I've Decided, So There

I decided this week that when someone does something I don't like I'm gonna call 'em on it. This is completely unlike me. Usually I just let things go when they rub me the wrong way. I'm normally a pretty laid back person that way. Some might even say I've let people walk all over me. Sometimes something would really get to me, and I'd just let it sit there and fester and I probably have a lot of stuff like that cooped up in my stomach churning away in the acid. But no more!

And you know, it's probably the hormones, something rubbed me the wrong way and I spoke my mind. I credit my best friend as the inspiration for this breakthrough. She has never held back in her life and it's part of what I love about her. Which is ironic because she's now not speaking to me because I said what I thought. Sometimes it has outcomes you would never expect, and that's the chance you take.

Add This To The List of Labor and Delivery Worries

Here's hoping our little shrimp is a nice normanl 6-8 pounds.

200 Days

Hey look! Only 200 more days to go! (Actually that sounds really long right now) Second trimester is right around the corner. Anyone know when the second trimest officially starts? I've read some conflicting info on that, although most say after the 12th week. Regardless, the danger zone ends when week 12 is over right? This is getting confusing!

The Girls

The Girls
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

Sausage, sausage, sausage. We could use some sausage. Give us some sausage.

Snakey Slideshow

Take a look at the snake pics!

If the link doesn't work go here. Flickr is really pissing me off today. I've created this set like 4 times and every time I try to link to it, the photos aren't found. ARG!

Texas cottonmouth

Since I can't get the real pics uploaded until Monday, here is a picture of what the snake looked like. According to my online research it was most likely this POISONOUS Texas cottonmouth. The pics I'm looking at in my camera leave little doubt. There is a non-poisonous snake that is supposed to look a lot like the cottonmouth. But nothing I read about that one mentioned the "defensive spray" that we smelled. Like CanaMa said, we are very, very protected.

Shrimp Week #11

How your baby's growing: Your fig-sized baby is now fully formed — measuring 1 1/2 inches long and weighing in at a quarter of an ounce. His skin is still transparent, allowing many of his blood vessels to show through. Some of his bones are beginning to harden, and tiny toothbuds are starting to appear under his gums. His fingers and toes have separated, and he may soon be able to open and close his fists. He's already busy kicking and stretching, and his tiny movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. These movements will increase as his body grows and becomes more developed and functional. As his diaphragm develops, your tiny tenant may also start to get the hiccups. Because he's still so small, though, you won't feel any of his workouts or intrauterine gulps until sometime between weeks 16 and 20.

And The Saga Ends Peacefully

Husband wrangled the snake into a long cylindrical thing we had laying around and we released it into the field near our house. But not before the snake struck at him causing our whole bathroom to smell like skunk. I got pictures but my USB cord is at work and I working from home tomorrow so I might have to wait until Monday to post them. I am SO RELIEVED. And I have to say a bit validated as Husband said it looked and moved exactly like I described. Thank God that's over!!!!!

Holy Fucking Shit I Just Found the Snake

I was reaching into the towel closet in our bathroom for more tp (which we keep on the floor because we buy so much at a time) and it was RIGHT BEHIND THE TP. IT'S BEEN IN OUR HOUSE THIS ENTIRE TIME. IT'S BEEN IN THE BATHROOM I VISITED 5 TIMES LAST NIGHT IN THE FUCKING DARK. Oh. My. God. I'm freaking out. I closed the door and put a towel underneath so the thing can't get away again I HOPE. Husband's on his way home. More to come....

They DO Eat

This one's for Husband I love the way Jake's looking at her. Hilarious.

Baseball Just Got A Little More Exciting

Aw, how cute. They're coming out (du da dun) They want the world to know. Got to let it show.

Oh look, there's Kat

I finally got brave enough to put my actual picture on my profile. Expect that to be the only one of me until I've lost the baby weight! Unless I draw a nice big pumpkin on my belly around my favorite of all holidays Halloween.

Tom Cruise is Insane

Spiegel is either the interviewers name or the magazine name, I don't know which one. I've never had a thing for Tom Cruise, he's too Captain America for my taste. But I must say as much as I hate to admit it, I'm having a fabulous time watching him lose his mind.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Cruise, as you know, Scientology has been under federal surveillance in Germany. Scientology is not considered a religion there, but rather an exploitative cult with totalitarian tendencies.

CRUISE: The surveillance is nothing like as strict anymore. Any you know why? Because the intelligence authorities never found anything. Because there was nothing to find. We’ve won over 50 court cases in Germany. And it’s not true that everyone in Germany supports that line against us. Whenever I go to Germany, I have incredible experiences. I always meet very generous and extraordinary people. A minority wants to hate — okay.

