A Miracle

Yesterday was a terrific day. Besides the fact that I am doing MUCH better (knock on wood, right???) and can keep stuff down/generally feel better, I went to my obgyn and got to hear the heartbeat!!!! It was fantastic. I didn't know if I'd be able to because I'm just 10 weeks but we did! My mom went with me because Mr. Holmstrom was at school and of course she cried. I was just in shock, that galloping noise was the best noise I have ever heard. Music to my ears. I have been saying for weeks that if I could just have an ultrasound or hear the heartbeat or SOMETHING then maybe I would be in better spirits because I'd have some sort of justification for being so sick. Sure enough, my spirits are way up. Soaring. There is a BABY inside me! It makes everything this past month seem much more bearable and worth it. I am so excited. I go back in 4 weeks, and then 4 weeks after that we'll be able to try to see the gender! Wow. This is all so incredible. I'm having a baby!!!!

PS: I'm huge. At only 10 weeks I could not figure out why I'm showing so early. I mean already I definitely look pregnant. However, my mom read today that women who are short and have a short torso aka ME show pretty early since there's no vertical room for the baby to fill.

Translation: I'm going to be GINORMOUS!!

Conversations of a Sick Pregnant Woman and Her 12 Year Old Husband

Hey, I'm back! Back from the dead that is. Geez louise I bet after that last post you all thought I just couldn't have any more fun, rrriiiiigggghhhhttt??? I knew it. Well think again my friends, because this post is coming to you after a 4 day hospital stay last weekend and a 3rd ER visit on Independence Day. That's right folks, it just doesn't get any better than this. However, after all the venting, and crying, and feeling sorry for myself (which, ok i'll admit, still happens occasionally) I have really REALLY been trying to keep my spirits up, even when everything I eat is coming up too. :O)

Anyway, I have decided that Mr. Holmstrom and I have some funny conversations when I am weak and sick and barely lucid. Did I use that term right? I don't know why I'm sharing this, but it gives a little insight into our cooky world we live in. Both of these happened Sunday for example.

Me: g rated, lying half dead on the couch, puke bowl/water/half empty roll of toilet paper next to me.
Mr. Holmstrom: scavenging the kitchen for anything to eat, since I haven't cooked in months. Seriously.

Mr. Holmstrom: farts. "I'm sorry I just keep farting."
Me: in my head: ya right, you've been doing it all night and day. out loud: "it's ok honey, i fart too."
Mr. Holmstrom: "i KNOW."
Me: coming to my own defense. "hey! mine don't smell, and they're silent!"
Mr. Holmstrom: "neither do mine! but they're just so loud! It sounds like I'm stepping on a duck." proceeds to make farting noise over and over. and it really DID sound like stepping on a duck!
Me: quietly roll my eyes

A little while later, the hubby sits behind me and holds my shaking body as I throw up the yogurt I ate 20 minutes earlier.

Mr. Holmstrom: "that smells good."
Me: "ya, it tastes just like it did going down too."
Mr. Holmstrom: "that's good..."
Me: continues to vomit...

Needless to say, we are awesome. And slightly disgusting.

Sick

Sorry I've been gone. I have been very sick. I have tried to not complain, I have tried to look for the positive, but I can't anymore. I am miserable and in more pain each day than I thought imaginable. As I sat here getting ready to type I was throwing up apples and blood into a bowl. This bowl never leaves my side these days. Sorry if that's gross. I'm tired of sugar coating things. I've been to the ER twice in a matter of days, gotten very dehydrated several times. Eating has become near impossible. Even simple tasks like showering exhaust me greatly. Some days I don't get out of bed all day. Don't get me wrong, I am more than thrilled to be having a baby. But 32 weeks seems too far away and I have to constantly remind myself that I'm having one or I start to regret ever doing this. I'm sorry for my negative attitude. I am constantly apologizing to those around me for being this way, I thought I could be stronger. But being a shell, a weak and empty and pain ridden shell of who I am, is taking a toll on me. Hopefully I will return sooner rather than later, because this is extremely depressing. I do not write this to gain sympathy, but prayers would be appreciated. Please. Any strength I can gain from anyone is much appreciated. Again, I'm sorry. I'm really trying to be strong.

