First Book of the New Year: The Last Song

You might remember my New Year's resolution last year. It was to read one book a month. Not a hefty goal for a lot of people out there, I know plenty of people who aim to read 50 books each year. I could never do that, so 12 is sufficient for me.

While I didn't keep that resolution, I was still happy with the results. It encouraged me to read more, and I really enjoyed myself. Now I'm stocked with a bunch of books that I purchased at garage sales or from the Doubleday Book Club, which I joined last year, so I decided to try again this year. I don't know if I expect to make it, since this summer I will be busy with a newborn and a toddler, but we'll see.

Last year, I sort of stopped blogging about my books. I think the last one I reviewed on here was Fahrenheit 451. Since then I've read a few more, which I hope to get to reviewing soon. For now, I will talk about the books I've read so far this year.

In January, I read The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. I'll admit, I was pretty bored with the last few Nicholas Sparks books I've read, but I feel obligated to read all of his books for some reason. Maybe because at one point in time, I had read all of his books. Then he wrote more. Damn him. So I thought, "I'll just hurry up and read all his books so I can get to reading something else." BUT, I really enjoyed The Last Song. Don't get me wrong, it does follow his typical story line: two people meet in odd circumstances, and in a ridiculously short amount of time they are hopelessly devoted to each other, only to be torn apart by some out-of-the-blue situation. Then they either get back together and live happily ever after, or someone dies. Or both.

This one is about a 17 year old girl from New York City, named Ronnie, who along with her little brother, Jonah, is forced to spend the summer with her father in North Carolina. She hasn't spoken to her father in three years because she blamed him for the dissolution of his marriage with her mother. Ronnie's father is a former concert pianist, who passed along his talent to his daughter. Ronnie, however, refuses to play anymore due to the resentment she has for her father. She tries to stay as far away from her father's house as possible, and ends up hanging with the wrong crowd. After she realizes that her new group of "friends" is no good, she starts spending more time at home and starts to mend her relationship with her father. She also meets a local boy named Will and reluctantly falls head-over-heels in love with him. Turns out he comes from an extremely rich family who doesn't approve of their relationship. Chaos ensues. Then Ronnie and Jonah find out the real reason why their mother sent them to spend the summer with their father: their father is dying of stomach cancer and only has a few more months to live.

At the end of the summer Will moved away for college, Jonah went home with his mother, and Ronnie stayed in NC to take care of her father until his passing. As her father's health was declining, he had been writing one last song, but he couldn't quite get it right. Ronnie decided that she had to finish that song and play it for him before he died, which she did. After her father's death, she decided to live up to his dream for her to go to Juilliard, where she receives a scholarship. Then, out of the blue, Will shows up and tells her that he decided to transfer to a college in New York, and they will be able to be together after all. And every one lives happily ever after. Except Ronnie's father.

Now I'd like to see the movie. I always like to read the book before I see the movie because the books are usually better. Also, I have a hard time reading a book when I already know what's going to happen. Here's the problem I have with seeing the movie: some important movie-making people made the very bad decision to cast Miley freakin' Cyrus as the female lead. I hate Miley Cyrus. But the movie is already on my DVR, so I will force myself to watch it.

All in all, this book really captured my attention and sucked me in. I was pleasantly surprised after the last few Nicholas Sparks books that I've read. Maybe he got his groove back? We shall see. Two more Nicholas Sparks books to go...

Prayers Please

Earlier this week, Isaac's friend from daycare was diagnosed with Accute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Her name is Zoe Shillinger and she's two years old. She's such a little sweetheart! She likes to hand me Isaac's coat when I pick him up from daycare. Anyway, she and her family could really use your prayers. Things seem to be going pretty well right now, despite an infection obtained during one of her first procedures. The good news is that ALL has a 95% cure rate, according to her mom on Zoe's Caringbridge site. Here is a link to Caringbridge if you'd like to check up and see how she's doing: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zoeschillinger/journal

My 100th Post!

I guess it took a while for me to get to 100. Probably because I rarely post anymore. Sorry. Life is busy.

Anyway, I'm 16 weeks pregnant now. Things are going well! We have another appointment on Monday, but this time it's with a nurse practitioner. We'll rotate between seeing my OB and the NP every other visit until we get closer to my due date. After this appointment, the next one will be in four weeks. That's when we'll get the BIG ultrasound. And yes, we do plan to find out what we're having.

