And this beautiful little girl that you see right here? She makes this mama the happiest and most proud mama ever on a daily basis. I love her like you can’t believe (unless you are a mama, then I’m sure you know what I’m talking about) and I don’t even know how I got along before she was in my life.

And this innocent looking pooch? She follows us around the house all day and likes to sneak Z kisses in when I turn my head. She sleeps in front of the crib when Z naps and loves to be near us at all times.

This guy? I think he might be slightly depressed. He is a little more lazy than he used to be pre-baby but I think he is sad that he is no longer the baby of the family. He sleeps all day and doesn’t come out of the room until 4 or 5 PM. He likes to sniff Z but really could care less about her. He smells bad but somehow we love him.

That’s my family. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Now, we are done paying bills and Z is in bed, so I am going to go crack open a cold one (Bud Light Lime = YECK! Don’t EVER buy this crap! I much prefer a Corona with a REAL lime in it.) and watch Margaret Cho’s new stand up special. She makes me laugh and that is exactly what I need!

Now, have you ever wondered how the man’s mind works? Because I do. A lot. And this isn’t just some stereotype. This is real stuff. The man’s brain works a LOT differently than a woman’s does. It’s science, people. Look it up.

Last night I made PW’s bagel sandwiches. They were absolutely delicious and refreshing on a 100° day. Though I wont lie, I didn’t even go near the sprouts in the grocery store. Yuck yuck and more yuck. If I wanted to eat grass or dirt, I’d grab some from my backyard, for FREE.

So I made up the cream cheese and green onion mixture in a cute vintage Pyrex dish. It was lovely and here is a snapshot of it.

So this morning I get up and I feel like I am starving to death. It must be the Evil Monthly Visitor that decided to show up yesterday. She tends to wreak havoc on my appetite. So I grab a multi-grain bagel and I’m looking for the cream cheese that I made. I’m scouring the refrigerator and for the life of me I cannot find it. I am to the point where I’m about to call Gene to ask where he put it but I decide to look jut one more time before I call. I pick up a plastic container to move it out of the way and I notice that it is heavier than usual and also it feels like something heavy is moving around inside of it. I open the lid and…

HEY! There’s my cream cheese! How the.. What the… Uh.. Commence heavy uncontrollable laughter. So last night when my husband was putting away the leftovers from our dinner, he asked me if there was a lid for the container the cream cheese was in. I said no and to just put it in a plastic container with a lid. And he did EXACTLY that.

If a woman was to do this, she would have scooped the remaining cream cheese from the Pyrex dish and put it into a SMALL plastic container with a lid. I guess all I can really do is let the pictures speak for themselves.

Anyway, so I am sitting here, completely amazed that I am pregnant. I am only 16 weeks but am trying to pay more attention to how my tummy feels so that I can notice any movement in there. I am a big girl and probably wont really feel anything until 20-25 weeks or so, but I am trying to become more in tune with my body and what it needs or is trying to tell me.

I am so excited to have this baby and I am so excited that I have such an awesome man to share this experience with. He has made it extra exciting just by showing his own excitement. I’m a lucky woman!

Oh one more thing.. We got an appointment with a high risk doctor on December 10th for my big ultrasound. I will be 18 weeks that week and really looking forward to finding out the sex. Everyone I know is guessing a girl and all of the “gender predictor charts” online are predicting a girl. I don’t really care either way, as long as I have a healthy baby. Anyone got an predictions or guesses?

Oh and if you wanna swap Christmas cards, please email me (girlhaq at gmail dot com) so that we can swap addresses.

Happy Thanksgiving if I don’t talk to anyone before then!! Have a great one and remember to stuff yourself silly :) It’s the only day of the year that it is perfectly okay to be in a food coma!

