Bonding with Audrey

It took a little while for Audrey to warm to the idea of an infant hanging around and taking all the attention away from her. Having Jack was bad enough. But now that Layla is starting to give Audrey attention and she is getting such praise for being a good dog with her, she is really coming around. Before she would leave the room if Layla was crawling around. Now she lets Layla pet her and even gives her little kisses.

They even started playing together. Here is a video of Layla and Audrey playing with a straw. Good thing Jack was in the other room sleeping because that is his toy, and there could have been trouble. =)

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for, mainly for the little blessing growing inside my belly. Pete and I did a quiet Thanksgiving this year with just the two of us. I am okay with cooking that meal for two cause that means more leftovers!!! I did miss my family though.

I am extremely traditional when it comes to my Thanksgiving dinner. We had the turkey, of course, which I do a yummy brine for and it comes out so amazing every year! Then we had the mashed potatoes, stuffing, with Stove Top, of course, cause frankly I have never had a home made stuffing that I like as well or at all really. Green bean casserole, a must, then some rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy, and of course, Martinelli's Sparkling Cider. My favorite. I forgot to heat up the corn this year, which seems to be the case every year that I forget something, but it will definitely be utilized in the leftovers when I make what I like to call slop. I am sure you can all guess what that entails. Since it was just Pete and I, we kept it pretty simple. It was so delicious.

It is nice that even with a big ol' belly you can still fit into an apron! And believe me, I needed it, it is amazing how many more food bits are attracted to a stomach that is sticking right out there.

For Pete's second helping he decided to make himself the ultimate pileup. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and a crescent roll. One delicious sandwich. He was very proud of his creation.

And of course, we didn't forget about Audrey. She got her own bowl of Thanksgiving dinner. She was a good girl and stayed out of the kitchen while we ate, and she waited patiently as we loaded her bowl up with yummy goodness. She came back to lick the bowl three times after she finished it so I think she liked it.

Some New Stuff For Baby!

Baby got some more spoiling this week! Pete's mom was in town this week and we did some shopping. "Mimi" wants to make her granddaughter a baby quilt so we went around to a million fabric stores looking for the perfect fabrics for it. We found some really cute ones. I think it is going to look so beautiful when it is finished. She also got baby her car seat!

It goes quite well with the stroller we have too. Graco has a really high safety rating, so our little bean will be very protected. We also picked out some cute little girl outfits now that we can buy gender specific clothes. Sheryl got the little one in the center that says "Daddy's Girl" and when I saw it it made me misty eyed. It is just so adorable.

We had a BBQ over the weekend with Pete's aunt and uncle and their little girl Natalia. She is so adorable. (Those are her sleepy little eyes on the top of my blog.) They surprised us and brought over a whole basket full of baby clothes, receiving blankets, and a Bumbo seat and tray. I can't believe how many adorable outfits there were. I didn't count them, but there are at least 20 to 30 of them! It is a good thing that you usually have to change a babies clothes more than once a day, cause I want her to get use out of all of them.

Their little one was in love with Audrey and Jack too. I have been a little worried about how the animals were going to react to a little one being around, but they were both so good with Natalia. Audrey was so sweet and gentle with her, and amazingly so was Jack. I was so impressed. Made me feel so much better about having animals around a baby. Audrey's tail is really the only issue, because you can't really teach her not to wag it and that thing is weapon. Some heavy duty duct tape might be needed so we can just fasten the tail to her leg.

First Night Without Nausea!

Last night was the first night that I have gone to bed without feeling like I could vomit at any moment since May. This is huge! Usually I stagger to my bathroom, avoiding washing my face as the act of bending forward could be disastrous. I brush my teeth and especially my tongue, which always tastes funny these days; then as I lay down in bed I am forced to prop myself up higher as to avoid any reflux that may occur by laying too flat. I also never turn onto my right side, as experience tells me, that is a sure fire way to induce vomiting rather quickly. Left side is the safe side, but since my nightstand is on my right, I am forced to continually roll over in order to grab my spit cup once every minute or two until I drift off to sleep. It is wonderful. But last night, things changed!

I laid down with just my one pillow, and not even folded in half like I do sometimes. I could lay on either side, or my back, which was so nice, because when you can't lay on a side, everything in your body makes you want to lay on that side. It sucks. And I only used my spit cup like three times instead of my usual 300 or so. What makes it more amazing is that my dog was producing some smells that could have wiped out a whole village, and with my over sensitive olfactory senses, one would think that alone would have sent me to the toilet, nausea or no nausea. But no, this stomach stayed strong!

I have some theories on why this change took place.

One: I went to Cheesecake Factory with Amy, her sister Katie, and little Madeline and had some cheesecake from three different slices. Yes, that's right, three different slices. The anniversary cheesecake, the red velvet cheesecake, and their brand new Reese's peanut butter, chocolate cheesecake; for those of you that were wondering. Perhaps the baby has been craving some cheesecake this whole time and making me nauseous was the only way to get the point across. If this is the case, does this mean I will have to consume cheesecake everyday? Because I will definitely start gaining weight then.

Two: My dog, in a fit of excitement over hearing Pete's truck in the driveway when he got home, jumped and pushed his paw off of my belly. That is 80 lbs of dog pushing off my fragile little stomach. Perhaps this blow just pushed the nausea right out of me. However, I fear that this will also leave a giant paw print embedded into the baby's belly when it comes out.

See that paw? Yeah, that's the paw that did it. She may look cute, but she is big, and when she wants to, she has a lot of energy, and it is never good to have that energy concentrated on my stomach. Pregnant or not.

Theory three: Finally the pregnancy gods are being nice and taking my awful "morning" sickness away! I'm really pulling for theory number three to be the correct one, but I am not ready to celebrate it yet. Don't want to jinx anything. If tonight is nausea free, then tomorrow there will definitely be some celebrating!