Can you tell we are tired?

When things settled down from moving and Anthony's graduation, Anthony and I realized that we still needed to get Christmas gifts for each other. At first, we both couldn't think of anything that we wanted (aside from time off and and some sleep). We ( read: Anthony) has a bad track record with picking out gifts, so things usually aren't a surprise when we get gifts for each other. This year, Anthony let me know that he planned a surprise for me and that it was going to be good!! He meant to give it to me himself on Christmas Eve, but it actually came in the mail today and it looked like junk mail, so I opened it to make sure before I threw it away (!) Oops.

What did he get me? A gift certificate for an hour long massage in my home from a massage therapist that specializes in pregnancy massages!!!!!

What did I get him? A Homemedics Shiatsu massaging cushion with adjustable rollers and optional heat:


Can you tell that we are a little tuckered out?

Pregnancy Journal: 30 Weeks

I feel like someone has sprinkled miracle grow over my stomach! I am starting to feel big, although everyone still tells me that I don't look that big (which I appreciate and don't mind hearing!). All of the little day to day things that I never used to think about are starting to get...difficult. Things like bending over to pick up something off of the floor, for example. I used to just reach down and grab it up. Now, I take a deep breath and usually say something like "Dang it!!", like something really horrible happened, then I look for something to hold on to and then I squat down and pick it up as quickly as I can, but I usually still feel like I did it in slow-mo.

Speaking of slow-mo, I definitely am starting to feel sluggish. All I want to do is lay around and not move. Just thinking about small things (getting out of bed, walking to the bathroom, walking to the kitchen. etc...) can make me exhausted. Unfortunately, laying around still isn't the most comfortable thing in the world. On the bright side, I figured out how to sleep without getting bad back pain and hip pain!! I realized that not having enough support for my lower back was the culprit and as soon as I added another pillow underneath my back to my growing pillow nest I have been sleeping really well.

Funny pregnancy story: A couple of nights ago, the baby was really active, even more so than usual. I remember thinking he must be trying to do somersaults or something in there! I'm so used to it, that after adjusting myself in bed I went right to sleep. Anthony usually has his hand on my belly when we go to sleep and apparently after I feel asleep the baby was moving like crazy! Anthony was amazed at what was happening and thought it was so fascinating that he couldn't get to sleep because he wanted to see what the little guy would do next. Anthony told me later that he still can't believe that I slept through it :)

5 Years Ago Today

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary!! I can't believe that we have been married for 5 years already, it feels like yesterday. As I look back on that day, I am amazed at how happy I was without understanding how much it would only get better. Truly, each year I feel more and more in love with my wonderful husband and it makes me excited to think about what our life and relationship will be like when we have been married for 50 years!

Some of the things I love about my husband:

• He still gets excited to see me whenever we have been apart (like when I come home after being at work all day). After so much time together, we still prefer each other's company to anyone else's. When we are at home, Anthony will try to take whatever project he is working on into whatever room I am in so that we can be together. No living on separate sides of the house for us!


• He tells me how cute I am, how beautiful I am, how smart I am, etc.... almost every day! Every time he says it, it is so sincere, like he is still amazed that he gets to be with me and it makes me feel treasured.


• I have never heard him talk about, comment on, or even look at other women. Even celebrities! (Unless he is agreeing with me on something. And even then, I don't think he is really looking. I'm pretty sure he is just humoring me :)

So Happy Anniversary to us! I am happy that we had such a wonderful 5 years of just us in our little family and really excited to add to our family before our next anniversary. With both of us finally out of school, Anthony getting ready to start his new career, and both of us getting ready to be parents I really feel like we are moving into a new and exciting phase of our lives. We are so blessed!!

My Belly

Here are my most recent belly pictures, side by side. See how much this kid is growing???

Books and Food, What else do you need?

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I have started contributing to a new blog:

Cooking and Reading-The Perfect Combination

Me and three other gals will be posting regular book reviews of what we are reading and trying to share the best of the best of our healthy (or not so healthy but delicious) recipes. I will posting under the name "Gingerrose", so please add us to your favorites or subscribe to the blog through your reader if you are interested! So far it has been really fun and I already have a new recipe to try out this weekend :)

He Graduated!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anthony graduated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ignore the "Athletics" sign in the background, it will be photoshopped out eventually :)

Anthony was listening to the baby go: "Go Dad!!! Good job on graduating!!!!"

And of course, there had to be cookie cake:

Go Ant-Dawg, we knew you could do it!

Pregnancy Journal: 28 weeks

You get a two for one in this picture: a picture of my 28 1/2 weeks belly and a small sample of one of our new bathrooms in our new apartment! Isn't it big?? :)

I had my 28 week doctor's appointment yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised. I feel like my belly has grown so much in the past month that I was certain that I put on a lot of weight! Luckily, I only gained a few pounds so I feel very relieved and I feel much better about the upcoming holidays (since I know I will be eating A LOT of yummy food).

The heartburn has been getting better. I think it is a combination of changing my eating habits and the baby shifting a little lower and taking some pressure off of my stomach. I definitely feel like I have gotten some more eating room in there recently :) Of course, with the heartburn easing up comes a new pain: horrible pain in my hips and lower back at the end of the day and when I lay down. I've been trying out different stretches and sleeping positions to find what works and it has gotten a little bit better. I must say, sleeping has become a very complicated process. I have a wedge pillow that goes under my torso to keep me elevated for the heartburn, a regular pillow on top of that, a pillow between my knees, and a pillow in front of me to hug and rest my belly on. I really need to get a body pillow, but the super walmart near our new place doesn't have one! Any suggestions on where to get one would be greatly appreciated :)

The Finals Week Curse

I have started to think that Anthony and I are cursed somehow: we always end up having crazy things happen to us and crazy amounts of stress right around finals week (which is seriously the busiest time for work for me). Last semester Anthony's car got stolen, I had two migraines back to back, and my car died on I-75 in the middle of the night the day before finals started (remember? crazy!).

Of course, this semester tops it all! Last Monday our apartment got broken into while I was at work and Anthony was fishing!! Luckily our upstairs neighbor was home and was able to scare them away, but they had time to steal our laptop. Since our alarm was going off (we put one of those noise maker alarms on our doors) and the front door was wide open, the office maintenance people came and relocked our door for us and shut off the alarm. And then left. Without leaving a note, calling the police, or calling me. They did leave a message on Anthony's phone, but he didn't even get it until after I got home at 6PM. What if the thieves had come back and were waiting for me inside????

