a long time

Again I lagged on the whole blog thing. It happens. I got more important things to do right? Like read! I've read a LOT in the last what, 6 months or so? Anyway.

I had the breast reduction surgery. 2 months later they're feeling more awesome, though there are still some hard spots and the scars are still red, but looking better. The pain wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but the recovery was harder than I thought it would be. Or maybe just longer. But I had issues.

I've never been totally under before and it was weird! They wheeled me into the surgery room and I hadn't had any drugs yet. I got up onto the surgery table and that's the last thing I remembered til I woke up. Which I thought I'd remember more, since they hadn't given me anything yet! I was very very happy when I woke up, everyone was my friend and I actually wanted to be incredibly nice to everyone. Gotta love drugs.

I hate drains, they're really gross and uncomfortable. I felt like I had the flu for a week, sorta, at least the whole body ache chill thing. Apparently that was from the drugs.

I had issues with my left nipple, apparently it lost circulation, the doc had to put regular stitches in it, unlike the underneath dissolving type ones he did everywhere else. So it scarred differently. And the t section of the scar didn't adhere together, so there was a big gaping hole there when he took out the stitches, really really grossed me out. But now it actually looks ok! It finally healed and the scab is off. Still has no feeling though, so dunno if I'll get that back.

Took about 6 weeks to actually be able to wear a regular bra. I can't wear underwire/push up bras yet. Mostly cause I'm fat and gotta lot of flab and they look horrible. So I should probably lose some weight, could be a good idea.

I got a lot less back pain now, its awesome. I can wear almost anything, I don't have to worry about my boobs falling out!

Bayvin is going into 3rd grade. Hopefully she'll do ok.
She's obsessed with the Jonas Brothers and Highschool Musical. We're going to see the Jonas Brothers in concert on August 4th. The other day Bayvin said she couldn't wait til highschool. I had to inform her that highschools didn't break out into song and dance like they do in the movies. She asked if I was sure.

Rowynn still talks a lot and we still can't always understand her. She's good at saying "no" now, but she says it when she means "yes" too. She's finally able to nod her head though. So she'll says no and nod her head. She was the highchair the other day and I said "I'll be right back, I gotta go get something to wipe off your face, kay?" and she said "kay" and just sat there til I got back. It was too cute. She's really liking Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin now. Even tries to say it. She LOVES wearing shoes. Always has to have a shoe on. Even puts them on herself, and most of the time on the right feet. She's got a bad habit now though, of pulling on her hair when she gets in trouble. Then I tell her not to pull on her hair its not nice, and she does it more... vicious cycle.

We all went to Great America last week. I think I only went on a couple rides, but it was so much fun in the water park area. There was a very very large pool that only went to 3 ft at the deepest part and Rowynn loved it. Just kept running though and when she couldn't run, she'd walk and just kept getting deeper and didn't care, she'd even fall under and not care. Like it was more of an inconvience. There was an area that has a lot of fountains and things that sprayed water, she even loved though and kept running through them. Loved seeing her have so much fun. Bayvin rode on the Demon, twice, she and her dad are "rollercoaster buddies". I dunno how she does it, they scare the crap out of me. She loves them.

So it seems...

... That every time I get good pictures of me with longish hair, I want to chop it all off. On the other hand, maybe its the seasons. When it gets close to summer I like to have shorter hair. My hair is so thick that in the summer I have to have it up all the time if its long or my neck is always soaking wet with sweat. Not to mention that having it up usually hurts my neck cause my hair is so heavy. Seriously, if I put my hair up in the pony tail, 8 hours later my hair is still wet underneath that pony tail. I remember in highschool putting it in a bun on top of my head and having to do a test in algebra/precalc/math class (in the morning) and my neck would get so sore and I was like, wtf, and then I would take my hair down and everything was fine. Kinda like my back at the moment. I pick up my boobs and magically its all better. I wish I wasn't serious :D

The last hair cut I got, I loved it! The seemed to have gotten the layers just perfect. Unfortunately I can't just go tell them to trim it, because shorter layers grow faster, so its just not the same anymore. So I have to find the picture that I used and hope that they get it right again. I think its been almost a year since I cut it.

