I'm coming back! And oh, the things we have to catch up on.

And time plugs along...

I went and had 2 fills with my surgeon, and felt absolutely nothing. 2cc was once too tight, now at 3cc it's like I have no band. I went last week and they did a fluro, the good (no, great) news is it is NOT slipped, and the pouch is NOT stretched. Thank God for that, I was so sad just knowing that had to be the case. The bad news is, same thing. Why am I not feeling it? What could possibly have changed.. when I was originally banded, he put the smallest one and said it should be a little tight without any fill (and it was-just a little) so it took hardly anything to get me rocking and rolling... but now.. ugh. Unfortunately, I didn't get to ask "Why would it be so different now??". Physically makes no sense. But he filled me .25cc more, did another barium swallow and he said it got stuck for a moment, so I may be too tight. Tested with crackers (which isn't a good indication for me anyway, never was), and it's fine. So a week later, I finally feel the band again; so I know it's there... but still no restriction. Only .75cc room left in my band, how sad. I am going back next month for yet another fill.

Carson is growing and doing great! He just started sleeping through the night (relatively) June 30th. We have bad nights here or there, but for the most part I am just ecstatic that I get longer bursts of sleep. He still has some cradle cap... and we've slowly eased back to a normal formula (Enfamil Premium). We went from Similac Advanced, to Nutramagen (YUCK), to Enfamil Gentlease (YUCK), to Premium. It's been 1 week and he's not breaking out and his tummy doesn't seem bad, so hopefully he can tolerate milk proteins now.

I am still upset about not being able to breast feed. For our next baby, my doc is going to help me in the hospital with rx for milk producing something, so that this doesn't happen again. I feel he wouldn't have gone through all the allergies and pains if I had been able to BF.

What else..... Russ & I celebrated our 2 year anniversary(7/7). We got a cake made by the lady who made our wedding cake (faaaaantastic), and went to dinner at Conor's (some fancy steak house).

I don't keep my blog updated like I should, but if you want Carson pics, I DO keep his picture album current...

http://babycarson.aboutmybaby.com/

Wastin' away again in...

Good Music

So with all this spare time (har har), I found some new songs lately that I really like. Actually, I just have the radio on quite a bit since I can't focus on the TV anymore. Thought I'd share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF6VQ91P_rc Keith Urban, Love Somebody Like You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXbqRkwjcbo Pop Evil, 100 in a 55

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flAvh1o-s5E Matt Nathanson, Come on Get Higher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBBRhmH4S8A Pink Floyd, Us and Them

Woops, he's here!

Yes, very busy and forgot to blog about it.
April 16 (my 2 year bandiversary!!) at 4am, they induced me. By 7pm I stopped progressing and his heart rate was dropping, so I had a c-section. He was born at 7:51pm, 7lb 5oz, 19".. healthy and happy!
It ends up the cord was around his neck, so he would never have come along on his own; I was begging the doc to give me just one more hour to try to progress. Anyway, unlike everything I've read, I never actually felt contractions. I had an emergency epidural at only like 1 hour into it because my blood pressure dropped to something like 70/30..I don't really understand why the epidural had to happen, they ended up having to do an intra-uterine catheter (sp all over the place) to monitor contractions, and the little head screw to monitor his heartbeat, so I don't know if that had something to do with it. The worst part of the whole thing was the epidural; I cried and it hurt like HELL.. I guess if you're not in the throws of labor, it's pretty bad.
Then when they told me I HAD to do c-section, I cried and panicked.. I was really scared of that, because I was having weird pains in my cervix so I know the epidural didn't completely numb me.. but it all worked out, and Carson is here.
He's overall a good baby this far, he just is a lil' piggy.. eats more than the 'books' say he should be eating, and my ped said to go ahead and let him.
Originally his jaundice got bad and he lost too much weight the first week, so I had to supplement formula and he had to go in the bilibed (the glowing blue bed in my pics--and he loooooved that thing). In a couple days he was back to good.. now he's growing on schedule and no yellow tint!
Here's the pics... (I update this almost daily, I'm his personal paparazzi)

http://babycarson.aboutmybaby.com/photoalbum/220684


I was 282lb when I checked into the hospital, 285lb (though I thought more, I was swollen for the first time, my face and legs were huge) when I left the hospital.. and I'm 255lb as of 2 days ago. Gotta get back down to pre-pregnancy weight (212lb).. but I am able to wear my pre-pregnancy jeans;hooray!

