Life going on....

Sorry about all the sadness in my last post, it was a very hard day for me, and the only thing that made me feel better was to write about it. I'm still hurting, but I have the rest of my little family, and they are certainly trying very hard to fill her little "shoes". Everyone, including the doggies, have been super cuddly and loving with me lately, and it has been helping alot. I still miss her, and probably always will. I have never had a bond like that with an animal before and losing her was like losing a part of myself - that's how involved she was in my day to day life. But, time heals and I know she is at peace and that she didn't suffer. That's all I can ask for.

ANYWAY! Before I get all sad again....

I have some great news on the Day Zero front!

- I have now saved $100 toward my camera. There is also now $100 in the baby fund for the time off work I will have to take. Only about $500 more to go! Yikes!

- #70 is complete! We paid off our storage unit and have officially cleaned it out and are starting to go through the contents and sorting into "yard sale" and "keep" piles. It's ALOT of stuff!

- #72 - fix the car is also complete! The front axle was going bad, and it didn't cost as much as we thought it was going to! We also got insurance, new tags, and the taxes paid, as well as the title put into Hubby's and my names only! YAY!

- #90 is complete, although it wasn't as great of an experience as I thought it was going to be. We went to a little Asian boutique, and I don't think she understood that when getting your FIRST massage EVER, it is NOT a good idea to get a deep tissue massage! It was great in that she got all the knots out, but it HURT! And afterwards (for TWO WHOLE days) my back was on FIRE! I couldn't even lay on it to sleep. Definately not doing that again.

- #91 is also complete! I wasn't going to do it, but I decided that my hair was just getting way too heavy and with summer coming and being big and pregnant, I just didn't want a whole bunch of hair on my head. So, I decided to go ahead and get it cut. I wasn't PLANNING on donating it until the lady at the salon said that I would have enough if I just went a LITTLE bit shorter, so I went for it! Hubby HATED it at first, but I think it might be growing on him. We will see! Here it is, along with my 16 week baby bump pic:

Sorry it's a little blurry!

I got it cut on Sunday right before Hubby and I took a trip down to D.C. to the National Zoo! It was alot of fun and I have a few pics from that day:

And just for giggles, and to show you how much my Marty poses for me, here is a picture I took of him this morning =)

The saddest day I've ever had was today.

My husband and I found this little darling one day before our wedding on July 4, 2009.

Hubby had heard a faint meow coming from the basement and went down to check it out. This tiny little kitten emerged. He brought her upstairs just as I was getting home from errands, and I instantly fell in love. She was rambunctious, loving, and cute as a button, not to mention scared and hungry.

She became my world, and a few things became quite obvious:

1. She loved us both instantly and showed us often with neck cuddles.

We cuddled on almost a daily basis. She knew when I got home and instantly came running to greet me. She hung out with me as much as possible, and when she wasn't lying tucked into my neck purring her heart out, she wasn't far away, usually curled up against me with some extremity of her little kitty body.

2. From the time she was little, she slept in the wierdest (and cutest places/positions):

 I loved that she could always find a comfortable place to sleep, no matter where we were or what part of the house she was in at the time.

3. Eddie was HER man:

 Every time I turned around they would either be sleeping together, grooming each other, or playing with each other. I called them my lovebirds.

Lately, Indy and I have had this ritual where when I go into the bathroom in the morning, she comes and jumps up on the sink and from there crawls into my arms for cuddle time. She has been doing this for about three months now. It was our time together, and this morning was no different.

She came in and I gave her a few rubs and she nuzzled my neck on each side, and then I set her down to put my contacts in. I turned around and all of a sudden she is breathing heavy and twitching and her legs are all stiff. I picked her up and she took a ragged breath, and then it was sheer pandimonium. I'm not sure what happened - we think it may have been a stroke, heart attack, or seizure. Either way, she was gone. We gathered her up as fast as possible ( I was freaking out) and drove to the nearest animal hospital, only to find it closed. It didn't matter, I truly believe she was gone as soon as she felt herself in my arms. I just couldn't let her go, I kept holding her and petting her and whispering "I love you's". There was nothing I could do. We buried her in the yard as it was raining, and later tonight it turned to snow.

So, now I must say goodbye to the best cuddlebug I know, my Beeber, Independence, my wedding kitty. You were closer to me than any kitty I've ever had, and you always knew when I needed you just for some love and affection. You were the best cuddler, and your purrs in my ear I will never forget. I will miss our "Mommy and me" times, I will miss you greeting me at the door, I will miss your squeaks, I will miss your eyes, and your silly little bicolor face. I will miss you always getting in the way at the worst times, and I will miss you always butting in when I'm late for work for one last cuddle - knowing that I won't be home for a few hours. You weren't here long enough to say hello, let alone goodbye. I will say this...

I love you, and Mommy will never EVER forget you. I will miss you every day - FOREVER. I love you so much, Beebs - and I will see you again someday.

Sleep well, and wait for me.

Mommy loves you.

