Life Abroad

Update

2012-02-09T08:41:00.003Z

Amaya and her big sister Liara :)

Amaya, Daddy and I about two minutes after she was born :)

My favorite big sister! She's so beautiful!

My favorite little sister! She's so beautiful!

Well, I'm still alive. God is good. I know you've probably forgotten all about this blog (I know I have from time to time) and thought I had finished writing here, but I've just neglected it for a while. Hopefully I'll be back for a while, I always forget how nice it is to get all your thoughts out.

We've all had so much happen to us over the last 6+ months that I haven't written here, so I guess I'll just give you a quick re-cap to catch you up on what you've missed.

The Baby (Amaya)- We had our second child, a beautiful and perfect little girl named Amaya Elise Alvarado, on December 14th, 2011. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful she is and how in love with her we are. She honestly fits so well into our family and all my doubts about parenting two children (like if I'd love them the same amount, if I'd be able to devote an equal amount of time to each of them, if Liara would do well with sharing the attention... etc) were squished in seconds. We ALL adore her and are so happy she's here. I can't even imagine how our lives were before her anymore. Liara absolutely LOVES her little sister and is so good with her, and Amaya loves her right back... she gives her more smiles and giggles than anyone else and always is looking around following Liara's voice. It makes my heart so happy to see them together. I can't wait to see the mischief they get into together and the bond that is growing every day. She was 7 lbs 11 oz and 21 1/4 inches when she was born... a big girl compared to Liara, and is already up to 12 lbs 6 ounces as of last week (she was 7 weeks then...) so she's my chunky monkey. She has held her head up like a champ since day 2 and is super curious about the world. She loves to eat... she wants to be attached to me every 2 hours on the hour even now at 8 weeks, but that's ok by me. Oh, I love her. Our birthing experience was so wonderful with her, I had her all naturally (hooray for two natural births under my belt!) at a midwife center here in Pearland. I love my midwives and honestly am a little bummed that this is almost surely our last baby, just because that means that I won't get to have another one with the Rite of Passage ladies. I can't believe that Amaya is already almost two months old. Where has the time gone?!

Liara- We celebrated Liara's second birthday with a bouncy castle and some close friends at home, which was a lot of fun. She is growing so fast and amazes me every day. Her vocabulary is astonishing and makes me laugh all the time. The other day we were doing puzzles and she asked "Mommy, will you do it? I'm exasperated". Honestly?! What two year old says stuff like that? My daughter does. She speaks in complete complex sentences all the time and is always wanting to learn more. She has started to throw a few fits and temper tantrums (as does every two year old), but is quick to stop and correct herself and "ask nicely" when requested. She's learning. Her hair is finally starting to really come in and is now down to her shoulders in the back (not in front though... she kind of looks like a pixie). She still loves to read and we go to the library every two weeks to pick out roughly 30 books that we focus on... as well as our 50 or so of our own. She also loves to do puzzles, play at the playground, and go to church. She does not like to go to the daycare part though, she wants to be with us in the big church... lol. She still isn't fantastic at being away from Mommy (unless it is someone she knows well, like Daddy or Grandma... then she's fine), but we're working on it. She is still an absolute joy and I love her to pieces. She is so good with her little sister and is my good little helper. We're working on starting to potty train a little bit and she does well some days, and horrible others. She'll wear big girl panties without a problem, but she's hesitant to use the potty and will insist on having a diaper on to go. Oh well, it's still early in the game.

Nic- He's so wonderful. He has been transferred to the US office of Fugro here in Houston! We are so pleased and are looking forward to what is going to happen now. He just started with them on the 1st of February, so it's still new, but so far so good. He'll have to travel back and forth to the UK office still pretty often, but at least we're back in the US now! He has been in the UK for the most part since we left Scotland in August. He flew back the 1st of Sept, then was here for a week in October and then came back for Amaya's birth in December. Then he had to go back on the 3rd of January and finally came back on the 25th. It's been hard to be away from him for a month and a half at a time, but we made it through and are glad that it's finally starting to ease up. He's such a great Daddy and is so good with the girls. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate him when he's here (and away...). He's been working on a quad-copter lately which is fun... he is a little obsessed with it. Liara loves to watch him fly it and it is so cute to see them so excited about it together. Perhaps he doesn't need a little boy after all. We're supposed to fly back to Aberdeen together on the 19th to pack up our things there and move out of the house before the end of the month. I'm looking forward to closing that little chapter of our lives and seeing where God takes us now.

That leaves me. I'm doing wonderfully. I had another super easy pregnancy and birth and am loving being Mommy to my girls. I can fit into my jeans from before I had Liara (I'm still a little snug in a few of them, but I can get them on!), although I'm nowhere near where I was pre-Amaya. I have to keep reminding myself it's only been 8 weeks though. It'll happen. I've had a massive change of heart as far as my career is concerned... I have decided to go back to school to become a midwife myself. I am so very excited and can't wait to start the coursework. I am really looking forward to helping others have the birth experiences that I have had myself with both my girls and can't wait to be a part of bringing someone's child into the world! I haven't been this excited since I don't even know when. I am beyond thrilled and have been talking to my own midwives about it. They have been super supportive and helpful throughout everything. I know I've got a great support system. The process takes about 3 years to get it all done, so I'll be a CPM (certified professional midwife) right about the time that Liara enters Kindergarten. I think that's a great time to start a new career and begin to shift the focus a little. I love that I'll be able to still spend a ton of time with my girls though, while being a working Mom in a rewarding profession. It really seems to be absolutely perfect for me! I can't wait!

That about wraps it up for my little family...

My mom was re-diagnosed with breast cancer again today. I'm still in shock a bit and am not quite sure what to think about it. I know that God will work it out and am praying... that's pretty much all I can do at this point. We are waiting on news that will tell us where it is in her body and at what stage she's in. Hopefully we find that out soon so that we can figure out a game plan from there. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers on that one please.

Oh! I almost forgot, we might be looking at buying a new house. Nic's office right now is about 10 miles from our house here in Houston, but they are moving to one of the other offices here in Houston before the end of the year (meaning he'd have about an hours commute each way). That's not really ideal, and since we have tenants in the house right now anyway, we are debating leaving them there and just getting another house closer to the 2nd office. That way we don't have to worry about it later. We're talking to the mortgage lady at the moment to see if that's even feasible right now (especially since we had foreign income for the last 4 years). We might have to wait a little bit to get re-established here in the US, but we'll see. It's exciting to think about though!

Ok, I'm off to bed... it's 3:30 in the morning and everyone else is sleeping (including Amaya) but she's due to wake up for another feed in about 45 minutes, so I'd better take advantage of the time for some shut eye.

I'll try to be better about posting, but no promises! I'll leave you with a few pictures ( they ended up being at the top but I'm too sleepy to mess with it just now... Oh well).

Oh no!

2011-08-08T11:12:00.002+01:00

Well, we've made our decision, and it looks like I'll be staying in the US with Liara for September and October (and maybe a few days of November too). I'm looking forward to getting some serious work done, helping our family fix some financial instabilities, and seeing some people that I haven't seen in a while. There are a few major events that I'll get to take part in as well, so I'm pretty excited (such as a cousin's bridal shower and the possible birth of my sister-in-law's first baby). Awesome.

However... I've fallen behind in my house cleaning, partly due to Liara catching a cold. Yep, just a few days before a 15 hour plane ride. Boo. My poor baby has itchy/watery eyes, a super runny nose, and sneezes every two minutes. She looks miserable, but she's a trooper. She only gets fussy if I'm more than 3 feet away from her (or doing something other than paying attention to her... hmm). I understand that, there's nothing better than a Momma's love when you don't feel well. My only problem with that is that those dishes in my kitchen aren't going to do themselves, the floor isn't self cleaning, the laundry pile is trying to make a comeback and those suitcases I packed for us, well, aren't going to cut it for three months. Oh dear, it looks like it'll be a late night for me tonight...

If anyone wants to be my maid for a couple days, I'd really appreciate it! This house needs to be spic and span by the time we leave so that Nic doesn't completely destroy it when he's by himself for two months. Oh geez, am I sure about this?!

Opportunities come knocking...

2011-08-05T16:20:00.003+01:00

Look at me, I've become a fairly regular (or at least more frequent) blogger lately. Go me.

I just needed to get some thoughts out of my head and try to make up my mind about some things that will drastically change our living situation for a while.

We've been struggling with money lately... we've been able to pay our bills, but there isn't anything left over at the end of the month which is a little nerve wracking when you've got a baby on the way and taxes due at the end of the year (5k worth of taxes... eek!). It's been something that has weighed heavily on my (and Nic's) mind and we've had many a discussion about it. We've thought about me going back to work, but with childcare costs and whatnot, it really isn't that great of an option (especially since I can't teach here unless it's at an international school). We've thought about him going offshore for a while, but that isn't a fantastic option either. We were running out of ideas.

That's when I got a heads up about a possibility from a past employer regarding testing (again... something I am very interested in and enjoy doing). It has super flexible hours (so I could stay home with Liara still) and is fantastic money. Plus, it's in my field of study and gives me more experience in a career I'm interested in following. Win-win right? Well...

There is a slight downside. By slight, I would mean that I'd have to stay in the US without Nicolas for a while. Yes, while pregnant and with an 18-21 month old. Basically, I'd stay in Houston instead of returning back at the end of the month, and stay until the beginning of November. Then Liara and I would come back to the UK for November and December, then head back for more work in January. I'd stay there until the work was done (it's calibrating and standardizing a test) and then return with Nic... unless he's able to convince his work that he can work from home in the US and travel back and forth to the UK as needed. He's already talked to his boss about it, but no decision has been made. It wouldn't have any effect on his schooling since it's distance education and he would be able to take his exams at any university.

That's a lot to have happen just 5 days before you leave for a trip. I'm not sure whether to pack for three weeks or three months... I'm sure I'll figure it out though. I'll have more info from my former boss tonight, so hopefully that'll help us make up our minds. Either way, we're looking forward to being back in the US, however long it may be for. Keep us in your thoughts/prayers please... we could use some good vibes to figure out what the heck we're doing!

Wordless Wednesday!

2011-08-03T13:47:00.005+01:00

I don't normally do Wordless Wednesdays, but I had some cute pictures of Li that I just have to share. Perhaps I should do it more often :)

Liara as she says "cheese" for the camera (yes, there is a bruise on her forehead... one of the many bruises she's been sporting lately)

Another picture of my beautiful little girl. Man, we're going to be in trouble when she starts liking boys.

A smiling picture with her Dink :) I love that you can see the smile even with it in her mouth.

Playing in the suitcase is so much fun...

Liara playing Peek-a-boo in one of our suitcases.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Look!

2011-07-28T15:38:00.003+01:00

Two posts in the same week! Aren't you lucky!

I just had to share a few more cute things that Liara is doing lately, things I forgot to mention last post.

- Any time a helicopter flies overhead (which is often... we're right on the direct path of the choppers picking up/dropping off guys to and from the rigs in the North Sea for their shift changes) Liara points to the sky (or the windows if we're inside) and says "OOH Copter!" She then waves like a mad woman until she can't hear or see it anymore. It's adorable, even when she wakes up from a nap to do it (yes, she's done that several times...).

-One of her favorite games/hobbies is running. She will shout that she's "running!" and then run from one end of the house to the other. Then shout "running!" again and run back. Over and over again.

-She's very self-sustaining. When she wants a snack, she'll go get one (most likely cereal or a pretzel from the tub on the table, which means she gets to climb onto one of the chairs) or if she's thirsty, she'll get a bottle of water from the cupboard and bring it to you to open. Oh, she's making my life so much easier!

-She still LOVES to dance. Anytime there's music on (and there aren't strangers around), she's dancing to it. She then looks around the room and points at you until you're dancing with her. Everyone has to dance.

- Did I say she loves to read... because I really meant it. Today we have read 84 books so far (it's 3:45)... I decided to keep track, just to see. It's no wonder she gets bored with our books and loves when we go to the library! I love that she's a bookworm and can just see her absorbing all those glorious words!

-She is very aware when the phone rings and will shout "phone" and get it and bring it to you if it is nearby. If not, she continues to shout "oh no! Phone!" until you get it.

-She's a great helper. If you are doing laundry she will empty the washing machine for you, put the dirty clothes in, and then wait for you to add the soap. When you're done, she'll push the start button and then clap. What really gets me is that she loves to smell the clothes to see if they're clean and will let you know the results (either "YUCK" or "mmmm"). Lol. She also helps to pick up her toys and will fetch anything you ask for (as long as she can carry/reach it).

-She always wakes up happy. She gives the best morning hugs and kisses, and will always wave at you. My favorite part though, is if Daddy's still sleeping, she'll imitate him (making a snoring sound) and then giggle. :) Too funny.

-She loves to tickle people. Although it's more of her saying "tickle tickle" and almost scratching you... it's still cute.

-She loves baths. She doesn't ever want to get out (but will if you say it's time) and just plays and plays and plays in there. Her favorite bath time toy is her tea set, and she'll pour you a mean cup of bath water tea.

-She gives love pats when she hugs. I love this!

-She used to make this face (we never caught it on camera and she hasn't made it in over a week now... bummer) that cracked us up. She would tilt her head down and look out of the top of her eyes (like she was rolling her eyes at you...) and keep a super serious face, then she'd look up and laugh. Oh, it was cute. I'm hoping it'll come back and I can catch it. She just never wanted to do it on film.

-She gets on the scale every morning before breakfast... I'm pretty sure she's seen me do it to check my weight gain for this pregnancy. Perhaps not the best habit for a child, but it's still pretty cute.

Ok... my little girl is tired of "running" now, so I'll go.

All My Children

2011-07-26T22:32:00.003+01:00

Ok, so I figured I'd start with the baby. We had our 20 week ultrasound on Monday (our third and final ultrasound, that we know of). The baby looked beautiful and was perfectly formed as it should be. We got to fully inspect the heart ventricles and cavities, brain, spine, legs, kidneys, arms... etc. Pretty much everything except the genitalia. If you missed it when we were pregnant with Liara, they don't tell you the sex of the baby here. If you ask, they tend to get really grumpy about it and point out the numerous signs on the wall saying that they don't determine the sex of the baby and they'd prefer if you didn't ask about it (we found this out when we asked WHERE we could go to find out the sex if we so desired with Liara. We didn't even ask her specifically if she would tell us, just where we could go to find out). There are private clinics here that you can go to, they normally charge around 60 pounds (100 dollars) for a 2D sexing scan, or around 120 pounds for a 3D one. We decided not to with Liara since it didn't really matter and we aren't sure whether we'll find out with this one either. Again, it doesn't really matter what sex the baby is (and we have a feeling it's a girl anyway) and we'll find out in 20 weeks anyway! The tech this time was pretty nice and gave us 6 pictures to take home (usually it's 3-4) including these two which were my favorites. I have all of them on facebook if you're interested in seeing the others.

This one is our sweet baby waving it's hand at us. We told Liara that the baby was waving at her and she seemed to like that. She didn't really understand what was going on while we were there (and was a little more impatient this time than the other two, but they were shorter than this one was so I guess that was expected). I love how you can see each little finger so well... such a nice little hand print to keep :)
This one (pardon the huge spaces... Nic scanned the pictures in at work and I haven't taken the time to crop off the extra space around the edges) is our baby's face. The baby kept sucking it's thumb and then for this picture pulled it out and yelled a little. I think it was tired of the tech trying to get it to move around so that she could see all the valves in the heart. I like how it looks like it's smiling though... even if it isn't.

Ok. Onto our first sweet baby, or toddler that is. I can't believe she's already 18 months! She's growing like a weed and it seems like every day she's saying more and more (because she is... she's learning about 10 new words a day I swear) and doing more and more (again... she is). She's such a joy and I can't even express in words how much I love that girl! We loved her name because it meant "my light" in Hebrew and to be honest, I think it's perfect for her. She definitely lights up my life and I'm not sure how I faced the world without her. She has made me so unbelievably happy. Anyway, enough about how she makes me feel... on to the good stuff: what's been going on for her.

Height: 31.5"

Weight: According to our scale (which is probably wrong) 23 lbs

Likes: Playing with Mommy, building towers with blocks, climbing on any chairs or object that will get her higher than she's supposed to be, playing with playdoh, doing puzzles, re-organizing our movie drawers, reading (Li LOVES to read), bath time, playing with her sand table, playing with the kitties across the street, visiting the ponies/horses, helping Mommy with laundry, swinging, playing with her friends, jumping on the couch/trampoline/floor... dancing, singing and painting.

Dislikes: Being away from Mommy...

Favorite Foods: Shepard's pie, carrots, peas, potatoes, candy, cookies, pizza, cheese, milk, water (this girl LOVES water... especially if it's flavored), blueberries, strawberries, plums, nectarines. She likes pretty much anything though.

Foods she doesn't care for: Raspberries

Animal Sounds: Cow (moo), Cat (meow), Dog (woof and aoooo for howling), Donkey (hee-haw), Owl (who who), Sheep (baa), Goat (maa), Horse (she whinnies, SO cute), Goose (honk), Bee (bzz), Snake (ssss), Duck (quack)

Words she says (this isn't a complete list, as I can't remember them all... but I figure ~150 will give you a general idea): Mommy/Mama, Daddy, Book, More, Oh no, Uh oh, Bike, Shoes, Cheese, Banana, Belly Button, Nose, Black, Red, Green, Purple, Go, Sock, Out, Shirt, Dink (pacifier), Teeth, Booby, Milk, Bob (Godfather), Grandpa, Mick (Mickey Mouse), Yeah, Cat, Tea, Bye, No, Good, Girl, Hello, Hi, Ball, Wow, Drink, Juice, Broke, Cow, Pringle, Please, Rock, Up, Weee!, Awww!, Man, Back (both for the back of the body and coming back from somewhere), Toes, Come, Night, Pee, Phone, Cookie, Help, At, Paint, Work, Bath, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Snack, Duck, House, Kite, Dog, Nap, Big, Sorry, Hot, Pretty, Ring, In, Minnie, Water, Mat, Bug, Birdie, Bum, Car, Money, Home, Horse, Manny, Plum, Candy, Poky, Puppy, Giggle, Tickle, Best, Sister, Friend, Bottle, Walk, Carry, Ella (her friend), Brush, Bite, Bus, Bee, Shower, Potty, What's That, Clothes, Bed, Morning, Trash, TV, Chair, Cold, Lotion, Airplane, Pizza, Dinner, Eye, Ear, Mouth, Read, Honey, Movie, Wet, Baby, Sleeping, Windy, Heavy, Booger, Mess, Dressed, Running, Bag, Play, Swing, Slide, Park, Ride, Moon, Tay Tay (her cousin), Dax (her cousin), Cup, Tower, Swim, Hair, Boots, Puzzle, Glasses, Build, Ta (Scottish way of saying thank you), Toys... you get the idea.

She can combine those words in strings... usually up to three words (like "mommy build tower", or "daddy at work?" "more pringles please" etc...). I'm certainly proud of her and am so pleased that we're communicating enough now to actually really understand each other. It's so nice!

She's growing so fast and becoming such a big girl. She's polite and helpful and wonderful in every way. Yes, she throws a mean fit every now and then, but it's very few and far between them, so that's understandable. Most of the time it's when she's overly hungry or tired anyway...

She's more beautiful than I ever imagined. I think she looks so much like her Daddy, but every now and then I see myself in her (or more often, my father... which makes me happy). She's very funny too, I'm glad she has a sense of humor! Oh, I am so in love with this girl it hurts sometimes.

Anyway, here are a few pictures for you. This first one is one of my favorites, despite the bit of cereal still on her face from breakfast :)

She's very inquisitive... here, she's looking for the cats at the neighbor's house. She knows they live in that barn and was checking to see if they were home (yep!).
Here's Li playing in one of the ball pits/bouncy castles at Fugro's family bbq from the 3rd of July. She had a lot of fun.
I think that about wraps it up... I can't think of anything else (but that's not to say there isn't more!). I'm off to bed now! Goodnight :)

Raincheck...

2011-07-26T10:14:00.002+01:00

I DO have a post for you guys about my sweet 18 month old and all of her accomplishments. I even have a word list going of all the things she can say (it's quite long and I know I'm still missing tons!). I also have an update on baby dos, since we had an ultrasound yesterday.

However... my house is a mess and Liara is a busy girl making it even more of a disaster zone. For some reason she's quite clumsy today as well (perhaps because she's tripping over some of her toys every two seconds because I haven't had a second to pick them all up...) so I'm trying to watch her like a hawk.

I WILL get to it, I promise... just maybe not until bedtime. :) I haven't forgotten though, and I can't wait to share just how proud I am of my children (yep... both of them!).

Things that make me smile :)

2011-07-10T00:37:00.002+01:00

Yep, you get two posts today... one not so happy, and then this one! To be honest, I prefer the smiling faces of my sweet girl and amazing husband. This is the way life should be, always.

Here's Nic and my adorable kitty cat, Liara. Yes, the lady did a pretty awful job and Liara cried while she painted it on (and while she tried to rub it off completely)... but we got a few smiles in the middle.
Here's Liara and I going down a massive slide at one of the nearby parks.
My girl L.O.V.E.S. to swing. She's just like I was as a kid (who am I kidding... I'm still a massive swing lover). I love how happy she is as soon as she's in one :)
This next picture was taken at a friend's wedding... and it makes my heart burst every time I see it. How in the world can anyone love someone more than I love these two people? Oh, they make me happy.
And, lastly... my sweet smiling girl. Overwhelming, I tell you. Love, love, love.

Conflicted

2011-07-10T00:00:00.002+01:00

I know it's been a while since I've last posted... it isn't because there isn't anything going on or that there is an especially large amount to write about either. We've just been living life as it comes and trying to prepare ourselves for the massive change ahead. I'll be 18 weeks along in this pregnancy on Monday (it's late Saturday night) and our precious little girl is going to be 18 months on the 23rd. I can't even begin to tell you how overjoyed/sad that makes me. I don't know how I should be feeling really. My baby girl is growing up so very fast. On one hand I am unbelievably proud and happy with her, on the other, I wonder about the baby in my belly, and if I'll feel this way about them as well. I know I'll love them unconditionally and that I'll be proud of him/her in the same way... but will I have the time to really appreciate all that I do now? Or will I be so frantic trying to keep up with the both of them that their childhoods simply pass me by? I feel like if I blink for too long that I'll miss something with Liara... something I would have liked to have seen and treasured. So far, I've caught every momentous occasion (first step, first word, first hug, first kiss, first time to stack blocks into a tower, first pretty much everything). Will I be so blessed with our second child? Who knew that you could be so completely happy and yet so fearful at the same time?

I've been watching Mildred Pierce on TV (although I'm not sure exactly why... I end up feeling a little depressed after every part, I only have two left and I'm pretty glad about it). In the second episode/part (spoiler if you haven't seen it...) her youngest daughter dies and she deals with it by crawling into bed with her oldest. A friend of mine was recently discussing what she would do if she lost one of her children and how she'd be grateful that she at least still had one and could still be considered a Mom. Both of these instances (Mildred climbing into bed and my friends' discussion) have left me a little heartbroken. I am pretty certain that if I lost either child, I'd fall apart. Yes, I'd try to hold myself together so that I could still be there to support the other child... but I'm not sure how successful I'd be. I certainly wouldn't feel like one was enough of a replacement for another. I can't even begin to explain the love I have for Liara and I don't think anyone could ever take her place or fill a void should she somehow be gone (God forbid, I'd lose it). Yet, at the same time... I would never ever consider this second child to be a "back up" either and I can't even imagine losing him/her, despite not ever really meeting them yet.

I'm not sure where all the morbid thoughts are coming from, but they scare me. Maybe because I'm a little scared about having two children. Not the actual act of raising them or labor even, but the part about where you are supposed to treat them equally. I've always felt that my sister was my mother's favorite. It bothered me a little as a kid, but I felt like my sister needed that love a little more than I did, so it was ok. I played more of a supporting role in the family (in more ways than one) and to be honest, it's helped me turn out into who I am today. I'm perfectly fine with that. However... I don't want my children to feel that way. I want them to both feel like they are the center of my universe and that I just absolutely adore them (as I hope Liara feels now). I'm just not sure how to go about doing that. I guess it will probably just happen naturally when the time comes. Or, at least, that's what I'm hoping.

I tend to get very introspective when Nic is away... he's on a business trip at the moment so I guess you get to hear my ramblings instead of him (perhaps that's why I don't blog often, because he's my sounding board). Poor you. Haha. I'm a little jealous of him this time. He's flying to Houston for a meeting on Monday, then flying back on Tuesday afternoon. We have already booked our flights for our family vacation in August (we'll be in Houston for about 3 weeks!) and I'm super excited about it. I can't wait to be back on American soil. I'm jealous that he gets to go now, even if it is a stressful time for him professionally (he's trying to win an important contract) and it is a super short turn around time. I am just so unbelievably homesick. I feel like we are stuck over here. When we moved over here I thought it was going to be this grand adventure, and that we would travel all of Europe and do exciting things... and then after that, we'd go back home. I figured we'd be here for about two years, just long enough.

We'll have lived here four years in October, and yet we've only seen the UK. Well, Nic has been to Paris and Norway and a few other places on business... but I didn't get to tag along for various reasons. And four is definitely more than two. I didn't picture us having two kids while living across the ocean from all our family and close friends. I didn't know just how much I loved my own country (I did, but didn't fully appreciate it). I didn't know just how much of an outsider I would feel like over here. Yes, we have friends over here, and they are wonderful. However, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out at home. I can't help but feel like we've put our lives on hold a little while we are over here. I can't help but want, no scratch that, NEED to go home. I will have to deal with just looking forward to our visit in August and then the baby coming in December. After that, it will be Liara's 2nd birthday, and then I'll have to come up with something else to look forward to, I'm sure I'll think of something.

Anyway, I'm off to bed to start a new book (I might actually have time to read since there aren't as many people to cook/clean for or clothes to iron, etc.). Hopefully Nic will call to say he's arrived safely and then I'll get a good nights sleep alone in my big ol' bed. I think one of Liara's books has a recording of someone snoring... maybe I'll have to pull that out just so I can trick myself into thinking Nic is there. Pathetic I know. Goodnight!

Week 11... AGAIN!

2011-05-23T15:05:00.002+01:00

Well, we went for our first ultrasound with baby number 2 today (aka Baby Dos) and everything went wonderfully. The baby was super active and waving/kicking everywhere, making good use of the space while they have it! :) Liara slept through her first scan, so it was nice to see a very active teeny tiny baby in there. We got to see the heartbeat as well, although she had the sound off so we didn't get to actually hear it, which is a bummer. Maybe that's why I didn't cry this time and was all smiles... who knows. Perhaps it was that there was only one baby in there (I've been having dreams non stop that there were twins... whew!). Regardless, we were supposed to get our down's screening today as well, but it turns out that we're only 11 weeks along (as opposed to 12), so it's still to early. That means that we'll be getting three ultrasounds this time instead of two, so that's exciting. We'll get our next one in two weeks :)

Liara has been a stinker today, throwing fits left and right. It's to the point where I've asked her where my good girl is and she responds with "good girl gone". :( NOOOO!!!! I love my good girl and am looking forward to her return. Perhaps it's the lack of nap, we'll try that.

Nic took the scan pictures with him to work to scan in for me since our printer/scanner is being a loser. I'll post the pictures from this afternoon when I get them :)

Always Trust Your Gut!

2011-05-19T14:42:00.002+01:00

So I had my second midwife appointment on Tuesday and all was well, or at least until the end when she asked me if I'd phoned in to get my results for my urinalysis from the previous week (um, no... you always give me the results so why would I call?). She said the tech had seen some bacteria in my urine suggesting that I had an urinary tract infection and that I was prescribed amoxicillin. I said ok, kind of shocked, and went on my way. Once I actually was at the pharmacy filling the prescription, it dawned on me that I can't take it... Liara is allergic to penicillin and amoxicillin IS passed on through breast milk. I phoned the doctor's office back that afternoon while Li was taking her nap and spoke to one of the doctors on duty. To be honest... I was really disappointed in the care for the first time since living here. The doctor (we'll call her Dr.W) said that I'd have to take it anyway and suggested that I just stop breastfeeding for the week I had to take it. Um, wrong answer. I hung up and mulled it over for a while. I kept thinking that there has to be some other option. I decided I'd use the tube intended for collecting an urine sample for my next midwife appointment to give them another urine sample to test. I peed in my little cup and dropped it off that afternoon. In the meantime, I began pumping so that I would have some breast milk to give her while I took it if that's what I had to do. I was getting frustrated because my supply is JUST what Liara needs and I was only getting about two ounces after each feed since she was getting her full first. :/ So today, after two days of fretting and thinking... it dawned on me. What do pregnant women who are allergic to amoxicillin take? Why can't I have that? I called the doctors' office again and didn't get an answer, so I phoned the midwife center and spoke to a REALLY helpful midwife. She looked at my file, said it was strange, and asked me if I had any other symptoms. Foul smelling pee? Nope. Pain during urination? Nope. Cloudy urine? Nope. Blood? Nope. Hmm... she said it'd be best to give another sample to double check, but if there was an infection that there were TWO other drugs they could give me instead that would be ok. Booya. I told her about dropping off the urine sample on Tuesday afternoon on a whim and she said she'd see that they rushed it and to call back this afternoon. So, I called. Completely clean.