A Tall Girls Rant on Maternity Clothes

When I first purchased maternity clothes from Motherhood, I believe I gave it stellar props.
That was before they were washed. First off, the button up tops aren't meant for boobs. Really? Pregnant women don't have boobs? They have lines for your boobs to be up top, but boobs don't fit in them, so the top doesn't fit. So all of those were wasted. The normal shirts (cotton,etc.) fit great the first time. One wash later, they are 3x sizes smaller. Really. I even tried stretching and pulling, and they are SO SHORT.. shorter than my non-maternity clothes. Argh. Trash.
Their pants, I initially started in a medium. They were barely long enough. One wash later, all are not only too short (flooding ick), but the secret fit belly and all that crap roll down and do not hold the pants up.
With less than a month to go I just got 2 more pants in XL just because I am desperate for pants, and they are too big and instead of the secret fit rolling down, it just falls off.

Then there's Burlington Coat Factory. I got a couple pairs of their pants. First time wearing, were awesome. They seem longer than Motherhood. One wash later, 2 of them turned into spandex. How--I don't know. They came to my CALF and were skin tight.
Their shirts don't fit very well, and again are short. Pre-wash their shirts are pretty short.

Wal-Mart has a small selection here for maternity clothes (less than 8 shirts and no pants), the shirts are way too slutty for maternity. They are low-cut and my boobs hang out, but they do stay long after 1 wash. They also had a button down shirt I bought that was very cute, but the buttons broke off of them after a couple wears, so it ended up in the trash too.

I tried Gap & Old Navy, with the best success. Gap pants didn't shrink up, and they fit.. but I had the hidden panel, and as my belly got bigger--they don't go on my belly anymore and they're too big for my hips, so they won't stay up. Old Navy in town doesn't carry maternity in store, so I had to order their pants. I can't find a size that fits, they are either too big or too small. They both had the best options for maternity shirts though, very long.. border line sleeping shirt looking shirts.. but I wear them.

I wore a dress for the first time yesterday. I'm really not a dress person, but I'm so tired of fighting with pants. The dress worked great, it's just a normal XL sundress I bought this winter on sale, and it happened to fit for pregnancy (it was babydoll cut). But, it had noodle straps so I had to wear a sweater with it. It's not easy trying to sit lady-like while 8 months pregnant.

A couple weeks ago, out of frustration with all my maternity shirts shrinking up to not only not cover my belly, but any 'panels' on maternity pants.. I went to Cato's and bought some shirts that are just larger size (22/24). This has seemed to work for the most part, I got many that have some sort of elastic at the bottom, so I can pull it past the belly and it stays in place. It doesn't look real cute, since they're big baggy shirts (and sleeves are way too big), but I don't have to fight with my shirts. I just have to fight with the maternity pants.

I am very ready to be done with maternity clothes, they just don't do it for me!!
I know I'm not the first person to complain about maternity clothes, but I wish I'd realized how crappy some of the quality was on these items. I am anti-Motherhood & Burlington Coat Factory for maternity clothes.. I would not recommend them to anyone.


So on to fun news, my doc told me I am dilated and she will induce me April 16th+ if I want her to (I will be 39 weeks). I am debating it. She said she won't let me go past 41 weeks..not that I would dispute that. Earlier the better, I may regret saying that later.. but I can't wait to meet Carson!!!!!

Just another Thursday!

Not a lot has been happening as you can tell from my lack of blogging.

Although this morning I put on pants & shirt (both maternity) and for the first time in a while, they didn't feel too tight. They actually were (GASP) baggy? I don't know what happened. I think maybe I wore these and stretched them out and forgot and put them back in the drawers? I don't know. But it's a nice change, I hate getting dressed these days.

I saw an allergist on Tuesday to find out why I'm always congested and sickly.. ends up I'm really allergic to dust mites and somewhat allergic to cats. So, I ordered encasings for all our bed stuff, and the cats are out of the bedroom now. Poor kitties. It's been 2 days, they actually are taking it better than I thought, it's pathetic to see them outside our door in the morning waiting for us.. but only one of them scratches at the door and when we make a PSSS noise to her she stops after a minute or two.

Ok so that's it.. here's some funnies for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nn9dd6FfE8

Carson Loves The Uterus!

Har har.
We went to Tunica this past weekend, my last trip for a LONG time.. and it was for my birthday trip. Today's my birthday, I'm 25! Woo. We had a lot of fun, and watched a lot of payperview. We came home with the money we took--can't complain about that.

