Uh Oh...

Well, I guess that bug I caught was a good one. It looks like Mark may have it now. I took today off from work, too, since I still just wasn't quite back to normal. I've finally been able to at least get some food in and staying in the system. Assuming Mark isn't sick, I will probably be find to go back to work tomorrow though I have no idea what I'm going to take to eat because as of yet I really can't handle much food at all.

I just feel really awful though that my Mark is now probably coming down with the bug....especially since it usually takes a pretty decent bug to bring him down.

I wonder where on earth we picked this little gem up...I sure hope it goes away completely by the time my birthday rolls around.

Take your vities people, the bugs are upon us!

Sickie Quickie

Today has been a pretty wretched day. I actually stayed home from work because I can't keep anything down. I must have caught a bug some where, I guess. It's been so long since I had a virus of this sort and this is definitely making up for the lapse of time.

The silver lining - my wonderful husband stayed home to take care of me. Another - it looks like maybe, just maybe, the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen...I hope so, I am so thirsty and a drop of water here and a drop of water there just isn't cutting it. :(

Hopefully things will be bright and pleasant tomorrow.

Picture Famine

Well, it's been real and its been fun...and at times it was even real fun, but the picture fest seems to be over kids. Can you hear the cries of despair and disappointment?

So, yeah, we did go to the doctor today, but no ultrasound pictures. I did, however, get to catch a glimpse of our little one on the ultrasound machine. She/he wanted to be sure that mommy got a short glimpse so he/she maneuvered so that the little heart beat was hard to find. What a good little one we have. :) Nevertheless, I have nothing to show for the short ultrasound experience. I can tell you though that we look like we're growing quite nicely and we have a very nice looking spinal column and some very cute feetsies!

On the bright side, along with this decrease in ultrasounds comes a decrease in appointment frequency which is nice since I have to make up time whenever I'm away from the office. So, our next appointment with the doctor is one month from now. Prior to this, I get to go visit the screening people a couple more times. Once next week to get an AFP blood test (which involves 5 whole drops of blood...yea! I've avoided a needle again!) and then we get to have more pictures...or at least I assume they'll not be greedy! So, in 3 to 4 weeks from now we'll have our Level II Ultrasound screen which will finish up our screening for various issues that will impact the baby's nervous system, organs, etc. With any luck, friends, we'll have some show and tell after this visit.

Oh, and just cuz it was pretty neat to learn, we did find out that our risk for Down's Syndrome based upon that first scan we did is 1 in 8000. Yeah, I think we're good. The doctor was thrilled with the results since someone of my age should be around a 1/200 risk I think he said. Let's hope the rest of the screens go just as well. :)

Let's see the only other stuff we really discussed that was of interest was where the doctor delivers. I have to go do some checking since I'm switching health plans in a few days and will be with an HMO (I've never been on one of these before so I'm a bit scared of what will transpire to be honest). Since it's with blue cross, I imagine we won't have an issue, but still it would be horrible to find that the hospital I'd prefer (which based upon current info is one that works with Stanford but actually has birthing rooms that you get to yourself) was not on the provider list. In general, I think all three of us agree that me being in a room by myself is going to be much better...the idea of listening to other women give birth just doesn't sound like a good thing for me given how empathetic I can be toward others.

Otherwise, everything looks good and so we're just moving along...here's to trimester 2!

Christmastime Is Here!

We've been busy bees here at our house...and it shows!

Our weekend was great...especially since I got to leave work at noon on Wednesday. This gave me the opportunity to go to the Cingular Wireless store and switch us over to a Cingular plan (we are some of those hold out "former ATT Wireless" customers) so that Mark can use his new fangled contraption of a phone. I got that taken care of and, in the process, got myself a newer phone, too...with, I'm happy to say, a few less bells and whistles than dear Mr. Mark's phone. It seems that they would try to keep things simple for people with visual impairments, but whatever. At any rate, despite a few "issues" with converting our accounts, everything was up and running by Wednesday night.

Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving and we enjoyed a nice quiet day at home. I fixed us a nice allergy free (with the exception of yams which I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole if I weren't allergic to them!) meal of turkey, mashed turnips and gravy, grape salad (which I may have to make again soon), spinach and artichoke dip, broccoli with cheese sauce and a couple of desserts to enjoy. We're still eating some of the leftovers, of course. Everything was really good, but man was I tired after all that slaving in the kitchen. I was almost too pooped to even want to eat the spoils of my hard work. I guess I never really realized how much energy I expend when I cook a holiday feast. Point noted and we may be having grilled cheese sandwiches on Christmas (I'm kidding!). I'm not sure what we'll have, but it may be significantly less time intensive than a full holiday spread...we shall see.

So, anyhow, after we finished eating and cleaning up after "hurricane MeLissa" (a category 5 storm in the kitchen this time around per Mark), I decided the time to move our living room around was at hand. Um, yeah, I did say I was tired, but for some reason the mere unsightly look of two separate work areas finally took its toll and I just couldn't stand it any longer...not to mention that I am just not one of those people who does well doing nothing. This drove my parents crazy I'm sure when I was home sick as a child...

When all was said and done, Mark and my work stations are in the same area of the front room...behind the couch and, for the most part, they are organized...the parts that aren't are hidden by the couch. :) I am loving the new layout!

On Friday, we jumped right into holiday preparations which is normal for us. I have a little rule that the house needs to be Christmas-i-fied by my birthday and as you can see from that little counter on the side bar, we are quickly approaching said day! We got most of the stuff up and out yesterday and finished up the rest of it today minus the greeting card display that I usually do in the entry way. I am just not sure I'm ready to expend the amount of energy that usually takes to make it look lovely...so we may just let it go this year.

Last night, we had a little visit from some new friends, Sara and Dan. Sara and I met in a rather odd way...she called to sell me some advertising in a bridal publication. We just seemed to really hit things off over the phone and we've been trying to get together ever since. She and her husband were great company for a nice Hawaiian dinner and then a little game of Disney Trivial Pursuit which we chose after discovering that, for the most part, our selection of games isn't exactly the best now that Mark can't see what's going on. I think we might make a trip to buy a couple of games soon...any suggestions on things we might be able to enjoy together?

So, as I mentioned today, it was still go, go, go as I finished up decorating our Christmas tree (which we really must upgrade either next year or the year after - it's getting very difficult to find empty branches for ornaments!) and the banister for the entry way. When Mark came home from the clinic, we tackled the guest room which had become a "catch all" and just really needed some TLC. Thankfully, I'd started that project last week and so there was plenty to do but it wasn't impossible to finish by the end of the day. As part of the process, I went through and cleared out a lot of wedding-business related stuff. I've kind of decided that if I do continue on here in California with my business I really prefer to just do a very minimalist day-of package. I have one more bridal show to do in February and this will be the slant I take. I plan to revise my website to reflect this as well at some point, but as of yet, the motivation to do so hasn't quite hit me! :)

We hope you all had a lovely holiday and have a wonderful Chirstmas season (or other holiday) ahead of you! Perhaps I'll try to get some pictures of our house as decorated up sooner or later. Until then, let us be the first to wish you a very
Merry Christmas!

Just a heads up that tomorrow we may have more pictures to show...I have an appointment with my regular OB/GYN. I'm sure you can guess that if I have anything to show and tell, you'll be the first to know!

First Screen Results

I am happy to report that our Nuchal Translucency and First Trimester screen came out A-OK! This means that our little one has a smaller risk of having chromosomal issues. Pretty neat, eh?

We also finally got our wireless service set up so that Mark can now make his own phone calls and such...very cool! I got a new little cell phone myself which can take pictures and such. I needed one to get on our new plan.

Other than that, we're just preparing for Thanksgiving. We're not doing anything too exciting...just hanging out and having some turkey. We hope you all have a lovely holiday filled with blessings.

Pictures-a-Plenty

As usual, blogger just wouldn't cooperate last night. I guess we'll see if it's feeling a little more amiable this morning - it looks like we have pictures! :) Without further a-do...

