Finally

Josh and I went out to dinner on Saturday night and when our server brought us our bill she said Thanks and good luck with your baby and everything. That was my very first comment from a random person about me being pregnant. It only took 25 weeks but I guess I am finally starting to look pregnant and not just fat. Hooray!

Only one more final left, thank goodness. However, I haven't even touched the material yet. Luckily it is only a one credit class, and honestly GPAs do not matter in dental school. So as long as I get a D in the course I'm good.

Christmas shopping

I am finished with my Christmas shopping! I did a lot of online purchasing this year so I am just waiting for a few gifts in the mail but otherwise I am done. And all of the gifts that Josh and I have already purchased (and recieved) are wrapped and ready to go. I can't say that they are under the tree because we don't have our tree yet, but hopefully that will change this weekend. Hopefully we didn't forget anyone....

Our baby boy!

It looks like he might be a soccer player!

Ultrasound

Sometime during the second trimester the doctors like to do a quad streen test, or the alpha fetal protein test which is an optional test that tells you if this protein is in your blood. If this protein is in your blood it means that your baby might have a neuro tube defect or possibly be a down syndrome baby. However, the rate of a false positive is very high. Well Josh and I decided to have it done, if its positive then we would schedule a more sensitive, more highly technical ultra sound, a level two. I wanted a level two ultra sound anyways because they are cooler. Well yesterday we got our test results back and they were negative. Yay! It made me feel a lot better, I wasn't overly concerned that they would be positive and if they were positive they could have been a false positive, so basically all it means to me is that I don't get a level two ultrasound. I have to go for the boring one. Bummer.

But our ultrasound is scheduled and if the baby lets us we are going to find out what flavor it is. So hopefully that will be our big Thanksgiving news!

What a week

Last Friday was the start of a whole long week of tests. So far three down and one to go. Luckily its't not until Friday so I have a couple of days to prepare for it. Which basically means I will just sit and think about studying until Thursday night.

Today will be my first time assisting in the clinics. Basically all we do is hold a suction, maybe rinse out some impression trays but I guess its pretty boring. It can't be any worse than sitting through lecture.

There really isn't a whole lot new with Josh and me which is why I never post. We are just busy all the time but never doing anything interesting. Josh is still working nights at UPS, and tutoring three days a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays he has class pretty much all day and if he's not working or in class he's sleeping.

No new baby news. We heard the heart beat again at our last appointment. We won't have the ultra sound until just before (or maybe just after) Thanksgiving. So the appointments are pretty short and boring. I'm not showing yet. Still just fat from being bloated and having distended intestines. I'm hoping by Thanksgiving I have something to show for all this tiredness, crankiness, and sickness. Hopefully I'll at least have a picture.

We had a cancelled class this morning so that was nice to sleep in. And its lunch and learn Wednesday where they feed us pizza and we listen to a lecture. Today is on financial planning, just what I need- to hear how poor we really are. But it comes with pizza, so whatever.

I have to go catch the bus now, in the rain, or snow or whatever it is currently doing outside. Excellent.

The first of the baby shopping

This past weekend the SE Como neighborhood had its community garage sales. They put out a map with all of the different garage sales that are happening in the area. My friend Liz and I went to about 15 different garage sales, she was looking for furniture and I was more interested in baby items. We were both successful!

I found a highchair, there were actually two identical ones being sold by two different people, but I only bought one. If we find out we're having twins I'll kick myself... Anyway, its a really nice highchair, in great shape and it was a good deal. Then I bought a baby bath tub. I really wanted the yellow one that my parents used for all of us, but this one seems a little more practical, it has a drain in it and I think somehow it fits nicely into the sink. Maybe I'll still ask for my parents yellow one and then I can decide which one I like better. I only paid $0.50 for it so it wouldn't be a huge loss. My best bargain that I got this weekend was a crib mattress. We don't have a crib yet, but most cribs, ok probably all the cribs do not come with mattresses, so we would have to buy one seperate anyways. I just barely started looking at the price of mattress, and the lowest I found was $60. Well, the mattress I bought is in almost new condition (how much wear can a baby do to a mattress anyways) and I got it for the low low price of $2.00!! What a bargain.