When Anthony got home we called the police and an officer came out to take a report. He saw our television and all of our electronics and told us straight out that they would be back to take the rest of it, it was just a matter of when. He also told us that the crime in the area was getting really, really, really, bad and even he suggested that we move if we wanted to keep our things. At this point, I wasn't even willing to sleep in the house, much less live there for the next three months! So, we took our valuables over to friends house that night so that they wouldn't get stolen and I started looking for a new apartment pronto.

As a result of all that, I ended up finding a place that had an apartment available and we spent the entire week checking out the area and then filling out the paperwork. Monday we made the decision to leave and Friday we had keys to our new place! Saturday was the big moving day and it was pretty grueling. I was soooooooo grateful for our family and friends that were able to come and help, especially since it was such short notice. Plus, this 7 month pregnant lady over here can't really carry anything and tires easily, so I felt really helpless!

Now, we just have a few rooms left to unpack and some decorating to do and we will be settled into our new place. We really love the complex and the area and Anthony is beyond happy to actually have a garage now for his boat and kayaks. Our dogs are getting used to going up and down the stairs in order to do their business (we are in a 2nd story apartment) and best of all, I have my own washer and dryer now. No more laundromat!! It is kind of surreal that last week I was living in one place and this week my home is completely different.

Anthony is graduating on Saturday, 3 more days!!! After that, finals will be over and hopefully we will have more time to breathe. Plus, I seriously need to take some more belly pictures. This baby is getting huge!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Anthony and I had a really great day with my family yesterday. We all went to my uncle's house and I decided to bring italian sausage apple stuffing. It was a hit!! I only see this side of my family once a year at thanksgiving, so it was fun to have everyone congratulate us on the baby and insist that I eat more food since I'm "eating for two". It was kind of surreal to think that next year we will be bringing our 8 month old for everyone to spoil!

Work has been really busy for me lately. Since finals week is coming up, I usually spend all day coordinating the testing schedule, talking to whiny professors and dealing with even whinier students who missed the deadline for scheduling their exam. In the past week I have gotten emails from professors that have included phrases like "STOP bothering me!", "Your requests are exhorbitant", "I don't know why student x is requesting to test at SDS, she looks normal to me", "I don't know why you keep emailing me, I have already filled out your lengthy form" (he hadn't by the way. At least, not correctly), "I'm confused and concerned by your online system. You need to improve it so it is easier to use" (It is basically the easiest online wizard you could ever use. It has instructions on EACH page and everything is clearly explained if you take a few seconds to read them). I feel like I am running some kind of customer service call center! I don't know how many times I have responded with, "I'm sorry that you feel fill in the blank. However, in order to administer your test we need such and such". There are times when I want to highlight, italicize and underline the word YOUR. Come on! We are providing a service, they should be thanking us instead of acting like we are bothering the heck out of them.

Anthony is completely done with his school work and with his clinicals and is counting down the days until graduation (14 by the way). He still has to keep studying all the time to get ready for his boards in February, but at least he has a few weeks where he can fit in some fishing :) I'm planning on working all the way until my due date, so it is going to be interesting to see how the timing of everything is going to work out. Anthony isn't going to be applying for jobs until he passes his boards, which he is taking the first or second week in February. So he will be doing job interviews and such right around my due date and will probably get a job right after the baby is born. Which means packing up and moving right after he is born...maybe this would be a time to consider professional moving companies? Either way, I am sure everything will work out perfectly. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much already, I trust that everything will happen the way it should.

I passed!

I got my lab results back today, and I don't have gestational diabetes!! I passed all four blood levels (you have to fail two out of four to get diagnosed) so I don't even have to worry about being "borderline" or anything. Whew!! I am definitely relieved, especially with the holidays coming up. Now I can plan on eating some pie on Thursday and not feel guilty :)

Pregnancy Journal: Week 25

This baby is getting bigger by the second!! I keep looking at my stomach and wondering how in the world can things get bigger and then, low and behold it does :) I had my 6 month doctors appointment last week and failed my glucose tolerance screening, so now I have to take off work later this week to go get the 3 hour glucose test done. Bummer!! I am not looking forward to having my blood drawn 4 times in 3 hours, that is for sure! After a lot of feeling down and disappointed, I've started to feel fairly optimistic about it. I did a ton of research and it looks like the screening isn't all that accurate. In fact, 85% of women who fail the first screening, end up passing the 3 hour one, so I have a pretty good shot at not having gestational diabetes.

Other than that bummer news, my doctor's appointment went really well. I am measuring exactly where I should be and my weight gain is right on target. The baby is active all of the time, which makes me wonder just how active of an infant we are in for. He seems to never sleep! Anthony still has a lot of fun feeling my belly and feeling him kicking and rolling around. Now we can definitely see him make my stomach move, which still is kind of crazy to watch. Sometimes I will be laying down and out of the corner of my eye, I will see the blanket move because of a really strong kick!

Anthony took his exit exam for graduation and he did pretty well! His instructor is the type that likes to make everyone feel nervous until the very end of the semester, so she hasn't posted any other grades. Now there are only a few little assignments he has to complete, about a weeks worth of clinical hours for him to do and he will be done! We are so ready for him to graduate :)

Pregnancy Journal: Week 23

I am growing like a weed! Or, more accurately, a pumpkin :) There are times when I wake up and I am certain that my belly has grown overnight! My friends at work have even started commenting that they feel like I didn't really look pregnant one day, and then all of the sudden I had a belly.

I really feel pretty good, all things considering. I'm having a hard time with eating, I feel full all of the time and I get heartburn like nobody's business. I've started carrying around tums because I can never predict when it is going to hit. It doesn't even matter if I have eaten recently, sometimes it just comes! I'm trying to change my eating habits and eat smaller amounts more frequently and make sure to sit up as much as I can, but it isn't helping too much. Hopefully we can figure out a solution soon.

We haven't gotten very far in the name department. We just can't seem to find anything that feels right or that we agree on. The names that I like the most, Anthony doesn't like and vice versa. I also have this feeling that somehow I need to find his name, that there is a name that is perfect for who he will be and his personality and that maybe we just haven't found it yet. Or, I could be worrying way too much about it :) Either way, we are definitely open to any and all suggestions. I've even told some of my friends to not tell me any names they plan on using for their future children, because if we find the perfect name we agree on, at this point we will use it regardless of where it came from :)

It's a......

