Me and my girls

Us, channeling American Gothic

The best picture we got.

Taken tonight.  Large and in charge!

My Timbuk2 bag

Mojo's new shoes

A new outfit

Love this little coat

Tiny Peacoat!

Sweater with elbow patches

Newborn sweater!

Baby Juli.

Sweatshirt!

Aquamarine earrings!

Christmas and catch up.

I'll start with recent first, and work my way back.

Today I got home from work, and let the girls out to pee.  After I let them out, I noticed two accidents in the garage.  This is not unusual.  Well, two are, but an accident is not out of the ordinary.  One was poo, the other was pee, with blood in it.  So then I went into freak out mode.  With four fur kids, it makes it hard to track down who did what.  My guess was it was Yoie, but I wasn't sure.  So I checked out the other guys.  Then I took Yoie out on lead, with a bowl, to try to get a urine sample.  She only did a few drops, but they were red.  I called the vet, and they were able to see her right away.  (I'm really glad our vet is open til 7, otherwise the emergency vet is so expensive).  So Yoie and I dashed off.  I felt bad about leaving Zelda, the girls usually go everywhere together.

The vet looked at her, and the few drops of pee I brought in.  He said there are four possibilities: Uti, crystals in the urine (from diet), some badness from the kidneys, or trauma to the bladder.  I think it's a UTI, I know she's not feeling well.  And having had plenty of UTIs in my time, she's got the symptoms.  Frequent trips to the bathroom, trying to pee more than she needs to, and just not feeling herself.  The vet gave her two injections of antibiotics, and she'll start Amox tomorrow.  Aaron or I need to bring in a urine sample tomorrow.

I feel so bad, I know she's not feeling well, and there's nothing I can do for her.  I've been giving her extra snuggles, but my poor puppy.  Plus with my hormones the way they are, it's hard to deal.  Not to mention having to get up and down to let her out every 20 minutes.  (Hopefully Aaron will be home soon).

Now that I'm 28 weeks pregnant, by the last due date, I have to start doing my kick counting.  Every night after dinner, I count kicks to see how long it takes to kick ten times.  So far it only takes him 10 minutes.  Aaron and I have been taking turns reading Mojo a book every night.  He kicks a lot most of the time.  I'm liking it.  We have a name that we'll likely name Mojo.  We've told our families, so far only my sister and Aaron's bio-mom like the name.  My mom said she could live with it.  My dad didn't say how he felt.

My dad's sister and her husband were out to visit.  He cousin and her husband also came to visit (all four live on the East coast).  The plan was to spent 4 days in Las Vegas (over Christmas).  But my dad was still feeling  pretty weak, and even worse his cousin and her husband got the flu!  Like the real lasts a week or longer flu.  Neither had gotten the vaccine, and my dad, his sister and brother in law all had the shot.  No one else in the house got sick.  So the two sickies stayed at the house all week, and the other three went and did some day trips.  And my MiL was able to accommodate them for Christmas dinner.

On Christmas Eve we went to services with Aaron's mom and that side of the family.  When we came home, we stayed up for a while, and then it was after midnight, so we opened our gifts.  I got Aaron a few medium sized gifts, he got me three big gifts, and a couple little ones.  Also, my stocking was filled with stockings (socks and tights).  He got me a Timbuk2 messenger bag (I've been coveting his for almost 5 years), a fitbit flex, and a set of emerald cut aquamarine earrings.  Aquamarine will be Mojo's birth stone (unless he's a premie).  On the box it said "To Mommy, From (name we chose)".  So cute!  I got Aaron some new Pumas, a painting set, the Jeeves and Wooster Dvd box set, some stuff for his airbrush etc.  We got some really cute baby clothes, a new pots and pans set.  Some gift cards and I got some new maternity clothes.  Aaron's folks bought us a leather recliner for the baby's room, and a few other things.  So it was a really nice Christmas.

Dinner was delicious, and it was nice to spend time with family.  We also did a gift card exchange, I got a $25 Amazon gift card.

I used some of my Christmas money to buy clearance maternity and nursing clothes from Old Navy and Walmart.