Now we just need to figure out where we are going to store all of these things for the next 6 months.

New School Year

So far two days down, only 31/2 months to go.

Its been a long couple of days so far. We start at 8, which means I leave at 7, am up at 6 and I don't get done with lab until 4. I haven't had any homework yet so I've been able to come home and crash, which is good, because this baby is making me TIRED!

So basically the whole dental school knows. I'm not sure who is more excited, me or my friends. They are all just thrilled and can't wait for me to start showing. They want to start calling me Mamma, hot momma, pretty momma etc. I told them they could start when I no longer able to sit in the chairs and put the little desk thing across my lap. They are so funny.

I was going to post last week when we went to the doctors, but I never did so I will include that info now. Last week we went to the doctors for my first ob appt. We heard the baby's heart beat. It was kind of cool. I don't think Josh really believed that we are having a baby until he heard it. They took a lot of blood to run a lot of tests none of which I have heard any results from so I guess it means I'm not dying. Always a good thing.

I guess thats about it. No pictures yet. I'm pretty much just bloated all the time, which gives me a little stomach but its mostly just my distended bowels. Ohhh, the joys of being pregnant
Why didn't anyone every tell me about these things???

In Response to Eric's Comment

On my previous blog Eric Peterson asked me "How is summer break going?" So I decided to take this blogging opportunity to answer that question.

First of all I've been tired, moody, and sick. Morning sickness at its best. I haven't actually thrown anything up but I suppose thats because I haven't eaten anything. In fact I've lost weight, which was one of my summer goals, although I have removed it from the goal list since finding out that I need to eat for two.

Just last week I went to Ohio to visit my friend Katie, it was a very nice relaxing vacation, once I got off the airplane. Add morning sickness to motion sickness and it is not a pretty picture, but I'm back in Minnesota in one piece so I can't complain too much. I got a lot of scrapbooking done and even started a new album that will be a record of the events of the next 8 months. So far its pretty cute, I learned some new scrapbook techniques in Ohio and have put them to good use in the new album.

Josh and I have just been enjoying our time together. Once school starts we probably won't see much of each other and then once the baby comes who knows what our lives will be like. We went to Canterbury last Sunday, I lost but Josh won, which more than made up for my losses. We started a crib fund. So far we're about a quarter of the way there. At this rate we only need ot go to Canterbury 3 more times!! Maybe even less if I can stop losing all the money.

After we told Josh's parents yesterday (who were very very excited) we called Grandparents and some aunts and uncles yesterday to tell them the news. I think that my Gramma L and Patric were the most excited. Patric's been rubbing my belly since the day we got married spreading rumors... the new rumor is is that its twins. It was a lot of fun to tell Gramma that she is going to be a great gramma.

Other than that its been pretty quiet around here. Except of course for the jackhammering right outside our apartment that woke me up at 7am this morning.

Now that there are some changes in our lives hopefully I'll have more to post about. I'll try to post some pictures sometime too, once I get fat. Although I doubt they will be as good as Matt's drawings of the squirrels and the tangled fishing line.

Finally Summer Vacation

Today I finished my last final of the summer semester. My first semester as a second year is now done. I get the rest of August off, but I'm going to be working at the print shop so I don't know how much of a vacation it will be. I don't really want to work but I really want some new dressers so that was the deal. Whatever money I make I can spend on furniture- yah!! So if it turns out to be really sucky then I will just quit.

I haven't even started and it already seems like it might be bad. One of the coordinators was mad at Emily because I wasn't there, well I told the other coordinator that I wasn't starting until Wednesday. Its not my fault they can't get their act together. And I'm sorry, but why should Emily have to deal with her anger, she's not my keeper! Idiots...

We'll see how long I last.

Not much to update about

So I know I haven't blogged in awhile but nothing really has been going on that is blog worthy.

The only big thing going on with my life really isn't my news but I guess I'll blog a bit about it.

Friday is Josh's last day in the lab. He is so excited to be done. For the last two weeks he has been working at UPS and actually really enjoys it. So thats good. This fall Josh is going "back" to school to get his teaching license for highschool chemistry. He seems really excited and I think it will be a good career choice for him. Hopefully he will be teaching after two years of school. So he will still be done before me!

