Back to work blahs

Wow. It is difficult to go back to a place you hate after being away for 4 wonderful days. The m/s has subsided for the most part. Thankgoodness for that.

I have to say, they really don't lie about prenatal vitamins. My nails and hair are growing sooo quickly. A few months ago I completely chopped my hair off, 14 inches to be exact. (But I won't even get into that horror story) I recently got a follow-up trim, and my hair has already grown out from that. My nails are growing like I never imagined too. On the downside of pregnancy, I think all those ideas about pregnant women 'glowing' are pure bologna! I feel like a blimp, my skin is more terrible than it's ever been, my hair is greasy (which is very unusual for me), and I just generally feel gross. Dan, of course, always tries to tell me different, but I KNOW the truth. LOL. It's crazy, I'm almost into maternity shirts. That was fast I tell ya. I'm thinking the pants aren't far behind :(

Such a relaxing weekend...

Dan and I did pretty much nothing over the holiday weekend. We barbecued yesterday, cleaned the house, watched a few movies and that's about it. Just perfect.

I have been reading the baby books that Heleena sent us (Thank you SO much by the way.) It still amazes me that there's truly a little person growing in there. At week 8, the baby was the size of a quarter. Now at week 9, the books say the baby is the size of a large grape, and next week it will grow to the size of a lime. She's growing very fast. As I say this, it's probably going to be a boy, and come out with a complex for his entire life because I refered to him as a girl for so long. :)

Even though it's only for a few days, Dan and I are looking forward to coming to St. Louis the weekend of June 10. Unfortunately we won't have time for visiting, we're shooting a wedding for a friend. It will be nice to get out of Texas if only for a short while.

Good 'ol morning sickness...

I'm still going through all the images from the wedding last week. I've included a few more fun ones.

I had really hoped I would escape any major morning sickness. My mom has told me stories about her horrible morning sickness with me, Tanya, and TJ, and I had hoped it wouldn't run in the family. I was apparently wrong. Yesterday I barely moved for the majority of the day. I ate lots of saltine crackers, some chicken noodle soup and drank 7 UP. Let me tell you that doing the dishes while you have morning sickness is NOT a smart decision. I was dry heaving after my attempt to do the dishes. Today I'm feeling better than yesterday, but I still have the morning sickness.

In other news, I have to say that watching Albert Pujols single handedly make the Cardinals season this year is really exciting. It's too bad druggy Barry Bonds is completely overshadowing Pujols' accomplishments. I can't wait to go to the new stadium to watch a game. We'll have to buy the baby a Cardinals onesie while we're there.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.

One good thing about being in the military.......

We get a lot of holidays! This is a 4-day weekend for us, which I could definitely use. I suspect that just as many holidays have, Memorial Day has become just another day to get off work and drink too much for many people. I hope that everyone can stop and take a moment to remember why we have that holiday. At Fort Hood alone, we have lost more than 300 Soldiers. That's all I'll say about that...

I'm actually feeling not so great today. I've had my first actual bout with nausea today, which is suprising, because I'm almost 9 weeks. I'm just eating saltine crackers and drinking 7 UP. Yum. It's not that bad I guess, but I definitely don't feel like doing anything productive. Instead, I'm killing braincells by watching TV.

Actually, I'm watching all the baby shows they have on both TLC and the Discovery Channel. It's quite fascinating how everyone's pregnancies are so different. There was one woman who went her entire pregnancy thinking she was going to have twin boys. She and her husband decorated the room for boys, bought all sorts of baby boy gear and accessories, only to give birth to two baby girls. They had to return everything and redecorate the nursery. I thought it was pretty funny.

Apparently during the ultrasound, the umbilical cord looked like male genitalia. SUPRISE! They were shocked.

I really can't wait to find out what we're having. Our lease is up in October, so we're definitely going to move from our small apartment. We're going to rent a house, and I can't wait to decorate the nursery. Once I hit 28 weeks, my work days get decreased dramatically, which is excellent. I'll have plenty of time to prepare for baby Welch.

