Moodiness

So this whole "hormone"thing is really starting to get on my nerves. Don't get me wrong, I am more than grateful for the opportunity to experience pregnancy--it's something I've always looked forward to, but I've been working the last few years on being more calm and slow to anger. Some days I feel like all my hard work has just flown out the window.

Most of my frustrations come at work. My boss has started putting blocks on websites and games and things. I fully understand wanting us to focus more on work...but even when I have trouble focusing, I still get the work done. I mean, if I was late with everything and blowing everything off to cruise Facebook for four hours, then fine, whatever. I admit to using Facebook at work, but it's more like I check status updates occasionally, I do things when work is slow, or when I'm only sitting at my desk because I have to answer the phone. Games and things I only play when I'm waiting for something and don't want to start something new in the meantime or during lunch break. Holy crap, is that a crime!?!

My boss doesn't know about the pregnancy yet and I'd rather not tell him.....I just don't see a lot of good coming from it. However, it really sucks when I feel nauseated, tired, and annoyed all the time it seems and I have to pretend like everything's fine so he won't suspect. *sigh*

At least he didn't block Pandora. That would really have ticked me off.

New House

I have some pictures of our house! I won't post too many here, but I did want to show a few. The lady who we're buying the house from was about half done with the packing, so all that stuff is hers....but you get a basic idea of the layout. I promise more (better) pictures when the house is empty and/or after we're all moved in.

First is the outside:

This is the living room. On the left, that half wall is the stairwell that leads to the front door and the basement/garage. The back wall is a different color...apparentlty that's "cool"...but we are going to paint it. Someday.

Next is the kitchen from the living room. Dining area is to the left, along with the sliding glass door to the back porch/balcony. The kitchen is pretty open. It's not large but it's nice.


This is the guest room, and yes, it really is that bright. One downside of this house is that the previous owner was way into painting bright splashy colors. Normally, this wouldn't bother me, but when the colors don't match any of the bedding/furniture...it's pretty annoying. My guest room bedding lends itself to pastel green or lavender...so bright blue isn't great. The master bedroom is a dark purple (our bedding is brown and blue) and my nursery is green with surfboard wallpaper border. It all looks great....but nothing matches!! We planned to paint the master bedroom before moving in but to repaint all the bedrooms not the mention that random half-green wall in the living room would be pretty costly and time consuming. So the living room and 2 bedrooms will have to wait, although I'm pretty sure I (well, David) will repaint the nursery after we fing out if it's a boy or girl. I don't know. Green is nice and neutral...but the surfboards......ah I don't want my baby in a surfboard room! I want Classic Pooh and lots of babyness!

In other updates, my "morning" sickness is getting worse...I've progressed to actual vomiting. It's great....which is why I won't give you more details. I went to see the doctor but she had to leave and deliver someone else's baby so I'll have a real doctor update next week. They did take my BP though...and it was high. I've NEVER had high blood pressure. I blame this woman I had to talk to for work who decided to make it her personal mission to try and ruin our company because she didn't like our policies. I tried to stay calm but she kind of angered me immensely. *sigh* Worrying and getting upset is awful enough without the guilt that I'm hurting my child by worrying so much. Calm. I'm thinking calm....I need to go back to doing my yoga.

Plans for tomorrow: PACK

Changes

I guess the cat has come out of the bag. There are lots of changes in the near future for us Allreds. Unfortunately, I have ZERO pictures of any of these amazing changes yet, but fear not! By the end of the this week, I may have pictures for all three. Hold on to your hats, folks, here's a quick run-down of what will be very different very soon.

1. We bought a new car! This wasn't ever really a secret...more of a shocking (OK, not that shocking) suprise. Our old car was a 2001 Kia Sephia. We bought it about 2 years ago (in Ohio) when our beloved Toyota Camry passed from this life (she was "donated" to a local junk yard..but we got a hundred bucks for her!). The Kia treated us well. He made the trip to Utah and ran better than we expected until David crashed him in July while I was visiting family in Ohio (OK, OK, he didn't really crash, it was a....fender bender. Anyway, things were a bit messed up from that, but he was still drivable so he lasted us until now, but the plates were about to expire and so the time for repairs had come. Unfortunately, these repairs (new headlight [the old one worked, but the cover was cracked/missing pieces], new fan belt, broken speedometer [it would sit at zero], and broken left front axel to name a few) were going to cost us over $4000. When we bought said car, we paid a grand total of $3000, so needless to say we weren't going to pay that much just to make it pass inspection...even if we did have that much (which we didn't). ANYWAY, long story short, the dealer gave us a great trade in value and we couldn't pass up an interest-free loan (especially when it was the only alternative to not having a car!) so we are now the proud owners of a 2009 Kia Spectra. I was sick and so David did all the dirty work, but I did sign my name to some paperwork, so I am co-owner, officially. I never thought I'd ever own a new car, but I feel much safer and I LOVE driving.

2. We're having a baby! The plan was to tell the family for two reasons. 1) It would satisfy my desire to tell people the news I have been dying to tell for years, and 2) I figured I could use all the extra prayers I could get because this whole thing is in the Lord's hands. Unfortunately I didn't think things through too much...once family knew, other people knew too. There are friends I have here whom I'm so close to they feel like family, some who are even having similar problems as the ones I had and so I felt bad hiding from them. I thought I was doing an OK job, I was only going to wait until 12 weeks (April 26) to tell everyone, but when family started putting stuff on Facebook I decided I'd rather everyone know from me than from other people. So, there it is. I am 7 weeks and 1 day. I see my doctor for the first time on Thursday. I'm absolutely terrified but feel this time will be different. I am due November 8th, which I realized today is the day our family dog passes away in 2006. I'm glad I have something happy to associate with that day now.

