Supposedly less than 3 weeks to go now!  We’ll see….  Today we went out and put the “bases” for the carseat in our cars today.  I’m hoping we have it done right.  Maybe we can have someone check it at the hospital.  Still a little scared of the “labor” part of it. 

Yesterday I went to a Pampered Chef party, that was fun.  Got to eat some “Jerk Chicken Nachos”.  David would’ve liked those.  Bought more stuff as usual.  Oh well, nothing a couple hours of overtime won’t pay for.  However, I feel I am pretty much overtimed out right now.  I’m thinking that I won’t be doing much of it now until I come back from Maternity Leave.   I can’t believe I could be a Mom any day now!  It just feels surreal.  I was sitting on my bed working on some homework for school the other night and I started thinking, soon, this will not be as easy.  Soon there will be a screaming child in the next room and our house will lose it’s “quietness”.  With just David and I living here for the last 5 years, it is going to be strange to have someone new in the house.  Even though we have a dog and 3 cats, they are pretty quiet most of the time.  I had to record the narration to a powerpoint presentation the other day and I decided that maybe Kendall’s room would be the best place to record it because it is quiet in there, and I love going in there and sitting in the glider chair and smelling that baby item smell.  It’s going to a big change in our lives!

Almost done with my 13th class for school!  Wednesday is the last day of this class, and as usual, I am working hard to just pass the class and get it over with.  A couple more assignments and it will be complete.  Just hoping that I am doing well enough in it to get my credits for it and move on to the next one.  I really wish I could’ve taken this quarter off, but my classes are in a 2 year rotation and if I skip one or two, I have to wait another 2 years for the class to come back around, or try to find a course at another school to fill in the gap in order to complete the degree. 

Well, nesting calls…..  I still have a few things I want to do before baby comes.  You know how the cleaning goes.  How you want your house perfect before baby gets here (or should I say the parents and in-laws), baby doesn’t really care about the house being clean!

Well, I have two more modules for my class right now.  This one is the biggest one, there are 5 assignments to this one, including a narrated Power Point presentation.  I’m just starting on my assignments, they are due on Friday, but I wanted to get a big jump start on them, especially the Power Point Presentation. 

Pregnancy is going well so far, but this child is getting very big!  These are definitely the “dog days” of pregnancy.  On Tuesday, I will be 37 weeks, which means he will be considered full term then.  I have had some foot and ankle swelling, hip and pelvic pain, and lots of pressure and Braxton Hicks contractions.  I know this may sound crazy, but there are moments when he gets moving around in there so much, I worry he is going to break the “water” trying to get out!  I think he must be getting uncomfortable in there, not enough room to move.  I am resolving myself to the “impending doom” of Labor.  I know it is coming and it is not going to be pleasant.  I’m praying to God to go easy on me!    I am always scared of the unknown and this is a big UNKNOWN in my life right now.  I realize it is a natural process just like the “monthly” visitor that has been absent from my life for about 8 months now (boy has that been nice!), but I get the feeling that paybacks for lost time are hell?  I think the art of pregnancy is to make women so uncomfortable with this huge baby inside them that they don’t care what they have to go through to get it out?  Sleeping is one of my favorite passtimes, but even sleeping is not so easy, as it seems like I wake up every half an hour to visit the bathroom!  Oh well, I must remember that I am fortunate to be expecting what I hope is going to be a beautiful child.  Remind of how beautiful my child is when he is 2 and telling me “No!” every few minutes, or when he is a teenager and screams at me for not letting him take the car, or wanting to wear something that I find inappropriate, or wanting to stay out past ten o’clock on a school night.  Yes, the joys of parenthood only start with something called LABOR!  I do have moments that I look at this big ol’ belly and go, “What did I get myself into?”  With that said though, the room is ready for him.  His clothes are all neatly put away, the diaper bag is packed and in the stroller for him.  (I have not packed my own bag just yet though.)  I guess I should be doing that soon hunh? 

