Vicks Cures Me.

I will try not to make this too gross.

I'm going in reverse order when it comes to the joys of gagging and morning sickness that pregnancy bestows upon a woman. I had very little issue with any of it up until like... the end of last week. I mean, I'd have bouts of it, but nothing consistent.

It's like... my nose all of a sudden started working, and it's taking over other types of memory in my brain.

Now, I have had a broken nose twice, and I've felt like my sense of smell has been dulled for a few years. And yes, pregnancy totally kicks that up a notch, I read.

But lately... oh my. I work in an infant room at work. I love my job. But I can't seem to change a single diaper without almost losing it all over the place! It's going to be a long six months if that doesn't change. Luckily, one of my co-workers has been kind enough as to change the icky diapers and leave me to do the wet ones, but still, the look or even thought of a dirty diaper sends me gagging like a fool. It's never been a problem before!

Then today, I decide to take out the garbage bags in the downstairs hallway, because I've been neglecting them, as has Jake.

EPIC FAIL. As soon as I open the door... you can imagine. It didn't smell THAT bad, but it was enough to send me into my fit. And so I take one bag out, and I lose my marbles all over the driveway. And then I just can't stop.

So I take an intermission in the bathroom, (and by the way, the thought of hanging out by a toilet is really hard for me to stomach as well) and try to figure out what to do to get these dang bags out to the garage.

Vicks.

It's the only thing I can think of. So, I get the Vicks VapoRub cream out of the drawer and I slather it like shaving cream all over my nasal area. Yeah, nice and thick so I looked like an idiot.

But it saved me for the last two bags of trash.

I wonder how how much ridicule I'd get if I applied the Vicks method at work.

A commonplace Saturday.

I haven't written in a few days now, actually, a little over a week. I really haven't had much of anything to say though.

Today was the first Saturday I haven't had any plans in a few weeks, and boy, it was much needed. I decided yesterday that I was going to sleep in today, pending the five beagle puppies (still for sale) that live in our back yard didn't start their daily brawls until later in the morning and I wouldn't be awoken by their yipping and growls.

Well, they were quiet, but of course, the annoying Min-Pin next door was let out promptly at 8:00am and she would not shut up. I wanted to get out of bed and go next door and kick the damn dog, but I was too lazy to get up. Someone later suggested maybe I go next door and kick the owner. I actually like that idea much better anyway. We'll see if I can coerce Jake into doing it. They might hurt me. Haha.

Oddly, and annoyingly as well, I woke up with my elementary school song in my head, and I knew all of the words. I found this odd, because the school consolidated with two other towns when I was in the... 6th or 7th, I forget, grade, and I couldn't for the life of me remember our high school song at all. It's been stuck in my head ever since. I even listened to Bon Iver on repeat a while but it just wouldn't drown out the nostalgia.

I decided to go to Barnes and Noble this morning to look at baby books and get an idea of what I would like in the one that we choose for our baby, and I found three for sure that I really liked. I took pictures of them with my camera phone so I could remember which they were later. I would really like Jake to help me decide on the book. I know it's probably not as important to him, but it definitely is to me.

Then I went to Wal-Mart, just because it is right next door. It was crazy busy, and I was starting to get sick to my stomach, but I managed to make it through with the items on my list, which included three items for a "just because" gift for my dear husband. I decided that since, on Wednesday when he wanted to have fun after work, all I could do was lie on the couch and try not to fall asleep, I would make it up to him. I purchased "Avatar" because he loves the movie, and a game for two, because we both love games, and then of course, the card. I wrapped it and left it on the table, so he'll see it when he comes home at like, 10 tonight, since he said he thought he'd be done early.

Then I went to Menards and got a small bag of dog food, because I have a gift certificate for there and couldn't think of any thing else I needed.

I came back to feed Wendell, and ended up falling asleep on the couch for three hours. Now I'm trying to decide what I want for supper (I'm thinking about ordering a Spinach Alfredo Chicken Tomato pizza from PapaJohns) and what movie I would like to watch while I wait for Jake.