What a pain in the ass for nothing! I'm so glad I trusted my gut, but at least now I know that if I DID have an urine infection there WOULD be something I could take that wouldn't cause Liara to have a reaction. Shame on Dr.W for just giving the "easy" answer to quit breastfeeding. I hate it when doctors do that. You obviously aren't doing your job and you don't have our best interests in mind. Maybe you should find another profession. :P

Woah Baby...

2011-05-13T21:53:00.002+01:00

Ok, I know I was showing fairly soon last time (as in 12 weeks...), but I'm already busting out the rubber band tricks to get the last little bit of wear out of my jeans before I have to pack them away for a while. What's that you say? 'But you're only 10 weeks?' Yeah... tell me about it. Come on body! I was really enjoying those size 6's thank you very much. I guess my challenge now is to see if I can fit in my size 8 dress that I have been planning on wearing to a friends wedding on the 1st of June. Please, oh please don't make me buy a new dress... I'd rather spend the money on other things.

My mother-in-law has just bought me a bunch (as in 3 pairs of pants, 2 sweaters, two dresses, and a shawl thing... sweet!) of new maternity clothes since I sent all of mine to my sister in law (who is also expecting... she's a month ahead of me with her first! YAY) before we found out we were having baby number 2. I'm excited for that... to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to wearing the same stuff over again.

I've been super emotional today... I'll chalk that up to baby hormones. I cried watching American Idol (why in the world did James have to go?!), even though I already knew what was going to happen. I cried during a commercial for some beer (I didn't catch the name) just because the guy was being nice to his girlfriend. I've cried today because a friend's child made a sweet comment about her and her husband being in love. What haven't I cried about today?! Ugh.

I know i'm a bit random today, but my head is all over the place right now and to be honest... if I don't write in stream of consciousness this time, I won't write an entry at all so I figured it was better than nothing, right? Welcome to my life at the moment- a bit obscure and hard to understand.

I've been so freaking thirsty lately (maybe it's to make up for the water loss in tears!). I'm seriously on my 6th bottle of water today. I've also been craving KFC, but when we went today it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Probably because I was craving AMERICAN KFC, not Scottish KFC, but I guess it was close enough. At least it's not Taco Bell like with Liara... they don't have a Scottish version of that over here. To be honest, I'm looking forward to Nic taking his GRE on the 25th so we will be in Edinburgh and I know there's a Quizno's there. How sad is that?! I'm also looking forward to our trip to Houston in August so that Nic and I can have a date night and go to this little Mom & Pop Italian place that we used to frequent before movies. They have a buffet and OH, is it good. I have food on the brain... what can I say.

I've been worried a little about this baby's birthday. Not because I'm scared of labor... I'm actually looking forward to doing it again and hoping I can have another natural child birth experience. What I'm worried about is Liara. I want to make the transition from being an only child to being a big sister as easy as possible. I worry about who's going to watch her and how long they'll make me stay in the hospital away from her (last time it was 24 hours since there was meconium in my water), so I'm hoping this baby won't be in distress at all and will wait to poop until he's out so that we can go home in three hours. I'd much rather be at home with my girl and baby than stuck in the hospital like last time. She's never been away from Nic and I for more than 3 hours (and that was only 1 time... and she had two baby sitters- one was her godfather and one was a family friend). I guess we'll have to see if we can work on that some before this one comes so she is prepared for some time away from Mommy and Daddy while I'm in labor. My midwife was trying to push a home labor on me this time, and I'd totally go for it if I thought Nic would be comfortable with it (He's totally 100% not). I want everyone be comfortable and relaxed... it makes a huge difference.

Anyway, I'm going to go spend some time with my sweet husband. 'Night!

Round Two!

2011-04-27T21:36:00.002+01:00

So I'm a bad blogger... I think we're all used to this by now and have just come to accept the fact that I don't update enough. Meh.

I have news this time though! We're having another baby (as long as God still thinks it's a good idea). I'm a little over 8 weeks and due on December 5th. I have my next midwife appointment on the 10th of May and we'll start this whole process over again! Crazy!

We're excited about it, and I swear, if one more person asks me if it was an "accident" I'm going to scream. No, we weren't necessarily "trying" like we were last time, but we obviously weren't trying very hard to prevent a pregnancy either. God thought it was time, and that's no accident.

Nic is of course hoping it's a boy, but I'm indifferent this time as well... I'll be happy as long as he/she is happy and healthy. At this point I'm still focusing on Liara and trying to figure out how to get her used to the idea of having a little brother or sister around. I know she'll love being a big sister, I've never met a kid more compassionate or who loves kids as much as she does. It will be so nice to have a built in playmate and friend for her, I'm really looking forward to that! I know it's going to be a little crazy with a two year old and a newborn, but I know we'll make it work!

Anyway, I thought I'd fill you all in... if you're still reading anyway! :)

Oh my Goodness!

2011-02-24T09:50:00.003Z

Has it really been like 2 1/2 months since I last posted?! Where has the time gone? Perhaps it flew by like the rest of the 13 months since Liara was born. 13 months... yeah, I know. Shocking. Anyway, it has been C R A Z Y around here and with Liara up and running (literally) for the last two months, I don't have a lot of time to sit still and blog. Again, as usual, I apologize. We'll leave it at that and move on.

Let's see... I'll give you a little update about what's happening with each of us.

Liara:

She's growing like a weed and exceeds our expectations every day. She can say Mama, Dada, Grandma, Hi (sometimes Hiya), Wow, Woah, Up, Bite, Baby, Tickle, and Book. I think that's all, but who knows, I might be missing something. She can walk like a big girl and run like a little kid (arms out like an airplane)! She loves to play with her toys, cuddle with Mommy (and Daddy too), blow raspberries, be read to (and join in too... she points at pictures and tries to say the word and flips flaps/turns pages), do puzzles, and empty and refill the movie drawers. She likes to go outside when it's not too cold and enjoys taking her coat off and on. She tries to climb on the table beside the couches and take everything off that, but that's not usually allowed. She loves to empty the cabinets in the kitchen and help with laundry (she takes the wet clothes out of the washing machine, puts them in the bag, puts a new load in, closes the soap drawer and then pushes the start button for me). Her favorite foods right now are blueberries, bananas, pasta and malt-o-meal. If asked, she can show you where her foot, ear, or bellybutton (beebo) is. She loves her stuffed animals (and dolly's) and gives them hugs and kisses. She is obsessed with shoes and MUST have some on at all times (whether it be shoes during the day or her bunny slippers on at night). We had to remove the front railings for her crib like 2 months ago because she was trying to climb out (even taking her socks off for extra traction... clever girl!) and we didn't want her to fall, so now she's sleeping in her toddler bed and LOVES it. It takes no time at all to get her to bed now, so that's a major bonus. She has 10, almost 12 teeth (front bottom four, front top four, two top molars (one on each side), and two bottom molars that are workin' their way out). She's had a hard time sleeping lately because of those two bottom molars, but the last two nights she's slept through the WHOLE night without waking up- from 8:30 until 7:30. I think that's about her in a nutshell right now.

Nick:

He's been working like a crazy man. He is absolutely swamped at work and has been a little stressed to say the least. He tries to come home for lunch, but doesn't always make it and usually only spends about 15 minutes instead of the hour he's supposed to get. Then he comes home at around 7, and eats dinner and tries to relax a little before the next day. They're supposed to get him some help soon, I hope they do! He could sure use it. When we came back from the US (I'll recap that trip sometime...) he tried to play a game he got as an early birthday present and his Xbox got the red ring of death. Anyway, after about a month of fiddling with it, he got it to work again! WOO HOO! He's super happy with that and has been playing every night while I'm working (after Liara's in bed)... more on that in my section.

Jen:

I've been busy watching/playing/teaching Liara and trying to keep this house in some sort of order. Between Liara and her master mess making skills and everyone else in this house (myself included) it gets messy fast! I was debating going back to work (in an outside location... believe me, I work!) to help Nick with the financial side of things since we're broke as sin, but after figuring out how much childcare costs and stuff it would have been pointless... I wouldn't make anything. So, I've started working with Cris (mother-in-law) again and I'm really excited about it! It feels really good to be productive and actually do something related to education again. It involves testing and has really got me thinking about what I want to do. Last night, Nic and I had a long chat about me getting my masters (something I've ALWAYS wanted to do...). I'm going to have to go back to school anyway to finish off my certification (I graduated with my bachelors in Curriculum & Instruction- emphasis on Early Childhood-4th grade education, and passed all my state tests to become certified, but still need one more semester of student teaching since we moved and I never did that)... I might as well get my masters while I'm at it right?! I've really enjoyed my experiences in testing and thought that it would be great to be able to do what Cris does (she writes tests, trains educators and creates educational materials, among other things... she's a very talented woman!) and follow along in her business. To do that, I'd need some more education and credibility, so maybe that's the road I should take! I'll talk it over with her and see what she thinks about it. :) That's about it for me... other than I'm down to 124 lbs! Woot woot! I haven't weighed that since I quit swimming, my sophomore year in high school!

Ok... I need to get off here before Liara pulls the cord out of the wall socket and uses it as a lasso for her rocking chair. I think it's going to take me longer to clean up the mess she's made while I've been typing than it actually has to post this! She's like a little tornado I swear! :) Oh, I love her!

I'll try and be a better blogger...

Call me crazy...

2010-12-07T11:39:00.003Z

I have a knack for making extra work for myself. There's often a super easy way of doing things but instead I spend hours figuring out a way to make it more complex before I attempt to do it. Liara's birthday party is no exception.

I've decided that I want to have a birthday party for her in the US so that at least SOME family can come and some of her US friends too... they miss out on all the fun over here. I'm really looking forward to it now that I've committed myself into doing it, but my goodness who knew there could be so much planning involved. When are we going to have it? Where? Who is going to come? What should the theme be (picture Nic rolling his eyes here, he hates themed parties)? What should we do for her first party? Oh, there's so much to decide!

Well, I think I've figured most of it out (key word most, not all). I think we'll have it on the 2nd of January (that's a Sunday) mid morning sometime. I haven't picked a time yet, as I haven't made invitations. I think we'll have it at my Mother-in-law's house, just for simplicity (I've yet to actually ask her, but knowing her I'm sure it'll be fine lol). I'm planning on inviting about 5-8 of her little friends and quite a few family members (adults mostly). I'm thinking about having a star theme (I know... boring). However, I'd like to have a box of "wishes" for Liara that the family can make for her at the party and that works (wishing on a star... blah blah blah). That way, she has something to look back on later that means something. I'm sure we'll play some games (I'm a sucker for cheesy party games, so sue me). I was thinking baby bingo (I'll make cards with pictures of Liara over the year instead of numbers... we did the same thing at our engagement party except with pictures of Nic and I). We may even do baby bowling (baby bottle bowling pins...). Who knows what we'll actually do, but I want it to be fun for the kiddos too, some of her friends are already 2! Time flies.

What I've been focusing on however, is the cake. Go figure, me... thinking of food! And here's where I'm crazy- I am going to make it myself. I'm going to make it vegan, in case there are any allergies present (I know a couple of the kids are allergic to dairy for the time being), from the buttercream to the fondant to the cake itself. Yeah. Scary- I've never done that before! Want to know what else is scary? The idea for the cake I want to make:

Ok... it will be a little different color wise, but very similar. Hopefully... that is if I don't fail miserably. We'll see.

She'll have her own smash cake too, I'll sort something out for that. Fun! I can't wait for the party, I've just got to figure out a few more things first! I need to start planning faster though, I need to get those invitations out!

Snowsick

2010-12-01T13:54:00.002Z

I'm so sick of snow I could scream. I love snow, don't get me wrong, but when it snows NON STOP for two weeks, it gets a little cold, er, I mean old. It makes it hard to go outside to the dryer to get the laundry done (yes, I have to physically leave my house, walk down the walkway and into the little storage room to get to the dryer... talk about inconvenience. But hey, at least we have one I guess). It makes it even harder to take the trash out. Not to mention the fact that Nic gets stuck in the snow every morning on his way to work and doesn't even bother trying to come home for lunch. Well, that is, until today.

The one day in the past two weeks that Nic has tried to come home for lunch time (yay!), it had snowed so much since this morning that his tracks were completely covered and he couldn't get into the driveway (we have a LONG driveway, as we live on a farm). He tried to turn into the freakin thing and kept going straight... I don't think you're supposed to do that. So he just turned around at a bigger road and headed back to work hungry. Poor thing. It makes for such a long day in this house. While we're normally fine staying home all day because of the visit from the mail man, and Daddy coming home for lunch... the snow has made both Liara and I a little cabin crazy. We're on our own all day (even the mailman won't attempt to come to our house in this weather, we haven't had mail in a week and a half) and that's an awful long time for no other human interaction besides the "what shall we do today" people on the Disney Channel.

We're supposed to leave in 10 days for our holiday vacation to the US and I cannot wait! I think Liara is just as excited... every day when we look at the pictures on the wall (Grandma, Grandpa, Mamo, Papa, Aunt Raime, Uncle Joey, Cousins Raisa, Taylor and Dax, Tia Karin and Tio Jonathan) she squeals a little and then kicks me like I'm a horse so I'll move on to the next one.

I'm a wee bit grumpy and I apologize for that. Perhaps it's because I can't manage to keep this little house clean since I have a champion mess maker following me around everywhere. I swear, as soon as I put my clothes in my drawers and turn around to put Nic's away, she's pulled all mine back out again. Or perhaps it's because after I finish sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor she decides that she'd prefer to pour her drink on the floor and smear the pieces of cheese and grapes around as well. What am I doing you ask? Oh, just trying to do the mountain of dishes with no hot water from the tap (I have to boil it in the kettle first instead since it takes an hour to warm up the water and even then it isn't hot enough).

I love love love having my daughter around all the time, and I am super thankful for every single second that I get with her. Hell, I end up laughing most of the time (on the inside...) when I see that she's destroyed my newly folded pile of clothes or decided that she needs to pull out every single wipe from her wipes container. She's just curious about her world and is trying to figure things out, and I'm all about letting her experiment and discover things. I just wish she'd learn to clean things back up as fast as she makes messes. I pick up the living room about 40 times on average per day... no joke (that's roughly every 15 minutes except for during nap times) just so it's not a complete disaster zone. My guess is that is probably the reason for the weight loss... constant activity.

My favorite part of her mess making is when she pauses whatever she's doing because she's heard a noise (either from one of her toys, or the tv, or the radio or even me singing) and then she just busts out dancing. She loves to dance, and I love to watch her (and dance along most of the time). She reminds me of myself at her age, and I adore that. She can't help but move around and dance if there's music playing.

Ok, I'm off to ignore the mess that has taken my living room captive to enjoy a nice little nap with my baby. Who knows, maybe there'll be a heat wave and all the snow will be gone by the time we wake up (who am I kidding... not even Texas heat could get rid of three feet in like an hour and a half). We'll have to try and shovel a bit when we wake up... wish me luck.

Thankful... so thankful.

2010-11-25T15:28:00.003Z

I'm very thankful for this sweet baby right here. My life has been enhanced so much this year and I can't tell you how in love I am still. You'd think we had just brought her home yesterday or something. Every day is a new experience for her and I'm so thankful that I get to share that with her and Nic. My family is my world and I am so humbled that they are here with me. I don't deserve them, they are way too special. I'm thankful for those beaming eyes and sweet little cheeks... don't even get me started on that smile.
I'm thankful for my mobile little girl, who I get to hug and kiss every day.
Liara is thankful that Ella let her borrow her butterfly rocker and those cute Minnie Mouse pj's...
Here's Liara and I on Guy Fawkes day... note the fireworks behind us.

I'm so thankful for my little family this year. For my husband, who supports me and is my best friend. For my daughter, who fills my days with laughter and melts my heart with every smile. I may complain a lot about our current living situation, but I'm thankful that we are together and healthy and for the most part, happy. I am so very thankful that we've been blessed with an intelligent, healthy, beautiful, and spirited little girl. I may not be spending Thanksgiving with the majority of my family this year, but I'm spending it with the people who matter most to me, and that's good enough!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We love you and hope you are celebrating this day with a thankful heart too!

I'm so behind

2010-11-08T09:14:00.004Z

Look who is now trying to open the doors... eek!Here's Liara watching the older kids bob for apples on Halloween :) She refused to wear her hat the whole night... I can't say I blame her though, it had a chin strap to help keep it on and didn't look very comfortable.
Daddy and Liara... I love these two!
Liara and I... it's not the best picture of me, but I'll take it!
Li decided she wanted some Rice Krispies... then proceeded to dump half the box on the floor.

You'd think that as a stay at home mom, I'd have some time to get some stuff done. However, between Liara teething, deciding she only needs one nap a day, and working on Charity stuff this last few weeks... I've had no time to do anything (including the massive pile of dishes on my counter, woe is me). I figured I'd try to be productive today since it's nasty outside (super cold and raining) and we won't be heading out to play. Liara isn't a huge fan of spending a lot of time in the kitchen, but maybe I can convince her to at least stay in there for an hour or so, just so I can get the dishes done- they're doing my head in. I might even throw in a load of laundry or two, that might keep her a little longer since she likes to watch it spin in the washing machine. That's yet another perk of having a front loader- forget that it is more environmentally friendly, it keeps kids occupied for a little bit!

We've had a bit of fun though these past couple of weeks. Liara dressed up as a witch for Halloween and we went to a Halloween party at a friends house to celebrate. It was a lot of fun and Liara had a blast playing with the other kids there. I also got to check out my progress on the wii fit (I had played over there right before our trip to the US in August) and I've lost another stone and 4 pounds (18 pounds). Not bad. Have I mentioned how much I love breastfeeding?! Last night, we went to another friend's house to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (actually the 5th of November, but they saved the celebration for Sunday night as the weather wasn't cooperating earlier). Liara loved all the fireworks, she ooh'd and bababa'd at them and watched them all, despite the freezing cold wind hitting her smack in the face. We then went inside for some nice hot tea and Fran's Fruitcake (the only fruitcake I've actually enjoyed...). Fiona's dad was laid off last year (or as they say here, made redundant) and had started his own photography studio in a spare room in the house to supplement his income while he went back to school. We didn't plan on having any photos taken (obviously, since Nick had crazy hair and a hoodie on, and I had my jeans rolled up (they got muddy watching the fireworks) and my snowboarding socks on.... stylish), but they insisted that we take some photos. Well, some turned into a thirty minute photoshoot that produced some really adorable pictures. We got to look at them on the camera and they said they'd make some for us (at no cost, thank you!), although I plan to order some anyway. I think we may just go back to him on Liara's birthday for her first year photos, she seemed to like him a lot and it was easy to get some great pictures. If I can, I'll see if I can get them from him to post here... I can't wait to see them again myself!

Anyway- I need to get started on those horrible dishes (I HATE not having a dishwasher in this house, especially since it takes a freaking hour to get the water hot). I just thought I'd give a wee update since it'd been ages.

Whew...

2010-10-24T20:44:00.003+01:00

Lately, Liara has decided that she only requires one nap during the day. She hasn't quite picked which one she wants (sometimes it is in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon) but she's pretty sure she only wants to take one. Unless it's a day like yesterday and there are other babies around... then she doesn't want to take one period. While this is all fine and dandy (as long as she's not cranky, it's ok with me), I have yet to get used to this idea as far as chores and things are concerned. It makes it a little difficult to keep things picked up when I don't have any time to re-group and put anything away. We cleaned for a few hours today (yes... Nic helped too!) and were able to get the house the way I like it (spic and span!), we'll see how long it stays that way.

She's been sleeping wonderfully at night still and that makes such a huge difference. It is also the reason that I'm not as concerned with her skipping a nap. She's been sleeping around 10-11 hours at night, then taking a two hour nap, so she's still getting her 12-13 hours that she's used to. It's quite nice for me too, since I usually stay up a few hours after she goes to bed to chill with Nic for a while alone, and I'm still getting like 7 hours sleep straight. It makes a huge difference.

I figured out why Liara's mouth has been hurting her so much (she's requiring her teething tablets and Ibuprofen this week). It's not just the top left eye tooth like I thought, it is the top two front teeth as well. The top right front poked through today and the top left front is just about to do the same. Poor baby has three teeth coming in all at once. I now understand why she's biting EVERYTHING she can get her little mouth on.

Laura and Duncan let us take home a bunch of Ella's old toys that she's outgrown (like a little play table, a giraffe that has a spiral ball thing around it, some electronic books, a box of blocks... etc.) and we've had a blast playing with them today. It's always nice to have new toys around, as you get bored trying to pretend the same ones are fascinating again and again. I'm pretty good at acting enthusiastic about pretty much everything, but it's nice when it is genuine every now and then!

We had dinner guests over tonight. Bob and Matt (one of his programmers from Canada) came over and we had yummy Mexican Lasagna. I had run out of Rotel and cans of chopped green chilies, so I improvised a little and put in some serano peppers instead. It made it a little more spicy than usual (I try to make it pretty mild when there's new people I'm cooking for in case they don't do spicy food), but it went over well. I love having company over, it's so nice to relax in your own house and not have to worry about getting home.

Speaking of home... We're going to go look at a different house to rent this week hopefully. It's in Ellon (a little north of where we are now), but it'd be about the same price as the one we are in and it's bigger. Hopefully the landlords there aren't completely crazy too. We'll see if we like it... if we do we might just be moving again before our trip home in December. Oh joy. That'd be the third house that Liara has lived in... she might just be competing for my record (I've lived in 25 houses and I'm about to be 27).

Ok... I'm off to bed, I've had a headache for the last two hours or so. I think I'm just going to sleep it off and hope it's gone by the morning.

It's been a while

2010-10-19T09:06:00.004+01:00

I could just scream, I love this girl so much... she's such a happy baby!

I love this one... she really looks like my side of the family here. :)
While the flash is too bright, I love that she's laughing. I can't get enough!
Here's Liara in the high chair at the restaurant when we went out for my friend Paul's birthday.
And here's my devious little girl climbing in her little toy box for the living room. She's so stinking cute!

Sorry to you all for the lack of posts recently. I've been pretty busy lately and have severely neglected the blog... my apologies.

We've been gearing up for our trip home at Christmas time (yes, I know it isn't even Halloween yet) and trying to get everything planned. Because our trips home are usually pretty quick, I try to plan them all out so I know who I'm supposed to see when, and what we are going to be doing. I've tried super hard to figure out a way to stop by Amarillo, Plainview, and Lubbock, but I'm stumped. While there are a few days available, it would mean more traveling (there's only so many plane rides that a 11 month old can take without losing it) and it would mean trying to cram in three different families in two days. Plus, that's an extra 450 dollars or so that we just don't have at the moment. Hopefully we'll move home sometime soon and it will be easier to make a few trips to visit everyone we'd like to.

On top of trip planning, I've had one teething baby on my hands. While she's still a good girl and is so sweet, her poor gums are giving her a run for her money. She tries to eat everything she can get her little hands on and then screams because she's bit too hard and it gets sore. Bless her heart, she's a little trooper though and will smile for you as soon as it stops hurting. I've tried giving her ibuprofen, teething tablets, teething gel, teething rings, soft things to chew on, etc, and while most of those work temporarily, she's just in pain and it doesn't go away. Hopefully after this tooth comes through (the top left eye tooth) she'll catch a break for a little while. As for sleeping, she's been doing MUCH better. She'll go to sleep at about 9, then wake up again at 11, then sleep through until about 6:30 or so. I can easily deal with that.

Nic's been busy at work as usual. He has his annual review today that I'm excited about. This is his first "annual" review in three years, so it better be a good one. Considering that his programmers haven't done what they had promised so long ago and he has an incomplete product yet has still managed to sell it and make a profit for the company... I'd say he's doing great. The simulator is coming along and will be superb once the guys get their butt in gear and do their thing. It's a shame everyone doesn't have the same work ethic that he does...it's hard to get good help.

I've been doing the usual... cleaning, picking up toys, following Liara around as she explores, cooking, working on charity stuff, working on the stockings and have managed to have a few lunches with some friends. I'm not exactly sure what I did before I had Liara... man, I must of had some serious time on my hands!

Ok, I need to go, as Liara has found a pen and has written on the couch. Joy. I'll try to update more often again!

3...3...3...

2010-09-30T14:08:00.002+01:00

I don't know if you've ever looked at the ticker counter at the top of the page. It tells how many months, weeks and days are left until Liara turns one year old. I only look at it every now and then myself, but today was one of those days. Today the ticker counter says there are three months, three weeks, and three days left. What?!

How is that possible? Where have the last eight months gone? I'm missing a large chunk of time, because you see, there is no way my baby could be that big. As far as I know, I just brought my beautiful baby girl home a few days ago. Is this how fast it always goes by?! If so, I'm going to need to start working on a time machine of some sort to slow down time as much as possible... I'm enjoying it way too much for it to be flying by so quickly.

I can tell you this- we are going to enjoy the heck out of the next 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days. They had better cooperate though and SLOW DOWN!

Need vs. Want

2010-09-28T22:55:00.002+01:00

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56797395/1989-smiley-face-reshaped-t-shirt-dress

Do I need this? No... not necessarily. But do I want it? YES. This shirt (the original one, not this particular modified one) is the shirt that my father gave me when I was six years old. I slept in this shirt every night until it would no longer stay on my body (probably around 15 or so). My inner child is loving this shirt/dress, simply because it's like the one that my Dad gave me. Inside, I'm screaming I MUST HAVE THIS... but I'm trying to be a good girl and resist. I don't even think it'd fit me anyway. I just want it.

So, if you're going to buy me something for my birthday (in November...) or Christmas- this is high on my wish list. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

If only all dreams came true...

2010-09-28T15:55:00.002+01:00

When I was little, my Daddy wrote me letters. They were almost always on yellow note paper and included a doodle of himself. He always called me Sweetheart and told me how much he loved me. He told me about what he was up to and mentioned how much he missed me and looked forward to seeing me at the next holiday. The letters always ended with "see you in my dreams sweetheart".

I cherish those letters. They are kept in a box beside my bed, along with other "Dad" memorabilia... his baseball glove, pictures, the 50 cent piece that he exchanged over and over again with Dado (my grandfather) right before he passed away, his death certificate, etc.

Lately, I've been the one seeing him in MY dreams though. It is so wonderful to be able to see and spend time with my father. I can't tell you how much I miss him on a daily basis. I am constantly thinking about him and wishing that he was here to see Liara. I always am a little sad to wake up and realize that it won't ever happen. Not in this lifetime anyway.

Today's nap time dream was about Liara's first birthday. It was such a fantastic time, and Dad was there, smiling away as usual. He told some of his same stories, and then shared some about when I was a kid... some I remembered, some I didn't. He had bought Liara a smiley face t-shirt to wear to bed, just like the one he had given me as a child. That is also in the box beside the bed... although it's a bit worse for wear. It no longer has a neck and falls off your shoulders, has holes all over it and is torn to almost shreds. I loved that thing though, and wore it every night. I'm going to have to see if I can find Liara one and tell her all about why it's special.

I miss my father. Every day. Here's hoping I continue to see him in my dreams.

What I live for...

2010-09-18T21:24:00.003+01:00

This little girl right here. Liara can absolutely make my day, just by flashing this smile right here. Look at her sweet little teeth, and those adorable cheeks! I adore everything about her, and she makes my heart melt.

Here she is with her very own washcloth, getting ready to help Mommy dust. My least favorite chore has now become one of my favorites, simply because she does it with me. How can you not like dusting when you have a super helper like her?!

And, these two, my sweet little monkeys... are my life. They can make me happy, even when I've had the worst day ever. They can make me smile, when no one else can. They are who I want to see every second of every day, and who I couldn't live without.

I'm so in love with my family. It's funny, because people say that I'm a little over the top sometimes when it comes to my daughter, because I talk about her NON STOP and am constantly raving about how wonderful every little thing about her is... but here's the thing- it's honest. I know some people crave space and time to themselves. I'm not like that. I would rather spend every second of every day with these two people. Do you know what I do in my "spare time" (that phrase is almost laughable by the way... I have none!)? I look through the pictures of Liara, write in her journal or her baby book, or call someone to talk about her... I'm obsessed. But, who can tell me that it's wrong to do that, when it's what makes me happy? Is it wrong to adore your child and cherish every second with them? Does everyone not say to love every bit of it because it flies by? Then why tell me I'm crazy for doing just that? I don't get it.

