My Fat Tummy

Well according to my hubby, I have a fat tummy. At least that's what he said in front of the entire church on Sunday. Thankfully I have a reason for having a fat tummy and I'm not that embarrassed about it. So, here's my latest photo, which compared to just 3 weeks ago is quite astounding! It's starting to look like a basketball, which is what my sister predicted I would look like. Also, the crazy thing is that I only have 12 weeks left!!! I cannot believe it, and I am also a little nervous about not being prepared. But at least Scott and his friend Steve are working on finishing the dining room and living room this Saturday, which will make me feel a lot better and more able to focus on the baby room. Yay!

My Unspectacular Quirks

Okay, so I've been tagged by Amy, and here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

MY UN-SPECTACULAR QUIRKS:
1. I used to hate the color pink, but I've come around and I'm actually wearing pink today!
2. If I could live anywhere in the world, it would definitely be outside of the U.S. Someplace in Latin America... or the South Pacific... yeah, that would be nice.
3. I love to read, but I don't do it enough. I usually wait until just before I go to bed, and by that time, I'm pretty tired and usually only get through one chapter. Right now I'm reading the Anne of Green Gables series, and I'm on the 3rd book - actually I'm pretty proud of myself for that.
4. I don't mind getting lost if I'm alone. Well, not really getting lost lost, but I don't mind trying out a new road or going a different way. BUT if I am driving a group of people, I don't want to get lost because not everyone enjoys the adventure as much as I do.
5. I used to wonder if I would ever have kids, but now I'm pregnant! And I'm super excited. I wasn't sure if having children was my "thing", but I guess there's no turning back now.
6. I've always wanted to go skydiving, but the older I get, the wimpier I am becoming! I might still give it a try sometime if the opportunity presented itself (like, say, if I did "The Amazing Race" with a friend) but I'm not sure that I'm gonna seek it out. I'll stick to jumping off cliffs and bridges for now...

Ok, so now I have to tag some other people:
1. Naomi
2. Jessica (who never blogs!)
3. Sarah
4. Katie
5. Kellie
6. Jenn

Baby Update

We had another appointment with Debbie on Wednesday, and all is well. I had gained 3 lbs since the last appointment, and she said I was right on track in terms of weight. Yay! I also had the awful glucose test on Tuesday, and the results came back normal. For anyone who hasn't gone through this yet, let me fill you in. You start off by not being able to eat anything before the test, so obviously you have to do it first thing in the morning. Well given complications with our car, this is how Tuesday morning looked. 7am - get up and throw on a few decent clothes. 7:15am - drive my car to the repair shop to leave it there, and ride to Sheila's house with Scott. Borrow Sheila's car and drive back home. 7:45am - shower, get ready. 8:30am - arrive at the lab. Drink a bottle full of this orange drink that takes like Sunkist. Very sicky sweet - not fun on an empty tummy. Although at that point I needed something or else I felt like I would pass out. 8:35am - sit for AN HOUR doing nothing. I read a magazine and tried to ignore the hunger pains. 9:35am - go in and have the nurse shove a needle in my arm (actually, she was quite gentle about it - I just hate getting blood drawn) and draw 2 tubes of blood from me. 9:45am - DUNKIN DONUTS!!! Then go to work.

Ok, anyway, let's just say I'm glad the results were normal. Next time, I might decline the test anyway because I've heard it can give false positives often and it really is more necessary in high-risk pregnancies or if you've gained a lot of weight, etc. Anyway, the only thing that Debbie said from the blood draw was that my iron levels are a little low, so I'm looking to try and increase my iron through my food intake. I may also take an iron supplement if needed.

As for other things, I am looking forward to August, but it's also going to be super-busy. We are planning a day-trip for the youth group next weekend, then we're planning to go camping the following weekend. Then the next week we are on vacation and will be going to Salt Lake City for 4 days, which I am super-excited about! Then the following week my sister will be here to visit, and she and my mom are throwing me a baby shower. Plus, the last weekend of the month we're planning to go camping with my sister and her husband. And they're all going rafting, which I can't do thanks to begin prego. Man, you miss out on so much fun stuff when you're pregnant! But there's lots of other fun stuff that you get to experience, like feeling the baby move around inside. That's pretty cool.

Well here's an updated photo of me at 25 weeks.

