Insomnia oh how I hate thee.

There's really not much to do at 2am. So you lay in bed, willing sleep to come. At around 4am you give up. But what on earth is there to do at 4am that won't wake the entire house? Not much really.

I've been having trouble sleeping the last few nights. Maybe it's excitement for the holidays, or stress, even though I'm not feeling very stressed anymore about what I was stressed about because really it's just dumb and not worth the effort it will take for me to constantly stress about it. Who knows. Either way it sucks. I tried staying up later last night/tonight, taking a warm bath before bed, reading a book and unwinding. None of that crap worked.

So what have I done so far to keep myself entertained in the wee hours of the night?

1.) Made decaf earl gray tea. This was entertaining for a few minutes actually. I watched the coffee cup go round and round in the microwave for a couple of minutes, then dipped the tea bag over and over...fun right? I considered downing the entire bottle of honey but just added a bit and a splash of milk and viola! Hot tea. I'm trying to convince myself this is fun. I am proud of myself for NOT eating the batch of chocolate toffee fudge I made before I went to bed.

2.) Post in pregnancy forum about insomnia. No one cares about your complaints when you're pregnant, except for other pregnant women.

3.) Convince Kitty that 4am is not breakfast time. Kitty thinks that when I get up, it's time to start her day. She purrs and circles my feet in an attempt to knock me down to the ground and eat me I think. Or she just thinks it's time to be fed. I just tell her she's fat and close myself in my office.

4.) Play on Facebook THat got old quick.

5.) Google "23 weeks pregnant" and read dozens of articles from different sites that all sound the same. Fun new symptom they present this week? INSOMNIA!

6.) Blog

Which brings me to where I am now. 5somethingish in the morning and still not tired. I have christmas cookies to bake tomorrow and don't want to be all groggy and miserable. Grrrrr.

One of the articles I read suggested this tip:
"Sit with your eyes closed and imagine a beautiful, peaceful scene (a sunset over your favorite beach, waves gently lapping the shore"...this doesn't work for me. I picture myself at this beach with this hot waiter strolling by with a tray full of coronas and pina coladas that I can't have right now. Even my attempts at dreamish thoughts are failures. Now this trick is supposed to exhaust your mind faster than say...counting sheep which is supposed to lull you into sleep by making you become bored with the repetition of little sheep bouncing over your head. I can't just think of sheep though. My sheep don't just bounce nicely in a line, they hop all over the place, they taunt me from their recliners as they lay back and chug a frosty beer and oh how I hate them.

If it wouldn't make so much noise, I'd get a start on my Christmas baking now, but noooo all I can do is either read...and my book is somewhere in the bedroom so I can't go retrieve it right now, or play on the computer. Which is going to give me amazing eye strain later in the day.

At least I know this...if YOU happen to have trouble sleeping I'm sure my blog has lulled you into a state of sleep. But at least it entertained me for a few minutes. Now I'm off...there are still about 10 dozen "23 weeks pregnant" links I haven't clicked on yet. Blah.

End of semester wrap up.

I haven't blogged in a few weeks because I've been struggling with trying to find constant happy thoughts. That one always frustrating problem in my life is taking over and making me miserable despite my best efforts to push it out of my mind. I don't suppose being pregnant and hormonal is very helpful either. But there have been happy things going on in my life...many more than the unhappy one and I just need to find a way to focus on those.

I finished my first semester of college. The first I've finished EVER, so that was a pretty big deal for me. I took four classes and while I wanted to get straight A's I'm still pleased with the three A's and the one B+ I got. I deserved the B+ because I really put minimal effort into my final paper which was a large chunk of my grade. Am I dissapointed that I didn't try harder? Not really. I made it through the suprise of finding out I was pregnant, not feeling well because of it, and all the other drama that I get from my ex. I think I did amazingly well in spite of everything and I'm proud of myself.

I enrolled full-time again for next semester. Three of my classes are online and one of them wasn't offered online so I guess I'll have an excuse to get out of the house twice a week and talk to real people. I think online is going to be better considering the semester ends May 6th (happy bday to me!) and I'm going to be squirting out a kid well before then.

