I’ve been looking at DSLR cameras tonight, as I’m really wanting to get more into photography before the baby gets here. I’d really like to get a Canon XSi, but I can’t afford the hefty price tag at the moment. Hopefully by picking up some more writing jobs (which I have yet to do), I can put back a little money here and there to get one before my birthday. That would give me about 4 months to learn how to use one well enough to get pics of my little bean when he/she gets here!

Last Friday, I had another prenatal appointment. I haven’t told everyone that will listen about my pregnancy yet, but I know how much of a downer it was to go back and tell everyone that I had miscarried. Therefore, this time I had been a little more low key about it…until Friday anyway. I spoke to the doctor about my all day sickness, and she recommended Dramamine (sp?) if I were going to take medicine for it. She believes that the severeness of my nausea is probably being helped by my Progesterone supplement, so I’m only on it for another week. Other than that, everything checked out good and she sent me for an ultrasound, just to make sure everything looked okay.

The ultrasound tech was very optimistic. We got to see the baby moving around and what appeared to be stretching, and we heard a strong heartbeat of 162 beats per minute. He doesn’t think there’s anything wrong at this point, and we got lots more pictures to show off! I decided to come home Friday and let the world know about my pregnancy by posting on Facebook and MySpace. After the appointment, it’s really began sinking in that I’m going to be a mommy!!

I also got a new cell phone Friday: the Samsung Rogue. I had decided to get rid of the Blackberry because of the extra data plan that is required. We need to begin saving money for the baby, which means cutting out some unnecessary expenses. I really like the phone so far, though it’s taking some getting used to. I haven’t typed messages in T9 Word in almost a year, so I keep misspelling and typing completely different words.

I’ve been on the hunt for maternity clothes, as most of my jeans are already starting to feel a little snug. It turns out Wal-Mart and K-Mart have both stopped selling maternity clothes…which totally sucks because I am looking for good deals! There is a local baby store that also sells maternity, and they were running a good sale earlier this month, and I was able to get a few spring and summer items very cheap. Hopefully I can still fit into some of my own clothes until it warms up. I’ve been living in my sweats and lounge pants when I don’t have to be too dressy, which has helped the clothing issue.

James and I had a great Valentine’s day, although we didn’t do very much. We celebrated on Saturday night by going out to Longhorn. Yesterday, the day was spent at home, cleaning, but we also made time to cuddle and watch TV <3 . We are going out next weekend to celebrate our 4 year dating anniversary. Some people think it’s silly to celebrate that when only the wedding anniversary should be celebrated, but I think honoring the anniversary of how long we have been together is important too (and just another reason to celebrate! ) We are going to the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. I’ve never been there, but have been wanting to go for years. The show we will be watching is called “The Mystery of the Italian-Redneck Wedding,” and from the title, I’m sure it will be very funny and interesting! Not to mention, the menu is an all you can eat Italian (*drools*) buffet, so I’ll definitely be eating for two that night!!

Other than that, I haven’t been doing much. I’m trying to get back into writing so I can earn some money to spend on the baby. It’s a slow process because all the morning sickness is making me want to do absolutely nothing but lay around, as is the fatigue. I hope it gets better soon, cause I’m tired of nibbling on crackers!

Yesterday was my first day back to school. Things went okay, and I think I’ll like my Thursday classes and professors. We did get to leave an hour and a half early due to the snow that started around noon. I was a bit scared driving home, as that was my first time driving in snow. I made it home fine though, and spent the rest of the night hanging out with James and our friend Austin. He ended up getting snowed in here (more like iced in actually, because a lot of roads between here and his house were ‘inadvisable’ to drive on a few hours after dark.

