Week 15 - Final Farewells - Packing up and moving out!

Week 15 - September 19 - 25

 

Thursday was a big day for all of us! Daniel had his last day at his company, enjoyed being honest in his exit interview, and had a busy day tying up loose ends with his programs. Chance had his last day at K9 Kampus and they greeted him with treats and we have a feeling he got extra snuggles all day long. They were really bummed to see him go - he had been a favorite! (Isn't he everybody's?)

 

And then I stopped by MCC to catch up with some of my colleagues one last time and say good bye to some of my former students one last time. I had pre-emailed some of my teacher friends and mapped out a schedule based on planning periods and had a schedule set for 4th period through the end of the day. At first I was nervous I would be out of place or that I would possibly even be scolded for being on campus but it was the absolute opposite! I could not have felt more welcome and the kids (and teachers) made me feel like a celebrity! I spent the day focusing on the positives of the community I had enjoyed being a part of and left content - it had been a wonderful day/afternoon and I really enjoyed chatting with so many people who cared so much about me and my family!

 

What I realized I did not miss while visiting my former school? Sweating!!! Oh my gosh! The campus is very collegiate in that there are a number of buildings, but none are connected so you walk outside in between each. I had somehow forgotten how sweaty a day around the school used to leave me feeling (and by the end of the day oh did I remember that sweaty, clammy feel). I do not remotely miss that part!

We brought Chance to the Brown's on Thursday night since it was one of his last "chances" to play with Nina - our dog is a total Kong control hog...

Thursday night we met up with our friends to watch the Clemson game (while the Eagles fan enjoyed her game) and once again tried to relish our time with friends. Friday was our last big crash day before the moving marathon, so even though I had a respectable to do list I didn't fight myself too much when I was moving extra slow...I think my body or the baby knew what kind of marathon was in store.

 

Friday was the boys last full fledged video game/hangout fest. Daniel and Chris met up early to finish conquering Halo 4 and then Ryan showed up for Rockband Fest part...3 or 4 maybe? I eventually left for a bit to get an oil change (one of my last big responsible to-do's before we moved and drove my car all the way from Florida to Maryland) and I managed to find a drive-through oil change place in our area - I guess I was way behind the times - I had no idea such a place existed and was thoroughly impressed! So convenient! I picked up groceries for our Saturday night party and picked up dinner for the boys and we spent the evening hanging out, even joined by some of our friends who had triumphantly score the new iphones.

 

Saturday through Tuesday were tough days. Saturday we got up and while Daniel ran his 15 miles (he is a beast!) I ran around the house prepping it for the open house we had from 1-3 and even managed to squeeze in some elliptical time and catch the latest episode of Covert Affairs! Our realtor met us at the house and we made sure everything was ready and then Daniel and I slipped away to Chris's. I managed to shower, get ready for the evening, and make my famous dipped pretzels for our farewell dinner party and before I knew it we were heading back to meet with the realtor who said we had a prospective! So fingers crossed! We are still waiting to see how that pans out!

 

Saturday night was as much fun as I had hoped and we enjoyed having a house full of friends! We made one of our favorite, classic meals of sirloin, mushrooms and onions, squash and zucchini, and twice baked potatoes and I tried to soak in every minute that we had everyone gathered around our dining room table one last time. It meant so much! We gluttonously enjoyed some of Brie's whoopie pies and some of the dipped pretzels I had made and eventually made it over for a slide show Daniel had put together (no surprise there!) of Florida highlights from the past seven years. We had a lot of fun recounting some of the stories behind them and laughing through the memories. It was an awesome way to enjoy one last evening with the gang!

Mmmm, Petty's sirloin, dipped in my dad's marinade recipe, grilled by Daniel - perfecto!

The gang gathering at our dining room table one last time! Hopefully it's not the last time we all gather around this table! :)

Sunday stuff started getting even more real - it was house deconstruction day and there was no turning back! I was officially stressed. (I had managed to keep it at bay up until that moment but as I tried to pack what we would be needing for the next thirty days with the limiting notion that it needed to fit in the trunk of my honda civic and that we would be in a one room hotel suite...feeling stressed was just unavoidable). What made it more complicated? The fact that it was strongly recommended we take all medications and vitamins (because they would get too hot in the moving truck), we had to take all important documents, all our technology that we wanted to use for the month, all jewelry/valuables, and then there was the liquid and food issue. Any open food, any open liquids, any household cleaners...all needed to be either taken with us or given away. I was able to put some of my toiletries and some of the kitchen stuff in ziplocs so the movers would take it (like my nail polishes or my spices) but some wasn't worth the risk. And we needed to take enough toiletries for thirty days...not like a week. The crazy thing though was that I kept just feeling like we were packing for an especially complicated trip...considering several different summers I have spent 4-6 weeks abroad, it's hard not to feel like I'm not just gearing up for something like that...

Okay - I'm just super proud of these. I FINALLY finished this project a few weeks before we moved - so I was packing up all the jewelry on Sunday - but isn't this sooo fun? I made this myself!

 

While I sorted through the last area of the house that I needed to "thin out" and hadn't (I hadn't tackled my jewelry/makeup/stuff dresser drawer just yet) and began packing up my jewelry and the things I needed from my dresser, Ryan and Chris came over and set about helping Daniel tackle our home "deconstruction." They took all of our picture frames down, removed all of the screws and wall anchors, took down all decorations from our alcoves, and pulled everything down from the attic. The three of them were quick workers and I was super grateful that they managed all of that while I intermittently helped and began to tackle the pantry, baking shelves, spice cabinets, fridge, and then all of the liquid cleaning areas.

Ryan being an amazing helper and clearing the walls on house deconstruction day...

 

Through the rest of Sunday we had other visitors stop by to bid farewell - Becky, Kim, Fayez, and Adeeb, (who I quickly turned to "shoppers" and thrilled me by allowing me to convince them to take various pantry or cleaning items that could not travel with us). With each goodbye it was becoming ever more real and yet part of me was still completely in denial. Around dinner time the boys (who had worked hard enough that they had squeezed out time to play...and Rock one more time...) finally had to go to meet others for dinner (and we were off to meet with Uncle Bill and Aunt Marsha) and we had to say another goodbye this time to Ryan. Sadness!

