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.