Piglet Update

Apologies for the lack of blog posts lately - work has been crazy busy for both of us and we've been busy getting ready for Piglet's arrival.

I had a bi-weekly check-up today and Mini Moran looks healthy; however, he still appears to be breech. Apparently there is still time for him to flip on his own, but if he hasn't by my next appointment in two weeks, it sounds like they'll do an ultrasound to confirm with 100% certainty that he's breech. If that is the case, my options are to go into the hospital for an 'external cephalic version' (i.e. the doc manually flips the baby around) or we can schedule a c-section (and during my weekly appointments, they'll continue to check to see if he's turned on his own, in which case we could cancel the c-section). The good news with the ECV is that if they are able to flip him around, there isn't much room for him to flip back on his own; however, it only has about a 50% success rate (and looks a little scary if you ask me - check out this video to see for yourself). Corey and I have some things to think about if he still hasn't flipped over in a few weeks, but until then, we're crossing our fingers that he flips on his own!

According to my most recent weekly Baby Center email, Piglet should be a little over 4 lbs (think pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. And apparently this week is a big week - he could grow over an inch! In addition, his brain should be rapidly growing as well.

Instead of kicks, lately I'm just feeling him move around. Per my doc, this is normal --- he's getting bigger and there is less room for him to kick and punch me. So for the last week or so at night, Corey and I have been able to watch him squirm around in my tummy, which is funny, but crazy and weird, all at the same time.

This weekend, we have a childbirth prep and newborn care class, which I'm looking forward to. We will get to tour the birthing suite at Overlake and learn more about what to expect during labor and birth. I'm sure I'll have some blog-worthy information to share after the class.

In other news, Roxy and I are home alone as C has been in Oahu since Saturday on business, and won't be returning until Wednesday. I told him to try to plan another work trip there between May and July, so that the babe and I can go, too!

And finally, Piglet's room is just about complete so we'll have photos to share soon...stay tuned! In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo C set up for us last week in the nursery.

Golden Beetle

With Spence and Renata in town for the weekend and plans to get together last night, Corey and I wanted to find a restaurant that they hadn't been before. With them being foodies, much like my hubby, we thought it would be perfect to try out Golden Beetle, an Eastern Mediterranean restaurant that opened on Friday in Ballard by Top Chef contestant Maria Hines.

The decor was super fun and the atmosphere was great for a double date. With a ton of yummy tapas / appetizers, each couple ordered a few to share. Corey and I tried the tabbouleh (delicious!) and the grilled chicken wings (nice and spicy, which Corey loved). In addition, we all noshed on pita bread with yogurt sauce, which we loved, while waiting for our main course. For dinner, the hubs ad I shared turkey shawarma, which was amazing. To quench our thirst, we both tried a house made soda - lemon lime for Corey and cilantro mint for me - and they were very yummy.

It was the perfect place to catch up with the Pattersons and we look forward to returning!

Celebrating Piglet

Yesterday, 17 lovely ladies gathered at Kelsey's house to celebrate Piglet's upcoming arrival and one thing is for sure --- this little boy, who hasn't even arrived yet, is S-P-O-I-L-E-D!

Kels and her mom, Patti, were the hostesses with the mostesses and let me tell you, they know how to throw one fabulous baby shower! There were so many yummy food and desserts options and all were more delicious than the one before. The baby decor was adorable. They even planned a hilarious game where I had to hold a (creepy-looking) baby while attempting to hang up tons of cute baby clothes and gear on a clothes line to "dry" while avoiding distractions like a friendly "neighbor" dropping by (Lisa), the "wind" whipping through (Gina), my mom calling me, and so on. The goal was to get as much as possible on the clothes line and whatever was on the line at the end of two minutes, I'd get to keep. While I don't think I was able to hang up more than half of the goods, they let me leave with with the entire load of adorableness (an entire laundry basket full of new baby goods)!

After the game, it was time for presents and boy, did Piglet receive a ton of awesome gifts from everyone. He now has so many cute outfits, toys and baby essentials that I've spent the last two days doing laundry and trying to find a place for everything - I can't wait until he's here so we can start using it all! In addition, with a book theme, everyone was asked to bring a book to the shower to help start a library for Piglet and we received so many great books. It will be so fun to read them all to him soon.

