Can't Hardly Believe It

Oh how the time flies when you're having fun. The hubby and I will be celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary on Monday and I can hardly believe how quickly two years have flown by. We have had a wild ride in the past 11 years and while we have definitely had our ups and downs, I can guarantee you there is no one in this world I would rather share these moments with. Happy Anniversary baby - I love you!

Now here is a quick photo montag of our life together...enjoy!

Dating in Kearney - our 1st pic together

The hottest bartender in Kearney serving me shots on my 21st!

One of my all-time favorite pics - fireworks in Norfolk in 2002

Caesar's Palace - one of our many Vegas trips together

Our 1st apartment together

Jet skiing in Cabo - our engagement trip



Excited after being engaged for a day!

Vikings Game & Minneapolis shopping trip

Halloween 2008 - Talladega Nights

We're Married!

Saying our Vows

First kiss as man & wife

Leaving the church

Dancing up a storm

Newest addition to the Manganaro clan: coming soon!

Ahhh....The Perks of Pregnancy

Since I've been pregnant, I've been getting slight nosebleeds that I notice whenever I blow my nose. Fortunately they aren't full blown "blood running out of my nose"-type nosebleeds, instead its only been when I blow my nose - which for those of you who know me is no less than 27 times per day. I have to tell you it's quite shocking when you pull the kleenex from your nose and notice bright red blood staring back at you. Even worse if you are a kleenex hoarder like myself who likes to get two, if not more, uses from her kleenexes (what can I say - I'm going green!) but no longer feels it's "clean" to keep a bloody kleenex in her purse.

As if the extreme weight gain, loss of breath, throwing up my meals, and not fitting into my clothes weren't enough....here is just another perk to being pregnant. Now this is perfect evidence as to why I want to shake sense into those women who tell me they just "loved being pregnant."  I'm not buying it...  

At least I haven't gotten 13 cavities like another woman I know experienced when she was pregnant (you know who you are and for those of you who don't her name rhymes with "Nessa").

My New Obsession...

I am absolutely 100% obsessed with Etsy. Yes, I understand that I'm years behind everyone else on discovering this site, but now that I have, I'm hooked. Part of me feels it's because I have ALWAYS secretly wished I were creative and could do a lot of this artsy and DIY stuff. I was just passed over by the creative gene in my family....so now I get to live through others who have true skills.

I literally spent 3 hours surfing this site last night. Not kidding. And not to mention the time I spent over the weekend, last week, the week before.....

Here are a couple of my favorite prints. Know that you will see a couple of these pop up in the baby's room as I get that rolling.

And some of my favorite pillow cover patterns...

PS. If you can't tell, I've finally decided on colors for the nursery - YELLOW & GRAY! I've got so many ideas and can't wait to put this together!

22 Weeks: What's New...

Due date: November 26th...I'm sticking with this date until my doc tells me otherwise - I'm hoping I will go early and be pleasantly surprised when it happens!

Baby Developments: Little Mango is the size of a papaya - about 11inches long and almost weighs a pound. His lips, eyelids and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny toothbuds beneath his gums.  He is settling into his sleep cycles - snoozing about 12-14 hours a day. I can definitely feel when he's awake, he's been moving and finally kicking like crazy!

Real estate w/in the belly is getting tight and our growing little man is leaving little room for the lungs to breathe. I'm definitely feeling that more & more these days - I get winded after every day activities, let alone a run or physical activity! There's also not much room for my belly button and often this is when they start to pop - I REALLY hope mine doesn't. (This would be a great time for all of you to say a quick little prayer for me!)

Weight gain: 1lb (7lbs total)

Cravings: this week I've been craving Diet Mt Dew like it's going out of style. I know I need to cut back on the caffiene but it is my one major vice right now and it's tough!

Aversions: I'm still not eating a ton of meat but I'm trying to get protein where I can to make up for it.

Symptoms: the leg cramps haven't been as bad this week, but the foot cramps have definitely set in. I get them at least once a day - usually at night when I'm relaxing after work and sometimes in the middle of the night.

I am loving: feeling my ever-growing belly and little man moving around in there.

Sleep: I have no social life, therefore, sleep has been great!

I miss: being able to wear my gym clothes and not having to worry about covering the big bump.

