2007-a look back

Last year I did a review of the year that passed, and since I haven't blogged in ages, thought I'd try to blog with this past year's excitement.

January: Al and I ring in the new year at our place with a pot-luck dinner. In mid-January, Al and I went to Lake Anna for a long weekend with ShepDC to celebrate her 30th birthday.

February: I took a girl's road trip to NC to visit Dr. Booth before she went to Iraq for a 6 month stint. Al and I also found out we were expecting on 2/23!

March: Al and I start to share our exciting news. Lots of changes ensue at work (got a new supervisor and my mentor left).

April: Al and I host our first seder. We also volunteer for Crew Invitational-I was on the finish line as always. Although this year it was SNOWING (SNOWING!) during the races. Brrrr. My friend Betsy (from Portland, OR) came to town for a visit and Al and I went to Richmond for my Uncle Maurice's 60th birthday, where we get to tell my grandma she is going to be a great grandma.

May: Went to Charlottesville to meet my parents for Mother's Day brunch at the Boars Head Inn-at this point, I was starting to show. We also traveled to Memphis to see my friend Shannon and her boyfriend Rich and give a wave to Elvis. And, we had a weekend of the crew boys visiting for a 10 year reunion.

June: We find out we are having a little girl. And in the category of "weird things you have to do once"-we went to the Air Guitar Competition at the 9:30 club with Al's cousin Hannah.

July: Vegas, baby, Vegas.

August: Off to Connecticut for Debbie's 60th birthday celebration and then to Wrightsville Beach for some R&R.

September: I celebrate my 31st birthday; Maggie has a baby shower for me and lil Whoopi. We also find out we've got a breached baby on our hands.

October: Silliness ensues to try to get baby to flip-doesn't work, so we go in for c-section on10/15....Aden Sydney Goldberg is born and I get another love in my life. Al and I get Aden donned up for her first Halloween, where she goes as a pea in the pod and we go as her farmers.

November: Al and I host Thanksgiving at our house-David, Paul and Erika join. Bob and Debbie meet Aden for the first time; I join PACE.

December: Aden celebrates her first Hannukah, and I get to experience "single motherhood" with Al working crazy hours. We go to Roanoke for a long visit with GP and Big K and then come back to DC for Bob and Debbie to visit.

January: New Year again! We went over to Paul and Erika's for a lovely dinner, and Aden woke up at the stroke of midnight. Brilliant baby!

Ann Coulter, please shut up

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003657196

Seriously. Why is this woman still on the air? Why does someone like Imus get read the riot act, and nobody blinks when she says that "Jews need to be perfected by becoming Christians?" I mean, I don't get it. Can anyone tell me?

My favorite is that just last week she was saying that women shouldn't vote.

Really, Ann, please just stop embarrasing yourself and women---if we didn't have rights to vote, you likely wouldn't have a job, so stuff it.

A walk on the breach...

So, turns out lil G is breached. I guess she doesn't like standing on her head-who could blame her? I'm 37 weeks pregnant, so at this point, I don't think she'll be turning. There is always hope. We've been doing all sorts of silly things to get her to move-yoga positions, acupunture, playing music, shining lights, doing inversions, putting ice on my belly. I guess she's just stubborn and headstrong like her mom. We'll continue to do our tricks, and should know by Monday for sure if she's turned herself around. If she hasn't, it's looking more likely that we'll have to do a c-section. Ick.

Aside from that-everything is trucking along. Trying to wrap up at work and get my ducks in a row so that I can be out for four months. I've been begging them to bring on a temp for weeks, and I will finally get one next week, but that sure doesn't leave a lot of time for training. I did have my review, and proud to brag that I got a "Superior" rating yet again-woop, woop!

We have been ever social the past few weeks-celebrating my birthday, and just trying to get in as much friend time as we can. Also, I knitted my first hat-a baby's hat for the lil dutchess. It's super cute-I'll have to take a picture and post it on the blog. Tonight we have a wedding to hit-should be fun, but my feet are so swollen! I went to shop for shoes at Pay Less out of desperation, but no luck there. I guess I'll just have to shove my dinosaur's feet into something and hope for the best.

That's it for this end of the world......

34 weeks down, 6 to go

Al and I have been keeping busy getting ready for baby "Whoopi's" big appearance.

At the end of August, we went to Wrightsville beach for a week with my family-I've been going to Wrightsville since I was about 3. It's pretty low key-lots of reading, walking, board games, swimming, etc. Despite the added weight and being in my final trimester, I was able to walk the loop every morning-which is 2.5 miles. Of course, it was not a speed walk by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't too bad for a pregnant lady.

We came back Labor Day weekend, and got the nursery all prettied up and ready. Of course, when we picked the first round of paint, what we thought was lavendar looked more like Barney purple. So, Al had to go back to the paint store and look at those wee lil swatches to find a more suitable lavendar. Luckily, we had success on the second round, but damn paint is expensive.

The following weekend (Sept 8), my friend Maggie held a baby shower for me at her house. The weekend was filled with family from all over and a lot of wonderful friends. It was kind of like a wedding in that it was totally overhelming to have so many people around. Plus, having that many Jewish moms all in one room-while hysterical-can make your head spin.

