Baby boy Prestidge

We are so excited to announce that we have a baby boy Prestidge on his way! He is due February 3rd, and we are thrilled!! Solana guessed it right (she was firm in her prediction that it was a boy for weeks), and Adam and I were very surprised.  This pregnancy felt the exact same as Solana so I just assumed it was another sweet girl.  The pregnancy was off to a rough start, and when I say rough, I mean we found out I was pregnant in the ER.
Here's the quick version (the long version is drawn out throughout the summer and it does not bring back fond memories)
Sunday evening as I was reading stories to Solana at bedtime, I felt something burst inside my abdomen, it was extremely painful and I was very confused as to what was happening.  Solana could see my pain and ran to get Daddy. I could barely move—I just crawled around the house trying not to cry, but the pain became so bad that I just let myself cry it out.  Adam hurried and put Solana to bed, and then we sat on the sofa debating what to do.  I did not want to go to the hospital, and I was just hoping the pain would go away.  But after waiting awhile, we finally decided to head out to see what this was all about.
In the urgent care, after waiting forever, an old lady doctor with a curt accent stomped in and looked at me and said, "Did they give you a pregnancy test?"
I responded, "I don't know."
Without looking up from her paper, she snapped, "Well they did.  And you're pregnant."
It was definitely an unexpected and anti-climactic way to find out, plus, it did not come with any resolution for my abdominal pain.
From urgent care to the ER, they had discovered that I was pregnant, and that either a cyst had burst on my ovary, or I was having an ectopic pregnancy. We knew nothing about either one....and since we had also found out we were having a baby, we were all kinds of confusion in the middle in the night.  After lots of tests and ultrasounds, they still knew nothing.  They finally brought in an OB/GYN from the OR who specializes in high risk pregnancies.  He was fabulous! He told us this "If your having an ectopic pregnancy, you could die if we don't terminate it right now, but my gut says it's a burst cyst on your ovary, so you decide."
No big deal, right?
After much thought and prayer, we decided to risk it and trust the doctor.  I was sent home on complete bed rest and Adam was given strict instruction about my health and the risks involved.  After a couple of days, I went back for more tests, and to our relief, it was a cyst that had partially burst! The bad news was that the cyst happen to be on the same ovary that was supplying hormones to the baby, and the baby was not getting enough. (oh this haunting cyst!) So I was put on hormones for my first trimester, which I'm happy to say did not have any side effects.  It was just such a pain to take. I also continued to have the cyst burst which was extremely painful, until it was finally small enough that I did not feel it anymore.
Well I am happy to report that at our 20 week ultrasound, he is 100 percent healthy! We did not tell anyone because of the risk of loosing him, but we are happy that all is well in baby land.  So that was our summer....lots of doctor appointments, lots of nausea and only some sickness.
I guess this was the semi-long story, sadly this is the shortest version I could write up.

Here is the happy big sister to be!

Ashley's Baby Shower

Our good friends, Ashley and Peter, are having their first baby, a BOY! She is actually due today, and we can't wait!  I have never thrown a baby shower before, so I was pretty excited to put it all together. I had a great friend Karen help me out, and with her help and the help of several others, it came together fabulously!

My favorite part, of course, is the decorations.  While Adam was traveling I decided to get busy and make all of them.  I don't think I even noticed he was gone because I stayed up so late making things and during the day I ran errands all day long to get it all done a head of time. It was really fun, and I got addicted to Pinterest again as I searched for all my DIY crafts (Pinterest is my new Google). Now I just have to figure out what to do with all the decorations now.

Ashley is a teacher, so I tried to incorporate a alphabet theme without it being too cheezy.  But I liked how subtle it turned out. Thanks to free printables, I got this great alphabet banner ! 

Ashley loves chocolate chip cookies (and so does Adam) so I decided I would try a couple of really great recipes to see which one was best.  Adam was thrilled with this decision, and he was happy everyday that there were more chocolate chip cookies to "sample" and "critique" and I was so excited to have found a new favorite recipe!

I don't think I will ever pay for pom pom decorations again, because they are SO EASY to make. I love how they turned out. Now I'm making 18 for my sisters shower next month in Utah (guess I shouldn't have bragged how easy they were, lol)

We had 15 friends attend, and took a picture at the end of those who stuck it out for the entire party.  We had the party on a Thursday evening and it was so fun! I had never been to a night shower until I moved here and I have been to several, and they are always so much more fun than day showers.  It feels more party like and since the kids are in bed, it's fun to just hang out and linger.

