P-I-N-K!!!!

It's a girl!! Little Maddie cooperated today with the ultrasound tech and showed us her girly parts!! Unfortunately, she didn't cooperate for much more than that. We got 2 pics of the "girl parts," but I don't think anyone else would see anything. No profile pics or anything. Since we couldn't get many good looks at the important stuff, the doctor has sent us to another doctor with more advanced equipment. So hopefully next week we'll have "sharable" pictures of Baby Maddie. In the meantime, we took a little trip to the outlets to buy some baby girl stuff. It was killing me! And now, for less than $50, I'm satisfied. For now. ; )

Love, Us.

Dum dah dum dum...dum dah dum dum dum!!

Hope you got the tune. The excitement is at record levels around the Halaby household, as tomorrow is the day we find out if the baby is a boy or a girl! That is assuming the baby cooperates with the sonographer. I had a dream the other night that I was pregnant with a boy, but I'm not placing a ton of faith in that because I was also sharing a hospital bed (not room, bed) with someone I went to high school with and who was injured during some military maneuver after ice skating. So you see, it didn't make a ton of sense all around. Anyway, after some debate about letting Quinn come with us to see the pictures of the baby, we decided to share him with Maureen and Sarah for the morning because it was going to take a while at the doctor. It's a good thing we did that because we got a recorded message the other night that no children under 18 were allowed in the doctor's office now since the concerns are so high about H1N1. I guess it's supposed to be much worse for pregnant women, and they still don't have a vaccine available. I'm planning to get my seasonal flu shot tomorrow at the doctor, so that's one less worry. I panicked a little this morning when I woke up with a sore threat and stuffy nose and feeling feverish. Even though I have felt feverish all day, the thermometer tells me I have no fever. Now, if thermometers expire after say, 11 years or so, someone should tell me that. If 96.8 really means 101.8, I should know that, dontcha think? So I didn't make it to Bible study this morning, mostly because of the throbbing head. Quinn and I have pretty much taken it easy all day, napping and hanging out watching movies. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. On the bright side, I had tomato soup and a bread bowl (from Panera courtesy of the Bridge church!) for lunch, and it was very nice. I got my hopes up that Jalal was going to make chili but we didn't have canned tomatoes (boo!).

Quinn is cracking me up lately with the things he says and does. He adds "and" to everything, making his list of things he must sleep with "blanket and dragon and monkey (ooh ooh ahh ahh, his words, not mine) and frog and pillow." Sheesh! It has taken this long to get online access to the pictures we took at Picture People in his cowboy. I must say, they are stinking adorable. I don't think I can share a link on here but I can send it to anyone who emails me personally. I will also try to get a few scanned in from our hard copies to post.

Here's another milestone: Last night, for the first time since we transitioned to the toddler bed, Quinn did not scream, cry, or get out of bed when we closed the door. No sitting with him, no talking through the door, just the routine, the "night night" and "I love you," and we were done. Woo hoo! Tonight, there was a minute of crying but then nothing. This would be a great help to our nighttime routine.

So since I still haven't found a new job yet, I'm going to cut this short and move on to working on the only paying work I have right now. You never know when it's gone, so I'll take advantage of it. I'll be sure to post tomorrow on PINK or BLUE! Love, Us.

Sprinkly Saturday

It's been raining a lot lately. The bad news: We have to accommodate with inside exercise. Yesterday was Monkey Joe's. God help me. I spent half the time trying to make sure Quinn didn't get jumped on by 10-year-old Catholic schoolgirls and the other half telling him I wasn't going to give him "pennies" for the arcade games.

Today, Maureen and I attempted to keep the kids up until 12 so we could take them to a party store for an Elmo visit. Quinn fell asleep on the way, but thankfully he perked right up when he saw Sarah. Though it took us about 10 minutes to get them warmed up enough to get near Elmo, soon they were hugging him all over. I told Maureen that Quinn would likely fall asleep on the way home, and boy, did I jinx myself there. He would NOT nap. Not until Jalal got home and we headed to a consignment sale did he fall asleep.



