Glucose Test = Done!

Well, it's done. My blood has been sent to the lab. We'll find out the results soon - hopefully there isnt anything to worry about!! Keep your fingers crossed! 

I had to drink this crazy sweet drink that was orange flavored (ick) within 5 minutes. Then I had to get my blood drawn exactly one hour after that. I drank it on the way to the lab and after downing it (with it having an aftertaste of cough syrup, I might add), I felt like I was going to hurl the whole rest of the way there. After riding the elevator up to the 3rd floor, I almost spewed everything out when I got off. I had to sit in the hallway and try to contain myself for a minute while Tony went to check me in. After a few minutes of praying to God that I wouldnt throw up everywhere, I finally made it to the office and we proceeded to wait for about 15 minutes before I was called in. The lady that drew my blood was extremely efficient (and funny) and I was out of there in like 2.5 seconds flat. 

Because I couldnt eat anything for two hours prior to drinking the glucose drink and then still not being able to eat anything for an hour after that (until after my blood was drawn), I was a little lightheaded after my appointment. So Tony and I headed over to 23rd and grabbed a couple slices of pizza from Escape From New York Pizza. 

* The giraffes above were painted on the wall inside the pizza parlor *

After we filled our tummies, we went in a few of the little shops that line 23rd. I still wasnt feeling awesome (a bit nauseous) so we got back in the car to head home. We hit major traffic. I'm talking MAJOR. Rush hour traffic is so lovely when you're not feeling good. All that starting and stopping.... And then to top it off, I all of a sudden had to pee. I'm talking about the kind where you feel like you're going to explode (but you dont want to pee in your pants, not only because of the embarrassment that follows, but because you dont want to pee all over your nice clean car) and you're pregnant. I think we all know what I'm talking about here, ladies. We finally were able to pull off onto an exit and run into Fred Meyer where after about 2 excruciating minutes of waiting in line, I was finally able to get into a stall and do my business. I felt sooo much better.

Of course, getting back into the car and back onto the freeway was a different matter. The traffic remained and my nausea didnt go away either. Needless to say, it wasnt super enjoyable the rest of the way home. So now I'm laying in bed watching Bridezillas and Amsale Girls (which I missed last Sunday).

Rested Up

Since we decided to go do my test tomorrow since we will be down in Portland for other things, we decided to take it easy today. Boy, did we ever! Tony got up at 8:30 AM and went downstairs to send off some emails to employers. He came back up with breakfast for me around 10 AM. After eating, we watched a few episodes of Reba. Then we fell back asleep for 3 hours! When we woke up, we had lunch, and watched more of Reba. Then we did some more job stuff online and I ended up booking a new client for an overnight visit in early July. I received a couple new books in the mail that I had ordered from Amazon today (one of them being a book that has a funny take on fatherhood - What To Expect When Your Wife Is Expanding - a parody of my pregnancy bible, What To Expect When You're Expecting). It's pretty hilarious. I also got some fun pregnancy novels and diaries. Now we are making macaroni and cheese and watching ABC Family. There are a couple new shows on for their summer premiere (Melissa & Joey and State Of Georgia) and we'll see if they're any good. I watched Melissa & Joey last season and it was alright. It stars Melissa Joan Hart. State Of Georgia is a new show starring Raven Symone. 

So I guess you can say today has officially been L-A-Z-Y.

Baby Baby!

And here's yet another appointment update in the life of Danielle Hermesman:

Everything went great! Weight gain, blood pressure, urine sample.... All were just perfect. My doctor asked if we had looked at birth classes at all; I told her we were already registered for a couple of them in late July. She measured my tummy and I'm 28 centimeters which is just great because I'll be 28 weeks on Friday! We also listened to Anistynn's little heartbeat again and it was just as strong as ever :) My doctor kept saying how active she was - boy, dont I know that!!! It was funny at the end of my appointment because I had been laying down so she could measure me and listen to the heartbeat and she went over to throw something away and was saying that she would help me sit up....just as I was sitting up real quickly. She said, "Wow, you got some tummy muscles there, dont you?!" I cracked up. She said she actually has to help a lot of her patients up because it's a struggle.

She also gave me the glucose super sugary drink so that I could test for gestational diabetes. She told me to take it home and refrigerate it and then come back to the lab tomorrow to test for it. So I'm supposed to not eat or drink anything (except water) 2 hours prior to drinking the orange glucose drink. Then I drink it all within 5 minutes. I then have to get my blood drawn exactly an hour later. So that will happen tomorrow. Please keep me in your thoughts - again, I'm not overly worried about it, but I am still concerned because, well, who wouldnt be? I try to take care of my baby as best as I can and this is just one of those things that could be such a downer. So I would appreciate prayers that I dont have anything to worry about!!

But in the meantime, I feel good that Anistynn is doing just fine. She's apparently about 2 pounds. Awww - I cant believe I have a little growing baby inside me!

What's Up?

The Bachelorette sucked me in once again tonight. Bentley came back and as always, he's soooo not worth Ashley's time (or anyone's time, for that matter). I'm still having trouble falling asleep so tonight I'm starting the Reba series. I've already been through them all before (I own all the seasons) but they are enjoyable so I'll just put them on and fall asleep to them. 

Tomorrow morning is my appointment that I rescheduled from last Thursday (when all that crappy stuff went down). They will be doing the glucose tests and everything - checking to see if I have gestational diabetes or anything. My doctor doesnt seem too worried but you never know, so I still get a bit anxious.