Nesting is in full swing also.  My husband keeps asking me why we are cleaning so many things, and I said because when this baby comes, people are going to descend on our house like mad, so let’s make it “semi-clean” for them and for us when we come home.  It’s funny because one of my colleagues is pregnant and due any moment, and she said it is weird the way you just want to get rid of “cludder”.  Most of the time you think twice about throwing something out, but when you are pregnant and want to get rid of something, the garbage man is so handy!  They come right to your house and remove all unwanted things from the curb!  It’s wonderful.  I think tomorrow we are going to be going through some cupboards and pitching some things.  We need to create a “baby cupboard” to put bottles and bowls and of course eventually food in for him.  So, we will need to condense and create a space out there for him also. 

 Well, I suppose I should get back to school work, however, I’m really feeling the need for a nap right now! 

~sn

I just finished my first assignment of this new quarter.   I know I say this everytime, but I so can’t wait to be done with school!  This is my 13th class of 18, so only 2 more quarters to go after this one. 

Today starts my 34th week of pregnancy too!  I am feeling really full most of the time!  He is getting crazy big now!  I am starting to experience some of the symptoms of late pregnancy now.  Last Wednesday, I said to my husband, “my socks feel tight!”  We looked down and my ankles were SUPER swollen, then Sunday night, it disappeared just as fast as it happened!  Sometimes my bladder feels like it is being squeezed like a lemon, and I also feel pressure on my sternum every so often too.  Friday, I had Braxton Hicks contractions and that kind of scared me.  They didn’t hurt or anything, but they were coming pretty regularly for a little while and I felt somewhat nauseated.  So, it was a little scary, I took a nap and they went away though.  The nursery is pretty much ready.  He has TONS of clothes, so this had better be a boy or, I told Jamie (dog) I would cut holes for his tail and he would be really well dressed for a while!  Poor dog!  He does have his own sweater and sweatshirt, and he isn’t too fond of wearing clothes! 

At work, they just opened the new “Health Living Center” which is pretty much a state of the art gym for us employees!  It is AWESOME!  There are two olympic sized pools and being pregnant, water aerobics classes sounded kind of good to me, so I have been to a couple now and I really like it!  There are 4 floors!  There is a track, tons of equipment, and of course the pools.  Not to mention they have ‘out of this world’ showers too!  I am usually a little cold after the aerobics class and I pretty much run to the showers and stay there for like a half an hour!  Unlimited hot water and perfect rain like showerheads, who could ask for more?  I could stay forever!  There is a steam room and a whirlpool too, but I am not allowed to stay in there long, as you know, because I could “pressure cook” someone in the process, so I have gone into the steam room, for a couple of minutes and came out.  Feels good, for a couple minutes, just to breathe in a little steam.  I really want in that whirlpool, but I know I’d better not!  So, for a couple more months, I will have to just resort to my long soothing showers.

Well, I am running out of things to write for now, just figured I would add something in here for anyone interested in reading it!

~sn

You know how you do something and you know it is your fault for not planning ahead, but you still need to take the time to complain about it? 

 Here goes!  First of all, did I mention how much I am tired of SCHOOL right now?  One more Week and I am done for a few weeks!  Now just so you know I didn’t wait for the “last possible minute”.  I did start my assignment last night and it was due tonight, but they usually don’t take me very long to do.  I figured I would only need about an hour tonight to complete it and I budgeted more like 2 1/2 hours, so I was a little shocked that it was taking me so long.  They sent us to a website to go through tutorials on the VA’s computer system.  Last night I rather enjoyed it.  The speaker was really good and very easy to understand.  Tonight was a totally different scenario!  “Press this key, press that key, go jump in a lake!”  I was not following it very well at all.  In fact, I pretty much bombed the assignment because I couldn’t find the answers to the last three questions.  I need 34.5 points to pass this class and since there are about 80 still possible, I am not going to worry about it too much!  Some of the assignments you just don’t get anything out of, I can chalk that up as one of them!  The assignment has to be submitted at 11:55, well, that’s when I submitted it 11:55 on the dot!  It was just completely frustrating!  I’m having a lot of those moments lately!

