Ahead of Schedule

Although it’s a known fact that Mondays do in fact suck… this particular Monday was a rare exception!  Not only did I have the day off and didn’t have to go to my crummy job, but it was our second doctor’s appointment and I was totally anxious to hear what the doctor had to say.  The visit was mainly to get a bunch of blood work done, which I wasn’t too thrilled about… but the doctor was also going to see the results of the ultrasound we had a couple of weeks ago and let us know what he thought.

Alec had class and couldn’t come… so I had to put on my brave face and my big girl pants and deal with the blood drawing needles alone!  For fear I would totally panic and pass out during the blood drawing process… I immediately asked for a lollipop!  It was of course a Vitamin B lollipop to help thwart morning sickness, which I didn’t have at the time… but somehow I just felt like having that lollipop would be worth trying to help calm my nerves.  So there I was trying to be calm and not think about that foot-long needle that I was about to be stabbed with… when suddenly the door opened and in came the doctor.  We chit-chatted for a few and made sure I didn’t have any questions… and then he pulled out the little Doppler machine to see if he (we) could hear the baby’s heartbeat!  It was so unexpected and I was so excited to hear my baby’s little heartbeat that I had totally forgotten about the whole needle & blood thing happening to my arm!  So while the nurse continued to suck the life out of me… the doctor turned on the Doppler and began to listen to the life inside of me!  The doctor easily found the heartbeat and thumping away it was at a very healthy & steady 155 beats per minute… how exciting!    

Once the doctor finished and the nurse got me all bandaged up… the doctor gave me the results of the ultrasound.  Fortunately, everything looks good and little ‘butterbean’ actually measured a little bigger than expected… which means that just three days after being in the ninth week, we are jumping ahead to week 10… which of course means a new due date!

New due date: September 28, 2011!

On a different note, I have learned to categorize my days between good days and bad days.  For a day or two I got overly excited because I thought I was out of the proverbial morning sickness woods… but I got to feeling like crap again the other night (sigh), so I guess I’m still in the forest for now and looking forward to getting out ASAP!  On a positive note, it seems as though the baby no longer demands food every three hours which means I can leave work without looking (and feeling!) like a starving banshee rushing out to the nearest drive-thru!  And you cannot imagine the relief I feel now that baby welcomes fruits and salads!  I was actually getting a little worried there, now that I’m not so bloated… that I could see the results of all of baby's bad food choices in my marshmallow jelly-belly!  My new thing now is eating frozen fruit as an evening treat, so much so that I told Alec it might be worth getting a Sam's Club membership just for that (and possible other cravings).

So after we made a quick stop by the Zen Asian Diner for lunch… where I indulged in a deliciously-scrumptious Asian chicken salad, which I promise you had lettuce underneath all those obvious goodies… we went to Sam's Club and finally got ourselves a membership, only after quickly realizing what a godsend discounted boxes of diapers are going to be in about seven months!  There were so many goodies in there that never had I seen Alec shop without complaining before!  It seemed as though every isle greeted us with imaginary angels playing trumpets and banners held up by flying birds!  Okay, well maybe I went a little too far with the angels & the flying birds… but nonetheless, it was a good feeling to know that we’d now have access to such a wonderful variety of such large quantities of food!  And yes, I got my 5 pound bag of frozen tropical fruit… and a giant $1.16 Slurpee at the food court!  Yum!!!

Bing in a Box

Since being out here in New Mexico, Jei & I have noticed a funny thing about Bing... he LOVES boxes!  He doesn't seem to discriminate either... big boxes, small boxes, cereal boxes... you give him an opened cardboard box and he'll get into it guaranteed!  Not real sure where the infatuation comes from, but the best we can figure is... well, we did bring him home in a box! 

Here he is playing peek-a-boo in a bunch of stacked up moving boxes...

that he pretends is his own personal jungle gym!

How he managed to squeeze into this little box... we'll never know!

You don't have to be a 'Cat Whisperer' to know what Bing's favorite time of year is!  With all the Christmas boxes around the house... Bing was determined to get into each one!

This one might have been his favorite... from Aunt Helen of course.

A kid in a candy store I tell ya!

And then when we started packing our Birthday box to the boys up in Meeker...

guess who wanted to tag along?

 Here are some short videos we got with Bing and his boxes!

 

Imagine the disappointment...

when we got home and instead of a brand new blender... 

we found a cute little Key-Den!

If this is how we treat our cat...

I feel sorry for our child already!

It's a rat... It's a dog... NO, it's Super Bing!!!

I know - I know... you must be thinking,

"Well Ming was brought home in a box too... doesn't she like getting into boxes?" 

Ming likes boxes too... but truth be told,

she'd much rather be in the bathtub, the bathroom sink, or in the kitchen sink!  

(She's absolutely fascinated with running water!)

