I know someone who knows someone

Funny story.  My friend Linsey has a cousin, who is married to a retired baseball player.  Because of this, she was chosen to star in a reality show called Baseball Wives on VH1.  The first episode airs tonight at 8:00 pm Central time.  I thinking knowing this woman is Linsey's cousin will make the show a little more interesting for me.  Linsey is the most sweet and polite southern belle I have ever met.  I don't think she has much in common with her cousin.  See for yourself:

Anna Benson on Baseball Wives

The day that puts stores in the black

The rest of the weekend was great for me.  Sadly, Travis had to work all day Friday and most of Saturday.  Aiden and I had it off.  At the beginning of the week, I noticed that Aiden was acting really cranky and he had a little cough when he first woke up.  I was checking his temperature every morning.  Monday it was normal, Tuesday it was a degree high, Wednesday it was at 100 degrees.  When Travis was getting him dressed, he pointed to his ear and said it was ouchy.  How amazing is that?  He told us what was bothering him!  That has never happened!  In the past, we knew something was wrong because he wasn't eating, or he was cranky, or he slept a lot.  But we had to go to the doctor to figure out what it was.  Sometimes we never really found out exactly what the problem was.  He's totally growing up. 

I'm sure someone will frown on this.  I took him to daycare that morning.  I gave him ibuprofen before we left the house, but I had so much to do at work that I had to get in.  I was hoping they wouldn't call me before noon to come pick him up.  I got my wish.  I was able to get him after work and take him to Urgent Care.  I called that morning and his regular doctor's office was busy all day.  I'm not surprised, being that it was the day before a holiday.

We waited for about two hours I think.  It seemed like forever.  There was a woman in the waiting room with a little boy, 3 or 4 years old I would guess.  He was sleeping on a chair by the fish tank - Aiden's favorite area.  So of course every time Aiden went back there and would try to talk to me (talk, not yell or scream), the mom would shush him and say, "He's sleeping.  Shhhhh."  Gah.  I understand that sometimes it can seem so important that your child sleep, but geez lady.  He was just saying, "Fish, Mommy?" as he was pointing at the fish tank.  I tried to keep him out of that back waiting area from then on, but I didn't try too hard.

Sure enough, Aiden had an ear infection.  I'm so happy we were able to get medication for that before the 4-day weekend.  Thanksgiving could have been a lot more difficult. 

So!  Friday morning, I got up BEFORE DAWN and tried out a little Black Friday shopping.  It was my first time to go out the day after Thanksgiving.  Honestly I was a little nervous.  You always here about people getting trampled to death for a $10 toaster.  I didn't want that to be me. 

I only went to a few stores and only one of them was right at opening.  Shoe Carnival opened at 5 am and gave out $10 off gift cards to the first 100 people.  My friends and I made it in the first 100!  Plus, they were having great shoe sales.  I've wanted to buy boots since last winter, but could never get over the guilt of such a large purchase.  The cheapest boots I could find were $60 at Target.  If you went to a department store or DSW, forget it.  You'd be spending $100-200.  As much as I want boots, I'd rather have groceries. 

Back to Black Friday - I bought a pair of $60 brown boots (up to my knee) for 50% off, plus my $10 off gift card.  I got a pair of boots for $20!!  Can't beat that.  Totally made my morning exhaustion-caused nausea worth it.  After we all made our purchases, we went to the Sephora next door.  We also stopped at Walmart, but I didn't buy anything else.  I had what I wanted and was just along for the ride at that point. 

I was home, in bed by 6:45.  I had to be home by 7 because that's when Travis leaves for work.  I was sure that Aiden would wake up when I got home and I wouldn't be able to get anymore sleep.  But I was wrong!  I got to sleep in until 8:30.  Then Aiden climbed in bed with me and we watched Transformers.  The rest of the day was pretty lazy.  That evening we went to the Ramby's for dinner.  Alexa made a Thanksgiving casserole using leftovers that was absolutely amazing.  She heated up some gravy that we poured on top of each serving.  If I ever have enough leftovers to make that, I'll totally be doing it in the future.  Mmmmm...

More later.  I don't want to overwhelm you with my play-by-play's.  Cheers!

T-day in Galveston

Thanksgiving was so easy going this year, it was amazing.  We went over to Ariel and Robert's house in the morning to help them clean and cook.  Since it was nice out, Ariel decided to do the seating outdoors. 

