Altered letters!

So here are the letters! I held each one up as I finished inking their edges. Pay no attention to my messy worktable. I scrapbook, make cards and alter things all on my worktable and it is a cluttery mess.

I papered them, added fibers to them, affixed heart-shaped paper, buttons and gems to most of them as well as some words stickers to some of them. Each of them will be held up on the wall with skinny pink and purple ribbons. I have to decide where I want the letters hung and then I will take another picture of them all on the wall for you to see.

Just popping in...

We went to CT this past Sunday to see the ILs and I got to see the girls again! MIL gave us some professional pics they had made of the girls and they are darling! I tried to scan them and the scanner has decided not to work?? I debated taking a picture with my cell phone but it wouldn't do them justice. I also burned a roll and a half of film while I was there--the ILs had their curtains open and there was nice lighting in the living room to snap pictures. The girls are 10 months old and MacKenzie is crawling, and they both are teething and have such cute personalities. It was a nice visit, can you believe it?

MIL has offered/promised us tons of stuff that she bought for the girls for when they thought the girls would be coming home with them. They're too big for it now. And she gave us some stuff to take home with us too. My mom has bought lots of stuff too, and we have picked up a few things. Here is a list of what we have so far:

A crib, a changing table, a bouncy seat, the Gossamer Wings bedding set, matching rug and curtains, an heirloom rocking chair that Steve was rocked in over 30 years ago, a baby monitor, a diaper pail, a basket with diapers and lavender wash inside, and we are starting to accumulate clothes! New, hand me downs, or from yard sales, we aren't picky--we are blessed and grateful!

When my mom came to visit, I registered, which felt odd, because this is not my first baby. But there is a 7 year gap between my last child and this one, so I went ahead. I felt kind of piggish though. Oh well, it's a wish list, right? I did register for a car seat as well as the car seat-stroller combo, in the hopes that someone might buy us one of the two.

We have the fetal echo on Thursday to check the baby's heart. MIL gets to come to this u/s since my mom got to come to the last one.

What else? I bought wooden letters that spell "Stephanie" and I am whitewashing them before I alter them, to hang as a decoration on the baby's wall. I am going to put stripes, polka dots, and random brushstrokes of paint on them (in pink or purple, haven't decided yet) and also glue cut-from-cardstock flowers, skinny ribbon, decorative little woodcuts and/or shaped brads on the fronts of the letters. Then I am going to hang them from fat ribbon, on the wall. I will certainly post pictures of them, even if I can only capture them on my cell phone, so you all can see!

Well that's about it for now. I will post an update on Thursday afternoon about the echo and I hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July! Be safe!

We have a name!

Our little girl will be named...

Stephanie Juliet !

We like the name Stephanie and Juliet is to honor my friend Julie. Stephanie Julie sounded a little funny and Juliet had a better flow to it, while still being able to honor Julie.

It's a girl !

So in we went to the ultrasound. We have a girl, and the tech is quite convinced that there are no dangly bits hiding anywhere. This little girl was not shy about mooning us all, and rolling around to where the tech got a perfect view at all angles, and pointed them out to us, baby butt crack, baby legs, nothing between the legs. The tech even took a picture of the baby's bottom so we can see, it is a girl. LOL! The baby was awake during the scan so she was running around all over and we got a facial picture of her on the fly, with her hands curled up by her face. I will upload it. At one point, the baby laid her head on one of her opened hands and I said she looked jut like Steve! That's how he lays, when he sleeps--on his hand. The baby has a 3 vessel cord, as is normal, a 4 chambered heart, 2 kidneys, a full bladder and tummy, and has a cute little face.

We did some shopping, and we registered at BabiesRus. My mom was so excited to be there and see it, and go shopping and help me decide which item to "doot doot" next on the registry. It was odd to register, since this is baby number three, but my kids will be 7 and 11 when the baby is born, and I have no more baby things left.

Today my mom took Jonathan home for a three week visit, and so my little boy should be up in the air on his first flight ever, right now. Of course he is not so little anymore--he will be 11!

