What Gets Me Through The Day

The puking has improved a lot {thank you Jesus, as I had mentally tried to prepare myself for another full nine months of it} and the nausea has tapered off some, but there are still a few things that I need to get through the day.

You will not find me without:

Animal Crackers

I always have a bag of animal crackers in my purse {and this is not just because I’m the mother of a toddler, the Little Lady doesn’t even really care all that much for animal crackers.} These are my saltine crackers, anytime I’m feeling a little unstable, I munch on a few of these. I’ve been going through one of these big bags a week.

Juicy Fruit Gum

When I’m not eating or sleeping, you can pretty much bet than I’m chewing a piece of Juicy Fruit. Yeah, it doesn’t fall in the “sugar free” category…this is going to do wonders on my teeth I’m sure.

Dr. Pepper

My number one pregnancy vice. I craved it with the Little Lady and I’d drink a gallon of it again each day if I could.

Motts for Tots Apple Juice

My pre-pregnancy self considers this simply disgusting; a few weeks before I got pregnant I was telling my Mom how nasty this stuff is {the Little Lady drinks it} and then about two weeks ago, I began drinking this stuff by the gallon. I tried just watering down regular apple juice since that’s essentially what this is, but that didn’t suffice.

Thankfully, in the past week or two, I’ve been able to start drinking water as long as it’s ice cold and has fresh lemon in it. Up until then, water was one of my worst enemies and the fact that I felt so dehydrated, but could not find anything that tasted good to drink, was one of my main complaints.

And there are a few things that I want nothing to do with: chocolate and potato chips…normally, two of my favorite things!

Wild Wild West Show

In my previous post, I mentioned that many of the horses at the sale were raised and trained by the Amish. These ponies are very well broke. The kids play/work with them almost all day, every day; many of them are ridden to and from school.

The Amish men are also very good salesmen. On more than one occasion on Saturday, when John Wayne went up to a man and asked him about their pony, their response started with “Oh you mean my babysitter…”

The kids ride/drive the ponies into the sale ring and awe the crowd.
These ponies go for a premium.

The most impressive show of the day was when an Amish boy probably around the age of eight, rode his pony into the ring by standing up on him, proceeding to do a back flip off of him and then crawling on the ground in a figure eight pattern through his legs. This pony sold for $3,400!!!

After a full morning of walking through the barns, visiting with the sellers, we had a list of about five ponies that were strong candidates to become the Little Lady’s first pony. Well, these ponies had made the short list of quite a few other people too…people with deeper pockets.

At almost 4:30 we were headed home, with an empty trailer. John Wayne and I remarked to each other that we were glad the Little Lady was only two and luckily therefore, we weren’t going to have a hissy on our hands because we were going home without a pony and made a mental note that for all future sales to leave the kids home. Nonetheless, it was still disappointing; we had came with high hopes and spent a long day there.

As we were leaving, I spotted three little spotted ponies waiting to go in the ring. These ponies weren’t being marketed by well behaved little Amish kids or their Dads, these three little spotted ponies were being promoted by two little cowboys. After learning all that we needed to know about these little spotted ponies in the four minutes we had before they entered the sale ring, the Goldings turned around, went back in and bought ourselves a pony.

Their sale ring show was quite different than what we had seen most of the day. These little cowboys rode into the ring bareback, turning and working the little ponies like they were cutting horses. One of the little cowboys swung his rope in a big loop, further trying to push his selling point that he was trying to use on us, that “this pony is rope broke.” After two of the ponies had sold, one of the little cowboys jumped off of the pony he was riding and ran over to hop on the unsold pony. That pony proceeded to take off and dump him in the middle of the sale ring.

Terrible picture, but I wanted to show the three little spotted ponies in the sale ring.

So there you have it, the story of how the Little Lady bought her pony from the Wild Wild West Show. Those of you that know the Little Lady, know that this is more fitting anyway!

Yee Haw

This weekend we went to a horse sale in Brighton {several hours away from the ranch}.

John Wayne, the Little Lady and I headed up the night before the sale, we didn't want to make a long day even longer by having to leave home before dawn on Saturday morning. I'm a hotel snob, but didn't want to spend a ton on a room this trip and besides, where we were, there were no Ritzs to be found. We stayed at Baymont Inn and Suites, which I was pretty happy with.

