Thoughts on the First Trimester

IT SUCKS!

Just kidding :)

While I do not claim to be a professional on pregnancy, (or babies... I literally asked my best friend the other day if her 5 month old had started talking yet. Really, Alyssa? Shall we just name this baby "guinea pig?")I thought I would share some thoughts/tips that I have discovered over the past few months.

Like many, I did not have a very easy time the first trimester. Around 6 weeks, I started getting morning, afternoon, and night sickness that lasted up until a week or so ago. Not fun. I hate complaining, because I know this is a sign that baby is doing well and that all the hormones in the body are doing their job, but it is definitely difficult. Especially when you are working full time and trying to survive through the day without yonking on your co-workers.

I know that not everyone experiences "the sickness," but for friends that are pregnant, will be soon, or plan to be again in the future, here are some things that helped me survive months 1-3:

-Going to bed early! Seriously, sleep is your best friend

-Keeping some kind of something by the bed to keep your stomach full; I hated saltines and crackers after a while, so I tried dry cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios), tortilla chips, and prezels.

-Stay out of the kitchen. Seriously. All of the smells of the refrigerator and cooking will just make it worse. Buy some freezer meals or Taco Bell for your husband/family and just let it be.

(Also, have someone do your grocery shopping. It sounds really needy, but being around all of those food aromas in one place can be really awful and overwhelming).

-I know that not everyone is this way, but I could not take hot showers without feeling like I was going to faint. Try to stay cool!

-Don't feel obligated to do anything or be anywhere for any reason. Since we weren't telling a lot of people, I felt bad turning down plans to spend time with our friends, but who really wants a barfy sick person at their get-together anyway!? If you feel sick, let your body rest.

-Don't beat yourself up about that fact that you laid on the couch all night for four nights in a row eating Push-Pops and watching Friday Night Lights. You aren't "boring." You're growing a human.

-There aren't a lot of medicines and remedies that worked for me, but maybe you might have better luck. Ginger gum and Seabands were kind of a bust, but I have heard other people say they work. I used Emetrol and Zofran (prescription) when it got really bad, but your doctor has to okay them.

Mostly, just take it easy, sleep a ton, drink your weight in ginger ale, and try to remember there is a little nugget in there who is excited to meet you in 7 or 8 months.

Easter Feast(er)

I realize that it is way past the holiday, but I wanted to share some pics from our Easter holiday. Somehow, every year Jordan and I manage to not be together on this wonderful holiday. So sad. Maybe next time around? Let us hope. Thankfully, I had these beauties lying around to remind me of him! (the poor irises that were originally part of the bunch decided that the AZ heat was too much for them to handle)

Since my poor blind, diabetic dalmatian was feeling under the weather, we decided to take advantage of his docile state and torture him with embarrassing pictures. Poor Rowdy. Someone call animal control. Isn't he such a cute Easter dog, though? ;)

Pure joy.

Later on we had a delicious feast at my grandma and grandpa's house, complete with yummy fried chicken, potato salad (which I have been craving for a month), and lots of other fixins. It was so wonderful to spend time with my family, even though Jord couldn't be there with us. :( Later, we took some fabulous bunny ear photos, complete with a 16 week tummy update! A blurry phone picture, but I'm sure you get the gist.

Easter is one of my favorite holidays; not only does it happen during springtime when everything is so bright and beautiful, but it is such a reminder of how much my Savior loves me and how blessed I am every day.

Life is pretty grand, isn't it!?

There's a Baby in There

It's true! There is a new little member coming to the Rose clan in September 2012.

Sorry to leave a lot of you hanging all that time (even though most probably had a feeling there was something different). The true Scotsman in me is way superstitious, and I didn't feel like blogging about anything until we were out of the first trimester (which was a doozy... more on that later). Needless to say, we are pretty delighted!