I feel like all I want to do this week is just sleep, sleep, sleep! Once July 1st hits, we've got so much planned until baby girl arrives that I'm sure I will be physically and emotionally exhausted basically all the time. So I feel like I want to try to prepare now haha. 

On the job front, Tony has a couple leads - he's sent out a ton of resumes and we're just waiting to hear back from them. He also has a couple interviews lined up. We'll see if any of them lead anywhere and I will keep everyone up to date.

Nothing much else going on at the moment.... Until next time!

Bear & Daisy

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was pet sitting some new pups this past weekend. I was there Friday - Sunday (today) so I was just there for about three days. It was my first time with them and they were ideal dogs. They were both so sweet! I always take pictures of the pets I take care of (and I will post them online with their owner's permission) so here are a few snapshots of the adorable duo:

BEAR: Male. 6 years old. Cute and fluffy. Laid back. Adores his ball. Loves to be loved. Has a blast jumping around and trying to bite the water from the hose.

DAISY: Female. 2 years old. Aggressive on walks; mellow at home. Loves to shake hands. Walks very regally, like a horse. Is most comfortable laying with her legs splayed out behind her (as shown below - poking out from under the bed!!)

So they were both a joy to hang out with over the weekend; they're good company :) Their owners also have chickens as well so I got to play with them for a bit. They run around the yard and they're so hilarious when they fun after you, following you wherever you go! I didnt get a picture, but I'll get one next time since I'm going back to take care of all the pets in August for 10 days! :)

Ultrasound Debacle Fixed!

Many thanks to my dad for figuring out how to work the discs with our anatomy ultrasound pictures on it! We couldnt bring anything up on our computers, but my dad was able to work it out on his. It was still difficult and he had to use a snipping tool to be able to save to the computer.... So we picked a couple of good ones and are just going to use those (post to Facebook, here on my blog, in Anistynn's baby book, etc). So here are the best ones:

I love the first picture - she just looks so adorable in it! The second is her little feetsies. The third is when she was making a sucking face :) 

These pictures were at 18 weeks - I cant believe that was already 9 weeks ago! - so you can only imagine how much she has grown since then...!

27 Weeks

I'm 27 weeks today! My 27 week pregnancy update!

I met with a new client last Tuesday and I booked her for this weekend and also a 10 day stint in August! So I will be spending today, tomorrow, and Sunday with two new dogs, Daisy and Bear :) I love meeting new lovable sweet pets. I just love doing this for a job - I get paid for hanging out with cute animals. The other cool thing is that I am able to do this while pregnant. There are always exceptions (perhaps a super hyper or aggressive pet) that may not work out right now, but for the most part, I can still do this. I cant do litter boxes though.... BUT Lia or Tony can help me with that, so I can still take care of kitties too - dont worry! And when Anistynn gets here, I will still continue to do this because I can just bring her with me. Again, the situation will have to be right (the animal has to be good around kids and pose no obvious danger) but I could take a dog on a walk and have her in the stroller too. All I know is that it's more likely to work out than most other jobs. There will also be times when someone else can care for her too if I need to take on a job. What's cool is usually I do walks for dogs or daily visits, so I wouldnt be leaving Anistynn with someone else for every long anyway. 

Needless to say, I love being able to have these opportunities and I hope it continues!

Oh The Joys Of The Unexpected....

Today wasnt awesome. As some of you may have heard via my husband's Facebook, Tony lost his job today. It was super unexpected. We had no idea this was coming. It's really upsetting for a number of reasons. For those of you who know about his work situation, you would know that the upper management is not very good. I dont want to get into too many specific details as I dont think that's my place, but let's just say that Tony was stressed out a good amount of the time he has worked there because of it. This past April marked a year of Tony working for this particular company. He has put up with a lot and always kept other possible job opportunities in his mind throughout, just in case he could find something good enough to switch over to. It's true what they say: "people quit managers, not jobs." I'm sure that's what would have eventually happened, but certainly not right now. Not 2 1/2 months away from the birth of our baby girl. I know we didnt want to make a switch for a little while unless something really great came along... Even though he wasnt crazy happy about the manager he had, Tony could still do the work and the pay was good. Enough so that I didnt have to work (which has been a blessing, since my pregnancy hasnt always been easy - although I'm still pet-sitting, just not as much as I could be doing). Anyway, Tony has worked long looooong hours for this company and was very reliable and hardworking. He had received two raises since being there (in a year's worth of time) and was promoted from driver to warehouse manager. In fact, this past week, he was working from 4 AM - 10 PM pretty much every day. He normally works from 4 AM - 6 or 7 PM (still long days, but he was sticking around to get more done since the other guys in the warehouse weren't really keeping up with everything). But he was laid off out of the blue today. They called him in right after he was getting off work (early, I might add, to take me to my appointment at 3:45 PM) and just laid that nice bit of information on him. 

Well, I hadnt been feeling well all day today (unexpected nausea and vomiting, which forced me to take a Zofran, which I havent had in two weeks) and it took all I had to take a shower and get ready. When Tony got home and told me what happened, I just kind of lost it and so we canceled my appointment. I was supposed to have the standard glucose testing today to see if I have gestational diabetes or anything like that (which my doctor isnt too worried about, but still, you  never know). We rescheduled for early next week, so it will be fine to get it done then, but today with everything going on, I just felt like if I did receive bad news, I just dont know how I could handle it, on top of everything else. I could feel myself getting stressed out and I wanted myself out of that situation, because it wouldnt be good for baby. So rescheduling was the best option for today.

