Shopping Therapy vs Beerapy

I woke up today with the fear that it was going to be a really bad day. I'd had a rough night arguing with the ex over Thanksgiving which should be my holiday. Of course he refuses to agree which means court...in Gainesville...10 hour drive about for those that don't know. So I woke up grouchy and feeling that panicky feeling that nothing was ever going to be right with the world. I've been SUPER happy lately. Maybe it's just pregnancy hormones but I've been in a state of euphoria and I had no desire to lose that feeling. I'm a smart enough person to try and see this rationally and talk myself out of getting stressed over things I can't fix right now, but I still felt it creeping in. First I had to drive to Pensacola to get forms notarized, faxed, make copies, mail copies, blah blah blah. I needed destressifying and fast!

My normal means of destressifying involve something like that new country song that talks about beer in your hand and your ass in the sand. Well today it was beautiful outside and looked like the perfect beach day and I WAS already in Pensacola. However, it was a little too cold for the beach, and a little too windy, and I'm a little too pregnant for my usualy beerapy where I grab a couple (few, dozen) beers and flop on the beach until I get my mind right. So what IS a pregnant woman to do to destress? I hit the mall.

The mall wasn't open that early of course, so I walked around for 30 minutes with the old people getting their exercise. I did my walking with some Starbucks in my hand though. It is really nice to walk around without the crowds and enjoy the holiday decorations, music, and scents. I sat outside on a bench in the sun by a pretty fountain for a little bit too and just focused on the water and the sun and on not thinking negative thoughts. Breathe in, breathe out...ahhh less stressed already. My mall adventure turned out to be fruitful and my day got gradually better and better and I may have to admit that shopping therapy is pretty darn close to being better than beerapy.

Cost of getting pregnant me from stressed and unhappy to happy again?

Starbucks Venti Caramel Macchiato with extra caramel - $5
I know, I know...caffiene, pregnant, bad, but I gave up BOOZE! I deserve a treat!

Victoria's Secret free panties and body spray - $10
I had a free panty card but if I spent $10 I got a $10 (or up to $500...mystery!) to use in December. So that's like FREE money right?

Old Navy 5 cute maternity tops - $20
I was going to buy two tops on clearance. When I got to the register they were an additional 50% off! I'm like $8? Really? I'm going back for more!!

CVS envelope to mail court crap & card for Jen - Negative 4.00
I had bonus bucks and got an additional coupon with my purchase for $4.00 off the next time! Woooo!!

TOTAL: Pretty darn cheap

My happy mood was back. In addition I found a silly card to send to my sister. I believe that if you have to mail out something unpleasant like court papers, and a copy to your ex certified signature return that costs $5 and he will probably refuse to sign, that you should also send out something pleasant and happy that will cheer someone else up. This is my made up theory of mail karma. Balance the bad with good and all is great with the world.

So that was today and it's only noon. Oh and I skipped class for the first time ever. Technicall I didn't skip much because my first class I finished the work and the instructor said we didn't have to come in if we were done. My second class is my Human Growth and Development teacher who says that stress can kill. So I will write her a letter stating that I needed a personal stress killing day for my own health and sanity and she'll excuse me for sure.

Oh and for those of you that have read this far (crazies) and don't know already we had the ultrasound on Saturday. We took all the kids with us to this ultrasound lady in a cute office that cursed us by wearing a pink shirt.

It's a girl :)

I am finishing up my 16th week of being knocked up and things are going great. I had a few days this week where I came home from my college classes feeling like I could pass out, so I did! Mostly. I think Bill has some tracking system that tells him the minute my head hits the pillow because a couple times no sooner than I had laid down he came home. It's impossible to nap with him bugging me. I'm trying to enjoy the freedom to nap while I can. When SOMEONE isn't interrupting me! I'm having trouble sleeping at night so if I need a nap, I need a nap.

