This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius

The end of January/beginning of February is a big birthday time for both sides of my family. There are six birthdays from the Pronzato and Stefany sides. It starts with my Nana Stefany on January 24th and ends with my mom on February 9th. We lump my dad's birthday in there too, December 28th, even though he isn't an aquarius like the rest of us.

We had many milestone birthdays to celebrate this year. I, as you know, turned 30. Nana is a whooping 90, Mommom a young 85, and Dad 65. I am very fortunate to have three grandparents still living. Poppop Stefany passed in 2009, also an aquarius. We celebrated together today in Lancaster.

Here's the Aquarius (plus one) crew:



April is a big month for Jason's family. September is another birthday filled month for both of us. Nugget will join cousin Hannah in May. Will May be the next big birthday month?

And I'm happy to share that I brought cards for everyone's birthday today. Yes, I didn't send them on the actual day, but I did write a thoughtful message to everyone. Why do I bring this up? Read here if you haven't been an avid blog reader.

Loving 30

If you are a Chicago Bears Fan (read: Ann Marie), you may want to skip this post...

When I found out the Packers were in the Superbowl, I promptly asked Jason for a John Kuhn jersey for my 30th birthday. It was perfect- John Kuhn wears #30 for the Packers. I planned to wear my new jersey proudly at the Superbowl party we were attending.

Here I am sporting the jersey with my "beer gut":


However, there was one HUGE glitch. The jersey didn't arrive until MONDAY. When was the Superbowl? SUNDAY.


Sigh.

I had my John Kuhn goggles on for the game and quickly found him on every play. My friends, who are Bears fans, even commented when it was 3rd down and 1, "Kuhn time!" But I don't think Kuhnie touched the ball once. He was one of the first players to hit Rogers on the butt when they won though... if that matters :)

After talking with my dad last night, apparently Kuhn is married to someone from Manheim Township. That, my friends, is the high school from which I graduated! It's like Kuhn and I are soul mates. We both went to Ship, he plays football, I love football, and he married someone from my HS. Could it be even sweeter?

Yes- if only I knew this girl...

So my new found obsession with #30 ends for a few months. I will proudly wear my jersey next season (if there is a season) and continue to cheer on my hometown (sort of) hero!

24 Weeks

Time flies when you are working full time, registering, working on house projects, preparing for a baby, and trying to rest as much as possible. Here we are 4 weeks later, so you know what that means- new belly shots!

24 Weeks

I am really tired this week. With the snow days and delays, my time at school is rather frantic and I think I'm not eating enough. Odd since I LOVE to eat. I have 15 minutes passing time and still can't find time to squeeze in a bathroom break and snack. The other problem is I don't have any motivation to go to the grocery store, so my snack options are slim. I am trying to be better about eating. How soon until I can go out on maternity leave?? :)

Jason and I enjoy our nightly Nugget time. As soon as I lay down for the night, Nugget moves and kicks around. I feel Nugget a little during the day, but I'm usually so busy entertaining, I mean teaching, that I don't think about it. I know Jason really likes to feel Nugget himself, so it's fun we both know Nugget is there!

I don't see noticeable changes in my stomach. That's probably because I see it every day. I'm sure it's getting bigger. You can see how my hoodie is a creeping up my midsection in the pictures.

I struggle every day with what to wear. How soon until i can go out on maternity leave?? :)~ I'm due for another Old Navy shopping spree with my birthday money. The pants I bought over winter break already shrunk and are floods. GRRR.

After much debate, we signed up for a 1 day blitz child birth class. We are also signed up to take a hospital tour, a breast feeding class (just me...), and registered at two places. My next appointment is in 2 weeks, so I'm sure I'll have more things on my to-do list. I know the lovely glucose test is at 28 weeks. Being told to drink something in a certain amount of time reminds me of the prep for my colonoscopy. I know it CANNOT be as bad as that experience.

I'll leave with you with those happy thoughts. If you haven't one of those fun tests yet, just wait!

6 months over, 4 to go. Wait, I thought women were only pregnant for 9 months?! That my friends is why math is important even for those that don't want to be math majors. :)

Bring on the Next Decade

The clock struck midnight on Friday night and I turned 30. I've been dreading this day all year.

Jason already witnessed my crying fits over turning 30 and pulled through with a day full of pleasant surprises. I really wanted to drink my face off, but Nugget spoiled that plan. Don't get me wrong, I would so much rather be pregnant than drunk... most days

My day started with a prenatal massage that I set up for myself. It was fabulous. Later that afternoon one of my favorite college friends showed up unexpectedly at our house. Jason set up manicures for us. I adore my college friends and miss them dearly. It was lovely to chat with Erica for a couple of hours and have some much needed girl time.

Next we went to Little Italy in Baltimore where I figured some of my teacher friends would join us for dinner. I was shocked to find more out of town friends. Jason arranged for 9 of us to have dinner together. Each person from a different stage in my life and most people did not know each other, yet everyone got along.

We finished the night with some game playing at our house then all our guests left. I was bummed no one spent the night, but it's probably better since our house is a disaster upstairs right now.