I am looking forward to: our next ultrasound appointment - I'm going to set up the 3D in a couple weeks and can't wait to see what Cruz looks like!

I'm spazzing about: deciding on a nursery theme and colors - I seriously change my mind every day as I find new color schemes. I'm really leaning towards gray, yellow, black and white.

Best moment this week: feeling little man's kicks on the outside of my belly!

Milestones: not entirely related to baby, but I'm pretty impressed that I've been actually doing my weekly status posts at the beginning of the week AND I've been posting pretty regularly. Sadly, this is more than likely because I have no life anymore and I have A LOT of time on my hands these days....

Movement: YES!

It's a...: boy

Exercise: I didn't make it to Lifetime this week but did workout in the basement a bit. Tonight I took Maya for a walk/run and boy did we both need it!

Thirsty Girl

Out of Shape Puggle

Diet: besides the caffiene it's been ok - I ate my fair share of pasta this week after making it last Sunday (Woman v. Food). I brought it to work for lunch a couple times - and it was still really good! Alright, so I have to admit that I made another batch tonight and will be eating it for lunch again this week. I love pasta - the only positive of me eating all of these carbs is I made whole wheat rotini...seriously, this is my justification!

Goals for the upcoming week: schedule appointments with pediatricians. I realize I've had this goal a while back, but I need to get these appointments done and crossed off my list.

Belly shot:

Bump: 22 Weeks

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Never-Ending Black Hole

It seems as though the house will never be 100% put together, but I'm slowly but surely chipping away. Nick had golf with the guys today, so I had to choose between laying out (I need a tan on this pale body) or cleaning out closets and I actually chose to be responsible and clean!

I had to start with the two storage closets off the basement bedroom, in order to make more room for items that I would be moving downstairs from the other closets. I never realized how much Halloween and Christmas decor I actually had until I pulled it all out of storage and the other closets and consolidated it. I realized I've got problems....who needs two large glittered skulls???

Basement storage - Halloween & Christmas stuff!

Basement storage - the other side

Basement bedroom closet

Then I moved my craft stuff from the nursery closet to the basement bedroom - it fit perfectly into the armoire and will be easily accessible.

Craft stuff

It was so nice to finally get the rubbermaid containers and boxes moved out of the spare bedroom and put it together. This will work perfectly for our guests....especially my mama after Cruz gets here.

Basement bedroom - finally put together

Once I was done with the bedroom I moved out to the wet bar and finally cleared out everything in the drawers and moved the alcohol and glassware. It looks so much better....plus I always say "out of sight, out of mind."

Wet bar

The nursery used to function as a spare bedroom and a catch-all, it's nice to finally see the floor in both the room and the closet! There is plenty of space in here for lots of little man clothes....I had better get shopping!

Nursery closet

All in it's been a great Sunday and very productive. Now we are getting ready to head to dinner....not sure where that will take us but I'm looking forward to getting out of the house!

Memorable Conversation

I love my husband....he cracks me up.  He's even funny when he's not trying to be. Ok, so maybe funny is a stretch and it's a mix of funny and slightly scary. Here's what happened:

Last night he didn't get home from playing poker until 4am (last night, this morning....you know what I mean). Oddly enough I had waken up just minutes before the garage door opened to use the bathroom and once he got settled we started chatting about little man. I mentioned that we should get used to being up at that time in the morning because when Cruz gets here we will not be sleeping through the night.

"What do you mean we won't be sleeping through the night?" (him)

"Well babies, especially newborns, are up often throughout the night to be fed, changed or simply to whine." (me)

"No way," (he pulls up google on his laptop) "wait, did you know babies need to be fed SIX times a day, every four hours?!?!"  (him)

"Um yes babe, I did know that. Maybe we do need to take that childbirth class after all."  (me)

A Fair for Babies and Some Soon-to-Be Mamas

On Saturday, Morgan and I hit up the Baby Love Essentials baby fair at Aksarben Village (Omaha Baby Fair). We got there bright & early and because of that we got a special Sway Bag reserved for the first 250 people. The bag wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but there was some useful information inside. Mainly, literature on pediatricians (helpful), disposable diapers (not so sure), photographers (useful), breastfeeding (haven't decided) and a few other random items.

