A Baby Bump to Boot and Trees that Smell Wonderful

Time has flown by, it seems. (A statement I never thought I'd make during the first 10 weeks of my pregnancy...) December has arrived and very nearly passed, and I'm only just now writing. Some wonderful things have happened this month. I convinced my husband to buy a real Christmas tree and discovered that I have a great love for the smell of Evergreen trees. The smell of the tree couldn't fill the vastness of our living room for very long, so I've now gone through one and a half pine scented candles. And I've requested more for Christmas. We bought plastic tree ornaments since we weren't sure how the dogs would handle the glowing tree with sparkly balls all over it. Sabre only stole four ornaments, and only one was destroyed. He especially likes the glittery gold ball at the bottom of the tree, but has refrained from taking it off after the first time. He still smells it on occasion though. He's learning. Tatum doesn't go near the tree. We told her "no" the first time she tried, and she's stayed away since. Such different personalities.

My parents visited for a couple days this week. Sabre loved them! They got quite the morning greeting whenever they woke up. Hah. Sabre even sat on my mom's lap one morning. Her right leg fell asleep. I don't think she's accustomed to 80 pound dogs sitting on her lap. :) We did some Christmas shopping all over town, and I insisted my parents try Schmaltz's Sandwich Shoppe for lunch. It was absolutely delicious! If you've never had it, you need to come here and try it. Now.

This week my baby bump suddenly appeared. Up until now I've looked a tiny bit pregnant to me, but to everyone else I'm fairly certain it just looked like I ate a really big meal. I visited my old work place yesterday (an elementary school). I was surprised by how many kids remembered me. One of the little girls ran up, hugged me, took a look at my belly and said, "Are you gonna have a baby soon?" You can always count on children to say it like it is! :) It's been difficult to consider a growing belly as a good thing, but hopefully once I feel some movement in there, it will feel more purposeful. We find out whether we're having a boy or a girl in January. I can't do the waiting thing. I applaud those that do, but I'm just not one of those people.

My pregnancy diet is not something to brag about. I ate a carrot yesterday though. [Gold star for me.] I've had a difficult time changing my eating habits. I love french fries and fast food a bit too much it seems. But it's gradually getting better. Prenatal vitamins are ridiculous monstrosities! Those pills taste awful and are big enough to get lodged in someone's throat! (Maybe not, but they sure look like it.) I tried to get some prescription pills that are much smaller, but they were going to cost $112 a month. For vitamins. Come on, People! Overall though, my second trimester of pregnancy has been far more enjoyable than the first. Thank goodness!

Today I plan to wrap presents without allowing the dogs to steal all the paper, and resist the overwhelming urge to pick up some fries and wings for lunch today. ;)

A Tiny Heartbeat, A Powerful Sniffer, and A Wonderful Husband

My first trimester of pregnancy is almost over. The end is in sight. Just a couple weeks to go. I'm trying to convince myself to ignore "trimester" weeks and just focus on whether I'm feeling good or not, but it's hard. I've heard these wonderful things about the second trimester. Less sickness, more energy, less exhaustion, feelings of affection for food again! All these things sound wonderful! And what gives me hope is that, despite a few days of rather unfortunate nausea and vomiting, I've had some good days recently. On Saturday, for example, I left the house just before 1:00 pm and basically didn't get home till almost 7:00. Go me! I felt so good on Saturday that we actually went to a movie! And I didn't get sick the entire day. There was a small part of me that wanted to vomit on the ticket-tearing guy at the theatre (well, on his shoes...) because he wouldn't let me take my water bottle inside. I know it's like a widely known rule that movie theatres don't allow outside food or drink... but it was water, Guys. So I really wanted to vomit on his shoes and then look at him tearfully and say, "You see? If I'm vomiting all the time, I need my water to keep me hydrated." Perhaps it was a tad melodramatic, but I'm using pregnancy hormones as an excuse to feel extremely angry that he wasn't going to let me keep my water. Which I did anyway. I just walked away, planned to ask for an empty cup to pour my water into before I realized I could just put the water bottle in my purse. Oh the drama.

Today was another good day. I had an appointment. Short and sweet. We got to hear our baby's heartbeat. My doctor says everything sounds good and baby is very active. Something to look forward to...maybe. I went shopping for some birthday presents. I like shopping in cool weather. There's something about bundling up in warm clothes and going shopping that makes me happy. I always think a nice hot cup of hot chocolate sounds good while walking through stores... but I don't really drink much hot chocolate. So I'm not sure where that idea is coming from.

