In case you haven't really been following the landlady drama: DH and I moved into an apartment on April 1st and quickly got the hell out of there (breaking lease) 3 short months later. It turns out that the landlady has some serious issues - mental health issues - that were affecting us (oh little things like calling the cops on us because she claimed we had 3 other people living with us who at one point came down to her apartment to break in and attempt to rape her...yeah. And she demanded that the cop search every room in our apartment for these phantom people). So anyway...we got out of there asap.
We really thought she was going to screw us over on the security deposit because we did break the lease and she constantly reminded us that the apartment better be in good condition and that she was demanding that we get the carpet cleaned since we have a cat, etc etc. We will did leave the apartment clean but we certainly didn't have the carpet cleaned or do any of the other things she demanded of us.
Well, a couple days ago, we actually got the FULL security deposit back! We were both so shocked!! DH ran to the bank to deposit the check before it dissolved before our very eyes. Lol
On a side note: I begged DH to go out and buy me the Snoogle yesterday since I was at work and he was working from home. I had been sleeping restlessly for about a week and a half and just felt like I really needed this pillow. Well I tried it out last night and it was pretty awesome. I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet but I did sleep much more soundly last night. It actually made it much more comfortable to sleep on my back. I have to figure out how to use it so that I stay on my left side. The only problem is that I currently sleep on the right side of the bed so if I turn onto my left side and use the snoogle (the length of the snoogle is basically supporting my entire back) then when I have to get up to pee in the middle of the night, I basically have to crawl over the snoogle which is uncomfortable. I tried briefly to use it the other way around so that the opening is behind me but I don't sleep as comfortably that way. Maybe the only other option is to switch sides of the bed with DH. We're planning on doing this anyway once the baby comes because he has more floor space on his side so that's where we will fit the cosleeper. Should we just switch now? Might as well I guess.
Thanks for stopping by!
God has truly blessed us!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Naming a human being...
This is a very important task, no? Why some people give their offspring ridiculously "youneek" names is beyond me. I mean, I understand not wanting your child to have the same name as lots of other kids in their class at school but...there's got to be a middle ground between common and well...out there.
And what's really wrong with a classic name? They may be "common", yes, but are really respectable and strong. Like: William, Henry, Michael and Elizabeth, Catherine, and...ummm some other classic girl name (drawing a blank here).
Anyway...you won't catch us with a little Nevaeh or Jocshwahh running around.
We're pretty much set on a girl name and about 90% on a boy name. For some reason, the boy name was so much harder for us to choose and agree on. For a girl, we wanted a first name that started with an M (because me, my mom, and her mom all have an "M" name. For a middle name, we had a couple family names floating around but I wanted to incorporate DH in it too (his nickname is Alex). So we chose and agreed on Melanie Alexa for a girl.
For a boy we didn't use any tradition/family stuff because there was nothing we really loved. We went back and forth trying out names out loud... "c'mere Justin!"..."Gabriel, look at mommy!"..."what's wrong Daniel?" I don't know, they just didn't fit. Anyway, we randomly found some names that we both liked and played with various combinations and ended up with Ethan Bryce. We both really like this name and we may keep it permanently.
Now, how these names sound coming out of the mouth of our Spanish-speaking family members may be a different story. Melanie Alexa will definitely roll off the tongue beautifully in Spanish...but Ethan Bryce...not so much. But you know what? When you finally come to some kind of agreement and you're both happy with a name, sometimes you can't think of how others will pronounce it. Take DH's cousin...they just named their new son Jacob. Love the name! But they know that Spanish speaking family will change that to Jacobo...the Spanish version, pronounced "ha-co-bo"...yup. There's no Spanish version of Ethan so hopefully we're ok lol.
And what's really wrong with a classic name? They may be "common", yes, but are really respectable and strong. Like: William, Henry, Michael and Elizabeth, Catherine, and...ummm some other classic girl name (drawing a blank here).
Anyway...you won't catch us with a little Nevaeh or Jocshwahh running around.
