The "Itis"...

Man, I have the "itis" in a bad way! That's a term Hank actually taught me that very well describes my current state of mind. You know there's senior-"itis", etc. Basically means you have the "I don't want to do anything" attitude. I have vacation-"itis"! I go to work every morning because I have training from 8:00 - 12:00 and then after that I'm hard pressed to want to do anything! I've actually been going home and working from home almost every afternoon. It's pretty awesome that I get to do that...and it works out well for right now while most people are headed out so I don't have meetings that I have to go to.

I'm also starving all the time! Whatever that disease is that makes people feel like they can never get full (Carrie knows, she told me but I can't remember), I feel like I have that! I get full kind of fast, but then about 10 minutes later I'm looking for food again! Last night I ate 5 clementines! I know what you're thinking...that's not so bad...so then I went back and ate 4 more!! Hey, at least it's fruit! I love those boxes of them that come out at Christmas time. How sad is this...we went grocery shopping on Sunday and I didn't get any. So, its Monday afternoon and I'm leaving work and I decide I'm going to go the long way home just so I can go to the store and get clementines! It's starting isn't it? Is this the road downhill?

Okay, so obviously I had nothing really interesting to write so that's why I wrote this... :-)

It's A...

BOY!!

We're really excited! We were hoping for a boy...it sounds like fun to me! I mean, I only have sisters...Plus, we're naming him after Greg and my dad so that's really special to us too. Most of you know, Greg was adopted as a toddler so no one really knows who he's named after. We decided a long time ago that we would name our son after him so we could start our own family tradition. His name will be Gregory Bruce. Bruce is after my dad. All three of us (my sisters and I) were supposed to be named after him, but obviously that didn't happen! My dad is named after his dad and went by "little Bruce" so that's what our son will be..."little Bruce." It's weird that our son is now our son and not "it" anymore. I definitely cried when the ultrasound lady told us.

She wasn't sure she was going to be able to tell since little Bruce didn't want to play nice. I'd been feeling all the kicks and movement WAY down in my pelvis and not in my belly at all. Pretty much every time he kicks I have to pee...exciting huh? Well there is a point to telling you that...little Bruce is basically as far down as he can get. They had to do the "special" ultrasound to get his head measurements. Those of you that have had the "special" one know what I'm talking about...no need to say it and freak my sisters out! Anyway, she measured and determined he's less than an inch from my bladder, woo hoo! She laughed saying he probably won't drop, because if he does I'll be in labor! Ha ha, yeah, I didn't think it was that funny!

So...here's a picture!

IT'S A BOY! The two "bubbles" are butt cheeks and you can guess what's between 'em!

Well, like I said, we're really excited. He has ten fingers and ten toes and everything's measuring right on cue. Placenta looks good, cord looks good, no spina bifida, etc. We decided not to go with the quad screen because well, as excited as I was to know the sex, all that other stuff freaks me out. We'd rather deal with that once he's here if we have to! I hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend!

P.S. Blogger hates me and won't let me change the color back to the way its supposed to be...boooooo! Oh, and I decided I needed a new template since he's a boy...

One more day!

Only one more day until we hopefully know if its a boy or girl. I'm so excited, I've hardly slept all week because I keep thinking about it! So...everyone pray for open legs and no limbs in the way!

I'll let everyone know tomorrow!

Houston, we've got movement!

Well its official...I'm finally feeling the baby move. Starting about Saturday afternoon I've been feeling little kicks and such in my lower belly. Every time I call Greg over though little Leroy (ask Tim...) stops moving. Since we already know its ADD we just chalk it up to the fact that hearing my voice distracts he/she.

Speaking of he/she...less than two weeks! I'm really excited to find out. I can appreciate the people who wait til they hear "its a boy...its a girl", but I'm not one of them. Its amazing how many people think they get a say in whether or not you find out though! Don't worry, if you're reading this blog, you're not one of them! Unless I've gained some mysterious new readers, I know who reads and I'm not talking about you. Its the pushy people who feel like all of the sudden because of their rudeness I'm going to change my mind. As it turns out, lots of people think they have a say in all sorts of things regarding pregnancy. For example: working moms, breastfeeding, and various other controversial subjects.

Most people know, I'm only slightly opinionated (yeah right!) and yet I don't remember telling any of my pregnant friends how they should raise their children...I don't know...maybe its a rite of passage once you have a baby yourself. Don't get me wrong, I need so much help its not even funny. Advice I appreciate, scrutiny not so much. Speaking of advice, those with babies, I will be calling on you soon. Registering is overwhelming and reading books scares me. I'm learning about all kinds of things that happen during labor...most of which I'd rather pretend I don't know. Can't they just knock me out and send me home with a baby??

