Random Thursday Rantings (with an award!)

First of all... Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! for all of the baby item suggestions that I got! They are sooo very helpful and if you think of any more, please pass them along. I am all about guidance here... as I have never done this before.

The hubs and I are planning on venturing out on Saturday to start working on our registry. I can't wait! I am really looking forward to going and checking out all the baby items and picking out our bedding and all that warm and fuzzy stuff. First though, we are going to hit up the Winghaven annual garage sale, and we'll be starting at 6:30am! Winghaven is a very "well-to-do" neighborhood where their residents are only allowed to have a garage sale on one particular day a year. Last time we went, we made out like bandits. These people were practically giving this stuff away! And I found some really nice stuff... some of it brand new! I am hoping to get some good deals on some baby items. Cross your fingers for me!

Yesterday, I wore a pair of pants that I had not put on in almost 2 weeks. They seemed a little more snug in the belly, but I didn't think too much of it and rushed off to work. Once I got to my desk to sit down, I realized just how snug they were! Apparently my belly had gotten bigger then I had thought, because once sitting, these pants were so uncomfortable I could hardly stand it. The little munchkin was not happy about it either. You could literally feel her pushing back on my belly. I am sure she was thinking "get it away from me"!

So on my lunch break, I ran out to get a new pair of maternity pants. I felt so much relief after I got back to work and put them on in the bathroom. But, as I turned around to look in the full length mirror, I couldn't help laughing at myself in the reflection. I had traded in a pair of khaki pants for some jean capris. Since I was trying these on in the dressing room without my shoes on, I forgot to put the shoes into the final equation. I now had on jean capris, white socks, and black little tennies with velcro straps (you could barely see the socks in shoes when I had pants on). To be honest, I looked pretty ridiculous. I would have never left the house like this on purpose!

There was no way I could change back into the other pants - they were way too uncomfortable! So, for the rest of the day, I hid by my desk in my little corner hoping to not be too noticeable. When my boss was leaving the office, he looked at me, laughed and told me he would bring me back a lollipop. My fashion fopa could not even been missed by a 60 something year old man!

Oh well. Whatda gonna do? Atleast I was comfortable. That seems to take precedence over style when you are pregnant.

Tomorrow I will be 22 weeks pregnant. I am going to try really really hard to remember to take a belly pic and post it. Feel free to remind me... I have a tendency to forget alot of things these days.

Onto my award!! Brittany Ann over at Living in the Moment gave me Neno's Award. She's a young, newlywed, highschool teacher and her blogs are always entertaining.

With this award, I am to share why I love blogging so much. So here goes.

I actually started my blog a short while after 2 friends of mine, Anrazel and Gina, started theirs. I loved being able to keep up with their day to day lives, as it was not always easy to do otherwise. I had recently found out I was pregnant and I thought it would be fun to journal my journey. I was mostly thinking how cool it would be to be able to look back and remember what I was experiencing and feeling. I use to keep a journal and I loved being able to write down my thoughts. It always helped me to sort things out in my head.

But since starting my blog, it has become so much more then that! I hadn't even considered how much I would enjoy finding other blogs to read and having others read mine. It is so great to hear comments and receive advice from fellow bloggers. I love reading about other happenings around the globe and seeing, on such a personal level, other parts of the world, through other blogger's eyes.

Being able to write down my thoughts, and send them out into the blogosphere, has become something that I enjoy more then I could have imagined. It helps me to gain perspective and to sort out all of the random thoughts and ideas swirling around in my head. Meeting new people, finding connections, being inspired, and maybe even inspiring someone myself, has become something that I really look forward to each and every day.

I also look forward to keeping these connections for many years to come, and following my new friends and their lives.

And now, I am going to pass on the Neno's Award to a few others...

1. Anrazel at Companion to the Wind
2. Gina at Namaste by Day
3. Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy
4. Jillian at It All Began With a Man and a Black Jeep
5. Elle Charlie at Sometimes a Girl Needs a Blog
6. Badass Geek
7. Toni at Craw Digger (I know you just started yours... but I figured you would have something to say;)

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Calling all mommies... and anyone who has experience in this area!

I have started the process of trying to figure out the things we will need and registering for my baby showers...

There is soooo much stuff to consider!

I have to admit, its a bit overwhelming. What strollers and car seats to choose... buy them separate, or get the travel system? Which swing, which bouncer.... get a co-sleeper? And what bottles will she prefer? Should I register a couple different kinds, to test out a few?

Here's a few things I picked out so far... maybe some of you mommies can tell me what you think....

Infant Seat

Swing

Bouncer

Co-Sleeper

Bumbo Chair

I will be registering my gDiapers and some other things at Babies r Us too. My fiend Anrazel is making me cloth inserts for them so I can use those instead of the disposable inserts. Yay!

I already have a pack 'n play and a highchair so I am good on those. I don't even know where to begin with the stroller and car seat, I am going to have to get some advice from other moms on those.

Anyone have some "must have" suggestions of things I am probably not even thinking of? Some good advice to keep in mind while registering?

My head is spinning!

A Game of 8's and a Little This and That

Gina, over at Namaste By Day, tagged me in a game of 8's.... Fun! Gina is one of my good friends in real life (I've known her since grade school) and I just love her, along with her hubby (her hubs and mine have been friends since they were little kiddos too) and her adorable little boy L.

