Royal Wedding Morning

That's right, I'm sure you're not too surprised but I was one of those crazy people crawling to the couch at 4am to watch the royal wedding! The last memory I have of something like this was when Princess Diana died while I was in sixth grade. My mom, a Diana fan, woke me up in the wee hours of the morning so we could watch the funeral procession together. I would have loved to have watched this happier royal event with her, but Adam made a pretty good substitute. Thankfully, my husband is not among the men you'll find online mocking those who want to watch the wedding. While he probably wouldn't have watched it without me, he agreed it was history and worth watching. Smiling while I cried (hey, I'm pregnant, give me a break!) and laughing at my running commentary, he was a pretty good early morning companion. *sigh* I just love all the pomp, history, and pageantry. Her dress! The Abbey! Those hats! TWO kisses!! Definitely worth the lost sleep.

God Save the Queen.

Baby 001-17.5wks

Today, we had our first appointment in 4 weeks with Dr.Autry. Adam had to miss the last one, so this was the first time he got to actually hear the heartbeat, and the second time for me. I have to admit, that while I'm excited for these appointments, I become irrationally nervous too. For example, when they take my pregnancy test at the beginning of each appointment I wiggle around anxiously thinking "What if it comes back negative? What if I'm not pregnant anymore? What if that's why I haven't felt sick the last two days?!" Thankfully, it seems these worries are for nothing, and I am given momentary relief until it is time to stand on the scale, my born enemy. By the time we get to our room, and it is announced they'll be doing an ultrasound or doppler, I hold my breath until I can see baby, or hear that little heartbeat. I'm always frantic it won't be there. Today was no exception. It was a treat, however, to hear just how strong and quick baby's heart was beating, like a quick little drum. It makes me smile, it was even better to turn to Adam and see his concentrated face as he smiles... I am dying with excitement to find out whether 001 is a little boy or a little girl, and we've got to wait almost 19 days!!! ACK!!! The problem was, they didn't have an appointment that would work for us and be very soon anyhow, and since my mom & dad are visiting in 2weeks...I figured it would be more fun for her to be there with us and thus picked a later date. The question is, how will I EVER make it that long?

In Fives...

The 5 Best Books I've Read In The Past 5 Weeks

"Lost" by Gregory Maguire

"Spritual Midwifery" by Ina May

"The Dante Club" by Mathew Pearl

"Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert (I will confess this paperback already looks years old from re-reading)

"The Duggars: 20 and Counting" by Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar

My 5 Favorite Nostalgic Childhood Foods

PB & Fluff Crackers

Cheesy Spaghetti (still a favorite)

Club Sandwiches (the kind with eggs...make me think of Sundays)

Peanut Butter on Celery (I know...I know...)

Mom's No Bake Chocolate Cookies

The 5 Articles Of Clothing I'd Remove From Existence

Crocs & Birkenstocks

Golf Visors

Jean shorts (aka "jorts")

Wind Suits

Replica NFL jerseys

The 5 Things I'd Take To A Desert Island

Life Supply of Diet Coke

Battery powered fan

Plenty of batteries

A towel

A tent

5 Things That Always Bring Tears To My Eyes

Parents outliving their children

A moving piece of music

Examples of genuine love & generosity

Seeing awkward kids being shunned by their peers

A moving dance piece

5 Things That Always Bring A Smile To My Face

Decorating for Christmas

Hearing people's nostalgic tales

Baby laughter

My Boston Terrier Dutchess

Looking through scrapbooks

5 Things That Always Make Me Laugh

Adam & Ryan

People walking into glass doors

Brian Regan (it doesn't matter how many times I've seen his sketches)

My mom's laughter when she's teasing people

Tina Fey. Period.

5 Best Quotes I Have Recently Read

"Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion." -Aristotle

"If you care about what others think of you, then you will always be their slave." - James Frey

"I want God to play in my bloodstream the way sunlight amuses itself on the water." -Elizabeth Gilbert

"Remember this, for it is as true and true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body." -Ina May Gaskin

"Books do pretend ...but squeezed in between is even more that is true—without what you may call the lies, the pages would be too light for the truth, you see?" -Mathew Pearl

(Shannon, I can count on you reading this, consider yourself tagged)

17 WKS

Happy Easter!

Just for fun, here is your 17wk Easter mama.

PS: This photo is the first time I'm realizing how inappropriately short the dress is, even with leggings...don't judge! ;)

Twitchy Witchy Woman

This week, for whatever reason, I am fairly certain I have lost my mind. My right eye, which has been twitching for over a week and a half now is slowly driving me into madness and that's just the start. For whatever reason, I have gone from being a reasonably deep sleeper to the kind the wakes up every 30min throughout the night. Dog moves? I'm awake. Adam rolls over? I'm awake. AC kicks on? I'm awake. More than likely this has something to do with my lovely little tick I've developed.... The dogs are driving me less nuts, which is good considering the first few months I was ready to give them all away. I have also noticed a new, passionate and completely unreasonable side to myself, one most likely to make an appearance at night or in my afternoon slump. For example, yesterday while driving to work Adam asked, "how are you doing?" I responded by bursting into tears and saying "AWFUL!" Why you ask? I couldn't say. I don't actually know.

.....I blame it on the eye twitch.

Four Months Pregnant

Saturday marked 16wks for us! I feel enormous already, and am pretty sure I will be spending my pregnancy scrutinizing if I look the "right amount of pregnant" for how pregnant I really am. That said, I actually felt pretty Saturday night (when Adam took this picture) because we'd dressed up to go on a date and it was the first time I got to wear my new maternity dress! I did learn that wearing 4" heels pregnant is more difficult then when you're not....