Mags did an awesome job-there were cute pics out of both Al and I as babies, and a onesie station, where all my friends could decorate onesies with cute little messages on them-my personal favorite is the I love Sting onesie!

Anyway, the day was wonderful, and it was so special to have so much of my family around me, including "Whoopi's" grandmas and 2 of her 3 great grandmas. Our baby will be well dressed after this shower-lots of beautiful outfits and all in pink too! (good thing Al and I both look decent in pink)

After the shower, my family went out later that evening to Maggiano's for dinner. A full day. My grandma S. was in her typical form of barraging people with uncomfortable questions and making herself the center of the spotlight. And, grandma A. kept telling me how tired I was-even though I wasn't.

All in all, it was a great weekend, and a wonderful way to get ready for our new arrival.

Since then, Al and I have started our birthing and baby skills classes. Of course, Al, being the jokester that he is, has had quite a good time lifting the play doll by the feet, suffocating her with the swaddle blanket, making fun of the "heeeee" breathing, etc. Only a good sign of things to come, I'm sure!!!

But for now, we have about 6 weeks left to practice....

Welcome back Dr. Booth!

A heartfelt welcome back to our friend Dr. Booth, who just returned from a 6 month stint in Iraq. We are thrilled to have you back safe and sound. We love you!

Vegas, baby

Well, as they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I have a few tales I can share from our trip two weeks ago.....

We got in on Friday night, and made our way to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino-starting our weekend-long "baby-moon" with a 2 am snack of waffles (for me) and a grilled cheese sammy and tomato soup for Big A. The next morning, we got up, strolled down to the "beach" and sat out by Mandalay's wave pool. So, it was Al, me and about 100 kids in the wave pool body surfing on the waves. It was a total blast-we had such a great time playing around and relaxing. After a few hours of fun in the sun, we went for lunch at "Borders Grill," restaurant of Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniber of Food Network's Two Hot Tamales. Unfortunately, the two Hot Tamales' restaurant wasn't so hot-but we were overlooking the pool, with misters blowing on us, and it was just great to be away spending time with each other.

After lunch, we strolled around the Mandalay Place stores, and then headed back to the pool for a bit. That evening-we dined at Fleur de Lys, restaurant of Chef Hubert Keller (if you watch Top Chef, he's been a celebrity chef guest). I opted for the three course dinner, and Al for the 4-I thought mine was definitely tasty-but for what it was worth, was a bit underwhelmed. I guess we are just loyal to that Michel Richard! After dinner, we made our way to the Rio for a night with Penn and Teller. Their show was great-they are totally hilarious and worth every penny. After the show, both Penn and Teller stay around and great their guests and take photos. With Penn, Al asked if we could get "a photo with the hand on the big belly," so I put my hand on Penn's belly-he was a pretty good sport about it!

After the show, we stuck around for a little while to watch the tables and put our money on a few hands of craps. I had no idea what we were doing-but I guess that's why they call it gambling!

The next day, we went back to the wave pool for a bit, and then off to the Mandalay's Shark Reef, which was a really cool aquarium. We were on and off the beach throughout the day, just making the most of our vaca. That night, we went to see Cirque de Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio Hotel. O is basically focused on synchro-swimming and a lot of tricks around a tank of water. Having seen another Cirque, our expectations were high. Lots of friends had built it up as the end all, be all show, but honestly, it just didn't do it for me. I didn't love the music, and wasn't overwhelmed by the talent. Some portions were good, but overall, it wasn't mind blowing. After O, we went to watch the fountains dance to "Viva Las Vegas" and then hit Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill restaurant and got some yummy apps to snack on before retiring.

On the last day, we hit Mandalay pool one last time, and then went to the spa for day-long spa appointments. After the spa, we went to the Mirage to catch another Cirque show-Love-which uses Beatles tracks for all of the performances. A FAR better Cirque show than O. Great sound, lots of energy, and the baby was dancing up a storm to the Beatles. After the show, we headed to the airport, and caught the red eye back home.

While it was sad to leave our vacation behind, it was the perfect amount of time for us and the perfect place for us to enjoy some of the last of our days before entering the joys of parenthood.

Viva Las Vegas

The Mr. and I have planned our babymoon-one last big, all-out hurrah that the two of us can enjoy before the bambina (who keeps kicking me as I type this!) arrives. Now, keep in mind we are going to the beach with my family at the end of August-so that ruled out any beach-type vacations. And, I don't have enough vacation time to do anything but a long weekend. So, where could we go that has good deals, and that we could feel satisfied after being there for a long weekend? That's right-Vegas, baby.

We're heading out at the end of July and have reservations at the Mandalay Bay. The plan is to take in 2 Cirque de Soleil shows (O and Love), see Penn and Teller, go to the spa, and take a dip or two in Mandalay's wave pool. Yes, a bit unconventional for a pregnant woman-but that's how we roll. We like going where our whims take us. I've never been to Vegas, and I can't wait to check it off the list-pregnant or not.

Will post pics and a recap after our trip.

Until then-Viva Las Vegas!

It's a......