~Erica

02.01.10

Ok I know the last post was super short, and this one won't be much better. However, i. am. exhausted. So it might be a while before I get back to posting regularly. There are a lot of things I want to blog about but I am just too tired. So for now I'll just leave you with the details of this pregnancy since I didn't give any before. Well, there was this one night....just kidding. Not those details! I always knew I would want to have kids pretty soon after getting married but I thought like 6, 7 months maybe. However, I started getting the feeling we should expand our little family only about 2 weeks into being married! Even I thought that was a little soon so I tried to ignore it. But the feeling only got stronger so I brought it up to Mr. Holmstrom who, although a little hesitantly, said he had been thinking about it too. At about 3 weeks into being married we took it to the Big Guy and sure enough we both felt we should start trying. About a month later Mr. Holmstrom started to doubt and brought his concerns and fears up to me. So we took it to the Big Guy again, and again, and again. And while my assured feeling never left, he just wasn't feeling anything. After a few days he came to me and said that he knew he needed to trust me and he felt that was his answer, to trust in the faith of his spouse. We both felt good about it and went forward with the plan and then I kind of forgot about it. I mean having a baby was always on my mind but I hadn't gotten pregnant yet and was coming up on another period so I figured it would still be at least another month. I happened to have a pregnancy test in the bathroom from a time previously I thought I was but wasn't, and last Wednesday just woke up and decided to take it. No idea why, considering I was sure I was about to start in a few days, but the thought just popped into my head to take it so I did. So I took it and set it on the counter, not even paying attention to it because I was sure I wasn't, then I glanced down and saw it. Pregnant. Excuse me? What?! No, this has to be wrong. I stared at it for a few minutes then went in to talk to Albert. He was sick and happened to be home in bed. I walked in and told him I took one and it said pregnant and he popped up straight in bed and said What?? I started laughing and told him not to get his hopes up, I wanted to take a few more tests first. (At this point, my heart was racing and I was shaking because my boobs had been, and still are!, for days and that was not normal, so I thought it might be true). So I got ready for work, went to the store and bought another test and took it at work. Positive. I still was not convinced so I took 2 more throughout the day. 4 for 4. I called the obgyn and asked to come in and get a test done because I still was not believing it, and she said they go off the urine test so if I took that many they consider me pregnant. Holy cow! I'm pregnant! That's all I thought all day. That night we went to my parents and everyone happened to be there so we told them all. Everyone's different reactions were hysterical. My mom dropped to her knees on the floor and just stared at me for a few minutes, mouth open, while everyone else was screaming. Needless to say once she got over the shock and stopped crying, she was ecstatic. Good crying, not bad. She went out the very next day and spent a boatload on fabric and started a baby quilt! 9 months mom, you can slow down. Anyway, I intended this to be short, sorry. All weekend it was hard for me to believe, even though I told anyone who would listen. But yesterday morning was great because I went to my delivery doctor and had to take a urine test so I could get a letter saying I'm preggo for my insurance. It was just such a comfort to get the confirmation from a doctor that I am indeed pregnant! I'm going to be a mom! And little Baby Holmstrom is due February 1, 2010!! Only 8 months away! Thankfully, I have not been sick at all. Yet. I'm really hoping I do not get too sick. My boobs hurt like the dickens, I can't even sleep on my stomach, and I feel some soreness in my belly occasionally from my uterus expanding, but besides that I'm good. However, as I mentioned above, I am exhausted. Beyond exhausted. No matter how much I sleep I never feel rested or energized. I've heard this gets better after the first trimester but I hope it comes sooner than that. It's hard always feeling like I'm about to fall asleep. Words can not express how excited we are for this little bundle to come into our lives. I know Mr. Holmstrom will be a terrific father just like he is a terrific husband! I can't wait to introduce our little baby to everyone! Thanks for all the love and excitement, we really can not wait!!

Love,
Erica

11 Weeks

Yep. That's how long I've been married. And guess what....

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My eggo is preggo!

sorry for the disgusting pic. I'm a little tired lately :)

details to come later

Honeymoon Lovin

I know this is 2.5 months late but since I never got around to it, here's the honeymoon post! Our honeymoon was...surprising to say the least. In the end I needed a vacation from my vacation!! But because of Mr. Holmstrom's and my extremely conflicting schedules before and after we got married it was fabulicious to spend 24/7 with him for an entire week!! That was the best part. Well i'll get to it and tell you all about our honeymoon!! It started with a one night stay at a freaking awesome resort out in Gold Canyon, compliments of the parentals. Thanks madre y padre! I would recommend it to anyone.

This picture is in our hotel room, though the pictoral doesn't show the awesomeness of this place. Notice the big smile on Mr. Holmstrom's face? Oh that's just because this is after the pillow fights and deep conversations about our endless love for one another. Ain't no thang.

After spending the weekend here vegging and relaxing together, we headed out Monday morning to Cali to leave for our cruise! We were going on a 4 day cruise down to Mexico before our open house in Palmdale that weekend. I was STOKED to say the least. We were cruisin' along, loving life, and then BAM:

(literally)

Yep. This fantastic little adventure happened. A gas truck a few cars ahead started skidding out and sliding, causing everyone behind it to slam on their brakes, including me. Except Ol' Blue here decided to be a hoe tart and lock her brakes so I literally just skidded into the truck in front of me. All the while screaming loud enough to wake a dead horse and Albert screaming at me to stop. "Thanks honey! I wasn't trying to stop before but now that you mention it I should probably hit my brakes before I ram into this unsuspecting dodge in front of me! You're the best!" Anywhozer, long story short: the accident happened, stood on the side of the freeway forever talking to the cops, got towed to a nearby garage that would let us store it there for the week while we were on our cruise, waited 8 years for the rental car to get there, worked all that out, and were back on our way to try to make our cruise. Oh, little detail, when the accident happened we were an hour from the dock and about 3 hours before check in ended. We should have been able to make it, but everyone was working slower than snails and by the time we left the rental car place we were 20 minutes from check in ending and still an hour away, in 5 mph california traffic. Yes, I cried. And Albert felt bad. But...there was nothing we could do so we pulled over at a grocery store to collect ourselves and decide what to do for the week.

