What is a turnip?

Why do they keep picking fruits and vegetables that I've never heard of?  What is a turnip exactly?  Another thing I read, said it's an onion so I'll just go with that.

I cannot believe I'm already 17 weeks along.  It's funny how time goes by so quickly and yet so so slow.  Well, people it's happened.  My first pregnancy puke.  Apparently my gag reflex is VERY sensitive because while brushing my teeth I made my self blow my breakfast.  Not just once, but about 5 times.  Once I gagged once, my gag reflex just kept right on triggering itself.  I was worried the madness wouldn't stop, but then it did and life went on as normal.

I am 9 days away from our Alaskan cruise!!  I am so so ready to relax while looking at the most spectacular views on earth.  Eating dinner for an entire week buffet style should do wonders for my weight gain.  :)  Alaska is truly a beautiful place and I am so excited to see it again.  A huge (words can't express) thank you to my grandparents who made this trip possible for Chris and I!  Their generosity is beyond measure.  Thank you.  I will be eating my weight (which is up there now) in seafood, mercury be damned!  I'm sorry, I can't travel to Alaska and not eat king crab, fish & chips and clam chowder.  I promise that it'll only last a week.

We have our 18 week "anatomy" sonogram in a week.  Most people think the anatomy sonogram is just to find out the sex, but actually it's to measure all of baby's limbs, heart, organs, etc.  I'm excited to see the turnip/onion again and I hope he/she dances for Chris like it danced for me last time.  The urge to find out the sex is there, very prominently.  Time will tell if Chris and I can hold out for another 20 weeks.

On another front, the plagues have passed and I am feeling GREAT!!  I'm excited to start exercising again, after not being able to gather any will to do anything more than walk for the past 4 weeks or so.  Unfortunately, it's hot as blazes outside so I'll have to keep my exercising secluded to the gym.  GTL, after all.  Yes, I watched the first season of Jersey Shore.

Here is another picture of my bump!  I think it's been about a month since the last one.  I'll include two, one of just the bump and the other with a glimpse of the bump and a great pic of Milo's squishy face.

Why is Dallas so loose with their tornado sirens??!!

For those of you who don't know it, I am really afraid of tornados.  I have very few normal fears, I like snakes, don't mind spiders, I don't think someone's going to kidnap me and cut out my baby, nothing.  But I AM afraid of tornados.  I am pretty sure it stems from the 2nd grade.

Our classroom was in a portable building (classy) and so when the tornado sirens went off in our tiny town, we had to head into the boys bathroom.  Now, I'm not sure what was more traumatizing...knowing that there are tornados around us or having to sit in the disgusting 2nd grade boys bathroom.  Our teacher tried to distract us by reading "The plant that ate dirty socks."  I remember it so vividly, its strange - I can barely remember what I wore yesterday.  Anyway, the tornados really were coming for Whitehouse so my mom rushed into the school to pick us up.  Her, my brother and I all sat in the bathtub for what seemed like hours with a mattress next to us just in case.  SCARY.  It turned out the fear was merited, less than 2 miles away, a tornado tore out an entire subdivision of houses.  And thus, a deep rooted fear was born.

So, yesterday when the sirens were going off AND I saw on the news that tornados were coming - I cried.  Hard.  Then I gathered up the dogs and some blankets & pillows, and sat in the hallway for hours.  Chris cannot be contained, he (for reasons I don't understand) is fascinated with tornados.  I think all the recent tragedies surrounding tornados has sealed the deal - I'll have to build a fall out shelter underground.  Ok, maybe not, but good grief - can we get a break?!

Oh and I made the baby solemnly swear last night to NEVER be a storm chaser.  I will hold him/her to that promise.

HAILCORE!  Yes, that is baseball sized hail in our front yard.

And another one, with Finley trying to eat the hail.

Probably not...

Today I got an email with the subject line "10 maternity swimsuits that you'll love".

