14 Weeks: The Second Trimester

My husband is such a dork. Yes, that's an umbrella....

14 Weeks people! Officially the second trimester! How did I start off my morning? Dry heaving, gagging, and wishing I could stay in bed. Hahaha. I know I'm still going to have bad days but goodness, we could have started today a lot better.

Feeling: Still nauseous, but thankfully have medication now for that. Not AS tired but still fall asleep easily. I have these random spurts of energy which have been super helpful with packing a couple of boxes every night for our move. I was also able to go for a walk with Andrew and the dogs on Wednesday night and even though I felt like throwing up by the time we were done, I was glad we went.

Weight: Still haven't gained a damn thing. (SO HAPPY). I know that it will change once baby starts putting on more weight but I'm happy to say that I've stayed the same weight (or lost) and don't feel so bad when my clothes are so tight around the middle!

Cravings: ALL THE PICKLES. I thought that was always such a funny stereotype of pregnant people. It was always "You'll eat ice cream and pickles." .... no. Just the pickles please. I go through multiple jars of pickles in a week. In fact, it is Friday and I had to pop open my third jar. I'm also craving V8. I cannot, CANNOT, eat breakfast right now so I drink about two huge glasses of V8 in the morning to get me going and that has helped with the sickness tremendously. I really crave fresh foods too. Raw veggies, cucumber salad, pasta salad, sushi (veggie only).... really anything cold and made with fresh ingredients. I made homemade salsa the other day with farmer's market tomatoes and cilantro from my own herb garden and basically ate it with a spoon because I ran out of chips. I have NOT craved sweets very much and when I do I usually want froyo or ice cream of some sort. Oh, Wendy's vanilla frostys are my current lunch time obsession.

I have not hated pregnancy so far but I have had my days where I thought "Why did I do this to myself?!" This morning was one of those days but after some V8, crackers, and cheese sticks I've started to feel a lot better.
Here's hoping that I have at least a partially fabulous second trimester!

♥ Celebrating Three Wonderful Years ♥

Three years ago today I married my best friend.

I honestly cannot believe it has already been three years! I still remember the day and I remember all of the crazy emotions I went through. Andrew and I have had a wonderful three years of marriage. We have had our own ups and downs (mostly ups) and I couldn't be happier. We are having our first baby this year and buying our first house together. 2014 is going to be stressful amazing and I wouldn't want to share these milestones with anyone else. I love you, Andrew. ♥

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Pregnancy Things:

This baby hates me. I'm convinced. Haha. I'm officially in my second trimester on Friday and I sure don't feel like it. I feel like I'm still in week 8 or 10. Blech. I've had two mornings of sickness (in the shower too, FUN!) and getting out of bed has been a hassle. Today I was 30 minutes late to work because I could not get out of bed until I had something in my stomach and made sure it settled. Thankfully I have the most amazing employer and they have been super understanding with my morning sickness.... all day sickness.... weird cravings.... Ha!

So yes, Friday is 14 Weeks, Second Trimester...... I'm ready. I'm ready to move on from this! 

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Summer Things:

So, over Memorial Day weekend we went to my parent's house because they ordered a new pool liner and it needed to be put in. Unfortunately we couldn't put it in until the pool was empty and the other liner was out. This is how pretty it looked....

Nice, smelly swamp water. Seriously, it smelled so bad. Talk about making a pregnant woman nauseous. Yuck. So, we got the rest of the "gunk" out of the pool and then we ripped the old, nasty liner out and were left with this:

After the liner was pulled out in chunks we had to wipe down the walls, pull off the old tape (that was one the seams) and put up new tape, and then dad had to use the shop vac to pick up any stuff on the bottom: rocks, dirt, dead bugs, etc. After the seams were taped again we got to put in the beautiful new liner!

Fiona says "Where's the water?!" 