Parking when you have a pick-up and horse trailer always proves to be a challenge.  So we parked in the boonies and walked.  I'm sure everyone was wondering where the hillbillies were...yep, our horse trailer, it's a classy one : )



The room was definitely clean and I thought actually pretty nice for the price.  And in case you're wondering, no, the Little Lady did not sleep in that crib.  John Wayne and I deemed it 'not Tressie proof', it was for sure more for an infant.  So she slept in between us, but with the nice big bed, we managed just fine.



The Little Lady and John Wayne checked out the pool and had a big time.  We don't have many swimming pools in our neck of the woods, so pool time is always a treat for the Little Lady!

Saturday morning, we headed to the Adams County Fairgrounds for the sale.  There were A LOT of horses, everything from really little ponies {what we were in the market for} to the biggest draft horses that I've ever seen in my life.

Many of the horses were raised and trained by Amish families.  It was something to watch all of the little kids ride and drive their ponies around.  John Wayne enjoyed visiting with them and asking questions about their horses in search of the perfect pony for the Little Lady. Seeing these families and visiting with them really sparked my interest to learn more about the Amish lifestyle, I'm in the search for an good book.

I love this next pic, too bad it's a little blurry.

It was a long, long day, but at 5 o'clock, we finally left, the Little Lady the proud new owner of this cute little guy!



I love the pic below..."Daddy, I got this, this is MY pony!"

 

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But, the day wasn't over, we headed south to my bestie's 30th birthday party.

The Little Lady got to see the Maranville girl's again - two weekends in a row - she was in heaven!

We had a great time celebrating Kate's 30th!  {Do you think the Little Lady might like her Aunt Katie, just a little bit?!?}

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After the big day we had the day before, we slept in a little bit on Sunday morning, but then it was time to ride that pony!

We have a little saddle for the Little Lady, but growing up I never had a little pony, I always just rode a big horse, so we need to shop for a smaller cinch and tack for the pony.  So we threw the Little Lady on bareback and she did great.  I was actually pretty impressed with her balance and skill, it seemed pretty natural to her : )

Well, more on the pony {like his name!} soon!

Have a great week, friends : )

Is it time?

Is it time to bust out the maternity clothes???
I’m still fitting into my dress pants for work just fine, but all of my jeans {even with the rubber band trick} are becoming a bit uncomfortable.
I don’t know why, but I’m not a huge fan of the belly band, even though that’s probably what I’d be best served by right now, instead of maternity jeans that probably won’t stay up real well yet.

Regardless, the other night I asked John Wayne to get my box of maternity clothes out of storage.
What does he bring me…a box of my skinny jeans that I never did quite get back into after the Little Lady…???
He tells me, “Take a look, I’m not 100% sure, but I think I got the right box.”
Really, don’t you think the fact that all of these jeans were lacking a foot long elastic band across the top, might have been a dead giveaway?
Whatever.
Guys.

Try number two produced the correct box and along with the stretchy jeans, several conclusions:
1)  I have some shopping to do. The Little Lady was born in March, I have a box full of maternity sweaters. I don’t think those will be very useful in the summer’s sweltering heat.
2)  Maternity clothes = a bitty baby bump. I guess when you’re sucking it all in to get your regular clothes buttoned, you don’t really see it, but give it some room to breathe and there you have it, a bitty baby bump. How does little to no weight gained, but 14 weeks pregnant, equal such drastic changes?!
3)  I don’t remember for sure, my pregnancy with the Little Lady is not documented all it. If it was, it’d look something like this:
Week 5: Throwing up, all the time.
Week 14: Throwing up, all the time.
Week 27: Throwing up, all the time.
Week 38: Throwing up, almost all the time.
Anyways, I think I actually started wearing some maternity pants at 14 weeks. With the Little Lady I felt like I got a pretty decent bump pretty quickly, but then I didn’t get that big at all with her. In my last few weeks of pregnancy, people were constantly telling me, “You don’t look big enough to have a baby.” I have a huge fear that this time is going to be the complete opposite and I’m going to be a ginormous cow.

OK, so #3, wasn’t so much a conclusion, as a tangent.
Anyways, so now you’re probably expecting a baby bump picture, right? Sorry, that’s not how I roll, you’re just going to have to catch me in “normal life” pictures.

