New Blog Link

We've added another link to the right.... Our cousin Stephen is in Africa doing work with Samaritan's Purse. He's currently in Liberia. His journal makes me pine for the dust and grit that I experienced in Africa, yet thankful for where I live now. Go check out his blog here.

Advice worth noting...

Chris over at Rude Cactus has a nice post with some advice for new parents. Forrest and I read it last night, and were howling over the hilarity of the first few paragraphs, but had quieted towards the end, and really taken in Chris's advice. Go check out the post for yourself. Brilliant... I tell you, just... brilliant

Last day of work...

Well, I'm at the office right now. Things are a bit crazy. See, not only do I have to help pack our house up, but our office is moving buildings tomorrow, so I'm helping with that. Or at least trying to. See, everytime I do anything, the ladies at work start screaming at me, "DON'T MOVE!!! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL YOUR BABY!!!!!!"

Oh well, so I'll just sit here at my desk and blog away, while they do all the work. :) In all seriousness, it was sort of sad coming in to work today. While I hate my job, I love the women I work with. They are so kindhearted, loving, and just absolutely wonderful. These are the women who are taking me to lunch at the Village Draft House where I will promptly DEVOUR the fried mushrooms, cheese fries, and a yummy hamburger. They also have other wonderful pregnancy-craving foods... Deep Fried Pickles (very yummy), homemade potato chips, and many many other foods.

Ok, must go, we have a meeting!!!

Some People...!

Last weekend we went up to DC to look for apartments. It's about a five hour drive from where we live so we stopped in Fredicksburg (about an hour outside DC) for dinner. For some reason, Corinne was craving Cracker Barrel so we managed to find one right off the highway that wasn't too far out of the way.

As soon as we were seated, the waitress came to take our order and introduced herself as Wynona or something. To put it nicely, she was kinda...different. One country fried steak short of the Tuesday night special (if you know what I mean). Now let me jump in here and clarify something. Corinne is pregnant, yes. But she is BARELY showing. If you know she's pregnant, you might could kinda tell. But to the unaquainted passerby, she is NOT showing.

So the waitress walks up to the table and introduces herself. And she turns to Corinne and the first thing she says is, "Are you pregnant?" My mouth just sort of dropped open. Beg your pardon?!? I mean, she went straight to the point. No beating around the bush with her.

I remember when I was younger, someone gave me this advice: NEVER. EVER EVER EVER. Ask a woman if she's preganant. Unless you see a crying, wrinkled little baby coming out from between her legs, NEVER EVER ask her if she's pregnant. PERIOD. I remember my great uncle telling me that he made this mistake once. He was a furniture salesman and was trying to sell some lady furniture and asked her when the baby was due. Uh, yeah. Big mistake. Needless to say he never called on that store again.

Nonetheless, Corinne handled it like a pro. She was just like, "Why, yes. I am." They proceeded to chat casually about baby stuff. I, on the other hand, was trying not to slap this girl in the head for almost making a royal idiot out of herself. After that I couldn't remember what the heck I had planned on ordering. I felt like I had just watched one of those motocross guys go off a ramp and jump, like, 200 cars and (thanks-be-to-God-ABOVE!!) he didn't kill himself. *Whew* she is, indeed, pregnant.

Back at work...

I can think of no place I'd rather NOT be than at work right now. On the bright side... I only have ONE MORE DAY WORKING HERE!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who know me, you understand why this is such a great thing. For those who don't know me... allow me to explain. Actually, allow me to sumarize. MY JOB SUCKS!
But I'm here today. So that's that. Yesterday was actually pretty fun (minus the pain). I got to lay around all day, watch TV, nap, eat, and basically just be a lazy bum. Forrest worked hard at packing, and I felt bad because I was just lying there, so I got up, and hobbled around the house trying to help, which was stupid because my toe is broken... but I did manage to fix a nice steak dinner for us (Harris Teeter had T-bone steaks buy one get one free) while sitting down in the kitchen. I also fixed some homemade bruschetta, and fresh corn on the cob. It was a yummy dinner. Then, we watched some more TV, decided we were bored, and realized we needed to fill the car up with gas before the price hike this weekend. So we drove to the nearest gas station, and blew $30 on fuel that had better last us all the way up to Metro DC for the move. Then it was home again. All in all... a good day home. :)

Broken Toe...

