There’s a baby in my belly

I have so many things I could write about the baby. He’s changing my life more and more and he’s not even completely here yet!

Since day 1, after looking at my positive pregnancy test, it’s all been different. Good different.

I had to change my eating habits, mainly not eating sushi, deli meats, hot dogs, brie cheese and wine. All my favorites. That has been the hardest part of my pregnancy (really). Of course, I have cheated: I have eaten some sushi, very cooked hot dogs and had some hot chocolate with irish cream. I think it’s all about quantity, as long as you don’t overdo it, it’s all good.

The first months was all about why am I not showing yet but still feel so bloated. I was a little nauseous sometimes, mostly in the evenings, but nothing crazy. I’m very proud to say I have not gotten sick ONCE. Yep, I have not thrown up at all and I feel very blessed. This baby has been easy on me until now that I’m starting to feel the extra weight as belly keeps growing. Oh well, it’s normal and I have way worse things that I have been lucky not to have, like back pain, bad constipation, sickness, not sleeping, not getting comfortable, etc etc.

June 6 - 15 weeks

June 6 - 15 weeks

The first three months went by slow, or so I remember. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone about it and hated to wait. I did tell my boss (pretty much best friend and confidant) at work as soon as I found out. Every website out there says you should tell your boss last but I guess they haven’t met MY boss

I told my mom on Mother’s day. It was hard not to be able to tell her before, in case something goes wrong, but the wait was worth it. Everyone back home was so happy and I was able to see all their faces thru my webcam. It was a very special moment. After that, it was such a relief to tell everyone, not that I yelled it from the rooftop but I did tell all my close friends.

I grew my belly reaaaally slowly. I actually had someone just last week – someone that I see almost everyday – congratulate me because she had just found out I’m pregnant. Really?! I thought my belly was big enough, but I guess I could be bigger. I still have no complaints about it, I think I’m growing just enough and I haven’t gained all the weight I expected to gain (since I can gain weight by just drinking water).  My belly started showing at about 6 months. I could still fit on my regular pants (still can, with the zipper down) and regular shirts, but I started browsing maternity stores then. They’re so expensive!

August 24 - 27 weeks

August 24 - 27 weeks

My belly button is pretty much flat by now. The belly piercing I took out when I was 4 months and now it’s so stretched and sore. I keep feeling the skin is just going to tear, even though everybody says it won’t.  It hurts when baby moves behind it!

I have had one baby shower so far, organized by my best friends. It was exclusively with my Southamerican friends and we had so much fun! Plus it’s nice to be able to speak Spanish to each other, everytime we get together there’s at least one English speaker and we feel bad excluding that one person so we have to speak in English. This time was specially nice, we had missed speaking only in Spanish. We’re starting to forget it!

I have two more showers coming up (yay!), one from my mother and sister in law and one from my  friends from work. Time keeps going by SO FAST. I always thought time will drag and the 9 months will never end, but now that I’m 6 weeks away, I look back and cant’ see where time has gone. After my last shower I will be pretty much due anytime. It’s a little nervewracking and scary, even more considering that this baby was completely planned and expected.

This post has become longer than I anticipated and it’s past midnight already! I did miss blogging. I’ll have to be back soon for more updates. Did I mention I’m into quilting right now? Well, I guess as of this weekend. I did two quilts in two days! I’ll take pics and post them tomorrow (or some time soon).

Off to bed now, baby is kicking too much just because I’m still up. Or maybe he stays awake and I just fall asleep quickly and become unaware of his kicks. Either way, mom is tired and is going to sleep. Hopefully you’ll fall asleep soon, little one.

Long time no see!

OMG! I have so many things going on right now I don’t know where to start.

Let’s see… where should I start the catching up? I’m going to go ahead and start with my side (a.k.a. my life so far) and I’ll leave the reading for tomorrow, since I just checked my Google Reader and there are a little over 1000 posts to read. Yea, one thousand posts. I have to confess I had to click on mark all as read to a few groups (see, I have my favorite blogs, my cooking & recipes blogs,  my new blogs (new blogs I found and they’re starting to grow on me), my shopping blogs and a few other groups. Well, I marked everything as read except for my favorite blogs. It came down to 400, and I’m going to start reading them and commenting this week (finally!) I’m looking forward to knowing how your lives are going

Anyways, here’s a few updates on mine:

Did I mention…

- that I was slowly dying about a two weeks ago and that’s why probably I didn’t even have enough energy to go home, turn on my laptop and post a little something for you guys? Yes, seriously! There was a (very small) ‘leakage’ of carbon monoxide in our office. I guess not enough to kill us but enough to make us all sleepy and tired. Then again, I don’t know if that was my normal self – being tired and sleepy – or if it was the actual poisoning. Who knows. We’re back to normal now (I hope).

