It's a...

If you can't tell I'm not telling.

OK fine, here's a clue...the first one is not of the baby's face.

We weren't supposed to have an ultrasound at today's appointment but when we were going through all the vitals Shawn joked with the nurse (while listening to the heart beat) "does it sound like there's a penis in there?" She thought it was pretty funny and when she finished up with us and went to send the Dr. in she told him what Shawn said so he said "well, you want to see if there's a peanut? There's no one in the sonogram room so come on in." We were so excited because it was so unexpected.

Neither of us were really surprised though because the baby is exactly what we thought the baby would be.

Better Late Than Never

You're Welcome...for the life lesson you're about to receive.

The next time you have a bad experience with a company, really it doesn't matter what kind of company, it could be a clothing store, a phone company or, say...a 55 acre botanical garden which boasts the largest man made waterfall in the western hemisphere surrounded by 250,000 tulip bulbs which are ready to burst the minute the weather starts to cooperate, ask yourself this:

"Am I more inclined to be nice to someone who is mean to me, or nice to me?"

And I promise you, you will get farther with that person. Yeah, yeah, yeah the customer is always right...in a perfect world. But ya know what? The person who's "job" it is to tell you you're always right, doesn't want to. They want to tell you what an idiot you are for thinking that even though its been snowy and cold, 250,000 tulips will be blooming. They want to tell you that you're absolutely right, you can just go up and take portraits in the canyon and save yourself $100 fee, so why don't you? They want to tell you to shut the crap up before you have a pregnant woman come at you with a gun. They want to tell you that you should be careful, because you have a membership, and this manager can access your home telephone number, your home address and the names of all of your children.

So, the next time you want to "speak to the manager" remember this...the manager is a person who's life does not revolve around their place of employment. Who really, is just counting down the days until she gives birth and leaves this all behind her. Who really, promises, she'll do whatever she can to help you if you're nice. And if you're not, she'll do whatever she can to keep your money and make you leave upset. That's right, she gets a little bit of satisfaction out of it.

It's a...Real Baby!

We went to the Dr. yesterday and got to see our little bugger. The Dr. said that everything looked great and the baby is "perfect." It was really fun to see him/her moving around in there, it seemed like he/she was really performing for us, twists and turns and a little arm lift/wave. Very cool.

I am officially 14 weeks today and I am officially due on October 1st, both of these statistics are per the date and per the baby's measurement so we're right on schedule. And, I know that babies rarely come on their due dates but I'm still glad to have an official one.

That's all, maybe Shawn will scan in some photos and we can show you our child's alien brain shot. Pretty awesome.

It Feels Like Christmas Eve

I'm really excited for tomorrow's Dr.'s appointment. Sure I could do without the pap smear but I'm really excited to have a real due date and to have an ultra sound! I can't wait to see the baby and for it to feel more real.

All of the online due date calculators and the books and everything give me different due dates. (only varying from Oct 1st to the 4th) When I thought I was 9 weeks the Dr.'s office said 10. But I didn't want to get my hopes up that I was farther so I've been counting it the slow way still. At whattoexpect.com it says I'm 14 weeks and 2 days but according to webmd I'm 13 weeks and 4 days, so really I just have no clue. I realize its not a huge difference but it'll still be fun to know for sure how big and far along the baby is.

I know it probably sounds crazy because I KNOW its really early but I keep thinking I feel little, soft, fleeting movements once in a while. I know its early, I know its probably gas but still...

Anyway, that's all. I'm just excited.

And Baby Makes Three

Yep, I'm pregnant. The due date is October 1st but I still haven't seen a doctor so I guess it could change a little. October first is what the women in the Dr's office told me on the phone so we're going with that for now. We FINALLY see the Dr. on April 1st but I'm pretty sure there's really one in there because I feel like CRAP!

Don't get me wrong, I know people have it a lot worse than I do but I think I'm just a big sissy. I hate feeling nauseous all the time and I HATE throwing up.