In our first little view here, you can see that baby has a cute little nose and mouth...I could look at these all day. If we have a girl, I hope she gets my nose. It's such a silly thing but it is one of my favorite features. :)









Here's one of my "hmmm, where did all the space go" shots. If you look you can see a little baby arm on the left side there going up to his/her little head. Too cute for more words except to say that this picture was taken as the roll of ultrasound tape was running out hence the crooked bottom edge!







Here's another good view from the side. Funny thing about all of these pictures except the first one was that they had the wrong patient name on them. If I hadn't been there (which obviously I had to be, I guess) or paying attention, I would have thought they were the wrong baby pictures. You can rest assured though they are of our little guy/gal!





Our final pictures is yet another head scratching view...from the side this time around. Still utterly adorable...I can't wait until I can cuddle this little baby in my arms. :)

Feeling Deprived?

I haven't posted in quite sometime have I? I have to admit that there just hasn't been much going on this week. I did have a visit for an ultrasound/finger prick blood test to screen the baby for Down Syndrome and other disorders. Based upon the ultrasound things seem to be looking fine, but definitive results won't be in until later. As I'm sure you can guess - ultrasound = pictures. They were pretty generous so I have five pics to share today.

Our little one is looking like a human now. :) He/she (still don't know yet what we're having!) was striking some cute poses as you'll soon see. My favorites are the ones where he/she's scratching his/her little head wondering where all the room went. This is because on the day of this lovely screen I was having mild (thankfully) contractions. The doctors and nurses told me it was perfectly normal and that my body is just practicing for the birth process. Fine by me...as long as I don't have to endure pain yet!

Let's see in other news, I'm finally sporting just a wee bit of a baby belly. If you know I'm pregnant you can barely tell, if you don't you think I'm hitting the twinkies a bit too hard (which proves you're totally out of the loop since I'm allergic to them...alas!). Yeah, twinkies are sounding good...yet another allergy-laden craving that I'm resisting. There have been so many I won't even bore you!

One thing that is sort of "exciting" with respect to the whole food situation is I actually found a cracker recipe I like. It's for oat crackers and if they're rolled thin enough and baked to just the right state, they taste like a cross between a triscuit and a wheathin. Yummy. I've been enjoying them all week long and I think I might just make some more! :)

Okay, okay...enough chattering (or Jibba Jabba as Mr. T would say - have you seen his new show on TV Land? It's quite a trip...we love it!) - let's get onto those baby pictures! :) I'm not sure these scans are quite as nice as previous ones, but we take what we can get, right? :)

So here's picture number 1 of our little girl or guy. You can see the head to the left, the arm toward the bottom, etc.

Well as is all too often the case, blogger is now not cooperating so I'll bring this post to a close and try to get pictures into another. *sigh*

Scouting for Furnishings...

We decided to make good use of our time today by visiting Babies R Us and having a good look at the options available for baby furniture. Our primary focus at this point was to see what options were out there as far as strollers, cribs, changing tables and dressers. We were pretty pleased with what is available.

Perhaps the thing we like best is that many cribs now can be converted (at the appropriate time and with the addition of some rails) into daybeds and/or toddler beds and then full-size beds. Perfectamundo! Spending a few hundred dollars on a piece of furniture that will maybe work for a couple of years - not so much fun. Spending a few hundred dollars on furniture that can last the little tyke for most of his/her formative years - very cool. :) So anyhow, we have a few that we like better than others as is typical and as time draws nearer we'll figure out what it is we ultimately want to do!

Other than that, Mark finally got all the equipment the Department of Rehab has been promising to help him with school. We're pretty excited about all of that. One of the niftiest things is a GPS system that will help him get around...isn't that neat?

Work continues to go okay. It's usually tolerable and sometimes quite annoying but at least I've tackled the commute problem which did improve my mood somewhat. Nevertheless, I'm still planning to find ways to get into full-time motherhood and out of the rat race (again!) as quickly as possible.

Final little tidbit - I'm going in this week for a Nuchal Translucency scan to check for Down's Syndrome. We're not too worried about this sort of thing, but since they do scan for other things, we figured it would be good to do just in case so we can plan appropriately. That's on Wednesday...otherwise, not too much baby excitement this week (well, other than the fact that we are starting to see just a wee bit of a "baby buddah belly" as Mark calls it).

