14 Weeks marks the beginning of the Second Trimester!

The Second Trimester is a big deal because it typically means a whole lot less of the gross-ness (nausea, food aversions, feeling tired, etc…) and a lot more of the good stuff! I’m looking forward to feeling good, getting my eating on track and loads more energy!

I’ve definitely been feeling less interested in those afternoon naps but I can’t say I am any less tired in the evening. Lately, without a nap, I am ready for bed around dinner time! I manage to make it to around 10pm but once my head hits the pillow, I’m done.

This past weekend, M and I spent Easter in CT with my family. We ate WAY too much delicious food and I was happy to get in some QT with my girls at home. We took a walk at the Reservoir on Saturday together with all our babies! I pushed Caitlyn’s son, Wyatt. Jenny and my Sister Jess walked the two pups! Helen’s Son, Silo and Caitlyn’s newest addition, Quinn were adorable and perfectly content on the walk.

M took this photo of Silo (almost 8 months old) before our walk-he is SO happy! Love it!

I took this photo of Quinn (3 months old)…I mean…can you handle this face?! I am surrounded by the most beautiful friends and their wonderful children (dogs included.) We are very lucky!

Caitlyn gave Mach and I an adorable gift (although her baby knowledge is seriously a gift in itself!)

It’s a beautiful Aden and Anaiswrap, which I LOVE already. I know I will definitely need to stock up on a few more of these. We also got the sweetest book and hat. I think if the hat fits the baby when he/she is born, it might be the hat we take him/her home from the hospital in! The angel wings are just so precious. Thank you, Bernabucci Family!

Mach and I are off on an early Babymoon to St. John & St. Thomas tomorrow and I could not be more excited for some warm weather and relax time! This will most likely be one of the last vacations we take where it’s just the two of us. We don’t have any set plans for this trip except to relax and explore the beaches as much as possible. I’m packing TONS of sunscreen, lots of sundresses & baby books for the plane ride! I will post lots of pictures when we get back next week!

Today we are officially 13 Weeks! Counting down the days until the 1st Trimester is over. It’s not long now.

For those of you interested in what’s happening this week (without getting into TOO many details) the baby is about 2.5-3″ and weighs about 3/4 ounce. It’s about the size of a peach!

I am still trying to get my eating on track. I still can’t handle the thought of salads so I have been trying to do my best to get veggies into my meals without a big bowl of greens. I am hoping as I move into my 13th and 14th weeks this trend goes away. Everyone keeps asking if I’ve had any cravings-nothing specific so far…although definitely more sweet stuff than usual. It’s really the food aversions that have been more prominent. I hope that changes!

I had breakfast with my friend, Chelsea the other morning, which was such a nice break! Eating breakfast out every once in a while is such a treat. We met at Cafe Cluny in the West Village where I had scrambled eggs, rye toast and some potatoes. We split a Grapefruit Brulee, which was delish. I should’ve taken more pictures! It was early so Chels and I weren’t feeling into the photos.

Later that day I made my favorite winter soup, Veggie Chili. I figured it would be the last batch of the season with the warm air showing it’s face more and more these days. I follow a recipe from Canyon Ranch with some of my own changes.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped sweet onions
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup choppedyellow bell peppers
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed organic tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (16-ounce) can redkidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoonchili powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cups low-sodiumchicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
• 11/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions

This has been such a fun week! After Maciej and I shared the news with our friends and family we were overwhelmed with notes, emails & tons of love! You always hope everyone will be as excited as you, but you never know. We got a lot of people who were shocked by our news and others that seemed to know it was coming sometime soon.

I was lucky enough to have planned a visit with my dear friend, Jenny, the next day after the announcement. She came into the city for the day so we could have lunch together and visit our friend, Sophia at Victory Garden. (If you don’t know Victory Garden, get to know it immediately! http://victorygardennyc.com/) Jenny showed up at my apartment with a smile and a big box!

If you don’t know-Giggle is a great shop here in NYC and it’s one of the places M and I plan to register. I was so surprised and excited for the first gift for the baby and me! I didn’t wait for M (sorry, love) and opened it right away. Inside was a book and the most adorable stuffed sheep I’ve ever seen and felt.