BOY! We are so excited and super thrilled to be having a boy. I truly didn't have a preference, but Anthony was really wanting a little fishing buddy and he got his wish! We had an awesome time at the doctor's office today (how often do you get to say that??). Our sonographer was really great and really patient. It felt like we got so much time to just look (or in my case stare in amazement) at our little guy and watch her measure and point out all of his organs, bones, and general features that they check to make sure everything looks healthy. Once she did all of her measurements, she flipped the ultrasound machine to 3D so that we could get some good pictures. I was so excited that she did this, we didn't even have to ask and we didn't pay anything for it!

At first the little guy had his hands in front of his face so we couldn't get a good shot of him, then he started moving his feet around too. The sonographer good naturedly kept commenting about how wiggly he was and about how he seemed to have arms and legs everywhere! She patiently kept trying until she could get some good face pictures for us. In the beginning of the appointment, Anthony told her that he wanted to try to see if he could tell from the ultrasound if it was a boy or a girl so she waited until the end to tell us. She repositioned the wand so that it was right over his bum, he spread his legs and BAM. Even I was pretty sure it looked like a boy :) She said, "What do you think Dad?" Anthony's classmate told him to look for a turtle (boy) or a hamburger (girl) so he told her, "It looks like a turtle". She said, "Yep, its a boy alright and he is not shy at all!!" I guess he had been flashing her throughout the sonogram, but she wanted to wait until the end to see if we could guess it :) Here are some of the pictures that we got: I think this front shot looks just like Anthony:

I also got a chance to take some belly pictures last night, so here is my 20 1/2 weeks photo:

Yay for babies and yay for little boys!!!

More from my photo shoot :)

Vacation

This morning my mom and I got home from spending the last 3 days in Ohio visiting my sister. It was so much fun!! The first night we stayed up until 5am just talking. We did a serious amount of shopping and I bought a good amount of maternity clothes. I finally found some that actually fit me, they just had an expandable waistband. I'm not sure that I will fit into them towards the end, but I will at least get a good few months out of them. Of course, we had to do some shopping for the baby! I think we hit our limit for gender neutral clothing :) Luckily we get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl in a little over a week!

We ate so much good food, shopped around, watched movies, and spent quality time together. My nephew is seriously the cutest thing ever! He decided that we were best friends and almost every time he would come into the room and see me, he would start playing and think look up and casually say, "Love you, Ginia!" and go back to playing. It makes your heart melt! My sister did an impromptu photo shoot with me and school photos for my niece and the first two she's edited have turned out so well! It is nice to feel so beautiful at 5 months pregnant :)

This isn't technically a belly shot, but you can take a look at the belly in it, so I am counting it!

January Preview...

Today I went maternity clothes shopping with my mom and my sister and I got to use their 3 month baby bump for trying on clothes. You strap it on and it is supposed to give you a good estimate of what an additional 3 months of pregnancy will look on you. I put it on and I couldn't stop laughing!! It didn't look that big before I strapped it on, but after I did the belly was everywhere. I tried to bend down, belly in the way. Tried to lean over, belly in the way. Tried to walk through the door, knocked some clothes of the hanger: belly in the way.

Who wants an honest husband anyway?

To all the friends and strangers who have made me feel good by telling me that I don't look pregnant at all and that I'm lucky to be so tiny at this stage in the game: don't worry. My husband told me today that he can definitely tell that I have a belly and that he doesn't really get why people say that. Ummm, maybe they are trying to be nice to a new mom? Thanks for saying it like it is, Anthony :/

Moving and Kicking

I've been feeling the baby move for a little over a week now and last night Anthony was able to feel it from the outside for the first time!!!

It has been so cool for me to be able to feel it now, and Anthony has been really bummed and felt left out that he hasn't been able to feel it :) Ever since it started, when I am at home and I feel the baby start to move around a lot (usually right after I've eaten something. Which is pretty much all the time) I'll just look over and casually tell Anthony, "The baby's moving". Almost every single time he immediately rushes over, sits down next to me and puts his hand on my belly. Usually the baby promptly stops moving at that point and without fail, Anthony will get a little sad face and say something like, "Dang! Move baby move!" and will shake my stomach a little bit. It is so cute when he does this!! He just gets so excited :)

Last night I had some Lime and Salt popcorn (delicious by the way!!!) and the baby started moving around like crazy!! As usual, I told Anthony and he came right over only this time the baby didn't stop. After a few times of me going, "Did you feel that?....or that?" Finally there was one really strong one right underneath Anthony's palm and we both turned to look at each other at the same time. I was in the middle of saying "Did you feel that?" and he was in the middle of saying, "Was that one?". Anthony was surprised that he finally felt something and was grinning ear to ear and going, "Woohooooo!". (Can you tell my husband is really just a big kid?). Almost immediately after that the baby stopped moving and after the expected "Baby, wake up so I can feel you again!!" and little belly shake from Anthony we went to bed.

Everyone keeps telling me that I will miss feeling the baby after he or she is born, and I can see why. It is so exciting, and special, and profound. I also love that Anthony gets so excited about everything, it makes it that much more fun for us to be starting this parenthood journey together.

Brownie

Dang I love my dog! I was thinking about our dog, Brownie today and how cute she is. Really, she is my dog since Anthony doesn't really like her and she is connected to me at the hip. We've been focusing so much on the baby, that I really don't stop and think about the good parts of having animals. It is so much fun to see their little personalities and it has given me a little glimpse into what parenthood is going to be like :)

So, some fun facts about Brownie:

• She is attached to me. Obsessively. No matter what is going on, she is always right at my heels or sleeping next to me. She will wake up out of a deep sleep, jump up from a comfy spot and follow me whenever I get up to go anywhere! She even follows me to the bathroom. Sometimes Anthony tries to hold her down to keep her from following me, but she freaks out and starts squirming and whining until he lets her go. Sometimes she crawls up my stomach and trys to lay down near my neck and I find myself jokingly reminding her that she can't crawl into my skin. Which of course, would be ideal for her :)
• She LOVES food. She always has, ever since she was a puppy, but now she has learned how to be more sneaky about it. We feed Bitsy and Brownie at the same time each day and sometimes we watch them eat. We've seen Brownie look at when Bitsy isn't paying attention, and try to eat as much of her food as she can even though her own bowl is still full! She has learned that if she can steal as much food as possible when she can, she can always come back to her own food at her leisure.
• She has the worst time with leashes. She always gets tangled up! Anthony and I have watched her literally hog tie herself before. Twice.

Even though they can be a pain, I love our pets!

The Almost-Nurse Practitioner

Today we registered Anthony for graduation!!! He is in his final semester and his graduation ceremony is scheduled for December 11th at 6PM here in Tampa. I can't believe that he started this program two years ago. In some ways I can't believe he is finally going to be done with school, but in other ways it feels like it has taken forever to get here!

