Cat Woman.

When I was a little girl I wanted a kitten. My Daddy hated cats - never liked them, still doesn't - so we never had them. I don't remember how we came about obtaining "Buttons" but he was an orange and white tabby cat and he suddenly was welcome at our house. About 6 hours into having this new animal, I distinctly remember sitting with him in the back yard near our swing set when the stupid thing went nutso and scratched the mess out of my arms like I had just kicked him. Screw having cats. I'm on team I-hate-cats. I've been a member for 16 years. Got the jacket and the t-shirt. I can't stand a cat.

Pause - I know most of you (if not all) probably really like cats - so, I must interrupt with - I have no problem with you having a cat and I'm glad that you like yours. In fact, I would be nice to your cat if I saw it and wouldn't even try to run over it if I came to your house. I personally just want nothing to do with the feline species as far as pet ownership goes. You may feel the same way about chocolate dogs. To each his own. That said...

The stare. That flick of the tail before attack. The sudden quick movements. The claws. The nurturing of the furball for YEARS before it acknowledges you or trusts you and God knows you better not do something it dislikes ONE time or your own its' litterbox list.

While thinking about how much I loathe this creature and how dogs are just WAY better one day, it suddenly occurred to me that the reason I may dislike cats so much...is because I'm just like one.

I have the stare. The distrust. The sudden movements when you piss me off. My temper flares. I trust few and you do one thing I dislike, and well, you're on MY litterbox list.

After years of seeing friends and family turn their backs on friends and family I live somewhat of a guarded life when it comes to relationships. Of course I'm generally friendly and will be nice to mostly anyone I meet (unlike a cat,) chances are I don't fully trust you until you deserve it - much like a cat. I also have the ability, especially during certain times of the month or when pregnant, to flip my shiz for no reason at all, whip out the claws, leave you with a lashing and then totally expect you to pat my head when I come waltzing up later.

Dogs are the jam. I love all dogs immediately, and only dislike them when they prove to be idiots or vicious - but I don't want to be like one. They're trusting, goofy, loopy, silly and did I mention trusting? Most dogs, when in the face of danger, would probably rather lick it to death in hopes of there being a treat somewhere afterwards than to actually protect itself or it's owner.

I would rather be like a cat but a good cat. One that trusts few, but loves and adores those that they do. Who is beautiful, hypoallergenic, graceful, always lands on their feet and knows good and well why you just got attacked, even if your not smart enough to figure it out yet. With this new found knowledge and perspective, perhaps I am at cat person after all!

Award!

So, Ashley gave me an award about eight years ago and I just spazed and forgot to tell everyone. Ashley, I really am appreciative! :)

Here are the rules:
1.) Thank the person who gave this to you.
2.) Copy the logo and place it in your blog.
3.) Link the person who nominated you.
4.) Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.
5.) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6.) Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7.) Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them!

Seven Unknown Facts:
1. I started learning the violin (and then piano) at age 4. [Teach your kids young, folks! They won't ever forget!]
2. I only had perfect attendance one time in school - the 3rd grade. It was because I loved my teacher, Mrs. Mills.
3. However, I was late almost every day.
4. I hate coffee.
5. Peanut just kicked me.
6. I don't think I've ever said this on my blog - I'm a Sigma Sigma Sigma.
7. I want to get married again (to Nate) just so I can plan another wedding! :)

More things I've learned:

In celebration of making it to 20 weeks and being half way to meeting my little man, I thought I would share a few more things I've learned since becoming preggers. It's been a heck of a ride, and the best part seems yet to come.

Vampires aren't the only things that cause anemia. My nose bleeds near constantly - especially at night. I wake up with blood on my face, hand, pillow anything I may have touched while dreaming. Not to mention, I have to have my head propped up on Mt. Everest in order to be able to even remotely breathe through my nose. This is probably my least favorite symptom of my second trimester.

You can not be held responsible for what you dream. I got an e-mail from BabyCenter one day and was more-than-relieved to find out that strange dreams are a common occurrence in pregnancy. I'm talking uncomfortable dreams that make you wake up and feel shameful. Cheating. Lying. Spouses cheating and lying. All normal. Monday night I dreamt that Nate cheated on me with none other than Megan Fox. I distinctly remember thinking in my dream that I couldn't blame him because she is so hot (haha!) but I woke up in tears.

Practice makes perfect. Every night now - Every. Single. Night I have to get up and go to the bathroom. I have the capability of "holding it" of a 3 year old - nonexistent. Waking up at 2:00a.m. has made for being awake at least 30-45 minutes in the middle of the night as a) I wake Bailey up who then thinks it's time to play and b) I wake Nate up and make him realize suddenly that he, in fact, needs to pee, too. I told him that it's just God's way of giving us practice for being up in the middle of the night with a crying baby.

