Monday, December 27, 2010

Week 15 and T minus 3 Weeks

3 more weeks until we find out the gender.  I don't want to skew the votes, but I just feel like it's a girl.  Would be starting off on the wrong foot of mommy intuition if I'm wrong... I guess I'm going to take that risk.

Whitney and Jerod announced they are having a boy (c:  She said she felt like she knew it anyway. 

So what did you do for Christmas?  Ours was pretty low-key.  I might be sleeping too much.  I get these headaches on the weekends when I sleep 12-14 hours.  Never thought that would be an issue...

Stretching places are itchy.  Not cool.

But bump is ready for pictures.  I think we're there, where it actually looks like something is going on!

Trying to sleep more on my sides instead of on my back.  Sleep is waking, but that is probably due to getting too much of it.  It occurred to me last night while laying on my side that I feel huge.  Oh gosh, how many times have I heard women who are 8 and 9 months pregnant say that?  I don't yet know the meaning of huge.  Must remedy this by staying up later playing more Plants Vs. Zombies (thanks to Wes I can now play the full version instead of just the trial over and over (c:)

New Year's Resolution?  Have a baby.  I'm trying to be realistic this year.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Homeschooling Infographic

Although I wouldn't call this a complete argument for homeschooling, it was interesting to see the academic statistics.  I didn't realize they were that good.

Tons of other factors to consider when it comes to your kid's education but this is still really interesting.


Source

Monday, December 20, 2010

Give Me Your Heart, Make It Real (Or Else Forget About It)

Week 14. I got two pairs of maternity pants and a nice sweater last week. Both sets of pants have decided to be looser than they seemed when I first tried them on and are constantly slipping down (irritating), but this is one situation in life where I guess I will look forward to filling them out... ? The jeans have belt loops though so a belt fixes it for them. The work pants will just have to wait a week or two more though.

Maternity pants are soooo comfortable, lol.

Bump seems to be growing really fast lately. Many people have been asking me if I can feel the baby move. From what I have read, most women can't feel the baby move in their first pregnancy until they're about 20-24 weeks. So I am still a long way away from that. They say if you think you can feel it move this early on, it's just gas. So let's just say I haven't felt anything and keep things less embarrassing (c;

One thing I do feel is pressure. Ever-present discomfort as things "triple and quadruple" in there (in the words of my also pregnant friend, Coby. She is 16 weeks along). Not unbearable pain, but makes me wonder what my pain tolerance is like!

Important to mention that I do believe the nausea has finally gone! It does reappear when I am either extremely tired or start to get hungry. That's another thing: hunger is like WHAM BAM... suddenly it hits me and I must eat, please don't ask any questions, just let me at the food! I wouldn't say my appetite has increased, and I am proud and happy that I have not gained but a pound or two so far, it's just that hunger strikes so fiercely.

Infamous cravings of pregnant women I have not had (yet... apparently that becomes more of a big deal in second trimester), but just about any food suggestion that is made, I suddenly want. So the cravings don't come from out of nowhere. For example, over a week ago I saw an ad on TV for Olive Garden in which they were promoting ravioli. Last night we finally caved and went to Olive Garden and I got my ravioli... it had been on my mind all that time. Dairy Queen commercials get me. I suddenly love french fries. Earlier today, I heard Ms. Jacki telling her husband on the phone, "I'm going out with a friend for lunch, there is some chili in the fridge if you want to heat that up for yourself." And now I want chili.

Going to Temple this week, so have yourself a Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Mi Nombre es Dora the Explorer

Maybe it's because I grew up in south Texas, but I just really love Latina names. I know we shouldn't limit ourselves if there is a name that is not quite as normal to name a white baby with Irish-German parents, but for some reason I just don't know many white women with Latin names and it's kind of sad to me because they are so romantic and feminine.