The only issue with this step was we had to pull it out and reposition it a few times which was a pain in the ass. I told my parents that I was happy they had a pool because I have enjoyed it so much over the years. However, I WILL NEVER OWN A POOL. EVER. We were all so sore by the end of the day and so tired. Obviously I didn't do as much as other people because of the whole pregnancy thing, but I still helped and it was hard work. They are still working out some of the wrinkles in the liner and filling it with water gradually so they can fix any issues. It's hard work people. If you have the money - hire someone to do it. HAHA! 

Let's go swimming!!

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We are less than two weeks away from closing on our house! Last night I started to pack some boxes and get organized a little more for the move! I have a feeling I'll be throwing a lot of stuff away as I pack which is a good thing. Time to clean house and start fresh! 

12 Week Update

Pregnancy Stuff:
Yesterday afternoon was our 12 week appointment with the doctor. We had another sonogram done and baby was ACTIVE. The poor tech was having a hard time getting a picture or getting the heart beat because baby was dancing away. It was so neat to see. It is also weird that I don't feel it at all. She asked me if I was having cramps recently and I said a little bit and she said "you're having a contraction right now." My uterus is trying to get bigger and I'm definitely feeling it! Some days I feel it more than others. Monday I felt it a lot.

I told Andrew that we had an alien baby.... because that's what it looks like to me. Baby has grown a lot since our 8 week sonogram and it just amazes me how fast a human is actually made. Nine months people. NINE MONTHS and BAM! Baby. I'll be 13 weeks on Friday and I'm so ready for the new trimester. 

I ended up seeing the Nurse Practitioner at the office because my doctor got called out for a delivery! How exciting! They kept apologizing to me and I was like "Whatever! She's going to deliver a baby!" They said my stats were great. Blood pressure was normal, I haven't gained ANY weight (which still baffles my mind because I feel huge), and they aren't worried about anything. I was told to continue eating an extra 300 calories a day and go on my merry way. My next appointment will be June 18 and I'll be close to 17 weeks! I don't think I'll have another sonogram... I think it is just a check up. The gender scan will be sometime in July! 

Oh, and the doctor FINALLY said I could have nausea medication. I could have used that last Friday and Monday. However, I'll be glad to have it handy if I need it. 

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Foodie Food:

It still amazes me how much I miss WeightWatchers when I can't be on it. I feel like I'm 100% motivated to be healthy right now (minus activity because I'm so damn tired) and can't lose weight. I think that stems from the fact that I want to be a healthy mom. I want my child to be healthy and I know once baby is born I'm ready to get back on that WW wagon! I am definitely eating a lot healthier than I was the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. I've cut back on the carbs and I'm craving a lot of fresh foods. I'm even cooking again! On Sunday night I made a "One Pot Wonder" pasta that I keep hearing so much about on Pinterest and it was AMAZING. 

I'm still eating this because it made so many servings. Andrew liked it but it was a bit too spicy for him. Next time I'll cut out the red pepper flakes. 

I also got to use fresh basil from my "potted" garden!

I have mint, basil, and cilantro. I cannot wait to move so I can plant vegetables! I've got my garden all planned out and I've already bought seeds. I won't buy my tomato plants until I actually move and can get them in the ground. 

I also had a hankering for cookies the other night and these happened:

Om nom nom. Peanut butter cookies are amazing. 

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Other Things:

The seller of the house is fixing the problems that we had reported to him from the inspection so that is fantastic. I'm very happy about that. However, I don't know what's going on with the mortgage right now and I'm kind of getting irritated. My husband is not impressed with our mortgage company at all but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. This is a really busy time and this place comes highly recommended. However, I sent them an email on Monday asking some questions. It is now Wednesday and nobody has gotten back to me. Now, last week they sent me an email and when I didn't respond within a few hours they were blowing up my email and phone making sure I got the email and was working on it. So..... they can't return that kind of communication. My email simply said "Hey, what's going on with the loan? Are we still good?" Nothing. 

Hence my frustration. 

