We're having a baby!

....which I realize is probably not news to anyone who is reading this:) We found out that I was pregnant in early December and the first few months were....hard. 24/7 nausea and fatigue, combined with not wanting to tell a lot of people in the first trimester came at the same time as the holidays and the beginning of the semester. Whew! Thank goodness for saltines, naps, and great husbands who help pick up the slack.

I was told that as soon as I hit the second semester- poof- I would feel awesome. That didn't quite happen....it took a few extra weeks or so for the nausea to finally go away, but for the last 5 or 6 weeks, I've been feeling much, much better. Now, my appetite is back in full effect. I'm now 5 and a half months (or 22 weeks in 'pregnant' speak- I always told myself I'd translate this to months for non-pregnant folks. Whenever people would tell me how many 'weeks' they were, I'd scramble to do the math for a minute).

But, throughout all of this, I have been happier than I think I've every been. Happy and grateful. We are so lucky, and I have to pinch myself sometimes to remember this is real.

On March 30, we found out that this baby is a girl! We were very excited to know for sure-I'd had a 'feeling' almost since the first day I found out, that this baby was a girl. Most of all, it was awesome to find out that everything is looking healthy and 'normal.' We would have been excited about a boy or girl, but now it's just nice to know and be able to plan (ehm, shop:)

So, hopefully..maybe, this pregnancy and baby will get me to blog more. We'll see!

For now, here's an Ultrasound picture...the technician added the text. I feel funny about posting the "it's a girl for sure" picture because it seems wrong in some way to share my daughter's (my daughter! wow!) most intimate body parts on the internet before she ever has a say about it:)

Things that make me happy: Fall edition

The bride (Sarah) and bridesmaids singing "Don't Stop Believing" with the wedding band. Did I mention it was a fun wedding?


In an effort to keep this blog alive, here's a quick post of what's been making me happy this fall:

1. Sarah and Dave's beautiful and fun wedding in Baton Rouge (Second Line! Dancing! Friends!)
2. All the great fall TV (There are no words for how happy I am that Lilly and Marshall are pregnant on How I Met Your Mother...yes, I know how crazy that sounds). I also think I love 'American Horror Story' despite being one of the most twisted shows ever.
3. Concerts- there have been some great bands in town this fall. My favorite so far has been The Head and The Heart (Their album is my favorite of the year). We're going to see Iron and Wine and Josh Ritter in November.
4. Friends- Just when I need it, I'm always reminded how great my friends are. I feel so grateful for this.
5. Family- Just like #4
6. Fall- the leaves, the colors, the weather. Fall in Atlanta is awesome!

Paris and Heidelberg

It's been almost two months since we took our amazing 9 day trip to Heidelberg and Paris (thanks FF miles!) I think pretty much everyone reading this has seen more of the pictures and heard about our trip, so I won't go into blow by blow detail about everything. If you want to know more, please ask! I thought that I'd just list my favorite places to eat and things we did.

Paris:
1. Falafel at Au L'As du Fallafel: They say it's the best falafel in the world. I know that it was definitely the best I've ever had.
2. L'Avant Comptoir: A teeny, tiny bar/restaurant that's adjacent to a much more expensive, fancier place. This place was incredible. You order from a huge menu (pictures of the different items hanging from the ceiling) tapas-style and eat standing up at the bar. Awesome!
3. Bread! Every kind and everywhere!
4. Spring Restaurant: Our fanciest, most unique meal of the trip. The chef is actually American, but has been in Paris a long time. It's also a very small place, with the tables seated around the kitchen so you see and hear everything. It was awesome.
5. Fat Tire Bike Tour: We took a 4 hour guided bike tour around Paris. Highly recommended!
6. Musee d'Orsay: I love this museum. My favorite museum in Paris is the Picasso museum, but it's closed for renovations. The d'Orsay is a close second. We ended up going on the first day of the month, when it's free to everyone....so the line getting in was long. But, I guess it was nice to save that money.
7. The Latin Quarter, St. Germain des Pres, and the Marais: Beautiful neighborhoods. One of my most favorite things was to just walk around these areas and the parks within each. We stayed in the Latin Quarter and liked it, but we might want to stay in the Marais district next time. So beautiful!
8. The Eiffel Tower at night: We didn't go up at night, but we watched the sunset behind it from the lawn. A lot of people had picnics and wine- very romantic!

