Chicago

Sorry I have been a bit absent from the blog world for a few days.  


I took a short trip to Chicago and did not take my laptop.


My husband had a meeting there and he left last Friday.  I had to work Monday and Tuesday so I flew up there on Wednesday after his meeting was over.  We stayed a few days and then came home yesterday. 


We really didn't do that much.  It was really just a time for us to relax and enjoy ourselves.  We stayed at Trump Tower and it was fantastic.  I'm not even kidding when I say that it was the nicest hotel that I have ever stayed in.  And I feel like I have stayed a lot of places!!!  We booked just a regular king room and they upgraded us to a room with a river view (because of our Expedia account or something).  We never stay at a hotel that doesn't have a mini bar....not necessarily for the alcohol but just for the beverages in general.  This room had a huge mini bar.  It also had cabinets full of dishes, a dishwasher, and a microwave.  And this was not a suite!  I have to say my favorite thing was the jar of Gummi-Bears....I had two whole jars...awesome.  


They also had a pillow menu.  No joke.  A menu of pillows that you could order (free).  Body pillows, junior body pillows, down alternative pillows, synthetic pillows, and even aromatherapy pillows.  How cool!


When I arrived on Wednesday we immediately went out to dinner at The Melting Pot.  I love this place.  I know that is weird but it is just so fun.  I think I love it so much because we don't have one anywhere near where I live.  The closest one is 3 hours away so I never get to eat there.  Mostly I love the dessert...but the rest is great too.  Here are a few pics....

Thursday morning we slept in and then met my friend Laura for lunch.  I met Laura in college and we have been close ever since.  The past few years it has been harder to keep in touch because she moved to New York City, I got married, etc.  Lonnie and I have been to NYC twice in the past 2 years and each time we had dinner and saw a show with her.  She has been working out of her company's Chicago office for the past month so it was perfect timing for a little catch-up!  We met at a pizza place and had a wonderful time filling each other in on our lives.  

After our lunch we went to the Field Museum to see some of the exhibits.  They had one on horses and then my honey wanted to see the one on the ancient Americas.  It was interesting but I was wearing down pretty fast.  After we left we went back to our awesome hotel room and took a nap.  We ordered room service for dinner and watched 127 hours.  I had been wanting to see this because I read the book.  It was a good movie...James Franco was crazy good...but I felt like it could have been better.  What an amazing story though.....I remember just a little bit after it happened he did an interview with Tom Brokaw.  It was two hours long and I'm pretty sure I cried the whole two hours.  Tom took him back to the scene for the first time and you could see all the blood and where he carved his name, birth date, and death date into the rock.  Emotional stuff...


Friday morning we slept in again.  Then we had tickets to opening day at Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs play the Pirates.  We love watching baseball games live...not on TV.  Let me just tell you how great the weather was...until Friday.  It rained the entire game!  We still had a good time.  We were literally on the first row on the first base line just past the dugout.  Amazing seats.  We were prepared for the cold...and sort of for the wet.  We bought some ponchos there and sat on one and then each put one on when it started raining harder.  We looked like TOTAL goobers.  We made it to the 7th inning before my toes were about to fall off and we left.

This would be Robert Redford throwing out the first pitch!

After the game we went back and took a short nap.  Then the highlight of the trip happened.  I had the most unbelievably incredible massage.  It was a head, neck, and shoulder massage and it was done by a man...which doesn't bother me.  He was not scared of the fact that I was pregnant.  He twisted me and turned me and basically manhandled me the entire time!  I swear I would fly back to Chicago just to get that same massage.  After the massage we went back to the hotel room and got room service...again!  I told ya....totally relaxing getaway.  


Then we flew back to Arkansas on Saturday.  All in all it was a great little getaway.  


I was a little sick on the trip but I will talk about that in my Kelly Belly update on Tuesday.  


Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Kelly Belly-11 weeks

11 weeks today!  Way to go little beeb....or little beiber.  

For some insane reason me and my husband have started calling the baby little beiber or baby beiber.  I have no idea why or how this got started.  But we must get rid of it that name STAT!  I think that it had something to do with that commercial that has Justin Beiber and Ozzy Osbourne in it.  Where Ozzy says "What's a bee-buh?".  I laugh every time I see that.  Ozzy is so funny....sure wish they'd put him back on a reality show because I would so be watching that!

(courtesy of Google images)

Some other names for the little guy/girl.  

-little beeb

-baby beeb

-baby boo

-baby booble (my husband calls me booble...not sure where that came from either!)

-little bean

-little jumping bean

I am sure there will be many more to come.