I can’t believe I didn’t have this book on having an Organic Pregnancy! I’ve already read most of it and highly recommend it if you are interested in trying to have an Organic pregnancy. It’s filled with amazing tips and information that I didn’t know. Mr. Sheep pouf is adorable and SO soft. I have no doubt the baby will LOVE this. It’s made by the same company that makes Sleep Sheep. Now it’s just a matter of keeping Sophie from thinking this is her new stuffed toy 🙂 The gifts were the perfect first presents for us…getting us into baby mode little by little. Thank you Jenny and Tom!

Jenny and I headed off to grab some lunch and had a great time-although our sandwiches could’ve been a little better. We tried the new Vegan cafe that opened next to Victory Garden called Cafe Blossom. I got the “Banh Mi” sandwich. It was a bit too much tofu for me-thick slabs. It did the job for two hungry ladies, though. Plus, it was nice to sit and catch up without being bothered too much.

We headed to Victory Garden for dessert, which was lovely as per usual! If you haven’t tried the Chia Seed parfait, you are missing out! It’s Vegan and totally delicious! Get it with blueberries and cacao nibs.

M and I headed to CT for the weekend, he had his new camera shipped there and was anxious to get it and start using it immediately! We had a relaxing weekend and even snuck in a dinner with our friends on Saturday night. When we arrived home from CT, we were surprised to find another package at our door. We were so excited to see it was from our dear friends, Matt & Allison. M and I opened them together.

We are so lucky to have such loving friends to spoil us with such goodies. I wasted no time and the lotion went right to the bathroom for use!

Anyone who knows Allison knows that she is a cosmetics professional and sure enough she got this one spot on! The lotion is amazing and exactly what I need to get me through tons of dry skin! Thank you M & A!

We really are so lucky to be bringing this new life into the world where we are already surrounded with such support and love! Thank you everyone!

Today was an exciting day. M and I were up early for our Nuchal Translucency Screening and monthly appointment. Everything went really well at the screening, although CLL didn’t really want to move into the proper positioning for a while. The Ultrasound Tech had me move into several different positions on my side and my back and then she gave me some orange juice in the hopes that some sugar might get the baby every more excited to flip over. It took a few minutes but then the baby moved into the right positioning and she was able to take the measurements. Everything looked good! M and I couldn’t believe how much the baby moved and really LOOKED like a baby. The last ultrasound we had the baby was still so tiny that we weren’t able to see fingers or facial features. Here are some pictures:

I had a finger prick test after and then we headed over to our Doctor’s appointment. We had a great appointment with her-and she gave us the go ahead to tell everyone the news (as oppose to waiting for the finger prick test results to come back). M took a picture of the waiting room-not sure these other woman would’ve been happy about this photo! Not long after he took the photo, fellow New Yorker Susan Sarandon walked out of the doctors office!

Mach went off to work and I headed on a few errands. One of which was my first visit to the maternity store, Belly Dance maternity. I wasn’t planning on getting anything but I saw the Bella Band and decided that I could definitely put that to use in the coming weeks, especially with some of my very skinny, skinny jeans. They had some really great things that I might be able to get down the road. I stopped by Le Pain Quotidien on my walk home and treated myself to a mint lemonade.

We ended the day with a walk with our Goose.

Can’t wait to share the news with EVERYONE!

These past few weeks I have been struggling to get the amount of fruits and veggies into my diet that I normally do. They just seem SO unappealing and make me gag slightly when I think of eating them.

I try to make a smoothie every morning with my VitaMix blender (thanks, Mom)! But until the warmer weather makes a more permanent stay, the cold smoothies just aren’t what I want every morning. As most of my friends and family know, I really pride myself on trying to eat healthy and consciously(with a splurge in between, of course), but these past few weeks I have not been interested in eating salads or veggies. I’ve tried to sneak them in when I can but it’s been tough. I got groceries yesterday and ambitiously ordered a lot of fruits and veggies determined to make them a part of this weeks menu. Last night I cooked up some whole wheat pasta and with it I made homemade arugula pecan pesto. I LOVE this recipe and it’s a great way to get in some greens, garlic, nuts and some great olive oil. I sub in a whole wheat pasta for a healthier version. It’s also even better leftover the next day! Here is the recipe (thanks, Bon Appetit)!

ingredients

• 3/4 cup pecans (3 oz),toasted
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 oz arugula, coarse stems discarded
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 1/2 oz)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 lb dried linguine

preparation

Finely chop 1/4 cup pecans (preferably with a knife).

