Photo Challenge : Pets

This photo was featured on Pioneer Woman, so I thought maybe its good enough to put on iheartfaces :D

7 Days....

7 Days....makes me think of "The Ring" but really, its 7 days until my due date. I was hoping that I wasn't going to be sitting around wasting my maternity leave on bedrest. But, alas.....no baby yet.
Here's me at 38 weeks and 4 days (gotta love my 87 chins and the maternity shirt that Jalee gave me that doesn't really fit, but I don't have much else!):

I've been havng quite a few contractions, sometimes they get regular, and they're getting stronger, but not productive yet.
Tuesday I had my dr appointment. My blood pressure was way high. Something like 162 over 90. They checked me and I'm almost 2 cm dilated and 80% thinned. She stripped my membranes, but if labor doesn't start in 24 hours, it didn't work...so yeah, didn't work. They reiterated the fact that I need to NOT do anything, no cleaning, no shopping, no sex (there goes that labor-inducing idea), etc. I go back this wednesday. On Thursday I went to the stress-test fetal monitoring, and my blood pressure was a lot better, I only had 3 contractions during the half hour, but they were stronger than last time. My amniotic fluid was a tad lower than they like, so they want to see me twice a week now, so I have another appointment for that tomorrow.
Friday night Rob's parents brought us Cafe Rio! YUM! That was so awesome of them! :D Yesterday and Today Rob has been doing a lot of cleaning, since I can't. But he's been amazing about it. He makes me food, cleans the kitchen, and anything else I need. It's nice that he's being so helpful because I really wanted the house clean before the baby comes.
Last monday a little birdie brought me some crib bedding!! Thank you!!!! So we're FINALLY completely ready in the baby's room. I had wanted to do a tropical/underwater theme, but everything was so expensive, so this works just as well, and I really do love it. The whole room isn't very fancy, so here's just a picture of the crib:

And now that Rob cleaned off the desk, Gizmo has a new place she likes to call her domain. And now if there's ANYTHING on the desk, she likes to knock it off on to the floor! (she's such a turd)

Gizmo has some really bad matted fur right now, we try to brush her a lot, but she just likes to attack the brush. The matts have been pretty easy to brush out or cut out before, but now I think we might have to break down and pay $100 for a groomer to shave her. It's so bad. (and I can't believe it costs that much!!)
My friend, Cami, brought her 5 month old over the other day to visit me and Gizmo did NOT know what to think of that! She hasn't been around any babies or anything, so she just watched from across the room very intently, then gradually came over to take a look, but just for a second. It will be interesting to see how the cats react with a baby here all the time!
Well, I am hoping that Kai decides to come soon or I'm going to go crazy on bedrest! And I am so sore all the time, that needs to end.

Getting closer?

This is me at 36 weeks and 4 days (my lips are blue because of the shaved ice I was craving!):

Went to the doctor on wednesday. Had to have the Strep B test...girls...not so fun! But I got checked and I am thinned 60-70%, dilated 1 cm, cervix is soft and baby's head is down. I have 22 days left, but everyone thinks I'll be early. I kind of hope so, but I have to wait until after this wednesday! I'm still training people to cover me while I'm on maternity leave. I have had a LOT of pain in my hips and pubic bone. It feels like someone wrapped a chain around my pubic bone and tied it to a mack truck on the freeway...so it feels nice as you can imagine! :P My ankles are so swollen, and don't go down at night anymore. They're ridiculously huge! I can only wear flip flops now, and almost all of my maternity clothes no longer fit. I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions quite a bit, so I guess my body is getting ready. Also....we have decided on a name! Kai Tanner Dammann. Rob kept coming back to that, and I liked it a lot too, but I really wanted Rob to have a big part of choosing it. We're getting very excited and I am also getting very nervous. We didn't do a birthing class because we wanted to save the money, so I hope Rob will be ready for this.
Gizmo has been such a turd, she's been getting into everything and knocks everything of counters, tables, the desk, everywhere, but this is how she likes to lay now, shes funny: SUPERMAN!!!! (I think she's just hot and trying to cool of on the tile)

This is week 26!

185 days down…95 to go…
My next Dr. appointment is in 2 weeks, after I do my glucose test and then after that, I go see him every two weeks. Its getting closer! I went to the Dr last week and found out that I am gaining weight like a cow! Someone asked me the other day what I was having and I said, “Hopefully a calf, from the size of me!” I know, I need to be better when I talk about my weight, it’s just a difficult subject. I had worked so hard on Weight Watchers to get to my goal weight, and I had started to gain a little bit before I got pregnant, so this is really hard on me to watch my weight climb. I have gained more than the “recommended” amount for the pregnancy already, and I still have 3 months left… I just need to start making Rob go walking with me in the evenings, so I can get myself a little healthier. But this weight thing is killing me! This is me last week at 25 weeks:

Mothers Day is past and gone, and I'm a slacker, so HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!! Rob and I went to his mom’s house just after noon and spent some time with them before heading to my mom’s for dinner with the fam. It was a nice evening. We all got to sit around and chat for a while and hold baby Lelah. She’s such a cute baby. And we watched all the kids run around and play.

