The excitement got to me...

So I've had this delicious little secret from the majority of people for the last 18-ish weeks.  Well, it was a complete secret from all my my darling husband (and Katelyn) for 12-ish weeks and then from the majority of people until Christmas when we filled our families in on the news.

If you haven't guessed yet...

We're having a baby!! :) I wasn't going to make a big announcement to the world until after our 20 week appointment, but like I said, the excitement got to me :)

I'm 17 weeks, 5 days right now, but here's a better update...

• How big is baby: We're between the size of an onion and a sweet potato :) about 5.1 inches long and weighs about 5.9 ounces. The baby's rubbery cartilage is now turning to bone and gaining some fat there. 
• Weight gain/loss: At my last appointment (2 weeks ago) I was still down 2 pounds since I got pregnant. Our scale at home doesn't seem to be completely accurate, but I'm thinking I'm at 0 weight gain so far.  Looking at me though you would think I had gained 5 to 10 pounds all in one certain area. I just read on The Bump that by the 17th week I should have gained 5 to 10 pounds... I really don't think I've done that.  Although... I did lose 6 pounds between the start of my pregnancy and week 8 and then I've been slowly gaining. Hmm... maybe I have gained some weight!! 
• Stretch marks: No noticeable ones yet, but I do think I'm getting some on my stomach. HA! I wrote this before I had a chance to actually check for stretch marks and OH they are there! Nasty little things... I have some lovely red/pink ones on my stomach and something that looks like white um.. marbling on my sides. Yuck.
• Maternity clothes: I am COMPLETELY in all maternity pants now. I have yet to pack away all my non-maternity clothes because I'm still paranoid I'll need them. No work maternity shirts though.  As a teacher, I try to not wear clingy things anyway so my baggy shirts are working just fine right now.
• Sleep: I'm definitely less tired than I was a few weeks ago, but I could still go for a nap most days. I'm not really sleeping through the night most nights.  I usually get up at 1:30ish to pee and then I'm also awake somewhere between 3 and 4. This is an improvement over my going to bed at 8:30, waking up at 11, 1, 3, and 5 that I had going on before Christmas!
• Food cravings or aversions: Fruit, fruit and more fruit!! I went through a period (about week 5 to 10) where all I wanted was apples, and then until Christmas it was oranges, Clementines to be exact, but now it's strawberries <3 I eat around a quart of strawberries a day (which is hard on the wallet!!) and could probably eat more if I had the chance. I don't really have any aversions, I'm just not in the mood for some things.
• Movement: I don't know if it's movement or not, but at night when I lie on my back I feel... something in my belly. I sort of feels like it's getting tight and then relaxing. Not sure if it's my imagination or the baybee stretching or what but it's there most nights. :) Dr. Lamade (our god of an OBGYN) said not to worry about not feeling anything until 20 weeks so we still have a little time.
• What I miss: A few weeks ago it was alcohol, and then cold cuts.  Now I can't think of anything that I'm missing.  I could definitely go for some coffee occasionally but I can live without it.

Overall things are fantastic :) I'm not sick anymore.  Never really was, just a little nausous. I really don't think I look pregnant though, just fat.  I cannot wait until I get that cute little bump <3

I know, I know...

I have been incredibly lax about this whole blogging thing. The thing is the everyday stuff isn't exciting enough to note and the exciting stuff is too exciting to just throw out there! So here's the super quick, super glossing over the details update of the life of yours truly....

• Christmas was lovely, except for the fact that I had a tooth pulled and it hurt like a mother for days.  Still aches now. We did Christmas Eve with the Adams family and attending church with the Grube-lets. Christmas Day was with the in-laws. Then we drove from the parents' houses back to our cozy apartment for our own Christmas. Then BACK up again for Christmas at Grandma's and Christmas proper with my immediate family. And the tooth extraction fun-ness.  Where I almost passed out thanks to our buddy Codeine. Fun.
• New Years was also spent in the great north.  I did not see the ball drop. Again this year. This time it was a combination of my (recent-ish) exhaustion and the pain killers.
• The first week of 2012 was spent running around to appointments and such.  Including a semi emergency on the tooth front. And to Williamsport for check-ups. I don't think there was one whole day last week where we weren't traveling or contemplating travel.
• This past weekend we visited the Smiths and the Farm Show. Relaxing in the aspect that it's what we wanted to do, but not the same as staying in bed all day.
• And last, but certainly not least, we found out between Thanksgiving and Christmas that there will be not one but TWO Aldrich grandchildren in June of this year. :)

.... and we'll leave it at that <3 hehehe...

