Thanksgiving Weekend

Tadpole had his/her first taste of Thanksgiving… via me of course. ^_~ Andrew and I had a wonderful first Thanksgiving as a married couple. We had the pleasure of going to the Thompson's, along with a few other friends of ours. We had a most delicious Thanksgiving dinner, with all the classic favorites, that everyone had a hand in creating. Andrew and I made mashed potatoes and sugar cookies to share. We also went to the Thompson's early to help. We helped out a lot by keeping their baby and toddler occupied while Shilo did most the cooking, but I was able to get some helping in. Though I do admit, I love playing with their kids. At one point Andrew and I were reading stories to Micah (their toddler). Shilo brought us my favorite kid’s book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Andrew read it to our baby (Micah had lost interest at that point).

It was so fun to be gathered around a table to eat Thanksgiving dinner with friends. Both Andrew and I missed our parents since it’s the first year we were both away from our folks on Thanksgiving, but we enjoyed ourselves so much. And of my gosh the food was so good!!!

We all ended up eating so much food for dinner, that even after a break to play Scategories, we still weren’t that hungry for dessert. I am so thankful my appetite has come back!

Friday we went down to T-Town to hang out with Mike while he was in town. It was great getting to see him again (he was our best man at our wedding). After we had lunch together at a Mexican restaurant we decided to go to the mall. Not buy anything, but to walk it and people watch. Pretty entertaining actually. Some of the stores were PACKED with people reaching over one another to items they wanted to buy, and it was already late in the afternoon.

Saturday started off with a bit of light-heartedness, laughter, and entertainment. What did we do? We saw Disney’s Tangled!!! Such a great movie! The story telling and feeling of the film is like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. We both laughed during the film and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you haven’t seen it yet, and you’re trying to figure out what your next flick at the theater should be, go see Tangled. 

From that our day turned in preparing for Christmas! The mantle to our fireplace is now decorated for Christmas. Though we both realized our stockings are in CA with our parents… Thankfully they’re shipping them up to us. So for the moment we have other stockings I’ve used as decoration up in place for the four of us. And yes, of course Tadpole gets a stocking! Lil Tadpole might not be out in the world yet, but we are anxiously awaiting his/her arrival next year. And yes… Hoshi gets one too… Pets in my family have always gotten stockings (well, “always” as when I started the tradition with Smokey and Chocolate the rabbits when I was seven).

We still are trying to figure out what we are going to do about a Christmas tree. Should we buy a real one this year? Should we get a fake one? Should it be small? Where the heck is it going to go??? But we did do some extensive Christmas and are almost done in that area. We still have lights and décor to put up, but our home is slowly starting to show signs of Christmas coming. Right now there is a pile of reindeer candy canes that Andrew and I made together for the kids in the Christmas musical at church, and for my 4 and 5 year old classroom. Hoshi seemed to be very interested in their noses. 

Here’s more of a baby update:

Thanksgiving Day marked the one week count down until we find out if our little Tadpole is a boy or girl. I just can’t wait to see our little one on the ultrasound machine again! My two top prayer request for Tadpole as of late have been that he/she is growing healthily, and that Tadpole isn’t shy when it’s time for the ultrasound. Now we’re only two and a half days away! And don’t worry, for those of you waiting for the November belly picture to cast your vote on if you think we’re having a boy or girl (poll located on the right), it will be taken later today and posted some time tomorrow.

Want to know something else exciting…? I have been able to feel Tadpole dance around inside me for about a week now! I don’t feel Tadpole moving that often. It’s been sporadic, but basically every day for the past week. But hey, the lil one is only in the six inch range. This means Tadpole is still too small for anyone to feel on the outside. It’s exciting for me to feel the movement though. I really want Andrew to be able to feel Tadpole dancing around too. But we have to be patient and wait for that. I would describe the movement as a mix between fluttering, and a light version of what you feel when your tummy gets a lift on a rollercoaster ride; except the feeling isn’t occurring in your stomach, but your uterus.

