Mr. Sandman...

The odd pregnancy dreams have started. Some are bizarre, some are very sad, some make no sense. The other night I had a dream featuring Kim Jong-il, Mike from Breaking Bad, and David Beckham. It's so ridiculous what the random things rattling around in your brain can do in your sleep!

Who could forget the "dear leader"?

One of the best television characters of all time. Whether your business is legitimate or not, I am of the belief that everyone should have a Mike in their life. And a Saul, for that matter, but I digress...

And does he really need any introduction? This man knows how to wear a suit. I know I'm not the only chick who squealed audibly when I saw him driving that boat down the Thames in the Opening Ceremony Friday night!

A funny aside: the other night Cam woke up at 3 am and found me laying next to him in a deep sleep clutching my huge bottle of Tums lovingly like a stuffed animal. In my defense, I fell asleep eating a couple of 'em and I guess I just couldn't let go of my faithful friend.

A Minor Dilemma

Over the summer I've done lots of online browsing for all things baby. I'm almost decided on a set of baby furniture and I have a set of boy and girl bedding that I really like. Of course my plan was to wait on the bedding until after we find out the gender...until today, that is. I found out the boy bedding I love is being discontinued! I'm so bummed! The boy bedding was pretty set in stone - I saw it at Pottery Barn Kids way before I was pregnant - I was there with my sister when she was pregnant with my niece. It's a vintage hot air balloon theme with animals like lions and giraffes. I'm obsessed with giraffes! I immediately loved it and have kept it in the back of my mind all this time. And now it's on its way out! I talked to PB customer service and the local store today and our store still has it in stock. Once it's gone though, that's it. So now I'm faced with a dilemma...do I go ahead and buy it now, gender unknown? I think it's on sale and there is a way for me to return it for a full refund if we find out we're having a girl. Am I totally ridiculous for buying bedding this early? Maybe so. Will I regret not buying it if we get to September 14th and find out we are having a boy? Yes! So I guess that's my answer. Cam is convinced this child is a girl and probably thinks this whole thing is silly, but he won't say so. I mean...we have to buy bedding at some point right? 


Please note: I know this is a first world problem and not a true dilemma, but I'm a planner! I get a mental image of something like a nursery in my head and have a hard time letting it go! 

A Post of Random Thoughts

• My Mom and I went to see "What to Expect When You're Expecting" at the Discount Theater yesterday. It was so fun! The movie was pretty good - cheesy in places, but overall I liked it. Elizabeth Banks stole the show - she's the only lady who had a realistic pregnancy, in my opinion. Plus you can't beat getting two people into the movies for $3.50. Afterward, we went to the gift shop at Cracker Barrel - ha! My Mom and I do the most random things together and I will miss our summertime adventures together when school starts. 
• My parents were sweet enough to buy me some maternity clothes last week! I think I'm in love! Maternity jeans are so comfortable! Why don't we have jeans like that for non-pregnant people? They are comfortable, flattering, and they don't get all stretched out after I wear them for an hour like regular jeans. Cam says it's clear when I wear these clothes that I'm pregnant, but I'm not sure. I think it just looks like I'm fat! It's funny because I'm so used to sucking in my tummy when I wear something form-fitting and I have to keep reminding myself to not suck in when I wear these cute maternity shirts! 
• I'll be thirteen weeks tomorrow and I think I'm finally turning the corner and feeling better. I'm still really tired and feel lazy, but the nausea is much better. I'm still getting used to having to eat every two-three hours. If I don't, my stomach feels completely empty and gnaws at me with hunger and eventually nausea. Believe me - I love to eat, but right now even though my body tells me I'm hungry, I'm not mentally hungry every two hours. That may not make any sense to anyone else. It comes down to my body being hungry but feeling too lazy to figure out what to eat that often!
• Cam and I have two-door cars, so we both need to get new cars before our little bearcub arrives. We're in the process of trying to sell my car first. Oh my...selling a car on Craigslist these days is not for the weak! It is almost nothing but scams! I have had a couple legit inquiries and last night we drove down to campus so a student could test drive the car. They loved the car and are in the process of deciding, so fingers crossed!!!!!!! 
• I have serious vacation envy right now. Everyone on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs has been posting about their summer vacations and I am so jealous! With Cam starting a new job this summer and not having time off yet, we can't take a trip this year and with a baby on the way, I think it will be a long time before we take a real vacation again. I just really wish we could have had one last trip on our own before we have a baby, but that's okay. I'll take my little bearcub and Cam's better job any day! 
• I'm so sad about the shootings in Colorado. I've been following all the coverage and it's just terrible. It's scary how much damage and hurt one deranged person can cause. Yesterday when they showed the shooter's court appearance on TV, I seriously wanted to reach through the TV and kick him in the head. One thing that really bothers me when things like this happen is all the second guessing that goes on. I've seen people on social media talking about what they would have done had they been in the theater that night. The truth is no one knows what they would have done in that situation. People that think they would have been brave enough to whip out their own gun (which you aren't even allowed to have in most theaters, concealed permit or not) and take a headshot would very likely wind up huddled on the ground like everyone else. I was talking about this with my sister the other day and she mentioned how disrespectful this kind of talk is to the people who were in the theater because it implies that they didn't do enough, and I couldn't agree more. 
• The one person from the theater who I have no qualms about judging is this guy. I hope his fiancee gets wise and breaks off that engagement quickly! Any guy that would leave you and his own child in that theater and then GET IN A CAR AND DRIVE OFF WITHOUT YOU is worthless. And shame on Piers Morgan and all the other dolts in the media for not calling him out on his behavior when they interviewed him. Sorry for the ranting, but those pregnancy hormones...they are raging! 

