A New Arrival

Jeff's work gave all the employees a bonus in honor of its 25 year anniversary. We have been wanting a printer for a while, so although most of it went into savings, we used part of the bonus to buy ourselves a printer! Here it is, in all its newly installed glory:


It's one of those multipurpose printer/copier/scanner things. Technically, it's a photo printer, but it also does regular stuff like documents, and it was one of the most inexpensive printers at Wal-Mart, so we went with it.

The packaging included a little paper that talked about this great website done by Canon, called Creative Park, where you can print out all sorts of free neat stuff - gift cards, paper crafts, calendars, scrapbook stuff, etc. Most of the stuff uses a ton of ink (gosh, it's like they want you to have to go out and buy more or something...) but there's some fun stuff! So far I've resisted the temptation to print lots of stuff, choosing only to print a small origami box. You know, just to make sure the printer works okay and stuff. ;-)

Anyway, that's the exciting news of the day. We haven't had a printer the whole time we've had a computer (well, except one my dad gave us, but it never ended up working), so we're excited to finally have one. I'll probably mostly use it for printing recipes from the internet, up to now I've just been jotting them down on whatever scrap paper I can find, but this will be so much easier.

The rest of the trip

I figured I should post and say we got home okay on Monday evening. I'm so glad that we got to spend a week with my family, it was really great. Let's see, on my last post I left off with Friday evening, so I'll hop on with Saturday. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the second half of the reunion. I ate way too much again, heehee, but this time it was lighter fare like fruit for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch, so I didn't feel as full and kinda sick as I did from overeating on Friday. I haven't weighed myself yet, but I'm sure that I've more than made up for having only gained 1 1/2 pounds in the three months previous to this little visit...

We had a big FHE on Saturday night to finish off the reunion. The activity after the lesson was Family Bingo - my aunt and cousin had put together cards with pictures of all the family members. Then my aunt read off the names of family members one at a time, and we marked them on our cards with elbow macaroni noodles (I think that's the most creative Bingo marker I've ever used). The prizes were these really cute painted wooden magnets, in the shape of butterflies, palm trees, school buses, little kids, all sorts of cute random things. Since there weren't enough cards for everyone, we were put in groups. I was partnered with Owen, and he graciously let me choose and keep a magnet as prize when we got a bingo - I picked a butterfly. When Jeff and Thomas' team got a bingo, Thomas chose a school bus, which Jeff gave to Zaylee to play with; she is fascinated with school buses and had a blast playing with that little magnet!

Sunday was Owen's homecoming talk in church. Janelle and Marie had decided to sing a song together and asked me a couple weeks ago if I would accompany them. When Owen got home, he asked if he could participate too. So the three of them sang while I played. I'm glad that we practiced the song several times before performing it in church - I got all the tears out during practice and didn't end up sobbing while playing in the middle of church! The first time we practiced when Owen started singing his verse we had to stop altogether, because I started crying, then we all started laughing because we were crying - it was so emotional and spiritual to hear him singing about doing the Father's will. So anyway, yay for practicing because all of us made it through the song without getting too misty-eyed.

After church we had a big family get-together at Mom and Dad's house and had barbecue beef sandwiches. Several family members who were in town for the reunion were able to come to hear Owen speak, and stuck around to be fed and to hang out with all of us afterward. Lots of people running around, but it was fun.

Monday morning we got all packed up and hit the road, after lots of hugs and goodbyes. Then it was six hours of sitting in the car wishing that I wasn't going home - after a week in that large, clean house it was hard to come back to a tiny, messy, cluttered apartment. But I was motivated to clean up the kids' room on Monday evening. The room they slept in at Mom's house was empty except for the pack-n-play and the mattress for Zaylee, then the suitcase and whatnot in the corner. It was so clear and nice! So I dug in and cleaned up all the piles of junk all over the kids' floor. Now all the clothes, books, toys, blankets, and random bits of everything are all put away and the room looks great! And I've actually been able to help the kids keep it that way all day! Now I just need to force that cleaning motivation to stay just long enough to fix up the living room... and the kitchen... and our bedroom... and the bathroom... and oh dear, I think I feel the motivation slipping away as I think about all the other messes that have to be cleaned up to get the apartment looking and feeling half as nice as Mom's house. Phooey.

