Viva Mexico!

Gigi and I just got back from a long weekend in Puerto Vallarta. Absolutely beautiful weather, an amazing wedding, and we made lots of new friends. Congrats to Raymond and Pia Arthur! Thank you for inviting us to share your special weekend!

The sunsets were amazing...


The hotel was incredible and right on the beach...


But my favorite part of the weekend was spending time with this beautiful woman...

This looks great!

Beaner's New Ride

Over Thanksgiving we received an early Christmas present from Nono and Nana (James' parents). I was sitting on the couch after a nice long, Thanksgiving nap, just watching the game, when Nono handed me a holiday card. Inside was a picture of a Bugaboo stroller. He said, "it's yours... pick out whichever one you'd like."

So, James and I did our research over the weekend and decided to take a stroll over to Cobble Hill and take them for a test drive. While our hearts (and eyes) were set on the Bugaboo, we met Karla of Ola Baby and she overwhelmed me (James kept his cool) with information about stroller suspensions, how you can position babies facing you, facing others, resting at 180 degrees, 90 degrees, 45 degrees, some strollers even swivel all the way around, some come with bassinets, some you can take for a jog, some are too wide, some are great for the subway.... I couldn't take it so James and I decided to leave the poor woman alone and grab a bite to eat.

On our way to grab a bite, we spotted other new moms with their UPPAbaby strollers... a good sign as Cobble Hill is stroller city (I thought Park Slope was bad). 15 minutes later, we were back with Karla. James convinced me that the UPPAbaby was the way to go. I agreed and was happy that he took charge and just made the decision for us. It arrives in a week.



Thank you Nono & Nana!

A Day at the Beach

We had an amazing day today with our friends Harry and Bekka. We picked them up around 10 and headed east to Jones Beach State Park. The weather was incredible for mid-November...low 60s and sunny with light winds.
Our game plan was to enjoy the day and take some fun pregnancy photos in a setting Gigi and I both love.



Harry brought his camera and got some great shots that I will post after he's had a chance to edit them. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of some he took with our camera.

Mom's First Blog Post

If you could hear me now, you'd hear me belching! It may be an old wives tale, but they say that it's going to be one hairy baby if the mom has heartburn. Raul (my grandfather on my dad's side) always called me his "changita" (little monkey in Spanish) and now I'm having a little monkey of my own!

I feel blessed that heartburn is the only prenatal symptom that can be a bit uncomfortable at times... however, it doesn't stop me from ordering a burger with jalapenos from the Dram Shop or the world's spiciest green curry from Watana Siam. James has been wonderful and so encouraging. When I burp in his face (but usually across the room), he just looks over with a smile and says "nice one, baby" and "way to go!" I can't wait until he's cheering me on in the delivery room.

Dreams

So, last night I had a fun dream. In the dream, I came home from work to Gigi and a crying baby. As I walked in the door, Gigi said to me, "He missed his daddy today." When I took him from her he stopped crying and fell asleep on my shoulder. I woke up laughing and told Gigi I dreamt our child was going to be a boy.

About a month ago, Gigi had a dream that we had a boy with green eyes and curly brown hair. Could this mean anything? Just our subconscious desires, or something more?

Who knows? I'm not going to dwell on it too much. I also once had a dream that I was petting a squirrel, and then it turned into a lion and started chasing me. Terrifying.

All I know is that it is really cool to dream about our next stage in life as a family. Boy or girl, the best part of the dream was the happiness I felt when the baby was in my arms, calm and content.

Happy Halloween!

Beaner convinced Mom to get dressed up for Halloween.

See you in 4 months, Beaner!

Wowowowowowowow. I thought the first ultrasound was cool, but today was amazing. The nurse showed us every organ (except the one(s) that would giveaway the sex) and took lots of measurements. Baby Beaner is doing so well, they think that either the due date may be earlier than expected or it's just going to be a big baby. We're happy either way.

2 arms? Check.
10 fingers? Check. Very long fingers according to the nurse. Just like Daddy.
2 legs? Check.
10 toes? Check.
Nice round belly? Check. Just like Mommy.
2 eyes? Check.
Cutest little profile ever? Check.
Thumb sucking ability? See for yourself...



Beaner weighs 1lb 2ozs at this point. In the 97% percentile. Attabeaner. Keep it up!

21 and a half weeks

We're scheduled for our last ultrasound this afternoon. After this, the next time we'll see our baby will be on the birth day. Needless to say, we're both super excited. The doctor will determine the sex today, but unless they slip up, we'll still not know for 4 more months.
In other news, Gigi and I have felt some tiny little kicks the last couple of days! We've been spending a lot of time with our hands on her belly lately. Speaking of...

Check back later today for the ultrasound pic(s).

Coming this Thurs...

Our already late 20-week ultrasound has been rescheduled for later this week. So on Thursday, I'll be posting our 21.5-wk ultrasound.
Stay tuned.

Thassa spicy meata ball!

Cousins

Gigi and I both have a lot of cousins. We can't wait to introduce our little one to his/her cousins.

