20 weeks

So, the verdict is in.

It's a BOY!

We went in for the 20 week ultrasound a couple of days ago. All major organs and such are all looking great, or so I'm told. There is one small issue of his abdominal circumference measuring a little on the low side. I have to go back in on the 26th for a level II scan. *Fingers crossed* that it turns out to be nothing.

Also this week I randomly threw up again on Thursday morning for the first time in weeks. I think the ultrasound reminded my body that it's pregnant and I'm supposed to be sick. Even so, that only makes about 5 times total throwing up this time around. That is infinitely better than what I had with Ellie, so I'll gladly take it.

There's a lot going on in the fetal movement front lately. I can feel him wiggling around quite a bit throughout the day these days. Apparently his favorite time to be active seems to be somewhere between 2am and 4am, unfortunately. Here's hoping that changes before he's born.

And now for the obligatory ultrasound pictures.

Cute nose and lips	Little boy parts
Alien face. Ellie thinks this looks like our greyhound Freya or a dinosaur.	His profile. Ellie thinks this looks like a hat.
Two little baby feet

17 weeks 4 days

Oops! It appears that I've missed a couple weeks here. I blame missing 16 weeks on the holiday. I really have no excuse for missing the 17 week post, so I'm going to blame it on pregnancy brain.

Anywho, I had a doctor's appointment back at 15wd5. Everything looked great! I've only gained a pound so far (well, as of then), but no one mentioned anything about it so I'm not going to worry. I'm certainly eating enough, so I guess my body just doesn't need that extra weight just yet.

The heartbeat measured 150 bpm, a little bit slower than the previous readings of 158 bpm.

The next appointment is scheduled for December 19th. Part of that appointment will be the "Big" Ultrasound. We should find out if we're going to be recycling all the pink in our house or heading out to buy some blue.

Speaking of pink vs. blue, I had my first real pregnancy dream the other night. It was such a bizarre dream, so I'm not sure if I want to count it as intuitive or not. I was for whatever reason at an internet acquaintance's house with my two-day-old baby BOY. Oddly enough, my two-day-old infant seemed to have already grasped limited speech. He was already asking for milk, hugs, etc... The "best" part was when I accidentally flashed said internet acquaintance's husband while trying to discreetly nurse in the wrap I'm planning to get before the new baby arrives. Oops!

Little Sprout seems to have grown enough by this point where I can feel daily wiggles, kicks, rolls, etc... I love it. :)

There's one more monumental announcement to make since my last post. We've finally told the family about the baby. It's about time,right?

15 weeks

Time for another update!

15 weeks already. Wow! I have my 16 week Dr. appointment next Wednesday. I can't wait to hear the heartbeat again. The longer it's been since the last confirmation that everything is going well, the more those little doubts creep into my mind. Sometimes I actually begin to doubt that I'm really pregnant at all. Then I'll feel insanely sick or feel something like a little wriggle or punch and convince myself that all is well once more. Even so, it'll be nice to get that solid confirmation of a strong heartbeat just the same.

This week has been fairly uneventful. I added another round of vomiting to my short list this time around. That makes 4 times total so far. Not too bad. On Tuesday while driving to work I was trying my very best to keep it together, but ended up having to throw up while stopped at a stop light (thank goodness). The unfortunate thing is that the only available places to safely spew were out the car window (no thanks) or into my newly-opened bag of chips. Poor potato chips. They didn't know what hit them. I've since started keeping a few baggies in my car, just in case.

I've felt what I think is more movement over the past week, but it's not really a constant thing. Last night when Ellie was up at 2am (yuck) and laying on me to nurse, I swear I felt a little kick where she was "squishing" little Sprout. My mind immediately thought something to the effect of "Look at that, HE's is already starting fights with HIS sister." I wonder if that means anything... I suppose I'll find out soon enough. ;)

I guess my Dad wants his camera back

I've been holding my Dad's Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi hostage pretty much since the week after he got it. In my defense, he said I could borrow it and hasn't asked for it back yet even though I've tried to give it back multiple times.

