And Life Goes On

I sit here enjoying my fireplace (electric, that is...I only wish instead of the annoying blowing sound, it crackled like a real one), laptop on my...lap of course, and I open up all the blogs I follow for some new reading. There are a few new posts but most of them, I just click shut as it's the same post that's been there for a few days or maybe a week or two. I am fine with that. People are busy.

But then it dawns on me and suddenly a wave of discouragement hits me. There are no new posts because everyone else is BUSY! Life is going on around me. They are enjoying the busyness of my favorite season, enjoying the brisk fall weather and everything that goes along with it. And I have to miss it! I know, I know...it WILL be worth it in the end. But for right now, I don't feel pregnant - only sick. And I HATE that feeling. The shock and awe of the positive pregnancy test has worn off. It's day after day of sitting or laying on the couch, surfing the web, watching Little House on the Prairie or napping. But, hey, enough doldrums! Let's take Dad's optimistic attitude for a change (I used to think more like him - what happened?)...this too shall pass and I intend to enjoy this pregnancy to the fullest once I feel better!

I distinctly remember a moment when my friend and fellow blogger, Janiece, was expecting Kallee. We were sitting in the same pew in church and suddenly she got my attention. "The baby is moving!" she exclaimed while she pointed to the little kicks visible through her shirt. A pang went through my heart and stomach. I didn't think I would ever feel a baby moving inside me again and that struck me so hard. I'd enjoyed holding everyone else's babies (and enjoyed handing them back when they got fussy :) so I thought I was over all the wanting. And it was a good feeling. But that night, I remember feeling so sad.

Well, now is my chance. And I'm excited for all the new discoveries that we will experience. Especially with the girls being older and able to understand a whole lot more than they did when they were 3 and 5 years old. We might not have planned it, but hey, life goes on :)

Cravings

First off, let me preface this post with a statement. No, I am not pregnant!

I was looking at a picture of a variety of candy. It had a particular candy bar that never appealed to me pre-pregnancy w/Janae nor does it appeal to me now. But it did once-upon-a-time. So here I divulge my pregnancy cravings (probably more for my record than yours...I've been wanting to do a scrap book page of this info for some time now.)

Pregnancy for Britnee:

• Chocolate donut or Hostess cupcake along with a carton of white milk. I would stop by the donut shop or gas station every day on the way to work and get this for my breakfast. I rarely drank white milk even as a baby...my mom hated it so she gave me chocolate - always (well, after I came off formula anyway)! (In fact, I knew I was pregnant with Alita, our first angel baby, before the pregnancy test showed positive because I woke up one morning, grabbed a brownie and a glass of white milk. Sat down at the table for breakfast, took my first bite and then went, "uh oh!" But that craving ended with the second pregnancy.)


• McDonald's Chocolate Milkshake. Mid-afternoon, my doting father (much to some of my student's parents disapproval) would stop by the school and say he was on his way to town, did I need anything? Of course, my answer was, "a chocolate milkshake if it's not too much trouble". (and it never was...I was the baby :) Now, understand, I LOVE chocolate (you already knew that didn't you?) but milkshakes were FAR down the list of acceptable chocolate indulgences when I wasn't pregnant. So this was new to me.


• Any kind of sandwich (ham and cheese sub, hamburger, Whopper, etc.) had to be accompanied with lettuce, tomato and mayo.


• Spaghetti. I ATE spaghetti before I was pregnant, but only if I had to. I certainly never ordered it off a menu by choice until now.

Pregnancy for Janae:

• chocolate chip cookies. I was a strange child in that I never cared for peppermints, candy canes, ice cream or chocolate chip cookies. But bring on those pregnancy hormones and it'll do crazy things. I especially loved the big cc cookies sold in Target cafeterias.


• Hershey Bar with Almonds. I HATED any kind of nut except walnuts. But I honestly think I consumed a Hershey Bar a day while I was prego for this child! And it HAD to have almonds. I always tell her that's why her eyes are the color of milk chocolate :)
  (note of interest: I could not drink Pepsi or anything sweet at all during this pregnancy and for several months post pregnancy- to this day, Janae is the child that will choose water over other drinks 90% of the time)

Pregnancy for Kerrigan:

• chocolate chip cookies (again, but Chips Ahoy or Famous Amos, this time around :)


• M&M's


• plain chocolate chips by the handful - let 'em melt in your mouth....mmmmmmm...


• Crafts of any kind


• ice cold water in a clear acrylic glass w/beads of condensation glistening

I am sure you are finding these last two hilarious, but I was so sick with her pregancy that I would lie in bed or on the couch and dream of the day when I felt good enough to do crafts or drink all the water I wanted - liquids were as hard for me to keep down as food.
(Again, I could not do Pepsi or sweet drinks - found out it was due to gall bladder issues - but I was able to start drinking Pepsi again shortly after I had her. She LOVES pop more than water, so I have concluded that it is a learned behavior in the early months of childhood not anything to do with pregancy!)