Christmas Adventure

Let me start out by saying that Christmas was wonderful. It was so much fun to get oodles of stuff for you. My favorite part is bringing it all home and finding the perfect place for every little thing. I love it!

It wasn't all fantastic though. We had a little incident. Thankfully you were not involved in this incident in any way. You remained happy, comfy, safe and warm in my belly. :)

We got to Charlotte on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Morning I realized that I had forgotten my makeup. I panicked a little. I'm not huge on heavy makeup but it makes me feel good to go through my routine and feel good about myself. Jase agreed after much mumbling and grumbling to take me to Walgreen's to get some back up powder, mascara etc. No one else was awake yet and ready so it wasn't a big deal to slip out for a few. I got ready and started following Jason down the stairs. The stairs are wood and are very dark with no lights on. I missed a step and fell on the landing where the stairs turn. Apparently it was loud and the only thing I said was, "Oh no." I heard the most awful tear going down. It sounded like flesh ripping. Terrible sound. I thought I had broken it. Everyone came out of their rooms to see what was wrong because my fall was so loud. Jason carried me down the rest of the stairs and I laid on the couch the rest of the day unable to put any weight on my foot. I devised a very intricate scooting method to get around the house and up and down the stairs. Your dad was fantastic helping me through all this. He never once left my side from the moment I fell until I could walk again on my own.

Fast forward to Sunday, the very next day. I had decided that I should go to Urgent Care in Charlotte. We had already met our deductible (thank you Ella!) so I figured it couldn't hurt. We woke up super early and got there right when they opened. It actually snowed about 2 inches in Charlotte so we were practically the only ones on the road. Crazy Indiana drivers. :) We only had to wait about 15 minutes before they wheeled me back in a wheelchair. They did some x-rays and came to the conclusion that I had torn fibers in my ligaments. No broken bones thankfully. They equipped me with a boot and crutches and I hobbled me way back out to the car. Everyone there was super nice and made sure I was taken care of.

A busted foot was NOT going to stop me from shopping the day after Christmas. Jill called the mall and figured out how we could go about getting a wheelchair. Jason pushed me around the whole mall in this wheelchair. Everyone was smiling at me out of pity and everyone got out of my way. Kind of nice. :) Your dad was fantastic. He suffered through many baby stores and never lost his patience or got sick of pushing me. I even devised a plan, anytime I wanted to go into a store I would pull the brakes on the wheel that would turn me in there so he had no choice but to go into that particular store. We had fun! (Okay well maybe Jill and I had fun!)

After a few days of not being able to put weight on it I slowly started getting better which is a fantastic sign. I was able to graduate to just once crutch for support. The last two days that we were there, Tuesday and Wednesday, I was able to hobble around without any crutches at all. I just wore the boot.

Now, here comes the real tragedy...I ran out of toilet paper and was digging through the drawers in our bathroom at Jill's to find some more when I came across...you guessed it...my makeup bag...!!!!!!!!! I've officially lost my brain to you, little Ella. I died laughing and Jason just shook his head.

On Wednesday when we left we were able to get a wheelchair at the airport because we figured it wasn't a good idea to hobble all the way through everything. That would be a lot of strain on the poor little foot. It was once again fantastic, people smiling, getting out of the way, got to go in the front of all the lines, a few cute guys asking if I needed help when Jase wasn't there and getting on the plane first! :) I had to play it up a bit and act like I really couldn't walk on the foot at all so we could ensure that I got the wheelchair the whole way and didn't have to worry.

All the fun I had in the wheelchair was a stark reminder that some people never recover and get better day by day. Some people spend their entire lives in wheelchairs and I am sure it is not fun for them at all. Fortunately, I was one that was able to get up and walk out if it a few days later and I am very thankful for that.

When we got home all was well. I am still wearing the boot for support. It hurts a little but nothing bad. I was shaving my legs in the shower and noticed a huge bruise on the bottom right of my right foot. It pretty much freaked me out so I called Jason in to see it. He seemed concerned and suggested that I call our regular doctor and try to get in just to make sure everything was okay. My doctor couldn't get me in until the 4th of January (Hello new deductible!). I tried to call a podiatrist on the off chance that they would be open. No luck. They said everyone is trying to get in before the end of the year for their deductibles. We ended up calling Immediate Care here and they had 0!! wait time!! We zoomed the blueberry over there and the doc was great. He thoroughly examined my foot and said that when the fibers tore it bled and the blood is just pooling in the bottom of my foot. He said it will change every color of the rainbow before it heals and it is nothing at all to worry about. He inspected my leg for blood clots (huge worry of mine during pregnancy) and said he saw no signs of that either. We walked away very happy!

