Preg-osaurus Ashley...

Easily the most feared creature on the planet for the next 22 weeks... she'll be the sweetest, kindest and most caring of animals one moment... and the next? 

She gets a little moody (maybe a little hungry...) and WILL bite your head off if you get in her way. 

She'll burst into tears at the drop of a hat (she still has feelings), and yes, she'll go full circle before you know what hit you. 

In fact, you might not even see it coming...  (Hint:  Try not to move... she can't see you if you're not moving!  However, you are much easier for her to catch the closer you are!)

Comfort Food

There's more than just one food that comforts or puts me in a better mood.  Since I have a bit of a sweet tooth, I'm pretty easy to please. 

M&Ms and strawberry cheesecake are probably my go-to comfort foods.  Tonight the quickest choice to ease a rough day was a shamrock shake.  Yeah it's my second one this week... oops.  Doesn't make it any less comforting.

I'm a bit more predictable than I'd like.  One thing you might not have expected? (I sure didn't)  This baby thing is freaking me the crap out.  There's a list of 27,000 baby names on a single website.  I don't have time to look through 27,000 baby names, much less pick ONE that this kid is going to be stuck with.  Once I know if it's a boy or a girl that will help... I'm also partial to 'A' names... probably because mine starts with an A (as does the word, AWESOME).  Plus I want it to mean something cool.  I do have a boy name that I like (starts with an A), but nothing I'm super excited about yet if it's a girl.

The friggin' hospital also called tonight to pre-register me... I'm not having this baby until September... unless they've got another idea in mind.  THAT freaks me out even more!  Plus I've got a second set of fingernails and an extra heart, brain and every other internal organ, growing inside my body.  Creepy... sure hope it likes McDonald's...

I don't mean to seem ungrateful.  It's just overwhelming to think about... of course a lot of things are.  At least there's no sign of a chocolate or strawberry cheesecake shortage...

The Baby Story

I'm still Kind of a Bad Ash... just with a baby!  I'm about 12 weeks pregnant, due September 9.

I've kept this very big secret (for the most part) since the beginning of the year.  In fact, I've been keeping a secret since late 2009, because that's how long we've been trying to get pregnant.  It took 15 months and a ton of tests to figure out what the deal was.  Months 6 - 12 I took a progesterone supplement... then we tried clomid, more hormones and tummy shots... I took my temperature every morning for over a year... in December we switched to the big guns and tried a combo of hormone creams - the last option before venturing down the in-vitro route.  Luckily, the hormones did the trick.  There were some hiccups early on, but three sonograms later, everything is looking great.

I spent a lot of time being very frustrated over the past year.  I pretty much felt like a failure... and a whole lot of disappointment and confusion surrounded that.  You'd never know it though - this girl puts on a happy face.  Until recently of course... these pregnancy hormones are making me a bit crazy.  =) 

So anyway, it was a rough 15 months, but since January 2, I've been on top of the world.  Filled with worry about the baby, yes, but that's at least normal and rational. 

The past two months I've felt pretty good.  Nausueus about 90% of the time, hungry ALL the time, frequent potty breaks and my pants are getting tighter.  No weight gain yet, but I hear it's coming, lol. 

Baby's heartbeat at 12 weeks was 155 bpm and measured 6 centimeters.  Right now it's measuring 6 days bigger than it's supposed to be.   Sounds like we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl on March 28.  Place your bets now!

Remember When...

One of the activities during my TWO weeks off of work so far has been watching movies... lots of movies.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  Anyway, one of the movies was "Now and Then."  I've seen it before of course, but today it got me thinking of all the fun things I used to do when I was a kid, and how priorities have changed over the years.

Grade school consisted of countless sleepovers with friends - playing light as a feather, stiff as a board.  Riding your bike everywhere, playing hide and seek, staying close to home.  Life before cell phones *gasp*.  Having a new best friend every other week.

In junior high and high school it gradually switched to boys.  I settled in with a group of friends who shared interests and classes.  Passing notes with gossip and dirty jokes on them.  I kept a ridiculous amount of them (see below).  Reading through them... it's amazing the stuff we wrote on a piece of paper and passed in the hallway... Hours spent talking on the phone (pre-texting - again, *gasp*).  More sleepovers, group dates, break-ups, first love, drama.

In college there were a number of memorable experiences.  "Sweet Ass Suitemates," living in the world's crappiest house... oh and getting a college education of course.  Seeing the dancing deer head in the back of a truck that we swore up and down was a real deer (in reality it was stupid college boys playing a prank), late night trips to Walmart, dancing in the street in a penguin costume, house parties and nights out (once I was 21 obviously)...