Dental classes are going pretty good. I am staying busy with all of the lab work they are loading on us. I think they are trying to get as much in as possible because come this fall they are renovating the preclinic areas and we get booted to the clinic area, which will be hard to do preclinic work in. So we'll see what fall brings us. The way its looking I'm sure there will be plenty of blog venting about it.

Memorial weekend

This past weekend was so much fun. Josh and I did a little bit of everything. On Friday night we went to watch Josh's stepdad race stockcars. I have never been to a car race before so I learned a lot and actually had a really good time. It was really loud and really dirty but still fun.

Saturday we slept in (because we got home so late from the races) and then Emily and Eric came over. Josh and Eric went golfing while Emily and I ran some errands. We took in her wedding dress to be cleaned and then went to the fabric store to pick out colors to make her a quilt. (Shhh its a shower gift so don't ruin the surprise). Then we went to Dairy Queen and ordered blizzards which we ate as fast as we could so they wouldn't melt on us.

Danielle was visiting from Chicago so she came over and we all played boccee ball, which is the best summer game ever. I'm pretty sure I dominated.

Sunday Josh and I went to Canterbury where we were just miserable because it was so hot and way too windy to hang on to all of the papers and stuff. We didn't stay the whole time, which is unfortunate because the last two races were like these crazy short sprints that would have been really fun to watch but the heat wasn't worth it. Plus we weren't winning which makes it not so fun.

Monday was the best day when we went to William Obrien State Park and swam all day with the fam. I have never spent so much time in a lake at one time. Caine and JJ were pretty fun. JJ is one brave kid and kept going in the water up to his neck.

Overall it was a pretty great weekend. One of the best parts about the long weekend is the short week of classes that follow, tomorrow is already Wednesday!

Summer

Summer semester started yesterday. We only have two main classes, prosthodontics and operative dentistry. We have already had a semester of pros so that is not very exciting but I think operative will be. We are going to learn how to do cavity preparations, amalgam fillings, composites, stuff like that. We've already gotten to play with all of the materials in biomaterials but now we will actually get to use it properly. Which is good, because in one year from right now we will be doing all these things on real people!

We also have to take 16 hours of selective classes this summer. One of the classes I took is oral surgery an introduction to sedation. We had a meeting today and we found out what we might get to do. The doctor in charge said we may be able to start an IV, push meds, and watch the procedure which might include implants, bone graphs, or wisdom teeth extractions. That is way cool!

I think its going to be a pretty awesome summer.

The lost Turkey.

So about a week ago Josh and I were driving on highway 280 and we passed a turkey. He looked kind of lost standing up there on the bridge. We chuckled and went on our way. Then yesterday we were coming home on energy park drive and this car stops right in front of us. Josh honked is horn and we passed them on the right. As we passed the car that had stopped we saw why they had stopped. Our friend the turkey was now lost on energy park drive. What a sight. Maybe he is looking for his old farm friend the pig who now has residence at the Saints stadium.

Josh and I are about to go out to a celebration dinner. Josh says that if we see the turkey again we won't need to go out for dinner...

I am done!

That's right! My first year of dental school is DONE! I am now a second year- whoo hoo!

Let the vacation start. This weekend I have my dance recital (seems kind of sillly for me to be in a dance recital again but whatever...) And then on Monday morning bright and early we leave for DC. I haven't even been able to think about the trip until right now. So much to pack and do before then.

Can you believe it? More tests!

Well finals week is approaching very quickly. Technically finals aren't until next week, however we have three finals this week (along with our normal class load). I cannot wait until this semester is over. Then Josh and I are taking a much needed vacation to DC! I am hoping that the weather will be gorgeous. It has to be better than the last time we were there, freezing cold and snowing. Hopefully we will get some touring time alone, some visiting time with our brothers (and sister in laws) and some time with our one and only nephew (for the time being- in September we will have another niece or nephew.) And shortly after that baby is born they will be moving to Minnesota so we can actually see them more than once a year.

But DC is still a couple of weeks away and September is even farther but my biochem test is tomorrow...