I'm doing much better. My mom and I are going back at it at the mall today and I am going with just my boot.

Here are some pictures of my lovely foot...







You are doing great Ella! I can feel you a lot now. At first I just felt you at night but now I feel you during the day too. I can feel you moving around a lot after I eat. Your kicks went from middle bottom of my stomach to on the left hand side of my stomach now. It's awesome to feel you to know that you are okay. We go in for our next appointment on January 12th. It's nothing big. The next big one is at 28 weeks.

We are almost 99% sure that the baby shower is going to be March 6th. Nothing is 100% sure until the invites go out though. :)

Here is a belly picture at 23 weeks. Getting bigger! I can't really sleep on my back anymore, it's not very comfy. The belly is only slightly getting in the way of doing something. Particularly bending over and reaching for something. It should get more and more interesting as time goes on. :)



I should mention that your future boyfriend Connor Bernhardt is almost ready to be born! Christie is 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. She has been my pregnant buddy so it's super exciting!! Keep her in your prayers!

Chandaliere

Daddy hung your chandaliere last night. :)

Ella Ruby Pantello

Little Ella!

Ella Ruby Pantello

Oh how excited I am!

I was 99.9% convinced you were going to be a boy. I had actually already thrown (literally thrown) every girl thing out of your room the night before. I was that convinced. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were a little girl. I nearly fainted! Your dad said, "Oh boy..." I think he knows he is in trouble now. :)

We left our house at 7am and got to the appointment right at 7:45am. We ran into traffic and had to go a different way than usual. We sat in the waiting room for what seemed like eternity. I had to drink 20 oz., 30 minutes before the appointment. Needless to say, I had to go to the restroom really badly and I was so excited I was nervous and felt sick! They finally called us back and we got all ready to take a peek at you!

I got a few pictures in the ultrasound room of me. Cameras and videocameras are not allowed so I had to sneak them while the tech was out of the room. (By the way, the tech was FANTASTIC and I am definitely going to request her next time.) The first one is of me before and the second one is of me after the ultrasound. I look a bit happy, yes?





You were beautiful! (Well, as beautiful as a 2D ultrasound can be) :) She took tons and tons of measurements. We were prodding around from probably 30 minutes. At first I believe you were sleeping. Your head was right on top of my bladder and you would't move. The ultrasound tech actually poked you and moved you around a lot and you finally starting squirming all over. Your dad was shocked at the amount of sudden and quick movements that you did. He was not expecting that at all.

We got tons of great pictures!












We are going to go back at 28 weeks for another ultrasound where we will get 3D or 4D pictures as well! Exciting! They want to check a few things in the heart and make sure that my placenta moves up up up where they want it to be.

I started feeling you two weeks ago. I never felt the butterflies. It seems to be more like big hunks of food moving through my system. The first two times I have felt you out in public with noise is at church when we were singing with loud music and at Scotts show with really loud music. Other than that, I feel you mostly at night when I lay down and you are most active. I felt the strongest kick yet while I was reading in bed. It made me put the book down, put my hand on my belly and smile.

Your dad was been FANTASTIC so far with the pregnancy. He is still carrying the laundry basket up and downstairs for me. It's great! He was telling me yesterday that I shouldn't be hunched over and that I should be in perfect posture all the time so I don't scrunch you. How cute!

I went on a little bit of a shopping spree for you today. I spent under 100 but I had to buy some cute pink clothes for you. So far, I have gotten a few items from The Childrens Place and Old Navy. Both are very cute and resonably priced.

I can't recall if I have posted this or not but I did have one downfall in the pregnancy so far. I was making Jase french toast...which I hate to begin with (something about soggy bread). I had just finished drinking a glass of grape juice and was starting on my Kashi cereal with blueberries. I brought the french toast up to Jase in bed and all of the sudden didn't feel so well. I told him that I thought I was going to throw up and I walked rather swiftly to the bathroom. Purple grape juice went all over the toilet. Nice, right? The joys of being pregnant. Although, if that is the only problem that I have (and only once) bring it on!

