And yet another box to check on the health history form...

It all started about 9 weeks ago...

Some of you have had the symptoms I'm sure. Lower abdominal cramps accompanied by some weird tugging sensations, nausea, moodiness, sleeplessness followed by periods of sleeping for 12 hours straight, extreme exhaustion despite that sleep, feeling like the room is 100 degrees when in fact it's 72, extreme food aversions to vegetables or salads...and ranch dressing...and chocolate...in fact anything that isn't meat or starch, uncontrollable fits of crying followed by laughter...

and all within the first 7 weeks!!!

Well, needless to say, I'm pregnant. 13 weeks to be exact. And glad as can be that the first miserable trimester is over! Finally! I mean, who does this more than once? And don't tell me that you forget all about it. Bull! I'll never be able to eat a salad again for the rest of my life! In fact, just thinking of it makes my mouth salivate (in a bad way). And poor Chris, he doesn't know what's going on. One minute he's running to get a Whopper (which I never ate before pregnancy) and the next minute he finds me on the couch crying over Grey's Anatomy. (By crying I mean can't catch my breath because I'm so upset crying.) Your condolences will be much appreciated by him I'm sure. Our projected due date at this time is December 31st. Good for the tax deduction, bad because we already have enough holidays in December.

But despite the exhaustion (on both our parts because of my tossing and turning) we're more than excited to share in this experience together and to know that our first baby can be born here in Iowa (a true "Hawkeye"). Also, it will be nice for our families to share in that as well. We're blessed that we've had no complications, but may not be feeling so blessed when this projected "Heifer" comes out. (We were both more than 9lbs ourselves, with Chris nearly topping 10). Chris likes to refer to it as the "heifer" due to all the red meat I can't seem to get enough of.

As of now we're not planning on finding out the sex of the baby. Maybe we'll change our minds, but how often in life can you truly be surprised? We know this will make it harder to plan (and you all know how we're such planners) but hey, we're hoping this baby will teach us to go with the flow more in life instead of planning everything to the last detail.

So for now, we'll utilize this site (hey, we figured we needed to do something brash to increase our readership) to update you on the progress and any new developments. We're moving July 2nd to a larger abode to accomodate our expanding family. The next few months should be exciting!

"Flip" at 12 weeks

Backbone State Park

With a rainy weekend in the forecast, and no patients on a beautifully warm, sunny friday afternoon, I decided to take off early from work and head out for a hike with Emily. Beings that we've now lived in Iowa City for ~10 years, and have exhausted every trail known to man in the immediate vicinity, we decided to venture outside of our 'comfort zone' and make our way north, for our inaugural venture to Backbone State Park.

Of course it was necessary to grab a pre-hike lunch, so on the way to the park, we first stopped at The Lincoln Café, our favorite place to eat in Mount Vernon.

It was a nice, hilly drive up to Backbone, which is located just adjacent to a small (really small) town called Dundee. Emily and I were making note that we should return once fall arrives, as there were plenty of vistas from the road that would make for nice viewing of fall colors. Beings that this will be coming up on our last year in Iowa, and hence our last year to enjoy each season, we're trying to make mental notes of places to return to before leaving.

And Backbone is definitely a gem of a park that has for whatever reason, remained obscured to us until now. While it is a good 2 hr. drive to get there (taking the scenic route), it is well worth the effort, as there are great hiking trails, gurgling creeks that actually house crystal clear water (unlike most muddy creeks in the midwest), and small (dare we say) "foothills", complete with a few "cliffs". If we were into rock climbing (we're not), this would be a place to bookmark.

Unfortunately, camera in hand, I realized that I had forgotten to recharge my battery, so only a few shots were in store (much to the delight of Emily). Perhaps that is motivation enough to return to Backbone.

Café Dodici

It's always great to be able to spend a warm, lazy weekend afternoon with some good friends. This past sunday we did just that, closing out May by joining our buddies Nathan and Stephanie down on the Mississippi in Burlington to 'assist' them as they walked through a number of listed homes with their realtor.

Its always fun to see different homes, layouts, and especially people's individual tastes (or lack thereof). We walked through five homes in total, but it seemed pretty obvious that there was one house in particular that stood out from the rest, and now the question remains as to whether Nathan actually wants to take the plunge and become a homeowner...we'll keep you posted on that.

After heading back to Crawfordsville (where their current abode is) for a brief break in the action, we decided to head to Washington, IA to try a local restaurant that has quickly built a name for itself, called Café Dodici. The restaurant offers an Italian-based menu with other offerings as well. Nobody's dishes were a disappointment, and we're hoping to head back there again soon to enjoy other items off their menu.