Tuesday, May 23, 2006

I hope your eyes don't bleed!


30 weeks


27 weeks

Monday, May 15, 2006

My First (sort of) Mother's Day

I had a very good weekend!

Saturday was "clean the house day" for me. Toby went to the Eastern Shore to do some work on his Mom's shore house so I was home alone all day. Good thing - because if anyone was watching me, they would wonder what the heck I was doing.

For some reason, I kept doing the hot/cold, hot/cold, tingly limbs thing that usually comes before passing out. It was so strange! So I would have to do one little thing (like wipe off the counter) and then sit down to recover! Then I'd get up and vacuum one room. And sit down and recover. Then I dusted the living room tables. Then I'd sit down to recover. Needless to say, cleaning my very small house took about 6 hours that way. But that's ok. It got done.

Then around 7pm, I had the dreaded gigantic trip to Wal-Mart. Ugh. That was hard. But as I said before - it got done! It's amazing the things you used to do with no problems are now HUGE productions.

Sunday we both got up early and Toby went and bought a cheap charcoal grill so we could grill out for Mother's Day. (Our propane one has a broken piece we need to get fixed...and Toby also doesn't want to pay for propane with gas prices so high...so whatever, we now have a charcoal grill.) OF COURSE he had to put the thing together so while I was cooking baked beans and banana pudding in the kitchen, he had 5 million pieces laying all over the kitchen floor and was spewing cuss words and banging around like he always does when he has to put something together. (***Remember that statement for later.)

The grill was finally finished (with a little CALM help from me) and we proceeded to put it on the covered front porch since it was raining like crazy. Our guests for the day were my Mom and Dad, Zana (Toby's Mom), Kim (Toby's sister), Kendall (her 8 month old daughter), Heath and Julie (our neighbors), and Ian (Toby's friend.)

Mom and Dad gave me a Mother's Day gift - OF COURSE - because they are the most thoughtful people in the world. They gave me 2 books about motherhood. One is spiritual with poems and sayings and the other is a "tips" type book. I already dove into that one last night. I need to bring home a highlighter!

My husband also gave me a card. It says "Happy Mother's Day. From your Love Bug" and has butterflies on it and he wrote beautiful things inside. I love it. He's so good to me. And he has been through A LOT putting up with me for the past 7 months in this condition. His lifestyle has been altered dramatically too...but that's ok, it's just getting him ready for fatherhood. :)

All in all, it was a great day! We ate burgers and baked beans and other cook-out-ish food. Mom brought cut up fruit and I ate nearly the whole bowl. Loving fruit these days!! Toby also grilled some chicken but I couldn't even LOOK at it. I tried to cut it in half to serve to others and nearly gagged. Me and Chicken do not get along these days... I made a KILLER banana pudding - Paula Deen's recipe - and it had cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk in it... LOOK OUT! It was delish. And very unhealthy. Who cares?

After we ate, Dad finished putting the crib together. Last time he tried to put the crib together, we had issues with the crib missing some pieces so I had to e-mail the company and they mailed more. At first, Dad thought they STILL sent the wrong pieces; but eventually figured it out yesterday.... ***This is something my dear husband NEVER would have been able to do. He would have broke the crib in half and thrown it out the window first....while screaming cuss words. I love that man of mine. :) I'm glad Stella doesn't understand English yet....

So now we have a put-together, sturdy, beautiful crib. Now I just need the mattress and bedding. And a million other things! HA!

After the crib, Mom and Dad started on the wallpaper border. They are such a team. And Toby helped too when he wasn't tending to the other guests. They put up the border in an hour or so. Dad is a perfectionist so the patters in the corners match up PERFECTLY. It looks amazing. I just love it to bits. And I think Toby really likes it - he seemed really excited with it all coming together. (Pictures in the entry below...) Thank God for Mom and Dad - they have totally saved my butt this pregnancy. But I think they really like working on the nursery. I think Dad likes having a "project." And it's for their granddaughter so they'll do anything for her already.

After everyone left, we sat on the couch and watched a bit of TV and then next thing I know, Toby is out like a light. I went on to bed and read some of my new book and fell asleep before Sopranos came on. Looks like I'll be catching the re-run on Wednesday night - AFTER they announce that Taylor is going home on American Idol. A girl can dream, can't she??

Mushrooms, Caterpillars, Dewdrops in the Garden






This would be Miss Stella's nursery! And that title is from some lyrics from an old Dee-Lite song that I used to love... I should pull that CD out and give it a listen. I'll probably freak at how much I am NOT that same person anymore....