I mentioned in my last post that I bought a vintage maternity pattern at the thrift store, and was excited to make a dress. Well, today when we went shopping I bought some fabric and I spent the afternoon and evening making this dress. Then I went to try it on and realized that I had made a cross between a hospital gown and a tent. Sigh. I guess it really is true that maternity clothes have come a long way since this pattern was made. Now they're made to hug and accentuate the feminine curves of the pregnant body, instead of completely hiding them in billows of extra fabric. Well, at least I can use it as a nightgown or something. And maybe by the time I'm nine months pregnant I'll actually wear it outside of the house - by that time I might not care so much what it looks like as long as it's comfortable.

I still haven't uploaded any pics from my camera. But as soon as I do I'll do a picture post with all the pictures from last week. I'll also make sure to post a picture of my new "dress" for everyone to laugh at. Seriously, it really does look exactly like a hospital gown.

A Quick Post From Idaho

Having a great time with my family! We left on Tuesday morning and after driving for a really long time we arrived. Had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa D. Tuesday evening, and got to see Owen for the first time in two years. It was great! Dinner was simple: hot dogs, baked beans, chips, salads. The visiting was what was most fun - hearing some of Owen's mission stories, catching up with parents, siblings, grandparents.

We spent the next couple of days just hanging out and enjoying being with family! That's what I like about my family, we don't have to be constantly out and doing things when we're together. It's enough to sit around at home and just be together. Takes a lot of pressure out of visiting, in my opinion. :-)

Anyway, this weekend is the family reunion on my mom's side. Our family was responsible for lunch today. Mom and I did all the shopping for it yesterday, and apparently shopping and cooking for approximately 80 people of varying ages and appetites is no small matter! The shopping took all day long. We visited the different stores to collect price information for everything we needed, which took a couple hours. Then we took a break and wandered around a couple thrift stores to get our energy back up. :-) I bought a really cute vintage maternity pattern, and am looking forward to getting fabric to make a dress. I also found newborn diapers for a good price (at a thrift store! how cool is that?) and some new Church shoes for Zaylee.

Then it was back to business; we went back to all the stores we had previously visited and actually bought all the food, getting each item at the place wherever it was cheapest. We completely filled the van with all the stuff we ended up buying!

Today was the first day of the reunion. Again, in our family there isn't much in the way of super planned activities and such. There were a few things - decorating T-shirts, sewing children's clothes for a humanitarian service project, little things like that, but mostly just visiting. I had brought my sewing machine, and enjoyed sewing together little pants and shirts. Grandma L. has an antique treadle sewing machine that still works - it's the machine she used when she was growing up. She graciously let me take pictures of her using it, then suggested I give it a try as well. So I got to use the treadle machine and it was lots of fun! It definitely runs more slowly than an electric, and takes a bit of practice to get your rhythm going, but I got pretty good at it and made a cute pair of pants with it.

Zaylee and Thomas have been great today. Grandma and Grandpa L. have a play area in their living room that has been popular with the kids ever since my mom was a kid there. Zaylee and Thomas spent a lot of time there today, playing with toys that have been in that old toybox ever since my mom and her siblings were young. There's even a little toy tractor that has my mom's name etched into it! So neat. Anyway, the kids had a great time playing with the other little cousins and getting to know all this family they never knew they had. :-)

I have of course been taking a few pictures, though not nearly as many as I should have! I don't think I'll bother with uploading them from the camera for now though, too much work. That will be a later post I suppose.

Hmm, I really did mean for this to be just a short, quick post to let everyone just know that I'm alive. Well, I guess it turned out a bit longer. That's okay though, right? :-) I'll do more later, but for now I'm pretty tired, and I need to put my feet up - they're swelling like crazy! I don't remember them swelling this early with my other pregnancies...

That's Better!

The sun is shining, and Owen gets home from his mission today!!!! Yippee!!!!

I did have a really hard time yesterday. At one point I just sat on the couch and cried, while the kids climbed all over me trying to make me feel better. Thomas was such a sweetie, he kept giving me kisses and patting me on the head, over and over again. It was so sweet it made me cry even harder.

But I really am feeling quite a bit better this morning. I'm officially 15 weeks pregnant, we leave for Idaho in four days (yikes, that means I have only four days to clean the apartment, do some laundry, and pack for the trip - sounds easy but if you saw the apartment you'd know it really won't be), Owen is getting home!!!!, and the sun really is shining. The grass is green and the sidewalks are almost dry. I don't know how long the sunshine will last, but I'm sure enjoying looking out the window at it while it's here! Maybe we'll walk to the library later today (Zaylee and Jeff are still in bed or I'd go right now) if it stays nice. There aren't even any clouds in the sky! Yay!

