Life as I know it

Holy Moly it's been a long time!

2010-01-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry about that. Life got crazy with the holidays and a ton of family coming into town. Adam and I went back to work on January 4 and Darren started at daycare.

Wednesday marked Darren's 10 week mark! Last Friday he had his two month check up. The last time he was weighed and measured was when he was three weeks. At that time, he weighed 8lbs 5oz and was still measuring at 19.5 inches. Last week, he weighed in at 10lbs 5oz and measured 23.5 inches!!! Can't believe how much this little guy has been growing! He eats all the time, especially when he's home from school. He's been smiling more and more, and is alert much more than he is asleep. He has been sleeping through the night since he was 4 weeks old....we are truly blessed with a good little guy! We both love him so very much!

Here are some pics from the past month.
Sleeping on Thanksgiving morning while mom and dad prep dinner.

Mommy, Uncle Sam and Darren

Tarot snuggling with her boy.

Darren and Daddy after bath time (ducky towel provided by GeeGee and Great Papa)

Cousin Jason came to visit.

All bundled up to deliver goodies to the neighbors.

Hanging out

Mommy and Darren on Mommy's birthday

Christmas jammies

Bathtime at Grandmommy's house

First day of school

Puppy outfit

Happy boy

Darren and Mommy

Airplane

Sucking his thumb

Smiley boy!

SNOW!!!

2009-12-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

We have snow!!! In 24 hours, we have received more than 2 feet of snow!!! Adam came to bed around 1a.m. and mentioned we had about a foot. It was wonderful to wake up this morning at 8a.m. to 18 inches or so!

Darren before I bundled him up

It's cold out there boy! Here's a kiss to keep you warm!

Darren after I bundled him up in a snow suit that was given to us by a friend (before he was born, so it's actually for a girl)

Daddy taking a break from shoveling

Family Snow Photo

King of the Snow Hill

Helped by Dad, of course!

It would be nice to get some more snow over night, but we'll have to see if that happens. Tomorrow it's expected to be sunny, with the low being 8 degrees and the high being 28 degrees.

Hope everyone is enjoying whatever weather they are having. I know this little family is!

Welcome to the world, little one!

2009-11-24T18:56:00.000-08:00

On November 11, at 11:45 am our son, Darren Keaton Plain, was born! I realized I haven't posted an official blog about his birth, and thought it would be appropriate to do so before Thanksgiving since I am so incredibly thankful for our amazing boy!

On November 10, Adam and I checked into the hospital where I was scheduled to be induced. The first step was to have a medication called Cytotek placed on my cervix to help with dilation and effacement. We started the process at 9pm and finished it at about 6:30am (My mom was there until about 11pm, when we realized nothing exciting was going to happen that night. We sent her home to get some sleep so she'd be fresh when we got things going in the morning). After that, I was given a dose of Pitocin to start my contractions.

Waiting anxiously to get started with the Pitocin

After having a few small contractions, the nurse came in to monitor the baby. Turns out the little one REALLY did not like it when I had contractions and protested by bringing his heartbeat down to 50 bpm (normal baby heart rate is 120 to 160 bpm). The nurse took me off the Pitocin after 20 minutes and told me the baby was showing signs of stress and that we were going to hold off on inducing until after she had spoken with my doctor. We continued monitoring the baby's heart rate and found he also did not like me getting up to go to the bathroom. When I would lay down again and put the monitor back on, the nurses would come back into the room within seconds to monitor him. My mother-in-law, Sally, made it to the hospital shortly after I was taken off the Pitocin since we had asked her to be in the room with us when the baby was born. Well, things definitely changed from there!

The doctor came in a few hours later to talk with us about our options. Basically, the baby was showing all the signs of stress that a baby shows after mom has been in labor for 15 hours and being close to being born, not only a short time of very early labor. The doctor did not feel comfortable with us putting the baby through more stress from labor and then possibly have to have an emergency c-section, so we decided to go ahead with a scheduled c-section early in labor. I was scheduled to go into the OR at 11:15. At 11:10 the nurse came and got me ready to go.

Silly hat for surgery? Check!

I walked in to the OR where they started prepping me and I met the anesthesiologist. He put in my spinal block and then I laid back on the table and waited for my husband (They only let one person in the OR for the actual procedure. It was a no brainer on who it was going to be!) to come in as my body got more and more numb.

Adam prepping for the surgery

Adam and I nervously chatted while we waited for the baby to finally be out. The anesthesiologist told us we had about 10 minutes to baby time...and I swear, not 1 minute later we heard our baby crying and the doctor tell us "It's a boy!" We got the brief glimpse of our little man before they took him to clean him up. Then they brought him to us.

Hi Mommy!

Our first family photo

Close up of our little man

After Darren was cleaned up and we took pictures as a family, Adam took him to the nursery for his tests and I stayed to get stitched up and moved to the recovery room. Normally, new moms would stay in recovery by themselves until they can wiggle their toes (usually about an hour), but I asked if my mom could come in and stay with me while I was in there. It wasn't their normal policy, but they went and got my mom and we had a nice visit for about 10 minutes before Adam brought Darren in! Turns out, he kept putting his fists in his mouth while he was in the nursery, so the nurses said he needed to go be with mom for bonding and eating. He latched right on and I just stared at him and cried over our blessing. The four of us (Adam, my mom, Darren and I) got to hang out in the recovery room for about 45 minutes or so before I could wiggle my toes and go back to my room.

It's a boy!!! The nurses had a great time showing him off to the "grandparent paparazzi"

Daddy and Darren in the nursery

When we got back to our room, we had many visitors: Grandmommy Kathie and Grumpa Shawn, Grandma Sally and Grandpa Doug, Uncle Sam and Great Grammy. Everyone got to hold little Darren and took pictures with him. Mommy, Daddy and Darren got some rest after everyone left, and then our friends, Josh and Katrina (and of course, little Jack, who unfortunately wasn't allowed to come in the room) came to visit. Even though Jack weighed the same as Darren when he was born, Katrina couldn't believe he was ever that small!

We had a great first night just the three of us. Daddy changed all of the diapers because I couldn't get out of bed yet. It wasn't until very early Thursday morning (like around 1a.m.) before the nurse got me up to stretch, and I didn't get taken off the IV, foley catheter and leg compression machine (to prevent blood clots) until about 8a.m. It was very slow going, so I stayed in bed most of the time except to use the bathroom and stretch. Friday I was VERY ready to go home, and got my staples out before I could be released.

That's our hospital/birth story...before I get out of here to go feed the little one, here are a few more pictures of our little guy!

Darren in the recovery room with Mommy

Trying on the hat great grandma GeeGee made for him

The "going home" outfit...we ended up taking off the green mittens. They didn't stay on very well!

Not too sure about this whole car seat thing

Induction

2009-11-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

Well, went to the doctor today and still only made very minimal progress as far as my cervix dropping and opening. Adam and I had gone over our options and weighed each one over the past week and decided to go for the induction this week.

So, tomorrow at 7pm we will check into the hospital where I will be set up on an IV and monitoring system. Then I will be given a tablet (not sure if it will be orally or another way) of a prostaglandin based drug to help soften my cervix and help with effacement and dilation. After four hours of monitoring, they will give me a second dose of the drug, which will be followed another four hours later by my first dose of pitocin, an oxytocin based drug that will take me pretty quickly into hard labor. We'll go from there! There is no telling how well my body will react to either drug, how long I will be on the pitocin, or if we will have to do a c-section or not.

I am so totally excited to know that by Wednesday I will be holding my little baby in my arms instead of wrapping my arms around my belly! But I have to admit, I am extremely nervous and anxious about the whole thing. Good thoughts tomorrow and Wednesday would be greatly appreciated by all!

The next time I update this will most likely be with pictures of the new addition to the family!!!

Due date has come...

2009-11-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

...and gone!

I am now three days past my due date and am feeling VERY anxious and VERY ready to have this little one! I've been having some contractions and cramping, but nothing that stays consistent through the night. They are always consistent during the day when I'm awake, but when I lay down, not so much.

Not really sure what else to post today. Hopefully I'll have an update with happy news soon!

Baby's Room

2009-10-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! The baby's room is 95% complete! We just have a shelf to hang over the changing table and then we're done. So, I thought I would post the pics of the room, including the custom piece of artwork that I made out of three gift bags from the baby shower and a few pieces of tissue paper.

The dresser and hutch in the baby's room.

A closer view of the hutch. The top of the hutch is lined with all of the different rubber duckies from my baby shower.

My favorite rubber ducky has to be the Cat Ducky.

That's a long line of duckies!

I just love this Ducky bank! A client of mine gave it to me. I love that it has a toy chicken next to it!

A sweet little plant I picked up from one of my favorite little stores in downtown Carson.

The baby's crib, complete with the artwork I created tonight.

A closer view of the artwork I created.

A peek into the crib.

Rubber Ducky pictures on the wall above the light switch.

The comfy chair to comfort little Boss. We have a glider in our room for those late night feedings!

I picked up this sweet little chair at a garage sale for $3!!! It matches the rest of the furniture perfectly!

We're at the end of only 5 days left before my due date. Yesterday was my official last day at work. I'm hoping that by being off and really being able to relax/go into nesting mode will help this baby move down into position so we can get the show on the road! I bought an exercise ball today. They are good for doubling as birthing balls, and if you sit on them and bounce gently, they are also supposed to help the baby move into position. I bounced for an hour today.

Adam's parents bought us a camcorder for our Baby Shower gift. We went and picked it out today. It's charging right now, but I'm looking forward to playing around with it tomorrow. We're also going to finish cleaning the rest of the house. Adam wants to take everything out of the garage tomorrow and organize everything. We also had some mice staying with us for awhile, so he's going to clean that mess up, too. While he does that, I'll be super cleaning the fridge and pantry. I'm going to take everything out of the fridge, wipe it all down from top to bottom and then only put back the good stuff. In the pantry, I want to take everything off the shelves and reorganize it so I can actually find what I want.

Today, October 31, is technically not Halloween for Carson City. Because Nevada was admitted into the Union on October 31, 1864, the state of Nevada, and more specifically, Carson City, celebrates Nevada Day instead. What does this mean for us as far as trick-or-treaters go? Well, Carson City had it's "official" trick-or-treating night yesterday. How did it go? Since we live in THE neighborhood for trick-or-treating, we had an amazing turn out! Between 6pm and 8pm, we had 234 kids show up! We went through four COSTCO sized bags of candy. We had to shut down at 8pm because we ran out of candy! Between 7:20 and 7:30 alone, we had 63 kids!!!! The best costumes of the night went to the KISS army and the Pacman accompanied by his Ghost friend from the video game. It was a great night and we had a great time passing out candy with our friends Josh and Katrina (who brought their 3 month old, Jack, who was dressed up as a dinosaur).

That's it for now. Hope everyone is having a great weekend and I'll keep you all updated about when Boss decides to make an appearance!

Dear Baby

2009-10-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Baby,

I love you dearly and can't wait to meet you! Can you please help Mommy out by cooperating and dropping down the way you are supposed to? If not, the doctor may want to go in and get you, and Mommy really doesn't want us to meet that way. So, how about we work together on this one? You can take your time, but we need to make a little bit of progress before we see the doctor again next week.

Thanks Peanut! I love you very much!!!

Mommy

Still not ready....

2009-10-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Quick update:

Well, the baby is still not ready to come out. I had my 38 week check up today and the baby still hasn't budged. The doctor said this is normal and not to worry. The good news...he doesn't want me to go further than 5 days after my due date, so no matter what, it's not going to be longer than 21 days from now!!! Yay!!!

I'll keep you updated on how things progress!

24 Days Left

2009-10-12T19:11:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I am writing that I only have 24 days left!!! Seems like just yesterday that I first announced I was pregnant in early March! I packed our hospital bag over the weekend. I just have a few more things to add and then I'll be ready for when we need to go. Only other thing we really need to do for a trip home from the hospital is install the car seat.

Adam and I have been preparing the house. The baby's room is almost complete...we just need to move the books we took off the book shelf when we moved it out of the baby's crib and putting up some of the decorations we got from the baby shower. The furniture is all in place though. We do still need to put away all of the great loot we received from the baby shower on 10/3. I know I need to post pictures...I don't have them yet from mom since she's super busy with school and work and family. Should have them pretty soon though!

We did our first load of baby laundry yesterday. It's amazing how much clothing you can get into one load of laundry! I'm going to fold it all and put it away tonight. We have to do the blankets, towels and wash clothes next.

We've also put together the glider that my brother-in-law and sister-in-law got us for the shower. We cleaned up the bedroom this weekend so it would fit. It's going to be nice having the glider in our room for feeding and comforting the little one during the night.

I have someone coming to clean all of the carpets on Thursday. I'm sooooo excited about that! It's been awhile since we've had them done, and I've heard really good things about the company I've hired. Mom had someone come clean her house for her for the baby shower, and it only cost $75 for the whole house. I'm thinking that would be TOTALLY worth it!!!! It's like I keep getting things on my list done, and then we have company or life just happens and all my hard work is undone. It's very frustrating, so I think hiring someone to come take care of it for me will be nice.

That's really about it here. Adam and I have been working hard to get the house in order and get things taken care of at work for our time off. I feel like I just need to get through this week to finish scheduling all of my ads and then I'll be ready to have this little one arrive. I have my 37 week appointment on Wednesday, so I'll be able to update any progress that may have been made in the last two weeks then. At 37 weeks, the baby is considered full term, so it really could happen at any time from then to 4 or 5 weeks from then. Hopefully not 4 or 5 weeks long. Maybe two or three.

Hope everyone has a great week and I'll update again soon!

Baby Shower Tomorrow!

2009-10-02T17:59:00.001-07:00

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO Excited!!!! I have a bunch of friends and family coming into town to help me celebrate and I just can't wait! Having the shower tomorrow sure puts it into perspective that I'm having this baby soon, which is surreal and highly anticipated at the same time!

That's all I have for right now...I'm just too excited to type any more. I'll post pictures from the shower probably on Sunday after all of our guests leave.

Have a great weekend!

34 Weeks

2009-09-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hmmm.....It has been quite some time! Again...work has been insane. Just trying to get it all under control since I only have 6 WEEKS LEFT!!!! Yeah baby!!!! I'm so incredibly ready to 1. have this baby and 2. go on maternity leave.

Someone asked me today if I was having twins because my belly was so big. I wanted to punch her in the face. Instead I politely told her that I only have one baby in there. She replied, much to my annoyance, that it must be a really big baby. Again, I fought the urge to punch her.

The crazy thing is about this whole pregnancy is I really haven't gained any weight. I lost 6 lbs in my first trimester, gained 3 in my second, 4 in my third, then at my appointment two weeks ago was told I lost 3 lbs. So I'm technically still down 2 lbs from when I started. I keep saying the baby could eat off of what I had stored up for years, and kinda seems like the little one has been, which I'm totally okay with! I know my tummy is much bigger than it was when I first started this pregnancy...but seriously? She thought I was having TWINS???? Some people can be so cruel!

Enough of my ranting...Here's on to what baby is up to this week (info taken from this website):

Your baby continues to grow and develop inside of you. Measuring over 17 inches long, he now weighs over 5lbs! And from this week, until 2 weeks before birth, he will continue to gain about a half pound of weight every week. Unlike the first trimester, the weight between all babies in the third trimester is much more variable. Some babies weigh more and are taller, some babies weigh less and are shorter.

Also unlike the first trimester, by week 34 not much is changing. Your baby continues gaining weight through the development of subcutaneous fat and with that weight, is probably gaining strength in his movements. You may even be startled by a sudden jab to the ribs or be able to see a punch to your belly from the outside!

