Year of review..

JANUARY:
-I found myself in Florida first thing in January, courtesy of my boss. Learned lots of amazing stuff about my career and had lots of fun!
-Got to spend a day at SeaWorld!!! It was amazing!

FEBRUARY:
-I tried my hand at being creative and made fancy cupcakes for my co-workers.

MARCH:
-Joel and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary...to celebrate I won a gun at the NRA dinner that my boss is a big donator to..

APRIL:
-Oh man..this was a huge month, I saw the ever impossible natural insemination and birth of a Bulldog at work (It's suppose to be virtually impossible)
-Got to surprise my big sister with a trip to MN for her birthday, and got a strange massage from a guy that looked like John Denver...

MAY:
-Joel and I and my parents took a big trip out to Seattle to see my best friend get married!! It was a beautiful wedding, and I cried like a big baby. It was amazing to spend time with her and her new husband and catch up like old times, I miss her like crazy!

JUNE:
-Helped deliver a baby puppy via C-Section on a weekend.

JULY:
-We went out and shot my gun.
-And went up to Glacier for a wedding.

AUGUST:
-My birthday month...and I got an amazing surprise from a client that secretly admires me, accompanied with 500$!!
-I re-newed my veterinary certificate.

SEPTEMBER
-Found out I was pregnant...whoops!

OCTOBER
-Dressed Iris up for Halloween.

NOVEMBER
-We announced the news to the rest of the world about little Fulkerson...

DECEMBER
-My sister and her husband came to surprise my parents for christmas!

I'm getting bigger, and hoping that great things will come in the year of 2012...I'm hoping to get over my money worries and focus on bringing a healthy little baby into this world!! Happy New Year!

18 weeks

Okay, well 18 weeks...I've had a headache since saturday, and I have NO energy, I slept 20 hours on tuesday and still could've passed out at any moment. I think my body is trying to kick my butt...I gained one pound, this is insane...I'll probably gain like 80 pounds my third trimester. I'm feeling VERY useless..I hope this is all normal, but it seems like my mono is coming back...hah, no but seriously.

I had to start sleeping with a body pillow to wrap my legs around, it makes things more comfortable, but sleeping is not going great, i'll wake up to go to the bathroom and I can't get back to sleep, i'll toss and turn, and then i'm exhausted.

I couldn't decide if hand on the top of the belly or the bottom was better....so I put both.

A broken record...

So here I am...sick again, This time with a sinus infection, or probably just a side effect of Pregnancy rhinitis. Not to mention I can't sleep, and I have a headache. I am a broken record, 'Chanda is always sick' it is so disheartening...I mean ever since I was a kid I was allllways sick, I always got the flu going around, I came down with Mono in high school and ended up having to be homeschooled because I couldn't keep up with my sleep...even after I 'got over it' I still never felt great, i've always needed so much more sleep than the regular person, and if I didn't get enough sleep once, it haunted me for days...

I went through a couple of years where I didn't get sick for along time, but now with all the UTI's and now the C-Diff, it's like a never ending battle...now I know some of this has to do with my pregnancy and my immune system being down, but I just feel like I don't even know what it feels like to be normal anymore...When my boss hired me back the second time she talked to me about how i'm sick all the time and that worried her...UGH! It's like I don't know what else to do! I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't stay out late, I sleep more than a 2 year old, I take my vitamins, I don't eat fast food, I eat breakfast EVERY morning, I try to drink lots of water, I wash my hands, but not too much, I don't know!!

It's really worrying me right now, not only because of how all this being sick and stress is affecting the baby, but what about after the baby?? How am I going to be able to take care of myself and get any sleep and feel like a person when i'm taking care of a tiny baby? I'm so frustrated, and even though I know my co-workers understand (or atleast try to) I still feel like an awful failure that just can't do anything right. Sorry, needed to rant....

Stolen...

1. What time did you get up this morning?
8:00am....we had to be at Joel's sisters boyfriends house by 8:30, so I got up, went to the bathroom and put my slippers on.

2. How do you like your steak?
Medium Rare.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
The help, my sister and i were talking about this today, movie ticket prices are so ridiculous, I can't justify going to a movie in the theater anymore.

4. What is your favourite TV show?
Glee, or Greys anatomy, or Raising hope, or the new girl, i dunno...I like alot of tv shows.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Fiji, or somewhere warm, I don't care, as long as its warm.

6. What did you have for breakfast?
Breakfast casserole that Joels mom made.

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Oh gosh, i don't know I like just about anything right now.