Rain Rain, Go Away!

The weather is really getting me down. Really. It's been so wet and dreary and rainy for about a week already, and according to the weather forecast, we've got at least another week of bummer weather ahead of us. Zaylee keeps running to the window and exclaiming, "It's raining again!" It's really cute, but it hardly makes up for how dreary it all is. Not ever seeing the sun is really getting me depressed. Not to mention that the air pressure changes that accompany rain storms are a major trigger for my migraines. I've had a migraine nearly every day for a long time now, and it's getting so old!

Well, maybe the weather will be nicer in Idaho, where we'll be next week. Crossing my fingers!

Well, on the positive side, the baby has been fairly active today. I haven't felt it for several days, so it was nice to be feeling little kicks and wiggles today.

Sewing Again

I haven't been sewing much lately, in the first trimester it just felt like too much work. But yesterday I finally pulled out the sewing machine and got working on projects again. First I finished the mei tai I was making for Michelle. It looks pretty much the same as the one I made for myself. I had to get it done because we'll be up in the area in about a week and a half, and I wanted to be able to give it to her then. So Michelle, your mei tai is finally finished, and I'll get it to you when we come up to visit!

After my successful sewing venture yesterday, today I decided to take on another project I've been putting off. A few months ago we found a moses basket at D.I. for very cheap, so I bought it. It was "naked" though, no lining and no sheets for the pad. Well, today I finally made the lining. I cut up an old pale green sheet and sewed it up. Considering that I'd never made anything like it, and didn't use any kind of pattern at all, I think it turned out pretty cute.


Later I'll get around to making a couple sheets too. I don't have the elastic I'll need to make them, but once I buy some I'll just use fabric I have lying around the apartment to make some cute sheets.

It's fun to be sewing and making useful things again! Next I need to pick up the hooks and start crocheting again - I need to make a blanket for the baby.

Excited!

I'm getting so excited! I don't think I've mentioned on here yet, but my brother Owen will be getting back from his 2-year LDS mission on the 12th, and we're going up to Idaho to visit the next week! Yippee!!! I'm excited to see him because he's been in Alabama for two whole years, he hasn't seen Zaylee since she was just a little thing, and hasn't seen Thomas at all. And from his e-mails it's obvious that he's done an incredible amount of emotional and spiritual maturing in those two years, and it will be wonderful to be able to see that first hand.

I've been thinking this morning of all the things I need to remember to bring when we visit - all the stylish ties he used to pad the box of Christmas presents he sent, the deep fryer that Mom gave to us because they never used it (Owen had written an e-mail a while back that he was excited to use the deep fryer to show us some good southern cooking. I had to reply that it we had it here in Utah. He replied back that we better bring it when we visit!), super cute maternity outfits to show how awesomely pregnant I am with my little belly bump. The belly showing-off isn't just for Owen, of course, I want to show my bump to the whole family!

Plus, the weekend that we'll be there will be a family reunion, with my mom's side of the family. This also has me really excited, the timing worked out perfectly. More family to show the bump to!!! Oh yeah, and to visit and hang out with and catch up with and eat wonderful food with and stuff like that.

Here's that belly bump I keep going on about. Isn't it cute?


The shirt is one that I just got at D.I. yesterday for just $4. I love thrift stores!

A Nice Updatey Kind of Post

Sorry I've left that icky-sicky post up for so long. After Saturday, I have been feeling much better. Sunday I was weak, but not throwing up anymore. I stayed home from church and rested, and by that evening was feeling better. Yesterday I was pretty much back to normal. I'm glad it went away so quickly this time, but I'm definitely considering asking my midwife for a Zofran prescription that I can have on hand in case this kind of thing happens again - it's pretty miserable to go through!

I realized that I haven't been posting updates on the kids lately. All the little day to day things that they are learning and doing, I just sort of forget to record for posterity. But here's some of what they've been up to:

Thomas has become more vocal, though nothing he says sounds like it's supposed to. "Ahhh, shee!" means "please!" And "Zhezhe" is how he says "Zaylee." He also signs the word "more" by tapping his fingertips together when he wants more to drink or eat, though we usually have to remind him.

