Ouch......

So on Tuesday I had an ultrasound, which of course was so much fun, but man-oh-man did it make my stomach hurt. Actually it wasn't just any old ultrasound, it was the one where they take measurements in order to test for down syndrome, spina bifida, etc. etc. etc. 

(Sidenote: everything came out wonderfully. Babe #2 tested negative to any sort of genetic disorder, which sort of makes me feel like we've gotten away with murder. I mean, how are we lucky enough to have not just one healthy baby, but two? It just seems so incredible. Needless to say, we are very blessed parents.)

Anyway, the only way for those docs to collect the correct measurement of the babe is to take a perfect shot of him/her. And when I say perfect, I mean perfect. Literally there is no room for error. So one could be watching their baby on that little screen for 5 minutes, or if you're like me, an hour-and-a-half. Yep, I was on that table for an hour-and-a-half.

In the middle of everything Babe #2 fell asleep, forcing me to walk around and drink massive amounts of coffee, which was torture, actually, despite my obsession with McCafe's. Anyway, eventually we got the money shot, but since she had to push so hard on my stomach to get it, I've had this uncomfortable feeling the last few days. Oh well, . . . It's all worth it :) Pics to come . . . I'm too lazy to plug in my iPhone :)

At least it's not a headache!

Annoying situation averted!

Shortly after my rant about Harry Potter not being available in any ebook form (except for a new online audio-book-weird-format - contradictory? I think so!), I got a wonderful email from my friend Jordan who informed me that she does in fact possess all seven of the HP books in ebook format. How did she find such treasures? Well, I believe it was achieved through scourging the internet, which to some may seem offensive to good ole Rowling, but to me, I say OPAH!

Now I'm super excited to read all of my HP's (guilty free, due to the struggle that author has put me through!), and will have to put off the book I recently purchased from the Kindle store until a later date (I wasn't even that stoked to start it anyway. I guess HP has grabbed a hold of me!). 

Look! I even dressed up as HP in the good old college Greek Week days (holla to my Alpha Chi ladies).....I guess I was meant to semi-shadily come across the books at some point in my life.........

So, wooohoooo!

Takin' a seat amongst the dairy

What a ham this guy is.......

<3

A good type of tired

Today being one of the most hated twenty-four hours of the week by many a-soul, it is of course one of my most unique days. Why are Mondays unique around here? Because it's one of my two days per week that I actually put on some clothes, report to a fixed location at a given time, with the same thing on my mind: it's one of my work days!

Somehow I found the best job on Earth for a mom: I'm a fitness teacher at a place called Purebarre, where I'm able to stay at the forefront of the Irvine-mommy-little-league-drama and get a workout at the same time. I just work for three hours on Mondays, so it's short and sweet, and after much getting used to, I now consider it part of my "me" time. 

It's quite nice to have some "me" time which involves other walking, breathing, talking neanderthals instead of the Kardashians during Carter's nap time, and I'm glad I have my job. It makes me a good type of tired (most of the time), and that's exactly how I feel right now. 

Yay for a very minimal work week!

I got a chip on my shoulder, see???

You know what? Some things are just annoying. I've actually ran into quite a few annoying things in the last few days, so in order to relieve some perturbed feelings, I'm going to unload:

Annoying matter #1: (Kind of long, but mui importante) Okay, I know I'm a little late on the trend, but I recently decided that I want to read the Harry Potter series from beginning to end. I'm a major sucker for long sagas, and I just think it's only natural to move on to ole Harry. So the other night I signed on to my Kindle store, and guess what? Harry is no where to be found, and neither is J.K. Rowling for that matter. In my head I was thinking, okay, these are worldwide bestsellers, they have to be on here somewhere, but no Potter! 

You want to know why? J.K. Rowling decided that she's against ebooks altogether. She's just completely opposed to them, so none of her writing is available on my Kindle. Here's the really annoying part: she just launched a major online reading experience for all those die-hard Potter fans, where one is required to sign onto the internet and listen to her read the books! Isn't that a form of an ebook! How ridiculous! This isn't the first I've heard of her contradictory ways, that Rowling! She banned soda at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter because she's against childhood obesity, but sells BUTTER BEER! I'm pretty sure butter beer makes up for those lost calories, you difficult woman!. Anyway, I'm annoyed.

