***SORRY for the delay! CF Card reader for photos was packed in a box!***

To say we have been keeping busy would be an UNDERstatement! These past two weeks have been full of changes!

1) Our rental house went back on the market, which meant we had LOTS of phone calls from agents wanting to come show the house to their clients!

2) We moved from the rental into our new house, a week earlier than expected to avoid some of the chaos of having to show the house all the time. Sallie and Richard came from Richmond to help Simon and I move! It was a busy weekend but we got A LOT accomplished! None of which would have been possible without their help. Thanks guys!

So now we are officially sleeping/ living at the new house. As we have not started the renovations, we are currently occupying 2 rooms of the whole house and the rest of our belongings are in boxes in the garage. We are however getting closer to hiring a contractor to do the renovations. With any luck they will be finished by the time our little “parasite” (as Simon affectionately refers to the baby as) is born! And if not…lucky of us our bed had drawers on it that I am sure the baby will find very comfortable!

Last but not least…

3) Simon has officially left Zenoss! He has worked for them for nearly 5 years now and after many changes within the company recently, he has decided to leave. (Don’t worry it is not as bad as it sounds!) It is actually a good thing. He will be doing some IT contracting work on the side and is much happier already! He will also have ample amount of time to help with the renovations at the new house! ….now if I can only teach him to cook in our soon to be tiny temporary “kitchen”!

To celebrate we threw a party at the rental house (just in the backyard as there was NOTHING in the house). We had a keg of beer, lots of snacks, plenty of pizza from Eastside Pies, and cupcakes from Hey Cupcake! Simon even arranged for a designated driver for people to get home safely! It was a great evening.

The belly has begun to Pop! Sallie and Richard arrived on a Thursday evening and you can ask them…I hardly looked anymore pregnant than 4 weeks earlier in New Orleans. Then as the weekend went along, all the sudden I had a small baby bump! By the time they left (5 days later) my work pants were no longer comfortably buttoning!

Belly Pictures:

SIDE VIEWS STARTING NOW…. (pants still buttoned in these pictures)

24 weeks

Baby is the size of a large Grapefruit! And weighs 1.3 lbs! The baby’s head circumference is 21cm!

Total weight gain: 9 lbs

25 weeks

Baby is the size of a Eggplant! And weighs 1.5 lbs!

Total weight gain: 10 lbs

WOW, I just realized I updated the last post and forgot about our 20 week ultrasound!  Well, it went great! The baby is healthy without any visible birth defects! No cleft palate, spina bifida, or club feet! It does have the normal 3 vessel umbilical cord, two hemispheres of the brain, and 4 chamber heart! Looking like a tiny human at this point! We did NOT want to find out the gender….so it will be a surprise for everyone! (Good thing GREEN is my favorite color!)

Whole Body View:

Up Close 3D of the face- (the hand is tucked up by the right side of the face, then you see the eyes, nose and little lips) This was a picture of a glossy picture… So quality is not great!

These past 2 weeks we have been busy as usual. We have begun the packing process and have moved a few boxes to the new house. Simon has been busy helping our friend’s Ian and Gillian work on their new house…which we have affectionately deemed the “Money Pit”. The most exciting thing we did was fly to Baltimore for our friend/roommate’s wedding!

It was great to be back in Baltimore, even if it was just for a short visit. We celebrated Margaret’s birthday, visited our good friends at the corner hardware store, had breakfast at Teavolve with Gerrit and Margaret, saw Nina get married (and she was gorgeous as ever), went to the farmer’s market with Bishe and Becky, had Sunday Brunch at a new place in Fells, and was able to squeeze in a short visit with Noah, Ale and baby Joaquin! I know there are still many of you we were not able to visit….next time! We promise!

Belly Pictures! Getting closer to “popping”…jeans are still buttoned but barely!

22 weeks

Baby is the size of a Papaya! And weighs 15 ounces!

Total weight gain: 7.4 lbs

23 weeks – (Woke up with a stuffy nose and sore throat! No Smiling!)

Baby is the size of a Pomegranate! And weighs just over a pound (600 Grams)!

Total weight gain: 8 lbs

Simon and I drove from Austin, TX to New Orleans, LA for Shawn Eib’s wedding (That’s my cousin for those of you who don’t know). We only stayed for the 3 day weekend, as sadly we both had to return to work on Monday. We did, of course, have a wonderful time not only seeing the Bride and Groom get married and all the associated activities, but also seeing my family for the first time since we found out we were pregnant.

Admittedly, I think everyone was very excited to see me with a big ol’ pregnant belly…but much to their surprise and disappointment there was little to see! The first thing my mom said to me was, “well, lets see!” I lifted my shirt and she responded with. “well that’s disappointing” I am not complaining. The longer I can wear my normal clothes and have “normal” body the easier it will be I think! Especially with our upcoming move!

New Orleans was great. We saw Sallie, Richard, Michael, Liliana, Diego, Nana, Granddaddy, Brenda, Richard J., Debbie, Chris, Jason and of course the guests of honor Shawn and Millicent! The rehearsal dinner was fantastic!! The wedding was short and sweet and very personal for the couple. The reception was wonderful and of course they had a live band! It couldn’t have been more perfect! AND It was made even better because the weather cleared up and stayed BEAUTIFUL 12 hours before the weekend festivities. Congrats Shawn and Millicent!