Weight loss is still going good. I opened a blog to supplement my progress and journey with The Curvy Girls, but I have really slacked on updating it. I just can’t get into having more than one blog anymore. Therefore, I am just going to post a weekly update each Friday regarding my weight loss here. I’m thinking about also posting recipes, tips, and other weight loss/healthy living information. To bring everyone up-to-date on my progress, my official start date for this venture was December 18th. I do my videos on Fridays, and my first video went live on this date. I weighed in at 224lbs. As of today, I am down to 220.2. Not a huge loss during the past 3 weeks, but I’m looking for slow and steady so that I can really change my life and keep the weight off once I reach my goal. Plus, 2lbs were lost during the holidays, so that is an accomplishment all in itself!!

Speaking of school, I am hoping my student loan balance is freed up by tomorrow so that I can go get the books I need. I have more than enough money left over after tuition is paid, I just have to wait for them to release it so I can charge the books. It sucks that I can’t physically have the money sooner, so that I could get the books elsewhere at a better price. They won’t make the money available for withdrawal until the second week of classes though, and I like to have by books before the first day. We’ll see how that works out I guess!

The following are my resolutions for 2010:

• Continue losing weight. I’ve been doing quite well since joining The Curvy Girls, even with holiday dinners.
• Stick to my exercise program. I’ve really been slacking on this lately because our treadmill STILL isn’t fixed. The technician is coming on January 6th though, and then I’ll be walking myself skinny!
• Learn to cook. It’s seriously sad how little I can cook…give me a box or frozen dinner and I’m good! I hope to start making more recipes and meals from scratch. Eating at home = healthy eating
• Go to school every day. I have a real problem with this when attendance is not mandatory. I missed so much of my Algebra for Teachers class last semester, that I almost didn’t make an A. I’m sure my next math class will not be required attendance either, but I am requiring myself to go anyway!
• Blog more. I was doing really good when I first opened this blog, then life got really busy. I hope to blog at least 3 days a week, but more if possible.
• Chat online more. I have met some amazing people through blogging, Twitter, and message boards. I’d really like to be friends with them, but I shy away from my messengers most of the time. I am going to start opening them more often, and chatting when I have free time.

These, my friends, are my resolutions for the New Year. Maybe I’ll reference this post every few months to see how I’m doing! Oh, and I also plan to finish up my new 101 in 1001 list (I scratched most of my old list, since I haven’t kept track of things in months), and hopefully have it posted tomorrow, just in time for the new year.

January 2009 – I had my first prenatal doctor’s visit on January 5h (I had taken several HPT’s on Dec. 20th and a blood test at a walk in clinic on Dec. 21, all positive). The doctor confirmed I was pregnant, made me drink some nasty, fruity drink to check my blood sugar, and take 6-7 tubes of blood to check for a plethora of things. The doctor ordered an ultrasound, and we saw our little gray blob for the first time. I started getting morning sickness about a week later, but it faded toward the end of the month. I also started Spring semester of college, and only needed to take 2 classes to get my Associate’s degree. I became burned out on freelance writing, and decided to start looking for a job outside the home.

February 2009 – I had my second prenatal appointment on February 2nd, and I was told I would soon miscarry, as the baby had stopped growing at 6 1/2 weeks along. James and I were devastated, and I was in a lot of pain the next week. Luckily, everything ran its course naturally and I didn’t have to have a D&C. It took another 3 weeks before we got the green light to try again, as I had to produce a negative pregnancy test first. I also opened SouthernGirlRamblings.com in February, since I wanted a new start in blogging and IamKecia.com was becoming dead. James and I celebrated Valentine’s Day by going to the Georgia Aquarium. We also celebrated our three year dating anniversary on the 18th.

March 2009 – My baby brother turned 15 on the 9th, which made me sad because he’s growing up way too fast! James also had his birthday on March 17th. We finally sold James’ Kia in March, which meant no more dealing with his ex (they co-signed together). I got a job at a local day care, but it didn’t last more than a week. They wanted to stick me in a room alone with 14-18 3 and 4 year olds, and I couldn’t handle that! It was okay though, because I just went back to freelancing and found Demand Studios. James and I started working on the “To Do” list for the house, and started by tackling the guest bedroom. We painted it and bought a new futon to replace the furniture that was in there.  We also started on removing the wallpaper and painting the guest bathroom.