I’m finally feeling some more distinct kicks in my tummy, and Rob’s even felt it. On Tuesday last week I felt some movement, so I stopped working to just stare and my belly, and I saw my stomach move, so I called Rob’s office and made him come down to see if he could see it too…which he did get to witness! He said it looked like a muscle spasm. I've seen more movement, and Rob got kicked in the head this last week. I think he's excited to finally be able to feel something. In the mornings I wake up on my side, and he’s usually jumping on the bed…..such a naughty little boy!! :P
And for a major headspin last week: We finally got an appointment with the Big Fix to get Gizmo neutered, and Rob took him in Thursday morning. Well they called him a few minutes later to tell Rob, “Uh, Gizmo is a female…so you need to bring $10 more dollars for the spay when you pick HER up” WHA WHA WHA????!!! FEMALE?!?! Rob and my brains hurt all day long trying to wrap our heads around the idea that this kitty that we’ve had for like 5 months is a FEMALE! The lady we got him from told us it was a male. And Gizmo TOTALLY acts like a male cat, I’ve NEVER seen a female cat act the way Gizmo does. We were floored! You see, Gizmo is long haired, and has lots of hair, so I never really thought I needed to double check what the lady told us. BUT I had joked a couple times with Rob, saying, “What if Gizmo is really a girl and we don’t know it!?” And Rob would say, “No, he acts too much like a boy, there’s no way”. Its funny that I had said that and BAM its really a girl. I felt so bad for her when we got her home from her surgery, she was so out of it and bobbly-headed. She just laid and slept in the pet carrier all night, and wouldn’t even get up at all. I was starting to get worried, because she hadn’t really drank anything and didn't eat, and was so lethargic. When I finally made myself to go bed, I made sure to listen for any meowing at night, but at 2:30 am, she came and jumped (shes not supposed to be jumping!) on the bed, and laid and slept on me. So I felt better knowing that she felt better. Poor kitty….what a hard day…..find out you’re female, not male, get your belly shaved, get anesthesia, get cut open and pieces taken out, and wake up confused! But Rob refuses to call Gizmo a “her” he says, “Nope, it’s a boy!” Too funny. Her incision is a little swollen, but I'm thinking she might be ok still. I call her my baby cow because her skin is spotted like a cow. She still loves her tummy petted!

The big REVEAL!!!

PHEW!!! It's official! IT’S A BOY!!!!
I was so worried that we still weren’t going to be able to see the gender! I drank a soda and water before I went to my ultrasound, so he was pretty active from the sugar but still kept his legs pretty close together, but she got a quick couple shots right at first, but then couldn’t get another look after that. The umbilical cord kept pulling his stuff up against him, so you couldn’t see it. He’s so naughty! I can tell we’re going to have a difficult child!! :P And Sharise is convinced that his name is Eugene (have no clue where she came up with that), but NO it’s NOT his name! :P We aren’t set on a name yet, but Eugene is not one on my list. But if I call him that to her, it keeps her quiet, so that’s fine. Its so cool to see the ultrasound when he’s so active. And I could feel some of his movements when I was on my side, and she had the ultrasound wand against my uterus. Rob was all excited and looking at the pictures we got, satisfied that his equipment is there! Rob’s mom got us some cute little Nike’s! I’m so excited.
Easter was good, we had a pot luck lunch at my mom’s house on Saturday, with lots of good food. But we missed the kids doing the egg hunt because they did it so fast in the yard, and we didn’t even know they started.
Here's Jalee and Josh helping the kids empty their eggs:

Owen, being a goof:

We got a little family picture, but I’ll have to wait until I can get it from mom, then I’ll post it. Me and Jalee had our pregnant bellies squished against eachother in the picture. Heehee She’s got 4 weeks left, unless she pops early, which she is convinced of. Seeing little Lelah, will make me even more excited for our baby, I can’t wait!! Another neice!! YAY!
I am now 21 weeks, and over half way there!! Clothes are fitting less and less….dang it!! I’m just glad its getting warmer so I can easily wear some skirts that are elastic topped!! And I have a couple maternity capris, so I’m ready for this summer!! I just need a maternity swim suit. I’m keeping my eye out for a inexpensive cute one!
The other day we had to bathe Gizmo because he smelled like a FOOT!!
So we got some pics of the aftermath. He was a little upset! :P


And he looks hilariously evil while licking himself in this one, please ignore the cat litter on the floor! It looks nasty:

And a couple weeks ago I was resting and he slept on me.

