The Art Of Vacationing While Pregnant

Hello everyone, it's been a week since I have blogged, but I finally have a moment to log on and share that I am alive and well! I am currently in Kentucky, but we leave tomorrow so we will be back into the swing of things soon. I will be sharing photos and all that good stuff eventually, but for now here are a few highlights of how I survived our Thanksgiving vacation while 6 months pregnant.

To begin we had a 14 hour drive from our house to my parents, but we split it up into a 2 day trip. Normally I am all about driving straight through, but between the 2 year old and my current comfort level we chose to take our time. I am really glad we did it this way and we plan on taking it slow on the way back as well.

Thanksgiving went great and I loaded up on all the traditional goodies, with exception of one holiday tradition which involves wine, Bailey's, and/or other cordials. Fortunately my family was thoughtful enough to have supplied some scrumptious sparkling cider and you would not believe the variety of gourmet hot chocolate mixes I have accrued!

I stayed really active this trip and I feel good about that. I did a lot of walking around the city, we played wii sports and wii fit regularly, today I even went ice skating at Fountain Square in Cincinnati, and I feel great. Lastly, I have managed to get some rest during this break. It's hard enough to sleep in the comfort of your own home when you are nearing your 3rd trimester let alone traveling from one hub to the next. This past week I have slept in the car, in the hotel, at my parents, and currently at my brother's house, but I came prepared. We brought our down pillows, my snoogle and of course lots of layers to keep warm at night.

So it's been a great trip, but no matter how much I may brag about having sailed through all the hustle and bustle of travel without any problems, don't let me fool you into thinking I am made of steel. I mean who doesn't get back from a vacation and feel like they need a vacation to recuperate from it?

Nashville

Just wanted to check in really quick while I have the chance. We left home last night and drove into Nashville today. We went to some thrift stores and the mall where we saw Reba Mcentire last year. Then we checked into a hotel and all 3 of us took a nap. You know we must be officially on vacation when we all take a nap.

So far I would say the trip is going well. I'll admit I felt on edge (to say the least) last night when J was driving while groggy. I nagged him all the way to Memphis where he finally stopped at a Cracker Barrel at 5:00 am to rest for a while.

Tonight I was the calm one of the two of us when we walked to "The Mellow Mushroom" for pizza, which is about a mile away from where we are staying. We had one of those child leashes for Z and everything, and after all the driving we had done it was nice to stretch our legs. However on the way back Z was being a bit difficult and I was wanting to check out this ice cream place called "Tasti De Light" and J just looked at me and with his jaw clenched tight said "order quick".

Despite having our moments it's been a lot of fun. I am glad to be on vacation and I am really looking forward to the rest of our time away.

Apples & Pumpkins

One of my favorite fall traditions growing up was picking apples from the local orchard. So when we went back to Kentucky this past October we went to one of the orchard/pumpkin patches and Z tried his first caramel apple, and LOVED it.

The next morning my brother and his wife made apple pancakes with some of the fresh apples from the orchard, and Z helped some too.


Tomorrow we will be leaving to go back to Kentucky and celebrate Thanksgiving. I am really looking forward to every aspect of this trip. Family time, food time, and starting Friday there is no stopping us from welcoming Christmas time. So, since I will be on the road and very busy during this upcoming Holiday I probably won't be blogging very much, but I will try in check in as I get a chance. Until then I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Trunk Or Treat

This was Z's 3rd year to dress up on Halloween, and so far every year I have been able to come across some sort of economical costume that just comes together at the last minute. This year after sifting through thrift stores and outlet centers I hadn't found anything and started to get discouraged. Then the week before Halloween I was at Babies R Us of all places where they had costumes %50 off. I wasn't thrilled with the dinosaur costume at first but I was loving the idea of getting it for $10. Then when he tried it on I was completely sold. He looked so stinkin' cute it didn't matter if he was mistaken for everything from a dragon to a frog and most importantly he really had fun in it. Plus he was able to wear it 3 times so I feel like we definitely got our money's worth.

The first trip out in the dinosaur getup was for a photo session at the local pumpkin patch. He was such a ham, posing like a pro and entertaining all the families shopping for their pumpkins.



