OMG!

As a gift to myself, I bought Jenny McCarthy's Belly Laughs and oh my goodness, I have never laughed more! I am almost in tears reading some of the things because it's exactly how I feel. I have been telling everyone about the book, even if you aren't preggo, you should read it! It's a good (and blunt) way to see just what pregnant women are going through, but it's funny! It really makes it all seem ok, like you're not as crazy as you feel inside! I read a part to Jason, saying to him "this is totally something that you said!" See below:

As anyone who has ever endured it knows, the term 'morning sickness' is bullshit. Morning has very little to do with it. For me, it started in the morning and went straight through the night. The label 'morning' must have been thought up by a man who thought it was all in our heads and hoped that limiting the definition would make us all shut up by noon. Well, I don't think so, buddy! I say, come on over to my house around 5 p.m. so I can heave on you.

This is how my sickness went, I didn't have the constant throwing up, but I had the constant feeling like I needed to. I would like to think that that is even worse! I wish I could have thrown up, I wish that it would have been that easy but it wasn't!!! Ahhhh, well it made me laugh, I don't think Jason thought it was funny but I know there were some days when he would say "oh honey it's just in your head" and I so badly wanted to say to him "oh come walk an hour in these shoes buddy and tell me it's all in your head!"

The book is literally only about 150 pages so I should be done, but I am savoring each and every laugh! It truly is an entire book of laughs! Check out some of the other chapters in the book and you can imagine how hilarious the book is!!! The titles are her own, but the parenthesis is what the chapter is about.

Psycho Chick (Hormonal Rage)
Passing Stonehenge (Constipation)
Freddie Krueger Ain't Got Nothing on Me! (Dreams)
Well, It's Not 1972 Anymore! (Baby Boomers Explaining How It Was in Their Day)
Did a Sewer Tank Explode, or Did You Just Fart? (Gas)
The Crying Game (Hormonal Blues)
So, Anyway, Like I Was Saying. . .  Wait, What Was I Saying? (Wandering Mind)
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Prettiest Pregnant Lady of Them All? Clearly Not You, Lady! (Face Acne and Rashes)
Poopin' on the Table (The Dark Side of Delivery)
I Just Need to Lie Down For, like, Five Minutes. . .  Okay, Maybe Three Months (Sleepiness)
Let Me Repeat (Husband No-No's)

I am not done, but with the amount of laughter that it's producing, it's worth the wait!

Christmas at the Casa de James

Well, nothing too terribly exciting for the James household this Christmas, we were in bed early last night, someone had to work Christmas this year. We went to church last night, I have always loved the way the church looks at Christmastime, so peacefully illuminated by candlelight. Alarm went off at an early 4:00am this morning, I was up and out the door to rush to my parents to cook breakfast for Jason's team. Thank goodness my mother offered her help, otherwise I don't know how I would have gotten it all done; and we had a special guest, my brother getting off from work, he stopped by for breakfast with us all.

So I rush to PD, yea, that was the quickest drive I ever made to PD to get the guys their piping hot breakfast, of course it was because of all the green lights and no traffic that I got there so quickly ;) I came home and attempted to get some rest but it just wasn't happening, so I curled up on the couch and proceeded to watch some movies that a friend gave me...I couldn't get off the couch they were so good! (vampire stuff, I knew the hubby wouldn't care to watch with me) Around lunch I loaded Dixie up in the car and we went to PD, her Christmas present was getting to spend the day at work with daddy. Jason said she sniffed everything and had a good time at PD, just like old times.

Since Jason was working during the day alone, and Bubba was working Christmas night, we did a Christmas dinner at my parents this year. It was kinda nice, we got to end the day on a great note with our gifts. I got lots of new clothes...yea maternity ones. Jason got a whole slew of new shirts, so he can't complain anymore about not having anything to wear. His big gift was a work bench for the garage so he can put all his tools away, I got a new badge charm, his Sgt. badge.

This was a nice, quiet Christmas. We were off to bed early again for Jason to get up and go to work tomorrow. At least we have Monday off together to go and hang out, and then there's always New Years, of course I highly doubt we do anything this year!

Merry Christmas everyone,
Love The James Gang!