Annoying matter #2: When the landscape guy is leaf-blowing outside your window while your child sleeps and a plane flies over at the same time. I thought my windows were going to crack because of the increase in decibels. Annoying.

Annoying matter #3: The delicacy of wine glasses. I've broken more than half of the beautiful wine glasses we got for our wedding simply by setting them in the sink and waiting until the next day to clean them. Maybe I should ban Chadly from drinking wine throughout the duration of my pregnancy........Ugh!

Anyway, back to the whole Harry Potter thing, I'm debating even reading the series out of sheer principle. I mean, what a difficult author that woman has proven to be! What to do, what to do........

It's official: I am a grown-up

Okay, obviously I have joined the ranks of grown-up-ness-hood (?) - reference: one child running around like a mad man, another on the way - but tonight we did something that really throws us over the grown-up-ness-hood threshold officially: we hosted my parents for dinner.

We've actually done this multiple times between Chad's family and my own, along with a few bar-b-ques with various friends, but upon further reflection (something I had not stopped to think about until tonight), this action of hosting parentals for dinner in your own home is actually quite a grown-up thing to do. I mean, it's sort of like saying, "hey mom and dad! You don't have to worry about me anymore, I can now plan and execute a full dinner from beginning to end, so those thousands of dollars you shelled out for my tuition was well-spent!"

Anyway, I felt that such a shocking revelation should be shared with the world (or the blog-o-land friends I have come to love and depend upon during each nap session). I hope y'all agree with me on this most pressing of points, that hosting dinner parties makes people automatically members of grown-up-world!

A few pics, you ask?

Of course! . . . .

Here's me getting ready for the big bash......

Oh, and there I am setting the table......

The conversation was stimulating right from the get-go!

.......Oh, how embarrassing......Chad must have shot this photo without me realizing.......that devil.......

:)

A different type of morning

This morning we did something we've never done before: we took Carter to the movies!

Well, that's not completely true. One time we took Carter to see "Alice and Wonderland" when he was about 4 months old, but that doesn't count because he was asleep in his carrier the entire time.

This time was different though! Carter has been OBSESSED with "Cars" for the past few weeks, and since I've been feeling terrible, I did what any responsible mother would do: I caved and let him watch the movie on multiple occasions.

After a trip to the doctors the other day for a well visit, and seeing the words "DO NOT let your child watch television of movies, this is not a substitute for talking to them," I felt a little guilty, but my nausea won over every time.

Anyway, so today we took him to see "Cars 2!" It was so cute! At first he didn't know what was going on, but we got through the majority of the movie! Towards the end we had to leave, but I was still proud of my little 18-month-old!

It was a fun morning, and one I'm sure we will repeat in the future :)

Bambino Number Two, Baby!

Yep, we are expecting once again!

And a-can I get a wooooooo?

Wooooooooooooooo!

The happy day has come where I can now announce the good news to the world! Because of this happy fact, I will announce it in every form I know:

* We are pregnant.

* We have a bun in the oven.

* I am with child. (Kind of weird, but accurate!)

* Carter is about to be a big brother. (Ahhhhhhhhh! Can you believe that!)

* We are producing another offspring. (I don't know how I feel about that one)

* Sto avendo un bambino. ("I'm having a baby" in Italian)

Okay, I'm out. 

Well, to say the least, we are super excited for child-numero-dos. Let me give you some background on the matter: 

Well, both Chadly and I have siblings who are between 20 and 21 months younger than us, and we absolutely loved it growing up. So in order to keep with our lifelong goals of having our first two back-to-back in the spirit of companionship for the two, we decided it was time to get back in the saddle. So, for a few months we weren't exactly trying, but weren't preventing, (which I guess you could say is trying), and after a few months of that we got down to business in the ole' "let's have a baby" department.

Anyway, shortly afterwards, (actually, it was the day before Mother's Day), my dad asked me if I was pregnant. Of course, by that point I was sick of wondering of whether or not I was pregnant, so I muttered  something along the lines of, "probably not, but maybe." 