 

Baby #3!!!

So there I was... hard at work (watching a movie) at the office when out of the blue I get a text from Jei: "Honey, our ultrasound appointment is tomorrow afternoon!  Yippeee!!!  Can you get off of work early?"  I'm sure you can just imagine my surprise when I read that... especially when we both thought it was going to be at least another week or even two weeks until we got to see our baby!  

Wednesday morning flew by and before I knew it, I was anxiously heading north up to Roswell to meet Jei at the hospital.  I think Jei was a little nervous and emotional when we walked into the examining room and saw the ultrasound machine... giving us both very vivid flashbacks from last year!  But anxious, nervous, and emotional quickly turned into relief, happy, and excited!  

Unlike last time... there were no hidden surprises and we could definitively see our tiny little baby!  It was definitely a huge relief, but it was more exciting than anything else... especially when we heard & saw (that was the coolest part!) our baby's incredibly fast heartbeat!  The visit was short and sweet... but just long enough for Jei & I to finally get confirmation that there was in fact a baby growing inside of her (and not a tapeworm!)... and that there was one healthy looking fetus getting ready for it's big debut in early October!  We're sooo excited!!! 

So without further ado, I present to you... Baby #3:   

Valentine's Day Disappointment!

After anxiously waiting for almost a month for our first doctor's appointment since finding out that Jei & I are soon to be parents... Monday's visit to the Ob/Gyn finally arrived!  There was no doubt we were both super excited about getting the ultrasound done and actually confirming that Jei was in fact pregnant... and as far as I was concerned, that's pretty much the only reason why we were there!  With the first doctor's visit last year being so unbelievably magical & surreal... being able to actually see & hear our little babies, Jei & I were really hoping this visit would be and feel just the same. 

A little over an hour later and we walked out of the building feeling nothing but total & complete disappointment... and knew exactly what we did as when we went in; which was absolutely nothing!  Apparently they do things different here... and instead of having an ultrasound machine available for the examining doctor to use there at the offices, a completely separate appointment had to be made with the imaging department of the local hospital in order to get an ultrasound done.  You should have seen our faces when the nurse told us that bit of news!  Needless to say, we were totally bummed out and disappointed.  And besides peeing in a cup and a pelvis exam, I'm not really sure why we even bothered to go!     

With no ultrasound machine... the doctor reluctantly gave the hand-held doppler a shot, hoping to hear a heartbeat other than Jei's.  It was kind of a long shot, but definitely worth the try.  The doc gave a valiant effort, but I guess it just wasn't our day!  

Even though we left extremely disappointed and having to wait another one to two weeks for the ultrasound appointment, the rest of our Valentine's Day actually turned out rather nice!  We had a fantastic Red Lobster dinner, and then when we got home, a lovely & delicious Valentine's Day chocolate cake was waiting for us to pig-out on!

We hope everyone wasn't too disappointed about not hearing anything and won't mind waiting another couple of weeks!  If anything, I guess it gives us something to look forward to now.  Thank you to those of you who sent us Valentine's Day cards... and we hope your Valentine's Day was a little less disappointing than ours!

Global Warming?

After an extremely cold and winter-like week... we woke up Sunday morning to find the weather had done a complete 180 degrees on us!  Instead of freezing temperatures, snow, and bone-chilling wind... we had blue skys, sunshine, and warm spring-like weather!  It was the epitome of a perfect day, and there was no way we were going to spend it inside!  Much to my surprise... it was actually Jei's idea to accompany me to the local golf course for a few hours.  After all, what better way to spend a beautiful afternoon than outside swinging some golf clubs!?  Regardless, I certainly needed the practice and wanted to play... and Jei needed the exercise and wanted to be outside, so we decided to both walk 9 holes.  

But as we were getting ready to leave the house, Jei glanced over at the television and somehow noticed that the family in the show that was on was sitting down at the dinner table and eating Chinese food.  So naturally, as we were walking out the door, Jei turned to me and as serious as a heart attack told me, "You have to take me to get chow mein!"  What my baby wants - my baby gets... so on the way to the golf course we made a pit stop to the local dirty Chinese place and quite literally picked up Jei's lunch for the week!

The grass was dead and the course was super busy...

but it was cheap and the sunshine felt great!

Although Jei wasn't much help tracking, seeing, and finding my many horrendous golf shots... she sure was one Hell of a flag tender!  

There's a reason I'm not on the PGA Tour...

This was the first of three attempts at getting that stupid little ball in that dumb cup!

I may not be a pro golfer... 

but at least I can suspend a golf ball in midair with my putter!

We even got to see some of the local wildlife!

"Dude.. did you see that shot?"

"Yeah, I know... that guy couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!"

"Stupid Groundhog!  What happened to six more weeks of  winter?!"

