Step and Bounce!

Wow-- baby brock's first step aerobics class! What a riot! 60 minutes of mom panting-- sweating-- swearing-- and wondering how she got so chubby!

Jason and I joined the YMCA today-- the largest-- nicest-- cleanest-- coolest health club in Milwaukee! No more dingy Bally's basements-- good clean fun-- and it's even connected to the Grand Avenue Mall. And the best part is that most of our school friends are members! So now we can all suffer together!

Countdown to cruise.... countdown to wearing a bikini (don't feel bad-- I'm cringing too)... only 73 days to go!

How's the Sac?

The doctor confirmed today that a second ultrasound is needed. She made an appointment for us to go Friday afternon at 3:15pm. I kindly asked her if she was related or had any relations with the first ultrasound women she referred us to-- and after a chuckle on her end--- and the reassurance that I'm not the first person to ask her that question-- she had no problem referring us to a differnt ultrasound person.

Dr.Sinopli said that all reports from the first ultrasound look great--- the sac is developing as sacs do--- but she would like us to go again for measurements to determine the exact age of baby brock-- she seems to think that we are only about a week and a half earlier than we originally thought.

So-- keep your fingers crossed--- as we hope to see at least some sign of a baby in the sac--- otherwise we'll just have to continue oohing and aahing and giggling over our tiny- tiny black sac---

What a Week!

What a crazy week! Last week marked the end of the second quarter of school. The week was spent organizing, grading, and preparing for conferences and our expedition celebration. We teach semester long expeditions at our school. Expeditions are kind of like theme units, except the learning is paired with service projects and extensive field work. The third grade expedition this semester was 'Rock My World'. We learned all about how rocks are formed, where they are found, and how they move and change over time. So there was much time and energy put into preparing a final presentation/ celebration of our learning.

Needless to say-- we're tired! That is me, jason, and our little black sac...

We had Friday off since we worked Wednesday and Thursday night for conferences this week. We tried to sleep in and enjoy the 45+ degree weather outside-- it felt like spring! Then after a late afternoon nap, we headed down to Jim and Jamie's house. We ate yummy pizza and played, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" --- and of course, I beat Jamie... :)

The boys enjoyed Xbox 360-- I'm even a little hooked! They have this great Arcade game called 'Zuma'-- I highly recommend it! It's tough to explain, other than it is totally addicting! My eyes are still a little bloodshot from trying to beat level 3!

We stopped at the bookstore on the way home-- had to have a copy of "My Friend Leonard" --- screw Oprah and her controversy with James Frey-- I almost bought another copy of "A Million Little Pieces" -- just to secretly say "take that" to her! But then I figured, it probably wouldn't really bother her that much-- but I was happy to see 2 other souls purchasing the book while I was in the store-- it's a must read-- even if he actually hit the garbage can instead of the street light one night when he was wasted---

And now it's time to sit back-- relax-- and prepare for a Luau tonight! That's right, our friends have a tikki bar basement (I'm talking bamboo walls and all) -- and what better time for some tropical fun than January 28th!

Our Little Sac

Today was our first ultrasound! We left school and headed to Columbia Medical Arts Building at 7:45am. We were nervous, excited, anxious...etc. wondering what we would see (and possibly hear). The tiny office suite was on the 7th floor. There was one women in charge of checking people in, validating parking tickets, and performing the actually ultrasound. We were the only people in the office. About 3 minutes after arriving, she asked us to meet her in the back room. She dimmed the lights and asked me to lay back on the hospital-type bed. We eagerly awaited any invitation to conversation-- but soon discovered that this women was in no mood to talk today.

The 'women' asked what pregnancy this was for us--- and we said, 'our first' --- again looking for some kind of invitation to conversation or information. Instead there was a "Pull down your pants Carie to expose your belly" command-- and it was straight to business. She lubed up the wand and starting scanning the surface of my belly. There was no commentation-- not even a word. Jason broke the silence with "what is that large black thing" -- and the 'women' barked "um--- that's your bladder" --- as if this was our first ultrasound or something--- then she asked again if we needed parking validation--

Anyway--- I'll spare you the details of the second instrument they used to take pictures of the developing 'sac' --- the 'women' was rude and had nothing to offer as far as information about our little 'sac'. She did say that I was not 8-9 weeks pregnant like my doctor was predicting. The 'women' thought it was more like 5-6 based on the development of whatever she saw. The only thing we saw was a little black empty 'sac'. She said we'd have to arrange a follow up ultrasound to show any development and that she would send the results over to our doctor. Then she finished (I guess-- again no commentary) and she asked us one more time--- this time with a smile if we needed parking validation.

