Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Hey baby, hey baby, hey!


Well as most of you know, our little bundle of joy came out to play on Friday the 18th. He was born at 6:05 pm and weighed 7 pounds 11.6 ounces and 21 inches long. The delivery was actually pretty smooth, just took forever! We arrived at the hospital at 7:00 am, got checked in and hung out in the waiting room for about 10-20 minutes before our nurse came and brought us back to the room. I put on the lovely hospital gown and got into the oh so comfy bed. She strapped two monitors to my belly, one for his heart and one for my contractions. Apparently I'd been having contractions and didn't know - what I thought was him stretching out and pushing his feet against my belly was actually a contraction. After she did all that, checked my blood pressure and my temperature, she hooked up my IV and started the pitocin.

I have to say I pretty much wimped out. As soon as the pitocin kicked in, I started feeling my contractions in my lower back and asked for the epidural right away. And here is the most painful part of my labor journey. when they inserted the epidural, he must have hit some sort of nerve as I no longer was experiencing my contractions in my tummy and lower back - they were all concentrated in my right upper thigh. That was probably the most excruciating 2 hours of my life until they got my epidural out and redone. They actually had to call some one else in to fix it, the guy that gave it to me the first time struggled for about 30 minutes before he called some one else in. Once the 2nd epidural was in, it was smooth sailing. I no longer felt anything and actually napped.

At about 3:30 I got the urge to push, so we started that. The worst part of it was feeling like my head was about to pop off my shoulders when I was pushing. :-) 3 hours later, Ben decided to come out and see what all the fuss was about! I did cry a little when they put him on my chest for me to see and hold him - I couldn't believe he was finally here and all mine.

The rest of the hospital stay was pretty basic, I suppose. My parents came out that night while i was still in the labor & delivery room to see Ben and bring me some freshly baked cinnamon rolls - I was dying of hunger. They said to have just a light meal before coming in, as I might have a reaction to the medicine. I was so excited, I couldn't sleep past 4:30 that morning and so at 4:30 I had a croissant and a small glass of orange juice. Didn't eat until after 7:00 that night and was RAVENOUS. I made every one in the delivery room laugh when I said "I can't believe all I can think about right now is how hungry I am" in between pushing sessions. I ordered a hamburger from the cafeteria and I swear it was the best tasting food I'd ever had.

The next day we had a few visitors. My brother, Carin and the kids came and Victor & Tiffany came and then my parents came out again. Ben passed his hearing test and got the a-okay from the pediatrician. We were discharged on Sunday and sent home.

Having Ben at home is so wonderful and so challenging at the same time. He does absolutely beautifully during the day - eats and sleeps on a pretty consistent time line & he fusses very little. Actually the days are pretty boring while he's sleeping. I don't know what to do with myself. I'm trying to nap often in preparation for those nights that aren't as fun. For some reason, Ben's got an insatiable appetite at night. Sunday night was horrific. Monday night was only slightly better. We visited the doctor on Tuesday and she instructed us to replace every 2nd or 3rd feeding with formula to encourage those wet diapers (he was only having one wet diaper a day) and I have to say since we started doing that, last night was much better.

I'm so stoked about pee and poop now. Every time we have to change him, I cheer a little. I giggle over all the little faces he makes. I excited to watch him grow and change and develop. I'm excited to get to the point where we're sleeping through the night again. :-)

I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Since I stopped working, I have completely lost all perspective of time. It just doesn't feel like Christmas! Usually at this point, I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to finish my last minute shopping and get everything wrapped. This year I'm all done and there's nothing to do but wait.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Time's Up!

Well, today is officially my last day of being pregnant! It's been a pretty amazing journey so far - started way back in April when I finally took a test that came up positive just three days before Nick's birthday. I was going to wait and tell him on his birthday, but I was just so excited I couldn't keep it to myself. I giggled like a little kid ALL day long that day. Then we told my parents not long after Mother's Day and his parents right after that. Then we shared with every one else our good news!

Pregnancy has been a fairly easy adventure for me. I did have a bout of morning sickness for most of my first trimester - I soon discovered that Strawberry Pop-Tarts, vitamin B6 and taking my prenatal at night instead of in the morning were my life savers. So while I was sick every day, it didn't seem as bad as some of the horror stories I'd heard. Sick in the morning, fine by mid-morning and smooth sailing for the rest of the day. I didn't have any surprise STD's (you have no idea how relieved I was to learn that I did not in fact have herpes....and if there was ever a need for a sarcastic font, this would be the place to use it! LOL!) and I passed my glucose test with flying colors. Even the drink wasn't that disgusting - I mean, it's nothing I'd ever say "oohh, pour me a glass of glucose drink!", but I was able to get it down.

Finding out the gender was way exciting. I had no idea one way or the other. Nick's mom was hoping for a girl, since she has a grandson already; my mom was hoping for a boy since she has two granddaughters and one grandson already; Nick was certain boy since I was eating meat like a caveman; Brenda at work was certain girl....the very first picture we got of him was of his boy bits. He's squirmy and most of our ultrasound pictures are blurry because he won't sit still.

I never had any strange cravings. I did go through a pickle phase, where I probably had 3 jars of pickles total - but I wasn't like dipping them in peanut butter or anything odd. I also had a lemonade phase, where I was drinking a carton of Simply Lemonade every other day. The biggest thing I craved was hamburgers. McDonald's $1 cheeseburgers were what I wanted and I probably had one (or two...) 5 times a week. But that being said, I haven't gained much weight. So far I'm at 5 pounds total for my pregnancy, so by the time this little boy is born, I'll weigh less than I did before I got pregnant (woo hoo). I didn't do the swelling thing, I was able to wear my regular shoes and my rings the whole pregnancy.

I still don't like chocolate. I wonder if that's a taste that will come back after he's born, or if I'm just off chocolate for life. The only thing bummer about that is I keep craving brownies. I haven't made any yet because I'm fairly certain I won't like them but I want one. Other than that, I'm not too bummed about not liking chocolate any more :-)

Decorating the nursery was so much fun. We did it slow - started out with just the crib that Nana Anson bought us not long after we announced we were expecting. The rest of it was on hold until we found out boy or girl. Once we knew we were getting a little boy monkey, we took that theme to heart and picked out monkey bedding. We painted the walls a nice sunny yellow and slowly but surely accumulated all the things we need. I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing and I'm sure there's stuff I thought I had to have that I'll never use - but we won't know what any of that is til we discover we need it and don't have it or go "well, that was a waste of money" :-)

The baby shower was so much fun. I really restricted myself and didn't go hog wild buying things (in fact, I don't think I bought one thing for him before the baby shower) until after the shower. Susan came out from Ohio to host and my mom graciously let us use her house for it. Some of the husbands came and huddled together in the basement with my dad and Nick to play pool, drink beer and be manly men.

So tomorrow is the big day. I go in at 7:00 and will have a baby at some point during the day. I'm starting to get nervous - yesterday I didn't really feel one way or the other about it. Today I'm getting nervous/anxious. I'm not thrilled still with the idea of labor. I'm really trying to not think about that part and just think that I get to bring a bundle of baby home with me, but even that part is a little overwhelming. I know we'll do fine and I have a terrific support system here if I need it but it is overwhelming and intimidating.

