16 weeks and growing!

I can't believe I'm already at the 16 week mark. I'm so glad to be done with the 1st trimester. I think I'm starting to feel a bit more energy. I stayed up until midnight 2 nights in a row! Yippee!! Of course, the last 2 nights I've been back in bed by 10:30pm. The nausea is sooooo much better. I still get that feeling of being overly full in the evenings which usually leaves me feeling a bit nauseated. It is getting better, though. It isn't happening every night and it seems to pass after a while. I'll take every little blessing!

Today was a productive day. My sister-in-law had another baby shower at our church tonight after service. I wanted to give her a little something, so I decided to try to embroider her something with my new embroidery machine Damon got me for my birthday. I racked my brains for something simple and thought I'd make her some personalized pacifier clips. I had one for Rylee and it was too cute! So yesterday after work I struck out to JoAnn's for all the fixins. When I got home, Damon and I brainstormed on how to make it work and at 10:30 we called it quits and went to bed with nothing accomplished. He came up with a solution after church today, so I decided to give the embroidery machine a try. It took 3 hours and a mini fight with Damon, but I accomplished my goal and embroidered a 'C'! You heard me right...3 hours for 1 letter. It was what I envisioned, though, so I feel like I accomplished something. Now that I've figured out the basics like threading the needle and loading the bobbin, I think the rest should be easier!! I've been thinking all day trying to come up with something else to embroider... I tried to convince Damon to let me put his initials on one of his shirts, but he didn't bite.

Tomorrow the builder is supposed to be here to work on the house and we should have our permits this week. Say a prayer that it ACTUALLY happens this time!!

Goodbye Skinny Clothes...Hello Maternity Clothes!

Well, I took the plunge. I pulled out my storage container of maternity clothes! I was getting ready for church in my 'skinny clothes' and then took a look in the mirror. OUCH!! Not so skinny! I drug out the maternity clothes I used when I was pregnant with Rylee and was horrified at what I found. I either dressed horribly when I was pregnant with Rylee, or the styles have really changed. Strangely enough, I can still fit in most of my skirts. They just protrude around the middle and I look rather frumpy. I managed to find a few tolerable shirts to last me until I could make it to the mall on Thursday. I hit Sears, JCPenny and of course Motherhood Maternity. Wouldn't you know it...I found nothing at Sears and only 2 things at JCPenny. I found a surplus of things I LOVED at Motherhood which cost me a pretty penny, but hopefully I'll feel a little more pregnant and a little less fat! When I look in the mirror in my new maternity clothes, I don't even look pregnant at all!! How can I look fat in regular clothes and not the least bit pregnant in maternity clothes...so weird! I'm sure the bump will grow soon enough and I'll be wishing for these days. I seem to be showing like I did with Rylee (which isn't much at all). I guess that means I should be having another girl, right? I'm starting to get anxious to find out for sure. Only 3 more weeks!

I pulled out my Pregnancy journal with Rylee out of curiosity last night. I wanted to know how I was doing at this point in the pregnancy with her. Surprisingly, I didn't put on my 1st maternity shirt until I was about 20 days further along. I also saw that I had only gained like 5 lbs at this point in the pregnancy with her and I am already at about 10 lbs this go around! I can't believe I've been so sickly and put on this much weight. I wasn't sick hardly at all with Rylee and gained nothing. Crazy. I was working out with her though. Hmmmm.... I just hope I can control it as I go ahead. I didn't have a lot of trouble losing my baby weight with her, but I don't want to be so foolish to think it will be the same this go around!! Of course I'm feeling hungry as I'm typing this and hunger still leads to nausea...so, I eat.

CVS has officially offered me the tickets to fly to Dallas, TX for the conference where my video will air. I'm booked for travel for the 2nd week in September. Unfortunately, I'll be flying home on September 11th which is a bit spooky!! I just have to pray, pray, pray that all will go well. The weird thing is that I finished my will right before I got the news about flying on 9/11. That definitely makes if feel more eerie!

