21 Week Picture

Here's 21 Weeks! My last Belly Pic of 2007.



I have tomorrow off work - yippee! Jeff's and my goal these next couple days is to clean up the house a bit, get more organized, and mine in particular is to get the nursery EMPTY. I know it's a bit ambitious, and I doubt I'll get it 100% empty by Tuesday, but I think I can get a pretty good start on it. The great Breyer sell-off has begun, this last week I listed 35 of them on Ebay. It's a far cry from the 200+ I'd like to sell, but it'll help. I've been selling since we found out we were pregnant, so overall I think I have about 1/4 sold and gone of what I'd like to eventually be rid of. Of course I'd LIKE to keep them all, but there's just not enough climate-controlled space in the house to store 300 plastic horses! The other nice perk is getting back some of the money we spent on fertility treatment to get this baby in the first place! I always knew my collecting obsession would come in handy at some point. :) Just so you think I'm weird, (yes I know I am) and because I'm bored and have their pictures online, here are couple that have sold this week.





This last girl I don't particularly want to sell, but I think the timing is just right on her. I won her on Ebay less than a year ago and paid $100. Right now I have people making offers on her, my last offer was $200. I think I'll accept that one, as another one like her sold about a month ago for $200. Not bad appreciation for less than 1 year. She is special because only 333 of her were made in 1987. Of those 333, probably 90% were played with and made worthless, but she is 100% perfect. I'd like to hold onto her, but I doubt the 100% appreciation will last a real long time, so I should strike while the iron is hot.



So now you know a little bit more about me and my horse collecting! :) I started when I was less than 10 years old, so my collection has accumulated quite a bit over the years. I'm a tad obsessive about them, and yes, I even take them to plastic horse shows, but in my defense, it increases their value. People will pay more for a horse who has won ribbons. (Model horse collectors are weird people.) So, whatever it takes to make them more valuable!

I hope you have a wonderful and safe New Years Eve, and a Happy 2008!

20 Week Picture

I'm 21 weeks today! About time to post my 20 week picture, huh? Can't say I'm too eager to post this one, I'm not a fan. But, to retain consistency...



My latest fun pregnancy development is acid reflux. It started a little over a week ago, and comes anytime I eat anything. Looks like it's time to buy some stock in Tums! I've also gotten 2 bloody noses in the last week, after never having a bloody nose ONCE in my life! Pregnancy does some weird things.

I thought I'd also throw a couple pictures of Bailey up here that I took with my new camera.





Such a sweet girl! She needs a trim around her face though.

We don't have too many plans for the weekend, we've been trying to re-organize the house, find a place for everything, and find a place for all the junk we've had in the nursery! So we'd like to continue with that project this weekend, I'd like to get the nursery almost cleared out. Maybe we'll go shopping at Lowe's to find a ceiling fan for the baby's room. Tomorrow night we're going to a Dallas Mavericks game while Joel is in town. Other than that, I'm looking forward to a nice, long 4 day weekend!

Lots to Talk About!

First of all, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! I wish I could say the same for myself.

I got to spend the hours going from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day in the ER! I'm not sure if I came down with the flu or food poisoning (we suspect food poisoning), I started feeling sick in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve. After having lots of "fun" symptoms I don't need to get into, and then finally throwing up 5 times around 10:00pm, I called the local hospital to see at what point they think I needed to be seen. She asked me to describe what was coming up, and after I did, she said I needed to go to the ER right away, that could be blood. They just don't mess around when it comes to pregnancy.

So, the whole family packed up and went! This was at 11:30 pm. They checked me out, and I had a small fever, but the baby had been kicking all evening so I knew it was ok. The nurse got the heartbeat with the doppler, 175 bpm. The dr came in and talked to me, and said it very well could have been food poisoning, or he said there's also a 24 hour flu going around, and it could be that. He said if I were in serious danger, I would be seeing bright red blood, so he wasn't too concerned. He gave me some Zofran, had me sip some water, wait around about 45 minutes, then they released me. Sent me home with more Zofran.

We got home around 1:30 am, and we were all so exhausted. My only problem was, if I laid down, I felt like throwing up. So I parked myself on the living room couch propped up against the arm to keep me in a somewhat vertical position. I slept about 2-3 hours, and got up at 4, drank a little water, kept it down fine, so I decided to try to go to bed at 4:30. Mistake. I didn't even make it half hour before running to the bathroom, throwing up 3 more times. So back to the couch I went. I got another hour or so of sleep, but mostly stared off into space in the living room. Everyone woke up Christmas morning and we all opened our presents, I was pretty out of it! The rest of the day all I could do was lay on the couch falling in and out of sleep. I hardly had the energy to stand up. The rest of the family went over to Jeff's grandpa's for Christmas Dinner, but I knew there was no way I could eat or be around food like that, much less have the energy to get up and go, so on the couch I stayed. I was actually able to sleep in bed that night, which was nice. By that point I think I was getting better, it was just taking a while to get energy back. We came home yesterday (the 26th) and stopped at my parents' house for dinner. It was my first time attempting to eat anything other than crackers and jello!

Today I'm still a little touchy, but on the road to normalcy again.

In pregnancy news, I had my big 20 week ultrasound today! They said all is looking good! The baby weighs 12 oz, which my doctor said is on the low side of normal, but still perfectly healthy. He said maybe the baby will help me out and stay on the low side of normal to help me out during delivery! But then he said don't hold my breath. :) Baby's heartrate was 140 BPM! That shocked the heck out of me, especially because the nurse at the ER on Christmas Eve said it was 175 BPM! After the ultrasound, my doctor came in the room and said, "So, do you know what you're having?" I said, "Nope!" And he said "I do!" I'm like NO FAIR!! For some reason it didn't bother me not to find out, but knowing the HE knows kills me! haha. I think it's funny though, and you could tell he thought it was fun being the only one who knows. :)

The u/s tech said the baby has long, skinny feet:


The baby put it's hand up on it's head, and we got a cute front shot. I love that tubby belly! (it reminds me of Micah's!) Jeff said the baby was thinking.


Here's the best profile we could get, the baby was facing inwards, making it difficult to get a good profile.


And this picture kinda scares me!! My friend said it looks like a pirate baby!


It was so fun to see the little one in there! I have my 20 week pictures in my camera at home, I'll have to get them uploaded and posted soon. I'm 21 weeks tomorrow!

20 Weeks!

Woohoo! I'm halfway there! Crazy. I very well could be OVER halfway right now! I don't feel like I've been pregnant that long.

To mark the occasion, I had another "first" last night - I felt the baby from the OUTSIDE, with my hand! I was sitting in bed after putting on my belly butter, and I pressed down onto my stomach, held it firmly for about 10 seconds, and then released. While I was pressing down, I felt the baby squirm a little bit inside, but I didn't feel anything on my hand. Then, when I let up on the pressure, I kept my hand there, and the baby gave me a nice big kick in the hand!! :) It was so fun! I tired it again, but it didn't work. Jeff will probably have to wait another week or two until the baby is strong enough to give consistent, strong kicks to be able to feel it, but it's fun to play with my baby! Even if I am just serving as a nuisance.

I also had some VERY strange dreams last night. I hear it's par for the course though. One of them was that I was approaching my due date, but not overly close, it was a good 2-3 weeks early. I went to the hospital for a check-up, and they told me they were going to induce me. Next thing I know they're wheeling in the epidural cart, gave me one, hooked me up to pitocin, and left me to progress! In my dream 24 hours passed and I still wasn't having regular contractions. People kept coming to the hospital and giving me matching "mommy and baby" outfits for us to wear, and then someone brought me some nursing pajamas to wear after the baby is born, and they told me "I bought them in the biggest size they sold, I hope it works.." What is THAT supposed to mean??!! Thanks a lot! Then later in the dream, if you're a Gilmore Girls fan you'll know who I'm talking about, but the character Kirk from Gilmore Girls came and tried to kill me! Nice.