Nick is like certain Ben is coming today and as such has taken today off work. And as such, I'm making him do home work. Insert diabolical laughter here. This is actually perfect timing - Nick is off from school for the next two week for Christmas and New Years, so our evenings can be spent together. Since his work is so flexible and allows him to work from home as often as possible, he'll be here at a lot to help. I do have some last minute Christmas shopping to do today, so at some point I'll actually go get ready for the day and we'll get that stuff taken care of.

My hospital bag is all packed and in the car. Ben's bag is all packed (for the 3rd time....I keep changing his going home outfit) and in the car. The car seat is installed and ready to go. And tomorrow! Tomorrow!!! Tomorrow we get to finally meet him!!! The hospital called me a few minutes ago to talk about what I need to do for tomorrow and ask me a barrage of questions. And good news! The ban on visitors has been lifted so you can all come visit me on Saturday :-) And bring me prizes. We'll do our best to keep you updated via FB updates once things get going...because I know it's all each and every one of you will be thinking about tomorrow. LOL

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Happy December!

And Happy First Day Of Maternity Leave! It wasn't a super productive day but any means. I "slept in" until about 8:00ish and played on the computer most of the day. I did make sugar cookies - from scratch (first time I've ever started with home made dough, usually I buy the already made kind). The first batch was a tad over done:

but the rest of them looked pretty good!
I don't much care for them - not "sugary" enough for me - but Nick thinks they're fantastic. :-)

I have been productive other days of this week, though. I couldn't make myself go to work on Monday so I bailed on them yet again and stayed home. I cleaned out the freezer, organized my beef (my parents and I went halfsies on a 1/4 of a beef cow - we each got about 100 or so pounds of different cuts of beef) and then cooked. I made a tamale casserole, a tuna noodle casserole and a lasagna.
I also made some freezer jam with some of the berries I found in the freezer. I made two tubs of strawberry and one tub of blueberry. I put some of the strawberry jam on my sugar cookies today and it's SUPER good!

I've been working on filling out the baby book that Susan got me. I've pretty much got all the entries done that I can do before he's born. I need to fill it up with some photos. I'm also working on a family frame collage for his room. I'm waiting for my brothers family to shoot me over some pictures of them (as I was going through my pictures I found I don't have anything of just them since the 90s! and I realized I hardly took any photos at Thanksgiving, so I don't even really have anything terribly recent of their kids) and then I can order my prints up from Snapfish and get the collage put together and hung up:




Got the car seat all installed and the diaper bag stowed away. We're just waiting for him to arrive.


Had my weekly appointment on Monday and unfortunately I hadn't made much progress. Last Monday I was dilated to barely a 2 and this Monday I was dilated to a full two. The sound you hear is me banging my head in frustration. I gained one pound since last Monday - probably due to my intense appetite recently. I feel like I'm starving all the time. But other than that, doctor notice my blood pressure has been steadily increasing. It's certainly not in the danger zone but she wants to keep an eye on it. So I decided to start my maternity leave a little early. I went to work on Tuesday, cleared up my loose ends and officially started leave today. Plan right now is for me to go back on March 1st. I have enough vacation to pay me through almost all of January so we'll test the waters in February and see if we really can survive on Nick's check alone. If so, then I'll push back going back to work for the full 3 months FMLA says I get (so going back in May). If not, then March 1st it is.

Nick started his winter quarter on Monday. He finished last quarter with all B's. Not that B's are bad - I'm thrilled he's doing so well - but I have noticed his concentration in school has been decreasing since we found out we were having a baby. I hope that Ben's arrival doesn't make his grades dip. It's important to us both that he do well - I mean....this is a freakish amount of money we're shelling out for his schooling, so we want him to do well at it.

So, baby pool. So far we've knocked out:
Emma - 12/02
My mom - 12/03
Heidi - 12/04
Carin - 12/06
Jamie (brother), Dad & Tara - 12/07
Stephen, Tiffany & Connor - 12/08

Unless this baby comes tonight (and so far it doesn't look like it) we'll also knock out Victor who guessed today.

And that's my stellar update. :-)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

whine. complain. blah, blah, blah

Oh I'm getting crabby. I left work today early because I had this anxious feeling - got all shaky inside and my palms were sweating and I just couldn't sit still. I came home and did some chores - nothing major like deciding to iron my curtains or something equally as uncharacteristic...I felt like 100% better as soon as I walked in the door but before too long that anxious feeling returned. There's a few things contributing to this, I'm sure.
  1. I'm tired of doing this now and I want this baby to get here
  2. Nick pointed out that my shift in attitude came when the doctor said "any day now" - I've been quite impatiently waiting for that "any day" to be NOW
  3. I'm rapidly approaching my due date and every one that knows me, knows I'm impatient and hate to wait. I want what I want when I want it. Hey, what can I say? I'm a product of my decade of indulgence...
I have exactly 2 weeks from today til my due date. I feel like this part is taking forever. I was certain, convinced and would have bet my life on the fact that he was going to decide to come over Thanksgiving break. I mentally left my job and it was so hard to go back. Every day is a struggle - I keep trying to be ready to have a baby and stay at home and take care of him but apparently he's just not ready to come out yet.

I'm trying SO hard to have patience and just wait it out but dang it that's easier said than done. I know d-day is right around the corner and even that isn't an exact date of when that happens. I think that right there is the crux of the problem. It's just a waiting game. The 16th is his estimated arrival...he could come tonight. He could come tomorrow. He could come next Thursday. He could come on the 18th. We just don't know and I HATE the not knowing.

Had my weekly check up on Monday. I hadn't made much progress dilation wise - I was at about a 2. Doctor did a procedure where she stripped my membranes (if you don't know what that is, you can google it - I'm not going in to it here). It was quite an uncomfortable feeling but nothing that I'd absolutely refuse to do again. So far it hasn't worked. Apparently if it is a successful attempt, baby comes with in 24-72 hours. We're at the end of 48 hours and NOTHING. I've had a few - far between - contractions but nothing to write home about. So. Sigh. I'd also gained 2 more pounds so he's chunking up in there.

Poor Nick is avoiding making plans. He's on full red-alert. Eric invited him to the BSU game this Friday and Nick passed - not wanting to be at the game and get a call that I'm in labor. We're just both so ready to get on with the next stage...but the key player has stage fright.

Oh well. In non-whining, non-bitching & moaning news. ha. Susan ordered me the CUTEST baby book that came today. I spent quite some time filling out all the spaces I can right now. I've got to go stick it in the diaper bag to take with us to the hospital (if I ever GO to the hospital...oh...wait...that was whining s'more...whoops). Nick ordered us new phones (we were both due for an upgrade). I have the coooooooolest new phone - it's a Samsung Exclaim. it's got one of those slide out keyboard dealies and I can get on the internet on it and join the rest of the 21st century. ha! Nick ordered himself the Blackberry Curve. it's preeeeeety. So we've been spending all evening playing with our new phones.

So that's my update. Nothing much but a bunch of whining. We're just waiting. And we all know much I just LOVE to wait.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

oh baby

Well let's see what's happened since my last bloggityblog post. I've had 2 more appointments (I'm seeing her weekly now). At my 1st of those appointments she did the Group B Strep test and checked to see if I'm making any progress. At that time (this was last Friday, the 20th) I had gained 4 pounds, was 1 centimeter dilated and 3/4 effaced. I hadn't experienced any contractions at that point. Today I haven't gained any more weight, I'm 1 1/2 cm dilated and 90% effaced and the GBS came back negative so no antibiotics needed for me at delivery. I've had a few contractions (a couple on Saturday, a couple on Sunday) and then major back pain all day yesterday. My pelvis is so sore, I'm walking like a duck and I'm getting cranky.

