Happy Turkey Day!!!!

To all my fellow Americans, Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, I am thankful for:

• A husband who loves and cares for me


• A daughter who is spunky, intelligent beyond her years, comedic, and caring


• A roof over our head, heat coming from our radiators, and food on our table, even though money is tight and will get tighter still


• My sistas out in the blogosphere who, when I remain quiet for too long, check up on me to make sure I'm alright


• My Saddle Girls, my closest friends of all


• My newest group of friends, my Tastefully Simple GOal Getters team! Who are showing me that there's a whole different side of me I never knew existed!


• My in-laws, who sometimes show they care more than my own family does


• My family, who though unreliable, really do love me deep down inside


• My faithful companion, Becky. No matter how bad my day is, no matter how bad my mood is, no matter how much I smell, she's always there to warm my feet


• And Sprout. The blessing inside that I wasn't sure if I could have again...and while I'm excited and terrified at the same time of what his/her impending arrival means for us, I know this is truly meant to be

Thank you, all, for all of your love and support! It means the world to me!

Another Day...

The countdown is officially on. 23 more work days until I leave the working world and become a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom). Well, kind of a WAHM (work-at-home-mom) since I am a consultant for Tastefully Simple. But mostly, I'll be staying home. January 5th is my last day of work...

...Not sure if I'm ready for it though. I've always had a job going back to when I was 10 years old when I became an independent contractor for the local newspaper (in layman's terms, I was a paper girl). So I've always had a steady paycheck, too. Sure, I'll have TS, but it won't be the same. On the other hand, I hate my job. Don't mind leaving it. Wish I was gone already. But then I have days like today (applesauce splattered all over the kitchen, nap refusals, 2 head butts to my nose, and just general aggravation) and I wonder if I'm even cut out to stay home. Can I do this? Will I have the patience and the stamina? Or will I go out of my mind? Stay tuned to find out...

Sprout is apparently thriving. I honestly haven't had any time to focus on this pregnancy, I'm afraid. It's like it's not even happening to me. I'm sure it will be different when I can feel movement (though I swear I felt a kick late last week at only 13 weeks of pregnancy). But right now, I'm just too busy to dwell on it. Margaret (and her constant mischief) consume all of my "free" time. That and the fact that she now refuses to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

I'm a little worn out, I'm afraid. Tired. Physically and mentally exhausted. Can I please just have 5 minutes to myself? Or will I have to wait until I'm old and my kids don't want to be around me anymore?

We Have A Heartbeat!!!

Yes, I know, I saw it last week at my ultrasound. But it's just not the same...

Today I heard Sprout's heartbeat for the first time on my doppler. This is HUGE since I am 9w4d today, the same day when we discovered we lost Arabella (in spite of a heartbeat at the ultrasound only 2 weeks prior). I can now breathe a huge sigh of relief... Looks like a strong heart, too. It measured at 162 bpm, stronger than Arabella's AND Margaret's were!

...does this mean it's another girl though? ;)

All's Well Thus Far

My first prenatal appointment was this morning. Meet Sprout!


Aside from initially going to the wrong office, it went well. My doctor remembered me from the last time around (she even insisted she would not faint this time, as she practically had at my first prenatal appointment for my pregnancy with Margaret...she was pregnant at the time, too). She decided to do the ultrasound because of the spotting I had Monday and Tuesday. This office only had an ancient ultrasound machine and no on-staff tech, like there is at the other office, so it was just a quick peek. Blobby looking and not very defined, but there's my baby! We saw the heart flickering on the monitor (did not measure BPM though) so all is well.

My next appointment is November 17th.

The only part that kind of irritated me is that I was told to try to not gain more than 15 pounds. I'm overweight, I know. But I also believe that your body gains what it needs for a healthy pregnancy. Last time, I gained 35 pounds. And you know what? I lost all of it, and then some. Didn't have gestational diabetes, either. I'm not saying I'm going to go hog wild. But as long as I keep it to moderation, I'm not going to focus on a number like that. I just don't think it's mentally healthy to put a huge emphasis on a number one cannot go over...it just causes unnecessary stress. I will not allow that to happen... I don't need the stress.

Playing Catch Up!

Looks like I've fallen behind, once again, on blogging.

Still pregnant. For now. Spotting started Monday night, light pink (so not old blood). I've been spotting on and off today with some lower back pains and minor cramping. I'm still extremely nauseous and tired, so hopefully, it's nothing. My first prenatal appointment is tomorrow and I'm really hoping she'll do an early ultrasound to make sure Sprout is thriving. In the meantime, I'm vegging on the couch tonight in hopes that it will help.

