A Cause for Great Lamentation

Behold.

My First Stretch Mark. :( Since I have a propensity for naming random things (Eric the Betta, Pablo the Habanero Pepper Plant, Alberto and Nina the Jalapeño Pepper Plants), I have decided to call this stretch mark Steve.

I noticed Steve this morning as I was applying lotion after I got out of the shower.

For the record, I don't put lotion on to prevent stretch marks (not entirely, anyway). It's super dry in Utah in comparison to Florida, and my skin gets way itchy and scratchy if I don't lotion up at least once a day.

The discovery of Steve upset me, understandably. I was hoping to make it through this pregnancy ordeal without any of the dreaded stretch marks that plague those who have undergone rapid weight gain. Apparently, it was not meant to be.

Needless to day, as soon as I saw Steve, I determined that I've been too lax as far as exercising and not pigging out. I decided to cut back on cheesecake and Oreos and junk food in general, and to maybe take longer walks with Sophie in the morning (bicyclists be damned). I'm not looking forward to giving up comfort food, but I also really don't want a bunch of stretch marks all over my midsection.

Then, to make matters worse better complicated, Jake sent me a box of Godiva chocolates today.

Damn you, Steve. Damn you.

33 Weeks

Is it weird that pictures of my own stomach gross me out?

Yesterday, I got a gift in the mail from Jake's dad and stepmom... the Pack'n'Play! Squeal!

"Is this for me?"

No, Sophie, it's not for you.

All assembled!

It has a changing station (left) and a bassinet (right). It's pretty light, has wheels for easy dragging, and is collapsible down to a ridiculously small size. It has a vibrating feature, but I didn't set it up, partly because I didn't have the necessary battery size (D), and partly because vibrating a baby seems weird to me. =/

Do I Blog Too Much?

I don't frequent many blogs, so I'm not really sure what the "normal" number of postings per day/week/whatever should be. I kind of post things whenever I think of them. I realized that posting every thing that pops into my head might be too much, so I pared it back some.

But what's a good posting rate?

Once a day?

Every other day?

Only when something cool happens?

These are important things to know.

Insomnia Makes Me Hamster Porkchop Plant

I haven't been sleeping lately.

Well, I guess catnaps count as sleeping, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I've been a good sleeper my entire life. I grew up in Florida, where every day during the summer there are thunder storms, and I've always been able to sleep straight through them. When my sister and I were kids, my mom would have to take us to her jazzercise class, and I'd just fall asleep in the corner amidst the loud music and stomping feet. In a nutshell, I used to be able to fall asleep in practically any situation, and then stay asleep.

But not now. :(

I go to bed pretty early... 9-ish, usually, and even though I'm totally beat, it takes me a while to fall asleep. Then once I'm finally asleep, I can't stay asleep. For a while, I was waking up every 2 or 3 hours to pee. Then it dropped down to every 1 hour, not even necessarily to pee each time. Now, it's more like every 20-30 minutes. I wake up, look around, check the clock, mutter something about something, and then fall back asleep, only to wake up 20 minutes later.

I was handling it for a while. Naps on the couch during the day definitely helped. But now I can't nap. I lay on the couch with my eyes closed for 2 hours, and then decide to get up because if I'm going to be awake, I might as well be doing something.

My drive to school takes about half an hour. I'm normally a very safe (if not angry) driver, but lately I've found myself losing miles out of the drive. I'll suddenly snap back from wherever my brain was, realize I'm about to miss my exit, and be like, "Where the hell did the last three exits go?"

I have my CNA practical exam today, and my Biology final tomorrow. I've been studying the CNA stuff and I honestly can't tell you what it is I've learned. Maybe I've learned nothing. I'm so afraid I'm going to get to the testing center, they're going to ask me how to do a partial bed bath, and I'm going to just stare at them before saying, "A what?"

I just got up two hours ago. I want to go back to sleep. I almost feel like I need to go back to sleep. My eyes are burning and I have that heavy not-quite-headache-but-almost feeling, but I know I really shouldn't go back to sleep.

Zzzzzz...

The Countdown Begins!

Jake will be home soon! I don't know for sure how soon, and if I did I wouldn't post it up anywhere, but I do know it will be soon.

For those of you who have never had to deal with military deployment schedules, "soon" can mean any time between an hour from now and a month from now. The military is also really wonderful about changing dates and times at the lastpossiblesecond. So if Jake was coming home, for example, on August 5th, I wouldn't be at all surprised if on August 4th, he called me and said, "Hey, we're coming home on the 6th now. No, wait, the 7th. Just kidding, it's the 8th. OK now it's the 5th again." And so on and so forth.

Operation Unpack My Crap has come to a halt, on account of extreme back pain. I don't think I've pulled anything or otherwise injured myself, but I'm definitely feeling more sore than usual. I'm giving myself a rest for a few days - at least until I can move without triggering a WTFPAIN attack - and then I'll start with the unpacking once more.

I have my Biology final on Wednesday, and my CNA practical exam tomorrow. I'm more nervous about the CNA exam, even though I did really well in the course. First of all, I'm afraid that I've forgotten everything, and secondly, I'm convinced that the stethoscopes they use there won't be as awesome as mine and therefore I won't be able to hear anything and I'll fail the vital signs portion of the test (scream-cry-flail). The last time I tried to use their stethoscopes, I couldn't even hear my OWN heartbeat. So... yeah. But Jake made a good point. He said there are other people passing, so the stethoscope can't be that bad. I guess he's right.