Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Total randomness

This post will be totally random and all over the place. You have been so warned.

Julia’s Mom Moment post about Patrick’s name and the disasters she’s dealt with regarding him starting school and not answering to his given first name, etc. caught my attention. I’m name obsessed, have been for decades. I used to “collect” names as a kid. I wanted to be a writer and was totally obsessed with having perfect and unusual names for each character. So I have some very strong opinions when it comes to naming, especially my own offspring, so while I did put a rather long comment up for Julia to peruse, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts here, on my own blog.

I’m all for choosing a name with a nickname in mind and planning for the child to grow into the name. I won’t choose a name I won’t use, ever, even if I like the nickname, and I won’t name my child simply the nickname version just because I plan to call him/her that all the time. For example, I love Maddie, but am not crazy about Madison or Madeline. I’d love to name my daughter after my grandmother for sentimental reasons, but I’m not crazy about her name, Lorraine, and while nickname options have been suggested (Raine is my favorite, Lori is another option) I don’t want to give my daughter a name I don’t like and will never use unless angered. Also, I think it’s silly to saddle a kid with a name that is a nickname if the more adult sounding name is just as nice. For instance, don’t legally name a kid “Abby” when Abigail, nn Abby is perfectly fine. I want my child’s name to have options, or to be a name that will grow with age. (Some names don’t have obvious nicknames, and that is fine as long as it will “fit” on a baby as well as an adult. I site “Kirsten” as a perfect example and one that was very high on my list for quite awhile). My BFF, though only ever wants to give her child the name that he/she will be called and that bugged me. Personally, I don’t ever want to answer to my childhood nn ever again. (I’m out of luck, I know as way too many people really only know me as that) and I love that I have a perfectly reasonable, more grown up version to use in it’s place. It also bugs me when people refuse to use the first name they gave to heir children. My MIL, for example was born Barbara L—and was always called by her middle name. She grew up hating her legal first name. Her family never even considered calling her by that first name, so my question is, why ever would you name your child that in the first place? In a case where it is a family name and dad is named the same thing as the son, or whatever, I get the need for the differenciation. That is a different case.

On another blog I read this week (I’m sorry, I cannot remember whose it was and I apologize for forgetting) a pregnant woman mentioned that she is having trouble remembering words during conversations and was worried that she was losing it or something. I have been having that problem, too. Or a mild form of effasia where you mix up words altogether. I think it’s the pregnancy and what it is doing to our bodies.

Oh, my freaking goodness, the BACKACHES. Yesterday it started in the extreme – I’ve always had back troubles, twinges, etc. I love that Mr. Moose is willing and able (and extremely talented) to give me a massage. I read this morning that backaches are one of the curses of pregnancy and last night that was completely true. At one point I swear it was starting to cause numbness in my shoulder blade area. It was freaking AWFUL. It just hit me again and I’ve decided to agree to go to the chiropractor. Anything at this point.

I don’t mean to brag, and I’m still knocking on wood every time I mention this, but I haven’t really thrown up in 4 days. I’m liking that aspect of the 2nd trimester a lot.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Update on the last day of week 13

I made it through the entire weekend without vomiting once. I wanted to on more than one occasion, but I kept it to myself. I can also happily announce that neither the concept of peeing, nor the act of entering a bathroom is causing me to want to throw anymore. There were several days last week where even the concept of myself peeing (and I’m pregnant, I do that A. Lot.) or anyone else peeing in my vicinity (public bathrooms, anyone?) was enough to make me gag and retch. That particular issue seems to be have moved on and I greatly thank heaven for that blessing.

Work today has truly SUCKED. Everyone is cranky (including me – Mr. Moose has had a snoring festival for 5 nights in a row and I can’t sleep very well through that) and everyone is needy and I just want to go home.

In other news:

I finally decided on which baby bedding to get and my mom is going to get it for me. Mr. Moose is ready to start getting the baby’s room in order and I needed to make that decision in order to choose the paint color.

