25 weeks and counting!

So, I'm actually almost 26 weeks but this picture was taken when I was 25, that counts right? Anyways the bug and I are doing great, I'm actually beginning to feel some movement when I'm up and about as opposed to just lying down, which is of course so cool. My sweet tooth has come back with a vengeance though which I'm not so happy about. I eat about one marshmallow a day, weird I know but I do. However, I am trying to make that the limit of my sweets intake. So far so good but we got 15 weeks left. I've officially hit the 10 pound marker which according to my app is still within healthy weight gain range, but I gotta tell ya watching those numbers creep back up to where I was before I lost weight is kinda scary. I just gotta keep telling myself its more baby than me. In other news thanksgiving had officially passed which means in Casey's world that it is officially time to decorate for Christmas! Which is of course his favorite holiday. Some day I'll have to go down to the basement to take a picture of the plethora of storage containers holding all different colors of lights. It's a little scary I tell ya. We have another's doctors visit coming up soon plus our 3d ultrasound and maternity pictures!! It's going to be a fun month.

6 months and growing!

Ok so 6 months may slightly incorrect, since technically your pregnant for for 10 months but that's just details. So in my world 24 weeks = 6 months. Little man and I are growing quite nicely, although people still can't decide if I'm to big or to small for how far along I am. So, I've decided to just go with it. His movements are getting stronger and stronger each day, in fact it's getting to where Casey can feel him moving around more often then not. Our official weight gain at this point is 10lbs which according to my pregnancy app is good, so I'm excited. I'm also really loving watching my tummy move from the outside. I will admit it does look odd, but it is still just soo cool. So the baby bump is a little blurry so there may be another one if I remember before we move up a week.

A redcoat is coming!!

So every year since I graduated college I go back to play in the alumni band on alumni day. I know I know it's a little geeky but what can I say I am a band geek and proud of it. Plus it's the only Georgia game I get to go to, and it's my once a year to play on Georgia's field with my daddy. Because of course my dad is a band geek too. When I first graduated it was just me, mom, dad and my brother, now Casey gets to come too. It was kinda funny the first year we went he was all about taking pictures and didn't really pay attention to the game, now he takes a few pics and watches the game. I'm slowly converting him hehe. This year was a little different mainly because Casey and I get to be parents next year, which means I got to be pregnant and march on the field!! I always thought it would be cool to be pregnant and march even had a cool shirt planned, so you can imagine just how excited I was when it actually happened. Mom and I made the shirt and I must say it was quite a hit, people where coming up to take pics of my belly and I got so many compliments on the shirt. Lots of people were amazed that I made the shirt! I will admit it was kinda weird having people take pictures of my belly, I never knew if I needed to smile or no. So while its late as usual here for your viewing pleasure little mans first trip onto UGA's field.

Losing

On October 31my aunt died, she was the oldest of her siblings and the only one who still had many of the characteristics that reminded us of her parents. She was the matriarch of my moms side of the family. She was an incredibly intelligent woman with a passion for family history. She loved cats, travel, and quilting. But mostly she was just my aunt Kathy the woman who somehow always up sitting next to me whenever we ate which meant invariably I would be pinched because I would at some point put my elbows on the table. The woman who inspired my love of travel because she always seemed to be going to such cool places. She was a little bit like me or maybe I was a little like her, we both had lots of great ideas which in turn meant lots of unfinished products and stuff to eventually finish them with. I'm sad she's gone, but glad her death was painless and at home while surrounded by family. I'm angry at tr cancer she never had the chance to fight, and upset by the short four months we were given to learn as much from her as we could. There are some stories I will never get to hear now because she was the only one who knew them. She was a wealth of knowledge ill never get to learn. But I'm glad her death was peaceful and that she made her peace with God, and that those important to her were able to say goodbye. My child will never know his great aunt or how close she mirrored the great grandparents he will never meet, but her friends left him a great tribute in her honor. A quilt so that he will always know she loved him even before he was here.

