We need an update, huh?

Ok, so I have yet another (now we're at every 3 weeks) midwife appointment on Monday. Not looking forward to getting my blood drawn one little bit!

I think the baby has been having very short spurts of hiccups, like 4-5 hiccups then it's done. I just thought that they were rhythmic kicks, my baby's got rhythm! But I guess it's possible that they're hiccups, who knows!

I had a terrible headache invade my body on Tuesday overnight into Wednesday. I eeeked (sorry Superhubby, it's a word to me!) through the day on Wednesday while going to work and to the previously mentioned non-profit organization that helps with pregnancies before going home and practically crashing for the rest of the night. I hate skipping church services, but I would have been worthless and gotten nothing out of the service whatsoever! It was such a sickening headache that I didn't even eat supper! That's bad for me...now that I'm prego, I can't seem to skip a meal at all. But it's all over now, thank you Jesus!

I can't believe I'm already into my third trimester! Time has just flown by! I'm hoping that over the next few wintry months, I'll have time to get the nursery in order. I've not really worked much on it so far, been trying to keep up with everything else.

Well, I think I'm going to try to make some banana nut muffins for my Grandpa that I'll probably see tomorrow and then gotta get back to the laundry and dishes. Later all!

PS, thanks for all the wonderful comments! Love ya!

New baby stuff!

Ok, so a lot has happened in the last week-ish. Last weekend, Superhubby's cousin who has sworn she is done with bearing children gave us a bunch of her baby stuff. She gave us: a Pack'nPlay, high chair, swing, jumper thing that hangs from the doorway, exersaucer, boppy pillow and a few other small tid bits. I was blown away by her generosity. Thanks cuz! So, now on top of that, we have our crib & mattress and dresser too. We have been promised a slightly used bassinet also. I'm so excited! Now I just have to get the time and energy to really start working on the nursery! Mom-in-law has said that sometime she will come over (I need to get the paint first) and paint a mural of a jungle or something to that effect on one of the nursery walls. I'm pumped about that too! Yesterday I went to a local non-profit organization that helps with pregnancies and preparing for the coming of baby and signed up for their Baby Bucks program. Said program allows you to go once a week and take a lesson about childbirth or raising a baby, etc and you earn "baby bucks" for each lesson and if there is a homework assignment that is completed. There are other things you can earn the bucks for too, ie: OB appointments (midwife in my case), signing up for WIC and others. Once I earn 5-6 baby bucks, I'm going to get a new infant car seat! I'm so excited! I also went home yesterday with some very nice, very desperately needed maternity clothes: 3 skirts & 4 shirts. Most of which came from Motherhood! I'm so excited!

Ok, nuf about the stuff, now about the kid...Early this week I was laying on the bed and the baby really started to kick hard on the front of my belly. So, I laid there watching my belly jump and jive with every kick. It was the craziest thing! I also had my midwife appointment on Monday and all is well. I didn't realize how high up my uterus is already! It's about an inch and a half above the belly button! No wonder I was feeling some high kicks the other day! At my next appointment I have to take the standard Gestational Diabetes and Hemoglobin tests. Yippee...*Sarcasm!* To complete these tests, they must take 2 vials of my greatly needed blood. If you weren't here for the previous blood draw, just look back a few months...I almost passed out (although, in my defense, they did take 4 VIALS!!!). I had never, that I remember, had blood taken before and I DON'T.LIKE.NEEDLES!

Last weekend I also got to go see my lil' sis! Her birthday is this weekend, but she was home last weekend, so we had her party then. It was good to see her. I feel like I never get to see her anymore. Love ya sis! And happy early birthday, since I probably won't blog before end-ish of next week.

Well, I think I'll end this book now. And just out of curiosity, I don't really know how many people read this bloggy thing, so...to satisfy a pregnant woman...leave me a comment. Even if you have to leave it as "Anon" and sign your name to it. I'm just overwhelmed with curiosity.

