That was the beats per minute of the baby on Friday when we had a visit. Quite a fun, crazy experience. There are actually two hearts inside of Jocelyn. That is wacky. But everything has been going well in terms of the baby, no sickness, just in that state of waiting.
Anyway, sorry for my lack of posts.
We are still stuck in the middle of this money stuff and it has been paralyzing in some ways to look into the future as it would be nice for the rest of this stuff/money to be ironed out. I am just praying that everything goes smoothly from here on out with the new house and that eventually (within the next couple months) we get the rest of the money and then of course, complete the sale of our house. It just feels like our life is on hold.
Jocelyn and I are both ready for the summer and the next few steps of life. So it goes, I guess/know this is jsut part of it. The time "in between" has always been some of the most difficult times of life as you just want to count down the days, go to sleep so the next day comes, etc, but of course that is not the way to live life. So that is just the time we are both kind of in, just looking forward to what is next.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Lemons
Trying to keep up and post more frequently!
I was reading a bit on Babycenter.com today (yes, every now and again, I actually read things about the baby) and learned that the baby is now about the size of a lemon. We've progressed from a peanut to a lemon, nice.
I hope it is growing, because I have no other great excuse for my body growing and changing. I'm obviously not on my bike as much, but I don't think that quite compensates for my butt feeling snug in my jeans for the first time in a loooooong time, and a belt merely being decor instead of serving the purpose of keeping up my loose pants. It's all quite weird to experience. For the past 3 years, I've consistently lost weight, so going the reverse is a little bizarre...I'm not worried about it, I do know it's all part of the deal, and will go away soon enough.
In other news, I've tried to up my red meat intake from zero to something recently. Jonathan's dad makes the best steaks on earth (well, not to those of you who actually like the taste of pure steak...he seasons them well and maybe that's why they don't shock my taste buds like pure beef would), and that has helped to bridge the gap a bit. Still, my intake is rather inconsistent, once a month at best. At Trader Joes last week I decided to buy buffalo burger patties, figuring I'd one day get the urge. Decided to cook those up last night. They were ok-spicy mustard and tons of pickles helped out taste-wise, but I think my body took about 5 hours to digest my one patty. Ug. It's like my system just begins operating in slow motion, pushing the food through it like freaking glue. Oh well...43 grams of protein can't hurt. I surely don't get than on an average day. Buffalo meat is rather lean in comparison with beef as well, so I felt a bit better about it. And ethically, it was free-range, hormone and anit-biotic free meat, and likely not processed like your typical steer would be...so I'm at peace with the whole situation.
We're still working on settling this house issue...have a lawyer working with us now so that hopefully scares our "opponents" a bit and helps them realize we're serious about our money and they're seriously off base with trying to keep it. We have settlement on the Wayne Avenue house in less than 4 weeks now, so that is becoming more exciting as we go along.
My last day of work is tentatively on the calendar...which is superfantastic but weird all at once. June 19 I will be finished with full-time employment for a spell...no more office neon lights sucking the life out of me for 8 hours a day.
I did pre-natal yoga for the first time last night. Jonathan bought me a video with the ever-popular Shiva Rae. They have 3 demonstrators-one for each trimester. I'm trying to just concentrate on the first trimester one because the other two are a bit daunting to look at right now! I'm officially into my second trimester, but I think the demonstrator they chose for that time frame is either having twins or nearing the end of her second tri. phew.
Still working on names...well, haven't worked on them, but still talking over options. More to come...
I was reading a bit on Babycenter.com today (yes, every now and again, I actually read things about the baby) and learned that the baby is now about the size of a lemon. We've progressed from a peanut to a lemon, nice.
I hope it is growing, because I have no other great excuse for my body growing and changing. I'm obviously not on my bike as much, but I don't think that quite compensates for my butt feeling snug in my jeans for the first time in a loooooong time, and a belt merely being decor instead of serving the purpose of keeping up my loose pants. It's all quite weird to experience. For the past 3 years, I've consistently lost weight, so going the reverse is a little bizarre...I'm not worried about it, I do know it's all part of the deal, and will go away soon enough.