A little news on the house. We passed the 1st phase in the permitting process, so we have been told that we should have our permits by Tuesday. PLEASE LORD!! Toney (our builder) says he'll be out Monday to do all the last minute site prep. He has said that before though and not been able to come out due to some complication. It will certainly be nice to see some progress again!

Problems solved

Well the crazy events of the weekend have come to a close. I did my 'video shoot' on Sunday after church. It went by quickly but it was pretty horrifying to stand in front of my pharmacy and shoot the video while all my customers where walking in and out. 2 customers that consider me their favorite RPh happened to come in and were raving (rather loudly) that I am the best pharmacist ever... So to make me even more embarrassed by the situation they were joking in the aisle while bowing. UGH!! Humiliating! For now, it is over. They said they would give me a copy of it. Maybe if it isn't too cheesy I'll post it on here...don't hold your breath though! LOL!

As for the house project, the Building and Zoning dept agreed with all of the documentation Damon showed them that our house is a 'legal' dwelling and they can proceed with the permits. The builder had taken the permit paperwork back with him after all the drama on Friday for fear they would lose it!! So, last I heard Damon was trying to get a hold of him to take the paperwork back over to Building and Zoning. We were told it would take 3-5 days once they have the paperwork. So.......in theory we could be movin' and groovin' by next week. I'm trying not to get my hopes up because it is a big let down when another problem arises, but I am very thankful that God let this trial pass without more complications!! I keep asking myself what more could go wrong? I'm trying not to think the worst, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I've worried that the whole house will burn down before we are through with this!! Hopefully we are through the worst of our worries on the front side of the build...if there are more to come I seriously need prayers!!

Can you believe it?!?

The most recent happenings with me are a bit crazy...

At work last week I had a call from one of my supervisors asking me to replay the events of a patient counseling that occurred a few months ago. The man came in looking for something for heartburn and in the course of my counseling I was pretty convinced he was having a heart attack. He insisted it was heartburn, but apparently after leaving and talking with his wife he went to urgent care and sure enough...heart attack. The man was nice enough to thank me by way of calling CVS Corporate. Now CVS wants to do a video replay of the encounter to show at an upcoming conference for 'employee training'. Isn't that crazy?!? Sunday after church, a man is flying in from Rhode Island to do the video. I'm not totally sure what to expect from the video, but I feel honored that they selected me and that my patient was nice enough to be a part of it, too!! I'm really kind of nervous about it because I'm not an exhibitionist in any way, so to be videoed at my store with other customers walking around is a bit intimidating....besides the fact that I've never seen a CVS video that wasn't really cheesy!! LOL!! On top of the video they also want to fly my patient and me out to Houston, TX for the conference. After they play the video at the conference closing they want us to come out on STAGE!! OMG!! I'm not sure if my patient will agree and if he doesn't they may not want me to fly out, but to think they've offered all of this to li'l old me is just crazy. We'll see...

The other craziness in our life is with the remodel. Yes, the remodel from Satan himself! We've been waiting on permits for over a week and a half. Usually they don't take that long. Damon found out on Friday that there has been a hold up because Building and Zoning has no record that our house was ever built. So...in their eyes it is an illegal dwelling. Plus they don't show record that the property was correctly subdivided or of a legal ingress or egress. Can you believe it?!? My big question is why have I been paying property taxes, then?!? Of course, the supervisor that could rectify this is out of the office until Monday and none of the 'underlings' can make the call. One of my biggest frustrations is why didn't someone call us over the last week so we could have been working on this sooner. The girls at Building and Zoning say that we need to be able to provide a permit number or some other documentation that the house was built through legal measures. Apparently their department went to a computerized system several years back and our information was lost. Out of all of the property in Alachua county...we are the lucky ones. So Damon spent a lot of Friday dredging up documentation of the original building of the house. He has information from the title company to prove a clear title of land which should prove that the subdivision of property is legal. He has surveys that were done during the building process to document the build which wouldn't have been done if someone illegally built the house. People only do surveys because the bank requires them. He also has info from the Health Department from the septic tank being placed when the house was being built. There is a Notice of Commencement on file at the courthouse that he'll have to go print out on Monday that shows when the start of the house building process occurred and the property appraiser's office has a record of when the Certificate of Occupancy was issued. Luckily the government requires you to document everything along the way, so for us this may actually be what saves us. If this doesn't prove to Mr. Building and Zoning on Monday, I don't know what we'll do! We've torn down the front and back porch and have a loan through the bank. All I can say is pray, pray, pray that the guy Damon meets with on Monday will have half a brain and throw us a bone!! Please LORD!!!!

