Wedding and Honeymoon!

Whew it has been a long time since my last blog post!  Where do I start?!  If I try to write about everything that's happened the last month this will be the longest blog post ever so I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

In case you haven't heard, Mat and I got married.  The week leading up to the wedding was a bit stressful with last minute preparations, frantic shopping trips and multiple airport runs but we survived. I only had one minor breakdown (I blame the hormones).  

The wedding itself went off without a hitch.. well, almost.  It hardly counts as a hitch but no one told us there was cardboard between the tiers of the cake? So when we tried to cut it, we couldn't!  So we just dug out a chunk with the cake knife.. classy as always :)  

But seriously, the flowers were so much more amazing than I could have imagined (Madison Wedding Flowers), our photographer - Rebecca Wersland - was amazing, the staff at the Madison Club was amazing, my Aunt Colleen did an amazing job on the piano, Hannah Luree sang like an angel and designed our amazing wedding programs.. how many times can I say amazing in one paragraph?!  My family was incredible and Mat's family was incredible and we appreciate everyone who was there!

Mat continued to be the most patient and understanding human being on the planet throughout the entire wedding process.  I'm so lucky to have such an amazing husband.  How weird that in the last two years we've gone from boyfriend and girlfriend to husband and wife (and soon to be Mom and Dad!). Yikes!  

Finally, Momma Keys.  My personal wedding planner, tailor, carpenter, teapot finder, card box designer, invitation maker, chef, hostess, party favour designer, tuxedo renter, therapist, crisis manager... should I go on?  She was the only reason this wedding was as successful as it was and we can't thank her enough for everything she did!  

New York was great. I might've gained an extra 10 pounds (not counting the weight I'm supposed to gain because of the life growing inside me) from all the amazing restaurants and markets.  Our favourites were ABC Kitchen, Eataly (INCREDIBLE) and Dean & DeLuca.  We just ate nonstop for 5 days and got a full 8 hours of sleep every night and had a magical time.  We have decided that we probably don't want to live in New York City, especially not with Baby so we can cross it off our list of potential relocation locations... not that we are relocating yet, just keeping our options open.

I'm not going to put all the pictures on here because I just put them on Facebook and there are a lot of them.  But here are a few of my personal favourites from the week leading up to the wedding and the wedding.  I didn't take any photos in New York because my phone was stolen on the Staten Island Ferry (seriously what kind of douche bag steals from a pregnant lady on her honeymoon?!) so Mat has all the NY photos.  You'll have to check out his Facebook to look at those.  I did add one NY photo here because it's a strange belly photo and needs some clarification :)

Katie got Mat and I these matching shirts to wear the night before the wedding. So cute :)

Moms and Pops.

SO excited to get married! And bored of watching everyone else get ready because I was ready 5 hours before the wedding...

Momma's amazing card box!

Moms and Pops just being in love.

Mat and I being in love.. and married :)

I really do love him.. you just can't tell by how I look at him in almost every photo we took on the wedding day. Haha.

So much belly rubbing on the wedding day but Baby was not kicking for anyone or anything

This is the NY belly photo.  Here's the back story.  Mat and I went out for a fancy dinner at this restaurant called One if by Land, Two if by Sea.  I had to wear tights and a dress and I had a REALLY itchy belly all night.  This is a thing that happens when you're pregnant.. your belly itches.  I spent all evening trying to itch my belly but couldn't through my tights and my thick dress.  So when we got back to the hotel, I went itch crazy in the bathroom and Mat decided to capture it on film.  Hence this photo.  And the only photographic evidence of my bare belly thus far in my pregnancy.

Here is my week 28 photo.  Baby is the size of a head of cauliflower, which was just too long to write on our tiny chalkboard.  Also, it turns out Baby likes flying.  Every plane ride the last few weeks, Baby turned into an amateur kick boxer!  

I do realise how tired I look but I couldn't fix it, no matter how wide I tried to open my eyes.  I blame the jet lag, which has been horrible this time around.  Neither Mat nor I slept on the overnight plane ride home, which means we were exhausted when we got home and haven't been able to get our sleep cycle back on track.  We're both back to work tomorrow though so being forced to get up at 6 am will probably fix our sleep cycles quickly!

