Prego news and Piddle Pot Pictures

It's official...I'm 3 months pregnant!! Yipeeee!

When I first found out I was prego with Piddle Pot #2, I will admit that although I was extremely happy, I was apprehensive about surviving the first 4 months. You see, when I was pregnant with Miss Fancy Pants, I had the most horrific, uncomfortable "morning" sickness that was present 24/7 for 16 looooong weeks. I was beyond miserable and ended up missing several work days weekly because I simply couldn't get out of bed without puking all over myself and everything else in sight. It was by far, one of the most physically miserable few months of my life.

This time, however, things have been much better. I still am quite familiar with most of the public restrooms around town because there have been a few close calls where Piddle and I have ran to the restroom with moments to spare. Of all of the Porcelain Gods I've prayed to, I have to say that Oggi's, Mervyn's and Mimi's are amongst my fave's...clean, quiet and the perfect spot for upchucking last night's meal :) But in all honesty, this pregnancy hasn't been as bad in that sense. I'm more exhausted than last time, but I attribute it to the fact that I'm chasing a very busy little girl around all day. But with the help of Heidi's borrowed Prenatal Yoga tapes, regular exercise in the morning (yep, Piddle and I brave the cold to do a stroller walk around the neighborhood), and the fact that I'm eating something the very moment my body tells my I'm hungry, I have the nausea under control. The cravings, on the other hand, are getting a bit ridiculous. Have you ever heard of that Cake called "Better than sex cake"? Well, these Slurpee's I'm craving are "Better than sex Slurpee's" (sorry Babe!) I cannot live without these things and luckily, Justin understands this desire because he often braves the cold and 10 pm time frame to go in search of these Heavenly Treats. But the newest, and most caloric craving thus far, is Oggi's "March Madness" Pizza. I get the personal pan size but it's loaded with 6 types of cheese and it is beyond yummy. And yep, the Hubster picks it up for me when the craving calls. He's so awesome...I think I'll keep him! (Thanks Val...haha!)

The only "complaint" I have right now about being Prego is the whole body image thing I'm battling. I'm at that stage where I know people are thinking "Is she just chunky or pregnant?" I am in the smallest size maternity pants I have and while the elastic belly band fits nicely, the jeans just kind of hang on my butt, things and hips...seriously, the extra baggage in the butt area makes it look like I'm carrying an extra load, which I don't think anyone finds attractive. I'm thinking one of these days I'm going to head over to Motherhood Maternity and buy a pair of pants that actually fit but if you've seen their prices recently, you'll understand why the cheapskate in me hasn't already ;)

But all of the morning sickness, heartburn, Sciatic nerve pain, high blood pressure, snoring and 10 attempts at inserting the epidural (yes, 10!), was totally worth it because of this:


Sure, she can be high maintenance, fussy and sometimes difficult when she's in a "mood" (this is the perfect facial expression of what the mood might look like):


but I wouldn't change a second of the past 9 months for anything in the world. Lauren is such a little love; she is cuddly, smart, sweet, silly, happy, curious, giggly...all of the things that I hoped she would be. I have so very much to be thankful for and both her and that awesome husband of mine rank top on my ridiculously long list.

Miscellaneous stuff...

I am preparing you all for a very random post...one that includes pictures with no connection to any of the others. But they are all pics that I have saved on my camera and being the Anal Abby that I am, I feel the need to delete them, so on this post they go :)

This is a picture I took last Tuesday at Piddle Pot's Tiny Turtles' class. All of the babies sat next to this pretty Christmas Tree, and most babies smiled...but you guessed it, not mine! Nope, there were too many things going on and she was beyond distracted by the twinkly tree bulbs, shiny presents in front on her and her mommy singing silly songs trying to get a smile. After about 3 minutes of singing, pleading, cooing and begging, I gave in and took the darn picture, minus a smile. But then again, that's how Lauren is; if she sees a camera, forget it!