I'm at home right now. Last night, I managed to stump my pinkie toe, not once, but twice. The second time did me in. It was during my 3 am bathroom trip, and I must have hit the corner of the dresser. I have never had so much pain. The worst part? I can't take advil!!! I called the doctor this morning to see if it was worth my money to come in to have an xray and all that jazz. She said that if it's a broken pinkie toe, there is nothing they can do. All the years of medical science, and there's nothing they can do for a broken toe?!?!? GAH!!! So I'm at home, with my foot propped up, and trying not to cry. I have to hop to the bathroom. Which, would be funny except that because my foot isn't propped up anymore, all the blood rushes to my toe, and I want to scream bloody murder because it hurts THAT BAD.

The best part though, is that I'm home... not at work. And hubby is sleeping in today. He's so cute when he sleeps. Then again, he's so grumpy when he wakes up, so I'm trying my best to be quite at the keyboard. :) So... I'll be here all day, bored out of my mind. What do YOU do when you're bored and can't go and do something?

Packing (part II)

So how's the packing you may ask? Pretty good, actually. I woke up this morning really movtivated to pack and have been packing all morning. Fun times. We have a lot of crap, by the way. I thought we'd be able to take one of those small trucks, but I'm really glad we're getting the big one. Timbuktu is looking mighty tempting about now...

Annnd, that's all I have to say. Pretty pitiful when all you have to write about is packing. And how it's going. Yeah.

Oooo, but we did talk about baby names last night :-). You wanna know what we're gonna name him/her?!? Huh, huh, huh?!? Not gonna tell ya. Nope. Not gonna do it. It's a surprise.

Friends

I had a weird dream last night. Actually, it wasn't that weird, it just showed me how much time I spend reading blogs. In my dream, I got a chance to meet one of the mommy bloggers that I read every day. Now, I could tell you who, but for sheer embarrasment that I actually dreamed about a blogger, I'm going to refrain. Anyways, in my dream I met her, and she actually liked me! We became really close friends, which was weird, because I've always been one of those girls who's friends with everyone but the super popular people. It's safe to say this blogger is super popular, and probably wouldn't be friends with me in real life. But it's my dream, and she was my best friend, and me and my husband did lots of stuff with her and her husband. It seems wonderful, but why did I wake up anxious? Once I woke up, I laid there thinking about the dream, and realized what it really was about.
I've had my share of close friends over the years, but several of those friendships ended on a rather nasty note. So nasty, that it's left me with only one or two close friends from college, and even those friendships are fading. So, the last year in Raleigh has been hard. I can honestly say that I only had 2 good friends here. My husband, and my brother. Meaning, I have no good girlfriends. I firmly believe that every woman needs good girlfriends. Guys make great friends, and some of my best friends have been guys, but there is nothing like the empathy and companionship of another woman. However... I'm always scared of what other women think of me. We women can be brutal. We judge one another. We backstab one another. And generally, it's really hard to break through that, and get to a place where you trust one another fully. I know plenty of girls that you could call my "friends", but the reality is... we never get past the superficial. The "friends" I do have are extremely beautiful, extremely trendy, and extremely popular. My insecurities about myself lead to this sort of paranoia that these friends are just being nice to me. It's this insecurity that prevents me from opening up and trusting. (or perhaps the jealousy) Perhaps it's because those friends that did hurt me were popular, pretty, and all of the guys I had crushes on, ended up dating my friends instead. Thankfully, I now have a wonderful husband who loves me for who I am, and I don't have to worry about that. But somewhere, deep inside, I'm still afraid. I'm afraid of the popular girl. I want to be accepted. As much as I preach individuality, and as much as I pretend to be okay with who I am... inside I'm dying to be liked by the beautiful people. Because in my sick, twisted head, somehow, that will make me more like them.
Really, why can't I just learn to love myself? Why can't I be happy with who I am? Is it just me that struggles with this, or can you relate?

New Blogs

Thanks to a tip from Mr. Big Dubya, I'm adding several new blogs to our blogroll.

Mr. Nice Guy and Because I'm Your Father are both Daddy blogs that are worth checking out.

Then, Mr. Big Dubya's wife, Mrs. Big Dubya has joined the blogging world as well.