My friend M (who will eventually be the child care giver for my little bundle) who is approximately 8 weeks ahead of me recently found out that she having a little girl. She is thrilled. This is her third child, she already has one of each. I’m excited for her, as well. I can’t wait to find out what mine will be.

I have begun researching the child birthing and nursing classes offered at my hospital. Turns out that they suggest you take the child birth class beginning somewhere in your 24th-30th week. News to me, though I’m sure by the time you get to 36 weeks, sitting on the floor in the birthing position is harder than it looks. That puts us in a class either beginning just after Thanksgiving or in early December depending on which day of the week we choose.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeee!

It’s been a rough morning already since I had to get blood work done and the receptionist is out (again) with a sick child and I have to cover for her when she is away. (Big sigh) but I got a begonia, a chocolate croissant and cupcakes at work this morning, so hey! It’s shaping up to be a pretty fantastic day!

Seriously thought I was going to loose my breakfast (fresh blueberry muffins made by Mr. Moose) when I was in the car this morning. I managed to control it, but ugh! Yuck!

What is up with the not being able to sleep through the night? Last night I had to contend w/ Mr. Moose’s snoring and he wasn’t being cooperative when I tried to get him to roll over either. But then I thought I felt something tickle my arm, and something on the pillow and I was so sure that there was a bug in bed which then continued to keep me up for awhile. I got a minor bit of heartburn and had to elevate a bit, but I was awake for at least a good hour in the middle of the night where I just couldn’t sleep no matter who tired I was. Ugh. And this was the 3rd night in a row that something like this has occurred. It’s terrible.

My mom and stepfather cooked me dinner last night – homemade Thai food – yum! It was a great evening with them. Mr. Moose was there, too of course. I still don’t know what I want for dinner tonight (I’m having decision-making disorder or something). I’m also feeling very antsy this morning.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Quick M/S update

Well, the good news is, my morning sickness seems to be slowing down. I threw up this morning at work, but it’s been a few days since it actually came to that. Oddly, I had even had breakfast this morning, owing to the extremely strong waves of nausea I was feeling this morning. Didn’t help. I even hacked up a fair share of acid (the worst thing in my opinion). I’ve been burping up a storm lately, and I feel bad for my officemate.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Random thoughts and my weekend.

I’ve been reading several other blogs for over a year now. Several topics came up this week that I would like to mention.

Julie at alittlepregnant had a terrible loss this week. I was amazed and awed at the outpouring of sympathy that was posted in the comments section. When I saw the post where she mentioned it, about a day after it was posted, there were over 800 posts of sympathy. I think it is beautiful that she has had such an impact on so many people over the years as she has chronicled her journey.

Arwen wrote a post about the changes to her preconceived notions and plans in parenting that didn’t really come to fruition. She talked about co-sleeping and long-term nursing and all the things she wrinkled her nose up at before her baby was born and how her thoughts have changed since the baby came. I must say that while I’m sure my thoughts will change in some aspects as I adjust to actually having a baby to deal with instead of just the theories of parenting, however, I’m totally disturbed by the concept of nursing a 3-year-old or having a preschooler still sleeping in the parents’ room every night. I imagine that not being able to be a stay at home mom will prevent/allow me to end nursing when I planned (or there abouts), since our baby will be used to a bottle at least part time (though I do plan to pump and use breast milk during that time in case you’re curious).

Maybe I will be posting in another 18 months or so how my opinions have changed and how I cannot imagine quitting right away or whatever, but I’m totally flabbergasted right now as to the whole concept of some of those issues.

On another subject: Over the weekend, my mom and I spent the better part of Saturday together getting pedicures (my toes look so pretty and my feet are so soft) and make-overs. I had forgotten how much I loved to wear make-up and how much prettier I feel wearing it. A little more than a year ago I purchased Bare Essentials make-up and I loved it, but I have to go across the bay to get more and I haven’t had the money or the effort to refill it lately. I bought some drugstore brand alternative that was okay, but didn’t cover very well and had basically gotten to the point where I just wasn’t putting in the effort any longer. Mom and I spent 2 hours at the Prescriptives counter with a lovely French-Canadian woman who did my make-up and made me look amazing.

