So as far as husbands go, Paulie Levis is totally boss.

He is the cheese to my macaroni. And I know that people are supposed to fall in love before they reproduce....so we did. (That one's for you Lovey!! And Little Plum [aka Baby Levis] that was a movie quote...you'll hear about 10 trillion of them throughout your life. In fact, most of the things that will come out of daddy's mouth with be direct quotes from movies adjusted to fit the real life circumstance that is actually playing out. In fact, you can probably tell when he's quoting a movie because he'll look at you with this ginormous smile and try very diligentely to stifle a giggle. Stifling giggles is not one of your dad's strong suits. It's what I love the most about him!)

I can't say it enough, but I really am the luckiest girl in the world. You may actually see this said many many many more times throughout this blog. Bear with me though, I'm experiencing the 'fatherly' side of Paul for the first time, and I'm just absolutely amazed by him. Not that I expected anything less of course, it's just that it's so wonderful to know (and see!) that he's equally as excited about our Little Plum as I am. So thank you once again Paulie Levis, for bringing more warmth into my heart with your last post. What a great daddy you'll be to our little one! Cheese + Macaroni = Love!

Well, you did read correctly! We are at plum stage! Actually today is the last day of Plum stage. Tomorrow...PEACH! And today is also the last day of our first trimester! YAY! Time actually kind of flew by. But then again, it kind of didn't. In retrospect, we've known about this little baby for 9 weeks now. Wowza! That's been quite some time! But, then I get that little tinge of nausea and I remember quite vividly that I've been nauseous for 7 weeks straight now. And bleh, that sounds like forever! Paul is right, things have gotten a lot better. I definitely am not feeling terrible all day long. But I'm still struggling at night some times. And actually, I am struggling after any big meal. I'm hoping that things continue to progress and get better as time goes along. I'm sure it will, just a little more patience =)

Last week was a very big week for us. First of all, on Monday we had our regular doctor appointment (which I mentioned to you before). Dr. Trites told us that all of our blood work came back perfectly! I tested negative for cystic fibrosis, fraggle X syndrome, and I think spina bifida. It doesn't mean that the baby definitely won't have these disorders, but the chances that it will are very very slim based on the results. I'll take it! She said my protien levels, iron levels, and other important levels all looked great and that things seemed to be progressing along just fine. We then heard the heartbeat which I mentioned in my last post. Great start to the week right?

Well things got even BETTER on Thursday! We had our NT scan that day. The NT scan is a rather new type of ultrasound (combined with a blood test [sorry Bani!]) that helps to rule out a few other genetic abnormalities such as Downs Syndrome, Edwards Syndrome, and a couple others. It was a rather long ultrasound, and rather uncomfy at times, but it was the most amazing experience of our lives! Paul mentioned in his conversation with the Plum that he actually teared up....well Momma Bear was tearing up too! You all know how hard it is for me to cry under pressure (lol!) so this was quite big! It was unbelievably amazing to actually see that the little alien looking thing that we previously posted actually looked like a real life baby. Utterly unbelievable! And to top it all off, he/she was moving!! JUMPING! SWIMMING! PLAYING WITH IT'S FACE! Woah! We actually have a video of it, which I'm hoping to be able to somehow crop and post on here. But in the meantime, behold our beautiful creation:

That's our little baby! Little nose and all! I cannot believe that we actually saw such a clear picture. We saw everything from fingers, to toes, to kidneys, to brain, to heart valves, to 12 little ribs on each side of it's chest. Just incredible. The best part of the whole thing was that the doctor indicated that based on the ultrasound, it looks like our child is healthy and right on track! The chances of developing any of the aforementioned disorders were incredibly slim. The blood test results will confirm it all, but he said normally if you get a good result on the ultrasound, the blood work should come back perfect. What a great appointment! And what a load off of our shoulders! It definitely made me feel so much better about it all....I am finally beginning to realize that this is all very, very real. That plus I can't hold my gut in any more on my own...it's poofing out whether I like it or not. =) So we are both SO excited that everything is going the way it should and that we are continuing to grow a wonderful little baby that is already amazing us every day! I can't wait to be able to see it in real life! Hurry up and grow little one!


