It's been a while...

It's been so long since I've posted anything on our blog--I think this is definitely a testament to how busy work and everything else is right now! When I get a break from work we are super busy getting things done around the house, reading baby books, and traveling out of town for baby showers. It's all been good, but I'm really looking forward to the holidays and some R&R!

This week I'm 27 weeks along. When I think of it as only 13 weeks left I just can't believe it, but on the other hand, I also feel like I've been pregnant FOREVER! We are so ready for our little girl to be here! We have started cleaning out the soon-to-be-baby room and started the painting process. I'm very excited to have it all done--mostly because it's a pain and my hand does not enjoy painting right now (swelling in hand = carpultunnel = takes SO long to paint). We also ordered our glider chair. So things are coming along nicely for the room.

We were in KC a little over a week ago for a baby shower. It was hosted by my mom and sister and they did a lovely job! Here are some pictures from the festivities:

My sister was in charge of the cake...she used our nursery artwork as inspiration

Another great idea--as a party favor each guest got a mini-bottle of champagne to save and pop open once the Nugget arrives


It was great to see family, but also very nice that some of our friends from KC could make it!

As some of you may know, my sister is a budding photographer and took some shots of my preggo self while in KC also. Here are my favorite shots:

Coming up, November will for sure be busy. I have a lot of work travel to get in before I'm no longer allowed to travel, a baby shower for my sister-in-law, a baby shower for my friend (Michelle) who is due a week after me, and my final baby shower here in STL. Then it will be Thanksgiving and the holidays! Christmas is my favorite and I can't wait to put up the decorations, but I will restrain myself and wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving :)

Halfway to meeting our BABY GIRL!

We found out last week that our little nugget is a girl. I had a hunch, but really with 50/50 odds what's a hunch worth? First and foremost, the ultrasound looked ALL GOOD. The nugget--as far as they can tell--is healthy and growing quite nicely. At the time of the ultrasound they measured her at 9 inches, and 9oz. So weight is about on track, but the height is ahead of track. Might have a long baby, I mean tall :0)

Watching her move around while we were getting the ultrasound was really amazing. I haven't felt her move yet, but the girl is active. She was constantly moving and even "waved" at us one time. Good thing we have a friend of a friend over at Barnes so we can sneak in another ultrasound to watch her move around later on in the pregnancy.

We decided to go out and buy the nugget an outfit the day we found out she was a girl. Mike picked it out, and in his words, "...you get to have the baby, so I get to pick the outfit." He did a great job. A cute little pink number that looks warm and snuggling for a cold January (or maybe February...if she's late) ride home! It also had a little hat. He's already thinking like a dad!

At 20 weeks now--halfway there! It seems like I've been pregnant forever and this point and there are still 20 more weeks to go. I'm sure time will fly by--especially with baby showers coming up and the holidays! I have my first (well, second...some friends surprised me in Chicago) baby shower this weekend. I'm really excited and cant' wait. I think it will be so fun!

Oh, the other news...well, not really news, but fun stuff. I think I've figured out a direction for the nursery. I knew pink had to be involved, but I also wanted it to feel like a kids room with fun bright colors. I'm very pleased with my choices so far. Here's our bedding and artwork:

Week 18

The nugget is a bell pepper this week. That baby sure if growing fast in there and I can really tell! The waistline is expanding. Almost time to start taking those monthly "look how big my belly can get" photos.

Week 17

The nugget is the weight of a turnip this week--5oz (or about that). Still not even half of a pound. It already seems like we've been preggo for son long and we are only at 5oz. Daaaang.

Two more weeks until we find out what the nugget is...an exciting countdown for us! Right before Labor Day weekend so I plan to spend the weekend working on my first "real" scrapbook. I usually do them digitally, but for the nugget I'm going to make him/her their very own baby book. I suspect I also spend much time online that weekend searching for inspiration for decorating the nugget's room. Oh man, can't wait!

Week 16...whoops, missed a week...