Squatting and other fun pregnancy stuff

So I've been doing a lot of reading lately, being that I am now 25 weeks pregnant (!). I have been trying to read up on things I can do to best prepare for childbirth. I'm also deciding what "method" of childbirth I want to use. One that I am leaning towards is called Husband-Coached Childbirth or The Bradley Method. It focuses on a natural birth, and having the husband be the primary coach before and during labor. So in that book, along with a few others that I have, they recommend doing squatting exercises to prepare your body for labor. I've been trying this lately, and let me tell you, it's harder than it looks!!

The idea is to keep your feet flat on the floor, about 12" apart, and then to bend your knees and squat down. They say you can start out just holding the position for a few seconds, but they recommend that you work up to being able to squat for several minutes at a time. Well, let me tell you, the most I've done so far is about 30 seconds. I've been going down lower than the people in this photo, but anyway you do it, it still hurts. So ladies, whether you are preggo or not, I recommend doing this exercise to help tone your legs and butt. It will also stretch you and use muscles you're not used to using.

Hopefully doing some squats tonight will make up for the fact that I had pizza for dinner and I'm now headed to Starbucks to hang with some of the youth group girls...

General Update

Well I realize I've been a slacker and haven't posted an update for over a week. Bad me! Anyway, this past week was quite a whirlwind with lots going on. But it was mostly good. The bad, however, was that we found out my car needs the transmission fixed which is going to be a bunch of money. Thankfully, we will have the cash to cover it, but my plans of having extra in savings before the baby arrives have been set back a bit. We should still have time to replenish, but that just makes other things tighter for a bit.

Anyway, today was a good day as we finally got a lot of the trim up! Yay! I am so excited to see the room coming together. I will post pictures as soon as I can. After a day being on my feet helping Scott and doing dishes and cleaning, I was feeling rather exhausted and decided to lay down for a bit... well, I ended up taking a little 45 minute nap which was just what I needed.

Throughout the day I had some business calls as well, and so my voice is feeling a bit tired. So tonight our friends Steve and Jess suggested going to Gifford's for ice cream, and I was quite excited about that. It was just a nice little treat after a busy day.

Now I am back home and ready to relax and then head to bed.

Baby Update

I am starting to actually feel more pregnant. Part of that is because I'm starting to get big! Here are some photos to prove it - taken at 23 weeks (actually almost 24 weeks).
Another reason I feel more pregnant is because I now feel the baby moving pretty regularly. Sometimes it's just little movements, and other times it's really strong. I've actually seen my belly move a couple times, and Scott even saw it once too. That was so cool!

Things are still going quite well in terms of my pregnancy. I am hoping that I am staying on track weight wise - I haven't really been keeping close track, just when we go to see our midwife.

On another note, we did find a doula. Her name is Janel, and I am excited to have her. She is really nice, and both Scott and I connected with her. We're meeting with her next Wednesday to go over the birth plan, etc. Yay!

As for being prepared in the house, we are not even close! We need to finish the trim in the living room and dining room. Then we can focus on the baby room. I want to do it sooner rather than later, just in case the baby comes early or anything like that. I'd really like to have the crib in the baby room instead of the kitchen (where it is right now)!!

Well I guess that's all for now. There has been lots more happening, but I need to get back to working on other stuff.

Quick Update

Well I'm posting a quick update even though I should be showering and heading out the door. Yesterday was crazy at work. I just simply do not understand the things that the DHHS does and it drives me crazy. I can't give details obviously, but I am very sick about what has happened with one of my cases. I am trying not to think about it, because there is literally nothing I can do. But I just pray that this does not have serious long-term effects on the kids... although I believe it will.

So it was a long day. I was so glad to come home and have Scott already here - he had spent the day with Steve scouting out the campsite they will be using for "Man Camp", and he decided to just stay home once they got here rather than going to the church for one hour. So we then began madly cleaning downstairs. It was SUCH a mess, and although I'm not a total clean freak like a few others I know (Amy... Sarah... : ) I still like to have things in somewhat of a clean and organized fashion. It makes me feel calmer and like I can actually accomplish stuff. So we cleaned and organized and threw stuff away, etc. We also threw dinner on the stove and had it ready right when the doula came to meet with us. So our timing was a little off, but she was fine with us eating in front of her. (I felt bad - but baby needed food!) This time our meeting with the doula went great. Scott liked her, and I did too. She is not as experienced as the other one we talked to, but she is really nice and I think she will fit with what we want. So we haven't made the final decision to use her, but we probably will by Monday.

