Turkey, Stiches, Shopping, Potty Training, and Baby Update

I hate when I don't update for a while and then I feel like there's a ton to catch up on. Guess I better start now.

First of all, a Thanksgiving recap. We continued our 4 year tradition of having Thanksgiving with Will & Samara and family. I spent most of Wednesday evening cooking and then Thursday we got there around 10 a.m. Samara and I did a little more prep work while the turkey was cooking. We expected to eat around 1 p.m.

However, we had to take a detour to the emergency room right before we were ready to mash the potatoes. The girls have been going potty like champs and during one of Grace's visits, she decided to be a daredevil and jump from the stool in front of the toliet to the stool in front of the sink. She missed. Her head hit the vanity resulting in a "gaping" gash right between the eyebrows. There was blood and tears, and when I looked closer at the source of the blood, I just saw that there appeared to be a hole in the middle of Grace's head. Stiches were needed. We drove to the ER and luckily got in and out in under 2 hours complete with 3 stitches to the head. Good thing it didn't take much longer, cause I was getting hungry! Grace was very brave. She stopped crying before we got into the car and only cried at the hospital when we had to hold her down to let the doctor stick a needle into her head. Yeah, I might want to cry too.

After our dinner, Eric went home, because he works the Friday after T-Day. Grace and I spent the night. Samara, Clara and I got up at 4:00 a.m. to pick up Danialle (she drove over and stayed at my house late on Thursday) for some shopping. Will was off work so he watched Grace and Ava all day. Samara, Danialle and I shopped until about 4 p.m. I was very proud of myself for my first Christmas shopping experience without a credit card. Except for food, I only spent $5 on an item that was not a Christmas present.

Saturday, we put up the tree and then dropped Grace off with a sitter while we went to Ginji's (a Japanese Steakhouse) to celebrate Eric's birthday. Will and Samara's babysitter fell through, so they brought both girls, but they were perfect angels. I love Ginji's. That was about it for Thanksgiving weekend.

I did want to give a potty training update. Grace is doing awesome. She pretty much only wears underwear now. Occassionally, daycare will send home clothes because of an accident, but she's very good at telling us when she needs to go and doesn't even have any issues with going #2. She'll tell us she needs to go and then sit there and push it out. I'm so proud. At school they don't even use a diaper at naptime (I haven't been that brave at home yet). I'm still putting her in pull-ups overnight because she never wakes up dry. I also sometimes will use a pull-up on the weekend if we're going to be in the car alot or when I take her to the nursery at church. That may change this weekend though. Last week she told me she had to go while we were grocery shopping (she was in a pull-up) and I got her to the bathroom in time. I think she kept her pull-up dry all day.

Lastly, a baby update. I know I haven't been updating alot. A couple key highlights:
- I think I'm past the icky feelings, but only if I don't get hungry. Mornings can still be tough, so if I feel bad when I wake up, I try to go eat something right away and I'll feel better. Also, if I'm late for lunch, I start feeling sick. Food helps though and I can still eat anything I want and have no weird cravings. If anything I have anti-cravings. I don't ever crave sweets and my old favorite Chipotle hardly ever enters my mind. However, I can eat those things with no problem, just not craving them.
- I'm showing. Still no strangers have commented, but people I know and haven't seen for a while, or people I know and haven't told I'm pregnant have commented. For example, 2 weeks ago my pastor asked me if I was pregnant. I ran into one of Grace's old daycare teachers (haven't seen her in at least a year) and she asked me, plus someone at work that I don't really ever work with asked. I can't fit in any of my non-maternity pants and I mostly am wearing maternity shirts too. I don't mind, it's looking more pregnant belly and less fat.
- I rented a doppler. Can't remember if I mentioned that. I rented it about 2 weeks ago, just before my last doctor's appointment. I'm sending it back after a month. It was cheap and I like to listen, so I thought I'd do it again. Different thing this time is that I hear alot more movement than when I listened to Grace. Maybe this baby is more active?
- My doctor's appointment was fine. All normal stuff. I have gained about 5 pounds. Baby's heart rate was 151. She told me I could get a prescription for my headaches' if needed (and it has been since then). Next appointment is December 19th. At that appointment she'll write me a prescription for an ultrasound. They are sending me for a level 2 ultrasound so they can take a closer look to see if this baby has a cleft. We should also be able to find out the sex. Not sure I can get it scheduled before Christmas, but hopefully we'll have it done before my trip to Iowa in January.
- Lastly, I'm pretty sure I feel movement already. I kind of thought I was feeling "flutters" a couple weeks ago, but it just seemed to early. Then at my doctor's appointment, Dr. B asked me if I was feeling anything yet. I asked if it was too early and she said not necessarily. So I've been paying attention and I think it is. I wasn't sure with Grace until it was definate poking or kicking. I kind of missed the "flutter" stage. This time I think I am more in tune with my body. With Grace I felt something for sure by 16 weeks. I'll be 15 weeks tomorrow and today I've been feeling all kinds of weird flip and rolling movements down there. I don't think I have that much gas. Makes me wonder if I'm right about this baby being more active. Guess that'll be fun in about 4 months.

