All about our blob

Jack achievements

2007-07-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

He loves to dance, he's dancing right now!! He sleeps through the night again....Hallelujah!!! He knows how to open DVD cases and which button on the DVD player opens the draw to put the DVD in, he knows which buttons make the movie go forward and backward.

He can hold his own bottle now, no help form mommy or daddy anymore for that! He loves his bath so much that he rolls around in the water and laughs. He can hold his breath long enough to be dunked underwater when we are swimming in the pool. He loves to jump in from the side.

He has a girlfriend named Kaitlyn. She's an older woman...she's three months older. They love to swim and dance together but frequently fight over food and drink.....maybe this affair wasn't meant to last :/

Jack give Harriet hugs all the time. He tells us when he needs a new diaper, he reaches to flush the toilet when we are in the bathroom. When he's done with his bath at night he puts his toys away in a bucket I hold out for them.

He loves to look at pictures of his Grandparents and aunts and uncles and his big cousin Sylvie, he can't wait to meet Eleanor!! Non of can!! ;)

He still isn't eating much but he's started eating chicken nuggets and stuffs handfuls of cheerios and goldfish in his mouth whenever they are available. OH yeah! He can walk up and down stairs too but has to hold mommy or daddy's hand when ever he tries.

He loves to wave at strangers whenever he feels like it but at no other time. He's constantly thinking of better ways to organize our DVD collection and therefore is always rearranging them. He has 6 DVDs that are all his own and he'll go through them and pick out which one he wants to watch and bring it to us.

When you tell him he's such a smart boy he pats his head, he'll point to Mommy's nose when she asks him where his nose is, he'll try to stick the same finger up his nose when mommy tries to show him his own nose. He's discovered wee wee and hangs on to it during baths and diaper changes, stupid diaper gets in the way the rest of the time (thank goodness).

He loves music and is pretty good at keeping the beat. He's such a sweet little guy, I still want to eat him up!!!

New blog!

2007-03-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I've started a new Blog check it out!!!

www.youdontknowourjack.blogspot.com

I'm still keeping this one up for the time being ;)

Long time no blog!

2007-02-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Well thats not true, I started up a new blog but I can't remember my username or login. I've tried everything I can think of that I might've used but to no avail. Sigh. Anyway, Jack is just about to turn 9 months old!! He's just popped out another tooth, this one on top. He's cruising around his crib and pack and play but not much else. He walks around if he has our fingers to hold on to, but hasn't crawled.

He's eating lots of different foods, Veggies and fruits mostly. I zizzed up some spaghetti the other night and he ate a few bites. He likes turkey, we've gotten sliced turkey for him to eat and he loves it. He also like Corn dogs!! Something I didn't crave but drooled at the mention of and loved to eat when I was pregnant.

The newest bit of news for us is that we are moving!! Sad to say the glow of our wonderful apartment has unfortunately faded in our estimation. The complex began renovations this past fall, the buildings on the hill below ours had their siding torn off and plastic draped from roof to ground. This wasn't much of a problem and we were excited about the changes they were planning on making. Sadly, the group hired to work on our building didn't have permits to do half the work they ended up doing.

They tore off all the siding, tore up our balcony and patio (the patio is a real shame cause it's gonna be hard moving our stuff out the front steps, narrow stairs awkward angles...) and even though we had no notice, they tore out our windows and replaced them, except one which was left as a great big gaping hole on one of the colder nights.

The plastic draped from our roof to the ground blocks out our beautiful view of Lake Washington, when they replaced most of the windows they put up more plastic to keep the spread of dust to a minimum (didn't work) which made our normally bright apartment dark and moody. The replaced windows weren't insulated or caulked until about a week later so it was pretty drafty in here. There was drywall dust all over everything, still is to be honest it's hard to clean up.

The window in our bedroom was the first to be done...without notice, while no one was home. Actually I came home just as they were attempting to put the new window in. They hadn't put plastic up to keep dust from going anywhere either :( it was a very upsetting scene to walk into. I wouldn't have minded had I known they would be doing it. But I didn't know where Harriet or Scamp were and it's upsetting to find strange men right outside a big hole in your bedroom where there had once been a window!!

So after all of that, things settled down a bit, we had a bit of rainy weather. What rain in Seattle? Jacks room developed a lovely indoor waterfall, this on a Saturday night. His window is right over the heater in his room, so water was cascading down into the heater (electric) and carpet. We put a towel on the sill and some foil over the heater and called the emergency maintenence people to come fix it. They came to fix it on monday, thankfully there wasn't any rain on sunday!!

So becuase of all the problems we've had as well as most of our neighbors, they fired that group of workers. Construction was stopped for a time and things needed to be worked out with the city, construction company and the Rental owners.

We had been excited about moving into one of the newly renovated apartments, the model looks great!! Because of all the troubles with the construction, it seems like they're going to be working on this complex for quite a while. Also they are bumping rent up way to high for our budget right now....So we found a new place which is even nicer in many ways than this place was when we first moved in.

We still have a view of the lake though it's much farther away. It's a little smaller but it's newer. Anyway, we'll be moving in to that place over the next few days. I'll blog again when we get settled there.

I tried posting some pictures of it but our camera is messed up :( oh well next time maybe

Jacks new achievements!!

2006-12-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

Jack cut his first two teeth with in two days of each other, I'd take a picture but he's trying to keep them hidden as best he can. I can feel the sharp little buggers when he's eating and when he grabs my hand and shoves one of my fingers in and chomps down. "Look mommy!! Hard, sharp, poky things in my mouth can you feel? Here I'll bite down harder, SHEEEEE!!!"

OH my little boy is growing up so fast!!!

Also, he's started rocking while in his excersaucer, rocking so hard in fact , he's going places!!! I'll take a video of it and get it posted to the picture site, it's so funny to watch him rockin' out and most times there isn't' any music for him to rock out to!! I guess he's got a song in his heart.....AWWWWWW

Shmaltzy.

OMG I had one of the worst nightmares of my life last night! Jack and I were kidnapped by this weird, scary family. They kept trying to make us part of their family, every time I tried to escape they'd squash it some how. All I kept thinking was getting back to Travis, and how he must be so scared and lonely and how much I missed him. I was so scared they'd hurt Jack and I'd never get away from them.

I woke up and was terrified, I knew it was a dream but it was so real and scary!!! I had to get out of bed and make sure Jack was ok and then I got back into bed and got as close to Travis as I could....Poor guy was on the edge of the bed, then he woke up and I told him I'd had a nightmare.

I felt safe with him next to me though and fell back to sleep quickly. Then I had a dream that I was pregnant again, it was really vivid too. I could feel the baby moving around and grabbed someone's hand so they could feel too!!! It was amazing!

That night mare really affected me though. I don't feel like leaving the house alone with Jack now unless it's to go straight to get Travis from work...I'll get over it though, I'll kick and scream and yell if anyone tries to grab me or Jack.... I'll kill anyone who tries to grab Jack, I wouldn't be remorseful either. Touch my child without my permission and I kiwll ewe!!

LOL wow I can be dark sometimes can't I? Oh well it's all for my little boy who is growing up so fast!! He's such a good boy too!!

Whoa! What a long delay!!

2006-12-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the delay folks!! Mostly things have been moving along as they had been moving along eating, sleeping, playing, and so on. Last month we went down to Houston and Houma for Thanksgiving and a really fun 50th wedding anniversary party for Granny and Pawpaw. Our presence there was supposed to be a surprise for the happy couple but Granny found out, Pawpaw was very much surprised though.

Jack had a great time at the party but spent most of the time under the table giggling...No booze involved, something caught his attention and amused him greatly! We still don't know what it was.

It was a good trip!!!

The flight home was pretty easy, Jack was a little uncomfortable (read fussy) on the plane before we took off but the cabin was hot and all the other babies were crying too. Seattle welcomed us home with an ice storm followed by a snow storm. By the time our flight arrived, traffic in and out of the airport was at a slippery standstill. We ended up spending about 7 hours there, but were rescued by our good friends Jim and Liz.

Jack is getting over another cold and is on antibiotics for bilateral ear infections, he's pretty congested and has a nasty sounding cough but we think he's getting better.

Even with a cold and ear infections Jack saw fit to bestow more good luck on our beloved Saints!!! Last night they played against the Cowboys and, sorry Mrs. Avant (favorite high scholl teacher), but our boys beat your boys baaaaaaaaaaaad!!

WHO DAT!!!!

Jack was wearing his Reggie Bush jersey and was awake for the whole game! It's supposed to rain here for the next couple of weeks. But it's ok, it's so pretty seeing the low clouds in the hills around here. The other day Jack and I were driving home, going down a hill and we could just see over Mercer Island to the Olympic Mountains. That was beautiful, they were all snow capped and clearly visible, sooo pretty!!!

Anyway, that's my post, blog at you later!!

Friday Play Group

2006-10-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all sorry for the delay in posts but I've joined a couple mom groups and that has really been taking up a lot of my time. Last Friday, Jen brought her camera and took pictures of the kids all lying on a blanket.

I tried posting pictures but it's not working for some reason....

Caitlin and Elyssa are the same age, born on the same day....Elyssa was born a month early, and Caitlins' parents are both very tall. Jack is the eldest of the group and you can tell Ava has a thing for him, so does Caitlin. He could really care less, strangely he seems to prefer older girls, especially ones that walk....Go figure!
Poor girls, oh well one day he'll notice them I'm sure ;)

I'm going to take our camera to the next meeting we'll all be at which is going to take place with some other moms and kids who aren't part of play group, it's going to be a Halloween sort of meeting so some of the kids may be dressed up! I can't wait!!

In other news, Travis and I took it upon ourselves to get this place cleaned up...A bit. Saturday we set to cleaning different parts of the apartment, I took the kitchen and Travis headed to the bedroom. I moved our microwave to a place that's much more conducive to being used, and reorganized the pantry!!! I can breathe now in that kitchen it's so nice and spacious...And clean!!

The bedroom looks good too, although we have too many clothes and no where to put any of it :( oh well.

Not much else is new, Jack is going to be 5 months old this Friday!!! Not sure if we'll do anything special, it remains to be seen...I'll post more pictures though ;)

W.O.M.B.A.T score

2006-10-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

To illustrate how much of a Harry Potter nerd I am.....

If you go to www.jkrowling.com you'll see at the top of the page a little card on top of the keyboard. It says WOMBAT on it. I was curious one day and clicked on it, it brought up a prompt to enter your code to receive you score.
There was no explaination of what WOMBAT was or how to do it.

Well I found out just a little bit ago. The door to the Room of Requirement was open and it was the latest round of WOMBAT testing. What it is a a chance for Muggles to test their apptitude for magical knowledge. It's not a Harry Potter Trivia test. It has questions in there about the cause of some goblin rebelions and such but unless you really pay attention when reading the Harry Potter series none of this would make sense.

I guess in a way it is a trivia test, but it's really really obscure trivia. Not all of it either becuase soem of the questions are made up from the lore.

Anyway, I never studied. Not really sure how to be honest. But taking the test for the first time I received a score of Exceeds Expectations!!!! I'll have a link up later to show those who are interested....But Jack just woke up and is crying so I gotta go!

New Friends and loving Jack

2006-10-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Oh I've made a friend!! A real adult friend!!! Her name is Liz and she has a daughter named Caitlin, and they live near me and Liz has this super cool minivan!! Yes I said Minivan, I want one now, it's just soooo cool!

Ok I've got that out of my system. It's so nice to get out and do stuff with other moms. Today Liz and I and the kids went to the "SuperMall" in Auburn. It's about and hour and a half away I guess (I have no concept of time). It was an event planned by our walk and exercise moms group, I think we did a bit more shopping than actual exercising to be honest but we all had fun.

The weather has turned chilly here, the trees that change color have already started changing. We've had to have the heaters on the past couple of nights, and I bought some warmer clothes for Jack to wear at the mall today.

Jack has started teething, I think three are coming in at once poor kid. While I was pregnant, people kept telling me I was going to love this kid like no one else, that it would be incredibly overwhelming. I love Jack so much I feel sometimes like I'll burst, sometimes I end up crying because I'm so happy. Thing is, that is how I feel about everyone I love. If I think about one person and about all the happiness and joy they've given me I get that feeling, like bursting and just unimaginable love.

I think if someone I loved were threatened I could move heaven and earth to help them. When I was in Boston visiting Paige and Theron after Sylvie was born, Paige and I were on the subway. I saw everyone on that car as a threat to Sylvie and imagined what I'd do if someone snatched her. In that case I could fly and had super strength.

I feel that way about Jack too, of course! I think I just love everyone the same, but in different ways if that makes sense. I love Jack just like I love everyone, but like no one else. I knew having him would be as wonderful as it is to have him, everything is just as I expected. I say this even though Jack is teething and crying and crying almost inconsolably.

Thank the maker for Orajel ;)

How things're goin'

2006-09-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

I've missed Paige and Sylvie since they left, but I did as Paige suggested and visited meetup.com. There I found a couple of mom groups and have made it to one meeting so far, a walk around one of the malls in the area (as the weather was rainy and chilly). I was the only other person to show up besides the group organizer, it was nice getting to know her though and her two little boys who are 2 and 4 and just adored Jack.

I'm planning to go to a couple more meets this week, I"ll let you know how those go.

The night before last I remember having only one dream. Travis, Jack and I had just returned home from being out somewhere and Tubby came out to greet us from Jacks room. At first there was nothing surprising about this, tubby used to come to the door all the time to greet us when we'd get home.

Then I remembered Tubby was no longer with us, and I turned and asked Travis if he was seeing what I was seeing. He looked down and didn't say anything then said "I hope you are seeing what I'm seeing," and we were both so happy to see him and that he looked to be feeling much better. His fur was all clean and shiny and he looked like his old tub-a-lub self.
We called the vets office and asked how this could happen and they said that someone had picked Tubby to pay to get treated for his illness and Tubby had been dropped off home when he had recovered.

It was a happy dream.

I had written a nice long new story of Mr Tubbyloves grand adventures and saved it as a draft till I could get back to it. Something happened though and it's been deleted.....It talked about Mr Tubbylove's Great Seattle Adventure. His last and final. For those of you who don't know, Travis and I had to put our dear Tubby down, he was apparently suffering from Fatty Liver Disease. So while in my dream I was overjoyed and happy I woke up feeling pretty sad.

I didn't remember it right away, but had that sad feeling all day and couldn't put my finger on why I felt that way. Then just as I was getting ready for bed I remembered. I told Travis about the dream and we both got a little teary, me more than him of course but you know me....

Anyway that's how things have been, Travis and I are both very relieved that Travis got a new better paying job pretty much right away and we credit the find to our brother Theron. We owe him a steak dinner, hopefully one day we can return the favor!!!
Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure Jacks lower center teeth are coming it. He's young I know it but it does happen....Also he's had a growth sput length wise! He was one the first button on the excersaucer for along time and just the day before yesterday I had to boost him up to the middle level!! He's going to be taller then his mama, this boy!!!

But that's not saying much ;)

Paige and Sylvies' visit!

2006-09-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

What wonderful people I have in my life that try to surprise me with visits during my birthday!! Paige and Sylvie flew all the way from Boston, nonstop, to surprise me for my birthday. Though I had been let in on that secret by someone, I had had a feeling I'd be seeing them soon anyway.
Also I didn't know when they'd be coming, so the house was a mess when they got here.

I'm so glad they came, the only thing that would have made it even better is if Theron had come as well. It was nice, we sent up a couple of webcam chats and it was like Theron was here, like old times. Laughing and joking around.....Paige and Theron were our closest friends when we all lived in Savannah, we used to play games and watch movies and stuff together often. Travis and I have missed them ever since they moved to Boston. What's worse is that they went and had only the most adorable daughter ever, and we only get to see her on these occasions.

I'm having a hard time putting into words the way I feel.

It was so nice having them here to visit it made me want them to move out here even more, I could just see going over to their place and hanging out letting the kids play together...I can see going shopping with Paige at the mall and doing arts and crafts stuff together.

*sigh*

I'm really very sad now that they've gone home. I know Paige and Sylvie will be glad to get back to Theron and Theron will be glad to have them home, and that makes me happy. But I'm going to be a wee bit selfish and wish they were all here.

I guess I just need to start meeting other people here. No one can take their place though, they'll always be the people we want to hang out with the most!! I didn't write this post to make them feel pressured to move out here, in fact I'm going to be laying off in a big way about that now, and hope Theron gets that job he's interviewing for on Friday.

I just want you all to know how truly lucky I feel that I have such people in my life that affect me the way you all do. I didn't cry when Paige and Sylvie got here (Travis had a really excellent cover story for not coming home till after 10) but I'm crying now and have been since you left, and will probably cry in snatches over the next few days.

Funny how family becomes the best friends you'll ever have.

Thank you guys for being so wonderful!!!

Ok now I'm getting shmaltzy so I'll leave it
Hey Jessica, when does the school year end for you? You're moving out here right after right???

Happy Birthday to me.

2006-09-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

Oh well the day started off nicely! I took travis to work and Paige and I had planned on going to the mall and her buying my birthday present. I got home and paige had made coffee and we started watching Moonstruck while Sylvie took her mid morning/afternoon nap. We got a phone call and it was Travis telling me the company he worked for is no longer.....As in he is no longer employed.

I'm waiting for the punch line of the joke, but it never comes. Travis asked me to come get him in about an hour as he needs to back up some stuff on his computer at work. OK I'll be there in an hour.

So now I seriously think my birthday is cursed!! I'm thinking of never again acknowledging my birthday ever again!! Bad things happen on my birthday, course there was a lull in between this bad thing and the last bad thing......Course the last bad thing was a really bad thing.....

Anywhoo, while we were shocked at this sudden loss of a job we both feel that this is just leading to an even better job with better pay and better benefits. So we aren't too worried, honestly I did freak out a bit but only on the inside. I figure we wouldn't have been moved here for no reason, we are here for a reason.

But why do these things have to happen on my birthday?
To illustrate how wonderful my husband is to me, his explanation:

Bad things happen on your birthday because when you were born it was the best day ever, it was the most wonderful thing to happen, so to bring balance back to the universe a few bad things have to happen.

OMG! How wonderful and sweet is my Travis!!!

It's been a couple days since I wrote the last, Theron one of our most excellent brothers in law found a job posting on a website called Craigslist and sent the link to Travis.

Travis e3mailed them and they called back the following morning....Travis has an interview tomorrow at 3. Fingers crossed he gets it!!!!

Hubby's jumped on the blogwagon!!

2006-09-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!! You'll never guess what's happened, the man who said he'd never use a cell phone, the man who said he didn't need a blog....Has got himself a blog!

That's right folks Travis has started his own blog!! Wonder of wonders miracle of miracles...well maybe that's going a little far. But here it is for everyone to see:

http://theseattlebugblog.blogspot.com/

G'Day Mate

2006-09-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

It's strange but it really struck me when Travis told me Steve Irwin better known as "The Crocodile Hunter" had died. I didn't believe it at first, but there was no real reason not too. I never met him nor had any desire to, but I feel like I've lost a friend with his death.

My thoughts are with his wifeTerry, daughter Bindi, and son Bob. May the memory and warmth of his smile warm you through this cold time.

Jacks first ever really real laugh!!!

