Just a couple of pics

Its been a crazy last couple of weeks, our neice was born November 3 and was as healthy 7 lb 3oz. Below is a picture with proud daddy and big sister.

Josh Ullevig, Katlynn Ullevig, and Harley Quinn Ullevig

I decided to take a picture of my belly yesterday. I want to start tracking how big it's getting. It hasn't quite "popped" yet, but there is definetly some baby showing! So here I am 16 weeks pregnant:

Love Hate Relationship

I'm so excited about having a baby, but not so crazy about being pregnant. I was obliviously happy the first 6 weeks, thinking: this pregnancy thing isn't going to be so bad, I'm feeling pretty good! I was blissfully ignorant and naive because then BAM week 7 hit and it's been downhill since this week.
I don't want to bitch and complain too much, but I think we all knew I wasn't going to be a happy, "oh, I love being pregnant" person, although I was hopeful in those first 6 weeks (4 of those I was conceiving and didn't know I was pregnant).
I have been having horrible problems eating...yeah just eating. I'm so freakin hungry-like every two hours, but everything I eat makes me feel bloated, overly full, and slightly miserable (even if it's a bowl of soup...no joke). So Colleen shed some light on a tip that has saved me-using a rubber band, or in my case, a hair band, to button my pants so it wasn't digging into my baby and making me feel even more full and bloated. That alleviated some of the pain, but not enough. I don't know if you guys know, but I've always been a little constipated..in general. I'm usually ok with it and every other day is ok with me, but oh no, not with a baby on board it's not! I first started increasing my fiber intake, being conscious of whole grains, fruit and veggies. I also like to think that I ate fairly healthy before, so just had to make a few changes which I did-and oh boy let me tell you, that was the worst week of my life! I was so gassy it was embarrassing. I couldn't take 5 steps without one ekking out, I had absolutely no control! I though I was going to adopt a nickname of a former labmate "smelly cat" (he smelt like moldy clothes, BO, and occasionally, poo). So I had to back off some, b/c I couldn't stand myself! The culprit..fiber one granola bars. I found this out b/c I got Toby to try some (Oh honey try these..you'll like them, their chocolate). That day Toby had the worst gas...we blame the bars.....
So, I've been sorting out my food habits and trying many new things and I think I've finally found a happy medium, although I still feel a little crappy after each meal and snack. I of course drink tons of fluid, eat small meals, take small bites, eat slowly, etc, etc...I've tried it all, but I still seem to feel...blah. A great help for me has been chewing gum. It calms my stomach a bit and in the morning prevents me from puking up my breakfast....haven't had the pleasure and I hope I never will.
My mom was starting to worry me, she was worried I was feeling so bad, even though everything I've read is like "yes, you should be feeling this shitty" but she wanted me to call my doctor, I didn't, but I think I've been coping ok. I feel pretty good for a few days and then bam...feel like crap for a few and then the cycle repeats. I lately have been feeling bad on weekends, which sucks, sometimes I think I just suck it up during the week b/c of work so on the weekends when I finally get to relax is when I really notice I'm not feeling so great. Sucks, but I've heard the second trimester is better, so I'm hoping it will be!

I have my first doctors appointment this Friday, I'm really excited to find out if everything is ok!!

The Transition has begun....

dun dun dun..... I am starting to turn....into an official adult! (is this a sign of my impending 30's?) This past week I have not been able to sleep in!!!! My alarm goes off at 6:00 am and usually I'm barely aware of the alarm as I hit the snooze button until 7:00 am...but this week, I could not go back to sleep after it had gone off, I laid there thinking about school, work, life, etc until I finally forced myself out of bed. I thought it might be just this week b/c it was a little stressful, but today-Saturday, I am up before 8:00 am!! We have Katlynn staying with us and she usually is up first, coming to my beside saying "Aunt Sarah, I'm hungry." I have my alarm set for 8:00 am, but I was up in bed a little before 7 and lying there thinking...you've got to be kidding me! I'm up before the kiddo!! and on a Saturday where I've had an exhausting week!!!

I'm expecting over the next several months to make this transition into an official adult complete:
-New bedtime-10 pm...I'll be showered and in bed ready to sleep
-I'll be up on the weekends before dawn
-I'll be able to drink coffee-black
-I'll start reading the newspaper (or on the internet)
-I'll start DVRing 60 minutes and other news programs
-I'll be able to enjoy all wines - not just the super sweet
-I'll be a home owner-yikes-already on the way!

So watch out....I'm slowly turning into my mother!

Our Duty

I've been watching more news lately, mostly b/c I watch it while I'm at the gym (healthy and educational, i should go more often!) and I've been thinking about politics, the government and everything that's been going on with the nation recently. I was trying to ignore a lot of it, just because I hate when things get so "conflicty." Yeah I said it, conflicty-you know you want to use it in your regular vocab, it's OK, I give my permission.