8. What foods do you dislike?
I hate onions, I love the smell of cooked onions, but I hate the taste.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
My mom always makes the best comfort food ever, so probably their house.

10. Favorite dressing?
Italian, sometimes i just dip french bread or sourdough bread in italian dressing, yum!

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive?
Subaru.

12. What are your favorite clothes?
I wear sweatpants alot. But I like dressing up too.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
Fiji! I've always wanted to go.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
Eh, depends on my day.

15. Where would you want to retire?
I'm just gonna go with a theme here...Fiji.

16. Favorite time of day?
Bedtime.

17. Where were you born?
Billings, MT.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?

Synchronized diving, I dunno what it is, its amazing.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back?
Eh.

20. Person you expect to tag you back first?

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?

 22. Bird watcher?
Now i'm confused.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Neither, i'm a middle of the day person.

24. Do you have any pets?
Two puppers and two bunnies.

 25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share?
I'm excited to find out what kind of baby we're having! Jan. 11th!

26. What did you want to be when you were little?
I always wanted to be a paleontologist.

27. What is your best childhood memory?
I"m horrible at just pulling memories out of my head, I have to be reminded, but when my sister and I get together, it can be pretty hilarious remembering all those things.

29. Are you married?

Yessum.

30. Always wear your seat belt?
Always, I get so weird and uncomfortable if I ever have to squeeze in a car where there aren't enough or ones that don't work, when i worked at the zoo most the time people wouldn't wear them because you were just driving down the road or somewhere on grounds, and I was always the weirdo girl that HAD to wear my seatbelt even though we were only going 5 mph...

31. Been in a car accident?
Yes, it was awful.

32. Any pet peeves?
So many, I can't even think of one thing right now.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Artichoke hearts, Saurkraut, olives.

34. Favorite Flower?
I'm not a big flower person.

35. Favorite ice cream?
Oh, blue bunny has a red velvet cake, it is delicious!

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?

Chipotle, oh how I miss my Chipotle...

37. How many times did you fail your driver’s test?
Zero! I almost blew it on the parallel parking, but I made it.

38. From whom did you get your last email?
Sears credit card statement.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
Target, I could buy everything at target.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
Nope, I like to keep it simple for now...

41. Like your job?
I love what I do, I don't necessary enjoy all the people I work with or how certain things are handled.

42. Broccoli?
Yum! extra cheese!

43. What was your favorite vacation?
It was amazing to go to Mexico with my family and with Joel, being a married couple, he's never been in the ocean or gone snorkeling before, it was awesome.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with?
Joel, outback steakhouse, we had some giftcards.

45. What are you listening to right now?
The next greatest baker on TLC.

46. What is your favorite color?
Teal, or blue, any shade of blue.

47. How many tattoos do you have?
A few, I dunno how to count.

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz?
Anybody who likes wasting time on the internet should take this. <--ditto

49. Coffee Drinker?
No, yuck, instant diarrhea and shaking.

50. Are you in love?

Yessssss.

17 Weeks

I'm alittle late today, I had to go christmas shopping and get the rest of my presents! Whew! Well its hard to tell if my bump has grown at all, and I decided facing the other way it was hard to see my bump I think it was a shadow problem, so I did it the other way today, and I think it works better, i'll probably change my mind next week...hah

 No new cravings...i'm still having a hard time just eating regular food without making a trip to the bathroom every five minutes, the meds haven't been helping as fast and I was hoping, so i've only put on one pound that comes and goes day to day, so I guess really I haven't put on any weight yet, I am soooo over this intestinal infection, being pregnant is enough, I don't need other sicknesses on top of it!

So for the past 3 weeks or so my body has decided that 5am is the time to get up and pee...it's insane, sometimes it's 5:15 or 5:20 but I ALWAYS wake up at 5 to pee...only once though, so that's better than the 2 or 3 that used to be happening. The past two days I THINK i've been feeling some kicks, the first time I felt it, I was laying in bed ready to go to sleep and I felt like a 'twitch' in my lower abdomen and it stopped and then happened again in the same spot, then yesterday at work I was sitting down and felt the same thing...it hasn't been consistent, but it's defiantly a different feeling than any gas bubbles or indigestion i've had, so I think I may be feeling the baby. Such a cool feeling!! Well that's all for now...and here's sad little Iris bug who is dressed up for christmas.....(I know she looks sad, but she really does LOVE dressing up, she just hates the camera)

Rant of sorts

So I didn't want to make that last post insanely long so I have another pregnancy rant...and I'm only talking about it because it's driving me crazy, even though I know it shouldn't (It's that silly pregnancy brain, I just can't let it go!) So we have this lady that 'volunteers' at the clinic, she's a client of ours, and no one likes her, she's rude and gets in our faces and touches things she's not suppose to, I mean she's really a nuisance, but because she's a 'client' we can't be rude to her or treat her disrespectful, which is insanely hard when she treats us like shit...She goes to Lunch with the boss almost everyday, and she thinks they're best friends, even though the dr just doesn't know how to politely let her go without hurting her feelings, for some stupid reason she relies on this lady so much and it is truly crazy.