2006-09-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

Ok this was so totally awesome!!! Today is the first day of the long weekend of labor day, Travis was on the computer working on a Woot.com contest and Jack and I were sitting on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Travis decided to take a break, and as I'd seen the movie and read the book about a million times I sat Jack on the edge of the futon and was showing him the little dog on his excersaucer. It's a little clown dog on a squiggly wire that you can bend back and then let go and it springs back. It's hard to explain but you kind of get the picture......

So Travis sat down next to the excersaucer on the floor and pulled the dog back and let it go and made a "sproing yoing yoing" noise and Jack laughed!!! A really real laugh! Not just the little squeak of a laugh he was doing before (which was and still is very cute), but a real little giggle that lasted 5-10 seconds over a couple minutes every time Travis pulled and let go of the dog and made the noise....

It was totally awesome and it is now our mission to make him laugh like that every day!!! We are going to try to catch him laughing on our super awesome digi camera that allows us to make mini movies.....It's out of batteries right now. Travis also wanted me to mention we have styled Jacks hair in a Mohawk today and it looks super cute!!! We'll get a picture of that too!!!

And don't you know every time he laughed it made us laugh, course this isn't major news but it made me cry....I cry at everything, silly me......What a beautiful noise, I hope we hear it often!!

ARG!!

2006-08-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

I had this huge long post written up and I started publishing it and then it stopped and a window popped up saying blogger.com could not be contacted file saved as draft and then the program cut out. I can't find the draft anywhere and I'm really tired and hungry so I'm not going to rewrite it yet!!!

Jack has started sucking his thumb YEAH!!

Tubby is very sick, please think happy thoughts that he'll recover today or tomorrow as the vet will be out of the office again till monday. More post later, I'm tired now and hungry

will have pics soon

2006-08-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

I've been more busy than I thought I'd be lately but we've got some good ones and we just got Jacks crib (thanks grandpa!) and we've got picutes of it as well. We'll get them posted as soon as we can (something is wrong we can't upload all of them for some strange reason)

Anyway I'll try to get more on my blog, sorry for the delay, now I have to take harriet out!! poor girl

About bloody time!

2006-08-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hi folks!!! About freakin time for us to get internet again am I right? Jeez it's been hard being here in the northwest and not have my internet or IM capabilities. There's all kinds of strange birds I've never seen and weird looking bugs, I had no way to look up whether or not there are brown recluse spiders here or any kind of poisonous snakes....oh yeah and I couldn't alk to anyone but on the phone which is great but much more expensive!!

So here we are in the great beautiful seattle area!! WE are actually south of Seattle in a little suburb? call renton, we are also right on the boarder of newcastle wo if you address stuff to us at either city we'll get the mail. Our apartment is up on a hill and looks out over highway 405 and Lake washington. It's really pretty...the lake I mean.

Travis works about 30 minutes away and driving to work you can see the cascades driving home you can see mount Ranier. We've got a really great apartment that's nicer than any other we've had. I'll have a little home video tour of it a little later, also I'll be posting loads and loads of picture od Jack the wonder baby....We just have to get a card reader for our new nifty digital camera.

So we are again online and able to chat and Im and all sorts now, thank the maker!!

So mom now you can expect to have my long epic blog posts again! ;)

Trav's First Day at Work!!!

2006-07-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Babe!! Good luck on your first day, we are all thinking about you. Jack and I can't wait to see you again too!

I showed Jack a picture of you and his eyes got all big!!!

Have a good first day! We love you!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

2006-07-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Dad!!! I hope you had a good day!!! If you check out Jesses' website for new pictures of Jack you'll see a special messege on there for you!!!

Love you!! You're the best!!!!

manda

Goodbye Savannah

2006-07-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Savannah, you've given us much!!! We'll be back to visit and that'll be nice.

So far the things I've missed or forgotten about in savannah are: My cell phone :( I thought I had it in my diaper bag but it wasn't there.....

Also I was so happy to be leaving our old apartment behind I forgot to check the mail....for a whole week.....stupid me :(

I haven't missed "things" in Savannah, I've missed people. Jessica and Matt, Kevin Lisa and Lil Trav, and a few people at work.
It just would have been nice to see those guys at work one last time. Oh well

Oh well, not much I can do about it now huh?

Jack and I have made it safely to Houston. Jack was a very good boy on both flights and only fussed a little at the end of the first flight....he slept therest of the time.

So it's goodbye Savannah, Hello Houston....soon to be good bye Houston, Hello Seattle, hello hubby!!! I can't wait to see you again!!

When it rains....

2006-06-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!! Sorry for the long break between posts, but Travis and I have had quite a few weeks. Travis flew out to Seattle for another interview with a computer gaming company called Ibase. He got the job!!! He signed the contract while he was out there and spent the next day looking for an apartment for us to move into.

When he came home, he still had two days left to work at B&N and since he he such a good employee went in to finish out his schedule. Then Saturday, he drove his truck to Pennsicola to sell his truck to his Aunt Lisa and Uncle Lee for their eldest son Jordan. Wish Jack and I could have gone too but it wasn't very practical......

Have fun with that truck Jordan, it's been good to us over the years....DRIVE SAFELY!!

Travis flew home the same day. The next day my mom arrived from Toronto to help us pack. Thank goodness she did too, otherwise Travis and I would be in real trouble! As it was she and Travis did most of the packing while I tended to Jack. He decided to be clingy this past week, he wouldn't sleep unless he was being held and when he wasn't sleeping he wanted to eat!! So much so we needed to let him cry for a while because I had no more to give!! He's getting so big!

Mom flew home today. She apologized for not getting more done, like cleaning the bathroom and stuff.......as far as I'm concerned Mom I owe you our first born child for all the help you gave Travis and I over the week.
I know I said thank you many times while you were here, but I need to make up for all the times I didn't say it but should have.....something all moms do I guess.

Travis, Jack and I came home and took a nap (Mom he slept all the way home, did you slip him a mickey before you left?)We all woke up (Jack first) about an hour ago and Travis has left to get the moving truck.
It's huge, Travis wants to take all the stuff we have now because we have so much room!!

So, there are people I haven't called and talked to a while (Patrizia) and updates to this blog I could have put up but didn't do because I was doing other stuff (mostly nursing Jack). Everyone, I'm sorry I haven't called, talked, posted...lately. I know you all understand though.

We are soooo excited about the move, actually I think it's more we are soo excited to be there and moved already....But we have to MOVE first....It's going to be so nice! We don't have a phone number yet, and if you want our address email me, I'll send it on to you:)

What about the animals? They are all going with us!!! When I say us I mean Travis in the truck for almost 3000 miles! Travis is driving across the country with the truck, towing the car with only Harriet, Tubby, Scamp and Pete for company :(

Jack and I are going to stay here till the 3rd then fly to Houston and spend the week with Granny and Grandad Gentry. We can't wait!! We will miss Travis though, and when I think of him driving off I get a bit teary.....

So when it rains it pours. It's pouring on us atleast in these last few weeks!
We'll let you all know when we get set up again, and our phone number when we get one. To get the apartment number email me or one of our moms ;)

Think happy thoughts that Travis doesn't go insane, or that I get too many dirty looks on the plane....I'd write more but I've got a baby crying!!!

Next post won't be till after I get to seattle which won't be for about two weeks!!! Till then.....

Jacks' first doctors appointment

2006-06-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Travis and I took Jack here to see Dr. Ramos yesterday for his first doctors appointment. It went well!! Jack didn't get any shots, yet. He was just weighed, and measured and looked over.

When Jack was born he weighed 6 lbs 6 oz. When we were discharged from the hospital Jack weighed 6 lbs 1 oz, yesterday at the doctors office he weighed 6 lbs 13 oz!!! This kid is a growin!!!

He's due to get a shot at his next appointment though :( not looking forward to that but I guess he needs it. Hep B vaccination....

Dr Ramos, is a firm believer of all things natural, he's the type to tell you to put a couple drops of breast milk in a ear to treat ear infection.....He's a big supporter of breast feeding, he's a big non-supporter of using lotions and such to treat dry skin....Anyway you get the drift.....He's a pretty neat doctor though.

Anyway, Jack is doing quite well. His hearing will be tested in a few months but we can tell he hears things, he jumps when Harriet barks or someone sneezes. No worries there. We aren't worried about his heart either, he's just a very laid back kid. There's no need to worry about his appetite either as he eats when he's not sleeping, so he gets all he needs...Sometimes more than that and ends up throwing up some LOL Crazy kid!

OK so that's all for now, Jack and I are off to the post office to pick up his first package!!! He's so excited he can't wake up!

I took that picture while both my boys were sleeping. I'm so lucky!! They are both so wonderful!!!

A blow by blow account!

2006-05-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here it is folks the long awaited much anticipated blow by blow account of my labor and delivery of the most beautiful baby ever.....Jack Robert Gentry!!!!!

I had been contracting almost the whole week leading up to the momentous day. The day in question I hadn't really been noticing them too often, sure I felt them but they weren't coming very regularly. I walked around at work and was feeling pretty tired, and my back was aching something awful.

Got home from work and piddled around doing nothing really....After Travis got home from work we got a call from our friends Kevin and Lisa, who asked us if we wanted to go out to eat, we said Sure! And met them at B&D burgers. Afterward, Travis and I went to the grocery store to get snacky stuff to take with us to the hospital. We got some granola bars and some reeses pieces, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Fudge Brownie Ice cream. Mom had suggested a milkshake because it worked for her (inducing labor), made her throw up but she went into labor. We came home and I read a bit and Travis got online. Anyway the fun stuff started at around 10 pm.

I grabbed that icecream as soon as we got home and ate the entire pint...In one sitting....I had never done that before, partly because I like to stick to the serving sizes but also because I didn't want to get fat...Ha...Anyway I ate the whole thing, and I enjoyed every spoonful. I was sitting in my wonderful gliding rocking chair watching a rerun and Law & Order SVU, and could barely keep my eyes open and figured I better go to bed, went and brushed my teeth and crawled into bed; fully expecting to wake up the next morning as I had done the last few being a bit sad I hadn't gone into labor.....Little did I know......

So, as soon as my head hit the pillow my eyes popped open. I was suddenly wide awake! Just thinking about stuff I needed to get done before the baby came. I lay there thinking for a few minutes then had to go to the bathroom, gee I thought I just went I hope I don't have another bladder infection......

plop!

There went my m**** plug! I giggled cause I knew that's what it was. I called Travis (who was sitting where I am now) and said I just lost my mucus plug.....And he said "That's great but I don't need to see it!!!"

Well that was interesting, so I went back to bed....Then got up and walked around a bit, then I thought maybe I could help things along...And squatted a few times. I needed to hold onto the bed though or else I would have landed on my butt. Then went to the bathroom again.

I laid back down again. Travis came to bed and I said "You know I think tonight might be the night" and he said "That's good! Just wake me up when you need anything".

Now it's about 12:30-1 in the morning and I'm contracting a lot. Nothing too strong but they felt much more organized. I kept getting up to go to the bathroom too, everytime I noticed more of a bloody show. I was getting excited but didn't want to get my hopes up. I knew just cause you lose your plug doesn't mean you'll go into labor......But not in my case!!!!

One thing that really was irking me was that my toilet seemed to be sluggishly flushing. At one point, it didn't go down at all! So I grabbed the plunger and started to plunge......Then I felt a little trickle of warm fluid running down my leg, hmm I thought was that my water breaking? No it's was more just a trickle...

I came out here and turned on the computer, and noticed my contractions were about 10 minutes apart, then 7 minutes apart, then 5 minutes apart....Actually it seemed as soon as I started timing them every contraction was coming closer and closer.

Once they got to be 5 minutes apart I called the doctors office after hours call line. They said they'd get a nurse to call me back and about two minutes later she did. She asked me all kinds of questions like: 1. How far apart are the contractions 2. Has your water broken....Then she said "Well it sounds like you're in early labor...So go ahead and come on in."

Travis had come out to see what was going on when the nurse called me back and I turned to him and said "lets get to the hospital!!" He ran around getting dressed and brushing his teeth and fixing his hair.....I ran around getting more stuff than we needed to take with us but felt I needed anyway.
We got in the car and made our way to the hospital. I'll admit this, (I didn't say anything on the way there but) I did look to see how fast Travis was driving.....There were a few other people on the road which was a bit odd as it was about 2 in the morning. Seemed we got stuck behind the slowest people....But still Travis was only going the speed limit or five under most of the way there.

He wasn't going to rush and be stressed out. His goal was to get us there safe and sound. Can't fault him for that, he's a great guy.

You know he was wonderful through out the whole ordeal...No question the best husband ever!

So we get to the hospital, and we sit down in the ER admitting/waiting room. Sign in and wait for the wheel chair. It came and we went up to the triage room on the maternity floor. Travis had to wait before coming in, so I took off my clothes and put on a hospital gown and went to the bathroom before going out and sitting in the neat little chair/bed thing they had with the doggie diaper. There's something free and wonderful about sitting in a chair without underwear or fear of what others might think if you "make a mess."

The nurse got me hooked up to the monitors and checked to see how are dilated I was. Travis came in and did his best to make sure I was comfortable and had everything I needed. The nurse left to go let the delivery staff know to get a room ready. I was having some of the worst heartburn of my pregnancy....And I have to go to the bathroom again!!

TMI warning...

Both times I went to the bathroom in triage, I pooped. I was glad too, I thought hopefully I won't poop when I deliver the baby now!!

Lets just put a TMI warning on for the rest of the post, to spare people blushes.....But you gotta expect certain things when reading a post about birthing a baby....Duh...

So I go back out to the chair/bed thing. The contractions are pretty strong now, they do hurt but I'm breathing through them ok. Funny thing I noted too, I kicked my legs when I had them because they hurt....The kicking helped! Another thing too, sometimes the contraction would hurt so bad I'd start laughing. the triage nurse said "No that's not right you aren't supposed to be laughing!!" There was another lady in labor in the curtained room next to me and she wasn't breathing hard at all...I started worrying that maybe I wasn't going to make it drug free. The heartburn was starting to get really bad, like making me want to throw up.

Travis was sitting right next to me stroking my hairy legs and breathing with me, encouraging me to get through the contractions and letting me know, by watching the monitors, when the contraction was almost over. I can't tell you how much that helped, that and his telling me over and over that I was doing good.

At one point, I don't remember if I asked him or just pointed at it but I got the garbage can and threw up into it...A few times. Travis pressed the assistance button and a voice said "yes what do you need?" and he said "she's throwing up" and they said "what do you need?" We were both annoyed by that, what do you think I might need? Some water or something for nausea? All this happened in about 20 minutes.

The room was ready now, so the nurse disconnected me from the monitor and asked if I wanted to walk down or ride in a wheelchair. I thought about the wheelchair but decided on walking. I didn't make it to the door before the next contraction hit, I leaned on the wall and breathed until it passed then made my way out into the hall. I had one more big contraction before we got to the delivery room and leaned against a spare bed in the hall.

Once we got into the delivery room, I was relaxed and settling in but feeling sick. The nurse asked if I wanted any pain meds or anything to help with the nausea (heck yeah I wanted something for the nausea!), I told her no pain meds, I wanted to try as natural as possible. She offered me a birthing ball and other alternatives and then went to get the IV stuff to administer the nausea meds.

She gave me the IV, and told me if I changed my mind she'd give me pain meds right away. After the IV she checked to see how far dilated I was now, remember 15- 20 minutes before I was dilated 3-4 cm.....When she checked me I was 8!!! So she and the other nurse started running around getting things ready, they both weren't expecting me to be that far along.

The doctor was paged again with the new info, and things were being done around me. I threw up two more times and started pushing....The nurses kept telling me not to push (ha!), I really did try but it was pretty much impossible. My back was really hurting, the contractions hurt but in between those my back was killing me!!I just remember wanting to ask for something for my back, I couldn't actually verbalize anything at this point.

I had been on my back in a kind of sitting position for this whole time and I remembered hearing that with "back labor" that it helps to get on your hands and knees. I tried it, and it did help!! My butt was hanging out for the world to see but I didn't care, my back wasn't hurting. The nurses told me to turn back around because that position is one of the easiest ways a baby can be born, and since the doctor wasn't there they needed me to turn back over. I did, but not happily. The doctor finally came in and checked me out, I pushed a few times for her but they weren't very good pushes, he'd come down a bit but then he'd go back up. The doctor assuming I'd be at that for a while went to check on another patient.

Two pushes later, the nurses were frantically asking Travis to hit the call button and running around getting things together....Travis was asked to hit the call button quite a few times and the nurse was acting very stressed....I wasn't worried though, strangely......Anyway two pushes later the nurse caught Jack!!! He was followed by that gush of amniotic fluid most people wait to feel but never do....I apparently had a leak, I broke just enough to bring Jack down to block the rest coming out till after he came out.

Travis watched the whole time, he told me I was doing great and told me he could see Jack coming. He was the best birthing coach ever!!

I held on to Jack for a little while while things were being done elsewhere, then the nurse came over to clean him up and stuff. Dr. Pettigrew was taking care of delivering my placenta, we had a nice conversation about a story I saw on TV about a woman who had saved her placenta, frozen it and then one year later made it into a pate she served to guests (the guest were told what it was before they ate it). Dr. Pettigrew had seen it as did one of the nurses, we all talked about how strange certain rituals are and the nurse mentioned how some people take the placenta home and bury it in the yard (or something to that effect) to bring luck or ward off evil or some such thing.

I was pretty tired after such stimulating conversation oh and giving birth, but I was really happy when Lisa, Kevin, Lil Trav, Matt and Jessica came in!! They took lots of pictures and talked about how beautiful Jack looked, how they couldn't believe I had done it without epidural and how fast it went....I was very happy they were there, but too exhausted to talk or do much else then sleepily look around at them all.

Travis will have to remind me about a lot of things, they get fuzzy in my mind from here on out...I don't remember how long we stayed in the delivery room before going down to the recovery room. I remember being in the wheel chair and wheeled down there, Jack was in a bassinet being pushed by another nurse. I remember getting into the bed in the recovery room and thinking it was the most comfortable bed ever....I'm sure we must have gone to sleep after that I don't remember.....

Anyway that's how Jack made his grand entrance into the world as we know it! I can't believe I ever lived before him, I'm so happy to be a mommy and so lucky to have such a wonderful baby boy!!!

Thanks everyone for all your support and love during my pregnancy and now that I'm a mom!!! All I have left to do now to fulfill my lifes goals is get my degree and work as a nurse. It'll happen, I know it!

Early Childhood Memories

2006-05-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Last night as Travis and I were settling into bed to go to sleep, we started talking about memories. We wondered why people don't remember more about being in the womb...Aside from the obvious there's not much to remember....I think some people do remember, sometimes.

Anyway, that was silly but we tend to get a bit silly when we are tired. Then we started talking about early childhood memories like when we were 2,3,4 and so on. I said I had a memory from when I was 18 months old (correct me if I'm wrong mom) about the fourth of July at one of my grandparents' neighbors houses'....Mom told me that was when I was 18 months old.

Then Travis got quiet, he usually falls asleep within seconds to minutes of his head hitting the pillow....Lucky guy....I stretched my mind back to some early memories cause it usually takes me forever to fall asleep.

I remember lots of stuff that don't really mean anything and a few things that mean a lot, atleast to me.

I remember sitting on the front lawn of our house on Judd Avenue, I remember there being a cat carrier, and I remember looking at the raised rectagular areas on the top. I assume those are there for stacking, but at the time I thought they were the perfect spot to hold a drink!!

