A Weekend in the Pines

Last Friday was my final furlough day. I had a doctor's appointment in the morning and got to hear Mallory's heartbeat. Though I'd rather see her on an ultrasound, it still makes me smile to hear her heartbeat. The doctor is always surprised at how quickly she can find it; usually on the first attempt at putting the Doppler on my tummy. My doctor confirmed that her head is down near my pelvic bone which is why I've been feeling more pressure when I run, but there isn't a reason for concern. I was given my lab work for the glucose test that I need to do before my next appointment and I'm really not looking forward to it. That much sugar at once never leaves you feeling good.

After the appointment, Jody and I got ready and headed to the store to grab our share of groceries that we were taking up to the Hillier's cabin in Pollock Pines. We were invited by Jeff and Kasey to share in a relaxing weekend in the pines along with our other friends Dreyson and Jessica. After traveling in Fresno last week, a weekend in the pines was exactly what I was looking forward to and I was excited to spend some quality time with great friends that we don't get too see often. We brought Leo since Chopper and Bishop were coming as well. On the ride up Leo couldn't stop being awkward and nervous and it was annoying the hell out of me. I love him, but he is such a wimp. Though as soon as we got to the cabin and he met his new friends, he had the time of his life. Normally he sleeps a lot throughout the day, but not this weekend. The entire time we were there the only time he slept was as night. He was like a kid in a candy store when it came to his new friends.

Friday night we enjoyed the fire pit and made s'mores while playing Categories. I was excited for the s'mores because I've been craving them ever since camping season started. I camped a lot as a kid and s'mores were always a staple. Saturday we drove over to Jenkinson Lake and finagled a campground spot right next to the water from the park ranger for the price of a daily pass. Threw the dogs in the lake and laughed as Leo tried everything he could to get away - once again, a total wimp. Us girls got brave and propped our chairs in the shallow part of the lake and had some good laughs and gossiped like we do best while the boys struggled to get the BBQ lit.

Played an abundance of games: Risk, Cranium, and Mad Gab. The Jenkins' dominated in Risk, the ladies killed the boys in Cranium, and the boys only beat the ladies by one point in Mad Gab. It's tough being so good. We were each responsible for certain meals which worked out perfectly. We all got to taste each others cooking and ate very well. Though now I'm at the point in my pregnancy where if I eat even just a little too much I'm so uncomfortable. But when you're surrounded by good food, it's hard not to want to taste it all.

Sunday came too quickly. Not only was I sad to be leaving a fun weekend in the pines, I was really not looking forward to being snapped back to reality as I had to leave again that evening for work. This time, off to San Francisco for a couple of days. The only silver lining I saw was that I was leaving the deadly heat of Sacramento just in time to enjoy the perfect weather of San Francisco. But I still would rather have stayed in the heat to soak in the smell of a few more pines and enjoy a few more memories created amongst friends.

It's Not the Same When You're Pregnant

Now that I'm further along in my pregnancy and my belly is getting bigger, I notice more and more that there are quite a few activities that are not the same when you're pregnant. I've especially noticed this when it comes to things related to work. This month I've been doing quite a bit of traveling which I normally don't mind or have a problem with. In fact, I sometimes like to travel because it's a chance to get out of the office and get away to explore other areas. But lately, as I'm struggling to do the tasks that come along with traveling, I've noticed myself saying it's not the same when you're pregnant.

Currently I'm in 'beautiful' Fresno for a two-day training. I left yesterday afternoon after having to work a full day in the office to make sure I could get as much done as possible since I won't be returning until next week. Those types of work days are always somewhat stressful because you want to make sure you don't forget to do something that would make you say out loud, "Shoot!", and force you to have to turn your car around to go back. My travel struggle began in the morning when I went to pick up my rental car and realized they gave me a car that had manual operations - windows, door locks, side mirrors, etc. I'm not lazy, but it's not as easy for a pregnant lady to reach across the car multiple times in order to adjust the passenger side mirror. To be honest - and obviously somewhat spoiled - I didn't even realize they made these types of cars anymore.

Luckily I was able to leave the office before Sacramento traffic became too much of a nightmare and only had to deal with some of the Elk Grove traffic. After that, it was smooth sailing for the rest of the 160 miles. Sitting in the car was when I experienced another it's not the same moment. I had to stop three times to use the restroom. Before I was pregnant, I would've been able to go the whole way down without having to stop once. Now, I purposefully look at the road signs that have the mileage to the next town and say, "Okay, I have 30 miles until I'm able to use the restroom again; I can manage that." And I've already learned the hard way that if I try to hold my pee for too long, there are repercussions now that will end up embarrassing me - if you know what I mean. Road trips have definitely become more of a process than they used to be.

