I'm gonna have a little tiny baby!

It's official: 

 I'm pregnant! 

Jonathon have been trying since April and we found out December 11, 2011 that we are indeed going to have a baby. This month, we decided to hold off on trying during the holidays and pick back up after my birthday in February. I guess this relieved a lot of stress and totally unexpectedly, a baby was conceived! And I'm pretty sure it was Thanksgiving morning - haha. Sunday night, I had a sneaking suspicion that I was so I decided to test before we went to bed. I was thinking it would be negative regardless since you're supposed to always test in the morning, but I got 2 lines immediately - didn't even have to wait a whole 30 seconds. I freaked out, ran in the bedroom and threw the test at Jonathon who was already asleep. He wasn't sure what to say so he kinda sat there and stared at it and said "well, looks like we're pregnant" or something non-exciting like that. The next morning, I came in late to work and stopped at CVS to get more tests. And yes, I tested in the office bathroom when I got in and got 2 very, very dark lines. Go me :)

I'm a solid 6 weeks, 1 day pregnant today 

and my due date is August 11, 2012. 

I had my first OB appointment this past Tuesday with Dr. Stephenson who was fantastic. I'm actually disappointed she doesn't get to be my doctor for the whole pregnancy. Kinda strange, this military thing - my first appointment was at the Quantico clinic with one OB where they did bloodwork (but never did a pregnancy test which I found amusing...what if I was crazy and lied about being pregnant? they just wasted a whole 2 hours....but whatever! Figured that would've been priority numero uno!) and I signed more papers than I did when we bought our car. The rest of my appointments will be in Woodbridge, which is oh so convenient for me since it's about 10 minutes from my office. Woohoo!

My next appointment is when I'm 10w1d where I'll get my first ultrasound. Can't wait to see my little jelly bean (baby's nickname, by the way)!

Today was especially exciting. I got my first baby and maternity clothes from Angelfood (along with a box of food - mmmm) which is an organization that gives boxes of food to military families E-5 and below, as well as gobs of clothes. They have a whole room set up with clothes that you can pick through and just take whatever you need. I got a pair of maternity capris and a maternity skirt, and a whole bag full of neutral baby clothes. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be working on cleaning out the to-be nursery so that when I slowly start collecting baby items, I'll have somewhere to put them! It's a good thing I won't find out the gender for several more months, otherwise, I'd have already have the nursery bought and put together lol. 

one of my favorites - says "my best friend" and is covered in dogs hehe

So, that's pretty much it. My head is swimming with baby thoughts, so there's really not much room left for anything else at the moment. I think it's time for a nap!

Invisible.

It’s like I don’t even exist.

I can’t speak about other military bases, but Quantico is 100% centered on
kids and families with kids.
There are playgrounds on literally every corner – including directly across from my house.
There are like, 8 schools, just for this one base.
The CDC (child development center) is huge and apparently they’re building a second (or is this the third?) one…IN my neighborhood. I see the crane from my house.
There are extra-wide sidewalks everywhere for runners with baby strollers.
Even the military spouses Facebook page I’m a member of is focused on kids. Every day, I get about 10 emails with posts with questions all relating to kids:
My kid’s screaming, someone wanna come babysit?
My kid is so cute, please vote for him.
My kid just burped. Awwwww.
My kid had a gross diaper and it looked like green peas – what does this mean?

Seriously??

I’m a dying breed on this base: not super newly married, working full time, and childless. Because of these things, I am invisible. I can’t go get coffee or go to the mall because I’m at work. I can’t go on play dates because I have no kids. I’m not a newly wed so I can’t even bond over that. Everyone here gets knocked up just by their husbands looking at them, so I can’t even bond over the TTC (trying to conceive) ordeal.