I like to spend time on Babycenter's message boards. They have "Birth Clubs" where you can hang out with other women due at the same time as you, in my case May. By this point, a good 70% of the ladies have had their "big" ultrasounds and now know whether they're having a little boy or girl, so there is an official post about what they are naming their child. So far, out of 60 responses from people who are having girls, there are 9 Sophias! Crazy! That name came out of no where. I do think it's cute, but I can't believe how quickly it skyrocketed into popularity.

19 Week Picture

Without further delay, here's my 19 week picture!



More and more strangers are starting to notice, and I love it. I love getting questions, people asking when I'm due, and saying stuff like "Oh! My birthday is May 10!" Stuff like that. It's just so much fun. I'm very thankful to be having an easy pregnancy thus far. I know people who have had miserable pregnancies, and it makes me sad that they didn't get to enjoy it. I love watching all the changes, feeling my little baby move, and just experiencing everything.

A few nights ago I got together with some friends, and we took a fun picture of everyone with their hands on my belly. :)



We're going to have to repeat once more when I'm huuuge, and then again after the baby is here. Fun!

The further along I get, the more and more I'm feeling the baby move and kick. At first I was lucky to feel it 2-3 times a day, and now I'm getting more like 4-5 active periods a day, lasting about 20-30 minutes each time! The baby definitely gets fired up just when I'm going to bed. It'll kick around for a while when I'm trying to fall asleep! :) And sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, it'll give me a few kicks... "I was sleeping, mom!!" And it still loves food, every time I eat it wakes up and moves around a bit. :)

I found out this morning that our friends (and my former roommate) Adam & Amanda Coleman are expecting their first baby! Yay! That is so fun. They live in Ft Worth so hopefully next summer we can get our two little ones together! Maybe we can meet in the middle for a late summer Rangers Baseball game or something.

My Sick Weekend in Tucson

Just after I posted Thursday that I was sick, I realized I needed to go home and take a nap before our flight. So I did. When I woke up from my nap, I took my temperature because during my whole nap I had the chills, but was sweating when I woke up. My temperature was 101!!! The literature my OB gave me said to call if my temp ever goes over 100, so I called them and talked a bit, they said if it gets any higher, or I take a turn for the worse, I'd have to come in right away. I didn't have the guts to tell them I was flying off to Arizona, with my luck they'd tell me I have to stay home! They told me to take Tylenol to keep the fever down. (And good luck with the rest of your symptoms!)

The flight went surprisingly well considering how sick I was, I think I was sort of out of it all day. We arrived in Arizona safe and sound.

Friday (my birthday) was even worse than Thursday. The fever was still there, but I was able to keep it under control with Tylenol. But I still had congestion, sore throat, headache, dizziness, all that fun stuff. We got up early and went to my brother's graduation, had a quick lunch, then came back to the condo. I went back to bed, fell in and out of various states of sleep, until dinnertime. My dad planned a big celebration dinner at the Melting Pot, one of our favorite restaurants, to celebrate my brother and my birthday. I was so miserable the whole time. I had chills for the first half of the meal, and was dying of heatstroke the second half... And I couldn't taste any of it because I was so plugged up. Boo. Here's a picture of the happy event.



I'll spare you the rest of the details, but Saturday and Sunday were about the same, except the fever was finally gone. My sore throat got worse and worse through the weekend though. I was glad to get home on Sunday night.

I did get to spend some time with little Micah though. Steve (Andrea's husband) had a cold, and Micah was congested himself, so she let me hold him! I made sure I washed my hands carefully before holding or touching him. Saturday and Sunday morning she after she changed and fed him, she'd hand him off to me so we could have some time together while she showered and got ready. :) It was alot of fun. I was careful not to breathe on him too. :) He is so sweet. I can't believe the next time I'll see the little guy he'll be almost 6 months old! Here's a couple pictures!





To keep this post pregnancy-related, I did have my first bout of REAL round ligament pain on Saturday! The resort we were at had a heated pool, so we went swimming on Saturday afternoon and evening. After we were done swimming, about an hour later, I was sitting in a chair at my parents' condo, and was struck with this lightning sharp pain in my lower-right hip/belly area. Everyone in the room looked at me like I was dying as I cried out in pain! haha. I got up to try to walk it off and the pain almost took me to my knees! I was talking to my friend Rachel on the phone at the time, trying to figure out where we were going to meet to eat out that night! haha She had no clue. The pain continued for about 4 hours or so. We got to meet up with Lee and Rachel, it was so great to see them. It hurt really bad as I got out of my chair to leave the restaurant. Then, when we got back to the condo, as suddenly as it came, it was gone. Weird stuff.

When I woke up yesterday morning to go to work, my throat was on FIRE. I knew there was no way I was going to work. It hurt so bad I was crying! I called my OB and told them I needed to come in, I can't take it anymore. They got me an appointment for 3:10 in the afternoon, so I chilled at home, and took a 3 hour nap. THAT was nice! The doctor said that my throat looked pretty red, and they were going to go ahead and treat me with antibiotics. Ahh what a difference. When I woke up this morning, I'm still tired, congested, and have a headache, but the sore throat is gone, which was the worst. While I was at the doctor, I also asked to make sure what I experienced on Saturday was round ligament pain, since the same spot was sore again. Sure enough, that's what it was! That's fun stuff, I tell you. Andrea said she'd had some soreness, but never the "bring you to your knees" type of pain like I had that night!

So I think I'm on the road to recovery! That was one long, awful weekend though! Hopefully I can heal up in time for Christmas, but I really wish I could have been feeling well this weekend.

I'm also overdue for my 19 week picture. I'll try to get that taken tonight.

It's official, I'm sick.

I'm so mad and sad at the same time. Seriously, I don't know what else I could have done to prevent myself from getting sick. See my post 2 days ago to see all the preventative measures I was taking, and in addition taking extra Vitamin C AND sleeping in the guest room...

And here I am today, sick as a dog. Of course Jeff could take all kinds of medicines to make him feel better, but I'm stuck with throat lozenges.

Is my immune system seriously that crappy that given all the precautions I took, I still can't keep myself from getting sick?! I might as well have licked his dirty kleenexes.

The worst part about it all is that I wont be able to hold, cuddle, or come within 20 feet of of sweet Micah. Being sick stinks, but I'm most upset that I don't get to spend quality time with the little guy I'll probably only get to see 1-2 times a year! :( So sad.

Maybe I should pack rubber gloves and a breathing mask, and see if they let me hold him for a minute or two. hehe.

I love Liz Lange Maternity at Target!

For all my pregnant and someday-to-be-pregnant friends:

Be sure to check out Target! I find great stuff every time I go. Yesterday I made a trip over there, just to see what they had. I ended up with:

Gaucho-length grey trouser pants, that will be perfect for work in the spring. $6

I also got a pair of super cute black dress pants! They have 3 decorative buttons across the pocket which I think are ugly, but I can remove them easily and have a way cute pair of pants! $6 (Wearing them to work today, actually.)

I also got a dress, made out of a silky/satiny material. I bought it one size bigger because it's definitely a warmer-weather dress. Cute for showers, or work, whatever! $12

Plus I had a $5 off coupon thanks to my friend Terra. :)

So yes, while all of these items WERE on clearance, any of these items, even at Old Navy, would be at least 2x the cost even on clearance, but I feel like the quality is at least comparable, if not better at Target.