Hostess with the mostess

We ate around 4 pm, an hour later than planned.  Not too bad, considering how things have gone in the past.  We invited our friend Scott to dinner since he doesn't have any family nearby.  Ariel's roommate Bettye and their friends Brandon, Blake and Christy came as well. 

Dinner was FANTABULOUS.  I couldn't believe it, but none of my green bean casserole was left at the end.  I don't usually feel like that's a popular item, but apparently everyone liked it the way I made it with fresh green beans.  The canned mushy green beans gross me out.

I also made a new sweet potato casserole this year.  I don't generally like the sweet potato casserole, so I took control of it it this year.  The bottom layer is mashed sweet potatoes, the middle layer is a pecan crumble (basically it's pecan pie) and the top layer is toasted marshmallows.  The toasted part was an accident, but it turned out really great.

Ariel and Robert fried a turkey and roasted a turkey.  The fried turkey was more firm and really hit the spot.  Travis and I heated up the honey baked ham he got from his boss.  It turned out really great as well.  Thankfully we were able to reheat it right before the meal.

Christy and Blake

Aiden LOVES Brandon.  Brandon is so good with kids, so I know that helps.  Aiden sat in this hammock with him for a good 20 minutes and held on while Brandon rocked the "pirate ship". 

After dinner we ate pie: pecan, pumpkin and apple.  I made the pecan pie because I was hell-bent on getting it right.  For some reason I am only capable of making pecan soup.  The stinking thing never firms up.  Of course it was pecan soup again this year.  We still ate a quarter of the pie.  I took the rest of it home and baked it for another 35 minutes.  That did the trick.  FINALLY.

As we were eating dessert, the Luck's stopped by to say hi!  They were in town to visit family for the holiday.  Logan hung out with family while Sara and JR brought Landry over to visit with Aiden.  They colored with crayons and played with a magnet set that was Robert's when he was little.  Too cute.



I hope everyone had a great holiday!  I enjoyed my 4-day weekend and was quite reluctant to come into work this morning.  If only every month had a 4-day weekend...

A bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Happy Thanksgiving!!  We're spending the day giving thanks with my family today.  Thank goodness for this holiday.



I honestly had to stop watching when they started eating.  My protein nausea couldn't handle it.

15 Weeks Tomorrow

There are so many things I forgot about while being pregnant.  I've been going through my belly book (week-by-week play book of what was going on with me during the pregnancy) and found several things I forgot.  One of the symptoms I didn't remember is the Braxton-Hicks.  I had them with Aiden starting at 12 weeks.  Braxton-Hicks contractions are minor practice contractions that happen in some pregnancies.  They are not debilitating, just annoying.  I get them whenever I am active, like when I walk across campus or when I'm moving boxes around at work.  I've been having them a lot for the past few days.  Just in time for busy Thanksgiving!

I'm already noticing some of the hindering aspects of having a baby bump.  It's larger than it was last time at this point, but it's not gigantic by any means.  Yet.  But I have had trouble getting out of the car in parking lots a few times.  I can't just suck this puppy in anymore.  I have a feeling things are going to get more difficult when it comes to getting Aiden in his car seat.  It's one thing to slip in through the cramped area.  But to stand in it, life a child and then buckle him in.  I'm going to have to start allotting more time to do things so I can let Aiden do more for himself - like climbing in and out of the car.

I'm finding I have much less patience for pregnancy-related problems this time around.  I don't know if it's because I have to take care of another child or if it's the lack of newness.  Last time it was the first time I was experiencing any of it, and if I wanted to sit all day and take a nap, I did.  Oh the days when I was free!

Someone's always sick for the holidays

I'm worried Aiden is going to be sick for Thanksgiving.  He woke up the past two mornings with a hoarse cough.  No fever yesterday.  Today his temperature was elevated one degree.  That could be due to his full-on temper tantrum he threw ALL MORNING.  I gave him ibuprofen both mornings in case his throat hurts.  I tried to ask him if it did, but he didn't seem to understand me.

We are going to do what we did last year and go over to Ariel and Robert's for Thanksgiving.  I'm going to prepare a few dishes in advance so all I have to do is heat them up when I get over there Thursday.  We'll go over before Aiden's nap and let him sleep there.  That way I can help with the cooking.  They are frying one turkey and roasting the other.  Lots o'turkey.  We're hoping to eat at 3pm.  That almost never happens on time, but I can hope!  The best part about eating the meal early is then you have room for dessert and possibly leftovers in the evening.  Ugh, love that.

