18 Weeks and Counting!

I still am not feeling any baby movement yet but I do seem to feel different every week.

The headaches that I wrote about last week have seemed to gone away for the most part. Hopefully it's not just a temporary relief and the headaches are gone for good.

I'm starting to realize that all of these pregnancy websites and e-mails that I read really are quite accurate. One of the latest things I read is that your dreams become more vivid and clear. This has definitely been the case this week. And although I haven't had any dreams with my baby in them yet I'm sure that will come. One of my dreams from last night had something to do with me going to Las Vegas with the Duggar family and huge garbage trucks started driving really fast and running people over. I'm sure the dreams will keep getting better.

I know that most of you know that John and I do not want to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl until the baby is actually born but a lot of people have been talking to me about old wives' tales lately. I had heard the tales about the rate of the baby's heart beat and how the mom carries the baby being a way to tell the gender, however, at work last week I heard a couple new ones from coworkers. One of them told me that because I was glowing I'm having a girl. Someone else told me that because I was having such awful headaches that I might be having a boy since the hormones are a little wilder. I guess we're just going to have to wait 22 more weeks to find out which one it is!

Not Me Monday #32

I kept looking forward to the end of September because it means it's getting closer to March (just like I am not looking forward to the end of October), but I didn't want such a drastic change in temperature. Only in Minnesota! Feels like we just went right from summer to winter over the weekend.

This wasn't the most eventful but I'll see what I can do to make it interesting and perhaps a bit humorous. Here goes...

I know I said I was all garage-saled out for the season, but I just couldn't help going to one last one Wednesday night. I did not end up buying a framed picture of a flower for my mom's bathroom. About 5-6 years ago I bought her a similar picture which was part of the same set as this one I just bought. What are the odds? I guess pretty good considering I beat my mom in Scrabble later that night which, if you know my mom, never happens!

I did not run out of Emeril seasoning when making sweet potato fries last Friday. I decided to add some of my own seasoning by first shaking in a little pepper. Oops, the one lid of the pepper can wasn't closed securely from when I made chili the night before and I ended up with a little more pepper than desired. The only thing I could think of while I wiped/washed off the excess pepper was "Good thing Papa Lewis isn't coming for dinner"!

My friends, Angie and Rachel, and I went shopping on Saturday for some supplies for Angie's wedding. We were looking for cardstock, ribbon and vases from IKEA. I did not drag them 4 fabric/craft stores (3 of which neither of them had been in ever before) just to find the exact color of ribbon at the very last store! It was a fun outing despite the crowded stores and we ended up crossing off quite a few things on the list.

John and I had a nice day together on Sunday. It was nice to watch the Vikings game together with the windows open and the fall breeze blowing in. However, once the game ended, we did not decide to go to the grocery store just as the cold wind started picking up and it started sprinkling. Brr....was it cold!

John did not get his 8th Homer Award today for having the top department sales in the region for the month. Way to go - I'm proud of you!

Week 17!

I had another doctor's appointment this afternoon. Really wasn't too bad and she said that everything seems to be normal and in line - praise God! The only big thing that I'm noticing with my body right now is I have been getting pretty bad headaches since this last weekend. Ow!
At my Dr's appointment I learned that:

• I have gained 9 pounds since my very first appointment.
• My blood pressure is right on - only 108 (over a number I can't remember).
• The baby's heartbeat is about 140-145 bpm (last month it was about 160-163 so it slowed down a bit but that's because the baby's growing and getting stronger).
• My uterus is measuring just as it should - just below the navel.
• Most of my bloodwork that I had done at the last appointment came back with flying colors. (There was one test about the blood antigens or something that has to get tested again but they're not worried about that.)
• I need to keep drinking more fluids to hopefully reduce headaches.

My doctor also showed me a few stretches that John can help me do to hopefully easy the pain in my butt that I have been getting when I lay down for even a couple minutes. I guess it's because all the ligaments in those areas are starting to stretch.

I asked her about my little dizzy spell from John and my outing to Target on Sunday. She says I probably got my blurry vision and heat flash because I had bent down to look at an item on the bottom shelf and, since my blood pressure is so low, not enough blood was flowing as it should.

Oh, and she did think that I am very clever for using rubber bands as a closure for my jeans! Most of the maternity pants that I have gotten are still too baggy and feel like they're going to fall down on me when I wear them. So as long as I can keep closing my jeans with rubber bands, I will! They're not just office supplies anymore, folks!

