SURPRISE...We're Pregnant!!!!!!

We are going to have a little baby Angioni and are so completely overjoyed, excited, surprised and every other overwhelming emotion I can think of. It doesn't seem real. How we got here is another crazy story in itself but everything happens for a reason and when it's supposed to so we are just thrilled to have this blessing.

We had decided to start trying after the new year knowing it could take some time (average 4-6 months of trying) before we actually conceived. We were just kind of winging it in January so for February I decided to try those home ovulation kits. Basically, you pee on a stick every day and it detects a hormone surge that comes 24-48 hours before you ovulate so you can time your baby making. :) I had a few friends who have tried this and it worked for all of them. For the first two weeks of February I was doing this but the stick never said I was ovulating. Apparently, your surge may not last 24 hours and if you are only testing once a day you could miss it. Then on Valentine's Day we got the news about my surgery and I was really upset that this meant we had to stop trying and put our plans on hold until May or June. I had a pretty hard time with that but knew my surgery was necessary and in the long run it was better to have them done now. I stopped peeing on sticks...for the time being.

Life was continuing as normal and I was preoccupied with my surgeries, getting everything at work done before I had to leave, etc. We had a great weekend in California with some friends and also got to visit with my sister-in-law for brunch, which was fun. When "Aunt Flo" didn't make her appearance as expected the next week I didn't think too much of it. I figured I was having a longer cycle that month and gave it a few extra days. When nothing was happening at all I started having conversations with myself. "You can't be preggo, you're having surgery." "You stopped trying half way through the month, that would just be crazy talk." Regardless, if "Aunty" didn't arrive by Monday morning, I was going to test... I was completely convinced she was still coming and I was being ridiculous.

I was late to dinner at my mom's house that Sunday because I had an AGD event on campus. I stopped at Walmart on the way to her house to buy a "real" test (ie. name brand) and I knew I already had one generic test at home. Better safe than sorry.  Low and behold, Monday morning no visitor. I got up and took the generic test. I swear to you, as I was peeing this damn stick was already turning blue. WAIT! What the hell does that mean?! I don't have the instruction booklet...there are two lines...is that good?! STOP PEEING and go get the "real" test! So that's what I did. I ripped that other test open as fast as I could and it was fighting me every step of the way. I don't know how Marco didn't wake up! I couldn't get the f-ing cellophane wrapper off! Finally I did, and continued my pee. Two very distinct, very dark pink lines appeared instantly. First Response is kind enough to print what that means on their tests. I just sat there, staring at these two positive pregnancy tests in total and complete shock. 

I got all teary and couldn't stop smiling. It was the most crazy swirl of emotions. I kept saying, "Oh my God!" over and over. I went to go wake up Marco, with the tests in hand. He woke up and I hold him, "I think we're going to have a BABY!" He was so excited and it was the best reason to be up at 6am ever! He gave me the biggest hug and I cried a little, of course. I had wanted to plan a fun and creative way to tell our families, but I really thought we had a little more time so I wasn't prepared. I had to bring Bella over to my mom's house that morning for fluids so that's when I told her. Actually, Bella told her. :) She was very excited to be a Big Sister and just couldn't contain herself. Needless to say, Grandma was over the moon and her reaction was incredibly priceless, and deafening! :) I called and woke Billy up. I figured this was an acceptable offense since it was news that he was going to be an uncle, and it was. Marco called his parents and his sister and that night we had both Grandma's and Billy over for dinner to celebrate with us. 

Pretty flowers from my mother-in-law

My first belly pic! 4 weeks, 2 days by my estimation (before we went to the doctor) :)

So far, I feel great! I've had a little bloating and cramping, I'm peeing a bit more frequently, and I'm a little tired but overall just very aware of my belly like I've never been before. I'll post updates (shorter ones) as we progress and share pics, too. We are just thrilled and can't wait until we meet our baby!

