Not The Sharpest Tool in the Shed

I kid you not, this is word for word a phone call I got yesterday… I feel like I’m pretty sensitive on the phone, especially the nature of where I work (STD testing), but some people just really irk me. Case in point:

Caller: “So how do you test for all that and stuff?”
Me: “It’s a pelvic exam”
“What does that mean?”
“Have you ever had a PAP?”
”What’s a PAP?”
”A PAP Smear”
“Well I might have but it was a long time ago. Do I have to, like, open my legs, and stuff?”
“Um, yes, they’ll swab you”
"Swab? Like inside me?"
"Yes"
“Like how far do they go in?”
"I’m not exactly sure”
“Well can I talk to someone who knows what they do, ‘cause I’m a patient and I have the right to know” (I’m dead serious, she said that)
“Ma’am, I know what they do” (I wanted to say “let me go interrupt the doctor and ask her how many inches precisely she sticks the swab in you, give or take a ¼ inch” Seriously.)
“Well I just want to know what they do”
“Ma’am (I have to say ma’am for fear of calling her something else) I’m trying to explain it to you… Yes you’ll have to spread your legs, and they take a swab of your inside” (feeling like I’m talking to a 2nd grader, how else do you explain that?? I thought I was being pretty self explanatory)

So that was the bulk of the first call. She calls back in a matter of minutes

“So is it okay if I have food and water before the test?” (we’re doing a pelvic here woman, not a colonoscopy)
“Yes that’s fine”
“Okay, yeah, so if heaven forbid something does come back positive, how does that work?”
“We have some medicine here, and if we don’t have it, the doctor will write you a prescription”
“Okay, well I have SRS insurance, if I take it to them, will they pay for it?” (She really thinks I’m suppose to know if her insurance pays for a certain Rx?)
“I’m not sure, that would be a question for your insurance provider”

For this reason, I'm petitioning to put a sound proof room here at the office so my coworkers and I can let off steam conveniently :)

There's Something In There??

...Well that's what they tell us! :)

Wednesday the 18th, Sharon, the nurse at the PCC (where I work) so kindly stayed after closing and gave us our first sono. I was too early to see anything on the abdominal sono, so she had to do a vaginal (Sharon and I are just that much closer now ;) The sono showed that I was 5 1/2 weeks, so as I'm writing this, we are now 6 wks, with a due date of November 15th. Yea! It will be done and over with before the holidays! Since I love, love, LOVE the holidays and get completely absorbed in Christmas, starting the day after Thanksgiving, I was praying that if we did get pregnant, baby would be born either before or after the holidays :) Thanks, Jesus, for listening to my "little" requests :) During the sono, it was Chris who pointed out the heartbeat first (so impressive!). The whole little speck was pulsating, and then we got to hear it. Pretty crazy that someone could argue that it's not a baby. It felt really great to have that visual too. Yes, the test was a "visual", but there was something in my head that confirmed that it was "really real" when we saw it on the screen :)

So far no crazy cravings, no morning sickness... Feelings of "blah", or in the words of my boss, "urpy", come and go (kind of like when you feel like you are starting to get the flu), but nothing quite to nauseous, and no upchucking :) My mom never really had morning sickness, so I'm banking on some good genes in that department. Of course she didn't give me her mile high legs or great bod, so I guess I'll settle for "good pregnancy" :) I have been so incredibly tired. I'll come home from work and take a nap, then have no problems going to bed at 9pm :) Funny story, a co-worker told me that when she was pregnant, she would just come home and lie on the couch for the afternoon. Her husband came home one day and said kind of annoyed, "What are you doing??" she said "I'm making a baby, leave me alone!" Hehe, I'll have to remember that one ;)

In non-baby news, last Thursday Chris and his dad planted grass in our backyard! Wohoo!! I'm SO excited to #1: not have a pond when it rains (since we hauled in 15 tons of dirt to fill the sloping yard) and #2: to have GRASS (not mud)! Real, green, plush grass! It's those little things in life that make it worth living :) I'm sure the dogs are also excited, since they can't be in the back to run around, and they have been garage bound for the last few days while we are at work. Marley has destroyed one too many things, so they don't get to roam about the house anymore during the day.

I could write more, but I'm going to wrap it up for now :)

Help...