We're pretty much set on a girl name and about 90% on a boy name. For some reason, the boy name was so much harder for us to choose and agree on. For a girl, we wanted a first name that started with an M (because me, my mom, and her mom all have an "M" name. For a middle name, we had a couple family names floating around but I wanted to incorporate DH in it too (his nickname is Alex). So we chose and agreed on Melanie Alexa for a girl.
For a boy we didn't use any tradition/family stuff because there was nothing we really loved. We went back and forth trying out names out loud... "c'mere Justin!"..."Gabriel, look at mommy!"..."what's wrong Daniel?" I don't know, they just didn't fit. Anyway, we randomly found some names that we both liked and played with various combinations and ended up with Ethan Bryce. We both really like this name and we may keep it permanently.
Now, how these names sound coming out of the mouth of our Spanish-speaking family members may be a different story. Melanie Alexa will definitely roll off the tongue beautifully in Spanish...but Ethan Bryce...not so much. But you know what? When you finally come to some kind of agreement and you're both happy with a name, sometimes you can't think of how others will pronounce it. Take DH's cousin...they just named their new son Jacob. Love the name! But they know that Spanish speaking family will change that to Jacobo...the Spanish version, pronounced "ha-co-bo"...yup. There's no Spanish version of Ethan so hopefully we're ok lol.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
2nd OB appointment last night
It was kind of boring! Except for hearing LO's HB...otherwise, it seemed impossibly short. My appointment was for 7pm. We got there right on time and were in the room by around 7:10. I PIAC, the assistant weighed me (I've gained about 3 pounds), then the OB came in. This was a different one since I'm supposed to see all the docs in that practice at some point in my prenatal care. She asked how I was feeling and if I had any questions. I didn't have any...I'm feeling fine. She took my blood pressure and then checked LO's HB on the doppler which was healthy in the 150's. She said in 4 weeks I should come back and they will take 1 vial of blood to check for Spina Bifida (which I totally didn't realize could be checked with a blood test) and that's that. I made my next appointment for August 10th, a little over a week before my Anatomy Scan. And I was back in the car by 7:20, honestly.
One of my best friends loaned us her doppler over the weekend (she gave birth last month) and we checked the HB twice. Both times we thought we'd found it but it was hovering in the 80's...super low. We didn't panick, we honestly assumed either we just didn't know what the hell we were doing when using the doppler, or the doppler was messed up. Either way, we just thought it was cool that we got to hear it. So when we went in to our appointment yesterday, the doc confirmed that it was my HB we had been so happily listening to, not LO's! Hahaha! She showed me on her doppler what mine was like and then found LO's HB. There was a very obvious difference, not only in the speed but the sound of it as well. It just sounded different. We didn't realize at all that we could pick up my HB that low on my abdomen...woops!
One of my best friends loaned us her doppler over the weekend (she gave birth last month) and we checked the HB twice. Both times we thought we'd found it but it was hovering in the 80's...super low. We didn't panick, we honestly assumed either we just didn't know what the hell we were doing when using the doppler, or the doppler was messed up. Either way, we just thought it was cool that we got to hear it. So when we went in to our appointment yesterday, the doc confirmed that it was my HB we had been so happily listening to, not LO's! Hahaha! She showed me on her doppler what mine was like and then found LO's HB. There was a very obvious difference, not only in the speed but the sound of it as well. It just sounded different. We didn't realize at all that we could pick up my HB that low on my abdomen...woops!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Settling in...
To the new apartment...into the 2nd trimester...into life out of the pregnancy closet...
The new apartment:
It's still a mess but things are definitely coming along. DH has been doing just about everything around the house. I've just been putting some small stuff away where they belong. We still have boxes and bags of stuff on the living room floor, the dining room table, and in the 2nd bedroom (which at the moment is the junk/storage room). We should be pretty much done by this weekend (I hope).
The 2nd trimester:
Well, I'm officially in the 2nd trimester tomorrow (13w4d) but pregnology.com says 13 weeks so I'm sticking with that...cuz I wanna, so there! Some doctors round up to 14 weeks but heck no! I have my second OB appointment on the 12th. I have no idea what to expect except PIAC, probably a weight check, blood pressure. What else do they do??
