Nap, anyone?

Sure! Don't mind if I do! Remember how I mentioned miraculously waking up with a burst of energy a few weeks ago, and how thrilled I was that it was lasting? Well, it went away. I'm tired. All. The. Time. Took a 2 1/2 hour nap yesterday and 1 1/2 hour today. Still tired. Trying to stay awake past 9pm so I can spend some time with my hubs.
Today marks 14 weeks, which means poppy is the size a lemon. The large ones, like this:

Have you ever seen such a beautimous sight?! She (yeah, yeah, yeah, it might be a boy) is approximately  4 inches long and weighs about 1 3/4 oz. Wowza! She is also hard at work growing eyebrows and more hair on her head. Good job poppy, keep on growing!

Since I am tired and can't think of anything creative to write about, here is a lame pregnancy survey that I've seen on other blogs:

How far along? 14 weeks (beginning the fourth month! squeeeeeee!)
Total weight gain/loss: down 2 pounds (stupid morning sickness)
Sleep: sucks at night. wake up at least 3 times to pee, toss a turn a lot.
Movement: not yet. feel some thumping, but it's probably gas
Symptoms: starving all the time. peeing all the time. thirsty all the time. tired. backache.
Symptoms I DON'T have: morning sickness
Food cravings: tomato sauce, salsa, spaghettios, cereal, bagels and cream cheese
Food aversions: veggies :(
Gender: I'll let you know around January 26th
Labor Signs: dear lord, none yet, thank god.
Belly Button in or out? in and the hole is getting bigger and bigger
What I miss: raw sushi, cold cuts
What I am looking forward to: getting a big baby bump, feeling baby move, decorating the nursery

That's all she wrote tonight, folks. It's 8:30 and poppy is ready for bed. Night! 

How are you feeeeeeling?!

How are you feeling? This is the #1 question people ask you when you are pregnant. I am happy to answer today with a solild "Wonderful!". That, however, was so not the case a few weeks ago.
The first few weeks I felt like someone was slipping nyquil in my water bottle. Exhaustion would hit me like a mac truck. I took up camp in my bed. I would bring water, saltines, cell phone, laptop, books, magazines, and settle into bed for the night the moment I got home from work (anywhere from 2-4pm). Andy would get home from work, "You're in bed AGAIN?". "You're in bed ALREADY?" He would look disappointed that he had once again lost his wife to the king size mattress. Sorry honey, I am growing an arm today, and reaching for my water bottle is really taking all of the energy I can muster.
Then there was the morning sickness. When you see it on TV and in movies, it appears that women are going about their day, honky dory, when all of the sudden the run to the bathroom and barf. They then return to the scene good as new. Um, not. It went more like this. Wake up, brush teeth and gag repeatedly. Sit down with a bowl of rice krispies. Put a spoonful in your mouth, try not to gag. Chew as slowly as possible, swish around in mouth, force yourself to swallow. This happened at most meals for about 6 weeks. Occasionally I would get ravenously hungry and something in particular (spaghetti, anyone!) would sound delicious. I would eat like a pig, relieved to be enjoying food like a normal person. An hour later, my stomach was gurgling, I was sweating, it was ugly. Then there was the time I braved the grocery store. Gagged in aisle 1, gagged in aisle 2, gagged at checkout. Not fun. I never knew it was possible to gag so many times in a row without actaully barfing. But it is! I only actually ever barfed once.
Everyone said, "Don't worry, you should start to feel better once you get to the second trimeseter.". Yeah, right. I was convinced I would never be able to eat like a normal person again, never be able to cook a delicious meal, sit down with my husband and actaully enjoy it. To my delight, I was wrong! Around 10 weeks I began to ocassionally feel better. And at 12 1/2 weeks, I woke up with a burst of evergy and insatiable appetite. Yay! Thank you poppy!
Now the peeing every 10 minutes is still in full effect. But I can deal with that.
I can deal with it all, as a matter of fact. Because I'm growing a person. And it's neato.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today is my Birthday! And today is the best birthday of my life. I have the gift that I have always wanted. The most amazing, miraculous gift in the world. I have been waiting for what feels like my entire life to recieve this gift. It's poppy (duh).
I have always been intrugued and amazed by conception (not the dirty part, you perv), fetal development, childbirth - the whole thing. I mean, there is another PERSON inside of me! Hello, that is crazy! And so cool. I knew from a young age it was something that I couldn't wait to experience. And then, to top it all off, you get a baby at the end! And you get to be a mommy, the greatest and most important job in the world. Wow. I wanted it so bad that I was afraid I would never get it (sorry, it's in my genes). And the fact that I did is a blessing. Thanks God. 