That's about it for me right now. Steve took Katie to her baseball game and I am having some quiet time, putting my sausage feet up to keep the swelling down.

Belly pic at 20 weeks

So here I am at 20 weeks. I was waiting at the airport for my mom's plane to land--she s here visiting for a week. Ignore how wrinkly the shirt is, ok?

People have been asking me if I think it is twins, because of the two-heartbeat thing? I am of two minds. Either it is twins because sometimes I feel movement in two places at one time, and I hear two distinct heartbeats in two separate areas of my belly--far right, and low left, OR I am feeling gas and am too stupid to tell the difference between gas and movement, and the doppler is just really sensitive and is picking up an echo of the same heartbeat.

Who knows? We will find out on Friday! Whether it is one baby or if we are doubly blessed, I will still be thrilled with one healthy child of either gender. After 5 losses, I'm happy to be pregnant at all. Even with my sausage feet! A second baby would be the best bonus though!

It was just a joke! Now it's not funny anymore!

OK I need a swift slap of reality.

I started teasing Steve that we were having twins, saying my morning sickness should have let up by now, and when his mom had twins, she said she was so sick, for so long. I also got a flier in the mail from a local car dealership that said, "we will buy your vehicle, if you buy one of ours." I told Steve to go trade in our sedan for a minivan, since we were going to have twins. Ha ha ha, right?

Then I had a dream that I carried to 38 weeks, and I was excited--that's a nice time to deliver! In my dream I was able to see that the baby was a girl, and weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces. I thought it was odd that I carried the baby later than my other 2 pregnancies, yet the baby was smaller, and the dream kind of hit "rewind" to my big ultrasound (which hasn't taken place yet). There we were--me on the table, Steve, my kids & my mom, and the screen shows *two* babies. Cue shouts of disbelief and happiness! What a nice surprise! What a big shock!

Then the dream hits "fast-forward" back to my delivery, where it showed me the baby girl and her small-for-a-singleton-but-nice-for-a-twin birthweight. I woke up before being allowed to see the gender of the second baby.

I woke up and told Steve that if my dream was right, I would carry until 38 weeks. I held back the other information for a while but it eventually came out. He is less amused by the joke now, and is afraid of my dream.

So we have a doppler lent to us by a friend. I listen every day to the baby's heartbeat. The baby's heartbeat was between 150 and 160 when we first started listening, but lately it is 155 or so, and then the baby will swim away and when we find the heartbeat again, it is 140. What?

The other night we were listening and I would have sworn I felt the baby kicking on the opposite side of my belly where we were hearing the heartbeat. The baby is not long enough to do that yet. I started laughing and teased Steve more.

So tonight I was listening and Steve was snoozing. I heard the heartbeat on the bottom right as usual. Then I put the wand on the right side of my belly and what? was? that? It *must* have been an echo, right? Not a second heartbeat, right? I repeat this scenario a few times and I am starting to get the willies. So I just go back to the bottom right, and listen to that sweet sound. I felt movement on the left, moving toward the right. Then I thought I heard another heartbeat, and I felt a flurry of movement. The heartbeat would come in and fade out, over and over, and it was all over the place, anywhere between 138 and 158.

That is when I woke Steve up, and said, "OK, you are the voice of reason. You tell me the *second* heartbeat is just the baby moving around fast. And if I hear it in two spots again, you tell me I am just hearing an echo."

So I listen in the one spot for awhile, and the *second* heartbeat returns. I poke Steve to make sure he is hearing this. My heartbeat (when I pass over a blood vessel of mine) is a slow whooosh, whooosh, whooosh, about 80 BPM. The baby's heartbeat is woo-woo-woo, and when the *second* one came around it made it go from the normal woo-woo-woo to a new sound: too-too, too-too, too-too, too-too.

Steve was wide awake and with eyes narrowed, told me to turn off the doppler. It must need a new battery or something. I kinda laughed. Now he is asleep. I had a shower to wash off the goo and now I am kind of freaking out.