I had such an amazing day with so many fun ladies and I can't thank everyone enough for helping us celebrate baby boy Moran!

Below are a few of the photos taken at the shower. All my photos can be found here. Gina's photos are posted here.

For me?

Here's some real life proof of Roxy's interest in Piglet's things. While she may have had some coaxing (only because she wasn't sure if it was allowed), she was a happy camper once comfortably situated in the car seat.

I think she may be okay when Piglet gets here, as long as we have two of everything - one for the baby, and one for Roxy.

When are you due?

Over the last three weeks, people have gone from asking me 'are you pregnant?' to 'when are you due?' Apparently I have officially popped as people I haven't seen in ages or people I hardly know are coming right out and asking without any doubt in their minds that there's a bun in the oven. There's no more mistaking that there's a little person in my tummy who is growing more every day.


Piglet has been kicking a lot more lately and I think he even had the hiccups the other morning --- I felt about 50+ perfectly timed rhythmic movements (which strangely felt just like kicks) in my lower abdomen when I woke up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break and to grab a glass of water. Some quick research led me to believe those were likely hiccups - who knew?!

So far, he seems to be both a morning person, like his momma, and a night owl, like his daddy, since he is the most active when I first wake up in the morning and then again later at night. We love to feel his kicks and watch my tummy move when we get into bed at night and sometimes, we can even feel tiny body parts in certain areas. We're never too sure what they are, but it's fun to try to guess.

To help Roxy start getting used to all things baby, we've been letting her into Piglet's room (which she loves, especially the rug - she runs around on it and drags herself all over it) and letting her smell the baby stuff we've been given by friends. She's been especially intrigued by the car seat Tyler and Katy gave us --- I found her in Piglet's room, in the dark, smelling it before our walk tonight, and she ran right back to itt after our walk (when typically, she runs right for her water bowl).

We had a follow-up ultrasound three weeks ago and things seem to moving along nicely. In addition, the previa that the doc noticed several months ago has fixed itself, so the chance that we'd have to have a c-section has gone back down. While we weren't able to see his little face (since he was folded up again), we learned that he was in the 60 percentile for growth and was tipping the scale at 2.5-2.75 lbs. (I,on the other hand, have somehow managed to pack on about 25 lbs!)

We're now in the 31st week and it is so crazy to think that in just two short months, our little man will be here! In the meantime, I start bi-weekly doctor appointments (vs. once per month), I have my baby shower this weekend (which I am so excited for!), we are taking an infant CPR class next week and then the first weekend of March, we are taking a weekend long baby class. Lots of fun stuff help make the next few months pass quickly!

Chili Fest

Three years ago, around this time of year, my group of high school friends (+ Sara, our fab college friend) all got together at Kels' for a yummy chili dinner. We continued that a year later at our place. For some reason, we didn't keep up the tradition last year, so this year, we decided it was time to re-start this annual gathering with a chili fest at our place. And today was the big day.

On the menu was chili, cornbread, wedge salad and s'more cheesecake bars. On TV was the Steelers / Jets game (and much to Sara's delight, her Steeler's won). On the agenda was an evening of fun with friends.

It's not often that all seven of us are able to get together, so we always look forward to the times when plans work out that enable us all to be in the same place at the same time. And honestly, you can't really go wrong with a great group of friends, good food, and football (for the guys + Sara).

I hope we can keep up this fun tradition for many years to come.

Nursery Update

It was a big weekend here at the Moran house!

Corey spent Thursday and Friday evenings prepping Piglet's room for painting while I kept him company (I don't have the patience to be a good paint prepper). Then on Saturday, the Reeders arrived and were a HUGE help. Jason helped Corey paint the room, while Lisa kept me company and paint-fume free by going shopping, to see Black Swan and grab lunch. We truly appreciate their help - Corey really couldn't have painted the room without Jason and all his supplies and I had a great time with Lisa. Thanks Reeders!

On Sunday, Corey put the crib and changing table together while I took load after load of cardboard and garbage out --- who knew that two small pieces of baby furniture would have so much recycling associated with them! Good news is that because they were packed so well, both pieces arrived in perfect condition.