• I really want this lingering head cold to go away for good. It’s draining into my sinuses and I cannot STAND sinus pain.
• Pregnancy related nausea isn’t near as bad as it was. It’s getting a little better as each day goes. The fatigue? Still there. VERY much still there.
• I’m really excited for the first REALLY cold night when we can use our fireplace.
• Oh and the Christmas tree! I have a new Christmas tree skirt and a new pre-lit tree!
• Oh, Oh! I have one of those air blown light up lawn ornament things of Winnie the Pooh! I can’t wait to use that this Christmas season as well. Oh yay for new Christmas decor that was bought on clearance from last season ;)
• Looking forward to seeing all of the adorable kiddos dressed up on Halloween this year. I just LOVE handing out candy and seeing all of their cute costumes.
• Going to start my Christmas shopping this month so that I can get it done well ahead of Christmas.
• Gene & I really need to buy a car this month! My car is a 2 door and his car is… well.. for lack of better terms… a piece of shit! We’re going to look at the Honda CR-V. I want one soooo bad!
• Anxious for my maternity pants to arrive. I ordered 2 pairs of jeans. I’m worried I got the wrong size and want to be able to order new ones in time for any more cold weather. I have none that really fit me right now.
• I got some decaff lipton black tea yesterday at the store and I’ve already had 2 glasses. It’s so warm and yummy. Especially on these gloomy days we’ve been having.
• Really anxious to find out the sex of the baby. It’s all I can seem to think about lately. We probably have until early to mid December before we can find out, but I am still anxious :)
• Excited for the upcoming holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. All great, warm family holidays.
• I may have said this before but I’m not sure if I did: I LOVE MY HUSBAND! He really is the greatest person in the universe. He does sooo much for me and takes the best care of me. He is my best friend :)

See, the place I currently have my ultrasounds at is called the Renaissance. Now, it is a pretty new facility. I wanna say it has been there for the last 10 years or so. But after having two ultrasounds done there, I am in great belief that they are actually using equipment from THE RENAISSANCE TIMES.

Gene is still taking awesome care of me. I’m still sleeping a ridiculous amount. I’m still trying not to let my head explode from the ridiculousness of the political debates. I’m trying to remain calm and not worry too much about this pregnancy. I’m still trying to eat healthy. I’m still having some problems with Rhinitis but not nearly as bad. Same o, same o.

Yesterday was Gene and I’s 123rd Monthiversary :) Being the great husband that he is, he got me an ADORABLE card. I haven’t yet experienced the crazy emotions that I see so many talk about in relation to pregnancy. I have had some moments of SUPER annoyance with things but have yet to get really emotional over sensitive subjects. But I’m not ruling it out all together.. I know there is PLENTY of time for me to lose my shit in the upcoming months!

I know I get ridiculous when I talk about how much I love my husband.. but I just want to say one more time that I really freakin’ love that guy. He cleaned the kitchen, does dishes, does laundry, buys me a card, kisses me, hugs me, supports me. He is really just the greatest person ever. I am so thankful for having such a WONDERFUL person in my life. I just can’t get over that. I feel ridiculously lucky. And the thing is, I am still in AWE over the fact that I am carrying his child. Just knowing that we have created another life together completely astounds me. I don’t really have words for it. But the joy and happiness it brings me is beyond words. I look forward to being a Mommy to a little boy or a little girl and I look forward to seeing Gene be a wonderful Daddy as well. I think as a team, we are going to be great parents and I can’t imagine going through this amazing experience with anyone else but him :)

Ok I lied.. maybe I am experiencing the emotional thing now…

It was only a month ago that we were standing on the 15th story of the Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida watching the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom. It was our 10th anniversary and was probably the most romantic and awesome date/night I’ve had in a long time! I’ll never forget it because it was such a great night.

I distinctly remember feeling chills throughout my body while I stood next to my husband and felt his arms around me. I was thinking of the day we very first met when I was merely 16 years old and he was 15. How I had so much fun during that one single day that it only made sense that I would be standing there on my honeymoon in Disneyworld with this man that I just married.

The first place we ever went was to the mall. Mom dropped us both off and we walked around the mall. We crossed a field and went to a Target nearby. On our way back we raced up a grassy hill where I then fell face first into the grass and smashed my styrefoam cup full of soda underneath me. It was horrifying!

The first movie we ever saw was Rush Hour and besides how hilarious it is, maybe that is why I hold such sentimental value to that movie. We ate eggrolls before the movie with Gene’s cousin and her boyfriend and then walked to the theatre and watched the movie.

From these two events on, we were inseparable. Every single weekend we hung out, sometimes on Saturday AND Sunday if we were lucky enough to get a ride. He started coming to my family events (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.) immediately and everyone in my family happily welcomed him in.

We’ve grown together through the last 10 years. We’ve celebrated our Monthiversary every month for the last 121 months. Even if we don’t go anywhere fancy or have a huge celebration, we make it a point to acknowledge one more month of togetherness. We’ve been through our teenage years in high school, to Gene moving out on his own to college while his family moved out of state, to getting our first apartment, to getting our first puppy, to buying our first home and now being married and hopefully starting a family in the near future.