This was a joke! My HCG was never significantly high, but what can we tell from numbers? My progesterone was so low but I still got pregnant. My Beta didn't double properly but I still stayed pregnant. I've got a fighter in there but is it really possible that I have 2 fighters???

My SIL previously claimed that she had an ultrasound where the doctor said it was one baby, a boy. Turns out it was 2 babies, both girls, and the second baby had been hiding behind the first, except for a limb had been sticking up just a little to resemble a penis, and for the OB to proclaim it one boy. Now I take everything she says with a grain of salt, and lord knows I don't want to be like her, but is this really common?

I know all I can do is wait until my ultrasound in two weeks. I would feel doubly blessed with twins, but for right now, I am just saying to myself that I am a nutter, and it is an echo that I am hearing, and the baby is just moving around too much and is confusing the doppler, and it needs a new battery, and my numbers would have been higher, and I have had three ultrasounds already and surely the tech would have seen something, and that babies don't really hide behind one another. Run-on sentence, I know. Any opinions?

Side note--If you leave a reply, it will not show up right away--I have the blog set to where the comments come to my email and I have to click "Publish." This keeps the spambots and advertisements for Viagra and home loans at bay. Just so you know.

Jenn, who loves feeling the stronger movements coming from her belly!

My appointment

So I had my appointment on Thursday, just a routine one. I went in, asked what was ok to take in terms of allergies & sinus pain, but other than that I have no complaints. I have felt the baby move & so has Steve and we can listen to the heartbeat anytime we want. I am happy. I told the doctor that our doppler has a digital display to tell BPM and he is jealous, LOL!

So it is "see you in a month" for another routine appointment with him. But I go to the ultrasound department for my bug u/s which is on the 22nd. It is weird to go to another area of the clinic and have an u/s done, because when I had Jonathan & Katie, the doctors did it themselves. Now it is "go and schedule your appointment, and then the tech will send me the results." Whatever, it is just down a few stairs.

My mom is here next week and she will be here for the big u/s and I am so hopeful that we find out what it is. Please, baby, be cooperative!

Well that's about it. I guess I should get some sleep (or try to) so i can clean the house tomorrow.

A busy few days

Yesterday Steve felt the baby move! We had to kinda squash the baby into one half of my stomach and then wait, but pretty soon the baby protested and did a big somersault tryihg to move around more! So funny!

Then today I got the doppler in the mail and used it right away! I heard the baby's heartbeat! I called everyone so they could hear, too! Then when Steve got home, we used the doppler again and found the heartbeat but the baby was awake and moving around and I had to chase him around! The baby kept kicking the wand part and it would make a "bloop" noise, and the heartbeat would fade, and the chase was on to find it again! It stayed steady between 150 and 160 BPM, both times.

This afternoon, I took the doppler outside and with a little glob of goo, I let all the neighborhood kids listen to their own hearts and they were amazed.

I have a routine OB appointment on Thursday. My big ultrasound where we will hopefully find out the gender is later this month. Whee!

Here are the animals!

Here is Baby Bird, who does not like me taking pictures of her with my cell phone. She would barely stay still for me! And underneath is Max. It is hot here now. So hot, in fact, that Max cannot sleep curled in a ball any more. He usually sleeps in a ball, under covers because he has no fat on him to keep warm. See him? He can't even let his legs touch his belly or he will give a new meaning to the term "weenie roast."

A ramble about today

So, today Jonathan had an appointment with a pediatric psychiatrist to confirm his diagnosis of Asperger's, and she did! Talk about a weight off my shoulders! For so long, I have known he was different, and I always thought it was something that I did to screw him up. I thought I did something wrong, or raised him wrong, and made him act the way he does, resistant to change, keeping strict routines, awkward in social situations, and so on. I thought I was a bad mom. This confirmation of an AS diagnosis is a relief to me.