Just to catch you up, in week 15 the nugget was the size of an apple. I love apples. I've actually been eating a lot of apples in the last week. I don't think there's any correlation, as in week 14 I didn't feel like eating any large fists. Oh, and never craved a kumquat way back when. But it does make me giggle that I love eating apples and our nugget was the size of an apple.

Now in week 16 the nugget has grown to the size of an avocado. Yummy! I LOVE avocados. We LOVE the nugget. Side note: I've always wanted an avocado tree. Why do those things have to be so expensive at the grocery?

It really is crazy how quickly the nugget is growing. I've been having some weird feelings down in the womb--I'm not sure if this is movement I'm feeling, or just more strange feelings that go along with being preggo--but it's interesting. Pretty cool if it's actual movement. Guess I'll know for sure when we have our ultrasound on September 3rd and see the nugget move and compare it to what I'm feeling.

Yeah, so on September 3rd the decor of the baby's room will be decided...I mean, we'll know what we are having :) We are SUPER excited for this day! And the decor won't actually be decided, but I'll know what direction to head. One of my co-workers today suggested I look at the Chinese Calendar to see what I'm having. Somehow by looking at the month you conceived and your age at the time it can determine what you are having.

It's one of those old wives tales, and who knows if it's true, but it says we'll be having a girl. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Three more weeks...

Week 14

So we've gone from produce to a large shrimp and this week...
The nugget is the size of a...
LARGE FIST.

So here's our question--who's fist? Mine? Mr. T? A midget? There's a lot of variation in that comparison. And it's really hard to talk fondly about a "large fist." Baby shrimp and baby grape were much easier.

Things are moving right along. The nausea has passed, and a lovely head/chest cold settled it. But that also is on its way out the door. I'm ready for full energy!

Non-Baby Post: Gunman in Ballwin, MO (he's gone now)

And just when we thought we were all safe and sound in the 63011 (Ballwin for those of you that don't live here).

Today about 5:15pm we got a knock, well, a loud bang on our front door. Turns out it was a police officer with a semi-automatic weapon. Doesn't this happen everyday in your neighborhood? So yeah, back to the story...we tells us to "...get out, there's a man with a gun behind your house...get out and walk up the road, get out." He then proceeds to the corner of our house, shoves himself in our Evergreens, and cocks his gun.

So we grab the Zoester, shoes, and get out. I mean, you don't have to tell us twice.

We were only out about 10-15 minutes until they got the man in custody, but those were some exciting minutes! Ballwin police all over our yard and the sidewalk with their guns. I had a thought, if bullets start flying should we be standing up here on the sidewalk, but the other neighbors seemed to think it was alright, so I stayed put. Still, I would have preferred to be behind a tree or something.

Turns out 'ole crazy behind us (not the rude guy from NY--for those of you that know--but the neighbor next to him) lost his marbles again and for some reason had barricaded himself in his house and was threatening to shoot. He was taken into custody and sent to St. John's hospital. Apparently they take all cases "...where people are threatening to harm others..." to the hospital. So yes, this man could come home soon. Yes, he still has his guns. Comforting. But man, you have to be really some kind of upset to cause all that hoopla.

Thank goodness it didn't develop into anything where bullets were flying and thank goodness we weren't out of our house for very long (dinner was getting cold).

And who thought LA was more dangerous?!

Done with the First Trimester!

We are moving on into the 2nd trimester with our baby lime. The rumor is that you are suppose to start feeling better and have all this energy in the 2nd trimester, but like we said...rumors. I thought I'd turned a corner, but the sickness still looms and this weekend I've been exhausted! So--based on information I heard about baby girls causing more sickness--I'm calling it now. I think it's a girl. Mike Rose, of course, is still holding strong with his thought that it's a boy. Guess we'll just have to wait until September to find out.

We visited the doctor on Friday for our 12 week check-up and all was good. He used this little doppler device (similar to the weather doppler, but he wouldn't be able to predict if it was going to rain...we asked) and we heard the baby's heartbeat. So the nugget is still in there and going strong.