Right now I'm kind of bummed. I was hoping I'd made more progress (dilation wise) since Friday. I know my due date isn't for a few more weeks but I'm at the point where I'm just done now. I'm ready to not be pregnant any more, I'm ready to get this baby out and get on with the next phase of our lives. I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm uncomfortable, I can't eat (there's no ROOM) and I just have the blahs.

But enough with the crab-fest. :-) On the up side, his room is pretty much done. All that's really left to get is the night stand, but since we swapped out the teeny bookshelf for a more regular sized one, it's serving as a night stand for now and works just fine. We got our diaper contraption last night. All we need is a little boy to put in there!

In non-baby news, my Christmas shopping is pretty much done! I have a few things I ordered online that I'm still waiting for to be delivered and I still need to shop for Susan's birthday (or give her the stuff I got for Christmas for her birthday and get different things for Christmas for her). I took today off from work (office was closing early and I had a mid-morning doctors appointment) so I've got several plans running through my head.
I'll either wrap my presents and get those that need mailed ready to go or...
I'll clean my house (I don't believe this is nesting...it's practical - I'm home, it's messy and I have the energy during the day to do it that I don't have in the evenings after work) or...
I'll decorate for Christmas or...
I'll end up playing on the computer all day and do nothing. HA! No, I have to do something. I've got to bake my pie for Thanksgiving dinner tonight so something will get done.

Let's see, what else. Nick finished his fall quarter and gets just about 2 weeks off before winter quarter starts. Don't know the grades yet, but I'm hoping he did well again. On the super, super, super, DUPER good news side - this is the first quarter in over a YEAR that he doesn't have any Saturday class!!! Nick has a feeling he'll get this quarter and next with no Saturday class and then he'll have them again....just in time to ruin camping season this summer. Let's hope not! I'm not thinking that far ahead yet and am just so excited that we get our weekends back!!!! Plus, this time next year we'll be celebrating Ben's 1st birthday AND Nick's graduation from the bachelors program AND NO MORE SCHOOL!!!

Last weekend I took Connor to see New Moon. I have to say, it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the books, I thought the movie of Twilight was way cheesy and borderline stupid (even though, yes, I've watched it multiple times). New Moon was just over all better. I'm tempted to ask Nick to take me to see it again - watching it with Connor was fun but I had no idea he was such a chatterbox during movies. He kept me entertained, but I missed stuff I'm sure. And yes. I'm still Team Edward. Jacob is cute but dang. He's a baby. :-)

So I think that's pretty much it! We're just twiddling our thumbs....waiting for this baby to make his appearance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 6, 2009

It's November!

I feel like I actually have something to write about for once! I probably will write two lines and then be stuck. ha ha.

I had my 2nd to last 2 week appointment this afternoon. I've finally gained enough weight to put me at my prepregnancy weight. I asked the doctor how he should be positioned - I'm trying to figure out what it is that I'm feeling when he stretches and kicks me. He is head down and he's butt up - his butt is right under my ribs, so that's probably what I mostly feel. He's over on my left side a lot (hardly ever on my right) so that's probably feet. From the feel and length of him, she guesstimated he's between 6 and 6 1/2 pounds. She asked how much Nick weighed as it's usually the paternal side that babies follow. Yeah. Um. Nick was 10 pounds. She said, and I quote, "Oh, boy"....so I'm probably going to have quite the chunk. So much for my hopes of a slender baby with skinny shoulders and a tiny pin head. She also thinks I'll go before my due date, which brought me to my next random question - what happens if I go into labor in the middle of the day when she's got appointments booked? She said that I am her priority - she'll reschedule her appointments to come deliver. Yay!

After that I got my swine flu shot. Ouchie. The seasonal flu didn't hurt one BIT, this one is still stinging. We're gonna go out to the free clinic tomorrow and get Nick all doped up, too. We ordered our rocking chair last week and I just got email from Walmart that it's here already!! We'll go out after dinner and pick it up! SO excited!!!!



All that's left on my "absolutely must have before he's born" list is the bedding set which a little birdie has hinted might be delivered via UPS on Tuesday..... :-) Then all I have to do is fill it with my non-essential essentials. Stuff that we don't really need to have but that I really want to have.

Just under 6 weeks to go! He'll be here before we know it!!

We finished our birthing class this week and all in all I'm glad we went. I was a bit horrified and disturbed at the videos but in hindsight, I'm glad they showed them to us. I would have liked to have seen a delivery video of a woman that had the epidural, to compare to the videos of woman that had natural child birth, but that's okay. We learned a lot of really good information.

So that's my update. I feel like I'm missing something, so you might see another blog sooner than usual.

Hope your November is off to a good start!

oh, p.s.
There's fresh snow at Bogus! Winter is coming!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

October Part Two

Well hello again. I feel like I've taken an internet sabbatical the last week and a half. My computer decided it no longer felt like functioning. I saw the dreaded Blue Screen of Death for the first time in years. My hard drive just plain crapped out. Nick wiped it and started fresh. Now I've got Windows 7 (ooo fancy) but my wireless card isn't playing nice. I have Nick's and he's "borrowing" one of our neighbors unsecured networks until he can find a wireless card that will work with our computers (he put my card in his computer and it still doesn't work).

Other than that, I can't say anything terribly exciting has been happening but what else is new? our lives are pretty even-Steven. I did go to the cardiologist and they did give me a monitor. I have it for a month and then if it's not better, they'll do an ultrasound on my heart. Wouldn't ya know that it's pretty much stopped doing that thing now? Oh well.

We had our birthing class last Tuesday. They showed the video of births, as I expected. And, as I expected, I was the ONLY girl that looked horrified. Me and the men (except Nick - I swear we are the opposite couple) looked stricken at the end of the movie. Other than that, it wasn't bad. I learned a lot of stuff, some terminology that I'd heard but didn't really know what meant or stuff I'd never heard of before. It was helpful already that we went. Thursday morning I woke up at about midnight in just absolute pain all across my ribs. At first I was thinking I was having some sort of contraction, but I took two Tums and drank a gallon of water and within about 20 minutes it went away. Nick remembered from the class about how dehydration can bring on contractions and I have to confess I'd hardly had any water that day. Coupled with the burrito supreme from Taco Bell I had about 10 minutes before bed (ha), I think I just had a wicked case of indigestion. Lesson learned.

I'm starting to get uncomfortable like all the time. A couple of weeks ago, I was boasting on how much I just loved being pregnant. Now I'm starting to reconsider that. I have just under 2 months to go and I have to admit that while I'm terrified of the whole labor process, I'm so ready to just have him already. Not that I'm in any rush to have him early - all in due time - but okay, you know how you feel after Thanksgiving dinner? You're just stuffed to the point of bursting? That's how I feel almost all the time. Like I've got a basketball stuffed in my stomach (which, I sort of do).

It's been really hard to pinch my pennies this month. We didn't count on Nick's work withholding his first two weeks of pay, so he won't get paid from his new job til the end of the month. That means we've been living on JUST my paycheck this month and it's been hard to make it stretch (ugh and we're only at the half way mark). I'm DYING to go get my rocking chair and my bedding set. My mom got me a ton of super cute sleepers and then I finally went through the old baby clothes that Carin had set aside for me and picked out a bunch more stuff that wasn't girlie. So that made it better, I have new stuff to wash and admire and put away.