Being a parent sucks these days. I'm really struggling with the holding Bayvin back thing. I don't know if she'll get over it, though maybe its just me that won't get over it. She seems to have a little group now, her, Sarah and Cameron. And if I hold her back I think it'll really ruin that. I'd like to think she'll just make friends and get over it, but I don't know for sure. She's already so sensitive. But is that more important than her learning. I want to think she'll just catch up, one day it'll just click ya know. I hate having to make these parental decisions that may or may not mess up her future. I don't want a 12 or 13 year old screaming at me that I held her back and ruined her life or something, ya know. I really needs to be able to see into the future damnit!

Rowynn on the other hand is doing awesome. Those molars are coming in great. She is an awesome eater. We went to Fresh Choice and she hate everything! Pasta, cherry tomatoes, cottage cheese, peas, corn bread, real mac n cheese, oranges, cantelope, though I was a bit nervous about that one, it was a little hard. She wants to eat carrots lately. I've let her take some bites but I still think they're too hard for her to chew. Maybe tonight I'll cook them and see if she'll eat them. Last time I tried cook carrots she didn't want to have anything to do with them. Her favorite food lately is fig newtons and the yogurt nutrigrain bars. And she loves the Strawberry Banana V8 Fusion juice. So I know she's getting lots of fruits and vegetables.

*At least we're both looking at the camera*

Updated...

Its been a very very long time since I've actually written in this thing. I decided to update the look, got bored, its my birthday and hubby had to go to bed early to go into work tomorrow. I don't update this thing much cause I mostly keep in contact with people through facebook. It just seems easier.

I've been reading a lot lately. Not as much time on the computer, mostly cause I can read while Rowynn plays and if I get on the computer while she's awake, most of the time she screams at me.

The last time I wrote in this thing Rowynn hadn't even been born yet. That's a long time, considering she's over 13 months old now. She's got almost 10 teeth, and in a few weeks she'll have 2 more. She talks a LOT, too bad we can't really understand what she says. Though we understand the "yeah" and "no" and lately she's been trying to say "nigh nigh". She doesn't say "mama" unless she's crying and its "ma ma ma ma ma ma". "Daaaaaad" she can say just fine, she'll run to him while saying it". She tries to say "more" and I think "Ba" is something to drink or eat. She loves to dance and seems to really enjoy the theme song to Phineaus and Ferb.

Bayvin is in 2nd grade and We're really struggling on whether or not to keep her back. Somedays everything seems to just click, but she can't do testing very well at all, most of her scores are incredibly low and one of the lowest in the class. She's gotten help with math and reading and I know it helps, but testing just doesn't show it. Her teacher thinks this is the last chance if we want to do it. In 3rd grade she thinks it'll be too hard socially. We're gonna discuss it again in May. The principal doesn't believe in holding kids back so it would definitely be our decision. I've talked to her about it and she doesn't want to stay back. So I'm even wondering if it would be a good idea socially now. I want to have faith that next year it'll just click or something. Her teacher keeps saying that its maturity that's slowing her down.

I'm getting a breast reduction June 2nd and I'm scared shitless. I'm worried about the pain and recovery. I'm sure it'll be totally worth it, but knowing that doesn't help much. Before Bayvin I was a 34 barely C. Now I'm a 38DD. It sucks when you can lift up your boobs and feel the weight lifting from your back and shoulders. The only unfortunate part about this, is that the doc says that they aren't that big, its a lot to do with the sagging. Lots of extra skin. My insurance will cover it, but for it to be considered a breast "reduction" he has to take at least 500grams from each which will make me about a full B. Smaller than I'd want to be, I was hoping for a C. But I can't afford a breast lift, so I have to deal with it. On the flip side, I'll never have to worry about them causing back pain again, and they'll be perky, won't necessarily have to wear a bra. I'll be able to wear built in bra tank tops again.

Today was my birthday. It was a pretty good day considering I turned 30. I got great presents, though my new video card isn't here yet, should be tomorrow. My parents already got me a great present when they were out here. A 50mm 1.8/f lens for my awesome Canon Rebel XS. I love it. Its taken such great pictures (those pics up top were taken with it). On saturday we're going up to Black Oak Casino and gonna go bowling and a little gambling, like we do every year on my birthday. I tried to do this year different but it didn't work out. And I haven't gotten that tattoo that I wanted to get when I turned 30.

"You're right Mom..."

"You're right Mom, I'll like a sister better" Bayvin said. Bayvin played with a 2 year old girl at Burger King and helped her up the platforms and then held her as they went down the slide and she had SO much fun. So she decided that a baby sister is better than a baby brother.

She really is a girl

Here are the pictures from the sonogram

Its a girl.

