I'm that crazy lady!

I was out enjoying my birthday yesterday by not having to go into work and shopping the day away, when all of a sudden I became that crazy pregnant lady that little boys and girls run from screaming "It's alive! It's alive!"

I was driving through the Target parking lot looking for a space to park when all of a sudden this grown lady darts out across the parking isle, giving me a near heart attack, and didn't even look to see if any cars were coming. I literally stopped about 5 inches from her, while my heart palpated out of my chest. Me, being the rash...ughm....ok not so rash person I can be lately rolled down my window and yelled to this lady that she needed to look both ways before crossing the lane. And it only gets better from here. As I pull my car into the parking space I see this woman walking up to my car from my rear view mirror. As many of you know, I've been known to go psycho Robyn (pre-pregnancy) and will confront anyone if I feel they are in the wrong and impeding on my space. So, I mutter to myself, "you want to go lady, let's go!" Like I'm about to get in a WWF ring and wrestle her or something (which many of you wouldn't put pass me either).


I get out of my car clutching my purse, just in case I have to use it as a weapon, and the lady says to me "What did you say to me?!!" Which I proceeded to go on about nearly hitting her and her precious shopping cart and that she needed to look both ways before crossing over the lane. I felt like a mom scolding her child or something but this was a grown woman I was talking to! As she looked at me in amazement, she started backing up saying she was making sure I wasn't being rude. Which in my head, I heard "I dare you to say something rude to me!" To which I replied, "We only learn it in pre-school that you should look both ways before crossing the street. I thought you would know that by now!" Thank goodness she only muttered something to herself because who knows how this story would have ended, but I felt justice was served and I proceeded to walk into the store. It wasn't until I got my shopping cart that it hit me like a ton of bricks that I am that CRAZY PREGNANT LADY WHO YELLS AT ADULT STRANGERS IN PARKING LOTS!

What have I become?! That is a new low for me! Thank goodness the next emotion took a hold of me and I couldn't quit laughing about it while looking through the jewelry and purse section of the store. Which of course brought on a new kind of crazy to those around me, but I didn't care because I am officially crazy pregnant lady of the Target parking lots!

Opinions, Everyone has one!

It seems like every where I turn everyone wants to give me/us their opinion on things we should be doing differently, or need to do, or how to act, talk, walk, on everything and anything that involves our unborn child. For the most part I don't mind it, especially if I'm curious about something or ask for an opinion. But lately I feel like I've been getting a whole bunch of opinions I didn't ask for or don't care to hear. I understand that for you playing opera every night to your unborn baby helped them count to 10 before they were six months old, but maybe I don't want to do that. Or that drinking a decaffeinated soda is bad for the baby b/c of the artificial sweeteners, but if you really want to see the evil side of me you'll let me have this soda and you'll smile at me when you see me drinking it! Or that we should enjoy this time without the baby and not want the next 7 months to rush by, but darn it I want to meet our baby so bad and don't tell me for one second that you weren't this excited to meet your baby when you were pregnant!!!! Geesh!


Ok, I'll step down from my soap box or crazy hormonal pillar now. I get that behind all these opinions are people with good intensions that only want to help. That most of these opinions are coming from love, but is it too much to ask to keep some of it to yourself and not rain on my parade?!? I find it weird that when something is going good for a person people are drawn to point out the negative or give a reality check. I know John and I are going to have plenty of reality checks once the baby comes, and we are ok with that. So for now if we want to be blissfully ignorant than let us. I have tons of pregnancy books that I'm reading that are letting me know the reality of things, but its by my own time and my own curiosity.

I'm so glad that God has blessed us with having private thoughts, because a lot of people would be shocked at what I'm actually thinking or saying back to them as they tell me that eating spinach might make my milk go bad or some other crazy thing (believe me I've been told something similar).

I guess this is part of being pregnant and going through our everyday lives. As the old saying goes, "Opinions are like a$$holes everyone has one!"

Life is good!

Lately I have had this mystic euphoria creep over my every being and I have been in love with life! In love with my husband, in love with my job (weird I know, but its true), in love with my friends, in love with my family, and more importantly in love with food! I don't know if its the pregnancy hormone or the fact that I've given up the bad habit of smoking but EVERYTHING tastes delicious. I find myself looking forward to the next meal I'm going to have because I know it will be an explosion of yumminess in my mouth. I'm also in love with the fact that the Texas State Fair starts this week and the featured fried food this year is going to be.....drum roll please.....fried butter! Yum! For those of you who's stomach may be turning at the thought of that, I've been told that it is like a warm buttery biscuit. Who doesn't like that!?! My mouth is watering thinking about it.


I also find myself looking at my husband with that new crush feeling like when we first started dating, and going over the reasons why he is such a great man. He reminds me every day why he is the best husband in the world, even if its in little ways like getting me blanket when I all of a sudden go from being hot to freezing or mowing the grass right before kick off b/c I mentioned how bad the lawn looked. When it hit me most was this weekend when we picked up our nephew for a fun filled Saturday night of 3D IMAX (if you haven't gone lately, you need to put this on your MUST DO ASAP list) and put-put golf. Watching John interact with his nephew and the way he was able to get on his level was amazing. It made me realize what a fantastic father John is going to be and how our child is lucky to have a dad like him.