I'm making Nick contribute to the blog. I said "do you have anything you'd like to add?" and he said: I'm excited for my paycheck. That's apparently it from Nick.

So this is all. Not so exciting but now you've been brought up to date on our FABULOUS lives.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

October

Not so very much to post but I noticed it's been awhile since I blogged. Of course, Ben is pretty much the focus of our lives (okay, at least MY life - I assume he is of Nick's too but you know, Nick isn't carrying Ben so.... ha) so if you're tired of reading about what we're doing for his arrival, then I suggest you skip this one.

Life calmed down a little after the shower and Susan's trip out. Our September was pretty packed, I don't think there was a weekend in September that we didn't have something planned. October is getting off to a more laid back feeling. Nick started his new job on the 1st and so far seems to be enjoying it fairly well. I think it's a little boring for him at the moment, but the longer he's there and shows them what he can do, the more responsibility he'll be given. We are SO loving his new schedule. We're getting up at the same time, are pretty much home at the same time - we get to spend 3 out of 5 work nights together which is AWESOME.

Had another doctors appointment today and things are looking good! I didn't gain any weight this time (muahahahaha), my blood pressure is fantastic and Ben's heart is right where it's supposed to be. My heart, on the other hand is having a bit of a hiccup. For about the past week my hearts been beating funny - skipping a beat - so doctor is sending me over to a cardiologist some time next week and I'll probably have to wear a holter monitor again (did this before when I was in high school and my heart was doing it's weird racing thing - SVT, you can google it if you wanna). It's not a huge deal, she didn't seem super concerned, but she does want to know what exactly is going on and if it needs treatment.

Got a bit more work done on Ben's room. We found a dresser, got a tiny little book case (we'll build on it, it's part of a system that you can customize with the pieces you want, so we'll probably expand at some point), the crib mattress, changing pad and cover and some books. Next big ticket items to hunt down are the rocking chair (and I have my eye on a nice set from Wal Mart - really reasonably priced, got great reviews on the site (and mention in my Baby Bargains book) and it's free shipping if I have it set to the store) and the bedding. We have plenty of time and I'm sticking by my goal of having it done by the week before Thanksgiving. I'm dying, of course, to go buy everything right now but I know I have family that's planning on getting us stuff for his room closer to Christmas and if I get it all done right now, then what will I do until he gets here? It's more fun to spread it out and have fun along the way.




I'm also working on my goal of having all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. I say this every year and I never do but this year I really do have a good reason. I don't know when Ben will decide he's ready to come out and I don't want to try to shop hugely pregnant or end up having him before I can get all my shopping done. I have a couple of things bought already, so hopefully I'll reach my goal!

So that's about it as far as I can think. Nothing too terribly exciting, just more baby planning and gettin' on with life. :-) Hope it's going good for you!

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Final Countdown

Well it seems all the big stuff is behind us. We just have to kick back and wait for Ben to make his arrival!

This past week was a busy one for us! Susan got here on Wednesday evening and it kicked off our action-packed-non-stop-run-a-muck weekend. Wednesday itself was fairly casual, her flight got here at about 4:30, so we came back to the house and dropped off her luggage and then headed out to the Ram for dinner. After that we just hung out and chatted, watched Twilight and then Nick was home from work.

Turns out that while we were gabbing and catching up, Nick was accepting a new job!!!!! It's working with the Idaho Fish & Game (he'll actually be working for a company called Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission - as a federal employee whoop whoop) tracking fishery information for the biologists in the North West - at least, that's the simplified, dumbed down version of what he's doing. He starts with them on the 1st and gave his notice to EDS on Saturday. He's a free man (paid vacation - yay) until the 1st! I already have a laundry list of chores for him.

Thursday Nick headed off to work and Susan & I headed out to our now traditional lunch at Rembrant's and pedicures at Two Rivers Salon and Spa. This is the only picture I think we managed to catch of the both of us together:



After all that fun goodness, we came home to get ready for Nick's graduation. Turns out that he graduated with honors!!! He's kicking himself a little bit, as he just barely missed graduating with highest honors (the minimum GPA was like 3.79 and he had a 3.75) but I'm insanely proud of him and his accomplishments.




Friday evening Nick hosted a small graduation party at the house and Susan and I had the best time sitting out on the deck (the boys were watching the BSU game) chatting and enjoying a fire in our little fire pit. Friday was an excellent day.

Saturday, of course, was all prep for the baby shower. We got up early, put together our last minute things and headed over to my mom's to set up. We had food in the kitchen and the party on the deck. I go ta boatload of diapers (which will probably last me a week - ha ha) and a ton of really awesome stuff from every one. It was great to see family and friends and we really had a good time at the party.









Sunday was pretty casual, relax before traveling type day. We headed over to my parents for the Packers game. Coincidence would have it that they were playing the Cinncinnati Bengals while Susan was here. She wore her Bengals shirt out of principal, the Packers lost and my dad had banned all non-Packer related gear on game day. :-) Then we went out to Goodwood for dinner and came back and watched Romancing the Stone while Susan did some laundry.

This morning we got up early and headed her out to the airport. She just texted and said she's all boarded and just waiting to take off.

We had a fantastic time, I'm glad she was able to come out and host the shower for me. Next time we'll get to spend a bit more time together without all our crazy chores. And maybe next time, Ben will be here!!

So now I'm off to work for a casual week. I'm completely jealous of Nick and his almost 2 weeks off. But he'll have that list of chores to keep him busy - ha ha.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Baby Blabber

The shower is coming up in 5 days! I'm so excited to see everyone and get to decorate Ben's room! I've been DYING to buy stuff but I'm making myself wait until after the shower. It's been really hard. We did do a teeny bit of shopping, to sort of stave off the beast for a while longer. Babies R Us had these SUPER cute drawer pulls and light switch covers.... we got a monkey light switch cover and some little lion heads for the closet door pulls. We hung up the little monkey wall decal plaque thingie that I bought a few weeks ago to match colors to and a mirror that was in there before.

Did a small amount of crafting type things this weekend - I had a series of 3 mirrors hung in the room before that I painted up. Did two green and one brown. I'm going to paint shapes on them today, circles & stripes I think. We also had this wooden "B" that I never put anywhere in the house, so we painted it green w/ brown stripes. I'm just so excited to get his room all put together!!

This is gonna be a busy week. Susan gets here Wednesday afternoon, on Thursday we're doing our traditional pedicure and lunch date and Nick's graduation is that night. Maybe we can get together with some other people and do a congratulatory dinner for him? Friday Susan & I are going to finish up any shopping that needs to be done for the shower and Nick's maybe graduation party. This is very loose and completely unplanned. I THINK we're having a party (I really want to host one for him - no one else seems to think this is as big a deal as I do but dang it I'm so proud of him for accomplishing this goal all on his own) but it's up to Nick and if he decides to invite people. Saturday is the shower, so we'll be busy probably all day with that. Sunday is loose - all I know for sure is that I have to kidnap Susan to my parents for a Packers game and then she goes home on Monday morning.

In non-related baby news - Nick has an interview on Tuesday!! The guy called him up yesterday and said they'd interviewed a few people but were looking for more to choose from. I hope they like him!!! Send good thoughts his way on Tuesday!