Sophie sent out my baby shower invitations.  They're really cute, and I'm super excited for it.

I'll post some pictures next time.

Last few days.

Holy fiduciary problems Batman!  Really, more issues than problems.

First off, Student Loans.  Aaron is on an income based repayment plan.  When we were making $35k our payments were about $100 a month.  We had to turn in the documents for next year.  We had discussed filling our taxes separately, so that way only his income is counted.  But it was going to cost about $4000 to do that!  So we said no, and filed jointly.  Aaron talked to his financial adviser about next year's payments, and since we filed jointly (and since we're making grown up money), we'll be paying $600 a month!  Holy Hell!  There is some sort of flex thing you can do to leave your payment the same, and tack the interest on to the end.  So we'll keep paying $100 for Jan and Feb, then we'll be able to change again since I'll be on maternity leave.  After that we'll see what happens.  We can afford it, but that was a huge (unpleasant) surprise.  

Last night I got a phone call saying that my debit card had been compromised.  I went online to check my account, and everything looked fine, so I was worried that the call was a phishing scam.  I called the credit union (fortunately they take calls til 9pm).  I had to be on hold a little bit, but I got to talk to a real person.  And yes, my card had been compromise.  Target had a huge information breach between Thanksgiving and last week.  Someone had tried to make two purchases (at Target) in Merced (or was it Modesto?).  One got blocked, and didn't go through.  The second was for $220, and it was pending.  The credit union fraud department caught it right away.  They cancelled the card.  (I'll have to do in on Monday and get a new one).  Fortunately, we can deal with $220 and it won't break the bank.  Since the charge was pending, the rep said I needed to wait for it to clear (which would probably be Monday), then fill out a fraud form,  I could see the pending change last night.  But when I checked it this morning, it was gone.  So I'm not sure if it got taken care of, but I'll keep an eye on it.

I think I need to start making more cash transactions.  Since credit cards have fraud protection, but someone could clean out the debit account pretty quick.  Anyway, I'm really happy with Star One.  I've had them since I was 17, and they've always treated me great!  Another point for them.

We have about $1000 left on the loan for my car.  I cannot wait to pay it off!  I'm going to try to have it gone before Mojo is born.  I should be able to do it.  Then our only debt is the student loan.  Yay!

Today has been significantly less stressful.  I slept in until 9.  Mojo has been moving a lot lately.  I love watching my belly wiggle and shake as he does his thing.  Aaron and I bummed around a bit.  Now he's out doing some last minute shopping.  I worked on my giant quilt a little.  I was doing hand stitching, but I need to set up the machine, and work on more of the squares.  Once that is done, I'm going to start on Mojo's quilt.  His will be baby sized, so it should be quicker.  And I can have Aaron help, since he's pretty good at artsy craftsy stuff.

Speaking of Mojo, our next appt for him is on Monday after work.  Hopefully I haven't gained too much weight.  I'm not stressing about it too much, since there's nothing that can be done at this point.  And I'm ok with working hard.  We'll either walk a lot, with baby in the snuggle pack, or jogger.  Or maybe we can do a little hiking.  Plus I'll be breastfeeding, or pumping.

Year End Survey

1. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before?
Got pregnant!  Learned to change a colostomy bag

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think I wanted to have a baby this year, so that worked out.  I don't have anything in mind for 2014 right now.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No one in my immediate circle

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Grandpa, and Aaron's uncle Dennis, our kitty Diamond Jim

5. What countries did you visit?
none, still.

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
A more active life style.

7. What days from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The day I took the pregnancy test, for obvious reasons.  The day my dad had his colectomy.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Can I used pregnancy for all the answers?  I did well at work.  Stayed sane through my dad's illness

9. What was your biggest failure?
Gaining a lot of weight in the beginning of the pregnancy.  Oops.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nausea, back pain

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Smart Phones.  We never had them before.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Lots of people.  Aaron for being awesome.  My sister for growing into an awesome adult. People at church for sometimes saying (unknowingly) what I needed to hear.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
A lot of Republicans, other people at church.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Being pregnant.  Aaron coming home from camp.