The good news is that my nausea is finally starting to ease up. A lot of food smells still get to me, but I don't vomit as often now. I've also been feeling baby move every once in a while for a few weeks. That always makes me smile. However, I don't remember my last pregnancy being this painful. And by painful, I mean the near constant aching of my uterus. Also, when I move around in bed I can really feel my ligaments stretching. I've heard that second pregnancies are generally more painful, but I will still ask the NP on Monday at our appointment.

Also, we've named the pregnancy - Sequel. LOL.

In other news, this has been one crazy week for our vehicles. On Wednesday I finally got my long awaited remote car starter in the Rav4. Yippee! It's the Cadillac of car starters too - one mile range, two-way remote with an LCD screen that tells you if the car is running, how long it has left to run, the time, and if the doors are locked or unlocked. I think it can also tell the temperature inside the car, but I haven't tinkered with it enough to figure that out yet. I am in love.

Then on Thursday, I took the Nissan in to get new tires. I got the car in 2004 and we've never replaced the tires, so it's been a long time coming. We also had to get a new rim because it was bent from when J slammed into the curb a while back when it was icy. They also fixed the alignment. When I went to pick it up, the guy told me that we'll need brakes in about 10,000 miles. J drives the Nissan usually less than one mile per day, literally to work and back and we live very close to his office. That means we'll have to replace the brakes in about... let's see, 10,000 miles divided by 400 miles per year (and that's generous) equals... never.

I am so glad to have this week over finally! Whew, I made it to Friday!

Our First OB Appointment

Well, today was the day! We went in and chatted with our doctor (who we love!). After she gave me the full work over, she busted out the doppler and we tried to rock out to baby's heartbeat. Baby, however, had other plans and decided to be stubborn, so the doc couldn't find it's heartbeat. She said it was no cause for concern and that at this point, sometimes you just can't find it. But she said "We always want you to leave here knowing that baby is ok," so she sent us in for an ultrasound. I wasn't too worried because the same thing happened with Isaac. Anyway, we headed down to have the ultrasound done and saw that little heart just beating away! Baby is measuring 12w6d, which is prett spot on considering that I'm 12w5d today.

Here is our little peanut!

Happy New Year!

As we are on the verge of 2011, I think of all the things the new year might bring. A new family member, joy, change, sleeplessness, happiness... probably more blizzards, lol! I look forward to all the good times ahead, and pray that the hard times will be few and far between.

We aren't doing much for New Years Eve. We're having a blizzard right now (which I was hopeful would miss us since we were supposed to get it two days ago). We ordered Chinese food for supper and are being lazy and watching TV. We're perfectly fine with that. I plan to go to bed soon, and I'm putting my cell phone on silent so I won't be awakened by the inevitable "Happy new year!" texts that will come at midnight.

Today I became an auntie for the 5th time. Another beautiful baby girl - Jaclyn Rose. This means that Isaac is STILL the only grandson out of six grandchildren. We were kind of hoping for a boy this time, just so Isaac could have a playmate. But we're very happy to have another niece! Welcome to the world, Jaclyn!

Now on to OUR baby... :)

Our first prenatal appointment is on January 3rd. This is a far cry from the last time I was pregnant. With Isaac, I had a family doctor who delivers babies. Since I had a c-section last time, I had to switch to an OB/GYN for this pregnancy. Our old doctor saw us at 5 weeks, 9 weeks, and 13 weeks. Last time we saw the doctor three times already by the time we'll see this new doctor once. However, I'm fine with this. Anyone who's ever had a baby knows that the first few appointments are just about hearing the heartbeat and, as long as everything sounds fine, they send you on your merry little way. I'll be sure to update the blog after our appointment.

On January 3rd, I'll be 12w5d. Should be far enough along to hear the heartbeat! But along with this knowledge comes a plethora of worries. Like that we won't be able to find a heartbeat, or something else will go wrong. I just don't think I'd be strong enough to handle it if something happened to the baby. I try not to think too much about things like that though, or I'll go crazy.

As it is, I know that baby is alive and kicking because of the massive amounts of nausea I've had to endure lately. I hate morning sickness, but it does tell me that I am indeed pregnant and baby is growing. I think the nausea and vomiting is harder for me to handle at this stage in my pregnancy because I know it should be going away now-ish. Morning sickness generally only lasts through the first trimester, which for me is over in about a week. However, I almost feel as though it's just starting to get worse. It doesn't matter what I eat, I get a terrible aftertaste in my mouth, so I've been going through breath mints like they're, well... candy. Lots of food smells make me want to toss my cookies, too. Even just opening the fridge makes me gag. It doesn't smell bad, per se, it's just a smell that gets to me. And if there are leftovers of any kind in there that give off any type of odor (ex: pizza), forget it. I hold my breath when I open the fridge. Also, the change in temperature when I go outside makes me gag. I'm not sure why, but that's how it works for me. I do a lot of gagging these days. I am looking forward to this part of the pregnancy being over.

