GREAT Wednesday!

Yesterday was a good day. I took a vacation day since I had so many things going on already. Work just wasn't going to happen!

I got up, normal time, and got Dom ready for Ms. Stella's. I dropped him off and then got on the road. I drove to St. John's Hospital and headed down to the Perinatal Center. I was the first one there. I took a seat, busted out my kindle and waited.

It wasn't long and I got called back to the ultrasound room. They lubed up my belly and away we went! It's so amazing to see everything. I hate being high risk, but at the same time I'm so lucky to be high risk. This was my 5th ultrasound this pregnancy, and I'm only 14 weeks. I know people who only get two their ENTIRE pregnancy. I don't know how those women do it! ;-) I am so accustomed to seeing the baby at least once a month.

Anyway, back to the u/s. So we started out by taking the regular measurements they have to do every u/s. Head size. Crown to Rump Length. That sort of thing. And to be honest, I was a little nervous. The baby wasn't moving at all during this and I hadn't seen the baby's heart yet. But then the tech zoomed in and I got to listen to the most beautiful sound in the world, the baby's heartbeat! It was beating away at 153 bpm (girl maybe???).

After the heartbeat we took some other pictures. An arm. A Leg. A hand. A face. We were trying to get a good profile picture since the head on pictures are a little scary right now, but no such luck. The baby was staring right at the ultrasound wand the entire time. So we have a few creepy pictures to share!





No view on whether it's a boy or a girl yet but we'll definitely be able to find out at my next appointment at the Perinatal Center or might be able to find out at my next doc appointment if he does another ultrasound in the office.

I scheduled my next appointment (not for 6 more weeks....grr!) when I'll be 20 weeks for the big anatomy scan and then I was on my way.

I had to run by my office to drop off two baseball tickets for Mike and then I headed home. I got home around 10:15. I didn't have much time to waste. I put a load of laundry in, grabbed a few trash bags, and headed out to the car to clean it out in case we had to bring anyone home. Got the car cleaned out, then ran back in the house to change the laundry and grab my kindle. Then I headed out to get gas and go get Nick.

It was a good thing I called him on my way because he didn't have any casual clothes with him! So I ran back home and grabbed him shorts, tee shirt, socks and shoes and was back on the road. I picked him up from his job site in Bellefontaine (totally spelled wrong I think...). We were on our way downtown by about 11:55.

We had free parking passes (thanks Mom and Dad!) so we went straight to a garage and got to park on the "reserve" parking level. Nick changed in the backseat and then we headed to the ballpark. At first we were kind of disappointed because all the regular starters weren't playing. All the minor league players were in the starting line up. But then it was actually pretty neat to see all the new faces. And even better, THEY WON!



It was a good game, but a FAST game. The game started at 12:40 and was over by 2:10. It was crazy. We decided to go to a bar afterward since we didn't have to get Dom for another few hours. We tried going to Mercury, but they were closed, so we went to JoeBuck's. And I'm glad we did! The Bud people were there promoting Budweister. Our table got free beer (which I gladly gave to Mike and Nick) and we all got Bud Beads and Keychains. I also got a T-Shirt that says "Grab some BUDS". :)

After Joe Buck's, Nick and I went home to get Dommie. Then we went right back on the road to go back downtown to Hooters at Kiener Plaza. I know most people think I'm crazy but I LOVE Hooters. The food I mean. It's amazing. Their wings and Buffalo Shrimp are SO good! So we met Mike and Nicole back at Hooters. Dommie got an amazing Hot Dog ;-) and we got wings. It was a good end to the night.

After dinner, we headed home and let Dommie watch an episode of the Backyardigans before bringing him up to bed. We put him down around 8:15, and I went down right after him! I think I was asleep by 9. It was great! :)

Today, it's back to work. But only one more day and it's the weekend again! I think I could get used to being off on Wednesdays..... Something to think about....

Happy Thursday everyone!

School!

So school is here and I just finished my fourth class. This week I had a lab exam. The exam was a lab practical where there were 26 stations set up around the lab and we had to go station to station answering questions. Some stations were asking questions about basic anatomy terms and anatomical position, other were asking about cell structure, then they got harder where they were asking about identifying types of Epithial tissues or Connective Tissues, and finally there were stations asking about skin and the different layers and structures found in the skin.

I was SO worried about this test. I didn't study much (bad me) but I went to class 2-1/2 hours early to get some much needed studying in. I think I overdid it! The test was pretty simple in my opinion! There were definitely a few I got wrong, and I knew I got them wrong, but I was prepared and I knew most of them. There were also 5 extra credit questions and I'm confident I got at least one of those right!

We have 4 lab exams (each worth 100 points), 4 take home exams (each worth 100 points), 9 lab quizzes (each worth 10 points but we can drop 2) and a cumulative final (worth 200 points). I'm working on the take home exam now (well not literally now) and have one bad quiz score and one awesome quiz score so I think I'll be ok...

I'm really glad I'm back in school. Even though it's sad sometimes that my Saturdays are basically spent in school most of the day (well 12:30-5:30ish), it's still interesting material and I'm really enjoying it!

I find out next week what I got on my lab practical. I'll keep ya posted! :)

Ashley's Due Date

My friend, Ashley Wilson (whose blog I follow over there on the right) has finally reached her due date! With no baby in hand, yet... :(

I'm saying a quick prayer for Ash that William decides to make his appearance SOON. I know how uncomfortable she must be feeling (I was miserable at the end and I had Dom a week early!) and I know how excited we all are to meet baby Will!!

Dear God,

Please let William come as soon as healthily possible. We want him to be ready to meet the world but his Mommy and Daddy are so ready to meet him! And his "Aunt" Meg is REALLY selfish and is already off work this Wednesday and would love to spend that time meeting him at the hospital. If you could make that happen, we'd all really appreciate it.

Amen.

Good luck, Ash!! I know you will do amazing and I can't wait to get that special phone call/text from you! :)

14 Weeks!

How your baby's growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

How your life's changing:

Welcome to your second trimester! Your energy is likely returning, your breasts may be feeling less tender, and your queasiness may have completely abated by now. If not, hang on — chances are good it will soon be behind you (although an unlucky few will still feel nauseated months from now).

The top of your uterus is a bit above your pubic bone, which may be enough to push your tummy out a tad. Starting to show can be quite a thrill, giving you and your partner visible evidence of the baby you've been waiting for. Take some time to plan, daydream, and enjoy this amazing time. It's normal to worry a bit now and then, but try to focus on taking care of yourself and your baby, and having faith that you're well equipped for what's ahead.

