Got that peaceful, queasy feeling...

Just two days ago I starting getting stomach aches after dinner. Not right after dinner. Maybe an hour after. One of those stomach aches where you can't really tell if you're hungry or you're going to throw up. Fun, right?

I was happy, though, that I could still eat an egg sandwich for breakfast and be ok. Until today. Maybe halfway through my drive to work I started feeling queasy. Even water isn't agreeing with my belly this morning.

Crap! What am I going to do if I can't eat an egg sandwich for breakfast? C'mon, kid. Cut me some slack, here. There's only just so many things I'll eat for breakfast!

Stick to It

On Memorial Day I got back from riding Zach and John got back from the beach at about the same time. We chatted at the table while John ate some lunch - random things that happened at Dewey, my exciting weekend of work, cook out, and riding. When we were all talked out, I mentioned that I had to pee - and should I pee on a stick? Quite the way to grab your husband's attention! John asked if I had a stick (a pregnancy test) and it just so happened that I did. Should have seen my cart at Wal-Mart. Fruit, salad, Clorox Wipes, and a pregnancy test. The check-out girls must see some interesting stuff every day.

John read the directions (no, that's not a typo), and I went in to the bathroom for the ceremonious peeing - perhaps the most important five seconds of my life to date. And then, being the level-headed, fairly unemotional people that we are, we started to watch The Office while we waited for the stick to do its job. Waited for the first commercial break, and then I sent John in to check out the stick. He came out of the bathroom with a smile on his face and gave a little nod. Yep! Pregnant! I said something to the effect of - I figured it must be. My boobs have been killing me. And we expressed out sheer terror at the now solid fact that a child will be entering our life very soon. And then went right back to watching The Office. You could hear the wheels cranking in both our heads, though. I'm not positive that our baby news has quite sunk in, and we're going to keep it quiet for a while longer. Perhaps when we tell the family, and people ask every day how the baby is doing, it might sink in a bit more. For now we're coming to the realizations that A) we're going to be very poor and B) we're going to need a bigger house.

A memorable Memorial Day, for sure.

Same Trail, Different Ears

I haven't been for a trail ride since I sent Frazier away on May 1. I've been riding a bit, still. My friend Cate has three horses that need some extra rides to keep them fit (they are endurance horses) so I've been riding them a couple times a week after work. Since today was such a beautiful day and I was on my own (John spent the weekend at the beach) I decided to take Zach out for a ride at Susquehanna State Park. I did essentially the same trail I did with Fraz at the end of April - which included the fun red ridge trail and the ever so scary "Steps of Doom." It's an interesting contrast riding Zach, a Walking Horse, instead of Fraz. Plus I've never ridden Zach by himself - only in a group. So he was MUCH slower than I am used to. Felt even slower that Fazier, if that's even possible. We did 8 miles at Susquehanna today, at a very slow, turtle-like pace of 4 mph. Which only got that high because Zach knows his way back to the trailer so we galloped the entire last big field we went through. Ah, well. At least he got out. I think he's got a 30 mile endurance ride coming up in a couple weeks.



At the top of the scary scary steps. Zach is pretty unflappable, so he clambered right down with no problem.

We stop for a bite of grass, and a drink of Propel. It's a perfect Memorial Day!

Zach says "Hey, my Mom always gives me a carrot after I get a drink from a creek." And I say "You have to actually TAKE a drink, not fake it, smart boy."


Please, may I have a carrot now that I am done riding? I am VERY cute!

Theories

So for the past 2 days my boobs have been KILLING me. It's super fun when trying to get dressed, run on the treadmill, or ride a horse. I haven't decided yet if it's A) my body getting revenge on me for seven years of basically no PMS symptoms (John will beg to differ, I am sure) or B) I might actually be pregnant, but I am clueless as to the actual symptoms and have not yet worked up the nerve to go buy a pregnancy test.

How soon can one actually test for pregnancy, anyway? If one is going with a standard 28 day cycle theory, I am theoretically 5 days late. Does that constitute enough of a panic to go purchase a pregnancy test ASAP? If one is going with the "what's normal for YOU" theory - well, keep right on guessing. Nobody has ever called me "normal" before. Plus, being only the second month off birth control, who knows if my body can tell what's normal, either?

So for now I am playing the waiting game. Part of me hates to spend the money on "the most sophisticated stick you will ever pee on" (far and away the best Super Bowl commercial of 2008). Part of me is terrified as to what it might say...

Too good not to post

What's that movie (cartoon movie, for kids) that came out last year, that has a dinosaur trying to capture a kid in a corner? The bad guy says something like "Get him! Why aren't you getting him?" And the dinosaur says "I have a big head, and little arms!"

For some reason, that movie trailer made us laugh every time we saw it. And the dinosaur's saying has been a running "quote of the day" in the Norman household. Don't ask me why. We certainly both have big heads, but little arms? I think not.

So, we saw this dinosaur at the Science Center in Baltimore and just HAD to take a photo! John does a pretty good impression, don't you think?

(Sorry you have to tilt your head sideways to see this. I stole this photo from Dad's Picasa album and I can't figure out how to rotate it...)

Hooray for Mom!

A few photos from Mother's Day this past weekend. My mom and dad came down from NY to enjoy some nice Maryland spring weather (after May Mom refuses to visit - too hot down here!).


Here, Mom and I pose in front of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. For the first time ever, I think, we didn't have any house projects, endurance rides, or football games to go to when my parents were visiting. So we were tourists!

Somehow in all photos Dad manages to look grumpy. He says he can't help it - it's just how his face looks.

We actually did go see the Body Worlds Exhibit. It was entertaining. Lots of reading. AND - checking out female bladder size vs. male bladder size - I am now COMPLETELY justified in making John stop seven times on a trip to New York so I can pee!

Mother's Day at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. They have a fantastic brunch buffet (I ate til I was in pain, but the last little bit of chocolate cheese cake was completely worth it).

Ouch!

We can call this a third anniversary photo, I suppose. Three years. How does that go by so quickly?


If one could read John's mind here, it would likely be saying "Why does my wife make me do stupid crap like this..."

My very favorite flowers were just starting to bloom at Longwood. Why don't I plant iris in my garden? 1) I have run out of room - time to make another garden! 2) I don't want to have to dig them up and transplant them when we eventually move 3) I suck at gardens (just ask friends at Sweet Briar, who did a "garden renovation" after I left there, because the poor thing was in such disrepair...)





Do I almost look tall here? It sucks being the "short" person in the family - and I am 5'8"! It doesn't get any better with John's family, either - they are all a bunch of giants, as well. I cheated and stood on a ledge, plus I am wearing tall shoes. Gives me a good two extra inches!

Test

I figured, as we have vacation coming up this summer, I'd start a blog. It's all the rage, right?