The Romaezis

Day 8: A Year in Review

December 31, 2010 at 7:28 PM | Posted in Baby Romaezi | 2 Comments
Tags: 2010, 2011, Baby, High Risk Pregnancy, new year, pre-term labor, preemie, pregnancy, year in review

Yesterday turned out to be full of visitors which made the day go by quickly.  Dave and Catherine left baby Luke with his grandparents for a few hours and came up to visit us.  We haven’t seen them since Luke was born so it was nice to see them.  I still need to meet Mr. Luke.  Heather and Millie came up later in the day and Heather had CUPCAKES in tow!  One of the many reasons I love that girl.  Her momma taught her how to bake.  I’m normally a vanilla cupcake chick so I had one of those for me and then after dinner the baby asked for a chocolate cupcake so I ate one of those too.  Heather bought enough to share with the nurses.  We’ve shared with a few of the nurses but I haven’t had the heart to send the whole box to the masses just yet.  That’s what they get for taking my food away the other day!!  My cousin Crystal and her son Dezmond also stopped by last night.  It was nice to see both of them and get a family Christmas recap from her.  I can’t wait to see the pictures!  (HINT HINT)  They also brought a cute little monkey outfit, polar bear onsie and a teeny weeny preemie outfit for the babe.

Yesterday I experienced a bit of “irritation.”  That’s what they call the “so mild I can’t even feel them” contractions around these parts.  I’m drinking TONS of water each day but the doctor wanted to make sure I’m extra hydrated so back on the saline drip I go for a short bit.  The nurse hooked me up and HOLY OW!  Something was totally wrong.  My IV went bad so the saline didn’t have anywhere to go–except to make a bubble under my skin.  After only two days!  I was slightly bummed and immediately got tense because I know what a hard time the nurses have with my veins and the pain it ends up causing me.  In fairness, it wasn’t the awful experience the last two IVs have been for me.  We got this one in on the first try.  I’m just bummed the thing is back on my left again because now I can’t crochet anymore.   It’s on the back of my hand at the bend in my wrist.  ICK!

Today’s non-stress test went  insanely well.  The nurse popped in at 7:30 when she started her shift and said she would be back for vitals.  She must have thought I was still sleeping and wanted to let me sleep because I didn’t see her again for a while.  We normally do vitals at 8 and the non-stress test after I eat.  So I ordered breakfast, ate close to 9 and did vitals and the non-stress test closer to 10.  We were only on the monitors for about 30 minutes and that is a GOOD thing.  I’m not sure if it is because of the holiday or because baby behaved but I haven’t seen a single doctor this morning.  I’m thinking it is just because of the holidays since I usually see at least one doctor pop in in the morning to say hello and ask their standard 3 questions.  I did get a visit from the nutritionist .  She is going to make sure I get all of the calcium I need and start me on some iron.  My iron levels aren’t too low but it’s borderline so they figure why not.

Pre-term labor is not exactly a situation every parent-to-be wants to find themselves in (over the holidays none the less).  All in all, 2010 has been a really good year for Kayvan and I.  Quite honestly, I’m sad to see it go but welcome 2011 and all of the joy it has the potential to bring us.  Today I give you our year in review:

JANUARY

We kicked off the New Year at the cabin with the Alegis, their babes, the Roystons, their twins, the pregnant-at-the-time Walkers and the Abitas.  It was much more low key than the previous year with all of the babies around but that’s only because we are all getting old.  There was tons of snow on the ground which was a first and very welcome. We even got some skiing in which is rare for that trip.  I became addicted to my new favorite series, “The Sookie Stackhouse Series” while there and read a TON.

On to my birthday.  I was still under the weather but Millie and Heather came over to celebrate in true teeny bopper style.  Kayvan made me get all dressed up for a surprise night–mind you, I was sick so I got a bit crabby about this.  Next thing I know, I’m ready to go and there are nachos on the table chocolate covered wine and the doorbell rang.  He had invited the girls over for a night in with me since I still didn’t feel well.  I really do love that man.  🙂  Those girls too!  Kayvan got me a DSLR camera for my birthday, which I wanted oh so badly and  was very thrilled about.

We celebrated birthdays galore and moved on to February.

FEBRUARY

The shortest month of the year brought us massive snow fall.  I can’t even remember how much snow we got but it was a TON.  We spent most of our time outside shoveling.  When we were inside, I did lots of extensive research on French Bulldogs and watched TONS of French Bulldog videos on YouTube in an effort to talk Kayvan into a puppy.

