July 4th recap

Ok so the 4th was 2 days ago already but I really was not awake enough yesterday to do even a little blogging. Brice woke up before me and took a walk; I must have gotten up right after he left because I woke up to an empty house which kind of freaked me out a little. He got back after getting lost in our neighborhood (still don't quite know how he got lost) and made me a nice smoothie to start off the day. After which we actually got off our butts and went to the Science Museum to see the Pompeii exhibit and the Greece omni theatre film. To those of you who are interested, I would recommend skipping the film; I found it rather boring which is really tough to say about omni theatre films! The exhibit was really neat - it is just amazing how well preserved all of the artifacts are. We got out of there and I made dinner for once which is an oddity in our house since Brice is home more often and does most of the cooking. I went to bed right as the fireworks were starting to go off and if the trees in our neighbor's yard weren't so tall I could have seen them. We did get to see some fireworks though - Bloomington always has theirs on the 3rd along with a big festival so we sat out at the bandshell and listened to music for hours and got to see the firework after all of the music stopped. Bloomington actually has a really good show, I would recommend it to everyone. I would say that we have seen it from the other side of the lake when you couldn't hear the music but this year since we were at the bandshell we could hear it and it was a much better experience. Brice has to work all weekend so I get to do laundry and clean up the house so there won't be much to talk about! Hopefully I can stop blogging while at work soon....I'm working on getting a quote for internet service from the phone company in Scott County. We should be back to normal after that!

Update

I had another doctors appointment yesterday and everything looks good! The heartbeat on my little guy was in the 130's and I have only gained 1 pound....I can't tell you how pleased I am about that number! The doc said that if I just gain small amounts of weight I will probably end up losing 15 pounds after I deliver and end up weighing less than I did when we conceived - that sounds great to me! My doctor is pregnant as well and is due early next month and she said she has gained over 50 pounds and is not very happy with that number but I think she looks great. If all goes well with her I should be able to see her again in 4 weeks if she doesn't deliver early and she probably won't be back in time to deliver me but I'm ok with that....doctors have to have babies too! At the next appointment I have to do the gestational diabetes test and I'm sure that one will come out fine. I called this morning to schedule Brice and I for the childbirth class....I can't believe that it is time for that already!

Tonight, if the weather cooperates, we will be watching the fireworks in Bloomington since Brice doesn't want to stay up tomorrow night to watch them (he has to work early the next day). It's raining now but I'm hoping that it will let up a bit.

I hope all of you have a wonderful July 4th holiday!

Pregnancy Laziness

Well, I have not posted for a really long time! I guess I have better things to occupy my time with lately....well, that and our internet at home NEVER works. We need to get a new plan for that!

So as you all probably already know from reading Brice's blog, we are having a little boy! His name (which after Brice changing his mind about 3 or 4 times) has finally settled to Karsten Brice. When we had the ultrasound at week 19 he weighed about 11oz and is perfectly healthy! He has been a very active little guy, kicking constantly! I've discovered that he really likes coffee - I took a trip to Caribou the other morning and forgot to order decaf and he was pretty crazy the rest of the day! His room is getting done little by little. We cleared all of the stuff out of it, I painted it pretty much by myself because I was tired of waiting for Brice to say he was ready and now all we have to do is put up the wallpaper and wait for presents to come to finish it off. Speaking of presents, Brice and I are registered at Babies R Us. I know that there aren't any in all of good 'ol NoDak but much of what we have on there is available online which is great! To view our registry, click here.
As of today, I am currently in the 23rd week which is around the end of the 5th month, beginning of the 6th and I am getting more excited by the day for him to make his appearance!

I think that is all for now. I do have some pictures to post and some video from a short weekend vacation that we took a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully I can get that posted soon.

Blast from the past

Have you ever occurred a blast from your past? I found one of mine today right here on the internet! I decided to google myself and found a webpage that I built when I was in college. Check it out!

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/bobbiekopp/index.html

Good news x 2

Good news #1

Yesterday I had the dentist appointment I really did not want to go to. If you can remember, I was told that I might need a root canal and that was really freaking me out. So I went in yesterday and told the nurse that I was freaked out and that this was my first filling and she promised me that I would not feel a thing. I was especially freaked out about the injection because I've heard that it hurts. Well, it turns out that they do the injections different now; the doc puts the needle along the length of the tooth that needs the work and you don't feel a thing - I was really surprised by that. After the drilling got done, the doc told me he couldn't see the nerve and he could just fill up my tooth, no root canal needed. I felt so relieved! So I ended up getting the tooth colored filling so you can't tell that I have metal in my mouth which I just think is totally ugly. I had a little bit of pain last night when the anesthesia was wearing off but it eventually went away. Brice took me out to DQ for ice cream last night since I was such a good patient - I actually ate the whole thing this time and didn't need for Brice to finish it off for me like he usually does! Anyways, I do have some pain today in my tooth because I ended up getting a bruise on my gum where the doc put the injection. Even though it sucks to get bruises every time I get a shot or blood drawn, if that is the worst pain I get, I can handle it!

