I'm not sure to add a link to the side of my blog so this is a link to my online picture album...

Christmas was wonderful!! It was so nice being with my family and having Patrick there with me. Let's see...

Friday- We had dinner with my parents, Charlie, and Tony (Pat's room mate from law school) then, we went to Softrock for their customer appreciation party. Met up with Sara, Alicia, Tony, Josh, Jenna, Ashley, Nate, and all my other Softrock friends. It was a great time!!

Saturday- Christmas Eve... slept in, went to church with Grandma Fetty and Aunt Mary Jo, then went to my Aunt Mary Beth's to see the Carolus', then we went home and exchanged gifts.

Sunday- again slept in, then went to Grandma Fetty's for lunch and a game of Fetty style bingo, then Patrick and I went to go see Helen at Lincoln Park Manor, then went to Terry Paul's for dinner with the Carolus's (again).

Monday- Poor Patrick, he was so sick ALL DAY LONG!! So, I hung around the house and took care of him, then went with my mom and Connie to my baby shower that Laurie and Aunt Dolores had for me. I felt so bad though... none of the Carolus' could be there... they were all sick just like Patrick, luckly it was only a 24 hour flu. But the shower was a great time for all that were there. Joey got lots of cute clothes!!!! We also got his bassenet, high chair, and most of his bedding set.

Then yesterday- we did the oh so lovely drive from Ohio back to Connecticut. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike driving though Pennsylvania?!?!?!

Anyways, got lots good stuff for Christmas. The big gift I was so happy to get was a sewing machine that my parents got me. Anyways, I better get back to cleaning!!

I figured this would be my only time to post until after Christmas since we're leaving tomorrow for Ohio. Today I did a little last minute shopping and got my eyebrows waxed (OUCHIE!!!). Now I just need to finish wrapping the gifts and pack. I just got my car cleaned out so at least I have one thing finished. Today it's like I wrap one to three gifts, then Joey decides to kick my bladder so I have to get up and pee like every 15 minutes to half hour. I really hope he doesn't do this tomorrow or it's gonna be ONE LONG RIDE!

For those of you in Ohio who may read this, Patrick and I will be at Softrock friday evening, so try and stop by and say hi. It's pretty much our only chance to see our friends.

Well, yesterday after I posted, I got a call from my mom. She was like, "You're never going to believe what you're father did!" Needless to say, he was working and in a hurry like usual, fell and at that point thought he broke his ankle. He was at a different factory making a delivery and there was no one else outside, and he couldn't get up!!!! So he called 911. Thank goodness he only sprained his ankle and didn't break it. But they still wrapped it up good and he's using cruches. Poor guy :(

Anyways, I just want to say Merry Christmas to everyone and that I hope you all have a great weekend with your families!!

Wow, I'm posting two days in a row!! Chewie is being so bad this morning! He won't stop barking and it's driving me crazy!! He's obsessed with barking at our landlord, they don't like eachother and Chewie lets him know how much he doesn't like him, except today, our landlord isn't even home but Chewie thinks he is! Crazy dog.

Unfortunatly, I have to go to Walmart today. I used to love our SuperWalmart, until last month when everyone decided that they love it too. I really hope the crowds die down there quick, it takes like 1/2 hour to check out in the darn place due to the long lines!!! And people in the store are so rude! Oh well, that's the East Coast for you.

I'm also trying to figure out what to fix for New Year's Eve dinner. Patrick and I are having his family over to exchange gifts and watch the ball drop. I have to think of something that the twins will eat. Maybe tacos, except I'll use ground beef instead of turkey so Pat's brother doesn't get grossed out :) That should be easy enough for over 10 people. So Steph, you guys are coming over here for New Years Eve!

Well I better get in the shower then off to run my errands for the day!!!

Not much has been happening. It seems like I'm getting bigger everday! It's funny laying in bed and watching my belly move. I actully felt Joey get the hiccups yesterday... that was weird. It was a lighter movement that was constant for like 5 minutes.
Patrick and I finally got all of our Christmas shopping done, well all but my mom but I know what I'm getting her, just got to go get it.
Last night I decided I needed to trim Chewie's hair... it took Patrick holding him down while I cut his hair. Needless to say, after a few minutes, we gave up!!!
Ok, I've run out of things to blab about.... Toodles!!!