I have discovered that Tadpole does not like when my laptop is on my lap. I situate it so the heat coming from my laptop isn’t sitting on top of Tadpole, but the edge of the laptop is sometimes resting on my belly. Sometimes when this happens it feels like Tadpole is kicking at it to try and make it go away. I have complied so far and rearranged my laptop. Hoshi I think might have felt Tadpole move a little the other day. I was laying down, and Hoshi was laying stretched across my belly and chest, purring away as I scratched her ears. After a while, when Hoshi’s purring was becoming more intense, I felt Tadpole move and Hoshi then moved away from my belly and more up onto my chest. This could have been pure coincidence, but it just was too perfectly timed. I have been working on trying to figure out if I can push my hand a certain away against my belly to make Tadpole move to see if I can feel the movements on the outside so I can have Andrew do the same thing and feel our little one, but my plan has worked to no avail so far.  

And as a last little note, I think Tadpole enjoyed Tangled as well because he/she moved a bit during the movie. ^_^

Don’t forget to vote on if you think Tadpole is a boy or girl! Right now the girl vote is ahead with 13, and the boy vote is at 10. Voting will be kept open for a day or two after we find out the results, and we’ll let you know what the ultrasound reveals to us sometime after that.  

Random Quotes

Here are a few random quotes between Andrew and me that took place during the first trimester up to this last weekend (half way through the 2^nd trimester).

A: Are you okay?

C: Yeah. I just felt like I had to throw up on you, but didn’t want to.

A: But it’s exciting throw up because you’re pregnant.

While playing with a Strawberry Shortcake toy (about 2 inches) the same we had our first ultrasound done, Andrew came to a striking realization and whispered “Our baby is this big right now.”

A: Hahaha

C: What?

A: If you threw up in bed we don’t have a change of sheets.

C: Oh yeah.

Both: *Awkward laughing out loud*

C: Hmm, yeah… maybe we should get a 2^nd set…

A: Yeah… maybe… keep that bucket close, alright.

C: I don’t want violent games played around our baby when he/she is born.

A: Does Mario’s butt stomping koopas count?

C: No. I was thinking more of guns, swords, archery, that kind of thing.

A: So Wii Sports Resort is out then?

C: Hahaha no. =P

C: I feel chubby.

A: You’re not chubby! You’re makin’ baybay.

C: We are not naming our child Johnjacobjingleheimerschmidt ‘cause that’s not my name too.

A: I’m pretty sure Johnjacobjingleheimerschmidt doesn’t know anyone with the same name.

C: (After going through lots of boy names and not finding a single one we both semi-like) Fine. We can name our child Yoda if Tadpole is a boy, because he’ll be small and wrinkly when he comes out.

C: (While driving on 520 with Andrew) So, technically can we be in the 3 person or more carpool lane?

***Don't forget to vote if you think we're having a girl or boy! The poll is located on the right.***

Monthly Pictures: August - October

We have taken a “belly” picture of me on every 30^th of the month, starting back in August right after we found out I was pregnant. Some people have asked to see belly pictures to help with their vote on the poll. Here’s the deal: This post will contain the pictures for August, September and October. In 10 days on the 30^th of November, I will post the November “belly” picture. The poll for if we’re having a girl or boy won’t be closed until December 3^rd or 4^th. So here’s the pictures thus far!

August 30, 2010 - Week 5

September 30, 2010 - Week 10

October 30, 2010 - Week 14

October 30, 2010 - Hoshi was curious as to what we were doing, so we took a picture with her too.

 November 30, 2010 - Week 19 will be up in about 10 days. Don't forget to cast your vote on if we're having a girl or boy. The Poll is located on the right. The poll will be closed in about 2 weeks and we'll let you know what the ultrasound tells us. Right now, as I post this, the votes are 50-50.

Doctor Update

We went to the doctor’s yesterday for a follow up appointment after having blood drawn again to check my thyroid. To make a long story short… I had to have my blood drawn again because my thyroid is still overacting and in the zone of “you need to pay attention to me, but I’m not super dangerous.” We’ll have to wait a bit for the results and see where we go from there. We might just have to keep an eye on it during my pregnancy.

I’ll be getting some more blood drawn later today for the 2^nd trimester blood screening test they do. It’s basically a repeat of the big blood test they did during my first trimester.

