http://joleine.com/index.php/site/index/ This is Joleine Sigler's home on the interwebetron. I'm not quite sure what to put here but my husband made me put some sort of description. en joleiney@gmail.com Copyright 2009 2009-10-21T04:14:01-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/baby_update/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/baby_update/#When:04:14:01Z Appt Date: October 15, 2009 Weight - Surprisingly, up 4lbs in 4 weeks BP - 106/62 Heartbeat - 145 bpm, beating well! Instructions from doctor - Come back in 4 weeks.  In 4 weeks I have to do the glucose test (to see if I have gestational diabetes) and some more blood work.  Also scheduled our birthing classes Over all - Things are still going well!  2 weeks ago I had a cold.. then last week I woke up on Tuesday morning unable to move my head at all, my neck and upper back were completely “frozen”.. and I was in excruciating pain.  I went to work on Tuesday and had to work all day with back and neck spasms.  It was awful.  I went in for a massage on Tuesday night, which didn’t do crap so Wednesday morning I went to Urgent Care to see if they could give me something for it.  Wednesday I was still completely “frozen” and couldn’t move my head, which made driving interesting to say the least.. The doctor at Urgent Care said I had Acute Torticollis and gave me a 6 day course of predisone and some Tylenol 3’s for the pain.  I’m slowly getting better from that.  I can finally move my head, but my neck/shoulders are still fairly sore and stiff.  A hot tub would be WONDERFUL right now. This weekend I went to Babies R Us and bought some cute clothes for the baby since I had a coupon :D I also went to Bed Bath & Beyond and ordered this baby bedding.  I was able to use my 20% off coupon, so I got a good deal on it! That’s about all that’s going on.  Thursday marks 24 weeks!  16 weeks to go and we’ll have a baby.. crazy times! Baby 2009-10-21T04:14:01-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/quick_baby_update/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/quick_baby_update/#When:17:24:00Z I don’t go back to the OB until next week.. but I thought I’d give a quick update as to how things are going on a non medical related side. Today I am 22 weeks and 1 day pregnant.  Over halfway there! How I’m feeling:  Pretty darn good if you ask me.  A lot of people complain that they’re just miserable in pregnancy and I have to say, I’m rather enjoying it for the most part.  I haven’t had any real “morning sickness”. Yes, I’ve had a bit of queasiness here and there (in the beginning mostly) and some days I have heartburn so bad I don’t know how I’ll make it through another meal.  But no puking and nothing that I can’t handle in the heartburn department.  I can actually eat some foods more so now than I could before being pregnant, mostly dairy is a lot easier to handle, which I am not complaining about!  I haven’t gained any weight either, which is pretty nice.  And no, the doctor is not concerned as I had some weight to spare!  However, I’ve had a pretty nasty head cold this week and not being able to take anything other than Tylenol and Sudafed, kind of sucks.  But I’m feeling better and better each day! The baby:  The baby squirms, moves and kicks quite a bit these days.  Sometimes when I’m laying on my back (which I can still mostly do with comfort) I can see the kicks as it makes a bump on my stomach.  It’s super cute!  Mike feels the squirms and kicks on occasion too!  Its slowly becoming more and more uncomfortable to sleep on my stomach though, so I think I need to start sleeping with the body pillow.  I’ve tried to sleep with it here and there, but it makes my hips hurt.  Hopefully that will stop soon. I went out last weekend and registered at Babies R Us.  They seem to have the best selection of baby stuff, given that they’re ya know, a baby store!  I also registered for a few items (that I forgot at BRU) at Target, since I could do that quick and easily online.  Michelle has my baby shower scheduled for January 9th and I’ve also scheduled a couple of classes at the local hospital.  Mike and I will be taking a 4 hour long “newborn care” class and I’ll be taking a 3 1/2 hour breastfeeding class.  Hopefully they’re helpful and not a waste of time and money.  I’ll be scheduling our birthing classes next week when I’m at the OB, hopefully we can get those done in December. My next appointment is the 15th, and I’ll be 23 weeks then. Should be a pretty quick appointment, but at that appointment we’ll schedule some other tests that I’ll be needing in the coming months, and I’ll have the doctor write a note saying that I’m OK to fly at 28 weeks, since we’re heading out to Kentucky to see Mike’s family for Thanksgiving.  