Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! That, of course, means it's... October 31. Yup, the last day of October. As of today, there are only two months left in this year. Where has all the time gone? That in itself is spooky!

Tomorrow will be my last day of freedom from the rat race, for a while at least. The past six weeks have been very enjoyable. One might think that being unemployed and at home is boring, but I beg to differ. My time off gave me time to reflect on not only Keith and myself, but our upcoming, new life with daughter Jessica. I have had an awesome break getting to know her and her every little kick, squirm and wiggle, all while taking better care of myself, a trend that I hope to continue for a very long time.

I still have alot to learn about my daughter, especially her personality. She's alot like her mom, tempramental and energetic, when she wants to be. Earlier today I felt what I thought was a foot between my stomach and ribs, however a quick review with my fingertips dispelled that thought very quickly. It was actually an elbow, knee or even a heel. Something pointy. Soon enough, I am sure I will know without the help of my fingertips what kind of jabs come from what body parts. I can't wait!

This new job will bring new opportunities (hopefully) to the table for us; to learn new things and even re-kindle old relationships with co-workers from Ford. I worked in collections with them for a while before moving to a new team and eventually a new role before briefly losing touch with them. Fortunately we have been able to keep in contact and learn that we will likely be seeing each other at my new job!

Until then, however, I will enjoy my last day of freedom. My last day of total relaxation and sometimes not even knowing what to do with myself. What will I do with that extra time? That is TBD. Guess only time will tell. One thing for sure, though, is I will thoroughly enjoy all my time with Keith. Anything else? Who knows.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Psych!



27w 1d today. WOW! Had the evil glucose test today and should find out my results by Monday. The doc will call me only if they are abnormal, so nothing personal, doc, but I don't wanna hear from you! LOL

Actually the test wasn't really all that evil. Since I didn't have to fast I had some eggs for breakfast (golden rule: no sugar)- nice and protein fortified. Then at 8 (my appointment was at 9) I downed the orange stuff in under a minute. My deadline was five minutes. It actually did taste like orange Fanta! I felt a little jittery for a while afterward but Jessica stayed pretty quiet, surprisingly enough!

I was promptly poked by the nurse at 9 for my blood sample which wasn't that bad either. Now I'm funny about these blood draws; I can't watch the needle go in (or stand it, for that matter) but I can watch the blood flow out. Weird, huh? And I'm a blood donor, to boot! (blood banks just love the o+ red juice) Nurse told me that it will be at least tomorrow before I hear anything, Monday at the latest. Let's hope I don't hear anything at all. Not gonna stress, not gonna stress, not gonna stress...

My diet has been fairly decent- nothing like being accountable to your child. Never have I made so much effort to eat so many fruits and veggies, while grains, calcium, etc... usually I just go for whatever's available- forget what I've had all day. And if I breastfeed, it will provide me even more motive to stay on this healthy track! And healthy Jessica is, measuring at 28 weeks, HR of 150 and a mommy who only gained 4#. Woohoo!

Next up: visit in 3 weeks (4 weeks would be the week of good ol' Turkey Day, no visits that week, unless they're to a turkey dinner of course!)- another poke to the arm for my CBC and I get to start peeing in a cup at every visit. After this next visit I graduate to bi-weekly visits! YEAH!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Nevermind!

No planning needed! I pretty much free-handed everything and got the painting finished. Now I just need to figure out how I will hang the letters from the wall. The primary option I am thinking of is using ribbons on each individual letter, but I'm told there's also the option of that tacky, sticky yellow stuff and/or hanging them from a dowel by some thread. Actually, that third option sounds good...

Anyway, here's the somewhat-finished product! ♥♥♥





For some reason, the word "Etsy" keeps coming to mind... Some sort of sign, maybe?

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Writing on The Wall

So for the past few months I have had a rather crafty desire to make something of my own for Miss Jessica. I have envisioned making individual letters spelling out her name, with different colors and patterns painted on them. I will then find some ribbon to (probably) glue to the back of the letters and suspend them from the wall somehow.



Today I finally acted on it. After Keith and I were finished with our lunch, I dragged him to our local craft store to look at letters. It was my lucky day; letters were on sale. Literally, 30% off (and about $2.50 to begin with!)! I LOVE bargains like that. I had walked into the store intending to just window-shop for now, but walked out about $21 and change later with seven letters and five bottles of craft paint: pink, brown, green, purple and black.

I started phase one of the project right after we arrived back home: painting the background colors on the letters.


And for the worry-warts, I had the paint-and-fumes issue covered. The windows were open and I only used a small amount of paint- no major wall jobs here. ;) Kept the air nice and fresh in there and I still enjoyed the gorgeous weather we had! I would have set up shop outside but it was a tad too breezy.

The next part of the project will require some planning, as I will be adding patterns to the letters. Part of me was tempted to keep the letters as they are now, but that would be no fun!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Quiet



It's cold outside. About 51 degrees F.  And the neighborhood is actually quiet, a far cry from this time last week, when I was ready to go buy some shock collars for our neighbor's dogs who were relentlessly yapping their heads off. Today, silence. My guess is that they're being kept inside because of the cold. When it gets "cold" around here (notice the quotation marks) tings tend to get quiet. Here in TX, the number outside doesn't have to even get that low for it to be "cold" to some people and make them stay inside.

