Monday, April 23, 2012

Dr. Dr. give me the news....

A few Wednesday's ago I was exhausted, which is very unlike me, but I came home and slept so long I almost missed church! My friend Alisa then proceeds to tell me that she had a dream that I was prego.
Interesting... I didn't want to make to big of a deal of it, and tried not to psyc my self up. I decided to take the test Thursday morning. I really don't think I expected it to show 2 lines. I screamed so loud Kelly thought something had happened to the dog.

I then went in to crazy train mode. I can fully admit this now. I took a picture and sent it to my cousin to confirm. Kelly still didn't register that we were going to be parents. I think he was in a state of shock, or his lack of hearing due to my scream caused him to lose the ability to focus. So in true Kelly fashion he asked me to go to the Dr. right then...So I called the the walk in clinic and the sweet nurse kind of laughed at me...
Me: I need to make an apt to confirm my pregnancy
Nurse: Ok have you taken a test?
Me: yes ma'am.. six.
Nurse: Six! Six tests?
Me: yes I wanted to make sure...
Nurse: Honey, is this a good thing?
Me: Yes Ma'am!
Nurse: Well good honey.... cause you are pretty much pregnant.



So there you go. I am a little OCD. But We wanted to make sure before we got tooo excited.
Kelly's parents were coming in town and the main topic of the visit was going to be the family vacation.
We wanted to make sure and tell them in a really memorable way and I found this precious picture of a family all wearing tom's with a baby pair next to them.
So we adapted it a bit since team carlson loves to run..

We made all of our parents a copy  and used the picture to tell each one.
My mom was up first. Her birthday was coming up so we told her that we wanted to take her to dinner. When she opened her present it was the picture in a cute frame. She was so excited and started crying in the restaurant.
Next up was Bobby & Julie. We strategically placed the picture on the fridge, but we were concerned that they would miss that so Kelly put it on Julie's Ipad in hopes that she would open it up.. see the picture and get excited. Some how they didn't get either! I just kept staring at Julie waiting for her to get it.. she finally was trying to sign out of Kelly's picture account and realized the picture was for them. 

When Kelly & I scheduled the first Dr. appointment and Kelly was so cute about it. He told me that he wanted to be at everyone.

This was the first one. It was surreal and the fact that they were able to pick up a flutter of heart beat was amazing, but baby C didn't even cover the cursor. So it was hard to really visualize.

We were then taken in to the payment room.. Kelly and I decided they do the baby picture first to pump you up and then glaze over the cost. At least that was the way it was with us. We were so focused on the baby that we didn't even hear or comprehend the whole cost aspect.


Next up the nurse that gives you the whole run down on the do's and don'ts of being a baby grower for the next 9 months. We were doing pretty good with our limited medical history and the current physical state of Kelly and I.. that is until Kelly dropped the bomb on the nurse that we were completely vegetarian and predominately vegan.

She also told us that she thought I was small for 6 weeks and asked me to come back in 2 for a more definitive due date and how far along I was.

This of course caused me to fixate on this and stress that something was wrong. Please get use to this - I hate to say it, but this will be the theme that follows me throughout the pregnancy. Thankfully I am a pretty open book and will tell you all about my neurosis and how ridiculous I am. I will also say that I am continuing to pray.

When I was finally able to give up my stress and worry and let God lead me I was able to get pregnant. I need to remember that throughout the next 9 months. That no amount of stress and worry will help me control what happen with my sweet baby C.

I will also honestly say for the next 2 weeks until I went back to the Dr. If I didn't feel any symptoms I would casually stop in to the local Walmart and pick up a test. Yep. Judge me if you will, but it made me feel better, until my sweet nurse cousin told me that even if something happened to C the test would still show positive for a long while after. So, there went my comfort zone.

Thankfully two weeks went by pretty quick and we were able to get a better picture.

8 Weeks heartbeat 165
This is the next one! Now that the baby was the size of a Lime and larger than a curser Kelly and I both were in awe.

