Katie And More

Me and my mom

Me and my sister Jodie

The group!

THANKSGIVING:
For Thanksgiving, I had to work the following day, so Jason and I stayed in Columbus and I made a dinner for the 2 of us Thanksgiving night. That weekend, Jason and I spent time with my family in Perrysburg, OH at the Holiday Inn French Quarter. It's a Holidome with indoor activities (ping pong, pool) with and 2 indoor swimming pools that are connected to the outdoor pools. We had a really fun time with my family. It was nice to be able to relax and not have my mom have to work so hard for a meal. Most know, she's a great cook....but that woman deserves a break!! We ended up eating our big family meal at the restaurant in the hotel. They have an excellent buffet with prime rib, crab legs, salads and more. We were all STUFFED to say the least after that meal!
While we were in Toledo, Jason and I were able to eat at our favorite restaurants. My parents ordered our favorite pizza for when we all arrived on Friday evening. Vito's=Yummo! Then on Saturday, for lunch, Jason and I went to our favorite Lebanese deli (Tiger Lebanese). Columbus is much larger than Toledo and does have a lot to offer...but it is seriously lacking in the mediterranean/greek/lebanese food department. We were in heaven with our favorite foods!! We had a really nice time with my family, relaxing and playing games. Needless to say, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend! (Thank you Mom and Dad!)

It's been 4 weeks since I've last written. So here's an update!

I ended up getting sick last week. I thought it started as my asthma acting up but ended up with a lot of chest congestion, body aches, and wheezing. So I ended up getting an appointment with my internist. Luckily, it was only bronchitis..not H1N1! I still have a deep cough at times, but it is sooo much better than a week and a half ago. I also was able to get my H1N1 vaccine this past week, despite being a little sick and I had the great company of my sister while I waited for the vaccine. So hopefully I'm immune now! The other good news is Jason hasn't gotten sick, so it was definitely bronchitis, not the flu!

This past Satuday through Tuesday, I was in Nashville with my parents. We've had this planned for a while, and have actually had to cancel on my parents several other times, so I am very happy I was able to finally go! Unfortunately, because of Jason's new job, he was unable to go. I went anyway...I needed a few days off! We had gorgeous weather and my parents were quite the tour guides/hosts!

Saturday we left Columbus and drove to Nashville. We got there in the late afternoon/early evening. We went to a steak house and then to the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium. They didn't really have any 'big' names there, but it was still a good time. Little Jimmy Dickens was a host of one of the 1/2 hour time slots. What a funny old man!


Sunday we drove around downtown Nashville. My parents took me past Vanderbilt University. It's a beautiful university! I had applied to graduate school there; luckily I didn't get accepted, because I probably never would have come back to Ohio. And Jason and I never would have ever happened! Regardless, the campus is beautiful! We also walked around downtown on Broadway, where all the bars are. We also went by the Country Music Hall of Fame. They were inducting Kid Rock, Dolly Parton, and Charlie Daniels into their Walk of Fame. I got a few pictures of them.

Dolly Parton

Kid rock
We didn't stay long because it was actually hot outside with the sun beating on us. After downtown, we had a late lunch at The Loveless Cafe...a restaurant that was featured on the Food Network on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. We all had fantastic southern meals. After eating, we ended up going back to my parent's timeshare to relax. I took a much needed nap and felt refreshed and ready to go! We went to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in the evening to walk around. It is 60 acres under a roof...and is gorgeous!! They had everything decorated for the holiday season already, it was really nice to see. They have restaurants, bars, shopping stores, you name it! It was quite amazing, and we were there for a couple of hours just walking through. The Gaylord Opryland Hotel is basically across the road from my parent's timeshare, so it was convenient to get to. Here are some pictures of the outside and inside decorated for the holidays.




After walking around there, we went to a bar to relax and listen to their live music. The singer ended up being from Ohio. Small world!

Monday we took a tour of Nashville on a bus. I brought the average age down a good 50 years on that bus!! haha! The tour was nice; it lasted 4 hours and took us all over the city. We saw a lot of houses of country singers. Surprisingly, some live pretty modestly, all things considered!