I really am excited to have a baby, I just don't feel good that's all.

It is really fun to read about the development though, for example right now the baby is the size of a lime.

When in Rome...and There's Nothing Catchy With Barcelona In It

Rome. Rome was awesome. We took an hour train ride from Civitevecchia, our port city into Rome and hopped off as soon as we saw the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. We just walked towards it and sort of stumbled into St. Peter's Square and it felt amazing. It really was so great to be there. Of all of my many adventures abroad (which include this and a trip last year with my sister to Paris and Venice) I've come to learn that Italy is my favorite. I just really like it.

We wondered through the square, went inside the church and then decided it was time to find the Sistine Chapel because we had a lot to do and only a day to do it. The line to get into the Vatican Museum's was SO LONG. And we got there pretty early. It was well worth it to see Michelangelo's depiction of God touching the finger of Adam.

After the Sistine Chapel we got slightly lost and decided the some authentic pizza would probably give us the mental clarity we needed. Not to mention some Fresca Orange (Amber I know you'll be pleased.) Let me tell you a little story about Europe and Fresca. You know how Fresca is nothing more than orange soda that you might as well by the Shasta brand of and give it to the kiddos? Well in Europe its good. Really good. It's kind of like, carbonated orange juice but better than what you're thinking.

Anyway, some thin crust and fresh mozzarella proved to do the trick because we soon found our way to the metro and made a stop at Trevi Fountain. We tossed in some American pennies, more wish for your buck that way, and headed back to the metro for the Colosseum.

The Colosseum was awesome to see. I mean, how often do you get to see something so infamously historic? Unless you're Roman or Egyptian I'd say not very. It was huge and over looking the Roman forum was incredible.

We made our way down to the Roman forum, wandered around a bit and then decided it was probably time to head back to the metro. Just to be sure we caught the boat with time to spare. This was our first official stop after all. Well, when we got back to the station I showed Shawn that Circus Maximus was just one stop farther and we'd never be in Rome again. He agreed to make it a quick trip.

Sure it was nothing more than a field but still, this is where they held chariot races, ya know? Totally cool. Not cool however was hopping back on the metro, taking us to the train station, missing the train to Civitevecchia by 2 minutes and having to wait 40 minutes for the next one which had us running to catch a cab to take us right to the boat because we were supposed to be back on the boat at 6:30 and it was 6:40 and the boat was leaving at 7 with or without us. Holy Stressful. I am glad to report that we made it.

In Barcelona we Gaudi'd it up. After an interesting 40 Euro breakfast at our hotel we set out to see the Sagrada Fagmilia which was so ornate its ridiculous. One might even say its gaudy.

This is one of the doors into Sagrada Fagmilia. I thought it was awesome. We actually took a double decker bus tour of the city which is so stereotypically touristy its ridiculous but it made the day so easy. Just hop off hop on at all the stuff you want to see anyway. Before heading to our next stop we ate at what seemed to be a hip Barcelonian restaurant where I ordered paella and Shawn had some rabbit. Paella was...not as good as I always dreamed it would be. But still, I was in Spain eating Paella so who am I to complain?

Here we are a Park Guell, another of Gaudi's projects. It was originally intended to be a housing area but no one really bought into it so now its pretty much just a park people come to visit. I'm with the mosaic lizard because he's totally dope.

Shawn chilling on one of the benches in the park. They were so beautiful.

After a long day of site seeing I told Shawn that I wanted to see the Torre Agbar because it looked so cool in pictures. Armed with a map we headed there under the Spanish night sky. Imagine our disappointment when the tower came into view and it was not lit up! I was thoroughly disappointed. We decided to eat at a Spanish fast food place and then sort of wandered through an outdoor mall. After all of that our feet were throbbing so we started looking for the nearest Metro stop. As soon as we made our way out of the mall area we were greeted with a brightly lit Torre Agbar. Hallelujah! I was so happy.