Back in January, I started feeling SUPER weird... just tired and icky and had a bad appetite (which, most of you know, is definitely not normal for the girl who takes seconds of everything). Thinking I might be "with child," a took a test that came back negative, and just chalked it up to maybe catching something on the plane coming home from the holidays or just being worn out.

One Wednesday night a little bit later, Jordan and I went out for sushi (probably one of my top 3 favorite foods), and after eating about 3 or 4 pieces, I just couldn't stomach any more (unheard of). That's when we realized something was definitely up :)

That weekend, we took some tests and sure enough, those beautiful double pink lines showed up (within about 10 seconds... seriously).

Warning: the following is a photo of said tinkle sticks. Let's try to be mature about this ;)

We may or may not have been both terrified (well, me mostly) and elated at the same time, as evident by the following picture.... Also, we aren't jaundiced. Blame it on bathroom lighting!

The further along I get (I'm almost 16 weeks), the more and more excited we become, if that's even possible. It's been an adventure, even in this short time, but we can't wait to meet our little nugget and squeeze and kiss it to pieces!

Here is an ultrasound from my most recent appointment a while ago at 12 weeks.

Cute, no? ;)

Right now, we are just biding our time until the beginning of May when we can find out if is a little HE or SHE and really get to planning and preparing for the little one! I feel like it's a girl, but every dream I have had about baby is a boy.

Do you have any guesses!?

Thanks so much to our friends and families for being so congratulatory, positive, and helpful! We love you!

New Blog

Forgot to mention this in the last post...

I have been struggling a bit with Blogger, and I am not too proud to admit it.

We have had a hard road together... Many weeks of not updating, simply because I hate uploading pictures onto it. I also have no idea how to make our page/background look the way I want it to. We just, haven't "clicked."

Since I have used Wordpress a bit more and know what to do with it a little bit better, I am working on making the switch.

Sorry, Blogger, but we are breaking up. At least I didn't do it on a post-it.

I will let everyone know when we transfer over, and I am hoping that I can take all of our old posts with us.

Please don't shun me. I have tried, and the ol' blogspot.com is just not for me.

More updates soon!

Catch-Up...Ketchup? Catsup?

Oh, hey...

So, we are finally moved out of our apartment in Matthews! It was a little bittersweet. We are really excited to be going to a new place and experiencing a different town, but it was really sad to leave our Charlotte/Raleigh friends and our first apartment together.

I may or may not have spent my last morning in the place sobbing while vacuuming and cleaning out the refrigerator. Very attractive. Hope I didn't wake the neighbors.

Now, Jordan is off in Michigan and I am at home in AZ with my family. It has been lots of fun. You know what isn't lots of fun? BEING AWAY FROM YOUR HUSBAND FOR A MONTH! Blah!

Bless the inventors of Skype. And thank you, Steve Jobs, for my iPhone. Not only is it like my child, but it allows me to see Jordan when I talk to him. Hoorah!

Really, I just feel like such a complainer. I can't imagine being/having a spouse in the military and being away from your husband or family for, what, 8 or 9 months at a time? Maybe more? When I think about that, I feel like an ungrateful whiney baby woman :)

Anywho, I am trying to use this time to relax, maybe work on some fun projects with my mommy, brainstorm new things I could do for our next apartment to keep it organized and make it feel homey, and catch up on sleep. It's a rough life.

I have lots to post about, including our trip to the Bahamas (which was quite fun, I might add!), so I will try to get going on some pictures for this thing. It's a little difficult right now, since I am away from my own computer, but we will see what I can do.

Until next time!

Sidenote: Not to brag, but my hunky husband sent me flowers yesterday. They're pretty cool, and smell really awesome. What a cutie pie! Thanks, boo!

Also, Jordan is doing great (I can't believe I forgot to mention that until now. Talk about self-absorbed!) He is really busy working on this new project, and is enjoying having lots to do every day. What is not so great for him is being in a tiny place with not much to offer in the excitement department. Wah wah wahhh....