This seems like some mindless fun to get through work on a Friday. Oh yeah, Happy Friday everyone! So... let the fun begin!

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. My baby girl being born
2. My ass becoming smaller again once I have the munchkin
3. Going Camping Memorial Weekend
4. Finding out the sex of my sister's baby in a 6 weeks!
5. Figuring out what I am going to do with all my damn shoes (see below)
6. The Dairy Queen blizzard I am going to treat myself to this weekend
7. Dinner out for a friends 30th tomorrow
8. Sushi sometime this weekend... oh and next Tuesday... can't get enough of it

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Went to my sisters for dinner
2. Finished cleaning/organizing/filing my office. Yay its all done!
3. Sold some items on craigslist
4. Watched some tv
5. Washed my car
6. Balanced my checkbook
7. Started cleaning out the closet in the nursery (see below)
8. Played with my nieces

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Stay home full time once the munchkin is here
2. Go on a long vacation this summer
3. Win the lottery
4. Be an amazing mother
5. Find my mom a new rewarding job and pay off their house and all of their bills
6. Pay off my own house and all of my bills :)
7. Speak Italian (I am going to learn btw)
8. Go on a month long hiking/backpacking/white water rafting trip

8 Shows I Watch: (In no particular order, and not on a regular basis. I actually don't watch much tv.)
1. Samantha Who
2. America's Next Top Model
3. The Office
4. 30 Rock
5. Southland
6. Chuck
7. Extreme Makeover, Home Edition
8. The New Adventures of Old Christine

8 Bloggers Who I Am Tagging To Do This: (I am not going to give this to anyone who is already doing it, so I don't have alot of people to give this to)
1. Elle Charlie at Sometimes a Girl Needs a Blog
2. Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy
3. Maggie May at Flux Capacitor
4. Myshka at My London Eye
5. The Trailer Park Princess
6. Little T (start your blog damnit!)
7. & 8. Whoever else wants to do it :)

Okay... done with that.

I started cleaning out the closet in the nursery this week. Our house has such little closet space, I have been using the spare closet for my shoes and purses. Where the heck am I supposed to keep all of this crap now?!




I did order some under the bed shoe storage units, so hopefully I will be able to stash alot of the shoes there. But what am I going to do with all my purses? My next house MUST have a big walk in!

I thought you all might enjoy a picture of The Beast lounging in my bed.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am going to try to post a new belly pic soon... its getting bigger. And the munchkin has started doing acrobats in my belly the last couple days... I can really feel her now! Its one of the best feelings I have ever had.

“Those who wish to sing always find a song.” ~ Swedish Proverb

I warn you, this post will be LONG. I have a few things to update today. I have some good news about my job and the compromise my boss and I have come up with. I also have a pretty good idea of who will be watching my little one while I am working. But before I get to that, I have got to tell you all about the maternity pillow that the fedex driver delivered to my home yesterday. Please see last post for a photo.

I was skeptical at first. When I first unleashed what I am now going to refer to as The Beast, who was stuffed into an impossibly small box, I was concerned he (the beast is male, ofcourse) was going to take up too much room in the bed. I did get a little frustrated when I wrestled with him to remove his case for washing. I found later it was even more difficult to put back on, but I managed. When my hubs got home from his softball game, he stared warily at The Beast as it eyed him from the bed. He too was a little concerned about giving up some of his space. We have a queen sized mattress, but my hubs is 6'3" and tends to need a little more then his half. But at the end of the evening, we all climbed into the bed together and I settled into the arms of The Beast, a little unsure of what the night would bring. The Beast and I managed to stay within the boundaries of my half of the bed. The Beast was soft, but not too soft. He was firm, but not too firm. He felt just right. I could feel my stomach and my back being supported simultaneously, as my head comfortably rested at the top. One leg over, one leg under, and everything was being lifted, held in and fully supported. I was very hopeful and amazed. But the true test would be sleeping through the night.

My typical night as of late, has been spent tossing and turning, going from one very uncomfortable position to, at best, a slightly less uncomfortable one. In the morning I rise to deep throbbing pain in both of my hips, my shoulders ache, and I have terrible back pain.

But last night, I slept on a cloud.

I vaguely remember waking up in a foggyy haze, maybe twice, to go pee, then quickly drifting back to sleep when I returned. I haven't had such a good, restful nights sleep since.... well since before I started looking pregnant. I may have even been more comfortable then before I became pregnant. When I woke up, I had absolutely zero back pain, and even though there was a faint dull feeling of pain in my hips, it was barely noticeable, and it may have been an impovement still over how they had felt before I got into bed in the first place. I woke up refreshed and ready to go!

Lets just say I am ecstatic over how wonderful The Beast made me feel last night! I can not wait to return to his healing arms this evening. If you are pregnant, or if you know anyone that is, get this pillow! It is worth every penny, and many more! I am sure this pillow would do wonders for even those who are not pregnant, but have other issues that may cause them to have a hard time getting comfortable in bed. I don't know how easy it will be to give up The Beast post-pregnancy. He may just be around for a while.