Yesterday I went to my 28 week 4-d Ultrasound. Carson kept snuggling his head in my uterus, so the lady couldn't get a good picture.. she said she needs fluid between his head & the uterus for a good shot, so we tried me rolling, bouncing, she shook my belly some.. he would just turn his head and wave his hands/legs--but wouldn't slide down even an inch! Oh well.. so this is what we got. They also got a clear shot of his turtle. Look for the 'snail' (she called it turtle, but it looks like a snail to me) just above where it says 'boy'. That's the side view of his scrotum and weewee.

My BP is still fine, and I'm still hungry all the time (argh). That's about it!

Tonight we are getting some fancy dinner to-go and going home to dinner & a movie (Ghost Town). Yay birthdays!

44th President.. and Wii Fit

I'll only take a moment to say, I watched the inauguration. I won't lie, I was hoping for some sort of miracle and McCain would step in last minute. Yeah yeah, whatever. Just going to be a long 4-8 years, and the idea of socialism terrifies me.

That's all I'll say on that, who needs politics in a blog?!

Russell got me the WiiFit for Christmas, we finally got it last week. We set up our Mii's, and we were both 'obese' and had about the same BMI--yet some reason I look a lot bigger than him, and I'm taller.. what gives?!
Anyway, he has been doing it every day after work (the exercises).. I just started last night. I did 25m, and I even got a perfect score in the rock & row or something. Lot of fun, I like it! I also like stamping that I worked out on the calendar, and seeing it on the screen so I can point at it and go "See! See! I did something!".
Russell has lost 5lb already (in 1 week!) and I lost 1lb, even though I didn't do anything yet. It was proud of me. ;)
I think the balance measuring thing is fascinating.
I have bad balance, but I knew that. The yoga tree position, balancing on my left leg-- absolutely no problem. Then I swap to my right leg and it's like my leg is made of jelly.. and WiiFit even said it can tell I'm shaking and told me tips to help--which did kind of help. It says it can help you balance your pelvis, which I definitely need--so here's for hoping.
I started using myplate again yesterday, I did really good up until bedtime. I ate 1/2 bag of popcorn, a packet of Milano cookies, and a banana.. over what I "meant" to eat yesterday. Garr.

Oh and Benjamin Button WAS a good movie!! It really was reminescent of Forrest Gump-in a good way. It didn't make me cry, but it had its ups and downs. It was terribly, terribly long. I wouldn't have mind that at all if I was at home sans bra. But being in the theater that long definitely sucked. I definitely recommend the movie though, interesting concept.

And United States of Tara, new Showtime show about a woman with multiple personalities and a family-- pre-tty goood (Larry David style).

Movies, Candy, and Science?

Not a lot has happened since December, but I have a lot of random things to talk about!

Carson is moving a lot these days, particularly in the morning & at night. It either corresponds with my sleepiness or those are the times when I am laying around (and not moving). I have yet to feel him when I stand up.

Russell is starting to get excited about having a buddy to do science experiments & build robots with. It's cute to hear him talk about it. I've been whispering to my belly that he needs to like science. A co-worker said he talked to his wife's belly all the time and told his daughter she would be a straight A student and like sports, etc. etc.. and it all turned out true LOL. She just graduated from college in Sports Journalism and is looking at an internship with ESPN, so it can't hurt to try right??
If you watch Big Bang Theory, Russell's ideal world would be that Carson turns out like Sheldon. How fun would that be? Hah hah hah.. not.

I saw Grand Torino on Tuesday, I really really recommend it. I don't know Clint Eastwood except for the name (and I know he did Westerns, but never seen them). Russell & my dad were anxious to see it for Clint Eastwood, but I thought the preview I saw at Valkyrie (another good movie) looked good.. so we went. It was great! I even teared up--and I never cry at movies. It was definitely a drama, kind of reminded me of Boys in the Hood 2.
I am trying so hard to get my candy addiction under control. I've been eating way too much candy. The night we went to see Grand Torino, I made a conscious effort NOT to get candy since they are so big and I'd eat the whole box. I did good, then we come home from the movie to a gift basket at our door. Our friends in New Mexico sent us a late holiday gift, and it was ALL candy. Several huge size candy bars (those big ones the size of your head), a lot of fun-size candies and some boxes of Dove chocolates. Argh!! Russell & I both picked out 1 candy we liked and then I took the rest into work for everyone else to eat.