Our nephew (and Baby Russo's oldest cousin) Marco is 6 and is in first grade.



He lives in San Antonio with Gigi's sister Erika and recently sent us a Flat Stanley for a school project. The idea is to bring Stanley along for an adventure that we then write about and mail back to Marco. We took Stanley to the Atlantic Antic street fair today. Here are some pics.


On the subway.


Look at all the people!


Shopping.


Petting a huge snake.

Baby Russo will have 2 other cousins in Baltimore. Madeline is 4 and Jack is 2. I recently had a chance to visit with them at my parent's place in Michigan. Here are some pics of them from that trip.


I swear this is not an Olan Mills background. It's my parents backyard.


Reading to each other.

Give em what they want

I've had quite a few requests for belly pics from the loyal readers. Here are the 2 that have been approved.

The pic above is from about a month ago at 13 weeks. BARELY showing.


This second one is from this morning at 17 1/2 weeks. Lookin good, babe(s)!

Got beats?

Hard to believe Gigi is just over 16 weeks. Almost halfway there. We've been so blessed and it seems like time is just flying.

Our doctor let us hear the baby's heartbeat again this morning. Solid 160bpm, just what should be expected at this stage. And it's also the same tempo as my favorite techno music! Are you catching the sarcasm here? 'Cause I'm layin it on pretty thick.



I have gained another 5 lbs since the last appointment (up to 208), but the doctor says there's nothing to be concerned about. If you want to know about Gigi's weight, you'll have to ask her yourself. If you ask me about it, I'll tell you she's absolutely beautiful and always will be. No sarcasm here, folks.

Next appointment will be in about 5 weeks, and THAT one will include our next sonogram. Sweet.

I really hope you've stopped the video by now.

Something to think about

I've heard a lot about this and I think it's fascinating. Makes sense to me. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Drop in a comment if you have any input.

Hang in there

I know its been a while since the last update. No news is good news. Gigi continues to have a very reasonable pregnancy. Still no sickness, just heartburn and occasional dizziness.
We've got another ultrasound on Tuesday and I'll post a copy of it asap. Monday will be 16 weeks! Unreal!

Results are in!

Got the bloodwork back from the Doc today. Perfectly normal results!

1 in 4,500 chance for Downs Syndrome.
1 in 10,000 chance for Trisomy 18.

I'll take those odds any day. Doc says everything continues to look grrrrrreat!

Laughing

Oldie but a goodie. This kid has made over 90 million people laugh. Quite an accomplishment.

So funny

One of Gigi's co-workers put this together. Thanks, Nancy!

12 weeks

So, Gigi and I heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time today. It. Was. AWESOME. Music to our ears. Baby was jumping around, opening and closing its mouth, and seemed to be having a great time, especially for a Monday.

Follow up appointment to discuss all the tests and measurements on Weds, but the technician told us everything still looks great!

From this angle, Baby seems to have gotten Mom's cute little nose, and Dad's giant forehead. Lucky!

One in the oven...

A little background...

Gigi and I were introduced back in 1996 by a mutual friend, Harry Roman. We were all attending UT San Antonio and had some classes together. Gigi and I were each involved in relationships when we met, but I felt an instant attraction and knew I wanted to be much more than just classmates. Eventually our friendship grew and we started spending more and more time together. I finally worked up the courage to ask her out in March 1999. We've been together ever since, over 10 years!

We graduated in 2000 and moved to NYC where we moved into our first apartment together. After about 6 months of living together in a TINY apartment I knew I couldn't live without her, and proposed to her on Dec 19, 2000. We took our time and enjoyed a nice long engagement, waiting to get married until October 19, 2002.

We had an amazing wedding near Gigi's hometown in south Texas. Lots of friends and family and a really, really, really good time. Just sayin.

We then took off for a beautiful honeymoon in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. This was just the first of many incredible trips together. We both love to travel and see new places and so far have visited Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Cayman Islands, Belize, Mexico, and recently Italy. We've got one more trip planned before Baby Russo arrives and I guess that will be our babymoon trip. We'll be heading to Puerto Vallarta in December for a friend's wedding. Stoked!

So, we've had almost 7 years of wedded bliss and have really formed an incredibly solid and stable relationship as a couple. I can't think of anything I would have done differently to prepare ourselves to be the best parents possible. We've been through good times and bad, sickness and health, richer and poorer, and we're still totally in love. We're the best of friends, and are so excited to welcome a new member to our family.

And so it begins...

Gigi and I found out that she was pregnant on Thursday, July 2nd. I flew back from a business trip to Milwaukee that morning and arrived at home around 10:30. She met me at the door with a small pen box saying, "Look what I found! Open it!". I opened it and saw a white pen-like object with a digital screen that said "YES". I've never been happier to receive a pissed on piece of plastic.

We had a trip to Maine planned for the July 4th weekend so we giddily packed up and hit the road with a couple friends. The whole ride up we kept exchanging knowing glances and huge smiles. We were off on the adventure of a lifetime...