Well I'm glad to be in the second trimester finally! It seems this first trimester has taken forever! (I guess that's one of the downsides at finding out you're pregnant SO early!!). I'm feeling much less sick, but still VERY tired. I'm hoping my energy starts to pick up soon. Poor Nick has been dealing with me starting to fold laundry and then falling asleep on the couch mid-basket. It's been rough. But I think we're getting there!

My doc told me to focus on what I'm eating and make sure the baby is getting a good variety of healthy foods. I've stocked up on orange juice, strawberries, raspberries, salad, chicken, and all kinds of other good stuff. I'm still hungry a lot, so I've been snacking on pretzels and cheese. Hopefully I'm getting the right stuff.

This past weekend I found my diabetes meter. I think at my next appointment I might ask if I can get new prescriptions for the needles and test strips so I can start checking my blood sugar again. I figure it can't hurt to try and keep it in check now and then maybe I'll be more prepared and eating better and not have to worry about this in 12 weeks (I have to do my first glucose test around 26 weeks I think...). We'll see. I'll let you know how that goes once I start testing.

That's it I think. Unfortunately I'm getting too big for any of my pre-pregnancy clothes but the maternity clothes are all still too big for me. I found a pair of pants that I don't think I ever wore so they aren't stretched out yet and I've been LIVING in them. Hopefully I can get a few more weeks out of them without anyone thinking I'm crazy or my belly starts to stick out a little more and the rest of my maternity clothes start to fit! :) I'm actually ok with either of these options.

I have an ultrasound on Wednesday and I'm excited to see my bean again! :) Two more days!!

A day late/Dommie updates

Yesterday was Dommie's 20 month birthday! :)

I can't believe he is 20 months already. It's insane. Sometimes it seems like I just had him and other times it feels like he is almost 5! He is talking SO much all the time now. And it's getting easier and easier to understand him. He is so smart. You can ask him to bring you things or do things, and he knows exactly what you are talking about.

Here's the post I did in early July about how much is doing. I wanted to update that and keep it current.

These were the words he said in early July:
Words he says very clearly:
Hi ● Bye ● Mama ● Daddy ● Kitty ● Dog ● Ball ● Bite ● Hot ● Out ● Up ● Yes ● No-no! ● Please ● Nana ● Ci-ci ● Cheese ● Peas ● One

Words he says kind of clearly:
Love you ● Binky ● Grandma ● Grandpa ● Stella ● Ruby ● Thank you ● Two ● Three

Well now he says all that AND all this:
Walk
Outside
Play
Watch (meaning he wants to watch the Backyardigans)
Bless you!
Bath
MOM (and very serious like that too when he REALLY wants something. No Mama, it's MOM!)
Dad (not as seriously though!)
Mike
Baby (and he's very sure he does NOT want a baby in his house, uh oh! and speaking of uh oh...)
Uh oh!
Woah!
Oh MAN! (his favorite phrase right now)
Okie Dokie
Right Back
Potty
So happy!

and probably some more I can't think of right now.

Some things he's doing right now:

● He likes to play a game where he comes up to you to give you a toy or a hug or something and then he'll look at you and say, "Right back!" and I'll ask, "You'll be right back?" and he says, "Yup" and runs away for a minute and then it's starts all over again. :)

● He can sing his abc's. Not in the right order, but he's definitely singing letters. He also knows part of the ending. He rattles off a bunch of letters to the tune of the song and then sings, "Now I know my..." and then you can't understand him again, but he's getting there!!

● He mimics everything. Whether it's things you are doing, words you are saying or something he sees on TV, he's doing it too. He loves the Backyardigans and when they dance, he jumps up out of his chair and tries to do the dance too. Sometimes he gets it pretty close. Sometimes not so much, but he's dancing along!

● He can do stairs (thank God!), up AND down and if he's holding your hand, he can walk one step at a time instead of putting both feet on each step. He's getting so big!

● He's close to potty training, I THINK. The other day he grabbed his diaper and said, "Potty". I asked him, "Do you need to go potty?" and he pointed to our bathroom. I said, "Ok, we'll try." So I brought him into the bathroom and we took off the diaper and sat on the potty. Well we don't have a little potty, so I had to hold him up and he didn't like it. So I got him down and put a diaper on him. After his diaper was on, he sat down, and when he got back up, you could see his diaper was stuffed. So he knew he had to go. So I went out and got a training potty. We'll work on this one!

That's all I can think of right now!

He's such a big boy. I know he'll be a great big brother. He loves babies (even though he wants them to stay with their mommies) and he loves helping.

Happy 20 Months Dommie!

Apple Butter BBQ Pulled Pork...

Try saying that 5 times fast!

That was the TFD meal we made last night. And again, DELICIOUS! I was worried about it a lot yesterday because it said to cook it from frozen and I didn't see that, so I defrosted it. And you also cooked it in the crock pot wrapped in foil....I've never made anything in the crock pot in foil. But it was delicious. And it didn't matter that I defrosted it either!

We had our neighbors, Sarah and Jeff, over for dinner last night. When I got home from TFD, I had Dominick and was all by myself so Sarah and Jeff helped me carry all my stuff in. Since the pulled pork said it would serve 8, we invited them over to enjoy it with us.

We had SO much food. I couldn't fed another 4 people, easily! Sarah brought over a salad and then we had pulled pork sandwiches, green beans, rolls, sliced watermelon, and mini cheesecakes (and pumpkin kisses) for dessert. I still have a HUGE tupperware of pulled pork (after bringing some for my lunch today), a lot of green beans, two tupperwares of watermelon (and the whole other half of the watermelon) and 5 more mini cheesecakes! I would've just made us eat these leftovers for dinner tonight but I already had a whole chicken defrosted and we'll be gone a lot this weekend, so I didn't want it to go to waste.

So today for lunch is a repeat of last night. And tonight for dinner is chicken, potatoes, green beans and more salad! Yum! And this means we've eaten at home every night (except Wednesday, when we got Qdoba - and that was planned). So woohoo! Go us!

We are very used to eating out and trying to cut back on that a ton. So far, it's working!

Anyway, last night's meal was a success! I'm looking forward to going back in October and trying more meals in the next few weeks! :)

My New Favorite Thing

Last night was a GOOD afternoon/evening. Seriously!