And then there’s the dogs. With as many people that have dogs on this base, you think they’d be a bit more pet-friendly.
Housing screws you over if you have pets – I’m talking, you gotta pay $1000’s upon moving out.
All the playgrounds have “NO ANIMALS” signs.
There’s not a single dog park (actually – no dog parks within 30 minutes of me).
Barking dogs are enough to get the cops called on you (but of course kids running up and down the adjoining stairs and screaming babies and annoying brats on the playground with the squeaky swings don’t warrant any sort of attention other than their mother’s going “awwwww look at my baby”).

I have nothing against people with kids – obviously, since I’ve been trying to have one of my own for several months now. But, even though I’d give my left arm to be a part of this elite majority, I unfortunately cannot be in this group right now. So what am I supposed to do? How do I meet people? I’m sorry, but I want to go to a nice restaurant and stay out late sometimes – screaming babies and whiney kids just make it miserable. I love kids, but since I don’t have any yet, I want to enjoy life without them for a while, but that’s apparently impossible here.

And another thing. How the heck am I supposed to meet new friends? I’m telling you, it’s impossible. And frustrating. And makes the TTC process just all that more frustrating.

Hello, have we met?

Well hello! It's been a little bit since I've stopped by. There's been SO much going on, I'm not sure where to start. 

My parents & brother just left after being here a week for Thanksgiving. We had an absolute blast! We made gingerbread houses and went to Occoquan and the National Zoo (we saw a cheetah fight between 3 brothers....very cool...and scary for about 3 seconds) - those are just the highlights. Sometimes I hate having people visit, not because it's an inconvenience or anything, but then it makes me miss them so much more when they leave. It's easy to stop missing them so much when it's been 6 months, but the fresh missing isn't fun. And who knows when we'll get to go home again...

It's almost Christmas! I have half the presents bought and the other half are planned and budgeted - just waiting for the money to appear on the tree outside to purchase them. Ha!  Hubby's getting a gun - I told him I was willing to splurge on the one condition that he keeps my freezer full of meat. I figure if we spend a few hundred on a gun, he (theoretically) could save us MANY hundreds on meat. Maybe I'll start using venison as our main meat instead of chicken. Mmmm. 

And of course, the main focus of my life has been baby-makin. 

FAIL. 

I absolutely can't seem to get pregnant. I think we're going to stop trying for the next few months - probably until after February - and just let things take their course. No more charting or stressing or planning. I need a break! After my birthday in February, I'll start charting again and if nothing by April/May (which makes the big, ugly, scary ONE YEAR mark), then to the doctor I shall go. In the mean time, I'm going to try to lose as much weight as possible. I don't have a real goal in mind (ok well kinda...) but just as MUCH as possible. Cause I definitely need my starting point to be as small as possible so I don't look like a tank/whale/ship/ whatever if/when I actually get pregnant. I want to have a basketball pregnancy....

My most recent reads, 

Something Borrowed & Something Blue by Emily Giffin  

are some fabulous books that Lindsey (find her blog here)  recommended I read. In the second one, the main character is pregnant (what a surprise....) and she's super vain and is determined to have a "basketball pregnancy". This is where you remain a perfect stick and just look like you put a basketball under your shirt. I could only hope......

So...that's pretty much my current life in a nutshell. Boring, eh?

Angel, Sam & Bella the foster pups.

A lot has happened since my last post! We have fostered (sorta) 3 dogs in the past few weeks. Here we go...

