I have removed what I wrote about Kirby Heyborne. While I understand there are strong feelings about the subject, I would rather not my blog be a source for argument, especially between people who I've never met. That is definitely not why I posted my opinions here.

date night

a success, i would say. tonight luke and i had a little date night and went to see Iron Man in the movie theater for a second time and we still love it. we got home in time to watch the rest of the boston celtics game against the detroit pistons (yay celtics won!) and look forward to the finals between the celtics and lakers (go celtics!). it's true, luke has gotten me hooked on the NBA. i even catch myself watching it when he isn't even here. while we watched the game, i chopped up the strawberries we got a couple of days ago at the grocery store and had some ice cream with fresh strawberries and banana, which obviously was delicious. i just can't wait until i get to the point in my pregnancy where i can actually finish something in one sitting (the rest is in the freezer waiting for me).

i'm starting to feel much better. i still wake up feeling really hungry (and so, a bit nauseous), but as long as i eat something as soon as i get up, it usually turns into a pretty good day. i'm getting more energy and not quite as picky, so i'd say i'm doing well. everyone said i'd like the 2nd trimester better, but i didn't believe them until i could feel it for myself. i start my new summer job on monday, so all of this optimism could quickly turn, but i'll just enjoy it for now.

good times had.

my belly has been filled with lasagna and delicious chocolate cake with strawberries. i can go to sleep happy :) thanks janae!

.....

umm... I just saw the RM on a beer commercial.

LAME.

stress-be-gone

i've noticed that luke and i have really enjoyed each other's company more than usual these past several days. yesterday he and i went and walked downtown for a bit and went to a couple of other stores. he convinced me to buy white sunglasses (i promised myself i never would, but all the others made my face look funny) and we just had a good time in each other's company. yesterday evening we went to luke's brother matt's house for a little cookout. we brought our karaoke American Idol game and 2 microphones with us and we basically played that from 6:30ish after dinner until just after 11 (i think they like that game...). we left it there so they could keep playing and apparently, matt and ash stayed up playing it until 2:30 in the morning! we had a lot of fun.

i don't know if this boost in our moods has been the presence of his family, but i'm guessing it's the lack of having to work at the school: a HUGE source of stress for the both of us. the kids can be a handful some days, but that's so much easier to shrug off at the end of the day than when it's your co-workers who make you have a bad day. i have had to miss some work due to the illnesses of the first trimester and while my supervisor has been fairly supportive (his wife just recently went through the same thing), there are some co-workers who pretty much just stopped talking to me or would keep track of the days i missed, etc. now tell me this, who in their right mind would want to show up to that every day? not me. it just makes me sad when people feel like they could even possibly know what is going on in another person's life to the point that they can form opinions about it and treat them poorly for it. that is why i have put in for a transfer to another school in the district. i started crying on the last day of school just thinking about having to go back to that place in a few months to the point that i couldn't even enjoy the fact that it was the last day of school. i'm really glad to have that source of stress out of my life, at least for the time being... and i pray that the transfer will go through. granted you have to deal with coworkers wherever you go, but i can't think of many things that are more painful than someone being your friend until you actually need them to be one.

on another note, luke and i finally get to go see our new baby niece this evening. i can't wait! i've only even seen a couple of tiny pictures on my sister's digital camera, so this is a long-awaited visit.

also, congratulations to my baby brother Eric who graduated from LHS on sunday! he was very sharply dressed and did a cute pose for the photographer as he walked through the line. we were there rooting for him and MAN were we sweaty in Allen Fieldhouse by the end. this marks the end of the era... the last kid in our family has finally graduated from high school! congrats, Eric!

yay for family. yay for Luke. yay for summer. yay for downtown. yay for Penny Annie's. yay for blogs. yay for prayers.

girl's night, Ashley Nicole

Last night, all the girls on Luke's side of the family went out to dinner while the boys were at Matt's (Luke's brother) house playing games and watching the kids. We went to El Mezcal and just stayed there chatting for a while, then went back to the hotel where some of them were staying and continued our chatting. I felt really comfortable around all the girls (Luke's mom Laura and sister Sarah, a friend of Sarah's, 2 sisters-in-law and me) and we just had a good time. I'm glad I get along with everyone and we can just have fun and not worry about anything. I feel like I really am part of the family and considering we haven't even been married a year, that is a good thing. Tonight we're going to karaoke (one of Laura's favorite things to do) and I can't wait. She gave me a challenge to sing better than her...