At the same house I remember coming home and being greeted by our pet guinea pigs' bweeep bweeep coming from upstairs. I remember building sheet tents in Paiges' purple bedroom, I remember one time there was a thunderstorm and I told Mom and Paige what I though caused thunder (a big rock rolling down a hill near by, even there were no hills near by) and Mom told me what actually caused it. And I remember stepping on a rusty nail while running around barefoot at a neighbors house, then going home and sitting on the toilet while Mom looked me over and decided we'd better go to get a tetanus shot....I remember her being angry about me running around barefoot :/ sorry bout that.

I remember being at the YMCA once swimming, I got out of the pool and climbed up on a life guard tower that was no longer used. I apparently annoyed a wasp, which then chased me back into the pool. Mom was there she saw the whole thing!! I got back out after a very short time but the wasp was still chasing me, I hopped back into the pool, the shallow end and swam under the water a ways. Popped up for air and the wasp stung me!! Like it was waiting for me!

ooh it hurt bad too! Worst wasp sting ever, I'd say.

I got out and went to my mom who wrapped me in her arms and consoled me, told me she watched that wasp chase me the whole way too. I loved that, being in my moms arms, her hugging me and telling me I'd be fine.

I didn't like that wasp though, I remember what it looked like still today!!
So black it was blue!!! I don't remember how old I was when that happened though.

I remember living on Shoshone Trail. I was a gullible child and two "friends" I had in the neighborhood were very manipulative, got me into a lot of trouble. One of them wanted to go down to the creek, which I wasn't allowed to do by myself, I told her this of course but she said she wouldn't be my friend anymore if I didn't go with her. I couldn't have that!!! So I went.

Don't remember what we did there, probably just threw rocks in the creek. But when I went back home I saw my dad sitting in the doorway waiting for me. I knew what was coming...I started crying, not because of what was to come but because I knew I deserved it. I walked up the wooden stairs and laid across my dads lap, he didn't even have to say anything to me.

I think he asked me after where I had gone, and then asked me why I got a spanking. I said it was because I went to the creek with Brook (that's funny isn't it LOL) and I wasn't supposed to, and Dad said "you made us worry about you, we didn't' know where you were." I felt terrible, told him about how Brook wouldn't be my friend if I didn't' go with her and he said well she isn't a good friend then is she......."Nooo oh ooooooooo" I tearfully replied.

LOL

I've got lots of memories from my early childhood. It was neat thinking about them last night. But best of all lots of them included my Mom Dad and sister......And not like I had forgotten this but remembering all those things made me think about how much I love all of them!
Funny how that works isn't it?

sniff.

Ok....WARNING rant

2006-05-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

I don't normally post things like this but I've just gotta have some outlet for what I'm feeling in response to stuff I've been reading and hearing about lately.

First The Dixie Chicks. Everyone knows that they are outspoken about their disappointment in President Bush....I can't believe though that many music stations are not playing their music because of this, I also can't believe they are being sent death threats. To that I say " This is America, people, it is our right and it's in the constitution that we question those in power, and speak our minds freely."

I understand that people would retort with some good points about how speaking freely and questioning our president may not be patriotic but it's just the opposite....Look at our founding fathers folks what was it they did?

Me for one, I don't agree with a lot of things George has done or says or believes (what does it matter what language the national anthem is sung in if it's being sung by someone who loves our country).....But if he weren't supposed to be President he wouldn't be. Everything happens for a reason, it might not be clear what that reason is now but all will work out the way it's supposed to.

Secondly, this whole oil business! Why, for gods sake, would we need to drill for oil in the artic wildlife refuge if we have other means for oil, (CORN!?!?!) that won't damage one of the last pristine environments we have? If we are one of the richest countries in the world and are having such difficulty depending on "foreign oil" why not put all those resources into producing and distributing "domestic oil." Seems to me we've got some smart people here who can come up with alternative ideas and it seems to me we've got lots of corn (hey that's an alternative idea!!) that grows around this country and lots of Farmers who are struggling who could use the income......And then there's the whole Hybrid issue.

I hear that it's just as bad for the environment because of the lead in the batteries, but can't the batteries be recycled? Or can't research be done into recycling them...Aren't we supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world???

As for gas companies and their "Record Profits" I'd like to think they have enough money (and moral fiber?) to research and come up with lots of ideas involving Ethanol and other types of fuel that will make them more money in the future but cost less and rely less on foreign nations. Perhaps making the US and themselves richer in the long run cause we'll start exporting our knowledge and maybe even our oil will be used and called "foreign oil."

Maybe they could come up with some way of using garbage as fuel, like in Back to the Future!!! Yeah...Right....

And what is up with the whole Iran thing now? Are we just running around telling everyone how to run their country? Of course I don't really know what I'm talking about when it comes to this......But no one has said anything about it except the negative "they are making bombs" remarks...

My question is, and I keep forgetting to ask my dad cause he'd know, Can enriched Uranium be useful for things other than making bombs? Like I don't know, nuclear power plants and stuff? I honestly don't know....But no ones said anything about that on the news it's all " Iran is making bombs, they are the new Iraq" crap. I thought Iran was on our side before all this. Whatever I just wanted to know about that. AND I say let the UN deal with them, lets finish what we started in Iraq and Afghanistan before we go stretching our troops too thin.

Ok and Baseball!!! What is up with all the players using steroids??? Why?
I gotta say Barry Bonds may have made those hits but I don't think he should be inducted into the Hall of fame, it's like one of those posters said at one of his games "Babe Ruth did it on beer and hotdogs"
It just doesn't seem right. I'm sorry too I don't believe people who say they didn't know what they were being injected with......Professional Athletes are people who know, or should, about nutrition and taking care of their bodies as it's their livelihood. If you are being injected with something and you don't know what is it, and people tell you oh it's just vitamins....And you start noticing your balls shrinking and your muscles getting bigger.........It's a no brainer to get yourself checked out.

Medicare, what is the deal with that??? These people who are signing up for it now are our parents and grandparents. The people who raised us and made us who we are today (either through love and all things wonderful parents do, or through strife cause some people are just clueless). In either case, why is it so difficult for them to get the medications they need when they need them. Why do medications cost sooo much, why is the paper work that must be filled out to sign up so difficult to understand. These people aren't stupid, the forms are all legal jargon and confusion. It's crap!! Why is there a deadline for signing up too? Why not postpone it if people are having such a hard time filling out the paperwork, why not get the forms rewritten to make them easier to fill out? It shouldn't be hard, we are one of the richest nations in the world, we shouldn't have all this difficulty.

Social security. Can someone explain to me how it's supposed to be bankrupt in however many years they are saying it's going to be bankrupt. Is it because the people who are now claiming it and will be claiming it in the upcoming years and draining it are paying too much for medications and medical treatments they need, when they didn't get their Medicare forms filled out correctly or on time???

If that's a problem can't a system be set up where people just have their social security deposited into their own personal IRA or CD or something so that they keep what they earn? Or am I wrong in thinking the government has borrowed from it when they've needed a little extra money to pay for a war or what not, and don't have the funds to pay it back?

And finally, all these Vets who's SSI info was stolen. How's that for national security? These people fought in wars for our country (not a fan of war but a fan of people who fought and are fighting) how is it that something like this could have happened? What are these people going to be expected to do when their identities are stolen and all their Social security benefits are spent by someone else? And for those people who haven't had their info stolen, how about those people who try to claim it and then get run through the mill trying to get their check when they really need it? Why do they have to go through lawyers to claim what is rightfully theirs (this being before all the stealing) That's not right!!! How can this be a problem if we are one of the richest nations in the world???

Of course I could sound like a complete idiot about all this stuff. Feel free to comment and let me know if I'm being ignorant of somethings, I'd rather not continue feeling the way I feel about some of this stuff if it's just my own ignorance that's fueling it (wish ignorance could be bottled, man we'd have a never ending source of fuel in that case wouldn't we!!). But (and this is for people who aren't family of course) unless you've got the facts and not just your opinion I'll keep thinking what I'm thinking.

Who is in charge of all the spending and money usage of our rich rich nation? Families do better jobs of budgeting than our government, I know there's lots that goes into it but if you don't have the money for something then you can't have it....Otherwise you are writing bad checks and you can go to jail for that......And why is it that companies with record profits aren't turning those extra profits around and helping out other companies that would benefit from more money?

Just imagine the boost our school system or social security would get from the record profits from the oil companies or others who are experiencing "record profits"!!! Take the extra money and put it towards things that need it, that'll improve national moral and intelligence. Farmers could do with extra money, schools could do with extra money. I guess that's my idea of a "trickle down effect." I've seen no evidence of it in my little corner of the world, I'll keep thinking happy thoughts for things to turn around though.

Sorry for the rant guys, but it had to come out.

Irritable what?

2006-05-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Had another appointment today. Nothing much to report.

I've gained about 27 pounds for the whole pregnancy so far, it all seems to be baby though LOL as everyone says I look great!!
I've got a few more stretch marks though, my belly button is stretched almost to bursting. Still not poking out though, just getting shallower and shallower.

Jack, as everyone I think will find out, is quite a joker. He likes to give our sonographer a hard time, most of the time he would show her his back, or hide his face with his hands so she'd have to see us a bit more often so she could make sure everything was ok with him. He's been like this the whole pregnancy!!!

We went in today for our last ultrasound. He's so squished in there, and so low that it's hard to get a good look at his face but that's not really necessary now. No, the important things are his femur, his head, his abdomen and his heart. We could find his heart and kidneys ok.

They check the length of the femur, the circumference of the head and abdomen and the machine does this calculation that estimates the size of the baby. Last time they guessed he weighed 5 lbs 13 oz, this time they guessed 6 lbs 2 oz. It's been two weeks since the last ultrasound and he should have put on more weight then that.

Back to Jack being a joker. The sonographer said not to worry it's hard to get a good measurement when they are that squished in there, but I know he's capable of moving a bit more they he would for her, I've felt him do it.... Little stinker!

So I start thinking about how I've lost my appetite lately (I've still be eating don't worry) and wondering if I'm to blame for him being a bit small...Then I tell myself, Nah he's just decided he's going to take it easy on me labor wise! Travis said he told Jack to do just that, "take it easy on your mama." They have these discussions when I'm out of the room or sleeping...sleeping mostly.

So besides the uncertainty of his size everything else checks out great! My amniotic fluid looks good, the Doppler indicates he's getting a good flow from the placenta. I'm dilated a centimeter and a half, and thinned out a bit more.

In my last post I explained that was having contractions. They weren't anything like I thought they'd be.....They weren't labor contractions but they hurt. Anyway I explained how they felt to the doctor today: I have pain and tightness and pressure really low, that feels like menstrual cramps...Like Jack has some how fashioned a shive and is trying to dig his way out... That lasts for about 6 seconds (that's right I counted them) and then once that let up, I'd have a huge braxton-hicks across the top of my belly...That felt like that part of me had turned to stone. This would happen back and forth. He said "it sounds like you've got an irritable uterus." Of course it's irritated I'm sure it's not happy, what with the stretching and the pushing and the kicking.

Dr. Jackson said that was normal it was just my body bringing Jack down and thinning out my cervix in a slow way. Which just confirmed what I had been thinking it was doing anyway. So the more I dilate and thin out now, the less I'll be doing it in labor...Shorter labor, less pain!!!!

I hope.

Baby news

2006-05-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

I started having contractions last Saturday. Nothing much has happened yet, I have dilated a wee bit more and Jack is a bit lower. I've been having contractions on and off the whole week so far. Sometimes they are a bit painful other times not at all. Every time I sigh or groan or giggle or anything Travis looks at me and says "Are you having a contraction?"

The other night, I had something funny happen that I thought would make Travis cringe....He's got a fear of spiders.....I was sitting in my lovely new gliding rocker and reading a book. I've been blessed with quite a bit of cleavage and my shirts are straining to contain the boobage. So I'm sitting there reading my book, and a spider drops from the ceiling and into my cleavage!!!

I started giggling because it tickled and I knew once I told Travis what my problem was (I started taking my shirt and bra off) that he'd freak out a little bit. Well I didn't know, he thought my water broke or I was going into labor.......I think he was disappointed when I told him there was a spider in my shirt.

He tells me today not to hesitate walking around or "eating eggplant or whatever" to induce labor....Cause he wants to get out of class!!! Every day he says "Today could be the day!!!"

Our friends Kevin and Lisa have been keeping their cell phone by the bed at night in case I go into labor....

Everyone is so excited and anxious for little Jacks arrival!!! I am too but the closer I get to going into labor the more I think about how I'm going to miss feeling him move around in his cramped quarters....I'm silly.

Anyway, that's all for now!!

Thanks everyone!!

2006-05-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything about this because I haven't been able to get the computer to turn on for me the past few days....Plus my belly was getting in the way of me bending over to do it.....ANYHOO

My dad went into the hospital with chest pain last weekend. Now don't worry he's fine now, the doctors ran a ton of tests and drew lots and lots of blood (Dad said he felt like a pin cushion). The test came back abnormal, so they ran even more tests.

They finally injected him with radioactive junk and took pictures of his heart and arteries. They found one partial blockage and put in a stint. He didn't have a heart attack, so there's no muscle damage, they found a little heart disease but that's not totally unexpected since Grandma Ginny has it too....

Last I heard, he was eating like a pig and cutting up like he always does. If you know my dad, and most of you do, it's what he does.....He's a great fun loving guy!

He should be released from the hospital sometime this morning and will stay in Boston for a follow up check by his doctors on Friday. Then the plan I believe, is for Theron to drive Mom and Dad home then fly back. Mom doesn't drive on highways.

Perhaps that's where Paige's anxiety of driving comes from?

Anyway, Thanks all of you who knew what was going on and spent many a free moment praying for my Dads recovery!!!! Thanks all of you who are just hearing about it and will pray for his recovery too!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

2006-05-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Happy belated Anniversary to our friends Bobby and Lyndsy who got married 2 years ago on May 8th. They are two of the nicest people you will ever meet!! Two of the best friends Travis and I have and we miss them very much!!! Good luck Bobby on your finals!!

Happy Anniversary to Paige and Theron!!!! Today is the third anniversary of their wedding day!! It was beautiful that day, not to hot and not a cloud in the sky!! Today it's not to hot but there are thunderstorms in the area. We miss Paige and Theron too, they are also two of the best friends Travis and I have. Hope you guys have a good day whether you do anything special or not!!

Love you all!!!

Oh yea I forgot

2006-05-08T10:27:00.000-07:00

Last night wasn't the first night I experienced this but last night was the worst. I woke up with my left hand numb and swollen, I thought maybe I was sleeping on it and rolled over on my other side to see if it would get better. It didn't, so I got up to go pee and when I was coming back to bed I fought my rings off my finger and put them in my jewelry box. This morning I pulled out Jessica's wedding present to me.....A really pretty locket.....And added my engagement and wedding ring to the chain.

So there they are. I feel sad that I can't wear them on my finger...The swelling has gone down, and I do still think it was because I was lying on my side....But it's not the same around your neck oh well.

9 month belly shots, Lake Mayer, most recent doctors visit

2006-05-08T09:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Travis and I took a break from nesting to get some lunch (Mmmm Moes) then we went to Lake Mayer to take a few belly shots. When we got there it was a super bright sunny day. After we crossed the bridge, we heard what sounded like giant mosquito's buzzing around and went to investigate.

Turns out there was a group of people having an RC race. It was pretty neat to watch, they had a neat track set up with lots of hills for the little cars to jump. They really flew over those hills too, really kicked up the dust.
After watching the race for a little bit in the sun we decided to take the pictures and go.

We started walking back to the bridge and noticed a huge thunderhead and heard rumblings of thunder. We took a few pictures and watched the little ducks and not so little geese waddling and swimming around. There was one group of geese with a gaggle of goslings, they were soooo cute!!!

There was also four ducks swimming around in the lake near where we were, unfortunately we didn't get pictures of them.....One of them was red or kind of pinkish there was a blue one, an orange one and a green one. We guess someone dyed them those colors for Easter.....These weren't natural duck colors.....Unless they were hatched under the Easter bunny, in a brightly colored woven basket filled with plastic green grass.

It started sprinkling and we made our way back to the car. It's a good thing Travis is experiencing the nesting instinct, because I certainly don't feel it. I feel like I should be cleaning but I'm just to tired to do it. He's the one that's done most of the cleaning, we set up our Pack and Play together and then moved into the bedroom.

While Travis went through our junk in the closet, I sat on the bed and folded more Jack clothes and put them into drawers. When I finished with that I decided to set up our Baby Einstein rocker chair. It's probably been the most difficult thing to put together but I did it!!

Today we went for our doctors visit and had our second to last ultrasound. We don't have any pictures because Jack in in position to be born....All we got to see that we could recognize was his hand and a foot. The Sonographer told us Jack is measuring at a very healthy 5 lbs 13oz, he's got enough amniotic fluid and he's looking very very healthy.

Then we went in to see the doctor and he did a Group B Strep test, then an internal exam. Dr Jackson informed Travis and I that I am 1 centimeter dilated. That doesn't mean that I'm in labor it just means that it can be anytime now really!!! It's very exciting....I know it's only one centimeter and I could be there for a couple weeks but I'm only just nine months (Wednesday). The doctor didn't say what station Jack was either but I'll ask next time....

That's it for now!!

8 month belly shots...Matt and Jess Wedding pics

2006-05-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last month was exciting and full!!! The biggest thing that happened, our sister Jessica got married to our friend Matt. Travis and I were both in the wedding; I was Jess' matron of honor and Travis was one of Matts' groomsmen. Since we were both in the wedding we weren't able to get pictures....But you can see some here:
http://imageevent.com/thegentrys/2006/jessicaandmattcolemanwedding/thewedding

Travis and I were very happy to show Granny and Aunt Karen around the day before the wedding. Neither had ever been to Savannah, so we took them to Bonaventure Cemetery and then to Riverstreet. We stopped off at one of the shops on River street and poked around, Travis found a super awesome Pirate ship for Jacks room (which is our room too but it's a super awesome Pirate ship!)

Then we went down to Savannah's Candy Kitchen, where it all began!!! We met a few old friends there and chatted with them a while. Granny and Karen walked around and looked at all the goodies. We got free samples of Pralines and I got a caramel gopher.

That was quite a bit of walking around and we were all pretty tired after that. We took Granny and Karen back to their hotel, and we got ready for the rehearsal dinner later that night. It was really fun taking them around and only wished we had more time to show them more of Savannah....

You guys gotta come back sometime soon!!!

So there aren't any special belly shots, but you can see how big I've gotten in the pictures I've posted. Also you can see what pretty pregnant matron of Honor I made.....Didn't hold a candle to the Bride but that's the way it's supposed to be.

The wedding was beautiful, Jessica was stunning ( but she always is isn't she?) Matt looked like he couldn't smile enough. It was great fun!!!
I'm so glad we could be a part of such a happy day!

Lil Trav is just a bit bigger today!!

2006-05-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

That's right folks!! For those of you who don't know Lil Trav, is the son of my friends Lisa and Kevin. He's 2 years and a couple months old. He's been making the motions of going potty for a while now, and finally yesterday he was found to be sitting on the toilet tinkling!!!

All by himself!!!

I'm so proud!!!

Ok THIS is the last B&N post

2006-04-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

Just to update everyone on what's happened... I've been reinstated, "allowed" to return to work he said. There wasn't an apology, they still feel like it was all my fault what happened.....However, I'm getting back pay for the days I was scheduled to work, plus the hours I was scheduled to work this past week, plus the hours I spent in this last meeting...AND more hours!!!