Want to know about my nausea? It’s been gone for just over a week! I’m hoping it’s gone forever. ^_^ And my cold symptoms are basically all the way gone now too, so I’m almost back to normal. I can’t wait to have more energy return so I can go visit family and friends, run errands by myself, do housewife things, and more! I would have announced that my nausea was gone sooner, but I was afraid it would come back since I had a few half weeks in there without nausea. But it seems to be gone. I’m still dealing with my normal sensitive stomach issues, but those should be a lot easier to manage without the nausea and cold. My normal stomach issues still seem to be slightly more sensitive than normal, but I’ll blame that on the extra pregnant hormones.

Now it’s time to gain weight! And yes I think this is the only time you’ll hear me (or see me type) with excitement that it is time to gain weight. Last night at Bible study I think is the only time I will ever write a prayer request to gain weight. Why am I so excited again weight gain, you ask. Remember how I lost weight at the beginning of my pregnancy? Well, I finally gained all that weight back, plus one pound! But I still need to gain more weight for my pregnancy. In fact, my doc wants to me do my best to gain about 10 pounds in the next months. I’m thinking Thanksgiving should help with this. But my appetite has finally seemed like it has returned. I’d say it’s official return date was two days ago on Tuesday when I ate 3 slices of chicken pot pie, and some left over Mexican tostada with chips, and a few other things. That’s a heck of a lot of food for me!!! And yesterday I ate 4 slices of pizza for dinner when I usually only eat 2. So, yay for appetites! ^_^

Want to know some more exciting news? I just scheduled our 2^nd ultrasounds! This is the ultrasound where we will learn is our little Tadpole is a girl or boy. So exciting! I cannot wait to find out. ^_^ But this almost makes me curious as to what you all think I might be having. Thus, I ask you to direct your attention to the right of this blog where you will see a poll where you can cast your vote! The poll will be up an available for the next two weeks. I’ll let you all know what we discover shortly after we find out. Until then, stay tuned!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Christmas is approaching, and I’ve been asked to make a wish list. This used to be an easy task, or easier at least. But my outlook on life has changed a bit, and I mostly only want necessity things. At to tell the truth, that list is pretty darn short when I’m told to make a list for ME that doesn’t include lil Tadpole. I mostly have thought of Target and Safeway gift cards. Or even a PetSmart one to spend on Hoshi for her kitty needs. But since I was asked, I thought I’d try to go ahead and create a list. I took the idea my brother has used the last couple years and created an Amazon wish list.

Now, I’m used to only buying movies, books and music on Amazon, but it is my goal to try and branch out. Most people who know me know I have a movie addiction. It’s not as bad as it used to be since I went on a two year streak of not allowing myself to buy a single movie for myself. But there are still movies I’d like, so I figure it’s okay to ask for them. After I did that I just stared at the Amazon site trying to figure out what to add to my wish list next. I tried looking at their purses, since mine is starting to fall apart, but would rather check those out in person.

And then it came to me! “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.” I think it’s safe to say this book (see pic below), is my favorite kids book, or at least one of my top favorites anyway. I’m really surprised I didn’t own this book as a child, and that I don’t own it yet as an adult. So I added it to my wish list. And yes, this would be a book for me that I could share with Tadpole.

Well, from there I thought of other awesome kid books like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”, “How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?”, “The Monster at the End of This Book”, “Spot Goes to the Beach”, “Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy”, “Down By the Bay”, and so many more. My wish list currently contains 51 items. 35 are children’s books. 3 other items are baby related. And only 13 of those items do not relate to children (except for a maternity shirt I want that I guess technically relates to children). 

What does all this tell me besides I can’t figure out what *I* want for myself? It tells me I really want to make a baby registry. Which is very true. I really do want to create a baby registry. Andrew and I have already visited Babies R Us once, and we’ve been checking out baby/kid things at other stores as well. But we’re holding off on creating a baby registry until after we know if we’re having a girl or boy. Why you ask? Because part of what we register for (in our opinion) depends on if we’re having a girl or boy. And no, if we’re having a girl we are *not* going to get everything pink. I’m not a huge fan of the color…  We’ll probably mostly get gender neutral items, but the point is, we want to know before we register. And we probably have about a month before we find out.

And yes, we will share if we’re having a girl or boy. However, the name shall be our little secret until our child enters the world. ^_~

Oh, and if you have not checked out any of those children's books, I suggest you do. They're all a great read. Especially "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom."