The Neverending Winter

"Catch a Snowflake"


"Bleak"

18 1/2 weeks

So I am trying here, trying not to be negative. Trying to pepper my conversations and emails with lots of exclamation points and smiley faces....but I'm wearing down. Last night I threw up and it was awful, I just feel so depressed! Outside a blizzard rages on, the weather is cold and nasty. In addition to the constant nausea that plagues me I also now have the cold that was circulating around the house. Yes, I know it could be worse. It could be ALOT worse. But sometimes you have to play your own violin, then hopefully at some point the tune you are playing will become less mournful and open up into some hobbit like jig that has even merry old Gandalf dancing away. (Okay no idea where that reference to Hobbits came from! Apparently it is time to pull out the Lord of the Rings triology?!)
I feel the baby moving in there and it makes me smile, next Monday we will be able to see how it is doing in there. Is everything looking okay, does the baby have little devil horns like I am predicting from the misery of the pregnancy (hehehehe) or is it just a sweet little baby wondering why it's mom is a puking blubbering fool! I am excited to see the sex of this one. I go back and forth between thinking it is a girl or a boy. A boy seems so foreign, but foreign seems nice and different....and frankly I think Bri needs some testosterone around to balance out this estrogen heavy house lately. But when I look at my girls I want another little girl! Girls are the best....and the clothes! Ooooh it pains me to think of never using these wonderful buckets of clothing again.
So today was just about the whine....no cheese on the menu just lots and lots of WHINING!!!!!

Adding Pics to Flickr

I've been adding some new pictures to my FLICKR set. You can click the box over in the right hand column on my blog (the one with the flashing pictures that says flickr badge) if you would like to see some! I think you can also get to them from this link Susan's Flickr Photos. There are some personal ones and also I've added some of my last client shoots in there. I'm going to be uploading more over the next week :)

My New Favorite Blog!

This is my new favorite blog to stalk...TASTE BUDS
I am already stocking up on these great recipes so that when I can stand the site of food again I can make these! I'm going to try the chicken parmesan strips and red roasted potatoes first.
When I come to this site it actually makes food look yummy!
TASTE BUDS better keep em' coming!!!!

Each One Gets a Happy Reward....

Here is to you Little One. Yesterday you won the award for being the only person in the house who was not sick or puking because of a baby in their stomach! You were quite proud of yourself for earning such an honor from your mom, as you can tell by the big grin on her face. And for your reward you were shipped off to the grandparents for the afternoon to wreak havoc while G and I commiserated together on the couch and caught a very intense episode of "Injury Hospital" as you called it, or as I like to call it "General Hospital".


After a few days at home with her horrendous cough that my poor G gets with just about every cold she has ever had I know she was just itching to get back to the real world in school. I chose to keep her home today but plans changed when we received an early a.m. call from her teacher.
My girl had been chosen to do the pledge of allegiance over the PA for the whole school this morning! No other kindergarten kids had been chosen to do it, but because G had it memorized she was chosen. I used to love doing the pledge every morning when we arrived at school as children, and to be honest I wasn't sure kids even did the pledge anymore in an effort to keep everybody happy and keep life politically correct.
Her teacher was so excited and told me cough or not send her in because this was a big deal! So we rushed around the house getting her ready, she was so excited and nervous. When I picked her up she told me proudly that she did it and she didn't cough once! I'm so proud of my patriotic girl!!


When life is going sort of "eh" I say hit Etsy and buy yourself a nostalgic vintage set of a wooden Christmas soldier band! When I saw these I grinned from ear to ear and when they showed up I laughed out loud! These little guys are AWESOME. They remind me of childhood and ornaments that we hung on our tree that I was lucky enough to have passed down to me. I'm so excited next year to display this marching band on the tree! I like the little guy with the little guitar the best! When G saw them she ran for them "Can I have them, can I, can I!" to which I replied "No they're mine!!"

Food For Thought This Week

*No matter what plans I have for the day this baby I'm carrying has other plans

*I adore my children's friends

*I adore my friends

*My children's friends think that I have gotten REAAAAALLLLLY BIG and that I better HAVE THAT BABY SOON!!!

*Even when your husband is sick and feels like garbage, when his unborn child is craving cucumbers at 9:30 on a Sunday night he will get up and go to the store and get them.

*Playing with Highschool Musical Dolls is almost as fun as watching the movie itself....especially when I get to do my own rendition of Coach Bolton!

*Little One can really shake her groove thing!

*The Greenbay Packers are soooooooooooooo frustrating!!!!

*No matter what week of your pregnancy you are in you are NEVER out of the woods where puking is concerned.

*The Amazing Race is AWESOME...even when the team you were cheering for doesn't win!

*February 4th is an EXCELLENT day to find out the sex of your baby!

*Little Chickens are always cute

*G can sleep over at her friends houses and actually SLEEP through the night... but will not sleep through the night at her own home!

