Baby: 18 Weeks and Car Sold!

We had our 18 week checkup at Tufts yesterday. Baby was sleepy and not moving much but it was so neat to see how much he'd developed in three weeks! His arms and legs are so much longer and look just like a newborn's would. His face isn't totally developed yet but we can get a profile view and see his little nose! :)

Baby is approx. 5.5 - 6 inches long and weighs 9 ounces!

AJ is showing the newest ultrasound pics and I am trying to show my baby belly but the wind was so bad that my dress and the ultrasound pics were flying around...

On a different note, my car has already sold... the exchange occured this morning! It's funny how emotional losing a car made me (and it's not the pregnancy... I remember crying years ago when my family sold a car... a blue Alliance). I guess it's just the thought that I've done everything in this car... I've driven to my first professional job, driven home from meeting AJ for the first time, it was our getaway car complete with blue paint and white soap drawings, it's been the Magic Honda that fit ungodly amounts of things in it when we were redoing the house in Lynn and it had taken us to ultrasounds....

Lee Institute Weekend: Chain-smoking teacher, Zoning Laws and Frappes

This past weekend I took a class at the Lee Real Estate Institute in Brookline and loved it... the teacher, Leon, was a lawyer who I'm pretty sure also doubled as an MC for a circus or a game show host. He was chain smoking which meant we got a lot of breaks (much welcomed for a class that was scheduled from 9am - 9pm). And I'm pretty sure we also did some quizzes after a brief lesson so he could go into his office and smoke because all of a sudden the air conditioning could start pumping out the smell of cigarettes...

Despite, and maybe because of, my hysterical teacher, I learned so much, I guess it's hard not to when you know virtually nothing about a subject... I considered it a good sign that this could be a good direction for me to head in when I wasn't able to figure out the math problems and still loved the class... It feels weird to be excited to study and go back and figure out those problems and read about tenants at will and zoning laws but I think it's because it's SO different from what I do at Gordon and I'm excited for a change at some point!

Things I've learned about Brookline:

• Anna Tacqueria looks amazing, but make sure you have cash. And I don't mean the endless supply of quarters that you need to feed into the three hour meters.
• JP Licks has incredibly expensive frappes (basically I bought two pairs of adorable baby pants at Baby Gap, which conveniently was next door to the Institute, for the same price as a frappe).
• Brookline has a Paper-Source which quite possibly is the best paper / stationary store in the world.

* The photo is of me holding my Lee Institute Diploma... onto take the licensing exam in a month or two!

Good-Bye, Civic! :(

Well, with Baby on the way we need a four door car... my little Civic has been nearly perfect to me so I'm sad to see it go.
2002 Honda Civic EX with a sunroof
116k miles | Automatic
$5,500
Runs fabulously!

Mr. Green Thumb

AJ's garden is flourishing! We've been eating fresh lettuce, peas, peppers and now tomatoes! The carrots had a mind of their own and didn't grow every well... they're just funny to look at (see the little tiny things in AJ's hand). :)

Baby Bump: 17 Weeks

Our baby is 5 inches long and a little bigger than an avocado... I've gotten a little bigger than that! :)
My fave baby website (Baby Center) says: "Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and he's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. He can move his joints, and his sweat glands are starting to develop."

Grilled Bread with Zucchini, Ricotta and Basil

At the recommendation of my sister I snagged this recipe from Real Simple but made some easy tweaks. I'm not a whiz at cooking so, trust me, they were easy changes. :) Photo courtesy of Real Simple.

Serves 4
Hands-on Time: 20m
Total Time: 20m

Ingredients
1 loaf French bread
olive oil
zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise (enough for a few pieces on top of every slice of bread)
1 /2 cup fresh basil, leaves torn
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
kosher salt and pepper
1 cup fresh ricotta
minced garlic
Directions
1. Slice bread and place in oven at 350 until a it has browned a smidge. Brush with olive oil.
2. Put olive oil in frying pan and cook the zucchini until they are tender. Season with salt and pepper while cooking.
3. Mix the ricotta, red pepper, basil and garlic.
4. Spread ricotta mixture on bread and top with zucchini!

Married a year... time flies when you're having fun!

Well, our one year anniversary was on July 10! As a tribute I went through the wedding pictures and came across this one... one of my faves. :)

Greece and Turkey: June 18 - July 2

We had the AMAZING opportunity to be the Gordon hosts for a trip to Greece and Turkey... the trip was like a second honeymoon... for free with about 40 other people. :) We loved it from moment one until the end...

AJ and I getting our baptism vows reaffirmed at the steam where Lydia from the Bible was baptized.

Ruins in Phillipi where Paul walked. I'm a little unsure why a fish is flying through the ruins when there is no water around... (look above the ruins).

The country's biggest export at a Farmer's Market in Athens.

At a monastery on the way to Delphi. Not the greatest pic of us but I love that you can see the monastery on the bute behind us.

Monks, it's a little disturbing to keep the skulls of your friends, even if they were saints.

Just myself at the Parthenon. AJ was getting one of our group members into an ambulance after she fell.

Love the lighting in this picture... it was taken in Athens.

We walked by this fabulous bar in the Plaka of Athens... the lighting was too great not to take a picture.

Leave it to AJ to find real estate he wants to purchase... in Eastern Europe.

Who knew ReMax was in Europe?

Ruins in Corinth. Love the way the tree is bending. We had communion here on Sunday morning.

Mykonos, Greece. The island where we want to spend every summer... we instantly felt at home.

Our "We Are Expecting" photo was taken here at the famous windmills.

The best crepe we will probably ever eat. Of course it was in our fave Mykonos.

5 euros is a small price to pay for heaven.

The famous Mykonos windmills. The colors really were this glorious.

Mykonos again. Everything was white with fabulously colorful trim.

Patmos, where John was imprisoned. We couldn't take any pics in the grotto (cave) but the flowers were gorgeous outside... I couldn't resist a few shots.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of AJ riding his huge donkey (in Santorini) because he was too afraid I'd fall of the donkey and hurt the baby. All you have to look at are photos are my incredibly mangy and half dead donkey... I don't blame him climbing up 500 steps on a 90 degree day.

We've got an exciting annoucement!

That's right! We are having a baby on or around December 29... I'm wearing a hospital bracelet right now as I type this, we've just come back from our third ultrasound. It's amazing to see Baby moving, sucking his thumb and, oh wait, I just wrote "his"... the ultrasound tech was pretty sure it was a boy but told us "don't go painting his room blue, yet". :)