The Baby Fair was a lot of fun - we checked out many booths of baby-related businesses and items. There was a really neat fashion show for children who have or have had congenital heart defects - these kids were definitely inspirational and it was very sad to hear their stories. One of the kiddos was two years old and was diagnosed not long after birth - he had been through four heart surgeries already and would have more to face in the upcoming years. No child should ever have to go through that. They also had a CUTE reusable diaper show with kids from 2 weeks to 14 months modeling their adorable little diapers!

Plus in between some of the events, we headed to Jones Brothers for some coffee and good girl talk about babies, our family and many other things. It was a good morning. I've got to say thanks to Morgan for letting me know about this Baby Fair - it was a good time!

Falling Into Place

Another productive day! Of course I started out the day with work, but headed to my doctor's appointment on my lunch hour. It was a quick check-up (I'm not complaining): I got to hear Little Mango's heartbeat (love this), I'm measuring well and sitting fine from a weight standpoint. Since the visit was so quick, I decided to run over to Kid's Stuff Superstore to check out the Bonavita Metro Crib and Dresser (remember it here) that I had my eyes on. After asking the clerk some questions, she mentioned that I would have to order the set and it could take anywhere from 6-12 weeks (eek!) - on my way back to work I called Nick and told him I was going to order so we could get it as quickly as possible - potentially three months - wow, really?

Once I was back at work I called the store and placed my order. As we were finalizing payment, she mentioned that they actually had the set in stock (really? you couldn't check that earlier) - but really I was super excited just to get it home! I planned to pick it up after work with the goal of getting it set up tonight (seriously, I have no patience).

I headed back to Kid's Stuff after work and had the salesperson show me mattresses - I chose the Colgate Classica III (here) mattress. After looking at all the options, this seemed to be the best fit for our little guy. It's a foam mattress with a cover that will not allow liquid to seep through. One side is firmer foam for a baby and the other side is a bit softer for a toddler.

We got the crib and dresser loaded and I headed out west. Everything fit perfectly - the great news? The dresser is already put together, I don't have to do a thing but take off the packaging and dust it off! The crib on the other hand will take some work, but I'm up for the challenge.


Crib & Dresser - perfect fit!

 I was talking to Tessa the entire way home about strollers, carseats, you name it....I pulled into the garage and CRUNCH! Um the large crib box was waaaay too tall for our small garage. Fortunately it doesn't look like anything is broken, but I guess I will see that once I get it in the house...

Oops - don't try to drive into the garage with a box that is taller than said garage.

Since I couldn't unload the furniture on my own, I had to do something else to pass the time until Nick got home from golf league. I vacuumed the soon-to-be nursery and packed up everything else I had left on the floor after the move yesterday. Here are the before pictures - a clean slate for me to work my magic. Now I just need to finalize the color scheme - I just have too many ideas! Wouldn't this room look great with laminate floors? I think so - time to get serious and price them out so I can make a strong case to Nick. Plus it's a good time of year for my dad to help out since he's in between planting and harvest. More to come...

Before Shot - Nursery

Before Shot - Nursery 2

Before Shot - Nursery 3

21 Weeks: What's New....

Due date: over halfway there!!

Baby developments: Little Mango is the size of a banana (I really thought we were done with the produce comparisons...guess not). He weighs 3/4 of a pound and is 10 1/2 inches long. Soon I should feel his constant fluttering turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. Here is what he looks like - (baby at 21 weeks).

Weight gain: 1lb (6lbs total) - the weight is slowly but surely kicking in!

Cravings: I continue to crave bagels & cream cheese, but I've been limiting my consumption. Candy continues to be another culprit - chocolate, gummys, you name it!

Aversions: not necessarily an aversion, but I confirmed I don't like salmon (yet again) after our dinner at Kona tonight. I really wish I liked seafood, but I just don't, no matter how good it's supposedly tastes. However, the Macadamia Nut Chicken was fantastic as always!

Symptoms: I've been getting bad leg cramps in the middle of the night the last couple of weeks. Generally I sleep very soundly, but these cramps have been waking me up - thankfully it only takes a couple minutes or a quick walk around our bedroom for them to go away.

I am loving: I definitely can say I've been enjoying not waking up with a hangover on the weekends while everyone else does! It's a great feeling and I get so much done.

Sleep: good besides the occassional leg cramp and for some reason I have been staying up later than normal these days.