So I really feel like my voice should be heard. I want it to be heard by my representatives in Congress, I want to feel like I have a voice and that I said my opinion, whether it is taken or not is another thing, but I need to get more involved. I feel like we get so caught up in our lives doing "stuff," half of what I can't remember, when the real important things like the future of our country get put to the wayside. I know I get discouraged or just want to tune things out when they get difficult, but that's when we should stand up and fight for what we believe in. So I am going to for the first time contact my Congressman/woman and tell them what I think about the current drama. I encourage everyone to do the same and I know we don't all agree, but that's what this country is about, everyone coming together with their different backgrounds, culture, and beliefs to agree on what is best for the good of the people, for the good of the American people.

To find your senator: http://www.senate.gov/
To find your representative: http://www.house.gov/
To find out what the white house is up to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Exercise your right to freedom of speech!!!

Beware...of the dishwasher!

So Toby and I are having problems with our dishwasher-it's possessed!

At first I turn it on and it runs for a few hours, without water! It was hot as hell and smelt like burnt plastic...not a good sign!! So we aired it out and decided to look into why it wasn't working later.

Yesterday, we came home and I was getting something out of the refrigerator and noticed steam was coming out of the dishwasher. I opened it, all the dishes were wet, steamy, and ....clean? I turned to Toby and asked him if he decided to wash the dishes-he said no...we called Josh thinking he might have (very unlikely), but he hadn't. Hmm...my immediate reaction: look around the house. Why you ask? Two things were running through my head...look for things that might be missing, you know just in case we were burglarized...and they decided to do my dishes? My second thought...look if anything else is cleaned up, maybe we had a cleaning fairy that came while we were working, cleaned and did the dishes. My search came up with nada. I had a brief thought of my mom coming in and cleaning, but she would never..and my house was way too messy for that to be true.

So, the verdict-my dishwasher is possessed. We are going to hopefully preform an exorcism this weekend...although the dishes washing themselves may not be a bad thing. Now I just need it to load and unload itself.

Update

So this blogging hasn't come as easy as i would have thought-so I'm thinking a blog every 3 months or so might be my goal! I'll just give a recap over my life, i should change my blog title to "The Highlights." This way i can just catalog the important things, the things that i would like to remember!

So yesterday was Toby's 30th b-day!!!!!!!! Even though i don't turn 30 for another 1.5 years, i feel like this is a start of a new decade for both Toby and I. I'm scarred and anxious about it, but also excited and expectant. There's so must in store for us, not only for the rest of our lives, but so much will be jammed packed into our 30's. This is when all the important stuff in our life will go down. We're planning on having kids, I'm going to finish my PhD and start a new career, we'll probably buy a house, move, do some more traveling...There is so much i want to cram into my 30's and I'm planning on doing it all! So I'm not going to be down on this new decade, but move forward, head on and enjoy all the things we're going to do. It's the future after all, if i can't look forward to it, what else is there?

So for those of you that care...I'll like to fill in the blanks since November.

November:

Went to Indianapolis for the Society of Free Radical Biology and Medicine conference (i do no recommend Indianapolis in Nov...it's freakin cold as expected, but still miserable).

Had my first dissertation presentation, which went well...i think

December:

Finished my semester!

Gave a seminar presentation for the Barshop Institute on Aging..which was nerve wracking!! I think i did ok, it wasn't horrible and that's what matters!!

Attended Zach and Barb's wedding-we had a great time!

Lisa moved down with the baby :)

January

Started the semester :(

Spending more and more time with Lisa and Jocelyn--see her new blog

Picked a topic for my qualifying exam and submitted my abstract

Busted butt in lab to get some results...still nothing earth shattering!

Started trying to work out more-attending aerobics and cycling classes...so far, average/week=2. Next goal for Feb-3/x week.

February is going to be extremely busy-we're going skiing in Durango, Co the 14-18. I was convinced to take snowboarding lessons this year, so we'll see if i turn by back on skiing (my first true snow sport love). I have to finish my qualifying exam written report which is going to take most of my time in the evenings and weekends :(

We're still getting Katlynn every other weekend and she has been great lately. We enjoy the time with her and she seems to enjoy it also. We don't think we'd give up our weekends ever!

So, I'd like to end this blog with some pictures from the last couple of months:

Random note: one of my pictures from Chicago was picked to be in Schmaps http://www.schmap.com/chicago/introduction_neighborhoods/#r=none&mapview=Map&tab=Places&topleft=42.13999,-87.84599&bottomright=41.64316,-87.4601&i=2015D10_1.jpg