We still have a long way to go with the room - it needs artwork and other decorating, the glider still needs to arrive, we need to order a mattress for the crib - but figured we'd share the current before and after shots.

Stay tuned for more to come!

Nursery Sneak Peek

While Corey and I were in Portland this past weekend, we were very successful in shopping for nursery furniture. While we don't actually have any of it yet, I thought I'd share our final picks, since I'm really excited about all of it.

First, here's the glider. It was more than we originally thought we'd spend, but it looks more like our living room furniture than a nursery essential, and thus will work in our living area one day. Plus it's SUPER comfy, which is a must when we'll be spending many hours in it in the near future.

And here's the crib and changing table we went with. (Disregard the pink!)

And though we didn't pick these up in Portland, I wanted you to see the full picture of the look we're going for, so here's the bedding (minus the quilt) and rug we went with.

We're going for a fun, colorful look with a beachy feel, since we love Hawaii and the beach so much. We'll incorporate other beachy items with artwork on the walls (which will be painted a very light blue). Overall we think it'll be something we like for several years, vs. a super themey-look, which we might get sick of sooner.

The glider should arrive in mid-March, the crib and changing table in the next 2-3 weeks, and we are hoping to get the painting done in the next couple weeks so we can start setting up the furniture as it arrives.

I'll share some photos of the finished product as soon as the nursery is all ready to go!

Babymoon

We returned this afternoon from a fabulous babymoon.

We hit the road, headed for Portland, on Thursday and surprisingly didn't hit any traffic along the way. We checked into our hotel (The Nines), which we loved --- it's right downtown across from Pioneer Square and it's super swanky and fun --- and got some relaxing in (meaning I napped and Corey watched TV) before hitting the streets for some shopping. That evening, the Huskies were playing the Huskers and lucky for Corey, Buffalo Wild Wings, the ultimate sports bar featuring TVs everywhere you turned, and all kinds of wings, was just a block from our hotel. We settled in there for the first half of the game, which surprisingly, the Huskies, who were the underdogs, pulled out a win in the end, which was very exciting.

On Friday, we slept in, bundled up (though it was clear all weekend, it was very cold), then headed to the Daily Grill for a big breakfast to get our day started. We then walked to the Pearl District to check out Posh Baby. We'd done some research ahead of time and found that they carried Monte gliders, which we wanted to scope out for the nursery. They had a few different styles and we found one we loved, so we placed our order and are looking forward to the chair being delivered in mid-March.

As we walked back towards downtown, we hit up other stores like West Elm and North Face before making our way through all the downtown shops right near our hotel. We enjoyed delicious coffee at Public Domain and lunch at Kenny and Zuke's.

Once back in our room, we both crashed for a bit and then got ready for our dinner reservations at Departure, which was an Asian fusion restaurant on the rooftop of our hotel. With it being New Year's Eve, the place was packed and we're so glad we made reservations. Because of the holiday, we got to take advantage of a special prix fixe menu they were offering, which included all sorts of yummy dishes from around Asia. Favorites included the boneless beef short ribs (they literally melted in our mouths) and my dessert (malted chocolate kulfi with caramelized bananas, coconut cream and spiced toffee popcorn). After dinner, we headed back to our room to relax while watching the countdown to midnight. The whole evening was the perfect way to wrap up 2010 and kick-off 2011.

On Saturday, we slept in again before grabbing bagels at Kenny and Zuke's for breakfast. We then jumped in the car and headed to the Pottery Barn Kids at Washington Square, where we ordered our crib and changing table --- we're excited to have the majority of our big baby purchases out of the way now!

We enjoyed more relaxing and napping (can you detect a theme here?) at the hotel before heading to dinner at Typhoon, which we'd been to here in Seattle before it closed a few years ago. We were so excited to go back because the food is delicious ad they have an amazing espresso creme brulee that we still talk about since we tried it in Seattle awhile back. We then headed to True Grit and while I didn't know much about it ahead of time, it turned out to be a great movie, which we both loved.

We slept in again today and then hit the road to avoid the inevitable traffic for tonight's Seahawks game, arriving home to our cute little pup, who we missed dearly.