Leapin Lizards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

No, I am not about to sing you a song from 'Annie'...........................................

I have lived in lovely Central Texas for 2 and a half years, and have lived in the same apartment for 2 years. They consistently fumigate and set bate for little critters. I have never seen any bugs or critters EVER. That is, until yesterday. I go to take the garbage out of the trash can and sure enough, a little white lizard scurries into our closet. I worry about him for a while, but can't find him. Finally I go to sleep. Dan was working the late shift and was scheduled until midnight. Tonight I was getting ready for bed, I wash my face and head into the bedroom. About 3 inches from my foot was my little lizard friend. Of course-I screamed at the top of my lungs and leapt onto the bed. Anybody who knows me understands that while I may be Soldier in the US Army, I am SCARED TO DEATH of bugs, rodents and various other critters. They cause me nightmares and horrible visions. Luckily for me Dan happened to call and I told him about our friend. He came home within 5 minutes, and being the knight in shining armor that he is, took care of the little guy. We tried to let him live, but he was too fast. Dan beat him with a broom, and now I can finally get some rest.

Gret, do you remember our little clear lizard in Florida? He was almost as gross as that one. Stupid little gecko.

Week 8

Well, we're officially 8 weeks pregnant and no sign of morning sickness. I do feel a little bit sick if I get hungry, but I don't let that happen much. =) Some days I don't even feel I'm pregnant, except for the fact that I generally need AT LEAST 9 hours of sleep and I have hot flashes. Is pregnancy supposed to feel like menopause? I've also been having CRAZY pineapple cravings, which isn't too bad. No pickles and ice cream for me.

Work has been pretty boring, I guess they think pregnant women are invalids and are incapable of doing anything. Oh well, their loss.

It's been about 97 degrees today. Oh-and very humid. Very bad hair weather.

Busy weekend behind us....

Dan and just got back from seeing the Da Vinci Code. Yes, it received rather harsh reviews from the critics at the Cannes Festival, I thought it was enjoyable. Although, having read the book, there's truly no comparison. As cliche as it may sound, I really couldn't put the book down. I read it during a CQ shift (24-hour guard duty we do once every few months in the Army). The first half was slow, but I thought the second half was fairly good. There were several aspects that were changed from the book's version, and for reasons I don't understand. Needless to say, I'm sure those who haven't read Dan Brown's work will enjoy it more than those of us who have.

I am now writing to you from our new Sony Vaio laptop. Dan's laptop died after returning from a tour in Baghdad, so we purchased a replacement and purchased the most wonderful invention-wireless internet. It's fabulous.

We also shot our first wedding on Saturday. We travelled to a beautiful temple in San Antonio, where we were not allowed inside because we are not Mormon. We took plenty of beautiful shots with the temple in the background, and it was gorgeous. It was a nice day as well, very sunny. Then we drove a couple of hours to a quaint bed-and-breakfast in Salado, which is only about 35 minutes from where we live in Killeen, Texas. It was a very long day, and we both are still exhausted the next day. You have no idea what wedding photographers go through until you do what they do. I definitely need to raise my prices. LOL. (and buy some more comfortable shoes.) I've reviewed some of the photos and am very pleased with our work. I think the newlyweds will be too. Here are a few examples....

TGIF

Dan and I are preparing to shoot our first PAID wedding tomorrow in San Antonio. Hopefully the weather will be nice and all will go well. I'm really looking forward to it, should be fun.

In Army news, I got my new uniform. They're called ACUs aka digital cammis as the Marines call them. You don't have to have them dry cleaned, so it's much cheaper. They're also pretty comfy, kinda like pajamas.

The Da Vinci Code comes out, and I can't wait to see it. The book was amazing. Despite some bad reviews, I think it'll be a great flick. Dan and I are going Sunday to see it. I'll let you guys know what I think of it later.

In baby news, my first official OB appointment is scheduled for June 19 when I'll be 12 weeks. We should get to hear the heart beat and do an u/s. I can't wait to post pictures. Well, that's all for now.

