my favorite Pussycat Dolls song.

After the Pussycat Dolls, we waited while Britney's stage was setup up and then the circus performers arrived. They a variety of performers perform before Britney came out. I have to admit that I got somewhat tired of watching these people whom I did not pay to see, but all in all it came together with the overall show.

Britney arrived looking like her old self, toned and smiling the entire time. Her smile seemed genuine and it made me happy to think where had life has been and where it is now. I sincerely hope that she is happy. She really put on a show, that's for sure, however, she didn't sing a single word. I knew this before going to the concert, but I guess I never thought about how it would effect the experience. It really wasn't the same as if she would have done all the singing while dancing as well. Oh well, I am not going to complain. I think we all know that I paid the ticket price just to see her and see her perform. And that she did! She worked hard the entire hour and a half that she was onstage. Check out my pics and videos below.

A video feauturing Perez Hilton opened the show.

Britney in her Master of the Circus costume. She entered the venue from the ceiling.

Circus....the appropriate choice for starting the concert.

I think Britney was in the cage for Piece of Me.

Notice the magician on the left....he's Max from Saved by the Bell.

A Bollywood style "Me Against the Music".

Britney singing "Everytime" from a suspended umbrella.

"Do Something" This includes one of three times that she actually spoke to the crowd.

The baby at his first concert. I will try not to give him a hard time about it one day, lol!

The final song of the evening, "Womanizer".

After the confetti started falling. Yay Britney!

Belly Pics - 17 Weeks

I know, I know, I am behind! I am now 18 weeks pregnant and I am just now posting the 17 weeks pics, sorry!

And the growth continues....

Just a pic of his handsome daddy!

It's a BOY!

Profile Pic #1

Profile Pic #2

Front view of Baby J

Tomorrow is the BIG Day

By 9 am tomorrow morning Chris and I will know if we are having a baby girl or baby boy. Oh, the excitement!! Is it going to be a little girl or a little boy that we get to meet in just 5 months? We can’t wait to find out. I am so excited to be able to start planning for our little one.

The masses (28) have spoken, and it is a close race between a girl with 15 votes and a boy with 13 votes. I think this is the perfect way for the poll to end up. None of us really know the gender of the baby and this close race means that there is basically a 50/50 chance of having a boy or a girl.

Along with our excitement comes extreme nervousness on my part, which probably goes hand in hand with the fact that I do not like surprises. I have never been a big fan of surprises and this is a big one. I am extremely excited about the moments following finding out, but I know that I will be sick to my stomach tomorrow morning. I know that when I lay down on that table tomorrow my stomach is going to be in knots. I have even mentioned to Chris that I might hold my hands over my ears so that I don’t have to hear “Do you want to know the sex? It’s a…..”. Ugh, makes me nauseous thinking about it. I think it is just the anxiety of the moments leading up to finding out that will bother me the most.

Along with being nervous about finding out the sex, I am also nervous about the baby in general. I guess this is just me being a worry wart, but I tend to get extremely nervous the week leading up to an appointment. I have no reason to believe that our baby isn’t developing normally, but the unknown bothers me when I know we are going in to see our baby. I am sure that as soon as we see our little baby’s heartbeat tomorrow all of this fear will go away. I just want to know that everything looks good! I honestly think that this will probably take away from finding out the gender, because as long as the baby is healthy it doesn’t matter if it is a he or a she.

Now, onto our growing baby, which we will see tomorrow. At 17 weeks, our baby’s skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone. He or she currently weighs 5 ounces and is about 5 inches long from head to bottom, which is about the size of a turnip. It can now move its joints and its sweat glands are starting to develop.

Ah, only about 22-23 hours before we know if the baby is a he or a she. Regardless of the gender of the baby, I am sure that he or she is going to be unconditionally loved and spoiled rotten!

Belly Pics - 16 Weeks

This is a little late due to our NYC trip and the fact that I am now 17 weeks pregnant!

I woke up on Friday, March 13th, with a lot more belly bump than I remembered from the day before, lol! We took the below pictures on Friday in our hotel room in NYC. Can you believe this? I think there is a noticeable difference between this pic and last week’s pic. What do you think?

I guess the baby is really doubling in size now!

Chris and his skinny self!

The Cowarts Come to Visit

Boy, am I exhausted?!?! This past weekend was a fun-filled one with our friends Adam and Elizabeth Cowart. They flew into Boston on Thursday evening and once I got off work we made our way to NYC. We got in a little late so we all went straight to bed in preparation for our busy day in NYC.

