Thursday, August 30, 2012

surprise!

keeping with the theme of announcing big news…

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surprise! the mister and I are expecting a little bundle of joy, due in March.  we couldn’t be more excited!  so far, I am enjoying this pregnancy thing, and haven’t been too terribly miserable.  those first few weeks were a bit of a doozy, but I’m feeling pretty darn good at this point.  I’m 13 weeks along right now, so only 27 more to go!  Woah.

I’ve been writing little weekly updates since I found out, and taking weekly pictures too.  So I’m going to go back and post the ones I’ve done already, and then I’ll try and keep up with them weekly going forward.  I’m posting these mostly for myself, so I have this adventure documented somewhere, so please feel free to ignore them if reading about morning sickness and cravings aren’t your idea of a good time. :)  If you really want to hear all about the happenings of my uterus, feel free to scroll down (magically, I am posting them back at the time I wrote them, rather than today.  gotta love technology).

so, like I said the other day, things will be a changin’ around here… you’re welcome to buckle up and come along for the ride :)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Big News!

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, then you know that photography is my first love.  I have been  shooting (as an amateur, more or less) sessions for family and friends for a couple of years now, and am finding that this is something I really do love doing.  And if I had it my way, it would be my full time job.  Hopefully, some day it will be, but for now I’m keeping my day job. :)  But I’m diving a little deeper into this photography thing.  I’m going to start working on building a portfolio, and getting a lot more sessions under my belt.  And the first step in doing all of that is…

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My new website. :) 

It has sort of been a far-off thought for a long time, but www.brookegermanphotography.com actually exists now.  It’s the first step in getting myself out there, and getting my feet wet in this whole owning a photography business thing.  So, head over to the new site, have a look around, and tell me what you think.  And if you know of anyone looking for a photographer in the KC area, feel free to send them my way. :)

By the way, this does mean there will be a few changes around here.  All of my sessions will be posted on the new site now, so this blog is going to become much more of a “personal” one.  But there are plenty of new and exciting things going on in this life of mine, so I have a feeling I’ll have plenty to talk about, and there will not be a lack of pictures to share.  More on that later. :)  For now, join me in freaking out at the fact that I am taking the first steps (be they baby steps…) in going after this passion of mine.  I couldn’t be more excited.

Friday, August 24, 2012

{week 12}

 12 weeks

Week 12 (Aug 18 – Aug 24)

This was the last week of the first trimester…holy cow!  I thought it was going by so slow at first, but time seems to be speeding up big time.  The 311 concert was awesome (even sober! :)), and the rest of the week was relatively calm.  We discussed the possibility of putting our house on the market with a realtor (move while pregnant? Sure, I’d love to!), so that is my new focus.  This weekend is looking somewhat busy… another Chiefs game tonight, family dinner tomorrow, and some serious de-cluttering on Sunday.  Matt is starting a big bathroom remodel job, so I’ll have plenty of time to myself.  And I plan to spend that time starting the huge undertaking of getting our house ready for showing!  And maybe a nap or two. :)

Size of baby: Plum

Total weight gain/loss: My liar of a scale says I’m up to 6 lbs.  I’m still not buying it.

Maternity clothes? Not yet, but pants are definitely getting tight.

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep: About the same, still tossing and turning a lot, and waking up to pee regularly.  I keep hearing about some fancy pregnant-lady pillow…I think I need to look into this.

Symptoms: Feeling pretty good still!  I have had quite a few headaches lately, which isn’t very fun (especially since the only thing I can take is Tylenol, which does a whole lot of nothing for me).  Other than that though, I can’t say I’m having too many symptoms anymore and I am a-ok with that.

Best moment this week: Tie between hearing the heartbeat (again) on Sunday (thank you again Sarah for the Doppler…that thing is awesome!), and finding out that we actually could potentially sell our house for a decent amount.

Have you told family and friends: At this point the only people I haven’t told is work.  And within the next couple weeks that will be happening too.  Yay!

Miss Anything? Good sleep!  If you know me, you know that I treasure my sleep.  And I was the heaviest sleeper on the planet…until recently.  I am just not used to waking up 5 times a night, and I’m not really a fan of it!  But I guess it could be worse…

Movement: not yet

Food cravings: Still sweets.  And Burger King Croissant Breakfast sandwiches.  (Maybe my scale isn’t lying…sigh)  I keep telling myself I’m going to make a better effort to eat healthier, and I WILL.  After I eat a few more BK breakfast sandwiches. and doughnuts.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I had one random queasy day this week, but not sure what caused it.

