Busy last two weeks for mom & dad.

As I'm starting this blog and have typed the words "mom & dad," it seemed funny to actually put that down for us now. Wow.

Brian & I are counting down the days to get home for Christmas. We are so excited to be heading home. I think I'm even more excited! I haven't been anywhere but maybe Jackson Hole 3-4 times since we moved and I have to say that it's a gorgeous drive but not much else to do there. I really wanted to camp out by Jenny Lake again this last summer but we just didn't have anytime with our work schedule's. We also went to check out Boise during the summer, but that was just a quick & long days drive. Great mall and small shops, but not long enough to get out of town.

Next week starts the baking process for the Christmas party for work, and then I want to bring home some Kuchen & maybe some cookies for everyone. I also have some major organizing to do at work before I leave so I can be prepared of what I need to work on when I come back from vacation. My own "to do list" to myself. Yay. I do love my job because I can work at my own pace & decide on what I want to work on each day. Plus, having a great boss always helps. Cindy is so wonderful to work for. I had to work a 3pm-11pm shift last friday and there was a party going on in the bar that night. (keep in mind the lounge is located only steps away from the front desk-I don't know why they built it that way). I had mentioned to Cindy today that I felt sick when I went home last friday because the lobby smelled like cigarette's & felt like I was standing in the lounge from all the people going in and out of the bar all night. I woke up the next morning with the worst headache and still felt nauses. Cindy called the owner immediatly and said, we need kelly not to work the evening shift on the weekends because this is something she can not be around.

She told me today that this will change and I won't work late on fridays. Wow! Just like that, she was working a new schedule out for me. Tommorow I still have to work the 3pm-11pm shift because it was such short notice and no one is available to switch the shift. But I told Cindy that I can work this one because I'll have the weekend to recover if it's like last week. But for the remainder of my schedule next week, and I when I come back has already changed. I still work Monday-Friday with weekends off and no friday evening shifts when the bar is hopping with chain smokers! I'm truly thankful to find such nice people to work for.

Besides my work, Brian is going to be busy with the end of the semester coming up before we leave. He's getting a little stressed so I believe it's best for me to stay out of the office while he's studying or figuring out his codes on the computer. Poor guy. He only has one year left though, then off to full time work! I think he can't wait to get a job, he's quite sick of school work.

Other than work, the baby is doing well. I think I finally can feel the baby kick once in awhile or move around. I notice it the most when I'm ready to go to bed and find a comfortable spot. It's quite neat. Oh I also made something for daddy to lift his spirits. He's been down in the dumps with the end of the semester. I'll post a picture of what I did for him. I also picked up a newspaper for him and told him he should read the front page. It's really important! He looked at it and he said "Oh my god!" It's an original Ohio paper from when we landed on the moon. Picutres and news articles of Neil Armstrong and other articles he's having fun with. He's being a kid in a candy store again. :-)

My first Baby blankie.

I made a blanket for our little girl and I think it turned out well. I wanted to start making things for baby and I really want to work my way up to making a baby quilt. Brian got me a sewing machine awhile ago and I still have more material to buy. I think I'll make another "critter blanket." I have some more ideas down the road.

Baby making her first apperance.

Here's our little one. I finally got a picture scanned in and posted. I really like this picture because you can see her mouth, nose and she's got her hand raised on the side of her face. I think she's either waving hello or trying to hide from having her picture taken. Unless she takes after her daddy and she could be saluting?
This is the first ultrasound Brian has seen and I think he was speechless for awhile. He just kept saying "wow, look at that." He was amazed to see how big baby is and how she's settled in. I almost got a little emotional because it was so beautiful. I had seen our first ultrasound before and heard the baby's heartbeat already so I sort of knew what to expect, or so I thought. I couldn't believe how much the baby has grown. I loved seeing the baby's heartbeat and finding out other details of how she's doing. The doctor said she's doing wonderful and everything looks great! She said she didn't see anything to be concerned about and the baby looks very healthy.
The lady doing the ultrasound kept asking me if she pushing on my stomach to hard ,and she honestly wasn't at all. Until we wanted to get the baby to turn over, the doctor decided to tap really hard on my stomach and say "come on now,stop kicking me you cutie." I think I wanted to hit her. Why do you think our "cutie" keeps kicking you and meee?? Geee, I wonder. I felt fine during and then after the ultrasound and we got lots of pictures. We even got the ultrasound recorded onto a dvd. Right after, I had to go to my regular check up with our doctor and then to the grocery store after that. Whew! What a busy day. I think it was to much in one day for baby. By the time I was halfway done with grocery shopping for thanksgiving, I had the worse stomach cramps. I thought I was going to throw up. The grocery store was so un-believably busy and I was ready to hurt someone because they were all in my way and I wanted to cry at one point because it hurt so much and I wanted to get my stuff and get home asap! I think baby was paying me back from the pushing and tapping on the stomach. I finally got home from work, doctor appointments and grocery shopping around 8:30pm. I put all the grocery's away and went straight to bed. I never slept so well. I didn't have to work until 9am the next day but I could have slept until noon the next morning.