I recall being told as a young teen when I first began wearing make-up that I was told that I belonged in warm colors and that eye shadows should be neutral (no blues or purples, etc.) in order to look natural and not like a hooker. This woman “colorprinted” me and actually said that my skintone was a little cooler than I always thought and actually put me in purple eye shadow. I resisted at first, but the base she put me in was so nice that I just let her do what she wanted. The effect was amazing. It was obviously a night-wear look – much more make-up than I would wear to the office, for example, but it was beautiful. Mom bought me the basics, including the eye makeup and I’ve been playing with it the rest of the weekend. It’s not as thick as she put it on, of course, but it still looks great and even Mr. Moose commented on how great I looked. I’m feeling like a new woman!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Stopping and starting

So, on Thursday I actually went all day without throwing up even the slightest bit. I was so excited, I also only had the slightest bit of nausea and gagging on my morning commute, so I was doing good! I was starting to think that maybe I had finally gotten past it – maybe I had crossed the line into the 2nd trimester leaving the ook behind.

I was overly confident. I got cocky thinking that 12 weeks, 2 days was my mark.

I threw up this morning while getting dressed for work. The really awful, nothing-in-my-stomach, this-is-just acid kind of throwing up. That seems to be worse than food, in my opinion.

Mr. Moose made me breakfast. “Time for that Eggo?” he asked, nonchalantly.

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to a celebration of sorts. My mom and I are going to get mother/daughter pedicures to celebrate the end of my first trimester. I haven’t had a pedi since my wedding, so I’m looking forward to it. My birthday is also coming up next week, so I’m looking forward to my annual dinner out w/ my daddy in the next 10 days or so (especially since being on this budget, we’ve not been spending nearly the same amount of time in restaurants as we once were). I’m pretty sure I want seafood, but can’t decide which restaurant. My dad is into casual-to-nice sort of places, but he HATES to wait for a table, so some place not crowded or that takes reservations is a must.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Lots of whining

I had a migraine on Saturday. Oh, my goodness did it hurt. And all I could do was take Tylenol, avoid light and sound and pray that it would go away. The Tylenol and Coca Cola combo eventually took the edge off. Enough that I was hungry and cranky. And I didn’t want anything w/ peanut butter on it for lunch. Which was pretty much all we had, and all Mr. Moose was really willing to make since he wasn’t exactly hungry.

We’re doing this new budget thing, you see – the Dave Ramsey system? Maybe you’ve heard of it. It involves envelopes and only spending cash and a very detailed budget. I am assured that it works beautifully, and we will be out of debt in about 3 years (with the exception of the mortgage), but meanwhile, I’m having trouble adjusting to the lack thereof of food outings, especially on the weekend, especially when all I really want it a $.89 burrito and WHY can’t I have one? We had a brief argument, which ultimately ended with me raiding our vacation fund and demanding that he go get me some Taco Bell. He did, and while he was gone, I threw up in the toilet, while the dog licked my arm. It was blistering hot all weekend and Mr, Moose kept wanting to sit in the sunroom and play his stupid video game (I hate it. My children will never have a video game console. They are evil). Of course, he wanted to leave the door open to get a little air out there, but all it really succeeded in doing was blowing the hot air in the house and make the AC run non-stop since it wasn’t cooling very effectively. I was grumpy and I felt nasty and I just wanted my husband to stop being cranky, too.

BIG SIGH. Everything ended up being fine and we accomplished the rearranging of the furniture in our bedroom to more comfortably allow me to sleep on my left side. I’m now on the other side of the mattress, so I haven’t gotten comfortable yet. I’m so tired.

And I desperately want to take tomorrow off work and avoid my Tuesday responsibilities… we shall see.

Friday, August 10, 2007

The Barfing Files

WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS OF MY TUMMY PYROTECHNICS TO FOLLOW. IF YOU ARE WEAK STOMACHED, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Wednesday night, Mr. Moose made an excellent dinner of grilled salmon, green beans and mashed potatoes. Yum. I love the marinade he used and I thoroughly enjoyed my meal, though I wasn’t especially hungry and had been feel “off” all afternoon and into the evening. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong accept to describe that my body felt “heavy” and that I was incredibly tired. During dinner, my dad came by to show off his new “toy”: a 2006 Corvette in Sunset Orange. It was very nice and he was as excited as a kid to show it off. I asked where he was going to put the car seat.