Almost done

So tomorrow is the last test of this long span of tests that I've had. It is going to be the butt kicker of all the tests too. Not only is it a hard test in general but it came at the very end of all my tests so there was no energy or motivation to study. oops. Its physiology, which I've already had in undergrad so I'm hoping I will remember something, enough to at least let me pass the test.

Then tomorrow at 3:30 I am basically on vacation. Twins game tomorrow night (if they don't sell out before we get there) Then Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. This is my most favorite time of year! :)

The never ending tests

So Emily suggested that I write a new blog. But since all I ever do is take tests that is all I can blog about.

Last week we have four tests and one lab test/competency. Overall they all sucked. And we're not done.

We have two more this week, one tomorrow and one on Wednesday. Since I didn't study at all this weekend I have spent my entire afternoon and evening studying neuro for tomorrow which means that my entire afternoon and evening tomorrow will be spent with physiology. But after the test on Wednesday we are done for a long time. And I am basically taking the rest of the week off.

Wednesday I am going to the Twins game, if they don't sell out before we get there to get our tickets, which we can't get until an hour and half before the game starts since we want to get the discount student tickets.

Then the rest of my week is filled with the traditional holy week stuff with a possible Twins v. Yankees game on Saturday, if Kendrick makes it down here in time.

Satisfied Emily?

Sewing, bikes, and groceries

So two weeks ago I ordered my sewing machine and it was suppose to take 5-10 days to get it. Well I was anxiously waiting so when my accessories came last saturday (which I ordered they day after my machine) I was very disapointed and more anxious. I was also a little nervous that someone stole my machine since we've had problems with our delivery services before. So monday when I came home from school it still wasn't there so I called the company. She found my order number, with much difficulty and told me that my machine had already been delivered. I told her that was a problem since obviously I don't have it. So I called FedEx and they told me that their records showed that it was delivered to the office on Friday at 2:15. This made me furious. first off I was home Friday at 2:15 so the guy didn't even attempt to deliver it to my door, secondly I could have had my machine all weekend long and I didn't. So I told the guy on the phone that I don't know if he's the one I complain to but I need to vent so shut up and listen. I was so mad.

Anyway, I've had my machine since Monday and have been sewing everyday since then. Its been kind of frustrating so far, sometimes my machine has a mind of its own, but I think my first quilt is going ok so far.

Then today josh and I bought bikes. What a purchase. We did get the bikes on sale, they were only $5 more a piece for what we would spend on our bus passes for the summer. And since we aren't buying bus passes, it was quite the deal. However, we had to buy all the accessories for the bikes, helmets, locks, a pump, and a rack for our car, so by the time we checked out it was more than just $10 more than our bus passes. But if we ride our bikes in the fall too instead of bus passes then we will break even.

So Josh and I took a bike ride to the lab, which is where I am now, i think its about 2 miles to here, and I'm seriously wondering if I am going to make it home. My legs are just not the same now as they were when I was 10 and could ride my bike ALL day long.

So speaking of deals (with the bikes) I have to write about my awesome grocery shopping last night. Josh and I got a HEAPING cart full of groceries, more groceries than I've ever gotten, and good stuff too, lots of fruits, chicken, pizzas, ice cream,eggs, etc. And we saved $29.29 with all the coupons we had. I have never used so many coupons at once, it was awesome. And we still only spent just over $100. I swear we go grocery shopping all the time and we can never get out with under $100 of groceries, well last night we were so close. Josh and I always make bids on how much we spend and usually we're pretty close. Last night, if we played price is right style, we would have both been BIG losers. I think Josh was $40 over. I was like $20 over. We just got awesome deals. I love it.

So now we have a freezer and fridge full of food, emily and eric are coming over. We rented two awesome movies to watch with them, just for emily. Pot roast, jello, movies and snacks. I love my weekends.

The past week

So much has happened since I last posted so I will try to remember everything.

First off my trip to Chicago was a lot of fun. When I arrived at the airport I met up with Danielle and I had my first of many experiences riding the el. It took us around 45 minutes to get from the airport to her house since Midway is on the opposite side of Chicago from where she lives.

