Frogs and snails and puppy-dog tails

ITS A BOY!

The suspense is finally over, and I am beyond thrilled to be having another boy. Well, maybe 10% sad that its not a girl, but 90% relieved! I had a falling-out with my only daughter 2 years ago (she is almost 20 and still does not speak to me) and it really did a number on my self-esteem. I had to wonder, do I even have what it takes to raise girls? So now, at least that's not a worry anymore.

And I do love raising boys. My sons are 15 and 10, and are also thrilled to have a little brother on the way to pass down all of their Nerf guns to - see my post from my other blog for more about this #links

So, our newest dilemma is to settle on a middle name.  We know his first name is Thomas, but we have to choose between 4 possible middle names.....and hubby is being very indecisive right now. *sigh*

Well at least now I get to go out and look for cute baby boy things, and start decorating the nursery.  YAY!
And now I don't have to call him "IT" anymore!

Today is the day.....

In just a few hours, I get to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl.....I am still thinking GIRL, but I'm not 100% confident in that.

We will see.

So, in the next 5 or 6 hours sometime, I will post on here (and facebook, and mass text) with pictures and the baby's gender.

Still wondering WHY I am so impatient this time?

I JUST CAN'T WAIT!

its a.......

I will find out this Saturday whether I am having a GIRL or a BOY. 

I am BEYOND excited to finally find this out, and just for fun I want to know, what do YOU think I am having?

Sorry, there's no prize for being a winner here, just bragging rights.

Post a comment here with your vote, and in about 48 hours I will post the BIG NEWS (and hopefully some 3D ultrasound pictures)

Apple pie a-la-mode

My morning-sickness seems to be completely gone, but has been replaced by some unusual cravings.  I don't normally even LIKE apple pie, even if served with a mountain of ice cream, but today I enjoyed a slice....with a little cold mountain....for the third time this week! I picked up a store-bought apple pie for our dessert for Easter, and have been happily chipping away at the leftovers.

My other cravings have been for bagels with cream cheese and strawberry jam (but only if I can have some pulp-free orange juice with it) and for almost ANYTHING salty.  I can't believe I am not piling on the pounds eating all this CRAP!  Well, I am walking a lot more, so I'm burning more calories, and aside from weird cravings, I am eating WAY healthier than I used to.  I really do miss caffeine, but I will survive without it.  My bagels are now those cool 'bagelthins' so less carbs, less calories, and then I use less cream cheese and jam....that's gotta be helping, right?  Popcorn is satisfying my salt cravings pretty well, so I guess I just need to keep doing what I'm doing.

My O.B. says I really don't need to gain ANY weight with this pregnancy, since I am already 100 lbs overweight.  I've never actually heard this before, but I was never this overweight with my other pregnancies.
At least this apple pie is almost gone, hopefully I won't WANT it anymore if I don't have it in the house.  Hopefully.

Award! Show some blog love

Thank you so much Nicole, from flipflopcombatboots for sending me this Beautiful Blogger award!

Rules of the award are to say 'thank you' and list seven things about yourself, so here you go:

1) I read for pleasure, and it makes me sad to realize how unusual this is today.

2) My favorite thing to bake is my 'ultimate' brownies, but ever since I got pregnant I don't really want to eat them anymore.....in fact I rarely even want chocolate now!

3) I spend as much time being naked as I can get away with, even when I am not pregnant (I'm not a nudist, I just have a hard time getting comfortable with clothes diggin into me, or twisting around me, etc.)

4) I own a truly disgusting amount of stamping and scrapping stuff, and barely ever use it anymore

5) The only person I know who can beat me at "80s name that tune" is my 15 year old son.

6) After over 30 years of 'bad hair days' I figured out that I am actually blessed with GREAT hair, as long as I blow-dry it with a good dryer - no styling products needed for a good hair day!

7) My kids think I am way smarter than I actually am, and my husband thinks I am way dumber than I've ever been (or ever could be).  LOL

And now I would like to give this award to:

1.Expat Girl from The Sand is Different Here

2.Julie from Julie The Army Wife

3.Birdie from Soldier's Lady

4.Renee at Waiting to Exhale

5.Cheryl at My Air Force Journey

6.Gretchen from the G Spot

7.Kasey at Awful Beautiful Life

(now you ladies can all share 7 things about yourselves on your own blog!)

sleep (have you heard of it?)

My normal sleep needs are the same as everyone else's - on any given day I just need 5 minutes more.  Preferably in the mornings, since I am by nature a night person.  I generally can't fall asleep before midnight at the earliest, and some nights it is MUCH MUCH later than this. (like last night, fell asleep around 3 AM)

Insomnia sucks, especially during pregnancy.  Can't take any sleep meds, can't even enjoy a nice relaxing HOT bath before bed.  But at least I can make up for it by sleeping in, right?

Wrong.

This baby is going to be a MORNING PERSON. (don't mind that noise, it's just me screaming in pure terror)

I wake up between 4 and 6 most mornings, and can't go back to sleep.  Thanks, baby. Mommy really REALLY appreciates it.

So now I take naps, pretty much daily.  Some days are better than others, but if I don't get my nap, it's like PMS....x10  Being the only girl in the house, PMS is kind of my excuse for everything - or now I just blame pregnancy hormones.

I still keep going back and forth between whether I hope this is a boy or a girl, but I think right now I am leaning toward GIRL again.  I think.  I don't know, I will find out either way in just a few days!  I should have some cool 3D ultrasound pics to post before next week, too. 

And I'm hoping he or she lets me get some rest in the meantime!

crying is NOT sexy

I have suddenly (like in the last 48 hours) reached the point in pregnancy where I feel FAT and UGLY.  The new acne breakouts are really not helping at all.

And now these crazy violent moodswings - I cry over something stupid, and then laugh at myself for crying about THAT....and moments later I find myself crying again!

For example, today when I went to the bathroom for like the 200th time, I finished peeing and went to reach for the toilet paper.  Spun the roll to find the end....spun it again....and one more spin, but NO end came around the roll.  I was frustrated, then MAD when I realized that the roll had recently been changed, and whoever did it (probably my hubby) had put it on BACKWARD - so every spin just dumped more toilet paper on the floor instead of bringing the end of the roll around to the top. *exasperated sigh* followed by quick wipe, and then suddenly my eyes overflowed and I could NOT stop crying over how anyone could be so INSENSITIVE as to put the toilet paper roll on backwards.  And as I sat there on the toilet BAWLING, I already knew this was not something worth crying over (in my pre-pregnant life) and still could not stop the tears.

That was not the first crying jag of the day, and not the last - so in addition to feeling fat, ugly, and pimply, I now have puffy red eyes and a perpetually runny nose.  So completely NOT sexy!