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
Blurred Lines, because it was on constantly, and I hate that song.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? WAY fatter  :-P
iii. richer or poorer? Richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Read, I barely read anything this year.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating junk.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With Aaron's family

22. Did you fall in love in 2013?
With a fetus.

23. How many one-night stands?
none, duh.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Amazing race, Project runway, Big Bang Theory

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No, I try not to waste time on hate.

26. What was the best book you read?
The Art of Racing in the Rain.

27. What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
Queen, Book of Mormon musical soundtrack

28. What did you want and get?
To be healthy, to get pregnant, to be stable

29. What did you want and not get?
A baby girl, or twins.  Maybe next time.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I really liked Despicable Me 2

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We went to Vegas!  I turned 30.  And got knocked up!  Good birthday.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not much, it was a really satisfying year.  I'll say a less barky Fiona.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
Jeans and tees.  Then panel pants

34. What kept you sane?
Aaron, naps, animal snuggles, music

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Joseph Gordon Levitt, Adam Scott, Danny Pudi (I like'em geeky)

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Universal Health Care, Gay Marriage

37. Who did you miss?
Brianon, my sister, my mom

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I don't meet a lot of new people

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
Look for blessings, not bad things.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
??

Pictures

I put the pictures up for my Marmie, since she doesn't have facebook.

Today was bath day for animals.  I bathed Moss and Yoie, and had Aaron do Zelda, since I can't lift her anymore.

I feel like the fatigue has come back again, but I guess that's to be expected.

We got to park in the driveway today.  And, we can fit both cars side by side!  Yay!  Now we can fit 4 cars in the driveway.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year.  I think I did pretty well at buying gifts this year.

I've been training MJ at work this week, she'll be taking over most of my billing stuff while I'm on leave.  She's the most senior girl at the front desk.  She's a quick learner, and I think she'll do a great job.  But training is hard, and I don't feel like I'm a very good teacher.  But we're making progress.

Pregnancy survey

How far along? 27 weeks, 2 days
Total weight loss/gain: 28 lbs total at my last prenatal visit.  Oops.

Maternity clothes? Almost exclusively.  I have a few pjs I can still wear, some normal shirts and some of my looser sweaters.  But all normal (read: not yoga) pants are maternity
Sleep: Pretty good, surprisingly.  I'm usually really tired by bedtime.  (I've had to take Benedryl some nights for itchiness), I get up 2-4 times during the night to pee, but I fall back to sleep quickly.  The only time I have issues is when I have bad indigestion. 

Best moment this week: Nothing really stands out.  Maybe Aaron finishing his charity quilt, but nothing momentous pregnancy related.

Movement: I love feeling him move!  I feel really connected when he moves.  Aaron's felt him move a few times too.

Food cravings: Sweets.  Mexican food, Spicy food.
Food aversions: Not much.  I want to eat most everything I see.
Gender: He's still a boy!
Labor Signs: Nothing, thank goodness.  Not Braxton Hicks, either.

Belly Button in or out? Still in, but it is starting to get a little more shallow.  (I have a really deep belly button).  No linea negra yet either, maybe I won't get one, since I've pretty fair.
What I miss: Getting off the floor(bending, getting off of the couch, etc) without struggling.  Not weighing almost 190lbs!  (Eek!)

What I am looking forward to:  My shower, getting Mojo's room set up, meeting him.
Milestones: I'm past the point of viability, which makes me feel a little better, since I'm a worrier.

Bullets

• The boy scout quilt that Aaron made sold at the charity auction for $195!!!
• We're supposed to stop being in the freezing range tomorrow.  (I'm so ready!)
• I had prenatal yoga tonight.  I'm still pretty flexible, but my belly is noticeably starting to get in the way.
• I think we're going to try to make a registry for Mojo this week.  Maybe tomorrow, if Aaron doesn't have to work.  We're going to register at Target.
• I keep trying to watch Survivor, and I keep hating it.
• I've been getting pretty well caught up at work.
• We still don't have a tree set up, and Christmas is two weeks away.  :-/
• I was too tired today (and a little lightheaded) so I only took a short walk at lunch, and took a 40 minute nap.
• I only got in 6500 steps.  :-(
• 9pm, that means I need to get ready for bed.