Well, I guess he does want it back... because he decided to get me my own as an early Christmas present. YAYAYAYAY! I tried to explain that what with Kevin's recent raises (they nearly doubled his salary back in July, and as of last week he got another promotion and a $5k/year raise) we could afford to get one ourselves with a little saving, but my Dad insisted. My parents rock (and not just because they buy me awesome stuff).

So, instead of saving up for a camera, now I have to find something else to save for using my small monthly budget of fun money. I think I might want a nifty cool double stroller. We never really used a stroller when Ellie was little... but since she's gotten so heavy and I've been so tired/lazy lately to wear her much, we've been relying on it more than usual. Plus, it's really a lovely thing to have for theme parks, airports, etc... Hopefully we'll be doing a lot more vacationing next year now that we'll be able to swing it financially.

I think I want this one, the Phil and Ted Sport with the doubles kit:



I know a few people that have it, and they all seem to love it. I love the fact that you can fit two, but it's not big and bulky like some of the other double strollers out there. Also, you can configure it so many different ways. Too bad it's just a little bit pricey (that's the understatement of the century)... although less than the camera I was saving for. I'm a little wary of spending that much on a stroller since it wasn't really something we used much until very recently.

I suppose for now I'll just save my money and continue to mull it over.

Halloween!

Two posts in one day! Amazing!

Obviously this is a little late... but I have some Halloween pics to share. Ellie was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz this year. She was perhaps the cutest Dorothy there ever was, complete with her own Toto (part played by Dudley).

And now, the pics:

Dorothy	I'm not sure what she's trying to keep her feet away from... perhaps a bug?
She finally has enough hair for "real" pigtails. YAY!	Always a lady, climbing in her dress.
And just because... Dudley in his Toto costume. ;)

Just in case that's not enough for you, more Halloween pictures can be seen on my Flickr page.

14 weeks

I decided that it might be a good idea to start doing a weekly pregnancy journal sort of thing. My memories of pregnancy with Ellie are so vague... I'd like to have more to look back on this time about how I was feeling at any given time and what not.

So yeah, I'm officially 14 weeks today! Look at that gorgeous baby-looking thing in my little sidebar widget. It's so cool that everything is actually baby shaped at this point. :)

The morning sickness seems to be getting a little better, but it's definitely still there. Food aversions are still alive and strong, as are cravings for any and all junk food. I've still only thrown up 3 times so far (with an additional bought of dry heaving that wasn't much fun either). This past Monday Ellie got to witness my sickiness for the first time. She looked absolutely horrified while it was happening, but seemed to forget about it almost instantly afterwards.

FYI, waffles and OJ don't taste nearly as good coming back up as they do going down. Also, waffle chunks clog sinks (Ellie was blocking the toilet, I had no choice).

Moving on.

I'm at that yucky, just look fat(ter) stage right now. Certainly not showing with cute little roundness... just chubbier. Maybe once the babyness is distinguishable from stomach flab I'll start taking pictures. I didn't take any pictures with Ellie, and I really regret it.

I swear I've been feeling tiny little movements for the past couple weeks or so. It's not really like soft butterfly movements... more like tiny little jabs, no stronger than a light finger flick, but on the inside. I really don't think it's gas, although it is still very early for feeling actual movement. I hadn't felt anything for a day or two, until I started typing this... so who knows, it may all be in my head after all.

I can't wait until I'm feeling for real, no doubt about it, kicks, punches, rolls, and more. That's definitely my favorite part of pregnancy (and all this time you probably thought it was the vomiting). That constant movement is such a nice reminder that the little bean is there and doing well.

More excellent news

I had my aforementioned OB appointment this morning. I was a little worried going in that they wouldn't be able to find the heartbeat with the doppler, even though I'm almost 12 weeks.

Lucky for me, they found it right away. Little Sprout's heart was beating away at a nice and healthy 158 beats per minute.

I've decided to call this one Sprout (only until birth, that is) because Ellie simply has the cutest way of pronouncing it. It sounds a little like "pout", but way cuter.