After that, I knew that I had a lot of other things that I could do, but I just needed to relax. So I played around on the computer a bit and then went and laid on the couch watching "Wife Swap" and "Supernanny" all night. Ah, bliss. It felt good to rest and to just let my brain think about nothing for a while. Of course, I did read a little bit of some pregnancy books, but that was for fun as well. Let's just say I hope we never have to call Supernanny! Scott watched part of it and he was horrified at what he was seeing. This family had 5 kids and they were absolutely crazy. Scott looked at me and said, "One's good, right?"

Well I went to bed at a decent time but somehow slept in later than I planned... I guess my body needed it. I still don't feel like going to work because I have lots of paperwork to do and it's hard to do that when I'm thinking about the horrible situation. But today, I must do it. So, I'm off to hurry around and get my butt in gear. Later today, I hope to have a friend from waaaaaaaaaay back in high school over for dinner with her 2 little kids - yay!

Ups & Downs of Being Pregnant

Well one of the funnest parts of being pregnant is registering! Scott and I went on Friday afternoon to register, since we now know that we are having a girl. We registered at Target and Baby Depot (Burlington Coat Factory). It took us a while, and I am still unsure whether we overdid it or underdid it. I have no idea what to expect. But I tried to take other people's advice as well as follow some of the "suggested items." Anyway, it was a lot of fun, mostly because it makes this whole baby thing so much more real. Even if we don't get anything from our registry, it will be fine, and it was still fun! I need help deciding which pack and play to choose. One is at Target and one is at Baby Depot. They are both very similar, with a few different features. So I though I'd ask for advice as to whether the mobile one or the shaded one would be better. Advice in comments please! Oh, one other thing. I realize that these are pink and brown, which might present an issue if we have another one that's a boy... but I just like it too much and didn't see any other ones that I liked as much.

Now for the downside of being pregnant. I've discovered that going to amusement parks when you are pregnant is not all that fun. Especially for someone who is an adrenaline junkie and loves big scary rides!!! On Saturday, we went to FunTown with the junior high youth group. We had 6 kids plus Scott, myself, and Kevin. It was a cloudy day, but it was still supposed to be around 70 degrees. It definitely was NOT. When we arrived, we found out that Splashtown was closed, which was a bummer, since I figured that I could plan on just hanging out at the waterslides much of the day. Well, we ended up only doing FunTown, so I did a lot of sitting, watching, and taking photos. At every ride there were signs saying "Not recommended for the following conditions... pregnancy." Oh, yeah, that's me. There was even a sign at the carousel, but I took a risk and went on it anyway! See photo for evidence.








So, that's it for now. I am feeling good and having fun. I appreciate all the love and support we have already had from everyone, and I look forward to continuing this journey.

It's a...

Today was the day! We had our "20 week" ultrasound, although I'm officially at 21 weeks. Around 1:30 this afternoon we were at the Maternal Fetal Medicine at EMMC and I got some warm jelly stuff rubbed all over my tummy. Scott sat next to me in the rocking chair - I told him he's getting ready for when the baby comes. So we got to see our little one from just about every angle. We did find out the gender, even though Scott originally didn't want to know. It's a GIRL! Yay ! I was wrong on my gut instinct, but Scott actually thought it was a girl. So it was exciting to finally know. I know other people don't mind waiting until the big day to find out, but I am too impatient! Now I can plan plan plan, and just pray that the technician was correct. She said she can't say 100%, but she hasn't been wrong in a very long time.

Anyway, here are some pics of the little alien girl!
Note: edited to add the photo of the "girl" identification (at Sarah's request).

Squirrel Madness

Today I discovered a very disturbing fact: we not only have ONE red squirrel living in our basement, but FOUR! I saw all four of them outside in our trees by the house. There is one momma and 3 babies. Mia and Moxie have been going CRAZYYYYYYYYYYY today because they have been able to see these lovely little rodents running to and fro between the trees and the house. I managed to get some great photos of them, although I couldn't get all 4 of them at once. There was one point where they were all together on one tree, but I didn't get the camera in time. Anyway, we're going to have to live trap these little buggers since they are probably wreaking havoc in our basement. Kira has also been spending a lot of time downstairs, and I don't want her to get into a fight with a squirrel!

Pregnancy Update

I wanted to post a new photo of me at 20 weeks, so here ya go! We have our ultrasound on Monday and I am SOOOOOOOO excited! I had a dream last night about the ultrasound, and it was really weird. There was one thing after another and they kept putting us off so we couldn't have it done. Plus it was my director at work who was doing the ultrasound. Weird! I am sure it will be different on Monday. So, the verdict is that we are going to find out the gender. I just couldn't bear to wait another 20 weeks!