Alright, so I have no problem admitting that I'm no computer whiz, but honestly I thought I could manage changing things on this blog (I mean, c'mon I changed to blog skin! That's an accomplishment for me!) But for the life of me I can't change the font color of my blogs (since now my text colors don't match the new skin :) If you'll look at my previous post, it changed part of the post, but not all of it... Seriously? Am I missing something? I go to "Edit Blog", highlight the text, and go to the little color box thing, pick my color, but it's not changing to color! For the love of Pete... Any suggestions? :(

An Ever-Growing Family

My last couple of posts were about Chris and I's "kids" since we don't have kids yet... Well that'll be changing in about 8 months :) We found out last Wednesday (the 4th) that I'm pregnant! (I made the mistake of telling my brother that "we're pregnant" and that conversation went like this: "We're pregnant" "We're pregnant, or you're pregnant?" "Okay, I'm pregnant" "Well good, cause if you both were pregnant, that would be a little weird, and I don't think you guys could handle 2 babies at once" ahaha). We haven't been preventing, but Chris also wasn't coming home on his lunch hour when I was ovulating, if ya know what I mean ;) I kept telling myself it wouldn't happen for a while... So it was kind of a surprise, but, not really... clear as mud? :)

So we'll start from the beginning... Wait, how about 2-ish weeks after beginning ;) Wednesday I woke up as Chris was getting ready for work in a strangely good mood. After kissing him goodbye, I decided I'd take a test just for fun. I didn't really have any reason to, but it was the last test I had in my purse (the nice thing about working at a Pregnancy Crisis Center, I always have one handy :) I have taken several in the past and one line has always popped up (if you can see on the picture, there is a "C" (control) and a "T" (test), therefore, two lines is positive), and every time I've always wondered "what will I do when there IS two lines?" Well after I had done the test, and was finishing up in the bathroom, I glanced over and thought I saw 2 lines, "Doth my eyes deceive me??" That would be a negative Ghost Rider. I just kept looking at it and smiling, walking away, coming back, giggle, and so on :) I texted Chris, and that conversation went a little like this:

"Is there any way you could come home and go in a bit late?"

"Not really, why?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why what's up?"

"I just need you to come home"

"Why?"

"Cause"

"Babe, is it something I NEED to come home for?"

"I would really really like you to, but it's not a matter of life and death"

"What is it?" (He said later he really had NO idea what was going on, but then I asked if I had ever asked him to come home from work before... umm, no :)

"I'll just talk to you later"

I proceed to get in the shower, and not a minute later, my phone rings...

"What's going on?"

"Nothing, I'll just talk to you later"

"Tell me!"

"No, I don't want to tell you over the phone"

"Babe, just tell me!" (if you remember, he coaxed the ski vacation surprise out of me too, stinker)

"I'm pregnant"

"What? REALLY?! Wow!"

"Yeah..."

"I'll be home in a bit"

Well he came home, we hugged, and he so sweetly said "I feel like I need to do something..." I said "Well you've done your part, now you just hafta wait" :)

So anyway, we both went on to work a while later, agreeing to keep mum. We had already planned a family dinner with my side on Friday, and I'm a strong believer in telling family the news before any other person in the world :)

I get home from work, and sitting on the table was a beautiful bouquet of flowers :) Which is huge, because I rarely get flowers (not that I'm complaining, it just makes those times that I do get them that much more special :)

So we had it all planned out, we'd tell my family Friday evening (and his family later that evening) when they all come (except my older brother and sister-in-law and nieces, hence the conversation at the top of this post), we would make sure that my mom didn't have any food in her mouth, (didn't want to chance having to do the heimlich on the happy day :) then break the news.

Well things haven't exactly worked out like I had it all planned in my head (starting with telling Chris over the phone instead of in person :) Friday morning I was laying in bed, stretched really big, and my rib muscle that has been giving me so much grief since snowboarding, popped again, and it was the worst yet. I couldn't move any part of my body without awful pain (and of course, I was laying right in the middle of the King size bed, how inconvenient!). I finally get to my phone on the night stand and text Chris, he doesn't know what to tell me, so I call my mom, tell her about it and she says "Well the only thing a doctor is going to do is maybe do an x-ray and give you some pain meds" and I'm thinking in my head "Nuh-uh" :) So she asks my dad (who has broken his ribs TWICE, yowchie!) he basically says the same thing, so she's all like "Yeah, x-rays and some pain med." So at that point all logical thinking has left my brain, and for some reason I'm worried that maybe this "stress" might be doing something to the baby, so I bust out (tears and all) with "Mom, they aren't going to do an x-ray, cause I'm pregnant!" *sob, sob, sob* "Oh reALLY??" (with a smile in her voice)... So [keeping this a short story and not a 3 book series], after about 20 minutes I'm able to roll myself out of bed, and shower, all the while crying my eyes out because that's just not the way I envisioned telling my mom. I later redeemed myself (in my head of course, cause Mom didn't care how I told her) by going over and "telling" her in person :) That was followed by a Walmart and Target run; we did have groceries to buy, but the baby section was not passed over while there :)