Speaking of the future kid...I'm 23 weeks pregnant now and definitely showing. I'm still pleased that I haven't blown up like a whale YET. I've been indulging when I want, but that's pretty normal for me even when I'm not pregnant so it's really not resulting in the packing on of pounds. Our last ultrasound with the radiologist took FOREVER and was really uncomfortable. Someone should research a way to make those hospital beds a little more ergonomically comfy for poor pregnant women. Either way, the tech said the baby was still looking like a girl.

Now comes the tough question. What should we name our little sea otter? I have NO clue. We've still got 4 months to figure it out, but I'm lost. She's getting really wiggly in my belly though which is cool and if I can get Hannah to slow down long enough she may actually be able to feel her soon.

Christmas is this week. I'm super excited that my sister and her hubbie will be coming down/over/whatever from NC to hang out. My parents are coming up too although they'll be hiding out at some condo conveniently located next to the casinos in Biloxi. And Bill's girls will be here at the same time as everyone, including hopefully Ethan. Hannah and I have all week to bake cookies and eat them and bake more to replace the ones we eat. So although I see myself gaining a few pounds this week, I think it'll be fun.

I'm really looking forward to a full house and cooking some yummy breakfasts and relaxing with the family. Hope you all have a great holiday too and I'll probably check in after the new year, if not sooner.

F U Sinus Cold!!

I had a great Thanksgiving with the family. Mom & Dad drove up with their dog Gracie who had fun playing with Kitty for a couple of days. There are reasons Kitty is an only pet. We got the Christmas tree up on Saturday with the girls who had fun decorating and then enjoyed some hot apple cider and homemade snickerdoodles compliments of yours truly. Mostly I just wanted snickerdoodles for myself and to get the leftover apple juice out the fridge.

On Tuesday I had my 20 week checkup. Doc found the baby's heartbeat right away this time and said it was in the 140's which is "right where he wants it". He measured my belly this time, measuring well over my belly button. How he can find anything under all my fluff is beyond me...lol.

The nurse said I've only gained 2 pounds since my last visit, which seems a little low to me, especially since i was wearing jeans this time. I think their scale is a little low, but I'm happy!

I was having some slight swelling again, and doc didn't seem very concerned at all. He did warn me that at my 28 week checkup they would do the glucose test and "drain me again". I wish I'd warned him how much I HATE having my blood taken, I faint, so I wish that he would have waited to tell me so I didn't have to stress for 2 months. I tried to tell him I've done all this before and don't think I need all these test. He said "yes but this is the first time you've had THIS pregnancy". Smarty pants. Oh well, I tried to get out of it...

Also I have a killer sinus cold and he gave me some benadryl, sudafed, aceto...tylenol, and some cepacol. Gotta love the military docs, they just load you up and everything is free. The crappy thing about sinus colds though is that no matter how much medicine you take, you still feel horrible.

I dosed up yesterday on the sudafed, I guess it made my head stop hurting, but my nose kept running like crazy and I got a caffiene high off of it. I can only take one every 12 hours, so of course it wears off in the evening and I can't take another one or I'll be up all night. They did give me benadryl to help me sleep so I tried that last night and boy did that NOT work. I still couldn't fall asleep and my nose ran almost all night. Bill tried to come to bed but claimed I was "snoring like a 50 year old man" so he went and slept in another room. How he knows what a 50 year old man's snoring sounds like is beyond me, should I be worried? Besides...I've been dealing with his snoring for a VERY long time and trust me, it ain't no picnic either.

So I still feel like poop, really unhappy sniffly achy freezing cold or burning hot poop...depending on the hour. But I am almost done with classes which is good news. I finished my thesis paper tonight for my english class...good thing since it's due tomorrow. Then I'm done with class for the week and headed to G'ville to hang out with my parents...who are also sick. I'm sure I caught it from them. Haha!

Next doctors visit is THIS Friday for my offical ultrasound! I'll update with how that experience was soon.