Then the next time he wore it was October 30th for trick-or-treat on the square, which is a community event. It was packed and by the end Z was exhausted, but overall it was a positive experience. Here he is encountering another dinosaur.

Lastly on October 31 we hopped from one fall festival to another where many churches were hosting a trunk or treat, which is the same as going from door to door except there are a bunch of cars lined up with trunks full of candy. Here is a lot video clip of our first stop.

I feel like I learned a lot as a first timer and have made many mental notes about what I would do differently next year. I am so excited to see my baby boy growing up and to be getting old enough to participate in some of the holiday traditions that childhood memories are made of.

Oktoberfest

This year I attended my first Oktoberfest with some friends I have known since High school. I have always wondered what the deal was with Oktoberfest and to be honest I pretty much still do. However I did get a better understanding of this German inspired annual tradition and it is basically a fair that involves a lot of bratwursts and beer.

I didn't have any beer since I am pregnant, but since I don't drink beer I didn't feel like I missed out on too much. I did enjoy the polka music and funnel cakes though. Here are some snapshots taken that day.









Cheers!

Look Back and Laugh: Extra-C

One thing this time of year is well known for is cold and flu attacks. I usually don't even think about it, but with the widespread panic about H1N1 along with seeing constant Facebook status updates of people posting about their illnesses I have tried to be extra careful.

My mother, who lives out of state, had bought me a vitamin drink mix that is supposed to help boost the immune system and wanted to send me some. Her mind went blank in trying to remember the name of the product and she said "I think it has vitamin C in the name. Maybe it was Extra-C or Ecsta-C? I am not sure"

I figured she did not purchase anything called ecstasy for me, and if she did then I think I will have a lot more than the flu to worry about. Come to find out it was Emercen-C that she was talking about.

I still chuckle at the thought of a vitamin supplement called "Ecsta-C". Although it's results seem to be no laughing matter, so far I haven't gotten sick at all this season. This includes helping out in the church nursery, watching my friends 4 kids all last week, and having friends and family that are sick. I have yet to take any kind of medication whatsoever this pregnancy and my goal is to keep it that way. I still have 4 chilly months left to try and combat it, but hopefully I won't have any trouble.

So what do you do during cold and flu season to keep the bugs away? I am always open to hearing new prevention tactics.

The Fall

Although Autumn is my favorite season I can't say that I am a big fan of daylight savings time. Sure, you get an extra hour that one day of the year, but this year I forgot about it until the morning of. That means I had already pulled myself together and began to head out the door bright and early when I finally noticed the time on the phone had changed. So instead of an extra hour of sleep I had an hour to kill, and feel gypped. Since then thing still seem a little out of whack. I feel like night is darker than it's ever been. I know this shouldn't make sense, it's just dark earlier, but it feels darker. There are a couple times when l have gotten a phone call when it's dark out and think "who could be calling me at this hour?!" and then I look to see that it's only 7:00 pm.

Although I may not love the earlier sunset, it is a good reminder that we are headed for a new season. The chill in the air takes a while to makes it's way this far south, but it is coming. This week I finally cleared out all the summer clothes and 18 month stuff out of Z's drawers to make way for the 2T winter pj's, pants, and long sleeve shirts. It got cold enough today that I felt like it was appropriate to wear the knee high snowflake socks that I got in a gag gift exchange at a Christmas party last year and I am wearing them right now, hideous as they may be.

Speaking of Christmas party, the holidays are right around the corner. Can you believe Thanksgiving day comes next week? Then it will be Christmas which means fall is almost over. We've had a good run though. This year I attended my first Oktober Fest, Z went trick or treating for the first time, and we even managed to stop by a few pumpkin patches for carmel apples, hot cider, and all that good stuff.

It's been a blast really and so I will be sharing some photos and stories all week. So here's to fall, even if it does include daylight savings time.

The Blushing Penguin

Tonight was opening night at the Lighthouse coffee bar!!! You know, the one that my husband has been working on around the clock for the past several months? Well, it's finally open and so that is where I was hanging out tonight. I had the Mediterranean panini followed by an excellent drink called the Blushing Penguin. I don't remember what all was in it, but I will say it was garnished with whipped topping, white chocolate shavings, and raspberries. Mmmm. I had J take a photo on his iphone, but since I don't have that right now I am just using this generic mug shot that I photographed for the coffee bar website.

