National Delurking Week

It's national delurking week!

I would say I "know" about 60% of the people that stop in on this blog. So if you are in the 40% who I don't "know" or who don't comment, please leave me a comment!

See You Next Year...

Last post of the year. January marks three years of blogging for me. I feel like most of it has been baby centered, but my life in the past three years really has been baby centered.

This year has been such a trying time for me and yet, I've also had some of the greatest moments. I watched my baby learn to walk, start talking, enjoy her first mobile summer. She made friends, she developed her personality, she danced and sang and I was here to witness every single one of those moments. I'm lucky.

And in between all of the laughter and dancing, I grew as a mother. I realized how much I wanted more family. I struggled with infertility. I cryed, I screamed, I sat with despair in my eyes and wondered "why me?"

I spent the last half of my year driving forty minutes each way to the doctors office. I did this every other day for two weeks of each month. I was prodded, poked. I had ounces and ounces of precious blood drawn. I poked myself with needles, sometimes three times a day. I had vaginal ultrasounds. I prayed. With every passing day I looked forward to phone calls from nurses telling me my numbers. I learned about my body's faults.

But I also learned how my body can nurture and that sometimes it can do things right. That even though it was hard to get pregnant, my body embraces pregnancy. It nurtures this baby. Yes, my body suffers through hyperemesis with my pregnancies, but that's just a small price to pay. It's all a small price, the pokes, the blood, the tears, it was all worth it for that baby who measures a tiny 4.5 inches and weighs only 2 ounces.

This past week or so I've marveled at how my body still takes care of my toddler and this unborn baby. I've cried when I sat down to nurse my toddler, not from pain, but from the realization that at that moment my body is nurturing my toddler and my unborn baby. They both sit in my lap, listening to my heart, and feeling my love surround them. And that is so unbelieveably awesome and such a giant thing to grasp in my tiny little mind.

It's been a great year. And I know that next year will be just as wonderful. It will have just as many hard times I'm sure. And I'm positive I'll complain. But I'll also welcome our second baby into our lives. I'll watch my baby girl become a big sister. I'll watch her turn two. I'll enjoy another summer with both my babies. Another anniversary with my Prince Charming will come. And it will be wonderful.

Happy New Year, may yours be filled with love, happiness, and all around good times.

Beggars

No, actually I'm not begging. I'm just putting this up because I can. heh. Magdalena's birthday is approaching quickly, and if you'd like to send her a gift you can find her wants and desires here.

That's Belbo's WORLD!

Magdalena is really becoming quite cute lately. I had been worried about her speech about a month ago. Until I realized that I was looking for her to be actually talking to me like an adult, which isn't going to happen obviously. And she was saying words and such that we could understand, but we have a friend who talks constantly about her 2 year old and her have these long lengthy conversations. So I guess I was looking for that instead of toddlerese. So when I started really paying attention, I realized she is normal. ;) And I'm perfectly happy with normal.

However, in the past couple of weeks her language has started to EXPLODE! She's never been one of those toddlers to try and repeat everything you say, or to "point to your nose!" She always kinda gave me a look like "what the hell for?" So imagine my surprise when she started spitting more words out. Crazy.

I've said it before but I'll say it again, the girl loves to eat. And it's a good thing cause she is a skinny girl and if she didn't like to eat, I'm sure people would point out that I'm a Bad Mother. But I just usually let people who have skinny comments offer M something to eat, and that usually shuts them up. Heh.

Anyway, she has started being able to pick an option. So at lunch time I'll ask her "do you want to eat?" "EAT!" "Would you like ham or cheese?" (sandwich) "HMMM!" or sometimes she says "CHEEZ"

She blows kisses, and says "Ehss You!" when you sneeze. Heh. She points to my belly (which is making it's presence known by the hour) and says "baby!" and generally blows a kiss.

After naps, I'll ask her "did you sleep well? was it a good nap?" And 99% of the time she'll say "uh huh" One day I asked, " did you take your nap? " and she looked all shy and grinned at me. I asked her again if she slept and she said "nope." Stinker.