Thanks for the tips, Dubya!!! :)

12 weeks

Today, I'm 12 weeks pregnant. YAY! Although, it doesn't feel like 12 weeks, and I still sometimes wonder if it's all in my head... but, I look at the little picture of the lima bean, and tell myself, "Yep. You're having a baby!" :)

This weekend, Forrest and I drove up to DC to look at apartments. HO-O-O-OLY CRAP, why didn't someone warn us as to how many apartments there are, how much apartments cost, and how freakin' far out you have to live just to afford to live! It was a stressful weekend, as we drove around trying to find something in our price range (which... we quickly found, only finds us a ghetto hole in the wall in DC, but something more livable out in VA). Between the emotional outbursts from me (the pregnant lady with the crazy horomones), and the traffic, it's no wonder Forrest didn't go ape-sh*t crazy on me! After 2 days of driving around, we found a place, and settled on it. Right now our application is pending, and we're praying it works out. It's only 15 minutes away from the VRE, which will take him an hour to get to work. That makes me sad. An HOUR!!! But it's a great job, and he'll love it, and it'll be worth every minute of the commute for him to be happy. :)
I, on the other hand, must find a part time job up there. I'm thinking Baby Gap or something like that, just so I can get a discount!! :) hahaha... or maybe Babies R Us... again, for the discount. We'll see. :) I'd honestly rather work something like a desk job, so I'm guessing that's where I'll end up.
So, the next 2 weeks involve a whole lot of packing up boxes and sorting through junk. You can say a prayer that we don't pack ourselves up in the boxes and ship ourselves to Timbuctu. :)

Elmo is possessed by the devil...

Last night, Forrest and I went to Baby's R Us for the fun of it. We enjoy playing with the strollers, cribs, etc. and plus, those baby clothes are just adorable! Anyways... we happened upon the toy section, where they had an assortment of Elmo dolls that sing and dance. Some of the more bizarre ones were, Chicken Dance Elmo, where one of the words Elmo sings sounds surprisingly like "cock". There's Potty Training Elmo, where Elmo sings of the joys of pooing in the potty... But perhaps the most demonic of them all was the "Shout!" Elmo Doll. At first I thought it was cute. Elmo sings, "It makes me want to shout!" and raises his hands a few times. But then, Elmo really gets into it, and performs something I've only seen in the The Exorcist. His arms turn FULL 360 degree circles, not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES... I ran away screaming. I fully expected green pea soup projectile vomit to come out of his mouth, or for the Elmo to break out into convulsions.... then again... if the "Shout!" Elmo Doll and the Tickle Me Elmo were accidentally combined... Exorcist Elmo!!!!

Packing

*gasp!* Forrest is posting something! So Corinne has told me that I should post stuff on our blog. I thought about it and realized that I don't post because I feel like when I do post, I should have something really good to say and that I shouldn't waste people's time with the monotonous details of my life. But Corinne told me that that's kinda the point: just to write stuff that you want to write and people (for some strange reason) will read it. Sometimes.

So how' the Daddy doing? Good. I have been officially promoted (or demoted?) to full-time packer. Our little townhouse is a complete war zone and it's my job to make some sense of it and to box it up in little boxes to be shipped away to DC. I've spent almost all day packing running on nothing more than a bowl of Kellogg's Corn Pops. Gotta have my Pops. (I always hated those commercials and don't know why I just said that)

I'm doing my best to be good moral support. Y'know, refuting all the "I'm such a huge cow" comments and getting midnight snacks and such.

Corinne sent me this link of this adorable little baby waking up. And I was thinking, hey, that's kind of like me when I wake up: I sort of slowly open my eyes, then I throw a tantrum cuz I don't want to get up, then I go back to sleep, then I wake up and throw another tantrum and then I'm awake. Boy, I can't wait to have a kid :-).