And this is Miss Lauren with Tom, one of Justin's friends. Why in the world would I take a picture of her with a random friend you ask? Because she never, I repeat never, has allowed anyone to hold her without bursting into tears. I could count of my right hand the number of people she allows to hold her willingly; Justin, myself, my mom, Judith and Uncle Brad and now Tom! Actually, Tom came over and Lauren crawled over to him and then proceeded to pull himself up on his pants. So Tom, having a ton of nieces and nephews of his own, reached down and picked her up. Justin and I both figured that she would have a meltdown at any moment but imagine our surprise when she began smiling and talking to him! And he even shared his Pumpkin Pie with her and she was in Whipped Cream Heaven!!


And this last picture is to show that this Hubster of mine is part farm animal; he grazes alllll day long! We just got back from Olive Garden this evening, where he ate his entire plate of Ravioli (with the sauce scraped off because he's a weirdo like that!). Anyways, after eating his entire meal and a few bread sticks to boot, I catch him on the kitchen eating this:

A PB & J sandwich!

And minutes later, I saw that the box of Captain Crunch was out...another sign that my Grazing Gary was at it again!

Making sense...

So now that it's finally sunk in that my sweet Bunnies is gone, I find it necessary to "talk" to her throughout the day and tell her how much I miss her. I also set up this little "memorial" of her, which included the beautiful bouquet I received form the vet's office, my favorite picture of her dressed in a Halloween clown suit and her most favorite stuffed animal....a frog that she stole from Lauren's playroom :) When she first got that frog, she snuck around with it as so I wouldn't catch her. When I finally did and attempted to replace it with an actual dog toy, she refused the and fetched Lauren's frog again. After several attempts to steal it back, I gave up and it officially became Elle's toy. And now when I look at that slobbery, chewed up frog, it brings a smile to my face. She LOVED that toy so very much.

On a side note, one of my friends emailed me this story about dog's and I finally "got" why Ellie passed on...I'll explain at the end of the story. Anyways, here it is:

Dog's Purpose (from a 6-year-old).

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are Shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why." Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life -- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?" The six-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

And as my friend Carole pointed out, it sounds like Ellie just learned all these things faster than most. And that makes sense...she was a quick learner and her job here on Earth was done. I was just the fortunate one who got to enjoy her while she was here :)

Friday happenings

You know you're getting old when your "parties" resemble this:


Yep, no beer, no smoke, nothin' illegal...just a few guys drinking Slurpee's and watching The Bourne Supremacy (or one of those dumb guy movies) with the cat. Yeah, this is what our night consisted of tonight. Justin, Tom and Luis all hung out and watched this dumb movie and indulged in typical man food....mac n' cheese, Pasta Roni and Cheeseburger Macaroni. And because I was too lazy to cook for them and because they were too impatient to make it themselves, they ate all three of these "entrees" from boxes...and I'm sure their arteries are lovin' the sodium content in those bad boys ;)

And when the food is gone and there are crumbs left on the plates, where else do you expect men to put their plates? Surely you wouldn't think the sink...nah, that would be too difficult to get your butt off the sofa, walk a few feet into the kitchen and place your dishes in the sink (I wouldn't even dream about them putting them in the dishwasher!). Nope, when you have 3 lazy guys and a begging, pleading dog, this is where the plates end up:



Uh huh, on the floor. Niiiice! Supposedly this is "helping" me because Casey eats the big pieces and so I don't have to prewash them before they enter the dishwasher but I'm not falling for that dumb line. But after the three went to get me up some delish California Rolls AND a macho tasty Coke Slurpee, it's hard to nag them. So in the meantime, Casey gets lucky!

While Daddy was at work today, Miss Lauren and I hung out and did our thang. We went to the mall and people-watched for a bit and then came home and had lunch with Aunt Judith at CoCo's, where Lauren was totally hamming it up for anyone and everyone who would watch her silly antics. She blew bubbles, made raspberries all over my meal, banged on the table, screeeeeeched loudly at the poor woman sitting behind us, flirted with a child that sat nearby, the list goes on and on...And being the awesome Aunt that she is, Lauren was told over and over what a good little girl she was. Ha!!! :)

When we came home from CoCo's, Miss Piddle Pot decided that Tessa looked like she needed a hug. So she squished her and squeezed her and layed on her, all while Tessa sat there at took it.

