Awesome concert!

I went to a Steven Curtis Chapman & Michael W. Smith concert last night and it was AWESOME!!!! It was at the Historic Ryman Auditorium. I was up in the balcony over to one side where I could see SCC's little girls in the wings dancing, playing and then bolting off to go play somewhere else. His two boys played with the band, too. Very cool. A lot of old music played from 15 years ago that I loved plus all the current stuff too. Stories about how little Maria Sue was picked out at the orphanage in China, how she came to be a Christian in their kitchen one night just a couple months before she died, and how they're all doing with the loss of her. Awesome worship music too, from both SCC and Michael W. Smith. I'd forgotten how very clear, and soaring Smitty's voice is. The Spirit definitely was there last night and that was something I really needed. It did my heart a whole lot of good. Several songs that used to be my very favorites that I haven't thought about in quite a while. Probably because I have them on cassette and not CD, so they're packed away somewhere. Gotta find those, or re-buy them.

I got to bed around midnight and was still telling my hubby about it at 500 miles an hour. We laid down and the baby kicked. So then Hubby was trying to feel it from the top of my belly, but I'm not sure he did. That's the first time I've felt the baby when it wasn't very early in the morning. I know it will get more frequent, but it was still cool. I wonder if the baby was hyped up from the concert too! The concert wasn't too loud (like where you're partially deaf afterwards) but I know the baby heard a lot of the concert.

Great night! But now I'm sleep deprived. Easy price to pay.

food by 4pm

Today I have eaten the following despite my own belief by 4pm:
a nutrigrain bar
DP 12 oz
4 pieces of sliced cheese
8 huge Easter whoppers
Turkey and cheese sandwich
carrots and ranch dressing
3 pickles
applesauce
DP 20 oz
white chocolate candy bar
8 more huge Easter whoppers
and the munching continues...

Wedding hotel recap

I actually got some more studying done last night! Yeah me! About 3 hours worth actually. I bet I can get an hour's worth in at lunch today and maybe 2 hours worth before my very fun concert tonight!

Yesterday, hubby and I both started out the day quite grumpy because we tried to get up and get ready at the same time. This is never advisable in our marriage. Also, I was very clumsy and dropped EVERYTHING I touched while trying to pack my lunch. I finally just gave in and raked all my lunch stuff out of the fridge onto the floor and packed my lunch from the floor. It was just easier. It's always odd that when I'm angry about that kind of thing, hubby feels the need to tell me that this is not his fault so quit taking it out on him. Apparently angry in his presence translates in his mind to angry at him? I will never understand that. Of course he wasn't making me drop everything! So we were both grumpy and slightly mad at each other before we went to my doctor's appointment. Then we got to hear the heartbeat again! And the baby kept squirming around making weird noises on the heart monitor. That made us both smile, and laugh and definitely turned our day around. He kissed me with a smile and bolted off to his meeting.

This weekend, we had a wedding in a neighboring state. The recommended hotel for the wedding attendants was the Renaissance for a "special" price of $150 per night. Odd that they offered me $140 when I didn't identify myself with the wedding party. Anyway, I thought I could do better than that. I looked up where the reception was and looked for a hotel closest to that. How about $70 per night instead? And right across the street from the reception. Turns out, our hotel has a contract with the local Air Force base and typically is full of Air Force guys all during the week. On our weekend, there were about 3 rooms full. Also, several things didn't really work, like the ice machine, the continental breakfast, and the cable was fuzzy. I also had to finish installing a fixture in the bathroom. But the bed was WONDERFUL!!! The air was cold (crucial in our location) and we were a half block from the reception and about 5 from the church. We even had a fridge and microwave so our bag of groceries fed us all weekend long. We were extremely happy for the price. After staying in some pretty strange youth hostels in the UK and Ireland, we're rather adventurous hoteliers. The wedding was beautiful and expensive (not on my dime!) and we had a lot of fun. A very southern wedding. Appetizers for both the rehearsal diner and the reception included fried green tomatoes, ribs, and grits. Hubby got to talk about secession with some wedding guests and how that might be a way out of the president's communist plans for our country. He was giddy to have someone to talk about that stuff.