So tomorrow is my video debut and hopefully Monday we'll have a word from Building and Zoning that will allow us to finally start building...

Official Big Sister News

We finally decided to tell Rylee about the baby. I was so nervous about telling her because she does NOT share well...especially when it comes to Mommy holding other babies. I've been so sick I also didn't want her to associate the baby with the negativity of how I've felt. I've also worried that she would ask me every 2 seconds about when the baby would be arriving. She hasn't obsessed about my sister-in-law's baby arriving, so I'm hopeful she won't obsess with us. She asks every now and then if Baby Caelyn (her cousin) has been born yet, but it isn't so much to drive you crazy. So, how did she react? .................drum roll................... She screamed to the top of her lungs and said that she was sooooo excited! Yeah!! I can't believe we didn't video it. What were we thinking?!? She then talked non stop for about 10 minutes about everything she gets to do as a big sister. Before we officially told her, she said she wanted a brother, but after we made it clear to her, she insisted on a sister. Who knows! So the cat is out of the bag and she officially knows the Big Sister News!!

1 trimester down...2 to go

I am OFFICIALLY through with the 1st trimester...so where is the energy and why do I still have the nausea?!? I know it isn't like life changes overnight, but I've been patiently (ok...not so patiently) waiting for this moment and I basically feel the same. Ugh! The days are mostly good, but come 5 o'clock the nausea starts setting in. By bedtime I am usually pretty miserable.

On a good note, I had my doctor's appointment today and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again. That is always such an amazing thing! I was secretly a bit anxious about everything being ok with the baby since I've had regular spotting for the last few weeks. My doctor checked to make sure I wasn't starting to dilate, and said that it is normal for some people to spot in the 1st trimester. Since the uterus is still fairly small, the placenta is often close to the cervix and therefore occasional bleeding can occur. As the uterus grows, the placenta commonly will raise and the bleeding will stop. She went ahead and scheduled my ultrasound for 18 weeks (Sept 18 at 10am). It is a little earlier than normal, but she said that she wants to check on the location of the placenta so that we can take appropriate precautions if it is still low! I can't believe we will find out what we are having in 4 short weeks. I know the weeks will probably drag, but in reality it is only a blink away! So I was 14 weeks yesterday and have gained 9 pounds. FYI - the weight updates will probably be non-existent soon, so DON'T ASK! LOL! As you can see by my pic...the bump is officially here to stay.

On the house front, we are STILL waiting for permits. The builder turned the paperwork in last week, but we haven't heard anything back yet. He plans to be out Thursday, to finish blading the grass away and preparing the ground for the foundation to be poured. GREAT, more sand to track into the house. It has been pretty frustrating just sitting and waiting for something to get started, but the huge sand piles in front and back of the house has made it much more apparent that nothing is happening. You can't walk through the kitchen without a layer of sand on the bottom of your feet. I'm sure the living room would be the same if there weren't carpet. Luckily we don't plan to keep the carpet, because I don't think it would have survived anyway. Maybe I'll be able to post some new photos on the current progress of the house by the end of the week...and hopefully I can report that we've gotten our permits. Keep your fingers crossed.