We are going to start packing pretty soon because we are supposed to move in less than a month and we need to get going! The problem is... I get home from work and packing is the last thing I want to do. Haha. Maybe this weekend..... 

WTF Blogger?

"What the fuck does WTF mean?!?" - The World's End

That's my absolute favorite quote from that movie. I laughed so hard. It's the dumbest little joke but I got a big kick out of it. But I digress....
I got an email from Google apps telling me that my domain (www.bcruns.com) will not renew on May 24, 2014 unless I go in and make the changes. Well, of course I want my blog domain to renew so I click the link to pay my $10 and it says "We're sorry, this account isn't authorized to make changes to bcruns.com. Please log in with an authorized account."
Um... I do everything with my gmail account. That's how I blog. That's how I get updates. My gmail account is the owner of everything I do on Google.... so please tell me why I cannot access my domain!? Any suggestions would be SUPER helpful. I really want to keep the bcruns.com. Thankssomuchkbye.
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Pregnancy Updates:

I'll be 12 weeks tomorrow! I have another appointment with my OB next Tuesday and I'm so excited to see how much Baby C has grown! I know I've said that before... but it's true! I cannot believe it's already the 12 week mark. Soon I'll be in my second trimester and hopefully all this crazy sickness will wear off!

I guess I'm really not as sick I was so it is tapering off. Now it just hits me at random instead of an all day feeling. Like, yesterday when I got home from work I felt super sick. I was fine the entire day up to that point. I was in bed by 7:30 because I was so tired too. Poor Andrew. He probably feels like he's single. I did do SOME stuff last night though. I cooked up some food for Andrew, I did the dishes, and I vacuumed. I felt a little accomplished.

This was my dinner the other day:

I'm so glad I'm able to eat vegetables again. I cannot tell you how incredibly happy that makes me! Now that I can eat them they don't last in the apartment very long so I need to do a full grocery trip soon since all we have been doing is buying little things here and there. Slowly but surely I'm starting to feel human again and I've even gained 2 pounds back. I'm still at a net of 5 pounds lost; but I think the second trimester will really have me start packing on weight. Small amounts of course. I'd still like to stay under 20 pounds gained.
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Other Things:
Yesterday I spent a LOT of my time working with both my insurance agent and my mortgage company to get documentation to them. I finally found a homeowners insurance policy that I was happy with and it is going to give me a discount on my auto which is fabulous. I hope they finally have everything they need now because I'm tired of scanning and emailing documents! Haha.
In less than a month (hopefully) we will be the proud owners of our very first home! Yay!

Andrew and I also planned our "babymoon" trip. A lot of people have suggested that Andrew and I take a trip before the little bambino is born because it will be the last time we can go somewhere as just the two of us for awhile. It may not seem like much, but we are going to Minneapolis in July for this!

Rifftrax LIVE! Sharknado! Woohoo! Andrew and I are really excited for this. While we are up that way we are also going to go to The Mall of America because neither one of us have ever been. It'll also be a fun little vacation because my cousin Amber lives halfway between where we are and where we are going so we get to visit her as well! I haven't seen her for awhile and it'll be nice to catch up a bit! 

So, a trip to Minnesota might not be all that exciting to some, but since we are huge MST3K fans and love Rifftrax (thanks, Sydney!) we will enjoy this trip tremendously! 

Also, Rifftrax posted a Kickstarter to raise money because they want to riff Godzilla, the one with Matthew Broderick, and they raised their goal money SO FAST! I, of course, backed the project as well because I love everything they do. I found this little picture on Facebook the other day and it cracked me up. 

Basically. (yay South Park reference)

And now, I leave you with a picture of Walter with his summer hair cut.

PRECIOUS! He is 9 months old now! Crazy!! 