In other news, I've tried to up my red meat intake from zero to something recently. Jonathan's dad makes the best steaks on earth (well, not to those of you who actually like the taste of pure steak...he seasons them well and maybe that's why they don't shock my taste buds like pure beef would), and that has helped to bridge the gap a bit. Still, my intake is rather inconsistent, once a month at best. At Trader Joes last week I decided to buy buffalo burger patties, figuring I'd one day get the urge. Decided to cook those up last night. They were ok-spicy mustard and tons of pickles helped out taste-wise, but I think my body took about 5 hours to digest my one patty. Ug. It's like my system just begins operating in slow motion, pushing the food through it like freaking glue. Oh well...43 grams of protein can't hurt. I surely don't get than on an average day. Buffalo meat is rather lean in comparison with beef as well, so I felt a bit better about it. And ethically, it was free-range, hormone and anit-biotic free meat, and likely not processed like your typical steer would be...so I'm at peace with the whole situation.
We're still working on settling this house issue...have a lawyer working with us now so that hopefully scares our "opponents" a bit and helps them realize we're serious about our money and they're seriously off base with trying to keep it. We have settlement on the Wayne Avenue house in less than 4 weeks now, so that is becoming more exciting as we go along.
My last day of work is tentatively on the calendar...which is superfantastic but weird all at once. June 19 I will be finished with full-time employment for a spell...no more office neon lights sucking the life out of me for 8 hours a day.
I did pre-natal yoga for the first time last night. Jonathan bought me a video with the ever-popular Shiva Rae. They have 3 demonstrators-one for each trimester. I'm trying to just concentrate on the first trimester one because the other two are a bit daunting to look at right now! I'm officially into my second trimester, but I think the demonstrator they chose for that time frame is either having twins or nearing the end of her second tri. phew.
Still working on names...well, haven't worked on them, but still talking over options. More to come...
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Ug, exhausted
Yes, we have been slacking on posting again lately. We are still dealing with super-drama over the house we've been trying to release from sale. Seller's are still holding our deposit of freaking $5000, and we're exhausted from all the run-around legal consultation and this and that. The whole story is far too long to put in a blog post.
Anyhow, not much new on the "baby front." I've definitely gained a few pounds...enough that if I'm standing against Jonathan ready to hug him or something, there's a bit more contact with my belly than usual! I've been feeling fine, still have little food quirks, but overall am doing alright. We're both mainly suffering from stress over the house stuff...for me, stress kills my appetite, which isn't exactly helpful with the whole pregnancy thing. That baby needs food whether I want it or not. But so it goes...doesn't look like thing will be solved anytime very soon, so we'll just have to adjust to sitting back and trusting God's timing in all this.
Our next appointment is March 27. In between the last appointment and the one this month, they wanted me to go through this sequential screening stuff. At first (like a month ago) I had agreed to it and figured whatever, I'll just ignore it and do it so the doctors are satisfied. I did more research on it though, the week before I was supposed to go, and just didn't feel right about it. I don't really support making procedures semi-mandatory for the purpose of research, and I have no interest in finding out right now if my baby is missing an arm or has downs' syndrome...that would be devastating to us and then we'd have to figure out how to go through the next several months "planning" for such a thing. So I decided to not do the screenings. I was scared of what my doc would think, as last time we spoke about it, he was pretty adamant that we do the screens. "Intelligent people do these so they can make intelligent decisions." Well, apparently, I am unintelligent, and honestly, I'm not sure what an intelligent person has over an unintelligent person when it comes to dealing with the trauma of finding out your baby has a potential disability or life-threatening condition. Somehow, I think brains aren't completely relevant in that situation. I had the opportunity to speak with my doc about this when he called last week to tell me that I had an irregular pap smear, but "Oh, it's no big deal, we ran tests and everything is totally fine..just happens sometimes, and I'm obligated to tell you." Well FANTASTIC, (truly, it is fantastic but...) I'll just hang up my cell phone, and walk back to my desk with the shakes from that traumatic false alarm. Sheesh. As I tried to recover on the phone from the moment of "WHAT THE @#$* DID YOU JUST TELL ME!?", I managed to let him know, firmly, that I was opposed to the screenings and did not intend to get them done. (holding breath here...) He was ok with it, said that decision is mine, but does encourage me to get the Quad screen, which would be in about 3-4 weeks. We'l see...I have to do more research on that one. I don't get how women have been having babies forever, and my mom had babies and didn't have screens, and in the end-that baby either comes out fine or doesn't. I don't agree at all with genetic selection, and in many ways, that's what these screens mess with...I'll spare you all the rest of my lecture series on why I'm not into the screenings.