Angel

Angel is a 9 year old shih-tzu who's owner decided she no longer had time to care for her. The owner seemed incredibly nice, I facebook stalked her and she looked nice and normal and she had promised me that Angel had been to the vet just 2 months ago and gotten a clean bill of health.We ended up meeting her 16 year old daughter at the McDonald's parking lot to pick her up since the mom couldn't come. She hands us the dog and leaves. So we get in the car and actually look at her - the poor dog is missing most of her hair, covered in sores, the fur she still has is matted flat against her skin and she's covered in fleas. The way she was breathing, well, lets just say I had to keep checking to make sure she was alive. Her eyes were disgusting - gooey and crusty (she did tell us about this part so at least this was expected). We ended up taking her home and straight up to the guest bathroom where we proceeded to give her a bath. The water was brown and there were at least 30 fleas floating in it but you could still see fleas just crawling all over her. We were both so upset over the condition of the dog and the obvious neglect it had been through that we almost reported the family. Unfortunately, I only had a name and phone number (of the daughter) and no address so that wouldn't have worked so well. After looking at her some more, we think she might have had mange (skin disease). With all these issues, we made a tough decision. We obviously couldn't keep her for fear of her infecting our dogs (my babies come first, sorry!) and there was no way I was letting anyone else adopt her and put such a burden on them. It was too late to take her to a vet or a no kill shelter so our only other option was to give her back to the owner. As much as I hated to for fear of worse neglect, we met back with the daughter and gave her back (after giving her a dose of flea medicine!). It was a rough night. The mom called us and yelled at Jonathon for half an hour pretty much blaming us for it (uhhh, how is that our fault?) and long story short, she was just overly dramatic and stupid. So whatever. I wash my hands of it - there was nothing more I could have done. 

I did learn my lesson though! I will never accept a dog without seeing current vet records and meeting the dog FIRST. And then we will go from there. 

Sam

Sam is a 2 year old shih-tzu. I didn't get a story as to why his mom is giving him up but I do know she has vet records and she has sent me a picture. She knows I have to meet him in person and see the records first, too :) A lady who had originally been interested in Angel asked me to contact her if I got any other shih-tzu's so she was my first email. About 2 seconds after I hit send, I get an automated response saying she was on vacation til October 3rd and my only thought was "crap". Thankfully her cell phone was listed in one of the emails so I called her. Poor lady, she had broken her leg and is in a nursing home for rehab for the next 2 weeks! She was super excited about Sam though and is having her sister (probably) go pick him up straight from the current owner. No hassle for me and everyone ends up happy :) Yay for another success story! 

Bella

Bella is the cutest puppy EVER. She's a 5 month old Pomeranian and perfect. Her mommy called me this morning. She and her boyfriend just broke up which means she had to move back into the barracks where you obviously can't have pets. She asked us to foster her until her friend moves into a house on base on Oct. 15th. Hubby said yes so I agreed and I'm so glad we did! She's bouncy and frisky and playful but seems well trained (for a puppy) and is super sweet. She's a house guest I definitely don't mind! 

August, 2011

Husband witnessed an assault where the cops were called and blood was shed (no, hubby was not involved and everyone ended up being ok)

5.8 magnitude earthquake. Plus aftershocks.

Category 1 hurricane Irene. 

Sliced open my finger. 

Sprained my ankle.

Found out I'm not pregnant. 

It's August 29th and this month is almost over - that's a really, really good thing.

Two.Point.Five Kids, A Dog and a White Picket Fence - Almost

MY DREAM:

Two.Point.Five Kids, A Dog and a White Picket Fence

Three to Five Kids, Several Dogs, a Cat or Two and a Log Cabin

I finally convinced my husband that we can afford to live in North Georgia. HALLELUJAH! Up until now, he was dead set on either Unadilla, GA or Macon, GA...both of which suck. 

 

 

What Unadilla is known for

North Georgia is beautiful. There are places like Helen (an Alpine Village), Blue Ridge (yes, like the mountains), Dahlonega (can we say gold??), and Elijay (only for MawMaw and PawPaw and Janet). These are places I would kill to live in - specifically Helen. Unfortunately we can't afford Helen, so any surrounding towns will surely do. This is the view I'm looking for:

Can you really ask for a more beautiful view? Mountains, water, sky - basically, everything that is NOT in Quantico. Now, on to the house. 