She's such an amazingly patient cat, except for when Lauren decided that she needed to be smooched. After being gummed and slobbered on, Tess sauntered away, leaving Miss Piddle with a mouthful of delicious, edible cat hair. Yum!


Overall, my day turned out pretty good. I still had alot of sad moments thinking about Bunnies and I miss her somethin' fierce, but I try to think about just how lucky I was to be blessed with 2.5 years of her. She was a remarkable girl and as much as I miss her, I'm pretty sure she's living it up in Heaven....and getting spoiled rotten as usual :)

My sweet Elle...

So I've had overnight to think about all that's happened with my Ellie Belle and I'm sad to say I'm just as devastated, if not moreso today, than I was last night. I guess it's because it's finally sinking in that I won't get to see her for a very long time. I am beyond devastated. And shocked. And completely heart broken. She was only 2.5 years old and died SOOO suddenly. When I brought her in to the vets yesterday, she had really pale gums but was hanging in there...I totally thought she would pull through. Last night, Justin and I visited her and I could tell how grave the situation was. They had her on fluids, she was undergoing a blood transfusion, she was on Oxygen, every medication you could think of, etc...she was getting worse by the minute. Long story short, it was suspected that she suffered from AutoImmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA). Her little body couldn't handle any more blood "loss" and she lost her battle.



I stayed with her for about 30 minutes and told her that I wanted her to keep fighting...that I couldn't imagine not having her in our lives. We had her since she was 6 weeks and honest to God, I loved her nearly as much as I love Lauren. She was my other baby (no wait, she will always be my other baby). Anyways, I could tell she was suffering and told her that if she needed to go, I understood and that as devastated as I would be, I would see her in Heaven one day. We left shortly after because I began to get nauseous and I was getting myself so worked up. When Justin and I arrived home shortly after, Dr. J called and said that my sweet Ellie was trying to die...she began having difficulty breathing, then blood started seeping out of her mouth and nose and she went comatose shortly after. Anyways, he told me that if I could see her at that moment, I wouldn't let her suffer like she was. The best thing to do was end her misery. I told him to please kiss her, hold her and tell her how much I loved her and then he put her to sleep. It was the HARDEST "decision" I've ever had to make and I am still SO in shock. I am SOOOOOO angry at God that she's gone...


This morning I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the vets office (my previous boss and coworkers). The door bell rang and there was only 1 dog barking...another reminder of how sad and boring it is right now. I am going to miss so many things about "Bunnies"...the nickname she grew up with because she had the cutest buns. I am going to miss her slobbery kisses, the way she LOVED her toys, the way she would search Justin out when he hid in the covers and she would dig frantically to find him, her obnoxiously loud snoring, the way she let Lauren snuggle up against her whenever she wanted, the way she barked at the cats and then ran off as fast as possible so they couldn't swat at her, her love of walks, her "little dog" attitude towards big dogs, man, the list could go on forever....


Anyways, I can't stop crying...I miss her so very much already. Why did this happen? Why? I can't understand why such a happy, sweet, young healthy dog was taken so suddenly. This sucks...it just does.


Please, if you're reading this, pray that my heart heals soon. I know people say "it's just a dog" but she was SOOOO much more than a dog. Man, I just miss her little spirit so much it actually hurts.


One day, I will see her again. For now, I try to remember that she's in Heaven waiting for me. But for the meantime, I'm POSITIVE she's living it up with Thumpy, Tippy, Robbie and Mikey...and I'm even more sure that their days are filled with tons of love, kisses, walks and lots and lots of whipped cream. Because that was ALL of their favorites :)



Until then, I will ALWAYS love and miss you Bunnies...see you in Heaven my sweet girl.