In more good news, I've only gained half a pound! I was full expecting to have gained at least 10 pounds based on all the ginger ale, caffeine free Coke, potato chips, and other random junk I've been consuming lately while in the throws of morning sickness.

Oh yeah, and I finally put up a ticker in my sidebar. :)

Excellent news!

Remember that Nikon camera I mentioned previously that decided all of a sudden not to work anymore? I googled the issue a while back and found out that Nikon was supposedly fixing cameras for free because the issue is caused by some sort of defect. Today I finally got around to searching their site for more info, half expecting to find that I had to send it in a year ago or something to get it fixed.

I found this, dated 2/16/2007, with no "expiration date" listed.

"It has come to our attention that in a limited number of COOLPIX 3100, 3500, 4500, 5000, 5400, 5700 and SQ digital cameras, an electronic component may, in some instances, fail affecting your camera's performance and/or operability.

While only a limited number of COOLPIX 3100, 3500, 4500, 5000, 5400, 5700 and SQ digital cameras are affected by this advisory, if your camera presents symptoms that can include (1) images with a strong color tint, (2) images that are totally black and/or (3) images with visible defects, Nikon will, upon confirmation that the problem is associated to this Service Advisory, service your camera free of charge.

To obtain complimentary service for cameras affected by this advisory, please click the link below to download and print the Service Return Form. The Service Return Form provides detailed return instructions.

The Frequently Asked Questions button at the bottom of this page offers more information about this advisory and, should you have more questions, also provides information about how to contact Nikon.

We apologize for any inconvenience you may experience."

My camera is one of those listed and has the "images that are totally black" issue. So, It seems like if I fill out that form and send it in, they'll fix it for free! Whooooooot!

Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed that my good luck lasts until tomorrow's OB appointment. I'm very much hoping I'll be able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler. *fingers crossed*

What a difference a new camera makes

Ok, so it's not my new camera. My Dad got the camera I've been wanting for oh so long (Canon Digital Rebel XTi).... but at least now I can borrow his until I save up enough to get my own. :)

I really don't know how to use it yet, but even with my lack of knowledge and extremely novice (umm... non-existent is probably more like it) photography skills, I can absolutely notice a difference in the quality of pictures taken with his camera vs. my 5ish year old point and shoot crappy camera (Fujifilm FinePix 2650) that I've been stuck using lately since my Nikon E5700 bit the dust.

To illustrate my point, here are a couple of pictures taken yesterday, outside on a very sunny day with my yucko Fujifilm.



Compare those with the pictures taken today, inside, with the pop-up flash using my Dad's sweet new camera.



The images can be clicked on to pull up a larger version. The pictures taken with the Canon are so much more vibrant, show so much more detail, etc... I can't wait to see what kind of pictures I can get once I learn all the features and get a chance to try it out in natural light.

Maybe this is safe to put up now?

I've been avoiding putting any sort of ticker up here what with my history and what not... but I really like this little widget and like to see how it changes week to week. Perhaps once I reach the second trimester I'll feel confident enough to move it to the sidebar.

Am I really that weird?

At work, I generally work in the Small Commons, an area filled with circular tables conducive for group meetings and such. It's a common area of the school, so a lot of students and other staff/faculty often sit here to work as well.

Lately one of the school's English teachers has been sitting here lately to meet with her students. It seems like she's meeting with students on are strugging and thus far receiving poor grades. I can't help but overhear some of her conversations with these students, and it seems like so many are just SO unmotivated. I really can't understand that. They're missing assignment on top of assignment. It doesn't even seem like they're making much of an effort or even showing up for class. What gives?

Granted, I was a bit of a class cutter myself in college if I felt it wasn't something I really needed to be there for. But still, I don't think I EVER purposely didn't turn in an assignment. It's baffling to me that they can pay so much for school (it's a private university, so it's about $25K per year for tuition alone) and not even give it your best effort. Do people really not realize the value of that much money by college age?

It confuses me.

Maybe I'm just weird.

Bad habits

Per usual I've slacked off when it comes to updating this thing. In my defense, we have been gone much of the past month. We spent the first couple weeks of September in Illinois. We visited family, friends, and familiar places. Even though our house is in Arizona, home will always be in Illinois. Hopefully we'll be able to move back there sometime within the next couple of years. Enjoy some pictures from our trip.