I did the bulk of my grocery shopping last night.  I have to run by a different store tonight to pick up a few items I couldn't find at the last store.  I NEED this place to have pie crusts, because I really don't want to have to add making a pie crust to my to-do list tonight.  As it is, I already need to pick up Aiden, run to the store, drop of the recycling at the center in Galveston, go home to make dinner and then make a pecan pie.  All after I get off work at 5 pm. 

Definitely stopping for coffee this afternoon.

New World Problems

We have completed our Christmas shopping for Aiden!  Toys R Us is having a ton of sales through Thanksgiving Day, so we wanted to get him done first.  The trick is to keep all that stuff hidden for a month.  I'm sure that will get more difficult down the road.  Now we can focus on gifts for the rest of the family.  My dad won't be coming for Christmas.  He's going to try to come in January or February, but it depends on his work.  I'm not sure if Brenda will be able to make it - she's still up in the air.  Travis still has to talk to his dad, but he usually can't make it because he has plans with his girlfriend or he has to work.

My mom is planning to come for a month, so she will be here for Christmas.  With her, we always draw names out of a hat for gifts.  None of us are particularly well off.  That coupled with traveling for my mom and buying food for the celebrations for Ariel and I, makes for a very expensive month.  Drawing names out of a hat helps alleviate some of that.  Now that we have Aiden, we get to watch him open lots of gifts on Christmas morning.  That has quickly become my favorite part of the holiday.  I'm sure this year will be even better.  Aiden enjoys so many things now.  He will love everything he gets.

Travis and I usually don't get each other gifts for Christmas anymore.  We generally don't have the funds for it.  This year, we thought we'd be buying a dishwasher, but I think we might be able to postpone that until after the holiday season.  It's holding on at the moment.  Barely.  Com'on kitchen appliance!  Hold on for just a while longer!!

Travis bought an iPhone a week ago, but it's on backorder.  He is supposed to get it by Friday.  Only 50% of his current touch screen works.  We can't afford to get one for each of us at the same time.  I'm hoping to get one soon after Christmas.  It seems like my phone senses that I'm ready for a new one because it is going bezerk more often than it used to.  The number one reason I want an iPhone now is for a decent touch screen.  I CANNOT stand it when my touch screen doesn't work.  My current phone is so bad that it won't even recalibrate.  It frustrates me to no end.  I am thankful I bought a flip phone with an actual keyboard on the inside.  I don't even use the main screen of my phone anymore.  I go straight to the inside. 

Oh the problems in my life.  ; )

Mommy's Nights Out

It's been a busy week.  I feel like I'm running around at work trying to keep up half the time.  Then the other half of the time there is NOTHING to do.  That's typical in a lab though.  Your assays need to incubate for a certain amount of time and there's generally only so many things you can clean or tidy up on during the incubations. 

I think the reason it's getting on my nerves so bad this week is because I have had some headaches from hell.  I talked to my doctor about it.  She said it could be pregnancy, it could be the Zofran, or it could just been from my previous neck problems.  The difficulty is that I'm limited on what medication I can take to treat the headache.  In the past, ibuprofen has always worked will for me.  Sadly, I can only take acetaminophen while pregnant.  It doesn't help.  These headaches just barrel on through my day.  It makes the nausea worse.  So when I turn my head, I feel sick.  Or maybe the nausea is causing the headaches?  Gah, I don't know. 

I've also been pretty busy after work this week.  Monday night I went on an impromptu girl's night out with a friend from work who recently quit to work at another hospital in Houston.  She's been having a rough month and I haven't seen her for a while, so I went out even though I had prior plans for a girl's night out Thursday.  We went to get pedicures, but I forgot my wallet.  So I just sat and chatted while everyone else was pampered.  Then they all went out to dinner and thankfully bought my meal.  I totally owe them!

Last night I went with a few girls to see Breaking Dawn on opening night.  I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway.  Didn't want to miss out on the fun.  One of my friends from work has a movie theater membership card so she was offered tickets to see the 8 pm showing.  We got to the theater an hour early, thinking we might not get awesome seats, but I figured we wouldn't get front row.  I thought wrong. 

Lucky for us, no one was in the front row yet, so we were right in the middle!  It was horrible.  I got dizzy during several scenes.  There was one scene with subtitles - I had to turn my head back and forth in order to read it.  I actually didn't finish reading a few of the sentences because I couldn't turn my head quick enough.  Ridiculous.  I stared at Edward and Bella's pores the whole movie. 