The red shirt I'm wearing in our Christmas picture is from Target too!

They key to finding great deals at Target is they mix their maternity clearance clothes with the plus-size clearance clothes. So sometimes you have to dig a little bit, but it's usually pretty easy to spot the wonderful maternity waist band. :)

18 Weeks

Sorry I'm a bit late, but here's my 18 week post and picture!



Look how round I am!! I love it! Everything is going so well. I'm loving every minute! You really forget about how miserable the first trimester was when everything is so fun in the second trimester. But that being said, I really don't have a WHOLE lot to complain about the first.

The worst thing that's going on is the baby's sporadic activity. He/she was really active last week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with several kicks per day. Saturday I didn't feel a whole lot until late in the evening, I ate a piece of cake, and got one good kick out of the baby. Sunday and Monday, I felt nothing. Let me tell you, that is scary after you've gotten used to activity!! I read in all my books and asked my online mommy friends, and they all say it's normal to go a few days without feeling anything while the baby is still this small. It could have changed positions and is now kicking inwards instead of outwards, or something like that. This morning, after eating a few Cornflake wreaths, I think I have felt a little stirring a couple of times, so that's making me feel better. I'll be glad to feel a swift kick again though!

In other news, Jeff is sick. :( He came down with whatever he has over the weekend. It started as a sore throat, and has now moved on to severe congestion. I'm scared to death to get sick, because I can't take anything, and we're leaving for Arizona in 2 days, and I want to be able to cuddle with Micah! Jeff isn't allowed to touch me, I walk around the house every day spraying everything he touches with antibacterial spray, I wash my hands every 20 minutes, and carry around antibacterial hand lotion at all times! haha, Overreacting much?? Oh well. Better safe than sorry. Today I'm noticing a little increased congestion, but otherwise still normal. So please say a little prayer for me that I can stay healthy!

The other biggest development of Week 18 is that tummy sleeping is done. I've been dreading this day. But that's pretty good that I made it almost halfway before having to give that up! And I'm doing surprisingly well. Right now the most comfortable position is lying half on my tummy, half on my side. I'm sure it won't be long until even that won't work anymore, and I'll be fully on my side, but at least it's a slow process and I have time to get used to anything!

I'm spreading Cocoa Butter on my belly every night. That stuff smells so darn good! I love to get in bed about 30 minutes early, rub on my belly butter, and then just sit there and enjoy the scent for a while before I go to bed! Yeah, I know I'm weird. My belly button is getting a little bit shallow, that is weird to watch stretch out, and a little scary to think it's going to stretch all the way out!

The Baby Loves Choir!

Last night was a dress rehearsal for our Christmas Event/Concert at church. I sing in the choir. During our first song, the baby started kicking me a bit. During the second song, I felt a completely NEW sensation... The baby must have done backflip or something! It was the weirdest thing I've ever felt! The only way I can try to describe it is if you have an aquarium fish cupped in your hands and it squirms! It was definitely a different sensation from kicks. I've never really heard people talking about squirming or flipping, so it was sort of unexpected! Definitely cool though. I hope the baby does it again soon!

All my books say the baby is just starting to be able to hear, so I'm sure it was just enjoying the music! I need to pull out the headphones and start playing all my favorite songs for the baby. :)

Tailbone Pain and a Baby Girl?

Yesterday brought another new pregnancy joy to me - tailbone pain. It was nagging a little bit early in the day, but by the afternoon I was just plain miserable. I was literally sitting tilted sideways on my chair, sitting on my thigh/hip, alternating butt cheeks, and slouching way down in my chair so I was sitting on my lower back, trying to keep all pressure off my tailbone! I'm not sure what happened. I didn't sit hard on anything, or injure it somehow... Probably just the beginning of pregnancy aches. I had to leave work early because I just wanted to lay down on my stomach, taking all pressure off my tailbone. I went home and took an hour nap, that was great. When I woke up, it felt a little better, and I tried to remain in a lying down position for the rest of the night, whenever possible. This morning it feels a little bit "nagging" again, so I hope I'm not in for a similar day. If this continues I may have to go out and look for one of those nerdy donut pillows!

Yesterday on Babycenter, a girl predicted that I'm having a baby girl based on my belly shape. I love to hear speculation!

In non-baby news, I've made the playoffs in both of my fantasy football leagues. Yay me. I'm actually in second place in my work league, where I actually have some money riding on the league! Woohoo!

I'm also on a cooking roll. I made dinner Monday night and last night... And have plans on making dinner tonight! That is a record for me. I haven't had a streak longer than 1 night of cooking my entire pregnancy. PLUS I brought my lunch yesterday for the first time the whole pregnancy. I stopped bringing lunch because in the first trimester, I could never plan on what I was going to eat. I never knew what I would be able to eat that day until I was actually hungry for lunch, so it was useless trying to plan ahead!

My latest craving is apples. I can't get enough. I have one every day, if not two a day. They're just so yummy, crispy, juicy, and delicious!

I'm really missing snow this week. Hearing all of my northern friends talk about snow (and see their pictures) it's making me homesick for a white Christmas! I just keep telling myself I'm going to Minnesota in January, so I'll get my fill then. Jeff said some year he wants to spend Christmas somewhere up north so he can experience a true white Christmas. I think that sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe when the kid(s) are old enough to appreciate the snow, and go sledding. I miss sledding. I'd love to go in January, but I don't know if that's probably too risky.

Some other good news for the day - Yesterday I got my AFP test results back, and it came back negative! So that's great news! (The test basically looks for downs syndrome and spina bifida.) So praise the Lord for a healthy baby thus far.

17 Week Picture

Here we go! Now I think I'm just plain fat.



Ouch. Oh well, we can always hope it starts sticking out front more soon rather than coming in all around! I've gained my first weight now in the last 2 weeks, I think I'm up 3-4 pounds or something. I'm sure Thanksgiving was the main contributor! haha. I had a doctor appointment on Friday, he said everything is looking perfect. I got to hear the heartbeat again, which is always fun. We've scheduled my "BIG" ultrasound for December 27. It's referred to as the Big u/s because that's when most people find out if they're having a boy or girl. For us, we'll just get to see the baby again, which will be fun because it's been a while, and this time it will be unmistakable as a baby, rather than blobs of various shapes and sizes! That will be fun.

Jeff and I had a wonderful weekend. We went down to San Antonio for the Big 12 Championship. Being here in Dallas, I always associate San Antonio as being "waaaay down there" and simply too far to ever take a trip to. It really isn't too bad at all! Closer than when I used to drive from Oklahoma City to Austin! We left Friday night, and spent the night in Round Rock. We got up the next morning, hit the outlet mall in San Marcos, then went into San Antonio.

The football game was SO much fun. We had bought 4 tickets on Ebay, and when we got there, people were basically giving tickets away, so there was no way we were going to be able to sell our other 2 tickets. So we just kept them, sat in the middle 2 seats, and had a buffer zone between us and the people next to us. That was sort of nice! I could sit sort of to the side and had plenty of leg room, especially because the guy in front of me kept putting his arms up on the seat back, and if I would have had to keep my legs frontwards, there would have been some issues there. :)

I got a little nervous when Missouri had that little trickery play to get the 2 point conversion and tied the game up, but we just came out and owned the second half. It was such a fun game to be at. I was SO annoyed with the Missouri fans though. Talk about classless. For some reason, the game was full of injuries, especially in the first half it seemed. Jeff said it was because neither of our teams were used to playing on turf. Anyway, an OU player was the first to be injured. He wasn't down on the ground more than a minute when the Missouri fans started chanting.. "MISSOURI!! BEAT OU! MISSOURI! BEAT OU!" Come on idiots, have some consideration for the injured player down on the field, providing the entertainment for you. Not too much later, a Missouri player went down. Our band stopped playing, and all our fans got quiet. I was glad to see our fans have the class there, no matter what side you're playing on, we respect the fact that a player getting injured is a solemn event, no one wants to see that happen. I was hoping we'd get that point across to Missouri. But we didn't. In the second half, another OU player went down. Did they have the same respect for us? Nope. They started up their chant again, and the band was playing a little pep song for the crowd. Klassy.