I think another reason I try to live so in the moment is my crazy fear of dying young. I don't know why I tend to think this way, maybe because of Dad... I dunno. Nic and I were talking about it on the way home from the grocery store last night, and I couldn't help but bust out crying... that's how scared of it I am. I am properly terrified that I'll die before Liara will remember me. I'm afraid that I won't get to do the things that I so long to do with her (like take her to the park and watch her slide down the slide by herself, or swing super high... or have her first boyfriend (EEK!) or get married and have babies of her very own to love). Is that normal? I stay awake panic stricken about it sometimes. I think that's why I keep a journal for her actually... so that at least she'll be able to see in my own handwriting how much I loved her, and how I adored every second I got with her. How morbid is that?! I'm just so in love and I don't want it to ever stop. Ever. I live for every second with my husband and daughter.

Thankful

2010-09-15T10:08:00.002+01:00

I'm normally a pretty positive person. I like to look at the brighter side of things and remember all the things that are going RIGHT as opposed to all the things that have gone horribly wrong. Lately, I feel like I haven't been doing this and have been dwelling on the things that haven't gone according to plan. I'd like to make an effort to stop this, and remember all the things that I have been blessed with... I'm so very thankful for so many things.

I'm thankful for my husband and sweet little girl. My little family means so very much to me and my life would be miserable without them. I'm so thankful to be able to stay at home with Liara and watch her grow... I know that most mothers don't get this opportunity. Sure, things are awfully tight and I may not get to stay home much longer due to finances, but hey, I've had nearly 8 months so far with my beautiful girl and I'm thankful for every second of them! We'll do our best to figure out a way to cut some more corners so that we can continue on the way we're going, as I really do know that no one loves her like I do and can care for her the same way. I need to look at it as an opportunity to be even thriftier and see how low we can get our bills to go! My husband works hard... and I mean that. He goes to work early and comes home late every day, and I'm so appreciative of that. He does his best to provide for our family and he makes sure we have enough to eat, a shelter over our head, and that we have everything that we need. I can't ask for more than that. Well, except that he loves me, and that means so much. We may not have all the money in the world, but we have love love love. That alone is enough to be thankful and happy for.

I'm thankful for our health. There are so many out there with sick children or parents who are unable to play and celebrate their children. I am so very thankful that we are all healthy and thriving. Yeah, we may have some creaky bones or aches and pains every now and then... but we're healthy overall and that's what matters. I hope that we are able to continue to stay that way and be able to fully appreciate all that life has to offer.

I'm thankful for our extended families. Whether it be my in-laws (who are AWESOME and are buying us tickets so that we can come home for Christmas!!!), my family (who have always been supportive of us), or family friends that may as well be considered family. We have an amazing extended family who cares for us and supports us in all of our crazy endeavors. I'm very appreciative of such a great support system and for all the ears lent our way!

I'm thankful for opportunities. How often do you see a couple get married at 21 (or 20 in Nic's case...lol), buy their first house at 23, and then move internationally that same year? We've lived here in the UK for almost three years now, and overall, it's been a good experience. We've made some amazing friends, helped to start a charity that is amazing and helping some people who really need it, and have experienced a whole different culture than what we're used to. We've got to see all of the UK (with the exception of Ireland) and have really been in awe of the beauty. We're ready to come home, but it's been one hell of an experience and I'm thankful for it. It's something I can tell my grandkids about.

There's a lot to be thankful for and plenty to be happy about... I need to focus on that and push those negative thoughts out the door! Happy Hump Day everyone! :)

Sleep is for Sissies.

2010-09-14T08:45:00.002+01:00

Lately, my little love bug has decided that she doesn't need to sleep... at least, not in solid chunks of time. She's only been taking about a 45 minute morning nap, and a hour long afternoon nap (as opposed to two full hours for each), then going to bed at 8:30 only to wake up every hour (sometimes more frequently...) until about midnight. Then, she'll go to sleep for a little longer (perhaps two or three hours at a time) but will stay awake for a hour or so between going back to sleep. Then, at 5:30 or so, she's up and ready to play. Ugh. What happened to my great sleeper?! Was it because I bragged about how good she sleeps? Why did she spoil me so? She had been sleeping a minimum of 8 hours per night since she was 6 weeks old until we got back from our trip to the US. I don't know if it's because of her teeth (which have been bothering her quite a bit lately) or if it's due to the fact that while we were on holiday she slept in the same room (and often the same bed) with us the whole time. I've been bringing her into bed with us after midnight or so (sometimes I can hold off until the 2am waking), but that's only due to the fact that I'm a zombie and keep falling asleep in the rocking chair with her when I'm in there. Then, when I wake up, I'm in a slight panic, as when she wakes up she likes to try to climb things (like her bed rails or my headboard) and I worry about her climbing out of my arms and falling.

I hate to admit it, but I'm a grumpy gus when I don't get enough sleep. I mean, I'm properly grumpy. I think what's helping me to be even grumpier is the fact that I can't get anything done during nap times now because I'm either a) napping with her to try to catch up on some sleep, or b) in a rush since they are much shorter than previously. I don't understand where her energy is coming from... I wish she'd share some of it! We're going on three weeks now of this same cycle, and I'm looking a little worse for wear. Liara, on the other hand, is just a busy little bee climbing and trying to walk with EVERYTHING. She's a champ on pulling herself up to a standing position and staying that way, and now walks herself around all her standing toys/the couch/anyone sitting on the floor while holding onto whatever it is with one hand. She's so big it's scary.

Ok, it's almost time for morning nap (and man, am I going to take it today!) so I'm going to head off of here! G'night... er, I mean Good Morning!

Working Mom?

2010-09-10T21:23:00.002+01:00

Some people say that I don't work.

I beg to differ.

My job begins at 6 am every day. No, I don't get dressed up (hell, most of the time I don't get out of my pj's), but I show up every single day bright eyed and bushy tailed. I don't get an hour to get ready, take a shower and have breakfast before I go to work. I sometimes even am required to show up early. I then proceed to feed my daughter breakfast (and occasionally eat some of my own) and keep her occupied while I iron my husband's work clothes so that he may go to his office looking semi professional. We play and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse until 9:30, when Liara goes down for her first nap. Occasionally, if the night before has been rough (meaning she got up more than 3 times...) I'll take her nap with her, but most of the time I put her down, and then continue to do some housework. This may include the dishes, laundry, or picking up the house. Her morning nap lasts from 9:30-10:30 ish. We then read for about 30 minutes, and then play some more until about 11:30 (every other day I bathe Liara since her skin can't do every day... so our bath time is this time as well), when I make lunch before Nic comes home from work. I'll also finish off the dishes if there were any left over (usually there are...). While Nic is home for lunch, Liara has her lunch as well. I'll eat my lunch once she's finished eating. After Nic leaves for lunch, I clean up from lunch time and play with Liara for another 20 minutes or so. At 2, it is Liara's afternoon naptime. I usually take this nap with her, and it lasts from 2-4. If I don't take it with her, it's only an hour like the morning nap... she doesn't sleep as well. At 4, I do some more housework (usually laundry and picking up the house again and vacuuming the floor so that Li doesn't eat anything). We then play some more, and if it's nice, go for a walk outside and visit the horses. We start getting ready for dinner time at 6 or so... right about the time that Nic gets home from work. Nic usually watches Li for the 15 minutes or so that it takes to finish up dinner, and then we eat. Liara eats as well. After dinner, we play some more until 8. At 8, we put on Liara's pj's and she and I go upstairs. We read books, she breastfeeds one more time (she still breastfeeds every 2 or so hours throughout the day), and rock and sing in the rocking chair. Then I put her to sleep at about 9. Lately (since we've been back from our trip to the US actually) she hasn't been sleeping well at night. She used to sleep through the night like a champ, but now wakes up usually around 9:30, then again at 10, then again at 11. She normally is pretty easy to get back down to sleep those times, but she'll wake up again at like 12:30 and fight it like crazy, so when she wakes up again at like 2- I'll bring her in to bed with me. Anyway, at 9, I go downstairs, pick up the living room and put all her toys away and spend some time with Nic. I've been working on our stockings recently though, so I work on those until about 11:30 or 12, then go to bed.

That's what I do every day. I don't get Saturdays or Sundays off... I don't get public holidays either. I've done that same thing pretty much every day (with the exception of days we have doctor's appointments or whatever) since Liara was born. It may not bring in a paycheck, but it is tiring. VERY rewarding, but tiring. I'm sick of people telling me that I don't do anything. I do a ton... I keep my house going and I educate my daughter. I am teaching her how to play and what the different colors are. We talk about shapes and read together. We learn about the area around us and we talk about the weather. We interact and learn what to do in different social situations. If I didn't "work", there would be no clean clothes, no clean dishes, the house would be a mess and there would be no food on the table.

So, for those of you who disagree that what I do IS work (though it may be the best job in the world!)... pbthththth. I didn't ask for your opinion!

Thanks for letting me vent.

Mama's Girl :)

2010-09-06T17:25:00.002+01:00

Liara said her first word... and it was MAMA! I absolutely love that, and hearing it just makes my heart melt every time! She is saying it a lot now, I'll have to catch it on video... it's so sweet! It amazes me how fast she's growing, and breaks my heart all at the same time. I'm cherishing every second I get with her, but it is all flying by so fast! She's started eating cheerios and it's so fun to watch her use her pincer grasp skills to pick them up and feed herself. She's had some chunks of pear too that she's thoroughly enjoyed. I think I'll try some apricot chunks tonight instead of pureeing them. Geez, she's so big.

I'm working on our family heirloom stockings for Christmas now, we bought all the materials on Saturday and I've cut out the batting and am laying out the materials how I want them before I start sowing. Hopefully, they'll look similar to this: http://www.channel4.com/4homes/design-style/how-to-guides/how-to-make-a-quilted-christmas-stocking-steps-09-12-07_p_7.html when I'm done. I'm using different fabrics of course, mine are green, red, gold and cream. I've decided to go ahead and make four, in case we have another baby (who am I kidding... for when we have another baby!) that way they'll still all match. I have a heirloom stocking already (one my Mom made for me) but it's different and I can't find the materials to make one similar to it for the rest of my little family, so I'll just use that one when I'm at her house. I still love it, and it's still special to me, but I think I want to make all of ours the same (well... the same fabrics and general design, but a little different from each other so they are each special). Wish me luck... I'm starting early in hopes of getting them done in time! I always tend to be really into projects when they first start but then lose interest/dedication, so hopefully because these are for Li and Nic (and future baby A and myself) I'll get them done and stick it through. To be fair though, I started to make Nic one to match the one my mom made me like 6 years ago and it's sitting somewhere in a box in Houston. Lol. I'm going to do these.... they WILL get done! Nag me until they are please! I'll post pictures as I go along... or at least try to remember to!

Pictures from our trip home!

2010-09-02T22:21:00.009+01:00

My sweet girl, trying to offer up one of her stacking cup/block things she got from Aunt Jams :)She was really looking them over and running her fingers over the patterns on them... she's so curious about everything!
She wanted me to stop taking pictures and play with her! She's so super sweet!
Here she is sound asleep after church (and lunch), still in her pretty dress. Thanks Aunt Marsha!
Here's my pretty girl in her pj's before her party... I think her hair may be my color instead of Nic's!
Here's Liara playing with her reflection. It was so cute to watch her wave and smile at herself!Here's Li walking around in the pool... she LOVED the water and was so happy whenever she was in it!
Here's Daddy, Grandpa Tony, Liara and I in the pool at the condo with the alligator.
Here's Liara with her grandparents... We had a great time in Galveston with them.
Here's Liara and her grandad... she was telling how big the fish he caught was. ;)
Here's Liara, Nic and I at the beach in Galveston... post seagull. :/Here's Nic and I with Liara, showing her how to get all sandy!
Liara and her sweet Daddy... She's so silly sometimes!
Liara with her Grandpa Tony... he just LOVED her!
Liara with her Grandma Cris... she was awfully smitten too :)

Here's my beautiful little girl... I can't tell you how much I love her. She loves to play with her feet, it's one of her favorite things to do.Here's my mom, Taylor, Liara and I, Raisa and my sister, Raime.
Here's our newest family portrait that Nic's cousin took for us... I adore this picture.
Here's Nic, Liara and I with the Pikes Place Market pig... I miss Seattle!
Here's the troll under the bridge. It'd been ages since I've seen him!

Here's my Mom and Liara at Volunteer Park in front of one of the pretty flower gardens.

Here's Li with her Daddy in the pool at Volunteer park... she had a great time!
Here's the pool that is at Volunteer Park for the kids to play in. It's about 2 feet in the middle, and like 6 inches at the edges... perfect for kids! It was a great place to have a picnic!
Here's my mom and Liara... she really wanted some of those chips!
Here's my sweet family! From the left, Nic, Liara, Me, Mom, Raisa, Grandaddy, Great, Dax, Raime, Joey and Taylor... Oh, and we can't forget about sweet Sam at the bottom!

Here's (from the left) Dax, Raime, Nic, Taylor, and Joey (plus their loyal dog Sam) enjoying the lovely day at the beach. Raisa is in there too... I think's she's standing behind Nic.

Here's Uncle Joey holding an exhausted Liara... she was OUT!
Here's my Mom (Mamo) and Liara reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Liara loves that book.
Here's Liara giving my grandmother (Great) some sugars... they were so cute! They even matched each other, not on purpose of course :) This was Great's 62nd anniversary!
Here's Liara and my beautiful nieces Taylor and Raisa. They really loved playing with her :)

Better late than never...

2010-09-02T21:11:00.002+01:00

I have to apologize... I've been horrible and haven't posted about our amazing trip home yet! We had a blast and are now back in the UK (yep, all of us!) and in the swing of things again. Poor Li has had a hard time re-adjusting to the time change coming home, but did awesome on the way over there. She immediately switched to US time without even blinking, and did great... even when we changed time zones again once we were there (from Texas to Washington and then back). It's always been harder to ease into the change here than it is when you go back to the States, so I expected it. The first few nights she would go to sleep at her normal bedtime (9 pm), then she'd wake up at 11 and want to play (and I mean PLAY) until about 1 am or so... who cares if Mommy has jet lag right? We managed though and things are pretty much back to normal, except for the random wakings in the middle of the night (about 2 or 3 times per night for about 15 minutes) that I think are due to her teeth...

Anyway, I'll give you a rundown of our trip!

We left on Friday, the 6th and flew to Houston... Liara did amazing! She wasn't fussy at all and was so perfect on the plane! We had requested a bassinet on the plane (GREAT for babies up to 6 months or so, Liara squeezed in because of her low weight and I lied a little about her height lol). That really came in handy as she took one and a half naps in it and played in it quite a bit. We won't get to use it next time, and it kind of makes me sad... although on the way back she didn't really lay in it hardly at all. We got to Houston and spent the afternoon and evening at Nic's parent's house. They had set up Nic's baby crib up for us and bought a whole new bedding set for it (SO cute and sweet of them!), which was really nice! We went out to eat that night at Central Texas Style BBQ (best place for BBQ in Houston... it's one of President Bush Sr.'s favorite places to go, and I don't blame him! PLUS, they are who catered for our wedding... although we had Cuban food, not BBQ). The McManus family came over to visit (neighbors that have been family friends for a super long time) and came with us to dinner as well, which was nice! Then we came home and went to bed!

Saturday we got Billy's Donuts (I love that place!) and just poked around the house with Nic's family. We got to spend some quality time with Abraham as well (our dog!) which was really great, we've missed him! We mailed off Liara's visa paperwork before we flew out to go to Washington that afternoon. Liara did good again, on both flights (from Houston to Dallas and then from Dallas to Albuquerque and then Seattle) although for the last hour or so, she was pretty ready to get off the plane. I don't blame her... I had had enough myself! On top of that, she got her first tooth on the plane! She was a champ and wasn't even fussy about it! We got there and met my family there and then went to Ihop for some food :) It was great to see them and everyone was so excited! My mom and her friend John went back to the airport to pick up my grandparents while Nic, Li, and I joined my sister and her family on the ride back to their house to start getting everyone ready for bed. We waited up for Great and Grandaddy to get there and then went to bed ourselves.

Sunday was my Grandparent's 62nd Wedding Anniversary! We baked them a cake, and sat around listening to stories about how they met... they still are so sweet about it and remember every detail. I love that my grandmother's response to my grandfather asking her to a movie was "I'd just as soon do that as eat a bug". How is that a positive response?! Lol. It meant yes though, and here they are, 62 years into marriage with four children, eleven grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren later! The Wurst's also came over to visit and say hi (again, longtime family friends), and Cindy brought these DELICIOUS treats that were so good... I'm going to have to figure out how to make them. As far as I know, it's just rice crispies, butter, chocolate, peanut butter and marshmallows rolled into a ball... but I'll have to ask. Yummy. The guys spent the day working on a new fence for Raime (my sister) so that they can get a new puppy! Liara chose Sunday to start waving hello and goodbye too, so it was a great day all around!

The 9th was spent working on the fence some more and then taking a nice relaxing drive around Lacey and Olympia (the area my sister lives in). We ate lunch at a sidewalk hot dog vendor, which was really yummy too!

The 10th was also spent working on the fence, going back and forth to Home Depot, and running general errands (like going to the bank to reset the pins for our cards, since we hadn't used them in 3 years and had NO idea what they were anymore! Lol).

The 11th was the day that my Grandparent's flew to California and was another hot day (the whole time we were there it was hot and sunny!) so we went to Target to pick up some new clothes for Liara :) and then went to the beach! Nic, Joey (my brother in law), Raisa (my oldest niece, who's 10) and Taylor (my other niece, who's 5) got in the water to cool off while Raime, Mom, Dax (my nephew, who's 2 1/2) and Liara sat on the beach watching. We had bought Liara some really cool netting things (See pictures) that you put fresh fruit and stuff in and Liara absolutely loved them. We brought her some pears and she sat happily and munched the whole time! It was perfect for getting her to enjoy the beach without shoveling sand in her mouth the whole time!

The 12th we spent working on the fence, napping, and having good Mexican food at Puerto Vallerta. It wasn't the best Mexican food by any means, but when you haven't had it in so long, it was good enough! :)

Friday, the 13th, was a busy day! Cris (Nic's mom) called to let us know that Liara's visa had come in... WOW that was fast! I love how efficient they are in the US! We took everyone to Volunteer Park in Seattle (an awesome park with a water pool for the kiddo's to play in and beautiful coy ponds and flower gardens!). We had a picnic lunch there and went for a walk afterwards where we saw a guy sunbathing naked! Lol... Raisa thought it was gross. Haha. We let Liara get in the little pool thing and she had a great time splashing around, as did all the other kids. After that, we went to see the troll under the bridge (another sight in Seattle... it's pretty cool) before heading out to Pikes Place Market. We were pretty bummed when we got there, as they had closed it down for the night for a charity event, but we still got our picture with the pig. :) We ate dinner at Pikes Place Bar and Grill which was really yummy, and then as we were making our way back to the car Nic and I took a walk on the boardwalk to look for the spot where we almost had our first kiss. I say almost because Nic was chicken and was waiting for me to make the first move. It was quite romantic though, and brought back a flood of good memories for the both of us.

The 14th we went to the Snoqualmie River to go swimming again, as it was another super hot day (there's no air conditioning there, they don't normally get 97 degree days like they did while we were there!). It was nice and cool and we had a great time!

The 15th was SUPER HOT... we spent the whole day sitting in front of the fans in the house until it was cool enough to go outside and play in the pool (in the shade!). We then got to play badminton and catch and just enjoy each other's company since we had to leave the next day. We saved re-packing for night time when it was cool... then were amazed at how much extra stuff we had picked up while we were there, including some books from when I was little and a bunch of my childhood memorabilia.

The 16th was spent flying back to Houston (Liara was great again!) and then driving straight to Galveston after dinner with Nic's parents. We were staying at the Hilton in Galveston which was really nice... the pool there was great and we had an awesome view of the beach as well.

The 17th was a pretty fun day... I had thought that Nic had to be in his conference all day but it turns out I was off by a day, so he didn't have to do anything until about 5 pm, so we got to hang out with him and have lunch together with his parents who stayed in his uncle's condo right down the street. Liara got her second tooth (so now she has both her bottom front teeth!) and again, was a champ about it. That night our friend Viktor was supposed to come over to hang out with us, but his car broke down on the highway, so we went to go help him out, spending 2 hours on the side of the highway. That wasn't so fun for Liara, as I wouldn't let her out of her carseat the entire time because I was afraid we'd get hit or something and she wouldn't be strapped in. I know, I'm anal. Oh well.

The 18th, Nic was in his conference from 7-about 5, so I spent the day with his Mom. We swam in the pool at the hotel and then ate lunch at Landry's (mmm, mmm, good!). Then Viktor and his girlfriend Carrie came over to hang out with us later that night. They went for a beach walk with Nic that night while I stayed with Liara since she had gone to bed, so I got to catch up on some sleep.

The 19th, Nic was in his conference again until about 3:30, but once it got out we all went to the beach (Nic, Li and I and Nic's parents). I had the horrible experience of watching my baby be pooped on by a seagull. I nearly lost it and went crazy on those damn birds. It wiped off though, and didn't get in her face or anything... so I guess I should just move on. I'm still mad about it though. Haha. We spent some time at the beach before returning to the condo where Nic's parents were staying to go swimming some more in the pool there. It had a giant alligator in the pool for kids to play on which was pretty cool and one of those big mushroom fountain things. Liara had a good time :). We were supposed to check out of the hotel the next morning, but we decided to go ahead and return to Houston that night, so we checked out early and drove back to Pearland (his parent's live there).

The 20th we relaxed a little in the morning, before getting ready for the party the next day. We set up the big coverings and tables, hooked up the misting machines and giant fan, and I bathed Abraham so he wouldn't be stinky and gave him a little trim so he wouldn't look like a wild dog. :)

The 21st was the party that Nic's parents threw for family and some friends to come meet Liara. It was an ALL DAY affair (I'm meaning from 10 am to 10 pm) and it was HOT! All in all, about 100 people came, which was crazy... but to be expected really, as everyone wanted to see her. I'm just glad they didn't go ALL out and only invited close friends and family. I have to say I'm proud of myself for sharing my baby so much that day, I'm not very good at that. It was really hard letting so many people hold her, but she did great. By about 6 though, she had had enough and pretty much just wanted me or Nic to hold her. I was happy to oblige her... I sure had missed my cuddlebug! It wasn't supposed to be a shower or anything, but people brought gifts anyway and she has enough clothes now to last her the rest of the year! She also got some new toys too which was fun. It did make packing a challenge, but we got everything home and are enjoying all her gifts, so thank you everyone!

Sunday, the 22nd, we went to church with Nic's parents, then went to lunch with one of my very best friends (Jamie... she came to visit us here for my birthday the year before last... I think there's a post about it!) and her boyfriend. She's never really serious about any guy, so it's nice to meet one that she's really comfortable with and has kept around for over a year! Ben was really nice, we enjoyed meeting him too! We were going to go and use some of the gift cards that we were given at the party afterwards, but then ended up having some downtime in the afternoon instead since we were exhausted from the party. Liara thought that downtime would be best put to use by learning how to pull herself up to standing on ANYTHING... and she did a great job.

Let's see... Monday, Liara turned 7 months old. We spent the day with Nic's family again, and then headed over to my other best friend's house (Edith, Angel and their daughter Kamila) to spend some time with them. We ate dinner (yummy chinese!) and just hung out with them and Edith's sister (Emy, David and their son David Paul). It was nice to catch up with them and get some one on one time! That night there was a huge thunderstorm, which was nice... we'd missed them over here! It hailed even!

Tuesday, the 24th, we spent the morning writing thank you notes, packing and getting ready to leave, then we went to lunch with Nic's parent's (Olive Garden for the win!) before leaving for the airport. We flew home, getting back on the 25th. Liara did great on the plane again, but man... none of us want to see another airplane for at least a couple months! We were sad to leave the US but glad to have our own little house back. Liara was excited to see all of her toys again, and her own room (and rocking chair!) and immediately starting REALLY crawling on Thursday. She was glad to be home :)

That's the jist of what we did on our trip home... we crammed in as much as we could! We're talking about making another trip home in December now, for Christmas! I hope it works out, I would love to be home for the holidays!

I've tried to load the pictures like three times now and they won't load... so I'll try and post them in a separate post for you to see!

Excited? Me? Nah....

2010-08-05T13:37:00.003+01:00

I'm beyond excited for our trip home. I took Li out shopping a little this morning (nothing extreme, just to pick up a few things for the trip that we had forgotten about, like baby sunscreen). I bought her a new toy phone and a new teething toy to play with on the plane to hopefully help make the super long journey a little more bearable... wish me luck! I also bought her a new swimming suit (two actually... they were on sale for 2.50!!!). I bought myself one as well (a one piece since the two piece swimming suits I have tend to show off my warrior/stretch marks). We are now pool ready :)

I also went ahead and bought Liara some jars of baby food/packets of food for the plane. She'll have all three of her feedings on the plane (we get there at 2 Houston time, so 8 our time, which is pretty much when we normally get ready for bed), and I didn't want to mess with trying to keep her food frozen and having to thaw it out. I let her try some of it today at her lunch time feed (I bought all organic stuff, that actually looks, smells and tastes yummy!) and she LOVED it. Like, she scarfed down half the jar in no time... hmm. Either she really likes the tastes of pear and banana together, or she likes the stuff better than the homemade goodness that I've been providing. She's had bananas (and liked them) and she's had pears (and loved them) but I hadn't put them together... so maybe that's it. Is it bad that my child apparently prefers store-bought food to homemade?

Oh well... at least I know she'll eat on the plane.

I also got her a cute little outfit to wear on the plane from Houston to Seattle... since she's wearing my favorite outfit tomorrow (Mommy's little love bug). It's a super sweet dress with little bloomers underneath (that's pretty much all the girl wears now anyway since pants tend to be too big on her at the waist, she's long and slim).

Anyways, I'm heading off to clean up the kitchen, again, and see if I can't get her down for nap so I can get some more packing done.

Who's Ready?!

2010-08-04T13:38:00.003+01:00

Ok... so I thought I'd post our crazy schedule for our trip home so that I don't have to repeat myself a million times (like I haven't already!).

Friday, the 6th:

At 6 am our flight leaves from Aberdeen and we fly to Amsterdam (we get there at 8:40). At 10:40, we leave Amsterdam and fly to Houston. We get there at 1:55, and are spending the night with Cris and Tony (Nic's parents).

Saturday, the 7th:

We fly from Houston to Dallas (2-2:55), then from Dallas to Seattle (3:55-7:10). We'll pick up our bags and meet with my Mom, Raime & Joey (sister and brother in law) and Raisa, Taylor and Dax (nieces and nephews). Then we'll head back to arrivals, and pick up my grandparents! We'll all drive back to Olympia that night (in two packed cars!)

Sunday, the 8th-Wednesday, the 11th:

We'll visit with the above mentioned people, then take Great & Grandaddy to the airport so they can fly to California to visit with Thralene (my great aunt).

Wednesday, the 11th-Sunday, the 15th:

We'll continue to visit with Mom, Raime, Joey, Raisa, Taylor & Dax... with some family friends thrown in the mix every now and then.

Monday, the 16th:

We fly from Seattle to Dallas (9:25-4:25), then from Dallas to Houston (5:00-6:05! Eek... that's a tight plane change!). We'll then pick up the rental car, grab a quick bite to eat with Nic's family, and then drive to Galveston. We'll check into Moody Gardens that night :)

Tuesday, the 17th-Thursday, the 18th:

Nic has to attend a conference (the Deepwater Intervention Forum annual conference... he's on the board) during the day, so he'll be busy doing that while Liara and I catch some sunshine and enjoy the pools and activities at Moody Gardens and in Galveston :) At night, we'll catch up with some friends I'm sure and I think some friends of ours are joining me during the daytime (and possibly my cousin too!) a day or two.

Friday, the 19th:

We'll drive back to Houston, turn in the rental car, and stay with Nic's parents again.

Saturday, the 20th-Monday, the 23rd:

We'll still be at Cris & Tony's house. We do have some plans for these days to visit with friends, as well as have a barbeque where family and friends can come and visit and meet Liara for the first time! On Monday, we have a picnic planned for lunchtime :) We'll also get a family photo session done thanks to Marco (Nic's cousin). I'm excited!

Tuesday, the 24th:

We leave to come back to Aberdeen. We fly out at 3:55 and arrive in Amsterdam at 8:05 am, Wednesday.

Wednesday, the 25th:

We finish our flight home... we leave Amsterdam at 10:05 am, and arrive back in Aberdeen at 10:30. We plan to unpack, start laundry and sleep... Nic goes back to work on the 26th.