More update next week! Baby 2009-10-09T17:24:00-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/baby_update_were_having_a/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/baby_update_were_having_a/#When:17:42:00Z Appt Date: September 17, 2009 Weight - Down 2 lbs in 5 weeks BP - Normal (Can’t remember exact stats) Heartbeat - Didn’t find this with the doctor, as we had our anatomy scan before the appointment and everything was perfect. Instructions from doctor - Get flu shot and come back in 4 weeks.  Easy enough? We also had our “big ultrasound” which was fun to watch the baby squirming around on the screen.  At the time of the appointment the baby was weighing in at a whopping 11 ounces, almost 3/4 of a pound.  Crazy to think that in the next 20 weeks the baby will gain 6 to 7 more pounds (um, lets hope it’s no more than that) We also found out that we’re having a ...  GIRL!!  Yep a healthy baby girl is growing right along in there!  We’re so excited .. Especially to start shopping and buying lots of cute pink things If you look close enough to this pic, you can tell she’s going to have Mike’s chubby cheeks.. hah! And for those wondering, we’ll be naming her Morgan Elizabeth. Baby 2009-09-29T17:42:00-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/ob_appt_update/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/ob_appt_update/#When:17:13:00Z Appt Date: August 14th Weight - Down 1 lb in 4 weeks BP - 120/70 Heartbeat - Found w/ doppler - last visit required ultrasound - 150bpm Instructions from doctor - Get more protein in diet, drink more milk - he said everything looks picture perfect and to keep doing what I’m doing, but with more protein and milk Next Appt - September 17th for anatomy scan (we’ll find out the baby’s sex yay!) with follow up OB appt w/ doctor There was also some crazy waiting room drama w/ a patient that had called to have her records sent to a home birth clinic a few weeks ago, and then went ape shit when her appts w/ OB clinic had been canceled (her appts were for an ultrasound and glucose test) umm, well, when you call and have your records transferred, you can’t expect them to keep seeing you, can you? Overall it was a big misscommunication between patient and clinic, but it was interesting to see how irate a pregnant woman can get Baby 2009-08-19T17:13:00-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/update_of_sorts/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/update_of_sorts/#When:22:09:00Z Mom Update: Mom had surgery on Friday the 17th to remove her sigmoid colon and a 4 inch tumor as well as 19 lymph nodes in the area.  All looks well, and the surgeon thinks her cancer is somewhere between stage 2 and 3 (there are 5 stages, 0 through 4) but will know more details next week after he presents her case to “the tumor board”.  She’s still in the hospital and will likely get to go home tomorrow.  I’ve gone up and visited her during lunch this week, and each day she looks and feels much better.  She started eating actual solid foods yesterday, so I’m sure that’s helping her feel better too!  Today she was in her own nightgown, and I took my lunch to the hospital and we ate in the waiting lounge on her floor rather than the room.  I think it was nice for her to get out and around! Baby Update: I had my 10 week checkin with the doctor on the 17th as well, and he said everything looks fine.  I lost 6 lbs in 3 weeks which he wasn’t too thrilled about, but wasn’t worried either.  I’m not actively TRYING to lose weight, I just have a lot of extra padding for the baby to live off of for a while, ya know?  He couldn’t get a heartbeat with the doppler so he brought in the little ultrasound machine and found TicTac just hanging out, saw the heartbeat and tried to wake the baby up with no luck.  Hopefully when I go back in 3 weeks for my 14 week update we can hear the heartbeat on the doppler.  I also get my full anatomy scan on September 17th and we should be able to find out the sex then.  Yay!! Vacation Update: Vegas was fun and hot.  More to update about that later. Baby, Personal 2009-07-23T22:09:00-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/the_good_the_bad_and_the_ugly/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/the_good_the_bad_and_the_ugly/#When:02:43:00Z Okay so first off, I apologize for taking *so* long to update.  Lots has been going on.. I’ll try to make this brief.. and then I promise I’ll TRY to update more often.. The Good On June 3rd, we found out that I’m pregnant.. SURPRISE.. well, it sure was for us.. I’m exactly 9 weeks and 1 day pregnant now, due February 11th.  Exciting huh? Hah.. well, at first we were freaking right out, as I imagine all people that aren’t actually actively TRYING to have a child do.  