Everybody's Doing It

I remember when blogging was first catching on. It took me a while to decide to create my own blog, but with a little help from my friends Steve and Peter, I managed to throw this together. Later I helped my friend Amy get her blog started, and now she is a blogging fiend! I love reading her posts. Now, even more friends have joined, like Shan, Sarah, and Jessica (sorry Jess, I can't seem to find the link to your blog). It seems to be a catchy trend, and I think it's so great that we can all stay connected this way even between hundreds or even thousands of miles.

Recently, I noticed that several of my other friends or acquaintances have also joined the blogosphere:

• Michelle, who also has her own online store
• Kellie, a friend from high school and college
• Katie, another friend from high school
• Marnie, another friend from high school

I love reading the posts when I have down time and enjoying the fun stories, etc. So, blog on, friends, blog on.

New Baby Stuff

Well today I had to say goodbye to my supervisor, since her last day is tomorrow, and I'm not there on Fridays. She is such a great supervisor and I have really enjoyed working with her. I hope that we hire someone at least half as good as her.

Anyway, as we were saying goodbye, she gave me a great little baby gift since she's not going to be around when they do a shower for me. So I absolutely love my gift! Here is a photo so that you can all see how cute it is. She got green items since we don't know the gender yet. But it's still super cute, and I especially love the onesies!

Parenting Gone Wrong

What has this world come to, when something like this can happen? I am just sickened by this kind of thing, and it makes me sad to realize that people continue to treat their children like their property instead of like a human being. This story makes me think of the book, "The Child Called It", and I can only imagine what else this poor boy went through before his final "punishment" when lead to his death. Some speculators are relating this to a possible "religious" issue or a "homeschooling" issue. No, I think it is a STUPIDITY issue. A complete lack of humanity on the part of the parents. They should NEVER be allowed to get their other 2 children back, but in this world, I wouldn't be surprised if they did...

Coming Along

Here I am at 18 weeks pregnant. Things are coming along. I am finally showing (a little bit), and I am now needing to wear maternity clothes, since now of my regular clothes are fitting. I went shopping with Sarah, who is about 5 weeks behind me, on Saturday and we scored some great stuff. The thing I am most excited about is the "belly band", which you can put over your regular clothes and hide the fact that you have your pants unbuttoned ; )

Anyway, the best part right now is getting to feel the baby move. I love laying there at night with my hand on my stomach, feeling all the little squirms and kicks. So cool! We will be having our 20 week ultrasound on June 23rd, which is actually my 21st week. So I think we're going to find out whether we are having a boy or a girl, which will be exciting... my guess is a boy.

Well I am off to youth group and hanging out with lots of kids!

Rant

Ok, I have a rant. What is one of the things that bothers me more than anything? When someone (or several people) make statements about things which they know nothing about. It seems to happen a lot online. See, I do some posting online to promote my business, and most of the time things go smoothly. But every once in a while, there is someone who thinks they are an expert but yet have no direct experience with the topic at hand. That has got to be the most annoying thing in the world.

That's about it. I just had to get that out of my system.

One of Those Days

Today I had one of those days. It was not good. It started with me being very emotional and getting into an argument with Scott, and much crying ensued. Then, after I was calm enough to eat breakfast, I felt a little better. I had a business call before going to work and that went well. Well, it went well and then it changed, and so that was another disappointment. At work, I had to talk to a DHHS worker that I have a hard time interacting with - it seems she says and does things to purposefully irritate me, like failing to mention that she changed the meeting time tomorrow. On top of that, my supervisor who I really get along with is leaving and that is a huge bummer. After all of this, I really just wanted to go home, crawl into bed, and go back to sleep. That way, I could just forget that I ever got up today.

Somehow, I managed to put my mind on other things and get some actual work done. It helped to talk with a friend and be able to focus better after that. After work, I came home and wanted to relax for about an hour before I had to go back to Bangor for a meeting. Moxie, however, decided that it would be fun to get wrapped around the tree in the pouring rain, which meant I had to go out and get him. Then he also decided it would be fun to crawl under my car and trample my flowers. URGH! Sometimes dogs can be so stupid.

I managed to lay down for about 20 minutes and then have some dinner. Then I went back to Bangor to meet with 3 classmates and plan our 10 year high school reunion. That was good because we were able to meet pretty quickly. Once home for good, I crashed on the couch and watched stupid TV shows for a while, and also talked with another friend.

One good thing of the day: My company that I work with for my business called today and said that they want to interview me! I was a little shocked, since my past few months have been slow (thanks to all my fatigue and morning sickness). But nonetheless, on Friday I will be interviewed and it will be put on the company training website. What an honor, and a nice pick-me-up after a long day.