Have you started to show yet: still not yet, the “beer belly” is just getting flabbier…

Gender prediction: I’ve been leaning towards boy more recently.  But I really have no clue.  5 weeks from Tuesday we will find out!!!!!

Belly Button in or out? in

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: The start of the 2nd trimester – can’t believe I’m already there!  Other than that I’m kind of excited about the fact that the calendar is empty for next week so far… we’ll see if that lasts.

Friday, August 17, 2012

{week 11}

 11 weeks

Week 11 (Aug 11 – Aug 17)

This week was uneventful yet busy all at the same time… we had a busy weekend with the Chiefs game and birthday celebrations, and I had several things in the evenings after work.  Went to the eye doctor (and for the first time in I don’t know how many years my prescription hasn’t changed, yay!), got my hair cut and colored (which yeah, I’ve read that you shouldn’t do while pregnant, but from what I read there is no real proof that it causes any damage, and I just got highlights which puts the least amount of chemicals on your skin, so I’m not too worried about it. If anything, the baby will just come out blonde. :) [KIDDING])  The one exciting event this week was finding the baby’s heartbeat on the Doppler I borrowed.  It took me a while, and a lot of hearing my own heartbeat, but we finally found it and it was awesome!  Just beating away in there at 166 bpm.  :)

Size of baby: Lime – seems so big compared to a prune!

Total weight gain/loss: um, I think I may have gained 4lbs in the past week and a half.  Oops.  Although, my scale at home tends to lie so I will wait and leave the official count to the doctor.

Maternity clothes? Not yet, but pants are getting tight.

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep: About the same, still tossing and turning a lot, and waking up to pee every. Single. Night.  But I’m not feeling too terribly exhausted during the day so I will keep the complaining to a minimum. 

Symptoms: I think I just might have made it out of the park in this area… I’m very close to being out of the first trimester, when symptoms are supposedly the worst, so I’m hoping that the worst is over!  I’m still pretty tired most days (but not nearly as bad as a few weeks ago), and still having crazy dreams.  Otherwise, though, feeling good!

Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat at home!  I have had to resist the temptation to try to find the heartbeat every day since. :)

Have you told family and friends: We told a couple of our best friends last weekend and it was fun to go through that all over again!  We will be seeing more friends this weekend at a concert so more spilling the news!  We are slowly running out of people to tell…

Miss Anything? Drinking at the Chiefs game!  It was definitely strange not to drink during tailgating, and to get a coke during the game.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but then again this was only the first of several games this year… sigh.

Movement: not yet

Food cravings: Sweets – I could eat cake, cookies, brownies, candy, or anything else sweet all day long.  That and the total loss of self-control has stuck around.  I am almost completely off of the gluten-free/dairy-free diet at this point (oops… but Macaroni & Cheese sounded SO. GOOD.  As did chicken enchiladas.  And a cupcake.  And a candy bar.  Ok I’ll stop.  I think you can see where the alleged 4 pound weight gain probably came from).  I am trying really hard to get things under control, but right now I just want to eat all the time, and nothing but unhealthy food.  Sigh.  A friend did make a good point, that our bodies crave what they need – I guess mine is low on sugar and cheese ;)

Anything making you queasy or sick: not really… only  a couple moments of queasiness this week, but it’s almost completely gone now. (hallelujah!)

Have you started to show yet: still not yet, just a growing “beer belly”.  Matt even noticed it the other night when I changed into my pajamas.  I’m ready for it to look like a baby belly!

Gender prediction: the Chinese gender chart I looked at says boy.  But a friend has decided girl based on the pattern in our group of girls.  As usual, I really have no idea.

Belly Button in or out? in

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: The 311 concert tomorrow!  This will only be the 6th concert of theirs I’ve seen this year. :) What can I say, I’m a fan!  It’s supposed to be a festival type show, so we’ll get to see a lot of bands throughout the afternoon.  It will be another first sober event for me (ok, so I liked to drink before this pregnancy thing happened…sue me!), I don’t think I’ve ever been 100% sober at a 311 concert.  Yikes.  I hope I still like the music.  HA!  Of course I will.  I just might actually be able to remember the set list for once. :)

I’m also looking forward to the second trimester which is just around the corner…holy crap!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

the best vacation of my life {aka: the 311 cruise}

this post is only about 3 months late…but better late than never, right?