Tonight I am going to see the Curious whatever of Benjamin Button. I am going with my movie buddy Jeremy.. Russell said it had bad reviews, but nothing else is out we both want to see but the other hasn't seen. I looked up reviews today, I didn't see any bad reviews. It is 2 hours and 40 minutes though, egads. Same writer as Forest Gump--which I liked.. but it's hard to watch LONG movies in the theater. I like being at home without a bra, and in my pajamas for those kind of movies. Oh well. I'll update on how it was, after reading all the reviews, I'm psyched to see it.

My sales report for 2008 was published yesterday, I more than doubled my sales from 2007 and exceeded my "goal" by $200,000!
I just hope I can at least meet (but ideally improve) on sales for 2009. With the economy the way it is, so many customers are merging together so the smaller counts are disappearing and luck of the draw to see whose 'big' customer ate them up. For example, 3 small accounts of mine get bought out by a big account of another sales person--they now get that business. Doh.

Ok, so that's it. I'm showing now, but I am also looking fat. Getting my back fat back. Nooo :(

Have a Merry (And SAFE) Christmas!!

Don't be a statistic, don't drink & drive! But if you have to tolerate insufferable in-laws, by all means drink.. but make someone sober drive.. hey you're nice to them 364 days of the year, they can drive you this one time!!

Thanks for reading my blog, and making feel all special. I just found out today I have 'followers'. How empowering does that sound?? Now if I could figure out how to follow people back. I am pretty computer savvy, and old-school internet savvy but all these automated programs that do everything for you confuse me very much. I can do html, but figuring out how to click buttons? Derrrr.
Anyways, hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!
The next few days are going to WOOSH past me quickly.. My dad made me promise to make him my (SECRET RECIPE--not) copy cat recipe for Olive Garden's Chocolate Lasagna, since they stopped making it at OG (I protested this, and was not alone).. so I have to go buy ingredients for that, finish wrapping gifts, then Wednesday night I celebrate with my parents & siblings.. Thursday morning will be Dirty Santa with my mom's side of the family if people get over there in time, otherwise off to Russell's parents house in Tennesse.. then we come back that night, and leave for Florida in the morning.. for 5 days. My grandparents on my dad's side have a condo in Florida they stay at every winter, and this year we decided to have a huge family reunion down there. My uncle who I haven't seen in 10 years, my cousin that I rarely see (and has not seen her dad--uncle mentioned above-- in some 15 years), and possibly my aunt in Canada that we never see.. all going down there. Should be fun, I get so exhausted from excitement lately (I feel like an old fuddy duddy) so I am glad to know Russell & I will have our own room in one of the rented condos for me to retreat to.
Plus that's a long time to be away!! Luckily, Russell's parents agreed to babysit our dog.
My g'ma promised to make her Kru Ka Ka!! OM NOM NOM NOM. It's a swedish dish (they are swedish), and it takes a lot of work so she hasn't made it in 5 or so years. My brother and I begged her to make it this year for Christmas--promised her if she would make it, we would come down for the holidays hah hah. So she hauled her grinder all the way down there to make it. I'm probably spelling it wrong, but it's hand made sausage, and then you boil & grind up potatoes and form a ball around the sausage.. then you boil them. It's so amazingly yummy, and it's a 'different' tasting sausage, couldn't really explain it.. very potent.

If you watched "Worst Week" this week, that's how I am with being pregnant. I sneak all kinds of food and when I get a disapproving look (from my mom or Russell mostly) I say "The baby needs ___". Heh heh. Russell heard how babies develop taste buds now when I eat, so he said I needed to stop eating sugar. HAHA. Funny man.

Baby Carson

Ok, well I guess I should explain how it all came about!
Russell was there for the ultrasound, and when it came to finding out the sex the tech told him to cover his eyes--which he did. I stared intently at the screen waiting for her to type it out. She did-- It's a boy!
I couldn't stop grinning after that, I did want a girl but only because of the cute stuff.. Healthy is what I'm really after, and healthy he is!
We were leaving and Russell said "The tech said "It's a boy" when she was typing it". What?!? I didn't even notice. I kept trying to confuse him, which I think worked. To this day I make a comment daily that makes it seem like a girl.. and then another where it seems like a boy. My parents wanted to get us a car seat/stroller/swing for Christmas. Since he didn't want to know the sex, it meant gender neutral or he doesn't see what we get for Christmas. I told him he's really putting a damper in things, people want to know the sex and family wants to be able to buy stuff.. Heck, I don't want a bunch of unisex stuff at the baby shower!! So I convinced him to let me tell him.
So I bought a footed set (onesie, jumper? Still learning terminology) that looks like a blue baseball uniform, complete with what looks like cleats on the feet! It says "Daddy's All Star" (and then a small stamp that says "Property of mom" hehe)..So I wrapped that and it's under the Christmas tree from Nattie-Carson, I told him he will open that first on Christmas morning and find out. Glad he let me talk him into it. I know he's a little disappointed, but I want to shop!!!
I bought the nursery set, and fell in love with a discontinued line (of course I did!) Kidsline's Silver Lining, but I was able to find most accessories on E-bay.. only things I couldn't find are wall-hangings & the mobile. But, I found a mobile that will match, and I made my own wall-hangings with an extra curtain from the set. You can see the set & hangings I made on the baby's website!