We still won't get to see everyone that we wanted to (like the rest of my family in the Lubbock/Amarillo/Plainview area...), but hopefully we'll get to see everyone we can while we're there! I'm glad that our landlords come over twice a day every day to feed their horses & shetland ponies, as they'll be checking in on the house and stuff as well. That's a huge comfort to me!

We're still waiting on a few documents to come through for Liara's visa application, which is making me a little nervous. The lawyer needs to amend one of her letters to change a date... that should be arriving today. The one that worries me is the bank statements. I've ordered them from the bank (we get online statements and they don't actually look like statements, so I had to order the original statements from the bank... pain in the booty!), but they still haven't come in yet. We didn't get any mail today, so they had better get here tomorrow or I'm not sure what we'll do about that. :/ Why in the world it takes up to 7 business days to get paper statements is beyond me. Don't you just hit "print" and then stick them in an envelope and mail them (they can't blame the mail either, everything gets here in one day since the country is so small)? So far we're on day 4... so I'm hoping they aren't going to need day 6 or 7! EEK! Too bad I didn't know we were going to need them before Friday. Here I thought that I was doing a good thing to save some trees....

Ok... I've got too many things to do to sit and worry about stuff I can't control. I've got to finish making my list of things to pack and get some stuff sorted! We leave the day after tomorrow! Hip hip hooray! :)

Feelin' Good

2010-08-02T11:01:00.002+01:00

The past few weeks have been horrible, but things are looking up now! We finally decided to hire a solicitor (lawyer) to help us with Liara's visa issues and she's been wonderful. Hopefully, with her help, things will go smoothly and we can get the necessary evil over with sooner and we won't have to stay in the US by ourselves! Hooray! Fugro has been wonderful and is picking up the tab for her services, double hooray! With all the added expenses regarding her visa and the new car, etc... we didn't know how we were going to swing that, so I'm really happy with Fugro right now.

So, now that the immigration situation is under control, I'm in full swing to get ready for our trip home. I've been doing dishes and laundry and trying to get the house in order (no one likes to come home to a messy house!) before we leave. I'm doing my best to leave the packing until Wednesday or Thursday, but I've been tempted every day to go ahead and get it done. Oh, I've called the airline to check to make sure everything is all clear for our trip as well (like to reserve the little basket for her to sleep in on the plane... they supply them for you free of charge if you ask in advance!) and found out that Nic and I aren't sitting together!!! WHAT?! They have me sitting in a section that doesn't have seats in front of it (so that I can lay the basket on the floor... makes sense) but there are already people sitting next to me on all sides (I'm in the second seat in the section) and the closest open seat is directly behind me. BOO. Hopefully I'll sit next to someone really nice with no children themselves and they'll swap seats with Nic.

Other than that, there isn't really a whole lot going on here... just the usual stuff. We finished filming a few missing shots for the National Geographic show this weekend with Graham, Pauline, Bob, and Dave (well... Nic did, Li and I are still not in this show, I don't want her on TV quite yet). It was good to catch up with them, but man, I miss Vinnie and his crew- they're so quick! We spent pretty much all day Saturday (6 hours) filming about 30 seconds worth of stuff... but Liara was perfect and was so super quiet the whole time. As soon as we were done, she was her usual noisy self again though. She's a pro at this filming stuff! Sunday, we took Pauline and Graham to visit with Mike at Bowtech (SUCH a nice guy!) and then headed over to Costco to pick up a few things. I'm so grateful for that place, even though it can get expensive because you always end up buying more than you go in for... they carry some American stuff that we can't get anywhere else here (like proper marshmallows and popcorn). I can't wait to get back to the USA on FRIDAY!!!

Ok, I need to go finish the dishes and make some lunch before Nic gets home for his break... plus, Liara is getting tired of playing by herself (she's getting really good at that, but only for like 10 minute increments). I hope everyone else is having a great week! :)

Separation Anxiety

2010-07-28T22:03:00.002+01:00

We've had a lot of stress in our household recently. Between finding out that Li doesn't qualify for a UK passport, to buying our new car (which we finally were able to do after a week of constant trouble!), to trying to get Li a visa so that she can remain in the UK. We've had what seems like a constant stream of problems come through our door and Nic and I are trying our damnedest to not let it get to us. It's hard to try to be chipper and excited about stuff when it seems like your whole world is falling apart. I've always said that no matter what happens, as long as we're together I'm happy. Well, we'll have to see if I can be happy when we're apart I guess... I have to at least give it a shot.

The latest news in the quest for Liara's visa is that we have to have 533 pounds extra in our bank account for three months to prove that we can support her without any public funds. Um, hi... who has an extra 830 dollars just lying around each month? I know we don't between paying all our bills here and the US. We may not have that much extra money each month, but we do pay all of our bills without asking for anything from the government in terms of assistance and have been doing so for the past 6 months. Doesn't that say anything?! Isn't that proof enough? Had I known we were going to have to prove this, I probably would have moved some money around to make sure this happened, but we only found out because I had e-mailed the UK Consulate General to ask some questions and clarify some things that I've been told about the visa process. I would have been super pissed off if I had applied for her visa and then been denied based on this little clause. So, anyway... because we don't have that in our favor, she's not going to be given her visa most likely (I'm still trying to figure something out...) she won't be allowed back in the UK for now. So, as of right now, the plan is for Liara and I to stay in the US for the three months necessary to prove we can afford our child (ugh) and get her visa sorted... then return to the UK with Nic. Nic has to go back to work, so he'll be coming home alone. I hate this. I hate this, I hate this, I hate this. I'll say it again... I hate this. I don't want to be separated from my husband, and more importantly, I don't want my daughter to be separated from her father. I can't even think about it without crying... I'm having a super emotional day.

I am so beyond upset with this whole process... especially due to the fact that she was born in this freaking country, and now they are making it so incredibly difficult for her to remain here. We aren't asking for anything... just for the right to be together. It makes me regret moving here in the first place. I have so many bitter feelings about living over here that it's ruining this whole experience. While I have really enjoyed living here, the way things are being handled now have made me want to move my little family back home as fast as we can. ALL of us.

I know that we can do this, we can live apart from each other... we've done it before (when Nic and I were still dating). However, I don't want to do that again. Not with Liara. I'm broken hearted and am going through serious separation anxiety issues and it's not even time for us to be apart yet.

At least this time we'll have skype and facebook and whatnot to keep us a little more connected to each other. I'm pretty good at updating facebook with pictures every week, I guess I'll have to be better about it (by the way... if you aren't my friend on facebook and want to be- here's my profile: http://www.facebook.com/#!/jen.alvarado. I keep it way more updated than this blog!).

I'm off to spend some quality time with my hubby... I'm going to soak up every second I can while I can!

FUMING!

2010-07-21T10:09:00.002+01:00

Ok, so I need to vent because I'm about to lose it. I'm so glad that Li is upstairs sleeping soundly, because I'm sure I'm mumbling explicatives under my breath.

As soon as Liara was settled for her nap today, I called the UK Border Agency to discuss her status here in the UK. I needed to figure out what needs to be done to secure her visa and be assured that she would be allowed to remain here with us in the UK. Here's what I found out:

1. She definitely does need a visa to be here legally.

2. It takes anywhere from 4-14 weeks to get said visa (leaning more towards the 14 side, so says Steven, the guy I talked to).

3. If I submit our application by post (it's pretty much a given for the 14 week timeline), it is 475 pounds.

4. We can submit her application in person and the process is much quicker... however, the only office in Scotland is in Glasgow. Oh, and if you do it in person it's 730 pounds (yes... $1,000).

5. If we leave the country and she does not have a visa, she will NOT be allowed back in, even if we say she's just visiting.

So here's my problem: we leave for the US on non-refundable tickets on the 6th of August. That's definitely only 16 days, not 4 weeks. So most likely, Liara won't have her visa ready in time. Even if we pay the extra amount and go to Glasgow (I've made an appointment for the 27th, just in case), there is no guarantee that we'll get her visa in time. So, do I wait and just see if I can get her a visa in the US and reschedule flights, or should I try to get it done before we go... apparently it will be pretty much the same cost to do that.

I'm absolutely furious. We've already paid like 200 pounds for her passport (that she wasn't granted) that we aren't getting refunded... now they want 730 more?! I seriously want to go home and stay there. I don't want to be here anymore. The fact that they have rejected her hurts me more than I care to admit. I have the most amazing little girl in the whole world, and they don't want her here. I just want to go home.

Rules Schmules

2010-07-20T21:11:00.002+01:00

It took us about half a day to get Liara's US passport (including a quick trip to Edinburgh to drop off paperwork and sign some documents at the US Embassy), so I figured that her UK passport would be as easy... right?! WRONG.

For the last five months or so, I've been communicating back and forth with the UK Identity and Passport Service in order to apply for Liara's UK passport. Turns out, after five months of talking on the phone, writing letters back and forth, sending documentation, etc., that it was all for nothing. I'm so frustrated that I could scream and am having a hard time keeping all my thoughts straight. They are not considering Liara a citizen (or even a resident for goodness sake!) of the UK, even though she was conceived, carried, and born here. How are you not a citizen of the country you were born in? That's just crazy to me.

So now we are back to square one as far as her status as a legal resident here goes... We are going to have to apply for a visa for her to be here (although we have yet to find any documentation about what to do if you are ALREADY in the UK and are required to have a visa). To find this out two weeks before we leave to return to the US for a visit is a little discouraging, especially since it's very possible that they won't let Liara back into the UK once she has left, until her visa status has changed. What this means to me is that we might have to stay in the US a little longer (to be honest, I wouldn't mind that!) but it also means that we'd have to pay for flights again (which we don't want to do since they are 700 pounds a piece! OUCH!). I really don't want to be separated from Nic either (as he'd have to come back for work, and I'd probably stay behind with Li until it was sorted). This all is just such a pain!

I'm so sick of how things work here, the hoops we have to hurdle through all the time. Nothing is simple or convenient, and I'm in a constant state of frustration. Our friends here ask me all the time why I don't refer to this country as my home now and think it is sad that I don't consider it one... but THIS... this sort of thing, is why. Why would I even think of considering a country my home when they don't accept my daughter?!

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing to be stuck in the US... I can tell you, I'd feel a lot more at home!

Goodbye Sexy Lexi...

2010-07-18T23:30:00.002+01:00

So after much thought and discussion, we've decided to sell my Subaru and get a more family oriented car. We've been thinking about doing this since we found out we were going to expand our family, but just loved Lexi too much to really consider it. For those of you who know us, you'll easily understand why we've deliberated for so long... for those that don't- we're semi-obsessed with Subaru's and absolutely love both of our cars (Nic owns one as well, I bought him one for Christmas in 2008). While we'll still have his STI, I'm going to be sad to see Lexi go... she's been a great car for us. However, we've been cramped on the trips to Wales, have paid out the rear end for road tax (425 a year! OUCH!) and insurance, and petrol. Sure, we could drive more economically, but who wants to do that when you've got the power and that lovely burble in response? Anywho... we spent today car shopping for a replacement and finally found one that we both could agree on (since Nic still takes my car to work every day, he had a big say on what we'd be getting... or should I say WOULDN'T be getting. Lol).

We've pretty much decided on a 2007 Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI SE. It's a wagon which is really nice, since there is a ton of room in the boot/trunk area for all of Liara's gear... even after you get our large stroller in! In the trunk right now, it's a bit cramped once the Quinny is in there, but in the Passat there is room for loads of other baggage too. The backseat is super roomy too... I can actually stretch out my legs and there's really room for another person, not just another child. It's pretty good looking too. The one we found is silver and does have a large scratch mark on the front passenger door, but they will be repairing that before we drive it home, which is nice. Plus, that doesn't effect the warranty (which still has a year left!). Since it is a diesel, we'll get awesome gas mileage (40-60 mpg... hooray!) which will be a huge help, especially on long trips. We were looking at the size of the fuel tank as well and it turns out we could get to Wales and back on one tank! That's super nice.

On top of all the perks already stated... we're getting it for the same price as what we pay for the Subaru, but it will have cheaper insurance, cheaper road tax (ok.. I've already mentioned that), cheaper fuel costs (that too...) AND they're throwing in GAP insurance and a sealant for the paint and interior of the car (good for 3 years), as well as 2 years free servicing. Nice. PLUS, what is really exciting is that we aren't upside down in the Subaru! They are actually giving us 600 pounds more than what we owe on it. Woo Hoo!

I'm excited! I loved Sexy Lexi but I have a feeling I'm going to love this car too... now all I need is to sign the papers and come up with a name! :)

My Sweet Girl...

2010-07-11T22:45:00.002+01:00

Poor Li has been teething for a few weeks now with the white gums, rosy cheeks, excess drool, mouthing everything, and diaper rash. The only thing she's been lacking is the inability to sleep well and the moodiness. However, those persistent teeth are starting to wear her down and she's had a bit of a rough day. Even though she's exhausted (especially since we went to a birthday party yesterday), she hasn't slept well and her teeth are hurting so she's been a little grumpy. I've tried to be as patient as I can with her and I think I'm doing a pretty good job, but man, am I tired. I've been spoiled by my sweet baby who has been sleeping through the night since she was like 8 weeks old. I feel so bad for her, I know she is trying her best to be her usual self, and that her mouth really does hurt. I hope these teeth (it's her two front teeth on bottom and an eye tooth and the right front tooth on top) hurry up and make their appearance soon so she can have a little break.

Other than that, she's the perfect angel. She's still wonderful, even when she's grumpy (her definition of grumpy is just wanting to be held a little more and being a little quicker to get frustrated). She's so good at sitting up now! She sits up perfectly straight and has great balance. She reaches for her toys, plays her little drum, and can even turn herself around without needing any sort of support. I am so proud of her! She's getting pretty good at trying to crawl as well. She'll get up on all fours and rock back and forth. Sometimes she'll actually pick up her knees and hands but she doesn't go forwards yet, only backwards.

Sorry if I'm not making a whole lot of sense or if it seems like I'm rambling, I'm knackered! I'm going to head to bed before she wakes up again... G'night!

Mommyhood

2010-06-30T16:35:00.003+01:00

I think people are always looking for their purpose in life, for their reason for being. I always thought mine was to teach, to touch the lives of children through education, to help kids to understand new ideas and concepts and embrace history. Then I had Liara. While I don't think that the idea of Education is lost on me, I still long to teach other children eventually... I would much rather teach my own daughter all the little things that she has yet to discover about life.

It is so refreshing to look at the world in a whole new light... to see things from my daughter's perspective. I had forgotten so much about childhood. I had a great childhood, one filled with imaginary playmates, playdoh and laughter. I want the same for Li. I love that she trusts me enough to explore her little world with me right by her side. She's so inquisitive and I love that about her, she wants to know EVERYTHING. I'm going to do my best to show it to her. We talk about everything, or I guess, I talk about everything with her and she listens intently. I know she doesn't understand everything I say (and for that I'm a little grateful!), but I hope that she'll pick out key words and phrases that are used often (like "I love you", and "you mean everything to me", and "you're so beautiful") and that they will become the staple of her opinion of herself. She's so perfect and she's everything I ever wanted plus a million things I never would have thought to ask for. I hope that someday she'll realize that she has changed my life forever and made me question if I was ever really living before she came along. I know she'll know that I love her with every fiber of my being, I'll make sure of that.

One thing that I wasn't prepared for in mommyhood was the fear of death. I used to be fine with the idea that I could go at any time. I used to say I was ready, but oh, I'm not. I'm terrified of the idea of leaving her before she'll remember me. I don't know if that's just a common fear among parents, or if it is due to my own father's untimely death. Perhaps it's a bit of both. Either way, I'm completely terrified. I have nightmares where I die and am doing everything I can to comfort her, to show her I'm still around. I wake up in a panic and most the time, in tears. Nic looks at me like I'm crazy, like I have no reason to have such fears... but how can you not be afraid of losing the one thing you've waited your whole life for?! I'm also really afraid that she's going to die and I can't help but think that I don't know if I could live without her. I think it is completely possible to die of a broken heart and that I would do so in an instant. I need to stop talking about such morbid things... this isn't where I intended to go in this post.

I love discovering new traits that she's picked up from Nic or myself... it's amazing to see bits of yourself in someone else. I love the fact that she sleeps like I do, in the same positions. I (for now) love that she zones out when her favorite songs or tv shows come on (she only watches Handy Manny and The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but she properly watches them when they're on) like Nic does. I love how she has to investigate anything new (especially if it's mechanical) and makes the same concentration face that Nic does. I love that she has my smile, except for when she smirks, then she's all Nic. I love that she's a Momma's girl (like I was) and that she has my temperament.

I am going to get off here, I don't want to miss anything. This girl is growing faster than I ever imagined she would and she's doing something new every time you blink. I've really enjoyed staying home with her, it has meant the world to me. I'm so thankful to have Nic around, he's been absolutely wonderful for letting me be with her at home!

Can you tell I love my little girl?!

Homesick

2010-05-19T21:59:00.003+01:00

I'm not sure if it is because I now have a daughter or if it is just that enough time has passed to make me homesick, but man... I just want to go home. I want Liara to experience all that the US has to offer. I want her to be close to family on holidays so we can all get together and celebrate as a huge family. I want it to be easier for me to go back to work, simply because I can find something there that I can do with her (it's really difficult to take care of other children here... there's a lot of hoops you have to jump through). I want to have the convenience of the US back.

I've been irritated lately by all sorts of things here that wouldn't happen at home. For example- we moved into another house in February and filled up the kerosene tank (for heating the radiators since the houses here don't have central heating). Since the middle of February, we've now gone through 1,000 liters of fuel. 1,000 liters. Now, our house is little. This shouldn't be happening. The last time we filled up, it only lasted 37 days (so it's using a liter and a half of fuel PER HOUR, as we only kept it on 8 hours a day and put in 500 liters). This is absurd, especially considering the cost of kerosene lately (this fill up of 500 liters cost us 250 pounds!). Yes, I know that air conditioning/heating is high in Houston too... but even in the dead of summer we never spent 250 a month and our house was about 3 times the size of this one. Ugh.

I also want Liara to be able to be around the family... my sister and Nic's sister (and their families) have yet to meet our little girl and it's killing me. While the parents have all made it over now, our siblings still don't know how absolutely wonderful she is. Well, they hear me talk about her all the time, but it's not the same. I miss our friends in the US too... it sucks that we never get to see them.

I think the trip home in August (WE GET TO GO HOME!!!) has me even more homesick, simply because it isn't time yet. We're going to get to spend like 6 days in Houston and 7 days in Olympia. I can't wait! I've been dreaming and planning for like the last 2 months for this trip. I'm ready for it to be August already. I'm not looking forward to the trip home though, I'm sure that'll be loads of fun with Li (she'll be 6 1/2 months and I doubt she'll want to sit in my lap for 14 hours).

Anyway... enough of me moping about. We'll move back eventually, just not soon enough.

I'm off to do the dishes, put the laundry away and then hit the sack. Liara went to bed early tonight so she'll probably wake up a little early too. Just a guess ;) G'night!

Story Time

2010-04-20T21:47:00.003+01:00

Okay, one more video for today... here's Liara telling a little story :) She was 11 weeks in these videos.

The Lovely Li Li

2010-04-20T16:06:00.002+01:00

So I thought I'd share a little video of the little girl that lights up our lives. Enjoy!

I was going to actually sit down to do a proper blog entry since it's been ages, but Little Miss decided to wake up from her nap early and since she's not a huge fan of Mommy being on the computer instead of dancing/singing/reading/playing with her... it looks like that is a no go, so you'll just have to deal with the video. We had to crop it quite a bit so we could actually load it on here. Even then, we don't have the internet speed we used to since we now live out in the country so it is taking like half an hour to load it anyway.

I will take a second to say that Motherhood is by far the absolute best thing in the world and it is a trillion times better than I had expected (and I had high hopes!). It's seriously hard to contain all the love that I feel for my daughter, and sometimes I really worry about myself because I just want to squeeze her! (I don't... I just squeal, wiggle my arms and perhaps hug one of her teddy bears... they're well loved!).

She's getting so big so fast. She's already rolled over from her tummy to her back and is working really hard on crawling... lol. She scoots around at the moment by pulling her legs up under her chest basically and then pushing herself forward. She hasn't quite figured out that she needs to use her arms too. Sometimes she'll pull on the blanket under her but she hasn't fully put her weight on them.

Liara loves music of any kind... even my horrible singing. She also loves her little backpack (it's actually on the front of you though, not your back) and if you put her in it she's a happy camper.

Ok... she's ready for me to stop so that's all you get!

Introducing Liara Nicole :)

2010-02-02T00:14:00.003Z

We are the proud new parents of a beautiful little girl! Liara Nicole Alvarado was born on January 23rd, 2010 at 1:23 am. She weighed 6 pounds and 8 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. She is the perfect little baby with the best little personality! She hardly ever cries and is so calm! She likes to be in the middle of everyone and sleeps through all the noise that you can make... we definitely aren't quiet for her when she's sleeping (we've even had company over for dinner and she slept next to the table with everyone laughing/telling stories etc) and she sleeps through it all. She's done great at getting onto a good schedule for sleeping already. Last night, she only woke up twice (once at 1:30, then again at 4:30) and I had her back to bed by 5:30. She then didn't wake up until 10:15 and only took one 15 minute nap during the day. We had her to sleep at 7:30 pm and she hasn't woke up since then (it's nearly 12:30!). She eats like she's an 18 year old boy or something and has put on some weight since she's been home. Her cheeks are now chunkier and she's got a little belly on her now, which I love. I love everything about her (we all do!). She's everything we've ever wanted plus some! I absolutely love being her mother, and I can't help but stare at her for hours at a time. My heart feels like it's overflowing all the time, between her and Nicolas being so sweet with her it's amazing it doesn't burst. Nic loves her so much too, and is good with her. He has really taken to parenting (except when she has a poopy pants... in which case he's quick to hand her off. He hasn't quite mastered that yet). I can't tell you how much more I love him now than I did before, just because he helped me to have her and that he loves her so much too.

I couldn't be happier than I am right now, I'm on cloud nine. She's the most amazing little thing and I am so blessed to have her!

We also found a new place to move to, it's only 4 miles away which is wonderful! We're getting ready to move in on the 13th of February, which will be great since Mom is here to help us and we'll have settled in way before she has to go back home. I am so glad she got to be here, she's been such a massive help and to be honest, I just love having my Momma around. I'm dreading the day she leaves already and we've got over a month still. Nic's parents left on Saturday, it was nice that they got to be here for her birth and so that she could get to know them a little bit before they had to go back home. It was quite busy around the house and it's strange to have it quiet again (although with all the packing that is about to happen, I'm sure it'll liven back up again!).

Nic was supposed to have a week off for paternity leave, but had to go back into work for a couple of the days because he had so much to get done. I guess that could be a good thing because now he gets to take those days later and that will come in handy with the move. We miss having him home during the day though.

Let's see... Oh, Liara has been holding her head up like a champ since we got home (day two!). I'm not just talking about her picking her head up every now and then, I mean holding her head up, looking around and having perfect control of her neck. It's amazing. She's trying to be such a big girl already, it almost makes me sad! I want her to stay little like this for as long as possible, I am enjoying it too much for it to go by so quickly! I can't believe she's 9 days old already!

I'll post the birth story next time, I think I'm going to head off to bed while she's still sleeping so that I'll be ready when she wakes up. I just wanted to put a quick post up to fill you in on why I'm not blogging as much! We've got a lot of new stuff happening, and I'll try to be better about updating... I need to get some new pictures and then I'll put them up too. She's adorable and getting more and more beautiful every day! I'm so in love!!!

Waiting on Baby Bug...

2010-01-18T21:34:00.002Z

We're still waiting on the baby to decide that it's a good day to be born. Our due date was on Sunday (yesterday) but we still don't have a baby yet. We have a midwife appointment tomorrow morning and we'll see what she says about it I guess. I really don't want to be induced, I want the baby to come on its own terms and I don't want to force it to come if it isn't ready. Oh, how it pains me to write that! I'm so excited and knowing that we are past the "any day now" point and that labor is creeping up on us (though slowly creeping...) is making me anxious. I am so looking forward to meeting our baby and seeing who it is I've been cooking for the past 9 months (10 really...). I can't wait to see if the baby is a boy or a girl and see what name Nic picks out (we've got two names if it is a girl that he's going to chose between, and one for a boy... so I know that one!). I can't wait to see who he/she looks like and give it loads of hugs and kisses. I can't wait to have five little fingers wrapped around one of mine and look into the eyes of my own child. While I am so super excited and am having one hell of a time being patient about it, I don't want to rush anything.

I have been taking long walks with Mom once a day to help my body progress some and prepare for labor. Yesterday, we walked around the fields behind my house all the way to the standing stone, then around the farm and through the quarry. Today, we crossed the road and walked around the abandoned farmhouse and around the small field and then the large one, then back through the farmhouses and back. The baby has been pretty mellow today, I'm hoping that it is resting up for the main event. The baby is sweet enough to move when I get worried about it to let me know that everything is fine in there, and the poor thing has had the hiccups 3 times today (it normally gets them at least twice, but the day isn't done yet and it is ahead of schedule).

I'm going to look online again today for other houses, I haven't looked yet today which is odd, since normally I'm checking twice a day or so. I haven't been on the computer as much as I normally am lately, we've been doing puzzles, and just chatting. It's been nice visiting and just relaxing while waiting for the baby. I washed my sheets today and I'm really looking forward to going to bed tonight. There's something so wonderful about clean sheets that just make everything feel right. Knowing my luck, now that the sheets are clean and on the bed my water will break or something and mess them up. Lol.. I'd take that! It's only been like 2 weeks since I washed them last (if that), but still... I'm looking forward to sleeping in a clean, yummy smelling bed.

Ok... I'm going to get going on looking for another house so I can go enjoy my bed soon! Hopefully my next post will be announcing our little one... wish us luck! :)

In Case You Didn't Think Having A Newborn Was Enough...

2010-01-15T22:30:00.002Z

We're still waiting on the baby... I personally think that our little bug is waiting on the anniversary of my Dad's passing to join us, so we'd be happy on that day (the 20th) and help us remember how wonderful life is. I guess we'll see if I'm right in a couple of days. My due date is on Sunday (it's Friday night), it will be here before we know it. Nic's parents (Cris and Tony) get here tomorrow morning, we're looking forward to that. They're going to be staying with us for about two and a half weeks, so hopefully bug will decide to come sooner rather than later so that everyone gets to see the baby while they are here, instead of just me and my big ol' belly.

We've had a bit of news recently, as the owners of the house that we are living in have decided that they want to sell it in March, so we've got to move by then. We're trying to be positive about it, even though we really aren't looking forward to welcoming our first child and then immediately trying to pack/get settled in a new home right afterward. It isn't exactly what we had planned, but I guess that's what we get for planning! We've been looking online and driving by some homes already, but every time we find one we are interested in and call to make an appointment it's already been rented to someone else (and I mean the same day!!!) or someone else is interested in it and they are no longer showing it until the other couple decides whether or not they are going to rent it. Hopefully we'll find something soon and be able to get moved in without too much trouble. I sure am glad my mom is here! She's a pro at moving (and I mean PRO!) and always is a HUGE help. We're hoping to stay in the same area this time (Bridge of Don) but know that our options are pretty limited here so we've been looking in the surrounding areas as well. The positive side of it all is that maybe we'll be able to find something cheaper and save some money... it seems like there's always something else popping up that needs to be paid for and we haven't been able to save like we used to. With the baby around I'm sure we could use some extra cash.

It's been so nice having my mom here! She's a really great helper and my house is clean! Even Nic's table is cleared off and his stuff is stored away! We've had some good food, great company and have really enjoyed just seeing her face every day :) Today she made us this really great German soup (with sausage, sauerkraut, potatoes, bell peppers etc). Man, it was yummy.

Nic's been doing great at work, he got his simulator in right around Christmas time and has been working like crazy getting it to where he wants it to be. He's got a ton still to do until he's 100% happy with it, but it's getting there. He's grown a beard in the last couple weeks and looks totally different, but adorable none the less.

I've got to say, I just love my husband. He's so sweet to me and my Momma... I love that he loves her too. We had a little teary eyed moment today and I just keep thinking about how amazing of a man he is. I know that I love him now but I can tell that when this baby comes I'm going to love him even more, just for being our child's father. Watching him support my family and care about them because he wants to, not just because I do, means the world to me... and I know that I'll have many more teary moments watching him with our baby.

Ok, I'm going to go before I get all weepy... Apparently when you're due to have a baby any day now you get emotional really easy. Who'd a thunk it?

Woo, I'm Excited

2009-12-24T11:09:00.002Z

My Momma leaves today to come see us!!!

