Closing in!

As of today, I am 37 and 1/2 weeks along. I have 16 days till my due date but we'll see how far I actually go! 

I have to say, being pregnant makes me more emotional than I would like to admit. Crying is a given, I tear up at movie previews...watching other people have a happy moment on TV...and specially when I feel down. I have a temper to note of anyway, but these emotions just make me so hateful sometimes. I gotta give Hubby kudos for putting up with me. He isn't the greatest all the time mind you...but I wish he would do the dishes more often, help with laundry and cleaning and such. I want him to OFFER to do it. I know he will if I ask for help, but thats not the point!! So I just breezed through my usual cleaning spurt by myself grumbling to myself that it must be nice for Hubby to just sit around and play video games while his 9 month pregnant wife cleans the whole house. But I have to remind myself that I really don't mind cleaning while he plays...because what else am I going to do?! But I still hate that stupid video game...this is what I see more often then I would like...

*sigh*!! It is his only hobby so I have to put up with it no matter how much I don't like it. We have finally reached a middle ground where he's only allowed to play when I have something to do to amuse myself and he's only allowed to play on his days off work. God love him but he drives me crazy..lol.

This has got to be the worst winter I have seen in a long time. Usually in the past years, winter has included maybe one or two snow storms but we have had about 4 big snow storms pass through ON TOP of two big floods. It snows, the snow melts, it rains, it snows again and starts all over. This is what happens when we get too much rain and snow. Thats about 5-6 acres covered by water. Crazy!

Other then the weather...we finished up our birth classes, which I'm really glad I took. Im having a doctors appointment every week now. So far everything has been normal. My belly is measuring about 39 inches and they think I'll have an 8 pound baby. We're really just waiting now! I finally decided on a layout for the baby room after rearranging it about 3 dozen times! I found some name letters and painted them in the room colors I'm trying to stick to.

We took a poll the other day, asking people whether they liked Carter or Cash better for the middle name. Hubby's step-grandma suggested Cash and I really liked it! But after 90% of people who voted said they liked Carter, I decided that I guess we had picked it for a good reason! I just can't wait for him to get here. I really think I'm going to enjoy being a mother...it's something that I have always wanted. To get married and start a family. Sure, I wanted to graduate college first, but everything happens for a reason. :-)

We will get our tax return back within the week
and I hope to get a new entertainment center. The one we have right now doesn't have doors and when C gets older, I don't want him crawling into all the electronics and wires. I think we are finally ready for him to arrive!

What a crazy month!

So now I'm well into my 8th month, at 33 weeks now. :-) Everything is going good and normal. My belly is now 32" (at 32 weeks) and the baby's heartbeat is sounding great. At my next visit I will get to talk to the anesthesiologist about getting an epidural. I want to try and NOT get one but I can't promise anything! 

This month has certainly been an interesting one. We have had one of the biggest snow storms since the 90's. In one night we got 2 feet of snow! It started around 2pm...

by 9pm we had a foot of snow...then the next morning it looked something like this: 

I don't think I've seen this much snow all at once in my whole life! It wasn't icy or anything so It actually wasn't that bad, it just took the road crews about 3 days to catch up and have everything cleared. People got stuck on the freeway overnight for about 13 hours because the snow plows couldn't handle the amount of snow that was falling. On top of that, there were numerous tractor-trailer accidents which caused multiple car pile ups which were near to impossible to get to. The state had to call in the National Guard to help get gas, food, and water to the people stranded. The governor, at first, was upset at hearing how long it took the road crews to clear the roads. But then he actually came out of his house and looked at actually how much snow there was and had to issue a public apology for judging them too harshly. It was clear for about a week but it's been snowing ever since. 


We have about a foot of snow right now and are expected to get more over the night. I haven't left the house by myself in a week. I hate the snow and hate driving in it even more. I get so nervous I'm going to go off the road, and I don't want to be in the predicament considering how far along I am. So I just don't go anywhere. I get Hubby to bring home milk on his way home from work and to bring the mail in. It's hard for me to trudge through this much snow so I just stay home!