Oh back to more baby news. Took my glucose test on Thursday. Man, that drink is gross. I mean, I've certainly tasted worse things in my life - it mostly tasted like really sweet & flat orange pop. I have gained one pound, but I'm still down 4 for the total pregnancy so far! Baby's heartbeat sounded great and the doctor recommended I get my flu shot when they're available. I don't know if I passed the glucose test or not yet. Doctor said if I don't hear anything, then I'm good to go. Otherwise, I have to take the 4 hour test. blech. I see her every two weeks from now until the end of November, when I'll go in every week until he makes his debut!

So that's my news. Yay. :-)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

September already!

Well, it's been awhile since I posted anything new. I feel like we don't have anything worthy of talking about, but inevitbly I'll come up with something to fill this blog and delight your days. This summer (ahem, year) is just FLYING by. I can't believe it's already September, that Nick will have his graduation ceremony in just a few days, my baby shower is right around the corner, that I'll get to see Susan in just over a week, and that I have 13 weeks left of my pregnancy left to go! Before I know it, Ben will be here and life will be different.

Let's see, what have the Beesley's been up to? Planning the shower with Susan and anxiously awaiting it's arrival. I'm excited, so many family are going to come that I haven't seen since we left Washington. I'm excited to see every one!!! This past weekend we did some baby prep work, we finally got all the junk out of that room. The things we thought we might have a garage sale with were donated to the Idaho Youth Ranch. We bought paint, some cute baskets for the closet and spackled the nail holes. We put up the first coat of paint yesterday. Nick got half of the 2nd coat of paint on before he had to go to work today. Next is putting up the wall decals that Ashley got for us and then slowly but surely filling the room with all the baby goodies he needs!

Nick starts his first week of school on his bachelors program this week. His new schedule is Monday, Thursday & Saturday and his work has oh-so generously accomodated his new school schedule by having him work until 9:00 on the nights of no school. Which means we're heading into the next 3 month stretch of zero evenings together. Sigh. I had such hopes that this spiffy new Associates Degree would open doors for him for a better job, where they actually care about him. Here, he's just another employee - completely replaceable. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that those offers start to come in.

So that's my fantastic update. Aren't you just so excited you took time to read this? I know I am.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009

UPDATE!!!

Just got off the phone with my mom who just got back from the doctor. She's going to be JUST FINE for the shower!!!!! It takes 7 to 10 days for the chemo to take down her immune system, so as long no one comes to the shower sick and we're all real good about washing our hands, she won't have ANY problems!!!!!

THIS MAKES MY DAY!!!!

Shoot

Well, things are coming along rather nicely for little Ben. We got to visit with the Granberg's from Washington this weekend and they brought me a ton of fun goodies for him! I'm so excited to get his room put together!!

The baby shower invites were mailed and I think most every one should be getting them this week, if you haven't already received yours. I made a HUGE error when planning the shower date w/ Susan. I thought I had mom's chemo schedule correct and thought she was getting chemo the Friday after the shower and should be feeling well enough to participate in the shower. Turns out I had it calculated WRONG and she's getting chemo the day of Nick's graduation (which is 2 days before the shower) and will have no immune system. :-( I'm more bummed for her than for me. It sounds like we're going to have a good turn out of family that we haven't got to visit with in awhile and I'm really bummed that she's going to have limited contact with them. And more than that, I'm mad at myself for getting it wrong. I can't change it, plane tickets have been booked and invitations have been sent out. She can't change her chemo schedule, so we'll just have to figure it out. In the end, it's just a party and it's people she's seen before. It's not like she's not going to be here for his birth (which is FAR more important than a party) and she'll get to see family another time. It's more important that she get better so she can fully enjoy little Ben when he gets here.

We considered having a garage sale tomorrow to get rid of some stuff we have piled up. Not sure we're going to as it's Friday and I've done absolutely nothing to prepare for it. I also hate doing garage sales and I'm not sure what kind of a turn out we'd get, tucked back in our cul de sac the way we are. I don't want to just give away my crap but I need to get it out so I can have Nick start painting the nursery.

I've been bidding on some maternity clothes on eBay. I think I'm gonna lose the pants I bid on (super good deal - 3 pairs of pants and my max bid was $40. even with the $13 shipping, it still works out to about $18/pair) as there's 5 days left on the auction and we're already at my max bid. Oh well, I'll just find something else to bid on.

Nick's finally done with school! Next quarter starts the 2nd week of September. We're starting the 2nd year of Saturday classes. Yay us. Not sure what new lovely schedule EDS will give him to "accommodate" his school schedule but I'm fully expecting it to be CRAP. It's okay. It's only a year a and a half more. We've got 2 down of torture, we can handle a year and a half more. We can do it. :-) That's my mantra.

Well, that's the update for now. Chat more later.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Oh, holy crap.

I got a magazine in the mail today called Babytalk. I'm on my couch, eating a green apple & caramel dip and reading through it. Cooing at the cute baby pictures, reading the little articles. I get to one about diaper rash and it hits me.

Hits me hard.

I'm going to have a baby.

A fragile, delicate, sole existence is relying on ME, BABY.

Cue the tears.

I'm going to have to know what to do. When his bum has a rash. When he cries, I have to attempt to decipher the tone and figure out "is this a hunger cry? a cry-just-to-cry-cry? a something-doesn't-feel-good cry?" It's all on me. Well and Nick. But ME. I'm the mom. I'm the one that has to kiss and heal the hurts and find the solution.

It's overwhelming. Having a baby. Forget the actual birth-and-bring-home part. The preparation for one is exhausting. The sheer amount of STUFF they need is mind boggling. MIND BOGGLING. I can't think of another thing I've done in my life where I'm going to need so much STUFF. I know that most of the stuff on our registries is non-essential fluff that's nice-to-have, but not a have-to-have. I also know that 90% of the stuff I think is a have-to-have will be stuff I end up not using. But holy crap, the number of items that really is REQUIRED to host a baby.....it's enormous. And you're given a registry gun and a 10 page list and sent on your merry way at the store.

Now, once he arrives I gotta figure out what the hell to DO with that stuff. What goes where and when? How often do you bathe a baby? When do you start good dental care? What temperature do I need to keep his room so he's comfy? How will I know what to do with him if he's hurting? He can't tell me what hurts....I just have to figure it out. What if I get the urge to drown him? How do I protect him from the Satan cat?

And yet.

I'm not the first parent. People keep poppin' 'em out, so as overwhelming as it seems, there's obviously ways through it. My parents did a good job. I'm more normal and stable than a lot of people I know.

Sigh.

I hope I do half the job they did.

As long as I don't raise a future serial killer or drug addict or teen-run-away-prostitute, I think I'll be okay.

Ask me in 50 years.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Baby name

I forgot to mention in my last post - we have a name for him already. We've actually had both our girl and boy names picked out for about 5 years now. We were going to wait until the birth to announce it - you've all heard or experienced those moments when some one announces their planned name and some one has an opinion of why you shouldn't pick that.

In any case, we've settled on Benjamin Owen. Nick and I love both Benjamin and Owen so we decided to smoosh them together. It's like Nicholas - it's common, not unheard of or weird but not every 3rd person is named it. Unlike Sarah. Which every 3rd person IS named. :-) and I've been checking the "most popular names" lists that are everywhere online. Benjamin isn't on it - hooray! We'll call him Ben or Benny but never Benji. Nick's been calling him BOB for his initials.

