This is what we made for my parents. They loved it! I handed my mom the package, and she was like "Oooo, what's this?" Then she opened it and started reading, and once she figured out what it was, she got really quiet, looked up, and asked "Really??" Then she handed it to my dad and got all teary and started clapping, and my dad had a giant grin on his face. It was fun. :)

We're making something for Jared's parents too, but that one isn't done yet so once it is I'll get a picture of that one too. We told them over Skype. We said hello and were chatting, and then Jared said, "Hang on, someone else wants to say hello too." They thought we had gotten another pet, but Jared covered up the webcam and when he uncovered it again I was holding a word balloon next to my stomach that said "Hi Grandma and Grandpa!" There was definitely some shouting coming from their side. :)

Both sets of parents are excited, my mom has called to see how I'm doing, and Jared's mom naturally calls 10,000 times a day. She and Jerry actually came up last weekend to buy us a crib! It isn't set up yet, it's still in the box in the extra room. We have to figure out what we're doing with the futon before we do anything else. We have plenty of time for that though. :)

In other pregnancy news, morning sickness blows. And when they say morning sickness, they really mean feel like crap 24/7. I basically feel like I'm about to throw up all of the time. Hasn't actually happened yet, but sometimes I wish it would just so I would feel better for a little while. Only 5-6 more weeks of this. *Sigh*

Also, it would seem that apple is not my friend. I always keep a box of instant oatmeal in my desk at work, and the current flavor was Apple & Cinnamon. I made some the other day, but had to throw most of it out because it was grossing me out. The next day, I someone else made some, and the smell made me want to hurl more than usual. Needless to say, I gave away that box of oatmeal. I'm going to give Maple & Brown Sugar a shot, hopefully that one doesn't bother me too much. Today it was apple juice. I read that drinking something sugary helps with morning sickness, so I thought I would try some apple juice. Mistake. I opened it up and the smell was overpowering. I made myself drink some of it because I know it's good for me, but it tasted terrible. So that came home to Jared, and he had to drink it where I couldn't smell it. I was also seriously grossed out by my tomato soup today (which makes me sad because I love tomato soup), and black pepper isn't a good thing either.

As miserable as I am with all of this going on, at least I know that there's a little one in there that is the cause of it all. :)

Pregnancy tip #3: Keep some saltines next to bed so you can eat them before you even get up in the morning. It helps postpone the queazy a little bit. Also, keep lots of ice cream in the freezer. That stuff never tastes bad!

Oi.

This baby stuff sure is a lot to take in. What can I eat, what can't I eat, what exercise can I do, appointments to make, stuff to buy, symptoms, what's normal, what's not... Lots of changes all at once. The early symptoms are really starting to kick in now... Dizziness, nausea (I'm a little queasy as I type), my boobs hurt, I'm really tired, and I'm ravenously hungry all the time. Seriously. All. The. Time. They joke about a pregnant lady eating you if you don't feed her, and, well, it's true. The Subway lady was joking about having trouble getting her gloves on instead of making my sandwich, and I was about ready to hop over the counter and punch her in the face. It's entertaining after the fact, but at the time I was pretty pissed. There aren't any foods or smells that really bother me, so maybe I'll get lucky and escape that one.

Our first appointment was on Thursday! We got a lot of good info, but it wasn't quite what we expected. We went over medical histories and all that jazz, talked about all of the upcoming appointments, picked our doctor, talked about basics (food, exercise, etc), then they drew some blood for the initial tests and that was it. Afterwards I was thinking, "I know that you say the home tests are really accurate, but don't you want to make sure I'm actually pregnant before you start all of this stuff???" Guess not. I'm not really doubting that I am at this point, but it's still kind of hard to believe.

So... Pregnancy Tip #1 (for all those who may be trying for a baby in the near future :P): Start your prenatal vitamins early! Folic acid takes a few weeks to build up to useful levels in your system, and it's needed most in the first few weeks of pregnancy (before you even know you're preggers) when the spinal cord develops.

Pregnancy Tip #2: Keep a lot of food around. A lot. I haven't told everyone at work yet, and they're probably all like "What the hell?" because every time someone walks by my desk I'm stuffing my face with something. Granola bars, apples, applesauce, crackers, popcorn, and things like that are good to keep around, because you won't get outrageously fat from pigging out on that stuff. Easy on the stomach too. The nurse said the need to feed (and feed, and feed) will taper off after the first trimester, so enjoy endless eating without repercussions while it lasts.

My parents are coming tomorrow (!!) so that's when we're going to break the news to them. I'm excited, I'm sure they're going to be VERY excited. :) We're going to tell Jared's parents this weekend as well, probably over Skype. We made some cross-stitch pictures for them, so once they're 100% finished and framed I'll post them.

In other news, I finished my scarf! I also made a really cute crochet hippo. Pictures also forthcoming. Crochet is like crack, I really really enjoy working on it! My next project will be a frog cocoon, hat and booties (found here: http://crochetme.com/media/p/117171.aspx) which hopefully will turn out well. So pumped!