I leave work at 4:00 pm and get a phone call from my neighbor. She is at the big kids consignment sale (at the old Macy's in Crestwood if anyone is interested) and found a breast pump for only $50.00 if I wanted it. I told her I was on my way.

The sale wasn't open to the public yet, so when I got to the mall, she came out and gave me a pass to get in early.

I go in and look at all the stuff around me! It's amazing how much stuff is at this sale. Here's the website if you want to look at it.

So I go to what Laurie called me about. It's a Medela Pump in Style Breast Pump for $50.00. These are $279.99 new. What a deal!!

So I actually needed two. My sister lent me hers and somehow it got broken in the transition from her house to my house, so we both needed one.

I found ANOTHER one for $75.00. With all the accessories (which I will either sterilize or just buy brand new, I haven't decided yet. I have a few months to think about it!).

So I bought both. THEN I found a winter coat for Dommie for $10.00...then I got him a hoodie for this fall for $3.00...Then I got him a booster seat to sit at the big dinner table with us for $2.00 (already on the seat and ready for dinner tonight!) and finally I bought him a 'potty' for $5.00.

So I spent $162.47 total (with tax) for TWO breast pumps, two coats, a booster seat and a potty. That's still over $100.00 less than I would spend just for a breast pump for me.

So that was the first exciting thing of the night.

Then I got home and saw that my newest DVD from Netflix arrived!!!!

LOST: Season 6: Disc 3 is HERE!!!! :) So I'm ready to get closer to the series finale of LOST! woot woot!

FINALLY: I went on a hunt to discover the most exciting thing of FALL! Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses!!!!

I had one earlier in the night (a place I went had a bowl at the counter to sample) and I immediately NEEDED them.


First I went to Walgreens....they had Milk Chocolate, Special Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate Hugs, Almond Centered, Caramel Centered, etc. BUT NOT Pumpkin Spice...GRRR.

So off to Target I went. (I told you, I was on a mission!). I went to the Halloween candy section. Again, I found the same brands I found at Walgreens.

I was about to give up. I was on the phone with Mike and he told me to ask someone...so I found a Target employee walking away from the section so I went up to him and said,

"Excuse me, do you know if you have any...."

And then I saw it!! A Hershey's Kisses STAND! The bags had spiderwebs! They looked different! I looked to see what the flavor said and the employee said,

"Have what?"

But I saw it!! PUMPKIN SPICE!!! I almost squealed. I said,

"They have them! They have them!" into the phone. I was so happy. (The things a pregnant woman will say or do!).

The employee just looked at me and said,

"Congratulations" and walked away.


Awww sweet success.

What a night!

(And in case you were wondering, I bought three bags...one for home, one for work, and one for wherever and whenever!!).

A wax and a joke

**WARNING**

So this may be too much for some people to read (there's some TMI involved), so if you can't, don't!

But I get bikini waxes done every 4-6 weeks. I've been doing this for a few years now. I had one done last night. Well for some reason, this morning when I woke up, I was thinking about that bikini wax joke that circulated a few years ago as an email....has anyone read that?? It made me laugh out loud thinking about it. So I googled it and am posting it here for your enjoyment...

Enjoy!

My night began as any other normal weekday night. Come home; fix dinner; played with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours; "Maybe I should pull the wax out of the medicine cabinet?"



So I headed to the site of my demise; the bathroom. It was one of those cold wax kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand and then they get warm and you peel them apart, press it to your leg (or wherever else) and hair comes right off!



No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm no girly, girl, but I am mechanically inclined enough that I can figure it out. *YA THINK!!!*



So I pull one of the thin strips out. It's two strips facing each other, stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. Cold wax my rear end (Oh, how this phrase haunts me!). I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull.



OK... So it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this!!! Hair removal no longer eludes me!! I am She-Ra, fighter of all wayward body hair and smooth skin extraordinaire!!



With my next wax strip, I move "north". After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of the bikini line, covering the right half of my vagina and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (Yes, it was a long strip). I inhale deeply and brace myself.... RRRRIIIIIIPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!



I'm Blind!!!!! Blinded from pain!!!!!!... OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!



Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half of the strip. S**T!! Another deep breath and RRIIPP... Everything is swirly and spotted. Do I hear crashing drums????? OK, back to normal. I want to see my trophy - A wax covered strip with my hairy pelt that has caused me so much pain, sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip! There's no hair on it!



Where is the hair?? WHERE IS THE WAX? Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair... The hair that should be on the strip. I touch. I am touching wax. S**T!!! I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair.



Then I make the next BIG mistake . . . . . . . Remember, my foot is still propped up on the toilet. I know I need to do something, so I put my foot down. DAMN!!! I hear the slamming of the cell door.



My Butt?? Sealed shut!!! I penguin walk around the bathroom, trying to figure out what to do and think to myself, "Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off.



Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right?? *WRONG!!!!*



I get in the tub - The water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit. Now, the only thing worse that having your nether businesses glued together is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub. In scalding hot water!! Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax. So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub!!! God bless the man what convinced me I should have a phone in the bathroom!!! I call my friend, thinking surely she's waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter, "So my butt and who-ha are stuck to the bottom of the tub!" There is a slight pause. She doesn't have a secret trick, but does try to hide the laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located on bottom, "Are we talking cheeks or what?"



She's laughing out loud by now... I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!! Right!!!!!! I would be the joke of someone else's night. While we go through various solutions, I resort to scraping the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better then to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water, and then dry shaving the sticky wax off!!!



By now, the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I slip into glazed donut land. My friend is still talking with me as my hand reaches towards the saving grace... The lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point. I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids, scared the dickens out of my friend, but I really don't care!!



"IT WORKS!! IT WORKS!!" I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice, to my grief and despair... THE HAIR IS STILL THERE... ALL OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!



So, I shaved it off. Heck, I'm numb at this point.



Next week I'm going to try hair color . . . . . .


And in case anyone is curious, most wax experiences are nothing like this. I go to a professional and pay them. And it doesn't hurt much at all. ;-)

Uncle Mike's Birthday!

I love that we live so close to Dominick's Godfather that he gets to see him frequently. And Dominick LOVES his 'Uncle' Mike. As soon as Mike comes in the room, Dom's face lights up and he says "Hi Mike!".

Well Monday was Mike's birthday. We went out with him on Friday night to celebrate but Dom wasn't there. So last night we had 'Uncle' Mike over for dinner and present opening.