Oh in other news, my friend Rachel and I sat on the floor at Barnes and Nobles last week pouring over baby name books...partially because I really need to get to work on that, but also just for entertainment purposes. Some people are really wrecks about naming their kids, at least by the looks of these books they seem to be. No great finds as of yet....unless we should consider some rather "unique" ones like Odetta or Philemina (kind of like that one, but can't swallow the first 4 letters without thinking it's a boy). Jonathan currently likes Ravi. I suggested it but was having some trouble dealing with the rather super-starish sound of "Ravi Ruiz". It would really be Ravi Luis Ruiz, which is a bit more melodic and realistic. We've gotten fairly good review so far, with chuckles when paired with the last name. Jonathan's girls' name of choice is still Amaris. We have some research to do, yet...I had no idea there were books out there with 100,000 names. Ug.
Well, I suppose that's about all for now. Sufficient update. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers regarding this house issue....mainly, that we get our 5k back, but also that we demonstrate good character and are kind throughought this process.
Anyhow, not much new on the "baby front." I've definitely gained a few pounds...enough that if I'm standing against Jonathan ready to hug him or something, there's a bit more contact with my belly than usual! I've been feeling fine, still have little food quirks, but overall am doing alright. We're both mainly suffering from stress over the house stuff...for me, stress kills my appetite, which isn't exactly helpful with the whole pregnancy thing. That baby needs food whether I want it or not. But so it goes...doesn't look like thing will be solved anytime very soon, so we'll just have to adjust to sitting back and trusting God's timing in all this.
Our next appointment is March 27. In between the last appointment and the one this month, they wanted me to go through this sequential screening stuff. At first (like a month ago) I had agreed to it and figured whatever, I'll just ignore it and do it so the doctors are satisfied. I did more research on it though, the week before I was supposed to go, and just didn't feel right about it. I don't really support making procedures semi-mandatory for the purpose of research, and I have no interest in finding out right now if my baby is missing an arm or has downs' syndrome...that would be devastating to us and then we'd have to figure out how to go through the next several months "planning" for such a thing. So I decided to not do the screenings. I was scared of what my doc would think, as last time we spoke about it, he was pretty adamant that we do the screens. "Intelligent people do these so they can make intelligent decisions." Well, apparently, I am unintelligent, and honestly, I'm not sure what an intelligent person has over an unintelligent person when it comes to dealing with the trauma of finding out your baby has a potential disability or life-threatening condition. Somehow, I think brains aren't completely relevant in that situation. I had the opportunity to speak with my doc about this when he called last week to tell me that I had an irregular pap smear, but "Oh, it's no big deal, we ran tests and everything is totally fine..just happens sometimes, and I'm obligated to tell you." Well FANTASTIC, (truly, it is fantastic but...) I'll just hang up my cell phone, and walk back to my desk with the shakes from that traumatic false alarm. Sheesh. As I tried to recover on the phone from the moment of "WHAT THE @#$* DID YOU JUST TELL ME!?", I managed to let him know, firmly, that I was opposed to the screenings and did not intend to get them done. (holding breath here...) He was ok with it, said that decision is mine, but does encourage me to get the Quad screen, which would be in about 3-4 weeks. We'l see...I have to do more research on that one. I don't get how women have been having babies forever, and my mom had babies and didn't have screens, and in the end-that baby either comes out fine or doesn't. I don't agree at all with genetic selection, and in many ways, that's what these screens mess with...I'll spare you all the rest of my lecture series on why I'm not into the screenings.
Oh in other news, my friend Rachel and I sat on the floor at Barnes and Nobles last week pouring over baby name books...partially because I really need to get to work on that, but also just for entertainment purposes. Some people are really wrecks about naming their kids, at least by the looks of these books they seem to be. No great finds as of yet....unless we should consider some rather "unique" ones like Odetta or Philemina (kind of like that one, but can't swallow the first 4 letters without thinking it's a boy). Jonathan currently likes Ravi. I suggested it but was having some trouble dealing with the rather super-starish sound of "Ravi Ruiz". It would really be Ravi Luis Ruiz, which is a bit more melodic and realistic. We've gotten fairly good review so far, with chuckles when paired with the last name. Jonathan's girls' name of choice is still Amaris. We have some research to do, yet...I had no idea there were books out there with 100,000 names. Ug.
Well, I suppose that's about all for now. Sufficient update. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers regarding this house issue....mainly, that we get our 5k back, but also that we demonstrate good character and are kind throughought this process.
