Life Day by Day

It is currently sunny outside, though I'm sure it will change in a few minutes back to cloudy, windy and cold. Bleh.

This morning I went out and picked up all the poo in our yard finally. It is nice to have that done for awhile, but my back didn't really appreciate it. :) I was careful not to bend over and just use the shovel to pick it all up and put it into the poo bucket, but it still didn't approve I guess as I'm a bit sore and stiff. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the leaves in the front yard and then everything will be all ready for mowing when we get the chance. I'm hoping to be able to borrow a weed-whacker soon to get all the tall grass down from our fence.

We are very much looking forward to going up to the medieval dinner for Dad's birthday this weekend. That is right up Tim and my alley. :) It should be fun.

I've been getting a big list of questions ready for my doctor's appointment on the 6th, since I will finally be meeting my actual doctor. Since it is so far along in my pregnancy I really hope that we just click and everything goes well...If not, then I'm dumping her fast and we'll just find a midwife no matter if we have to pay for it all out of pocket or not. It's time to start building some kind of relationship with the person who will be there for the delivery of the baby so I'm not going to waste time. I also need to choose between the two pediatricians available to us, and get WIC going.

Tim has been very busy at work lately, and he also just started school on Monday. Along with the baby on the way and all that involves and spring hitting which adds to the work load around the house, he's a bit stressed out. It's all good stuff, and he's looking forward to it all, but it is hard for him to go from doing very little and being constantly bored in GA to all this. It is quite a leap. I find I feel bad for him but at the same time I'm extremely excited to see his plate get some stuff loaded on it - it's a good growing time...and part of being the man of a family.

Well I better get going and make some dinner. <3

I love spring. It is so nice to smell the fresh air scented with newly cut grass and hear the birds sing for all they are worth.

This weekend was pretty laid back with not much going on. The highlight was Saturday evening when Tim took me up to Coeur d'Alene to Red Lobster for an early birthday dinner. We drove through my old campus and stomping grounds which was fun to see. It really hasn't changed all that much: A new building here, some new landscaping there...but over-all it was pretty much the same. Sunday we were planning on trying out the baptist church in Airway Heights, but Tim woke up with a killer headache and backache. As the day progressed he got more comfortable and by this morning he seemed to be fine...no idea what caused it. Ah well, we'll try out the church next week. :)

I have decided I am no longer going to force-feed myself. I am sick and tired of forcing eggs and cheese and tuna and chicken breasts down my throat when I'm not hungry just to get 80 grams of protein a day. It's just not going to happen. For example, this is what I would have to eat in a "good day" in order to get everything they wanted me to eat:
For breakfast I'd eat 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter on each, a tall glass of OJ and 1 egg (2 if I could force it down).

For lunch I'd have a spinach salad (did you know ONE serving of green leafy veggies is 3-4 CUPS?!) with a few oz of cheese, the other egg, and a half a tomato.

As a snack I'd have to eat another serving of whole grains and one of fruit or vegetables.

Then for dinner I would have a half a boneless, skinless chicken breast, another serving of green leafy veggies, another serving of whole grains and one more serving of milk.

On top of all that I had to drink a minimum of 8 8oz glasses of water, which I do anyway, but I find that on that diet it takes up valuable stomach space!!

Andthat's not to mention that I'm supposed to eat 5 servings of yellow/orange fruit/vegetables per week as well as 3 baked potatoes per week which has very little protein in it so it was just extra food! It was ridiculous. I was never hungry and always eating. Not fun. Even with the above daily plan, I would only get the minimum amounts required by that crazy diet. So now I am done force feeding myself. I will eat my greens, my calcium, my protein, my fruit/veggies, my water and all that, but I am not going to until I have room in my stomach and if I don't get all my full servings then that's just too bad. I'm not filling up on empty foods, at least, and I decided it is better to listen to my body then to cram myself almost sick and then gain too much weight as well!

Enough complaining about that. :)

As a side note, I've decided to start looking for a bread maker. It would be really nice to be able to make myself some bread that I'm not allergic to, and I really miss homemade bread. I'm not sure Tim will want to eat it as he kind of likes his store bought stuff, but we'll try it out.

Anyway, off I go to rotate laundry. <3

Well, it has been awhile since my last blog but it seems like we've been so busy lately! It was so much fun to go over to the coast and see everyone, be at Brynne's shower, and then go get makeovers and dress shopping. :) I'm very relieved that we found a maternity dress that will work out.

It has suddenly decided that it will be spring for a couple days. The sun is shining, birds are singing and not a cloud in sight. Yesterday I spent a couple hours pruning and clearing out our front garden. Man, that thing was a mess. You can tell someone who lived here at one time put a lot of time and love into it, but the people who lived here before us, at least, did not. Over 3/4 of the rose bush was dead and needed to be pruned out so that the healthy stuff could grow, while those needed to be severely pruned down just so it could support it's own weight. The other bushes were over-grown and wild while the ground was covered in several inches of old leaves and pine needles - smothering some ground covering plants. Needless to say it looks MUCH better out there now, I filled up an entire giant garbage can with debris, and my back was killing me last night. It's good to have it done. :)