The company I work for has been named in the top 100 Best Companies to Work for by Fortune 500  http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/snapshots/3.html. It's also been ranked the #1 company to work for for Working Mom's. I must say I do love my job and the company. Granted I have my days that I get a little stressed out, but at the end of the day I can honestly say I still love it. And now that I am pregnant I am really loving our insurance, it's only going to cost me $5 to have this baby! And I get 3 months off paid in full, which is almost unheard of. I could go on and on about other perks BCG offers, but that would take up another post all together.

Like the old saying goes, "It's the little things in life, that matter most" I'm finding this to be extremely true and I feel blessed to have such a great circle of support around me right now. Life is definitely good!

Oh Happy Day!

Today I got to experience one of the most amazing moments in my life! I went in for my first ultrasound and prenatal visit with my doctor. I don't know why, but I was nervous going into this first milestone of my pregnancy. Everything still felt surreal and some where in the back of my head I thought, "What if I'm not pregnant?? What if my body is playing tricks on me?" I know that is a silly thought to have, but I had it.

I was ecstatic that John was able to go with me because it was comforting to have him by my side. To know that we were going through this together, even the uncomfortable times (and by that I mean the physical exam that takes place, no woman pregnant or not enjoys it or looks forward to it). After going through a series of questions and having to drink this nasty orange sweet drink to check if I had diabetes (still doesn't make sense to me why they gave me a drink with a pound of sugar in it to see if I had it) we went into the exam room. My heart was pounding and my hands were sweaty. But all of that nervousness disappeared when she turned the computer screen to me and said, "There is your baby!" Both John and I teared up seeing the first glimpse of our baby and hearing his/her heartbeat. The feeling is indescribable and it felt like time stood still as I gazed at our beautiful baby. And to make it even more precious the baby actually moved his/her arm as it was saying hi! I couldn't believe it and we all got a good chuckle out of it. We could see the little heart beating and make out the spots where the eyes and ears were too. To witness this was unbelievable and I still feel like I'm floating on cloud nine. And to hear that the baby looked great and the heart beat was strong was music to my ears.
As we left the doctors office I couldn't get the song Oh Happy Day! out of my head, it was indeed one of the happiest days of my life!

First glimpse of our baby and although it's not the best

quality picture (I took this will my cell phone) you can

still make out the head and body of our bundle of joy!

Where has all the fun gone??

As the days go by and the news of me being pregnant sinks in even more, I have found myself to be extremely bored. A typical Friday night for me would be meeting up with friends after work for a happy hour to blow off steam from the work week and laugh and carry on to the wee hours of the night. Saturday would be the same, having some friends over to hang out and share our favorite bottles of wine. Those days are long gone now, and I must admit I don't know what to do with myself. I find myself turning down invitations to meet up or go to parties because it's hard watching everyone else have the time of their life and resisting the temptation. I had to laugh out loud last night because before John left to go hang out at his buddy's house to watch some college football, I asked him to go get me a 6-pack of O’Doul’s (a non-alcoholic beer). The old Robyn would have laughed and pointed fingers and made up some lame chant about how I was a party pooper.

When I do try to vent my frustrations to friend's or John the typical response back is, "Get used to it. It's going to be like this for a long time." I must say, this does not comfort me in any way. I totally understand that having a baby changes things and your life forever. But, does it really suck ALL the fun out of life?!? I want to believe the answer is no. Why would anyone in their right mind have kids if they knew they were giving up their entitlement to some fun every now and then? I know that life isn't all fun and games all of the time. I just miss having a little bit of fun. I will say I did have a great girls night the other night. We went out to eat and then the movies. It was so refreshing to go out on a Friday night and have a good time, instead of being cooped up at the house. I think as time goes on it will be easier for me, but right now I just feel like venting. And since this is my blog, no one will tell me to get used to it! (at least not right now)
I do know things do get better and people do continue on with their lives after having a baby. I have several friend's and family members who have children, and even though their fun nights might be once a month, they do have fun with life. One of the things that is helping me through this is I know a year or two from now, I'll have a beautiful son or daughter I can share things with, and experience a fun in life I have never experienced before. I can't wait for that day and that is what is pulling me through this lull right now.
So until then, I'll just be satisfied with my quiet nights at home and my O'Doul's before things get really crazy.

Me at 9 weeks

The Big Reveal

One of the great things about being pregnant is revealing your news to family and friends. Since this is the first time my husband and I have had this news, watching our loved ones reaction to it has been priceless.


We wanted to tell both our families in a unique way so we could hold the story dear to us for years to come. John and I aren't very creative people, but I must say the way we told both our families was perfect. We first told John's family since they live in a town close to us about a week ago. John and I deliberated about how to break the news to them the whole week leading up to it, and we finally both agreed on a perfect way.

