Not Me Monday #35

John did not dress up withthe table decorations at Angie & Jim's wedding Saturday night...


This did not remind me of when he dressed up in the table decorations at his friend Sarah's wedding! Good times!


We did not sleep in on Sunday morning (skipping church) only to run into our pastor at the grocery store around lunch time... whoops!

I did not have to get my car fixed last week. I got two new tires - definitely needed for the upcoming winter - exhaust fixed and new spark plugs. My car starts right up now and no weird noises when driving!

John did not have to work overnights Tuesday and Wednesday of last week which meant that I did not have to spend my birthday night by myself. At least we were able to have lunch together.

I did not barely feel BIB moving all last week. I think it's because I was so on-the-go from Tuesday morning until Thursday late evening. When John and I finally got home from the groom's dinner and I laid down on the couch BIB started kicking again. I think the baby could sense all the stress of the week and was glad I was relaxing.

John and I did not start cleaning out the office to get it ready for the nursery. We worked for a couple hours last night throwing out old paperwork and taking down John's desk. Pretty soon we'll have to pick out a new paint color! Any suggestions?

Angie & Jim's wedding...and John in a suit!

This past Saturday John and I were able to attend my good friend Angie's wedding. Much planning had gone into this wonderful celebration and the big day was finally here. To view all of our pictures from the wedding, click here.


Angie and Jim saying their vows.


Angie asked me to play piano for the ceremony.


John got a new suit for the occasion. He looked so nice!


Family picture... (You might see this again on your Christmas cards...)


"The girls"

Not Me Monday #34

About time again for another one of these Not Me posts to update everyone how the past weeks have been going. So much has happened. Here goes...

When John wrote his schedule for work last week, he did not forget to schedule himself for 5 days and only schedule 3. Whoops! Luckily that was easily corrected.

John and I did not become aunt and uncle last week when his sister Kristin gave birth to our first niece, Alexa Laraine. John was able to go the hospital with his family while she was in labor on Tuesday and visit for awhile. Too bad the baby was born at just after 8:00 when visitation hours ended so all he saw as she was wisked away was her forehead. Alexa is such a cutie and we're thankful that everything seems to be going well so far. We were able to stop in and visit on Friday night with the rest of the Lewis clan. Congrats, Kristin & Patrick!

I was not sick with a bad cold last week. You know it's bad when I had to cancel my piano lessons on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I still had to work because one of my co-workers was out with the flu and it was one of the busiest weeks I've had in a long while. I have Gennrich blood and am tough so I was able to pull through ok.

BIB is not letting me know that he/she is healthy by giving me stronger and stronger kicks every day. I still have 4 months to go...I can only imagine! I really enjoy feeling them, though. It's a nice reminder that there's new life inside me. Also, one of my new pastimes at work is watching my belly move. John is still enjoying feeling the baby kick and has seen my tummy jiggle a few times, too.

Sunday was not our official welcome as new church members of Trinity. They recognized us during the service by having us stand up where we were sitting and then had a luncheon afterwards.

My belly is not growing expotentially...In fact, at Angie's B-party on Saturday night, someone did not ask me when I'm due. When I said I was due in 4 months they confessed they thought I was due next month... :( ouch!

While printing Angie's wedding programs yesterday, I did not have to send John out to Target for ink twice. I guess the last free ink refills we got at Walgreens aren't registering in our printer anymore. It's time to break down and get new cartridges.

We did not put together a really nice and thoughtful Christmas list because we were told they were "due" only to find out that no one else had turned theirs in! Christmas will be here before we know it and I would love to get as much shopping done before I get to the 3rd trimester as I can.

I Feel Great...Too Bad I'm Sick!

I don't know if it was my chiropractor adjustment on Saturday or my new found way of sleeping with a little pillow under my belly, but my body is feeling great lately! I just feel like I have so much energy and nothing hurts!

This weekend had me going between playing in the orchestra at church, going shopping and out to eat with the Lewis's. I was tired at the end of every night and maybe it was the lack of resting that contributed to this lousy cold I have. It started on Friday and seemed to be better on Saturday but came back strong yesterday. The runny/stuffy nose was pretty much gone this morning but left me with a nasty cough and sore throat. You know it's bad when I cancel my piano lessons and can't go to the hospital to see my sister-in-law deliver my first little niece. :( Hence the title for this post. My body feels great and I want to keep moving, but I know the best thing for my cold/cough is just to rest and take it easy.