I still haven't been craving anything crazy that I know of. Fruit and veggies always sounds good. No emotional swings up or down. You can verify that one with your dad. I'm totally not worried or nervous about birth. I'm really just excited!

It's time to start making the nursery girl oriented! Bring on the pink!

We had a sex party tonight to announce that you were a girl. You can see a picture of the playing cards below. We had weiners, meatballs, deviled eggs and tacos. Everyone counted how many were of each and then we added them up and whichever gender specific food there was more of was the gender of the baby. :) Then Jason announced the name and every one cried. Okay not everyone but my mom did for sure. :) Thank you to Olivia for hosting the party and coming up with all the wonderful ideas!




I'm sure there is a lot more that I want to tell you but I can't think of it all right now. My mind is kind of a blur from all of the happenings today! I will be updating more in the future. I felt that I needed to really wait until the 20 week appointment for this one big post!

Maybe I will leave you with a belly picture. This is me at 20 weeks. Getting bigger!




See you in 19 weeks Ella!

<3

Ice Cream

Today...I went on a hunt...an adventure.

I drove to Traders Point to the Marsh there for some Haagen Dazs Peppermint Bark Ice Cream. I was devastated when I saw that they didn't have that or ANY of the limited edition ice creams there like the Haagen Dazs website said they did. However, I did find fresh edamame which made me very happy. I decided to go to the Marsh on Pike Plaza which didn't even exist so I tried my luck and went into the Meijer there. I FOUND IT!! I bought all but one carton of them. We have a deep freezer outside and I must keep them for the future.

They are limited edition and are only out once a year around Christmas time. You don't understand, they are, hands down, the best thing I have ever eaten. Ever. Seriously. It doesn't get any better.

I signed up on Haagen Dazs website to get an email any time that there is a delivery at a store around me. :) Obsessed? Yes.

I swear up and down this has nothing to do with pregnancy because I was dying over this stuff last year too.

Other than the ice cream, things have been fairly uneventful.

I had my right of passage into pregnancy the other day when I threw up purple grape juice all over the toilet. It came out of no where and I didn't feel sick after or before. I was making Jason french toast which I despise of. It's just soggy bread to me. Anyways, I never have been that sensitive to things like that but this time I believe it got the best of me. Hopefully it was a fluke and doesn't last any longer than that one time.

16 days until the BIG ultrasound!! Can't wait!!

Appointment

Things are going great E! We had our appointment today. You had a heartbeat of 163 today and everything went smoothly. So smoothly that we were in and out in about 10 minutes. My blood pressure was 118/64. Finally getting normal! :) I'm back to my starting weight too so that is also good. Only four more weeks until your big ultrasound debut!

This past weekend I went to Charlotte for the annual cookie bake! I didn't know this, but it is tradition to throw a shower for someone who has a baby at the cookie bake. It was so much fun! It was definitely a picture perfect shower which is why I am posting so many pictures. :) Baby E and I thank everyone who participated in this! I never realized how much fun baby showers are until I had my own. :)

We played a ton of fun games (all of which the winner handed the prize to me to keep. awesome rules). We also had lovely cucumber, ham salad and chicken salad finger sandwiches with berries on the side. The cupcakes were adorable lambs since my nursery will be lamb themed. I also got a ton of the lamb stuff that I registered for a pottery barn kids. :)

Shannon snuck me out of the house to go "see her new apartment" while all the ladies set everything up. Your grandma had me convinced that she had people sanding the dining room for some repairs. The dining room was all taped off and shut down for the cookie bake until I walked in the door around noon on Friday. Everyone yelled "Surprise!!" I was in TOTAL shock. You are only 17 weeks along and I am not in baby shower mode at all so I had no clue until I really looked around and saw all the baby stuff. The picture of me with my purse on still is when I first walked in. :) Fun Fun!

