8 Weeks and Counting..

I had my first real OBGYN doctor's appointment yesterday and all went great! I had to switch doctors since mine only delivered at Southern Maryland Hospital and (since I live in La Plata), wanted to have the baby at Civista. SO, thanks to some great references from friends I switched to Dr. Barry Aron. I was scared about going to see a new doctor, but as soon as I walked in the door I was at ease. The waiting room was cozy and comfy, the staff was extremely friendly and Dr. Aron was so nice, informative, through and just made me feel so comfortable. They gave me a goodie bag full of prenatal samples and literature... now I'm so confused as which prenatals to take! For the past few weeks, I've been taking Prenatal Plus and a generic DHA supplement but now I'm wondering if I should switch to one of the new samples I've been given... decisions, decisions.

My mom and Donald went with me for our first sono to see the blob and the heartbeat :) Come to find out.. my due date is February 7th (ahem, for those of you who don't know.. this is my birthday).. what are the odds?! I just can't get over that.. out of 365 days, I get pregnant with a due date on my birthday, crazy. What a wonderful birthday present we get to look forward to!!!

My current symptoms haven't varied much from the last post, I'm tired frequently, sore, having some crazy and rememberable dreams, irritable, sometime nauseous but haven't gotten sick (yet), been going to the bathroom a lot more frequently, and I seem to be getting a headache behind one of my eyes everyday lately and its really annoying. I've also noticed that my pants/shorts are fitting a little snug, as if I'm "bloated", I thought this is a little early for this, but I'm hearing its normal. I sure hope so. I'm praying that I won't get any "morning sickness" since I've been okay here so far.

We have thought of names already ;) For a girl = Claudia Lynn. For a boy = Shane *something* lol, still undecided on the middle name there.

This past weekend we spend with my family at the beach house in Calvert County, here are just a few quick pictures:

Dylan, Nikki, Melissa, Rachel, Me, Grandma Claudia, Danielle and Sonia <3

Grandma with all her grandchildren :)

Umm YES, the big kid in the bucket to the right is my boyfriend. Haha

Before our Louisiana crab boil feast

*Miss Quite Simply... Complicated ;-)

Well.. Look What We Have Here

I've been slacking on blogging lately and intend to fix that.. starting NOW. To kickoff this, I have quite the announcement.

I found out last week that... well... I'm pregnant!!!! Shocker right?! I know. Looks like Donald and I are going to have a baby.. wow :) Yes, we're both excited, and so is his daughter, Kamrie. She has been praying for a baby sister, but we will see what He blesses us with. I'm just believing for a healthy, happy baby.

As of right now, I'm 6 weeks, with an approximate due date of February 11th, 2011. Some of you may think this is early to be making an announcement, but we can't contain the excitement and joy and wanted to share it with everyone. I've already been to the Doctor and gotten my blood-work done, so it is official <3>

A few changes in me that I've noticed is that I've been completely exhausted / tired lately, been kinda gassy, easily irritable and have a few sore spots (ahem - Mom's: you know what I'm talking about). Other than that, everything seems normal. No "morning sickness", heartburn or cravings.. yet.

I'm still a bit shocked myself and a little in disbelief, but I'm overwhelmingly happy. I'm so excited for this new journey of being something I've always wanted to be, a Mom.

*Miss Comlicated

Pleasant Surprises

My day sure started out as a doozy and I thought it was just going to be one of "those" days for sure. You know, we all have them.. when everything seems to just go wrong. Within my first two hours of being up for the day I: got toothpaste in my hair (had to rewash it), then got toothpaste on my shirt (had to change), spilt my coffee at work, knocked over all the cups, dropped the roll of paper towels and it unraveled over the dirty floor (that I then had to clean up), poked myself in the eye with my mascara (ouch..) and this was just the start of it. Yikes. Well GOOD Morning to you too, Ha - not. At least I was able to just laugh about it all instead of letting it ruin my day.