John has been such a trooper and has made many trips to the drug store to pick up cough drops and approved OTC drugs for me to take (as well following up with me to make sure I take them!) I don't know what I'd do without him! John is at the hospital right now awaiting the arrival of our little niece and we both can't wait to meet her. Yay! (My mom is filling in for John tonight and bringing me homemade chicken noodle soup and Mucinex to try and get me better!)

22 Week Updates, Thoughts and More!

"I miss my waist!" I seem to be saying that a lot nowadays. It is getting harder to tie my shoes and even pick stuff up off the floor. Getting into bed and getting comfortable was even a big chore until John gave me a little step to help me up. What a difference about 4 inches makes, but I think the difference is that I can sit down on the bed and be right in position to lay down.

I have definitely gotten my appetite back in the last several weeks. And when I'm really hungry, I'm really hungry. It's funny because after I eat a lot of food it seems like I can actually notice that my belly has gotten bigger.

So, last week at my 21 week doctor's visit I was told that my bloodwork that was retested last week still came back with weird results. I have a persistently positive Coombs antibody screen. If anyone thinks they know what this is please feel free to shed some light. Otherwise I'll just have to wait until I see the blood doctor on the 19th. :/

I have been feeling a lot more movement lately and even starting to notice patterns of movements. I especially feel movements about an hour or 2 before and after lunch and then around 9 at night. I love feeling the kicks when it's during the day and not disturbing my sleep. Monday morning BIB woke me up before 5am with really strong kicks. Until then I had only felt movements very low in my belly. But that morning they were right at the top and so strong I could almost see my stomach moving! I wasn't ever able to get back to a good quality sleep after that and Monday wasn't such a great day at work because of that. It's only going to get worse. On a good note, John is starting to be able to feel the baby move slightly! I'm excited that the kicks are getting strong enough for him to share in a little bit of the fun.

I will be playing bassoon with our church's orchestra on Sunday. I haven't played in awhile and I can tell! I think I only play on about 4 pieces so it shouldn't be too bad even though we have 2 services to play for. I thought it was especially funny that at rehearsal on Wednesday, as soon as the flutes (who were sitting in front of me) started playing, BIB started moving! I couldn't help but think, "that's not ok...our baby cannot like flute music, especially not these flutes!" I guess I'll have to get lots of brass and bassoon music so BIB gets used to those sounds. However, the encouraging part was while I watched the orchestra and choir rehearse "Praise to the Lord" (which I am not playing on), BIB was moving the entire time! I will not object to that :)

I'm not one that likes to call much attention to myself, and I really haven't told that many people openly that I am expecting. I guess I figure they can figure it out on their own after enough time. And that is what one of my little piano students did at his lesson a couple weeks ago. He asked, "What, are you like having a baby or something!" So, I think all of my other families know now (even though most of them kind of saw it coming - who am I to try and trick moms!) and I hope I can dodge the "what are you going to do after the baby's born - we don't want to lose you" questions for a little longer.

I took a look at my November schedule recently and couldn't help but be overwhelmed at everything that's coming up. Church orchestra on the 1st, Angie's Bachelorette party on the 7th, new member Sunday at church on the 8th, Angie & Jim's wedding on the 14th, Kristin's baby will be coming on or around the 13th, playing at the Moravian church on the 22nd, not to mention Thanksgiving and other random family birthdays! Whew!

One of the reasons for not having a post for a while is that I am just so tired when I come home from work. I'll see what I can do to write again sooner, but if you don't hear from me it's because I'm just taking it easy! Have a Happy Halloween, everyone!

It's a...

...Baby!

We had our 20 week ultrasound tonight and everything looks great! I put two of our favorite pictures below, but if you want to see all 6 pictures they gave us you can click here. At the end of the ultrasound I asked our technician if she could tell the gender. She thought she knew early on but then the baby decided to sit down and was pretty camera shy. I guess it's a good thing we didn't really want to know anyways. We'll just have to find out in another 20 weeks!

She did say that based on the measurements she took that the due date was maybe only off a day from the original date we were given at 8 weeks. However, it's always best to use the date given earlier on. She also said that the baby weighs about 13 ounces.

Here is a picture of me from tonight - 20 1/2 weeks!

Halfway There!

I am officially half-way through my pregnancy - yesterday I hit 20 weeks, so 20 more to go. (Hopefully this is the case...I could easily go a few weeks after my due date, but let's be optimistic!) To celebrate the occasion, I officially graduated to maternity clothes and retired my pre-pregnancy jeans and rubber bands. Last weekend my mom was awesome and helped hem up about 8 pair of pants (work and lounge) that I had found at garage sales and on craigslist.