Despite my cynical response, I started to get super excited. The next day I took a pregnancy test, on Mother's Day, let me remind you, and it came out POSITIVE! WOO! ...And since I have such little faith in those stupid "plus" sign tests, I drove myself down to the store and bought one of those digital ones where it tells all us women-walking-on-eggshells if we're either "pregnant" or "not pregnant" in black and white. Well, that obviously came out "pregnant," and we have been rejoicing ever since!

Actually, "rejoicing" does not fully describe the experience. I have actually had a really hard time the last few weeks, unlike my pregnancy with Carter. The headaches are endless, and the migraines are killer, but I just have to keep reminding myself that this, too, shall pass, and it's all worth it!

Here are some statistics:

* The babe's due date is January 7th, just two weeks after Carter's second birthday!

* We will be having him at St. Jude in Fullerton, where we had Carter

* I am 12 weeks pregnant as of today!

* Carter whispers "baby" on a daily basis. It's so adorable!

Anyway, I hope you're as excited as we are about the news!

Wooohoooo!

I've been blinded!

So guess what happened to me on Wednesday afternoon? Well, when Chad walked in the door after spending some time with the ole' friends around 3:30 in the afternoon, Carter opened his arms up wide as can be to give him a hug and whapped me in the eye! It hurt so gosh darn badly, I started mildly freaking out. I ran to the mirror and started scouring my eye for whatever it was that had just been flung into my precious socket, and couldn't find ANYTHING!

As the afternoon progressed, my eye started hurting more and more, and suddenly our day off together had turned into the "What on Earth is in Nicole's Eye" day. 6:00ish rolled around, and Chadly had to take off for school, leaving me ALONE at home, practically blinded, and in more pain than ever. After about 15 minutes of freaking out in solitude, I decided it was time to bring out the big guns and call my madre. At this point I was bawling my eyes out, practically hysterical, and on the phone with the emergency room. 

(Sidenote: I felt a little bit ridiculous, like I was one of those overly emotional women who couldn't handle an eyelash getting stuck in their eye, but I didn't care! It was awful!)

Anyway, the ER operator told me to call my optometrist, at which point I jumped on our stupid United Healthcare website in order to find such a thing in the Irvine area. Once I found one, I called the poor man's emergency line (which was his cell phone......sorry, fella!), where I poured my heart out to him all while crying! It was actually pretty embarrassing, but he politely gave me the info I needed: head straight into urgent care. 

My mom pulled up at the perfect time to watch Carter and Chad came home from school, thank goodness. I think he thought I was being hysterical, but you know what? I was, damnit, and I didn't care! So anyway, the urgent care doctor informed me that I had a deep cut in my EYEBALL (yuck), and had to put an EYE PATCH on me! I don't think I've ever felt as low as I did than at that moment. 

The next day (yesterday) I went to the optometrist, making Chad late for work, and then was sent to a corneal specialist. I was then forced to wear an eye patch all day yesterday, and now finally today, after a follow up with my cornea guy, I can now open the offended eye without pain! 

Literally, I don't think I've ever felt as low as yesterday and the day before. It was just one of those horrible couple of days where things just kept getting worse and worse. Thank the good Lord my family was there to help me, or else I would have been in a world of pain! It was just awful.

That was me.........kind of............hahahaha

Father's Day!

I have to say that this year's Father's Day was a great success. Not only did Chad love his present, but I finally got to see an expression of surprise on his face once he saw it! This literally has never happened. Every single present-giving occasion which comes up, he always dazzles me with a million awesome presents, and I'm always bashfully handing over to him some stupid little thrown-together lame-o gift (even though he denies this in the interest of not making me feel bad, I know he knows I'm right). 