In case you thought I was going to gripe the whole time...I am FINALLY feeling better. I haven't puked in over a week! That's major! Also, thanks to my awesome seamstress of a mother in law we have all the baby bedding done! Speaking of in laws...after they left seems to be about the time the nausea went away...coincidence?? Hmmmm.... JK

Early Merry Christmas!

Everyone needs to click this link to brighten their day! Don't worry, its short! And trust me, it will brighten your day!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9524828671

Good Doctor's Appt

Well first off I know its been a while since I updated, my sister got onto me today...

I went to the doctor yesterday and everything was fine. Baby's heart rate is 158 so good and strong. Its relieving to hear the heartbeat since I can't really feel the baby yet. I say "can't really" because I'm not sure if the fluttery feelings in my stomach are the baby or if its other bodily functions (such as digestion...). Basically things are completely normal...despite who the father is. Okay, do y'all get that joke? When I told it at work everyone looked at me strange and then when I explained what I meant...they all went, "ohhhh, we thought maybe you just found out who the father is..." Okay these aren't random strangers that I'm telling the joke to, most have met Greg and those that haven't have heard enough stories about him to feel like they know him.

I did get to share all of the lovely symptoms I'm having with the doctor most of which were met with, "yep, that happens...not much we can do about it..." For example: crazy headaches; bruising from brushing up against, well anything; my hair falling out; nausea...Luckily nausea is something they can do something about. I'm now having what I like to call "reverse morning sickness". During the first trimester I would feel sick all the time except for about the 10 minutes after I ate. Now, I feel starving all the time and once I eat I feel awful. I'm throwing up far more now then I did before mostly because now there's a lot more food to throw up! Again I wonder, why do people do this more than once???

On that high note, I'll sign off. Well, that and to let you know the next appointment is December 14th where we'll find out the sex.

Let the hormones begin...

So, they warn the husbands about these so-called pregnancy hormones where we're supposedly on this roller coaster of emotions. Yeah, they're not lying. Wanna know the low point of my day? I'm driving home from work and one of those stupid OnStar commercials comes on...guess who starts crying driving down Wurzbach Pkwy?? Yeah, the pregnant lady. It wasn't even one of the really good ones with a kid crying or anything, it was a stupid one where they get in an accident and OnStar calls the police and saves the day again. For some reason, that whole concept was especially touching to me on my drive home from work. Oh man, this is going to be a long 6 more months!!

Ask my family, I cry enough as it is. Stressed out? I start crying... Ticked off? I start crying... Frustrated? You guessed it...bring on the water works. I'm going to have to figure out some tricks before I start crying over stuff at work. That would be just great sitting in my staff meeting in a room full of guys only to start crying...Surely this part gets better right? Yeah, I didn't think so...

Hurray!

The morning, noon, and night sickness is slowing down. I'm SO glad! I'm tired of that pukey feeling all the time! This past week has been really good, not too much nausea. I'm glad they weren't lying when they said second trimester is better. I'm still not 100% why people do this more than once, but there must be some reason. :-)

We're telling people now...let me rephrase that....we're telling EVERYONE now! Its fun, but still a little awkward. I mean, how do you really throw into casual conversation that you're pregnant? That's why I liked the blog because I could just email the link and tell people to read it. :-) For someone who likes to talk as much as me, you wouldn't think it would be that hard!

NEON...

I love our NEON group! Getting involved with that has been such a blessing in Greg and my lives. NEON is our church's small group for our youth. We're the freshmen NEON leaders with one other couple, who have also been a HUGE blessing in our life.

I was hesitant to get involved just because its such a big responsibility. Every time I leave I just feel so good. God's definitely put these people in my life to uplift me as much as I'm supposed to lead them! God is so good!

When we moved here we were so lonely! I joke a lot that nothing kills a marriage faster than living in Abilene and for Greg and I it was true. We were struggling with God, with our relationship with each other, just life in general! It was hard being SO lonely. Even our first year here in San Antonio was hard. We had my parents and we had an awesome church it was just hard figuring out where to get plugged in.

Our kids are so awesome! They were so excited for the baby and just excited to see us! Its so wonderful having that relationship with people. I mentioned our co-NEON leaders. I have to be honest, as much as I love the kids, our co-couple is definitely the best blessing of NEON. Getting to know them and having that new relationship in our l ives has been AWESOME.

Its been through leading this group that I feel myself growing so much stronger with God. Our sermon today was by our youth minister who did an incredible job. Basically do you want to be sitting in the chair next to God, or one of the other two sitting further away. I look at my parents and I never doubted which chair they sat in. I always viewed my parents sitting in that chair right next to God talking with him every day seeking His guidance in their lives. As we start this new chapter trying to lead a new life in this world its even more important to me that I'm sitting right there next to God so that when our child grows up they're sitting right there too.

What on earth do pregnant women eat?

That's what I asked my mom, well her and most of the pregnant women I know! It seems like every time you turn around there's a new food that you need to limit or avoid. Off the top of my head: sandwich meat, hot dogs, bean sprouts, fried foods, unwashed fruit, soups (high sodium foods in general), fish, fake sugar (AKA artificial sweetener), caffeine...not to mention the five million medicines you can no longer take. There are lots more that I can't think of, but it invokes a certain level of fear thinking that at any moment you could be about to ingest something that could be bad...

I had no idea where to start finding something for lunch! I pretty much ate Subway every day before I found out I was pregnant...well since tuna and sandwich meat are on the "do not" list it kind of limited my choices. Luckily, my new doctor is really cool. She explained some of the nuances of the off limit foods. For example, fish is okay, actually fish is good! Just don't eat fish with known high mercury contents. Okay, that makes sense to me. Basically, advice to those of you pregnant or getting pregnant. The internet is a very good thing...its also a very bad thing. Don't stress yourself out over what to do and what to eat and when in doubt just ask a professional. They won't laugh...well at least not to your face. I'm sure my doctor walked away and told her colleagues about some of my questions over lunch. Oh well, I'm always happy to provide the entertainment...as long as I don't have to know about it. :-)

First Ultrasound

For all of you who hang on my every word and have been checking this blog religiously for the past few hours you'll be happy to know the ultrasound went well. Now for the rest of you who aren't total stalkers...the ultrasound went well. :-)

We've decided already the baby is ADD. Darn thing wouldn't be still long enough to get a good shot. That was one thing that really surprised me. I never really thought that something the size of a kumquat (about an inch) would be wiggling so much! It was so relieving to see the baby, hear the heartbeat, and see it move. Everything is right on track.

Now for the pictures, my mom took the second best one so you'll have to settle for the best and then the other two. :-)







This one shows the hands and feet. Its my favorite because it shows the baby really isn't just a blob.





These two kind of just look like blob pictures, but you can see the profile. I think our baby's going to have Greg and my photogenisis (duh, word that means the same photogenic abilities as us...not really, I think I made it up, but it sounds cool). It didn't like posing very much (like Greg) and when the picture was finally snapped it doesn't turn out all that attractive (like me...its okay, I've had 26 years to become okay with that).






Hope y'all like. Keep us in your prayers.

New Grounds for making fun of me...

So...they say pregnant women lose brain cells. Okay not really losing braincells per se, but more long periods of severe ditzyness. My camping trip with my sister Lindsay would provide the perfect example of this. Those that know me well know that doing ditsy things bothers me...it bothers me when other people do them, it bothers me even more when I do them. I do my best to avoid all such occasions too because I don't laugh at myself very well and I really don't like being laughed at...

Lindsay and I start out on our awesome camping trip to Mustang Island and its sprinkling as we drive down there. The whole way I'm looking at Lindsay going...are you sure? We can turn around? She's like, heck no, I want to go camping. So we get there...the sky is BLACK in the distance and moving towards us. Lindsay wants to stay. Okay, we get the tent all set up, get the sleeping bags inside, unload the car a little and get our swimsuits on and head to the beach (cloud's still in the distance getting closer). We sit on the beach for about 45 min and it starts to rain. Well, we're in Texas, rain passes quickly here. We get in the car wait it out and lay back on the beach. About 20 minutes later it rains again...then it stops raining and begins to PELLET. Okay, not ice pellets...it was still rain, but it felt like we were getting shot with a pellet gun! We rush back to the camp site, our tent's already in about 6 inches of water. We start throwing stuff in trash bags (all the while both still in our swimsuits) and trying to get stuff in the car as fast as possible. Overall, there were 8 inches of rain in an hour...uh that's a lot. We get all the stuff shoved in the back of the Escape, hop in the car, and drive off.

Its raining so hard I can't see the road and we're on an island...I'm just trying to get off the island. We get over the bridge, see a Starbucks and pull in. Now here's the good part of the story...

Again, still in our swimsuits, we're SOAKING wet...I mean, we looked like we had just hopped out of the swimming pool with no towels. We're trying to get clothes on in the car, we're freezing, I'm about to puke (right, I'm pregnant...) and I just want to get into that stupid Starbucks. Finally Lindsay has clothes on, I hop out and take off for inside (its still raining really hard). We walk in like a couple of drowned rats...we looked so bad the cashier even commented on it. We order our drinks, sit down, and it dawns on me..."I don't think I locked the car." Well I knew I hadn't because I had no keys in my hand! Lindsay needs a jacket so she heads out to lock the car and get a jacket...as she's walking out she pokes her head back in and says, "you didn't even turn the headlights off." I'm like, well no biggie, my car turns them off automatically, I'm just not used to driving Greg's. Right. So she comes back in hysterically laughing (not entirely out of character for Lindsay) and telling me she never wants to hear anything again about her being a ditz (again, not entirely out of character). She then proceeds to tell me, not only did I leave the lights on...but...I LEFT THE CAR RUNNING! Windshield wipers going full blast, radio blaring, car running!! Who does something like that???!!! Oh well, I'm not going to feel too bad...I'm not the first member of my family to do that!! (Ahem, Lindsay!)

Next week...

We have our first ultrasound next week. I'm excited and ready to see it already! I was supposed to have it this week, but then I switched doctors and the earliest they could get me in is next week. At this point I'm almost ten weeks! Crazy! I'm ready to hit that 12 week mark and be done with this stupid morning, noon, and night sickness!

I'm already starting to show a little which is crazy to me. I know everyone at work is like, "dang, Allison's gaining a lot of weight!" Oh well, they'll find out soon enough. After the ultrasound next week assuming everything is alright we'll start telling people. My mom's told a few of her friends and as you know, my sister's have told more than a few of their friends!

Speaking of sisters...please pray for Karen. She went out for Siggies and didn't make it. There's a new process this year where they pick half the girls and the other half are picked through random drawing. Kind of crazy...well she didn't make Siggies, but was invited to pledge DT. She was hesitant, but did the whole DT thing for a while...it just became too much. As we all know, they're not known for the most pleasant pledging process, but they took it a little too far with her. She became scapegoat for anything that went wrong...so she de-pledged day before yesterday. Any of you that know Karen, know that she is incredibly strong and can take almost all forms of harassment (hello, she has Lindsay and I for big sisters...). For her to de-pledge was a big thing. She feels good about it, but its still hard.

Also pray for my ultrasound next week. I'm just feeling really anxious. I'm not a terribly superstitious person, but I just feel like if I start telling people that I'm pregnant then its going to jinx my ultrasound. Wow, that sounds even dumber when I write it! Oh well, its the truth. That being said, pray that I'll have peace, and especially pray that everything goes well next Tuesday.

Next post will be about my very exciting camping trip where I truly demonstrated the fact that pregnant women are missing brain cells! You'll want to read that if you want some good dirt to make fun of me with later!

First things first...

Most of you reading this probably don't know...well, I'm expecting! Expecting a baby that is...anyone else as shocked as we were when we found out? Definitely exciting, nerve wracking, scary, wonderful...lots of things!

As of this posting I'm a little over eight weeks along. We're not planning on telling everyone until the first trimester's done, but as most of you who know me know...I don't keep secrets like this very well! The due date is May 10th...CRAZY!

We're headed off to Colorado this week and will let Greg's parents know. We've done really good at keeping it a secret so far. Way better than I thought we would! So far, its mostly been on a need to know basis with the exception of the people my sisters have told. They apparantly were too excited to stick to that whole "need to know" thing...oh well, I can't really fault them!

I found out on my birthday! My mom says its a sign, I was due on her birthday and we found out we're expecting on my birthday. I was sitting there that night thinking, you know its been a while since that whole [boys look away] mentstration thing...maybe I should look into that...took the test...came back positive...took three more tests...all had the same result. I was in shock for a few days, wait, who am I kidding, I'm still in shock!

We told my parents the next day. My parents are notorious for doing scavenger hunts for big presents. Most Christmas's or birthdays growing up involved a scavenger hunt for the big present at the end. Lots of little rhymes leading through the house finally leading to that bike in the garage or jacket you'd been eying. Well, me in all my geniousness (word? who knows...moving on) thought, hey, its my turn! I'm going to make a scavenger hunt for them! So I wrote up all these clues, bought a picture frame with a cute "baby will be here soon" poem and two bibs: "I love Grandma" and "I love Grandpa". Got it all ready and at the last minute thought, hey I'd better call and make sure no one's home. Called the house, and wouldn't you know it...Dad stayed home from work...so I just hung up! I was totally that prank caller! So then I was bummed because I didn't want to wait until the next day so when Greg came home he came up with a new plan.

We drove up to my parent's neighborhood and asked the guard at the gate if he would help us out. He was going to call my parents in ten minutes and tell them there was something wrong with the gate in front of their house and they should really take a look. So Greg and I rush over there, get the whole thing set up and go sit on the benches at the park across the street. We wait for about 20 minutes and then realize, oh man, we're idiots...of course, they're NOT HOME! Kicking myself for leaving the scavenger hunt stuff at home and tired of foiled plans, we just let ourselves in the house stuck all the stuff on the kitchen table and scribble a note saying, "thanks for foiling all the good ways of telling you, congratulations!"

Well, they were excited! Now, if only our exciting plans to tell Greg's parents will work out! That would be nice!