Productive Snow Days

We had some icy weather Tuesday morning and then got 6"+ of snow Tuesday afternoon/night, so I worked from home both Tuesday and Wednesday. My work is very concerned about safety so yesterday we were encouraged to work from home or work a flex schedule and today it was closed altogether.

Yesterday I was relatively productive work-wise, but today I struggled. I worked some in the morning, but then I started cleaning out the 3rd bedroom and just couldn't stop! I pretty much got everything put away or thrown away, including about 4 shredders-full of paper! Turns out I still had multiple copies of closing documents from my house in Kirkwood - 2 houses ago!

I also partially tackled my closet, and ended up with 2.5 trash bags of clothes for the goodwill pile (so far - still have more work to do).

It feels so good to have all of that finished!! Now I'm ready to paint the 3rd bedroom, which will become the spare bedroom. I have a white quilt and white nightstands, with throw pillows that are blues and purples that I plan to use. I definitely want a dark-ish wall color because of all that white. The only color I've thought of so far is that dark gray/slate color that is popping up all over these days. My concern is how that will look with the taupe walls in the hallway. Or does that even matter? I would appreciate any ideas anyone has!!

Furniture

Our new bedroom furniture was delivered yesterday! We love it - it makes the room actually look like a grown-up bedroom now! We used to have only a dresser and now we have a dresser and a chest, so instead of having mounds of t-shirts, sweatpants, etc. stacked in our closet, they will be in drawers where they belong. Exciting day! We also found a great deal on a mattress set and got it for 1/2 of the price we were expecting to spend! For those of you in St. Louis and in the market for a mattress, check out 2nd Street Resale. They buy new mattresses from manufacturers that are overstock, etc. We got a brand new Sterns & Foster (apparently one of the best brands) king mattress set for $550!

My new mission is to go through our closet and get rid of a LOT of stuff - there are clothes in there that I have no intention of ever wearing again, and they've got to go! We'll see how long this project takes me.

In other news, my doctor was right when he said I was not in the clear yet for the "morning" sickness. All day yesterday I felt like I was nursing a hangover from an entire case of beer when I really (of course) only drank water and a caffeine-free soda. Yuck! I feel better today, so that's promising, but the headache is still there. I'm definitely looking forward to the 2nd trimester, when I hear you feel great!

Ultrasound #2

We went to the doctor today and everything is looking great with our little one! I am 10.5 weeks along, and we heard the heartbeat for the first time. That was a tear-jerker! The baby's heartbeat is 171, which the doctor says is good.

The doctor said there's an old wives' tale that a higher heartbeat means it's a girl, and apparently 171 is a higher heartbeat. Then he said, "but that's only right 50% of the time." Funny - obviously gender guesses are only 50%. Anyway, then he said since we don't want to know the sex, they're going to continue to mess with us at each of our appointments to throw us off!

I've been feeling good for the past 4 days - I am nausea-free! My doctor said not to get too excited because I'm not necessarily out of the woods yet, but I will take what I can get for now!

Here is one of the pictures of the beautiful, 2" baby. You can see the head towards the bottom right - this is a profile shot. The arm is the light line pointing up in the middle and the legs are very faded at the top left of the picture.It was crazy, while we were watching the ultrasound, the baby was moving his/her legs and arms all around! Can't wait until I can feel that!

Oh, and I haven't gained any weight since the last appointment, which is exciting, but also shocking because I've been eating junk food galore to ease my nauseousness.

Painting

Yesterday, my parents and I repainted the master bedroom. I have never been happy with the color I originally painted - it was somehow too blue. It seemed like it almost had a hint of teal in it, which I didn't like. We ordered new bedroom furniture, so now was the time to get it repainted - before the furniture arrives. It looks SO much better, though my dad and Jason think I'm nuts because it hasn't changed that much. I'm happy, so it was worth it.

Before (this is the best picture I could find - it's the plant shelf):

After:
See? Much better! Thanks a million Mom & Dad!

Pregnancy Update

Well, not much has changed since my initial pregnancy post. I am still feeling nauseous daily, but at least now it is typically only one time per day, so that's better than several times throughout the day. I've vomited probably 6 times in total, but have done a LOT of dry heaving. I'm hoping only a few more weeks of this, but you never know.