Mom
How are you feeling? Has your baby dropped yet? If you haven't heard the term before, it refers to the process in which your baby's head enters the birth canal to prepare for birth. For first time mothers, look for this to happen about three weeks before delivery. If this isn't your first time, your baby might not drop until the day before you deliver.

First time moms – when your baby does drop, it will be noticeable! There will be a change in your abdomen. Your baby is resting lower, which is great news for your lungs, but bad news for your bladder. You will be able to breathe easier, which might help you to get the bathroom quicker, since your little one is now sitting on your bladder!

That's what's new here. I'm anxiously awaiting my baby shower next Saturday, October 3. My mom is throwing it for me, and I'm really really excited!!! I hope you all have a good Friday and an excellent weekend!

Been awhile...

2009-09-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a few weeks since my last post. Work has kept me pretty busy, a little busier than I really wanted. We've had multiple special sections to wrap up, with another deadline coming up this Friday for our Readers' Choice section that comes out at the end of the month, plus we have artwork due for the Bi-Annual Chamber of Commerce Directory that we put out, on top of our daily deadlines for the regular paper. This week I also have a conference call on Tuesday night for the Cal Aggie Alumni Marching Band Officer Council that I am on, a Chamber of Commerce breakfast and a Downtown Business Association Board meeting Wednesday morning, a Chamber mixer that night, Sam's football game on Thursday night, and a possible breastfeeding class on Saturday. I'm already exhausted!!!

I had my 32 week check up this last week. The baby's measurements were good and the heartbeat was at 140 bpm. The doctor was very happy with my results, and was even okay with the fact that I lost 3 lbs this last month. That puts me at a total of 4 lbs gained, and even then, I'm still down 2 lbs from where I started since I lost 6 lbs in the first trimester! The baby is still in the head up position, but Dr. Chacon said that he's not concerned. He said just because the baby is head up right now doesn't mean the baby will be head up in even an hour. I have my next check up on September 30 at 35 weeks. Dr. Chacon said it's not uncommon for babies to turn at 38 weeks and to not worry until we have to.

Saturday, Adam and I attended the local hospital's birthing class. It was....interesting. Right away I was a little put off by the teacher because here all of us pregnant women are and she starts talking about nutrition during pregnancy! One lady's due date was just a few days away!!! Didn't really feel the information was pertinent at that point. I did like that she wasn't over-the-top pro natural birth. In fact, when she had her three kids, she had wanted the epidural but didn't have time to get one. The information was pretty out dated for the most part and she did make us practice the breathing (which I refused to do the Hee Hee Hee Whoooo). For as much as Adam and I were wishing we had left at lunch, I did really like that she went over a lot of the different positions that you can use to help move that baby "down the pipes."

That's pretty much all I have in me for tonight's update. I will try to update again later this week, but you see what I'm up against, so don't be surprised if it just doesn't happen!!!

30 weeks!

2009-08-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well folks, 10 weeks left, which, as of tomorrow is only 70 days! To celebrate the fact that I am 3/4 of the way there, I have taken a new preggo pic of my big ol' baby belly!

Boy...that belly is WAY out there these days! The baby moves around a lot, and the movements are very strong. Last night as I was getting ready to sleep, the baby was rolling around, punching, kicking, etc. The baby has also gotten into the habit of what I think is sticking a foot up into my left ribs and causing severe cramping and a general feeling of being uncomfortable.

I am still waking up between 3 and 4am for a pit stop, and then can't fall back to sleep for at least an hour. Every other night, I'm up 3 or 4 more times for pit stops. Haven't had any baby dreams lately. In fact, I can't remember any of my dreams lately. Sleeping comfortably is a challenge. My pregnancy pillow definitely helps the situation, but I guess I shouldn't be looking for miracles! I think I'm getting enough sleep for the most part, some days are of course better than others.

The nesting has still been in full force, but during the week gets toned down quite a bit at home since a lot of my energy goes into work and getting my affairs in order for when I go on maternity leave. Adam and I will work on the kitchen at some point this week, but since he's in school and I'm going to Sam's first football game tomorrow night, and then we're having dinner with friends on Friday, it will have to wait until Saturday morning. Adam's old college roommates are coming up Saturday, so we'll be finishing up a few other cleaning items in the house as well.

I guess that's good for my update...now on to Boss's weekly update!

Your baby's height and weight haven't changed much in the past week, but the big news is your baby's brain gain. Until now, the surface of your baby's brain was smooth. Now, your fetus's brain is taking on those characteristic grooves and indentations. The reason for this change in appearance? Those wrinkles allow for an increased amount of brain tissue — a necessary change as your developing baby prepares for life outside your womb, and the street smarts he or she will need.

Another big change at 30 weeks pregnant: Your baby's bone marrow has taken over production of red blood cells (before, tissue groups and then the spleen took care of producing the blood cells). This is an important step for your baby, because it means he or she is better able to thrive on his or her own once born (with a little TLC from you, of course).

So it's in with the new (brain cells, red blood cells) and out with the old (lanugo). Much of the lanugo — the soft, downy hair covering your baby's body — is beginning to disappear now because both fat and the brain are regulating your baby's body temperature (so no need for that furry coat anymore). But you may see a few leftover strands of fur on your newborn's back and shoulders.

That's it from me tonight. I hope you all have a great rest of the week and an excellent weekend!!!

Where did my weekend go?

2009-08-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Wow! The last two days went by so fast!

We started the weekend off by having our good friends - Josh, Katrina, their sweet baby boy Jack, and of course their dog Stella - over for dinner on Friday night. It's always good times when they come over! The dogs play all night long, we have good food, good conversation, and I get to hold that sweet little boy!

Saturday morning Adam and I relaxed. He played his computer game and I read and watched movies. In the afternoon, we went to help my grandma Sharon move into her new house. She sold her house in Lodi and bought one in Minden, close to the high school Sam will go to in a year (Freshman stay at the middle school and don't move up to the High School until their Sophomore year). What a gorgeous house! If you followed the link, the pictures are from when the old owner lived there...I'll eventually update after she gets a little more unpacked. She has amazing views of the mountains from her living room, dining room and kitchen. It's on a nice quiet street, which is considerably different from her last house. I think she is going to be very happy here. There's lots of places for her to go paint, and she's already starting to make friends with her neighbors. Adam and my dad worked hard helping the movers move the heavy stuff out of the truck. Mom and I focused on getting the kitchen set up so Grammy can at least eat! We worked pretty hard, and ended up getting home around 8:30. I went and laid down at 9pm and slept until about 9:30 this morning!

Adam's parents were going to come over today so Adam and Doug could work on our backyard sprinkler system and then go golfing. Sally and I were going to hang out and discuss baby blankets and other baby stuff. Turned out it was raining this morning, and we heard it was supposed to rain through out the day, so we ended up postponing until another weekend. Adam and I were able to get through some of my huge house cleaning lists and finished the living room, dining room and entry way. We also started working on the kitchen. All three areas are de-cluttered and de-trashed, vacuumed, swept, mopped, windows cleaned, dusted and just look great! I'm so glad we got more done from my lists. I was starting to worry some since we hadn't really started on the lists, and we are only 74 days away from the baby getting here. Plus, Adam's old college roommates are coming up to visit us next weekend, so we really did need to get started on cleaning so we weren't doing a crappy job next weekend. I just hope we can maintain the rooms and not let them get back to the disaster zones they were. We've done a pretty good job on our bedroom that we cleaned last weekend, so I'm hopeful!

I hope everyone else has had a productive weekend. I think I'm ready to go take a relaxing shower and then head to bed for what I hope is a restful evening of sleep (especially since Sundays are usually pretty restless for me!). Have a great weekend everyone!

Kind of productive weekend

2009-08-16T19:13:00.001-07:00

Well, we weren't as productive this weekend as I was hoping we would be, but we were still a little productive so I guess I should be a little bit thankful for that!

Yesterday morning, we both woke up pretty early and did some cleaning in the garage. We loaded up the truck with a load for the garbage dump...taking boxes, my old broken desk and other random stuff that has been taking up space in our house/garage. We also took about 7 large garbage bags of old clothing that we have been carting around for at least 4 years to Goodwill. We actually have an open space in our garage!!! Amazing!

After what I feel was a well deserved two hour nap, Adam and I packed up the car and met my mom, dad, little bro and his friend up in Tahoe at a beach called Sand Harbor (one of our favorite places) to celebrate my dad's birthday. It's technically this upcoming Wednesday, but we wanted to have more than just a dinner after work. We stayed for about six hours, enjoying a little bit of swimming, good food, games and a beautiful sunset! What a nice way to spend our Saturday afternoon!

This morning was not as productive as yesterday. Adam woke up pretty early, as usual, and being the wonderful husband he is, let me sleep in. After enjoying a very lazy Sunday morning, we decided it was time to get busy. We put together the baby's bassinet/play yard. It's pretty awesome! Here are some pictures of it assembled and in our room.

So, it is a play yard, but serves as a bassinet (with a vibration mode) as well as a changing table for late night diaper changes, which includes a soft light so you don't have to turn on an overhead light and wake the baby. This thing also plays music and has a sound machine with waves, rain and a few other ones to help calm the baby! What's even MORE amazing about this thing? They normally cost about $180+, and we got this bad boy for only $40 at a garage sale!!! The people only used it for about 4 months!

In order for me to want to put this in our room right now, we had to do some pretty hefty cleaning. Our room is always the last room we clean, so we had stuff EVERY WHERE! We started with stripping down the bed and putting everything on the bed so we could vacuum, throwing out the garbage and what not. We had tons of laundry that needed to be folded, however, the dogs have been sleeping on it, which means its all covered in hair and needs to be rewashed. We started on it around 2:30, and still have a ton to go! We will in no way finish that project tonight, so we'll have to work on it a little bit each day this week. I have to admit, it will be much easier to work on it load by load instead of the enormous mountain we have right now! Honestly, now that the laundry is off the floor, the room is pretty clean, so it will be easy to keep it up now.

After that, we tried to put together the baby swing a friend gave us. We quickly realized we were missing some key pieces, so I called my friend and turns out she still has them. She lives in San Diego, so we'll have to wait until she comes to visit in September before we can move forward with putting that together.

Then it was on to the kitchen. We unloaded and then reloaded the dishwasher, wiped down counters, and then discussed a new project. Our tupperware cabinet is extremely hard to keep organized, as is our pots and pans cabinet. So after taking some measurements, we went to Lowes and looked at organizing systems that slide out of the cabinets. Unfortunately, my pregnant mind spaced it and left the measurements at home. So we ended up getting a system for the pots and pans cabinet, and a temporary solution for the tupperware cabinet. We haven't installed them yet, so I'm not going to fill in the details just yet.

After Lowes, we did our grocery shopping for the week and got Papa Murphy's pizza. Now we are relaxing again, with laundry thrown in every time a new load finishes the cycle.

The weekend sure went fast...I wish I had a few more days to continue getting stuff done...I do this every weekend. I relax too much, it goes by too fast, and then I wish I had done more around the house. Oh well. The best part of the weekend besides dad's birthday? I read that I am now supposed to count the baby's kicks a couple of times during the day and started this last night. The baby is supposed to kick at least 10 times during a one hour period (when you are actually counting, not every hour). That little one kicked 40+ times in one hour!!!! I'm sure the chocolate milk I drank to get the little one excited helped things along...but good golly miss molly!!!! The baby continued it's kicking and punching this morning, and I stopped counting after 10 kicks/punches/rolling overs that happened in the first 5 minutes of paying attention. I love it when the baby moves around like that...really is the coolest feeling ever!

Hope you all had a great weekend and have an excellent upcoming week!

28 weeks!

2009-08-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow I hit 28 weeks and my third trimester! I just can't believe it! I know I say that pretty much every week, but every week I'm always amazed that I'm one week closer to my due date.

Today I had my 28 week appointment. I had to see one of the other doctors in the practice because my doctor is on vacation. We went over my Glucose test that I took a few weeks ago. Passed with "flying colors"! So glad! That has been one of my fears is getting gestational diabetes. I have gained 4 lbs this month, which puts my total at 7 pounds in 28 weeks. Not too bad! In fact, the doctor was very impressed that that was all I had gained. She also said that whatever I have been doing nutritionally and vitamin-wise was really working well and to keep it up. My blood pressure was great, iron levels really good, and all my other levels for whatever else they check for were also really good.

My measurements all came back normal for 28 weeks. The baby is weighing in this week at 2.5 lbs and about 16 inches long. I got to hear the heartbeat again! Baby is beating 145 beats a minute. During my last appointment, the little one was moving around a lot and the doctor had to chase the peanut around. Today, it's like the baby was taking a little nap. Didn't move once during the entire appointment! I will probably take a new preggo picture sometime this week to share.

Here's what www.whattoexpect.com says the baby is up to this week:
Are you dreaming about your baby? At 28 weeks pregnant, your baby may be dreaming about you, too. Brain wave activity measured in a developing fetus shows different sleep cycles, including the rapid eye movement phase, the stage when dreaming occurs.

By now, your baby, who weighs in at about two and a half pounds and stands — or rather lies — at almost 16 inches (measured head to toe) has added blinking to his or her growing bag of tricks. (Outside in the real world, blinking is necessary to help keep foreign objects out of the eyes.) Other impressive new talents being added to your baby's roster in the womb include coughing, more intense sucking, and, perhaps most important, better breathing.

The good news is that babies born this week, though premature, have an excellent prognosis because their lungs have reached the point (for the most part) of maturity — so you too can breathe a little easier now. Of course, it's still best if a baby doesn't check out of that uterine hotel just yet — there's still a lot of growing and maturing to do over the next 12 weeks.

Hope all is well with all of you and that you are having a great week!

Movement

2009-08-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

Adam FINALLY got to feel the baby move yesterday!!! It started with us doing our morning ritual of snuggling, since that is one of the times the baby is active is when I'm waking up. He thought he felt the baby move, but was so unsure that he didn't really want to count it.

After that, we got up and went about our day. We went to Reno for Sushi (don't worry, I only had shrimp rolls!) and registered at Baby's R Us. I had a haircut scheduled for 4:30, and unfortunately it was only 1:30 by the time we were done registering, so we went to the Atlantis Casino and played Pai Gow Poker for a few hours. I'm glad we did...I got a Royal Flush on Fortune Bonus and won $150!!!! For the first time ever, we walked away from the tables up $200! We went to my hair appointment in very high spirits, and then had dinner at Chevy's.

I ate way too much chips and salsa, so when we got home, I laid on the couch to take some of the pressure off my tummy, and I could feel the baby gearing up for some big movements. I told Adam "you need to put your hand on my belly right now!" As soon as he did, that baby started kicking something fierce!!! Adam said he definitely felt that! Yay!!! I'm so glad he has finally felt the baby move! I think it puts a few things into perspective. So, lesson learned, the baby likes Chevy's! Can't say I blame the little one!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! I know we are!

13 weeks left!

2009-08-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! Only 13 weeks left in my pregnancy! I think I've finally hit the panic of we only have a few months left and we still have soooooo much to do! We still have to finish up the baby's room....there is extraneous furniture in there that has to be moved out so we can finish setting up the baby furniture. We can't move that furniture until we move other furniture that is in the office, which we can't move until we clean out the garage!

There are baby clothes to wash and put away. There is a registry to finish creating. There is a baby shower guest list to put together. There is an ENTIRE house that needs an overhauled cleaning. There is gardening to do, both in the front and the back. There is a backyard wall to finish and a new fence to be built.