So today, for my birthday, I am grateful for my baby. And just as much, I am grateful for the man who gave me such a precious gift. Thank You, Andrew, for making all of my dreams come true. I love you so much. (And so does poppy!). p.s. You're hot. Bye. 

Mommy Big Mouth

I have a big mouth. When it comes to my own personal life, that is. But I promised my husband that we would keep poppy a secret for a while...at least until I went to the doctor to confirm things. Yeah, right. I am quite proud to say, however, that I lasted four day. FOUR DAYS! That's a long time in mommy-to-be land. On Thursday my darling husband, seeing the anxiety in my eyes, agreed to let me tell my parents. I needed mommy and daddy's support. Plus, I couldn't wait to tell them that they are going to GRANDPARENTS! They have been wanting this for a long time. What a gift to be able to give! So I called my mom on Thursday, May 19th and told her to stop by because I had found something for her at a garage sale. She and dad happened to be in the car not far from my house, so they stopped by a few minutes later. My eyes were bugging out of my head as we made small talk. Then I handed her a plastic kroger bag (I had to make it look like it was from a garage sale, right?!) and handed her this:

She looked at it, read it, held it up to her chest (as if she were going to wear it??) and looked confused. Dad smiled and gave me a knowing look. I looked at mom with super-bug eyes and nodded, as if to say "I'M PREGNANT YOU IDIOT!" and started to cry. Dad jumed up and down (literally) and gave me a big hug. Mom said "No you're not. NO YOU'RE NOT!". She walked toward me like a zombie. "No you're not" she kept repeating. I was somewhat frightened. I had imagined joy, laughter, tears. Mom was in shock. Dad was ecastatic. About 2 days later she snapped out of and it and realized it really was true. And we began to celebrate. 
I told only my closest friends and family over the next week or two. And finally, at 13 weeks, I made the big announcement to the whole world...my facebook friends, that is. What a relief to let my big secret out. And what a joy to share our excitment with the world :) 
So poppy, let it be known. Your mommy has a big mouth. She gets it from Nonna. I am going to apologize for it right now, but I can't promise that it will ever change. Hopefully you'll love me for it. XO

Welcome to the time of our life

We're pregnant! Well, actually, I'm pregnant. But we're expecting! A baby! Yay!


I thought it would be fun to have a special place to share this journey with friends and family, and here it is.  Today I am 13 weeks and 2 days pregnant. That means I am just about in my second trimester...1/3 of the way closer to meeting poppy! Andy and I have taken to calling the baby poppy, because when we first found out about him/her s(he) was merely the size of a poppy seed. Can you believe that?! A freakin poppy seed. That's teeny-tiny! Now s(he) is a peach. That's a lot of growth in 10 weeks, if you ask me!


So I am sure you are wondering how it all began? Well if you're not, too frickin bad, I'm going to tell you anyway.  As I am sure you could have guessed, I peed on a stick. This is quite an obsessive and fun hobby for any woman hoping to get pregnant. Well, I had peed on a stick 2 days prior, and that second glorious line had not shown up. I was disappointed. But, I knew there was still some chance there could be a molecule (poppy seed) of a baby somewhere in my ute, so I woke on Monday morning, May 16th, and peed on another stick. Thank god I was getting the pee sticks from the dollar store, or we would be broke. Anyway, I peed on the damn thing with a bad attitude. I just KNEW it was going to be negative again, and was setting myself up for the disappointment. It was monday. I had to go to work. I was cranky. I didn't even take the time to stare at the stupid stick intently. I just left it on the window sill and hopped in the shower. Mid-shampoo, I figured at must have been 3 minutes, so I grabbed the stick to see that stark whiteness. Hmmmmm, not so stark white. There was the very faintest second pink line. My hand began to tremble. I put it back, rinsed my hair. Grabbed it again, squinted at the that second line, held the stick at different angles, looked at it from approximately 1 cenimeter away. Yep, faint line there. I finished my shower with a quickness and brought the stick into our bedroom. I shook Andy awake, "Do you see a second pink line?" Having never asked him this, he didn't know the implication of a second line. He looked, sleepy eyed, at the stick. "Yeah". Oh my god oh my god oh my god. "I think I'm pregnant". Shaky voice, shaky hand. He hopped out of bed to get into the shower. "No you're not, that test is from the dollar store." And he was off. 
After some discussion about the accuracy of dollar store pregnancy tests (can you blame him for being skeptical?!) we decided I would take a $15 digital test when we both got home from work. After the longest day of work I have ever experienced, we discovered:

And in case you were wondering how much I exaggerate, here is the dollar store test with the faint second line:

And so it was confirmed. Poppy is here. Let the journey begin!