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Cleaning Lady - The saga continues

How come every time the cleaning lady goes past me, she says:

"I'm off to follow the yellow brick road!"

First of all, that makes no sense. And second of all, STOP TALKING! You don't have to talk constantly. Silence is OK.

I swear, I feel like such an ass sometimes, but I don't have the time or the desire to talk to you for 30 minutes every time you roll by! The lady in the cube next to me is a SAINT because she'll sit and listen and ask probing question that require long answers back and I just sit over here and type and mind my own beeswax because I do not want to be pulled in. I'll never get out!!!!

I really wish I could record this woman's ramblings. It's like nothing I have ever heard.

I feel like Sybil with " the talking! the talking! the talking!"

STOP IT.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Monday, May 08, 2006

Little update; Big growth

Unless it involves baby symptoms, I don't have any exciting news to report. Life pretty much revolves around feeling like I've been hit by a truck and driving north and south on Powhite Parkway 5 days a week to go to work and then back home again. Other than that, it's snoozeville over here!

I'm now 28 weeks...only 12 more weeks until Stella should be here. And if she can hear my prayers at all, she'll come a little bit early. Papaw Creekmore is voting for July 21 because that is his birthday -which would be fine with me. I'm SO ready to have my body back and not feel like shit all the time!

Week 27 was rough. I think the little one had a BIG growth spurt and stole all of my energy (which I didn't have much to begin with) and I have started to get sick again - but it's just once a day (usually in the morning) and it's not so bad....or it is and I'm just so dang used to it! I also have noticed the belly growth in the past week - it's amazing! I'm feeling really full and tight and round and I am THIS close to waddling. Fun times!!

Friday, April 28, 2006

Processed Meat Product

I think the last time I ate a hot dog, I was 8 years old. Really. I'm a hamburger girl all the way.

But yesterday I started thinking about a hot dog.... Mmmm.

And LO AND BEHOLD, today was giant foot long hot dog day in the cafeteria. Somebody loves me!

But now my hot dog craving is taken care of and I don't think I'll be having any more any time soon.

Hot dogs are gross!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

QUICK! Intervention Needed!

SOMEBODY TAKE THE HONEY TEDDY GRAHAMS AWAY FROM ME!

I just made the mistake of going downstairs to the Company Store because I was hungry and I bought a bag of Teddy Grahams. I can not do that ever again. I have about polished off half the dang bag!! Grrrr. I think I need to eat something substancial around 10am when the fruit smoothie wears off....and I need to be more prepared with healthy foods and not run towards JUNK. I'll let today slide but I can't let this happen again. I'm sure in about 30 minutes, I'll feel like crap and wonder what happened? Ugh.

Things are going well. Less sickness episodes - which is always good. I'm learning to control it more...and maybe I'm just learning to deal with it better? I do get puny around bedtime (8pm these days...) so I end up laying down pretty early. I'm always like a new woman the next day. The long sleep really helps my body to recover. No wonder I sleep so much. Better get it in now, I say!

Toby broke his hand last week. He hurt it really bad at work (dropped a generator on it) but didn't break it. Then he fell in the Home Depot parking lot and broke it the rest of the way. He has a removeable cast which he removes way more than he should, I'm sure. But he's a trooper with a freakishly high pain tolerance. He has not missed a beat at work or at home. It's like nothing ever happened. Except I get to do all the dishes. :) But it's ok - he did the dishes for months when I was busy puking.

Speaking of dishes, I got home from my parents' house last night and in our kitchen is a brand new stainless steel KitchenAid dishwasher! Toby got it from work for only $150..... it was not the right one that had been ordered for the $2 million model home he is working on. In order to return it, there is a $150 deductible so the Super just let Toby have it for that price. We've been wanting a dishwasher forever but just didn't have the extra funds. He has to knock out a cabinet to put it in - and I bet that will be done by this evening because he is so excited! This dishwasher is going to be a lifesaver when it comes to baby bottles!!!

Ugh. I'm so tired. I just want to go home and sit and do nothing. Not like I have been doing SO MUCH that I feel I deserve a rest. I'm just physically exhausted. And sitting here at work with nothing to do makes it much worse. My boss is out for 3 days so I'm not busy. And I'm glad. In my current condition, I do not want any additional responsibility since I don't know which days will be good or bad.... But it's hard to be so slow too.

When I get back from leave, I can get back to my old self and take on more work and volunteer for projects and get more involved...but right now - I just can't. But that doesn't make it any easier to deal with........