'Tis the Season

For some reason, I'm just not in the "holiday" spirit this year, and with hormones and mood swings, it only makes it worse! I have an inner rage like no other! I snap at anyone and everyone, especially those close to me. It's finally starting to get cold but seriously, this week it has been 90 degrees outside so that's been another downer. At least it was a short week, and we get to wear jeans to work - although I only have 1 pair that I can really wear right now so I had to go home and wash them every night! Jason is working this weekend, so I don't know what I am going to do sitting at home alone all weekend?!?! Oh that's right...shopping! Jason's favorite thing for me to do! :)

It was quite an exciting week at work, we think we have finally eliminated the mice problem with some plug-in devices that are suppose to emit sound waves that keep them away. They seem to be working, we only had one on Monday morning but we think it might have been a lil' straggler. However, they have begun some horrendous pounding upstairs! We came in and had some dust all over our desks, throughout the day I had what looked like snow in my hair from it falling down all day! The banging got worse throughout the week, scaring us all day just about every day. They are breakout out the jail cells on the fourth floor, so concrete cells, metal bars, the works and the workers up there honestly don't understand how bad it sounds to us down here...we think that any minute our ceiling is going to come crashing down! We have had water leaks, dirty water in the bathrooms, some welding embers come through our ceiling, but mainly just the noise...it shakes our entire desks!

I went with my parents to our old neighbors this week, for their annual Christmas dinner together. I got to see my best friend growing up and his wife, let them in on the news (and growing waistline!) and just catch up since I think it's been since our wedding that I saw them. It was a lovely evening, hubby had a meeting so he missed out :(

My Bubba made me some tamales...oh I can't wait to eat them!!! I LOVE bean and cheese tamales, he remembered and made me some, then he invited Jason and I to dinner. He's so sweet!

My mom and I went shopping all day today, needed some last minute gifts for some people, but boy am I tired! I need to get some rest since I have to wake up and make breakfast tomorrow for Jason's team. Thankfully my mommy has offered her assistance!

Jason and I are off to church this evening, I always tell Jason that we should have done a Christmas wedding, the church looks so pretty at Christmastime with all the decorations. I say "in our next life, we get married during Christmastime!"

Happy Holidays everyone!

Christmas in Bridge City

Christmas was nice in Bridge City with Jason's family. I got a body pillow, which I am so thankful for! Jason is planning on getting a work bench for his tools so he got a gift card towards that at LOWES. 

Jason was her jungle gym for the weekend

Us and Granny

 

The entire family

Jason was everyone's jungle gym this weekend

Here we go again

Another lovely week gone by. We went to the doctor this week, the baby is actually measuring smaller than they say it should be but nothing to be concerned with. She just said that my due date must be wrong. I've tried to explain to them that I know my body and my body has always been weird but nooooooooo why listen to me? Trust that handy-dandy cardboard wheel you have there, that's surely more reliable than my word Ok, done with my rant :)

Mood swings are still in full swing. The biggest thing is emotions. They are up and down and I just don't ever know when they will swing. Any little thing will hurt my feelings now, and I have a really hard time of biting my tongue too if you do make me mad.

We had a Secret Santa gift exchange this week at the office, mine was AWESOME! I got all sorts of really neat gifts throughout the week and an iTunes gift card at the end of the week! We had a White Elephant gift exchange as well at the office Christmas party and it was some fun!

We still have a mice problem, I now am up to 5 in one week! I came in on Thursday morning and had 2 on one trap, I said it was a 2 for 1 deal day! That day though we caught/had 7 mice in our office. It was bad, they are getting brave, running under our feet and in and around us while we are working. We have been told that there is nothing that anyone can do other than set out traps and hopefully catch them one at a time. Comforting huh? So of course that plays into the whole emotions thing.

Jason and I are heading to Bridge City this weekend to have Christmas with his family, unfortunately Jason will be working on Christmas day so we don't get to have much of a Christmas this year.

Happy Friday everyone, it's a payday for us - we always love those!!!

Baby James December 2010

We went to the doctor on December 13th for our monthly check-up. Everything was fine, I am somewhere between 12 and 13 weeks, baby has been off by a few days so we aren't for certain where I am at. Baby is growing and doing well though, mommy has certainly gotten her appetite back but still no weight gain yet. Woo-hoo, let's see how long we can hold this up! I still have Christmas and New Years to think about!

Baby James has his/her arms up by the head, which is the left end of the photo, belly in the middle and you can see the legs sticking up on the right; it was actually quite difficult to get a photo because he/she kept moving a lot

Here is a little bit better photo, the line was for measuring the baby, which is sitting at about 6.11cm which is about 2.5 inches

I did have one more photo of the baby but it's sitting in my office, it's a really good photo though, up close and you can almost see the definitions of the baby's face, thanks to Aunt Jaclyn for pointing those out to us! Doctor says that baby will begin to grow more rapidly as 2nd trimester is very important in the growth of the baby, next appointment is set for January 13th.

