The Princess has Arrived!!!

Nora Juliette Brugal
May 11, 2009
4:53pm
7 lbs 7.7 oz
19.5 in

We're back!

Michael, George and I had a wonderful time on our vacation in Florida! We were all very sad to leave the warm weather. We had plenty of time to visit with family and friends, eat at our favorite restaurants and spend some time relaxing.

The highlight of our trip was probably Gatorland. Knowing how much Michael likes gators, we just had to take him there. We were lucky enough to see the close encounters show, the gator wrasslin’ show and the jumparoo show. The close encounters show included various snakes and a scorpion. This was probably the most foul show I’ve ever seen. I don’t think anything scares me as much as snakes! We got to see a man wrestle a gator and Michael got to have his picture taken on top of a real live gator!!!! We couldn’t believe he actually did it! The jumparoo show was the scariest show of all. It doesn’t make you feel safe in your boat when you see a gator jump 4 to 5 feet in the air. I was lucky enough to get some great action shots. Yuck!!!

We also had a great time watching George and Wilson play. Mostly, Wilson just annoyed George all day long. We couldn’t believe that George was even smaller than Wilson when we first got him. Wilson made George look like a beast! George taught Wilson how to sit, go out through the doggie-door and how to bark. My dad was so happy with that last trick. They were both very tired from playing at the end of each day.

Little Nora did very well at her first (of many) parties! My friends threw me a wonderful baby shower while we were down in FL. Everyone was required to wear tiaras! It was so much fun! There was a chocolate fountain, delicious cake and Shirley Temples to drink. We received tons of wonderful gifts. Nora will definitely will a well dressed baby! Thank you so much!!!

My friend Katie is practicing her photography skills and took some really beautiful maternity shots of me. Here is a sneak peak!

Michael and I are headed to another appointment today. Our next visit will be the last bi-weekly appointment! We start our weekly visits after that. Not much longer now!

Check out all of the photos from our trip at http://www.brugalfamily.shutterfly.com/!

30 Weeks!

Hello! Michael and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Only 10 weeks (or less) until Princess Nora’s big arrival!!! We had an appointment with the doctor yesterday and everything went very well. Her heartbeat sounded good and she measured right where she should be. We are both ready to meet her!

Michael and I are really looking forward to our trip down to warm FL! We have been counting down for a while now :) We are flying down late on March 27th and do not fly back until April 5th! We are both ready for a vacation and we’re pretty sure George is ready to see his grandparents and meet his new playmate, Wilson. I will try my best to get some pictures of the two of them playing together! We look forward to seeing a lot of you in FL!!!

That’s really all for now! Our next appointment is on April 7th. We will continue to keep you updated along the way!

Here are a few pictures of the hospital where Nora will be born!

3rd Trimester!

Hello! I am so sorry it has taken me soooo long to update you all! Michael and I have made it to the third trimester. It won’t be long now! We had our last monthly check up with the doctor on Wednesday. Everything went well and the heartbeat sounded great! We will have appointments every two weeks until our last month when they become weekly. Our next appointment is on March 16th.

Michael and I are starting to get very excited! It really freaks us out to look at the calendar :) The baby has been moving around like crazy and Michael has been able to feel it too. George was also able to feel her move a few times. I will have to try to get a video of this. He was curled up next to me and she started moving. George didn’t know what was going on! He starting growling at my stomach and tapping it to try and see what was happening. It was very entertaining!

We would also like to let all of you know that we have decided on a name for the little princess!!! Her name will be Nora Juliette Brugal…or as my daddy likes to call her, Princess Nora Juliette Brugal :) Both names didn’t come from any place in particular. We both loved Nora from the beginning, but went back and forth on the middle name for a while. We wanted to do an opera character, but Michael wouldn’t let me name her Nora Tosca or Nora Rosina. We decided on Juliette because that is one of our favorite operas and it doesn’t sound weird :) We hope you all like it!!!

In other news, I got a new brother this past week! His name is Wilson and he weighs 3 pounds. I’m pretty sure that he and George will have a blast when we are home in a few weeks!!