"MORE HOURS!?!" I hear you say.

Yes, I am finally getting more hours like I requested almost THREE months ago.

Does it seem to you all like they are back peddling? Seems like it to us too.
I told them through the whole meeting that I was fed up and didn't want to work there anymore. Multiple times. Yet at the end of the meeting I was told I'd be "put on the schedule for next week."

We figure now, it's better this way. I'll leave when I'M good and ready to leave, NOT when they want me to leave. HA!

I will be very careful to not give them another excuse to write me up or put me on suspension. But, on Monday I'm going to go to the EEOC and let them know what's going on, in case they do try something like this again. Also to start a record of this for future mom's to be who work at the store.

Travis and I are very happy with the way things have worked out though. He says he's very proud of the way I've handled it, by sticking to my guns and not being run off like all the other people before....Not that they didn't have a right to just leave with all the crap they went through.

I feel proud of myself too, but it makes me love him even more when he says that too me :)

My husband's the best!!

Congratulations Kevin and Lisa!!!

2006-04-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

They found out today their new baby will be a girl!!!! Lil Trav is going to make an excellent big brother!! Can't wait to meet you, little Selena Karen Riedl...not sure if that's how they are going to spell it :)

Its the principle!

2006-04-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

Ok short post I just have to mention my annoyance. I have been taking prenatal vitamins since May last year. The are in blister packs and the packs are all perforated in a grid.

The perforations don't always do all the way through so you have to fight to get them separated from each other...Travis saw me fighting with it one night and told me to "just cut it."

Now really if something is perforated, it's done so you don't HAVE to cut it right???

I finally got my pill and did it with out cutting. It's the principle of it all. GOSH!

Six things about me and THE last B&N post

2006-04-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

1. I'm pregnant
2. I'm tired
3. Having just eaten, I'm no longer hungry
4.I've been put on unpaid suspension for a bogus charge from a job I'm about to leave in a month and half and think it's mean spirited and unfair.
5. I'm pretty much over that ^ now.
6.I'm the luckiest girl in the world because I've got a great husband, a son on the way...And the best most loving family in the world!!

Yea folks, that's some s*** isn't it? I've worked at Blow Hard & Numb nuts Brookstellers for almost five years, never had a problem with management till the new management moved in. Didn't have a big problem with them till I got pregnant. All of a sudden I've turned into a bad employee breaking store policy. Except when I got my employee review I got a "meets expectations" rating and a 50 cent raise.......

Last time I went into work, this past tuesday, I was brought into the office with my Cafe manager and the Store manager and the District manager was then called on speaker phone. He was driving and his dog was barking when he answered the phone. He told me he was on vacation...... But found out just the day before that I hadn't clocked out or clocked in the previous week. This was my third break with store policy and what was my excuse for the break?

Not expecting this I wasn't sure how to answer (it's hard to remember things that happen a week ago when you are pregnant and you're lovely sister in law got married over the weekend) It slowly started coming back to me....

District manager says "I want you to be honest with me and tell me your story again" to which I reply with my recollection of what happened. He says to me "Now I need you to tell the truth and tell me again what happened." I'm getting annoyed at this point because 1. Perhaps he's not paying attention to me because he's driving, 2. He keeps telling me to "be honest" and "tell the truth", which I'm doing cause why would I lie about something like this.
and 3. I finally realize I'm being interrogated.

What was my crime exactly? Ok last Tuesday I was scheduled to work 9 to 1. I thought I wasn't scheduled to work till Wednesday, I was called and reminded when I was supposed to come in...But it was no rush they weren't busy and they needed to cut back hours anyway. I didn't rush but I didn't take my sweet time getting there either. I got there as soon as I could and ran up to let the person whom I was supposed to relieve go on her break (I forgot to clock in
The next day, Wednesday, I had asked off because I had a doctors appointment. I was scheduled to work anyway. I talked to my manager and let them know about the appointment and they said don't worry just come in at 9 and then leave to go to your appointment and come back to finish out your shift, they needed to cut back on hours anyway. I told them that the timing of my appointment might not make it possible for me to return to finish my shift and they said that was fine.

So when the time came I left for my appointment (I forgot to clock out again
I went to the breakroom when I got back and Travis was in there on his lunch break. I sat down next to him to tell him how the appointment went and he rubbed my belly. The manager came in and I told her then I forgot to clock out for my appointment, but as I got back only 30 minutes before I was to clock out again did she want me to finish out my shift or not and if she wanted me to finish did I need to clock back in or would that mess the time clock up the next day. She said don't worry about it, if you want to finish out your shift I think you are needed still. So I put my apron back on and went back up to work thinking all had been taken care of. Stayed actually 30 minutes past my scheduled time off and then rushed home as family was coming into town for the wedding and I needed to clean house. I forgot to clock out again.

Well that manager on duty doesn't remember that conversation. She never fixed the time clock. Not only that but she's the one who makes the schedules, and on the schedule for the day before I wasn't scheduled to work that day, it was on a different schedule that I was supposed to work, so you can see why I would think I wasn't supposed to......sounds like a really organized place to work doesn't it.

So back to the interogation, I'm "lying" about why I forgot to clock in the one day and for forgetting to clock out the next. I accept responsibility for forgetting to clock out but in the one case I did tell the manager on duty about the mistake, so that it could be rectified that same day.

Normally, when a time clock flub happens a flag goes up on the computer the next morning. The opening manager can then talk to the employee about the flub and get the problem taken care of. This wasn't the case with me that week, perhaps if they had talked to me about it then none of this would be happening. Who knows.

All I know is this seems mean spirited and pointless as Travis and I are going to be leaving this store and moving to Houston in about a month and a half. Travis will be transfering but I will not since I'll be staying home with Jack for a little while.

District manager ends the conference call by letting my know that I was now on unpaid suspension because this is the third violation in store policy. So I wouldn't be paid and I wouldn't be expected to come in to work. I might be reinstated if they found that I wasn't guilty of the violation, that he had just found out about this the day before and would be investigating (remember the guy is on vacation). He says "Again, just to be sure you know what this means, you are not going to be paid and you are not expected to come back to work till we call you."

I must be some sort of idiot right because he's now told me three times what "unpaid suspension" means.

I don't say anything at this point because, during this whole process I've been treated like a stupid liar. Like a bad employee. I'm neither of course as you all know. So I'm mad, crying mad. He says "Are you still there?"

I say through tears as I'm so mad "YES, Thank you for clearing up what unpaid suspension means, and have a great vacation" in a very sarcastic tone, and then made to leave the office. The store manager grabs me by the arm and tells me not to hurt myself, I throw her off and wrench open the door, she runs out after me and grabs me by the shoulders and says again "don't hurt yourself" again I throw her off. Then she grabs me again and holds me, and tells one of my coworkers who was in the breakroom to call Travis.

She's holding me rather tightly which might be good because I was crying so hard and I was starting to have a contraction. Travis came in and grabbed on to me too (refraining from pushing store manager off) and asked me what wrong.

Store manager tells Travis to take me home, don't clock out she says "just take her home" I stop crying at this point and look at her and say "NO" and she says to me "it's ok he can take you home." I'm pretty hysterical and coworker is asking me "whats wrong" very concerned, I tell her I can't tell you because I was told to keep the conversation "in this office."

heh guess this isn't the office, but screw it.

Travis got me out of the room and calmed me down a bit. I was finally able to tell him what had happened, he got pissed but refrained from going into the office and quitting (good thing cause we need insurance.)

Anyway, that's the newest bit of drama from my place of work....uh I mean former place of work. If they do reinstate me, which I'm quite sure they won't, I'll tell them they can shove it "I quit."

I was really upset about it yesterday but today I'm over it. Jerks. So sorry for the long post but it's my final rant about this. It's epic I know but it's over now....

Brian or Liz
Mike or Bev
Heidi (can you believe how horrible our store has gotten??)
Chloe
Robyn
and Doah because I don't know a whole bunch of people who have blogs either, so we can be warty together! :)

Y'all are it!

No pictures yet, sorry.

2006-04-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Things have been super busy here lately. Not really on my part, but Travis has been running around getting stuff done. Lots of homework and classes to attend as well as working full time hours at work. Leaves him little time to do much else.

When he's had free time he's just wanted to relax or work on getting things ready for Jack, like sanding and restaining a chest of drawers our friends Kevin and Lisa are giving us. It's super cool to have a piece of real furniture for Jack LOL Where to put it is another question though.

Travis and I have decided to move to Houston, in early July. This means discarding lots of junk we never needed in the first place but were to clingy to let go if last time we moved. JUNK in other words. So I'm trying to go thru things and donate what others can use and throw out what no one needs. Donna gave me a great idea bout just packing one box a day. Can't believe I never thought of it before but it's a brilliant idea!!!

I'll start tomorrow LOL

I want to have lots of stuff packed up and ready to move or donate before I get too big....Which isn't far of. According to my baby calendars, Jack is about to hit a huge growth spurt. So I don't feel overly large now, nor am I'm very uncomfortable (just when he kicks my ribs or stretches) but I guess I"m going to be soon. Also once Jack is here I don't know if I'll have tons of energy to do anything beside nurse him and sleep....Leaving Travis to do the rest of packing and getting things ready to move.

He doesn't mind that, he told me so the other day. But I already feel guilty when he does stuff around the house that have needed doing for a while. He's a great guy. But still as much as I can get done before all that, will be a help to Travis.

Anyway this up coming Wednesday I'll be 8 months pregnant!!! I can't believe it!!! I don't feel like I've been pregnant long enough to be 8 months along. It's crazy really. So since this Saturday Travis' lovely sister will be marrying our friend Matt Coleman I'm sure we'll have tons of pictures to post, a few a which I'm sure will contain some part of my belly.....It's getting so big it's kind of taking over.

Anyway, we'll get pictures up I promise.....They just will be a bit late for month 7.

What's the day What's the weight?

2006-04-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

Ok folks it's time to set up the poll. I've gotten people telling me what day he's going to be born and what weight, and since I have a hard time remembering just about everything, I think a poll on the blog is in order.
I'm due June 8th. I'll be 31 weeks pregnant on Wednesday April 5th. I think Jack will be joining us in late May.....

So here's the first guess:

Name
Lyndsy Morgan
MomGentry
Travis
G'ma River
Chloe
Heidi

Date
June 1st, 2006
May 31st,2006
June 2nd,2006
June 6th,2006
June 3rd,2006
June 9th,2006

Weight
6lbs 3oz
7lbs 13oz
7lbs 3oz
7lbs 6oz
8lbs 2oz
7lbs 9oz

Time

I've gotten a few mean guesses too, from Travis and his sister Jessica.....
She thinks Jack will be born in mid June probably around the 11th and weigh 13 lbs.

Nice. Reeeeaaaalll nice.

Travis says he's gonna be born in august and weigh 14 pounds. He does say he just says that to tease...He'd better or this is the last one buddy!!

Ok so if you leave your guess in the comments I'll edit this post to add your guess!! HEE HEE

Guess I'll think of a prize to send the person who gets closest :)

Another year come and gone...

2006-04-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Today is our second anniversary. So far it's been a pretty good day. We slept in a bit then got up, I took a shower and got ready for my mommy to be massage which I thought was at ten.

Went across the street to the Spa, and was reminded that my appointment wasn't till 12.

That kind of cut out the rest of what we were going to do today, like going down to Forsyth Park to take our 7 month belly shots, and walking around for a little while before Travis had to go to class at 3.

Oh well, so we exchanged our cards (we didn't get each other gifts) and then just hung out for a bit talking about everything and nothing....Then we took a nap. The alarm went off with about 15 minutes to my massage appointment and we got up and got ready for that. Travis went downtown do run a few errands and I went to my appointment.

The massage was great!! Not as great as the one Chloe gave me last time I was up there (thanks for that Chloe, best massage I've ever had!!). The lady who worked on me lives in my complex and we had a nice talk about that.
Now I'm back, Travis is on his way home form his errands and we may eat something and go for a short walk. It's 130 now and he has to leave at 230 for class LOL......

Life it like that though. Soon we'll have little Jack to take up our days but it'll be great.

We may go out to dinner, it'll be late though around 9 ish....Maybe we'll go tomorrow cause we could go earlier.

All and all it's been a great day. I can't imagine what life would be like without my wonderful husband. Don't even want to try. He's the best thing in my life!!!

I LOVE YOU TRAVIS!! THANKS FOR BEING THE BEST HUSBAND EVER

Latest Doctors visit results

2006-03-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

Everything is going great!! We got to the doctors office 15 minutes early for my appointment and waited about 45 minutes to be seen. We passed the time reading articles in magazines about how to raise your kids and what-not.

We were called back and I went into the bathroom to make my donation to the golden fluid collection agency. Then went out and did the scale thing and the blood pressure thing. The scale said I now weigh 154 lbs (sans shoes) the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure thingy) said my blood pressure was right where it should be as well. I forget the numbers something like 118 over 60....I asked the nurse how much weight I'd gained so far and she said that when I came to them in November I weighed 129 lbs...

Course I had been throwing up almost constantly at that point so I gauge my weight gain by my usual weight before I got pregnant which was almost constant at 136. So If I go by that, I've gained 18 pounds, if I go by the 129 I've gain 25.....I don't want to gain much more than 25 pounds so I'm gonna stick with the 18 ;)

Just today I had three people tell me I look like I'm about to pop. Once we post the pictures of my seventh month you be the judge. I told everyone who made that comment just imagine how big I'll be in about two months!!! You think I'm gonna pop now, I guess I'll be about ready to explode with the force of an A bomb by then LOL

Girls at work asked about the status of my belly button. I showed them it's still an innie and explained it will probably remain so, it'll just get tighter and tighter. We'll see though, I used to be able to stick my finger into my belly button just passed the first joint now I just get the tip in there, not quite a centimeter deep.

The few questions I had for the doctor were answered rather quickly. He seemed to be in a rush, poor guy, but he explained things so that Travis and I were both sure that what I was experiencing was normal. I asked him about the muscle aches and joint aches, he said that those complaints as well as trouble sleeping and fatigue are all normal for this part of the pregnancy. He said that they may not be constant right now but they will get more so as the pregnancy progresses. Greeeaaattt. He said if I get a fever though to call in.

He asked if I had any cramping and was still getting Braxton-Hicks contractions and I said I have had a wee bit of cramping but not so much that it concerned me and the Braxton-Hicks seemed to have let up a bit. Again he said if either of those gets worse to call in.

He said it's getting closer and closer time to deliver and to watch for any signs. Travis and I were both in there while the doctor was discussing things I might be experiencing. He nodded along with things the doctor was saying about my sleeping problems and the need to take care of myself.

Travis has been so awesome with the whole process, he's missed one appointment, but it was the sugar test and I didn't know how long I'd be there. The next two appointments are just routine visits which I'll be there for as long as it takes to pee, weight, squeeze, measure, ask questions and get answers.

He'll be there for every ultrasound, cause we love seeing our little guy on the screen. We both were a bit disappointed we didn't get one today but we have an appointment for the next one which won't be till May 10th.

So seeing as how I've only gained four pounds since my last visit three weeks ago I don't feel guilty for the icecream I've been eating from time to time. In fact I may have some before I go into work tonight!!!

Don't worry I'm not going overboard, I'm sticking to the serving suggestions and I've started doing my prenatal yoga, which is hard and seems to be kicking my butt but I know it's a good thing to do.

Anyway that's all for now...Hopefully we'll get those belly shots taken and posted soon!!

Study in the need for chocolate....

2006-03-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how to title this post....I get newsletters pertaining to whatever stage of pregnancy I am in from a few different pregnancy websites. The latest one was from Baby.com. There was a blurb on there about this woman who keeps getting nasty remarks from people at work and just around about her size.....She's is 29 weeks which is right where I am.

I've had nasty comments thrown my way, mostly from strangers and one person at work who is a complete moron. The moron at work as since stopped making comments when we mentioned discrimination (moron is store manager).....Other comments have come from coworkers but they weren't meant in a malicious way.

One friend said to me the other day, she thought I looked bigger for my gestational age, she said I looked too big to only be 29 weeks. Well I think my due date is off just a bit but not that much...Still I'm apparently a little person as most folks like to tell me now a days....."That's why you look so big, it's because you are such a little person, You're TINY" I hear a lot.....

Then there are the guys from Pakistan who work at one of the Jewelry kiosks in the mall who say " You are getting fat!!! When you babies coming?" to which I always reply "there's only the one, and in June" and they inevitably say "Just one? Are you sure you are fat!!!"
But I don't' mind, they are just men and don't know what they are talking about....They have stopped calling me baby when they come in to get their coffee though, guess I'm not a baby anymore....I'm a big girl :)

ANYWAY, I understand the frustration these women are going thru. Complete strangers ask me how far along am I and what I'm having...I had one lady yell across the Mall hallway "I do hope you are planning on breastfeeding!!!!" and when I didn't yell back "Of course I am" because I was to embarrassed/amused by the looks she and I were getting from others walking through the mall, she glared at me like I was some kind of horrible child neglecter.

I saw her later, she came in for coffee and asked me again giving me that same stern look. I told her I would have answered her before but that her yelled comment had seemed to draw to many other people to think about what I may or may not do with my breasts after MY child is born, and yes I do plan on breastfeeding. She said "oh well I guess I shouldn't have yelled it, it's just very important, you know one of the best things you can do for your child" I said to her "Yes Ma'am it sure is, but it is also a personal choice and some women for one reason or another may not be able to, doesn't mean they don't' want what's best for their baby." She blushed and grabbed her drink and left.

I don't think I let peoples comments get to me too much, there have been times but not so much anymore. I have only gained (at this point anyway) 14 pounds so far according to last weigh in, which I think is pretty good, I'll be closer to the minimum 25 pounds by the time Jack is born I'm sure.

The thing that worries me now, is how much my body will change after Jack is born. Don't know why I keep thinking about it, I'll blame the hormones for it, but still I keep worrying. Annoying.
I feel weird now about myself, part of me feels absolutely beautiful, I mean I'm pregnant glowing with future possibilities and what not, then I look at the veins branching across my belly and boobs and wonder how attractive am I really? Again it's the hormones.....Right?

I don't need that answered, I'm just silly is all.

Oh yea and I'm starting to get sad about missing feeling Jack move around in my belly. But I guess I'll have him to squirm around outside for the rest of my life so that'll make up for most of it.

I need chocolate

Tea and a Baby shower

2006-03-14T16:59:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!! Sorry for the long silence blogwise. This past weekend family came into town to participate in my baby shower and Jessica's bridal tea. My mother came down form Toronto, Travis' mother come over from Houston, and Paige, Theron, and Sylvie all came down from Boston.

It was so nice to see everyone!! We had a great time walking around downtown and going out to eat. Sylvie is just the sweetest most adorable little girl ever born!!! She's smart and funny and cute and I could go on and on and on about her....She's the best!!!

It's always fun to see people you haven't seen in a while. What's even better is that we all get along! I'm so lucky to have the best mother in law ever, and that she and my mom get along so well...It's like we've always known each other. Donna has adopted Sylvie as her grandchild as well....So Sylvie is super lucky to have THREE grandmas who will love her forever and spoil her rotten, much to the chagrin of Paige and Theron....Good thing they all live far away from her.