We had the ultrasound last week. (my computer is still down, so we don't have the images scanned yet) Its very definitely a girl. I was surprised, I was so sure that it was gonna be a boy. Bayvin is extremely disappointed. She wanted a brother. I'm sure she'll get over it when she's born. Since Grif was so sure it was a boy, we had NO girl names ready, but finally on Saturday we decided on "Rowynn". We're still thinking on the middle name, but I don't feel as much of a need to rush that.

As soon as we found out, Grandma, Bayvin and I went to Babies R Us and got a lot of clothes. Rowynn is about set for the first 3 months, clotheswise. Though they do go through 2-3 outfits a day... so we might need more hehe.

Bayvin's first loose tooth!

On Sunday Bayvin was eating a bagel and said it hurt her tooth. I asked her if she could move her tooth and she said no. I asked to have a look and boy did it ever move! Should be falling out any day now. She says when she pushes it with her tongue she can feel the bottom of her tooth but she's too scared to keep trying to pull it out. Mostly she just doesn't want to lose the tooth! I think she's secretly excited about it.

She was teased for the first time on the playground by other boys today, well at least she knew it was teasing this time. She was playing with her friend Eddie and there were some boys saying that she was in love with Eddie and they were going to get married. She kept telling them, no they weren't. I told her that was called teasing, she said it wasn't very nice.

We get to find out what gender the baby is on October 4th. We've been trying to figure out when to have a baby shower, but no date is seeming good. If we do it in November, its too close to Bayvin's birthday, then its too close to christmas, so I figured the best thing to do is, get us baby gifts for christmas. We don't really need anything except baby stuff anyway. We're going to be registering at Target and Babies R Us once we find out what sex the baby is.

So bout the rats. Our garage and laundry room stinks to high heaven. They came out wednesday to check traps and set more. At which point our tally was up to 12... I was thinking that was about it. Well they said they'd be out Monday (yesterday) to check them again. We hadn't heard anything, I hadn't seen anything in the garage, but the smell was getting bad. Well there were 2 dead ones underneath the house in snap traps and then there was one just caught still alive and struggling in the garage on the glue trap. I was bummed. Our tally is now 15. That's a lot, but I was hoping we were done! So that sucks, especially since we all got sick and weren't able to clean out the garage over the weekend. When I called Uhaul they said their trucks can't go to the dump, and we were hoping because of the lift on it, because there's a lot of heavy stuff and I can't do diddley, especially around all the rodent feces. AND everything in the garage needs to be moved OUT of the garage so we can hose the whole place down and get that smell out! So much work.

I still scream like a girl...

*Don't read further if you have a problem with cruelty toward mice or rats*

So we have a rat problem in the garage. Been that way for bout a couple months now. We've had them before and gotten rid of them for awhile. Last summer while my dad was here fixing up the house, we had 3 mice. A year or so before that, maybe more, we had a rat family and ended up catching all the babies. It sucks to have rats, the poop and pee all over everything! Its gross. I only feel slightly guilty after watching Flushed Away and Ratatouille. I have warned them, I yell in the garage "leave now or you're all dead!" I think we're bout 9 up on them in the last month. I can't imagine how many more there are. We had the Clark Pest guys out here yesterday putting more traps out and we're finally having them come to give an estimate on rodent proofing so hopefully this will never happen again. We had also put bait underneath the house and I'm happy to know that it worked on at least 2 of them. Normally we've been using mostly glue traps, but when the Clark guys were here there were 2 dead that weren't on traps. Yay bait!

Though this whole thing isn't why I'm telling you all my rat problem.

I haven't minded them that much in the garage, so far I don't know that they've chewed up anything important. So they're in the garage and underneath the house. We'll eventually get rid of them.

