TVT

I never seem to manage a bullet point post on an actual Thursday. But, since today is in fact Thursday, and I've been such a terrible blogger that all I can manage is weekly updates, and I'm afraid I'm boring all of my readers to death, I decided to thrill you all with the excitement of an official Thought Vomit Thursday!

• I went to Chicago for NeoCon (National Exposition of Contract Furnishings) this week. It's an enormous show of all the office furniture, carpeting, etc, where everyone launches new products. I have always wanted to, but didn't ask to last year because the timing fell during the end of our first IVF and I just wasn't sure how things were going to play out. So, this year, when on of the women who was originally supposed to go had some child care issues (ie. stupid ex husband refusing to take the kids for a few extra days), and I was asked to replace her, I decided to give to a go. I was nervous about my endurance, but I've hit probably the best energy level of my pregnancy, and it sort of felt like now, or never, or at least not for a few years anyway. I survived two solid days on my feet, getting up and down to try out all the new seating, and then took yesterday off to sit with my feet up. 

• Sunday night, while looking at Facebook from my hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel, (complete with a window with a city view right in my shower) I saw this status from my 15 1/2 year old cousin..."9 weeks down. 31 to go. It's going to be a long 9 months. Doctor's appointment on Tuesday" Excuse me. What? You can imagine the feelings. None of my other cousins are pregnant on that side of the family right now (unless you count my brother who's son is due in the next two weeks). Can't it be my turn? What business does a 15 1/2 year old have getting pregnant. Can I adopt her baby? It's no wonder she's pregnant. All she does is take pictures of her cleavage and post it on FB with her phone number. Her mom was my uncle's third wife. She was born before they got married. They are no longer married. She has a 13 year old full sister, and a 6 year old half-sister and a 2 year old half-brother. I don't know if they have the same father, but the brother's father is in prison, and her mother (my ex-aunt who's really only about 6 years older than me) is known for bar fights. Classy huh? If I can't adopt her baby, can one of my friends? Is my family not in shock? Or is it all just too normal out there in the middle of no where one-stop light southern tier New York town? Should I email her and tell her she can come to me to share her experiences if she needs someone to talk to? Ah, the innocence of announcing a pregnancy on FB at 9 weeks before having even seen the doctor yet! Seriously?!? I just don't even know what to do with that.

• Have any of you who are new moms or are pregnant ever experienced a leg cramp in your calf? Holy crap! I had one wake me up out of a deep sleep one night last week, and I limped for three says after! It was right before I had to go to NeoCon. Thank goodness it finally loosened up. I'm told 8 oz. of a sports drink before bed should help prevent them, along with stretching, hydration in general, and bananas as an alternative. 

• As for other symptoms, not too bad these days. No signs of stretch marks yet, although I'm pretty sure I'm genetically predisposed. My mom definitely has them, and I have some on my thighs from past weight gain. I wonder if they haven't shown up yet because I'm only just now starting to surpass my high ever recorded weight (4 years ago, conveniently when I got married!) by a pound and a half. So, it seems that maybe my skin hasn't really had to stretch just yet. 

• I'm really excited to work on the nursery, but we have so many weekend plans here and there, I'm doing my typical summer thing and feeling over scheduled with not enough time to do everything. I'll be having two showers this summer, and invited to a third for Hubby's cousin who is due three weeks before me. I'm trying to think of a graceful way not to have to go to that seeing as it's on a Sunday in Plymouth, which is the gateway to the Cape. I don't want to have to drive back from Plymouth in afternoon cape traffic, and I don't want to ride with anyone else in the family or I will be stuck there until the very last possible second. Last minute migraine anyone? Am I an awful person for wanting to skip it so I can stay home and paint stripes on Luigi's wall? 

• Speaking of the nursery, I really need to do a post on my plans for it. It's all starting to come together in my mind. I promise to work on that soon. 

• Hubby's dad wraps up 7 weeks of 5 days/week radiation and 1 day/week chemo for his throat cancer in the middle of next week. I still haven't met him. Hubby will visit him on Sunday, but I'm not going. They think it's not the right time for me to meet him. The poor man has lost his hearing, can't swallow, ans has to use a feeding tube at the moment. It's a mess. He's loosing too much weight and they might not be able to give him the final chemo. We won't know for another three weeks or so if the treatment was successful. Hubby does seem to be holding up ok though. He has our deck project to focus on which has been good for him (if not a little overwhelming). 

• We have three names picked out for Luigi. We're not sharing them with anyone, but since my brother is having a boy in two weeks, we are really paranoid he will steal one of our names. I guess that will help us decide though, right?

• It's Thursday, my only real day of work this week, and I am already ready for the weekend, and I think that's all the randomness I've got!