Hubby and I have day dreamed about our future house many, many times. We both have very different views of our perfect house, so the compromise we have come up with is basically that Jonathon gets to pick the outside and I get to pick the inside. Now, if we were building fresh, this would be oh so easy. Log cabin, pond, acres and acres of land on the outside and a pristine, comfortable, beautiful inside complete with a huge kitchen, a big ol' tv and an enormous master bedroom and bathroom. Unfortunately, being relatively young and poor, I'm not so sure it will actually go this way. So, this is our plan. 

1. Buy a log cabin

can't you just imagine a kid in the yard and a dog on the porch?

definitely more me than Jonathon....but he'd totally go for it

I would love to come home to this every day

 2. Renovate, renovate, renovate!

so. perfect.

oh so rustic and fabulous

betcha never though I'd want a deer head in my living room, eh?

3. Decorate like Martha Stewart

I've become obsessed with antler chandeliers as of late

100% Martha Stewart meets Davey Crocket

cowhide!

 

4. Plan for Christmas

maybe I'll have Thomas Kinkade design my hou

se

5. Plan for baby

For little Aaron - just with some more camo and maybe, just an idea, a changing table?? might be helpful...

I love everything about this. including the tiny baby with the ruffle but on the chest. This will be baby Emma's room, sorry hubby!

6. Don't forget the dogs

chow time

Yes, my dogs are/will be spoiled

Littledog could totally rock this

Don't judge. I know no one I have even know will believe that this is actually the life and home I want. But people change. I'm sure anyone would have pegged me for a pink, sparkly, modern and over-the-top kind of dream house, Basically, the Barbie Dream House on over-kill. The problem with that is my husband would totally leave me, or at least resort to camping in the woods behind the house since he would refuse to enter the house. And really, who wants pink and sparkles and glamor ALL the time (take note: I will have my own office/craft room/girl room/whatever at some point and it WILL be a Barbie dream room....promise). So since I kinda like my hubby and would like for him to be proud of our house, this is a perfect compromise that I can see myself living in and loving completely.

So who's gonna come visit first?!

I don't like limbo.

no...not this kind of limbo. but I wouldn't particularly like this either

I've been in this awful state of limbo for the past 3 weeks. Since the only two people who currently read this already know everything (hello Mommy and Lindsey!), I'm just going to vent.

So, we've been trying to get pregnant the past few months. I'm in no rush, just when it happens it happens. I figured it would take a while anyway since I just quit birth control in April. 

Fast forward to now - I'm 15 days late and extremely frustrated. I've been using those irritating pee sticks almost daily but am consistently getting negatives...with the exception of one very, very faint positive which was then followed by a negative. Go figure.

I don't particularly care if I'm pregnant or not (ok, so I care, a lot actually, but there's always plenty more months if this isn't it), I just want something, anything to happen. I've been walking around for the past 3 weeks with a tampon stuffed in my bra so I don't have one of those "crap. I left my purse in the other room" moments. But lucky/unlucky for me, I haven't had a chance to use it so now it's all torn and smooshed and probably wouldn't do a whole lot of good. So I have since thrown it away and am just praying for a positive. 

AND to make things worse...I called my doctor to see if they would do a blood test to find out for sure and they (long story short) said no. Boo. AND my friend who is currently a month late got an appointment and it turned out negative. So she's crushed and I'm sad and I'm going to be a little upset if I'm pregnant and she's not, but then again I'll be upset if I'm not pregnant, so, I really just can't win. Except for the fact that I'll have a baby on the way, which I think is definitely a win! 

buying this the day I get my 2 pink lines - let's save for baby's college (or wedding) fund!

So that's that. I'm not pregnant but I'm not not pregnant. Limbo sucks.

Future hopes and dreams.

During our 6 hour drive home from our weekend in Jersey (we went up for a GORGEOUS, incredibly fun wedding where we danced all night - congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. Hale!), I spent most of the time listening to Taylor Swift, looking at the scenery and daydreaming while Jonathon slept and I drove. We drove through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC and Virginia. So, this is what I want:

A little girl that lets me paint her nails and put bows in her hair and basically has a Gilmore Girls type relationship with me. 

