belly dancers, lambs, and fire oh my!

A couple weekends ago, my BFF, Jay, and her boyfriend came down for the weekend from Chucktown. We decided to head out to this Moroccan restaurant downtown with some friends.

I should admit that I don't really like a lot of food. AKA I am ridiculously picky and don't like to try new things. It is why I would easily eat Mexican food everyday until I died if I could.

But I went along to a place where lamb is readily served and I tried to find something to eat.


E getting her hands washed before dinner.


We actually had a great time. The boys loved the belly dancers...


The girls did not love the fact that the belly dancer wouldn't take no for an answer when she dragged us into the middle of the room to dance. Yes, I totally tried to use my 4 months pregnant status as a reason to stay seated. Shameful I know, but don't worry, the belly dancer didn't buy it.

Don't let my smile fool you. I was not impressed to be up dancing around some drunk guy I don't know with a huge water stain on the front of my dress from our waiter "washing" my hands. Or my dress, whichever.

I'll admit it, Jay and I have no rhythm. We looked ridic. At least our friend E could hold her own!

All in all.. The food? Not horrible. Although I barely ate it, at least I gave it a try. The atmosphere was a blast and our company was awesome. Not such a bad Saturday nite. I'd do it again.

16 weeks.

How Far Along? 16 weeks.. yay 4 months!

Total Weight Gained/Loss? up 3, still not back to my starting weight thank you first trimester.

Maternity Clothes: nope! I'm putting up a good fight! The bella band is my friend though!

Sleep? all the time please. When does my 2nd trimester energy show back up?!

Best Moment of the Week? Looking forward to my appt. on Tuesday to hear the sweet heartbeat again

Movement- not yet

Food Craving- anything salty

Food aversions- meat is still freaking me out.

Morning sickness?- none since week 13. Praise! I have been getting nauseous from these newly acquired migraines though. Not fun.

Gender- still waiting.. I have my idea though =)

Labor Signs- none. yay because that would be a bad thing.

Belly Button- in where it will stay (do you hear me belly button?!?!?)

What I miss- my boobs not hurting. Yep, I said it.

What I'm looking forward to- Tuesday's appt.

Weekly Wisdom- you will get big. Get over it. (I seriously have to remind myself of this once a day)

Milestones- can I get one more Yeehaw for being done with the first trimester!!!

And because I missed them and I want to at least somewhat keep this whole belly pic thing going...

15 weeks


& 14 weeks


Doctor's appointment tomorrow. Yay. I need this. My overactive imagination has managed to convince me of quite a few things about my babe- all, not so good. And hello? How come my pregnancy "bible", it's claim not mine, never told me about certain "dreams" (ahem) during pregnancy?!?

.....and he's off... well, kind of.

So this past weekend, Mr. Perfect and I packed up and headed to Base, North Carolina to see the Marine off to Afghanistan. As is typical with the military, things didn't go quite as planned.

Meaning the Marine is still here just waiting around to find out when he's actually leaving.

Which I'm totally cool with him still being here, but the sooner he leaves, the sooner he gets back, and I'm super ready for that part.

We had a great time just hanging out with him and the family this past week. Besides the fact that it was freezing and I suck at packing warm enough clothes. Someday I will figure out how to pack appropriately.

Maybe.

We got him some pictures and cards and stuff to take with him. I filled the album I gave him with ridiculous photos to of everyone to make him laugh and at the end was an ultrasound picture of Shim with the caption "Hurry Home! I'll be waiting to meet you!" (cue "awww").



Mr. Perfect and I also got him this awesome do-rag (spelling?), you know, so he could "take some peace to the Middle East". Yep, I said it.



We got to meet the Marine's dog that is headed overseas with him. Wow. What a bundle of energy. Without going into too much detail, the Marine will be working with a group of Marines and a group of dogs over in A-stan. They've spent a while working with these dogs and bonding with them. These dogs are insane. But they are smart, and are very good at what they do.







One night, Mr. Perfect and I went and helped take care of the dogs for the night with a few of the Marines. Besides my now dislocated shoulder thanks to a bucking bronco on crack lab named Barbaro, it was a blast. I tried to get a picture of Mr. Perfect walking Ellie, but Barbaro was at this moment trying to kill me.


How did I get the insane one?!

Then I got to walk Mag. He was awesome. Not surprised that he's one of everyone's favorites.

