I am now at 14 weeks and the beginning of my second trimester. Things are going good so far. My last doctor's appointment was on Thursday and I was able to hear the baby's heart beat. 156/minute... same as last time. It's so weird to hear the heart beat for the first time. It sounds like a horse galloping and it has a "whooshing" sound. My next appointment is February 16th and I will have a lot of blood work and tests done and then on March 16th my doctor will do another ultrasound and this time we should be able to know if we are having a boy or a girl. RML goes with me to all my appointments but this will be the first one that he will be in the room for. I feel bad for him sitting out in the waiting room each time but my last two appointments went really quick so I guess it's not that bad.

We still have not decided if we plan to put the house on the market yet. The only reason we want to get a new house is to have a pool and unfortunately the back yard isn't big enough to put one in. I think the whole idea of it stresses RML out. We sat down Saturday and figured out how much it would cost us in closing costs, down payment, moving, etc to buy a new more expensive house (although I hope we can find one for the same price as the one we have now) and it seems to be about $5000 out of pocket. If we found one for the same price we'd have about $5000 left over for upgrades once we moved in. I think if we can't find a house with a pool that we like we should just look for one with enough yard to build one and then next year after RML gets his bonus we can put one in. That's probably the better option.
I have been having the strangest dreams lately and they all seem to incorporate ex boyfriends. It's a bit unsettling to wake up after some of them.
Next Sunday I have my meeting with the RCIA director to finalize everything for my conversion this Easter. I am so excited! Easter vigil will be my baptism, confirmation and first communion as a Catholic. I can't wait for our baby's baptism. The one thing I didn't know about the rules of selecting Godparents is that they have to be Catholic also... I guess it only makes sense. I had hoped to have my best friend Andrea and her husband Ted but we have decided on my cousin Cyndi and her fiance Mike. I can't wait to ask her!
Cyndi and Mike are getting married April 29th and I am one of her bridesmaids. I had to order my dress last week and it was so hard to determine what size to order since I will be at 6 months then and have no idea what I will look like. Considering I have only gained 3 pounds so far and I work out 4-5 days a week and watch what I eat the dressmaker and I determined I should go up one size. I have already gone up a dress size all because of my enormous breasts! I cannot believe how big they have gotten. It's so uncomfortable... RML loves it of course. Typical guy!
I found out something last week that really disturbed me... when RML and I were home for Christmas my Mom made a comment that my little siter Michelle was on antidepressants. When I asked her why she said something about her being on pain pills and going through withdrawal... I thought it was weird since I didn't think my sister had any ailments that would cause her to take pain medication... Come to find out my Mom only said that because the truth of the matter is my sister was on Meth! Not amphetamines but frickin' Crystal Meth! Are you kidding me!? I knew my sister had issues with drinking and I knew she probably smoked some but Meth? I cannot believe it! It blows me away that she would do something like that to herself considering she has a 7 year-old daughter! I hope Illeana was never around for any of that! It really makes me angry with my sister that she would put her life and her daughter's at risk for a drug. I did some research to find out what Meth can do to you and apparently the reason she is on antidepressants is because Meth changes your brain chemistry. It basically floods your brain with too much dopamine and causes slower thinking... I guess that is why she is taking medication that will help her create Seratonin. Or something like that... I still can't believe she has gotten so involved in something so illegal! No wonder she married that loser...
Anyway, enough of that talk...
Since I am in my second trimester now we decided to tell everyone that we are expecting. It was fun to tell people because they knew we were trying and have been asking the girls I work with nonstop... oh speaking of work. I finally got that raise I have been in desparate need for. Our department was the lowest paid in the company and we are finally being recognized for our hard work. It's so nice to know that I wll have a few hundred extra a month to put in savings. So far I am still on track to have $10K in the bank by the end of September. One last thing... RML has conceded to Robert being the middle name instead of the first name. I would love to have a little boy and I am so happy that I don't have to fight about the first name anymore. Well, at least I don't have to worry about the first name being Robert. I am so relieved! I still haven't come up with any boy names though. RML likes James. I think James is nice but I'm still going to shop around.