Baby Thoughts

The reality that I am having a baby is starting to set in. There is a crib in my dining room, I've started to feel the baby moving (woohoo!), and people are always asking me how I'm feeling. For a while, I didn't really feel pregnant. I knew it in my head, but it just didn't seem real. Now, with the expanding waistline and the fact that I can feel the baby from time to time, things are setting in.

As I have read on my friend Amy's blog lately, it is important that we be honest with ourselves and others on these issues. So I have to say, the whole concept of motherhood is quite scary to me. I have, for a long time, loved working and playing with kids in the 2-4 year old age range. And even now, those ages are much more appealing to me than newborns. While I love newborns and they are so cute, I have never been the person to run over and oooh and ahhh over newborns. So the fact that I am going to have one on my own is a little scary. I know everyone says, "Oh, it'll be different when it's your own," and I know that is true. But the fact is, I will still be dealing with the screaming in the middle of the night, changing diapers, nursing, and needing to watch the baby every waking moment (and probably many sleeping moments as well).

I am thankful that God built in 9 months to prepare us for motherhood. I don't think I could do it if it was just 2 or 3 months. At this point, though, I am almost half-way there - 18 weeks now! So I still have time to adjust to this whole idea - but not that much time. I am thankful that I don't have to be perfect and that God will give us grace as we learn.

A Hiking Adventure

Earlier in the week, I asked Scott if we could go somewhere today. So, we agreed that we would go somewhere, do something fun today. It was supposed to be 75 degrees according to the weather reports earlier in the week, but it turns out it was about 65, if that. We overslept so we had a slow start, but we finally left our house around 10:15 or so. We had to stop in Ellsworth to get some food, since I am completely low on groceries. But finally we were at Acadia National Park in Southwest Harbor area. We decided to climb Beech Mountain, because it looked like a short enough hike. When we got there, we let the dogs out to to go the bathroom and they met another dog, which they were excited about. Right about then, it started to pour. Oh, lovely. So we got into the car and decided to have lunch. It is interesting trying to make PB&J in a car with two dogs and plastic utensils. But finally we were able to eat and then the rain lightened up enough for us to start out on the hike. We gave the dogs some food and water, and got ready to go. Scott let go of Mia's leash to get his backpack ready, so I let go of Moxie so that I could get my sweatshirt on, etc. Well Moxie decided to get a head start on the trail, and Mia took off after him. No amount of whistling, yelling "food" or "treat", or their names caused them to turn around. I headed up the trail after them, and Scott was still at the car. At one point the trail split but I was pretty sure the dogs went up. Finally Mia came back to meet me, but Moxie was still no where to be seen or heard. Scott caught up with me and we went on up the trail. About 10 minutes later, we finally caught up with Moxie. I was relieved because I just keep picturing us going the whole trail and Moxie being way off in the woods somewhere and us not finding him.

Anyway, after that we tried holding their leashes, but Mia was basically pulling me up the slippery rocks. So I decided to let go of her because she is usually really good about coming back to us. Then a little later, Scott decided to try it with Moxie again. The first time, he took a very long time to come back. But then we just kept giving treats every time they came back to us, and by the end of our hike, Moxie was hardly going ahead of us at all. Once we finally reached the top, we met a few other people, but the dogs were good after the initial barking episode. Scott started up the fire tower, and the dogs with him, until the both realized they could look down and go scared. But a second try with some treats allowed them to go up as far as we could (it was closed at the top). It was so funny watching them, because they were still nervous but they did it.

Overall it was a great trip with some pretty views, despite the intermittent rain. After the hike, I convinced Scott (with some arm twisting) to go to Seawall. Seawall is one of my favorite places in the state, but today's stop was a short one. One of my favorite parts was when Moxie slipped and fell right into the ocean! So funny!

On the way home, we stopped at LLBean and Cadillac Mtn Sports, at Scott's request. Then we stopped in Hampden at McLaughlin's for lobster rolls. I was so craving lobster after driving by all the lobster pounds, so I was very happy when we got home and ate our lobster rolls. Yum!

A good day. Very tiring, but good.

New Crib!!!

We went to our friends' Matt & Elisha's house on Thursday night. It was great fun, especially to see their two daughters be so funny and entertaining. Their youngest, almost 3, has recently transitioned out of her crib. So, they decided to give us their crib! Wow, what a huge blessing. Here are some photos. It is in practically perfect condition, and it is pretty much what I would have picked out myself.