Speaking of poofing bellies....fyi it happens out of nowhere. One day you can suck your belly in and act like nothing, then all of a sudden that power just goes away. This morning I ironed some pants that I literally wore less than a week ago. Sure they were a little snug around the waist last time, but they were completely buttonable. Today? Not so much at all. Not even a little bit. So that was a bit of a surprise! I called my mom to whine to her and she said "well Sandy, what exactly did you expect? You're over 3 months now...it was bound to happen!" Gotta love her...she always throws reality right into your face rather raw. But she was right...so I hopped on the Old Navy website and did a tiny bit of shopping. I won't lie and say I wasn't slightly excited at the prospect of new clothes! I intend to do some more very soon!


And finally, I did have to mention that I took a trip out to New York this weekend for a very fun trip with the girls. It was Auntie Roomie's bachelorette party weekend so I packed her two sisters Cyndy and Lisa, Aunt Bani, Aunt Nins, Aunt Lints, Aunt Mons, and Aunt Bea all tightly in to Abuelo and Abuela's apartment in NY and we had a wonderful weekend running around New York! The Plum and I did a bit of dancing, a lot of walking, and a lot of worrying about gum on the carpet (shhhhh don't tell Abuelo!). The weekend was awesome and I'm so glad we all got to spend the weekend together celebrating Roomie's last few days of singledom. As soon as I get some pictures from the weekend, I'll post one up.


In the meantime, I guess I should end this ultra long post. I'm glad I could share the exciting news of our doctor's appointments with you. As always, both Paul and I continue to be ultra excited about the anticipated arrival of our very first little Levis! Thanks everyone for continuing to follow the blog...we love sharing our story with you!


Love always,


Cheese + Macaroni + Plum

Baby Levis...

Dear Baby Levis,

This is my 2nd entry to you and I feel like so much has happened since I last talked to you. When I wrote to you last, you were about the size of a lime and you were still developing arms and legs. Well, a lot has changed since than!

Let me start off by letting you know how things are going. GREAT!!!! Your mom and I are still eagerly awaiting your arrival. Things seem to be moving in a better direction as far as Mommy's nausea is concern (I think?). She is still getting the "grossed out" feelings, but she is starting to eat a lot more, which is very exciting to me because that means that you are growing big and strong inside! Mommy is still not feeling 100% better and she gets tired very easily, but she is doing very well. Things will definitely get better as we get closer to having you with us. We are still finding different foods that you both can agree on, which can be difficult at times, but I think we're getting it. Mommy has a very strong sense of smell...I don't know how you do that to her, but she can smell things from miles away. Maybe, you're trying to smell what this world has to offer?

We still don't do too much, but I think, right now, relaxing is the best thing for Mommy and I. We are going to have our hands full when you're here, so I think we're both trying to get as much rest as possible. Everyone keeps telling me to get all my sleep in now, so I'm definitely trying to listen to everyone's advice! We haven't started working on your room yet, but I think we're waiting to find out if your a boy or a girl before we start that project, so that's coming up soon! I wish that it would come faster because I truly can't wait to have you in my life!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Levis are SOOOOOOOO excited to see you too! We talk about you all the time. We laugh when we think about all the fun that we are all going to have when you're with us. They are going to be such fun and great grandparents, wait and see!!!! Aunt Roxie and Uncle Evan are super excited also! Aunt Roxie already bought you your first little outfit! It's very cute and I can't wait to see you in it! She is very excited to be the cool aunt and I have no doubt that she is a natural for the part! Even your great-grandma was so excited when we told her about you. She told your mom and I all these funny stories of when she was pregnant and what it was like in her day. I think the message that I'm trying to tell you is that your entire family is sooo estatic to see you and you are going to have so much love from so many people!!!!!

Well, since your mom and I both write on this blog..."blog...can you say blog? BLLLLLOOOOOGGGGGUH" (HA HA! I thought I'd just get a little bit of practice in) So since your mom and I both write on this blog, I will let her describe how things went at the 2 doctor's appointments that we had this week (Week 12, for those who are counting). But I am going to say that you did it!!!! You managed to make dear old dad cry! I didn't sob or anything...don't worry dad is still pretty tough and IS the strongest human in the world (much like what grandpa used to tell me)! But I did get a chance to see you again and I couldn't fight back the tears this time! It's just that you are one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! So, CONGRATULATIONS for making your pops tear up!!!!

Well, once again I am going to end by telling you I love you and I will be talking to you soon!!!

P.S. Right now, you and mommy are living it up in NY for Aunt Alicia's Bachelorette party, so I hope you two are having a wonderful time! Make sure you really dance it up with all the girls!!!

How lucky am I?