This evening I had some sewing to do and Magdalena was in that lull between needing to go to sleep and actively letting me get her to sleep. So I popped in an Elmo's World tape. She loves "Belbo" and her birthday party will be Elmo themed.

Anyway, I'm in the dining room which is open to the living room so I can see her watching intently, barking with the dogs, counting "one, dew" and so on. At the end,Elmo sings his song and I hear her loudly singing "Das Belbos WORLLLLLL" And then Elmo says "say Goodbye Dorothy!" And I hear Magdalena say "BYE!" I was seriously cracking up. She's so cute! Just ask Julee. :)

Coming up in the next posts, more about when I met Julee and my hyperemesis saga. Really what fun is following my pregnancy when it doesn't have a little drama?

Meme

The rules for this meme are as follows:

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom spot. Very simple.

1. Running2Ks
2. Allison
3. Fair Dinkum
4. Welcome to the Monkeyhouse
5. And They Lived Happily Ever After

Then you select five people to pass the love on to.
Here are my five:

1. Julee
2. Allison
3. Manda
4. Mani
5. Blessed Mama

Now, on to the questions!

What were you doing ten years ago? I was in school. **blush**

What were you doing one year ago? I was getting ready for my baby's first birthday.

Five snacks you enjoy

1. chips and salsa
2. wheatables
3. cottage cheese
4. glass of chocolate malted milk
5. flavored coffee

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics.

Wow, um I can't even begin to name songs I know the lyrics to. I know to many!

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire.


1. Pay off all our debts.
2. Buy Erich a super cool Manly truck.
3. Invest so Erich can work part time and be with us.
4. Set aside money for fertility drugs so I can have as many babies as I want.
5. Buy a piece of land and build our dream home on it.

Five bad habits

1. Bite my nails.
2. sailor mouth
3. I have about 3 knitting projects all started.
4. Spend to much money.
5. Talk to much.

Five things you like doing

1. Knitting
2. Blogging
3. Washing diapers (something about pulling clean diapers out of the dryer makes me feel warm and whole inside)
4. Laundry in general.
5. Cooking and Baking

Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again

Heck, I don't know!

Five favorite toys

1. Laptop
2. Washer (it's a front loader!)
3. my husband **wink**
4. sewing machine and serger
5. knitting stuff

Quick

I'm dropping in quickly to show you this link I found to a really cool musical. I'm hoping to buy the CD next month when it becomes available. It's on Off Broadway and I think it has enough funding to run through the end of this year. I wish I could hop a plane and afford the $60 a ticket to see it next week, but alas I don't. So I'm just going to have to wait for the CD.

Infertility: The Musical That's Hard To Conceive

You can listen to some of the soundtracks on the website. :)

Whistle While You Work

I know I know I know, I haven't updated lately. And I know you are all sitting on pins and needles waiting for me to update. Hahaha!

I do need to mention that today my baby is 23 months old. Sniff. I'm planning her birthday party and of course, it's an ELMO party. Who else?

No time for a great long update other than that though. I'm up to my ears in knitting for Christmas projects. Ugh. I promise I will update next week after I'm finished and my fingers no longer hurt. Is it possible to make your fingers skinny? Cause my wedding rings are falling off. Or I guess it could be that 12 pounds of lost. Yes I'm bragging, what's your point? ;)

I owe Chatgoddess some things I love about heralong with some crockpot recipes. And I owe Shana a meme. All in good time my friends. Also I have a box to pack up and ship to Mani.

Oh! And I get to meet Julee next week. Neener neener neener! :)

And since you are all watching, I'm sailing past that first trimester mark and into my honemoon trimester on Sunday! So while you're opening your presents, breath a silent sigh of relief for me. I did it, I made it through the first third. And holy crap I'm going to have a newborn in (less than!) 7 months.

More next week. Promise!

PS To tide you over until I return next week, I posted 12! pictures over at flickr.

We're Here

We're still here, covered in snow, but here. The popping continues in my lower tummy area. I'm 99.9% sure that it isn't gas, it just feels different. I can only feel it if I'm lying really really still and generally just at night. Oh well.

