See the Good in Everything

I have officially entered into the "I am hungry all the time but can't eat more than half a child's size meal" stage. I go to a restaurant and want an app, a salad, a rootbeer float a main dish and a dessert- but I only want about 5 bites of each please! I am ADDICTED to popsicles, ice pops-the cheap frozen little juice tubes- I go through about 15-25 a day! The Iccee brand ones are the best- they stay "mushy" all the time. The mood swings, or what I can honestly admit anyways, have subsided and I have fewer breakdowns- although can still cry at the drop of  a hat. I went to my cousins ceremony this weekend and she was awarded the "World's Greatest Pediatrician" Award (or something close), and she went to get it, and I swear I could have balled my eyes out- I was so happy and proud of her! My brother officially came out of the closet with his "news" his girlfriend/ acquaintance/ ex-girlfriend- things will work now because we are ...

" Today's the day! The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and we are getting out of here...THE TANK IS CLEAN?! The AquaScum 2003 is an all-purpose, self-cleaning maintenance free salt water purifier that is guaranteed to even extend the life of your aquarium fish. - curse you AquaScum !!! "  Quick- name that movie! ... anyone?  Finding Nemo of course! The sun IS shining, it IS a temperate 63 degrees out, and I am at work- with my beautiful view of the dumpster where the elderly man frequently confuses the stairwell for a bathroom and the trashbags for a free buffet!  In addition to that little chunk of heaven- I get to go rounds with one of our companies. Without getting into too many details- it's like trying to explain to a deaf person what sound a cow makes- doesn't matter how many times you write, act out, draw or mime- you get the same result- a blank stare. Normally, I can tolerate this company and the stress, craziness, stupidity and insan...

I managed to make it through almost all of the first trimester with little or no big "hormone" shifts or Crazy moments- well, as I have learned in the past few days- I am far from out of the woods, and my hormones have decided that they want to make sure they take advantage of their abilities before leveling out. I feel like the Hulk - ready to turn green and scream at the drop of a hat. It is IN-SANE! My husband old me this weekend that we had too many blankets (which is FAR from true- HE has too many blankets that we DON'T use- we USE all mine, mainly due to the fact that I am the cold one and I change the bedsheets and blankets), but after that simple little remark I showered alone and sobbed for an hour- over some blankets! Ended up sick Monday and left work early- whether they liked it or not, I am not one to sit at my desk puking and just continue like nothing is wrong. Just another perk and proof that Squishy wants to remind me that she/he is in there still ki...

All-in-all it was a pretty good weekend. Dinner out Friday night for a much needed girls night- with two spilled drinks (only ONE of which was my doing), and about an hour of evil stares from the waitress after we were there 3 hours, Saturday was non-stop and the Sunday was a stroll to the in-laws and Lowes and home to make more room for Squishy! Our neighbors were kind enough to give us their crib and changing table for baby, so we cleaned them off and tried to get them situated on the room before getting tired and realizing it could wait a while before final decisions were made. Managed to get about 8 trash bags of "stuff" cleared and ready to go to the infamous Yard Sale this weekend, and Hubby Dearest did a full 360 house cleaning on Saturday while I was out. It is so hard to believe that I am alreday 12 weeks along! Almost through with the first Trimester. I had the audacity to mutter that sentence to my husband along with the fact that the nausea and tiredness should b...

So to top off what was one of probably the crappiest days in a while, we went to my grandparents after work to see my dad & Gina and little brother and new puppies! I got the "you got a little mean to my mom" talk from not being very social after screwing up the Yard Sale signs for her. And then got some quality quiet time out in the peaceful woods. She wanted me to make these signs, ok so I am the family nominated "creative one", one of the few things I get from my mothers side of the family, but they were yard signs... Really not much creativity there. Then after spending all of Sunday planting my garden and getting lots of tips about how far apart and where to plant and how lime and oatmeal help them grow so much and having a husband that wasn't impressed with the fact that the lumber for our little garden cost $70, and that he and I had measurements about a foot off from one another- tensions were rather high. The last thing on my mind was making the...

This is how I feel currently- insert various stomach/ abdominal organs where Who-names are located... I am on Day Two of an antibiotic for my Bladder, in addition to the "pre-diabetes" med- which my Chiropractor kindly commented, aren't we all "pre-diabetic?" Thank-you Dr. Bill!, the prenatal vitamins, thyroid meds, Align, the extra Fiber, the colace, and the spiked apple juice that are all trying to combat my overstressed and non-working intestines. It's really like a party in my stomach right now! I feel like my medications have enrolled in e-harmony and are looking for their perfect match and just keep getting more friend to visit! Someone really needs to cancel their 90 day free trial! Basically I am miserable, I am up constantly at night to pee, then I can't go back to sleep (even though I don't turn on any lights so as not to disrupt my body's internal clock). By the time I do fall asleep my husband is leaving for work and then I have...

Today was NT Testing day. While this is an optional scan and test, we decided that we would have it done to be on the safe side and to lay some of our fears  to rest. Here is the babycenter.com explanation: This prenatal test (also called the NT or nuchal fold scan) can help your healthcare practitioner assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems. The NT test is not invasive. It uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average. The NT scan must be done when you're between 11 and 14 weeks pregnant, because this is when the base of your baby's neck is still transparent. (The last day you can have it done is the day you turn 13 weeks and 6 d...