If you are interested, you can find this amazing pillow here: The Beast

As far as my job situation after the munchkin is here, things are looking much better then they did last week. Its' amazing how things can seem so terrible at one moment, then nearly resolved the next. Yesterday morning, I came to him with some new ideas. I proposed that I come into work M-F from 9-1. I had originally been hoping to work 7-11, which would work much better for me, but 9-1 would allow for there to be someone else here when my boss was gone for his 11:30 - 1:00 lunch break every day, so that my coworker would not be left alone to hold down the fort. Supposedly, we have an office manager, but she is hit or miss... its a long story. I told him that I would then dedicate 4 hours each day to work from home as well. I assured him that my work would get done, that I would still have my head in the game, and asked that we atleast give it a try. He agreed! I wanted to cry, I was so relieved! Actually I did cry... these hormones make me cry pretty easily though.

So, for now, that is the plan.

I am still going to have to figure out how & where to breastpump atleast once during that time frame, but I am not going to worry about that just yet.

I have also been trying to figure out what to do about daycare. I will need someone to watch munchkin from about 8:30 - 1:30 each day. An actual daycare, with tons of kids running around, and minimum wage paid teenagers trying to keep them under control, totally FREAKS me out! I am actually very fortunate to have a few other options. I have atleast 3 friends that babysit already from home and have offered to babysit for me as well. But munchkin will only be 3 mos old when I have to start taking her to stay with someone else, and I have been freaking out about what will be the best situation for her. She will be a newborn and I really want her to go somewhere where there aren't alot of other kids already, as she will need lots of love and attention. I also needed someone that would be patient with me and my ideas for what is best for my baby (e.g. cloth diapering, organic and homemade baby foods, etc.) What are the chances of finding someone like that?

I dare say, I think I have found someone exactly like that.

I have a friend named Sarah, that I have known since highschool. We didn't hang out alot back then, but we had classes together, and we liked each other. A few years ago, we were reunited through myspace (ahh the wonders of online social networking sites) and quickly became good friends. I saw her for the first time in almost 10 years at her baby shower and over the past couple of years we have been hanging out. Our hubbys get along great and I have come to adore her little baby girl (who she lovingly refers to as Goo). Our personalities are actually alot alike and I have come to think of her as sort of a kindred spirit.

A couple months back, she mentioned that she was going to be staying home full time with Goo again (she went back to work for a short period of time), and to keep her in mind for babysitting. I wasn't sure how serious she was, or what she really meant by it, but she was immediately moved to the #1 spot on my list of hopeful babysitter situations.

So 2 nights ago, I called her up and talked to her about it. I won't bore you with all of the details, but she really seemed excited about babysitting for me! I went back and forth with her the next morning through email, and I was seriously crying as I read through one of her emails. Here is an excerpt:

I would do everything I could to help you feel comfortable when you leave her each day. I would take lots of pictures for you and camcorder everything so you wouldn't have to feel like you were missing out on anything for those hours each day you were apart. I'm sure it's so hard to try and come up with the best daycare arrangements. I totally understand how hard it could be to imagine leaving your infant with daycare workers making minimum wage and with so many other kids to watch and not being able to give as much attention and care to yours. Plus, all the sickness and colds and ear infections and everything that goes along with being in childcare. Goo hasn't been sick since she was born, while her friends her age have had everything from the croup, flu, colds, ear infections, sinus infections, stomach viruses, etc. She has never had anything like that. I am never sick either. I haven't had the flu in 20 years. Therefore, I feel you would be able to feel comfortable that your baby wasn't always being so exposed to so many germs and viruses constantly.

I would totally feel comfortable with whatever routine you wanted for her. For example, if you only feed her organic or homemade babyfoods, or certain sleep schedules or playtime allowances or certain rules. I would feel comfortable with whatever routine you needed. Also, being a breastfeeding mom myself, I understand that whole routine as well.

I just can not express how good I feel about Sarah watching my baby. Its not just knowing her like I do, and the things she said to me in her email. Maybe call it intuition, but I just feel really really good about it. For the first time since we had to face the idea of me not being able to stay home full time, and what the heck we were going to do instead, I feel like this might just be okay after all.

So there you have it. After all of the ups and downs I have had over the last couple of weeks, it feels so good to be able to write about some really positive things going on. As I type this, the little munchkin has been moving around more then ever and I am really feeling her movements! I guess she is excited about the turns of events as well!

Its a Girl!!!!!!

Its a girl!! Yay!!!! I am so excited! I had nearly convinced myself I would be very happy either way... and its true I would have been, but I was so ecstatic when we found out she was a girl!

So without further ado.... I would like to introduce you to our little girl!

Here's her legs

And here's where she showed us her girly parts. The technician said she showed them to her 3 separate times so she felt pretty confident in saying it was a girl.

Here's her face and her arms

These 3D pictures are crazy! And thats really not a hole in her head.... the tech assured me :)

Another frontal shot of her cute little face


The doctor said everything was right on track and looking perfect! Everything seems so much more real now, like we are closer now that I know a little more about her. Joe's best friend and his wife are 10 weeks ahead of us and they are having a little girl too, so they are pretty excited about them being able to grow up and play together.

Its such a relief to finally know! And now I get to use my little girl name that I have had picked out for literally more then 8 years. Yay!!

Oh and today, I ordered on of these...


