just another day...

for those in the know, i am now at our store everyday, because now it's OURS. our bills, our merchandise, our building, our headaches. yes, i know i am supposed to be taking it easy, but life right now isn't easy, and some things are just the way they are. i do rest. really, i do. but i haven't been at the pool with the other girls in a couple of weeks now. my tan is gone. i need to get back out there, though, as walking in the pool is great exercise, and i do need that...but then again, like i tell rae, i need LOTS of things. maybe now that we have gotten the store cleaned up and organized, i'll be able to get out there more. we'll see.
latest news on the pregnancy front is that i am 7 1/2 months now, and my belly is really showing it. last week i went for a glucose screening, and they found that not only am i pretty iron defecient, which is bad for my recovery of the c-section and delivery in general, i am also going to have to deal with gestational diabetes. i spent about 5 hours at the hospital learning that i need to eat more, what to eat, when to eat, blah blah blah, as well as learning how to check my blood sugar with that little pricker machine. just to show me that it didn't hurt, jon has stuck himself 3 times. he was right. i start first thing in the mornings and do the whole stick test 4 times a day until delivery. as long as the eating plan works, i won't have to take insulin shots, but as difficult as this pregnancy has been so far i am trying to reason that it will be a possibility. so far the sugar levels have been really good, so maybe everything will work out. the worst part of the session at the hospital was learning that the doctors will be checking the baby's sugar alot once he is born, and also that he will quite possibly be hooked to an IV. i don't want that for him. he's already had to deal with so much.
this friday dr. weston is supposed to take a good look at him and set up a scheduled delivery date. now that the diabetes factor has been thrown in, i guess we'll have to be prepared for that date to change, especially if he starts getting too big or there is too much amniotic fluid, or worse, i get pre-eclampsia. hopefully none of that will happen. keep your fingers crossed.
on a lighter note, our first baby shower was saturday in harrisonburg. jon's sister and mom threw it, and it was really nice. alot of people came, many i didn't ven know. then this weekend is the country club member guest weekend, and jon's folks will be here. the next weekend is another shower - one thrown by my family in peterstown. then the next weekend is another shower, thrown by my best girls and sister. a baby shower with a keg. it may be the first one in history. lots of friends from out of town have let us know that they are coming...which is very touching. some have over a 5 hours drive to get here. and my cousin, if they make it, will be here all the way from upstate new york. it's really hard to believe.
after that weekend, i guess i'll probably be too fat and hot to do much of anything else. maybe just lounge by the pool in my shamu suit and listen to bob marley over and over, getting a tan and taking it easy. redemption songs.
jon has been really helpful still with everything...from making his own food, to helping out alot at the store, to washing the laundry...even giving me more of the bed. i really have been blessed with a great husband. i probably don't deserve him. or my friends for that matter. rikki with her constant checkups and food, nicole with helping out at the store/office, and other nameless friends who offer so much encouragement when i know how hard and scary life is for them right now. (one, in particular, i am glad to report is getting a good report of her own) so i should be happy. pricking myself should just be a means to an end - it isn't forever and i shouldn't be so stressed about it. besides, feeling the little man squirm around in there is already worth it. i can tolerate most anything for 2 more months...
we've come so far already.
thanks friends.

Has It Really Been THAT long?

I think I must be devoting too much time to myspace, and ignoring my blogspot. In fact, I haven't added a word here since finding out in Rome about my pregnancy (for those who don't know, yes, we were shocked to learn in a hospital in Rome that we were 2 months pregnant. Shocked being an understatement considering the specialist told us in December that it just wasn't going to happen.)
So, here we are. We found out nearly 2 months ago that we are having a boy, most likely the end of August, and for sure by C section. Apparantly not built for having babies, but that's okay. Gotta get him out somehow. We have done the nursery in a South Pacific/Castaway type of style, with all black furniture. A few people have said it looks a lot like the illustrations in "Where the Wild Things Are", and they are right. I was lucky enough to have a great group of girlfriends come up and help me paint the murals.
On the downside, the pregnancy isn't really agreeing with my body. My gallbladder has stopped functioning, which is very painful at times but nothing can be done about it until we have him. Also diagnosed with sciatica. Then there are my stress levels, which even though I DON'T FEEL STRESSES, the hormone levels are there and are much too high so I have been told to take it easy and cut back on work. Which I have done. Now I work a little and then go to the pool. I think the boy may come out with a suntan at this rate, as there is a lot of summer to go before the end of August.
The good things about the pregnancy are the kicks, rolls, punches. I love to feel him move. Also, even though I feel like a whale, I have really only gained 5 pounds at this point. My belly sure looks bigger than that though! If I can hold out at this rate for another 12 weeks I'll be content...but summer is for ice cream, and man do I want it!
Jon and I just got back from a nice long vacation to the Crystal Coast and Outer Banks, and that was just what we both needed. It was good to spend so much time with him. For those interested, Beaufort, NC is a great town to getaway to. Home of Blackbeard the pirate...we had a really nice time there just walking the harbor, eating, and shopping. Perfect place for a romantic weekend. I think we may have held hands the whole time.

Next up is a busy summer of parties, baby showers, and of course, the Country Club Member/Guest weekend. I think by the time August gets here I will be exhausted, just in time for the Hokie football season to kick in!