- that I’m (again) being monitored at work on internet usage? (Or else I feel that way anyway… I’m paranoid! – Will that be a side effect from the carbon monoxide thing too? Bleh.) I can check email and browse the internet but the real question is: …should i? would THEY know? can someone get fired for using the internet for too long? am I being productive enough? Should I concentrate on working or should I change my Facebook status? What’s more important? Very hard decisions, you know.

- That my car is back to life? Yes, my jeepie has more lives than a cat (an American cat, if I may say so) and after a nice – $2500 – treat he is back on the streets and roaring again. It sounds more alive now with a new transmission. The plan is still to sell it ASAP – I haven’t checked with Jeremy to see if his feelings for the jeep have changed… you know, boys become very attached to their cars – and go see what kind of car can we get for $5000 at the end of the winter season. Hopefully a newer one.

- That my boss in on Facebook now? Dang it, now I can’t talk shit about work anymore… yea right, like I ever talk about work on Facebook or here. Not likely! I self-censor enough to know better than that. Plus working in Human Resources and all… I know it wouldn’t be a good idea. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t have anything to say about it – believe me, I HAVE PLENTY. Maybe I’ll create a more anonymous blog to vent just about work. (some time, if I have the guts – I think I vent enough with J, though)

- That I got my little pay-it-forward from Ria??? Because I did! I got a box of Mike and Ike’s on the mail about 10 days ago. THANKS! I’m so sorry I’m such a procrastinator… I haven’t mentioned anything or said thanks but that made my day! (and Jeremy’s too because he ate it all in the five minutes… does that count as one extra pay-it-forward?) I have to do a special post for that.

- That I got new skis?

- That J and I will be celebrating our anniversary next week? And Penny’s second birthday on Thursday? Nothing crazy – we’re broke – but we’re together and happy And that’s what counts!

- That Amazing Race, Survivor and Lost are addicting? I’m so into those shows.

- That I saw the Shopaholic movie on Valentines? It was entertaining and better than I expected it to be, but it was definitely not the best movie, and not like the book AT ALL. At least it was better than Twilight.

- That I have a cold and a very sore throat? It sucks to be sick. Even more in the mornings as I wake up and at nights. During the day  do fine – get distracted at work – but when I get home I just sulk. But I think I’m entitled to do so!

I think this post is getting too big, so I might chop it down and split it in a few other posts. How have you guys been? I’ll go stalk your blogs now!

It’s good to be back

Catching up!

So my jeep broke down and is now at the shop. The transmission was bad and needed to be replaced / rebuilt and that’s 2400 freaking dollars coming right out of our vacation savings.

I guess what I’m saying is that we’re not going on a cruise trip anymore   I’m so fucking pissed! J -jokingly – said I jinxed it by telling you guys about it and of course, after I said it to whole the world (a.k.a. my 10 readers) it just won’t happen.

First thing we did was have our taxes done and see if we can afford a newer car. Well, we just got enough to have the jeep fixed and I know some of you are wondering why in hell didn’t I just get a new car! We thought about it but we know our jeep and it’s pretty reliable. If you get a ‘new’ car for $3000, you just don’t know what you’re getting into. It could be just fine or it could break in two months, you just won’t know. With the jeep, we think we could get a couple of years out of it, or we can sell it, or we can give it as a down payment  for a nicer car. Haha it just seems like I’m still trying to convince myself that we’re doing the right thing… can you tell? I was not keen of the idea of fixing it (I want a new car!) but J convinced me. Oh well, let’s hope it all works out.

(For the record, if it doesn’t it’s all J’s fault and he will be getting shit from me for a long looong time…)

On a different note… I got my new skis! They arrived on Monday and we put the bindings and everything else on (is there anything else besides the bindings that go on the ski?? IDK.) I haven’t used them yet – I’m really nervous because they’re longer than my other kiddie skis… I’m going to fall! And since the snow is not so great now I might wait for the weekend, I think we’re getting some snow on Friday, yay! I might also try snowboarding this weekend (any tips, Ria?)… really exciting!