*When you seriously suggest that if your child is a boy it should be named "Rex" your husband will laugh until he cries.

*Bunnies and Rottweilers do NOT get along....RIP Luna Fravel.

*Winter SUCKS when it won't go away.

*When left to her own devices Little One will choose cold cheese pizza for breakfast.

*Politics are always interesting if you pay attention.

*The New American Gladiators is just as fantastic as the original!! Gladiators RULE.

*When your childhood home that you love hasn't sold and you have to listen to your parents complain daily about it suddenly said home turns into "that freaking home that isn't selling, that better sell or I'm going to freak out".

Roller Coaster

Wow, this whole not puking/puking thing is a craaaazy roller coaster. I had a good week, then a had a bad week now I'm having an in between week! Last week wasn't so great, oddly enough I wasn't eating the amount of salsa that I had been consuming the week before. Coincidence? I think not!! Perhaps Tres Hombres salsa has some sort of medicinal value that up until now has been overlooked? I started back on the salsa on Sunday and hmmmmmmm it was a better day. Very strange.
I have actually been getting back some interests other than sitting around and mourning the fact that I don't feel well, it's freaking freezing outside and very bleak etc. I started digi scrapbooking again! I have a wonderful group of gals that I started digiscrapping with once a month starting before I knew I was pregnant. It is so fun because we are all at different levels so we can teach each other things and share ideas and cheer each other on! Once the puking hit I haven't been much into the scrapbooking and sadly I missed last month altogether but I decided that I was going to get going and get some pages done and I have to say I am slightly obsessed right now! I finished 19 pages in the last two weeks! I can't wait to show Angie, Stacy and Liz my progress at next digiscrap night!
There is also this AWESOME site Diginirvana that Liz's cousin has created with fantastic things that are right up my alley! I love the idea that to launch the site they are doing these $1 days where you can buy the item that day for $1. I have gotten some AMAZING digi packs so far. Plus for signing up on the mailing list they sent me a fantastic paper package with the most gorgeous papers!
I'm going to try and upload some of my pages to my flickr account so I can share!
I also found a site that prints the 12X12 layouts for $2.25 per page. It is Pure Print Design.I'm going to try it out first and see what I think. I uploaded 10 pages to start with. I'll let you know the quality outcome. I have used Costco thus far and been very happy with them but it is always fun to try out something new for a better bargain!
I have two appts for photography that I promised to do in Feb but that is all I can do. (Adrienne you and Syd are one, I'll send you some dates!!) I just don't have the energy or puke free promise for long enough to schedule more!
I am definitely going to take on more in March (fingers crossed). I hate missing out on all these great people who have called!! It seems weird to not be pulling the camera out on a daily basis, but it has also been nice. Makes me that much more anxious and excited when I get back to it. And believe me I am looking forward to having that camera attached to me when the baby comes!! This baby will think the camera is its' second mother! HA HA HA HA

Knock Wood....

Okay, I am hesitant to even say this without having wood close by to knock on, salt to toss over my shoulder, or a monkey to spin around (wait, does that stop bad omens or am I thinking of something else?)The last three days have been fairly decent as far as the barf-o-rama-slip-into-a-sad-depression-lost-all-control-of-my-children-husband-feeding-them-corndogs-for-every-dinner thing goes. I am still taking my meds for the puking but I think I have outsmarted Baby H and have a great pattern going with those. I also have been exsisting on a quart of Tres Hombres' Salsa and a bag of white corn tortilla chips everyday which I'm sure must also be the reason for the upswing!
Honest to pete, I don't know if they mix crack in with that salsa or what but when I need it I need it....and right now I NEED IT. I even had some for breakfast! Baby H seems appeased by this new turn of events....I'm pretty sure he/or/she anticipates the salsa by plopping a sombrero on he/or/shes head when I toss the nutritious meal down my gullet!
I also (stand back for this one) have BEEN SOCIAL! I know!!!! You are sitting there with your jaw down to the ground just staring at the screen. I mean not only did I talk to some friends....I actually sat at their homes (yes, yes I left the house!) and talked with them!!!! Cindy and Vanessa had the girls over to play and when I went to pick them up on both days I stayed to talk and felt HUMAN!!!!
Now I'm not going to get all excited because when I did that two weeks ago and it took a turn for the worse I thought I would never crawl out from under the covers again. I am taking each day as it comes and enjoying each little nano-second.

Thank you so so so much to everyone who commented on the last post! Sweet Jenny my complete and utter blahness was why I didn't contact you sooner. I wanted you to know that I LOVED your Xmas card, I was flabberghasted by how much the twins have grown up!! And please let your sister know that I will contact her. I haven't taken on any new photography appts and feel so bad for anybody I have ignored!

So I think I will go and eat some crack....er I mean salsa....(snicker) and go to bed now.