The biggest thing that happened this week was that we started telling people about our pregnancy.  If you want to read a little about that click here or here.  The news has, of course, spread like wildfire.  It is still hard for me to believe that I am the pregnant girl.  I still tear up when people congratulate me.  


I have had a little bit more energy this week.  I'm definitely not bursting with energy but I can tell it is a little better by the fact that I don't feel like I am going to fall asleep at work at like noon.  I just fall asleep when I get home!


My nausea has subsided this week as well.  I am very thankful for that.  Although, I think I may have jinxed myself because tonight I am not feeling too hot.  


My friend Keisha got me one of those belly band things for my birthday.  She said that she liked it a lot when she was pregnant because the maternity pants were too big for a long time. My regular pants still fit me they are just uncomfortable when they are buttoned.  I might be trying the belly band very soon.  I feel like I shouldn't need it yet though!!!!!


Amanda, a girl I work with, scanned me yesterday.  This was the first time someone at work has scanned me since I've been pregnant.  It was so fun!  I totally forgot to get a good picture though (we were using the machine that doesn't print pictures).  He/she has gotten so much bigger.  My book says that the baby will double in size in the next week!  Wow...


Chasity, another girl I work with, had her baby yesterday.  Would you believe that her water broke on her due date?  How rare is that.  I kept having to hold back tears when we would go up to see her and little baby Allie.  I just kept thinking that this would be me in October.  Finally.  It was a little easier to visit labor and delivery now that I am pregnant.  Since I work at the hospital, I have been up there many times for other people while dealing with infertility and it has always just been so hard.  Even though it was easier this time I don't think I will ever not think about all those times visiting other people and how bad it hurt.  Once an infertile....always an infertile....


Oh and she pushed out an 8 lb 14 oz baby....and Chasity is a tiny little thing!  That kinda got me a little nervous...but if she can do it I know that I can!


Well I am taking my pregnant booty to bed very soon.  It is storming here and that is making it very hard to keep my eyes open.  


Happy Tuesday to y'all and happy 11 weeks to me!!!!


  

Pics of the week 2

Well, a lot of my pictures this week are related in some way to food.  I think it is because my appetite is back and food sounds awesome!

I have gotten food from The Purple Cow to go a couple of times this week.  They have a tuna melt that I like and a good rueben.  But mostly they have amazing malts.  I may have had a few one this week.

I was getting my oil changed and while I was waiting I got crazy thirsty.  I got a water out of the vending machine and this is what pops out.  Really?  No label?  Is this safe to drink with no label?  I was too thirsty to even think about it....I mean look how frosty and cold it looks!

This is an eggo waffle....with peanut butter....covered in syrup.....it is wonderful....don't judge....

I stayed the night with my mom Saturday night while Hubby was out of town.  The next day when I went to go get in my car there was a bird (a robin) flying into my mirror continuously.  I mean like a thousand times.  The bird couldn't be bothered to crap on the driveway....just on my black car....  The craziest part was there was a chickadee doing the same thing on the other mirror!  Birds have small brains....

So remember how I was talking about spring and how excited I was that it was here?  Well I guess winter got jealous because he is back this week and it is COLD!  Yesterday I was sitting here watching basketball and I heard it thunder a few times. Then all of the sudden it was this huge HAIL storm.  I mean it was loud!  This is my deck.....Normally you can see the lake but it was hailing so hard you can't even see it.  

I really enjoyed this weekend.  I really didn't do a thing.  I spent some time with my mom and we watched college basketball.  I don't know if any of you girls watch basketball but it is March Madness and the games have been really good.  I did wake up on Sunday and couldn't turn my head to the right or look up.  I have some sort of muscle spasm or something.  I have been spending a lot of time on the heating pad and it is getting better.  Basically I have been super lazy for the past 3 days.  

I hope everyone had a great Monday!

The cat is outta the bag!

Well everyone now knows that I am pregnant.  


We decided to tell my dad and my Grand on Thursday night.  After we told them then I didn't care who told who about it.  I just wanted them to hear it from me.  


My dad's 60th birthday was in January and we took him to dinner.  I had some presents for him but I forgot to give them to him at that dinner.  I told him that we wanted to drop by on Thursday night to give him those presents because I was tired of them taking up a corner of my house!


Can I just say that I was so frickin' nervous on the way over there.....like sweating!  I'm not really sure why.  I think it was just that this was us telling the world and I had kinda liked it just being our little secret.  


I had three presents for my dad.  The first two were just his normal birthday presents.  The last one was this......