 

We enjoyed a nice dinner with Daniel's aunt and uncle, finally arranged the photo exchange (we didn't want to bring the photos from the mega-scan project Daniel has been doing for the family to Maryland), and enjoyed catching them up on all of our big changes. We were really glad to be able to meet up with them one more time. And! They not only added to Baby Hals' book collection - but to the international section as well with a beautiful German Pinnochio pop-up storybook.

 

Monday the movers were arrived early! And the first two hours were incredibly stressful. After that things settled in, but we were only 90% ready for them to get there (early really caught us off guard - it was only by ten minutes...but those were the ten minutes that Daniel and I were spending hashing out our game plan, running around the house to finish pulling the objects that we "had to have" and that they "couldn't pack" - and all of that went out the window when they arrived early, asking dozens of questions and wanting to dig into the packing immediately. Even though it had been a bit foolish to stay up late working on things, I was SO relieved that I had - and I hadn't gone to bed without writing out an extensive, thorough, inclusive list that addressed all of the immediate to-do's that we needed to tackle before the movers swept through and packed things we needed. The only area thing I had left to tackle was my toiletries - so I just asked them to do the master bathroom a little later...once I had that done I was golden.

Daniel trying to keep Chance happy and chill while the movers packed things up - Daniel seemed much more comfortable and relaxed....I have trouble sitting still when people around me are working - I was super jealous of his ability to just relax.

 

The movers were awesome! It was an amazing way to move and I am proud to say that I really did my best to just "let it happen" - I definitely did not micromanage the packing and just refused to think about the fact that they were going through all of our stuff. Or that when you move a book case there's dust on the baseboards. I just kept telling myself that they do this every day and that we are normal people and that I was just going to enjoy the fact that I hadn't spent every waking moment of the last two weeks packing! So awesome!

Chance when we invited him to take a ride with us for lunch

 

We actually left the movers alone in the house and took Chance to lunch with us - we snuck him onto the patio area at Panera in the Avenues and enjoyed a quick lunch away from the craziness that was going on in our house. Chance was SO happy to be out of the house for a little while (but really - we were super impressed with how well he was handling everything - really his only growling moment of the day was when the mover tried to go in my closet in the master bedroom...which is Chance's cave...and was about to have Chance cornered. The mover backed out and called me over and Chance came flying out of the closet with a panicked look on his face). But really - he did incredibly well. I spent the afternoon spackling, cleaning, etc and was really relieved when the movers left around 3. Daniel decided it was time to see a movie - what else were we going to do? Our router was gone, our TV was packed, we could still sit on our couches but to do what? So...off we went and it was a wonderful idea. We arrived at the theatre kinda rushed and frazzled and left feeling much more relaxed and refreshed. It was nice to crash and relax and take our minds off of what was going on somewhere away from our house.

Last night in our home! :( Sniff sniff!

 

To cap off our day and our last evening in Florida, we picked up dinner for Chris at Chipotle, picked up Chance, and headed over to Chris' house to enjoy one last evening together and to watch the second to last episode of Breaking Bad. And we really cherished having one last evening to hang out and joke around. Chris ended up coming to our house to see all the boxes for a little bit and in traditional fashion, Chance and I walked Chris home and I said finally said goodbye to the guy that has truly been our "Ted" for years now. I kept it together to say goodbye - but could barely see to walk home - Daniel and I have both grown to love Chris like a brother and cannot begin to explain all of the ways in which he will be missed - on nearly a daily basis. :(

Last night hanging out at home and in the neighborhood with our ultimate buddy Chris

 

And then it was Tuesday! Moving Day! I got up extra early so I would have enough time to bathe Chance and take a shower - my goal was to be dressed by 7:45 since the movers had gotten to our house ten minutes early the day before (I was also trying to get some sleep!)...and sure enough at 7:39 Chance started barking like crazy. Yikes! 21 minutes early! I was still in a towel and Daniel was still in bed! I woke him up and told him to figure it out! They didn't waste any time getting things rolling! In what felt like minutes boxes of our stuff were rolling onto the truck. Daniel's car was also going to be shipped and we got to pick which items were going to be shipped in the car so we would have them after two weeks...but for three weeks of the thirty days in temporary house (aka stuff we needed overall, but not immediately...otherwise my poor civic was never going to fit it all).

 

Once we finished getting ready for the day we started painting over the spackle spots that I had done the day before and we soon fell into a pattern - the movers would clear a room and Daniel and I would sweep in to wipe the baseboards, touch up any marks on the walls, and vaccuum the room. It was a busy day, but not unreasonably so. Chance had a meltdown moment when we gave one of his dog beds to the mover to put in Daniel's car - he watched them take his possession away and was pretty much unable to stop pacing for the rest of the morning. Poor pup. They actually drove Daniel's civic right into the back of the truck too! It was really cool! Before we knew it they were wrapping up! The movers left by 12:15! Daniel grabbed lunch for us from Subway while I finished wiping down the kitchen, and by 1 o'clock we were ready to leave. And I would be totally lying if I said I didn't sob pretty much uncontrollably when it was time to leave my beautiful home - I cannot tell you how much I LOVE this house! I know that's super materialistic of me...but we built our home, picked everything, and lovingly decorated it - I just LOVED my kitchen, our bathroom, the central living areas, my beautiful paint colors, and my exquisite granite counters...LOVED. The crying needed to happen - and Daniel didn't try to stop me - I had reminded him the day before that the fact that leaving was difficult or sad only meant that we had had a great time and loved what we had - that's a really good thing, right?

Master bedroom before and after

Daniel's office before, packed, and cleared

Living room before, packed, and (almost) cleared

 

Dining room before, during, and after...

Chance was SO relieved to be in the car WITH US that he fell asleep right away - he was so content to just have made it into the car. And we were bound for SC! It was a reasonable drive, not too terribly busy, only a few patches of rain, overall - good stuff. I had to joke that we were living out of our car....because really we were...although realistically that's not a fair statement at all. We spent Wednesday recouping, enjoyed lunch with Emily and Mark, enjoyed a yummy dinner with the rest of the family, and Daniel's mom supported the tradition she started when Daniel started work at his last company - she bought several nice new shirts and ties for his first few days of work (thanks!!!)

The movers rolled out and so did we! Chance is so content to be in the car with us!