Thursday I spent the day by myself since Danielle had to work. First things first I walked the half mile to Wrigley Field. Lucky for me there was another touring couple there who took my picture. From Wrigley Field I walked to Lake Michigan, somewhere between a half mile and a mile. It was a pretty cold and very windy day so I didn't stay long. The waves on the lake were like the ocean though. Then I walked up Belmont, got my nails done ate some lunch and headed back home. That night we drove the 40 miles to Vickie and Robs and visited with them for awhile. We weren't sure if we should even make the drive since they live so far away from Danielle, plus it was going to be rush hour, and then it started snowing- hard. Which means that on top of already bad traffic now you get the dumb snow drivers too. However we made it and in record time because when we rang their doorbell they couldn't believe we were already there. I was pretty pleased. Max and Jack were a lot of fun and it was nice to visit with Vickie and Rob. Josh and I are hoping to make another trip out there in May when I dance at six flags.

Friday Danielle and I went to Navy Pier, walked the Magnificent Mile and did some shopping there. We ate supper at Giordanos, this very famous pizza place, although we didn't have their very famous pizza... We also went out to celebrate St. Patricks day (which is HUGE deal in Chicago.) Basically they celebrate for two weeks straight with festivities including two parades and dying the river green. We ended up at some med school party (her roomates are med students) at the Hyatt downtown, it was a very expensive club. They had tons of lights a dance floor surrounded by water and huge tv monitors all over showing aquarium scenes. I'm not sure why we didn't go to one of the many Irish bars...Danielle lives by Clark St. and basically every other establishment is an Irish bar. One was even open for 17 hours on St. Patricks day, with no cover.

Saturday Danielle and I visited this cute little Austrian tea place and had potbellys for lunch Fabulous subs! Then we went to Millenium park and did some more shopping on Michigan Ave before I had to leave for MN.

While I was there Danielle helped me to plan out a quilting project that I am going to start as soon as I get my sewing machine, which I ordered online yesterday. I am so excited!! I don't know that much about sewing but Danielle helped me make one quilt already and I feel confident in myself that I can do it again. So as soon as I start I will let you all know how it goes. I feel that if I can master making a DVD from a camcorder without any instruction then I can definetly make a quilt all by myself.

Spring Break

My stressful busy week is almost over. Just one more test tomorrow, the last of four tests this week. One which was worth like 40% of my grade. At 2:20 tomorrow afternoon I am a free woman! Well sort of, I actually have to stick around the U until 3:15 because I have to have my mantoux test read and I have to do some lab work before I go to the doctors and secondally I'm only free for a week, but hey I'll take it.

I have so much planned for my vacation. Hopefully I will be able to start it off right with a little bit of shopping tomorrow afternoon. Then Josh and I are going to go to the fishfry at Epiphany and Stations of the Cross, hang out with the family. Saturday I'm going dress shopping with Emily! Maybe sometime this weekend Josh and I are going to go buy some bikes, it is finally get nice enough out to start thinking about biking to school.

Then I'm just going to hang around the house until Wednesday when I leave for Chicago. I'm only going to be gone for 3 days but what a wonderful three days it will be. Danielle and I don't have much planned yet but I am planning on staying busy. Thursday she has to work so I am going to explore the city by myself.

Only one test left before all the fun starts!

What a headache

After three full days of trying to capture video from our camcorder to our computer so I can burn it to a DVD I finally succeeded! First I made a trip to best buy to buy speakers for my computer because without sound there would be no movie. Then I figured out that the USB connection was just not going to work so I had to make another trip to the store, this time to comp USA to buy a firewire cable thing. Then I realized that the windows movie maker did not burn to a dvd, only to a cd and I'm pretty sure that that program is not capable of making an MPEG-2 file which is needed in order to make a DVD. So on Sunday Josh and I made another trip to best buy to buy a program to edit video and make dvds. After loading the program and finding out that I couldn't register because their website was down (what kind of bad luck is that) and knowing that I needed to register in order to get the rest of the program to encode/decode mpeg I quit. Until today when I finally succeeded. It only took me about four stinkin hours, just today to finally get it to burn. And then I thought it wasn't working on our DVD player but it finally decided to load.

So now Matt and Laura can finally get their wedding video that we have had this entire time. Hopefully I can get it to them by their one year anniversary.