I think I liked it.  I know most of the movies are cheesy to a certain point.  And Bella and Edward can be just plain awkward at times, but that's how the characters are in the books.  The difference between the movies and the books is that you get to read about the internal struggle of the characters.  During the movies, you just have to watch it on their faces.

Our biggest joke last night was that Jasper is the constipated vampire.  He always looks like he needs to take a giant crap.  But the books explain that he constantly struggles with the need to drink Bella.  He's struggling with hunger, not digestion.

Overall, it was good.  I would like to see it again from a better seat.  I do plan to buy this movie eventually.  I need to buy the rest of the Harry Potter movies and I think I still need the last Twilight movie that came out.  I'm a little behind on that.  Later, later, later!

14 Weeks

Good lord would you look at the size of my BELLY???

Seriously, it's gigantic.  Unreal.  PS - That's my tough face.  Feels tougher than it looks.

I was looking at photos from my pregnancy with Aiden and I think the shape of my belly is different.  It's more torpedo-like this time.  I know it's not a direct comparison because one is shirts and one is skins, but here is my photo at 16 weeks (two weeks further along than I am now) with Aiden:

Whenever people see me wearing a fitted shirt at work they say, "WOW.  You are going to be HUGE."  Did you see me last time?  If that wasn't huge, then what was it?  Gah.

I know I've already mentioned it, but the nausea is way worse this time.  It is affecting my diet. Nothing ever sounds good.  The only things that ever sound remotely edible are fresh things, like fruits, vegetables and salads.  Cheese and water crackers usually make the list.  Occasionally pasta is on there as well.  It sounds a LOT like my cravings last time.

Lately, I've only needed the Zofran (anti-nausea) every third day.  It used to be every other day, if not every day.  I have hope that it will disappear completely.  Please.

We tried to get Aiden to take a photo with me and the torpedo-belly, but he refused.  Instead, he hovered in the doorway begging to look at the camera.

Celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving. Ugh, I know.

Saturday we had more big plans.  Travis had to work that morning.  Aiden and I took it easy at home.  We played outside for a while and I folded some laundry.  I got him to take a nap on his own.  It took almost 45 minutes, but that's better than an hour!

When Aiden woke up, we played for a bit, then got ready to go out.  We went to Galveston for the Moody Garden Festival of Lights opening day.  I've been in the past and was really disappointed.  I thought they would decorate Moody Gardens with lights.  Instead, they have various shapes wrapped in lights, including Christmas items, safari animals, underwater animals and more.  I'm assuming those non-Christmas decorations are supposed to represent the two pyramids at Moody Gardens: the Rainforest and the Aquarium.

Since it was opening day, there were various additional attractions.  There were two small reindeer for the kids to gawk at...  

Then Santa sailed in on a parachute with two of his elves...

Interesting life...

We went with lots of friends:  The Ramby's (minus Chris, plus Alexa's mom), the Yeager's and the Yeager's friends that we've hung out with a few times.  I really like them.  They're fun-loving people who like to joke around.  My kind of entertainment!

After Santa landed, we couldn't see him very well over all the people.  There were SO MANY PEOPLE.

Aiden says, "Where's Santa?"

After an hour of waiting, Santa flipped the power switch and all the lights in the park lit up.  We were already in line by this point because there were SO MANY PEOPLE.

As disappointed as I may have been by the lights last time I enjoyed it so much more with Aiden.  He is so amazed at everything.  I love watching the wonder through his eyes.  At the end of the lit path, there was a fenced in area with snow!!  Next to the palm trees!  Without a coat, hat and mittens!

You had to pay $6 cash to enter the snow area.  We only had $5 left, so we told Aiden we couldn't do the snow.  He looks up at us with those big blue eyes and says, "But snow, Mommy.  Snow!"  I was immediately digging in my purse for a dollar's worth of change.  

Aiden slipped and fell while walking into the enclosure.  He was a little shocked at the cold temperature, so he started crying.  I told him it was okay, and when he stopped crying he looked at his hands and said, "Ice?"  Smart kid.  After I coaxed him back into the enclosure, with a little help this time, he really enjoyed himself.  Since adults weren't allowed in, Aiden waddled over to where we were standing near the fence and Travis tossed him a few snow balls.  Then Aiden threw them back.  He was so excited.  It was adorable.  We had to keep yelling at him not to eat the snow.  

"There won't be any snow left if you eat it all!"

Lunch at Cici's

Aiden even got a brownie.