So anyway, Tony is going back down to the warehouse tomorrow morning to see if there is anything, anything at all that he can do (even if it means going back to being a driver, like he was at the beginning - which would suck because the schedule varies and he goes on trips - but it would be something). If nothing works out, he's sending out resumes to other places (he did a few tonight already). And if anyone knows of anything, we would really appreciate the suggestions. He has a lot of skills and is talented in a lot of areas. This last job he was at was a delivery service company and he was a driver for part of the time and a warehouse manager most recently. He has worked in furniture, machinery, hard labor, sales, food, hospitality, and a few other areas. He has a lot of experience in different things. He'd prefer something more physical (as in not a store or food service; i.e. construction or labor intensive) but we arent being too picky right now. We just want to get something going. A lot of you know how it is. 

I also have a few upcoming pet sitting jobs booked, which will certainly help, so we're grateful for that. We are a little stressed right now, but we also realize how blessed we are. We have each other, our health (which we are especially grateful for, considering I'm pregnant), our home, a savings account (which we hate to use but this is what it's for - a house, our child's needs, and emergencies), and enough things for Anistynn to be okay with (just in case we couldnt afford anything else before she arrived, we have what we need, the rest are just 'wants' - we have her crib and mattress, bedding, toys, books, stroller, car seat, bottles, and enough clothes for five children.... The only thing we'll really need to get is diapers and wipes, at least to get started)..... But I'm sure we'll be fine. It's just a little scary when something like this happens. But Tony and I are in this together and that's where we'll remain. 

When I started to get a little overwhelmed earlier, I happened to feel Anistynn kick and that just made me break out in a teary smile - because although we have a kiddo on the way, and Tony doesnt currently have a job, I'm almost certain we'll be okay. I also feel so blessed that my pregnancy has been healthy and our little girl is progressing just like she should be (no concerns yet and hopefully none at all ever) - and she'll get more love than anyone could ever hope for. 

Thanks for all your support, suggestions, and prayers during this time. We love all of you and are so grateful for each and every one of you in our lives!

Word To The Wise

DONT, under any circumstances, watch I Didnt Know I Was Pregnant while you're pregnant. I mean, I know it doesnt apply to me because I do know I'm pregnant, but still. It's unsettling. Add on to the fact that it's really hard for me to really believe a word of it and it's just plain ridiculous! I mean, I'm sure there have been cases of it, but holy moly, how do all these women not know they're pregnant at all??? But whatever - I unfortunately watched quite a few episodes because I got drawn in to the drama of it all....but now I just feel unsettled. Haha. 

Just a bit of advice ;)

This is what they say about the show on the TLC website:

"How could she not know? A woman goes to the ER with stomach pains only to discover that she is in labor... with TWINS! A 110-pound woman passes out in her driveway and wakes up in the throes of childbirth... I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant is a series that reveals the astonishing stories of women who conceive and carry their babies all the way to labor and delivery with no idea that they were ever pregnant. Do they have their periods? Gain any weight? What about morning sickness? How is it physically possible to be up to 36 weeks pregnant and not know it? The incredible but true stories will be revealed on I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant."

Busy Week Ahead Of Us!

I will apologize right now if my blogs arent all that awesome this week - we have a lot of things planned so I'm running back and forth everywhere. Here's a rundown of this week and the first two days that have already passed:

Sunday: Father's Day - Tony and I went to church and then to our yearly family BBQ picnic at Eagle Creek. There was lots of good food (as usual) and interesting conversations.... :) The boys went on a hike and the girls sat around the fire and conversed in girl talk. Then Tony and I went home and watched a movie together. I gave Tony a card from me (and Anistynn too!) and then we hit the sack. 

Monday: Watched a couple movies, paid some bills, did a bit of reorganizing, helped Tony with his online class (I read it to him and he answered all the questions - it was timed and I'm a faster reader than he is), then ended the night with pizza and The Bachelorette.

Tuesday: Today we will be getting our carpets cleaned (for free - yay!), then I will be picking up Lia for a bit. I have a new client consultation this afternoon, then I will run some errands (pick up stamps and a few new books), visit with my grandparents, and then drop Lia back off at home. Then I'll watch the season finale of 16 & Pregnant.

Wednesday: I actually dont have anything planned, so I hope I can sleep in and take it easy - get some rest. A preggo needs her rest, especially in the midst of crazy running around! I dont want to overexert myself and do more than I should be. 

Thursday: I have a baby appointment and it's going to be a physical one. Gag me with a spoon right now. I hate physicals of any kind. Blech. Leave it to me to get pregnant and have a baby - the most invasive, not private, TMI, scary hospital bound, painful thing I could get myself into. But regardless, I am SO excited to become a mom. I just have to push through and make it to the other side in the meantime. After my appointment, we might be going to the zoo with my family. 

Friday: Prenatal yoga class, pick up Lia, and head over to Portland where I will be staying at a client's house through the weekend and watching her two lab mixes. Lia is coming with me because she loves to help take care of the animals too :) There's also this re-opening party on Saturday for the salon I go to (they moved locations so they're having a fun little party with food, drinks, mingling, and prizes), so it should be fun. 

So there may not be a TON going on, but it certainly feels like it, especially to me, the big preggo lady who gets exhausted easily. Next week seems like it should be fairly laid back, but once we hit July 1st, things are going to be taking off and we have a lot of things planned. I'm looking forward to it and dreading it because I will be both busy and exhausted. 

Oh and my sister is staying with us right now too! So we have a house guest :)

Complaints

I dont want to be a whiner but man oh man, am I uncomfortable. I feel like I'm getting huge. I'm reminded of it when I clean (even as something as simple as dishes or laundry), when I take a shower and shave my legs, when I put on clothes (mostly pants because it's hard to bend over), etc. The worst is trying to sleep at night when I toss and turn and just cant seem to get it right. I surround myself with pillows and use Tony as a prop (God bless him) but still - I sleep really horribly.