Things I forgot to show you....and new stuff, too.

So, I know it's been awhile and I'm sorry for that, I just never seem to find the time to blog anymore, and I'm sure that will decrease even more once the baby gets here. (Well, maybe I'll have more to talk about then, as there is not alot going on here in our household right now. I guess we will see.)

Anyway, there are some things that I have wanted to share with you. Now, keep in mind these are cell phone pictures and they're not going to be good quality, but I wanted to share them with you anyway.

Let's back up to Thanksgiving. I want to share my awesome table setup with you! I can't believe I never shared it with you, considering how proud I am of the fact that I put it together all by myself and I think that I did a pretty good job with it!

 I can't wait until next year when I can set it up again! (And just think - when I set it out again, I'll have an infant! omg.....)

Then, at Christmastime, my wonderful hubby let me redecorate for Christmas. That was essentially my Christmas present, getting to buy whatever I wanted to decorate the table for Christmas this year. Here it is:

 And here is my Christmas tree in full view:

I was very proud of this as well. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and I cannot wait until next year when I can share this with my son/daughter!

I also want to share with you some baby bump (or lack thereof) photos! The first is at 6 weeks on January 10th:

This one is at 7 weeks:

And here is more recent, a 13 week photo (side note: it's laundry day - LOL):

As you can see, there's not much there. My hubby keeps saying that he can see the difference, but to me it still just looks the same as it has the past eight months - chubby fatty goodness. I'm sure I'll begin to see the difference here soon but I just don't see it right now.

Now to more recent news:

I had my doctors appointment on February 16th, and everything went well during the visit with our OBGYN. We got to hear our little bean's heartbeat and I had actually lost 6 pounds which means now I can gain a little more than I originally thought toward the end of my pregnancy. Then I went upstairs to the other section to do my fasting blood sugar. I failed: my blood sugar was a 116, when normal fasting is 92. So, they diagnosed me with gestational diabetes. So, now I get to prick my finger four times a day with this lovely contraption:

And drop my blood on a test strip inside one of these contraptions:

And report to my doctor weekly. So far, I have been really bad about doing it every day, but all of the readings I've gotten recently haven't been bad, and I haven't been dieting or anything. So, I don't know what they're going to tell me, but I'm sure as long as I keep doing what I've been doing I'll be ok.

I have another appointment with the Diabetes section of the OBGYN office on March 4th, to discuss my readings, and then a regular appointment on the 16th. And then hopefully, three weeks after that, I will be coming back for my next ultrasound and *crosses fingers* we MIGHT be able to find out what the sex of the baby is!

On to today:

My husband and I made our first "baby purchase"! Now, before you get ahead of me, it's more for the dogs/cats than anything right now, but the good news is we were able to move all the cats stuff out of the spare bedroom (read: nursery) and into the kitchen! Here is what the kitchen looks like now:

Guarded by this AWESOME baby gate, which is super tall and comes with a gate for the cats so that they can get through freely. Now, we can't use the door yet, because Vala is still small enough to go through, but I figure in about two months or so she will be too big to go through the door anymore, and we will be able to open it.

And now the nursery is a blank slate ready for whatever we want to do with it!

There is a small closet around the corner to the right, and I really feel like its going to be a big enough room for the baby to be able to grow and live in for a good long time. I have a few ideas as to what I want to do with the room, and there is alot of cleaning and painting and repair work on the window to do, but it's all easy stuff. I want to put a rug down on the floor, and I want the quote "Life is but a dream, so row merrily..." written on the wall above the crib, but that will come later. I think it will be ready soon for furniture, maybe a month or so.

I know this post is long, but bear with me, I'm almost done. I had so much to catch up on! On to my Day Zero goals:

- I have read three more books:

They were all really good, and I will tell you if you are a cat lover, you HAVE to read Dewey, it is a heartfelt, beautiful story about a cat that changed a TON of people's lives. It was a tearjerker for me it was so good.

- I've started a fund to save up to buy my camera that I want:

A Canon EOS Rebel XS - $550 at our local Best Buy. So far I have saved about $80.00.  I am hoping to have it before the baby is born so that I can get some awesome pictures. (Not to mention learn how to use it correctly before the pressure is on to get good baby pics)
- I have completed #28: Cut soda out of my diet completely. I now only occasionally have a sip of soda when the mood strikes me. I am drinking water 99.9% of the time now! Go me!

- # 70 will be completed within the next two weeks: Pay off the storage unit. I can't WAIT for that day, because I get my childhood toychest back, plus a few things that I think we will be able to sell for a decent amount of money, and then we can get # 58 going - a yard sale!

- # 72 will also be taken care of with our tax money this year: Fix the car.

- #90 get a professional massage. I am going to be doing this on Thursday with my friend Amber for her birthday! So excited for this!

- #91 donate my hair at least once. I am going to grow my hair out during the pregnancy since your hair grows faster, and donate it a week or two before the baby is born!

Ok, so that about does it! I think I am all caught up for now!