But in the end, we beat them. It was funny to watch the Mizzou fans begin to file out. Jeff and I were in the 3rd deck, and spotted some seats down in the front row of the end zone we wanted to go take over after the Mizzou fans left. With a few minutes left in the game, we went down there and hung out. We knew the Championship presentation would be on that end of the field, so we just waited. It was neat, we got to see all sorts of people walk by, Toby Keith included, but he never came over to where we were. After the presentation, all of the players came over to us and were giving us Hi-5's as they were headed down to the locker room. I got to give most of the team a Hi-5, Sam Bradford, AP, and Demarco Murray included, that was pretty fun. I couldn't believe how BIG some of those guys were! haha!

On our way home from San Antonio, we stopped at the Round Rock outlets and got some Christmas shopping done. That makes me less than 1/4 done with my shopping. HA! I need to get a move on.

We picked Bailey up on our way back into town. Our friends Clint and Kristin were babysitting her. While we were there, I had to snap a "Christmas Card" picture of Bailey and her boyfriend Chance.



It's a little dark, huh? I'm still trying to figure this camera out, it was only my second day using it!

For the record, another baby dream last night, except fast-forward a bit. I had a little toddler girl running around. So, Girl: 3 Boy: 2.

17 Weeks and another dream

I'm 17 weeks today! Gosh I can't believe it. My next doctor appointment is this afternoon, I'm not sure what we're going to do. I know they're going to do some sort of blood test, and I'm sure we'll do a doppler heartbeat too. I think we'll probably schedule my big 20-week ultrasound, so that will be super exciting!

I think for my own mental well-being, I really need to get going on the nursery, buying baby gear, and all that jazz! I had another baby dream last night. I had the baby on April 8, one month early! And for some reason I had it at home, I guess we couldn't make it to the hospital because it was so sudden. It was a boy!! Little Noah Ryan. (So now the dream count is all tied up, 2 girls, 2 boys.) Anyway, after he was born, I was so mad because I wanted to know how much he weighed! We decided that we should get him to a hospital to be checked out, but then we realized that we didn't have ANYTHING. A car seat, stroller, baby carrier, we hadn't done the nursery yet, anything! So I freaked out, sent Jeff to the store to pick up a car seat carrier thing, and I remember being so mad that I wasn't able to research which carrier to get and that Jeff was going to go randomly pick one out. Ha!

I think this was triggered because last night I went and delivered a meal to our friends Bobby and Terra, who had a baby a few weeks ago. We spent a few minutes in baby Joshua's nursery, and I got a little overwhelmed just looking around and seeing all the things I still have to buy and do to my own nursery! So all that was floating around my subconscious.

Jeff and I are headed out of town tonight to go to San Antonio. We're going to watch the Sooners play in the Big 12 Championship. It should be a lot of fun!

Kicking Spree

The baby went on a kicking spree yesterday. (I know, you're going to get tired of hearing about the baby kicking, but I never get sick of feeling it!) It was about 30 minutes after lunch. I was sitting back in my chair, getting back to work, when I felt a few thumps. Less than a minute later, I felt a few more! Keep that pattern going for about 10 minutes and that's what I felt! It was awesome! The most I had ever felt it was about 3 thumps and out... But this just went on and on! I loved it. A few minor thumps today, but not much.

I'm getting a haircut today after work. Still not sure what I want to do. I'm enjoying letting my hair get a little longer, but the ends are so damaged they need to be cut off. So I think I'll just have her cut off the bare minimum and re-trim the bangs. All I know is that a ponytail will be a MUST come May!

I got shipment notification for the Canon Digital Rebel camera I bought this weekend. It was sent UPS, signature required, and guess when it's coming? Friday. That figures. So I don't know what to do. If I'm not home, it'll be sent to the shipping center in Mesquite for me to come pick up, and I won't have it in time for this weekend when we go to San Antonio. I'd love to play with it a bit this weekend! But there's this thing called WORK I generally have to do on weekdays. Maybe I'll see if my boss will let me work from home that day, it would be very helpful! I want my camera! Get ready to be bombarded by pictures once I get that thing!

16 Weeks!

Up another week to 16 weeks! It is flying by so quickly.


It doesn't look like I'm sticking out any further this week, but I think I'm starting to look a little more rounded! I also had my dad take this picture, and it was at my parents' house, so it was taken from a different angle, different position, etc, so that may be why I look a little different.

I'm feeling movement almost every day now. It has been so great. It is still just the slightest of thumps, but it keeps happening in the same spot and with too much frequency to be my body doing it. This morning I was eating a strawberry smoothie. About 10 minutes into the smoothie, I started feeling some bumps! Can you say sugar rush??? :) My books say the baby is about the size of a softball right now. I can't believe how huge that is!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year. I love the years we're with my family, and I get to eat all the old traditional dishes I grew up with in Minnesota. I think I alone must have eaten about a pound of Wild Rice! Yum.

On Friday we drove up to Oklahoma to go to the OU/OSU football game with Jeff's family on Saturday. While we were there, the Blairs had us all gather up, dress in our OU gear, and take a family picture. Isn't Bailey so cute???



On our way home from Oklahoma, we passed by a really bad wreck. As we were driving by, we saw them loading a body bag into the Coroner's van. So sad. Jeff and I were reflecting on how we made two stops in Duncan before we left town... If we hadn't made those stops, who knows how much closer we could have been to that accident. We are very thankful for God's protection.

Jeff is now at an in-town conference until Wednesday. While it's in-town, it's still far enough away from home that he is staying there, so I'm home alone until then! (Poor thing Jeff will be staying for free at the Dallas Four Seasons. hmph!) I don't know what I'm going to do with myself!!! I guess turn the heat up, put on some comfy clothes, go rent some chick flicks and cuddle up with Bailey to watch them!

Anxiety!

I don't know where all this anxiety in my life is coming from, but it's coming out in my dreams!

On Monday night I had a dream. In the dream, Jeff and I woke up very early, for a scheduled induction and possible c-section. (Let's hope that's not a glimpse of the future!) As we were headed out the door, I panicked and realized that I had never packed a hospital bag! All the stuff I wanted to have raced through my head, and realized I wouldn't have time for any of it. Clothes to wear, makeup, the baby's coming home outfit, etc! I grabbed my red Vera Bradley Duffel bag and all I had time to grab was a bottle of shampoo and conditioner. Out the door we went, then I woke up.

Weird. SO apparently I'm going to pack my bag early to make sure that doesn't happen! haha. I'm not feeling particularly anxious about anything lately, but apparently I have issues somewhere that come out in my dreams! :)

15 Weeks and Movement?

Other than the sad news about Becky, I had a great weekend!

It started out on Friday, with me reaching 15 weeks! Here's my picture. I'm definitely on my way!


It's so fun! I love having a little baby belly out front!!

On Friday night, my friend Lauren and I went to the Nickel Creek concert at the House of Blues. It was awesome, I think they only have 3 or 4 concerts left now... It's so sad! They are all so incredibly talented. I'm sure they'll do great in their solo careers, but I like them together! We were probably less than 30 feet from them, I loved it. I could see every expression on each of their faces! Chris is very funny and kept us laughing. I snapped a picture with my cell phone... It's not the highest quality, but what do you expect out of a 4 year old phone! (Yeah, a new phone is on my list of things to buy.)


