Introducing....Benson Robert!

Oh My Goodness...what a cute little nephew we have! Andrew and I just "met" Benson tonight! We got some pictures of the little guy while we were skyping. He was waving to us a couple of times, he really liked to move his hands and he looked right at us on the computer screen too. I am melting, I love this kid :)

We have a Nephew!

My sister and Bobby had a baby boy this morning! Benson Robert was born at 5:45am, weighing in at 7lbs, 1 oz and 20 inches long. Andrew and I are so excited to be an Aunt and Uncle for the first time, and we feel very special to be a part of his life! I can't stop opening my phone and looking at the pictures Mollie has sent of him, he looks really cute and we get to meet him tonight on Skype! I'll post pictures as soon as I receive some that I can download.

Andrew and I have been busy trying to prepare ourselves for what my sister and Bobby are going through right now. I feel like our to do list is longer than it should be with about a month left, but we'll get it done! We have yet to take our childbirth classes as our hospital has dropped the ball on the September classes, and we are scrambling to find somewhere else to learn. We may end up just hiring someone to come to our house and personally teach us the ins and outs of everything to come. I just can't believe that in a month we will have our own little baby to take care of!

I haven't posted pictures in awhile, so below are a few of the bump progressions.

Aug 14th - 29 weeks (7 months, 1 week)


Aug 27th - 31 weeks (7 months 3 weeks)


Sept 4th - 32 weeks (8 months)
Excuse my non-cleanliness...this is me after a workout :)


Sept 18th - 34 weeks (8.5 months)


This past weekend Andrew and I took the weekend to get away and went Upstate New York to a B&B. The weather was wonderful and we had a great time walking around some of the small towns and relaxing. This is the last getaway we will have ever just the 2 (and a half) of us! Above and below are pictures of the walkway over the Hudson River (a little over a mile each way).


Since we are down to the wire I will try my best to post more until the baby is born.
We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the end of summer weather! xoxo :)

Sweet Home Indiana

Andrew and I just took a road trip this past weekend to Indiana...and drove! We both agreed that flying was a much better idea but this time around driving was necessary. Thanks to all my wonderful friends and family that were able to make it to my baby shower we had a car full of gifts to bring home! We'll talk about the baby shower a little later...

We started our journey on Wednesday night the 28th. Andrew and I got home from work around 7 and hopped in the car a half hour later. We drove until about midnight and stopped in PA for the night. We ran into some heavy rain and traffic the following day and drove about 8 hours until we reached my sister's house. My Dad and Claudia also made the drive from FL and came up on Thursday as well. Mollie and Bobby made us some delicious ribs on the grill...just thinking about them makes my mouth water!

Friday was a big day, Mollie graduated from nursing school! We are all so proud of her and I just know that she is going to make a great nurse! After graduation we headed to Lake Geist on Bobby's parents boat and made our way to a great Italian restaurant on the water. The weather was perfect and it was a great celebration and evening.

Saturday I headed to Berne with my Dad and Claudia to visit my Grandma Zeigler (unfortunately I didn't get to visit with Grandpa Nussbaum as he was in the hospital with pneumonia and a bacteria infection). If any of you know my Grandma, she's a talker, so it was nice to catch up with her and give her a big hug. Later that evening I was able to hang out with a few high school friends. I brought Andrew along and he got a little practice and a reality check with some infants and a toddler. He held a 6 month old for the first time and even played with Aubree, my friend Jill's adorable 3 year old. I just have to show you this picture as I thought it was too cute and can just foresee what else he will have to dress up as with our little girl in the future! Such a good sport Andrew!