Busy Bees

Aiden and I had a full three-day weekend.  Unfortunately, it was Travis' weekend to be on call.  So he had to work Friday and Saturday morning.  I didn't want to stay home the whole time, so I made plans for Aiden and I to get out of the house.  Friday morning, we went to a park we've never been to before.  It had lots of structures for Aiden to play on and there were several trails and ponds.  First I let Aiden run around with the other kids on the playground.

I am really annoyed that I can't get these photos to load upright. It would probably be fine if I did it from my computer at home, but I won't have time to deal with it later.

The structures seemed to be aimed at various age groups.  The one closest to the parking lot was the least scary one for me.  It was low to the ground, with lots of virtually risk-free things to play with.  The one furthest from the playground (there were 4 structures within walking distance) was the one Aiden liked the best.  It had the highest slide that he kept climbing to and going down.  I call those types of slides tornado slides because it spirals all the way down.  It prevents the kids from shooting off the end when they get to the bottom.

After the playground, we walked over to the nearest pond to see if we could find any wildlife.  We saw three turtles and a ton of dragonflies.  We walked down one trail for a bit, but then had to turn around because I was getting hungry.  I get more panicky that usual these days when I get hungry.  I live in constant fear of setting off the nausea.



One of the serious downsides of my fear of hunger and the resulting nausea is that I find myself eating out more often than I'd like.  Generally, I only eat out zero to two times a week (including breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner).  The fast food grease makes me feel really bad about myself and I find that I don't get enough fiber in my diet when I eat out frequently.  But for the past few months, I have been eating out two to four times a week.  If I am out of the house and I get hungry, I don't wait until I get home.  I immediately pull into the nearest drive thru and proceed to shove face.

So, Friday when we left the park, I realized it was already noon.  We usually eat lunch at 11:30 and Aiden naps at 12:30.  I wanted to go to the grocery store before we got home, so I opted for eating out.  Again.  I didn't know the area very well, so I just drove until I saw something easy that sounded good with Aiden along.  Cici's Pizza!  Ha!  Travis hates going there because he said he always ends up spending hours on the toilet after that place.  I don't know if he's serious, but if I could have that side effect, I would be GRATEFUL.  Pregnancy is not the best on an already iffy digestive system.

Turns out, kids 3 and under eat for free!  I only had to pay for myself, and it's not an expensive place to start with (salad, pasta and pizza buffet).  That helped with the financial guilt that I usually feel after eating out as well.  Aiden was so spoiled this weekend.  We went to the park, we had pizza for lunch AND he got to watch cartoons while he ate lunch.  That rarely happens at home.

After lunch we went to the grocery store, then headed home for nap time.  I'm trying to get Aiden to go down for nap time on his own.  He does fine at night when it's dark in his room, but it's always been a struggle during the day when he can easily see all his toys.  I have to go in his room every 5 minutes to tell him to stop playing with his toys and get back in bed.  It's so time consuming because that takes 30 minutes to an hour.  We've been going in and laying on the futon in his room so he would stay in bed.  Half the time we fall asleep in there too.  But we need to stick with it this so we can have our noon time back!

Friday night I had a couple girls over from work for dinner.  I made lasagna for the first time and I think it turned out pretty good.  We watched Bad Teacher.  It was okay.  I had a hard time getting into the love interest at the end because I didn't think they made a good couple.  It was a comedy though, so that didn't entirely ruin it for me.  Travis put Aiden to sleep, so I got a little break there. 

It was a busy day, but it was nausea-free.  That made it awesome.

Daddy Blogger

Some people my find this blog offensive.  I find it hilarious.  It's a daddy blogger who has a new baby.  He writes about the problems he has to deal with as a parent, but he's a bit vulgar at times. 

Asshole Baby

Lone Star

I've been working with Travis to take over more things with Aiden and I can already tell it's making a big difference in Aiden's willingness to approach him.  Aiden used to come to me for everything and would throw a fit if Travis did it.  Travis' opinion was 'he doesn't want me, he wants you.'  Yessss.  But I need help!  So I forced him.  Travis was annoyed at first, but now that he's reaping the benefits, I know he appreciates it. 

As an extension of Travis taking on more with Aiden, I'm going to try to save grocery shopping for the weekends when Travis is around so I can go without a child.  It's so much easier on me and it gives Travis and Aiden some alone time.  We've done this in the past, but not frequently.  I went to get an oil change and bought groceries on Saturday without Aiden.  When I got home, Aiden was still awake.  Travis was having trouble getting him to fall asleep for nap time.  Finally, he just went in there and laid next to him on the floor.  Then he proceeded to take a nap of his own for an hour.