Nice Night out.

Yesturday when I came home, Brian said to clear my schedule and don't plan to go anywhere the rest of the evening. Hmmmm. I asked what he was up to and he said it's a surprise and be sure to wear something nice. I really don't like surprises for some reason so I was a little antsy until we had to leave.
Anyway, we ended up going to Ruby River Steakhouse for a nice big dinner and then he surprised me , by taking me to the Idaho Falls Symphony. The entire sypmphony was based on the music by a composer who loved astronomy as well. So it was called "The I.F Symphony, The Planets."
The music was choreographed with a projecter screen showing pictures of the planets, space, and of course showing old footage of rocket missions. Quite a few people brought their kids with, because during intermission they had a place upstairs for kids to look at planet displays and talk to some people from INL. We decided to check out the display upstairs and when found it; the entire display was from brian's job! The CSNR (Center for Space Nuclear Research) was telling all about what they have in mind for the future of space exploration. Brian had no idea his boss had planned this and was a little dissappointed that he couldn't take part in it. Poor guy. But we had fun visiting with his boss and I haven't seen his wife in awhile and a few other people I wanted to visit with. As I surveyed the room of couples with the CSNR I had to laugh and think, "I guess this is the only way to get our husband's to a symphony or nice evening out? If it involves space, planets, & rockets; they are sooo there."
We still had a wonderful night out, otherwise we would have been at home doing nothing. Besides, I put in alot of overtime last week and I got a nice paycheck. I was so proud of it because it didn't seem like I put that much extra time in. I guess I'm really loving my job that I don't notice how much time I really have been working. So, with a little extra cash in our pockets we went out.
Oh, I also got my test results back from the blood test. This test was for any indication of birth defects or possible down syndrome. I have to report that all is well and everything came back normal. So another reason to go out and spoil ourselves. :)

After hearing that Barak Obama will be our next president. I stopped for a second and thought, wow, our baby will be coming into the world in a big historic event. After being so busy at work today, I zipped out of work and went to 4 gas stations, 2 grocery store's and then Barnes and Noble to find a single newspaper to put with baby's things. Not a single one in sight. I guess I'll have to get a newspaper tommarow or another day. Maybe when he's taking his oath into the presidency, then I'll have too be sure get that next days paper.
I know mom and dad kept some things for us, when we were born. I want to do the same thing for our kids. So I think this years election will have to go with the baby's stuff, or in the "What happened folder when you were born."
I might have to find a nice box to decorate and a binder of some sort to do some kind of scrapbooking to put everything together. Hmmmm. Ideas are forming and I'm getting excited.

More Blood work

Today I had another doctor's appointment and everything went well. I was able to listen to the baby's heartbeat again and it sounded great. We also took more blood work today, to test for any baby defects or down syndrome. The office will call about the results as soon as they come back.
Other than doctor appointments, I have been feeling really well. Once in awhile I will be sick in the, very early A.M but not to bad. It's just hard to get back to sleep again after getting up. Then I'm just dragging at work. Future daddy is being really good to us. I was craving DQ blizzard the other night and he brought one home after class. How sweet. But, I think I deserve another Blizzard or two. I was in the mood for some banana bread, so I stayed up a little late to make two loaves. I had a small bite of one before I went to bed and I told brian to take one loaf to work for him and a few people. The next morning I was excited for some banana bread for breakfast and to take some to work. When I got to the kitchen, no banana bread! All of it gone! As I'm tapping my fingers on the counter, a little mad, victoria is looking up at me with a face of, "Do you really think he was going to take just one? Now, feed meeee." I was laughing so hard because she had this dumb look on her face. Cats can be so cute sometimes, and Victoria is such a garfield.
So, anyway, back to the banana bread........I asked brian about it and "Ooops!" I guess guys just don't listen, do they? Everyone at his work said it was sooo good and they loved it. So at least I know I have good banana bread.