Magdalena and I went out in the snow yesterday when it had just started it. She had been admiring it through the window for a while, so I decided to bundle us up and take her outside. It took longer to get ready to go out then the actual time spent outside. She is so funny and cute!

We came in and I gave her dinner and took her upstairs for her bath. We went into the bedroom and nursed and I asked where she was going to sleep (her crib/sidecar, or in the big bed). She patted Erichs pillow and said " Daddee Daddee" and laid on his pillow. She then promptly demanded that I cover her up. After I covered her and kissed her on the forehead, she closed her eyes pretended to be asleep. Silly girl.

After she was asleep I finally put the Christmas tree up. I just have to hang the stockings and put the manger up. I seriously don't feel like putting it up, but my Dad made that manger and there hasn't been a Christmas yet that I haven't put it up.

Then I donned all of my snow gear again and shoveled the porch, sidewalk, and driveway. Erich was stuck at work and the last thing I wanted him to have to do is shovel just to park his car. I knew he wouldn't be home for hours and hours, but at the rate it was falling I figured I should get a head start.

Through this all I've really wanted a ham sandwich or roast beef sandwich, toasted with cheese. I had gone to the meat market around noon when Erich was still home and it was CRAZY. People are nuts! So I didn't get the roast beef because the line was to long.

Erich finally got home at 2am. I went outside at 1:30am to start shoveling snow again since it had started blowing and such. I went out and you could no longer see where I shoveled. There were two foot drifts. Ugh. So I started shoveling again and I had just finished the second tire track ( I decided NOT to do the whole driveway again) when Erich pulled around the corner. Then I had to shovel and area for him to get out of the car. LOL

My thighs hurt today. Boo. I did decide that I could no longer stand not having a roast beef sandwich so I bundled Magdalena up and we took off to walk the three blocks to the meat marked. Actually I should say *I* walked it while carrying her because she decided she didn't want to walk in the snow. We just got home a few minutes ago and Magdalena ate an ENTIRE sandwich and I just had my roast beef sandwich toasted with colby jack cheese and a touch of mayo. It's amazing what a pregnant woman will do to satisfy her craving. :)

Magdalena keeps admiring the tree. I tell her no touch! and she stops. A few times I've looked over to see her touching the tree. When she sees me watching her, she comes over to me and says, "no tuhk teeee!" heh.

So I'm warm and my belly is full **yawn** I believe it's naptime...

Silly Questions

When did you feel your baby move? More importantly, when did you feel your baby move on second pregnancies (or third, fourth, whatever.) I felt Magdalena REALLY early at 14 weeks and consistently at 15 weeks. Currently I'm almost 12 weeks.

Anyway, last night I was laying in bed all relaxed after my shower and I felt a series of popping in my lower belly. It didn't feel like gas, just like some sort of popping. It was to far foward to be gas or my bowels or anything. Just popping. This morning I felt the same thing. It's crazy, but could this actually be the baby, this early?

First Prenatal Appointment

I'm going to start this out by saying that these appointments are not going to be easy accompanied by an almost 2 year old. I remember when I was pregnant the first time, I would just go in with a good book (usually some sort of breastfeeding book I had picked up) and sit and read and just ignore the wait. That's not going to be the case this time I think. I did think ahead though, after the whole apple juice/specimen meltdown in the ER last week, I packed a sippy with apple juice. But I'm going to need to be more creative, lots of snacks and drinks and such.

Anyway, my appointment was at 10:30. They asked me to be there a few minutes early to fill out the forms and such. We arrived at around 10:15am. I signed in and started my wait. They finally called me to the receptionist and copied my insurance card, verified I still had the same emergency contacts and address, and explained my benefits. Seriously, there is something very satisfying to see the paper that says your insurance will pay $XXXX amount and the amount you owe is $0 after your $0 deductible is paid. Seriously, that's heaven. ;)

Anyway, a short while later after one meltdown they call us back in to the office. They weigh me and confirm I've lost yet another pound bringing me up to an eight pound weightloss. (Considering I'm 8 weeks post conception, that's a pound a week. And believe me, I'm eating, um, lots.) Moving on, they ask if I can produce a sample. HA! We get through that with zero drama and I fill M's now empty sippy up with some water. We go into the exam room and get my blood pressure taken 112/60 and she leaves us to wait, and wait, and wait. I don't really notice since I knew my OB was oncall that day, but I must remember to pack the diaper bag with surprise goodies for when we move away from the germ infested great toys they provide in the waiting room.