Tim was so sweet while I was gone. I came home to not only a clean house, a happy dog AND a happy husband, but he had also washed and set up our new crib! He put the freshly washed sheet and bedding set that we bought on it and everything. It was precious. :) He also took the time to set up the treadmill for me with our tv right in front of it so it was ready to be used. I felt so loved. :)

Well I better get on with the day and rotate laundry. TTYL.
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Ah I feel like such a mom already, but I had to share the good news...Rain finally pooped! :D She pooped and then trotted around the yard like she felt SO much better. We are happy and thrilled to report that there was no blood or anything suspicious in the poo, and since she is feeling so much better today that her infection seems to be going away. Happy day. :)

This morning we went to church with Kendra Friendly who works with Tim. She just transferred here from a tour in Italy, and has been looking for a church. I really feel for her since she is one of the only unmarried people working in Tim's shop, the only female there, and the only African American that works there as well...so she feels rather out of place. Luckily, she's been pretty open with Tim about feeling out of place and since we can really relate to her about how being a different color can really make you feel like the odd man out, we have made it a point to sort of take her under our wing. It's really too bad that there aren't many black people in the area, and even though the church is big there are only a few black people that attend so she still felt a bit awkward. Poor girl. I hope she saw though, that though people may look twice at her, it's only out of curiosity and "novelty" and not out of racism...that is one good thing about Washington - there aren't that many racist just hanging around. I hope she also felt comfortable with us since we are so used to being around African Americans that we hardly even notice their skin color anymore so that novelty has worn off.

Man, I am so looking forward to the weddings this year. :D I love weddings. Having the first wedding shower this coming weekend has got me all ready for them to start. :) It will be so much fun to see what each of the brides come up with. I know both weddings will be so beautiful and reflect the couple's personality, values, and love. Fun fun.

Well, it's about time to give Rain her meds so I'm off for now. <3

Just a quick update -

Tim is feeling much better luckily so he escaped the crazy stomach flu his co-worker had. So that's all good.

Rain is also beginning to make a recovery. When we went into a regular vet's office yesterday after bringing her into the pet "ER" in the middle of the night, they took her temp and looked her over. After reviewing the x-rays that had been taken the night before and seeing that she now had a 104.6F temp, the vet said she didn't think it was an obstruction but some kind of infection. She took some blood, gave us some pepcid to help settle Rain's stomach so she would eat a bit, and also gave us a couple general antibiotics. She also gave Rain some fluids through an IV because, though Rain wasn't dehydrated at the time (I had been giving her water with a syringe), the vet thought it was likely that Rain would soon start to have diarrhea and didn't want her to become dehydrated. We went home with the instructions to watch Rain, keep offering her food and giving her water while we waited for the blood test results which would be ready the next morning. Luckily, Rain didn't get any worse and never did develop vomiting or diarrhea and actually seemed to be a bit better this morning - she ate some and took her pills without too much fight anyway. The vet called us around 9am to let us know that Rain did indeed have a high white blood cell count so it is some kind of infection and to give us some anti-inflammatorys to lower her temperature. As of this afternoon, Rain has been walking around and showing interest in the goings on around the house. Her temperature, last time we took it, was 103.8F (this was before we gave her the meds to lower her temp) and she is hungry again - especially for the boiled chicken and rice that I have been having to make for her 3-4 times a day lol. She is still a bit stiff and reluctant to move, and only drinks a bit on her own, but otherwise she is showing definite improvement. Ah the relief. :)

Thanks for all the prayers sent our way, and off I go for the night to try and make up for lack of sleep these past couple days.
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Tonight we start our Bradley Method class. I am so looking forward to it! :) It has been rather frustrating trying to find a class that starts earlier then June, which would be too late for a 12 week class, so we're going to end up joining in with a class that is already in progress. It is condensed into a 6 week course, 2 weeks of which they have already completed. However, after we finish out this course we will have 2 private sessions with the instructor to make up for it. I'm a little disappointed that the class will be ending so far away from our due date, but at least we'll have the reading material to go over and she mentioned that if she does have another class before August, we're welcome to come back for a refresher at no cost. So we'll see how it goes. It will be better then not going to the class at all for sure!

On August 8th we're going to be having an ultrasound done! I am so excited to finally see pictures of the baby instead of a small grey blob when it was only 10 or so weeks old. :)

Tim and Rain both woke up this morning feeling pukey. Rain is still sleeping after waking up and throwing up once, and Tim is going to try to make an appointment at the clinic today after he threw up this morning as well. Man, I really hope I don't catch whatever it is. Tim is a little worried because a guy in his shop has been put on quarters after he threw up so much that he lost his voice and began vomiting blood. Yuck! :( It's a bit scary, whatever it is.

So far I'm feeling fine...just a bit of the sniffles and a cough that I think I caught from Tamara while she was here. It's not nearly as bad as what she had though, so I'm holding out hope and taking it easy along with using Zicam which seems to be working.

So, on to completely random things: It is sunny here today without a cloud in site...I just hope it warms up enough to melt the snow patches we still have lying around.

I noticed yesterday that my bellybutton no long goes in - it is almost completely flat now.

Huh, I'm looking out our living room window at a mated pair of chickadees who are attempting to make a nest in a tiny pipe that is used as the crossbeam of our clothes line. The pipe is so small that they can hardly fit into it...how they are going to make that work, I have no idea.

Okay, that's about all that's going on. :)
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