Studying happened!

Yesterday I studied for my horrible Macro test for about an hour! Yeah me! I noticed that I wanted to make some complicated note taking system that would require me to have a computer and print it out later. Since most of my studying time will not be in town near a computer, this seems pretty stupid. So I forced myself to just implement tactics that required only my notebook, textbook, highlighters, and hand written notes. I'm so proud of me! Now I just have to keep it up!

We're leaving for the weekend from work today so I had to lock my poor kitty in the garage this morning. She saw me putting down enough food for 2.5 days and gave me the most pitiful look. She's got everything she needs and will be safe in the garage, if a little bored. She normally sleeps in the garage each night anyway. I left the light on, the radio on, plenty of food, water, and cat pan space. I even hid little kitty treats like Easter eggs and put a couple toys out there for her. It would be great if I could leave one doomed mouse or flying bug out there for her to chase, but that's stupid. But I still felt so horribly guilty leaving her this time. I know, I know...get over it! She will be bored but well taken care of. Boredom never actually killed anyone. Especially not just 2.5 days of boredom.

Quickening!

I really do think I felt the baby move yesterday!! I'm 17 weeks along which is early so I might be wrong. Early in the morning, before I had gotten up, I was laying on my stomach and felt a little flutter. I held very still to see if it would move laterally (which might indicate gas) but it didn't! It stayed in one place and felt like a butterfly caught in a container. I held my breath for a second to see if I could feel more, but the flutter stayed the same. I slid my hand under my belly to try to feel it with my hand from the outside, but no dice there.

I've been really sick with allergies and have taken a lot of medicine in the last week that my OBGYN says are safe, but I was still worried about the little booger. It was a huge relief and a huge excitement to feel the baby move.

Hubby and I slept apart last night because of my coughing and when he came in our room this morning, he asked if he could kiss the baby. Well of course you numbskull! Anytime. So he kissed the baby and talked to it for a bit. The baby can for sure hear outside noises at 20 weeks, but it certainly doesn't hurt to get the baby used to it's daddy's voice early.

useless, useless, useless

I am useless!!! I'm taking a macroeconomics class that I am NOT doing well at. If I make a B or better, then my work will reimburse me the $1500 it cost. As it stands right now, I'm getting a C, but if I really ace the final, then I might get a B. We really cannot afford for me to let $1500 trickle through my fingers right now! We would both (hubby and I) rather put that towards debt while we can before the expensive bundle of joy gets here. My teacher is a lousy teacher, but she tests straight from the book. So the info is there for the learning, I just have to make a point to do it.

Friday afternoon at work I could have studied for about 3 hours. I didn't.
Saturday I felt horrible with allergies all day and didn't study (or do anything else).
Sunday I skipped church to study and didn't study.
Monday, after a jewelry party, I could have studied for at least an hour and didn't.
Tuesday, hubby didn't get home until about 9pm and I could have studied from about 5:30 to 9 with no interruptions. I didn't even open my book bag. I watched my newly arrived netflix instead. I am useless!!! There is $1500 at stake here!!!

Tonight, we may have company. Tomorrow, the same company will be here for sure and we need to pack for our road trip/friend's wedding. Friday, we drive half the day and are busy that evening. Saturday, I have no responsibilities (I don't think) until the evening wedding and I might be in a hotel room by myself for a lot of the day. Hubby is a groomsman, but I don't really know the bride that well. I really hope I don't have to do tag-along beauty salon trips with women I might have nothing in common with, I don't want my hair or nails done, and don't want to have "isn't it fun to waste money" conversations. So I could study Saturday afternoon in the hotel room. Anyone want to lay wagers on whether that happens or not?!

