I feel so incredibly lazy. Dr. Foster told me to try to stay off my feet until the bleeding subsides. Trouble is I feel normal-- I'm choosing my words very carefully, because if I say "fine" that would mean I don't feel bad. And I
do feel bad, some days being worse than others. I say "normal" because I feel exhausted and nauseated... the same way I do during the first trimester of any pregnancy. But on top of that, now I feel just plain lazy-- sitting here on the couch letting Drew watch PBS Kids for hours. I need to wash towels, but they're just lying on my bedroom floor waiting to be cleaned because I'm trying to obey my doctor. And as much as I hate to admit it, so far his advice has already helped with the bleeding. Haven't had much since I talked with him and decided to take him seriously. But the ultrasound I had yesterday was also reassuring, even though that's where they discovered the unidentified mass in my uterus that could be either a large blood clot or a fibroid. We also saw the heartbeat-- 163 bpm, nice and strong. What a relief! Honestly, with all the spotting I was beginning to think the ultrasound wouldn't find a heartbeat at all.
Because of the nasty nausea I've been experiencing, I was afraid that my birthday this year would be a bust. Since it was on a weekday, there was nothing super fancy about it really. But my kids chose to whine less throughout the day (still not sure if that was intentional or not...), which was the best present they ever could have given me. For dinner we took a risk
and went to a
Thai food restaurant, because (oddly) I had been craving it all day.
But I always love the first couple weeks after taking the pregnancy test. That's the one time in the entire pregnancy where I'm pregnant without having any symptoms of pregnancy yet. We actually found out the week following Christmas-- a week Kevin also had off from work. We spent a day at the zoo that week, getting suckered
into a tour of the Ron Jon Cape Caribe Resort, which we took a couple days later. We also took a day trip up to St. Augustine,
since we were pretty sure the girls would remember nothing from the last time we were there, almost four years earlier. We toured the Castillo de San Marco, as well as the Pirate Treasure Museum, where Drew found a barrel full of foam pirate scimitars. He killed
me the way he knew exactly what to do with one, that I bought him two-- one for him and the other for his opponent. He put them to immediate use, sword-fighting with Sami and helping Sami chop off Dad's head in the stocks. Seriously, he just "knows"
this stuff, with very little outside influence. I mean, it's not like he's spending hours a day watching G.I. Joe-- on the contrary, thanks to two older sisters, he's quite fond of Tinkerbell and Cinderella. Barbie's up there, too.
Th
e week after I started to feel sick, we flew
to Utah, to spend six days playing in the snow with Grandma and Grandpa Smith and the kids' Clegg cousins. Grandpa left out his childhood model trains that he had set up at Christmastime. Surprisingly, Drew didn't destroy any. In fact, he loved watching them, as well as sounding the whistle. He
slept in that room as well, and
"sleeping with the trains" was what convinced him that sleeping in that big room all by himself was okay. All three kids loved sledding and throwing snowballs. Although, Allie needed to be coached a bit in snow-etiquette-- you know, like don't throw a huge chunk of ice in
someone's face, especially when
you're less than a foot away from them. Sami was a good sport about that one. We all really enjoyed the family time, and were reminded of how much fun it would be to live closer to everyone. So... that means everyone just needs to suck it up and move to Florida. Houses are cheap, p
eople! Especially ours...
now.
We didn't have too much time (and I had little energy) to see all of our beloved Utah friends, but we did get to spend one evening with
Sarah and Jeremiah and their cute, feisty little Pete at the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Very few people were there, so the kids had full reign of the place. Even though tending to our wild children left us little time to chat, it's always good to see their faces.
Well, it has taken me three days to get through this post. I started on Tuesday, but have been so tired that I haven't been able to get very far without nodding off. And, yes, now it's Thursday.
I still feel lazy.
But my friends have been very kind-- bringing us dinner (thanks, Heather and Stephanie... and thanks in advance to Kendra), taking the girls to and from school (thanks, Kendra and Jill), and hauling Allie to dance (thanks, Michele). And Kevin, in spite of being very busy with work and his calling, has helped with laundry and the dishes and in nagging the kids to clean up. I'm very blessed.
And now Stephanie just called and offered to take Drew to the park with her and Heather and their two-year-old boys. I love it! So humbling as well... Angels truly are among us.
and went to a 
Thai food restaurant, because (oddly) I had been craving it all day.
into a tour of the Ron Jon Cape Caribe Resort, which we took a couple days later. We also took a day trip up to St. Augustine,
since we were pretty sure the girls would remember nothing from the last time we were there, almost four years earlier. We toured the Castillo de San Marco, as well as the Pirate Treasure Museum, where Drew found a barrel full of foam pirate scimitars. He killed 
me the way he knew exactly what to do with one, that I bought him two-- one for him and the other for his opponent. He put them to immediate use, sword-fighting with Sami and helping Sami chop off Dad's head in the stocks. Seriously, he just "knows"
this stuff, with very little outside influence. I mean, it's not like he's spending hours a day watching G.I. Joe-- on the contrary, thanks to two older sisters, he's quite fond of Tinkerbell and Cinderella. Barbie's up there, too.
e week after I started to feel sick, we flew
to Utah, to spend six days playing in the snow with Grandma and Grandpa Smith and the kids' Clegg cousins. Grandpa left out his childhood model trains that he had set up at Christmastime. Surprisingly, Drew didn't destroy any. In fact, he loved watching them, as well as sounding the whistle. He 
slept in that room as well, and 
"sleeping with the trains" was what convinced him that sleeping in that big room all by himself was okay. All three kids loved sledding and throwing snowballs. Although, Allie needed to be coached a bit in snow-etiquette-- you know, like don't throw a huge chunk of ice in 
someone's face, especially when 
you're less than a foot away from them. Sami was a good sport about that one. We all really enjoyed the family time, and were reminded of how much fun it would be to live closer to everyone. So... that means everyone just needs to suck it up and move to Florida. Houses are cheap, p
eople! Especially ours... now.
Sarah and Jeremiah and their cute, feisty little Pete at the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Very few people were there, so the kids had full reign of the place. Even though tending to our wild children left us little time to chat, it's always good to see their faces.
