All I can do is apologize. I'm sorry for lacking in my blogging. It just happens sometimes.
So what has been going on for the last couple of weeks? Let's start at Thanksgiving....
We spent Thanksgiving with our friends Karen and Joel and their kids. It was a nice relaxed day and the food was yummy! It was our first taste of deep-fried turkey...O. M. G!...so good! So moist and juicy...my mouth is watering for it again. :) (Thankfully we get a T-day round 2 on Sunday with them....there was a 3rd turkey to cook!) So we watched football and chatted and some drank lots of wine. Not me of course...Nemo is not a fan of wine or any type of alcohol. The idea of it turns my stomach. Weird.
I did not participate in my normal Black Friday shopping this year...shocking! I just had zero desire to get up early and fight the crowds in J-vegas. Last year it was absolutely crazy...I have done many years of BF shopping and had never seen crowds like that. I checked out the ads online of my favorite stores to go to and honestly there was not a single thing that I needed or had to have. So I stayed home in my warm bed with my wonderfully cozy hubby! It is hitting me now that I may miss BF shopping for a couple of years...not a very conducive activity with a young baby/toddler and a husband that may or may not be home. Hmm.
BJ put up our outside decorations and I did the majority of the inside stuff that weekend. It is like Christmas morning because I have a ritual of doing my decor shopping the day after Christmas the year before. Everything gets home and gets packed away...then I totally forget about what I got and when I start opening boxes I am slightly surprised at all the new stuff. We also realized that we may need to replace our main Christmas tree at the end of the year this year. It had an entire section of lights that refused to come on. BJ tried everything short of throwing the tree out of the window to get that section to work. In the end he "hill-billyed" it up by putting a strand of white lights on the tree. It looked good! So the house is looking very festive. Then a tragedy hit.
We were robbed! About a week later, we came home from being out at the club and everything seemed fine. We got up the next day...enjoyed some lazy time...and then started getting ready to attend 2 events that evening. BJ went out the front door to turn on the outside lights and that is where he discovered our theft. Our set of 3 lit deer and our brand new set of 2 lit penguins were missing! Some jackass actually stole our Christmas decorations. Really...I am not kidding. The only thing left was 2 wings and a beak from one of the penguins. I was heartbroken. I had purchased the penguins last year with the thought that I would be pregnant or have a baby by the next Christmas. They were part of my lucky penguin collection (this includes a necklace and figurine)...many of you know that penguins hold a bit of lucky and hope for those that struggle with infertility. They are our mascots. The deer set is a few years old but this year as I watched BJ put it together out in the unseasonably cold North Carolina weather I had a bit of a fantasy future memory. I stood there (in the nice warm house of course) with my hand on my belly thinking about a few years from now when we have a toddler who wants to help daddy do the lights. Our child would get bundled up and go outside to help. They would see the set of 3 deer and say "Look daddy! It's you and mommy and me!" Our perfect little family. The thought brought tears to my eyes. And now that memory may not happen...unless I can find a new set of deer.
So to whoever stole our Christmas decorations...Merry Fucking Christmas! I hope Santa shits in your stocking!
So on to happier news. We had our NT scan this week...but it was only me that went since BJ was out of town. (Well, my best friend Steph went with me.) Nemo was very well-behaved and laid perfectly still while the ultrasound tech took the needed measurements. Nemo is perfectly in the normal range...1.5mm and they look for it to be under 3mm. I also met with the MFM doctor briefly and went over some initial genetics things and decided (for now) what testing we will do. At this point we are doing the NT scan, integrated blood work (or quad screen) and Level 2 ultrasound. After all of those things, we will meet with the MFM doctor and discuss what our true risk factor is for Down's Syndrome and other congenital birth defects. Right now...based solely on my age...my risk for DS is 1 in 175. Hopefully that risk will be lower after all the screening and there will not be a need for an amino.
I do have to share the my bestie cried when she heard Nemo's heartbeat. I felt bad for a second because I know that she and her husband are trying to conceive and so far no news to report. It made me think of how hard things were for me when I would see pregnant ladies or babies. My heart would hurt. She assured me that she was okay but still I hope that it was not a sad moment for her....that would make me sad.
So that catches you up...for the most part.