After nap time, Chris came over and we all headed to the Galveston Lone Star Rally.  Aiden loves motorcycles.  He points at every single one we see on the road.  His daycare is right near where the rally was, so there were lots of motorcycles driving and parked when I picked him up Friday evening.  We stood on the street corner and watched for a while.  He didn't seem to mind the noise, and really enjoyed just standing there watching, so we figured we'd take him to the rally during the day.  I've been at night in the past and it's definitely not for kids.  During the day it's a little less crowded, but it's still loud with all the bikes.

We brought Travis' ear muffs, just in case, but Aiden absolutely refused to wear them.  He was fine with the noise though, so I didn't worry about it too much.

Chris owns a bike so he wanted to peruse the bike parts tents.  I like going over there because they always have the really fancy bikes set up for viewing.  Aiden enjoyed it as well.  After that, we headed back over to the chaos and watched the continuous bike parade.  They set up a path down the Strand where anyone can ride their bike to show off.  There were some interesting people, let's just say that.  Here's a view down the Strand:

Both sides of the street are lined with parked bikes.  I read there were 400,000 bikes on the island this weekend.  I believe it.

Towards the end, we met up with Nadya, Alexey and Kate.  Kate was really nervous with all the loud bikes, but she said she wasn't scared and she didn't want to go home.  It was pretty cute.  She and Aiden caught up:

A common sight: Longhorn helmets.  Only makes sense as it was the Lone Star Rally.



Trick or Treat!

I was looking through some Halloween magazines this year and came across some fun ideas for party snacks.  I found this particular one online and really liked it.  It was cute and easy:

I decided to stop fighting Aiden into his pirate costume and went for something a little easier.  We used his regular cowboy outfit.  Of course he wouldn't wear the leather vest, wool chaps and gun holster.  Typical.  On a side note, I am fairly certain Aiden was the only child on the streets with a toy gun.  Many parents are anti-toy-gun these days, plus there's the off chance that a police officer will think your child is threatening them with a real gun and therefore shoot the child.  I used to play with this very same cap gun when I was little.  Not only do I have NO interest in guns these days, but I do not want to be a criminal.  Oh and I survived not ever being shot by a police officer and have grown into an adult!  Amazing.

Skylar the Birdie and Blair the Dinosaur

Ready to go trick or treating!

Travis gave Aiden a crash course on trick or treating with the Ramby's bowl of candy.

The dads stayed behind to give out candy for the first round of trick or treating.  After we got back, we traded jobs.

Aiden went trick or treating for the very first time last year at this door.  This year it was the first door we knocked on as well.



Aiden got TONS of candy.  We been trying to ration it out here and there to avoid a full-on sugar rush.  We've been lucky so far!  It probably helps that I've been eating the chocolate.  Aiden did really good with Trick or Treating this year.  I think he understood the concept fairly well after a couple houses.  Occasionally he would give his candy to the person who answered the door.  And sometimes he would tell people "You're welcome!" in addition to "Thank you!"  Overall I think he did well though.  It gets more and more fun every year.

The Joys of Pregnancy

The main theme this pregnancy has been nausea.  It started at about a month and a half and has only gotten worse since then.  It started out similar to the nausea I had while pregnant with Aiden: when I got hungry, I felt like I was going to throw up.  The difference is last time I actually threw up.  This time I just WISH I could vomit.  I have the most intense nausea.  I can't really say it's the worst I've ever had because I've been seasick and that was, by far, the worst experience of my life.  This IS pretty bad though.  I get clammy and hot and my hands start to shake.  It's a miserable thing. 

It's bad enough that I asked my doctor for an anti-nausea medication.  She prescribed Zofran and it has been a life altering decision.  There are certain things I can do to lessen the nausea without the medication.  Sometimes it's just because I'm hungry, and if I eat, it goes away.  Sometimes it's just because I need to use the restroom.  And if I go, then I feel better.  But sometimes, I do ALL of that and it just gets worse.  So Zofran it is! 

The only problem with Zofran is whoever developed it did not take into consideration that the pill taker would be nauseous.  Let me explain.  The instructions on the prescription say, "Dissolve tablet on tongue."  It takes like bitter, bitter fruit.  The process of taking the medication is a task in itself.  If I wasn't completely confident that I am unable to vomit at this point, I would be worrying about it more as I wait for that god awful tablet to disappear.  Ugh, it's horrible.  And then the bitter flavor stays on my tongue for a good 20 minutes after.  BUT IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT.  Within 30 minutes of taking the tablet, I feel 90-100% better.

