Am I There, Yet?

O.K.  Here’s the story.  Everybody’s been asking and I know that a lot of people know our secret already…I might as well make it officially public.  For those of you who already know the ending of my story…act surprised anyways for my amusement.  LOL!!!

This past month has been extremely stressful for me.  On top of all the normal busy September stuff…our landlord decided to sell this house and so we had to find a new place to live.  Because the cost of living is so outrageous here, we’ve decided to downsize a bit and we’re moving into a 2-bedroom condo with very little storage.  We’re giving up the luxury of a garage, basement, a third bedroom and even a private driveway…we’ll now be parking our cars in a parking lot.  On top of downsizing, we’ve been dealing with our landlord’s realtor who’s been a bit unreasonable.  I won’t go into all the details…but, I will admit that I haven’t had the best attitude about all of this. 

I lost it last weekend when we found out that there was an open house scheduled and nobody bothered to tell us until that same weekend.  Last Sunday, I had to stay at home from church, clean the house to showroom quality and then we had to take the kids out of the house and entertain them at the mall for 4 hours…per the realtor’s request.  Not an easy thing to do when all of us would rather have been at home hanging out in our sweats, watching football, playing video games, etc…

That night I went to bed and was reviewing me week in my mind.  I was surprised at my reaction to all of this…or should I say over-reaction?  I was really upset about this unwelcome guest in our lives (our landlord’s realtor) who was dictating how we were living our lives.  But, this wasn’t the first incident this week that caused me to over-react.  I’ve been really emotional lately.  I just brushed it off as stress and vowed to have a better attitude.

The other thing that confused me was the fact that I was exercising and dieting like crazy.  My arms and legs look really great, but I wasn’t losing any weight in my mid-section.  This was extremely frustrating because I wanted to lose 10 pounds before some friends come to visit me in November.  I was gaining weight instead.

After dropping my son off at pre-school on Monday afternoon, I went to the grocery store.  While I was there I had an unexpected conversation with a beautiful elderly woman over chicken broth.  She said some kind words to me and as I walked away I started to get teary-eyed.  What was wrong with me?  I’m not an overly emotional person…why would I feel like crying over a simple conversation with a stranger?  I passed the pharmacy and saw those tests.  You know…those I-may-be-I-probably-am-not-but-should-check-anyways kinds of tests?  On a whim I walked into the pharmacy, grabbed the first test I could find and quickly walked away.  I was so flustered at myself for even thinking about taking this kind of test that I walked right into a large cardboard display of Cliff Bars and knocked the entire display over.  Cliff Bars where everywhere.  I got down on my hands and knees and tried to pick up as many as possible while people where staring at me.  I was so embarrassed…I wanted to cry again.

I got home, unloaded my groceries and grabbed the test.  I might as well get it over with.  I took it upstairs and read the box for the first time.  Instead of a pregnancy test…I accidentally grabbed (and paid for) a $25 ovulation predictor test.  I was disgusted by my carelessness, but by this time I had to know.  So, I jumped back in my car and drove to the nearest CVS and this time made sure I grabbed a pregnancy test.  I was still shaking my head the whole time.  What was I doing?  This is crazy.  I’m just wasting money.  I’m just trying to find an excuse for my extreme mood swings and weight gain…and fatigue.  But, that could all be symptoms of stress.  Of course it’s stress.  This is ridiculous.

Somehow I couldn’t talk myself out of buying the test.  I came home…took the test…

Positive.

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.  I still don’t know if I should laugh or cry. 

Here are answers to a lot of the questions I’m getting:

How did Josh react when you told him?

I didn’t know how to tell Josh.  I just decided to place the test somewhere I knew he’d see it and see what his reaction was.  I didn’t know how he’d react.  I certainly wasn’t expecting him to walk through the door while talking on the phone with a board member.  I didn’t want him to see it while he was on the phone, but I didn’t have time to hide it.  It was pretty funny watching him try to process the sight of the positive test while trying to keep his cool with his phone conversation.  He mouthed, “Are you serious?  Is this a joke?  Are you serious?  Are you serious?”