Sunday was my baby shower (and week 27...we have entered the 3rd trimester)! Mollie spent a lot of time on this for me and I really appreciated it (keep in mind she had her nursing final on Wednesday, graduation on Friday and now this on Sunday)! I think she'll be a great multi-tasking mother :) Most everyone was able to show up and it was so great to see my friends and family that I haven't seen in months!
Everyone was joking not to drink the water because 6 of us are pregnant and their were a bundle of babies. It was a lot of fun to see all of the little ones I haven't been able to meet yet, they are all so cute!
Overall, the shower was a hit, and I even got the cake I had been craving (the same cake we had at our wedding!)...YUMMY!

Thanks again to all of those that made the trip to Fishers for the shower, it was so great to see you all and I just wish I could have spent the whole weekend catching up with all of you!

If you would like to see pictures from the baby shower and you didn't receive them from me via email please let me know and I will forward the link (email me: meganbrausa@gmail.com).

Weeks 21-24 (Month 5)

Yes, I have been very bad at updating this recently. The summer is flying by and it's HOT HOT HOT! It has been in the 90's for most of June and July...at least that is what it feels like. I feel fortunate that I'm not 9 months pregnant in this heat as I think it would create a challenge, especially my 20 minute walk to and from work. Thankfully, it's been a doable summer and staying in the A/C has been my friend.

We had another ultra sound when we returned from our California trip to get better pictures of baby girls heart. What was supposed to be a 15 minute in and out task took over an hour! We felt horrible that our little one was not cooperating again (we hope this is not a sign of her future actions), but overall we got the pictures that we needed and it looks like everything is just fine. The technician took some 3D pictures for us which were crazy yet fun to see! Here she is at 21 weeks. The 3D picture is of her face and you can see her hand is over her face (maybe she was camera shy!) and you can see her nose and mouth.



For those of you that know me and Mollie's food tricks might find this next picture funny. We have the ability to bend all of our toes back pretty far and sure enough, we saw our little girl in the womb doing the EXACT SAME THING! Andrew and I couldn't believe it, and then when I showed Mollie the picture she belt out in laughter...I guess she has the Nussbaum toes!

Here I am at 23 weeks...getting bigger!


We spent the 4th of July weekend in Long Island with Andrew's parents and also in Hoboken. Once again, the fireworks were on the Hudson River so we were able to sit outside our building and watch them.

It was almost 100 degrees on the 4th so we spent most of the day inside until around 7 pm when we braved the great outdoors and had a little picnic on the grass compliments of Dad Brausa and his pulled pork sandwiches. Overall, the show was worth the heat and humidity.

We have begun to think more about furniture and decided to go ahead and order the crib. Andrew put it together a couple of weeks ago and it looks great! It isn't too big and it fits perfectly in our room. We need to get a few more things but at least we have a good start.

Andrew finally has been able to feel the baby move which is exciting. I think she's a sleeper because she doesn't do it very often and when she does I have to grab his hand right away to put it on my belly where she's moving. The one time I can be sure she'll move is shortly after I eat. I think she's saying, "thanks" and hopefully enjoying what she's getting! Speaking of food, I think it's time for dinner. Until next time...

California Dreamin'

We had a wonderful time exploring the California coast. We began our journey June 10th in San Francisco and arguably had the best Italian meal of our life at a restaurant in the Mission District that was recommended to us called, Flour + Water. If you ever head there, we highly pass along the recommendation. Andrew had pork belly that he said was out of this world, and I had a pasta dish (of course) with spinach and sausage and a delicious salad to start. We worked off our meal later on those SF hills!

There is no way I would be able to walk those streets in my heels like I do here, it would most definitely turn into a disaster (but a good story I'm sure!). We spent a lot of time walking around and exploring the city.
We headed to Healdsburg next for the wedding festivities, which was about an hour and a half north of SF. It was a very pleasant and easy drive. We imagined if we lived in SF that we would have a 'country house' in Healdsburg for a quick and relaxing weekend getaway. Andrew absolutely loved Healdsburg. It's a very quaint town with a handful of wineries nearby and some very good restaurants. We ate at a place Friday evening called, Zin that was very good. Again, Andrew, had 'one of the best meals ever' which was a rack of lamb with mint chutney and potatoes. He said it was the best combination of food he's ever had. So, 2 days in a row with superb meals is not to bad! The Baskin wedding was a hit on Saturday and the reception was at a beautiful country club, just a perfect California setting. My dress was very comfortable for the most part until I ate the dinner and my stomach grew slightly.

