7 random things about me

Julie tagged me to write 7 random things about myself. Here you go!

1. I love fall. Everything about it. hayrides, hot dog roasts, caramel apples, the smell of fall, football season, back to school, back to school shopping, tiny candy everywhere for Halloween, pumpkins, wearing just a sweater, Sunday afternoon naps, changing of the leaves, crunching leaves under my feet...is anything better?

2. I love to clean. I'm really bad at the organizing/clutter part of it. That takes me forever. But the sanitizing part...getting all my cleaners out and just going to town is one of the best forms of stress relief for me. It soothes me. And when I'm done the smell of a clean place...aaah. Sometimes when I'm really stressed you can tell because my apartment is clean and if I'm SUPER stressed I see if it's ok to clean someone else's place, too.

3. I've caught 13 bouquets in my lifetime. I think 4-5 were the same summer. Sometimes I would try to avoid it to give someone else a chance and it would land on my feet or come straight at me. I was really bummed I didn't catch the one at the wedding in China. Their bouquets are weighted really differently and completely threw off my game. It was a poetic end when the last one I caught was the last wedding I went to before mine. Kind of my last hurrah. I used the bouquets I caught as my rehearsal bouquets. It was fun. Then we threw them away.

4. When I was younger I developed a strange fear about birthday parties. The last one I had was when I turned 9. (My next one was in my 20s) I am such a peacemaker that it reallly bothered me when my friends from different circles wouldn't get along. I couldn't handle it so I stopped having parties. When I'm dreaming my friend circles will cross constantly and it still is weird to me. Not scary-weird anymore, though.

5. I really honestly believe that if I ran into random celebrities they'd be just as excited to meet me. Or we'd be super close friends. I was completely crushed when I met Robin Williams and he wasn't like, "I think that YOU are funny, too!" It pretty much was depressing instead of awesome to meet him. I overcame this by telling myself that he was having an off day or was distracted and now regrets being nervous when he met me. Give him the benefit of the doubt, you know.

6. My dream job is to be one of those makeover people on Oprah or What Not to Wear or something where they make people over and make them feel good about themselves. I'd also love to be a personal shopper (which I sort of do now--less groceries, more stuff at the mall, though.) Another dream job...a spa columnist. Someone who travels all over the world trying out different spas to rate them and how great they are. I saw that on the travel channel once, it's a TV show and I was completely mad at my high school guidance counselor for not telling me about this option as a carreer choice.

7. Things I can't resist buying: Children's books, flip flops, office supplies, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, cool cleaning supplies, purses or bags (not the expensive ones, just normal ones), Christmas ornaments, scrapbook supplies, rubber stamps, and apparently baby stuff. (my newest addiction) I pretty much have to avoid places that sell any of these items at all costs.

I am not tagging 7 more people. I never pass stuff like this on even though I think it's fun. My feelings get a little hurt when other people don't do it. SO, I challenge whoever thinks it's fun to write 7 random things about yourself to do so.

24 week appointment

Today was my 24 week appointment. One funny thing that happened was as soon as she put the doppler on my belly to hear the heartbeat we could hear it, then Viper kicked that thing hard enough that it caused her to take it off my belly and say, "WHOA!" Then she tried to find another place. My baby is so stubborn, it cracks me up.
She said everything sounded great, everything is still healthy. Then she looked at my chart and said, "So...8 pounds in the last month, huh?" Then was telling me how I have to cut back on my Twix bars, etc. So far I have gained 19 pounds. She said I'm still in the healthy range, I might have just had a growth spurt or something, but to just be careful because it puts me at higher rish for gestational diabetes. (and other stuff that I forgot...mostly it's harder to lose the weight after the baby comes.) So I guess I have to watch my diet more carefully. I think it's because I've been finally able to eat meat and I'm balancing out.

Here are my current baby pictures, taken today. I am not sure how I am going to continue to be able to stretch. My skin feels stretched to the max already, and I still have 3 1/2 more months to go!