And oh yeah...I'm still growing a baby! Baby Hals has been doing well - his/her ability to kick and poke at me has gotten stronger. During week 14 I could only feel him/her when I was sitting still, during this week I could feel him/her while I was walking around! (Although not if I'm super active - moving and cleaning day was not a day when I could feel much of anything). But still - it's really neat that BH is getting stronger! We still don't know the gender yet - but by the end of week 16 we should! I am SO glad that all of this has transpired during my second trimester and not my first! I really do feel a lot better than I did and I definitely have a lot more energy! I still can't push myself as hard I I could push pre-pregnancy Beth (and certainly not on consecutive days), but very thankfully I have been able to energizer bunny it a good bit over the past week. 90% of the time food tastes great again! I have had a few meals where I hit a wall and can barely eat and get all food averted and gaggy, but I will totally embrace 90%! Most of the time I am really excited that food sounds good and that I even have ideas about what I want to eat! And chicken? Back on the menu!

Bye bye sweaty, humid, miserably hot Florida! It's been real (and hot and sticky!) I will miss your pretty waters, beautiful birds, our first big boy and girl jobs where we each started our careers, and the amazing times we had laughing with our dearest friends! We came to Florida as newlyweds and have left a stronger couple, even more in love and soon to be family of four! We found our beautiful, wonderful Chance in Florida and are heading to Maryland with him and our rapidly growing little Baby Hals! Living in Florida was a very special time in our lives and I wouldn't trade the memories we've made for anything!

 

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Week 14 - Our Wiggler Wiggles!!!

Weed 14 - September 12 - 18
Thursday night just as I was falling asleep there was this feeling of a bubble expanding low in my belly that woke me up out of my almost asleep state - I fell asleep with a huge smile on my face wondering if that had been our baby doing a trick. Then, Friday after I got out of the shower I was sitting down and noticed resounding "pings" on the lower right side...again I sat there smiling, not 100% sure if it was the baby, I knew it could be muscle spasm too, but still...it might be! And then Sunday I was sure! Again, I was sitting down and I felt definite, distinctive little taps while sitting down throughout the afternoon - and I was pretty sure there were more while I was moving around, but it was harder to tell. The best comparison I can think of is if you were to tap a few of your fingers on the inside of your arm - closer to your elbow where you are a little more ticklish. Baby Hals has just been tapping, almost tickling. I think I was the smiliest person on the planet on Sunday - I was SO unbelievably excited! :) This week movement has still been very sporadic and there are still days when I haven't felt much - but I have noticed it more through the week! Very excited about the next few weeks! And what a wonderful way for Baby Hals to be able to check in with a few cute little pokes as if to say "hey mom, still okay!" or "hey mom, thanks for feeding me!"

As for the other happenings - week 14 started off fairly uneventfully. I managed to fit a swim in on Thursday (and felt great until I had a major blood sugar crash post-workout in the shower and had to sit on the bench in the shower to not pass out and buy an apple juice from the snack bar before I could walk to my car...sheesh!...for the record I had an apple and granola bar in the car and felt great once I ate them). So my workout attempt saga continues...they have not been easy to pull off or enjoy! Friday night was a date night where the theme was basically "Florida." We ate at one of our favorite restaurants in Cocoa Beach - The Fat Snook - and Daniel enjoyed a delicious fresh Florida fish catch - red snapper. (My land meal was excellent too). We enjoyed key lime pie for dessert and ended up at the beach for a stroll around sunset - it was really a nice evening!

Red snapper at The Fat Snook - Daniel said it was fantastic

filet mignon at The Fat Snook - yummy!

Saturday night we had a fun dinner with our friends at an Italian place, met up with the whole gang for froyo and ended up at the Browns watching the tense end of the Texas A&M v Alabama game.
Sunday afternoon we had a showing! So we hid at Chris' house (we owe him major thanks! It is SO easy to run over to his house with Chance when someone wants to take a look) and then ended up at our house while Daniel and Chris played more video games together (this time it was Halo time) and I finally caved into my cravings and made a pumpkin dump cake I had seen on someone's facebook wall - and OMG! yummmy!!!

pumpkin dump cake - it was ridiculous! this picture however is terrible! It looked way better on my phone!

Monday Daniel and I met for lunch at an awesome Thai place in Hammocks landing and enjoyed their mango curry one last time and then I had my final midwife appointment (before we move) and Baby Hals is doing great! She also said I officially have a bump! When she used the doppler the sound of Baby Hals wiggling practically drowned out the sound of his/her heartbeat and the midwife chuckled and said "you have an active one in there!" at which point we heard a big "chhh" sound on the doppler and she said "that was quite a kick!" We went over my previous blood results from the routine tests I had at 13 weeks - my thyroid levels were great (major thyroid issues on all side of the family, so I've been keeping tabs on my thyroid levels since I was like 22). My red blood cell levels were all good and they did confirm that I am O negative (which means Daniel's positive blood will of course make my life more complicated - but modern medicine is pretty awesome!) and the one concerning thing? Even though I had standard immunizations when I was a child and a MMR booster in high school, I am in the 1% of the population that someone failed to develop antibodies to the measles. Sigh. It's...a semi big deal. The chance of me coming across someone carrying the measles is incredibly slim, but if I do it would very likely kill Baby Hals. :( So no more foreign travel for me! They said I will be vaccinated before I leave the hospital and to just be careful until then. The thought of someone who doesn't believe in vaccinations exposing me to the measles and killing my baby brings out every "mother lion" instinct I have and I honestly cannot begin to tell you how passionately I feel about the importance of immunizations. The irony of my lack of immunity is apparent to me too - I have more vaccinations than most people I know - along with the standards there's Hep A, typhoid, H1N1, the seasonal flu shot nearly every year for the past decade, and I had a booster against whooping cough before going to China. Yep. Pretty frustrating. I'm also kinda mad at my previous gynecologist (totally different office than I use now) - at my annual check up I had brought up wanting to try to conceive and had asked if there was anything I needed to do - many docs recommend a measles antibody check at that point and mine didn't (and I was already getting blood work done to check my thyroid level!) I could have found out then, gotten the immunization, waited three months, and been so much safer! It's infuriating!


The other thing that came up was that at the 13 week blood draw the standard chromosomal testing never actually happened. So we have now missed that window - but! WIN! My midwife said I actually could do a different test instead (one that I actually think is a lot better and wanted in the first place - but being low risk it's hard to justify to insurance - unless you missed the window for the first test!) So...they drew blood for the free-cell DNA test (called Panorama or Harmony or MaterniT21) - so...two weeks from Sept 16th we should have the results, which will identify if there are any chromosomal issues - AND tell us Baby Hals' GENDER! YAY! It's a test that's at least 99% accurate! They actually pull the baby's DNA from my blood to analyze it - so cool! We are psyched!