I've been baking Christmas cookies all darn day! And I just went to start baking another type of cookie and realized I don't have one of the ingredients. Grrrrr.... so I'm taking a quick break, then running to the store.
Not much has been happening. Still a little sore from falling down the steps. Joey is doing great, it seems like everyday he starts kicking me harder and harder. Not to mention that I'm getting HUGE!!!!
Patrick, Chewie, and I leave next Thursday for Ohio for Christmas. I can't wait! It's going to be a long drive, but that's ok.
Anyways, I better get to the store and get back to baking!

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! I just wrote a really long post, then I pressed the wrong button and deleted the darn thing!! Opps... anyways, I'll try to remember what all I wrote about.
Mom and Dad came up the week of Thanksgiving. They went with me to Joey's fetal echocardiogram appointment. His heart is good!!!! There are no holes large enough to detect, just a little bit of fluid around his heart. But the doctor saw no reason to have a cardiologist on standby when he's born, that's one less Specialist in the delievery room!!!!
Thanksgiving day was great. It was our first holiday with both the Carolus's and Heeran's together! It was a great day. Even Chewie had a good time over at Pat's parent's house playing with everyone.
That weekend I went back to Ohio with my parents for a week. On the way to Ohio, we stopped at Orange County Choppers... it was pretty cool seeing a lot of the bikes we see on TV. I even got to see the NY Yankees Chopper.
I managed to keep myself somewhat busy in Ohio. Spent time with family and friends. I didn't have a car to go places and had to rely on people to come get me. But it was nice to be home for more than a weekend.
I had a big scare yesterday. I fell down the porch steps. They were covered in ice and I was even telling myself as I started down them "be careful, there's ice", but next thing I knew, I was falling and then I was on the driveway. Luckly, I went down on my backside and not my belly. I ended up falling down 5 steps. So I went back inside and called my doctor. They told me to come in right away. It was so scary, I didn't feel the baby move for 45 minutes. I thought that I had hurt him. The doctor checked both me and Joey out, and things seem to be ok. I'm just very sore and have one HELL of a bruised butt. I had a guardian angel on my shoulder yesterday, that's for sure!!!
Well, hopefully, I won't delete this entry. I need to get started on Christmas cards!

Hey there,
Just thought I'd give y'all a quick update.
Mom and Dad will be here on Friday!!! I'm going to be so busy with them next week! Then a whole week back in Ohio!! I've been trying to decided what food to fix for Thanksgiving. I told Pat's mom I would help her cook that way she's not stuck doing it all herself.
I feel so bad for Pat's sister Kerry! For those of you who might remember, she's the one who was in the bad motorcycle accident in August... well, Sunday night she hit a deer and totaled her car! Talk about bad luck!!! I feel so bad for her! Her insurance won't cover her car being fixed so they have to total it unless they can find someone real cheap to fix it. Plus, she doesn't have the money to have it fixed right now. She just started an intern job with a newspaper and isn't making much money. But looking at her car, I don't know how that deer didn't go completely through her windshield! It was all caved in and there's glass all over the front seat of her car, and how she didn't get her face cut up, I have NO clue! She got really luckly again for the second time this year!
Time Magazine just published an article http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1129545,00.html It's titled "The Down Dilemma, Is a life with the syndrome worth living? A first-trimester test raises the question earlier than ever" In my opinion (along with many other Down Syndrome moms), they could of picked a much better title than that. Of corse a life with down syndrome is worth living! What life isn't worth living?! Every unborn child deserves a chance at life! I just needed to share my anger with Time Magazine with you guys.
Well, only 2 more days of work left! I'll update again soon!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My belly button is disappearing!!!!!!!!! My innie is now almost flat and soon will be an outie!!! Being pregnant is so cool but really weird at times. Joey lets me know when he's not happy... like when I lay down the wrong way and Joey doesn't like it, he will kick constantly until I get into a position that he likes. Anyways, I need to go find something to feed Patrick for dinner! BYE!

Listen to the Mustn'nts, child
Listen to the Don'ts
Listen to the Shouldn'ts
The Impossibles, the Won'ts
Listen to the Never Haves
Then listen close to me-
anything can happen, child
Anything can be.
-Shel Silverstein

Chewie's newest favorite thing to play with... cheaper than squeaky toys!!


