What's in a Name?

As Meg reminded me in her comment, I haven't written about our latest name change. The girl's name is still Abigail Margaret (Abby). I've had the name Abigail picked out since I was in the second grade and received my first Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas who's name was Abigail. I don't even care that the name has become so horribly popular in recent years. I thought of it first!

The boy's name was a little more tricky. Ed is a III, and although his mother is insistent that we should name our first-born son Edward Joseph IV, Ed is dead set against it. I wouldn't mind too much, but it's up to my husband whether or not he wants to continue that particular tradition. Since he really doesn't, we thought we'd be smart and reverse the name, hoping that it would satisfy his mother. I've always liked the name Joseph, so I was fine with Joseph Edward.

Then we told his mother. Apparently she hates the name Joey because of some creepy little kid that used to live across the street from her. Since the name was mostly for her sake anyway, we scrapped it and decided to go for something different. Ed actually did want to keep the name Edward...he just didn't want the whole thing. So we're going with Edward Ronald...which actually makes me very happy. I had always hoped to get my dad's name in there somewhere and now I get my wish. The best part was that it was Ed's idea...I never even mentioned my wish to him. So I'm happy, my husband's happy, and my mom's thrilled. I'm sure his mom will get over it someday, but hey...it's our kid.

Not that we know what we're having yet, but most people (including myself) seem to be of the opinion that I'm having a boy. Except for Ed and Claire (who told me through Becky that "boys are yucky"). I guess we'll see in about a month when I have my big sonogram. I can't wait!

Oh the Pain

I've apparently traded in the exhaustion and nausea of the first trimester for the aches and pains of the second trimester. My hips have been hurting me for about a week, but it hasn't been too bad. Then there was yesterday. It was my fault because we had a bookfair at the store the night before and I was running around like a crazy person for a couple of hours. They started to hurt by the end of the event, but when I woke up yesterday, it was agony.

It didn't help that my driveway was wet when I left for work and I (being the clumsy dope that I am) managed to slip on the down slope and landed on my dupa. Luckily I kind of slid down along my leg, so I didn't go down hard (plus there's plenty of padding where I landed), but it definitely didn't help my already existing pain. I was shuffling around like a little old lady throughout the day. My manager finally insisted that I go home early, which I finally agreed to.

Oh, it wasn't just my hips though. I was also sore as hell in the front too. I was starting to worry about it, so I called my sister/nurse advisor/recent preggo who's pregnancy was pretty much like mine. She said that it's perfectly normal and even gave me the medical term for it (once she remembered what it was). My body is just making room for the baby.

Once I rested up at home a bit, I went to see my Claire Bear (who's still the prettiest baby in the world...until mine's born). See picture for proof:


Becky wanted to go get some things done, so I stayed with the baby and played for awhile. It was quite amusing. Then Becky came home and I made my yummy salad dressing for her to take to a party tonight. Then I went home and cried to Ed that I was in pain, so he took me out for dinner (not that we can afford it, but oh well). It was good and it made me happy.

This morning I am feeling much better. The hip pain has gone back to minor annoyance...at least for the time being. I'm still sore in front, but I can deal with that. Now I'm getting ready for my Pampered Chef show. I'm just happy I'll be able to stand for the whole thing. Woohoo!

Stupid Dumb Car

My car failed the emissions test way back in January. I had a feeling that it was going to because the engine light had been on for awhile, but since it was right around the holidays we never got around to getting it looked at. So, it failed. We took my car in a couple months ago and got it fixed. Today I was leaving to get it re-tested at the stupid emission place (which I absolutely hate going to btw), when the engine light goes on again. What kind of crappy luck is that? So we're going to have to take it back in and pray that it's something under warranty from the last time we went. At least I have until the day after my birthday to get it re-tested. Suckity suck suck suck! That is all.

Randomness

Geez people...harass me a little more about updating why doncha? I thought I was doing pretty good too. Sheesh!

