Growing

This is a few weeks ago on Ash Wednesday (hence the ash on my forehead.) I was 21 weeks and getting LARGE. An updated pic coming soon. It's hard to take "selfies" bc I never want a pic of just me!

The frame Adriane got us. Love our little babe in it.

2013

I wanted to post some pics of what we've been up to in this new year. Besides the obvious craziness of having a baby , we've stayed pretty busy with work, working out, cooking, looking for a house (still), and spending time with friends while we can so freely/pre-baby. Since the new year Thomas has been working out before work and during his lunch breaks. I'm so proud that his health check at work improved dramatically in the last few months, all because of consistent exercise! We've always eaten healthy during the week and splurged on the weekends, so that has stayed the same. My pregnancy hunger has really kicked in the last 3 weeks, however, and I am craving sweets all the time, along with any other food in sight. Luckily I have been able to walk my dogs frequently and do Barre 3 (which I LOVE) several times a week to try to compensate for the amount of sumo wrestler behavior hunger I've had recently. 

Kicking off the New Year with an awesome party at the top of the Devon tower that my parents hosted with several friends/family. Once I FINALLY found a dress that fit me in this "awkward stage," we had a blast. This is when I finally started feeling better, so I was actually able to stay out late, dance, and have a good time!

  

Nana's 85th birthday! She requested T and I's Italian meal (which is my mother-in-law's recipe of meatballs and suga.) Mom made lemon cake and Amanda made her famous lemon cream cheese icing. Love that Nana!

It has been unusually pretty weather in January/February, so I've been able to spend time walking with the pups, which they love more than anything... except bacon. We took them to Hafer Park and hiked around the trails for an hour and it was lovely.

Amanda and Kevin got a new pup, Brody. The cutest little fluff you've ever seen. Luckie's new best friend (because he doesn't know his size and loooooves little dogs.)

Oh hello cute profile

We had so much fun seeing our baby yesterday! It was crazy seeing a little person with little hands, feet, and features all moving around. We told the tech immediately that we didn't want to know the sex, so we just looked away when they got to that "area." We almost accidentally found out, however, bc the tech forgot to tell the doctor that came and reviewed everything. She ran in with a sticky note, he glanced at it, and then admitted the sex was seconds away from leaving his lips. I have a few friends that are convinced it is a girl, and others think boy. It will be fun to see bc neither Thomas nor I have any idea, and we go back and forth with what we "feel" the baby's gender is.

The baby is healthy- 11 oz and measuring right in line with our June 25th due date. The only bad news was that my placenta was too low, so I need to go back in 3 weeks to see if it has moved up a bit. We are just really thankful that the baby is healthy.We are in love already...

I started feeling movement at 15 weeks- very early, I know. It wasn't the "flutter" that people talk about, it was a definite and constant kick. I felt it on and off for 4 days, then it stopped for weeks. I know positioning has a lot to do with it. Well,  the tech had to bounce and push on my stomach over and over to get the baby to move so we could get a profile pic, so I guess it really stirred it up in there bc he/she started kicking like crazy last night, and I've felt it on and off today. It makes it so much more real to see and feel this little one. I think this little profile is so cute. As BOTH my sister and Thomas said when first seeing this pic, "well it doesn't have your big pouty bottom lip." Thank you....

Having a BABY

My computer is broken so I haven't blogged in a while. A LOT has happened since the early November post.

We are having a baby in June!

First, we announced we were pregnant to my family right before Thanksgiving. We kept it a secret for 5 weeks WHILE living with them. One of the hardest things I've ever done. I did a bad job when videoing and not getting Bailey in the video, but she was there too. Please watch my brother-in-law Kevin and my dad during the beginning. We framed the above pic of my dogs, and my mom and sisters realized right away, while Kevin glanced at the pic (thinking I just gave them a random pic of my dogs) and then had to get again and look hard to see what everyone was making a fuss about. My dad is looking confused bc he watched everyone open their gifts, not knowing. Once he starts laughing you can tell he is figuring it out.

We told Thomas's fam on Thanksgiving. We gave Jackson an early birthday present, and the dog picture was in a "super cousin" super hero frame. Try to catch when he says "I was hoping for a toy," hilarious.

We told a bunch of friends during my birthday dinner. Thomas threw a "Mad Men" style dinner and wine pairing party. So fun surprising everyone. We told my extended family that same weekend when celebrating my 30th, and I'm so sad we didn't get it on video! Our Christmas card with the announcement went out about a week later.

14 weeks- starting to bust out of my pants.

16 weeks- getting to be more of a definite bump.