I am so excited! I have already starting having alot of trouble sleeping. My hips and back have been hurting so bad, and I toss and turn all night long. This pillow had so many good reviews and many pregnant woman said that this pillow was a lifesaver for them. It should get here pretty quick, so cross your fingers for me that this will help me sleep better.

Whats it gonna be?!?!

Today we find out the sex of the baby!!!! I can't wait... I am so excited, I can hardly stand it! Our appointment is in three hours!

Most of my friends and family think its going to be a girl. My parents had 3 girls and so far my youngest sister has had 2 girls. My dad would probably love to have atleast one little boy running around. The Chinese birth chart says I am having a boy. They claim that it is 99% accurate, but how do they know that? I love the name I have ready for a little girl. I have had it picked out for about 8+ years now, and I really really want to use it, but other then that, I would be happy either way. And I don't have any strong feelings about what it will be either. I just hope for a healthy baby, thats really all that is important to me.

If it is a boy, we won't get much in the way of hand-me-downs. My sister has so much little girl stuff ready to hand over, and we even have clothes from when me and my sisters were babies that my mom saved for us. On the other hand, it would be lots of fun to have the first little boy in the family.

I guess we will just have to wait and see... we don't have much longer to wait. I can't wait to post later tonight with the ultrasound pictures!!

An update on my work situation and some pics of BBZ

Thank you all so much for your comments and your suggestions on my last blog! I think I am going to work on writing a letter to my boss, which will include a proposal of how this whole situation might not be as bad for him as he is thinking it is. He is a really nice guy, and I am hoping that if I can really get him to see my side and how important this is to me, while assuring him that my plan is to be back to my normal schedule in about a year, that he might reconsider and be willing to try to work something out with me. I am trying (for now) to not get too upset.

As far as the laws go... for a small business in Missouri, there is absolutely no laws that I can find that protect me, or help me as a mother, they only protect my boss. Since we are under 50 employees, I am not even guaranteed maternity leave. We have saved up enough money to cover my loss of income, while I am off work for 3 months after the baby is here. I am saving all of my vacation and sick pay for that time as well. But really, my boss doesn't even have to save my position for me or let me take off any work at all. So I am grateful that he is allowing me to take off those three months.

I would LOVE to stay home full time. If money was not an issue, there would be no question about it. But the money we would save on daycare, gas and everything else is not enough to offset the loss of my income. If we could still afford to stay in our house and pay all of our bills then I would definitely do it. Even if we could sell our home and move into an apartment, just so that I could stay home with our baby, I would do it. I really would. I have always wanted to stay at home with my kids. But because of financial decisions we have made in the past, and how much we have tied up in our home vs how much it would sell for, and everything going on with the economy, this is not really an option either.

Joe applied for a 2nd job last week. He thought, with the baby coming, it might be nice to make the extra money to have for whatever came up, or to pay off some bills. He has a friend that has been working for this company that routes calls from infommercials and other things to peoples homes to take the calls and their order. Its not bad pay, just to sit in your own home, answer the phone and take their order. We didn't think we would hear back for a while, as it took them a month to respond to Joe's friend, but Joe got an email back from them on Friday telling him they had accepted his application. It was a wierd coincidence that they emailed back the day my boss laid that news on me. Maybe this is something we can do to help us in our situation somehow. I haven't quite figured that out yet... but I am working on it.

Maybe all of this happened so I could figure out a better situation then I was planning on in the first place. I hope so. I just really want to do is be able to spend as much time as possible with my baby and to be able to breastfeed.

Saturday morning I got to spend some time with BBZ. This is my friend Anrazel's little munchkin. She dropped the little goober off while she went to get her hair done. I had so much fun playing with him. He is easily one of the happiest (and cutest) babies I have ever met in my entire life.

A Change in Plans.

Oh I am so frustrated... I just want to scream!

Last year about this time, before I got pregnant over the summer ( I had a miscarriage), my boss and I had a plan for me to start working full time from home once the baby arrived. I am a graphic designer. Everything I do here, I can do from home. So I bought a new computer and invested in all the necessary software out of my own pocket. I was just so grateful I would be able to work from home, I didn't even care about the investment (which, incidentally, was pretty expensive!) Then after I was pregnant, my boss decided that he really needed someone in the office atleast part time, so that I could help out with answering the phones and running the copier. This was disappointing, but doable. I planned on breastfeeding, so this way I wouldn't have to do much in the office with pumping, and with Joe's work schedule the baby would only need to be in daycare for about 3 hours a day. So even though we would have the added expense now of daycare, we could work it out.

So after we lost the baby last summer, we planned on trying again as soon as we could and would be sticking to the same game plan. Fast forward to now. I am five months pregnant. This morning, I brought up this subject to my boss and what hours I would be working. I knew I would be in the office for four hours a day, but I hadn't ever finalized with him what time frame that would be in. I was hoping I could work 7-11 ( I work 7-3 now), so that Joe could drop the baby off at 8:30 am and I could pick the baby up about 11:30 am after I got off work. It would have the baby in daycare the least amount of time possible.

So today, my boss informed me that he needs someone in here in my position full time in the office.

Crap.

He went on to say, that I could work in the office part time, but he was going to hire someone else to come in and work the other hours. I would not be able to work any hours from home, unless we just had a ton of extra work in. I would have to share a computer and a desk with someone else. As much as that would suck, that would be the least of my worries.