Last weekend was Labor and Delivery class.  You know what?  It just reaffirmed what I already knew!  Give me the drugs darn it!  I have had surgery several times in my life already, so I am not a big advocate for pain!  I have no desire to feel like my stomach, and a few other parts are going to just rip right out of me.  I will be very happy to see the little guy though when he finally arrives.  —I think I wrote this on August 21st, and at this point, I spilled Coke all over my laptop!  So, I had to close down the computer very quickly!  Thank God, there was no harm done and the computer just needed to dry out, at first my keyboard wouldn’t work though.  Whew!  That was a close one.  Do you think Dell gets a lot of those calls?  “Help, I spilled Coke on my laptop!”

I feel like I have a watermellon sitting in my stomach!  I feel like a Weeble when I walk around (Weebles wobble but they won’t fall down).  I’m really full right now too, there is no treat like fresh strawberries and sweet cherries dipped in fruit dip!  YUM!

Okay, I should be working on my research paper, but I just don’t feel like it!  I wish I could get in the mood to just whip the rest of it out, but I just can’t!  I have it about half done, but I need to share some statistics in it.  So, I have been working on the research portion to add some statistics to support my theories.  Make sense?  I have a few websites saved for that already.  But right now I can hear my husband snoring away right now, and I really want to join him for a nice NAP! 

Earlier this week we had “carseat” class to learn about carseats and how to install them in our cars.  It was interesting.  David said he almost fell asleep during the first 5 minutes, but then he started to get interested in it.  I said, “Well, next month’s class should be a real eye opener then!  Labor and Delivery!  Go ahead, take you bottom lip and pull it over your head!”  That is what Bill Cosby said one of his female relatives told him about how childbirth feels.  I figure it is only temporary, once it is over you’ll have this exciting little bundle of joy to behold.  (he’ll probably pee on me the first time I hold him hunh?)  Plus, there is my friend Barb’s motto too,  “Drugs in, Baby OUT!”  I may be a bad mother, but I am not one of those people who is freaked out about taking medicine.  I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, and I don’t do any street drugs, but I will take my prescription medications.  I worked with my physicians before I got pregnant to decide which medicines were best to control the 3 or 4 ailments that I suffer from during pregnancy.  I have Allergies, GERD, and depression with anxiety.  I know there are people out there that are freaked out about every little thing.  I wash the fruit and veggies, but I still drink a couple caffeinated beverages per day.  Soda pop is my biggest downfall.  I LOVE the stuff!  I am probably going to die with a  Dr. Pepper in my hand!  But from what I have seen on the ultrasound “Kendall” is perfect!  He’s a beautiful little boy!  Can’t wait to finally meet him!  When my doctor said, “16 more weeks!” the other day, I just about freaked  Only sixteen?  How can that be?  Well dork, you are 24 weeks pregnant now, sometime I was going to end up on the other side of the halfway mark, duh!  I just looked at my little pregnancy wheel thing, next week, it says I will be in my third trimester!  Wow, that is weird.   Most people still can’t tell I am pregnant, I just look chubbier.  In fact, when we went to carseat class, I was almost waiting for someone to ask us if we were adopting!  Just about every woman in the room was sporting a basketball!  I did feel a little better when I saw one woman sitting near me though, she looked the same way I do, just chunky.  I have gained 16.5 lbs, which they tell me is totally normal, and actually good for me being 24 weeks. 

Well folks, I do feel that new bed calling my name right now….I’m feeling like I need about an hour, then I can get back to the homework!

So goodbye for now!

On Tuesday, it will be 22 weeks!   Things are really starting to happen,  he’s definitely moving around in there!  It doesn’t feel like flutters or butterflies, at least, not to me, it feels more like pressure, and sometimes I can see little movements.  Dad hasn’t experienced it just yet though.  He’s waiting though, he is starting to get really excited now.  So hopefully soon he will be able to feel or see something going on in there.

Meanwhile, I have that whole “nesting” thing they talk about going on!  That nursery just can’t get done fast enough!  The crib finally came last week, and I got it all put together on Friday night, of course I couldn’t wait to get it put together!  Yesterday, I washed all of the bedding and the clothes we have in Dreft.  We bought the crib mattress too!  So his bed is already for him (just like 18 weeks early!  LOL!) .  Oh well, can’t say we aren’t “prepared parents”.  Even David has been slightly bitten by the “shopping bug”!  Not nearly as much as I have though!