That was our morning. We came home, and it seemed silly to send him back to school for a few hours in the afternoon. Steve went back to work and we just sat around the house. After school we played outside with the neighbors, which included a water fight for the kids. I had my camera with me but did I take any pictures? No. Duh, me!

Dinner was shake & bake extra crispy chicken, stuffing and corn, with brownies for dessert. Jonathan picked them out at the store today and Katie helped me make them. We did homework & the kids took showers, and off to bed they went. I made some cards, which is my new thing. it is fun to handmake pretty cards using decorative papers and rubber stamps.

Steve came home, and it is trash day tomorrow so we put out the trash and recycling. He is asleep now, and I want to be, but I am restless, and also I have to get up and use the bathroom about six times a night, so I don't get much sleep. So I am sitting here typing and I felt the baby move again, twice in a row this time! Hello baby! He or she does not like me sitting up like this (cross legged) and so he or she protests. It was the same last week.

What else? Katie has a field trip tomorrow and I picked two ticks off the dog! Woo!

OK I am going to sleep now. Night, y'all.

How do you talk to G-d?

OK I was just visiting one of the many message boards that I frequent, and a lady's cousin had been stabbed. She was asking for prayers, so I posted some support, and then sat back, closed my eyes and prayed for her poor cousin. Sounds normal right?

Except I was talking to G-d like He was right there in the room, sitting in my big blue chair. I asked for G-d to be there for her & her family, and to help the cousin heal, and then I just went off, asking what the hell was wrong with people? Why do they want to hurt each other like that? Then I remembered I was talking to G-d, hello??? And I felt like a huge dork.

If G-d knows my thoughts, feelings, and innermost corners of my heart then do I censor it? Or does that make Him laugh because He knows what I really feel like saying?

I talk to Him a lot, like when another board friend had a car wreck. No one was hurt much, but I knew how much accidents can strain a budget. So I expressed thanks that the FBG family was mostly unhurt, and prayed for their finances to be ok.

Is it weird that I pray for people I don't know? Mysterious internet people, most of whose name I don't know? I pray by their username, because G-d knows who I am talking about, even if I don't use their given name.

I have prayed for countless women over the years, through pregnancies, (and sometimes losses) and when I know they are laboring. I was so relieved when Michelle's cousin Rachel had her baby after a long, drawn-out labor. I was ecstatic to see Paisley announce she had her baby too. It was a long weekend of anxious waiting. She was to be induced and was afraid. Every time I logged on and didn't see a post by her, I prayed for her, for a calm heart, a good delivery and a healthy baby.

The words come easy when it is about others, but when I try to tell G-d how thankful I am for this little life I have inside me, words fail me. "Thank you" seems inadequate, somehow. My heart swells and I lose speech. I am sure that comes as a shock, LOL. This is when I am glad that G-d knows my thoughts. (Side note: I am 14 weeks, 1 day today. I have a regular appointment tomorrow, after which I will post an update. And I think I felt the baby move yesterday, a brief litle swish which delighted me to no end!)

I pray for my husband daily, in a rambling fashion. Personal safety driving during his commute, good job performance, patience for him because of the noodleheads he works with, his health, and so on. I pray for my kids too, or their healthy and safety, and that they behave at school, and try their best on their assignements. Jonathan has a test today. He studied well and we will see how he does.

Is it weird that I pray for my dog? I love my Max. Plus he got a tick yesterday and I don't want him to get doggie Lyme disease. Yeah, I'm a nut.

Adding to the nuttiness is the fact that I pray for people I don't talk to anymore. It is not that we have simply lost touch, these are people that I have told to lose my email address! So why do I still care about these people? I guess that I still care because I did care, when we were friends. They are not bad people, they didn't murder anyone. We just sorta "broke up." And I am naturally curious.

So I still think of A. who stole money from me in high school, (and recently contacted me?!?) and also S. who stole my vaccuum, and N. who is ran away from her responsibilities and doesn't want to grow up and doesn't understand why I don't agree with her choices, and H. who got too big for her britches and I could not stand her uppity attitude any more, and another A. We were close while our husbands were deployed, and she was pregnant at the time. We had a falling out and I moved across the country. But still, I prayed for a safe delivery for her and was delighted when she added two beautiful babies to her family.