So yesterday at the party someone mentioned that I was really starting to show, and this lady says "Oh I didn't know you were pregnant" which is because I didn't want her to know and I wasn't going to go out of my way to tell her....So she seems all offended that I didn't say anything to her (Which I could care less about) and she proceeds to announce to everyone that as soon as my belly gets bigger she's going to touch it and the baby will kick her back, to which one of my co-workers said "That's rude, that's like touching someones boobs" to which the lady responds "Well I always ask, besides women who are pregnant owe it to us ladies that never had children to let us experience something like that" OHHHHHH AH! This whole time, I don't say ANYTHING! and I'm freaking out!

Trish continues to say how rude it is and that its not appropriate to touch people like that, blah blah blah, (This lady touches caution dogs with muzzles on, EVEN when we tell her NOT to, this lady does NOT have boundaries) She's even lifted my sleeves up before to comment on my tattoos before, she usually gets me when i'm holding an animal or something that I can't do anything about it, and its always in front of the boss, so I can't tell her to step the f**k away and not touch me....

Anyway, I'm dreading the fact I didn't say anything, I should have just told her then and there that I owe NOTHING to her for the fact that no man wanted to have children with her, and that she can't touch my body and I won't let her, and I might just punch her in the face if she tries to, I mean this is very touchy for me, of all the people in this world I would absolutely be FURIOUS if this lady touches me, I texted Trish last night and she keeps telling me not to worry about it, just to avoid her, which is going to be hard because she comes to clinic almost everyday....

I am just hoping that when the time comes I can actually freak out appropriately in a way that she gets the point she can NOT touch me, and if I get in trouble for yelling at her, i'm gonna let my boss know a piece of my mind too that she would even allow this person to put me in this situation...anyway, sorry, I had to get this off my chest, it's stressing me out.

Early Christmas....

Every Christmas the boss at my work throws this huge special day called "Surprise Saturday" If you've never been there before its really exciting, if you've been there before you're just EXTRA prepared...so I've worked there for almost 6 years total, and so i'm just prepared now, but it never gets old what she does...

I did have to work yesterday, so that was kinda lame, but it was a pretty smooth day, nothing insane...then about 1 O' Clock, all the employees start showing up, we have a big potluck and eat a bunch of stuff. Then the first "surprise" shows up...a Limo. So we get to ride the Limo to an undisclosed destination...which is to go get our picture taken with Santa. Since there's a million of us we all have to squish in to the picture and of course she picks the pregnant lady to kneel on the floor in front, I mean i'm not huge yet, but it's getting harder and harder for me to bend over very far or get down on the floor, haha.

So after that we all get back into the Limo and we all get envelopes...this is the fun part when the people who have never been there before have no idea whats next, so she kinda gives a disclosure that we're going to the mall and whatever is in the envelope you have to use it within the hour and you have to use all of it on yourself and if you're not back in an hour you get left behind...

So us Full timers get $200...and I had already scoped out what I was gonna get...so here's what I got with my $200.....

 Some super sweet Keen snow boots i've had my eye on since last year, They didn't have them last year, so I had to wait a whole year! Even though there's no snow on the ground now...there will be eventually.

I got myself some maternity jeans which seem to make my bump grow insanely! Haha, i'm so self conscious of my bump, I know that everybody grows differently depending on their body, but I feel like i'm already huge! I already had a bit of a gut before I got pregnant so I know it's not all baby, infact I know that MOST of it is not baby, cuz my baby isn't even above my belly button yet! Its alittle hard but also alittle squishy and I don't know what a normal bump is suppose to feel like...so even though I lost a ton of weight, I feel so fat! I also have my love handles too, which doesn't make it any better...ok, ok, i'm done now.

Okay, so after we're done at the mall we all come back to the clinic and share with everyone what we got, it's funny to see what the newbies get cuz like my first year, they usually run around like crazy people just buying anything they see that they like, in the time it seems like so much money and No time,  and the seasoned shoppers usually have their big show items they pick out ahead of time...the other thing is she doesn't take your money back afterwards anyway, so its not a big deal.