Sunday, we drive back from the wedding, I play handbells at church, and we have company for the rest of the day. Maybe exotic, entertaining company! Our friend's ex-wife and daughter from Russia are going to be in country and we may get to see them that afternoon. If the ex-wife and daughter have moved on with their American tour, then we'll visit with our friend and get the debriefing on his visit with his daughter - the first time he's seen her in 6 years. That will be interesting but possibly emotionally painful. So Sunday I won't even try to study. I'll try to do laundry and groceries, but if not, I'll get them done Monday.

Next Monday, I may have weekend chores to do and maybe can't study. Tuesday, I have a long awaited concert to go to, and won't study. Wednesday, I don't have church and might force myself to study. Thursday, we have some political dinner to attend and I won't study (gotta figure out a nice enough dress for my pregnant belly for that one). Friday, we travel for our anniversary weekend, and won't study. Saturday, I think I refuse to study on our one day at a beautiful state park. Sunday, we drive back and do chores and I might force myself to study.

The week after that, I have mostly free evenings, and the final is on that Friday. HOWEVER, I'm expecting 4 relatives in town an hour after the final! Including a mother and a mother-in-law. Whether I like it or not, I will probably become a cleaning fanatic so my mothers don't see my dirt. I logically know that they won't show up with their white gloves, and will likely make allowances for my cleaning because I'm pregnant, but I swear it's built into a woman's DNA: Your mother is coming - THE HOUSE MUST BE PERFECT!

So any little time that I find to study, I really should be studying and not goofing off or sitting on my butt. Last night, the justification was that I'm trying to not get sick. I might be developing a chest infection (like bronchitis or something) and fluids, rest, and healthy eating might help me out. So I rested. For 4 hours. I could have studied while mostly horizontal! Anyway.

So I'm useless!!! And it's going to cost me $1500 if I'm not careful! Do you know how many diapers that is???

vomit during pregnancy

Yes, I'm going to blog about vomit. So if you're squeemish, skip this one.

Saturday, I was regular sinus allergy sick for most of the day. Even the allergy medicine I took didn't make me feel good enough to actually move around and do things. My husband was very attentive and helpful and whatnot. After some dinner of left over pizza, and a regular amount of water to wash it down, I threw up. Not sure why, even after group analysis. But even as I was getting up from the bathroom floor, I said to my husband, "You know, compared to dry heaves, that was almost pleasant." He chuckled and said, "yeah, I bet so. There's nothing worse than dry heaves." Nothing like a standard of dry heaves to make you grateful for having something to throw up.

We spent some minutes trying to figure out if I had a bug, or if, as my husband put it, I was just having morning sickness at night. Very astute of my husband to jump to "morning sickness at night" as a diagnosis. My stomach felt mostly fine before I threw up, except for the 3 minutes just before, and I felt completely fine after I threw up. With a bug, you typically feel rotten for an hour before throwing up, and you're completely spent after. After 5 minutes of conversation about why I had thrown up, we both came to the conclusion that it was a weird pregnancy thing with nearly no cause and therefore nothing to learn like don't do this when you feel like this. Amazing to me that my ultra logical husband could just accept that.

pregnancy allergies

It's allergy season, and everything is blooming in my back yard. Because I'm pregnant, I can't take my best allergy medicine, Advil Sinus. I can only take antihistamines and decongestants. But it's the smidge of sudafed that's in the Advil Sinus that I really need to dry this stuff up! Oddly enough, when you're pregnant, you can take sudafed, but not advil. For some reason, it's OK to give my child speed, but not an anti-inflammatory?! That's seems so wrong. The doctor says I can take behind the counter Sudafed, but I haven't taken a full dose of that stuff in years! The last time I took two full sudafeds in one day (way back in college) I didn't sleep for 3 days. So despite what the doctor says, I'm scared to take it.