Back in May, we took off on what turned out to be the most amazing vacation ever.  I mean, I knew it was going to be pretty awesome – a 4 day cruise, to the Bahamas, my favorite band on board, a concert on an island, palm trees, white sand, concerts all day and all night… I was expecting a pretty awesome time.  But still, somehow, it managed to surpass my expectations.

The first day of vacation wasn’t all that exciting…we flew from Kansas City to Ft. Lauderdale, took shuttles, trams and a cab to finally make it to a hotel in Miami, and just hung out for the evening.

The next day was much more eventful.  We had some breakfast and then took a bus to the cruise port.  At this point, I was pretty much jumping out of my skin.  I didn’t really know what to expect, having never been on a cruise before, so it was all new and exciting to me.  We got our bags dropped off, went through security, checked in, and then waited to board the ship. 

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First official cruise picture! 

We could see the ship out the window of the boarding area, and that just made me even more excited.  Those things are huge! 

Finally we were allowed to board, but we weren’t able to get to our rooms right away, so we just wandered around and checked everything out.  I was in awe the whole time…there was so much to see! 

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We didn’t waste very much time before getting our first fruity drink.

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And it was the best day ever.  We sat in lawn chairs with our new friend from Texas that we met while waiting to board the ship, sipping our fruity drinks, and I’m pretty sure I did nothing but smile the whole time.  I tried to just soak it all in, and prepare myself for the awesome times that were ahead of us.

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Finally after getting some lunch (sidenote: the best thing about a cruise is that there is food everywhere.  All the time.  And it’s all free!  Not to mention it usually comes in the form of a buffet.  Who doesn’t love a good buffet?!) we went to check out our cabin.  There really wasn’t much to see…just picture a tiny room with no windows and a tiny bathroom to go with it.  Not that I’m complaining…we didn’t come on the cruise for the rooms!  I purposely booked the cheapest option knowing that we would only be spending time sleeping and showering there.  There was one cool thing about the room though…

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bottle opener in the bathroom!  You know, just in case you needed to pop open a beer after your shower. :)

Later that evening, as the ship was sailing away, we got a special treat.  On the top deck of the ship, we got the first 311 show of the trip.  It. Was. Awesome.  I was beyond excited at how close to the stage we were, and I took about 10 billion pictures to prove it. :)

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We were having so. much. fun.

Until a storm came through, and cut our concert short.  You can see in this next shot the clouds starting to roll in and the sky starting to darken. 

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A few minutes later, after some serious lightening strikes, the band scooted off stage, and everyone took cover as the rain started to pour. We all waited it out for a good hour or two, hoping that they would come back and finish the show, but it didn’t happen.  Thankfully, though, this was just the first day and the first show and we had plenty of other opportunities to see 311 play over the rest of the trip.

We decided to head back to our room and order room service (again with the food!) and hit the hey.  We had a whole day at an island in the Bahamas ahead of us…we needed to get our sleep!

The next morning we woke up, ate some breakfast, and boarded the tender boats that took us to the island where a day of fun awaited us.

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This place was amazing.  First of all, it was an island.  White sand, crystal clear water, palm trees, the whole nine yards.  On top of that, we were the only people on the island for the day.  And even better, there were concerts on the beach all day long!

One of my new favorite bands after seeing them on this trip: The Dirty Heads.  If you haven’t heard of them, you should look them up.  Awesome, happy music.

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Have you ever watched a concert while swimming in the ocean at the beach?  Well, you should really try it – it’s fantastic.

We spent the day enjoying more music, plenty of sunshine, and our fair share of fruity drinks. We even got to have lunch on the island – you guessed it, another buffet!

After we were sufficiently waterlogged and sun soaked, we headed back to the boat.  The awesome island day may have been over, but we still had a 311 concert to get to that night!

This was the second show of the trip, and it was in the theatre onboard.

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I was too busy dancing the night away to take any more pictures, but lets just say it was an awesome show.  As always!  We were absolutely exhausted by the time the show was over, so back to the room to get some sleep it was.

The next morning we got to go back to that beautiful island once again.

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This was the day that 311 was playing a show on the beach, and I could not have been more excited.  This was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most.  My favorite band, playing a show on the beach, in the Bahamas!  Are you kidding me!?

