One Hell of a Storm in Chicago

This is the view from my front porch and trust me, pictures do not do the damage on my block justice. My husband and I watched my neighbor's tree go over from our bedroom window, then we grabbed our dog and the one cat that was upstairs and ran downstairs. I was sure our tree was going to fall on our house; it didn't, thank goodness.

Still on my front porch. This is not my car; mine is in the garage.

Still on my front porch. We live right by hwy 90/94 in Chicago and this is a billboard, which up until a little while ago, had an advertisement on it.

That is part of my neighbor's tree hanging precariously from a telephone line. My husband and our neighbor got it down.

Close up of my across the street neighbors tree. He is 85 years old and I was worried about him because he did not come outside after the storm. We knocked on his door for a quite some time, but he did not answer. I will check on him later to make sure that he is okay.

I do not think I have ever seen such bad weather in Chicago and I have lived here my entire life. The sound the storm made and the sight of the trees either bent over to the ground or toppled was surreal. At the time I thought it must be a tornado, but it was a microburst. The news said that another line of storms is coming through soon.

I cannot believe we did not lose power.

46 XY

16 Weeks 3 Days (yesterday)
Heartbeat 150

The tests all came back normal! We are having a boy!

I must admit, I was shocked when our OB said that we were having a boy. This is because almost everyone we are close with and see regularly was certain, absolutely certain that we were having a girl. When I called my mom and told her we knew the gender she said, "It's a girl!" I was like, "Uh...no it's not..." When I called my sister she said, "Is it a girl?" I mean my whole family was sure we were having a girl from the moment of conception. I could tell that my sister was thrilled that we were having a boy, simply thrilled. My mom was just thrilled to know everything was okay; she couldn't care less about the gender. She was so sure we were having a girl, she bought girl stuff already. Now, that is silliness; I didn't even do that, and I saw some cute shit.

I have to say, when we had our first trimester screening ultrasound, I looked at the monitor at our jumping baby and thought, "That is a boy." To me, he looked like a boy even then. I never told anyone this feeling and since then I became convinced that we were having a girl. It is so perfect that we are having a boy because I intended to have an animals and palm trees theme regardless of the gender. I am just not all that into pink, unless it's really bright and bold. I just love the Fisher Price Rainforest collection! I registered for it months ago!!!

I am already thinking about the circumcision. Poor baby.

I sure hope it's true that little boys love their mommies!!

Baby Bump 15 Weeks 6 Days

This is a picture of me, Iceman, my sister, and my Dad; my mom took the picture. It was taken on Saturday, August 4, 2007 when we were celebrating my dad's 63rd birthday. His birthday is actually 8/6 and we just got back from having dinner and birthday cake at my parent's house. My dad is one lucky duckie to celebrate his birthday twice! I feel one should stretch out his or her birthday celebration as long as possible!

We played Yahtzee and I lost 3 of 4 games. Boo hoo. Iceman beat me twice and my mom beat me once. I love playing Yahtzee, but I am getting a little tired of losing. Iceman and I played 6 or 7 games on my birthday, and he won all of them but one!!!

My mom has really taken to rubbing my belly, which is cute and does not bother me, but she has come super duper close to feeling me up on more than one occasion. I mentioned this to her, but she does not care; she is so thrilled about this baby!

I have not heard from the genetic counselor yet. Come on Mr. Uncooked Noodle; we are waiting!!!

Ten Days Since Amniocentesis

Yesterday was 10 days since the amnio, which is significant in that the doctor who performed the test told us that it would take 10 days to get the results. Of course, I did not ask whether that meant 10 business days, nor did I expect to get the results on a Saturday. The thing is, I want to know already or at least know when I will know.

It will be 10 business days since the amnio as well as my next appointment with our OB this coming Wednesday, August 8, 2007. I am hoping that we will have the results before our next appointment, that way we can discuss the results with our OB.

I Finally Got My Pool!

I have been wanting a pool since we bought our house in March of 2005 and I finally have it! As you can see, I did not even wait until the pool was filled, nor did I waste time by putting on a bathing suit. It has been so damn hot and humid in Chicago, this pool went from a want to a need PDQ (pretty damn quick).

I have always been a summer lover and sun worshiper, but lately I cannot handle the heat coupled with the oppressive humidity. It is my wish to one day have an in-ground pool, but in the city, it is nearly impossible to get a permit for an in-ground pool. Because of this we will most likely be suburbanites (eventually), but for now this pool will do the job just fine!

That picture is me with 17-19 more pounds than usual! Ahhhh, the joys of pregnancy. The book, Your Pregnancy Week by Week says that I should have gained 5 pounds at this point in my pregnancy. Ummm, yeah.... fuck off!!