Thankfully, God answered my prayers shortly after this train-reck of a morning and the day turned right around for me.

Yesterday, April 21st, was Administrative Assistant Appreciation Day and it was forgotten by my boss (aka Dad), so today to make up for it, he took me and my co-worker Ally out to lunch at TGI Fridays. It was an AMAZING surprise and definitely made us feel very appreciated. We come back to work with a great attitude, and I have another surprise waiting for me....

My Grandma sent me flowers <3>

She is so sweet. I have been sick so she sent these to me to cheer me up, and they sure did help make my, once crappy day, a great one.

*Miss Quite Complicated

Easter Weekend

This past weekend was a blast.. Nothing's better that good food, good friends, GREAT weather and spending time with the ones you love. I had another packed weekend and actually remembered to take some pictures this time around.

Friday Donald and I met my sister Danielle and friend at Gilligan's for the first time this season for some king crabby legs, crab balls (or bites) and crab soup.. MmmmMMmm it was all SO good.

Saturday we woke up early, went watch Donald's daughter (Kamrie) play T-Ball, then went on a nature hike afterwards. We had such a good time, jumping over streams, catching fish and frogs, watching Donald be a monkey and climb trees, building a fire and cooking hot dogs for lunch :) We got back early afternoon to meet Angel and Billy and head to the DC Nationals v. Red Sox Game. Angel got four tickets from work and the seats were remarkable.. I've never sat so close at a game before, it was so cool!

Easter Sunday we went to Cobb Island church then over to visit with Donald's family before jumping back in the car and heading over to Calvert to spend the day with my family. Lots of amazing food.. I definitely ate too much. The afternoon was spent munching on more food, hiding easter eggs, playing croquet, fishing and eating some more.

All in all it was a very fun, action packed weekend, Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Angel & I

Billy & Angel

Me & Donald

Being Sillly.. Hahha

Angel, Me, Donald

~THANKS for the tickets Angel :)

*Miss Quite Simple <3

Housewarming Recap

OK, so I know its been a few weeks since my last post, and a lot has happened in that time. Getting into my house, getting everything situated and taken care of has been very time consuming and exhausting (not to mention trying to keep up with all the other events in life as well). Everything is not finished, and probably won't be for a long time, but I'm liking having such a rewarding project to occupy my time.

February 27th was the Housewarming Party date and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!!! Most of my close friends and family came out to see my first home and all that has been done. We ate lots of great food, enjoyed good drinks, and had a blast being with each other on this momentous day.

I want to thank everyone who came for sharing this very special milestone with me, thank you for all the wonderful housewarming gifts (I'm still working on my Thank You notes), and thank you for all your help. I couldn't have done it without ya'll and and so very blessed and thank God to have provided me with such an amazing group of people in my life.

Front door

Nice Decorating - Thanks Mom, Cathy & Danielle!

Me in the Bathroom - busy getting ready

Living Room

Kitchen

The beginnings of a great food table.. MmmmMmm

Spare Room #2 (aka former green room)

Spare Room #1 (aka former yellow room)

Donald & My Dad, busy screwing around - Ha.. get it?!

My Mama fixing curtains - shes so awesome ;-)

Some Presents:

Mom & Karen watching my goofy reactions to all the presents Haha

Grandma Claudia & My Dad - and awesome friends around the corner <3

My P.I.C. (partner in crime) - Donald :)

Me & My Beautiful Grandma

*Miss Quite Complicated

Week 3.. Moving Right Along

Its been a crazy past two weeks and I've tried not to let the 'snowpocalypse' slow me down, but it has. I was all set to move in this past weekend, but because of the snow, it had put a lot of things on hold. So far, all that's left to be completed is the flooring, appliances to be installed and having my furniture delivered. New move-in date is this weekend, as long as everything stays according to plan this week lol.

