I realized that I’ve been more relaxed about posting on the development of this pregnancy. Well, relaxed isn’t really the word. The proper words are “too sick to think about posting”. It’s been a super busy month, as holiday months go.. but between morning sickness and fatigue..it’s all kicking my butt. I am having better days. I was able to partake in Thanksgiving (when I was pregnant with Grace, I had stomach flu over the holiday that year), so I cooked a small meal at home for the 2 of us. 2 since Grace was in bed by the time it was done. And small except for the ham, which would easily feed 10 people. But we turned off the tv and sat at the dining table and had sparkling cider.. it was nice, and quiet.

Anyway, all things pregnancy related. I hit 9 weeks on Sunday. I’m surprised at how fast it seems to be going. That is both good and bad. Good because the faster is goes, the sooner I’ll hit the second trimester and the blessed relief of morning sickness, I hope. Bad because we pretty much know this will be my last pregnancy. Even before I ever wanted kids, I knew that if I ever did.. 2 would be plenty. If we have another girl, there won’t be a “one more shot” at having a boy. We’ll just have two girls (though I feel we’ll have a boy and a girl). Anyway, so I want to be able to enjoy this pregnancy as much as I did the majority of my pregnancy with Grace. All the amazing things going on in your body, such a miracle and I don’t ever want to lose sight of that. So, like I said.. good and bad.

We’ve started talking about sleeping arrangements. Since we’ll be sticking around in this townhome, we needed to discuss what to do about Graces’ sleeping arrangements. What do I mean by that? Well, we will need a crib for baby #2. Grace is still using our crib. And at this point, is tall enough and physically able to climb out of the crib if she wanted. She just doesn’t KNOW she can yet. So we don’t want to buy another crib only to have to buy a toddler bed as well. But we don’t want to just switch her over to a toddler bed before we know she’s ready. She is such a good sleeper right now, we’d hate to ruin that and sacrifice those last few months of good sleep before we have the new baby home. So, solution? We’re going to get a convertible crib. And switch Grace over right away after getting it home. That way, she can use the crib setting as long as she needs, but then we can switch it when she’s ready. We found a great one at  Babies R Us and I’m hoping to find something similar on Craigslist or through my moms group, Las Madres. So we’ll see.

Anyway, as for the baby peanut. Baby P. is just about the size of a grape. He or she is starting to move as muscles are developing and the little tail at the bottom of the spinal cord has just about disappeared. He or she is starting to look more and more like a human baby. My next ob appt is December 12th. I am going to pick up a borrowed doppler today so hopefully I will get to have the piece of mind of hearing a heartbeat soon. I know with Grace it was so worth it to know that anytime I wanted I could hear that wonderful sound…

Okay, so onto the Christmas season. There will be lots going on. Chris’ company is hosting a large holiday party, a Casino night.. and all I know is some American Idol guy..Chris-something-or other..Doughtry?? and some other guy will be performing. But I have to (get to? depending on how you look at it) go shopping. So will Chris most likely because I doubt any of his suits will fit after his weight loss. We also have LOTS of Las Madres things going on. Then of course, onto our own Christmas vacation when we all head down to Phoenix. I’m just hoping to find some time in there to get a few naps in..

I give thanks…

To my daughter.. who is healthy, happy and never goes too long without making me laugh..

To my husband.. who puts up with all my eccentricities and all the pregnancy hormones that makes me insane right now..(edited to add: and who also sensed my extreme reluctance to do the dishes this morning and cleaned the kitchen for me….what a man!)
To the heartbeat we saw nearly 3 weeks ago that belongs to our baby, who we hope is safe and snug in my belly..

For all our family, spread out across the western US and wishing we could be with you all today, celebrating today with you..

For my dishwasher, that is soon going to be washing and cleaning the dishes from my made-from-scratch-Thanksgiving morning cinnamon rolls.

To Costco, who sells wonderful hams.. that I am able to have instead of turkey since I’ve discovered last year that I really don’t care for turkey.

To Las Madres, and all the wonderful friends I’ve made through there..

To all the other wonderful friends Grace and I have both made here in San Jose over the last year

For taking control of my health in the last year and making sure I stay on top of things

For the ability to see all our family fairly often in the past year since we’ve moved

For the fact that our friends and family have enjoyed a healthy year as well, with lots of new babies..

Happy Thanksgiving! Pictures of those fabulous cinnamon rolls to follow!

I love Christmas as much as the next person. Truly, I do. There is something about it that makes you feel like a kid and now that I have a child, it’s even better. But there is something seriously wrong with the goings on in this town. Santas in the mall? Holiday music in the stores and on the radios? Thats awesome! IN DECEMBER! Not on November 15th. It’s too early! It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, what happened to Thanksgiving? The turkey is getting shafted. Now, I am not a big fan of turkey itself but I LOVE the holiday! NO gift-giving drama just a day where most everyone gets the day off to spend with their families watching giant balloons and football games, if you’re into that sort of thing. To me, THAT is the kick-start to the Christmas season. Not Halloween.

I realize that this is a ploy by the bigger retail stores, malls, etc to drive people in with a sort of frenzy to get that burn on the credit card going. I can also totally respect that. Something like, 40% of the years sales happen between T-giving and xmas? (Yeah, I just pulled that number out of thin air and if I wasn’t 7am and I wasn’t super tired I might do some research to find out exactly what the number is). They used to just consider that Black Thursday (day after T-giving) the start of the holiday shopping season. Then, YAY is T-giving fell early in November and BOO if it fell later. But now there are no limits. What should we, as the consumers do? Just take it lying down (or in line to buy the newest MP3 Player or video game system?)? Before we know it, we’ll be staring at Christmas in July. Then, what the heck! Lets just leave up the lights!

It’s pretty sad people. I went shopping yesterday and Santa was there. In the stores I heard Christmas music. And on the radio (99.9kez in Az) I heard Christmas music. It dilutes the spirit. Maybe not at first, but you take what really should just be 2-3 weeks and spread it over 6-7 weeks and it will run out of steam.  At this rate, I’ll be ready for Easter by December 12th.

Fooled you. Not really. Except for one thing: My skin. I am IN LOVE with Proactive. Seriously. This is going into my third week of using it and all of my blemishes are gone, my skin tone is more even. I just wish it could help with the fact that my pores are supersized. Hey, but I’ll take what I can get. For awhile there, my skin was splotchy and red, with so much grease you’d think I was getting my skincare products from McDonalds. I’ve seen such vast improvements that I’m inclined to recommend the products to everyone and suggest they use them JUST as directed! So many people I’ve talked to who claim it didn’t work for them only used them a week or so, expecting huge results. Or, didn’t use the complete 3-step basics. You should at least use the 3 core products, as directed. I also recommend the oil-free moisturizer because everyone needs a little sun protection!

The only downside to the products is this: I am still feeling dry and irritated, which I assumed was a side-effect of the first week or so of use. You can’t see any evidence of this, but my skin is tight, dry-ish feeling and somewhat irritated right after use.

Does anyone in the Proactive fan club know if this goes away? Another question is this: Right now I am doing a full treatment in the morning. This is: Cleanser, toner, oil control, repair lotion, sunscreen/moisturizer and then 3 core products at night: Cleanser, toner, repair lotion. Does anyone know if at some point I could say do just one a day? Or is this something that must be continued at the current pace in order to be successful?
Anyway, there are a few other products in the line I think I may check out in the coming months as the pregnancy continues to wreak havoc with my skin.