Big News

I don't even know where to start...

Remember this?  Yeah, well you know what they say... if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.  M and I are expecting.  Shocked?  We were too!!  I took 5 tests because I couldn't believe it.  We are still in shock, but we are happy too.

We found out at the end of May.  I started crying when the test came up positive.  Not because I was thinking any negative thoughts... just because I was shocked and crying was all I could do.  I never thought I would be excited about something like this, but I am.  One thing is for sure, finding out I am pregnant has changed me.  It's like a switch was flipped and since that moment everything I do or don't do is because of this life growing inside of me.

I couldn't get in to see the doctor for 2 weeks and the day before my appointment we had a scare.  When I woke up bleeding and cramping, I was sure something was very wrong.  We headed straight to the ER.  They determined I did not have a miscarriage and drew blood.  If my beta levels were high enough they were going to do an ultrasound.  Sure enough, they were.  When the doctor did the ultrasound, they found a sac, but no baby.  He sounded optimistic, saying that it could just be too early.  My doctor's office didn't seem so confident, instead the midwife explained that with my beta levels being as high as they were, we should really be seeing something.  But, we went ahead and scheduled another ultrasound for a week later.  That week of waiting was the worst of my life.  As much as I tried to hope for the best, I felt like I also had to prepare for the worst.  It was awful.

The day of the second ultrasound, they found the baby and I saw the heart beat right away.  M and I both started crying.  I have never felt so relieved.  This past Thursday we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat.  Amazing.

We have received so much support and I'm very grateful.  This baby is already surrounded by so much love.

So... I'm 11 weeks tomorrow.  It's been a whirlwind, that's for sure.

Vacation?

Man has it been a busy week (and way too hot!!).  I've been on vacation, but I can't wait to get back to work just to take a break.

We spent the week just getting things done around the house and going to appointments... doctor, oil change, cats to the vet, getting estimates to have our bathroom remodeled, etc.  We also have been putting off cleaning out our basement for a long time, so we got most of that done today.  I should have taken a before picture - there was SO. MUCH. JUNK.  We rented a dumpster.  Well, we filled that dumpster and still have a ton of stuff to throw out, hence the reason we will be doing round two tomorrow.  Who knew we had two dumpsters full of crap in our basement.  This is mostly my husband's fault.  I swear he had every single magazine he ever bought down there!

So yeah, after doing all of that on this ridiculously hot day, you better believe I'm treating myself to ice cream tonight!

We also signed a contract to have our bathroom remodeled.  Boy did I get schooled.  I had a number in my head and clearly I'm ignorant when it comes to estimating these costs.  I had no idea it was quite so expensive.  I almost had a panic attack.  I mean seriously, I sweat in the check out line at the grocery store while waiting for my total - I'm awful when it comes to spending a lot of money at once.  However in this case, I'm fairly confident we'll be very happy with the finished product.

We have a wedding to go to tomorrow.  While I'm excited to go, both the ceremony and reception are outside.  Good thing my dress is sleeveless!

Commenting Challenge Day 5

Today's Topic:

Tell us about your dream vacation!

Where would you go? Have you been there before? Who would go with you? What about it draws you in?

This one is tough.  There are so many places I'd like to go.

One choice would be Bora Bora because this just looks amazing.

If I had a couple of months and lots of money to spare, I would love to travel to different places in Europe.  I always wanted make a trip to Germany and Italy - Germany because that is my heritage and Rome, Italy because I was raised Catholic - and for my college graduation present, my sweet mom made this dream come true.  She booked a trip for us - one week in Munich, Germany and one week in Rome, Italy.  History was always my favorite subject and there is just so much of it in Munich and Rome.  I really wanted to see a concentration camp and I remember how odd my mom thought this was.  We visited Dachau and it was such a sobering experience.  I cannot even begin to imagine what life would be like there and I'm so glad I don't have to, either.  It makes me so sad, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it.  We must never forget that these atrocities occurred.

Some other highlights were visiting the quaint village of Oberammergau and a couple of castles.

Rome was remarkable.  I was raised Catholic and although I disagree with the Catholic church on several different levels, this religion fascinates me.  I loved every minute of being in Rome and I definitely would love to go back because one week was just not enough time to see all there is to see.  The day we decided to visit the Vatican was a holy day in Italy and we were lucky enough to see the Pope speak.  And the food, well it was amazing!

So have you gotten the impression that I would love to go back to these cities?  I would also love to visit Ireland, France, Belgium, and London.

Commenting Challenge Day 4

Today's Topic:

Tell us about your hobbies! What do you do in your free time? What are your favorite books, movies, music etc?

Hobbies.  Hmm.

I love to read.  I recently finished the Fifty Shades trilogy and loved it!  I will read anything and finding all kinds of new books to read was made even easier when I got a Kindle.  I read a lot of true crime and I'm starting to kind of get into chick lit.  I also read a lot of non fiction.

I enjoy baking.  Not cooking.  When it comes to food, my husband is pretty darn picky.  I feel like we eat all of the same things over and over again, and it's all very basic.  I would love to take cooking classes and maybe I would learn to like cooking more.  But baking... I would bake something every day if we weren't trying to watch our waste lines!  I have been using pinterest to find some new ideas.

Love, love, love spending time with my nieces and nephews and do this as often as I can.  They have smiles that heal me and are so much fun.

Other than that, I just like to be outside... sipping cocktails or grilling out on the patio, going on motorcycle rides with my husband, visiting wineries... you get the idea.

It's almost Friday!  I'm excited for the weekend AND I'm on vacation next week.  Not going anywhere exciting unfortunately, more like trying to get the basement cleaned out, but it will nice to be away from work for just a little bit.

Commenting Challenge Day 3

Social Media.

I use Facebook everyday, but I'm only friends with people I know in real life and genuinely want to keep in touch with.  

I also have a Twitter account, but rarely check it.  I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that I don't really get it.  Maybe someday I'll get more involved with tweets.

I love surfing the internet.  If you gave me a choice of using the internet, using the phone, or watching TV, I will always choose the internet.  Not a day goes by I don't google something.

I check Ohio.com everyday.  I don't really watch the news as often as I used to so this is how I keep up to date on what's going on.  I love Pinterest - you can check me out here.  I also love Amazon.  Although I don't visit this site everyday, it's pretty often.  I have a Kindle, so I am always checking out the free books or seeing if certain books drop in price.  I love to read and the Kindle has made it even easier to find all sorts of books that I might not normally take a second look at.

What can I say, I'm pretty boring when it comes to social media.  I'm on the computer all day at work (and the phone too, maybe this is why I don't like talking on the phone outside of work hours), so when I get home I just want to relax.