Underwater acrobats

I thought I would take a few pictures of Rylee demonstrating her swimming skills from underwater. I got the idea from a friend of mine whose daughter just finished the ISR swim lessons. The pictures aren't too bad for a $15 camera. I wish they were a little better, but it is still neat!

I could get used to this!!

The 14 hour work day and then the 5 hour drive to Destin made for a VERY long day, but we made it safely to Destin and are having a wonderful time! Friday morning we woke up a bit tired with only 4 hours of sleep, but the excitement of Jill and the kids arriving kept us going. They arrived in style...in a limo!! Mom and I joked that she would never find her way from the Ft. Walton airport to Destin (she has NO sense of direction). Apparently her husband thought the same thing and decided to get her a limo instead of renting her a car. LOL!! What a way to start the trip! We spent the rest of the day getting groceries and settling in waiting for my brother and family to arrive.

Saturday we got to spend some time with my Dad and stepmother before heading to my grandmother's house for mini family reunion. That was a bit stressful with all the family and the kids, but it is always fun to spend time with family!

Today was the first day we didn't leave the house. Whew!! We spent late morning/early afternoon at the pool. I spent time working on Rylee's swimming skills and my tan! This is the life! Why couldn't I have been born rich?!? I think I deserve it as much as anyone else! I could really get used to not having to work. I'm sure I'd miss it eventually but I certainly wouldn't mind giving it a try. I posted a picture of Rylee 'relaxin' on the steps of the pool. I thought better about posting one of me since most people probably think my bubble tummy isn't a cute pregnant tummy, but someone who shouldn't be in a 2-piece!

For the most part, I've felt so-so this trip. The mornings are good, but come afternoon and evening I get that nagging feeling that I'm full and starving at the same time. Misery!

Getting ready for VACAY!!

It is been a busy last few days. I feel like I've been working constantly, but I'm sure it is just because my schedule was out of whack with the shower last weekend. My only day off this week was yesterday and I spent it running last minute errands before we leave for VACATION. I got little to no packing done at all!! I'm spending next week in Destin with my family. Mom, Rylee and I are driving up tomorrow when I get off work. I work a 14 hour shift and then we are hitting the road to make the 4+ hour trip to Destin. YUCK!! I'm not looking forward to it, but at least Mom is going to drive. We figured it would be better to drive while Rylee sleeps and then we won't waste the day on Friday travelling. My sister and her kids are flying down on Friday morning. I'm soooo excited to get to see them. I can't wait!! I imagine I'll be exhausted for most of Friday, so I'm sure we'll spend it relaxing by the pool. I'll try to recover... LOL!

I've had some low grade nausea again the last few days. I'm soooo tired of this. Morning sickness usually lasts up to 14 weeks. So I've got less than 2 weeks to go. Please Lord...let it pass!! It hasn't been as bad, so I'm thankful for that. I actually haven't been good about taking my meds, so I'm sure that is part of it.

No progress with the house. We are just waiting. We looked into a Builder's Risk Policy. It is an insurance policy to cover the addition before our homeowner's insurance policy will pick it up. It is like a gap coverage. I was telling Damon that we should get the policy. Our history of 2 steps forward, 1 step back will probably mean that they will build 2 walls and 1 will fall down! So might as well have insurance, right!?!

I don't think I'll have internet access while we're gone, so I'll post when I'm back home!! Hopefully I'll be well rested and slightly tanned!