We did not buy the house. I decided that it would be too much financial stress for us. It would have been very difficult to get the house into liveable condition before the first mortgage payment would have been due. And that would have been required because we cannot afford a mortgage and our rent. We're re-evaluating our options and may reconsider moving "up north" in the spring. No moving right now... it's getting too cold for that kind of venture. But we will need to before Sprout is born to be sure there is plenty of room (and so Maggie can get her own bed before Sprout comes).

Maggie is thriving! As of September 29th, she is 34 inches tall and 28.6 lbs! She's talking all the time, and we're starting to understand more and more of it. She's trying to jump, which is funny because she goes through the motions but never leaves the ground. The only name I've heard her use is her boyfriend's...I can't even get her to say her own! But it's cute nonetheless. She's also become quite the fashionista. She had her first ever "I have to have this NOW" meltdown the other day over a pair of purple Mary Jane Crocs. I caved. I know, bad mommy. But she wanted them so badly that she was taking off her own shoes and ready to throw them on the floor... I couldn't resist. She's going to be quite challenging.

I believe there are now around 75 days left until what I have chosen to be my last day of work. They don't know yet. They do know I'm pregnant, but it hasn't even occurred to my boss that I will not continue working there, let alone that I could possibly quit before my due date. Baby or not, I'm leaving at the beginning of January. I've already mentally checked out. :)

That's about it. Real exciting, I know. Does anyone even care? The last few times I posted, I didn't even get comments so I guess I didn't think that anyone gave a poop about us anyway... Who knows? Maybe everyone was just busy.

Tough Decisions

I heard back from the mortgage company today! We can get the mortgage. But now that I have actual figures to work with, in addition to obtaining the sewer, water, and garbage fee information this afternoon, it's not looking so good anymore. I love the house. But it looks like the time isn't right for us right now. Brian took the news hard. I guess he had grown more attached to it than I had. But I had to go with my gut, and my gut says that we would be getting in well over our heads if we went ahead with buying the house, even if the bank would give us the loan.

So we're back to our original plans. I'll finish up the year with my job, then resign at the beginning of January. By that time, I should hopefully have a consistent party schedule with Tastefully Simple. We'll stay in our current apartment through the winter. In the meantime, we'll pay down our debts and try to put aside some money in savings, too. We can re-evaluate our options in the spring.

Baby-to-be is apparently getting comfortable. I had cramping last night, and major AF-like cramping/backaches today. Now I'm feeling those burrowing-in type of pains, too. No bleeding. 20 days until my first prenatal appointment. I took the day off from work so I don't have to worry about rushing back or accidentally letting the news slip.

Though I did tell the director of Maggie's daycare today. To be fair, she was friends with my Dad from waaaaaay back. Heck, she attended my parents' wedding! So we talk a lot. She was telling me what a spirited, opinionated, stubborn little girl I have :) and then said it's about time for another one. I couldn't help it. I told her, but I did say that we're not making it widely known yet. She was so happy she gave me a huge hug. Of course, she has no idea at this point that I will be withdrawing Maggie eventually. But it was kind of nice to receive congrats from someone, especially since my family wasn't even that happy for me (though Brian's was).

Waiting...

Still waiting for news on the mortgage. I ended up having to actually apply in order to get more info out of them. So far as I can tell, the house is still on the market. I only hope we're not jumping through all of these hoops for nothing.

Poor Maggie. She's been sick for a while now with a runny nose and cough. You know, that nondescript stuff that could be anything. We were initially told it was a virus and treated it as such. But now it seems like it could be her asthma is acting up again. Most of her coughing is when she's supposed to be sleeping, which was the main symptom when we first discovered that she has this issue. Unfortunately, it takes 2 weeks for the Flovent to start doing its job so it could be a little bit until she's feeling better. She has a "well baby" visit on Friday so she'll see her doctor anyway. Now she just has to make it through the week. Some may consider me to be under-reacting, but I don't want to overuse antibiotics either. I've spent entire winters coughing and having a runny nose, so it also doesn't seem all that crazy to me that there could be a lingering virus. I just don't see any need to go crazy under the circumstances. I can only hope they (as in Maggie's daycare providers, since they've been dealing with this, too) don't consider me a negligent parent.

My Tastefully Simple sponsor and I ended up not participating in the Fall Festival yesterday. The weather was supposed to be *horrendous* so we decided it wasn't worth setting up only to get stuck in a torrential downpour and thunderstorm. There's only one problem: the rain really never came. Wasted opportunity. Anybody want to have a party? It will be a while before I have a chance to book any others...