The rest of the week/weekend was just spent doing the family thing; eating, watching movies, etc. I was really bummed we didn't actually get to see him leave, but it was still ridiculously hard to leave him behind. We took a few family shots before we left, and then Mr. Perfect and I headed on home. I do so already miss my little bro.

But hey, when we make the trek back up there in May to welcome him home, he'll have a new addition to meet! Can't wait for that!







Please keep the Marine as well as all the other troops currently serving our country in your prayers.. God knows they need it.

a friday rant.

Somebody once told me "there's nothing common about common sense". No, he didn't make it up but I have no idea who said it first, so this guy gets credit in my book.

Well, I'm changing it up a bit. I personally think there's nothing common about common courtesy.

I'm not kidding people. I live in the South which is supposed to be friendly by freakin' nature. If this is friendly, well I don't want to see rude and mean.

When I stop in my car to let you walk in front to get in a store, please don't waddle the entire way, playing in your purse, on your phone, whatever. Move your A**! I've got places to go to.

When you are in the left lane and there is a line of cars backed up behind you because you've decided to go the under the speed limit (or the speed limit or just 5 over), then move. Maybe I want a speeding ticket. At least move over and give me the chance to go fast enough to tempt the fates.

Please do not get in the speedy checkout line with 2 carts of crap, and then give me dirty looks when I stand there huffing and puffing holding my 3 items.

Do not let your kids ride their bikes through my front yard. This seriously irks me to no end. I don't walk through your yard, although I'm debating it, in stilettos, so get your munchkins off my lawn. Now.

It's a wonder I have good blood pressure. People make me crazy. Is it just me or is it getting worse by the day? I feel like people in general just feel like they're entitled to act like this. It's not just my sweet, southern hometown is it?!

Man... I miss Mayberry.

lazy.

Ok. I feel lazy. Before I got pregnant I was running daily, doing the gym thing, and Shredding it up. Now?

I eat.

I feel disgusting.

I get the whole I'm gaining weight for a good cause mumbo jumbo and all, and I'm ok with gaining the weight. I'm not ok with feeling lazy and gross.

I was giving very strict no running instructions at the beginning of my pregnancy. Now I've got to do something.

Moms out there, what are some exercises you did while pregnant? Walking is boring to me, but I plan on packing up the dogs and starting that soon. I just need to do something!!

just hangin' around

We are still in North Carolina. There is still no word on when the Marine is leaving. Things here are ridiculously unorganized at least that's how it appears from where I'm sitting.

We've been here since early Saturday morning. Friday we headed up to Small Town, South Carolina and spent the night with Mr. Perfect's parents. Not too bad a trip. I managed to stay awake the entire 3 hour drive which is HUGE. Usually I'm the worst road tripper ever. Start driving = start sleeping to this girl.

We hit the road early on Saturday morning to get up to NC. We were told that the Marine would more than likely be heading out sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. That did not happen.

It's been nice though just hanging out up here with the fam. My parents have their camper down here that they're staying in, so we've spent night watching movies and just hanging out. The Marine has a dog that's going overseas with him (part of a group), and we've gotten to go see him work the dog and stuff. We've even managed to help out with their care and walk a few of them (almost killed me). I've got a few pics that I'll put up once I get home.

Anyway. His departure date is now looking like sometime next week. Of course Mr. Perfect and I cannot get back up here. I'm pretty bummed that it looks like I won't actually get to see him off, but at least we had these few days with him. Hopefully they'll get whatever they're waiting on taken care of soon and these boys will know when they're headed out.

Headed home in a few hours. Guess I'll catch up on what you ladies have been up to when I get back to 'ol Georgia.

rando thoughts..

I still have the second part of my weekend to talk about, but I'm honestly too lazy to download pictures right now. Yep. Lazy.

I have a list of about 25 things to take care of before Mr. Perfect and I head to North Carolina to see the Marine off this Friday. Ask me how many are done?

My bff from college just moved down here and I scored a free haircut out of the deal! I love having a hair stylist/makeup artist bff. Now if she'll just hook me up with some free products.....

The mister was off all day and I came home to freshly bathed dogs, a clean house, and the laundry done. Seriously, how did I get so daggum lucky?!

I officially cannot button my pants. I am not ready to go buy maternity clothes. What to do?! I bought the Bella Band but do those things really work? I'm afraid I'm going to wear it out and my pants will fall down. I know I'm irrational, but that could totally happen right?!