That evening the only people left to tell were Bryan (my younger brother) and Jessica (sis-in-law), so we caught them off-guard. As they walked in, the usual hug, "Hi, how are you?" "Pregnant" then a look of shock following congratulations and excitement :)

After dinner we headed to Chris' family. We said we had brought something back from Colorado (and the sono on Wednesday may say that this is actually true :) We got "I Love Grandma" and "I Love Grandpa" bibs, and another bib that I ironed on "I Love My Aunt Tera"... They all opened them simultaneously; Mom jumped up and down, and Dad sat there with a huge grin on his face saying "I'm gonna be a grandpa... I'm gonna be a grandpa" :)

Well that's the story in a nutshell (I know, I know, a very large nutshell).

We would ask for prayers for these next 40-ish weeks... So many changes, but also so many fears that run through my head. I have to keep foremost in my thoughts that God is sovereign, and nothing I do or don't do, nothing I think or don't think is going to change that. The only thing we can do is give all of our anxieties (and joy) to Him, the Giver of all good and perfect gifts! :)

Kid #2

Marley

The 411

Breed: Yellow Lab

Age: 1

Fur Color: umm, yellow :)

Fur Type: the kind that doesn't like to stay on her body :)

Eye Color: brown

Size: 65-ish lbs

What's your favorite thing about your dog?  She's still a puppy, so she loves to play... And she looks you straight in the eye when she wants to get your attention or if you're talking to her. 

What's your least favorite thing about your dog?  Since she IS still a puppy, she continues to chew on everything!  

(she still sleeps like this)

Background

Where did you get her? A family on the East side of town had a litter.  It actually took a while to find a yellow female that wasn't hundreds and hundreds of dollars :)

Runt of the litter? not really sure, there weren't many options

Any Special Details? she has what we like to call a "broken ear", her right ear lays funny sometimes... And when she sits, she won't sit on both of her haunches, she likes to lounge on one leg (kind of hard to explain), she just sits funny :)

Where's the mother? I'm guessing still at the house where we got her

Spay/Neutered?  Yeah, we decided that we wouldn't breed her...

Training

Does she bite? only in play, and if she does accidentally get ya too hard and you say "ouch!" she stops and looks like she's really sorry :)

Jump up on people? No, but she does get extremely excited when people come over and kind of loses control of herself and she definitely would jump if given the opportunity, but Mom and Dad are always there to make sure that doesn't happen :)

House broken?  I don't think I could own a dog that was not housebroken. no thank you.

Chewed up anything special? Umm, YES!  Let's see... My favorite blanket has a couple holes in it, our living room rug has the "fray" look now, one of our arm chairs is gnawed on, we've gone through several dog beds... 

Does she bark? Sometimes...

Fetch? I think she likes chasing Chelsea playing fetch better than actually playing fetch herself :)  But she will if Chelsea isn't around.

Did she go to obedience school? The Shields' School for Obedient Dogs :)

Play nice with others?  Oh yes!  I think she would be a robber's best friend :)  When she gets a little older and more laid back, I want to have her go through training to be a therapy dog so I can take her to the cancer ward at the hospitals. 

