Happy New Year!

Well only an hour and a half left of 2005. What a year!

At the very beginning of 2005 I went in to the doctor because I was having such pain in my ovaries. I was pretty sure they were going to tell me it would require surgery or possibly a hysterectomy because of all the cysts I had. And here we are almost exactly a year later and I'm 27 weeks pregnant with our son Nicholas! Amazing what can happen in just one year!

I know there were lots of other things that happened in the world last year that weren't nearly as good, but I'm trying not to dwell on those. Instead I'll hope that everyone has as wonderful a 2006 as my 2005 was.

Happy New Year everyone!

More beadlings!

Ok, I'm starting to need to put my feet up more and more and I just can't seem to get into a book, which is pretty weird for me. Instead I want to DO something. So I started beading and now I am taking pics to share because I think they're so cute!

I made this one this morning for Tom. No symbolism, but it looked like a neat one to make and he liked it. I improvized on the leg length and the design to make it look like a black widow.



I just made this one this evening for Jessica. She really likes purple and green and hates bugs. So here's a cute purple and green bug that might help her get over her phobia.

I haven't given in to pressure, I was just thinking of you!

Ok, I did not give in to xmas pressure! I didn't! But I was thinking of everyone I was going to see at Christmas and I've been in bed a lot lately with my feet up (stupid swollen ankles) so I was getting bored. Since I'm seeing everyone in a few hours and I highly doubt you'll be checking the blog this early I took a pic of the beadlings I made and will put it here so everyone else can see them. I love beading! It's so detailed and fun! I've started improvising on some of the patterns in the book and playing around with colors. I made an angel for my mom yesterday to wear on her lapel, and a fairy for Liz to wear. Wish I had pics of those, they were really neat colors. Liz helped me pic the colors and branch out from only doing the white and irridescent ones like the book.

Here's the pic.


I did specific colors for everyone too while I was thinking of them.
Purple with a hint of green for Jessica because those are her favorite colors.
Pink with a hint of blue for JM, because she has a new granddaughter all the way up in Canada and Nicky of course is on the way.
Green for Maryellen, because I just know she's going to be giving Nicky a cousin in the relatively near future and I just don't know if it will be a boy or a girl yet.
Blue with white for Donna who is absolutely thrilled to be having her first grandson in March!

For the boys though I thought angels (or fairies, did you notice the new wings I did on Donna and Maryellen's?) were a bit girly for them, so I thought of something else. They were both a lot more complex, and I had to fiddle with the colors a bit since I didn't have enough of the 'right' beads to do them, but I think they're neat.

For Charles, who has been plagued by screen-eating grasshoppers, a grasshopper that will NEVER chew on his screens!
For Scot, who will be a wonderful daddy someday in the relatively near future, a seahorse. They are only one of the naturally wonderful fathers out there! (But I promise you won't actually have to give birth to your baby Scot!)

Anyway, I hope they like them, even though they're really not xmas gifts, but just more like tangible thoughts I guess.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Morning sickness AGAIN?!

Ugh! I tossed my cookies again this morning. Right after taking my morning pills too. But I didn't retake them just in case I absorbed them. Actually there were no cookies to speak of, mostly phlem and acid. YUCK! So of course Tom had to take me to IHOP for breakfast to make me all better. :) It worked. Very weird that the puking has been twice lately and only once when I was actually nauseated all the time.

I'm trying hard to resist the make something/anything urge that came upon me last night. I'm soo tired! I am NOT staying up all night to bead or origami anything! I'm not giving in! I'm resting! I mean it!

Really...

:)

Season's Greetings!

Well this is going to be an interesting year! Tom and I have a LOT to be thankful for as this year draws to a close. Of course the most wonderful thing is that we have Nicky on the way! ;) By the way, the new belly pic is up, today is 26 weeks! YAY!

Unfortunately though we're flat broke this year and so haven't done a darn thing for Christmas!! Normally I'd be running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to make something, bake something or buy something even if it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. But this year I just can't get up the energy or drive to do it. I feel a little guilty still, but not nearly as guilty as I did on all the other years when I felt like I was scrambling to do Christmas justice. So I'm afraid I'm telling everyone this year that I'm still working on everyone's gift, and he'll be done in March! Tom and I will be making photo announcements and sending those out, so those will just have to serve as our Christmas cards this year, three months late. Hope no one is horribly disappointed, but we just haven't even got a dollar to spare this year. Not even for postage to send cards.

BUT that said, everyone is invited in advance to our place next year for Christmas! In fact I insist everyone come! We're going to have our baby's first Christmas and we'll be doing it from home so you've all got to make the trip! Now, I have no clue where we'll be living by then so we'll just have to keep you posted. We might still be in the mobile home in Citra (we're moving next month!) or we might be building a new house, or buying one by that time. I'm not quite sure yet. But wherever it is, we'll have a great time!

Now, for some holiday fun let me direct you to the coolest website ever! Check this out and feel free to email me your creations! Make A Flake

On to Plan B...