I've been having these weird side pains. Well, apparently they aren't "weird." Just some ligaments moving around and expanding as my uterus grows, but I had this thought: what is it was my appendix and I needed to have it taken out while I was pregnant. The doctor got a good laugh out of this question and said, "Well, that's a new one." Have no fear--it's not my appendix, but if it were we could do the operation and the baby would be fine. Ahh, the things that run through my mind these days.

One more cute story for this week's post. Our little neighbors (the ones who love Zoey and play fetch with her) are very excited for us to have a baby. So much so, that they gave us our first baby gift. A stuffed Pooh bear. It was Jack's and then Donovan's (the little neighbor boys) and they thought out baby would like it. How sweet is that?

11 weeks...Gettin' "Figgy" With It....

I'm a little late in posting this, but week 11 is almost over and our baby is the size of a fig. Apparantly the little fig is hiccuping and all these days. I can't feel anything, but that's what the news says. Can't wait to find out on Wednesday what week 12 will bring for our growing produce department :)

Our Little Fruit Baby

It's funny how the size/growth of our baby is tracked by what size of fruit it matches up to. When we first started doing this tracking it was a blueberry...then a raspberry...then a large grape, and here in week 10 our little babe is the size of a kumquat. Really? Is the kumquat a popular enough fruit to use it as a tracking device? I had to look it up online. The only thing I know about kumquats is that every time my friends and I play the "vegetable game" Becky is a kumquat. News for her, it's a fruit. She's gonna need to get a new "go-to" veggie, or the game will have to be changed to the "vegetable/fruit game" or the "produce" game.

So yeah, here in week 10 things are not getting better. I really thought the sickness would start to taper off, but it's just getting worse! I'm really hoping I'm "text book" and after week 12 this sickness and tiredness will vanish. Cross your fingers!

I will say, the way I've been feeling is much more bearable due to my fabulous hubby--and baby daddy--Mike Rose. He's fantastic. He does anything I ask and is always concerned about me. He's also sure to tell me everyday that I'm beautiful. I'm pretty sure the man chapter from What to Expect When You're Expecting told him to do this, but I also think he'd probably do it anyway. What a guy!

Announcing Our Baby, Perez Hilton Style

Well, we went "live" today with our baby announcement on Facebook. I mean, how else to tell all your friends?! Anyway, if you know me, you know I love me some celebrity gossip and my favorite blogger is Perez Hilton. So I stole his "way" of letting us know when celebs are preggo...they say it's good to read to babies...hope ours like celebrity gossip :)

The Roses are having a baby!

That's right, we've finally taken the leap! Our little nugget is due on January 29, 2010.

Currently, I feel like a big ball of awful. Just like they say you should feel for a healthy baby, so I guess it's good then. We are very excited, nervous, scared, and all those other feelings. But mostly, grateful that we are able to have children.

We are also very happy for Alice and Raf, they are also having a baby! She is actually due one week before me. It's just too bad we don't live in the same town as them.

Buh-Bye For Sale Sign

P.S. That's not our house pictured...

The Celebs Can't Resist Me!

Pictured: Whitey "The White Rat" Herzog, Yours Truly, Jack "The Ripper" Clark

Met these former MLB'ers yesterday at a radio station promotion. Pretty cool to hear them tell some old Cardinals stories!

Camargo Sweet Camargo

It's ours! It's really ours!

We finally closed on our house today and have already taken a few things over.


Tonight is our last night at "Ma's" (as Mike puts it).


We are thrilled with our (massive) purchase and I can't wait to take a paint brush to it and start decorating!

My Favorite 3 Little Words

CLEAR TO CLOSE!!!

Finally, we got word today that the "I don't care about deadlines" underwriter approved us to close. Thank goodness. We've been waiting for weeks.

After this afternoon, the house will be ours. Watch our Camargo Lane!

It's Another Lovely Day...We Love LA!

So we went back to LA and the OC this past weekend. Man, we really love that place. Well, I really love it; and Mike likes it a lot. We'd like to share our fun from this past weekend, but find typing paragraphs exhausting, and seriously, wouldn't you rather read bullet points?!

• We flew into LAX and headed straight for our favorite place in LA: Runyon Canyon. Best hiking and views. It's so easy to exercise in LA.