Our girls outing took us to the Roller Derby this month.  A very cool under-appreciated sport that I still want to take Kayvan to see.  Those chicks are TOUGH!  Hmmm maybe I’ll get into THAT once I get out of here?

February also brought the

first baby shower of the year with a visit to Michelle’s house and lots of warmth to help her prepare for the arrival of her little guy, Ryan.

Those of you who know us know that we love to spruce up our house.  We finally added in the finishing touches on our basement to make it more homey.  How sad is it that a year later I want a new couch?  I know, I know!!  I won’t do it.

MARCH

We visited the windy city of Chicago for my first time ever.  Kayvan had been before but it didn’t matter.  It was a great little weekend get away for the two of us.  Still really cold but we planned the trip over St. Patty’s day weekend so there was lots of extra stuff for us to see.  The green river was way cool.  We also saw the standard tourist things like the bean at Millennium park and the Shedd Aquarium.  Tons of fine fare was in store for us too.  Chicago style pizza, Chicago style hot dogs, we also made my first ever trip to Lawry’s.  Oh and it is also noteworthy that we used Priceline to book the trip.  Stayed in an amazing 4 star hotel for insanely cheap.  I immediately fell in love with that website.

Our friend and Kayvan’s co-worker came to visit and stayed with us for a week.  We love hosting him and watching him harass –er– entertain our pets.

We found a local French Bulldog breeder, met puppies and picked one out and had to wait until she was old enough to leave her momma before bringing her home.  Kayvan and I were oh so very excited.  He wanted to get a boy and name it Beef.  A topic for debate right there.  Unfortunately we found out weeks later that the puppy we picked was deaf.  Not knowing what we were getting into we opted not to buy her.  It was a hard decision.  Frenchies are a very tough breed and deaf dogs do best in households with older dogs to mimic.  Keeping her just wasn’t the right thing to do.

APRIL

You know you are getting old when ordering a new dishwasher is one of the highlights of your year…but that is what we did!!

We also finally bought chairs for our dining room.  It took us long enough!

The family came over for dinner at our place for Easter which was quite exciting.  We love having people over and entertaining.

It was also finally SPRING!  So Kayvan and I started on the yardwork, ripped out a few bushes and planted a few pretties!

Mid-April we visited Philly with my brother and sister-in-law to be.  We loved it.  Family trips don’t happen that often.  It was just a weekend but we all had a blast.  Kelly and I went shopping for a bit and I got $5.00 shoes.  We met the boys at a bar afterward where they had been consuming 25 cent beer all afternoon.  That place seriously had a great crowd.  A game was on and the people watching was superb!  Let’s not forget the cheese steak we ate while we were there too!  Yummmm.  A very sad thing happened while in Philly.  I dropped my prized iPhone 3G on the cobblestone face down and majorly cracked the screen.  It was a rough time of the year for me, no doubt but awesome Hubby ordered a screen and fixed it for me a week later.

MAY

We found a new French Bulldog breeder in May and officially became dog crazy.  She lived in ATLANTA.  10 hours away.  Kayvan and I were even happier with this new breeder than the first one we found, learning from our first timer mistakes and next thing we knew, it was off to Georgia to pick up our sweet new 3 month old puppy!  We were worried about making a long trip with a puppy but that little girl loved the car from day one and slept the whole way.

I visited Kitty Hawk with a few of the gals for a weekend in May.  I was sad to leave my brand new puppy but knew she was at home with Kayvan in good hands.  Us chickadees spent tons of time at the beach, munching on good food and even assembled a catamaran and attempted to sail it all by ourselves.  We didn’t make it far but hey, we put the thing together!!

While I was gone Kayvan had a host of strong men over our house and started building a fence for the new pup!  I was incredibly skeptical and wanted to hire someone but they did an AMAZING job on the thing.  Matter of fact, it is still standing.  🙂

I also broke my iPhone 3G screen a second time in May and no, Kayvan didn’t kill me.  Instead he just quietly fixed the thing.  True love I tell ya.

My brother and sister-in law-to-be watched Sookie for a few nights while we headed to the beach with the Guzzones, Bautistas and their girls.  Bethany was a blast and we learned lots about the lack of sleep you get with children in the house.

JUNE

June brought us warmer weather and new shoes for me.  I got my very first pair of funny toe shoes.  VIBRAMS!  Judge away.  I love those shoes and there is nothing you can say about them that will hurt my feelings.  Chances are better that I will talk you into buying a pair of your own–like I did my hubby.

Sookie loves June weather and since we were good on the potty training thing she knew how to ask to go outside.  It became her favorite thing.  We spent some time outside gardening and just enjoying the weather.  We introduced Sookie to Abbey and Charley, two Dachshund doggie friends and she just loved that Charley boy.

