i'm the kinda girl | weekly wednesday: week 14

...would rather eat out than have to cook   ...believes in always being open minded   ...never says 'no' to an ice cream craving   ...likes a simple life   ...buys a million lipsticks but only wears make up twice a month   ...prefers dive bars to fancy wine bars   ...changes into yoga pants right after work   ...(speaking of yoga pants) wears athletic attire regularly, but only works out when my favorite jeans get snug #healthy   ...always has a project going or one in mind   ...never stops thinking- it takes me at least an hour to fall asleep every night   ...doesn't want to think too hard on a Wednesday, so my list ends here- now if only I could have some post work champagne      and because I want to keep up with my weekly Wednesday:

• how far along?
  14 weeks.
  
  
• baby is the size of a:
  lemon.
  
  
• total weight gain/loss:
  down 10 lbs.
  
  
• the bump:
  I think there is the tiniest of bumps forming- wondering if the weight gain will be starting soon.
  
  
• symptoms:
  one day of terrible morning sickness- I thought I was done with this!
  
  
• food cravings:
  just salty french fries!
  
  
• anything that makes you sick or queasy?
  all forms of meat and cheese.
  
  
• sleep:
  sleeping like a little baby minus the 3x I get up to pee during the night!
  
  
• what I miss:
  champagne.
  
  
• wedding rings on or off?
  on :)
  
  
• belly button:
  innie!
  
  
• any names picked out yet?
  still Jack for a boy and undecided on the girl name.
  
  
• gender:
  we will find out at the end of next month!  after weeks of debate, we have chosen to find out.
  
  
• movement:
  can't wait to feel that first little kick!
  
  
• maternity clothes:
  none yet, but I have a feeling the pants will be happening sooner rather than later!
  
  
• labor signs:
  hopefully none of those for a looooong time.
  
  
• best moment of this week:
  we ordered the furniture for the nursery and I am so happy that part is done!
  
  
• what I am excited about/looking forward to:
  BOSTON- one more week!  and an appointment the day before we leave to hear that sweet little heartbeat!

here is a picture of the amazing crib we ordered from restoration hardware!  we also ordered the dresser to match and can't wait for it to get here!

 

happy valentine's day.

happy valentine's day!   I am so thankful to have my husband as my valentine this year, but can't help but think about what our valentine's day will look like next year with a six month old- YIKES!  

I have never been big into valentine's day.  it's not that I hate love or have a bad attitude towards it, I just don't get into it.  I am not your typical hopeless romantic girl.  yes, I have an obsession with lipstick and all things cute clothes related but I would rather drink beer and watch a game somewhere over a fancy night out.  I like going to baseball games and love to tailgate for any and all sporting events.  my husband proposed while we were playing golf and I couldn't imagine it any other way.    that being said, I will 100% be that mom that goes all out on valentine's morning to remind my kids how loved they are.  every valentine's morning growing up, I woke up to a valentine's day gift bag sitting on my bathroom counter waiting on me and a breakfast cooked special for me.  I can't remember a single time in my life that I was sad about not having a valentine or sad about not having a boyfriend to buy me love gifts.    when my husband asked if I wanted to do anything, I said something along the lines of, "I figured we could order pizza or thai food and just hang out at the house.  don't worry about getting me a card or gift." and he replied with, "is this a test?"  no, it's not a test.  truth be told, I ordered myself a pair of new sunglasses a few weeks ago and justified it by saying, "well this will just be my valentine's gift."  oops.   one thing I do think is important to remember on valentine's day is to remind the people you love that you do indeed love them and give them a few reasons why you appreciate them.  I promise that will always mean a thousand times more than any gift you could buy them.  people love to be loved!  

