i'm a bad blogger

I know, I have been a bad blogger the past few weeks. I have been exhausted recently.

I have nothing good to blog about. My brain is just too fried to think of anything of importance to say. However, I feel the need to at least let everybody know we are alive and kicking!

Here's a random list of things that have been going on with the Olmsteads...

1. Zoe (our yorkie) is in heat. I've never had an indoor female dog before, so this whole heat thing is REALLY grossing me out. Not necessarily the bleeding, I can handle that. It's the way she's constantly licking herself! It's gross, and we are SO having her fixed A.S.A.P.

2. We FINALLY got our taxes done. I dropped all of our information off at a local office here in town on MARCH 31st. Today -- April 29 -- they called to say that were finished...after I had gone in on my lunch break in a not-so-good mood because.. well, because it's been 4+ weeks since I dropped everything off, and still no finished taxes! I will NOT be using their services for taxes again... however, now that they have everything completed, I am very happy to see what our refund is! Whoohoo!

3. Baby Christopher has been SO active recently, and I am just loving it. I love feeling him move and kick -- it makes me so happy.

4. Stephen and I are going out of town together for the first time since January! I know this isn't a big deal, but I used to go out of town (shopping, eat out, watch movies) at least once a month, but we just haven't been able to since Christmas. I am super-duper excited. We are going to Texarkana on Friday when I get off work and we will go out to eat and possibly to the movies with my brother and (future) sister-in-law. Oh! And I get to use my Victoria Secret gift card for new underoos!

5. American Idol last night was awesome... and I'm getting off here now to watch tonight's!

24 weeks

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

i might be a bit emotional...

12:54 and I am still up... not sure how.

I'm off tomorrow, but not Saturday, so at about 11:30 tonight I decided I wanted to try to clean/pick up the house so that I wouldn't have to do it tomorrow. I wasn't nesting. I promise. I was just CLEANING. You know, dirty dishes in the sink, put up towels that I washed yesterday, that sort of stuff.

Around midnight I walked from the kitchen into the living room and noticed my carpet was GROSS. Two little dogs + Stephen not EVER taking his shoes off in the house = really nasty carpet every 24-48 hours. I was standing there debating on whether or not I had the energy to do a quick vacuum around the living room or if I just wanted to save it for tomorrow. (I was leaning towards just doing it tonight. It was BAD.)

Stephen asked what I was thinking... and when I told him, he sighed and said softly, "Don't vacuum the floor tonight, baby," in that oh-my-gosh-you're-crazy/stupid-for-cleaning-at-midnight voice. I proceeded to point out all the nasty stuff in the carpet to try to convince him that I'm not crazy for wanting to vacuum right now. Well, after 30 seconds of a whiny voice in his ear pointing out all the yucky stuff in the carpet, he snapped his head up from the computer monitor and said "OKAY! Vacuum right now - I get it!!"

I turned around on my heel, went to the bathroom, and cried while taking a shower. I just want clean carpet, people!!

When I got out of the shower, he apologized for snapping at me and said there's nothing wrong with cleaning at midnight -- or whenever I feel like it.

And then he vacuumed the floors for me!

blah

So I've been in a bit of a funk recently and just haven't felt like blogging. (Or had the energy to blog.) I think my pregnancy hormones are going all haywire and it's making me crazy. I've been tired, cranky, and weepy. I've had no energy at all -- but my house has been driving me nuts, so I'll clean for an hour, then lay down and watch TV for an hour. Or, I'll multi-task... like, fold laundry while watching TV, then instead of fast fowarding through the commercials (DVR has gotten me so spoiled) I'll use the commercial break time to put the laundry up, or dust or vacuum or pick up a room.

I've been trying to organize different parts of my house. A few weeks ago I organized the shelves in my closet. Everything that didn't go on the shelf got thrown in the floor. Haha! So, I need to organize the bottom of the closet, but I haven't yet. However, last weekend I did organize my bathroom drawers/cabinets and I organized some important documents of mine and Stephen's. It doesn't sound like much, but I was proud of myself. My house is so small and I have NO room for storage. SERIOUSLY, no room. Sometimes (insert the role of pregnancy hormones here) I just want to cry because I have all of this STUFF that I need to put... somewhere, anywhere... but I just have nowhere for it to go. Like quilts. I don't have a linen closet or any spare cabinets for things like quilts and blankets. I know it's silly to cry because I have no linen closet... but I also can't store all of our extra possessions under our bed.

