Back From the Caymans

Our trip from Grand Cayman has come and gone, and now we're back, but not back to life as normal. The next few months are going to be crazy fun. My mom is coming out in two weeks to go baby shopping with me, and I can't wait! I am waiting until she gets here to start buying all of the big things. Two weeks after that my little brother is coming out for the weekend to go to the Renaissance Festival. The week after that I am going home for a visit. Then it will be Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then the baby will make her appearance!

But I digress, our trip to Cayman was great. It didn't really feel like much of a vacation, and I am not sure if that is because we went to the UK last year, which was the only place in the whole world that I ever really wanted to go and now every vacation will pale in comparison, or if it has something to do with the fact that my sweetie ended up working every day we were supposed to be on vacation (totally NOT his fault, but for reasons of which I will not post). Perhaps it was a combination of both, but neither of us felt like the trip was really anything special. Regardless, we still managed to have a pretty good time, and get some great pictures.

Our trip started out with us finding out we were on the ugly, desolate side of the island. Here is where we stayed. Yeah, you look at their website and think, "Holy crap I would have loved to stay there! What is she talking about it being the ugly side of the island?!" Well, have you ever heard of photo.shop? Let me assure you, the resort was totally NOT that pretty, the water was NOT blue (more like rocky and green with algae [they had a dude who's sole job was to rake the kelp from the "beach" every morning]), and the sand was NOT white. The one upside was that the room WAS really nice. We had a whole suite complete with kitchen. At least we had that to say about our hotel. I had some really nice naps while Sweetie was working.

We managed to go out and do something fun every day as well. It was nice because we went during peak hurricane season, which means peak off season for the island, which meant we had the island pretty much to ourselves. It was all expensive as hell (dammed British Pounds!), but the food was spectacular. The first day there we took a boat out to Stingray City where you wade out into waist deep water and tens of stingrays swim right up to you and all over you. It was unnerving at first seeing 20+ gigantic stingrays coming right at you, but after they rub all over you and nuzzle you, you really start to get attached to the little fellas. Next up was snorkeling, where I discovered the snorkeling is NOT my bag. I jumped into the water and almost instantly went into a major panic attack. Needless to say I spent that part of the trip sitting on the boat trying to catch my breath and vowing that I was done with snorkeling forever.

The next day we went to the turtle farm. Yep, they have lots and lots of turtles. They also had a couple of sharks (in their own tank), and a bird sanctuary.

We got loads of pictures of turtles.

It's funny, but I didn't think I looked fat until I saw this picture.
Guess I packed on a few besides just in the belly area.

After the turtle farm, we took the baby to Hell.
Yes, I bought a t-shirt. Yes, it says, "Go to Hell!"

The next day we went to the butterfly farm. We spent a lot of time in there and took loads of pictures. Here is one of my sweetie's favorite butterflies.

We tried to make a go at the Queen's botanic garden, but either I ate something bad, or I was experiencing dizziness due to pregnancy. We drove 45 minutes to the garden and within minutes of getting out of the car, I was dizzy and sick. We walked around for a bit anyway, since we had already paid to get in and drove such a long time to get there. I didn't want to completely ruin it.

Funny enough, we didn't make it to the pretty beach until our last day on the island, something I regret. We walked from one end of the beach to lunch, which was fantastic. After lunch, however, I thought I was going to pass out long before we made it back to the car that seemed like it was on the other side of the island.

Thus concluded our vacation. It was nice to take a break from work, and it was our first vacation since last April when we went to the UK. It was very much overdue, and it will be at least a year before we get to go anywhere again.

Quickie Post

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am not missing or absent for any other reason than the fact that I just got back from lovely Cayman! I don't have a lot of time to post, as it is almost 11:00, but as I have posted many times over the past few weeks, my sweetie gets a little lonely when I blog instead of spending time with him, so even though we just spent the last 9 days glued to each other's side 24/7, I knew that blogging would still be out of the question tonight unless I did it in the privacy of the bedroom under the pretense that I was going to bed.

Some of you might find this a bit odd that since finding out we are pregnant my husband has been a bit on the clingy side. I have to admit, I really did too. Then the day before we headed off to Cayman (or was it two days before? Who can remember with pregnancy brain) I went shopping with my BFF and we discussed this very issue. She told me that she had read that some men actually experience jealousy issues when their wives become pregnant. That they realize their alone time with their sweetie will be limited once the bundle of joy arrives, so they hoard every second they can in the mean time. They also get jealous that Sweetie is now almost completely engrossed with her blooming belly, instead of on him. Sort of guilty as charged there, but not completely. As I have also mentioned in previous posts, I have been quite the doting wife since my husband and I created a baby together. I just can't seem to get enough of looking at him, and thinking about him, and cuddling him -- just like when we were dating. But on the other hand, I have been quite engrossed with the baby too. Add the new Sadie pup into the mix and the fact that we already had Mags, and I can see my BFF's point.