Flora
Lorena*
Estrella
Marisol*
Evita*
Lola
Rosita

You'd think we'd see more since south Texas culture is so infused with Mexican spice. The name Lorena came to my attention because it's a town between Waco and Temple on I-35. Every time we drive past the exit for it, I say it in my head. I'm embarrassed to say it out loud because it's flat if you don't roll that R. And I feel like a poser going around trying to roll my R's. This name makes me want to be Mexican just so I wouldn't feel like a poser, lol. However, it is pretty enough that if Ryan liked it then I would break out of my comfort zone and this name would be in the running.

Marisol seems a lot safer for a white girl, but it still has an old world and feminine charm to it. It sounds contemplative yet colorful. She sounds like an interesting person, eh?

Also love Evita and it's meaning - "Life." I might have to check with Corinne though, since she wants an Evelyn, we could potentially have two Evie's. Evita comes to mind as a movie tho... *searches the Internet* - aha, a musical. According to Wikipedia, it's a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera) and lyrics by Tim Rice (The Lion King), two talents I have appreciation for. I am liking this more and more already. I might have to see this musical. I will check out the music today on Grooveshark, I'm super curious now.

So what do you think, can two Irish-German kids from south Texas use a name with Mexican roots? I really don't see why not! (Afterall, most people who only know me by name are surprised to find that I am white. Most people assume I'm black)

Thursday, December 16, 2010

If Love Were A Whisper, What Could I Give You To Speak?

Hot dog, this time next week I will be on the road to Temple.  Well at least time is moving in some capacity, it didn't really seem like it was. This morning when I arrived at work and took my planner out of my drawer and replaced it with my purse like I do every morning, the mundane repetition of this week struck me.  It seems for the past few weeks I have been storing my planner in my drawer instead of on my desk, ever since the last evaluation and it was made clear that we are to have our desktops cleared off when we leave every day (this sounds really OCD of the execs but in all truth we all deal with papers that should keep at least some level of confidentiality).  But no, wait, the last evaluation was... months ago? 

My days certainly aren't set apart by the way they start.  Every morning, I go straight to my cube and turn on my computer, because ever since they installed the new printers, morning boot-up takes like 10 minutes.  Then I take out my planner and put away my purse.  Then grab my 3 liter ginger ale bottle from under my desk and refill it with water (it is my daily goal to empty it by 5pm each day).  Sometimes at that point I take a stroll downstairs to the break room to grab a hot drink and then to the mail room to check my mailbox.  By the time I make it back to my desk, my computer is awake and thus the day goes forward. 

The highlights of each workday are when noon rolls around and I'm pouring myself another glass of water.  This is only a highlight if I am at least half way through the bottle by then, I like to consider it being on track.  It's odd but having this personal goal to work on while doing other work (the work I actually get paid to do) somehow makes everything else more meaningful. It's multitasking, right?  Lunch is of course a highlight.  Lately I take my red pen and the most recent Internet Marketing Report newsletter and read it over lunch, circling and marking things I think we could use or that are interesting.  The next highlight comes between 2:30 and 3, when time seems to start moving at about 1.5x speed until about 4:50.

Gosh, if you read all of that, thank you for your dedication.  I think it was intended to be boring.  It was definitely way more fun for me to write than I intended it to be for you to read.

Anyway, on to much more exciting things [again, for me], we have tonight and tomorrow night to accomplish two forms of shopping.  1) Christmas shopping.  Still need to get a few more gifts, but looking forward to being done!  And 2) Maternity clothes shopping!  At last I feel like I am ready for those jeans with the big stretchy band.  I got through the more recent weeks using an elastic "ouchless" hair tie to connect my pants' button with its buttonhole, and I was still able to zip up the zipper completely until this past week.  Zippers are kind of all-or-nothing, so when I couldn't zip them up all the way, they gave up and fell all the way down, which isn't good unless my shirt selection is long enough to cover this well.  Talk about being self-conscious. 