And that is not even my entire to-do list! This next weekend will actually start a little bit early for me since tomorrow I will work a 14 hour day. I'm working a half day on Friday and will use the afternoon to clean off my old desk (that is broken) in our office so we can take it apart to make room for the new desk we bought a few weeks ago. If I get through that project before Adam comes home to help me take apart my old desk and put together my new one, then I'll start unloading the bookcase in the baby's room so we can move it into the office, and maybe even move the bookcase itself off the wall where the changing table is going. I could also put all of the boxes of diapers away in the hallway closet...which could use a cleaning out anyway. All the sheets, extra blankets, etc could all use a bath.

Oh God...somebody stop me now!!! If I keep thinking about it, I'm not going to stop creating my list!!!

Since I am stopping myself from creating an impossible to do list (which I'm sure I will create at a later time...like 20 minutes from now), let's get on to Boss's weekly update:

Week 27 of Pregnancy: Baby's Sense of Taste and Sound

Most babies this age, yours included, still like to snuggle in a slightly curled position inside the uterus (thus the term "fetal position"). Even so, beginning at this stage, your baby's length will be measured from top of head to toe — which makes your baby nearly a full 15 inches now. And at just over two pounds, he or she has doubled in weight from four weeks ago.

Your baby's auditory development (hearing) is progressing as the network of nerves to the ears matures. And even though the sounds your baby hears are muffled (thanks to the creamy coating of vernix covering those ears), he or she may recognize both yours and your partner's voices. So this might be a good time to read and even sing to your baby (or rather, your belly) — and a good chance to start boning up on those nursery rhymes and lullabies you'll need to be repeating (and repeating) pretty soon. And while you're at it, here's another way to have some family fun at 27 weeks pregnant: If your partner presses his ear to your belly, he might be able to hear the baby's heartbeat.

Your baby's taste buds are very developed now too (with more taste buds than he or she will ever have outside the womb, actually). Need a taste test? If you eat some spicy food (you hot mama, you), your baby will be able to taste the difference in the amniotic fluid (but keep in mind that you'll have different mealtimes, with your baby's coming about two hours after yours). Some babies will even respond to that spicy kick by hiccupping. And although hiccups (which feel like belly spasms to you) may seem like they're disturbing to your baby, he or she isn't stressed at all. It's just one more sensation that babies need to get used to.

Baby!!! I can't believe how big boss is getting! Although, I guess I can since I feel that little bugger moving around ALL THE TIME! The kicks are getting harder and more frequent...although poor Adam still hasn't felt the baby move yet. Soon though, I'm sure of it!

Hope you all are having a great week and a productive weekend! I know I will be!

Quick update

2009-08-01T20:51:00.001-07:00

It's been a very long and busy week and I worked about 6 hours today, so this is just going to be a short update.

Baby is moving around a lot! Adam still hasn't been able to feel the lil' one moving yet. Every time he puts his hand on my belly, the baby stops moving. Poor Adam! He wants to feel the baby move so bad!

There's only 95 days left until my due date. I can't believe we're already in the double digits of time left! It's gone by fast...with the slow times mixed in, of course! I keep getting bigger and bigger, which I know is supposed to happen, but still feels a little insulting. It won't be forever, and I know that. I guess the good news is I continue to look more and more pregnant, and not just over weight.

We had dinner with my good friend Libby and her boyfriend, Mike, tonight. Mike's mom recently moved to Dayton (20 minutes east of us), and they are up here for the weekend visiting her. They stopped in Carson to see us for a few hours before continuing on to see her. It was really nice to see Libby! She and I lived together for our Senior year in college, and that was a total blast! One of the best roommates I've ever had, besides Adam!

Tomorrow, our friends Josh and Katrina, their new baby, Jack, and our other good friend, Edward, are coming over for a bbq. Jack has been feeling better after a week of being on a biliblanket (click here to go to Katrina's blog for more info). Last weekend when they came over, Jack just wasn't a happy camper, and they left right after dinner. Hopefully they will be able to stay a little longer and I can hold the little guy some more! He's just such a little cutie pie!

That's about all I have energy for tonight. I'll try to do another post either tomorrow or Monday...I've just been so dang busy, which results in being exhausted by the time I get home that I haven't had the energy to update this last week. Hope for the best and hope you have a great weekend!

Bleh

2009-07-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to 25 weeks pregnant.

I'm hot.

I'm uncomfortable.

I'm SUPER grumpy.

Nuff said.

What's new with Baby Plain

2009-07-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Before I talk about our baby (which has been kicking up a storm tonight!), I just have to say that Josh and Katrina's baby is just so incredibly precious and beautiful! We went to visit again tonight now that things are a little more calm. Adam and I both got to hold him for at least 30 minutes each! He slept the entire time and made the cutest little cooing sounds while he did. Just precious. For more pictures of little Jack, see Katrina's Blog.

And now on to Baby Plain:

At nine inches and more than a pound and a half in weight, your baby is taller than two juice boxes stacked one on top of the other, and almost as heavy as four of those little boxes (an analogy you'll find particularly apropos in a few years, when those juice boxes start taking over your refrigerator, your pantry, your car.…).

Don't look now (as if you could), but your baby's skin is turning pinker. No, not because he or she's getting overheated (in fact, the amniotic fluid is perfectly climate controlled, keeping your baby at an always comfortable temperature), but because small blood vessels, called capillaries, are forming under the skin and filling with blood. Later this week, blood vessels will also develop in your baby's lungs, bringing them one step closer to full maturity — and one step closer to taking that first breath of fresh air. But at 25 weeks pregnant, those lungs are still very much works in progress. Though they are already beginning to develop surfactant, a substance that will help the lungs expand after the baby is born, the lungs are still too undeveloped to sufficiently send oxygen to the bloodstream and release carbon dioxide when he or she exhales.

The lungs aren't the only system that's gearing up for air intake. Your baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, are starting to open this week. This actually allows your little one to begin taking practice breaths. (Of course since there's no air in there, your baby is really only "breathing" amniotic fluid, but it's the practice that counts, right?)

Hope you are all having a great week!

Jack David Welch

2009-07-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day! I know, I'm pretty impressed with myself, too!

Tonight, Adam and I went to meet our good friends', Josh and Katrina, baby! Talk about a little sweetheart! I proudly present Jack David Welch:

He was born today, July 21, at 5:39pm via c-section. He weighs 7.9lbs and is 20 inches long. And he smells just delicious!!!! Mom wasn't feeling too well while we were visiting, so we took a quick picture and promised to come back to visit tomorrow night after work. I'll try and get more pics then, but I just had to post this one!!!

Happy Tuesday night and I hope you have a great Wednesday! I know I'll be dreaming about babies all night long!

Preggo pics

2009-07-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures I took of Katrina and me last night after we ate dinner. These are the only pictures that Katrina and I have of the two of us pregnant together!

Belly to belly! I was hecka pushing my tummy out!

Happy mamas!

Katrina went into the hospital early this morning. They induced her and she was in pretty heavy labor for awhile before they decided to schedule her for a C-Section at 5pm today. At this moment, their baby should be born and she should be in recovery!!!!! Adam and I are going to go see her and the baby around 8pm...I'll post pictures when we get home. I'm so excited to meet their little baby! I still don't know what the baby's sex is! Adam and I are both betting it's a boy. Guess we'll find out soon!

Hope you are all having a happy Tuesday!

Holy Crap! She's having a Baby!

2009-07-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Katrina (http://mrsjuicebox.blogspot.com/), is having her baby tomorrow! The doctor has decided it best to induce her a week before her due date, and in, hopefully, less than 24 hours, she should be holding her little one in her arms! I am planning to go by to see her and the little one tomorrow after work and should be able to take some pictures.

I'm so excited and happy for them. Katrina has been the one I go to when something is going on and I'm not sure if it's normal. And she will surely be the one I go to when I start freaking out about labor and delivery.

Katrina, her husband Josh, her sister Autumn, and their beautiful Husky Stella are all coming over for dinner tonight for their last "pre-baby" meal. Stella will be staying with us for the next few days while Katrina and Josh are in the hospital. She always has fun playing with our two rambunctious pups...sometimes into the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning. But with Katrina's check-in time of 6:00am tomorrow, we figured it best for her to start her stay with us tonight...they will just have too much going on tomorrow morning! Plus...Katrina's parents are coming into town tonight so they can be with her tomorrow, which will be a pretty full house for them, and we are more than happy to help! (Especially since our pups will be staying with them when we have our baby)

That's all I have for now. I'm planning on taking some pics tonight of Katrina and I so I actually have some preggo pics of the two of us. It will be the last preggo pick during this pregnancy she will probably take! Have a great day all, and I'll update again soon!

24 Weeks

2009-07-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I posted something. Mainly because I have been a very busy girl!

Last weekend, mom and I went to visit my grandparents in Arizona. We had a very nice visit (you can read and see all about it at their blog: http://jerrysuzylifeonwheels.blogspot.com/2009/07/another-family-visit.html). It was a heck of a lot hotter there than either of us are used to!

This has also been a very busy work week, too. That's usually why I don't blog during the week...I get home from work and I am just DONE!

On to the good stuff!

Week 24 of Pregnancy: Fetal Hearing
Your baby weighs more than a pound and a half right now and sports a crown-to-rump length of about eight and a half inches (standard letter size!).

Wondering what (and who) your baby will look like? If you had a baby cam at 24 weeks pregnant, you'd almost be able to tell by now. That beautiful face (though still tiny) is almost fully formed. What's still missing from the picture is the fat that will be piled on under baby's skin. Until those fat deposits are made, that very tender skin is still very transparent, which means a close look would let you see clear through to all the organs, bones, and blood vessels. Fortunately, that see-through look won't last much longer. Babies at this stage of fetal development are gaining about six ounces each week — with much of that gain coming from fat, in addition to growing organs, bones, and muscle.

What's been playing on your little rocker's stereo system these days? All kinds of sounds can be heard by your baby in your womb: from air exhaling from your lungs (deep breath now), those gastric gurgles produced by your stomach and intestines, your voice and your partner's (which your baby will be able to recognize at birth), and even very loud sounds such as honking horns, barking dogs, or a wailing fire truck.

I already know the baby knows when daddy is talking...Adam reads to the baby when we are getting ready to go to sleep, and the baby kicks like crazy! As soon as Adam stops reading, he baby stops kicking! I can't wait until Adam can actually feel the baby moving too. I think it will really help him bond with the little one.

Well, that's all I have in me for tonight. I hope you all have a great Friday and an even better weekend!

A very fun weekend

2009-07-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

We had a great time this weekend! I'll post pictures later this week, but just wanted to post an update that the weekend was a success! Katie was totally surprised and so excited to see everyone who drove up to surprise her for her 30th birthday.

Our 4th of July celebration was also a great success. BBQ was had and enjoyed by many.

Hope you all had a great weekend and a great Monday!

Friday...on Thursday?

2009-07-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my Friday at work!!!! Yay! Since 4th of July falls on a Saturday this year, my work is giving us our paid holiday on Friday! So, I've been on early deadlines all week, which has been a little bit stressful, but you know...every day we're on deadline, so it's really not too much different than any other day! And today I set myself up to pretty much float through tomorrow as far as approving ads and turning in artwork. YAY!

The bummer of tomorrow...I still have to go to my Downtown Business Association meeting tomorrow night from 6-8:30pm (I'm on the board so I HAVE to be there) and I'm starting my work day at 6:45 a.m. because I'm helping my boss out by going to his networking meeting in the morning. I think I'll probably leave work around 2 or 3 tomorrow so I can have some time off before my night time meeting. Adam and I are in the middle of cleaning the house because we have about 10 people and 2 dogs coming to stay with us this weekend. My friend Katie is going to be in town and Monday happens to be her 30th birthday. Adam, I and our 8 friends from California and Katie's boyfriend, Dan, have planned a surprise party for her when she gets in Friday night! We're all super excited because she really has NO CLUE! She is really upset because she thinks no one is coming to see her this weekend! I LOVE IT! I should have pics on Monday.

And now for the weekly update on Boss:

Guess what? At 22 weeks pregnant, your baby has finally broken the one-pound mark. How heavy is that? Hold a one-pound box of sugar in your hand the next time you're in the grocery story (and expect people to ask you why you're grinning from ear to ear). Is the box eight inches long? That's about the length your baby is too!

This week, your sweetie is making more sense of the world as he or she develops the sense of touch. In fact, your little one's grip is quite developed by now — and since there's nothing else to grab in utero, he or she may sometimes hold on tight to that umbilical cord (don't worry — it's tough enough to handle it). The sense of sight is also getting more developed. Your fetus can now perceive light and dark much better than before (even with those fused eyelids). But remember — unless you're shining a flashlight over your belly (which you can do, by the way), it'll be mostly dark for your baby inside that cozy womb of yours.

Moving up from the eyes, the eyelashes and eyebrows are well formed now — and even more hair is sprouting atop that cute little head. You'd be quite surprised, though, if you could see your little one up close and in color. Hair at this stage of fetal development has no pigment, so it's bright white.

I can't believe the baby is at the one pound mark already!!! CRAZY! Hope you all enjoyed and have a great 4th of July weekend!

Finally looking pregnant!

2009-06-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

I know my baby belly has been growing slowly, but all of a sudden I LOOK pregnant! It's so crazy to me how one day I can sort of look normal, and then WHAM! Preggo! So you all can get a better idea, here's my first baby bump picture.

And now, onto what's new with the Boss this week!

Week 21 of Pregnancy: Baby's Taste Buds Develop

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. There's still a great deal of room in your womb — though your tenant will soon begin to feel cramped, so be prepared!

By 21 weeks pregnant, your baby swallows at least several ounces of amniotic fluid each day — not only for hydration and nutrition, but also to practice swallowing and digesting — skills your baby will need as soon as he or she arrives in your arms. And keep this in mind: The taste of the amniotic fluid differs from day to day depending on what you've eaten (spicy enchilada one day, sweet carrots another). And that smorgasbord of tastes won't be lost on your baby. That's because your little one has very developed taste buds already. In fact, researchers have noted that babies who were exposed to certain tastes in utero via the amniotic fluid were more eager to eat foods with that same taste after birth. Want your baby to eat his or her broccoli later? Eat yours now!

Your developing baby still has a great deal of room in your womb — though like anyone who lives in one space for a long time, this tenant will soon begin to feel cramped. Until those uterine walls start closing in, however, there's plenty of space for twisting, turning, and even an occasional somersault (so that's what you were feeling last night!).

With all that belly dancing going on, it's hard to believe your baby gets any sleep at all. But believe it or not, your fetus sleeps as much as a newborn, perhaps 12 to 14 hours per day! (Now if only you could get some sleep!)

So...with the little one already being at least 10 1/2 inches long, no wonder why I have a baby belly now!!!

That's that for this week! I hope you all have a great weekend...I know ours will be a good one!

Baby Pics

2009-06-18T21:46:00.001-07:00

Here are a few of the pics we got during Friday's sonogram. In the first set (one blank, the other marked) the baby is rubbing it's eyes with it's hands, like we woke it up from a nap.

In the second set you can see the baby's face more clearly. Again, the second one is marked so you can see what is what.

We didn't get a lot of body shots, since we didn't want to know the sex.

Enjoy!

Half Way Mark

2009-06-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

Holy moly Batman! I've reached the 20 week/half way point of my pregnancy!!!! I can't believe how fast it's gone by! We had our sonogram last Friday and it was so amazing. We actually got to SEE the baby and know what we were looking at this time! I'll post the pictures a little later after Adam finishes scanning them for me.