Christmas Party

Every December, my Bubba always has a Christmas Party, for the past couple of years we have been fortunate enough to be able to attend. Unfortunately, I was the DD for the evening, and the "clean-up" crew as well! I haven't stayed up that many hours straight in a loooooooooong time!

Me and my Bubba, almost didn't get this shot!!!

The traditional with my Danny-boy :)

An "office" photo

Me and Carrie, it's like we're holding on to each other for dear life!

Oh my sweet hubby...yes this is indeed how he chose to take the photo, standing over me with the camera upside down, I love his picture taking capabilities!

Oh what a week it has been!

I am still trying to get a hold on these "mood swings" and all the emotions but this week was one for the record books! Monday I went to see a friend for his birthday and to share the news, got into my office a little late that morning. Upon arrival, I noticed some little black specks on my desk. Now I guess I need to backtrack here just a little bit. See, they are doing construction in our building, a building that is very old and infested with all sorts of critters. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of my snacks had been nibbled on, asked for traps but still waiting. Well, Monday morning with the droppings and emotions, let's just say that s*** hit the fan! So I asked again for the traps, shut my door and proceed to cry. Then I begin cleaning out my office, getting any and every sign of food out of here. I also decided it was a good time to clean out some personal things that had been here for a while. Well, I moved one bag and, well, see for yourself...

 I picked up a bag and this was under it...yes those black specks are droppings...

Then I moved my bookshelf out and this was behind it...again, more droppings...

In case it's hard to see...those are candy wrappers, and the black specks are rat droppings...here all along I've been blaming our cleaning crew for eating my candy and who would have ever thought it was these little critters. So as you can imagine, I'm worried, do I need to be in this type of environment while pregnant and so on and so forth.  I had Jason come get me and take me to lunch I was so upset, I come back and am just wallowing in my own misery when my co-worker walks in and asks me whats up. I'm telling her all about it, showing it all to her when all of a sudden she interrupts me with "Mandie there's a mouse in your office, it just poked it's head out to see me from behind your desk." With that, it was all she wrote and I was all upset again. She ended up sending me home after we called asking for some mouse traps and were told that they got my request 2 weeks ago but they are just out and the guys haven't gone to get more...lovely...

So I come back the next day and go and take mouse traps from other parts of our office...places where people aren't working anymore. I set those out in my office then finally I get brought about 2 boxes of traps. I leave them out over night surely expecting something to be on them when I came in the next day but nothing. Someone had told me to put some peanut butter on them, so I did and went to lunch. Came back about an hour later and here is what was waiting for me when I got back:

The maintenance people didn't like that I put peanut butter on them...apparently that makes them not sticky...well obviously it worked for this poor sucker. Now, they are right, I came in this morning and my traps were all over my office, the oil from the peanut butter made it possible for them to get away and they did...messed up 2 of the traps, so I had to set new ones all out, about 6 traps for now, possibly more by the end of the day and plan to leave them out over the weekend. Someone actually suggested to me that I start getting them stuffed and have them as trophies in my office. You know, some hunt deer...I hunt mice. :) Hey...at least I can joke about it now, at the beginning of the week it wasn't funny, and still bothers me the fact that I have mice running around while I work. And the more people pick, the worse off it is.

Happy Friday everyone!

Why Women Cry - Watch Her Eyes

With my lovely crying spells these days, I came across this a few weeks back and thought it was really cute and quite fitting under the circumstances. Makes me feel a little better about crying now, maybe not such a big sign of weakness after all.

A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him.

"I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."

Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"

"All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?"

God said: "When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.

I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.

I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.

I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfaltering.

And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed."

"You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."

Mood swings and other fun stuff

So now that everyone knows, I have hit the lovely stage of crying spells and mood swings like no other! I have a short fuse as it is, a low tolerance for ignorance I like to say, and on most occasions I am a 'tell-it-like-it-is' type of a person. So take that and amplify it all and you have me on a daily basis! The crying is the weirdest thing, I don't like to cry...sign of weakness...never cared to do it, especially not in public! My gosh, these days, I get a paper-cut and the waterworks are in full swing! I'm making do though, thankfully I have great friends that are there to tell me that as crazy as I may seem, I am acting completely normal...normal...yea right! I think the hardest thing for me right now is all the 'help' and 'advice' that is coming. I don't like to depend on others to do for me, I can take care of myself on my own, independent woman I am! So it's hard for me to hear "don't do this" and "don't do that" or "are you sure that you need to be doing that?" I know everyone means well, but half the time I want to scream "I am pregnant, not incapacitated!!!" Ok...I'll step off my soap-box again.