He was sooooo excited when he opened it.  He knew that we had been trying to have a baby for a while but he didn't really know any details and he never asks me about it.  His new girlfriend (that is an entirely different post) was there and she was excited as well.  I think had she not been there my dad might have cried.  He was just in shock.  We all hugged and then took these pics.    

After we left there we went straight to my Grand's house to tell her.  She also knew that we had been trying to have a baby but she has never asked me about it.  She also doesn't really know anything about fertility treatments so she has no idea what all we have been doing to get pregnant.  


I called her on the way and told her that I just wanted to drop by for a minute to give her something.  We got there and talked for a minute and then I handed her an envelope.  This is what was inside....

She was, of course, thrilled.  We hugged and I showed her some pictures of the baby.  We talked about my due date, names, and symptoms.  It was really great.  I forgot to take a picture at her house.....UGH!


After we left there I was just kind of numb.  I couldn't believe that I had just had those conversations.  I have been dreaming about those exact conversations for a very long time and they had just happened.  I was just trying to take it all in.  


On the way home I texted and called all of my friends and told them.  


On Friday morning my husband sent an email to all of his partners.  Most of them knew that we had been trying and knew that we had to do IVF.  They had to in order for my husband to get off of work.  


After that I gave the green light to my mother in law to tell her whole family.  


So there is it......my pregnancy is public knowledge!


I have to say that it is somewhat of a relief.  I was getting worried that my dad was going to find out somehow....not really that possible but you never know.  


I am also a little bit scared.  My mom says that is normal.  It is fun for everyone to be excited for me and I do love to talk all about baby.  But, it does make me  nervous.  I always said that I would wait until 12 weeks....I made it to 10 weeks 2 days.  Which I do think is pretty good considering the circumstances.  It would have been a ton easier to keep it a secret just between us is it had happened the old-fashioned way.


Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Kelly Belly-10 weeks

I am 10 weeks pregnant today!  We made it to double digits!  


The main thing this week, and the only thing I can really think about right now, is that I have been sick.  Like with a bad cold.  It totally sucks.  


I woke up last Thursday with a really bad headache.  I have never just suffered through a headache before.  It was my birthday and I slept pretty much all day.  We did go and get a massage, which was great, but we had to skip the parade downtown because I felt like poo.  


It was much better the next day but then I had a sore throat and started getting some congestion.  The sore throat only lasted that one day but I have just been super stuffy since then with a low grade headache.  My head feels like a balloon that needs to pop.  I  keep thinking if someone stuck a needle into my sinuses and relieved the pressure I would feel better!  (My honey says they can't do that by the way....boo!)  My nose is completely raw from sneezing and blowing my nose....I know...super attractive right?  I don't even sound like myself when I talk because I am so nasal.  It makes my eyes water just to hear myself!  Oh....and I think I have blown out my right eardrum from sneezing so much. 

These have been my best friend...although mine don't have lotion...maybe I should get that...

I feel like this is what I look like....

I know there are some medicines that are ok for me to take but I just really don't want to.  I have made it this far, surely this is going to go away soon.  I can suffer through a cold....I can do it....I can do it....


Let's see...what else went on this week?  We announced to my husband's brother and his family and you can read about how we did that in my previous post.  


I have been off work some so I have been trying to get some stuff done around the house...which is real fun when you are sick and just want to sleep all day.  I cleaned out our closets and our dresser.  I cleaned out all the drawers and shelves in our bathroom.  AND, I cleaned out our medicine cabinet.  If your medicine cabinet looked anything like mine then you realize what a task this was.  It was somewhat cathartic to get rid of all our leftover IVF meds.  None of them could have been saved because they had all been opened.  It is nice to open the cabinet and not have the Lupron staring at me.  It is also nice to open the fridge and not have the Follistim staring at me either.  I am happy just to have "normal" people meds in our cabinet.  I did save all the needles and syringes though....never know when those might come in handy!


My sleep has been screwed up this week.  I can fall asleep but I can't stay asleep.  I feel like I wake up a hundred times and I can't ever get comfortable.  I don't want to sleep on my back because that is not comfortable but I don't want to sleep all the way on my side either.  I have been trying to put some pillows under me and kind of prop myself halfway on my side but it doesn't really work well.  I think I need a body pillow to help do this.  I went to try to find one today but I couldn't....I guess I will have to order online.  


Last night in the middle of the night my husband asked me if I was sleeping ok and I said no.  Then he said well why don't you try going into the living room?  I think I was keeping him awake!  Poor guy....just wait!!!


The good news about this week is that I haven't had NEAR as much nausea and food is starting to sound better and better!  I have realized that I need to eat more frequently though.  Otherwise I get really sick feeling (like low blood sugar) and shaky.  This feeling comes on super fast and then I am ill before I know it.  I have been carrying around peanut butter crackers or an orange to snack on between meals.  


