Milestones

Life is full of milestones: first steps, first words, first day of preschool, preschool graduation, first date, first kiss, first day of high school, getting your licenses, high school graduation, going to college, graduating from college, turning 18, turning 21, turning 30, getting married, getting pregnant, having your first baby, having your other babies etc. The list goes on and on.

I wanted 3 kids. I thought about how full my kids' lives would be if they were a trio. I told my mom that it would be nice because if one turned out to be a jerk, they'd still have the other one. She laughed, figuring that I was referring to my older brother.

I also didn't want this to be my last pregnancy with all its milestones: last time "trying" (which doesn't take a lot of time for us), last first positive pregnancy test, last second, third, fourth... ahem... tenth positive pregnancy test, last surprise announcement, last first ultrasound, last time finding out the gender, last time someone will kick inside my belly, last time that a hospital stay will ever be like a vacation, last time counting someone's age in days... you get the idea.

I'm so frustrated with this pregnancy and the care I've gotten. The one doctor has been very rude. They won't let me VBAC. They're sending me to Magee Hospital for ultrasounds rather than doing them in the office for a bunch of bullshit reasons. One of them being that since I had to do an anatomy scan there (because the baby wouldn't roll over so the tech could get her spine), so the doctor told me that since I had a growth ultrasound at Magee, then I have to get all my growth u/s at Magee because they have a different growth scale. Sounds ridiculous to me.  Magee is at least an hour away, more depending on traffic. I have a job, yo.

I failed my one hour glucose test and have to go for the 3 hour now. My blood pressure was high. I'm pretty sure I'm depressed after this. I'm not bonding well with this baby now and I'm just a hot mess. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. I'm filled with dread about another c-section. I don't feel anything positive in any of this. "Here I am, once again, I'm torn into pieces."

I think it's time to consider a tubal ligation.

Writer's Workshop- Vacationing

The Prompts:
1.) A quote from someone that has stuck with you.
2.) List 13 things you love about vacation.
3.) Public speaking.
4.) Something you got away with.
5.) If your family were dogs, what breed would each of them be?


I miss vacations. We took a day trip to Hershey a few weekends ago, but we haven't had a real vacation in I don't know how long. This year, my husband's pap-pap offered to take us to the beach but he wants to go in early September and I'm having a c-section the beginning of August, so that won't be a feasible trip. Here's 13 things I love about vacation:

1.) I love history, so I'm all about the museums and such. We visited me nephew in Indiana a few years ago and went to the Louisville Slugger museum and that was awesome.

2.) I'm not at work.

3.) I can go back to work and feel more patient with our clients.

4.) My daughter gets excited about trips now. She's been telling me she wants to go to the zoo for a week.

5.) While my husband hates it, I love to stay in hotels.

6.) Speaking on hotels, I love getting great deals on the travel websites like hotels.com

7.) I like going somewhere warm, so SUNSHINE!

8.) we collect postcards, so I get to add new ones to my stash

9.) I get to sleep in!

10.) Someone else does the cooking.

11.) Sightseeing

12.) Sightseeing!

13.) Spending time with my family :-)

What your favorite place you've vacationed?

Writer's Workshop- That problem with my wedding dress

1.) List your top 6 biggest fears, choose one and tell us why.
2.) Whose fault was it?
3.) Share a favorite recipe.
4.) Something you’re reading.
5.) Write about a wardrobe malfunction.

Nearly 5 years ago, I took a boy and decided to shape him into a man married him. FIVE years next month. Holy cow. It really seems like yesterday.

My wedding went pretty well. I wouldn't say "it went off without a hitch," because we had some moments. One of them being a Bride's Wardrobe Malfunction.

For starters, I have to say that I LOVED my wedding dress. I'd picked a similar one when I planned my dream wedding in college. You know, before I was even dating my husband.... oh, what I could have done with Pinterest then....

It was by Alfred Angelo and I loved it. My only beef was that the girls at the Alfred Angelo's store ordered it a size too small, so I have to pay to have it let out. (They also tried to order my bridesmaid's dress in a 24 when she needed an 18. So, apparently, you've got to watch them.) I was really excited about the eggplant trim and the embroidery on the front. It also had a beautiful corset style back in eggplant.