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm SO tired right now. I need TOOTHpicks to keep my eyes open. I don't know what it is today that's different than yesterday... maybe the Lima Bean is going through a growth spurt. All I know is... I'm tired. Also? VERY hungry. I've eaten 2 peanut butter sandwiches, 2 pudding cups, a pack of M&M's, fresh pineapple... and I'm still wanting more. Call me a cow, why don't ya?! :)

Last night I had my first baby gender dream. :) I had a dream where I was giving birth (and it was easy and barely hurt... HA!) and I gave birth to a baby girl. Except she was kinda big... like, the size of a 3 month old, and she could hold her head up already and stuff. And, she looked exactly like I did as a baby. The worst part? I felt sorry for her that she looked like me, and really wished she looked like her daddy. See? That's how I feel about myself right now. It's stupid, I know, but the whole, "I'm-a-big-fat-cow" feelings thing is spilling over into my dreams, and I feel pity upon a child for looking like me. In reality... I was a pretty darn cute baby. I'll have to find or scan some baby pics of me in to prove it. :)

11 Weeks

Seriously, y'all? 11 weeks. Wow. I'm only a week away from my second trimester! Things have begun to level off. The morning/afternoon/night sickness isn't as bad, in fact it's been a good week and a half since I was sick last! The tiredness isn't so bad, however, it hits me around 8:45 or 9:00pm like a freight train, and I'm out cold by 10:00. However, these god-awful horomones have kicked in, and I feel like an emotional basketcase.

Last night, I cried harder than I've cried in a long time, over something silly, and then it just turned into this huge, "I-hate-myself-I'm-so-fat-and-pregnant-and-I-don't-make-you-happy-and-there's-no-way-you-love-my-big-fat-pregnant-self-because-did-I-metion-I'm-huge" sobfest. My patient husband just held me and told me he did love me, and I wasn't fat, and that I do make him happy, which settled things for a while. Then this morning, again with the sobfest, only... looking back, I have to laugh. Forrest is not a morning person. He never has been. He can get up early, get ready, get dressed, etc. but talking to him in the morning, cuddling in the morning, are not good ideas. So, forgetting 14 months of experience in dealing with the morning grumpiness, I rolled over this morning to cuddle. Which of course, prompted grunts, groanings, and pushing away. See, I just don't learn! BUT! He decided to be kind, and quickly apologized, pulled me close, and cuddled for a little bit. Then I had to actually get up to get ready. I found my wonderful stretchy pants, put them on, and then went to the closet to pick a shirt out. I picked the shirt out, which was a green 3/4 sleeve polo shirt. I went to pull it over my head, and my head wouldn't go through the hole. Now... a normal person would remove the shirt, unbutton that top button, and try again. But me? I sat there for 5 minutes trying to get the button undone. So, you can imagine Forrest's surprise, when he rolls over to see what's going on, and his wife is standing there, arms flailing about, and her head stuck halfway through the neck of her shirt. He laughed (I would have too), and I proceeded to sob hysterically. Thankfully, he got up, unbuttoned the top button for me, and held me while I cried for no reason. Thankfully, I feel much better now, and can look a this morning and laugh. So be nice to me today... because I may break out in hysterics for no particular reason

WAHOOO!!!!!

Forrest got the job! Forrest got the job! :) We're moving to DC!!!!

Friday afternoon, Forrest stopped by the office to say hey (he had planned on this anyways), but when he came in, he asked if I wanted to go outside. I didn't think anything of it, and on the way out, I casually asked (like always) if he'd heard anything. He looked at me and said "maybe". I hate it when he does that, because sometimes he's kidding, but something told me he wasn't kidding. So when we got outside, he told me he had gotten a call, and that they'd offered him the job. YAY!!!! He starts August 29th... which, HOLY COW!! is pretty soon. So, I gave my 2 weeks notice on Friday (YAY!). We plan on moving August 25-27. Lots of stuff to do between now and then. Find an apartment, pack up our house, move.... wow, crazy!! But we're super super excited about it.

In other pregnancy related news, the Lima Bean is doing great. S/he kept up with me while I packed a bunch of boxes Saturday, but early afternoon, s/he tired out and let me know REALLY fast. The rest of the weekend consisted of just lying around and resting. Morning sickness and stuff seems to have worn off. I have my bad days, but so far, the past week has been wonderful. The Lima Bean is a full 10 weeks and 6 days old (making me 2 lunar months along). :) Amazing! I'm almost into my second trimester!!! Craziness! :) I'm excited about moving and getting a nursery set up for the Lima Bean... :) so much fun! We found some fun sites for decorating, including this one, What is Blik, that has removable adhesive that's perfect for decorating apartments. :)

I hate my job

Yep... you probably guessed it. AC is out, again. Not just out in our part of the building, but completely and totally out. I'm going to die. Seriously... I hate... hate... HATE working in the hot, humid, sticky, muggy building that I work in. It's bad enough when the AC is on, because the building is so grundgy and dirty. But add 85 degrees, plus some to that, and you've got yourself a hell hole. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have 5 extra pounds of blood coursing through my body, making it feel like 110 degrees instead of 85. Maybe if I wasn't pregnant... but then again, everyone else in the office is about to go crazy. So I'm not the only one. I promise! I'm not!