April 2009 – Not much happened, other than I finished my classes at school. I also got a new laptop in April.

May 2009 – I graduated college with my Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. I decided to skip out on this ceremony, as I’ll be participating in the one in 2011 when I receive my Bachelor’s degree. My cousin got married at the first of the month, and I helped out a lot getting that ready. I also filmed the ceremony. Right before that, I had a light touch of food poisoning (darn you, Steak & Shake!) that resulted in an ER visit. My great-grandfather passed away on May 8th, so the month was a mix of good and bad.

June 2009 – Only highlight of the month was I celebrated my 25th birthday on the 11th. James got me The Sims 3 and concert tickets to see Nickelback. My aunt and sister made a nice lunch for us, and a chocolate cobbler (my favorite!) for dessert.

July 2009 – James and I went with my family on vacation to Panama City Beach, FL. We also went to see Nickelback in concert in Charlotte, NC at the end of the month. We also finished the painting in the guest bathroom that was started back in March (took us long enough! )

August 2009 – I started back to school in August. It was so hard to get used to going full time again. I felt like I had no time for anything else! I joined the Future Educator’s club at the end of August, which left me with even less time. I also had to help move my sister into her dorm, as she started college this month too.

September 2009 – Only thing different this month was I started my student teaching. September involved me doing my ESOL placements at the middle school and high school.

October 2009 – We spent the first weekend in October at my sister’s college. They have Mountain Day Weekend, which is a celebration of the college fonder’s birthday. There’s a big parade, lots of attractions, and a small carnival at night. We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary the following weekend by going to Nashville for a few days. We saw Dierks Bentley in concert while we were there. I started my placements in my regular Kindergarten classroom on the 15th. I absolutely loved those kids!  Halloween was spent at home giving out candy to the few trick or treaters we had.

November 2009 - I took a stab at NaBloPoMo this month, but failed on the 8th day. That really frustrated me, and I took a hiatus from blogging for the rest of the month. I had midterms at school around the middle of November, so a lot of this month was consumed with studying and completing assignments. I enjoyed my Thanksgiving break, but I kept my cousin for half of it which left very little time to relax.

December 2009 – I picked back up with blogging on the 7th. I really missed not having somewhere to ramble! My mom and I shopped for a little boy in foster care at the first of the month, and turned our gifts in to the Secret Santa program with our county’s DFCS office on the 15th. The rest of the first half of the month was spent shopping and writing articles so I could shop some more. I had my shopping down around the 20th. The past week we’ve spent lots of time with family.

Whoo…My year has been a bit busier than I realized!

For Christmas day, I had a wonderful time with my family. We went up to my mom’s for “Santa” gifts and breakfast. I got some clothes, a very comfy fleece blanket, a puzzle of a bridge in Venice that I have been to, Bath and Body Works stuff, a new board game, and some candy. I had bought James an extra gift, a amp for his guitar, that he didn’t get until this morning. He had expected something extra from me because he knew that I had spent more money on him, but he didn’t know it was going to be an amp. He was pretty surprised, and said it was one of the best gifts he’s ever received.

After exchanging, we went up to my step-dad’s mom’s for a finger food lunch/dinner around 3pm. We played board games up there until almost 11pm last night. It was such a fun day, as I absolutely love playing board games. We had so many players since there was a lot of family there. Today will be a more lazy day, though I think we may make a trip out to McKay’s, the used book store that I am in love with. <3

From James, I received Family Feud for the Wii, a blue Snuggie, a bluetooth headset for my Blackberry, the first book in the Southern Vampire series, and Cranium (board game). The Snuggie is awesome! When they first came out, I make fun of them a bit…as I saw them more, I realized how useful they would be. I lounged around the house most of the day today in mine, and stayed very good and warm. My bluetooth works great with my phone and fits comfortably in my ear. Hopefully I can try out the board game soon, as it takes 4 or more players to play. I sense a game night coming soon!