Mike came over around 6:30 and I was just finishing up dinner. We had Caesar salad, Chicken Chardonnay and some dinner rolls. After dinner we had mini cheesecakes. Mike is not much of a dessert eater so I didn't want to make a whole big cake. But I thought we still HAD to have something so we could sing.

Here are a few pictures of Mike and his dessert:









Everything was happy while we were singing and happy at the beginning of blowing out the candles. But then Dommie tried to help too much. He leaned forward and caught a flame right in the face. He jerked back really quick and didn't say anything. Mike asked him if he was ok and he said, "Yeah...." in a shaky, quivering voice, and then it was "Maaa-maaa!". I picked him up and I think he was more scared than anything else. We rocked for a few minutes and talked and then he was happy again.

I took a picture before I realized he got burnt. Here's that picture...my poor baby!!



I took Dom into the kitchen to make sure he was ok and to calm him down. When we went back to the dining room, where Mike and Nick were, Dom's face lit up and he said, "HI Mike!". So all was well again.

After cheesecake, Dommie gave Uncle Mike his present (Halo Reach) and then we went downstairs to watch Biggest Loser and let Dommie play for a bit.

Dommie was climbing all over Uncle Mike all night. He had a blast with him. They sat and read books, played with the Hokey Pokey Elmo, and Dommie sang him his ABC's. :)

All in all, I think it was a pretty good evening!

(And PS - Dommie is perfectly fine and happy today and there is no sign of a burn, so I'm not even sure where and if it even got him, unless it just felt hotter than normal and he freaked out...)

Cravings

For some reason I really really want some Cool Ranch Doritos right now....

I haven't really craved much yet (well chocolate but I feel like that's kind of normal). I haven't had Doritos in a LONG time. I can't even tell you the last time I had them...But I really want them...

Like I think I NEED them....maybe I can run to the Mobile down the street....hmmmm.

Premiere Week!

I love it. I love everything about it. I've never been much of a TV person (honestly!) and mainly watched sports. Gotta watch baseball games and DEFINITELY have to watch Sunday and Monday (and sometimes Thursday) football. But that was mainly it. These last few years have changed that! I don't know if it started when I was pregnant....or what? But there are so many shows that I have to watch now...like HAVE to watch! ;-)

I mean it's ridiculous how many shows we have recording....

Biggest Loser
Top Chef - Just Desserts
Iron Chef
Cougar Town
Parenthood
30 Rock (Matt Damon is back this week!)
Dancing with the Stars (yes I'm a nerd and I'm ok with this)

and those are just the ones that are coming on now!

We just got done with:
Top Chef - D.C.
Big Brother 12
High Stakes Poker

And the sad thing is, I think I'm forgetting some!!!

Now don't get me wrong, we don't just come home and plop in front of the TV and do nothing else. Not at all. We usually walk to get Dommie and play outside for a bit. Then we come in and start dinner and Dommie plays with his magnets or reads on the couch. Then we go downstairs to play with toys and read more books and eat dinner together. Then Dom notices the TV and we have to watch an episode of "The Backyardigans" and then we get ready for bed, which consists of bath time and yes, more books....

Then Nick and I stay up for another few hours and watch the DVR.

Having said all this, I so happy it's PREMIERE WEEK! Last night I watched the premiere of Dancing with the Stars (there are so many fun people on this season! Kurt Warner, Jennifer Grey, Florence Henderson, Rick Fox, Brandy, Bristol Palin....ok not all fun people but fun to watch!) while also watching the Saints v. 49ers game. Tonight we have the Results Show along with Biggest Loser. Tomorrow we have Top Chef - Just Desserts and Cougar Town.

I can go on and on!!

For this and for so many other reasons, I really love the fall! :)

13 Weeks!

How your baby's growing:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

How your life's changing:

This is the last week of your first trimester, and your risk of miscarriage is now much lower than earlier in pregnancy. Next week marks the beginning of your second trimester, a time of relative comfort for many women who see early pregnancy symptoms such as morning sickness and fatigue subside. More good news: Many couples also notice a distinct libido lift around this time. Birth is still months away, but your breasts may have already started making colostrum, the nutrient-rich fluid that feeds your baby for the first few days after birth, before your milk starts to flow.


It's good to know that I'm going to start having more energy soon! Right now I've just been feeling awful. Either tired or sick or a headache or something is always feeling "off". I'll be excited to finally have some energy! Nick will be excited too. I've been slacking on cooking and cleaning these last few months. :)

Not much else is going on, pregnancy wise. We are both getting pretty excited about finding out if it's a boy or a girl, which we should find out in the next 3-5 weeks. We're hoping to have our "reveal" party around Nick's mom's birthday, which is November 5. We'll see if we can wait that long!

Vacation Changes

So Nick and I were going to go to Boston in November, but that's changing. We can't go to the football game because of my class. That week we are dissecting a brain so I definitely can't miss that! I'd be so far behind.

We are still planning on going to Boston, I'm just not sure yet quite when. But that will probably be a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday trip or something like that.

Instead: We have 3 vacations planned from now until the end of next year! :)

First 'mini' vacation - October 17, 2010

We are going to Chicago for the Bears vs. Seahawks football game. It's a noon game, so we'll probably drive to Chicago after my class on Saturday and then spend the night and go to the game Sunday and either spend the night and come home Monday or come home Sunday night. Not sure which yet.

Next bigger vacation - January 31-February 4, 2011

We are going to Park City, Utah for a ski trip! Nick's been begging to go on a ski trip for the last three years so this year we are going. I'll be 32 weeks then so I won't be doing much but laying around and maybe shopping, but it will be fun. We'll be going with some of Nick's family so I should have plenty of help! :) And we'll be using our timeshare to get there and I won't be renting any skis (obviously) so it won't be as expensive as it has been in the past. Bonus!








Then we're taking a nice long break for the spring, summer, and fall.

Last vacation - December 3-10, 2011

We are going back to Disney!! We are using our timeshare again, but this time staying at the Disney Saratoga Springs Resort. I'm very excited about this trip! I had a blast at Disney last year and I think that Dominick will have a blast next year! He was still a little small when we went last time but now I think he'll love the rides and everything else that there is to do.











I think that all three of these vacations will be a blast! And I really think that with our timeshare, our children are going to be spoiled ROTTEN! :) But that's ok. Vacations were some of my favorite memories from growing up and I hope to share those same types of memories with my kids and my sweet husband.