Even Jessica Nicole has been quiet today. Up until I had some knockoff crunch berries for breakfast. She rocked and thumped around for a few minutes then went back to sleepy land. I was starting to become worried when my little girl didn't check in with me (you'll learn this about me if you haven't already- it doesn't take much for me to worry. lol) but a few bites in to my cereal and there she was, thumping around. But even now this little lady is back to quiet mode now.

For now, I will just sit back and enjoy the peace and quiet. Once Jessica is here quiet will be long gone, even if those dogs are shipped off to Bolivia (or insert other random foreign country here). Even the neighbor doing yardwork and running his leaf blower isn't that bad.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Countdown Begins


...less than 100 days left til our Snowflake's due date! EEK!

Even scarier, I will be starting a new job on 11/2. Let's hope November turns out to be my lucky month for employment, as June and July sure aren't! For a little backstory, I started with Ford in NOVEMBER 2004. Employment lasted for nearly five years until I was laid off. Four and a half, to be exact. Missed out on my plaque (punks!)!

I have signed us up for our birthing classes starting next month and they will run into early December. Let's hope we don't forget everything between then and Snowflake's arrival. lol With my pregnancy brain, you just never know. Can't exactly find a pre-registration option on the hospital's web site (that I am now about 95% sure I want to go to), so I guess we'll have to inquire about that when we go to "school."

My next appointment to check on Snowflake is on 10/29 and on that day I have the evil glucose test (bleah). The orange stuff is in the fridge. Please pray that I pass! Wasn't the m/s enough?? Not only that, but my first two weeks on the job are training and 8-5. It'd be a pain in the to get a day off to flood my body with even more sugar and starve for a few hours. But hey, ya gotta do, what ya gotta do. And Miss Snowflake comes first.

Then I believe this will be my last four-week break between appointments, at the end of November I will start with the bi-weekly appointments already. EEK! Where's the time going?

Let the games begin!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Missing You

Photobucket


My dear Pumpkin and Peanut,

I miss you guys so much! Pumpkin, you'd be running around the house probably by now and I wouldn't have the time to keep up with this blog as much as I do because I'd be chasing you around, along with taking care of little Peanut! I know that you guys are doing well, though, in the hands of our Good Lord and your great-grandma. I know that they are taking good care of you both. Mommy misses you both!

XOXO

It is a club nobody ever wants to join. The loss of a child, whether born or not, is horridly painful and forever ingrained in the mind of the parent(s) who were affected by it. My first angel, Pumpkin, would be a year old. Our second, Peanut, would be about a month and a half old. Once Snowflake (AKA Jessica Nicole) came along, Keith and I were terrified that something was going to happen to her. I was initially spooked at the double line on the test but then I felt a wave of confidence that all would be OK.

Even after that wave, however, I still had and have my moments of fear and what-ifs. For instance, I know it's normal, especially at this point in my pregnancy, for a baby to be quiet here and there. When I think Jessie's been quiet for too long, part of me wants to freak out until I feel her move again, then I can relax for a little while. For the most part I am OK about not panicking, repeating the ol' PAL (Preggo After a Loss) mantra: "FAITH OVER FEAR." She WILL be OK.

I just want my Pumpkin and Peanut to know that they will always have a place in Keith and my hearts and they will never be forgotten. Ever.

Godspeed, little fellas.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Blanks

*crickets chirping*

I don't know why but the past few days have found my mind pretty blank. As in writer's block. UGH!

There's not too much to report here, except that I have three interviews in a two-day period (two of them with the same company) for jobs, so let's hope for the best! Two of them are for collections positions (yeehaw, but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do, right? The company I am interviewing with is a very stable company, after all, and my interviewer today did an awesome job of selling me the job...) and one for customer service (for a separate mortgage company).  So who knows, by this time next week I could be preparing to start a new job- we'll see!



Last, but definitely never least, I seem to have popped pretty good over the last week if you ask me! 25 weeks officially today- WOOT!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Days Go By...

It's October. That has had me thinking alot of the first pg loss that Keith and I had to deal with. Pumpkin would have most likely been due yesterday(or hereabouts). I'd have a one-year-old. But I know this kid is in good hands. I'm not as emotional as I had thought I'd be; I think that's because Keith had a half-day scheduled at work so it felt like a weekend. His being around me was a pleasant distraction. So was our weather change; we made an impromptu trip to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for chili, which I promptly threw into the crock pot when we arrived back home.

Then I baked a cake. Yes, it's something I swore the other day up and down I wouldn't do, but here I am doing it. The cupcakes I had bought just didn't cut it. (sorry, no pics of the cupcakes..) I've been craving cake lately and thought I could get by on the cupcakes and wanted (and still want) to be a miminalist when it comes to junk food. Yeah, go figure- the month before my GD test is the month when I crave all this stuff big-time. I've been a good girl (tried to, lol) for the most part so this shouldn't throw me off, right? Ah, wait- if it's there, it's there, nothing can throw it either way (well, maybe stuff could throw it to a false pos.)- it is what it is. Ah, that's the expression I was looking for.