My appetite has decreased too. I'm not hungry very much anymore, at least until about 5 or 6 in the evening. I have to force myself to eat in the morning when I wake up. I know I need to eat so I do, but I feel like I'm overeating and just doing it because I'm bored. I'm literally pushing through the feeling of not wanting to eat, to eat, because she needs me to. Everything about it is unsatisfying. 

Sigh. Life sometimes, eh?

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day and so it obviously brings to mind all the important men in my life. I just wanted to give a shout out to all those great guys on here:

Lyndon Way - my daddy!

Bill Nation - my gramps!

Bob McQueen - my grandpa!

Gary McQueen - my uncle!

Ron McQueen - my uncle!

And we cant forget about Tony's family, who is now my family:

Ted Hermesman II - Tony's grandpa!

Ted Hermesman III - Tony's dad!

Bill Hermesman - Tony's uncle!

TJ Hermesman - Tony's brother!

And finally to my husband, Tony Hermesman himself, who will become an official daddy in about 3 months! He is a wonderful husband, who I just know will make a fantastic hands-on dad to our baby girl. I'm so excited to see him step in and fill his role of daddy. I know we will both make mistakes but I can guarantee that we will love that little girl like nobody's business. I'm so grateful to have a hubby who wants to be super involved in everything revolving around Anistynn (it's already started with things as simple as her nursery and her name; I can only imagine what it will be like when she gets here) and I cant wait to see what kind of relationship they will have and the strong love that they will have for each other because of it. 

And to all you other doting loving caring fathers out there - kudos to you for being amazing dads!

Cant Get Enough Of That Sweet Cleanin'!

Let's just say that I cleaned the crap out of my house today...with hubby's help. Feels soooo nice and fresh and clean! I think we'll be good for a while now.... especially since I clean every day it feels like. But now we are prepped for our carpet clean on Tuesday. 

Aaaannnnddddd I will be paying for this tomorrow. My back and joints are already achy. I guess that's what you get for bending over toilets, doing dishes and laundry, vacuuming, and wiping down baseboards all day, among other things. 

Whew!

Oh, and random cool deal of the moment: we went to Blockbuster last night (which we hardly do anymore because they're so expensive; we usually Redbox something or just Netflix it) and we stumbled into a  really cool deal. We rented an older movie (as in, it wasnt on the new release shelf) and it was free....which was awesome already. Then we were told that it's a 1 day rental and if we bring it back before midnight, we can get another movie for free; it even includes new releases as well. We can even trade out multiple times a day if we wanted to. So basically unlimited rentals until July 4th. So that's pretty cool! You can only get one at a time though. But still. I always love a good deal! Tony and I are taking advantage of this so we are essentially renting movies for free for like 2 weeks. We didnt and arent spending a dime for this :)

26 Weekssssss

The weeks just keep going by, dont they?? 

My 26 week update!

We have the kiddos this weekend so along with biking and playing outside, cleaning (Josh is helping Tony move heavy furniture and boxes from the office down to the garage), and eating (our cupboards are always bare after they leave....) - we are going to see Mr. Popper's Penguins!

Farewell, Katrina! :(

Today I had lunch with my good friend, Katrina. We went to Old Chicago and just caught up. She is moving to Idaho this week and I'm so sad! :( I will miss her soooo much! She is my oldest friend. Our parents were friends before we were born, so we were basically baby friends. Thinking of how much I love Katrina and how important she is in my life, makes me hope for a friend like that for Anistynn. I think it's such a wonderful gift to have a lifelong lasting friendship. Kat has always been there for me - she's always been a good friend. She's been concerned when something was wrong, supportive when I needed a friend, reliable, fun, loving. We went to the same church (still do). Her family lived right across the street from my grandparent's house (they still do) so we got together often while growing up. She has always gotten me a little something for my birthday each year and it always hits the nail right on the head. Her gifts are displayed around my house, all of them, because she knows me so well! When I went away to college, she wrote me letters and sent me a stuffed giraffe. When I moved to Colorado, she sent me more letters and small gifts. She sent me a sympathy card when my boyfriend passed away. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and she was the only one out of all 5 of them who attended all my pre-wedding festivities. We have had many sleepovers, lunches, birthday parties, concerts, phone calls, and events together. We even went on camp outs and mission trips together. Needless to say, she always been there for me in some way and for that, I am so appreciative. Even today, when we met up for lunch, she gave me a couple of cute things for Anistynn since she wouldnt be here for my baby shower. She is so thoughtful! 

Awww.... I love you, Katrina! 

The Ultimate Goal

One of my New Year's goals was to write something in my blog each day. It didnt matter if it was one sentence or a novel, a picture, a link to something, or just an update of my day. The point was, I wanted something for each day. So far, I've made good on that goal. I've written something for each and every day this year. But as I get closer to having this baby, I realize that updating my blog every day might not be as easy to do. So I'm putting up a warning that it may cease for a little while....and then probably just whenever I can randomly post. I'm well aware of the fact that being a mom is a full time job and with that comes extreme exhaustion.... So I dont want to put any unnecessary stress on myself to upkeep this if I cant or just dont have the time. Writing is a good release for me though, so I really will try to keep up with posting! It probably just wont be every day. Dont worry - I'm still planning on posting something every day until the day I go into labor. So we've still got 3 months left yet :) I think posting something every day for 9 months will still be pretty good on my goal so I'm happy with that.

