Caricature at 20 weeks

At Matt & Liz's wedding this past week-end, they had a caricature artist to do portraits of all the guests. Don't we look just fabulous! (Especially Jesse's big bouffant).

Can you say, Adobe? Ah-dohhh-baayyy

Jesse & I headed down to Phoenix, AZ this weekend to celebrate Matt & Liz's wedding. It was our first visit to the Southwest, and we were really looking forward to seeing some old friends and warm, sunny weather.

The rehearsal dinner was held at Matt & Liz's house in Glendale. They have a beautiful home that Matt purchased after selling his condo in Seattle. For the sale price of a 1 bedrooom condo in Seattle, you can buy a 3-bd 2ba house with pool, hot tub, and lots of living space.

I'm looking *just a little* bloated in this picture. Jesse looked very handsome, but his rental tux was a bit too big for him, so together we both look like football players!

Our last day in town, we walked around Tempe near the ASU campus, then headed up to Scottsdale to check out the Old Town and try to find some authentic Southwestern cuisine. The closest thing we found was taco bell and baja fresh, so we asked the local tourist booth for some recommendations. She pointed us to the oldest Mexican restaurant in town, which serves up simple, authentic dishes prepared with ultra-fresh ingredients. It was very good, but didn't seem any different than a Mexican restaurant you'd find up in Seattle.

No rattlesnake fillets for us this time..they must have let this one go right near our villa!

Week 19 pix

Here's me and my "little" shelf at 19 weeks. Almost at the half way point!

15 week pix

It's been about a month since the last belly pix were taken, so here's how I'm looking at 15 weeks. I've been wearing lots of UBU clothing, as it is stretchy, fits well and looks cute too. Thanks Uncle David!

Ivan was out for a quick 1-night visit before his trip back east. We'll get to see him again soon, as he's coming back through Seattle this week-end. See you soon, Uncle Ivan!

Baby's first 5k

For some pre-St. Patty's Day fun, we took a road trip down to Portland, OR to visit the folks and participate in the Shamrock run. Mary & I did the 5k walk, while Jesse and Tom did the 8k run.

Here we are at the start line. If you look hard enough, you'll see us in the left front of the pack.

Here's Jesse lookin' good! No sympathy weight allowed here...

As for me and that face I'm making, not sure if a spandex-clad man ran by, or a leprauchan...or a combo of both!

..and here's Jesse and Tom near the finish line. Way to go!

Oh, Canada!

Jesse, Kaley and I decided to take a road trip up to Vancouver, British Columbia over President's Day week-end. What better way to spend this national holiday than by heading north to the border! We actually wanted to break in the new wheels, visit Ivan, and take Kaley on a long-deserved vacation.

Through the aptly named site, Pawsperouspets, we found a wonderful hotel that is located right across the street from the beach at beautiful English Bay and world famous Stanley Park. More importantly, they provided a welcome gift bag for Kaley upon arrival, and a matching doggy bed in our room.

We took a little side trip to Deep Cove, which is located at the entrance to Indian Arm, off Burrard Inlet on the North shore of Vancouver. We stumbled upon a "beached" whale...freshly pruned and intriguing to Kaley.

We enjoyed lots of nice walks along the water and even encountered this "No Dogs Allowed" pet-friendly beach. (Note the sign in the foreground, with at least 4 off-leash dogs frolicking in the sand). Only in Canada....


So, what does this all have to do with the baby you ask? Well, nothing really..unless you consider Kaley our #1 baby. In all seriousness, we are trying to fit in as many mini-vacations as possible before the little one arrives....

Bouncing Baby Bellies

Well..I guess it's officially time to start showing just how much I'm showing! I suppose I'm one of those people that start showing early on... or I just enjoy eating for two and indulging my every craving. I've never really had a belly that started so high up, so I'm assuming it's "baby weight" that I've gained. (I'll keep telling myself that for the next 6 months!)