 

four years | why we work | the longest post there ever was

when I read the title to the "why we work" link-up, I immediately thought it would be about why I worked.  you know, at my job.  guess that is the tiny workaholic in me.  but then I read what the actual link-up entailed and loved it.  I feel like it should be a series.  I could write about so many different people.  why my husband and I work.  why my best friend and I just get each other.  I could also write about why I don't work with some people, but that is a different story for a different link-up.  but yesterday, out of nowhere, it hit me who I would be writing about this time.  

  by the time you enter your twenties, you usually know what it feels like to lose someone close to you.  yesterday marked four years of losing my granddad and somehow it still feels like it was yesterday.  some people are close to their family and some people aren't.  I am an only child, so growing up my grandparents were a large part of my life.  we spent most weekends going to see my grandparents because there was nothing else to do and my cousins were there a lot for me to play with.  I am not much of a writer, which made me wanting a blog make zero sense, but I have one paper I wrote in my college career that I didn't make a D on am actually proud of.  we were told to write a memoir of sorts.  it could be about ourselves or someone else.  I decided to write about my Pepa and for whatever reason, I felt the need to share this paper with y'all today.  I promise I will get to the point of this link-up soon.  it's lengthy- sorry.  but I guess the best explanation of why I chose such a strange subject for this topic is that sometimes my family just gets it.    we work.     I won't go as far to say that there weren't hormonal teenage days that I yelled, "YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!" at my parents.  but the older I get, the more I realize that they get me.  I think I owe that partially to biology, I mean we do share blood and they are my blood relatives.  but then if that is the only reason why we work, what about the people who are united with our families by marriage but feel like they have been there since day one?  I think it is the legacy left behind from those who leave this world before that unites us and makes us work.  would I have ever in a million years met my little cousin who is into farming, roping and being the best dang cowgirl you have ever met had she not been my cousin?  maybe, but probably not.  but who did I text yesterday about missing my Pepa because she is one of the few that understand?  my little cousin.  because we work.  she gets me.  because of the legacy he left behind and the memories we shared with him.  we both strive to be the best people we can be and although I don't consciously consider what he would think in every situation, I know his voice is there.  he helped shape me into who I am today.  that's why my family and I work.  we were shaped by some of the same people and share memories and experiences no one on the outside could understand.  we work because we know each others' weaknesses and love each other anyways.  we work because we support each other not only in the good times, but also in the bad.  we work because we get each other.  I can't explain to anyone else that didn't know my granddad why it was so important for my boyfriend at the time to meet him before he died.  maybe because I secretly knew he was the one and he is now my husband.  yes, my Pepa was ill and wasn't himself.  but, my husband met him and for that split second he saw one of the most vulnerable parts of me and got tossed into this insane family of mine.  I said I would save the why my husband and I work for a different post so I am stopping myself here.  now that you've fallen asleep twice- I will quit rambling today.  I put my paper below, feel free to read it if you are still awake you feel like reading my college paper.  (yes I know there are grammatical errors in this whole blog in the paper, my professor kindly marked them with bright red pen.  but everyone likes the original, right?)    don't forget to link up with Life of Bon and The Daily Tay and maybe if you're into romantical valentines stuff, you will write about how much you oolala love your significant other and not be a freak like me and totally screw up the link-up.       

Final Essay

 