As a result of my fears and protectiveness of my little one, my allergies are really kicking my butt! Today, I've developed a little cough. My throat is a little scratchy so this should not be a bad cough. However....after being morning sick for 2 months and practicing my vomiting for all that time (I'm really good at it!), my body no longer knows the difference between coughing and vomiting. So my cough sounds HORRIBLE!!! And with each cough, I'm trying not to let my stomach muscles get into a rhythm that will lead to vomiting. Normally, when I cough, it's three coughs in a row. But, three is the magic number that leads to dry heaves, though. So I've got these huge coughs that I force myself to stop at 2 coughs.

The other thing my body is confused about now is the difference between nausea and hunger. I can't tell them apart right now. The good thing is that, even when I was legitimately nauseous, eating usually helped me to feel better. I just had to force myself to swallow when I was really nauseous which is trickier than you'd think.

Oh! Other news on allergies during pregnancy for me is good news!! Foods that I'm normally allergic to, don't negatively affect me right now! Usually, 2 baby dill pickles had a good chance of giving me a huge horrible headache, but not the case now!!! So I've been giving in to the pregnancy cliche and eating lots and lots of pickles. Also, I usually can only eat 2 or three strawberries before they start making my mouth and throat itch. I realized last night that I've been eating tons of strawberries (usually right after pickles) and have not had to stop because of itchiness! Maybe this means I can eat cantelope this summer!! It's been years since I enjoyed a full slice of cantelope. And I LOVE cantelope. And pears! Oh wow, I bet I'm going to buy waaaay too much fruit this week at the grocery store. For years, I've been eating dried fruit instead of fresh. For some reason, dried or cooked fruit doesn't make me itch. So bring on the fresh fruit!

the planning race is on!

This weekend, I don't have anything planned. Hubby has two big things planned this weekend that don't involve me. Next weekend, we're going to be out of town for a wedding, coming back early Sunday morning so I can play bells at church, and then visiting with a friend who's in from way out of town. The weekend after that, we're going away for our anniversary trip and will be gone most of the weekend. The weekend after that, we're expecting at least 6 guests in town (not all sleeping at my house) for hubby's graduation and party and some guests will stay thru Monday.

So this is the weekend to get all the big cleaning and food planning done. Yikes. So if I try to do my menu planning that I normally do each week, I really need to plan through May 15th for our groceries because I'm going to be too busy to do the planning part on the weekends, and possibly too busy to do the shopping part too. I guess I could do some of the planning while at work. That never occurs to me...why is that? Oh yeah, I remember! It's about 900 times easier to plan meals when I can stare into the fridge and pantry. I've noticed that the menu plans I make when I'm even just upstairs at my house wind up getting heavily amended as soon as I go downstairs. It's not like these plans are very rigid. I'm likely to eat Wednesday's lunch on Monday and Tuesday's dinner on Thursday. It's more the idea that I've got 5 complete lunches planned and 5 complete dinners planned. When I'm too hungry to think, I can just pick one.

I can take a stab at planning the meals at work today or tomorrow as long as I give myself the flexibility to change it when I nail it all down from my kitchen table.

Ok, that's the food planning ideas. Now what needs to be really, really cleaned that might stay pretty clean for the next month? Vacuuming, get stains out of the carpet with resolve, making up guest beds, moving displaced furniture, file the mountain of filing on my office floor and make my office a comfy den area (Ok this is mostly just for me), throw away all the empty boxes that are sitting around the house (I collect containers for nearly no reason), clean out the flowerbeds in case I want to plant flowers before graduation (pie in the sky!), clean out my car!, pick out 2 suitable dresses for a wedding with my (looks like) fat belly, and start studying for final for class I'm getting a C in. The final is the day before my husband's graduation. If I don't make a B, then I won't get reimbursed for the $1500 that the class cost me. If I make a high B on the final, I MIGHT make a B in the class.