Kelly has also decided that he will record the Dr. visit and make a video montage for C. Which means the nurses thinks we are crazy and our Dr. will be recommending us for the next reality show.

 
Did we mention that our family is very excited? Here are all the items that baby C has received.





I will say that each day for me is a battle. A battle about being so excited about the sweet baby growing inside of me and the battle of all the negative things that come from everywhere about all the horrible things that could happen. So I continue to the one thing that I can do. I pray. I pray for any and everything that has to do with the baby.

Which brings us to this week. I am in so thankful that we have made it to 12 weeks. I feel so blessed to have been able to hear that heartbeat on the doppler and make it to the ever important 12 week important!

Sidenote. First two ultrasounds they told me if I have a full bladder it is easier to see. So me being me, each time I went in with a strategically full bladder... until this time. I was at perfect level in my mind for the ultrasound just in case the doppler didn't work. Well after 20 minutes I was getting close to the much to full level. So when Lindsey the Dr. walked in I immediately told her I had to pee.

After several minutes she still wasn't able to hear the heart... until she reached my belly button and that is when baby C decided to make a debut. Lindsey said my bladder was so full it had pushed the baby up to where it normally sits at 15/16 weeks.

We did get to hear the heartbeat again 170. Amanda my sweet cousin and nurse keeps giving Kelly  a hard time and telling him it is a girl.

We shall see.


I do appreciate all the support from our friends and family. I also appreciate the continued prayers while Kelly and I learn our way through parenting.




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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Random thoughts and Pictures...

Happy Easter!
Why yes that dashing man that looks like he is on his way to Savannah, GA for a city council meeting is in fact my husband.  You are also correct that hottie is sporting a bow tie and seersucker suit.


So last week the housekeeper was coming and I asked Kelly to help me out with picking up some things.. So this is how he helped. He buried the pup under all of our decorative pillows. How cute is this baby? 


Saturday Kelly & went to Cook's Natural food market.. Oh my goodness! Where have you been all my life? We spent a good hour and a half roaming.
Kelly found a 25lb bag of carrots. Come on. Who doesn't need 25 lbs of carrots?
Perfect for juicing! 

Kelly & I wanted an added source of protein that wasn't from animal.
THEN we found Rice Protein!
It is the little things in the Carlson house...


Then.... I found these the best "chips" ever! They had only 3 ingredients and the first one was lentils.
I came home after our shopping spree and made homemade hummus- Jalapeno & Cilantro. YUM!

Callaway was very sleepy after our run on Sunday.

This was me 2 weeks ago while shopping at Target... I know I am a traitor, but Walmart doesn't have the really thick cloth diapers that are perfect for making burp cloths, so I sneak in to the store with my sunglasses and hoodie and grab them and run.
While we were searching out the cloth diapers we saw a HUGE selection of these nifty little packets.

.

I bought some of the applesauce ones a while ago (don't worry, when I found them and tried them I immediately posted on facebook about how excited I was about the new find!!
 Only to have about 10 moms comment that their children or babies loved them.. awesome- I'm 5)

Anyway, Kelly and I are addicted and when we saw there were tons of flavors we decided that we needed to branch out. Kelly saw the ones that were like full meals and demanded we each buy one meal and one fruit packet.

We ate the fruit ones before church yesterday. Mine was the sweet potatoes, blueberries, pumpkin and apple. All for only 40 calories! Kelly picked spinach, peas, and pears. Mine was way better.
Neither of us were brave enough to try the ready made meal, but I will keep you posted.
Even as I write this I am sure people read this and think I am a crazy train... Lentil chips, rice protein, applesauce packets.



I know there was no method to the madness of this post, but it was a bunch of fun pictures I had on my phone and wanted to tell the reason behind them.


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Monday, April 16, 2012

Italy 2011 Pompeii

Pompeii was day 2. We decided to split up on this one. Kurt, Bobby & Julie were very excited about the tour and wanted to get a private guide. Kaylee and I were not as enthusiastic about the tour and opted for the headphone option. Kelly was sweet and stayed with us... I think he re-thought his decsion after about hour 2 when BB & I's energy level was gone.