After our Chicago trip we stuck around in Arizona for about four days, then headed off for a long weekend in Disneyland. It was Ellie's first experience with a major theme park, and she did great! I'm happy she's not one of those kids that screams bloody murder at the sight of a life-size Mickey Mouse. To the contrary, she thought he was the coolest thing ever. Some pics for you to enjoy of our Disneyrrific fun:

And the award for the most cryptic post goes to...

I got some awesome and excellent news last night. I don't have time to post much about it right now... Let's just say my mood right now is tentatively happy. :)

I'll be visiting "home" from August 30th - September 9th. Woo! I'll be back with lots of pictures and hopefully more good news to share in a couple weeks.

Fork tales

Ellie has recently mastered spoon usage with minimal spillage. Yay! Last night I decided to let her try a fork. I figured by now she was probably old enough and coordinated enough to not stab her eye out.

Look at that concentration!	"Now I need to get this to my mouth..."
Success!	"On second thought, using a fork is way too much work!"

It's raining, it's pouring

So apparently it actually does rain occasionally in Arizona. Who knew?

We're in the middle of our monsoon season which means glorious storms and a much-appreciated break from the monotony of nothing but sunny skies.

You'd better bet that if the lightning isn't too bad, Ellie and I are outside playing in the rain whenever possible. She LOVES it and throws a fit when it's time to come inside.

Look at that gorgeous rain	She wasn't too sure at first
o/~ Raindrops keep fallin' on my head... o/~	Playing in the rain is FUN!

Traffic boredom = picture fun

What do you do when you're stuck in never-ending, stand-still traffic? You play with the camera on your new phone, of course. Here are some of the fruits of my boredom. None of it is the least bit impressive, but it is what it is.

The traffic that started it all

0 MPH is always fun

What a beautiful day in Arizona...

...except for the huge dust storm

My wedding ring. It's small, but it suits me. I think this is a surprisingly clear pic for a camera phone.

The teething monster

I hate teething.

Big surprise, right?

The teething monster is currently living at my house with no signs of moving out anytime soon. Ellie is constantly chewing on her hands (and anything else she can find), and has turned into a drool machine. Ewwww.



And two more pics I snapped with my new phone just because she's too darn cute not to share:

The gadget geek in me

I finally replace my old, crappy phone with a new one. Woo! I've been coveting a phone that would make texting a lot easier, but they were always so expensive that I always passed them over for another plain old phone.

Well, once I found out what an awesome deal I could get this time around, I finally got myself one of these:



It's so freaking cool! I like to text, but it's such a PITA trying to type using the regular keypad. This phone flips open to reveal a nifty little keyboard inside. Sweeeeet! It also has a decent camera (for a phone) and just about every other feature that I like in a cell phone. It's certainly not the World's smallest cell phone (skip to 0:35 unless you like Mr. Farrell in a thong), but it's not too bad.

Sure, it's not as cool as an iPhone, but it also wasn't $500+.

It makes me happy. :)

Good dog

Ellie is absolutely in love with my mother-in-law's (MIL) dog Abbey, a West Highland White Terrier. She's super sweet (unlike her "brother" Bailey, another Westie, who bit Ellie in the head last November). MIL put Abbey in a box. Ellie decided it would be fun to push Abbey around in said box.

Fun was had by all, including Abbey. Silly dog. :)

Ergo love

I can't tell you how much I love my new Ergo. It's a bit pricey compared to something like a Snugli, and little more expensive than those yucky Baby Bjorns.

Before Ellie was born, I originally bought one of those Snugli things.... but then I couldn't figure out how to put it on. Yes, I can program computers with ease, but I can't figure out how to put on a freaking Snugli baby carrier to save my life. So, that was returned for a Bjorn. It was easy enough to put on, so YAY! Then Ellie arrived. It was used maybe 4 times, then once Ellie surpassed about 10 pounds it was murder on the back. I ended up selling it on Craigslist.

