While we wait...a blanket for Dylan

While we all anxiously await Dylan's arrival, I have been trying to keep busy with things that don't cause my feet to swell.  Today I finished a blanket for Dylan!  I'm thinking that it will probably be a stroller blanket or a blanket for tummy time (when her fancy pink elephant one is not around).  It's really warm, and nice and thick.  This is the first time I ever did an i-cord (the green border) and I'm excited with how it came out!  Real knitters would surely be able to tell that a beginner made this blanket, but hopefully Dylan will love it anyways. 

If you happen to be a knitter, I used a free pattern from Purl Soho (here).  I didn't use all of their yarns because they are pretty pricey.  But their yarns are beautiful and now that I know what I'm doing, I might splurge on their yarns if I make another!

The perfect shower!

Last weekend was not only perfect because of the weather, but because my family threw the nicest baby shower for Dylan! 

It was a beautiful luncheon at Artisan restaurant in Southport complete with delicious food and drinks, scratch off cards for prizes, gift bags with all sorts of goodies including chocolates from Dylan's Candy Bar (how perfect?!?!) for the guests, and of course, great company. 

Dylan is already so spoiled...take a look at that gift table! 

Sheela had the great idea to ask guests to bring a book instead of a card. Now Dylan has a library filled with so many great children's books!! We even got a German version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar from our cousins who recently moved to Germany - so cool! 

Dylan is all set up now...with blankets, cute little diapers, so many sweet outfits, stuff for a beautiful nursery, Mets gear (thanks to Nane and mom), a sleep sheep, lots of elephants for her to play with, and a really, really nice baby book for us to document it all!

It was so nice to see friends and family, some of whom traveled really far (FL, VA, NH) and others who took time from their insanely busy schedules just to share this special day with me!  

Sheela, Mom, Nane, Jill and Rachel all worked so hard to make it a perfect day! 
I'll never forget this special day for Dylan. 

Thank you all so much xoxo

p.s. Special thanks to Nivi for taking the only real-camera-photos, and for snagging the only shot of Sheela and I together!

100 days

When I was young, my dad used to hold his arms out wide and say "I Love You Thiiiiiiis Much!" He was imitating the little statue above, which he said was obviously him because they had matching big bellies :)  

Today marks 100 days till we get to meet our little monkey. We're already so excited to meet her, we already love her Thiiiiiiis Much!

What I'm missing the most

There are lots of things you can't do during pregnancy: wine, sushi, delicious unpasteurized cheeses...travel to warm places because of Zika virus...but the thing I'm missing the most is skiing (ok and maybe the apres ski Moscow Mules from the Little Nell)!

As a kid, my parents would take my brother, sister, and I skiing almost every weekend through the winter. My mom would pack up the old wood-paneled station wagon and then when my dad got home from working all day in the city, we'd hit the road for a 6h drive from Long Island to Stratton (VT). My sister almost always got sick, and then there was the usual sibling stuff - the fights over who would sit in the middle or who would get the all-the-way-in-the-back seat - all sans iPhones/iPads for music and video distractions to pass the time. Just plain old family car trip fun! Then there was the lugging of gear, the endless laundry, and the cleaning up after all of us that I sooo could not appreciate at the time. Now that we do our own ski trips with the girls, I get it! Ski trips are no small feat for a family... but those were some of the best memories that I had growing up and I am so grateful that my parents did that for us weekend after weekend, year after year!! 

Last year we had so much fun skiing. One weekend we took the girls and their friends skiing at Stratton and then made our first movie with the GoPro footage! Check it out (here).

While I practically never fall skiing, it just seems unreasonable to risk getting slammed into by another skier and jeopardize our little monkey, so I'm taking a seat on the sidelines this year and am looking forward to next year when we can all hit the trails together again...

Year of the Monkey

We are very fortunate to have a happy and healthy growing baby!  Here's a peek at the ultrasound from yesterday. She kept covering her eyes and smiling, and the MFM was even able to snag a pic of her yawning. 

According to this article from Bloomberg.com (here) "those born in the year of the monkey are crafty, clever and charming." The year of the monkey starts Feb 8th and a baby boom is expected in China! Our little monkey will be in good company.

What's your Chinese zodiac?  Find out here

I'm a dog, David's a rooster, Rachel is a goat, and Jill is the prized dragon! 

Where can I buy maternity scrubs?

I survived the DC blizzard...but not without the amazing hospitality of some friends who took me in for the duration of the storm!  I was happy to get back into scrubs today and head back into the OR for my favorite rotation of medical school - gynecologic oncology with my favorite surgeon and PA duo.  I was especially glad to find that Starbucks was open for my daily espresso shot and then to be greeted at the hospital by a beautiful sunrise. 

As a preggers med student I am faced with a new challenge - tying the scrub bottoms.  I've already surrendered to the fact that the small scrubs are just too small now.  But while I was on the interview trail I was made aware of another potential problem: scrubs falling down during surgery. The story goes that a preggers surgeon was struggling with the same thing, how to tie the scrub bottoms on tight enough when there's a baby belly in the way, and one day her scrub bottoms just slipped off during surgery. Adios pantalones! Scrubbed in, she couldn't pull them up herself, so the male med student who wasn't scrubbed in was asked to pick up her pants from below her sterile gown. I can't even imagine! What I learned from that story: tie the pants tight...and wear cute undies just in case :D