This past weekend John and I were doing a lot of talking about how to rearrange the downstairs to accomodate primarily our "office equipment". I vetoed having our computers housed in the baby's room or our bedroom. I want to be able to relax in our bedroom without the interference of the laptops. I also don't want a office/nursery combo. I figured that when the baby is sleeping is when we'd most likely want to be on the computer and the baby wouldn't sleep. Also, if John comes home late at night from work he likes to use the computer and I don't want any interruptions in the nursery. If we're always moving the laptops out of the room anyways, then why not just put a desk somewhere else? Right now we're toying with the idea of getting rid of the ginormous TV in our living room and replacing it with a flat screen TV to save on space. I mentioned maybe putting a desk below that to also serve a purpose of storing the TV receiver and DVD player... I know it's still early to be thinking about these things but that's just how my brain work sometimes.

John and I also stopped at PetCo on Sunday to check out saltwater fish. Right now our aquarium is a freshwater tank but we might possibly switch it to a saltwater tank and moving the tank into the nursery. How fun would it be to have a couple brignt colored Nemo's swimming around in the tank while feeding the baby or to let the baby watch them from the crib? The fish are definitely more pricy than the fish we currently have but you can't put as many in the tank since they can get quite big. The other things we're considering are the cost and maintenance time. It would require a lot more care to the tank and extra expense with buying the salt and preparing the water. This would definitely turn into a "hobby" but I think it would be fun!

Not Me Monday #31

John and I are having a nice, relaxing night together tonight. While I made tacos for dinner, John did all of the dishes for me. Now we just taking it easy and watching the season premiers for a couple sitcoms we watch together, oh, and also doing the laundry. My laptop was downstairs anyways from the weekend because my friend Angie came over to print some wedding invitations. Like I said in my last post, my baby brain has set in, so we'll see if John can tear himself away from John and Kate Plus 8 for long enough to help me with the Not Me's.

We did not go to our last Twins game of the season two Saturdays ago. I got free tickets from a gal at work who couldn't go because her husband wanted to watch the Vikings game live on TV instead. Since the Twins were leading 8-0 in the 6th inning, we decided to beat the rush out of the Metrodome and leave a little early. I had to stop at the music store and wanted to also stop at Walmart on the way home as well. John wound up with a new winter coat at Walmart for a great price and looks great on him.

John did not break something off underneath the driver's side seat of his car. It's not life-or-death right now but the seat definitely can rock back and forth. Hopefully we can get this fixed.

I am not officially garage-saled out after this last weekend of city-wide Waconia sales. I did not run out of cash on Saturday when I was out. When I saw something I wanted for only 50 cents, I had to run back home just to get a couple quarters so I could make my purchase! Throughout the season I was able to find several nice things for our baby-to-be. Anything else we need is going to have to wait until the shower or next garage-sale season.

I did not accidentally sleep in and missed church yesterday. I hate it when that happens...

John and I went to EP yesterday to look for a suitcoat/sportscoat for him. We did not end up with 2 coats and a pair of black dress pants from JCPenneys for $70 total! Gotta love clearance. Needless-to-say, John was smiling the whole way home!

While we were browsing through Target waiting for JCPenneys to open up, I did not almost pass out. All of a sudden I didn't feel well and my eyes got really blurry and I couldn't see straight. I was able to walk about half-way to the food area before having to sit down in the middle of the clothing section. My head was cold but everything else was really warm. After John got me to the food area he got me water and some hashbrowns and I soon felt better. Don't worry, I will definitely bring this up with my doctor at my Wednesday appointment.

I did not forget my cell phone at work again tonight and have to return back to work after my stop at Cub. Ugh...

Have a good week everyone!

16 Weeks!

Or as I maybe should have titled this, 24 weeks to go! I left subtle hints in my last couple posts, but yes, I am 16 weeks pregnant with John and my first child. We are so excited to be parents but, of course, also have all the other emotions that come along with being first-time parents such as nervousness, fear of failure and just plain not knowing what to expect. Within the last month, I attended 2 baby showers (one for my cousin and one for John's sister, Kristin) and I can honestly say that these are putting me in the right mindset.

