November

Upfront, I'm going to tell you that this blog is long. And very "rambly". AND...there are not enough pictures documenting all the events. :( So, read on having been forewarned so you can't complain to me how long it is or how there's not enough pictures! You were warned! :)

It was in October that I discovered I was expecting, and by November that I felt ridiculously, hopelessly ILL. I was once again very sick with this pregnancy like I was with Grace, but the sickness for this pregnancy started about 3 weeks earlier, and I can say in hindsight now, the sickness lasted about 6 weeks LONGER as well. Lucky me. :)

So from November through about January I was completely dysfunctional. I could not do ANYTHING. I literally brought Grace to pre-school in my pajamas each day, went home, and passed out. I did not enter a grocery store even one time for over 2 months. Topher did all my grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, cleaning, dishes, and taking care of both myself and Grace. He was amazing. He really is like a super hero. I couldn't do anything but throw up, lie around feeling like I was going to throw up, and sleep. Then in swooshed my amazing husband and saved our house from complete disarray and Grace from insanity caused by boredom and my lack of attention. I am so so grateful for him.

Also, in hindsight I think that I was really blessed with Grace too. She let me sleep, A LOT. And although at the time I probably thought she was a little pest and still getting into too many things, it definitely could have been much much worse. She really was a trooper about being set up with a movie for basically the entire day, and living off of Chef Boyardee, Mac'n Cheese, Top Ramen and snacks for two months. Poor girl. :( But she was a sweet heart about it. She would bring me water, and play with my hair and pat my head, and very rarely did she tell me to get up and play with her. She really just told me how sorry she was that I was sick for the majority of the time. I should thank her for that and give her some hugs and kisses.

So, with Topher being my first life saver, and Grace being less of a nuisance, those first few months were much better than they could have been. But, what really saved me was my Mom. She came in right before Thanksgiving and she took care of me like only a Mommy can. I seriously adore that woman more than anyone else I know. She cleaned my house from TOP TO BOTTOM, and I mean that in the literal sense. Not ONE room was left untouched. She cleaned EVERYTHING. It was because of her that Topher was able to maintain a gorgeous house the rest of the time I was sick. Thanks to my mom, Topher didn't have any huge cleaning obstacles to tackle, which for us is REALLY saying something.

Not only did she take care of me and baby and coddle me, but she took care of Grace and actually fed my husband some real food. I'm not gonna lie, Topher lost about as much weight as I did those first few months because the poor boy was just not eating. :( So my mom reminded him what good food tastes like and loved on all of us. She is so wonderful.

If that wasn't enough, she also decorated my house for the holidays for me. She took down all of my Fall decor, and then put up my Christmas tree and all my Christmas decorations. She was so so so wonderful! And I was so grateful to have her.

I also have to mention so I don't forget, how sweet my siblings were as well. They called to check in on me on a daily basis, and both my sisters sent me care packages. They were so thoughtful and really tried to lighten my spirits as much as they could from across the country.

Sorry, that was a LOT of rambling. But, I want to remember how wonderful my little family was while I was sick. :)

So my Mom and Sam were here for about 5 or so days before Thanksgiving, and then started the real trial - a week long cruise with Topher's family over Thanksgiving. I KNOW! It's a cruise! It should be wonderful and relaxing and so much fun!! But, as much as I wanted to have a blast, I was so so sick, that it was nearly impossible to do anything except lay in our gorgeous cabin and whine. :( So so sad. Topher's family didn't know that I was pregnant at the beginning, so the first night we were all together Topher let his parents in on the news so they wouldn't think I was the biggest lame-o in the whole world! They were so excited and so so sweet to me, I just love his parents. Originally I had not wanted to tell his siblings yet, just because I was so nervous about losing another pregnancy and I didn't want to bust everyone's bubbles again. But, about halfway through the cruise we let everyone in on the secret. They were all really excited and much more understanding about my super lame-ness after that. :)

The cruise stopped at Jamaica, Grand Cayman and I think Puerta Maya was what the last place was called? I'm not positive. It was beautiful and Topher and I were royally spoiled by his much too generous parents, but I was definitely sick, sick and more sick for just about every moment on that boat. It is the first vacation of my life where I actually lost weight!

But, sickness aside, it was still beautiful, and there were moments, some long, some short, that I really felt ok and was able to enjoy myself.

Topher's siblings were really sweet to me, playing with Grace, coming in our cabin and watching movies with me and my sick butt and just being really sweet to me. I got to spend more time with his siblings and talk with them more than before and it was fun to be with them. Thanks guys for being so nice to me and taking care of Grace and making sure Topher had fun!

Some of the highlights for me were going to a Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman. Curtis took us to this little Turtle farm where there are tons and tons and TONS of sea turtles, in varying stages of life and size. Not only do you get to see them all, which would be cool in and of itself, but you got to HOLD them! And, to make it EVEN better, there were itty bitty baby sea turtles that fit in the palm of your hand and you could hold them!! Oh, it was so fun and they were so cute! Grace had one in each hand and would kiss them each in turn, then put them down and pick up new ones and coo at each of them. Yeah, I know, not very sanitary, but she was in Heaven and I couldn't blame her.

I also really really enjoyed one of the beaches we went to that I believe was also in Grand Cayman. The water was just crystal turquoise and so beautiful and the sand was this soft white fluff and it was just gorgeous to look at. Sadly, I was also very emotional so my happy moments sometimes smacked right into a crying fit, but, oh well! What can ya do?! Poor Topher had to put up with me and try to determine what my mood was before he ever approached me. :)

I couldn't do the excursion in Jamaica because of my pregnancy, so Curtis and Venice again spoiled me and made me go to the Spa. They refused to rub anything on my entire body except my face though, so instead of a massage I got an hour long facial. It. Was. AMAZING. Who woulda thought having your face rubbed for an hour could be so heavenly?? I had no idea.

We actually had a balcony cabin, (drool!) and so we slept with our balcony door open so we could hear the ocean every night and as much as the rocking made me sick, the fresh air and soothing sound was really nice.

The food was an interesting thing. I never knew what was going to make me sick so I would order almost everything on the menu and then try a bite of this and a bite of that and see what it did to my stomach. One night Anni and I got adventurous and had lobster. She looks a little nervous, I know, but Im not sure if she was nervous because of me or the lobster...hmmm.

I also really enjoyed New Orleans on the end side of our trip. Curtis took us on a walking tour of the area during the day and I really enjoyed seeing the different sights. I'm not gonna lie though, I might have enjoyed the amazing beignets and hot chocolate more than anything else in New Orleans. But only because they were seriously just THAT GOOD! Love them beignets! :) Sadly, I have no pictures of the fun in New Orleans or the yummy beignets.

In case I didn't say it enough at the time Curtis and Venice, I did love going on the cruise with you guys and I did have fun! And I'm sorry I was so sick and lame. :( Thanks for putting up with me, playing with Topher and Grace, spoiling us all rotten and loving on me despite my being a lame-o!!

When we came back from the cruise my mom came back for another 4 or 5 days and continued taking care of me and my little family.

It was a tumultuous month with all the being sick, but It was made so much better by loving family and friends that were kind and sweet to us. Thank you thank you for again showing me how blessed a family can be!