One Through Five

I wrote a post each month of the year we were trying to get pregnant except for the first five. This was written recently so it is an account of my memory of that time and not as full of emotion as the posts to come.

Shortly after my 30th birthday, John and I talked about that next step of our marriage… children. Since both of us were ready for that step, we agreed to start trying the next month when my birth control prescription ran out.

It was an exciting time for us. We joked a lot about practice and baby making batter. I was living in two week increments. Two weeks until ovulation and two weeks until my period was due.

Immediately that first month I downloaded an app on my phone to help me identify when that fertile time of the month was going to occur. The second month I started taking my basal body temperature every morning to more accurately pinpoint when I would ovulate.

Why yes, I am a type A. How’d you know?

I even started a list of names during these months and began writing the blog post announcing the pregnancy in my head.

Each month was hopeful. Though they all ended in disappointment, I wasn’t too bothered by it because my doctor had told me it could take an average of 3-6 months for a couple to conceive. Since I had been on birth control for a few years, I figured we would be on the later end of that average.

Like I said, it was an exciting and hopeful time as we dreamed of the child we tried for. The months passed quickly. When people would ask if (or when) we were going to start having kids, I would smile and give some noncommittal answer as we didn't feel comfortable telling anyone and everyone that we were trying.

But I would imagine what it would be like to give that question a different answer.

Hump Day Humor: Bad Lip Reading

ANSWER - Tuesday Trivia: Mountains

What type of mountain gets its name from the Roman god of fire?

Volcano (Vulcan)

Tuesday Trivia: Mountains

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

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What type of mountain gets its name from the Roman god of fire?

Nugget

I haven't been feeling well lately. So I went to the doctor, and she ran some tests.

Turns out I have a parasite. 

The good news is the parasite should expel itself from my body by spring time.

Yup. The Mochaface household is growing. We're having baby!

To say we are thrilled is an obvious, rhetorical statement that seems trite because everyone says it. And yet I feel a compelling need to say it. We are thrilled!

Thrilled. Ecstatic. Delighted. Overjoyed. Happy. Giddy. Positively SQUEEful. 

Our journey here has not been as short nor as easy as either of us would have liked. But after some rough spots and at least one part of the road that I was sure was going to be the end of one journey and the start of another only to find out that it was only a really sharp turn we couldn't see, here we are.

Don't worry. I kept writing along the way even though I wasn't publishing, and I intend on sharing it all with you in the weeks to come. So I'll get into the details of our journey.

But for now I just want to relish in this announcement that I have been planning for so long and share our good news with you.

Now on to the questions that I am sure you're asking your computers:

How far along are you?

13 weeks

When are you due?

April 2. 

How are you feeling?

The first trimester hasn't been too bad thank the sweet grilled cheebus. I've had a little bit of nausea when I get too hungry and by 4 o'clock I'm exhausted. I've been going to bed early and have actually taken a nap or two, which I never do. My boobs have been sore, and there's been some indigestion, but that's it. I do consider myself lucky that I didn't have really bad morning sickness.

Are you going to find out what you're having?

Yes. Part of me would like to leave it a surprise, but part me of also wants to find out. So when John said he would like to find out, it was easy for me to agree that we would.

Do you want a boy or a girl?

Honestly, and here I go again with another cliche, I just want a healthy baby. After what we've learned and experienced the last few months before we found out I was pregnant, all I want is to have a healthy pregnancy with minimal complications carrying Nugget to term and be handed a healthy baby by the doctor.

Nugget?

Yes. That is what I call the fetus growing inside my lady bits.

Why?

Because (s)he will be a mini version of me or John or some combination of the two of us. Like a chicken nugget is a small piece of chicken. But really I got it from the show Battlestar Gallactica where they called the new pilots nuggets. Yes, we're nerds to take a nickname from a sci-fi television show, but we have fully embraced our nerdiness.

So this is why you haven't been writing much lately?

Yup.

And because I love these shots so much, some bonus pictures from our pregnancy announcement shoot.

And I couldn't finish this post without a picture of Nugget:

12 weeks

Morning

After snoozing for half an hour, I drag myself out of bed and creep my way in the dark around the bed and into the bathroom careful not to step on him.

As I start to pull on my running clothes and lace up my shoes, he sits up and stretches the sleep out of his muscles. While I brush my teeth and stretch my own muscles, he pokes his head in the bathroom and pleads with his eyes.

Please take me with you. Please. Please. Please.

His tail wagging to show his interest, he occasionally whines just in case I didn't notice that he was eager to join me.

When I start to make my way out of the bathroom, he watches me intently for the telltale sign that he's coming with... his collar.

Some mornings I walk past and out the door without him, and he curls up on my side of the bed to enjoy what warmth I left him and another 30 minutes of sleep before I return to let him outside and feed him.

