The birthday bash ends

Birthdays are awesome. Birthdays are even more awesome when they are stretched out over a week and filled with parties.

It seems like every year I get spoiled on my birthday. This year was no exception. My husband is actually a pretty good shopper and got me an outfit complete with a purse, shoes, and everything. The fam gave me some money (that I plan to splurge on fat clothes) a bunch of baby stuff, a hat, a bracelet, a pedicure gift certificate, and Chris’ family even made me the coveted Udarbe slush for Sunday dinner. I’ll give you the recipe as long as you promise to bring me some whenever you make it.

Slush

1 46 oz can pineapple juice

6 oz frozen lemonade concentrate

6 oz frozen orange juice concentrate

5 large bananas, mashed

6 C water

3C sugar

apple juice or 7-up

In a large saucepan, cook water & sugar together until sugar is melted. Add juices & fruit; stir to blend; freeze in containers (not too deep) at least a day before serving. To serve, remove from freezer & let thaw slightly. Combine with equal parts of apple juice or 7-up.

One of the things I look forward to the most is birthday time at my aunt Meri’s. I love just being at her house. Last night I walked in and the smell of delicious food hit me before we even got through the front door. I love the noise of all the family gathered in her kitchen. I feel like it’s my other other home. You know, it’s the place you miss if you don’t visit often. It’s the place that holds so many of our family memories.

My aunt Meri always goes above and beyond at birthday time. This year I got made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls that were to die for. She even sent a pan of them home with me that is just waiting for me to devour. It's always a burden choosing what I want for my birthday dinner, but this year Meri outdid herself with the best ham dinner ever. My dad made gravy that seriously tastes like candy.

I can’t even tell you how loved I have felt this last week. Thanks everyone for being so thoughtful!

Kicking

To a professional NFL punter, it means his career. To a toddler, it means a timeout. To me, it means life.

That’s right, I think I can officially say I finally felt a little kicker in there.

Anytime that I thought I could feel our little baby fluttering around this last week, I’d quickly talk myself out of it. It’s easy to blame the very little movement that I was feeling on my imagination or just my lunch digesting. I wanted to feel him so bad, but the hardest was Tuesday when I could actually see him doing flips on the ultrasound machine and couldn’t feel a dang thing.

But then it happened.

So there I was sitting at my desk before school started and just like that I felt a little flick in my lower abdomen. Could it really have been him? I sat there waiting for any other sign to tell me it wasn’t a fluke. The flutters continued to come and go sporadically, so yep, I think it's safe to say I felt him kick, or at least wiggle really hard.

I was already pretty excited at this point, but that obviously wasn't enough for our little over achiever. After our dodgeball game (tear, I’m going to miss it for a while) I could have sworn he was holding a little powwow in there. He was probably pissed I had been shaking him around to run after little rubber balls (don’t worry, it sounds ridiculous to me too) and this was his chance to get me back. Little does he know that I loved every second of his dance dance revolution and I’ve actually been contemplating trying cartwheels to get him to do it again.

Week 19- already a worried mom

With every doctor’s appointment that comes, you can pretty much bet the same routine will happen time and time again. Days or even weeks before the appointment, I start to get nervous and worried that we might get bad news. I make myself sick thinking about all the possibilities that could go wrong. Without fail, I promise Chris that I’ll be less worried after the next appointment and Chris always reassures me that everything is fine. I swore to him that I’d feel better after the first appointment, then it changed to three months, then it moved to four, now it’s lengthened to "after the big ultrasound” and when the baby could possibly be able to survive by himself.

Who am I trying to kid? Nothing is ever going to change. I know I’ll worry about him even after he is born when I’m snuggling him in my arms. I’ll worry after leaving him with someone else or when I watch him walk into school for the first time. I’ll worry as he grows, makes friends, and faces trials. That's what moms do, they worry. I'm just getting a good start.

So when the hospital called and offered me a free ultrasound this Thursday just for letting them probe me and look at the size of my cervix, of course I agreed. I know it is silly because I get ultrasounds every 4 weeks, but I can't pass up another chance to see my little guy and feel a little more relieved he’s okay. Plus, how many people get the opportunity to measure their cervix? You know you're jealous.

We have three appointments in the next five weeks, so hopefully we can get at least one good picture that we can actually tell what we are looking at.

Thanks Katie!

Did anyone read that comment? Katie is going to give all of us 20% off any purchase at Puj until April. She found my soft spot, a discount. I want one of their slings too!

Okay, I'll cooperate

For those of you guys who gave me a little tag.
8 THINGS...