:-) Thanks! Hasta Luego!

Slacker's my name and puttin' things off is my game...

So, I've been rightly reprimanded. I didn't realize it had been so long since I had posted, I'm sorry. Time has just flown by over this last month with all that is going on right now. We've been trying to get wood cut for the cold weather ahead of us (that's already here!!!), trying to get the rest of the garden harvested, getting the house cleaned up from the week and a half of sickness that plagued our home and working at the restaurant...I don't feel like I've had time to breathe! There have been many a day over the last while that I've been too busy to take my afternoon cat nap...NOT.what.you.want.to.be.around...a.napless.pregnant.woman!!! So, things have been crazy, and I apologize for my slacking blogginess.

Update on baby: (because that's why you're here, right?)
Just this week, Superhubby felt the baby move for the first time! It was so cool! The baby has been moving a lot lately and kicking like mad! One of the guys I work with said I'm going to have a soccer player...I told him "I think so!" and he laughed. I have my next appointment with my midwife on the 19th, so in a little over a week. The last appointment, the heartbeat was in the 140's and she said everything looked like I was growing at the right size for 20 weeks. I'm now 23 weeks along and beginning to show. I still have the waist line thing going on, so I still look fat instead of pregnant, but people are starting to say that I look pregnant now. So, I guess that's a good thing. I'll have to break down soon and take a belly pic for y'all to see. I've been avoiding them thus far because of my plumpness anyway.

Other news in life:
We had the police out to our house last night because Superhubby went out to the shed to get some wood and went to split a larger-than-would-fit-in-the-stove piece of wood and couldn't find his ax, so he got to looking and not only was his ax missing, but his sledgehammer AND his chainsaw! We checked everywhere...they were nowhere to be found. After the deputy came out to file a report, he told us that another theft was reported on Wednesday up the road of a weedeater and some other stuff stolen out of a shed. So, I'm thankful that we have as much wood as we have cut so far this year, but just when things have gotten tight over the last couple months, we have to fork out more $ to replace these items by spring. We definitely need a new ax soon, but I think the others may be able to wait...we'll see.

This morning, I went to leave the house and slipped on a muddy spot on the sidewalk and fell flat on my face! I actually did hit my forehead, but it only hit a soft spot of grass, so it just got muddy, but my left knee got scraped up pretty bad and my left ring finger popped when I fell too. So, I took off my wedding band in fear of swelling, but I think it's ok...it just smarts. The baby is still moving a lot, so not to worry there. Just my graceful self (I get it natural) showing off again.

I also translated (in Spanish) a church service for the first time last Sunday night...or tried to. I actually did better than I thought I would. Yay Me!!!
Well, I think that's all for now. Toodles!

We have movement!!!

It's crazy, but I have definitely been feeling baby move more and more over the last few days. It's not what I was expecting, although I really don't know what I was expecting to feel. I can tell you that I don't think I liked it at first because it was really weird...pressure...almost (ALMOST, mind you) painful. I didn't really know what it was for obvious reasons, but the more I felt it, the more I knew. Now, the more I'm feeling it, the more I'm liking it. It really makes you feel close to your baby like no one can describe. It's a wordless sensation...women try to put words to it, but it's not the same coming from any one woman. Some say it feels like gas bubbles, others say butterflies, I had one woman tell me it felt like a little worm inside. Truly, none of those things describe it for me, it's just the reality of knowing that my baby really IS inside of me, because it's indescribably awesome. I sat down this morning, eating french toast and chocolate milk and felt the baby begin to move and I had to smile because I think it got a sugar high. ;-) I think it's just so cool...