Well, good news!! I had my ultrasound done... the cystic hygroma is almost gone! I'm so happy! He has crooked pinky fingers, something slightly wrong with his bowels, and his umbilical cord is coiled very well. The umbilical cord is the doctors' biggest worry, it can get tangled around him when he's being born so they have watch it with the ultrasounds. The other really good news is that from what they could see on the ultrasound there is nothing major wrong with his heart. The week of Thanksgiving I have to have a fetal echocardiogram done which will check his heart more.
Onto a little bit of bad news... I lost my job. My last day at Yale is November 18. You see, I'm considered a temp, not a permanent employee and legally, they had to post my job internally within the university and hospital for so long, well a permanent Yale employee decided they were interested in my job and since they had the same experience as me, they had to give my job to them. Hopefully I'll be able to collect unemployment for a while, Patrick is checking into it. If not, we're screwed, cause nobody will hire me now. I'm over 4 months pregnant and who would want to hire someone that could only work for a couple months!? Legally, places of employment can't say no to hiring a pregnant woman, but they still do. The other crappy thing is that there's no other positions that I can find at Yale that I could do. Oh well, things will work out somehow.
Mom and Dad are coming up for a visit the week of Thanksgiving! I'm so excited, then I'm driving home with them to Ohio for a week!!!!!! It will be so nice to be home for more than a weekend!
Patrick and I went to the Connecticut Down Syndrome Congress Convention today. It was very interesting . We met a lot of other DS parents, which helped to make me feel not so alone. I can't believe how HUGE the DS community is! We also got to talk to one of the best doctors in Connecticut who specializes in down syndrome.
Ok well, I don't know what else to update about... I think I've covered just about everything. I'm just sitting here waiting on Patrick to get home and we're going over to his parent's house for the evening.

The wedding went great! No problems, I did feel like a cow in the dress but Patrick says I looked great so thats all that matters :) The twins danced at the reception, Stephanie caught the Eileen's flowers and Christopher caught the garter which I thought was so cool that the two of them caught them! The band was awesome! I got to meet more of Patrick's family that I had never met before including his cousins from Texas. Besides the cold, nasty rain, it was a great day!
I stayed home from work today, I had the most awful headache last night and woke up this morning with it still, so I called off. It seems to have almost gone away (thank goodness!)
Little Joey keeps kicking, its so weird! Before, it felt like little flutters, but now, it actully feels like a little kick! He does it the most after I eat and when I lay down for bed. I had some blood work done and it came back negative for spina bifida and a couple other neurological problems (thank God), but it did also show the down syndrome. Next Tuesday I go for my next ultrasound, so pray that the cystic hygroma has gotten smaller and that there's nothing else wrong with him. I somehow have a feeling that he's going to be ok. I do want you guys to read this http://www.ctdownsyndrome.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=41 that actully is a very good description on how Patrick and I have felt the past couple weeks and even how some of you might feel about our Joey too.
For those of you in Ohio that remember my dad's best friend Sandy, he passed away Monday. You all know he was very sick with cancer so he's in a better place now. Dad seems to be ok, a little depressed, but ok. The viewing is tonight, I just wish I could be home for it, but at least I got to see Sandy when I went home a few weeks ago. The Carolus family will definetly miss him, he was a dear friend and second father to me.
RIP Sandy

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted... I've been so busy, and when I get home I'm usually too tired to even go online. I'm actully bored at work right now so I thought I'd do a quick update. Nothing new on the baby. No more appointments until Novemeber 1 when I have my next ultrasound.
I'm so excited! My sister-in-law Eileen is getting married this weekend. So I get to walk down the eisle with Patrick for the 2nd time in less than 5 months! It's going to be such a fun weekend. I'm going to be a bridesmaid for the first time ever! Of corse I'm going to look like a cow in a maternity dress but thats ok... it's still gonna be a lot of fun.
OK well, I better get back to work.

Yeah, well, most of you know what's going on, for those of you who don't, here it is. I've not had the easiest pregnancy so far between all the morning/ evening sickness, and my trip to the hospital when I was bleeding. The doctors have been watching after me and 2 weeks ago, I had another ultrasound done and they found a couple things wrong with the baby. I had to go in and have a CVS (Chorionic villus sampling). It's where they take a very long (and painfull needle) into my stomach down into the baby's placenta. Anyways, they pretty much took a biopsy of the placenta and took it for testing. Yesterday, Patrick and I got the call that all parents to be dread getting, the baby has down syndrome. We won't know for another 4 weeks the extent of the birth defects. We just have the pray for not much. We already know that it has a Cystic Hygroma, which is a fluid filled sac on its neck, and what seems to be barly any of a nasal bone. Luckly, we seem to have the BEST support group with all of our family and friends that anyone could ask for. I just ask that everyone prays for our little Joseph (yes the test also confirmed that it's a boy!!!!) Patrick and I both seem to be doing ok, it's very hard to come to terms with, but we're going to love Joey with all our hearts and souls just like we would a healthy baby. When I find more out, I'll post whatever I know to keep everyone updated.
-Jess