Pregnant Woman's Drink

The other day I needed I to go grocery shopping. I went over to the dairy section and I couldn't believe it. There it is, once again, Egg Nog. But not only any old Eggnog, it's pumpkin spice flavored! Ooooooh, yummy. I looovve any drink that's pumpkin spice. I will admit that I'm addicted to the pumpkin spice frappacinno at Starbucks (I try to boycot them), but I most of all miss the pumpkin spice chai from Mocha Momma's in Gateway Mall. That is the best winter drink of all time! So I think I found my craving. Now I'm hungry for pumpking swirl cheesecake. Oh, no. Hear we go. Ha ha.

Sweet little sounds

Today I had my second doctor's appointment and everything went very well. All my blood work is perfect and baby is doing well. Brian almost made it through the appointment because I thought he might want to be there if there's another ultra sound. He made it into the waiting room full of women, some pregnant and some maybe not. He quietly wispered in my ear if I really needed him there and I said no, he can go but I thought he might want to stay. But that's ok, poor guy was so uncomfortable and he had lots of homework due tommarow. So I released him of the burden. Ha ha! Today I did get to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time and it sounded so fast but so sweet and wonderful. What a joyus feeling knowing baby's heartbeat is strong and healthy and all is well. I also asked my doctor, how exactly far along am I? And she said I am at 12 weeks.

Our Week.

This week has been busy for us. Brian was very busy with homework and a few meetings. He's been staying up until after midnight to get homework done for the past three days. I've been sick this entire week with a sinus infection and I'm finally getting over it. This morning I was coughing so hard and my stomach was a little qweezy. So after coughing hard enough I finally threw up and I hate the throwing up feeling of not being able to breath. Yuck.
Well, anyway this week with my new job at The Guesthouse has been great so far. My general manager has been great so far and I think her and I will get along nicely. I enjoy working with her and she's fun to visit with. We had a manager meeting with the other dept. managers on thursday. My gm mentioned in the meeting that she doesn't want anyone that works here from now on to be related to anyone or friends of anyone. I had tears in my eyes. I was thinking, "Thank you, at least someone has some sense around here." It was great.
Brian and I have the weekend off together and I don't remember the last time we had a weekend off together. We don't know what to do with ourselves! I think we might go to a movie tonight or just stay home to relax. We'll see, relaxing sounds nice and I have so much cleaning to catch up on after being sick. Now I get to be sick of cleaning. It never ends huh?

Qweezy feeling.

Today I had to work 7am-3pm at the super 8 and we are so short staffed that I had to work the breakfast room and front desk at the sametime. By 9am (half hour before breakfast was over) I started to feel dizzy and a slight sour stomach. My first thought was "Ah, I know what to do, I'm just going to have some crackers I brought and some plain dry toast." I started to eat both to try to calm my stomach down, but of course, it didn't work. I was getting the morning sickness and working in the breakfast room with the smell of fresh waffles was making it worse. Plus I saw one guest eating the rest of the raw waffle batter from her cup she used to pour out her batter onto the griddle. Once I saw that, I wanted throw-up. Why do people do that?! Yuck!
I talked to my manager (being she was never around this morning) and told her that I closed up the desk for 20 minutes for me to sit in the bathroom with my head between my legs to maybe calm my head down from spinning. She said "Oh you must be getting sick finally, well I better get going." What, you crazy old woman?!? I need to go home or I will throw up all over in the breakfast room and then she can clean it up. Anyway, 3pm couldn't come fast enough and when I arrived home I said "Hi honey, love you, and goodnight."
I tried to explain to Brian that I wasn't feeling well and I feel like I'm going to hurl but why do men insist on more and more questions? Just leave me alone and let me sleep it off. Oh and get me some chicken noodle soup. :-) Brian was just trying to understand what I was feeling and asking how my day went. But I described my feeling of being sick like your worst hangover ever. I was light headed, little dizzy and I wanted to throw up but it never came. He said "Ohhhhh," and the look on his face was "eee, that's not good." So hopefully he understands now that it's not fun and yes I just want to throw up but it's not happening.
It's now 6:30pm and I woke up about 30 minutes ago and I'm feeling so much better. I still have a little bit of a sour stomach but it's now more of I'm hungry, but for what? Oh right, Chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese. Brian is at the grocery store getting some soup. :-) He's so nice.