She should just be waking up right about now to get ready to go to the airport. She'll fly from Amarillo to Dallas, then from Dallas to Houston. There, one of Nic's best friends (and mine too... he's great) Viktor will pick her up and drive her from Houston Hobby to Houston Intercontinental (across town). She'll then fly from Houston to Amsterdam, and then FINALLY from Amsterdam to Aberdeen!!! I'm so excited. While I feel bad for her for having to do all that plane hopping... I am so thankful that we were able to get the tickets for her to be here! It's such a wonderful Christmas gift to go get your Mom at the airport!!! We'll pick her up on Christmas day at around 3:45 if all goes to plan and the snow doesn't delay the planes any (fingers crossed!)... so I have roughly 28 1/2 hours to wait. I don't know how I'm going to contain my excitement for that long, and I really do pity poor Nicolas when he has to drive me to the airport tomorrow to pick her up... lol. That should be an interesting car ride. Who knew I could be so bouncy at 9 months pregnant!?

I'm off to make lunch for Nic... hopefully that'll distract me until she calls to say she's at the airport getting ready to board her first flight!!! Hooray!

Almost There...

2009-12-23T11:41:00.002Z

I think my body may be tired of me being so stinking excited all the time. There have been so many things that I've been looking forward to for so long (like the Santa Cruise, which I will tell you all about in a little bit, my Mom coming, the BABY of course, and Christmas). Now that they are all here (or about to be), I'm exhausted!

The Santa Cruise was wonderful, as usual. Nic and I got up and ready and then headed out to go to our friend Ari's work (where we store the presents until it's time to give them out). We stopped by the Shell station to fill up on our way, and ran into Simmie, another of our friends who was participating in the Cruise. :) We decided we were hungry and stopped by a burger van (I didn't get anything... everything they had was beefy. Boo), but Nic and Simmie had these massive breakfast rolls filled with sausage and bacon and eggs. Then we headed to Ari's where the re-packing of the toys and games was underway. Once we were all loaded up again, we headed over to Duthie Park, where we all meet up and decorate our cars for the actual Cruise. It's always fun, as everyone helps each other out and visits a bit before we go.

After the cars were decorated and ready to roll, we all headed off on our way to the hospital. Normally, this is one of the fun parts, as it's awesome to see a convoy of 20+ decorated Subaru's lining the street, but this year our fun was spoiled a little by a cop who was SERIOUSLY lacking in Christmas spirit. He pulled over Duncan and Donald (who by the way was dressed as Santa), tore the tinsel off of Donald's car, and kept Dunc for half an hour (giving him a fine and making up 3 violations to ticket him for... all of which he didn't do!). His poor partner felt bad, and we could tell but there was nothing stopping this guy. We were not happy with Grampian's finest that day! But, we tried to not let it spoil the purpose of the trip or dampen our spirits... we were doing a good thing for some really sick children, and there's nothing that can take that away.

Anyway, we got to the hospital and had a little photo op for the newspaper (I'll post pictures/scan the article when it comes out) and got to visit with some of the kids. There was one little boy (I think his name was Nathan) who was so excited and was picking out what he wanted to play with first the next day... it was too cute. Then there was another little boy who went out to look at the cars and was SO excited when Ari let him sit in and rev his car (although, I think the kid's dad was JUST as excited... he kept going on about all the "rally cars". Lol). This is what it is all about. All of our hard work throughout the year paid off and we were able to give those kids that had to stay in the hospital a brighter Christmastime and cheer them up a bit.

We also were able to present Clic Sargent (http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/Home) a check for 750 pounds, which was awesome. I'm hoping that next year we'll be able to raise a little more and donate it, as it's such a good cause. They really do take care of kids and families that are affected by Cancer and that really touches me. Having both of my parents go through Cancer was tough, but I can't imagine having my child go through it... and our baby isn't even born yet. The volunteers and workers there really are amazing people and I'm so thankful that we were able to help them to help others this year.

After the presentation of gifts/check at the hospital, we made our way over to the Mill of Mundurno to grab some food, and it was really nice to enjoy a meal with all of our Scoobie friends who mean so much to us. They really are a fun and caring bunch of people and we are so glad we've gotten to know them over the last two years!

I was quick to head home after lunch to nap... and ended up sleeping until 5! Whoops. I needed it though, I was so tired! So, now I'm preparing for Mom to come in 2 days!!! WOO HOO!!! I can't wait! I've given up on my cleaning list for the most part. I've been doing the laundry and dishes but that's about it. I have no energy for the other stuff and she's just going to have to see me for the slob I am! Lol... I'm sure she won't mind too much. I can't wait for Christmas to get here, it's my favorite holiday because everyone is so happy and cheerful around this time of year. PLUS it's been snowing like crazy here! We've easily got 6 inches of snow outside which has made it so beautiful and serene. I really hope it doesn't delay my Mom getting here, but it looks like it's done and the sun is out, so hopefully it won't affect anything. I hope some of it is still here when she gets here so she can see it though, it is so pretty.

Oh, I had a midwife appointment on Tuesday (yesterday) and everything is still looking good. I'm no longer measuring ahead (I was a week ahead for a long time), now I'm right at the size I should be. That's all fine and dandy, I guess maybe we won't be having the baby early. The baby has moved down quite a bit and its head is WAY down, which has been so fun for me and my hips. I'm glad the baby is in the right position though, and am thankful that I'm in the final stages. I can't wait to meet the baby and am excited to see who it is we are having! I'm really glad that it looks like I'll hold out until at least my Mom gets here, that makes me happy. PLUS, I'm considered full term on Sunday, so that is a big worry off my shoulders. I really didn't want the baby to come prematurely, so I'm glad it's sticking in there!

I was going to post pictures, but Nic took the camera to work yesterday morning, and has yet to bring it back home. When he does get home, I'll try to pop back on here and post some of the cruise, the baby belly, and the snow. :)

If I don't though, Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a fabulous day celebrating Jesus' Birthday!

Early Morning Craziness...

2009-12-19T11:41:00.002Z

So I couldn't sleep last night for some reason. I don't know if it was because the room was too warm (we have left the heater on ALL day since it is snowing and if we turn it off it instantly freezes everything in the house...) or if it was my unsatisfied craving for something chocolate or what... but I couldn't sleep. So what did I decide to do at 1:30 in the morning? Finish cleaning the bathroom. Lol. I had to laugh at myself as I sat there with my little broom and antibacterial cleaning agents sweeping and then scrubbing down the floor so late at night... while the whole time I can hear my husband snoring away in the bedroom. It's not that I didn't WANT to go to sleep, I just couldn't force myself to do it. Ah well, at least we have two clean bathrooms now and I can fully check that off my list. Now I'm almost back on target as my list is concerned but I've decided some changes were in order (of course). I decided that I don't need to be cleaning out the fireplace, that's a good job for Nic or someone else to do. I haven't done any of the floors yet (except the bathrooms) but I have a reason for that (or excuse... whatever you want to call it). The living room floor has been put on hold since I want to get underneath the furniture (a LOT of lint gets stuck under there) and since I can't do that by myself, I'm waiting on Nic to help. Since he's been busy at work (read: REALLY BUSY since his new simulator just came in) he hasn't been home really to do that and when he does get home he's exhausted and I haven't had the heart to ask him to do anything else. Anyway, I don't really have an excuse for the kitchen floor... I'm sure I could come up with something if I really wanted to. As for vacuuming... I have NO idea where my vacuum went off to! It might have mysteriously ended up in the garage, that'd be my best guess, but it's not in the house and it's been snowing here so I haven't marched my happy butt out there to look for it. Meh. Everything else on the list up until today's activities are done though :) Score.

On a side note... has anyone else noticed that there are only 29 days left until our baby is due!? WOO HOO!! I cannot wait! Well... I can wait another week or so, I'm ok with that. Then my Mom will be here (she gets here in 6 days!!!!) and the baby will be full term. So, one more week kiddo, then you can feel free to come at any time! I got excited yesterday and went and bought two little coming home outfits for the baby (one a cute little dress and one a little blue jumpsuit) to come home from the midwife center in :) I've pulled them out like a dozen times to look at them again, they are so stinking cute (and little!). I can't wait to see which one we'll use! I've also written another letter to the baby for its baby book. I think it is really starting to get squished in my tummy, it keeps moving from the left side to the right side today, like it cant decide which side is more comfortable. Each time he/she does it, my organs get pushed around a little bit which isn't overly pleasant, but that's ok.

Anyway- I'm off to figure out what is for lunch... I'm STARVING today. I actually woke up at 7 (mind you... after going to bed at 3:45) because I HAD to have a bowl of cereal. My stomach has been growling again for like the last hour or so which actually woke up the baby once... so I guess I should eat again.

The Gene Pool

2009-12-17T12:58:00.002Z

I've been trying to get motivated to finish my cleaning from yesterday (yeah I know... I'm already behind and haven't even had my list of instructions for more than 24 hours!) which led me to wonder about our baby.... which genes/traits it will inherit and which ones it will do without. See... my Mom and my sister both got the "clean gene" from my Grandmother. They keep their houses spotless (even Raime's house is always clean with three kids!) and actually enjoy cleaning. When Raime is stressed, she often pulls out the Kirby and goes to town, vacuuming her worries away. Mom has a habit of cleaning when she's stressed too... I guess it's a common thing. My Grandmother LOVES to clean. She's one of those women who will climb on a chair to clean the tops of the ceiling fans (or take it down completely to wash all the parts in warm water/cleaning solvent) on a weekly basis. She moves the furniture to vacuum underneath it. She's such a neat freak (in a good way) that when she had her carpet replaced recently, after having it for 35 years, the carpet guy actually said that was the first house he'd ever replaced the carpet for that the mat underneath was still clean. The only reason it needed replacing was to update the house... not because it was worn out or stained.

Anyway- I apparently have missed out on this "clean gene", unfortunately. I have also missed out on the green thumb (which again... my mom and sister both have). I did pick up my Mom's organizational skills, and list making abilities. I also am obsessed with balancing my checkbook (or at least looking at my online banking for all of our accounts) and when I am stressed I tend to make lists of where our money will be going for the next 6 months to a year (there's something about knowing how you are going to have to move money around to pay bills that makes me feel better... even when it's a challenge and you don't know exactly how you are going to pay for something, figuring out how much you are going to have to come up with and being prepared for it helps me de-stress). I got my love of media (movies/tv/video games) from my Dad. I also got his talkativeness and genuine interest in other people's lives/stories. I am also a bit of a packrat, I owe that one to dear old Dad too... It's easy to see that Nic got his ingenuity and knack for Engineering from his Dad and maternal Grandfather. I think he picked up his love of cars from his Uncle Paul, and his packrat side comes from his father too.

I'm really interested to see what traits our little bug will have. I wonder if he/she will stand with their hands on their hips a lot like I do (and my Dad did), or whether they'll unconsciously lick their lips when they are thinking really hard like Nic does. I wonder if they'll be a daredevil like their Dad or whether they'll have to think everything through like I do. I wonder if they'll be talkative or quiet (I'm kind of hoping for a mix there). I wonder if they'll be right or left brain dominant. I wonder if they'll be super smart and have the mind of an Engineer like Nic or whether they'll be more creative/emotional like me.

On top of all that... I wonder what baby bug is going to look like! Will he/she have Nic's pretty olive skin, or my pale complexion? Will they have hair when they are born- and if they do will it be really blonde like mine was or black like Nic's? Will they have his eye shape or mine? Will it be tall or inherit my short genes? Will it be a rolly polly baby like I was and have chubby cheeks or will it be thin like Nic was?

There are so many unknowns and the closer it gets to being time for us to meet our little one, the more excited/anxious I get! Today is the 17th of December and my due date is the 17th of January... only one more calendar month to go! Then the waiting will be over and we'll be able to meet our new family member that I love so much already!

Nic and I are so excited about it (as is most of our family...) and have conversations about it every day. It's pretty cute, whenever the baby REALLY moves around in there, Nic says that Bug is "trying to find a way out". Lol. Sometimes I think he's right, but I sure hope the baby figures out that it is not coming out through my ribcage or my bladder... that'd be nice.

I think the question about genes really boils down to one big one for us... Will it have the XX or XY gene?! I asked Nic if he still is glad that we didn't find out and I got a resounding NO! Lol. I still am enjoying the suspense and am looking forward to the moment Nic gets to tell me what our baby's sex is, but I think Nic is just tired of waiting. Ah well... we'll find out soon enough!

I really need to clean. The living room is ALMOST done, all I need to do is dust (I hate dusting) and pick up a few things that were brought back out last night. I'm crossing off cleaning out the fireplace though, I've decided that I don't need to do that and that it can wait for Mom. Lol. Then I need to start on the kitchen, although to be fair, I started on that a little yesterday (instead of dusting... I'm bad). Wish me luck... I sure hope the baby has some cleaning genes, we could use them in this house!

Procrastination...

2009-12-16T10:48:00.003Z

Yes, I know our baby is due in 33 days... and I know there is a chance that he or she could decide to grace us with their presence early. However, I do not have the nesting bug yet. My house is a disaster zone and I have no desire whatsoever to clean it. I would much rather take a nap or wrap Christmas presents (little ones... I couldn't have Nic and Mom not have ANYTHING to open on Christmas) or look up stuff about what the baby is doing in there. I would rather talk to people on the phone, watch tv, or mod podge the letters for the wall in the nursery. I would rather look at craft ideas for stuff Mom and I could make while she's here. Pretty much, I'd rather do anything else BUT clean right now.

Every now and then I'll get an urge to clean (like this morning at 3:30 after one of my MANY pee breaks in the night) but the timing is always wrong... it's either too early/late or right before lunch/dinner time, or right when we are about to go somewhere. How frustrating.

So, I've put it off and put it off and become the queen of procrastination. This REALLY needs to stop, seeing as how I have all of 9 days before my Momma gets here. 9 days. I am so very excited for her to get here, but I'm terrified that my house will look the same as it does now when she gets here! So, here is my plan. I'm going to make a list of what I would like to get done each day and hopefully, I'll stick with it. Wish me luck.

Today (Wednesday the 16th)- Clean the living room. This includes: picking up everything that doesn't belong in the living room and putting it away, sweeping and cleaning the hardwood floors, dusting the fireplace and tv unit, cleaning the large window (inside only, it's raining), clean out the fireplace. Also- do two loads of laundry and the dishes in the sink (there isn't enough for a load in the dishwasher...). Vacuum the carpeted areas (all bedrooms and hallways).

Tomorrow (Thursday the 17th)- Thoroughly clean the kitchen. This includes: sanitizing all the countertops, the table, and backsplash. Clean out the fridges (they need to be wiped down inside). Clean the windows and windowsills, including the front entry way. Sweep and mop the floor. Clear off the kitchen table and put all craft projects away (we don't eat in there, so it is more like my craft table than anything else... since Nic has claimed the dining table for his projects). Put everything on the countertops that doesn't need to be on the countertops away. Do a load of laundry. Keep the dishes done.

Friday, the 18th- Clean the bathrooms. This includes: Cleaning the toilets, washing down the shower (I just cleaned that not too long ago), cleaning the bathtub, washing the window in the large bathroom, cleaning off the mirror in the little one, sweeping and mopping the floors, reorganizing the basket in the little bathroom, putting all the clean towels away into the bathrooms they belong in (instead of putting them all in the one with the shower). Do a load of laundry. Keep the dishes done.

Saturday & Sunday- Keep stuff picked up, keep the dishes done, do a load of laundry. Wash the Subaru for the Santa Cruz on Sunday (in and out). Unload the Hilux (it still has stuff in it from our last trip in the back) and vacuum it out.

Monday, the 21st- Wash all sheets/blankets in the house again. Work on organizing Nic's table and clearing off at least half of it to eat on for when Mom gets here. Keep dishes done.

Tuesday, the 22nd- Work on Nic's table again (I have a feeling it will be a multi-day task). Once that is completed, start working on the study (organizing and putting away Nic's stuff and my paperwork). Make enough room for the air matresses for when Cris and Tony come. Clear off the desk. Reorganize the wardrobe and closet. Do a load of laundry, keep the dishes done.

Wednesday, the 23rd- Work on the study again. Do a load of laundry, keep the dishes done. Wash the couch covers.

Thursday, the 24th- Do a quick pick up of anything that is still out, sweep the floors, wipe down the countertops in the kitchen. Finish washing the couch covers. Dust the bedrooms, vacuum the floors again. Do a load of laundry, keep the dishes done.

Friday, the 25th- Enjoy the day with Nic and Mom! Woo hoo!

I think that's doable. Here's hoping I can stick to it!!!

I Love Holidays :)

2009-12-10T09:54:00.002Z

I'm having a good day today. I got up to have cereal with Nic this morning and haven't crashed yet... so maybe I'll have some energy today! I think part of it is that I'm super excited now about the holidays.

I was somewhat missing my Christmas spirit earlier this month (I think I wrote a post about it... I dunno) but now it's back! While we still aren't really decorating for Christmas or doing anything Christmas like in particular other than dinner, I'm still excited to get to spend the holidays with some of the people I love most!

My mom gets here Christmas day which has me really excited. I also found out today that Nic gets both the 25th and the 28th off for Christmas, so we'll get to spend 4 whole days with him! That completely made my day! THEN, what's even more awesome, is that he will go back to work for the 29th, 30th, and 31st... and then he has the 1st and 4th off! ANOTHER 4 day weekend! SCORE! Can you tell I'm excited?! Hooray for Holidays!

So, as usual... here's the TENTATIVE plans (and I really mean it this time since we don't know when baby bug will get here) for the next month or so...

December 10th- Nic goes to London :(
December 11th- Nic comes home from London :) and Jen has breastfeeding class.
December 12th- Aberdeen Scoobies Santa Cruise Shopping Trip & hopefully Nic gets a haircut.
December 18th- Nic's simulator is delivered, and he goes to his office Christmas Party
December 20th- Santa Cruise :)
December 22nd- Midwife appointment at 12:15
December 24th- Christmas Eve & Mom starts her journey over!!!
December 25th- Christmas! Cris' Birthday! Mom gets here! Nic has the day off! WOO HOO!
December 26th- Boxing Day!
December 28th- Nic has the day off and I'm considered FULL TERM! YAY!
December 29th- Appointments
December 31st- New Years Eve- go see the fire balls in Stonehaven :)
January 1st- New Years! Nic has the day off!
January 4th- Nic has the day off! Bob should get back to Aberdeen!
January 5th- Midwife appointment
January 7th- Nic has physiotherapy for his knees.
January 8th- Our 5th Wedding Anniversary! WOO HOO!
January 9th- Edith's Birthday!
January 16th- Cris and Tony get here!
January 17th- OUR BABY IS DUE!!! (Fugro's office party- we won't be going...)
January 20th- 3 year anniversary of my Dad's passing :(
January 26th- Nic's Birthday!!
January 30th- Cris and Tony go home

Whew... Somewhere in there we've got to get this house in shape! Maybe I spoke too soon about not needing a nap ;)

Nap Time!

2009-12-09T15:02:00.003Z

It doesn't matter what time of day it is... whether it is 7 am or 3:30 in the afternoon. It's always nap time. I have NO energy whatsoever. It's like my body has decided that it wants to relive the memories of the first trimester. Seeing as how I love naps, you think I'd be ok with this trip down memory lane... but I actually have the desire to get stuff done before the baby gets here. I want to have a clean, organized house and I would love to have everything decorated and nicely stored away. I would like to read another book, or maybe exercise more often. However, I don't even have to move a muscle in order to wear myself out. I actually wake up sleepy.

People keep telling me that I'll get an energy burst before the baby is born so that I can get some last minute stuff in... I sure hope so! There's a ton that has built up while I've been sleeping!

What is great is that my Momma is coming to help me! Woo hoo! I feel bad for leaving so much for her to do and for letting her see my house this way (I don't like to let anyone see my house even slightly messy... it really pushes me over the edge!) but I honestly don't have the energy to do anything about it. She's coming on Christmas Day (YAY!) and is staying until the middle of March! I'm so pleased with that, it is going to be so nice to have her around to help with the baby/house. Now I just have to convince this baby to stay in there until after we're ready.

We had our 34 week midwife appointment yesterday and everything still looks great. I'm still measuring a week ahead, but other than that, everything is on target. The heartbeat was good, the baby is still moving around well, and the baby is growing like a weed. He/she still is in the correct position (head down) and has moved down a little bit. This is fine, it just means the baby is getting ready to make an entrance sometime in the future and that it is able to headbutt my pelvic bone whenever I move into a position it doesn't like. I will say that I am so very glad that my baby is hanging in there, growing and getting stronger by the minute. I will also say that sometimes I think the baby does things JUST to cause me pain... it even follows up those activities by sticking its little booty out at me (usually followed by a punch in the bladder). I've apologized for not providing enough entertainment (what... you wanted cable in there?! sorry!), for running short on space, and for serving the baby something that isn't on its "favorites" menu. I really feel the punishment that I receive is a little extreme sometimes though.

Nic actually laughed at me today because I had asked him to hand me my sudoku book and when he did the pencil fell out. I tried to bend over to pick it up and when it was out of reach, I just gave up and started looking for something else to do. He thinks it is kind of funny that everything is so hard for me now... what is funny about that, I don't know. I honestly plan on renting him one of the pregnancy suits one day and making him wear it for a week or so. We'll see who is laughing then!

Wow, I sound mean. I don't mean to. I really do enjoy being pregnant... it is such an amazing process and I love the little kicks and hiccups. I love having the baby all to myself and watching it roll and move around. I'm just really looking forward to meeting the baby and getting my body back.

Dropping Babies

2009-11-24T13:54:00.004Z

I think maybe the baby has dropped in the past day or so... I can certainly breathe a lot easier and the baby seems a lot lower than it has been in the past few months or so. I'm not positive, as it could just be positioned differently (the baby has been head down for the last two months or so, but this morning I was feeling kicks on my side, so maybe it's just turned sideways?). I've never done this before, so who knows.

I'm so excited about the baby though and it's getting more and more difficult to contain myself about it. A few friends have had their babies recently (that were due about the same time as me) and I can't help but think that that's what my baby looks like inside me. Then it dawns on me... HOLY cow, there's a real baby in there. Not a pretend one that I've always dreamed of, a REAL one. A big real one. The baby is supposed to be 16.7 inches long and 3.75 pounds right about now (according to Babycenter). That's pretty big.

We went out with some of Nic's work buddies on Saturday for some pub golf (I didn't participate obviously) and everyone seemed to have a different opinion about the baby. I think more people thought it would be a boy than a girl, but we'll see. One of the guys said that he was really good at guessing when babies would be born and he thought I'd have it around Christmas. You know, I've always been fairly sure that I'd carry full term (not sure why...) but this whole having the baby early way of thinking has me a little concerned. What if I DO have the baby early? Two days after Christmas I'll be 37 weeks, which is considered to be full term. That's when the baby's lungs should be fully developed and it begins to really focus just on gaining weight etc. I would be ok with that I guess, although I'd prefer to have the baby stay the full 40 weeks, just for good measure. So, then I began to think about how soon that is... I'll be 37 weeks in just 4 1/2 more weeks! My baby's lungs will be ready in 4 1/2 weeks. How crazy is that?! This whole pregnancy has flown by. Sometimes it seemed like it would never be over, but looking back, holy cow, it's been a super fast 8 months. I only have 7 1/2 weeks until my due date! Wow!

I feel ready to have this baby. The only thing that has me unsettled is that my house isn't as clean as I'd like it to be. I do pick up, I do the laundry and the dishes, etc... but it just doesn't feel CLEAN like my Mom's house does. I know this has to do with my disliking of dusting (I'll admit, I don't do it as often as I should) or the fact that my floors are lint/dirt magnates. That, and it feels cluttered to me. We have a lot of stuff... and I keep looking around thinking about how in 6 or 7 months we're going to have our hands full trying to keep the baby out of everything! That leads me to my next thought... as much as I love wood flooring, I don't think it's the most baby friendly flooring in the world. It makes me miss our old house, simply because it had nice new squishy carpet.

To be honest, I miss the U.S. in general. I've been really homesick lately. I'm not sure if it's just because the option of flying home is now out of the question (I'm too far along according to the airlines) or if it's my huge desire to be closer to friends and family or what... but I do miss home. I know Nic does too. We talk about going home quite often. We ask each other what we miss the most and what we think we'll miss about living here when we do decide to go back. We have this sort of conversation probably once a week or so.

Nic is being so cute lately. He rubs my belly as he's going to sleep and has been asking loads of questions about how we are going to parent (ie: "How close do you think is too close to the TV?", "What age are you going to let our kid play Halo with us?", "Do you think we should ship over my old tricycle?", "Are you singing to the baby during the day? Make sure you diversify... I want it to know more than just Ani songs" lol...). I love it. The other day, he even offered to eat more veggies so that I wasn't the only one eating them at dinner time (for those of you who don't really know Nic that well...he only likes three vegetables really- Okra (fried), potatoes, and corn). He asks me on a daily basis whether or not I'm drinking enough water, and if I've taken my vitamins. It's rather cute and I love seeing this side of him. Oh, did I mention, he's already started in asking for parts for the mini robot that would match his? Yeah. I told him we could wait on that one! Lol.

Anyway, I'm off to take a cat nap before I do my afternoon clean up of the house!

Gestational Diabetes

2009-11-06T16:42:00.003Z

I thought I'd update you all on my recent trip to the maternity hospital for my second glucose screening.

I left the house (starving!) at 7:40 for my 8:35 appointment hoping that I had left myself enough time to get there (it's about a ten minute drive without traffic) and then started to worry a bit when I went all of a mile in half an hour. I did manage to get there on time, but only just. The ladies there were absolutely wonderful and the lady that took all my blood samples was a superstar. You can't even see any holes or anything so I don't look like a pregnant crackhead (like the other time I had my blood taken by the midwife in training... that was bad!). They offered to let me watch tv, which I refused because I had brought my new book with me. The whole test went rather well... they even let me have the lemon lime stuff instead of the horrible orange that everyone kept warning me about. It didn't exactly taste good by any means (think two packages of kool-aid with enough water to make half of one package) but it wasn't THAT bad. I will say I'm glad it wasn't the orange kind, but that's a personal preference, as I don't usually like orange flavored stuff. Anyway- the end of the test was the best part! They brought me decaf tea and two slices of toast! They said they didn't want me to get light headed or anything on my way home... how sweet is that?! I was very grateful, as by that time it was 11:30 and I was really really hungry.

They told me that they would call me if my scores were high again (meaning I had GD), otherwise I'd get a letter in the mail with my scores... so no news is good news.

Well, I got a phone call today... but I DON'T have Gestational Diabetes. They had forgotten about the Royal Mail strike/problems going on right now and didn't want me to worry about my scores so they thought they'd call as well as send my letter. My scores were absolutely perfect, exactly in the middle of the range they prefer. I'm so happy! Seeing the number on my phone scared me quite a bit, I assumed she'd be telling me I did have it after all and it wasn't just the orange juice... so I was pleasantly surprised when she said she had good news!

Hooray!

Busy Body

2009-11-04T15:03:00.003Z

Well... Life has officially started to become busier here in the Alvarado household. It's amazing how much stuff we are trying to pack in to such a short amount of time. Somehow, I think we'll make it work and get everything done. I've been proud of myself this week, I've managed to keep afloat regardless of all the stuff that's been happening. We've had quite a bit of emotional turmoil this past couple of weeks (not Nic and I, just other stuff that I don't think is blog material) and somehow we've managed to keep the house picked up, get the septic tank emptied, go to the midwife, and spend some quality time together. I'm proud of the teamwork that my hubby and I have going on... I'm proud of us in general. I have to take a second and be a sappy pregnant woman- I adore my husband. Even though he's super messy and has the attention span of a 5 year old most of the time, he makes me incredibly happy. He knows just the right things to say most of the time and can make me laugh when I feel like my world is falling apart. He is my absolute favorite person and I am so thankful to share every day with him. I swoon. Ok, enough of that.

My midwife appointment went rather well last week. I am measuring a week ahead (I was measuring 29 weeks at 28) but that's normal, or so I'm told. Maureen (my midwife) said that anything within a two week period is normal, as babies have growth spurts and most of the time it will even out. Even if the baby is a week ahead, that's perfectly fine, as I'd rather be ahead of the game as far as development is concerned than behind. The heartbeat sounded good as well. However... my blood results came back and my sugar was a little high (normal is a 7, mine was a 7.8- Not THAT bad...). Anything above normal requires extra testing, which means I'm heading to the hospital tomorrow for a three hour glucose test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. I'm pretty sure I don't and that the spike in my blood sugars from last week was due to the fact that I had forgotten to pee in my little cup before the appointment (I had already gone twice that morning!) so I panicked and downed 16 oz of orange juice before I left for the appointment hoping that it would help me find the urge to go (nope... I did REALLY need to go afterwards though lol). Orange juice has a lot of sugar in it and I know my body didn't have time to break down the sugars before she drew my blood. At least that's what I'm hoping.