Of course, right before the show was going to start, Matt had to go to the bathroom.  For some reason, I decided to go with him up to the restrooms, and boy am I glad I did! When we got to the top of the hill heading towards the bathroom, we were stopped by security and a big jeep type vehicle pulled up. As Matt was telling the security guy that he just needed to go to the bathroom, I looked up and realized that 311 was in the vehicle!! I must have just been staring with my jaw dropped, and Tim Mahoney (the guitar player) looked straight at me, WAIVED and SAID “HI!”. I saw Nick (the lead singer) and SA (DJ) too, and waived and said “Hey Guys” back (could I not have thought of something more interesting to say?!  Or pulled out my camera?! Gah!!). They drove off and Matt and I headed to the bathrooms while I told him what just happened – he had no idea. He was so mad he missed them! We rushed to the bathroom and then back to the water, we could see 311 behind the stage at the bar as we came back by. We got back in the water just in time, as they were coming out.

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This was probably my favorite 311 show that I’ve ever been to.  Ever!  They played all of my favorite songs, and the atmosphere just couldn’t be beat.  We watched the first part of the concert in the water, and then went up to the beach for the rest.  When I turned around, this was my view:

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Everybody was having so much fun!  It was just a giant party on the beach.  When the concert was all over, they took a group photo of everyone with the band.

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Yeah, we’re totally in there…somewhere. :)  Pretty awesome picture though, right?! 

Once the concert was over, we hung around for a little while longer and then got back to the ship.  We got showered and changed, had some dinner, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

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There was still plenty to do for the evening, even though there wasn’t a 311 concert.  We hung out in the theater and saw 2 Skinnee J’s and The Dirty Heads concerts.  Both were great.  There was a “glow party” afterwards in the theater, but we decided not to stay for it and head back to the room.  Well, we might as well have gone to the party, because our room was directly underneath the theater, and we could hear the party all. night. long.  I think we finally got to sleep around 3am.

We woke up in the morning, and I’ll admit I was a little sad because it was technically our last day.  We didn’t have to get off the ship until the following morning, but I knew this was the last full day of fun.  We decided to make the most of the day, though, and do as much as we could!  This was our day at sea, so there was plenty to do around the ship throughout the day.  Before we could do anything though, we had to go to our appointment to GET OUR PICTURE TAKEN WITH THE BAND.  Can you say AWESOME?!  We waited in line for what felt like forever, and finally got our chance to walk in, stand behind the guys and smile.  I don’t know if I even spoke a word, I was so in awe.  It was the best 5 seconds of my life. :)

Of course, when we got back and got to see our picture, I wanted to cry.

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DID I REALLY HAVE MY EYES CLOSED IN THE MOST IMPORTANT PICTURE OF MY LIFE?! 

Yes, yes I did.

Sigh.

But I’ve moved past being upset about it.  I mean, hello…MY HAND IS ON NICK HEXUM’S SHOULDER.  And yes, I know I look slightly creepy having my hands on their shoulders, but apparently I couldn’t resist the urge to touch them.  And yes, that’s a bloody mary in Matt’s hand. 

I’m pretty much just super excited that I even had the chance to stand in the same room with the members of my favorite band ever, even if it was for only 5 seconds, and even if I did manage to make it the most awkward looking picture possible.  It was still AWESOME.

So after that fiasco was over (and I had a smile plastered on my face for the rest of the day), we spent the afternoon on the top deck of the ship, taking in more music.

We saw Cisco Adler and J Randy, who were a lot of fun.

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We saw The Dirty Heads again,

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And we saw 2 Skinnee J’s.  These guys are hilarious.  Quite a show they put on!

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The final 311 show was that night in the theater, but we didn’t get to go since we had seen the first show 2 nights ago.  They broadcasted the show on the deck, though, so we still got to watch it.

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We managed to run into the people we sat next to at the first theater show, so it was fun to watch it with them again! 

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Everyone on the deck danced and sang through the entire show, it was like being at the actual concert.  It was a really great way to end our trip.

And to make it even better, when we got back to our room that night, I found a bag that had this inside of it:

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A t-shirt autographed by the entire band?!?!  How did I get so lucky!  That really put the icing on the cake of this trip, leaving no doubt in my mind that it really was the best vacation of my life.

 

Well, if you made it all the way through this post, you deserve a medal.  But I just couldn’t pass up the chance to relive this amazing vacation, and I want to be able to look back and remember it for years and years to come.  I hope that we get to go on another 311 cruise sometime in the future, but my life is already complete after this one. :)  I say it all the time, but really, this band loves their fans.  And we love them back! 