Ugh, more shopping.

After getting my new job, I looked in my closet and noticed that, "Wow, I really have some old stuff in here and, I guess I still could wear some of this." Brian told me to go shopping today since I had the day off of work. He said "Go get what you need and have fun." I think I should have been really happy that my husband just told me to go spend money on myself and to have fun while doing it, but the truth is, I don't like shopping. So, he knows I probably won't spend a lot of money. So he's safe that I'm not a Carrie Bradshaw with a love shoes and just wanting to shop to feel a void of a bad day.
After shopping for about 3 hours which is a new record for me, I found some good deals at Tj Max and Ross (another tj max type store), and Target. I even found a pair of dress pants at TJ Max that are just long enough and they were from the Limited and only $16! Wow, what a find for me! I was so excited.
As soon as I arrived home, I told Brian that we need to top off my night by useing the gift card mom & dad gave us for the Olive Garden. I really wanted some Tiramasu. I remember talking to my doctor about any tips on what to start eating and she said Fish is really good for you and baby but only once a week. I gasped because I'm not much of any type of a seafood lover, but once a week I may be able to handle. As we were eating our soup and salad before the main meal, I think my eyes looked hazy or I looked a little pale because Brian asked "Are you o.k?" I said I feel nauses or light headed. Being the sweet guy he is, he immediatly scanned the restaraunt for the bathroom just in case I needed to make a break for it. I remember this has happened before and I was just eating to fast (but it was sooo good) to take it all in at once, so I slowed it down and everything went away slowly. Thank goodness it went away because I was a little excited to try my main meal which was some fish I ordered called Talapia. I really liked it, and the meal was just right and not too filling like the pasta meals I usually get there. I really recommend it if anyone goes there soon. Very good. Since the fish wasn't really filling, then I did get my Tiramasu. :-D
After our meal and our bill arrived, I told Brian that I had a neat tip to give our friendly waitress. I told him that I remember growing up, my dad giving our waiters or waitress a $2.00 bill(with the rest of the tip, if needed) when we went out to eat because we really don't see them often. I always thought that was neat and I recently came upon a $2.00 bill the other day. I thought I would give it to her being my day and night was so fun and she was so nice and the service was excellent.
As we left, and stopped at a intersection to turn right onto a main street, we felt a hard bang! Great, someone just rear ended us. The poor girl who hit our car was freaking out and kept saying "I'm so sorry." There was no or very little damage, all we had on our bumper is some small paint smudges from her license plate which you can hardly see at all. It's just some dark blue on our black bumper. No big deal really, nothing cracked or broken and everyone is fine. We told the poor shook up girl, who looked like she just ended her shift at the restaraunt, it's ok and all we need is some touch up paint and no worries. I just told her she's lucky that it could have been worse and she ran into us and not someone really up tight about their vehicle. Things happen and it wasn't worth reporting or replacing a bumper over a scuff.
So where did this Karma come from to deserve to get rear ended? Did I take to much joy or happiness that I found so many deals today and found things that actually fit right? Next time I find more deals and I love what I found, I'll remember to stay home.

So many choices.

I'm already getting excited to start picking out names for baby! I have more girl names that I like than boys but I think we want to know the sex of the baby when we can. Otherwise it's just going to be difficult between all the names we both like. Here's what we have so far. :-)

GIRLS~

Claire
Heidi
Allison
Racheal
Heather
Emily

BOYS~

Aiden
Ryan
Nicholas
Justin

Due Date

Today I found out our due date for the little one. The Doctor says our date should be April 14th. So, now it's getting more and more exciting! Also, everything is going fine and baby is fine.
I also found out today I got the job at the Guesthouse Inn & Suites as the Director of Sales and Marketing. I'm a little nervous about it but it's a nice step up and a great change from the crazy Super 8! I work tommorow and I can't wait to tell her that I quit! It's going to be a huge weight off of my shoulders I think. Awwww. Nice.

Battle of the booties.

Who will it be? Anyone have a guess?

he he.