Past and Future

Usually my mom and I spend our Fridays together but she had plans with a friend yesterday so we opted for all day Saturday instead.  She shopped, I walked.  ;)  Jasmine came home with a few new outfits for fall.  I bought my wedge thing for my ever growing belly.  Mom also bought me a pair of black maternity pants (that are super comfortable, I want to wear them all the time but dress pants and a t-shirt just don't go well together!) and a large wrap sweater that I've been wanting.  I get chilly a lot but I'm not consistently cold enough to warrant having a long sleeved warm shirt on so this sweater will save me from occasionally either freezing or overheating. 

Tomorrow we're heading for the Blueberry festival for the day.  I only started going to this festival last year as I heard they had some great fireworks.  They forgot to mention that the thing is huge and you can spend hours just browsing.  Unfortunately it's going to be almost 90 tomorrow!  Not only will I be extremely hot but large crowds make me grumpy, as does the heat.  Hopefully I can keep my inner grump under control and enjoy all the knickknacks there are to look at. 

Mystery Solved!

I found it!  I know what bees have taken over parts of my yard now.  They are called carpenter bees and are generally not aggressive.  I guess all that changes when a doberman tries to eat you however. 

This is an actual picture of a rather large carpenter bee that I found online.  This guy is just a little bigger than the one my dog was dueling with.  They tend to live in wood, hence the name carpenter.  Just so happens, a few feet from the fight till the death, there was a large piece of bark that had obviously had something eating at it previously.  I'm assuming one of the dogs heard the bees inside a tree and pulled the loose bark off and one of the bees came with it.  I really should've known what this was as my dad lives in a log cabin and has had tons of problems with these bees but I've never seen one up close before.  At least I don't have to be terrified of having one chase me through the yard like some of those bees and wasps tend to do.

For more information on carpenter bees, which are native to the entire US and can live up to three years, visit the following website.  http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/carpenter_bees.shtml

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1

Code Ouch!

This is the second night in a row that I've been reduced to tears from the pain on my right side.  I believe it to be round ligament pain but it was never this bad with Jasmine.  It seems to only be in the evening hours and makes it impossible to get comfortable.  Both these two nights, I've been tempted to call the on-call OB and get their opinion but I don't want to be one of those women who calls her OB over something that is deemed ridiculous.  Besides, if it was that bad, why didn't I call during the day?  My mom and I are going to Baby's R Us tomorrow and hopefully they will have a pregnancy wedge that I can use to help with some of the pain.  I had one with my last pregnancy but left it at my mom's and one of my grandma's cats decided it made a good scratching post.  I'd like to find one that supports both my back and my side while I'm trying to sleep but I don't they even carry one of those.  Online they only carry the side wedge.  I may check Target too as they have the combined wedge online.  If I can't find it at either store, I'll have to order it online and hope that it comes quickly.  Being in this much pain, it will be hard not to settle for the side wedge alone being that I would have it immediately. 

It seems my dogs have taken quite an interest in the bee like insects that are taking over my yard.  I have no idea what they really are as I've never seen them before.  They are huge, with stinger's and that's enough to keep me away.  (I'm allergic to most things that sting... where ever I am stung will swell to a cartoonish size)  I let the dogs out today and due to the fact that Rocky can't be out with everyone, I have to switch them all in the mornings so that everyone gets the morning potty.  I went to call Cash in as he was the last to respond and saw him pawing at the ground.  I threw some shorts on to go see what he was doing and saw he'd grounded one of those bugs.  He either doesn't feel much pain or is really hard headed.  He was pawing at it, when it stung him in the foot.  The bug flew behind him slightly and after staring at his paw a minute, he went to lay down to get a "closer" look.  Well, he laid ON the bug and it stung his leg.  He jumped up, circled the bug and tried to eat it.  Do I really need to tell you that it proceeded to sting him in the lip?  After that he managed to kill it without further injury to himself.  I'm sure it had to hurt but after all was said and done he had a prance in his step like he'd just killed a mountain lion.  I don't know about you but if I were a dog, if it stung me once, I'd run like hell and never look back.  And they say curiosity killed the cat!

