Help Needed - Do you have any advice on baby items?

Hello Mom's, mother's to be's and anyone who is around babies a lot! I went to Babys R'Us today with my mom and was a little overwhelmed by all the baby stuff! I know many of you probably have some great advice for us mother to be's - so please share!

Today is the start of my 24th week which is so hard to believe - I feel like time is starting to move a lot more quickly now! Ryan and I still have not picked out a name for the little girl - we have tossed out a few ideas but nothing is confirmed. We are not going to tell anyone the name (good idea Susie!) because it is a little piece of information we can share together until the little one comes a long - our little secret!

We are heading on our "babymoon" this week - to St. George's Island, Florida - and are so excited. I will be working from Florida, but Ryan has the entire week off which is so nice for him. We are bring our dog Sam and heading out on Friday evening. It is a 13 hour drive, so we will do some of it Friday night, probably spend the night in Nashville and then finish the drive Saturday morning. I can't wait to wake up and see and smell the ocean, go for long walks on the beach and eat grouper sandwiches at the Blue Parrot (a cute island bar with wonderful grouper!). Hopefully we will both come back refreshed and relaxed from our babymoon!

Look forward to hearing from you all!
Katherine
xoxo

Quick Baby Update

Just wanted to check in and let everyone know the baby is doing really well! We had a chance to listen to the heartbeat at our doctor's appt. (that sound is so beautiful - I wish I could share a sound bite!). It was so nice to have Ryan at the doctor's office with me as well - he has heard so many heart beats during his residency, but was so touched to hear his own little baby girls heart beat!

Other news - Ryan and I went to get my mom and dad at the airport on Saturday night. We are thrilled to have them home! They were absolutely exhausted on Saturday after flight delays and the time zone change, so last night they came over for some pizza and we hooked up my mom's camera to our tv and looked at their pictures (1115 pictures - can you imagine?) They were beautiful - India is very different from Indianapolis :)

We still have our Christmas decorations up although I know we need to take them down. I absolutely hate taking the Christmas tree down - the house always looks so empty without it and I miss how cozy the room looks with the Christmas lights on! Well, I guess that is our project for next weekend :(

I will be in touch soon. The little girl is still kicking away - I actually saw my tummy move today after I had done my exercises - I think she likes doing lunges and squats - yeah right!

Love,
Katherine

Doctor's Appointment Tomorrow!

Well I have another week doctor's appointment tomorrow (Monday is the start of my 23rd week) - Unbelievable! I am so excited because Ryan can FINALLY come to an appointment with me! This will be his first - unfortunately he is on call tonight in the ICU (intensive care unit) - so will probably be very tired at the appt. tomorrow, but nonetheless, he will be there! He will get to meet one of the 5 doctors that will deliver the baby (they take turns being on call, so you really don't know who you will have at the delivery) and most importantly he will get to hear the little heart!

I have gotten a lot of emails asking me how I am feeling and how the pregnancy is going (thanks for the emails and comments on the blog - I love getting them!) - so I am going to take a blog entry to give you a quick update :)

Everything is going really well - I feel fine almost 100% of the time. Every now and then I get a small leg cramp, or my lower back starts to hurt - but overall, things are great. There have been a few nights where I have a hard time getting comfortable or falling asleep or been up emailing at 3:00 in the morning, but nothing to really complain about. I have been doing my "pregnant work out videos" a few times a week which are keeping me positive and helping my energy. Ryan and I treated ourselves to a treadmill for Christmas, so I am going to start walking on that (at a slow pace!) a few times a week too. We set it up on Tuesday evening and Ryan broke it in last night with a run!! (I was very impressed!)

I don't really have too many cravings - which I am thinking is a good thing. I love eating fruit, so find myself snacking on oranges, grapes, berries and apples all the time - thankfully fruit is healthy! I also am eating more meat than usual (most of you know I was vegetarian for 12 years!). Last weekend Ryan and I went out to breakfast. Usually I get scrambled eggs, toast and substitute the meat for a side of fruit. Well for the first time I can remember, I actually ordered the baked ham with my breakfast and it tasted wonderful! Other than an increase in fruit and meat consumption, I am just eating pretty normally. Of course I give into any little chocolate or ice cream cravings that I have too :)

Someone asked me if I have been feeling baby movements/kicks yet - and YES I have! It is a wonderful feeling to have a little baby moving inside of me. Initially it was a little weird (Ryan still gets weirded out by it), but I have grown to love this feeling. I actually miss it when I don't feel her for a while. She usually moves the most at night time when I am going to bed and then in the morning as well. She is pretty quiet during the day - or maybe I am just busier so notice it less. Last night, Ryan told me that he felt the movement across the bed and it woke him up (I didn't wake up at all!) She started moving about 3 weeks ago, so my cousins in Ireland were able to fill little movements which was so cool - but the movements are definitely getting stronger now!

I have had some fun shopping for cute maternity clothes - it makes me feel much better about my growing waistline when I have some cute outfits to wear! Target Maternity and Maternity Motherhood have had some fun filled visits from me these last couple of months.