So far he is loving this last semester. He has three different clinical sites:

• A clinic located an hour away from our house that mostly does Department of Transportation physicals for truckers. Yeah.....fun. Anthony says that the actual work isn't very interesting, but the nurse practitioner who is training him is really nice and is giving him tips on where to work. He also got to put in his first set of stitches at this clinic last week!
• A family practice clinic that does a lot of things for themselves. They have their own lab, x-ray machines, and they even do their own casts so Anthony is excited to be able to learn a lot of new things. They also follow patients for long periods of time, so he will be able to practice doing follow ups and things other than drop ins and urgent care.
• A cardiology clinic for some specialty experience. Anthony has always been interested in specializing in cardiology. He says that he just "gets" the heart and that unlike a lot of other body systems he finds all of the complicated things about it easy to learn and remember. He hasn't been assigned to his clinic yet, but it will be good for him to try it out and see if he likes the atmosphere. We've heard that cardiologists can be a bit...difficult to work with, as in big egos, which is totally not Anthony.

Since he only has class once a month, all Anthony has been doing is going to clinicals and studying for his boards. I can definitely tell a difference in his stress level when he doesn't have to obsess about exams every few weeks :) His birthday is coming up in a few weeks, the big 3-2, and even though I've been telling everyone he wants baby stuff ;) I'm sure he would like everyone to remember that he will be taking everything fishing or aquarium related.

Pregnancy Journal: Week 17

I am finally feeling better!! I feel much more like myself, I have most of my energy back and I rarely feel sick anymore unless I don't eat RIGHT away when I am hungry :) This has made for some interesting situations...like when Anthony insisted on taking me over to a friend's house where he was taking care of their aquarium while they were on vacation. Multiple times that he brought me over, it was before lunch or dinner and I was starving!! I couldn't help myself, I had to eat some of their food and then I felt really bad. I even had Anthony warn his friend that some food would be missing and to take responsibility for it since he hadn't fed me prior to going over there. I can't be responsible for my actions when I'm hungry!

A lot of my clothes really don't fit me anymore. The rule is becoming: "if it has a zipper, it will not fit you...". I can still wear most of my work clothes as long as I don't button my pants, but they are still pretty snug. I keep telling myself I need to go clothes shopping, but I just can't get the motivation to do it.

We have our 3rd doctor's appointment tomorrow. The main thing I am excited about is that after this one, our next appointment will be when we find out if we are having a boy or a girl!!! I totally can't wait. I am not the kind of person that does well with waiting for things. I need to know now so I can keep planning like crazy :)

Here is my belly picture. I enlisted Anthony to take this one, I wanted to start moving away from my mug shot-esque pictures that come out when I take them myself:

Pregnancy Journal: Week 14

Still sick. Still tired.

I am starting to get amazed at how much my body can expand and grow when I feel like I am not keeping down/eating much. It makes me realize just a little bit more that there really is a little person inside of me! I am slowly getting some of my energy back. Now, when I come home from work I can do a few things and actually watch TV in the living room all night instead of watching it in bed :)

My clothes are really starting to not fit anymore, but all of the maternity clothes that I borrowed from my wonderful sister-in-law Happy (thanks Hap!) seem too big. I'm thinking that it might be time to do some in-between wardrobe shopping.

Belly picture:

Pregnancy Journal: Week 13

We had our second doctor's appointment this week and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again! It was so wonderful!!

Right before Anthony hit record, the doctor had found the heartbeat but then the baby moved and he had to search around a while before he found it again. I imagined he/she getting woken up by someone messing with him and trying to move away from the intrusion :)

Cool New T-Shirts

So Ant and I decided to buy some cool new t-shirts a few months ago. Here is a picture of us wearing them:
Did you look at them closely? .... We are going to have a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We seriously can't be more excited! I am almost 13 weeks along and I am due February 27, 2010, just two days after my birthday :)

Here is the story of how we found out (Written June 23, 2010):

I missed work yesterday because of a really bad migraine, so yesterday I stayed in bed all day recovering. Today I was feeling better and ready to go back to work. In the back of my head I realized that today was the day that I was supposed to start my period. I took my temperature in the morning and it was still high, and I hadn’t felt any kind of cramping or PMS symptoms. Once I fully realized this, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get any peace of mind until I took a pregnancy test. Of course, I was sure that it was going to be negative since I’ve taken about a million of them and they always turn up negative, I mean that is just what they do for me! I stopped by the store for a few tests and took it in the bathroom at work. As I watched the test start to work, I noticed that the first line showed up right away. “Wait a minute..” I thought. I’ve taken enough of these to know that the control line is usually at the end of the test so that you know that it worked correctly. Sure enough, a few seconds later, another line appeared. TWO LINES!!!!! I couldn’t believe it!! I was in shock, and then crying, and then I didn’t know how in the world I was going to get through the day without being able to tell anyone.

Finally I decided to just go home really quick, pretend that I had forgotten something, and then show Anthony the pregnancy test. I entertained the idea of doing something cute to surprise him, but we have been trying for so long that I just couldn’t keep it from him. When I finally got home, I said hi to him and told him I forgot something. Then I slipped the test out of my purse and told him that this is what I forgot to show him. He was so happy!! He couldn’t stop saying, “Na uh!!!” and squeezing me so tight that I needed to ask him for air. He still wanted to see “the magic” for himself, so I took the second test in the pack so that he could watch the positive result show up. It came up right away, and he got even more excited all over again. Now it was time to go back to work and try to pretend that I wasn’t bursting!

Pregnancy Journal: Week 12

I can't believe that I made it this far! I have been in seriously whiny survival mode for the past two and 1/2 months and I am just starting to feel like we are getting somewhere. If I have to feel so yucky, I might as well feel yucky farther along, right? I have my 2nd doctor's appointment next week and I can't wait to hear the baby's heartbeat again. How much do you think it would cost to buy one of those doppler thingys? Hmmm... How awesome would it be if I could hear the heartbeat anytime I wanted to?