Grumble, grumble

I woke up at my usual 5:30, and stayed snuggled in bed for a while.  I got up to turn on the heat (we set it for 60 overnight).  The thermostat said it was 56!  So I played with it a little, and nothing happened.  Aaron played with it, and managed to make cold air come out.  Aaron said he'd talk to his folks when it was a little later.  After getting dressed in the freezing cold house, I walked to the kitchen, and stepped in a huge puddle of pee, in my sock feet.  ...  I then had to change my socks, and pants (again in the freezing house).  Aaron cleaned up the pee for me, while I went off on a swearing jag.

I went to leave for work, and my windshield was completely iced over.  (It was 27 degrees out then).  I sat in the car, and waited for it to defrost enough for me to drive.  I don't have an ice scrapper anymore, I threw that away when we moved out of Utah.  (Also, I realize it's much colder in other parts of the country, but I live in California for goodness sake!)

Work was fine (and warm).

Aaron got a space heater from his folks, and put both dogs in their sweaters, an closed them in the back to let them warm up.  Apparently, the heat guy came sometime around mid day, and left to get a part (he left his ladder here).  But that was well over 4 hours ago, and it's currently 53 and dropping.  I have the little space heater going, but it's not helping.

I'm just sitting on the couch with Zelda on one side, Moss on the other, and Yoie barking her head off in the other room.  I'm still completely bundled up, but cold.  Aaron was supposed to be home around 5, but isn't.  I'm too hormonal to deal with this right now.

What I did today.

• Got up "early" (as opposed to sleeping in) at 7, to go to the flea market.  I think it was about 40 degrees when we got there.
• We wandered around for about 90 minutes.  It was emptier than usual, due to the cold weather, and that it'd rained last night.  I found a couple books for Mojo, but that was all we got.
• On the way home we got gas, and donuts.  
• We laid down for a few minutes when we got home.  Actually Aaron laid down for a few minutes, I ended up napping for 2.5 hours.  He left to go to a memorial while I was asleep.
• When I got up, I found that Fiona had made a line of poop from the kitchen into the living room.  I cleaned that up, and decided that it was about time to deep clean the kitchen.
• They finished taking out the tree while all that was going on.  The giant camphor tree is no more.  The stump got all the way ground, hopefully we'll have a driveway again soon.
• In the kitchen, I put everything away, did all the dishes, scrubbed the counters, and stove top.  I took the recycling and garbage out, and shredded all our papers.  I swept the floor. Then I got a bucket and Lysol and proceeded to scrub the floor on my hands and knees (I did the baseboards too).  Aaron came home while I was scrubbing, so he helped too.  I also ran the laundry while doing all the cleaning.
• After that we worked on Aaron's quilt.  We'll he did most of it, I assisted when necessary.  The top was sewn together.   He added the patches he wanted (it's a scouting quilt).  Then we pin basted it on the (newly cleaned) kitchen floor.  We went back and forth on whether to tie the quilt, or stitch in the ditch.  Tying is a lot easier, but doesn't look as nice.  Stitch in the ditch is a lot more difficult, but looks a lot nicer.  We ended up using the stitch in the ditch.  We needed to go to ask grandma for some advice on how to minimize pulls on the back of the quilt.  There were a few small mishaps, but it looks really great!  All that's left is the binding, and it's all done.
• While we were doing that, Julius peed in the dog bed, which was about 5 feet away from us.  I guess Aaron had gotten a little behind in cleaning the boxes, but man, that cat is a jerk.  
• I've walked 15,100 steps today.  :-D
• We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Now we're watching Star Trek Into Darkness.
• I wanted to change the bed linens, and put the laundry away, but I think those things will have to wait til tomorrow.

A few pictures

Piecing his squares

Sewing rows

Julius helping

Aaron's quilt top is done!