Anyway, this year I was determined not to fall into my sorry old ways! Here's the masterpiece which was presented to him on that morning of mornings:

Before you think us crass for even considering beer in the morn, let me give you some background on the matter. All those beers are Belgian, and Chad being the beer man that he is, had mentioned quite a few months ago that he really was craving a good old fashion Leffe, which was one of the best beers we tried on our honeymoon. So off I went to fetch him the booty, and I went a little crazy with the other Belgian beers we consumed over there across the pond. Anyway, it's my fault that beautiful bar-globe is filled with beers so early in the morning (but I have to say, he was quite surprised and pleased). Anyway, Chadly also had mentioned a few months ago, (after seeing Inglorious Bastards), that he would much appreciate a globe which doubled as a bar, totally James Bond style. So that's what I got him! The other goods:

*A card from me and another adorable one from Carter

*A frame with a picture of Chad and Carter matted by a finger painting the little one did for him

*2 tickets to "X-Men: First Class" for that night at 8:40

*2 tickets to the Laugh Factory Hollywood

Other things we did that day included brunch with the Cisneros's, then dinner with the Paplia's. It was quite a fun day, and I'm glad I finally accomplished a surprise gift for my man (and the best daddy ever!).

Time for some photos

It's high time for some pictures! Woohooo! 

So basically I only have my iPhone to take pics and videos on, since my stupid camera is now lifeless. (Next camera we purchase is going to be a badass one. Never again will I buy those dinky little "point-and-shoots" - although I did appreciate the last one my hubby got me, they just don't last long, no matter how well you take care of them!). Anyway, I've actually really enjoyed using my trusty iPhone for a few reasons: a) it's always with me, b) even though the pictures are not the best quality, they come out pretty darn good for a camera phone, and c) I really like how easy it is to take a video! It's pretty awesome, if you ask me!

Anyway, here's another pee-cture:

On Friday morning I watched my friend Meghan's son, Drake! The two boys played perfectly together, but let me tell you, watching two boys is completely different than watching a boy and a girl. First of all, the two of them were super competitive with each other! Each boy wanted to sit RIGHT next to me, and scooted closer if one felt that the other was creepin' in! Secondly, the amount of eating that goes on with boys is just insane. When I babysit my niece, it's a few snacks here, maybe a sippy-cup there, but with men-folk, it's meal time at ALL TIMES! It was actually pretty funny, but man-o-man, I feel for mommy's of just boys!

We got Carter some Toy Story bubble bath! He LOVES IT! Nowadays he just jumps in the bath and starts kicking his legs until there are tidal waves of bubbles spilling over the side of the bathtub. It's pretty hilarious, even though I get soaked each time and beg for him to keep the kicking to a minimum!

Meet Carter-the-Tin-Man! Right before we traded in my beautiful teenage car, we cleaned out the trunk and found this massive funnel. Well, in order to conjure up some giggles, I repeatedly put it on my head like I was wearing a hat, and then one day I came over to the couch and found this! He was just sitting there with the funnel on top of his head while watching "Cars!" It was so hilarious, I was praying he wouldn't take it off before I could open my camera! Hilarious!

...And here's my favorite. I, of course, had a headache, so we were cuddling on the couch :)

Oh man, he is a doll <3

Experimenting with time out...

Well, the time has come where all those experts say it's a good idea to start disciplining, so after much research, I have decided that a simple round of time out should do it for my little man. For what reason should my little bundle of joy need to sit in the corner? He has started to throw things in bouts of frustration, and hit people just because (when he hits someone, he always has a super big smile on his face, but hitting is a no-no around here!). 

So the last few days I've been sitting him down in a corner of his room where I loudly count to 10. Well, of course my little smiley-baby just looks himself in the mirror and laughs at the whole situation! I think he really enjoys time out! Just about 45 minutes ago we were in the kitchen and Carter took a big WHAP at my leg with a shoe horn (?), so I said as sternly as possible, "Carter! That's a no-no! Time for time out!" and he said, "No, mama," which made me believe that maybe this little discipline thing is actually working...

Well, I was wrong about him being sad about having to sit in the corner. Like a good little boy, he put down the humongous shoe horn and marched himself over to time out, where he proceeded to sit down in his corner and look up at me with those big hazel eyes. Can you believe that?! Here I am trying to be a strict mother, full of discipline and wisdom, and my perfect little man is going along with it all voluntarily! It almost made me feel bad! Anyway, I couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing. After the little corner sit-down, Carter started laughing and gave my legs a huge hug, at which point I picked him up and gave him a big ole' kiss. 

What can I say? I'm a lucky mommy!

Well, this is depressing...

