Week of January 27

Hi friends! 

Well this week has certainly been exciting for us!  We had a pretty low-key start to the week.  My new computer somehow got the operating system wiped off of it so we're back down to one computer.   This technology-saturated world has caused me to get worried that something is going to happen to Caleb's computer while mine is out of commission and he won't have one to do his school stuff on.  How did people live before without computers??

Thursday night we got a snow storm while I was in class.  If I would have realized that it was getting as bad as it was, I would have busted out of there during our break.  The roads were fine until after the last Kentucky exit before the bridge.  Apparently the DOT doesn't see the bridge as being a priority because it's not really Kentucky and not really Indiana.  And since we found out the hard way a few weeks ago about how bridges freeze easily, I was so stinkin nervous driving across the bridge in complete white-out conditions.  My leg was shaking so bad out of fear that it was hard for me to even keep my foot on the gas.  Anyway, with a lot of prayer I was able to make it home by driving about 5-10 mph. 

Then comes Friday.  Oh Friday.  :-)  It was Caleb's birthday and also happened to be a doctor appointment day to hear our baby's heartbeat!  So after two hours of sleep, I woke Caleb up so we could make it to my appointment by 8:30.  When we got to the drs office, they told me that they had called about 20 minutes earlier to let me know that my doctor was in a c-section and wouldn't be there until about 9:15.  When I checked my phone it was really about 10 minutes before and we were probably on our way out the door.  We decided to stick around even though I really needed to get to work but we didn't want to wait much longer to be able to share the news with everyone.  (And we kind of wanted more confirmation that there really was a baby in there, you know?)  So they brough us back to the room and we waited and waited and then around 9 the nurse came in and said it would be at least another 45 minutes.  We had the option of just seeing the nurse practioner and she would check to make sure everything was looking good and we would have to wait another 4 weeks to meet with our doctor.  Good enough for us!  We just wanted to hear that heartbeat!  The heartbeat was 175 bpm and such a cool sound.  It just makes everything seem a little more real. 

Last week Caleb was reading my blog post and I was looking at it over his shoulder to make sure I didn't make any major goofs and I realized just how lazy I sounded.  But now you know, I'm just pregnant! 

So back in December I was late, and there were signs hinting that I might be pregnant.  I didn't want to jump to any conclusions too soon just to be disappointed later, but then one Sunday morning, December 16, while I was sitting at church, my heart started racing.  I felt out of breath and exhausted like I had just ran a marathon.  Since I had been having some more recent heart issues, it was kind of concerning.  We spent the afternoon with our small group at David and Bethany's house, and as we were leaving their house and climbed up the stairs from the basement, I was completely out of breath by time we got to the car.  I told Caleb that I was going to make a doctor's appointment that week because I was getting concerned.  Then I started wondering if it could be linked to being pregnant.  When we got home I got on my computer and googled "elevated heart rate when pregnant" and found a reputable website that mentioned that it was very common and sometimes even the way women find out that they're pregnant.  I went on to read some other common symptoms of first signs of pregnancy and by golly I had most of them!  When Caleb woke up from his nap I told him that I was almost sure that I was pregnant.  I went ahead and took a test, and sure enough that second line showed up!  I opened up the bathroom door and asked Caleb if he wanted to come see it for himself.  He came in and hugged me forever.  :-)  It was actually kind of neat that we found out on December 16 because that was the day that we got engaged 3 years before!  It was really good timing because we were leaving in 6 days to go visit family for Christmas, but we had to find a neat way to tell them.  I decided to get a book called "Grandma, Grandpa, and Me" by Mercer Mayer and put a note on it that said "Please read to me in August 2013, love Baby Smith" and we wrapped those up and gave them to our parents for Christmas. 

We had our first doctor's appointment a couple of weeks later and they projected my due date to be August 17.  So that makes me right around 12 weeks right now.  Hello second trimester!  My nausea has been getting better and better as long as I eat about 6 meals a day (no exaggeration, I really did eat lunch 3 times the other day) and I crave pancakes and waffles alllllll the time.  Fortunately Aldi's frozen waffles frugally curb that craving while I'm at work.  For those that have been wondering, we won't find out what we are having until 20 weeks, and yes, we will find out.  I can't handle waiting another 28 weeks to find out.  I need to have either those bows or superhero attire ready!

So back to Caleb's birthday.  Since he prefers to have something other than cake for his birthday, I make him one of those strawberry jello pretzel deals on Sunday night.  Sunday nights are my nights to catch up on housework and the only time I really have to prepare any sort of food.  Here lately preparing food makes me terribly nauseous.  I can be feeling fine all day but when I step into that kitchen and start cooking, bring over that trash can because I feel like I'm going to need it.  Anyway, I pushed through that icky feeling and got this dessert made.  I didn't surprise him with his "cake" like i have in previous years because, well, I really didn't care this year.  I blame hormones.  Last year I made him an ice cream cake but wouldn't tell him what it was and the year before I hid a no-bake cookie cake in my closet for about a week.  We did dig into it on Monday night because this pregnant mama wanted some!  I can't know that it's sitting in my fridge for 5 days and not eat it.  That's just crazy.  Fortunately Caleb is not a real big birthday celebrator so he didn't care if we dug in early.  Also, this may come as a surprise from my last post but I was going to order him the wii lego batman 2 game (he got the first one for Christmas from his sister and plays it alllll the time, but I must disclaim that he never lets it interrupt our time together in the evenings) and he knew I was going to get it because it's what he asked for.  When I went to order it the price had gone up and he told me that it wasn't worth that price.  I could have been a good wife and told him that the price was fine and he could still get it, but then I thought maybe he would enjoy getting to pick out a knife more since he will enjoy that longer than he would a wii game once he beats it.  I gave him some of my Amazon gift cards from swagbucks (because we are cheap like that sometimes) and told him he could pick out whatever he wanted. He just so happened to already have a knife picked out and in his cart on amazon.  So that was the extent of his birthday.  We had been planning for weeks on going to Winter Jam today (Saturday) to see some awesome bands for only $10, but since you have to wait outside for awhile if you want a decent seat and we have a high in the low 30s today with more snow on the way tonight, I think we are going to stay put at home.  Lame, I know.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy that Soccer Stanley Cup Bowl game tomorrow night, or whatever it is that people are making such a fuss about.  (Go Ravens!)