Birthday weekend recap

Hey, look at this! Two posts in just a few days! Aren't you lucky readers?! :)

Yesterday was Brian's 29th birthday so we spent the weekend relaxing together and seeing some friends.  Saturday we had planned on taking a day trip somewhere but changed our minds pretty early and just had a lazy day. We were on our way to lunch at the Hitching Post when I saw that our friends Sarah and Mark Killian were stranded at Cabala's (20 minutes for our house!) until someone could come help them haul their car home. We quickly called them and canceled our lunch plans and headed straight to entertain them. They had been there for about half an hour before we got there, but it was nice to grab a drink with them and catch up.  I don't think we had seen them since our wedding in 2009! It was also a good excuse to hit Red Robin for some milkshakes <3!

After the Killians hit the road with their car in tow, we headed back to our apartment.  Mark and Sarah Aldrich showed up soon there after to borrow our saw to trim their Christmas tree.  While the boys caught up on their techy stuff, I caught Sarah up on my dental adventures...

About fifteen years ago I had to have a route canal on one of my molars.  The tooth they worked on had always been a problem, starting when I was in 3rd (?? I think ??) grade.  The dentist we were going to at the time had tried to drill into it to fill what he thought was a cavity to have the entire middle of my tooth drop out. I distinctly remember the severe pain and how scared I was because he didn't give me any Novocain and was screaming at me to stop crying. Needless to say that was the last time we went there!
Dr. Pascoe <3 had fixed the tooth shortly there after and we thought everything was fine, only to have it abcess a few years later. The route canal seemed to work for quite some time, but then two years ago when my crown fell off, Dr. Pascoe noticed that there was some decay around the tooth. He sandblasted it a little bit and then put the crown back on.  Two weeks ago, I started having pain and a reallllllly nasty taste in my mouth.  We went to a dentist down here and (much to my chagrin) took an x-ray.  That dentist agreed with Dr. Pascoe's assessment that there was some decay there.  He thought that we could solve any issue by redoing the root canal and getting a new, better fitting crown.  Because he was not my regular dentist, I decided to visit Dr. Pascoe's office back home over Thanksgiving.  He's not there anymore (sad) but the new practice that took over said that there was so much decay on both sides AND between the roots that we'll have to pull the tooth :( and put in an implant. Yuck. Their assessment was that if we took the post and filing out from the previous root canal that the tooth would crumble. At first I wasn't on board with this decision.  Implants are expensive and very time consuming.  Best case, I'll have the new implant by this summer.  That's a LONG way off and I wasn't sure I was ready to commit to that much dental work. While we were in the office, they decided to remove the crown because it was so loose. I didn't realize at the time that they weren't planning on putting anything back over the tooth. Now that the crown is gone, the tooth has started to, for lack of a better term, fall apart. There's now a pretty substantial hole in the front of the tooth now. Soooo I am no officially on board with getting rid of this tooth. :( The price is going to suck, but I'd rather do this now than have more issues down the line. Yay. I'll have the tooth pulled on December 30th and then we'll go from there.  I think that appointment will also include filling the area where the roots were (a.k.a bone graft).  Then after that heals, they'll put in the post. Once that heals, I think I get the actual implant. It's going to be a long and oh so fun process!

Sunday, Brian's actual birthday, I got up early and made oatmeal pancakes. We tried to go out and get Brian and new phone, but the phones you can get for free on Verizon's website are NOT free at their stores. When we got back from our failed shopping trip, I took a short nap while Brian played Skyrim then we were off to dinner with Mark and Sarah. We went to Union Jack's where the boys enjoyed several beers. :) The food was SOOOO good.  I had crab cakes and french fries for dinner there last night and for leftovers today.  The wings we had as an appetizer were amazing as well.  We'll definitely have to make a trip back there again!

The rest of this week looks pretty decent. We're hoping to get out to Harrisburg to visit with the Sheffields, Sarah and I are going to go see Breaking Dawn and stuff ourselves with popcorn. :)

Back :)

Hello Internets! Yes, I realize it has been MONTHS since I last wrote so I figured today is as good a day as any to restart. :)




Things in our lives have been looking very good. Work has been great for me. I have had a student teacher for the last 6 weeks and she is AH-MAY-ZING! I honestly don't know what I would have done if she wasn't so great. The first week she was here, she started teaching. This is not the norm. Usually, student teachers observe for the first week or two and then slowly begin taking over classes. Katelyn took 5 of the 6 sections in the first week. And did an amazing job! I can't believe how quickly our time together has gone! She only has two weeks left (sad) and then I'm on my own again. :(



We had a great visit to the Adams and Aldrich families over Thanksgiving. Other than the killer allergies, that is! I always forget how bad my allergies (not to mention B's!) get when we're in Susquehanna County for more than a few hours! Benadryl was definitely my best friend for those five days. We didn't get to go Christmas tree shopping with the Aldrich family like we've done in the past because Miss Annalyn June got baptized on Sunday!



I don't think we'll be home between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it was nice to see everyone. :)


Now for something totally different.... I read a blog today that really upset me and I need to comment on it.  Because the author/mom that owns the blog is going through a really tough time, I won't comment directly there, but I do need to get something off my chest.

In August, Brian and I had a miscarriage. It was horrible and we had no idea what hit us. It took us months to come to peace with the fact that there was nothing we had done wrong and that this pregnancy was just not meant to be.  Neither Brian nor I are overly religious, but we do both consider ourselves Christians.  One thing we needed to realize was that this was NO ONE'S fault, not even God's. The blog I read today said, "we believe that our God is a God of healing, health, and long life. Death and destruction are never the Lord's will. Plain and simple, they are works of the enemy." I agree with PART of this, in reference to miscarriages. I do believe that our God is a God of healing and health and long life.  However, I think that my body and God knew that the baby I lost would not be healthy nor would that baby have a long, happy life. 

Thinking that death and destruction are never part of God's plan just sets you up for disappointment and questioning of your own beliefs.  What is that poor mom going to do if she loses that baby? Sometimes things that we want are not meant to be in our time. We need to let go and realize that there is someone bigger, stronger, more knowledgeable than we are. I trust that this pregnancy for me was not meant to be.  That does not make this situation any easier, but what is the alternative? Thinking you did something wrong to cause this? Claiming it was your "enemy" that caused this? (Who is this enemy anyway?) Thinking that because you did not believe steadfastly enough or pray enough to save your child?

Miscarriages/pregnancy losses are hard. No one who has not been there can understand how hard they can be. I just can't help but think that the attitude of this blogger will hurt her more than she knows is possible.



Annnnnnd... rant over :)

Word Splash...

No real update today... but here's a cool word splash of all the words in my blog :)

Menu SUNDAY!! :)

That's right, I'm posting one day early this week :) These WILL be the meals we have this week, they might just be slightly shifted depending on our mood at the end of the day...

Sunday: Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken and veggies

Monday: Minestrone Soup and biscuits. Brian needs to help a teacher out with her home machine, so this crock pot soup should be ready for us when we come home <3

Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas with salsa and whole wheat corn chips

Wednesday: Buffalo Chicken Nuggets and a green salad or something healthy-ish... I think that I'll add some Frank's red hot to the mix :)

Thursday: Dinner with Mark and Sarah for Mark's birthday :)

Friday:  Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese


Have a great week, everyone!

Sorry 'bout that...

So I know I haven't updated in over a month. And I'm sure you've missed my updates HORRIBLY.  The truth is, I just haven't been in a place where I wanted/needed to blog. 

Weight watchers is going well. I've lost around 8 pounds :) My new pants I bought for the new school year are WAY to big so I've got to run back to the Outlets to return them. Yay :) We've been eating lots of good WW recipes. I do love cooking, so I've been so happy to get a chance to do so.  Tonight we're having Cleveland Style Pork Chops (Cleveland as in Emily and Brandon, not the city), Tiny Potatoes with Rosemary, and a veggie :)

We're in week two of school. Things are going well.  I really like my kids this year and even the ones I thought I might have trouble with have been great. :)

The only sad part about this being the second week of school is that this is the week I thought I'd be telling everyone I was pregnant.  Our baby would have been around 13 weeks this week. :'(



Hopefully next week I'll get back to posting more often :)