Paige and Theron before the moved were Travis and my best friends. Not that they aren't now it's just different. We spent lots of time playing games and talking, and eating. Theron makes this really kick ass Chili....
Anyway, it was so much fun to see them again!! We really miss them. What'll be neat is that after Jack is born we'll have one more thing in common being parents.

Jessica's bridal tea was really really nice!! We were a bit late getting there but we had a great time when we got there. We were up on the little stage area and Jessica's future Sister in law Sara was there with Matt's Grandmothers Florence and Carolyn. We had the High Tea which consisted of Cucumber and Cream cheese sandwiches and Ham with sweet honey butter sandwiches, Petit fours, fruit and scones. After we ate, Jessica opened her presents. She was given a pretty picture frame and pretty necklace and a few oil candles. All nice stuff!!

After the Tea we went across the street to the square and took pictures. Then we all headed on our ways to prepare for my baby shower.

Jessica and Paige planned my baby shower. It was AWESOME!!! They had this super cool cake that tasted really good. And a yummy yummy punch. We played a bunch of fun games like Baby A to Z where you had to think of things pertaining to baby that started with letters of the alphabet (eg. A is for aspirator B is for Bottle and so on) that was a lot harder than we all thought it would be. Then we all raced to see who could drink the water out of baby bottles. I didn't get far because I was laughing so much!!

I got loads and loads of good stuff!!! More than I can list but my favorites were a Diaper bag from Jessica, and Giant stuffed Nemo from Travis which was a big surprise...Oh I just loved all of the gifts. Tons and tons of clothes....Which we've been telling people we aren't going to buy because of all the clothes we know we'll be given... The gifts were all fun and practical, and I love them all!! Now I have to find a place for all of it!!

We got a lot of gifts from people before the party like the super awesome bedding set we found and registered for in Houston. My mom got that for us. OOH we also got this really cool Mobile that plays music and throws wave like reflections on the walls.....And there's this button that when you push it the little fish inside swims around and bubbles issue from the bottom and glitter blows around LOL it's just a neat neat mobile.

I could go on and on forever!! The best part of course was having everyone here. I'll be seeing them all again soon. Thanks you guys for making you way here I know it wasn't easy but you did it for me and I love you all for coming!!!

Thanks to everyone who sent presents as well!! I love you all too!! Thank you notes will be on their way shortly!! Pictures will be posted soon as well!!

After the party I was super tired!! We came back to the apartment and just hung out.

OMG!!

2006-03-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

You know you have those rare moments when you notice something you hadn't noticed before and then you are like OMG!!!

For instance I as checking to see who might have commented recently on the newly posted pictures of myself Jack and Travis. I noticed that in the last picture of the Belly shots I have a big fat double chin!!!OMG!!!! It's not there all the time though (I keep telling myself) it's only cause of the angle of my head.....Yea, that's it.....

LOL I'm a bit crazy but that's ok, I'm pregnant, I've got an excuse!!!

Belly Shots!!!

2006-02-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

I had tried to upload these the same day I uploaded Jacks new pictures, but for some reason it wouldn't work for me. So here they are!! The last one is Trav's favorite. It's a nice picture......

I look bigger don't I? My pants won't stay up anymore they just slip down and kind of support my belly that's why I look kind of weird shaped LOL
My hair looks really red to but that's because we were out on the beach near sunset. It was cold while we were there so we didn't' stay long. It was nice being out there together though. We can't wait to bring Jack out on his first visit!!! It'll be warmer then......

Newest Pictures!!

2006-02-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

Oops I forgot a belly shot. Oh well next post. The picture of Travis and I was taken at the Beach out on Tybee. Travis took a bunch of nice shots of me and my belly.

All the rest of these are pictures of Jack of course!! You can see how his nose is all round now!! There are also a few shots where you can see he's got his feet up by his face! I bet he's gonna be sooooo cute!! Anyway I wanted to get these up for you all to see, so here you go!!

I'm so lucky!!

2006-02-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

I usually feel this way after a day like today. Travis and I don't spend too many days off together where we just do things together. He's usually got school or homework and when he's at home I've been at work.

Today, we went out to lunch. Nothing special, right? Plenty of married couples go out to lunch , big deal. Well it was really nice. We had a nice conversation and just enjoyed being with each other.

Then we came home and I fell asleep and he played Chess online.

Days like today really make me feel lucky for having such a great husband. Not because he does special stuff for me, which he does, it's just that he doesn't have to do special things to make me feel this way.

I'm just so lucky!

SO this is what I get!

2006-02-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

So I made this huge stink about not getting hours at work and I felt discriminated against and all that right? Well I still feel like there was something going on with that but I talked to the lady and I have gotten more hours!! Like I said on my last post..Or the one before I forget....

A-N-Y-W-A-Y

So I think my nesting faze has started. I decimated our bedroom, in an effort to clean and reorganize....Lots of dust in the air....Itchy eyes sneezing watery eyes.....I think it's just allergies, yet today I woke up and started coughing the back of my head off and actually coughed up some green

this tells me "Amanda you have a sinus infection, go see the doctor" She tells me it's a viral infection, one of those ones that lasts forever. For my sake and the baby's sake "you should rest today and tomorrow, so I don't want you to go to work today or tomorrow" well I had come from work so that wasn't much of a problem....

But I don't' feel that bad. It's only a four hour shift.....ARG!!! But I don't want to be sick forever either.....I don't think my manager will be upset about it...I hope not anyway. So I have my excuse from the doctor....ugh the timing is really bad, I like working.

oh well, this is what I get I guess.....

2006-02-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

One of the things we learned about on our Tea and Tour, was that the maternity ward has three anesthesiologists. They are there only for the women who may or may not need pain meds. So If I do decide that I'd rather have the help, I'll not have to wait for someone to come from a different part of the hospital or not get it if I wanted it because the only guy there was in surgery at the time LOL.

I think it's going ot be fine though. I have no fear about the pain. I know I've never felt anything like this in my life but I've dealt with my share of pain in the past. I think I'll be able to handle it....But if not I won't have any qualms about getting an epidural or the like.

I think I'll probably try to match that pain to one I've had in my past. I'll catalogue it and refer back the next time I'm in pain LOL. That's really how I get through pain anyway. "Well gee this hurts" I'll think to myself "but that one time I stepped on a rusty nail that was covered in a pile of sawdust was worse" Or "that one time that Hampster bit my finger wasn't as bad as this!"

I think it's my coping mechanism. Of course I'll feel the pain but then my mind will search for other forms LOL and I'll get distracted....

Jack over here is just having a great time. I wonder if he knows what to expect in the next few months. I'm sure being born isn't the most comfortable thing to go through. I'm sure having your head squish is what a lot of people might say a migraine feels like. He's happy now though, causing minor earthquakes in the general vicinity of my naval.

Travis enjoys feeling him kick. I think he can feel it much easier now so he gets excited and laughs whenever Jack kicks and he sees it or feels it. He'll poke back wherever he feels Jack, Jack either stops or kicks again. Jack gets really active when he hears Travis' voice too. He's never been so active with it just being me.

Anyway it's a start to the new week. I'm working three days this week! YEA! Hopefully we'll hear back from one of the companies Travis sent a portfolio out to last week, or Disney. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Update and stuff

2006-02-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

Well things are better now. I've been assured that I will soon be getting more hours at work. YEA!!! I found out the other day that I have been accepted into the nursing program at a community college here in Savannah. Finally.

I don't' feel like a drain anymore. Things feel pretty good actually. I did wake up with a headache again and a sore throat....Hope I'm not getting sick. I think it may just be a side effect of pregnancy but I don't know.

Anyway, it's lovely here in Savannah today. It's a balmy 60 something degrees right now and it's supposed to get up into the 70s! I'm wearing a dress that I got a couple years before I got pregnant LOL it's a linen dress that isn't meant to be worn by pregnant women yet here I am. It fits and it's comfortable and it looks ok to me so that's all that matters. I'm sitting in my apartment eating my bagel and cream cheese and sipping on my hot Chai tea, the kitties are out on the balcony enjoying the weather as well...I assume Harriet is in the bedroom soaking up the cave like atmosphere we have going on in there...

Jack was quite active this morning when I woke up to say goodbye to Travis when he left for work. I fell back to sleep shortly after but he continued his activities. When I finally woke up for the day he was still moving about. He's still now, probably wore himself out doing the cha-cha.

I plan on going into work and purchasing a pre and post natal yoga DVD to start on my way to a fit and tone pregnancy LOL really I"m just getting it so I don't get too fat LOL and I hear it's supposed to help with Labor.

I"m not afraid of what's to come, I know it's going to hurt but I think I'll get thru it. How many women have done it in the past? I mean come on! I know I can do it. I had a dream that the doctors were still getting their gowns on when I birthed my own babe. I was elated and a little pissed that the doctors hadn't done anything. We'll see how it goes LOL it's going to be great in any case!

What a day!

2006-02-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

It was chilly here yesterday. I woke up with a headache again!!! Travis and I had decided to go out to lunch for Valentines as I had to work and he had class that evening. We went to Juarez and it was great! Nice and leisurely (mmmm leisurely.....I mean yum Mexican!) Then we came home for a bit checked movie times and Travis took a nap. I went down and visited with my friend Evie and she gave me her bassinet which her baby has outgrown.

Travis and I went to see "Good night, and Good luck." We really enjoyed it. It wasn't what we had expected either. A movie about the McCarthy trials you would think would be very dramatic but they way it was directed it seemed very light. It was like the camera was just there watching it all happen. It had funny parts and one sad part (no I didn't' cry) but all in all it was a good movie I suggest it to anyone interested.

Debbie Downer eat your heart out!

2006-02-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling like a drain today, a large gaping hole that sucks stuff down it.

Seeing Travis will cheer me up though. I had thought that I wouldn't be seeing much of him today, what with work and school. But he gets off at 12 so we'll go have a valentines lunch together. Mmmm Mexican!!!

Still as happy as I was the other day, I feel sad today. I wish I was working more so that I wouldn't be depending on others so much for stuff. I talked to my dad yesterday and we talked about the stuff that goes on in life such as having no money from time to time. I know it'll get better, it's just hard in the here and now.

I went to see my friend Evie yesterday and her mom told me I could have Elizabeths' (evie's daughter) Bassinet. I hadn't registered for one thinking the pack n play and crib would be all I need. But if we end up staying in the one bedroom apartment it looks like we won't have room for the crib :(
Oh woe is me, I hear the violin playing its melancholy tune in the back ground....LOL I feel better having typed this out LOL at least till I see the total in my bank account again.

I guess something will come up later that will show how much of a good thing not working will have been. Perhaps Jack will have some kind of rarely seen kink in his umbilical cord and if I had spent more time working it would have caused problems. I'm not hoping that on myself or my child...Just trying to think of a silver lining....

So I'll go skipping on my way now. Merrily awaiting my true love to get home from work.....Sigh

Blahblahblah....Yackety Shmackety

2006-02-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

Today I bought the prettiest dress, I plan on wearing it to Jessica's Bridal Tea and my baby shower and to two weddings that are taking place this summer. I got it from Motherhood maternity, it's funny how buying something like a dress can make you happy.

Things are still lean, but I'm really very happy. There are so many possibilities out there for us... LOL Am I sickeningly optimistic? I feel like I'm a bit cheesy (mmmm cheese) I prefer feeling this way as opposed to being down in the dumps. Not quite so achy...

Nothing much to report on though, it's less than a month till everyone is here for the Tea/Shower. I'm so excited about seeing people it doesn't much matter why they are here, though it'll be fun opening presents. heehee

I'm bad.

Still haven't been able to get the blasted scanner to work, so still no new pictures of Jack. One things for sure, he's going to be one cute kid!!

On the Jack front

2006-02-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my friend Lisa, her little boy Travis and I went to a baby store here in Savannah. We had visited to the store previously but it had recently changed location so we went to check out the new digs. Since Lisa is expecting her second and of course Jack has yet to present his sweet face to the oxygen environment, we thought maybe we'd check out what they had in the form of nursery furniture.

As it turns out they were having a huge sale and I found the coolest Dresser/hutch/changing station combo that was regularly $698 was on sale for $299!!! Course I don't have any money to get it but still that's a great buy!
We finally got our taxes back so I'm going to see if I can drag Travis to see this place today after he gets off from work. Keep your fingers crossed that he'll want to check it out!

Jack's seemly never ending Mexican Hat Dance routine ended. He got cozy in the lowest smallest part of my insides and wedged himself in good. I was really uncomfortable for a few hours last night but he's budged since I woke up and have been typing. I think he's still sleeping though.

I can't wait till he's here. Our last ultrasound showed us a silhouette of his sweet little nose. I can't wait to poke it!!! (weird inside joke with certain people, I like poking the ends of noses to feel the cartilage YES I'M WEIRD)

So hanging out with Lisa and Travis gives me a good idea of what I can look forward to. I'm so in love with Lil Trav, almost nothing he does bothers me....He has thrown two tantrums in my presence lately...Don't like that too much but I think I can handle them a bit differently too when it's Jacks turn to try it, not knocking Lisa's technique, we all do things differently.

Anyway, I'm hungry, time for food!!!!!

Here we rant again!

2006-02-10T06:05:00.000-08:00

I work for a national chain book store we'll call Blockhead & Nerdball. I've worked there for almost 4 years, I used to really enjoy it. Got along with all my coworkers and the management was just as friendly. Everyone got along with everyone. Things weren't perfect, we had one manager, who was not with it like the rest of the workforce. He was a nice guy but due to circumstances, none of us were aware of, this manager went a little nuts. He'd yell at underlings for no reason, he made inappropriate comments to and about other underlings. It didn't really matter though, there was another manager who was awesome, he pretty much did his job and the job of the crazy manager.

Within the last year management has changed. We had hoped for the better. After the new manager came in there were lots of changes. Lots of people left when they heard who was coming to take over, they had worked with the person before and knew in no uncertain terms they did NOT want to work with her again.

Those people who thought they'd give her a chance didn't last much longer either. That one great awesome manager stayed a while but didn't agree with a lot of the changes the other manager wanted to make or thought needed to be made. He was honest and open in telling her things would not work and such. He was accused of stealing a certain sum of money, this person is well off and works only to keep sane. He decided he didn't need to put up with it and left.

Lots of other good people left due to harassment and discrimination. One man, who did not get along with the new manager, was put on leave (put on leave he didn't' request it) because he is also on the Board of Education; about six months ago there was Hue and Cry over changes that needed to be made there. Of course the Board of Education has nothing what so ever to do with what goes on at Blowhard & Nobhead. However, when that all blew over the man went back and requested his hours back. He has never gotten hours, he's gotten a new job at a different retail store and worked to get his realtors license. He's never been fired, is still on pay roll and recently received a check for holiday pay. This new manager was also heard by a room full of people and another manager while going thru applications, saying "Let's not go there" when reviewing an application left by a mentally disabled person. Most people were so shocked they weren't sure they heard it, most of those people didn't report it because of all the other people who had been forced out of their jobs by disagreeing with Her.

I've always been open in sharing my feelings about wanting to have a baby and be a nurse. I'll unabashedly discuss these feelings with friends and family because both are so important to me. I've discussed my feelings at work while on break (my free time and legal right) with another coworker who was pregnant and those who asked if Travis and I were planning on having kids. I feel my job in retail is a means to an end, to me it's just a job. Being a nurse is a career, a calling. Being a mother, another calling. I was born to do these things. They are both loving caring occupations and not the easiest jobs to do. I respect all moms and nurses....And nurses who are mothers. These jobs are thankless difficult jobs, jobs of sacrifice and again love.

Course people who work in Retail their entire lives have good jobs, and what would we do with out them? It is also thankless. But I don't find it to be very fulfilling, for me. I was discussing my plans for my own education and my and Travis' plans for having a baby one day, with my friend Evie. Our new manager had been making snide comments and suggesting Evie take time off because of her pregnancy. I suggested Evie complain to the "We Listen" (more accurately We'll Listen, but won't do anything") complaint line. Unbeknownst to either of us, the new manager over heard our conversation. She repeated it to me later in a conference with She and our district manager.

I did this because we worked with another friend who had a hard time with the company during and after she was pregnant, she was also accused of stealing by the management and she got so upset, quit (which had been their plan all along.) She had been subjected to snide comments about how mothers aren't organized and scatterbrained and..If you can imagine it it was said. She had complained to the "we'll listen but won't do anything" line.

Evie worked almost right up till she had her baby, she had a rough time the last few months. Once she was better, she came back to Blotface & Necrosuck to request her hours be reinstated. Her husband was over in Iraq and she needed to work to help provide for her new baby. Her hours were never reinstated. She quit and found a new job.

Both of these mothers never documented these grievances against them. Booger & Needleneck claims to be a family friendly employer and these women expected equal treatment, not discrimination and were thusly surprised and confused by their treatment.

Being the third pregnant person to deal with the Management, I've taken strides to document as much as I can. Many times I've requested copies of schedules going back to August but have not received them. Admittedly, I have decided to cut back on my own hours due to the facts that I was recovering from a back injury I sustained while on the clock at Brainless & Nitwit and I had a rough first trimester. Also due to a lack of hours I went out and found a second job. I have not been working at this second job because they have yet to put me back on their schedule after I took vacation over Christmas. I will be quitting that job shortly. I have since then requested more hours at Blockhead & Nerdball.

I have yet to receive them.

I did complain to the "We'll Listen, but wont' do anything" line and of course living up to it's name, nothing came of it. I was told my regional manager would look into my allegations, she called me back and told me she could find no proof I was being discriminated against but to let her know if things continued in this vein. I said that's fine, but when I feel capable of working more hours (first trimester problems lasted a while) I hoped there wouldn't be a problem getting them. Regional Manager assured me it shouldn't be a problem. :/

Last night I was told that someone over heard my Store manager saying to another person, shortly after I had revealed I was pregnant, that she was going to cut my hours in hopes that I'd quit. For no other reason than I was pregnant. She started making snide comments to me and with in ear shot of me. I knew what was coming.

One day in my fourth month I went to work feeling great! Finally I was thinking this damned morning sickness was ending!! I had eaten and kept it down... I felt full of energy, I was actually looking forward to work! I clocked in and started helping customers. My manager was standing at the end on my counter doing whatever she was doing, I started helping my third customer and started feeling a little off. Two seconds later I was marveling at my vision change, then at the buzzing in my ears. I realized I was about to pass out and yelled for someone to come take over the sale.

I went to sit down and my manager came running over and yelling, for someone to come help. It's a little scary feeling all the effects of passing out. Atleast I knew what was happening so I wasn't too worried and I had sat down so I would get hurt falling. Apparently my appearance had change as well, my Cafe manager commented that I looked like I had seen a ghost, I guess I was pale. I was moved to the breakroom where I was plied with cool damp towels and a cup of water, my Store manager called Travis and he came to pick me up.

Since then the snide comment have halted. I still can't seem to get hours though.

Rest assured feminist friends and family, I am doing all I can to make things right at my place of employ. I will not leave except on my own conditions, I will not be forced out by allegations of wrong doing. Nor will I leave due to the lack of hours, I will work the hours I'm given and do the best I can to help customers get their drinks and snacks in a timely fashion. I will be courteous and friendly with customers and coworkers....I'll do what I've been doing all along.

Do you all think I'm nuts? Let me know what you think about this. What do you think I should do?

Moods and Jalopenos

2006-02-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

My mood is much improved. I was in a weird mood the past couple of days. Certain people have been a bit down in the dumps, it's hard to remain happy when those close to you are bummed. One can only do so much when another is in a funk, and I know they get down when they can't cheer me up too.