I think that is all I've got. I'm sure I've forgotten something but we have some serious TV to catch up on so I have to go now. Priorities :) 

DISSERTATION GRADE! and Mat's chalkboard

Most important news this week - I got a B+ on my dissertation!  Which means this girl officially has a Master's Degree!  And I think I'll be graduating with merit as well :) Very proud of myself!

Baby is growing.  Our picture-taking session was quite stressful this morning because I was having a hard time looking pretty and we just couldn't get a good angle on the belly. Poor Mat was ready to kill me.  

Mat did the board this week... he thinks it's the best board ever (I beg to differ!).  Here he is, hard at work!

The picture on the bottom is supposed to mean that Baby is the size of an ear of corn.  Such a kind and artistic fiancé I have! :)

For the record, he doesn't really call me fat.  He tells me I'm beautiful and skinny and amazing all the time :) He just thought the board was funny!

We had a lovely weekend this weekend.  I went out to celebrate a friend's engagement on Friday night. I have to say going out to a busy bar in London with a belly is quite stressful (lots of elbows flying around).. and everyone stares at you! 

Mat and I had a relaxing Saturday.  We did a bit of shopping then went out to dinner in Canary Wharf to celebrate my dissertation grade.  We ate at a fancy restaurant called Plateau in Canada Square and it was beautiful!  And very good food!  Then we went across the street for some wine/mocktails at Parlour, which is owned by the same company Mat works for.  Here's my handsome date with his wine and me with my mocktail!

I made myself this beautiful bolognese sauce the other day.  Who knew it was so easy to make such yummy sauce!  It's fine to be jealous.

This is what the sky has looked like in London the last few days.  Cloudy, rainy and cold! I didn't even change the colour on the photo at all.  Just so gloomy.

The girls from my MA programme threw me a baby shower today.  A bit of miscommunication led me to have to race across London on the tube, train and in a cab to get there and I was still an hour and a half late!  However, it was still a lovely day! We played shower games and Baby got lots of good presents.  Thanks Dasha and Aileen for hosting!

That's all I have to report this week!

Week 23

Here's my belly. It's getting bigger.  I always get a seat on the tube now, even without my Baby on Board badge.  I realise I'm a bit obsessed with the tube and having a seat but I spend A LOT of time on the tube.

Mat and I got this nice little surprise from Katie last week!  Since we couldn't have a real wedding shower, she sent this letter along with a small postage paid box to family and a few friends.  They sent them back to Katie and she packed them all in a big box and sent them to us!  Such a creative idea!  We LOVED it. It was very exciting to open all the presents.  Thank you so much to everyone who participated!

This was my favourite present in the little boxes!  Thanks Grandma Doris :)  

Mat was on his stag do this weekend (aka bachelor party).  He went to Brighton with his friends Friday-Sunday.  This is how he was when he came home... 

I spent the whole weekend cleaning, shopping for house things, and being domestic so I wasn't very sympathetic when he got home and didn't let him sleep very long.  We went to meet Linda and Mark for dinner in Hammersmith shortly after these photos and Mat was struggling to be a functional human.

This is his trophy from go karting this weekend.  He won first place and is so proud of himself.  He may be getting old but he's a kid at heart :)

That's all I know.  We're catching up on some X Factor and then going to bed early.

NFL London and week 22

I'm well aware my chalkboard is not cute this week but there's a reason I'm not a graphic designer. I do my best.  Baby is growing quickly these days.  I don't even have to wear my Baby on Board badge on the tube/bus anymore because you can't miss the basketball under my t-shirt.  Although, funnily enough, it is always women who give me their seats on the tube, which makes me feel guilty for taking their seats!  Men pretend to not notice my pregnant belly and leave their tushes planted in their seats.  It's fine.. I don't have swollen ankles or anything yet so I am perfectly capable of standing up.. I won't be so nice in a few weeks though so men of London, watch out!

London living.

I did some wandering around Westminster with my friends from uni the other day.  Westminster Abbey never fails to impress me!

Mat, Baby and I managed to get tickets to the Vikings-Steelers game at Wembley Stadium in London.  Shame it had to be the Vikings playing but we went with our Packers gear on and cheered for the Steelers :)  Mat is not sold on American football as a game (partly because it goes on forever!) but we had a good time anyway!  And he particularly liked the cheerleaders, as did every other British male who attended the game.