Lots of things have been happening, too much to write about in here but everything is ok. Work has been going good, I'm finally starting to truely get the hang of things there. It's just hard dealing with cancer patients all day long. Patrick is doing really good, busy at work. Chewie... is a little crazy dog like usual. Right now he's running back and forth through the house with a pumpkin squeekie toy (that he blew the squeeker out of 15 minutes after I gave him the damn toy!).
I'm so excited to be going home this weekend! I really just need to come home and see everybody. I still don't know how I've done it... I've only been home twice since our wedding! I can't wait to see my parents! It's so hard.
Well, Pat just got home so I'll talk to y'all later.

Here are the ultrasound pictures from monday... this first one, the baby is sucking its thumb. This one, the baby has its head kinda between its legs like it's mooning the camera :)
Here my little bambino is doing flips!
This one, it's being good and resting :)

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Our computer decided to be a poohead and freeze everytime we turned it on and finally I think I fixed it. Computers are so weird! Anyways, things are going good. We had a bit of a scare last Thursday, Pat had to take me to the ER, but luckly the baby is ok and I just spent the whole weekend on bedrest and I'm not allowed to lift very much for the rest of the pregnancy. As soon as this blog thingy will allow me to download a picture, I will post a new ultrasound pic on here also.

Right now I'm just sitting here waiting on Patrick to get home, then tonight I get to clean the kitchen (yay).

Also, so all you Ohio people know if I haven't already told you, I will be home the second weekend in October. It's saurkraut festival weekend and I can't miss that!!! Pregnant and give up the kraut fest?!?!?! I dunno if the baby is going to like saurkraut too much, but we'll find out!

OK, well I better get going and cook dinner!

Well, I felt the baby move tonight!!! I've been feeling it, but I just realized what it really is... it's almost like a fluttering movement. It's so weird! Anyways, our trip the Cape Cod was really nice. We spent a day in Plymoth and we saw plymoth rock and the replica of the Mayflower. Unfortunatly, the water was too cold to go swimming but it was still very nice. Too bad, I had to go back to work on Tuesday. But tomorrow is already Friday!!! And I think it's time to go eat ice cream!
Toodles!

Wow, I'm slacking on this updating thing... I've been really busy between work, trying to clean, cook, do laundry, and doctor's appointments! Patrick and I are taking somewhat of a honeymoon this weekend up to Cape Cod. His aunt runs a bed and breakfast there so we're going to go and stay there with her. There seems to be a fair amount of stuff to do up there so we'll keep busy. Anyways, I'll update again after this weekend.
Toodles!

Baby's First Picture!!! I had to get an ultrasound today (everything is ok, I just wasn't feeling well) but the baby is doing great and I got to hear the heart beat! It was the coolest thing ever!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing to really update on... still pregnant. I have my first doctor's appointment on the 30th and then I go for my first ultrasound on September 7. It's so weird though, my belly is getting harder everyday! And I'm already gaining weight. It's all pretty cool, that's all I know.

I've been working on planning a bridal shower for my sister-in-law with Pat's mom. Work is going good, getting a little easier everyday.

I went home to Ohio last weekend. It felt so good to be home and see everyone. I just wish I would of had more time there. I was so upset though, Mom went to drop me off at Softrock Saturday night and I got sick (damn morning/afternoon/evening sickness!!!!). So then she took me home but at least I got to see my friends Friday night.

Alicia passed her nursing boards! I'm so proud of her! I know she would pass, she was scared she wouldn't, but I knew she would. She doesn't give herself enough credit.

Chewie is doing good. I think he can tell something is going on. He's become more attached to me, almost more protective. He follows me EVERYWHERE! I'm just hoping that he calms down enough for us to be able to keep him. As of right now, he's too hyperactive and too snippy to have around a baby, he really would hurt a baby(not on purpose). I don't want to get rid of him, that would break my heart. If I do though, it gonna have to be someone I know, that has a fenced in yard and no little kids. I just have this deep down feeling that tells me he's not going to calm down and I dread the day that I have to face that. This damn dog has become like my only friend here in Connecticut and has been a true companion. I dunno what to do. This has been ripping me apart since I found out that I am having a baby. He's such a loveable dog that means well and just doesn't know any better.

OK, well I guess I better go, I'll try to update again soon.