There is at least one maternity store in town that I know of [I'm sure there are more but who cares about them] and it's in the mall.  Since I don't have a whole lot of mula to spend and I just need a pair of basic jeans and some work slacks, I'm just going to hit up this place even though it is a little pricier than a Ross might be and make sure those staple items that I will be wearing almost every day for the next 6 months are good quality, good fit, and feel nice (c:

I took photos of my "laying down bump" this morning.  It looks big in pictures, of course I cannot dislodge my head and see what it looks like from the side like my camera can, so I was surprised to see how pregnant I actually look.  I was so stoked I wanted to send it to Mom but my phone wouldn't send it, not helpful.  Oh well, soon it will be worthwhile to take bump pics for Facebook.  Gotta get some with Whitney, too, for sure.

Have a good rest of your week (c:

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

10 (Cheeky) Tips for New Moms

Rachel passed this on to me... good job. Thought you all might enjoy it.

Thanks to Jennifer Magnuson
So I'm supposed to make a card for this baby shower I'm attending with a bunch of parenting advice. They asked me to give advice. They have no idea. See below.


Jen's 10


1. Boys invariably smell vaguely of pee and sunshine. Heavy on the pee. Stock up on Febreze.


2. Your boobs, when engorged (this is for the first-timer) will look like something out of a fetish video. Your husband will be intrigued: Practice saying, "If you touch my nipples I will be wearing your scrotum as decorative jewelry."


3. That fun "period" you get after you give birth? Don't worry, that's not your liver in the toilet.


4. When people ask if your baby is on a schedule, tell them the little monkey won't listen and you're wondering if it's too soon to start spanking.


5. With each subsequent child, you will look nine months pregnant for at least two weeks longer after giving birth.


6. Watching reruns of The Sopranos in the middle of the night helps bring down your milk. So does a good gin and tonic.


7. Your older children might be jealous of the attention given to the new baby. This is natural. Just tell them they're not as special anymore, and would they please move, daddy is trying to take a picture of the little princess.


8. Other moms are really, really competitive. Make stuff up. Tell them your baby started muttering the phrase "Einstein was wrong" while thrashing in the crib at night.


9. Only you know when it's time to wean your baby. If you want to nurse until the kids beg you to stop, that's your prerogative.


10. Older people are really judgmental when it comes to things like co-sleeping. Don't get irritated at their antiquated advice. Just smile and tell them you really find that co-sleeping works for you. You just wish little junior would yell louder when you accidentally roll over on him.

Source: http://www.parentsconnect.com/spills/the_advisor.jhtml?xid=240STU/Baby/

Monday, December 13, 2010

All We Want To Do Is Eat Your Brains

This blog may not for the slight of stomach, and not my normal train of thoughts... just warning you.

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Wes came in this weekend and I had just gotten season 1 of AMC's new series The Walking Dead from a guy at work. We spent four and a half hours watching the six episodes in this mini-series over the course of Saturday and Sunday. I only half-watched it first, knowing it was at high-risk for giving me nightmares (I have had nightmares after watching Law & Order before). I played the more lighthearted Plants Vs. Zombies on my laptop while the guys watched. I started to lose interest in my game though and watch the show more and more. Eventually I turned off the game and decided I'd deal with the nightmares later, I had to know what happened.

It's not the "jump out and grab you" kind of scare, which I think bothers me a lot more than the gore that the show is drenched in, so I found it to be pretty interesting in that apocalyptic kind of way.

Two nights since I let myself watch the show. While trying to go to sleep, my brain swims with zombies. I can't get them off of my mind. It's a problem, but I wasn't scared. So I am relieved about that.

Since my mind has been on them lately, it has occurred to me that there is a serious problem with zombie facts. Maybe I just need it explained to me. New zombies are made when a zombie bites a human. The human becomes infected, dies quickly by being eaten by zombies or dies slowly from the fever the infection brings. After human death, the zombie awakes and hungers for live human flesh. Based on common knowledge, zombies are ultimately after your brains.