In other news, I'm working the main restaurant tonight...yes...Friday night. I'm scared out of my wits! You see, during the school year, with two colleges in the vicinity, that place is crazy! I'm glad to find out that there are going to be 1-2 other people there at the front helping me with the various duties of a host/ess. The things I am expected to do:
1) Seat customers while trying to keep it fairly split for the waiters/waitresses.
2)Run the register, which includes the credit card machine.
3) Insert tips into the credit card machine while in down time.
4) Answer the phone
5) Take down to-go orders & take them to the kitchen
6) Get the to-go orders bagged up with the correct stuff in them (salsa, chips, utensils, tortillas if needed, etc.)--this is a crazy task if you have many to-go orders...I had 7 at one time the other day!.
7) Just keep smiling, smiling, smiling!

I'm sure there are other things I'm expected to do, but that's mostly what I do and it really keeps me busy as a bee. Well, my name does mean 'honeybee'! So, I'm glad to have someone else to help when it's crazy busy tonight...because that's just way to much for my little prego brain to handle right now.

Well..I guess I outta post huh?

I have a new job! As of last week on Thursday, the owner of a Mexican restaurant in the area called me back and asked me if I could work in two hours! I said, "YEAH!" So, I got ready and headed in to get trained. Since then, I have worked:

Thursday -2 hours lunch shift
Friday - 2 hours lunch shift
Saturday - 2 hours lunch shift & 3 hours dinner shift at Express
Monday - 2 hours lunch shift
Tuesday - 2 hours lunch shift
Thursday - 2 hours lunch shift at Express
Then today, I must work the 3 hour dinner shift at Express
and tomorrow, the 2 hours shift at Express.

Whew! What a busy week!!! I'm really not good at getting in the groove of a new routine. So, I'm still trying to figure out how my day should go if I work the lunch shift or the dinner shift...the things I can get done and the things that must be done in the short few hours that I have at home.

I LOVE MY JOB! I haven't really spoken Spanish much since I quit teaching two years ago, so I was really scared that I wouldn't pick it back up as easily as I'd like to. However, I'm not doin' so shabby if I do say so myself. I have made mistakes though...my forte is really not taking to go orders over the phone or in person. The food tickets must be just right and the menus are different for the two restaurants. So, it's kinda hard to remember which restaurant has which items and for what price and how to write them down on the ticket so the cooks understand it. Yesterday, I made the cooks make 2 chimichangas more than what they needed to. Ooooops! I'm getting the hang of it though. One of the waiters just got back from a two month trip to Mexico last week and he speaks so fast it's not even funny! And who's the one to help me understand how the menu and tickets work yesterday...yes...it's him! So, surprisingly, I got the gist. I don't think I've heard anyone speak that fast since I was in Costa Rica! Crazy stuff! I like the interaction more than I do the actual work though. I've been hoping to get a little closer to this group for a long time. Now we seem to be making a connection.

Also, in the last week...our melon patch that is full of different kinds of melons...watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews, European melons, muskmelons, etc...was getting really close to producing vine-ripened melons for us. Notice, the "was" in last sentence. Suddenly, we noticed the vines being trampled and melons MISSING.....yes...I said missing!!! There was no trace of some of the French melons that we so wanted to try once they ripened...the ones that were closest to being ripe were GONE. At first we thought it was either a family of raccoons or a groundhog, but we had a problem...how were we going to figure out which it was? So, we went out to the patch and numbered all the melons that were close enough to worry about and we had 17 at that point...we had already lost around 4-6 of them. So, every morning and evening we went out to count the melons and one or two of them showed up missing during the daytime. This was odd, because Superhubby instructed me to try to keep the dogs outside in the backyard where the melon patch was as much as possible. Very odd, melons coming up missing with Molly in the backyard...she's our watchdog when it comes to vermin. So, upon recognizing the melon-napping in the early evening, Superhubby and I went back to the patch to re-count just in case I had missed the melon. On our way there, Superhubby decided to stop by the "shredding grounds" (a spot in the yard where Belle, our newest, has picked to bring things to chew on for a while) and guess what he found? Melon #12!!!! Our Springer Spaniel is eating our melons!!!!!! Granted, they're smaller "gift" melons that she can pick up on her own, but shouldn't she be having intestinal problems by now? Melon #12 was still green...or unripe for those of you who don't know gardening lingo. This dog is crazy! So, when my father-in-law asked if we caught a coon yet in the live trap, we said, nope, we caught a dog! CRAZY DOG!