Yup, that was another one of those boring, "here's what I did today" posts.

Brides and Bachelorettes

Yesterday, I road-tripped back to the home area for my best friend of almost 20 year's bridal shower and bachelorette party. I really haven't been to too many bridal showers in my life, let alone those I enjoyed, but I was in good spirits seeing as how the bride this time was someone I love as dearly as a sister.

And I had a great time! It was fun to be there with her as she opened presents (although, as we both agree, it took forever and it's kind of lame to have people sit and watch you do so) and participate in the games her sisters planned (I won both, score wise, but I didn't tell anyone my score. I rule! You just need to be aware of that), and see some people I hadn't seen in a long time. We had some good laughs also, like, when we were unsure if someone had given her a tube of tissue paper as a gift.

Then it was the bachelorette party about an hour away. We had our nails done at a salon by her older sister's house, and since people touching my feet weirds me out quite a bit, I opted for a manicure only. I let MBF (Miss Best Friend/Michelle/Bride) pick out my polish, and she chose a color called "Black Hole." I found this amusing, since it's a shade of burgandy. Anyway, although the place was definitely basking in the fumes of chemicals and polish, it was a pretty good time, sitting there chatting and joking around with the other ladies.

Then it was my turn to get my nails done. Ack. I wasn't nervous until my little nail technician started to... well, yell, kind of, at me. Yeah. I had both hands soaking in the water! Oh no! And then, ack! I accidentally let one of my nails touch my other hand while switching it from the drying fan! It had no polish on, just a clear base coat, so I wanted to tell her to chill out, but I refrained. And then... OH NO!!!!!!!! The towel my hands were resting on started to slip from the little table when I moved my hands away, so, I thought I would be nice and just use my forearm and wrist to push it back up.

Apparently, this was the worst idea, because this little lady almost lost it. "NO DON'T DO THAT!" (Or something very similar, it was hard to understand) came out of her mouth. I was astonished that she'd be so mad, since I wasn't actually using my hands. By this point, I was sick of her yelling and snipping at me, so I continued, with some effort (partially just to drive her crazy, and partially because she freaked me out and I lost my grip with my arm on the towel), to push the towel back onto the desk. She continued to tell me not to do it, but I got it up there, and then went to dry my nails. Haha. Take that, nail lady!

The rest of the evening was a ton of fun, loads of laughter, great food, and well... games related to the male genitalia. Now, that was a little odd for me, I won't lie, because that sort of fun is totally not my personality, but I suppose, when the guest-of-honor has a last name that is somewhat pornographic, you might say, it's quite fitting.

11 weeks, 3 days

This is going to be a "pregnancy update" post, though I don't really intend on doing those all that often, because I know that not all readers want to read about pregnancy, babies, and children. And I totally get and respect that. But, it's the only interesting thing I have to talk about today, and then I can put it in my written journal later when I'm not so ready for a nap.

Well, as some may know, I "graduated" from the specialist back to my regular doctor, and I had my first OB appointment with her today. Ack, I adore her!

Jake couldn't come, so she was asking all about him, and I found I couldn't shut up about him and how cute I think he and how excited he is.

She was looking for the heartbeat with the doppler, but couldn't find it, so we had to go (oh darn, right?) to the ultrasound room and do another internal.

I can't believe how much baby has grown in a week and a half! I got to watch Horseradish jumping all over the place. I'm not kidding you, our baby is SO active. Dr. Jennifer and the ultrasound technician both were amazed at how much our little one moves around. It was cute, and totally funny, and I kept getting the giggles watching. You'd see baby kick, and then jump (down/upside down) from one end of the sac to the other and flailing arms and legs all over the place.

Anyway, they easily found the heartbeat, and it slowed some to 178 instead of 185, which is nice to hear. They printed some of the screen captures for Jake since he couldn't be there.