So there ya go. Two blogs in one day, aren't YOU lucky? :-)

Zoos and Baby Registry

Well this was a busy busy weekend at the Beesley house. Thursday afternoon Hannah & Emma came over to our house to stay with us for the weekend. We went to lunch and to see Aliens in the Attic and then we made dinner and took some to Nick.

Friday we went to the zoo and lunch and then the park by our house (Settlers park is SUCH an awesome park) and then we watched movies until bed time.

Saturday we went to the dollar store while NIck was in school, then we had some lunch, took the girls over to their house to go swimming and then off to the playgroud at Chief Joseph Elem. Then we watched movies until Carin's flight came in and she came to get the girls.

Sunday we headed off to Target & Babies R Us to do our registries. Then we went to Lowe's and picked up some paint samples (all shades of yellow) and then over to my parents for BBQ.

Some where in there I got sick. I didn't feel it until Sunday night and woke up feeling just awful this morning. I'm terrified to cough (and my throat is SO scratchy) because coughing leads to puking and that just isn't fun. This does explain, though, why I was so tired this weekend. I actually snuck off and left the girls with Nick a few times for a nap. :-)

Now it's Monday and I'm back at work. Ashley & George are thinking of heading out to visit us next week. I hope we can work it out and see them!!!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Pregnancy

Well, I'm past my half way mark on this journey of pregnacy (only 4 months and 4 days - give or take - to go!) and there are some things I've learned.

1) Poptarts are my morning saviour. I wish I had found them sooner.
2) Pregnancy has given me a pretty severe aversion to sweets. I like some still, like Coke and my nightly glass of chocolate milk, but no candy, desserts, ice cream, cookies, etc. It all turns my stomach and I'm actually making an "ick" face just typing it out.
3) No, I don't feel like I'm showing. I wasn't a little girl to start with. I have a belly and I have a small bump going but mostly it feels like the bump is pushing my tummy up and out and I can't hold it in any more. It's not baby - it's 100% me.
4) I was promised bigger boobs. I don't have them. But they hurt, all the time.
5) I don't feel like I'm having crazy pregnancy related hormone mood swings. I do get like mad at Nick, but it's not all the time and I haven't had the weeps. Yet.
6) Lately I've been getting up to use the bathroom at least 3 times a night.
7) I've been experiencing heart burn, which is no fun. and Tums aren't particularly appetizing.
8) I'm not eating anything weird. I'm eating more pickles than I used to, but I've always liked pickles and it wasn't unusual for me to stand over the jar and have 2 or 3 at a time. I just do it a lot more often now.
9) No, I'm not disappointed that we're having a boy. I think I might have been more excited by a girl but I'm in no way disappointed by a boy.
10) I also didn't cry at the ultrasound. It was excitement but not a crying kind of excitement.
11) I AM excited that I've reached this point and I still haven't gained any weight. I lost some initially because I had that day and a half of nonstop vomiting but I haven't gained any of it back. Doctor says she's not worried. The weight will come eventually.

so that's it. I'm sure there's more but I can't seem to think of them. :-)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

It's a Boy!!

Had the appointment this morning, we're going to have a little boy come December! Enough with that, on to the pics:





Susan has the invitations all ordered!!! She's busy finding favors and getting those picked out too! I'm working away on the registery but had to stop. I want Nick to help, too, so I closed Babies R Us.

That's it!

Monday, August 10, 2009

August Schmaugust

Can you believe it's already practically the middle of August? Holy smokes. We have the big ol' exciting appointment TOMORROW!!!! It seems like yesterday we were finding out that we'd have to wait another month to find out the gender of the baby and now it's TOMORROW!!!!! I'm so excited!!! I want to finish up my registry. I have some stuff on there (babiesrus.com) but it's pretty generic and boring. We're considering registering at Target, too, but I'm not sure yet what we're going to do. Although it seems like I really do nothing, at the same time it feels like we've been too busy to sit down and talk about stuff.

This weekend we the Boise Beer Fest. We went both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we went with two of Nick's school friends and it was hot, humid and crowded. We got sunburned super bad. Then Sunday we went with my dad and met Jamie & Carin there and were able to score some chairs under one of the beer tents. We also got Nick's car fixed on Saturday. Nick's mom sent some moolah for his graduation and we used it all on car repairs. It's no fun to spend gift money on bills but it really needed to be done. We also picked up the crib this weekend. They called Saturday evening to say it was at the store so we went over Sunday morning and picked it up. That's pretty much all we did this weekend! Felt like we were nonstop busy but we really didn't do that much.

Nick's final days of school are rapidly approaching for this quarter. Last day of the quarter is the 29th and then his graduation ceremony is the 17th of September. We'll do the graduation party on the 18th and then the baby shower on the 19th. Invitations for all things will be out in the mail soonish. :-) Susan's planning on mailing out the shower invitations by the 24th and the graduation ceremony invitations will go out on the 3rd and I think I'll send the graduation party invitations about the same time. September is looking to be a busy month!

So that's my update. Nothing too fabulous YET - tomorrow I'll have way fun news to share!!! :-)

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A Scentsy Post

Most of you know that I'm not representing Scentsy any more but my friend Susan is and I'm ordering all my gear from her now. Scentsy is discontinuing a ton of items to make room for new in the upcoming Fall/Winter catalog, which I believe is out on September 1st.

Through the month of August, all product (including the discontinued items below) are 10% off. I don't believe you can use the 10% off on any of the package deals. If you want to order any of the discontinued items or just need a refill, feel free to let me know or visit Susan's site direct (www.scentsy.com/koppS) and order on her site.

(Click on the picture to make it big)


Sunday, August 2, 2009

Cribs n Wigs

Saturday was a busy day! Nick got up and headed off to school and I got up and headed off to mom's. I picked her up at about 9:30ish and we drove downtown to do some wig shoppin'. We met her friend Elaine at Angels In Your Corner. Mom tried on about 6 or so wigs (nothing too goofy there, they were all really nice wigs to choose from) and settled on one that she felt most comfortable in. I think she's headed off to the beautician this week to get her hair cut close.



After wig shopping mom, Elaine and I went to lunch at Perkins. I love Perkins. Nick won't take me there. I had the most delicious Cobb Salad and the ladies got to order soup and salad from the seniors menu. I tried to treat but Elaine insisted on paying her portion.

So then mom decided she wanted to buy us a crib. So from lunch we headed out to Babies R Us and we picked out one that I really liked. I called Nick to see if he wanted to come look at it but I was told he that trusted my judgment. I took a picture of it anyway and sent it to his phone (isn't technology great?) so he could see. Sooooooo we have a crib!!! Well, we're not in physical posession of it yet. The store was out of stock so they've ordered it. We'll have it in about 7 to 10 business days. By the time the crib is here, we'll know if it's a boy or a girl and we can start planning the rest of the nursery! I'm so excited!! The first few months of the pregnancy there really isn't too much to do. I'm excited to have plans and stuff to look forward to.



After baby shopping we went over to my moms and played some cards. then we enjoyed a goooooooood Mexican Fiesta. My dad made stuff for burritos and tacos and taco salad and spanish rice and chile rellanos. I had two burritos and a helping of rice and it was sooooo good. He bought stuff for margaritas but I forgot and didn't have any. So we sat around, ate some good grub and watched HGTV.

In more baby news, Susan and I are busy planning the shower. We're planning Sept 19th at 2:00 at my mom's. Susan picked out the cutest invitations and she'll have those out in the mail to you by the end of this month. Wow, it's August already!!! We're going to be super busy that week. Susan's planning on coming in on the 16th, Nick's graduation ceremony is on the 17th, we're going to do his graduation party on the 18th, then the shower on the 19th and then Susan heads home on the 20th. Whew.