Pregnancy is the most amazing thing though, I have come to realize that. Your body is going through so much, you have no control over it at all so you think you are a crazy person, but in the end you will have the most amazing reward. I have now entered my second trimester! First trimester was a little rough, I consider myself lucky as far as the sickness went though, it was just constant nausea, but it still wasn't fun. I think one of the hardest things for me is the lack of energy. It amazes me how at about 2 or 3 every afternoon I literally feel as if I have taken a Benadryl and could just go right to sleep. Poor Jason, when I get off work, the last thing I even want to think about is food so cooking has become obsolete now-a-days. I mean, you have the drive and the 'want' to do things but you just don't have the fuel and energy to get anything done. I have had a few nights here lately of some horrible sickness again (thought I was past this!), so I haven't had much sleep lately. Not that any sleep these days is 'good' by any means. I don't really have that much of an appetite either right now. I am hungry I guess, and know I need to eat, it's just that nothing appeals to me right now. For the past 3 weeks or so I had a MAJOR sweet tooth! Sour Patch Kids, Bright Crawlers...anything like that, sweet and sour, I couldn't get enough of. I was loving some spicy food! I think Jason is sick of Mexican food though for a while :( I do have the random cravings on different days, some days I want nothing but pickles, some it's nothing but ice-cream, others it's nothing but pepper so it's just a day-to-day thing of what will I be craving that day.

I had to finally go and buy some maternity clothes, the belly just doesn't suck in anymore :) It's funny, I try to suck in when I'm getting ready in the morning, and it just sticks out...actually hurts to try and suck in!! Guess that's a sign that I should quit trying huh? :) However, I do see what all the fuss is about, I don't know that I will EVER go back to regular clothes again after wearing maternity pants!!! The most amazing thing ever, everything fits...no matter what...it all stretches and fits!!!

This was the day I told the office...as you can see, it's hard to hide the 'pooch.' I sat at my desk for most of the morning, until a friend called and said she just had to tell someone so I let her and in a matter of about 15 minutes, the entire office knew the news.

I go back to the doctor next week, getting excited now as the baby is growing more and more and what we have to look forward to with each and every doctor visit,it's too bad right now we have to wait an entire month between visits huh?!?

Oh...and just for those who are wondering and want it on your calendar:
Official due date of Baby James - June 23, 2011
Date to find out pink or blue - January 24, 2011

Thanksgiving

Well this Thanksgiving was a crazy one, we traveled quite a bit! I left work early on Wednesday and we drove down to Bridge City to spend Thanksgiving day down there. Then we drove back that evening because I had a hair appointment (yes you read right, doctor says it's perfectly fine as well as acrylic nails and pedicures!) the next morning. Jason's family came up to Bryan though to spend the weekend with us and go see the Christmas lights. Jason got the entire weekend off, but this means that he will be working the weekend of Christmas all by himself :( Anyway, it was a nice time in both places, we told Jason's Granny while down in Bridge City about the baby and she was very happy for us. Now we just need to tell my grandmother then the whole town will know!

----- WHY WOMEN ARE CRANKY -----

I just thought this was funny...I am sure cranky these days, with reason I would like think, but for the most part I try to catch myself although it has been really hard these days. I like to think of myself as a "tell it like it is" type of a person, my mouth speaks before my head has time to think about it sometimes. Anywho...this just made me laugh and think to myself that I have only just begun the best years of my life! :)

ENJOY!

We started to 'bud' in our blouses at 9 or 10 years old only to find that anything that came in contact with those tender, blooming buds hurt so bad it brought us to tears. So came the ridiculously uncomfortable training bra contraption that the boys in school would snap until we had calluses on our backs.

Next, we get our periods in our early to mid-teens (or sooner). Along with those budding boobs, we're bloated, we're cramped, we've got the hormone crankies, had to wear little mattresses between our legs or insert tubular, packed cotton rods in places we didn't even know we had.

Our next little rite of passage was having sex for the first time which was about as much fun as having a ramrod push your uterus through your nostrils (IF he did it right and didn't end up with his little cart before his horse), leaving us to wonder what all the fuss was about.

Then it was off to Motherhood where we learned to live on dry crackers and water for a few months so we didn't spend the entire day leaning over Brother John. Of course, the amazing creatures that we are (and we are), we learned to live with the growing little angels inside us steadily kicking our innards night and day making us wonder if we were preparing to have Rosemary's Baby.

Our once flat bellies looked like we swallowed a whole watermelon and we pee'd our pants every time we sneezed. When the big moment arrived, the dam in our blessed Nether Regions invariably burst right in the middle of the mall and we had to waddle, with our big cartoon feet, moaning in pain all the way to the ER.