February, Part II Valentine's Day Surprises

Sorry this post is late...I meant to have it up last week. The second half of February has been quite eventful to say the least. Valentine's Day marked half way through the month and brought with it an unexpected surprise. Not the fun, flowery, chocolate covered surprise but the 'you need to have two surgeries' kind of surprise. Clearly these are not the same.

I have been having problems with my feet for the last few months. I have these bumps on the outside of my feet, just below the pinky toe. They've been there for quite a while and cause me to search for shoes that are a little wider. Back in October the left foot started bothering me when I was walking barefoot in the house. I thought that was super strange. Then both bumps started hurting when I put my shoes on, while they were on, when I took them off...you get the picture. I got an appointment with a podiatrist and the first available was Valentine's Day.

Let me back up a little bit. Marco says to me, "You totally have bunions." And I was like, "Listen, Mr.-I've-Never-Been-A-Doctor, I'm not 80 and bunions grow on the inside of your foot by your big toe." Ew. I do not have bunions. Turns out I have bunions just not that kind. These babies are Tailor Bunions, named after tailors because they sit on the floor Indian-style a lot to hem pants and the pressure on the outside of the foot causes the bone leading to the little toe to bend and this bump to form. Fab-u lous. They do not get better, they just get bigger. So, surgery it is. I want to have both feet done before I head to Dublin in June for work because of the amount of walking I will be doing. I can have them done about seven weeks apart. (Insert freak out here.)

After my appointment, we scheduled the surgeries for March 8th and April 26th (my brother's birthday). I was immediately thanked for ruining his birthday but was then told it was fine because I wasn't invited anyway...that's love! :) Lol! Stupid me watched a YouTube video of the surgery (I attached the one minute animated version). Not the best idea I've ever had. Basically what they do is shave the bone down on the outside of your foot. Then they break the bone leading to your little toe, stick a pin in it to realign it and voila! No biggie. Watching a surgery video (which I don't mind at all) is super different when it's going to happen to you...

The recovery time will suck. For two full weeks I am not allowed any type of pressure on the foot. My movements will strictly be from bed to bathroom to couch with nothing in between. The more I keep it elevated and iced the better. I will be an invalid for 14 days. Lucky for Marco and my mommy. Then once that joy is over, I get a walking cast for the following four weeks. One week later the next foot gets done and all the pressure will go onto the foot that was just surgerized. Amen for pain meds, I guess.

I know I need this surgery and I have about two more week to get used to the idea. I have my pre-op appointment on February 29th (Leap Day!) so I will get all my questions answered then. Right now, I am just trying not to think about how much it will hurt. I really hope I will be ok to go back to work after the two weeks are up. I don't know if I can drive, etc. I plan to do before and after pics and I'll have another post later but for now, onto our actual fun part of Valentine's Day....

Our actual Valentine's Day was nice and quiet. We don't usually go out on Vday because it's so crazy. Sometimes we'll go out to dinner the weekend before or after but we don't really make a big deal out of the day. :)  Marco picked up some pizza from our favorite place, Settebello, after work and brought it home. We had some Almond Champagne and some heart candy for dessert.

Bella got a new toy which she really had a good time playing with. I took video of her but can't figure out how to get it on here yet. She's pretty darn cute so it was a perfect fit. Overall, it was a pretty perfect night snuggled with the hubs and the Boo on the couch. My favorite place to be!

Resolutions and February Part I

In the past we haven't been too big on resolutions but this year Marco and I made a few fun New Year's resolutions.