Everything is becoming so much more real now that things are happening! Your room looks fantastic. I am going to have to post more pictures soon. I have all the shower stuff put away and organized. I even washed, folded and put away all of the clothes that I have for you so far. Everything smells so good. Niko is highly interested in your lamb mobile since it is real wool. He keeps staring longingly into the slats of your crib where it is hidden away from him. Hopefully you will like it as much as he does.

Talk soon!

Bump Watch!!

There is now officially a bump. I was hesitant to believe it because for a while I thought it was just bloat. It really pretty much was. My belly was a lot bigger at night than in the morning. As of yesterday (yesterday morning according to Jase) I grew a bump! Baby E, you have officially popped out. I have figured out that the hand placement in the pictures makes a big difference too. I have gone all out to exaggerate the bump with the placement here too. :)




Things are going great! I am weaning myself off of the naps. You sure do like to make me tired! I can survive without one now. It's still nice to take one though. My body no longer feels like it is shutting down around 3pm.

We found out if you are Enzo or Ella in only 38 days!! That doesn't sound too far away at all!!

I haven't felt you yet. Hopefully soon!

I'm 16 weeks today! Woohoo! Time is FLYING by. Seriously!

I'm going to the cookie bake this coming weekend and then the Wednesday after I get back, we have appointment number 3 for you! Fun stuff!

I'm working on your gift registrys. They are a wonderful thing and quite fun to put together. I think that they are pretty much done. I also think that I registered at one too many places. Oh well! :)

I took a test called the Intelligender Test which you can buy at CVS or Walgreens. It is supposed to be 80% accurate but we will see. Obviously, I haven't made any decisions based on this and won't until the 15th of December but it did say boy! :)



There is a place right around our house that I can go to tomorrow and find out if you are Enzo or Ella but I am super hesitant to do that because 1) I hear any ultrasound machine but the ones at the docs are slightly risky and 2) I think it would make the pregnancy go much slower by finding out early. Sooooo tempting but I am going to wait!

Talk soon!

Sorry about the lack of updates, we are just kind of on cruise mode right now until we reach a few more milestones. No news is good news! Right?

Your Dads Sacrifice

From here on out, whatever happens, you know your dad loves you.

He has a huge huge huge dislike for needles. However, today he surprised me and got his flu shot, for you, before he came home! Yay!

While he was waiting for his turn, a little girl asked her mommy if Jase was a daddy. How cute is that! Seriously? How cute!

Second Appointment

Good news little one! We had our second appointment today. Although I failed to bring in my urine sample (not a single person told me to!!) everything else went great! She took my blood pressure which was 102/62. Near dead. :) Then she listed to you! We got to hear your heartbeat for a quite a while longer this time while the machine determined your heart rate which was 166. You're so strong already! We got to meet our actual doctor who is very cool. She is super relaxed and easy going. She will be great! She answered a few questions I had.

I am O- blood type. I will have to get a shot at 28 weeks and then again after you are born to prevent my body from making antibodies that are not good for you. That's basically what she said, in simple terms. :) She said it's nothing at all to worry about, just something we will need to do.

Daddy needs to get a flu shot too. He is resisting but I might be able to get him to do it. Doctor said he couldn't come back until he had one! Ha!

Mirror

Phew we had a rough night last night. I had dinner with Jase and about 1/2 hour later I felt pretty sick. It was 76 in the house and I was shivering. I felt like my entire dinner was on top of my stomach and ready to come up at any moment. I got ready for bed at 7 and laid down with Jase until about 8 or 9. I finally fell asleep around 10 or 11 and slept off and on until 3. I woke up and stayed awake for about an hour and a half before I woke up again at 7. Luckily, I felt a lot better. I got ready and went to the baby expo with a few neighborhood friends. We had a blast! I got you a cloth diaper. I really think I am going to give it a try. Test it out. See how it goes. The savings financially is astronomical. Hopefully, the ease of it will be astronomical too. They made it sound so easy. :) I'll let you know how it goes.

The whole time we were there my mom and dad kept calling. They wanted to come over and hang the mirror. My dad and Jase finally got it up while I was being force fed by my mother who thinks I am not eating enough. Your Grandmother.