The purpose of this coffee bar is to be a ministry, a way to reach out to the community. A place for people to gather and be together. I know it may seem like I have totally strayed from the topic of lessons I have learned about marriage, but it all ties together because marriage is about community. Of course marriage is primarily between you, your spouse, and God at the core, but outside of that there are countless people that have some role in your covenant as well. I am talking about friends, relatives, pastors, councilors and so on. Just like it takes a village to raise a child, you could just as easily say it takes one to support a healthy thriving marriage.

At the beginning of the week I quoted some of the traditional marriage vows, but something that is starting to be incorporated into the modern vows today is saying "your people shall be my people, and your God, my God" taken from the book of Ruth. You don't just marry one person, but in a way you marry into a family or a community. Of course dealing with other people in marriage can be rocky at times, but rocks, when put in the proper place, are great for building. This is one of the many things I have found to be true in my marriage. As a couple we need community, to be surrounded by people that support us and point us closer to God and to each other which is the core that I talked about earlier. Sometimes these are the people that are around your thanksgiving table, or getting together to watch Lost, or sometimes they are at the local coffee bar while you enjoy a blushing penguin.

Mmmmm.

Yeah, about that rich thing...

One thing I have never been accused of is marrying for money. When I married my husband I was a hostess at the Olive Garden and he was working for a nutrition company selling breast cream to menopausal woman. It was an office job in Dallas. I think he started making $10 an hour stuffing envelopes, then moved up to answering phones and placing orders. After 6 years of dedication he eventually was on salary doing graphic design for their publications and had a nice office with a window in a great part of town. One day the owner of the company approached him with a proposition to be promoted even further. They wanted to send him to school and promised all kinds of benefits and rewards. Even though J didn't really find fulfillment in his job the offer was quite enticing.

That same day the pastor at the church we have been going to for our whole marriage also met with him and offered him a full time paid position as associate pastor. Up until this point J had been leading worship voluntarily. It was a big decision, one that would change the course of our lives forever. The hardest part was that as much as we wanted someone to just tell us which door to walk through it was something we had to decide on our own.

After much prayer and consideration J chose to leave the nutrition company to become a pastor at our church. That was about 5 years ago. There may be some that think that that was an unwise decision, and some might say we were foolish for getting married so young in the first place before we had careers or a decent income. People could also say that we started having children before we could really afford to offer them the cushy life that would be expected of the classic American family. That's fine, I understand where "those people" are coming from, but if you know the relationship and the depth of the love that is between me and my husband, my children, and my church family then you know that I have no regrets.

When I first met J one his favorite bands was Better Than Ezra, so naturally I started listening to them. I love the line in one of their songs that says:

"Ramen noodles at 4:30 in the morning,
when we barely could survive, I was never more alive"

I am not trying to imply that we can all just live on love and never have any worries. There is something to be said about the power of the almighty dollar and the implications that the lack or abundance of can have on a marriage. However, if there is one thing I have learned over the past 9 years it is that money isn't everything. If it was our relationship would have dissolved a long time ago. It is often the times when you have the least in terms of possessions that can be the richest moments in your life if you allow it.

Look Back and Laugh: Lost Lingerie

When it comes to marriage being able to keep the romance and laughter alive are two of the most important things you can do for your relationship. It may not seem like these two things go together, but sometimes they do.

For example, our first anniversary I wanted to make things really special! I was a waitress at the time and after work I went out and got some new lingerie, then stopped by the grocery store for some ingredients to make a candle light dinner. After I had everything I needed I rushed back to the apartment to get things ready to surprise J when he got home. So I took a shower and made dinner in my bath robe, because I didn't want to get anything on my outfit while cooking. After everything was nearly ready it was time to get dressed and wait for my groom. The only problem was I didn't realize that J was about to be home. He walked up behind me while I was frantically searching for my latest purchase and he said "looking for these?" while he held up the silky undergarments. My jaw dropped. "Where did you get those?" I asked. Then my jaw dropped even more when he told me that he found them outside the front door. Whoa. I guess in the midst of unlocking the door, and having my hands full I must have tipped over the bag with the lingerie leaving them on the door step to greet my husband, AND anyone else who might walk by.