Wembley Field.

View of the field.  Vikings were the home team so there was purple garbage everywhere.

It was quite funny at the beginning of the game.. they sang the American national anthem and all the Americans sang along.  Then they played God Save the Queen.. keep in mind that Brits are not patriotic people at all.. most of them probably don't even know the words to God Save the Queen!  But the whole stadium sang along.  The only time the Brits are patriotic is when they're trying to out-patriotic the Americans at an American sporting event :)

Pre-game festivities.

Finally, we got our first baby present from my friend Verere on my volleyball team.  Baby has a play mat!  Thanks V!  We love it :)

Not a lot else to report.  I'm home sick from work today.  Was up all night with a sore throat and cough, and a coughing fiancé next to me.  It's safe to say I'm refusing to leave my bed today except to walk to the couch and maybe the refrigerator.  

Finally, if you haven't sent your RSVP for the wedding, DO IT!  Only 1 month to go :)

I love Mat.

This post will be completely unrelated to Baby (okay just the beginning part because I can't write a whole post without talking about the human being growing inside me).

I am going to take a few minutes to talk about how amazing Mat is.  I'm not usually one for harping on about him and I'm not very nice to him usually but he really is extraordinary.  Here are a few nice things he's done for me this week...

1. I work full-time now (on top of growing a life) and I'm having a hard time keeping the house liveable - it looks like a tornado went through .. so Mat got up early before work today and cleaned the kitchen, washed all the dishes, and tidied the living room - so nice to come home to a clean house!

2. He ate the gross part of the ice cream bar last night and let me eat the good part :)

3. He let me eat the inside of his pop tart because I don't like the crust (notice a pattern here - I'm a pain in the ass).

4. He fixed the heating in our house so Baby and I don't freeze to death.

5. He makes the bed every day (unless I'm still sleeping in it)! Every single day!

I could keep going but I won't bore you.  It's safe to say that I'm really annoying and he's the most tolerant, patient, helpful, loving human being I've ever met.  I think I'll keep him around for the next 50 or so years!  Also, look how cute he is when he sleeps :)

Now onto Baby.

We had our 20 week scan on Friday and it went really well!  Baby was happy and healthy and stubborn - kept hiding that pretty face from the camera.  Baby has two eye sockets, and normal sized arms, legs, tummy and head.  We kept strong and didn't find out the sex, and Baby was so happy and healthy that we don't need to have any more ultrasounds (provided everything continues to go smoothly).  Which means no more chances for us to cave and find out the sex :) 

I'm sure you all saw the bump photo on facebook but here it is again.  Baby is big enough now that I'm getting a very sore back (and I'm sure there's lots to look forward to in the lower back pain department in the next few months)!

This is Baby's hospital (along with the other 1100 babies who will be born there this year).  If you turn 180 degrees, you get a beautiful view of Parliament and Big Ben... and the river is such a lovely shade of murky brown :) 

I was reunited with an old friend today in London.  What are the odds that two girls who live on the same army post in 5th grade and then go their separate ways will end up attending the same university for Master's degrees in London?!  It is a smaller world than we realise!

That's all I have to report I think.  It's past 10 pm which is way past Baby's bedtime so I'm off to sleep!

Halfway there!

We're halfway there!  20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go!  People say they feel like their pregnancy goes by so quickly but I feel like I've been pregnant for ages already.  I'm sure the next 20 weeks will go by faster than the first 20 because we'll be so busy getting married and stuff :)

Our next scan is on Friday.. very exciting!  Baby's been kicking but just tiny little flutters.  Mat is annoyed he can't feel them yet but I'm sure Baby will be kickboxing in there hard enough for him to feel pretty soon!

Anywho, here's my photo this week:

Mat was feeling left out so here's his baby bump photo:

His bump is not quite as large as mine :)

We went to Stratford today to do some actual shopping and some window shopping for Baby.  We're not quite ready to invest in anything except one pack of plain white onesies but we did have a look at the insane amount of baby things available for purchase.  I see many trips to this store in Mat's future :) Too bad we haven't won the lottery yet!