They played most of my favorite Nickel Creek songs, so it was fun to hear them in person. There were a few others I would have loved to hear, but isn't that how every concert goes?

Saturday was nice, among intermittent crying. It had been a long time since we'd had a weekend where we could just stay home and relax. We got some housework and laundry done, and watched a lot of college football. I got a good start on cleaning out the Nursery. It's going to take a lot more work, but hopefully I can force myself to keep chipping away at it. I got the closet cleaned out, and probably about 1/4 of the room. So I actually have some clothes hanging up in the closet now! It won't be too long before we have to register and think about buying furniture. Eek. Probably first thing after Christmas.

Saturday night I was laying down on the couch, watching the OU game. (Let's not talk about that...) But then suddenly I felt some... activity over the span of a minute or so. It felt like a muscle twitch inside, hard to explain. I felt it about 4 times, then it was done. The consensus from my mommy group online is that it was probably the baby! They all said that's exactly what they would explain their first flutters as. So that is very exciting! Every once in a while I think I might feel another thump similar to that, so hopefully these will become all the more frequent. It is so amazing!

Very Sad Today

I'm walking through the day today with a very heavy heart. I learned this morning that one of my friends passed away Thursday night.

I didn't know Becky Mello in real life, but we have been part of the same internet Message Board for nearly 2 years. After daily interaction like that, whether you know them "in person" or not, you still KNOW them. She was always there making me smile when I was having a bad day, offering advice about my pregnancy and baby, and sharing her struggles with us as well. She was a beautiful wife, mother, and friend.

She posted on our message board on Thursday evening about a 105 degree fever & throwing up she had. She told us that because her spleen had been removed, she was at higher risk for danger associated with several illnesses. She had taken some advil and gotten her fever down to 103 and she was in "better spirits," and was wondering if she should go to the ER to be checked out. Those who were online at the time urged her to go in and get it checked out. That was the last we heard from her.

She did go to the hospital, her husband took her that night. One of the girls talked to him, and relayed this. "At the hospital the fever broke and they did a ton of tests. They did a spinal tap for menengitis and that was clear. She passed out in one of the rooms they were doing some test in. (I can't remember what) Then somehow the infection /virus made itself known. They gave her antibiotics to treat Mengococcal Septis. (a common bacteria that only people who don't have spleens can get very sick from) He told me that she had gotten immunized for it and everything, because they know it can happen easily to people without spleens. He said they always monitor people without them when they get bad fevers to try and prevent this. He said she went 'out' and they tried reviving her for 1 1/2 hours. But....unsuccessfully, and she died. "

She leaves behind a darling daughter Cecilia, who will turn 3 in a few weeks, and a sweet 3 month old daughter, Natalie.



It makes me so sad to think that Cecilia isn't going to understand why her mommy isn't coming home. Natalie will never know her mom who loved her so much, and went through so many scares at the end of her pregnancy, how she sat by her during the NICU stay, and rejoiced the day they brought her home. I can't imagine what her poor husband is trying to deal with right now. His girls still need to be taken care of. Life can't stop.

My heart is just heavy. It's so weird to log on to the message board posts and see her words there, and know she will never post again. She was taken way too young. We will miss you, Becky.

Ann Taylor Loft Shoppers

I got an email from Ann Taylor loft with a coupon for 25% off all your purchases this weekend! Follow this link to print the coupon for yourself:

AT Link

Valid in stores and online! You're not allowed to go to Northpark Mall in Dallas before me and buy up all the maternity clothes! :)

14 Weeks & 5 Days Appointment

I had my appointment this morning, short but sweet! My doctor isn't too concerned about my headaches. He suggested I could try taking Claritin in case it's allergies, but I'd rather take Tylenol once every week or two, than be taking something daily. The other thing he suggested is that if the headaches persist, I get my eyes tested, but I don't think that's the problem. So we'll see, hopefully the headaches go away!

He also pulled out the doppler to check the heartbeat. It took him a minute or two to find it, I was getting a little nervous, but then he found it loud and clear! It sounded so cute! :) He said he could hear the baby bouncing around in there, he just couldn't get it to hold still. He said he knew if he was patient, he could pin it down and get the heartbeat. Silly baby! A personality already.

We got to visit Bobby and Terra and baby Joshua last night. Both Kristin and I forgot our cameras, so no pictures! He is beautiful. I can't wait until it's my turn!

Stupid Headaches!

I'm glad I have my next doctor appointment tomorrow. I've been having a lot of headaches lately. I'm trying to figure out when they started... Maybe 2-3 weeks ago? Hopefully it's nothing. Most of them are bearable, and I don't have to take Tylenol, but I've had to episodes so far that have been so painful I needed to take something. One was last night. I'd had a headache all afternoon at work, which is just about what I've been experiencing. It got worse when I got home. I tried to relax on the couch, but by the time Jeff got home, I was just miserable. I had him bring me some water and tylenol, and then I went and laid in bed for an hour or so. Thankfully it's getting dark earlier so the room was nice and dark! Bailey came in and curled up with me. :) After that, my evening was ok. I was thankful for the Tylenol. But I definitely don't want to become dependent on it! It'll be interesting to see if the doctor has any insight.

Our friends from Sunday School, Bobby and Terra, had their baby boy this morning! We are going to go visit them tonight. I can't wait to get my newborn "fix" and hold the little guy! It's always so surreal knowing that will be me in a few short months!

I still haven't had any more strange feelings or flutters. Every once in a while I'll feel a dull ache, but nothing specific! I can't wait to start feeling this baby!

I made my first bedding purchase today!

I bought the crib sheet below the 2 solid colors - the one with the polka dots! It is so cute and exactly along the lines of what I'm wanting. The perfect colors, everything! I have a feeling I'm just going to have to buy stuff when I see what I want, and eventually I'll have put together crib bedding for myself! :)

14 Week Picture

Here I am at 14 Weeks!

14 Weeks!

Woohoo! I'm here! 14 Weeks, official start of the Second Trimester... I made it! Couldn't be happier.

We have a fun weekend planned, tonight we're going to a High School football game to watch one of our friend's brothers play quarterback for his team. He's being recruited to play for Baylor next year.

Then tomorrow we're taking Clint and Kristin up to Oklahoma to experience Oklahoma Football. :) They are Baylor Alum (OU is playing Baylor tomorrow) so it will be fun to see both our teams. We're looking forward to showing Clint and Kristin around our stomping grounds, and to get their impression of an OU football game! I have a feeling the atmosphere is a little different from a Baylor home game! We'll try to get some pictures. When I bought my OU maternity shirt, I had this game as the game in mind to wear it for the first time, but I tried it on a couple weeks ago, and it's STILL WAAAY too big. So we have yet to see if I feel like looking ridiculous in my maternity shirt, or if I'll just dress normally!

Dreams Shaping My Reality

I have been experiencing something new this last week. Several days ago, I had a dream about hot cookies, fresh out of the oven. My alarm went off that morning before I had the chance to eat one. For the rest of the day all I could think about were hot, fresh cookies! I couldn't rest until I had one.

Last night, I had a dream about eating cereal. I think I ate about 4-5 bowls in my dream! hahaha! Oops. I was alternating bowls of Lucky Charms and Fruit Loops. When I woke up this morning, cereal sounded great, but I figured I could make it to work, through breakfast, and to lunch just fine. Nope. After about 15 minutes in the car on my way to work, I kept thinking about cereal, and how delicious it sounded. When I pulled off the freeway, I HAD to stop at Walmart and buy myself some milk and cereal! I got to work and had myself 2 bowls of cereal, and it was everything I dreamed it would be. :)

My second trimester officially begins tomorrow!! According to some books, I'm already there, but no one denies that it goes past 14 weeks, so I'll celebrate being "official!" Of course my body couldn't let the First Trimester go without one more day of nausea - I was feeling pretty miserable yesterday. I guess it was just a reminder to be thankful for how great I'm feeling now!

