It's either flutters or gas.

Finally feeling a couple of flutters in the belly. Yesterday was kind of rumbly, like lunch was kicking back, but tonight there was at least one sure fire nudge from the inside.
I got my husband really well tonight and then couldn't stop laughing. I told him the kiddo was kicking and then knocked him upside the head while he was trying to feel it. Seriously, this kicking thing is more of an inside out than an outside in kind of thing. Karma is going to bite me in the ass for that one.

It's a Boy!

More pregnant than fat?

So the last couple of days have been interesting.

I had my first pregnant belly rub (for some reason people love rubbing pregnant bellies :) )

Imo, I am starting to look more pregnant than fat. Now, if I ran into an old friend on the street they wouldn't say "oh you're pregnant". They would more likely look at me in the way that people expect news from you, but wouldn't dare ask, b/c being wrong when you ask someone if they are pregnant is slightly embarassing.

Tomorrow is boy/girl day. Which means if the kiddo cooperates, today is the last day of not knowing (for me anway, see previous post). My thoughts are swimming. The worst part is that I want a boy and I'm not sure how I'm going to react if they tell me its a girl. Actually, the worst part will probably be going to the appointment by myself. Enjoy your ski trip honey!

Vengeance Hormones

My husband had the nerve to tell me he had good news on the phone today.
Actually he said he would tell me when I got home from work and I told him to just get on with it (bc I pretty much know what it was anyway).
He will be starting (another) new job on Monday the 11th of Feb. Whoo hooo! Benefits, more pay, joy joy.
How does one celebrate this sort of news? By telling his old job that he is giving 1-ish week notice and he wants to take next week off to go skiing in Utah (they said ok?!?!).
All fine and good, with a big old BUTTTTTTTTTT -
What day has the ultrasound to determine the sex of our child been since the 4th of Jan?
Smack dab in the middle of next week, Feb 7th.

Oh well, guess one of us will know the sex of our child and will hang it over the head of the other until about July or so when the baby is due.

Aren't hormones great.

Grandma to be's Birthday

Today was supposed to be the day that we told the grandparents to be.
Somehow Kel convinced me that we should tell his parents in person and we ended up doing that over Christmas. You can't tell one set without telling the other - so the maternal g-folks got the news via phone/email.
Why today? My Moms bday - was going to send her a grandma card, but no dice.
Today is my day off from work, so I had lunch with Malia and her daughter Marissa, and then dinner with Drew, Brooke and Andy tonight.
January is about half over.
Lately things with the baby have been interesting. I have felt some growing pains from the inside (round ligament pain?) and have generally been sleeping like ass. So much so that my purchase of the last twenty minutes was a body pillow. Thinking about taking a nap to break it in, but first I have to complete a cupful of my latest "craving" shall we call it.
I have had three of these wonderfully sugary, void of health concoctions in the past week - ICEEs!
Happy naptime y'all!

Out with a bang!

The restaurant has been busy. I have been working 60+ hour weeks and everything is going along as well as can be expected.
Kel's folks came to visit for Thanksgiving and we returned the favor by going to New Bern for Christmas.
On the way we re-routed to see the Meadow Lights. Although not overly impressive, it was good to visit the general store, were you could get all sorts of candy goodness and old-fashioned sodas in bottles (RC and Squirt anyone?).
We then carried our tired masses to New Bern where we ate. And ate some more, most of Monday we slept and ate. During Sunday's eating festivities, we met JAG (from Next Food Network Star) who is the Chef at one of the New Bern restaurants. We got to hear some of the behind the scenes info from the show and jibber-jab for a couple of minutes.
But most unlike me, who was going to wait until January, we broke the Amy-is-preggers news to both sets of grandparents-to-be, Kel's on Christmas Eve and mine on Christmas day.
Kel's mom always always always starts bugging the rest of the family to open a present on Christmas Eve. Always. Every year it gets earlier and earlier in the day - at one point it was 8 or 10 at night - this go round we somehow made it to 4 in the afternoon. Kel and I gave them a present alright - a Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa card with Ultrasound pics taped inside. It took them a minute, but when they figured it out there was an outpouring of OHHHH's.
It was tougher for the folks from Philly, because after gentle prodding to open up their frickin' email for 20 minutes, the stupid e-card didn't pop right up on screen. Thank you Hallmark.

Just as I thought, I never could've handled this whole pregnancy without them. Mind you I'm 11+ weeks along and the first thing from Kel's mom is - "you know you can't have alcohol now."
And from my very own flesh and blood after claiming she knew something was up - Mommacita Mel - "you know you should be eating healthy."
Good thing I've been throwing back the booze and eating crap food for the last couple of months 'cuz now I have to lead a life on the straight and narrow.

I have to say, out of the whole thing, the best two responses were:
1) from my dad who was still on the phone with me and started emailing everyone he knows. (dads are so cool when you least expect it) and 2) my mom saying that my dad could go completely gray to fit the part now - I thought the wedding was enough to do that.

Festive greetings y'all!

November?!?! Seriously.

Whew - one day you wake up and it is No-frickin'-vember.
Since I've been averaging about a blog a month, I guess I should make it a good one.

We have been training a new dessert person at the restaurant. I feel like she is getting it, but she is changing and adapting the station to her own ways (which gives me a weird feeling as a "trainer"). She has picked up some of the things that have been harder for others to pick up, but still gets flustered when the tickets hit hard. Between the pastry chef and I, we have been getting her on track, pulling 1 1/2 shift days and helping her with her speed. The toughest part for me is not taking over when I see something that can be done more efficiently. This week, she is on vacation, going to see her parents in California. I'll be working Thurs, Fri and Sat nights. Altough I'm not happy about that, I guess there are worse things. At least I get to go on vacation Sunday through Tuesday with my dad on the annual fishing/not fishing trip.
The pastry chef said she would help the new dessert girl last Saturday night (since her boyfriend was working Saturday night too) which gave me a Saturday night off for once. We had been planning on going west with friends who have newly acquired a mountain love shack and hightailed it to Sparta, NC for an overnight (not really a whole weekend). We relaxed, yet accomplished too, while we were there. We tasted bad North Carolina Wine. We went canoeing. We visited their neighbors' pottery shop. The weather was just how mountain weather should be this time of year - dipping into the 30s and 40s overnight and just being sunny but refreshing during the day.
Other than that - it has been work work work. I put in 108 hours over the last two weeks.
Also during the last two weeks, a little bit of salary depression. Gone are the days of dinners out on a whim, buying things without thinking. In are crazy hours and paying the bills. American dream, right? At least I'm not as stressed.
Last night we met friends for dinner that we hadn't seen in a while. A good couples group where everyone pitched in for a good meal. Kel came back for dinner from Wilson, where he is working all week.
One of these days the tires are going to come in for the car and I can stop driving on the donut. Won't that be peachy!