In adult life it's work, doing whatever I want, spending time with co-workers who became friends, catching up with the life-long friends kept from grade school, junior high, high school and college, spending time with the new friends I've met since.  Priorities have changed.  Life seems to get more serious with more responsibilities and bigger decisions... the upside?  I'm still having a pretty good time. =)

Yeah, I Dance in My Kitchen

So as I'm busting a move to a commercial playing, "You can get with this, or you can get with that" while packing tomorrow's lunch... my sister walks in and comments, "there's just never a dull moment in this house."  Even though it's just me, my husband, two dogs and a cat, we're a fairly amusing bunch. 

So that made me think about the last two days spent indoors thanks to the weather.  During that time...

• I cried watching Father of the Bride.
• The puppy farted so bad that I literally looked around the room for a pile of steaming poop.  And this happened more than once...
• I had a Veronica Mars marathon, and was very upset to find out that there is no Season 4.
• I hid this month's edition of Cosmo when company came over... nobody needs to know I still read that (oops) or have a subscription (double oops).
• Tried to teach the puppy how to shake.  Instead, she picks up her food bowl and carries it around... "please sir, can I have some more?"
• I cleaned the entire house and used my new glass cleaner thingy from Norwex that made my cleaning activities way more fun (as I kept saying, "wow! come look at this!).  I even cleaned the ceiling fan in the master bedroom - me wobbling around on top of the bed was a site to see I'm sure.
• Watched both dogs go outside in the blizzard.  They were NOT happy, until they found the big pile of blown snow in the corner to play in.
• I thought about wrapping Christmas presents and working on a craft project... and decided laying on the couch sounded like a better idea.
• Recovered most of the day Saturday from a really fun Friday night Christmas party... from which one of our cars is STILL downtown, lol

Back to work tomorrow... but only one week left until I'm off for two.  Time to start thinking how I'll be ringing in the new year...

I'm a Sneaky Little Rat

...according to Chinese astrology anyway.  I used to totally buy into the whole astrology thing - that stupid forecast just kept coming true!  Sure it was completely generic, but once every blue moon it would be spot on!  Like today, my horoscope said I would not be able to stop talking.  LOL - pretty sure that's true every day.  I'm only surprised it didn't also tell me that the world 'gullible' isn't in the dictionary...

I don't remember how it came up, but the other day we were talking about Chinese astrology and what our animals were.  Erin and I are rats, both born in the same year.  Here's a few of the comments that I will be internalizing a little later...

Rat Characteristics:
Smart, Magnetic, Well-liked, Affable, Quick-witted, Surreptitious, Selfish, Protective, Calculating

Rats are both charming and aggressive. They appear calm and well balanced on the surface, but underneath, they are restless and a little nervous. Rats are never without admirers. They are very appealing. They have a bright and happy personality.  Rats can melt hearts with their smiles.

Generally friendly and sociable, the Rat is one of the extroverts of the Animal Zodiac. Often, the Rat is lively and genial, and has a special gift for easing the minds of others. It is not surprising that Rats have a lot of friends. They are great speakers and intriguing conversationalists, and can generally find something to say on just about any topic or subject. To the people they love, Rats can be amazingly charitable, popular and supportive, and will go out of their way to be certain their loved ones are content. On the other hand, if the Rat does not like someone, he is considered fair game and can be used to achieve any and all of the Rat's desires. At the end of the day, though, the Rat is a loyal friend and will be there for his companions through thick and thin.

These are a few of my Favorite Things...

No literally, this is a list of some of my favorite things.  =)

Obviously not all inclusive as I am amused by the littlest of things.  But since we're getting into that time of the year where it's good to reflect and be thankful for all the awesome things in your life... I figured this would be my own personal way of kicking it off.  And in Tosh.O style, I'll probably create an "I Hate" list sometime in the not too distant future... but for now... *drum roll* Ashley's favorite things!!!  In one word or less... otherwise this would be the world's longest blog.

1.  Laughing
2.  Hugs
3.  Snow
4.  Blankets
5.  Family
6.  Friendship
7.  Penguins
8.  Movies
9.  Christmas
10.  Rain
11.  Vacation
12.  Dreaming
13.  Smiles
14.  Love
15.  Candles
16.  Surprises
17.  Sleeping
18.  Singing
19.  Relaxing
20.  Puppies
21.  Clouds

Just a few... I could go on.  Yay for whimsicality!