So then, she starts handing out gifts for everyone that they had on their wish list...these are usually the big ticket items and the full time people are more likely to get what they want, she really wanted to get me a big baby item, but I know that my mom and mother in law are really wanting to do that, so I was thinking more of myself at the time...

I haven't taken it out of the box yet, until the basement is finished, but it's a 40inch flat screen tv!! Whoooo! Actually it was more Joel that wanted it than me, but it's going to look real nice in our newly redone basement, so i'm excited too.

We also do a secret santa and a white elephant, so theres lots of presents and you leave feeling like you just won the lottery...it's pretty crazy and fun.

16 weeks

No picture today, and i'm gonna tell you why...Today at my appointment I lost a pound since last visit, and four pounds total since the beginning of my pregnancy. I've been dealing with this horrific intestinal infection called 'c-diff' I had problems with it before I was pregnant but probably since my immune system was a bit compromised the bacteria was like "Hey! This is a party lets take over her intestines"

I'm not gonna put the gross details on here, but i'll give you a condensed version of how this happened...about two years ago I went to the ER with a horrible UTI and they gave me some pretty hard core antibiotics, which knocked out the infection and also knocked out all the 'good bacteria' in my intestines, which without good bacteria the bad stuff takes over and it's just not a good result from there....the only part that sucks is that i'm in the less than 5% that treatment doesn't help, i've been on all the medications they give people with this problem and nothing has helped me, i'm also taking crazy probiotics everyday and all I can eat right now is bananas and rice....hence, why i've lost the weight, everything else makes my stomach start cramping and I have to sit in the bathroom for 45mins...

So my OB today was going to call everyone he knew to try and get me in to see someone who knows what they are doing....which is the other problem is that most doctors don't know what causes people to relapse with cdiff or how to treat them when they keep getting it, so basically i'm a freak of nature...

But he checked my stomach, said my uterus was the normal size and found the baby's heartbeat and was kicking around in there when he moved the doppler around, so that eased my mind to know that despite the things going on with me, the baby is still doing well, he said by 18 weeks I should be able to feel the kicks, and Joel and I scheduled for our ultrasound in 4 weeks...I find out two days before leaving for Florida (If i'm feeling better of course) and the Dr. said as long as i'm feeling well I can go to Mexico with the family in february too! Ah! This morning was so horrible for me, i'm soooo anxious and dr appointments are the worst for me, luckily Joel was able to come with me today and ease my mind alittle...

The nurse was so rude though, she was the same nurse that did my first appointment with me and when she asked if the baby was planned and I said no, she asked "Well were you on birth control?" and I said no, my hormones had been all messed up she's all, "Okay well i'm going to go ahead and record it as planned since i'm assuming you realized not using birth control can get you pregnant?" Okay bitch...well it still wasn't planned no matter how rude you wanna be, she also gave me a hard time when I needed my blood pulled, when I told her I needed to lay down or else I was going to pass out, she said "I can't imagine you'd be scared of one little needle" (referring to my tattoos) Yea lady, it's not the needle that scares me, it's the fact you're draining blood out of my body that freaks me out alittle.....but the thing she said to me today after she weighed me was "Why didn't you gain any weight?" with a stupid little smirk on her face, I really wanted to punch her, like she's implying that I'm trying not to gain weight, I said "Uhhh, I have horrible diarrhea and can only eat rice and bananas and I have yet to find a doctor that will help me." all she said to that was "oh yea.." ugh! Stupid bitch, excuse my language, but seriously, some people need to just quit their jobs...if they're not going to be nice to people, they shouldn't work with people!

Anyway, I think that's all for now.

What I -would- do as a job (Part 3)

Okay, okay...this will be my last one about jobs, Its just such a huge part of my life and this part is the most fun, so hopefully you think so too.

Here's how it started...even though I love working with dogs and cats and little critters, i've always had a passion for exotic animals, more specifically marine animals, Ooooo, I mean you can tell by my blogs name that I looooove Whales so much, its insane sometimes.

So my parents are the most amazing people in the world, and gave me the opportunity to get a taste of my dream, for my 18th birthday they sent me to SeaWorld to "Be a keeper for a week"...

 It was amazing! We spent hours with the Beluga whales, they are the most amazing creatures in the world, we got to experience so much with these animals it was soooo amazing!