A few months ago I read an article about an Australian firm that recently announced it will be paying its returning mothers DOUBLE their pay after they come back from maternity leave for the first six weeks after they return. This is in addition to " 14 weeks of paid time off after giving birth or adopting a child. Their six-week "welcome back bonus" is on top of that -- and in addition to an Australian government policy that gives new parents up to 18 weeks pay at minimum wage or a $5,400 "Baby Bonus" per child, whichever is greater ." ( View Article here ) This is where daddy and I would BOTH rather be Now why don't I have those sorts of benefits coming my way? Well, later in the article, the moment of truth hits... "It's a stark contrast to parental leave policies in the United States, where the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 mandates that companies over a certain size offer up to 12 weeks of job-protected parental...

S o after the day of shopping and eating and more shopping and more eating- I made it home to catch up on the DVR shows- and One Born Every Minute was back!! I am obsessed with this show! It is hilarious, heartwarming, just good all around. I like the medical aspect. It is filmed at one of the busiest maternity wards in the NATION- Yay Riverside in C-bus! It makes me feel normal, and it's refreshing to see something real- no scripts, no fake tans, just real reactions to families welcoming their newest members. Later, I managed to make it through enough of the Indians game to have hope that we would pull through (We didn't but we managed to NOT be shut out- which is still impressive). Sunday we decided that we would work on the garden and then clean my car. Well the garden lasted until the very late afternoon- but it is done (and the hose is 10 feet short of reaching it). Hopefully we'll be able to see our little seeds sprout and prosper over the next few weeks! In o...

None of mine are quite that colorful... but I am an official Thanksgiving Turkey pants owner! Thanks Dad!!

So after the Communion festivities, catching up and avoiding eye contact, me and my dad headed to the " Big Red Wagon Sale"... Now there was nothing "Big" about it, except the empty space. Next stop was Sams Club- we managed to get everything on the list and only flowers as the extra add on (my very first Mothers Day gift!! )  Sunstar Flowers- they look fake they are so bright!! Now this is an amazing feat considering we were both rather hungry- you should NEVER shop when hungry. On this same note, I think it should be banned from grocery shopping while pregnant... you come home with alot of Ruggles chips (with R-rr-idges) and Helluva Good dip a few random fruits, some juices that are all nasty despite their "delicious and organic" claims and some bags of pre-shredded potatoes for your morning/ afternoon/ midday snack (who DOESN'T want hashbrowns all day?!) After Sams, we tried for a movie- all of which sucked and since we had...

 Saturday morning came way too quickly, up at 6:30 and unable to fall back asleep I got up to pay bills before getting ready for my little brothers First Communion. Now, I've got to be honest, I was very timid about attending. I don't see some of my siblings much, and since the stepmother is now "ex-stepmother" it's not exactly all roses in that relationship.  Nonetheless, I still have 2 sisters, that I haven't seen or talked in about 2 years before I got married. I wanted them (all my sisters) in my wedding, but due to a nasty divorce and a not so nice argument, none of them were in it. Luckily, I have cousins to spare and my family again surrounded me and made our wedding amazing.  In my nervousness, I skipped breakfast (I can feel Squishy still holding a grudge over me for that), and I luckily remembered to grab my last apple juice for the road. After parking and waiting, a lovely comic book clad pair of boxer shorts appeared in my window as Jacob ...

Husband was home late from work again last night- so rather than do what I vowed to do the LAST night I got not near enough sleep- I stayed up to watch the Indians... WORTH IT! Cabrera had an awesome homer and then Kipnis had a 3 run homer, then I fell asleep (although they continued to win even without my loyal devotion). So I again woke up to my 4th alarm going off telling me I had a whole 5 minutes to be out the door. Made it 2 miles down the road and realized I left my jello cake on the counter- so OF COURSE, I had to go back home to get it.  1. It would have been ruined by the time I got home since we don't have our A/C on and it's almost 80 out and  2.It's jello cake- enough said. For those that don't know the joys of jello cake- you make a regular cake (white is best, but yellow will work), bake it accordingly, allow to cool. Then stab it full of holes with a butter knife (keeping it in the pan). Then prepare jello according to the package (two flavor...

This explains me and Crisps' relationship....

So the weekend brought back the every 4 hours a Zofran and the sporting of my Seabands. BUT today I got this: "Holy Crap"- Daddy While it saddens me that Daddy can't be here to see every appointment, I know that he will be there for the big ones, and then for all the other big moments in little Squishy's life. I guess I was also more nervous than I realized during the appointment, as I broke out in a mysterious rash on my chest that alarmed all the nurses as they withdrew what felt like 10 quarts of blood! Spinal testing and Thyroid testing next week, then a 2 week follow-up and then I will officially be done with Specialist #1, and onto the next! A very big move. Mother's Day is also nearing, and we are bursting trying not to tell anyone, and while I am getting rather "showy" as my husband says " we just avoid anyone with a keen eye." The problem we will have this week is that the Lorax cake will be delivered to a VERY keen eyed hou...

With all the modern technology, it is amazing how "open" people have gotten- I suppose myself included since this is a blog. I always wonder about the things people put on Facebook about how horrible their lives are.... "I'm so stressed", "I can't believe she said that",  "nothing is going my way." It's really quite annoying.  No matter what challenges you have had to overcome in your life, if you are posting them on FB, then guess what, you seem to be doing pretty well. Obviously you have access to a computer, internet or more likely smart phone (I myself am still using a "dumb phone" and most of the time it gets the job done) They need to make a "pity party" button next to "Like" and I guarantee that the vague-booking will decrease and people will start refraining more from trying to get the sympathy of their 800+ Friends.  A very wise teacher once taught me that if you surround yourself with n...