The best part about the rain lately has been frog hunting. There are dozens of tiny baby frogs hopping all over our front yard, and every time we go outside, we chase them around. I caught one for Quinn today and let him hold it, and now he keeps talking about our "froggy hands." I'll try to get a picture of that soon.

Last week, we took Quinn to Picture People to get his cowboy pictures made. Let me just say he was a hit! I thought all was lost when he started running around in circles until his eyes literally rolled back in his head and he fell over. But the photographer salvaged it. Then we had to sign a model release so they could dedicate a display wall to his photos. We spent more than we should have but less than we could have. I'll try to get a link posted as soon as I get one so everyone can enjoy the adorableness that is my child. Locals can check out the left wall of the Picture People in the mall to see the newest celebrity.

Well, this baby is kicking up a storm already. We have only another week and a half before we find out whether it's a she or a he. I can't wait! I keep seeing all this adorable baby stuff but I can't buy boy or girl stuff. It's killing me! On the bright side, I've managed a few days of just a little queasiness where I haven't had to take my pills. Maybe we're finally heading into the downslide on morning sickness. On the downside, my hips are killing me and my back is starting to ache. I haven't gained any weight so far, which I was a little worried about these past few weeks, but the doctor's okay with that, so so am I. I'll try to keep baby updates as often as I can, but I don't want this to become a litany of preggo complaints. So feel free to shut me up if I get annoying!

P.S. RIP Patrick Swayze. I love "Roadhouse"!

Oh, What a Night!

It wasn't late December and it was not a very special time for me. But last night certainly qualifies as "what a night." About 1:30 in the morning, I woke up with really bad stomach cramps. After trying to deal with it for a while, I woke Jalal and told him we needed to call the doctor's office. The nurse on call suggested we go ahead and head to the emergency room. If ever there were a time I wished we still lived in Charleston and had 30-some friends willing to help us in the middle of the night, it was this morning. But that's not our situation here yet, so we packed up Quinn and headed to St. Francis ER. After checking in and doing the preliminary tests, we were informed of their new rule (as of two days ago) that no children were allowed back into the emergency room (thanks swine flu). Jalal tried to call Maureen, but she was getting her first night of uninterrupted sleep in many weeks and didn't hear her phone. So poor Jalal was stuck in the waiting room with Quinn, who, by the way, decided that 2:00 a.m. was a perfectly normal time to get up and act like it was morning already (read: did not sleep or rest at all). I had no idea he wasn't even getting basic information about how I was doing (they were not busy, so I assumed the nurses would have let him know SOMETHING!). I was doing much better after they gave me a narcotic (well, after the initial effects--dizziness, heaviness, hysterical crying--wore off). The pain went away and I was stuck just waiting and wondering. I did have it a little easier than Jalal, since I didn't have Quinn to deal with, and since I got to hear that the baby's heartbeat was strong shortly after all the blood was drawn and tests were run. What a relief! I was so worried that something was wrong with the baby. After a couple of hours, I got the all-clear. The doctor said it was probably uterine spasms associated with the ligaments stretching. Now I trust that there was nothing else wrong, but I've felt ligaments stretching and man, was this worse! Maybe these were bigger ligaments. Who knows? Anyway, by 5 a.m., we were heading home. Jalal had left a message for my sister shortly after I went back, so I called again to tell her all was okay. Didn't want her to wake up and freak out at his message. Well, that didn't work. She only saw that she'd missed a call at 3:30, assumed the worst, listened to his message and then frantically called me to find out what happened. She was so upset, and I had only been asleep for about an hour, so I was just bleary. Anyway, after a couple more hours of sleep (or close to it), Quinn woke up raring to go. Poor Jalal had to go to work for 14 hours today while I tried to "stay off my feet." Hah! So, all is well for now. Let's hope tomorrow goes more smoothly, though we do have to handle another 2-year-old birthday party. Yikes! Love, Us.