If anyone is interested, I think Lane Bryant has the best bras, despite not being able to wear their clothes anymore.. and my bra size is going up so last night I went to order some online.. they are having a Buy 2 Get 2 Free sale.. and then on top of that I found online codes for $50 off $150, etc.. I ended up paying $120 for 8 bras! Woot.

I know, I know..

I've been slacking with my blog.
Quick run down.. gaining weight, baby is a boy--but Russell isn't going to find out till Christmas, and I made the baby his very first website!

http://www.babyhomepages.net/babybarlow/

I will post more sometime this week with more details, I promise ;)

Gobble, Gobble!

How was everyone's Turkey day?
Mine was pretty good! The in-laws came early to our house from Tennessee, then we went to my granny's. I was picking at food while we waited, and a deviled egg caught my eye. I took 1/3 bite of it and didn't chew at all (old habit, I never use to chew food when I got hungry), so I swallowed it whole and immediately felt it clog me up. Ran and spit it up. Yum!
But then, somehow, I was able to eat a LOT of food. I take a sampling of everything and taste it, but I was able to eat all my samples, plus 2 whole pickled eggs my MIL brought(man they are sooo weird, and good). Eggs pickled in beet juice. Plus some dark meat turkey & ham. I blame the gravy, I put gravy on 3/4 of everything. I knew my band was letting me eat it, so I tried to be conscious of being 'full' (not satisfied, because it's Thanksgiving and I like food!). Well I missed it. Shame on me, that's what I get. I got this HORRIBLE pain in my left shoulder, like I dislocated it. I vaguely remember people on the forum talking about this pain. I googled it, and it said your diaphragm nerves are in your left shoulder (how interesting is that?) so, I assume that's what it was. I felt it after lunch a few days prior at work and it went away after an hour or so. This bad boy wouldn't stop. I laid in my granny's bed for about 30 minutes, then became a party pooper. Russell & I went home, and his parents left straight from there back to TN.

I'm still waiting for my dad to e-mail me the pics from Thanksgiving, I'm sure they won't be flattering, he took every one of them while we were eating.
Ever since Thanksgiving I feel heavy and uncomfortable, and one morning while rubbing my aching belly I realized.. it's very firm and there's a baby in there, and it's becoming known. Maybe it packed on some weight from my Turkey binge hah hah. I slept a lot on the 4 day weekend, 2 days I slept all day long, then slept during the night too. I would wake up with my belly uncomfortable, so I'm trying to figure out how to sleep to accomodate the baby violet.

I guess that's it.. well I could probably think of more, but it's 5pm which means I'm going home!

Biggest Balls

Yeah it's random, some song I heard on the radio the other day that my husband was singing along with.. my jaw was on the floor, really.
Then it turned into being a catchy song.. Weee for old AC/DC. Still can't believe they played this on the radio, but when a song says "heroin" they bleep it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B9pMJYXGBs

Went to lunch today with my childhood friend, who has a 6 month old. Her baby is actually how old my baby will be this time next year, so I have a lot of fun getting together with them. He is such a good baby, he may spoil me. I've NEVER heard him cry. We go to restaurants and he's just big grins, wiggling his fingers & toes. He likes to eat my shoulder too (I don't mind!). She had him dressed in this teddy bear outfit I got her for the shower. Hah hah hah. It was cute, little paw print feet and teddy bear ears on the hoodie. I keep thinking "I want one!", and then I go "Oh yah..".
This pregnancy thing takes forever, I want to play with my baby now! I want to eat its toes and kiss it and hug it.. and call it MINE. Teehee.