All this happened after Christmas. On Christmas it rained...for the 3rd year in a row I think! I was all by myself too...Hubby had to work so it wasn't really a special day at all. I don't celebrate Christmas in the religious sense because it wasn't really Jesus' birthday. It's just a pagan holiday that's turned into a commercial monopoly so I don't mind staying home and not doing anything. It's just another day to me. I appreciate the fact the family's use the day to get together and spend time with one another, I just don't like the commercial side of it at all. You are obligated to buy people presents now a days or they think that you're a grinch. It's just gotten silly. So that was my holiday! 


We went down to Virginia to see my parents the weekend after Christmas and when we came back, our house had been broken into. I couldn't believe someone would do that and it makes it worse because it had to have been someone that knows us and where we live. I posted on my Myspace that we were leaving for the weekend which is how they knew that we wouldn't be home, even though my car was still in the driveway. They jacked the back door open, went straight to the bedroom and took all my jewelry then went to the kitchen and took some of Hubby's prescription medications. They HAD to have known us personally which is a huge blow. I've never felt so violated in my life. It's a nasty feeling that leaves you feeling vulnerable and extremely mad, specially because there's nothing you can really do about it. Thank God, they didn't take my expensive jewelry that belonged to my Grandmother. Somehow they overlooked that. Whoever they were, they knew us as a couple, where we lived, and have been in our house before. Here's the footprints coming from the back door to the bedroom...

I just hope they get busted and put away, somehow. 


On a happier note, my one big Christmas present from Hubby's dad:

a new stove!! I love it :-) We couldn't afford presents for one another really, but we got close friends and family what we could. 


Other then that, it has been a pretty normal month. I have a birthing class on Tuesdays, when the weather allows, that I really enjoy! I know you don't have to take it but this is my first child and I want to do it right. There's no way you can know everything that's going to happen and I really think that this class is going to be extremely helpful. Specially when it comes to breast feeding, it's very informative, since I want to try that. My mom breast fed me till I was almost two and I believe that's why I don't have any allergies at all. I don't understand why people DONT. I know it's hard at first but that doesn't mean that it's impossible. The female body was made to feed your child so you should try harder. I just roll my eyes when I hear that it was too hard, it wasn't working, or the baby was always hungry. According to my doctor, that is how it usually starts out but your baby IS getting enough food, they just feed often when they are that young. Women have been having baby's for thousands of years and are still having them in third world countries where they don't have bottles, antibiotics, or birthing classes and those babies are growing and staying (relatively) healthy. I'm sure it will be harder then I expect, or maybe it will be easier then I expect! but I still plan on trying my hardest to feed my baby the best way I know I can. I want to be a good mom and I don't like hearing other people who take shortcuts, it just seems wrong to me. It seems like everybody on TV just stuffs a bottle in the baby's mouth as soon as they are out of the womb! Crazy...


I've been told to pick a pediatrician before the baby is born, which to me, is nerve wracking. What if I pick the wrong one?!?! I guess you can always change your mind, but it feels like such a big responsibility. :-P On top of that I feel like I should have their college fund ready for them to go off to college...I don't want my child to have to take out loans because those are just a quick ride into a huge pile of debt. And insurance!...*sigh*...so much to do!

Thanksgiving '09

So Thanksgiving went great! The drive was fine, no bad weather at all. It's nice visiting the family since I don't see them that often. If I stay longer then a couple days, they tend to get on my nerves...lol...but whose family doesn't. Here is my beautiful mother cooking dinner: 

We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, cranberry sauce, and of course, pumpkin pie. I LOVE my mom's pumpkin pie..no one can make it like she can. Even if it is canned pumpkin..lol. 

My darling brother got a new car recently. Lucky dude. His cavalier is having problems...which is to be expected. It's a cavalier. Duh. He got a 2000 Hyundai Sonata...it is now the newest car sitting in my parents driveway! He got it off of Craigs List, which is brave I think. I don't trust that website. 

And here he is eating, what he does best: :-)

Hubby happened to get off early Thanksgiving day. He had to work at the hospital, watching over an inmate that had to have some kind of work done. So he was only 45 minutes away from the house which makes a huge difference in the time we get to spend with each other before he has to go to bed. :-) Thats another hour we have together :-) So we actually had our own little Thanksgiving...leftovers but still good. And here is the sight that welcomed us the next morning: 

A blizzard! The day after Turkey day! We immediately put up some Christmas decorations to get in the spirit. I love how they make the house look :-). 