For the first photo op, Ivan, Jesse and Kaley all offered to pose for the 1st belly shot too so I wouldn't feel self concious. Naturally, I'm the only one who didn't have to push out, hunch over or add extra fur to show a protruding tummy.

It's not really fair that my older brother weighs about 10 lbs less than me, or that Jesse is losing "sympathy weight" rather than gaining it. At least Kaley is getting really furry, so we can be large and in charge together. I'll get over it...after all I am from Jersey, baby!

First Ultrasound Pix

So, Jesse & I went in for our first ultrasound on the 9th of February! It was very cool. I'm at 10.7 weeks now, which they said was a little early for the 1st look, but they determined it was a hair big enough to see!

The baby is approximately 37mm (or is it centimeters?). I've never been good with the metric system! Anyway, it's about 1.5 inches or so....has a heartrate of 165 BPM, and so far we saw 2 arms, 2 legs, a head, back and bottom!

When the technician was doing her thing, we could see the baby jumping (or slip-slding) around. We were told it was very cooperative! Let's hope that carries over into childhood and adulthood :-).

Newest addition to the family

Jesse and I are the proud owners of a brand new car!! We decided to sell the 2001 Audi Avant Quattro wagon and get a new, reliable family car. After looking at a couple different Subarus, we went across to the Toyota dealer to check out their latest hybrids. More out of curiosity than anything else. We both loved the way it drove and were instantly intrigued. Our minds were set. After some haggling with various car dealers via Cars.com and email, we got the exact make, model and and price that we wanted.

So, what is this car we bought? It's the 2007 Camry Hybrid, named 2007 Motor Trend Car of the Year. It gets about 35-40 MPG and is loaded with all the extra options (leather, GPS nav system, sunroof, etc). We're still trying to figure out all the fancy voice-activated commands and wireless bluetooth phone connectivity, but that'll come with time!

We're pregnant!

Well, I guess it's more accurate to say that I'm pregnant! Nevertheless, we're having a Knappenbergerbaby.

I'm thrilled, excited, scared, nervous, cautious, and a little worried yet ecstatic. It's strange because I've been in that odd place between wanting to tell everyone in the world and not wanting to say anything just in case this little one didn't stick. There's the old "wait until the first trimester is over" tradition, but we wanted to tell our parents and immediate family sooner than that.

My folks were here over the holidays, so once we got 'official' confirmation, we suprised them with the news:

Me: So, Mom...how do you like being a grandma?
Mom: It's great..Nathan is sooo adorable.
Me: Good, glad you like it because you get try it again soon.
Mom: Huh? Wha??

...5 minutes later when Dad joins us....

Dad: "Is Kaley going crazy and barking at the mailman?"
Me: "No, actually that would be the stork dropping off a special delivery!"
Dad: [Perplexed look on face] You mean to tell me I'm going to be sleeping with a grandma, again?


So far, I haven't had many unusual (i.e. non-PMS) symptoms. The only weirdness has been a dull lower bachache, a strange pulling/stretching sensation in my lower abdomen, the odd headache, and my boobs now seem to have a life of their own and are apparently preparing to feed a small African country (including wildlife). Otherwise, it could be any typical month of womanly fun, what with all the bloating, fatigue, irritability, and increased appetite.

I've read that I might experience any of the following symptoms: cravings, backaches, bloating, thick hair, huge boobies, weight gain, and mood swings. So it'll be like me but much more so.

I can't stop reading books and online articles (I really should stop that as the conflicting information is just annoying me), and I can't help but look ahead to the future. Jesse is really happy and we are both so looking forward to having a baby (I'm sure Kaley will be thrilled too, mostly because the baby will drop lots of food and provide several thousand new toys for them both to chew on).

I can't wait to start telling people. I can't wait to go buy baby things. I can't wait to be a Mom.

But mostly, I can't wait until I'm past the first trimester so I can relax a little.

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