This Guy

This past weekend was all about celebrating Nurse Erik.  And celebrate we did!  After two years of hard work and dedication, he is the proud owner of a fancy new degree and we are both officially done with school!  Friday marked the arrival of Erik's family and the graduation.  Now it's time for me to brag a little.  Erik was chosen by the College of Nursing to lead in the procession of nursing grads and carry the nursing banner at the ceremony.  Following the graduation we had a fantastic BBQ with all our family and friends.  On Saturday, we went to his Convocation, which is a much more intimate ceremony steeped in tradition, so he could be "pinned."  Afterwards we had a Rammelsberg family dinner at Tagaris Winery.  The weather was perfect and it was an all-around lovely weekend.  However, it also made me tired!  So since I am still recovering you are about to get a little less conversation and a little more action.  Enjoy the photos!

Leading the nursing students into graduation!

On the stage with the Hogwarts crew...

Mama Ramm, the Graduate, Papa Ramm, and Seester Ramm

With his very proud (and very preggo) wife :).

My pride and joy of the BBQ...

Saturday: Convocation day

Me pinning Erik with his nursing pin.

Erik and his ladies...he was the only male nursing student in his program :)

The proud sister

And finally resting it up at Tagaris with the parents.  What a long, delightful weekend!

You're Gonna Miss This...

Last night I went swimming at the gym.  It is a miracle cure for the swelling and makes me feel light as air, a feeling that I relish these days.  Afterwards, I could not resist a nice, hot shower, especially since I am not allowed to use the hot tub.  I do some of my best thinking in the shower.  This weekend we are moving from our tiny, 1-bedroom apartment to a rental house in Kennewick, so I was thinking of things like finishing the packing, and what to unpack first, and how to arrange furniture at the new place and, suddenly, I just started sobbing right there in the Gold's Gym shower.  It dawned on me that life as we know it is about it get a lot different.  And while we are sooooo excited about the change, there is definitely a part of me that is going to miss this.  Oh, there I go again!  Only this time I am crying at work!  At least I am on my lunch break.  Don't be alarmed, in normal life I am not this weepy. 

We could barely afford our apartment in Richland when we moved in 2 years ago.  What am I saying?  We could not even afford it!  Erik's parents were paying our bills and my parents were keeping us in groceries.  It was a rough time between my graduating from law school and finding that first job!  It was the only place we could find that was available, under $1000/month, and allowed dogs.  It is so small we decided to forego having a kitchen table, instead using the "dining room" space (around 5' square) as an office and eating at our coffee table every night.  It was a tight fit for two grown adults and a little dog, but it worked for us.  Soon the sound of each other coming in and out of the bathroom while the other was showering, the jingle of Toast's collar as he followed us around, and the delicate (and yes, sometimes irritating) dance in the kitchen as one of us cooked and the other put last night's dishes away became the rhythm of our lives.  My favorite ritual is that every night we make dinner, bring it out to the coffee table, say grace, and then have a little kiss followed by the person who did not cook thanking the person who cooked.  It sounds so Hitler the way I just described it, but really, it flows quite naturally.  I am not even sure how it started.

My anxiety in leaving all that behind is this: I know things are going to change, but what if it is not all good change?  What if I lose my dinner-time ritual?  What if Erik works nights and I never get to see him?  What if we are so tired from taking care of Baby Girl we start to care less about little things like pre-dinner kisses?  I absolutely know that when she comes we will be filled with joy and she will enhance our family.  But for right now it is all unknown.  I think it is normal to have these feelings, right?  I just know I love my life, and I have the best husband and sometimes change is just hard.  It is a weird feeling, being so unbelieveably excited on one hand, and on the other being anxious about the future.  Believe me, the excitement definitely trumps the anxiety and I know we will adapt as necessary.  I think we are ready for our next great adventure!

Thus ends this chapter of the Rammelsberg Fammelsberg.  On to the next...Parenthood!

April Showers Bring May...Babies?

It won't be long now!  According to the "Countdown to My Birth" calendar we are at 33 weeks and 2 days, which means only 46 days until my due date, June 6.  However, my doctor has informed me that I am technically full term at 38 weeks, which means she could come as early as May 23!  I kind of wish he had not told me, because now I am sitting here expecting her to get here at the end of May.  He also told us she could go as far as 42 weeks and still be completely healthy :(.  I choose to ignore this because the thought of staying pregnant until June 20 makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry.  And then I remember I cannot curl up in a ball anymore.  I know, I know...I should just be enjoying the experience and all that.  I really am trying.  And, of course, I am not going to try to force her to come out until she is good and ready.  I am just getting SO big and uncomfortable.  But you guys don't want to hear about that, so moving on to the real reason for this post: my fabulous cousins threw me a baby shower last weekend and it was so lovely and fun it deserved a photo dump on el blogo (for my English speaking friends, that's the blog).

 Note the pretty puffy flowers hanging from the ceiling.  I am trying to incorporate the pink ones into the nursery decor.

 Of course, I was a huge fan of the food table.  The coconut brownies were a particular favorite.

Guest gifts: the envelopes had flower seeds in them.  Adorable.

Games were played:

 I had to choose the best rendition of a baby made out of play dough.  These were the two finalists.  I ended up going with the blue one because it showed extra creativity (sucking her thumb).  Props to the runner-up though.  It was very cute, although somewhat turtle-like.

Baby Girl was spoiled rotten!  Look at all these gifts!

Then of course, the obligatory family shots:

 The Yadaos... and

 The Rammelsbergs.  A slightly smaller group :).  Baby Ramm was lucky to have her Grandma and Aunt come all the way to the Tri-Cities for the shower.

It was all around a great time.  The Bambina is extremely spoiled.  I can't wait for her to come out and meet her amazing family.  Thanks so much to Michelle and Lesley (and the Aunties and Grandma) for putting on such a fun event.

You be my sugar baby, I'll be your sweet iced tea

If you've never heard this song (Honey Bee, Blake Shelton) then you are missing out!  Actually, it has been stuck in my head for about 3 days now and when I was trying to come up with a title for this post it just kept circling around so there you have it.  It might have something to do with sweet tea being my absolute favorite liquid right now.  Or maybe that I find Blake Shelton to be a little bit delicious.  But I think mostly it reminds me of my husband because it is all about things that go together.  Here, see for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZjosn2u1gA&ob=av2n

We may not be sugar baby and sweet iced tea, but we can definitely pull off Chandler Bing smile and crazy eyes.  I was asked by my cousin to send a picture of Erik and me together with the belly for my upcoming baby shower.  A simple enough request, right?  For most people that is true, but for me and my strong and steady it was mission impossible.  We are extremely awkward picture-takers.  Both of us are afflicted and I fear the baby has no chance.  We do ok if there is someone else directing the shot, but when left to our own devices...well, you'll see.  It doesn't help that I am, how should I put this, somewhat less photogenic than I was 8 months ago.  No one told me you slip out of the cute preggo phase when you enter the third trimester!  Anyway, we did the best we could, hilarity ensued, arguments were rampant, and here are the results:

Jessica: What?  You can't see your face!

Erik: You told me to kiss you!

Jessica:  Hmm...that's true.

Jessica:  Erik, why are you standing like that?

(Also note what a terrible background this is, lol)

Whoa double chin!

Admittedly, this is the best one of Erik.  Note how we "fixed" the problem from the last picture by taking everything off the door.  Only to be thwarted by Toast running in and opening it as the timer on the camera went off.

So we decided to move the shoot out to the living room.

I think we can all agree I am way too much of a whale from this angle.  I can't believe I am putting it online actually.

My personal favorite.  I call it "I want to steal your baby!"

Finally, we decided to go with this one.  It was really a lesser of all evils kind of situation.

Awkward Family Photos here we come!



Happy Birthday Mommy!

We had an overwhelming amount of support while we were waiting to hear back about baby's heart situation!  Thank you everyone, so much!  I hope you all saw the quick post on Facebook after the appointment that everything is ok.  I finally have time to write more in-depth about the whole ordeal.