I miss: being able to wear a cute, short dress on girl's night out. Look at all of these hotties in their hot outfits....jealous!

At the Green Onion

I am looking forward to: hearing Cruz's heartbeat at my doctor's appointment tomorrow - it's been one of my favorite parts of the pregnancy, plus now I think I can feel his heartbeat when I touch my belly.

I'm spazzing about: there is still so much to do - nursery, pediatrician, child care, registry...there is definitely not enough time in the day!

Best moment this week: well I had another productive Monday and I feel pretty good about it! Got laundry done, did dishes, picked up the house, vaccuumed the upstairs, finished up some work emails, got a shellac mani (trying to grow my nails out!), moved the spare bedroom furniture down to the other room and ran some errands (had to get some rubbermaid containers for the junk I cleaned out of the closets)....I told you I got a lot done!

Movement: lots of movement this week. I love that I can feel him and it's all throughout the day.

It's a....: boy - my sweet little man!

Exercise: has been a little light this week. I only made it to Lifetime twice and made it downstairs to the treadmill once. Nick tried to talk me into going to the gym last night after work, but I decided to cook us a fattening meal instead...winning!

Diet: I've enjoyed a lot of yummy food this week....all I'm saying.

Goals for the upcoming week:  I would LOVE to get the baby furniture ordered this week, especially since the nursery is cleared out. And I'm going to price laminate floors for the nursery and the entire upstairs....Nick said I could...yay!

Belly shot:

21 weeks - clothed bump...

....and POW: 21 week bump

Woman v. Food

I am not a cook, nor have I ever claimed to be one. Even more than that...I simply don't care to cook.

However, more and more I'm feeling the urge to start cooking. Chalk it up to nesting or motherly instinct, I'm not entirely sure, but I'm in the mood. To kick start what I can only hope to be something on-going and not a fluke, I decided to finally try to make Nick's mom's Sicilian marinara and meatballs. A couple months ago, Carol, Brittany and I had our own little cooking class and I figured I would be making this dish often, but hadn't set aside the time to give it a try...until tonight.

After work I stopped by the store to pick up the ingredients I didn't already have and quickly got to work - I had a hungry husband to feed! I actually enjoyed myself- I think because it wasn't that difficult. Once I mixed up all the ingredients for the sauce and put the meatballs in the oven, it was all about waiting for them to cook. And the best part....Nick couldn't stop talking about how good it was! Hmmmm....maybe I will have to give this cooking thing a shot more often.

Ingredients - as if I'm going to give all of them away!

Mashing the meatball mixture!

Meatballs ready to be cooked

Boiling the mostaccioli and mixing the marinara & meatballs

Finished product!

Great Gift

The Lokkes are an amazing couple that I had a chance to meet when he got a job at Harrah's & Horseshoe as a VP of Food & Beverage a few short years ago and soon after they arrived, we asked him to allow his beautiful wife to come out and play on one of our girl days out (aka a Sunday day date with the only goal being to drink our guts out). She fit right in and we've been a tight little group of friends ever since.

I feel like I've been able to experience some BIG things in their life since they've been in this area. They were married in Hawaii not long after they moved here so we threw her a surprise bachelorette party and they had their first child together not long after. Now, she and I get to be prego together, since they are expecting their 2nd in January - its going to be fun to go through pregnancy together.

Enough about them....geez!....the point of this post was that this sweet, considerate couple (I say this loosely as her husband and spar at work all of the time - we both have a fairly mean sense of humor which works well) gave me an awesome gift today for after the pregnancy. A bottle of Cakebread Cellars Cab to enjoy after our little man is born. Seriously, I've been LOVING all of the gifts we've been getting for Cruz, but it was so nice to get a gift for us to enjoy once we bring this little guy into the world!

Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Oh The Memories...

Last night, Nick flew in from Vegas early, so we decided to go to dinner after I picked him up at the airport. I had gotten a gift card to 801 Chophouse at the Paxton for my 30th (thanks Beasleys!) and he was craving a big steak so it was the obvious choice...and what a great choice it was!

I had been there before with some people from work and our Corporate offices, but I don't recall being as impressed. When we are going out for a nice steak dinner, Nick and I usually prefer Sullivan's because it has a great atmosphere and good food and I recalled the Chophouse to be a bit stuffy, however, last night was not the case. Sure their green (NASA enforced, our server informed us) jackets look a bit ridiculous, but beyond that everyone was very friendly.