I don't really have a baby bump yet - I think my stomach is rounding out a little bit, but it's hard to tell when you have a belly to start with. :) Two pairs of work pants have been taken out of the wardrobe options because they are too snug, so something is definitely growing. Luckily, the rest of my work clothes are still fitting fine, and probably will for a couple months.

Our next doctor's appointment is Tuesday, so I will be sure to update then!

Oh, as a side note, happy 31st birthday to my husband!!

Scary Experience

Last Friday I was working from home, but halfway through the afternoon I decided to head into work to do a few things I couldn't do from home. I was driving on the highway and as I approached the bridge that crosses the Missouri River, there were two cop cars with flashing lights blocking the right lane. I slowed as all the other cars did, and I as I got closer I realized the two cops were out of their cars talking to a woman who was standing on the bridge's railing threatening to jump!! RIGHT as I drove by, one of the cops pounced and dragged the woman off the railing and onto the pavement. Phew! My heart was racing - I've never seen such a thing.

I'm so glad that is what I witnessed rather than the alternative! There was a short blurb about it in the paper - I hope she is getting the help that she needs.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/F13F70C60285ECD58625753200790B38?OpenDocument

Woffy Pop

Maggie got a lot of gifts for Christmas, but the most unique was the Woofy Pop microwavable pepperoni-flavored doggie popcorn, which her cousin Otis sent to her. I popped it for her the other day and she LOVED it!
Thanks Otis (and Kel & Greg)!

Other Update Tidbits

Since it's been awhile since I've been in the blogging mood, I will post the highlights of our past few months.

First, in early November, my mom and I and several of our friends of the family had a girls' weekend in Chicago. It was a lot of fun - we shopped a lot, ate out and saw Dirty Dancing on Broadway. It was great to see my good friends Laura and Jules, who live in San Francisco and Chicago, respectively, so our visits are not as often as we would like. We had a good time hanging out with the moms.

The daughters:

The moms:

We could have been an ad for Macy's!

Next, we took a vacation over Thanksgiving with my family to Marathon, FL (one of the keys - about halfway between Miami and Key West) to celebrate my dad's retirement. We were there for a week, and we had a blast! We did a lot of relaxing, but also went on a fishing charter, went to Key West for a day, kayaked and ate at lots of restaurants! It was great. We haven't had a family vacation in years - since long before I married Jason and Kelly met Greg. We had a fabulous time!

Sunset in Key West:
You can't tell by this picture, but these "key deer" are about the size of dogs - very cute!

Our nieces Paige and Mia had their first dance recital in early December. Paige did great - I'm not just the partial aunt when I say she was the best one in her class! Mia was a riot - she's only 2 1/2, so this being on stage thing is new to her. She just stood there with no expression on her face during the entire dance!! It was hilarious - the whole audience was laughing. Even at the end of the dance when all the little girls laid down on the stage to pretend to sleep, Mia continued to stand there expressionless. Oh man, that is a memory we will keep forever! No flash photography was allowed, so my pictures didn't turn out great, but you get the idea: Mia's the one in the middle:
Also in December we cut down a Christmas tree, as we did last year. However, this year we decided we wanted a really big tree, and boy was it big! It measured at 11 feet tall and was about 5 feet in diameter. This thing was a monster!! We had to buy more lights and used some extra ornaments of my mom's just to fully decorate the behemoth. It didn't look that big in the open field!! We panicked when we got it in our living room, but it was really pretty once it was decorated. Unfortunately I only have pictures pre-decor. Keep in mind Jason is 6'4"!Other than that, not a whole lot is new with us. We had a very nice Christmas and New Year's Eve. We had a lot of fun spreading our news about the baby - it's fun to see everyone's reactions!

Baby On the Way!

Well, I guess it's really time to get back in blogging mode. We're going to have a baby!! I am 8 weeks pregnant and the baby is due on August 13, 2009. We are ecstatic and looking forward to the fun times ahead.

We found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago, and went to the doctor on December 23rd. We saw the heartbeat and got some adorable ultrasound pictures. OK, maybe not adorable, more like a blob.

I will strive to keep posting updates to this blog, and once I have an actual baby belly, not just a gut, I will start posting belly pictures.

Yay!