12 weeks

Without further ado...my 12 week photos.... For the first time yesterday I put on a skirt that went back into the closet because it didn't fit comfortably. I'm not really showing yet to most people, but I can tell!! I'm not dreading maternity clothes like I did when I was pregnant with Rylee, but I'm not looking forward to them either. At this point I'm starting to get into the 'looking chunky phase. That isn't a pleasant feeling. For the most part I've felt pretty good the last few days. I've cut down to taking the nausea medicine twice a day instead of 4 times a day. Mostly because I just don't remember to take it 4 times a day, but I'm not feeling nauseated for the most part...so that is GREAT! Considering how busy I've been the last few days, I should be exhasted and I'm not. I'm hoping that I am beginning to hit the 2nd trimester energy boost. I know it will be short lived, but I am REALLY hoping to enjoy the pregnancy more. I had told myself that I was really going to enjoy this pregnancy because I did not enjoy being pregnant with Rylee and this will be my last go at it... I haven't had a good run so far, but I am going to try, try, try to enjoy it from here on out. I've been drinking lots of fluids and spending lots of time in the potty. With Rylee's tiny bladder, we spend a lot of our time together running to the bathroom! We are 2 peas in a pod!

Rylee may have 'boyfriend(s)'...

Yesterday, Damon hung out with the boys and all the kids while the women folk were at the shower. Our really good friends have 2 little boys right around Rylee's age (Mason and Jackson). It appears that she is the center of their world when she is there. She came home with a so-called bite on her arm from Jackson, but after tonights events I'm beginning to wonder. Tonight after church we went out to dinner with them and several friends. While they were in their own little worlds we watched as Mason put his arm around her and she smiled really big and nuzzled her head into his arm. Now Damon says that he pulled her by the neck, but I was watching and it was a willing snuggle. I must admit that it was too cute, but they are only 4 and 2 years old!! His dad says that Rylee is Mason's future wife. It is funny because Damon is having NONE of that kind of talk. I thought they were supposed to think that the opposite sex was 'icky' at this age!

Besides the kids having a rip roaring good time, us adult folk had an evening of good laughs. I LOVE my friends and wish we hung out more often. After this house project is finished I fully intend to have many, many get togethers! Speaking of the house...zero work occurred this week. The plans have been revised by the architect to meet Damon's artistic vision. Hopefully we will be up and moving again soon. I leave for Destin on Friday and doggone it, I want to be missing some hammering!!

Mission Accomplished!

Mission Accomplished!

After a 2 day hiatus from the computer, I am happy to report that my sister-in-law's baby shower was a HUGE success. Everything I envisioned came to fruition and I could not be happier. I hope that she feels the same, but if I do say so myself...it was FABULOUS!!! Baby Caelyn's nursery theme is in pink and chocolate lady bugs. I thought that I would continue the 'buzz' for the shower. Alissa (my sister-in-law) was kind enough to allow me to host at her house since my house is out of commission. They've been working like crazy to get the nursery completed and odd and end house projects completed in time for the shower. All while managing swollen ankles and slightly raised blood pressure. (Maybe the blood pressure will go down now that the shower is over! Ha!) Everything went off without a hitch...there may have been a few bumps, but those will remain nameless except to those who were present at the time. :) My wonderful mother-in-law helped by doing the decorations and I handled the food. My very patient husband was on baby sitting duties on Friday and Saturday and will be at it again tomorrow so that I can make up for taking the day off work today. He may have had the toughest job of all with Rylee for 3 solid days!! LOL! All in all it was a special day and a great time spent with family and friends. I feel so blessed to have had so many helping hands. It could not have been so wonderful without all the help!!

I am soooooo unbelievably excited about Caelyn's arrival!! I must admit I'm a tad bit worried about how Rylee will behave. She isn't the best at sharing, but hopefully Caelyn will help us transition to our new addition. I'm really looking forward to seeing them play together. I know that is a bit down the road for us, but I have some of my best memories with my cousins. My brother's and sister's kids don't live nearby, so I'm excited for Rylee to have a cousin she can interact with often. I must say if little Caelyn does everything with as much Pomp and Circumstance as occurred today, Deagan and Alissa have their hands full!! What a blessing to welcome a new baby into our family....she is arriving is STYLE!

I had way too many pictures to only post 4-5, so I decided to include make is a slide show!! Hope you enjoy as much as we did!!