My wedding theme was a Disney Fairy Tale, so I was really excited when I found a Mickey and Minnie garter set on Ebay. The problem was, that it was too small for my leg, so my BFF's mom took the bride's garter and the toss garter and opened them up and sewed them both together again, so that it wold fit my leg.

(You can't bend over in a corset dress, FYI)

So, we were in the middle of our Unity Sand thingy-ba-do and I felt my garter start to slide down my leg! No fear, I had a floor length dress on, so I'd just casually kick it off.... 

It would have probably worked too, if my bridesmaids wouldn't have busted out laughing, which make me explode in laughter. So, I did the only thing I could think of when I was staring out at a church full of confused faces...

I loudly announced: 

"I'm losing my clothes!"

I walked away from that day with the best wedding advice I can give to a bride-to-be: Things will go wrong on your wedding day, but just kick 'em off, laugh loudly and have the best day of your life!

Writer's Workshop- A Day in Chocolate Town!

I've been slacking again on my blog (sorry, growing a human is time-consuming!)

 

But, I did manage to take a recent trip (just this weekend!) But I'm limited on pictures, since I forgot the camera.

 

1.) Let’s reminisce about the last trip you took…pictures please!

2.) Ask a parent to describe what you were like as a small child (under the age of 7), do you still have the same tendencies?

3.) Begin with “I wish someone told me…”

4.) Write a poem about a fight you or someone you love has struggled to win.

5.) List 10 things you love about your favorite show.

 

We went to Hershey, PA on Sunday. My husband shoots competitively and he wanted to go to a match outside of the Chocolate Capital of the World. Because of our pets, it takes massive coordination to go on an overnight trip, so we opted to just make the 7 hour round trip in one day. With a 2 year old. Easy peasy, right? Well, surprisingly, it kinda was!

 

We left home at 430am. Hopped on the PA turnpike and cruised along, all alone on the road. Because, who else is on the turnpike that early on a Sunday morning? The kidlet slept most of the way.

 

We made it 2.5 hours into our trip before I needed to pee, which I thought was very impressive!

 

We stopped in Hershey at Wal-mart to use an actual flush toilet, because the sportsman club only has portapotties and who wants to do that when you don't have to?

 

The kidlet and I dropped her dad off and headed back towards Hershey. We stopped at McD's, ate breakfast and headed to ZooAmerica! ZooAmerica is a small wildlife center that has animals from North America. Since we have a membership to the Pittsburgh Zoo, we got a 50% deal on our visit there, getting us in for a mere $6.04! We were on limited time, so we didn't linger for long periods at the animals, since we had to pick up kidlet's dad at noon. But, we made it through in about an hour and had time to stop and see all the critters and even had time to feed the ducks!

 

The biggest drawback was that their parking lot was under construction, so we had to park at the top of the hill on Chocolate Ave and then walk down to the zoo. The walk down wasn't bad, but the walk back up nearly killed this pregnant mama! Well, maybe not kill, but I was huffin' and a puffin'.

 

If you're planning a trip to Hershey, I would recommend a visit to this zoo. I wouldn't necessarily plan a trip JUST for this zoo, but it is a nice change of pace from lions, tigers and elephants that you see at traditional zoos. This zoo also put you much closer to the animals than we've experienced at Pittsburgh Zoo. One of my favorite parts was being able to see the river otters cuddled up together in their log! They also have a "Desert at Night" exhibit where all the enclosures are darkened so you get to see the nocturnal animals awake! They had ringtails, ferrets, a fox and a coati (as well as some other cuddlies and creepy crawlies!) who were running around and VERY active. I figure they turn on all the lights at night, so the critters sleep.

 

 

As soon as I lifted her up to look through the glass, she exclaimed, "Alligators!"

 

 

Bald Eagles always impress me in person. They are HUGE!

 

 

"Wake up!" The deer didn't care.

 

 

 

After we picked up Dad we went to Chocolate World and bought some factory fresh Kisses (I got coconut crème Kisses. Amazing!) There really is nothing like candy straight from the factory. I'm not a Twizzler's fan, but they are delicious from the factory. We took the factory tour ride, got our chocolate sample and started our trip back home.

 

 

I think old Chocolate Face enjoyed her trip to Hershey!