the hertels

i love seeing my family so happy. the new proud parents, the proud big sister and the proud grana and grandpa!



i can't wait for december when we're all together again...this time with our new little chickadude.
we'll definitely make sure to take a family photo, since i realized when i got back to virginia that we didn't take one while in houston! d'oh!

little man mason

houston day 1 was full of mason time!!! i have the cutest little nephew. the minute i saw him i fell in love. it makes me want to see our little chickadude even more! he's got the cutest little wrinkles and chin. and such a content little baby. you can tell he's a very happy little man with his new family. one thing is for sure...this little man gets lots of love!

and i can already tell that these two cousins are going to have some great times together. starting next june actually, when we have the hertel OMG 2o11 summer vacation. can't wait!!

i definitely got some good practice in though. thanks andrea!!!

my new best friend...

yes, that's right.....tums are now my new best friend!!! they live on my nightstand, in my purse and i think they will find another new home in the basement at my desk. oh tums, how i love your speedy heartburn relief!

i never had heartburn before being pregnant, so at first i wasn't quite sure what it would feel like. oh, but now i know! that burning feeling in my throat...not fun! so i pop one or two of these and then i'm good to go. it's almost second nature now to take one not too long after i eat anything and i definitely take at least one before going to bed! i think it was lisa who said i would have a supply of them with me at all times during some point of my pregnancy. she was right!

but if the legend holds true, chickadude is going to have a ton of hair (unlike his dad...sorry hun, i couldn't resist)!

room makeover

craft room/guest room before....

...and then 4 hours later!!



it was A LOT of work, but i am so happy it's finally clutter free and organized! nesting like what?!now we can actually get a blow-up mattress in the room though. although, maybe our guests don't want to sleep in the room next to chickadude?! i guess we'll just have to find out! at some point we want to get a futon to put in the room, but that might have to wait for a bit. i also have a project for grady and grandpa...a thinner, wooden sewing table. :)

single digits

31 weeks...9 more to go! i've hit the single digits of weeks remaining!



and at 31 weeks, here are the stats:

chickadude's heart rate - 130's
belly measurement (fundal height) - 32"
total weight gain so far - 21 lbs

and no need for alarm, but at my last ultrasound the doctor did find that i have more amniotic fluid than normal. with that said, the doctor also noted that with the weight of chickadude (almost 4 lbs) and the size of my belly (which is on track), she was not alarmed and will just have me go in for another ultrasound at 36 weeks to check things out. i'm excited to be able to see our little chickadude one more time before he arrives, and i'll definitely make sure grady can make this one.

one other hiccup i've had my pregnancy is having higher blood pressure at the doctor's office, compared to my regular readings at home. so that we can determine what my actual blood pressure is, and to monitor myself and chickadude, the doctor will have me go to the birthing inn for weekly stress tests starting at 33 weeks until i deliver. i'm not looking forward to spending an hour or so at the birthing inn each week, but looking at the bright side of things, hopefully i'll be able to get to know some of the nurses beforehand. hopefully that will make me feel a little more comfortable when it's go time!

so all in all, i'm still staying positive and enjoying my pregnancy.

roly poly

lately little chickadude has been rollin' away in my tummy. the kicks and jabs are still there, but he seems to really like just moving around. his favorite move is rolling to the left side of my tummy and then kicking my right side with his feet. it makes me laugh sometimes because he'll kick so hard it kind of makes my arm move. :)

he also really enjoys doing jumping jacks it seems, right as i lay back down in bed from getting up in the night. we definitely have a night owl on our hands! he's taking after his dad already.

stroll at meadowlark

today we met up with colleen, cormac, croistior and bella and headed over to meadowlark gardens. it's such a perfect place to take the kids. trails, hills, flowers, sandbox areas and a pond full of koi, catfish, geese and huge snapping turtles! i know where i'll be with the little chickadude come next spring. just to be able to push him around in a stroller and take in all the plants and flowers will be very relaxing. i'm looking forward to it already!



i see lots of family photos being taken here as well.