Anyway, things are better now. You've got to have down times to have up times, hopefully since we are kinda in a deep down time we'll have a super awesome up time coming up with a Job and a safe easy birth ;)

As for Jalopenos, I love them!! Fried with cream cheese OH YEA! They are awesome. Ever since I ate them this afternoon Jack has been doing the Mexican hat dance!! He'd starting the squirming in my belly thing I can see him moving but not too much yet LOL I can see his kicks. One of these days I'll see him doing his somersaults a la Alien style LOL

Sorry about not getting the most recent of Jack pictures up for your viewing pleasure, our scanner has a gremlin that loves annoying Travis to the point of yelling and swearing at the scanner. It's actually quite funny to witness, I think my giggling makes the annoyance more tolerable, I hope so anyway.

As soon as the nasty gremlin allows we'll post the newer fleshier pics of Jack for all to see and marvel at! Keep your fingers crossed!!

Tea and Tour

2006-02-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

Well we are back, the Tea and Tour was informative but not quite what I had expected, there were other dads there so Travis wasn't the only guy, but all the other mothers were due in march, they were all surprised when I told them I was due in June, they all thought I was bigger than that LOL

Tea consisted of bottled water and a tray of yummy cookies, which was raided by one of the other mothers who grabbed handfuls like she hadn't eaten in a few days., she didn't look like it though. Travis was lucky to get one cookie for each of us, but they were good!

There was a slide show but unfortunately you couldn't see the picture because the sun was too bright, even with the blinds drawn. The tour was nice, we got to see the different areas we may be in at different times of antenatal care. So we'll know what to expect when we go in.

There's all sorts of other information we got that we weren't expecting though. We'll go in the emergency entrance when it's time to go, but visitors have to go in a different entrance and go up different elevators....We'll get it straight though for whoever wants to come visit.

We can have three people in the room for the delivery but that's subject to change if I have problems or something. The room is quite large though so it shouldn't be a problem, I don't foresee any problems....

Anyway it'll be great! The nurses all seemed very friendly and it seems nice and open. So that's it....Now we are going to watch football!!

Stray cats, Tours and stuff

2006-02-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

Travis and I awoke this morning a few good many times. One time fore sure we know what got us both up. It was a kid (we thought) crying for his mom. Turns out it was cat, a stalky black kitty who's been in a few fights and has a terrible case of kitty conjunctivits in both eyes, least that's what it looks like.

Not sure if he's Kin to my Scamper, seems like he may be. He's small and got those round cheeks, and sweet as can be!! I have not touched him before today, and I washed my hands right after.....He needed it though. He loved it too. I took him some food and then used it as leverage to bring him away from the street, he followed me eagerly, meowing the whole way.

I set the food down and he began to eat happily, and I took that opportunity to get a closer look at him. He has a bunch of scars on his head from fights and a great gash across one ear. The gash looks better now then when I first saw it so that's good. His eyes on the other hand looked the same if not worse. I don't remember his third eyelid being half closed when I saw him before.

My plan for him is to take him to the humane society and get him fixed up. Hopefully he doesn't have feline Leukemia or kitty AIDS....Nothing to do about it anyway. I can't take him in I just want to get him of the "streets" and into a good loving home. I think he'd make a great pet.

Anyway he woke us up this morning meandering thru our complex wailing at the top of his voice, which oddly sounds like a little kid. I tried to call him from our upstairs window but he ran away. We went back to bed, and I started crying because I couldn't help him lol. Travis told me we'd take him food when we left for breakfast this morning....That made me feel a little better.

We got up about and hour and a half later and got ready to go. I took Harriet out for her morning stroll and there he was, sitting way down the street yeowling so morosely. Harriet and I went back inside and I grabbed food in a disposal container for him. I saw a little black cat with no tail ont eh way up to get the food, he was for sure Scamps litter mate, no doubt! Same size same green eyes.

So I took the food to the grizzled old black cat, he was more friendly and ran towards me when I called him. The little one ran away.

Ok so then Tom (the older grizzled kitty) ate his fill then walked away meowing loudly again. Next time I see him I'll catch him and take him to the Humane society.

Later today Travis and I are going to the hospital for a "Tea and Tour" of the maternity ward we will be welcoming our Jack in in May/June. I think it's kind of a neat idea giving parents the chance to see where they will be and what the facilities are like, reduces stress and all that. Plus I think we'll be bale to meet people who are about as far along, if not more so, than we are. People who may be in our childbirth class. And that's cool, because then we may make some new friends.

On to stuff.....Jessica, Lisa and I all went to find dresses for Lisa and I to wear to Jessica's wedding. The first place we went to was close, which was a bummer but oh well I heard those ladys were snooty. The second place we went was super busy, but we found what we were looking for!!!
We decided on separates, I tried on the skirt and top and it looked great. Or will after it gets altered ;) I have to pull the skirt up to just about under my boobs for it to encompass my belly, I ordered one size up since I know I"ll be bigger in a couple months. Lisa will be doing the same although we're not sure to what extent since she didn't' show with her first.

Monday is our next Doctors visit and we should be getting new pictures of Jack. Its also our first visit with my new OBGYN. Dr Micheal J Jackson.

no joke.

But I've heard great things about him, so it should be great. Mostly I'm looking forward to seeing Jack on screen again. Lately I've been waking up in the middle of the night on my back and having irrational thoughts of his being harmed by my bad sleeping position. I'm sure he fine though, the other day he kept me quite entertained doing somersaults I could see, like some scene out of Alien, Aliens or the like.

He's been quite today though. He'll perk up later. Perhaps he's a bit sad like me because of Tom and my inability to help him today (nothing is open to take him) I think he'll be quite an empathic baby...Most are though aren't they?

Oh well that's it for now, I'll post more later!

One more story....

2006-01-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

But I don't' think I'll post it. I told Travis about it and he thought I shouldn't post it LOL I"ll see what you guys think.

This story takes place in the dark, when I thought of it the colors were black brown and red.

It's it the story of decisions. Burp the bubble is the main character, he needs to decide which way to go. While floating around in the darkness he meets Bert and Bart Bubble....They know which way they are going....

Do you think kids would get a kick out of that? Of course there would be a moral or some kind of lesson in there, but I think it would appeal to kids of a certain age.

How did I come up with this idea? Well some might consider this a bit TMI but one of the things I've been experiencing with this pregnancy has been gas mostly in the form of burps..At night right before I fall asleep...

Anyway, it's just an idea. Whadaya think?

The Adventures of Mr Tubbylove

2006-01-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

Mr Tubbylove was minding his business one day when there was a knock at Mama Manda's door. She was surprised by the early knock and jumped out of bed to run to the door. "Who is it?" Mr Tubbylove heard Mama Manda say. "Maintenance" was the answer.

Mama Manda asked "could you come back in an hour?" as she was not yet dressed. "Well ma'am there's a leak from your place into the apartment below, and the ceiling has caved in," explained the maintenance man.

Mr Tubbylove picked up Mama Manda's psychic thought "Oh Shit!"
Then heard her say "Ok give me just a minute!!!"

Mr Tubbylove then sat and watched as Mama Manda ran around trying to find clothes. The maintenance men said "Oh we've got another emergency we'll be right back!" So Mama Manda finished getting dressed and took out Sister Harriet for her morning stroll.

When they came back from their stroll, Mama Manda put Sister Harriet in the bedroom and gave her her breakfast. Mr Tubbylove wondered why, Sister Harriet had been a good girl as far as he could tell.

Later, the maintenance men came back and took over Mr. Tubbylove's favorite place in the apartment, the bathtub. Mr Tubbylove had to supervise these so called "maintenance men" while they did horrible things to his beloved Tub. He saw as they took out the silver thing with the tab that he used to rest his paw on while he gets drinks from the slowly dripping other silver thing.

Then the men left and went into the Kitchen. Mr. Tubbylove had to follow to see what they could possibly be doing in the kitchen, after they tore up his lovely tub. He watched as they moved the big white Holder of Milk. Then watched as they cut a hole in the wall behind it.

Mr Tubbylove gave himself a bath and came and sat on Mama Mandas' lap for a while, those maintenance men got boring. All of a sudden they both got up and left!! "Time to investigate" thought Mr Tubbylove and he leapt off Mama Manda's lap. When he got back to the kitchen he found the Holder of Milk to be back in place, then he went to check on his beloved tub. "Still a mess" he thought and disgustedly left to get something to eat.

The Men came back and moved the Holder of Milk again and started banging and crashing which scared Mr Tubbylove and he found comfort once again on Mama Manda's lap, where he purred and fell asleep.
But when the Men went back to the bathroom he got up to see if they were fixing what they'd done to his tub.

That was the last time Mama Manda saw Mr Tubbylove for a while. She figured he found a darker quiet place to sleep. Then the maintenance men started leaving for lunch, and Mama Manda couldn't find Mr Tubbylove anywhere. He wouldn't come when she called, and she couldn't find him in any of his usual hiding places.

Mama Manda and Papa Travis started searching for him all over. Then they went outside and called him over and over. Then Papa Travis sadly had to leave to go to class so Mama Manda went back inside and called for Mr Tubbylove again.

This time she heard him calling back. "Meow meeeeooowww" Mr Tubbylove said. He was so scared!!! "I hear you Mr Tubbylove," said Mama Manda, "I'll go see if I can get you from the downstairs neighbor, ok?"
"meow!" Was all Mr Tubbylove could say.

Downstairs Mama Manda asked the neighbor, "Have you seen my cat?" she paused and heard Mr Tubbylove meowing. "Can you hear him?" she asked the neighbor. He was on the phone and said "No. But I'll keep my eye out for him."

Mama Manda went back upstairs. She could still hear Mr Tubbylove meowing. She made the decision to move the fridge, it slid very easily.
Now she could see the hole in the wall and the bathtub of the apartment downstairs. She also saw the hole into the eves of the building and could hear Mr Tubbylove more clearly. Then she saw him walking around in the dim light!!!

"Hurray!!!" thought Mama Manda. "Ok Mr Tubbylove, here I am come see me!" she said. "Meow" Said Mr Tubbylove, he couldn't find a way out.
"Come on, you got in there and you can get out" Mama Manda reassured Mr Tubbylove.

"Meow" he said again, he was scared . Mama Manda said "Don't worry I'm here, come on and try." Mr Tubbylove stood up on his hind feet and looked to see where he could jump up. The second place had something he could pull himself up with so he did!!!

"Yea!! Mr Tubbylove you're safe!!! But oh goodness your feet are all dusty!!" exclaimed Mama Manda.

Mr Tubbylove looked back from where he came from, it was dark and smelled weird. Brother Scamper came over to make sure Mr Tubbylove was ok and then had to investigate the site himself. Mama Manda was too quick though and scooped up both cats. She took them to the bedroom where a lonely Sister Harriet had been wondering what she had done to deserve this punishment. She looked up as Mama Manda with Mr Tubbylove and Brother Scamper tucked under her arms, entered the room.

Now they were all together and Sister Harriet couldn't be happier!! Mr Tubbylove wanted to go back to the hole in the wall behind the Holder of Milk and explore some more. He knew now that Mama Manda would save him if he got lost in there again.

To keep her much loved pets safe, Mama Manda left them all in the bedroom and went to the kitchen to make herself some lunch. "What a busy day" Mama Manda thought, as she sat down with her sandwich and large glass of cold yummy Milk!!

Infomercail/Predictions for the year ahead

2006-01-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

Are you having money woes? Does your life seem like it's spiraling in nothingness? Do you have someone in your life telling you it's going ot be ok?

If not than here I am!!! I was depressed about stuff ealier this month. So hopefully I've had my January blahs and won't have to deal with them till next year. I know several people who are having money troubles right now, if fact I'm one of them. Strange thing though, I'm not that worried about them. "You must not be as bad off as me," I hear you saying. But are you really that bad off?

Can things get any worse??? OF COURSE THEY CAN!!! But they won't. I have a good feeling that things are going to work out for the best.

Ok enough of the infomercail. Truth is I am a bit freaked out about stuff but it's not getting me down. We'll all get taxes back soon, or most of us will, and that'll help with our shortages now.

This is going to be a good year, I forsee perhaps two weddings this year....I know one is happening for sure (winkwink Jessica and Matt) but there are a few cousins out there who might be taking the plunge. There is going to be a most glorious birth of a babe beyond compare or two this year....maybe it'll be my Jack? Ask me about that glorious birth part when I'm in labor sometime in late May early June...

There will be a move or two out of Savannah to parts unknown to me now.
People will be hired for well paying jobs in the fields people enjoy most.
I think it'll raina few times this year, maybe a hurricane or two, nothng bad like last year (That might just be wishful thinking though).

I'm going to eat something that tastes really really good sometime this summer. That's a weird one huh?

Anyway things are going to look up guys. Think about happy stuff, don't dwell on the bad stuff.

This is quite a silly post, hope it brought a smile to your face!!!
I'm hungry again so I'm gonna go eat!

Strange Rant

2006-01-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

You know, I've known for quite a while now that I'm going to have a baby. I've known for a month that that baby is going to be a boy. It's not just hitting me now that this is all happening to me, I just really thought about it last night.

Travis asked me while we were brushing our teeth, "Is it weird to know you have a human being growing inside you?" I think I said "No, not really" right away. Then I elaborated....I won't regale you on that cause it was garbled by the toothbrush. However, I thought about it more and more after we had crawled into bed and turned out the lights.

I feel like I've been pregnant for a long time, even before I was pregnant. I feel like this is just the way it's supposed to be. I do think it's weird how Jack feels sometimes, like a squirmy alien at times, but other times I know what he's doing.

Being pregnant has been something I've wanted for a loooooong time. No, at first it wasn't what I expected, being sick constantly for a few months was not fun. Even Mom and Paige say they weren't as sick as I was but I wouldn't trade it....Well unless I knew the outcome would be the same.
It feels completely natural for me. I keep thinking about how happy I'll be when Jack is born, I'll tell him I've been waiting and waiting for him for so long.

I'm sure I'll cry. At least I think I will. I thought I'd cry at my wedding but I didn't. I was so happy but still I didn't cry. I felt like we had been married and this was just a performance. Maybe it'll be the same when Jack is born.

I feel more connected to all things now. Maybe that's just my hormones. I felt compelled to buy Diapers the other day. Nesting perhaps?

I'm hungry......

Belly shots!!!

2006-01-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

Finally Finally we got some belly shots done. Travis had some homework involving a still life and since he had the camera out I asked if he wanted to get some shot of my belly. So here they are!!

We'll be getting more pictures of Jack at our next visit, they need to check to make sure his lip and heart have formed correctly, I'll see if we can get another picture of his bits to confirm the "it's a boy" proclamation, see if we can get a clearer picture for those of you who doubt. ;)

Anyway here my belly shots for Month 5!!! TA DA!!!!

He's a maniac MAAANIAC on the floor

2006-01-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

and he's kicking like he's never kicked before!!! You can see my belly jiggle now with his kicks! I bet he's having fun in there, You'd think he's listening to some cool rock band or something!! Beastie Boys or Green day, he's boucing off the walls LOL

Cutting back the unneeded Crap

2006-01-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

We've decided to cancel our Cable. It costs us about $50 a month so it'll be a big savings for us. We've been accumulating a bunch of baby stuff, which is strange because we haven't gone out and bought a lot of stuff. Stuff just keeps showing up. We aren't upset about it though!!

We are thinking about moving into our Two bedroom apartment in March over Trav's spring break. Then we'll have time to set stuff up and get thing organized before Jack trots into the picture. I want to paint but since we live in an apartment we may not be able to. I need to check with the managers, they may not mind.

They seem just as excited about our Jack as we are, they even invited us to have the baby shower in the "club house" it's where the fitness room and leasing office is but it's nice and comfy.

nothing else comes to mind to write on this post.

Warning long post, emotional rant about nothing!!

2006-01-13T04:37:00.001-08:00

This is the earliest I've gotten up in a while. I always wake up, at least just a bit, when Travis is getting ready for work. As was the case this morning, I just couldn't get comfortable and fall back asleep after he kissed me goodbye. I was comfortable but not so that I could go back to sleep, and while I lay there willing myself to fall asleep again Jack started kicking me.

Not like his been kicking me, it was stronger. Can babies get stronger over night? I barely had to put any pressure on my belly to feel him kicking me from the outside, I'm betting if Travis had been home he would have been able to see. Jack is still going too!!!

I'm not tired either. Which is weird because I normally sleep till about 9 or 930. Perhaps today will be a super awesome day and Jack wanted me to get a head start? Most interesting.

Yesterday was not a good day for me. The night before I had made dinner for Travis and myself. I've been giving myself smaller portions because I've been getting fuller faster. By the time I got thru half of what I gave myself I was putting the rest back. I turned to leave the kitchen and started getting that old familiar feeling in my tummy.

Yep you guessed it! I barely made it to the bathroom. I threw up all I ate the second part of the day. Travis came running to make sure I was ok. And I was, I just felt like crap. All of a sudden I went from having an appetite and feeling fine, just a bit sleepy....To having a raging headache, NO desire to eat anything ever again, achy muscles and ugh.

I felt like I had had too much to drink, my head was spinning and my muscles felt all weird and weak. Travis put me to bed telling me I'd feel better once I went to sleep, he's such a sweetheart, but I didn't feel better.
My achyness reached an all time high and the spinning started getting worse.

I couldn't get comfortable and I kept moving around trying to find a more comfortable position, which is pretty hard when you can only sleep on your left side, which was bothering Travis's quality of sleep and he had to get up early to go to work.

I did finally get to sleep but I don't' know what time it was. I woke up at 928 the next morning feeling a little better.. I did get something to "eat" I made instant breakfast and sipped on it for a while, had a bowl of cereal about an hour later. Still felt like crap, and now I started crying at every little thing.
And crying and crying.

I tried taking a nap to see if that helped but I couldn't get comfy enough to fall asleep. Then when Travis got home from work he asked how I was feeling and I started crying again. I just jumped up and hugged him like I'd never let him go (which is a signal to him that I'm crying) he gently pulled himself away and tried to find out why I was crying.....

No reason. Just crying.....

Then I felt guilty for Travis coming home to find me a wreck. He started doing all the great things he always does when I'm like that, asking if he can get me anything, or if there's anything he can do for me to which I reply "No babe, just having you home is making me feel better."
I'm never sure if he believes me when I say that but I do.

He checked his mail then went to take a nap. I got up to go to the bathroom and saw how peaceful he looked taking his nap and thought I'd join him after my potty visit. When I went into the bedroom, I saw Tubby (travis's nap buddy....Tubby never naps with me), he too looked peaceful and happy.
I couldn't move Tubby he just looked to content. So I came back to the futon and laid down. I did fall asleep just as Travis was walking out after waking from his nap.

I called into work because I was still feeling really ill. I hadn't thrown up again but I felt terrible and hadn't gone a half an hour without crying over something. Travis didn't go to class, he had the assignment so it wasn't all that important for him to go. He got on the computer again for a bit, then got bored and came and laid down on the couch.

He was in a funk now too. So the two funky people sat on their seats and mulled in the funkiness.

When we both started getting bored and hungry, we started getting restless too. I said I wanted to get this super cool bathroom stuff from Sears for Jacks bathroom, thinking about this weekend because we both have it off.
Travis said "Ok lets go!!" Remembering I had called into work, I felt bad, like maybe we shouldn't. I got up and started getting ready.