I have found that pregnancy and dogs don't mix very well. My heightened sense of smell has me hating the dog smell. I never noticed it before, because we keep the dogs pretty clean. But now I have a more powerful sniffer that has me cringing when the dogs come too close to me. And their fur is driving me crazy! It's everywhere! I'm very much looking forward to the holidays simply because we're boarding the dogs and staying in a fur-free home. Ah, the little things in life. Hopefully my aversion to the dogs will pass. Once upon a time, I really loved them, so I know it's possible. And they do seem to love me. And they try to protect me. Just now, for example, Sabre heard something outside. He barked at the front door for a while before running back to the couch and standing right in front of me while continuing to bark. Tatum was sitting in front of me too. I don't know if it's a protective thing or just instinct to stay together when there's a potential threat. But either way, I had a barrier of dogs between me and whatever was outside the front door (which, to be perfectly honest, was probably nothing), so I felt very safe.

My parents arrive in the states on Saturday. We are going to Dallas for the weekend to a.) see them; b.) celebrate my sisters' birthdays; and c.) because I'm extremely excited to stay in a fur-free home for a couple days with delicious homemade food. My wonderful husband, bless his heart, has done absolutely everything around here. Just the other day, as soon as he woke up, he cleaned the house. He washed the dishes, wiped down the counters, swept the floors, vacuumed the carpet, put clean sheets on the bed, and so many other things I can't even think of them all. He makes me lunch everyday, and dinner on the weekends. Needless to say, I'm also looking forward to this weekend because it gives Travis a break. And it brings us a little closer to the morning sickness finish line (we hope and pray!), so I'll finally be able to do some things for myself. And help keep the house clean. And just function like a normal human being.

I bought a gallon of McAlister's sweet tea. And a bag of lemons. You do the math.

The Green Green Glow of Pregnancy

So when you decide to stop taking "the pill," most everything you read and everyone you talk to tells you it can take a little while to get pregnant. People tell you to give it a year before you start wondering if everything's OK with your reproductive organs. Others tell you that since you were taking said pill, it can take your body a little while to get "back to normal." I took all this very wonderful advice and prepared myself for whatever was to come. And even though I told my husband that we shouldn't go off the pill until we were completely ready to have a baby, I didn't actually think we'd get pregnant a month later. I really didn't. But we did. And all I can think at this point is "praise the Lord I didn't get pregnant our first year of marriage!" Or second for that matter. My husband would have thought he married a crazy person. I've learned a few things about early pregnancy (well.. early pregnancy for me, anyway) and they're, well... they're below.

1. When you start throwing up two weeks before you've missed a period, you're in for it. (I mean, I started getting sick so early in this pregnancy that I didn't even think it could be related to pregnancy.) And when you're sick that early, you have lots of time for it to get worse... and worse... and worse. Till you're sick all day, everyday, and you find yourself forgetting what it feels like to be healthy.

2. When you are sick all day everyday from all these extra hormones, sometimes these hormones display themselves in the form of tearful breakdowns about how awful it is to feel so sick all the time, and how you're going to be a terrible mother because you no longer want to be pregnant. Ah, the joys.

3. After throwing up certain foods multiple times, you are no longer able to eat them. Even your favorite foods. Like Indomie.

4. You are exhausted in a way that you've never been exhausted before. You sleep at least 10 hours every night, and feel like napping multiple times throughout the day. And yet, somehow.. you still feel tired.

5. Excessive vomiting can lead to a sore throat. It's grand.

6. You no longer enjoy eating. It's now something you have to do because if you don't, you might get sick. But once you do eat, you still might get sick. Food in general has lost its appeal.

7. When everything feels like it's falling apart and you just want to sleep through the next unknown number of weeks until you feel better, remember this song:
     Lord, prepare me
     To be a sanctuary
     Pure and holy
     Tried and true
     With thanksgiving
     I'll be a living
     Sanctuary
     For You

And strive to do just that. Because even though this has been one of the hardest journeys I've ever started (I've literally only just begun!), I know that God is in control. I prayed before all of this and said, "Lord, I'm not going to pray that I'll get pregnant. I'm praying that I'll get pregnant in YOUR time. And I'll trust that if this happens, it's part of YOUR plan, not mine."