Zaylee is completely potty trained. She runs to the bathroom all by herself when she needs to pee or poop (yay, no more poopy undies!!!!!). Very rarely she gets there too late and wets herself a bit, but for the most part she does wonderfully, and I'm so proud of her! Now if I could get her to stop playing in the toilet water when she's done...

Thomas is the nursery jewel! He is always very well behaved and plays so nicely (I'm going off what his nursery teachers tell us). He's also the cleaner-upper after snack time: After all the other kids leave the table to go on to the next activity, he finishes up their snacks for them. He's definitely a voracious eater!

Zaylee has been doing better and better in Primary. At first she was a bit wild and would run away from class, pull other kids' hair, the normal brand-new Sunbeam stuff. But she has been much improving, and sits still in her chair and usually keeps her hands to herself. I got to observe her firsthand a couple weeks ago as I was subbing for the Primary pianist. She was so excited I was there she kept calling out, "That's my mommy!!!" She has been assigned to give a scripture next week, which means that I get to choose a scripture for her and help her learn it. How do you help a three-year-old learn a scripture, I wonder?

As for me, aside from the sick episode on Saturday, I've been doing well and enjoying the pregnancy (mostly). I feel the baby move occasionally, and it always brings a smile to my face! I've been super tired though, and usually drop into bed as soon as I put the kids down. I never thought I would be giving myself an 8:30 bedtime after I graduated elementary school! But by the time the kids are in bed, I'm so tired that I just can't stay up later. Plus it saves on the power bill - no lights are on and I'm not using the TV or computer! :-)

Jeff continues to enjoy his work. His schedule is sometimes hard on him and us, but we survive okay. Apparently Jeff is really good at what he does. He says his gels and interpretations are some of the best. Nice and humble, he is. ;-)

In other news, we have been scoping out houses in the area. No way will three kids fit in our tiny two-bedroom apartment, so we're looking to buy a home. We saw one yesterday that we're really enthusiastic about. It's a slightly older home (1984), and needs a bit of work, but it's within our price range and we both really like it! It has new wood floors in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. There's 5 bedrooms and 1 3/4 bathrooms (the 3/4 is a bathroom with toilet and shower, just no tub). One of the biggest pluses of this place is the lot size of 0.34 acre - in the back yard there's enough room for a sizeable garden, swingset, clothes line, fire pit, grill, picnic tables, gazebo, play house, and anything else we would want to put in there! Seriously, it's an enormous yard.

The house is a bit of a fixer-upper. Not a gut-the-entire-place-and-start-from-scratch kind of fixer-upper, but the kind where it just needs some TLC and a bit of work. The kitchen cabinetry will need to be repaired, some lighting needs fixed, the deck/porch in the back will need to be repaired or replaced. Then there's the basic stuff like redoing the carpets and painting. Plus maybe replacing the toilets. You know, just basic stuff. :-) With some work, this place will be gorgeous. The cool thing is that with Jeff's schedule, he has every other week completely off, and that gives plenty of time to work on a house. We could take on one project or phase at a time and finish it before he has to go back to work again.

Anyway, even if we don't get this particular house, it's fun to be looking, and forming ideas as to what we're looking for exactly - what features we definitely want (like a dining area - the first house we looked at didn't have one), and what things are optional (dishwasher would be nice but it's not a deal breaker), and what kind of work we're willing to put in if we buy a house that needs work.

Oh No, Not Again!

I shouldn't be at the computer typing; I should by lying on the couch resting. Maybe trying to get in some fluid.

Several weeks ago I had a couple days where I couldn't keep down anything, not crackers or water or anything. I even had to go to the ER because I was dehydrated from not being able to keep down any liquids.

Sigh, it's happening again. It started this morning when I lost my oatmeal. I tried again with apple juice and a bread roll. No dice. My lunch of leftover rice pilaf didn't last more than ten minutes. Water has been coming back up all afternoon and evening. I just ate about six green beans for dinner. We'll see how long I'm able to keep that down.

I wish the morning sickness would just go away and stay away! I'll be just fine for days at a time, but every time I think it's finally gone it comes back. This is the worst it's been since my ER episode, and I'm hoping that I won't have to go to the ER again.

Dinner tonight was especially interesting. I knew that I had to come up with something to feed the kids, but couldn't think of anything! I couldn't even do leftovers - we had done that for lunch. We didn't even have bread for sandwiches, just one lone bread roll. No way was I going to cook something, even something as simple as pasta and tomato sauce. Finally I remembered that there were two hot dogs in the fridge and tossed them in the microwave. I also microwaved some green beans and split the roll between the two kids. They're totally satisfied. I threw up from handling that much food.