Whatever!! I think I'm going to go outside and run an errand for lunchtime. Lord knows I ate enough Teddy Grahams to hold me over for ahwhile.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Is it bad if I beat someone up on Easter Monday?

Today just kind of sucked.

It's 5:10 pm and I feel like I have just been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. That is SUCH a lovely image.

First, my boss likes to schedule meetings and then just blows them off and I am stuck receiving the flack from those he ditched. Like I have any control over this human being. I know it's frustrating. Hell, it's frustrating for me too... but what can I do? Do I bust into a VPs office or interupt his lunch with a SENIOR VP? No. I don't. Sorry.

Second, there is this person at work is on my "difficult people" list in life. And by "difficult people" I mean "I hate her." I made a dumb mistake earlier and by dumb I mean NOT A BIG DEAL. Really. I'm not sticking up for myself - if I make a doozy, I'll admit it. But this mistake was something she could have totally just overlooked, took 3 extra seconds to fix what I did, and move on with life. You know, like I do EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. for other people, including her.

She instead chose to just send me a scathing e-mail lecturing me about "policy" and "procedure" and how I have made this mistake three times.

Really? Have I? Well, DON'T MAKE ME LIST THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE because we'll be here all day, lady!

I am proud to say that I hit the delete button instead of writing back what I really wanted to...and what will probably come out of my mouth before too long..........

In other news, Easter was very nice. We made our family rounds. First to Toby's grandparents' house - where my energy was drained from my body - and I don't have much to begin with.

See, his grandmother has a bad hip and needs a replacement...which I'm sure is just awful. HOWEVER, I firmly believe the outlook you have on life and your ATTITUDE totally plays a part in your health - and no wonder she is so "down." She is so incredibly negative. She is just waiting to die and it's all she talks about. From the looks of her and from the sounds of her, you would think she is in the final stages of death from AIDS or another horrific terminal disease. I don't really know how to deal with her because all she does is moan and cry about how she's dying and everyone around her is dying. And Toby CONTINUALLY leaves me alone with her while he goes in the yard with his Dad and Papaw and Uncles because none of THEM can be with her too long either. UGH! It's so sad and I wish I could change it...but unfortunately, SHE is the only one who can change it and I don't see that happening very soon. I kind of think she LIKES the attention. Let's just say there is a history of drama in that Fam.

After that LOOOONG visit, we went to my Mimi's house and then to my Nanny's house which were both MUCH more upbeat and lively. :) Lots of kids and egg hunts and food.

When we got home, Toby and I sat on the front porch and talked and watched the storm coming for a couple hours. It was nice to unwind from all of the visiting.

And in other news, I am feeling better!! I have not been sick since last Wednesday. The new medicine cocktail must be finally working!! I was scared to talk about it until now for fear of jinxing myself....but maybe now it's time to realize that I AM feeling better and I can sort of get back to life. Like if my boss will ever come out of his office, I can tell him I'm leaving to go to the GROCERY STORE! (Haven't done that in forever - and it's one of my favorite places!)

I'm easily pleased.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Just call me Gaggy McSickerson. STILL!!

Just a quick update on my gagging condition...

The first two days of taking the Aciphex were ok...I was hopeful! But I went downhill on Saturday and was sick all day long. My Mom told me on Friday that my brother and the band would be coming through Richmond for just a few hours on their way to Florida so I met my family for lunch but that was less than pleasant (not the company; just the gags.) I got sick at the restaurant and then sick again at Mom and Dad's house when we stopped by.... Ugh. I went home and got in the bed and stayed there until Sunday.

Sunday was better but not good. I had lunch with Toby's aunt and then she came back to the house and we chatted for a bit...and I was trying to be sociable (because I wanted to be!) but it was hard.

On Monday I called the GI Specialist back and told him what was going on and he put me on a new regime of medicine:

1 Aciphex in the AM, 30 minutes before I eat
Some yummy (ha) syrupy medicine called Carafate 4 times a day
1 Zantac at 4 or 5pm, when I start to feel bad

All this and I'm still not getting better. It's Wednesday so I'm going to give it a week. The GI Specialist wants to hear from me on Monday.

I have pretty much come to the conclusion that my only cure will be giving birth. I believe that my organs are all getting smooshed up in my short torso; and I'm sure my bad posture doesn't help. As Stella gets bigger, this is only going to get horribly worse, I'm afraid. I mean, I could DEAL with heartburn. It's the gagging and throwing up that has me house bound.

Sigh. Oh well. I'll forget all this when I see her little face. Right? :)