Most of the extreme hunger and crazy cravings has kind of calmed down. It is weird, I would think they would get worse but it is kind of nice to go back to eating like a normal person. There are finally more things that I can eat than I can't, so that is nice. At the moment I still can't eat: vegetables (raw snacks are okay, but cooked vegetables, gag!), meat (any kind, even chicken), smoothies, yogurt unless it is the extra thick kind, and anything that is too spicy hot. The baby LOVES refined carbs, so I am often trying to talk myself out of buckets full of bread, crackers, and pancakes :) (Oh and that is my excuse for now and the next 7 months if I want to eat something. It is not for me it is for the baby, so really I am sacrificing by eating that piece of pie)

Pregnancy Journal: Week 11

Same old, same old. Still nauseous everyday, but usually only at the end of the day so I can make it through work reasonably well and go home and crash in bed and watch TV for the rest of the night. I am running out of shows to watch, I'll tell you what

This week I took my first belly picture! I've kind of been avoiding because I haven't really felt cute, but the day I took this I did. Plus, I couldn't believe what my belly was doing, so I decided to take a picture. Of course, I am fairly certain that most of this belly is water weight and bloating, but belly it is nonetheless :)

Pregnancy Journal: Week 10

There isn't much new this week, just sick and tired all of the time. I finally filled my prescription that I got from my doctor for nausea, and tried it out. It works great! At least, for a few days and then it seems like the effectiveness wears off and I have to have more of it for a smaller effect. So now I ration it and try not to have it unless I am at work or doing something I absolutely have to be functional for. If I am just at home, I do my best to just rest and drink broth or something to soothe my stomach.

We visited Anthony's family this weekend and got to tell them the good news! It was really fun. We wore these shirts that I ordered off of the internet that say "Mommy '11" and "Daddy '11" and we wore them to visit Ant's sister and brother-in-law and to visit his parents later on. It was so much fun waiting for them to notice and say something about it. Ant's sister, Happy, noticed right away and said, "Are you guys trying to tell us something". We just grinned and nodded and she was really excited for us. Ant's brother-in-law, Jared, needed a little more coaxing :) We basically had to keep hinting around, "Do you like our t-shirts?" and "Don't you like t-shirts that say things?". He was completely oblivious for awhile until he finally got it. Once he did, he said that he noticed them, but just didn't connect it to us being pregnant.

Anthony's parents were really fun to tell! Almost as soon as we walked into the door his mom saw my shirt and kept repeating it hopefully, "Mommy?!, Mommy?!". I told her to look at Anthony's shirt and when she saw what it said she squealed so loud, I couldn't believe it!! She was beside herself. Ant's dad was happy too, but nothing compares to her joy :) We all hugged and hugged multiple times and then she raced out of the room. I thought she was going to get the camera, but she came back with a stack of maternity shirts that she bought for me last year and was saving for just this occasion. Here are the pictures we took with the future grandparents and great-grandparent:

Pregnancy Journal: Week 9

The hunger has set in this week! I am hungry literally all of the time. As soon as I eat, about 15 minutes later I am ready to start planning my next meal. Sometimes it is kind of fun, but at other times it is really inconvenient. Like, when I had to scribe for a spanish exam for someone and about an hour through it I was ready to yell at the student to hurry it up because I needed to eat my lunch! I also get tired of feeling hungry all of the time. Sometimes you just want to feel full and satisfied, but I never seem to be able to get there. Part of it is that I have to pace myself and I can't let myself eat too much or my stomach will hurt and I will feel nauseous. It really is a delicate balance that I have to learn! Another new thing for me is that if I find something that sounds good to me and and I have it, I instantly want another one. Like right away, I need seconds. So strange for me!

The coolest thing yet so far happened this week. We had our first doctor's appointment and our very first ultrasound! I can't describe just how amazing it was!!! We got to literally see the heart beating away and got to hear the heart beat. Here are the best ultrasound pictures from the appointment. We found out that I am a few days farther along than we thought so my new due date is 2/27/11, just two days after my birthday!

My Poor Pitiful Dogs

My poor dogs! They are not having a good week. One of our dogs, Brownie, somehow scratched her cornea last week and we ended up having to take her to the animal hospital. She has had to go back for a check up at least once and was given more medicine. Now we have multiple medications to give her every 4 hours! To make things worse, she hates getting the drops and ointment put into her eyes and rubs at it constantly so we had to get an E-collar for her.

To add to that, our other dog, Bitsy, just went into heat so she is moping around being clingy and giving us sad faces since she has to wear a diaper.

They both painted such a picture last night that we had to take a picture of it. Oh the joys of animal ownership!

Pregnancy Journal: Week 8

We've basically stopped grocery shopping around here. Instead we just go buy whatever I feel like eating every night. Since this means a lot more take-out Anthony is as happy as a clam! I just can't bear the thought of cooking, even though some things do sound good to eat. I don't really get it. It's like the idea of the cooking process makes me feel sick, but the smell of good food is no problem. Whatever. I am just trying to stay alive at this point as well as keep my will to survive :)

I am so sick of feeling sick! I have really started to feel like my body isn't mine anymore. I always have felt some control over what I eat and if I work out and now that is all gone. I basically eat whatever I can keep down, which changes day to day and I am either too tired or too sick to even think about working out. I get out of breath climbing the parking garage stairs to my car every day! I've had two migraines back to back this week and they really knocked me out. I have spent Thursday night all through Saturday in bed trying to recuperate. I tried to go to work Friday morning, but ended up turning around and coming home, up chucking in a plastic bag. Not fun.

Never, ever, have I ever pictured pregnancy as this. I always pictured cute bellies, and fun ultrasounds, and husbands waiting on me hand and foot... I never pictured the miserable parts. Still, I am eternally grateful that Anthony and I get this opportunity. We know a lot of people who don't, so I am not ungrateful. I am just adjusting. That's all :)

Pregnancy Journal: Week 7

This week has been pretty good. I still feel sick to my stomach a lot of the time, but I am finding more and more foods that sound good to me and that don't make my stomach unhappy. I was able to set up an appointment with an OB/GYN that was recommended to me by my old doctor from Gainesville, so that is exciting! They told me that the entire appointment will probably take around 3 to 3 1/2 hours, so I have to plan to take the entire afternoon off of work. The said that they will be doing an ultrasound, so that is exciting! The thing I am most looking foward to is hearing the heartbeat. Once I hear that and everything looks good, and I think a lot of my residual anxiety will be able to recede into the background. I guess because it took us so long to get pregnant (almost an entire year) that I have started to expect things not come easily for us.

The other exciting thing is that once we hear the heartbeat and everything looks good according to our doctor, then we will start telling our family that we are expecting! I will be 8 weeks by then and I don't think we will be able to wait much longer than that. We are soooo not secret keeping people, we are both so bad at it! I've actually started avoiding spending time with our friends and family recently because I am so horrible at hiding things that I can't think of a good way to explain me not feeling well, and I am afraid that I will somehow let it slip without thinking. I know that there are a lot of mixed opinions about when is the best time to tell. Some people tell everyone right away, and others wait until at least the 2nd trimester before they breathe a word to anyone. I think we are okay with being kind of in the middle of the two camps. One good thing about telling our families is that once we can talk about it with people other than each other I think it will start to feel more and more real to us. Now it is hard to imagine that I have anything more than a really extended flu :)

Update Finally!

