7 Weeks

I'm 7 weeks along now and the pregnancy symptoms finally hit me a little stronger this week. I've been nauseous and have gagged several times but have never thrown up which I am thankful I have not. We were driving through a parking lot that had fresh mulch in their landscaping. The mulch gave off this hideous odor that smelled like throw up and manuer. I told Nick to drive quickly and we rolled down the windows so at least the smell was not contained in the car. Nick remembered that I had some vanilla body spray in the back and so I grabbed that and sprayed it. That was a bad idea because it just made it worse and then it got in my mouth and I was gagging pretty bad. We got out of there finally and I started to feel better, but I just felt pretty queezy the rest of the night.

Another symptom that has been rough on me is being dizzy. It is pretty scary to be dizzy but I've been reading the book, What To Expect When You're Expecting, and they say it's normal. I've discovered that when I do get dizzy, it's because I'm tired and exhausted. I usually get dizzy at night pretty bad and then I know that I need to get in bed. On Friday night we had small group for our church. I was feeling great when we got there. We started eating after about 30 minutes of being there and all of a sudden the dizzy spell hit hard. Everything was moving and I could not shake it off. Our friends let me go into her sons room to take a nap. I ended up sleeping the entire time which was about 2 hours!! I felt really bad, but everyone understood. I think I am having a hard time letting it go. I have so much to do and not enough time the way it is, but my body just won't let me do it all. It's very frustrating because when I go to take a nap in the afternoon, I end up laying there making a to-do list in my head and end up getting up about 15-30 minutes later because I cannot sleep! It's frustrating because I would rather nap, but I'm just a "get it done" kind of person. For example, today, I need to grade a huge bag full of my students papers and enter them into the grade book because grades are due by Tuesday, vaccum, finish unpacking from spring break, do the laundry, clean the bathroom, cook dinner, get the groceries, call friends and family to talk to them, cut Nick's hair...the list goes on and on I tell you! It's 2:54 pm and I need to be in bed probably by 8. I have no idea how I am going to get all of that done in that amount of time! I need a nap, I tried to do that, and my mind just is on overload! It's very frustrating!

Tomorrow I have to get my blood drawn so they can check hormone levels to make sure everything is still going fine with the pregnancy. I also have a check up for my foot to make sure everything is still healing properly because of the surgery. On Thursday I have to go to the OB and we're going to have our first ultrasound and hopefully get to hear the heartbeat! We are so excited for this appointment! It's going to be a busy but exciting week. With that stated, I should probably get some of this stuff done so I can wear myself out to take a nap! Until next time...

Baby Fever----Yes, Nick and I are going to be parents!!!!

Oh my it has been a while since I last wrote! And so much has happened since the end of January! Since that is the case, I'll just stick to the important stuff.

We just got back from Spring Break in Indiana. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends. Kelly, Shelly and myself hosted a baby shower for Heather (Nick's sister). She is having a baby boy and is due within the next few weeks. We had a great time at the shower and played some pretty fun games. We played the traditional game of "don't say the word baby or else you'll loose your clothespin." We also played a game where I took some brown paper bags and each bag got one letter. The letters spelled out BABY SHOWER. I purchased a baby item that started with each letter and place them in the bag. Everyone had to guess what they thought could be inside each bag without touching them or looking into them. We also had another guessing game where everyone had to predict how many bibs they thought Heather would get. She ended up getting 20 bibs!! The last game we played, which really isn't a game just something funny, was HILARIOUS! I wrote down all the little comments that Heather made as she opened her gifts. When the presents were finished, I stood up and told everyone that I was going to read some of the things that Heather said to Joe the night that the baby was conceived. She made comments like, "Aww, it's so cute!" And "You don't have to take a picture every time." And the best one was when she got an outfit that had crabs on it and someone asked what it was and she replied, "They're crabs!" Oh man, everyone was laughing and some of the ladies were laughing so hard they were shedding a few tears! And Heather was a good sport about it too. Heather, I know you read this, but you know I love you and it was a good memory!! :) Heather also told me, "what goes around comes around" and I am very aware of this. She got a lot of great presents and we ate some really good food.