We made our way there, talking about our funk. It was fun picking out stuff for the baby. We used giftcards from Paige and Theron, Mom and Dad to get the stuff. A turtle soap dish, a fish toothbrush holder, a seahorse soap dispenser, and then a Nemo bathmat. Oh yea and the matching shower curtain. We also got Ferris Bueler on DVD too.

This greatly improved both our moods, I was still feeling weak, a bit lightheaded but better. Then Travis asked me if I was getting hungry, which I was but where to eat? I didn't want fast food or anything heavy. So where did we decide to go? SONIC!!! For corndogs and rootbeer!!!

Oh never in my life have I tasted anything so YUMMY!!! There are very few things I've tasted in my life that has made me feel happy, but those corndogs!!! OMG!!! We both sat there enjoying our dogs and the conversation turned to happier things.

Driving home I said "I think we should get rid of cable, and if we can get rid of the phone if it doesn't mess up having internet." Travis thought it was a great idea, and we are going to look into that today and tomorrow.
We watch too much TV anyway. Plus dropping both of those bills will make up the monthly mullah we need to get into the two bedroom apartment we'll need in a few months. Our pile of baby stuff is growing, it makes us both smile when we see it.

Life is weird.

We went to sleep late last night almost 12. Jack was a kicking fool after the corndogs and rootbeet, and he was still going as I lay there thinking what a great night. We fell asleep, me wrapped around my pillows and Travis wrapped around me, his hand on my belly. I love cuddling!

I woke up when he was getting ready for work. I feel great today! I feel like something good is going to happen. I'm going to get some cereal....Sorry for the long post....This is the most diary like post I've made.....I just want to remember the day I guess..........Oh yea cereal!!

Jacks First Impression

2006-01-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

Here on the left is Jack doing his best impression of a favorite celebrity of mine in childhood. The bright white line is his arm reaching down holding his twig and berries. Then you can see above his eye his hand is in a fist.

"See Mommy, just like Michael Jackson!!!

On the left side of the picture you can see his knee joints. One of them is very clear the other is kind of mottled by his belly.

In the top pic, you see Jack doing his best "V baby" impression. Looks like he's saluting too, that's kinda scary...In other picture it looks like he's scratching his head. His other hand looks to be resting on his belly.

Already soooo cute!!! I'm so excited about things to come!!!

HEEEEEREEEE'S JACK!!!

2006-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

Ok what you are looking at is the first ever picture of Jack in all his naked glory! The arrows are on his leg pointing up to his wee little wangwang. The round part of course are the balls (actually, the scrotum, the balls won't descend till later).

The little pointy part is the tip of his dingaling.

I'm having trouble uploading the rest of the pictures so I can email them to people later. I need to get ready for work now though....

More to come!!!

The pictures should be up today!!

2006-01-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

The long awaited picture showing my sons tallywhacker will be posted today!!! I must warn those with sensitivity to size, don't let Travis tell you that his leg is his manhood. The picture we have is most of baby balls with a little peak of tallywhacker. The first glimpse Trav and I got was very obvious, and since he was moving when the pictures were taken, the tech just missed to best shot.

We don't' think we could be making a mistake as to his gender form what we saw, anything is possible but it's a girl.......It's Jack no question.

I'm betting we'll get some excellent picture of Jack doing his best impression of his favorite fountains. Maybe we'll have comparison photos for you to compare.

We will have more pictures taken in a few weeks, maybe we'll get a better picture of his twig and berries. But those pictures we do have will be up today!!!

What a crazy rollercoster ride!

2006-01-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was weird. It was a good day, I went out with Jessica and Lisa to see if we could find our bridesmaids dresses. Only one store was open and it didn't have but four dresses from the designer we were looking for, Eden Bridals, and none of them were maternity or the color we were looking for, Platinum.

We looked at some other dresses, that were platinum and it's a lot brighter than I thought it was going to be. Our computer screen is dark so it's hard to tell looking online.

ANYWAY, after that we all went out to dinner with our husbands, or in Jessica's case her future husband. They look great together, very happy.

On the way to the restaurant, I was thinking about he birth of my son. Imagining how wonderful it's going to be to see him and hold him, and I almost started crying.

I was sad for the whole of dinner. Lost my appetite. Little Trav, Lisa's son, was excited and over tired and acting accordingly as any two year old would do. I felt bad for him though. Watching him was making me tired too.

After dinner Jessica and I went to Target. She had been there a while ago and saw the CUTEST ocean stuff for the baby's room. AND it was all on sale!! For a dollar! We got a few things, then went to look at the Christmas stuff on sale.

It was nice to get out and shop, Thanks Jessica!!!!

SO an up and down day. Today is feeling better though. Jack is kicking away and what a way to affirm life? I kick in the gut from your kid is a great reminder isn't it? Just wait till he's here!!!

Further suggestions for Jacks name

2006-01-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Another suggestion from Uncle Lee, infamous suggester of Way Cool Gentry, gave me a girls name that I couldn't remember till I found the napkin I wrote everyone's suggestion on at Cajun Charlies this past Boxing day (it's a Canadian holiday, the day after Christmas).

This time his suggestion was a girls name, Rickina Lee. Then the conversation turned to girls names all around the table....

Granny Donna said she liked the name Pippa for a girl.

She also said she like Plexico. The story behind Plexico, so you all don't think we're crazy....There is a football player named Plaxico Burres, and just thru joking conversation Granny D said she thought we should name our son Plaxico if we ever had one (this was before we got pregnant) His mom laughed and said that was a great name!!! Travis later mentioned it to me, and I said it sounded like a mouthwash. A few minutes later Travis says "What about Plexico?" I waited a minute wondering if this was a joke or if he really liked the name, then said "Sounds like a gas station chain."
He was joking.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, we'll save 'em up for the next one whenever they grace our presence!!

Sorry folks!

2006-01-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

Much to the sha-grin of some family members the names they suggested weren't used. I've got to admit some of them were very catchy!! Alas it was very hard to select the name we did.....

We had the obligatory "name it after one the patriarchs" suggestions.
Then we had the Aunts and Uncles weighing in on names they liked:

Way (first name) Cool (middle name). Way Cool Gentry?....Really how cool is that!!! But our kid might be a nerd, couldn't risk that.

Grandma J says it's a classic name....Not usual. I think she was wondering where the "Ladd" was.
Grandpa J wonders why we went for Jack instead of Jackson....It's a bit too Steel magnolias.
Aunt Paige says spell his name Jacques as a nod to his Cajun background......I don't know if that's coonass enough??
What do you all think?

(those of you who might be offended by the Coonass remark, I have permission from all the family to consider myself coonass, so it's not a derogatory remark ;) )

Might be too close to the oddly spelled uniquely named kids of today can anyone remember lemonjello?....ANYWAY

The way we came up with his name was simple, we had the hardest time deciding on any boys names, the names I liked were all to "froo froo-y" as Travis likes to say. All of his recommendations I couldn't take seriously. So the one name we both agreed on stuck.
(Is Sirius froo froo-y? Really?) and (Plexico? You've got to be joking!)
Then we started playing around with the middle names, Ladd and any others. Again it's what stuck.

My only rule was that one of our kids has to have Ladd as the middle name. We decided that since we didn't give Jack this monicker, our next will be dubbed Ladd which ever it may be boy or girl. Jack Ladd Gentry does sound nice though....Jack Robert Gentry sounds better.

I was informed by one of my cousins that Jack was not a name they had picked out for their next little one, so good for us...Otherwise they would have demanded we change our little boys name ; ) Phew! Good thing too cause we couldn't really have a Sirius Plexico Gentry running around.

Members from all sides of the family would hunt us down and shoot us!!

Well it's official!!!

2006-01-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

I won't hold you all in anymore suspense. After all I was at the doctors office for hours and hours it seems. Just for the doctor to tell me the sex, which we already knew but she had to tell us for it to be official I guess.

As it was I had to go to the Chiropractor after, and we had to show everyone the pictures there. So yep, now we know the sex of the baby!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEA!!!! His name is Jack Robert Gentry. Sorry I can't put pictures up I can't get the scanner to work!! I'll get the proud papa on that when he gets home tonight at around 830!!!

Ok now everyone knows!!!

Ok what's this all about?

2006-01-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

I been burping ever since I ate this morning. No not heartburn, not acid indigestion. Just burping. Regular burps, juice burps, burps that taste like something I ate 10 hours ago. What's this all about? I've taken rolaids soft chew (they are good!!) and all they do is make it easier to burp....

((I forgot to mention in my delirium of baby happiness, that while we were in Houston we were unable to see our friend Suz. Hey Suz! Sorry we didn't get see you while we were there. I never got your email, and the only phone number I had for you was for the studio and I wasn't sure you still worked there. I couldn't remember which museum you worked at either. I'm so sorry!!!! Maybe you could make it out for my baby shower? I don't' know when it is yet but Jessica is planning it so I'll let her know I want you to be invited. I'm thinking sometime in March or February....Again I don't know exactly.....ANYWAY I love you and I really did want to see you...As it was I was sick for the last couple of days we were there, I just took it easy.))

THAT's another thing!!!! Why am I still throwing up? Mind you, I'm not throwing up multiple times a day but every couple of days I'm throwing up!! Isn't this supposed to be over now? I still have days where I don't want to eat anything, and if I do I feel horrible afterward until I throw up!!! ARG!! I always feel better after though, atleast better than I felt before I threw up.....I feel better most of the time now. I have many more days where I don't feel sick at all, so that's cool!

Perhaps the lack of heartburn, or acid indigestion indicates that our baby will be bald at birth, or just a peach fuzzy baby? Just an old wives tale? You tell me. It's late I'm tired and I keep burping, maybe if I go to bed it'll stop? Maybe it'll get worse..Who knows

today's over...2 days till we find whether cosmo is a boy or girl HEE HEE

Vacation and Family

2006-01-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful time!!! Travis, Jessica, the baby, and I all drove to Houston for Christmas and back. It was a great trip!!! We spent all our time with the folks and watched movies and went shopping.....Jessica got her wedding dress (on our next to last day there) and Travis and I FINALLY registered for our baby stuff.

We are registered at www.babiesrus.com, the due date is June 8th....I think that's all you need to know...And maybe my email address moosejoose@bellsouth.net We found the perfect bedding set!! All of the accessories are super cool too. We found a crib we both liked and wasn't too expensive. And other stuff...

we got other stuff from people for Christmas, a few onesies and some stuffies. Our friends Lisa and Kevin gave us a 30pc grooming set (comes with an aspirator, fingernail clippers, brush, comb, all that jazz) a finding nemo blanket, and a bathing kit (with shampoo lotion and other stuff.)

The babies room is going to be decked out in an underwater ocean theme. Lots of stuff we have so far is finding nemo but it doesn't have to be finding nemo stuff. So long as it isn't too cartoony or goofy looking we'll love it, If you check out the registry you'll see what we've got and anything you see that you just HAVE to get us, you'll see what we are looking for.

Also the count down has begun!!! It's three days till we go to see if our little cosmo is a boy or girl!!!! We are so excited, and as soon as we know we'll let you all know the name we've chosen. Our appointment is at 930 and we'll have an update as soon as we can after that. I do go see the chiropractor later that day so if it happens to be a long appointment at the OB/GYN it might be a while before I get the update posted. We will be calling the grandmothers to tell them the news so if you just can't wait...Call them!!! HEE HEEE

Fridays the day, who's more excited??? What do you think we're having?

SUZ!!!!!

2005-12-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

hey babe I'm in Houston now, but I can't get my address book to work so I can't find your email. could you email me and then I'll emailyou back? I'll check later today. we just got in town yesterday and we aren't supposed to leave till the 2nd.

I'm sorry if we don't get in contact while we are here. I thought you were going to be in New Jersey with your family, otherwise I would ahve made arrangements to see you.....then you could rub my baby belly : )

anyway, I hope we get to talk soon!!!
loveyoulots!
manda

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

2005-12-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Travis, The blob, Jessica and I are all heading out for Houston this morning!!!

Travis is out getting a new tire or two for the car. I'm about to do the last little bit of dishes and writing out care instructions for the cats for our friend and future brother in law, Matt.

I'm tired already! Can't wait to get to Houston though.
This'll be the last post till after the new year...Sorry fans!

Merry Christmas and Happy new year to everyone!! We hope you all have a great time spent with family and friends. Wish we could all be together but we are in spirit!!!
Love you all!!

Kicks and Giggles

2005-12-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

More like raking, actually! I've been paying close attention to the flutterings of the littleling since I realized I was feeling them. I think I've got it down as to the differences of the movements.

That bursting bubble feeling I think is a Kick or a punch. The slight less comfortable stretching feeling, I think, is the little one dragging it's Knee, Heel, Elbow....Some sort of pointy body part...Of course most parts are pointy on baby right now. Testing the boundaries maybe?

Travis has even felt the baby move but just barely. I'll feel movement and grab his hand and put it there, and he'll feel a lump that moves away and then can't feel it anymore. He has to put a bit of pressure on the area to feel it but I think it's neat that he can.

It makes me feel better that he can, too, because then I don't feel crazy LOL
that's all for now

I think I'm feeling something

2005-12-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

I do. I think I'm feeling the baby move, it's like a quake in my belleh. It's like a drop of water and one ripple moving away from the drop point. It's like a bubble bursting and the sound wave moving thru.

It's neat.

I really want Travis and other people to be able to feel it too, mostly Travis right now. This must have been what I was feeling the other day too. I thought it was gas, I thought my bowels were gearing up for diarrhea. But nothing, I guess the baby was doing somersaults I could feel?

Weird....Cool.....

I don't' know how to react to this LOL

Here's what I might look like now

2005-12-19T07:36:00.000-08:00

http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/belly_5months.asp

I think I look like the first one. I'll see if I can get Travis to take a picture of me, so you can see which I look more like.

I've had two different things said to me of my size: "You're pregnant? You're TINY!!!"
and, "Are you sure you've only got one in there? Maybe you're further along than you think."

In the first trimester, the girls at work were all telling me that since I was so sick, I must be having a girl. Now just into my second trimester, they are telling me because I'm "carrying low" I'm having a boy.

I don't care so long as the baby is healthy, and happy. That's all that matters to me. I had leg cramps last night. THAT was fun but they didn't last long, thank goodness.

My belly is getting hairy, actually I'm not sure if it's that my belly is getting hairier or if the hair I have is getting darker...That's probably it....And my belly button is itchy!!!

Anyway I will try to get a picture of me/us up soon!!!

Warning!!! possible TMI

2005-12-18T17:21:00.000-08:00

My nipples have been sore and flaky. Not so much flaky that was only once......ANYWAY

They are mostly sore and itchy. When I go to scratch the itch, it hurts.

So does anyone have any suggestions for how I should care for my nipples?
Is there something I should do to be preparing my nipps for breastfeeding?
yes I said(typed) nipps.

I've looked online and none of the websites I visit say anything about it....So any info anyone has will be appreciated.
THANKS!!!

This is so wrong!

2005-12-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

I work for a national Toy store who's name shall remain unnamed....IT Sucks! It's nice to have the job and make the paycheck; however, this one store is run soooo badly it amazes me that it's still open. People are hired and they work long enough to get the stuff they want to get either by stealing it or with their discounts and then quit...Usually by stealing.

Then there is the management.... They use petty cash for pretty much anything they want to use it on, like personal stuff, going out to lunch and such. They'll lie to customers and then pass them off to other managers who fix the problem, but receive no repercussions for the confrontation. The store manager is very rude, but not just to certain people. I think he has a personality disorder, either that or he hates all mankind. He treats everyone like they are an idiot and ruining his day by asking a question.

Unless he's cleaning up another managers mess.

All the managers reuse coupons, which they aren't supposed to do, because they are kept track of at corporate. Does this seem to be a good way to run a business? I don't think it is, but somehow there it is.

Corporate doesn't seem to have a clue either!! We are only allowed to have so many people on the schedule. They don't make allowances for the holiday season. So we are constantly short of help, between that and the people who stay long enough to steal everything they want...We are really in need of help. Which the customers are all sure to point out to us, which of course is news to us right? Well I can't complain about them, they don't know how screwed up this place is.....Most of them seem to understand to a degree that it's not our fault in particular, we are just available to them to complain to.

To all those customers who vaguely understand what we are going through, THANK YOU!!! It's really very appreciated when you don't vent on us.

Anyway, I was asked to come in to work today. Short shift only four hours, then yesterday I was asked to call in before I came in, because the Manager had gotten a nasty letter about going over hours from corporate.
I called in at 1030. I was on hold till 1125.

ALMOST AN HOUR!!!
I can't blame my coworkers for that entirely because the phone they use to answer, hangs up from time to time. You could be talking to a customer and it blips off. Sometimes the customer calls back. Their reaction is usually one of two: understanding or incredibly pissed off...Especially when it happens multiple times.

It's been like that since I started, which was early summer. Nothing has been done to fix it, people have looked at it and it's been taken off the wall a few times, but then put back on the wall and it still the problem exists.

There's more, but I'm tired of talking about it.

It's official!!

2005-12-14T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yep I'm now in my fourth month of pregnancy. My risk of miscarriage has greatly decreased...Not that I was worried. Family will be pleased to hear that Travis and I have decided to find out the sex of the baby. Our next ultrasound is on January 6th, so kid willing, we'll find out what we are having then!!! Any guesses before we find out?

Things are a little rough right now, you'd think with Christmas a few days away I'd get more hours at work, but no. So it'll be a slim gift year for us, giving wise.... I was really bummed out about this the other day. Of course I know everyone understands, but it's giving that makes Christmas that much more fun.

Really all that matters is that I spend time with family. It's our year with Trav's folks and we are so excited to see them!!! They've moved into a new house and it'll be fun to see the new place too!! Travis can't wait to get out of Savannah and see his folks.

Lately he's been feeling really bummed about stuff too. He's afraid he's not going to get a job and he'll be stuck working at B&N forever. I told him not to worry, that won't happen. How do I know this, you ask? Well if you know Travis you know it to be true also. He's just got too much drive to do what he wants to do, too much talent. Anyway, I know I'm right too, because when he's been down like this before I've told him how it's really going to be and it's so far turned out the way I've said.....

Am I always right? Well....In this case I am, if you look at past events...

Anyway, being bummed occasionally aside, I think this will be the slimmist year we'll have. I think things are going to be looking up for us. Something, (besides the glorious day of our child's birth,) wonderful and not too surprisingly will happen for us job wise. I think Travis will get hired on at a good paying job he'll enjoy and we'll leave Savannah.

This is my feeling/prediction about the job thing anyway.
Hope You don't get mad about me posting your being bummed babe.

Lets just be happy to know that our blob is healthy and growing and know that we'll be able to take care of him or her no matter what. Things may be slim but we've done slim before, we've gotten through we'll get through this time too!!

Reassurance and Irrational thoughts

2005-12-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

When my sister Paige was pregnant with my niece Sylvie, She used to confide worries and concerns she had about being a good mom and stuff. I always told her she's going to be an excellent mother...How could she not be with such an excellent role model she has in our mother (the best mom there is...Besides my mom in law). She always seemed doubtful.

I understood at the time that she was just hormonal and having irrational thoughts. She never admitted it to me but that's what I felt was really her problem. So far she has been an excellent mom. Just like I knew she would be.