• After changing in the Runyon Canyon parking lot (no easy fete) we headed to another favorite: Chin Chin on Sunset. The BEST GREEEN TEA EVER, I claim in the world, but will admit I've never been to China or Hong Kong. It's a great little Chinese place right on Sunset, so the people watching is great (see two pics above...me with my beloved green tea and Mike looking all chill on Sunset)
  
• And then it was time for the Lakers game. One thing we never did while we lived out in LA. Our good friend, April, scored us some free 10th ROW tickets and it was amazing. Mike really loved the game and I thoroughly enjoyed celebrity spotting...


• ...speaking of which, I spotted a fave--Neil Patrick Harris. Better known to most as "Doogie", but I really like him on How I Met Your Mother where he plays the totally awesome...wait for it...Barney Stinson


• People kept calling him "Doogie", but I went with the Neil approach and totally scored a picture with him!


• We also saw Jack--the Jack Nicolson and Eric McCormick (Will & Grace). But who cares about them, Doogie was there! I have pictures of them, but prefer my close up with NPH

• After the Lakers game we headed down to the OC in our totally rad Prius to spend the rest of the weekend with Andy and Janell (and Christy...and Sarah...and Brandon)


• Speaking of the Prius, buy one. Seriously, buy one. We drove all over LA, all over Orange County and only used 1/2 a tank of gas in 4 days. This isn't a normal gas tank, though. A 1/2 a tank of gas was about 4 gallons. We do not lie. It rides nice, it's great for the enviroment, and the little bit more you pay to buy it will totally be made up in the cost you save in gas. We were astonished. Seriously. Buy one.


• We just chilled in Laguna the rest of the weekend: stumbled across a parade and scored 10% off at my favorite beach home store (bought a picture frame), had some crab cake eggs benedict (delicious!), went bike riding on the board walk, oh and stumbled into our friend Eve!


• No joke, Eve lives in KC and was in LA for work and just happened to be in Newport for the day when we ran across her. What a great surprise! We hadn't seen her since we went to Costa Rica together!

• One of the funniest things we heard/saw this wknd: A poster that said "Vote No on Yes". I might make a t-shirt.


• Our final night in the OC we BBQ'd at Janells with her friends and learned that your wingspan really is how tall you are, and measured each of our strides in an effort to figure out how many strides we'd need to take each day to walk a mile. With this science lab the trip suddenly also became educational.

I love California. I miss California. I think I'm a California girl at heart. Mike likes it a lot also. We know we'll be back (probably later this year) one day soon. It's too bad that its so darn expensive to live out there. But we're saving and we still plan to have our little beach bungalow one day!

Now, back to reality...anyone tried Domino's new American Legends? Delicious.

Mardi Gras Pet Parade...continuing our exploration of STL

In our continued effort to rediscover St. Louis we ended up in Soulard yesterday (Sunday). In the past the only time we've gone to Mardi Gras it included having a friend's place to crash, getting their early enough to find parking, peeing in alleys, and sometimes wandering out of Soulard once dark hit hoping you would run into a friend to drive you home. Not this year. We're much older. Wiser. And maybe boring, although in our defense, it was a "school night"

We rocked out on a Sunday with the 'ole Zoester, Alison, Lampe, and Jackson. The weather was great (for February) and we had a fun time. Just walking around, watching the other dogs, and checking out some of the costumes. Yup, many owners had full get-ups for their dogs. Hilarious. Zoey had a fantastic time, although still only has a minimal amount of time for paying attention to Jackson (Al's dog). I think eventually they'll be BFFs.

We weren't lucky enough to snag any of the free Beggin' Strips samples from the parade, but we had a great time. Success, another new St. Louis adventure.