Birthday Pictures

Okay, I was "politely" reminded by my sister the other day that I had not shared many pictures from Quinn's birthday party. It was really bright that day, so I'm afraid a few of them didn't come out great. Here goes nothing.

Quinn and Sarah playing cowboy.



Yummy cake!



Isn't Christian adorable?

I know the layout didn't come out that great, but forgive me. I'm not so good at stuff like that.
But here's a video of the birthday song and Quinn blowing out the candles.

Love, Us.

Yay Babymoon!

For those of you who don't know, a "babymoon" is the new term for a pre-baby getaway. It turns out that Jalal and I haven't even left Quinn overnight before, so we decided to jump at the chance to go away for a night while we could. The Depeche Mode concert in Atlanta on Tuesday gave us the perfect opportunity. Jalal found a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, so it was bound to be a great night! (Sorry, they don't offer Friends and Family Rates at this location, but we got a great deal!) My friend Maureen was going to babysit Quinn but then she bailed on me (through no fault of her own). Jalal manipulated his authority at Marriott to get one of his employees off so she could watch him. She's sat for him a few times before, so we were comfortable with that. We got out of town around noon on Tuesday, checked into our SA-WEET! hotel room (on the top floor), and lounged on the beautiful 6-inch-thick pillowtop bed. Turns out they feature Bulgari toiletries, and believe you me, I took advantage of every single one. I even wore the shower cap in the shower while getting ready for the concert. Then of course, the body wash and lotion provided a lovely fragrance, and the bathrobe and slippers kept me cozy while I dressed.

We had passed a place called Twist around the corner from the hotel that said "sushi and tapas." How could we resist? After feeling uber-out of place walking through the mall of high-end shops like Gucci and Ferragamo, we were blown away by the food at Twist. Let me see if I can remember what we ate: mussels (Jalal), chicken empanada, calamari, buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomato salad, Philly roll, and for the second "course," a truffled egg salad sandwich and some fantastic sushi roll with mango and tuna around tuna tataki, which I was not supposed to eat (boo), but I cheated and ate a small piece. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone. I want to go back.

After an early dinner, we headed to the concert. It was at an outdoor amphitheater, which could have been dicey, but the weather was superb. The breeze was perfect at a time when it could have gotten hot from all the crowds. The people there, by the way, were about the most eclectic mix I've ever seen. Young goth folks, old goth folks, old preppy folks, old hippie folks, young trendy folks, a cowboy...weird. But after a lukewarm opening act by some guys, one of whom was named Bjorn (evidently they are huge in Europe), Depeche Mode came out and rocked my world. They were so good, and I knew more of the songs than I expected. I guess 10 years of indoctrination will do that to a girl. Anyway, after much screaming and clapping, they came out for their first of two encores, and began with our song, "Somebody." It was so romantic.

After the concert, we were pretty hungry (hey, it had been almost 5 hours since dinner!), and since it was nearly midnight, our options were limited. So we stopped at a gas station for Twix ice cream bars and donuts. Mmmm. I'm not a donut fan normally, but I'm blaming the baby for that one. Thanks, baby! Turns out, Ritz-Carlton does turn-down service. Whoops. Shouldn't have left my underwear on the bed! It was great though! Chocolates, water and glass on the side table, fresh towels, and the drapes pulled. Lovely way to come "home." It was so heavenly that I'm almost ashamed to admit we slept until 10 a.m.! For those of you with toddlers, you know what a guilty (and impossible) pleasure this is. We finally dragged outselbes out of bed and packed up every "Ritz-Carlton" labeled object that we didn't think we'd get charged for: stationery, water bottles, pens, notepads, mouthwash. We stopped at Fatburger for lunch. Never had that before, but it was yummy! Then we headed home. [Sigh.] It was wonderful. I missed Quinn, but not that much! Hah! Well, that's the story of the babymoon. Love, Us.