8 TV SHOWS I LIKE TO WATCH
This is way too easy for me!

1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Private Practice
3. The Bachelor (ette)
4. Desperate Housewives
5. Survivor
6. Big Brother
7. Lost
8. Gossip Girl

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Olive Garden
2. Outback
3. Chilli’s – have you ever had their molten chocolate cake?
4. My aunt Meri’s. Well, she should have a restaurant!
5. Sizzler
6. The Timbermine

I can only think of 6, so can I choose some of my least favorite to balance it out?
1. Wingers. I swear they hate me at all Wingers because I always get a crappy meal that looks like leftover remenents from a few days ago.

2. TGI Fridays
3. Subway

4. Quizno’s

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
1. I actually slept in past 5:30!

2. I had lunch with Chris. I can't remember the last time we did this.
3. I played with Navie and Ridge all day long, I just love them!
4. Kami took pictures of my cousins and second cousins, so I tagged along.
5. I also went to the fabric store with Kam to find little boy fabric, no such luck.
6. After the fabric store we met Chris and Dax at Cafe Rio for dinner.

7. I bought a diaper bag off of E-bay.

8. We talked a while in bed before finally falling asleep.

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Having a healthy baby boy (and our next appointment on Tuesday).

2. Being organized.
3. Making things for the baby. Even though this isn’t real fabric, maybe I could find something funky like this.

4. Actually having a real house one day (then I could have a nursery that looks like this).

5. The day Chris can finally tell his boss he quits!
6. My birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

7. Making Chris finish reading Breaking Dawn with me.

8. Did I say a healthy baby yet?

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
I wish…
1. For my principal to let me go part time (he didn’t sound like it was going to happen). I don’t want to find another part time position somewhere else! I'd have a crappy “first year lesson planning” experience again and I'd really miss all my friends at my job.
2. For this puj tub for our baby. Our condo really is pretty nice for us, but the thought of bathing a new baby in a 30+ year old bathtub makes me shiver! I’ll never buy it though, it’s pricey, but it's foam that folds up into a little sheet and can fit in any sink snuggly around little junior. You can read more about it here.

3. For clothes and cute shoes that I can wear with socks.
4. For a crib, car seat, stroller, nursery stuff, etc.
5. For Chris to finish Biochemistry and burn his textbook.
6. To feel the baby move.
7. For a fully decorated house. I got some funky frames from Hobby Lobby a while ago to arrange on my wall and still haven’t done it.
8. I have so many things. I guess I wish for a lot. Can I add them all on the eighth line and count it as one? I wish I didn’t have to stop playing dodgeball. I wish I had more time to scrapbook, craft, and make jewelry. I wish I could get my lesson plans organized in my binders again and ready for a long term sub. I wish I could actually make dinner every night…

.

Who else wants to do this tag? Please do!

Week 17

I stood in the shower yesterday unable to look away from my ever-so-protruding bump. My eyes tricked me into thinking I could see my belly growing with every breath I’d take in and out. It’s like I just woke up and wah-lah, a small cargo where my stomach used to be. Just like that, there’s no easing into it. I’ll either have to buy new pants or not complain when my “lack of circulation line” leaves a perma red tattoo around my muffin top. I stare in awe and can’t stop wondering how there could actually be life in my newly found bump.

Kami bought the baby the cutest little shoes the other day. They are brown plaid and so cute that I plan on leaving them on my side table until the day he arrives. Chris’ family also bought our little man something too. It’s a tiny red sox bat with a little note that said, “It’s never too early to be a Red Sox fan." These guys are so thoughtful. I haven’t even got him anything yet. Shopping is normally my thing too. I should be all over it, but I guess my mind has been elsewhere lately. Sometimes when people ask me about being pregnant it takes me a second to remember he’s really in there.

Work has been engulfing every last brain cell I have available. I only slept an hour last night because I had to submit grades today. Normally I would blame my procrastination, but this time it just took so freaking long to read all the papers. I’ve probably got a good 35 hours of correcting in this last week myself, plus Chris and Kami’s help. If you were ever considering being an English teacher, join the circus or wash toilets instead. Besides a few minor breakdowns, I survived and it’s all just a bad dream now.

I did tell my kids at school the news though. Since my classes are 90% boys, I got some interesting remarks back. “What happens in Hawaii doesn’t stay in Hawaii, does it Mrs. Torgersen?” a short boy in the front row chuckled. “Mrs. T, you’re p…the p word?” I heard another boy ask in a very serious tone as if I just told him I had cancer or something. A lot of the kids were surprisingly mad that I kept this secret from them for these last few months. I think my favorite though was a fairly shy kid who I could see squirming with delight as he said, “So, we actually get to watch you get fat…cool!” Oh boys!