Bill, Hannah and I went out to dinner at Chili's this week. Lately I haven't been feeling like eating anything in particular and most everything doesn't seem appealing to me. Definitely different than other pregnancies where I wanted to eat everything in site. So I went to Chili's figuring I wouldn't like anything. However...everything tasted great! I guess it's the heightened taste and smell you get, but I was in heaven. Hannah and I split fajitas like we always do and maybe I just didn't notice it before but their guacamole is awesome. I wanted to get a spoon and eat a big scoop of it. But I didn't want to gross out everyone else at the table...lol. Usually I don't like their beans and rice but they tasted so good to me. Maybe I've finally found something to crave. It was nice to get out of the house with just the three of us too. It seems like we don't do that enough.

Hubbie is out of town for the weekend flying or something like that. So I'm happy to get a weekend to clean the house and relax a bit. OR just play games all weekend! I rented Lego Rock Band thinking it would be like the other lego games. Run around, smash things, collect all the coins that fly out. Nope! It's an actual Rock Band game just with legos. I hate to admit liking such a dorky game, but I really like a lot of the songs on the game and am having fun decorating my little lego Rock Den.

ALSO I got a package from FedEx today that I wasn't really expecting. A couple weeks ago wrote up a preview of the game Fairytale Fights for the Xbox 360. For those of you that don't know what a preview is, it's an unfinished version of the game, just a few levels, and they tend to have a lot of glitches and problems. But it's like getting a first glimpse of a new game that very few people get to see. The package I got today was a press kit that came in a cool box that looks like an old fairytale book with a neat book of art from the game, some sugar wafers??, some cards, poster, AND a full retail copy of the game! There's nothing cooler than getting a FREE $60 game in the mail.

So maybe I won't get so much done around the house after all...lol. Oh well. I have resisted playing it so far.

It's been a good week for mail too. Kim sent me a box with three new books in it which is great because I ran out of books to read. Woohooo!! Thanks Kim!

The new picture is from today. I had to come to the realization that the blonde hair isn't going to work right now. My hair is growing fast and my roots are so dark that spending all that money on highlights would just be a waste. So I got a $5 box of brown hair dye and the blonde is no more! This will be easier and much cheaper to maintain. Then when I'm done being all knocked up I can go get a mini makeover and go back to blonde. Luckily I'm so gorgeous I can pull off any color. Hee hee

Keep reading because NEXT weekend we're going to be hopefully finding out if this little sea otter is a boy or a girl!

Life has been spiffy since my last post, blog, whatever you call it. Friday I had my 15 week super quick doctor visit. Doctor dug around trying to find a heartbeat and did finally, in the 150's...I suppose that's good. He said it's probably a girl because he/she was making it so difficult for him to find the heartbeat. "Maybe she's having a bad hair day and doesn't want to come out from behind your pelvis" he said. I yelled at him , and later Bill jokingly said I should have punched him in the face. He's still rooting for a Bill junior hanging around in there. Visit only lasted 5 minutes, and the doctor said to get up and stretch every 2 hours...that was the only advice. Stretch what?

I'm happy to announce that I've only gained 1/2 of a pound. Bill says it's all boobs, and I have to agree. Although I think it was all poop and I enjoyed smelling up the parents bathroom the next day when I visited them and had a little poopapalooza. Fun for everyone. The kids & Dad found that a good time to evacuate the house, and Mom and I headed for the mall where I used yet another free pantie card from Vic's Secret. For anyone that needed to know, the boy panties in XL were not a good choice. Bigger is not better, and they just ride up my butt. But they were free. I also got the cutest hoodie sweater and a couple tops from Motherhood Maternity. They'll go great with the huge bag of insanely comfy pants my sister sent me. The majority of them can be worn out in public and I could almost cry because they feel so good. I've been trying to cram in my regular clothes and on Friday the button popped off of my capris, sending me the message that it was time to retire them until this is all over.

No one understands the importance of comfy pants like a pregnant woman, so for this I salute my sister.

I am really happy I didn't gain much. I thought I was going to have gained like 5 pounds and cry in the doctors office, but so far I'm doing pretty well. I know it won't last, and that I'm destined to come out of this a porker. The last couple times I was skinny before I started and this time, sadly, I am not. But that's just a reality I have to deal with.

Anyhoooo...if I don't go now I'll be late for class so that has to be it for now.