My goal for my life was to have kid(s) so the fact that my yearly goal is being sacrificed in order to meet my life goal is just fine by me :)

Ultrasound Debacle

So if you remember my post about our anatomy ultrasound, then you will recall that they "burned" a disc for us with all the pictures on it for us to take home. Well it ended up being a blank disc so we called and asked for another copy. They said it would be available at my next appointment - which it wasnt. So we called again last week and asked if we could just get a copy sent to us. We received it today and they sent us 3 discs using different programs, so one of them should work. Well....they dont. At least not that Tony or I can figure out. I'm going to see if my dad (the computer expert) can get them to show up and if he cant, well then I guess we will just never get them. It sucks because there were so many views and it outlined all her little parts - spine, nose, lips, hands, legs, feet, etc. Plus there were some really good profile shots (and ones where she was making a sucking face, which was adorable). I also really wanted them not only to put on Facebook but to print out a copy of the best ones as well to put in Anistynn's baby book. I only have the 12 week print out currently. I will have at least one more ultrasound but still, I wanted all of them to chart her progress. So hopefully my dad can figure it out and I can get some pictures up soon!

Queen Of Clean

I slept in until 1 PM today! YAY. That may seem lazy or ridiculous but it's sooo not. I had such a bad time sleeping the last couple of nights that I needed this. And I'm done feeling bad about sleeping in right now. I've been up fairly early throughout this pregnancy so far, save for a few times where I actually slept in for quite a while, but if I start sleeping in now, I'm not going to be ashamed. I more than likely wont get to do it for a while, so I will take advantage of it now! 

I feel like I want to clean something..... Again, our house is in just fine condition.... But I know I want to deep clean the whole place at least once more before baby gets here. I know it's technically about 3 months away still before she's due, but you never know what can happen and I want to have it done. So it will probably be in the next week or so (perhaps even over the course of the week, a little each day) so that I can feel good about things. I will be getting bigger and I already get tired and my back starts to hurt when I bend over or I'm on my knees (which is how I clean because I'm obsessive and I have to clean everything) so I know it wont be good to do that later on. So right now, while I'm still in my 2nd trimester, albeit the end of it, I will get it done. And then we will just continue to keep it organized and clean up any messes immediately until she gets here. I have also scheduled a carpet clean for our whole place on the 21st. I cant wait for that because I just love the feelings of clean carpets. I adore the feeling of carpet after it's vacuumed. So that will be good. It's complimentary too, from the leasing office here, so yay! 

Tonight is pizza and Bachelorette night - in the meantime, I think I will do a little cleaning and organizing. I also need to get better at taking naps. I have trouble with it, always have. I think it's the daylight outside. It throws me off. I have only been able to nap when I have either been dead tired or I was traveling for a while and my time was all screwed up. I have yet to take a legitimate nap through this pregnancy. Ive laid down and rested but not fallen asleep. There was a period where I was falling asleep around 8 or 9 PM but never just napping during the day. I want to try to get better at it so I can do it in my 3rd trimester and hopefully have a little more energy throughout the day so that I can get more things done. 

Sometimes I wish I could just truly relax for a minute, you know? I'm always worrying about something that needs to be done (at least, needs to be done in my mind). I just need to put my feet up and not care for a bit. Watch a movie, take a nap, read a book. But I always end up going somewhere in my mind.... Something that needs to be cleaned or organized, an errand that needs to be run, or maybe I just feel like I'm wasting time. Tony says I need to chill out because I will be up and about and busy busy busy with little miss Anistynn when she gets here and I really need to take some time for myself now because I will be on her tail for 18 years ;D Haha, I get it, but it's just hard. I like feeling productive, but I also understand that I need to take it easy sometimes and that it's actually the best thing for baby girl. Somebody just needs to inject something into my mind then, so that I can stop having a million things run through it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

La-dee-da.

Another Exhausting Day...

Today was yet another exhausting day for mama. Sigh. 

I had another restless night. I dont know what it is - I'm 6 months along and I'm only going to get bigger, so whoo-hoo for already feeling like this now at this point. I surround myself with pillows and I even prop Tony up behind me so that I can lean against him while I'm sleeping on my left side. He's my little prop in this crazy play I have going on every night. But at least he's willing and doesnt mind - although sometimes I just get irritated looking at him because he can fall asleep in a snap and just remain asleep all night peacefully.

This morning we had church so there wasnt really any sleeping in. We got ready to go and headed in. Church in itself was fine, but the auditorium was soooo hot - at least to me. And sitting on the benches for 2 hours wasnt awesome either. After finally escaping into slightly cooler air in the foyer, we visited with a few friends until we went to lunch at Roadhouse Grill with my dad and the kiddos. Of course, it didnt hit the spot and I was just upset about spending money again.

We went home with Josh and Lia for a couple hours - and after discussing seeing Tree Of Life with dad and then finally deciding after an hour to just see it another time - Tony and I took a 20 minute nap on the couch, where Ainslee came over and made herself at home on my leg. 

Josh was out biking again and Lia was watching Bridezillas. Then we headed into the Mt Hood Theater to see Rio. It was cute and the theater was cool (it's an older one so I was a bit concerned because I'm so hot lately) so that was a nice break. After the movie, we said good bye to the kids and my dad (who had met us there) and then headed over to McDonald's because Tony was craving a sweet tea. When we arrived at home, I had some ice cream and watched the premiere of Bridezillas. Now we are upstairs where Tony has promptly fallen asleep and I'm watching the premiere of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Hopefully I fall asleep soon after that because I'm just so physically exhausted from this past weekend. I think baby girl is telling me to take it easy now. I feel like I could sleep Monday away.....