The wait didn't seem bad considering when my OB came in she spent a good 40 minutes with me. We talked about a repeat section, we talked about how I was feeling (great, knock on wood), and we talked about my near constant cramping and the great ER visit. She was not happy about the way that visit had gone. She had said that should have done a pelvic and that they should have cathed me for the specimen. (Here is where I was relieved that the ER had screwed up. heh.) Like last time I declined all the genetic testing stuff. She sorta tried to pressure me into the triple screen, but I was adament that I didn't want it. She did keep saying that it came back positive, then she would send me to a larger hospital for a 4D ultrasound. That really didn't sound incredibly appealing to me. I explained that I KNEW the test had a high false positive rate, and that it was even higher for heavier women. I also know that we've done well on taking prenatal vitamins and taking care of myself while making this baby and since it's been growing. And Erich and I are both young, so I didn't really see a point. I won't terminate the pregnancy, I trust their u/s tech to find heart abnormalities, and honestly if something were wrong like Downs Syndrome, I wouldn't want to spend my pregnancy feeling doomed and stressed. I feel like this baby is fine and my gut should be trusted. Plus I didn't want the stress of having that blood draw looming over my head, you know? She did agree with me that I was extremely low risk and she didn't feel uncomfortable with me declining it. ;)

She decided that she should go ahead and do a pelvic, take a quick look to make sure that my cervix is behaving (considering I had that LEEP a couple of years back it's nice to know it behaves) and declared my uterus to be of an appopriate size for 10w2d. She commented that my csection scar really healed well, and that she would cut that scar out when we do the section so that I don't have multiple scars which increases adhesions and such. We also talked about stitches and staples and I was relieved that she said she always does stitches. Thank goodness! She tried to hear fetal heart tones with the doppler, but kept finding mine. She said since I was having cramps and that she couldn't find heart tones, she would send me over for an ultrasound. She okayed it for me to go to a chiropractor as long as he has experience adjusting pregnant women. Yay. (Appointment is tomorrow AM for both myself and Erich.)

At this point, my OB is upset that she can't find the note from Dr. H the RE (they went to school together). She teased me that he's seen me naked. hahaha. If you had seen Dr. H, you'd know why that was funny. He is a hot-tay. She was also upset that she couldn't find the ER note either. She sent me back to have my ultrasound.

Wow. That baby changes SO fast. Baby appeared to be sleeping but you could see him turn from side to side at times. FHTs were 170 and he measured perfectly for 10w2d. So baby is already making Mommy proud! Magdalena is SO used to the ultrasound drill, she is the best girl ever. And it was cute because when she saw the screen she said "baybee!" And the u/s tech said, "Yes! You see your baby?" My heart is filled with pride and joy. You would just not believe how happy I am. She printed us some pictures and my OB came back to fetch me.

She took me to her medical assistant who drew my blood and then sent me to her nurse. She said she'd see me in 4 weeks and that she was so happy I was back! Me too! We drew blood and I visited the nurse who gave me my prenatal vitamin script, lots of papers, and my favorite "the breastfeeding support supplementation kit!" Yay! Just what I wanted, formula samples! I kept my mouth shut from saying that Magdalena has NEVER had a drop of formula and I have every intention of making sure that this baby NEVER has a drop of formula either. I kept my mouth shut because I wanted the cooler. ;) I did take the samples over to the WIC office and gave them to them. :)

And that ended my first prenatal. Only about a bazillion more to go, look forward to the next one on December 30. :)

We're Home

We sorta came home to a mess, but I'll explain later. In the meantime, I've maxed out my upload limit at Flickr. Go look! Leave comments! Enjoy!

The Fun-- It Never Ends...