Good news #2

I didn't know how my maternity leave would work since by the time I deliver I will be a month short of the 1 year employment requirement to qualify for FMLA leave (3 months off of work). United Healthcare has what they call first year leave that you can take before this time but you only get 6 weeks of time off. Well, it turns out that I will get 4 weeks for the first year leave after which I will switch to FMLA and be able to be off for an extra 12 weeks. So total, I will be able to be off of work for 4 months! I am so excited about that!!! Thank goodness for short term disability insurance that will pay my wages while I am out on leave otherwise this would not be possible!

Week in review

Since it has yet been another week since I have posted, I will do another week in review. Of course, nothing has really happened much this past week but I will do what I can!

I will start with American Idol on Tuesday/Wednesday. I did not catch all of it on tuesday but was very happy about who ended up finally going home on Wednesday. These are 2 guys that just have ok voices and have some serious issues. Phil doesn't know how to raise his soft palate and has some SERIOUS issues with staying on pitch most of the time. And then there is Chris who obviously thinks that somehow, singing nasaly is ok. I want to smack him and say that no, it is not ok and you shouldn't just be using your nasal passages for your resonance. It still amazes me that these people actually have a voice coach on the show because I honestly can't tell!

I went to my voice lesson on Friday and was 15 minutes late because of the hideous traffic that I had to face. It usually takes me about a half an hour to get there but it took me an hour!!!! The reason traffic was so horrible? There was a stalled van in the middle lane of north bound 35W just sitting there - there was no trooper there with toe truck to get it out of the way. And the thing that really torked me off is that the traffic people on the radio say absolutely nothing about it!!!! Anyways, by the time I finally got there, it was good but I lost 15 minutes that I paid for because of the stupid traffic.

On Saturday we met Brice's dad and wife for dinner at this little hole in the wall restaurant in Webster, MN which was only about 20 minutes from our house. Webster is only about 3 or 4 blocks long but there were a ton of people there! Food was pretty good but the scalloped potatoes were wonderful! The drive down there was really nice. We passed a lot of really pretty farm land, lots of cows, horses and one goat farm (they were so cute!).

Sunday was pretty usual, went to church, then out for breakfast, grocery shopping and then home. We did have some fun trying to drive and walk through the crazy winds. I wanted to take some video but by the time we got back from the grocery store, the winds died down.

Yesterday I had another OB appointment and all looks good. I did loose yet another pound which I can't believe because I feel I eat like a pig! Baby's heart beat was good and strong, between 158-160 beats per minute. Next month is the big ultrasound and I'm really excited for that! Brice and I are trying to decide to find out the sex of the baby....I always said that I wanted to wait but now that we have the names all picked out, I just want to know so I know what to call the little peanut.

Today is the dreaded dentist appointment. Hopefully I'll walk out of there with a filling and not a root canal.

Saturday projects

Happy Saturday everyone! It feels so good to be in the weekend with such beautiful weather ahead of us. Probably like many of you, I have some outside chores to do which won't be all that hard to accomplish - especially with the sunshine and warm weather! Brice and I have been wondering what to do with our patio area and I have a few ideas but just need to pull it together. I have had A LOT of huge weeds to pull out that are growing along the fence and in between the bricks, a couple of which are these dandilions that have already gotten huge so I won't be able to just pull them out. So, after I have that done, I thought I would get a nice potted rose bush to put back there and then plant some veggies and herbs. It will be really nice to have some home grown veggies this summer! Brice has to work again this weekend since they are on their new 6 month schedule so I should be able to do most of this myself. Other than my patio project, I'll have to go down to the pond and give a treat to the ducks and visit Digger, the dog that lives on the corner. He is like the best dog ever! His owners just let him sit outside all day (with no leash) and he just watches people walk and drive by and he watches the ducks across at the pond. He's just too cute not to say hi to.

Well, I think thats all for now. I have to get the gumption up to actually get up and do something now!

Please, no advice

I need to get something off my chest that has been bothering me all day - I'm not trying to be rude but this needs to be said. Please do not give me any "pregnancy advice" because I really am not asking for any. And I would not do anything that would jepordize the health of my son/daughter (referincing my trip to the dentist). Doctors now actually tell you to take care of your teeth during pregnancy because letting the problems go is actually more harm than having it done. There is no risk to the baby by going to the dentist and having a local - just no gas is allowed. You know, I feel like I have to justify my actions to a select few people and I shouldn't have to do that. I'm not dumb and I would never do anything that would harm my baby. It's a good thing that I never said that I took some sudafed when I was sick a month ago because I can imagine the crap I would have gotten then. For those of you who don't know, there are many safe medications that can be used while pregnant and I'm not sorry for using them - especially my inhalers. My closing thought, before you open your mouth and try to give me some "advice" that I never asked for, think about how upsetting it is for me to be judged by what I "should and should not" be doing while I'm pregnant.

Thought of the day

Walk with God as Moses did in the solitude of the desert; when the hour of judgment fell upon Egypt, Moses was prepared to lead his people to victory. Walk with God as Daniel and his three young friends did in the palace of Babylon's king; when the fiery furnace and the lion's den came, God was beside them and delivered them. God has not promised to deliver us from trouble, but He has promised to go with us through the trouble. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4).