No trips planned at this point, but still not ruling out something in January. Who knows. Might try to head back to the Outer Banks again in October if all goes well.

Hope everyone is well and looking forward to a nice hot summer!

Roma and the Roma 500

Long, Long Day...started out very early and we have barely stopped. Toured the Vatican, saw the Sistine Chapel, went to St. Peters, the Castel St. Angelo, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, Piazza Barbarini, the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Trevi Fountain. We are whipped. Ate 3 scoops of gelato today...coconut, Rocher, and Mint Chocolate. All very good but need to try to more to have a very accuratge rating system.
Thanks to all of my myspace friends and family for the Birthday wishes. It was so sweet and tuching to see all of the notes you sent.
Love you all, and I promise to post more tomorrow, but I ambeat and so is the computer.

Here are a Few Pictures to Tide You Over...

Both of these pictures were taken at Ancient Ephesus...I am about to rub out of computer battery, so I will try to charge up and post more when I can...

Cairo, Egypt...Using Your Imagination

Still no picture posting opportunites. But yesterday was Cairo. AT the buttcrack of dawn. We took a 3 hour busride from Alexandria along what they call the Desert Road (for good reason) and ended up stopping first at the pyramids of Giza. They are huge. Bigger than I had imagined. And nearly IN the city. Our guide happened to be a professor of Egyptology at the University of Alexandria, so she was pretty up on the subject. SO next is the Sphinx, which was smaller than I thought. Probably because I had imagined the pyramids being smaller, I don't know. After that, we went to the Saqqara Country Club, about half an hour away and went 4-wheeling in the sand dunes of the Sahara. Bumpy Good Times. Jon really enjoyed that, but of course, it made me have to pee. Then the jeeps dropped us off into a convoy of camels. Jon's camel was named Ali Baba, and that monster was in a foul mood. I thought he might eat Jon's face off. But he didn't. For the next half an hour we ride these humpy creatures through the desert led by swamis or whatever you call them until we reach the country club again. There they fed us the strangest lunch...but that's to be expected in Egypt I guess. From there we visited the tomb of a nobleman that was in really good condition, and then saw the nearby Step Pyramid of King Zoser, the first pyramid constructed.
At this point, we head back to Cairo, where we visit a papyrus making institute...and of course end up buying some papyrus art. Tourist trap, but then again, we're tourists. Finally we boarded the bus back to Alexandria, and made it in plenty of time to be harrassed by the vendors surrounding the port.
Today sucked. Another day at sea and I am again seasick, stayed in bed until dinner, even, although Jon swears the ship isn't rocking that bad. He's full of it. When we went up to the pool bar so I could get a juice, the water was sloshing out of the pool all over the place. Everyone in our group is now in the Chocolate Bar drinking champagne, but I am passing and spending a fortune on the net instead. Tomorrow is another full day at sea, and unless the ship slows down or we sink, I feel another full day of bedrest in my future. I will post more in Rome, where I do have Wifi...or at least that's what I am told. (Just a side note...while I am sitting here there are some young foreign girls outside the disco trying to sing "Dontcha Wish Your Girlfriend was Hot Like Me"...in English, or at least that's what I imagine the lanuage to be. It's hard to tell for sure...)

Cyprus

Well, I know I've been slacking, and now I have to blog about Cyprus and Cairo on the same day. But it's been busy around here...and still no free internet.

So we docked in Cyprus on Wednesday. We found a taxi driver who agreed to take us around for 25 euros each, which was a steal, considering the excursion to the same places we ended up going would have cost us 79 euros each. So, we leave the port and about 30 minuted later we are in this hilltop town called Omodous. Picturesque, with a quaint little monastary. Not a lot to write home about. Then he took us higher in the mountians to Platras, but we stopped on the way at a vineyard for a little winetasting. Kevin bought a couple of bottles, but to me it tasted like ass and I would just as soon drink the blackberry wine my insane neighbor made. But that's just me. So anyway, Platras. It looked like a rich community in Vail. What do people do there? Beats me. Yawn. Apparantly the richies go up there in the summer to escape the heat. Then, we drive on to this park of sorts, kind of like to the Cascades...and hit a trail called the Kaeldonia Trail. He wanted us to hike in the woods...to a creek, for God's sake, and it was...well, tiring and the creek at our house after the rain is about as thrilling. Well, maybe it wasn't THAT bad, but I could have done without that little piece of nature. So - we are late returning to the ship because we hiked all that damned time. and just as we ran up to the ship they were pulling the gangplanks. Seriously, if I had been stuck in Cyprus I would have killed that guy. Guess what? No pictures.

Old Town, Rhodes

Today we meandered around Old Town, Rhodes. It is a walled city, much like a fortress, and really quite pretty. I would have to say it is a little more Turkish than Greek, as there were several mosques but I only remember one actual church. Mostly there was just taverns, where we had fantastic gyros, and shopping, especially for linens. They had some really gorgeous silk beaded bedcovers, which I swooned over, but at 520 US Dollars, alas, I had to leave them behind. Boys - meaning Doug and Addie - look out...we bought yuou guys a little gift here in town. Crossbows and Catapults can return to full swing.
Tomorrow we are in Cyprus for only a few hours, and then it is off to Cairo, our last stop. Still no free internet, so still no pics, but I will do what I can, when I can. Until then...