We went over to his sister’s house for a family dinner. The whole time we waited for everyone to arrive John and I were on pins and needles, and to make matters worse we had to be prepared to dodge tricky situations such as being offered a glass of wine (which we almost always partake in with dinner) or someone asking if they could catch a drag off of a cigarette. We were doing pretty good and finally John's mom came down to his sisters house for dinner.

John had come up with a story that he wanted to take a big family picture for his bulletin boards at school since the school year had just started. We got everyone gathered and John acted like he was going to say “everyone say cheese!" but instead he said “everyone say Robyn's pregnant!" Right away his family embraced and congratulated us. His mom even cried tears of joy over the news. The rest of the night we talked about our plans for our new family's future. I must say it was a night I will never forget and one of my favorite life's memories. The best thing about it is we were able to capture everyone's reaction on film. Below are some of the pictures right after we told them.

Right when John said I was pregnant.

Sharing a hug with John's sister

Sharing a hug with John's mom

soaking it in with my brother-in-law

After sharing that wonderful experience with John's family, I couldn't wait to get to Houston and share the news with my family. Even though I wanted to call my mom and share the news right away I knew the wait would be worth it and it was! I went down to see her Labor Day weekend with John. As we unloaded John's car with our bags to bring them in the house, I grabbed two gift bags that I had put together the night before to give to my mom and step dad. I could barely contain myself as we went through our hellos and catching each other up on what had been going on in each others life's the past week or two. When the right moment came I told my mom I had a gift for her and my step dad. I gave them both their bags and watched as my step dad opened his first to reveal a baby hat that said: Grandpa's Fishing Buddy. Then my mom opened hers to reveal a little camouflage onsie (for those of you that don't know my parents are really big into outdoor sports). The funny thing about it is it didn't hit them what the gifts meant. My step dad said he thought the hat was too small to fit my nephew and my mom thought the onsie was for the dog. I then explained to them that I was pregnant. My mom was elated and said she couldn't believe that she couldn't put two and two together. We all had a good laugh over it and started on the baby talk right away.

Both reveals, each different in their own way, were special and joyous. I couldn't ask for a better family and we are so happy we have a great circle that we could share our news with. Our baby is going to be born into a family with so much love that it makes me tear up thinking about it. I must say it’s amazing to see the circle of life and as Timon and Pumbaa would say, "Hukuna Matata!"

There's A First Time for Everything

I've been reading several pregnancy books and reading about the horrible side effects (if you want to call it that) that come with being pregnant, and since I haven't experienced really any bad effects yet I thought I might be able to skate right on by those horrible things and everything would be good. Well, I should have known that is not the way my luck goes and that I was bound to get hit smack dab in the face with something.
The first thing I experienced came last night, and I must say I am ashamed of myself for letting it happen but at the time I could do nothing about it. I've read about pregnancy hormones and how they can turn you into this awful three headed monster one minute, a crying babbling baby the next minute, and a happy clown the next. When I read this I kind of laughed at the thought because how could one person feel all those emotions at one time?? I experienced the two headed monster last night. It started as soon as I walked in the front door after being at work all day. I was greeted by that oh so wonderful aroma of dog poop....yes I did say dog poop! In the midst of kicking the dogs out and trying to clean it up I lost it and puked all over the dining room tile (yet another time I thanked the man above for tile). And it all went down hill from there.
I wish I could say it was on another inanimate object but it wasn't, it was on my husband. I felt this inner rage burning inside of me until he got home and then like some Twilight Zone Quentin Tarantino movie I totally lost it. I won't go into detail on how, as I am ashamed that this ugly side of me came out, but John was on the receiving end of pure wrath that I think his head is still spinning about. I have made mental note of this, and I will do my best to keep that beast inside of me from ever coming out again!
The second thing I experienced came this morning....and I must say is just as bad as the wrath of Robyn. Morning sickness! I haven't even had a twinge of morning sickness this whole time (unless you count my gag reflex that kicks in every time I brush my tongue now, weird I know!). I was at my desk at work talking to a coworker when the wave of nauseaness hit me so hard I instantly broke out into a sweat. It was so bad that I had to run to the bathroom and even in my speediness I saw people out of the corner of their eye looking at me like I had lost my mind. Little did they know I had the night before. I barely made it into the bathroom stall when I got to see what my breakfast looked like a second time that morning. Not fun! And what those pregnancy books don't tell you is that you just don't puke once and your good. Nope, instead the feeling resides with you for a couple of hours, even after you manage to pull yourself together enough to leave the bathroom.
And I have a feeling that some of my coworkers now have a pretty good idea that I am pregnant, because with my luck two other coworkers were in the bathroom while I was loosing my lunch (or breakfast, but you get the point). I haven't told anyone at work because I wanted to wait until my first doctor's visit and ultra sound to make sure everything is A-ok. Well, some of them know now! Either that or they think I partied too hard the night before which before this pregnancy wouldn't have been a conclusion that far off from the truth (especially with my love for a good bottle of Chardonnay).
Anyway, I'm hoping I can still manage to dodge the effects of pregnancy like those weird rashes they say can pop up on your body for no reason or the flatulence that you can't control or even those nasty stretch marks (which I don't think I'll be THAT lucky).