But we’ve worked through the logistics and are slowly getting used to the concept that we’re going to um, be parents.  Which in and of itself, is pretty freaking weird.  But we’ll make do and in the meantime, we’re just trying to agree on some names. hah. On the bright side, we’re leaving town on Monday for a 4 day vacation in Vegas!  Mike has never been to Vegas and ya know, in the summer, when its 110 degrees out, is the perfect time to go.  Rates are cheap and no one else will be there.. it will be wonderful!  While we’re there we’re planning to see the Tournament of Kings jousting show at The Excalibur and we’re going to see the Penn & Teller show at The Rio.  Should be a fun time! The Bad Around the same time, we found out that my stepmom has lung cancer and would need surgery to remove the nodules on the outside of her lung and esophagus.  She had this surgery on June 25th, they removed the bottom portion of her right lung and all of the nodules that were surrounding her esophagus.  I drove up to Spokane on the 26th to visit, spend time with her and my dad and just try to be there the best I could.  She’s since come home from the hospital and is on the mend.  Many prayers needed her way! The Ugly Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, they do.  My mom called me today at work, and I know that if my mom calls while I’m at work, something isn’t right.  And well, something isn’t right.  Mom had her annual (?) colonoscopy today to be informed that she does indeed have, colon cancer.  They’re not sure how advanced it is, but are presuming for the time being that it’s not that bad, as she has had no symptoms.  She goes to see a surgeon next Wednesday to find out more details (of course, when we’re in Vegas.. ugh).  When asked if this is hereditary I was told yes, but the fact that she has smoked for a majority of her life, is overweight and eats horribly probably brought it on moreso than genetics as no one else in the family has had it.  That being said, I’m going to start taking preventative measures ASAP to be sure that I don’t get this when I’m older (or now for that matter!).  Luckily I don’t smoke and I’m not horribly overweight, so I just need to start eating better, which is something that Mike and I have needed to do for quite some time anyways.  And exercising.. we really need to get on that too.  As soon as I know more about moms condition, I’ll post that information, but in the meantime just keep saying your prayers. Personal 2009-07-11T02:43:00-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/doing_our_part_to_stimulate_the_economy/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/doing_our_part_to_stimulate_the_economy/#When:06:56:00Z By getting out of a bad loan and money pit of a car… We traded Mike’s Acura in on a new Jeep today.  Jeep was doing some great deals as far as incentives and interest rate and really.. we just couldn’t turn it down. We still have the Element but I’m putting that on Craigslist tomorrow to sell it and we’ll have 1 car for a few months while we save up money to put a good down payment on something new and shiny for Mike (he wants some fancy sports car… ... ) So far I’ve only driven it a few miles, but I’m excited to take it camping and 4-bying.. Meet.. the unnamed Jeep (we really gotta figure out a name for him!) Specs: 2009 Jeep Wrangler X V6, 3.8L 2 Door Wagon Trans: 6 spd Manual Drivetrain: 4WD Ext Color: Black Int Color: Gray Air Conditioning AM/FM/CD/Aux in for iPod Anti-Lock Brakes Beverage Holder Bucket Seats Center Console Dual Air Bags Electronic Dash Fold Down Rear Seat Front Disc Brakes Intermittent Wipers Leather Seats Power Brakes Power Steering Rear Defroster Removable Top Tachometer Tilt Steering Tinted Windows Personal 2009-03-14T06:56:00-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/every_good_thing_must_come_to_an_end/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/every_good_thing_must_come_to_an_end/#When:20:13:01Z Saturday night after all of the BlissDom09 festivities were over, I headed to Hopkinsville, KY and met up with Randy (My father in law) and Penny (step-mother in law) at O’Charley’s for dinner and we enjoyed some steak and baked potatoes oh and REAL Sweet Tea.  Something I definitely don’t get enough of in Portland is real southern Sweet Tea.. Yum.  We headed back to their house after dinner and just hung out watching HGTV and chitchatting while playing around on the internet. Sunday we woke up and had breakfast, watched Mission Impossible (The original, I had only seen #2 before..) while lounging around.. I tell you, after the previous couple of days activity, lounging around was nice! After the movie we got up and headed out and about.  They took me to “Jeffers Bend” to show me what they do in the summer with the school kids, etc.. Then we went to the Riverside Cemetery to try to find the grave of old Edgar Cayce, but no luck there.  