First of all, we can't afford for me to only work part time. With our budget exactly the way it is right now, we could maybe manage it, but with the new cost of daycare, and all of the other new expenses that come with a baby, it's just not possible. So then maybe I could pick up another part time job in the evenings? It would be really hard to find part time work in the evenings that would pay me enough.

But let's say I found one. Seems like all my problems are solved. Not really. Now I am working part time at my current job and a new person is coming in and finishing the rest of my shift. I would have to share my desk with them and my computer. I have been here for 6 years. I am the only one that has ever worked on my computer. I keep up with all the maintenance and the back up and I am very particular with the way all of my files are kept and organized. It would drive me crazy to have to keep in sync with someone else on the same computer. But even worse, there's going to be a pretty good chance that this person would prefer to be working there full time. And how long after I have them trained and everything is running smoothly, would my boss start to think it would be easier to just have one person in here full time. That doesn't sound like very good job security to me.

So maybe it would be best to just stay working here full time and send the baby to day care full time. Maybe that will be what we have to do. As much as I want to stay home with the baby more, it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't have my heart set on breastfeeding for atleast the first year. It shouldn't be that hard to figure it out. Breastpump during the day, so I have bottles to give the daycare for the next day. Sure it sounds feasible, but what if you work in a print shop, where your desk is out in the open, and there is only one bathroom that everyone shares? Where will I breastpump? This is something that will have to take place several times a day for 20 minutes. Where will I go? I can't really use the bathroom. There's just one toilet that everybody shares (mostly men). And its not kept very clean... it is a print shop after all. There's no privacy whatsoever at my desk. I am set up in the front office, with another designer and the office manager. All of our customers come right into the front door and can see us all at our desks.

I have alot to think about and alot to figure out.

Fuck.

Anyone have any good suggestions?

By far the most common craving of pregnant women is not to be pregnant. ~Phyllis Diller

I am not usually one to complain a whole lot. I realize that things could be so much worse. I am grateful for my life, my family, my pregnancy and everything else that I have. Having said that, I am going to take this time to bitch a little. Just a little. Okay maybe more then a little, but my husband will be grateful that I got it off of my chest here.

The visit to the vet with Daisy is costing us much more money then I had feared. I was anticipating a few hundred dollars and that was me trying to prepare myself for the worst case scenario, hoping that I would be relieved when they told me something less. Our grand total is closer to about $700.00 or $800.00. Yay.

I spent about $120.00 at the initial visit catching her up on all of her shots (minus the rabies), her heartworm test and whatever else they do to rape us of our hard earned cash. Then, after examining her teeth, I was given a quote for some much needed dental work of around $375.00. Then after discussing the situation with the vet about Daisy and her reaction to the rabies shot (see last blog), the vet informed me that if we wanted to forego the shot, we would have to do what they call a "rabies titer" where they take her blood, send it off to a lab, then test it to make sure she is still protected against rabies. I know from my own research that the shot stays in their system for up to 7 years. Thats right... 7 years! Which explains why her reaction seems worse each year. So why then, must we keep giving our beloved animals this shot, one right on top of the other year after year? I am sure it has something to do with money, but what do I know? Whatever the case, the estimate for that was about $187.00. Then there are her heartworm meds and flea drops to top it all off.

I am going to have to get her dental work done as soon as possible. One of her teeth is causing her alot of discomfort and it is making her breath N-A-S-T-Y. I am not exageratting here. It reeks. I am hoping they will let us do the dental work before the rabies titer so I can put that off for a while. As long as I possibly can really, as I see it completely unnecessary anyway (oh for about another 6 or 7 years). And obviously she needs her heartworm and flea meds right away as well.

Then there's the ongoing delightful roller coaster of my pregnancy symptoms.

It hurts when I poop. It's really, really painful. Apparently, this is a side effect of the prenatal vitamins that I take. It makes me cry. It shoots stabbing pains up through my body until I want to claw through my skin, just to distract my attention. And this, ofcourse, is when I am lucky enough to poop at all. I called my doctor yesterday and she told me the names of a laxative and a stool softener that she would like me to start taking. She would like me to take them both. Both. And most likely for the duration of my pregnancy. I went by the drugstore yesterday to pick them up and was tickled pink when I realized they were going to cost me about $40.00 per month.

Then there's the acid reflux, but I think have ranted enough already in previous blogs about this.

I have been working out. I really have. I have some maternity dvds, I have been hiking and going on walks (my walking buddy, Toni can vouch for me). I have been trying to eat pretty healthy and curb my sweet tooth. But alas, my ass is still growing. Right along with my thighs. All over really. I just keep telling myself to not worry about it, that once the baby is here, my body will go back to normal (for the most part), and breastfeeding will help me lose the weight quickly as well.

When I was shopping for some clothes last night, I was checked out by a little pregnant girl that looked like she was about 7 months along and hadn't gained a pound anywhere but in her belly. Am I a terrible person because I wanted to smack her? Just reach right over the register and smack her right across the face? I told myself it was because she was 12 and I was 30. Whatda gonna do? Its biology.

I am normally a pretty friendly person, but these hormones...