3. We bought a house! This was the one thing I really hadn't told anyone about, including my family. The only people who knew were our bishop, David's brother, and some friends at church. We have been looking for awhile, trying to find something in our price range because the market is so great right now, and the house we have just fell into our laps, literally. It's a bit of a long story, so I'll save those details for a later post (when I have pictures). Basically we were waiting until we closed because so much can happen before closing....but my wonderful, amazing husband and I didn't communicate as well as I thought and he posted it on Facebook. I can't blame him--he's so excited. So am I. We actually found out that our offer had been accepted the same day we found out we were going to have a baby. Awesome day. Anyway, the house is in Syracuse, which is the next city west of Clearfield. In my head it's like comparing Kent with Hudson. Kent is wonderful and better than most other cities around, but Hudson has more money. That's what Syracuse is like compared to Clearfield, although Syracuse doesn't hold a candle to Hudson. (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Kent is my hometown, and Hudson is a close-by city that is known for it's wealthy citizens, nicer houses and neighborhoods, and just a nicer looking place because it has more money.) We close on April 1, which is nine days from today. We hope to be moved in completely by the 8th. I haven't packed as much as I'd like to but I'm working on it. It's hard when you feel sick a lot...:( Quick description: 3 Bedrooms, 2 (full) baths, split entry, very deep 2-car garage, partially finished basement (with potential for 2 more bedrooms, a laundry room, and at least a half or 3/4 bath), nice kitchen, vaulted ceilings, built in automatic sprinkler system (a must here in the desert), and lots of windows. It's not very large (about 1600 sq. ft.) but it's only 8 years old and it's in the most amazing neighborhood--perfect for raising a family. Our backyard comes with a great swingset and lots of garden space. It's also about 90% fenced in. We just found out today what we've locked a 5.0% interest rate as well. Whoo hoo!

Well, that's the major updates around here--more to come soon, including pictures! I'd have pictures of the car already but I'm waiting for the snow to clear (it was 70º for 3 days when I was sick in bed with a cold, but it snows when I head back to work. Murphey's Law). For those of you interested....my morning sickness hasn't been too bad...but today has been the worst. I still haven't thrown up but I almost wish I would--I think it would help. I guess it's a good sign, though, so I can't complain.

Birthday Bash

I know I'm a bit late, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about my birthday! I went to work as usual and was thrilled to receive two dozen of the most beautiful red roses I have ever seen from David. They were delivered around 9am and came with a lovely vase which allowed them to be wonderfully displayed on my desk for several days. I received phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and lots of Facebook messages from family and friends throughout the day, which was awesome. I also received a GIANT doughtnut from a co-worker, which I nibbled on all day. I ended up having to work an extra hour of overtime after spending much of my day on some crazy project, but when I got home I found four birthday cards in the mail, so it was all good. I received some money so I immediately went to the bank and then made my way to the distribution center where I bought a new temple dress as well as a new slip. Mine has been worn at least once a month for almost four years and it was beginning to show wear. That and it was a little tight...I couldn't even raise my arms above my head. This new one still has pockets but isn't quite as snug and it is suprisingly slimming.
I was very excited to get it. We are planning to go to the temple next Saturday and I'm excited to wear it. After that we went to Ben and Misty's house for cake. Having eaten nothing but doughnut all day I was less than ready for more sweets, but the cake was shaped like Ohio which was freaking awesome.
This flag was on a chopstick. Yay Ohio!
After cake David and I headed for TGI Fridays in Riverdale. We had Job, David's brother with us. Ben and Misty were supposed to come as well but they decided to stay home because their kids were just getting over being sick. We met up with our friends Michael, Nick and Chelsea, Natalie and Eric, and Nathan and Rebecca. My co-worker, Caleb, and his wife, Becca, were supposed to come as well, but that never worked out. It was so much fun! Eric and Natalie are from our ward and were some of our first friends when we moved here. They have had problems starting their family as well so they have a special place in mine and David's hearts. We play games with them a lot. Nathan and Rebecca are also in our ward. Nate was recently called as Scoutmaster, so we are in there together. Rebecca is an amazing painter and has been teaching David some techniques. They live in our apartment complex and we have FHE together occasionally. I'm pretty sure I've talked about Nick and Chelsea before as well as Michael. Anyway, here we all are at dinner. Well, I took the picture. From left to right: Chelsea, Nick, David, Natalie, Eric, Rebecca, Nate, Michael, Job. I was successfully embarrassed by a drove of waiters singing Happy Birthday. At least I got free ice cream (which I couldn't possibly finish).After dinner, Eric, Natalie, Nate, and Rebecca came over and we played a few games. Then it was time for bed! The next day David and I went to Target and got our Wii Fit, along with some help from certain family members who included dinero with their birthday cards (muchas gracias!!). So far I have been successful at doing at least a little every day. I enjoy it a lot! I was going to get a picture of myself with it/using it............but I didn't, so you'll have to settle for a picture of the Wii Balance Board and the Wii Fit box.

Things are going well here. There are lots of changes happening in our neck of the woods that I haven't gone totally public with, but I will soon! Please keep our family in your prayers as we move forward through life.

Oh, and I found out my sis is coming to visit at the end of May--ROCK ON!! I am WAY pumped.