Saving up is so hard to do

This is Curly.
This is Curly's DS Fund.
Curly's DS Fund is growing.

The kids are each saving for their own Nintendo DS. On Wednesday (while I was puking my guts out from a nasty fever) Curly put in over $12.00 in change that she got from the Easter Bunny AKA Framma. Every time she placed a coin in the little gladware container, she exclaimed "Torter, twenty-five cents" or "nicktal, five cents". It was the cutest thing I've seen since sliced bread. I am glad that she is learning the value of money. Over $40 saved.... $90 more (plus tax) to go!

Last day of the first trimester & stupid things DH does

So today marks the end of the last-first trimester. Confused? Don't be. Today, 12w6d, is the last day of my last EVER first trimester. Goodbye morning sickness, goodbye sore boobs, goodbye blobby ultrasound pics. Forever. That's right, Spudsmom AKA Tatersmom AKA Curlysmom AKA Chippysmom is turning in her fallopian tubes. They've had a good run, but I'm tired, I'm cranky, I'm naseous, and I'm done!

Anyhow, while I'm enjoying this day of intensely warm (HOT) weather by doing my monthly "Fun and Fitness" classes at the local preschool my DH calls me and asks me if I'm done yet. He was supposed to go get Spud and Tater from their school while I picked up Curly from preschool while I was there anyhow. No, instead he thinks I said "we'll all go together". NOT what I said. He has a car, a lead foot, a driving finger; go get them yourself! So, this makes us late getting to Spud's rehearsal tonight for her voice concert on Sunday. Genius. Insanely pissed off I chose to stay here and blog. It's for his own well-being, really. I don't know if he'll come back for me, or call, but I really don't care. I'll see the real thing on Sunday regardless.

$300 windows and $45 doors

So the good news is that we finally went to Menard's and requested an estimate for materials for our addition. The bad news is that Mark fell in love with $300 casement windows with the blinds inside. Cool idea, but the plain ones would work just as well at a fraction (read: one-third) of the price. Our estimate should be done in 3 days. I'll sit eagerly by the phone and anticipate the damage, er, I mean the price.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this really cool (really inexpensive) bedroom door that we picked out for all the new rooms. We opted for the bigger door because that means fewer studs.... gotta pinch the pennies where I can if Mark's gonna pick out $300 windows! LOL

Graphic nightmare I had Friday morning

I was really excited to be pg this time. I told myself I was going to enjoy it b/c it quite possibly could be my last. (DH said we were done last time lol) But I have a subchorionic hemorrhage and I've been bleeding and it's so stressful. I haven't been puking, which is nice, but I'd rather if I had the choice between puking and bleeding.

At this point every day is a blessing for me to still be pregnant with a baby with a beating heart. Last night I had a graphic nightmare that I was miscarrying the baby. I woke up thankful that it was 'only' a nightmare. I just want to get to at least September, then I'll relax. By then I truly may never want to be pregnant again.

i was enjoying my last day of "freedom" yesterday (read: sitting in the recliner at my inlaws for Easter) before being put back on bedrest.

we told the inlaws today with a card that read "Easter brings the most wonderful things...." then we wrote "and so does Halloween" and covered up the other words on it with an u/s picture. they were ecstatic :)

today i saw my doctor. she's going to see me every 2 weeks instead of the normal 4 at this point. she understands my fear and anxiety and said "this is your pregnancy, your baby and i'm here for you. if you need to come in every other week to hear the baby until you can feel it moving, then that's what we'll do" this is why i LOVE my doctor. she has great bedside manner. she said to keep my feet up as much as possible and only do what i have to do. obviously the more bleeding = more feet up. no lifting, no DTD, etc.

she said she just delivered a healthy 8.5 pound baby boy whose mom had a SCH much larger than mine and she bled the entire pregnancy. she saw her every other week, too.

i took a nap and rested before class tonight. i knew i'd be on my feet so i rested before. i have helpers most of the night and i let them do the running around and chasing kids and stuff. i was able to combine two classes, so that cuts down on the time that i have to teach.

i'm going to talk to dh tonight about establishing a schedule for the kids for bathtime, etc. we have got to get more organized if we're going to survive my becoming an invalid, er i mean my bedrest.

hello bedrest, i'm back.... did you miss me?