I am definitely noticing myself getting bigger. Yesterday at work I kept finding myself bumping into things with my tummy, for instance, when getting out of the bathroom stalls and opening up the refrigerator door. And it's only going to get worse!

Monday night I have my 20 week ultrasound and John and I are both excited to see BIB again. The last time we saw BIB was at my 8 week ultrasound and you could barely even tell that anything was there. We'll be sure to post a picture as soon as we get home - and maybe even one of me!

19 1/2 weeks - Kicks or Gas

At my last doctor's appointment I was told that I probably wouldn't start to feel the baby's movement until closer to 22 weeks and that gas often times is confused with kicks. However, at the end of last week I started to feel little pokes and twinges real low in my belly. When I kept having the same feelings throughout the weekend I am starting to believe that what I am feeling is really the baby moving around. Right now the kicks are prety short and don't last very long but they're still there. Hopefully within the coming month they will get stronger and a little longer so John has a chance to feel our baby moving around! But for right now he will just continue to rub my belly, kiss it, and say "I love you, BIB"!

Not Me Monday #33

This past weekend was very nice. First, on Saturday we had a birthday party for my Grandma. 75 years! Then yesterday, John and I headed out to St. Paul. Since the weather turned, I started to realize that I had less and less options where clothing was concerned. I found someone on Craig's list who was selling all of her clothes and wanted to see if anything would work for me. She already had several people go through her clothes so not the greatest selection, but I was able to score a few more pieces. Still not anything for too cold of weather but it will get me a little further into the season. I'm pretty good with pants for the time being (especially since I can still wear my old pants with the help of the rubber bands) but may have to purchase a few sweaters or warmer tops as we get closer to winter.

Just two short stories to write about this week for Not Me Monday. They both happened during John and my outing yesterday.

First, since we were in the cities I had to make a quick stop at Schmitt music again to return a book and then buy a few more for another student. Also in the store when I first arrived was an older woman who walked with this really long white stick and almost seemed to have some sort of disability like cerebal palsy, but not quite. Anyways, she talked quite loud and I could overhear her working with the salesman asking for the cheapest type of guitar. When she found out that there was a very basic student accoustic guitar she then proceeded to ask if a banjo or ukelele would be cheaper. Then she needed the cheapest guitar method book and it looked like she was actually going to purchase that. After I had made my method book selections, I thought I would look at some of the wedding books since I am playing for awhile at my friend Angie's wedding. I started looking and the crazy lady was still browsing the store. Since she could only see things about 3 inches from her face it was quite humorous to watch her wander about the store looking at everything that was for sale. It was humorous until she stopped to start looking at the music books the very next section to where I was, that is. She couldn't just browse through the books, she needed to put her whole elbow/arm over my section so I couldn't continue to search or even put back the book that was in my hand. I did not wait patiently for about a minute or so and then finally clear my throat and kind of push her out of the way. I know that wasn't the most polite way to go about it, but seriously, was she really interested in organ music?

Our second incident happened at dinner. Since it is our 3 year dating anniversary tomorrow, we decided to celebrate yesterday with a dinner at Ruby Tuesday's since it was where we had our first date. It was about 5:00 when we sat down and were given our menus bya very unassertive waitress. The food tasted great, but this was not the first time ever that my normally very generous tip leaver husband had ever NOT left a tip. I'll tell you why and you can decide if you would have done any different:

• When she gave us our menus, she didn't go over any of the specials even though they had a big lobster insert that I'm sure would have been very tasty.
• No refills on water. I had to ask for my own.
• John ordered the mini hamburgers which came with fries. Ruby Tuesday's advertises endless fries. I could barely get her to stay at our table long enough for more water. Needless-to-say we didn't get a chance to tell her bring more fries.
• We were only about half done eating when she came and got our coupon and brought our bill. She didn't even ask us if we were interested in dessert.
• After dropping off the bill, we had to sit at our tables for a long time after we were done eating before she came to get the credit card to swipe.
• How could she see that I still had food on my plate and not ask me if I wanted a box to take it home?

There you have it. Have a great week, everyone. Stay warm and stay dry!

More on Dreams...

I guess I'm not the only one having weird dreams lately. This morning while I was getting ready for work, John told me about the dream he just had. I had given birth to a baby boy, but he was locked inside the EP Home Depot for 2 years!!! He finally was allowed out of the store. Poor guy, he knew I had had the baby but didn't know that it was a boy or couldn't even see him until 2 years later.

Anyone else having weird dreams lately?