Lunch with Joe Montana

Been there. Done that. :)

Yep, I chose the restaurant to have lunch with my recruiting team wonderfully yesterday as Mr. Joe Montana was there as well. He was the next table over from us. Pretty cool, huh? We didn't pester him so I have no pictures or wise quips to share, but nevertheless it was a highlight of my day....even though I care little for football. :)

One other quick update and then I have to run to work. I think we can say Mr. Skeeter did get one good punch in. The blood that was in the little bugger was probably mine. I have a huge bite on the right side of my face. It's quite obnoxious, but eventually it will be gone and I will have won the war.

Have a fabulous weekend!

MeLissa vs. the Skeeter!

I've frequently said that excitement is very much over-rated. For those who've not yet heard my reasoning, take for example a car accident. It can be very exciting....and yet it's just not so good. Same thing about a swarm of bees chasing you - exciting indeed, but not good. Now, of course, there are plenty of things that are exciting and good, but well, just go with me on this!

So, when I tell you there was a wee bit of excitement in our household early this morning, please understand that we're speaking along the same lines. Also know, though, that we won't have similar excitement this next sleep cycle unless a) my nemesis is reincarnated or b) another takes his/her place.

Have you ever been sound asleep and were awakened to the sound of buzzing? You know that buzzing that a mosquito makes? Yeah, that. Well, last night I was peacefully slumbering (despite my seriously cranky attitude thanks to all the election stuff which we're just not going to talk about) on the couch and I awoke to said sound. I batted myself hoping that I'd killed whatever it was that had gotten a little too close for comfort. In a way the buzzer helped me out - it encouraged me to head into the bed room for a proper night's sleep. This all happened around 9:30 last night.

Around 4:00 this morning, I was sleeping peacefully in our bed and the evil buzzing came to shake me from slumber again. I batted and thrashed (waking Mark of course) and tried to kill the evil thing, but it was to no avail. In no time at all, the probable blood sucker (for I still had not seen it) came back for another fly-by and then proceded to torment poor Mark as well. After several batting attempts, we finally decided we'd go camping (i.e., we pulled the covers over our heads)...not that it mattered. The stupid little bugger continued on its quest for sustenance.

I finally was fed up with the whole ritual and got up to go to the bathroom (for like the 5th time last night...ay carumba) and drink some more water (because we wouldn't want to miss out on trip 6) and eat some food because I was, frankly, starving myself. Maybe the blood sucker was pregnant? Anyhow, I finally came back to bed and discovered that in my absence, Mark had arose and turned on lights in the hallway and the guest room to try to trick the skeeter out of our room. We didn't have a stupid skeeter...it didn't fall for it. We continued to be buzzed right up until the time that the alarm went off.

To say that I was miffed would be an understatement. For the past two nights before, I had not gotten a goodnight's sleep (the millions of trips to the bathroom are surprisingly not the problem - it's the hunger to some extent, but primarily just weird dreams...like about shaving or about telling friends whom I'm not very close to anymore that I'm kind of glad they're gone because they weren't terribly healthy for me anyhow...yeah, weird stuff like that). So, I was already sleep deprived and this little jerk was compounding my problem. I had told said jerk that it was in BIG trouble when I got up in the morning (now that I'm a bit more coherent it occurs to me that I should have just turned on the lights and found him when he was bugging us, but whatever).

Anyhow, to get to the point, I was on my way into the shower this morning when I noticed a speck on the wall over by my side of the bed. It turned out to be one VERY LARGE mosquito. I mean seriously...it was HUGE!! Now, before I continue on I would just like to say that this is one of those things that really bugs me about California. Are there mosquitos in Colorado right now? Um, no....not even remotely likely, but here we are in the beginning of November (November!!) and there is a big mamoth mosquito tormenting us - does this seem just a wee bit messed up to anyone else or is it just me?

At any rate, I popped that little bugger a good one and was pretty grossed out by the result - seriously. I had blood on my hand and all over the wall. It was uber disgusting! But, I vanquished the little tormenting jerk and hopefully tonight I'll manage to get a good night's sleep...woe be to any other creature that intrudes upon my slumber! :)

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Not Much to Speak Of...