 Fun fact: Anyone remember those superbowl commercials from a couple years ago when the little donkey wanted to be a Clydesdale horse? Well that sweet little lady up there is the star of those commercials! I totally got to meet someone famous... :-)

 I got to sit on a Walrus...Which is alot more terrifying than you would think...haha.

 Got to feed the dolphins...and give them pets and all sorts of stuff.

 I got to play with baby penguins

 And this kind sirs name is Spanky...and if you can't tell, he's smiling.

 Which brings me to the amazing opportunity I got to experience when I came back to Montana. I got to work at the zoo! As a real keeper... ^ theres me with Iggy the Iguana talking to kindergarteners about reptiles and how she came to be at our zoo.

 This little guys is Clifford...Who is a baby big horn who we bottle fed and raised by hand (There are some old posts of going in the middle of the night for bottles feeding duty), sadly he had a very bad injury and needed to be humanely euthanized.

 And yes folks...that is a porcupine, and her name is Pauhi and she's painting in this picture, I have a huge painting that she did in my living room and it's probably the best piece of artwork we have in the entire house....she is the sweetest little thing, she was raised as a little baby and loved people, she'd crawl up on your lap and chirp to you, strangely you'd never think porcupines could be so sweet.

 The sweeeeeetest thing I ever got to do at the zoo was work on the tigers, although working as a keeper was amazing, I really missed the medical aspect of the animal world, drawing blood and physical exams and all that stuff, well luckily the vet that worked there was amazing and knew that I was certified and wanted to make my job as rewarding as possible (I love people like that) So he let me help whenever we did 'take downs' at the zoo, or were doing any animal exams, (which isn't everyday mind you) So on this particular day, I got to help with the Tiger exam...it was amazing, a dream come true...This is the only picture I have from that day, but i'll cherish it forever..

I left the zoo, due to personal conflicts with the director at the zoo and other employees, again, it's hard with jobs in small communities and when you know the 'inside' of certain things its hard to keep going when the guilt eats away at you when you know whats happening behind the scenes and that people are being lied to....So I left, I miss it everyday...I won't lie about that, but I've determined I either need to move to a bigger city or wait for our community to grow larger.

Anyway...thats my story, just a lil chunk of my life... :-)

Preggers update tomorrow, it might be long and ranty, i've been dealing with some icky stuff, but i'll leave it for tomorrow.

What I do for a job (part 2)

When I took mateo in for his first puppy shots my mom mentioned to the vet that I wanted to start volunteering or working an after school job to occupy my time, and the vet offered me a part time job right then and there!

I worked after school through my Senior Year of highschool and started full time once I graduated, since I still didn't know what I wanted to do as far as college went...After a year had gone by, I decided that since I loved my job so much I wanted to make it 'official'. I made the decision to move to Minnesota to go to Veterinary Technician school, earn a degree and become certified in my passion.

 I went to school for two years and lived with my sister who also had gone to school out there (And of course I brought my mateo with me) I learned soooo much stuff and just fell deeper in love with the profession. I've always loved science and the way things work, and being able to cuddle and love on animals all day, is just the best feeling in the world.

Now alot of people don't understand what exactly we do...because we are classified as "The nurses of the pet world" But we do alot more than people realize...we draw blood, put in catheters, take x-rays, monitor surgery, assist in surgery,  anesthetize animals,  recover animals, do dentals, trim nails, wrap casts, medicate, run labwork, look at slides, fill prescriptions, clean kennels,  calculate doses...just a few things here and there :-) But really...ALOT!

 Now don't get me wrong, there are alot of parts of the job that are not enjoyable, infact the one thing that everyone asks me "How do you deal with putting animals to sleep?" And I just have to tell them that 90% of the job is not doing that, its nursing animals back to health, or maintaining that they stay healthy and educating people on how to take care of their animals.

In the small percentage of loss that we have at the clinic you have to have an understanding, that MOST of the time when we are putting an animal to sleep its because they are in pain, or suffering, and we have the opportunity of putting them into a peaceful state that is free from pain and misery. Now believe me, that still doesn't make it easy, somedays we find ourselves bawling right along side the owners, because we all know what its like to love something so much.

I find Joy in the work I do everyday, and theres nothing else I could see doing for a career. This is my passion, this is my life and I couldn't do anything else....In the next part, i'm going to talk about another chapter in my life that was amazing and I will cherish for my entire life..