The boning in the dress was digging into my stomach and all I wanted to do was take off the dress! I guess that is why a lot of people buy maternity dresses. Oh well, I can wear the dress again after the baby comes. :) Sunday morning, the 13th we headed back to San Francisco for another night and walked around a bit more. We headed to some landmarks like crooked street and the fisherman's wharf which were cool to see. We woke up early Monday morning to get our rental car and hit the road to Monterey. This was a very long, but pretty drive. The coast is just breathtaking with the ocean to our right as we headed down south on the Pacific Highway. We made a handful of stops to take in the view and to stretch our legs. It was a bit scary at times driving so close to the cliffs but once we got a hang of the twists and turns, it got a bit easier. We switched on and off driving so that both of us could take in the view. You definitely can't fully enjoy the view while you are driving, unfortunately that would probably result in a car accident. We could not believe how many RVs and mobile homes were traveling on Hwy 1 as well. We were thankful we had our little convertible :) After a couple of hours driving, we ended up in Monterey. This town was known for canning sardines back in the 50's and 60's. Our hotel was on "Cannery Row" and we had a partial ocean view from our hotel window which was nice. It was very cool here, and it didn't get to be more than 65 degrees. Needless to say, when we went on our whale watching tour we were thankful we had brought and bought some extra layers to keep us warm. We were out at sea for about 2 and a half hours and it was freezing and very 'bumpy' as the captain referred to the water conditions. I would call it very big swells with a lot of bumps along the way. I felt like I was on a roller coaster and at one point thought I might have to let go of my breakfast over the railing! Thankfully, I held it together but was very excited to reach land again :) We ended up seeing some dolphins (they were too quick for my camera) and 2 whales! We were happy for the experience to see the whales, but agreed that we probably wouldn't do it again. Pebble Beach and Carmel were 2 towns that were close to Monterey. We ended up not going to Pebble Beach because the US Open was going on, so we headed to Carmel instead one evening. We were really glad that we went because it is a very cute, sophisticated beach town. We saw some surfers attack the waves there and grabbed a bite to eat.
On the 16th we headed back on the road to our next destination, Santa Barbara. We drove through Big Sur and saw more beautiful landscape along the way. We stopped for lunch at a place that sat on the side of a mountain and overlooked the ocean. I thoroughly enjoyed my $13 cheeseburger and bathroom break. We stopped at one point and saw hundreds of seals. These specific seals were called Elephant seals and were large and in charge. They were quite amusing to watch, whether they were making their way into the water or flopping their blubbery bodies onto a buddy. This stretch of drive took us about 7 hours to reach Santa Barbara. The drive was so windy that it took about 30 minutes to go just 5 miles. We would NOT want to take on this journey in the dark! Thankfully we reached SB around 5pm, just enough time to take a walk along the beach and grab a bite to eat on State Street. We ate breakfast on the beach the following day before heading to Sonoma for some wine tasting.
The drive to the wineries was beautiful and as we drove further inland the temperature rose about 15 degrees (which made me happy). We started off our wine tasting tour in Solvang and ended w/ our 5th in Los Olivos. Although Andrew did all of the tasting (I had a couple sips of his favorites) we had a wonderful day exploring Sonoma and learning more about wine.
The final leg of our trip was to San Diego. We decided to take the less scenic route this time in fear that we would not return our rental car on time. The drive was still nice and we stopped in Laguna Beach for lunch. We loved the fact that the highways in this part of California near San Diego have 6 lanes (NY/NJ need to catch onto this idea). My good friend from high school, Niki and her husband Joe picked us up after we dropped off our car. They have a nice place in San Diego and were kind enough to let us crash there for a couple of nights. We had a great time catching up since it has been about 5 years since we had seen each other. We had brunch in La Jolla Saturday morning which was really pretty. We noticed there were a lot of people in scuba gear. Apparently there are some great places to scuba dive there (so, keep that in mind if you ever visit). Joe had one of his friends take us to an authentic Mexican 'restaurant' in the 'ghetto' which was interesting to say the least. The food was great, the experience getting there was another story (for another time!) :) Andrew and I both thought the food was amazing, and I would have gone back for seconds if it wasn't closing time.
Overall, the trip was fantastic and we were really glad we took the time to do it. We both agreed that having a little one with us on this trip would not be the way to go, so I guess it was a good thing we did it now!
If you would like to see more pictures of our vacation please click here.