And now that I'm no longer "suffering in silence" (although if you ask my husband I don't think he'll say I've been all that silent...hah!), I'm hoping I can turn my frustrations into comical anecdotes. It's like Sabre peeing in the car. It wasn't a great experience... but it made for a funny story and it helped change my outlook a great deal. And eventually, I hope things will get better and the tone of my pregnancy will be far more positive and fun. :)

On a side note, Skittles needs to get their act together and bring back the lime skittle. This green apple business is absurd.

Five and a Half Years Later and I'm Still Craving Cafeteria Food

I'm trying to be more organized. It's been in process for years. I'm pretty sure I've posted before about my desire to be a better grocery shopper. Unfortunately, I haven't improved in this area at all. My poor husband has been making grocery runs at least once a week for a while. He's started going when he gets off work at 2:30 in the morning. Apparently no one does their shopping at that time. Who would've thought?

All day today I've been trying to think of meals we could have. We eat a lot of spaghetti, but it's sauce from a jar. Granted, it's delicious HEB sauce and it's very convenient, but today I got a hankering for a different spaghetti. I want the spaghetti from my middle/high school cafeteria. This may not be the story for most people, but the lunches they served in the cafeteria were amazing. And one of my favorites was their spaghetti. It was so delicious. I never understood my fellow students complaining about the school lunches. I wish I could have the recipes for so many of the meals they served. One of which is spaghetti. I've yet to have spaghetti I've liked as much. I also loved their Potato-Corn Soup with Grilled Cheese, Beef and Potatoes with Rice, Tacos, Beef Stew, Risotto (which wasn't risotto at all, but it was delicious!), Nasi Kuning (Yellow Rice) with Fried Chicken, and I'm sure there were others. Sigh. Those wonderful cafeteria ladies sure knew how to cook. I always thought when I moved to the states I'd be bombarded with even more wonderful foods... but oh how I was wrong. Don't get me wrong, there are good foods here. But it's just not the same. The cafeteria food in college wasn't quite the same as the home-cooked (because essentially they were!) meals from high school. And now that I don't have the option of eating in a cafeteria on a daily basis, I miss high school. Wait, that doesn't sound right. I miss lunch in high school. Hah. Maybe there's some way I can track down those recipes.

I fall asleep really early now. And I sleep for a very long time. My body must need lots of recovery from all the nothing I do all day. Halloween is coming up. And I feel that since the neighborhood kids come by the house on days when they don't get free candy, I should go ahead and expect them for a night when they do. And I've never done the trick-or-treating thing. I mean, I went trick or treating once. When I was 16. It's a bit embarrassing to think about now, but I'd never been before and it was the only Halloween we were in the states for. And I thought free candy sounded great. And dressing up. I've always liked dressing up. I don't do it much now because, well, that would be weird, but when I was 16, I saw no harm in making a fool of myself around complete strangers. We were going to dress up the dogs, but I can't see either of them letting us put costumes on them and not trying to chew them off. I thought Sabre would make a great Batman. He's got the dark face and ears... but all the dog batman costumes were goofy and not big enough. I'm sure the kids would have loved it, but maybe another year.

(Can you believe how many sentences I write end in prepositions? It must be my style. How lovely that part of my writing style is so widely accepted as grammatically incorrect. Decipher that sentence, why don't ya?)

I've been enjoying fruit lately. Apples. And kiwi. And hopefully I'll have some strawberries tomorrow. Then I plan to make kiwi-strawberry fruit salad. Which is basically just sliced up kiwi and strawberries in a bowl. Together. But needless to say, I'm looking forward to it.

Fried Chicken. That's All You Need to Know.

A couple weeks ago, I decided I would make some fried chicken for lunch. Travis was at a meeting, and I was hungry. I had some defrosted chicken in the fridge. It was an easy solution. I wouldn't have time to make my usual WONDERFUL fried chicken, but I figured this easier method would suffice in a pinch. I sliced up the chicken, dipped it in egg, dipped it in flour, and fried it in the deep fryer. I took a taster bite of the first batch and nearly spit it back out. It was flavorless. It was dry. I hadn't cooked it any longer than usual, but something hadn't gone right. I threw out the chicken in a state of despair. I asked my husband to pick me up some Taco Bell on his way home, and tried to comfort myself. It was a rough day.

