Hey...

...what's the difference between Bono and God? God doesn't think He's Bono.

this is a whining post.

A few days after Ambrose got over his uber-crabby "roseola" episode, he wound up with a nasty head cold. He so kindly shared this treasure with Matt and I as well. So, morning sickness (erhm, all-day and all-night sickness which kindly took a three-day break last weekend only to return full-force last Monday morning), the sniffles, a crabby baby and a couple of weeks of very sleepless nights have left me, well, tired. In alot of ways, hearing the baby's heartbeat has made the sickness and sleepiness and all seem worthwhile, in that it makes it all seem more "real". But really, now that I know everything seems to be going well, I just feel entitled to not feel sick anymore. Yeah, I'm really whining. Why stop now? To add to my already not-so-pleasant attitude, we finally hammered out a few days at the end of next week when we'd be able to get up to Michigan by ourselves and have ourselves a real, longer-than-one-or-two nights-vacation. This has been sounding sooo good to me, especially with the way I've been feeling lately. Anyway, the plan was to arrive late Wednesday night, then spend Thursday, Friday, and Saturday just as a family, and then spending Sunday and possibly Labor day with extended family, who were planning to come up on Sunday after church. We found out at the end of last week that our vacation will come to an end on Friday evening and that we'll have to share the cottage with some early arrivers for the remainder of the weekend, that point on. It's just frustrating to finally arrange it so that we can afford to take days off of work for a family vacation (and believe me, times like these come few and far between for us) just to end up not getting it. On the bright side, I guess we at least get a mini-vacation. Also, I've been able to dedicate some time to pro-life work in the last few weeks, which has helped take my mind off of feeling crummy and focus on much larger, more important issues in the world. I have more on this, but it deserves a separate post, so more on that later. Thanks for listening to me whine!

a sweet sound.

I was fortunate enough to hear my unborn's heartbeat for the first time this morning. I might be more of a sucker for that than most other moms...but that sound just sends a shiver up my spine and tears to my eyes. 170bpm at 9 weeks, 2 days. At 10 weeks, Ambrose's heartbeat was 160 bpm, and it eventually slowed to a "boy" heartbeat around 15 weeks (like 140). Anyway, I'm just thrilled to death!

a very long week.

Well, Ambrose has been running a fever on and off since Sunday, and has become what is best described as a cling-on baby--spiraling into an intense crying fit even to be set down for something as short as a bathroom break. Yesterday morning the fever had disappeared rather abruptly, but I noticed a light rash on his face and neck, and I'm suspecting Roseola. He seems to feel pretty crummy. The house and I both could use some TLC...but alas, here I sit with my nursing, finally sleeping, nearly-nine-month-old. Poor guy. Also, I spoke much too soon about morning sickness being in full swing. I'm trying not to whine, but let me just say that I'm so nauseated that I don't want to move or sleep or breathe...and I certainly don't want to eat anything for the rest of my life. I am not exaggerating. Our TV has been on more in the last 4 days that it has in the last two years. I'm ashamed to admit that. It just has such a numbing quality. *sigh* Here's to hoping next week brings better things.

I think I take this test once a year.

And so I did again.

always amazing...

The photo is of an unborn baby at 7 weeks gestation. By 8 weeks, all body systems are complete, and that's pretty darn cool. Morning sickness is in full swing.... Goodness, I hope this is full swing. It set in last Thursday evening and hasn't really let up since. It's strange how comforting it is to feel so rotten at this point, though. By the way, I think it's a girl! However, I was dead sure that Ambrose was a girl, too. I figure I've gotta be right one of these days. It is so hot. So hot. And humid. It's ugly. Anyway, my out-of-the-womb baby is on the move. He's climbing everything and has a new found love for eating dryer lint and paper. I think if I tore up a piece of paper and fed it to him for a snack, he'd be thrilled. You cannot take your eyes off him for a second, I tell you. There is no rest for the weary. Here he is, cruising around the coffee tables. And enjoying french fries at McD's.