Now, over a year later I've jumped on the Ergo bandwagon (mostly thanks to Leah.

I.LOVE.IT.

Ellie's one of those kids who fights sleep as if her life depends on staying awake. The Ergo is the one and only thing that can lull her to sleep within minutes, almost without fail. (Ok, ok, one time it didn't work... but that was only once!)

Plus, ever after wearing her for an hour while shopping, my back doesn't hurt in the slightest.

Ergo, FTW.

Babywearing mishap

Ellie sleeping on Jen's back
Originally uploaded by stuckinarizona

There's a back story to this picture. I was carrying Ellie around on my back in the Ergo while doing laundry, getting all the strawberries cut up, etc... After a while she started to feel a little floppy, so I looked in the mirror, and sure enough she'd fallen asleep.

Normally I'll have someone take her out and lay her down, but at this particular time there was no one else home. I figured I could sort of lay down on the floor and roll her out onto her little couch to finish her nap there.

Well, my plan backfired. She woke up for a bit mid "roll out" process, and decided to lay back down and fall asleep draped across my back. Oops.

I happened to have my phone in my pocket, so I snapped this pic just before I decided to join Ellie in her nap. ;)

Ok, I never really do these things, but....

... I saw this on Milli's blog and I had to give it a try.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English 20% Upper Midwestern 5% Midwestern 0% Dixie 0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I guess I really do belong in the Midwest, huh?

Ok, ok, so I like one thing about Arizona

Wild horses
Originally uploaded by stuckinarizona

So I've found one thing I like about living in Arizona. Every day on my way to work I have to drive through about 17 miles of seemingly barren Indian Reservation land. However, upon closer inspection one can see that this land is the home to many, many wild horses. I see them almost daily on my early commute into work. I snapped a picture with my phone this morning. Nevermind the fact that it was taken out of my dirty car window with my cell phone, while driving. I've marked the horses in the shot so they're a little easier to spot.

Even with this little gold nugget of awesomeness here, the fact that the temperature here has been hovering somewhere around 117 degrees and plans to stay in the 110+ range for quite some time makes me crabby and unhappy about being here. I guess I don't need to re-title my blog just yet. ;)

Cafepress here I come!

I finally got a lone design added to three products at my new Cafepress Store. I'll be working on it more today, and I'll hopefully get a few more designs up. Whoot!

For the first little bit it'll probably just be some cloth diapering and maybe some breastfeeding stuff... Then as I get more time to design I'll be adding cool stuff like knitting, big/little brother/sister shirts, and whatever else my overactive mind comes up with.

So lucky

How did I end up with such amazing friends?

My excellent friends Megg and Chris sent me the cutest feel better card, with such lovely sweet messages written by each of them on the inside. It totally made my day, yesterday.

I <3 you guys.

Another reason why Arizona sucks

I make no secret of the fact that my Midwest heart does not much like it here in the Southwest. I mean honestly, the high today is 113. I thought if I put it in blue, it might trick my mind into thinking it's not so hot. It doesn't seem to be working. Meh.

Another downside to the Southwest aside from the neverending heat is all the yucky, nasty bugs and other dangerous creatures that seem to be everywhere. Normally I am not the squeamish type. Spiders don't bother me one little bit. Unless of course you're talking about a black widow that has decided to set up camp right outside my door. We've had about 5 of these such spiders recently. EEK!

Normally I'm a catch and release sort of girl, but I really don't feel comfortable having bunches of these little guys (err... gals) hanging around with my two dogs and very curious and grabby Ellie. I feel bad that they have to die, but they really must to preserve my sanity.

Leah so totally rocks!

Leah rocks my socks off.

She sent me this great package that totally made my day. It's a Healing Hearts Baby Loss Comfort Kit from Earth Mama Angel Baby. It's filled with such lovely, yummy things. I can't wait to use all of them.



Thanks SO much Leah!

Have they lost their minds?