Mash garlic to a paste with salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash with a large heavy knife). Blend remaining 1/2cup pecans, arugula, cheese, oil, pepper, and garlic paste in a food processor until smooth, about 1 minute.

Cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot ofboiling salted wateruntil al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Ladle out and reserve 1 1/2 cups cooking water. Drain pasta in a colander, then return to pot and toss with pesto, 1/2 cup cooking water, and chopped pecans, adding more cooking water as necessary if pasta seems dry.

Read Morehttp://www.epicurious.com:80/recipes/food/views/Linguine-with-Pecan-Arugula-Pesto-107354#ixzz1qKTtNqP7

This is an exciting week for us…not only do we have the Nuchal Translucency Screening (which is an ultrasound to measure the fluid in the back of the baby’s neck) on Wednesday, but on Thursday we hit the 12 week mark. If all goes well at the screening and at our doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, we will make our big secret not such a secret anymore!

This past week we actually told a few of our very close friends the news. We decided that it was important to us to be able to tell as many of our friends in person as possible, even if it meant sharing the news a week early. The friends that we’ve been able to see are all adorable and excited. Some were really surprised, while others had a suspicion that it was coming 🙂

I’m going to get better about taking more pictures for these posts but in the meantime, here is a photo of Mach posing with the Snoogle pillow I mentioned in a post awhile back. It hasn’t made it back into the bed in several weeks. It started to feel like an obstacle with all my trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It will definitely be useful once I start growing more of a belly.

M and I were walking Sophie around yesterday and he suggested we pop our heads into Calypso to see if there was anything I might like to get for our upcoming babymoon to St. John in a few weeks. I haven’t been that interested in shopping lately as nothing that was my normal size looks as good as it used to but I don’t fit into any maternity clothes yet either. I found two amazing tops that I know I will be able to wear throughout the entire summer:

Both are long and really soft, which is so nice! I only got the pink tunic for now but definitely plan to head back to pick up the white top soon! They are expensive but I know I will wear them after I have the baby too!

I am 9 weeks and 6 days as of today! Time has slowed a bit…

Last week I had some more bright red spotting, which was scary but definitely not as much as the first time. I went in for another ultrasound and everything looked good. The doctor said everything was progressing normally and I should not worry. That being said, M and I haven’t been happy with the doctors at this practice. Although they’ve been able to see me whenever I need to, they barely spend any time talking to us and they just aren’t that patient when we are asking questions.

We had a meeting with another doctor at another practice yesterday and we LOVED her. The office and hospital she’s affiliated with isn’t the most convenient location, but I am totally willing to travel. I mean…the Upper East Side isn’t THAT far!

This past week I decided to make a few online maternity purchases (eek) purely out of curiousity! I still fit into my clothes, but my super skinny jeans just don’t feel comfortable anymore. I ordered the Always Skinny Maternity Jeans from Gap as well as this white maternity oxford shirt that is super cute. I also ordered this top from ASOS. It’s slightly oversized right now, but I have no doubt I will grow into it and it’s beyond comfortable. I have awhile before I will be able to wear any of these new finds but they are waiting in my closet for when the time comes!

M and I have to start looking for a new apartment. Our lease is up at the end of May and it’s time we find a place where we can get more space for our money. Plus, we want a second bedroom. It’s an exciting and scary process. I think it will be great to have a new place to furnish and start anew before the baby arrives. I also love the idea that we will have space to have my parents come and stay after the baby is born.

A few more weeks and we can finally tell our remaining friends and family the news!

this week I have been in CT taking care of our dog, Sophie. She tore her ACL and needed surgery right away. We decided to have it done in CT since we are very comfortable with our vet here. Plus, M and I knew it would be easiest to be at my parents house in CT where my Mom would be able to help me with Sophie’s recoup process and M had a week full of work and classes.