The biggest it's not the same experience that I deal with, traveling or not, is sleeping. I was sleeping fine up until around 20 weeks. Then I became restless, unable to get comfortable, and woke up multiple times to readjust my position. Normally I'm a stomach sleeper and I miss those days so much. I reluctantly started to be okay with sleeping on my back until I would wake up with lower back pain from the weight of my belly pushing down on my spine. My doctor suggested putting a small pillow underneath to help, which worked for a little while but now does nothing for me. Now I'm stuck to sleeping on my sides which I absolutely despise. I surround myself with pillows trying anything and everything to find a position that is somewhat comfortable. Thankfully Jody is a pretty solid sleeper because he would probably kick me out with all the moving I do throughout the night. Besides being uncomfortable at night, I now am experiencing Mallory moving around like crazy at night. She used to sleep with me, but not anymore. I hope this isn't a sign to her being a night owl once she's born! However, I love feeling her move around so I'm okay with that part of not being able to sleep. Even when she flails so hard it wakes me up I just smile and say hello. Overall though, sleeping is definitely not the same when you're pregnant.

There are so many other activities that I can think of that used to be easier: putting on my running shoes, bending down to pick things up, running and kickboxing, shaving my legs, painting my toes, mountain bike riding, walking up flights of stairs, being able to clearly see distance (even though I wear contacts), finding foods that don't give me heartburn, looking sexy while dancing, being on time (because it takes longer to do things now), getting through the day without wanting to take a nap... Yet with all of the it's not the same when your pregnant experiences, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Being pregnant is so much more enjoyable than I thought it would be and I am so appreciative for being blessed with Mallory!


















25 weeks and growing

Leave it to the Professionals

So I decided that although I feel that I deserve to go get a pedicure, in order to save some money I would just do it myself. I mean, it's not like it's that hard to paint your toenails. And it's usually not; except when you're six months pregnant and your belly gets in the way of bending down to reach your toenails. I guess I didn't think it would be that hard because when I'm stretching after a workout I'm still pretty flexible. Maybe it was because my muscles weren't warmed up as I was struggling to bend my body toward my toes, or maybe it was because I had to hold the brush steady as I painted tiny toenails while my breath was being cut off. Either way, I think it's safe to say that from here on out, whether I feel that I deserve a pedicure or not, I need to just leave it to the professionals.

Getting my old nail polish off was pretty easy so I started off feeling confident that doing it myself was a good idea. Then came the nail clippers. I cut a few nails a little too short, which means that running tomorrow is going to make the skin on my toes hurt. I also noticed that I was having to cut my nails in shifts because bending over was causing me to hold my breath. Jody even commented that maybe he should help. "Nah, I got this." I chose a nail polish that was pretty neutral just in case my paint job got messy. Good thing I did because as you can see from the pictures, nobody would pay me for this kind of work. I was going to get some cotton swabs and clean off the areas of my skin that I got paint on, but now I'm out of breath and I don't want to bend over for even two more seconds to fix it. I'll do it tomorrow morning after my run so that way my muscles will be warmed up and maybe I'll be a bit more flexible. Or, I could leave it to the professionals and just go get a real pedicure...

You Can't Be Too Prepared

The mystery has been solved; we received confirmation last Tuesday that we will be having a girl and have decided her name will be Mallory Quinn. We are very excited and can't wait to enjoy the experiences that a little girl will bring into our lives. Of course, I'm also thrilled to have found out because now I can start planning everything; the nursery, registering for items, and the baby shower. You can't be too prepared.

I've already ordered the bedding, which surprisingly I found the cheapest at Goore's. I originally found it online at JCPenney but was a little hesitant because I hate going through the hassle of ordering something based on pictures only to find out it looks nothing like what you were expecting. Luckily I waited to order it because not only was I able to see it in person at Goore's - and loved it just as much - it was also $30 cheaper than JCPenney and I didn't have to then pay for shipping costs. I still have to wait for it to come in as it wasn't in-stock, but I'm fine with that. Considering I haven't completely cleaned out the room that will become the nursery, I figure waiting for the bedding will get me motivated to do so. Once it arrives, I will be able to then start preparing for how I will paint the room. I already have so many ideas formulating in my head on how to design the nursery and can't wait to start putting those ideas in action.