Wasn't that just the most beautiful post you've ever read down there? (I'm talking about Poppa Paul's post to our little lime!) I don't know how it is that I got so lucky, but I really do have myself an incredible husband and future Dad. My 'baby daddy' as I lovingly referred to him this morning. =) But he really is more than that and I just want everyone to know that I am blessed that I get to share this experience with such a wonderful person. Paul really is the ying to my yang and with every day that passes, I feel like we really are going to be able to pull this whole parenthood thing off! Our child is in for a really fun ride...lucky little lime!!

A little update on things for everyone that's interested: We physically heard the heartbeat yesterday! WOAH. Is all I can say. What an amazing thing! I woke up yesterday morning trying to stifle the excitement...you know, just in case. I promised myself that if all went well after this appointment, I was just going to enjoy the ride knowing that everything was progressing nicely...and no more preparing for the worst. So I met up with Paul at the doctor's office and we sat there and waited for what seemed like forever! Didn't my doctor know that I just wanted to hear the heartbeat and then skip through life happily? Did she REALLY have to deliver a baby at that very moment? =) Apparently she did. So an hour after our appointment time, they finally called us in.

Our doctor is really cool. She's calm, cool and collected and just helps to bring a peaceful feeling to all our appointments. I spewed off my list of silly questions, she answered them all perfectly and then it was time to listen for that little swooshing heart! It took a few seconds for her to find it but sure enough, there it was!! Swooshing away like it was supposed to! We heard it for only a few seconds and then it went away. Our doctor said that the little guys are usually jumping around all inside there, getting used to their new found muscle ability so you can only hear it for a few seconds at a time at this point in pregnancy. She found it a few more times and both Paul and I felt an overwhelming relief. And then it hit me: OMG I'M PREGNANT! And there's a BABY inside of me! WOAH!!! How exciting! It finally felt really real. I can finally rub my belly and feel like I'm soothing a baby instead of my intestines! Although it's still all bloat and smooshiness, at least down below all that cushion there's a little guy swimming around!

So that's where we are...LIME size, hearts beating like they're supposed to, and incredible husband/dad to be writing beautiful posts! What an exciting week!

Tomorrow we're officially at 12 weeks and we move on to a Plum. But I just had to get in this blog post to make sure we chronicled the week of the Lime. It was one of the most exciting weeks so far, so just had to get it in there.

'Til we post again! Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Paul + Sandy + Lime

So, I have wanted to write on this blog for a while now, but I didn’t know what to say or where to start or what to write about? I just didn’t know what to tell people?

But than it hit me! Like most GREAT ideas that I have, it came to me in the shower! I was just lathering up my hair, when I realized that I wasn’t going to address all our adoring fans, but that I wanted to address the true reason behind this journal, Baby Levis!


What a GREAT idea! I mean, he/she is the star of the show! All eyes are on her/him! Plus this will be a great thing for us to share when he/she is old enough to read. With the way technology is going, our child will probably be born with a Blackberry and iPod in hand and I’ll be able to Twitter this to him/her. He/she will probably be like that little baby on the Etrader.com commercials!


Well, anyways, so here is my 1st journal entry to Baby Levis:


“Hi! It’s papa here! I know that you don’t know me yet, but I’m your dad and I’m SUPER excited to meet you! I can’t wait until I’ve got you in my arms. Both your mom and I are very excited to finally meet you. Your mom may not show it right now, because she isn’t feeling too good right now, but she is thrilled as well!

I just wanted to let you know that, even though, you are about the size of a lime (according to thenest.com), you have changed my life! It’s crazy because we haven’t even met yet! It’s funny because you barely have fingers and toes and you have already made a huge impact on my life. You’ve already made me want to be a better person and I haven’t even seen your face! You truly are a gift…


Your mom and I absolutely can’t wait to see you! We are slowly preparing for your arrival (see we already consider you like a prince or princess)! You might be wondering why I am not giving you a definitive ‘He or She’? Well that’s because we don’t know what you’ll be yet? It’s just a little too early to tell, but it doesn’t matter because we love you regardless! See right there is one of those things that’s crazy to me…I love you and you’re not even a sex yet! Amazing, huh! ‘It’s mind-bottling…you know like when your thoughts get so heavy that they feel trapped in a bottle?’ Sorry, that’s a line from a Will Ferrell movie. You’ll probably hear a lot of those from me over the course of your life…I apologize early for that!