A big 3 story house with a lot of land, a big truck and four-wheelers. 

A bunch of dogs.

To live in the mountains.

That's pretty much all I came up with. But since hubby and I are trying to get pregnant and we were driving through some mountains, that's all my little brain could concentrate on. It sounds and looks a lot better in my head, I promise.

Feelin like a housewife.

Finally. For the first time in a while, I feel like a true housewife. I got up, showered and actually did my hair and makeup (this is a huge accomplishment for me on a weekend), made breakfast, and started takin care of business. Today I.....

1. Found a new home for Pepper (aka Piggy) the puggle

2. Hired some neighborhood kids to mow my yard

3. Made brownies

4. Made tea

5. Cleaned the kitchen and bar

6. Took care of all the dishes

7. Picked up the house

8. Took this picture:

SadieBug

She "stood" like this for at least 2-3 minutes. I have no earthly idea why. Good thing she's cute.

Later today, I will...

1. Do homework

2. Go to the grocery store

3. Buy hubby's anniversary present

4. Have friends over and enjoy the evening.

Yay for a good weekend!

Pepper the Puggle

It finally happened. I took in my first foster pup. I already adopted 3 dogs (Gunner, then Little, then Sadie) but Pepper is my first foster. And definitely not the last.

So here's the story:
Donna, my supervisor at work, has been telling me about her neighbor who is going through a divorce and is trying to get rid of her 2 dogs. It was kinda vague and in the future until today when she told me that her neighbor (Jen, I think) had taken Pepper to the shelter and kept the other dog but wanted to find a new home for him too. So, being the crazy chick I am, told Donna that if Jen could get the pup back, I'd take her in and find her a new home. Little did I know how much stress Miss Pepper would cause me.
Today was really the first day I had had any interest in Pepper. I had heard that she needed a new home, blah blah blah, for a few weeks, Today, Donna told me that Pepper had been taken to the shelter and the other was still at Jen's house but probably not for long so I told Donna to tell Jen to get Pepper. So, she contacted the shelter and they told her that they couldn't just give her back but she could re-adopt her for $80 and promise to get her spayed in the next month and if she wasn't picked up, she'd be euthanized by 12 PM the next day. What on earth?! Pepper is 2 1/2 years old, a "designer" breed (a puggle), fully housebroken and up-to-date on shots. Why on earth was she going go be euthanized?! These are my 2 answers: 1. because she isn't spayed 2. because the shelter claimed she is "aggressive" aka terrified after being thrown in a euthanasia room full of crazy angry screwed up Pits that freaked her out.

I stressed and worried so much during the day that I gave myself a migraine. Anyway, after much money and many texts, Pepper was finally rescued from the shelter and placed in the custody of Amanda, Donna's daughter. At the end of my work day, she brought Pepper to the office to hand her off to me. So now, Miss Pepper is chillin on my couch, sharing my food and watching Littledog sleep on the floor. Maybe I can't save the world, but I saved one dog.

Which leads into a whole other story on how I'd like to run my own Littledog Shelter......

another story for another time!

Welcome, Pepper!




UPDATE - 8/6/2011

Sweet little Piggy (my nickname for her since she looks like a little pig) went to her new home this afternoon. Not 12 hours as I posted her up for adoption, I received an email from a family with 3 kids and a big yard who were just dying to meet her and take her home. They came by around 4, the kids played with her and the parents fell in love with her. She pranced out the door in her pretty new collar and leash and turned to give me one last smile before she went off with her new family. Yay for happy endings!

Littledog's Second Birthday

My Littledog is all growed up! Tomorrow (August 1st) is his second birthday and we had a mini party for him last night. I was trying to come up with the menu with Jonathon and I said "well, it's just the 4 of us so what should we have?" He responded: " Umm, there actually 7..." to which I freaked out about. Who else did he invite?! I wasn't planning for 7! Then he got a little flustered: "Liz, it's me, you, Courtney, Zach, Little, Sadie and Suki (their puppy)...you're a horrible mom. I can't believe you forgot to include the birthday boy!!" Yea. That's my husband for ya. 