I had my 7 month checkup yesterday. I was told not to eat anything with sugar before my appointment so that they could do a sugar test to make sure I'm not diabetic. We got there at 9, they had me drink a nasty orange sugar drink then they listened to the baby's heartbeat (nice and strong!) and measured my stomach. I think she said 28". We then had to wait for an hour for the sugar to circulate through my body then they took my blood and had me run it over to the lab in the hospital to get tested. They told us to wait another 2 hours so they could process it before I could come back for my Rhogan shot. So we went and putted around the flea market right down the road. We found Hubby a Carharrt jacket for $15! He doesn't have a heavy jacket and I've been meaning to get him one and finding that was a life saver. It also saved me from my jacket curse.....the jacket curse started when I bought two of my exs nice heavy expensive jackets and neither relationship lasted and both were very painful and heartbreaking experiences. So that saved me from the curse! lol..anyway...we went back to the hospital where I got the Rhogan shot. I have O-neg. blood and I have to get that shot to balance out the chemicals in my body so I don't reject the baby. Overall the appointment took about 4 hours! blegh..but from now on I will have nice normal boring checkups. :-) 

I have to keep a movement count of the baby now. Once a day, I have to sit and count up to ten times, how many times the baby moves. He has to move at least ten times in one hour for it to be considered normal. If I notice he's not moving as he normally does, then it's not a good sign and I would have to go in to the doctors immediately. I really don't think that's going to be a problem. When I counted today, he moved ten times within 4 minutes. :-)

On another note, the car is STILL in the shop and will be for another week. I don't know what is wrong now, something about the shifter? But they have to order another part so we will have to wait another week. *SIGH*...this is so annoying. That car isn't even a year old and this is all happening. Not cool. 

I got Rachel's Christmas present, but I still have to get Hubby, Heather, and others something. I'm trying to find my mom something cool but I told my parents not to expect anything. I really don't know what to get them anymore so I might just get them a gift card to somewhere. Not sure. Hubby will be easy, video games and movies. Boys are easy :-) 

I would love a Wii...and Hubby already told me he's going to get me one, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I know we really could use the money for something else more important. But I know he knows that I really want something we can do together. I just don't play the xbox that much. I'm awesome at Guitar Hero but Hubby sucks at it so he doesn't like to play it. If we got a Wii, I really believe we could play it together and have a good time. I don't like watching him play his stupid war games so it seperates us really. I go do something else while he plays so we're not spending time together. I would love something we could do together :-) Other then that, I plan on getting a video camera so we can use it when the baby is born. 

Can't sleep...

Well my pregnancy is moving along right on schedule and my body is continuing to prepare for this baby. The baby is still pretty active, his kicks are getting harder and his positions more uncomfortable. He lets me know when he doesn't like a position I'm sleeping, sitting, or driving in. -He's kicking right now- :-) I hope he's a good sleeper after he's born. I'm okay with staying up late, but the early morning hours are not my friend. I'm not a good sleeper anyway, so I hope I can adjust easily to the new schedule I'm sure he's going to make for me. 

I am currently trying to get rid of Bailey. Some days I really can't stand her, other days she stays out of my radar and I don't think about it. I just hope the Lord shows me what I'm supposed to to. Sell her or not? Hubby has really taken a liking to her, but I'm just not that crazy about her. I would never sell my dog Sandy because I honestly love that dog, but Bailey is just another story. She gets on my ever loving nerves and uses every possible opportunity to piss me off. I just don't know...

On another note, I'm thinking of getting a Wii. They're just as pricey as the xbox 360 was, but they do so much more. I was anti-wii just because I thought they were introduced to suck the rest of the population's money. And I still believe that, with all the different accessories you can buy and the different games that require those certain accessories. But I couldn't help but fall in love with the game the other day at Rachel's birthday dinner. Her mom has one and it was a blast to compete against other people at games that actually get your heart-rate up. I beat her husband at boxing! I loved it :-) If only it wasn't so expensive. 

Anyway...I am going to try and go to bed now. Sometimes I get so many thoughts in my head, I have to go write them down or I will never get to sleep. So I have made my checklist and gotten out what I've been thinking about today so hopefully sleep won't evade me any longer.

G'night!

Baby shower #2

Well....number two wasn't as successful, but it was still fun! Rachel came over early to help decorate. We had it at my house because I have more room, but it turns out we really didn't need it. I was kinda disappointed that only two other people showed up, but I was kinda expecting it at the same time. I don't know a lot of people up here, there's Hubby's family but no one was able to make it. Although two of his aunts stopped by to drop off presents, which was really nice. And the other girls I know are really Rachel's friends. But thankfully Hubby's friend Jesse came and Rachel's mom came as well.