Luckily Albert's best friend works at a Marriot and got us a sweet deal in Anaheim. We decided to go to Disneyland and the Newport/Balboa area and just relax for the week before the open house. Not a cruise, but I knew we could make the best of it. So we did!!!

We visited the amazing Perry's pizza in Newport

Climbed up on the lifeguard tower to watch the sunset

Then the next day we went to California Adventure!!

I introduced Mr. Holmstrom to Tower of Terror, he had never been. Loved it. We may or may not have but definitely did ride it 4 times in a row. Mr. Holmstrom lost his cookies!

We found a turkey the size of New Guinea, slaughtered it, and devoured it right in the middle of CA Adventure. The looks from fellow theme parkians made me question my morals.

We turned into bugs for a little while

and took advantage of every possible space we could! We were on our honeymoon for crying out loud! Don't judge

After a fabulicious day at CA Adventure we went back and relaxed at the hotel then the next day we went to DISNEYLAND!! If you know me, and I assume you do if you're reading el blog, then you know my heart resides at Disneyland. For reals. I've wanted to go with Mr. Holmstrom for a while and I was so happy we finally could!! We were celebrating our new marriage after all!

We made pals with the locals...

and headed out on a pirate adventure where we found the lost treasure of El Capitan de Bustaba

We explored caverns and caves

and posed with the famous Cinderella's castle. We're cute.

At the end of the night we became besties with Brer Bear, Fox, and Rabbit over at Splash Mountain. My super sleuth water preventitive technique worked like a gem, thank you very much

Indulged in the FAB-U-LISH-US Gibson Girl Ice Cream while watching the fireworks. There is nothing more magical than being on Main Street, eating Gibson Girl, watching the fireworks. Have you seen those fireworks? They're bomb. dot. com.

Mr. Holmstrom and his wife were very sad the fireworks were over. Disneyland closed early that night so that marked the end of our D-land experience together. Until next time!!

The next day...what day was that? This post is so overdue I can't remember everything. This was Friday, I think. Yes, because after this we drove back to the garage to clean out Ol' Blue before they totalled it :( RIP Ol' Blue So Friday morning we got up, checked out of our hotel and drove out to Newport where we rode the ferry to Balboa Island!!! Oddly enough, Mr. Holmstrom is from California, lived there his whole life, and has never even heard of any of this stuff! It was like we spent the whole week doing Cali the Neel way!

Ignore the no makeup. The second I got married I stopped getting ready!

I heart Balboa Island. I always imagine what it would be like to live on one of those streets in one of those cute little beach houses. There's a street with lots of little shops and it's really fun to walk down and window shop. Too bad we spent a year just trying to find the street! I had never walked there before we always drove there as a family. We finally found it though, don't worry

We also found a very colorful Cebra!! Or a Zow, I'm not really sure what it was. But I liked it!

I introduced Mr. Holmstrom to the World Famous Balboa BarsI wanted a picture on the Balboa Island bench but you can't even see it. Tear

Yep. He's wearing a Curly t-shirt. Did I mention I married a ten year old?

The weekend ended in Palmdale for the open house. We stayed with his best friend Zane and his wife Emily and hung out Friday night with some of his friends I had never met and some of his family. I know it's not ideal when you're on your honeymoon, but the whole week wasn't exactly what we expected. And it was nice to meet the people he grew up with. The open house went so great! I was nervous because I meeting people I had never met but it was so wonderful to see so many people who have known him his whole life and love him so much! Definitely reassured me I married a great guy.

My parents came over for the open house, which worked out perfectly because without them, how would we have gotten home??? Ol' Blue was a wreck!! So...our honeymoon ended by us turning in our rental car and riding home with my parents. Fantastic. Oh well. Despite everything, all the stress, it was still a fabulicious week with my man!!

Oh...and a lot of this!

Well there it is. A rundown of our unexpected and surprising honeymoon. But....considering the car is totalled and we both walked away with absolutely no injuries or even soreness, I would say we are pretty dang lucky.

I'M BACK

Welp, it's ofish. I am the worst blogger in the history of blog world. But I'm back! And, for your viewing pleasure, I'm back with a fabulicious update of the last 2.5 months of married madness. I'm talking honeymoon, our housey, marriage shtuffff, etc etc. You know you're excited! Buckle up because it's going to be great. Oh, and because we all know posts aren't as much fun without pictorals, here is a treat for your eyes my mom found fit to email me. I'm so glad she did.

Titled: The Flasher

Another Neel Bites The Dust

Apparently Amber and I getting married 9 weeks apart wasn't hectic enough for the Neel fam. Last night, my older sister got engaged!

FINALLY.

Her and Nick have been dating for 5 + years and he finally popped the big question.

The tentative date is March 2010

so we'll see how la madre holds up with planning another wedding!

(off the record, I think mine and Amber's about killed her. 3 in a 14 month span is just craziness)

THE MADNESS BEGINS!!

ps: this is not a picture from last night, it's just the only one I had on the lappy