SPIEGEL: There is a difference between hate and having a critical perspective.

CRUISE: For me, it’s connected with intolerance.

Read the whole interview here.

MEET THE SHRIMP

Check out the sonogram pictures from today

I had a foreign object in my vagina today, did you?

This morning was our 3rd Dr. visit. Although he told us at our last appointment we could hear the heartbeat, he told us today that it was still too early. Whatever Doc, you said it not me. But who cares about hearing the heartbeat, when you can see the heartbeat? That's right, we had another vaginal sonogram, weeeeee. This is not the most comfortable experience in the world. But as soon as the baby shows up on the screen I don't even notice my privates are hanging out.

The baby actually looks like a baby now! Arms legs, fingers, toes, chin, and nose. And she was moving all around waving her arms and kicking her legs. She's the size of a shrimp, which will now be her nickname on this blog. The doc says that the shrimp is looking great, perfect, right on and a few other positive statements. Also, MY WEIGHT LOOKS GOOD! That might be the first time in my life that someone has told me that. Even when I was super thin my weight actually fell in the overweight category (and trust me I didn't look that way). I blame it on the boobs. Those are an extra 10 pounds at least.

I don't think I've ever felt the intensity of joy that these little peeks inside my uterus have brought me. It actually manifests itself physically in me. It's sort of like a warm rush that overtakes my whole body. I can't imagine the intensity when I see the shrimp face to face. 6 months and 1 ½ weeks to go!

Precious Little Bulldog Buddha Belly

First Week
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

I'm feeling nestalgic today. I miss my snuggly little bulldog puppy. She's the best dog anyone could ask for, and still snuggly. But you just can't beat puppy breath. So here are a few pics of the puppy Bella used to be.

Her ass takes up that entire bed now.

First Night Home

First Night
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

I used to carry her everywhere like this. When she got a little bigger she would hang over my shoulder.

Playing With Dad

Playing With Dad
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

First Night With Her New Family

First Night2
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

Road Trip

The Dauggers Asleep In the Jeep
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

Friday was one helluva long day.

I ate a sandwich from hell at lunch and by 4 my stomach was cramping so badly that I was convinced I was having a miscarriage. It was awful, and I completely freaked out. I had lovely rational thoughts like "If you had just kept it a secret for the first trimester this wouldn't be happening". Luckily the cramping was not followed by bleeding of any sort, just plenty of vomit and diarrhea cha cha cha. So as far as I know the baby is still blissfully growing away, and I have less than two weeks until I am finally out of the danger zone and I can get that fucking song out of my head, Amen.

I started feeling human enough to think I could still go to Austin to visit my brother around 7pm. I still can't get used to the trip taking 4 hours because I'm so used to living downtown from where it only takes 3. Of course that 4 hours has a funny way of turning into, oh, 5 or so when you're too attached to your dauggers to leave them in a kennel.

Some highlights from the late night drive down:

-A woman holding a tiny baby IN HER LAP while her male companion drove up several peoples asses then cut across 3 lanes of cars to exit coming thisclose to causing a wreck.

-Sitting in the Schlotzsky's drive-through for 20 minutes (no I'm not exaggerating) without moving at 9pm after vomiting all my lunch up only to finally park and go in to find food spread all over the floor and teenage boys high fiving each other and laughing about it then leaving without any food 'cause, yeah, I'm gonna eat something those guys made.

-Husband asking every 10 minutes if I think Bella has to pee. Then stopping to walk her just in case.

Our time in Austin was lovely, and I would just like to say that I have the rockinest little brother ever invented. He's such a great human being, full of strong morals, steadfastly held beliefs, a kind heart, and a great taste in all things B (b-movies, underground radio, etc.) He's going to be a fabulous Uncle Buck.

On Saturday night we took him out to dinner for a birthday dinner at Madame Mams which completely rocks the Thai house. If you are ever in Austin you seriously must go there.

On Sunday we tried walking the pre-historic gardens in Zilker Park, but poor Bella got so overheated that she was wheezing and I was panicking, so we left in short order to get the poor girl some water and head on home.

I wish that moving to Austin was as easy as just moving, because I would totally do that in one weekend.

Highlights from the drive home:

-Bella gasping for air through her poor little scrunched up nose was so painful to watch.

-Husband walking Chloe through a field of high grass and realizing that it was full of stickers (or burrs, or whatever you prefer) which are now completely covering her furry little face and paws, and back, and tummy. We're talking hundreds. I spent the rest of the trip picking them off and haven't even removed half of them.