So, the one online forum I regularly post on (referred to as "The Pin" from here on out) has officially lost its mind. Lately it seems as though there has been this crazy admin uprising that requires very specific (and silly) rules be followed and strictly enforced. I'm not a big fan of regulating what people can and can't post about, but I can recognize a need for the powers that be to keep some sort of order. For the most part everyone that posts there is very civil. There are only a handful of times I can remember in the year and a half I've been lurking/posting there where true moderation was needed.

But really, the level of policing of the posts on The Pin, a forum about effing cloth diapers, is just too much. Admin (not the mods... they're just doing their job) really needs to get a grip.

I wish I could say I was done with the now craptastic Pin... but I'd miss all the lovely people.

Sigh.

The List

The Good:
- Ellie rocks
- I have some super-awesome friends

The Bad:
- Everything else

So, who wants to come visit and cheer me up? Clearly no one in my family is up to the task and seem to actually be actively trying to make things worse.

Anyone, anyone?

It's only going to get up to 113 this week. Not TOO hot.... really... it's a dry heat. Eh, who am I kidding. :P

Artistic visions and stuff...

I've been at the whole art thing again. Yes, I know, I should probably stop pretending that I know anything about art and stick to programming, which I know I'm good at.

But, nonetheless, I just can't seem to stop myself.

Check out the banner at the top of Miss T's blog. Yep, I made that! I know her from a message board we both actively post on. Just in case you were wondering, she's awesome and is a GREAT knitter. I'm a little jealous of her skills. ;) I'll get there eventually.

Also, my friend Meg's site is finally up and running. I helped her configure the shopping cart software she wanted to use, setup her hosting, setup her database, and did all the design stuff on the site as well. Although, in that case, it was more a culmination of her artistic vision and my Photoshop skills. There's still some work to be done, but all in all I think it looks great! Oh, and btw, if you happen to be a cloth diaper/wool user and haven't tried her wool wash bars, you MUST. They are simply the best.

More to come soon on my new Cafepress store once I finally get my designs uploaded...

Infinite sadness...

The tickers are gone, the baby has died.

I am so very sad.

First ultrasound

So, I had my first ultrasound this morning.

Even though my LMP (last menstrual period) was 4/10, I know I ovulated late. My best guess is that my EDD (due date) is somewhere around 1/25/2008. That would put me at about 6 weeks, 5 days according to my tickers (see right).

I went in for a dating ultrasound this morning just to make sure everything was all fine and dandy and to confirm the fact that I'm right about the late ovulation and all. According to the tech, I'm only measuring 5 weeks 5 days. Unless I'm doing my math wrong, that would mean that the faint positive test I got on Mother's Day was only a few days (if that) after ovulation, which is impossible. That would also mean that I got the very dark and convincing positive tests at around 10 DPO (days past ovulation). Seems unlikely to me...

The weird thing is that even though I'm supposedly only 5 weeks 5 days, they did see a "flicker of a heartbeat". I saw it too.

The tech was in a hurry as they seemed to be running about 35 minutes behind schedule. Perhaps she mismeasured in her haste?

Despite my protesting that the dates don't make any sense, they said don't worry, everything looks fine, and seeing a heartbeat is always a good sign.

Also, they said I have a very, very small subchorionic hemorrhage. I guess it's not uncommon and is nothing to fret about. She made a point of saying over and over again how tiny it is, so I guess I'll try not to think too much about it.

In a way, I'm lucky to have it because I get another ultrasound on July 5th to make sure it's healing itself.

Even so, it's going to be a loooooong four-week wait.

I can knit! (sort of)

As part of a trade for helping her setup her new website (still a work in progress, but it'll be up soon), Meg from Sudz 'n Dudz sent me a set of Denise knitting needles. I've been coveting them for a while, and was thrilled to finally get my hands on some. WOOO!

I was anxious to learn to knit in the round. My first project, a hat, was a total disaster. Despite my being extremely careful, there were dropped stitches and various other weirdness EVERYWHERE. It was so bad, I actually threw it away. Thank goodness I have enough sense to use cheap acrylic yarn when I'm learning something new.