Now I can work, clean the house, do laundry, do the dishes and make dinner!  Wait a second.  Why did I ask for that medicine again?  Oh ya, before, I still had to do all those things, but I was miserable and cranky the entire time.  I felt bad for Travis and Aiden because when Mommy's not happy, nobody is happy.

So!  A list of a few things that make me feel like crap this time around:

• Car wash - I lose of sense of whether we're moving or if my head just thinks we're moving.
• Tap water - tastes like dirty coins.
• Protein - the majority of the time, the thought of meat or eggs makes me gag.
• Zofran - until it kicks in.
• Hunger OR fullness
• Smells - cologne/perfume, deodorant, most food cooking (meat and onions makes it worse)

My solutions:

• Don't use the car wash.
• Drink bottled water (I am officially enemy of the planet).
• Bring a toothbrush to work so I can get that protein residue off my tongue.
• Bring a toothbrush to work so I can get that bitter medicine residue off my tongue.
• Control my eating.
• I stopped wearing perfume and I'm using fragrance-free deodorant.  I may not be able to control what other people wear, but at least I can control myself!

My doctor did give me a tsk, tsk at my appointment last week.  I had lost four pounds since my visit a month prior.  In my defense, I had been on an eating binge the weekend before my first appointment.  I had spent the entire weekend in Illinois doing nothing but eat and sit.  So I was two pounds over my normal weight at that first visit.  Since then, I have been back to my normal eating habits, PLUS nausea.  So I'm sure I'm not eating as much as I should be.  So now I'm two pounds under my normal weight.

I have also had a big problem with losing my vision and getting vertigo when I sit up from laying down or when I go from squatting to sitting.  I had the squatting to sitting problem before I got pregnant, but now it's worse and I have it when I sit up.  I was wondering if it was low blood pressure, but it was within normal ranges at the doctor's office.  The doctor thinks I might be dehydrated.  She recommended adding one to two 12 oz bottles of water to my current three to four.  Like I don't already LIVE in the bathroom.  I went to the bathroom THREE times before I even left for work.  THREE!  The only reason I get out of bed in the morning is because my bladder is threatening to explode.  Funny how you forget about this stuff after you have the baby.

Tex RenFest 2011

This past weekend we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival north of Houston.  It is always so entertaining seeing all the costumes. The group I went with this year decided to dress up.  A couple of us went as fairies, there was a forest nymph and three Star Trekkers.

This guy's wings opened occasionally.  He was very gargoyly...

Aiden stared at these giant boat swings forever.  Linsey and Zach took Luke over to go on the swing.  We asked Aiden if he wanted to ride the swings and he said yes.  Since I'm fighting some serious "morning" sickness this pregnancy, the last thing I wanted to do was rock back and forth in a giant swing.  So Daddy and Grandma took him for a ride.  He seemed really into it, right up until the point when they climbed on board.

He cried like that the ENTIRE time.  They didn't stay on as long as they could have, but it was probably a good five minutes of swinging fun.  Travis was giving me the stare down the entire time for putting him through that.  HA.

After the swings we saw Hagrid!  Apparently Luke watches Harry Potter with Zach and his favorite character is Hagrid.  Luke spotted him before any of us did and ran up to give his knees a hug before we even knew what was going on.  Luke was quite the hugger that day.  I'm pretty sure he hugged every costumed person there.

A few of the girls from work:

Aiden has never been big on dancing.  All of our friends' kids love to dance, but Aiden has always refused to  dance at all.  A couple months ago we put him in a dance class once a week at his daycare.  He has recently started dancing all on his own and I think it is adorable.  Luke and him started dancing as we passed a Renaissance band.  Aiden sticks his elbows out and pivots at the hips.  It looks something like this:

Michelle the Forest Nymph

I'm pretty bummed that you can't see how detailed her face paint was.  It was impressive!

At one point we stopped to look at the elephants.  Every time one stopped to load people, she would sniff us with her trunk.  When Luke came over, the trunk startled him and he accidentally dropped his pacifier inside the enclosure.  The elephant quickly grabbed it up, tossed it over in her trunk, then ate it.  The whole time I was trying to get someone's attention, but none of the keepers would look over at us.  When one finally did come over, he was pissed thinking we had fed the elephant the pacifier.  Who would do that?  Luke kept saying, "Give it back!  Give it back!"  I have a feeling he might have elephant issues from here on out.