Um...probably not.

Nobody likes a complainer

Nobody.

But...seriously - can I please stop getting sick.  I thought the 2nd trimester was supposed to be easy?!  So far, I'm plagued with nosebleeds, congestion, pink eye (yes, in both eyes), and headaches.  Not to mention, I HATE sleeping on my side.  I finally had a normal night of sleep last night.  Thank you baby jesus.

But, nobody likes a complainer.  I know I'm lucky that I haven't been that sick.  I am also very lucky to have a healthy baby & pregnancy, so far.  But make no mistake about it, pregnancy isn't a walk in the park!!  There is a touch of guilt in telling you these things, because I don't want you to think I'm not grateful or excited.  It's just, in your head before conception, you have an idea of what pregnancy will be like and then post conception you learn what pregnancy is really like.  :)  Who are these people that love being pregnant?!  Sadist.  Just kidding...maybe.

On another note, today - I feel fantastic.  I feel pretty good that this is the light at the end of the tunnel.  I always feel rejuvenated on the days I get to hear the wee one's heart beat.  What a joy that sound is.  I could literally (say it like Rob Lowe on Parks & Rec) listen to it all day.  I love you baby.

I have a much more open view of having a daughter too.  I think this is because we spent some time this weekend with a sweet set of girl twins.  They were so cute and so lovable.  I was wrong about being convinced I wanted a boy.  I'll be overwhelmed with joy at whatever we get.  I am pretty sure Chris feels the same.  We have a sonogram scheduled for two weeks and I have to admit I am fighting the urge to find out what it is.  This is going to take some serious reserve to resist the urge.  I think it'll be worth the wait though.  I keep picturing the joy of finding out, just Chris and I (and an army of hospital personnel) at the birth.

Two fun things happened that I've forgotten to tell you about.

First, our baby got its first package in the mail.

It was a pair of bibs and a blanket that my sweet Granny made.  I love her!

And we bought a sweet dresser for the baby's room.  I love the sleek 70s design to this.  I got some cute number drawer pulls that will make it so awesome! 

I have got the plague, or the baby is trying to kill me. Maybe it's a vampire/wolf crossbreed?

This week when I received my normal weekly update of things that the baby has done, that my body will be doing, and things I'm supposed to be feeling - I found it eerily accurate.

I can in fact feel (and see) where my uterus is growing.  I AM having frequent nosebleeds thanks to my blood volume doubling.  Yes, my boobs don't hurt so bad I want to cry (thank you god).  My head does in fact pound to the brink of crying nearly every hour of every day (again thanks to blood volume).  Yep, I pee 3 times a night.  I do have more energy, unfortunately most of it is used to consume large amounts of food.

Growing a human is hard work.  Don't let anyone tell you any different.  Yes, yes - it is a joy and a blessing but it is also HARD WORK.

I think Chris and I have finally decided on names, 80% decided.  And no, we won't be telling you.  :)  We've been making up excuses like, oh we haven't decided yet, or ya we're still tossing them around.  But the truth is, we just aren't telling.  Again, I'd like to reiterate that I like secrets and no you won't be the only one I tell.  Sorry, you'll just have to wait.  And no, the baby isn't likely to be named after you - whomever you are.

The best part of pregnancy so far:
serious answer:  Chris' excitement - I cannot express enough how much I love him and how truly perfectly matched we are.  He's the only one for me.
real answer:  elastic waist band pants

The worst part of pregnancy so far:
serious answer:  The constant and never ending fear that something will go wrong.
real answer:  digestion - everything about digestion has been difficult.  From finding something to eat, to the weight gain it causes, to heartburn, to nausea from not having something to digest, frequent pees, and more - digestion is a battle I am not winning.

Last, random pictures:

This week's flowers from Chris.  :)

Little trin sleeping crazy.

Praise god for this little laid back red dog.  Finley.

Milo loves pillows.