I have many friends and family all around me who have recently gone through having a child so I know everyone will be more than happy to offer up advice and support. It'll be great to have such a wonderful support system. However, that's probably one of the things that is also worrying me....trying to be just as good of a mom as all my friends and family have been and live up to their standards. I also discovered that part of my personality is that I like to figure things out on my own and not be told how to do things so not sure how that will play into this yet but if I get frustrated, that's why.

I was told several times at work this week that I have "popped" although I think I look exactly the same and don't notice much difference. All I know is that I am getting quite big already for only being a little over 3 months along. I guess that's just one of the joys of being petite - not many other places for it to go but out! I only have about 3-4 more inches until I reach the steering wheel of my car. This should make the daily drive to work so much fun!

I had the awful tiredness and pretty bad nausea until about week 10-11. Although I only threw up about 5 times, I still felt pretty gross when I got too hungry. The whole tiredness/pregnancy nausea thing is something that one will never fully understand until actually going through it. I have had people describe it to me prior to becoming pregnant but it just doesn't do justice to what/how you really do feel. Needless-to-say, I am very happy to be out of the first trimester.

The other thing that I am really noticing right now is that my pregnancy brain/baby brain has fully set in. I first came to terms with this the Saturday before last when my mom and I were driving from EP to visit my sister at Augsburg. Instead of ending up in Minneapolis, I somehow drove to Eagan and had to have Rachel give us directions over the phone on how to get to her place. I later had a little argument with her roommate (who I have met a dozen of times) over what her name was. They finally convinced me that they were telling the truth and I was wrong - hate it when that happens. At work I noticed that it sometimes takes just a little longer to interpret our client's e-mails and to type coherent sentences. Thank goodness for spellcheck and for this post turning out as well as it did!

Not Me Wednesday!

My wonderful father-in-law gently reminded me last night that I haven't blogged in awhile...and you know what? He's right! I thought I'd do a mid-week Not Me post until I find the energy to write a post about something a little more thoughtful. I'll start with today and work my way back a couple weeks - or as much as I can remember.

Today at work, our new company president of 2 weeks did not tell our Account Management team that instead of having the option of moving from Chanhassen to either Edina or NYA, we all would be relocating to Edina. Not sure how I feel about that - not that I mind the driving, just was hoping to avoid the city rush-hour traffic. Hopefully gas prices go down because our wages aren't going up!

Last weekend we had a family get-together for my mom's family. It was really nice to see my aunt and uncle, Ardys and Norman, again. They live in Wyoming and I haven't seen them in about 6 years. It was nice for them to meet John and talk for awhile. The reunion was pretty fun too 'cause we got to hang out with our cousins for the afternoon and have a fish fry! One of the highlights of the afternoon was not providing commentary for the dog hitting on cats action that was going on while everyone was talking. It was definitely pretty gross and I don't think they've ever had anything like that on the Animal Planet!

Also, before the family reunion last weekend, my Mom had the opportunity to shoot a gun for her first time. Not too bad, but after about 6 shots my uncle did not finally tell her that she needed to close one eye, look through the scope and line it up with the box she had been trying to hit!

Last night John was going to help his Dad install a new door in their newly remodeled bathroom (which is coming along beautifully, btw) and John and I were going to go out for dinner afterwards. Since we couldn't find our Ruby Tuesday coupon we decided to use our Outback Steakhouse gift card that Kristin gave John for his b-day. When John was halfway to Chanhassen he called me up only to tell me that he did not forget the gift card on the kitchen table. I had him turn around to go get it. Installing the door went pretty smoothly for what I know about installing doors and then we were off to the restaurant. When we arrived in the Outback parking lot, we did not discover that the Eden Prairie location has gone out of business! Since we didn't want to drive to Burnsville or Bloomington we just ate at Bakers Square. Who would have thought they had closed?!?

Two Saturdays ago my mom and I were headed towards the cities and decided to stop at a garage sale just about 10 miles from our place. It turns out that they had a bunch of small maternity clothes for me. I was able to snag over a dozen pieces of clothing for only about $16. When I got home and tried on one of the pairs of pants, I did not find $6 in the pocket! Every time I tell the story about me unfolding the folded bills in the pocket and how I said, "I kept thinking, 'please be a $20, please be a $20... shoot, just a $5' and then when I look at the next bill I'm thinking, 'please be a $20, pleease be a $20...shoot, just a $1'", everyone says, "Hey, why weren't you wishing for a $100!"

Have a good week, everyone! More to come!