That night I actually cooked chicken again! I wanted to cook a yummy dinner while I could - I think cooking in our little hotel kitchenette is going to prove extra challenging. So I cooked up a delicious favorite - chicken parmesan and enjoyed a family dinner with Daniel and Chris and we watched the latest Breaking Bad episode - two more to go!

Tuesday was an internet errand day and I did manage to get another swim in! This time I had a gatorade in my gym bag with an apple and granola bar on stand by in the gym bag so I could munch them in the shower if I had to. I drank the 12 oz gatorade before I even stepped in the shower, so I think that really helped. No sugar crash this time - progress! Wednesday I got to enjoy an afternoon with my friend and neighbor Kim. She's 6 months pregnant with her second, so we had a lot of fun comparing notes. She made some great recommendations for my registry and for other things and I finally filled her in on all of our upcoming changes! I will definitely miss her! We were both really excited to have young kids in the neighborhood together. We had another showing in the evening from 5-6 and again Chris' home was a wonderful refuge! I also had wiggling frequently though the whole day on Wednesday!!! Soooo exciting!

Daniel and Chris...several days this week. Game of the week was Halo 4 (I think...) Aren't they cute? I love watching them play together!

Chance still seems to be making himself at home....I think our pup is doing just fine!

Positives and Negatives this week? STILL dragging through this forsaken cold! Grossness! I'm just snotty and gunky and bleh. Otherwise okay - but tired of the sinus pressure and grossness. Food!...is actually tasting good! (Hence cooking chicken!) I would actually say my appetite is still a bit down, or at least my hunger seems less manic, but food sounds good and most of the time it's not hard to eat it! YAY! Really enjoyed that! And...my bump is still pretty small (I mean...I see people with much larger potbellies in the grocery store, so I guess I think I'm cute and pregnant...but in reality they probably just think I have a potbelly too) - but this week my bump is starting to get in the way in small ways. Like if my legs are crossed and I want to lean down and pick something up...that's tricker. Or... (I knew this would be a problem and wasn't looking forward to it)...I LOVE to draw my knees up to my chest...while on the couch, while at the dinner table (not in public), etc. Drawing both knees up now is problematic! Even one at some angles is tricky - so...I supposed Baby Hals is growing and so is his/her kiddie pool!

Enjoying the beautiful beaches of Florida while talking about our future - we are so excited!

Week 15 is going to be an emotional one - lots of good byes to some very beloved people and our first beautiful home together - wish us luck! We are incredibly excited about our next adventure - but we have loved many things about the past seven years and thus, there are some sad good byes as well (it means we've had a great time!)

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Week 13 - Part 3! Busy busy but soaking it all in!

After knowing Daniel had accepted the new job and that we were moving quickly enough that he would be starting on September 30th, we spent the weekend soaking in time with our friends. I found myself making mental snapshots through the weekend and really relishing the jokes, laughter, and the company of such dear friends that we have spent countless hours with over the past several years. We have semi-jokingly called the group the "Florida Family" but with all seriousness, this group really is our family. We have had folks who have moved out of the group and folks that have moved into the group - but Daniel and I have been the only couple still living in Florida who were part of the original group. We were the constant.

In Iceland hiking glaciers!

Triumphant hikers! Heading down to Machu Picchu after hiking in through the sun gate

 

During week 13 we had a busy, weekend delightfully full of friend time. Daniel accepted the offer, we met with our realtor to discuss potentially listing the house (we had set this up in advance), and almost immediately afterwards Ryan and Chris poured into the house for another Rockband fest (they were very serious about getting their Rock time in - ever since Daniel had gotten the unofficial offer). After that we headed onto Thai Hana for dinner and back to our home for another condemning round (or three) of Resistance and the other crowd favorite - and cackle inducer - Cards Against Humanity. On Saturday I managed to find someone who would come in and patch a few spots on the carpet right away and Chance got to watch and protest as we paid someone to use some extra rolls of carpet we had to replace Chance's handiwork. After that we headed over to Thomas and Brie's house to watch the Clemson game, enjoy a tasty dinner, and see the photos from their Tanzanian Safari adventures.

This kinda sums up the goofy, witty, nerdiness of our beloved friends...

 

Sunday was a lovely classic Sunday spent with Daniel and Chris. Chris is truly the Ted to our Lily and Marshall and I honestly can't tell you how much we enjoy his company or how much we will miss him. Sunday Chris came by to help us ditch the beloved and hated old black leather couch that we replaced with beautiful, comfy, supportive couches a few months ago. We put a sign on the couch that said "Free! Please take me!" - and seriously...it was gone in less than fifteen minutes! Daniel jokingly went back to check to see if it was gone before I posted a listing on Craig's List and came back laughing - we felt ridiculous for waiting so long to put it outside but still couldn't believe it was gone so unbelievably quickly! The boys also moved some furniture around to stage the house the way the realtor had recommended. After that we paused to handle the "to-do's" we each had and then regrouped for the evening. We went to dinner at Bonefish Grill and all really enjoyed our meals and then opted to come back and hang out at our home together - we ended up all piled into the living room watching Breaking Bad like the family that we are.

And we have taken Chris out on ledges far past his comfort zone....notice how we are leaning out and he is....not? :)

Exploring the floating Uros island on our crazy Lake Titicaca and Amantani adventure...

The terribleness of the things going on in this photo makes me laugh every time...

 

Even Monday and Tuesday were busy days! Monday I met with the realtor in the morning to photograph our home and officially list it on the market, met some former MCC social studies teachers for a really nice catch up lunch, went shopping with a gift card from my mother-in-law who had sent me a very sweet care package with several gifts cards so I could enjoy the "frivolous life" I had enjoyed when I too was employed (we're financially fine without me being employed, but I do have less extra cash and it is harder to justify buying a cute shirt for myself when I don't have a job to pay for it or wear it to...although once my clothes don't fit I'll have a reason!). After that I came home and crashed for a little bit and then headed out to join our friends at World of Beer (which I will delightfully say has vetted out some pretty tasty alcohol-free beer - and I will admit I have really enjoyed sipping one while my friends enjoy the real stuff - it's been a pleasant compromise) to provide a buffer for Kelly's Eagles passion - she needed to watch the game with people around so her fervent care of the game was a bit muted by the rest of us carrying on. The gang was up for the challenge! Daniel and I had a TON to talk about - he had given his company his official two weeks notice that day, told his program, etc so it had been a very busy, full day!