Day 80

Pregnancy Things:
Happy Monday! I am still patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for the day I wake up and have my bursts of energy that people keep telling me about. This morning I was dragging, as usual. I also could not figure out anything that even remotely sounded good for breakfast so I choked down some toast. I'm not having a good time in the mornings right now. My day would be exceptionally better if I could work from 10:00 to 2:00 and then nap once I get home. Then, I could do my night time chores and go to bed around 9:30. That would be perfect for the last 3 weeks of this first trimester. Can someone make that happen for me please?

I am having weird cravings, as usual. I eat what sounds good regardless of how good it is for me. (To this day, I have lost 7 pounds) On Friday I had to have tacos. The only place to get tacos around where I work is the marvelous Taco Bell. So, I had 3 hard shell tacos and they were amazing. I also had tacos on Saturday night because they sounded good again and mom made them for me. They were delicious. I am still craving salt too. Pickles are my best friend. I've gone through more jars of pickles than I ever have in any given year of my life. Andrew and I haven't had a full fledged grocery shopping trip since I got pregnant. Grocery shopping happens in spurts and we pick up 8-10 things that we are hungry for and then we're done for awhile. Good news is our grocery budget had decreased.... bad news is our eating out budget has increased.... It really is a wash I guess.

An Annoyance:
Since I am pregnant I understand I'm going to be the center of attention to family members but I'm starting to get the "back off" bug. I have about 200 more days of this pregnancy and people trying to pawn stuff off on me is getting irritating. I'm not even out of the first trimester yet. CALM THE FUCK DOWN. I don't know if it is a boy or a girl and until I do know.... I don't want anything! I will not start my serious registration/shopping process until I have my house, live in it and I know the gender of my child! I'm not going to start filling a room with furniture or toys until that point.
I'm also having super protective mamma bear thoughts about this child, too. What I want for my child (is essentially what my husband wants) and is going to be the final answer. No one will dictate to me how to raise this child, who will watch my child, teach this child, or care for this child. End of story.

.....I have this random urge to run up to the gas station to get some V8. That sounds amazing right now....
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House Things:
We have sent in paperwork detailing what we want to be fixed on the house and we are still waiting to hear back. When we were there for the inspection I had a tape measure and I was making sure our furniture would fit where I wanted it. Let me tell you how wonderful and how horrible it is to have a king size bed. Love my bed.... but I hate my bed when it comes to moving. In the price range of houses we can afford, bedrooms are not that big. We will basically be able to fit our bed, our small night tables and one dresser in our room. The room does have two separate closets though which is really nice. Andrew and I get our own closets. We will probably toss our other dresser into the spare room or put it in the nursery.

Mom, grandma and I went to Wal Mart yesterday and bought plants! Mom always has a garden and since I am going to get to have one soon I started to buy a few things I would need. I mainly got some seeds that I want to plant and I will get tomato plants once I actually move and can plant them. I also bought oregano, mint, and cilantro and planted those in cute little pots! I have them out on patio right now because I get really good afternoon sun out there and they should do fairly well until I can get them in the backyard of the house. Or, I could just grow them inside. I have an empty counter under the kitchen window that they could hang out by.... we will see.

*update* I did just run to the gas station and got some V8. OMG. It is amazing.... I bought three bottles.... I'm on bottle number 2....
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Well, this has been an amazingly random post. I don't have much else to update. I had a wonderful weekend spending time with my grandma since she is in town and besides being tired every second of every day, I'm hanging in there and doing alright.

The Mother Daughter Bond

At the salon before the wedding! 5.28.2011

I've been thinking a lot lately about what type of relationship I will have with my child. I know that in reality I would love to have both a boy and a girl, but we can't really plan for that. You can try... but the body is going to do what it is going to do. That being said.... I was thinking to myself about how I would love to have a girl so that I could (hopefully) share that same relationship that I have with my mother and have a three generation bond (grandma, mom, daughter) that my grandma, my mom and I have. When I was younger (I loved my childhood by the way) I remember doing all sorts of stuff with my mom and grandma. We always had the most wonderful time. (We still do!) We'd go to the park, we'd go to craft shows, my grandma taught me how to crochet, knit, do counted cross stitch... she taught me a lot. Between both grandmothers I was always closest to my maternal grandmother and to this day I still am very close to her. I see her as much as I can and I am really looking forward to the day she moves closer to me! (This summer!!!)