Because I originally had thought we were going to be having a boy - I want my money back IntelliGender! - I had already begun registering for some baby items online that were geared towards a boy. Now that we know it's a girl, I have to backtrack a bit, but no big deal. I don't want to register for items that are totally girl oriented anyway as I like the neutral colors better, and if our next child is a boy we don't have to totally start all over. Prior to registering for anything though, I've been reading up like crazy on reviews not just for safety and durability but also the feedback from moms who have tried the products themselves. I have this book to thank for that: Baby Bargains. It has been my go-to for everything baby gear related and has really taught me a lot of tips that as a first time mom I wouldn't have known about. I have this book highlighted and flagged as if I were studying for an exam. So Baby Bargains book in tow, Jody and I went to Babies R Us yesterday to add some more items to the registry. It's nice to have my husband by my side through this first baby excitement.

I'm sure most people would find it odd that I'm going to be planning my own baby shower, but I'm an event planner so you can't be that surprised. In fact, I don't think I'll ever be able to let anyone else plan anything of mine because now my expectations are just too high and I would never want to put that pressure on someone else. At least I know if it turns out blah I only have myself to blame. Besides, I'm not doing it all by myself; Sasha, my mom, and Jamie will be helping as well. I've already got the date and location set. I've been scouring the Internet for invitations but have yet to see anything that I have to have, so I'm going to attempt to make my own. Went to Michaels and picked up some paper to make a mock up and I'm still not sure if I'm completely satisfied. I've got plenty of time to play around though so I'm not worried about it. It's making the decision to pick a theme that I seem to be struggling with because I have too many ideas; darn you creative mind!

Is It Tomorrow Yet?!

While I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend and wished it didn't have to end so quickly, I can't stop thinking about how badly I want it to be tomorrow. I have an appointment with Western Career College - thanks to the advice from some Facebook friends - tomorrow at 1:30pm to try and figure out baby's sex since he/she wasn't cooperating the first time around.

Since the technicians at Western Career College are not doctors, the only thing that they are allowed to tell people is the gender of the baby, which works out perfectly since that's all the information that I'm looking for at this appointment. Another silver lining about this appointment is that it is free. My insurance won't pay for another ultrasound unless the doctor orders one and I guess figuring out what gender my baby is isn't important in their eyes - what do they know. The downside to going to a vocational school to get an ultrasound is they don't print out pictures for you to take home as souvenirs, but they said I can bring in a VHS to record it. I'll have to convert it to a DVD on my own since I haven't owned a VCR in years. But I'm not complaining because I'm too excited that tomorrow I will know whether it's a boy or a girl!

Unfortunately because the appointment is during the middle of the day on a work day, Jody isn't able to come with me. Of course he'll be waiting by the phone for my call as soon as I know as he's just as excited as I am to find out. When we woke up this past Saturday morning, he told me that he had a dream that instead of me telling him the sex of the baby I just told him the name - as we now have officially decided on a boy name and a girl name. So we've decided that I will be playing out his dream when I call him tomorrow and give him our baby's name.

Is it tomorrow yet?!

From Brown Thumb to a Light Green Thumb

Last year I decided to try out my green thumb and plant a couple of shrubs out in the front yard to replace the dead bush that was there from the last homeowners. I spent an entire weekend digging up the dead bush and removing the old dirt, rocks and weeds. In the process of my excavating, I accidentally hit the sprinkler pipe with my shovel creating a gaping hole that Jody then had to figure out how to repair - oops. Fortunately the repair was pretty easy so I was able to continue my planting project. After talking to the guy in Lowe's nursery forever, I decided on Autumn Sage and Star Jasmine. With the new dirt spread, shrubs planted, bark laid, and sprinklers checked I admired my work and hoped that after all the hard labor and sweat I put into those shrubs they would in turn grow to be beautiful.



A couple of months later they looked a little bigger than when they were first planted so I felt like we were making some progress. A couple of months after that, the leaves on the Autumn Sage were already yellow and the Star Jasmine looked like it was on its way out. That's when my inexperience to gardening really became apparent because I wasn't sure if they were getting too much water or not enough. After weeks of going back and forth playing the guessing game with no positive results, I gave up. I figured it was because I didn't get rid of enough of the old dirt and it was poisoning my shrubs. And I wasn't about to start digging that stupid section up all over again - at least not right away. I yanked out the Autumn Sage cursing under my breath, but decided since the Star Jasmine still didn't look dead I'd leave it.

It's been a year now and my Star Jasmine still looks miserable. Every time I walk out front and see this pathetic area it reminds me that my green thumb is really brown. I wish so badly it would've worked out because I really would like some bushes to cover up that empty area. I just need to gather up the strength to start all over again, and being almost 6 months pregnant with summer knocking at the door I can't promise that it'll get done soon - I'm going to try but no promises.



