Oh my goodness is lots going on!

WHEW...I feel like the last few days have been whirlwind! There's so much I've been planning on writing and just not enough time to do it. I don't want to have mega-posts either, so I'll try to bullet and be brief. Try being the operative word.

• Matthew is "thriving" according to the doctor! Our appointment was yesterday and he weighed 16 oz. The sono tech said that's dead average, I wasn't destined to have a large baby (fine with me!), and amniotic fluid and placenta and all that stuff looked great. Then the doctor came in, looked for the kidney (Uni-Kidney he still is!), didn't find it but said all was well, he's growing fine and thriving. I told John as a mommy, I LOVED hearing the doctor say "thriving." They'll continue to monitor throughout pregnancy and closer to the due date, they'll do a last ultrasound, write up a report and have it ready for the pediatrician for when Matthew is born. More than likely, when he's born, they'll do a renal ultrasound, confer with Children's or Bethesda and go from there. Depending on our pediatrician's advice, he'll most likely just be monitored at a yearly physical for kidney function, but all in all, he should be just fine. So many people only have one kidney, whether they were born that way or donated, and knowing he only has one will just be a little more of an advantage in precaution--though the specialist said that nowadays with protective gear, even contact sports are not necessarily out of the picture. So, long story short, it was a great day and I loved seeing him again. I have been sort of sweating this last month out, hoping for good growth and amniotic fluid, and God has provided! He's gained 7 oz. (I gained 5 pounds!) in 28 days and at the next appointment, he should be a 2 pounder! The pictures weren't super this time because there was something going on with their machine, but I still love them.
  

Face is a bit blurry, but that's my angel!

This is his profile...already looking like he's furrowing his brow!

• After hearing Matthew was thriving, I finally felt a little better about registering, which John has been pestering me about for a while. It was very, very strange for me to do that because for years and years, I've always bought OFF the registry for others...haven't even THOUGHT about having one of our own! I'm also a bit uncomfortable 'signing' up for things for people to buy. The presumption that people will buy makes me feel weird, though I LOVE that people register because it makes gift buying so easy and I HATE it when I know I'm going to buy something for someone but have NO IDEA what to get. In any event, it was weird. We registered in Annapolis because the Waldorf Babies R Us has the WORST customer service EVER (I just got off the phone with their corporate office complaining because there is just NO reason for other stores to be lovely and theirs to be HORRID!) and whenever I go to Waldorf, they act as if I ought to be charged for breathing the air. But I digress...the gist was, we registered and John had fun. We also got a SUPER deal on a stroller. We've already bought an infant car seat and stroller frame to get us through the first year or so and give us the opportunity to not have to have the huge travel system (difficult for me to deal with, really) and then had planned on getting a Britax convertible for once he's forward facing and the Chicco Capri for stroller duty. Well, while registering, we came across 2 Peg Pereggo Aria OHs that were on sale for $80! This is a $200 stroller that gets great reviews, is a *little* bigger than the Capri but has better features and was a super deal--they just had too many of them! Well, I was glad to take one off their hands, and even John was glad about the great deal we got. Here's a picture:








• Since our last visit in Annapolis, I've been craving two things...Macaroni Grill's Pinot Grigio Chicken and Cheesecake Factory's Blackout Cake. I haven't had much as far as cravings go--beef, bacon and Granddad's Brown Rice have been it, really. HOWEVER...as much as I do not like chocolate (no, I don't...never have...like Rollos or Reese's but only because of the caramel or the peanut butter), Matthew DOES! Yep...I've ordered chocolate cake, pudding and even ate cheesecake the other day (another NOT LIKE of mine) because it was chocolate. Funny sense of humor that little guy has, huh? Anyway, imagine my extreme and utter disappointment when we got to Macaroni Grill and I was told that they DO NOT MAKE THE PINOT GRIGIO CHICKEN ANYMORE!!!!! "What?!" I asked in disbelief. "Does Macaroni Grill not realize I am PREGNANT and have desperately been craving that?" Yeah...guess not. So, I logged right on to their website and ranted and raved. We'll see what that does. On the upside, I *did* get the Blackout Cake and it is divine, really. I'd share, but it's gone.

As this is lengthy, here's other news:

• Dixie is still so mourning Raleigh. The other day, she brought his bandana downstairs to us...gently holding it in her mouth and looking at us like she didn't understand. Me neither, Dixie...me neither.
• We got Raleigh's ashes and will be putting them with Random's this weekend and letting them go in the woods he loved so much. We got a card from our vet that made us cry our eyes out and we are getting through day by day.
• John's gearing up to leave on Tuesday for hopefully a month, but probably more like a month and a half. I'm dreading that, but being a military spouse, I can't complain because him being gone could be SO much worse than it is.
• I went to a GREAT conference on Wednesday and it was like God planned it just for me. The speaker was Frank Kros of the Upside Down Organization and it was basically a whole day about the brain differences between boys and girls. It was an AMAZING conference, and in the next few days, I'll blog about it because there are lots of things I want to remember as the mother of a son. I love that. The mother of a son!