I just ate a burrito, but have no clue what was in it.

I guess I'm officially pregnant.  I'm usually picky about things like that, but not today!  Today I plowed through that whole thing without batting an eye.  Are those yellow bits egg or corn?  Who cares.

Sexy.

Yesterday, Chris and I had date night...to a maternity store.  Do you see a trend of lameness in today's stories on this blog?  I have a few questions about maternity clothes. 
1.  Why are there so many horizontal stripes?!  I have read & heard from a very young age that horizontal stripes make you look wider, why in the hell do I want to look wider when I'm already the widest I've EVER been?!
2.  I would NEVER spend $80 on a pair of jeans.  So, you can safely assume that I would NEVER EVER buy a pair of $80 jeans with a stretch panel to fit over my pooch.  Can someone please open a Ross Maternity?
3.  Could you please dim the lights in the dressing room?  Nothing makes me put an article of clothing in the NO pile faster than a bright flourescent light illuminating how pale it makes my face look and how clearly I can see how gigantic my ass is.  NO ONE wants to see themselves that clearly.
4.  Why would I EVER wear pajamas that matched my baby?  Ever.  Seriously, why?

Needless to say, I spent more money at the maternity store than I have on clothes combined in the past year.  I'd feel worse about it if I didn't earn $90 in gift cards from the purchase.  So I'll be back to spend my $90 in a few months when I've outgrown this first set of horizontal striped t-shirts.  Perhaps the worst/best part of my shopping spree is that my co-workers all noticed immediately.  My boss said "You look good, not like the past few weeks when it looked like you've rolled out of bed and put on the biggest thing you have."  Thanks??  Sigh.  I guess the investment paid off, I apparently look human today.  It was hard not to retort with "Oh, I rolled out of bed and put this on too.  See, my hair is still wet...at 9:40 am."  I'll keep that little nugget to myself.

And because no one wants to read a blog without pictures...here's my booty (as in what I bought, not my actually booty).

Welcome, friends!

Either today or in the next few days, I'll post a link to this blog on fb.  Thus, it makes it's public appearance.  Before then, I've just been posting away letting a small group of friends follow along the shenanigans.  Anyway, I'm glad you're here - whomever you are.

I got back from NY last night.  I love my family.  There really is hardly anything better than being with the people that are so supportive, fun and loving.  We broke the news to them about the peach (it's a peach!  at least until tomorrow, then it's a lemon.  This is strange bc it seems to me that a lemon is smaller than a peach?).  Anyway, it was fun to tell them in person and totally worth the trek out there.  Chris was right, a phone call just wouldn't have been enough.  The fam was super excited, a few of them promised to come to the baby shower which is an unexpected and awesome surprise.  It was a great trip.  I feel really lucky, in every way.

I'm sorry I didn't get any good pictures, but here are 2 random ones for your enjoyment.

My aunt's backyard...if you can call 5 acres a backyard.

Look closely, I took this at the airport - there were 2 deer and 2 geese just chilling at the stop sign.  Only in upstate NY.

The moment you've all been waiting for...

Oh wait, that's not it - but seriously why does he have to sit on every pillow on the couch?!

There it is at nearly 13 weeks, a bump.  There are some things I feel I need to share with you about this bump.  First, it is rock hard.  Except when I sit, then it just looks like a food baby.  Second, it doesn't fit in maternity clothes but it also won't fit into 80% of my normal clothes.  Last, sometimes when I sit very squashed up, it rests on my legs.  Didn't see that coming for awhile.

Also, we bought a crib...and tried it out on Trin.  Clearly, her face is asking what she did to deserve such torture. Poor girl, she's the only one I can lift otherwise it would have been the Fin and Milo in there looking sad and confused.  She wouldn't put all 4 feet down at once, so sad.  Oh, and don't worry our baby won't be living outside in the driveway (unless it needs a time out, yes I'm kidding) - I just had to get some measurements for mom.