Holy Moly – I have Kankles!

Despite my inability to maintain my blog, I’m sure that anyone who actually takes the time to read my posts already knows that I’m pregnant - 33 weeks and 3 days pregnant, give or take a day or so.

Although there are many many other interesting things about me, pregnancy seems to be the only thing I can think about, and quite frankly the only thing anyone is interested in talking to me about. (I should just put blind folds on everyone so they aren’t distracted by the giant basketball under my shirt when they talk to me...) So in the spirit of writing about what everyone wants to know, I’m going to give a whirlwind recap of my pregnancy.

I’ll start by saying, if you tell me that you “loved being pregnant” I may just have the urge to smack you. And don’t test me, I’m getting to the point where I honestly want to take a whack at people who look at me with longing eyes and tell me how great being pregnant was…. Did they forget about the vomiting, exhaustion, bloating, strange hunger patterns, moodiness, exhaustion, inability to sleep, constant trips to the restroom, exhaustion, waddling, swelling… I’ll stop now. Hat’s off to you if you “loved it”…I officially hate you.
Pregnancy hasn’t been to fabulous for me. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE what being pregnant means, and I couldn’t be happier or more excited that Matt and I will have a new addition to our family in just a few short weeks. However, the journey to this point has been tough.

 I found out I was pregnant the last week of June. That same week I discovered I had a cyst. From my understanding this isn’t too uncommon, but the pain I was having wasn’t typical. The horrendous pain (which lasted about 5 weeks off and on) finally subsided, just in time for morning sickness to start. I was sick until about week 17/18. Somehow I had this preconceived notion that once the first trimester ends, you feel fabulous again. They lie. Once morning sickness stopped I actually, felt good for a while. I was able to start exercising again, and was functioning normally (that’s relative when you’re pregnant).  Oh, and just to throw a wrench in all my happy-go-lucky not throwing up, we had a downs syndrome scare. Luckily after some testing it was confirmed that Baby B is perfectly healthy, but let me tell you, I have never been so anxious, scared, upset (keep naming stressed out adjectives) then I was during that three week stretch.

Around Thanksgiving, I finally got out of that “pregnant or fat” stage and was cute pregnant…for like 3 weeks. Luckily during that three week period, I got my pregnancy photos taken.  Kudos to Tasha Dooley, the photos came out amazing!

Once Christmas came and went it was all down hill. Up until that point, I was doing really well with weight. My doc was even monitoring me b/c I had barely gained enough. HA. I had a three week stretch between  “you may not be gaining enough” to, “wow, you’ve doubled your weight gain”.  To accompany the weight gain trauma appointment, I also started having Braxton Hicks contractions, and a lot of pressure. At that point I was scheduled to have non-stress testing done twice a week, so we just started them early. Not to worry, all the uncomfortableness I am having is normal…take some Tylenol and drink some water, it’s the solution to everything.

The next week I also pulled a muscle in my back. Now, this may seem like no big deal, but when you’re 31 weeks pregnant, and the muscle is right near your kidneys and appendix, it will land you at the hospital overnight. That was a disaster, but much too complicated to go into right now.

The muscle in my back is still really hurting, and it’s hard to walk around and sleep. Sitting is OK tho, phew - at least there is some position that does make me wince! That was the end of working out during pregnancy for me.

So I guess this brings me to where I am now…rockin’ the full out kankles.  It was like it happened overnight. I woke up a few days ago and none of my shoes fit. It hurts to squat down, since my legs are so swollen, and when I try and see what used to be ankles, I can’t differentiate between my calves and my feet.
There is a light at the end of the pregnancy tunnel tho – and I can barely contain myself I’m so excited! Because I am diabetic, I am going to have a planned induction to make sure Baby B stays as healthy as he is now, and doesn’t get too large.  As long as everything goes according to plan, Baby B is scheduled to be arriving on February 25, 2013!

All in all, I guess the only thing that really matters is that Baby B is healthy, and that he, Matt and I will be fine once the pregnancy is over  - so I guess I can’t really complain. (who am I kidding, I can complain, I look like a beached whale!) Let’s cross our fingers that its smooth sailing from here on out – come on February 25, hurry up and get here!

Baby Landon Maines!

Disclaimer: I am terrible at maintaining a blog, and I apologize that I don’t blog consistently…seems to come in spurts. That being said, I’m going to try and do my best to blog more often.

As I’m sure you know, I am now SUPER pregnant – I’m talking full out waddling (more on that later)… but throughout my pregnancy journey, I have been fortunate enough to have my good friend, Shelly, to share the experience with.