But since a post is just no fun without a picture, how about this adorable one of the Little Lady with some of her best friends.

Complete cuteness, right?!?

OK, well I’m off to visit Gap and Old Navy online to do some shopping. We have a pretty busy weekend planned, so maybe I’ll actually get back into my pre-puking blogging groove.  Have a great weekend friends!

Normally

Normally, I am a huge neat freak.

Like, get out of bed 10 minutes early so I can make sure the house is in perfect condition when I leave, in case I die today, this is what people will see, type of neat freak.

I know, weird and really in the whole scheme of things, unimportant, but it’s how I tick.

Well, the normal me does have this other side.

The side that lets one night’s worth of dirty dishes in the sink turn into dirty dishes in the sink, plus food on the countertops, plus unmade beds, plus clothes anywhere but the closet, plus make-up and hairspray all over the bathroom…and bedroom…and living room…and yes, eventually even the kitchen. 

I don’t know, it’s weird, when I go off the deep end, I REALLY go to the extreme opposite.

These two normals are what make me up, exactly 98% and 2% of the time.

Except, for when I’m pregnant. 

There is nothing normal about me then.

That 2% of the time normal me, becomes me 100% of the time, but if possible, amplified 10 times.

Cereal bowls stacked on my nightstand.

Every pair of shoes I own…out of their boxes which now litter my closet, but that’s okay, there’s plenty of room for said shoe boxes in my closet now, because none of my clothes are in there anymore…and the shoes, yeh, most of them are now in the kitchen.

My nightly Unisom tablet, I can’t seem to throw the wrapper away, it’s just easier to throw it on the counter…right next to the trash can.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

So this is what happens, when you’re puking.  A lot.

I like to call it survival mode.

You trash the house while you’re getting ready in the morning.

Somehow make it through the day at work.

Come home, take a Unisom and try to avoid reality.

John Wayne’s a good helper, but cleaning’s not so much his thing, but he has got us through this dark, dirty time.

{*Important side note…my Mom has offered time and again to help clean our house, but John Wayne insists he has it under control, “she already watches our kid and feeds us, she will NOT clean our house too!”}

When I was pregnant with the Little Lady, John Wayne offered to take over the cleaning. 

The 98% of the time normal me, bribed him with new Wii games to clean the house “up to my standards.”

Really, who does that?!? 

The ungracious, huge neat freak, wife…yes, me.

 

He cleaned the house “up to my standards” the whole time I was sick…all nine months.

This time around, there has been no mention of “up to my standards.”

Am I that much sicker?

That much smarter?

Gracious?  Yes, maybe that’s it, I’m finally gracious.

This time around, he’s the one who had a talk with me.

The other day over lunch, John Wayne casually tells me, “I’ll continue to clean the house, but I need your help.  Can you try to atleast put your cereal bowls in the dishwasher and your bras somewhere besides the kitchen table."

I’m puking less these days and slowly returning to the 98% of the time normal me.

I’m glad.

And I think John Wayne’s glad too.

Easter!

Coloring Easter Eggs at Grandpa and Grandma's House

Hunting Eggs at Great Grandma Kinkade's House

You'll notice in the bottom two pictures...at times, someone was more interested in eating the candy in the eggs, than hunting the eggs!

Dancing with Cousin Kensie

The Easter Bunny Visited Tressie!

She got a "big girl doll" (Barbie doll) and not much else mattered!

Headed to Church

Hunting Eggs after Easter Dinner at Great Grandpa and Grandma Hammer's House

The Little Lady...she's a BIG ham!

We had so much fun doing our little photo shoot for our big announcement.

And it confirmed one thing...Tressie's a BIG ham!

The best are the pictures where we told her to show us her "excited face!"

Tressie's Big Announcement

There you have it.

I have not fallen off the face of the earth.
Although, at times I wish I had.
Just kidding. (Not really.)
My body and pregnancy do not agree.
I've been puking.
A lot.
So that's where I've been.

John Wayne and I went to my 12 week appointment today and the doctor said everything looks great.  We are very thankful for our newest little blessing and every time I run to the bathroom I'll keep trying to remind myself that it's all worth it!