Queso IS A Go!

I have wonderful news for all my fellow women out there!  I have 3 Mexican restaurants that serve pasteurized queso dip! I don't know if you are like me but ever since I became pregnant, Mexican has been a top contender for most of my meals.  However, I could never get the queso because I was worried it wasn't pasteurized. Well, Emily came to the rescue and told me that Moe's has pasteurized queso dip! YES!!! This sparked me to wonder where else could I eat?  I did a little research and found out that Qdoba is safe ((proof it's good for ya)) as is Rio Grande Grill and Catina (I called the on in Oak Ridge and asked the manager- he confirmed this with confidence).

Do you know any place else that has pasteurized cheese dip? If so, let me know!!

If I Yawn, It's Not You- It's Me.

Along with the ultrasounds, Guatemalan baby booties and excitement that comes with finding out your going to be a new mommy also comes some not so pleasant times.  Nausea, fatigue, headaches and I think what may be the worst- waking up in the middle of the night, wide. awake.  Here is my typical night the last 2 weeks:

Wake up at 11PM to use the bathroom
Wake up at  2AM-2:30AM because I'm wide awake and cant get comfortable
Wake up at  4AM to use the bathroom again
Wake up at  5:30AM..5:38AM..and 5:46AM (when my husband hits snooze to before going to the gym- let's not talk about how guilty I feel when he gets up to go work out and all I can do is role over and give him a kiss as we walks out the door.  I'm so tired from my night that the thought of exercising makes me want to scream.
Wake up at 6:30AM to the alarm..snooze it until 7AM. Dash out of bed and get ready in 30 minutes to be at work by 8AM.  I then spend the next 5 hours fighting a snooze at my desk.  At 1PM  I head to my parents house (it's closest to my office) for a 30 min nap and a quick bite of lunch.

I guess this is natures way of preparing me for those late nights and sleepless nights but don't you think she could have waited until maybe the 3rd trimester to teach me this lesson?

8 Weeks and Counting..

We had our 8 week ultra sound yesterday with Dr.Taavon.  Like any expecting mama, I was a nervous and excited.  We went into the dark little room and the tech began to show us our little kidney bean and how much (s)he had grown.  BK has a heart beat of 185 beats per minute..which is VERY strong! Most heart beats at 8 weeks are between  145 and 165! I had to ask if our little butter bean's was too fast. The tech assured me that everything was fine.  Not only did we see the heart beat, we also heard the heartbeat!  It was amazing! The sound of our baby's heart and knowing that there really is a little bundle of love in my belly made me cry.  It's just amazing.  BK is measuring at 1.6cm  which is just perfect for his (or her) age.  I really enjoy our trips to the doctor, something I never thought I would say!  I'm ready for our 12 week ultra sound now to see how much little BK has grown!

Plans Are Like Hershey Bars..made for Breaking

Quick recap- on Tuesday I found out we were expecting. Tuesday night I told Hal. Wednesday I was supposed to have pedicures with mom and NOT tell her the great news. Longest pedi ever!! I wanted to tell so bad but I knew I had to wait until Hal and Dad were present. So I made plans to do dinner with my parents on Thursday night.  I asked if Dad was going to be able to join and mom said "Well, he has to get the grass cut but hopefully he can eat with us" So, as you can see, telling the family was not going to be as easy as one would hope.

We get to their house for dinner and I have inside my purse a big chocolate candy bar. My mom is a chocolate fanatic. The biggest drawer in her office has been given the sole responsibility of holding all of her chocolate.  Attached to the big chocolate bar in my purse is a note that says "I thought you might like a LITTLE something SWEET around the house... slide cover off chocolate bar."  My thought is to give her the chocolate and with the note and when she slides the cover off it will reveal a note that says " On January 17, 2012 you are going to be grandparents!"  Well, plans must be made for breaking because that is exactly what she did!  I know it must have seemed odd that  I was giving her a chocolate bar before dinner, I mean, why not just wait until after? But she prepared some items that I could not eat now that I was pregnant.  So, she had to open the bar now so I could explain why I wasnt eating something. I gave her the bar. She glanced at it, said thanks and sat it down.  My heart sank a little. She is not following the directions!!! So a moment later I said "did you read the note?" Mom replied "Yes, I did" and kept fixing dinner. I said "Well, did you read all of it?" She said "London, I am trying to get dinner on the table! I will read it in a few moments!"  Not giving up, I said "Will you just read it real quick?" With a little resistance,  she picked up the chocolate bar, read the entire note again and FINALLY followed the directions.  She slid the cover back and immediately screamed aloud with excitement.  I dont think Dad even had to read the chocolate bar to figure out what just happened  After everyone gave hugs and kisses we finished getting dinner ready and on the table. Dad said a sweet blessing and prayed for our new bun in the oven. It was such a special night.  I'm glad mom finally did what I asked!