-Getting a Sonic Blast ice cream treat and realizing that when they say "with Reece’s Peanut butter cups", they really mean, "with one/half of a Peanut butter cup mixed with 4 cups of ice cream".

We got home at 7 then headed straight to Dad's for a little Fathers Day BBQ. I think I must have eaten a pound of potato salad. It was nice to see him and the step-family. We stayed way too long though, not leaving until 10:30, and we all know my pregnant ass has a bedtime of 10 now don't we.

All in all it was an eventful, lovely, and exhausting weekend. I may need a few days of vacation to recover.

Week #10: My So Called Fetus

How your baby's growing: Your baby is no longer an embryo! Though she's barely the size of a kumquat — just an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, she now has completed the most critical portion of her development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in her body rapidly grow and mature. Her vital organs — the liver, kidney, intestines, brain, and lungs — are now in place and starting to function (although they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy). Her liver continues to make blood cells, and the yolk sac, which previously supplied these cells, is no longer needed and begins to disappear.

During the next three weeks, your baby's length will more than double to nearly 3 inches. Her head is proportionately smaller now than it was a few weeks ago, but it's still almost half the length of her entire body. Her forehead temporarily bulges with her developing brain and sits high on her head; it will later recede to give her a more human appearance. Each day, more minute details — including tiny fingernails, toenails, and peach-fuzz hair — start to appear on her body. Her fingers are now completely separated; her arms bend at the elbow and curve slightly; her hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over her heart; her legs are lengthening; and her feet may be long enough to meet in front of her body. She is busily swallowing amniotic fluid and kicking her legs.

If you could take a peek at your baby this week, you'd be able to clearly see the outline of her spine through her parchment-thin skin. Spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from her spinal cord.

Brothers

Brothers
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

About 2 minutes after Kent and I moved in together, I started bugging him to come to the SPCA with me and get a cat. Since we were living in a loft, we didn't want a dog, and we were sure we wanted a female cat because she wouldn't mark all over the wonderful old wooden floors.

After a month or so, he finally gave in. I think it's because he told his mom what I was asking for and being the cat lover she was, she told him what was what and he better get down to that shelter and rescue a cat right now or else.

So off we went to find a cat that was litterbox trained and lovable. At the Dallas SPCA they keep 20 or so cats in each cat room. I don't remember why we opened the glass door to that particular room, but as soon as we did one emaciated orange tabby walked out, took a couple of steps and turned around to look back at us with a look that said, "um, are you coming or what?"

That was that. We dug around for his papers and read that his name was Tucker. He came to us as soon as we called him by his name. His coat was (and is) the exact color of Husbands (then boyfriends) beard. The papers also said that he was sheltered along with his litter mate Rocket, a black and white cat and that they needed to stay together.

Into the cat tank we went. There were only about 15 black and white cats to look through. We were about to give up when I spotted a sickly little guy curled up in the corner. Sure enough, it was Rocket. He was so sick that he went limp when I picked him up. They were both so skinny, and weak, it broke my heart. We went in for one female and out we came with two males.

Tucker took to his new home almost immediately. He started walking around, checking things out, getting the lay of the land. Rocket, however found a chair, curled up and slept for about a month. We even re-named him because Rocket seemed so out of place for a cat who didn't move. But soon, after a couple of rounds of antibiotics, Ross emerged a new cat. He and Tucker began chasing each other around the loft the entire night. I guess Rocket would have been fitting afterall.

They have adjusted well to the newer additions, although it was pretty tough at first. They are still each others best friend, and often I will catch them laying like this, close to one another in the EXACT same position.

Tucker and Ross, the original C-A-T's

Snake? What Snake?

Tucker
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

Snake Charmer

------UPDATE-------
Still no sign of the damn thing. Husband had get up and turn on the lights for me each of the 400 times I had to pee in the middle of the night because my dad said that's when it would come out. Thanks Dad. I'm almost convinced it escaped through some special sneaky snake spot somewhere. (how many s words can you string together semi-coherently?) Luckily the consensus seems to be that wherever it is, it's NOT poisonous.
-------------------

Today is a work from home day for me. I’m lucky enough to do that a couple of days a week which is REALLY helping with my gas bill. It’s amazing how much money it costs to sit in traffic for two hours a day to and from work. My favorite advantage to working from home is that I can sleep until 8:30, the roll out of bed and be at the computer on time at 8:31. Well, almost on time. Usually Husband is here until about that time when he leaves for work, he only has a 20 minute drive the lucky bastard. But this morning he was up and out the door by 6am. Such a go-getter my husband!

