Friday Photo Dump

I had some stressful, grueling days this week, so I'm glad these Friday posts let me look back and remember the good things about my week!

I finally reached 60,000 Viggle points, and I thought it deserved a picture.  I've been Viggling hardcore lately.  Basically, if I'm at home, I'm checked into a show.  And actually, I've gotten 4,000 more points since this screenshot was taken, so I have more than enough points for a $25 gift card!  Yay free stuff!  If you don't know what Viggle is, it's an app where you get points for "checking in" to TV shows, and your points can be redeemed for prizes: anything from a $5 gift card to a cruise!  It's pretty awesome.  I did not mean to get off on such a Viggle tangent...

Somehow, this little lady was the star of my Instagram account this week.  It's weird, but I've been a little emotional lately about my cats and how they'll adjust to the baby, and whether they'll feel abandoned.  Honestly,  I have cried over it.  I feel like that is something I probably shouldn't admit for the world to see, so I'll blame it on the hormones. I'm really not a crazy cat lady! Anyway, I guess I am giving the cats a lot of attention lately, so that means lots of pictures.  Gabby is MIA in these pictures for some reason, but don't worry, she gets just as much attention as Ellie! (I'm sure you were very worried about that...)  Anyway, here she is laying in her favorite spot in the house: on top of our radiator.  There is nothing Ellie loves more than to be warm!  It cracks me up, because it looks so uncomfortable to me!  But she loves it.

Luke and I had a little date night last Friday where we went shopping and to dinner at Chipotle.  It sounded so good to me, but bleh, I felt disgusting afterwards.  These days I think I eat less at mealtimes, but feel more full afterwards.  After a big meal like this (I did not eat the whole thing, for the record), I actually have trouble taking a deep breath because I feel like my lungs can't expand the whole way!  Ummm, what is it going to be like when my baby is the size of a WATERMELON instead of an orange like it is now?!  I'm slightly terrified...

On Saturday we went to a 2nd birthday party for my cousin's son.  It was a sports themed party, and everything was adorable!  So fun.  I had to fight the urge the start planning our little peanut's first birthday party for July 2014!  Pinterest has turned me into a monster.

There's Ellie again!  For various reasons, we had to install a little kitty door so the cats can get to the basement.  Unfortunately, they're terrified of the door, and it's taken a week of bribery operant conditioning just to get them to be able to push it open on their own.  Oy.

...And, one more picture of Ellie!  I was working on my One Thousand Gifts study book. I got out of my chair for a minute, and Ellie jumped right up.  I joked that she was trying to peek and see if she was on my list of gifts.  Spoiler alert: she and Gabby both were...

That pretty much sums up the 4th week of 2012.  My life is so exciting. Is my sarcasm font working?  These days might not be the most exciting in the world, but I'm trying to enjoy them.  It is such a bittersweet time in our lives: the last few months just the two of us!  Definitely more sweet than bitter, but I can't help but feel a little nostalgic after spending 8.5 years together, just the two of us!

Friday Photo Dump

It's been awhile since I've done a "here's what I've been up to" type of post, so I thought maybe I'd start something new on Fridays, and just dump all of my photos from the week and do a journal-type post about what I've been up to.  In the past year, the whole "journal" aspect of my blog has not been covered very well.  And I want to change that.  While the primary purpose of my blog is to share Christ's love, and show what He's doing in my life, I also like to use it so I can look back on our memories.  Since Baby W is coming in about 6 months, I need to get back in the swing of that.  I assume it will just get more difficult once he or she is here!

Anyway, here are some random pictures from 2013 so far.  Somehow they almost all involve food.  What can I say, my appetite is back, and there's no stopping me:

This was taken at the New Year's party we went to.  It started out as a bunch of friends from high school and college in the 80s, and now includes 3 generations.  I think every family represented there had at least 1 engagement, wedding, or pregnancy in 2012, so it was fun to catch up about it all.  This is the only picture I got of the day:  it says "2013" and I thought it was adorable. 