Speaking of David!  Dad has something VERY exciting happening this next week!  (I’m so jealous, because I started before he did, and he is going to be done almost a year before I am!)  David graduates on 7/7/07 from AIU!  So very proud of him!  He has done extremely well also!  Since his G.P.A. is so high, he is expected to graduate Magna Cum Laude!  His degree is in Business Administration with a focus on Accounting.  Mom is still working toward her B.S. in Health Information Management, and hopefully will graduate next June.  While Dad starts his Master’s this Fall.  I have 5 more classes to go, and my 2 internship classes next Spring, then hopefully, finally, I will have my Bachelor’s Degree.  I will probably start my Master’s in Health Informatics soon after that.  I will be so glad when the degrees are all out of the way.  I know it costs a lot of money, but it is worth in the long run.  My motto when I started school this second time is “Work Smarter, not Harder.”  Don’t know who came up with it, but I hope whoever it was, was right!  But the “Working Harder” part is NOW, getting through it all!

 Okay, well, for now, I shall be off.  Someone is telling me it is again time to pee!  (Aren’t you glad I wrote that?)  Sorry! 

Okay, we cheated!  Our 18 week ultrasound was today, and we decided to find out whether it is a boy or girl.  So we finally now know, of course, I have felt that it was a boy from early on though.   Call it Mom’s intuition.  He has my nose!   

So far, we are going with the name Kendal Jacob for his name.  The name just popped into my head one day and I loved it.  I don’t know why or where it really came from.  I just like the sound of it.  My husband said he didn’t like it at first, but it is slowly growing on him.  It goes well with our last name.  I don’t know anyone with that name, so that is one of the reasons it appeals to me, because it is something different.  If he so chooses, when he is older, he can just go by Ken. 

I haven’t even felt him kick or anything yet.  I keep wondering if it will startle me when it does finally happen!  Mostly, my tailbone has been bothering me sometimes.  But so far my only complaints are the tailbone pain and a few tummy muscles stretching here and there. 

Right now I have a terrible cold, it seems to been going away.  I hope it does quickly before we leave for Michigan!  I also hope David doesn’t get it!  It would be just our dumb luck that we get all the way to Michigan and he comes down with it.  We are leaving on Friday.  Puppy dog (Jamie) is very excited too!  We keep talking about going “bye bye” and his ears perk up and he tips his head.  So cute!  He loves hotels too! (we are staying in a hotel on Friday night in Wisconsin) Partly because people notice him and remark about the cute little dog and he wags his tail because he knows they are talking about him!  Loves attention!  Once, I took him for a long walk in the city, around the lake, and he would stop when he would see people coming just so they could admire him!  Hmmm, kind of reminds you of that Carly Simon song, “You’re so vain”.  Last year, we took him to St. Louis with us and we stayed in a very nice hotel, I wish I had a video of him!  He proudly strutted around getting on elevators, and wagging his tail everytime he saw someone!  One of the attendants stopped and said, “is he part Chihuahua?”  And as soon as he heard that he started wagging his tail and crying.  Yes, he has heard the word “Chihuahua” before, he knew it was in reference to him!  Then, we opened the door to our hotel room and he ran right in, jumped up on the king sized bed and proceeded to roll around on it like a nut, making a little grunting noise!  He was acting like he had won the lottery or something!  I love him to death, he is one of the greatest pets I’ve ever had.  We can’t imagine our lives without this thing we’ve nicknamed ”the Juice Box”.  He is like a little Energizer battery sometimes.  We think he is part Jack Russell Terrier also, which is where the energy part comes from, but he looks like an overgrown tri-colored Chihuahua.  Okay, enough about our beloved, spoiled rotten, little dog….I’m telling you, if the dog is any indicator about how much we are going to spoil this kid!  Well, we will just have to have one more then!

