Another Awesome Announcement

Another announcement??  YES!  We have another announcement.  This announcement is quite exciting too.  

We are expecting another baby.  It is due in August.  

And we're expecting a baby boy!

We are very excited.  Mav is thrilled to have some extra testosterone in the house.  I'm excited to go shopping, along with the rest of our family.  And Squeaks, when you ask her about her new baby brother, she looks at you funny and says, "No.  It's just going to me, Squeaks.  No baby brother."  We'll see how that goes.  

So.  Now, I'm sure all the typical pregnancy questions are running through your head.  

Have you been sick?  Nope.  Just tired, like I've-been-hit-by-a-bus-tired.  

How far along are you?  Almost 20 weeks.

Wait.  You're moving to Vegas?  Aren't you worried?  Nope.  We did this with Squeaks.  Remember?  I was six weeks from having her when we moved to St Louis.  This one will be fine.  We're actually closer to home and have about ten weeks to settle in before this little one could come.  

You had an emergency c-section with Squeaks.  What are your plans this time around?  I want to avoid a c-section.  The recovery sucked, big time.  I don't want to do that again.  My doc says as long as I go into labor on my own near my due date, he would love for me to try vaginal again.  Then again, I'll have a different doctor when we move.  We hope he/she will let me opt for that.  It should be fine because we'll be delivering at a large facility.

Did you have a feeling it was a boy?  No, I had no idea.  And neither Mav or I cared which it was.  We've had too many other things on our mind to think about it much too.  

Do you have names picked out?  I thought we did.  But now that we're actually having a boy, those names I thought I loved, I don't like much anymore.  We probably have a middle name picked out because it's Mav's and his dad's middle name.  May as well keep going with it right?  

When did you find out you were pregnant?  Just after Thanksgiving.  

Why haven't you said anything about the pregnancy?  Because you never know what could happen.  I'm a relatively private person too.  We actually didn't tell our families till Christmas when I thought I was almost out of my first trimester.  I wasn't nearly that far along though. 

Have you gained weight?  Nope.  I'm super proud of myself.  I didn't lose all my weight from Squeaks so I've been keeping a close eye on it.  I've been eating super healthy, for the most part, and going to the gym three-four times a week.  I've actually lost weight. 

Maternity clothes?  Are you wearing them?  Yup.  I'm wearing maternity shirts.  I can squeeze into my pre-prego shirts but they don't look flattering, you know.  I have to do the ol' ponytail holder trick on my jeans.  I can't quite do up my top button.  And I refuse to buy jeans when it should get hot here in St Louis any second now and I'm moving to Vegas.  I am not buying maternity pants!  I want to skip right ahead to shorts and capris. 

What's up with the blue balloon in the picture?  Well, Mav is on a rotation he really likes and he's the only student.  He didn't feel like it would be appropriate to take off and leave them hanging without someone there.  I was totally fine with this.  It gave us a reason to party.  We had a gender reveal party with our friends.  It was quite a party with 14 adults and  15 children under the age of five.  My parents skyped with us and some of Mav's family hung out on Google+ to see the big reveal.  So when I went to my appointment I asked the ultrasound tech to write the gender on a note in a sealed envelope.  I took said sealed envelope to a party store with a giant box and asked them to fill it with whatever color balloons for the gender.  Squeaks and I opened the box.  Blue and green balloons floated out of the box.  It was really fun.  And we are always in for a big party! 

One Less Debt

In my hand is the title for my truck!  It's a wonderful, glorious feeling to know my truck, is actually and really my truck.  It's a good feeling you guys! 

And did I mention that we paid it off three months early?  Even better huh?

That's one less debt to worry about. 

Huge Sigh of Relief

I finally received my grades for the semester.  

I was all sorts of nervous because my proctor didn't follow my teacher's simple instructions of faxing the test and then mailing the hard copy to her.  They just mailed it.  My teacher and I have been waiting on the mail for the past eight days.  And you know the mail...

Well, she received my test yesterday.  I got my final grade.  And I passed! 

No more math for me!  No more math!  No more math! And yes!  I'm singing and doing a happy dance. 

So I'm just two classes short of getting my associates.  Come December, I'll have a fancy-shmancy paper to hang up.  And you know what?  I'm going to hang it proudly.  It's taken me nearly six years to get this far.

Yeah.  Six years to get an associates.  Kinda sad but if some people knew what exactly I've been doing for the past six years they'd understand.  It's been a long, hard road to get this far.  I worked full time, got married, supported Mav through undergrad, helped Mav apply and get accepted to med school, got pregnant, still worked, moved across the country, Mav started medical school, we had a baby and the baby is now 2 1/2.  I've been going to school the whole time.  Can I tell how big of a pain it is to do online classes and the whole proctoring thing from your home school in a different state?  The biggest pain ever!

For the past six years, especially since my baby was born, I've felt like a person in the circus.  The person who has about ten plates spinning atop sticks.  It takes a lot of time management to keep all of them spinning at once; you can't neglect any of them.  If one of them gets neglected, it slows and then falls, smashing to pieces.  While the person it busy cleaning up the mess, the next thing they know they all start to smash to the ground.  It's a juggling act but it is a very possible juggling act.

It's been a hard juggling act for the past six years, but I've done it.  And I'm letting out a huge sigh of relief here...

Outraged!

I’m mad. 

I caught some news today.  It’s a rare thing.  I don’t like the news here in St Louis. It’s depressing.  There was a shooting here today and a murder there.  I don’t watch it.  It’s depressing. 

So I caught a glimpse of a story about the presidential race.  It’s getting interesting.  The Iowa caucus is just around the corner.  The republican candidates are trying to convince folks to vote for them.  Nothing out of the ordinary for a candidate on the campaign trail, right? 

But one part infuriated me!  Mitt Romney attended an evangelical church today.  I’m sure you’ve heard that his religious preference is a big deal to a lot of people.   A person was interviewed following Romney’s visit.  This young man was asked if he’d vote for Romney.  “No,” he said.  He was asked why; “Because he’s a Mormon.”

This is completely ridiculous!!  Does the Constitution of the United States of America not protect your rights to worship as you please?  Does it not guarantee the separation of church and state?  Why are people so worried about Romney being in office?  Why are they not extending this grand right to him?  Who cares what religion he practices, or doesn’t practice?  It’s his right.  It’s his business.  It’s a right that is protected by our government.

We should be looking at the bigger issues that will affect us, people!  For instance, how are we going to get out of this mess of an economy?  What is going to be done about our failing health care system?  Immigration is a big deal.  Is the war against terrorism ever going to end? 

Personally, I don’t care if our next president is black or white; man or woman; raised Mormon or raised Muslim or nothing at all; if he’s a doctor or a lawyer or comes from humble roots.  I want someone who has a real plan to get the United States back on track.  Because people, we are on a very slippery path to somewhere not good. 

Take a look at this video I found.  I feel it applied just as much then as it does now.  It’s so odd that sometimes history repeats itself but I’m hoping that it doesn’t.

Now.  If you're interested in my opinion, feel free to read on below.  But remember this is MY opinion.  I don't speak for any candidate.  It's just my ideas and I'm putting them out there.  

Read it at your own risk.