Sigh.

So this started out as a question, kinda. Am I being sacreligious or disrespectful in the manner that I pray? Then it turned into a ramble. Oh well, it has been a while since I updated. That's about it.

The baby is standing on its head!

We had some spotting, and went to the doctor for reassurance. They tried to listen for the heartbeat but couldn't hear it, so we had another ultrasound. The baby is fine, is 5.5 cm/2 1/4 inches from crown to rump, and weighs a few ounces. He or she is also standing on their head! I took a picture of the u/s with my cell phone, but I took it upside down for easier viewing. Here is the baby at 12 weeks and three days, looking much more human that before! I also had some precautionary RhoGam. I stop the progesterone when I hit 13 weeks (next Tuesday) and the spotting should stop then. All appears well! Yay for a healthy baby!

Just checking in

So last night I had a taste of irrationality. I have had small instances of going from zero to hugely irritated where I can barely speak, but only a few times so far this pregnancy. But last night, holy hormones, Batman.

I am still using my progesterone, and it comes with prefilled applicators and you have to snap off the top and then use it. Well lately when I snap the top off, the progesterone has been oozing out, which irritate me because it means less meds are getting where they needs to go. For the past two nights, it has been shooting out! As in flying across the room and splatting places. Just to irk my nerves. I am not squeezing the tube or anything so I have no idea why it is doing this.

So that was on my nerves, and I get into bed and stare at the TV for a bit before going to sleep and within 30 minutes, I am hungry. I am talking severe hunger pangs, and I wanted to cry. I knew it was no time to eat, and I should go to sleep and my stomach hurt *that* bad. I considered getting some of my beloved frozen fruit, (Schwan's golden fruit blend is SO yummy!)when, to my dismay I remembered that I polished it off as an afternoon snack. The tears flowed.

I fell asleep and had bad dreams of being hungry. Woke up to pee about 4 times. Was nauseated this morning and was pronounced "pitiful" by Steve. I am 12+1 today. Am I not out of my first trimester until I am 13 weeks? Is that when it will get better? We'll see.

Also, as a public service announcement, Dole frozen dark sweet cherries are SO good, whether you have Schwan's frozen fruit in your freezer or not. I can still wear my jeans fine, so that is good. And being sick with Rotavirus and just plain nausea, I have lost three pounds. I'm not trying to lose weight--I graze all day. I will keep you posted!

Say cheese!

So we went to the inlaws this past weekend and got to see the babies! They are about 7 1/2 months old now, full of personality and happy as clams! From the top: MIL holds baby MacKenzie as she grins hugely at Katie. Then, Steve gets big giggles from Alyssa. On the bottom, Alyssa shows her new interest--her toes!

Second trio of pics: Jonathan says cheese! Second, the older girls hold the the younger girls, and on the bottom, Katie holds Alyssa.

The bottom trio of pics is a few snapshots from Easter--dyeing eggs, right after the egg hunt, and then Katie dressing up Max in his sailor suit. Poor dog!

So that's about it for us. Oh yeah--I am 12 weeks today! Woohoo!

Hello, baby!

So we went to the doctor, me, Steve and the kids. All 3 of them, LOL. That's right, we are having another baby! We had an ultrasound this evening, and we planned on telling the kids by showing them the ultrasound. So the tech takes me in, and is very nice, and checks--there's the baby with a nice, fast HB of 172 BPM. I have to look online to see if that means boy or girl? I was just in a hurry to get this posted to look first.

Steve brought the kids in after I was already stirruped & draped, and we asked if they knew what it was on the screen? Katie asked if it was a baby, and if so, could she take the pictures to school tomorrow? She's a nut.

Jonathan's eyes got wide and he said, "You have a baby inside you?" They haven't asked yet how the baby got in there. *wipes sweat from brow in relief*

The tech showed them the baby and the heart beating, and printed us out some pictures, and off we went to Friendly's for some celebratory ice cream.