Nevertheless I'm going to do a quick little post (yeah, sure....little) anyhow with just a few highlights.

First of all, the spaghetti episode seemed to go reasonably well. I did indeed have a bit of a reaction which is still sort of hanging on today; however, it has been pretty mild and tolerable...and therefore worth it because I'm over the spaghetti craving. I did buy stuff to make lasagna. I may make it and freeze it in case another one of these "must have real Italian food" episodes comes to haunt me.

Next up - I rode BART (rapid transit) to work today and it made going to work a much better experience. It was nice to be able to relax and just read a book. I contemplated sleeping a bit, but I fall asleep so easily lately (though I seem to not sleep terribly well despite this fact!) that I decided it would probably be a bad idea since I have transfers to make and such. I also was treated to lunch by my two supervisory people today. We went to the Yacht Club in Walnut Creek and when Mark's parents come next I'm thinking they might like to try it out. Lots of great seafood preparred in so many ways even I had a few choices as far as things to eat. :)

Speaking of Mark's parents, we've heard a rumor that they might pay us a visit either before or after the big family bash at Christmas and New Years. We were happy to hear that was a possibility since we're going to miss the party. We figure that with impending maternity leave and my planning to go down to a reduced schedule, we'll need to save as many pennies as we possibly can over the next few months...

We're thinking we may have some guests, if they'd like to come, over for Thanksgiving as well. Right now, we're kind of leaning toward inviting people from other countries to come join in the festivities. We'll keep you posted on where we actually go with it. We've also sort of decided to table the Christmas party. I am so worn out lately that the thought of adding responsibilities to my schedule isn't terribly appealing and again we're trying to save a little $$. Mark has asked if he could maybe throw a very informal birthday party for me instead (our party usually coincides with my birthday - it's my tricky way of having a party without too much of a hullabaloo) and I told him he's welcome to do so. It might be quite fun to get to sit back and enjoy something someone else has planned!

That is pretty much the extent of what is going on here...no baby pictures or news other than that my clothes seem to be fitting a little snugger this week. Since we're in week twelve (almost done with the first trimester!), I suppose it is to be expected. I've got a nice little wardrobe of clothes to step in to, but I've kind of been trying to really enjoy the last little bit of wearing my "normal" clothes. Once I actually have a baby belly to show off, maybe we'll treat you to a before picture I took a couple of weeks ago...I'm not sure most people could tell the difference if I took one at the moment. I think I just look like I have been overeating a bit! I assure you've that's not the case. I'm actually right on track as far as weight gain goes...

So here's to a great week for all of us! Time is just flying by....

It's Going...

Well, my first week at work was okay. I have to say that I like where I work, but I hate the commute and I'm pretty sure I was right about my tolerance for accounting being pretty much used up. C'est la vie...work I must so that I can provide for my family. I can't wait until Mark can take over.

Speaking of Mark, I may have already told you, but it bears repeating - he passed his second set of chiropractic board exams. Yea! Only two more sets to go until he's all done - he'll have Part III in March and Part IV in May. If all goes well, he'll be finished up by the end of December at which time we're still pretty sure we'll return to Colorado Springs...but things can always change. I sure hope they don't, though...I miss home.

As for other "stuff" to chat about, I made crackers today. They turned out pretty well and will allow me to enjoy some goodies I got today without having to resort to allergy foods. I do want to try one more recipe before I pronounce these "the ones," though. :) Also, I've broken a vow...I'm sorry and I won't make the mistake of making it again. Tonight for dinner we had spaghetti...with marinara sauce. I know, I know...I said I wouldn't give into allergy-food cravings. I'm weak. I admit it. I was hoping things would go a little better...

As luck would have it, they seem to be slightly better - I don't feel the need to toss my cookies...yet. It's an improvement. I do unfortunately have a bit of asthma and a very tingly tongue, though. I really gotta go find out more about those allergy curing techniques I've heard about....

Final bit of news - tonight we wandered around our community and talked to residents about Mark's school and receiving care. We met some great neighbors and a couple of them seem to be great contacts for Mark...our favorite is a guy who is president of a union. If you need some nice affordable chiropractic care, give Mark a call - he's anxious to help as many people as he can!