Heidelberg:
1. Vetter - awesome, traditional brew house. We ate there 3 times in 3 days!
2. Hot chocolate at a Belgian chocolate house on the Hauptstrasse.
3. Walking around the Hauptstrasse (main shopping drag) and people watching.
4. The castle lighting and fireworks at night, illuminating the Heidelberg Castle.
5. Our hotel- it was right off the river in a historic townhouse with a little balcony.

Things that make me happy

...at the moment:

1. The new Bon Iver album
2. The new Fleet Foxes album
3. Planning Sarah's bridal shower
4. Thinking about Sarah's wedding and the fun we'll have in Baton Rouge in October
5. Listening to music with Matt (this is always)
6. Tacos on Buford Highway...followed by a foot massage at a Korean spa on Buford Highway
7. Reading some new blogs that I've discovered
8. Cold drinks
9. Talking to friends (this is also always)
10. Family (also, always...of course!)
11. Thinking back on our wedding day, now that our 4 year anniversary is next week
12. Dreaming about the beach- our trip to FL is coming soon!

Good friends have great kids

Hi everyone,

Again, I realize that I have major gaps between my posts:(
I've been thinking about changing the name of this blog for awhile now, so I did. What do you think? For some reason, I feel that would help me to write more and find a better focus to this blog. We'll see....

I need to post some pictures and details of our recent trip to Paris and Heidelberg, which, in a word, was amazing! I will do that soon, I promise. I'm co-teaching a summer class this semester, so that and a research project are keeping me fairly busy this summer. I can't believe that we're now in July!

This week I've been thinking a lot about my friends who have kids (which is now most of my friends). One of the coolest things about the last few years has been seeing my friends become moms and to meet their beautiful kids. On Monday, I watched my friend's 2 year old son while she and her husband ran the Peachtree Road Race. It was such a nice morning and he is just the coolest and smartest kid ever. He's not the only cool kid though. It's been lots of fun to meet and spend time with my friends' kids and see how their own personalities and parenting styles are coming out in their kids. And while I realize that this is not a revelation, I thought the other day- Wow- Cool people have cool kids! (Insert the duh! here). Of course, I know this already because just look at my parents and me/ my siblings:)-

I took a couple of pictures from Monday morning, but I'm becoming more conscious of posting kids' pictures on the web, so I won't post it here. Instead, I'll post one from our trip as a teaser:)

Shopping with the girls

Last week, my good friend Cathy was in town visiting and it was great to see her and her kids. Cathy, her 3 cute kids, and I had a fun lunch of Dim Sum one day. Another day, I met Cathy and her daughter, Berkeley, at the mall for some shopping and then dinner, where Matt joined us. Berkeley is definitely a girl after my own heart- she was all about anything girly, pink, or twirly as we walked through stores. Here's a photo of her trying on about 10 necklaces at Urban Outfitters. I love her thought process here- if one looks cute, 10 will be even better! What a fun time!

This weather....

is awesome! We've had a great last week or so of weather (in the 60s and sunny most days), which has really done wonders to my mood and allowed me to really get more serious about training for the half marathon that is coming up very soon (!) Matt has joined me on some of the longer runs. Last weekend we did almost 8 miles around our 'hood and into Freedom Park, which we love running through (it ends at the MLK Memorial Site, overlooking the city- maybe my favorite view in Atlanta). Today, we did a little less (long story), along the same route, ending at our favorite burger spot, Grindhouse Burger. Guess we kind of negated the run we had just completed...but oh well.

Happy Weekend!