Oh, and the baby's doin' fine....I think I might be feeling the beginnings of movement in there, but I don't really know for sure yet. Midwife said on Monday that I'm right on target for week 17, so all's good so far.

And thus ends my book....

The Bazaar and Miraculous, all in one post!!!

Sunday night I had a crazy dream, for those of you facebookers out there, you already know how bazaar it really was. So, Meagan and I were talking after church on Sunday night about her baby moving and mine just beginning to move. She said at one point that it was really weird sometimes and I said "like an alien inside, huh?". Well, that comment got me a really nutzo dream. That night, I dreamed about my baby moving, well...stretching as I've felt it doing over the last couple days, no kicking yet, but small little stretches. The baby stretched so hard in my dream that an appendage stretched through the skin! This appendage was not a hand, foot, arm or leg, but a TENTACLE!!! Talk about crazy prego dreams!

And I have a praise report!!! I've been praying that God would provide for us over the last couple months and help us pay our bills, because since I lost my job back in April, we've had some hard times. Well, it's all God this month, and we and He knows it. I've been thanking Him for helping us pay our bills daily, and I've felt still hopeless (as most good Christians should probably get to that point at one time or another to realize that God is in control and we are not) and helpless to the situation. I've learned to trust in God more because He knows His plans for us, and we....well, don't. So, anyhoo...last night, Superhubby called cellphone company because we were going to cancel 2 of the 4 phones on our plan (in-laws are also on our plan...cancel Superhubby's and mom-in-law's). My phone is still under contract until the coming April or May, so I had to keep mine and mom-in-law just wanted to get rid of hers anyway. So, he called them and told them that we needed to drop two lines on the plan and the person gave him over to a special person that could work wonders from God. (well...probably not, but in this case...yes) Since Superhubby has been with cellphone company for 10 years, they really wanted to keep him in as much capacity as they could. So, for the same price we were going to have to pay for the most basic plan for my phone and dad-in-law's add on...he gave us the most basic plan for me & Superhubby's and dad-in-law's add ons to the plan. Now, we lowered the amount of minutes we had to something that fit within our needs anyway and got rid of the texting...sorry all you out there that text me, they're blocked now. But here's a couple clinchers...Superhubby's phone is shot...that's part of the reason that he was just going to get rid of his anyway...they GAVE...yes...gave him a free Razor (no, not the best phone, but free!!) with free activation!!! AND...yes, there's more...he back dated the plan change by 3 months, and gave us a credit to our bill....thus NO CELL PHONE BILL THIS MONTH!!! Praise God for providing! Now, granted, that's just one of the bills, but it's a wonderful, miraculous start. God is soooooo good!

Why Lord, Why?

Why is it that even though you trust God to provide and you praise Him for it daily, you still come up short? I don't have the answers, only tears and frustration. I thought I had the answer, but it seems to be put off week after week and I don't have the providence to make up for the loss. What can I do, but keep trusting and praising? I'm lost.

Praise God for cooler weather! AC off-windows open! We got a heavy rainstorm last night. It just popped up out of the blue after all the other storms had passed and we got nuthin...thought we had been neglected AGAIN, but God gave us rain! It was probably around 10 or so and we heard thunder...checked the radar and sure 'nuf...here she came. What a great way to cool the weather down! It's going to be a beautiful day today!

I really haven't felt like blogging the last few days. I've been trying to get caught up on everyone on facebook and then I got addicted to cloth diaper shopping! I had no idea that they had come so far! Some friends of ours just showed us a bumGenius diaper that they use on their one year old and I was AMAZED!!!! I think that's the brand I want to go with, especially the one size ones because they will go with your child until they're potty trained. I stand in awe...