It was kind of interesting walking around the cemetery though, as the graves are all pretty darn old. I have this weird thing about making up stories about the lives of the people buried in graveyards, I don’t know why.. it’s odd.  After driving around for a while, we went and had some yummy Mexican food at Cancun in Hopkinsville, KY and spent the rest of the evening just hanging out and relaxing. Monday I got up, got packed up, had lunch with Randy and high-tailed it to Nashville to fly home.  Barely made my flight, but the folks at Continental are quite wonderful and let me on the plane at the last minute… And that’s it in a nutshell.. I’ll start posting my thoughts about the actual conference in the next couple of days.. I’ve come down with a horrible cold and can barely think straight right now. Blogging, Personal 2009-02-17T20:13:01-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/does_this_blog_make_me_look_fat/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/does_this_blog_make_me_look_fat/#When:18:40:00Z No, I still haven’t actually MET or talked to Jen Lancaster.. Pathetic, I know. Saturday was spent in a whirlwind of semi-chaos attending many sessions on varying blogging topics.  ... After the sessions were over, we were all treated to a quick mini-concert by Chris Mann himself.  He was pretty funny and has an amazing voice, I can’t wait until his CD comes out so I can buy it!  While the crew was tearing down the musical instruments Barbara Jones from One 2 One Network and Allison Worthington from Blissfully Domestic raffled off a ton of cool prizes, including 3 iPod Touch’s donated by John Andrews from Walmart. Then came the fun part - The keynote speech by Jen Lancaster.  I have to say it was probably one of the best talks I’ve heard in a long time.  It truly is inspiring hearing her story of how she went from being an associate VP at an investment firm to being practically homeless, carless and prada-bagless to turning it all around and now being a NY Times Best Selling author!  It just goes to show that in the face of adversity you have 2 options.  Do nothing and sink further into depression, debt and defeat or rise above it and move onto bigger, better and more amazing things than before.  I usually choose to go with option B, but not many people do and choose to sit and play the “woe is me” card and will not do for themselves but expect good to come to them without having to work for it.  But I digress.. After the keynote speech was over, I headed out pretty quickly without getting her autograph as I was already running late to meetup with the in-laws.  Hopefully when her new book Pretty in Plaid comes out in May and she goes on tour, she’ll come to Portland.  I WILL go see her this time.  Last year when she went on tour for Such a Pretty Fat she was in Portland on the same night as the Coheed and Cambria concert, and since I love my husband more than Jen Lancaster, I had to miss it :( Next up .. Spending time with the in laws by myself and a trip to the cemetery! Blogging, Personal 2009-02-16T18:40:00-08:00 http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/information_overload/ http://joleine.com/index.php/joleine/article/information_overload/#When:00:19:00Z Saturday morning I decided to splurge and order room service breakfast, and it was good!  I had some bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns and a bagel with cream cheese.  The coffee at The Hotel Preston is atrocious but I drank it anyways.  I got all of my stuff packed up, got myself prettied up and headed downstairs to check out of the hotel since I was not spending Saturday night with the rest of the ladies.  I headed into the main meeting area and grabbed some more coffee.  The coffee that was provided by the conference was a lot better than the hotel room coffee, but it was still pretty awful.  During breakfast we were treated to a “Special Screening”, but we weren’t privy to what the special screening was going to be about beforehand.  I was surprised to find what it was, but it was a pleasant surprise.  We got to be the first to get a sneak peak at Yanni Voices an incredible musical experience where young musical artists are putting lyrics (and dance!) to Yanni’s music.  It was really cool to watch, and sounded beautiful! As a special surprise Ender Thomas and Nathan Pecheco surprised us all by showing up IN person to thank us for watching the preview and answer any questions we had.  They were also kind enough to sing Happy Birthday to 2 of the ladies in the audience in both English and Portuguese!  Next up - Busy day of sessions, hot men and Jen Lancaster! Blogging, Personal 2009-02-14T00:19:00-08:00