Holy crap Picasa actually let me upload pictures again and it didn't take 3 hours to do so! It's a miracle!I just thought I'd throw you a couple of pics that I had sitting in the camera. These are from the snow storm last week. Look at the side of the barn! And our wishing well is buried! The snow came all the way up to the middle of the front door. We just got about another foot last night. The past couple of days had been beautiful and it was starting to melt away and then boom, another foot. Crazy lake effect snows out here.

This is a picture of the boys having tater tots for breakfast the other day. They were laughing at me and couldn't figure out why I was taking pictures of them. Scott looks really good in hats but he never wears them so I wanted to get a good shot of him with it on, but they wouldn't look at me :(

And finally, here's the 25 week belly shot. Growing bigger by the day!

I'm loving being at home. Today is Ian's day off and it's so nice being able to spend time with him again and not have to spend our whole day off cleaning and doing laundry. This morning we drove out to Cooperstown and walked around and had lunch at a nice little cafe/pub. It was a nice little place and reminded us of the bar we ate in on one of the islands in Hawaii.
We even managed to put the crib together today! We've only had it since Christmas, lol. I'm excited to set her room up and get her stuff ready, but now with not working and having 3 months left I think I better pace myself or I'm going to get bored real quick.

Updated: Ok, so Picasa didn't work, big surprise! But I fixed it. Here's your pics.

Day 1

So today is day 1 as a stay at home wife. Actually I get to play the stay at home Step-mom for the next few days since Scott doesn't have school this week. Did you know that a 12 year old can talk for about 20 hours straight. Not kidding! We're enjoying our relaxing time off together. He's no longer sick, lucky! I on the other hand still feel like I have been continuously backed over by a Mac truck.
Is is odd that my doctors office tries to treat you right over the phone? I called to make an appointment and the receptionist put me through to the nurse. She asks me the usual questions, just like I was sitting on the paper sheet in front of her. She takes some notes and says "I'll talk to the doc and someone will call you back shortly." That seems weird to me. Don't they want to listen to my lungs and take my blood pressure and all that good stuff? As long as it works and what ever they give me is safe for the baby.

Well I have a bunch of running around to do this afternoon....oh shoot, it's a holiday. Is the bank open today? I guess I'll have to go down and find out. I think I should wait to hear back from the docotor first though because she's probably going to call in a script for me.
I have to go down to the vet and collect a bunch of paper work so I can get the dogs licenced and avoid the $50 fee from them getting out last week.

Does anyone else have a preteen with a Wii? Do you believe that it creates false self esteem? Ian brought up this debate the pther day and I have to say that I fully agree that it does. Scott believes that he is next to God when he plays Wii sports. I think I should video tape him so he can see how spastic he actually looks. He thinks he's so cool and athletic, lol. It's so funny to watch. Everytime he does good he throws his arms up in the air and does a victory dance saying how great he is.
Either way it's still better than laying around playing shoot 'em up games.

Full time Blogger

That is my new ocupation. That's right. I've quit my job. Not quite sure what I was thinking. Maybe it's the fact that I feel like shit, or that my desk has been flooded for a week, or that it was raining in the bathroom when I got there and leaking out into the hallway with a huge puddle and all they could muster up was to put up a wet floor sign. Or maybe it's the fact that I recieve numerous phone calls reminding me to breathe while I'm at work because you know I am a complete moron and might forget to do that. Or maybe it was the fact that Ian was stuck at work and it's our weekend with Scott and niether of us could go get him. Maybe it was a culmination of all these things. Who knows. But I handed in my keys and said have a nice night.

Now I have to deal with the reality and the financial stress that will come next week. One thing at a time though for now.

The dogs are doing ok. They both have frost bite :( Bruno is limping all around because in between his toes are frost biten (is that a word?) Poor Patches has frost bite on her nipples! OUCH! They seem to be ok with is but they're not to fond of going outside just yet. I have to force them to go out to go to the bathroom.

Well, goodnight for now. Wish me luck in my retirement.

They're home!

The dogs are home. They made it to a carn that was about 4 miles from our house and the dog catcher picked them up tuesday night. He brought them home tonight. They both need baths, Bruno's feet are all sore and red. But over all they are good. I feel so much better having them back.
We've been buried with snow. I don't think I've ever seen this much snow in my life. The snow is half way up our front door! Ian made a path from the doggy door to the driveway. The snow is way over the dogs head so the only place they can go is into the driveway.