Fish Trees

We have these trees that line the whole front of our building. In the spring they bloom white flowers and are really pretty. BUT they smell like fish. I noticed last year and nobody knew where the smell was coming from, until I had a co-worker pull down a branch and sure enough, it was the blossoms! Its SOO nasty for a couple weeks until they fall off. It gets so strong and overwhelming, I'm just glad I'm not still in my first trimester, I'd be out front puking on my way in and out everyday!

On a brighter note, I am 17 weeks pregnant now.I think I've started feeling the first few flutters in the past week or two. And people at work that didn't know are now asking if I am going to have a baby. And I can happily say "YES!" Back before I got on weight watchers almost 3 years ago, when I worked at the bank, customers would ask me "When are you due??" And I'd have to say, "I'm not pregnant, just fat". It happened so often!! At least now I can say I am pregnant!
My mom, Dave and the kids are in their new house. I love it, its so cute, I'm so happy for them. I did what I could to help, and Rob helped a ton. In return, mom got me some maternity stuff, thank goodness, because its painful sometimes to wear pants with a hair tie hooking the button to the button hole.
Gizmo is being a cute kitty. He loves his belly rubs and always comes over and lays on his back and meows for them. He's slowly getting bigger, so he can do more destruction when he runs around crazy when he gets hyper. It's entertaining!

Today my friend Cami was getting induced because she's a week past her due date, so I'm excited to be able to see her little girl Rylee!! I'm sure she's been preoccupied, but I'm anxious to hear how things went!
Rob and I are still thinking about baby names, we have a couple of ideas, but aren't quite set on anything. I've also been looking for ideas for a baby room. I was thinking of doing a water or beach theme, but I'm not sure. Then I started thinking about a monster theme because Sharise and I have seen really cute monster plushies, and Sharise actually bought me one, so our baby has his first "friend". LOL so cute!
Rob just doesn't want them to be too scary that they'd scare the baby (isn't that so adorable!?)

15 weeks

So here we are....15 weeks. I've felt a lot better. There's been a couple days that I've felt pretty crappy, but its a better run than weeks 8, 9, and 10! I've had some stomach pains when I eat more than I should (I think that must've been why). I've had a lot of people comment how you can tell now that I'm showing. I still just feel fat. When I stopped by my old work, Wells Fargo, everyone that saw me was like "Let's see!!" I'm like, uh...lets see what? Did they want me to strip down? You are looking at me with your eyes....what more do you want! J/K. :P It was fun to have everyone excited for me. Lately I've been craving tacos, so we've had tacos like 4 times in the last two weeks. I've also been craving orange soda, which I hadn't had for like ever, until Robyn got one stuck in the soda machine at work and had to get another to get it out, so she gave me her extra. Now I've craved it. I'm excited for wednesday's ultrasound. Also my parents are moving into a new house this weekend. I'm excited for them. It's something my mom has wanted for a long time, and it will be fun to help them and enjoy new memories in this house. YAY!! Our kitty, Gizmo has been so cuddly and cute lately. His new thing is trying to scratch the tile and cover his food (he must not like it much). He loves when you open a crinkly wrapper, he comes running and stands at attention until you throw it for him. He also comes running from wherever he is at if he hears you go to the bathroom, because he has to climb up and watch the toilet flush. Hes so funny. Anyway...here's a 15 week picture, and I'll post again after my ultrasound! (hopefully with pics!!)

It's been awhile...

So I decided I better post something. For about 2 weeks I've felt pretty good, only mildly nauseous SOME of the time, until last night....yep, I hurled and felt like CRAP!! NO GOOD. hopefully it just gets better from here. I am now 12 weeks along, and that's the safer zone, so we're optimistic that things will go well from here. I missed posting any pictures of me so far, but that's mostly because I've felt so crappy, and I feel fat. I've gained more weight than I should have yet, and I'm pretty bloated, so I apologize for these anti-model shots!! :P
The first one I was 9 weeks pregnant, and I didn't know Rob was getting my face in it.

This one is 12 weeks (yesterday).

I had a raging craving on Saturday for ParrotHead and their sweet potato fries. So I drug Rob there Saturday night for Tiki Tacos and Island fries!! :D

may not be the most amazing picture, but it is DELICIOUS!!! The tacos are WAY GOOD, too.
Gizmo is getting bigger, so I had to post some pics of him. Kip isn't a cuddley cat, and neither was LaFawnda, so its nice to have a cat that acts like he likes us! :P


The other day, I came into the living room and he was chilling on the couch...HILARIOUS!! I was laughing so hard!

When I got home from work today Rob said, "YOUR cat has been SOO NAUGHTY today!!" I guess he got all hyper today and knocked things over, climbed everything and wrecked havoc all day. Already I can hear him saying "YOUR son/daughter has been SOO naughty today!!" heehee