And now, the infamous cake.

Looking for a legit, work-at-home job that's not an MLM! Prefer no sales or phone work (computer's too slow and can't afford a new one right now, and don't even mention our neighborhood's obnoxious dogs).. ;)

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Winds of Change

Our weather here in DFW, TX is finally turning around- yesterday I actually had to ware a light jacket! Today? Much different- shorts and *PHEW!* it's nasty out today! Very warm and humid- wind added itself to the mix earlier today. T-storms are in the forecast and I wouldn't be surprised if they get ugly around here tonight as the sun has been poking out off and on. Along with the wind, today I can hear the electric meter buzzing away, mocking me. To it I say, ":P, ththgbbbbhhhttttthhhhh!" We'll see who has the last laugh. (insert sadistic laugh)

Looks like today might be the last warm day for a while, though... that's good for this poor little tree in our front yard, who is apparently a little confused:

Our poor pear tree is flowering along with turning its leaves. Of course, if I was a tree in this weather I think I'd be a little confused too!

The job front is tragic. Nothing but sales (no thanks! don't want anything that will raise my BP!!) or jobs that entail dressing up in a chicken suit and waving a sign at oncoming traffic (C'mon, you know you can see me doing it). Shoot, nevermind. I just realized those are gone too! Oh, well... I know we'll figure something out... any baby contests out there for the unborn? I think Miss Jessica could qualify.


See what I mean? That GORGEOUS little face?? OK, OK I'm a little biased, I'll admit it. But just a little!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Counting My Blessings

I'll be 24 weeks tomorrow. So far, everything is well (*knocks wood*) and I can't complain. Jessica is seemingly healthy and thriving, DH and I are blessed with his job, our house, two vehicles, a wonderful family... the list goes on and on.

I saw a posting on Natalie's blog today that really got me thinking about all this stuff going on. Yeah, there's a lot of crappy stuff going on in my life right now, but there's much more good stuff going on in our lives right now. Reading it after an encounter with our stubborn, selfish dog really put things into perspective. DH and I have decided that is probably a step-parent complex. I was caught out and about in an unexpected rain shower and it was raining pretty hard. Luckily I managed to get home just in time, before el doggo managed to get himeslf all muddy. However after I ordered him into the house, he proceeded to run back into the backyard! I had to chase after him though b/c the rain was coming down pretty good and I was going to be even madder if he ran around the yard and got himself all muddy in the process. And I thought dogs lowered your blood pressure?? In my personal experiences, they raise it. Guess he thinks he doesn't have to listen to me since he's known DH longer. But old animals are stubborn animals, I guess...

But here I sit, unemployed and not finding any real, decent-enough paying work, somehow managing to not be too stressed out. Guess it hit home the very night my recruiter called me to tell me that the axe had fallen on my head. Ever had one of those it-could-be-worse moments when something crappy happens to you?  That kind of thought passed through my mind and while it got me crying (it was about Jessica, AKA Snowflake), it put things into perspective. I can stress over things that are largely out of my control, or I can focus on my blessings and what really matters. Fortunately, I have been doing a pretty good job of doing the latter.

My Blessings, in no particular order:
1. I have an awesome DH, who I love more than anything; he's my best friend. I hope he knows this.
2. I have a sweet baby girl growing and thriving in, kicking and punching at me and I'm loving every second of it.
3. Our Family. Yes, even that stubborn dog and those goofy cats (see picture below).
4. Our health. Mine, Keith's and Jessica's.
5. God is awesome. He has His reasons for doing things, having them happen. Sometimes we are privvy to know these reasons, sometimes we're not.
6. I AM ALIVE. And loving it.


Yes, that's Keely in a plastic bag. LOL She likes to crawl into the things- guess she likes the feel of 'em. Silly girl.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

23w 1d, time sure flies!

I had my latest doc appt this morning and it went beautifully. Nice and boring; my B/P was good, had a nice Q&A with the doc and we found Jessica right away on the doppler this time- guess she doesn't have the room to dodge so stealthily anymore! HA HA, kid! Her h/r was 155 and sounded beautiful!

In my attempt to help reduce our spending, I cooked up yet another flavorful recipe for homemade chicken fajitas- in the crock-pot! (Can you guess what my fave cooking utensil is?)

What I used:
2 huge, plump chicken breasts; cut into strips. It's a pain to cut 'em raw but it worked out well anyway..
2 tbsp taco seasoning
2 tbsp flour (don't know what for but the recipe called for it, so...)
1 each red and green bell peppers, sliced up
About a cup of fresh, chunky salsa.
1 small bag frozen corn

Mixed together the chicken strips, seasoning and flour, then added the rest. Cooked on high for 4 hours and voila!


Tossed into some corn tortillas and YUM! Now, to decide what to do for dinner tonight... Off I go!
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