Speaking of cats, I was supposed to get a mother kitten and her two day old kittens today from one of the shelters but they had to put the mother cat to sleep during the night due to a sudden illness.  I have no idea what happened to the kittens.  There's no way I would be able to bottle feed them so I didn't ask.  It's hard enough to deal with the fact that you can't save them all so sometimes it's best to leave things unanswered.  I will be getting in the next few days, three 3-4 week old kittens.  They are eating on their own so they won't require me to get up with them.  The room is already kitten proof since I had been preparing for the momma and her babies.  I also bought some cheap towels today and put them in a cardboard box as a makeshift bed.  After what this last litter did to that room, no cats shall receive anything nicer than cardboard and towels. 

**Still the One**

Yesterday, while me and my husband were fighting, I had an epiphany.  I didn't grasp at the time the full meaning of what I was realizing but it made me cry anyways.  As the hours have waned on, I finally have the pieces put together.  He's the one.  He's just as much the one as he was nine years ago.  Even with his faults, some of which have been gaining in frequency lately, he's still the one.  He still the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, even with those flaws.  It was easy to say he's the one nine years ago (our nine year anniversary was last month on the 27th) when things were always roses and sunshine.  We had no bills, no money, no reasons to argue.  It's easy to say someone is the one when life is free flowing.  Not a care in the world.  But nine years later, the bills are overflowing, the flaws are a showin', the weight of the world is on our shoulders and I know he's still the one.  How awesome is that?  I mean really.  I know we're young still and have years to go, more hardships to come but to still KNOW after all these years it just grabs you when you realize it all over again.  I know that he's the one I want to race from one end of the nursing home hallway to the other end using our walkers.  (I'll win, I'm smaller and I'm meaner... pre-race I'll flatten his tennis balls ;)  )  I was almost asleep when I came to the conclusion that this is where I was headed earlier and knew I had to write it down for I am in a drugged state and sometimes it causes me to forget the kickass ideas I had the night before.  (like the idea for a book that is almost completely lost somewhere in my brain... damn Ambien stole it from me)  So, honey, even when I want to whack you with a frying pan, just to see if that will somehow knock some sense into you, you're still THE one, even if I manage to give you a concussion.  ;)

Someone needs a nap

I am so tired and achy today.  It's obvious to me that my ligaments in my sides have stretched to a level of discomfort.  It will pass once they give up trying to do their job but until then, every meal is an ordeal.  I think the Ambien has been making me sleepy during the day.  It's hard to tell if it's from the pills or just being pregnant.  I am just so tired today.  It's like dragging your body through mounds of sand every second. 

The friend that was supposed to come up from Kentucky, never did.  We called him all the week before he was supposed to arrive and he never answered his cell phone.  Finally, two days before he was supposed to come, he emailed saying he messed up his car and lost his cell phone.  Ironic, considering you can tell when you're purposely being sent to voicemail on a cell phone, something that happened on more than one occasion when we called.  I don't think he ever totally planned on coming up here.  He's a single guy, living with a bunch of roommates and I just don't think he gets the amount of effort that goes into preparing for someone to stay with you.  I don't think I even emailed him back on it.  I felt it was pretty inconsiderate of him.  At least my bathtub is nice and clean now.  ;)

Foster Kittens

Dog pictures

Flowers on my front porch

My hibiscus tree

A vine I bought at the beginning of summer.  Forgot what it's called though.

I have no idea what this guy is.  He is in the same pot as the hibiscus and just showed up one day.  I almost pulled it because I thought it was a weed.

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_3

20 weeks and counting

At 20 weeks...

These last few days, my stomach feels so huge, like it can't possibly stretch much further, although I know from previous experience, that it's got a lot further to go.  If I'm not mistaken, it was around this time of my pregnancy with Jasmine that I was feeling the same thing.  It has something to do with the stretching of the round ligaments in your abdomen.  Imagine overeating at dinner to the point you feel like you're going to pop, then multiply that by 2.  You just feel extremely full. 

My husband's dog, Molly got stung in the nose today.  She never yelped but I knew as soon as it happened.  She threw her face into the dirt and began rubbing at her nose.  She continued to rub her nose with her paws for the next half hour, on and off.  I would say poor Molly, except a few minutes after rubbing at her face, she went back where the nest was and began sniffing around looking for the offender.  She was lucky she didn't meet any more of their friends. 

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1

I'm not seeing the pretty colors here people....