Nick and I found out before we left for spring break that we were expecting a baby as well. We didn't want to tell Nick's family until after the shower so Heather could have her day all to herself. So after everyone left and it was pretty much just immediate family, we were all sitting around talking. Nick made the comment that they better save the shower decorations and it took everyone just a few seconds to realize what that really meant, and then they were all excited and happy! :) Everyone congratulated us and were pretty surprised I think. It was so great.

So to talk about how we found out...

First of all, I'm never late,I'm always on time for my period. Well, I was two days late and I just felt different all over and was pretty sore. I decided to go get a home pregnancy test. I was going to wait to take it first thing in the morning. I went to bed at 9:15 and kept waking up and wondering if I was pregnant and how exciting that would be. I also got up to go to the bathroom twice before 2:15. So I was laying in bed just thinking about it and by 2:30 I decided I'd had enough and I had to go to the bathroom again. I woke up Nick and asked him if he thought I should just take the test now and he said sure. So I took the test, and after just a few seconds, it showed positive that I was preganant!!! I couldn't believe it and I ran into the bedroom saying, "I'm preganant!! Nick wake up I'm pregnant!!" He turned over and said, "Are you serious??" I showed him and we both were so happy and excited. I can't even explain the feeling it was just amazing! Well...I thought knowing right away would help me to get to sleep...HA HA HA!!! We both just layed there talking about it and saying, "oh my gosh!" Needless to say, I didn't get back to sleep until about 4:30 and I think Nick was about the same!! What a sleepless but memorable night.

I went to the doctor the next day to confirm it and they did a test and it was positive as well. They told me my due date is November 15. I set up my next appointment for April 2 when I will be over 7 weeks along. At this appointment, we will have our first ultrasound and get to listen to the heartbeat. We are both looking forward to that moment and what a miracle it will be. I will be sure to make more updates in the next 8 months. :) I can't make any promises for after that time... I'm sure you all understand.

Surgery

I had foot surgery on Friday morning to have two plantar warts removed. They were hurting so bad that I couldn't go on living with them on my foot. I had never had a wart before and I didn't know what the first one was when I got it this summer. Then a second one appeared over Thanksgiving.

I was really nervous to have the surgery, but I knew in the long run it would be best. They told me I was not going to be completely asleep for the surgery. I was kind of hoping I could just fall asleep so I wouldn't have to worry about it. I have only had surgery once and that was to have my wisdom teeth removed. They knocked me out for that, but I don't remember much about it. I got to the surgery center and they called me back and I had to change into a gown, wear one of those caps to cover my hair and wear those crazy hospital socks with the grips on the bottom. Then they had me hope in a hospital bed, hooked my finger up to a pulse monitor and told me they would be inserting an IV in so that way they could give me the anesthesia that way. I asked if I was going to be completely asleep for it and they said yes. I was thrilled!!

The worst part was the IV. I had great nurses that took care of me and my anesthesiologist was funny and helped me relax about the whole thing. He started putting in the medicine and told me I would start relaxing. I asked him when it would start working and his reply was, "why don't you tell me." haha About 20 seconds after that, I felt it and I got really dizzy and sleepy. I kind of giggled and said, "Ok it's working." Nick was beside me when they were giving me the medicine. It happened so fast and then they rolled me away to the operating room. I said goodbye to Nick. When I got into the room, I hardly remember anything and then I heard my name to a nurse waking me up. It took me about 45 minutes to wake up.

All in all it was pretty easy. Nick took good care of me and we relaxed the rest of the day. By noon, I was pretty much back to normal. I was feeling great enough that we went to small group on Friday night too and I'm glad we went because it was good to get out of the apartment.

This morning (Saturday) I woke up and my foot was in pain, but I took some more medicine and soaked my foot and changed the bandages, iced it and it feels much better! I'm looking forward to being able to put some pressure on it and being able to walk. I am hoping to be able to return to work on Monday. I can't wait for my foot to get back to normal so I can start working out again and being able to walk like normal. :)

Christmas 2008

What a great time of year! My favorite holiday is Christmas. To celebrate the birth of Jesus and to spend time with family is just wonderful. We traveled for hours to get to Indiana and spend about a week with Nick's family. After that, we traveled several more hours to Iowa to spend about a week there as well. In Indiana, we got to spend some time with our nieces. They are very silly girls and they LOVE to have their picture taken. We took so many pictures and after every click of the button, we would hear, "Can I see it?"