Luckily, my second attempt turned out so much better. Again I used cheap acrylic yarn expecting another disaster, so it's not the highest-quality... but at least the knitting itself turned out ok. Not perfect, but not too bad for a beginner.

as always, click for bigger




As a side note, in case you were wondering, I hate double-pointed needles.

Backyard, Etsy, and more...

This is a little bit of old news, but we're finally getting our backyard finished. The thing that stinks about moving into a brand spankin' new house is that the backyard that comes with it is usually plain old dirt. If you're unfortunate enough to live in Arizona, you get sandy dirt. Yuck!
But, alas, a mere year and two months later, our backyard is finally starting to come together. We have irrigation, trees, curbing, and rocks. Hoooray!

Don't mind the random stuff thrown about in a haphazard manner... It's still a work in progress! The dirt patch will soon be filled with grass (most likely fake grass because real grass is a b!tch to care for in Arizona).

click for bigger




In other news, I've been channeling my inner designer lately and am having some great fun with Photoshop. I'm working on getting some designs ready to put on on Cafepress, and I did the banner for my super-cool friend's Etsy Store. She sells awesome gift bags that aren't all covered with bottles for all of us breastfeeding mamas out there. Keep in mind that by default programmers are not good at design while you're viewing my attempt at art.

Lastly, here's your interesting Ellie factoid of the day. Her newest word is "W". We often play with foam letters during bath time. She likes to place each letter on the side of the tub as we tell her the letter's name. Many times she attempts to say the letter's name too. Most of the time it comes out as unrecognizable babble, but the other night she mastered her version of the letter "bubble-yew".

Raise of joy!

We found out a while ago that in July Kevin is going to be promoted at his job to the title of Library Coordinator. Along with that promotion comes a pay raise, but he wasn't told the amount until today. Tentatively, they will be almost doubling his current pay! Hooooooooray! :D

First "real" post!

Woo hoo, I have time to post!

So much to catch up on...

Firstly, I had my first OB appointment this week. Yes, I know it's WAY early, but after what happened in January, I'm more than a little freaked out this time around. The nurse practitioner was so very nice. They did a test just to confirm, and surprise, it was positive! Wooo! (FYI, my doctor's office uses tests identical to those $1 tests they sell at Dollar Tree stores. So if you ever find yourself thinking "OMFG, a pregnancy test costs how much?!" rest assured that the cheapy Dollar Tree brand are just as good.) They also took some blood to run some fun tests on. I have no idea what they're testing for, but I haven't gotten any ominous calls yet, so I won't worry about it too much.

On the work front things are going well. I'm nearing completion of a rather largish project, so that's always lovely. For the few of you tech people who may or may not be reading this, it's a monthly report writing system that employs awesome AJAX technology... it's all slick and autosaving and cool.

At home, things are also nice and happy. Ellie is awesome, and becomes more fun to be around every day. Her latest word... booger. Ha! And yes, she knows what it means and will demonstrate this by sticking her finger up her nose as she says it. No, I do not know where she learned this, but I can't help but crack up. 14-month-olds are a riot!

In other Ellie news, according to my mother-in-law, Ellie thinks I resemble a 40-year-old Judy Garland. Apparently yesterday Ellie was carrying around the cover to one of the Judy Garland Show DVD sets I have (which can be seen here), and kept pointing while saying "Mama! Mama!". I'm rather miffed by this as I think I look NOTHING like this said picture of Miss Garland. Perhaps she was just trying to get the point across that the DVD set in question was 100% Mommy's since Daddy would not be caught dead owning such a thing. Although, when she looks at Kevin's Justice League sets, she does not say Daddy, but usually points to Batman and utters "Bah-mah". Toddlers are weird.

Blog stylin'

So I'm not really digging my blog style yet. I'm not crazy about any of the default templates, and I can't find any templates to download online that I really love either. So, for the time being, until I have a chance to create me own custom template, it is what it is.

Best Mother's day gift!

What better way to start off my new blog than to post a (bad) picture of the awesome Mother's Day gift I got this year?


(click for bigger)

Yaaaay!!!! :D

(Edited to add: In case you're like "What? I don't see a second line there..." in the pic above, here is some more convincing proof. :))