Pregnancy Tag

I got tagged by a friend to list 10 things about my pregnancy. Since I have 2 children I figured I'd make two separate lists. So here goes it:

Pregnancy with Mister Awesome

1. I craved crab legs, McDonald's french fries, apple dippers and boiled peanuts. I was sent my husband out to McDonald's at 2am for french fries and apple dippers. I was in tears and unreasonable (pregnancy hormones are serious).

2. I read  and watched just about everything I could find on pregnancy and childbirth. I was pretty certain I would be able to deliver my baby by myself if I had to lol. Being knowledgeable and prepared definitely took the fear and anxiety away even when I had complications.

3. I had preeclampsia and was in the hospital for 3 days before I went into labor. I missed my baby shower because I was in the hospital. Good thing I was already in the hospital because it snowed while I was in labor.

4. I wanted everyone in the delivery room with me especially my grandma.

5. I went to Piccadilly's after every OB appointment and the week the restaurant closed I went into labor.

6. I lost 15lbs my first trimester and gained it all back plus 41 lbs more.

7. I was working on putting my hair in mini twists the night before my OB appt and figured I'd finish when I came home, but I was admitted to the hospital right after my appointment.

8. I racked up some serious frequent flier miles while I was pregnant and had OBs in Hawaii and on the mainland.

9. My duedate was March 6th, but my son was born on Valentine's Day.

10. I had a preggo circle of friends and we each had our babies on each other's duedates. My friend Maria had her daughter on my duedate and my son was born on my friend Deanne's duedate.

Pregnancy with Bunny (Rainbow Baby)

1.  I didn't have an incling that I was pregnant until my friend told ne she was pregnant and we started discussing symptoms.

2. My husband and I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant until I was in my second trimester because I had had a missed miscarriage 2 months prior.

3. The entire I was pregnant a bunny lived in our backyard. After my daughter was born the bunny disappeared. We joke that the bunny was checking us out for the baby. This is one reason we call our daughter Bunny.

4. I made a decision to cloth diaper and researched everything I could about them when I found out I was pregnant. I also decided to breastfeed as long as I could and use more natural products.

5. I finished and turned in a final exam for biology while I was laboring. My laptop and school books were right beside my 

6. I joked with my friends that I would tell my nurse to turn to Scandal if I went into labor on a Thurday. I went into labor on a Thursday but she was born before Scandal came on. I watched House Hunters instead.

7. Bunny was born after 20 minutes of pushing (3 pushes) on January 31st @ 39 weeks.

8. I craved Asian cuisine my entire pregnancy. I am on a first name basis with the waitresses at the local Chinese buffet.

9. My family moved from Hawaii to the mainland my second trimester. I was without my household goods for a little over a month.

10. I discovered that Bunny was a girl during an ultrasound at 13 weeks. I asked the nurse if I was right and she confirmed I was. However, I waited until the anatomy scan at 20 weeks before I told the gender and bought gender specific things.

My Extended Military Family

 This past weekend my husband and I met up with two of our best friends in NYC. We met them while my husband was stationed at Hickam AFB and they were visiting the East Coast for a few days. Over the three years we were in Hawaii this couple became family. We celebrated holidays together and helped each other out whenever we could. Great friends are essential to military life especially when you're on an island 1000s of miles away from family.

We PCSed from Hickam over a year ago and we had not seen them since they dropped my husband, son and pregnant me off at the airport. Seeing them this past weekend was awesome. It was the good ole days and was like our address never change. We picked up right where we left off. Even though my son was 18 months when we left Hawaii and is almost 3 years old now he remembered them and got so excited when he saw them. Our friends also finally got to meet our new edition, their Goddaughter.

We went sightseeing, watched the Carolina/Clemson game and just enjoyed each other's company. It was a great day and I hated to see it end.

Christmas Countdown: The Doll Dilemma

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the songs, the movies, the decorations and pretty much everything about the Yuletide season. A month ago I made a list of toys I wanted to buy my son (2) and daughter (10 mo) for Christmas. The first toy on the list for my daughter is a doll, her first doll. I never thought it would be so difficult to find a African American doll that is appropriate for a 10 month old.

 I found dolls I just absolutely loved but didn't come in an African American version. Years ago my aunt told me about her search for an African-American Raggedy Ann. This was in the pre-internet days so this meant calling and driving to stores. She ended up getting someone to make a African-American Raggedy Ann doll. It became my favorite doll and made every major move right along with me. She even went off to college with me.