Son Of A....

Today was exhausting - it had it's good and bad points. There was this event at Babies-R-Us today called the Super Baby Shower. There were supposed to be giveaways, contests and prizes, help with registering and preparing for baby, as well as tips for planning a baby shower. It went from noon until 3 PM. I was going to go with my sister, Lia, as well as Tony (so that he could help load stuff in the car and whatnot). Well, last night Tony got a call saying he needed to go into work to do ONE delivery and that it would take 1 -2 hours max. He had to go in at 8 AM. I figured that was plenty of time, no need to worry whatsoever. Psh. That was only the beginning of what turned out to be a pretty ugh kind of day.

I barely slept last night because I was so uncomfortable!! I kept tossing and turning. I read until about 2 AM and finally tried to fall asleep after that but I still wasnt tired enough. So I laid there for about another hour, with so many things going through my head, until I finally fell asleep. But after that, I was waking up every so often. Sleep for an hour, wake up for 20 minutes, sleep for an hour, wake up for 20 minutes, sleep for 20 minutes, wake up for an hour. Ughhhh. I ended up falling asleep around 9 AM and woke up at 10:30 AM. I had to drag myself out of bed because at that point I finally felt tired enough and did NOT want to get out of bed. But I had to shower and get ready to go. Tony should have been home by that point, but he also said he would be home by 11:30 AM at the latest. So I got all ready and waited around with Lia.... Until it finally hit noon and Tony still wasnt home, nor had I even heard from him. I called him and he said he was just now heading back with the delivery from Beaverton, that it took longer than he thought it would, and that he wouldnt be back for about another hour still. Well that just pissed me off because not only were we gonna be late (and maybe I could have even slept a bit longer if I would have known), but he didnt even call or text and say he was going to be late. It just irritated me and set my tone for the day. 

Now, I havent been too bad with this pregnancy so far, mood swing wise. I've had the occasional emotional moment (once because we didnt have any milk left) and I've had a few uncontrollable laughing fits that turned into crying. I've been irritated and short-fused but usually I recognize when it's happening and I just take myself out of the situation before it escalates, and I just go lay down or something. But today was different. Everything started setting me off, plus I was cranky and tired. It was not a day to mess with me. 

So anyway, Tony finally got home at 1 PM so we took off for the store. When we finally arrived, they had already done some things, so we didnt get to participate in those. I went to the registry section and signed up. I have already started creating one online, but I really wanted to do some in-store registering because I wanted to use the scan gun. I have never done that before and wanted the experience. I didnt get to do that with our wedding because we didnt register anywhere because we basically had our house set up already. So after getting my gun, I was set loose in the store and we actually had some fun. They supplied us with bottles of water, registry lists and folder organizers (which I loved), and bathroom directions. I had some coupons from our last trip in so we also picked up our mattress for the crib, the 6-piece bedding set we had picked out for Anistynn, a nightlight, and a vintage looking wall clock and light switch plate set. I also got a few free things from tables set up around the store. They gave me a really cute reusable tote filled with Enfamil formula (quite a bit actually), coupons, bottles, bottle warmers, and brochures. When I was done registering, they gave me a gift bag filled with coupons, brochures, toys, diapers, wipes, and a $10 gift certificate. So I was thankful for that stuff, because I looove coupons and I'll always take samples and anything that's free. We ended up being there for almost 3 hours total, so my feet were tired when we trekked out to the car.

Tony was hungry so we were just going to grab something cheap, but then at the last minute, he decided to go to Applebee's. At that point, I didnt even care and just wanted to get in and sit down for a bit. But after being there and barely eating because I was distracted with going through my freebie bags, a waiter that completely sucked and took forever to keep coming back over to our table, and a $40 bill for 3 people.... Let's just say I wasnt too happy and totally regretted going there. We could have saved that money - and Tony agreed too. We were just kind of upset about the whole thing. We headed home after that and unloaded our purchases. After being home for a total of 4 minutes, we headed back into town because I wanted to go to the maternity store.

Now get this: we went to Motherhood Maternity back in April and purchased $250 worth of stuff because they told us that for every $50 we spent, we could get a $20 pass for next time we came in - so basically $20 to spend on whatever in June. So we ended up with $100 to come back in and use. I had been waiting for this for a while because I was excited to spend it and get some more comfortable things, mostly sleepwear (because I can still fit in a lot of my pre-pregnancy clothes) but also a few tops and unmentionables as well. So Lia, Tony, and I went in and got to work. For those of you that know me, I hate shopping to begin with, but I kind of dont have a choice at this point so whatever. Tony came because his opinion matters most to me and he can be honest without being rude. So I take his reactions to heart. After trying on a bunch of crap in the dressing room (which I hate because the mirrors suck and the lighting is florescent and it makes you look fat and disgusting in basically everything). I seriously hate dressing rooms. So anyway, we finally get everything I want together and then the lady tells us that we can only use the $20 passes for every $50 we spent today. What?!? I mean, it's a good deal in the scheme of things, but that's not what they advertised to us and made it sound like when we were there last time. I would not have spent that much last time had I known. So basically we had to spend a bunch to even get the coupons to use next time. That's stupid. But whatever, we were there, I was exhausted, and we wanted to go home. So we ended up buying $150 worth of stuff and got it for $90. It was okay, but honestly, I wasnt expecting to spend any money there that day so my mood turned sour because of it. 