Now that I'm pregnant. I was lying there on our futon, worrying that I was eating enough and that my baby was getting the best I could give him/her. I heard the heartbeat at my last doctors visit and it was strong and regular, and that was reassuring. It's not the same as seeing the baby on ultrasound.
We aren't due to get our next till January. Thus begins my rant of irrational feelings about stuff.....

Until then, I'm afraid I'll worry whether or not the baby is growing at the usual rate. And is actually there. It may be silly to some people but I always thought I'd have this neat communication with my developing baby. I dreamed before I was pregnant that my baby would give me reports on how it was doing....Kind of like "Hey mom!! Guess what mom? MOM!! I'm sucking my thumb now!! Hey mom I can hear when dad talks to me!!"

You know, that sort of thing.

So far nothing like that has happened. Now I'm thinking my baby is letting me know that this is how things are going to be. Just because I think it's going to be some way doesn't me that's the way things are going to go. Which I know, but...
So fine I won't get upset about that. How could I? My baby is it's own person it's going to experience things it's own way and in it's own time. Which is fine too, that's the way things are supposed to be.

ANYWAY, so I've just been trying to listen to my body. Let it tell me that things are fine. Unfortunately, my body seems to be siding with the baby. It's not really my body anymore. (I hear this is a common complaint of pregnant women.) I guess it's a good thing right? I should just sit back and let things go the way they are supposed to go.

It's kind of getting in the way of work...Or my mind is helping my body get in the way of work. Honestly I'm not happy at either of my jobs. Is this a normal pregnant person reaction too? I just get annoyed with how things are run. At both jobs!! I'd love to be able to stay home (and go crazy!!??) or find a nice easy job where I don't have to wait on customers....Lately my customers have been very nice and patient with me, thank god.

My complaint when it comes to customers is that I feel that way I've always felt: I need to help them quickly and efficiently to keep them happy. Well I don't do quick anymore...But I don't remember that till it's too late. I'll help the customer (sometimes two at a time) quickly and efficiently but then after they are gone and I have a chance to catch up with myself. I realize that I did too much. I feel faint and weak and tired and like I'm going to throw up....Every time.

So stop going so fast you say? Yeah right! I work retail hell. And Christmas is fast approaching. I work one day a week at a bookstore, in the cafe. And three days a week in a popular national chain toy store...
the toy store and the cafe have both not lived up to my worst memories of Christmas time business yet. But still I'm worn out by helping just a few customers. I love helping people, but it's just sooo exhausting. If I could help people by sitting in a quiet area and be able to go at my own speed that would be awesome...But what kind of job is that???
And am I qualified?

then I feel guilty for being "lazy!" How can sitting around be good for my baby? I've got to get up and move sometimes...When feel better I tell myself. That's been a new saying for me lately...When I feel better I'll do that sink full of dishes....When I feel better I'll get some laundry done so that my husband and I have some clean clothes to wear... When I feel better I'll vacuum.

I haven't felt better in a while. I have good days don't worry about that. I just get tired quickly. I took a nap after taking my dog out this morning.
There are many different causes for my fatigue. One I'm PREGNANT. Pregnant women get tired. One could be a deficiency in some vitamin or mineral...That's possible but I do take my Prenatal vitamins.
One could be hormonal cause...I am pregnant. One could be blood pressure related...Another side effect of pregnancy.

maybe I feel the way I do because I'm pregnant? It's possible. Probably Probable even. Anyway I find myself feeling I think similarly to the way my sister was feeling when she would confide in me...I worry that if I'm tired now and I'm supposed to be tired after the baby is born...how is anything ever going to get done? I assume, I'll work through it. I'll just tough it out.
But that's how I thought I'd deal with all this stuff I've been dealing (or not dealing) with. Therein lies the worry. One things for sure life has changed, as I had expected it to...maybe not the way I expected but still change....and change is good.....

Anyway writing this post is wearing me out. So I'll just do a spell check and go lie down...Again!!

King Kong and crying

2005-12-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

So I've noticed in the last few days, that I've cried atleast once every day. Of course I cried when my parents left to go home, I always cry when we separate. I cried again the next day because of a commercial. Then one day I was freaking out about something I don't remember.

We went over to Jessica's apartment to celebrate her engagement to Matt, on Monday, and we watched the original KING KONG. It was hokey and the effects weren't that great by today's standards but very good for the time. I was think it would be funny to watch. But when it got to the part when they shoot him on top of the Empire state building, I was balling.

Just boo hoo-ing!!! I couldn't help it.

There's no way I'm going to see the remake, everytime I see the trailers on TV for it I start to cry.

And just now I wrote the previous post. I was crying that whole time. I know it's due to the hormones, but jeez!!! Oh well, I'm just a basketcase.

JUST CALL ME WICKER!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

2005-12-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

Today is grandma's birthday. I plan on calling her in about an hour... hopefully she'll be in her room, so I can sing Happy Birthday to her.

Just a few words about what a wonderful lady she is:

All my family knows that I lived with Grandma for about 5 years, in which time I went through a lot of changes and dealt with a lot of challenges.
Grandma helped me through a lot of them, perhaps I didn't realize at the time the lessons I learned from her while I was there but really, I think we did a lot for each other.

I know living with her at that time was very instrumental in making me the person I am today. I would never give up that time I had with her, I wish we all lived closer so I could spend more time with her. Grandma if you read this, I love you and miss you and I hope you have a great birthday!!!

Saw the Doctor today...

2005-11-29T15:11:00.000-08:00

Things are going good!! They got my CBC back and everything came back normal. One thing I thought was odd seeing as how I've spent my entire life around cats....I don't have an immunity to toxoplasmosis. Not that I've been cleaning the cat box since I've been pregnant I just assumed since I've been exposed to cats that I would have over the years developed one.

ANYWAY

The doctor said that as our next visit we'd have our next ultrasound. She informed us that if we wanted or didn't want to know the sex of our baby we'd have to inform them of our choice beforehand.

So commenceth the attempts to get us to do what you want us to do in that case ; ) ;) We won't be telling anyone of our choice unless we decide to tell
HEE HEE

One thing I asked the doctor about at this last visit, even though I haven't been too concerned about it, was my almost fainting spells.
Three times in the last month I've felt very faint, once so faint I had to go home for the rest of the night. I'd get incredibly hot and sweaty then my vision would go all blurry and then I'd feel that weird spinning feeling.
She said that it was all due to Blood pressure changes and hormonal surges.

She said it's very normal for someone as small as me, to have problems adapting to the pressure changes. Thus feeling faint. Also the hormonal surges would cause the feeling of over heating (so now I know what it's like to have a hot flash...kinda sorta) She said that that alone could bring on a fainting spell. She said not to worry that it was normal and that I had been going about taking care of it the right way.

That is sitting down and drinking some juice and snacking. And resting for about 15 to 20 minutes. Rest assured everyone that it it normal and the baby and I are doing great!! Now all I have to do is convince everyone I work with that it's normal and I'm ok.

At this visit they gave us a free diaper bag filled with some pretty neat stuff.
It has samples of baby formula and coupons for stuff and some free issues of baby magazines. Also working in conjuction with St.joseph/Candler Hospital, they gave of a free what to expect/pregnancy journal thingy. It's not What to expect when you expecting it's soley form the doctors office and hospital. It's pretty cool.

Anyway that's all for now, will post pictures from Thanksgiving tomorrow before work. Sorry I didn't get them up sooner mom!!

Oh and paige don't feel bad about Sylvie falling on the floor...It's like I always say " If you don't give the kid a chance to fall off the sofa and conk their head, what kind of childhood are they going to have?" or some variation of that. Don't feel bad.

Happy news!!!!

2005-11-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

My sister in law Jessica, just got engaged to our friend Matt Coleman. I haven't seen or talked to them since the happy day which was a couple days ago....But we are supposed to eat dinner over at her place tonight. Travis and I are soooooo happy for them!!! They make a beautiful couple and are very happy together.

For those family members who haven't heard yet and are finding out from this blog, don't' worry we heard it from Dad.

Travis and I can't wait to hear the details about how he proposed.

On our baby front...We see the doctor tomorrow, Hopefully we'll have another ultrasound and have more pictures to share!!!!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! It was wonderful having my parents here....I missed them as soon as we left them at the airport. Anyway, things are back to normal now. Back to the grindstone and all that.

Is it over? Really????

2005-11-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

It seems the mantra has worked. I have been able to eat AND keep down everything I've eaten the past three days!! Keep your fingers crossed that it isn't just the healing presence of my parents that's keeping me from getting sick ; )

Thus ends the puking faze....So begineth the eating and fattening faze, the gasy faze, if I'm like my sister the Heartburn faze.. I kinda hope I don't have to go through that but if I must I must.

Anyway the vomiting part is over DING DONG and so on

I'm done with this morning sickness

2005-11-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

Finished. caput. No longer needed.

I was sick as a dog yesterday, a dog that has bad morning sickness. Really I blame most of the upheaval to my prenatal vitamin. It contains Omega3 oils, which I think is cool. I've tried to get as many omega3s as I can or at least I did before I was pregnant...They are so good for you!!!

As it turns out though, in prenatal vitamin form, when one throws up before the pill has digested completely their vomit, breath, mouth tissue and pretty much everything else smells and tastes like raw fish. Now that wouldn't be such a big deal if I liked sushi...But I don't, never have, don't know if I ever will.

Sorry if that's a little TMI but really I had a bad day yesterday. I was sent home from work because I was throwing up so much. All the girls at work were telling me that since I was so sick I would be having a really cute baby, also I would be having a girl, cause when they were pregnant with their daughters they were way more sick then they were with their sons.

Either way Travis has decreed that this child once born, whatever it is it's grounded for making me so sick. We'll see if he can stick to that punishment, if I'm having a cute baby girl I don't think he'll have much power seeing as how she'll have him wrapped around her little-EST of fingers.

So My mother and I came up with a mantra: I am done with the morning sickness, I no longer need it.

I said this to myself when I went to bed last night over and over till I fell asleep. I AM done with it. I'm tired of being sick, and I'm totally ready for the glowing, energy filled, constantly needing to pee, having an appetite and gaining weight part of the pregnancy. I'm really ready for the eating. I'm not going to go crazy...I don't want to gain more than 25 pounds.

I here snickering and stifled laughs every time I think that but really I think I can do it....snicker, snicker....hee, hee.

ah shaddup ya nay sayers!!

I'm done with the morning sickness, I no longer need it.
I'm done with the morning sickness, I no longer need it.
et cetera et cetera and so forth.

Update on the friend business

2005-11-16T05:32:00.000-08:00

Things have cooled down considerably. I broke down and went over to her house to hash things out because she called and asked me to come over she didn't get her husband to call and ask me. Not sure if I got my point across, but things are better now. My trust is shaken and I think it's going to be a while before things get back to where they were, if they ever do.

She apologized and I apologized again, and we hugged and made up. So there's that. One thing this has done for me though, is that it's really made me appreciate my friends even more.

Thanks you guys for being such great friends!!!

Big toe woes

2005-11-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

My big toe hurts. Not like a hang nail, it feels like I have to pop it, but if I do that doesn't stop it hurting. It's the big joint of my big toe on my left foot. Please send my big toe healing energy. I've joked that it's gout, but I can't remember the last time I ate red meat. I've joked that my toe is broken but secretly I'm afraid that since I keep throwing up the milk I'm drinking that my blob isn't getting enough calcium and has been taking it from my toe...and it is in fact broken.

it hurts. I'm tired. can't concentrate. muscles tense and sore. UGH!

But the blob is worth it....Travis claims to ground the baby when it's born for making me sick all the time. Then he looks at my belly and says " I can't stay mad at you!!"

ugh, I'll feel better soon, I know I will.....
ugh for now,
Manda

Question

2005-11-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this first. I have a friend, a very close friend, almost a sister...Who went with me a couple of weeks ago to get some blood drawn for my pregnancy labs. She went with me because I wasn't sure how much blood they'd take, and I had been feeling pretty light headed already, and I wasn't sure if it would be safe for me to drive myself.

She's a good friend and of course she went with me. Afterward I was feeling pretty sick and light headed, so she took me to get something to eat (which I paid for since she was so nice in driving me around and taking care of me.) Then we went back to her house and ate and talked for a while. I was pretty tired but after eating felt confident that I could drive myself home, before I left I told her thank you again for going with me and I'd call her the next day and maybe we could do something...After my Chiropractors appointment I almost forgot about it.

Well I went to my Chiro appointment and after my adjustment I felt really tired, like the adjustment had released all the stress I had been holding in and once it was out I was just exhausted. Then I made my way home. On the way I would drive past my place of work. Since I've been having problems with a manager there I wanted to talk to my direct manager and let her know what was going on, just a quick stop off then back home. She had a lot to say, some of which I didn't really trust, which furthered my feeling of tiredness.

I got home around 11:30 and called an old manager who doesn't work for the company anymore but who's opinion I greatly value, and left him a message to please call me when he got the chance. Then I called the complaint line for our company and made my complaint.

After that I was completely out of it, I wanted nothing to do but sleep, I was incapable of doing anything but sleep. So I slept. I slept until about 4 pm. When I woke up I didn't remember what day it was and I didn't even know what time it was, then the phone rang. It was my old manager calling me with his advice. Shortly after hanging up with him my friend called. She said : "You were supposed to call me today" I said "OH I comp" then she interrupted me saying "I don't know why you think it's ok to be mean to me, I'm tired of it and I don't' think I want to talk to you anymore."

CLICK

What I was going to say was Oh I completely forgot I'm sooooo sorry!!! Which I was, I felt terrible. But I've never been mean to her, so I don't know what exactly she's tired of. I thought at first it was a joke and that she'd call right back laughing and say she was pregnant (she's been wanting to get pregnant) but nothing happened. Well I called back later and her husband also a friend of mine answered the phone. I told him that I was sorry and that would she take the phone for me to say it and he said she wouldn't. I explained that I was really tired and my mind was on problems at work and that I had forgotten and felt really terrible about it, he said he didn't want to get in the middle of it.

So I called again the next day and left a message on their machine. No one called back no one answered. I called again frustrated that such a close friend, someone who considers me like a sister, would throw our friendship away so easily, and not give me a chance to apologize or even explain.

After all I've done to try to get her to talk to me and she's made no effort to, I figured today I'd try again. I called her husband, to see how he's doing and he told me he's talked to her about it and her mother (who was recently in town) talked to her (told her she was being harsh.) He thinks I should go over to their house and talk to her, she may not talk back but she'll listen he tells me.

So my question is Should I go over there or not? I mean I don't need this kind of stress in my condition. Why doesn't she understand that I'm human and I might make mistakes sometimes?

Am I wrong for feeling the way I do about this? I mean it came out of no where. I feel completely blindsided, hurt, disappointed, and used. I'm a little emotional, and I was cleaning so this is all just pouring out of me...
I'm sorry I wanted to keep this blog light but I'd really like to get other peoples opinion of what I should do.

The state of things

2005-11-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

Things are going well on the home front. We are very happy...Lately there has been a little drama at work but hopefully that won't be lasting much longer. Even though the drama concerns me more that Travis he's still very interested in how things are going because well....I'm his wife and I'm pregnant with his child....And he loves me of course. He's such a good guy!!!

Besides that, Travis has been doing very well in school. He was just awarded a signed print of one of Paul Hudsons. Signed by Paul Hudson and Buzz Aldren!!!! Paul Hudson is a famous painter (he used to work for NASA) and Travis' teacher in a concept design class. I should probably get him to post a post about this since I don't' know enough about it....I'm just so proud of him and how hard he works!!!!

It's a beautiful print, almost photographic to my untrained eyes. Maybe we can take a picture of it and post it too.

Oh yeah they also gave Travis this neat handheld thingamajig that when you push the little button the top spins around and the little lights light up!!!It's really cool too!!

Yea yea, I know I'm easily amused.

I've been craving nothing but gatorade, Lemonlime flavor for those who want to know. I feel lemonlime is the original of gatorade, I think it's really orange but to me...It's the lemonlime.

lemonlime all the way!!!!!!!

WORLD EXCLUSIVE!!!!

2005-10-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

First ever photos of the famously anticipated baby blob Gentry.
Here in vivid black and white you can see little details like an arm and the heart...which the proud mama and papa saw and heard beating strongly and in a syncopated rhythm to my own BOOM whoosh BOOM whoosh.

I am in awe of my little one and totally in love. Travis and I were ear to ear smiles from the time we saw the little blob.

The top photo is a side view. The white curvy line
is the outline of the heart. And you can see a little bit of the brain cavity near the top, it's the big black circle.

The bottom photo is a full frontal view. On the left you can see a little arm.
Looks like on the right the blob is kicking a bump, that might be the umbilical cord and the placenta..not sure I forgot to ask. Paige says "AmanDUH"

So there you go, all the glory and beauty of our baby is here for you to behold LOL

More pictures to come!!!

The world almost came to an end!

2005-10-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

It looks like the US might get hit by a super hurricane again. The projected path looks like it's going to hit the southern tip of florida the go out into the atlantic....will wilma hit savannah? who knows!!!

SO long as it doesn't interupt mom and dad's visit which is still a month off I'm not worried about it...

I'm still waiting for baby to start demanding it's menu of food. I believe my first craving was the other night, for cheesecake. Yes mom I know I need to watch my weight :). But I would have died unless I ate it, and I felt so much better after I did too!!! My stomach had been upset all day, I was exhausted, and i had absolutely no appetite. Then I thought about a cheese cake I made for dad back when I was in high school. I made a large heart shaped one and there was enough batter to make a bunch of little quiche cup sized ones. The big one ended up tasting discusting but the little ones were really really good!!!

That's what I was thinking of when the craving hit. So I ate cheese cake, and the world was right again.

blob, morning sickness and food

2005-10-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying being pregnant so far! Only thing that's holding me back from really enjoying it is the urpy lightheadness, and not being able to think of what I might want to eat. I have to see the food and smell it before I know if I want it or not....sometimes I have to eat it before I decide it's what I want.

The only aversions I've had are Curry and eggs. Any kind of eggs, just the thought of them makes me gag. Ew they are all slippery and jiggly UGH!!!!!

The last time I had eggs, I had them scrambled with cheese as a side order to my chocolate chip pancakes and a little bowl of fruit. I ate all of it accept three grapes. It's weird but I really enjoyed those eggs, cheese eggs and chocolate chip pancakes go very well together.

oh well, one day soon maybe I'll be able to eat eggs again.

Blob seems to be doing fine, I haven't had any complaints as of yet. We'll see blob for the first time on october 27th, that's when we have our first ultrasound!!!! I'm so excited

2005-10-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well the first post didn't live up to the name of the blog did it?

Blob is about the size of a sesame seed or a raisin depending on which website you are researching. blob is growing at a furious pace while the placenta and yolk sac are developing and beginning to work.

Blobs favorite song "Me and My Blobby Mcghee"
Blobs favorite tv shows "The Price is Right" hosted by Blob barker and "newhart" starring Blob Newhart.

Blobs favorite movie goes with out saying.

If you have any suggestions as to what might be of interest to Blob post a comment!!!!

Well here goes.....

2005-10-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yes here goes my attempt to have a fun and witty blog like my sister Paige and her husband Theron.....

You may not think your blog is witty Paige but it is, I'm always smiling or laughing at something you've written, Theron too, it's like you guys have a contest to see who can make me laugh more....even though we haven't seen a post from Theron for a while.

So far not witty...but i'm sick so maybe I'll let myself off this time.
I'll have pictures to add as soon as Travis shows me where they are LOL
More posts later!!