Spooky Treats!

I made these cupcakes for a co-worker. They were a lot of work but I think they turned out pretty cute! Happy Halloween!! Whah! Whah! Whah!!!!

MelTDoWn!

I think it is safe to say that this weekend I experienced my first pregnancy hormone induced, MELTDOWN!!! So my whole family went to Door County for the weekend to attend my cousin’s wedding. As you probably know, Saturday night was also the night of the Iowa vs. Michigan State game – GO HAWKS!! So the wedding reception was going on at the same time as the Iowa game which was playing on a TV in the pub which happened to be on the other side of the wall from the ball room. As you can imagine, the guys had a hard time focusing on wedding festivities! After dinner, most of the guys, including Dave, my sister’s husband John, and my Dad, headed to the pub to watch the game. Towards the end of the game, my sister and I thought we would head down there to see how things were going. We got to the pub and right when I walked in, I noticed that it smelled kind of smoky in there. I didn’t realize they let people smoke in bars anywhere these days?? I looked around and finally spotted a guy at the bar smoking. I pointed it out to Dave and immediately, he was like, “You need to get out of here. You can’t be in here. Second hand smoke is so bad for you.” Okay, so you’re probably thinking, how sweet of him to be so concerned for me and the baby, right? And I agree, his reaction was totally sweet. But at that moment, I just felt like it was so unfair that I wasn’t allowed to watch the game with everyone else just because of one stupid person smoking. Dave again told me I had to get out of there and offered to come with me but I couldn’t say anything because my eyes just filled with tears and I marched right out of the bar. I assumed my sister would follow me, although after countless margaritas, I should have known she was still mad at me for not agreeing to dance with her earlier in the night. Stubborn as I was, I willed myself not to look behind me to see if anyone was coming after me but, as I saw my reflection in the window, I did not see the reflection of anyone else behind me. I got back to the ballroom and sat down with my mom and my aunt and uncle and the tears started flowing. I know I must have sounded ridiculous when I told my mom, “My psycho husband made me leave the bar because someone was smoking and no one even came after me!” I proceeded to cry and ignore Dave’s texts for the next five to ten minutes, even the one telling me to come back to the bar. Yes, I am stubborn. About 20 minutes later everyone came back to the reception completely ecstatic and totally freaking out because Iowa had pulled off what seemed to be an almost impossible win and of course, I MISSED IT! After pointing out to Dave that he made me cry and then having him all worried that now my mom would think he was a jerk for making me cry, I got over it. And for the record, I’m pretty sure my mom realized that he had my best interest in mind and that I was just over reacting. Most likely this particular meltdown was not an isolated incident and is just another thing Dave has to look forward to for the next seven months!

First Item on the TO DO List...Check!

Well, I now have about 7 months to check some things off of my to-do list. Number one on the list is new living room furniture!! I HATE my living room furniture with a passion and am ready for an upgrade! My Mom and I went to the Floor Show last night and she helped me pick out the most amazing sofa and love seat. If I were Rachel Zoe, I would die. It’s on another level. Hehe….seriously though, I love it! I was super picky about what I was looking for because we have a dog that sheds and pukes everywhere and of course, soon there will be a baby in the house that will be puking and slobbering everywhere as well! For some reason I don’t find that quite as gross as the dog puke though! :) I also live with Dave and, in typical male fashion, he doesn’t always think about changing his clothes when he comes in from cutting the grass or from doing any of the other things that boys do where they get all dirty. So, I needed something that won’t show all of that stuff and also something that’s going to hold it’s shape really well when Chubby decides to take a nap on top of the couch and mashes down the cushions! Luckily the couch I found has a lifetime warranty on the cushions so it should be completely Dave/baby/dog proof! Mission accomplished! Now I just have to cross my fingers that I will get my furniture before Christmas! Next up on the to-do list: build some storage shelves in the basement. No worries, I’ll only be supervising!!

First Ultrasound!

Well, today was our first ultrasound and it went really, really, really great! I was afraid I would have a Friends moment where Rachel pretended she could see the baby and finally admitted that she couldn't see anything but I actually was able to see it! Well, I mostly just saw a little blob but the doctor said that blob was our baby!! We could even see its little heart beating strongly. They counted it at 150 beats per minute which is awesome! Things couldn't be going better! Oh, and I had had slight concerns that I was having twins because my progesterone levels had been really high (which is a good thing) and everything we read said that could indicate multiples but we were assured that there is only one in there! I guess I was hoping for some excuse why my clothes are already fitting a little tighter but I am happy to know there is just one little baby for us to shower with love! I mean, can you imagine??? Lindsay thought I was completely nuts for thinking it was twins so, for once, my little sister was right(Love you B!;)). Now it's time to look forward to my day off tomorrow, sleeping in, watching the morning shows, and seeing all of my high school friends at Rachel's wedding tomorrow! Can't wait!! I feel so blessed!

I'm awake....for now anyway.

Well, it’s been over a week since my last blog update so I guess I am about due! Perhaps I can blame my lack of updates on the fact that I've basically been sleeping for the past week? I have been so unbelievably tired. Like, more tired than I have ever been in my life. Like so tired that I almost fell asleep on my 10 minute drive to work this morning. As I was pulling in the parking lot, for a moment I considered turning around and going home to go back to bed. I guess this is what I get for saying I have hardly had any symptoms at all. They’re finally hitting me. I’m afraid to say that I haven’t had any morning sickness because I’m sure that’s when it will hit! So yes, I've definitely felt a bit nauseous some mornings!

