Mayah Rose Kasaty

After 2 days of tiring (although not that painful) pre-labor and 8 hours of very painful natural active labor Mayah entered this world on June 23, 2011 at 11:58 pm. She weighed 7 lb 6 oz and was 21 inches long. She is perfect, healthy, and so far she is a dream baby. She hardly cries unless she needs something and actually does pretty well at giving her mommy and daddy sleep at night. We are so in love with her and can't believe how blessed we are to have been given this precious gift.

3rd Trimester

Wow, time flies. I can't believe that we have made it to the 3rd Trimester. So far this pregnancy has been wonderful. Aside from the minor aches and pains and tiredness my little baby has been treating me very well. I love feeling her move, wiggle and kick and can't wait to see those little arms and legs that have been knocking on me from the inside. We have a lot to look forward to in the next couple months and a lot of work to do before she arrives. We are currently painting the inside of our house, and are planning on putting in wood (well laminate actually) floors and redoing the tile in the kitchen, bathroom, and entryway. On top of all that once our renters move out at the end of April we have to work fast to complete Mayah's nursery before she arrives. We also are blessed to have 2 baby showers coming up in the near future and we are so looking forward to celebrating our pending arrival with friends and family.

28 weeks

Mayah Rose Kasaty

We had our 20 week ultrasound and baby is defiantly a girl. Paul and I were actually able to agree on a name and we love it!! We cannot wait to meet our little Mayah in June!

Baby Girl

For those of you that read this blog and have been asking for pictures (um Evan) I decided to post for ya!! Paul and I are so excited to announce that we will be welcoming a baby girl into our family in mid June. We absolutely could not be more thrilled and are so excited to meet her. We found out that we were having a girl by doing a 3D ultrasound at 16 weeks and next week we have our medical ultrasound which should confirm that she is indeed a girl! So far the pregnancy has gone on without a hitch. I was a bit sick during the first trimester but have been feeling much more like myself since about week 14...I'm currently 19.5weeks along. So far everyone is saying that I don't even look pregnant which I suppose is true, however I'm defiantly a little thicker and am very ready to start actually looking pregnant to other people besides myself. I have also just started to feel her move which is pretty much the most amazing feeling ever (Paul can't wait to feel her kick but so far she is not quite strong enough to be felt by the outside). I will do my best to post some more pictures periodically throughout the rest of the pregnancy and will hopefully be even better once she arrives.

17 Weeks

Finding out we are having a GIRL

More of Rome

Rome has been nice to us... although the people sure haven't. We got our first smile from the German guy that worked at our hotel the night we arrived, and our second one this morning from a British restaurant employee, and our third tonight from some Americans at the Trevi Fountain. It's OK, I don't think Italians are supposed to smile or act courteous.

Yesterday we saw some AMAZING Bernini sculptures at the Borghese Gallery. What a talented guy! There was a sculpture in there that he made when he was 11! I couldn't draw a stick-figure to scale at 11! The only down side to the museum was that we couldn't take pictures... sorry. It was so beautiful though... we wish you could have been there!

Before that, we went to the National Museum, where we saw some pretty amazing art. I set off the metal detector on the way in, but the security guard just waved me through and told me I was fine... not exactly confidence-inspiring.

Today was a lot of fun. We went to the Baths of Diocletian, the main gallery of which is now the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. It is a magnificently decorated, giant church with a very good organist on a pretty good pipe organ. It was nice just to sit back and listen. More surprising was that the church is full of stuff honoring Galileo! After that, we went to the museum of the Baths of Diocletian, and then back to our room for a workout... yep, that's right, we worked out on our vacation. It was nice to sweat on purpose.

We took a little siesta, and then made our way to the Capitoline Museums. They were nice, but nothing compared to Borghese Gallery, in my opinion. Then, we made our way to a nice little dinner spot called Osteria Enoteca al Bric, followed by a night walk through a couple popular squares where we saw a statue of a heretic named Bruno (in Rome... I know), the Four Rivers Fountain (the Nile's head is covered because they didn't know its source at the time), the Pantheon, a couple of Egyptian Obelisks, and the famous Trevi fountain. All in all, it was quite a romantic night. We finally made it back to our hotel at about midnight... so about 3pm there.

Sorry for the lack of photos... more will come, I promise!

First day in Rome

Our travel day went without incident, which is always nice. We took the train down to Gatwick (quite the little ride out of London), and arrived to the most full-featured departure terminal we'd ever seen. We checked our bags and went through security, and then we picked a good-looking restaurant, sat and ate for a while, browsed the shops, and made our way to the gate (like I said, very nice departure terminal).

Once in Rome, we took a bus from the airport that stopped very close to our hotel, and found that we are MUCH more centrally located here than we were in London. We enjoyed a decent dinner a couple blocks from our hotel--and let me tell you, real Italian food is delicious--and had Italian Gelato.
Today (Friday), we made the 15-minute walk to the Colosseum. Amazing how big this first-century structure is... and still standing! We took our time wandering through this amazing structure and soaking it all in--it, and the sun. One thing is immediately clear-Rome is MUCH hotter than London.

After the Colosseum, we came back to our room for siesta, and put on sunscreen before making our way back out to the Forum. The Forum has a host of impressive structures. What most caught my attentions was that ruins--or pieces thereof--are everywhere. We passed two separate ancient ruins on our way to the Forum alone!

After the Forum, we went out to dinner per the advice of a certain Rick Steves... Thanks Mr. Steves for the great advice!! We had a WONDERFUL Italian dinner in a nice little restaurant a couple blocks from our hotel. Then, we went on the compulsory stroll through Rome at night, and got some more Gelato (but we shared this time).

Rome operates at a completely different pace. We stroll, sit for a meal, nap, and soak in the sights, whereas in London we hoofed it, ate, fought crowds in order to glance at the sights, and collapsed. Both are nice, but I think I'm a bit more Roman.

Until next time, Ciao!

Last few days of London

Well, it's been a while. We've had a blast here in Londontown. Monday, we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, which was awesome. We got a spot right by the middle gate, where the bands exit after the guard has been "changed." Brits are pretty funny. The police officer watching foot traffic was a hoot to watch.

After the Changing of the Guard we walked through a beautiful park and saw Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. The Abbey is HUGE and gorgeous. I'm sure my perspective regarding what makes a church big and gorgeous will change once we hit Rome.

We finished the day with a nice stroll through a little place called Harrods, ever heard of it? It's like a huge, super high-end mall... only it's all one store! Brenda was in heaven, I think (except that we couldn't afford ANYTHING... they had underwear for 400 pounds!!).

Yesterday we had the chance to check out the Museum of London, and then take a nice trip to the countryside to visit some friends in Basingstoke. The English countryside is gorgeous. Jay and I walked the dog from their place to a pub, through a huge, beautiful, natural park. The dog got to run free, we met a few people along the way, and saw some beautiful sights. In another life, I'd move there in a second!


Our last day in London... bittersweet! We're excited about Rome, but we've sure enjoyed this little town. We took a stroll through Soho over to Covent Garden. Quite a nice little part of town. We had a nice little meal at a pub down there, and saw some beautiful little shops. We slowly made our way up north and stopped by Abbey Road to check out the studio... and mainly the crosswalk. We eventually made it to a place called Queensbury for some absolutely amazing Indian food Jay and Emma had recommended. All in all, the two best meals we had in this town were with them or recommended by them. Man, it's nice to know locals. Too bad we didn't get recommendations earlier in the week.

Well, it's on to Rome tomorrow morning. We'll see you from there!