Have a good one!

Details

Well, now that I've shared our big news, I can finally speak freely on the blog about what's been going on! The last couple months have been a crazy whirlwind! Most of the people who read my blog probably know a lot of these details, but this blog is a scrapbook for me and I want to record them before I have a chance to forget anything.


We found out we were expecting on Memorial Day! We were thrilled! The first few days/weeks were a little scary though because I had been having some bleeding. Sorry if this is TMI, but it's just part of the story. I'll try to not go into too much detail. After doing some reading on the internet, the bleeding is actually what prompted me to take a pregnancy test, so inbetween all the happiness we felt when we got a positive result, there was also worry about what the bleeding meant. Before I knew I was pregnant, I had attributed the bleeding to my cycle trying to regulate itself. Luckily it stopped the day I found out and hasn't happened since. And after several blood draws and an ultrasound, we were relieved that everything looked okay, it was just early. The tech that did the first ultrasound actually thought she saw a blood clot that might have been the source of the bleeding, which was such a relief! Of course we felt the biggest sense of relief when we saw/heard the heartbeat a few weeks later! There's just nothing like that moment!


I've been experiencing all of the typical pregnancy symptoms. Pregnancy is weird, y'all. The major things I've been feeling are exhaustion and queasiness/nausea. It's totally knocked me on my butt and I've been sort of bedridden the last few weeks. I still do things, but not nearly what I used to. It's strange being unable to trust that when you leave the house, you are not going to start feeling sick. Luckily since it's the summertime, I've been able to really give into what my body needs and rest. During the past week I've had tons of headaches, which I'm sure are related to hormones, but for me a lot of it is the mold count. We had a ton of rain here last week, which was wonderful, but the mold count has been sky high every since. In fact, there was a day last week where the mold count was the highest it's been in like 30 years. Rough! I'll take Tylenol but I do not want to take Claritin, even though the doctor says it's safe. I'm not trying to complain about not feeling well - I know I am so blessed to be pregnant. All of this is worth it and I would do it a million times over again to have a healthy baby!


Cam is so excited to be a Daddy! He has been taking wonderful care of me, Aurora, and Teddy for weeks now. I've been pretty worthless at keeping up with the house. As a bit of a neat freak, it bothers me, but I just can't do it right now. The week we found out we were pregnant, I finished up work for the year, Cam started a brand new job and got a root canal, and we got Teddy. Insane! With me being so sick, Cam has done the lion's share of the work with Teddy. I take care of him during the day of course, but Cam has been keeping everything going for us all summer, and I don't really know how to thank him enough. Baby Todd, the fur children, and I are so lucky to have him!


So we will be a family of 5 (ha!) next year! My doctor told me the risk of stillbirth increases if you deliver more than a week late, so she said I'll be having this baby the first week of February at the latest! I can't wait to meet my baby! I love him/her so much!!! We find out the gender on September 14th and I can't wait. It's so crazy to see the baby's face in the ultrasound pictures, but not know whether it's a little girl or boy. Baby definitely has sweet pouty lips!