Questions Answered

When people find out that someone is having a baby, it seems as though everyone has the same questions for them. At least, that is what I've noticed. So I thought I'd write a post answering those common questions that I've answered 100 times in the two months since I've gotten pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind answering them over and over again. I love talking about my baby and our future plans (most of the time). So don't feel bad if you're one of the 100 that have asked. I don't find it annoying... yet. :)

Do you want a boy or a girl?
Since our first baby was a boy, people always want to know if we'll be disappointed if we have another boy. The answer is no, of course not. We'd love to have a girl this time because we want the experience of raising both a boy and a girl, but if God decides to give us two boys, we'll be perfectly fine with that. All we want is a healthy baby - cliche, I know, but true.

Are you going to have any more kids after this one?
Probably not. Although I'm not totally ready to commit to that answer just yet. We'll see how it goes. If we do have another, it wouldn't be until Isaac is in school. As James said, "We could always have that one baby who's so much younger than it's siblings that everyone wonders if it was an accident." LOL.

Are you going to buy a bigger house?
Not right now. We probably won't move for another four or five years. We're perfectly happy in our house right now. I used to think that each kid needed their own bedroom because that's how I grew up. James, however, grew up in a small, three-bedroom trailer house with his family of six. He never had his own room until his 3rd or 4th year in college. Kids can share rooms. I am concerned about having an infant and a toddler in the same room - that they'll wake each other up (mainly the little one crying and waking Isaac up). But it will work. People do it all the time. Plus the baby will be in a bassinet in our room for a while right away. Also, we've put so much work into our house that it feels like it's a part of us as a family - part of our identity. To be totally honest, I will be a little sad to leave it.

My Big Announcement

Ok, here it is.

I'm pregnant!!

Baby #2 is due on his/her big brother's birthday, July 13th! We were a bit surpised by this one, not because we weren't trying, but because it happened on our first cycle of trying. When we were trying to get pregnant the first time, it took us 6 cycles. We decided we wanted our kids to be 2-3 years apart in age, so we started trying in October. We figured if it happened right away, they'd be 2 years apart, and if it didn't happen for 6 or 7 or 8 months, that would be ok too.

We're thrilled! It may be hard to have two little kids only two years apart, but once they get a bit older I think it will be great! They'll be interested in the same type of stuff at the same time (or close). For example, if we were to go to Disney World, they would both be into it rather than one being too old for it, or one being too young. Also, my hope is that they'll be close - and by close, I mean like friends.

Here's how we found out:
I wasn't temping and charting like I was last time, but I was using ovulation tests. I started using them around cycle day 14 (I know from last time that I ovulate later than average, like day 18 or 19). I also get ovulation pain, so I pretty much know exactly when it's happening. I am pretty in tune with my body. So anyway, on the evening of Monday, November 1st, for some odd reason I felt this very strong compulsion to take a pregnancy test. It was totally stupid because I was only 8 dpo (days past ovulation), which is way too early to get a positive test. Plus it was at night, and you're supposed to test with your first morning urine because the pregnancy hormone is more concentrated. I knew I was going to get a negative result, but I tested anyway. I waited about 10 minutes before I even looked at it because I wasn't expecting anything. When I looked at it, I initally saw nothing. I looked very close, put it closer to the light, tilted it this way and that, and I'll be damned if I didn't think I maybe, possibly saw the very faintest line. I wasn't convinced. I thought it must be an evaporation line or something. So I brought it to J and said "Do you see a line?" He did the same things as me, looked at it under the light from all sorts of different angles. I was surprised when he said, "Hmm... maybe." Neither of us were sure though. I shrugged it off as a fluke and told J that I'd test again in the morning.

So the next morning came, and I got the same result. Maybe a line, but not sure. This is when I started thinking that I could actually be pregnant! So after work on Tuesday I stopped at Kmart (I don't usually shop there, in fact, I hate Kmart, but it was close and I wanted to know!) and bought a Clear Blue Digital. No ifs, ands or buts. This test would give it to me straight - pregnant or not pregnant. So I ran to the bathroom as soon as I got home, and used it. Low and behold - PREGNANT! I showed J when he got home. We were both shocked! And excited, of course!