First Entry, March 22, 2008-- End of week 11

Its been a whirlwind couple of months. Greg & I found out that we were pregnant on February 16th, and that put a whole lot into motion... We decided to move up getting married by a few months (we were planning a late spring wedding), and did a small little affair at City Hall where Mayor Quinn married us on March 2nd. Only our parents, siblings and the kids were in attendance. It was a lovely ceremony. My folks and sisters brought me flowers, blew bubbles as we left the building and even decorated our car-- Crazy, but it certainly made the day even MORE memorable. =-) We went to dinner at SamB's (seems to be the place to go for wedding functions! lol!). We were surprised by Greg's folks with a MASSIVE cake that we cut in front of everyone. We were showered by gifts by everyone, including Evan, who gave us a pretty frame! After that, Greg and I dropped Evan off at his mom's and we headed to Amish Country for a little "Amish Hunting". We hit a massive used bookstore, Lehmann's and a few other misc. shops. It was a good time. Oddly, we didn't take any pictures of this. Oh well. Oh, we went to the Amish Door for a late lunch-- VERY good food.

A few days later, we had our first appointment. Basically, all we did was meet with a nurse who asked us about 5 million questions about our health history (mostly mine). We then scheduled our first ultrasound for the very next day. We saw our baby for the very first time that afternoon. Lucky-dog Greg got to see Baby first, as he was standing over the tech's shoulder. He was making all sorts of faces that were kindof scary! I really didn't know what to think! But then, she turned the screen so that I could see, and I got to see my first glimpse at the baby, too! It was unbelieveable! Then, we heard the heartbeat, which was even more amazing. 175BPM! Excellent, strong heartbeat.

I've been fortunate-- My only nagging symptoms have been bloating, constipation (ew, TMI, I know), and peeing all the time. OH, and complete and total exhaustion. Otherwise, I've been hungry all the time, and my cravings seem to change from week to week. It started out as cravings for Taco Bell (actually, that sounds really good now), peanut butter and celery, apples, and now, watermelon. Those mini-watermelons are FANTASTIC. I ate one in a day and a half earlier this week. I'm now on my second one. I've been pretty good with what I eat, and try not to indulge too much on the things that are bad for me. I've cut out diet coke entirely (which actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be), cold cuts (per the doctor-- I can only eat those that are heated to steaming- I guess they can carry listeria, which is easily contracted by women who are pregnant), and sugar substitutes (which has been hard-- i love crystal light).

To top things off, I was "laid-off" a week ago. The reasons that they say they laid me off (company in financial trouble and they couldn't afford to keep me on) and the reasons that they really laid me off (they screwed up and didn't want to admit their mistake--long, long story). But, the good thing is, I've already found a new, much better position. I've been offered a job at Dold Homes (they build houses) in one of their model homes as a Sales Assistant. Basically, I babysit a house out in the middle of nowhere 20 hours a week. I can read a book or do whatever, and occasionally answer the phones, send out a letter or two and show people around. Easy-Peasy. I'll only be working 9 miles from the house, meaning that even though I'm working less hours, I'll be bringing home a paycheck of about the same size. We won't be paying the exhorborant prices in gas 2x a week for my SUV. WHEW! OH, and the best part is, I can bring Baby to work with me, so we won't have to worry about childcare for a while, and I don't have to worry about some stranger caring for our little one.

Greg and I are in the midst right now of figuring out names. I think we're going to keep that a secret until the birth. We're also debating whether or now we want to find out the sex. I want to know, and he doesn't. I want to know. I just think that it'll be so much easier to know for purchasing clothes and preparing and whatnot. He thinks neutral clothes are fine. I HATE yellow and green and I look terrible in those colors-- what if Baby does!?!?!?

We're also trying to figure out the bedroom configuration, too. I think we've decided to get a loft bed for Evan-- We figure it'll be a great way to create space and enable Ev to keep his drum set. Not to meantion, I think he'll love it. I have always loved Noah's Ark, so we're doing Baby's portion of the room in that. We're still deciding how we're going to make it all fit, but we'll figure it out.

My folks are getting us a dishwasher for a wedding gift, so we've been reconfiguring the kitchen space this weekend to make room for that. We bought a new cabinet (its already full!) and decided we're going to have to get rid of our wine cabinet (boo!) and bring back the yellow cabinet instead. We're SO excited about getting the dishwasher. Hopefully, we'll get it soon and get it installed. Woohoo. No more washing dishes by hand. I cannot TELL you how much I hate that chore.

We've asked Heidi and Ryan to be the godparents of our baby. We couldn't think of two better people to look over our little one. We love them both dearly think they'll be a wonderful influence on him or her.

Evan's been doing great. School continues to be a challenge, but that might change soon. We'll see. He had a karate test this past Wednesday, and was so stinking cute. When his "test" was complete, the Sensai gave him a star for his belt, as he's too little to really advance upwards. He couldn't stop looking at that star. It was SO sweet. After everyone took their test, they sparred, and he put on his sparring gear. TOO funny and TOO cute. He took on two kids who were both bigger than him, and he held his own! One of which was an orange belt (two levels higher than him!) We loved going and seeing his test. Everyone cheered him on. The Easterbunny is going to be coming over this Wednesday, as we don't have him for Easter this year. My folks gave him a new Chief Wahoo sign for the yard (which is LOVES and points out every time he sees it) and we went to Greg's folk's last weekend and he did an egg hunt for Spiderman eggs filled with money! He also recieved a bunch of pretty cool stuff in his basket from Grandma and Papa VV! Greg & I were very impressed with the silly putty and Mr. Gumby! Even Baby was not forgotten-- S/he recived diapers (yeah!) and a rattle from each set of grandparents.

At the end of week 11, I'm starting to get a belly. According to thenestbaby.com, Baby is about the size of a lime. She's growing fast!!! The debate of the past two weeks is what nick-name to use on baby until he or she is born. Greg keeps calling him/her Buddah. I take offense to that! I like peanut or as Lindsey Annie said, Sweetpea. He hates that one. SO, we're looking for names. Any suggestions anyone??