There is a silver lining to this dark and dense cloud of nausea. All the unrest and excitement in my body is apparently stimulating for the baby - after one bout of throwing up I laid back down on the couch and was immediately greeted by encouraging little bumps and squirms in my belly. It was as if the baby were trying to tell me, "It's okay, Mom. I'm still fine, and you're going to get through this." That brought a smile to my face, in spite of all the throwing up.

Sorry for the rambling nature of this post, I guess that's just what happens when you've had a day like I have. :-/

Super Quick...

I know I need to post more regularly here, and I will get around to doing an update sometime.

I just wanted to post really quick that I just felt the baby move! Little swishy flutterings right in my lower abdomen! It actually made my eyes tear up a bit, I'm so excited. :-)

Funny how these little things can get us so excited and emotional. I think I'll be in a better mood this evening than I've been for days.

Such an Awesome Deal!

We did our grocery shopping on Tuesday, and I had noticed in the Smith's sales flyer that the Kroger salad dressings were on sale for 88 cents each. That was such an incredible price that we couldn't resist! I planned on getting some ranch, some Italian, just the basics. That was until we got to the salad dressing aisle and saw the varieties that were available. We might have gotten a little over-excited...

We came home with seven bottles of fancy-schmancy dressing, for only $6.16! Check out this lineup:


Our awesome dressing varieties are: Avocado Ranch, California Honey French, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Russian, Chunky Bleu Cheese, Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette with Parmesan, and Greek. We love fancy dressings, but don't often get them because they tend to be pricier. So this was such an awesome buy for us!

Prenatal Appointment

I had my second prenatal appointment today. It wasn't super eventful - the nurse took my weight (I've only gained a pound) and blood pressure (it was excellent). Then I waited for a very long time to see the midwife. Seriously, I made it through an entire Family Fun magazine before she came in! She was with another patient - maybe they double booked and we both showed up? Anyway, I guess it was cool, because I never actually make it through an entire magazine while waiting, usually I get interrupted mid-article.

We talked briefly about symptoms, then came the fun part - listening for the baby's heart beat on the doppler. Apparently the baby was curled up right behind my aorta - it took forever for the midwife to find the heartbeat. She kept moving the doppler wand around in various positions, trying higher and then lower, the left and the right, for several minutes but all we heard was the large, slow swooshing of my own heart beat. Finally the silly little baby cooperated and moved a little away from the aorta and we heard the tiny, fast swoosh, swoosh, swoosh of its heart beat. Welcome sound! Heart rate was about 160, perfectly normal range for how far along I am.

I'm really glad that I'm not one of those women who get scared and panic at every little thing (okay, so I was scared when I was spotting earlier in the pregnancy, but that's different). Going that long with the doppler without getting the heartbeat could have been nervewracking, but I was very calm and confident through the whole thing. I knew my baby was in there and doing fine, it was just hiding.

Anyway, got to hear the heart beat and even got to feel my uterus - the midwife pointed out where it was and showed me where to press so I could feel it too. Despite the long wait (both to be seen by the midwife and to hear the heartbeat) it was a nice appointment, and everything is going well. Next one in four weeks!

Bad News For Jeff?

After a very difficult night, we took Jeff to the health clinic this morning. We have noticed that he gets a very bad reaction every time he eats things like bacon and sausage. It started last year, when he got diarrhea and a stomachache eating turkey sausage. It's gotten progressively worse, until last night. He had bacon yesterday, and was up vomiting and diarrhea-ing all night long. This time he even got a rash on his neck and arms. So they're going to do some allergy testing on him to find out why. We'll go back in about a week to see what they found.

This really is bad news for Jeff - sausage and bacon are two of his favorite foods in the whole world! We have half a package of bacon in the fridge right now, and he can't have any of it (though, this might not be bad news for me, because that just means more for me...). It's just kind of a sad situation - I imagine it would be something like me finding out I was allergic to chocolate or something!

Anyway, I'll update when we find out more. Keep poor Jeff in your thoughts. Can't eat bacon, what a terrible thing!

Kissy Kissy!