Look out world! Here we come!

Party Pork Tenderloin

So like I said in a previous post, I defrosted the Pork Tenderloin for dinner yesterday. When Nick got off of work, he called me and said he was heading over to his sister's house because his brother Dan was in town and they were over at Katie's. When I called him after I got off work, I reminded him I had dinner already defrosted and he said, "Well, I don't know what we're doing for dinner since Dan is in town".

Ok. Well that makes sense. Maybe we'd go out. When Nick came home at 5:30, he told me that we were bringing the pork tenderloin over to his mom's and making it for the four of us (Nick, Dan, his Mom, and myself). Well then I got nervous! What if it wasn't good!? What if I messed up the recipe??

We headed over there and put the pork in the oven. Then I started cutting up some of our watermelon from Fair Shares. We also made some biscuits and green beans.

I had NOTHING to be worried about. I thought the tenderloin was AmAzInG! It was so delicious. It was tender and juicy and the raspberry sauce on top was fantastic. I will definitely make that again. AND Nick's mom said she'll come do Time For Dinner with me whenever I need someone.

So. Yeah. I'm DEFINITELY going back in October! I'm already looking at the menu and deciding which meals I want!

We are making Fair Shares Pasta tonight but we'll be doing another Time For Dinner meal on Friday. I promise.

Exercise

I'm not very happy with my current exercise routine...

i.e. No exercise routine at all.

I feel very sluggish and gross. I think if I worked out more I would feel better inside and out. So I think I need to start going to the Y again. We are still members. I can't go in the mornings anymore because they don't open until 5 and Nick leaves for work at 5:15. But I can go at night (if I have the energy) and I think that will be helpful.

They also have classes I can sign up for. I should take prenatal yoga or something!

I might be getting ahead of myself but I really want to do something. Or at least go for long walks at night. Must Do Something!

In the meantime, my Mom is walking everyday and preparing for her SECOND half marathon, which takes place on October 3 and Nick is running randomly throughout the week training for his second half marathon (also on October 3). I will be there along with my sis, her family, and Dommie to cheer them on. Part of me wishes I was running with them, but the other part of me is excited just to watch!

My little repeater...

So Dominick is into repeating EVERYTHING YOU SAY. Look out. Usually it's sweet or cute.

For example: when I go into his room in the morning, I say "Hi Baby!" and he replies with a big smile and a "Hi babeee!" right back. That's cute. And sweet.

Sometimes it's not so sweet and it gets Mommy into trouble...

For example: on Monday, when Dom and I got home from my parents house (Nick went to the movies with Mike) we went to the kitchen where I saw Ruby had destroyed a LOT of plastic materials all over my leather couch. I said UNDER MY BREATH mind you, "oh shit". I thought I said it quietly.

Apparently I didn't.

Dommie turned to me and said "Oh SHIT!" and I stopped, horrified, and said "No Dommie! Don't say that!" and he looked at me and said "Oh shit!". Well I made a BIG parenting mistake....I let a giggle escape. Which turned into Dominick laughing and stomping his feet to "Shit! Shit! Shit!" all over the kitchen...

Great. Way to go MOM!

Luckily he has NOT repeated this since that incident, but it's made me very aware that my little man can talk WELL now and we really have to be careful about what we say in front of him...

OOPS!

IT'S A....

GIRL!!!!!!

No, not me, silly blog readers. My sister's new baby!

She found out today at her 20 week appointment that she is going to be blessed with another baby girl!

It's so exciting! I'm so happy for her, Andrew and Cecilia! Yay for babies! :)

Doc appointment 12 weeks

I had a doctor appointment yesterday. It went good. I got back pretty quickly to the room. I weighed in and found out that I've gained .2 lbs in the last two weeks...not sure how I feel about this yet. I know it's way too early to obsess over weight gain, especially when it's 1/5 of a pound, but I know it's still early to be gaining weight! But I guess I am almost in my second trimester so we'll see.

After they weighed me, I settled in and they took my blood pressure (fine - 120/65) and told me that since I was 12 weeks we were going to try and listen to fetal heart tones with the doppler machine. So she lubed my tummy up and started trying to find the heart beat. I love those machines. You hear so many cool noises! You could hear my heartbeat and my tummy making noises. Since the baby is still only about 2-1/2 inches or whatever, they can move FAST. She would find the heartbeat and then the baby would move to the other side of my belly. It took her three tries after finding the heartbeat for the baby to stay still long enough to get a reading, but we finally did. Heart rate was 154 - perfect! Pretty close to what Dommie's was. Dommie's was usually in the mid to upper 140's.

After that I waited....and waited.....and waited....until I finally had to run to the bathroom and came back and waited....and waited some more. At 10:20 the doc came in (my appointment was 9:40) and told me that we were doing an ultrasound (yay!) and brought in a little machine. It's amazing how nice the ultrasounds are at the Perinatal Center. This machine was nice, but no where near the quality of the other machines. But we got to see the baby and that's all that matters. The baby was moving all over the place and we say the heart pumping away. Doc said everything looks great.

After the u/s we talked for a minute. I get to slowly stop taking the prometrium (yay!! this is what he thinks is making me so sick and giving me headaches) and I'm supposed to focus on my diet. All my blood work came back perfect and he said I'm one of his healthiest patients. :)

I have an ultrasound at the perinatal center on September 29 (when I'm 14 weeks) and another doc appointment on October 14 when I'll be 16-1/2 weeks. I think I'll either be finding out if it's a boy or a girl at that October appointment (if he does another u/s) or at the next ultrasound appointment which will be around October 27. We'll see!

Time For Dinner!

My great friend, Ashley, and I went to "Time for Dinner" this past Monday night. For those of you who don't know what this is, I'll explain it (I didn't know either).

Time for Dinner is a place where you make a bunch of meals that you can take home and freeze. You "order" your meals ahead of time, and then when you get there, there are stations all over the room. You just go to a station and follow the instructions. Everything is already prepped for you with the proper measuring spoon or cup already in place. There is all the supplies you need and even the take home containers at the station. And the best part??? THEY CLEAN UP AFTER YOU! :)

So, Ash and I talked and picked out 12 meals. Most of the meals are already split into two portions to freeze, so these were easy to split. A few of the meals, we ordered two of so we could each get a full portion (which is 6-8 servings).

We both got there a little early and sat in Ashley's car talking. Then we went it. We were both a little nervous but really excited to start. It was great! We had nothing to be nervous about.