Overall, I felt very defeated that my green thumb attempt failed and the experience has since kept me from buying anything else that would require gardening knowledge. Then came my birthday a few weeks ago when I received a beautiful orchid from my boss. Though I was very grateful - as I know they can be costly - a part of me was a little scared that I was just going to turn it into a shriveled up orchid. I took it home and read the care instructions card over and over making sure I really understood how to take care of this plant. I was determined to not let this one die on me and have another brown thumb incident haunt me. Well, I'm proud to say that after three weeks my orchid is doing very well and thriving with more blooms on it now then when I first got it. To me it's an indication that I'm slowly moving from brown thumb to a light green thumb. And it may just be a house plant, but it's still a victory and I'll take it!

Bittersweet Ending Ahead

It's Friday, a little after 1:00pm and I'm listening to some good music while blogging on my couch. Normally on a Friday at this time I would be at work wishing for the time to go by faster so the weekend could start. But not right now; right now I'm glad that it's only 1:00pm. Today was my furlough and I made sure to schedule it on this day so I could take advantage of getting a four day weekend with Memorial Day being on Monday. And while I am thoroughly enjoying my furlough time today, there is a bittersweet ending ahead as next month is the last month that we have furloughs.

Being forced into furloughs last year was a really hard pill to swallow. You're being told that you can't work two days a month, your salary is being reduced by 10%, your workload stays the same so you're having to work harder to get things done, and there's nothing you can do about it. I remember asking myself when we were told that we would have furloughs, "Why are state workers the ones who have to be punished when it's the entire state of California's fault that we're in a budget crisis?" And I can't speak for all state workers, but I know that a majority of them aren't getting paid a lot already, so taking away 10% of their salary is a big deal. Then after being on furloughs for a few months I read an article in The Sacramento Bee that basically said furloughs weren't really saving all that much money for the state like they had originally planned. That made me even more upset.

After getting used to a 10% pay cut in my salary - budgeting has taken on a whole new meaning for us - I actually was enjoying having two days off a month. We were fortunate in the sense that most months we were allowed to pick whatever two days in the month we wanted; they didn't necessarily have to be Friday and they didn't have to follow the rest of the state furlough schedule of the first and second Friday of each month. So having a random day off during the week became the silver lining to a crappy situation. I took pleasure in knowing that if I needed to run errands it wasn't going to be crazy busy like it is during the weekends, or if I needed to schedule doctor or dentist appointments I wasn't going to have to use my sick leave credits to do so.

Now that the year of furloughs is almost up and extending them for another year has been taken off the table for Sacramento State employees, I'm realizing that a part of me is sort of sad to see furloughs go. I've gotten spoiled by having these extra days off. However, I am also so thrilled that with the elimination of furloughs means I get my 10% back. And if there is ever a time when that 10% means something it's now; with a baby on the way we need every penny we can get to build up that savings account even more. I'm also looking forward to not having to be so overwhelmed with workloads and meeting unattainable deadlines. Furloughs have been stressful in more ways then one and yet, they are also a bittersweet ending.

Let’s Play Catch Up, Shall We

Looking at the date of my last post makes me feel ashamed. It’s been over two weeks since I’ve last blogged and one of the rules that I told myself when starting this blog was that I would post something at least twice a week. Twice a week should be an easy rule to keep considering that most days there is always at least one thing that happens that I can think about turning into a story. And even if my post for the day was only to be a couple of paragraphs long, that would suffice for me. But no, I decide to wait over two weeks before getting my butt in gear to post something. Every day I’ve been telling myself, “You need to blog.” And my only excuse lately – I’ve been lazy when it comes to writing. I’d like to blame it on being pregnant but I can’t because I have plenty of energy to work out and do other things around the house after work. And then there are the weekends where I can always find time for myself. So no good excuse for not blogging is going to grace this post other than the fact that I’ve just been lazy with my writing. I apologize for that and will now recap the events that have been going on with the Jenkins over the last couple of weeks to play catch up. I’m going to start with the most recent and work my way backwards; be prepared for a novel.