Then it was huff and puff and beg to die while the OB says, 'Please stop screaming, Mrs. Hearmeroar. Calm down and push. 'Just one more good push' (more like 10), warranting a strong, well-deserved impulse to punch the %$#*@*#!* hubby and doctor square in the nose for making us cram a wiggling, mushroom-headed 10 pound bowling ball through a keyhole.

After that, it was time to raise those angels only to find that when all that 'cute' wears off, the beautiful little darlings morphed into walking, jabbering, wet, gooey, snot-blowing, life-sucking little poop machines.

Then come their 'Teen Years.

' Need I say more?

When the kids are almost grown, we women hit our voracious sexual prime in our early 40's - while hubby had his somewhere around his 18th birthday.

So we progress into the grand finale: 'The Menopause,' the Grandmother of all womanhood. It's either take HRT and chance cancer in those now seasoned 'buds' or the aforementioned Nether Regions, or, sweat like a hog in July, wash your sheets and pillowcases daily and bite the head off anything that moves.

Now, you ask WHY women seem to be more spiteful than men, when men get off so easy, INCLUDING the icing on life's cake: Being able to pee in the woods without soaking their socks...

So, while I love being a woman, 'Womanhood' would make the Great Gandhi a tad crabby. You think women are the 'weaker sex?' Yeah right. Bite me!

The 'Midwife'

Ok, so after my initial doctor visit and blood-work (which all came back GREAT...particularly the one saying that I am not anemic!), I was told I needed to meet with the resident Midwife. I have my own personal opinions of Midwives, but they said I needed to so why not. Well, this woman was a looney-tune! You know, when I ask you a question, asking for your medical opinion, give me an answer, don't tell me to "think about it" or "analyze this," you answer my question, heck, I'm paying enough to come to you so it shouldn't be that hard! Ugh! Ok, I'll step off my soap-box now. Had some regular things to check up on, then we got some more pictures, and then, heard the sweetest sound I've ever heard...a sweet lil' pitter-patter. That beating is enough to just melt your heart away and it just about did. Midwife says that it is a good, strong, heartbeat of about 120 bpm. My mom says that is fast, meaning girl for her, internet says that is actually very slow...girls usually range in the 160-180 bpm. Bubba already named a boy, no matter what we name 'it' he says he will be calling 'it' Kash. So here's some more photos of our lil' peanut:

The bottom is displaying the heartbeat

Here she was measuring the baby, it's actually measuring a few days back but still an active lil' critter non-the-less, he/she was kicking and moving around quite a bit while we were trying to get a good picture

There is only one baby in there...I PROMISE!

This is probably the best photo of the baby of the bunch, zoomed in quite a bit, but we had to work to get it, he/she would not quit moving around

Oh, I also had to get a flu shot...dumbest thing I have ever done! She gave it to me in my shoulder...literally, Jason saw the spot, it was in my shoulder and I was in quite a bit of pain! I go back for my monthly visit in December so we'll see how the lil' one is growing by then!

The news is out!

So we made a quick trip down to Bridge City to let everyone in on the secret down there. We had to quickly change plans when we called and Jason's parents said they were heading out of town the next morning for a camping trip. So I rush to get off work and we trucked it on down there, getting in around 10ish, I think everyone had an 'idea' of what was going on, random trip down in the middle of a week with the excuse of "I had vacation to burn and Jason just wanted to get out of town for a couple of days" and he had just been there the week before. It went well, we told his parents and sister and brother-in-law, but of course, asked that they not tell anyone just yet, until we are ready to share the news.

First doctor visit!

Well we went to the doctor this week, it's crazy all the things that they tell you and everything that you have to change and remember and it's just so much to consider! And I can't wait to be able to start talking about it all! Jason and I agreed that we wouldn't wait until I'm done with my first trimester, sickness has certainly set it and it's hard for me to hide things from my parents so we sat them down to dinner on Thursday and broke the news to them. Mom was completely oblivious to what was going on, Dad said he had a feeling he knew what we were up to and Trey already knew...I had to tell someone and it just 'slipped' out one day! We are going to go to Bridge City next week to share the news with the James side of the family. Here are the first pics of our lil' peanut:

Oh...official due date of my peanut is June 23, 2011

Ugh...the sickness

I went to a friend's house to watch the Cowboys game over the weekend, Jason was working and I didn't feel like dealing with trick-or-treaters at the house but I was only able to handle about 2 hours before the sickness hit and there were just too many smells going on and my body said "get the heck out of this place!" I really hope the sickness passes soon! The whole 'morning sickness' thing is totally a myth! There is no set time that it hits, it is there from sun up to sun down! Lying down is the worse for me! I haven't really gotten 'sick' that many times, here or there something happens that triggers but for the most part it is just a constant feeling of nausea that won't go away. Crackers and Sprite/Ginger Ale are my bff right now! And Jason, bless his sweet lil' heart, "it's like a hangover honey, just go throw up and you'll feel better." You know the saying "walk a mile in my shoes" well I would love for him to walk an hour in my shoes right now and feel this feeling!