Now for the weekly update on the little one!

How your baby's growing:
Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

Your baby can also hear sounds. At 20 weeks, she can cover her ears with her hands if the sounds are too loud and she may even "jump" inside your womb if any sounds startle her.

She is also moving around a lot inside you. Remember, if this is your first pregnancy or if you have a larger frame, you may not yet feel those movements. If you haven’t felt anything yet, you should in the coming weeks. Many times, these first movements are described as a flutter, or may feel like bubbles or gas. If you can feel your baby moving and shifting inside of you this week, you may be becoming aware of her sleep cycles.

It's all so exciting! I have been feeling flutters over the past week or so, but without any regularity. I'm hoping that I will soon feel them regularly and really be able to become aware of the sleep cycles and everything else going on with the baby. I'll have sonogram pictures for you all soon! Until then, have a happy Thursday evening!

Company

2009-06-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited!!! I just found out my good friend that lives in California is PREGNANT!!!! She's barely pregnant, only 4 weeks, but still pregnant! We had talked about how much fun it would be to be pregnant at the same time, and have our babies grow up to be close friends...I'm so excited it will actually happen!

It's funny because I am 15 weeks further along than Alyssa (my newly pregnant friend), and my friend Katrina is 15 weeks further along than I am! It's actually kind of eerily strange how that has happened...Katrina and I wanted to be pregnant during the same time too!

Yay!!! Good luck to Alyssa and welcome to the club, Baby!

Tomorrow is 19 weeks!

2009-06-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here's what's going on with baby starting tomorrow!

Fetal Development This Week
Week 19 of Pregnancy: Vernix Develops
Six inches long this week and about eight ounces in weight, your baby is the size of a large mango and is now covered in a protective substance called vernix. Arms and legs are finally in proportion, neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles, and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone.

Six inches long this week and about eight ounces in weight, your baby is the size of a large mango.

Your little action figure is able to choreograph Matrix-like moves at 19 weeks pregnant. Arms and legs are finally in proportion, neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles, and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone. All these upgrades combine to give your baby more control over limb movements. Which explains all that kicking, stretching, and bodysurfing (or rather bellysurfing) you've possibly started feeling by now.

Something else going on this week: Your baby is getting a cheesy varnish. Say what? Yup — a protective substance called vernix caseosa (vernix is the Latin word for varnish; caseosa is cheese) now covers your baby's skin. It's greasy and white and is made up of lanugo (that downy hair), oil from your baby's glands, and dead skin cells. This waxy "cheese" may not sound too appetizing or attractive, but it's there for good reason: Vernix protects your baby's sensitive skin from the surrounding amniotic fluid. Without it, your baby would look very wrinkled at birth (sort of what you'd look like if you soaked in a bath for nine months). Some babies — especially those born early — will still be covered with vernix at the delivery, so you might get a look at your baby's first anti-wrinkle cream.

Friday I have my next ultrasound. I'll make sure to post pictures Friday night. Saturday I'm throwing a baby shower for my friend Katrina. She's 32 weeks along. I've got some fun games planned, a tasty dinner to make, and other surprises that I'm not going to mention since Katrina reads this blog! Should be fun!

Have a great end of the week everyone!

Missing Adam

2009-05-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Adam is on a business trip for the rest of this week. He just left today and I miss him already! He's in Salt Lake City for tonight and tomorrow, tomorrow night he flies to Denver and stays Thursday, Thursday night he flies to Dallas, and then comes home Friday night. Poor guy is going to be exhausted when he gets home!

I guess it's a good thing I got a big pregnancy pillow to snuggle with! By the way...best pillow EVER! I haven't slept as well as I have with this pillow since BEFORE I got pregnant! That's a long 17 weeks of no sleep.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2128727

16 Weeks

2009-05-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today marks 16 weeks in my pregnancy! Yay! Before I get into what's going on with baby this week, I thought I'd give an update on me first. My energy level has definitely gone back up!!! I've been waiting for that to happen for about...oh 14 weeks! ;-)I've also gotten a little bit of a baby bump...or rather, the bump I already had has gotten a bit more predominant.

On a different, quick, non-baby note, I was informed last night that I will be one of the people honored at the upcoming Carson Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner for my "above and beyond volunteerism" with the Chamber! How cool is that!?! My work is also excited about this and is planning to pay for me to attend. Hopefully, Adam will be able to skip his summer class for that night to attend the function with me.

And now on to baby!

How your baby's growing:
Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Listen up: Tiny bones in your fetus's ears are in place this week, making it likely that the baby can hear your voice when you're speaking (or singing in the shower)at 16 weeks pregnant. In fact, studies have found that babies who are sung to while they're in the womb recognize the same tune when it's sung to them after they are born (so choose your baby Muzak with that in mind…).

And baby's busily boning up in other ways. For one, the backbone (along with the back muscles) is stronger now — strong enough, in fact, to enable your baby to work on straightening his or her head and neck even more. Baby's crown-to-rump measurement is between four and five inches in length, and weight is hovering around three ounces.

This little one's a looker — with a face that has both eyebrows and eyelashes — but a skinny looker since there's no baby fat yet. And here's the skinny on baby skin: It's practically translucent now, so if you took a peek inside your uterus, you'd be able to see your baby's blood vessels under that thin skin.

Pretty crazy! If I don't get back on here before the weekend, I hope you all have a great long weekend!!!

Today's doctor's appointment

2009-05-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today I had my 15/16 week doctor's appointment. Nothing really major happened at this one, except I did get to hear the baby's heartbeat again! This time, the heartbeat was 152 beats per minute, versus the 162bmp from four weeks ago. In a few weeks, I need to go get some blood work done to test for spina bifida, down syndrome, and one other thing that I can't remember. It's all routine testing, so I'm not worried. Also, the preggo girl's least favorite part of the visit...weigh-in. On the good side, I've only gained 2 lbs this last month, and considering I lost 6 lbs during my first month of pregnancy, I still haven't truly gained any weight during this pregnancy. Still down 4. We'll see how that goes at my next visit!

In four weeks (when I'm at the halfway mark), we get to do another sonogram! This is the one where we could possibly find out the gender of the baby. Of course....we're not going to!!! We want to be surprised since it's one of the very few instances where you can truly be surprised in life. Also, anytime now I should be able to start feeling the fluttering feeling of early baby kicks! I'm so excited for that to happen. It truly is something I've dreamed about for so long! I'll let you know when it happens!

That's about it here. Have a great week!

Super Awesome Garage Sale Day

2009-05-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Today was the huge garage sale that the community my parents live in through every May. I went with my friend, Katrina, and we both found some AWESOME baby stuff!

I got

- a Pack 'n Play that also has a changing table and a bassinet attached to it. It also plays music, vibrates and has a light for when you are rooting around in the middle of the night. It was only used for 4 months!

- a brand new never been out of the box diaper wipe warmer, which will be nice for late night diaper changes so I (or Adam) hopefully won't wake the baby up, especially in the winter when it's so cold in the middle of the night.

- a take along swing that looks almost like a bouncer, but is a swing.

- a bunch of children's books, like Dr. Seuss, Bernstein Bears, Nursery Rhymes and more.

- Some Disney movies.

- A cute wooden child's chair.

- A wooden toy box.

- Two plant stands.

- An armed pillow with a light and back massager so I can sit up in bead and read at night.

Last weekend, my mom found an awesome crib that I ended up buying. And the lady also had the matching dresser with a hutch and a smaller dresser that also is a changing table. I talked to her last night and she's going to sell me the dresser and changing table! We can't pick up the dressers until mid-June when the couple moves, but that's okay since we still have A LOT of work to do before the nursery will be ready for furniture. The baby stuff is coming along!

All in all, it was an extremely good garage sale day! Hope your Saturday is as great as mine!

15 Weeks

2009-05-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

The baby sure is active this week! Check it out!

Week 15 of Pregnancy: Baby Kicking and Curling
Your baby is as long as four and a half inches right now, and weighs a bit over two ounces. Hold a large navel orange in your hand — that's how big your little darlin' is.
Curious why your body is finally looking like it's pregnant? That's because your baby is growing bigger each week — he or she is as long as four and a half inches right now. Need a better visual (and a snack)? Hold a large navel orange in your hand — that's how big your little darlin' is at 15 weeks pregnant. (Now that you're done looking, peel that orange and eat it for a delicious two servings of vitamin C!).

So what keeps your baby busy all day? Mostly, your fetus is in rehearsals — practice, practice, practicing, and getting ready for that big debut. Babies practice breathing, sucking, and swallowing so that when they leave your comfy womb and move into your comfy house, they'll have the skills necessary to survive.

Fetal body movements continue to get practice this week, too. But because your baby weighs so little (a bit over two ounces), you won't feel the calisthenics going on inside your abdominal gym. But don't let that fool you. Your fetus is holding daily aerobics classes — kicking, curling toes, and moving those little arms and legs.

And with each passing week, your fetus is looking more and more like the baby you're picturing in your dreams. By now, the ears are positioned properly on the sides of the head (they used to be in the neck) and the eyes are moving from the side of the head to the front of the face — where they'll soon meet your loving gaze.

Grow baby Grow!!! Hope you all have a good week!

Hormones

2009-05-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

So....I just sobbed through last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy. I'm thinking the emotional hormones and the crying at commercials and all that crap has definitely kicked in! I also cry during certain commercials...ones that really don't make sense for me to be crying during. Like Truck commercials. Or Pay Day loans. Ridiculous!

On a totally different note, I have decided I am going to start swimming at least two times a week at the local pool. I took Sam to the pool on Sunday and had a great time, and then I went tonight and swam laps for 40 minutes! It felt amazing!!! I'm going to buy a 10x pass and see how I do with it.

Wish me luck with that! And feel free to send me tissue, since I obviously need it more than I thought I would!

Goodbye first trimester!

2009-05-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will officially start my second trimester! I can't believe it! Here's what the baby is in for this week:

Week 14 Of Pregnancy: Fetal Movement
If you could peek inside yourself now, you'd see a baby the size of your clenched fist (and come to think of it, at 14 weeks of fetal development, your little one can clench his or her own fist!). As fetal development continues, your baby also has the coordination, strength, and smarts to wiggle his or her fingers and toes and even suck a thumb (how cute is that?).

At 14 Weeks Pregnant, Your Baby is a Mover (But Not a Shaker Yet)

Growing by leaps and bounds, by week 14 of pregnancy, your baby is leaping and bounding. He or she is on the move almost constantly — and those movements are a far cry from those jerky twitches of last trimester (though you won't feel any of them for weeks to come). They are now ballet-like, smooth and fluid.

Your Baby at 14 Weeks: Developing Perfect Posture (or Better Posture, at Least)

Speaking of ballet, it'll be years before you'll start nagging your offspring to stand up straight — but unbelievably, he or she is doing it right now, without any prodding! No slouch anymore, your baby's neck is getting longer, helping his or her head stand more erect. This gives your 14-week-old fetus a more straightened-out appearance.

Your Little Bigfoot — A Hairy Baby at 14 Weeks

Growth is happening on top of the head as well — by 14 weeks pregnant, your baby could be sprouting some hair (though the final color may not be determined until birth) and the eyebrows are filling in, too.

Hair growth isn't limited to the baby's head, though. He or she is also covered with a downy coating of hair called lanugo, largely there for warmth. As fat accumulates later on in your pregnancy (the baby's fat, not yours — though that will accumulate, too), most of the lanugo will shed — though some babies, especially those born early, still have a fuzzy coating at delivery (it sheds soon afterward).

And here is what I'm in for this week:

Week 14 of Pregnancy: Second Trimester Is Here
Second trimester is typically an easier time — your first trimester worries are waning and morning sickness is finally letting up. Your uterus is expanding and you may even start showing! One side effect of your uterine expansion could be achy or sharp pregnancy cramps on one or both sides of your abdomen — known as "round ligament pain" in the obstetrical business.

The Second Trimester: Pregnant and Loving It!

Great news! At 14 weeks pregnant, you're starting your second trimester — (almost) every pregnant woman's favorite — and for good reason. With many first trimester pregnancy woes waning, you're most likely feeling a bit peppier and a lot more human.

You may also be starting to show (if you haven't already). That's because your uterus is finally rising out of the pelvic region and into your lower abdomen. You might even be able to feel the top of your uterus (the fundus) if you press down right above your pelvic bone in your lower abdomen. How cool is that?

Even cooler is the fact that it may be time to start hitting those maternity boutiques, because you're finally starting to look pregnant — not just like you've eaten too much for lunch.

Dealing with Round Ligament Pain: Another (Good) Excuse to Kick Back

For some women, a possible side effect of uterine growth is what your OB-GYN would call round ligament pain. Basically, these are pregnancy growing pains that feel like achy or sharp pains on one or both sides of the abdomen. These begin to appear around 14 weeks, but they can strike at any time during the second trimester.

Here's why these pains in the abdomen happen during pregnancy: The uterus is supported by thick bands of ligaments that run from the groin up the side of the abdomen (like the lines of that high-cut bikini bottom you've probably had to pack away by now). As your uterus grows, the supporting ligaments stretch and thin out to accommodate the increasing weight. This weight pulls on the ligaments and causes a sharp pain or a dull ache in your lower abdomen.

The pain is often more noticeable when you change positions suddenly or get up from sitting or lying down, or when you cough. The best way to bring relief? Put your feet up and rest in a comfortable position — that should ease the strain, and the pain.

That's what the Boss and I have going on starting tomorrow! What do you all have going on?

So excited!

2009-05-03T18:39:00.001-07:00

My husband is so awesome! He looked at my computer, diagnosed the problem, ordered the parts, put it all back together, and presto!!!! Working laptop! I've always know Adam was a genius when it comes to computers, he's been building his own PCs since high school. But laptops are a little bit different, so I wasn't sure if he'd be able to find the problem.

I should be able to keep my updates frequent from now on. I am hoping to put the baby's heartbeat from two weeks ago online, I just need to figure out how to get it from my phone to my computer. Starting this next week, I will be 14 weeks pregnant and beginning my 2nd trimester! It's crazy how fast it's gone. In two days, my friend Katrina will start her 3rd trimester! I will start taking belly shots next week and will post them as we go...probably once a month will be easiest.

Today, we went to Reno to celebrate my little brother's birthday. I can't believe he's turning 14 tomorrow!!!! He's already taller than me and his feet have been huge for years now. Dad and both Grandpas are over 6 feet, so we know he's going to be at least 6 feet tall, if not taller! To celebrate, we went to the Grand Sierra Resort where Sam and his two friends could play arcade games, lazer tag, and run around all crazy. We got a screaming deal on pizzas (Round Table pizza, so they were actually good!), and part of the deal was this awesome chocolate cake that was huge! After we were played out on arcade games, we went over to the grand prix go-karts and took to speed way! We had a ton of fun racing, and it wasn't until we were done that I realized my phone had fallen out of my pocket while I was making all of those crazy hairpin turns and landed on the track. The screen is pretty messed up, but it will at least work until I can get a new phone. Luckily, I bought insurance on this phone after Adam washed my first phone with a load of laundry, so instead of paying $300 to replace it like the last time, I only have to pay the $90 deductible. Other than that, it was a great day!

I hope you all had a great weekend and have a good week as well!

Hired!

2009-05-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been MIA lately. My laptop has died and Adam has been trying to get it fixed for me, so it might be awhile before I am able to post regularly. I've hijacked my friends computer for a quick update.