So, we went to see the specialist last Wednesday.  The ultrasound lasted about an hour and a half and they were able to get a good look at all her little miniature organs.  It was pretty amazing actually how close they could look at everything.  Seriously, what did our parents do without these things?  She was still being a stinker and hiding from the ultrasound, but apparently she was no match for this equipment.  The great news is they were FINALLY able to confirm her great vessels were developing normally and it does not appear anything is wrong with her heart!  So the game plan, for now, is we will be able to have a normal, healthy birth when she is good and ready to come out.  There was one little problem they noticed while they were all up in her organs: she has a little fluid around her kidneys.  The doctor said it was abnormal but not unusual and he did not seem overly concerned but he wants to keep an eye on it.  Unfortunately, that means another ultrasound in a few weeks.  I can't believe some women only get one ultrasound per pregnancy!  They need to start a punch card for us I think.  We would be pretty close to a free one at this point.

The silver lining is we get to see lots of pictures of our silly little nugget.  She was being especially playful on Wednesday.  The above picture is her profile with her little feet up by her forehead.  They were having a difficult time counting her left toes because I guess she was holding her left foot in her hand way up by her forehead :).  I think she got Erik's long legs.  And we might have a gymnist on our hands!

Thanks again everyone for all your prayers and support!

Complications...

Check out this scowly alien baby:

Ok, that's the last time you get to call her that.  We know, this picture is weird looking, but we're hoping that is just the nature of the ultrasound picture and after she has had a little more time to grow she'll come out cute as a button.  Or, as Erik puts it, not all babies are cute, but all babies are precious.  Just for the record, I think she is cute in this picture.  And I think that thing that looks like an eye glaring is not really an open eye, but some weird thing with the ultrasound picture, because if you look below it, it looks like her eyes are closed and she is sleeping.

Well, the purpose of this post was not solely to present Baby Alien Rammelsberg.  Unfortunately, we have discovered some potential complications.  I have been debating about whether to blog about this or not and finally decided we would rather have more people knowing and praying for Baby Girl.  So here's the situation:  At our 20 week ultrasound, the doctor could not confirm the little bambina's great vessels of her heart were developing properly so he scheduled her for another ultrasound at 28 weeks after she had time to get a little bigger.  We were told it was probably nothing and they just could not get a good picture because of her position.  Last Friday, we went in for the 28 week ultrasound and he still could not confirm proper development.  In the scariest conversation I have ever had with a doctor, he explained what could be wrong and referred us to a specialist.  The worst case scenario is that she will have to be born a little early in Seattle and then whisked off to heart surgery right after she is born.  The best case scenario is that there is nothing wrong at all.  He did say that all other signs point to nothing being wrong.  She is growing just fine and has good vitals and all that, and if she had some kind of congenital heard defect she would likely be much smaller than she is now.  And then he left us with this gem of advice: "Don't lose any sleep over this."  Yeah right!

So we are just asking for your prayers that everything turns out to be just fine.  We are doing our best not to worry.  The appointment with the perinatologist is scheduled for next Wednesday, which coincidentally is my birthday.  I am hoping for a really great birthday gift of a bill of clean health for the bambina!  We will keep y'all posted on the results.

Adios Second Trimester!

Today I am 28 weeks!  

According to many websites and my most trusted baby book, that means I am officially saying cheers to the departure of my second trimester.  I think a few words are in order:

Second trimester,

You were pretty good to me.  Thank you for not making me sick like our friend First Trimester.  I also appreciated the extra boosts of energy.  I did not, however, appreciate that you made me huge.  Not only did you leave me with the belly of a 36 weeker, you also left me with love handles and thunder thighs.  Not cool.  I guess you were just trying to get me ready to meet Third Trimester.  So in the spirit of tough love, I forgive you for that and for introducing me to the art of swollen feet and ankles.  You have been my favorite trimester thus far, so, cheers to you Second Trimester.  I have a feeling I am going to miss you!

Now, to celebrate the coming of the Third Trimester here are a slew of shameless belly shots!

 I can now use my belly as a traveling table top!

 26 weeks!

27 weeks!

And not to be outdone...

Baby Daddy also needed to get a belly shot in.  

And because I am in the mood to brag, check out the what I have been doing with my bursts of energy:

Burp rags!  It is kind of hard to see them in detail but, trust me, they are adorable.