I remember my Pepa saying, “Be careful eating that, make sure you don’t swallow any of those watermelon seeds- you might choke! Or, even worse, it will make you grow a watermelon in your belly like mine!” I was five years old at the time, and proceeded to not eat watermelon until I was ten because I was terrified of a watermelon seed somehow implanting in my body and causing my belly to grow as large as a six-month pregnant woman’s. Little did I know fifteen short years later this silly moment would play through my brain as if it was a scratched records playing over and over. From the watermelon incident up until I was in junior high, my weekends were highlighted with these trips to my grandparents and being my Pepa’s little “dude”. My Pepa would take me to My-T-Burger, and despite my complaints about his slow driving, he never pushed the gas over 23 m.p.h. in his red, Ford truck because he “wasn’t in any kind of hurry, the way your daddy drives is going to make me peel you off the highway someday”. But nonetheless, he let me order half the menu, knowing there was no way my little seven year old stomach could hold a burger, an order of nachos, AND a milkshake for after. He would take me to help feed his cattle, drive me through pasture to find the longhorn, only for me to get scared and refuse to get out of the truck. But some of the moments I cherish the most are the million games of dominos he would play with me, sharing his childhood stories time after time.   Through junior high, I thought I was “too cool” for sitting on my grandpa’s lap, or listening him tell me the same story for the millionth time. Unwelcomed, these memories seem to burn through my mind as well. I was fortunate enough to have a birthday exactly one week after my Pepa’s. It wasn’t until high school and probably after about the tenth birthday cake we shared that I realized what a man of integrity my grandpa was. It was around this time that my grandpa, a farmer for all of this life, decided it was time to retire. It seems like his retirement resulted in my Pepa seeming “old” for the first time. I had never realized just how easily he bruised, or how thin his skin was. And, had those wrinkles on his face always been there? It seemed that every trip to Wellington we took, another wrinkle was added to his face. Pretty soon, the realization of my grandpa’s aging really hit me. What about our last birthday party? It was my sweet sixteenth birthday and his seventy-fifth. Seventy-fifth? Was he really seventy-
five? I still have the picture we took stored in my memory. I plopped my sixteen-year-old body right on his knee and we held up our cake to take the picture always requested by my mom and my grandma. It was always the same routine, a birthday cake would be ordered from our favorite bakery. It was to be split down the middle, decorated with our (mostly mine) individual requests on each half. Pepa never had specific requests; the things he loved were very simple. He loved his family, he loved the color red, and most of all, he thought Ford was the only company capable of making a reliable car and he thought John Deere made terrible tractors. My mind runs back to this picture every time I think about the birthdays we shared. I always wanted to sit on his lap, it made me feel young again. It wasn’t until his surgery that I found out about his bad back. Bad back? But I just sat on his lap last time I visited, that cannot be possible. Nevertheless, it was possible and he would be having surgery within the next few weeks. Routine surgery, although recovery would be difficult due to his age. His age? How old is Pepa? My Pepa was over ten years older than my Nena (my grandma). After the surgery, things slowly went downhill. We all tried to blame it on recovering from surgery. None of us would admit that maybe this surgery was too much for his body to handle. Things got worse, and worse. He was unable to attend my high school graduation. I refused for him to not be a part of that special day, so I snuck my phone backstage and called him minutes before I walked into the auditorium. I told him I was about to graduate, and he told me I wasn’t allowed to do anymore growing up until he said it was okay.   Summer passed, he continued to hurt all over, but taking him to the nursing home was out of the question. The care they provided in the small town, nursing home down the street was inadequate. It was decided that my grandma would take a leave from her job to care for him in the home. Soon after, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. It became too much for my Nena to handle, and there was no other option but the nursing home. We moved him in, decorated his room with numerous pictures of all the things he loved: pictures of his family covered the room, red curtains, and of course, his favorite cowboy, John Wayne. Pepa was so popular. His dry sense of humor, and sarcastic remarks put him in the running to be any nurse’s favorite. But, between all the decorating, visiting, making sure he was comfortable in this space, none of us realized he had lost all his strength and could not do anything on his own anymore. He did not have the strength to walk, and we urged him not to try without someone there to help. Then the phone calls started to come. Although the phone calls seemed to come in handfuls, often one after the other, I can still hear the first phone call play over and over in my head. My mom called, “Pepa fell, his head is gashed open, it’s bleeding everywhere.” I had never heard my mom cry. I had never heard my mom so upset, and unsure. This would be the first of many hysterical phone calls my mom and I would share over the course of the next couple of months. Several staples in the back of his head later, he proved to be the fighter we all knew he was and fight through the accident. It wasn’t until a few months later until things would get serious in a matter of a few doctors trips. Pepa was having stomach problems, this required many trips to the doctor to try to alleviate the situation. But one special trip changed it all.   Pepa had been taken by the nursing home van, over to the clinic. Another doctor’s appointment with no answers, and he was sent back to the nursing home with hopes of this new medication working. The woman responsible for driving him back in forth loaded him into the van, and began to drive to the nursing home. “Pepa’s hurt, and in the hospital. His wheelchair tipped over in the van when the driver turned a corner,” my mom cried into the phone. Trying to process what had happened in my head led me to a million unanswered questions. “What’s hurt on him? His wheelchair tipped over…how does that even happen?” Come to find out, the driver forgot to strap him into the van properly. I’m sure he wasn’t the first she slacked off on, and probably not the last. But, this was MY grandpa. You don’t just forget to strap in MY grandpa. Within weeks of this accident, his lungs began filling with fluid.   My Nena, such a strong woman and never wanting or needing anyone’s help, called my mom around two o’clock in the morning during one of the biggest snows we would have all winter. My mom immediately woke up my dad, and relayed all the information to me as they set off around two-thirty, “They think this is it, we are going to lose Pepa.” I was devastated. There was no way I could get there. A one-hundred mile drive through a blinding blizzard on back roads would be impossible at this hour; I would have to wait until the morning. This was our first scare out of three we would have over the next two weeks. I finally found a weekend to leave town, and drove to see my grandpa for what would be my last time. I was warned he wasn’t talking at all, and his coloring was bad. That trip is so surreal in my mind, and such a blur. All I remember is kissing his head telling him how much I loved him before I left. I made sure he knew it was me, his little “dude”. A week after my visit, my grandpa passed. I remember the day he joined the Lord so distinctly. It was a Friday morning at nine, I was sitting in statistics class. My mom had told me the night before that the death process had started settling into his body. He was “mottling”. I had no idea what that meant, so I pulled out my phone in class and began to Google the death process. I texted her to ask how he was doing, and tell her that I read up on “mottling” and that he would live at least twenty four hours after this process set in. It wasn’t but two texts later, at 10:14 that I looked at my phone and got the text. “He’s gone.” I immediately called her, and repeated over and over that this was for the better. I repeated it, not only for her sake, but also for mine. That day seems like so long ago. The service was a blur, but so many people shared their special moments they had with my Pepa. Nothing could compare to the moments I shared with him. On the day of his service, I had a moment alone with my grandma, “I hope to someday find a man that loves me as much as my Pepa loved me and find the relationship the two of you shared.” She simply replied, “Your Pepa was so good to me, and you will find someone just like him. Don’t rush it, just let it happen. The right one will come along in the right time, it can’t be rushed.” In that moment, the sun peeked out from the clouds. He was smiling at us. He was telling us it was all going to be okay, to not rush. It seems that he lived his whole life, in his own time, never rushing.   Today, I find myself thinking of him at random times. Randomly coming across things he loved, such as the Texas Rangers game on tv, make me smile and remember all those special moments I shared with him over the years. What a blessing it was to have shared twenty years with such an amazing man. I look back on that first memory, and still feel all the love my Pepa had for me in his heart. I was his favorite, or at least that’s what I told him. He would only reply, “that’s a matter of opinion.” It things like this that make me smile and have that warm feeling in my heart.  

