Thanksgiving Week Part 1

This week has been/will continue to be relatively busy--So I figured I'd blog half way through the week so that the next one is not so long!  I'll start off with pregnancy updates this time since that's what so many of you want to hear anyway :) Overall, I'm doing well and I'll be 12 weeks on Thanksgiving.

So Exciting...
We had another doctor's appointment today and all is going smoothly.  We didn't get to see the baby because we didn't do an ultrasound since everything sounded good.  So, sorry--I was hoping for more pictures.  We'll have more in December when the doc will do her very best to try and determine the gender.  But no guarantees!  It will be pretty early to be trying to determine gender so we may get lucky, or may have to wait a bit longer.  

With this appointment though, we were able to hear the heartbeat which was way cool :)  Last time, we were able to see the heartbeat to confirm everything was good, but they weren't able to hear it quite yet.  This time, (though it took awhile because apparently I have a "loud heartbeat"), we were able to hear it.  We're very blessed to have access to this much technology--it was such a sweet experience.  It was very cute because the baby's heart was beating in sync with mine, just a lot faster.  Sounded like a nice little rhythm with my heart acting as the down beat and the baby's being everything in between... if that makes any sense to you music people.

Somewhat Disappointing...
We also had the doctor confirm some other suspicions for us.  I became quite sick this weekend way beyond normal pregnancy symptoms.  I had felt sick like this before but on no regular basis.  This weekend however I managed to eat quite a bit of dairy all in one day, loading up on mac and cheese, giant bowls of cereal, and drinking straight milk...and that's when I got really sick.  After realizing the pattern in what I'd eaten, we were able to look back over the last little while and realize that every time I'd been sick like this, I had eaten a bowl of ice cream, or cheese pizza.  When we talked to the doctor today she said that from what I've described I'm definitely lactose intolerant.  She suspects that it's just something that I've developed as part of life and it's just a coincidence that it's happened while I'm pregnant.  (Sweet! Just like it's a coincidence my appendix needs to come out when I'm pregnant.  Any more surprises?? :) )  However, it could just be a pregnancy thing where my body doesn't tolerate dairy well just like it may not tolerate other certain foods.  I've read that this has happened to several women while pregnant, so I'm hoping that's what it is.  Regardless, I'll be passing on the lovely dairy products for a while, and hopefully, I'll be able to resume my normal eating habits afterwards :)  So yay for eliminating most of my comfort foods!  (Wish it could have waited until AFTER the holidays)

Speaking of babies...

Nala has been going to dog training classes for the last several weeks and will be going until just before Christmas.  Because she's gotten so much bigger, we really need to get her craziness under control.  She's gotten so big, she's grown out of her original collar!  Here's an update picture of her sportin' her new style.

I quite like the pink

and she quite likes playing fetch and chewing on my slipper

Monday was my last day of practicum.  It was definitely bittersweet!  A little harder to leave those little first graders than I'd ever anticipated.  It took me a solid 10 minutes to get out the door of the classroom with everyone giving me hugs and several of them giving me 2 or 3.   Even though it was pretty hard, they really were just a joy to work with and the cutest little friends I've ever met.  They all signed a thank you book for me and my teacher gave me a frames saying and a WONDERFUL guided reading packet with different signs for the classroom, programs, word work, etc.  You'd probably have to be a teacher to understand that and just how helpful it is :)

I love this!  How fun is that?!

Monday was also our 1st anniversary.  I can't believe it's been a year already!  It seems like it's gone by so quickly! We went out to Olive Garden to celebrate and it was a great deal of fun.  Thank you all for the well-wishing and your thoughts!  We had a wonderful evening together and look forward to many more to come.  

And though I don't like tomatoes, this thing of bruschetta was really just calling my name.

It was delicious!  I thought I'd share, and make you hungry :)

I also had every intention of re-creating the first tier of our wedding cake since we did not save it as per tradition.  I'd really been looking forward to that for the last year.  However, though you may not be fully aware, making a fancy cake is a lot of work and can be really tiring.  And so is forming a baby in your tummy :)  So, being exhausted, we just bought a cake this time.  Unfortunately, we bought the cake before I realized the connection with dairy being a problem on Saturday and bought a nice giant cake with whipped topping frosting.  Suh-weet! Not eating that puppy.  So Jimmie being thoughtful, decided to stop and buy me a platter of cookies so that I could still enjoy some dessert on our anniversary instead of just watching him eat the cake.  (And even though cookies have milk in them, I can tolerate that.  Just not the straight dairy in large quantities)

I'm just really not sure if he bought enough though... :)

Good thing we're going on a road trip and up to Idaho to share!

This year, especially, I feel like we have so much to be thankful for.

Especially for wonderful friends and family like you.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!