If you have a gun, they are easy enough to kill (provided you aren't overwhelmed by a mob of them) with one good shot to the head. You must put a hole through their brain. In The Walking Dead, the survivors ensure the zombies that they brought down would not come back by putting a pick-axe or an arrow through their skull.

If a human gets its brains eaten by a zombie, how does it come back as a zombie if the brains have been destroyed? Either I'm missing something or someone did not think this zombie concept through very well.

Only Terrorists Say, "Happy Holidays"

Whether you're a Christian or not, the fact is America has a Christian heritage. While I understand if you don't want to wish someone a "Merry Christmas," I don't think anyone should get offended if they are given a Christmas greeting as opposed to the more politically correct, "Happy Holidays." You're in America. Things change and progress and we become more open-minded and accepting of all cultures, and that's all good, but most of us still like to feel the warm fuzzy feelings of patriotism and our nation's founding principles. I feel like anyone who gets offended by this historically Christ-centered holiday (Easter too) is just looking to stir diversity.

So Merry Christmas, and all that that implies.

P.S. I totally stole that quote from a TV commercial, but since I only heard it and didn't see it I don't know what the ad was for. I was shocked it was on TV since it's really so controversial, but it has given me something to think about.

Level 1: Achieved

You guys!!! Me and "Peanut" have made it through the first trimester. I have been waiting for this time since I first found out I was pregnant, and even more so since my first wave of nausea. The nausea is supposed to be fading about now. It hasn't really, which is disappointing to me but I am hoping it will fade into nonexistence soon. Being so tired and blecky feeling is not cool. Social life and housework have suffered but of course those things are temporary sacrifices that really don't matter much in the short-term.

Still not showing, but there has been a definite growth spurt of my "laying-down" bump just in the last 3 days.

When I saw Whit last week I was surprised and thrilled to see how obviously pregnant she is. She said it has all happened in the last week, so I am hoping/expecting to be there in the next 3 weeks. Time for things to start speeding up. She and Jerod get to find out if they're having a boy or a girl a week from tomorrow. I can't wait to know theirs, and I definitely can't wait to find out ours in about 5 more weeks.

That means 5 more weeks to vote - don't forget to vote on the poll on my blog. Do you see a little boy or a little girl fitting in to Ryan and I's family? My sister and my mom think it's a boy. What's your opinion?

Friday, December 10, 2010

#ThingsInMyDreamNursery: Gears


If our kiddo is a boy, I think I would like to give a little artistic shoutout to his daddy's engineer-type bend by throwing in a couple of gears.

For the record, I'm not a fan of themes.  I'm not a fan of matching things (Mom can confirm this is true from her exasperation at trying to make me choose acceptable clothes to wear out of the house). 

I am a fan of having lots of visual representations that reflect who we are.  There's a lot more to Ryan than gears, which is why if we have a boy, there could be some references such as trucks, technology, camo, nerdy Internet meme references, blue prints, musical instruments, country or rock inspired what-have-you, earth-moving heavy machinery, even [play] guns, oh oh, even a Jimmy Buffet cheeseburger.  All I am saying is, if our baby announcement has gears on it, please do not gift us with everything you see that is gear-related.

I am a fan of coordinating, not matching.  I like a lot of colors, I would prefer everything to not be the same color.  Even the same 3 colors.

Sorry, this post really isn't about gears.  Maybe I don't like them now, afterall.  lol, we'll see what Ryan says.

I have not seen a nursery that I am in love with.  I think I can safely blame the themes.  A theme takes over and everything matches disgustingly well.

Time to go... hello, weekend.