The scouts are having a silent auction on Wednesday, so he's been working on it for a while.  Those are all the shirts and patches from this counsel's events for the year.  He did a great job!

Basting it all together.

Aaron got to play Santa at church yesterday.

All dressed!

 With a sack of candy.

A little blah blah

I had a dream about baby Mojo last night.  He was born now, but was somehow full term.  He was a beautiful little baby with a head full of light hair (now Aaron and I have both dreamed that Mojo has light hair(we, of course, both have dark hair, so it's not too likely)).  He was a good baby too, he was quiet, and a really good nurser.  And I had lots of milk!  He spat up a lot.  And I was totally inept.  I had no clue what I was doing, but he was so good, and lovable.  Exciting.

Aaron has been sick since Sunday.  He got in to see the doctor today.  I guess he has something akin to bronchitis.  So he gets some antibiotics, and is probably not contagious anymore.  (Yay!)

Because he's been sick, I've been sleeping in our room, and he's in the guest bed.  Zelda sleeps with me (in her bed, on the floor), and Yoie starts with Aaron and ends up with me.  Aaron usually takes care of Zelda in the night.  In the winter, Zelda has to be tucked in.  And when she moves around and becomes uncovered she wakes up and starts whining.  Tuesday night she woke me up four times!  Plus waking up to have to pee, it was a restless night.  Last night, I got one of the king sized comforters, and covered her and tucked it in.  She only woke up twice.  So I got a better night's sleep.

We got two packages today, both were for me.  I had to peak in one, since I'm ordering stuff from different places too.  (Sorry Mom!  But I didn't open it).

It was so cold today!  My windshield was frozen for the second day in a row.  I'm not sure we got to 50 here (which is very cold for us).  When I went on my lunch walk (at 1:15) there were frozen edges on some puddles.  Crazy.

I had a couple work meetings today.  Everything went well, so I'm feeling a little less stressed.  And we did a little more planning for my maternity leave, and return.

They started removal of our neighbour's giant camphor tree today.  I'm glad this is happening.  It's been a big annoyance.  It drops leaves all year long (which clog our gutters).  It ruined our driveway, and would eventually mess up the foundation of our house.  The big stump is still there, it's going to be worked on tomorrow.

I really hate toilet paper commercials, especially the ones with the bears.  Eww, I don't need to hear about how strong your toilet paper is!  I mean, really.  How hard are you wiping your ass?  Yuck.

Bits

• I teach Relief Society (ladies Sunday School) once a month, and I always bring a treat.  I've been bringing a gluten-free option lately, because a lot of people are doing that.  I have two packs of GF flour at home: soy and buckwheat.  Today I made a half batch of M&M cookies with the soy flour.  Ugh, they were awful!  (If you know me, you know what a sweet tooth I have, and I've never met a cookie I didn't like).  They looked bad, super flat, and limp.  And they tasted terrible.  I usually like the flavour of soy, but it was like the soy had gone bad or something.  I didn't even bake all the dough.
• I stopped by and saw Sophie after work to talk about baby shower stuff.  Poor Kaylee has terrible diaper rash.  Sophie and I ended up just talking a lot of baby and pregnancy stuff.  It was nice.
• I organized my cloth diapers yesterday, I think we're pretty well set, so that's exciting.
• I realized today that I still have room to do the Humira shot on my belly.  :cue the hallelujah chorus:
• Aaron is sick.  I think this is day three.  He has a cold of some sort, so he feels bad.  He came home from work early and had to get someone else to cover his meeting today.  That means he must feel bad.  I made up the guest bed, in the front room, for him.  (He said he'd sleep in there tonight).  Poor kid.  He bought me flowers on his way home to apologize in advance for his whiney-ness.  
• Aaron told me he had a dream about Mojo last night.  This is very rare, he usually doesn't remember his dreams.  He said Mojo had a lot of light coloured hair.  :swoon:
• Mojo has been really wiggly today, which is fun.  And according to the baby app, his testicles are descending this week.  And he's taking little practice breaths of amniotic fluid.