I can't think anymore. Where's my second trimester energy boost?!?

weekend wrap-up part 1.

Wow. I am exhausted.

Saturday my friend Turstal and I threw a baby shower for our bestie, KT. Of course being the procrastinator I am, I had a ton of stuff left to do Friday night to have everything ready for Saturday. No big deal, I thought while sitting at work on Friday. Right.

So Friday afternoon, Turstal calls me and makes my day gives me news that send me into panic mode. Her son has the swine flu. She's not coming to the shower so as not to be around the 5(!) pregnant girls that will be there. Oh, and she still has a list of stuff to do as well. Oh... and she forgot to order the diaper cake.

Are. You. Kidding. Me?!?!?!?

I wasn't mad at her at all. Totally disappointed that she wasn't going to get to be there, and yes, stressed that my to-do list just grew by epic proportions.

Well I got it all done. Even managed to squeeze in dinner with my friend AP and her mom. I might have had to stay up til 1 am and I might have had to enlist Mr. Perfect's help in the making of the diaper cake (thank you google for your step-by-step instructions!) but I was almost completely ready to go by the time I went to bed Friday night.

He was pretty excited about rolling up some diapers.


Not too shabby for my first attempt huh? Remember, I am not crafty AT ALL!


Saturday morning I got up and ran a few last minute errands. Mr. Perfect and I headed to the grocery store for food for us him to make for the shower. Then I packed it all up and headed to the party.

Thankfully I have amazing friends who knew Turstal wasn't going to be able to make it and a few of them showed up early to help me get everything ready.







The little mama!! Her son is due the first of January.




Some of the guests. I was pleased with the turnout. And the fact that I got away with really only playing one game! I HATE baby shower games.. Sorry!







The 5 pregnant girls at the shower. Clearly there's something in the water at work!! Babies due in November, January, February, March, and April. So far 2 boys and a girl. I'm not sure why my bump is popping so much here. Probably the 800 pigs in a blanket I ate!


I had a blast and am so glad I managed to pull it off besides my minor freak out. Thanks so much to my AMAZING friends and my PERFECT husband for all their help! If it weren't for them.. I so couldn't have done it. I do not do well with stress.. uh uh.

That night we met up with some friends and tried a new place out, but that's going to have to come later because I'm tired and Blogger is taking too long to upload my pics. Hope you all had a great weekend!

don't worry.. i didn't invite kanye.

Some of my favorite bloggers, SunshineMeg and Kassie, have been just darlings and made it awards season over here! So thank you ladies!!


So I'm supposed to list 7 random things about me and I've already done this before, so if I repeat... well just pretend I didn't.

1. I work with animals and I get a sick thrill out of being able to handle the really mean ones. I don't know what it is, but give me the dog no one else can handle.. I'm on it.
2. I am deathly afraid of bees. I've only been stung once and it was my fault; I caught the thing, but now I am a basket case. I will cry if I feel like I can't get away from them.
3. I might love my dog too much. As in I think it would be great if I had a little boy so that Lacy could stay my little princess a little longer. Can't believe I admitted that!
4. I am horrible at returning phone calls. There's not a good reason, I just LOATHE talking on the phone!
5. I always have to be wearing earrings. It's because my earlobes are very different sizes and I feel like the earring hide that. I don't know why.
6. I love elephants and monkeys. I will almost always buy something if they have them on it. Except for anything Roll Tide related.
7. I love, love, LOVE road trips. Especially with the hubs. We roll the windows down and blare the radio and just have a blast. I love him.. =)

And now a survey which I'm also supposed to do and answer with only one word. Right..
The Fun Part:
1. Where is your cell phone? charging
2. Your hair? blah
3. Your mother? oneofakind (like that?!)
4. Your father? funny
5. Your favorite food? mexican
6. Your dream last night? tons
7. Your favorite drink? water
8. Your dream/goal? living it
9. What room are you in? work
10. Your hobby? soccer
11. Your fear? alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something that you aren't? quiet
15. Muffins? nope
16. Wish list item? bumbleride =)
17. Where did you grow up? georgia
18. Last thing you did? work
19. What are you wearing? Scrubs
20. Your TV? huge
21. Your pets? loves
22. Friends? best
23. Your life? amazing
24. Your mood? tired
25. Missing someone? always
26. Vehicle? bug
27. Something you're not wearing? necklace
28. Your favorite store? JCrew
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When was the last time you laughed? earlier
31. Last time you cried? ?
32. Your best friend? Mr. Perfect
33. One place that I go to over and over? downtown
34. One person who emails me regularly? bloggers
35. Favorite place to eat? mexican

Now to pass these on... Since it's October and it's my favorite month, I'm passing this to all you ladies with the October birthdays. Happy Birthday!!!