So last night I was playing World of Warcraft with Grif and the in laws. We were about to take on a boss, so I took that opportunity to go get something to drink and go to the bathroom. Now I'm not sure if I actually went to the bathroom first, I probably didn't. Our bathroom has 2 rooms, toilet/shower room and sink room separated by a pocket door. Our bathroom has one of those shelf thingies behind the toilet, its bout 6ft tall or so. So I'm about to sit down and I spy movement. Up on TOP of the shelf behind the soaps and basket I got up there is a god damn RAT! My first thought: what do I have in here that I can kill it with. I got scissors, but its reflexes are much better than mine, and can I really poke it and hurt it? Probably not. So I think 'Basket'. I'll try to catch it so I can throw it in the garage can so it'll heat and suffocate to death. But before I do that, I run quickly to the living room where I got Grif and the in laws on Ventrillo and I tell them there's a freaking rat in the bathroom. I run back hoping it hasn't gotten away. Nope, still on top of the shelf. Our bathroom door has a huge gap underneath, so I close the door and put some towels underneath so it can't run out. I dump out a basket, and starting using the basket to push the soap stuff and other basket to get the rat out from behind them, it jumps down and runs into the sink room. Girly scream #1. It run behind a tower that's in that room, which I procede to move, and I hear it squeal so I musta got its paw or tail or something, serves it right. By that time Grif is downstairs and I tell him to go get a glue trap from the garage. Well I move the tower enough for it to want to run out, which it does, right passed me to underneath the hamper. Girly scream #2, and I jump on top of the stool we have in there for Bayvin to reach the sink. Grif is back with glue trap, I put it under the hamper and still standing on the stool start to take clothes out of it and put them onto the floor so that I can try to move the hamper. I got enough out and I had to stand back on the floor to try to move it, at which point the rat runs passed me and I sort of stepped on it, not enough to make IT squeal but enough to make me: Girly scream #3. Grif hands me a swiffer mop thing under the door and I put the towels back. I start poking the clothes, but its not coming out. I look in the toilet room again and its behind the toilet. So I grab the glue trap put it back there, and its trying to climb the shelf thing and I start poking it with the swiffer, and eventually get it on the glue trap. Victory!!! I pick up the glue trap with the stick end of the swiffer on part of the glue and hand it to Grif and it takes it out to the trap for it to suffer all night and died. *I did warn them*

I can tolerate them in the garage, but in my house! I think NOT! And of course guess who had rat/mice dreams last night. Little bastards! AND now I can't go in the bathroom without checking it. Though there probably won't be anymore in the house (laundry room doesn't count cause its right by the garage), because it probably came in yesterday when the Clark guys were here. The dogs were locked out, and we were putting traps and stuff and the garage door to the laundry room was open, so it probably snuck out and into the house. But I definitely had the willies all night long.

migraines....

Do some people just not know what a migraine is? Despite working at a doctor's office?

Called up the OB (because they told me to anytime I have an issue and not to go to reg doc) because I had a migraine and tylenol was just not doing it, I needed something stronger. So I had to leave a message. Around 4:45 they get back to me and say "well can you wait til your next appointment?" Hm... well I was just seen yesterday and my next appointment is in 4 weeks, and I have a migraine today... do you think that works? "well they can't prescribe anything without seeing you, they could see you tomorrow" Well my migraine could be gone tomorrow and I'm in excuriating pain right now... and they told me since my first OB visit that if I had migraines (since i can't take my migraine meds) that they could give me vicodin or tylenol 3. "yeah but not without seeing you since we've haven't seen you for this problem" (well DUH, you're my OB, wouldn't go to you for migraines). Well great, thanks for nothing I guess I have to call my regular doc. At 5 o'clock... at least someone is there and I was able to leave a msg for the oncall doc. Course the receptionist said, well you'll probably have to be seen and i said, well i've already been seen for migraines, my problem is that I'm pregnant and can't take the regular meds. What are they gonna do, not like they can diagnose a migraine, just wastes my time and money and the doc's time.

Finally I was given tylenol3 and feel better. Some people are just so retarded.
"Oh you have a migraine and are in a great amount of pain? Can you wait til tomorrow?"
"What the fuck do you think?!!!"

Oh yeah

and I've been feeling like crap for the past few weeks. Constantly nauseous, but I don't throw up, extremely nauseous, even on Zofran and its not helping, which is odd, cause its the best stuff. It really really sucks, so I'm hoping the 2nd trimester will bring good feelings.

Ultrasound and Torture.

So sunday morning I woke up and I was cramping bad in a place you shouldn't cramp bad when you're pregnant, mostly on the right side of the pelvis and some upper gastric pain. So we went to the ER, which was a total waste and gave me more pain. Went in bout 8am. after blood work and and doc coming in and using the speculum in painful ways and then poking and prodding where I was cramping, they told me of course i'd have to get a sonogram. Which I begged to get a vaginal one, but they couldn't, I KNEW the catheter would hurt and all that. But they waited, cause the tech said it would be like 45 minutes. So bout 5 minutes before they put it in, which was bout 10:10am, so I thought ok, this hurts but I can bear it for 5 minutes. 30 minutes later I was crying histerically and begging them to pull it out, it was extremely excursiating. They told me they couldn't cause what if it was my appendix, they need to have the bladder blown up. I said I didn't care, they gave me morphine, which didn't help just made it feel like my chest was caving in (how do people get addicted to that?). She tried to move it a little so wouldn't hurt as much which made it hurt more. Finally she said, if the guy didn't come in 10 minutes she would take it out, well 10 minutes later they came to get me.