I promise we are still alive and kicking! Life has been a whole lot of the same stuff over and over again that I just couldn't think of anything worth writing! I always used to balk at people who said that or put that in their blog posts, but now I really feel like it is true. We have become pretty boring and monotonous people :)

Anthony and I are starting to really enjoy being cub scout leaders. Even though there is still a lot more to learn and understand (Hello forms!!!!!) we get to just play a lot of the time, so how great of a calling is that? Primary is good too, but it is a little more of a gamble. Some Sundays are great and we think we are pretty good teachers, and other Sundays we wonder what in the world we did to deserve this assignment because we have no idea what to do!

Work is going well for me, same old same old. Anthony's semester is going pretty well and he is looking forward to being done at the end of July. He doesn't hate his life anymore every time he comes home from the health department for his women's rotation, so I think he has gotten used to the more personal aspects of this rotation. I still think it is so funny to me when Anthony comes home from class sometimes, excited to tell me something interesting he learned about how women's bodies work and the majority of the time I already know it. I think he forgets that since I am a women I sort of was forced to learn this stuff already! :) He really loves the day a week he gets to spend at the Urgent Care Clinic and he comes home late in the evening excited about all of the things he was allowed to be in charge of that day. It is really fun for me to see him enjoy himself so much!

My garden is not doing to well. We had such a wonky bit of weather the past few months that it has either been too cold, then too hot, then too much rain at once. Pretty much nothing is left standing, and I was barely ever able to get anything out of it. The plants grew like champs, they just never gave me any vegetables! I'm not giving up, but I definitely have lost a little steam for my tiny backyard garden.

Pregnancy Journal: Week 6

Oh, the morning sickness is here to stay!!! I am pretty miserable. And tired. I keep telling myself that it is a good thing to feel all these symptoms, that it means that the baby is doing what it needs to, but I am still miserable. I just never have a moment when my stomach doesn't feel upset, and swing back and forth between some foods sounding really good and then all of a sudden sounding disgusting to me. Sometimes I change my mind about eating something as I am making it and end up giving it to Anthony. At least doing this I can work on getting him as fat as I can. (My goal is to have him gain as much weight as I do)

I also had my first migraine since I found out I was pregnant. I had been dreading this and hoping that I wouldn't get one until after I had a doctors appointment and could get some kind of medication that I can take. The prescription medication that I have now for migraines you can't take in pregnancy. This early on in a pregnancy, really the only medication I can have is tylenol. The last time I only took over the counter medication for my migraines I ended up heading to an urgent care clinic after 13 hours of misery. Sooo, I thought I was in for a horrendous night. Luckily, it really wasn't that bad! I had a total of two large doses of tylenol throughout the night and I was able to sleep pretty well. It ended up being more like a normal bad headache than anything else.

The next day I had off of work for the holiday and I literally spent the entire day in bed sleeping and recovering, which really wasn't that bad. I watched a serious amount of movies, including Juno. You know, the movie about the teenager that gets pregnant? I totally envied her how she didn't even realize she was pregnant until she was 12 weeks along. But then she was an unwed teenager, so I guess I can cut her some slack :)

Since I found out I was pregnant, I am pretty sure I haven't washed any dishes, cooked any meals, or done any laundry. With the way I have been feeling I don't think that that is going to change any time soon. BUT, I have gone to work everyday and done my job as well as always. Since my paycheck is the one that is paying the bills right now, I don't feel at all guilty about coming home everyday and camping out in bed. That is just the way it needs to be right now :)

I do however, have a funny pregnancy brain story already! About a week ago I made up some snacks to bring with me to work. These nacho flavored quaker rice cake things were doing pretty well for me, so I put together a bag of those. When I got home from work, I couldn't find them anywhere and I was bummed, thinking Anthony had finished them off. I opened the refridgerator, and there the bag was on the shelf! I didn't even get anything out of the fridge that morning, I must have just put it back in the fridge instead of the pantry for no good reason. Plus, I didn't even remember doing it! I grabbed the bag and asked Anthony if he saw where these was. He just laughed and said, "Yeah, I thought that was funny".

Pregnancy Journal: Week 5

This week was not really the greatest for me. All week I was filled with all sorts of anxiety and unrest about this pregnancy. I feel obsessively compelled to spend way too much time on the internet researching everything under the sun that I could think of. For some reason I felt that if I could plan everything now (and by everything, I mean everything baby related) then somehow I wouldn't be anxious anymore and I would feel more prepared. As long as I was doing something I didn't feel upset or anxious, but the minute settled down I started to feel upset again. I really couldn't pinpoint why I was feeling this way, but it was very strange and not the way that I would have imagined feeling, just having found out that I was pregnant. I was supposed to be happy and overjoyed, not scared!!!

Plus, Anthony didn't share any of my fears or anxieties so being around him was slightly irritating. He just didn't get it! To be honest, I didn't really get it either but it still bugged me :) Finally Anthony and were able to have a heart to heart about all of my fears and I realized that I needed to let go and just be. I needed to learn to trust in Heavenly Father and his plan for us and our family. Once I realized that, I felt like a large weight was lifted off of my shoulders! I also felt like thinking about more immediate things like making a doctors appointment, the first ultrasound (things that would make me more happy and excited) would somehow jinx everything and make something bad happen.

As far as pregnancy symptoms go, I've started to feel a version of morning sickness that I have a feeling is here to stay. Luckily I haven't physically gotten sick too frequently, but I have a general feeling of nausea all day that gets even worse at night. All I have really been able to eat are crackers and soup, but sometimes I get the weirdest cravings for things that I never eat usually!

Another thing I did this week was take a few more pregnancy tests for good measure :) I can't get enough of getting those positive test results! Here I am with them all:

Fort Desoto Beach

Anthony and I finally had a chance to go to the beach today! We've been wanting to do it for awhile, especially since we live so close to the coast now but with Anthony working weekends and me working during the week our schedules never seem to line up. The weather was perfect and it wasn't too crowded. I did miss not having very many waves, but that's what you get on the gulf coast :)

Anthony was able to get some fishing in:I have been dying to kick back, relax, and soak in the beach:
And what can be better than relaxing and reading a good book with this as a background?