Want to hear something funny? This was probably a total fluke but last night I was in bed falling asleep. I was on my left side, and all of a sudden I felt a pop feeling on the right side of my belly that woke me up out of my semi-consciousness. Now I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking it too. But in that moment, whatever it was, made my heart start to race and I was just excited at the possibility. I didn't wake DH up or even tell him about it today because, again, it couldn't be, could it??
Life out of the pregnancy closet:
I totally have mixed feelings about having let "the world" know about our pregnancy. I am relieved to let it out because it was hard to keep this secret, especially at work where I was still wearing regular work pants trying to hide my growing belly and suffering in the meantime. I was also experiencing some anxiety that is now mostly released. Everyone has been sweet and encouraging about this.
On the other hand, I still have this "what if" feeling. I'm sure you can all guess the main "what if". Maybe I need to acquire a doppler for peace of mind??
The new apartment:
It's still a mess but things are definitely coming along. DH has been doing just about everything around the house. I've just been putting some small stuff away where they belong. We still have boxes and bags of stuff on the living room floor, the dining room table, and in the 2nd bedroom (which at the moment is the junk/storage room). We should be pretty much done by this weekend (I hope).
The 2nd trimester:
Well, I'm officially in the 2nd trimester tomorrow (13w4d) but pregnology.com says 13 weeks so I'm sticking with that...cuz I wanna, so there! Some doctors round up to 14 weeks but heck no! I have my second OB appointment on the 12th. I have no idea what to expect except PIAC, probably a weight check, blood pressure. What else do they do??
Want to hear something funny? This was probably a total fluke but last night I was in bed falling asleep. I was on my left side, and all of a sudden I felt a pop feeling on the right side of my belly that woke me up out of my semi-consciousness. Now I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking it too. But in that moment, whatever it was, made my heart start to race and I was just excited at the possibility. I didn't wake DH up or even tell him about it today because, again, it couldn't be, could it??
Life out of the pregnancy closet:
I totally have mixed feelings about having let "the world" know about our pregnancy. I am relieved to let it out because it was hard to keep this secret, especially at work where I was still wearing regular work pants trying to hide my growing belly and suffering in the meantime. I was also experiencing some anxiety that is now mostly released. Everyone has been sweet and encouraging about this.
On the other hand, I still have this "what if" feeling. I'm sure you can all guess the main "what if". Maybe I need to acquire a doppler for peace of mind??
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The move from hell! (And an awesome 3D pic!)
This is a long one friends...
So everything that could go wrong with the move, did go wrong. The guy that was moving out of the apartment we were moving into had said he was going to be out of the apartment by Sunday the 27th. The super said he'd only need a day or two at the most to paint and fix some things so we were shooting for a move date of Tuesday or early Wednesday. We HAD to get out of our old apartment by the 30th. The landlady was harrassing us to give her a definite time that we'd be out by on Wednesday (because she needed to have the locks changed the very moment we handed over the keys). We had to argue with her that there was no way that we could give her a definite time. Why didn't she understand this??!
So on Monday and Tuesday we were reaching out to the super of the new place to find out what was going on and give us a green light to start the move (especially because DH had lots of friends on stand-by). It turns out that the guy in the old apt didn't move out on Sunday and wasn't planning on moving out until Wednesday night! (Which he has every right to do but it sucked for us because we trusted that he'd be out when he said he would). So when the hell would the painters have time to paint and stuff and how the hell will we be able to move in before the end of the day on the 30th??
It was a looooong day yesterday (the 30th) but I did go to work during the day while the guys packed up most of the old apartment into the truck (the truck was another story but whatever). So by the time I got home I did a little cleaning byut otherwise, we waited and waited and waited for the green light. The guys finally decided to just go to the new apartment and start dropping stuff off outside in order to empty the truck enough to go back and fit the rest of the stuff out of the old apartment. We just needed to be out of the old place asap. SIL and I ended up having to babysit some furniture outside the new place while the guys went to wrap up the old place. And we sat and sat and sat...