Thank goodness, I have so many friends that have been pregnant recently. I have been graciously lent so many clothes, that I have hardly had to buy any at all. And that is a very good thing, because maternity clothes are ridiculously expensive. I am a bargain hunter. I like to buy my clothes usually on clearance or on a really good sale. I very very rarely can bring myself to pay full price. I love Goodwill. But I am finding that it is very difficult to bargain shop for myself right now. I bought 2 maternity shirts yesterday on clearance and my total came to $43.00. These were on clearance!

Every morning when I wake up, and for the first few hours of the day, my hips hurt. They are sore from all the extra weight I am carrying, which is weighing down on them while I am sleeping. During the night, the hip I am laying on will start hurting so bad it will wake me up. Then I turn over onto my other side and fall back asleep until the other hip wakes me up. For obvious reasons, I can not sleep on my stomach. If I sleep on my back, this can cause a myriad of problems with backaches, breathing, my digestive system, hemorrhoids, low blood pressure and a decrease in circulation to my heart and my baby. This is a result of my abdomen resting on my intestines and major blood vessels.

This morning I had a bloody nose.

I honestly couldn't tell you if I have ever had a bloody nose in my entire life. Apparently, all of the new, larger amounts, of blood moving through my body can cause these sorts of things to spontaneously occur. Oh it was gross. Really really gross. Allison, from American's Next Top Model, would have totally wanted to make out with me.

I am only 5 months pregnant. I still have 4 to 5 more to go. My stomach isn't even that big yet. What is my 8th and 9th month going to be like? I am not going to lie. I am a little worried about this.

I know it is all worth it.

It is all worth it.

It is all worth it.

I do know this. I am sure of it. But I was hoping that, like my friend Anrazel , I would LOVE being pregnant and would not be so uncomfortable. I am beginning to think that I am not going to be so lucky.

So there ya have it. And somehow I feel better.

Crazy Hormones, Rude Hunters and Other Misc Musings...

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. Mine was... well... interesting...

Friday night I ended up cancelling all of my plans. My acid reflux was really bothering me and my hormones were going crazy! I took a little nap after I got home from work and when I woke up I decided that I wanted pancakes for dinner. No, I decided I needed pancakes for dinner. Joe had decided to take a nap too, and I wasn't having very much luck waking him up to go out to dinner with me. He was being crabby, and mumbling something about his allergies and how he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and his head was all stuffed up and blah blah blah. I was devastated. How could I go out to dinner for pancakes all by myself?! So I called my mom, and sobbed my sad story to her. "All I want is pancakes and Joe won't go with me. I am so upset and I don't know why this is making me cry". Well I did know why, I knew it was my hormones, but knowing why I was acting so ridiculous wasn't helping me feel any better. Ofcourse my mom, having been pregnant three times herself, understood exactly what I was feeling. And it just so happened that she had found her old buttermilk pancake recipe and had made up some batter that very day. She told me if I came over there (she only lives 15 minutes away), that she would make me some pancakes. So off I went, already feeling better. There's one more I thing I can check off from the list of stereotypical pregnancy symptoms. Crazy hormonal mood swings. Check.

Saturday morning I woke up in a much better mood. It was a beautiful day and they were having a big Easter Egg Hunt at a huge Baseball park near our home, sponsored by a local church. The flyer promised a Dr. Seuss themed egg hunt, free hot dogs and soda, games, crafts and pictures with the Easter Bunny. That seemed like fun and innocent enough, so I thought it would be great to take my little niece Aubrey to the event. My friend Toni was going with her boyfriend and his daughter Bella. I asked my friend Gina over at Namaste By Day if she wanted to go with her little man, L. So I left early to pick up Aubrey, then swung by Gina's to scoop up her and L, then off to Toni and Dan's to follow them to the ball park. We got our first clue as we drove past the park to the parking lot and saw the thousands of people (yes literally thousands) walking towards the park and into the front gates. We parked a good walk away from the park and headed over. Me and Gina were already looking at each other like, "uh oh, what did we get ourselves into?". I believed Gina may have mentioned something like, "You want to just take them to McDonalds?". I seriously considered it. But we were already there, we might as well see what this was all about.

We unloaded the strollers and the kiddos, and all started the hike towards the park. In the parking lot right outside the front gate, they had the hot dog stand set up. We entered through the front gates and got our first close up look of the thousands of people walking around and all of the people on the field waiting for the "hunt" to start. The eggs weren't exactly hidden. They had sections roped off for different age groups and all of the eggs were just laid out all over the ground. So me and Gina took our kids down to the 2 year old area, while Toni and Dan took Bella to a different section with older kids. As we got closer, Aubrey's eyes got bigger and I started to wonder how much she was really going to enjoy this. After the "get ready, set, go" was sounded I brought Aubrey into the area and we started picking up eggs. Well, I picked up eggs while she looked around in utter confusion and bewilderment. After I picked up about 10 eggs, I started noticing everyone who had already devoured all of the eggs in their areas, were rushing towards me and Aubrey. I thought quickly, grabbed Aubrey, and rushed off to the side with her. I watched as the spot where we had been was quickly filled up with crazed egg hunters. Parents were knocking over other kids to pick up eggs for their own kids. It was more like these people were homeless and scavaging for food for their family, rather then a friendly easter egg hunt. I had never seen anything like it before. Before you knew it, all of the eggs had vanished from the ground and people were leaving the field. I just stayed in the same spot with Aubrey sitting on my lap still left in wonder at what had just taken place.