Yesterday evening at 6:05 p.m., my brother and his wife, Craig and Vanessa, had a little baby girl, Ashley Nicole. She was 7 1/2 pounds and 19 inches long. I can't wait to meet her!

And those interested in a pregnancy update, I have completed my 13th week and today have moved into 14, so I am 13 weeks along. My next appointment is June 4th, then the appointment after that (approximately 4 weeks later), we will find out the baby's gender.

... and yay for storms.

schooooool's out for summer.

1. Yesterday was the last day of school (yay!). I'm putting in for a transfer in the fall. More on that later (maybe).
2. Craig and Vanessa are at the hospital right now to have their baby girl. Vanessa was induced early this morning. Yay for babies!
3. Most of Luke's family is in town until Sunday. So far, it has caused me to stay up slightly later than usual, but quality visiting has ensued.
4. Yay for season finales... especially The Office (last week), Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy (last night). I'm a fan.
5. Yay for my summer job not starting until June 2nd. Free time is a good thing.

and waiting...

my first trimester officially ended on friday, so i'm just waiting and hoping that i will feel better. i realized that i need to reassess my choice of diet because i haven't been quite strict enough with myself. basically that just means that i should be eating my vegetables and be going out to eat less. it should help that after school's out, i'll be taking my lunch to my summer job and not going out for lunch so much like we have been while working at the school. better planning.

so my belly has gotten a bit bigger but it's still at the point where i just look like i've gotten fatter. after a few more weeks, i'll be more recognizably pregnant, but i have to get out of the habit of trying to suck in my tummy (as my mom has always taught me to help me have good posture and carry myself better). it just kind of doesn't feel good when i do it now and i have to constantly remind myself not to do it.

luke and i have decided that we won't be getting a car before the fall. we're not quite sure how everything is going to pan out yet, but we know it's the right decision to wait at least until we know what our fall situation will be like (we don't know the amount of luke's financial aid yet and he'll be in school full-time... then with the baby coming at the end of november ish, i won't be able to work from thanksgiving at least until the next semester begins, depending on what we decide.

i need to mention that we cannot wait to get out of this apartment. we looked at a duplex that is right next to our friends casey and taran and we're hoping to go sign the lease and put down the deposit for it tomorrow. it should be fun having friends as next-door neighbors. they already have big plans for the summer and their newly purchase slip-n-slide :)

let me explain.

i am glad to have gone through the EFY stage and i didn't mean to make it sound like it was just something you get past to get to the real stuff. like i said, i learned so much from EFY and those summers and i wouldn't give them back for ANYTHING. enjoy it while you're there and when it's time to move on, you won't be able to enjoy it so easily. at least that's how it happened for me. i was just done.

oh and i really love orange creamsicles. just saying...

jobs and like, summer and stuff

i now have 2 summer jobs lined up for the summer. one is full-time (temporary) working at Vangent, and one is doing a job for Infoition like I used to before I started working at the high school.

oh, our computer has a virus, but we just happened to purchase a laptop with luke's school loan money yesterday, so that'll have to do for now. my brother kevin is going to come check it out and see if he can save the desktop (pray for my PC!) also, luke's tuition for the summer has been paid, so we're feeling okay right now. things look good for the summer. we decided to cut back on some costs, so we're canceling our cable as soon as the NBA Finals are over :P and won't get anything like that until we move at the end of July. that should save us a little money for the time being.

this'll be the first time 2004 that i'm not doing EFY during the summer. i'll actually get to participate in my family's 4th of July celebrations and Ava's birthday! even thinking about it makes me tear up (i'll just blame it on the hormones) because for a long time my priority has been friends and just doing whatever i wanted during the summers. granted, EFY was a lot of hard work, but it was really just a lot of exhausting fun. i enjoyed it and it taught me so much, but i am really glad to be past that stage and moving into a more eternal family focus, even if it means i'll be in a stuffy office all summer.