Ambien is supposed to be the end all, be all to sleep medication, correct?  Yeah, I'm not buying that.  I took 2.5mg an hour ago and have felt NOTHING whatsoever.  A few minutes ago I decided to take the other 2.5mg and see if that would help.  (they came 5mg, but I cut them in half, fearing the "strong" effects of this drug)  I was so excited to just fall asleep for once and what do I get?  Bunk drugs.  ;)~  Oh well, there's always a frying pan to the head.  I hear it does wonders for a good night's sleep but some side effects include blurred vision, headache, bruising, and possible hospital stay if not "taken" directly as prescribed.  heehee

Bath time

The other day when I had my OB appointment, I mentioned the great difficulty I've been having sleeping and he prescribed me some Ambien, stating that it is the safest prescription sleepaid they are aware of at this time.  I never take anything without looking it up first, even if I'm not pregnant.  What I found was not reassuring.  The rat tests on this drug have shown to have bone structure problems in the babies.  I don't know that I want to take it now to be honest.  I will get it filled but I think I'll only take it if absolutely necessary.  I also read that it is extremely addictive and extremely hard to come off of.  (on message boards people complained of night terrors and being up for days without sleep after going off Ambien)  I've always been nervous of taking Ambien so anytime a doctor has suggested it to me, I tell them no but in this case it was Ambien or nothing.  I looked up Lunesta, which I was on before I got pregnant and it appears to be safer based on what I've read.  (although I'm positive that the doctors have a larger library of information than I have)  The worst problems in the Lunesta after the beginning of pregnancy in rats was low birth weight.  I would take low birth weight over major structural problems in the bones personally.  I think I'll just take it if I have absolutely no other options and have to be up early.  Although I may take half of one this weekend while my husband is home so I know how I respond to them.  (that way if they totally mess me up, my husband is here to take care of Jasmine)  Also, I made my appointment for the ultrasound which is September 15th.  And everything was normal at my appointment. 

I thought I should mention that we named Sweety that because she was NOT a nice kitten.  She was semi-feral and would fly off the walls to avoid being touched by a person.  Obviously she grew out of that.  I couldn't very well name her bitchy.  My neighbors might have thought I was a bit (more) on the odd side if I stood outside calling here bitchy bitchy bitchy.  ;)  She turned out to be a very sweet cat after a while though. 

Jasmine is pretty much completely potty trained during the day!  And I even think she's slowly weaning herself from her binkie.  All it took was me telling her she couldn't have it when we went places, only in the car and in the house.  Now she only asks for it when it's bedtime and occasionally (usually when I happen to forget it) in the car.  She has been so easy when it comes to teaching her things.  She went off the bottle easily enough and potty training took no time at all, with only about three accidents.  I just know the next one is going to be a pain when it comes to potty training and all those other nightmares.  You don't get it easy twice in a row!  ;)

Sweety

I didn't post this yesterday because I wanted my mom to hear it from me and not read it on here.  When I came home last night, I found my nine year old cat, Sweety had died.  I have absolutely no idea what could have happened.  The last few days she has acted completely normal.  Nothing out of the ordinary aside from her hair looked a little greasy.  It's really frustrating to have no idea as to what could have happened and had no warning ahead of time.  She was a really good cat.  Never went potty anywhere but in her litter box, no matter what.  She never got on the counters, except while the mean cat, Jake was inside and that was so that she could hide from him.  (and I let her while he was in the house)  Her worst habit was that she occasionally chewed on wires, particularly those that went on the Christmas tree.  She was the most submissive of all my cats, preferring to run, rather than fight.  When we moved into this house, we had seven healthy cats, now we have four cats.  None of my cats that have died were over the age of nine and everyone has their shots.  The other odd thing is that all the cats that died were related.  Polar Bear and Gremlin were the babies of Sweety.  The only remaining "baby" (he's now either seven or eight) is Isaiah, my flame point siamese.  I really hope it's not something genetic as Izzy is the first cat I really bonded with after my cat Tyler died several years before we moved out of my mom's house and it would be particularly hard on me if something were to happen to him.  I almost feel like I'm to blame even though my reasoning is ridiculous.  I had been thinking it would be so much easier if we didn't have so many animals when this baby is born.  I can't help but feel a little guilty for thinking that now. 

 

Sweety always being a mother, even to a species confused doberman puppy.

Ok, so I guess this proves that she got on the counter occasionally.

This was her favorite place to sleep. 