Around 7, the dauggers woke me up because they needed to go outside. I know that’s what they needed because they have a very specific way of telling me. Bella puts her head on the pillow beside mine, does a simultaneous wine/grumpy growl, and nudges me with her head or kisses my cheek. And Chloe stands there and watches her with an expectant look on her face. It’s just about he sweetest thing they do, second only to when Bella chews/sucks on a plush toy like it’s a pacifier and goes to sleep. That might be the cutest thing ever seen in this world.

Not wanting to experience another “accident incident” I jumped out of bed with nothing but a t-shirt on. I didn’t bother putting my contacts in my eyes even though I am blind as a bat, or putting on pants or shoes because I was hoping to crawl back in bed and sleep another few winks as soon as they did their business in the back yard.

We hurried to the back door which is off the kitchen, right next to where I’m typing this now. And I opened the door for them to go out.

They didn’t get far.

Directly on the other side of the back door we simultaneously saw something strange. My first thought was, why did mom’s rubber snake end up here on my back porch? (we helped her move from an 1800 square foot house to a 600 square foot apartment in Vancouver so a lot of her stuff found a home at my house). Chloe’s first thought was “I should definitely stick my nose into this creature and smell it.” Bella’s first thought was “what the hell is that thing I’m not going near it, I’ll let my sister find out what it is.” And about 1 millisecond after it registered in my sleepy brain that that is actually a REAL snake and I have no shoes or pants on and I can’t see what the fuck it’s going to do, the snake reared up like a cobra and bit Chloe’s nose. Then it lifted it’s whole body so it was supported by just the end of it’s tail. That scared Chloe enough that she backed up which the snake took as an invitation to wiggle as fast as it could INTO MY HOUSE and hide in a corner of the kitchen. Thankfully I was able to grab Chloe before she went after it again, and the three of us ran into the bedroom.

The first thing I did was put my contacts in so I could take a good look at Chloe to make sure she was OK. She was rubbing her face all over the rug like it was hurting her, and her breath smelled like a skunk (which surprisingly is not what it usually smells like). Other than that she was her normal self. Once I did that I must have pulled some Animal Planet knowledge out of my ass because I put on jeans and thick sneakers just in case the snake ended up being poisonous. I knew I couldn’t deal with it myself since I am pregnant and would not for one second take the chance that a maybe poisonous snake could bite me and hurt the baby. So I had to call Husband at work. Normally I would have called my mom back when she was DallaMa, and not CanaMa but alas, I don’t think there was much she could do from Vancouver. (I did call her for moral support of course)

I had to sneak back into the kitchen to get my phone and saw the snake was on the move. It looked like it was actually up on the baseboards. Let me just say this. I am not a woman who can’t deal with bugs or snakes or reptiles. We have a tortoise, I love to find geckos around the house, and if this had been just a little green garden snake I would have simply swept the thing back outside. This thing was LONG people. Not Python long, but longer than you want wildly slithering around in your house when you don’t know if it’s poisonous or not. And it was a really dark gray color and a good thickness although not super thick. I went back into the bedroom and put towels under the doors leading in and out so that the snake couldn’t slither underneath them, and waited for Husband to get here.

Once he did, he began looking for the snake in the kitchen out of which it had apparently escaped. He looked for around 20 minutes before I joined his search. The damn snake had completely disappeared. It’s too big to hide that well, it must have some sort of mystical powers. We turned couch cushions over, we turned kitchen chairs over, we pulled out the refrigerator, all of which were snake free zones. We looked from 7:30 until 9:00 and NEVER FOUND THE SNAKE. Husband finally had to go back to work, and I started getting calls from my office so the search was called off. So now I’m sitting in the middle of the kitchen typing this, expecting any minute for that damn snake to come bite the living shit out of me. If it’s not gone by dark I’m calling Animal Control.

After Dinner Conversation

Me: Eeeewwww that guy sitting down talking on the phone is picking his nose.

Husband: The one who works at the Chinese food restaurant?

Me: Well, he's sitting outside the restaurant and he's Asian, but (insert sarcasm) I'm pretty sure that doesn't automatically mean he works there.

Husband: Maybe he's eating them. That way his hands are clean.

Me: I'm totally blogging this.

Gimpy Bella

Gimpy Bella
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

Last weekend after playing in the pool with the dauggers we noticed Bella was limping. So we went to the drug store and got some wrap and tape and went to work. I think she sprained her paw or something when she was running around the pool chasing/trying to eat the splashing water. The wrap actually helped her walk on it until she ate it about 2 hours later. She's walking fine now.