We had a great night: New York strip steaks, cheddar mashed 'taters, (almost) corn on the cob, pasta salad, red wine and the most amazing Texas sheet cake (thanks to Courtney!). The guys grilled while I chatted with Courtney in the kitchen and the pups played. Last year, I went all out with decorations and party hats and more than one other couple and pup as guests. I was going to make a peanut butter birthday cake and snickerpoodles again, but seeing as how my house didn't even get cleaned, I decided I should pass on that. Instead, I bought these adorable doggie doughnuts from a little doggie boutique/bakery in Occoquan.

(Side note: we had this wonderful red wine, Red Velvet from Cupcake Vineyards. Absolutely amazing)

Baby blues.

I'm completely torn. It seems like every other day, I want a baby and then the next day I don't want one. There are so many pros and cons it's not even funny. If my husband wasn't 100% gung-ho on it, I'd say just forget the whole thing and we'll just get a bunch of dogs. But, he's already picking out baby bedding and sending me emails with baby names, planning  on schedules and our whole future with a baby. 

The truth is, I like my life. Hubby and I are happily married, live a very comfortable lifestyle and have pretty much complete freedom (well, as much as full-time jobs and college allow). My dogs are crazy and I'm pretty sure they'd step and drool on Baby Pritchard (BP, from here on out). I'm also sure that BP wouldn't enjoy long road trips or days on the lake fishing (I don't think they make infant-size fishing poles - BP would be so bored!). And I'm positive that BP would not allow for mommy and daddy to go out with their friends as much as they do now. Plus, babies are a little bit expensive. How on earth can we afford a baby and diamonds and boats?! 

But then, I mean, just look: 

Enough said, right? (No, don't worry, dressing my baby in cute clothes is not the reason I want to have a baby - but I don't feel like getting into all the sappy stuff right now). 

So, with all this said, I'm still just as confused as before. Carefree, easy lifestyle vs. busy, stressful life with baby. Sounds easy, but it's really not. 

I guess we'll just keep going with the flow and if I wake up one morning throwing up and start growing a huge lump in my stomach, well, then I guess we'll have a baby! 

Puppydogs galore!

"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies"

"The more people I meet, the more I like my dog"

"If you want a little dog to know he's small, tell him"

"To err is human, to forgive, canine"

"Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear"

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face"

Littledog is my pride and joy. He's my 13 pound Cavalier King Charles spaniel mix with an underbite, big bug eyes and a tongue that just doesn't quit. 

I'm pretty sure he has some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder because all he does is lick - lick himself, lick other dogs, lick people, lick everything. He's a sweetheart though. He's always concerned about my well-being. I never get to go anywhere alone - he follows me to the kitchen, the bathroom, the couch, the bed, everywhere. He's my little shadow.

Sadie is my gorgeous, sweet lil hound dog. She's still a puppy, only 7 months, so she's crazy but just so pretty. 

,mawesrfedfczawsedr

That was her - she just jumped up and wanted to say hello. 

The whole point of this post was to explain how conceited she is. Like I said, she's a very pretty girl and she knows it. Gorgeous tri-color markings, long floppy ears, a crooked tail, big puppy dog eyes and legs that go on for miles. Her favorite activity is to stare at herself in the mirror. This morning, she stood on the bed and stared at herself in our full-length mirror. Then after a few minutes, she moved over a foot or two to look at herself in our bathroom mirror. A few minutes later, she turned around to look in our dresser mirror. No amount of calling her name will distract her. The only way to break her gaze is to physically move her. 

So. 

Very. 

Conceited.

But I blame myself. I tell her how pretty she is and put her in pretty clothes and paint her nails hot pink. She knows she's a princess and fully acts the part.