We also share our house with 3 cats.  I don’t know why.  I plead total stupidity for that one!  Now all animals have special little personalities of their own.  I have one who thinks she is a princess (Molli), her sister Zoe (who has blondish colored hair) and sorry, but she is dumber than a box of rocks!  Then, there is Lily, who showed up at the back door in the middle of February. We brought her in because we thought she freeze to death, and 4 years later, she is still here!  Molli and Zoe, as I mentioned, are sisters.  They are 8 years old.  Molli is usually tolerable to most things (other animals) even though she considers herself to be “above” everyone else.  Zoe, she is scrappy, could care less about grooming, and has a strong distaste for anyone who gets in her way.  This is the same cat who has tried on several occassions to EAT a fake Christmas tree!  Of course, not long after she eats it she gets violently ill!  Hmmm, do you think that would be a sign to LEAVE THE TREE ALONE after a while?  Nope!  Stupid cat!  Among her other very annoying talents is jumping on the dresser at 3 a.m. to knock things off onto the floor, and when you say her name,  “ZOE!”  She answers!  “Meow?”  Like flippin’ Steve Erkel!  (“Did I do that?”)  This is a ploy so you will wake up and go feed her so she will leave you alone!  Lily, who barely weighed like 7lbs. when she entered our house, is now double the size!  She weighs as much as the dog!  In fact, she has tried to take food out of his mouth before!  She also loves to aggravate Zoe, because she knows she can.  Runs up behind her and tackles her, which is met with slapping and hissing!  If the dog walks within a foot of Zoe, she slaps him in the face or on the butt.  Poor Jamie, his ears go down and his tail goes down.  “What did I do to you?”  So, he purposely walks like 3 feet around her when he has to pass her.  With all of this drama, you would wonder why we even bother to pay for cable TV!  These are the ”pests” we share our home with for now….and we are going to add a child?  Hmmm, this should be interesting….

Okay, now that you are fast asleep from reading about my “pests”.  Which is my word for “pets” now.  I do love them all, but they have their moments.   I have had the stray thought about turning Zoe into a nice fur rug at times.. (no, I would never actually do that!  Don’t call PETA!)  There is just nothing I love more than hearing a cat yacking up a hairball at 1 a.m. , such a beautiful sound to be awakened by!  (You do know I am kidding right?)

Okay, that’s all folks!  Enough for now…

I had another OB appointment on Wednesday.  Baby is doing fine.  Heartbeat was 142 bpm.  Still not showing or feeling it move just yet, but she told me I should pretty soon!  I have another big ultrasound on June 6th, so that should be interesting. 

Other than that, I am working “oodles” of overtime right now so it will be on the check I get just before I leave for Michigan on the 8th.  Need gas money for my “beast” (Envoy), that is what the shuttle bus driver calls my car!  He’s like, “here’s short little you, getting into this HUGE SUV!”  It is pretty big I guess.   I know, every one else is going “green” and I buy an SUV.  Well, here is my thought process.  I bought it on Halloween (I hope that isn’t a bad omen or anything!), and I was thinking, I want to have kids sometime in the near future, so I am going to have to get something bigger to haul them around in!  Also, with us going back and forth to Michigan a couple of times a year we are always either bringing home a ton of crap or taking a ton of crap with us.  So hence the need for a larger vehicle, and now add a baby to that equation and all of the things you need to travel with them.  Also, when we have people come and visit, now they can just climb in and I’ll drive.  I know where I am going most of the time  No more cramming 5 adults into my Grand Prix, now there is room for everyone!!  Hmmm, what’s next a bus?!

 Happy Memorial Day to anyone who is reading!

We had another appointment on Friday with the OB (the 27th).  Everything looks good.  They wanted me to show up with a “full bladder”, so we stopped at McD’s for breakfast and I got a 16 oz. Coke, if that didn’t work nothing was going to.  So anyway, we met with the Genetics Counselor whose job it must be to scare us to death about everything that could go wrong with baby!  Then we had the ultrasound, baby was pretty active in there for the first couple minutes.  The ultrasonographer was trying to take measurements and it wasn’t holding very still.  I guess I should get used to this idea hunh?  Then baby seemed to lie down, suck it’s thumb and go to sleep! 