Friday, March 13, 2009
if we had it today...
and it was my choice, and i think jocelyn's too (she goes back and forth)
if it was a we would name him ravi luis and the girl would be named amaris elizabeth or amaris helen.
sorry we are just kind of in waiting and busy this past week as life would have it as we wait for these people to sign the release of the other house. soon we hope, one way or another we will be buying the house we mentioned and living close to mom so thats a great thing. Just wanted to give you a quick update.
if it was a we would name him ravi luis and the girl would be named amaris elizabeth or amaris helen.
sorry we are just kind of in waiting and busy this past week as life would have it as we wait for these people to sign the release of the other house. soon we hope, one way or another we will be buying the house we mentioned and living close to mom so thats a great thing. Just wanted to give you a quick update.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
CHANGE of plans....(what else is new)
So, true to our "style" of life, we changed our moving plans slightly. Originally, we posted about this cute little house in Allentown that we were going to have to do some remodeling on-rip out floors and walls, paint everything, figure out how to make 2 bedrooms into 3, etc. Well, the sellers of that house have been taking their good old time in our negotiation process and have been uncooperative in regards to some repairs that were to be made and issues that should have been taken care of per our agreement of sale. Over the past month, we've had much time to think about this decision since they would take a week or so to respond to anything we sent them. We began to loathe the amount of work we would have to do-with the added stress of me being pregnant and unable to do things I normally enjoy such as painting and what not, and kept thinking about the fact that we would be in a school district we don't exactly prefer, and we would be putting several thousand dollars into this house in order to make it what we want. Since we had the time and our real estate agent is super helpful and patient, we went around looking at other houses to make sure that we felt like this house was right for us. We were about to give up because we had looked at an additional 10 or so and found nothing we really liked, and then my mom mentioned some near her house.
Ok, let me review the fact that I have NEVER pictured moving back to the LV in the first place, under any great circumstances, much less have I imagined moving back to the same area I grew up in, same zipcode, seriously 1.5 miles away from the house I grew up in. That was just NOT "my thing." Well, clearly, life bends and twists and takes you places you once swore you'd never go, and your mind changes and begins to realize the silly reasons why you drew your original map out in the first place. I'll spare you the long story and say I got over it and realized that I loved growing up in that area as a kid, and I loved the schools I went to, so I'm sure that our kid will love it and have a great experience as well. Works out.
Continueing on...we were in Allentown last weekend for some things, and my mom drove me past this twin home down near my high school. It was cute. I looked it up online later that week and we set an appointment to see it for Saturday (now yesterday) morning. This house is completely finished, has 3 bedrooms (which was lacking in the other house), and is in move-in condition. Many other details to come as we get pictures and what not. So...we decided it's exactly what we're looking for and exactly where we want to live, put a bid in when we got to our agent's office, and within 4 hours, had worked out a deal with the sellers. Oh-small detail, because the sellers of the allentown house did not agree to do some of the repairs, we were able to ask for a release and request our deposit back, so we did that paperwork yesterday as well and are officially done with the allentown house. So between 8:30am and 5:00pm we reached an agreement on a different house, one we completely love, and Jonathan had an interview with Allentown school district that seemed to go really well. Amazing day.
That's the only pic we have so far of the new, and FINAL house. Has a nice yard in the back as well, and 2 dead end streets running in front of and aside of the house so no traffic. Yes, we are quite thrilled.
Anyhow, I have to run, we have a few loose ends to tie up with this today...but yay, we finally feel a peace of mind about this whole house situation, and have NO WORK TO DO in May! :)
Ok, let me review the fact that I have NEVER pictured moving back to the LV in the first place, under any great circumstances, much less have I imagined moving back to the same area I grew up in, same zipcode, seriously 1.5 miles away from the house I grew up in. That was just NOT "my thing." Well, clearly, life bends and twists and takes you places you once swore you'd never go, and your mind changes and begins to realize the silly reasons why you drew your original map out in the first place. I'll spare you the long story and say I got over it and realized that I loved growing up in that area as a kid, and I loved the schools I went to, so I'm sure that our kid will love it and have a great experience as well. Works out.
Continueing on...we were in Allentown last weekend for some things, and my mom drove me past this twin home down near my high school. It was cute. I looked it up online later that week and we set an appointment to see it for Saturday (now yesterday) morning. This house is completely finished, has 3 bedrooms (which was lacking in the other house), and is in move-in condition. Many other details to come as we get pictures and what not. So...we decided it's exactly what we're looking for and exactly where we want to live, put a bid in when we got to our agent's office, and within 4 hours, had worked out a deal with the sellers. Oh-small detail, because the sellers of the allentown house did not agree to do some of the repairs, we were able to ask for a release and request our deposit back, so we did that paperwork yesterday as well and are officially done with the allentown house. So between 8:30am and 5:00pm we reached an agreement on a different house, one we completely love, and Jonathan had an interview with Allentown school district that seemed to go really well. Amazing day.