1. Choose a cookbook and make a recipe from it

2. Have more weeknight date nights

3. More weekend getaways

We have 85 million cookbooks...no exaggeration there at all! We rarely ever use them and they are all upstairs in a bookcase in one of the spare bedrooms. Now, Marco does most (all) of the cooking, so my important job is helping to pick the recipes. :)  I'm good at that. A few nights per month we will try something new. We were really excited at first and made a bunch of these in one week, but now it's more realistic to try and do this a few times per month. Here is some of the goodness so far this year:

   

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Roasted beet and arugula salad with goat cheese and avocado

Chicken Tikka Masala and naan

 Steelhead trout and cucumber salad

For Christmas we make a list of all the restaurants in town we'd like to try and also throw in some old favorites. We ask for gift cards in any denomination and then we have a few places to try in the new year. We like to try appetizers at one place, dessert at another, so it's really fun. This helped a lot with number two on the resolution list. We decided this year, that we would try to incorporate more date nights during the week. It's nice to do them on the weekends, but you look forward to 'Tuesday' so much more when there is something fun at the end of the day.

So far this year we've been to Lupo, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in Mandalay Bay and Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's restaurant in Caesar's Palace.  I didn't take any picture at Lupo, but the food was yummy. :) You'll just have to take my word for it. We went to Mesa Grill last week and I have to say, I was really impressed. I talk a lot of shit about Bobby Flay ("He's so one dimensional" or "Surprise, there's chipotle/ancho chile/serrano something in that"  You get the idea.) I must officially stop doing that because his food was amazing! The presentations were beautiful, everything had great flavor but wasn't too spicy and overall it was a great meal!

For an appetizer we shared the Cremini Mushroom Quesadilla with Fontina and Ricotta Cheese and Fried Egg with Salsa Verde

For my entree, I ordered the Ancho Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon with Spicy Black bean Souce and Roasted Jalapeno Crema.

Marco ordered the New Mexican Spice Ribbed Pork Tenderloin with Ancho Chile Sauce and Sweet Potato Tamale (I ate most of the tamale because it was incredible...)

As for resolution number three, we are headed to California for President's Day Weekend to visit our friends Jim and Janess Sifers. Janess is doing community theatre and has a role in Little Shop of Horrors. We're so excited to see her perform and hear that amazing voice of hers. More to come in Part II.

New Car for PIPSQUK

The Angioni's are SUV owners again! Well, we're 'leasers' this time around but it's all the same. :) We got a new Nissan Murano SL and I absolutely love it.

I really missed having an SUV. Maybe it's because I'm short and like being up high. Who knows, but I do like the big feeling. We wanted a nice family vehicle and this is perfect. It has so many cool features and gadgets. Here are some of my favorites:

The power liftgate in the back

The heated steering wheel (which I thought was useless until I used it)

The double moon-roof

Memory seats- driver 1 and driver 2

The rear-view camera

Ok, so it actually has a TON of things that are my favorite! It's the first time I've had leather seats, too. We'll see how that goes in the summer but I'm sure it will be fine. It would be cool if the steering wheel had a cold setting too...I digress.

Every time I have had to register my car, Marco asks if I am going to get rid of my vanity license plate, "PIPSQUK". I have had this plate since the beginning of college and I like it. I understand that it is not very manly for when Marco drives my car, but hey, that's why it's my car, right?!

Back in June 2010 there was a reporter going through the parking lot at UNLV and she saw my car (my Altima at the time). She left a business card on the window with a note that said she was doing a story and would like to talk to me about my license plate. April Corbin published her story in the Las Vegas Weekly and you can read it here. Needless to say, we're famous now. :)

So, when we got this new SUV a few weeks ago, one of Marco's first questions was about the license plate. I thought about it and decided that maybe I would get a UNLV plate instead. I even checked on the DMV website and the UNLV plate with "PSQEK" was available, as was "PPSQK". Oh dear. So we went last Saturday to the DMV on North Decatur and I still had not made a firm decision. There was no wait time at all. We literally walked in, got our number and there were only about ten people in front of us. No time to decide!!! I seriously had anxiety about this. I'm weird, I know.

So we got to the ticket counter and the lady asks me if I am going to surrender my plate or keep it. I panicked for a quick second then said, "Keep it". I turned to Marco and smiled. I said, "Maybe next year I will change it." Famous last words, I'm sure.