Of course, I would never be able to get Hubs to admit to any of this, but he sure does fit the jealousy mould!

At any rate, I just wanted to post a quickie to let you all know that I am still very much alive and doing very well, and to let you know that my long absence was not a dramatic pause after revealing the sex of our baby. ;) I totally plan to post my vacation blog tomorrow night after I get home from the pet store and grocery store. And yes, it will be complete with AMAZING pictures. I just don't have the time to devote to working up such a post tonight.

With that, I am signing off and going to bed (after popping some Tums [my newest BFF]), excited to catch up with everyone tomorrow. :)

The Results Are In

Yesterday we had our 20 week ultrasound scan, and were able to determine the sex of our baby, and.....

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Mommy is really happy, and knew it was a girl all along.

Daddy is a little disappointed because he really, really wanted a boy and doesn't know how he will relate to a little girl, but mommy knows he will get over it and be the most wonderful daddy ever.

Grandma and grandpa are excited either way, but grandma is really happy to go buy little girl things and is coming out in October to help mommy shop for baby gear.

Auntie is WAY excited it is a girl, and is sending all of her baby girl things.

Uncle G is excited to be "an auntie" to another niecie (as this is #4 for our family [no boys yet!])

Uncle B could probably care less, but is excited to be an uncle to the darling baby of his sister who should have been his twin.

Mommy's two BFFs are WAY excited it is a girl. One BFF is going to go crazy knitting baby gear (which mommy is way excited about), and the other BFF who is sadly 1,300 miles away offered to throw a baby shower when mommy goes home for a visit in November, and has offered her 1-year-old son as a future companion.

Mommy is now happily spreading the news to all of her friends and coworkers!

Weathering Ike

Over the past weekend I have received a few phone calls, text messages, and emails asking how we weathered Ike. Rest assured, we saw very little of him in our area. We did get some winds and a gusty, rainy day all day Saturday, but that was the extent of his bruteness in our area. Sadie loved it because she got to spend the entire day inside. She usually spends a few hours every day outside because she isn't completely house broken yet. We all spent the whole day inside. I cleaned and I am sure I took a nap in there somewhere. Hubs cleaned out the garage and got his tools situated so that he could start to finish the floors at some point in the near future. I have to say, he did make some very impressive progress. The last empty room in our house (aka The Dojo) is no longer vacant. Our dining room table has been relocated into it, and my sweetie's old table that sat in storage for the last 5 years was moved into the breakfast nook. I kind of like the change!

Last week was completely uneventful, even though it was our anniversary. We just went to a steak dinner, since we will be going to Cayman in the coming weeks, and that is our real anniversary present. Hubs had 52 red roses sent to me at work, and I bought him the hand tuned wind chimes he drooled over at the local nursery a few weeks ago (they sound fantastic!).

Today I am in a slight funk, which I just can't figure out. Ike blew some nice, cool weather in that makes things feel like fall, and I LOVE fall. But I think I'm a little down because I haven't really slept the past few days. Sunday morning at around 5 a.m. I was woken by Maggie having yet another bout of diarrhea all over the bedroom. She covered 3/4 of the walkable space in brown goo. After kicking her outside (no frustrated words or reprimands), I spent over an hour steam cleaning my bedroom carpet. Needless to say, she is no longer allowed in the bedroom, a choice that has me heartbroken, but I am so done cleaning diarrhea out of the bedroom carpet. I have no idea what is going on with my little pooch and why she has had so many bowel issues since we've been here, especially considering she NEVER went to the bathroom in our last house and we were there for a year and a half. I am just totally scratching my head over it all. But I think the excitement (if that's what you want to call it) of cleaning up yet another round of doggie doo out of the white carpet (that came with the house when we bought it 5 months ago [I did NOT choose it, and it is brand new]) and the lack of sleep combined with the constant worry about what is going on with my pooch is probably the cause of my doldrums today.

I think a bit of nesting has already set in as well. For some reason I am in a complete panic that my house must be cleaned from top to bottom and it has to be done RIGHT NOW. I spent the weekend making a list of cleaners I want to purchase, but had to wait until payday (today) to do so. Once I have purchased the cleaners, I am sure all hell will break loose as the scrubbing will begin and will not end for the next four months. I deep cleaned the house over Labor day, and it has amazingly stayed clean since then. I just found a whole other slew of things I want to clean in my boredom of waiting for the house to get dirty again (not a chance!). Which reminds me, one of my blog friends told me that she was sure I would not notice the dog hair whilst cleaning the rest of the house, as it would all just become part of the routine. I just want to say: she was so right. I just don't care about the fur. It vacuums up easily and is gone in a snap. So I vacuum twice a week once the baby is born. Who cares? I am the sick type of woman who loves vacuuming anyway. It is some kind of strange soothing therapy for me. I love pulling out the vacuum, looking at the carpet and thinking "Before", then I begin to vacuum and think, "After" as I look at the change. It tickles me pink. Yep, I need therapy. lol