So--- our first ultrasound experience was a little less than magical (to say the least). We left wondering what the hell just happened. There was no picture to bring back to show the third graders (which they were anxiously awaiting) --- there was no 'look at this tiny thing growing' --- there was just a crabby lady who took a couple of pictures of our little sac--

My doctor, however, is wonderful! She called as soon as she got pictures of the 'sac'-- we meet with her again in about a week-- and, needless to say, we'll see what other options are available for future ultrasounds--

For now--- we're eagerly anticipating the transformation of sac to fetus--- (and not without the occasional joke and hysterical laughter regarding the sac growing inside of me)

Brady Brock

Brady looooves the snow! Troy (Jason's cousin) and Melissa were married on Saturday. We brought Brady to the event, knowing that he wouldn't be able to 'hold it' for possibly 12+ hours. The wedding was in Delafield, Wisconsin-- about 30 minutes west of Milwaukee. We arrived a little early for Jason to set up his video recording stations-- he's in charge of creating the wedding dvd. While we waiting for the festivities to begin, Brady got a chance to romp around in the 4+ inches of new snow that had fallen the night before.

Yoga

Thursday is prenatal yoga night! The 'Doula' says it is never too early to get the mama's muscles stretched and ready. We meet at a church in Shorewood from 5:30-7pm and it has been the highlight of the last two weeks. I'm trying to figure out how I can do this every night and still have money left over! We stretch and breath and stretch and hold positions for a little more than an hour. Then comes the relaxation time--- yeah--- and I thought jagerbombs were the only ticket to relaxation! She turns off all of the lights and leads us through a series of breathing and focusing exercises. We follow her instructions and slowly let all of the tension go in our bodies-- starting with our toes--then to our ankles--- it's amazing--- I highly recommend it!

I also learned what a 'kegel' exercise is this week! We did them last week, I guess, but I spent most of the time looking around trying to figure out what everyone else was doing. This week I discovered why I wasn't able to 'see' what anyone was doing. For those 'in the dark' folks like myself (I'm hoping at least Tony is with me here:)--- yeah, it's the mysterious muscle located somewhere between the butt hole and the pee hole (yeah--- like my P.C. terminology) and supposedly you're supposed to be able to contract and release this muscle regularly. She said that when I contract-- it should feel like 'holding it' when I really have to go pee or pass gas. She also said that I should be doing this regularly throughout the day-- does everyone else do this? Sick! Then she went on to say that it will help during labor and even afterwards-- to keep my uterus in??? Yeah, it didn't make sense to me either--- so anyway-- last time I'll ask about an exercise at yoga with 15 other women (who just laughed at me)-- I'll just assume it's time to squeeze down there.

January 17, 2006

Howdy!

All is well in pregnant- land- so far- so good! We had a great weekend up north with some friends-- a few first timers to Lake Camelot. The lake was frozen about 8-10 inches-- and the weather was beautiful! We had plenty of sunshine time each day for lake walks and 'Brady' time outside. Still struggling a little with the alcohol free lifestyle-- I mean we actually had left over jagermister this weekend-- what's up with that?

I found a great n/a merlot made by sutter homes this weekend-- just a little 'grape-ish'. I even shared it with the 6 and 10 year old children that were with us (and it was totally legal)!

We continue to read here and there about pregnancy-- and the developments during the first few weeks. As we know it today-- I am 7 weeks pregnant-- it's amazing to see pictures and read about all of the tiny things that are already in place. One of my favorite websites is--www.pregnancy.org-- you can type in the September 5, 2006 due date and it will give you a daily break down of what is growing when!

I have absolutely no symptoms of pregnancy other than sore boobs--- and let me tell you--- some days I would trade morning sickness for these knockers!! It's not like I had peanuts to begin with! sore--sore--sore--sore-- there's an occasional extra sleepy day-- but otherwise so far so good-- keep your fingers crossed!