weekly wednesday: week 13

this weekend we were out of town so this week of pregnancy flew by, to say the least.  we spent the weekend in Pagosa Springs, Colorado on a ski trip with friends.  I had talked to my doctor before we went and she was okay with me snowboarding a little as long as I promised to take it easy.  the snow was insane in that area so I took full advantage!  unfortunately, I got a horrible upper respiratory infection complete with running fever for three days and coughing my little lungs up during the trip so I couldn't enjoy the rest of the days.  but here is a little picture on the mountain of a friend and me surviving the ski day with the boys!     

 

• how far along?
  13 weeks.
  
  
• baby is the size of a:
  peach.
  
  
• total weight gain/loss:
  down 9 lbs.
  
  
• the bump:
  starting to notice tiny differences in my tummy and thinking the bump might be on it's way- YIKES!
  
  
• symptoms:
  none this week!
  
  
• food cravings:
  vanilla milkshakes, gummy worms and Wendy's french fries
  
  
• anything that makes you sick or queasy?
  still just melted cheese.
  
  
• sleep:
  sleeping like a little baby!
  
  
• what I miss:
  this week I was missing Nyquil.
  
  
• wedding rings on or off?
  on :)
  
  
• belly button:
  innie!
  
  
• any names picked out yet?
  still Jack for a boy and undecided on the girl name.
  
  
• gender:
  still not far enough to know and still can't decide if we want to find out! 
  
  
• movement:
  can't wait to feel that first little kick!
  
  
• maternity clothes:
  none yet, but I have a feeling the pants will be happening sooner rather than later!
  