Walking in your closet can suck. I am half way done with pregnancy and also half way between my old pants (via help of a bella band) and my maternity pants...and it sucks. My regular pants are split to the point that the zipper won't budge upward in the slightest, but my maternity pants fall down. Before I went on vacation to the beach I sat in my closet and cried because I had nothing that fit right. I know, woe is me.

Baby kicks are interesting and wonderful. Most all mother's tell me feeling their baby move is what they miss the most about being pregnant. It's awesome, wonderful and a little weird all at the same time. Sometimes he feels like a little fish swimming around in there and if I think about it too much it totally makes me feel like an alien. I don't like it when he rolls on to my bladder and makes me have to pee four times in an hour, but I try not to complain. One of the best lines out of Jenny McCarthy's book Belly Laughs (which I HIGHLY recommend - it's hilarious) was how she was frustrated with how often her son got the hiccups but then a friend told her to look at it this way: it's just his way of saying, "Hi, Mom! I'm in here - and I'm okay." I'll live in the bathroom if that's what he's trying to tell me!

Shopping in a maternity store isn't half bad. I was terrified the first time I walked in to Motherhood Maternity Outlet - not because of the price or admitting that I needed much larger pants, but because I had no freaking clue how to understand sizing (honestly, because I've never looked). SO - to save you future mommy's some anxiety...you wear the same size you do now! Who knew? If you wear a large top regularly, you buy a large maternity top. If you wear a size 3 jeans you look for small pants. Medium dress = medium dress. I don't know what the heck I expected, but it wasn't going to be that simple in my mind. I thought I was going to need a measuring tape and scissors and some glue to figure out how to dress my newly developing body. Not so! So easy - annnd if you're in a maternity store they typically offer you water or juice. Ahh the perks!

Speaking of perks... I have grown a whole cup size. This is a way major, huge, ginormous, exciting, BIG deal for me. I have struggled to fill an A cup my entire life. I never knew what growing pains felt like because I never had them. Now my A cup overfloweth. You may not want to know that, but I don't care. :)

While we're on the topic- Breastfeeding terrifies me. Terrifies. You need me to dilate to 10cm and push out a watermelon? Awesome. Done. But, you want me to do WHAT with what, where and pump what into that bottle? I can not explain it. Having a complex about being on the itty bitty titty committee my entire life has led me to be somewhat...protective (ashamed?) of the general area, and the sight of it (with the OH SO INFORMATIVE reading material), thought of it, everything makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry. I literally had a panic attack when we stood in front of the breastfeeding section at Babies R Us two nights ago. I know, I know it's silly and I have no idea how I'll feel when he's born -but - I haven't learned that yet! This is me telling you how I feel now!

Registering is fun! We decided to start early simply because my showers will be earlier than "typical" because of the Christmas holiday. I don't want to monopolize anyone's time so most of my showers will be done by November. No regrets already - there were two other women that were reeeeally pregnant registering and they looked miserable. I on the other hand had a great time. Still worn out - but had a lot of fun.

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed a peek into my brain. I know I may be shallow at some points, but just tellin' ya how I feel! Happy Friday!

Help?

Does anyone know how to unlink the two blogs that I have? Meaning that they are two seperate websites rather than one connecting to the other.

I'm trying to expand my cake business and don't really want random people I give my card to to have to read all about my personal life.

If anyone knows, holler at ya girl :)

Premonition.

Last night I got home around 8:45 from a lovely dinner with my Mom & Dad. Nate, being the avid hunter that he is, haaaad to go to the woods because, "I haven't been out there ALL season!" Bow season (for deer) started Saturday. He really hasn't missed that much. Bless.

Anyway, I'm be-boppin' along with my dog and come in the house to find that, well - I didn't leave myself a light on in the kitchen, so it's dark and I immediately get scared. I flip the switch, take a deep breath and continue in. Rounded the corner of the kitchen and notice that my bedroom light is on. I do not recall leaving this light on. The way our house is laid out from my kitchen you can see (through a window) my bedroom door that leads out to the back yard. I just kept staring at it like I was going to see a shadow or something. If you're nervous imagine how I felt!!

I put it out of my mind, but refuse to go in my bedroom. In fact, I refused to leave the kitchen. Well I'm about to calm down, I mean Nate is only 5 minutes away - surely no one will rape, murder and dismember me in 5 minutes, right? (that was harsh, I know - but these are my thoughts) Blood pressure is returning to normal and then the chocolate dog lowers her head and lets out a threatening growl staring straight down the hall at..where else? my bedroom.

Oh, hell no! I grabbed my keys and cell phone so fast Speedy Gonzalez woulda been put to shame, calmly called Bailey and we got our butts in my car. I called Nate and told him that I refused to stay in the house until he got home because I just had a strange feeling. No reason to feel strange, really - I just couldn't stay. He surprisingly didn't ask questions and said he would be right there.