Ok, I've got other stuff to do. I think I'll do my next belly picture at 16 weeks and try to update again then. Hopefully, we'll figure out the daycare situation soon. I'm just praying for the right in home care situation to drop in our laps, because I don't know how we can afford 2 at the daycare center. Sigh.

12 weeks, 2 days

It's been a fairly eventful 2 weeks in pregnancy land. I did add a belly picture taken last Thursday (11 weeks, 5 days) in Flickr. I think my expanding waistline is becoming more "bump-like" and in clothes I look pregnant rather than just fat now. I'm pretty much in maternity clothes full time. Even starting to wear the shirts. I have wore some of my non-maternity pants with a rubber-band over the button or a safety pin, but then I have zipper issues, so I think I need to stop wearing them. Unfortuntately, I don't have a nice pair of cream or tan (not khaki) dress maternity pants. Maybe I should request a Motherhood Maternity gift card for Christmas.

Last Monday I got my first real migraine of this pregnancy. It started in the afternoon as a fairly normal headache. I took Tylenol and remained at work and did pretty normal stuff in the evening. Typically a good night's sleep will take away my headaches, so I was very disappointed to find it still going strong on Wednesday morning. I called in sick to work and went back to bed until about 10:30 a.m. My head hurt so bad that I kind of wandered around aimlessly at home. TV kind of hurt my head and the computer was intolerable. I took a shower and a hot bath and another 20 minute nap before 2 p.m. I attempted to eat lunch around noon, but could only stomach a couple bites. My headaches make me nauseous and unable to eat. Around two I was starving though, so I was able to make myself finish my lunch. Around 3 p.m. it started letting up a bit, so I did some cleaning around the house. Still didn't feel great though, so I only had a bowl of cereal for dinner.

Wednesday morning I still had a headache, but thankfully my morning dose of Tylenol kicked it and by 9 a.m. I felt much better. However, I think my light dinner made my stomach completely empty and when I was getting Grace's stuff together for daycare, I suddenly got extremely nauseous and had to be sick in the kitchen sink. Nothing actually made it out of my stomach, but if it was there, it would have.

Funny about that morning sickness thing. That was the first time, I actually vomited this pregnancy and I was just past 11 weeks. On Monday, last week though, I did get a wave of pretty strong nausea in the car while driving Grace to daycare. I actually removed the lid of my McDonald's cup just in case, but managed to hold off on the puking. Today, I was not so lucky. Last night we made pancakes for dinner and I didn't have any late evening snacks, so maybe my tummy was too empty again? When I was getting ready for work I was thinking I was a little nauseous and I should go get something to eat, but I was busy, so I didn't. When Grace and I went to the kitchen, I grabbed a muffin (I made them last night) and I drank a glass of apple juice, hoping that would help. Then I grabbed a sleeve of saltines and a plastic bowl and got Grace into the car. While driving in my subdivision, before making it to the main road, I had grabbed the bowl and started pulling over to the side of the road. Good think I had my bowl! I got out of the car to dump my bowl and finish. I felt much better after being sick though. So weird. I thought the puking last week was a fluke thing. I hope this ends soon though. I don't know anyone who's morning sickness started at 3 months!

Looking back at my pregnancy last time by 12 weeks:
- Last time I ordered a doppler. I've been considering it again. I actually ordered one on Friday (although from a different company) that was about 1/2 the price of one I got last time. I thought this time I'd only keep it for a month. I'm hoping in about a month, I should be feeling the baby. Problem was after I completed the order I read the part saying I need my doctor to sign off before they'll ship it. I e-mailed and requested that they cancel the order, but I don't know if they have yet. Grrr. I don't want to have to get my doctor involved.
- Last time, I hadn't gained any weight at 11 weeks. This time I've gained 4 pounds at 12 weeks. I still don't think that's too bad.
- My only other big milestone was wearing maternity clothes, which I've been doing for a while now.

Budget Update

In October, we paid off Eric's student loan (which we only had to buy my engagement ring and pay for our honeymoon...). We have now since we started really budgeting and working on our debt in mid-February, we have eliminated payments on 5 loans/credit cards. This has resulted in a reduction of our debt of $15,237. Considering that in 2005 and 2006 our balances on debt increased $5,000 per year, I think this is a great improvement. Unfortunately, we still have a ways to go, but everytime I add up those numbers, it makes me happy that they are getting smaller. We now have left the big ticket items. Two credit cards with high balances, Eric's car, and our 2nd mortgage which is currently on an interest only loan. Moving would certainly get rid of a big chunk with the 2nd mortgage. I now get to start working on the smaller of the credit cards by paying an extra $550 per month. It will still take us another two and a half years to get these three big items paid off (minus the 2nd mortgage). I just hope we can figure a way in our budget to afford two in daycare and continue paying extra on our debt. I would love to be debt free before applying for my loans for med school.