All in all, I think I am blessed to be having such a great pregnancy - I have nothing to complain about and have SO much to look forward to - it is so hard to believe that in 4 months, Ryan and I will have a little baby girl in our life. I am so unbelievably excited!

Love, Katherine

Mom and Dad Nagy come to visit!

On the 26th of December Ryan's parents came to stay with us for a few days! They came with all sort of goodies and baked goods for Ryan and I and the dogs! We also got the most beautiful clothes for our sweet baby nagy - a beautiful pink cardigan and matching hat, and a beautiful long sleeve onesie (with little booties, a matching hat and a little blanket!). Elizabeth sent baby Nagy her first denim skirt which will look so adorable on her! Kim and I started to put together the nursery as well - well at least brainstorming where things will go etc. This is all so exciting and I know we have lots of fun over the next few month preparing for the little one!

We were so excited to see family and had a great time. A couple of the pictures are of us at Brugge Brasserie in Broad Ripple where we went to dinner one of the nights. The other is a picture of Ryan and I by our Christmas tree with our 2 dogs and the little one in my tummy! The below is Ryan's brother Mike and his dad at breakfast. Thanks Mom and Day Nagy for visiting us in Indy - we had so much fun and miss you!

Love, Katherine

Deane Family Travels to India!

As some of you know, my parents and brother Bill travelled to India this Christmas for the wedding of a family friend's son. Their trip sounds absolutely amazing and I wanted to share some of the pictures my dad has sent to me via his blackberry. I can't wait until they get home as Indianapolis is very lonely without my parents down the street! :)

Love Katherine

Home with Ryan for Christmas - Finally!! :)

Although I had such a wonderful trip to London and Paris, I missed Ryan so much! I got back to Indianapolis on December 23rd - just in time for Christmas! I was so lucky that my flights didn't get cancelled as majority of the flights at O'Hare were cancelled that night. I made it home though - unfortunately Ryan was on call at the hospital that night - so I didn't see him until the next morning. He had 2 beautiful poinsettia plants and a card waiting for me when I got home which made my night after a long day or travelling! I was greeted by my sweet little doggies who I was so excited to see as well - they missed their mom! It seems Ryan missed me a lot too - he missed his dinners at night and a fridge full of his favorite goodies :)

Luckily Ryan came home the morning of the 24th and didn't have to go in until the 26th - we we were able to spend Christmas together! It was just the 2 of us, so it was quiet, but we had a wonderful time. We are both used to big Christmas celebrations with our families - so it was definitely different. We realized this was probably the last Christmas we will ever have together alone again - so really enjoyed the peace and quiet - and had a ton of fun!

On the 24th, we went shopping for our Christmas Eve dinner and our Christmas Day dinner! We went to the butcher to get a Turkey and they only had a 14-16 lb turkey left - so we bought it! After all, what is Christmas without a Turkey - and cooking this turkey together on Christmas day was the funniest thing ever - as neither of us had cooked a turkey on our own before! So first step is to rinse the turkey and take the organs out (I refused to do this - being vegetarian the last 12 years of my life, and only now starting to eat white meat, it seemed too sudden to de-organ a turkey!) So after searching for a few minutes, Ryan declared that there were no organs in this turkey, that we were all set. This seemed a little odd to me as I always remember there being organs in ever other turkey I have seen cooked. So we called Mom Nagy to see what the deal was - she assured us that there WAS organs in the turkey and we needed to remove the. We had her on speaker phone and spent almost 15 minutes looking for the organs - Ryan refused to believe there were any in there (this was a special turkey)

So he looked...(yes those are yellow rubber gloves he is wearing!)

and he looked...

and he looked

and finally after rinsing the turkey with water multiple times, we were able to look into the neck and found the sack with the organs! Success!!

We were dying laughing by the end of it (as were the Nagy's on speaker phone and Ryan's sister Elizabeth who was there too...). Anyway, after flavoring and cooking the turkey, it ended up tasting wonderful (although it was WAY too much for us to eat!) The dog's received some special Christmas turkey too and were very happy with themselves! We ended up having a really nice Christmas dinner together. Ryan's brother Mike stopped by that evening on his way to work (he works at the Indianapolis Sheriff Department and was on duty that night...) for some Christmas dinner as well.

Hope you all had a wonderful and happy Christmas!!!

Love,

Katherine XOXO

My Cousin's Wedding - London

So the real reason I went over to England we to go to my Cousin Mark's wedding. It was located in Colchester, just north of London. It was so wonderful to see all of my cousins and relatives from my mom's side of the family! Mark and Julie had a beautiful wedding - aren't they so cute? The wedding had a very Christmassy theme and Julie looked like a little snow princess!