Below is Lindsey, who is still too little to catch onto asking if she can see her picture.

Nick, Jenna and I...Natalie took this picture.

What a bunch of monkeys!!

All three of the girls! Lindsey wasn't too happy about them trying to get her to smile.

Poor Natalie was not feeling well, she found a nice napping place on Uncle Nick's lap.

Our Nephew, Austin, finally got Markio Kart. We can now play online against each other.

Nick's present from Joe. Love it!!

Christmas in Iowa was nice as well. We didn't take quite as many photos because we were busy going here and there and sometimes we forgot the camera. We spent a lot of time watching movies that everyone got for Christmas. We went to Burlington to have Christmas with the cousins and my Aunts on my mom's side. We did Christmas a little different this year. Rather than drawing a name or playing white elephant, we decided to have a family trivia game. We all purchased gift cards and then put them on the table. In order to pick a gift card as a gift, we had to get three questions correct. The questions were about our family and some of them were pretty tough. If we answered a question incorrectly, we would get negative points. So if we didn't want to answer the question in fear of getting a negative point, then we could draw from the challenge bucket and do challenges. It was a lot of fun and my favorite was getting everyone to make a pyramid. And there are all the cousins on my mom's side.

Isaac and Nick playing darts. Watch out! You never know where those darts may go!

DJ & Jonny...looking so serious!

Christmas Tree Drama

So, I spent some time decorating our apartment for Christmas. I put up a tree and decorated it. I put several ornaments on it and I thought it looked beautiful!

It had been decorated for over a week. I was a little concerned when I first put it up because I wasn't sure what Snicker's would do to it. He left it alone for the most part. I would have to tell him no a few times. I only found 1 or two ornaments on the floor in the first week.

The second week, Heather and Joe were here and so we were gone a lot and I think Snickers must have been upset that he wasn't getting any attention. I came home from school, walked in the door to find the tree was on the floor! Ornaments were all over the floor. That little turd!!

I put it back together, and for 2 more days in a row I found it on the floor everytime I got home! On one of the last days, I found a few ornaments broken and the tree looked more like a charlie brown tree so I decided to take all of the ornaments off and just keep the lights on. So that's what our Christmas tree is like now, just bare with some lights. Snickers sure does keep things interesting around here.

SNOW!

It rained all day and kept getting colder and colder all day last Wednesday. On my way home from school, it went from rain to sleet! By dark, it had turned into flakes, and the flakes just got bigger and bigger! I couldn't believe that snow was falling here in Houston!

Heather and Joe were in town visiting and at first they seemed disappointed, and it's understandable considering they came down here to get away from the cold and the snow! While we were eating dinner at Don Pico's, we were looking out the window and watching the big, heavy flakes fall from the dark sky. Everyone else at dinner were excited and eager to get outside and play in it. It was fun to watch their faces filled with joy!

Grandma's 70th Surprise Birthday Party

Nick and I made it safely to Iowa Saturday. We got up at 4 am and left Houston by 4:45. We arrived at my parents house at 9:30 pm. We were so anxious to get out of the car and walk. It felt so good to be home again.

This is a picture of Nick and I before we left for the party.

My Grandma's surprise birthday party was Sunday. We had her brother call to ask her if she wanted to meet them at Pizza Ranch in Fairfield to eat lunch. She didn't think anything of it because they do that every now and then. The rest of us got there before her and hid in the party room.

Daley, me, and Bailey just waiting on Grandma to arrive at the party.

She came in and was surprised to see everyone and realized what was going on. Then someone (I can't remember who it was exactly) said "And here is the other surprise!" That's when I came out from behind everyone else and she got all teary eyed. :) It turned out to be a great surprise. She had no idea that Nick and I were going to be there and neither did my Great Grandma Dyson.

Grandma Betty on the left, and G. Grandma Dyson on the right when they first came in.

Grandma and I hugging

So the party turned out to be a great success! We had a great time eating some delicious food, and having great conversation. It felt so good to be with family again. I always miss the small things and even the big things, so I felt blessed to be a part of this get together. I'm looking forward to some Thanksgiving fun later this week! :)