Anyway, nothing much going on right now. Ed's either been umpiring or playing softball every night this week, so I've been bored. Went to dinner with my mom tonight...that was good (fattening, but good). Then we went to Safeway and she bought me a few groceries. She said not to write that on my blog, but I just did anyway. I'm a rebel like that.

Here's more randomness...to answer Val's last question on the comments of my last post, Ed and I do have a television in our bedroom. I have trouble falling asleep unless it's on. The best thing we ever bought was a tv with a sleep function on the remote so I can set it to turn itself off. Love, love, love it!

Saturday is my first Pampered Chef show since the one at Becky's house. I was hoping to have three this month, but one had to cancel and one never set a date (yes, that means YOU, ERIN!!!). I seriously need to get some more booked or I'll never be able to make the payments on the credit card that got pretty well used once Ed left his last job. Plus some before that. Blah.

In happy news (for me and Meg anyway) the new Harry Potter trailer is now online. It's awesome. If you don't think so, you're an asshat!

Sleeping On My Side

I've been trying to get myself used to sleeping mostly on my left side so that when I absolutely have to, it won't be too difficult an adjustment. So far, it's not going so good. I start off fine, but then my back starts to kill me and I have to roll over. Or I'll fall asleep the right way, but every time I wake up, I'm either on my back (my preferred position) or my right side (my second favorite position). I can't seem to make myself stay where I need to be. Plus, when I'm on my left side, I'm facing Ed. I hate sleeping face-to-face with him...it's just uncomfortable (and he like to sleep on his right side). Did anyone else have issues with this or is it just my weirdness?

Go Baby!

My ticker moved up a picture when I wasn't looking! That's exciting. Now my little jelly bean is really starting to look like a baby. Yay!

I begged off going to softball with Ed today, even though it's beautiful out. It was mostly because I knew I was going to get roped into babysitting our neighbor's 4-year-old daughter while he played and I didn't feel like dealing with it. I love kids, but I hardly know this little girl (my total interaction with her has consisted of a few brief "conversations" while I was grilling on the back porch and she was playing with her daddy in their backyard) and I hate babysitting when I don't know the kid. So I stayed home, finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the 168th time, and even cleaned the kitchen.

I'm even happier that I didn't go because Ed's still not home. It's the first day of the season, so I knew that he would want to hang around and watch some of the other teams for awhile. I don't care how long he stays, as long as I'm not there waiting impatiently to go home. So, it's better all around this way. Boys and their sports!

Fun Saturday

I had a lovely day today, thanks to my wonderful friend Kathy. Apparently she rocks at work and was thus rewarded with two free tickets to see Molly Ringwald in Sweet Charity at the Hippodrome this afternoon. And lucky me got to go with her. Oh how I do love the theater...especially when I don't have to pay for it. The show was very good...there were even a couple of highly recognizable songs in there that have been stuck in my head ever since.

Then, after the show we went out for dinner. She said the "S" word (steak), so once that was in my head, it was all over. We went to the Outback in Canton and then walked to a really good Italian gelato shop for dessert. Yumminess all around. I'll have to be good for a couple of days to make up for it, but it was worth it. Thanks, Kathy! :)

On the pregnancy front, my uterus has been sore for the past few days. I'm assuming this is normal because it should be expanding this week. Confirmation anyone?

Happy Heart

My baby has a strong, healthy heartbeat. Hooray! I feel much better now after hearing that as I'm going into the second trimester. The doctor found it immediately too, so I didn't have to have that second of worry while he searched. Too bad I can't say the same of my blood pressure. The nurse tried to take it, but was getting a really high reading and she said that she was having trouble hearing my pulse. Weird. Even the doctor had to try twice before he got it. After all that, my blood pressure was fine. Thank goodness for that.