Moving and grooving

I am officially 22 weeks!! Little man gets to be almost a pound and as big as a spaghetti squash. His movements are becoming stronger and more frequent. In fact last night Casey finally felt him kick like three times!! His kicks are getting stronger and more frequent as weeks pass and I'm starting to feel them at different times during the day, where as before it was mainly at night or when I was laying down on the couch. I'm doing pretty good weight wise, I'm at a total of six right now. I'm still trying to do my prenatal yoga as well as walking my dogs frequently. However this little man is wrecking havoc with my digestion. I have to for the pipes to work properly I must eat five prunes a day, otherwise I become somewhat stopped up which makes my tummy feel very firm and I feel very full and blah. Also, my dogs have a death wish they have taken to destroying our deck gate and are currently banished to the grandparents until it can be fixed. Here's a new belly pic!

Living aint easy

Today has been a rather rough day. It started off with finding out a friend was intubated due to respiratory problems related to her preeclampsia from being pregnant. It's also upsetting because she's only seen her son once since his birth and now he's going home and she's staying. And while I know this needs to happen it doesn't change the fact that the about to be mommy in me is extremely saddened by the fact her and her son are separated. Secondly my aunt is fighting or trying to fight cancer. We can't seem to keep her well enough for long enough to truly begin the battle. She's currently in ICU not peeing with the fluid going somewhere trying her best just o breath. It's heartbreaking to see her like this, she's been the strong sturdy, almost strict aunt since I was a child. Now I'm the one bossing her trying to get her motivated so we can fight this. My grandparents never got to watch me finish growing up and never saw me get married. I need my aunt to be around to see my child and to instill those principles my grandfather did in me. Lastly and least importantly, but this was the icing on my cake, I burnt myself on my oven trying to remove muffins. The heat fogged up my glasses as I was reaching in and SMACK into the oven door. So today living ain't so easy. Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine a little brighter. Tonight prayers are greatly needed.

Half baked!!

We are half way done with this pregnancy!! I can't believe we have a half baked baby, and in 20 more weeks we get to meet our little person! Being pregnant is kinda surreal. Some days it's hard to believe I really am pregnant. I mean I do kinds look pregnant and my stomach is starting to get a little hard but still I'm not to the point where I feel baby N move all the time, so it's still kinds odd. However doing thing like squatting to clean up my husbands paint spatters not as easy as it used to be. So far for me I have had a great pregnancy nausea was minimal, which I was very thankful for I don't do sick very well. My nausea could usually be curbed by a small piece of fruit, yogurt, or some string cheese. I really have no sweet tooth right now and at first red meat was a no go, now it's kinda hit or miss. Salads were gross to me too which made eating my vegetables very hard however I love smoothies and putting spinach in my smoothies became my answer. Feeling baby move is another new sensation that I love, but I can still really only feel him when I sit still or lay down. This has caused my to be very lazy. Or it least that's my excuse haha. I do get put and walk the dogs and I love my prenatal yoga. Still working on making it back to the gym, but I finally feel spunky enough to try. Haven't gained to much weight, maybe a total of five pounds. Which I know sounds small but I'm overweight so I get to gain less anyways. Hoping to stay as healthy as possible, so as to prevent any complications. Casey and I also just finished registering which was actually quite fun, a lot of people say its overwhelming, but I really didn't think so. It took a while though like two days, and my husband got a little price gun happy. As in he just starts scanning stuff like a tinkle cup cause it makes him laugh. He also became like a major clothes crazy man just scanning all sorts if clothes with cute sayings, or things talking about how awesome a baby N's dad is. Was cracking me up, hopefully people will ignore my husbands silliness and purchase more useful and only some silly. Well here's my 20 week bump! No bare belly shots yet, haven't reached that level of bravery.

Three years Running!!

Today it's been three years since I said I do to my husband. He always knew he'd get married someday, I on the other hand already had my single woman life all planned out. To say I married my best friend is an understatement, I have many people in my life whom I would consider my best friends, and my husband far surpasses that. He's the other half I never knew I needed or for that matter wanted. He's my partner and crime and has become the little voice in my head sometimes. We've laughed more than we've fought which I consider to be a major plus in a marriage, especially listening to some couples over the years. We've been so many places together and we have so many more places to go. We started this marriage renting a house, then we built a house, and are now making it a home. We've become relatively good DIYers although by no means are we professionals, and I've learned it's easier to let him be and get it wrong then get to say I told you so. We started out life with one dog and one cat and now have two dogs and two cats. Children used to be a distant talk in the future, now the future is quickly arriving in march of next year. So many things in our life have changed and I know more change is still to come. Now that we've gotten the hang of being a married couple, we have to figure out how to be a couple and parents to a little person!! EEgags how scary is that. Actually if I was truthful so far it's not that scary, I love facing whatever the world has to offer with my husband at my side. So, to my partner in crime, my friend, my fighter, and my lover, here's to our first three years may the be the least of the very best yet to come. Love you.