13 Week Picture

Here I am at 13 weeks!



I think I'm definitely starting to have a real bump there! It's getting more and more noticeable, especially when I'm wearing maternity shirts. Andrea gave me a bunch of stuff to borrow, but most of her stuff is Spring/Summer, so I'm in a use it or lose it situation! I'm trying to wear some of it now before it gets too cold! I was wearing a short sleeved maternity sweater yesterday, and had my FIRST stranger recognition that I'm pregnant!

We had to drop off our 4Runner to get a couple minor things fixed while we are still under warranty. While I was driving to the dealership, a huge craving struck me for breakfast. A waffle, eggs, and hashbrowns. MMMMM. I HAD to have it, ASAP! While we were at the dealership, we asked if they knew if there were any Waffle Houses around there. The guy behind the counter said, "Does it have to be Waffle House?" I said "ANYTHING Breakfast! Waffle House, IHOP, whatever!" He laughed and said, "Ahh, for the baby?" :) I was like WOOHOO! I love how maternity shirts just help accentuate what little you have to make you actually look pregnant and not just fat. It probably helps that it was the end of the day too, so I was a little bigger to begin with.

They found us an IHOP that was really close to the dealership, and I enjoyed my dinner-breakfast immensely! I want to go back for more! Yum.

A great weekend in Chicago!

Jeff and I went to Chicago this weekend to see Andrea and Steve, and meet our nephew, sweet baby Micah! He is adorable and we couldn't love him more! Here are some picture highlights:

Micah and his beautiful Mommy:


Micah loves his Auntie Laura!


Sweet Micah!


Cute and cuddly!!


Bath time! I love his face!


Proud Auntie and Uncle! We love him!


It was so hard to leave them, but it was a little easier knowing we get to see them again in about 5 weeks in Arizona!

I am now 13 weeks, more like 13 1/2 weeks! I just keep getting further and further along, it's so fun to watch the weeks climb! I'm getting to the point now where I can still wear lots of my pre-pregnancy pants, but by the end of the day (or even lunch time like today) I need to unbutton them, it's so uncomfortable! Andrea let me borrow a bunch of her maternity stuff, for which I'm eternally grateful! Those maternity pants feel so glorious... So comfortable! Andrea said she could definitely see a bump, which made me feel good. :) Every week I go back to Andrea's pictures to see what she was looking like at that point, and hoping I look like her.

I've had a lot of headaches lately. Not sure why. That's the biggest thing I've been combating, otherwise I am feeling great. I still love naps, but I'm not desperate for them now like I was before. I'm now counting down the last few days of my first trimester, which is just crazy! I can't believe I'm 1/3 done! 6 months to go!

Disappointment

You can disregard the picture of the bedding set I loved from yesterday! In my opinion, that set looks green & white to me! I looked the set up on Ebay and some people had actual pictures of the set. Well, it's yellow, blue, green, and white! Whatever! The pictures at Babies R Us are very deceiving! So, that's out. Oh well! I was actually getting excited about making my set anyway, so I think I'm back to that solution!

Bedding Musings

Two posts in one day! Can you tell I'm bored???

I found my first bedding set that I actually REALLY like today, and would consider buying!


It's so pretty! The only thing I don't like about it is that there's no mocha. But our crib will be dark brown, so maybe that makes up for it?? But if I decide to follow through with making my own, here are my thoughts:

Take these 3 minky dot fabrics:





And for the bumper, use big squares of each one, and alternate all the way around. Green, brown, white, green, brown, white, etc. The back of the bumper probably mocha satin.

For the "look pretty but do nothing" quilt, use smaller squares and make a patchwork minky quilt with mocha satin edging and backing.

I'll use sage and white crib sheets, and then maybe the mocha satin skirt.

So, those are the ideas I'm tossing around! Which do you like better? Give me a vote!

Fraud, Furniture, & Flutters

Lots to talk about today!

Jeff had his softball championship last night (Jeff's team won! Yay!) so I was at home alone, doing some laundry, packing for Chicago, and watching some TV. I get a phone call from Capital One's Fraud department, asking to talk to Jeff. I told them he couldn't come to the phone, and they said to have him call back ASAP. I asked if something was wrong with the account, and they said they couldn't tell me anything because I wasn't the account holder.

I knew Jeff would be late, so I left him a note to call Capital One, then went and got ready for bed. Before turning out the lights, I was reading my "Baby Bargains" book discussing how to pick out a quality crib, dresser, etc etc.

The next thing I know, Jeff walks into our room, wakes me up and asks me, "Did you spend $350 at 'Beverages & More' tonight?" I started racking my brain.. then I said "Beverages and more.... That sounds like they sell furniture, but I haven't bought any furniture..." Then Jeff walked out of the room. I laid there for a few minutes, but as I woke up and processed what was going on, I got up and went out into the living room to see what was up. It turns out that our credit card number had been stolen, and they tried to purchase whatever that was at Beverages & More, and another $150 at some Halloween Warehouse. Luckily Capital One caught it in time, denied the purchases, and closed out our account for us.

After he hung up, he was like.... "Furniture at Beverages & More?" LOL! It's his fault for asking me something like that when I was still 90% asleep! We are still laughing about it today! He said the person on the other end of the line at Capital One was probably like, "yeah, that's a bright one you've got there...."

We have no clue how they might have gotten our CC#, but we're going to take some other precautions to try to make sure they can't get into anything else.

On a non-related note, for the last few weeks I've been thinking about Tin Star and their yummy corn salsa. I've been to afraid to walk into the restaurant though, for fear of throwing up! (Something about the smell of a mexican restaurant makes me want to hurl, big aversion!!!)

But today, my craving got the best of me, and I drove over to Tin Star. I went in and ordered a side order of chips, corn salsa, and a coke. The guy was like "Well, how big of an order do you want, how many people do you want to serve?" I was like, "oh! Just me, for lunch." He said "Oh, you don't have to pay for that!" He went and got me a coke, chips, and my salsa! WOW! What a sweet guy! I was so flabbergasted I just said thank you, took it, and left.. I should have given him a tip or something!

I'm wearing a maternity top for the first time today!! I got it on clearance at Gap and it's short-sleeved, so I figured why not wear it.... It's 80 degrees today and who knows how many more of these days we'll have. So it's fun to be wearing it! I'm wearing some elastic-waist gauchos so it feels GREAT to have no constriction anywhere! I feel so roomy! :) I probably don't NEED to be wearing it, but considering I'm almost 13 weeks, I deserve it. And I DO have a little tummy! I think the top helps accentuate it. :)

Also, I KNOW KNOW KNOW it's too early, but I wanted to record it for recording's sake. I set my alarm a little earlier this morning because I needed to shave because I was wearing my gauchos. On a normal morning I wake up when Jeff's alarm goes off, and then I lay in bed for 15-20 min until my alarm goes off, in a half-awake mode. Well, when my alarm goes off before Jeff's I'm UP and AWAKE right now. I was in the shower, and after about 30 seconds of nice hot water, I felt something strange. After being paranoid about several months ago when I was on Clomid, trying to feel ovulation pains, then being newly pregnant and being paranoid about cramping, I feel like I'm pretty in tune with which feelings are uterine... And I swear I felt something that felt like air bubbles bouncing in my uterus. Very very light. It lasted about 10 seconds, then was done. I know all the books and stuff will say that it was gas, and who knows. Might have been, probably was, I had some heartburn issues last night, but this definitely felt different than anything I've felt before. Once I really do start feeling the baby it'll be interesting to compare it to this and see how the sensation is different.