Well, that's all for today. Thanks for reading!

Big News!

We have some exciting news to share...

We are expecting our first little bambino early next year!


We are thrilled and feeling very blessed!


Here are some of baby's latest pictures, taken yesterday. Everything looks good and healthy!

I'm due January 30th! 2013 will be our happiest year yet!

Rockport

We spent last weekend with my family at the coast in Rockport. We go almost every year and stay in my Dad's company's condo on the water. It's a fun getaway! I love Rockport - it is so laid back and charming! It was also my niece Grace's first trip anywhere! It was fun getting to spend a whole weekend with my Dolly!

We had several excellent meals - lots of yummy shrimp and an amazing italian dinner - YUM! Everytime we go, each couple picks a movie they want to share with the family and we watch them there. It doesn't have to be a movie no one else has seen - just one you think the group would enjoy. The movie you pick is always a secret until we watch it. This year we watched Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil (Mom & Dad's pick), So I Married an Axe Murderer (mine and Cam's pick), and Team America (Lizzie & Corey's pick). The guys went fishing Sunday morning and caught a ton of fish!

 

The weirdest thing happened on the trip down there! Lizzie, Corey, Grace, Cam & I were in the car driving in the dark down a two lane road. All of the sudden, out of nowhere, we ran over an already-dead deer that was laying in the road. It was scary and jarring, but we were relieved we weren't the ones to kill Bambi. Then THE SMELL hit us! The smell of death hit us and stayed in the car for about 20 minutes. It was terrible! If you've seen the movie Tommy Boy, there's a similar scene in the movie. I had a cherry limeade from Sonic and opened it up and we all started passing it around and smelling the lime! Poor little Dolly's tiny nostrils! Luckily the smell went away after awhile, but OMG, it was just one of those weird moments you'll never forget.

Sweet Summertime

Well hello there! It's 6:30 AM on a Monday morning and even though I'm off work, for some reason I'm wide awake. Might have something to do with a certain feline who decided 5 AM would be a great time to knock everything off my bedside table and paw the blinds in the bedroom repeatedly. She's been moved to the guest bedroom for solitary confinement and hopefully a little nap.

It's my third week of summer vacation and I'm so thankful for a break. It's much-needed after a long, tough school year. I really love my job during the summertime! ;)

We are still loving our new house! It's hard to believe we've been here for over three months now. We've been slowly getting some new pieces of furniture. Today we'll pick up the last thing we need  - a new chair for the living room to replace the old raggedy purple (!) recliner. The only other big thing we need is a dining room table, but that is several months off. We're in no rush on that! We're just excited to have what we do! We've had lots of visitors over the last few months - it's so nice having a house to invite people into! Cam's parents stayed with us last weekend and this weekend his brother, SIL, and nephew Logan were here. It's great having the space to have people stay with us!

We got a new puppy two weeks ago. Teddy is a Welsh Corgi and we're totally in love with him. He's sweet, tiny, and 100% puppy! We've been working on potty training and getting all that wild puppy energy out during the day. He's sleeping pretty well and usually gets up once a night to potty. He has little fits of crying here and there. It always sounds so sad and pitiful, but I'm trying to follow Cesar Millan's advice (yes, I bought his book!) and not respond when he cries at night, unless it's for something obvious like a potty break. He and his sister Aurora are getting along pretty well. If he gets too close, she will warn him by hissing and holding up her paw to swat him, but that's happening less and less. She's even let him climb on her when she was laying in the grass this weekend and has started chasing him around playfully! Having a dog is a whole new world for me and there are moments when, between both animals, I feel like I live in a zoo but overall it's been really fun!

Cam started a new job a couple weeks ago. It's going well and I'm so proud of him for taking a leap into something new! It's definitely a big transition to leave a job after almost five years and start over somewhere new, but this job is a huge step in Cam's career and a truly life-changing one for our little family. We are truly thrilled for the opportunity!

My niece Grace is four months old now and doing great! She is ADORABLE and very chunky, which makes us all very happy after her little 4 lb beginning! Dolly, as I've nicknamed her, is very beautiful with long, thick eyelashes and a sweet smile. We get to spend lots of time with her, which is wonderful. I've always loved babies, so it's very fun getting to be around her so much and watch her grow!

Well, I guess that about covers what's been happening here! I promise to try to write more this summer! Have a great week!