Of course, our trip would not be complete with the appropriate amount of craziness! Anthony and I decided to take a walk to the far north edge of the park's beach to check out some cool looking trees coming out of the water. As we got closer, I laughed a little bit at an older man walking in front of us wearing a G-string speedo! I even remember thinking that this guy must feel really out of placing wearing something like that in good old America (Speedos for guys are a strictly European trend, right?). As we keep walking, I noticed a few more string-speedo wearing older men, but I was listening to music and looking for fish in the water so it didn't really register as something to be concerned about. We passed a few more groups of people before we got to the end of the beach where it turned into a protected conservation area.

After about 15 minutes of fishing and lounging, I happened to glance up as another older man started to walk out of the water. "Dang, another speedo" I thought, but as he got closer and closer to the beach all of a sudden I realized I was wrong, he wasn't wearing a speedo, in fact he wasn't wearing anything! The realization dawned on me that we had inadvertently wandered into the unofficial nudist/clothing optional part of the beach. Not only that, to get back to the clothes-wearing part of the beach we had to walk by several groups of people that I now realized would probably not be wearing any clothes. How awkward! I seriously didn't know where to look as we started to walk back. I could look at the water, but then I might run into someone standing on the beach and that wouldn't be good for obvious reasons. I could look ahead of me, but every time I caught of glimpse of one of the naked old guys I had the irresistible urge to giggle and once I started I knew I would be able to stop. I settled for looking at my feet and biting the inside of my lip so I didn't burst out into immature guffaws. Whew, what an experience! They need to post those "unofficial" beach areas on trip advisor or something!

Strawberry Picking

Anthony and I had so much fun today! We got up early this morning to go to a cub scout field trip to a local hydroponic farm. It was really neat! They grow everything in multiple styrofoam containers stacked on top of each other with a pole through the middle. They don't use soil for growing plants, but something called "growing medium" that is really light. It looks something like this:

They end up using tons of less water because they water the top plant once, and it trickles down to water all of the plants below it. They also have less pest problems because the plants are off of the ground and they don't get any bugs from soil (since they don't use soil). Lucky for us, they are also a u-pick farm! They had a large strawberry patch and Anthony and I stayed after all of the boys left so that we could get a-pickin'. It was one of the more pleasant experiences I have had with picking berries. Since the plants are stacked on top of each other you don't have to bend down all of the time to find berries! Most of them where eye level or slightly lower.

Once we got home and I started washing and cutting them up, Anthony came up behind me and started eating them. After awhile he turned to me, his mouth red from the berries and said "I can't stop!! They are too good!". They were so sweet and juicy that it made me want to buy my own hydroponic setup and start my own berry patch!

Of course, I do still have my garden that I started last March. I haven't been posting pictures of it because I am a little mad at it at the moment. The plants keep growing bigger and bigger, but most of them have yet to produce any veggies! The only plants that have been persistently giving me anything is our bean plants. The squash plants have taken up half of the entire box but have yet to give me a single squash. The pepper plant has grown to almost as high as my neck, but no peppers. Patience, patience I suppose.

Ahh, my back!

For the past few days I have been experiencing what it is like to have a bad/strained back and I never appreciated how not-fun that is. I never realized just how much I use my lower back until this week, which is ALL the time. (In case you didn't know, like I didn't). So, I have become a pretty lazy person this past week. No working out, really no activity that requires moving more than sitting and lying down unless it was something I HAD to do (like my calling, work stuff, etc...). Not being able to work out is also making me a little crazy. I swear that my jeans are tighter and my legs are flabbier. Unfortunately I can't think of really good cardio exercise I could do lying down in bed while reading a book and having Anthony bring me food. (Because that is all that I have wanted to do all week).

You would think that I pulled something lifting weights or doing something that made sense when it comes to back pain, but I have literally done nothing to cause this! All weekend I didn't feel well with headaches and side effects from my medication so I just vegged out, watching movies and cross-stitching. On Tuesday morning when I got up to get ready for work, my lower back hurt like the dickens and I assumed that it would just go away. Here we are on Friday and it still hurts! The only thing I can think of that I did was Monday night at 3am our car alarm went off and I jumped out of bed from a deep sleep to find our clicker and turn it off. (No burglars, just an evil, hateful alarm that doesn't like human beings to get a good night's sleep).

This morning it was so much worse, that I ended up getting pointers on lower back stretches from a friend at work. We were quite a sight, side by side on the office floor doing different positions and stretches to try to find a way to convince my muscles to let go. Now I am trying to get up and do some stretches every hour and it feels like things are getting better. Hopefully I will be 100% soon!

Cub scouts has been going well. We had our first den meeting on Wednesday and Anthony and I attended our first round table last night. The previous den leader said that one of the cubs was so upset when he found out she was leaving that he wanted to quit scouts! But, after Wednesday he told her never mind, because we were "fun" :) You can't get a better stamp of approval than that!

I bought my leader uniform on Tuesday night and they were having a sale on skirts for women leaders since they are being discontinued. I tried it on without the shirt and it seemed fine, so I bought it. When I got home and put it on all together, I looked hideous! I showed Anthony and he did a double take and then started to laugh! His theory is that the boy scouts were trying to make the women leaders look as hideous as possible to minimize any cub-crushes. A few days later I went and bought some olive-colored pants to replace the skirt, again shopping without the uniform shirt. I was so pleased with myself and sure that I had fixed the problem. I got home, put the pants on and showed off to Anthony just how cute they were. After putting on the uniform shirt: BAM, instant hideousness. Anthony couldn't help laughing at how much I hate that shirt. It has a supernatural ability to make me and anything else I wear with it look seriously ugly. Not cool!

New Callings

Anthony and I both have new callings in our ward! A little over a month ago I was called to be a primary teacher for the 5 year olds so I have been learning and experiencing primary for the first time (as an adult that is). It has been a wonderful experience so far, but definitely an adjustment. I am loving all of the wonderful things the children say and do and I feel good learning how to teach and nurture the children. It helps me feel that much more excited and confident for when Ant and I have our own children to teach! However, it is a little disappointing to not be able to go to Sunday School or Relief Society anymore. I've had to make an extra effort to read the lessons on my own time and I've been reminding Anthony to make sure to give me a good report of what I missed after we get home from church.

Then, a couple of weeks ago Anthony got released from his calling in the Young Men's and was called to be a primary teacher too! So I had to let him off the hook as my Sunday School insider and we are holding our own little Sunday School at home after church :) He is going to be teaching the next class up from me, the 6 & 7 year olds. He was so intimidated! He has never had to teach young children before and I think he felt really out of his element. I keep telling him that he is going to be great! He is just one big kid himself, so I know he will find a way to relate to his class.