When are you due?

I got a recommendation for a doctor from my insurance company and called her office.  The woman who answered asked a few questions and then said, “Oh my goodness…you’re almost through your first trimester.  Let’s get you in right away.”  By her calculations I have a due date of April 13^th.  This is interesting because two of my close friends and a daughter of another close friend all share April 13^th as their birthday.  However, I don’t think those calculations are right because my cycle isn’t normal.  I don’t think I’m as far along as that…so I’m not announcing the due date just yet.  My instincts tell me that it’ll be late April.

Have you told the kids, yet?

We wanted to wait to tell the kids until we could go hear the heartbeat.  However, Lilly overheard Josh tell a co-worker that I was pregnant.  She looked at him and asked, “Is that true?  Is Mommy pregnant?”  He didn’t know what to say and ignored her question.  He later told me what happened and so we went together to talk to her.  I said, “Did you hear Daddy saying that I’m pregnant?”  She said she did and asked again if it was true.  I asked, “Do you know what ‘pregnant’ means?”  She said, “It means you’re having a baby.”  So, we told her it was true.  She was excited, naturally.  She somehow knew that it was proper to congratulate me…so she did.  She said, “Congratulations, Mommy.”  For some reason that made me laugh.  We knew we needed to tell Titus because Lilly wouldn’t be able to keep a secret.  He was excited, too.  His first comment was that there would be 5 of us now.

How are you feeling?

I feel O.K.  I’m exhausted all the time and have experienced a little bit of nausea.  I have that hyper-sensitive smell thing going on.  I smell everything very clearly…this is not a good thing.  I am glad that I started some healthy eating habits a few months ago.

Here’s a picture I snapped of Josh on the phone with the board member trying to process the test results.  I’ve known him for a long time and I think it’s safe to say that he doesn’t look disappointed.  Whaddya think?

Funny:

A few weeks ago, Josh and I had dinner at a restaurant nearby.  I noticed it was looking a little more run down than normal.  My bench had a large hole in it and the stuffing was coming out.  I thought how they needed to update the place and at least fix the seating situation.  Last week, we went to the same restaurant and noticed that it had a facelift.  They completely remodeled the inside and replaced the seating.  Josh said, “Wow…it looks nice in here.  Did they change things?”  I said, “That’s so weird because last time we were here I thought that they needed to do some updating and especially replace the seating.”  Josh looked and me and said (sarcastically, of course), “It’s The Secret!  It really works!  You control the universe with your mind.”

Funnier:

I was sitting in the mall and there were a couple of ladies sitting on a bench behind me.  I overheard one of them say, “You know that I normally don’t like to talk about other people, but…” and then continued to gossip about a mutual acquaintance.  I thought this was comical and told Josh, “That would be like me saying, ‘You know that I normally don’t like to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, but…’”

Funniest:

I needed to take Titus to the lab to get some blood drawn for some test as required by his preschool.  Since I knew he hates needles I decided I should take him out for a special lunch and he chose McDonalds…of course.  He ate a Happy Meal and played for awhile.  After awhile, we went to the lab, filled out the paperwork and the nurse asked if he’d been fasting.  I said, “Fasting?  I wasn’t told he was supposed to fast.  He had lunch a couple of hours ago.  Will that be a problem?”  She said, “Well, he’s supposed to take a cholesterol test so as long as he didn’t eat lunch at McDonald’s he should be O.K.”

O.K.  Maybe those things don’t tickle your funny bone as much as it tickles mine…but you’d have to have a heart of stone to not get a chuckle out of these (not my videos…borrowed from the web):

I did what I said I was going to do.  When we first moved to New Jersey I thought to myself, “I need to join a knitting club to get to know some women in my community.”  Well…10 months later I finally did it.  I went to my first meeting tonight.  I’m really excited about this and met some really cool women. 