Tuesday afternoon I went and met with my favorite stylist in the world - Nikki Taylor at Introspection Salon in downtown Melbourne who has been cutting my hair for the past six and a half years - I LOVE her and her amazing haircuts! I had made an appointment a few weeks ago when I realized I was overdue (I usually get a back to school cut) - it was exciting to tell her all of my news and I truly think she sent me away with the best haircut I've ever had - I LOVE it! Perfect layers - in all the right places. I'm thrilled! And one of the things I love about her cuts is that they grow out well for months and months and months so now I have a lot of time to find someone amazing in Maryland!

By Wednesday I was beat - my cold was starting to catch up with me, I was quite tired from several back to back days of running around, and it was a hard core couch day. I ended the day with a big step in the second trimester direction - I cooked chicken for dinner - cut it up and cooked it and ate it and everything! Big win! Homemade chicken pot pie has become a new favorite of ours and it was deeee-licious soul food.

Sooo...an incredibly busy week. Big decisions, busy days, and truly treasured times with our dearest friends.

 

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Our Other Next Big Adventure - We're Moving to Maryland!!!

I have been trying to think about where to start on this one and it's tricky! The "pieces of the puzzle" have been falling into place slowly but surely for months, so I will try to start there.

 

1. I left my job at MCC. (Here's a background story Why I Left) It was primarily a professional decision, but there were a few other side factors as well. One was that along with wanting to pursue avenues in technology integration for professional reasons, it was personal too - a technology integration position would likely be more family friendly than being a classroom teacher. The third factor was that Daniel was reaching the end of the program he has been working on for six years and timing was prime...if we were ever going to move it was now.

 

2. Daniel has been the chief software engineer for his program for the past six years and has seen it through its full life cycle - the program was supposed to end eighteen months ago...then twelve months ago...then three months ago...but seriously - they were heading into testing in June. While the program will be testing and doing additional things for months and months...the most critical work is done and well, it's a great time for him to transition out (compared to any other point before now in the past six years).

 

3. Suddenly we felt incredibly mobile! If I left my job we were not tethered for the reason, nor tethered to the static nature of the school calendar. Plus Daniel's program was winding down so he wasn't going to be professionally blacklisted for screwing his program over. We checked home values in our area - they were up! Not as up as we would like them to be - but up enough that we would not be losing major $ if we left - we could break even or even better! All of a sudden we felt mobile and free!!! Now where to go?

 

4. All of this happened right at the end of the school year - I left my seventh year of teaching on a Friday afternoon, Daniel finished the baseline build for his program after putting in overtime by Sunday, and we were off to Europe on Monday! (Well, actually Tuesday, but that's an entirely different frustrating story). We decided to enjoy Europe and work on the job applications when we returned. Within two weeks of getting home we found out that I was pregnant! Suddenly things seemed even more meant to be...maybe it would be easier for all of us if this year my job was to get the house ready to sell, help us get move and get settled in, have the time to work on making professional connections once we reached an area, and enjoy a maternity leave that was longer than six weeks!

 

5. We started applying - all over - the geographic requirement? SEASONS! Texas was an unacceptable option. We needed Upstate mountains or further North. It also had to be an area where I would have options professionally (which is a lot of places, but also gave me veto power). There was actually a company that was courting Daniel (he had first and second interviews with them and it was progressing towards scheduling an on-site interview) - there were seasons (it was beautiful, mountainous, etc), it was a pretty good fit for him professionally, but there the population was a bit too sparse for us - there was one high school in the area and a few within a thirty to forty minute drive. For me it really wasn't going to work. We kept looking. He had an interview once or twice a week through July with various companies, spoke with head-hunter/recruiters on numerous occasions, and we kept an open mind. As we had few nibbles from Colorado (one of our dream destintions) and I thought about the benefit of living somewhere that was a days drive to the grandparents (for all of our benefits) we became less focused on trying to find something awesome in Colorado. As we rolled into August with the company (that he has accepted a position with) became a front runner and by mid August he had an on-site interview scheduled in Maryland for August 29th.

 

I don't want to be unprofessional on Daniel's behalf and get into a detailed analysis between his current company and his future employer. But in the end, the future employer had better benefits (I will say that Daniel's current company had just significantly decreased medical coverage - particularly maternity - JUST after I started seeking prenatal care and this company has much better support - so for our immediate needs it was a very nice benefit), provided a raise that would off-set the cost-of-living increase, and was an excellent fit for him professionally. Many of the companies he interviewed with wanted him to work in a certain area, be a code monkey for an indefinite about of time, and eventually work his way up. This company was very excited about his skill sets and is bringing him on as a technical lead for different programs. This company also highly encourages its engineers to work on more than one program at a time - which suits Daniel's high-need-for-variety-and-challenge very well. And, they recognized the masters and the hours towards his second masters as additional years of experience when determining where he placed - very exciting, because his current employer never really recognized the masters.

 

Daniel has actually flown up to this area for work to be the liaison with this company multiple times over the past few years and has always come back from his business trips raving about the company. He always comes back talking about how young, smart, and interesting the people are and how he really likes the atmosphere.

 

What am I excited about? Deciduous trees! Fall! Seasons! Being near lots of things to do! Not being a hostage in my own home from April - September! (This redhead is just tired of the heat and the sunblock and has likened it to not liking cold and living in Alaska). I'm just done. I want so badly to just get to be outside! I am excited for seasons that will make it feel like a year has occurred instead of feeling frozen (or melted) in time - palm trees in December just doesn't do it for me! My sister just moved to the area a few months ago so we'll be in the same town for the first time in over a decade! My grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc in NJ will be three hours away! Our dear friends Arthur and Kristina moved there several years ago! And! we have lots of other people we know in the area that we haven't even really realized we'll get to see yet - I seriously need to sit down and work through facebook - I am pretty sure it's bunches of people! And professionally? Lots and lots of options! I am excited for our future kiddos education (we are heading to an area with fantastic school districts). And being the adventurous people we are... We are excited for different and a new area to explore!