It's beautiful! Another Craigslist find! It's not completely finished yet. We have to find little decorative screws for the holes in all four corners. The lady who sold it to me is due next week with a little girl. She was super excited to see it gone and sold it to me for a great price. She actually dropped it off right at the back door of my work! Doesn't get much easier than that! Your Grandpa ensured that it was secured to the wall very well so it doesn't topple over on you. He even posed next to it so you can see his hard work. :)

Glider

Happy 12 week birthday baby E!! You are 12 weeks old now. Only one away from being out of the first trimester. How awesome! I'm eagerly awaiting the second trimester. They say I won't be as tired and will feel much better overall. It is also when I start to show and when we find out if you are little Ella or little Enzo! What an exciting trimester! I'm super excited to start showing now. I'm curious if I will still be excited about showing 20 weeks or so from now. :) We will see. I will let you know.

Anyways, check this out!! I have been searching Craigslist every single morning, every single day for months now for a glider. Today, I found the one! The lady posted it this morning at 9:30am. I called her at 10:30am and bought it at 11:30am! Lucky her, right? Lucky me! She was selling a glider that she had JUST bought at Godby Furniture for a fraction of the price. We're talking a SMALL fraction here. :) It still has the tags on it believe it or not. It's the exact color I wanted too! I bought it from her and shoved it into the back of my car. (I love my car.) My mom was with me just in case we were going to a shady location which we definitely did not. It was a nice lady who lived in a nice house in Danville. She was moving and couldn't take everything with her which is why she was selling it.

After we loaded up the car, we drove to Godby because I have read up time and time again on the internet that you **need** the ottoman. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get one to match the chair or that the chair would even still be there. I figured if it was there, I would have to search the whole store. We spotted it before we even got into the store! It was sitting in the window. The sticker price was 699. Crazy right? Yeah. We talked to a lady working there and she brought out a catalog that sold ottomans. We found one that looked perfect for the chair and were even able to get it in the exact same fabric. Now, I thought it would be crazy expensive. I thought it would be much more than we paid for the chair. Turns out it wasn't! So in 6-8 weeks, we will have an ottoman to match.

I couldn't be more pleased with this purchase as you can see by the fact that I just wrote an entire blog about a chair. A chair. I have been looking forever though so it is a pretty big deal to me.

It's fun to think that in 6-8 weeks when we go and pick it up, you will be so much bigger! I will probably be showing too.

I am feeling much better as far feeling more normal goes. Not that it was ever bad. I have still been super tired and taking a nap every single afternoon around three. I think my body is more in the habit of that now more than anything.

Enjoy the pictures and we will talk again soon!

<3 Mom

Stroller

Oh Baby E! You have no idea! This is, by far, the coolest thing ever. I hope you love it every bit as much as I do. I have a feeling you won't. :)

It stumped your dad and I. We had to do a few google searches to figure out how to put everything together. Here is it right when we almost gave up...I had to take my shoes off, get some water and everything else!



This is how you will use it when you are an infant.




This is how it will be when you are a bit older.



It would take me forever to type in all the snazzy features it has. It's endless! I feel like I might not ever figure them all out!

Nursery

Baby E! What a big day! You're nursery is now painted and we got a few big furniture items for you. Some very important ones might I add! They look fantastic!! Here are a few pics. I even snuck a picture of them unloading the items from their truck.







Your dad painted the room and did a wonderful job! There are no dottys at all! I prepped the room for him and got everything ready. I wasn't allowed to tape though. His instructions for my contribution to painting..."Do NOT touch ANYTHING!!". Seriously! I got that text! You will learn later but I am just a terrible, no good, very bad, horrible painter. It's kind of scary.



On the topic of your Dad. He is been a.m.a.z.i.n.g. He has been helping so much!! He is constantly carrying laundry up and downstairs for me. He even cleaned pretty much the whole house when I was gone for a weekend. He washed (and bleached!) the sheets, took out the trash, did the dishes, cooked for himself, picked up. I could get used to this. :) He really is the best. I know he is excited about you!

You have been decently nice to me. We have had a few rough days but I know it could be much worse. We are rounding the bend here with the end of the first trimester a few weeks away. I am excited but also kind of sad that it is going so fast! Bittersweet! I'm enjoying every moment. Really! Thanks to Mary, I have been writing a ton of things down too so you and I will have memories of this special time forever!

Mister Niko had to sneak into one of the pictures! I think he is pretty excited too. :)