Here’s the other cool thing about it.  It’s across the street from where we take karate lessons.  I can take the kids to their 6:00 class, Josh picks them up after work, I go to my knitting club from 7:00 until 9:00 and my karate class starts at 9:00.  I can just cross the street and exercise for an hour after knitting and chatting.  How perfect is that?

I took a knitting hiatus for the summer…but I’m back at it.  I have a bunch of projects I’m working on and I’m so glad I was able to meet some great women who share my love for knitting who’ll be able to help me out (they’re far more advanced than I.)  Maybe I’ll be able to share a few tips, too.

I’ll share some pictures of some of my recent projects as soon as I get a chance…after all…it’s my blog and I can do that. 

Just pictures today.  It’s been a long and crazy week…but I wanted to throw up some pictures of some of milestones and activities.

The kids before they got two stripes on their belts.  (Yes…I blacked out their patches on purpose for safety reasons…)

Lilly’s first day of school.

Titus’ frist day of pre-school.

Lilly’s newest loss (her first top tooth to go…)

On Monday, Mom and Dad met Elizabeth Edwards.

On Tuesday, I got a Rachael Ray cookbook in the mail from Mom and Dad.

On Wednesday, Elizabeth Edwards was on Rachael Ray (the show).

Is it a sign?  What does it mean???  I’d love to hear your theories…

This is my 2nd blog of the day.  Can you tell I finally got a little bit of free time today?  Let me show you how I wasted that free time.  I wasted it by spending some time over at makeoversolutions.com.  I have some new looks that I’m playing around with…which should I go with?

Look #1

Look #2

Look #3

Look #4

Look #5

Or…maybe I should go for something completely different…blonde, maybe…with blue and purple highlights?

Look #6

Or, maybe I should just sport a fancy up-do with some blonde highlights?

Look #7

The next two looks are actually similar to my current haircut/style.  Maybe I should just go for a drastic color change?

Look #8

Look #9

The polls are open…what’s your opinion?

Here’s the update on our first week of September:

Karate:  I really wanted Titus to go to pre-school this year but I had a hard time finding one.  The pre-schools that I liked where either too expensive, or there was no room for him.  I didn’t want to just throw him into any pre-school…I had some reservations about some of the pre-schools that were available.  So I just resolved to keep him home with me and work on some academic things here.  The problem is that part of the reason I wanted him in pre-school is so that he could meet some kids his age.  He’s had a hard time making friends since we moved here.

One day we were walking by a karate school and I thought that might be fun to try.  I asked Titus if he wanted to try karate…thinking this would be a great place for him to get some exercise and meet other kids.  He said he did…Lilly said she wanted to go, too.  So, we walked in and checked it out.  The lady working there talked us into a 6-week trial.  So…just like that…the kids were signed up for karate.  They LOVE it.  They are so focused and determined to work hard so they can get colored belts.  They are having so much fun with it and never miss a class. 

One afternoon I was watching the kids in their class and I was talking to another mom in the lobby.  She was telling me that she also did karate and how much she enjoys it.  I had just been trying to figure out what to do for exercise and I thought that karate might be something fun for me, too.  So…I signed up.  We bought the family plan so that all three of us could use it.  On the night of my introductory class…my instructor asked Josh if he was going to join.  Josh said, “why not?” and he took the class with me.  We both had a blast.

So…now you know our secret.  All four of us are taking karate.  We’re all low-level white belts…but, having a really great time.  I have to admit that there’s something exhilarating about punching and kicking things…LOL!!!

School:  Lilly loves her class this year.  She came home from her first day of school and told me that her teacher was AWESOME!  That’s always a good thing to hear.  She’s in a multi-grade classroom this year.  We’re really excited about the program and think she’ll do well.