We have a lot of chicken. Most of it is frozen, but we had two chicken breasts defrosted in the fridge today. "Hm... maybe we should make some fried chicken..." But THIS TIME, we did it the right way. When we first got married, I was determined to make wonderful meals for my husband and myself. My first goal was to make delicious fried chicken. I tried a handful of recipes, but none of them truly lived up to my expectations. I finally took matters into my own hands and took bits and pieces from different recipes and made my own fried chicken. And after a bit of tweaking here and there, it was perfect. And even now, it's the only thing I make completely from scratch. I put the "be a great cook" thing on the back burner once I'd mastered fried chicken. Priorities, people. Today Travis did the cooking, I did the cleaning. I say that as if it's unusual, but really... that's just how we usually do things around here. He sliced the chicken, soaked it in my special buttermilk mixture for a good... 5 or 6 hours, and then dipped in my special flour mixture. He fried it up to a golden crisp in our lovely deep fryer. (Don't judge me for having a deep fryer. I need my fried chicken.) And do you know what happened when I took a taster bite of the first (and only) batch? I melted inside. It was flavorful and moist and wonderful. And I vowed to never ever ever, no matter what, fry chicken without first soaking it in buttermilk. Some people may know how to fry chicken without buttermilk-soaking and have it turn out delicious... but I am not that person. I learned a valuable lesson today. We will also eat fried chicken tomorrow. That's just how it's gonna be.

The dogs played outside with Travis and the neighborhood kids for about two and a half hours today. They've now been completely out (as in, asleep) for... an hour and a half? At least. The kids tire them out. And since my wonderful husband doesn't mind staying outside with the kids and dogs for two and a half hours, it works to my advantage. I enjoy the quiet of the house... watch a movie... take a nap... whatever I would like. It makes for a lovely afternoon! This week I finally read three of the five books I checked out from the library a month ago. I put off starting them because I know that once I start a book, all I will want to do is read. And that's exactly what happened. I read one book on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday. Since Travis has Fridays off, I resisted the urge to start another book today. But I have rediscovered how much I love reading. And there's a good chance I will be reading incessantly for the next... however many months it takes before I run out of books to read. (I'm very picky about authors and genres and such when it comes to reading... so while I won't literally run out of books I could read, there's a good chance I'll run out of books I want to read.)

I just found out that Thanksgiving is the last week in November. No one told me.

Just Another Tuesday of Sedation, Urine, and Dilated Eyes

It's been an eventful few days. Well. One day primarily. Yesterday. I mean, I had a wonderful time in Dallas over the weekend. But, thankfully, those days were mostly relaxing and enjoyable. Wonderful food, bouts of laughter while we sat around and reminisced on days when my sisters and I were younger. We seem to have established that I was the bossy and emotional one (what lovely characteristics!), Brit was the trouble-making yet sweet one (how does that work?), and Kris was always so calm that we all remember the very very few times she got upset at someone. It was fun to take a walk down memory lane. Laughter is such a wonderful thing.

But back to my eventful day yesterday. The day started with me calling Sabre's vet about an appointment first thing in the morning. His dew claw (which is the thumb-like nail) on his front left foot must have gotten snagged on something at some point because it was almost completely pulled out. Sabre kept licking it and when I compared it to his right paw, it looked drastically different. The vet said that Sabre would need to be dropped off since there was a chance they would need to completely remove the claw. And even though we knew Sabre would be the biggest baby in the world about staying at the vet's office all day, we knew it had to be done. We dropped him off around 9:00 am. He tried to make a few escapes, but that's why Travis held Sabre's leash. We got a call around 1:45 saying that he had indeed broken the claw alllll the way down and would require sedation and pain medicine in order for them to remove it. We could pick him up between 5:00 and 6:00. So I did. I picked him up as soon as I got off work. He was still a bit loopy and desperate to leave the vet's office. We got in the car and started our drive home.