I'm not really looking forward to the test though... it requires me to spend 3 hours in the hospital without food. In fact, I have to fast from midnight tonight and won't get anything to eat until nearly noon tomorrow... that doesn't bode well for me since the longest I could hold out today without feeling famished was 9:30 this morning. I've bought myself a Jodi Piccoult book to pass the time quickly hopefully, and will be bringing my ipod and sudoku book as well. I'm hungry just thinking about the test though. Oh, did I mention- I also have to drink this super sugar drink while I'm there? I've heard horror stories about that drink and was happy thinking that I was going to get to avoid it last week. Oh well. At least I don't have a phobia or disliking of needles necessarily, so the 4 vials of blood they'll draw won't be a problem. Nic isn't going with me this time... I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to sit for 3 hours if I didn't have to and his slight phobia of needles would make the whole process really uncomfy for him I'm sure. He stands on the opposite side of the room when I get my blood drawn for the midwife appointments (and she only takes one or two!).

Anyways... we start going to our labor classes next week. I'm kind of excited about them but at the same time, I wish we could get them all over with at once instead of in installments... it seems like a waste of time sort of to have them spread out like that.

Here's our tentative schedule for the upcoming classes/events:

~Nov 7th- My sister's birthday! (Happy Birthday Raime!)
~Nov 10th- Coping with Labor class
~Nov 14th- Nic's sister's birthday! (Happy Birthday Karin!) and Laura's Virgin Vie ( like Mary Kay) party
~Nov 17th- Midwife Appointment and then Coping with Labor (part 2) class
~Nov 20th- Aberdeen Scoobies Quiz Night (my event!)
~Nov 21st- Fugro Pub Golf Night
~Nov 29th- My birthday!
~Dec 1st- Preparing for Labor class
~Dec 8th- Midwife Appointment
~Dec 11th- Breastfeeding class
~Dec 17th- Coping Strategies for Labor
~Dec 22nd- Midwife Appointment
~Dec 25th- Christmas! Nic's mom's birthday! (Happy birthday Cris!)
~Jan 1st- New Years!
~Jan 5th- Midwife Appointment
~Jan 8th- Our 5th Wedding Anniversary (I love you honey!)
~Jan 17th- Our Baby is DUE!!!
~Jan 26th- Nic's birthday! (Happy birthday honey!)

Between now and Nic's birthday, there is a lot going on... but there is also a lot of little things to do to get ready for the baby! I still need to get my Mom's flights sorted out, get a few last minute things for the baby (like a changing table that fits on top of the crib for example), finish planning the rest of the quiz night, do some stuff for Deeptrek, get Nic's diving certification sorted, as well as some other odds and ends. It's going to be a busy time but I'm so very excited for the outcome!

I can't wait to hold our baby!

Oh Christmas Tree...

2009-10-20T15:56:00.002+01:00

Why do I have a Christmas carol stuck in my head? Why do I keep dreaming about Christmas time and decorations? Why am I panicking about the possible Royal Mail strike (and therefore the possible delay of my Christmas cards arrival to their final destinations)? What is my obsession with Christmas this year?!

Is it perhaps that we aren't really planning on celebrating as usual this year? Who knows. All I know is that on Christmas day, I will be nearly 37 weeks pregnant and probably in no mood to decorate anything unless it is my baby's nursery. Nic and I had decided that we would forgo the hubbub this year to save money, time and effort since it will be just he and I here anyway. That seems sensible. However... I still have a little guilt that we won't even have a tree or anything up. I have a little Scottish Santa that resides on my fireplace (yes... year round. He's cute.) but that will be about it as far as decorations go. I am quite aware that it won't really feel like Christmas. Especially without all the usual yummy Christmas foods. I'm not sure what we'll have that day, but I doubt it will be the feast that everyone thinks of. Will I even want to eat a big meal then? I barely have room for food now, I can't imagine how squished my stomach will be in 9 more weeks (Holy cow! Is it really that soon?!).

I'm thinking, maybe Nick and I should do something that will focus on us this year, since this is our last Christmas as just us. I just don't know what that may entail. On top of that... I need to think of something for our 5th Wedding Anniversary (the 8th of January). I will be 38 1/2 weeks then... oh how fun. I don't see us doing anything wild and crazy, that's for sure. The traditional gift for the 5th anniversary is wood. I wonder if the crib counts. LOL.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to get in the festive spirit when you are really pregnant? I'm all out of ideas.

What's in a Name?

2009-10-16T13:26:00.002+01:00

I'm a planner. I've always been a planner. I'm pretty sure that I'll always be a planner. Because of this, Nic and I picked out names for our kids (one boy name and one girl name) YEARS ago. I mean, we had them picked out when we were engaged to be married. Some people think this is a little odd, but it's always been a little comforting for me. We've been happy with our choices, and still are, and didn't really question the fact that we would name our child one of our pre-chosen names.

Until now.

The only name that is up for debate is the name we had picked out for a girl. What is strange I guess is that neither of us are unhappy with the original choice. In fact, if our baby is a girl and the next child we have is also a girl, we are planning on using both of the names we have selected. The dilemma I guess, is which name to use first. We've kind of decided to wait until the delivery day, and IF it is a girl, see which name seems to suit her more.

I'm still getting used to the idea of not fully having everything planned out... as there are a lot of things still unknown in the birth of our child. I have a birth plan (of course...) to have the baby naturally and I am really hoping for a water birth. However, there is only one pool available and if some other lucky Momma is in it, it's not an option for me. So, the question is... what happens then? I still plan on having the baby naturally but I do have to admit, it does make me a little anxious since the water is supposed to be my pain reliever of sorts. I'm sure it'll be fine either way, billions of women have done it before me and will do it after me.

Then there's the plan of when the grandparents will get here... Cris and Tony are thinking about coming from the 20th to the 30th and I think Mom is going to be here from the 10th to the 31st. My only concern I guess is that what if the baby is earlier than that? While it would be nice to have some alone time with just our little family, I really want my Momma to be here to help out, I know we'll probably need it!

Today I was looking through one of the pregnancy boards that I read and some of the ladies were posting pictures of what outfits they had picked out for their babies to wear home from the hospital. I have no clue what our baby will be wearing yet. It's not because I don't want to pick something out, or haven't thought about it... it's simply that I don't know which color the outfit should be. I'm happy about the surprise, don't get me wrong... I really think that will help me out in the end (especially if someone is in my pool!) and am really looking forward to hearing my husband announce what the sex of the baby is. However, the planner inside me is screaming bloody murder because I can't plan what outfit our child will be wearing home. YES, the baby could wear something that it has in its closet (the baby already has a healthy selection of clothes), but it won't be sex specific and I'm not sure if that's ok (the planner inside me says no).

Another thing is the art in the baby's room. I plan on putting our baby's name on the wall above the crib (or at least their initials), but I can't do that until afterwards. We don't even know which name we are using, how would we know what letters to put up?! Can you tell I'm a little anxious for the arrival of our little one? I just can't wait to see who is in there, and what they look like, and be able to share that with the ones I love. I'm so excited about this child, and I am just becoming a little impatient.

On the opposite side of the table... I would like my baby to stay inside for as long as it needs to. I want to ensure that everything possible is done to make sure we have a happy healthy little one and that it is "fully cooked". I'm pleased to say that our baby is viable now, and that if I were to go into labor it would most likely survive (it's something like 90% viability at 27 weeks), but I wouldn't want my baby to have to struggle to breathe or have to stay in the NICU for any period of time. I'm really hoping to walk out of the hospital the same day with my baby. Actually, if all goes as planned (meaning, I have the baby naturally, without drugs and any problems) we'll hopefully leave the hospital a mere 3-4 hours afterward. I would LOVE that! I think we'll be much more comfortable at home and that I'd be able to rest easier that way.

Ok. I'm off to take a quick nap before I head off to the grocery store. We are going to dinner tonight with Bob and Roger, as well as a couple VP's of a company that we are hoping to get some equipment from. Tomorrow we are all heading to the west coast of Scotland to do a little survey work and then we'll hopefully be back tomorrow night... if not, Sunday.

Cribs, Bedding and Bellies... Oh my!

2009-10-12T23:01:00.005+01:00

Here's a picture of our baby's crib for your viewing pleasure. I love it and can't wait to see our little one in it! I love the height, simply because you don't need to drop the side down to get the baby in/out easily which definitely helps when they are sound asleep. This picture was taken before we moved some furniture around, so ignore the chairs and such around it :)

And here is a picture of the bedding set that we are getting... it's being shipped to my Mom's house, so it'll be a little while (like right before the baby comes) before it gets here. It comes with the three wall hangings, the curtains, the mobile, blanket, crib sheets, diaper holder and dust ruffle. I am going to add some teal colored accessories to the room (including the brown and teal blanket that my Momma is crocheting!). So exciting!
Wow, I'm getting big! This is me at 26 weeks... I have no idea how big I'm going to get in the next 14 weeks, but if my growth so far is any indication I'm guessing HUGE! I might just get to the point where I'm wider than I am tall...

I ordered my glider and car seat today and am super excited to get those... hopefully they'll come this week sometime! I can't wait! Once they get here, I'll take a picture of the glider/stool and the stroller/car seat. I am really starting to feel prepared and can't wait for the baby to get here (at the full 40 weeks of course).

Oh- also, I've added a list of the blogs I read on a regular basis (except the ones that are set to private and the ones that I only check occasionally). Check them out if you'd like and/or are bored. They keep me entertained to say the least.

Num Num Num!

2009-10-01T14:09:00.002+01:00

I'm an eating machine lately. I want to eat EVERYTHING (except cow of course... I haven't quite lost my disliking for red meat). I especially want to eat apples, cheese and crackers. Together. MMM.... so good. To be honest, I just finished off a plate of that exact thing. Two apples, 10 cheese slices, and 10 crackers later I'm one happy camper.

This, however, has lead me to gain a little weight... so now my weight gain for the pregnancy is up to 12 pounds so far (I'm at week 24)... so while I'm not doing too bad I do need to curb it a bit I think. This concern only comes from the fact that I only had gained a whopping 3 pounds or so up until a month ago. Yes. I have gained 9-10 pounds in the last month. No, I don't plan to continue at that rate. At least I hope not. The baby, however, would like me to gain 10 pounds a week I think. Baby bug is a hungry hungry hippo that wants me to eat ALL THE TIME... but in semi-small quantities. If I eat too much I do get massive objections from my little karate star in there. Usually this means I'm being kicked repetitively in the bladder, or punched in the stomach... whichever it prefers that day.

I'm more and more entertained by this little person growing inside me... I think he/she has got quite the sense of humor already and I'm starting to love its little personality. The baby will play games with me now, as in- when I poke my belly it will kick back. It isn't afraid to show when it is displeased with something (like the fact that I'm trying to bend over and inadvertently squishing it or when the midwife is poking it with the fetal doppler to find its heartbeat) by kicking the crap out of whatever is pushing on it. The baby also likes to play a game where whenever someone else tries to feel it move (like Daddy for example), it will immediately stop moving until they move their hand away. This game that the baby plays is a little frustrating, but at the same time kind of funny. It's like the baby is listening in to our conversations and can hear when I say "ooh, I think you'll be able to feel it... put your hand here". It's like a game of freeze tag. The other day I was giving it love pats (a tradition in my family... we're rockers and patters) and every time I'd stop the baby would kick like crazy until I started again... then would be still until I stopped again. It was too cute.

I can't wait to meet our little baby and really get to know him or her. I'm so excited!

Windblown and Sunburnt...

2009-09-10T10:04:00.005+01:00

We're in Wales again finally... we got here last Friday after spending Thursday night in Liverpool at Jay's Mom's house. We got unpacked and settled in somewhat and were looking forward to getting starting on getting some serious work done. Then Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday it was a weather nightmare. The rain was heavy then light, but always around and the wind was at hurricane force. It was to the point where you had to walk at a 15 degree angle to get anywhere you wanted to go or else risk being picked up or blown over by the wind. Ridiculous. Thankfully the weather lightened up and was STUNNING yesterday... it was perfect. The sun was shining the whole day and the wind was just a breeze now and then. Some of the guys actually got to go out yesterday and get some diving time in (Bob, Jay and Warwick) and somehow Bob managed to use up 4 tanks! Nic and I spent the day working on one of the other RIBs but got so much done it's not even funny. We installed the other camera/light, made a removable table for the comms box, Nic re-wired the umbilical and I re-wrapped it, we got storage for the unorganized gear room, and tied up a few more odds and ends. I ended up a bit red, I think from the sun yesterday but it could be a bit from the wind the past few days as well.... who knows. We were proud of our productivity considering the day before we had worked all day and hadn't gone to bed until 1:30. Poor Nic was exhausted since he has to get up at 4:30 every morning to go with Bob to check the swells on the site to see if it is ok to dive that day. We've been going non-stop since we got here, despite the weather. Actually, I think we are actually busier when we have bad weather since we are trying to get everything done and then make up for lost time when we actually can get in the water.

I'm a little bummed that I'm not going on the boat this trip. I'm used to being out there with the guys and it's really strange to not be able to suit up and get out there. The water is just too rough though and I don't think it's worth the risk to the baby to be out there. Hey... next trip is either the Bahamas or the Keys in our new yacht though, so I'm pleased enough knowing that is one trip I won't have to miss :) Things are happening and I'm so excited about them. I can't post anything here, because nothing is finalized and we still need to secure some stuff first... but I can't wait!

The baby has been kicking up a storm lately (more so than usual) and I love it! I look at the new ultrasound pictures every night and can't help but fall more and more in love with our sweet baby. I can't wait to see what the next 18 1/2 weeks brings and meet the baby!

OH! I just realized I haven't written about the ultrasound yet! Sorry! We went to the ultrasound on Thursday morning, right before we left for the trip. We got to spend about half an hour watching the baby yawn, stretch, and do somersaults. It was really clear and we could see all the little details (except the sex which we were glad of!) like the eyes (you'll see in the picture...), all ten fingers and toes, the organs, it's skull and spine, and just how freaking cute its little profile is. Everything looks great and is right on target which was fantastic news. It's so comforting to see that! We got a really good look at the baby's heart, which was pumping so rhythmically and efficiently... we even got to see the way the blood flowed through it (it would color incoming blood blue and outgoing blood red... so we got to see how its heart actually was working- AMAZING!). It is absolutely indescribable the feeling that you get watching your baby like that.

Anyway... Here's the pictures from the ultrasound so that you can see for yourself.
This one shows the baby as it does a somersault. You can see the spine really well and the head on the right. You can also see a leg on the left.

Here's our sweet baby. I love this one, it is a great view of the baby's profile. So adorable!

This is actually both of the baby's feet. You can see the heel of one on the left and then the sole of the other one on the right. The baby had its legs crossed most of the time... just relaxing and trying to take a nap.

Here is a blurry picture of the baby's profile. It was laying perfectly still until the tech tried to take this picture and then it moved a bit, so it's a little smeared. You can see an ear and part of it's face (the smudge makes it look like a monkey!). You can also see the little arm and hand in this one, it's rubbing it's neck or something...

Here's the last one... but one of my favorites. The baby is looking straight at the camera and you can see it's eyes and skull shape, as well as both of the hands and it's belly. So amazing. This is right before the baby let out a HUGE yawn and tried to push against the walls to get some more room. I'm SO in love!

Meh...

2009-08-31T14:19:00.004+01:00

I have a lot to do this week but am seriously lacking the motivation to do any of it.

Here's my to do list so far:

1. Clean the house! - We are going to be in Wales for a while and would hate for the house to be dirty when we get back... that and the landlord has a habit of doing inspections when we are on holiday. I need to do a quick clean of the kitchen (I did most of it this weekend), thoroughly clean the living room/dining room, pick up the study, vacuum the carpets all over, put the clean clothes away in our bedroom, and clean the bathrooms (I did the toilets this weekend, but the rest still need done). Whew.

2. Mow the yard. This would be easier if it wasn't raining this week. I've been ready to do this a few times and then couldn't because it was too wet.

3. Pack for the trip- I need to get Nic and I packed for however long we'll be there. We need both cold and warm clothes, swimming gear (which I have NONE for me that fits now), our dry suits, all of the Deeptrek gear that we have at the house, and all my preggo stuff (like prenatals, pillows, blanket making stuff, etc).

4. Finish up doing the laundry- This won't be hard... I have one load to go and then I'm caught up completely, including the sheets and blankets in the house.

5. Get insurance for the cars and the hilux... this is proving to be really difficult actually for some reason. I've been working on this all week and have got nowhere. It's really frustrating.

6. Finish fixing the Hilux and RIB- The parts for the RIB still haven't come in yet, so that we are just waiting on... but it needs to be done before Thursday. The Hilux is currently in the shop getting repaired, but we'll see if it gets done in time.

7. Go to dinner/movie with Nic, Bob, Jacqui, Mike, Jenny, Stavros and Fiona- this doesn't really need any preparation, it just takes one night of time (Tuesday).

I'm sure there is other stuff I'm forgetting, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Let's see... it's 2:30 on Monday and we leave (hopefully) at like lunchtime on Thursday (after the ultrasound!). So I have a little less than 3 days to get it all done.

Here's hoping I find the motivation needed to get my booty in gear.

I figured I'd throw in a picture as well for those of you who aren't on Facebook so you can see the bump (although Papa thinks I'm past the "bump" phase and onto the "mound" since I'm big... lol).

The Halfway Point

2009-08-30T10:36:00.002+01:00

Yay! I'm halfway there... I'm 20 weeks pregnant today and I'm so happy.

I had this whole blog planned out last night while I was up rocking myself trying to get my back to stop hurting, but I've forgotten most of what I was going to say. Chalk up another one to pregnancy brain. I was laughing at myself the other day because I had gone to visit people at work and couldn't for the life of me remember what I did with my phone. I was going to call Nic to tell him I was on my way over there (I drove the car to the park and ride, then rode the bus in) and knew that I had the phone in my hand right before I left the house. I figured I had left it in the car and didn't worry about it too much. Then, after my visit and lunch I headed back home so that I could go to the grocery store... and found out that my phone was not in the car. So I drove home and tried to retrace my steps. I found my phone (yes... my mobile) on the phone charger for the house phone. The house phone was right beside it... waiting patiently for it's turn. Why I put it there, I don't know. This isn't the first stupid thing I've done (I've put my keys in the fridge, washed NUMEROUS loads of laundry without remembering to put the soap in, tried to cook things without turning the oven on, called people then forgetting why I called... etc). Hopefully my mind will come back eventually.

I was just reminded of one of the things I was going to talk about... the lovely back pain associated with pregnancy. Oh my gosh. I've hurt my back before, back in high school. I had to go get massages/see a chiropractor/got horrible migraines/had a physical therapist that worked with me etc... and all I can say is that pain was nothing compared to this. It's almost as if my bones and muscles have decided they don't want to be friends anymore and now refuse to work together. For the last week and a half now, I've been averaging all of 2 hours of sleep per night. Yes... TWO. It's annoying to no end. What's crazy is that I'm less upset about the lack of sleep as I am about the freaking annoying backache that just won't quit. It doesn't matter what I'm doing... I can be sitting, standing, stretching, laying down... it doesn't matter. It's there. Sometimes I can ignore it and it's ok. Then other times it's so bad that I'm nauseous and want to cry. Nick has been laughing at me a little bit because when it starts to hurt I begin to rock myself from side to side or in a circular motion because sometimes that keeps it at the annoying stage. Probably 85% of my day is spent this way... rocking. I don't even realize that I'm doing it anymore and will look over at him and he'll be doing it too so I notice. I talked to my mom about it... apparently she had the same problem because as soon as I said my back was hurting she instantly started in with the "oh, honey... I'm so sorry. I know what you mean" talk. She recommended getting one of the pregnancy back support things so I've ordered it and am not so patiently waiting its delivery. I'm praying it will get here before we leave for Wales on Thursday.

Our 20 week ultrasound is on Thursday and I'm so excited! I can't wait to see the baby again... it's something that I'm really looking forward to. Since we've decided not to find out the sex, this will be our last ultrasound so I'm hoping the lady is a little slower this time and we get a really good look. I'm also hoping that our baby measures up ok and that everything is fine in there. The doppler that we bought really has helped me to relax quite a bit because I can check at home (even though I don't really need to anymore since the baby kicks to let me know that it's alive in there). I just can't wait to see it's little face again and watch it moving around in there. I thought I might second guess myself about finding out the sex but I'm not at all. I really am excited about waiting now.

I don't remember what else I was going to write about... but if I remember I'll come back and post it.

U.S. Healthcare Reform

2009-08-26T12:47:00.005+01:00

Normally I stick to writing about things that are happening in my day to day life and leave politics and religion and everything else out of my blog. However... I'm SO irritated with my home country and their refusal to change (when only months ago they were shouting for it!) that I'm going to rant a little bit.

I've seen numerous posts on facebook and news channel websites, watched videos from CNN and political sites, and listened to people explain why government run healthcare will be the downfall of the U.S. and how that makes Obama a Socialist. Blah Blah Blah. Is anyone actually listening to what they are saying? Are Americans doing research on the statistics for the uninsured/high risk individuals that are still (gasp!) American... and therefore just as deserving of proper medical attention as anyone else that can actually afford the high cost of health care in the U.S.?! If you, for even one second, are serious in your allegations that the change will have a negative affect on the U.S., I DARE you to go and sit in an Emergency Room for an hour. Just go sit in there and look around. You'll see families that are worried sick, not just because someone they love is injured, but because they know the bills for the visit will eat a large amount of their annual salary and they probably aren't able to afford the necessary visit. Take for example when Nick was sick a few years ago. It was a Friday night and our doctor's office wasn't going to be open until Tuesday because the Monday was a public holiday. We did not have insurance (we were both full time students and all our income from our jobs went toward our bills and my tuition). His fever was so high that he was beginning to get emotional (which is VERY rare for him) and was talking crazy talk. He was losing it. So we tried treating him at home with over the counter meds and cold baths to get his fever down. That didn't work. So we hesitantly went to the ER. Two hours later, he was feeling better and his fever was under control... and our pockets were SEVERELY drained. I'm talking $4,237 drained. Did we have that kind of money? Hell no.

I did a lot of volunteer work for the then Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (now Susan G. Komen for the Cure) when I lived in the States. I have seen with my own eyes women who cannot afford health insurance and couldn't afford to go to the ER or a clinic but had Breast Cancer in the late stages. I have seen a woman with tumors so bad that her breasts looked like they were actually falling off. It's the most graphic thing I've ever seen and it kills me to know that no one was willing to do anything about it. It kills me to know that if the U.S. had a system like the one here, in Scotland, she would have been seen and treated without hesitation. Or what about the kids that don't get taken to the doctor as often as they should because their parents don't make enough to pay for insurance for them? I don't want to hear about the CHIPs program or the other little programs that the US is currently offering to help sort this problem out. They are lame attempts to cover up a system that is failing miserably.

I then think about my Mom and Dad... both had cancer. My mom has insurance... always has. They pay a ton for their insurance each year and their premiums on top of that. When she was undergoing treatment for her breast cancer, she reached a "cap" for what her insurance would cover. What?! Isn't that what you pay for insurance for? So that when you need it... it will pay for your treatments? The rest of her treatments and medications had to be paid out of pocket. She's not awake yet or I would call her and confirm the ungodly amount that she had to pay (and I believe is still paying 5 years later...) out of pocket. Dad was the same... but he didn't live through his treatments and so the life insurance that he had went to paying off the hospital bills- not to his kids or widow. It's a good thing he had life insurance though, or I'd be the one paying still. Talk about kicking someone when they are down. If you are sick, they charge you exorbitant amounts of money for treatments that you cannot live without.

Ok... so let's talk about this "Crazy" or "Socialist" healthcare system that seems so wrong to so many people who simply don't get it. I've experienced both systems... and I have to say that I definitely prefer the National Healthcare System that they have here in Scotland to the private system that we have at home. I can tell you honestly, that 7.5% of my income here went to National Insurance. Nick, who is in a much higher tax bracket than I am pays 9.5%. That's it. I don't have to pay anything for private insurance (but can if I would like to...), I don't have to pay any premiums, when I go to the doctor or my midwife I walk straight out without paying a penny afterwards. My prescriptions are ALL only 5 pounds. Actually... now that I am pregnant they are free (and will be for all of this year and next year). Regardless of what it is that I take, it's 5 pounds. I told this to my Grandmother and she nearly had a heart attack. She pays HUNDREDS on top of what medicare pays for her monthly prescriptions. There have been months for her where it determines what they have for dinner... because it's either pay for their pills that day or have a steak. My grandparents have worked HARD all their lives, and this is how we repay them? My grandfather served his country in war bravely... and this is how we repay him? By letting him struggle to pay for his medications? It's ridiculous and it pains me to no end to see that. I am fine with paying a percentage of my income so that everyone here can see the doctor and not worry about whether or not they can afford it. I think it's my duty to take care of those around me... that may be because I'm Christian, but I would like to think that it's because I'm a decent human being that deserves the same treatment as everyone else (whether they are rich/poor/old/young or whatever!). Who are we to deny people the right to medical attention because they cannot afford it?! Come on people... it's time to get over ourselves and realize that it won't be long until no one can afford or even qualify for insurance anymore. Once you can't afford to go to the doctor, you'll see how important health care is and what you are willing to pay to make sure everyone gets an equal shot at it.

I read a lot of blogs and news sites (I don't like to watch the news... I'd rather read it) and I think what got me going today was one of the blogs I read (Jon's Blog) was responded to by the White House. I think it's great that the government is finally listening to their constituents and are actually providing information for the public- even if it's not in their favor. There are two links that are provided by the white house in that post that are pretty interesting. Please also read this: Ebert Ropert Blog ESPECIALLY if you are a conservative (I'm kind of in the middle to be honest...).

I am thankful that we live here right now. One, because it's a beautiful country and I'm happy here. Two, because I probably couldn't afford to stay at home during my pregnancy at home. Three, because we probably STILL wouldn't have insurance because of how much it costs at home and would be severely out of pocket for this baby. The medical system here has relieved a TON of stress from me personally and I am VERY happy with the treatment I've received here. I've always received doctors appointments the same day I call (with the exception of Nick's knee... which is a specialist). I can ask anything I need to and they don't reprimand me and say that I need a different appointment for that since it has nothing to do with what I came in for. The hospital/midwife center where I will give birth has many options (like a birth pool) that I wouldn't get at home unless I went to a specific hospital. I can't say enough good things about the system here...

I know it isn't perfect. The dental system here needs a TON of work, as does the specialist care. However, for the general needs of the public it's nice to know that it's available to everyone.

I'm off my soapbox because I have stuff to do... but I'm still riled up about it and I'm sure I'll talk about it again.

150 days to go... 150 days.

2009-08-20T15:04:00.002+01:00

Today I was looking at my google calendar and noticed that today there are roughly 150 days until the baby is due (I say roughly, because of course it's give or take two weeks as only God knows when I'll have our baby). This excited me to no end! YAY baby! I'm so excited and happy and can't wait to meet our new little family member!

Today, being today, also means that there is only two more weeks until the ultrasound! I can't wait to see our baby on the monitor again! It's such an amazing thing to see him or her swimming around in there! This time we'll get to see the baby for longer too, since they have to take all the measurements and do all their checks. We will not find out the sex this time. We're pretty sure we aren't going to find out the sex until the baby is born. How exciting!

I've started to work on a baby blanket. I'm crocheting off and on all day, depending on how achy my fingers get. Somehow my baby blanket looks nothing like the blankets my mom crochets. I don't get that... but oh well. I think it still looks alright and I'm getting there. I tried to pick a gender neutral color that I thought was pretty (it's a dark teal color) but Nick thinks it looks really "boyish". Whoops. I was going to get two colors and do every other row each color, but I don't know how to do that. All I can do is make flat things in straight lines. I'm sorry baby, I'm not the best at making blankets. Don't worry though, Mamo (my mom) is making a blanket for you too and I won't hold it against you if you like her's better.

Oh... we went to the movies last night and I got starbursts again (this is the second time I've done that instead of getting my usual Malteasers.... I know.. crazy!) and was greeted by the same response from the baby this time. LOADS of kicks. :) Either it's way too much sugar for the little person, or they really like starbursts. Nick thinks it's all in my head so I think I may get some and let him listen with the fetal monitor until he can feel them himself. It's too funny. Seriously, like 5 minutes after I eat one... it's like the baby is doing aerobics in there! Love it!

It's two weeks until we leave for Wales again (we're supposed to leave right after the ultrasound)... this time for nearly three weeks! It should be exciting and we're looking forward to it. It'll be good to see everyone again and to finish up some projects with Deeptrek. It's also about 6 weeks (well... 6 weeks 2 days) until Cris comes to visit. Fun stuff coming up!