Just when I thought I could relax as I was sailing towards the 12 week mark, I was taught a lesson. It's not over, until the fat lady sings (or until the baby cries, whatever.)

Yesterday, after a particularly stressful week (remember that damn turkey? nuff said) I started having these cramps that turned into contraction like cramps. You know the ones that wrap around your body, hug on to your kidneys, then radiate right into your crotch? Yup those. And all I could think was Oh.My.God.Not.Now.Please.

Erich wanted to go straight to the hospital and I said (through snot and tears) not right now. If we are losing it, we can't do anything. The cramps/ctx type thingies stopped after a glass of water and a few refreshing breaths. I did have some sort of bottom/cervix pain, but no spotting or bleeding.

So this morning I felt great, and after that 6am rush, I took T and Magdalena to ToysRExpensive to LOOK at the toys to make a list for Santa. We met up with Erich for lunch (and scored two free meals since they didn't get our food out in less than 14 minutes) and we all came home. I sent the girls to take naps and sat down to start checking email. I had just opened up Diaper Pin (which I still have not been able to read) when I got this gigantic cramp. Mind you I wasn't doing anything but sitting on the couch tapping on my laptop. And then after the second cramp, I started having a panic attack. I could.not.breath. I called Erich, frantic, and he told me to go straight to the ER. Through snot and tears (again), I said I'd call the OB.

But obviously, the OB was not in the office and the on call doc was paged. She called me back and told me not to panic. (She says to the lady who just finished a $3000 cycle of drugs and one year of TTC.) She said I should not panic at this point because I was not bleeding or spotting. I did mention that over the last day or two I've been feeling sick and like not eating. She said that there was no way to get an "official ultrasound" until Monday, but that I should go into the ER and have them take a look. She said that they would listen to the heartbeat , do an ultrasound, and check urine. Her guess was I was getting the flu.

So I call Erich and fill him in. Then I call my mother and tell ask her politely to meet me at the hospital to help with Magdalena and T. Then I pack everyone up and we head to the hospital.

After checking in and handling meltdown #1, they escort us back to my room. The nurse comes in promptly and I kid you not says, "take off your clothes." Sweet. Anyway, the ER does not have a doppler and only has a fetoscope. After five minutes of her looking and telling me "don't panic" she finds "the buggar" (She actually said this and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Oh well. And I wasn't panicked because I'm barely 10 weeks and baby is small.) FHT were in the 140s and baby sounded fine. She let me listen, which was nice.

Then the doctor came in (why oh why are ER docs always cute young boys while family docs are old and wrinkly?) with the ultrasound. After feasting my eyes upon him seeing him all I could think was "please God do not make this a vag u/s." He said at 10 weeks we should be able to see baby with minimal trouble through the belly. And he was right. He instantly saw my "enlarged" uterus and there was baby, hanging out, moving around, and with a strong heartbeat. I wish I could have seen this beauty, but I couldn't as the u/s machine was like a laptop and you couldn't see it unless you were at the right angle. He tried to print a picture, but of course, the printer was out of paper. Anyway, he assured me that baby looked appropriate measuring at 10weeks and was moving and had a heartbeat.

He said we would get a urine sample and that if I have an infection, it can sometimes cause uterine spasms because the urinary tract will irritate the uterus. He leaves and at this point someone comes in and gives T and Magdalena beanie babies (to add to the coloring books and crayons we got in the waiting room). The nurse comes in, asks if I can pee (hello? is that a stupid question to ask a pregnant woman who has been in the ER for an hour and a half? I thought so.) and sends me to the restroom. She takes T to see the collection of beanies, and Magdalena goes with me.

We come back to the room and handle Meltdown #2 when Magdalena wants apple juice after seeing the specimen. **rolls eyes** So the nurse brings in apple juice for both girls and leaves. This is when my Mom and StepDad arrive. So they come in and I fill them in and we play around in the room for about 10 or 15 minutes.

The nurse comes in and informs me that I have a rather intense UTI. Bleh. Antibiotics, yogurt, rest, and lots of water and cranberry juice are recommended and with that they send me on my merry way.