That's the only pic we have so far of the new, and FINAL house. Has a nice yard in the back as well, and 2 dead end streets running in front of and aside of the house so no traffic. Yes, we are quite thrilled.Anyhow, I have to run, we have a few loose ends to tie up with this today...but yay, we finally feel a peace of mind about this whole house situation, and have NO WORK TO DO in May! :)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Fortunes
Apparently, I remain an irresponsible blogger and simply cannot keep up with regular entries. I did want to comment on a recent "fortune" I found in my fortune cookie Tuesday night.
"Enjoy life while you can."
Seriously? Several things come to mind-(1) wow isnt' that the truth! only I CAN'T completely enjoy things because 2 sides of my brain are constantly at war, and there's a live human inside me that doesn't appreciate when I raise my heart rate, drink wine or drive in the car for a long time! (2) cruel trick, God, just cruel..sure, you're laughing, but really? (3) ok crumble it up....just throw it away, take a deep breath (not lamaze class yet), it'll all be fine...it's a lying fortune.
Another notable experience shortly following the fortune cookie scare was going to Giant to try to find Expecta DHA supplement, and ice cream, of course. We walk in, and begin the search for these pills. I wasn't exactly sure where to look, because they arent vitamins, and they aren't baby formula though they're made by Similac. Jonathan's answer to "where are they":
"Oh, well here are the women pills.....". Women pills? There's no typo there...he did not put a possessive "s" on there, it was just Women Pills. Sadly, they weren't there. Or near the formula. So I have yet to find it.
Otherwise, not much else is new. We continue this process of negotiating with the sellars of the house we have been looking at. Hoping to hear back from them today regarding some air conditioning and plumbing items we requested be fixed according to the agreement of sale. If that doesn't work out...not sure what we'll do exactly. We change our minds here and there and think well, if we could find something else in the meantime that doesn't require work, that would be excellent. But who knows. The Lehigh Valley housing market is so bizarre. Some homes go for far less than what they're listed for, others are bid up and go for $10,000-$20,000 more than what they're listed for. Just one of those weird things.
Guess I should get back to work. Our cats have been obnoxious lately and tend to keep us up at night by banging on doors and running around like maniacs, so in addition to the pregancy factor, that's hampering my energy level dramatically. So it goes...still no stomach sickness, though, so I can't complain too much.
"Enjoy life while you can."
Seriously? Several things come to mind-(1) wow isnt' that the truth! only I CAN'T completely enjoy things because 2 sides of my brain are constantly at war, and there's a live human inside me that doesn't appreciate when I raise my heart rate, drink wine or drive in the car for a long time! (2) cruel trick, God, just cruel..sure, you're laughing, but really? (3) ok crumble it up....just throw it away, take a deep breath (not lamaze class yet), it'll all be fine...it's a lying fortune.
Another notable experience shortly following the fortune cookie scare was going to Giant to try to find Expecta DHA supplement, and ice cream, of course. We walk in, and begin the search for these pills. I wasn't exactly sure where to look, because they arent vitamins, and they aren't baby formula though they're made by Similac. Jonathan's answer to "where are they":
"Oh, well here are the women pills.....". Women pills? There's no typo there...he did not put a possessive "s" on there, it was just Women Pills. Sadly, they weren't there. Or near the formula. So I have yet to find it.
Otherwise, not much else is new. We continue this process of negotiating with the sellars of the house we have been looking at. Hoping to hear back from them today regarding some air conditioning and plumbing items we requested be fixed according to the agreement of sale. If that doesn't work out...not sure what we'll do exactly. We change our minds here and there and think well, if we could find something else in the meantime that doesn't require work, that would be excellent. But who knows. The Lehigh Valley housing market is so bizarre. Some homes go for far less than what they're listed for, others are bid up and go for $10,000-$20,000 more than what they're listed for. Just one of those weird things.
Guess I should get back to work. Our cats have been obnoxious lately and tend to keep us up at night by banging on doors and running around like maniacs, so in addition to the pregancy factor, that's hampering my energy level dramatically. So it goes...still no stomach sickness, though, so I can't complain too much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)