5.28.2011 Grandma is so tiny! ♥

I've read articles on line before about how special a mother/daughter relationship can be and I am so thankful to say that I am one of the lucky ones that has this relationship. My mom is my go-to for a lot of stuff in my life and I share so much with her. We have inside jokes, we can have an absolute crazy time together, we can have serious talks, and we can just be US. We don't have to impress anyone and I know she is proud of me without her even having to say so. That's something you can't force... it just IS. This is why I would love to have a baby girl. Again, it is out of my hands; but having a girl would be such a magical thing to me. I know little boys are great too, but little girls truly are special. Not only because of the bond (which usually comes later in life....) but because little girls are daddy's little princesses. I know my dad still calls me his princess and I am OK with that. I am perfectly content telling people I'm a daddy's girl at 28 years old (pushing 29). My mom and I are best friends and my daddy is and always will be my hero.

Day Before the Disney Princess Half 02.2012

To those of you girls out there, I hope you know what I am talking about. I know that no family is perfect, I know some daughters unfortunately do not have their mothers or never had them due to tragedy, but to those of us that do have our mothers, it is such an amazing thing to be so close.

Pumpkin Patch! 10.2012

My maternal grandmother was my babysitter growing up and I wouldn't have that any other way. She watched me and both of my brothers and the time we got to share with her was so special to me. Hell, we'd even ask to spend the night at her house on weekends we loved it so much. I feel very strongly about my mom being my primary babysitter after the baby is born. I know my husband is fine with whatever but it is something in my heart that I want more than anything.

Disney Princess Half Marathon! 02.2012

I've been talking to my therapist about this too and she says that it is perfectly normal for me to want to continue that strong bond between my mom, me and my child and that I shouldn't feel bad about it at all. It is hard for me because it can feel like I'm not being fair to everyone, but that isn't what's important. What is important is me feeling comfortable with the choices for our baby and knowing that I am 100% happy with the decisions I make that will shape my child for years to come.

After the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon 04.2013

Growing up my home life was a happy one. We were raised well, we were well rounded, we were taught life lessons (sometimes the hard way) when we got older and I wouldn't change that for the world. My parents made me work after I turned 16, they made me pay things like an adult does, they made me fend for myself and I am forever thankful for that. I want the same for my child(ren). I want them to work, earn, learn, and be independent. In fact, I already have plans to buy Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University Chidlren's Edition for my kids so that they can learn about saving, spending, and giving the right way.

I mean c'mon, who doesn't want this woman to watch their child!? 

(This is my cousin Sarah's baby Michael)

If I do have a boy, which is FINE, I know that I will have a wonderful relationship with him as well. However, the mother/son relationship just isn't the same. Little boys grow up to young men, then to grown men, and after that... mom isn't needed as much anymore. Grown men (usually) find a woman they want to spend their life with and then that woman becomes front and center and then the family they will have becomes most important. It is the nature of things. Then, the daughter-in-law has her special bond with her mother and the trend continues along down that road. Daughters with that strong bond will ALWAYS want their mothers. Their mothers will give the advice, provide the care, be there in tough times.... it is just the nature of things. 

Nothing, I repeat nothing can compare to the relationship between a mother and daughter and I really hope I can have that someday. 

