2-fer-1 special

Also known as a 50% off sale!  And, who doesn't love a good sale?  :)  Sometimes a sale means the item is no longer popular, it is damaged, or it is only half as good.  Sometimes.  Other times, the economy has just prevailed and the stores are in desperate need of revenue to make their bottom dollar look better, even if that means selling merchandise dirt cheap.  In this case, the "economy" has gotten to me and I decided to give you two blogs for the price of one! 

Blog 1

Title:  My Husband = Da Man

Despite my poor husband having no clue what 3(+) months of nausea feels like and how it has really taken its toll on my livlihood, he continues to love me and do what he can around the house to keep life as we knew it the same.  He does the dishes, he straightens around the house, he even cleaned the bathroom once!  While he doesn't do it like I would do it, he does it.  And while my bum is sleeping on the couch, cursing being pregnant sometimes, he presses on like the champ he is.  He even brings me home little surprises every now and then.  (Side note:  my nausea has greatly improved, albeit not completely gone yet, and this makes life so much more tolerable.  I think Josh would also say that I am so much more tolerable now, and our house even got the deep clean it needed last weekend while he worked!) 

Last friday I had all but given up on having a comfortable pregnancy (I know, throw a pity-party, right?), but Josh came home from work with a Walgreen's bag.  As I eagerly rifled through the "surprise" I found a bottle of Zofran.  This has been a God-send!!  (In case you don't know, this is anti-nausea medication, and it is safe to take during pregnancy) I haven't had to take much of it as I think I am actually moving away from the nausea as I move further into my second trimester.  But when I do have to take it, life is 100% better for all involved.  

[I am sure some of you are shaking your heads in disgust because I am taking medication during pregnancy.  That is your opinion. I am no Pioneer Woman and I don't plan to give birth in the woods while biting on a bullet.  and *News Flash* modern medicine (i.e. Zofran, epidurals, chocolate...) are available to women because they ARE safe for us to utilize (not to mention that my over-protective husband would never let anything enter my body that would harm his unborn child).  I will digress now, as I am sure to revisit this subject in a few short months.]

So, as the blog title goes, my husband is DA MAN.  He brings me home surprises.  He once brought me home a gorgeous diamond ring a week before our 5th anniversary!  He loves me.  But he knows that at 14 weeks pregnant a diamond ring does nothing for me.  This week he brought home the best surprise a mom-to-be could E-V-E-R want: TWO containers of Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter N' Chocolate ice cream!  I squealed so loudly he jumped back!  This is the best ice cream that ever, ever existed.  I haven't had it in years (10+ years, probably) but have been craving it and searching for something similar in the ice cream aisle at Wal-Mart ever since I got pregnant.  There is no substitute, however.  This is basic chocolate ice cream with a thick ribbon of peanut butter liberally swirled into it.  It is oh-so-amazing.  The best thing you will ever put in your mouth.  Unfortunately there has not been a Baskin Robbins anywhere close to where we have lived, so I have just had to dream about it.  But Josh found it in half-gallon containers (and did I mention he brought home TWO?!)!  I didn't ask questions, I just served myself a bowl.  I didn't look at the nutritional content, but I am sure it would say "Eat this, Janine.  It will make all your worries go away and you WILL be instantly satisfied."  So there is really no reason to see how nutritious it is.  And I am sure Baby O will appreciate that Mommy is happy.  Because my one-liner description doesn't do this ice cream justice, here are some photos:

Blog 2

Title:  A Return Visit to my Alma Mater

This blog promises not to be as long as the first blog.  Isn't that usually how 50% off sales go, anyways?  Buy one, get the second of equal or lesser value free?  Well, this will be less material but certainly not lesser value.  Our friends Stacey and Jarrett invited us to go to a Murray State basketball game last night, she got some tickets from her boss and they were 4th or 5th row seats so we were basically on the court!  We haven't been to any MSU functions since we graduated in 2004, so it was kinda neat to be going back.  I was so excited that I attempted to wear my old Murray State sweatshirt (Mom, you'll remember this as the one you got me for my 18th birthday!).  It was actually clean, I wear it weekly because it is my most comfy sweatshirt, and I was excited to have school spirit!  Sadly, this outfit got vetoed the second I walked out of my room!  Josh told me that I looked sloppy and said I shouldn't wear something that's 20 years old!  (I beg to differ, it's only 10 years old!)  I will admit, this poor sweatshirt has had a lot of love over the years, including a fight with a tube of Carmex in the dryer.  So, I changed.  I am glad that I did, though, because our friends were dressed all cute and I would have been the only school-spirited slob of the bunch (not to mention that I now wear my jeans unbuttoned 100% of the time!).  MSU played Tennessee Tech, and won by 20-something points.  It was a very fun game, shared with very good friends.  And it brought back fond memories of my life as a college student.   