 

 

And so - we are moving! It's a big step - but I think it's a good one. We are really excited about it! Things are moving incredibly fast now! Daniel's on-site interview was August 29th, he accepted an offer on Friday, September 6th, we listed our house on the market September 9th and Daniel gave his company two weeks notice, the movers came to consult and plan our move on Friday Sept. 13th, they will pack us up Monday Sept 23rd, load the truck Sept 24th, and we will be in Maryland (after stopping to see the fam in SC) by Friday Sept 27th night so we can spend the weekend checking out the area! Daniel starts work Monday, September 30th! His future employer fully covers relocation and provides us with thirty days of temporary housing while we are figuring out how now to be homeless. We are having them ship Daniel's car and driving my car together to SC for a few days with family and then onward to Maryland (we could have all flown, but shipping Chance seemed stressful and we weren't sure when else we would have time to visit family in the next few months). So - Viola!

 

We are incredibly excited! But, of course we are currently in the midst of lots of unknowns - will our house sell? Where will we live when we get there? Etc. Am I stressed? I mean...have you ever known anyone who is moving to feel the most relaxed they've ever felt? Right. So yes, I am stressed - but very reasonably so - and I can assure all of you that most would find me uncannily calm. I keep reminding myself that previous Beth and Daniel spent MONTHS discussing what would be best for them and our future and our future family and now that everything is happening super crazy fast, I have to trust that previous Beth and Daniel knew what was best for future Beth and Daniel and just try to roll with it and enjoy my friends and time here while I can. So we have! (We have never wanted to live in FL forever - in fact we've been talking about an exit strategy for years - and thought we had a few more years before we could make it happen...but then all of a sudden those puzzle pieces have had a mind of their own!).

 

I am SO glad the most I have to pack is the valuables, important documents, and what I need for thirty days of temporary housing. I have several hours of things to weed through and prep before the movers get here - but I have another week to do it, and really - it'll be fine. Our poor pup has ben stressed, but he's rolling with it. Moving lots of furniture the first weekend and having different people in the house was very stressful for him, but now that the new things have "stayed the same" he's just fine. We made sure he went to daycare again last week to keep routine and to give him an axiety outlet.

 

It's all rolling - ready or not, here we go!

 

This picture is actually of us in the Quito airport getting ready to fly to San Cristobal in the Galapagos - but I think it captures how we're doing right now too! Ready and excited for our next adventure!

 

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Week 13 - Meeting our Wiggler!

Week 13 - September 5 - 11th

This week was a HUGE one - lots and lots going on! I think it is definitely going to be a two post explanation...so part 1...

Week 13 started with an early morning appointment for our nuchal translucency scan and then the corresponding blood work. I was super crazy excited to see our baby! Our last look was at 5 weeks 6 days - it was wonderful to know we had a heartbeat and that things looked good - but honestly - we had a cheerio size blob that flickered - it didn't exactly look like a baby. To add an element of challenge to the experience I started grappling with either an extra surge of allergies or acquiring the cold Daniel had brought back from Maryland. On Wednesday night before my appointment, slept badly because my throat was so burny/sore, and woke up Thursday morning obsessed with making sure I was either continually consuming cough drops or water to keep my throat in check. I wasn't fully sure at my appointment whether it was a cold or allergies so I just kept my mouth shut about it - I had called at least eight times to get this appointment set up (we were totally unimpressed with this office, but Daniel's insurance company required us to use it for the NT scan) and because they had procrastinated in getting us an appointment I was right on the end of the NT scan window, so I was having the scan darnit!

 

This was one of the appointments I told Daniel he should also attend, so we both drove separately so he could go onto work and met up in the waiting room. I had gotten an 8:30 appointment - second appointment of the morning, so I figured we shouldn't run too late, right? Totally wrong. The number of people in this waiting room kept increasing...rapidly...and the rate at which they were taking people back was...incredibly slow. Daniel had a meeting at 10 in Malabar and we weren't even called back until 9:20 or so... How can an office be running 50 minutes behind for their second appointment of the morning? And, their computer system was down which wasn't helping matters either. And the whole time we are waiting we can overhear bits and pieces of conversation going on in a side room between the doctor and what sounded like other techs/nurses - all laughing and carrying on. Daniel turned to me and sternly said - I am. very. unimpressed. And then I reminded him this office was Harris' pick.

 

But...they finally called us back! They had a flat screen TV mounted across from the exam table so we got to watch the whole scan - very exciting! And then - we saw Baby Hals! YAY! Cuteness, actually-looking-like-a-baby, and squirming around! When the tech first started the scan Baby Hals was face down, burrowed into my tummy (which I thought was adorable), but evidently that wasn't the angle the tech needed.

Baby Hals is a snuggle bum! All burrowed into my tummy!

She checked some different things, checked the heartbeat (150 bpm) and let us hear it, and then decided to try to get the baby to roll over - which I found hilarious. She was wiggling and jiggling my belly with the wand and I was laughing quite hard - but sure enough after just a few seconds Baby Hals was like *sigh, fine!* and rolled over so she could get the shots she needed. From that angle we could see way more kicking and arm waiving - it was all really exciting! I have told my friends that since the appointment I have realized that I am now envisioning the baby as looking exactly as he/she did in the ultrasound - so at the moment I can picture nothing other than a black and white, granulated, low resolution baby wriggling around - if I give birth to something that looks different I may be confused! Haha. But no, seriously - when I put my hand on my tummy now there's a black and white, granulated, low resolution baby inside.

Baby Hals at 13 weeks! :)

And so there's Baby Hals! And he/she has all of his/her major body parts and all of those body parts were where they were supposed to be - woohoo!!!! Wonderful news! Once the tech finished - she was really very sweet, but I felt like she felt very rushed (ahem - they were super behind at this point and their waiting room was almost full), the doctor eventually came him and said pointed out that he could see an intact nasal bone which lowered the risk of Down's syndrome to something like 1-700, then he said my age lowered the risk further, and said the nuchal fold was exactly what it should be, and said the number was more like 1-3300 or something like that and said the bloodwork would give us an even more accurate idea. All awesome news! Daniel hit the road to try to make his meeting and I waited while they tried to figure out what kind of paperwork they were going to send with me to take to my doctor if the computers were down.

 

I took a pathetic looking piece of paper that was a photocopy of essentially a post it note with some stuff scribbled on it with me and headed the half mile down the road the my midwife's office (it's a practice that's a blend of midwives and doctors - but I have really loved working with them so far). I signed in for blood work and then waited for quite a while and was eventually brought back - they needed blood to check my thyroid levels (family history makes me super high risk for issues...it's affected almost every single woman on my side of the family), blood type (I knew I was O- but they wanted to confirm and check for any RH antibody issues - Daniel's +), regular pregnancy related blood work, NT testing related blood work, bunches of stuff. Seven vials later (a new record for me) - and this woman had the magic touch - having blood drawn doesn't usually bother me anyway - but this woman was particularly impressively good! I finally left - I had started all this craziness at 8:15 and was leaving at 11. Good grief. Good thing I hadn't been teaching and told them "oh, I'll be back by x period" - it would have been a total lie and I would have been a stress ball.

