Hello March…

I am so happy that we’ve arrived in March.  I can see the light at the end of the weather tunnel.  Our high was a lovely 27 degrees today, but the sun is out and the forecast is promising.  As long as the snow is done I’ll be happy. 

Newest development in my pregnancy is a shortness of breath.  My belly is growing and seems to be getting in the way of my lungs or something.  I was hoping to work at Eli’s up till June but my body will have none of that.  I worked this past Wednesday morning and after temporarily loosing my vision and then fainting on the back porch, I realized it just wasn’t going to work no matter how I talked myself into it. 

But the kicking is getting stronger and the little guy doesn’t really like it when I lean forward.  He kicks the hardest then as if to say “stop your squishing me!”  But I love to feel the kicks because I feel like we are hanging out.  Here are some pictures Brian took today in the backyard.  23 weeks 3 days. 

Jeepy has been having some issues with oil.  There was a loud knocking noise for a while and the mechanic said I needed a new oil pump and that it was going to be $800 to fix!  Ack.  Brian, Aaron and Justin worked on it and found out that the old oil gauge fell off, leaving a hole in the oil tank.  Which caused it to leak oil like a sieve.  They put in a new oil gauge plugging the hole, fixing it for a mere $30!  We were worried that we’d have to sell the Jeep and get a new one with a payment.  Glad to know it’s going to be ok and I can keep driving it.  Not quite ready to trade it in for a newer prettier model.  It’s just been so good to me.  Thanks for the fix guys!

On my mind today….

– Our little guy…has lots of energy these days!  I love it when he is kicking and punching, I know he is awake and it feels like we are hanging out. 

– How soon is too soon to start teaching your son how to snowboard?

– Indian food.  But ever since I got my appetite back, this has constantly been on my mind.  I am determined that I will learn how to make it at home.  Although until I find a job we are eating refried beans and mac n cheese for now.  But once we have that extra, I’m stocking our cabinets with spices!  I spend a couple hours last night looking at recipes and how to stock the cabinets and all that. 

from su-lin’s Flickr

Happy Birthday Adam!!

We miss you guys!

Horray!

Even though I seem to be coming down with a cold, today has been an upbeat day.  I’ve been watching the inauguration festivities on TV and you can feel the excitement through the sights.  I think Obama has done a wonderful job today and his family looks so cute!  I hadn’t shared these pictures on my blog yet because we have some family members who strongly felt that we shouldn’t vote Obama.  So to keep the peace we hadn’t told them that we actually went to an Obama rally on our road trip back in October.  But today I’m just so happy I’ll post a couple anyway.  It was kinda a fluke that we went, but we were staying in Philadelphia for a couple of nights and saw on the news that he was speaking down the road from where we going to visit that day. 

We needed these stickers to get into the rally. 

You can barely see Obama.  He is on stage wearing a white shirt at the bottom right of the American flag.

In all honesty, I didn’t even vote for Obama.  But I would have, had I been bodily able to get out of the house that day.  I would have voted absentee if I’d known that my morning sickness was going to be so severe.  I was nauseous and throwing up all day long.  Missed out on voting and celebration parties, but I’m happy that he won.  🙂

CPSIA, Junebug, and California

On my mind lately has been the CPSIA, or Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.  Did I loose you already.  I think I’ve lost myself.  Even though I think about it a lot, I haven’t done much research.  If anyone has read into this I’d love to hear your thoughts.  What I do know if the Fair Trade and Handmade community is not happy about this.  From what it looks like, with good reason! 

This has to do with products that are made for children 12 and under.  After February 12th, all products that fall into this category will be required to undergo testing for lead to stay on the market.  I am all for children’s safety, but this testing is going to be super pricey, and many are worried that only larger corporations are going to survive this new law.  To illustrate this, one Etsy seller has put a typical tested product of hers up for sale.  While it is humorous, it also tells us, there must be a better way!

Our Junebug

I’m almost 18 weeks.  And yesterday I started to feel little flutter kicks!  It was so exciting.  I’m feeling them again this morning and it is nice and reassuring, and makes me think about the little guy/girl a lot!  I’m starting to gain my weight back, however I am still on my medication for nausea.  I’m glad to be eating meals again.  I’m not in maternity clothes yet, but have recieved so many from friends.  I’m going to have such a great summer maternity wardrobe when the time comes, due to my great friends and family!

California

I thought I should post a few pictures from our Christmas trip to California.  We had such a good time!  All photo credits go to Brian.  And I used Polaroid.net to change the pictures into polariods.

Back from the couch…

Yep it’s true. I’m 12 weeks preggo today. It’s been pretty rough thus far and I’ve been MIA pretty much since the end of October.

I went to California on Oct. 31st for the weekend to tell my parents that I was baking a person. I felt pretty good on the way there, but by Monday morning I was in tears not wanting to get back on a plane. I’m not sure I’ve even been in an airplane bathroom before, but I became well acquainted with the plane from Fresno to Denver with a very non-sympathetic flight attendant.  I finally made it home that night and in the next couple of weeks I contemplated what I would like more, a bigger bathroom so I could set up a cot for convenience, or a small bathroom with the sink even closer to the potty.  (Sorry TMI). 

That led me to close the store for over two weeks, barely making it from the bed, to the couch, to the bathroom, and back with all day “morning” sickness, only going outside for twice weekly doctors visits, who were concerned about dehydration and weight loss.  Now over a month later I’m finally starting to have some more “normal” days.  For some reason every Monday so far has been awful.  But by Tuesday I feel better with the exception of just being exhausted from the day before. 

This is not all to ask for pity…although some days I wanted it…it’s all to just tell you why I’ve been so out of it and missing.  Brian has been super great, super understanding and super excited.  So don’t feel bad for me, soon I’ll be fat and happy.  We are very excited to be leaving in a week and a half for a two week California Christmas with the fam.  The store’s last day will be Saturday morning December 20th. 

From the store with my saltines and powerade…
Tammy and baby Junebug

B’s B-Day

B is 27 today!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Oh..snap…

I think that Yahoo news should reconsider their headline….

*For the record…I don’t really say “oh snap”…I don’t think I could pull it off.*

happiness

 feeling the breeze on my face

connecting, laughing, relaxing

eating breakfast off of red with white speckled tin plates

drinking juice and coffee out of old jelly jars

sitting on the back porch with family and friends

 

Story

The wonderful and lovely Becky commented on my last post and I’m so glad she did!  I remember watching a great video and couldn’t remember what it was called or where I had found it.  She posted a link to it, and it’s a must see! 

The Story of Stuff

And she’s right, we could go round and round talking about these types of things.  Arg.  So in the end, hopefully we can all try our best and hardest to do more than is just convenient, cheap and easy.  Look for the story when possible, and ask questions.  Consumers really hold the power, without them there would be no argument one way or the other.  You are the consumer.