i started bleeding yesterday afternoon around 3:30. i called my doctors office and she doesn't even have an answering service.... CAN YOU FREAKING BELIEVE THAT?! all she has is a machine that says to call this other number, so i did. she told me if i started bleeding to go to the women's center, which is the L & D unit in the hospital. the lady on the phone told me to go to the ER. long story short, they wouldn't see me at the women''s center b/c i'm under 20 weeks. i thoroughly loathe this hospital and all in it.

anyhow, the ER ppl were absolute morons (aren't they always?). the dr checked my cervix, it's still closed, and found the heartbeat on the doppler (after pressing very hard all over my pubic bone and surrounding areas. i would have told her that my uterus is up and to the left, but we didn't exactly get off on the right foot) and then sent us home with a paper saying "you're pregnant and you're bleeding. you could be having a miscarriage" no. really? no blood draw. no ultrasound (because there wasn't anyone on staff who could perform these actions....WTF?) what a waste of time.

the paper also said to follow up with my doctor no later than monday april 13th. since i don't think she has hours on Easter Sunday i suppose i'll have to settle for monday. wtf.

overnight i soaked a pad and woke up drenched in blood. my pad fell off my underwear it was so full. the bleeding has slowed down and it is turning brown so far today. red has been immensely scary. if i never have a period again it'll be too soon. i'm scarred for life.

Smoke, fire trucks, oh my!

So today started off like any other day... I'm pregnant and I'm tired. I was avoiding doing anything b/c I'm just so tired. At 2:30 Jake, Kandee and Tiffany came over as they always do after school and let themselves in. We talked for awhile and then Tiffany convinced Jake and Kandee to walk back to the school with her to get some forgotten homework.

After they left I was working on some choreography for a ballet class. As I'm standing there facing the mirrors I notice black scorch marks on the white paneling under the mirrors. I get down on my hands and knees, peel back the trim and feel steam with my hands. And I smell smoke. (This is where being pregnant helped out)

I "she-hulk" the stack of boxes from in front of the basement door, unlock the little bolt and fling open the door to see the basement full of smoke. I. Freak. Out. I run upstairs screaming shrilly "HONEY, THE BASEMENT'S ON FIRE!" I only got to the landing before he heard me. I run back downstairs and dial 911. By this time I'm panting. She answers and she's like "911 what's your emergency?" I'm like "there's.... smoke.... in.... the..... basement.......I think it's on fire". So she asks me the address and the city (called on my cell phone). Mark called dad. Dad instructed Mark to take a crescent wrench and turn off the gas.

It seemed like forever, but they came: 5 firetrucks from 3 villages and one ambulance. Of course the emt that came was an ex dance mom who owed me money. Should have asked her to write me a check. Meanwhile Jake, Kandee and Tiffany came back. I instructed them to sit outside against the building and stay out of the way. A little while later my MIL Sandy pulled up with Preston and Jacque (who was hysertically in tears at the site of all the lights and sirens at her house). I told Sandy everything was okay and the kids sat down against the building with the other 'kids'. Pretty soon Chelsea is stopped at the light and waves Jake over to get the scoop. She was on her way to get Evy from preschool 4 blocks away. Jake told her the situation and Chels (thank God) prepared Evy for the 'exitement' by telling her in an excited voice "there's a bunch firetrucks at YOUR house, wanna go see? It'll be fun!"

Anyhow, they decided it was something wrong with the boiler, which makes sense, b/c when I turned the thermostat up when I got there today I never heard the steam screaming from the radiators. So I turned it up. Oops. Nonetheless, I don't have any heat, dryer, or stove until it gets fixed. And someone broke a brass fitting on the boiler during the whole maddening process. Need I remind you that the person who is supposed to be fixing it was supposed to be getting a fitting for my radiator for the kitchen. It's been 4 years. It's a balmy 62 degrees in here right now. Thank God for electric heaters and the electric skillet and electric water heater. Otherwise I'd be at Comfort Inn in the swimming pool right now. Okay, so that's kind of a bummer.

At any rate, I am thankful that God spared my building where I live and work. Thank you, God for putting it all into perspective for me. I appreciate a reality check every now and then.

13 DPO

(TMI alert) I'm driving myself insane with these symptoms.

So last Tuesday I was 7 DPO and I had a pink CM smear when I wiped. I'm calling this implantation bleeding, although I've never (I don't recall, anyhow) had this before.