 

I thought about rewarding myself by stopping for lunch somewhere - but honestly by this point I was feeling worse and worse - I was pretty sure I was siiiick. :( And all I wanted to do was go home and curl up. So I did. We had an appointment with a realtor the next day (Daniel already had the unofficial offer, so we wanted to go ahead and get rolling on figuring out what to do about the house - we were hoping to sell and wanted the realtor to come by and talk to us about improvements, staging recommendations, etc). So...only some rest for the siiiick. I gave myself two hours of crashing time on the couch, nursed a can of soup and some tea, called Daniel to whiiiine and tell him how much my throat hurt and how I was going to need him to go to the store on the way home to buy me siiick food (like throat pleasing ice cream). And then I decided to cave and take the first tylenol of my pregnancy (I had made it thirteen weeks!) but yeah - omgoodness! I just took one and it took the edge off my miserably sore throat and I managed to buck up and finish the sorting and tidying I had to do in my office (that was the last big task I had on my pre-realtor list). That two hour stretch was all I had in me and I quickly down spiraled from there through the rest of the evening.

 

The cold killed the pregnancy hunger and what little appetite I had started to regain. :-/ Daniel was very sweet that evening and I was a shivering, miserable mess who put herself to bed early. He even did the evening dog walk for me.

 

I felt way better the next morning - but the cold was not gone. The extra awful siiiick feeling was, but cold related fatigue and symptoms and stuffiness lasted the whole rest of week thirteen (and honestly - I am into week 14 now and 12 days later I STILL have a freaking cold.) I REALLY miss my pre-pregnancy immune system. Pre-pregnant me had an immune system of iron from teaching - sometimes Daniel would get sick and I never would - otherwise I beasted most all colds within 1-3 days. Seriously. I think not slamming the cold with cold medicine from the start is another major detriment to cold killing. I think there is a lot to be said about tackling the symptoms head on right away.

 

But...Friday was full of all kinds of excitement...so much that I think it deserves a separate post! Stay tuned!

 

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Week 12 - Staying Busy!

 Week 12 - August 29th to September 4th 

This is where it is really helpful that I am "back-blogging" because I can actually talk about what has been going on!

I woke up very happy to reach week 12! There are plenty of debates about when the second trimester begins (at week 12? at week 13? at 13.5 or 14?...all would say by 14 you are in it) - but it doesn't matter - reaching week 12 seems monumental and exciting! Risks go way down from here, Baby Hals' major organs and systems have formed (still plenty of maturing to do...but that takes time), the baby bump starts moving more "out" as things shift around and the baby starts kicking his/her growth into high gear! Oh yeah and - I grew an organ too!

This week was a particularly busy one. First - Daniel had his on-site interview on Thursday and flew up to Maryland for a 26 hour whirlwind trip. When he got home we had lots to talk about (but it had gone very well!) While he was out of town I took advantage of the uninterrupted time to clear out my closet...complete overhaul. It's a lot easier to do when we might be moving, when I have the time, and when many of my clothes that were in the "eh" category weren't going to be worn for another nine months or more. The "Eh"? They're ALL gone. I tried on EVERYTHING and evaluated whether it was not going to be wearable until this baby growing business was finished or if...hmm, maybe this might make a great in between time top ("in between" meaning the time between needing maternity shirts and the fact that some of my shirts no longer fit or now look ridiculous). I was pretty excited to discover I have quite a few "in between" friendly shirts - it's like I have a new wardrobe in some ways because everything fits differently! :)

Daniel texted me this morning to show me his snazzy self all suited up :) good thing we finally bought him a suit that actually fits!

Knowing we might move (and that if we do it will happen super fast) and knowing that in other cases we are going to have a baby and will be shifting quite a few things around here has been a huge motivator - I had steadily been working through each room of the house and weeding things out. There's a massive Goodwill down the street and I have made several trips - the one I made after the closet clean out involved my car being loaded up top to bottom - the trunk, the entire back seat up to the ceiling, the passenger seat - we have been emptying out! I've been spending about 4-5 hours a day either sorting through and reorganizing or deep cleaning the house (as in washing the walls, touch up paint, deep dusting...you name it).

Baby Bump update -continuing to grow!

This week I also visited my grandmother and Aunt Florence in Orlando! My grandmother had flown down to visit Aunt Flo so I drove over for a day trip and got to catch up - we had a really nice morning, lunch, and afternoon together and they were both incredibly excited for us and all over our upcoming adventures! While I was there Daniel called and said APL had called him with an unofficial offer! We were unofficially moving to Maryland! It was really exciting to tell my grandmother we would potentially be only a few hours away with the great grandchild!

My lovely sweet Grandmother!

And last but not least? At week 12 how am I feeling?

Food is still Meh. I think Baby Hals may be comprised on blueberry nutrigrain bars this week (I know they are not the emblem of nutrition in the granola bar department but this week they are a delicious snack that I don't hesitate to eat...so I'm going with it). I am suddenly absolutely exhausted again...I had energy and vigor from weeks 9.5 - 11 or so and then I seemed to have fallen back off the cliff into exhaustion land. And the allergy season I was bracing myself for is here - Ragweed has blossomed in full force! To the point that if I don't take a benedryl at night I can't "keep up" my fight against allergies and I get a raging sinus headache. Can you tell I tried to push through and go without benedryl? Yeah - I lost. Benedryl at night until the ragweed season it is. I surrender.

But to recap? Week 12! Yay! So excited that we have made it this far and that things are going so well! Grow Baby Grow!

This picture has oh so many explanations. 1) Daniel brought a cold back from Maryland and only wanted popsicles. 2) We made Ryan (the only person we know who likes lime popsicles which were in the variety box) eat the lime popsicles first before he was allowed to have another flavor. 3)Knowing Daniel had an unofficial offer the boys had a Rockband-fest at our house and enjoyed being "mothered" as I made a junk food (ahem - popsicle) run to target and kept them stocked up to rock.