I am, however, incredibly thankful that I have a bed, and a house with a roof on it and that I didn't lose anything in the tornado. I shouldn't sit at home and cry about these things when so many people --including friends and family -- in my community are without homes.

Hopefully I'll be back to my normal self soon.

lazy day

I have so much to be doing....

*put up laundry that hubby graciously folded for me last night
*vacuum
*organize my bill drawer
*have paint mixed at walmart
*paint fence
*find something to make for dinner (i am thinking crockpot)
*just "pick up" the house in general

Ok... sio maybe it's not really that much. But all i want to do is lay on the couch and watch DVR'd episodes of Desperate Housewive and cuddle with my puppy babies!

I'm still here...

Yes, I am aware that I never posted my Toby blog. I had good intentions, but a tornado got in the way.

I think most of you who read this live in or are from Mena, so I don't need to post all about the storm. Stephen and I are fine, as is our house -- we are very blessed. The tornado damaged houses down the street from us, just a half mile away, but missed our little neighborhood. Stephen's mom, who lives just a few blocks from us, was not as lucky -- her house and yard took some damage. She is safe, and that's really all that matters.

I was actually in the closet with my laptop and had written a paragraph about Toby when the electricity went out. I will post about him, just not tonight. I just wanted to update and let everybody know that my houseband, doggies, and myself are all alive and kicking... especially little Christopher!

We have a new (temporary) family member! My mother-in-law's dog, Cowboy, is staying with us for however long he needs to since his backyard is kinda lookin like a war zone right now. He's a sweetie and we're happy to have a big black dog guarding our house. (Because the two little dogs and two medium-sized dogs we had before just weren't enough...)

April 8th

I have typed, deleted, and re-typed the first sentence of this blog three or four times now, so I am just gonna have to take a deep breath and DO IT.

I would love to take the time tonight to write a long, wonderful blog about my precious, precious dog Toby... but I'm not going to -- mainly because I have to be at work at 9 in the morning, and if I chose to write about him right now, I would have extremely swollen eyes tomorrow morning.


I will write about him tomorrow afternoon when I get home from work, because he deserves a long, wonderful blog written in his honor. It has been two years today since the last time I saw him, probably two years ago today that he died, and I still miss him with my whole heart.

It's A......

..........BOY!

We are VERY excited!!

I will scan and post the ultrasound pics later tonight or tomorrow sometime. There's only two, and they aren't that great, but they are pictures of my baby boy!

We had already decided on a boy name -- Christopher Tyler. Christopher after a boy my age who passed away when we were in middle school, and Tyler is my brother's name. =)

More to come!

it's only a day away...

We have our level 2 ultrasound TOMORROW!!! In less than 24 hours Stephen and I will know if we are having a son or a daughter! EXCITING HUH!?!?

answer and a carrot

Ok, I must be a big loser. I only had one person ask me a question. =(

To answer Kristy's questions....

-Baby names??? We find out on Tuesday what we're having, and we're hoping for a boy, because we can't seem to agree on a girl name. Our boy name is Christopher Tyler.

-Is there one show on tv that you can't stand to miss?(I know you like Idol- were you glad to see Megan leave? I was!) Ok, during this time of year I love American Idol, but other than that I don't really have a tv show that I can't stand to miss. We are big fans of the DVR and record shows like Friends and Raymond. And yes, I was very glad to see Megan leave. I liked her at first but she just kept getting worse.

-What is your favorite junk food? Right now I am loving me some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. I'm not normally a big fan of ice cream, but I guess it's my pregnancy craving of the month. I don't really like chocolate bars or anything like that. Oh, and I love sour candy like Gummi Worms or Sour Patch Kids.

Ok... here is my baby update!

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better.

Ask Me!

Ok, I am going to play the same game that Kristy played a few months ago...

Is there anything you'd like to know about me?

I am doing this because I've posted three times in the last week and received zero comments.
=( <---- Sad Stephie.

So -- ask me anything you want to know about me. Anything! If there are any lurkers out there, this is your chance to comment! (And I will totally understand, because I am a serious blog lurker. I've lurked one lady's blog for years now. Years. This is actually a funny story, and I will tell all about it later.) Ask away!