Got to see the heart, the brain developing, the spine, and the umbilical cord blood flow... map thing.

And they changed my due date to November 2, instead of the 3, so a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday and that's what is going in my official chart I guess. But baby is measuring "two days tall" for my due date. I gladly let them know Jake is 6'5".

Now I need to nap. I've been up since 5:30.

Next appointment is May 5, and I think they're doing the first trimester screening ultrasound.

A random journey through my Wednesday.

Generally speaking, Wednesdays aren't anything exciting. Ordinarily, they're marked as the half-way point of a work-week, which is good and bad, depending on how you look at it.

To me, Wednesdays are the beginning of my week. And by week, I mean pregnancy week. An hCG trigger marks the day that my week begins new, and that shot happened on a Wednesday back in February.

That means, today I am 11 weeks pregnant. Holy moly!

Beyond that, however, today was your typical day of random bouts of epic fail sprinkled with some wonderful moments.

This is going to be one of those "look what I did today" rambles, sorry to say.

This morning, I needed to mail a package to China. Now, wouldn't you know, I get halfway to the post office before realizing I forgot my purse, so I had to drive all the way back home to get it. And, of course, I got stuck behind a really slow driver who was 5 mph under the speed limit for over a mile through town. I get home, race and get my purse, and hope that there isn't a re-run for the way back to the post office.

Luckily, I get to the post office just across from where I work with a few minutes to spare. I go inside, ready to send my item... and... wouldn't you know it. I had forgotten that the ACTUAL post offices in Sioux Falls don't allow you to acquire postage! There are a few, but generally, they don't. At this point, I'm really stinkin' mad, after wasting so much of my time, but resort to having to go to Hy-Vee later. Yeah, you mail stuff from Hy-Vee or Lewis Drug. It's messed up.

Work, luckily, was not like my postal endeavor. In fact, I was super productive despite the cramping baby Horseradish/Gummi Bear was giving me all day. I finished a bunch of things I needed to get done, with time to spare, and had a really good day with the 5 children we had in the room. Despite getting out of work a little earlier than I had anticipated, it was a good day.

And then, I received a phone call from my wonderful Miss Best Friend, who is getting married in a little over a month! Despite the fact that I don't really like talking on the phone and often miss phone calls due to my phone being on silent, I really enjoy talking to her and hearing her voice. Lucky me, I get to see her this weekend for her bridal shower and bachelorette party back home!

And now, I'm home. After transferring photos to my desktop computer, which doesn't have internet, and then saving them to an external drive to copy them onto my laptop (where I am now) and then uploading this photo to facebook:

I am sitting on the couch, feeling ready to puke my brains out, and trying to decide what, if anything, would be a satisfying supper.

Now, granted, I am not really complaining about the puketastic sensations I am feeling, because truthfully, I am more than overjoyed to be able to experience them, just stating it how it is, as I usually do. I've been pretty fortunate in that I don't get to the point of "sickness" usually, I just often feel like it.

I have to work early in the morning, so I suppose I should end my babble, get some food, and get to bed.

Peace.

I moved! I know, it's a hassle.

Yes... this is a bit strange. I just recently set up my "new" blog at wordpress.com, after moving from my own personal domain, trulynik.com. It makes me appear a little flighty, I suppose.

My logic is that my prior blog: http://handkerchiefconfessions.wordpress.com is a really long url to type and remember, and I was even having a heck of a time typing it in correctly. I'm going to leave it up and running so that my prior entries are still available to read, but I won't be using it anymore.

I apologize to all (not that there were many) of my readers at that page, and to those who are now following me around the internet to this page.

Another superficial reason for switching is that I think blogger is more easily manipulated, whereas my other site was hard for me to personalize and create.

Anyway, I haven't much to say right now because I'm absolutely starving, so I'll go. I might be back later this evening yet, so stay tuned.

And for the past confessions, from my wordpress site, don't forget to click here:

http://handkerchiefconfessions.wordpress.com

Peace!