About halfway home, Sabre started whining. Really really whining. I thought maybe he was just flustered from his not-so-pleasant day. Or the sedation was making the car ride seem strange. I don't know. But either way, he wouldn't calm down. Then, about two miles from our exit, I hear a nice heavy stream of liquid somewhere in the car. I look back to find Sabre peeing all over the back seat. While still whining. (Thankfully we have a seat cover on it. And we just found out yesterday that the seat cover is waterproof. Score!) The smell of urine filled the car, I started to feel queasy and tried rolling down the window (which scared Sabre to death--apparently the wind is too loud when you're driving at 65 miles per hour), he jumped up to the front seat because he didn't want to sit in his pee, the car started dinging every so often because there was someone in the passenger seat without a seatbelt on, I exited early (though how I managed to not crash the car is some sort of miracle!) and drove into a large gas station, walked Sabre over to a nice patch of grass, and he peed again for about five minutes straight. Apparently they don't give dogs bathroom breaks at the vet's office. Wish I'd known that. I called my husband and pleaded with him to come help me. I couldn't drive with Sabre in the front seat because the dinging was stressing me out; I couldn't hold onto Sabre's leash and pull out the pee-covered seat cover and certainly couldn't drive in a urine-scented car; and I was about to have an emotional breakdown in the parking lot of a gas station, while my still loopy dog seemed completely confused. Travis was my hero. He took an early dinner break and came to my rescue. He pulled out the seat cover, found that the pee had NOT soaked through to the actual car seat (celebrate!), and drove Sabre in his car. We put a sock over Sabre's injured paw because the stuff they used to stop the bleeding would stain any fabric it touched AND so he wouldn't lick it constantly. We probably need to get him an e-collar (aka, cone of shame), but we'll see how the sock goes for now.

When people are coming out of anesthesia, we're so thoroughly entertained. They say funny things and act weird. We record it and post it for everyone else to see. When dogs are coming out of sedation, they are just plain strange. All yesterday evening, Sabre was weird. His eyes were ridiculously dilated and he would seemingly forget what he was doing every three seconds. He would start walking and then just freeze. Literally, freeze. No movement whatsoever. He would stop mid stride. We could say his name, call him to us, anything... and he would just stay frozen. And because his eyes were so dilated, when he would look at us, he looked surprised. And scared. And Tatum wanted so desperately to play with him (she didn't like him being gone all day), but he was so loopy he didn't know what to do. It was a weird, weird evening. But we made it home by the grace of God.

And now it's a new day. I'm enjoying some nice quiet while the puppies take their morning nap.

I Like Lists

Things my dogs do that make me laugh...
- Sabre steals my spot on the couch every morning. I think he's teasing me. He likes the reaction I have when I come back in the room and see he's in my spot. It must be very entertaining.
- When we tell the dogs to go to bed (their crates), Sabre will usually go right in (unless he thinks we're leaving the house), but Tatum will weave in and out of our legs or lay on her back right by our feet. She becomes very affectionate when she's supposed to be going to bed.
- When Travis joins me on the couch and kisses me, Sabre goes straight to his crate. Apparently he has sensed a pattern. ;)
- Sabre now sleeps on the coffee table 90% of the time. It's his spot.
- When Travis runs around the room while the dogs chase him, he's most scared of Tatum because she gets so into the chase, she sometimes ends up biting his ankles. It's kind of funny. (Don't worry though, we correct this behavior. And she doesn't do it to anyone else--except Sabre. Which also makes it kind of funny.)

This weekend is going to be wonderful. I mean it. Absolutely wonderful! I get to see my mom for the first time in almost two years! My dogs are boarding with this family in Dallas for the weekend. They have a pool and kids and a big yard. I'm not sure my dogs are going to want to come back with us! My birthday is on Friday so we're going out to eat. I just love eating out. It's a sickness, really. My grandfather is making a big Thai meal for my aunt and myself (her birthday is tomorrow). :) It's a good thing we get to start the weekend on Thursday, because I'm barely able to contain the jittery excitement I'm experiencing. AND THEN. Next weekend (on Saturday), my mom, sisters, and grandparents are coming to visit here for my mom's birthday! I'm hoping that's enough motivation to start hanging some pictures. This house needs to look more lived-in. Needless to say, the first two weeks of October are looking pretty great!

In other news...
- I checked out five books from the library... I'm hesitant to start them because then I won't want to do anything but read. All the time.
- I started working last week. I watch an adorable little two-year-old boy for a couple hours Monday-Thursday in the afternoon. It's nice to get out of the house. Yesterday I was talking to his mom when he said, "Ms. Cassie, stop talking." Hah. He wanted to tell me that he ate a cookie.
- I can no longer eat eggs.
- Today is Taco Plate Tuesday. Makes Tuesdays pretty awesome. (Three tacos, beans, and rice for $3.69!)
- Christmas is going to be wonderful. I know it's a couple months away but... it just is.
- I need to teach Sabre and Tatum the "quiet" command. I've realized its true importance in my sanity.