And in MORE baby news, the little bugger is going to be a gymnast, I think. S/he is very active in the evenings after I'd have dinner and I'm laying in bed. The kicks are starting to get a bit harder, less like a flutter and more like an actual kick. We've been trying to see if Nick can feel, the first couple of nights we tried, as soon as he put his hand on my belly all movement stopped. Last night, though, kiddo cooperated and kept up their Rockette's practice. Unfortunately, even though it feels some what hard to me, Nick can't feel it yet.

So that's it. That's my news update. Today is a lazy/productive day. I think we're mostly sticking around the house. We've got some chores to do mixed in with sitting on the couch and doing nothing.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Update!

Nothing new!

Bye!

Ha ha, just kidding, although it's not far from the mark. We've just been plugging along and not doing anything exciting at all. Truly. I just sat here for 5 minutes trying to think of something to type that we did. Um, worked. And Nick went to school. and I obsessed over Twilight some more (think the novelty is finally starting to wear off). We have been to the gym. My work switched to Fit Stop Fitness, which just opened in my work parking lot. They are open 24 hours and with a special all access membership, you can go in whenever you want. So that's been nice, we basically had the whole gym to ourselves the two times we've been. I'm just walking on the treadmill - don't freak. It's too dang hot to walk outside (it's still 90 degrees out at 9:00 at night!) and last night did some very light weight work to just sort of tone on my arms. I'm hoping that helps with some of the tension I've been carrying in my back, but not so far.

I'm feeling restless a lot recently. I think it's because we literally do nothing. The weekends are not at all different from the week days so I really have nothing to look forward to other than sleeping in a little. We need to bust out of our funk and do something, but we're still adjusting to the new bills we've taken on (higher car payment and these dang medical bills that this child is incurring) so we haven't been leaving a lot of money for play. Which totally blows, but I'm hoping it's temporary.

I should be able to start planning Nick's graduation party soon. He just needs to confirm for me when his ceremony is. I did some sleuthing on the internet and found that it might be September 3rd. I don't want to plan until I know for sure and knowing Nick he'll keep forgetting to ask until the week before graduation. That's me rolling my eyes right now.

Once we know the gender of the baby, things will pick up on that, too. I can register for stuff that isn't just "generic" and can start planning the nursery. It's mostly cleaned out but I still have a bit of work to do on making it a blank canvas to work with.

So that's my meager update. Like I said, nothing truly exciting to talk about at all. Aren't you glad I posted? Ha.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wednesday Update

Well, I had my 18 week appointment yesterday. We were kind of hoping that we'd get to do the ultrasound and get to announce if we were having a boy or girl, but it's too soon. My doctor doesn't prefer to do them so early as they aren't reliable, so we're going to do it next time I go in which is August 11th. Slightly disappointed, but not too much. I pretty much expected we wouldn't get to know, but was hoping for a pleasant surprise.

The heartbeat was good, my blood pressure is still good and I've lost a pound. :-) This part concerned the doctor a bit - she wants to make sure I'm getting enough to eat. I assured her that I'm not "dieting" - seriously you should see me eat - but I am trying to limit the amount of weight I put on right now. I know it's coming and I don't want to get too heavy before the baby gets here (I actually want to LOOK pregnant and not just super fat). So far since I've been pregnant I've lost about 6 pounds (a day and a half of non-stop vomiting accounts for 5 of it).

So last time I blogged I mentioned I'd read the first Twilight book. Yeah. This has become a full blown OBSESSION. I've now read all 4 books and am on my 2nd trip through them. My favorite, by far, is Eclipse. I felt let down by Breaking Dawn because it was too much all at once. New Moon was my least favorite because Edward wasn't in it. I'm also obsessing over the guy that plays Edward in the movie, Robert Pattinson. This makes me feel slightly like a skeezy cougar, he's 23!, but ladies. Come on. He's delicious. :-)

Anyway, Nick's been forbidden to tease me about my newest obsession. I spend a lot of time alone at night and this keeps my mind off of other unpleasant things in my life that I will not air on my blog. I'm thinking of asking Connor to go with me to see New Moon when it comes out in November but I'm not sure my big ol' pregnant self can sit through a movie. I really want to see it and I don't want to drag Nick to it, but I know Connor likes the books. I haven't asked him yet, because I'm not sure it's smart to spend $10 on a movie that I'm going to spend 1/2 of in the bathroom. LOL!

My car should be ready some time this week. I can't wait! I hate this rental car and I miss my car. I'm hoping it's done today or tomorrow.

Well, I think that's it. Nothing too exciting to report at this point. :-)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Oh you know it's hard to be humble...

Nothing much new to report, but it was pointed out to me that I haven't blogged recently. So here's an update.

Let's see, for our 4th anniversary, we took a 4 day weekend but really had nothing planned. We talked about driving over to the Oregon coast or over to Seattle or over to Yellowstone but eventually decided the cost of gas was just too much for a road trip right now. So we hung out mostly at home. Friday we did drive out to Silver City - which was boasted as a ghost town so I was super excited to see it. Unfortunately, their version of "ghost town" and mine differ. To me, to be a ghost town um....no one should live in it. it should just be old abandoned buildings, maybe a tasteful plaque or two. No. This is a for real little town, it even has a hotel!! So that was slightly disappointing but still a nice drive.

The rest of the weekend we really did nothing. Did some yard and house work that we'd been putting off - the biggest thing we did was replace the lattice on top of the little pergola thing we have on the deck. The old was really old and falling apart (especially since the neighbors grape vines grew up over the lattice and when they cut back the vines in the fall last year, they took a good portion of the lattice with it). So that's all replace and pretty.

Last week was a short one at work - since we had Monday off and Friday both our works were closed for the holiday, it was so nice. Again, this weekend we really didn't do too much fantastic. Friday we took a small drive around some of the back country roads here...found a couple of farms that I insure...nothing special. Friday night we were invited over to my brothers for dinner and card playing. I'd say that was very nice but we had a little road bump. My brother went out to get dessert and...sigh. He accidentally backed into my car. It's not a huge amount of damage, but Nick & Jamie have decided that the door (rear passenger) will have to be replaced. So we're off to take care of that on Monday after Nick gets off work. I hope it doesn't take too long! Other than that, it WAS a nice evening. And we ought to do it more often - we don't see each other much.

Saturday we went over to my parents for lunch w/ my brother & his family and then we stayed around to watch the fireworks. Poor Sadie just really gets so scared by the loud noises, so we decided at about 10:30 to just take her home. As soon as we got outside, one of my mom's neighbors let off a HUGE firework (the illegal kind that explode in the air) and Sadie tried to make a beeline back to the garage. Thankfully Nick had a kungfu grip on her leash and she didn't escape. We got home and cuddled with her in the bedroom - we had the fan on and Deadliest Catch on pretty loud and that drowned out the firework noise. Poor doggie. Thankfully it's really only once a year. Not too much firework celebrations on New Years here.

I've read a few books this last week. I read one Heidi lended me called Outlander (#1) by Diana Gabaldon. I'd never read anything by her before but I really got sucked into that book. I'm eager to read the next one and I'm sending Susan this one to read, too. then I re-read the Circle Triology by Nora Roberts. Then I read Twilight - and I surprised myself by really liking it! I didn't think I'd really be in to it at all, I mean it's geared at teenagers. It's well written, it's a quick and easy read and it moves very well. I'm gonna watch the movie tonight and then start book 2 tomorrow.