I love these...

I keep saving these pictures over and over in my google reader account. I can't let them go. I look at them and I just get happy. Yesterday Kami asked me what blogs I look at, so I think I'll share some of them so you can love them too.

This picture reminds me of my childhood. My dad would make us ebelkivers and suzies on weekend mornings. My mouth waters just looking at them. This picture came from A Little Sussy . She is a photographer and chef!
When she posted these cute crafts, I put them on my "if I only had time, I would make these" list.

Whenever I get a post from Tangle and True, my adrenaline picks up a little. They alway have the cutest kids stuff. I guess I can be into that now without it being wierd. They also do a bunch of awesome randomness. A mobile, family tree picture, robot cupcakes, and homemade samoas all on the same blog! Love them!

Here are some good ones from Design Mom.

On to photography. Julie Parker's blog is one of my sister and my favorites to look at. She also takes the pictures for one of our favorite baby stores ever, Little Cherry Blossoms on 25th street.

This picture gets me excited for a little boy!

Now I shared all my favorites, let me know what blogs you like.

I got the best deal ever!

Before we left for Hawaii I took some pictures of Breklyn's kids, Ivie and Zander. It really wasn't a big deal at all, in fact it was pretty fun. In return, Brek said she would make me a rug. She actually looms them herself and they are incredible! She just finished one for her sister that I seriously wanted to steal. If I picked what colors to use, it'd be so cute in the baby's room.

The funny part is that when she offered, she hadn't even seen the pictures yet. Maybe when she sees them she'll change her mind and offer a washcloth instead. I definitely got the better end of this trade because the rugs take forever to make and her kids are adorable!

Think blue!

Chris and I went to our appointment last night and we got some big news...

Legs crossed, body parts hiding, and modesty in full force, I threatened to not leave until this little baby cooperated. So stubborn already! After a few long minutes of searching, our doctor finally thought he saw what he was looking for. Chris could see it too, but I couldn't tell a darn thing.

This is when I asked the doctor how sure he was so I could have some sanity during the next four weeks. The doctor decided to do a little more wiggling and adjusting in there and sure enough, there he was. Our little man! Chris was right from the very beginning and we are so excited! The doctor said he is 99.5% sure we are having a little boy. Everything looked great and the best part was seeing him suck on his little fingers.

It's just a little more real now, but just a little! I can't wait to feel him moving around in there.

Weeks 9-12

How did we tell everyone? With these… It’ll be the first grandbaby (and great grandbaby) on Chris’ side of the family and they were all way excited. Anita even squealed a little. My dad’s family is so huge that our baby will fit right into the litter. I knew Kami and my aunt Meri would be thrilled (which they were) and I’ve got a ton of phone calls and e-mails from them and my friends just asking how I am. I don’t think they realize how much I appreciate that! Out of everyone I wondered what my dad’s reaction would be. He’s so cute and is way excited, as you can tell. After we showed him the ultrasound picture, Navie told Kami we were silly for giving Pop Pop a picture of an eye…or maybe a sidewalk. Sometimes I feel like it’s a huge piece of cement in there myself, good call Navie. She thinks we should name the baby Spiderman if it’s a boy or Abigail if it’s a girl. The way our name ideas are coming, they are actually starting to sound good. Good thing we have a long time to think of the perfect name.My mom was pretty excited too. When I told her the news, I don’t think it really registered at first. Later that night I got a text saying, “my baby is having a baby” and that's when I think it finally sunk in.

My survival kit this week:

Tums - heartburn sucks

Milk - it seems to lessen the heartburn

Gum - I heard chewing produces more saliva and reduces heartburn

Google - pregnancy & heartburn

I’ve always hated taking “real” medications, even simple stuff like Tylenol. I don’t know why. Maybe I feel weak when I take them or that they are going to come out with some recall in ten years that whatever I took will eventually cause cancer and kill me. I am especially more paranoid now that I'm taking medication for someone else. Marry into a family of pharmacists and try to explain that to them. Seriously, my in-laws have a mini pharmacy in their kitchen and they set out handfuls of pills every night for everyone to take the next day.

My first big accomplishment has been taking prenatals religiously and that is big for me. Now I think I’m officially ready to take the next step in life, Zantac. I'll probably ask my doctor at my next visit before I do anything huge. Mitzi, get over it!