Crying Wolf

We all know Hal didnt follow my amazing plan to tell him the big news and that Mom doesn't follow directions too well, either.  However, I still had high hopes that the Kern's would play right into our plan.  Hal came up with a brilliant plan.  I really thought it was going to be fool proof.  We were going to the beach with Hal's parents, sister and her family and had devised a marvelous plan were we would say we were taking a family portrait and then right before the camera fired, Hal would yell "London's pregnant!" then we would capture everyones excitement and surprise on film.  Well, you guessed it, that did not go as planned.

It was Saturday morning and we were all sitting on the deck chatting.  No one had showered or fixed their hair but we decided to go ahead and get everyone to get a picture.  The Kern's and Sullivan's thought it was a little odd that we wanted a family picture at 10AM pre-shower but were great sports and went along with it.  I had the camera all set up and ready to go and Micah heads inside with Ella. A few minutes later Hal notices Ella is not around and asks where she is. Laura informs us that Ella was about to go down for her nap.  Hal says "well, can we keep her up?"  Laura replied "Well, I would rather not"  Hal pretty much insists that we get Ella, so that we can get a family picture in which none of us have on fresh clothes or fixed hair, still, everyone goes along with it! What troopers!

After Ella comes back out, we all gather around to do a practice shot.  I set the camera on rapid succession so that it will take 10 pictures in a row. Practice shot goes well and we are now ready for the big event.  Hal and I are smiling at each other with excitement. I press the self timer button, run over to the family and we wait for the red light to signal the camera is about to start flashing.  Red light appears and Hal yells "London's Pregnant!!" Flashes go off once- No one is moving. Everyone is still looking at the camera with practiced smiles on their face. Flash two and three go off- Hal and I have now turned with huge smiles on our face to see the expression of everyone. Flash four and five go off- we see no expressions of excitement, just slightly confused looks on every ones face. Flash six and seven go off- Laura is looking at Hal and I as to say "Hal, are you serious? I'm really confused right now." After the last flash finally goes off, everyone turns to Hal immediately and says "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"  We reply "YES! We are due January 17th!"  They all scream with excitement and then say "Hal we didn't believe you! We thought you were just joking around, trying to say something to make us smile!!"  Apparently, Hal is quite the jokster and his family doesn't believe him all the time because he is always pulling their leg with something.  Guess he cried wolf too much in the past!

Will We Ever Have A Blueberry??

Shortly after our trip to the beach, I became concerned that my pregnancy symptom (yes, just one symptom) had stopped.  Up until the beach trip my boobs had been just a tiny bit sore.  Now, nothing. Nadda. Zip. So I decided to call the doctor and get their opinion. They had me take another at home pregnancy test to confirm I was still pregnant. I was more nervous taking that test then I was taking the one to find out if we were pregnant!  It said positive so I followed the doctors orders and came on in.  I love my Doctor, Dr.Taavon, b/c he doesnt make you feel like you are being a paranoid crazy lady for freaking out over everything. He was great, he told me he was glad I came in and that I should always follow my instincts.  I was secretly hoping they would do an ultrasound but I didnt want to over step my boundaries by asking for one. Luckily, he asked if I would mind doing one. We were able to see the heartbeat!!  It was nice and strong at 112 beats per minute, said the tech.  By this point we were all assuming I was 7 weeks along. I was so excited to be done 6 weeks because at seven weeks our little sesame seed became a blueberry! I liked how big he was going to be that week- I felt that was quite a substantial growth.  Dr.Taavon, though, told me that we were going to have to be a sesame seed for another week because our little seed was only measuring 6 weeks.  This was concerning because there is a 5% chance that our baby is developing slowly.  Hal, of course knew he had to point out to his worrisome wife that this means there is a 95% that everything is just fine.  So for two weeks we have been a sesame seed and I have been trying not to worry too much. This is not fun because I had already read all about week 6 developments, changes and growths. For a whole week I had nothing new to explore and find out about our baby. I just had to re-read week 6.  Luckily, yesterday marked  week 7 and our little apple seed is finally a blueberry!  We go back on the 13th of June for another ultrasound. I cant wait to see how much (s)he has grown!