ABC's 123's and babies oh my!

So, I'm sporadically back again. A lot has been going on since I last posted. Casey and I have been on multiple beach vacations, my godson turned one, my aunt got sick and has a long road ahead of her and we're having a baby. Oh and did I mention we're having a BABY!!! Obviously Casey and I aren't excited about this at all (insert sarcasm here lol). Everyone is making fun of us because our nursery aside from furniture and accessories is done. My pinterest is being bombarded with all these baby ideas I see, and I'm anxiously awaiting baby's first flutters of movement. Needless to say we are sooo excited! Our babies room is fairly neutral right now but we intend to spice it up with accessories depending on if baby is a boy or a girl. They say it's a boy but some people say my sonographer was wrong. We go back in October for the super long scan so I guess we'll find out for sure sure then. As of right now I'm sixteen weeks and doing great. I'm trying very hard to watch what I eat and be healthy for both me and baby. I do not want any complications due to me being unhealthy or the fact I started this journey overweight according to my BMI. Casey thinks I'm silly but it is a real worry for me. As of right now according to the OB's scale I've only gained a pound and she was very proud of me for that. So that made me feel good. However today I was so hungry after work I thought my stomach was gonna eat baby and I was burping and hunger cramping like crazy so I was bad and pulled into the McDonald's and had a smoothie and fries. So without further ado here are some pictures of baby and the nursery

Date night!

Hubby actually planned a night out for us! I'm soo excited and impressed right now. He did a good job too, its an outdoor Christian concert with food vendors! I love food vendors and outdoor concerts. The evening so far is perfect, light breeze and just the right temperature, amazing food and music. We might have to try this whole real date night thing more often. The band A town A list is freaking awesome, and I'm pretty sure their day jobs include comedians, because I have been laughing and singing since they started. I also low that this is a Christian production, but they are playing all genres of music, and what we pay for drinks and stuff is sending high school students on mission trips! Can't wait to see what other date nights hubby comes up with. Love that man!

These are the days

It's memorial day today, and thankfully I don't have to be at work!! So, in honor of my freedom and those men and women who fought for that freedom, this is how I CHOOSE to spend my day. Thank you to everyone who's ever defended or will one day defend my right to CHOOSE.

Being a nurse

This week is both nurse's and teachers appreciation week, with that being said I thought I would share a little bit of what it's like to be a nurse in today's society. Growing up I was taught to say yes ma'am no ma'am, respect your elders, and have intelligent conversation. Arguments involved words with more than one syllable and never involved profanity unless your life was in danger. I would never have dreamed of being disrespectful or disobedient toward my parents in private let alone in public, and yet as a nurse of almost seven years this is what I see everyday at work. People yell at me like I owe them something, they walk into my hospital thinking they are entitled to everything, and yell profanity at me when I cannot immediately accomodate them. They tell me I'm stupid and don't know anything just because I'm young and don't have kids. They expect me to speak Spanish and become irate when I don't and tell me I should learn. If I were in a Spanish speaking country out of respect for that country and it's people I wold. However my country's language is English and out of respect for the people who fought and died for this country, I will stubbornly continue to speak English. People insist that everything should be free and that they pay my paycheck and I should be grateful to them. I'm sorry if your insurance is Medicaid you do not pay my paycheck, I pay for you. People demand respect without first giving it and then get upset with us for having less than stellar attitudes. I love my job and would never think of doing anything else, but some days it saddens me to see what the people of this world have become. So, the next time you feel like belittling a nurse because you think they're wrong remember you came to us not the other way around. My job is to help you not to kiss you gluteus Maximus. Remember to show some love and appreciation to your fellow nurses and teachers this week, they do and see things you could only dream of.