Friday, August 10, 2012

{week 10}

 10 weeks

Week 10 (Aug 4 – Aug 10)

This week we had our 2nd doctor’s appointment.  It was much less eventful than  the first (although I still managed to be away from work for 2 hours…), but it was still very exciting because we heard the little heartbeat again!  Dr. C very politely warned us that she may or may not be able to find the heartbeat with her Doppler at this point, and if not we will have an ultrasound but it’s nothing to worry about, and it usually takes her a while to find it, so don’t be alarmed….  Well our little superstar proved her wrong!  It wasn’t 15 seconds before we heard that magical sound once again.  I still find it completely fascinating that there is indeed a tiny heart beating away inside my stomach.  Matt’s sister actually owns a Doppler, and I fully intend on borrowing it so that we can hear the heartbeat at home.   Our next appointment is in 4 weeks, and will probably be a repeat of this one, but then 4 weeks after that is the big ultrasound where we find out if it’s a girl or a boy!  I can’t believe we are only 2 months away from knowing! Time is flying by and standing still all at the same time.

Size of baby: Prune (eww, could we not have picked something more appealing?!)

Total weight gain/loss: +2 lbs  (finally putting on some pounds!  I have done nothing but lose for several months now, so it’s great to see the scale move in the other direction.  And yes, I realize that is not the worst problem in the world to have, but at a certain point you just don’t need to lose any more weight!  And I was at that point like 2 months ago.)

Maternity clothes? Not yet

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep: Not great this week.  No naps, but I seem to be waking up about a bazillion times every night.  And usually once to go to the bathroom.  Fun stuff!

Symptoms: It has actually been a pretty light week in the world of symptoms (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself by saying that…)  I have been tired but not quite as bad, and very minimal nausea.  The crazy dreams persist, and like I already mentioned it’s been iffy in the sleep department.  But overall, I’m feeling pretty good! (for now…)

Best moment this week: Hearing a little heartbeat again at the doctor!  Matt thought it was beating “awfully fast”, but the doctor and I reminded him that it is supposed to be fast at this stage.  (Is it dorky how cute I find it that he was concerned? Probably. :)

Have you told family and friends: This weekend we will be telling more friends – and it really wasn’t intentional to have not told them for this long, we just haven’t seen each other since we found out!  I am sort of looking forward to going through the fun of telling someone again, though.  It seems like it’s been a while now.

Miss Anything? Well, as of tomorrow it is officially Football Season.  Normally, this is the most exciting time of year, and I look forward to everything that comes along with it – tailgating, having friends over to watch games, more tailgating… well, I’m already bummed about the fact that while I do still get to participate in all of these things this year, I won’t be able to drink.  And, well, that’s the best part.  Not to mention by the end of the season, I will be right around 30 weeks along and I can’t imagine I will be terribly comfortable sitting out in the cold when I feel like a whale…  So, I miss in advance an awesome football season. :)

Movement: not yet

Food cravings: Still not really having cravings, just have no self-control.  When I think about something that sounds good, it immediately goes from “hmm, that sounds yummy” to “I HAVE TO EAT THAT NOW”.  Yesterday it was a strawberry pop-tart, the day before it was Chinese. Again. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: cleaning out the fridge did a number on me the other day.  It probably didn’t help that I had accidently left the door open all day so several things had spoiled…  I opened a bowl of watermelon and cantaloupe that was already almost 2 weeks old, plus being warm from sitting under the light inside the refrigerator all day… yeah I was *thisclose* to vomiting.  As in, I actually ran to the bathroom.  Luckily I have a wonderful husband who came to the rescue. :)  But other than that minor incident, I have had a pretty barf-free week!

Have you started to show yet: still not yet technically, but I definitely think some things are shifting around and I feel a bulge starting.  At this point it still just looks like I’ve been eating too much Chinese food (which I have…).  Supposedly it’s not uncommon for first time moms to not show at all until close to the 16th week, but I am having a hard time believing that I’m going to have this “beer belly” looking thing for 5 more weeks.  Maybe I’m just in denial… I’m ready for it to be a baby bump. :)

Gender prediction: this week I’m feeling girl very strongly.  Whenever I imagine the future with our baby, it’s always a girl – I’ve even caught myself thinking about “her” or calling it a “she” in my head.  So again, it’s probably a boy.