I've been horribly sick for the last 2 days. Stuck in bed. No appetite, no energy everything hurts. This sucks! It hurts so bad to even breathe. I can't talk, no voice. Ian got me some Robitussin DM and saline nasal spray that seem to be approved for use during pregnancy. Hopefully they'll work for me.

Blogger made me switch! What the heck! Why do I HAVE to have the new blogger? I liked the old one just fine.

Ok, back to bed. I'm gonna go cuddle up with my smelly dogs. Goodnight.

Tears

The dogs are missing! They've been gone since sometime late Saturday night. I've been in tears everyday. Mostly because I'm scared for them, then because I miss them. It's been cold and then there is the 3 feet of snow and another potential 3 feet tonight.

I've called the vet, the Humane Society, and the local police. Nothing! I can only hope that someone has taken them in and is loving on them, or that they have found decent shelter in one of the many barns around here. God please watch over them. The thought of them out there in danger or hurting just kills me inside and brings endless tears. I love them. They've been my babies for almost 4 years and I miss them terribly. I just need to know. If they are ok, I'll be delighted, if they're not I will grieve but I would need that closure. It's like torture not knowing.

The baby girl is kicking up a storm, she's a little Mia Hamm in there. (no that's not the name we choose)

Today she felt the need to try and play the xylaphone on my ribs. It hurt! She's done it about 4 times now. My belly is jumping all over the place, you can see it even through my shirt now. She kicks that hard!

I have a cold. I feel like crap, can't stop coughing, chest and throat are killing me. Yuck!

Ian and I finally made it out to register. It was so much fun picking out stuff for our baby girl.

I go back to the Dr. March 8th. It is also our first birthing class. Ian will be in Jersey for a meeting and I will have to go alone, that sucks! I'm so dissapointed. I really want him there, and I know that he will be for all the other ones, but this is our first and I don't want to be alone, especially since I have no idea what to expect.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now...here's some belly pics to hold you over...

It's getting BIG!

Docs and Pics

Today we had another Doctor's appointment. Everything went well. The belly is still measuring on track and I've gained a total of 11 pounds so far. The doctor wants me to gain 30-35 pounds! I think that's a little on the high side for a goal, but we'll see what happens. I'm still eatting good and still gaining so I intend to just let nature take it's course and we'll see where I end up. All the books I've read say 25-30 is normal, I know I'm small but it's not like I was underweight to begin with so I'm not sure why she's shooting for the higher ends.
I go back in March and I have to do my Glucose testing the week of my next appointment. Other than that it was all pretty routine.

Ian and I made our trip to IHOP after the appointment and had a yummy breakfast. Then it was off to Home Depot to get a new shower head for the bathroom, I wanted one with the detatchable handle for washing the baby in the tub. Then we went to Barnes and Noble for awhile and then headed to a local baby store to get some ideas. I'm hoping to go to register on Sunday. It sucks that we have to drive over an hour and a half to get to a real baby store, but I can't wait to go. We shopped around the baby store here just looking for some ideas, but it's really rather small and they didn't have too much and everything they did have was very expensive.

Nothing else is really going on around here. It's been snowing everyday. We have about a total of 3 feet right now. The snow drifts here are crazy! Plowing is really a lost cause because all the snow just gets blown right back into the road. It's so bad that we've actually seen a few houses by us that plow thier front yards to avoid the snow piling up past their doors...seriously! They do. The snow out front is just about over the dogs heads. They have to hop through the front yard. Patches doesn't mind, she loves the snow. Bruno on the other hand is not very happy and will usually only go out through the garage and then he comes right back in.

The baby girl is getting spoiled. I can't seem to help buying her something at least once a week. I try hard not to but it's just so tempting. Today Ian bought her some baby hangers for her closet that he has customized and we got her some of those cute headbands with the bows on them.

Here are a few of her other latest gifts:

Daddy's presents from Vegas


Ian says she can never have enough I Love Daddy stuff.

An Adorable out fit from Ev, Chris, and Baby Chris (AKA her boyfriend)
This is a huge box of clothes that Ev had shipped to us just hours after we found out she was a girl!

And finally the latest belly shot. You can see the dark circles in my eyes, yuck! This shot really doesn't do the belly justice, it's so much bigger in real life!

