More thoughts on Lil' Wodie

Some very weird thoughts I've had lately are that I am going to be a mom. And Travis is going to be a dad. And we are going to have a son. Putting those thoughts into words, out loud, sounds so strange.

On December 10th, we had the first ultrasound for the nuchal translucency test. This tests for genetic abnormalities and so far everything looks good! I go back again in a couple weeks for the second test to compare the growth over time. I'm confident that everything will be fine. They were able to tell the sex (and the little man couldn't keep his hands off himself, confirming his sex by showing that he is already exhibiting male tendencies), count his 10 fingers, and see the legs, arms and full facial profile.

It's amazing to think I have a little human inside of me. At that ultrasound, he was about five centimeters long, approximately the size of a large plum. We also got to hear his heartbeat for the first time. 169 beats per minute! A little fast, but they said the younger they are, the faster the heartbeat can be.

Another hilarious thing that we witnessed was Lil' Wodie peeing! Then he gulped in amniotic fluid. I'm trying not to think about that too much. It was a weird thing to be privy to. We are already violating his privacy and he's not even out of the womb yet!

I'm a little freaked out about having to take care of him after the circumcision. It's such a sensitive time and I want it to be as easy as possible for the little guy. Oi, I'm worried about him already.

Internet, I'm Pregnant!

Yup, that's right! Travis and I decided that our New Year's resolution for this year is to be good parents. We are expecting our first child to come into the world somewhere around June 22nd. As of yesterday I am 15 weeks along in the gestation process.

We found out when I was only four weeks prego, so this has been some pretty hard stuff to hold back from my family, friends and the blogging community. We decided to wait to tell our parents until we could tell them in person and properly accept hugs and the exclamations of joy. Now that they know, and all our closest friends know, I felt it was time to announce it on my blog. Weehoo!!

We found out the sex, but in the name of fun, we've decided not to tell anyone the name of our baby until he is born. We're having a son! In the meantime, we're calling him Lil' Wodie. We went with this name because Wodie is a play on Travis' last name that became his nickname in high school. Now that we both have the same last name it only seems fitting that we call the wee one Lil' Wodie.

Thing I Like The Least About Pregnancy Thus Far: a raging case of acne.

I was trying to think when the last time was that I had acne this bad, but I honestly cannot remember it ever being like this. Which causes me to think this is the worst case of acne I've ever had. Although the lack of humidity up here is definitely helping out matters. I know that I should not be complaining because some people have it so much worse than I do. And it could be a raging case of morning sickness. I've been lucky so far with only mild nausea for the most part. I did vomit once when I was maybe 6 or 7 weeks along, but that was it.

Thing I Like The Most About Pregnancy Thus Far: my growing bust line.

I'm pretty sure I've gone up a cup size and I KNOW that this is Travis' favorite part of my pregnancy so far. It really is amazing how much they can grow. And supposedly they are only going to get bigger! I've put off buying a new bra because I want to make sure I get one that I will fit for the longest time period. For now, I'm busting out of the bras I do have and I LOVE it.

One Last Kink

When Travis went to pick up the Murano last night, he was happy to find out that the repair was completely covered under warranty. How often does that happen?! Phew!

About a mile and a half from the dealership, the jerky-lurchy thing started happening again, but WORSE. Travis immediately flipped the car around and called Josh to tell him he would be returning with the car. Irritated, he pulled right up to the garage door. The technician ran out to pop the hood. After a quick inspection, it was obvious that the air intake piping had come unattached from the engine.

When he tried to reattach it, the piping would not easily fit back into place. Either the rubber had become hardened over time, or our model had a crappy version of the piping. There was another Murano in the shop, so Josh went over and took the same part from that car and put it into ours. That one had soft piping that easily fit into the engine.

"You're good to go!" Josh said.

Travis next question seemed reasonable, "What's that guy gonna do without this part?"

"Oh, I can just order a new one and have it in place when they come to pick it up on Monday," was his reply.

Ha! Good deal! We didn't have to wait a whole weekend for them to receive the part, and that guy gets a new piece to his engine for free! Although, I'm starting to wonder where that mass flow sensor came from that they just happened to have in stock for us...

Oh ya and PS - there is a flipping tornado watch here this morning. I woke up to thunder. THUNDER. And then quickly checked the forecast. It is mysteriously 60°F with rain, lightning and wind gusts up to 33 mph. What is up with this weather?!

I do not for a second miss the possibility of tornadoes when we lived in this area, but I do miss the rain storms. It's just not the same right next to the ocean.

Bad Timing

Ugh. The Murano broke down. On the day before Christmas Eve. SO ANNOYING. Luckily we didn't have anywhere to go on Christmas Eve so we just stayed at my mom's house the whole time.

We aren't exactly sure what happened to the vehicle, but Travis thinks it might have something to do with a puddle he drove through in the country. I've driven through plenty of puddles in Galveston (notorious for it's flooding), so that can't be the only factor. Maybe the water freezing on the engine so quickly that it didn't have a chance to dry off had something to do with it? Not sure. But the car wouldn't idle when put into park. It just died.

Then today when we went to pick it up to bring it to the dealership (first day they've been open since the fiasco began) it would idle, but accelerating from 0 to 30mph took about half a minute of jerking and lurching to complete. Each intersection we drove through to get to the dealership was agony. I think we were the only car to make it through the light each time. I was grateful when we finally made it to our destination.

This is obviously not a good time to have the car break down on us. We sort of need to get back to Texas in a week. Plus, we've got about a million people to visit prior to then. This is such a pain in the ass.