I'm also anxious to have the baby so I can get another fill and get back on track. I'm not starving all the time anymore (thank goodness), but still eat more than I should. My fill doc is 3 hours away, so I kept debating what I should do. I only need a small fill, but if I do it and then I get more swelling (since pregnancy started out with bad swelling) I don't care to run back & forth to the doc during this time. Plus, I still have 4 free appointments and I don't want to waste them doing this. I'm resigned to the weight gain, I'll do my best not to go overboard (anymore, right?) but I'm not going to kill myself about it.. my OBGYN does enough of that. But I know the band works great for me, and up until I got pregnant I was still losing steadily. Post-baby I can get it filled back up and not worry about making sure I eat all the good nutritious stuff for my little one. So I'm going to get to goal slower, I'm ok with that.

I also took it upon myself to plan my friends' 30th birthday bash. She's going to be throwing my shower, so when she said her 30th birthday is coming up and was lamenting about how she never gets a b'day since it's so close to Christmas, a lightbulb went off. I've never planned a real party like this, so I ran into a few issues..

She gave me a list of friends that hypothetically if I threw her a party, she would want there ;)
I've finally called them all as of yesterday, looks like 25 will turn out. I only knew about 5 of them, and I called 40ish total.. I got to hear some funny things, she has some comical friends. Several single friends who don't like being single, so I let them know other singles will be there.. ya never know what will happen!
So then I came up with a cute casino night theme.. she wanted us to all go to Tunica, but with holidays that just won't happen.. so bringing it to her! Bought a blackjack felt and stuff to play hold 'em. Going to raffle 2 gift baskets at the end people can spend their 'money' on that they play with. My next issue was where to have it.. then I realized we have someone with a big enough house, who likes to hold parties, and it wasn't too faux-pas because I had already invited him before I asked him to use his house. He was real excited about it, and said if the casino night works out he wants me to hold casino parties at his house more often. WE SHALL SEE. The last thing, was paying for it. I realize I can't ask people to pay me for the party, so I resigned that I will be buying decor and the stuff to make the casino night happen.. but I can't foot the bill for 25 people to get drunk and I know most of her friends (and her) like to PAR-TAY. So I figured out doing BYOB. It may seem a little tacky, I found about 50/50 on tackymeter when googling about doing BYOB.. But I'm not made of money and they can all get over it.. I plan on having a fun partay alcohol or not! It gives her, her first real birthday party too.. so.. yay.

Russell woke up bright & early this morning to vomit a lot. I ended up coming to work early to get away from him. I do NOT want to get sick right now. Nooooooooo. Sneezing & coughing makes me pull muscles in my belly, I can't imagine vomiting.. plus the pain of vomiting with the band is miserable enough. Glad I didn't have morning sickness.
I did give Russell the anti-nausea meds my OBGYN prescribed when I first found out I was pregnant.. I'm assuming it's all generic anti-nausea, and nothing that's going to help him hormonally hah hah. He said it's been working, and he's not dead (he has medicine allergies, so that was a toss up.. I was half asleep when I handed him the bottle, so I just vaguely thought about the suffix and if that sounded like a sulfur).

Good times. Where are ya'll?!

Nothing Special Here

Nope, nothing. No changes. I have finally plateaud on that steady weight gain. I have bounced between 227-229lb for a couple weeks now.. whew!

I have been stressing about Thanksgiving.. My in-laws don't do anything special for holidays.. Ok, I think it may be special to them, but compared to my redneck (hah) family, it's very tame. They have them, their kids, and sometimes my husband's grandmother there for dinner.. that's it.
My family has a big gathering with like 30 people, plus any friends we can manage to get to come with us.. for a full day of par-tay-ing (and eating).
So every year we do Turkey day with my family. Christmas, we spend Christmas eve with (some of) my family and Christmas day with his. This year he mentioned doing Turkey day with his family.. I had to bite my tongue not to throw a tantrum like a little kid. I already miss the big Christmas gathering with my family because they celebrate on Christmas day and I'm not there. I don't want to miss this one too!! Luckily, quick thinking.. I invited his family to come, and now we're waiting to find out. They want to come, as long as his dad's leg surgery isn't planned around then (they can't plan it till he heals or something).. I dunno.. I just know my fingers are crossed and I am hopeful they will finally say "Yes we are coming down". :/

I really am a big baby with these things, holidays give me that magical warm fuzzy feeling and I'm like a kid again. Russell doesn't even care, except that he wants his parents to feel equal. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't celebrate any holidays in our house!!!! He makes fun of all my decorations.
And luckily for me, I don't give a crap.