What I do as a job (Part 1)

So I love to talk about what I do for a living, it is so important to me and I love it with all my heart, it's what gets me up in the morning and its what really drives my spirit, I've had a tough past couple years in the business, its hard to branch out when you live in a small city and everyone knows everything about everyone else...Some days I come home wondering what the heck i'm thinking, and then you get encouragement from complete strangers....One of which is referenced in this past post.

So this is how it goes: I love animals, with all my heart, I really really love animals. I grew up with Cats my entire life, I had a hamster when I was about 10, which was the worst mistake my parents ever made. I saved up about 30$ to buy the whole set up, I picked out a white albino with red eyes and named 'her' angel...She bit me, the first day and I hated her, haha. It was awful, I truly didn't like that little critter, she smelled bad, she was loud and she bit anything that moved in front of her face. She died 3 years later (Which is insanely long for a hamster) I cried and cried for days and felt so guilty that I didn't love her more or spend more time with her.

 I always loved dogs growing up...But my parents always said no, My dad grew up on a farm and of course had farm dogs around all the time and always believed that "dogs belong in the country" But every year on christmas or my birthday when my parents would ask me what I wanted, I always said "I want a puppy" and the answer was always No....

 I used to ride my bike down to the pound and pick out dogs that I wanted to take home, and I would ride home and beg my dad to come look into the eyes of the poor puppies and tell them we couldn't take them home, and he would humor me and come down to the pound and look at the dogs and I always left in tears, because it was always the same answer...Looking back I can't imagine how my dad didn't buy me a million dogs, I must have been the saddest little girl in the world, leaving those puppies in tears just knowing they wouldn't be there the next time I went.

So when I turned 17, the question came again, what did I want for my birthday? and I came back with the same answer I always said, "I want a puppy" and my mom tells me "Well go ask your father." So of course I go to talk to my dad pondering if I should even put myself through the disappointment again..

But this time, he said YES!, I called all the shelters in town looking for puppies, if i was gonna do this, i was gonna do it right...and thats when Mateo ^ licked his way into my life, and little did i know, not only did my life long dream come true, he would help me get my first Job and set my life in motion for the career of my dreams...

^This is my precious tater pants...He has put me through sooo many challenges in my life, but thats a whole other story....

15 weeks

Well...I don't know, i'm not convinced its a baby bump yet, i feel like its just whats left over from my muffin top, infact i still have a muffin top, and the bump is so high and its not even where the baby is suppose to be! I guess i'll just call it an intestinal bump...

Haha, i looked thrilled in that picture...actually i found out taking pictures with your iphone is alot harder than people make it out to be, it's fairly uncomfortable...

So i guess i'm in the pregnancy limbo area...I don't really have any symptoms, and i can't feel anything, besides having to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and having a hard time bending over, i wouldn't know i was pregnant, it's a bit disconcerting...but I'll just have to not worry myself to death until my next appointment next week.

I have been really stressed at work lately, i've really been dealing with a personal struggle of whether to keep doing what a absolutely love as a career or start looking for something else to do, it's very hard when you've found what you're destine to do in life, and yet you can't find the right people to work with, it makes things very stressful and hard when you're a person like me, who takes everything personally and to heart, even when i really don't want to. But i feel like it is taking a toll on my body and at this time in my life its not good to be stressed. 

Augh, oh well, i only wish that money grew on trees... :-)

Iris bug

Okay, lets try this again, i accidentally erased the first post when i was trying to reply to a comment. So because my pregnancy weeks change on wednesdays thats when i'm going to be doing my pregnancy updates, so in the mean time i'm going to try and fill in about the rest of my life...Iris is a big part of my life, she keeps me sane enough to not quit work and i know that i will always have a snuggle buddy who loves to spoon with me.  Joel adopted Iris before we were married, she is a retired greyhound.

Shes a very small female, who is really just a 60 pound lap dog...she's a goof ball, even though she must not have been fast enough for the racetrack, she can sure run fast! She was retired at 1 1/2 years, which is very young for a greyhound.

 Greyhounds also like to sleep like dead cockroaches. ^ haha :-)

 She also lets me dress her up in ridiculous outfits and she loves having her nails painted!! She's the sweetest little buttercup in the world!

And those amazing chocolate brown eyes...will melt your face off, it's hard to say no to this little girl.

The other amazing thing is she has the sweetest heart in the world, when Joel first adopted her it was when we were talking about getting married and moving in together, and I had the chance to rescue a bunny from the vet clinic, and Joel told me "No you can't have a greyhound and bunny living together, that's just ridiculous"...Well i proved that boy wrong....

She doesn't realize she's a greyhound...(and i'm not gonna be the one to tell her)