Wow, that's quite a list. I feel tired. And my allergies are trying to turn into either an ear infection or a sinus infection or both. So I feel like crap and it has nearly nothing to do with being pregnant. The only way it does have to do with being pregnant is that I can't take my usual, wonderful allergy medicine because I'm pregnant. I'm paranoid to go and get antibiotics because my friend has a friend who lost a baby at 17 weeks (I'm at 16) after she had taken some "safe" antibiotics from her doctor. Sure that's not supposed to happen, but how could I ever live with myself if that happened?! When really, to be honest, the antibiotics will probably make me better only 2 or 3 days before I would have been better anyway. So basically, suck it up and try to rest and drink a lot.

we have hit gray matter!!!

I am so proud of my hubby. He actually chopped wood yesterday!!! And he finally (FINALLY!) understands the difference between a log splitter and an axe.

For years, like since I bought the log splitter at a garage sale and attached a new handle myself, both he and our best guy friend have never understood the difference between an axe and a log splitter. We have a heavily wooded city lot and cut up felled trees to use in our fire pit for entertainment fires. No matter what I told them, they both would try to chop a huge log into smaller logs with that stinkin log splitter and wonder why they couldn't get anywhere. They would complain about how dull it was and how this is never going to work. You're right. It won't. I told you that it was a log splitter.

Sometime later, we acquired a little hatchet. This also is not an axe and shouldn't be used as one. Yet they would and I'd have to sharpen it again, and again. Finally, very recently, I bought us an axe and hubby was given a little electric chain saw soon after. Hubby enjoyed cutting up a big mimosa tree that had blown down into logs and we stacked it under the deck. Yesterday, he gets it in his head to split some of those logs to make them easier to use. I said, have fun (really meaning it!) and went back inside. It is very possible to enjoy this type of work when you're not depending on it for your only heat in the house. I hear him chopping away out there for about 10 minutes and go to look. He's got the axe and hasn't managed to split a log yet. I go fetch the log splitter and explain the difference once again.

He takes the log splitter, and with all his might, hits the log and it dramatically splits into 3 pieces!! Oh wow! he says with awe. Finally! I think, we have finally hit brain matter. Some minutes later he says, "this thing is dull as hell and it just doesn't matter." I go through the difference in the design of the heads of the two tools and the basic physics of why they work differently and maybe maybe I won't have to explain it again. He asks me to stand in a safe place in case the head flies off the handle. I attached the handle myself a couple years ago and understand his fear and am not offended. I stand back. Flying split wood is also a hazard and scrapes his shin at one point.

He splits logs for about 30 minutes, until his arms and hands start to get shaky and our company is due in a few minutes. He split quite a few logs. More than plenty for about 3 or 4 fires.

I am so proud that my city-boy husband did some really hard physical labor and really enjoyed it!! And it was a big manly thing to watch.

apple of my eye

My little baby is about the size of an apple now! Last night, hubby said hello to our little one for the first time. It made me all warm and gooey inside.

I'm starting to feel like I can conquer the world!!! Next to no nausea, lots of energy and I'm hungry as a horse. Right now, it's been 3 hours since I ate a full lunch and I'm hungry again. But I've got catfish and a baked potato at home, so I'll try not to snack toooo much on the way home.

His Wife

showing!!!

I swear, I think my belly popped out of my pelvis yesterday afternoon, and now I'm finally showing!!! Monday morning, I put on my old size 8 pants and they fit just fine. As the day went on, especially after noon, they didn't feel right and I kept wanting to pull them up. And unbutton them. And each time I unbuttoned them, I sighed with relief. Really embarrassing, though, when you have to return to your car because it's probably unwise to show at Walgreens when your pants might fall down. Once I got home, I stopped trying to keep them buttoned and by 6pm, they were staying up anyway. After a bath, my sweat pants felt really tight across my belly button. They felt fine Saturday afternoon. My hubby agreed that things did look quite different than yesterday. He also said he thought I looked awesome and grinned a big grin. So I finally tarted showing on our 7th anniversary. Perfect! So today I'm in my size 10 pants and they're feeling a bit snug.

Today and yesterday it's been really freakin' cold here and I've had to pull out my winter clothes again. These are likely the last couple days I'll need those before I have the baby and I'm glad. Otherwise, I'd wind up stretching a bunch of my favorite sweaters.