May 24 – Present: Nothing too exciting has happened so far this week other than the fact that I went to San Francisco for a couple of days. Unfortunately it was for work so I didn’t get to enjoy being in the city like I would had I gone there with Jody or a friend. My commute back to Sacramento started out really bad with it taking 50 minutes to go three miles just to get onto the Bay Bridge. If I lived there I would seriously go nuts. Being stuck that long in traffic to the point where you don’t move for awhile started making me feel claustrophobic. Thankfully the freeway opened up once I got to Vallejo so I made it home in three hours, which is what I thought it would be. On May 25 I met with the HR rep at work to discuss my maternity leave and let’s just say it sort of ruined the rest of my day. Though I get the four months off that I was expecting, not all of it is at full-pay from my employer which means I'll have to use up my sick leave and vacation. I’m not going to bore you with the specifics of the breakdown but I will say that I am very disappointed in the amount of days that my employer contributes to my full-pay. And I’m trying to remain positive so I’m not going to sit here and bash my employer in detail; just know that I was expecting a lot more after hearing from others about the “great benefits” when you work for the State.

May 17 – May 23: Started the week with a day off to celebrate our two year anniversary. We originally had planned on going for a hike to Mt. Diablo but the weather was cold and rainy so we chose to do other things that we enjoy; went to the gym, took a nap, saw Iron Man 2, and played Rummikub. Yes, we’re already the old married couple but we wouldn’t have it any other way. May 19 was a late birthday celebration from my co-workers who took me out to lunch at Jack’s. I absolutely love their salads. While it was a day of celebration, it was also a day of mourning as our beloved co-worker Sarah was leaving CTS for another job. I made her lemon cupcakes with “You’ll Be Missed” spelled out on the frosting to surprise her with – and to eat of course. May 21 was a day that started off with a ton of excitement. We had our 20-week ultrasound appointment that afternoon and we were planning on finally being able to know the sex of the baby. I invited my mom to come down and go with us since this is her first grandchild and I know she’s so excited. At 2:45pm we all arrived and went into the appointment. Over an hour later, all the excitement for finding out the baby’s sex was instead filled with disappointment as the technician wasn’t able to completely tell if it was a boy or a girl. As soon as I got into my car I started crying. I understood that the baby wasn’t cooperating for the technician but I also felt that for as long as the appointment was, waiting until the very end to look for the baby’s sex wasn’t smart. So I’ve made another appointment to have an ultrasound with Western Career College (free by the way!) on June 8. They’ll spend as much time with you as necessary in order to find out the sex because that’s all they’re allowed to tell you. Maybe this time I shouldn’t go into the appointment so excited though, just in case. Mom stayed the night and helped me out with our community garage sale on May 22. I was amazed at how much stuff I had to sell and even more surprised that I sold almost all of it. A lot of it I just wanted to get off my hands so I dropped prices if people asked. I figured any amount of money was better than none because what I didn’t sell we took over to Goodwill. It was nice to spend time with my mom doing something fun and it brought back memories of when I was growing up and we would have garage sales all the time.

May 10 – May 16: Nothing fun happened until May 13 when I got to meet up with my old co-workers Jenna and Brittany for dinner after work. It was so good to see them as it had been way too long. I miss working with those girls. They both recently were promoted and Brittany is even moving to the San Francisco office for a try at living somewhere different. I’m proud of her for taking such a huge step toward a change that most people would be terrified to make. I remember when I was single, I always thought about getting up and going somewhere I had never been before. And I almost did when I interviewed to be a flight attendant with Southwest but right before I got the call to go to training in Dallas, I decided that I needed to go back to school and finish my degree instead. We met at Ernesto’s for some delicious Mexican food and a chance to play catch up. I realized after leaving that night that I really miss hanging out with Jenna and Brittany. Would love to at least get back to our monthly happy hour get together – though with me being pregnant it wouldn’t be a true happy hour. Run with Nature 5K was on May 15. It was my first race now that I’m pregnant and I was really happy with how well I did. The course was different than last year and although the scenery was nicer this year, it was a lot of hills and running hills while pregnant is not easy. But I did it and finished 3.1 miles in 29:43 which is a 9:35 average per mile. For five months pregnant, I was really proud of myself. Got to go birthday shopping after the race and buy some much needed maternity clothes with the gift cards that I received. I must say that maternity clothes are so much more comfortable than regular clothes, and can be really cute too. Started off celebrating my 29th birthday on May 16 with a nice breakfast made by Chef Jody. Then we went for an ‘extreme’ mountain bike ride and I realized afterward that it’s getting harder to bend under tree branches that are in the bike path now that my belly is starting to get bigger. Guess we’ll have to pick different bike paths soon. Later that evening family came over for a BBQ dinner and yummy ice cream cake. It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday, and the last one sans baby. Though I’ve already promised myself that next year for my 30th I will be going big in Vegas with my girlfriends.

So I’m all caught up now. I promise – PROMISE – that unless I have a really, really good excuse I won’t go so long in between posts. In fact, I already know what I’ll be blogging about tomorrow; good night!