This is Thomas' fun new thing - he loves to give kisses! It started with he and I exchanging kissing noises back and forth, and now he has discovered how fun it is to plant a smacker right on Mommy or Daddy's lips. It's so cute! Well, except for when his face is coated in ketchup... :-)


Zaylee's new and exciting news is her new shoes. When she was less than a year old, I found a pair of shoes at a yard sale that were only a dollar, so I bought them. But they were so big! I thought she'd never actually grow into them. Well now, two years later, she's finally growing out of those shoes I bought so long ago (why do children have to grow so fast), so we took her on a special trip down the shoe aisle the other day. As I let her try on various pairs of shoes, she was so excited that she kept saying, "This is so magical! So magical!" It was just darling. Anyway, we found a pair that she just loved, and it was on clearance for $6 (I love clearance!). So here are her new, sparkly, bright purple shoes.


She's super excited about the sparklies on the front, and also about the fact that she can put them on all by herself. Her other shoes were getting so small that she always needed help to squeeze her feet into them. But these are still a bit on the big size (growing room), and are meant to slip on easily. Works out great for all of us - Jeff and I don't have to stop what we're doing to help her put her shoes on, and Zaylee gets to feel like a big girl!

Missed Church and a Frustrating Craving

After several days of not throwing up (that Zofran has been a life-saver!) I got sick yesterday, enough to have to stay home from church. It was kind of a bummer - it wasn't morning sickness related, the nausea was different and it came with stomach cramps and diarrhea. But it's over now, as quickly as it started. The real bummer was having to miss church and choir. We were out of town at my parents' house last week, so this makes two weeks of me missing our home ward. The choir just started working on the Mother's Day song, and are singing it next Sunday, and I haven't even heard it yet! I don't think I'll be able to participate with the choir next week, which makes me kind of sad. But I'll get over it.

Last night after Jeff got home from work, we lay in bed talking for a while. This doesn't happen very often, or at all actually, because he gets home around 2 in the morning and we both just sleep. But I had just gotten up to use the bathroom, and was partially awake already, and we just ended up talking. It was cool, we haven't really talked like that for a while. One of our conversation topics was the difference between Top Ramen packets and the real ramen you buy in ramen shops in Japan. Top Ramen is rubbery noodles in a sodium-laden broth-like substance. I really like it, but it pales in comparison to real ramen. There was this ramen shop in Tokyo that I went to once. The bowls were enormous - several inches deep and twice as wide. The fresh noodles are all pooled at the bottom, topped with real broth. Floating in the broth above the noodles are all the delicious extras that the Japanese serve with their ramen - several kinds of mushrooms, a variety of tender-crisp vegetable strips, tenderly cooked greens, sometimes some small pieces of meat, sliced boiled egg, and a little pink fish paste cut in the shape of a flower. That's real ramen, and eating it is an incredible experience.

And ever since that conversation, I have had the most annoying craving - for real ramen prepared in a ramen shop in Tokyo. How frustrating is that! It's not like we can just jump on a plane and head to Tokyo so I can get my ramen fix! Grrr. I just need to tell myself to stop talking or thinking about food, because every time I do I either find that I can't stand the thought of that particular food, or I suddenly want it so bad I feel like crying because I can't have it.

Sigh. Ramen. Real ramen.

ER Excitement

Having been unable to keep anything down for well over 24 hours, I finally called the midwife this morning, who recommended I go in to the ER to get rehydrated and get some anti-nausea medication. Thus began my five-hour sojourn in the ER. I got two liters of fluid through IV, as well as some Zofran for the nausea. It took a long time before I actually began to feel human again, instead of just a vomit machine. But after several hours I finally felt well enough to have some pudding and jello (green of course, this is Salt Lake after all). Once we were sure that was going to stay down, they pulled out the IV and discharged me, sending me on my way with a nice friendly Zofran prescription. I'm glad that ordeal is over. Not as glad as Jeff though - he had the kids with him in the waiting room the whole time. Neither of us realized that it would take so long, or he would have brought the kids back home for a while. As it was, though the kids enjoyed the little play area in the lobby, they were definitely quite antsy by the time I was discharged.

Anyway, it's been a really long and kind of difficult day. But on the plus side, there's only about three hours left until the kids' bedtime, and I actually feel like I might be able to get them some dinner (peanut butter sandwiches) without throwing up halfway through!