In fact, I put up my tree this weekend!! I already finished all my Christmas shopping, and have some presents under the tree (for the cats to play with/sleep on of course).

That's about it. Still can't tell I'm pregnant. I did buy a fetal doppler heart monitor.. So almost every night I find the heartbeat and listen to it.. pretty neat, can tell it's moving around because it's real loud, then real faint, then moves, etc. Most the time the heartbeat is in my right hip area..

Dec. 11th I find out if it's a boy or girl!

Pepperocini & Fish

I could live off of fish & pepperocini.
The fun part is, both absolutely disgusted me a month or so ago.
Now, that's all I want in the world and I'd be happy!!

I made Russell go to this bar across the street, their menu said they put pepperocini in their salad so I had him go ask if he could buy a little container of them. They gave it to us free since I also ordered something.
I found out today you can buy them in jars.. in stores!! Who knew?? Then Terry gave me a recipe for roast w/pepperocini. That's on the menu sometime this week!

Still gaining more weight than I should, so today I am back on myplate tracking my food. So far so good. I can do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grabbin' The Ankles

Really, I am going to just be so honest here.. cause, well I've told everyone in real life too--even a waiter, so it's really not that special-- I just think some people might go "OMG LOLZ WHY WOULD U SAY THAT TO PEOPLE U DON'T KNOW!?!?!!111oneoneone"

Tee-hee.

So I learned the definition of constipation. Due to the pregnancy, I feel as though the constipation is giving me 'trial runs' for real labor. Bathroom breaks bring tears, grunting, holding my ankles and all kinds of fun things you can imagine--but if you're imagining it, picture me as a cartoon character it's more funny. And this is WITH my prenatal vitamins that say they have a mild stool softener in it.. ah huh. I can't imagine life without them!

Besides this, no symptoms of pregnancy. Yes, I am looking for symptoms like I am sick. I want to feel pregnant.. not constipated. It all boils down to, I want a baby bump dang it. Then I'd have someone to talk to when I have to hold my ankles!

Oh and hunger, I have never been so hungry in my life. I could eat 24/7 and not bat an eye. Every single moment feels like I haven't eaten in a week.

Russell got that silly laptop.

Hockey season begins tomorrow, I am very excited to go watch our local team. We are in the owner's booth, so we have premo ice suite seats. Go Huntsville Havoc! :D Maybe this year we won't suck and I'll have a reason to brag about them.

Time to go hold my ankles........

No Smoking!

I know I haven't posted in a while, I'm not really sure why. I guess everytime I go to post, I get distracted.
I quit smoking last Monday. It's hard to explain all the things I think about it. So glad to save the money, not smell like smoke, and I don't miss it like I always thought I would. I also think I might be slightly brainwashed by this book my friend gave me to read. The Easy Way To Stop Smoking by Allen Carr. It's hard to explain, but.. something is weird, this was a little too easy.
I don't crave to smoke, the only time I miss it is when I don't have anything better to do (long car rides, standing outside with other smokers talking). Russell quit too using Chantix.

Russell has been bugging me for a month, wanting to get a new laptop that he can play his games on. The same person who less than 2 months ago demanded a budget so we could find ways to cut costs to afford a baby, since ya know, we don't make enough to survive.. not.

He said if he gets it, he can play the games in bed with me since I apparently live in our bed now. I don't know how that came about, but when I get home from work I go straight in there and curl up for TV till sleepy time. I put a limit of $1,200 on it, since he always seems to think he needs the biggest, best, most expensive,ridiculous toy out there. His current computer was almost $10k and has a fingerprint identifier. Yah. This machine that gets outdated and needs replacing.
Well he keeps texting me and e-mailing me info on computers he finds, none of which ever stay in the limit I gave him. I told him this will be his X-mas present, even though I've never spent this much on him for any holiday.. He finally found something roughly close, after taxes and everything it is $1,600. Fine, I'm just tired of hearing about it. Well, it's discontinued, only 3 left and some-long-story-I-zoned-out. Bottom line is he has to drive 2 hours to get it.. tonight. Fun times, see ya honey! But no, I have to go too some reason. If I ask him to sit in the car for 5 minutes while I run into a store on the way home from work I hear huffing, puffing, groaning, and moaning. But I'm suppose to go 4 hours total while he gets something I don't even want to get.