It’s been tough since the surgery was a lot more intense than we anticipated and I am not sure I was feeling emotionally stable enough to leave her for surgery and then see her in so much pain. She is back home with me now and recovering nicely-although it will be a long 6 week recovery.

Here are some photos of her post op (warning…they are a bit graphic if you have an uneasy stomach):

Sailor and Charlie just wanted to be next to Sophie, which was so nice. We are so lucky that they all get along so well and love each other!

I’m 8 weeks this week. Time is flying by. I just can’t wait until I can tell all my family and friends. I am thinking after our next ultrasound towards the end of March might be the perfect time. Now…how to announce it?!

I am 7 weeks today.

Although some days feel like time is at a stand still, other times I can’t believe there are only 231 more days until the baby arrives! (or so my Baby Bump app on my phone tells me)!

As I mentioned in my last post, we went to the doctor and had the first ultra sound where they printed a photo for us!

It’s crazy how tiny it is in there yet already changing so much in our lives. Exciting and scary all at once!

Cramps have seemed to subside a little, which is a relief but sleeping is getting more and more uncomfortable. I can only imagine how much more difficult it will get. I ordered a pregnancy pillow from Amazon yesterday and cannot wait for it to come. It will most likely take up a whole lot of room in the bed, but M says he doesn’t mind. What a good guy 🙂

Off to do some work and also a workout at the gym. After being away from the gym these past few weeks, yesterday proved to be a lot more difficult than I thought. Just easing back into it slowly.

I am also thinking of our little Sophie Goose who is CT and suffering from an injured knee. We will head to CT tomorrow night to comfort her and I might be up there awhile if she needs surgery. She is such a good dog but a little too active for her own good sometimes. Fingers crossed her ACL isn’t torn!

today I’m 6 weeks, 5 days.

I thought I’d start this post with a few things that I am currently missing and learning to live without (surprise, surprise, they are mostly food items):

-runny eggs

-raw milk cheeses

-a full nights sleep (peeing and cramps are keeping me up-maybe prep for what’s to come)?

-tuna fish (I wasn’t a huge eater of this but for some reason I’m craving it like no other)

-getting my hair highlights! (am waiting until I am out of the first trimester to be safe:)

My close friends know how much runny eggs and cheese mean to me-but nothing is more important than this little labinski growing inside of me…so for now it’s scrambled eggs and lots of pasturized dairy 🙂

we spent this past weekend celebrating M’s 30th birthday. it was filled with lots of love, eating and drinking (well, not me drinking but everyone else)! My sister, Jess and her fiance, Brian came down to visit for the long weekend and to help us celebrate. We met friends out a local bar called The Rusty Knot. It was quite hard to pretend that I was drinking the entire night-especially for my close girl friends who kept buying me drinks. Luckily, I had Jess and Brian to make some smooth moves and swap out the drinks when need be! I mean, how great is it to have a sister!?

We ate brunch at Bubby’s in Tribeca and dinner at Marlow & Sons on Sunday-lots o’ food. I definitely added an extra pound or two to my newly pregnant body!

M and I had another appointment at the OB-GYN today. We had another ultra sound! Man, I love those things. We heard the heart beat again, and it sounded even more strong and wonderful. The heart rate was 135. I don’t REALLY know what that means except our doctor said it was strong and I felt good. They keep reassuring me that my intense cramps are totally normal and that I need to keep hydrated and rest when needed. The good news I got was that I can exercise now (I wasn’t before because I had some spotting). This is such exciting news-I have missed my time at the gym, sweating and listening to music. Tomorrow will be the day I head back!

I think I may have found a dress for my sister’s wedding. I really have no clue how big I am going to be but I am guessing pretty large by the end of July. I will be entering my 3rd trimester, which is also the time they typically recommend no traveling overseas, but I plan to take very good care of myself, especially on the plane. The dress is a Badgley Mischka. It’s the perfect color and it’s pretty much shapeless (well, it’s called trapeze style). I am crossing my fingers and hoping and praying that it works. Only time will tell!

Here is a photo of M and me in the waiting room at the doctor today-I’m trying to get more photos of just the two of us through this process. He is good at taking the photos of me but I want him in them too!