The kids gave us naming suggestions. Katie advised me to go to the baby aisle at the store, as well as "the fat person aisle, where Mommies with babies in their bellies buy clothes."

Cue peals of laughter, and then me explaining to her that she means to say "maternity section."

Jonathan asked how the baby knew it was ready to get out? He asked if the baby kickd me in the side and said it was ready? I showed them the pictures again and pointed out the sac, and said it was like a water balloon and it would pop. That amused both kids greatly.

So here are the pictures. They are small, click and they should get a little bigger. They are a little fuzzy, a little grainy, and with white strips of paper haphazardly torn to cover my name for some anonymity. Who needs scissors anyway? The baby appears to have a giant head, and it is on the bottom right of each picture. The torso & legs, which you cannot really make out, are towards the left. The tech says my due date of 8 Nov has been confirmed, and all looks well! Yay for a nice tech!

A mini vacation in Philly!

Tomorrow morning I am leaving here and meeting my friend Kathy on the MassPike and we are driving to Philadelphia. We are going to play tourist, go shopping, and meet up with Netanya like when we went to NY last year. Plus we are going to meet Sharon this time! Sharon is bringing her grown daughter, and Netanya is bringing her cousin, and plus since Miss Poppy lives so close to Philly, we can meet up with her too!

I will be coming back on Sunday and be readyto get back into the swing of things, refreshed from my *mommy vacation.* Woohoo!

I will post pics as soon as I get them developed, of course!

A foot of snow on St. Patrick's Day, and some illness.

So the weather report called for an inch of snow Thursday night, and between one and three Friday, with between six and ten inches overnight. That later changed to 10 to 15 inches overnight.

We got at least a foot of snow dumped on us, but it is hard to get an accurate measure because the winds made the powdery snow drift. We had to shovel to get out the door, just so poor Max could go potty. But we had a foot of standing snow on the driveway.

What else do we have? A vomiting child. Katie woke up early Thusday morning, threw up all over, and then promptly stopped all mess-making by 8 AM. She was a little less active than she normally is, but had no fever.

Repeat this scenario Friday morning, except add in normal active behavior, still no fever, and an increased appetite. We have been giving her 10ccs of liquid every 1o minutes (plus water & ginger ale to drink freely in addition to the minimum 1occs) as long as she is awake to combat dehydration. You all know how it is with a virus--it has to come out the other end, and it does so in liquid form.

I am in no mood to try to navigate poorly-plowed, snowy mountain roads to bring my baby girl to an ER.

Well today she woke up fine, had a normal appetite, and seemed to suffer no ill effects. We breathed easier. Then right before 2 PM, she exploded all over my kitchen floor. Tell me she could not have gone two steps to the right and aimed for the kitchen sink? Nooooooooooooo.

So we have been back on the 10ccs every 10 minutes routine for the past 3 1/2 hours. Still no fever. But she did manage to share her bug with me and her dad. Me yesterday, her dad today. I am still feeling a little lousy, but am on the mend. Steve, who is just pitiful when he is sick, should hopefully feel better by tomorrow. As for Katie, who knows???

We were supposed to go to the commissary, but that involves a 4 hour round trip in the car. Katie's illness nixed that. So I said ok, we will go to a local store and pay higher prices, but no, the snow nixed that for today.

If the roads are more driveable, we might go to a local store tomorrow. Steve will drive since I am not used to snow driving and it is supposed to snow in small showers today / tonight / tomorrow. So our store trip tomorrow depends on Katie's tummy. Get better, Katie's tummy!

She is unpredictable, though. So if we go, I will push one of those huge carts that seats two kids in front, and put her in there with a barf can lined with a bag. And I will carry spare bags, and wipes and bottles of water in my purse. She could pull what she did today, and be fine, and then explode all over with no warning. No way am I making a biohazard in aisle 6.