Gina and L were no where in site, so I scooped up Aubrey and we headed back to the strollers. I found them there and was glad to find that L had gotten a little more into the "hunt" and had fun picking up eggs for himself. Me and Gina exchanged our "WTFs?" and "Did that seriously just happen?" I turned around and shot a picture of the people left on the field. I wish I had gotten one before hand when they were all packed in like sardines.

I sat Aubrey back down in her stroller. The look on her face here, was pretty much the same for most of the experience. She seemed to feel the same way as I did about what had transpired. There's L to the right.

As far as the "Dr Seuss themed egg hunt", the only thing that seemed to back that up, was the signs that were posted throughout the park. They were designed somewhat in a cartoon "Dr. Seuss" theme, otherwise, I think they were blowing smoke up our butt.

We started to head out of the park, but it took forever, as everyone else seemed to be leaving at the same time. Luckily we saw the Easter Bunny on our way out. L had been very excited about meeting him all morning and I am glad we didn't have to miss out on the only part he had really cared about. We got some pics of them together. I left Aubrey in her stroller, I didn't think she could handle any more "excitement", and frankly I thought the Easter bunny was a bit scary looking myself, so I felt no need to subject her to that.

We finally got out of the gates and found ourselves looking at the "free hot dog" line. It was so long, filled with hundreds of people. Neither of us wanted to wait in that line, so we decided to look for Toni & Dan. We find them about 1/3 back from the front of the line and decided to just join them. It didn't take long for the rude comments to start. One lady asked, "Are you guys just joining the line, or have you been in line already?" I told her that we were with the couple right in front of us. I seriously didn't see what the big deal was. It was a line for hot dogs. Did she seriously want us to go all the way to the back of the line and not even get to eat with our friends. I heard her mumbling to her friend "oh I see, they are with those people up there, well I guess I could just tell Billy and Joe-Bob to just join us in the line and we could all say we are with those people up there". They kept making remarks. It was unbelievable. So finally, I turned to Gina and said (loudly), "Don't you just love church events? Everyone is always so friendly." That pretty much shut them up. They had to get in one more remark though after we got our hot dogs. The man was warning his wife about Gina, "Watch our for her in her stroller, she's not even watching where she is going".

Needless to say we will not be returning next year. Poor Bella didn't even get a single egg, as the kids in her section started grabbing for eggs before they were even given the signal. Ofcourse Gina and I shared some of Aubrey and L's eggs with her.

Easter Sunday was long. We went to my mom's parents' house first for lunch, then to my dad's dad's house, then to Joe's mom's to visit with her and his sister. We were gone from 10:30 am to around 8pm. I enjoyed visiting with all of the family, but I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Joe took a pic of my belly Sunday night. I am 19 weeks and 2 days. We have only one more week from today till we find out the sex!

Wish me luck tonight. I am headed to a new vet's office with Daisy. I am attempting to get her an exemption from having to have her rabies shot. She has a horrible, near death, allergic reaction every time she gets one, and her previous vet didn't seem to think this was anything to really worry about. After doing some research about this, I realized that this is definitely something to worry about and you can have your vet write a letter to the powers that be requesting that they be excused from getting the shot. I have collected all the proper documentation of her reactions over the years, including her visits to the emergency vet. I am taking her to a new vet, hopefully one that is a little more concerned. They told me that they just went through this process with another dog, so I am hopeful we will get this squared away. I refuse to put her through any more of those damn shots.

Acid, Butt Covers and the Weekend... Oh My!

My throat is on fire!! I have been getting acid reflux. Bad. From what I understand this is one of the most common things that pregnant woman go through, and I had read there was a good chance I would suffer from it as well. But having never experienced acid reflux or heart burn before in my life, I had no idea how awful it could be. I have been getting it since early on in my pregnancy, but the last two days have been just awful. I feel like my entire esophogas is on fire!

I am having ice cream for lunch today because it feels good and the concern for my growing ass is being outweighed by the burning acid in my throat.

The Tums I have been using so far are no longer cutting it for me. I have been reading online about all of the different medications you can take while you are pregnant. I'd really like to pick up some Pepcid AC, but with all of the differences in opinion on what is safe and what isn't, I would really like to talk to my doctor about it first. But it's Good Friday, so they have shut down their office. Arg.

I realize that alot of it has to do with diet, so I have researched that as well. But sometimes, it can get really bad, no matter what I eat.

I ordered a bed wedge online a few weeks ago and that helps alot at night. I was literally having to try to sleep sitting up. Every time I would fall deeper into sleep I would slide down into the bed and the burning sensation would wake me right back up again.

I guess I will just have to suffer through the weekend until I talk to my doctor on Monday.

I am 19 weeks today. Only 10 more days until we find out of there's a little boy or girl growing inside me. I am so excited to find out!

I have finally decided what I am going to use to cover the baby's bum once they arrive! I have been researching cloth vs. disposable diapers since I was pregnant the first time over the summer. I loved the idea of using cloth diapers for obvious reasons like the environment and a chemical-free material touching my baby's booty, but I was also worried about the convenience of them and how well they would win over my hubby and anyone that was babysitting for me. One diaper that I kept gravitating towards was the gDiaper. They almost seemed to be the best of both worlds. The cloth diaper outside could be used through several changes before being washed, while the liner on the inside was disposable. You can flush it right down the toilet or just throw it away, but no matter what you do it is reabsorbed by the planet in a neutral or beneficial way. And the diaper designes are soooo cute!