What a great day!  Jei felt great and got some good exercise in, I got to play a little golf and didn't play half as bad as I expected to, and we both got some much needed sunrays from all that warm sunshine!  Let's just hope this warm weather sticks around for a while!

So This Is What It Feels Like!

Boy did I have it good last year!  I don't remember getting nauseous or sick at all... and that was when I was carrying two!  But unfortunately, this time around I haven't been so lucky... and this past week has taught me that morning sickness doesn't necessarily have to occur in the mornings!  Luckily it hasn't been anything serious or crazy... just your average run-of-the-mill queasy feeling, but compared to how I felt this time last year, well... let's just say I definitely know I'm pregnant now, and if I didn't feel bad with two... I wouldn't be surprised if I had four or five in me this time! (Oh God I hope not!)

Along with the proverbial 'morning sickness' challenges each day... I'm now having to deal with another new challenge that wasn't so prevalent last time: EATING!  Hah, I know what you're thinking, but yes, it's true!  I now find myself  never really that hungry and surprisingly get the "I want to throw up" feeling instead... which usually means it's time to get food in my belly; so as you can imagine, not everything sounds good come meal time.

Speaking of food... my cravings lately have really gotten out of control, not to mention so unbelievably random!  If it's not a chicken sandwich, then it's buffalo wings... or burgers, carne asada tacos, baked beans, quesadillas, chips & salsa, chili, etc... etc...!  (Anyone hungry?)  It's kind of a pain in the rear, knowing that whatever I take out for dinner that morning will most definitely not what I'll want to eat later that evening!  And forget about packing a lunch for work... an apple sounds good before I leave, and then come lunch time I'll be stuffing a turkey sandwich in my face!  Needless to say, my weird unpredictable food cravings annoy the heck out of Alec... like when it's nine O'clock at night and I suddenly want ice cream and our freezer has none!  But sometimes it's actually kind of cute & funny... like when I went to kiss Alec on the forehead the other night and he suddenly out of nowhere smelled like macaroni to me... so naturally, I totally was craving macaroni and cheese!

I suppose the only upside to my food cravings is the fact that I don't really crave or want sweets at all!  Maybe it's because I'm not feeling well more than half the time... but when I do feel good, I make sure to get my fruits and veggies in; especially oranges, which Joanne sent us from the tree in our backyard in California! Yum! ...thanks Joanne!

Anywho, today was a good day as I've been feeling pretty good.  I had a wheat quesadilla with pepper jack cheese and an orange this morning before work, then came home and had two leftover carne asada tacos and fresh homemade avocado and tomato salsa for lunch!  (What a pig!  Thank God I'm pregnant, right?!)  And now, after watching a bit of the food channel, I surprisingly craved for a little something sweet... hmmm?  And then it dawns on me, we have the leftover & neglected red velvet cheesecake I made last Sunday in the fridge! Yippeeeee!

So I quickly take out a plate and a fork, open the fridge and realize it's gone!  What a letdown!  I then sadly put away the plate and fork and sent a text to Alec telling him the funny story... only to find out that he took the leftover cake with him to work today to feed it to his co-workers!  How embarrassing!  That cake was hard and awful! (Definitely not one of my better creations in the kitchen!) ...but I guess it beats throwing it in the trash, hee-hee!

And just in case you were wondering, baby & I had Ben & Jerry's:

New York Super Fudge Chunk instead of the cake!  Yum!

And if baby isn't craving ice cream, tacos, or macaroni...

he/she sure does make me SUPER tired!

...hence, lots of afternoon naps with the Key-Dens!

Counting down the days, hours & minutes...

til our first doctor's appointment on Valentine's Day!!!

Wish us luck! ...oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Winter Wonderland

Finally... after several months of extraordinarily warm winter weather here in southeastern New Mexico, we finally got our first real COLD & SNOWY winter storm!  Normally, this obviously wouldn't be such an exciting event... but with Jei & I living in extremely warm climates our entire lives, getting to see a little minus sign before double digits and a nice thick layer of white stuff on the ground was definitely pretty surreal and certainly was the highlight of the week for us!   

 Poor Ming & Bing...

they didn't have a clue as to what all that white stuff was doing everywhere!

Of course having to commute in such weather was an adventure in and of itself!  And after almost sliding into a median and hitting a street sign, I quickly realized that I'd much rather be late to "movie-mornings" at work... than be stuck in a ditch off the side of the highway with a flat tire and a street sign lodged into my windshield!

I even tried to get Ming to experience true winter weather for the first time... but she didn't want anything to do with the cold snow or the single digit temperature! 

We didn't exactly have snowball fights or make any snow-angels, or even call in sick to go up to the mountains and do a little skiing... but for us warm weather natives, getting to experience some truly cold weather and a little bit of snowfall... somehow made it seem like we were on vacation!  (Oh how I wish that were the case!!!)