While my belly wasn’t really showing in New Orleans, I was able to let Richard, Sallie, Nana, Granddaddy and Brenda hear the baby’s heart beat. The baby, which my parents have affectionately named E.B (standing for Elizabeth’s Baby….while “E-bee” used to be a nick name they would call ME around the house when I was younger!) performed right on cue, for the most part. Both Sallie and Richard were able to feel “E.B” kick….I can’t say the little one performed perfectly as it did not show off for Nana when she tried! But 2 out of 3 is not bad.

The next weekend was equally as busy even though we stayed here in Austin. Michael flew in for 24 hours to help us draw up plans for our new house! We left him to work for the first several hours and once he had every measurement in the house we showed him a quick tour of Austin. We went to Torchy’s, walked South Congress St, went into Allens Boots, saw the “famous” Austin Bats and the next morning took him to our favorite breakfast joint Pacha. We then drove him to the airport to fly home. Several hours later, I returned to the airport to pick up my long time friend Renee, her boyfriend Steve and their 8 month old baby, Isaac!

Since Simon and I had to work Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, Renee, Steve and Isaac were left up to their own devices during the days but we would spend time together in the evening catching up over dinner! It was good to see them, even if it was short! After a busy 2 weekends and work in between….I would be lying if I said I am not enjoying catching up on some much needed sleep!

Belly Pictures! (I swear I am not just changing the sign…these have really all been 1 week apart! and the jeans are still buttoned!)

20 weeks

Baby is the size of a Mango! And weighs 10 ounces!

Total weight gain: 4.5 lbs

21 weeks

Baby is the size of a small Cantaloupe! And weighs 12 ounces! I have also stared to feel it hiccuping!

Total weight gain: 5.5 lbs

Again two weeks have flown by! Unfortunately they were ….sad!

As most of you know we have had pet ferret(s) in our lives since our first little guy Slinky back in 2001. With his passing I began volunteering with The Ferret Inn, a ferret shelter very near and dear to my heart! After volunteering for less than 2 weeks, I asked the director- Nancy- if it would be ok if I took two of the newest arrivals home with me to have run around my house for the weekend. Mainly I was missing Slinky and had never had TWO ferrets! So the next thing I knew these two little guys were named, Nutter and Max, and lived pertinently with me and Simon.

They were roughly 2-3 years old when we took them into our home. We thoroughly enjoyed their company and better yet they enjoyed playing with each other which was a constant source of entertainment. The years passed and shortly after our wedding in 2010, Nutter got sick. It seemed at first to be a simple GI bug, I did my standard ferret care which seemed to help initially but as the days passed it was clear something else was going on. I took him to the vet twice in 2 weeks each time was given different medications and each time he appeared to begin to get better for a day or two, then would rapidly return to being sick. On Friday November 12th 2010 ( two weeks before we moved to Austin TX) Nutter passed away of natural causes despite my best effort. He was just over 6 years old. Simon and I were both very sad but were also greatly concerned for Max. He had lost his best friend in the whole world!

Maxie made the move to Austin TX without his buddy and seemed to be handling it well. He liked exploring the new house and new yard, but I am sure knew something was missing. Over Christmas 2010 we drove back to Baltimore and brought Tucker and Max. Upon entering our house, Max instantly became more animated and ran around the house like a younger version of himself. It was quite clear he expected to find Nutter…right where he had left him. But after over an hour of searching I think he realized Nutter was not to be found.

Back in Austin, Max continued to age. His adrenal disease and insulinoma and accompanying medications were continued and increased from time to time as his disease process worsened. Around Thanksgiving Max had his first episode of low blood sugar related to his insulinoma. We promptly increased his medication and began discussing his life. Over the next 5 months, Max slowed down to a bit more than a crawl. He had a hard time walking on our hardwood floors, his back legs would slip out from under him. And he began having more episodes of low blood sugar despite our best efforts of the right medication and meal time requirements. Honestly his energy was at an all time low and Simon and I realized we had to make the difficult choice of letting him pass.

We spoke with the vet, then took Max home for one more week of extra love and attention (even though he slept through much of our efforts). On Monday March 19th, at the old age of 7.5 years old, we fed Max his usual breakfast with a side of ferret “crack” (a ferret treat they he loves sooooo much) then we administered his initial dose of medication that would make him very sleepy and “out of it”. It was our wish that he fell asleep at the house before taking him to the vet so he would only have good memories of his time with us! Then once we was very groggy, we took him to the vet and had them give the final dose of medication. It was a very sad morning, needless to say I am not sure Simon or I got much work done that day, even though we both physically went.

To Max:

We love you very much! And hope for nothing more than for you to be greeted by your Nutman where you can play together for all eternity! You have both waited a long time to see each other again…but know the wait was worth it! You were a great addition to our family and we will never forget you. Take care of each other, you will both be greatly missed.

Love, Liz and Simon

::Sigh::

In baby news….nothing much new to report. No real baby bump to speak of, but the kicks from the inside that I can feel, can now occasionally be felt on the outside! Simon got to get a good feel the other day for the first time. During these two weeks, I slowly regained my appetite from my GI bug several weeks back.

18 weeks

Baby is the size of a Pear! And weighs 6 ounces!

Total weight gain: 3.4 lbs

19 weeks

Baby is the size of a Softball!

Total weight gain: 3.8 lbs