Presents, Dirty Toilets and Mushy brains.

I love buying gifts for people. I absolutely love shopping for someone and finding that perfect gift and watching them open it. I have so much fun and I pride myself in being good at tracking down a great gift that they will just love (and if anyone disagrees, no need to burst my bubble). This is especially true when it's for someone very close to me, like a family member or good friend or especially my husband. No matter who it's for though, I really enjoy shopping for gifts. But with the baby coming, and Joe's pay structure being changed around.... shopping for presents has lost some of it's luster. With our new slim and trim budget, and every dollar being delegated for bills, food, gas and other essentials, there's just no money left. It's downright frustrating. And it seems, that lately, there has been some sort of present purchasing opportunity around every corner. Now with father's day this weekend and Joe's birthday next week... well it's really starting to bum me out.

I know that you can make things for really cheap, but that's just not as easy to do for a guy... they aren't as sentimental about handmade things. It just doesn't work that well.

I am also aware that I am lucky considering we even have money right now for most of the things we need, and believe me, I really am very grateful for that. But still... I really wish I could give my hubby a birthday present that he loved, something that he really wants (and I have a long list of ideas ofcourse). With everything going on with his work, and me slacking in the "best wife ever" category... he deserves it! I know times are hard for everyone, and that Joe (or my dad) doesn't really care if I get them a present or not.

I did plan a little party for him, which I am excited about. Saturday night, we have reservations for dinner at our local hibachi grill for a group of 17 of us and then some more friends are joining us back at our house for dessert and drinks. My sister is making her "Holy Cow Cake", which is an event in itself. It will be good for us to relax and have a good time. I am mostly looking forward to Joe having some fun and getting to hang out with all of his friends.

This will also force me to get the house clean, which it is in desperate need of. I am normally on top of things when it comes to the house, but the further along I get in this pregnancy and the bigger I get (funny how that works), and the more difficult it gets for me to do hard core cleaning. I have no problem keeping stuff picked up and things in their place, but when it comes to scrubbing toilets and other duties of that nature, I have been slacking. And well, it's pretty obvious right now. There is no way I can have everyone over and not do something about it, so over the course of the next few evenings, I am on a mission.

Yesterday, after I got home from work and my OB appt, I was changing from my regular bra into my sports bra and I happen to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Besides the usual shock at the immense new size of my breasts, I also caught something else. There was, what looked like, a new giant-sized mole on the bottom of my boob. I got closer to the mirror to inspect this strange new growth. What the hell was it?! I reached down to touch it and it flaked off into my hand. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a sun-dried tomato! For lunch that day, I had a chicken linguini with cream sauce and sun-dried tomatoes. Aparantly, one of the little tomatoes, fell off my fork, down my shirt and had worked its way under my boob! I had been carrying the damn thing around with me all day and had no idea. With my new larger sized belly and breasts, I have noticed that alot of my food ends up on them. I am not quite sure how this happens. Maybe its because I can not scoot quite as close to the table as I could before, or maybe it's because of my new lack of coordination. But somehow, I manage to drop all sorts of things on my boobs, down my shirt and into my boobs, and sometimes, on my belly. Half the time, I don't even know it until someone points it out to me.

Which brings me to another subject... "Preggo Brain". This is not a myth people! This is the real deal. I have heard my other friends say many times... "oh I will just blame it on my Preggo Brain!", but I had no idea how serious this shit really was. I forget everything and anything. It's so frustrating! I looked at my planner Monday morning and saw that I had an OB appt right after work (I had also noticed this appt when I looked at my planner a few days before as well). But by the time I got off work, I had already completely forgotten, and I just went straight home. I called the next day to apologize and luckily they squeezed me in. I explained what happened and they just laughed and blamed it on my preggo brain!

Last night before dinner, I took one of my antibiotic pills for my kidney stone infection. Two minutes later, I couldn't remember if I had actually taken one or just thought about it. Luckily my friend Toni had been sitting right there and when I asked "Did I actually take one of those?", she had witnessed it and was able to tell me I had (after laughing at me ofcourse). How do you forget taking a pill two minutes ago? This morning I left for work, forgetting to take the pill altogether and my poor husband had to bring them to me on his way out to work. Have I mentioned how patient my husband is with me?

Not only do I forget things, but I actually forget how to talk sometimes! I will fumble over my words and insert the wrong word entirely. I will take two words in a sentence and switch them around. I will completely forget what word is appropriate for what I am trying to say! And it only seems to be getting worse. Even blogging has become more difficult... as I am often unable to figure out the right word to type for what I want to say.

I am hoping things go back to normal once I have the baby, or atleast get better. Someone, please tell me they do!

And on a very good night... my weigh-in at the OB yesterday was a big improvement! I had gained much less weight then I had on my previous visits. I was right on target with the "normal" amount of weight gain. I hadn't done that much differently, but I guess the little changes made a big difference. I was so relieved to not get another lecture. Instead I got a huge shot in my ass (my rogaine shot, cuz I am a negative blood type and Joe is a positive). Yay!

And what is with this week? Is it just me, or is this the longest week ever?