Friday, we grabbed breakfast and then headed over to get on one of the Grayline tour buses. Yes, my friends, we were actual tourists this weekend. None of us had ever taken an actual tour, so we thought it couldn’t hurt. And it helped us avoid the subway for the two days we were there. Our first stop came at the World Trade Center Site. It is always a site to see and I am moved by it each and every time I see it. They are making a lot of progress on the site and I am sure it will be a busy location again before we know it. While there, we stopped into the September 11th Memorial & Museum. It was a very moving memorial and museum to those who perished on September 11th, 2001, almost 8 years ago. It is an extremely emotional place, but it is worth going.

After our stop at the World Trade Center site, we walked down to Battery Park to take a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty. I have seen the Statue of Liberty several times but only from Battery Park, so it was nice to actually get up close and personal with Lady Liberty, finally. It is a pretty incredible statue. I hope that we go again sometime in the future and actually get to go inside the monument. That evening, we went to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center to watch the sunset and to catch the city during the day as well as it night. NYC is such a beautiful place, especially at night.

Just a good pic of Chris that I wanted to post!

Lady Liberty

Elizabeth and I mimicking Lady Liberty's pose.

Adam and Elizabeth

Chris and I

Up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island - We didn't get off the boat here but it looks cool nonetheless.

NYC from the boat

Elizabeth and Adam at the Top of the Rock

Chris and I at the Top of the Rock

Looking downtown before sunset.

Looking uptown before sunset.

Chris and I snapped a few pics of ourselves while waiting on the sun to set.

Chris' serious pose

Up close and personal with me, lol!

It's going, going....

and it's nearly gone.

Looking downtown at night. So pretty!

Another downtown shot

After dinner we had our very first celebrity citing in NYC. As we were making our way back to our hotel after dinner we were walking by Will Ferrell’s Broadway show and noticed lots of people standing outside. We figured that Will must be expected to come out soon, so we waited. We definitely waited longer than we would’ve like, but it paid off. We first saw Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenbergen who walked straight out and through the crowd and walked down the sidewalk towards Times Square. Chris didn’t get too great of a picture of them because he didn’t realize who it was until it was too late. Oh well, at least we saw them and they literally walked right by Elizabeth and I. After a few more of the show performers came out, Will Ferrell finally appeared. He signed lots of autographs and took pictures with many people. He seemed like a very genuine guy and also seemed a little bit like the characters he plays in movies, lol! Check out his face in the picture below. Doesn’t that look like a face Frank the Tank (Old School) or Chazz Reinhold (Wedding Crashers) would have? HAHA!

Elizabeth and Adam in Times Square

Chris and I in Times Square

I don't think we would like the show, but at least we got the benefit of seeing a celebrity in person.

Ted Danson and Mary Steenbergen, can you pick them out?

Yes, I am happy about ANY celebrity citing, haha!

Will Ferrell's brother

And finally, Mr. Ferrell himself.

Look at that face, too funny!

Saturday was another fun, yet exhausting day in NYC. We started the day off with brunch and then took the uptown loop of the Grayline tours. This was probably the best loop that we took because it took us to places that we had never been to before. We went through the Upper West Side, Harlem, and the Upper East Side. The bus driver informed us of the many celebrities who live in the Upper West Side, so you can bet that I will be traipsing up in that area the next time that Chris and I visit. While on this tour we saw the people who were auditioning for America’s Next Top Model as well as a ton of people waiting in line to get tickets for Showtime at the Apollo.

After our tour, we did a little shopping on 5th Avenue and then got lucky when we caught the filming of a scene for the movie Salt. The movie stars Angelina Jolie as a former CIA who is accused of assassinating the President. The scene that we saw was the funeral procession for the President. We didn’t get to see any celebrities during the filming but it was cool nonetheless. Liev Schreiber was supposedly in the scene but I never caught a glance of him. Angelina Jolie was obviously not filming in the area as she probably wouldn’t have been a welcomed guest at the President’s funeral if her character was accused of being the reason for his death. I am looking forward to seeing the movie just to see the scene we saw filming. They literally filmed the exact same thing all day long. Wow, I don’t think I could actually work on a movie set.

Filming of the movie Salt

After another long day in NYC, we got back to our rental car and headed back to Boston. We relaxed for the rest of our evening because we knew we would have another busy day in Boston on Sunday.

Sunday, we got to sleep in a little later than we had in NYC and then we made our way down to Southie to attend the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There were tons of people who came out for the parade. We ended up staying for an hour or two watching all of the parade members and then we headed back into Boston. We walked through the Boston Common and the Public Garden and then walked the entire length of Newbury Street. A little shopping was done and I finally got my dark grey t-shirt that I had been looking for since I saw Casey Affleck with one on in Gone Baby Gone. So excited, lol!

Monday night was filled with the Britney Spears/Pussycat Dolls concert, which Elizabeth and I attended. We left the boys at home. This is one of the main reasons for my exhaustion, because I wasn’t able to get in bed until after midnight. This deserves a post of its own so that will be posted soon. Britney looked awesome!