12 Week Picture

So here I am at 12 weeks!


I feel like if anything, I look smaller than the 11 week picture! How frustrating! I'm just ready to be showing, dang it! haha. Soon enough, maybe 15 weeks or so.

I had another baby dream last night! I love those. The baby was a girl (Boy count: 1 Girl count: 2). In most dreams I never get to see anything, but I got to see her profile! She was so beautiful! Medium skin, light brown hair, and a freckle on her forehead! The second I saw her (in my dream) I knew we had to name her Reese. (Which is in the running, but not the front runner) So I thought that was an interesting reaction from myself. She was born May 13. (Hopefully that's not a sign that I'll be overdue!) I remember in my dream having to call my boss to tell him I wouldn't be coming into work that day. HAHA!

Goodbye Metformin and No Camera Batteries!

I'm officially OFF Metformin now!! YAY!!! My last pill was Saturday night. The weaning process wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, and it feels great to no longer be taking it. That stuff made me so miserable!

I have had a headache yesterday and today though... Could it be connected? Who knows. I guess I'd rather have a headache than feel how I felt while taking Metformin.

My apologies for not having my 12 week picture up. At this rate, I'll practically be 13 weeks by the time I take my 12 week picture! When Jeff and I bought our digital camera, we bought several sets of rechargeable batteries. They are to the point now where you spend 8 hours charging them, and all they have left is enough energy to get MAYBE one picture out, so I haven't been able to get the 12 week picture yet! I'm going to go buy more batteries on my lunch break today, so I should be able to get the picture tonight.

Over the weekend I also bought my first maternity pants! I can still generally wear all my pants, but by the end of the day, I'm sorry, those solid waist lines just aren't cutting it! I'm always unbuttoning my pants by the end of the day. HA! I wore those maternity pants to a party last night, and it was greatness! I'm loving the elasticity. It's going to be hard to go back after the baby is born!

Jeff and I are greatly anticipating this weekend - we're flying up to Chicago to meet Baby Micah! We can't wait. And we're going to get a realistic taste of what it's like to have an infant around... I'm afraid it's too late to back out of ours! haha! :)

12 Weeks and my Weirdest Craving!

If you time things based on my last ultrasound, I'm 12 Weeks today! Or if I base things on my own timing, I'm 12 Weeks tomorrow! Close enough! :) I can't believe I've made it to this point. I wanted to believe this would be a normal, healthy pregnancy, and that God would give us this baby, but I always had this nagging worry in the back of my mind that I wouldn't be that lucky. Especially with PCOS, the chances of keeping any baby, much less your first, are lower than a normal pregnancy! I am so thankful to God for keeping this baby safe and strong. He has taught me a lot about relying on him in the last 8 1/2 weeks since we found out about the pregnancy.

In the last few weeks I've felt a big weight lifted off my shoulders as I relax about my worries. It feels good to just enjoy where I'm at, and enjoy the pregnancy. I'm feeling GREAT now. Hungry more, sick less, and eating more. I'm dreading the weight gain though!

Today also brought my strangest craving. I had 2 soft shell tacos from Taco Bell! Now anyone who knows me knows that Taco Bell would NEVER be my first choice in dining options! But today, that was all I wanted. I had to drive a little bit out of my way to get it, but it was oh so worth it. :) Craving satisfied. And no, this doesn't mean my Mexican aversion is over. A Taco Bell taco hardly counts as Mexican. Sorry friends, it's going to be a little while still before you get me back in a Mexican restaurant!

And tonight we're making the pregnancy "public." We are so excited! Hopefully I'll gain some more readers too once I reveal the address to this blog. :)

11 Week Picture

Now that I'm halfway to 12 weeks, I figured it's probably time to post my 11 week picture!



Not too much change I guess! I'm SO excited to be 12 weeks in a few days. That's when we're going to make it "public." I can't wait! Then everyone can know about this blog!

And just to even things out, I had a boy dream this week. I really don't remember much about the dream, other than that the baby was a boy! I also had a dream about labor last night - that I totally couldn't feel anything. Man, was that nice! hehe.

10 Week, 5 Day Ultrasound

After a mini-scare (not really) yesterday, when the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat via Doppler, he wanted me to come back for an ultrasound in the afternoon just to make sure all was well.

Everything looks GREAT! Measuring right on schedule, they gave me an EDD of May 8 but I'm going to keep May 9 because it's Joel's & Blaze's birthday. :)

Loud and strong Heart rate 169 bpm. It's so cute! It actually looks like a baby now, and it was jumping & bouncing all over the place, and waving it's arms... Sooo cute!



I have been eating GREAT lately. I can basically eat all I want and never get sick! It's a miracle, the first time in my life! I weigh myself every morning, fully expecting THIS to be the day it takes a 4 pound jump. It never does! I weighed in this morning and am now -12 pounds from the day I got my positive pregnancy test. Wow. Apparently I have crazy good pregnancy metabolism or something?! It should start going up soon!

10 Week Picture

Here's my 10 week picture!! Wow am I starting to look fat! But it's fun!



For comparison sake, here's 6 weeks! There's a real difference there!

A Fun Weekend in Oklahoma

We made our first big trip in the 4Runner this weekend up to Oklahoma to visit the Blairs. We still had all 3 dogs, so that made everything all the more interesting! I love the versatility of the SUV. We put the back seats down, then laid the dogs beds down. It was great! They had a nice even "floor" to walk around on and rest. I can't say they (especially Bailey) completely loved being "forced" to stay in the back, but they eventually sacked out in their each individual beds. It was very cute.

When we got there, the Blairs gave us an adorable OU windsuit for the baby to wear. It's 6-9 months, so it'll be the perfect size for next Fall's football season. Saturday was a fun, but long day. We left mid-morning to head up to Norman, and grabbed some lunch at Applebees. After lunch we drove over to campus. I went up to Balfours to buy a cute OU maternity shirt that I had found online. I can't wait to be big enough to wear it! Maybe by the next game we go to. :) The game was fun, and of course all the more fun that we won, and LSU and Cal lost! A HUGE cheer went through the crowd when the news came in that LSU had lost. That was awesome! I fell asleep in the car on the way home from the game. I was exhausted!

When we got back home to Texas last night, I decided I was hungry about 9:00 pm. I told Jeff that I wanted a home made pizza, but I wasn't patient enough to #1 make one, or #2 wait for the time it would take to cook. Jeff offered to run out and get me a pizza, so I took him up on the offer. :) Jeff is so sweet. He's the best husband a pregnant girl could ask for!

10 Weeks

I'm 10 weeks today! I can't believe I've made it this far! I dropped Jeff off at the train station this morning and as we were driving I told him that this means we've known about the pregnancy for 6.5 weeks now! That is crazy. It doesn't seem that long!

It's so fun to be in the double digits... Only a few weeks and I'll be moving on to the Second Trimester. What?? When did that happen? I can't believe I'll be 1/3 done at that point. That is just bizarre! I also can't wait to be able to tell EVERYONE. I think we'll let it out at 12 weeks, so only 2 more to go! It'll be so fun to have it out there in the open and be able to share pictures (and the link to this blog!) with everyone.

I'm leaving work early today to run home, pack up all 3 dogs, pick Jeff up, and then head off to Oklahoma for the weekend. We're both looking forward to a weekend away. We'll be celebrating Jeff's birthday with his family, and of course going to the Sooners game on Saturday. BOOMER SOONER! I'll have to post my 10 week pictures when we get back.