We checked in, got our tour of where everything is, and got to work. I started making our split portion of "Chicken Chardonney" and Ash got to work on our double portions of "Garlic and Cheddar Chicken Bites". It was so easy! After you make your dish and put it in the proper take home container, there are little stickers to put on everything. A small sticker that goes on the side so if your meals are stacked in the freezer, you can see what they all are, and a bigger sticker that goes on top. The sticker on top contains all the nutrition information (as well as weight watchers points) along with side dish suggestions and the cooking instructions. After we finished making our meals and labeling them, we had our own few shelves in a refrigerator to put our finished products.

It took about a hour and a half to get through all the meals, but we had a blast. We were able to pick stations close to one another and talk the whole time.

I was raving about this place to my sister and my mom but they both want me to eat a meal first before they sign up for coming with me. :) So I'm trying out the "Party Pork Tenderloin" tonight. Hopefully it's delicious! I know it will be.

Another cool thing about this place is that if you are pregnant, you get a card. With that card, after your baby is born you can order your meals and they will assemble them at no additional cost (that is an option now, but it's an extra $30 or something to have them make it). You get this deal for three straight months after the baby is born! How nice is that! Ashley got her card on Monday since she is due in a week and a half! The lady told me that she'll give me my card when it gets closer so I don't lose it. I appreciated that. I would lose it!

Now I'm looking up October's meals and I think I'm just going to have to go back!

I'll update you tomorrow with how the Pork Tenderloin turns out!

Sick Baby

Sunday afternoon we went straight to my parent's house to pick up Dom. When we got there, he felt a little hot to me, but my Mom had recently taken him for a walk so I didn't think much of it. We stayed for a bit, then went home where Dom fell asleep on the drive home. He napped for a bit and then was pretty fussy when he got up. I kind of chalked that up to just waking up and not getting enough sleep. He didn't eat much (but he normally eats a BIG lunch and a smaller dinner) so that wasn't too odd either.

Around 6:30 Nick left to go hit golf balls. Me and Dom were hanging out and watching the Backyardigans (Dom's FAVORITE show). At 7pm Dom asked me to go up to bed....what?? He's never done that. He pointed to the steps and said "Nigh-nigh?". So I said ok, and we headed upstairs. I changed his diaper and then picked him up to put him in bed. He went straight down and fell asleep almost instantly. I decided to let him sleep for about an hour. I went back downstairs and watched an episode of Big Brother and then about 45 minutes later I went up to check on him.

He was sleeping when I peeked in on him but I guess he heard me close the door because then he got up and started crying. When I picked him up, his cheek hit my cheek. It was on Fire! I laid him on the changing table and grabbed the thermometer. I took his temp while he was squirming and it said 100.1. I got him to calm down and sit still and I took it again. 102.0. Well no wonder he's been fussy.

I went to the medicine cabinet and grabbed the infant tylenol. Expiration date: 07/2010. Well great. There were so many recalls on infant acetaminophen that I don't want to risk giving him expired medicine. So I called Nick. No answer. Actually, it went straight to voicemail. His phone was off. So Dom and I went downstairs and waited for Daddy to get home.

When he did get home, I sent him off again (well I offered to go instead but he said he'd go) and he came back about 30 minutes later with the Walgreens brand of infant acetaminophen. We gave him a dose (which he thoroughly enjoyed) and headed upstairs for a cool bath. He had a blast in the bathtub - like usual. When we laid him down he felt much cooler. So we left him in bed for another hour. I checked on him around 10 and he temp was down to 94.1 and he was covered in sweat. The sheets were soaked by his head and he was dripping. I freaked out, picked him up and brought him into our room. I called Nick up and he felt him and said he thought I was overreacting (which is probably true) and Dom cried to go back to "me bed!". So we laid him back in his bed and took turns taking his temp throughout the night.

I did this the most since I'm still waking up multiple times to go to the bathroom. Around midnight it was 96.8. 2am it was 97.1. Nick checked him around 4:45 and it was up to 98.5. So we're doing good. When I got him ready it was up to 99.1. I sent him to daycare with the Tylenol and went to work hoping he would be good and I wouldn't get a phone call to come get him.

He was an angel all day at daycare.

We are thinking that either he had a quick bug or he was starting to get his 2 year molars. He was a little fussy but never bad. Either way, I feel so bad for the little guy. Since we weren't home all weekend I'm not sure if that came on Sunday afternoon/evening or if he didn't feel well all weekend. I'd feel awful if we were gone while he felt sick!

He's much better today. Happy, talking, playing, reading me books, and a perfect temperature of 98.7. :)

Weekend

This was a busy weekend. With LOTS of traveling...

Nick and I own a "revolving timeshare". Meaning, we earn points that we can use at thousands of different resorts and we don't have an actual place that we go once a year. The place where we have our time share invited us down to talk about it and see if we had any questions. We had a LOT of questions so I'm glad we went.

We had a lot to get ready Friday before we could leave. We both worked full days, then I went and got copies of our keys for our various dog-sitters, and then we packed. We dropped Dom off at his Nani's about 5:45. Then we got on the road.

We headed out to Crown Pointe Links in Farmington, MO. We stopped and got a quick bite on the way (so I wouldn't get sick) and then we checked into our condo. It was gorgeous. Nick had been to the condos before for his birthday golf trip, but I hadn't and I was pleasantly surprised. It was really nice!

Here are some pics of the condo:

Our view from the room onto the golf course



Our living room



Dining room



TV and view to the balcony



Our Full Kitchen



Our Own Washer and Dryer (which I didn't use...)



Our King Sized Bed (which we LOVED and have to get one for home)



Our jacuzzi tub



Our separate shower



After we got settled in, we went out to dinner. We went to a place called 12 West. It was a really nice place. My eyes were bigger than my stomach (or at least had very different plans!) and I ordered the crab cake dinner. Well I had my cup of soup...then I ate my whipped potatoes and then my "morning" sickness kicked in and I was done. That's it. I didn't touch the crab cakes. Or my veggies. Or anything else. I was done. So we headed home after Nick finished and got ready for bed. I stayed up watching the rest of the Cards game, and then went to bed about 10ish or so.

Then things got crazy. We woke up at 8:30 and got dressed. We headed down to our continental breakfast and then headed to our meeting. The meeting started at 9 am. It was very relaxed and the guy was awesome. He was so good at answering all our questions and walking through everything with us. We feel so much better knowing everything we get and we have a phone number that we can actually talk to someone who can help us instead of a customer service line where people don't really care.