Catching up, weeks 5-8

Here’s how the next few weeks went…

First comes nausea, well actually first came cramping or maybe even having to pee a lot, (it's all a blur already) but nausea was definitely at the top of the list. Really, already? Week 6ish came around and I thought I had some bird flu. No fever or sweats, just random nausea. Obviously not the flu. Aren’t you supposed to feel pregnant before the puking feelings emerge? Warning, warning. Who’s up for a little foreshadowing with the puking?

My recurring nightmare - I walk slowly at first as a room full of teenage eyes glare into the back of my head. “Where is she going?” they mutter. Once I make it to the door, I’m free to book it down my hall and dodge a few random students. It reminds me of a giant game of Frogger. I’m the frog half way across the street that is about to get pummeled. I lose all my pride as I bump into a kid that smells like the mall, Abercrombie to be exact, and he gives me an oh-you-just-didn’t look. Yes, I did and I would apologize if my mouth wasn’t full. I dive the last 30 feet looking for the safety of the bathroom. Luckily, I have only had one really bad day at school so far, and thankfully I was able to sneak away without being too obvious. I'll knock on wood about that one.

At this point I should have invested in some duck tape to slap across my mouth or a big fat muzzle to shut me up! I have to stop talking. I know I’m going to let the secret slip and yet I feel like everyone already knows somehow. If you know me, you know I talk about everything from my morning toothbrush session to a pair of shoes I saw at the mall, so something as huge as this is killing me to keep quiet. The less I talk the better!

Speaking of the mall, I run into an old friend and seriously wish I could be wearing one of those “I’m not fat, I’m pregnant” shirts so she doesn’t tell everyone how chunky I am. Yes, I know I’m not supposed to have really gained weight yet, but ugh, I swear my stomach is so squishy! I want these t-shirts for every day of the week. Think Chris would wear this one? Number overload. Brain conversions begin. Months turn into weeks, weeks turn into appointments and appointments turn into “whoa, what’s that?” The first doctor’s appointment was definitely an experience. Like a good sister, Kam gave me the heads up about this wand and rubber thing that looks like a…well, let’s just say I was shaking in my chair before they paged us in. What am I getting into?

I’ve never prayed so hard for something to be healthy. To be perfectly honest, I was scared to death that we were going to see a herd of babies chilling in there. As the doctor starts doing his thing my fear starts to become a reality as the word “babies” slips out of his mouth. Oh crap! I hear Chris take in a huge breath from over my shoulder. I don’t dare look in his direction. “Oh, I mean baby,” the doctor says as he lets out a few giggles and chomps his gum a few times. “Just kidding, for sure there is just one in there.” Not funny, not funny at all!

Congratulations, it looks like a lot of blotches with a little smudgy core. That’s the cutest smudge I’ve ever seen! The doctor showed us its little head and we tried our hardest to use our imagination to believe what we saw was a little baby. I immediately fell in love with its flickering heartbeat, what a relief. Our due date is officially April 13th which couldn’t be more perfect! I’ll take a little maternity leave and then slide right into summer vacation!

Remembering weeks 1-4

Like everything else I do in my life, I’m probably going to go way above the norm and blog way too much about this new pregnancy thing. I apologize now. I want to document all this because 1-) I want to remember every nitty gritty detail about pregnancy so if the time comes when a baby number two ever crosses my mind I can make an informed decision, and 2-) this is the only first pregnancy I’ll have and I’ll probably be way too busy to write stuff down next time. I realize most of this is TMI, so read as you wish and remember, I warned you! So, here is a catch up from the first few weeks.

The pregnancy scare. We’ve all had them. You have this feeling deep down that there’s a baby Mildred attached to your uterine wall and she’s clinging there with the death grip because she knows that you’re just not ready for a baby yet. Call it intuition, but you know you’re pregnant. Your mind tricks you into making up pregnancy symptoms and all. Then aunt Flow shows up and you take a deep breath. It’s happened to us all. In fact, mine came just a few months after we got married and were both still in school.

So, the month that I found out I was really pregnant, you’d think I’d see it coming...right? I guess my sixth sense has never really had a full battery because I’m always the last one to find out everything. Good thing I had already peed all over that little stick because I might have wet myself when I saw that very faint positive line. Was I imagining it? I didn’t (and still don’t) feel pregnant at all. I couldn’t just take one test, I had to be completely positive so I ended up taking three. One gave me a faint blue line, one was barely pink, and I finally had to get one that would blink “pregnant” at me. I still feel like going into the bathroom at 12 weeks and taking just one more test, just to be sure.