OH! I almost forgot. Lord help me.... I finally caved in and decided to get a couple new bras because it was getting to the point where it was painful. So I've moved up from my lovely 36 C's to the ridiculous 40 D's. Yeah... no wonder my ribs were killing me that one week (if I didn't write about it, I've complained to a couple of people... it hurt to breathe or move really because it felt like my ribcage was breaking and poking my lungs) ... they were expanding 4 inches. Nick seems to think it's great, while I on the other hand am a little concerned. Yeah, big boobs are cool and pretty to look at, but oh my gosh are they heavy! Everyone keeps telling me... "oh you just wait until your milk comes in" and I'm not sure I want to! How big are they going to get?!

Belly Post (18 weeks)

2009-08-17T19:47:00.002+01:00

I thought I'd put up a picture of me when I'm not in my pj's. I was getting ready for bed though, and since I had just bought that dress that day it hasn't been ironed yet... so excuse the wrinkles! Someday I'll take a decent picture! I just usually forget until the night time and so I'm scrambling to get it done before I go to bed.

Parenthood

2009-08-15T23:24:00.002+01:00

Every now and then it hits me... I'm going to be a Mom. Nick is going to be a Dad. Wow.

I really get to thinking about what it's going to be like to look into the eyes of our child and see bits of ourselves inside. It's a really huge feeling. I can't describe it any other way. Huge. It's one I've always looked forward to and one I still am so excited for, but at the same time, I feel like I'm missing something. I can't wait to share all these big occasions with my parents (and Nick's too) but then I get all teary eyed because I'm not going to be able to share them with my Dad the way I really wanted to. He won't get the chance to meet our little one in the way that I had hoped. I won't get to see him hold him or her and be the one to tell him that he's a Grandpa for the first time. That utterly breaks my heart. I think it's honestly the thing in my life that hurts me the most.

I'm not sure how to deal with it because there isn't anything I can change about the situation. He's gone. I'm having a really hard time coping with that.

My child will be lucky in that he or she has plenty of people that are there to love him (6 great grandparents, 5 grandparents, 2 parents, 3 Aunts, 4 Uncles, 6 cousins so far... and loads of 2nd cousins and great aunts and uncles), but that one missing grandparent means a lot to me. I am so sad that they aren't going to see what a great story teller he was or hear his infectious laugh. I'm so heartbroken that they won't get to experience the love that he gave or how great it felt in one of his hugs.

I've been trying to avoid this whole conversation with myself because it's so difficult for me to deal with. I think that's why I've just now got around to calling Kristy to tell her that we are having a baby. I wasn't able to get a hold of her on the phone so I left her a message on her answering machine. How cheesy is that?! I felt like I cheated or something, that isn't how I would have told Dad. I feel horrible for that. I wish I had a better relationship with her but I feel like I can't because it's too damn hard. Talking to her brings back so many memories of my father, and it's hard to shut the flood gates once they are opened. Ryan is getting older now though and I know that I need to be there for him as his big sister. I have so much that I want to share with him, so much to tell him about Dad so he doesn't forget. He was only 3 when Dad passed away, he is bound to have limited resources when it comes to memories of him. I don't want him to forget, just like I don't want my children to not know who he was. Ya know, when I was growing up, I REALLY was sad about not ever getting to meet my Grandfather (Dad-O, my Dad's father) because he had passed away before I was born. My dad spent hours telling me stories about him and I loved to listen to them. Dad would tell me how much he would have loved me and how he wished I had got to meet him. He would tell me which features of mine reminded me of his father. I just realized how much I appreciated that. Now I'm going to have to do the same.

It makes me wonder about Parenthood... and what that actually means. There are some things that, as a parent, I want to control in my child's life. I don't want them to have to experience some of the pains that I had to go through. I want them to be happy and know how much they mean to me. Even now, before my baby is born, I am terrified that I'm going to let them down or break their heart. But is that part of parenthood? Is it something that I am just going to have to get used to? Death is a really hard thing to go through, and I hope that I can at least better prepare them for it than what I was with Dad. I hope they don't have to let us go as soon as I had to let Dad go. I don't know why I keep saying "let"... like I had a choice.

I miss my Daddy, more than I can say. I hope my child is old and gray before they feel the way I feel.

Wannabe Craft Freak

2009-08-14T22:50:00.002+01:00

I am in a really crafty mood lately... All I want to do is crochet or mod podge or make silhouettes or decorate. However, I'm able to do none of the above due to lack of supplies. I have crocheting needles (thanks to a recent purchase on ebay), mod bodge (again... ebay), and fabric squares (need I say where from?). I don't have yarn or spare magazines (other than car ones...) or anything to mod podge, or large paper or any other required essentials for my crafty desires. It's annoying and to be honest a little depressing. Especially since I have all of the above needed items in my storage unit in Texas. That's helpful. BOO.

So, instead of being crafty, I've been a bookworm. So far this week I have finished Husband Coached Childbirth (a book on the Bradley Method), Belly Laughs (Jenny McCarthy), Baby Laughs (again, Jenny McCarthy), The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy (actually the best so far...) and am debating starting another book tonight. Our friend Liz so generously gave us several books to read when Nick was in Houston (Thanks Liz! You're a star!) so I've got another two or three from her to read. I'm also ordering one on water births from ebay (surprise surprise) and am looking forward to that.

Oh Baby!

2009-08-13T14:18:00.003+01:00

So yesterday I felt a few "bubbles" in my lower abdomen and thought it felt a little weird. At first I thought it was just gas (what isn't gas nowadays?!) but then nothing happened. Then I felt a couple more. You know when you are a little kid and you blow spit bubbles? It feels like that when they pop. It then dawned on me that this is probably the baby! How exciting that it's not gas! haha! So I laid still and tried to see if I could feel it again. I told Nick about it and he immediately put his hand on my tummy to see if he could feel it too (nope.... too soon). For now this is just a me and the baby trick and to be honest, that's really cool. I felt it again this morning before I got out of bed and am really looking forward to them getting a little stronger and Nick being able to feel them too. I know he's excited about it and I'm looking forward to letting him in on it with us.

On another note... it has sunk in that in a couple weeks I'll find out the results from my blood tests. I wasn't at all nervous until I read about someone who's baby has Trisomy 18/Edwards Syndrome. For those of you who haven't researched this online for more than half an hour (like me last night.... why oh why did I do that?!) this is a disorder where the baby gets an extra 18th cromosome (or partial extra one). This is very serious (and is the second most likely to occur autosomal trisomy next to Down's Syndrome) and has a very low survival rate. I'm talking 95% don't make it to birth, then 50% of the remaining 5% don't make it past 2 months, then only 1% of those children make it past age 10. It's truly heartbreaking. Of course, now I am terrified. Nick and I had always said that we were ready for anything that could come our way and that we'd get through it, but now that I'm pregnant, I'm not ready for that! I hope and pray that our baby is healthy and happy, because those mothers (the one's with babies that have genetic disorders, etc) are much stronger than I am. I'm sure that if the news did come that something wasn't quite right with my baby that I'd be my usual self and look up everything there is to know on the subject and then find a way to deal with it, but I'm hoping to God I don't have to. I can't imagine losing my baby. Scratch that, I can (and do from time to time when I get in panic mode) but don't want to. So, I find out if my baby is at a higher risk for a whole load of problems in a couple weeks, so until then, forgive me if I'm a little anxious or moody.

If our baby does have a higher risk for anything, we have decided not to do an amniocentesis or CVS... we figure we'll prepare for the worst and hope for the best, but are not willing to take the risk of miscarrying the baby just because we want to find out sooner rather than later. This is our own personal decision and in no way am I saying others shouldn't.

Thank goodness I bought the fetal doppler... that thing has been SO reassuring lately. It's so nice to sit there and listen to the heartbeat and kicks with it. It somehow makes me feel so much better to know that the little heart is beating on and getting stronger.

On a lighter (or heavier... depending on how you look at it) note... GOOD LORD IS MY BUTT GETTING BIG! Geez. I can't help but sing baby got back when I look in the mirror... it's crazy. Where in the world is this coming from?! I still have not put on weight but yet my tummy, butt and boobs are getting huge! What?! How is this possible? My legs and arms aren't shrinking... so where is this fat coming from? Are my muscles shrinking? I've attached a picture (17 weeks) for you, but keep in mind, nightgowns are good at hiding booties. Oh, and yes, I now realize that my pj's are on backwards. No, I did not intend to do that. Yes, I have some pregnancy brain issues.

And Breathe....

2009-08-06T21:30:00.002+01:00

I love my husband. In fact, he's my favorite person in the whole world. However... He's also one of the only people that can completely drive me up a wall with good news (and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way).

I love to hear him excited about anything, it makes me smile and get those butterflies in my tummy just like when we were dating (and no... it's not the baby moving around in there). The only problem with that is currently it doesn't take a lot to make me worry or get worked up about anything. With the extra blood in my system, my heart is working overtime and it's easy to confuse those extra heartbeats for anxiety or even rage sometimes. It takes me half a second to raise my voice and completely go off my rocker in a hormonal rage these days (even if it IS NOT my intention to do so, nor my desire).

Anyway- He had some exciting news to report from some of the conversations at the conference and all I could think of was the changes it would make us go through. Unfortunately, the time line for these changes would be from November (of this year) to February (of next year). HELLO!!! OUR BABY IS DUE JANUARY 17th!!! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR MASSIVE CHANGES! At least not the kind that could be negotiated to a different time frame. I'm torn between being super excited for my husband and terrified for myself and baby. I quit my job because we felt the stress/drama involved with it was not worth it to me and the growth of our baby. Why would we go against that theory and add MAJOR stress (even if the outcome is GREAT) to our lives now?

I'm not at liberty to discuss exactly what I'm talking about, so this may not make any sense... but it helps me not feel like I'm going to have a heart attack. I may be overreacting, or jumping the gun a little (especially since nothing is in stone), but I am a planner and like to know everything as soon as I can. I don't like not knowing what is going to happen... especially with the possible changes drastically affecting the birth of our first child.

Would the changes better our lives in the long run? Most likely.
Would I consider them in any other time frame? Absolutely.
Could it be that I'm blowing everything out of proportion? Certainly.
Will this drive me crazy until I know what the whole story is? Without a doubt.

Urgh. I'm off to take a bath to relax and calm myself back down. I love my husband and God will work this out for me. I just need to remember to breathe.

Thanks for listening.

Sleep Deprivation or Sleep Preparation?

2009-08-06T01:28:00.002+01:00

I haven't been able to sleep right all week and have noticed a pattern in my new sleeping habits. I am able to sleep for about 3 hours before I wake up (either because I have to pee or my hip hurts or I've realized I'm on my back or stomach). Then I can't fall back asleep until about 5 hours later. Then I'm back asleep for about 3 hours and up again for another 5. So basically, I'm still getting 9 hours of sleep a day, just in broken segments. I have tried to break this habit by having a warm glass or milk or a cup of decaf tea, reading a boring book, watching a movie I've seen a million times, just laying there staring at the ceiling... all to no avail. I now have a new theory- could it be that I'm on the same schedule as my baby? I wonder if the little person in there is awake or asleep and wonder if that's why I'm not able to sleep too. Babies usually sleep more than that though, so I'm wondering what the deal is.

On a different topic- I've decided that I don't want to find out the sex of the baby until delivery day. Well... about 98% decided anyway. The more I think about it, the more I don't want to know. I'll go into it in detail later, but as for now, I'm waiting for Nicolas to call me to let me know how his presentation went (he should be done for the day any minute) and then I'm off to bed, for it has been all of 5 hours and 12 minutes since my last nap and I'm knackered ;)

Waaahhh!

2009-08-04T02:14:00.003+01:00

This is at 16 weeks, below is at 15 weeks... huge!

Warning: I'm in a mood at the moment so this may just be me complaining the whole time!

Ok, so I'm SUPER emotional lately and I hate it! Not only do I hate it, but it makes me MORE emotional because I get really frustrated with not being able to control how I'm feeling. I'm either super bitchy or really easily offended. Those are your two options... there is no middle ground. There isn't really a happy state or mellow state- that's all you get. I'm ready to be back to my normal self, where I'm not a spaz all the time!

Nick is gone this week (he left really early this morning and doesn't get back until Friday). I'm hoping that I am back to normal soon because this whole weepy thing is really annoying. I miss him a ton and have now realized how much I rely on him to improve my moods... I'm lonely and irritable. I look forward to talking to him so much, then when he calls I am cranky because he didn't call me sooner... poor thing! Then I get off the phone with him irritated, which follows with me being miserable and then getting mad at myself for being that way and wanting him to call again. Oh so frustrating!

I'm also really irritated by several people lately. I won't name names, but geez... if my hormones don't calm down soon I'm sure they'll realize who they are soon!

Anyway... I'm going to try and get off my tangent (no guarantees!) and update on other stuff...

Top 5 Pregnancy News This Week:

1. I'm 16 weeks, as of Sunday the 2nd... which is 3.6 months completed (so I'm almost done with my 4th month... Nic hates that method of counting!)
2. I can no longer sleep very well... which could be causing the crankiness... I can't get comfy!
3. Round Ligament pain sucks. That's all I'm going to say about that.
4. My appetite is back for the most part, but I still am not gaining weight. I have technically lost 4 pounds since I have become pregnant. I don't know whether to be happy about that or worried! Lol... I'm definitely bigger so I'm not that bothered. I think I'm going to be the size of a house by the time I'm through, I'll attach pictures in a second so you can see what I mean.
5. Nic and I are now debating if we want to find out the sex of the baby or not... At first I really wanted to, and he kind of did, but now we're not so sure. We'll find out eventually in the end anyway, what's the rush? Plus, I want to have a drug free childbirth and maybe that will help me stay motivated to finish the job if you know what I mean. We wouldn't get to find out for another month and by that time we're already halfway there... so I dunno. Is it worth it? I'm not sure.

I've been reading up on the pregnancy which is good...I feel like the more I know the better prepared I am. I've read the Pregnancy Bible, the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, and am currently reading Husband Coached Childbirth (about the Bradley Method... which is interesting). You have to take everything with a grain of salt (especially on the last two) but I'm liking the ideas. Nic can't stand Dr. Bradley, but that's because he speaks in absolutes and doesn't think that any other method is ok... which I know is false. People who have never heard of his stuff have had babies just fine, but I like the ideas behind his thinking for the most part and hope to use some of his techniques when I'm in labor. I'd like it to be a positive experience, not one where I'm screaming bloody murder at Nic for "doing this to me".

Ok... here's the pictures, I'm going to try and go to bed (I've tried for a couple hours then gave up and am now ready for trying again... it's 2:30! )

I can't get the pictures to go where I want them and I'm too grumpy/sleepy to mess with it so they're staying up there. @#$%!

Bump

2009-07-22T21:14:00.000+01:00

Above is the bump at 13 weeks, and below is at 14 weeks :)

Addicted to Ebay

2009-07-20T13:11:00.004+01:00

Ok... so we've recently made ourselves a new ebay account for over here and I've become thoroughly addicted. I have it open on the computer all the time now and am constantly searching for good deals on stuff that we wanted for the baby... and I've bought some stuff WAY cheaper than it cost brand new. For example... we just won the bidding war for our stroller this morning. Nic and I had been shopping for baby stuff this weekend and had picked out the stroller that we really liked. It is called the Quinny Buzz 3 and it's super light and easy to put up/take down. It is really manouverable and I really liked it because you can have the child (once it's not in the carseat bit anymore) face either away from you like most strollers or towards you... I thought that was really nice. Click here to see it. Anyway- brand new it is running 385 pounds (and that's just the stoller... not the carseat)! Crazy! We got it on ebay for 108 pounds plus like another 50 quid for shipping, so like 160 pounds total. We are so happy about it and can't wait for it to get here :) We'll buy the carseat new, so we'll add like another 100 pounds, but still... that's the whole set for less than 300 pounds whereas we'd be spending nearly 500 otherwise! Yay ebay!

I also bought a sterilizer for the nozzel of the breast pump and the spare bottles for when I'm not around to breastfeed. Normally it's 35 and I got it for 10.50 including shipping. I'm stoked. I've bid on a few other things as well but they aren't over yet, so I'll have to see if we've won those as well (a bouncy chair, a bottle/food warmer, and a breastfeeding kit thing).

Other than my adventures on ebay we've been pretty busy. We spent a great majority of Saturday shopping around for baby stuff and picking out a crib... we found the one that we liked but they don't have it in stock so we'll have to wait for them to get more in. That's ok, it's not like we are in a huge rush. :) It's actually pretty nice though, it is a crib that converts to a toddler bed and then into a little couch later once they've outgrown that. We'll get some good use out of it that way I hope. Plus it matches our bedroom furniture, which normally wouldn't be that big of a deal (it is going into a different room afterall) but we have extra bedroom furniture anyway since our master bedroom here already has a closet (our last house didn't). So we have a wardrobe that matches it already and a bedside table as well.

I think I'm going to get most of the bedding from Target and have Nick bring it over when he goes in August for the Deepwater Intervention Forum Convention. Then I'll almost be done with the nursery! How's that for early! All I'll need after that will be my glider/footstool and I'll be golden :)

I've made a list of everything that we want/need for the baby right off the bat and I'm slowly making my way through it. I'm such a planner. Here's hoping that ebay has some more stuff on my list! Lol...

The Good, The Bad, and The Annoying...

2009-07-12T12:24:00.003+01:00

Being pregnant brings a whirlwind of emotions and changes that simply can't be ignored. There are plenty of things that I wouldn't miss out on for the world, while there are other things that I wouldn't mind missing, and still other things that are just plain annoying and could go at any second and I wouldn't be upset in the slightest.

Things I love about being pregnant:

1. Knowing that my son or daughter is living inside me comfortably.
2. The feeling I get knowing that I am providing everything my baby needs to grow and develop into a real little person.
3. Seeing our little one on the ultrasound, watching it move around.
4. Watching my husband go through stages of pure excitement, pure fear, and pure happiness.
5. Getting everything ready for the baby, buying cute little outfits and such, preparing for our lives to change to accommodate our little baby.

Things I don't love about being pregnant:
1. The mood swings... holy cow. I have NO control whatsoever over my emotions. I cry during commercial breaks or because we are out of milk. I laugh uncontrollably at lame jokes. I get irritated SUPER easy and poor Nic takes the brunt of it!
2. That I don't yet look pregnant really, just fat. It does quite a bit to your self image in the beginning.
3. I'm gassy. Whether I have indigestion and am constantly burping or whether it's coming out the back end... I have gas all the time and it's really really gross and embarrassing.
4. I'm tired ALL the time... I'm definitely ready to have my energy back.
5. I'm always hungry. And I REALLY REALLY REALLY want Taco Bell, which isn't in the UK unfortunately.

Things I am Super Annoyed by:
1. My boobs are really sore and I can't get comfortable while sleeping... it can be a really big pain when you are exhausted but can't get comfortable. Yes, I know this is only going to get worse.
2. I have to pee every two seconds. I can go a MAXIMUM of 3 hours before I have to go again. Seriously. It doesn't matter how much I drink... I have to go regardless. I've always had a big bladder, so this is a new thing for me.
3. I'm impatient about some things and don't like surprises... I want to know what sex the baby is NOW and I can't.
4. My hair grows really fast, I shave my legs and literally 8 hours later I'm prickly again. Annoying.
5. Something will sound really good to eat and then you spend some energy making it and it then it isn't what you wanted and you end up making something else instead. I can't tell you how many times I've spent like an hour making lunch or dinner and then ended up having cereal and fruit because I changed my mind and wanted that instead. Picky taste buds are annoying.

Ok... that's my list for the moment, or at least for the first trimester. Today I am 13 weeks along and I'm moving into my second trimester. I should hopefully get some of my energy back and not have to pee so much... I'm looking forward to that. :)

Meet our Baby...

2009-07-08T12:19:00.003+01:00

I don't know why it's posting the pictures in this order... that wasn't really what I had in mind but that's ok. The above picture is my growing baby bump at 12 weeks... I now understand why everyone thought it was twins. It's a little easier to see when you aren't looking down on it lol. There is only one baby in there though (whew!) and we were able to see him/her in the ultrasound last week which was absolutely amazing. It is by far the most astounding thing I've ever seen. It's one thing to find out that you are pregnant by a little stick that says so, it's another thing completely to actually see your little miracle on a screen flipping around. For some reason I had it in my head that it would take the ultrasound tech a second to find the baby in there since it was so small but as soon as she put the (FREEZING COLD) sticky gel stuff on and stuck the little scope thing on my belly there it was. Talk about a flood of emotions- one second I was laughing (which made her job a little difficult I think) and the next I was crying (again... poor lady) and eventually I had to calm myself down a little so that she didn't have to push so hard to keep the thing on my moving belly. Lol. The baby didn't really want to cooperate and kept moving around like a crazy person in there. She said I had made a ton of room in there for him/her and it looked like they were using the space well... I had to agree. The baby was waving its arms around and doing little flips in there just having a great time. It's the strangest thing to see all that movement inside you and not be able to feel it! In the picture above you can see the baby's head on the right side, it has its (I abhor calling the baby "it" but you can only say the baby so many times in one sentence I think...) left hand up by his/her face. The thing in the middle that looks like a leg is actually the umbilical cord (which it was playing with part of the time) but the one on the far left is a leg.
Here's another picture of our little baby... We can't wait to meet him/her and actually get to see it all the time. The sonogram was over before we knew it and I can't wait to go back for another sneak peek at my baby! We don't go back until September which seems like ages from now, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it!

Enough is Enough...

2009-06-27T20:22:00.002+01:00

I've quit my job. I'm not usually the type to give up on anything, but I've simply had enough. Since the redundancies (lay off's) in February things have been a bit frantic/depressing at work. Things just aren't the same without the people that were let go and the workload in my department has increased significantly. Once I found out we were pregnant I did my best to not let myself get stressed at work but it was proving to be more and more difficult. Then Danielle (a girl I worked with and really really liked/appreciated) put her notice in, as she is moving back to Inverness (about an hour or so away). I asked multiple times, and e-mailed too, but got no response as to whether they were going to replace her. If they didn't, that would leave just Robert and I in the admin department and Vicky in reception. We were already struggling with the three of us in admin and one in reception, as we used to have 9 in our department! PLUS they have started to have Robert do payroll on Mondays and Tuesdays which causes even more work to be passed on to me. On top of this, I was called into a meeting where I was repremanded for being late to work and notes were made of every time I had ever been late (including 3-4 minutes!!!!). I asked if they counted the (more often than not) times when I only took a 20 minute long lunch instead of my hour, or the times that I stayed late (again... pretty frequent) and was told that extra time didn't matter because I was lowering the morale of the company by being late. LOL! I put my notice in the next day and haven't looked back since. My last day at work is Thursday (the 2nd) and I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to preparing for the baby and being a housewife again.

On a happier note... we will get to see our baby on our first ultrasound on the 2nd of July as well and we can't wait!!! We are so stinking excited about this baby and can't wait to actually "see" it! So far the pregnancy has been good, and I haven't really been sick. I've been a little queasy in the mornings and I've been UBER tired, but other than that the only difference that I've noticed is my growing belly. Yes, I am showing already. When Nic gets back from Massachusetts (for the MATE competition, which I didn't go to after all), I'll have him take a picture and I'll post it up here. Everyone keeps joking (I hope!) that we are having twins or multiples.... I think it's pretty funny. Nic keeps saying he thinks so too because of how much I'm showing already. I'm only 11 1/2 weeks and I can't fit into ANY of my old clothes now. Lol.

Anyway, while Nic is out of town I've picked up a quick Jodi Picoult book to read, so I'm going to go so I can finish it before he gets home. I hope you all are doing well!

We're Having a Baby!

2009-05-25T22:41:00.002+01:00

We have had a really exciting week! On Thursday (after me feeling a bit weird for a couple weeks) Nic had a dream that I was stealing children from daycares (lol... thanks honey!) and I decided to take a pregnancy test because I was a couple days late. Normally that isn't unusual because I'm not even close to being regular (sorry if that's too much info!) but anyway- the test came back positive! We were really excited and were almost late to work... but we managed to get through the whole day anyway. That afternoon we took another test and it was again positive which helped the whole thing sink in a bit. We went to the doctor's office on Friday and got the pregnancy confirmed and found out that we were a little over 6 weeks pregnant (so it's still REALLY early), I'll be 7 weeks on Wednesday. The due date we have been given is January 13th, 2010 and we are very very excited!

We've been trying for a long time, so this is great news for us. It's hard to be cautious and level headed when something this big happens. I'm not going to fully announce it at work for another few weeks (I'm thinking like 12 weeks or so) but Nic has already pretty much told everyone at his office.

I'm exhausted but I've got a very busy month ahead of me... I leave on Thursday to fly to Houston and see Edith, Angel and Kamila and then celebrate Tony's birthday with Nic's family. Then I leave for Austin on Friday morning to join Kat in her wedding celebrations. I'll have lunch with the other bridesmaids, then go to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Saturday is the wedding itself and then Sunday I'll drive back to Houston to fly out that afternoon to come back home. Whew... I'm tired just thinking about it-but excited none the less. Then on the 11th my parents are coming to see me! On the 12th is our first midwife appointment so I'm excited about that too! We'll get to spend two weeks with my family and then we leave for Massachusetts to go to MATE for the week. What a whirlwind month.

I'll give a more comprehensive update when I'm not so sleepy... I can barely keep my eyes open! Lol!

My Apologies

2009-05-04T18:10:00.002+01:00

I've severely neglected this blog. When I first started it, I had no job and plenty of time to update on a daily (and sometimes twice daily) basis. I am very sad to say that the time that I used to have is nowhere to be found! I am beyond busy on a daily basis and have a hard time finding time to eat, let alone sit and blog for fifteen minutes. Nevertheless, I've had requests for updates and complaints that it's been since December since I last updated. Lol. Geez, time flies.

It's really hard to re-cap almost 5 months! I've decided that I'm going to do my top-5 list of great things that have happened this year, at least that way you get the exciting bits without the boring stuff that happens from day to day (i.e. work updates etc.).

1. Family Trip in February!- Nick and I flew back to the states for a family trip in February and had a fantastic time! We got to see Nick's family in Houston and some good friends of ours there (Edith and Angel, Emy and David, Viktor, Caylon, Jamie, Rusty (who came down from DFW) et al. We also spent some quality time with my family in Amarillo/Plainview/Lubbock. It was so wonderful to see everyone and I am so amazed at how big my nieces, nephews, and little brother have become! They grow up so fast! We got to stay for about two weeks and had an absolutely wonderful time... it definitely went by too quickly and we are ready to go back again!

2. DEEPTREK!- Nick and I have both joined the Deeptrek team which is absolutely amazing. I think I've mentioned a little bit about it before (maybe?! I can't even remember what I've written previously!) Basically, we are a team of subsea specialists (and archeologists) that focus on underwater exploration/recovery and do a number of other amazing things. Previously, Deeptrek has worked on a number of really cool recoveries (like WWII planes and shipwrecks such as the Royal Charter and the Atocha) and we have several really interesting projects that we are currently working on. Nick and I spent a week and a half down in Wales working on a project with the group. Nick and I were supposed to be focusing on surveying (which is what we've done previously for a few other little projects) but because of the weather we didn't really get to do any of that. We spent a great bit of time meeting the locals, and getting all the boats ready, as well as cataloging some artifacts from previous projects. As soon as I'm able to give more updates I will, as it's really exciting stuff!

3. We have new tenants in Houston!- Our house was finally finished with all the repairs from the Hurricane (Ike) in the end of January and we had new tenants move in in February. We actually got to go meet them, which was great. They are a cute little family and seem like great people. We are certainly glad to have someone in the house as it was getting super expensive while it was empty. The total cost for the repairs was a whopping (drum roll please...!)$31,952.10, of which the insurance so far has paid $13,613.86. We're still waiting on the other 18 some odd grand to come in... once that happens I'll be a happy camper again :)

4. Track Days!- We've had some great times with our Subaru crew... as usual. We had a track day last month that was so much fun I can't even describe it. Ok, well maybe I can. There were ten or so of us that drove down to the track a day early to set up the cones and get everything laid out for the next day, and then camped that night. We had so much fun camping. We usually have a great time when we camp with our Scooby buddies, but this time was exceptional. We had great food, great banter, and we were really excited about the track day the next day. Sunday we had the actual track event and we had a wonderful time! We took my car, as Nick's wasn't ready yet (OH!!! I almost forgot, the last update I had said to look out for what Nick's Christmas present was... well, I bought him a 1998 Subaru Impreza STI Type R... it's his project car :)) as he's adding quite a bit on to it. We completely DESTROYED the tires on my car, but that's ok, they weren't really road legal anyway because of the tread. I get my new ones tomorrow so that's exciting. We had a fantastic time and are really looking forward to the next one.

5. My Parent's are Coming, My Parent's are Coming!!!- They are due to arrive in June and I get a whole week off work to spend with them (they are coming for two weeks). I canna wait! We are going to do quite a bit while they are here... from going to see castles, to going to Wales, to taking a trip to London, to seeing Loch Ness... etc. It's going to be quite a busy trip. There's so much that I want to show them and it's going to be a crazy trip trying to fit everything in! I am so stinking excited about it!