Today I have an oily face and little pimples coming in on both cheeks.

BB's are sore, especially to the touch and after I've carried them around all day. Nipples were darker yesterday (almost a purple color lol) and the Montgomery bumps were more prominent. Also I noticed more blue veins. And I smell milk like I'm breastfeeding.

The last week i've been hungry for beef. I hate beef. I've eaten more cheesebugers in the last week (begging DH to make them.... he's so good to me :) than I've had in the last several years. And I'm hungry. Last night I had 5 (five) pieces of homemade pizza for dinner.Wow. It was REALLY yummy lol.

I have to pee. All. The. Time. Even if I just peed, I have to pee. And urgently. I've been drinking water, but I ALWAYS drink water. I love water. Maybe I've been diluting the HPT's?

And I'm tired. On Tuesday I woke up, took a shower, begged DH to make a cheeseburger, ate it and went back to sleep. Until like 2 pm. On Thursday I got up, begged for a cheeseburger ran some errands and went back to sleep from like 1-3:30.

My face is hot. I'm hot all over. DH gets into bed after I've been there for awhile (see above lol) and he'll be like "you're really warm!"

CM has been pretty non-existent since I saw the I.B. Like it's there on the tissue, but it's just kinda shiny. Normally by now in my cycle I have somewhat stringy CM.

I'm emotional and my bb's hurt... all that crap. But I can't get a "YES " on a freaking hpt.

So yesterday I had a very hormonal day. Long story short, I burst into tears about a situation and normally I probably wouldn't have. But I also had some CM that I normally have right before I start, which should happen Monday or Tuesday.

Thursday I was watching some of my students and I about burst into tears. Today I was talking to my elderly grandmother and I nearly started crying.

I'm getting sick again. I suppose that could be the reason I'm tired. I mean, I suppose I could probably find a reason for each of my symptoms if I looked hard enough. Except the wanting to clean everything. I. Hate. Cleaning. And the fight that DH and I had this morning about cake. We always have a stupid fight right before I find out i'm pg.

I'm just getting discouraged.

If you've made it this far into my blog I appreciate it and you deserve a medal.

I just had my beta drawn and I'm a shaky mess lol I'm excited and nervous. Mainly I just want to know one way or the other. I'm tired of having all these symptoms just to waste it on having the red devil visit me.

They said I should call them back after lunch for my results. So much waiting involved with having a baby lol Waiting to O waiting to BD waiting to test, waiting on the test results. I'm trying to keep myself occupied by blogging and journaling, but it's going to take everything that I have to not go insane until I can call them at 1:30

I need to find something to do beside analyze my symptoms some more.

Vera Bradley is overpriced and irresponsible

So today I log onto my bank's website b/c I've been sick, and quite frankly I'm behind in my checkbook register. I see a debit was taken yesterday from Vera Bradley in the amount of $38.52. Hmmm, that's funny, I haven't ordered anything from VB in at least 3 months. So there's a number and I called it. After waiting on hold for several minutes I reach a moron on the other end. (Mind you I live less than an hour from where these products used to be made.... the boxes at the outlet sale all say "Made in China" now.)

Me: I was charged $38.52 yesterday and I didn't buy anything.

Moron: Well, did you get an email from us saying we were going to debit this?

Me: No. I only get emails begging me to buy your overpriced junk.

Moron: Well we did an end-of-year audit and realized that we just didn't charge ppl for some orders.

Me: Well that's seems pretty irresponsible, don't you think?

Moron: (typing on computer)

Me: I have the order number....

Moron: (more typing) yes, that seems to be the case here, we just never charged you and when the end-of-year audit came back we had many people we had to charge.

Me: So you're telling me that you thought it would be okay to just charge ppl for something they thought they purchased 3 months ago....and not tell them?

Moron: Well we did an end-of-year audit and realized that we just didn't charge ppl for some orders.

Me: (thinking, gee, where have i heard that before.... oh yeah, YOU JUST SAID IT) well, lady, you can say it as many times as you like, it still doesn't seem right to me.

And I hung up. If I had a dancer that quit and owed me money I wouldn't just charge their card for it 3 months later. Period.

A little bit of chaos never hurt anyone....

But is that really all I have here... a little? 3 kids on 3 different school schedules, hubby laid off from his job, and not to mention that we live above my dance studio. Only my thinning patience (and time!) will tell!