Being sick  I haven’t had to go back to the ER since last Monday!  I’m not doing well but I have only had one day where death sounds like the better alternative!  (I’ve had moments like that but only one day.)

Maternity clothes  I never wrote about my shopping experience before Jim’s graduation.  So I went to the mall, with everyone’s store recommendations, sure I could find at least a pair of pants or capris.  I started at JCPenney’s and hit every store in the mall.  Not ONE had any maternity clothes!  Not Penney’s, not Dilliard’s, not Macy’s (the three anchors).  Ann Taylor & GAP were also busts.  How in the world do you have a mall without any maternity clothes in an area of 200,000 people??!   Our Target has three racks (consisting of about 2 different choices per rack), Kohl’s has four racks, Old Navy none.  I haven’t checked Sears yet.   The PX has one rack.  Where in the world do people buy maternity clothes??!  I did buy a few things yesterday at Motherhood Maternity.  But I really dislike shopping them because of some of their business practices.  I hesitate to buy online because of size inconsistencies & having to pay to ship things back.  I’m heading to IN in a couple weeks, so I’ll do some shopping there.  And, then, if needed, I’ll buy online I guess.

Step-dad  He finished his radiation a month or so ago (he had six months of it).  This week he had his six-month check up.  In the CT scan, they couldn’t spot any more cancer!  He has six more months of daily chemo still.  Thankfully, he handles the chemo well enough that he can then work a full day after he gets it.

Jim  10 more days until he starts ranger school.  I know he’s looking forward to it but I’m not looking forward to three-ish straight months of him being gone!  After he finishes, he’ll have airborne school for three weeks and then we’ll be getting ready to move!

Birth  I had my VBAC consult yesterday.  I went in ready to argue anything the doctor had to say to try to dissuade me.  HA!  He was awesome!!  After going over my birth history, he began listing the pros of having a VBAC.  I knew then that I wasn’t going to have to fight.  He then talked about the cons of a VBAC.  He then commented that the only real pro to a C-section is the convenience factor.  I said something about it only being convenient for the parents & doctor, not the baby who hasn’t shown signs of being ready to come out (by starting the labor process).  He just chuckled.  I really liked him!  [Obviously, if I didn't meet all of the qualifications for attempting a VBAC, I'd do a repeat C.]  I don’t get to see him because they are terribly short-staffed so only high-risk patients get to see the OBs.  Not that it matters much since I won’t give birth here anyway.  And that’s a whole ‘nother post.

Blogs  I am SO behind on reading blogs.  I’m hoping to catch up this weekend.  I miss reading about ya’ll.

Big Brother  What is with this year’s cast??  Weird.   I can’t get into the season yet.

I’m still sick, sick, sick.  This pregnancy is kicking my butt.  I’m not sure I’m any sicker than I was with Elizabeth but I didn’t have a 2.5 year old to care for and DH was gone for the worst of it, so I was on my own schedule to sleep when I wanted, etc.  No such luxury this time.  Elizabeth is having constant meltdowns that I’m sure are a reflection of the attention I can’t give her.  I try when I can but I can’t do much.  I’m down another two pounds.  Threw up yellow bile (?) at the grocery today.  I’m throwing up at least once a day in spite of the Zofran.  I have a feeling I’ll be back at the ER for fluids tomorrow.  Jim has 24-hour duty on Tuesday, so I need to feel somewhat better before then.

Don’t bother asking about the state of my house….

Not much sounds good, esp. not anything I need to chew.  I got some Little Debbie Swiss Rolls today and those tasted good.  And I got some push-up pops.  That tasted REALLY good.  Anything I can put in my mouth & swallow sounds the best…unfortunately, those really aren’t healthy foods.

Good thoughts, prayers, whatever are much appreciated.  I’m not handling this pregnancy well, physically or emotionally.

In addition to my family in town last week keeping me away from the computer, I’ve also been really sick.  I ended up in the ER yesterday due to moderate dehydration.  Got a couple liters of fluid, some medicine and a diagnosis of hyperemsis.   I’m not at all surprised.  I am sure I had it with E too.  I was just too sick to get out of my house & to the hospital (Jim was gone during the worst of it).   I felt so much better leaving the hospital.  The thought of food didn’t make me sick!  I ATE and enjoyed it.  It was heavenly.  I have a follow-up appointment this morning.

I’ll write more later today, hopefully.

Not much time to write but I wanted to do a quick update.

My step-dad started radiation & chemo today.  He was  feeling good after it, so he went back to work.  We’ll see what happens over the next few days.  I *think* my mom said he’ll be having it every week, maybe every other week.

We had a nice Easter.  Quiet.  Ribs for dinner.   Yum.

I’ve added some new pictures to our Picasa site.   The new ones are ‘another photo shoot’ and then all the ones from ‘woodland park zoo’ and older.   Jim has transferred a lot of older pictures onto this computer,  so I’ll be adding more in the coming weeks. 

Elizabeth is just about potty-trained.  And I think it’s going to stick this time.  We’ve attempted several other times and she’ll do great for a couple days and then revert back.  We’ve been at it a week now and she almost always tells me first or goes to the potty herself.  When we go out, she usually wants to wear a diaper.  I figure we’ll work on that this week.  It’s been a pretty easy process, thankfully.