We finally got home after stopping at Taco Bell, and got the mail. In the mail, we had received more info about the speeding ticket Tony had gotten when we went to the beach that one day - a $245 ticket. That just wasnt something I needed to see or be reminded of at that point, so it just pissed me off. My dad came and picked up the kiddos (Josh had been hanging out at our house all day and biking) and now I'm in bed ranting to all of you. I think I'll just try to go to sleep now. If I can even sleep.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

25 Weeks - -

25 week update!

Last week seemed to fly by! It feels like I was just posting abut my 24th week! Wow.

Today the kids came over and we had pizza and played outside. We took Josh to a BBQ and then Lia, Tony, and I went to see Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. It was cute...but the best part was when Tony feel asleep halfway through the movie. When the credits started rolling, Lia and I left (which might sound mean but we couldnt resist) and went outside to wait on a bench for him in front of the movie theater. He didnt come out for almost 20 minutes! He was woken up by the cleaning guy... Bahahahahaha. It was hilarious, because I can just picture it: this adult guy in the back of the theater, completely asleep, in Judy Moody, by himself. LOL. I even stumbled over him when we were leaving and he didnt wake up. Oh my goodness. 

Side note: If you're planning on seeing the last Harry Potter film, I suggest going to get your advanced tickets now!! They went on sale today - trust me, this sells out fast. I'm going to the midnight show, of course! I always have, every year, for every single Harry Potter movie to date. Sometimes I have seen one more than once in the theater but the first time I have always seen each one was at midnight. I'm so glad I get to do it for the last one as well. That way, I will have seen them all at midnight before baby was born. Yay!

48 Years Old & Still Looking Fine!

Just have to give a shout out to my favorite actor of all time:

Happy birthday, Mr. Johnny Depp! 

Back in the day, my sister and I used to make a cake every year for him on June 9th..... 

^^ I used to have this picture plastered on my binder in school for the longest time.... Yum yum ;D

Judy Moody...

I am not ashamed to admit that I want to see the movie Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. My little sister has read the books and I think the film looks so cute. Not to mention, the little red-headed girl is freakin' adorable! I havent seen the movie yet, but every time I see a preview for it, I picture her to be like our little girl would be once she got to that age. Fun, outgoing, adventurous, motivated, funny, and just plain cute. Plus, I looove how her hair is always so crazy and she doesnt even care. She makes me think of what being a kid is really all about: Innocence, being in awe of everything, and just living in the moment.

This Beautiful Frugal Life

I stumbled across this great blog today and thought I'd share with all my money-saving loving friends! This is what they say about their website:

"This Beautiful Frugal Life is a blog dedicated to helping you save money and find the best deals. Never pay full price for diapers again! Shopping, saving, couponing, raising kiddos, loving & living on a budget in our quest for financial freedom!"

Check it out HERE!
 

They also have a Facebook page that you can like and you'll get all the updates and deals right on your feed: This Beautiful Frugal Life. Enjoy!

The Ultimate Laze Day

My goodness, today has been nothing but lazy. I slept in until 11 AM, had a bowl of cereal and then read my book until about 3 PM. I finally dragged myself up and got in the shower. I've been watching Lifetime since...a movie called Odd Girl Out. I'm waiting for Tony to get home with pizza and then The Bachelorette starts at 8 PM. I think it's safe to say that I whiled away this day!! My whole house is clean, I had no errands to run, no appointments to go to, and everyone was either working or in school. So I just took it easy. It was nice but I always feel like I could be doing something. I think I needed it though. 

I cleaned my house like 5 times this past week. Haha. I just feel like it always needs to be done and it so obviously doesnt. Sigh. I wish I could get rid of my stupid anxiety about having a clean and organized house. But it's just me, just my personality, and I cant just turn it off like a switch. Believe me, I would if I could. It's just built into who I am and I always worry about it, whether I'm home or not. I mean, it's good in the sense that I will never let anything get out of control (my home will probably never be wrecked, extremely messy or disorganized for long periods of time, nor will we turn into hoarders or pack rats because I simply cannot stand it). But I wish I could just not be thinking about how the magazines arent straight on the end table, or how I could reorganize our already super organized storage closet into something even more efficient. I'm constantly checking out organizing solutions at the store. I put away groceries and anything else I may have picked up at any store right when I get home with it. Everything always has to be organized and have a place. I notice if someone moves something and it's out of place - that's how organized my things are. I get anxious if something just sits out on the counter. And I CANNOT help it! I literally sit there and think about how it's nothing and who really cares....but the fact is, I care. On the one hand, at least I'm not some slob who just doesnt give a crap and lets her house get completely crazy and dirty and messy. I'm sure Tony wouldnt appreciate that either. But on the other hand, I wish I didnt feel anxiety about something being out of place. Now, I will say that I have grown to be a little more lenient with things since I've been pregnant; in fact, I've almost been testing myself because I know things will get crazy after I have a baby. I'm sure things will be disorganized, items will be out of place, and once she gets older, toys and stuff will be everywhere. I'm prepared for that but I still think our house will remain organized in the sense of the word, albeit cluttered and messy at times. It will never truly get out of control - I feel that deep down. Now I just need to let temporary messes go and not stress so much about little things that just dont matter.

Fingers crossed!!

Manzanita From My Husband's Eyes

I wrote a blog not long ago about going to the beach for the day with Tony, Josh, and Lia. I posted some pictures I had taken that day and now I just wanted to post some pics that my husband shot. Enjoy!

For more of my husband's amazing work, go visit his Facebook page: The Hallow Design By Tony Hermesman (or click on the FB badge to the right here on my blog). You can also check out his official website HERE.