Back to my original thought…so your mom and I are waiting for you to be with us. I make sure that she is eating well and that she gets lots of rest! Like I said before, mom isn’t feeling the greatest right now, so we do a lot of relaxing when we can! We chill on the couch a lot and watch a lot of movies or TV. She seems to feel worse in the evening, so I just try to make her feel as comfortable as possible. Even though it’s against my nature to sit around, I love it because it keeps your mom feeling better and keeps you from swishing around in there. But for the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that you are starting to develop your own appetite because I am heading out to the grocery store a lot more for random items (ice cream, French fries, bagels, lemon moraine pie, Scooby Doo fruit snacks, Goldfish, Cheese-Its, etc.). You are definitely getting bigger and stronger and that is very exciting!!!!


Did I mention that we got a chance to see you? Yep, you were only like the size of a pea or a dime, I believe, but you were adorable already!!!! It was absolutely amazing! I actually almost cried when I saw you and I very rarely cry. Another one of those moments when you are like, ‘I’m about to cry over a mass of cells (technically),’ but you are definitely so much more than that! I know that everyone reading this will think I’m crazy, but I did see some resemblances already! Even though you looked like a little blob, you were beautiful! You even looked a little like your mom…beautiful in every way!!!!


I wanted to let you know that I’m going through a roller coaster of emotions right now. I’m excited and anxious, scared and thrilled, joyful and happy, but most of all I just can’t wait to have you in my arms. I know that everything will calm down once you are with us and you have nothing to worry about because I can definitely be your steady rock! I will be there for you when you are hungry or scared or need a shirt to spit up on! I’ve got a lot of plans for us, so please keep growing bigger and stronger for me!!!!


Well, I’m done for now, but I’ll be sure to write to you again, Baby Levis! I guess the last thing I’d like to say is ‘I love you’ and I can’t wait until we meet!


P.S. Here is a funny picture of your mom and I! I like it and it will let you know how AWESOME your parents are.

Double Digits!

Well, we've made it to the double digits! I'm 10 weeks along now...yay! And for those of you interested in the fruit progression of this pregnancy, this now puts us at prune size. I have no idea why they chose prune to represent this week...I'm sure there's a zillion other fruits or veggies they could have chosen. Prunes kind of make me want to gag. Even without MNN sickness. (that's morning/noon/night sickness. I've taken it upon myself to rename it. Because I can.) But! Seeing as this means our little one has continued to grow, prune it is!

This week I've felt tremendous pressure to pick names for our little prune. We bought a baby name book that carries over 100,000 name choices! It hasn't done me any good. We have a few really great names for boys picked out, but nothing really that is sticking for a girl. And while I know being only 2.5 months along really doesn't constitute a time restraint, for some reason I just feel like we HAVE to choose something. Weird, yes I know. The problem is that I've always been so confident about a few particular names that I was hoping we could name our girl if we ever had one. Well when it comes down to it, we're actually growing a child...and this child will actually carry whatever name we give it...and that's a little scary! It's not like naming a car (although I do a phenomenal job at that, in case you're interested!) It's the name that this little human being will carry for his or her entire life! What if they hate their name? What if they sit there at age 30 and curse us for giving them such a boring, ordinary, common name? It's too much pressure for a hormonal, teary-eyed, nauseous person. Hahaha!

In all honesty though, my biggest concern is not giving our child too common of a name. I know our last name is fairly unique, and that will help tremendously. But I'd hate for our child to be the 5th, say, "Jessica" in her classroom. So forever and a day she'd be known as Jessica L. Also, coming from someone who recently has had to deal with a ton of identity issues because of my very, very common name (my maiden name really), I just don't want our child to have to deal with that. It's not fun and it makes you hate cities like Downey - and all it's residents. So, first and foremost our beautiful baby WILL have a middle name. And second and secondmost we'll attempt as best as we can to not give that poor kid a top 10 name. And if we do, I'm throwing a silent K in there somewhere. Avak sounds nice right? SILENT K SILENT K! =)

All kidding aside, that's my biggest worry of the week. If that's the biggest worry I have, then really I have zero complaints. I'll take that kind of worry anytime. OH! And my second biggest worry is planning my Roomie's (Alicia's) Bachelorette party. But I think I have made huge strides and it's almost all set! EEE! Can't wait!