My parents took us to eat and we called Erich to tell him Neo is fine and so am I for that matter. A quick visit to the pharmacy and we are now home. Of course I need to wash diapers and pack because we are going on a trip tomorrow. (Doctor okayed.) We'll come back Monday evening and Tuesday morning I have my OB appt. yay.

Oh and I forgot to tell you this last week, but I found out why Erich calls the baby Neo. He said that since we talked about it being multiples for so long he had thought it would be two, and then when he found out there was only one he started saying "the one" which led him to Neo. So it's Neo "the one." Don't ask me, I can only follow his train of thought about half the time. ;)

It's The Little Things

I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm pregnant. This pregnancy is just going to well. I'm not sick, just overly tired so I have to remind myself, hey you're baking a baby! But there are some things that do remind me, so here they are:

• I'm ready to go to bed at 7pm.
• I get really sick if I don't eat say every two hours.
  
• I go to the bathroom every hour and a half.
  
• I'm tired after being up for 2 hours in the morning
• One minute something sounds wonderful to eat, the other not so much
• Getting a card that says "glad you had a 'positive' experience with us" from my RE
• My pants don't fit, yet I've lost seven pounds.
  

At nine and a half weeks pregnant, it's safe to say I'm 25% done with this pregnancy. How in the heck did that happen?

22 months ago...

I was laying in a hospital bed two hours after giving birth. I was exhausted and thrilled and totally in awe of this tiny creature they pulled from my body. She nursed all night long that night and slept on my chest and I was never more happier.

This evening, at 8:14pm I was nursing my baby to sleep and remembering that first cry she made while only her head was out. She cryed before they could even pull her out. And at 9:30 pm this evening when she woke and I nursed her back to sleep, I remembered the first time I held her and latched her on. I remembered the first time she ever nursed. If you would have told me 22 months ago that I'd still be nursing this creature, that I'd still be in complete awe, that I'd marvel at how she is such a baby and a little girl all at once, I wouldn't have believed you.

What's that sound?

That would be me, hyperventilating. That stinking bird is really getting to me. I think I have the whole cooking thing down. Nana talked to me last night and walked me through the process. Like a good student, I diligently took notes. I'm going to cook the bird on my gas grill, thus freeing up space for my rolls, pie, and casseroles in the oven. So why am I hyperventilating?

The bird is still frozen. Sure parts of it feel thawed, but one big hunk feels frozen. I put it in the fridge on Wednesday. It only weighs 12 pounds. This page and this page say that it only needs 24 hours per 5 pounds, so it should be thawed by Saturday. But it isn't. My mom says to not worry about it. That once I take all the stuff out of the middle and give it the remaining 16 hours till I have to cook it, that it will be thawed enough. I do know that it can go into the grill a bit frozen, just takes longer. So I'm going to increase my cooking time and throw it on the grill at 6:30am instead of 7am. Family is supposed to be here at 11am and we are supposed to sit down and eat at 11:30. So, really I should be OK.

I need to remember to show Erich the video that shows how to carve the turkey. We are going to be all fancy pancy over here and carve at the table. Cool, eh? (But remember I won't be carving because that squicks me out.)

I'm getting ready to set the table now. My mom bought me a tablecloth that goes well with my dining room and will work for Christmas also. She scored a rocking deal as it was normally priced for $40 and it was 66% off. She bought it for $13 and change. I already pressed my napkins last night and they are already in the napkin rings. (I said we were going to be fancy pancy.) So I'll get the tablecloth on and then I will wash all the china and set it out. I'm going to get out the wine glasses, but we'll all be drinking water. I'm not offering anything else, to help smooth the bumps in the day. We'll have coffee and milk with desert.

So I should get going and set my table and wash dishes and stuff. Do you think I can convince Erich to take me out to Outback tonight to satisfy my hankering for a steak and some of those cheesy fries with ranch sauce? It'd be nice, because I don't want to touch anything so it's all ready to go in the morning, without having to wash dishes at 5am.

