Just Heather

I had some watermelon a few weeks ago. It was not great melon—pink, hard, not very juicy—but I could not get enough! I called my dad—official supplier of watermelon—to get some good stuff. None. The local season hasn’t started yet and they don’t have anything in the warehouse. Never fear! Grandpa to the rescue!

My grandfather had a Georgia melon transported up last week just for him. He promised to send a slice with my dad. If you knew Papaw, you would now what a total sacrifice this would be. I was expecting a small sliver, just a bit to curb my craving. I got the biggiest, juciest, best-tasting slice of watermelon you’ve ever seen! It was so good, I’ve had to control myself to make it last. I can’t wait until the Indiana season starts. I don’t take advantage of the free produce much, but I’ll make up for lost time this summer!

I’ve also been craving tomato-based products—chili, coneys, BLTs. The only thing the two fruits really have in common is lycopene. I didn’t think you could crave a pigment, but at least this baby should never have to worry about cancer. I’ve got your antioxidants right here!

There’s not much to write about here right now. It’s pretty much all puking all the time, and who wants to hear about that every day. There is something on our 2nd floor that makes me gag, but no one else can smell it. I can crave something like crazy one day, and it will make me throw up the next. Take apples, for example. I have been craving green apples and eating them every day. Then one day, I suddenly started throwing up every apple I eat. Yet, I still want the apples. Makes no sense.

I guess it’s a good thing the girls keep eating all my apples. If making me sick doesn’t keep me away from apples, not having any sure will.

My kids are grazers. They eat pretty much nonstop. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack between each meal. These girls know no hunger. This was made clear last night with my 2-year-old’s first ever tummy ache. It was dinnertime, and she was crying “tummy hurt. tummy hurt.” The poor child was in tears, and Mommy and Daddy were clueless. Finally, I made her sit down with her dinner and told her to try to eat.

Pain gone. Hunger fed.

Apparently, when I sat pretzels down for the girls at snacktime Brenia thought it was funnier to dump hers upside down rather than eat them. Stacia, of course, never tells me she didn’t eat because that just means more for her. No snack=very hungry girl. I honestly think this was the first time since infancy that the child has felt hunger pains. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

Comments Off on Why do they call it morning sickness?
Why do they call it morning sickness?

I had been noticing a severe lack of nausea with this pregnancy. With my other two I pretty much threw up nonstop for 4 months. This time around? Nothing. It was starting to freak me out. Well, never fear ladies and gentlemen. Morning sickness is upon us. Sort of.

I’m still not puking, thank goodness, but I don’t think the constant nausea and random gagging are much better. If I’m not eating or sleeping, I feel like puking. Only I don’t. I just gag. We’re having loads of fun, baby and me.

So you know the solution to this problem, right? Just eat. All. Day. Long. Only I’m not one to nibble on saltine crackers day and night. No siree. I’ll have a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, please. Oh, and could you pass the chicken livers?

5 Things I’m Grateful for Today:

  1. Long toddler naps.
  2. Wendy’s employees who do not need a lesson on the fact that “ketchup only” is not equivalent to “extra ketchup.”
  3. Parents willing to travel 3 hours with chicken livers since I can’t seem to find them here.
  4. Yesterday’s triple coupon groceries are already put away courtesy of my new pantry door racks.
  5. And—as always—long, hot bubble baths.
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Duh!

It amazes me all the little things I should have noticed before I peed on a stick. There was always something else that could explain it away, until it dawned on me one evening that there was an awful lot adding up.

The biggest one was how incredibly exhausted I am. All. The. Time. At first I thought it was because I’d been sick, but it was getting so extreme that I couldn’t make it through a day without at least one nap, sometimes two.

I don’t know how I thought my toddler just suddenly started hitting me in the boobs to the point of pain. It should have dawned on me long before now that they were just more tender than usual.

Then, of course, there’s the cravings. You would think the night I drove to two KFCs and three grocery stores looking for chicken livers, I would have known something was up. I chalked it up to an iron deficiency, which I’m sure it partially is. Yet that doesn’t explain the 4 times I forced my family to eat Pizza Hut because I wanted a Deep Dish Meat Lovers. PepsiCo sure is going to make money off me this year!

Now that the secret is out, baby has decided to make an appearance. I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t pregnant if I tried. I’ll be in maternity clothes before I even have my first doctor’s appointment!

Well, that went well. /sarcasm

It started when they arrived 20 minutes late. Par for the course with my brother, though. The chicken I cooked because it’s all she’ll eat spent an hour and 40 minutes when it only required an hour and 20. I was afraid it might be slightly dry. Not so much. It was bleeding! Yuck.

So we ordered pizza instead. They wanted pepperoni and peppers. I ordered pepperoni and peppers, but I got green when they wanted jalapeno. Oops. We ate the pizza anyway and played Scrabble. A game which our 7 year old won. Okay, so I helped a little.

Once the food arrived, it was actually pretty nice. We relaxed, played Scrabble, and talked without me grilling The Girlfriend—which I was seriously worried I might do. I made my favorite dessert and everyone seemed to enjoy it, if the scraping of plates was any indication.

I sent them away with a container of my finally cooked chicken so they can marvel at my culinary skills during lunch tomorrow. It could have ended there. It could have been nice. Instead we spent 5 minutes discussing porn. I’m thinking recommending a movie to my brother and his new girlfriend was probably not the best idea.

The girls and I were making cupcakes for this Friday’s Fall Festival (check me out not procrastinating!) They looked adorably sweet working so hard together to work the lumps out of the cake mix. I decided to take some pictures. As soon as that camera was in my hands, Stacia looks up with her “picture grin.” The following conversation ensued:

Mom: You don’t have to pose every time. I can take some action shots too.
Stacia (to me): I won’t look up this time. (looks down at cake mix with “picture grin” in place) Action shot me.
Stacia (to Brenia): Pretend to stir this cake mix again so Mom can action us.
Brenia: hey-yah (that’s okay for those of you who don’t speak toddler)