I have SO been there

You know those nights when you just get so wasted that you can't even keep your eyes open and sometimes you might even think you must look like the sexiest you have ever looked because everyone is staring at you? Lets all take a moment to be thankful we're not famous.

I'm Having Some Serious OJ Flashbacks

My trusty National Public Radio was the first to bring me both verdicts. But I'm glad I had my liveblogging cherry popped by the masters.

All I Have To Say About This Is

ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha, ha ha ha, Ah. Sigh

Week #9

How your baby's growing: Your new resident is nearly an inch long — barely the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce, but he's poised for rapid weight gain now that his basic physical structure is in place. He's also starting to look more and more human. His embryonic "tail" is now completely gone and his body parts — including organs, muscles, and nerves — are kicking into gear.

His eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. He has earlobes, and by week's end, the inner workings of his ears will be complete. His upper lip is fully formed, too, and his mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The tips of his fingers are slightly enlarged where his touch pads are developing. All major joints — his shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles — are working, enabling your baby to move his limbs. As for his heart, it has divided into four chambers now, and the valves have started to develop. External sex organs are there, but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks.

Catch and Release

This one's for Cheri.

The Next Big Jump

The next big jump
Originally uploaded by KATIEmagic.

Literally. Can you tell that it's taller than Husband? All I know is ERIC YOU BETTER NOT LET HIM JUMP WITHOUT A FUCKING HELMUT.* I'm totally not kidding.

*I was dutifully made fun of for my spelling error this weekend by Husband. Apparently it's not spelled like the designer's name.

Charlotte Church is hot

Remember at my birthday party when you laughed at me for choosing Charlotte Churce when we played the who would you do "same sex much younger"? That's right, back up off me bitches!

Reason #1 Why I Have The Best Husband Ever Invented

Email exchange just now at work:

Me: How are you today?

Husband: Life is good. We are going to be parents in 221* days. I cannot freakin believe it, ok? Excuse me while I run outside and jump around in circles – happily.

Me: I know yay!!! Our lives will never be the same. In a good way. You’re going to be the bestest dad ever invented. It still seems a bit unreal at the moment though. I can’t wait till I can see my belly grow and feel the baby move.

Husband: I know. That will be incredible. It feels real to me today for some reason. Some days it seems unreal. I can’t wait to see what she looks like. With your beauty, she may win some kid beauty pageants. We are going to force our children to compete in pageants, right?**


*he has the countdown programed into his watch
**sarcasm is abundant in our household


And now for our newest feature: What's the baby doing this week?
From americanbaby.com
Go, baby, go! Your talented child has doubled in size in the past two weeks, and is now approximately three-quarters of an inch long. Body parts that formed in the first few weeks are growing more complex and specialized, including the eyes, limbs, mouth, heart, and brain. Fingers and toes are taking shape, along with the palate and pituitary gland. The eyelids are also forming--until they're complete, the eyes appear open.

Shock Horror: Dallas is Nowhere To Be Found on the Safest Drivers List

I'm not making this shit up people.

Salad Dayz

Perhaps the strangest pregnancy craving ever? MUST HAVE SALAD

SAHM

Husband and I are trying like hell to figure out a way to financial swing me staying home when the baby comes. (That still sounds so foreign and great, when the baby comes) I know myself well enough to know that it will seriously fuck with my head to go back to work and put our baby in day care after only 6 weeks. I don't know what to do about it. When we first decided to start trying I really thought that if I had to I would simply go back to work. Millions of people do it every day and enjoy it and it works well for them, why not us too? But I've already bonded with this baby so much, and just the thought of leaving her/him makes me cry. We're thinking of turning in my car so we only have one payment. But I think if we do that I'll have to pay off the balance which we definitely can't swing. Anyone have any creative ideas?

I bought my first maternity clothes yesterday. I'm definitely not showing yet, but my jeans were just uncomfortable enough for me to justify the purchase. Why try to stuff my pregnant ass into non stretchy jeans when I can wear maternity jeans now without anyone noticing and won't have to buy more later. The best thing I found was a bathing suit tank-ini thing. It's the best fitting suit I've had in years. It doesn't bind in all the wrong places, and there's room to grow in the tummy area. Why aren't all clothes made out of the super stretchy maternity material? I am SO comfortable right now.

Bella had a black plastic salsa bowl in her mouth for literally 5 hours yesterday. She was SO tired that she kept falling asleep standing up. Her big heavy head would drop slowly down until the bowl hit the floor and she was up again and pissed off because she thought someone was trying to take it from her. Very bull headed that bull dog! Maybe she was dreaming about her boyfriend......