It turns out that I am a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis (just like Becky). So that means that Ed has to have blood-work done to make sure he's not a carrier. I'm not too worried about it since his sister just had her baby and she didn't test positive for it. It usually runs in families. No sense making myself crazy over it unless I have to. If Ed tests negative, then all's fine. If he's positive, then there's a 25% chance that my baby will have it. But again, we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Other than that, my blood work looked great. I go back in 4 weeks to have more blood drawn and he'll give me the go-ahead to have the big sonogram done. Then I can start thinking about registering. Good times all around. :)

Doing Nothing

I'm currently enjoying my third day off in a row and am celebrating by doing absolutely nothing. Actually, I celebrated yesterday by doing the exact same thing. I figure that I might as well enjoy some lazy days now, because in a little over six months, it will be a long time before I get another one.

Speaking of which, I am 13 weeks along today! Hooray! Am I in my second trimester yet or is that next week? Either way, I'm feeling good right now. The tiredness has slackened off and despite a brief comeback early last week, the nausea is holding off as well. I have my second doctor's appointment tomorrow, so Ed and I will finally get to hear the heartbeat. Exciting stuff.

The eating thing is still a pain. I'm starving all the time, but when I sit down to eat a meal, I'm stuffed about halfway through. Then I'm starving again a couple of hours later. I should probably just resign myself to eating several smaller meals throughout the day. The weight is still coming off a little too. I got on the scale this morning and I am 7 pounds down from my weight at my last doctor's appointment. D'oh.

Holy Crap, Am I Tired!

Had my HUGE signing today. It started at 2 and didn't end until 6 (and that was with us turning many people away). Good times all around. I was at the front of the line collecting books and cameras to hand off and letting people go through one group at a time. It went really well until we hit the time snafu at the end, but what can you do. The man's a god around here and everyone wants to meet him.

I, however, am exhausted. Luckily my nice-guy manager had someone go to one of the bars to get me a bar stool so I could sit down most of the time. I still wound up running around a lot though. I was just trying not to kill myself or hurt my baby. But now my feet, legs, back and head are all killing me...plus I'm starving!!! Ed's going to splurge and take me to Bateman's to get dinner soon though. Cause I'm way too tired to cook!

I have to run into work for about 15 minutes tomorrow to report my weekly sales. I didn't want to do it before I left today because I want every book sold today to be reflected in my numbers. But after I leave, I'm on a mini-vacation until Thursday. And I need it! So if anyone wants to do lunch or something Monday or Tuesday, just let me know. :)

Frickin' Orioles

I watch the whole darned scoreless game, just to see them give up a grand slam in the 20th inning (at least it feels like the 20th inning). I'm not holding my breath that they'll come back. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Anyway, I'm having a boring night. The hubby is off at softball (still). They had the late games tonight, which apparently are going extremely late. It's the first night of the season though, so I'll cut him some slack. He also started umpiring this week (we need the extra $$). He wound up with games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He played tonight. I'm not getting to see him much right now. Hopefully it will get better soon.

On the bright side, I was off today since I have to be in on Saturday for my big event. Ed had an easy day, so we went out for an early dinner at Carrabba's (with the $$ my momma gave us for Easter). I love the place. I got my Sirloin Marsala and it was good. Plus it satisfied my steak craving for a couple of weeks, so that was a bonus. With Ed not being home nights, I haven't been making dinner which means I'm not getting enough protein. So it was good we got to go out tonight.

For now I'm having fun playing Pogo. I'm hooked on the bowling game tonight. I'm determined to get to the next rank before I quit for the night. I'm only three spins away. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you must try the Pogo. Way fun, mindless games that you can play for hours on end. Let me know and I'll send you a pass.

That's all for now. Hopefully the hubby will get home soon so we can watch Lost before bed. Actually, I refuse to go to bed until we watch Lost, but I'm getting sleepy so it better be soon.

My First Strange Craving

Is it weird that I'm craving yellow mustard? Seriously...of all things. Although it's still not as strange as Erin's beer craving. That takes the cake.

I was starving at lunch time today, but just didn't feel like eating anything. I went through all the menus for all the restaurants on the Avenue, but nothing was appealing to me. Then all of a sudden, I decided that I needed an Asiago Pretzel from the cafe, but only if I could get it with mustard. I hardly ever have mustard with my soft pretzels, but in my mind, I had to have it. So I got my pretzel and four pouches of yellow mustard. The mustard was gone before the pretzel. Then I kept thinking of the mustard. My mouth is actually watering now thinking about it some more.