So, I started a new job with the competing newspaper on Monday!!! So far, I am really liking it. I'm working in a territory that I'm extremely familiar with and have even sold some ads during my last week!

Thursday I hit the 13 week mark in my pregnancy, which brings my first trimester to a close. I can't believe I'm 1/3 of the way done already! Man, that went fast! Still haven't had any morning sickness since that first week. The exhaustion has been killing me though.

That's all I have time for right now...I'll try to update again soon...and hopefully it will be from my own laptop!

Take care all!

Eliminated

2009-04-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today has not been a good day. At 1:30 today I was notified, along with the rest of my office, that next Friday, April 17 will be the last day my paper, the Carson Times, will run. As of that day, all of the positions except one in our Carson office will be eliminate. Unfortunately, my position was not the one that was the exception.

I will get a two week severence package that will take me through the end of the month, including my benefits (which is good because we have a doctor's appointment on April 20 to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time). After that, I will be one of the many filing an unemployment claim weekly. AND THANK GOD Obama just passed that bill so the government will supplement the COBRA packages, because that means I will have affordable heath care over the next 18 months, taking me well through November.

So, what will I do next? I have no clue....I have a couple of possible job leads that I've had on the backburner for awhile. Hopefully one of those will pan out and I won't be unemployed for too long. I was extremely upset when I found out, just because of my current situation. But after thinking about everything and discussing it with Adam, who came home early to be my support system, I remembered that everything happens for a reason and I know things will turn out for the better. Adam and I are in a good place, financially and in our relationship, and I know we can get through this on the upside!

What I need now from everyone is positive thoughts and any possible local job leads you may have! The sun will come out tomorrow, I'm sure of it!

Here's BABY!!!!

2009-03-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

Adam and I had our first doctor's appointment today. And during our appointment, we got to see the baby for the first time!!!

The tech was very quiet, so nervously I asked her, "So, so far so good?" She laughed and said that everything was fine, she was just taking the measurements for the doctor. Then I asked, "So there's REALLY a baby in there?" and she laughed again and said yes, and that there was only ONE baby in there....which made Adam and I very happy!

She then turned the monitor around so we could see our little raspberry. She showed us the heart and how it was fluttering, the arms, legs, head and tiny little baby bottom! She said the heart was beating strong and at our 12 week appointment (April 20) we should be able to hear the baby's heart beat!

I love how they butter us up with the wonderful pictures of the baby before we go talk to the financial lady! It's definitely an expensive business, making babies! We will start making monthly payments for the doctor next month up until our last month, so that by the time the delivery comes, he'll be paid for. Then we'll just have to worry about the hospital, anesthesiologist, pathology and newborn care (among other things, I'm sure!). Crazy!

After the financial lady, we met with Dr. Chacon and he went over the due date with us (November 5!) and answered our questions.

And for the final touch, we spent an hour at the lab so I could pee in a cup and fill half a dozen tubes with blood. Good times today!

Enjoy the pics of the little raspberry!

This week

2009-03-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy this week and last week has been pretty good.

Nausea
I haven't been nauseous at all since Saturday, March 7, which has been great. It was pretty bad when the plane landed in Idaho, but disappeared after that. My friend, Katrina (whose 20 weeks pregnant), felt pretty good until about week 8. Then she said it was pretty gnarly until week 14. I'm hoping I get lucky enough to only have "morning" sickness for 6 weeks, unlike my momma who was sick with me into her third trimester!!!

Exhaustion
This is definitely one pregnancy symptom I have had a lot of! I've been very tired for the past two and a half weeks. Wanting to take naps during the day, falling asleep on the couch after work, going to bed earlier and earlier. You would think I would get enough sleep if I am going to bed early, but unfortunately I'm waking up several times during the night to pee, because I'm uncomfortable, because I'm having funky pregnancy dreams, and also because I'm waking up everyday at 3:00 a.m. and can't fall back to sleep for at least an hour. I have found that if I nosh on fruit and nuts throughout the day, I don't feel quite as tired as when I only eat every three to four hours.

Frequent Peeing
I can't believe how much I've been peeing lately!!! Just yesterday I used the bathroom about 20 times, I swear!!!! And the middle of the night wake-up pees are the worst!!!!

Tender, Tender, Tender
Out of all of the pregnancy symptoms, this one is one of the worst!!! My chest hurts ALL the time. I think it even hurts when someone looks at it! Does this part pass sometime soon? Anyone know?

Forgetfulness
I have some serious forgetfulness. Example: I was supposed to go over to my mom's house to do some beading on Sunday. Around 4:30 p.m., I realized I had completely forgotten all about it, even though we discussed it the day before. I am lame! To make sure I'm not forgetting things at work, I've been keeping lists like a mad woman!!! I've also got an awesome co-worker, Kim, who makes sure to keep track of the really important stuff and sends me reminders.

So far, being pregnant is almost all I can think of. I feel bad because I know it dominates most of my conversations. It's kind of funny since before being pregnant, work dominated most of my conversations and was all I can think of. Weird how that shift happens!

I hope you all have a great week and promise to blog again soon!

10 Thought Tuesday

2009-03-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

Haven't done one of these in quite some time!

1. Thank God I haven't had any real nausea since I got of the plane on Saturday!!!

2. Idaho is freaking cold in the winter/early Spring! It's been snowing like crazy ever since I got here! Well, minus today, but it's still really cold outside!

3. I've realized that my cousin, who was my best friend as a child, teenager and young adult is still my best friend as an adult, even though we don't get to see each other or talk as often as we used to.

4. I was in some serious need of relaxation when I got to Idaho. So far, mission accomplished!

5. I miss my hubby and all of our fur babies. I also miss my house and my normal daily routine, even though it's crazy and hectic.

6. Our new furniture (couch, loveseat, coffee table and end table) came on Saturday. I was able to enjoy it for about 20 minutes before we went to the airport.

7. I feel so sleepy all of the time!!!! I know that this is a symptom of pregnancy, but holy cow!!!

8. The more I think about the nickname "Boss" for the baby, the more I like it! We'll just have to make sure after Boss comes out we give he/she a new nickname so they don't get any ideas!

9. Adam and I are NOT going to find out the sex of the baby before it's born. I've always known I didn't want to find out...I look at it as peeking at God's greatest gift he can give, and I just don't think that's right.

10. We ate lunch about 3 hours ago and I'm already hungry again...Is that bad?

Hope you all are having a great week!

Idaho

2009-03-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to Idaho on Saturday! I'm here visiting with my cousin, Jason, and his wife, Crystal. Saturday we went out to dinner after my plane got in and then went back to their house to relax and watch a movie.

Yesterday, Jas and I (Crystal had to work) had a nice lunch (which later wrecked his insides), played some darts with one of his friends and then headed over to poker night. I won about $7, which shocked me because I was sure I would be out fast! Crystal joined us for poker, and then she and I went home around 12a.m. for pie and bed, while Jas stayed until about 6 this morning!!!! Needless to say, today has been an extremely low-key day. We went for breakfast at 1:30p.m. (I had breakfast earlier), came back to the house and took naps. At 5:30, Jas left for bowling. I think Crystal and I are going to see a movie tonight.

So...Adam and I have thought of a nickname for the baby. At first, I wanted to call the baby Spawn (as in Heaven's Spawn!), but then mom and I came up with Shrimp. Well, Adam didn't like either of those options, so I came up Boss, since the baby is totally the boss of my body right now. What do you guys think? We didn't want to go the cutesy way...there's plenty of time for that after the baby's born!

I'll post something again most likely when I get home...but I didn't want you all to think I'd forgotten to get on here!

Oh Baby!!!

2009-03-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official! Adam and I are expecting our first child! It's still very new...we only found out on Monday. Tomorrow I will be five weeks along, and only 35 to go! So far, I'm extremely exhausted, somewhat nauseous (however, today has been okay), and VERY sore in the chest area.

Why did I wait until Wednesday to post the good news? Well, I wanted to make sure I was able to get in touch with all of my family members and close friends before I started posting the news on all of the social networks.

I scheduled my first doctor's appointment...it's so strange....they don't want to see me until I am 9 weeks pregnant! Is this normal? I feel like I should be in there next week! At this first appointment, we will get to do the first ultrasound. I have also already scheduled my 12 week appointment, where we will get to hear the heartbeat for the first time...so exciting!

I'll try to be better about updating...although next week I will be on vacation and I'm still not sure if I'm going to bring my laptop or not.

Hope you all have a great week!

Hooray!

2009-02-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday evening, which means tomorrow is FRIDAY! I am so ready for the weekend. Unfortunately, I won't be enjoying a three day weekend, which is lame. But I have so much to do work-wise with a huge new project to work on that I think it will be okay working on Monday.

The new treadmill that I blogged about at the end of January finally made it. Adam and I put it together last weekend and it WORKS!!! Yay! I've used it everyday since! We're getting Jack used to the sound and movement of it. Last night he laid right next to me while I was walking. We're prepping him to also use the treadmill so he can get some extra exercise. Eventually we'll do the same thing with Tarot, but her foot needs to heal first...which brings me to...

Tarot, our little girl dog, broke her toe last week. She's had a splint on her foot and has had to wear a cone on her head to keep from chewing her leg. She goes in to get her foot checked and re-wrapped tomorrow. Hopefully, everything will be okay and she'll be back to normal soon! It's been hard keeping her quiet and calm for the last 10 days, and it will be nice not to have to separate Jack and Tarot during the day.

Well, it's been a long week, and I'm looking forward to the weekend...I hope you all have a great Friday!

Treadmill, take II

2009-01-29T13:28:00.001-08:00

First...sorry it's been forever. I've been so busy at work that I haven't had time nor wanted to make time to blog when I have had it. Basically, I went on a mini-strike! Now on to my topic today...

Adam and I bought a really nice treadmill, which was delivered earlier this month. We put the thing together, I put my workout clothes on, got my water, put on a movie and plugged it in. Nothing. I repeated the process several times and still nothing. I asked Adam for help and he had no luck either. We took the console apart and some of the wires were loose. We called the company and they sent us a new console. Nothing.

So, we called the company again and the new replacement will be here tomorrow. We're going to hook up the wires for the base and console and see what happens when we plug it in. Adam and I are fairly smart people and usually have no problem putting things together, but this thing has kicked our butts! I almost feel it would be better to just hire the company to come out and put it together...Adam thinks we should be able to do it ourselves...I guess we'll find out soon!

Hope everyone is having a great week and I'll report again soon!

Treadmill

2009-01-07T21:16:00.001-08:00

Adam and I ordered a treadmill last week as my Christmas gift...and it will be delivered TOMORROW!!! I'm so excited! I love walking/running on treadmills at the gym...but now that I am so busy with work, I really like my time at home. Now, I can enjoy the treadmill in the comfort of my own home!!!

With the food changes we're making, and the addition of (hopefully) regular exercise, I'm hoping to really be able to lose some weight. And by making the food and exercise changes now, Adam and I are hoping it will be easier to maintain once we (as in me) finally do get pregnant.

So...keep your fingers that putting this bad boy together won't be too difficult so I can get on it asap!

2.8

2009-01-06T20:21:00.001-08:00

Is the number of pounds I’ve lost over the last week!!! Yay!!!

As many of you know, last week was a difficult food week for me because my brother-in-law and his wife were in town. We spent a ton of time with Adam’s family, which usually means a lot of eating…and not healthy food, either! We had several big meals, including two meals out, one of which was a buffet.

To try to offset the eating that would commence last week, I joined Weight Watchers, and tracked what I ate, planned for healthier options for the meals out and focused on trying to eat proper portions. I know I didn’t eat as well as I could have, but I truly believe that I did SOOOOOOO much better than if I had started WW last week!

What makes me feel even better about my weight loss is that I started my period this weekend, and I usually gain about 3-4 lbs of water weight…which means I probably would have lost more than the 2.8 lbs if I hadn’t been on my period. Next week should hopefully be another outstanding loss!

One thing to throw out there for the few people who have mentioned possibly joining…the new WW Momentum plan has a pretty impressive track record. You know how most weight loss programs usually have a “*Results not typical?” Well, while WW was testing this program, the participants had an AVERAGE WEEKLY WEIGHT LOSS OF 2 POUNDS!!!!! That is absolutely amazing! The program is all about simplifying what you eat…focusing on lean meats, whole grain breads, pastas, rice, etc, skim/fat-free milk products, lots of veggies and fruit, and moderate exercise. WW is really trying to get people away from eating processed foods and eating fresh, simple foods. I like it!

Hope you all are having a great first full week of the New Year! I know I am!

No...

2009-01-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

babies were created in December. It was only month two of trying...but it's still disappointing. Hopefully early 2009 will find us pregnant!

Tons of freebies!

2009-01-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

Click Here!

Family Weight Loss Challenge

2009-01-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

If you are motivated by a little extra cash in your pocket, here's an idea that my family is doing to help us all lose a little weight.

We are doing a 12 week Family Weight Loss Challenge. The five participating family members have put $10 into a pot. The goal for each person is to lose as much weight as possible by the end of the 12 week period, and the person who has lost the largest percentage of their starting body mass will get the money. We decided not to base on pounds because some of us (me) have more to lose than others (my father-in-law), and this is the best and most fair way for all of us to participate.

The last challenge we did was $20 each, and my mother-in-law lost a whopping 21 lbs and won $80! I wasn't motivated during the last go around, but I definitely am this time! We weigh in on Monday and go until March 30.

Good luck if you decide to use this program!

Holy Smokes!

2008-12-29T21:46:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything! We've been super busy and with the holidays this week...life has been crazy! I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

I've already started my new year's resolution...I joined Weight Watchers (again!) tonight. I have always done better when I am on the program. Something else that will help is I asked Adam for a treadmill for Christmas. He was going to replace all of my ski equipment, but I am so out of shape right now, and since we aren't sure when I'll get pregnant, I don't want it to sit in the garage for at least a year. I've been wanting a treadmill for quite awhile now and think it will help even when I get pregnant since I can still use it for walking.

We have family from Washington, DC visiting us for the rest of the week, so don't be surprised if you don't see another post soon. I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year's!!!

Are you old enough?

2008-12-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Adam and I went out to do our Christmas shopping today. Our last stop was WalMart, where one of the items we purchased was Planes, Trains and Automobiles for my dad. Adam and I went through the self checkout since we only had 4 or 5 items and didn't want to wait in the regular line.

I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that the movie we got for my dad was rated R, since it's got some pretty bad language in it. But what did surprise me was when we rang it up and the check out screen said we needed to have our age verified by the attendant.

What surprised me even more? She didn't believe that I was old enough to purchase a rated R movie. SERIOUSLY? I looked at her, said just that, and then informed her that in 9 days I will be turning 27, a full DECADE OLDER than 17!

Now, I know that it's wonderful to be told that you look younger than you are, but at 27, I would really prefer to look my age. No one takes me seriously because they think I'm a kid. At 37, I'll be fine with looking 10 years younger. But it's insulting to me when people think I'm a teenager!

All right...I'm done ranting for the night. Hope you all have a good Monday!

Three Confession Thursday

2008-12-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

1. I like beer. For Adam's Anniversary gift, I got him a beer of the month club...not necessarily because he really likes beer (he does, by the way), but because I was also excited to taste the different beers that came in. I just had one from the last batch...Pomegranate Wheat. WOW. Best beer I've had in awhile.

2. I'm not feeling as stressed out about work as I was last week. I think Kim and I were able to get a lot of adjusting done this week and I think we are going to be okay!