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_4

The Carnival

This is how most of my nights go.  I'm actually not a huge fan of Doug Stanhope.  A lot of his most recent act is something I really don't agree with but that's for another post another time.  This video has some language and is probably NSFW but I guess that depends on where you work and if you have headphones on.

aoljembedAdd, aoljembedAdd_1

Sleep, or lacking of

I really need a vacation from life.  I haven't been sleeping very much and it's left me extremely emotional.  (basically, I've been crying over everything)  I don't know why lack of sleep has that effect on me.  As if it's not bad enough to be exhausted, I have to be a basket case as well.  I'm to the point that I plan on asking my OB on Monday if he can prescribe me something that is safe for the baby but will still help me sleep.  As I sit here typing, all I want to do is be able to go to sleep and wake up at a decent hour but I know it won't happen.  I'm lucky to fall asleep before 6am most days and then Jasmine has been getting up at 10am.  Sometimes I'm able to go back to sleep by putting something on the tv for her in my bedroom but here more and more, once I"m up, it's really hard to go back to sleep.  It's been very frustrating.

Olympic Energy

My energy seems to have returned!!!!  I was really starting to get depressed from just sitting around.  After dinner, I cleaned the living room, which is rare, even when I'm feeling at my best.  I mean, who wants to clean on a full belly?  Jasmine was even excited.  Although, it was mostly her toys that had to be removed from the living room floor in order for her to run around like a manic.  (which is what she's doing now)  Now I'm watching the Olympics.  I feel like I've been missing so much of this Olympics but I can't sit around and watch it all day and night.  I finally started recording it and hopefully I'll get to see most of the events that I was interested in.  I'm sure my DVR is going to be full in a day or two.  The Chinese are just kicking ass in the women's synchronized diving.  It's unbelievable that you can time a dive to that degree.  I'm glad to see that Mexico scored a bronze medal.  They have never medalled in this event. 

Bad start to a long day

I actually fell asleep two hours earlier than I've been able to last night.  Unfortunately, Jasmine woke up two hours later, throwing up.  God I was tired.  I felt awful for her but at one point was basically begging her to try and go to sleep.  (when I'm throwing up, if I am able to fall asleep, I tend to feel better and the vomiting stops)  She eventually went to sleep hours and hours later but we didn't sleep for long.  She was better after she woke up but was attached to my side the rest of the day.  I hope she sleeps better tonight.  It made me panic a little bit about when this baby is born.  I'm imagining the worst.  The baby wakes up all night long, and as soon as it falls asleep, Jasmine wakes up for the day.  I really do awful on very little sleep.  My husband can get three or four hours a night and seems fine.  I just can't function on that. 

I had another really bad headache tonight.  It came on just like that last one, extremely fast and horribly painful.  I don't think there was a part of my head that didn't hurt.  I really think this was the second worst headache I've ever had.  (And I frequently get migraines)  Within ten minutes, it was gone, just like that.  I'll definitely be mentioning it to the OB I'll be seeing on Monday.  That, along with the fact that I've had a constant headache for almost two months now.  Although, if I had to choose between morning sickness and the constant headache, I'd choose the headache.  But, just barely.

First Edition

A few weeks ago, Shawn told me one of his friends grandparents had a yard sale.  In this sale were some very old books.  My husband asked if the books were not sold, if he could have them.  I believe the family was just going to take them to Goodwill if they hadn't been bought so one day Shawn comes home with two bags of books.  I really didn't think anything of it.  Tonight I stumbled across the books and looked through them.  Most are from the early to mid 1900's.  I believe the earliest one I have is from 1895.  I also believe one of these books to be a first edition book.  I've looked it up and it wouldn't go for very much.  I probably wouldn't have sold it even if it had.  I just think it's a little neat to have a first edition book.  (and by the way, had I decided to sell it, I would've given a portion of the profit to the original owner of the book, the grandfather)  The book is a bit worn.  The binding long ago lost it's hold on the pages but everything is together, no pages missing that I can account for.  What I find even more interesting.  The person who wrote this book was born in Indiana and is buried here, along with her daughter.  Apparently, the book I have is one of the most popular books she wrote.  The book is Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter.  Now, I don't know that I'll ever read any of these books and a few of them I might find new homes for but several of them I intend on keeping.  (none of the others are first edition, nor are worth more than ten dollars)  I found by looking through these books that the grandfather would receive many of these books from (assuming) relatives.  I know one was for Christmas.  He also wrote down his address in the books in case they were ever lost, as well as the current date.  One that I'm looking at right this moment has a date of 1911 in the front page, another from 1908.  I just thought it was interesting. 