I also realized my (not so) little Penny is celebrating her second birthday this month! I can’t believe she’s almost two years old, she still looks like a pup to me. Her real birthday (which I got from the place we adopted her from) is February 26, so for that celebration I’m going to post pictures of her since she was little until now. I know, I know – I already post way too many pictures of her, but what can I do, I such a proud mama

It feels good to be back girls! I still need to catch up on my comments and GReader, I’ve been reading a little from work but not a whole lot so I have A LOT to catch up on!

Again, it feels good to be back! I’ve missed you guys

Locked out

The last couple of weeks I’ve been carpooling with a friend from work. It’s really nice to have company in the morning and at the end of the day because traffic can get really bad, at least in the winter. Plus, if it storms it’s even worse. In the summer I would usually take 10 to 15 minutes to get home but in the winter it can take anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours (on really bad weather).

Yesterday was my turn to drive. I would normally pick my friend up at 8 am but  I was already a few minutes late. I called her to let her know I was on my way as I was running out the door with the car keys in my hand. I got to the car and guess what? I couldn’t get in the freaking car.

IT WAS FROZEN.

Literally!

I’m not even kidding.

The key wasn’t unlocking the door. Then I remembered I had taken the poor jeep to have it washed (it was really dirty) the day before. Not a good idea. I tried both doors, the driver’s side and the passenger’s side. One of them couldn’t even get unlock and the other one would, but the door was frozen in place. I even tried to get in through the back but the key would go only half way in. My friend tried too, but we didn’t want to break the key (that would have been even worse). We ended up getting a ride with someone else.

After discussing about it at work I got lots of helpful suggestions from co-workers. One of them suggested I could pee on it. How’s that?

I guess for a man, it’s easy to say. How would I pee on a keyhole? I might need a chair to climb on…

I’m glad about two things though:

- It was sunny and warm enough that the jeep got thawed out by the end of the day.

- Jeremy didn’t need to pee on it.  Ew.

Remember Penny’s little buddy?

Little Bella is so big already!! Remember when she was tiny and could almost fit in your pocket?

Well…

I had Bella over for New Year’s eve. I don’t think Penny liked all the attention switched to Bella all of a sudden, but I think she got used to it! They wrestled all night and by 11pm they were both exhausted. We had their attention for just a few minutes while we finished up dinner:

No, it’s not that we’re so good that we made them pose for a picture, we just moved the plate full with food from one side to the other.They were both so good that we gave them little bacon pieces yum yum

On a different note, I have still 300 posts to read on my Reader. I have to be honest, I have been tempted to mark everything as read but then I wouldn’t be able to understand what you’re talking about in the future and I will have to read them at some point, so I still kept my word and will read all of them. I might not comment in all, but I will definitely try my best. I had a pretty busy Monday so I could just read a couple of my favorites from 4pm to 5pm. Bummer. The drive home was not so bad, although the roads were very icy and we’re still expecting a few more inches (feet?) in the next few days. I’m so sick of snow already!

Anybody willing to exchange homes for a week? Say, somewhere warm? Pretty please??

Fun weekend :-)

Morning everyone!

I’ve been busy at work and haven’t been reading my regular blogs    …  I miss you guys! I hope everybody had a great weekend – I’ll be catching up on everybody’s life (and I promise I won’t mark posts as read when I haven’t read them!) during this week. It’s a slower week at work and they should be fine if one employee slacks a little

I have to dedicate this post to my newer baby: my new sewing machine. I never thought of me as someone that knows how to use a sewing machine and neither did my friends, because as soon as I mentioned I bought myself one for christmas they all looked at me all confused and surprised. Do you know how to sew?? Was their reply. I have to thank my little sewing knowledge to my mom and grandma. My mom used to sew all my pant hems with her machine and my grandma did all the finishing touches by hand. I never had any interest in learning but I guess some still rubbed on me anyway. Due to necessity, I had to try to do it myself – obviously I didn’t grow much after I moved to the States and I still needed my pants hemed so here I am, five years later. I survived. I learned.

My new baby is pretty awesome. It took me over 20 minutes to figure out how to use it (technology has improved… duh!) because it’s like a little computer. And I can do so many different fancy stitches!

I finally finished with all those pants that were patiently waiting to be hemed and used, and I started wearing some last week. I’m so very proud of myself!