Although it wasn't the surprise I had planned, it was a surprise none the less.

Anniversary Update

So J and I had our little rendezvous last weekend in Las Colinas. Unfortunately I don't have any photos, but when I do my next thrift store fashion show (maternity edition) I will have to model the dress that I wore Friday night, which I found at a consignment shop for ONE DOLLAR!

Our budget has been stretched to the max between the eye doctor/surgery bills and prenatal payments, but we were truly blessed to be able to get away for the evening. We got a Red Lobster gift card from our pastor for our anniversary, and a friend of ours who is a hotel manager for Staybridge got us a suite for the night, and child care was provided courtesy of the grandparents.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was watching our wedding video on the nice flat screen in the hotel. What a treat! I am a little embarrassed to say that this was the first time we watched it since I had it converted to DVD for anniversary last year. You just don't realize until you see it first hand how much changes in 9 years. Little babies that are now big kids, single friends that are now married and vice versa, styles that evolve over the years (we couldn't believe how ridiculous we all looked in our CHUNKY shoes. Besides that I see how much I have changed and learned over the past 9 years, which makes me think that this would be a good time to look back at some of those lessons. The traditional vows say "for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health..." and in nine years I feel like I have seen it all except I am still waiting on the richer part, but I am guessing I still have around 60 years to go so there is still time for that.

Nightmare Come True

I have a lot of crazy dreams during pregnancy and one night I had this horrific nightmare that woke me from my sleep. It was that Z had fallen down a long flight of stairs and was severely injured. I tried calling 911, but I kept hitting the wrong numbers, and then I woke up terrified and breathing heavily. I shared this dream with a few people because it had impacted me so much.

Later that week, Z was playing outside and I was hanging stuff to dry on the clothes line. We have a big back yard and it is kind of broken up into sections so you can't see everything at once. I check on Z periodically, but since we have a fence I don't follow every little step he takes. At one point I notice he is out of my sight so I check around the corner and I still can't find him, in fact I don't see him anywhere in the back yard. No big deal, I must have left the back door cracked and he went inside. So I go inside and calmly call for him. Still no Z anywhere. That is when I start to panic, yet trying to convince myself to stay calm. I go check through the yard again with my heart starting to pound a little more with each passing moment. In my mind I am thinking he has to be here somewhere there is no way he can get out. I check the house one more time frantically screaming his name. That's when I realized that he is gone!

So I go to the gate that is in our drive way which was shut, but not latched properly (we had a meter man come by the day before and it was closed with a bungee cord, but not tight enough). That is when my adrenaline kicked into overdrive and I am running through the neighborhood banging on doors, hoping someone can help me find my little boy, but NO ONE IS HOME! So I called 911. I explain what is going on and they told me to wait outside of my house and they would send help. As I am standing there crying hysterically and pleading to God to help me I see cars parked in a nearby drive way. I know the 911 dispatcher told me to wait, but I COULDN'T JUST STAND THERE WHILE MY SON WAS MISSING! I have to take action, so I cross the street and then I think I hear Z's voice. It's very faint because there is an extremely loud football game taking place at the end of the street, but I follow my gut and continue shouting Z's name and crying out for help. Then two yards down I see him in the distance and I can't move fast enough. There is my little 2 year old in a tree house just sitting in the doorway happily with his feet dangling off the edge. The tree house wasn't very high up, I could get him down without climbing the ladder, but still I thought my heart would just stop right then. It had done too much pounding over the past 15 minutes. I embraced my child and cried and cried some more while he just smiled and said "MAMA!" Then I called 911 so they could cancel the emergency.

I was still shaken up for a few days. Of course I felt like a horrible mother for loosing my child, but I have heard many many stories since then to reassure me that these kind of accidents can happen. At least I didn't end up having a heart attack in the midst of it like I thought I was going to and hopefully still have a few years left before all of my hair turns grey from the stress of motherhood. All I can say is thank you Jesus for protecting my son.

Gender Drama

Last week I shared the news that we are having a girl, what I didn't tell you is that it took 3 sonograms to determine that. So what do you do when you can't get answers from the professionals? You take matters into your own hands. I was so anxious to know the sex of the baby that although I told the sonographer not to give me any "guesses" I was determined to make some guesses of my own. I spread all the sonogram photos out from both pregnancies trying to compare if this baby's photos looked similar to Z's.


