Quiz time!

so...can you tell in this picture who took the waiter seriously when he said 'everyone say "eat at joe's?!"??' :) only kidding (zane came up with the caption...). we headed down to belmont yesterday to celebrate my dad's birthday and my parent's 43rd wedding anniversary! we went out to eat at "not your average joe's", had excellent service and a wonderful meal.

and now for my favorite part of the night....

luckily, i had lots of help finishing off this dessert with peanut butter and chocolate chunks in ice cream, rolled in oreo crumblies and drizzled (more like drenched) in hot fudge and caramel sauce. all in all, a great celebratory night and a nice break from new hampshire! happy anniversary you two lovebirds!!!

piggy must not have appreciated my love of so much food last night, and i was (along with the dogs) up a while with a tummy ache and at one point hoping i didn't have some sort of food poisoning, and just indigestion...it took all day, but i started feeling better tonight after we got back up to nh and i ate some plain rice. the dogs seem to be in the same boat. king started last night with an upset stomach and marley followed suit earlier this morning. they also had a dinner of mostly rice with some chicken broth and are now passed out on the couch and floor. hopefully we all get a bit more rest tonight (and zane stays problem free!)!

now we're back to enjoy our 3 remaining vacation days. the cleaning project has been underway all week and i think we've finally made some progress...we're planning on taking pictures tomorrow of various things (included will be front room, changing table and our pumpkins :)) and will post more then.

-the bothered bellies....

ps, umm...12 weeks remain...

umm...87 days!?

i remember when we started the floating baby thing it showed about 140 days left. and now only 87?! how does it happen!?

it's 3am. i just finished a bowl of cocoa pebbles. (i know, not the healthiest of cravings while we were food shopping the other day) now i'm onto a bowl of chocolate ice cream (with sprinkles). i figure if i'm losing sleep just to eat, i might as well enjoy it.

lukily, zane had to go to the bathroom and just joined me in my snacking! yay, it's fun to have a buddy...and now the dogs and the cat are all here in the kitchen too. :) less like 3am, more like 7pm. that's our family for you....

now i'm sure i'll go back to bed, the sugar will wake up piglet and i'll be up for another hour or so...this is what i have to get used to, right?? :)

piggy likes daddy's voice better :)

sorry it's been awhile...nothing new really going on. zane starts his last school vacation week tomorrow , so for a week we'll both be around and catching up on sleep, finishing harry potter, talking to the pig (the highlight now is that piggy is pretty quiet for most of the day when s/he's just with me and as soon as zane comes home and starts talking, it wakes up and puts on a show :)), watching our new directv (now zane can watch the kc chiefs in the comfort of home and a baby sleeping on his chest...yippee) and doing any last minute things that we're not going to have the time/energy to do in the fall before the little one arrives :) then its back to work for him and back to work for me for as long as i can stand it...

just a few pictures...

we had fun putting this sweater on the dogs after they pulled it out of somewhere and tried chewing it up :) i dont think they'll be fighting over who gets to wear it in the winter...

meghan and i went down to suzanne and jims to watch henry for the night while they went out to celebrate jim's birthday! :) we had a blast, henry was a.DOR.able and enjoyed his time with the stickers we bought. here he is pointing at where "ally's baby" is...this was before he lifted up my shirt in confusion when we told him it was in my belly...

ps, today/tomorrow i'm 27 weeks...which, in some books means the start of the 3rd trimester (others say 28 weeks). either way, HOLY COW!

pps, i dont have gestational diabetes! phew!

:) enjoy

quick midwife update...

had another dr's appointment today. i had to drink a sugary drink at home before i went in to have my blood drawn...i had seriously worked myself up about this stupid drink, turns out it tastes just like an orange sunkist soda to me and i partially enjoyed it (except for the part where i couldn't eat an hour before hand and then had to down it in 5 minutes...blegh).

had my blood drawn by some 89 year old woman who i was sure was going to either miss my arm completely or do the wrong test. it just so happened i never even felt the needle go in my arm and it was done faster than i could have imagined.

so then i go upstairs and am told that my doctor has been called to the hospital to deliver someone else's baby and i'd see some midwife that i'd never even heard of. she was the sweetest woman ever and told me that "boy or girl, you've got one big, strong baby in there!" while she was trying to get the heartbeat through doppler and Piggy had just woken up and was in rare kicking form :)

so...all is going well and even though i gained another 6 pounds in 4 weeks (yikes), they didnt say anything negative and i'm going to be happy with today :) starting after my next appt at the end of august, i start going every 2 weeks...i can't believe we're at that point already!

love, the pig and the rest of the family

the dog days of summer....

despite our attempt at cooling the house with a couple air conditioners, marley found the best spot in the house with her head under our bed.
see?? she's alive :) maybe a little miserable, but still alive.
and the fun news!!! we got our crib today! while we started to put part of it together, the real babies of the house decided to get in on the fun.

picture heavy update. cause i'm lazy :)

zane's first experience on dan's back hoe! dan said zane picked it up really well and by the next day, they were digging up holes for the telephone poll bat houses! (more pictures to follow)
behind zane you can see the work we did on the space for nancy's rose memorial :) the roses will be trained up the trellis' and hopefully the ivy will fill in and make it look perrrrtty.
one of the zuccini's from our garden that i picked on monday...i thought that was big....
when zane got home from work we went back out and picked this one...not sure how i missed it!

we made it home safe and sound on sunday night after a long, stalled day of travel. monday had zane back at work and me suddenly feeling like the house had to be put into order. the dogs came home and were wiped out and the cat surprisingly didnt eat her weight in dry food while we were gone!

first picture i think at 5 weeks. second at 24 1/2. sheesh :)

tonight we're heading down to boston so zane can go see a concert with phil and head back up tomorrow for dinner with james and then a do-nothing sort of weekend. (although, i just checked and our crib was scanned out for delivery this morning at 5am, so i'm pretty sure it'll be arriving today. that might be a to-do this weekend :))

there are more pictures to post and probably more info to relay, but i haven't been eating enough and that makes me crabby, so i'm off....

ally

new stuff :)

its been a pretty busy (but so enjoyable!) week in the midwest...still have to take some pictures of the rose bushes and ivy zane and i have planted (read: zane's done the majority of the work and i've whined about how stinkin' hot it is...), but that task has taken up the last few mornings around here.

on tuesday we got picked up by zane's dad lloyd and his wife nancy (see picture below) and had an incredible mexican meal at manny's (i would like to thank the genious who thought to combine a fajita and a burrito! yum) with lots of good catching up and news of their animal rescue/adoption work (aka their passion!). it was wonderful to visit and hope it wont be too long before we get to do it again :)

then wednesday brought more heat and a nice afternoon spent in air conditioning watching harry potter. as everyone seems to be saying, not as good as the book, but luckily it's been so long since we read that one, we had forgotten if they left out anything important :) from there we headed to jen and nates to see baby andrew! he is as precious (mabye more) in person than in pictures and it was a thrill to spend some time with all three of them, making pizzas, eating, holding the baby and playing cards. (ps, thanks so much for the cd guys!! and i cant believe we didnt get a picture of all of us...)

oh, and i think i mentioned in another post that piggy seemed to be having a good time out here. i was somewhat mistaken. the pig has moved and shaken more in the past 4 days than ever and its making me think it's going to take more after its dad with heat tolerance! today, i came inside to cool off and was on the couch for about 20 minutes before zane came in...the pig was quiet until it must have heard zane, and then went hog wild (haha) for about an hour (even more so when zane talked directly to the belly).

so...things are moving along. we've got a couple more days to cram in some good restaraunts, some more visitors, zane running a backhoe and as much harry potter reading as we can keep our eyes (and ears) open for.
AH! i cant believe i forgot! mama walsh bought us our crib!! again, didnt know i'd be so excited about baby goods, but i cant wait for it to arrive (although, according to email, it's already shipped--hope it doesnt get home before we do :)) it'll be nice to get it set up and have even more proof that this is really happening! here's a picture...thank you kathy!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think that's all for now. will report later with more pictures and words :)

love, ally and zane

some pictures, enjoy :)

kathy, kristen and ally showing their stuff :)


uncle tom and dan after a hard day of eating


the result of 23 straight hours of reading harry potter



aunt karen and zane pose for the camera :)

toto...we're in kansas...

hi all :) we write to you from our vacation in kansas! we'll add pictures when we figure out how (on different computers), so until then, our words will have to do...
we got here yesterday morning after a tough night in a manchester hotel room with no working fan :( once off the plane, it was off to buy the new harry potter book which we'll be reading aloud as soon as we finish the current book we're reading. then a delicious meal at "granite city brewing co" (a little ironic since we had just left the granite state...), and finally back to the walsh homestead for a tour of the garden, and a quick nap before the brady family (tom, karen, kristen and nick--minus jackie who is currently testing her bike brakes through the landscape of guatemala) arrived and chilled on the porch until we decided a mexican dinner was in order. with full bellies, we headed to their hotel for pool games, board games and a few cheese doodles thrown at a snoring uncle tom :)
this morning brought some clouds and a cool breeze, so zane and i whipped up a tasty fruit salad with a side of krispy creams (dunkin donuts PALES in comparison)...the brady's came along and grandpa dan fired up the grill for an afternoon of eating, gabbing about kristen and josh's wedding planning (yay!), some more game playing, and, as you'll see when we get pictures loaded, sleeping. we eventually had to say goodbye to the brady clan, took in some down time, just so we'd be ready for more eating...i dont know why there arent any sonic's up in the northeast, but i'm ready to make a desperate plea to someone for a new addition to the hillsboro restaurant scene :)
so...now we're hanging out in the air conditioning, about to attempt to knock off the last 40 pages of our book so we can embark on harry p. tomorrow (i doubt we'll beat nick's 23 1/2 hour time limit for finishing the book) but will most likely fall asleep in the process...we'll update more when we can, happy week to all!
love, ally and zane

ps, piglet is enjoying it's first trip to the midwest...the food makes it squirm (hopefully in delight) and mamma walsh was able to feel it kick! yay piggy :)

around the balloon fest in 2 days!

so.. its still balloon fair time here in hillsboro and with that has come a few visitors to the old Rowe (that is the name of the family who owned/farmed and lived in this old farmhouse for the last 100 years or so) Farmhouse.

there is a chance that Zane's good friend Chad may visit with his son Caden sometime on sunday (too bad Sam is in phoenix or she would come with) - but Bruce and Carol have already come and gone on saturday. along with them they brought one of the best car-seats as a present for the Piggy. here is a little about it....

the Graco Safe-Seat.

according to 'baby bargains' book the safe seat is a new fangled car seat system that can be used as an infant car seat for babies that weigh up to 30 pounds. this outpaces the competition by 8 pounds (which can be quite a lot at that age). the rear-facing design means that the little Piggy will be safer for longer - possibly up to 6 more months depending on how fast it grows. since we dont know if the Pig is a boy or girl we chose a color that should go fine with either gender. another feature that led us to choose the safe seat over the previouse model (the sung ride) is the side-impact protection. in laymans terms the molded plastic and additional fabric cushion are deeper and softer. all of that boils down to a softer, safer ride for the Pig. like most infant car seats the safe-seat has a base that stays in the car while the seat can be removed and used as a carrier so as to 'let sleeping babies lie'. from the picture above you can see that Zane is realy, really happy about the gift.

in other news Ally had been relying on Unisom to help her cope with morning sickness in the morning and night from time to time but recently the Pig as been cooperative in allowing her to go to sleep naturally and stay asleep without worry of waking up with neasua or heartburn. that has marked an important positive change in routine. but, to every action there is a reaction and now it seems that Ally's body is responding to allergic irritants in the air this time of year. perhaps it is the hay that gets farmed on the land around our house, the thunderstorms and any impact they have on air quality or the heat and humidity that comes and goes on a weekly basis.

in spite of the comings and goings of the hot (90's) and humid weather it appears that we might survive the summer without the use of air conditioning. that could dramatically change if Ally becomes 'stuffy' or uncomfortable but as for now it is almost as if we are soaking in the warmth and accepting the climate change better after having endured a windy winter where walls of wood siding and plaster (with probabaly no additional insulation) let in leaky drafts of chilly air last winter. its like one of those - nothing could bas as bad as being cold in the winter - sort of relaity checks; and now that it is warm we bask in the experience.

a little more about Balloon Festival here in historic Hillsborough (hillsboro is the modern spelling). Ally and Zane were not the only ones happy to see Gramps and Grammy Morse visit the farmhouse. our oldest but smallest (and most would say cutest) dog Marly took full advantage of having Gramps around to snuggle with. at one point (its a bit like having kids around already) Marly joined Bruce on a couch that she is normally forbidden to traverse. it is as if she knew that with company she could get away with a bit more than usual - however a cool headed Ally kept Marly in line and set the appropriate limit. In spite of his older sister's antics, the younger and better behaved Kingston was the picture of politeness as he lounged on the 'dog-couch' and kept his paws to himself. the princess-like Marly then figured out a way to use Bruce as the actual 'thing' to climb on (as opposed to the couch) and still get all of the loving that she could from our visitors. after a lunch and a short visit to the small fair-grounds Bruce and Carol were off back to the boston area. then about an hour later the sky filled with about 8 hot-air balloons, 4 of which landed in the hay-fields that surround the farmhouse. after an hour or so of watching them take a short flight and seeing the street in front of our house line bumper to bumper with cars ((as all of the locals came to watch and the balloon teams came to dismantle the balloons for the day) no longer serene) we turned our attention to the movie we rented (Peaceful Warrior - Nick Nolte - a sometimes cheesy but untimately thought provoking, based-on-a-true-story type of movie) when someone cam a-knocking on the front door. lo and behold it was a pilot of one of the balloons. apparently when these hot-air hooligans use your property as a landing pad they bear gifts as a thank-you for allowing them to return to earth. common-courtesey apparently dicatates that these travelers award the residents with a bottle of champagne and raffle ticket where the grand prize is a trip for two in a hot air balloon. after the pioneer pilot paved the way for the other partying ballooners - 4 additional teams brought thier version of the balloon booty... yep, thats 5 bottles of chanpagne now. so, as you can see, this weekend has been quite eventful for the New Hampshire Walsh's. in addition to all of the local activities, Zane sent off his first draft of his Masters Research Project to his Advisor saturday morning as well.

next weekend will be one to behold as the Pig and Mom and Dad travel to Kansas City to visit Momma Walsh, Grandpa Dan and any other relatives who are avaliable to celebrate the Pig's first trip to KC.

we love you all and really enjoy reading all of your comments in response to our updates. keep-em coming and keep reading.

oh, what a beautiful morning!

well...woke up around 6:30 to the dogs barking like mad...was starting to get mad myself until i came downstairs and saw what was going on. there were people lined up and down the street in their cars taking pictures.

it was really neat, with the mist and the sunshine and the "whooshing" of the hot air :)

THEN, i turned to go inside and saw a lone straggler coming from the starting point. you can see it's progression below...

for those that dont know...that last picture shows the hot air balloon (probably) sitting on route 202 :) i can only imagine the cars that were on the road, seeing a huge balloon heading for them.

so. it's just after 7 and the day looks to be gorgeous. ENJOY IT!

love, ally

another small update...

went to my dr's appt yesterday and they already had the results of the ultrasound. everything looked PERFECT! all measurements were within a day of where they should be and the dr was very pleased. we got to hear the heartbeat again--which was a little muffled because piggy was playing up a storm and wasn't staying still--and i think it was in the high 140's.
as the dr was looking at my chart, she said "and...it looks like a very healthy sized baby!" i forget the weight she told us, but said it was in the 86th percentile...i guess we haven't been calling this baby "piggy" for no reason! :) all in all, great appt (with zane and i dressed like twins in green shirts and brown pants/shorts, which the dr thought was amusing) and afterwards we had some food and picked out our car seat! yippee! who knew we could get so excited about car seats!?
i know zane wanted to post a little something, so expect some more writing this weekend...it's balloon festival up here in hillsboro, we welcome any visitors!
love, us

ps. fundal height-exactly 22cm (and i'm 22 weeks today!)
weight gained in the last 6 weeks- 1o lbs (!!! sheesh, i'm making up for lost time)
number of times i have to get up in the middle of the night to eat or go to the bathroom-one (if i'm stubborn enough and make myself go back to sleep uncomfortable)
days until this little piggy comes home- 126

wahoo :)

mom and dad's still stubborn and beautiful piggy reporting

hi all :) i've had a pretty harrowing day...first with multiple ounces of ice cold water waking me from a peaceful nap, then with some woman in a hospital poking mom's belly with an ultrasound probe, and THEN they had the nerve to want to take my picture!! i let them see just about everything but my face. i made sure i faced mom's back and buried my head way down in her pelvis. they'll just have to wait until november to see what i look like! (the tech did get one shot of my head from behind--i may come out looking a little differently though!) i'm measuring right on track for the due date of november 15th or 16th and so far everything looks healthy and good. all four chambers of the heart, stomach, kidneys, umbilical cord, arms, legs, hands and feet--all in their places and working well :)

love to all, piggy :)

it's 3 am....

and i'm awake because the pig woke me up with it's kicking! actually, less like kicking and more like thrashing itself first against my belly button and then against zanes hand that i dragged over from the other side of the bed. this thing seems more like a wild hog now instead of a tiny little piglet.

zane said we should remember these times when we're able to enjoy the pig being awake at night with it still silent in the house :) so...will do.

na-na

shock. horror. amazement. (and please excuse the outfit)

i've had a few "epiphany" moments along the pregnancy...the 1st ultrasound when we saw that there was a little nugget inside...the 1st time we heard the heartbeat...the 1st time i knew what i was feeling was kicking, and then actually seeing it...and now, this. i almost fell on the floor after i put on these clothes and looked in the mirror. i'm going to get how much bigger?!?! how does skin stretch like this?! where is my belly button going?? huh. i know everyone must go through this, but i didn't expect it to come so soon! i'm only halfway there....yikes!