30 weeks!

so because my blood pressure has been a little higher than normal at the doctors office (not when i take my readings at home though), the doctor had me go in for an ultrasound to check on chickadude's growth. hmmmmmm, it doesn't seem that growing is a problem for him! based on all the measurements they took, chickadude is almost 4 pounds!!! at 30 weeks the typical weight is at about 3 pounds. holy kaschmole, what do i have in store for me. i'm just hoping that they're estimating high on his weight. or maybe he just went through a growth spurt?!

and looking through all the images they sent home with me, i did a double take on the EDD and EDD (AUA)!!!! chickadude could maybe make an early appearance?! who knows.



as usual, chickadude had his hands up by his face pretty much the entire visit. getting a good profile took some gentle persuasion! he was definitely giving the ultrasound tech some good "hello" bumpsthough. :) it was cute because when he would 'bump' the instrument she would say "well hello to you too sir!" he'll probably change positions a million times before d-day, but it was reassuring to know that he was head down during the visit with his back curved up on my left side so his feet were over near the right side of me.

so all in all, things are going well. i'm growing, chickadude is growing and we're 3/4 of the way there!!

mighty mason

a big congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law on the arrival of their son....mason wayne hertel!



we can't wait to meet him and we also can't wait for his cousin to arrive so they can play together over the holidays!
we love all of you
<3

fragile. this end up.

just happened to be standing in front of this sign when heading home from richmond. only 10.5 more weeks of storage!

my second family

richmond is definitely my second home, seeing as my second family lives there...sarah g, momma g and poppa g! not only was i thrilled to share this time in my life with meena while in richmond, but also with the gintouts. i love this family so much and am glad that i'm one of their adopted daughters!! i have laughed so hard with each and everyone one of them and have appreciated all the love and support they have given me the past 9 years!!



miss sarah g was also the only reason i passed dr. hirsch's government class....thanks!!! little did i know that her TA sessions would turn into an awesome friendship. i really think we are sisters separated at birth too. i often think back to our many "sex in the city" dvd nights, blizzard runs, bargain shopping, people watching and girl talks. i wouldn't have been able to keep my sanity without her!

great people and great times!

roomie reunion

i can't believe it's been 5 years...yes i said FIVE YEARS...since i've seen my most favorite college roomie, miss meena (check out her illustrations...yes, there's a link to her blog on the right)! craziness! of course the minute we saw each other it was like no time had passed at all though. we were back to our silliness, laughing and story telling. loved it!



i was so happy to be able to share this time in my life with her. i remember the two of us sitting on our porch talking about the day when we get married, have kids and whatnot...and now it's really happening!! we're all grow'ed up! and i'm going to make it my mission to not let 5 years go by again until we see each other. what were we thinking?!

and what's even crazier than not seeing each other the past 5 years, is the fact that i remember the very first thing meena said to me 10 years ago (almost to the day) on the first day of our conceptualization & presentation class at VCU......"hi, i'm meena, is anyone sitting here?? .....i love your glitter!" and that was the beginning of the end.

love you girlie.

ready for my close-up

i'm so excited because on september 11th i will be having my very own maternity photo shoot! i found a wonderful photographer, blair hill photography (http://blairhillphotography.blogspot.com/search/label/maternity), and can't wait for her to come over and make me look beautiful. we've already been discussing what types of shots we want taken and i think our session is going to be lots of fun. i have a couple of props i'm thinking of using, but i'm going to keep all of that a secret! :)

we're also going to have a newborn session done when little chickadude is born. so excited!!!

7 days, 7 nights....7 MONTHS!

that's right folks....7 months! only 3 more to go!
i'm definitely feeling larger these days and you can probably see why. little chickadude is definitely growing, moving and grooving. and i think i can prove the old wives tale of "carrying everything in the front for a boy." my bump is pretty firm too...must be my rock solid abs!



week 28:
chickadude is the size of an eggplant
heartburn is becoming noticeably worse
becoming more tired after lunchtime...but not as bad as the first trimester
can feel which side of my belly chickadude is snuggling on...it gets REALLY hard
have had to start doing the "less difficult" moves in pilates
normally waking up 3-4 times a night now
favorite snacks: cinnamon graham crackers with peanut butter, vanilla yogurt with chocolate chips, nectarines, brown sugar oatmeal
nesting has definitely hit hard...everything has to be CLEAN

texas bound

i'm so excited because in september i get to see all of these lovely faces again...as well as my new little nephew's face for the first time!!!



the countdown to september 4th has begun.
tey-has...here we come!!