What, you didn't know we had a Plan B? Well, we didnt' until today... I just spent most of the day talking with Dad and JM. We worked out the numbers, and while it might change when Tom gets a job, right now we just aren't going to be able to afford to do the modular home. Even with the car payment being rolled into the construction loan we just can't do a $1000+ payment for the house. It's over half my salary and it's just cutting it way too close.

So we now have a short term plan and a long term plan.

Short term, Dad and JM have a mobile home on the other side of their property. It's where Tom's grandparents lived once they couldn't live in the house we're in right now anymore. Right now it's just being used for storage and it's in a LOT better shape than the place we're in. Not a palace or anything, but at least cleanable and heatable. It even has a fenced yard we can let the dogs out into and not have to walk them so much once the baby comes. So anyway, the plan is to move all that stored stuff out and over to this place we're in now. We'll clean it up, assess all the plumbing, electric, carpets, etc. Replace what really needs it. Then move over just our best stuff that we're keeping (we have soo much junk that just needs donating or selling). We'll start working on this plan after the first of January and hopefully move in by the end of January.
The good things are: It's much more livable, and cleanable. It has a fence, and it will be rent free with only an electric bill (has well water).
Bad things are: The road is pretty bumpy, but I'll just have to go slow and use a cushion. We won't be getting cable, phone, or internet and that sucks, but the bills will be small and that's really good. The electric should be less than $100 and that's soo much better than the $300 we're paying now!
So all told, it seems to be the smartest thing to do. And I'm sure JM isn't too upset about getting to live so close to the baby either. ;)

The long term plan (6 months to a year out) is that we'll be living with minimal bills. Tom's job will be full time (that's the plan anyway) at least until Nicholas is born (then we'll have to see). My check will cover all the regular payments and living expenses. We'll be socking Tom's entire check into savings and paying off the car payment. I think we can get the car paid off this way in one year. That should really help my credit and give us some savings to help make a better go at buying a house. When the car is paid we'll reassess what our property is worth. We're betting it's going to go up quite a bit relatively quickly (speculating I know, but it's actually primely placed, it just has a shack on it) and hopefully we'll be in a much stronger bargaining position after about a year of making all payments on time, having savings, and having no car payment.

Am I nuts? Probably. It still is very disappointing to have had my hopes up so high about getting a new house. But I have already had my cry when I got home today and now I'm working on creating a new vision for what our immediate future will look like. Not ideal, but Nicky's not going to be remembering the house we were in for his first year anyway. And heck, at least we can actually clean it and it's sealed from the elements. Major improvements over where we are now!

Time now to take these lemons and make some lemonade!

What a rollercoaster!

Well somehow we have the internet back today. Whatever! I'm not sure how or why, but I'll take this opportunity to post. I still think we will probably switch soon from DSL and the land line phone to cable internet. It's a LOT cheaper!

The house situation is frustrating as can be! We have the financing all done and all they want is for us to sign the Mortgage Approval paperwork, but I don't feel good about it at all. They want us to pay over $15,000 in closing costs! That seems a bit excessive to me! AND I don't think they're counting the property as a downpayment like they should. Tom and I are going to have to get a real estate lawyer to look at this with us before we sign anything. I'm meeting with the PC homes financing person to go over it on Friday morning and then we'll see about getting a lawyer that JM knows to look at it too.

I'm thinking that if I can make it through this house building crap that raising a baby can't possibly be too hard! Sheesh!!

On the bright side, I felt the baby again last night/this morning when I was half asleep from the outside again! I can't wait till my mom and Liz come up to see me! I hope they get to feel him too! Hmm, so far it's only been in the early early morning, so maybe they'll just have to sleep with me! Tee hee!

Streamlining the finances

Well Tom and I have pretty much decided we're going to cancel the land line phone completely and go to just having the cell phones. So be sure to call us on the cell phone numbers.

Tom's finishing up his classes this week and then getting a full time job. Once that happens we'll be looking into getting some kind of cheap internet connection. DSL, cable or something, whatever is cheap.

Till then, I'll only be updating the blog from work, so it might not be as often or as colorful with pictures and stuff, but I'll keep you posted.

For example, this morning when I woke up I got to feel Nicky kick from the outside for the first time! It was way up high too! Very neat!

Oh, by the way the email is down too! So leave messages here, or at my work email if you have it.

Argghhh! Lost the internet connection at home!

Just a quickie post from my in-laws computer. I've lost my internet connection at home for at least the next two weeks. I'll check in as I can before and after work, but for two weeks I'm afraid I'll be playing some offline games and reading a lot. On the bright side, Tom and I have taken this quiet time this weekend to clean up all the children's books I've been storing since I quit teaching. I have a whole library of kids books for Nicholas! No baby books, but lots of children's books. Yay! Now we'll have to make sure to have shelves up somewhere to put them all!

My bellsouth email address isn't working either by the way. If you have my cell or home number though, feel free to call me. It's crazy, but they turned on the phone and off the internet on the same day. GRRR!

6 months pregnant!