So, last weekend, Superhubby and I were laying in bed and I felt the baby "lump" like I had before and I said "There's the baby!" Superhubby asked "Where?" So I put his hand where mine was and HE FELT IT! It was so cool! Then he said "It moved..." and he chased it around my belly for a couple minutes. Even though we're not feeling it kicking and tumbling around, it's cool to be able to feel that it's there. They neatest feeling when he actually felt it. So amazing!

All about baby...

Ok, not a lot to talk about this time...but here we go anyhooo...

Since last Monday when my midwife found the heartbeat of the baby and I could feel a "lump" which was the baby, I've felt something in the belly a few times. I can't really explain it other than I'm positive it was the baby, whether it was moving or just up against some flexed muscle or what I don't know...but the baby nonetheless. I've felt it twice, both times I was going from a sitting to a laying down position in the bed and I felt a tightness like I've never felt before in my lower belly (about where the midwife found it on Monday). I told Superhubby the first time: "That was weird. I think I just felt the baby." and his normal reply for everything having to do with stomach: "It was gas." You must know my hubby to know that his reply for many things is "gas". If you feel a rumbly in your tumbly and you say so, even though you're hungry, it's "gas" to him. He's just funny. I let his comment go, because I knew it was the baby. I know I'm not supposed to feel fetal movement until towards the end of this month, but I'm not sure it was movement, just presence.
One more thing: So far, I've gotten predictions from two ladies at church. One had a dream about me having twins, the other said on Sunday "you're having a girl." My mother-in-law told me yesterday that she remembers a dream that she had about a baby that wasn't hers that was a boy. I have had dreams (see previous posts) about the baby, and one was really odd and didn't have any gender, but one was a boy. Lately, I've had dreams, the plots of which I have no memory, but I do remember dreaming all night Sunday night about a baby boy. I just don't know what to think. I guess we'll find out in a few months if nothing else. huh?

The good, the bad & the scary!

Ok, without going into details...
Friday night into Saturday morning, I was afraid that I was miscarrying the baby. No severe symptoms, just enough to scare the snot out of you, y'know? So, anyway...I've taken it easy since and by Saturday afternoon all the symptoms had pretty much all gone away. I knew I had my OB appointment with my midwife on Monday (yesterday) so I called her Saturday morning to give her a heads up. She basically told me to watch it and take it easy and if anything worsens to call her or go to the ER. This all came after talking to Jana on Friday afternoon and saying that God had given me such a peace over the last 4-5 weeks that I wasn't going to miscarry and that things were going to be just fine. Because early on I really had a lot of fears and misgivings about the whole thing. Then this all happened Friday night. At 2am, I cried my eyes out and Superhubby prayed with me to calm down and for everything to be okay. It calmed me enough to stop crying, but I didn't get hardly any sleep that night.
So.....yesterday I had my midwife appointment at 1:15. Superhubby went along because we dropped our insurance and we had to set up a payment plan with the Dr. office. My midwife decided that after all the craziness of the weekend, we probably had better use the Doppler to hear the heartbeat just to make sure all was going okay. I agreed to it, even though I really didn't want to use the Doppler, because I wanted to make sure that the baby was alive and well. She asked me if I wanted to do an ultrasound, but I declined because hearing the heartbeat was enough to convince me. I do have to say though, that it was the neatest thing! When she found the baby and was pushing on my belly where he/she was, I could feel the "knot" that was the baby in my belly! It felt like it was about the size of an apricot or a plum. We heard my heartbeat right away, but then when she found the baby, you could hear the baby's heartbeat behind mine. Mine was much slower, then you could hear a faster little baby heartbeat in the background, she said about 150 beats per minute. It made us smile! THERE REALLY IS A BABY IN THERE!!! I can't wait until I can feel it moving around! I've fallen in love with a little baby inside me, what a different kind of love...what a new feeling altogether! So...SO...Amazing!