So that's it. That's my lovely update.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

♥love♥

June 25th, 2005. 4 years ago.
The Place: Maple Valley Community Center, Maple Valley, Washington.
The Occasion: Our Wedding Day!
Friends and family gathered from near and far and even further away to help celebrate.
It was a gorgeous day:

Our journey didn't begin at the alter, however. Our story started a lot earlier. It started in 1997. He lived in Florida. I lived in Washington. Despite the miles, we made it work.
We've been faced with many difficulties, many challenges and hardships but balanced beautifully with opportunities, great fortune and good humor. We went from living at my mom's to our own apartment to buying our first little house. We made the decision to leave our cute little cottage in the woods (ha) and move to Idaho to be closer to family. It's provided Nick the opportunity to go to school. We've lost friends and made friends. We've seen San Francisco, Miami, Scottsdale, and Green Bay. We passed on a trip to Europe. We've had a nephew born and watched our nieces and nephews grow.

I'm proud of the man I married. He's willing to make choices that's aren't always easy, but are always right and good for us. He makes me laugh like no one else in the world. He puts up with my oddities and vice versa. He gets me through and through and hasn't run screaming for the hills yet. That says something.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Heartbeatin'

Well Thursday I had my June appointment and it was a good one! I gained no weight my first trimester (I actually lost some, because I was so sick those 2 days in May) which is FANTASTIC. My blood pressure was really good. I talked to the doc about some things I'd been avoiding but wanted her opinion on - tea and Subway. She said either is fine in moderation, but to stay away from green teas. WHOOP WHOOP! I had a lovely, LOVELY Subway sandwich on Sunday and lemme tell you. It. Was. Divine.

Anyway, we got to hear the heartbeat with the little Doppler machine. That's so cool! It sounds just like it does on TV - whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. I could have listened to it all day, but she presses on my stomach pretty hard with the machine and that was uncomfortable, so I was relieved when we were done.

Next appointment is July 14th and hopefully we're not too early to see what parts baby's coming with. I'll be SO bummed if we go home without knowing...but we'll find out soon enough! It's only 3 weeks away!

Next up on our plan is our anniversary. It'll be 4 years on Thursday - aw. Nick and I are takinga 4 day weekend to celebrate. We're not sure what we're doing yet, but we'll do something special.

Well, that's about it for the update I guess. I thought I had more but apparently not!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Looking For:

I've eaten and killed the hunger beast for now. MUAHAHA. :-)

Anyway, today was slightly productive. We started cleaning out the office/future nursery and moved the desk out to the front room. Unfortunately, it's just too big. So, we've listed it on Craigslist. Hopefully some one will respond soon.

http://boise.craigslist.org/fuo/1220245765.html

In light of the upcoming baby, I've been looking at some money saving ideas. I'm reading a lot of these Mormon Mommy blogs, and while I'm not LDS, I want to start embracing some of their ideas - like food storage, buying in bulk, etc. I've also decided that to save a bit of money once the baby moves from milk to food, that I'm going to try my hand at making my own baby food. I've been reading up on this and it doesn't sound hard to do at all, and is considerably cheaper than buying in the store.

That said, I need some stuff. I've been cruising Craigslist, but it's just not as good here as it was in Seattle (less people, less stuff moving). I want a chest freezer. The ones I'm finding on Craigslist are just as much as buying new from Lowe's. So, if you know of anyone that's got a nice chest freezer they're trying to get rid of - could you pass it on to me? I also need some sort of shelving for our garage. Our house hasn't got a pantry and limited cupboards for food storage. I'd like some shelving to not only organize the garage and get some off the stuff up off the floor, but to store our bulk food (that I will buy once I have that chest freezer and shelves to put it upon) and food that I'm considering canning.

Well, that's my Saturday update. Catch ya later.

Sarah =

RAR! Gimme food!!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

What's That I Feel?

So I've been feeling an odd little sensation in my baby bump today. Could it be the baby moving around? Perhaps. Of course, I took to the interwebs to see what's what. The general consensus is that most women carrying their first child won't feel any definitive movements until at least 16 weeks. For women who have been pregnant before, they are more equipped to tell much earlier (at 13 weeks) the difference between baby motion and gas.

Well, I'm 13 weeks this week (almost 14, can you believe it?) and I swear this isn't gas. It isn't much, just a light fluttering like butterfly wings. I'm choosing to believe it's our little potato (that's what Susan's dad calls it - he refers to me as Potato since I live in Idaho).

In other news, not much else to report. Morning sickness is completely gone. It's too early to start doing stuff with the nursery at this point, but I have begun registering for the more generic items we'll need. The room that will become the nursery is a bit of a disaster, so we're going to start working on getting it cleaned out and organized a bit ahead of schedule.

We're still adjusting to Nick's new schedule. He's not home before 9:00 at night any more, so my nights are sort of lonely. However, I've been tapped to help Susan prepare for a Scentsy event she's having next weekend (I'm making some flyers and samples) so that'll keep me busy.

Well, I guess that's it! Like I said, not too much exciting happening just yet!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Money Honey

I have a lot of thoughts running through my head at any given point throughout the day (and occasionally interrupting my sleep). Our lives are about to change in a big way, so it's pretty normal that I have questions and concerns and "how in the heck am I gonna...?"'s.

The biggest thing that weighing on my mind right now is the cost of daycare. There's a daycare right in the same parking lot as my work, which hello, is SO convenient. The owner was over at work the other day, asking if she could park her van in our spaces this weekend because the Challenger school is having an open house. I ran up and asked her what they charge for infants.

$170/WEEK.

That's $680/MONTH.

That's more than HALF my house payment.

I felt like crying. It was also that day that I found out from our HR department that my work only has a long term disability policy - no short term - and therefore I can't use any of those benefits for maternity leave. FMLA says I get 12 weeks off, but it's unpaid. I have just over a week of vaca/sick saved, but I can't accrue any more vaca until I take some. I'm maxed.

The daycare lady did say that if they're at capacity, she could offer me a discount (we do her insurance), so that's something. I've been seriously tossing around the idea of Nick reducing his hours to part time (he's on my insurance anyway) and he can stay home with the baby during the day and work only on the nights he hasn't got school. I kind of hate the idea, because I want to be the one that stays home - but the harsh reality is that I make more money than he does (his work truly blows) and while he's been sending out his resume like mad, no one is freaking HIRING. We simply can't afford for me to not work at this point, but I think with some clever budgeting that we could get by on my salary and a part time one for him. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some fantastic job lands in Nick's lap before the baby comes....

I got my first baby gifts this week!! Susan sent me a box chock-full of bottle brushes, spoons, food containers, a dishwasher cage for bottle parts, a cosmetic type bag to use in the diaper bag for misc baby paraphernalia and.....I'm drawing a blank. I think that was it. The bag is SO dang cute, I can't wait to put it to use. We've started registering for some generic stuff that isn't really decided by gender (we're registered at Babies R Us so far). July can't get here fast enough - I'm dying ot know if my feelings are right (I think girl) or if Nick's right. Either way, I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, I just want to KNOW. Either way, we're having a freak. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. But I am having a tall, large footed child. I feel bad that we're passing on these genes. Perhaps they'll get some of Anne's genes and be petite. We can hope for that.