It's been so gosh darn long since I've blogged it's depressing. It's just that I've just been getting so many headaches lately I'd rather just lay on the couch . . . so although that's quite a sad reason for my major hiatus, it is what it is!

Anyway, at the moment I'm feeling pretty darn good, so here are some updates (without photos, though, since my camera is on the fritz and my iPhone is with the hubby at the moment).

* Carter can now pull himself up on our lovely couch, which is cute but kind of scary because I keep thinking he's going to fall backwards and hit his head on our coffee table. It's so adorable to watch, though!

* Today we deep cleaned our apartment. Yes, we deep, deep, deep, deep, deep cleaned the place! And by this I mean we even took off the electric (ugh) coils on our stove and cleaned in and around the entire contraption. I have no idea when the last time those things were cleaned, but let me tell you that it was creating quite the problem for my trusty 409.

* Chad starts summer school tomorrow, which means that it's just me and the little man from 9:30 am till 10:00 pm every Monday through Thursday for the next eight weeks. It's a pretty intense schedule, but at least he's getting those darn classes out of the way. I'm super proud of him, and will be praising the Lord when he's done with the session!

* Speaking of Chad, the man has pretty much assumed all household duties, and I say this in all seriousness. Like I said, these damned headaches have left me bound to the couch, so my big hunk of a man has been doing the dishes, making dinner, putting Carter to bed and basically taking care of business for the past few weeks. How on Earth did I get so lucky?! Alleluia for Chad!

Anyway, I will hopefully be posting a heck of a lot more consistently during the next few weeks. Damn these headaches!

My new ride!

Tisk-tisk to me! I forgot to include a picture of our beautiful, fully loaded, gorgeous, black interior 2011 Kia Sorento! What was I thinking?! Well, this isn't the color of my beauty, but you get the idea:

Mine is more of a sandy-greyish tone :)

... and my inside's are completely black like a ninja's!

I love my new babay!

The best Sunday-Funday to date

So, the last couple of days have been pretty tough, since my brain has decided to turn on me in such barbaric ways I have been exiled to the couch for several hours at a time. Yes, I've been experiencing a ridiculous amount of migraines lately, thus my major lack in computer-checking-in-on. It's a bummer, but it's what some of us Paplia's have to deal with from time to time! Anyway, on to happier subjects!

Last Sunday was one of the best Funday's of all time. It was full of new experiences, spending time with my man alone, and a lobster cocktail dish which was larger than my entire head. It was fabulous! Here is how the day went:

*First we dropped Carter off with my parentals around 10:30, after which we swung by my sister and brother-in-law's new digs to grab my forgotten sunglasses. Why were my sunglasses such an important part of our day from then on forward?... 

*... because WE WERE GOING CAR SHOPPING! Yep, we drove on down to the Garden Grove Kia dealership (where my thrifty husband knows the general manager), and bought ourselves a 2011 Kia Sorento! It was a wonderful experience, except for the fact that up until that point I had no idea that car shopping literally takes ALL DAY LONG. I literally thought one just walks onto a car lot, test drives a few vehicles, signs some papers and everyone goes about their lives quickly and efficiently. Nope, it definitely was not that way at all. We didn't return to my parent's house until 5:30! 5:30! Isn't that insane?! I was completely beat! Anyway, it was quite a nice reason to be tired :)

*Part deux of our day: celebrating our two year anniversary! So we went on home, got ready for Mastro's in Newport (my parents had given us a gift certificate for that swanky place for Christmas, so we decided it was time to cash it in), and off we went to drop Carter off at Chad's mom's house. We were super excited to drive our hot new wheels all the way to the coast, and even more excited to consume the HUGE lobster cocktail, petite filet and steamed broccoli (mine), as well as Chad's New York Strip with sweet potato fries. Afterwards we splurged on some chocolate covered strawberries, which was fabulous, and then it was time to head home and hit the hay. Basically, it was beyond amazing!

So, all in all, it was a great day, but like I said, has left me reeling with these insane migraines. I've been walking on egg shells all day trying to avoid getting another one, so let's keep our fingers crossed! Ugh, they are awful! My heart goes out to all you migraine-experiencers! Ugh!