Baby is fine, everything is fine (got to hear the heartbeat and see the baby), I was apparently cramping for no reason, which got labeled as one of those "pregnancy things".

White blood cell count was high (which when I told the OB today she said was actually normal for pregnancy) they either said appendicitis (which wasn't appendix was fine) or pelvic inflammatory disease (which only gets through sexually transmitted diseases, so not that) or stress. So basically they didn't know what the hell, just one of those things, plus my pulse was high and of course my blood pressure was high (hm, extreme pain... could be the reason!)

Today went to have the physical and u/s at the OB and all my blood work is normal, Brenda and Scotty and Bob and Bayvin were all there and got to see the baby and everything. Due date is February 18th now :)

Here's the first picture

I'm PREGNANT!!!

As you can see, that cool new little widget thing :)

So is Shannon, which is cool, we're due bout the same time.

Since normally I have 30-35 days between periods I decided to average out to 33 and I'm due February 20th. But I'm totally ok with being earlier, I'd rather have an Aquarius than a Pisces :D

My first OB appointment is this friday and then July 17th I have a vaginal u/s (or at least that's what they say, I really hope so)

Happy Anniversary!

Grif and I have been married 6 years today!

Bayvin's last day of Kindergarten was the 7th. She's now a first grader!

I haven't been posting much, I've been busy beading and getting my jewelry website up (http://jewelry.erinpriest.com) and making more jewelry, and I'm even making a macrame purse... its taking forEVER. I'm thinking crocheting would be quicker, but I have to learn that. Knotting is easy. But I think it'll look REALLY cool when its done.

We're all heading to Wisconsin on Monday. Can't wait, course I had a bad dream of not getting anything packed on time, running around with my head cut off trying to get everything ready, dreading that I'm forgetting something.

Grif and I are going to visit Shon and Shannon today and finally see their new house (3000sq ft 5 bedroom house... sheesh) and Shannon and I are gonna get our nails done. Then we're going to PF Changs for dinner! It'll be a good day! :D

And I can't believe I said happy birthday to Martha but not Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!!! (really late)

Happy Birthday Martha!

Happy 31st Birthday! :D

Bayvin's Easter Dress

And I went to Kohl's today because I had a $10 gift card... unfortunately I couldn't find anything I wanted badly enough, so I started to look for stuff for Bayvin, and this skirt was just too adorable to pass up!

Also I have my jewelry store up and running! Yay!
http://jewelry.erinpriest.com
And I made a really cool necklace the other day (not for sale) so I had to take a picture.

And that's pretty much it that's going on.
Bayvin had her spring break and we didn't really do anything.

I finished my jewelry shopping cart that was a royal pain in the ass.

A had a couple tours recently, so that was fun. I miss doing them.

The pool is drained and filled back up again so its all nice and blue.

Grif is taking the week of his birthday off to supposedly do yard work. We'll see if the yard work actually gets done. He wants to finish the fence too, but I'm not really holding my breath.

Got my period April 4th, this week I should be ovulating, so we're trying again! For that I'm holding my breath!

Bayvin's Spring picture

Apparently the school does spring pictures too. I totally forgot the day, so I was surprised that it actually looked ok. Weird thing is that her eyes are totally dark gray. They're starting to look greenish bluish gray lately. So not sure what color she'll have when she gets her drivers license :)

Happy Birthday to me!

At least I don't look 28?

the things kids says...

Today Bayvin was writing in her journal.
She wrote: "I love my brother"
Mrs. Wach: "Do you have a brother?"
Bayvin: "Not yet, but my mom is working on it and it takes a really long time."

got it!

My period showed up today. So we're tryin again!

still no period

Its Tuesday, no visit from Aunt Flo, and I'm just going more nuts. Because the longer it takes for me to get my period the longer it is for me to try again when I think i'm ovulating and longer for me to find out if i'm once again pregnant or not. And well, I really hate waiting.

Yes I took another test (Dad told me I should just wait, guess he forgot who I was for a second) I got the cheapy Target old school non digital ones, it was so very very negative.