I normally dread birthdays because I feel this need to do something big then usually I am disappointed. I didn't have to hear one excuse from friends about being too busy or not having enough money, blah, blah. Jason planned the whole thing, so I had no expectations. It was a perfect day once I finished crying about having nothing cute to wear.

My 20's were OK. I was afraid to turn 30 because I felt I didn't do everything I wanted in those 10 years. I'm ready to put them behind and start enjoying my life in my 30s. We have many exciting plans for our 30s and I think it's going to be a great 10 years.

Snow Days

I lucked out with TWO snow days this week. Wednesday was a bit of a surprise since the forecast was rain. I woke up to snow. I spent the day on the couch napping and writing semester 1 comments.

Wednesday night we got nailed with very heavy snow. Jason made it home before the traffic nightmares took place. On the road I normally take home from work (I-83), people sat for NINE hours Wednesday night. Anyone that left beyond 5 pm got stuck on the highway. I cannot imagine. I am so thankful both of us were home and safe.

Here's our neighborhood the morning after. I'd say we got 9-10 inches.

Our cars are somewhere under there. Notice the road untouched.

It sure was a pretty snow!

As I walked Parker around the circle I heard more stories from neighbors being stuck on the beltway for 3 hours or it taking them 7 hours to get home from DC. As much I criticize Marylanders for freaking out over 1/2 inch of snow, there wasn't much people could do about Wednesday night. The snow was coming down at a rate of 1-2 inches per hour.

Jason dug out our cars while I watched from the house. Unlike many females, I don't mind shoveling. My neighbor made a remark last year that I needed to have a baby so I didn't have to shovel. This comment did not sit well with me. I don't think shoveling should fall all on one person. I like helping Jason. I'm usually home on snow days, so why not shovel? I also get so annoyed that people don't shovel their sidewalks. I am the one that shovels the sidewalk in the neighborhood that doesn't belong to anyone.

Jason took the day off on Thursday and we worked on the bathroom. We used our new tile cutter and cut all the tile. I wish I would have taken a picture. Jason was on the deck with a PSU poncho on cutting tile. It was messy operation, but we're ready to set the tile and move forward!

Snow days are amazing- especially at a private school where we don't need to make them up. Not that I will be there in June this year.

What an early birthday treat!

Projects Galore!

I think all homeowners would agree with me that it is impossible not to have a running to-do list of projects. Especially if you watch HGTV. We don't plan on living in our townhouse forever, so we're trying to pick our projects wisely. We want to make improvements for a future re-sell, but we also know we won't see thousands of dollars in return.

With Nugget on the way, we are trying to finish up as much as we can before house projects will be the last thing on our minds.

Jason and I get along well 99% of the time. The 1% of the time we don't is when we are working on a house projects. Jason gets frustrated, I get annoyed, and we end up screaming at each other. Then we're fine.

Last summer I kindly asked Jason if we could re-do the guest bathroom. As the person that cleans that room, I knew it needed some updating. We stood around discussing that bathroom for weeks. I think after 6 weeks of fights over what to do with the holes in the walls, 1000 trips to Lowe's, and buying tons of tools, we finished the bathroom. I must say, Jason did a great job! When I wasn't doubting what we were doing, I was Jason's moral support. (as I read my book, snuggling with Parker in the hallway...)

The problem with this bathroom being done well- I know Jason is capable of re-doing our master bath! Our realtor friend agreed that it needed to be updated. So after Jason worked so hard on the nursery, I put him to work on another room.

While I was away in NC for 4 days, Jason was at home working hard. He took everything out of the bathroom, which is a lot of crap. He chiseled up all the tile on the floor, took out the vanity, put down backerboard, and cleaned the bathroom and dusted our bedroom. I was shocked how much we did while I was gone. It took us about 3 weeks to get this far with the last bathroom.

As I was putting on a load of laundry today, I saw the sink guts nicely cleaned and drying on the washer. I do a lot of work around the house- cook, clean, laundry, etc. and often feel Jason doesn't do enough. Jason has been working his tail feathers off the past few weeks and I'm so thankful. I always commented to friends that I wished I had a handy husband. The more projects I give him, the more he can figure out. I need to give him more credit. He's gone above and beyond my expectations over the last 2 months.

The best news- I can flirt with this hot, handyman dressed in torn faded blue shorts that does all this work in our house :)~

Another Math Nerd in the Making

My Baby Center updates inform me that Nugget is starting to recognize my voice and hear sounds outside the womb. Most of my day I am teaching math and not just 2 + 2, I'm talking higher level math. I think I am creating a math genius!


Most of my department road tripped to North Carolina on Thursday for a 2 day conference in Durham. Nugget had the opportunity to listen to even smarter math teachers for 8 hours! I even felt him kick during some of the presentations in delight. Jason and I joke that we hope our children get Jason's athletic ability and my brains. I don't plan on reading to Nugget in the womb, but I do hope he will pick up some math smarts just listening to me teach. Wishful thinking...

After my math nerd conference, I spent a quick 26 hours with Jen & Matt in Raleigh. Nugget had his first flying experience back to Baltimore. I felt great until we started our descent into Baltimore. I felt so lightheaded and am pretty sure my coloring was not normal. The brisk Baltimore evening felt good and I made it without throwing up. My somewhat iffy flying experience will not stop me from flying at least one more time before Nugget is here.