Then I got online and studied dozens of boy and girl sonograms. There are websites dedicated to this sort of thing, because apparently I am not the only loony obsessive pregnant woman out there. The thing that cracked me about the websites were the types of comments you would see. These are direct quotes that I came across in my research,

"I am no tech but I cannot make out a penis from that view"

"That is a great image of girl parts"

"Perhaps she thinks the penis grows out of the belly button???"

"I say girl if I see labial folds, we are looking for labia folds."

"Is the protrusion the penis and those white things below testes?"

"if u want to know the sex, ask for a toilet shot!!!"

I should be mature enough to talk about the anatomy of male and female without getting the giggles, but at some point when you find yourself looking at photos of genitalia all night long (and not in a dirty way) you just have to laugh at yourself. Anyway, I am glad the case is closed on what gender this baby is and at least this time I don't have to do any circumcision research, because believe me gender determination websites are nothing compared to the arena of the circumcision debate, and I will leave it at that!

What's That Spell?

Here are just some of the things that were going on in my messy life during the month of October...

David Crowder Tour- My rock star brother continues on in his journey this time touring with the David Crowder band. They came through Dallas last week, but no need to stay with us. Oh no, this the big time, they've got hotels and tour buses. I swiped this photo of the bus from my brother's face book page.

I didn't get to see it for myself though, because I was working late, but J and a couple of friends got to go to the concert and they had a good time.

Replaced- There have recently been some changes in the company that I do freelance work for and my boss was replaced. I could go on and on about this, but lucky for you I will not be doing any grumbling on this blog, because on the off chance that the wrong person reads it I could end up being "replaced" too, and I need the work.

Almost- The Coffee Shop at the church has been almost to the state of completion for the past month, which has meant crunch time, which also means overtime for J. Some nights Z and I have gone up there while he works just so we could have family time together. It should be over soon though, supposedly they open this week. I will post photos and updates eventually.

Matrimony- I have mentioned that my oldest brother got married, about a month ago. J was a groomsman, I was the photographer, and Z was along for the ride, which included a 3 hour flight to Kentucky and back.

Aftermath- So far the results of Z's strabismus (eye) surgery are very positive. He has had two follow up appointments in the past month and we haven't had to do any more patching. Unfortunately surgery comes at a cost. We thought we paid our dues when we put over $3,000 on a credit card the day of the event, however since then the bills still seem to keep coming in and I am doing my best not to have a nervous break down. Yes we have insurance, but it's pretty pathetic.

So let's see we've got David, Replaced, Almost, Matrimony, Aftermath... what does that spell? DRAMA. Nothing like a good old acrostic to make light of things right? Like I said yesterday, it's not all bad it's just a hectic season in my life lately and that's just the half of it. I am pregnant so I can't drink, take drugs, or ride roller coasters, yet somehow I feel like I've been doing all three (or at least what I think it would feel like). Stayed tuned for more of my dramatic ramblings and feel fee to share your own. Maybe we can make each other feel better.

Look Back and Laugh: Drama Queen

When Z throws a fit, which happens frequently enough since he is 2, I tell him "leave the drama for the mama" because I have enough drama of my own and last month was full of DRAMA! I will be talking about that later this week. Not all of it was bad, and not all of it was even that big of a deal, but I am 6 months pregnant and therefor everything triggers some kind of emotional response.

For example this week J and I will be celebrating our anniversary and Z is going to stay with his grandparents that live a couple hours away. So the other day J was talking to me about some ideas he had, things that I thought sounded wonderful, like visiting a nearby city, staying at a hotel, and going to Ikea, but as he is telling me this I start thinking about going days without seeing my little boy and trying to hold back the tears my face starts contorting into what I would imagine to be that of a cranky old lady, but really it's just me trying not to cry. As J looks over he immediately starts to back pedal "we don't have to go to Ikea, it's okay, it was just an idea". I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction and cry (am I pregnant or what?). He was being so considerate and I explained the real reason behind my tears.

So in the end Z will be with his grandparents for a few days, which I can handle and J and I will get to have our mini getaway where I will celebrate 9 years of marriage to a man that loves me even with mood swings and all.