I'm A Fan

As most of you know, I am done teaching for a while.  Thus, my days are filled with sleeping in (wonderful), doing dishes (blah I miss having a dishwasher), and organizing (a guilty pleasure).  Ok, so I also spend some mornings catching up on all my Hulu shows that Garrett doesn't have an interest in.

On the days that I am trying to put off the dish washing, I find myself surfing the web.  The other day I got caught up for half an hour watching YouTube after YouTube about people giving puppies as surprise gifts.  If anyone had walked while I was watching said videos, he or she would think something was wrong with me as I was sitting there bawling my eyes out in the darkness of my apartment's living room.  I must note that this is not a usual occurrence.  Usually I'm crying over the latest Parenthood or Biggest Loser episode.  

When I'm not crying at my computer, you can find me searching through Pinterest.  I originally had no interest (ha! no pun intended) in this trend until I spent an hour one day looking through recipes people had posted and I found myself trying to bookmark at least ten different blogs on this or that.  After that day, I saw the benefit of having one place that you can save all the wonderful things that you'd normally bookmark the entire site to find again.  Brilliant!  I asked my sister to invite me to join (sounds fancy I know).  I was off to pin (pinterest lingo meaning to save whatever is cool to my account) to my heart's desire.  This image was one of my first finds on Pinterest; if it doesn't make you want to drop everything and join, then I don't know what will.

I've named him Boots.  

The ultimate goal of Pinterest for me is to utilize the pins I'm saving; I want to actually make the recipes that I'm pinning (I'm not sure that I'd actually do any of the crafty things I pin).  If I don't accomplish this goal, then I am junking up my computer in the same way I have managed to collect far too many food magazines with the thought of one day making that one chicken/beef/pork thing that looked so good and easy.  I have made one recipe so far, so I feel I have already taken an important step toward success.  I'll keep you posted on my progress of this goal.  For now, enjoy looking through the world of Pinterest!

My Second Trimester

As I bid my second trimester farewell, I wanted to look back and let you all have a glimpse of what's been going on with me.

My second trimester began with high hopes that my nausea would be ending and I'd feel like a normal person again (at least that's what all the experts say usually happens).  Those hopes quickly vanished as the weeks passed by, and I settled into life of being uncomfortable all the time (no worries, this story has a happy ending).  My first several weeks in my second trimester were filled with aches, heartburn, and nausea.  When all seemed lost, almost every discomfort went away; this might have happened around or a little before Thanksgiving.  Finally!  I felt like a normal person!  Since that point, I have been overall very comfortable.  I have more heartburn than the normal functioning adult, but hey!, that's what TUMS are for!  In fact, I forget that I'm pregnant sometimes.  I'll sit down after a shopping or something and think, "Man, I feel full.  Maybe I ate too much......Oh, wait."

Lately, I've had almost an hourly reminder that I'm pregnant because Ben is constantly moving.  He kicks, punches, twists, and turns all day long.  His movement is only uncomfortable when he decides to hit my bladder when I already need to pee (not cool Ben, not cool), otherwise, I welcome the movement.  Ben's turnings are fun ways to help me get to know him better and make more of a connection with him.  There are a few times that when I put on a favorite song and sing along, he moves; this makes me think he loves it too (or hates it...we'll go with loves it for now and will be a future Warbler--Glee reference).  Garrett hasn't gotten to feel Ben kick yet.  Every time he tries, Ben plays hard to get.  I'm sure Garrett will feel or see Ben move soon enough.    

Overall, I have been able to really enjoy this time in my pregnancy, and thankfully enjoy all the traveling and seeing of family over the holidays.  Because Garrett and I were in Arkansas for three weeks, my family got to see me grow before their very eyes, and boy did I grow.  It seemed like one day I was pregnant and the next day I was PREGNANT.  Needless to say, my belly came in fast.  Besides watching me grow out of the clothes that I brought to wear, my family got to witness some of my quirky cravings and the reduction of my range of movement.  Getting off the couch, bending over, tying my shoes all are movements that take just a little more time and effort to do now.  When my family watches me attempt these types of tasks, I see the same reaction: a smile, a laugh, a shake of the head, then an offer to help.  As time goes on, I hope the offer to help will move into first place on the reaction progression scale.

I don't crave many specific things being pregnant.  I like to say that my love and desire of almost all foods has grown.  I have always enjoyed Taco Bell, and now, I love Taco Bell.  There are a couple of items that I wouldn't think much about before I was pregnant that sound good all the time now.  One of these nuggets is the Coke ICEE.  This is now a special treat for me and the family went on icee hunts while I was in town; it became a game of sorts, a scavenger hunt if you will.  My sister has always been an icee lover, but I grew out of them as I stopped drinking sodas.  However, being pregnant has caused me to reevaluate my priorities.  I must say, though, the icee is a hard item to love in the winter (especially in the middle of this Ohio winter).  I must sacrifice some amount of cold-hand discomfort to enjoy the drink that makes my heart flutter.  It's worth it people.

An excitement picture taken after finding ICEEs at a gas station on the way to Texas.