It was difficult to find African-American dolls when I was a child, but my family felt it important for me to have dolls that looked like me.  Now that I have a daughter I want her to have dolls that look like her because I believe it will have a positive affect on her self image and her perception of beauty. So the search for the perfect doll for my daughter continues.

The Way I See It: Scandalous Things

I woke up this morning thinking about how the media affects society. I was listening to the radio yesterday and the question was asked if it's okay to cheat/ have an affair if your spouse is a B$%&@. Folks called in justifying cheating on a spouse making Scandal references. I was appalled but not surprised. People root for Olivia Pope even though she is the mistress and in any other situation she would just be seen as a home wrecker and sympathy would be given to the wife. However, viewers overlook the immoral behavior if Olivia because Millie isn't favorable, but adultery is still adultery. Scandal reinforces the idea that it's okay to cheat if your spouse is conniving, mean spirited or a little bit evil. The commandment says "You shall not commit adultery" and there is no list of exceptions in any fine print. Don't get me wrong I love the show and will be tuning in every Thursday, but I spend a great deal of the show wanting to slap some sense into Olivia and kick Fitz in the jewels. I'm happy to see Olivia's dad in the first episode make an attempt to put her on the right track. This show is in need of Jiminy Cricket.

Hello... Again...

So... I went MIA again. This time I have a good reason. My husband deployed and I started grad school. It has been a crazy few months. For this deployment I decided not to go stay with my parents. I wanted to try it completely on my own and I learned so much about myself. I'm pretty strong. I can't say that I won't go stay with my parents the next time my hubby deploys, but I know that I do it on my own. 

What do you mean tuition is $20,000 a year and he won't get a degree?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This week has been super busy and it's only Wednesday. Monday I had a job interview and then that evening I attending the South Carolina United Methodist Church Annual Conference. My aunt was ordained a full elder. (I'm extremely proud of my aunt.)  On Tuesday I attended a graduation that evening but spent the day researching schools preschools and  graduate school programs. Finding the perfect school is stressful and I'm finding that it may just be cheaper to enroll my two year old into college than to send him to preschool.

One school's yearly tuition was over $15,000 plus a list a special fees which ends up being close to $20,000 . For $20,000 I need my kid to be able to obtain licensure and start a practice. The MBA degree program at Liberty University is less than $10,000 for the entire program. Maybe I'll just send him there. He's kind of business smart and he's definitely a great negotiator. Just yesterday he negotiated a 50% cookie increase and then initiated the hostile takeover of my cookie. I think he's ready. As for me I am so ready to start a graduate program.

 My plan was to start classes this summer, but I realized that I was burnt out and needed a break. I'm using this break to do the things that I haven't been able to do over past 3 years... You know things like blogging, getting my house in order and sleeping (sleeping may or may not happen, but I'm hopeful). Maybe I'll finally get a chance to introduce myself to our neighbors. We PCSed to Delaware from Hawaii almost a year ago and I really don't know my neighbors. I was pregnant, ended up on bed rest for 5 months and was trying to finish up my last semester when we moved. I introduced myself to one of my next door neighbor who moved two weeks later. I did introduce myself to the new neighbors who moved in about a month later when I went over to ask them to move their car from my driveway. I used to get so excited about new neighbors. I would put on my pretty pink apron and get my Bree Van de Kamp on, baking cookies, making lists of personal recommendations for the area and spreading the "Aloha Spirit". Getting to know my neighbors was  important and we've been lucky to have awesome neighbors in the past. Since we moved in 3 new families have moved onto our street, but I haven't made a real attempt to go over and say hi. When we moved to Delaware the welcome wagon never came for us and I might be a little salty or maybe it's the two kids under three years old hanging off my apron as I studied for finals and wrote papers (no, I'm salty) . It's a few months late, but I think when I get back to DE I'm going to load up the kids in the double stroller, go out and meet the neighbors. Hopefully our neighbors will be just as great as our previous neighbors and  there will be many back yard BBQs and birthday party invitations in our future.

I Suck At New Year Resolutions

Since I obviously suck at New Year resolutions I'm making a mid year resolution to blog my booty off. Since my last blog I've graduated (Woo Hoo), moved from Hawaii to Delaware and had another baby. Yeah I've been pretty busy over the past year and some change.
Even though I wasn't blogging I was writing daily and I will be uploading somethings I've written over the past year. Most of my new entries will probably be about whatever comes to mind while I'm nursing my daughter at 1:30am. So... new entry tomorrow (today)... I'm about to burp the babe and get some Zzzz. Holla!!!