Apparently...

the jacka***s down in utilities don't know how to fix our AC... don't mind me, I'm the pregnant lady in the back corner sweating bullets.... *groan*

What is WRONG with people???

I just read this and am completely speechless.... seriously, what is wrong with people?

Baby Bedding

I found this yesterday, and this stuff is adorable (their adult bedding is awesome too!)

Dwell Home Furnishings

My favorite dwellbaby collections are the Coral Motif (for girl) and the Robin Clover (for boy).

*Phew*

It feels better today... AC still isn't back up to 100%, but it's better than sweating through a whole day at work. Last night, Bob (my father-in-law) came through town on an unexpected treat. We went out to eat at Cheesecake Factory and then walked around the mall some. It was a great visit, and we got to hear all about his trip to Hong Kong. We went home, and opened our "goodies" from Hong Kong, including the most adorable outfit for our little Lima Bean! Complete with a pointy straw hat! I also got a beautiful charm to wear on a necklace. Justin came over to visit, and they ended up having coffee and pound cake, and I promptly crashed... and excused myself to sleep (at 10 pm... so sad!)
Today, work has been excruciatingly BORING. On the up side, Forrest heard back from a studio up in DC, and they explained the delay in getting back with him. Which was good, because at least they haven't forgotten about him. I really hope something works out. Forrest graduated as one of the top designers in his class from State, and of all the people who could possibly interview for this job, I cannot think of anyone better suited for it than him. Passion for Design? check. Passion for non-profit organizations? check. Wonderful People Skills? check. Ethical Practice of Design? check. Reliable? check. Good looking? check. Handsome? check. Wonderfuly suited to be the best father in the history of mankind? check. oh wait... I'm off on a tangent :) Needless to say, I love my husband, and think he deserves only the best. And yes... this place is the best.
I realized I haven't posted much about the baby lately... partially that's because not much is going on. Yes, I'm still getting sick occasionally, Yes, I am starving half of the time, Yes my knockers won't quit growing, and at the rate at which they are growing, they're going to frighten my poor child. Just when I think it's all in my head again, I go to the store, and get measured, and practically faint when the woman tells me that I've gone up.... 4 sizes (depending on how you count, it could be 7 sizes). It's official... THEY ARE HUGE!!!!!!!!! *sigh* Oh well, it's all normal I suppose. Wonderful hair. Wonderful knockers. HUGE FAT BUTT and GUT!!!! Maybe it's God's way of giving us pros and not all cons... :)

Again?

Today, I get to work, hoping that the A/C will be up and running. No such luck. At 8:30 this morning, the thermostat read 86 degrees. EIGHT-O'CLOCK in the MORNING.... that means, it's only going to get worse. And to top it off, the construction workers right outside our windows have decided today would be the perfect day to operate their diesel fueled machinery, filling our office with an oh so sweet aroma. So, as most of you enjoy your nice, cool, and comfy offices... remember me...

Hotter than...

...2 rats humping in a wool sock. Seriously... the A/C is broken today at work, and the thermostat right above my desk reads eighty-freakin-five!!!! Do they WANT a reminder that I'm pregnant, I get sick when I'm hot, and the sweat... sweet mary, the sweat that is dripping down my back. The only bright spot in my day is that instead of having a meeting here, I get to go to another building where the A/C works, and have the meeting there.

Yesterday, I figured out that I can feel my uterus now. It's this hard lump at the bottom of my belly. Seriously... it's so amazing that I can feel it! There's a lil' baby in there! A lima bean!! A jelly bean!! And surprisingly, this weekend, and this week have been okay so far. Thankfully, I've not been too incredibly sick. I've learned the secret to managing the nausea... EAT!! Which reminds me, it's lunchtime! (I know, 11:20 am, but that's lunchtime for me!)