18 weeks- now. Bigger by the day. Craving really spicy or really sweet things. Spicy is pretty typical, but craving sweets is really odd for me. The babe is a size of a mango. :)

Our baby's heartbeat. Nothing is sweeter.

5 Years

Last night we celebrated 5 years since our first date. I can't believe it was 5 years ago that he quickly went from a friend on my Austin Sports and Social Club team to my love. We met when a mutual friend invited him to play on our ASSC sand-volleyball team.

During the next season of kickball, we would always go to Doc's for cheap beer and food. One night I returned from the bathroom to find that my beer and queso were paid for. "Who paid for my food?" "I did," replied an unusually shy Thomas. He then went on to jokingly & awkwardly offer to come to the couples shower I was invited to that weekend and somewhat flirt with me the rest of the night. When I told my friends on the way home that "I think Thomas Moratto was trying to flirt with me tonight," they responded with, "no he wasn't, he was just being nice." K...

The next morning at 9:15 I received an email (because he was clearly too nervous to ask me for my number the night before) asking me to "hang out sometime." I forwarded it to my friends with a "Ha! I told you he was flirting with me!" 

Our first date was that next week. We went to Roy's to have drinks and talked for hours. Our next date was two days later, pictured below. We had our first smoooooch this night :) Sorry for the cheesy details.

We very quickly fell hard for eachother...

And the rest is history. Oh how our lives have changed, but for the better. Last night we celebrated by going to the new restaurant, Mule. Which is AMAZING. The macaroni pony was a sandwich with 3 cheese mac&cheese, pulled pork, corn bread toasted, and pickles, OH MY. When Thomas ordered he asked for a side of barbeque sauce for me... true love. The ginger beer and onion rings were the best I've ever had.

This is how we ended the night- cuddling with our spooning dogs and falling asleep to the movie Grease.

I'm pretty happy with our life, and wouldn't have it any other way. Love you Thomas Moratto.

My Favorite Thing

We all know I'm a fan of sauces, and my favorite foods usually consist of things I can eat with a variety of sauce: chic-fil-a chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, nachos, and ALL asian food. I LOVE sriracha sauce, soy sauce, peanut sauce, sweet chili sauce, chili paste, curry.... so anything that I can consists of these flavors I adore. My favorite thing Thomas makes, and he makes a lot of great things, is his chicken curry soup. He adds all types of delicious flavors- ginger, lime, onion, soy, sesame, chili, sriacha, etc. I posted a pic of his yellow curry soup and his red curry soup- both amazing. I'll have him add the recipe on here later. Any time I don't feel good (like last week when I had a cold,) had a bad day, or just ask sweetly (this weekend,) he gladly makes it. It is my ultimate comfort food. Such a sweet husband.



red curry with chicken





yellow curry with pork



Halloween

As you can tell by all the pics, Thomas and I LOVE to dress up! How disappointing to find that Halloween 2012 so uneventful. The last 3 years we have gone to the big law school halloween party, and in Austin there was always something fun to do. This year for the first time did not dress up together.



ugly troll dolls



popeye & olive oil





the year we went to houston- geisha and sumo wrestler



I can't find original pic of this one, so very blurry. One of my favs- figure skaters.





new years party...old school masquerade



40's prom





viola swamp



We did, however, get to dress up for work. This is new to me, as the last 2 schools I've worked for did not allow this due to religious conflicts. My favorite part of the day was standing outside my classroom door this morning and watching all the kids walk into school in full costume. We then did a big parade throughout the school, which reminded me of my elementary school days. Our costume box is in storage, so I went and bought a lame costume from a party store. I was a bumble bee. Thomas was the flash mob... something he was supposed to do with his team at work. Neither of us wore any make-up or wigs this time...LAME!







Our dogs didn't even dress up this year. I love nothing more than to dress Lola up. She so sweetly puts up with it. Luckie is learning. A little peak into the past...



Sweet Lola's first Halloween





Always wears a birthday hat for her birthday



Ok, Halloween wasn't that bad. I just wanted to be dramatic and display all of our old dress up pics. We went to Amanda and Kevin's and cooked dinner and watched The Adam's Family, which is by the way still an excellent movie! Amanda made delicious chicken tacos. I did the appetizer- Halloween eyeballs (stuffed mushrooms.) Oh how I love to make themed food.

I made them slightly healthier by adding chicken italian sausage & light cream cheese... Ok they aren't super healthy but it's Halloween. I added sliced olives to give the eyeball look. This is not a good pic but you get the point. They are so yum.