Belly Button in or out? in

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: The Official Kick Off of Chiefs Football!!  Sure, it won’t be as fun as most years, but it’s still FOOTBALL TIME!   We are also celebrating my mom’s birthday this weekend, and that should be fun.  And now I want cake…

Friday, August 3, 2012

{week 9}

 9 weeks

Week 9 (July 28Aug 3)

This week has been relatively uneventful, which is actually quite fantastic if you ask me.  We hardly had any plans for the weekend, and I couldn’t have been more excited on Sunday to have a whole day to ourselves with nothing specific to do.  We managed to sleep in, lounge around (my new favorite thing to do…) and even get quite a few things done around the house.  The most exciting being hanging a medicine cabinet in our bathroom finally!  I know, that does not sound like highlight-of-the-weekend material, but let me tell you: we gutted and remodeled this bathroom almost 2 years ago.  2 YEARS.  And up until Sunday, we had a giant blank space on the wall above the toilet, just waiting for a cabinet.  It’s mostly my fault that it took this long, as I just never found the perfect cabinet – well, let me rephrase that.  I found plenty of perfect cabinets, just none cheap enough for my budget.  Enter a Home Depot gift card.   Now our bathroom looks nice and finished, and I have tons of storage space.  In a bathroom as small as ours, adding more storage space is like winning the lottery.  Anyway, the rest of the week has consisted of a lot of Olympics watching, napping, and the occasional chore.  Not too shabby, if I say so myself.

Size of baby: Green Olive  (funny story: Matt and I were at the grocery store this week, and we stopped at the olive section to pick up a jar of green olives, hold it up to my stomach, and ooh and aah over the fact that one of those (only slightly more human) is currently growing in my belly.  It was truly fascinating, let me tell you.)

Total weight gain/loss: early in the week, it was still nada.  Although the past 2 days I have felt like my stomach is starting to…bulge?  I know it is most likely bloat, or some intestines trying to find a place to go with my ever-expanding uterus, but still.

Maternity clothes? Not yet, although I can see some work pants in my near future.  They are starting to get a little tight.

Stretch marks? Not yet

Sleep: Well, I finally gave in and took an hour nap after work one day this week.  It. Was. Glorious.  I’ve been sleeping decent at night, although getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night is becoming a regular occurrence. 

Symptoms: The fatigue is back, and with a vengeance.  The nap I took after work this week was not intentional, I just simply could not muster up the energy to move, and about 5 minutes after I hit the couch, it was all over.  Speaking of sleep, oh the dreams I’m having!  I am having SUCH vivid dreams every night, usually incredibly strange, but I tend to remember them for at least a day or two.  I still get nauseous when I get really hungry, but thankfully my routine of eating every couple of hours seems to hold that off pretty well.

Best moment this week: Is it sad that I want to say my nap the other day?  I guess it’s a tie between that and finally having a medicine cabinet in my bathroom.  Wow…an exciting life I lead, isn’t it?

Have you told family and friends: Still just about the same group of immediate family and close friends know.  We have our next appointment next week, and after that (assuming everything is ok) I think we’ll be ready to spill to our friends and everyone else.  I’ll probably wait to tell my work until I’m showing and they can figure it out for themselves, but hopefully after next week this won’t have to be a secret anymore.  Hooray!

Miss Anything? Alcohol is starting to sound reeeeallllly good again.

Movement: not yet

Food cravings: I had Chinese for dinner the other night, in a moment of weakness.  It was delicious, and completely worth the diet cheat.  I had Mongolian BBQ for lunch today, and although it was only an hour ago that I ate it, I think I’m already craving it again.  I forgot how yummy that place is, and I want to go back!

Anything making you queasy or sick: mostly just when I get too hungry.  Although I’m noticing I do have a bit of a weaker stomach than I ever did before.  Things that would normally make me just say “eww, gross” (like a close up shot of dental work being done on TV, for example), now make me want to instantly vomit.  As long as I look away, it subsides, but I definitely never had this problem before!

Have you started to show yet: technically not yet, but I have a feeling that it’s right around the corner.  And (although I may wish to retract these words in a few months), I’m really excited for it!  I think it will make this all so much more real.

Gender prediction: still leaning towards girl, but I have been trying to think of boy names this week.  Since we only have ever agreed on one name, and it’s a girl name, logic tells me that we will be having a boy.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

Belly Button in or out? in

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and tired. :)

Looking forward to: our doctor’s appointment next week!  We should get to hear the heartbeat on the Doppler, or we may get another ultrasound.  Either way I’m excited for another confirmation that this is indeed still real, and that everything is moving along ok.  (not to mention a nice long lunch break, and getting to hang with Matt during the day!)