Ellie

My sweet, cuddly, loving Ellie just passed away tonight. God, I miss her SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much already. I miss her silly silly personality, the way she smothered us in kisses when she decided it was time to start the day, I love the way she snored SO loudly that the walls vibrated.I love everything about her.

Man, just one more day...I wish I could just have one more day to spend with her. Just her and I.

RIP, my sweet Belle.

Saturday night

I kinda like being Prego; sure, there's the horrific morning sickness that I'm fighting and the ever-increasing belly that continues to expand, but my husband becomes even more awesome than he usually is. He gets up early in the morning with Lauren so I can catch a few extra zzzz's (before he goes to work), he calls to check on us during the day to see how I'm feeling and to see if I need anything, he encourages me to take a nap on the weekends when he can watch Lauren, and most of all, he runs out to get me my newest, most favorite-ist craving:


Ohmygosh, I can't tell you how badly I have been craving these. And it had to be Coke...only a Coke Icee would do. So tonight he and Luis went out and bought me an Icee (the biggest size they carried!). It was beyond heavenly and worth the 15 lbs that are probably accumulating on my hind end as we speak.

Heck, even Lauren enjoyed the Icee. Kidding!!! It was empty at this point so you can quit calling CPS now :)


And as if my Hubster didn't win enough brownie points with the Icee fetching, him and Luis cooked us dinner while Lauren and I put up some of the Christmas decorations (I will post pics of that another day). We had some homemade delish tacos, some nasty boxed noodles (that you couldn't pay me to eat but they LOVE these things), and Icee's...could there possibly be a better meal out there???


Oh how I love the fact that the two men were slaving over a hot stove while us girls relaxed, put up fun decorations, and played with Lauren's new stocking! It doesn't happen that often so I took full advantage of it tonight!

And speaking of Princess Piddle Pot's new stocking, here it is in it's pink, glittery girlish glory:


I'm not quite sure how in the world we ended up buying a stocking this size, but Santa is going to have a very hard time filling it up this year. I mean, the stocking is as big as she is! But how in the world could we pass up on a stocking that just screamed "Lauren!" to us??? It has one of her nicknames on it, "Princess"...and not to be confused with the hideous youknowwho :)


And by the way, did you notice Miss Pot's jammies tonight? They are 12 month jammies...*tear*. And they even have the rubber grips on the bottom of the feet for when she starts walking soon...*another tear*!


But as you can tell from the picture at the top of this post, she could care less about her momma's sadness over the "grippers" and her impeding walking because she was quite happy to be wearing her new pink, stylish gripper-footed pj's! Just don't tell her that these pj's help her walk and we'll all be fine :)

We're switching careers...

We've switched careers...I have decided to no longer be a SAHM, Justin has decided to quit work as a Computer Consultant and Lauren has happily decided she no longer wants to be an infant...these are our new careers!

Check this link out to see what this Holiday season has in store for our family:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1126511425.

Hehehehehe....had ya' fooled, eh?

Warning; Nekkid baby!

Our little Piddle Pot (emphasis on the Piddle) was diagnosed with Eczema a couple days ago after I noticed a red, irritated patch of skin on her "nether" region. After going to her Pedi's office, I was sent home with a prescription in hand and Doctor's orders to "air her buns out". I think if she was able to understand what the Dr. had ordered, she would have clobbered him and smothered him in wet, sloppy kisses because this child LOVES to be naked!

So this morning we stripped off her drawers and let her prance around the house. Sure, there was potty-proof pads scattered about the house, but as luck would have it, she decided against using the pads.

I turn away for one second and I see her scurrying away from where she was originally. And low and behold, my carpet looks like this:

Yep, that's a piddle mark. Lovely! So I head off to get the steam cleaner in the other room and she's decided she needed to poo and it looked like this:











Ha! I'm kidding, she didn't poop but I thought it might make you all lose your lunch if you anticipated seeing a poop stain on the carpet :)