Fun in the Sun, part 2

Unfortunately, my usual habit of chronicling every event in life with a marvelous pictoral display was absent from this vacation. I only have a few pics, and most of them are of the cute kid that was with us. Hopefully others will have more of a variety.

On one of her many tramps through woods.

Just chilling with her daddy

Naked Baby!!!

We are trying to teach her to LOVE tomatoes, unlike her mom & dad

A Fine Day for Fishing on Bass Lake. . the motto was "We threw back 25 or 30"

Jen enjoyed Lydia's extraordinarily long naptimes by relaxing with a book and a beverage.

Although we tried to teach Lydia to love the lake, she mainly loved walking in about 2 inches of lake water, not hanging out in the "deep" end. We'll chalk it up to her new found skill of walking. Can't do that in 2 ft of water, can ya?

Jake's 20th birthday was celebrated before we left for vacation. Sorry there wasn't a shape cake this year.

Ok, so I lied!

Hello everyone,
I was led astray by a website -- I am indeed as of Saturday the 15th, 16 weeks (4 mo.) along. I should have followed my inner mommy instinct. I had an appt with a midwife this time. The appt went really well. The biggest difference was that I felt WAYY more comfortable asking questions than I had with a doctor. The doctor couldn't have been nicer, but there is something about talking to a woman that gives a different spin to the conversation. So, when the midwife and I got to talking about 'belly-hair', there was no embarrassment or desire to pretend that of course I looked like a hair less goddess in my bathing suit. :-) I don't think any boys read this blog, so I feel fairly comfortable talking about it here.
Anyway, besides the personal rapport that I felt, I also had a good visit babywise. I had gained one pound (yipee). I didn't feel that it was that grandiose of an accomplishment, but the midwife seemed content with it. We heard the baby's heartbeat. It was much easier to find this time. Still beating at 150 beats per minute. (Which is good!) Also, we heard a few thumps, which I was informed were KICKS. The midwife opined that my baby was active. You didn't have to tell me that! Our next appointment we'll get to have another ultrasound which may reveal the gender of our little bambino.
I also got an Rx for Xofran to help me cope with the vomiting. Actually, it's supposed to help eliminate the vomiting. It's worked so far and I am really excited about that. But, the downside is that it is a heavy duty medicine, expensive for our insurance co. and just heavy duty for my body. I hope that baby follows Josh's advice and and lets the medicine just pass on by.

15 WEEKS

Alright, I think I lost a week somewhere in the process. Or rather, I lost track of the weeks and ended up gaining a week! I have a Doctor's appointment next week, so I suppose I would have found out then. I'm making slow but sure improvements, for which I am sooooooooo thankful. I've introduced a little soy back into my life, which has brought CHOCOLATE back into my life. I hadn't realized how lonely I was until I had my first drink of chocolate soymilk and -- WOW. I also bought a little bit of chocolate soy ice cream by the name of Chocolate Obsession. Incredible how your tastebuds forget. So, I'm temporarily over my nectarine binge and have moved on to chocolate Silk. (That's the name for the chocolate soy milk-- clever, ain't it?)
Yesterday was a banner day for me and visitors. Josh worked from home for part of the day, Brittny came and visited for awhile, and then later in the day Ben, Jen, and Lydia dropped by. People are the best kind of distraction for me. :-)
I also want to take this opportunity to laud my husband to the skies. His patience is really being tested by practically 12 weeks of non-normal home life. Non-regulated laundry, food, ironing, bed-making, bathroom cleaning, you name it -- NON NORMAL. He has become an expert grocery shopper and a clever cleaning guy, too. Also, we decided that if we ever needed any extra cash, we could hire him out to iron people's clothes. He's WAY better at it than I am.
Well, have a wonderful FOURTH OF JULY everyone.