I was still undecided and was continuing my research until recently. My best bud Anrazel over at Companion to the Wind has a little baby of her own and she has recently started trying out cloth diapers on him. She bought some used ones on Craigslist that ended up not working for her. They were either not cared for properly by their previous owner, or they just weren't a good fit for some reason, but they leaked constantly. She then decided to try out gDiapers. Yay!! And so far she is really liking them. Its so nice to actually know someone else first hand that is using them with success. And Babies "R" Us sells them in their stores, so I can actually register them for my baby showers! So my mind is made up and I have finally settled on a plan. Whew! One less thing to worry about. Here's some pics of some cute gDiaper bums.




Tonight I am headed out to visit with Anrazel and her adorable little baby boy. Her mom is in town and I haven't seen her in a while, so it will be fun to catch up. Tomorrow I am taking my niece Aubrey to a big Easter Egg Hunt! I am really excited to have some time with her away from everyone else... I think she is going to have a blast and I can't wait to post the pictures. It's been raining the past two days, so hopefully it won't be too muddy tomorrow. Sunday we are heading over to my grandparents house for lunch. My parents, my sisters and their hubbies will all be there so I am looking forward to that.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Opening Day and Death to the Lemon!

Today was opening day for the St. Louis Cardinals and although they lost, it was still a good game and we had fun all getting together to watch it. Amy had a great spread of handmade pretzels, hotdogs and nachos. Mmmmmm! Our friend Michele made some chili and Jeremy, my BIL, made some cupcakes. (Why does being pregnant make me want to eat everything? I swear, I normally have much more self control. I just keep saying, "the baby wants it... not me".) Although it is always exciting going to opening day, we were warm inside instead of freezing our butts off at the game downtown. Ofcourse it was in the 60's all last week, and will return that way on Wednesday. The temperature dropped drastically just for the baseball game. Figures.

Here's my sister Amy, holding our youngest sister's newest daughter.

At times, the family room looked more like a cardinals day care.

Michele and Vance!

Me and Aubrey...its so hard to get a picture with her. I had been trying forever.

Love this pic! Alex just starting finding her voice last night and she has been cooing and smiling up a storm lately. Its so adorable.

More kiddos... they were everywhere!

My sister Amy and her husband Jeremy

Me and Gina


So you may remember my car drama that I mentioned a couple blogs back? We ended up taking the highlander over to the dealership. They looked at it and told us they thought the engine would probably need to be rebuilt (a hefty price tag of around $5000), but they wanted to do a couple tests first which we would of course need to pay a couple hundred bucks for. Since we bought the f@*&ing lemon from them only 5 months ago, and already paid $600 to replace part of the computer in December, we asked them if there was anything they would work out for us, as far as what they would give us to just trade it in if we bought a new car. They came back with a very pathetic offer and I was very disappointed. They offered us $3000 less then what we owed on it... $4500 less then what we paid for it 5 months ago. So basically, we could sell them our lemon, and roll $3000 into a brand spanking new car loan that wouldn't be worth near as much as we were buying it for, and thats even before the depreciation of driving it off the lot! I was so upset. And I was really missing my Tiburon about this time. I had that car for 5 years and never had any problems with it!

So then Joe came across an ad for a dealership about 45 minutes from our house. They were offering $6000 over kelly blue book on your trade-in if you bought one of their remaining new 2008 models on 5 different cars to choose from. They wanted to get rid of all the new 08's to make room for the 2010's that were coming in soon. I was only interested in one of the options. The Hyundai Santa Fe. I wanted another suv, and the other choices were 2 cars, a minivan (I'm just not ready to be a soccer mom yet) and the hyundai veracruz (which I love, but they they were way out of our budget). So we drove out there thinking the deal would probably be too good to be true and something wasn't going to pan out like they claimed, but we were desperate and hoped it would at least be better then our other options. We got there and checked things out. They ended up giving us even more then they claimed in the ad for our car! They didn't even ask us any questions about it... didn't even test drive it! We drove home that night, the proud owners of a brand spanking new Santa Fe. And I must say, I love this car. I love how it handles. I love how comfortable it is. I love how it looks. And I love having the bumper to bumper warranty and road side assistance for 100k miles! I couldn't be happier... well I could be if my car payments weren't going up a little, but I'd say under the circumstances we came out of the whole situation much better then I had expected! And now I don't have to worry about that stupid highlander any more. Here's a pic of my new ride....

Exactly two weeks from today is the ultrasound to find out the sex of our baby!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I am just dying to know. I want to start decorating the nursery and picking stuff out. I feel like knowing the sex, will bring me closer to the baby and to making things more real. I hope the next two weeks don't drag on too slowly!

On a side note, we finally got the chance to watch Slumdog Millionaire Saturday night. If you haven't seen it yet, you really should. I am normally left confused after a movie wins that many awards, beating out other movies that I think were much more deserving. This movie deserved every reward it received. Wow.

My Nieces

My youngest sister's kiddos are so cute! I just wanted to post some pics I have taken of them:)