We went about our evening doing a few chores and scraping and crushing pseudo-oreos to make dirt cake for his work even the next day (I seriously think someone needs to start marketing crushed Or*eo in a bag to save me and others like me an hour of scraping the filling off and crushing the chocolately cookies, but who am I to say.)

Long story short, after staying up later than usual because I was just so incredibly uncomfortable, I sacrificed my partially digester dinner to the porcelin god, over and over for several minutes until there was nothing left. Mesquite grilled salmon makes neither a tasty or pleasant looking offering, let me assure you.

Mostly I’ve been hacking up just liquid the last day or so – they say that pregnant women begin to create excess saliva (why? I don’t know) and as I gag, much of that seems to flow forward.

This morning my “breakfast” was a combination of hot cocoa and Cheez-It Reduced Fat Crackers. Bad idea. After trying to find something else in the fridge to add, and throwing out my week-old forgotten hardboiled egg, I raced to the restroom only to hack up that as well. Bad combo when tasted together with stomach ook.

The post-lunch sickness was partially digested broccoli cheddar soup. Really unpleasant the second time around, thank you very much.

On non-disgusting news, last night Mr. Moose and I went to the mall and purchased on fake wedding band for me to wear now that I have outgrown my own. I can finally wear my engagement ring again, albeit on my pinkie finger. The band/engagement ring didn’t fit properly on my pinkie together and so I had just been wearing the band by itself, though I love my engagement ring. However, this looked less like a wedding band and more like a pinkie ring and with my ever-growing midsection, I am self-conscious that I look not married. So I finally “look married” again and I’m happy.

I’m hoping to “invest” in a picture account soon. Maybe you’ll even get pictures of me out of the deal.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Heartbeat and Veggies

Well, now. We saw the baby’s heartbeat on a quickie ultrasound yesterday. I didn’t get beats per minute, so I have no idea if it was fast or slower. She couldn’t get the sound on the Doppler, so u/s it was. The pictures are nothing to look at, it was better on the screen. Our dear little Kremit was actually starting to look like a human instead of a lima bean.

I’m craving vegetables. Maybe my Gramma is practicing voodoo on me while she’s laid up after her shoulder surgery. But last night all I wanted was the green beans Mr. Moose made and this morning I was actually dreaming about a salad. I’d kill for some Thai food – all those nice, crispy veggies! Yum! I guess it’s a good thing that I’m craving healthy stuff (especially after all I wanted for days was junk – French fries and chicken nuggets and burritos, oh my!)

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Obviously, I'm taking more quizes than writing these days...

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need.
You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law.
While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top.
You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

What kind of chocolate...

You are White Chocolate

You are White Chocolate
You are sweet, caring, and truly very innocent.
Whether your naive ways are a bit of act or not, people like to take care of you.
You are a quiet flirt, and your power is often underestimated!

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Boring update, but at least i finally did it!

This is the third post I’ve started in about a week. They have all been a list of complaints and I decided not to bother posting them. However…
This week (Monday, primarily) we rearranged the office I work in. We’re talking about 1800 square ft. with an assortment of various office and cubical spaces. We moved 3 people in and moved nearly everyone else around. I was in charge of coordinating the move and the movers. I’m tired. I’m typically ready to go home every day at 3:00. I tried to get a bit of a nap in today during my lunch break, and it may have helped. I still want to go home, but at least I don’t feel as if I’m nodding off. I now have an office w/ a door that is not made of glass and so when I close it, it affords some privacy.

The morning sickness has been worse this week, and now I’m wondering if my progesterone supplements were actually helping to control my morning sickness instead of contributing to it. Ah well.

Next Monday I have a Dr.’s appointment and we should be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat. I’m very excited. Of course, the appointment is at an ungodly hour of 7:30 am, but I shall survive.