3. I'm really excited for Christmas this year. I've got a killer present for Adam this year and I can't wait to give it to him!!! I'm of course excited about the presents for me, and my birthday presents, too! But I haven't had a really good Christmas gift for Adam in a few years, so I'm excited about that!

10 Thought Tuesday

2008-12-09T17:50:00.001-08:00

1. My brother-in-law and his wife are coming into town at the end of this month. I haven't seen Christina since last year, and Casey since July.

2. I really wanted to do something fun for New Year's Eve. This will most likely be our last New Year's without kids, and I wanted to live it up and party like it's 1999!

3. I'm pretty sure we won't be doing that this year with the family coming into town. Which makes me so sad!

4. Jack passed his Canine Good Citizen class last night!!!

5. He shouldn't have passed...in fact...none of the dogs from our class should have passed! Each one failed some small part of the test on the first try, but passed on the 2nd. Sarah, our trainer, said that she passed all of the dogs as early Christmas gifts, we just have to promise to keep working with them.

6. Tarot's Basic Obedience Class still has two weeks left. Next week we'll do doggy introductions, then we'll do testing! I think she's going to pass. Then I think we'll enroll her in the next Canine Good Citizen class that Sarah is doing in March.

7. We're thinking about enrolling Jack in the agility class in the spring. He's such a spry and nimble little pup!

8. I bought some fun little toys for our kitties today at my new favorite pet shop. We have stockings for all the animals and I think they'll all enjoy their little presents that we have for them.

9. Adam is worried that the Cat Attack bag full of catnip is going to turn our little monsters into BIG monsters!

10. I did a whole bunch of Christmas baking this weekend and have left overs. I'm thinking a lemon bar and a glass of milk sounds mighty good right now!

Three "Not So Nice" Confession Thursday

2008-12-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

1. One of my co-workers that just got laid off came in today to finish cleaning off her desk and computer. It should have only taken her a couple of hours, tops. It took her 6!!! Now, why do I care how long it took her? Because my other co-worker (who's still with the company) and I had plans to rearrange the office today so we could have a fresh start and be more efficient since there are only two of us now. We have to move forward with the new and can't focus on how we used to do things. AND we have to move forward now because we don't have time to wait. We have too much to do, too much to restructure and reorganize to wait. Because she stayed for most of the day, we couldn't do all of the moving we wanted to until 5 pm, and now we'll need to spend more time on it tomorrow, which we did not want to do because we actually have to get some work done tomorrow. I feel bad for her because she spent 8 years with the company and is having a hard time moving on, but she CHOSE the voluntary lay off. She CHOSE to leave the company and move forward. And it was frustrating that she wasn't allowing us to do the same.

2. I talked to another one of my co-workers that was let go and he was extremely bitter about the whole thing, which I would have been if it had happened to me. However, I got seriously pissed off listening to some of the things he was saying, like how the office wouldn't succeed with only one sales person and laying him off was a recipe for failure. He was not very good at this job. He didn't even make it to 25% of his goal for last month! I have basically been the only sales person in the office since I started with the company. He spent all of last month selling stupid $75 packages while I went after the bigger sale. He was perfectly content to only make his new acquisition goal and not strive for his revenue goal. He never listened to anything anyone ever said and was completely in la-la land most of the time. There are so many more not so nice things I want to say right now about him and his performance, but being that mean is not going to make any difference right now, so I'll stop now.

3. I honestly feel that the two people let go from the sales team is not a terrible thing. After thinking about it long and hard, I realized that Kim and I worked harder when it was just the two of us over the summer, but we were running so efficiently that when we finally had the "help" of the other two on the sales team, it felt more like road blocks than relief or help. I'm also pretty sure that if we weren't having lay offs, both of these people would have been let go anyway, and I wouldn't have been very sad about it because their lack of drive messed with my performance.

I know these thoughts aren't very nice....but I don't feel bad about them. I have a big job to do with getting our office truly successful, but I'm up to the challenge. And now that we'll be a tighter running ship again and I know my accounts, know my territories, and know my products, I have a feeling we'll be able to do it.

Really bad Tuesday

2008-12-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

So, today was an incredibly rough day at work. The company I work for is in the middle of laying off 10% of it's workforce nationwide. Over 4,000 employees nationwide, now out of jobs. We've known these layoffs were coming for about a month.

The particular paper I work for was told that originally they were going to layoff 40 people, which is 10% of our staff. Today, which was the start of the layoffs, we found out it was not 40 people, but 67!!! I came back from being out in the field all day to find out that I still had my job, which I am extremely grateful for.

However, the main product that I sell in my territory is going to be discontinued at the end of this month, four of the seven editorial staff from our remote office were let go, our Sales Coordinator took the voluntary layoff, AND they let the other Sales Rep in our remote office go. I knew the Sales Coordinator took the voluntary layoff, I had ABSOLUTELY NO idea that the other layoffs were going to happen in our office. This puts our remote office at HALF the staff it had this morning.

Needless to say, I'm a bit off today. I've been incredibly emotional most of the afternoon and evening. I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone who was laid off today except one person, and I know the layoffs aren't over yet...we still have tomorrow to get through. At this point, I know that I am not getting laid off, but I know that I am now the only Sales Rep for the remote office with a HUGE territory to service. I also know if we do not make our main product successful, the rest of the office will most likely be on the next chopping block, because let's face it, our economy and employment situation is not going to be any better any time soon.

AND I found out my grandma on my dad's side got into a bad car accident this morning and broke her back. She's in a rehabilitation hospital in Sacramento right now, and I think I may be going to visit her this weekend. From what I understand, she still has sensation in her all of her body, but she is in immense pain and is completely doped up on morphine. In a couple of days she is going to be fit for a back brace. Thats about all the information I have right now. I'm hoping to have more info tomorrow.

To top off my day, I thought the possibility of being pregnant was out of the picture, but I'm not sure it is (hence the over emotionalness of the day), so I'm dealing with that possibility on top of the new responsibilities at work. Yes, I know I just posted how I want it to happen asap and how impatient I am for it, but with the day I had today, it would really just be too much for me to handle right now.

Adam just walked through the door with ice cream, so I am going to go indulge...and tomorrow is a new day.

Patience is a virtue...

2008-12-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

....that I rarely exhibit when I want something to happen! Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, moving into our house, etc....I get very excited and have a hard time waiting for them to get here.

Well, now we have entered into a new waiting game that I have already begun to hate. Adam and I have decided we want to add onto our family. November was the first "official" month of trying. Unfortunately, no go.

Now, I know this was only the first month of trying, and the whole "trying" part is the fun part, but I'm still sad it didn't happen on the first go around. Adam and I both truly thought it would during our first month. I know it will happen when it's supposed to, but that still doesn't make the waiting any easier!

Ten Thanksgiving Thought Tuesday

2008-11-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

I love Thanksgiving dinner, and I love to host it at my house. This is the fourth or fifth Thanksgiving we've hosted (well, minus the first one I hosted by myself in my college apartment). There is nothing healthy about our dinner, at all. And to prove it, here is our menu for the big day! Mmmm...I can feel my arteries clogging up and the Triptophan getting me ready for nap time.

1. Turkey. Adam usually brines the turkey a day or so before Thanksgiving. Brining a turkey makes it very moist when it cooks. Adam also puts an apple, onion and rosemary in the turkey, making it extremely flavorful.

2. Gravy. Probably my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner (besides #4). The recipe is my Gramma's, and is the best gravy I have EVER had. It starts with Giblet Soup...I take the giblets (heart, liver, kidneys, neck, and I'm sure some other disgusting thing) and cook them for a couple hours with onion, celery, water, and a few spices. After the soup has cooked, I take the broth and mix it with the drippings from the cooked turkey. I bring it to a boil and taste it to see if I need to add any boulion, pepper, worschestershire sauce, and maybe a little "brown" flavor. After it's ready taste-wise, I add the cornstarch to thicken it. I put it on pretty much everything!

3. Green beans. Should be healthy, right? WRONG! I cook the green beans until they are just a tiny bit crunchy and drain them. While they were boiling, I've cooked up a few pieces of chopped up bacon, which I add to the beans with a little bit of the grease after they've been drained. I also add a bit of pepper to them. Tasty!

4. Sally's potato casserole. OH MY GOD! Everytime we host a holiday meal, I ALWAYS ask her to bring her potato casserole. Even my little bro, Sam, requests her casserole! She's managed to cut half of the butter out of the dish, but I can't tell. It's always so amazing!

5. Hockey pucks. AKA dinner rolls. I'm not 100% sure why Adam's family calls this particular roll a hockey puck...I think it has something to do with the first time Sally made them...they were rock hard and shaped like a hockey puck. All of the hockey pucks I've eaten were quite tasty!

6. Green Jello. Another one of Sally's dishes. I don't even know what she puts in the green jello, some kind of cheese, nuts, maybe a type of fruit...All I know is it is so tasty! And it's green...does that make it healthy? *Papa, you would really like this dish! I know how much you like jello!

7. Gramma's stuffing. Mom is making this dish this year. It has the best flavoring and just makes me happy! Paired with Gramma's gravy recipe, I think this could make the world a happier place if everyone just took a few bites every day!

8. Salad with dressing from Cafe Girasole. Feild greens and the most amazing raspberry vinagrette made by my good friend Leslie DuPonte, owner of Cafe Girasole. Such a simple dish, and yet, so good!

9. Cranberry Sauce. Homemade. Not from a can. That stuff will kill you! Off course, it's an Alton Brown recipe that Adam found for our first Thanksgiving dinner 4 years ago. It uses real cranberries, orange juice, a little bit of sugar, and some other ingredients I can't remember off the top of my head. Last year we had some cranberry sauce leftovers...Adam sat down and ate the rest of them on Friday before I even had a chance to have any. Won't happen this year! I'm going to hide them!

10. Pie - Pumpkin AND Pecan. Adam makes the pies every year...no matter if we host or not! The Pecan Pie is awesome! I'm sure the Pumpkin Pie is very good. I would personnally be happier if he just made more Pecan...never have been a fan of the Pumpkin. It's the perfect way to end a blissfully decadent meal...of course, pie is usually served a few hours after dinner!

So, as you can see, we have a very full day of cooking and eating ahead of us on Thursday. Maybe I should boycott food until then! If I don't blog again before Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Scarf Swap!

2008-11-22T21:36:00.000-08:00

This is a great idea! Click on the image to go to the sponsoring website if you want more info or want to participate.

Ten Thought Tuesday

2008-11-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

1. I spent way too much money on things I didn't need today.

2. I think dressing rooms have special mirrors that make you think what you are buying looks good on you.

3. Which means I hated pretty much everything I bought today when I re-tried it on at home.

4. Which means I'll be taking all of the things I didn't like back tomorrow.

5. I hate it when that happens.

6. Although this time, I'm okay with it happening because I really didn't need to buy this stuff today!

7. I miss Adam. He left this morning on a business trip and won't be home until VERY late tomorrow night.

8. I have a really hard time sleeping when he's not home. Snuggling with a pillow just isn't the same!

9. I have a really early day tomorrow with a breakfast meeting at 7 a.m., which is hard on a good day, but is even harder when Adam is gone AND when I've stopped drinking caffeine!

10. Geeze...I miss caffeine!

I'm having a blue night...

2008-11-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at my friend lists on MySpace and Facebook tonight, and see many people that I used to be so close to, and have lost touch with. It makes me sad to know I'm no longer close to these people who I spent so much time with. They helped shape me into the person I am today. I wish they were still such a large part of my life, and I wish I was still such a large part of theirs.

My newest project is to try and get in touch with some of these people and see if I can reconnect. I think it's important to let the people who mean so much to me know that they do and that I think of them often. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to rekindle some of my friendships that have lapsed over the years...and I won't be so blue!

10 Random Long Thought Tuesday

2008-11-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

1. My work schedule this week and next is insane! I belong to the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Carson Chamber of Commerce, the Young Business Professionals Association, and the Downtown Business Association of Carson City. I'm also thinking of joining Women Entrepreneurs of Nevada. Between all five of these associations, I have two events tomorrow, one on Thursday, one on Saturday, three next Wednesday and one next Thursday. Yowza!

2. I LOVE being this involved in my community and this busy! Yeah, I'm a little tired after these kinds of weeks, but it's worth it when everyone knows who I am and I know them. It's weird because the networking saying used to be "It's all in who you know." Now it's "It's not who you know, it's who knows you." I'm going for both!

3. I found a great Pet Supplies and Gifts store yesterday. They carry the brand of food we buy (and it's cheaper than Petco!) and they have a lot of cool products, some of them by local companies. I prefer to support small local businesses when given the opportunity.

4. I hope Jack passes his Canine Good Citizen class. We're working with him a lot on the 10 areas he'll be tested on. I'm a little bit nervous about it...The good news is he gets a practice test in two weeks before his real test in three weeks. If he passes the practice test, then he passes the class and doesn't need to take the real test.

5. Jack was pretty cute at training last night. We're actually enrolled in two classes. Advanced Obedience for Jack (which started two weeks ago) and Basic Obedience for Tarot (which started last night). Since last night was the first Basic class, we didn't bring Tarot. But the Basic class is right after the Advanced class, so we still had Jack with us. He got to be the Demo Dog and I am proud to say he did a GREAT job! He just about turned himself inside out every time Sarah, the trainer, needed him to do something. She runs the rescue shelter we got the dogs from, and he just loves her like you wouldn't believe! I'm pretty sure he would go home with her if he could.

6. I learned at our Advanced training last night that you can bring well behaved, leashed dogs into Bed Bath and Beyond! We walked Jack around the store last night during class to get him used to behaving in a new area. There's actually a number of stores that you can bring your dogs into, two more of them being Lowe's and Home Depot. Part of our homework is to take Jack to different stores to practice his new skills. I'm thinking tomorrow night will be Lowe's, Saturday will be Bed Bath and Beyond, and Sunday will be Home Depot.

7. I'm watching Good Eats with my husband while I'm typing this up. My husband loves this show, and I like it too. The cheesy (no pun intended) themes are entertaining and the recipes (Adam has made several of them and has all of the Good Eats cookbooks) are pretty good. However, it cracks me up how he says "Thusly" at least two times in each show. He always says it after he shows a step in the cooking process. Example from tonight's show: "We will apply a fork, thusly," which he said after forking holes into his grahm crackers before baking. I just heard the second one for the night: "And the wet goes into the dry, thusly," which came after he added the wet ingredients to his dry ingredients.

8. I keep having dreams that the dogs and cats are finally getting along. I know that isn't happening because I usually wake up to the dogs jumping the baby gate that keeps them away from where the kitties hang out and start barking and chasing them around. I'm pretty sure the war will continue for many years. Every now and then I find a cat claw shell stuck in one of the dogs' faces.

9. I've completely lost interest in this season's Dancing With The Stars. I'm not really sure why I don't enjoy it any more. Maybe it was the fact that Kim Kardashian and Brooke Burke were on it...One is a socialite space cadette and the other is a skanky topless model. I guess it just takes the fun out of a family show. However, I am eagerly awaiting the next season of So You Think You Can Dance. I truly love that show! In fact, Adam bought tickets for us to go see the tour when it came to Reno for our anniversary. It was so amazing, I'd love to go again next year if they come to Reno.

10. And while I've completely lost interest in Dancing With The Stars, I've completely gained interest in the renewed 90210!!! It's my new guilty pleasure on Tuesdays. Usually I can get away with watching it without Adam knowing...but he doesn't have class tonight because of Veteran's Day, so I'm busted! It brings me back to when I was younger (Jr. High and High School) and my mom and I would have a girls night and watch 90210 and Party of Five. Ahhh...the days of teenage angst and drama I never have to go through ever again!