Pregnant and showing

I had a total stranger ask me if I was pregnant today.  I guess I should accept the fact that I'm just going to continue to get bigger.  It was something I looked forward to with Jasmine but with this one I'm just thinking about how long it will take to get rid of the weight.  At least the baby is due in January, I have a few months before it gets warm out.  I'm also using ace bandages on my stomach after this one which supposedly helps a little. 

Motivation is Lacking

I have no energy to do anything these last few days.  I know I need to clean up but every time I get up to do it, I just end up sitting back down.  Usually once I get started cleaning, it's hard to stop but that's not the case lately.  I don't want to do anything and yet, I don't want to sit on my butt all day either.  I hope this goes away soon as I am about sick of having no motivation at this point.  So far today I've accomplished, getting dinner, burning my finger on the curling iron, and cleaning two windows.  Tomorrow I'm getting some coffee and maybe for an hour or two I'll feel as if I have some energy.  But for now... these make me happy.

House Guests

On the 21st, we have one of our closest friends flying up from Kentucky.  He was planning on coming up next week but is having car trouble so he decided just to take a plane.  It gives me an extra week to get this house spotless.  The only room that is going to give me trouble is the room he's going to be using to sleep in.  We basically use it as our closet and it looks like a teenage girls room... clothes are everywhere.  I don't know where we're going to put it all at.  We are just so unorganized.  He'll be up here for a full week.  *gasp*  I've never had someone at the house for a full week.  As a matter of fact, Paul is the only person that has ever stayed here and it was never for more than a weekend.  I'm flipping out trying to figure out what I'm going to do with him while my husband is at work.  I'm not very good at entertaining people.  I'm either doing one of the following, playing on the computer, reading, playing with Jasmine or cleaning the house.  He's also bringing his teacup chichi.  How am I going to keep my dogs from eating her?  I'm most concerned with Cash, the doberman.  Even if he were only playing, he could seriously hurt her.  But he tends to get bitchy and go after the larger dogs.  He normally only leaves scratches on them and no really gets hurt but a chichi would be crushed.  *sigh, sigh, sigh*  If I'm panicking now, imagine how I'll be the day we pick him up from the airport.  At least he'll have my husband through the weekend.  I just don't want him to be miserable the entire time he's here.  The last time he was up, I didn't want him to leave because we had such a good time so maybe I'm just freaking out for no reason.  I'll be a cleaning freak for a few weeks and be trying to find things to do with him. 

Our house guest with Jasmine when she was itty bitty and when he had a few less piercings, yes I said less.  :)

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1

More of the same

A few days ago, the final rat, Toby died.  I told my husband a few weeks ago that I didn't think he had much time left.  I have no plans on adopting anymore for quite a while.  There's just too much going on around here and in a few months, it's only going to get more hectic.

I've had a lot of headaches over the last few weeks.  It's to the point that I plan on saying something at my next OB appointment on the 18th.  There's only been a few days where I have been completely headache free in over a month.  Today was one of the worst ones.  I woke up with a little headache but hoped it would ease after I got up.  Once we started eating dinner, it suddenly got really bad, to the point that I couldn't eat anymore.  It was one of the worst headaches I've had in a long time and then it was suddenly gone and I felt completely drained.  Over the last hour, I've started to feel a little less like my muscle's are made of jello.  If that happens again, I will most likely call the doctor's office as it was certainly not normal. 

I'm down to two foster kittens.  They both appear healthy so I don't believe either one of them was the one with the infection, although I haven't heard if the other two are fine so who knows.  It's been nice having to only deal with the two of them.  The litter box if much cleaner that's for sure.  I also tossed Minka and Jake back outside.  It was just too much to deal with.  I was planning on redoing their outdoor enclosure while they were inside but there weren't any days while they were in here that would've worked.

Last night we spent about an hour in the basement.  There were tornado warnings.  Usually around here I don't take them too seriously but for whatever reason, this time we decided the storm looked pretty bad.  We were only able to take one dog down with us.  I didn't want to spend too much time dragging animals down the stairs and I didn't figure the storm would produce a tornado, I just wanted to be on the safe side.  We took Mia and it was an ordeal.  She cried like I was beating her when I tried to get her to godownstairs and eventually, my husband had to come back up and push her slowly down the steps.  She cried the entire way.  She was fine once she reached the bottom of the stairs.  Getting Mia to go back up the stairs, was not a problem luckily.  The storms didn't do much damage at my house, although I know a little further west they had some downed trees and one person was killed from a tree falling on his car.