Oh Baby and Baby Belly

Too. Lazy. That's what I am. I have a few pictures to put up of my ever-expanding belly but my computer isn't cooperating and if I don't just post this then I may never post again. Why is my font blue? I got on here to write something and couldn't remember my own url. Then I couldn't remember which password I use to sign in.

So... on to the blog....

(This is more for me to document so that I remember details. It may bore you and will definitely bore you if you don't know me personally.)

For the most part my pregnancy has been awesome! I have been soooo lucky because I have felt pretty great and I have only been sick (as in thrown up) one time during the whole seven months. Now, I have experienced some other pregnancy symptoms, namely forgetfulness (as you can see from the first paragraph) and clumsiness. It. Is. So. Weird. At work I drop things. I drop medicine bottles, baskets, leaflets of paper, pens, you name it. I cannot hold on to anything. I forget a lot. I forget what I am saying or thinking (more than I normally did before) and things just slip my mind. I also have heartburn a lot. Randomly. I can't blame it on certain foods because water can even cause it which is odd to me. I sleep with 4 pillows now. Four.

However, the strangest thing is the belly. I can't get used to it. It came out of nowhere. I will walk by a mirror and and be like, "Whoa. That is me." haha! I keep bumping the belly on things because I am not used to it being there. I can no longer turn sideways to squeeze past something or someone. Turning sideways does not make me smaller. It is so funny! Feeling Mason move is the coolest thing ever. He seems to be all over the place and I can't pinpoint how he is positioned. We have a 4D ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday and hopefully it will work out that Ben can come and we can actually get it done! I can't wait to see his little face! (If he cooperates.)

I haven't had too many weird cravings. I do crave random stuff for different meals, but the only things I have consistently craved are mocha ice cream with snickers from Marble Slab and mochas and iced mochas from Starbucks. Not. Cheap. Cravings. The weird thing is that while I am craving mocha stuff, I pretty much stopped making coffee at home. It kind of grossed me out at first. I have gradually come around to it and drink a cup every now and then but when I am home by myself I drink Tazo tea instead. It is strange because I have pretty much had coffee every morning since my 4th year of pharmacy school when my roommate, Shelley, and I would take turns making it before we left for our rotation.

The nursery is well underway! Mom and Dad came down these past 2 weekends to help us get it ready and it is now painted a pretty light blue/gray color. One-half Sea Spray to be exact. It only took me a couple of emotional breakdowns to get to this point. After attempting to order not one, but two cribs that turned out to be "no longer available," we finally picked out and ordered a set that was actually available and it should be here in a week or so! I will post pictures when things come together a little more. Now I just have to figure out what to do with all of the junk we were storing in what is now Mason's room.

Oh, I am also proud to announce that I passed my glucose test by 2 points!!! Whew! I was so nervous that I would fail and have to go through the 3 hour screening. Lucky me. It is so hard for me to believe that I am already 29 weeks along! The time is absolutely flying by and Mason is going to be here before I know it! I am so excited!

So, yesterday was Valentine's Day. Ben sent me a dozen red roses to work which was a complete surprise! They are so beautiful and I was so excited to get them! The hard part was getting them home. I put them in my passenger floor board and they tipped over with the first hard turn I made (in the Wal Mart parking lot) and it was kind of like a flood with little waves. Not to self: dump out water from flower vase before attempting to transport. The flowers escaped unharmed and are sitting beautifully on my dresser.

I couldn't help but think about how this was mine and Ben's last V-day alone. Next year it will be celebrating with a baby or hiring a sitter! We are trying to savor all of our time together and our sleep (as everyone advises).

Ok, next time I will post pictures. Hopefully I won't forget I have a blog in the mean time.

The Lame House and Other Things

Happy Halloween from the house who got 5 trick-or-treaters. Seriously. Ben and I bought 3 huge bags of candy because we had high hopes of handing out lots of it. However, a huge bowl now sits before me filled to the brim with Snickers, a variety of Reese's, and Sweet Tarts. I looked out the window of the front door and literally saw kids walking down the street past our house without even giving it a second glance. Is our lawn that unkept? Is it because I didn't carve a pumpkin this year? WHY ARE WE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU PEOPLE?!!!!

Next year I am going all out with fake spider webs, lifelike vampires, coffins, tombstones, etc. all over our pristinely manicured lawn. Then I'll bring back out this years candy and be like "There ya go suckers." I'm not bitter.