And finally...just wanted to let you all know that yes, the rumors about hormone induced craziness are really true. While sitting at the doctor's office yesterday, I was watching the weather report on the big television they had on for all the patients. Smack dab in the middle of said weather report, I started crying. Why you ask? Well because it was going to be sunny on the west coast. That's it. Sunny weather. No other explanation besides sun. I can't even explain why that was so excitingly wonderful for me. It was just going to be sunny in Portland, San Francisco, AND Los Angeles and that was just SOOOO incredible! The little old lady next to me must have thought I was there to receive a death sentence or something. She looked so concerned. And seeing as I'm not even showing, the whole "I'm pregnant" thing doesn't really help her relate. So I just sat and wept on my own, happy as a clam for all those people in Portland.

That's all from me for now. Paul says he's going to post soon, so stay tuned for that! Have a great weekend everyone!

Love,

Paul, Sandy & The Prune








OH! And P.S. I always have P.S.'s! I'm going to try to post this video here on the blog because I think it's hilarious! I swear to you someone hid in our house, and video taped our mornings and then drew a little animated cartoon about it and here's the outcome:

Round Dos

We're baaaaaaack! I've been a little hesitant to post anything else on this blog since the last time I wrote. Don't ask me why? I claim to not be superstitious, but yet I find myself sometimes being a little superstitious? Ever since our last little baby hiccup, I haven't touched the pregnancy book that we bought when we decided to start trying nor have I wanted to post on our blog. But I guess I just need to get over my sillinesses and get on with life!

Oh wait...did I mention....we're pregnant again!!! YAY! It happened the month right after our last little snafu. Good word, snafu, huh? =) I'm currently 9 weeks along! We've had an ultrasound already, and things are looking good so far. I'm hoping things have continued to progress nicely since that last visit. Oooh...here's the ultrasound picture...it's so cute our little alien:

The ultrasound was taken at a little over 7 weeks. So it's definitely grown a bit since then. Our little one is currently the size of a medium olive (1 inch)! I LOVE OLIVES! Even now through the hurricane of nausea that I've been experiencing, Olives still are a-ok in my book.

What's that? You're worried about me and the nausea! Oh you know me well! I was TERRIFIED of this. Really I was, and still am. (For those of you who don't know, I have a huge phobia of vomit. Like curled up in a ball, crying in the corner, omg I'm dying phobia. Minus a couple alcohol induced incidents here and there, I haven't thrown up since the 6th grade. Mmmhmmm. Crazy right?) So when this process all started, my biggest fear was the whole first trimester, head-in-the-toilet gig. Just goes to show how much I really really really want this child if I was willing to take that risk. I'm happy to report that my head has not seen the inside of a toilet just yet. Cross your fingers it stays that way! However, that doesn't mean my little gummy bear hasn't taken me on the roller coaster that is morning sickness ride! Oh yes, nearly every day for the past ohhhhh 4 weeks, I've felt like I drank a whole bottle of Jose Cuervo the night before and was reveling in the hangover aftermath all day long.

And P.S., what incredibly intelligent individual decided that it would be cute to call it morning sickness?? Hmmm?? It's not morning sickness. It's ALL DANG DAY sickness. All. Day. Morning, noon, night, midnight, 4 am sickness. Oh and if I hear one more person tell me "they say it's good to have morning sickness! That means the baby is growing!" I'm going to shove a bottle of Jack Daniels down their throat and call them in the morning, "oh it's GREAT to be hungover! That means your body is just getting rid of the alcohol! Cheeseburger??"

Really though, I can't complain. Sure it's been a bit rough, but it could be worse. And I won't hide the fact that the sickness does bring a bit of comfort to me that yes, there really is something going on in my tummy. So I'll take it for now. But little gummy bear? Mommy can't wait to get to week 12! Then we can eat McDonalds again right? (I kid I kid...my mom would tie me to a stake and set a fire under my feet!

So there you guys have it. Looks like Paul & Sandy are actually growing their Plus 1. Keep your fingers crossed that everything continues to go well! We can't wait to make you all grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles! And gummy just did a back flip in agreement!

Hope to post again soon!

P.S. Paul is in AZ this weekend watching the Dodgers spring training with 9 million of his friends. All sporting mustaches. Oy. But I miss him terribly and I can't wait til he comes home. And I'd email him that so that he'd have a fun email to get when he comes home, but he's mr. techie and has all his emails sent to his phone, so I don't want to bug him while he's out there. Butttt...FROOTY! I MISS YOU!!! Hurry home! Your razor awaits! =) And gummy and I do too!

P.S.S. I just did a spell check and I spelled every right! WOW! I'm a genius! Ok bye!