Cherry blossom festivities

So today we visited my friend who lives down in Macon, and this also to be cherry blossom festival time. I love the cherry trees I think they are absolutely beautiful, and Casey and I also got to meet her potential someday husband. All and all it was a great day to be wondering around just hanging out and having fun. The rain had washed away the pollen and left just enough cloud and breeze to make te day very pleasant. We started our day at the fair part of the festival, were we mainly just wandered around and took pictures with our heads through silly pictures. We also found us some cherry trees to climb and take pics in. My friend and I share a lithe for being tomboys, so we had a great time climbing in the trees. Then we went and posed on this 3d chalk drawing that was very cool and super realistic after which it was time to wander around till dinner at the rookery. Dinner of course was delicious, after which we decided to digest while listening to a local jazz group. So much fun jazz music just puts you in such a bebopping mood. Well the highlight for me came on our trip to the bathroom before heading to the car. I had just finished number one and was getting the toilet paper when the tool slipped out of my hands and into the toilet!! Of course I start giggling hysterically because I mean really who could do this but me. At least I had unrolled enough before it fell to be of some use to me. In the mean time I've told my friend what happened and she gets the wand off a toilet scrubber so I can fish the roll of toilet paper out of the toilet. All and all I must say fun times were had by all. Happy Cherry blossoms y'all!

Take care

Right now Casey and I call ourselves parents, but only to furry little things, no real people things. This past week our younger dog has started picking fights with our older dog who happens to be the first animal I ever owned by myself. I've had her since college and I will be the first to admit I probably did not treat her as a dog as much as I should have, so now she's 7 1/2 years old and kinda spoiled. She gets to sleep on the bed with me and both animals are allowed on the furniture as long as no people are occupying those spaces. It's never been a problem before, but last week Gremlin the younger one started picking major fights with Cinnamon my older one. At first we thought it was just over food but then she could not even be in his sight line and he would start growling and then attack. Granted Cinnamon outweighs him by about 20lbs and could totally take him, but that's not really what I want my dogs to be doing, especially when Casey and I start having little people. Well after an entire week of at least one fight a day and random growling all day long they finally seemed to be getting along. They hadn't had a fight that morning and were playing well together and with the neighbor kids. Should have known it was to good to be true, one minute they were playing chase with each other and going after the same ball next thing gremlin growls and lunges at cinnamon again. Only this time I couldn't get to him so I pulled her away and he was able to get to the soft under skin of her leg and when Casey pulled gremlin away it left cinnamon with a cut that required a visit to the vet. So, now hundreds of dollars later and a week of separation I'm reevaluating how I trained my dogs. Cinnamon is staying with my mom and gremlin is here and I'm working really hard with him to get him to listen and understand I'm the boss not him. I've also started running with him as well as going on walks with him multiple times a day. It's funny how most people get in shape for themselves, yet I might wind up getting in shape so that my dogs can get along for the rest of their lives. I know some people would choose to just give one dog away, I can't do that it would bother me to think what might happen, because it would be gremlin that would be given away. I've had cinnamon to long and right now gremlin is the instigator. So, now I just keep thinking what is he gonna do when we take him up to mom's and he has to play nice with cinnamon again. Hopefully all these extras walks and runs will run down some of his energy and he'll be nicer. We're also going to be looking into doggy obedience classes too.

Disrespect

So, exciting things are going on in the world of decor at the stokes houe!! But more on that later today I just need to vent for just one moment, because I get tired of being that last straw and seems to happen to me a lot. Maybe it's because I'm not someone to hold it in, I either choose to let it go or just go ahead and get it off my chest. However it seems some women hold on to things and let them build and build and somehow I always wind up smack dab in the middle of the word bomb when it happens, and I've got to tell you it's a little hurtful. I work very hard to be as easy going as possible because I know I AM NOT a confrontational person, never have been I hate arguments, yelling, all of it. It gets my adrenaline going worse then when you hear those sirens going on the radio and they're calling your unit emergency. So yesterday I got word bombed bad, in the middle of craziness at work by someone that consider myself somewhat friends with. All because I was the last straw and what I did didn't even make her mad! So now I'm frustrated because for one she never apologized which means deep down she thinks she had a right to do what she did, which hurts, and two I'm frustrated because yet again I did not stand up for myself. I can't come up with snappy comebacks in the heat of an argument, I come up with them like twenty minutes later. O well like Casey says over and done with, put it aside and enjoy the new day, and this is going to be a GREAT day. I get to hang out with my mom and aunt Helen ( well technically great aunt but nobody cares). So yippee for a good Monday!!