I don't have a "belly" picture this week because I have literally been in my jammies every day. This is for two reasons:
1) I am sick and don't want to get dressed
2) They are the only thing that is comfortable because I am so bloated!


Oh and I will share with all you pregnant girls that read my blog my newest awesome discovery this week......two words......JOLLY RANCHERS!!!!  That is all.....

Pics of the Week

I thought I would start doing a weekly post with pictures that I have taken throughout the week.  Random pictures of stuff that I like or things that are happening that week.  It is just a way to document what is going on in my life but also a way for you guys to get to know me a little better too!  Some weeks may be more interesting than others and some weeks may have more pictures than others.  I will really try to do this once a week.  I should probably designate a day each week and that would help.  Megan from In This Wonderful Life does a weekly post like this and I thought is was a great idea.  


So here goes!


As I have said before...I love Spring!  Well the Bradford pears have been blooming and this is what they looked like at the beginning of the week with their beautiful white flowers.  This is in our backyard.  

Here they are today.  Most of the white flowers have fallen off and they are just so green and pretty now.  You can see the piles of white flowers on the ground.  

We got our carpets cleaned this week!  I am so happy with the results.  This is a pic of my living room...with all the furniture out of the way.  The best part was, in order for them to clean the carpet our closet, I had to take all of the clothes out.  This was the perfect opportunity for me to do a little downsizing.  I gave away almost 3 bags of my clothes and we are still working on Lonnie's side.  I'll post pictures of it when we are done.  For some reason the carpet looks pink in this picture...hmmmm.....

Thursday was my birthday and the girls at work got me these cupcakes.  Of course there were more but I couldn't get a picture until we all scarfed a few down.  My mom, Jenni (my aunt), and my Grand also got me a super cute Italian cream cake but I forgot to take a picture!  

My Grand got me these stemless wine glasses that I have been wanting.  Much harder to spill these.  I will say you miiiiiiiight could fit half a bottle of wine in each one...they are huge!  I will be putting these to good use...after about 7 more months.  Until then I am sure my honey will enjoy them for me :)

Jenni got me this beautiful plate.  I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet.  It seems too pretty to sit on the counter and collect our keys and change.  My mom got me a flower pot and an awesome solar stake light to put in the pot.  I will post a pic of that when I get some flowers in the pot.  

This is a picture of me and my niece, Syble.  We went to my mother-in-laws house Friday night to hang out with my husbands brother, Marshall, and his twins, Collier and Syble.  My sister-in-law, Kristen, couldn't come.  I think she and I sat in this chair and played games on my iPhone or the iPad all night.  She loves me.  I love her.  :)

We decided to tell them about our pregnancy.  They live about three hours away and we really wanted to tell them in person.  We were sad that Kristen couldn't be there but we had to go for it or it could be another couple of months before we saw all of them together.  


When we got there we took the kids (they are twins and almost 6) into another room and told them we had a surprise for them.  We asked them if they wanted a baby cousin.  They nodded.  I said that the surprise was that Uncle Lonnie and Aunt Kelly were going to have a baby.  They both started smiling and then Syble said "You know what Aunt Kelly?  We have been praying for you every night to have a baby!"  This nearly brought me to tears.  Marshall and Kristen have known about our struggles and I just find that so sweet.  So then we told them that their daddy didn't know yet and we wanted them to tell him.  So Syble went into the kitchen and whispered to Marshall that he was going to be an uncle and Collier then handed him our most recent ultrasound picture.  He was beyond excited.  He gave Lonnie and I a huge hug and we all cried.  It was so special.  Then the kids called their mom and told her she was going to be an aunt.  She was super excited and I talked to her on the phone for a while about all the details.  It was all really, really, really fun!  I am pretty sure that is all we talked about the rest of the night!  


This is a picture that Syble drew of me.  I am holding my baby....how cute!

(kinda looks like I have a penis but we will just ignore that!)

It was very exciting to be able to tell them since we haven't been able to surprise anyone in our family with the news.  It made it feel even more real.  It did make us a little nervous but I am not focusing on that.  I am just focusing on being excited!  


Hope it is a beautiful weekend where you are!


AND happy first day of Spring!!!

3-17-11

AND

Hope y'all are having a great day!  I know I am.  Lonnie and I just got home from getting a massage and now we are headed for a nap!  I have had a horrid headache today so I am hoping a nap will help so we can go to the parade tonight.  But we will see....it is my birthday so I can do whatever I want!!!!