"The end result is worth it, the end result is worth it, THE END RESULT IS WORTH IT!" - Right Katie?

Our lil' baby

We have been wanting to get some "family photos" with Dixie for quite some time now, well Jr. League finally gave us a good excuse to get some done. Jason hadn't had photos taken of Dixie in years and we wanted some nice photos of the 3 of us too. We haven't gotten all the proofs back but here is one of our favorites for now!


This one appeared in the annual report that Jr. League publishes. We should get the rest soon and I'll be sure and post them!

We did the photo shoot then Jason was off to Bridge City, he did a "show" with Dixie at our niece's school. Dixie really enjoyed it but has proven that she is getting really old and tired.

The time has finally come!!!

So I had to back-date these next few posts a bit. I had begun typing them as soon as things were happening but had to wait until the appropriate time to share the great news!

As most may have already known, Jason and I are at that point in our life that we were ready to start thinking about a family. No rush, we just know we are as ready as we are ever going to be. I had this feeling, I know I used to make fun of women who said that but I just knew, so I took a test waaaaaaay early and well...see for yourself:

In case you are 'hard of seeing' here's a little close-up for you:

So yea it is a little early but looks like we are starting that family. I took another test about 4 days after this one, still a few days early but got the results even faster on that one so that told me that I was definitely preggo. I put in a call to the doctor, been having some bad allergic reactions to something and breaking out in hives like crazy, forcing me to take my best friend, Benadryl, almost on a daily basis. I had called because I wanted to make sure that it was still safe to be doing so while pregnant. In that one 10 minute phone call, I had an estimated due-date, doctors appointments through the end of the year and blood-work appointments. Let the madness begin!!!

Jason and I agree that no one needs to know, of course Katie is a must but other than that no one can know!! It's our lil' secret :)

I came across this the other day and it just made me laugh, I can't tell you how many times I have said some of these words/phrases to Jason and his response it "ok but what does that really mean?" Well now honey, you don't have to wonder anymore! :)

A Woman's Vocabulary, Keywords and Meanings (as taken from an interview with a woman)

FINE
This is the word we use at the end of any argument in which we feel we are right, but need to shut you up. NEVER use 'Fine' to describe how a woman looks. This will cause you to have one of those arguments.

FIVE MINUTES
This is half an hour. It is equivalent to the five minutes that your football game is going to last before you take out the trash, so I feel that it's an even trade.

NOTHING
This means something and you should be on your toes. "Nothing" is usually used to describe the feeling a woman has of wanting to turn you inside out, upside down, and backwards. "Nothing" usually signifies an argument that will last "Five Minutes" and end with the word "Fine".

GO AHEAD (with raised eyebrows)
This is a dare. One that will result in a woman getting upset over "Nothing" and will end with the word "Fine".

GO AHEAD (normal eyebrows)
This means "I give up" or "do what you want because I don't care". You will get a raised eyebrow "Go Ahead" in just a few minutes, followed by "Nothing" and "Fine" and she will talk to you in about "Five Minutes" when she cools off.

LOUD SIGH
This is not actually a word, but is still often a verbal statement very misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot at that moment and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing".

SOFT SIGH
Again, not a word, but a verbal statement. "Soft Sighs" are one of the few things that some men actually understand. She is content. Your best bet is to not move or breathe and she will stay content.

OH
This word followed by any statement is trouble.
Example; "Oh, let me get that". Or, "Oh, I talked to him about what you were doing last night". If she says "Oh" before a statement, run, do not walk, to the nearest exit. She will tell you that she is "Fine" when she is done tossing your clothes out the window, but do not expect her to talk to you for at least 2 days. "Oh" as the lead-in to a sentence usually signifies that you are caught in a lie. Do not try to lie more to get out of it, or you will get raised eyebrows and a "Go ahead," followed by acts so unspeakable that I can't bring myself to write about them.

THAT'S OKAY
This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can say to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before visiting on you major retribution and tribulations for what ever it is that you have done. "That's Okay" is often used with the word "Fine" and used in conjunction with a raised eyebrow "Go Ahead". At some point in the near future when she has plotted and planned, you are going to be in some mighty big trouble.

