Holiday Recap

Tuesday nightish: Decide my throat hurts a lot and call the clinic, hoping to get in and be told that I do not have strep throat and do not have to worry about being contagious to my family on Christmas Eve.

Wednesday: Go to the doctor in the morning and find out that I do, in fact, have a form of strep throat. Finish laundry, pack up, go to Enderlin for Christmas eve at my parents. Because I am contagious, I skip the candlelight service at church. This makes me sad (but not Joshua or Jameson, who stayed home to "take care" of me). The candlelight service is my favorite. I did, however, get to play some Guitar Hero with my brother. I still suck at it. Once my parents and Tanner came home from church, I started the theme for the rest of the week: Stuff Yourself with Food, Even if You're Not Hungry. We had dinner, opened gifts and then played some Apples to Apples and Mad Gab. We got a rocking chair for the baby's room ~ one of the things that I had overlooked on my "needs" list. I didn't get to test drive it yet, though.

Thursday: Santa came (I love that I'm 27 and Santa still comes to my house!). He even left stuff for the baby. I guess he needed to get a headstart or something on the years to come. Had breakfast with most of my family ~ 10:30 was too early for Jameson ;) Josh took the snowmobile out for a ride and it died in the middle of a field. Good thing he can fix that stuff on his own and what he can't fix, Cody can! Went to my grandparents for Christmas day dinner and some dirty Bingo. This was also the beginning of an awesome migraine. That night, we went back to my parents and watched some tv and played some more games.

Friday: Had lunch with my parents and Tanner, stuck around and played some video games while Josh went to Lisbon to work some and fix the snowmobile. My parents took me to Lisbon later in the afternoon for Christmas Part II. That night, we played a dice game for gifts at Dannie and Sharon's. Woohoo for Corningware! Did some more eating, even though I wasn't really hungry. Still loving that migraine....

Saturday: Visited with family. More gift exchanging. I got a book of knitting patterns for baby stuff ... and joke that by next December Josh, the baby and I will each have sweaters with hearts in the middle that I've made to take our family picture in. We got a Pack N' Play ~ which makes me happy because now I can quit looking for one, and makes Josh happy cuz he's not a fan of having to look for one with me. Lots more eating. I was in bed by 6:30 though, my brain was not cooperating with me.

Sunday: Up early for breakfast at Dale and Dorothy's. (Mooooore food.) We talked about how, if the rocking chair was ready, we probably had room to pick it up. This was before we'd loaded the truck up and saw that really we didn't have the room for it. I said next year we may need a school bus. Still trying to get rid of that migraine. Tylenol is not my friend. I realllllllllllly miss Excederin. We've been talking about getting a new camera and (I've been) looking at them since last summer. Tonight we got a new one. I had decided on one sort of like my mom's (maybe even the same one) and Josh said he wanted something with 10 megapixels (?) and so we ended up with a different one. It is lime green though, so it has that much going for it. I'm excited to test it out!

And tomorrow it's back to life as usual (sort of.)

One more thing...

Happy Holidays!!!

A bowl of what??

Josh told me the other day that I'm a bossy pregnant woman. And sometimes crabby. This is the analogy that I came up with today:

Everyday, I'm allotted so much niceness. I compared it to a bowl of Rice Krispies (this was the first cereal I thought of). Throughout the day, I have to share those "Nice" Krispies with people. Especially customers at work. So by the end of the day, all that's left is the milk at the bottom of the bowl and that's not always my favorite part.

I told him not to worry, since I don't work the next couple days, by the time he gets home from work the bowl should still be fairly full. To this he replied, "Right, or I get home and all the Krispies are soggy and then I still get the crap end of the deal."

I laughed.

Random Life information

Tonight was the holiday program at the preschool. The kids did amazing, remembered all their lines, sang louder than they have been, and were just amazing in general.

This was Josh's 3rd time dressing as Santa for the preschool. He says he enjoys it, but the costume gets hot. It'd be easier to talk him into doing it, I think, if I could come up with a way to make it so the costume didn't get so hot! Tonight, he even had his own fan club: some family and a few of his coworkers were there to witness him in action. I know I tell him a hundred times, but I really am glad that he likes doing it and is willing to put that costume on each year. (If nothin else, I can always talk my brother or dad into doing it again ;) )

Friday is my last day of school until January 5th. Talk about a long break! I'm kind of anxious for the break to be over, merely for the fact that on the day after break ends we have our ultrasound. We will be spending nearly 5 days away from home this Christmas, some quality time with both of our families. Now we just need to finish off our Christmas shopping!