Today is the day! I'm exactly 24 weeks now by my Ovulation date! Even though my OB says I'm like 24 weeks and 4 days or something I'm still sticking to my original due date and that means today is the day! I took a new belly picture too. I had to pull my shirt down low so it looks a little funny, but I think you can probably tell I'm pregnant by now. :)

Last Monthly OB Appointment today!

Ok, today I had my monthly OB appointment. After 2 hours of waiting in the waiting room I finally got in. I wasn't too upset waiting since there were so many other much more pregnant women there! One had some kind of funky pain and was pregnant with twins. Another was 37 weeks pregnant and in the middle of early labor. I was definitely ok with them going first!

When I got to see the doctor, my blood pressure was great at 108/62. My weight was up to 286, which is 11 pounds total for the pregnancy (which he said was just fine) and my hydration and everything was good.

This will be the last monthly appointment because from here to 32 weeks I'll be seen every other week. Then at 32 weeks it will start to be weekly visits. Tom asked if I was being considered a high risk pregnancy and the doctor said yes, but that I'm doing really great! He considers my asthma the most troublesome unknown quantity, but I have the pulmonology function test and visit with the pulmonologist next Wednesday so hopefully we'll get that good and in control. Of course WE all know I'll be tons better with the asthma when I get my new house (at least I hope so!) but hopefully the pulmonologist will have some helpful thoughts as well that I can implement now.

Speaking of the house, I talked with PC Homes today and they are just waiting on the employment verification at this point. Then we're good to go. I'll check to see where the heck the hold up is tomorrow (if it's still there that is). I can't wait to get in my new house!!! Hmm,I think I say this in one form or another in the last several blog entries...

The Big Ultrasound Isn't So Big

Well I just had my "Big Ultrasound" today. This would normally be the one where we'd learn the sex and everything, but since we've had two Level 2 Ultrasounds already this was actually a bit of a disappointment after the high resolution of the level 2 machine at Shands. This was really fuzzy. You can see from the new baby pictures that these aren't nearly as clear. We did get a DVD, so maybe we'll see more on that.

The important thing was that Nicky is healthy in there and growing well. He's measuring at 24 weeks and 3 days, but going by my ovulation date I'm only 23 weeks and 4 days. He's doing just perfect in there!

There were so many deliveries in progress today so my OB appointment was bumped up to tomorrow morning. So I'll get to see the doctor then. I'll update and let you know what he says.

Been working on the registry today

My Dad and his wife Gwen came by today for a nice visit on their way back to GA. We watched Nicky's videos of his first two ultrasounds so that was fun! Then went for a nice lunch out. It was so good! It's been forever since we have eaten out! Gwen asked if we were registering somewhere and I remembered we haven't really looked at our Babies R Us registery for a long time and many things have changed since then! So this evening I spent some quality time online and have been working on the BRU registery. I still haven't messed with the Target one we started. I suppose I should do that too. Maybe tomorrow. ;)

Nicky is moving around in there. At one point this evening I felt a little push and a bulge in my stomach down low on the left. I had Tom put his hand there and it moved away! That was him! Neat!

Just had to share this picture:



So much love in this house!

The Nursery

Ok, this must be some kind of record...two posts in like, 30 minutes! LOL!

Ok, I just had Tom scan the mural design that I did. I've shown it to Tom's mom, who is the one that will be doing the mural, and she seems to like it, well she didn't laugh or anything so I'm taking that as a good sign. :)

Here's the mural design.

There are two different bedding designs I'm debating on, here's both. What do you think?

One Little Froggy
or
Sammy The Frog

I like that they're simple and won't dictate too much to the rest of the room design, like the murals and wall art. We'll only be getting the bedding and perhaps the hamper. The curtains, wall art, lamps, diaper thingy and all we'll probably skip.

I like the colors in the One Little Froggy one best, but that's really hard to tell for sure from a picture online. I like the stylized frog in the Sammy the Frog design best, but I can just use that for the mural.

The crib and any other furniture will be white. And we're pretty sure the floor in the new house will be linoleum with a darker wood plank design. Kind of a darker oak finish if I remember right. We'll probably get an area rug for the baby's room though. I'll get some kind of chair, glider or rocker, but no clue about what that will look like yet. The only one I really loved so far was a huge chair that swiveled and rocked and was covered in red toile. Weird. It was also $600.00 (insert laugh here).

This is going to be so much fun! Now if I can just GET the house!!

Fun with PG (Pregnant Guts)

Ok, check out this site. You can move the slider and see what's happening in there! It's so fun! I'm at 23 weeks and 1 day today. Look what's happening to my poor intestines! Haha!

http://www.umm.edu/pregnancy/9monthmiracle/tools/fetaltool.html

Today I felt Nicky kicking up a storm. That was nice because I've only felt him a little bit for the last few days.

Things are progressing with the house. Tuesday the appraiser guy came out to look at the property. He said the big oaks raise the value. Yay! And here I thought they just dropped limbs, acorns and leaves all over the place. Then today the mortgage broker called and faxed over an employment verification form thingy. I signed it and sent it back to her today. We'll call this weekend, or maybe even go down there to Ocala and see what's the next step. I wanna have my house!!