It's just weird, I tell you!

Hoppy Easter!

As is tradition with most holidays, Ed and I spent most of today running around. Can't wait to try it with a baby. At least I didn't wind up in the emergency room this time, so that's a bonus!

First we went to my mom's mom for about an hour. She had Polish sausage, so that was worth the trip. Then we went to my other grandma's for our first dinner of the day. Ate too much, but it was good. Then Ed and I (Becky and Scott had already bolted with Claire) tried to ignore my crazy uncle as he went on one of his tirades. When we couldn't take it anymore, we got the heck out of dodge and came home so I could take a quick (20 minute) nap. Then we went to Ed's parents' house for dinner number two. Again, good stuff. And we got to see both nieces today, so that was like a bonus. Now I'm tired (shocker, I know) and I'm dreading going to work tomorrow. If for no other reason, just because it's work and schools are out this week. Blah.

Yesterday was good too. We had Val's baby shower. Yay! It turned out very nice. It was mostly Meghan and Don's mom coordinating the thing from here and Florida. But somehow it all came together in the end. Val and Don got lots of stuff for the baby...just don't know where they're going to put it all. Good luck with that, Val! ;)

All-in-all, a good (yet extremely tiring) weekend. Now back to the grind.

Same Old, Same Old

Wow, am I boring. Just nothing much going on right now. Work is work. I'm still tired all the time. I'm still hungry all the time. I'm still losing a little bit of weight (although, thankfully, it's slowed down). I'm still waiting for Ed to make his first million (heh).

Speaking of Ed, he's been sick with a terrible cold all week. It was really bad yesterday. He decided to take a nap with me, which he never does, and then proceeded to toss and turn so much that I couldn't sleep. How rude. I had to run to Target during my lunch to buy him some Clariton D. We went to the store on Tuesday, but we got there after the pharmacy closed and that's one of the medicines that you now have to go to the pharmacy to buy. They scan your license and everything. But I was tired of listening to him whine about his nose. Men. At least Lost was good last night. Yay. :)

Not Much Happening

Life's been blah the past few days. Friday Ed and I went back to the hospital to see Kaylee again. She's still a cutie. They released her and Wendi on Saturday, so they're happily at home now. Yay!

My mom and I spent most of Saturday together. We went to see my grandmother and I had to sit through some fun crazy family drama. Whatever. At least she took me to Ze Mean Bean for lunch and I got my pirogis. Yum! And mom gave me her kielbasa from her meal, so that was like a bonus. Nothing like a good ethnic meal. We went to Walmart after that and she bought me some stuff I needed since she's currently worried about my financial well-being. Things are definitely tight right now, but they should get better soon.

Yesterday I did nothing and I liked it. Ed was gone most of the day between softball practice and an umpire meeting in the evening. So that gave me an excuse to do nothing but watch tv, play on the computer and finish my book. I read Laura Lippman's new one, "What the Dead Know." Very good if anybody is interested. She had a signing at my store on Thursday, which did very well. She always comes to us for every new book and we always get a nice crowd. My mom and her friend Juanita showed up for this one and they both had a good time. My next signing is with Cal Ripken a week from Saturday. May the force be with me!

Today is a crappy day...pretty much the worst of both worlds. I have a bookfair tonight, so I had to be in the store at 7:00 this morning (which, in my opinion, is the butt-crack of dawn) for our weekly manager's meeting. I'm home now, but have to go back at 3 until 9:30 for the bookfair. Good times. At least I'll have time for a nap, so I won't be too exhausted tonight. Maybe I'll even feel feisty today and get some things done around the house. I was reduced to eating my cereal out of a tupperware this morning because we ran out of clean bowls. Oops.

For now though, I think I'm going to go back to bed for a little while. I'll be happy when this first trimester exhaustion is over and done with.