At the same time, Anthony and I were called to be den leaders for the cub scouts in our ward. This was definitely unexpected for me! I kept thinking back to when my mom was a den leader, and I guess I always pictured that as a "mom" calling because they know so much more about what they are doing. Still, I am really excited to get to do this together with Anthony and learn something completely new. Our first cub scout meeting that we got to observe was a court of honor, and let me tell you it was a culture shock! There are so many different terms, ceremonies, songs, that seem so foreign as an outsider that it was almost funny to me how much I didn't understand. Not to worry, I am sure I will be an insider in no time :)

Work is going great for me, same old same old. Anthony is suffering through his women's health rotation :( He says that he doesn't mind doing baby stuff and he thinks that it is neat when he gets to measure a pregnant belly to confirm how many weeks along the mother is, or feel limbs and the baby's position from the outside, but he really doesn't like and feels uncomfortable doing...other stuff. The good news is that Anthony has the option of doing half of this semester at another location if he isn't interested in women's health as a specialty (can you guess who signed up for that ASAP?). He is going to be doing the other half of his rotation at an urgent care clinic and he is so excited! He is going to try to get evening hours when doctor's offices are closed so that he can see the most interesting of cases. The gorier, the better for Anthony!

What to say, what to say...

I promised myself that I would post more often, I just need to get more creative with the topics that I deem postable. With everyday being pretty much the same around here, I often think to myself that I need to remember and enjoy all of the little things in life or I will waste my entire life focusing on major events and look back and wonder where all the time has gone. And really, when you think about it, it is the little things that make life interesting and are the things that make your life unique and special. All of the major events that we wait for and anticipate can all be looked up and researched by posterity, but how much more special is it to write down and remember all of the parts of your life that made it uniquely yours.

Anthony and I drove to Merritt Island last Sunday to visit his mother for Mother's day. It was really fun and it reminded me of one of my favorite things about visits like that. Believe it or not, it is actually the drive (as long as I'm not driving! Still not a fan of the interstate driving). Anthony and I always find such interesting things to talk about in the hours spent in the car together. On the way home, we were both getting kind of sleepy so I tried extra hard to come up with questions to keep us talking and awake. I asked Anthony what his absolute ideal job would be if it paid whatever amount of money that he wanted. He didn't have to think long, he almost immediately proclaimed that he would be a fishing captain. He would get other people to pay him to take them fishing on work days, and then go fishing by himself to scout out new spots on his off days. After a few seconds I turned to him, seriously, and asked why he didn't ever pursue it. He simply said that he knew it didn't make enough money to support a family comfortably and that he always knew he wanted a family someday. Truly, how selfless to give up your dream for the sake of people you haven't met yet. Amazing.

When he asked me the same question, I was pretty stumped. I never grew up thinking about careers, because I always knew that I wanted to be a stay at home mom and I really didn't know many career paths that allowed for that. Even now, a lot of the choices I made about school and work were all centered around eventually having kids and not about career advancement. Now it is strange to find myself in a full time professional job and starting to learn about office politics, promotions, getting ahead, building up my skill set, and planning for my future career. I never thought I would really be in this position, but I am learning to embrace things as they come and learn what I can from every situation. I don't know if I ever really thought of a good answer for Anthony. In the end my dream job would be doing rewarding work with people I enjoy. What the actual tasks are really aren't that important to me.

I'll leave you with yet another tidbit from Antiques Roadshow. If you don't already watch this show every week, you need to. For real, PBS rocks my socks.

This is a collection of jade pieces that a woman brought in, given to her by her father. Her father bought them in China during the 1930's and 40's, probably only paying a maximum of 100 dollars per piece. This ended up being the most valuable appraisal in all of Antiques Roadshow history!!! One of my favorite parts of watching the show is seeing the owner's reactions. Her's was so funny to me, Anthony and I couldn't stop laughing. I guess it isn't really appropriate to include what she said, but basically nothing came to her mind but expletives when they told her that the entire collection was worth $710,000-$1,070,00!

Our new wheels

My new car (an example picture of it anyways). It is a 2003 Honda Civic with 89,000 miles on it. I have been loving driving it around! It rides so smoothly, I even didn't mind driving on the interstate, which I have always hated!! I am thinking that I always hated driving on the interstate so much largely because my old car would shake and shudder when you push it past 60 miles an hour.
Anthony's new truck, a 2002 Ford Ranger with 70,000 miles on it. (This is the actual truck). He is so excited to finally have a truck!! His boat fits perfectly on the hitch that was already on it and he has all of next week to get some serious fishing done before school starts up again. Finally he won't feel out of place hauling his boat around (since now his vehicle is actually taller than the boat).


It is so nice to have things settled down. Finals week is over, thank goodness! I was getting really tired of going in to work two hours early every day. I underestimated how many things I actually get done before work so to miss out on that on top of everything else was a bummer. This semester there wasn't too much drama. Only a few temper tantrums from students and professors and most of the snafus weren't our fault. In fact, I've been getting a lot of good feedback from some of the more notorious departments on campus about how things have been running. When ever I get things like that, I stash it away in a file so that I can put it all together when it comes time to interview for the job that I have been appointed to twice now. This time next year if I still want to stay in the position I have to go through a formal interview process with other candidates. Like they would have a chance :)

It is so nice to feel like I know what I am doing in most aspects of the office. Case in point: our assistive technology guy was out of the office on Friday, so I was able to help a student out and finished up converting her textbooks to digital files, gave them to her, and then was able to intelligently answer her questions about how she is going to view her online tests for next semester (she has some limited sight). I also like getting to know the students and some of their personality traits and quirks. The students who work for me are wonderful too, and they even surprised me with a cake and a card a few weeks ago just to thank me for being a good boss. Can you believe that? I almost cried, it was so thoughtful!!!

Not to be too one sided, I should update you on what is going on in Anthony's life too. He finished his spring semester at the end of April and without a car he hasn't been able to relax nearly as much as he wanted to. He basically has been playing video games and searching for cars until last Tuesday. He's got one more week left before school starts and now that he has a way to get his boat to the water, you can bet he is going to be fishing all day every day :) He is going to be starting clinicals at the health department in a few weeks and I am really curious to see how he handles lady exams...I think the plan is that he is going to do what is minimally required of him and then try to block out the experience and pretend that it never happened. But, I am looking forward to him learning more about women specific ailments because then I can ask him questions and he won't look at me and say, "Umm, that's not my area. I haven't learned that stuff".


Well, since we don't really have a life outside of school or work, that is about it for us. TTFN.