Waiting for the train to Pompeii

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Bored?
It really was interesting... but there isn't a whole lot for me to tell you about. \











yep... it was a long day!


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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Italy 2011 Sorrento & Capri

Team Carlson in Italy
What? It has been months since Italy and I haven't blogged about it or posted any pictures?
Well that is because if is a giant pain in the rear to download the 2000 pictures Kelly took and then to upload them on here takes a while too. So, don't judge my laziness. At least I am finally getting around to it...Picture 1 is in Rome at the Colosseum. Not is order, but a pretty cute pic so it goes first


From now on though I will try to go in order... Let me begin with how the trip started. Saturday morning we got to XNA airport about two  (11am) hours ahead of our flight which is a bit overkill for XNA with its one terminal, but again I am a little bit on the OCD and annal side so the family indulged me.

Walk up to Delta counter and there is a very long line.. not good... I then get a call from Delta telling me that our flight has been canceled and we will not be leaving until 5pm. Which is the same time that our flight to Paris is leaving...awesome. Long and very dramatic story short we get a new plane and the new departure time is 230. Still cutting it close, but we could make it. Did I forget to mention that we were going through Atlanta? oh you know just the busiest Airport in the US... oh wait I mean THE WORLD- true story- look it up- I did.

So we land in ATL with 45 minutes before our flight leaves. Another learning experience here too. When flying international they close the doors 30 minutes before the flight. It was truly like the scene in Home Alone where they are running through the airport. I could hear them paging us on the loud speakers, "Last Call for Carlson" we made it to the gate as they were about the shut the gate. I was so stressed. Since we were so late and had such a problem with our tickets at XNA we weren't sitting together. Bobby & Julie were up close to the front. I was on a row with Kelly and Kurt and Kaylee ended up next to a super southern couple from Arkansas.

I thought that I was going to be so prepared for the flight. It was a 6pm flight I would pop an ambien and be golden. Well I wasn't. One I don't sleep well on planes and two Kelly and Kurt decided to watch the hangover part II. They flight was about 8 hours and would have been a perfect night sleep if all had gone to plane.
* Travel tip- buy a cheap pillow and toss it when you are done. I bout the blow up one and it really wasn't comfy at all.
They did have complementary  2 meal, snacks and wine all night long. Not to mention they had a ton of new movies and tv shows (all in the headset in front of you so you don't have to share) for you to watch.  Which if you are on a plane that long and paying that much- there probably should be.
When we finally landed in Paris we were late, again, we had to ride a bus get on another bus, find our terminal, make it through customs, and go back through security all in under an hour while the main language spoken obviously if French and can be troublesome.
*Travel tip- Allow extra tip if you are changing planes internationally. You have to go through the whole passport stamping and then back through security before you can board the next plane.

From Paris we flew to Naples/ Napoli- which is the how it is referred to in Italian.
Then the real adventure started...


This was after we filed a claim for a lost bag.
*Travel tip- when flying international, DON'T check a bag. We each packed one carry on personal item- a backpack and one carry item- a suitcase. The suitcase must be smaller than 22" and those flight attendants don't mess around it any country. We checked one very large suitcase for souvineers. Due to the mess of our flights we lost it. If we had acutally packed in that we would have been so out of luck.

If you thought claiming a lost bag in the states was bad... try doing it when you don't speak the language and have a large black suitcase with no distinguishable marks on it. Finally getting some info back we were told it would be at our hotel by Monday. We were leaving Wednesday to head north, so I had come to the realization that we would never see that suitcase again!

The first hotel was in Sorrento and it had an amazing view.  We stayed there Sunday -Wednesday morning. We also voted and the Hilton Hotel in Sorrento may have won the award for the best breakfast for the whole trip.








Driving the Almafi Coast was absolutely breathe taking!
















Close to Sorrento and only a boat ride away is the island of Capri.




























See why it has taken me soooo long to do this! I am only on the first day!


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