Tickers Pickers

I'm not incredibly fond of the two tickers on the page. Someone asked when I was going to put a pregnancy ticker up, and although I wanted to put one up immediately, I didn't just want to kick Magdalena's off, if you know what I mean.

I already had plans to get rid of Magdalena's ticker on her 2nd birthday. That seems a good place to stop the ticker madness so to speak. But I had a ticker for Magdalena's pregnancy, so it seems appropriate that this baby gets one to.

So until January, ya'll will just have to live with two tickers. Then it will be back to one ticker. ;) Can you guys handle that until January?

My Life In Bullet Points

• My house is a disaster and I don't want to clean it. I'm tired*. Damnit.
• Family is coming on Sunday and the house needs to be clean by then. Ugh. And they insisted on eating at 11:30am. That means I have to be up at 6am to start the grill and get the bird ready. Does anyone else see the problem with this besides me?
• Erich brought a fern plant in from outside to escape the cold. It smells funky and makes me want to hurl. Why am I the only one who smells this?
• Last night I broke a drinking glass. Of course, it was while I was in a hurry, but I was very careful and meticulous in picking it up and sweeping since we all walk barefoot.
  
• This afternoon while running through the kitchen I stepped on a piece of glass. When I went to dig it out, I realized it was very lodged without edges, making it almost impossible to pull out. Thoughts of taking a toddler to the ER drifted through my head, so I squeezed the darn thing (cutting myself even more) and "birthed" the very large piece of glass. So now I'm tired and my foot hurts.
• In an effort to make things go smoothly tonight, I remembered that all of the night time diapers were dirty. So at 2pm, I put the diapers in the washer and then proceeded to forget about them until about an hour ago. So now, they are doing their vinegar wash at which point they'll need another hour to dry. So Magdalena won't be in bed until 10pm. Have I mentioned that I'm tired?
• Erich has to back up 5 computers tonight after work because they are moving them to a new building in the morning. Since he doesn't get off of work until 10, he'll be gone a long long time tonight. And then tomorrow he must be up at the crack of dawn to finish the job.
  
• When I roll on to my tummy in my sleep now, it feels like I rolled over onto a ball.
  
• My insurance has decided that all the prenatal vitamins I have samples of are non formulary and I should pay 50% of them. I AM NOT paying $25 a month for prenatals when they should stinking pay for them. UGH.
• Imacmom, we talked about prenatals before. Can you drop me an email and tell me which ones you like?
• I'm tired. When is someone going to invent that self cleaning house?

*I'm not exactly complaining about my pregnancy. I know that someone is going to come out of the woodwork and tell me that since I wanted to be pregnant so bad, that I shouldn't complain. Obviously this person has never been pregnant and tired. So to clear it up, I'm thrilled to be pregnant. I'm thrilled to not be sick. I know that beggars can't be choosers. I'm just simply stating the fact that I am really really really tired. Okay?

The Ultrasound Where My Heart Stops

We had our last ultrasound on Monday with Dr.H. I've been released to my regular OBGYN with good wishes, promises to come back and show them a beautiful baby in June, and the promise to help me if I should ever want more help. It was bittersweet. The nurses came and hugged me and Magdalena waved "Bye!" and blew kisses.

The ultrasound was really cool except for the fact that my kid scared the LIVING CRAP OUT OF ME. Normally, when you have those vaginal ultrasounds as soon as the wand is, *ahem* placed you see baby. But that didn't happen. And as the wand was moved around all we kept seeing was this empty sac. This is where my heart starts to race and then just stops all together. Finally, in the most umcomfortable place, they find baby, perfectly happy, healthy heart, just hanging out avoiding us. Baby kept flipping not wanting us to see him (or her!) or let us measure or anything. But we finally did with the help of others and everything looks fantabulous. Baby is three times the size he was last week! Isn't that amazing and crazy all at the same time? Measuring a day ahead of all of our dates (measured 6/24), we saw a tiny umbilical cord and a strong strong heart. He was moving lots and just doing really well. We are thrilled.