'X' Marks the Spot!

That's right, XX= GIRL!!!! We are having a baby girl! We just found out tonight and we are very excited. Our ultrasound went well although we have to go back in 2 weeks because the technician didn't get the pictures she wanted of the heart. Baby girl is 10 oz and flexible. She kept moving around so much that it was hard to tell exactly what we were looking at. We did get a good foot picture, I imagine I'll be feeling that kicking me in a few weeks. We also got another profile shot and we aren't sure, but it kind of looks like she's sucking her thumb.

Sorry for the short entry but it's 11pm and I need to finish packing for our trip! We are headed to California for 10 days. We are headed on our 'babymoon'...our last vacation together, just the 2 of us! Check back for updates on our trip. Until then....hugs and kisses from all of us!

Growing Pains

We are finally getting a little bigger! I still feel like I look like I have a beer belly rather than a baby belly when I wear certain clothes. Hopefully I'll start to look more pregnant in the next few weeks! It's exciting to feel my pants tighten more and certain things in my closet are just not fitting like they used to. My hips must have expanded because I had growing pain sensations as if they were. I'm just making room for baby! In this picture I am 18 weeks and 4 days. We find out the sex next week...can I just say that we are so excited to finally call our baby 'he' or 'she' rather than 'It' or 'he/she'?! Check back next Thursday for the official announcement!

So, a few weekends back I headed out to LA to visit my good friend Megan Webster. Unfortunately I was stuck in the window seat and had politely asked the woman in the aisle seat if she would like to switch seats with me. Well, the answer was no. She said, "I take this flight all the time and I pick this seat specifically". I replied, "OK, but just to warn you I'm 4 months pregnant and may be getting up a lot." I got up 5 times! The poor man next to me (stuck in the middle) had to have been 6'5" and he looked so uncomfortable. Luckily, he never complained about getting up so many times (and might I add, neither did the aisle seat woman) and actually said he is happy to oblige because he has a bad back. I think I would definitely rather be pregnant and stuck in the window seat than be a giant with my knees smashed up against the seat in front of me...poor guy!

About 2 hours to go my throat started hurting. I thought it was definitely the airplane air....nope...I was wrong. I was sick the entire weekend spraying my throat (with Doctor approved spray) and blowing my nose like crazy! I definitely did not feel well but made the most of it.
We hiked Runyan canyon which was on my wish list for the weekend and spotted a few D-List celebs :) We went to Malibu for a day, toured Paramount Studios, went to a comedy club one evening, hit up some great restaurants and had a great time! Thanks again Ms. Webster for being such a wonderful host!

Andrew was to the southeast of us in New Orleans for his best friend's bachelor party. Despite many wrestling matches, hurricanes, hand grenades (these are beverages) and hot humid temperatures, he made it back alive! He had some memorable meals at Cochon (pulled pork) and Jacques-imo's (pre-oil spill bbq shrimp) and the "best sandwich of my life" at a joint called Mother's. Overall, a great time!

I definitely think we are taking advantage of our pre-baby time with each other, friends and family. We are looking forward to a great summer!