Despite all of the iPhone breaking I did in the previous months Kayavan and I got new iPhone 4s!  We loved our new toys a ton!

JULY

We celebrated Heather’s June birthday over 4th of July weekend by tubing in Harpers Ferry.  I’ve been rafting but never tubing and it was a blast.  I did end up spraining my ankle–got it stuck in the rocks.  Who says you shouldn’t drink on those trips?  The night before I decided to make Heather what I was calling campfire cupcakes.  Basically–smores cupcakes.   Ya, I caught the oven on fire (with the cupcakes inside) and burned my arm.  Won’t be doing that again.  Guess I was having a clumsy week.  For the actual 4th of July holiday we took Sookie with us to Millie’s family’s place for a cook out and to play with the kids and pups who live there.  Oh and I did I mention, we ate lots of the yummy food that her momma cooked?

We caught a Nationals game–my first and went to a few summer BBQ’s.  I also went to the second baby shower of the year for Andrea to welcome little Wyatt.  Oh, and the third of the year for Jeane to welcome little AJ.  What none of us knew at the time is that I too was pregnant!  Well, in fairness I found out a few days later but didn’t tell any of you fools.   🙂

AUGUST

August brought us a little dog who liked to wake up at 5 a.m.  With nothing else to do that early she and I went for lots of walks.  We had finally convinced Sookie to learn how to go UP the stairs.  Now it was time to teach her to walk down them.  Something that little bull headed bulldog did not want to do.  We won that battle eventually and now I catch her skipping the last step to fly off of the stairs.  Rotten little stinker.

I took engagement photos for my brother and Kelly in Baltimore and think they liked them.  I had a blast doing it and even surprised myself.

This was a much more low key month.  I didn’t get morning sickness during pregnancy per se.  No vomiting for me but I spent a lot of time being dizzy and feeling icky on the couch.

That didn’t stop me from finally finding new closet organization system that fit our so called “pantry.”  Again, sad that this is one of the more exciting events from this year but seriously.  If you know me.  You should get it.

SEPTEMBER

This month brought a visit to the orchard with Millie, Ava and Sookie for Apple picking.  They were out of the apples I wanted so we ended up picking peaches instead.  Oh and those things were SO delicious!

Lady Gaga came to town and a few of the ladies and I headed downtown in our custom decorated shirts to see the show.  That woman is a great entertainer!  In a separate event, a gaggle of girls came over my place for cupcake decorating another group of us went to the beach for another girls weekend.  A very girly month indeed.

Kayvan went to Vegas with the guys for a weekend this month too.  I guess they have fun but as the saying goes, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

OCTOBER

As with every October we visited the Renaissance Festival with a group of friends.  This is also the month that we hit the “safe” (yeah right) three month mark and started sharing the pregnancy news.  We opted for the word of mouth route and still to this day haven’t made the pregnancy “FBO” or Facebook Official.

October also brought forth one of my favorite campaigns at work for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  I love having the privilege to work with people who do such good things for others.

Kayvan and I celebrated our TWO YEAR anniversary!  We typically visit Key West to celebrate but opted to save that trip for November this year.

We saw our first ever Cirque de Soleil show and sold our bar.  Time to make room for the BABY!

I also went to baby shower number five for Emmilie to welcome baby Chloe!  (Hyun-ae, can’t remember what month your shower was in–but that was shower #4?)

NOVEMBER

November led us to warm sunny Key West. Sookie came with us and so did Nikki, Jon and Xander.  Sookie is a professional traveler, she loved flying and will totally join us for more trips.  We all had an amazing week in the warm weather and none of us wanted to leave–but we all had to.

The next week I went to chilly St. Louis for editing training for work.  I learned a new edit software, Edius.  Ya, I know you’ve never heard of it.

Family came to our place for Turkey day and we eventually shared the gender of the baby with everyone.  No we didn’t just come out and tell them.  We hid the ultrasound picture and made them find it.  My mom and his were both hilarious!

DECEMBER

And finally, on to December.  Christmas shopping, cheer, and cards.  Kavyan and I decorated the National Rehabilitation Hospital’s children’s ward with a group of friends and it really got us in the holly jolly Christmas spirit.

Kayvan also got old.  I mean turned another year older.  🙂  We just went out for a simple dinner and had a low-key night.  I got him some more crap to build the computer mentioned in the previous post…I think the CPU???

Of course, the end of December brought pre-term labor and this indefinite hospital stay but hey, we’re all doing well so far.

Wow, that was a long post.