Ok.. that's my top five for now. I'm going to try to be better about updating. I might need to be nudged every now and then though ;)

Pre-Christmas Update :)

2008-12-20T20:43:00.005Z

I've been a horrible blogger lately and have completely neglected this space! Sorry to everyone who normally reads- I'll try to be better.

There has been so much going on it's not even funny sometimes and it feels like I barely have a second to crawl into bed before I am having to shut the alarm off and get up for work. We've been busy little bees but I think our efforts are paying off.

Let's see, the last time I updated was Raime's birthday (holy cow- it's been almost two months! How bad am I?!). I had a blast on my birthday, it was definitely an eventful weekend. I'm pretty sure Jamie had a good time, and I definitely realized how lucky I am to have such a great group of friends here. I should have updated then, as I would have had a lot more stories to tell you then I'm sure.

I've been working like a mad woman, but I love my job. I'm the Admin Co-ordinator at Raeburn and I really enjoy it there. The people are all fantastic and I'm busy pretty much all the time (I have yet to run out of stuff to do and I haven't even picked up all my workload yet!). I've already been to our company Christmas party, which was a blast... it's so interesting to see some of the people who are so professional at work let loose and become more like their normal selves outside the office! I really have nothing to complain about at all which is great! I only wish there were more time in the day to get everything done!

Aberdeen Scoobies is doing really well, we have our Santa Cruise tomorrow. I cannot wait! We raised a little over 3,500 this year so I am very proud to be a part of the group. We are doing well in setting up the charity and I'm really looking forward to what we are going to be able to accomplish next year. I'll post up some pictures probably when we get done with the cruise so that you all can see the kids/presents we bought for them, as I can't wait to see all their faces! (we raise money throughout the year to buy presents for the sick children's hospital here in Aberdeen).

Nic and I were invited to join Deeptrek recently, so we are really excited to be a part of that as well! For those of you who haven't heard me ramble about how excited I am about it, info about us can be found at http://www.deeptrek.net. Nic and I are so honored to be able to be a part of the organisation and can't wait to really make a contribution to the group.

Let's see... what else is new. OH- watch this space because I will be posting pictures of Nic with his Christmas present soon. I am so excited about it and will explain why I'm excited at a later date I'm sure. WOO HOO!

I think that's pretty much it... I will post again soon, but if I am lazy and don't post until after Christmas, I wish you all the best and most Merry Christmas possible. I love you all and will be thinking of you :)

WOO HOO!

2008-11-07T18:02:00.002Z

I was called back at about noon or so today and the offer was good so I took it! YAY! I will finally be working like a normal person again! haha. I enjoyed my time temping, don't get me wrong, but I'm so glad not to have to worry about finding another job for a while... PLUS I get to settle in somewhere and really get to know the people there. It seems to be a great place to work. I've already received two e-mails from girls at work (one from the lady I interviewed with at first, Lora, and the other from Lynsey- my temp recruiter) saying they look forward to seeing me on Monday. YAY. Lora is pregnant and is going to be going on leave in April. I'm glad I'll already be familiar with two (three if you count Dianne, the director) girls there.

Anyway, I thought I'd update you all before I head out to Dunc and Laura's for tea and some catching up before the meeting.

I hate waiting...

2008-11-07T09:07:00.002Z

So this morning I was walking through the kitchen to get my morning cuppa and I noticed that the little red light was flashing on the phone. This usually means we've missed a call, sometimes there's even a message. This time there was two missed calls and two messages. What?! I was home all day yesterday- AND I had the phone with me for most of the day as I was waiting to hear back about the interview. So as I go to listen to the messages, I find out they were at 6:46 and 6:48...so basically someone called during the 5 minutes I had left the phone downstairs to go up to put on socks. Damn cold feet! The first was from Cris (Nic's mom) and the second was from Dianne (with Raeburn). ARGH! She said they wanted to make me an offer- YAY!!! but that she'd be out of the office Friday (today). So, now I'm sitting here waiting for a few more days possibly... when in the message she said she'd like me to start Monday if I accept.

So... now I wait. I wait to find out what they are offering pay wise, which position they are offering (the one I actually went to interview for or the higher one...) and for her to call me back to discuss it. I hate waiting.

I called them this morning (a few minutes ago) and talked to Lora about how to get in touch with Dianne if she's out of the office and she said she IS reachable, and that she'll pass on the message to call me at home today... so hopefully I'll know what I'm doing before the weekend.

I'm actually excited, and am hoping that I have reason to be.

MY BIRTHDAY!

2008-11-06T11:46:00.003Z

My birthday is coming up soon (it's the 29th of November) and we had made plans with our AS group to go to the club's Christmas Do (gathering if you will..) that night and then go out on the town afterwards. I was really excited about it (and still am!) as I get to spend time with a lot of my friends here...

Well... Now I'm even more excited, as Jamie (my best friend for the past 23 years or so) is coming to Scotland for my birthday! How great is that?!

Bonfires, Covershoots and Interviews... OH MY!

2008-11-06T11:13:00.004Z

This past month or so has been pretty busy for Nic and I but that's not to say that it hasn't been fun! We've met with our AS (Scoobie) bunch several times, had friends over, taken pictures for the Calendar that AS puts out for charity each year, had our Guy Fawkes Day bonfire with the neighborhood (and Stavros and Fiona too!), and I've attended an interview for a job I kinda hope I get!

I'll start out with the Bonfire... Every year on the 5th of November (Remember Remember the 5th of November) everyone here celebrates Guy Fawkes Day. To give you a brush up on your history, Guy Fawkes was the guy who tried to blow up the parliament building in the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. You are supposed to burn an effigy of Guy but I haven't ever seen that happen. Instead, everyone just gathers around a massive bonfire and eats/drinks and catches up on each other's lives. Last year we were still at the Pitmedden Hotel and got to see some fireworks and that was about it. This year, we got to attend our neighborhood bonfire (everyone carts ALL of their boxes and tree clippings etc from the WHOLE year down to a specific point and we burn it). Everyone was a bit dissapointed with the size of it this year (except Nic, Stavros, Fiona and I... it looked massive to us!) because apparently the past two years it has been almost double in size! Here's a picture of it halfway through (so imagine it about a third bigger before in the beginning).

And here's one of our neighbor Mike lighting one of his flares (he really really loves flares!) to add a bit of orange smoke to it to make it feel more like Halloween. The kids liked them, but I think they liked the fireworks more!

Last Sunday we went to take pictures with some of the AS group for the cover of our charity (Santa Cruise) calendar. We had an ok turnout this year, although there should have been more. We started out with 15 and ended up with 14, as someone had to leave to go offshore! That's alright though. Here's one of the pictures... If you want a calendar (they are 10 pounds each... but 100% of that goes to the charity, as we had the cost sponsored) let me know. Nic and I share a page with Duncan and Laura (it looks great though!) and we are on the cover as well... Ok, well... our car is on the cover! haha. In this picture, our car is on the back row, second car.

We had a bunch of people taking pictures for us so there should be some really good photos from that day, they were taking it from the hill on the golf course. I was going to go up there but some golfers were about to tee up when I was going to go so I had to stay on the side the cars were parked... You can see Nic's shadow at the bottom- haha quality!

Let's see... Yesterday I went to an interview with Raeburn (which is actually one of the temp agencies that I was using to find temp work!). They are looking for an admin so I went to go interview for that position. I sat and visited with the ladies for about an hour and a half and they ended up saying that I'd be better for the role above the position I was interviewing for (for the manager of the admin department basically...) So they are now considering me for that role. I'm really actually pretty excited about it, and if it's offered to me I'll probably take it. Well... as long as they offer the right salary! haha! We'll see how that goes. I do have blisters on my feet from walking to the interview from Stavros' flat (it's .8 miles there and .8 back and I wasn't wearing my nice heels) though so if I do get the job I'll have to remember to bring my trainers everyday!

I think that's about it at the moment... I have to go make lunch, as Nic should be here any minute!

A little bit closer now...

2008-10-26T20:23:00.003Z

Today we move our clocks back an hour for daylight savings time so we are officially only 5 hours ahead of those of you in Texas! Woo hoo! I could have really used that extra hour the past two weeks or so when I was always on the phone to my insurance company, but hey- I'll take what I can get now!

We FINALLY got our insurance adjustment back and can now move onward with the repairs on our house in Houston. What a relief! They are covering pretty much everything which is a total blessing... I really had a bad feeling that they were only going to quote us half of the amount that the contractors had given us bids for. They actually have given us more than the original bids were for, so that makes me feel really good about getting things done right. Now all we have to do is figure out how to deposit the check! Ha! I will say that my Mom has been an excellent helper though all of our issues (she deposits all my checks for me and pays my paper bills with pre-signed checks that I've left with her). I'm not sure what I would have done without her help, she's a lifesaver!

Friday was my last day with Ipedex and to be honest I'm a little sad about it. I'm not going to miss being bored at work (I usually finished all my work by 10!) but I will definitely miss the people there. They were really sweet and I've really grown quite attached to them... I am probably going to have massive withdrawls from the work banter and the cups of tea . I am supposed to go to lunch with them on Friday though, so it won't be too long before I see them all again. In the meantime, I'm back on the job hunt for a new challenge. I'm going to be picky so I'm not expecting anything right away but I'm hoping it won't be too incredibly long before something else comes up. I'm really used to going to work again and I am not sure what I'm going to do with myself until I find another job... oh wait- yes I do! I am going to clean my house thoroughly, as it needs it! I think I'll also spend a day or two with Laura and Ella and hopefully get some AS (Aberdeen Scoobies) charity stuff set up for next year. I also have a few books that I've purchased and haven't had the chance to read yet (like 2 or 3), so I want to get that done before I go back as well. Fable II just came out as well, so I'll have a good time playing that while Nic is at work (since he won't let me play while he's home!!).

Anyway- our Tea is about ready so I'm going to go eat... I'm looking forward to enjoying the little extra bit of closeness with you all though (at least for a week until you all set your clocks back next Sunday!).

It's time

2008-10-04T09:13:00.002+01:00

Ok, so I finally have a second and can fill you all in on some of the stuff that's been going on over here. We haven't been home a lot lately so this weekend we've decided to take it easy and relax a little bit.

I guess I should start with the camping trip since that was like two weeks ago and I haven't really said a whole lot about it. We had a FANTASTIC time, or as I've been trained to say here... it was ace! haha. We started out the trip in Aberdeen and drove up towards Inverness and then around to Fort William. The drive was absolutely beautiful (or should I say bonny) and we stopped pretty often to take pictures and look around the little villages. We didn't quite have the turnout that was expected (originally like 16 of us were supposed to go) but we had a blast anyway and I'm almost glad that we had a smaller group. It ended up just being Nic, Me, Duncan (Dunc), Laura (Dunc's wife), Tracy (T), Stu, and Shona (pronounced Show-na). Anyway, the banter was so funny and now the bunch of us have quite a few inside jokes that are making people who didn't go jealous (love that!). We'll definitely be going next time when the trip is supposed to follow the coastline. That should be pretty too! I've put all of our pictures in an online album, you can go see them here: http://s371.photobucket.com/albums/oo156/jen-alvarado/ . We almost got kicked out of the campsite because we were being too loud (we really weren't we were being quieter than some other groups) but it ended up just being funny because the guy running the site was too full of himself. How are you going to expect "absolute silence" at 11 anyway?! ESPECIALLY when the pub on the campsite (yes, you read right... there was a pub on the actual campsite) closes at 11. On the way back from camping we all stopped by the largest gondola in the UK and took a ride up to do some sight seeing. We had lunch up there before heading back down the mountain and getting back on the road home Oh, and I almost forgot- we found an awesome deal and got some sunglasses for 50p! (they were originally 9 pounds, so hey... that's pretty good!).

Ok... so that was the weekend before last, we can move on to last weekend I guess. Last weekend we went to the Colin McRae Tribute Rally and had an amazing time as well. We got to see many of the rally drivers we'd only seen on TV before and probably won't ever see again since they were only there to show their support for Colin and his family. For those of you who aren't into rallying (which I assume most of you sadly aren't), Colin was the world rally champion and is one of the best drivers in rally sport. He is like the golden boy for Subaru and he just so happens to be Scottish. Anyway, in 2007 he died in a helicopter crash (he was trying to take off right by his house with his 5 year old son, his son's friend who was 6, and a family friend when it had a mechanical failure). This rally was put together to remember just how amazing he was and so a lot of the stars of the rally circuit were there to put on a good show (including his brother and dad). We found ourselves an excellent spot to watch from, right at an "s" curve on the 5th stage. We were kind of bummed because we only got to see about 15 teams go by before Jim McRae (Colin's dad) lost control of his porche and went off the road. His car then caught on fire (he and his co-driver were fine and got out ok)... they were going to re-open the stage when one of the fire trucks that was trying to come put out the fire got stuck (who's bright idea was it to bring a fire truck to an off road rally?!) and they ended up having to cancel the stage. We still had a fantastic time and won't ever forget it. We definitely got our exercise as well, as we had to walk about a mile and a half uphill from the car to our watch post. Again, we were in good company because we had a few members from Aberdeen Scoobies come along with us and we met up with a lot of the SIDC (Subaru Impreza Driver's Club) members there. After the rally we went to dinner with Imy and Grant (from SIDC) which was nice... we had a good time visiting with them and the food was good. After that we caught up with the other Grant (also from SIDC... we call him RS Grant) to take a look at his Spec D (it's a "discreet" STI).

I guess that brings me on to the next topic of discussion today... The car. We've been struggling to get by with only one car, as Nic has to be late to work and then leave work a little early to pick me up and drop me off. Not to mention the one day a week that we eat lunch together, he has to take a little extra time for his lunch break... so he's been missing out on a bit of work time because we have to carpool. Because of that, we've been looking around at other cars. We've gone to look at about 3 (an STI, a WRX and another WRX but in wagon form). We had reasons for not being completely intent on any of those (the STI was a little flashy and had racer boy seats, the first WRX wasn't good value for the money as far as miles/price was concerned, and the wagon's brakes were SCARY and it wasn't as clean as we would have liked). Then we checked out Grant's Spec D. I think we both are in love all over again. It's an STI (which means more horsepower...) but it has leather seats, sat nav, a built in tracker, nice wheels, etc. Grant has taken great care of it and is selling it due to the fact he's going back to school and taking a break from work. Anyway... we are pretty sure we are going to buy it from him :) This makes both Nic and I VERY excited and we can't wait until everything is settled. So expect info a little later about our other new addition to the family, a sister for Lexi, haha.

I guess I should also talk about the damage to our house in Houston. We've been in the process of getting estimates from contractors with our property managers (who have been absolutely amazing...), and dealing with the insurance adjuster. The adjuster came and did his inspection about a week ago and everything was going well... then right when he was about to submit his report, our renters found more damage with possible mold on it in one of the closets. Soo.... he had to come back out there again on Wednesday. We should get the new report from him on Tuesday or so of next week, so hopefully that happens and we can get going on the repairs. Our renters have decided to opt out of their lease (we gave them the option to either have free rent and stay somewhere else until the repairs are done or get out of the lease with deposit and September rent in hand). Because we don't know how long the repairs will take that's probably the best option for them to take and we wish them well. We should get the bids from the contractors by Monday, so we're a little anxious to see what they are thinking in regards to cost/repair time. Either way, the insurance company is due to cover everything, including the loss of use (so rent basically)... which is a definite blessing.

Let's see... I can't remember what else I was going to mention except that Nic's Mom is coming for a visit in about a week (well... a week from Monday), so that will be nice. She's going to be here for a week. Nic saw her while he was in Houston for the DIF Conference, but I haven't seen her since they came in May, so it will be nice to see her again.

Oh, we've caught up on movies this past week- we've been going every day pretty much so that we can see them all before they are out of the theatre... We saw Taken, Righteous Kill, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Death Race, and that's all I can think of at the moment. I'm missing a few though I think. Taken was my favorite of that group, but I really liked The Boy in the Striped Pajamas as well. Nic didn't like it as much as I did, but that's partly due to the fact that there were a few improbabilities in the story. Righteous Kill was also good, how can you not like a movie that has Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in it! Death Race was entertaining... I think that's the only way I can describe it.

Ok, that's all I'm going to write for now (like that isn't enough!)... I have to get ready to go to the movies and lunch with Bob! YAY! He's back in town until tomorrow and then he won't be back until the 11th! OOOH that's what I was going to talk about... The expedition. I don't have a whole lot of time to talk about it though so I'll save it until next time.

Wow...

2008-09-28T22:24:00.004+01:00

Ok, so I know I've been horrible and haven't been posting lately, but so much has been going on I think most of you will understand. Let's see... there's the damage to the house in Houston, the camping trip, the rally, the car, and the expedition to talk about! That's a lot of catching up to do... unfortunately, it's 10:24 and I have to go to bed for work tomorrow! I will post soon and get you all up to date. I promise. ;)

AAARGH!

2008-09-20T07:51:00.002+01:00

I'm losing my mind...

We are going camping to find it.

Be back Sunday night.

We don't like Ike

2008-09-16T07:33:00.006+01:00

We got news yesterday that our house was damaged by Hurricane Ike. Our renters tried to stay at the house but ended up having to leave on Saturday due to some damage to the roof of our house. Nic and I are bummed and it's definitely hard to see your house like that and not be able to do anything about it. Our Realtors are awesome people and are already on the ball (I'm not sure why it's underlining some and not other bits, and I'm too tired to figure it out...). We have already started the claims procedure with our insurance people, so hopefully everything will be fixed soon! Anyway- here's pictures so you know what I'm talking about (remember the carpet was new, the paint was new... etc).

The above is the right side tree in our back yard...

This is the same tree, but from the other side. The poor thing got torn apart.

Here's pretty much the only part of the fence still standing.

Here's part of the roof that will need to be fixed. This is the back of the house.

Here's the fence, or what used to be the fence. The little girl's power wheels made me sad...

Here's the tree on our gutters (that we had just fixed!)

Here's more branches

This is one of the bedrooms, I'm not sure which one exactly. The renters tore up the carpet so the house wouldn't stink and it was sopping wet (I have AWESOME renters!)

Here is the hallway that leads to most of the rooms and the hall closet.

Here's another room... again, not sure which one.

More roof damage, this is the right side.

Here's the back fence.

This is the left side of the house, it's not too bad.

This is the ceiling that leads to the hallway I think.

Here's one of the door frames. I'm told that all the doors don't close anymore.

Another door frame.

And one more for good measure ;)

This is another problem with the roof, I think it's on the back. I don't know.

Here's pile of shingles from my house... These are just the ones that were on the ground on the side :(

Here's the carpet from one of the rooms.

Here's the big ass hole on the side of my house... Yay for the renters putting up a tarp to protect it!

One of our tree/bushes fell over :(

Another spot to fix (obviously on the front of the house).

Here's some branches they collected.

Here's the side yard... you can see the tree/bush (I dunno) that got uprooted.

This actually isn't my fence, it's my neighbors but I thought I'd add it in anyway.

Here's just some debris...

Anyway- I'm off to work, I'll post more later. I'm glad everyone is safe!

This is the life!

2008-09-14T20:24:00.002+01:00

Nic and I have been having a great time lately... we've been busy, but we have been enjoying it.

I have now been working for about two and a half weeks and I am so happy to be doing so. It is so great to be contributing and doing more than just housework. It was a great experience but I'm certainly happy to be back in the working world. It definitely helps conversational matters some around here... I think Nic is happy to have a break from hearing about what happened on Desperate Housewives and my woes with the washing machine. At least there are some interesting stories to tell now. This week at work is going to be a little bit crazy for me seeing as there will be only half the staff (literally) in the office. I already have stuff sitting on my desk waiting for me... it's been on my brain since Friday. Oh well, it will get done when I get there.

Nic is due to have an interesting week at work as well... he is renewing his offshore certifications this week. He had his physical on Friday and is doing his survival courses Mon-Wed this week. It's pretty much the same as the last time he did them in Louisiana, only they are supposed to be a little bit harder for the North Sea than they are in the Gulf. For those of you who didn't hear about it last time he did it, basically it's a course on first aid, safety procedures etc. and includes an almost amusement park-ish ride in a crashing helicopter. They strap you in the helicopter and then dunk it in the water and you have to get yourself out... a few times. I think it would be really fun, but it's practical too. At least now I know that if the helicopter were to crash (God forbid) he'd be able to get himself out if he was still conscious.

Let's see... what else are we doing? Wednesday is our meet night with the Aberdeen Scoobies, and then this weekend is the camping trip with the same crew. We are still really looking forward to that- especially since now Ian and Jacqui have offered us their tent! We had left ours in the storage unit in Houston and were planning on buying a cheapy one here... but now we don't have to! YAY for great friends. We went out with them both Saturday and Sunday (Saturday was Ian's birthday) and today (Sunday) we met them in town for tea (dinner). They are really fun to be around and we always have a good time. We also walked around town a little picking up little things here and there (like cookware for the camping trip).

On another note- my grandparents got the internet this weekend! How exciting/cute is that?! I'm so proud of them for trying new things and am glad to have another way to communicate and keep in touch with them now.

I just heard the dryer buzz so I'd better switch over the laundry- it's been a busy week and the clothes have been piling up. I still have two more loads to do before bed and haven't started ironing yet.... I'm dropping the ball.

In need of a little shut eye!

2008-09-04T20:38:00.003+01:00

We have been staying up too late too often recently and my brain is starting to take notice. I'm thinking really slowly today and it takes me twice the time to do pretty much anything. So, if I'm not making sense don't hold me to anything... I just thought it was time for an update.

Work is going really well. I like my new job a lot and have really settled in. I'm actually not really doing what they hired me to do, as now I've been trained in a different position basically which is fine by me. This way I'm busy all day and I'm not bored or shredding papers like I was the first day. They've already asked me if I can stay on longer (as I was only supposed to be there until the 24th of September) but now I'm there until the 24th of October. The operations manager (Sharon) is having a surgery done, so I'll stay on while she's on medical leave to help get stuff done. It's all good, I really like the people there so it isn't a problem. There are only a few of us in the office (Amii, Sharon, Mandy, Fiona, Linda, George and myself). We have a good time while we are working and it's been nice to make some work buddies.

Other than that, we've been going to movies and hanging out with people. Last Thursday we hung out with Stavros, Fi, Cameron and Lisa. Friday it was the Fugro bunch (about twenty people from the office)- as we went out to dinner and then to a few pubs. Saturday it was Stavros, Fi, Ian, Jacqui and Allert. Sunday we relaxed at home a little bit and caught up on the laundry. Monday and Wednesday we hung out with Bob. Today we had dinner with Miller and Trevor. I am really ready for a relaxing weekend with minimal activities since we've been packing everyone in and staying up late every night. I think Tuesday was the earliest we went to bed and then it was 12:30 or so. Other than Tuesday, we haven't gone to bed before 1:30... and since I am now up and getting ready at 6:30 it's getting to me.

Let's see.... OOH! We are going to go camping on the 20th and the 21st with the Aberdeen Scoobies (the subaru club here in Aberdeen). I can't wait, neither can Nic. We are going to do a nice drive each day, then camp at night. The first night I think we are staying somewhere Fort Williams, which is beautiful. I am really excited about it... not only to meet all the new people that we have kind of gotten to know on the forums, but to see more of beautiful Scotland. I'll definitely bring the camera and be taking pictures.

Ok, it's now ten till 9 and I'm exhausted so I think I'm turning in for the night.

Ah, the working life...

2008-08-29T07:47:00.002+01:00

I haven't updated in a few days... perhaps that's because I've actually been busy! Wednesday I was called and offered basically two different positions (both temporary, which is actually what I want so that I can see what I like to do best). The first position was developing Power Point presentations for company who had some bids accepted and needed the proposals/plans put into presentations for their clients. I passed on that one... while I know how to use Power Point rather well, I wanted more variety than that. The second was in an administrative role for an oil company recruitment service. I decided to go for that one and so far it's been good.

I started working yesterday (Thursday) morning and the job ends the 24th of September and I'll find another placement. I'm working for a company that basically gets a bunch of CV's for people with experience in the oil industry. We then reformat those CV's in a specific way and load them onto a database. That way, other companies (they serve a lot of companies... from Oceaneering to BP to Technip etc) can post a job, search within the database for people with certain qualifications, then contact us regarding them for more information. They come in and do a pre-interview (if they are here, otherwise they go to another office) and we gather and check all their references. What I do is answer phones, format all the CV's that are sent in and send them on to the proper recruiter, handle the mail, file documents, update the database, order supplies, reply to applicants, check to make sure the CV's are current in the system, and make sure all the applications certifications are current. Yesterday they had several CV's for me to do and I finished them all by lunch time... only a few extra trickled in the rest of the day so I was out of things to do by 2:00. I was asking everyone if there was anything else I could do and so I was sent to shred out of date paperwork. I have like 3 more boxes to shred when I get done with all my other stuff today, which isn't so fun but that's ok. I swear they are the most staple happy people I've ever seen. It seems like whoever was working on that stuff back in 03 (that's when the stuff that I'm shredding is from) double stapled EVERYTHING, and felt that each receipt had to be attached to the paper with it's own staple... so it makes for a tedious job pulling them all out before I can actually shred the document.

It's good to be working again, I wish it was a busier place (haha, I'm sure I'll regret saying that sometime), but I like it. The people are all nice and it seems pretty relaxed there. Today (Friday) we are going to have a pizza party for one of the girls who is leaving to go back to France and it's casual Friday so I get to wear jeans. I like that.

I'll update more on it later, I have to go to work :)

Interviews...

2008-08-27T01:11:00.005+01:00

So it turns out that I still know my way around the Microsoft packages. I was a little concerned when I found out that at the two interviews I had (today and yesterday) they were going to be testing me on my knowledge of Word and Excel (and questioning me on Power Point). I haven't used Excel really since, oh I don't know... maybe 2005. I hadn't used Word really since I graduated (2007) and I was feeling a little rusty. However, everything went wonderfully and I was worried for no reason. I only missed one question (out of 60, thank you very much) and I think that was due to the fact that the mouse kept getting stuck down and it wouldn't let me paste correctly on one question before it moved on to the next one. Either way... I'm ok with that. Then the lady laughed at me for apologizing about my typing speed (I'm really used to my awesome keyboard and was a little annoyed with their sticky and loud keyboard). She said she had never had anyone apologize for "only" typing 71 words a minute with 100% accuracy. I guess that's the perfectionist in me. If I was given the opportunity I'd be all over taking the test again. I'm a nerd like that.

The interview part went really well for both places, I really liked both of the women who interviewed me. Maybe it's just because I haven't interviewed in a while or maybe it's due to the fact that I just really wanted to meet new people, but I wasn't nervous at all like I usually am when I'm at an interview. I went in feeling confident and had a great time. I wish all of my interviews that I've ever been to were that easy. What I liked even more was the fact that I didn't feel like I was trying to sell myself, which is one of the things I hate most about interviews. I think I owe a lot of that confidence to Nic. I think because I don't HAVE to work because he provides for me I don't feel the pressure that I once did. In the U.S. I had to have a job to make things work, we both did. Here, it isn't that I necessarily have to work to make ends meet, it's just to make things easier. I think that has really helped me feel better about looking for a position because it isn't a make it or break it situation (if that makes sense). Here, I can be picky about finding something that fits my personality. I like that a lot.

Because the first two interviews of the week went so well, I don't think I'll be going to the last one (at the bank). I'm going to call them tomorrow morning and tell them that I can't find all the paperwork that they requested (which is the honest to goodness truth...) and to remove my name from the list of interviews on Friday. Part of this has to do with the fact that I don't feel like I'll be happy there. I first thought I would be because I love helping people with their finances and I like to be around people. Now, the more I think about it, the more worried I am that I won't like it... partly because you have to try to sell the banks services (travel insurance, car insurance, savings accounts and cds, etc) and I'm just not a pushy person. I just can't bring myself to become what Raime and I call a "bank bitch" because it seems like everyone who works as a teller for a while becomes hardened and mean. And lastly, I really think they are extreme with all the documentation they need and how they won't work with you on anything regarding that paperwork. I understand that they have to be more thorough with their applicants than most places because they are a financial institution, but I still feel like a thorough background check and calling references would be enough.

Anyway, I have the opportunity to work at a place in Westhill (which unfortunately is 28 miles away) starting Monday, but I think I'm going to wait and hear back from the first interview to respond to the offer. The position in Westhill is a project administrator (basically an admin to a group of people in the office) and seems like it would be perfect for me. It looks like the pay would be good (they haven't set an official number yet) and the job description they described would be wonderful. I just really don't want to travel that far. With us only having one vehicle, it would really make things difficult and I don't want to drive almost 60 miles a day... been there, done that. Is commuting distance really a valid reason to turn down an otherwise great opportunity? I don't know. It's definitely something to think about.