Too many icee options!  However, be warned, not all frozen beverages are at the same level of quality as the original ICEE.  I found this out the hard way.  Lesson learned.

Well, that's enough for now.  Plus, now I want an icee and it's 19 degrees and snowing outside.  Great!

Holiday Bonanza and Other Adventures Part II

Part II begins!  Let's see, where did I leave off...ah, the baby shower.  Well, once the baby shower ended the Christmas festivities began.  I think we ended up having five gatherings in all, not too shabby.

Overall, Christmas break was great.  The festivities were fun, but the best part was being home and seeing our families.  We spent time in Rogers, Fort Smith, and Texas (where my mom's family lives).  I was a little afraid that we'd be running around the entire time trying to see people and get all of our "visits" in, but we actually managed to have a nice balance of visiting and relaxing.  There were many days of lounging around the house watching football (or HGTV) and, of course, lots of Starbucks visits.  The Starbucks people actually remembered us and were happy to see us back in the store (oh how I miss friendly people)!  It pays to be regulars!

ANYWHO to wrap things up, here are a few snap shots of time with family.

My mom giving the dogs their Christmas presents.  They actually unwrap them.  It's amazing.

The typical family shot.  This is my Texas family.  The fun part is trying to find my dad in the picture.

Me and Brittney looking  a little tired.

My nephew Kirby learning to take a picture with his dad's Iphone.  He's saying "cheese!" in this picture.

We had some really good times, ate some super good food, and loved on our family.  100% worth the 13 hour drive back to Ohio.

Holiday Bonanza and Other Adventures Part I

I'm back!  I decided to give my blog's background a little facelift for this new year and new phase my family is entering into.  I hope you all like my thoughtful, relaxing, coffee-filled (decaf for now) theme.

So much has happened since my last post, several holidays and lots of traveling.  We'll begin with Thanksgiving and go in chronological order.  This Thanksgiving my parents and sister came to visit Garrett and me in Ohio.  We had such a wonderful time.  Their coming was a nice break from the reality of living in Ohio and being away from our families the past several months.  My mom cooked a smattering of holiday favorites in my tiny kitchen while the guys enjoyed whatever football game was on TV.  

Aside from the Thanksgiving festivities, we also found out the sex of baby Rea and decided on a name.  After much wiggling and poking, we finally got our little peanut (as Brittney calls him) to reveal to us that he is a boy.  His name is Benjamin James Rea (James after my dad and Garrett's maternal grandfather).  We are super excited to welcome little Ben when he arrives in April (or whenever he gets here; Garrett thinks he's coming earlier).  After finding out his gender, we set out on a shopping extravaganza.  I had to register for my upcoming shower and my parents wanted to help set us up with some nursery items.  What a successful day!  We got some great items at some amazing prices (it happened to be Black Friday, so we lucked out on the cost of things).      

Our Ben at almost 21 weeks.  We think he looks like Garrett.

Here's a link to my sister's blog post about Thanksgiving and our nursery (as of November--don't worry the finished nursery photos will be posted eventually).  She has the essential pictures and light-hearted captions that are needed to fully understand our Thanksgiving holiday experience.  

After my family left, I went into a bit of a funk.  I missed them so much; Garrett and I didn't realize how much we would miss our family when we were prepping for our Ohio move.  At times, I wished they hadn't come because I had gotten used to everyday life without seeing and hanging out with them.  Needless to say, this made us long for Christmas break even more.  

We had only three weeks of school left once we got back from Thanksgiving break.  As usual, it went by fast.  Before we knew it, we were in our Subaru headed to Branson, MO to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary (Dec 17) with our great friends, Jake and Lacee.  The 11 hour drive wasn't too bad, but we were definitely ready for some relaxation once we got to Branson.  We spent almost three days and two great nights with our friends.  It was wonderful to sit face-to-face and catch each other up on what's been going on in our lives.  There's something about staying up late, by a fire, chatting that is much more fulfilling than talking on the phone.  

The morning of December 18, we all packed up and headed to Rogers.  That evening I was graced with a wonderful baby shower that Brittney, Lacee (and family), and my mom planned for me.  What a wonderful treat it was to see a lot of my friends and family right when I got home from being gone for what has felt like years.  The ladies worked so hard to plan a shower, at a not so ideal time of the year, so that I would be able to have one at all.  The shower was a hit!  Although I'm not one who likes being the center of attention, I enjoyed seeing everyone and getting to catch up.  Here are a few photos for you to drool over.  

The gift and goodies table.  Notice the scrabble name on the wall.  The ladies made that!  They're so talented.

Another scrabble shot as well as the wall hangings that Brittney painted for Ben's room.  They are super cute!

Super cute cupcakes and yummy double doozies for dessert.

One of the beautiful center pieces on the guest tables.  Lacee's mom put these together.  Each table was gorgeous.  Notice also the little chocolate scrabble pieces (Garrett loves scrabble).  What a sweet, personal touch.

Ok, I'll leave you all with those stories for now (I'd hate to overwhelm).  Be looking out for Part II of our adventures to be coming soon.