But other mornings, his favorite mornings, I bend down and grab the collar before turning out the bathroom light. His reaction is immediate, visceral and enthusiastic.

A walk! Outside! My favorite thing!

He barely sits still long enough for me to put his collar on and practically skips to the door in case I forgot where we're supposed to go. It's another battle to get him to sit still again for his leash, and once it's on, he's back at the door with his nose in the crack taut with the anticipation of all that awaits him outside.

Walking with his nose to the ground, he stays by my side except for the occasional stop to get a more intense sniff or several of whatever interesting smell he found. He hardly ever pulls anymore and will follow me when I tug on the leash and give the command after we stop for a few seconds. It's partly that he's grown out of the puppy stage and partly due to the nose lead I use when we walk or run together.

But half an hour is not enough for him. When we return and I have released him from the leash, he's sprinting circles in the living room and then in the backyard as soon as I can let him out burning all that energy and delighting in the joy of the morning and being a dog.

After his breakfast and lavishing affection on John who's still in bed, he'll curl up in the closet and go back to sleep as I shower and get ready for my day.

They're my favorite mornings too, puppy.

 

 

Hump Day Humor: New Guy on New Girl

The New Guy on New Girl with Zooey Deschanel from ZooeyDeschanel     

ANSWER - Tuesday Trivia: Structures

Which of these structures were completed most recently: the Roman Colosseum, the Pantheon or the Sphinx?

The Pantheon

Congratulations Steve Lovelace for being the first - and only - to get the correct answer!

Tuesday Trivia: Structures

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

<><><>

Which of these structures were completed most recently: the Roman Colosseum, the Pantheon or the Sphinx?

Hump Day Humor: Canoodling

ANSWER - Tuesday Trivia: Girl Scouts

The motto of the Boy Scouts is "Be prepared." What is the motto of the Girl Scouts?

"Be prepared."

Tuesday Trivia: Girl Scouts

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

<><><>

The motto of the Boy Scouts is "Be prepared." What is the motto of the Girl Scouts?

September

It's no secret I'm not a fan of August. The month drags, and it is normally obscenely hot.

But August 2012 wasn't so bad. We spent nearly a week up in Ephraim, Wisconsin, on vacation just relaxing and enjoying life (check). 

It certainly helped that for once we didn't have triple degree heat for the entire month of August. We even had rain! Which my yard is so happy about as it's September and still green and growing.

I started a new knitting project (check) and will share more details as it takes more shape. So proud of myself for starting this one entirely on my own.

And my mantle got styled (check)! 

If you're keeping track, that's 3 for 3 for August.

September is going to be a full month so I won't be able to get much done. But I do have a few goals:

1. Start cleaning out the junk in the library - it has gotten out of hand lately

2. Take Cooper for a walk at least twice a week - Now that it's cooler it's much more pleasant

3.  Start considering options for new headboard/bed

Book Review: Thunder and Rain

Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin

Tyler Steele is a Texas Ranger. The law enforcement kind. Not the baseball playing kind. He's a cowboy, rough around the edges but with a noble heart on the inside. Retired and raising his son by himself on a farm in West Texas, Tyler is struggling to do what is right by his son and his estranged wife when he meets a strange woman and her daughter in a dangerous situation. Without a second thought, he decides to help them and in the process helps himself.

When I started this book, I didn't like it a lot. The storytelling was choppy. The plot was predictable. And it all felt a little superficial. But then I became charmed by Tyler and his nobleness and how he would help strangers when most people would have ignored them if they saw them at all. A very rare individual.

Reading this book, the descriptions of Texas and Tyler seemed so spot on I would have guessed that Martin is from Texas. I was shocked when I learned he lives in Florida. The book just felt so much like true West Texas that I was reminded of Larry McMurtry.

Thunder and Rain is a sweet romance that reminds me a lot of Jane Austen. How the romance, attraction and longing is not expressed outright but rather it boils under the surface before it is released at the end. It makes for a nice change from other popular "romance" books. If you like stories of romance, read this one.

Next month - Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Disclosure: No one paid me in any way, form or fashion for this review.

Hump Day Humor: The Hungover Games

The Hungover Games from Ashley Hinshaw     

ANSWER - Tuesday Trivia: Henry VIII

Of Henry VIII's six wives, how many were alive when he died in 1547?

Two (Anne of Cleves, Catherine Parr)

Congratulations to Shelley for being the first - and only - to get the right answer!

Tuesday Trivia: Henry VIII

Tuesday Trivia is a weekly post of interesting trivia questions. Leave a comment with your answer - or best guess - and come back tomorrow to see if you were right. Happy guessing!

<><><>

Of Henry VIII's six wives, how many were alive when he died in 1547?