I had a routine doctor's appointment last week.  I went alone because nothing exciting was happening (no ultrasound, and my doctor doesn't check to hear the heartbeat until after 12 weeks so as not to alarm the patient since it can be a little hard to find before that point.  I was 11 weeks, 3 days at the appointment, so she didn't check the heartbeat).  Anyway, it was my first appointment with my actual OB.  She said everything looked great.  And she was so excited for me.  I just love her.  She is worth the 45-minute drive we will have to make to the hospital when I'm in labor.  (Although after reading Callie's birth story for her daughter, driving that far makes me nervous! You should read the birth story, because it is one of the most incredible ones I've ever read!) ANYWAY, after the appointment I was just in such a good mood and SO hungry that I decided to go to Panera by myself.  I have never eaten in any restaurant by myself before, so this was a first. And I loved it.  I think it's something every introvert should do every once in awhile.

 My mom got me this cinnamon struesel  coffee cake mix for Christmas and it came with cute little cups to bake it in.  I was having a rare craving for sweets one morning, so I made it and some dark hot chocolate, and nibbled and sipped while I watched Hart of Dixie on Netflix. It was basically the perfect morning. And if you haven't watched Hart of Dixie, I highly recommend it.  Especially if you like cute, fluffy shows, and need a break from the intense drama in most popular shows (not that I don't love that too, but Hart of Dixie is a nice change of pace!)  And also, especially if you have an obsession with all things Southern like I do.  I wish Blue Bell, Alabama was a real place, and I wish I lived there!  (The set of Blue Bell is the same as Stars Hollow, so you can imagine how charming it is!)

Hey look, more food!  Last week I went with my cousins and aunt to visit our cousin Laura and her mom before Laura moves to Boston.  It was so good to catch up with them! We ate white chicken chili there for lunch, and then I had a nagging craving for it for days.  So I found a recipe on Pinterest, originally posted here.  (Although after reading the comments on the recipe, I changed it and tweaked it A LOT.)  Anyway, I made a big pot of it, and have been eating it for lunch for days.  To be honest, I could probably eat this stuff by the shovel-full. And it's pretty healthy, too.  I wonder if I will have an ongoing craving for this stuff now that my appetite is back.  Tex Mex or Southwestern foods are my favorite kinds. I always gravitate toward those dishes on any menu, especially if a little spiciness is involved.  Unfortunately, my husband does not share this preference, and he did not care for my chili!  Oh well... more for me.  Hopefully this kid will have my taste in food, so he or she can tell me how good my white chicken chili is, and I won't doubt my cooking skills. Ha!

And lastly, a break from food pictures.  Ellie and Gabby have stare-downs like this at least 20 times every day.  It ends with one of them pouncing on the other, and then they wrestle until Ellie lets out a painful screech, and I have to yell at Gabby to stop it.  Gabby, who is a little on the obese side,  is literally twice the size of Ellie, and she wins their little wrestling matches 100% of the time.  I would feel bad for Ellie, but she instigates these matches about 90% of the time, so I just let her suffer the consequences.  She secretly loves it.

Well, Christmas break has been wonderful, and I will miss these lazy days! But class starts on Tuesday, and my clinicals already started, so it's back to the daily grind soon.  I hope to be better at blogging from now on, though, and will really try to make this a Friday tradition.  So if nothing else, I'll have my Monday pregnancy updates, and my Friday Photo Dumps each week.  

Happy weekend!

Healthy Again!

I have a praise to share this morning, and it's a big one for me! I've written about the fact that I've been feeling extremely sick with what I thought were allergy symptoms since the middle of April. I kept putting off calling the doctor because I thought it would just go away on its own. But somewhere toward the middle of July it got so bad I thought Luke was going to have to drive me to the ER a few nights. I really couldn't even breathe.

Luckily I avoided having to go to the ER, but I finally made a doctor's appointment, and from there had a CT scan.

About a week ago, I had my follow-up visit from the doctor and he said I have a "smoldering" sinus infection (whatever that means! haha). So I guess it wasn't allergies after all. And I guess I should have gone to the doctor a loooong time ago!!

The best part about this news is that it means I am not allergic to Gabby and Ellie!!!!


I'm glad, because there was just no way I was going to get rid of them if they were the problem!

The other good news is that the doctor put me on prednisone and 3 weeks of antibiotics. And while I'm not enjoying the side effects of the prednisone, like feeling all swollen, being extra thirsty, and peeing 3 times every hour (tmi?), I am feeling good for the first time in 4 months!! I seriously didn't realize how much pressure I had been feeling in my sinuses for all that time, but now that it's gone, I feel so much better! And I haven't been coughing at all. Praise the Lord!

I'm so glad that I'm feeling better, that this was an easily fixable problem, and that I'm not allergic to my cats!!!