That's about it, I guess. Jonathan is still robust, thank goodness, and max is unimpressed with this powdery snow that is higher than he is. He sinks right down in it. Steve, being a nice daddy, cleared him a patch of grass to potty on.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Just another day

I couldn't sleep much past the third alarm that we had set, so I got up. Steve stayed in bed, whacking the various snooze buttons. I decided to make apple streusel muffins. Not from scratch or anything. Just a boxed mix, but they were a pain to make so I am glad I got up when I did. Otherwise we would not have been able to eat them for breakfast.

The kids meandered downstairs just after 7 AM. We bought them these alarm clocks that light up different colors as they buzz so the kids like them, and actually get up when they go off, so gone are the mornings where I spend 10 minutes yelling up the stairs for them to get up.

Right now I am just sitting down for a minute before I finish a few things. I tidied the living room but it needs vaccuuming. I'll do that next. Re-fluff the couch pillows and fold blankets, wipe down the coffee table. I have been cleaning and throwing stuff away, so now I need to take the trash out. And change the laundry over.

I already washed the few breakfast dishes and wiped down the counters and stove top. After I finish the living room I have to make sure my bathroom is guest-ready, a la Flylady. I didn't make my bed yet, so I guess I will do that. Do some dusting, light a few candles, then sit back down for a few minutes and plan what other little tasks to do. I will do a little crochet work on a blanket then as well.

It's just another day, with the kids off to school and Steve off to work. My days right now are pretty free, where I can clean a little, and do one of my hobbies a little, and rotate these things all day long. Like clean the kitchen, then do some cross-stitch, then clear off the dining area that has become a catch-all, then go scrapbook for a little while. Stuff like that.

I realized last night that it had been about three weeks since my last blog entry so I thought I would post something, even if it is just about an ordinary morning.

Snow!

I love snow! Finally we are getting some significant snow! Here's a pic or two. The top one is the view from the road, looking at my house and the bottom one is a close-up shot. Yay for snow!

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.

Clomid is fun!

Here I am. This pic was taken this week. See, Momma? I'm smiling.

It's been a while since my last update. What's new? We got barstools for our bar. I love them. They are cherrywood and square topped for more butt support. The kids love to sit at the bar for meals or homework.

It snowed Friday night, and the snow has stuck around. The temps are too cold for it to melt, but it is also so cold with horrible winds and freezing wind chill that we can't go outside and make a snowman. Max the poor weenie dog looks at us like we are nuts when we take him out, like, "You expect me to go outside??" We scraped some snow off the grass so he can have a patch of grass to pee on. Little picky dog.

Steve stopped smoking, which was a pleasant surprise to me, and he is doing good so far. No crabbiness, just a little tense. Poor Steve.

Jonathan and Katie are doing well in school but are not too fond of winter because it means afternoons are spent cooped up indoors to avoid frostbite. I am not too fond of it either, because I want to build a snowman!

As for me, well I started Clomid. Finished my first round of it today, actually. And good lord, the side effects! I am nauseated, my ovaries cramp, I get mild hot flashes and I get very dizzy and the mood swings are a wonder to behold.

Case in point: Jenn is unloading the dishwasher, and lining up the cups on a strip of countertop rather than put the dishes directly into the cabinet from the dishwasher. I always do it this way so I am not running back and forth, making 20 trips to put things away. I consolidate first. Anyway, Steve came up and asked me why I was doing it that way.

In the time it took me to pivot around and fix him with a steely-eyed glare, a raging she-beast had emerged from inside me, shrieking like a harpy, "What? You are criticizing the way I unload the dishwasher? Are you gonna SCHOOL me now?"

This was not yelled. Or hollered. Or shouted. This was *bellowed* to Steve's hastily retreating form. All the while there was a still, small part of me who knew that I was acting like a nutbag and he just asked a simple question. But the rational part of me was overruled. No way did I have control of my mouth.

Hopefully the Clomid will help me make a robust, healthy egg and I can have my 3rd and be done. I will keep you all posted when testing time draws near.