After that is was off to Discount Tire to get my tire with the nail in it taken care of!  Little did I know I would end up replacing all 4 tires that day!  I know, I am a wuss.  The tires were four years old though, and did need to be replaced.  Plus with baby on the way, might as well be safe.  Wouldn’t want to blow an old tire with precious cargo riding in the car!

I got a call from the OB doc today at work and everything looks just fine she said.  All of our tests have come back very favorably. 

Saturday was a gorgeous day!  Since I have been having a craving for a Mancino’s grinder and we don’t seem to have any Mancino’s here in Minnesota, I decided to scope out the internet a couple weeks ago, and I found out there is one in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (about 2 hrs away).  So, we decided to load Jamie into the car and set out for Eau Claire.   It was a gorgeous day for a drive, we drove along the Mississippi River for almost half the way.  We finally found the Mancino’s and it was SO worth the drive!  It’s been like a year since I had one, and it was SO good!  Watch someone contact me now and tell me they are all over Minnesota, they just aren’t in Rochester!  Oh well, it was worth the beautiful drive, and Jamie loved the long car ride!

What is it with dogs and cars?  Why do they love riding in the car so much?  Right now he is sound to sleep next to me.  We call him “Cartoon dog” when he is sleeping because his eyes are just little slits and and he looks like a cartoon drawing.  So cute!  For now, he is our baby.  He met Landon (Nick and Sarah’s baby) last week and he walked right up to him wagging his tail, and eventually giving kisses to him on his legs.  I am hoping he will feel that way when we bring one home!  He is part Chihuahua, so I am a little worried.

Okay, back to the weekend….Sunday, we went to see Landon get baptized at their church.  He slept through the whole thing, the little bug!   We went to Nick and Sarah’s after church to have lunch with them and their families.  It was another very nice day. 

Yesterday, (Monday), was my last day of my Code Sets class.  I took the day off, (long story), but it had to do with using a day up in the calendar at work, so I stayed home and worked on my last two assignments.  Hung out with the animals, and cleaned the house (somewhat).  I vacuumed and did some laundry.  Today starts another class on Reimbursement Methods (oh yippee, I can hardly contain myself).   Seven more classes to go…

Well, I suppose I have written enough for a little while.   I tried to upload the ultrasound pictures, but our scanner either made them too dark or too light and you couldn’t even tell what they were.  So sorry…..

I went to my first OB appointment this week.   The baby is growing quickly!  I saw the heart beating again.  Very reassuring.  I hope everything is going well.  Have more ultrasound pictures.  Will go back to the doctor on the 27th for some screening tests and another ultrasound.  It’s on a Friday, so David will be able to go this time.

On a another good note….Sarah and Nick had their baby today!  A boy, Landon Nicholas, born at 2:06 p.m.  Weighing in at 9lbs. 12 ozs.,  and 21 and 1/2 inches long!  She didn’t want a C-section, but after finding out how much the baby weighed, she was a little relieved that she did!  I got to be the first visitor!  He is very cute, very quiet.  Of course, he was sleeping, he and his parents had a rough day.  He is just a little “chunk”!  I’m sure he will grow out of that though.  Labor was rough, but it was all worth it she said.  While Nick and Sarah are in the hospital we have Haley (Yorkie).  She is quite the little spitfire.  Likes to chase the cats, who are all bigger than her.  She doesn’t care, she thinks she’s a Pitbull, when it comes to other animals.  She’s even put poor Jamie in his place a couple times.  He is trying hard to be a gracious host and be nice.  But she’s the boss, all 6lbs. of her.  That’s right, the new baby is bigger than she is!  I hope she doesn’t get upset by the new addition.  She will accept it, but it will take a while, because she has always been the “baby” and now she is “baby #2″.   I hope Jamie will accept ours too.  I think he will, in time, it is an adjustment for everyone, including “puppy” (as we still call him).  Not worried about the cats, they will be curious and will probably love a baby.  Anything warm and cuddly is welcome with them.

 Well, that’s all for now!