Minutes later we all pull back in (Bailey and I circled the neighborhood) and I sit in my LOCKED car with the window cracked mere inches while I have Nate search my house. This, my friends is why I am glad that my husband is a "gun-toting redneck." He opens his safe, grabs a gun that would take down an elephant and goes in. I pity the fool on the other end of that piece of metal and gun powder. Moments later he emerges and tells Bailey and I it's safe to come out from under our rock and that nothing was wrong at all in the house.

Didn't ask questions. Didn't make me feel stupid. Just did it. Now THAT is a good husband. I'm now calm and have come to the conclusion that it was my nerves, hormones, something - but really, nothing. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong somewhere so I checked in with my siblings - all fine - and then just prayed for everyone I knew.

In my defense, in the past I have had feelings like this and totally been right. Illnesses in family members, my sister having a bad night, an animal dying at my parent's house - I mean numerous occasions. This is why I took my instinct seriously.

While trying to confirm my sanity, my Mom just said that sometimes we get these feelings that we can't explain and it's better to err on the side of caution rather than be sorry. I mean maybe there wasn't a person back there, but there could've been a snake, or a giant spider or something like that that might have harmed me had I gone back there at that time. Better safe than sorry, kids. Better safe than sorry.

I'm baaack.

Nate and I just spent a wonderful weekend at Garden City Beach with family. It has been a while (if ever) since I have actually taken a whole Saturday to Saturday off and gone on a vacation. It was relaxing and nice, but like all vacations it flew by and well, I missed my dog. Luckily, my chocolate dog is still in one piece and not lost like I kept worrying she would be. My housesitter was great, and life is back to normal.

On our way out, we decided to stop at the Tanger Outlets at North Myrtle to shop at the baby outlets. Oh. My. Gosh. Now I REALLY can't wait for peanut to get here! We got the cutest little outfits. I can't believe it, but it's already time to start talking about showers, buying the crib, and names! We have yet to come to a name that we just love, so we're going to keep thinking and looking through our 50,001 baby name book. haha

I also got a jump start on my maternity wardrobe. I'm very fortunate and up to this past week I have been able to wear most of my regular clothes (some with the help of a magical bella band) but I need to start making the transition now. I got cute dresses, 2 pair of jeans (maternity jeans are the jam,) black dress pants and a few tops to mix and match. It's just extremely frustrating to walk in to your closet and not feel like you can't (or should) wear anything in there! Hopefully that won't happen so much now!

Here's a belly pic at 18 weeks:

I prefer you to see it this way:

Reminder: my eyes look so sleepy because, well - I hadn't slept very good the night before because I was so anxious to know what my peanut was! When I got in from my ultrasound on the 4th - my lovely cubemate had filled my office with pink and blue balloons. It was so sweet! Funny story - as soon as I got there and annouced it was a boy the pink balloons started falling as noted in the u upper left hand corner of this picture. It was like they knew they weren't needed! One even made an attempt to leave my office! It was the craziest thing!

I hope everyone has a good week!

Boy Edwards

Here's my handsome little one! I forgot to scan it at work so this is actually a picture of the ultrasound picture I took with my phone. I have a few taken from bottom up and there is nooo doubt - this little one is a boy!

I am feeling overwhelmed this afternoon. I have been showered with blessings, balloons, and love and now being able to say "him" instead of "it's" is just shocking. It took me about 4 months to comprehend the fact that I am pregnant, so now maybe by the time he's here I'll comprehend he's a boy!

It's a...

Boy!!!

We are so very excited. Last night when I got in bed I looked at Bailey (the dog) and said "you know, it'll be just fine if I have a little boy because I already have a baby girl!" I think I knew it was a boy because that just made so much sense to me. haha

We really don't have any names picked out yet. It was too hard to do when we didn't know the gender. I honestly thought we were having twins. No lie. So now I can focus on my little man. I'll scan in the ultrasound pics later and post them! Peanut gave me a "thumbs up" while we were lookin' at him - so all is well!

And now the fun begins!

Cast Your Vote.

Alright guys - my ultrasound is at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning and I have no idea what to expect. Boy? Girl? Boy and Girl?

You know how there are always people who can just "call" whether a baby is a boy or a girl really quickly and be right every single time? Well, I know 2 of those in particular and both of them aren't getting a vibe or the vibe waivers back and forth - so either I'm actually having a puppy or I'm having a boy and a girl.

I want to take a poll - just because I think it's a lot of fun to guess! What are your thoughts!?! Boy or girl!?

Little Kicks.

Well I'm (pretty much) sure that I (might have) felt the baby move! I only say it that way because, well I have no idea what it's supposed to feel like! One thing is for sure - I have been feeling something since last Monday and it seems to be getting stronger. Today I think it straight up kicked me.

Only 3 days til I get to know what "it" is! I've been praying that he/she is turned the right way so we can tell, but by gosh I'm not getting off that table until they tell me! haha I'm slight distracted because all I can think about is Friday morning. ahhh!

In other happy, exciting, God-must-really-like-me news...I have been consulted to potentially do another wedding cake next May! Even if I don't get the gig, I'm still thrilled that the possibility is even out there!