Oh happy day!!!

Today has been a good good day. Justin and I both woke up rested and refreshed. And after my waffles I spent the morning sewing.
I opened the door to go to work and there on my porch was my Old Navy package full of maternity clothes. I was in a hurry so I cannot wait to get home tonight to try everything on. And then I checked the mail, and both my Swaddlebees order and some of the used diaper covers I bought on DiaperSwappers.com had come! One of the diaper in my Swaddlebees order is a newborn sized pocket diaper. AND OH MY GAWD! It is SO freakin' TINY and adorable!
On my way to work I stopped off at a fabric store to continue my search for a black and white canopy striped fabric. And wouldn't you know it, they had one! And it was 50% off!
And to top it all off I got to work and my supervisor called me into her office to tell me I was being promoted and getting a 10.2% raise!!!!!!! 10.2%!!! I couldn't believe it. And I looked at my paycheck for tomorrow and my quarterly bonus and holiday pay are all on there so tomorrow my bank account will be a nice fat $300 heavier than I thought it would be! Yippee!

Baby Monkey has been kangaroo boxing all evening. I think my stomach might be bruised tomorrow. Luckily "she" seems to have gotten sleepy. As much as I love that "she's" getting stronger and more active, it sometimes gets uncomfortable.

I also have to blog about Crunchy Clean (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5760585). It's an amazing eco-friendly laundry detergent. And it's CHEAP. There are so many yummy scents. So far my favorites are Baby Bee Clean and Gardenia. I really look forward to doing laundry now because it makes my house smell SO GOOD. So really it totally doubles as an air freshener. I love love love it.

22 weeks

What's new this week?
My skin seems to be clearing up...at least the skin on my face does. So that's a big plus. And I'm not needing as much sleep as I have been. I can get by on 8 hours instead of 10-14. Not quite as awesome as my usual "6 hours and I'm golden", but considering I wake up about every couple of hours to pee or because I'm getting my ass kicked from the inside, I guess it's a pretty good compromise.
My skin is becoming quite translucent, which is really strange. I'm fair skinned, so I've always been able to see the veins on the insides of my arms. But today I got out of the shower and I was a veritable road map of green veins! They are all over my chest, the sides of my belly, hips, and inner thighs. Of course I had to run to my computer to google pictures "varicose veins" and message my friend Jessica (who is also quite fair skinned and pregnant) to see if she was experiencing the same thing. She is, and it isn't varicose veins. But it still looks wierd.
Today my back hurt like CRAZY. I could barely even walk it hurt so badly on the left side. As soon as I sat down I felt better, so I don't think it was a pre-term labor symptom. I think I just tried to do too much (like go run errands all morning) and haven't been drinking enough water. If it happens again in the next week though, I'm calling the Dr.
And one more down, my usually iron stomach has become a total wuss. I'm not experiencing morning sickness, but anything that looks or smells gross and high heights send me running for the toilet. I literally almost threw up yesterday watching an episode of CSI:NY when Mac, Hawks, and Danny were on the top of the Empire State building. I had to close my eyes until the scene was over. Talk about vertigo.
I am finally learning how to tell what position "she" is in. At my ultrasound Monday "she" was head down. But I was thinking "she" was feet down because of all the taps I feel near my hips. Now I can feel the difference between punches and kicks. Punches are sharper and smaller, while kicks are more like resounding thumps. And sometimes I will feel a big hard bulge on one side of my belly...I though it was a head, turns out, it's a butt. It's pretty exciting.
The Florida Institute of Ultrasound needs patients for their students to practice on. So I'm going to go and be their pregnant guinea pig on January 22. Hopefully the kiddo will be much stronger by then so I can really get a good idea of what position "she" might be in beforehand. Then I can check test my theory.
And now for the belly from my point of view:

10 weeks!

Wow. Only 30 weeks left (if that). Only 10 more weeks until we find out the gender. Only 3 more weeks of the first trimester. Only 2 more weeks until I get to see my little peanut again. Only 1 more week until I am officially the most pregnant I have ever been (a milestone I have been quite anxious to get behind me).

I'm going to start listing ups and downs for the week (a la pregTASTIC). So here they are:

Downs:
-I have yet another yeast infection. The 2nd in 3 weeks. Which leads me to...
-I have to start taking the Prometrium by mouth again if I want to avoid more YI's (which I do). But taking it orally REALLY upsets my stomach, in the same way that antibiotics do. I really should ask if I can get it in injections. I think I'd much prefer a nightly needle stick to YI's and a perpetually upset stomach.
-I ate way to much sugary stuff today and now I feel like crap.

Ups:
-I am feeling better, for the most part. The Prevacid is really helping and I think the morning sickess is begining to subside (knock on wood). This is really expanding the limits on what I can eat.
-I ate loads of Pizza yesterday and it didn't make me feel bad!
-I should only have 2 or 3 more weeks of this Prometruim crap (or 'hell in a gel-cap' as I like to call it)
-Sleeping is less of a problem than it has been in the last few weeks (probably because baby is hitting a growth spurt).

I'll get around to taking a picture in a day or so. I'm to lazy right now.

Keep growing baby!