The Joys of Pregnancy

as most of you know, we are pregnant with baby #3.

and at 20 weeks, i should be in the midst of "the glow" - you know, glorious hair, flawless skin, nice nails and a life of ease and beauty. i should damn near look and feel like a chick on some cosmetics commercial.

HOWEVER - this time around i am not glowing. my hair looks less than luxurious. my skin looks as if i'm ready to NOT be asked to prom. and i chipped all of my beautiful nails last week, so we're back to the man hands that have always made me good at manual labor. few women can operate what my family calls blue-handled pliers to build 5-strand barbed-wire fence. but i can. i once suffered carpal-tunnel syndrome from tying in stays...think my sorority sisters know what kind of ambition that takes? i digress.

and, because i haven't gained too much weight, but just enough for it to be noticed, clothing is an issue. i have options between regular pre-prego clothes and maternity clothes and nothing fits. i am simply one van down by the river away from being chris farley...because all i do is pull up my pants! it's an exhausting hobby.

for all of these reasons...there will be no photo to accompany today's post. deal with it. use your imagination.

i know this is only a phase and once the baby bump is more obvious i'll feel beautiful again...i love being pregnant. it's an incredible time and i wouldn't change a bit of it.

except maybe the acne.

self-control, will power, restraint

these are all words that are not usually *fine, not EVER* associated with me. or my personality.

and today, i'm headed to the grocery store...which happens to be one of my favorite places. but, like Mindi & Zane, we are adhering to the Dave Ramsey FPU classes and i know that this trip to the store will be less than fun.

we've had a budget for a while. now we are actually sticking to it. and today, i only need milk, tissues and some fresh veggies. easy, right?

NO - because all of those glorious food options out there will be trying to seduce me. cheese, meat, bread, potatoes...probably a shiny apple. call me snow white, but my will power is not stronger than a fresh gala apple. with caramel sauce.

wish me luck.

now it's on...

my husband, drew, he's feeling frisky today.

he's not a fan of the time i spend on the computer. and then today i got the itch to change my blog background.

i've changed it a few times now and since he's currently doing the dishes, i know he's steamed.

but he loves me. so i'm gonna make the bed and we'll call it fair.

Hoopty Hoop

cyd started gymnastics this week. and although she's pretty positive she's meant to be a glorious, graceful ballerina, we talked her into the bouncing around.

SHE LOVED IT!

the teachers were great at making the skills the little ones needed to learn seem like games...they did tons of jumping and following the leader and working different aspects of their extremities.

we are loving that the consistent exposure to the balance beam and trampoline will help with cyd's balance and coordination.

she loved the hoola hoop.

friday, we were driving and she said: "momma, i didn't know how to do the hoola hoop. did you see me?"

yes, baby. you did great! did you like it?

"yep. but i didn't know how to do it. so i practiced last night in my sleep and now, i want to go back to gymnastics and do it better and better and better."

this week, i'll try to get some pictures of these 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds as they prepare for the Olympics. one dream at a time.

background

what's up with all the cool backgrounds?

i was using "cutestblogontheblock" but now there are errors on the page and i can't get another nifty background.

what do you guys use?

i need suggestions...

Awww, CRAP!!!

have you ever been excited, but a bit um...shall we say, worried about first impressions? like, maybe you forgot to put away the folded underwear on the couch and the preacher's wife just dropped by to deliver some fresh brownies...do you let her in the house & invite her to sit - or stand like a bodyguard in the door to keep her from seeing your human-ish-ness?

that's where I am right now.

my sweetheart neighbor, Mindi, has just introduced me to her friends in the blogging world & while I'm loving reading her blog, my mind panics! could it be that i still have some lame (although at the time I thought it was pretty) Christmas background still up??? awww, CRAP! i have to get over there and change it before any of Mindi's hip friends see it and learn about the real Laren!

so, hopefully, the onslaught of readers won't be offended if there are a few reindeer lingering on the site. i plan to update more frequently. i vow to blog at least weekly. maybe weakly.

and go see Mindi - she's amazing. i'm green with the envy of 'how does she do it?" and you will be too!

wanna know a secret?

well, let me take a look at the calendar...

yep - it's wednesday. so, that means we are officially at 11 weeks.

11 weeks is one week shy of the so-called "safe sharing zone" but truth be told our doctor said that when he heard a solid heartbeat 2 weeks ago the chance of miscarriage drops from 25% to less than 1%. I told him that 96% of all percentages were made up. He didn't laugh.

point being - we are pregnant!

and i am one sick woman. sick in the morning. sick in the evening. ravenously hungry & yet, nothing sounds good - except my husband's incredible homemade hamburgers. seriously - he's had to cook me 3 in the last 2 days.

you know what else? i suffered from post-partum depression after stroman's birth and had been taking some medication for it. the doc and i were discussing if i needed to keep on something. there are dangers for the baby if the medication was continued into the third trimester. i told him i had decided to just tough my way through it for the benefit of the baby.

he informed me that he would guide his patients to keep on their meds or find a safe alternative if being off the meds meant they might turn to recreational drugs or excessive alcohol to squash the pain of depression.

and i jokingly said, 'the only redeeming quality i have as a mother is that i'm not a crack-whore."
again, he didn't laugh.

note for next pregnancy...be sure to find a doc who gets my jacked-up sense of humor.

no offense to the crack-whore fans of my blog.

knock. knock...

anyone still there?


i agree, it has been forever! glad to see you again & i hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.


i didn't.


sick. massively sick. the entire time. for 3 weeks now. sinus infection. stomach bug. and generally, a ticked off attitude.

it got so bad that when drew left for his final football road game of the season, i called my mom...explained the situation and cried when she said she would head to roswell that afternoon. a mere 5-hour drive! for me! sick, stinky, exhausted, me. i was worthy of a 5-hour drive! okay, it was probably those grandkids that were the bait, but let me feel overly loved for crying out loud!



back to the point.



i've discovered - with the help of my overly honest husband - that i would enjoy holidays much, much more if it weren't for all the people...people everywhere. dreadful. it's hard to discuss why i don't care to leave the house much to the very people who kinda make me wanna stay in my house. but then, you might call. perhaps i should just show up. we know what i think about phone calls.



this isn't just because i was ill. remember last year? this! i was serious about this for MULTIPLE REASONS!

but this year - we are having Christmas in Roswell...the kids will actually open gifts at home for once and the roadtrips will be limited. we can partially blame the economy. partially blame the distance to all the various relatives. mostly, we can blame me.

more to come this holiday season!