Moving on... FALL!! I love fall so much. I wish it would stay fall until December 20th and then it can be winter for 2 weeks and then fall can come back until Spring. I shall start praying this request now. Ok, check out this S'more....ahhhhh (that is a chorus of children (not snobby trick-or-treating children) singing in the background)

One of the lovely things that comes with this time of year is S'mores along with fires in the fire pit on our back porch. I love S'mores so much that I have been known to make them in the microwave when there is no fire around. It is easy... you just heat the mallow up for 10 seconds and when you take it out of the microwave, sandwich it between the other S'more parts and you are good to go. And, if you have never watched a marshmallow in the microwave then I suggest you do it now just for kicks. Except heat it for like 30 seconds. For an even bigger thrill, use Peeps.

Another Fall must have is Apple Cider. I have tweaked and perfected my own recipe from others and it goes something like this:

1 half gallon of apple cider

1-2 cups orange juice

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

4 cinnamon sticks

8 whole cloves

a squeeze of honey to taste

A few thinly sliced lemons and or oranges (for looks mainly)

Bring all ingredients to a boil (I am guessing on the quantities here... I just throw it all in there so you can add more or less as you like) and then let simmer for about 30 minutes. Store left overs in the fridge.

So, the news is pretty much out now that Ben and I are having a baby in April!! I mean, it is on facebook so that basically makes it official. Anyway, we are really excited! However, I think my parents are more excited. The week after we told them the news I found a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my front porch steps with this card attached....

I think mom and dad actually meant for the card to say "ThankS for making us grandparents," but apparently this was the last card the florist shop had. :) Their flower arranging skills far outweighed their card-writing skills. Anyway, Ben's parents are excited too even though this baby will be grand baby #5 on their side. The newest addition, Neely, was born just over a month ago! I am ashamed that the only pictures I have of her are on my cell phone but she is such a cutie! She and our baby may end up being in the same grade!

Here is my first "pregnancy" picture. I finally bit the bullet to pose for it. I am 13 weeks here.

Ben and I actually made it to Auburn for a ball game last weekend! Our friends Josh and Shelley came and stayed with us for the game and they inspired us to make the long 45 minute drive to campus. I am sad to say that we have only been to 1 game since we graduated! This past weekend we didn't actually go to the game because we didn't have tickets, but we did go and hang out on campus for tailgating. We had the best time and all of the new additions on campus have made it even more beautiful!

Before we came back to Montgomery to watch the game from the comfort of our couch, we grabbed lunch at one of my favorite Auburn places, Pita Pit. I love it!!!! While I was there I found this hanging on the cork board near the coke machine:

If you can't tell what that is, it is little pieces "strips" of paper with pictures of chickens on them. I laughed out loud for like 5 minutes when I saw it. It was sort of awkward because the game was starting so the only people in Pita Pit were me and Ben and the people making the pitas. The pita guy did not acknowledge me but I was laughing so hard AND taking pictures of the sign. I went to take my own chicken strip but then I saw what looked like a spot of blood on one of the strips and I changed my mind.

So, Auburn killed LSU which was AWESOME because the LSU fans are possibly the rudest and most obnoxious I have ever encountered. They were yelling at Ben and me all day long (on our own campus!) and it got old fast. We would just smile and wave or ignore them. (I'm sure there are some very sweet LSU fans somewhere out there.)

In other news...

I traveled to Mobile a couple of weekends ago for a baby shower for my friend and old roommate, Allison. The shower was great and it was fun to get to spend time with Allison. She is going to be a wonderful mom! I am very excited that our children will be close to the same age!

Ben and I got to keep our nieces Adalyn and Bentley for a little while one Saturday night while their parents went out. They are so good and we had a great time getting to play with them. They are just growing up so fast!

And lastly I leave you with a picture of my silly poodle. He is always into something! Lately he has been digging in the yard, not only with his paws, but also with his face, as you can tell from the picture. I open the door to let him back inside and this is how he greets me. I don't know what I'm going to do with him. He is going to be so jealous when the baby gets here!

Disclaimers:

1. I am not seriously praying "please let us only have 2 weeks of winter."

2. I am not really handing out this year's Halloween candy next year. That was a joke.

3. I have no intention of spending more than 50 dollars on Halloween lawn decorations such as coffins, tombstones, fake lifesize vampires, etc. Ever.

4. My lawn will likely never be pristinely manicured.

5. I am not responsible if you try to heat a Peep or marshmallow of any kind in your microwave and it explodes. (The marshmallow, not the microwave is at risk of exploding.)