Low-Sodium Saltines, and Other Such Nonsense.

So I was sitting in bed last night, eating my saltless-saltines (I call them my not-queasy crackers) when the cat jumped up on the bed. Nothing new there, of course he has to be where ever I am and in the middle of whatever it is I am doing. But then he starts going nut-so over the crackers! They might as well have been slathered in catnip, because he wanted those crackers. So I gave him a bit of one, expecting him to sniff it and leave it like he does with everything else I give him, but he scarfed it down. It was terribly cute, even if his begging was also mildly annoying. (The pic is just a random shot that a I took months ago...)

Fortunately for me, I did not have a repeat performance of my first official bout of full blown morning sickness. I'm crediting the not-queasy crackers that I ate just before I turned out the lights last night, and that I forgot to eat two nights ago. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Nothing to Note

After working *all day* both Friday and Saturday (20+ hours in 2 days!!) I did absolutely nothing this weekend. Ok, well, I did go to the grocery store and make sure that my husband stayed fed, but nothing else. I spent a lot of time laying around reading...it was wonderful! And the book I'm currently reading is a nice change from the brainless fluff that I have been devouring lately. It's an epic fantasy called The Serpent Bride (by Sara Douglass), in case you're curious. The book is a complex story with several intertwining sub-plot lines that I can already tell will be woven together at the end. And, it's the first book in a series! Wonder of wonders, I got it at the Exchange, too. Don't get me wrong, I do like my mindless fluff, but it is nice to read something with a little more oomph to it every once in a while.

Junk Food

Why is it, that all of a sudden, all I want in junk food? I mean, I always want chocolate, but not the Taco Bell and the Anthony's and the Burger King! And the Easy Mac... I swear, I cannot get enough Easy Mac. Does my low sodium tomato soup and plain tuna dinner make up for the burger I had for lunch today? Probably not. I'm thinking a private one on one with an elliptical will be necessary to remedy that. I really am trying to make this a healthy pregnancy, really!

Ah, well. Thank you to Colin and Corinnea and Mary, for your efforts to provide me with M&M's today. I needed those M&M's. Seriously.

Heart beat!

Bran and I got to see the baby's heart beat yesterday!! It's just so amazing.... Where there was a shapeless blob a week ago (turns out that is the amniotic sac), we can now see the teeny tiny baby inside!! And, we could see the heart beating. The doctor told us that the baby is 7.5mm long, which is huge compared to what it was, but still so tiny!

I found myself feeling both awed and humbled. It still hasn't fully sunken in, that I'm going to be a mommy. And I have this tiny, amazing little person growing in my belly. Utterly amazing. Brandon was obviously just as impressed by the experience as I was. He just could not stop talking about it, all night last night. It made me feel good. :)

Random Veronica Pic

In the process of wandering around MySpace the other day, I came across my sister's pictures from her recent trip to visit our uncle in the Keys. They were all pretty cool (though I did feel a bit jealous that I didn't get to go with her), but I thought that this one of my niece, Veronica, was especially neat, with the falling sand and all...

*unintelligible moan*

I suppose my luck had to run out sometime... I managed not to toss my cookies this morning, not yet anyway, but will it get worse? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

"They look French. You know, ooh-lala and what not."

Me: Hey, baby look. I did my nails, they look all pretty."
Bran: Yeah, they look French. You know, ooh-la-la and what not."

This was in the car, on the way home today. (I guess I shouldn't be asking him to look at things--other than the road--when he's driving. Oops.) It made me laugh, and I thought I would share the laughter.

Anyway, I had my second prenatal check up yesterday. We were definitely able to see the baby this time, which is crazy. A week ago, it was a slightly darker speck in the grey murkiness of the sonogram picture. Yesterday, it was clearly visible, though it still only looks like a blurry dark kidney bean. (As soon as I am able, I'll scan it and post a picture.) All of the tests that they ran came back negative. I even came up negative for the Rh factor in my blood, when a good 85% of the population is positive. Since we know that Brandon is Rh positive (I'm B-, he's B+) I'm going to have to do the shot thing to accustom my body to it, so it doesn't think the baby is a foreign element. That would be bad. I'm going back in again this coming Monday, to listen to the baby's heart beat. I'm so excited! It's finally sinking in that this is for real. ^_^

Angelbachtal Medieval Faire

We went to a ren fest in Angelbachtal yesterday. Had a lot of fun, too. It was only about an hour away, and Peguy and Neil went with us. It was great! Of course, Bran got bored about an hour after we got there, but we appeased him with cotton candy and candied pistachios, and everything was cool.

The thing I liked best is that there were a lot of people in period clothing, showing how things were done 6 or 700 years ago. I took a ton of pictures of those guys... Well, the craftsmen anyway. There were also a lot of people just sitting around outside their tents, smoking pipes, or cooking or whatever. I just thought it was neat, because the last (and only other) ren fest I went to, there were shows and booths set up for shopping and, but none of the period demos. It was disappointing, though, because they had neither the big juicy turkey legs that I had been so looking forward to, nor a henna artist. We ate spatzle and crepes instead. And Peguy got a big hunk of pork that they carved right off of a pig on a spit.

We stayed until time for the Joust at 2, but didn't start toward the field until about 10 minutes before, and there wasn't even any standing room left, with a view of the field. Brandon could see, but none of the rest of us could. We stayed for a bit. Bran put me up on his shoulders a coulple fo times, so I could see what was going on, but we finally decided to just go. It promised to be a long show, and I knew bran couldn't hold me on his shoulders for that long and it would have been rude to Peg and Neil anyway. And, did I mention that by that time my feet were killing me? My black flip flops just are not cutting it.

Anyway, we headed back toward the car and got the stone carver to take a pic of the 4 of us on the way out. Bran and I both fell asleep on the way back to Peguy's to get our car, so we decided to justhead on home and be lazy instead of hanging around to play wii with them. It was a good day... We only spent about 60 euros on everything: admission, food, souveniers. Not bad, right?
I thought it was pretty good.

I'm going shopping with Mary this morning, yay! After the week she had last week, I figured she could use some fun girl time, and I want to start scooping up maternity clothes anyway. Wish us luck!! This afternoon I have my second ultrasound. Stay tuned for the latest breaking news!!

4 weeks today

Today is 4 weeks exactly, working from July 12 as day 1. It's probably too early to be taking pictures like this, but you have to start somewhere. The only visible bump is the one that has been there right on along...nothing new. I can't wait for a real baby bump to appear, so that it doesn't just look like pudge any more. Besides, I bought this really cute dress, but it won't look right until I have a belly to go with it. ^_^

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, I cut my hair.

not what I expected.

Being pregnant is not what I expected. So far, anyway. I don't feel any different, really. Not that I'm complaining about my lack of morning sickness! But nothing has changed. Intuitively, I guess I knew that the changes would be mostly subtle. After all, the whole thing takes 9 months! Nothing happens over night. Except maybe morning sickness, and we have already established that I am not missing *that* in the least.

Still, though, I find myself wondering if I really am pregnant. I'm really looking forward to the point when I will be able to feel the baby moving, and be able to hear the hearbeat when I go to the doctor. I think that then, it might become real for me.

updates

I had my first prenatal doctor's visit today. The nurse at the clinic (after my positive pregnancy test) gave March 23 as my due date, and I knew then that she had miscalculated. (It's impossible...Brandon and I weren't even in the same state at that point!) And sure enough, Dr. Kraus did the math and came up with April 5. Then, based on what he found in my first sonogram, not that there was much to see, the computer came up with April 6. So, we're looking at a new addition to the family around the first week of April. Yay!