Changes

Well, I don't have any good pregnancy stories yet, but there are a few things I've noticed:

I eat a lot. Well, I've always eaten a lot so it's not a huge change, but now I need to have 2 bowls of cereal instead of one to fill me up in the morning. And I get hungry for lunch around 10:30, so I have to eat two lunches too. At this stage I think the baby is about the size of a grain of rice, so I'm wondering how something that small can eat so much?

I sleep a lot. Well, I've always slept a lot, so that's not a huge change either, but now I just feel a little more tired than I used to. I think I'm blaming my laziness on pregnancy, but why not! I pretty much keep the same sleep schedule as Micaela which is convenient. I've been skipping PT in the morning and just exercising at lunch which is a lot nicer than waking up at 0500.

I get headaches. I think I've been getting headaches because I've significantly cut back on my caffeine intake. I still have a few sips of coffee in the morning just to cheer me up, but other than that I'm drinking mostly water during the day.

I've actually lost a little weight. This isn't a huge surprise since now I've cut out the beer or two a day and all the soda that I was having before. Those empty calories are no longer part of my diet (although not by choice). Who would have thought that being pregnant would make you healthier (and maybe a little lazy)?

And finally, the question I get asked most - No, I haven't had any morning sickness. But, there have been some strange noises coming from my stomach. Whether I'm hungry, or food is having trouble being digested, or Alfred(a) is trying to learn to belch, I'm not sure, but I'll take it any day over being sick.

Surprise

Mari says I need a new blog and mom and dad want to know when I am going to write about the current development in our family... so here it is: we're having a baby.

I sent this picture out to my family a week ago and to some friends a few days ago. I would say that only about 50% of the people got that this was a pregnancy announcement. I think it was Kurt being in the picture that fooled them, if it were Mari it would have been a little more obvious. Anyways, I don't feel pregnant, no morning sickness or anything like that, maybe just a little more tired than normal. I won't have a doctor's appointment for a little while yet, but I do have an orientation next week. I don't know what I will be orientated (hee hee - Army joke) to, but I guess I will find out. Other than that, life as usual. Today I got tasked with planning an Aviation Ball so I'll have something to do at work other than read the gossip columns (I rather enjoyed being lazy, oh well). That's about all I can think of for now, I'll post more later.

Soccer Moms

Micaela had her first soccer practice on Wednesday. We showed up a few minutes early because I didn't know exactly where to go. The group that practices the session before Micaela is the same age group and the moms were just crazy. There were about 30 kids out running around with their soccer balls in seemingly no organized fashion and all the moms (about 10 or so) were lined up with their butterfly chairs and coolers watching, sipping their lemonade. You would have thought it was the world cup of youth soccer, but no, just the first practice. I guess I didn't get memo, I didn't bring a chair or a cooler. Instead I sat in the car and listened to a book on tape. I'm a nerd. But Micaela loved it and was much better at it than gymnastics. Plus I think it took a lot more energy out of her. Now I just have to go buy her matching cleats, shin guards, and a soccer ball so she can look like all the other soccer mom's kids.

I killed the frog.

Tonight we had a huge cookout with all of our neighbors (12 adults and 10 kids) and Kurt made his famous rice and beans and it was a great party, lots of fun. We have a fairly large house, but it didn't have quite enough seating for everyone. The ladies ended up eating in the dining room sitting on the comfy chairs while the guys ended up in the living room making due with whatever they could find, as it should be :)

Then it came time for everyone to go home. Some of the neighbors live behind us so they went out the back door. Well, we have this pet frog (sort of) that likes to sleep in our patio umbrella during the day and hang on our glass back door at night. He's been around for months now and we really liked him. I knew he was there, but I didn't pay attention when I opened the door and I accidentally broke the poor guy (or gal's) leg, smashing it in the door crack. He ended up on our wall inside dragging his leg behind him. Kurt didn't think that was very humane, so he took him outside and introduced him to the bottom of his shoe. I asked Kurt if he was sure he was dead and he just laughed. It was very sad. I killed the frog.

Hoodlums and Disasters

Strange title, I know, but I really have two things to blog about. First the hoodlums. On Tuesday, Micaela had school and I had the day off work, so Kurt and I decided to take that opportunity to clean out the garage. We took everything off the shelves and had it all piled up on the floor. It was a mess. I helped Kurt with the mess until around 6 and then went to watch a movie with Micaela. When the movie was over I came downstairs to find that one of the dogs had diarhead all over their cages. I yelled for Kurt to help, but he was gone somewhere. When he got home about 15 minutes later (he was helping a friend buy a nintendo for his boy) he told me that there were two bikes laying in our yard. It was dark out and the kids in our neighborhood don't really leave stuff lying around. Kurt saw 3 teenagers, 2 on bikes and one walking, coming down the street as he left on his errand. He figured that they were stolen bikes and the teens had ditched them when a car drove by. He called the police and they came out and picked up the bikes. A few minutes later I asked where Jason's bike was (he left it at our house after the Chincoteague vacation). Then we realized it was one of the bikes the cops picked up, oops. Why would someone steal a kids bike and leave it at the end of the driveway???? The answer - to steal a better bike. Two bikes actually, two Trek mountain bikes that Kurt and I had just outside our garage. The hoodlum teenagers stole our bikes. Just to add insult to injury, I figured that the theft took place just about the time I was out back cleaning dog poop off the dog's cages. What a great night. The bikes weren't terribly expensive, but I had just started riding mine for exercise with a group at work. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to sleep in now.

Next blog: the disaster.

In keeping with the cleaning mood that we were in (although we never actually finished the garage) Kurt decided that the office and the TV room needed some cleaning as well. With the purchace of one cheap desk for me, he transformed the office and really did a good job making it look nice and organized. After that task was done he headed up to the TV room. We've always needed more seating in there, especially now that college football season has begun. We rearranged the whole room (which included moving a fish tank downstairs, not fun) and now have a good entertainment room. This all sounds great, but what I haven't mentioned is what happened to all the stuff that was cleaned out of those rooms, well here it is, in our entry way and living room:

We are having all the neighbors over tomorrow for a cookout, and tonight I have a statistics midterm so I'll be gone, so I have no idea how we are going to get this mess cleaned up. I guess I'll have to trust that Kurt will do it all tomorrow during the day before he starts cooking. (I have this suspicion though that all this stuff is going to end up in the garage for us to clean up later). Fun times. Here are the pictures of the newly cleaned rooms:

Gremlins

Yesterday was Micaela's first day of school and while she was away, the Gremlins came and cleaned up her room for her. I mean, they practically gutted it. There was a lot of junk. But it looks nice and her toys are organized and now she can't stop asking questions about the Gremlins. She knew they weren't real at first, even after talking to Grandma Ginny (aka the Gremlin expert) she still had her doubts. Then I went online and showed her this picture:



That sealed the deal. They are definitely real. Last night she wrote to them and left out jelly beans and water. She also wants to invite them to go swimming. Something about "they're invisible" didn't quite register. It's pretty cute, but I'm going to have to tell her to keep it a secret or else she is just going to bombard her teacher and classmates with everything she has learned about them so far. They're going to think she's crazy. Oh well, it's fun.