  We love our great friends here, and I'm so happy Ashley had such a great party turnout.  Now we just wait for the baby :) and the name is a surprise too which makes it that much more exciting.

Biting the Big Apple!

"Start spreading the news 
I am leaving today 
I want to be a part of it 
New York, New York 

These vagabond shoes 
They are longing to stray 
Right through the very heart of it 
New York, New York 

I want to wake up in that city 
That doesn't sleep 
And find I'm king of the hill 
Top of the heap 

My little town blues 
They are melting away 
I gonna make a brand new start of it 
In old New York"

-Thank you Frank for reading my mind.  

 Well if my musical hint and post title have left you wondering, let me explain.  New York was not on our radar for jobs that long ago.  But when Adam started networking with some great attorneys up there, we began to wonder if the Big Apple had room for us. I especially did not think Adam would like it as much as he did.  But when he started to get a surprisingly amount of call back interviews, we took a closer look at it.  So off he went to NEW YORK CITY! He was impressed with how nice some of the firms were, and even left one firm saying that he felt like they could all be his best friends.  (Seriously, Adam said that he had to fight the impulse to give some of them hugs!)  Relying on all of the crazy networking he did earlier this year, he had connected with a lot of people and lots of firms he was hoping to get offers from.  But even at this point, we still were not sure if we could actually move to New York and if it would be the right decision for our family.  I mean, it's New York: it's big, it's expensive, and it's maybe a little intimidating for two kids coming from the Western suburbs.

So Adam decided to keep all his interviews he had in Dallas just to compare.  And while he really enjoyed lots of firms, and had several call backs interviews offered, in the end we decided that he fit in more with the New York firms and we are just not ready to settle down.   

Also, since my former company is based in Long Island, I have been there several times and have to admit that I did not love it there, which I've reminded Adam about throughout this process.  So we decided to take a last minute family trip and check it all out together, to really see if it would be something we think we could a) actually pull off as a family, and b) be happy with. Adam had a couple more interviews that lasted 3-4 hours at a time, so on those days, Solana and I went and explored the city.  

Here are the quick highlights:

Thanks to the lovely firms, our trip was all paid for, and we were put up in nice hotel right on Central Park.  This was a view from one of the rooms in our suite.  We loved it there!

(Haha, just kidding.  We had a nice, but small "street view" room with no view of the Park, but of course, we loved it.)

The first day we got there, we ran around Central Park, and Solana had a blast chasing birds, climbing rocks, and playing on the playground.  Honestly, she can just chase birds, running full speed in circles, for like twenty minutes at a time.  It is really impressive.

"Daddy, good luck on your interview!" Adam and I stopped outside of a busy office building on 5th Avenue so that I could take his picture before he met with another firm.  We parted ways and wished him luck. 

p.s. Who is this chic mad doggin' me?! psh!

This is the moment I wished I could buy her everything.  

While Adam was at interviews, we headed over to FAO Schwartz, and oh she had so much fun, she played with all the dolls, and got to run around on the floor piano, and played with lots of stuffed animals that were bigger than she was. Of course the fun didn't stop there, we then headed to the 3-story American Girl Store! It was fun for me because I grew up with American Girl dolls, but it was especially fun because Solana thought she had died and gone to baby heaven.  The whole 3rd floor is all the bitty babies, and she ran from room to room playing and make-believing and it was the sweetest thing to behold. 

Hanging out in the subway on our way to Brooklyn. 

  I became a giant germaphobe in the city.  Solana hates sitting in her stroller, and she doesn't really have a walking speed, so anytime she moves it's either jumping or running, but in the city I could just not do that.  So she was strapped in tight and actually did pretty good holding in her energy, waiting to release all of it on the birds in the Park.  

Our last day there we headed out to Brooklyn (we heard its the best place to live for families in the city)  and we had so much fun. We could not believe that we were still in New York — it was so quiet! They had lots of parks and not just city parks, but like huge parks surrounded by trees and walking trails. She ran wild and it was great for us to see a place for us to possibly live next summer. 

This is how we kept Solana busy on the subway, we let her take pictures with my phone.  It worked for like 5 minutes out of a 30 minute ride, but hey, it makes for some fun memories.  

Now on to the fun part, making a decision for our future!! Adam has a deadline to make a decision by September 3rd, so it looks like soon, we'll know exactly where we're going!