With my parents toward the end of tour at the Ryman Auditorium.
After the tour, we ate at a barbeque restaurant called Neely's Bar-b-q. It is owned by The Neely's on the Food Network. It was good barbeque! We ended up walking around a mall later and called it a night.

That pretty much sums up our Nashville trip. It was fantastic and my parents spoiled me to say the least. I'm very very lucky!!!


Also, as requested by some...here are the latest pics of me...at 28 weeks, 4 days

We had another appt with our doctor on Monday 10/12/09. We are 24 weeks along. The baby's heartrate was 147....still going strong! It's interesting to see where Baby G keeps moving around. To find the heartbeat, the nurse started on the right side of my belly, but had to move over to the left side to find it. Go Lefties!! haha
What a strong heartbeat! I love that sound...and since we have to wait about 10 more weeks to see Baby G again, I'll settle for the sound.

Overall, everything checked out fine. At our next appt I will have a glucose tolerance test done. I have to drink some glucose liquid an hour before my appt. Then I have to get my blood drawn when I get to the appt. The results will indicate if I need further testing done.
A one-hour glucose test screens for (but does not diagnose) gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). If sugar levels seem high after a one-hour test, I'll have to come back for further testing, probably a 3-hour test.

I'm starting to feel some discomfort, more in the evening, in my belly. I think it's just from growing. I finally had to break down and buy a pillow to sleep with between my legs. It makes SUCH a difference. The first night of having it, Jason commented that he was going to steal it. I told him he must have planted the seed in his subconscious, because in the middle of the night, I woke up (one of the many times) and found my pillow missing. I had to sit up in bed to make sure it didn't fall off the bed..nope not there! Next, I feel something by Jason. That little booger had my pillow! I yanked it from him as hard as I could to make a point :), and quickly, he realized what had happened and he laughed out loud. Now I laugh about it, but it's not so funny in the middle of the night when I have to search for it. So this week I've been threatening him to STAY AWAY FROM MY PILLOW!!! He can get a big pillow when he has a baby growing inside of him! :)

I also had to adjust my closet to make room for maternity clothes. I did that this past weekend. I had been folding them in a little pile, but realized, I'm starting to get a good amount. Plus, I need to have them for a daily basis for the most part. I'm still fitting into most of my basic regular clothes (yay!). So I'm just layering maternity clothes and regular clothes. Luckily, I don't have to "dress up" for work; I just wear business casual, so I have a plenty of clothes that fits into the category.

On news other than the baby-- Jason started a new job on Monday! YEAH!! So far so good!

Finally posting some pictures of the nursery on here. Luckily we had the room painted this color when we moved in. We were intending it to be a nursery all along. That way, we didn't have to worry about painting it while I was pregnant.


The only personalized piece in the room. My craft project.


So far..I love this crib! It's super sturdy and was soo easy to put together. I'm pretty hands-on, so of course, I put the crib together. Easiest thing to put together.




We still intend on doing something about this lamp....doesn't quite go with the color scheme.




We got the changing table early-on in the pregnancy at a garage sale. Jason did a great job of sanding it and refinishing it.




The bargain shopper in me (I get it from my mom) would like to point out our super deals! While having brand new things would be nice...it isn't necessary nor practical.
The crib is the only thing that needed to be assembled. But of course, we still got a bargain on it! We got it at BabiesRus.
The changing table, like I said earlier, was a garage sale find that just needed a little TLC.
We already had the book case, and it goes perfectly with all the white trim in our house.
We got the glider/ottoman set at BabiesRus. We ended up getting the store model because it was discontinued. Nana Snyder helped us out in cleaning the fabric. Looks brand new!
I got the bedding on eBay. There are so many good deals on there, plus it was brand new! A 10-piece set for $50!!
I picked up the different baskets/bins on sale at a variety of places at very good prices.

Here are the pictures from our 2nd ultrasound on September 14th, we were 20 weeks along. I'm still figuring out the formatting....bear with me! (I think I'll be saying that A LOT on here!)


Looking a little scrunched in there!

Not actually sucking her finger thumb...it's just the angle.

As part of having this blog, Jason and I were hoping to keep everyone "up-to-date" with our pregnancy. Since I started the blog over half way through the pregnancy, I figured I'd create a timeline..for you..and for us to look back at some day!