Gloomy days

Gloomy days always make me feel soo lazy. Like today for instance it stays dark in my room cause it's so gloomy so very time I open my eyes I think it's not time to get up. I don't ever roll over to actually look at the clock because then gremlin and cinnamon think it really is time to get up and start running around like mad dogs. So this morning it's like 9:45 and the phone is ringing and that's when I finally get up. Crazy I know, but I really didn't think it was that late. So needless to say my day was automatically behind schedule, but on the plus side I got the important errands done with only minor to major faux pas some of which could have been avoided if people would actually pass on my messages for Casey to call me. Biggest booboo was taking something back to home depot and asking for store credit, but instead he lady tdecided to put it back on the credit card. Which would have been ok had she put it on the credit card and not one of the gift cards we used :/. O well try again tomorrow. On the upside I made it to kickboxing tonight!! Very proud of myself, and I attempted a little jogging, and by little I men it took ten minutes to go half a mile. But baby steps right?? On the downside I need an elf to follow me around and smack my snacking hand. Today would have been a good day food wise otherwise. Ah but tomorrow is a new day.

Day one done!

So I did it day one of new exercise regimen accomplished, and I must have done something right cause I'm sore today. However today life and my husband are throwing a wrench in day two's gym time fun. It's a pretty day outside and he wants to take down Christmas which of course needs to be done. But since hes just now getting home from his bike ride/come to Jesus meeting with his brother we'll be taking down lights while my classes are going on. Challenge to myself make it to the gym this evening and work out by myself as opposed to with th instruction of professsionals. Here's hoping I can keep my own promises to myself. On the upper hand I'm trying really hard to avoid snacking on sweets and junk and grabbing fruit and usually a cheese stick instead. Update I'm going to the gym!!! Best hubby in the world says he'll take down lights all by his lonesome. Which he really won't though because I'll help till time to leave. In other news Casey and I are gearing up for operation paint the living room. It sounds easy I know but nothing having anything to do with DIY is easy for us. Biggest thing is Casey has to learn how to cut molding because we plan on doing a chair rail around the room. Hopefully I'll have pictures for you soon.

Happy new year, happy new me!

So, it's officially 2012 and like everyone else I'm making resolutions. In the past I've been horrible at keeping resolutions, but maybe putting into cyberspace will help me stay on task. My main resolution this year is to get healthy. Casey and I are talking about starting a family this year, and I want our future little person to be housed in the healthiest body possible. Right now I don't feel very healthy, and most days don't even really feel that cute. I call this my woes me I'm fat stage. It's happens periodically, my goal is to get healthier so it happens less. Plus there's no reason for me to not be healthy, I'm under thirty and have the time on my hands to be extremely healthy. If I could read books and be healthy I'd be set, but being healthy takes work and I need to push myself to do the work. Next big resolution is to dedicate myself into getting as involved as possible in a church, I love our current church but I've never felt very connected to the people in the church. So, Casey and I are on the search for a church closer to our current home and one where feel more connected to the people in the church. We have one that we've heard a ton of good things about and when we visited we got a good feel about the church, but its so hard to know when we work weekends and can only stay for half sermons or half Sunday school lessons. One thing about this church though they offer a ton of weekday bible studies that we could get involved in. Casey and I are also really getting into finally putting those homey touches on our home, mainly painting and finally nailing down our decorating style. So far we've painted the dining room and the kitchen/breakfast area. If I can figure out how to upload pictures from an iPad I'll post them other wise there will hopefully be a future post of home improvements if I can keep up with the thing. And there is my last resolution to utilize all these technological tools that just fall into my lap. Having a blog is like having an online diary something I tried desperately to keep as a child, npbut much like this blog failed miserably at. Most of the time it was because everyone seemed to have such amazing things to discuss on a daily basis, not so much for me. So I've decided to just write the things I have to tell instead of just trying to keep up a steady stream of posts, which means you'll probably get sporadic long posts like this, but hey who cares, right now I'm the only one who actually realizes this still exists. Which also means this blog can be whatever I want whether it be DIY, thoughtful musings, or funny stories from work. Ah the new year what a great way to start