Top Secret

I failed to mention in the earlier post that though we ARE finding out if the baby is a girl or a boy, I will not be posting that information on this blog.

Granted, we will be telling people, but my dad wants the sex of the baby to be a surprise and I'm going to do my best to keep him from finding out. So, on the off chance that he checks this from time to time, I will not be having a IT'S A ...... post. I'll probably post ultrasound pictures, provided that they're not labelled to identify what the baby is.

So....I'll tell you if you ask, but if you tell my dad I will hunt you down and .... do something painful to you. Or something like that.

Best Medical Advice EVER!

Going into this, I knew that my doctor was a pretty cool lady. Today, she became my favorite person ever.

I had an appointment (obviously) and weighed less than last month. I feel like I've been eating a lot, but apparently, it's going nowhere. I'd noticed the same thing when weighing myself at home, but just figured that our scale is worthless.

To help get my weight up, I'm supposed to eat some high calorie food. Specifically: ice cream. That's what she said. To eat ice cream.

For the record, this will be the first medical advice that I plan on following religiously ;)

And as a p.s.....ultrasound on January 6th and we get to (hopefully) find out what the baby is! Yay!

Mental Note: Think, then speak.

I really put my foot in my mouth last night.

Josh and I were watching a movie, recovering from Thanksgiving dinner. We were watching Speed Racer. In the middle of the movie, COMPLETELY KIDDING, I said, "I'm surprised you don't like the name Speed for the baby." Good job, me. Josh is convinced that that is the best middle name ever. Mostly because this is what he believes: it would provide the baby, if it were a boy, with the best line ever. "Speed is my middle name." Literally.

I kept telling him that I was kidding, but the damage is done. I told him we're going to take a vote over the holidays (please vote with me, not with him!).

Unless I get lucky and accidentally say something just as awesome to him to change his mind.

Turkeys!

Today is Thanksgiving! Yay!

I'm excited to eat (a lot). I've been looking forward to mashed potatoes all week and now that our cheesecake is made, I'm excited for that also. Mostly, I'm excited that my migraine that I've had since Monday night is gone and I will most likely be able to eat without throwing up ;)

Here's my list of things I'm thankful for:
~Joshua
~my parents
~my brothers
~my inlaws
~my friends
~the whole miracle of life thing
~an excuse to eat all day and not feel bad about it ;)
~2 jobs that (usually) love
~my dog
~ice cream, olives, and pickles of any sort...oh and pasta. I like noodles.

Oh....and as of tomorrow, we're 15 weeks along. The 25 weeks that are left seem like a long ways away, but I imagine that it'll go pretty fast. The first 15 have flown by and dragged at the same time. At least it helps me keep track of how far into the school year I am ;)

One week!

For the first time in I don't know how long I've gone a whole week without being nauseous in general or getting carsick. Yay for B6 and Unisom!

May 22nd, 2009.

Thursday was our first doctor's appointment. It was crazy to hear the baby's heartbeat! I made a joke about how it was only one, and the doctor says that if it were twins or something we wouldn't be able to tell for a couple months yet. I don't expect it to be more than one, but imagine the craziness if there was! There's a good chance I'd pass out right then and there.

I've still been sickish, but it's better controlled if I eat every couple hours. And actually, now I'm test driving a vitamin B6/Unisom regimen that's supposed to help. About the time it starts really working for me, hopefully I'll be done with the nauseousness. That would be lovely.

Oh, so as of today we are 12 weeks and 2 days along. That means there's still a lot of days/weeks left. Bleh.

Normal!

I am rejoicing. Today, I feel normal. Not nauseous, not headachey, just me! I am so excited, but I'm also hoping that the reason I feel normal today isn't because I went to bed at 8:30 last night. There's no way I can go to bed that early on a regular basis!

Girls Can Do That Too!

So....today is Josh's birthday. Yay! Yesterday, my parents dropped off a gift for him. I was at work when he got home so he sent me a picture of what was in the package ~ some bibs. Not just any bibs though. One of them looks like a mechanics uniform, with a toolbelt and all that. It's cute.

I texted him back and was like what happens if it's a girl? I think Josh was anticipating me teasing him like that cuz I got a text back in record time that said "Girls can do that too!!"

Cars and tools will forever invade my life, I've decided. First my honeymoon, now my baby! :p

Theory

I've been nauseous constantly for awhile. (Lucky me. After I told everyone I'd been feeling fine. I jinxed myself. Damn.) Initially, I only noticed it in Josh's truck -- I blamed it on his race car driver habits and just the truck in general. Now though, it has spread to my car too. Great. I get carsick. I've also given up on eating anything while in a moving vehicle. Oh well.