May 22nd- We were heading home to my parents for Memorial Day weekend. Not that we were really trying to get pregnant, I just wanted to take a pregnancy test to see. It was negative. Ok, time to enjoy the weekend


May 24th- Spent the weekend with the Snyder's. While there on Sunday, I felt things were not happening as usually expected and thought I may need to take another pregnancy test when we got back to Columbus. So we get back and I buy a pack of 3. I take one...start to see the line immediately! WOW! Jason was downstairs, so I thought I'd try another one. I know the tests detect a level of hCG and the only way women have that hormone if is they are pregnant. So I took the second one..again, a line is there immediately! I called Jason upstairs to see. He was stunned; I was too! He thought it would be a good idea to find wait until Monday (Memorial Day) to take the 3rd test. It's a funny thought, but we did it anyway.


May 25th- Memorial Day...take the 3rd test..positive! No surprise here!


In the next week I started asking co-workers some doctors they recommend. Not to be obvious of needing an ob-gyn, I asked for all types of doctors: family practice, dentist, an ob-gyn also.
After several recommendations, I picked a doctor.
I called and set up an appointment for June 8th.


June 8th- 6 weeks along. Had our first appt. with the nurse practitioner of the practice. It was basically a yearly check up for me, but also to verify I was pregnant. Poor Jason was just sitting there during the whole exam...definitely NOT what he was expecting! :)


June 22nd- Had a consultation with our Dr. so we could meet him and run over any questions/concerns. Nothing too exciting.


July 16th- Going on 12 weeks. First ultrasound! Our Dr. actually does the ultrasounds, so that is more personal and a nice touch by the practice I'd say!

August 13th- Going on 16 weeks. Another appt with our doctor. Baby's heartrate was 142. We had the AFP (alpha-fetoprotein) screening done. AFP screenings are done to detect if women are carrying a fetus with certain genetic abnormalities such as:
Open neural tube defects (ONTD), such as spina bifida
Down Syndrome
Chromosomal abnormalities, such as trisomy 18
Defects in the abdominal wall of the fetus They drew some blood and awaited results.


Depending if we had a positive screening would depend on our next appt. More than likely we would have had a 3-d ultrasound done.

September 12- 20 weeks along. Starting to show a bit. Took our first picture of me and the belly!



September 14th- 20 weeks along. No news is good news....the AFP screening came back fine. We had our 2nd ultrasound. Our Dr. took a long time going over different parts of our baby and was very thorough. Again...so nice the actual Dr. did it! Baby G is breach right now, but that's nothing to worry about yet. There is still plenty of time to get flipped around.
From what we could see, our Dr. was about 90% sure it is a girl!! He said what he saw usually tends to be a girl, but since Baby G wasn't cooperting the best and spreading those legs, we never got the best image. She was moving EVERYTHING else though! So we started telling people we were about 90% sure it's a girl but we still weren't telling anyone the name at this point.



September 19th- 21 weeks along. Jason felt our baby kick for the first time! I had been feeling it for a while, but was unsure of whether it was the baby or just my body expanding. Unfortunately, I don't have the exact date of when I first felt Baby G kick.


September 20th- We were having lunch with some friends. I was eating and felt the baby kick. Just the night before I was saying our girl name to Jason when I felt a kick like. So at lunch I said "oh ____ must like the food". As soon as it came out of my mouth I looked at Jason. He just looked at me. I couldn't put my head down soon enough and thought "oh no one heard that". One second later our friend Lindsey said "did you just say the name?" After denying it and Lindsey's boyfriend said he heard it clearly, we decided we might as well tell them.

Later in the day we also decided we should tell our family and friends the name, there's no sense in not telling people now that a few people know. So on September 20th....MOLLY was said aloud for the first time to our friends and family! Molly Kay Garcia. Kay is my mom's middle name.


That brings us up to date with all of our appointments.

In the midst of the changes in life, there is always so much news to keep everyone up-to-date on. By creating this blog, we hope this is an easier way to keep our dear friends and family "in the loop" without leaving out too much (especially those out of state)!

I've seen so many cute blogs and hope I can start to find out how to get this blog like that. Any help is welcome!! So bear with me....