I called my OB's office, where they congratulated me and scheduled my first OB appointment for 10/29 at which point I'll be 10w2d. Can you believe that? That is less than two weeks away! We are almost out of November! And in less than two weeks , I'll have finished 25% of this pregnancy. For trying so long, it seems it's just flying by.

I'm still not sick. I've had the occasional awful feelings and one night of not being able to get off the couch, but other than that, things have been great. I seem to have a lot more headaches this time around, but I've been treating those with rest, water, and small frequent doses of caffiene in the form of beverages.

This Sunday we are having Thanksgiving dinner here at our house for Erichs family. We're having turkey, green bean casserole, sour cream mashed potatoes, steamed carrots with butter, stuffing, and homemade rolls. For desert, a made from scratch apple crisp with homemade vanilla ice cream. Sounds yummy huh? I'm having a lot of anxiety over cooking this damn bird. I've never cooked a turkey and the thought of it kinda makes me queasy. I like turkey and I like chicken, but I have this quirk where I refuse to eat things off of bones. Seriously, it makes me ill. Anyway, my grandpa "Pa" wants me to cook the turkey on the grill. This sounds like fun and scary all at the same time. I had decided I should use one of those oven bags, but when I got them home there were only two bags in the box. No ties, no instructions, urgh! If I cook the bird in the bag, there is no basting right? And how do I season it? Just brush it with some olive oil and throw it in the bag? So many questions, such little time.

Other than that, not much going on around here. Erich is working like a madman. The crazy crazy rains came through yesterday. It was 65 degrees outside yesterday and overnight it dropped to below 30 degrees. They say it won't get above 40 today and there are lots of small little flurries outside. I think I'd be okay with a chilly day with some flurries on Sunday for Thanksgiving. I made a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and I'm about to sit and watch the first snowflakes of the season while Magdalena naps upstairs.

What A Difference A Week Makes

Baby appears to be growing well! :) We saw a very strong heartbeat today. There is nothing
better than seeing that brand new heart working so well! Dr. H did come in during the u/s today to make sure we looked in my tubes and ovaries to make sure there were no misplaced babies because my HCG levels are so high. There is indeed only one and the clot/twin? from last week seems to have been absorbed completely by my body. Dr. H said baby looks great and declared it a boy. :P One more u/s and then I leave that office for my regular OB. **sniff** I've grown quite fond of them, and it will be hard, but I'm so excited. As things progress, I'm embracing the fact that I have a healthy pregnancy and beautiful baby that I will meet early next summer! It's a little to overwhelming.

In other news, I've been looking at some maternity pants at Old Navy. I'm actually looking at the maternity pants that don't actually *look* like maternity pants. This is very important. I am only 7w1d and there is absolutely NO reason I should be donning maternity wear. But unless I want to go to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in sweatpants, I'm going to have to jump on the maternity wagon because my jeans kissed me goodbye. So I'm going with maternity pants that don't look like maternity pants. If I had more money, I would buy myself some fat pants, but I have enough to buy fat pants or maternity pants. And I'll need the maternity ones sooner or later.

Erich has nicknamed the baby "Neo" and declared him "the one." (I didn't ask why, I'm just going to say it's "the one we worked so hard for") We talk to Magdalena about the baby that is coming, mainly because she likes toget up in the morning and jump on tummy. So we talk about the baby in Mommy's tummy and she rubs my belly fat and says "baibeh preetee" Erich had a conversation that went something like this:

Erich: Are you going to be a big sister?
Magdalena: Yes!

E: Do you want a baby brother?
M: NO!

E: Do you want a baby sister?
M: NO!

Alrighty then. Magdalena continues to demonstrate her motherly ways. She now nurses her babies which I find absolutely gut wrenching adorable. She changes diapers on the babies by getting her own and trying to put them on the baby. She dances with Elmo and sings "preetee baibeh" She loves holding real babies and gets frustrated at LLL when she can't hold the babies (because we don't know the people. heh) The other night I went in to bed to find her sleeping with her baby in the crook of her arm. This is the position she puts herself in when she climbs into bed with me. It fills my heart with joy and my eyes with tears. My baby is growing up to fast. She is going to be the best big sister.

Deep Inside My Womb...

You find this.