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Week 11! Healthy Doppler Heartbeats and Going Public! Woohoo!

Week 11 - August 22 - 28

The first day of week 11 was going to be our big day! I hadn't seen my midwife since week 5.5 and was super eager to know everything was still okay. Daniel and I had decided that if Baby Hals had a healthy hearbeat the rest of the world would find out about our next adventure - I was so excited!

 

I had to wait a lot longer than I did at my last appointment...so for a good forty minutes to an hour I was just waiting and waiting to be called back to be seen. Once I was called back it was initially to meet with the nurse to go over genetics, risk factors, what prenatals and supplements I was taking, etc (btw - my supplement choices? gold star for me! DHA? check (in my fish oil), is fish oil purified/free from mercury? - check, she mentioned the need to get extra calcium - check)...I had actually done a lot of research back when we started heading into this baby making business and had modified what I took daily. I read a lot of research articles before I picked things. Ultimately I take a prenatal vitamin (I love the Rainbow brand), burpless fish oil that has plenty of DHA and EPA, 5,000 mg of Vitamin D, and a calcium supplement each day. I'm sharing because it was super hard to find info or definitive recommendations and I knew that by the time I would be meeting with a doc to discuss these things some of the critical development would have already happened.

 

Wow did I digress. Okay, so then, finally!, my midwife came in and immediately pulled out the doppler. (at the ultrasound 5-6 weeks prior we could see a heartbeat flicker but couldn't hear anything yet...so I was so ready to hear a heartbeat!). She cautioned me that at 11 weeks she can find a heartbeat about 70% of the time....but! It didn't take long - and all of a sudden there it was - that amazing, magical galloping swooshy sound - at a beautifully healthy 160 beats per minute! YAY! The rest of the appointment was fine - everything was looking great!

 

And so...we went public and told the grandmothers to have at it! (They had been chomping at the bit to tell the world). We made the following announcement and soon followed it up with this blog entry that told the whole story...

I also have been taking pictures each week - and week 11 yielded one of my favorites thus far. So bump updates:

4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and 11 weeks!

Healthy mom and healthy Baby Hals at 11 weeks! YAY!

The rest of my week...

Well, it's time for another smh-at-my-pregnant-self story (smh = shake my head)

 

Friday night we grabbed a tasty dinner at Thai Hana (well, tasty for everyone but Ryan...sorry buddy) and then had folks over to hang out. We were playing the quickly heated mind-bending, conspiracy theory inducing game of resistance and then transitioned to the far lighter (and darker) game - Cards Against Humanity. I was struggling with an increasing issue with brain fog - I kept having to ask people to repeat themselves over again and had a processing delay...the group was definitely making fun of me. I also kept feeling warmer and warmer...I had gradually shed my cardigan during the first game and during the second I was just getting quite hot and flustered. Daniel finally was like - "Beth what is going on?!" (he was on the other side of the table and came walking over to me) - and I said (giggling hysterically...which if you know me well should be no surprise) "I don't know - I'm just SO hot! I don't know what's wrong with me!! I can't think straight!" and he touched me and was like "Oh my God!" and brought a small fan over to blow directly on me. It was helpful - but at that point I suddenly was super overwhelmed with the feeling that I was going to be sick and headed off to the bathroom where I decided that laying on the tile floor was my best bet. It had to be hormones, but it was full fledged pregnancy hormone craziness.

 

Evidently my literal melt down was enough to concern our friends (I'm sheepish just thinking about it - although I could control zero of what was happening to me) - but they compelled Daniel to check on me who was not less concerned to find me enjoying the tile on the bathroom floor. He brought me some water and I told him to just give me a minute. I eventually calmed down enough - but still felt quite strange. Our poor friends were fairly freaked out.

After everyone left we got ready for bed, but by then I had headed into having shivery shakes - to the extent that I was physically shuddering and just too uncomfortable to try to sleep just yet. I ended up on the couch in a down comforter watching TV in the fetal position for a good hour before the shivers passed and I could retreat back to our covers and go bed.

 

I was once again reminded to never underestimate the unexplainable power of pregnancy hormones to just take over. Good grief.

 

We made a trek on Saturday out to Seasons 52 in Orlando - one of our favorite restaurants - and really enjoyed its tastiness. The menu is fresh, all dishes are capped at 475 calories, and we have generally found the food to be super yummy! They also have dessert shots - so you can have more than one dessert flavor and still not feel like you have had way too much. It's really just our favorite.

 

My complaint of the week...

Okay...I think at this point I am allotting myself to one complaint a week. That seems reasonable right? For week 11 it is this... I understand that I am hungry every 2 or 3 or (if I'm lucky) 4 hours. I have psychologically rationalized such new habits as the baby's way of conditioning me to be ready to feed him/her every 2 or 3 or (if I'm lucky) 4 hours. I get it. ...But actually that's not my complaint. My complaint is that while I have to eat at highly frequent intervals...food...just doesn't sound that great. When something actually sounds good - I am SO excited! I have foods that are on my "usually good" list and foods on my "oh no, I don't think so" list, but it is getting increasingly old to have to come up with what we are going to have for lunch and dinner when...well, nothing sounds good, and dear husband has decided that he has no opinion. *Sigh* Or...picks a meal that he can prepare for himself - but sounds terrible to me, so I still have to worry about feeding myself. *Sigh.* So I am hungry (if I don't eat ever 2/3/4 hours it's insta-nauseau...and the only cure is to eat) but I have no appetite. Where oh where have you gone, dear appetite*? And when oh when are you coming back? (should be soon...right?) *Appetite doesn't have to include large portion sizes, just food sounding remotely palatable or tasty would be great.

 

Disclaimer - I know I am not puking and for this I should be grateful. I REALLY deeply, truly am. But, after several continuous months, I am just running out of patience with the hungry but no appetite contradiction.

 

"Usually good" foods - I am pretty sure my baby is 10% fuji apples, 10% quaker oatmeal squares, 5% lowfat milk, and 10% Simply Orange Juice with Mango. Not sure how that will look...but...yeah.

 

"Oh no, I don't think so" foods - Any piece of chicken that are bigger than my finger nail and not mixed into a dish/soup. Double negative points if I had to cook it. Peanut butter. Considering peanut butter on whole wheat toast was my favorite afternoon snack a month ago I really have no idea. Asparagus...which pre-pregnancy dear husband and I would eat at least two bunches every three days...we had an obsession. For now it is one hundred percent gone.

 

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