PLEASE DO
This is not a statement, it is an offer. A woman is giving you the chance to come up with whatever excuse or reason you have for doing whatever it is that you have done. You have a fair chance to tell the truth, so be careful and you shouldn't get a "That's Okay".

THANKS
A woman is thanking you. Do not faint, just say you're welcome.

THANKS A LOT
This is much different than "Thanks". A woman will say, "Thanks A Lot" when she is really ticked off at you. It signifies that you have hurt her in some callous way, and will be followed by the "Loud Sigh". Be careful not to ask what is wrong after the "Loud Sigh", as she will only tell you "Nothing".

DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, I GOT IT
Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has asked a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to "Nothing."

South Padre

My office has an annual conference, this was the first year I was able to go and had so much fun! When we were flying in, there was a terrible storm. Driving to our hotels was a nightmare!!! Water was white-capping on the road but we made it safe and sound, and within a few hours it was cleared up and the sun was out. The first day was just registration so we ate a late lunch then got settled in our rooms before dinner. We had minivans for the week, one per hotel, so it was super cramped! We ate dinner then found a cute lil' bar that had a live band.

Us girls all crammed into a van

Me and Danny - he was tasked with taking care of me all week

Our driver & navigator

Our last night out...I'm a little sun-burnt :(

We had so much fun!

We went to class too! Learned some new things, but it was a nice lil' vacation away even if it was for only a few days.

September 11th

For September 11th weekend, Jason's parents came down for a visit. We spent Saturday morning at Kolache Festival...lots of kolaches...lots of fun! My dad even shut his shop down for the entire day!!! It was so much fun that day. Dad loved walking around, the one thing I was so excited to show him though was the old fashioned machines that make cornmeal...well we learned that the owner of the machine passed away this past year so the set-up was not there! I was soooo sad! We still had fun though! We finished about lunch time so we went up to Brenham and ate at The Southern Flyer. It's an old fashioned diner, equipped with jukeboxes, poodle skirts and leather pants. It's at the airport so you can watch planes landing and taking off while eating. We rushed home to make a quick change of clothes and then rushed to the pre-game activities at Kyle Field. This was my parents' first time...daddy tried to act like he hated being there but at the end of the weekend he did tell me he enjoyed the trip. We walked all around, they had a lot of "First Responder Appreciation" activities going on. We took as many photos as we could get daddy to stand! We then took everyone to Step Off, you know I never thought to bring my parents to any of the game-day activities when I was going to school. So this was pretty exciting for everyone! After the canon fired off, we ran to listen to the band then some last minute photos and then headed home. We were really tired, long day in the sun.

Mom and Dad in front of a piece of metal from one of the World Trade Center buildings

And then Jason and I

Jason's cousin is a Freshman at A&M, we ran into him at the game too!

Ziegenbock Music Festival

Oh the joys of a college town! There's always some sort of music festival going on and somehow we manage to get out to them! This particular one used to be out at Lake Bryan, Jason would always work it first then I would come out there later and we would party the night away. Well this year they decided that the Lake was not big enough so they moved it out in the county somewhere...which meant we got to enjoy the entire day!

I promise this time I was holding Jason's drink! He had to take the picture!!!


Sure were close to him!!!

There were several other entertainers throughout the evening and they even did a broadcast late in the night that was fed live to Afghanistan, it was really neat to see Aggies on the other side of the world! Thank goodness this is a holiday weekend and we can sleep in all day tomorrow!

Aggie Football - WHOOP!

I love the fall! College Station is amazing during football season, the town almost shuts down for Aggie Football games. Jason and I went to the first game, it was oh-so-much fun!

We can always be found in a pre-game tent...the beer was running low, had to stock up!

They always have pre-game photos you can take...of course had to partake!

Not much going on...

August has been a slow month for the Casa de James, Jason is officially done with night shift (at least until further notice!) and is training on days for a couple of more days then he's on his own!!! I'm so proud of him :) They didn't really give him a break either, he finished up his night shifts then jumped right into day shifts but I sure do like having him home in the evenings!

Middle of the month we made a trip to Bridge City to visit Jason's family. We don't have that much spare time these days so an opportunity came up for us to go and we took it. It was nice, a much needed trip away from the reality of our lives right now. We always love to go back for some good Cajun food!!! And I might have gone a little crazy on scrapbooking items...maybe.

We had a wedding that we went to as well, made me want to do ours all over again! The decorations were to die for and I was literally begging Jason to do ours again! He wasn't too fond of the idea though, neither was my mother!!!