Also, almost forgot to mention this. But they did an ultrasound to rule out any problems (make sure the pregnancy wasn't ectopic, etc). I got to see the little baby, safe and snug in my uterus. There was cardiac activity, and fetal movement, which translates to mean that the heart was beating and the baby was moving. It was exciting to get to see my little one! I'm not one of those moms who don't feel like the pregnancy is real until they see the baby on the ultrasound. But it made the pregnancy feel closer and more special when I got to see my cute little Slug (that's what it looked like) on the screen. Ultrasounds are awesome.

Morning Sickness...

Barely escaping from the bathroom long enough to say that I'm sick and miserable! I haven't been able to keep anything down all day, and the only reason I'm not throwing up right now is because there's nothing left to come up.

Later, I'll post about our weekend at Mom and Dad's house, and Janelle's funny frosting mistake, and what not. But for right now, I'm going to go back to focusing on my attempt to keep down a glass of water.

Ugh.....

1st Appointment

Baby and I had our first appointment yesterday at the clinic. Well, mostly it was me. Jeff and the kids came too, because I didn't think I could drive there and find it by myself. The kids got antsy after a while, because first prenatal appointments do take quite a lot of time, with all the questions to answer and paperwork to fill out. So Jeff took them out running through the halls while we finished up my exam. Everything is going well - my uterus is measuring just under eight weeks, which is right where it should be considering that I'm about 7 1/2 weeks along.

I saw two midwives - one certified and one a student. The clinic is located in the University of Utah Hospital, so there's students and studies galore. I'm alright with that - as long as they treat me nice I don't mind students getting valuable experience on me. Both the midwife and the student midwife were very nice, they listened to what I had to say, heard and answered my questions, and treated me like a person and not just a patient. When I said I want a natural birth, they let me know that the midwives in the practice believe birth is a natural process and are willing to support the mother's desires to let it be as natural as she wants. I was glad to hear that - I don't want a lot of routine, unnecessary interventions.

It was too early to hear a heartbeat, and they didn't do an early ultrasound. That's okay - it would have been cool to see the little bean with its little heartbeat on the ultrasound, but not really necessary. And if it's not necessary I don't know if our insurance would cover it, so I don't mind not having it. This will be my first pregnancy not on Medicaid, so I'll try to avoid anything that we might have to pay extra for. :-)

Anyway, in all it was a pleasant prenatal appointment. I'm pleased with the providers, and the pregnancy seems to be progressing as it should. Plus, I got a prescription for a pregnancy-safe migraine medicine, which will definitely come in handy.

And because of all the construction going on down at the hospital, they recommended we use the free valet parking. So we got to use valet parking for the first time. It made me feel ritzy. :-)

Bump!

Already feeling quite a bit of tightness in my clothes, I decided to go without a waist band for church today, choosing an attractive black dress that just glides over my curves instead of trying to squish them in. When I looked in the mirror, I saw just why I'm feeling so much tightness in my waist bands lately!



Holy cow, where did that belly come from? Wow! I'm only seven weeks along, but already I'm sporting a 3- or 4-month belly bump. Well, I compare it to a pair of jeans. Fresh out of the wash, they're nice and snug, and hold everything in. But once you've worn them a few times, they relax and let everything hang out. This is my third pregnancy, so those muscles are all stretched out and just don't hold anything in anymore! :-)

It is kinda fun, I guess. When I was pregnant with Zaylee I had to wait a long time before I was showing enough for anyone to notice. This time I don't have to be patient for that exciting time at all! It's already here!

Dreading the Turkey

We bought another big turkey on Monday, because it was about 48 cents per pound or something like that. We decided that we want it done around lunch tomorrow, so using my mom's cooking method (but without the brine) it cooks for fifteen hours at 200 degrees, and I need to start it right about now. When Jeff and I discussed me starting the turkey, earlier today, it seemed like a good idea, very rational. But now it's time to actually pull the turkey out of the fridge. And take it out of the wrapping. And reach in and pull out the giblets. And have my hands all over that gooey, cold, raw bird. And my nausea is just bubbling up in anticipation. Or is it dread...

Sigh, I guess I'd better get it over with. I really wish Jeff just didn't have to work - he could take care of it. But when I brought that up with him, he reminded me that if he didn't work, we'd get no money, and get evicted for not paying rent, and end up living in the gutter, etc. So he went to work anyway. And left me to deal with that huge raw turkey despite the fact that my morning sickness is at its daily worst right now. Sigh. Here I go, wish me luck.


***Update: I did it. And it was gross. But I survived, and my nausea did not get the better of me. That's going to be one tender, tasty turkey when it's done.***