Steampunkers:

The knight and his father

The semi-pirate and his father

Aiden's New T-shirt

If you are friends with me on Facebook, then you already know the big news.  I'm pregnant!  12 weeks today.  I am due May 18th, which means I'll probably have him May 25th.  Wink, wink.  It seems so far away, but then when I think of the financial side of it (hospital bills, daycare costs, etc) it seems way too close.  I had an ultrasound yesterday and found with 80% certainty that we are having another boy!  Holy cow!  Can you imagine?  TWO boys.  Every night before bed, Aiden gets a second wind and he and Travis rough house.  I think it actually helps him work out any remaining energy he might have had.  Last night I asked Travis if he could imagine TWO boys coming at him like that.  HA!  I think I have to write it like that for here on out.  TWO boys.

When the doctor saw the baby's gender-parts, he said he is 80% sure it's a tally whacker.  Snort.  He said he couldn't imagine THAT turning into a clitoris, but he is only allowed to give me 80% assurance at this stage in the pregnancy.

We go back in 7 weeks and he should be able to confirm the gender with 99% certainty.  The doc told us not to go out and buy anything just yet, until we can be sure.  I told him we don't have to buy anything!  We had a baby boy two years ago and we have saved everything.  I know it stresses Travis out to see all the stuff we have in boxes in our garage, but he'll probably appreciate it now.  

This time around, we'll donate everything after we're done with it.  Travis said he doesn't want to have any more kids after this.  The idea of having three boys under one roof really freaks him out.  I'm not giving up hope just yet.  And I'm for sure not going to let Travis snip his goods until we are SURE we don't want another one.  If we do try for another, it will be when this peanut's getting ready to start Kindergarten.  I want a bigger gap between the next one so we don't have a bunch of little guys running around.  Oh and the daycare costs are a good deterrent as well.  My point is, there's no reason to store everything for that long.  We'll just donate.

We've been trying to explain this whole baby thing to Aiden.  I'm not confident he understands.  We need to get some big brother books to help us out.  We keep asking him if he wants a baby.  He says, "Ya.  I want Baby Skylar."  Skylar is Blair's baby sister.  Aiden's other friend Luke has a baby sister as well.  I don't think he understands that babies can be boys.  Eh.  We've got time to explain it.

Tonight at dinner, we asked Aiden what we should name the baby.  He voted for TV.

We're not going to keep the name a secret this time.  It was really hard last go around and it would be nice to hear some opinions this time.  I had the name Aiden picked out since I was in high school, so there was no changing that one.  This time, I don't know what we want.  We will be giving him Curtis for a middle name, after Travis' dad.  Aiden's middle name is Gregory, after my dad.  Here's a few names we've come up with.  None of them are a MUST HAVE, but they appeal to us for one reason or another:

• Everett
• Lachlan
• Foster
• Noah
• Chase

What do you think?

Birthday and Pumpkin Carving

The Sunday after the museum was the birthday/Halloween party at Ariel's house.  

Ariel and mommy-of-two Allison

Ariel's favorite holiday is Halloween.  I think she feels like it's her holiday because it falls so close to her birthday.  On top of that, she is the 'night' portion of our day-and-night duo.  Halloween goes hand in hand with the night.  Every year she spends a good part of her paycheck on adding to her All Hallow's Eve decor.    Check out her entryway.

For her birthday lunch, I made a couple dozen cupcakes in her honor.

They were supposed to have a gummy zombie hand coming out of the grave, but I couldn't find the in the store and didn't have time to order them online.  Bummer.

Last week while Brenda was here, we carved pumpkins for Halloween.  I always carve them too early so they are a rotting nasty mess for the night of trick or treating.  I timed it better this year and the pumpkins were good through the weekend.  Sadly, I never made it around to buying the electric candles, so the pumpkins were not lit for the spooky evening.

Aiden was not as impressed by the pumpkin guts this year.  (Last year he was all for it.)  He pulled some of the seeds out of the guts and then decided he would only use a spoon from then on out.  He enjoyed watching US pull out the goods though.

Aiden took a moment to flip through the pumpkin carving book while Daddy worked on Spiderman and I worked on the owl.

He kept wanting to stir the guts in our pumpkins, so Grandma cut open the third pumpkin and let him have at it.  As you can see in this photo, Aiden went to bed late A LOT while Grandma was here.  There was so much to do!

Aiden was super excited about his Spiderman pumpkin.  I think Daddy was a little annoyed with me for choosing the one I did.  Little does he know, I actually chose the easier of the two I found online.  I think he did a fine job.