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.

Be still my heart…I got to watch Dan on MSNBC last night!  He was hosting Scarborough Country for Joe.  I miss Dan Abrams & his show.  I used to e-mail him/his show.  I even had a couple e-mails read on air.  I :puffy heart: Dan.

Does your grocery stores have a salad bar?  I was thinking about this last week.  One of my weird pregnancy things is that I crave salad bar salads.  There was one chain in WA that had salad bars but it wasn’t convenient to me.  None of the stores here have salad bars anymore.  One location of the stores I shopped when we were in IL had a bar but not the other locations of the same chain.  I think only one store in my hometown has a salad bar anymore.  Are they a total thing of the past now??  With all the ready-to-eat foods in the stores now, I’d think salad bars would do good.  Mom stops at the store on the way home, picks up some bread from the bakery, an entree and then makes a big salad.  I miss salad bars!!  (I ended up taking E on a date to Ruby Tuesday.)

So plans have changed for Jim’s graduation.  They are having a reception, so I don’t have to do dinner after all.  We’ll still do one on Friday night.  Instead of shish kabobs, I’m thinking we’ll do ribs, loaded smashed potatoes, a salad and maybe some grilled corn on the cob.

And that brings me to my next question.  I’m thinking about making doughnuts one morning.  I want to do yeast doughnuts.  I’ve only made cake ones in the past.  Has anyone out there made yeast doughnuts?  With the amount of time it needs to raise…well, that puts my day starting early!  I thought about making them the night before but I really want that hot, fresh taste.  I thought about making them but cutting the frying time down a couple minutes and then finishing them in the morning.  Or I thought about making the dough and putting it in the fridge overnight.  But I’m not sure how either would do.  I’m planning to make some regular glazed ones, chocolate iced using Alton’s recipe and maybe some maple iced.  And then I’ll have nuts & maybe sprinkles too.  Yum.

As Cory observantly noticed, I posted the last post in ‘being sick’ and for good reason.  The last couple days have actually been pretty good.  Last I weighed in, I was down six pounds.  Nausea, vomiting, extreme sensitivity to food smells, food aversions, aversions to chewing…the first trimester isn’t my friend!  I’ve thrown up less (knock on wood) than I did at this point with E but I’m WAY more sensitive to food smells.

A few weeks ago I started having weird dreams, thinking food smelled off and threw up twice (on different days).  I didn’t really think much about it.  Jim jokingly asked if I was pregnant.  Since we’d been trying for almost a year without anything happening, I thought he was nuts.  So to prove him wrong, I took the test.  He had come home early that day and was taking a shower, so i went upstairs and handed him the test (in the shower).  And then I sat down in utter shock.   When I’m not busy being sick, I’m still in that state.

Due date is up in the air.  According to my LMP, I’m due at the end of December.  But my cycles are rather funky and I think I had more like a 60-day cycle, not a 28-day cycle.  So that would put me at the end of January.  They’ll date it at our 20-week ultrasound.

Elizabeth is ecstatic.  She is SUCH a baby lover & nurturer.  She talks about the baby non-stop.  She has plans to nurse the baby (oh, how helpful that’d be!), change the diapers (she wants to do dirty ones, not wet ones) and for the baby to sleep in her bed.

Instead of waiting until after the first trimester again, we decided to go ahead and tell the news.  Last time I was about 14 weeks before we told.  Our families are, of course, thrilled.

I have a lot of concerns that I’m not really ready to go into right now.  A lot.  But right now I’m trying to focus on staying out of the bathroom, staying awake through the day (not easy w/E’s night sleep) and getting through the next few weeks.

For Jim’s graduation (end of the month), my in-laws, my SIL, my dad & possibly my step-mom will all be here.  I think we’ve decided to do shish kabobs for dinner that day (I can prep it ahead of time &  it’ll be quick, in case the day is long).  I’ll do beef & chicken plus some veggies.  But I’m not sure what I want to do as a side.  I’ll probably do some kind of bread but I’d also like something else.  Any ideas??  And anyone want to share their favorite veggies for grilling?  If it matters, for dessert I’ll be doing either an ice cream sundae bar (homemade ice cream!) or an ice cream cake (probably cookies & cream w/chocolate cake).  Jim hasn’t decided which he wants yet.

And any ideas on how much (poundage-wise) I should plan for each adult?  Or anyplace I can look?

The night before I think we’re going to do a hamburger bar.  I need ideas for what to include.  Keep in mind that the family isn’t exactly adventerous.  My meal plan includes: lettuce, tomatoes, grilled Vidalia onions, raw red onions, thick-cut smoked bacon plus ketchup, mayo, mustard & A-1.  Any other  ideas?

Here’s an update for you, Vicki!

Right before we left FL, E got sick.  I thought it was a cold but, after going on forever & ever, we decided it was allergies.  She was pretty miserable and cranky.  She hasn’t had a runny nose in the last four days, so I am hoping its over for now.  Poor thing.  She kept crawling into my lap and saying, pitifully, “me no feel good”.  This child NEVER slows down unless she’s really sick (like when I had to take her to the ER @ 5 months).  So for her to just crawl into my lap and sit was a good indication to how bad she really felt.

E has started her new “school”.  So far she seems to really like it.  She doesn’t talk much while she’s there but, as soon as I come to get her, she asks for more, so I know she’s enjoying it.  Starting this week they get to have sprinkler play one day a week.

Jim is out in the field again this week.  He’ll be home for the weekend and then gone again for the next two weeks.  And that’ll be the last field time for this school!!  He graduates at the end of June and then starts Ranger school in July.  That will be 2.5ish long months without him.  Good prep for the next deployment, I guess.

Florida was good but it was really good to be home.  I have some pictures posted here.  I have more to put up.

After some investigation, it appears my theme-default issue for my blog is a known problem w/o any known fix.  Annoying that there is no fix but I’m glad to know I’m not alone.  It is SO irritating when I get a theme set up just the way I want it and then it changes back to the default!!