Morning Surprise

Tony has been gone a lot this past week being busy with work and an RC car event that he's been planning. He gets up at 3:30 every morning and heads off to work. He gets off of work anytime between 3 and 6 in the afternoon / evening, and then heads over to Clackamas to work on preparing the event. The event is today; he had to get up at 4 because he had a work meeting at 5 (sucks when he doesnt even work today) and then the event started at 8 and will go until about 3. Then I'll finally get to see him for a little bit because we'll be going to my cousin Justin's graduation party this evening.

But this morning I woke up to a tray that Tony had left on our bed. It was so sweet of him! :)

He put a collection of things I enjoy on it: chocolate chip granola bar, strawberry kiwi Caprisun, glazed doughnut, maple bar, flowers, my magazine, and some cute notes (which is his trademark style).

Heehee - love the little post-it note!

His note was sweet with all the millions of hugs and kisses he included in it :)

And he picked up my magazine that I get every week, along with some flowers. How thoughtful! I love my man and the little things he does. They really mean a lot to me.

24 Weeks!!!

Time really seems to be flying by. My tummy seems to be getting a bit bigger each day but then again, I'm not used to something being there in the first place, so I really notice it! Anistynn is so active too! She moves around almost constantly. She especially goes crazy when I put on loud music, most noteworthy being Lady Gaga :)  It's hard though at night - I'm sooo uncomfortable lately. I toss and turn (mainly trying to stay on my left side) and I have pillows surrounding me. I also get leg cramps too so that doesnt help. And it's getting harder in the shower haha - shaving my legs has turned into an absolute chore! It physically pains me to bend over or stretch to cover certain hard to reach spots.... *SIGH* Ah well. I guess this is just what comes with the baby package ;)

Today was so nice outside! I grabbed my ipod and went on a nice long leisurely walk. Then I went and visited with my grandparents for a while. My uncle was also there making dinner for them, so I had some chicken, rice, green beans, and french bread.

Now I'm about to continue on in my book, Love The One You're With, before I try to sleep somewhat peacefully - fingers crossed! 

My 24 week update!

I'll Be There For You...

So I've come to the conclusion that I should replace all my seasons of Friends haha. I should get the special edition box set or something. My seasons have gotten me through thick and thin for many years. I've watched and re-watched them over and over again; I cant even count how many times I've seen every episode. I watch it to laugh. I watch it with my friends. I put it on when I'm doing other things, such as cleaning, for background noise. The sound of Friends is truly a comfort thing for me. There are times, particularly rough times in my life, that I have fallen asleep to Friends because it was the only way to get my mind off what was going on at the time and be distracted for a bit. Friends can always bring a smile to my face. I can honestly say that I never get sick of it. There are things you can only stand for so long... but I've always been able to welcome Friends into my life. I've never turned it down. I dont think I could even watch my most favorite movies or read my most beloved books as much as I can watch Friends.

Anyway, I purchased almost all of my seasons in used condition (about $10 per season) at CD / Game Exchange way back when. They were all perfectly fine. I bought the last 3 seasons on Amazon.com. With how many times I've watched the discs, there are episodes that now skip and there are two whole episodes that dont even play anymore. Those seasons have trekked through many moves with me - to college, to an apartment, to my grandparent's house, to Colorado, back to Oregon..... 

I know some people may be wondering how I can talk like this, so sentimental, about a tv show. I can see how it may sound weird but it's true. I think I started watching Friends two years after it first premiered in 1994. So I would have been about 8 years old. That sounds about right. That may seem young, but I almost cant remember a time when I didnt know about or like Friends. From then on, I watched it religiously. I remember when the series finale aired - they published an article in The Oregonian titled, "Good Bye, Good Friends." That's right, I still remember that. I bawled my freakin' eyes out that night while watching the end of something so epic. I didnt know what I would do without having that to look forward to every week. To this day, I have not encountered another show that can ever replace Friends. I havent found one, in my opinion, that was a good as Friends; one that has all the elements that Friends had. The closest would be How I Met Your Mother, and frankly, I see a lot of similarities between the two - but we all know which one came first ;)

So it will always be my favorite and I dont think anything will ever change that. Tony and I are currently going through the seasons again (we're on season 6 right now) because he's never seen them in order, or all of the episodes, for that matter. He gets such a kick out of it too and I love to watch him crack up at it. The characters become like your family, your friends - you get so invested in their stories and lives and like I said before, they truly just bring a sense of comfort to you because you can count on them to be there. Cheesy, I know, but whatever. I have always been compared to Monica Geller throughout my life, from people in school or church or anywhere. Apparently, my OCD is comparable to hers. I just take that as a compliment :) And of course, Friends is where I first saw Jennifer Aniston, who became my favorite actress and has since remained in that position. Ultimately, it led to me coming up with the name Anistynn for my daughter, who will be born in 3 months. And random fact: David Schwimmer who played Ross Geller, just had his first child, a girl, with his wife. It's so weird to hear that he's so smitten with his daughter and how he's learning to be a new dad, when he had two kids on Friends. It's like he was already a father a long time ago so that's nothing new! Haha. The characters really stick with you. So to summarize: I love me some Friends!

So no one told you life was going to be this way.
Your job's a joke, you're broke, you're love life's DOA.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear,
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.

But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.

You're still in bed at ten, the work began at eight.
You've burned your breakfast, so far, things are going great.
Your mother warned you there'd be days like these,
But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees.

That, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.

No one could ever know me, no one could ever see me.
Seems like you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me.
Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with,
Someone I'll always laugh with, even at my worst, I'm best with you.

It's like you're always stuck in second gear,
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.

But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.