I mentioned some of my pre-school frustration.  Well…yesterday Josh asked me why I hadn’t checked out _____ pre-school.  I wasn’t too excited about it, but I had never talked to anybody at the school.  So, we went to the school and met the director and talked with her a bit.  While we were talking to her, my cell phone rang.  I didn’t recognize the number, so I ignored it so I could finish the conversation with the pre-school director.  We both walked out of there unimpressed…neither one of us felt good about it.  I grabbed my cell phone and listened to my voice mail.  It was my #1 pre-school choice.  They had an opening…would we still be interested?  We immediately drove down there and signed him up.  He starts school on Monday. 

Isn’t that so typical of our lives?  It seems as if everything is so last minute with us.

Home:  We have to move again.  Our landlord is putting this place up for sale, so we’ll finish out the lease, but have to find another place by the end of November.  We’re not ready to buy.  Now that the kids are both in school here in town, we’re limited to finding a place in this community.  We thought we found a place we really liked, but it was in another town and we realized that I’d be spending 90 minutes on the road everyday (3 trips a day) just picking up and dropping off the kids at their schools because the bus wouldn’t pick up out there.  I don’t want to ask them to change schools in November…especially since Lilly’s teacher is AWESOME.  So, we’re limited to finding a place here…and aren’t having much luck.  I’m also sad because I really love my neighborhood.  I love my neighbors…they’re really great. 

So, we’re just waiting and praying that the right place will open up.

There you go…all the boring details of my life.  I’ll post some pictures later…I haven’t had a chance to upload them to my computer.

Aren’t you glad that your life is not broadcast across TV for the entire world to see?  I don’t think I’d be a very good reality TV star…especially yesterday.

It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take the kids to the park.  As we walked towards the playground I noticed that every picnic table had been removed, except for one.  The only table near the playground was occupied by a woman who was watching her granddaughter play.  (At least, I assume it was her granddaughter.)  She was smoking and enjoying her meal from McDonald’s.  Josh and I took a seat on the ground and watched the kids play.  A little while later, the woman called to the girl and they grabbed their backpacks and purse and walked away.  I saw them walk down the pathway, over to the lake and cross the bridge.  So, I took advantage of the now available seating at the picnic table.  The problem is that this woman left some of her McDonald’s garbage on the table.  So, I picked up her trash, threw it in the garbage and sat down at the picnic table.  When I picked up the cups…I noticed they were still full and I thought it was odd that they didn’t drink their drinks.  Maybe they left them at the table for a homeless person to find?  Weird.

This was my assumption…my side of the story.  (And I’m still sticking to it…by the way.)

A few minutes later, I smelled cigarette smoke.  My eyes got big and I turned to Josh and asked, “Is she coming back?”  He subtly glanced back and said, “Yep!”  I said, “Oh no…is she going to beat me up?”  He laughed at me.

I overheard the woman say to the little girl with a very indignant tone, “Somebody threw away our drinks!”  I didn’t know what to do…I just pretended I didn’t hear her.  She made a show of walking over to the trash and looking inside it before turning to me to ask why I would do such a thing.  I replied that I thought she had left.  She impatiently said, “We just took a little walk and planned to come right back.”  I apologized and sat there in awkward silence until she left in a huff.

I’m still embarrassed about it.  Who knew that placing disposable fast-food cups on a public picnic table in a public park meant that the table was reserved and that the owner of the cups planned to return?  I must’ve missed that day in my social etiquette class.  Oh, wait a minute…I’ve never taken an etiquette class.  Maybe I should put that on my to-do list

I overheard the kids playing a make-believe game…which isn’t very unusual.  However, this time they were pretending to host a cooking show.  My 6-year-old asked my 4-year-old to make the sauce.  I guess he was her sous-chef.  Then she turned to me and asked, “Mom?  Would you like to try a soufflé?  It’s a French thing.”  How could I turn that down?  It was the best pretend soufflé I’ve ever tasted.