I came up with a theory though. Josh doesn't like it AT ALL. I tease him that I get sick in cars now because the baby is anti-car. He says I'm crazy and "poisoning our baby with negative car thoughts" (thanks for telling him about that, Tina.)

Either way, I find my theory entertaining.

Much too long

I say I hate roller coasters. (I'm sure you're like, "That's nice, nutball, but where's this going?") I actually don't mind them. The wait in line, though, I am not a fan of. Whether I'm in line for 1 minute or 20 minutes, I do an excellent job of freaking myself out. Roller coasters aren't the only thing that I do a good job at freaking myself out about. Frequently, I give myself migraines worrying about events (P-T conferences, life in general) and then the minute the event starts, my migraine is gone.

That said, I am doing an excellently amazing job worrying about all things baby these days. I am pretty sure that this is because I don't even see a doctor until November. Damn those initial 10-12 weeks!

As my list of questions that I have grows, I am also more and more convinced that they make you wait that long for the initial visit to torture you and make you sort of crazy, thinking that making you crazy will help get you through the end result. ;)

Chew toys? ;)

My brother makes me smile.

He called (late) last night to check in and see what my parents said about our news. He also needed to tell me that he had dibs on babysitting and told me not to buy any "chew toys," that he's in charge of those.

I knew he meant teething stuff and not really chew toys, but he made sure I didn't think he was going to get the baby dog toys. It made me giggle.

FINALLY!!!!

This will be a long post because I've been storing up some posts for over a week now, because we were trying to keep a secret. But now....I can post them all! Yay! Here goes...


Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
So....last night I took a test that I thought had negative results, later though, they looked positive. I took another one this afternoon and....

POSITIVE!!!!!!!!

And then I cried. I didn't expect to be that sort. I should have known though, as all over the place I am emotionally these days.


Thursday, September 18th, 2008
We've gotten the official test results from the doctor that confirms that all those sticks I peed on were correct. YAY! Since then, we've told some friends because I'm pretty sure we'd explode if we didn't tell anyone until we got the chance to tell our parents.

On Saturday, we went to FMCT to see Little Shop of Horrors ~ Maggie was the assistant director, her brother Ivan played the lead, and Jason was in the pit band. Maggie is so excited about our news that she hugs me and then my stomach (Baby's first hug!! ...and then Josh rolled his eyes).

Tomorrow, we go to Enderlin to tell my parents. I will be so glad when our parents know. I was relieved that when I called home that Tanner answered the phone so I didn't have to try and avoid telling my mom!

Saturday, we will tell Josh's parents. :) He's been having a hard time keeping it a secret. He's been avoiding phone calls as well. He told Shannon last weekend, but swore her to secrecy.

This weekend can't get here fast enough!


Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Well, everyone knows. I don't have that feeling that I may explode if I don't tell people anymore. I am so glad our parents know. We were afraid to tell too many people for fear that they'll tell someone and our parents would hear it from someone besides us. How bad would that suck?

I told Josh that I wouldnt believe it was all real until 2 tests said so. Even after that it was still surreal. Getting "official" results from the doctors office helped. As news spreads, it becomes more and more real.

And I get more anxious. I need to pray for some patience! ;)

A Baby Story. I have this strange love for it.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but there is nothing on tv between 1 and 2 p.m. This leads me to watch A Baby Story on TLC. When the show ends, I have many hours to contemplate what I've seen and by the time Josh gets home, I am very vocal (big surprise, huh) about my opinion on things.

Thank God that he's patient and nods and smiles at the appropriate times. That's why I love him. ;)

When it's cold outside

More rules that I was reminded of today:
* No flip flops once it gets cold.
* A jacket must be worn outside at all times. As well as thick socks, shoes, and whatever other outerwear is deemed necesary.

Only a crazy person thinks they can come between me and my flip flops.

Sneaky Like A Hippo

I just realized that I'm guessing that one of those rules will be that I'm not allowed to have any Cherry Coke til after the fact. Sad sad sad.

I'll just have to be sneaky about it. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, we all know how good I am at that.

Rules, shmules.

It is so hard not to get your hopes up. I'm trying to keep an "it is what it is" attitude, but we'll see how far that goes. Secretly though, my heart is hopeful ;)

Josh came up with more rules.

*No standing on anything. EVER. (In my defense, sometimes I just like to know what it feels like to see things from higher than 5'9"...)

There were others that I wish I had written down when he said them, but of course I didn't. Mostly because I was telling him that the first time that he leaves me alone for an extended period of time, I was going to break all the rules.