I'm evil

2008-11-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

I got home about an hour ago from a business meeting that I attend once a month for the Downtown Business Association of the city I live in. I've worked my a$$ off to get into this group, put together proposals so the company I work with can partner with them as their official print sponsor for their association and the events they hold. Because of the hard work I've done, I'm a respected member of their group, my company is the official print sponsor of their association and the events they hold, and I'm like family to a lot of them.

So why am I evil?

Well....my competitors also attend these meetings that I attend. And the only reason they started attending is because they found out I was going to present the program they are currently running with my company. They tried to get onto the same agenda I was on when I attended my first meeting and pitched my proposal. They were shut down. They pitched a horrible program at the next meeting...they were put on hold. They pitched again tonight. They were totally blasted by the majority of the Association.

So why am I evil?

Because I have enjoyed every second of it! I have loved that they are shooting themselves in the foot because they're scrambling now that they finally have some competition in town. I love that they're getting shot down and majority of the group doesn't want to advertise with them. I love that they're fuming because I got the sale.

So, I know I'm evil and I'm enjoying this way to much. But you know....my competitors have been around for awhile and have become comfortable with being the "only pony show in town." I've heard stories from clients that the level of customer service they receive is terrible and are glad to have another option now. I think it's good for them to have some competition to make them re-evaluate the service and products they provide. So maybe I'm not too evil...I'm just working hard so I can encourage them to do the same!

Riiiiiiiiiiiigggggggggghhhhhhhhhhht!

Happy Friday to everyone! Be evil and give your competition something to worry about!

"It's just another Manic Monday...."

2008-10-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

I totally wish it were still Sunday! Today wasn't a bad day at work, just a super busy one. The kind of busy where you feel behind on everything you are doing, and you have at least 20 stops to make during the day and not enough time to make them all....

And tomorrow isn't going to be much better because I have to go to the Reno office in the morning for training. I guess I would feel better about it if the training was longer than 20 minutes...especially when the person doing the training is just going to read her Powerpoint presentation verbatum and could have just e-mailed it to me. I know the training they give us contains good information and all, and it's extremely convenient for the sales reps in the Reno office, but it makes me grumpy when I drive 45 minutes each way to go for 20 minutes of training!

Oh well....I'm done being grumpy now...and it's not like I need the sales for this month. I'm already 41% over this month's goal and all of my new acquisitions are met. It's just hard for me to get into the swing of my day at 12.

I hope you all had a happy Monday and a great rest of the week!

My favorite corner

2008-10-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite corner of the house...well, so far! It's a corner in my living room that has my grandma's corner hutch in it. In the hutch is my collection of antique teapots that were owned by two different great grandmas, plus a few I've picked up along the way.

When I look over at this corner from the couch, I always smile because the lamp that is there gives a lovely golden light and that makes the hutch's wood look really beautiful.

A nice surprise!

2008-10-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

***Note to Multiply readers...My posts automatically are transferred from my Blogger account, and the pictures don't always transfer with the post. If you can't see the pictures for this blog, please click here.***

I got home a little bit late from work tonight and was looking forward to a quiet couple of hours before Adam got home from school. I was home for just enough time to take out the container of low-fat cottage cheese, turn on my favorite taped soap opera and enjoy a few bites of my healthy snack when the doorbell rang.

Slightly annoyed, I got up to see who it was and was pleasantly surprised to find my across-the-street-neighbor, Byrle, standing at my door holding this:
A basket full of fun Halloween decorations!!!! (Sorry about the super bad picture...the cellophane didn't help) Apparently a man stopped by to deliver the basket earlier in the day, but wouldn't leave it without a signature. Byrle was outside (as usual! Remind me and I'll post a blog about him) and told him he'd give it to us when we got home.
Upon further opening and unpacking, I found a card telling me who it was from....Our Real Estate Agent! She sent it to congratulate us on our first home, and knowing that our neighborhood is a serious hot spot for trick-or-treaters, as well as decorations for Christmas, picked out this basket full of stuff for us! She sent us a light up ghost that changes colors, two sets of orange lights, a haunted house that you can stick a candle in, a set of pumpkin spice candles, star lights for outside, and a big light up star for the point of our house!
That was so sweet of her to do for us! She was always very nice and helpful, answering all of our questions, taking us to the houses at the top of our lists, and knowing 1. what we wanted in a house, 2. what we definitely DIDN'T want in a house, 3. what our general spending limit was (not the banks, but ours!) and 4. not trying to upsell us into a house that was too expensive or not what we needed/wanted.

Thanks for all your help Elizabeth!

And because I can, I put the ribbons that tied the whole package on the puppies and made them pose for a picture. Yes, I know...I'm evil! Just wait until I have kids!

***No puppies were harmed (physically or mentally) during this photoshoot! ;-)

Christmas Swap

2008-10-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

My friend Katrina is putting together this Christmas Swap. I think this is an awesome idea and I'm hoping some of my readers might be interested in doing this as well. If you want more information, go to her blog. Deadline to sign up is November 7.

I remember Whens-day

2008-10-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

I was going to take the lead from my good friend Kippy's blog this week and do a "I remember Whens-day" about the month I spent studying abroad in Germany during my sophomore year of college, but it's not possible at this point. So instead...

I remember when everything I owned had it's own place and I actually knew where those places were!

I remember unpacking at each place I lived in during college and making that place my home by unpacking everything, even if I was only going to be in that place for a short amount of time.

I remember when Adam moved in with me during my last quarter of college and how excited we were to be taking that next step.

I remember looking at places in Reno when Adam and I started thinking about moving to Nevada when I was almost done with school. We picked out an apartment and even picked out paint for it!

I remember when we moved to Nevada three days after I graduated and my parents offered to let us stay with them until we had jobs lined up.

I remember when Adam got a job offer from a company in Minden and we decided not to take the apartment in Reno.

I remember 5 months after we moved to Nevada we moved into our first apartment for just the two of us in Carson. I remember thinking that place was HUGE when we first moved in and hadn't unpacked everything!

I remember when we moved out of the apartment two years later and into our rental house. We were so excited to have more space and knew it was a step closer to owning our own home.

I remember when we closed on our house almost a month ago and how exciting it was to move in!

***I promise, I'll post about something other than our new house and our dogs soon!

Ten "I love my house" Thoughts Tuesday

2008-10-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

1. First...I love my new house!!!

2. The house has great flow and the layout is really functional.

3. I love that the living room and office have vaulted ceilings, making the rooms feel even larger than they are.

4. Adam and I painted the master bedroom a deep blue and chocolate brown before we moved in...and it is such a nice relaxing room to hang out in.

5. The living room is sunken down a little bit from the rest of the house, which really lets it be it's own room.

6. The fireplace in the living room is awesome and is definitely the main focal point of the room.

7. The dining room and kitchen have pergo flooring, which looks like real wood but doesn't require the real wood maintenance! It also looks really nice with our dining room table and hutch.

8. Our master bedroom closet is HUGE!!!!!!!!!! And it's got built in shelving already, so when I finally go through all of my clothing, I actually have a ton of space to put them all!

9. The front and backyard are completely landscaped and are just beautiful! We've got mature trees and grass, and the bulbs are already in the ground for next year. I'm pretty sure we'll even be able to hang out hammock between two of the trees in the backyard once it's warm again.

10. Our dogs love the house and the backyard, too! They run around all day long and are always so tired at the end of the day from running around and playing that they sleep ALL night long!

Yay for the new house! Once we're a little bit more moved in, I'll post some pictures. Maybe after this weekend when I've decorated some for Halloween, too!

Ten Halloween Thought Tuesday

2008-10-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

1. I love Halloween!!!!
2. I love to dress up in costumes and get to be a different person for the day!
3. I love seeing the Trick-or-Treaters' costumes and handing out candy!
4. I hear we are in a totally awesome Trick-or-Treating neighborhood that gets kids by the carload!!!
5. I bought two BIG bags of candy at Costco a few weekends ago to prepare for the carloads of kids.
6. I'm super excited to decorate the house and front yard this weekend.
7. I can't wait to carve pumpkins and roast the seeds for tasty snacks.
8. I am guilty of buying my fur babies Halloween costumes.
9. Tarot, my little girl, is guilty of loving her pretty princess skirt and carrying it around in her mouth until I put it on her, then wearing it for hours until I take it off.10. Jack is guilty of HATING his scary skeleton costume (but looks damn cute in it with his little stubby tail poking out the back). Isn't he FURocious? teeheee

Shout out to my pregger friend!!!

2008-10-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOSH!!! My first official pregnant friend!!!! Congratulations Katrina, Josh and baby!!!! Adam and I are so excited for you!!!!!

Three Confession Thursday

2008-10-09T21:20:00.001-07:00

1. I haven't done any real unpacking since we moved everything over from the old house last weekend. I'm really excited to get settled into the new house, but I've so enjoyed taking a break from having so much work in every aspect of life to do! I've come home every day from work and have just relaxed and done nothing!

2. The old owners of the house left the most wonderful wind chime, and it's right outside the living room window. Tonight it's been pretty breezy, so it's been great listening to the chimes.

3. I have had the most AMAZING week at work! Actually, it's just been the last 3 days that have been amazing. I've brought in three new accounts and over $13,000 in ad sales since Tuesday! I'm way over my goal for the month, only need one more new acquisition (I'm 4 for 5!) and can now focus on setting things up in my pipeline for next month. I still love my job and it's nice to know that given the right atmosphere and tools, I'm really good at it!

Moving day....

2008-10-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

...is tomorrow!!!! I've been packing all day and I think we'll be ready to go. Hopefully it won't rain as much as people think it's going to. People say that when it rains on your wedding day, it's good luck. I'm just going to say that it's the same thing for moving. Of course, I'm pretty sure that's what people tell the bride to keep her from totally freaking out....so I'll just keep telling myself it's good luck so I won't freak out....Yeah....

Wish us luck!

3 Years of Marriage

2008-10-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today is Adam and my three year wedding anniversary. I wanted to do a whole picture dedication thing, but I didn't even get home from a work thing until about 9p.m. So...no picture dedication thing tonight.

This last year has been so amazing and wonderful! It went incredibly fast, which means we must have been having fun along the way! We have made some very big steps in our life together this year. We made huge purchases (new car, new house), we have expanded our family by adopting two wonderful dogs, have continued to become a better team/unit, and deepen our friendship and love for each other.

I had to work late tonight, so we are celebrating our anniversary on Saturday evening, when we go to So You Think You Can Dance, which I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited for! I absolutely love that show and can't believe we are actually going to see the dancers LIVE!!!!
Adam forgot he bought the tickets to SYTYCD, and decided to spoil me rotten by getting me a Nintendo Wii!!!! I really wanted to set it up tonight and play, but I am showing some self control and am going to wait until we get to the new house before I put it together...mainly because I wouldn't get anything done if I set it up tonight! His gift should be arriving soon, the first installment of his "Beer of the Month" club!

Here's to a great year and many more to come...now it's time to go snuggle with the hubby!

Kitty Came Back!

2008-10-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! Tonight Adam and I were bringing some boxes in from the truck when I heard a very faint noise that sounded like a cat meow. I asked Adam to be quiet for a moment because I wasn't sure if I was really hearing what I thought I was hearing. I followed the sound (coming from the bushes in the darkest part of the front of our house) and guess who I found?!? TIGER!!!!

He came home!!! I'm so happy! We gave him lots of loving and he went straight for the food when we brought him in, and water...oh man did he drink a lot of water!

So, the whole family is home and well, and getting ready to move on Saturday!

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

2008-09-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

My sweet boy, Tiger, has been missing for the past few days. I think he got out when Adam and his parents were moving things out of the old house on Saturday. He hasn't come home yet, and I'm so worried he won't come home before we move. I put food out front, and it was gone when I got home from work today, but I don't know if it's him eating it. I've left the back door open so he can get in if he comes home, and no luck.

Come home Tiger!!! We all miss you and want you home!!!

10 Great/Not Great Thought Tuesday

2008-09-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

Surprise, surprise....another TTT focused on house stuff....here we go!

1. We closed on the house last Friday!!! And that is GREAT!

2. Adam and his parents painted a few of the rooms at the new house, and they look GREAT!

3. They also put in new electrical outlets in the bedroom so they aren't icky yellow, but bright white...and they look GREAT!

4. When they turned off the electricity to the master bedroom to redo the outlets, they crossed some wires and now we don't have power in the bedroom, walk-in closet, and bathroom....And that is NOT great.

5. My dad is going to come over and fix it on Thursday....and that is GREAT!

6. The previous owners of our house didn't do any cleaning what-so-ever before they left on Friday...and that is NOT great.

7. I hired a cleaning company to come clean the new house today so I wouldn't have to do it. And that is GREAT!

8. I also hired a carpet cleaning company to come professionally steam clean the carpets in the new house tomorrow so I don't have to do it....and that is GREAT!

9. The two companies are also going to clean the rental house when we are done so I don't have to....and that is GREAT!

10. The two companies are giving us a great deal for both houses...and that is GREAT!

Loan secured!

2008-09-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Adam and I signed all of our loan paperwork for our new house this afternoon!!!!! The only thing we are waiting on now is the ex-husband (well, not really an ex-husband since the sellers weren't married, but did have a common-law marriage) to sign his portion of the documents. Apparently he is quite the stinker and is being difficult. All I know is he better have his stuff done by next Friday when we are scheduled to close or I may go up to Washington myself and kick his butt!

So our next step is to finish up (or rather really start) packing everything at the old place to make moving day easier.

Yay!!!!!

Pictures of the house

2008-09-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

Since the link to the listing is no longer working, here are pictures of our new house!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Jason and Crystal's Wedding - The Visual

2008-09-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

I had a request to post pictures from Jason and Crystal's wedding...the best way to do it is with a slide show, so here we go!!!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

3 Confession Thursday

2008-09-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

1. A good friend of mine joined Weight Watchers today and it inspired me to stop pretending to be on the weight-loss-train and actually get on! I'm going to start using the Weight Watchers website that I've been paying for.

2. I made this decision after I had ice cream and salami (not together) for dinner.

3. I have forgotten my old mantra, "Don't give up what you want the most for what you want in the moment." I want to lose weight and be healthy the most, I don't want to give it up for the delicious but fattening food that beckons me.

10 House Thoughts

2008-09-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

1. Adam is freaking out about the whole "We're buying a house and closing in 16 days and I don't know if our funding is taken care of" thing...

2. I'm surprisingly calm about the financial part of the whole thing...

3. Because when I've talked with the Mortgage company we're going through, they've told me we're completely on track and good to go.

3. I still haven't done much packing...

4. I'm starting to worry about that part of the whole "We're buying a house and closing in 16 days and haven't packed more than 4 boxes" thing.

5. Our landlord still hasn't responded to our letter telling him we are giving our notice...

6. Which worries me that he's going to cause us some problems with getting out of our lease...

7. Even though the wording says we can give 30 days at any time without having to pay forthe rest of our lease.

8. We've decided we're going to paint our master bedroom in the new house...

9. We have not decided what color to paint it.

10. I can't believe we are closing on our house in 16 days!!!!!

Ten Thought Tuesday

2008-09-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

1. We chose our lender for our house today. Another step closer!

2. I found out our official closing date is September 26!

3. Holy smokes that's super soon!!!

4. Oh my...I just realized I have an entire house I have to pack before then!

5. Tarot just ran into the living room carrying the kitties' big tiger they like to play with...the thing is bigger than her and she RUNNING with it in her mouth!