Belly Dancer

This weeks lesson must be Salsa. They don't mention anything about in the womb dance classes on any of my pregnancy calendars, but I swear there is one. Today she was dancing on my inner most parts and creating quite the ruckus, so much so that I actually started laughing out loud and asking her to stop it. It's so weird! Today was definitely the weirdest feelings so far. I think she's getting to big and running out of room in there, and she doesn't seem to happy about it. She'll poke the same spot 4 or 5 times in a row, almost like knocking on the walls to tell them to open up. It's so funny.

Have you ever walked into a room in your house and reached for the light switch in an odd spot? I don't know what it is about this house but every now and then I'll walk into a room and swipe the wall to turn on the light, only the light switch is no where near where I look for it. I mean not even the same wall! In the beginning I just wrote it off as getting used to a new house, but now after living here for just over 6 months (Wow it's been 6 months!) you would think I would have it down...but no. Everyday is an adventure in the life of Kari, I swear!

Ok that's it for today, just a quick note to tell you all about the salsa dance going on in my belly and the brain cells that can't hold the memory of a light switch.

I hope you're all enjoying the Super Bowl. Us country folk can't get local channels out here in the boondocks :( We've actually petitioned to get local channels via satellite, but the only two that granted us permission were Fox and ABC and the local news is out of New Jersey!!! Go figure. New Jersey, NYC, upstate central NY it's all the same right?

The sweetest thing

My husband. He is indeed the sweetest thing. He has fallen full on, head over heels in love with his daughter. I think that although he's been preparing himself for a girl since the moment we found out I was pregnant, the realization was still quite a shock.

He's back from Vegas and I'm still working so you can all guess how that went. He had a good time though so I'm glad he finally got a break and got to relax a little. He works so many hours and provides everything for us, he deserves to take time out for himself.

He came home bearing gifts for all of us, he's so sweet. He even got two pink Vegas onsies for the baby girl.

He told me the other day that I am no longer the #1 girl in his life :( Move over Mama here comes the baby girl! He even told the dog that she cannot be the baby girl and that basically everyone needs to move over because the new love in his life will be here in a few short months.

It's amazing to see him falling in love with the baby, and she's not even here yet. I feel so blessed. I'm so surrounded by love and filled with unsurmountable love in so many ways. I cannot wait to see Scott fall in love with her too. I think it's still hard for him because he can't see her. I'm sure the ultrasound pics are just really wierd to him too. I know that he is very excited and it is just going to be amazing to see him with the baby when she's here.

My Mom went out and bought me a bunch of new maternity clothes. Thanks Mom!! I needed them really bad. My regular clothes are pretty much out of the question at this point. The belly is getting so big everyday. She seems to be moving a little less frequently, but I can definatly tell she is growing because her movements are more intense. You can see the movements sometimes if you watch my belly. Today I was laying with my arm on my belly and I could feel her kicking me and my arm moving.

The back pain comes and goes. It is the worst when I get home from work and sit on the couch and then try to get up. It hurts to walk! Last night I had 2 more leg cramps and woke up screaming. It hurts! Ian was more supportive this time and didn't just roll over, lol.

I'm still hungry at least every 2 hours but it hasn't been as painful as it was a few weeks ago. Not craving anything. I actually have a hard time deciding what to eat because I'm really not in the mood for anything I'm just hungry. I've been eating pretty healthy and I still like healthy foods but the junk is tasting good too. In the begining I had no desire for ice cream or chips or anything like that. I still haven't had alot of junk food cravings, maybe once a week. It makes for a nice little treat.

I don't feel like I have that pregnancy glow. I have these dark circles under my eyes that just don't seem to go away. I used to never wear makeup, but now I feel like if I don't put some on I look half dead! I think that this little girl inside is stealing what beauty I had, lol.

I've been dying to go register. Ian and I have yet to have a day off together and I really want to do this together so it will have to wait. I think I've seen all there is to see on the internet and I have almmost everything I want picked out, but I really want to see it all in person. Plus, I don't want to register for every thing that can only be found online.

I took a belly shot in the bathroom mirror. It looks so much bigger when I look at it in the mirror than it ever seems to turn out in the pics. So you can all see how much she is gowing every week. I go back to the Dr. on the 8th, I'm sure I've more than doubled my weight gain by this point.


UGGG!! Pics won't post!!! Stupid blogger!