Horrifying Reveltation

Today I went to the store and carried in my groceries. When I went to close the door I noticed a puddle of milk on the floor. I realized I had somehow punctured my milk container and it was leaking. I cleaned it up and thought it was fine. Then on my way out to the car for the second load I noticed there was a tiny trail of milk up 2 flights of stairs and to the sidewalk to my car....I thought this was somewhat amuzing until I realized that in a few short months I'll be leaking my own milk similar to this. OH NO!!!!

Shopping Expeditions

I keep visiting Goodwills trying to see what I can find. I have had a few exciting finds. I found a couple of pink really nice snowsuit carseat thingys. I couldn't not buy them even though they were pink...the price was so worth it! If we end up having a boy I will have to find a baby girl somewhere and let her have them. I keep looking hoping I find a blue one somewhere. Maybe it's destiny that I can only find pink ones?
I have been trying to find cute baby clothes there, too. Mostly I've been out of luck, I did find a few cute things, though. It's even harder to find gender neutral stuff at a Goodwill. :( I have bought a few pink and a few blue things there, since they were really cheap. I am trying not to go crazy, though. I think I have enough now to last me until I'm up to leaving the house with the baby to buy more clothes after Viper is born. I'm mostly trying to stock up on Onesies (still have yet to find any white ones, so I have a collection of yellow, green, pink and blue.) I also LOVE the gowns you can get. They're longer and have elastic around the bottom. They are awesome for quick diaper changes and I think they are so precious. I haven't found any plain white ones of those, either. I'm hoping at my showers I'll get some. I'm getting so excited for this baby to get here! I bought some baskets which are super cute. Now I can use my bookshelf/armmoirre as a dresser if I don't end up getting one. Or maybe both.
On another note, Viper has been moving around like crazy! MOST of the time I love it and it's the cutest thing ever. Then sometimes like in the middle of her sleeping schedule she starts weighing a TON and I have to push her up. It's like her head or butt or back or something just digging into my lower stomach. I can't imagine when she is bigger how heavy it's going to be.
I have my next appointment tomorrow. I forget what they're doing. I think it might be the diabetes test? I think I'm safe, although I have been almost passing out a lot during pregnancy so I'm hoping it's not related. I don't know if I can give up my Twix addiction. Did I mention I'm fully addicted to Twix? Every time I go to the store I buy a huge Halloween size bag of Twix candy bars. Twix only. I LOVE THEM!!!

Ultrasound!

Today was our ultrasound! It was so great to see our baby and verify that everything was healthy and normal. And it's SO CUTE!!! I cried. It was beautiful.
It was really cool to see all the parts (well, except the gender-deciding parts) but we saw the brain and the heart and everything! I really think that it's partying in there. At one point it had a L-shaped thing going on with the hand like, "WOOHOO!!!" and the cord to me looks exactly like Marti Gras beads, it's hilarious. Everything is healthy. The heartbeat was 132. They measured our baby at 10 1/2 inches and 1 pound. (that is a LOT less than I am these days!) We saw the brain, the blood, etc. It was crazy. One other thing we learned: DO NOT SPEAK AT ALL to the ultrasound technician. They aren't always very nice. Wait for the doctor. Enjoy pictures of our beautiful baby! Thanks to Laura for scanning these for us, and a very special shoutout to AUNT DIANA!!! Happy Birthday today!

Is that a duck squeaky toy in there, too?

I think in this one it looks like, "I'm not LISTENING to you!!!"


This is almost exactly how I sleep with my arms.

First Visual Movement!

I was lying on the couch reading today and something caught my eye and I thought, "Did I just see my baby kick me?" So I kept watching and sure enough I saw a tiny movement the next time it kicked me! SO cute.

21 Weeks

Here's my current belly shots! Viper is kicking more than ever and it's getting a LOT stronger. Josh was surprised at how much he is kicking. Our ultrasound is on Thursday, can't wait!