The ceremony was held at a very beautiful old church in the town - and there was a little kid's choir singing Christmas carols - it was so romantic and was out of a story book. I only wish Ryan had been there with me to share the experience! The wedding reception was at a beautiful old manor - one where Henry V bodyguard used to live, so it was full of history which was so cool. I got to visit and see ALL of my Quinn cousins - all of us were at the wedding which was so fun! There is a picture of all of us out there that I will post up as soon as I get - unfortunately my camera battery died during the wedding reception so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked. Below is a beautiful picture of my family (minus Ryan and, my nephew Liam and my sister in law Karen - who couldn't make it as she was too pregnant to travel). You can see I have started to get QUITE a tummy these days - which is fun! :) We had such a wonderful time! I miss all of my cousins - if you are reading this I miss you all had an absolutely wonderful time with you all!!!

Love Katherine XOXO

London and Paris - Oh my, Oh my!

After finding out the good news about our little girl, I packed up my bags and headed for London on Saturday, December 13th. I was so excited to head to London, but very sad to say goodbye to Ryan since I was going to be gone for 10 days - and right after we had found out our good news!

My mom and I travelled to London and spent 2 wonderful days walking around Oxford Street, Kensington, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus - it was fabulous! My cousin John (see picture above) was our personal escort and did a fabulous job of showing us the area! I was also able to meet my friend Sarah Bates for tea and a scone as she is now living in London with her husband- we went to St. Luke's 3rd and 8th grade together and also live together freshman year at St. Mary's college - so had lots to catch up on! I absolutely love London - especially around the holidays!

Then my we took the Euro Rail to Paris - my first time there - I loved it!! The train itself was so cool as it only took 2 hours to travel from London to central Paris. The first day, we checked into our hotel located in Plaza Vendome (such a pretty area!). We walked around and window shopped for a while to learn the area. We spent our days eating pastries at little cafes and drinking tea (cafe au lait for my mom!). It was quite rainy and I was getting kind of tired walking (since my tummy is considerable bigger) so we took a bus tour during one of the days to go see all of the major tour sites (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arch of Triumph, Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame etc..) It was such a beautiful way to see the city - although next time I am there, I can't wait to explore the museums. One of the nights we went to see the Moulin Rouge (we are so scandalous! ;) - We had such a wonderful trip and it was such a special time to be with my mom - such wonderful memories! Technically, we had 3 generations of our women in Paris!

We are back - with great news - It's a GIRL!!

Hi Everyone - It has been such a whirl wind of a month - I don't even know where December went to! I have so much to update you on! First and foremost, Ryan and I DID find out the sex of the baby! We are having a precious little girl!! Ok, so let me go back and tell you about the doctor's visit.

The big ultrasound appointment was on Monday, December 8th. Ryan wasn't able to come to the appointment with me (sad!), but I had my two mom's with me which was wonderful!! The Nagy's came down the weekend before and Kim stayed until Monday to go to the doctor's appointment. We were all so excited that morning!! We headed out to the doctor with our VHS videotape in hand (to record the ultrasound) and a cute card and envelope for the doctor to write the gender of the baby in. Since Ryan wasn't able to be there - I wanted him and I to be the first to find out the gender when we were together. My two mom's were in the room with me and we were admiring our cute little baby - it is amazing how developed she is already! She is so graceful - moving her limbs so gently as the technician took her baby measurements. At one point, she kicked her little leg and spread her toes apart so we could see each individual little toe. We have it all on tape which Ryan and I need to watch- he will love to see her move. I have some great ultrasound pictures which I intend to scan into the blog as well - you can see her little face profile with the nose and lips - I know I am biased, but she is already beautiful!

Well after the technician took the measurements (she measured 18 weeks which is exactly what she should have been!) she asked me if I wanted to know the gender, because she was about to see. The 2 mom's had to turn their heads (much to their dismay!) and the technical wrote down the gender on a cute little card that I will save forever.

After I left the doctor's appointment, I had to head to Los Angeles immediately for a 2 day meeting - so I didn't get to see Ryan until late Wednesday night when I got home. I had to sit in my meeting for 2 days with the envelope in my purse!! Can you imagine?? Anyway, on Thursday evening when Ryan got home and I was done working for the day, we sat down on our couch together and opened the envelope!

I really really thought it was going to be a boy - and had told Ryan that I thought it was a boy - so we were sitting there waiting for the envelope to confirm. So you can only imagine how shocked we were to see "Congratulations - it's a girl!" written on the card. I seriously think Ryan stopped breathing for 30 seconds and set back on the couch in disbelief! I couldn't stop laughing out of joy, shock and just watching Ryan's reaction. We sat there for a couple of minutes to digest (it is amazing HOW much more real the situation becomes when you know the sex of the baby). Then Ryan started to slightly panic - he was saying oh my gosh, i can just picture her in pink dresses with pink ruffle diaper covers, with pink bows - oh my gosh, when do girls go on their first date? I need to buy a shot-gun! I need to get another German Shepard - oh my gosh - what if I end up having 4 girls? (we have always joked that he will end up with 4 girls!!) :) It was absolutely hilarious and I was dying laughing the entire time. Needless to say, we are both thrilled and SO absolutely excited to welcome this little bundle of joy into our lives!!

Much Love,
Katherine