Finally SIL and I saw the guy who was moving out and asked him if he thought he could give us a time estimate as to when he'd be out completely. It was definitely after 8:30pm at that point. He said the apartment had been cleared out and open for hours. He was just taking out garbage! So I called DH and told him we finally had the green light (why couldn't we get it hours ago?!). DH didn't get back until about 9:15pm. His friends started unloading the truck and bringing things upstairs right away and DH and I flew back to the old apartment to return our keys (and yes, there was still a few things left so that had to come out). We did a quick search of the old place and then handed in our keys...good riddance!! (and yes, the handyman was right behind us changing the locks even before we had placed the keys in the landlady's hands)
We didn't get back to the new place until after 10pm and the guys were still moving stuff upstairs. About 2.5 hours later, everything was finally in (all over the place!) but it was done!! And guess what...I hadn't eaten since about 2pm!!! OMG I was so nervous that I had been negligent! We all disbursed and DH and I went to drop off the truck. We finally went to 7-11 to grab some food.
We got back and I realized that since the dude hadn't moved out until that very day, things were still dirty...like...the bathroom. So I cleaned the entire bathroom while the fan was blowing to get rid of the fumes. DH meanwhile was trying to make sense of the bedroom furniture so we'd have somewhere to sleep. I decided to shower and WTF?! the water came out of the showerhead AND the spout at the bottom at the same time so the water pressure sucked and a pool of water was rising at my ankles. THEN, some strange loud high pitched squealing noise started coming from the showerhead! WTH is that?!! So I showered up as fast as possible. By then it's definitely well past 2:30am. DH was just finishing up with the bedroom furniture when our downstairs neighbor knocked on our door to complain about the noise. Great first impression, huh?!
Finally we got to crawl into our bed after 3am (and after DH took his own squealing shower) praying we'd make it up for our 9am NT scan that morning. THEN...somewhere between falling asleep and the morning, while it was still dark, I stretched in my sleep and give myself the worst calf cramp in BOTH calves!! Sooooo painful I was squirming and whining (again, I wonder what the downstairs neighbors must've thought). After my charlie horses I got some nasty cramps in my lower abdomen. Eventually they subsided and I fell back to sleep.
SOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo.....
After my novel about our move from hell (there are other hellish things I left out -like the guys stepping in fresh dog shit and tracking it into the new apartment before realizing what they'd done)...we had a pretty awesome morning.
My NT screening was this morning at 9am. The ultrasound was soooooo awesome! We got to see the usual ultrasound images, but we also heard the HB at 157, saw the blood flow to the baby, and then she switched to a 3D image! Baby was resting which at first freaked me out because last time he/she was moving around. Not this time...but we were eased with the great heart rate, and then towards the end we started seeing movement: opening and closing the mouth, moving arms and legs, little jumps. Sooo cool. DH and I started crying when we saw the 3D images (sorry for calling you out baby!). It's so real!! Check it out!
So everything that could go wrong with the move, did go wrong. The guy that was moving out of the apartment we were moving into had said he was going to be out of the apartment by Sunday the 27th. The super said he'd only need a day or two at the most to paint and fix some things so we were shooting for a move date of Tuesday or early Wednesday. We HAD to get out of our old apartment by the 30th. The landlady was harrassing us to give her a definite time that we'd be out by on Wednesday (because she needed to have the locks changed the very moment we handed over the keys). We had to argue with her that there was no way that we could give her a definite time. Why didn't she understand this??!
So on Monday and Tuesday we were reaching out to the super of the new place to find out what was going on and give us a green light to start the move (especially because DH had lots of friends on stand-by). It turns out that the guy in the old apt didn't move out on Sunday and wasn't planning on moving out until Wednesday night! (Which he has every right to do but it sucked for us because we trusted that he'd be out when he said he would). So when the hell would the painters have time to paint and stuff and how the hell will we be able to move in before the end of the day on the 30th??
It was a looooong day yesterday (the 30th) but I did go to work during the day while the guys packed up most of the old apartment into the truck (the truck was another story but whatever). So by the time I got home I did a little cleaning byut otherwise, we waited and waited and waited for the green light. The guys finally decided to just go to the new apartment and start dropping stuff off outside in order to empty the truck enough to go back and fit the rest of the stuff out of the old apartment. We just needed to be out of the old place asap. SIL and I ended up having to babysit some furniture outside the new place while the guys went to wrap up the old place. And we sat and sat and sat...