Baby Guesses

Gender prediction so far:

*My Chinese Gender Chart says: Boy

*The "key test" says: Boy

*According to baby's heart rate: Girl

*My face is gaining weight too: Girl

*No blemishes to be found: Boy

*Craving protein: Boy

*Craving fruits: Girl

*Moody: Girl

*Gaining lots of weight: Girl

*Hairy legs: Boy

I can't tell if I'm carrying high or low, and for your sakes I left out the more, ehem, graphic "clues" to the baby's gender. ;) We have our next appointment in two weeks, and I couldn't tell from the way Dr.Archer spoke if we would try and see then and confirm later, or if we would just find out at our next appointment following up. Either way, at most our appointment is 4 weeks away and I am DYING to know!!!

When Daddy's Buy for Baby

This Sunday, Adam and I had a wonderful time pursuing through baby stores. We spent hours discussing in detail our thoughts on strollers and car seats, slings and carriers, middle names and all sorts of other baby things. While on the hunt for goodies, Adam picked up a bib at Once Upon the Child that had been repeatedly cut in price, and finally thrown in the bargain bin. He is quite fond of his purchase, and if you know his sense of humor at all it makes complete sense... It makes me happy that we can have a day of deep discussion and still have a good laugh. I leave you with Daddy's first purchase:

Ladgy GAGA, Frousins & Pregnancy

Only 1 week in, and April is easily one of my favorite months so far in 2011! (Though I have my suspicions that October will blow April out of the water!) To back track a few months, at Christmas Adam's "big" gift to me was a shiny, mirrored mask...:

to copy this.....

Confused, I flipped the mask over and on the back it read "Merry Christmas, We're going to GAGA April 4th Tulsa, OK" I nearly suffocated him with my over-excited hugs! You have NO IDEA how much I LOOOOOOVE her! Anyone that knows my dear Mother, this is like her going to a Michael Jackson concert....(ok, this is also kind of like me going to a Michael Jackson concert, but like Mother like daughter....she was terribly jealous of the Gaga treat) Fast forward to last weekend and you get one of the best weekends I've experienced so far.

We headed off to Oklahoma Saturday, and spent the weekend playing and relaxing with my "frousin" Shannon & her 19mo tot Meg. Unfortunately, Kyle wasn't home as we had hoped he would be, though Adam fared alright even with his split food trips ("k, we want lunch from here...sides from here...drinks from here....should we write this down?") and back seat job as Meggie's buddy. He really is quite a good sport. :) With trips to the zoo, afternoon naps, late night talks, and plenty of meals out it was a wonderful mini-vacation. Adam even ferried Meg around Kohls for us so that Shannon & I could try on some new maternity wear without having to worry about a bored lil' girl. At one point I came out of the dressing room to see Adam spinning Meg's stroller in fast circles, come to a stop and hear her cry out "more? more?" as she giggled. Adam has always been great with kids, but the more I watch him these days, the more excited I am to see him and Baby O, a child who doesn't yet know how lucky they'll be to have him. Here are a few pictures of Shannon & me, at 30wks and 14wks perspectively.

Monday afternoon we headed out to Tulsa to squeeze in Maternity Gap and dinner before our show. We made great discoveries at the Gap, and pretty much completed my maternity wardrobe. As for dinner....we got caught in rush-hour and got to the concert center just in time to use the bathroom and eat pretzels before the opening act. (Semi Precious Weapons) When I had found out we were going to go to Gaga I was so excited, and assumed, being a Gaga concert, we would be in the nose bleeds. Not my dear Adam! Our seats were phenomenal!!! You felt like you could reach out and touch her!!!!!!! How I love this man who indulges me so!!! I felt incredibly old most of the time, with a hand count's worth of trips to the bathroom, needing to sit during the opening act, and repeatedly asking Lady Gaga come out because I needed a nap... Once the countdown screen dropped with her opening video short, I forgot what I was complaining about...cue the squeals, screams, grins and repeated looks at Adam as if to say "OH MY GOD----SHE'S ABOUT TO COME ON STAGE!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!?" Thus began the best 2.5 hours of my life. (Ok, maybe not better then our wedding, but close) First of all, being Gaga, this was no ordinary concert, it was like going to a show, which makes sense since she's a theater geek. There were at least 7 set changes, a costume change nearly every song, use of trap doors, 'toasters', giant props and fire shooting brassieres. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! She spoke to the audience throughout, gladly accepted the fan gifts thrown on stage, thanking them and complimented one woman's talent with a jacket she made. Lady Gaga proceeded to wear said jacket for 2 songs, removing the one that was the original part of her costume. Adam and I rocked out (as did baby I'm sure!) with our "claws up" and danced to our very favorites. We were even treated to several songs she changed up as ballads for the show (such as Born This Way) and a preview of two new songs. For all of you wondering how my "poor husband" made it through 2.5hrs of Gaga...he kept leaning over asking "I wonder if she'll sing Alejandro?!" His favorite Gaga song...Come on people, you should know by now there's a reason we're such a good match!!! ;) After her two encores, Bad Romance and Born this Way, she and her dancers (whom she recognized after her very first song, as they had all been up 48hrs and finished shooting the music video for Judas at 6am that morning) took two theater/dance style bows, and stepped back together as the curtain dropped. I will never recover. I need to go to her concerts every year from now until forever.