The Sound From The Avenue's Calling, Open Your Eyes

I know it's going to sound dumb, but I think I have just grasped a little bit more what it means to compromise. Lately I have been thinking about how I just expect Ryan to do what I want to do. I know that he loves me so much that I have always felt that I could just tell him if there's something I really want and he would grant it to me if he could. Talk about being overly-secure and self-absorbed. It's not just Christmas and giving that has started me thinking about this. It's that we're making plans. I have plans and I have things I really want to do. I know he has preferences too, but I guess subconsciously he just doesn't feel as strongly about them as I do about mine. Doesn't that sound horrible?

I am not really that bad of a person though, I'm sure you couldn't believe I was (c; We actually talked about it and once I realized what I was doing I felt immensely sorry. Right now we have two ideas for what we want to do: his and mine. There is no compromising them in this situation, it's one or the other. I have a good argument as for why we should do mine and up until last night I just assumed that I would be able to win him over with it and in the end we would stick to my plan. But I didn't understand something: he has a deep want. Normally, I think we would all agree (including him) that wants or deep wants are not a trump for what is wise and best. But when it comes right down to it, he's always letting me have my wants, he's kind to me, supportive, scrapes the ice off of my car before he leaves for work, kisses me when I am frustrated because I don't know what to wear, never fails to tell me he loves me at the end of a phone call, listens, stays up and cleans the kitchen/does laundry, the list goes on and on. What he wants, I believe he deserves. Not from God or the Universe or other people, but from me. I am really grateful to him, and humbled and proud at the same time to be his wife.

It's a fundamental concept of marriage, but I am learning it today. Sometimes you get to a point where you want to give up what you want so the other person can have what they want. Duh.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Week 12

Next week marks end of trimester numero uno! Aka pretty much out of the danger zone for miscarriage. This is because the kiddo is fully formed, just has to grow bigger and stronger. It's about 2.9" long now and weighs just under an ounce. That sounds small doesn't it? It doesn't feel small, in fact I have noticed a significant difference in size from last week. I don't think I'm showing, but there is a definite bump by my bellybutton when I lay on my back. My favorite thing is feeling it in the morning.

I noticed last night that I was uncomfortable a lot. Felt uncomfortable pressure on my back and on either side of my uterus, almost like I had been laying in one position for too long and just needed to move. But it didn't go away when I moved. It did improve a little on my right side, but not on my left, which is unfortunate since I am trying to lay more on my left side. It's supposed to be better for circulation. I remembered a week or two ago when mom told Ryan he would have to buy me a recliner that I could sleep in later in pregnancy )c: Tonight I'm going to give the body pillow a try.

So ready to kick out the nausea. Hopefully it will actually gone in trimester 2, but everyone tells me that's not always the case. We'll see *crosses fingers*

I'm really glad that we have managed to not acquire too much baby stuff yet. We have one drawer for it. Some magazines, three books, an array of prenatal vitamins, 1 pack of newborn diapers, 1 sample diaper pack, and a box of assorted preggie-pops. My sister presented us with the first item of clothing last weekend - a long-sleeve 18 month onesie. I don't know if she considered what season it would be when the baby's 18 months, but she got it right. It'll be December 2012. It's blue with pink trim (although she is hoping for a nephew), and it says something along the lines of, "My Aunt is the best!" It's super cute and she got it with her own money, so, I apologize if you're a boy, baby, but you're wearing it for her, haha. Maybe I'll try to sew different color trim on it. Or he can just make sure to wear it with camo pants, lol.

After my 18 week appointment, I expect then we will get more serious about getting stuff. I have made a list of things we'll need and will be asking my mom and mother in law to go over it with me and help me prioritize things. Then I'm sure they'll help me keep an eye out for the larger items at resale shops. Ideally, I hope we can get a house in the spring and I can really enjoy putting together the nursery one piece at a time.

My next doctor appointment is January 4th. Then two weeks after that I will be at 18 weeks and that's when we'll have an appointment to find out the gender, woot! I need to call Whitney - she is only 2 weeks from finding out whether they're having a boy or a girl. So crazy.

It's an incredible process, but I am so glad the first trimester is almost behind me. It's got to be the most boring part, lol.