And most of all I am so thankful for having Gene in my life. I respect and admire him more than anyone I’ve ever met in my entire life. He is an exceptional human being and a fantastic husband. We both have our crazy quirks and I think between the two of us we really tend to balance out. He has been my absolute number one best friend since I first met him when we were youngsters.

• His captivating eyes
• That genuine smile of his
• His two different laughs. The That’s Pretty Funny one and the Dying Laughing one.
• His arms. Oh man, those arms.
• His generosity
• He always has good intentions
• His sense of humor is right up my alley
• His anal retentiveness & perfectionism
• How we balance each other out with our craziness
• Admirable in every sense of the word

I love my husband. My love and admiration for him stretches far beyond words. He is a wonderful person. He loves and he cares with all of his heart and soul. He puts a hundred percent into every thing he does. If you ask him for something, whether it be tangible or not, you will not end up with something less than perfect. He does whatever possible, within’ reason, to help in an honest way. He is just a beautiful person, inside and out.

I’m honored and sometimes feel lucky that he loves me and picked me to be his wife. There is a huge sea of fish out there and I was the lucky one. I never take him or our relationship for granted, not even for one second. Even when I am upset and we aren’t agreeing or on the same page, I never once take it for granted.

Geniebear, if you’re reading this, I love you so much! I can’t wait to be your wife and the future mommy of our children. I look forward to the journey that we both have ahead of us. Instead of feeling sad about getting older, I feel comforted and have a sense of everything going to be ok. You do this to me. You bring me this calming sense of solitude. Always know that you are loved and cared for because I will always be here for you. Love Forever, Candy.

So I’m sitting at the table at BJ’s Brewhouse restaurant with Gene. My phone makes its little “You’ve got a text message” sound so I go to check it. It’s a Direct Message on Twitter from Gene (the sexy azn boy sitting right next to me at the table, mind you) and it says “I’m gonna marry you soon!”. My heart instantly melted and was sitting under my chair in a nasty hearty-ish puddle. It doesn’t take much with me! So.. the only nice thing to do was send him a Direct Message back that read “Not if I marry you first.”

So that’s my little quip from yesterday. I got my bridal portraits done yesterday afternoon. I was in and out of dress for about 4 hours and I was totally exhausted last night. I’m gonna call the guy around noon today and try to make it over to his place to pick up the CD with all of the pictures on it. Thankfully I had my mom, Layla and Malinda with me so they were able to ease the tension some. I hate being in NORMAL pictures so you can imagine how bad these were.

Last night we headed over to The Conservatory and saw a band that we love play, The Forecast. They put on a good show and I had a great time! I sweat my ass off and sang until my heart was content. While standing there singing and just having so much fun I was thinking about getting old. I don’t know why but that has been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe because I’m about to take the next step into Gene & I’s relationship and that is a pretty grown up thing. But anyway, I was thinking about how I love to go to shows and dance and sing and tap my foot with the base and drums but on the other hand I cannot wait until Gene and I start our own family with babbbbieessss! I want both! And I know it is manageable and it CAN happen, you just have to be smart about it. That is just what whas on my mind throughout the show. How I felt so old standing next to all of those silly teenagers. It was a lot of fun. There is one thing about going to shows… You’re standing in a [sometimes] pretty tight crowd of people, especially if you’re fighting to hold your spot near the stage. These are people you don’t know, never met or even spoken a word to. But regardless, you have ONE thing in common. You love music, you love this band, you love these shows. The last show we went to was Broadway Calls and there was a pretty small crowd. But the love? The passion? It kicked ass out of the show we went to last night, that had a pretty HUGE crowd. I’m not saying The Forecast put on a bad show, I’m just saying that the crowd wasn’t all that great. There was only about 5 of us that I could tell that were really enjoying ourselves and feeling the connection.

So it doesn’t really matter how big or how small the show is. The people who are coming out to see the band are the ones who make the difference. They are the ones who create the atmosphere.

Tonight we are going to go register at Target and then come home and hang out. I’m really looking forward to this! And then of course tomorrow is Valentine’s Day otherwise known as Hallmark’s Number One Profitable Holiday Ever so we will be having a [hopefully] romantic evening together with lots of quality time.

It is just way too easy to get caught up in the every day routine and forget about stopping to actually enjoy some quality time together. Luckily between the two of us we are usually really good at balancing being Best Friends and Love Birds at the same time.