Yeah!!! I'm finally showing!!!

Backwards world

There's a woman here at work that seems to live in backwards world. We have a little exercise group that does a 20 minute workout most days. If any of us change clothes at all, change our shoes and might change shirts so we don't get our nice or overly warm shirts sweaty. This woman puts on a extra short sleeve T-shirt for exercise. None of us can figure out why. Wouldn't that make you sweat more?

The other day in the restroom, I happened to notice that she washed her hands before she went into a stall. And she flushed as soon as she got in there. As in, the door latched and the toilet immediately flushed. We do not have sensors that flush for us here at work. Other days, I have seen (or heard) her also flush when she's done and washes her hands again. Anyone out there have any idea why someone might do that? She's Korean, if that makes any difference.

5 day streak!

I HAD FIVE DAYS STRAIGHT WITH NO MORNING SICKNESS!!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!! I'm now 14 weeks pregnant so maybe I'm coming to the end of all this!

And then there was this morning..... I'm sure I'll feel better after lunch. If I can get lunch down, it always stays, and then I feel better. I'm doing my best to concentrate on my 5 day no morning sickness streak. Ah-ha? :-S

mocking bird

For some reason, I keep thinking today is Friday, though I know that yesterday was Wednesday. Can we skip Thursday? Just this week?

There's a mocking bird outside my work that really cracks me up lately. In our city, and probably tons of other cities, at certain crosswalks, there's a directional sound that lets blind folks know when it's safe to cross the street. It's very distinctive and the first time I heard it in my work parking lot, I knew it was the crosswalk signal. Then I stopped and thought, "there's not one of those anywhere around here." I listened a second longer and this mocking bird continued on with its repertoire of bird and city sounds. I wonder how many blind people that dumb bird confuses each week. I wonder if a mocking bird could learn to imitate a dog whistle.

Blah, blah, blah

Blah, blah, blah. You've seen that Cheetos commercial where some mom is bragging on and on about how great her kid is doing with Mandarin lessons. Chester says blah, blah, blah. I fear that might be the overwhelming reaction to this blog. Dang, now I want cheetos...

I thought I was going to have a record breaking 4 days in a row without being morning sick. But today I started feeling icky around 11 and still feel icky at 2pm. Though looking back, I basically only consumed sugar until noon, so perhaps that's it. DP, gift candy, and raisins. Raisins are good for you, right?! Anyway, I feel a little better after roast beef. Three days in a row without feeling sick is pretty darn good!

The tobacco tax went up about 30% last night. Hubby bought some cigars for $108 that today cost about $150. Every tax increase has to be about children if it's going to pass, so this one is to provide health care to children. But if you read the non-advertised fine print to that one, a "child" can be as old as 31. That means that I'm a child?! Married and mortgaged for 7 years, Master's degree, and pregnant and I'm still a child?! What were these people smokin? I don't think a "child" should ever be older than 22. After that, you're on your own kiddo.

The funny at the office today: Tomorrow half my department (the manager half) have a 4 hour meeting scheduled. The topic? Time management. One of my friends who falls into that manager half/meeting required is about to pull her hair out lately because she's often stuck in meetings. At these meetings, she gets more assignments, but might go a day and a half where she doesn't get a chance to actually WORK at her desk on any of them. Then more meetings to determine why the work isn't done. Irony.

I've felt really far away from God lately and it's starting to really upset me. The solution is to fix it, of course. God didn't move. I did. I always feel really close to God during Easter. Especially the Good Friday service at church. I don't think I could bear to feel numb at the Good Friday Service. So I've gotta fix this and soon.

Beautiful day here! Everything is blooming and my sinuses are letting me know. I'm extremely glad that I can take most of my regular allergy medicines while pregnant. Advil is not allowed, but Sudafed is. How weird is that? Taking speed is fine, but don't take an anti-inflammatory. Maybe that's how I'll finally feel the baby move! Give us both speed in the name of allergies!