*Some rules from forever ago include that I'm not allowed to leave the F-M area at all while pregnant, unless I'm with someone. (A chaperone!) Apparently, my chances of being one of those pregnant people stranded or driven off the road are higher than those of your average pregnant person.

Rules were meant to be broken

I'm a freak for music ~ this is no secret.

Last night I was telling Josh that if we went to Lakeville a day early, we could go to see Secondhand Serenade. He says "eh..." I told him that it could be fun and he says "You could be pregnant by then and pregnant women don't need to be gallivanting around at three concerts in one week." I know when he says this he means me, not just any pregnant woman in general.

Later, he started to lay down the pregnancy rules ~ there's only a couple now, but I anticipate that the list will grow.

1. I have a 10 p.m. curfew ~ pregnant women need their sleep. I must be home by 9:50, regardless of the event.

2. 3 meals must be eaten per day. At least two good meals must be eaten if I plan on eating ice cream that day.

3. Vitamins must be taken every day. No forgetting.

Least I'm not the only one

I realize Josh is serious about us starting a family. I just didn't realize that he's been sort of obsessing just as much as I.

He's researched vitamins for himself to take. He says we're not taking any chances since we are hoping for a due date that falls after the school year.

Josh reading up on "prenatal" vitamins for himself and buying what looks like a 3 year supply = sooooo cute.

A Love Letter

Dear Birth Control~
I miss you.

I had forgotten how often I got migraines before you came along. I'd also forgotten how much they hurt and how sick I would get from them. I realize that you couldn't prevent them completely but at least I always knew when I could probably be getting one.

Without you, my cycle was all over the place. I am not happy to be going back to that craziness.

So, PLEASE, if you have any cousins that can regulate my migraines and when I bleed to death, please send the my way. SOON!

I look forward to you returning to my life, just not until after we have a baby!

Love,
M

Things Just Not Talked About

Babies are life changing. Duh. I just didn't think about the baby stuff that's not talked about. Today I'm thinking about it.

For my friends with healthy babies ~ you are so blessed. For my friends in those situations not talked about ~ my heart breaks for you.

First: miscarriage. Here's the thing, relatives have miscarried before and (not to sound heartless) I didn't think much about it. A friend miscarried and it affected me much more. This is one of "my people" ~ I realize the first is family, but the second was family that I've chosen so I looked it differently for some reason. Really, I think it affected me more because that friend could be me. I don't know.

Second: adoption. This one's really gotten to me. More so because I'd never thought much about the male perspective on it. Today I thought about it. As a female, you end up as the executive decision maker on that one usually. I can't even begin to imagine what that is like to make that decision. As a male, one the decision is made you just get to go along with it. I realize there's all sorts of situations and such when this decision is made, but I'm just thinking generally today. To hear the male side of it today got to me. I had this whole "wow" moment. For a male, pregnancy is mostly a spectator sport ~ face it, guys have the easy job. Or so I thought. When it reaches the point, though, that the responsible one is the male and he realizes what the best situation is for everyone involved and can't dictate that that's how things go.....that's sad.

Really, the words I wanted for this entry just wouldn't come out right and so this is maybe not making any sense, but it is helping me sort my thoughts so....oh well. I think, though, that the words I want wouldn't come because I don't want to explain full situations.

To anyone that's ever miscarried, given a baby up for adoption, or adopted a child...my heart goes out to you. You are brave.

So I obsess a little about things

First off, prenatal vitamins are amazing for my fingernails. Yay for that!

Like any other thing I obsess about, I read at least one baby/parenting/that sort of article per day. We're not even pregnant (and don't anticipate beinig so until August or September) and I'm paying attention to names, deciding what I do and don't like. Josh says that he gets to name our first son and I get to name the first daughter. He has his name picked out (pretty impressive). He says that the way things are going on my end, a baby girl will be born and we won't have a name for her until a week later. Great....another thing to worry about.

While I'm on the subject of things that I worry about, here's one: a medical emergency during/before/after labor. I've honestly thought about writing a sort of living will, or whatever it's called, and having it notorized. I just want to make sure that if something happens, Josh and our families at least know what my wishes are. It's not that I think they won't know, I just want to make sure my bases are covered, I guess. I've had conversations with some family before about similiar stuff and our opinions differ greatly. Imagine that!

2555+

Today is the first day in 7 years that I don't have to think about taking a birth control pill. Today is the first day of our attempt to have a baby.

I am anxious, excited, scared, worried. I am ready.

Holy crap, we're finally really doing this.