PS- Speaking of it being October, where the heck is my Fall?!?! It's over 90 degrees here!! I mean, come on Mother Nature! You're freakin' killing me!!

the (all honesty) pregnancy post.

Now, before I write this, I just want to state for the record how incredibly blessed I feel to be pregnant. This has been something Mr. Perfect and I have waited for a very long time. I cannot wait to be a mother and cannot wait to meet this child I'm carrying. However, my first trimester sucked. I really can't say it any better than that. I love this little Shim (she/him- yea, I'm freaking creative) more than words, but our first 3 months together... not so fun.

I honestly don't know how much the 3 injections and 8 tablets a day played into my sickness. So in all fairness, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. Do I believe that?

No. Just trying to make all you ladies that haven't been through it yet have a glimmer of hope. =)

If you're one of the lucky ones that sailed through your first trimester; well lucky you. I hate you, but lucky you.

I'm kidding. It's not hate, just supreme jealousy!

First there was the exhaustion. Come about two 'o clock every day, I was done. I would literally stagger through the rest of the day until I could finally crawl to my car for the drive home. I'd pray that I wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel and somehow I made it home safely every single day. Thank you Jesus. I would literally drag myself to the couch where I would promptly fall asleep and would remain there until the hubs woke me up for dinner and my 7 o' clock meds. Now I never actually got to enjoy dinner (don't worry, that's coming), but after we ate, it was over. I was in the bed. I think the latest I got to bed for about 6 weeks was 8 pm. Now you know why I was so behind on my blogging! Forget tv, forget going out with friends, forget cleaning... Thank God for Mr. Perfect. He literally kept our house running. It could have fallen apart at the seams and I wouldn't have cared. I probably would have slept through it!

In the morning, no matter what time I went to bed, I would still literally have to crawl to the shower in the morning. Oh wait, that might not have been from the exhaustion. That might have been from the 3 month long hangover I was suffering from. Let's talk about morning sickness. First of all, it was obviously a man that coined the term "morning sickness". Some guy that worked with women who thought if he called it "morning sickness", then miraculously at noon, all the pregnant women would feel better.

Bull.

I was literally sick from the time I woke up in the morning til the time I crawled back in bed at night. I didn't even stand to take a shower for 3 months. I would just sit there, curled up in a ball and let the water beat down on me. I actually can't even believe I just admitted that. Oh well. Brushing my teeth became a nightmare. I still can't even talk about that. Unfortunately for me, I never even (TMI alert) threw up. I was in a constant state of puke purgatory. I was constantly nauseous, constantly gagging, had the constant mouth watering (you know), and kept doing that really annoying cough that's from the inner pits of your soul that should always have something come with it, but it never did. I spent a good portion of my time staring into the porcelain god praying for sweet relief.

It never came.

I couldn't look at food. Slabs of meat (chicken, pork, beef, etc.) made my stomach flip. It's no surprise I lost 9 pounds in the first trimester. I ate nothing but saltines and water.

Then week 13 came along. Oh how I love this week! I can (almost) happily brush my teeth again, I can stand in the shower, I can stay up past 8, my belly is popping which is a constant reminder of what this is all for, and I can eat! I write this all as a reminder for me, but also just because it's funny now. And honestly? It's all already becoming a distant memory. I thought the whole time that I was going through it that I would NEVER do this again (seriously, said that once a day), but now? I'm ok with it. I survived it. That's huge, because it felt touch and go there for a while. Now.. if I could only sleep for more than 3 hours at night before having to pee...

13 weeks. Love.

weekend wrap-up

First off, thank you guys so much for all your AMAZING comments on my last post. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was going to get out of blogging, but I am completely overwhelmed by the friendships I've formed and the awesome support you guys give. It's been a tough road, but one that you guys actually made quite a bit more bearable. I truly can't thank you all enough for sticking around!!