80's themed wedding reception 2011

I'm Alive

Holy shit I've been gone awhile. That last time I posted I explained my sickness. Well, that sickness lasted me through my entire week last week and part of my weekend. I was in the hospital at 3:30am on Wednesday because I.could.not.breathe. It was bad. They gave me breathing treatments, and sent me home with steroids and an inhaler. The poor ER nurse felt so bad for me. They couldn't do an x-ray on me because of my pregnancy and so the ER doctor told me to take the meds they gave me and to stay in bed. Like, strict bed rest from this guy. So, we got home from the hospital around 5:00am and luckily Andrew didn't have any pianos to tune that day and we both slept until 9:00am. It was blissful.

I have to take a side bar here and just say how wonderful Andrew has been. I've been miserable, sick, and of course pregnant and he has done nothing but take care of me and get me what I need. He filled my prescriptions, he took me to the hospital, he has been grocery shopping (he HATES grocery shopping), he waits on me hand and foot, and it has been amazing. I am so thankful for him and all that he has done to help make this time go by easily. I know he misses having structured, healthy meals cooked by me, but he hasn't complained. He makes what he can for himself and knows I'll be back to feeling better very soon. (I hope)

I am back at work today and seeing the stack of stuff in my try and taking a look around the office I know I have my work cut out for me for a few days at least. I'm just procrastinating because I don't want to overdo it on my first day back, and I know that everything I have to do will get done in a timely manner and all will be OK.

I want no more sickness. You hear me body!? It takes entirely too long for me to fight things off since I'm growing a human and all....
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Pregnancy Stuff:
10 weeks and counting! I can't really tell you much about pregnancy symptoms at this point since my other sickness kind of trumped everything else. The main thing I still feel more than anything is fatigue. The problem with being on steroids is they caused me some insomnia. So, I would go to bed at 9:00 at night and be wide awake at 3:00am. Almost every morning. I would be able to nap later in the day, but I was lacking on much needed sleep to help my body heal. Not a good time. I think I finally caught up on sleep over the weekend which was funny to Andrew. I'd be doing things around the apartment (since I finally could) and then I'd sit on the couch and within 10 minutes I'd be asleep. I'd nap for about an hour and then get up again like it was totally normal for me to do that. So weird. I'm ready for this energy boost people keep telling me about....

The one thing I did enjoy about being home sick was being able to wear pajamas all day every day. Nothing can beat that. I took a lot of really relaxing baths too. I would take a bubble bath, then put on pajamas. Ahhhh.....

Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting my next OB appointment which is May 20 and I'll probably say that almost every post because I'm just super excited to see how much Baby C has grown!
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House Stuff: 
We have an inspection this week (Wednesday) and I am hoping that all goes well with that. I haven't heard from my realtor or our mortgage lender lately so I am assuming that everything is going OK right now. I have quotes in for insurance and hope to get those back soon as well. I am really happy on the insurance front because we work with a group that is an ELP of Dave Ramsey. (Click here to read more about ELP). I know that they will get me the best coverage for the best price. They've done an amazing job with us so far as far as auto and renter's. I'm not worried about a thing!

Mostly I am just excited to finally be out of the apartment. Especially since Walter is really discovering how much he LOVES being outside when it is nice out. That dog just sits at the door and stares outside all day long. He doesn't need to potty, he just wants to be out. I've already told dad that I need a doggie door installed on our back door so that he can go out as he pleases.
Plus, I wrote out my rent check and knowing how much less my house payment is going to be it almost made me cry. I want that. I want it now. No more rent!

One of the mornings that I had a case of my insomnia I used a free computer program to type in the dimensions of the house and decorate each room with my furniture. I was walking around at 4:00 in the morning measuring my furniture..... good times. However, I feel really good about what I came up with and Andrew likes my ideas as well! It'll make moving in much easier because I'll be able to tell the guys where to put everything.
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I really don't have much else to say. (no pictures, sorry).
Friday was our orchestra concert at UIS and I did venture out to do that because I have worked all spring for this concert and I wasn't going to miss it. It went really well and I was able to hold in all coughing until after we were done playing. I didn't want to be that crazy first violinist that started hacking in the middle of our Symphony. Haha. That would have sucked.