I feel like I’ve been really picky about what I eat lately. Like I’ll be hungry but I can’t figure out what I’m hungry for. I’ve been major into Jolly Ranchers and I can’t stand minty gum. I used to eat popcorn every night and now it’s not really doing anything for me. Poor Chubby…popcorn time is like her favorite time of the day. She makes me feel like I need to make it because once 7 p.m. rolls around she watches my every move like a hawk, just waiting for me to say the magic words! Ice cream isn’t really even sounding that good to me, oddly enough. And even more strange, I’ve been craving salads. I mean, I’ve always liked salads but I get home from work and I just want to make a big salad. I guess that’s a good thing! One thing that hasn’t changed? My 24/7 appetite for Happy Joe’s pizza! I’m trying not to give into that as much as I would like to!

This Thursday we have our first ultrasound so we’re pretty excited about that!! It will be our last appointment in Iowa City. I think they will be able to see the heartbeat (not hear it yet though) and they will just be making sure that things are developing the way they should be. I have my first appointment with my regular doctor here in Dubuque scheduled in a couple of weeks. It will be nice not to have to travel so far for appointments! I’m lucky my boss has been really good about letting me take off when I need it.

Well, I’ll update all of you after Thursday’s appointment!! Tomorrow I will be beginning my 8th week!!

The Latest Ramblings

Well, I am just about to the end of my 6th week and so far, I have been relatively symptom-free. Probably the biggest thing I’ve noticed is that normally I crave cookies, ice cream, candy, and anything else laced with sugar but lately if it has salt, I can’t seem to get enough. Last week I baked a pan of brownies for Dave and usually I tell myself I’m not going to eat them and then something takes over my body and my head is telling me that I need to eat them now in case there’s ever a shortage on brownies or something and the next thing I know, I’ve eaten an entire row! But this time I barely even gave them a second thought. Same with chocolate chip cookies. I baked a batch of cookies and besides the one scoop of cookie dough I ate I had no desire even for a warm cookie right out of the oven. By the way, What To Expect When You’re Expecting is going to be the death of me. After eating said scoop of cookie dough, Dave opens the book and shows me where it says raw cookie dough is completely off limits during pregnancy and it has all this bacteria and blah, blah, blah. Did you know you’re not supposed to eat deli meat either? Like seriously, do pregnant women really not eat deli meat? What am I supposed to eat for lunch? I have to imagine a ham sandwich is better than eating a slice of pizza or something equally as greasy and fattening, right?

Anyways, since I have had so few symptoms, it’s hard to really even feel like I’m pregnant. This weekend I took an at home pregnancy test, mainly because I wanted to know what it felt like to see that positive result since I have had so many negative ones over the years. I wanted to keep it but Dave said that was gross so I settled for taking a picture! I’ve started this “Belly Book” to document my pregnancy and will keep the picture in there. It’s a really neat book where you take a picture of your belly at each week, record your various food cravings and aversions, things like that. It’s kind of like a little diary to your baby before it is born. You record when you started wearing maternity clothes, your favorite maternity outfit, what was going on in the news, what music you’re listening to now, all kinds of neat little things that maybe someday our baby will like to read or I will just enjoy looking back on.

So ever since I found out I’m pregnant, I haven’t been able to go to a store without either looking at maternity clothes or checking out the baby section. I can feel my shopaholic tendencies going into overdrive as they’ve now found a whole new avenue to explore. I want to buy something for our baby but I can’t seem to decide what to buy because everything that’s cute is either totally girl or totally boy. I always thought I wouldn’t want to know the baby’s sex but I’m starting to think that I want to find out. Dave gave me a quiz the other day that he found online that, based on your personality type, tells you whether or not you should find out. My results came back that I’m basically a control freak and I definitely should find out. So yeah, I think I’m leaning in that direction. I know Dave will be happy because he really, really wants to know and I wasn’t sure how we were gonna compromise on that one besides the old, I’m the one who has to carry the baby and go through labor so I decide! :)

I hate Betty!

It’s official. I hate Betty Crocker. Why you ask? Well, a few weeks ago I posted my practice Spiderman cake. Everything went perfect and now I have to make it for a Sugar B’s customer and it’s totally stressing me out. If I’ve learned one thing from this, it is don’t buy Betty Crocker cake mix! I always use Duncan Hines and the Betty Crocker was on sale so I figured they had to be about the same. Nope! The cupcakes didn’t get as puffy and they have little bumps on the top. I don’t think they are as flavorful either. I’m sure no one will notice this stuff once they are decorated but I hate not being proud of my work! I have to hand it to Dave, he was such a big help last night. For some reason, when the cake came out of the pan, the indentations in the pan that work as a guide for frosting didn’t transfer onto the cake very well. It’s totally Betty’s fault. Anyways, I was on the verge of a tantrum and he stood over me for over an hour studying the picture and dictating where each line of frosting should go. When I was about to lose it, he even took the bag of frosting and piped on a few lines himself. Now I swore I wouldn’t tell anyone that he helped me decorate a cake but I couldn’t have done it without him last night so I think he deserves a little credit! Today I’m going to finish frosting the cake and work on the cupcakes. I’m sure they will turn out super cute but regardless, Betty is on my sh*t list.