Finally SIL and I saw the guy who was moving out and asked him if he thought he could give us a time estimate as to when he'd be out completely. It was definitely after 8:30pm at that point. He said the apartment had been cleared out and open for hours. He was just taking out garbage! So I called DH and told him we finally had the green light (why couldn't we get it hours ago?!). DH didn't get back until about 9:15pm. His friends started unloading the truck and bringing things upstairs right away and DH and I flew back to the old apartment to return our keys (and yes, there was still a few things left so that had to come out). We did a quick search of the old place and then handed in our keys...good riddance!! (and yes, the handyman was right behind us changing the locks even before we had placed the keys in the landlady's hands)
We didn't get back to the new place until after 10pm and the guys were still moving stuff upstairs. About 2.5 hours later, everything was finally in (all over the place!) but it was done!! And guess what...I hadn't eaten since about 2pm!!! OMG I was so nervous that I had been negligent! We all disbursed and DH and I went to drop off the truck. We finally went to 7-11 to grab some food.
We got back and I realized that since the dude hadn't moved out until that very day, things were still dirty...like...the bathroom. So I cleaned the entire bathroom while the fan was blowing to get rid of the fumes. DH meanwhile was trying to make sense of the bedroom furniture so we'd have somewhere to sleep. I decided to shower and WTF?! the water came out of the showerhead AND the spout at the bottom at the same time so the water pressure sucked and a pool of water was rising at my ankles. THEN, some strange loud high pitched squealing noise started coming from the showerhead! WTH is that?!! So I showered up as fast as possible. By then it's definitely well past 2:30am. DH was just finishing up with the bedroom furniture when our downstairs neighbor knocked on our door to complain about the noise. Great first impression, huh?!
Finally we got to crawl into our bed after 3am (and after DH took his own squealing shower) praying we'd make it up for our 9am NT scan that morning. THEN...somewhere between falling asleep and the morning, while it was still dark, I stretched in my sleep and give myself the worst calf cramp in BOTH calves!! Sooooo painful I was squirming and whining (again, I wonder what the downstairs neighbors must've thought). After my charlie horses I got some nasty cramps in my lower abdomen. Eventually they subsided and I fell back to sleep.
SOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo.....
After my novel about our move from hell (there are other hellish things I left out -like the guys stepping in fresh dog shit and tracking it into the new apartment before realizing what they'd done)...we had a pretty awesome morning.
My NT screening was this morning at 9am. The ultrasound was soooooo awesome! We got to see the usual ultrasound images, but we also heard the HB at 157, saw the blood flow to the baby, and then she switched to a 3D image! Baby was resting which at first freaked me out because last time he/she was moving around. Not this time...but we were eased with the great heart rate, and then towards the end we started seeing movement: opening and closing the mouth, moving arms and legs, little jumps. Sooo cool. DH and I started crying when we saw the 3D images (sorry for calling you out baby!). It's so real!! Check it out!
So cool...
Also, the nuchal translucency measured 1.2mm and they like to see less than 3mm so we're good so far. Still have to wait for the blood work (which was a finger stick not the usual tube of blood from your arm) to confirm a result.
My anatomy scan is scheduled for August 19th and they told us we can bring a DVD to record the scan!! Oh, and little one was measuring right on point with what my OB measured (12w5d).
And, if you can believe it, I decided not to call out from work even though I am so tired and my eyes are burning. So I am at work right now (been here for several hours now) and I told my staff today. They were so excited. It's amazing how getting that off my chest at work has definitely reduced my anxiety at work (which I've been having lately). Yay!! We plan to tell the extended family and friends on Sunday!
I know, I know I've written way too much but this is like a journal entry. It's for you and for me...it feels good to give myself a summary of the last 24 hours. So much has happened. If you stuck with me the entire way through (or even if you skimmed and got most of the story), THANK YOU!!
PS - sorry but I tend to switch back and forth from past ro present tense when I tell stories. I went back to try to fix them all but I may have missed some.
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