I ended up keeping the decorations up a couple days, I loved them so much. It made the house look so nice :-) And here are the presents I got. Rachel's mom was so sweet, she got ME something, not the baby. :-) Jesse did too, which really surprised me. They both got me some sort of bath and body set. Jesse has a boy of her own so she brought me some hand-me-downs along with some new clothes, a small diaper bag, toys, and lots of other small, but very useful things. Rachel's mom got me a car seat cover, which we will def. be using. :-) Then I got diapers, blankets, and more clothes. :-)

And I finished painting those wooden cars I bought earlier. I figured he could learn his numbers as well as enjoying playing with them. It was too cute a chance to pass up :-)

I'm just waiting now till we have a little extra money so I can go ahead and order a football jersey to hang in the baby room. I found a website where I can personalize one with his name and a number, I just need about $40 :-)

Other then that, I have been keeping myself busy with Christmas decorations. :-) I found a wreath at the YMCA for about 50 cents and personalized it myself with my own decorations and some ornaments I made. The snowman is made out of styrofoam, and the little tree and the candy-cane are made out of felt I cut up and sewed together. :-) It was fun to put together and cost under a dollar total!

I then went to Dollar Tree and found some things to put together as a centerpiece. Total cost: about $5! Then the wooden plaque I had already lying around, I just painted it silver and added the star and holly leaves. The words were already cut out, so I just brightened them up with some nice Christmas-y green paint. I love doing things like this :-)

I have my next doctor's appointment December 1st. Hopefully by then they will have some H1 shots around so I can finally get vaccinated. I got my regular flu shot back in October but they haven't had any of the other flu shots since then. I keep checking with the health department as well but they keep running out too before I can get one. It's getting really frustrating. I swear they do this on purpose, hold back on all the vaccinations they could give out. I'm not really worried that I'm going to get it and die, I am really trying to get it to prevent anything happening while I'm pregnant. If I weren't prego, I wouldn't even bother. I never had bothered with any kind of vaccination my whole life. I just think it's a big uproar for no good reason. I turned down getting the meningitis shot back at Radford, and that was right after they had that little episode at Tech with all those students getting it. I just believe if you run and get every single shot they tell you to get, you are just hurting yourself in the long run. I have always had a good immune system. I have had the flu twice in my life and the last time was over 8 years ago. Like I said, I'm only doing this because I have another little life to worry about now.

My mom is worried to death I won't get the vaccination in time. We had a little scare when we thought Hubby had the H1 flu..he had all the systems except the fever. Turns out he had some sort of upper respiratory infection. Ever since, mom has kept me on my toes asking if I have had it yet, to always wash my hands, and to stay away from other people. I love that woman :-)

My plans for Thanksgiving this year are going to be without Hubby :-(  He has to work, and he works twelve hours shifts at the prison which is an hour and a half away...so he'll be going aaalll day. I'm going to drive back to Va to have dinner with my parents and my brother. I'll drive down Wednesday, spend the night, and stay for dinner then drive back up here to be home before Hubby gets home at 8:30. Mom said she'll send leftovers home with me so me and Hubby can have our own little Thanksgiving! I wish he didn't have to work, but it's okay. I bet a lot of other officers are going to call out so he'll be forced to stay anyway. Thats what sucks about him being a Correctional Officer. It's not like they can operate without anyone, they always need someone to watch the inmates. So if someone else calls out and they don't have enough people to cover that position, they will make you stay longer till the next shift shows up. It bites. He has to work Christmas too...boo :-(

We have a loaner car for about a week...the BRAND NEW focus we have no longer has a working transmission. WTF?!?!? I was LIVID when Hubby told me that. I had always told him that I don't believe in brand new cars because they get problems just as often as used cars. It's stupid to pay that much money and have it break down. But then again, I am thankful that it's still under warranty so we don't have to pay for a thing. GRRR...you can never win. Anyway, the loaner is a Kia Sentra...which I hate Kias. They are stupid and ugly. lol. I just wish we could find another affordable, slightly used car for Hubby to drive to work so he's not putting all these thousands of miles on the new car. We have had it about 7 months now?...and there is already 16,000 miles on it. NO JOKE. Hubby drives 120 miles a day, at least 4 days a week. Its ridiculous to put that many miles on a new car when he could just drive a used car that it doesn't matter if the value goes down. 