Anyway, about 10:45 we were almost finished and I had to get on the road for class. I left and headed back to St. Louis for my 1:00 class and Nick hung out in the room. My class went from 1:00-5:30 and as soon as it ended, I got back in the car and headed south again to go meet back up with Nick. I got back to the condo about 6:50 or so.

I hurried up and got ready and then Nick and I headed off to the Tiger Sanctuary for dinner. It was delicious!! We got lost and it took awhile to get there but it was worth the wait! Delicious. After dinner we got some ice cream and then went back to the condo again. I was exhausted by then, so we headed off to bed by 9:15 Saturday night!

Sunday we woke up, packed and hit the gift shop where we bought Dommie a stuffed tiger, me some "Fizzy Izzy Root Beer" and Nick some "Antique Amber Ale" brewed at Crown Valley, and then we got on the road. We picked up Dommie and watched some football.

It was the perfect (almost - more on that when I have time) ending to a great anniversary weekend!

12 Weeks!

Here is what Babycenter.com says about 12 weeks:

How your baby's growing:
The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

How your life's changing:

Your uterus has grown to the point where your healthcare provider can now feel the top of it (the fundus) low in your abdomen, just above your pubic bone. You may already be into maternity clothes, especially if this isn't your first pregnancy. If you're still fairly small and not yet ready for maternity clothes, you've no doubt noticed that your waist is thickening and that you're more comfortable in loose, less restrictive clothing.

You may begin to feel heartburn (also called acid indigestion), a burning sensation that often extends from the bottom of your breastbone to your lower throat. Many women get heartburn for the first time during pregnancy, and those who've previously had bouts of heartburn may find that it gets worse. During pregnancy, the placenta produces a lot of the hormone progesterone, which relaxes the valve that separates the esophagus from the stomach. Particularly when you're lying down, gastric acid can seep back up the pipe, which causes the uncomfortable burning sensation. For many women the problem doesn't begin (or get worse) until later in pregnancy, when your growing uterus starts to push up on your stomach. The discomfort may range from mildly annoying to intense and distracting.



Well I'm glad to read that Babycenter says it's ok to be in maternity clothes!! I'm still not NEEDING to be in them, it's just so much more comfortable. And I actually have a lot more maternity clothes than normal clothes that fit!

I guess 12 weeks is further than I keep thinking it is. I'm still tired a lot, but even more, my stomach is starting to stick out and is getting hard. I'm starting to walk different. I keep thinking it's too early for this, but I started showing and getting bigger with Dominick around 15 weeks or so, and this is my second pregnancy. I'm almost 1/3 of the way there! :) Which is very exciting.

I have a dr. appointment tomorrow morning. It's just a doc appointment but he did say we'd do an ultrasound there. I don't know if he'll remember or actually need to do one, but he might. I wouldn't mind seeing my bean again.

My next ultrasound is September 29th in the morning. I'm excited about that one too. I'll be 14 weeks then and I think they'll be able to tell me when we can find out if it's a boy or a girl.

We are finding out, but in a unique way. More details to follow!

Happy 12 weeks to my bean! Each week I feel better and better. I can't wait to start feeling those kicks and punches!

Great Gift

So Nick is just so much better at this whole anniversary thing than I am. We've been settling our debt these past few weeks (by next week, we'll basically be debt free besides our house! yay!!) and not spending money. So I kind of figured we weren't really doing much for our anniversary. I was wrong.

It started off that I was mad at Nick. Let me explain why. He calls me every day on his way home from work. That's around 2:45 (he works 6-2:30). Well I'm still working then. But I talk for a few minutes. As long as I can, and then I let him go while I get back to work. It's usually about 10 minutes or so. Well then he goes home and watches TV.

So yesterday, this happened, and then I called Nick when I got off work about 4ish. He doesn't answer. So I continue to drive home. He calls me back and we talk for about 2 minutes. I start telling him a story. I didn't get far, but I should've caught his interest. I started with something like this, "Oh! You're never going to believe what happened today!" That's exciting right? Well he interrupts me and says, "It's not raining is it?" I said, "Yes, it is where I am." so he says, "Can you hold on one minute?" I say sure, and he sets the phone down and leaves. He's gone for about 2 minutes. He comes back to the phone and says, "Sorry babe." I tell him that's ok. I'm getting ready to re-start my exciting conversation and he says, "Ok, well I'll just see you when you get home?" .... I was kind of surprised. I said, "Can't you talk to me for a minute?" And he says, "No. I'll see you when you get home."

Ok. So now I'm annoyed. I talk to you everyday while I'm at work and you can't talk to me for 5 minutes because you are watching TV?? Come on!

So I get home and go to the basement and I'm definitely sporting an attitude. He smiles and asks me about my day and I'm giving him short one word answers. He finally asks what's wrong and I kind of blow up. I'm annoyed!

He gets up and leaves the room. I wasn't ready to give in so I sit and pout. He comes back with a huge bag and says, "This is why I couldn't talk. I had to get this ready. Happy Anniversary".

Well great. Now I feel like a giant schmuck! I open the card, which was a cute and funny card and then I dig into the bag.

He gave me two bags of Ghiradelli Chocolates (did anyone see my facebook status yesterday?? It's like he read my mind!), a baby names book (I just told him the other day I don't like our names anymore and I need a book to pick new ones out) and a food processor (something I've wanted for a few years now). Wow. He got me three GREAT things that I WANT and I'll USE and I didn't get him anything because I didn't think we were spending money and I had an attitude at him....

OOPS!

I told him I was sorry and that I was going to have something but I didn't think we were doing presents. And that I'll have something for him next week since we're going out of town this weekend.

So now I'm in a dilemma! I was going to take Dom to one of those pottery places and have him paint something, but that's not a good anniversary present. That's like a father's day present or a birthday present and from Dom not me....so what do I do????

Any ideas on a good gift?? A REALLY good gift since it's late now! :) I think I'm wanting to spend about a hundred bucks. Any advice is welcome!

4th Anniversary

Today is Nick and my fourth anniversary. I can't believe we've been married for four years. That's crazy.

I remember a lot getting ready for our wedding. I stayed at my mom and dad's the night before. My mom, sister and I went to get our hair done together. Afterward we all went up to Glen Echo (where the reception was) to meet up with everyone and get ready. We had brunch waiting for us. I think I was almost too anxious to eat.