Its kind of a crappy process because you have to play the entire video when you are transferring it to the computer and then putting it on DVD takes an excurciating long time. And depending on how much time you put into editing...

Anyway, I feel a lot smarter now that I have finally figured all of this out. I now understand why videographers charge so much.

My expensive Friday

Today I spent $825 on a pair of glasses. Loupes to be exact. High resolution, 2.5 magnification dental loupes. And I haven't told Josh yet...

An Update on the Life of Eric's Favorite Dentist to Be

Last week was an exciting week in dental school. I did my first amalgam filling-in a tooth! I also did my first sealance in a tooth. Now granted the teeth aren't in a person's mouth, they are mounted in casting material in a little cup but its better than doing a filling in a plastic thing that doesn't even resemble a tooth. I also did my first prep for a compostie filling- in a tooth, which I will fill this Friday in my totally awesome biomaterials class. This week in prosthodontics we are taking impressions and making a stone cast of a set of teeth, that has teeth missing so we can make our first removable partial denture. So exciting.

Josh and I finally got the office room tidied up this weekend. We've only been living here a month... but it looks good. I can't wait until we get our couch and chair, hopefully it will be soon, but the way things go we won't get it until its been 90 days. Oh well at least (according to Eric) we don't have to pay for it until we actually recieve it. We are enjoying our dining room table though.

This weekend Josh and I will celebrate our one year anniversary. Who would have thought we could actually do it??? We want to do something fun this weekend, so if you have any suggestions... we are also looking for a nice restaurant to go to. We thought about getting a last minute deal to Vegas, but the deals just aren't as good as I thought they would be. I'm going to keep looking, so if we don't answer our phones we are probably on the plane...

Supposedly we have plans for Friday or Saturday night with Emily and Eric to look at pictures. I even bribed emily with beef stoganauf but it looks like we might get stood up anyways. Well maybe we will be the ones to stand them up if we go on a weekend trip.

This week looks to be a pretty quiet week. but next week the tests start. I think we have 6 different tests next week. Excellent. I think I'll stay in Vegas.

Man! I feel like a Dentist

On Friday I had my first biomaterials class. The first hour is a lecture where we learn about the different materials used to make crowns, take impressions, make casts, fill cavities etc. Friday was learn all about amalgam day. After the hour lecture we have a three hour lab where we get to play with all the materials. Friday was play with amalgam day! So here we were, 97 students playing with mercury. It was so cool. An amalgam filling isn't all mercury, its a mix of a silver copper compound mixed with mercury. So after playing with this amalgam, learning the consistancy we got to fill our first cavity. It was in a plastic cylinder, nothing that resembled a tooth but it was still very exciting. I think semester is going to be a blast! Well at least Fridays will be.

Our Anniversary

Its not even our anniversary and we have already bought all of our anniversary gifts for each other. We decided to buy new furniture, since we moved and we needed something to fill up all the space we now have. We bought a new dining room table with four chairs and a new couch chair and ottoman, in a colored called fawn. But basically it is white. I figure that this might be the only time in my life that I can have white furniture and have it stay white. I can only say this because I know Josh won't be using it since he is always upstairs.

As of tonight we bought our second anniversary gift. Airplane tickets to DC!! Now this wouldn't have to be an anniversary gift but on all those little lists that say what to get/give for anniversaries, paper or a clock is the gift to give for the first year. So I think etickets count as paper! (So matt and laura be ready... you might have some house guests. I think we will be able to confirm our tour of the whitehouse for the 13th (of May) so write this on your calendar so you don't miss out.)

So here I am searching for plane tickets and writing blogs instead of studying. This semester is of to a great start. I have ten different classes to keep track of this time. I think just staying organized will be a challenge and then all of the studying on top of that... It will be a crazy semester. Which is why I was so adamant about taking a break to DC- I'll need sometime to just have fun before jumping into a very busy summer schedule.

Older and wiser??

Another year older...

Well break is almost over. I suppose its about time since I'm getting a little bored. I'm not sure if I really want to go back to all that school work though. The longest semester is over so I think I can handle this one. Plus we get a nice spring break right in the middle of it.

We're all moved in to our apartment. I love it here so much. Now we need some new furniture to fill up the place. Maybe for a birthday gift...