Wow, me a mom? The only thing I’ve ever taken care of was my brainless goldfish, Boris, that was blind in one eye and would ram into the tank going full speed. It’s sad to say, but I gave my fish away when I realized the only things fish do are eat, poop, and make a huge mess for me to clean up. Hummmm sounds like something else in my future!
Planning ahead - oh man, prego in Guatemala at 25ish weeks? Let’s play good idea, bad idea. Good idea- travel before you have a baby. Bad idea- before you have a baby travel to a foreign country, sleep on the floor, don’t drink the water, steer clear of the local food, try to build a building, slap a million mosquitoes, and have hardly any health care all while being knocked up. Do they have ice cream or pickles in Guatemala? What are we thinking…Guatemala?

I’m hoping something will change in the next little bit to make me realize I’m pregnant. I’d get excited over any change about now. I’d love a new motherly outlook on life or a change of eating habits even, but life just feels like life and I’ve always ate like I was feeding two.

What a present

In August Chris went on his yearly golf trip with some buddies to Vegas. Even though they had to golf in the hottest part of the day, they played for cheap and from the stories I heard had a lot of fun. To top it all off, Chris won over $600. Sweet! When he was gone I really missed him, so I decided to give him a present when he got home to show him how much I love him!

Here’s the letter I gave him…

Chris,

The other day when we were out at Meri’s, I walked outside and saw you jumping on the tramp with the kids. Nobody knew it, but you snuck away from the family and brought huge smiles to the faces of a handful of little ones. When we were standing in line at the grocery store, a girl with big brown eyes sitting in the cart in front of us couldn’t keep her eyes off you as you smiled at her. When you talk to Navie, you talk to her like she is the most important person in the world. You care, and kids love you for that.

When we make decisions about our lives, you are always strong and have faith. When I feel a little down, you are comforting and know exactly what to say. You are a rock and strong at times and carefree and full of laughs at others. Your laid back personality draws people to you and you have such a generous heart, and everyone loves you for that.

You’ve always talked about the little things in life like playing catch with our kids in the yard or teaching them how to use their first set of golf clubs, and I saw how your heart melted when you saw those little Red Sox onsies we passed in the store. You talk about being a dad like our dads have been, the one on the front row of the recitals, games, or whatever new adventure a child could bring. You will always be there for our family and our baby will love you for that.

I’m so glad to start this journey with you. You are going to be an amazing dad and I love you for that.

At this point I could see the crease in his forehead appear and he looked at me with a little question in his eyes. He quickly reached in the bag I had given him and his eyes got even wider as he pulled out the things inside.

Chris would never admit it, but he even got a little choked up. Priceless! I can’t believe how much I love him!

Now we can’t wait until April 13th!

I tag Kami, Paige, Erin, Michelle, Lisa, Ruth, & anyone else that's up for this. What? We tag people for everything else, why not a baby? Come on, you know you want to!

Called to serve

Andy,
To be honest, when I first met you I didn’t really know what to think. You were 14, full of stories (which most of them had to be double and triple checked for accuracy) and crazy about life. If something was in the making, you were smack dab in the middle of it. Now, five years later, I can’t believe how mature you have become!

You rocked your farewell speech sharing your testimony with us all! Chris and I still haven’t been able to stop the tears. You can’t believe how much we are going to miss you, but go out there and conquer Minneapolis. We all know that you have a gift that’s going to make a difference in a lot of lives.

Congrats Elder Torgersen and go rock the Hmong language!

The last day of summer

Today officially marks the last day of summer for me as I head back to work bright and early in the morning. As I think of my alarm blaring at me at 5:30 for the next nine months, I feel a little tear start to gather in my eye. Not only that, but my next job is putting hundreds of names to their cute little faces and forcing them into long term memory. Not bad enough you say, try getting a stupid yearbook picture taken tomorrow. I thought I was over the days of worrying about a bad yearbook picture!

To honor this summer, here's one last hooray for the fun I've had these glorius last three months. What better place to start then with a picture of the girls I love. What can beat a girl's night out?

I can't think of this summer without thinking of all my dodgeball friends, our giggles, and our outbursts at the refs (and occasionally a select few on the other teams).

The sidelines. This is unfortunately where most of us spend our time! And the best part of this summer is just getting together with friends. Kam and Dax made us the best food this last week and let us all hang out in their newly finished yard!

For one final shabang, my family came up tonight to celebrate some birthdays at the pool.

Here's the cakes Kam made.

These were so cool, you need a closer look.

So, wish me luck for this school year. I'm afraid with coaching the boys and girl's golf teams I'm going to really need it!