We will continue to keep you all updated as we get closer and closer!!! Check out our pictures from Montreal at http://www.brugalfamily.shutterfly.com/!

3D/4D Ultrasound!!!

The 3D/4D ultrasound was the coolest thing ever! It was very creepy, but very neat at the same time. We were in a huge room with the images and video projected on a giant screen in front of us. We had a great time. The ultrasound lasted about 30 minutes and she was moving all over the place! We got to see her cute little cheeks, ribs, heart, hands and feet. She has my tiny nose and Michael’s eyes. All of those Brugals look alike in the eyes :) She was very playful and looked like she was very happy. My favorite pictures are near the end. She had clearly had enough of us and had her hands up in front of her face. She looks like she is practicing for the paparazzi already. We have about 100 pictures and a 30 minute DVD of the ultrasound!

In other news, I passed my glucose test with flying colors! This means that my blood sugar is all good and I do not have gestational diabetes. I was very happy with this news because I did not want to go back and have them draw my blood for three hours!

Our next appointment with the doctor is on March 4th. This will be our last monthly appointment. We will have appointments every two weeks after that!!! The time is flying by!

Michael and I are headed to Montreal, Canada for the long weekend. We are really looking forward to it!!

Here are a few more pictures and a video clip!

We will continue to keep you updated as thing progress!! Check out all of the ultrasound pictures at http://www.brugalfamily.shutterfly.com/.

Baby Bump!

I finally have a baby bump! I thought I would give everyone a quick update and show you all how big my belly is :)

Michael, George, Baby and I are doing great. We have been freeeeezing! Boston has had temperatures in the low single digits with wind chills in the negative numbers! George is not a fan! He is always very excited to go outside in the morning, but the second he steps out the door he decides that he can hold it and drags you back in. It is too funny! We have also had plenty of snow and are expecting more tomorrow night and Wednesday. Michael just loves to shovel the car before going to work in the morning :)

We have our next appointment with the doctor on February 3rd and have a 3D ultrasound scheduled for February 11th!! They will give us a video of the ultrasound and several pictures to take home. The 3D images let you see what your little one looks like! We are very excited to see our little princess!!!

Michael and I are going to register tomorrow! We decided to take a day off so we could go during the week rather than deal with everyone on the weekend. We are planning to register at Target and Babies-R-Us! We found the bedding we like at http://www.babybedding.com/.

We will continue to keep you updated! I will be sure to post the video and pictures after our ultrasound on the 11th!

Check out all of our pictures at http://www.brugalfamily.shutterfly.com/!

Halfway There!!!

Our appointment went great! The heartbeat sounded wonderful and the doctor said that everything from our ultrasound looked perfect! Our next appointment is set for February 3rd. I am scheduled to do my glucose test next time. That should be really fun. You have to drink orange "Glucola" and have your blood drawn 45 minutes to an hour later. I’ll be sure to let you all know how that goes.

These appointments have been pretty uneventful so far. We go in, they weigh you, they take your blood pressure, listen to the heartbeat and you’re done. They usually last about 10-20 minutes. It can be a little mundane, but hearing the heartbeat is the coolest thing ever! The ultrasounds are far more exciting!

Yesterday was also our 3rd anniversary! We can’t believe how fast the time has gone! We had a wonderful dinner at The Oak Room in Boston. It was fantastic! We are trying to think of reasons to go back. We’re leaving out the thinking about how we’re going to pay for it :) Michael started off with a pomegranate martini and I had water :( I had the escargot and Michael had the shrimp cocktail for our appetizers. For our entrée we ordered the Chateaubriand tableside for 2. It was amazing!! They wheeled out a huge hunk of beef and carved it right there. It was served with asparagus and potatoes au gratin. The potatoes were great, but not a good as Aunt Lita’s in Paris!!! We finished up with some really delicious dessert. Michael ordered a bowl of fresh berries and I went for the Boston cream pie. Our server brought us our dessert with candles and chocolates that said Happy Anniversary. It was so cute! We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to go back!

We’ll continue to keep you updated as things progress! Check out all of our pictures at http://www.brugalfamily.shutterfly.com/!