25 weeks :-)

So I swear my 6 month preggy picture looks smaller then what I was at 5 months....

but maybe it's just the shirt...I don't know!

My pregnancy symptoms haven't really changed. I don't get headaches like I used to when I needed to eat or take a nap. I get really lightheaded instead when I haven't eaten in a while. Not good. I noticed twice now, that right when I wake up, I feel ever so slightly nauseated. But it's not to the point where I feel like I need to throw up, just an uncomfortable feeling that I haven't had before. I think it's because the baby is getting bigger and pressing against my stomach. He LOVES to kick me up near my lungs, after bouncing off my bladder. It is a very strange feeling...lol. It's like he's using my bladder as a trampoline. :-P  He hates is when I sit forward, cramping his elbow room. He will kick me until I lean back and give him more room. Specially when I'm driving!

My first baby shower went great!! I had it at my parents house so I could invite my "Va people"...lol...then I'm having another this weekend for my "Wva people"!  Mom invited some ladies from her church group, Heather and her sister Melanie came, and Sandy and her pregnant daughter Angie came as well. Angie is exactly as far along as I am!! She is due a day before me!! How weird!! I got tons of clothes, some diapers from Heather (thank you!!), a few toys, lots of blankets, and some other odds and ends. This picture doesn't do justice to how much stuff I actually got!

  I had so much fun, I thought it would be awkward being in the center opening all these presents but it went so smooth! I also got a gift card for $60 to Wal-mart, which I immediatley put to good use :-). I went and got the diaper bag I wanted along with some canvas totes to put baby items in. I still need quite a few things, but I'm assuming I'll just have to buy them myself. I don't expect people to buy me another car seat/stroller combo, or a crib mattress. I expect this weekend I'll get more clothes and diapers. Which is totally fine with me! I love getting presents!

I love the decorating I get to do too! I got some small wooden cut outs in the shapes of soccer balls, baseballs, and a basketball along with a real football and some wooden cars that I'm going to paint. He can play with the cars when he gets older :-).

I'm pretty sure I got enough onesies to last him a lifetime...lol. I'm trying to find a place where I can customize a football jersey with his name and Hubby's football number on it to hang on the wall in the baby room. It was Rachel's idea and I love it! Other then that, there's not a whole lot more I'm going to do decorating wise. I don't want to go over the top just to have to take it all down when he gets older. So for now, it will look sporty without there being footballs all over everything. :-) I can't wait!

On another note, Hubby and I celebrated our one year anniversary back in October! YAY! I would put pictures up but I just realized...I didn't take hardly any at all. lol. Mom took us out to dinner and set us up at the Hampton for a night. It was nice to relax and not worry about everything for a couple days. :-) Since it is hunting season...I feel the need to brag on Hubby getting his first buck of the year :-) It's not a huge one point wise, but still it was awesome the way he brought it down. He shot into a small herd right as they started running down the hill and hit the only buck in the herd perfectly behind the shoulder. :-) We now have enough deer meat to last a couple years. lol.

Here are some pictures of the windmill parts they keep hauling through our area. I'm not sure where they are being put up, but they have been hauling the parts up there for about a month and a half now. There are three parts to it. The base which has the wider bottom they can haul on a long bed but the middle column is so much longer, they have to haul it on special trucks where the front end has a base then it hangs in the air till it connects to the rear base. So the whole thing can turn around curves. These things back up traffic for quite a while when they are getting off the freeway. They there are the blades they haul separately as well. It's all quite fascinating, I want to go up to where they're set up to see the final product. This picture is of the middle column. You can see how difficult it must be for the driver to get around anything. They have to take a couple street signs down to get to where they have to go, like here there is usually a sign at the end of this median.

We constantly have the "wide load" signal vehicles around here. They are DOZENS of them sometimes all at one time. They bring about 10 trucks loaded down with parts at a time, park them in this parking lot off the road for a couple days, then all at once, they all take off up the road again. Each truck has at least two to three signal trucks around it. Craziness :-P

Lastly of all, I want to share my funny picture for the day. This is our puppy Bailey outside on her chain talking to the cows. :-P