Hope all is well in friend and family land! Only 6 days until our first ultra sound-- we'll keep you posted!

Two headed Brock???

Here is the two headed baby brock!! Take the best attributes from each and you will have a Baby Brock.

First Doctor's Visit

Hello Family and Friends, this is the Brocks and we had our first doctors visit today to verify what the pregnancy test showed us on January 3rd. Carie is in fact 6 weeks pregnant and we have an appointment for an ultrasound to hear our childs first heartbeat in two weeks!! We were both nervous and didn't know what to expect on our first visit. Basically, we went in and filled out an information sheet on our recent activities and family history. Our doctor is Dr. Sinopoli and she was really cool. She was very comforting and that made both of us feel really comfortable. We talked about what Carie needs to avoid eating. There were several things, the obvious, alcohol and cigarettes, but some that were suprising but make sense. Hotdogs, the garbage conglomerate of the meat world has too many chances for contamination so she needs to steer clear. Shellfish, and even regular fish, especially from Lake Michigan, are not to be eaten either. Caffiene is another one to avoid.

January 3, 2006

Happy New Year! Jason and I spent a wonderful and relaxing week up north at Lake Camelot. There was plenty of time for reading (I highly recommend 'A Million Little Pieces'-- ignore the controversy) and relaxing. We spent the first three days alone, playing house. Jason started a cat scratch post in the garage and I read (again-- I highly recommend 'A Million Little Pieces'). As the New Years weekend approached, the Dawg (great friend and college roommate Erin) from Colorado and her sister came to the cabin for a visit. Kate (Erin's sister) attends UW Stevens Point-- so they were only 30 minutes away. We had a great night of snacking, movie watching (40 Year Old Virgin), and Hoopla playing!

Jim, Jamie, Dad, and Toomey also joined us for the New Years weekend-- they arrived just before the snowstorm on Friday night. Jason and I were thrilled-- seeing we can only take 2-3 days max of inaction and quiet time--- I mean really--- we live on Brady Street!! We were a little nervous going into the weekend that it would just be the two of us and Brady ringing in 2006--- so we were thrilled when some of our favorite people called saying they'd love to join us!

The weekend was spent overindulging, gambling, pokering, jagerbombing, and hooplaing. A very relaxing weekend in a very relaxing cottage!

We were sad to return to reality on Monday morning--- back to Milwaukee-- back to the overdecorated apartment-- back to school to unpack the classroom and prepare for the students return on Tuesday--- back to everything but sitting in the cozy messaging chairs in the cottage with a blanket and book (yeah--- 'A Million Little Pieces').

We ran a few errands before calling it a night on Brady Street-- cat box needed changing-- no shampoo-- and might as well grab a pregnancy test (because Carie's boobs feel like they're filled with lead).

Sleeping Monday night closely resembled the first day of school-- little to none. The alarm sounded at 5:45am-- time to see how the morning pee will react with the Clear Blu Pregnancy Test... we got the 'for dummies' version this time... instead of lines or dots or stripes... the test simply reads 'PREGNANT' or 'NOT PREGNANT'.... and you guessed it... half asleep... 6am on Tuesday morning... the test read 'PREGNANT'...

There was maybe 5...6...7.. seconds of jaw dropping shock... followed by a stumble into the bedroom to turn the light on with a 'hey jas' kind of morning.... um... yeah... so this thing says PREGNANT... (then it was his turn for 5...6...7... seconds of jaw dropping shock)...

So we put the PREGNANT test back in the bathroom and proceeded to get ready. The great thing about the Clear Blu tests is that the word PREGNANT remains for no less than 30 minutes... so our morning conversation was...'does it still say PREGNANT?'.... 'yep, still says PREGNANT'...

Needless to say, Tuesday was a blur.... can't say I remember too much about going to school... teaching at school... or coming home... but I do know that once I was back home I couldn't resist taking the 2nd test (they come in packs of two for disbelievers like myself)... I mean really... it wasn't going to say PREGNANT with afternoon pee... right?


Here is a picture of me with the afternoon pee test.... which also said PREGNANT... for no less than 30 minutes....












Here is a picture of Jason with the same afternoon test... which still says PREGNANT... for no less than 30 minutes....







I can feel it already--- we are in for the adventure of a lifetime.....