I think I was a pretty calm bride, all things considered. We had a LOT of things "go wrong" at our wedding and I think we handled them in stride. The night before our wedding, one of the diamonds in my engagement/wedding ring fell out. Nick had to take it to the jewelers the MORNING of our wedding to fix it. (He didn't HAVE to, but he did because he's amazing and he loves me!).

Shannon started doing my make up (and made me look beautiful, if I may say so myself) and the rest of the girls got ready, too. During the make up session, a few bridesmaids came in to tell me that one of the groomsmen got the wrong color vest from the tuxedo place but that Andrew (my brother in law) was heading to the tux shop to get it fixed.

After we were all pretty, we did some pictures. I was insistent that Nick and I were not to see each other before the wedding. So I did my girl pictures and my family pictures at Glen Echo. Nick did some of his boy pictures there as well. Then the boys piled into the cars they had and us girls climbed into two limos and we headed off to the church.

I remember the girls had to clean my dress because I somehow got a black footprint on my train, but they got it out (thank goodness for Shout wipes!). I remember waiting in the little itty bitty back room waiting for it to start. I was very calm at this point, chatting with the girls. When the music started and my girls slowly started leaving me, I started to get anxious. By the time it was just me and my Dad, I was downright nervous. My whole stomach felt all twisted and turned. I thought I might get sick! Or faint! Neither good options.

But my Dad is a big guy. He held on tight and we made it down the 100' long aisle. Nick was smiling at me from his spot on the altar. His face calmed me down.

I don't remember much about the ceremony. I remember seeing my ring, with all it's diamonds and realizing how lucky I was. I remember being announced as husband and wife and kissing Nick and everyone clapping. I remember the priest asked a question about why we wear our wedding rings on our left ring finger and I knew the answer (woohoo! Go me!). And I remember walking out. That's about it!!

After the wedding ceremony is even more blurry. I remember the things that went wrong. I remember when getting announced to go in and sit down, the DJ didn't announce our Best Man and Best Woman (no "maid" at our wedding). And we had to have him announce us a few different times to get them to go in before us! Also, we didn't want a long head table so we had regular tables so people could talk and they weren't reserved correctly. We invited 320 people to our wedding. 295 RSVP'd yes. 310 showed up. There weren't enough seats and we had people sitting at our head tables. We just pulled up some chairs and joined them!

I don't remember the speeches which I hate. This is the one reason I wish we had a videographer. I remember my Dad's was perfect. My sister's made me cry. And Mike's made me laugh.

When dinner was served (which was amazing) the waiter dropped Nick's plate right onto my white dress. A whole plate of beef tenderloin in RED WINE sauce. He felt terrible. I looked at my sister and she said, "We have Shout Wipes" and I said, "And the pictures are done". And we calmly cleaned it up. (The shout wipes REALLY work too!).

I remember our first dance, kind of. I remember almost crying during it, for some unknown reason and the photographer caught a person shot of Nick telling me that everything would be fine. And I knew he meant it. Forever. No matter what, everything would be fine.

That's about it.

It was perfect. Despite all the other things that happened, it was perfect. It made the wedding unique to us. No one else has those memories. I bet no one else even realized half of that stuff happened. But even from Day one of our marriage, we were resilient.

We have always had each other to lean on and we always will. I'm thankful for these last four years and eagerly looking forward to the next 50+.

♥ ♥ Happy Four Year Anniversary Nicholas. Every day I love you more than I ever thought I could. ♥ ♥

11 Weeks

Babycenter.com says:

How your baby's growing:
Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.


Everything is still the same with me. Basically. I'm starting to struggle with some body image issues, and that's silly I know, but I can't help it. I didn't start showing with Dominick until about 15 or 16 weeks....I'm already starting to show at 11 weeks and I hate it. Not that I hate being pregnant, I'm just not supposed to look pregnant yet! I'm slowly getting over this. By the time I don't care, I'll be far enough long that I'll be ok with it!

I'm also done with the acne. I look like a 12 year old middle school girl. I hate it. I'm not one for wearing make up typically, and I'm constantly putting it on because of my frequent break outs. I already dealt with this in grade school and high school. I'm supposed to be done! I paid my dues for nice skin from now on, right?

Other than that, things are great. I'm still getting sick if I don't even often enough, but if I just keep eating, I'm fine! :) Luckily I'm craving lots of healthy food. Fruit and salad are my biggest cravings right now. So that's helping. I haven't gained any weight yet. Or if I have, it's a pound or less. That's good. I'm trying to keep my weight in check and pray to God that I don't have gd again. I really don't want to take my blood sugar every day, four times a day again. Hopefully we can avoid that.

And that's all I got! I go back to the Dr. on Tuesday morning, so I'll know more then!

Facebook official

So I finally put it up on facebook. Not finally, I guess since I'm still only 10 weeks. But since I've known since I was about 3 weeks 3 days, it's been a long time.

Yesterday at the appointment, my OB told me my risk of miscarriage is less than 3% so I figured it was ok. Besides, Nick can't keep a secret anyway and he tells everyone anyway. ;-)

Most people already knew, but now my 418 facebook friends know now too. :)

Ultrasound!

It went perfect!! I'm so happy. Everything looked great. The size is perfect. The proportions are perfect. The heartbeat is perfect. I'm very very happy.

Here are a few pics:









Yay!! I'm so happy right now!

Next OB appointment is in two weeks. Next ultrasound is in four. :)

New Pantry - Almost DONE!

Here are the pics of the pantry!!! Yay!!!

And the new way the room in configured for now... :)

Tractor Time

Every Monday, Nick, Dom and I go to my parents for dinner. My Grandpa is always there, as well as my cousin Ben, and my Grammie comes about every other week. We want them to get to see Dominick as much as possible. We see my parents and Nick's mom pretty often, but my Grandpa and Grammie don't see him as much. We try to fix this once a week.

And so far it's been great. Dominick LOVES my Grandpa (or as Grandpa likes to call himself "Old Grandpa") now and wants to play with him a lot. This just tickles my Grandpa and makes me so happy as well.

A few weeks ago, Nick and I got there really early, before anyone else was home. So we took out my Dad's tractor and showed it to Dom. At first he LOVED it. Then Nick started it up and he HATED it. Then Dom went for a ride and was back to LOVING it!

Here are a few pictures from Dom's tractor ride.