I also went skiing yesterday with J   It was so much fun! Last time I went was on Dec 6, the day ther resort opened. That day was bad, the snow was really slushy. Yesterday was pretty cold (-17 F) but sooo beautiful. It’s too bad I didn’t take my camera with me. The views were amazing and the sky was so blue. I just didn’t want to fall and break the camera, I always need a couple of days to ‘remember’ how to ski. I’m so bringing my camera next time!

Did you have a good weekend? Any new purchases or accomplishments?

it’s a never-ending chain

As you may remember, J is still out of town and scheduled to come back home on Tuesday. I’ve been trying to be independant and so far so good. Until today. The jeep was needing some coolant since yesterday and I have seen J adding more and I’m familiar with it, I’m just lazy to do it. I was planning to wait until Tuesday so Jeremy can do it but when we were on the phone earlier today he said that the motor may overheat and die, so that means I have to do it myself , which sucks but oh well.

I went to the gas

station in the afternoon and picked up a bottle of antifreeze (i didn’t know they were so expensive! I thought they were like 5 bucks or something, but they’re almost $20) I paid and took the bottle with me.  Since I was already out and driving I thought I could do some other christmas shopping – plus J is not here to whine by my side as I browse /shop around – so I went to the outlets.

I’ve been looking for those popsicle makers for sooo long! I also got a bakery set and a few other things. Then I stopped by Nine West and got a couple of christmas presents (for me, obviously) a pair of boots for work and a pair of snow boots (very much needed).

Next time I need antifreeze, I should ask someone else to get it for me. It’s way too expensive to keep up with this shopping.

Poker Night

A couple of friends and I went to an event called ‘Cards for Kids’ at our local Marriott. They were raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network and organized a Poker Tournament.  Our lame state doesn’t allow us to play for money so they just had a bunch of prizes for the best 3 players. J of course was so excited about it and had to participate. There were almost 50 players in 5 tables and he ended up being in the last table. Unfortunately, he lost and was the 5th best player. Only two more up and he would have won something!

Oh well. Maybe next year!

———–

On a different note, I totally spaced off on posting something yesterday so I hope NaBoPlomo doesn’t kick me out…

A few random things going on in my life

• Yesterday I got an email from American Express letting me know they’re decreasing my credit limit in both my Amexes. Yep, you read ‘DEcreasing’. It sucks, it’s my wake up call – I need to do some budgeting and lay off from the shopping. But what really sucks is that I was looking forward to Christmas and getting my professional camera (which would have been about $600 – $800)

• J wants to go to the ski swap tomorrow night. It’s a big sale for winter gear that we have in Park City once a year, right before our winter season begins. So we have to wait outside for an hour (because J wants to go one hour before they open). I know it sounds very contradictory to what I just said about my credit limit being reduced and all but you must know, J LOVES browsing sporty stuff. He absolutely loves REI. He loves snowboarding, skiing, ice fishing and hiking. He doesn’t need to buy anything, he gets his joy out of simply looking and admiring snowboards and skis. Plus, he works in the ski/snowboard industry anyway. And he has his own credit cards so I’m just going to go there like the good wifey I am and try not to buy anything for myself. Wish me luck.

• I’m cat-sitting for a friend. The kitty’s name is Camilla (Cameeeella) and she’s very purry and lovey. I really like cats but I definitely don’t trust them. And it kind of creeps me out that they sneak up to you and sometimes it scares me. I took Penny to the kitty’s house yesterday so they can mingle and play and the first thing the kitty did when Penny was sheepishly coming around to sniff her was scratch her on the nose. Poor Penny spent the rest of the evening just running away from the Camilla. I guess that’s good so she knows you can trust a cat and she shouldn’t pick a fight with any feline! (even if they’re cute)

• To be fair, I also have to mention that a few days ago we had a kitty visit us at home. I had left my deck door open so Penny can go out and watch people waking by – she loves that – but then all of a sudden I heard a cat meowing right behind me. The kitty and Penny were laying down and Amora – the kitty – was rubbing against Penny and purring. It was the girl across the hallway’s cat! Penny and the kitty hung out for a while and Amora was super mellow and they were so cute together. Maybe poor Penny thought Camilla was going to be like Amora. No such luck.

• I haven’t got any super good forwarded email this week so I might post something different on my usual Forward Friday. If you have a goof FF email please pass it on! (email to melissavanilla at gmail dot com)

How’s your week going so far?

And it’s over!

yay!

OMG it really is over!

And after we all voted, majority has spoken.

And like Obama said – even if you didn’t vote for him – he’s still your president, and your voices are still heard.

God Bless America!