We sat down and immediately I had to get back up to give a hug to our server, who happened to be one of my former Hosts at Horseshoe! She did an excellent job taking us through the menu and giving us her recommendations. Plus, she & the bartender used me as their guinea pig on different mocktail recipes, which was fun because I'm always looking for a good drink when I'm out and about - and sometimes a water or soda won't cut it.

Since we had the entire gift card to use, we made sure to order enough for a small army. Nick got the special - a 22oz bone-in New York Strip with a 1lb baked potato and the lobster corn chowder to start. I ordered the 8oz filet with a 1/2 order of the Boursin mashed potatoes and a 1/2 of the maytag bleu cheese baby red potatoes (our server hooked us up!) and had started with the caesar salad. Nick also ordered the fresh green beans to share. Needless to say we had TOO MUCH food, but it was great being able to try so many different dishes and we brought the leftovers home - even Maya got a bit of my filet for dinner. The food was fantastic!

The 801 Chophouse is located inside the Paxton, where Nick & I had our wedding reception almost 2 years ago. When we walked in it brought back so many memories of that amazing day and the great time we've had being married the last two years. Ironically, our server sent me a text after we had gotten home and just minutes after we left, the Goo Goo Dolls (who are performing at Stir Cove tonight) walked in and were her next table. The ironic part: Nick & I had our first dance to GGD "Iris" in that very building...



The Paxton - full or memories!



A Day in the Life...Of My Diet

A friend of mine has blogged a couple of times about her diet and I figured since I've made it my goal this week (and beyond) to attempt to eat better and to select more healthy items for little Cruzer, I would jot down just exactly what I consume in a day's time. Don't worry, I'm not going to make you read about my diet every day, but do expect to see it periodically on my blog. Also, I feel I should warn you that I some of the items I may eat are not ideal for a pregnant woman and I ask (in advance) that you do not judge me.

• Breakfast: I actually started my day off with a 1/2 hour on the treadmill - a mix of walking/jogging and did light arms at home. I wanted to go to the gym, but I couldn't stop hitting snooze, so I was stuck with my basement exercise. However, I downloaded Chelsea Handler's new book "Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me" in mere seconds to my iPad this morning to help me get through the treadmill time. She is hilarious! On my way to work, I ate a toasted blueberry bagel w/ light cream cheese and stopped to pick up a Grande Green Tea from Crane Coffee. Points for me, because it wasn't my usual Starbucks Skinny Vanilla Latte!

Crane Coffee hot Grande Green Tea

• Morning Snack: I was getting hungry by 11:30am so I ate the cottage cheese and peaches I had brought in from home. The picture doesn't do it justice....this is one of my favorite (somewhat healthy) snacks.

Roberts 2% Cottage Cheese & Peaches

• Lunch: Around 1:30pm I had an egg & turkey sausage Lean Pocket. Not the best lunch, but damn are they good!

Lean Pocket Egg & Sausage - made for breakfast but perfect for a quick lunch!

• Afternoon Snack: I had a bottle of Tropicana Trop50 orange juice during our VP meeting and a banana after we finished the meeting. I REALLY wanted a diet Mt Dew, not juice, but I wouldn't let myself have one....I need to be more cognizant of my caffeine intake.

Perfect mix of yellow & brown

• Drive Home Snack: my usual a Red Delicious Apple. I prefer to have one in my purse at all times and only like them at room temperature. The cold ones are too much for my sensitive teeth!

Mmm...delicious

• Dinner: I got home from work around 8pm and quickly made some angel hair pasta and marinara with a couple of pieces of garlic bread. Even Maya got some of the noodles. The best part? I can bring the leftovers to work tomorrow.

Angel hair pasta w/ marinara & garlic bread

• Water for the Day: I had four bottles of refilled Dasani which means I met my quota for the day, plus I'm bringing one to bed and will more than likely finish it before morning. This is pretty much a record for midweek since usually my liquid consumption is taken over by a venti decaf coffee in the morning and a soda in the afternoon!

It's been interesting documenting what I have eaten throughout the day. Overall pretty good....I would give it a B+. Now let's see if I can keep it up this week.