On the night of Christmas Eve, my mom let us borrow her car to get to my dad's place. We left the Murano in her garage to "thaw out". We stayed at my dad's until 2pm on Christmas Day, when we drove to Travis' mom's house. Today, we returned the loaner to my mom and took the car to the dealership. Travis' step-dad, Rich, picked us up and we all went out to lunch at Papa Del's (the best stuffed pizza I've ever had). It was a nice distraction from the possible insane costs in our future. The guy at the dealership told us that if it is water damage it will not be covered under our warranty.

We got lucky. Our technician is AWESOME and did not mention the possibility of the water damage to the warranty people. It turns out it the mass flow sensor (monitors fuel flow) needed to be replaced, and the problem might not have been related to the puddle at all. Travis and his mom are gone right now. They left to pick up the vehicle and pay the deductible.

I am just amazed that they were able to diagnose and fix the vehicle in ONE DAY. The dealership back home has never been able to master that feat. It's always one day to diagnose, several days to order and receive the part, and another day to repair. I may just have to rub this experience in their face so maybe our dealership will get their butts in gear. Hooray for Josh, the Best Technician Ever!!

Ice Storm

This tree is in front of my mom's garage. When we got home around 4 this afternoon, we easily pulled the car into the garage. Good thing we beat gravity's attack on the tree.

We finished the Christmas tree and put a bunch of the presents underneath. My brother is still wrapping in the other room as I type. Check out mi Madre's new do.

Ariel wrapped up Toby to put under the tree.

My dad is notorious for his inability to be photogenic. Here he is smiling off at some imaginary friend in the next room. Ariel helps balance out the beauty of this photo. This is a quick peak at my dad's new apartment.

Freezing Rain

I spent all afternoon store hopping with my mom and sister while they finished up their Christmas shopping. It was horrible because there was freezing rain, complete with slushy puddles to welcome us in each parking lot. I am so glad I bought new gloves and ear warmers! And thank you Sara for the new homemade scarf. ;)

I did buy a little for Travis since I found some great deals. We planned not to buy each other anything, but I couldn't resist. We might buy something big for the house when we get back to Texas, depending on the financial situation.

Alex, Travis and Robert went shopping separately and they are still not back yet. I'm working on putting the Christmas tree up with my mom at the moment. Just in time, right? Ariel is wrapping presents and working on a gift her and Robert are making for Alex.

We're having a ham for dinner and then spending all day tomorrow celebrating Christmas with my mom. I am so excited!!! I hope everyone has a great holiday.

It's Frickin Cold People!

Wow, it's cold here. It's been hovering around 0°F since we got here. Right now it is 3°F with a windchill of 15°F. This is insane. Travis has been questioning our decision to move back here in a few years. I hope he is joking. This is pretty miserable weather though. I keep trying to compare it to the stifling, humid heat of Galveston, TX in the middle of summer. I'm having trouble convincing myself that the heat is worse at this point.

Yesterday, I needed to run up to the store to grab a couple items for making Christmas cookies. Alex wanted to show off his car and told me he would drive me. We ran out to his car and tried to jump in quickly to escape the wind, but were unsuccessful. The locks were frozen. After we were able to break through that ice, the doors themselves were frozen shut. After a minute of trying, Alex got his door open. He hopped inside and pushed the inside of the passenger door while I pulled from the outside. We FINALLY got it after another minute (felt like hours) of pushing and pulling.

After all that, it took him a moment to get the car started. I think a combination of the ridiculous temperatures and his car being old made it slow to start. He finally got it running, grabbed the scraper and hopped back outside to take care of the windshield. Alex had left his gloves in his bedroom, so his fingers quickly went numb, but he managed to get a big enough circle scraped out so we could drive. The whole time he was working on the windshield I had to hold his door shut because the latch was now stuck open. Alex ended up having to lock the door to get it to stay closed for the drive to the store.

It only took five minutes to get to the store (not worth walking to in this weather), so the car wasn't even warm yet. The excitement really started when we tried to get out of the car. I got out fine, locked and closed the door. Alex could not get his door to unlock, so he tried my door. I'm thinking the locks were sticking a little in the cold and his fingers were too numb to work properly. We ended up having to roll down the window so he could give me the keys. I had to use the keys from the outside while he pulled the lock on the inside. It took another five minutes, before Alex was able to escape from his car.

We were only inside the store for a little while. Unfortunately, we didn't think to leave the door unlocked when we left the car. When we got back out, we had the same problem, only this time there was no one on the inside of the car to throw their shoulder into the door. We decided to go back inside and call our dad to come back with a crow bar. We didn't know what else to do. While we were standing there, I asked Alex if he can get from his trunk into the car if he pushed the back seats down. He wasn't sure if the seats were latched, but he thought it was worth the try. I stayed inside with the groceries while he ran back out to the car. When I saw his head pop up on the inside of the car, I ran out to meet him. Ha!

We were still unable to get the door unlocked, so I had to throw the groceries in through the window and climb in through the trunk too. When I got into the back seat I said, "Who's gonna close the trunk?!" I had to lay down in the little trunk, find a hole to pull the trunk down, and yank it down hoping the entire time that I didn't get my hair or head caught somewhere. I made it into the back seat again, alive and well. A family in an SUV drove by and gave us a nasty glare. It must have looked like we were stealing the car. I was unable to get the car unlocked with my not-yet-frozen fingers.

Let's just say I was VERY thankful to get back into the delightfully wonderful heat of my dad's apartment.