New 'Do?

So, I got a wild hair, literally, and cut my hair.  I typically do this once a year, and there is typically some drastic change involved....I get bored easily. Lately I have been trying to grow my hair out so that I can pony tail it, but it has gotten soooo homely and I am tired of the boring plane-jane, side part, no bangs, shoulder length 'do.  SO, I got bangs.  I don't know how I feel about them yet...the hair do is only 2 hours old at this point.  I haven't had bangs since I was 7 years old, so I kinda feel like a little kid again....anyways, here is the pic.  I am putting it out for all the world to see (or at least my blogging circle): 

Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy

This is a blatant reference to an old SNL skit (if you are unsure what I am talking about, google or youtube it, or just go here).  When I take a shower, when I drive to work, when I sleep, I have lots of deep thoughts.  I don't know if this is new and due to my pregnancy or if this is just how I am normally and am now more in-tune to my deep thoughts.  Either way, these thoughts are superimposed over the theme music from the SNL skit and my thoughts these days have mainly been about the pregnancy.  Here they are:

Deep Thoughts, by Janine Owens

• My face skin, although never perfect, has really taken on a whole new level as a war zone.
• Certain smells really bring on the nausea: cocoa butter lotions, food cooking (especially chicken), Oscar's breath, most shampoos.
• Pre-pregnancy, I would wake up feeling happily thin and too much food would bloat my stomach, but a run and some sit-ups were a cure-all.  Now, I feel fat and bloated 24/7, I can't get motivated to run as much as I used to, and I can't do sit-ups anymore (per my doctor).  Added "bonus": sucking in my stomach is true thing of the past. 
• I have to do housework and laundry in shifts, and it is a weekly process, due to nausea and extreme exhaustion.  This also partially applies to my morning getting-ready routine.  Is this nature's way of telling me that after the baby comes my chores will be shift-work?
• Baby toys are representative of puppy toys (at least in Oscar's eyes, see pic below).
• Getting up only once at night to pee is a small victory, especially when it is typically three times a night. 
• Speaking of peeing: water is incredibly boring, but the only beverage that truly quenches my thirst.  It is my beverage of "choice" morning, noon, and night.  Glasses tend to be scattered throughout the house (much to Josh's dismay).
• A ponytail holder is not just for hair; it doubles as a button hole extender.  This has most recently become useful as my belly extends past my waistband and is incredibly uncomfortable.  I am not yet ready for maternity jeans, but am past the point of return for my regular waistbands(I often wonder am I "showing" too early?  Is this normal?  Am I gaining weight too quickly?)
• The discussion of baby names has taken over our lives; every name we see/hear gets thrown into the conversation and then, typically, vetoed.  We cannot agree, therefore we cannot decide.  Hopefully knowing the sex of the baby will help the discussion.
• The sex of the baby: some people have actually asked me if I have "feelings" about what I am having.  Do women actually "feel" this early on?  I mean, all I can feel is nausea, gas, and bloat.  I did cave and check out some online Chinese Lunar sex predictor to see what it said.  I am not saying, but if it is right I will let you know.  There's a 50-50 chance, right?
• Food is a double edged sword: without it I am nauseous, with too much of it I get sick.  I have yet to find the happy medium. 
• I have had cravings, but they are fleeting.  PBandJ sandwiches, Shocktart and Spree Candy, Subway Tunafish sandwiches (over this one now, ate too much...), grapefruit.  Grapefruit has prevailed the longest...my day is not complete without one and I have been eating them for over a month now.

This is all that I can think of right now.  I will refresh this list occasionally with new and seemingly important thoughts from my "quiet time".  For now, I leave you with a belly pic comparison, baby's first gifts, and what Oscar thinks of them. 

                             5 Weeks Along                                      12 Weeks Preggers

And, no, I am not sticking my stomach out in the 12week pic.  It just IS that way, and I don't think it is baby quite yet...I think it is pure bloat!  Ugh...but I thought I'd share.  Also, note that the back end has also grown (is that baby?!!)....

Baby O's first gifts, from G and G Perkins, Aunt Hannah, and Uncle Wesley

Oscar reaaaaaalllly wanted to play with the baby's toy!  When told "No, Oscar, that's for the baby," he looked at me like, "But, I AM the baby!"  Poor dog, he's in for a rude awakening.