Nine years ago today

So, all day I've been trying to figure out why November 25th seemed like it should be familiar to me. I've literally been thinking about it all day. At first I thought about how Jayla is 3.25 years old as of yesterday. And although I now have a secondary question (when did I start forgetting that Jayla is a month older on the 24th of each month?), I knew that wasn't the significance of today. Then I thought about a girl that lived on my hall at the residential high school that I graduated from. Today was her birthday but, that also was not what was supposed to be significant about today.

Then tonight, I was sitting in my next to last Statistics class for the semester (Thank you, God! I am SO OVER this semester!). As I wrote the date at the top of my notes, it hit me: November 25, 1999 - the day my husband and I got engaged! A full nine years has passed since then, which absolutely blows my mind. November 25 was Thanksgiving Day that year and he had come to Mississippi to spend the holiday with my family. I thought that was a little strange since we had only been dating for 7 months but, whatever...I was excited about spending a holiday with a boy that I actually like enough to bring around my family!! While it wasn't a particularly romantic proposal, it was a memorable one as we were surrounded by my grandparents, parents, and sister at the time.

I was just 20 years old when we got engaged. Some people thought I was too young to be engaged because I hadn't finished school yet, hadn't been on my own yet, etc. But, others were entirely estatic for me. I think the folks in the latter group are those who knew that I was engaged to a pretty good guy and were just relieved that I was fortunate enough to be marrying someone that I totally didn't deserve. Regardless as to what camp people were in back then, it seems that most people are now in agreement that we're making this thing work.

Tonight when I got home from school, my house was full - my parents and my in-laws drove into town tonight to spend Thanksgiving with us. This is the second time in 3 months that they've all been here together to celebrate something. It's amazing to think that our extended family unit started with a very simple question asked nine years ago today...

What a difference three weeks makes...

The plan was to try to take one of these every other week but, you know, this is the second child. Also, this is probably the last time that you see that oh-so-flattering tank top.

I had another prenatal appointment last week. As usual, everything was good except my ability to gain weight like I'm in a contest. The ultrasound is scheduled for next Monday morning.

In the meantime, I'll be figuring out where 10 people are going to sleep in my house.

Pineapple and Oatmeal Lasagna

On Saturday night, the three of us went to dinner and then ran by the grocery store afterwards. My intent was just to pick up a few things so that I could successfully make a lasagna for dinner on Sunday. With that information, I present to you our grocery receipt:


Two things do not belong on that receipt nor in a lasagna. And to help you out just a little, item #7 is a dozen eggs. If you guessed that the pineapples and the oatmeal do not belong then, you are correct. If you did not guess those two things, then I'm curious about your lasagna recipe.

Jayla managed to slip the pineapples and oatmeal into the hand basket that my husband was carrying around the store...without him noticing! The funny thing is that while I was in the store frantically searching for the ricotta cheese that was not where I thought it should be, I noticed the oatmeal in the basket. The following conversation occurred between me and my husband:

Me: Oh, you're getting some oatmeal?
Him: No, why would I do that? You know I don't eat breakfast.
Me: Oh, well, I guess you can take it to work with you.
Him: [look of bewilderment and confusion]

Now, at this point normal couples would have probably tried to clear up the misunderstanding. But, we are so used to misunderstanding each other that we both just dropped the conversation...and the oatmeal stayed in the basket.

Later, as my husband was putting our merchandise on the conveyer belt in the check-out line, I noticed the pineapples. I didn't say anything this time. I just thought to myself, "hmmm...he's getting all kinds of things for himself". Meanwhile, he did not even notice himself putting the unwanted items on the conveyer belt because he was too busy foiling Jayla's plans to sneak candy items into the basket and/or directly onto the conveyer belt. And as clever as my husband thought he was for putting the candy back, Jayla already had 2 up on him...he never even noticed.

So, when we got home, as he unpacked the groceries:

Him: Why'd you get these pineapples?
Me: I didn't get them. I thought you did.
Me and Him: [small giggles]
Him: Jayla, did you get these pineapples?
Jayla: Yes, I want to drink the juice.
Me: [hysterical laughter!]

I then explained the whole oatmeal conversation to him and it made much more sense that time around. I think we laughed for the next 20 minutes. More than anything my husband was upset that Jayla picked up the plain oatmeal as he explained, "You know what plain means? TASTELESS!" And I officially rolled on the ground, laughing, when he said, "Did we even go down the canned fruit aisle!?!?" Which, no, we didn't. I saw the oatmeal display but, I have no idea where she even found those pineapples.

Now, I'm trying to think of something to do with plain instant oatmeal...because apparently no one in my house actually eats it and I don't dare waste the $1.99!

And also...I am done with "lite" ricotta cheese. Sunday's lasagna was my first time trying it and something got lost in the translation. I'm going back to my tried and true part-skim version.

Update at 16 Weeks

I'm 16 weeks today. The pregnancy is going well. I'm growing. I feel perfectly fine though. The professor that I work for is in awe of my ability to act like the pregnancy is not even there. In reality, it's not that hard to forget about this time around. However, I did manage to remember to actually take a picture last week. So, I'm pretty sure I'm a little bigger than this now but, this was last week's belly (14w5d):


One of my biggest concerns right now that I'm trying to ignore is the childcare situation for the new baby. Quite frankly, on my student "salary", Jayla is taking up all of the tuition money. So, it really isn't realistic to even pretend like I have the $1700/month that I'd need to send the new baby off to someone else like I do with Jayla everyday. And unfortunately, her school does not offer a part time program...so, then do I find part-time care for the baby and have to take them different places in the mornings? Do, I strap the baby on my back and haul it to school with me? That last option is obviously not an option either. I keep telling my husband that it'll all fall in place. I've convinced him. I need to reconvince myself. I've got at least 9 months before I'm thinking I'll want/need childcare anyway.

I have my next doctor's appointment on Tuesday of next week. My doctor will give me the orders for my ultrasound at that time. And then, in the next two weeks or so, maybe we can say this is a boy with certainty...