On to week 7

Well, week 7 of my pregnancy has begun, and I'm feeling well. The headaches haven't been quite as bad as they were early last week. Still no morning sickness. Yay! Dan and I have been referring to the baby as a girl, not really sure why.

We've pretty much decided on the name Audrey if it's a girl. We've been talking about baby names since the first week of our marriage. Now everytime I want something, I say it's for Audrey. Audrey wants you to rub my feet. Audrey wants an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen. I think it annoys him a little, but I think he thinks it's more funny than anything.

I haven't been running at all since I found out I was pregnant, but the nurse says it's good to walk. She said, "Girl, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. It makes for an easier delivery." I'm all for that, so my goal is to walk 3-4 miles a day. I walk outside in the morning, and again in the afternoon if it's not too hot. This is Texas after all.

Obsessed with reality tv

I know I'm not the only one out there, but I feel totally pathetic. Sitting here watching America's Next Top Model marathon on VH1 alllllllll day. Oh well...Not much to do here in lovely Central Texas.

Terribly hot today, and it's frightening to think it's only going to be much worse when summer arrives. Oh well, at least it's not Baghdad, right?

This baby is giving me a headache

I'm feeling pretty well, except for the excrutiating headaches I get every day. They're quite possibly the worst I've ever had and I always get the at the same time everyday- from about 10:30 a.m. - 1:30. It's the strangest thing. I take Tylenol. I drink tons of water (and subsequently make a million trips to the loo). I get plenty of rest. Doesn't matter, the headache monster still maintains its strict schedule EVERY DAY!

Other than that I'm feeling fabulous. It's quite amusing to be asked how I'm feeling one hundred times per day, scary to think I'm not even 7 weeks along. What are these people going to do when they can actually see my little baby bump? Who knows....

I think Dan and I have come to the decision that I will stay in the Army. It will provide the best, most affordable care for the baby. Dan will FINALLY be able to finish school. I have less than two years left, so hopefully it will fly by. *crossing my fingers*

Baby update

Dan and I just got back from our first pregnancy appointment. Wow. Having a baby is crazy stuff. LOL. We found out that I am officially 5 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Soooo....They told us about all kinds of pregnancy classes that we're definitely going to take...Pregnancy Nutrition, 1st Time Parenting, etc. Sooo many things to think about. I guess it's really starting to feel real, like there's really a tiny human being inside me, even if it's only a half inch long.

Baby on the way....

Well, for those of you who don't already know, Dan and I found out this week that we're going to have a baby. While we're extremely thrilled, we aren't really sure what we're going to do (as far as staying in the Army or moving). My due date is tentatively January 3. I'm just over 4 weeks along now.

Dan bought me 3 roses as soon as we found out. One rose for me, one rose for him, and one rose for the baby...He's been even more sweet now that I'm pregnant, and I didn't think that was
possible. I'm feeling very well. Just a bit dizzy at times and extremely tired and some back pain. I don't have to do anything very physical anymore for the Army. No running, no standing for long periods of time, no heavy lifting. They're definitely taking care of me (for once anyway). They don't mess around with pregnant women.

No power, lucky us

Well this past Friday was very interesting. Dan came home to a powerless apartment. He immediately called me on my cell phone asking if I had paid the utility bill. Yes, of course I said. (It was an outrageous $160 for our tiny 800-square foot apartment.) I got home about 20 minutes later and promptly called lovely TXU and reported our outage to an automated system. Yippy, no live human to speak with. About 30 minutes later a representative called us and said it must have been our apartment company, so Dan goes to talk to the maintenance guy. He comes out here and says, "Oh, you must not have paid your bill." What? Of course we paid our bill moron. So we call up TXU AGAIN, get transfered at least 7 times, and to agents who didn't speak English. It was fabulous. Needless to say, we eventually did get it turned back on several hours later. Yay for power. I felt like I was in Iraq again.

In other news, for those of you who don't know, I'm looking to get out of the Army. Our unit is deploying again in the very near future, and I hope to not accompany them on their voyage to the land of the sand. I'm currently applying for jobs between St. Louis and New York, so at least we'll be a bit closer to our families. Wish me luck.