We had a wonderful time together shopping, eating, relaxing and enjoying each other's company, and wished we could have stayed a bit longer. We're so glad we planned this trip before Piglet's arrival!

Here are a few photos from our weekend. (Apparently we had a bit too much fun and forgot about taking photos - we only snagged a few this trip. Oops!)

A Look Back at 2010

As 2010 comes to a close, here's a look back of some of the fun times we experienced this year.

In January, we got a great head start on working towards our New Year's resolution of cooking two new recipes per month by cooking four new recipes, we had brunch with the Ashers and got to cuddle with Hannah and Charlotte, Corey taught Roxy a new trick, and had dinner with Corey's mom as part of one of her resolutions for us to all get together more often.

February brought Roxy and Moorea together for the first time for an eventful (and tiring) play date, we hosted brunch with the Shawvers and Allens, we had a Superbowl party complete with lots of laughs as our friends tried to fit in Roxy's crate, had a date-filled Valentine's Day weekend, complete with a walk around Discovery Park with Rox, and took Roxy to a Frenchie Frolich play date.

In March, we enjoyed lazy Sundays, a birthday celebration for my dad, celebrated Mark's birthday with the Kels and the Gorden's, and headed off to Maui for my T-Mobile Peak Award trip, complete with a trip to Hana.

When April rolled around, we headed from Maui to the Big Island to spend time with my family, after returning to Seattle, we had Easter brunch with Spence and Renata at The Georgian at the Fairmont, enjoyed more time with Kels, Mark and the Gordens, I went to the ReStore Trash Fashion Show with the girls, and I went to Orlando for work to help with the T-Mobile events for WES 2010.

In May, we celebrated my mom's birthday and Mother's Day in Yakima, my mom and I enjoyed a girls' only weekend in Palm Springs, we visited Spence and Renata in D.C., and celebrated our four-year anniversary since we met.

In June tackled our first big DIY home improvement project, I ran in the Issaquah Tri 5K with the Reeders, celebrated Roxy's 2nd birthday, enjoyed a visit from my family in honor of my grandma's birthday and Father's Day, Roxy wrote her first blog post in honor of "Doggie Daddy Day", spent time with the Reeders and Gossetts eating our way through Fall City Days, I ran the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, and one of Corey's photos was selected as the Olympus User Photo for June.

In July, we spent the 4th in Spokane visiting Corey's dad and saw Grandma Rita for the last time before she passed away later that month, we enjoyed record high temperatures in Seattle by spending time outdoors, spent time in Yakima with the family and cheered my dad on in the Grey Rock Trail Run, wandered around the Olympic Sculpture Park, spent our anniversary weekend in Vegas with the Reeders, and concluded the month with a return to Spokane to celebrate Grandma Rita's life.

In August, I headed to Chelan to help Sara celebrate her 27th birthday, we attended my work team's annual summer BBQ, celebrated Kevin and Jen's birthday with a sailing trip and trip to the Snoqualmie Casino (and found out they are expecting their first child in April).

In September, we celebrated Corey's birthday (here and here), bought a new car and found out that our friends Sandy and Adam are expecting a second child in April.

In October, we entered Roxy's fetch photo into Kiss 106.1's Doggie Duel, where she made it into the top 50 of 1,400 dogs, met Liam, my co-worker Stephanie and her hubby Billy's son, celebrated my birthday several times, announced that we were expecting a baby in April 2011, celebrated Corey's mom's birthday, had another brunch with the Ashers, and celebrated Halloween with our little pumpkin.

November brought the first snowfall of the year to Seattle, we hosted Thanksgiving at our condo with my family and Joan, and we found out that Piglet was going to be a boy, and that our friends Matt and Christy were engaged.

This month, we celebrated Gina's graduation from nursing school, booked our babymoon, partied with my work team at our annual holiday bash, celebrated Christmas with Corey's family, and headed to Portland on our babymoon (more to come on this trip soon!).

2010 has been such a fun and exciting year but we're really looking forward to 2011, with the arrival of our little one in April! (In the meantime, you can check out our year in review posts from 2009 (here and here).)