In the meantime, my cousin, Rachael, flew in from Boston for my birthday / Super Bowl weekend. Needless to say, we had a blast even though we were snowed in together most of her trip here. We finally got to escape on Super Bowl / Birthday Sunday and we made sure to party it up since she was flying out the next day. We went out to dinner at Outback, went to party the first half of the game at my sisters with some Hurricanes and then went elsewhere to finish up the game and the night. Hallelujah: the SAINTS won just for me on my bday <3 It's a WHO DAT NATION!







Last week, after we were able to GET to my house, a lot has been done. Most of the painting is done, all the walls are patched up and most of my ceiling lights/fans have been installed. I have my first room that is done completely: the bathroom.. I'm so happy, it looks great! That was a huge project in itself to get fully completed... I needed major things like walls, insulation, light, exhaust fan, plumbing pipes to be replaced, a mirror and finishing the flooring, oh and paint. It feels good to finally have at least ONE whole room finished.




Other things that have been done this week, the windows were replaced, got a new door, fixed LOTS of electrical/wiring chaos and my brother Jose has begun to install my alarm system.

Messy Living Room


Living Room Again..


Hallway


Master Bedroom


Spare Bedroom #1 (Former Yellow Room)


Spare Bedroom #2 (Former Green Room)


Laundry Room



Kitchen



I'm so excited to be so close to being finished... I'm ALMOST there!!!! Can't wait for everyone to come see the finished product of my house becoming a home :)
*Miss Complicated

Happy Homeowner

Its official.. I now own a house and I'm completely in love with it.

I went to settlement on Friday and about an hour later I was in my new house, celebrating and getting to work. This house was a foreclosure, so it had nothing.. literally. No water, no furnace/ac, no appliances, nada. I was blessed enough that my brother, Andy, is a AC/Heat man and was available to get in there to begin installing the AC/furnace that night.

My dad :)

Day One: Even through the snow, I had about 5 people come over to help getting to work with some major things that needed to be done. Andy continued to work on the furnace/ac, I had a friend doing some electrical work and re-wiring a lot of things throughout the house, while two other friends and myself ripped up all the carpet, tack strips, nails and staples. Now that was a tiring tedious job.. took us about 5 hours to get it all done. We worked through the cold, thankfully my parents brought over a Propane Heater so it wasn't unbearable inside, lol. Andy stayed through most of the evening and was diligent about getting some heat pumping through the house. My brother is remarkable, I don't know any other ac/heat person that would have accomplished all that he did in that short amount of time. End of day one and we had HEAT :)

After pulling up carpet.. tons of staples to remove

This was our source of heat.. thank goodness for it!

Rich busy fixing the wiring of the house

No running water = no bathroom.. so here was our make-shift potty lol

End of the day... ready to GO. I'm sitting in the sink b/c there was nowhere to sit, haha

Ok, and now I was just a little bored and delirious...

My momma aka Renovation Supervisor ;)

Day Two: Started off the morning helping my dad shovel snow, which is always fun.. not. Then we adventured to my new favorite store - Lowes. lol. We got a lot of supplies we needed and I bought all my paint. After grabbing some grub, we went to my house and I learned a new trade.. I started mudding holes in the wall, putting wood-filler in the doorways, and painted most of the corners of the house. A friend of the family, Kenny, got straight to work and knocked out the wall some more that is between the kitchen and living room. It looks GREAT. He then pulled up all the baseboards, and linoleum around the house. The plumber came out and turned my water on and got it all working!! Jose and Dylan stopped in on their way home from walmart and brought me hand soap, a dust pan and a toilet seat, haha. I know, random items, but all were gravely needed since we now had running water. Well the dust pan was needed to clean up all the piles that were accumulating, Gotta keep the house clean even though we're in demolition mode lol.

Wonderful source of heat <3

Bye-Bye Wall

My fully functioning potty =D

All in all, it was a very productive weekend and I am deeply thankful and grateful that I have so much love and so many people that are willing to help.

*Miss Complicated