Lydia's Birthday & Update

Hello all Peanut & Lydia fans!
I have had a series of pretty good days followed by sort of ghoulish nights. The night before last I lay awake for perhaps an hour from 3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. sort of aimlessly mind wandering whilst trying to find some comfortable, Mr. Sandman sleep position. It's not that I was UNcomfortable, it's that my body was not be swayed into sleep again. I finally abandoned our bed and moved to the guest bedroom. I was feeling really self conscious about flipping over for the thirtieth time and just HOPING that Josh wasn't being disturbed by all of this. So, yesterday, I took no wonderful 2 hour day time nap and I went to bed armed with 4 pillows. Unfortunately, most of my pillows are full size, although I don't NEED them to be quite THAT big. In our double bed, this doesn't leave much room for Josh. The sad thing is, I'm not even that HUGE (at all) yet, so I can just imagine what sleeping will be like in the late months. This morning I woke up trying to imagine some crafty way to halve the size of a pillow without losing all of the stuffing, etc. Well, enough about me.
Lydia's birthday was last week, and we celebrated with a big bang. Most of you, I'm sure, have already looked at the pics on Jen's blog, but I have a few unique shots, so I'll post 'em.

First Pictures of the Peanut

11 weeks going on 12
Went to my first doctor's appointment today. What a relief, finally! Amazingly, I felt much better today, too. I am so thankful that I wasn't feeling gross at the M.D.'s. Everyone I met was very nice and most exciting of all I got to see our little baby, see it moving around in its swimming pool. (I think it even waved at Josh and myself.) It's amazing how active they already are. I also got to hear the heartbeat later on. Those wonderful, amayazizing things made for the quasi gross things that happen to you at the Gynecologists, but we won't talk about those things.

The Illness That Wouldn't Go Away

Brittny sent me a cute e-card from hallmark last week when I wasn't feeling well. :-) Little did she know that my continued illness had yet another cause. Actually, Brittny had more suspicions than other students. She kept wondering if I was really that sick WHY was I going to school. I could be contagious; I was obviously NOT in a teaching mood, etc. Well, the reason I kept going to school was because my throw ups were not contagious -- they were caused by a little something growing in my insides. (No, not a parasite!) I'm pregnant!
The first month was downright pleasant. My appetite was up and I was going on these nice neighborhood walks with Josh every night. Two weeks ago, however, the drama started. Suddenly, I felt better horizontal than I did vertical. I also did a good deal of heaving over the porcelain throne. Since two weeks ago it's worsened gradually, but amazinly, it is 12:19 in the afternoon and I have energy enough to type something. To THINK something. That is almost the worst part -- my powers of concentration are desperately weakened. Hence, grading, reading, teaching, talking -- all these previous forms of enjoyment (with the exception of grading) have taken on qualities of impossibility. Even doing dishes or walking downstairs to the laundry room have taken on epic proportions. My daily goals are so limited. I am trying eat, but there's no relish in it at all. This morning, I ate half a peice of toast, threw it up, and then ate the peice and a half I had left. That's how grungy this whole supposed "morning" sickness is. Unfortuantely, as all the pregnancy websites remind you, the name morning sickness is really a misnomer. It may occur wenever it wants to. Mine seems to be worse in the afternoon. The best part of my day is when I'm asleep at night. Then, there's the feeling in the morning when I've just woken up, that perhaps today will be a normal day. Well, enough of this rant! I am super excited, and it really helps to read about what positive things my body is actually doing while I am feeling so pukey. (How do you spell that, puky would obviously have a short u??) Apparently, the baby is mostly head right now, but already has nubs for all of its appendages. It even has little notches where the fingers and toes will grow. :-) It's still pretty teensy, like the size of a raspberry or something. My uterus, however, has grown to the size of a grapefruit. Also, the tentative due date is Jan 1 . . a New Year's Baby. I would certainly appreciate EVERYONE'S prayers. So would Josh. He's having to do the horse's share of the work around here. Actually, we'll just go ahead and say he's doing ALL the work. :-) Except when I wash a dish or two in the afternoon. :-)