Bella Bands and Popcorn Balls

I think I reached a little milestone today - I went out and bought a Bella Band! I was going to wear a pair of khakis today, put them on, and while they DID fit, I could tell that it was NOT going to be comfortable sitting in them all day. So I nix'd that outfit and moved on. I still have lots of pants that fit (thanks to the weight loss!) but there are a few that are too tight now, that were borderline too tight pre-pregnancy anyway. So, I bought the Bella Band! I figure I'll be able to wear all the pants that are a little too tight now, and the Bella Band will stay with me in the next few weeks and months as I grow out of all my regular pants, but I'm not big enough yet for maternity.

I went to Walmart today at lunch to pick up my Metformin and Prenatals prescription, and wandered around until I found something that looked good for lunch. Just the other day I was thinking about popcorn balls and how yummy they were... Then low and behold, I turned a corner, and THERE THEY WERE!!!!!!!! I was SO excited. Of course they only came in a 20-pack, so now I have a million popcorn balls. But I HAD to eat one as soon as I got in the car! There was no waiting until I got back to the office, I had to have it NOW. :) It was all I dreamed it would be.

Jeff's latest thing is obsessing over my protein intake. I do recognize that I'm not getting enough. But the thought of most meats gross me out so what's a girl to do! I'm trying to eat nuts, peanut butter, etc etc. Last night on my way home from work he asked me how much protein I'd had, and I said none. He told me that if I don't eat some meat at dinner he was going to take me down to Scotty P's and force me to eat a double meat hamburger. (Gross and gross.) He always tells me "It's not about you anymore, it's about the health of the baby." A little annoying, but cute that he's into it. :)

9 Week Pictures

So, my 9 week pictures bring about the scariest pregnancy picture we've taken so far:

(Sorry for the blurriness, I think I need to give Jeff a refresher course on how to use a camera!)



Yikes. Someone want to tell me where that GUT came from??? I promise I'm not sticking anything out, either! Hello bloat! That's just gross.



The side view isn't quite so scary. Looks about like last week.

I've still overall been feeling pretty good through this weekend. Friday was a little rough, I felt sick, but then most of Saturday and yesterday I felt pretty good. I'm wondering if maybe I feel sicker when I eat sweet things? I'm not feeling very good right now, but a co-worker brought some carrot cake in this morning, and I ate a piece for breakfast... And bam, now I'm not feeling good. So I'm wondering if I'm getting that figured out. I also felt sick during and just after a baby shower on Saturday after I had eaten a bunch of sweet things as well.

I'm tired today and have a headache. I didn't sleep very well last night, first I went to bed late because I was so excited to get news from Andrea, and then once I went to bed I tossed and turned until Jeff came to bed at almost 2 and told me I have a message on my phone. Then after I listened to it and learned that Micah was here, I laid in bed thinking about them for a bit, and finally got to sleep! I woke up again around 3 am feeling sick, but I was able to fall back asleep after a bit. So I'm tired! I might try for a little office nap at lunch again!

Happy Birthday Micah Steven Hall!

My sweet nephew, Micah, was born this morning, October 8, 2007 at 1:18 am.

8 Pounds, 4 Ounces
20 1/2 inches long

So far mommy and baby are doing great! I haven't had a chance to talk to Andrea yet, but I heard she got 2 hours of sleep last night, so I'm sure she's exhausted!





I can't wait to meet you, little guy!!

My nephew is on his way!!

I woke up this morning, got ready for church, and picked up my phone as we were walking out the door. I saw that I had missed 4 calls from my parents and Andrea, and I was like "OH MY GOSH she HAS to be in labor!!!" Sure enough, she was! I talked to both my dad and Andrea this morning about 8:00, on their way to the hospital.

Through the day, Mom and Dad have been faithfully calling just about every hour, giving me updates! I wish I could be there! I of course want to hear EVERYTHING, knowing that 7 months from now it will be my turn!

As I type, last I heard about an hour ago, she's at 8 cm and hopes to be pushing within an hour or two! Go Andrea, you are awesome!!! I can't wait to meet my nephew!!

9 Weeks - I Can Eat Again!!!

Something strange has happened in the last few days. It's making me nervous because I'm feeling "better" which makes me scared something is wrong with the baby!

But, Wednesday was a rough day. Starting around lunch time, I got so nauseated. It lasted all day, I couldn't bring myself to eat anything for lunch, or through the rest of the day, and I was miserable. I even left work early because I just wanted to be home on the couch. I felt that way until about 6:00 or 7:00, when some sort of switch flipped.

I was sitting on the couch and thought, "Hmm, pickles sound pretty good!" So I grabbed the jar of pickles and finished them off. (Don't worry, there were only like 6 or 7 baby pickles in there.) Then I had a popsicle. Jeff called on his way home from work and said that spaghetti sounded good to him, and of all miracles, that sounded good to me too! So we had spaghetti for dinner. I ate two servings! To top it off, for dessert, I had a piece of cherry chip cake.

That is the most I've eaten, probably in an entire day, so far this pregnancy. I just knew I'd "pay" for it, being up in the middle of the night sick. Much to my surprise, I woke up the next morning, my stomach feeling just fine. And it continued again yesterday. I was hungry for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner! And no stomach issues in 2 days now! It's a record!

It's a weird change, but one I'm enjoying. I can only hope I'm coming out of the first trimester yuckiness, even though I'm only 9 weeks... But you never know!

And I'm up 1 pound on the scale! Woohoo! Well I can't say I was too excited to see it go up, but after 10 pounds of weight loss, it's comforting to see it turn the other way back around now.

Crib Bedding

I've been thinking about my crib bedding situation, and how frustrated I am that I can't find anything in the colors I want (sage green, mocha brown, and white) without cutesy animals and stuff. I'm all about modern, sleek, chic, not teddy bears and balloons.

I was already planning on making my own curtains for the room, so I took that thought a level higher and thought.... Why not just make your own?

I was looking around online yesterday and saw several crib bedding patterns out there. I'm wondering what the level of difficulty on those things is. I'm wondering if my mom and I could tag team it? I could bring my sewing machine out to her house a few weekends, and with hers too, we could work together on it.

That way I could pick out the fabrics, designs, everything, and have the curtains I was going to make anyway, to match! I'm starting to get excited about it, but just wondering if it would be entirely too time consuming, and so on.

I have sent an email to my mom to see if she's willing to help, because I don't think I can do it alone! But she's on her way up to Chicago to wait for my sister's baby to be born, so it's going to be a while before we really get to talk about it!

I have the best Dad in the world!

For a few weeks now, I've been craving Sesame Chicken & Fried Rice from Leann Chin in Minneapolis/St Paul. Over this weekend, I realized my dad was in Minnesota!

I called him up and asked if he'd mind bringing me some. We devised a plan for him to buy it the night before he came back to Texas, keep it in a freezer overnight, then it would remain cool as he brought it to me.

Well, he landed this morning, then he and Mom brought it to me at work at lunch time today! He brought me 2 entrees of it!! I'm SO excited. Because of all my first trimester weight loss, my stomach has definitely shrunk, and I could only eat half of it! But that means I now can get 4 MEALS out of it! Woohoo! I think I'll re-freeze one of them and save it for a week or so from now.

Thanks Dad, you're the best!

8 Week Pictures

Here I am, at 8 weeks! Is it me or am I seeing a tiiiiiny bump there? I know, probably not likely, I probably just ate a little more today. :)


On another happy note, we bought a car last night!!! Woohoo!!! A tan Toyota 4Runner. We are SO excited and we love it!