August always marks a lovely time for me...Sorority Recruitment! As most of you may know I'm one of my sorority's local alumni advisors. Recruitment is always a fun time...100+ girls, low on sleep and patience, makes for great "working conditions." We had an amazing recruitment though, finished with quota (the number they tell us we have to take) plus extras! It's always exciting when you get extras!!!

Fall brings football, which means Jason will be busy for the next few months! YAY!!! :)

Reminded why I don't bother

You know, I was reminded why I don't bother with some things (or people) over the weekend. Take for example when you call someone and leave them a message but they call right back without even checking the message first...why bother with the message huh? Or you open a door for someone and they don't even acknowledge that you opened it...again, why bother? How about when you tell someone that you don't want something (i.e. food) but they get it for you anyway...why bother right? Well this past weekend I went to a cousin's baby shower, I didn't have anything going on, Jason was working so he needed to be asleep during the day so I figured "why not?" Once I got there, I was quickly reminded why I didn't bother...my family spent more time saying things like "I can't believe you are here!" or "gosh, how long has it been?" or "oh you really do love your family!" I was just amazed at how everyone acted. It was a cute shower nonetheless and I won a candle! I am always really good at guessing the girth of the mommy's belly...a sign?!?!

I can see a light at the end of the tunnel!

Well, Jason's nights of working are almost to an end!!! The nights all alone were fun at first but it gets lonely and I never realized just how much of a light sleeper I was until he wasn't there!!!

This week he had his annual Tip-A-Cop event at Texas Roadhouse. This is something that the local law enforcement agencies all come together to do to raise money for the Special Olympics. Officers from all agencies in our area are invited to volunteer their time and "wait" on tables. They can really only bring rolls and refill drinks but they are trying to earn tips and it's always a competition between the agencies who can raise more money! Of course not matter where we sit, we are always going to donate to BPD, and every year I decorate our envelope with the juvenile "BPD Rocks!" It was a huge success! For the past couple of years, our area Tip-A-Cop has brought in the most amount of money in all of Texas, so it's bragging rights for all involved.

Also this week I helped out with our first annual Stuff the Bus School Supplies Drive for the Junior League's Stuff the Bus fundraiser. Community members were encouraged to come out and drop off school supplies for the 1,200+ students in our area that need the supplies! It was an early morning (5am!!) and that day ended quite late but it was a great first year and we look forward to many more! This marks the beginning of my Junior League duties for the year. I'm so glad to get back in the swing of things!

Here fishy fishy fishy!

Jason has always wanted to go deep sea fishing, and if I was completely honest, I do too. I'm afraid of the sea-sickness though... Well, an opportunity came along for Jason to go on a deep sea fishing trip with a great group of guys (yea it was a bachelor party). He really didn't want to go but after a lot of begging we finally convinced him to go...he knows he's glad he went, he couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was!

While some were very eager to get the trip started....

Others might have stayed up a little too late the night before...

All-in-all it was a good trip for Jason

We have some yummy King Fish steaks in the freezer!

Changes and good times

Well, this has been somewhat of a bittersweet week for Jason. He has been training the new Public Information Officer, but in a matter of a couple of days he did his last on-air interviews, lost his work phone and take-home car. I think he was a little lost by Friday as to what he needed to be doing. He will officially begin his training as a Sgt. on Monday night, I have to admit that I'm a little scared for him to go back to the streets but I knew what I signed up for when I said "I do."

Friday was a fun-day. Jason had a relaxing "last day" doing some last minute PIO duties then home to get ready for our local Chamber of Commerce Ladies' Nite. He was a "local celebrity" helper; my best friend and I went to the event and had a blast!

As we are leaving for the night...my hot date picked me up! :)

We were making out good at the poker table!!!

Jason was one of the celebrity dealers at the tables

Trying to win...but up against 6 ladies he never had a chance!

Trying to explain the game to someone that just wasn't getting it

In the end, it was an amazing night! I met lots of new people, ran into a few old friends and had lots of laughs...AND...Katie won a $500 gift certificate!! I can't wait for next year's event because I am determined to win some of the raffle items! I made it home with some hair product samples and a $30 gift certificate to a place I don't even use...BUT...I did make it home with another nice prize...

Check out that H-O-T-T-I-E!! :) Yay for Ladies' Nite 2010!

Local Heroes Night at Bombers Game

So last night, the Brazos Valley Bombers honored our cities' local heroes at the game. There were fire trucks and police cars there for kids to play on and Jason got to throw out the first pitch of the game!

Wally Moon

Jason throwing out the first pitch

It was a little high, the catcher had to stand up but he still made it there!

It wouldn't be complete without a photo with some Bombshells

And then a little batting practice before heading home for the evening