Has she ever humped your leg?  No, but we caught her starting to do the hibidy dibity on Chelsea! Guess you learn from your older siblings

Any special tricks?  Just the basics

Preferences

Where's her favorite place to sleep? her bed, if Chelsea isn't on it :(

Favorite food? Anything given to her!  Okay, so since she chews on everything, we got this bitter spray stuff to try, so Chris sprays some on his hand and lets Marley smell it, but instead she laps it off his hand... it's hopeless 

Favorite toy? tug-o-war

Favorite place to run around: back yard

Favorite owner: Chris likes to think it's him, so we'll say him ;)

Personality

Calm or hyper? hyyyyyper :)

Explorer of couch potato?  she hasn't had much opportunity to explore, but she LOVES walking :)

Does she learn quickly? Everything except the whole chewing thing

Stubborn?  Not at all

Like to swim?  LOVES IT!  But similar to chasing Chelsea while Chelsea is playing fetch, if we throw a toy into the lake, Chelsea will go after it, and Marley will go after Chelsea, and if we don't have a long leash on her, she will try and climb on top of Chelsea (yes, in the water), and play just likes she plays on land

Is she a cuddler?  Both dogs are really too big to cuddle unless we lay on the floor with them, but they really just want to be around us :)  And Marley will lay ON your feet if you let her :)

(this one should have been on Chelsea's info...)

with their Kongs (the only toy Marley has yet to destroy)

Since We Don't Have Kids Yet... :)

Everything you wanted (and didn't want) to know about our dogs...

Chelsea

The 411

Breed: Chesapeake Bay Retriever

Age: 7

Fur Color: reddish brown

Fur Type: coarse, and very water resistant

Eye Color: brown

Size: 75 lbs

What's your favorite thing about your dog?  She grew up with cats, so she kind of takes on the soft aspects of a cat, will rub up against you, etc, and she's very protective of me...

What's your least favorite thing about your dog?  She's very protective of me :)  When Chris and I rough house, she's in the middle, barking, making sure we know she doesn't like it

Background

Where did you get her? From my aunt when she was about 2.  My aunt wanted to breed her at some point, but could no longer take care of her, and Chessies aren't very common around these parts (they are mostly found up north)

Runt of the litter? not sure, probably not though :)

Any Special Details? She has a white spot on her chest (but I think that is pretty normal for Chessies)

Where's the mother? Who knows :)

Spay/Neutered?  We spayed her soon after we got her... And soon after THAT my aunt calls to say that she got a BOY Chessie (and why she did this even though she couldn't take care of Chelsea?  Not sure, don't ask :)

Training

Does she bite? No, if she did, she would be outta here :)

Jump up on people? No, although when we first got her, she did get on the dining room table and get a piece of fried chicken (now, this really isn't her fault, because she grew up just eating anything she could find, kind of sad...)  but that habit was broken VERY quickly :)

House broken?  Yep (unless she's sick, and she does have this thing that is REALLY annoying that if she knows she is in trouble, she will "squat" and dribble a bit, ugh!  Don't know where that came from either)

Chewed up anything special? She's not a chewer unless it's a rawhide :)

Does she bark? Yes!  Especially when we're playing

Fetch? She would do it until she keeled over dead...  She will even "stay" after we throw the toy until we say "go"

Did she go to obedience school?  Yeah, my dad took her (my dad spent a LOT of time with her, which has really paid off)

Play nice with others?  With her sister Marley, but like I said before, she's very protective, so I wouldn't want to just let her go with other dogs

Has she ever humped your leg?  Not that I can think of... But her sister, yes :/

Any special tricks?  She can do any of the "basics", sit, stay, shake, "bang" (lays on her back like she's "dead"), she's pretty good at catching things in the air also

Preferences

Where's her favorite place to sleep? her bed, cause that's the only place allowed (well, the floor)

Favorite food? any people food, but that's not too often

Favorite toy? frisbee, hands down

Favorite place to run around: back yard

Favorite owner: probably me, I'm the one who convinced my parents to adopt her from my aunt :)

Personality

Calm or hyper? neither, just pretty normal, will get hyper if playing, will chill out too when tired

Explorer of couch potato?  Probably NOT explorer, because even if she gets out of the fence, she will be waiting at the front door or in the front yard when get home... 

Does she learn quickly? Umm, well she's not a "special" dog if that's what you mean, she doesn't ride the "short bus" to school, but she's not like quick as a flash either

Stubborn?  Yes, but nothing that a swift smack to the nose or hiney won't fix :)

Like to swim?  LOVES IT!  Like frisbee, she would swim and dock dive till she drowned

Is she a cuddler?  She probably would be if we let her (somehow, a 75lb dog on your lap isn't my idea of an enjoyable evening), but she does really like to be around us...

my dad getting ready to throw her water toy...