6. I should get some organizing done tonight on my work laptop, but there are so many other things I need to get done.

7. But I have so many other things I could be doing tonight...

8. Like packing my house!

9. I've got to get my nails done soon. They are looking pretty bad. Probably won't happen tonight, though.

10. Since I'll be packing my house!

Jason's Wedding

2008-08-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

Was amazing! Adam and I got in on Wednesday, August 20, and were the first ones to arrive. It was fun to hang out with Jason and Crystal before the madness began. We had KFC and lots of beer!

Thursday, everyone started to arrive, friends, family, everyone! Auntie Deb arrived first, then some of Jason's friends. We all took a trip to Walmart to shop for the afternoon's bbq. It was so much fun hanging out with the guys! And it was really fun watching Auntie Deb hang out with them too, since they are all like her other kids. Jas made us some great burgers, the grandparents joined us, and my mom, dad and Sam finally got there! Good food, good booze, good company!

Friday we really started getting down to wedding business. We had the rehearsal dinner at an excellent restaurant called "Hot Rod Cafe." Afterwards, all the kids went out to The Shanty, a local bar. We all had a rip roaring drunk time, closing the bar down!

Saturday was wedding day. The place was beautiful...a nice little location in the woods, which is perfect for Jas and Crystal. The ceremony was beautiful, if I do say so myself! I cried a lot, but amazingly, everyone said they couldn't tell from my voice, which is good. The reception was so much fun...we ate great food, danced to good music, had great cake. We all decorated their truck with balloons, streamers and, of course, shoe polish on the windows! After Jas and Crystal drove off, we all broke down the wedding site and met at Walmart so we could give the newlyweds some time to, you know! We decided to meet at The Shanty again for karaoke, and once again, shut down the bar! A very good time was had by all, and the bride and groom joined us for the fun.

Adam and I flew home on Sunday, a bit hung over, but glad to be back. The kitties were happy to see us. We had about 4 hours before we could pick up the puppies, so the cats came and laid with me the whole time. When we picked up the puppies, they ran to us and just about turned themselves inside out with excitement. Life definitely didn't slow down as the next day we found our house!

So, that's the wedding wrap-up...sorry it's a little late!

Home Sweet Home!!!!

2008-08-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

They accepted our offer!!! We start inspections next week and should be able to close escrow within the month of September....just in time to move in for our 3 year wedding anniversary! We are sooooooooo excited!!!

We are going to start packing this weekend...well, not so much packing as going through what we already have in the garage that either needs to be donated, tossed, or repacked. Once we have that cleaned up and have surveyed what kind of packing materials we have left from when we moved in to our current house, we'll start going through the house room by room sorting through everything so we can, again, decide what to keep, what to toss and what to donate.

We're giving 60 days notice at our rental so we have enough time after we close our house to do it slow and RIGHT so we don't pack and haul all sorts of crap we don't need like we have ever other time. Also, it will give us enough time to clean both houses so we 1. move into an awesome, new, clean house and 2. get our security deposit back from the rental.

What an awesome way to start a three day weekend!!!! Hope you all have a good one like I will!

Home Sweet Home?

2008-08-26T20:41:00.001-07:00

So, Adam and I have been looking to buy a house for awhile and started actually going to view houses with our agent. Well, last night we found "the house" and put an offer on it today! The couple who owns it is getting divorced and need to liquidate their assets. I took some pictures of the house, and then realized they are the same pictures that are here.

Take a look and let me know what you all think! We're super excited!!!!

10 Thought Tuesday

2008-08-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

1. I was up most of the night with a tummy ache.

2. Which aided my decision to skip the gym this morning because I was exhausted.

3. Today was a somewhat unmotivational day at work. I'm taking a half day tomorrow and then I'll be out for the rest of the week for my cousin's wedding.

4. I bought a cute little nightie today. I'm tired of sleeping in tank tops and my new nightie is soft and comfy.

5. I also bought another pair of shoes today....I'm planning on not telling Adam.

6. Today's weather has been SO nice! At one point, I was actually chilled a little bit.

7. What am I going to make for dinner tonight? We have meals in the freezer, but I'm just not sure what sounds good.

8. I have over 40 hours of Olympics on my DVR...I'm slightly overwhelmed by this and have no idea when I'm going to get to it...and by the time I do get to it, I'll probably have another 40 hours to watch on top of the original.

9. I got my minister's certificate in the mail today...which is good since I think I need it to perform my cousin's wedding.

10. I really don't feel like packing tonight for our trip to Idaho, but I have to get it done tonight since we're leaving tomorrow!

Rude People

2008-08-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today I stopped in on a few businesses in my territory to introduce myself and find out what kind of marketing/advertising they do and discuss possible solutions that RGJ can offer. Instead of politely telling me they weren't interested, they decided to be incredibly rude about it.

Part of being a sales person is to have a thick skin, so I don't take it personally when people tell me they aren't interested. In fact, I appreciate them not wasting my time by leading me on. It doesn't even bother me or hurt my feelings that these people were rude. However, as a CONSUMER, I don't plan on doing business with these people. It's too bad, too, since they carry awesome products and I'm sure I would have spent a good deal of money with them over the next few years. I don't do business with rude people, and I don't recommend rude businesses to my friends and family...quite the opposite, actually.

So, if you are a business owner, here is some advice...It's good to remember that sales people:

1. are consumers, too, and can be your best customer. I have lunch at a client's restaurant several times a week because their food is amazing, I like patronizing local, non-chain restaurants/businesses, and she and her husband are so incredibly nice.

2. know a lot of people and can bring in business. Because my client and her husband are so incredibly nice (and their food is so dang good), I recommend them to EVERYONE! I've taken their food to business lunches, and have recommended their catering services to friends.

3. know a lot of people and can discourage business. Sales people get around and meet A LOT of people, especially in a small town. If you have horrible service, I guarantee I'm going to discourage everyone I know from spending their hard-earned money with you.

4. are knocking on the doors of your competitors. If they are polite, whether they say "no thanks" or "I'm listening," guess who I'm going to choose to do my business with? That's right, your competition.

3 Confession Thursday

2008-08-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

1. I hate Advertising Agencies. It feels like all the one's I have worked with never have the client's best interest at heart. They take their money and stick it in the first thing that comes along, even if it isn't the best option for them. And when an ad salesperson comes along with a REALLY good program, they won't give that person the time of day because it involves actually working! Lame.

2. Today I got to visit an Alpaca farm. It was soooooooo cool! What neat animals they are. If we already had a house and money to spare, I would totally invest in them.

3. I really dislike people who are sent to help, but have absolutely no interest in helping and show an open disdain for being asked to help. If you can't help, go home and quit wasting our time!

Dehydration...

2008-08-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Last night was an extremely long night. Adam was feeling fine until about 9:30 p.m. Then he started feeling nauseous. We were both really tired so we laid down for bed. In the middle of the night, Adam started throwing up, a lot. He got up several times and each time, threw up. By this morning, he had nothing left in him, and his back was hurting extremely bad from all the heaving.

He was supposed to go on a business trip today to Las Vegas, but that was obviously out of the question. He went to the doctor's and called me at work to let me know they needed to put him on an IV for dehydration and could I please pick him up because he was to tired and weak to drive himself to get the IV done. OF COURSE! I said.

So, he spent two hours hooked up to an IV to get hydrated and then I took him home. He's been resting ever since. He's got to do some more tests tomorrow, and Friday he has a follow up appointment to see what his blood tests from today showed.

Please send happy thoughts of good health Adam's way. As soon as we find out what's going on, I'll let you know.

10 Thoughts

2008-08-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

1. I love my dogs! They are just too cute and make me happy every time I come home to see them.

2. Adam and I are going to look at some houses on Friday in our neighborhood. I'm really excited! There are some nice ones in Sunridge (where we live) and in Jacks Valley (close by) that we have on our list. We also have some in South Carson, Middle Carson, and North West Carson....basically, all of Carson!

3. My friend had talked about coming up to visit us this weekend, and when I talked with her today, she said she can't come up this weekend. I'm sad because it's been awhile since we've had some time to really hang out and I was looking forward to it.

4. The lovely parking meter maid in Downtown Carson decided to grace my vehicle with a parking ticket for being parked in the same spot for over two hours. Luckily it was only $15. It also made me realize that our 2009 registration tag is no longer on our car! One of three things could have happened...1. we didn't really register (not likely) 2. It came off in the many car washes I've gone through since I started my new job (possible) 3. Someone TOOK it off our truck (possible as well). Hopefully we'll be able to get it replaced without spending a fortune.

5. Adam and I are leaving for Idaho one week from tomorrow for my cousin's wedding! I can't believe how quickly it got here!!! I have to finalize my part of the ceremony by tomorrow....yikes!

6. We started doing the at home version of Dream Dinners where we prep several meals all at once an then freeze them until we are ready to eat them. Last night we had our first one, Stir Fry Steak Verde! Wow, was it tasty!!! Tonight we are having Baked Chicken with Apples and Leeks. I'll let you know how it turns out!

7. It is bloody hot in our house! I decided to try to keep the house cool with open windows this afternoon...That was a huge mistake. 86 degrees when I got home! Ick!!!

8. I've been taping the Olympics and have been watching a lot of the events. My favorites so far are swimming, diving, gymnastics and rowing. I'm sure there are a ton more to come since things have just gotten started.

Tagged!

2008-08-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by Katrina!! Here I go!

8 Things I Want To Accomplish Before I Die - In no particular order

1. Have children and raise them to be successful adults...of course with kids of their own that I can spoil rotten.

2. Travel abroad, specifically to Greece, Germany (again), France, England, Ireland.

3. Earn my Master's degree...in what, I'm not sure yet.

4. Get fit and healthy again, and stay that way!

5. Buy a house that is big enough to comfortably accomodate Adam, me, our kids and all our crazy animals.

6. Be a successful business woman so I can retire early.

7. Write a book...most likely a historical fiction from the Elizabethan period.

8. Live happily ever after!

I'm tagging Kippy!

3 Confession Thursday

2008-08-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

1. I'm secretly sabotaging my good work at the gym by eating at Cafe Girasole during lunch. AMAZING sandwiches!! They are located right next to Wasabi's, if anyone is interested. Tell them I sent you to "Minden's best kept secret!" www.cafe-girasole.com

2. I've been watching a lot of Sex In The City lately. It makes me miss my girls, Gwen and Katie, and our girl nights where we'd make dinner, have cocktails and watch this show and gab about life.

3. My cousin is getting married in two weeks, I'm officiating the ceremony, and I haven't started working on it yet! It should be at the top of my priority list, but somehow at the end of the day, it ends up at the bottom of the list....

10 Thought Tuesday

2008-08-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

So, as I mentioned last week, my friend does this on Tuesdays. I did it last Thursday, but I figure I probably have enough to do it again today, freeing me up to do the actual Three Confession thingy on Thursday.

Here we go...

1. I walked into the house tonight to the amazing smell of pulled pork!

2. I really didn't want to clean the house up tonight, but because we have company coming over, I figured it would be a good idea.

3. My dogs are running around the house chasing each other. It's actually really cute, Tarot has Jack's ducky and is playing keep away with it.

4. The 4 on my computer sticks a little bit, making it so I have to type it a few times to make it stick.

5. I sold some ads today...I love it when I do that! It's that whole instant gratification thing that really does it for me!

6. Adam made the most amazing ice cream this weekend...Super Chocolate and Mint Chip....mmmmm....it's SOOOOOOOO tasty!

7. Yay! Adam just got home! I love it when he gets home from work.

8. Speaking of amazing ice cream, I just went and snuck a taste of the Mint Chip ice cream...WOW!

9. I got 4 magazines in the mail today. Shape (x2, sadly), Bead Style, and Motorcycle Product News, which I used to get when I was at the magazine. I should probably cancel all of my motorcycle trade pub subscriptions...I don't read them any more.

10. I used 7 exclamation points in this whole post, and I even went back and took 3 out. I think I have an exclamation infatuation!

10 Thought Thursday

2008-07-31T18:17:00.001-07:00

I have a friend that does this on Tuesday, but felt like I'd try it for today.

1. I really love my new job and how busy it keeps me.

2. I also love the fact that South Lake Tahoe is in my territory....I got to spend the whole afternoon there!

3. I really need to make a point of packing a lunch each day so I 1. don't gain a ton of weight from eating out each day and 2. don't spend a ton of money from eating out each day!

4. I love juicy summertime fruit! Costco had some awesome looking nectarines today, so I bought a flat. I also got mango and blueberries.

5. My mom and dad have been doing these pre-assembled meals they get at www.savingdinner.com. It's this really cool program (like Dream Dinners, but you do it at home)
where you purchase menus that include recipes, shopping list, pre-assemble instructions and cooking instructions. You prep the five meals in a few hours and freeze the ingrediants until you are ready to use them, then you have an already put together meal that you cook really quick. All of the prep work is done making dinner easy. I'm gonna try it out.

6. I like it when Adam cooks dinner and I don't have to, like he did tonight!

7. Being super busy is exhausting...I'm ready for bed and it's 7 p.m.

8. I am in a Peddler's fair this weekend, and while it's fun, it's a lot of work.

9. Because I'm in a Peddler's fair this weekend, I won't get to do any relaxing until NEXT weekend.

10. I have to leave soon to go over to my mom and dad's to help my mom pack her car for the Peddler's fair this weekend, and I really just want to stay home and go to sleep!

Busy busy busy!!

2008-07-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

Holy smokes I've been a busy girl! This is the fourth week at my new job and I've fully submersed myself in it. I absolutely love what I'm doing and my days are just flying by!

Originally when I started, I was going to handle Territory 12, which is northeast Carson, Dayton, Virginia City and Washoe Valley. It's a great territory and there is a lot of great business to be done. However...one of my co-workers is leaving the company to go sell TV ads for Fox TV, which will leave her territory open, Territory 18. After discussing it with my other co-workers and sales manager, I will take over her territory (officially) next week. What I really love about this new territory is that is Douglas County, which includes the very south part of Carson City where I live, Minden, Gardnerville, Genoa, Topaz Lake and South Lake Tahoe. It's a totally awesome territory, and I know a lot of the companies in Carson, Minden and Gardnerville since I have lived/worked in that area for the past three years.

So, I've been working Territory 12 this week and last to get some new businesses to run (I got 8!), and I've also been going around with my co-worker to introduce myself to her accounts. And to make life even more interesting, my other co-worker has been out of the office due to back issues (and will most likely need surgery), so I've been working in his territory as well to make sure we stay on top of reaching our monthly goals! Crazy times! After this week, I'll be the only sales person in the office until Troy recovers from everything he's going through...definitely busy, but I LOVE it!

We went camping last weekend at Sly Park with some friends. It was so much fun! The dogs had a good time, too. Jack swam and swam and swam. He ran to the water, jumped in and then swam in circles, only taking short breaks when we forced him to! Needless to say, he slept very well! Tarot is not crazy about swimming. She went in a few times, but with a lot of coaxing, and only stayed in the water when I was carrying her around! We mainly brought her into the water so we could clean her off since she was soooooo dusty.

This weekend I'll be in the Bay Area for the Martinez Peddler's Fair to sell jewelry with my mom and aunt. I'm hoping this will be a good money maker for us, since I still owe my mom for some of our business' overhead. It's going to be a busy weekend, whether we make money or not. I think after this weekend I'll have a few weeks to relax before my cousin's wedding, which will be really nice!

I hope everyone is having a great week! I'll try to update this again soon, but I'm not going to make any promises!