I got to hear my baby's heartbeat last Monday. 160 BPM, which means.. it's healthy!
I'm gaining weight, I hate it, but I quit smoking. I can only tackle one thing at a time. My band feels wide open, so I had an appointment to get it filled tomorrow.
But then this weekend I went to Tunica with my mom and low and behold it miraculously is too tight!! ARGH! I have had a hard time getting anything down all weekend. Cancelled my fill and waiting to see if it goes away.

Work is good, it's our busy season--so I am staying busy. That may have something to do with lack of posts. I go to post and my phone rings with a fire I need to put out.

I guess that's it, I am getting e-mails from customers so I'll post more another time.
Thanks for all the websites you guys gave me, seriously I am loving them. The "passive-aggressive posts" had links to some other funny pages I've been reading (Cake Wrecks, Best of Craigslist).
If anyone has some more, by all means.. share.

<3

Thank you for the websites!!
My favorite was this one: www.thebestpageintheuniverse.com
Oh my goodness, Russell loved it too. I laughed so hard, I still haven't finished all the articles.

I'm still broken, but I have an appt. with a physical therapist specializing in pre-natal back problems tomorrow. I can not wait, to find some sort of diagnosis & relief.

My restriction poofed, I was extremely tight suddenly when I realized I was pregnant, they unfilled, and now I'm back to nothing. I guess it passed.. so Oct. 15 I am having him put some more back in. My baby is definitely daddy's kid!! The stuff I have been eating, I have not eaten since pre-band, a lot of things I DO NOT LIKE and have craved. They are things my husband likes to eat. Things I should not even be able to eat. I'll spare the food porn.. pizza, cough, pizza.

If you have anymore websites, post post! I realized how resourceful it is, for people to share the obsolete websites they've somehow come across. They are hilarious and I'd never have found them on my own (except Snopes & Icanhascheezeburger.. I frequent both).

Poor, Pitiful, Me.

One of the main reasons I had to do some sort of weight loss surgery, is that due to the weight I had crippling lower back pain. I was doing injections and they had stopped working, so by 21-22, I was about to be confined to a bed for life.
What a drastic change this band helped me with. Sometime last year that pain went away completely, and I refer to those times as 'the dark times' hehehe. I felt 90 years old. Now I never complain about having to walk, like in Vegas or at a fair, or back row of a parking lot. I don't take for granted the beauty of being able to walk pain-free.

That being said, last Saturday evening I was cleaning the house. I keep replaying what I did over and over, and can't pinpoint what happened..but my lower back started hurting. Lower than my lumbar, more like my tail bone. I stretched, did pelvic tilts, warm baths, massages, and then went to bed early hoping it would be fine after sleep. Woke up Sunday, miserable. Can't bend, can't reach, can't sit on the toilet, moving positions are excruciating. First thing Monday morning, went to my chiro. He did an adjustment, then told me to go home and ice it and lay down all day.
Tuesday morning, no change, went straight back to him. Another adjustment then he told me I need to see my GP. They both wanted to do xrays, but since I didn't fall they are baffled. Can't do xrays due to my little blooming violet.. so he said anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers, pain meds, and a steroid injection should help. He was going through his book looking at what class these drugs were for pregnant women. Then he called my obgyn to consult with her--I was really glad they did that.
She said no anti-inflammatories, she is not comfortable with them during the 1st trimester, but my gp had obviously conflicting opinions. She also said no injection.. so they agreed on a muscle relaxer and pain meds, and told me to stay out of work and in bed all week.
Done and done.. it's Friday afternoon and I am barely starting to feel better. My back still throbs, but not miserably. Still hurts to be in a sitting position, and getting in and out of the car is brutal.
I wish I knew what I did, I would hate for this to somehow be pregnancy related. I have a crooked lower spine, and I keep thinking all of these 'what ifs..'..like what if the uterus is pushing my spine and crushing nerves, or what if my bone spur is being pushed into nerves, blah blah.

Russell bought me some books yesterday, even though I'm working from home, I am sick of tv. I started reading The Glass Castle. Took a break to post here.
My granny called asking if I needed her to come over and clean, or needs anything from the store. Very sweet of her, but I reminded her I have a husband who is handling things.. although he is not cleaning and the laundry/dishes are driving me insane. I couldn't ask my granny to do that..
My musician friend just recorded some new songs, not released yet so he showed me where I can DL it from their server.. very good, sad, mellow songs. Great for my weepy mood.
I'm going back to my book..

If you know of any fun websites worth reading (funny, whatever) post in my comment, I am tired of my same 'ol.