Yesterday, January 15, 2013 at 3:13pm Shelly and Craig (her hubby) welcomed Landon Nicolas Maines into the world! Weighing in at 7lbs 12oz, he is a perfect little angel. I had the pleasure of meeting the little guy for the first time last night, and I couldn’t have been more excited and proud of my friend for growing (and then pushing out!) a beautiful, healthy baby boy…not only that, Shelly looked fantastic. Gave me hope that having Baby B isn’t actually going to kill me!

So congrats Shelly and Craig, I can’t wait for Baby B to arrive so our little guys can meet each other officially!

Mommy and Baby!

Meeting Landon for the first time!

Boots & Booties

Saw this idea online, and tweaked it to make it a little more personalized to us!

Ps. My grandma made these booties for us. We also have a matching hat and mittens <3

Happy Anniversary – Our First Year

This past weekend, Matt and I celebrated our first anniversary. We decided to get away for a quiet weekend, so we headed up to WV for some relaxing and quiet alone time. It was really nice. We spent Saturday and Monday golfing…we only played twelve holes on Saturday before the thunderstorm rolled in, so we took a rain check and went back to finish up and play nine more Monday. (Nine is about when I start to get tired anyhow…)

All in all, it was nice to get away and spend some time remembering what it is you love about someone so much. The only thing missing from our special weekend was eating our cake. We forgot to pull it from the freezer on Friday, so even though it was out last night for a few hours, it was still frozen. I’m excited to eat it tonight (and maybe smash some in Matt’s face?!)

I still can’t believe it’s already been a year since our big day!

A year can change a lot of things…As I’m sure you already know, Matt and I are expecting! I’ve made the news public knowledge now, so I think it’s time it was officially on the blog. We found out in late June that there was a new addition to the Brown family on the way, and right now, the big day is March 5.

18 Holes

Matt and I recently decided to take up golf, and I have to say I love it! Now don’t get the wrong idea, I’m no Tiger Woods. In fact, I would actually say I’m pretty bad at the game; but that’s OK, I don’t care. Sometimes I can hit the ball pretty straight and far, other times I hit the ball and it bounces off the tree in front of me and rolls further away from the hole then when I started… but either way, there is something about golf that I just really enjoy!

Matt and I both decided to learn to play together, and I have to say it’s been a lot of fun for us. We even recently played a round with ‘the dad’s’ which was a good time! I love that we can go out in the evenings, or on a Saturday and just spend time together, doing something fun. I also really like that golf forces me to focus on the game, and takes my mind off the other stressors in my life. You can’t worry about dirty laundry when you are swinging the golf club.

Oh, and did I mention that I had to buy new golf clothes, shoes and a bag? Drats! ( I bought some used clubs from a family friend to save money just in case we didn’t stick with it, but I love those too!)

Here are a couple pictures from our recent golf adventures…

Welcome Baby Joshua!

I’ve been holding off on writing a post about Megan and her new bundle of joy, since Baby Joshua decided to arrive earlier than planned. But now that everyone is doing great, I thought it was about time I did a post on my best friend, and her beautiful new baby! Joshua Raymond Holston arrived 2 weeks and 1 day ago, and he couldn’t be cuter!

Megan and Joshua (and Ray!) had a little bit of a rough time, but it seems like Joshua is thriving, Megan is back to her old self and Ray can finally take a breath!

I’m so excited for them, and I love being Auntie Erin B. I got to hold Joshua for the first time over the weekend, he is so precious, I just didn’t want to let him go!

The newest little man in my life!

The Denmarkian Chick is Coming!

When Christine booked her flight to come to the US for a month this summer, it seemed so far away. Now she will be here in less than ten days, I can hardly contain myself!

This photo was taken of us the summer after we graduated from college. SO much has changed since then, it’s like we’re hardly even the same people anymore.


I moved from the ‘oh -so-fabulous’ Federal Hill down to SoMD, got a dog, bought a house, started two new jobs (three if you count that sketchy mortgage company that never made it onto my resume) and got married.


Christine moved to Denmark, started her graduate degree, met a cute blonde boy, moved into a larger apartment and had baby Oscar.


Oh, and I’m pretty sure we both look much different than in this photo. I for one, now have blonde hair again. Looking back, not sure why I ever thought it was a good idea to dye it dark…guess my mom was right on that one.


See, I just summed up three years into three sentences!


It’s amazing how much can happen in just three short years. Can’t wait to see what fun things this summer will bring!