  
• labor signs:
  hopefully none of those for a looooong time.
  
  
• best moment of this week:
  getting over being sick!  we had our first after-hours phone call into the doctor this weekend and I am so thankful to know I can have an expert on the line in just one phone call whenever something isn't right!
  
  
• what I am excited about/looking forward to:
  our little mini birthday vacay to BOSTON.  two more weeks!  I think I can, I think I can!

 

 

weekly wednesday: week 12

I decided tracking my pregnancy weekly would be something for me to look back at when this experience is over.  so if pregnancy posts aren't your jam, I completely understand if you don't read this one!  I plan on taking progress pictures but for now, there isn't much to show and I forgot to take one.   

• how far along?
  12 weeks.
  
  
• baby is the size of a:
  plum.
  
  
• total weight gain/loss:
  still down 8 lbs.
  
  
• the bump:
  only a food baby at the end of the day at this point! I try to convince myself it's a baby bump- haha!
  
  
• symptoms:
  still a little tired- so ready for my energy to return!
  
  
• food cravings:
  thai food. ice cream. ya know, the healthy stuff.
  
  
• anything that makes you sick or queasy?
  waiting too long to eat. melted cheese. pizza.
  
  
• sleep:
  sleeping like a little baby!
  
  
• what I miss:
  champagne!
  
  
• wedding rings on or off?
  on :)
  
  
• belly button:
  innie!
  
  
• any names picked out yet?
  if it's a boy, we are naming him Jack.  if it's a girl, she might come home as "Baby Girl Hudson" because we can't agree on anything!
  
  
• gender:
  not far enough along to know.  J-Hud wants a boy but I have a feeling it's a girl.  we are still undecided if we will find out the gender or wait until baby's arrival.
  
  
• movement:
  can't wait to feel that first little kick!
  
  
• maternity clothes:
  none yet, but I have a feeling the pants will be happening sooner rather than later!
  
  
• labor signs:
  hopefully none of those for a looooong time.
  
  
• best moment of this week:
  finally getting an appetite back.  brainstorming for the nursery and names with our families.
  
  
• what I am excited about/looking forward to:
  so ready for that first little kick and our next appointment so we can hear that sweet heartbeat again.

 

we have a problem.

I had all these plans for blogging in the new year and really getting serious and focusing on my blog.  but then, a few things happened along the way to change things.    let's start with December 4th.  the reason I remember the date so well is because we had laid my great uncle to rest the day before and on this day, two of our friends announced to us that they were pregnant.  one set of our friends texted us the news and the other set took us to dinner that night to tell us.  I really have no idea what I said at that dinner because this was our first time receiving pregnancy news.  what I do remember is having zero appetite and being completely lethargic and my newly pregnant friend questioning me if I was also pregnant.  I chalked it up to being tired from the funeral the day before and the shock of the news I just heard.    a few weeks went by and my monthly friend still had not made her appearance.  this was completely normal for me and body is usually out of whack more times than it isn't.  but I decided to just take a test to get my husband off my back.  negative.  whew.  I live to see another beer.  so I threw the test back in the box (not sure why I didn't throw it in the trash- I guess I am 16) and went along my merry way.  a few days after that, still nothing.  my husband was gone and I thought, "I have one more test in the box, I will just take it and see what it says."  so I took it, and waited and the next few minutes went something like this-   ok, wait- I thought the control line went the other way. where are the instructions? where is that other test? (grabs other test from box) wait, why does it have two lines...it had one line last time. whatever. its probably because it's been sitting in a box. (back to current test) shit, is that another line coming up? no, your eyes are just playing games with you- quit being paranoid omg. that's a plus sign.   then I rushed out and did what any normal human being would, I purchased a digital test and then bought the test that had the weeks estimator.  because it was obviously a more reliable test.  turns out all these tests came back positive and the one I had taken and thought was negative the day before was also positive...I just didn't wait the full 3-5 minutes.    my husband got home after what seemed like hours and I go, "so uhh..we have a problem" ... he stares at me and responds, "you're pregnant."   so, SURPRISE- the newest addition to our family will be arriving August 2014!  more details to come on the pregnancy so far.