In pregnancy news, a few ladies from my church stopped by yesterday to welcome me to the congregation. When they asked if they could do anything for me, I told them I needed help baby shopping, as I had no idea what I needed and what products were the best, etc. They were all over that! Two of them said I could call them any time because they love baby shopping. They also offered to help me decorate the nursery when I'm ready. On top of that, they want to throw me a baby shower! At first I declined because I just don't feel right having complete strangers give me baby gifts. It makes me feel bad. But Hubs said that THEY OFFERED, I didn't ask, and he said THEY WANT TO, so I should let them. He said to just make sure that I attend everyone elses baby showers. So with that in mind, I suppose I can consent and not feel bad.

On top of that, the baby has been moving like crazy. Sometimes I forget I'm pregnant and my first instinct is to think that "something wicked this way comes." Then I remember it is a baby punching and kicking me and doing baby gymnastics, and I can't help but smile. I love every little movement. Only two more days until we find out what sex the baby is!

Well, Hubs should be home any minute and then we'll either eat or head to the store to fulfill my cleaning supply list, so I better call this post good. :)

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

On September 10, 2005, I married the most wonderful, perfect man ever. The past three years have certainly been an amazing ride for us, full of life's typical ups and downs. This post is for the love of my life.

Sweetie,

Thank you for being my companion for the last four plus years, and for being the most wonderful husband I could ever ask for. We have been through a lot, and probably more than most couples during the few years we have been husband and wife. The first difficulty we encountered together was when I lost my dog, Roo, less than a month after we were married, and I saw a side of you that I never knew existed. You were so soft, sweet, and caring. You sat by my side and held me as I sobbed and mourned my loss. That was when I knew our marriage could withstand anything. It was a glimpse of what I could expect in the years to come.

During our three married years we have moved three times, and I have held three different jobs. Each of which is a stressful event in and of itself, but we weathered it with positivity, love, and an eye toward the future and progressing. You helped me manage the stressful moments, and you gave me strength and encouragement when my faith in myself and my abilities was lacking. You pushed and encouraged me to be better and to do more. You were the rock behind my career moves.

But none of that could hold a candle to what we went through for almost two years: infertility. Neither of us had any idea what we were signing up for the first time we set foot in the doctor's office: the ultimate test of our marriage and our relationship. I knew that if we could make it through infertility, we could make it through anything. I knew our relationship would stand strong, and I knew that you would be there with me every step of the way. You were there for me when treatments got to be too much, and you helped guide me. You encouraged me to continue in your own way, and you gave me the strength to keep going. You held me through many teary moments, and you soothed my soul when I felt so broken. When I was hormonal and somewhat out of control with tantrums, you always said, "I know this isn't you, it's the treatments." You have no idea how much it meant to me to hear those words from you in those moments when I felt like such a horrible person. You comforted me when I asked you what we would do if we couldn't have kids by always smiling and saying, "Then we'll travel the world with all the money we save!" You never made me feel like it was my fault we weren't getting pregnant. And you always made me feel okay about the possibility that we might never be parents. My love for you during that process grew beyond words. Your strength, your courage, and your love were amazing.

Now here we are, three short years and a million miles later, pregnant with our first child, and even more in love than on the day we got married. I didn't think it was possible to love you more, but as I carry your child, my love for you grows stronger and stronger every day. I am so blessed that on September 10, 2005, you chose to become my husband and spend the rest of your life with me.

Here is to the rest of our lives together, and to making each passing year better than the last. I can't imagine my life without you, and wonder how there was life before you. I love you with all of my heart.

Houston, We Have Movement!

Last night while I was laying in bed I finally felt what I've been waiting for: Baby Movement! I knew right off that it wasn't just a gas bubble because it felt quite different to me (that and I didn't have gas a few minutes later). I thought that I felt the baby a couple of times throughout the day, but it was hard to tell during the hustle and bustle of work.

Speaking of work, do I have to go back tomorrow? Cause I know what is waiting for me, and it is the same thing that was pissing me off to no end when I left almost an hour and a half late tonight, starving, and wanting only to be home. All I can say is when this manual is finally off my desk for the next two years, I am seriously going to party. Did someone say crab legs? Sounds like my idea of a celebration.

On the pregnancy front, things are still as awesome as ever. I have managed to be able to find Baby Bean right off with the doppler every night for the past week with the exception of one night where she decided to be mean to mom and hide out until mom cried to dad who basically told her to knock it off.