This is just a life-sized chess board outside the shopping centre.

Before we went shopping, we went on the Emirates Airline.  One more thing checked off of my London bucket list!  It's basically a pod on a cable that travels across the river from North Greenwich to Royal Victoria.  I love it.  It's a short ride and you can't see much of the pretty old parts of London but it was quite cheap (you can pay for it with your oyster card because it's part of Transport for London) and a good Sunday activity!

Baby was really excited!  Kicked me a few times while we were over the river :)

O2 and Canary Wharf in the background. Ignore my tired eyes.

The weather has turned into fall finally.  It's been cold and rainy and rainy and cold for the last week.  Makes it difficult to want to do anything except lay on the couch!  Work has been exhausting.  I keep thinking I'll go do yoga or something when I finish but I get done and just come home and sit cause I'm too tired to function.  I suppose I should get used to the tiredness!

Amanda went back to America yesterday.  Womp womp :(

I'm going to end this post with a gripe about living in this country: everything closes SO early.  We live next to a "24-hour grocery store" that closes at 1 am every night and is only open 11-5 on Sundays.  And the little shopping mall near us has "late-night shopping" on Thursday nights - open until 8 pm.  British people - 8 pm is NOT late night shopping.  And Sundays are awful because there's a law that nothing can be open longer than 6 hours so everything is open 11-5 or 12-6 and that's it.  So if you run out of milk at 7 pm on a Sunday you are out of luck!

That's about all I know!  

Ramen noodles and Week 18

We're in week 18 now.  Had a midwife appointment last week and got to hear Baby's heartbeat. Very exciting!  Mat and I have been pretty adamant about not finding out the sex of the baby but as the date of the ultrasound draws nearer (September 20), we find ourselves wavering.. maybe we should just find out and not tell anyone? Those of you who know me know it's physically impossible for me to keep a secret so that will never happen.  I think we'll stick with our original plan of not finding out but the anticipation is killing me already!

Our weekly photoshoots with the chalkboard may look cute, but they are not cute in real life.  They mostly consist of me yelling at Mat for not taking a good picture and him trying to capture my ugliest faces.  It usually takes about 15 minutes, which is ridiculous.  Anywho, I decided to share the cute one, and another gem from this week's photoshoot :)  

The board has music notes because Baby can hear music now! Also, please note Mat's painting job.  He thinks it looks rustic :)

See? There were about 20 of these.. and pictures of me lunging at Mat to take the phone to see if he was taking any good photos.

Nothing else to report about Baby this week.  I haven't felt him/her moving yet but I also don't know what it will feel like so I've probably just missed it!  Or maybe Baby is just lazy and isn't kicking :)

One of the perks of living in London is the plethora of restaurants we have.  No matter what kind of food we want to eat, there is a good restaurant somewhere in London with that kind of food.  For the last few months we've been meaning to go to Bone Daddies, which is a ramen bar in Soho/Chinatown. People, this ramen is NOTHING like the ramen you buy for 20 cents in Wal-Mart.  This is magical noodley brothy goodness.  And they give you a bib to eat it :)  It's my new favourite place.

Mat's.

Mine and Mat's.  Mine was made with 20-hour pork bone broth.  It was literally heaven in my mouth.

Finally, here is what my Saturday night has been reduced to.  His and hers "wine".. if Mat was nice he would drink sparkling grape juice with me but he won't.

And here's another picture of the Shard.  I live near the Shard now and it's such a photogenic landmark that I take pictures of it all the time.

Finally, there was a minor crisis at Canada Water station (our tube station) today.  I was in Canary Wharf, just one stop away at the grocery store.. and when I tried to get on the tube to go home it kept saying "This train is not stopping at Canada Water due to a suspicious parcel."  Naturally I was annoyed because it took me ages to get home on the bus.. they let the train go through Canada Water but it didn't stop.  And there were helicopters and police everywhere in Canada Water.  It is a bit refreshing to know that Americans are not the only people who go into a panic about an unattended parcel though (also, how British of them to say parcel instead of package).

That was my excitement for the day.  Mat and I are cooking dinner now and being productive.  I'm at work full-time next week (finally) so trying to get things sorted out before I have absolutely no time!

That's all I know today!