Below is a picture of Zoey...she really got into showing her stuff for some beads :) (j/k)

A Day in Forest Park

Yesterday was such a nice day! I wish it was the sign of things to come, but we know there is more winter in store for us. UGH. Anyway, we took advantage of the weather and went to Forest Park. It was packed! Zoey enjoyed the long walk and barking at the ducks in the water. I tried to get back into running and lasted about 2 songs. It's definitely going to be a long process building back up to a long run! We thought we were really booking it and then we looked down at Zoey and she was walking fast--not even really running. That made us feel good :)

Now, only a few more days until we close on our house. Hopefully all will stay as planned, but the sellers are giving us a little trouble with some of the inspection items. We have talked about pushing back the closing if they don't comply, but dear God, let them comply! Zoey and I are very ready to have our own place...and yard (for Zoey). Hopefully we'll be in there next weekend and be able to post pictures of our barn, I mean home (it kind of resembles a barn on the outside).

Have your agent call my agent

Today was a good day.
We rented our house in KC.
We're about to secure a house in STL.
And we went to a casting call for the upcoming George Clooney movie. That's right, we're so Hollywood in STL. Ironic that we lived in LA, but went to a casting call in STL, right?!

The movie is called "Up in the Air" and they are hiring 2,100 extras for the filming in STL. While it'd be cool to be in the movie, I'm really stoked about the possibility of seeing Clooney on set. I know they say it's frowned upon for extras to bring their camera on set, but who cares. If I get on set, I will have a camera. It's a total long shot, but the Roses continue their exploring and rediscovering STL!

First the polar bears...now the raccoons

Something you all probably don't know about Mike Rose: The man loves animals...mostly the ones in danger.

After the Planet Earth series came out he was real torn up about the polar bears. Sigourney Weaver had sweet talked him into thinking they were going extinct. Now, we do believe there is danger and that the Earth's temps are getting too high and all that, but for the purposes of this blog all you need to know if that Mike Rose had some real worries about the polar bears.

Flash forward a year and half, or so. Mike Rose goes to take out some trash this evening to the dumpster and what does he see? The raccoons. Now, we see them almost every night. They live at the dumpsters by his mom's place. They don't harm anyone--they just want to eat. They drive Zoey a little crazy, but you get that. Anyway, it's like 10 degrees below too cold tonight and they just emptied the dumpsters. Mike saw these little guys (well, one of them is little. That guy on the left is seriously gigantic) all curled up in balls freezing and he had a thought about maybe taking them something to keep them warm. I mean tucking in a raccoon for a good night's sleep? I didn't know whether or not to laugh, be seriously concerned, or be proud he cared so much.

Bottom line, Mike Rose is a sweet guy. Even if you are just a rabies-infested raccoon, he cares.

The Great Facial Hair Experiment

No words needed for this post. The photo(s) say it all. Thank goodness Mike Rose got a job!

A New Year

We rang in 2009 with a group of friends (Nikki, Alison, Raf, Alice, Betz, Lampe, Megan Brandenstein, and Mel, Ramsey, and B). That's one thing we love about being in STL--lots of different groups of friends to hang out with and bring together. We were safe--Nikki's step-dad dropped us all off; and Mike's mom picked us up. Yup, just like back in middle school for the dances. Mike's mom was even so nice as to drive us through Steak and Shake after our long night so we could load up on cheese fries and burgers. I'm sure she was quite amused with all of us!

So as we usher in 2009 it's time to think about goals, resolutions, or whatever you want to call me. I thought I was going to give up Diet Coke to see if I could, but already (on January 3rd) I'm thinking that's a silly resolution. Why was I doing it? And what's the purpose? So maybe I'll try to cut back for the sake of my teeth, but giving it up completely just isn't going to happen. So here's what I wish for/will play a role in making happen for 2009:

1. Find a house and move in (the sooner the better!)
2. Take care of myself--starting with getting back on South Beach and at some point during 2009 running a 5K (I hope I'll have accomplished by next winter because I hate running when it's cold outside!)
3. Explore STL like we did LA. There's more to this city than I think we give it credit for.
4. Take a vacation--whether this ends up being Mexico in July with friends, or something on our own to celebrate our 5th anniversary. We're going somewhere where we have to stay in a hotel (not with friends/family...not that there's anything wrong with that)
5. Continue to remember birthdays and special occasions of our friends and families and send cards!