I'm not sure if my recent allergies are due to the pregnancy or just the time of year in Texas. Either way, the constant sneezing has been driving me completely bonkers. My nose is raw from blowing it all of the time. Let's blame this one on Texas.

And I'm not sure if my round ligament pains started on their own, or if it is a coincidence that they coincided with my complete frustration at work and the blasted manual that just won't go away. Let's blame that one on work.

And who could forget the eye twitching that started up about two weeks ago and refuses to settle down? I haven't wanted to punch myself in the eye this bad since my senior year of college when my eye twitched nonstop for over two weeks. It did make me feel a bit better when my other BFF told me she had the same problem during her pregnancy (you know who you are! [the very same BFF who has been helping me pick out baby gear online all week, you fantastic blessing!]).

Now here I sit, eye twitching while I rip CDs, listening to somewhat soulful music, waiting for the time to pass so that the horrendous last two hours of my work day can be forgotten, and I can lay in bed, propped up against my pillows while snuggling Mags, watching my TV show "Life of the Am Teen", hoping for more fetal movement. Only 45 minutes to go....

Poor Mags

This past weekend has been great with the extra day off thanks to Labor Day, but it still went way too fast. I'm sure the fact that it flew by had something to do with the fact that we were busy the entire three days.

Saturday morning I got up early to let Sades out at her regularly scheduled time, and put Mags out shortly after that, and then went back to bed. A few hours later I got up to start my day. The pups had been outside for a few hours, and Maggie was already in trouble with Hubs for getting behind the air conditioner compressors again. We've been trying to keep her out of there for so many reasons, but she just doesn't seem to want to listen, and no barrier can keep her out. I know she goes back there to get away from Sadie and to keep cool (she dug two GIGANTIC holes that are a foot and a half deep each), but we really don't want her messing up the new AC (like she already has), or the old one for that matter. One of Hubs' projects for this weekend was to build a 7-foot fence to keep the dogs out of there from now on.

Anyhow, I let the dogs in and gave them both a bath. While I was washing Mags, I felt something attached to her belly. I thought it was a piece of poo, so I decided not to touch it and just try to spray it off. I didn't think much of it after that. Later Mags was being extremely disobedient, so I began verbally scolding her. I scolded her for a few minutes until she gave me those gigantic puppy eyes and broke my dang heart, so I called her over and began petting her while apologizing for yelling at her. She rolled over to expose her belly and that is when I saw it. I thought at first it was a piece of dog food stuck to her belly, but upon closer inspection I realized it had legs and was feeding on my pup! Not sure what to do, I sort of freaked out and ran her downstairs to my sweetie, pleading with him to help her. He extraced the bug and I called the vet and then rushed her over. The vet confirmed that the insect was a tick. A TICK?! Maggie is on the best flea and tick control available on the market, but it turns out it was low in her system because she was due for her next dose the next day. The vet put her on a mild antibiotic and told me to bring her back in the following week. Guess where Maggie picked up said tick? Yep, by the AC compressors.

I felt so horrible that Mags had had such a rough morning and that I had scolded her (even though she was bad), so I took her down the toy isle at the pet store before we left and let her pick out a brand new toy. The great news is her antibiotics have been working for both her tick bite, and the rash she acquired from being behind the AC compressors (just one of the many reasons we didn't want her back there). Today Hubs built a 7-foot fence to keep her from getting back by the compressors again.

The rest of our weekend was spent doing our respective projects. Mine included deep cleaning the house from top to bottom (it took all three days), grocery shopping, doing laundry, a surprise visit to the vet, and home improvement shopping. Hubs spent his weekend measuring out the entire lower floor of our house so that he could FINALLY, FINALLY go buy baseboards to finish off our floors after four and a half months in this house, going to the home improvement store and FINALLY buying the baseboards (I thought we had reached this step last week when we bought one piece of floor board to determine how much and what we would need, but nope! That was apparently so he could cut off a 6" piece to lay against the wall to see how it would look and then contemplate it all week [can you tell it has been driving me insane?!]), and building a 3-foot section of fence.

Now that the baseboards and everything needed to get them in has been purchased, does anyone want to place bets on how long it takes for him to actually start finishing the floors and putting in baseboards? Seriously, I am going insane. JUST GET IT DONE ALREADY!!! OH MY HELL!!! I am so sick of our house looking like we just moved in, or like we are stuck in some project limbo. ARGH!

"Ha ha ha, mom! You think dad is really going to finish the floors?!

ROFLMAO! Even WE know better!"

"Dad, I would like to take a minute to deliver a very serious message. You are driving mom insane by not finishing the flooring project. Please, for mom's sanity and on behalf of the canine portion of this house, we would appreciate it if you would finish the floors now. Thank you."

"Dude, we give up. Wake us if dad ever finishes the floors."