So this was our last weekend with the Marine before he heads off to A-stan. Boo. We played a bit of RockBand (duh) and spent a lot of time with family. We got together for dinner on Saturday night to also celebrate my grandmothers and the Marine's upcoming birthdays. Of course, it turned into quite the picture-rama.







I'm trying not to think about the little bro being gone for 7 months. It sucks. He's my best friend and I hate thinking that he's going to miss all of my pregnancy.

But my whine is over. I know some military families have it far worse and I thank God he's only gone for 7 months.

Sunday was spent hanging around the house and finalizing work on the Taj Mahal storage unit. Seriously guys, wait til you see this thing. The bestest and her kids came by for a few minutes on their way to a birthday party which was huge since I haven't seen them since June. They should totally come down from Charleston way more often!

B with the babes. My version of the same pic is not blogworthy!


Everyone cleared out Sunday night and Mr. Perfect and I collapsed on the couch. We have very quickly gotten back into our couch/tv routine and we LOVE it. We sure have missed being our quiet, boring selves! Although.. I sure do miss the Marine. We'll be making the trek up to MarineTown, USA too soon to put him on a plane. Gah.

Other than that, I have a ridiculously busy week. Work is insane and I have a shower and a dinner get together that I have to finish putting together for Saturday. I love it though. Keep me busy.. make those weeks fly by. =)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

and the cat finally makes its way out of the bag..

Ok. So I have been a craptastic blogger as of late. But I have a good reason for it!

Most of you have been around long enough to know of our struggle to become parents. We've have four previous miscarriages, multiple treatments, surgeries, etc. all for the eventual great end result of a little one of our own one day.

We were supposed to start trying in September. Our doctor was going to use some fertility drug with this next pregnancy trial to see if we could possibly get a better result with some help.

Remember this classic Friends' moment?


That 97% effectiveness?

So true.


Not going to lie- I freaked out. I literally had to be talked out of a panic attack by my oh so perfect husband. After some calming words from him and my friend Donner, I was almost ready to handle my little positive pee stick. I had to realize that this is what all the work was for. Everything was for this result.

Needless to say, I didn't stop panicking. We went straight to the doctor for a blood draw and I proceeded to start bawling my eyes out again. Now I wasn't upset that I was pregnant, not at all. But I didn't think we were ready. It wasn't September, our doc didn't say "Go do it now!", there were no fertility drugs. I was freaking out.

My doc told me to go home and chill out. He'd do my worrying for me.

Right.

We got started on meds right away. I started progesterone suppositories right away, but they weren't getting my numbers up where they should have been, so we switched to a nightly shot of progesterone oil in my back. Ouch. I started HCG injections twice a week, heparin injections twice a day, and a whole slew of pills.

At 6 weeks we had our first ultrasound to check our progress.

Everything looked pretty good. Baby's heart was beating away at about 115 beats per minute. Dr. O saw some movement in the placenta which he wasn't sure about and said that the yolk sac was a bit abnormal. He then upped some of my meds and said he'd see me in a week.

Two days later, I had some bleeding.

Went right back in and saw the babe again. It had grown just as much as it should have in 2 days, and the problems we saw on the previous ultrasound seemed to be clearing up. The only thing the doc could think was that possibly I was having an immune problem and my immune system was attacking the baby. So on to immuno-suppressors I went.

I went back a little after 7 weeks and was a nervous wreck. I always seem to have my problems right about this time. Not this time. There was our babe bouncing around on the screen, heart beating at around 156 bpm!!


One week later with a heartbeat around 177 bpm.


Honestly? I'm still in freakin' shock. We're almost 13 weeks pregnant. We're going to have a baby in April. This is actually happening for us.

We are over the moon. I can't quit grinning (well now that I'm done with all the nice gross stuff- don't you worry, there's an all honesty prego post coming!), Mr. Perfect can't quit rubbing my stomach. We could care less if it's a boy or a girl. We just can't quit thanking God for our baby. This is our miracle. This is what we've been praying for since it seemed it wouldn't happen for us. This baby is such a blessing and we can't believe we've been given such an amazing gift!

I just wanted to thank you ladies for your constant encouragement through all this. I know when I've been at my lowest points, that I can always come to you guys for some much needed cheering up. You've been my rocks! I honestly can't wait to go down this next road with all ya'll right along with us!

And just for grins...


My 12 week belly. It's there, though I don't know how since the first trimester about killed me and wittled 9 pounds off my body with a quickness.

To be continued.. =)