Half-Baked!

Well I am now TWENTY weeks pg which means I should be half-baked unless baby ends up being born after his/her EDD. YIPPEEE! Today I am attending a 4 hour mtg in Harrisburg which is over an hour away. They are calling for snow this afternoon so I'd appreciate prayers that I make it home safely. I do NOT like driving in snow or ice. I had planned to stop and visit with a friend I haven't seen in several months who lives down there, but I might just come straight home. Paul is also traveling after school today he'll head out to State College to spend the weekend with some friends. So hopefully we both will have safety on the roads today.

Paul signed the three offers last night (declining two of them and accepting PSU's); it feels very official that we are putting these in the mail today. We also sent emails to cancel the plans he had to visit the other two schools, and someone from Pitt wrote back last night and said they were sorry to hear that and wondered which offer he had accepted. We felt badly writing Pitt and UD because both of those schools really made Paul feel wanted. He said he would have picked one of those two instead of PSU if it weren't for my job, but he is in 100% agreement of accepting PSU's offer in light of my job and a baby on the way. If he was 21 and single it would be a different story than 38 with a wife and a child on the way.

Only FOUR more days until the big u/s!!!!! I am dubious that we'll have a girl's name picked out by then since Paul will be away the next couple of days. Well if baby is a girl we can work on a name after we find that out. :-)

Uniform no more!

Well I am happy to say I no longer feel like I am wearing a school uniform, LOL. Paul's parents gave me $100 for Christmas for mat clothes; I had planned to use the $$ at Motherhood, but I've been able to stretch it much farther on eBay. I have purchased 6 skirts and 1 shirt for $61. Plus my mom gave me 2 skirts for Christmas. One skirt hasn't arrived yet, but once it does I will have 8 skirts to choose from plus 1 pair of black pants so I definitely won't have to wear the same outfit twice in one week any more as I usually go to work 4 days a week (plus I also would wear one of these outfits on Sunday as well). The last three days I actually wore three different skirts, and each time it was the first time I had worn that skirt so I had three new outfits in a row! Thankfully my non-mat turtlenecks work fine with these skirts. The skirts I wore on Tues and Wed showed off my belly (not so for the one I wore on Mon). If I am wearing an outfit that accentuates it more, then even those who don't know I am pg are figuring it out. I heard one student say, I thought she looked pg but didn't want to say anything (definitely don't want to tell your prof she looks like she's pg and find out she's not, LOL). Yesterday, in one of my classes the students were working in groups on something and I was walking around and I heard one student (Jason) say "tell her." So I walked over and Larissa and Jess told me how pretty I looked - that I looked really nice in pink and that my belly was looking so cute (or something to that effect). They made my day! Jason then chimed in and said that they had been talking about it, and he encouraged them to tell me. I thanked all of them. I could tell they were embarassed, but it meant a lot to me! I felt pretty (and what female doesn't like to feel pretty), and I was happy that I am finally looking pg (in certain outfits anyhow).

Only 5 more days until the u/s - YAHOOO! I am now second guessing whether I really felt the baby move on Monday. I was cold in that room so maybe it was a "shiver" and not the baby? We shall see. I haven't felt anything since.

Schedule Changed

My dept chair changed my fall schedule yesterday so that my graduate (PM) class will be on Tuesdays instead of Mondays. This way I can still play in the handbell choir (which rehearses on Monday nights), and it also means I won't have such a long work day on Mondays. Last fall I was at work for 12+ hours straight on Mondays and Wednesdays as my first class was at 8am and my last class ended around 7:30pm those days. My schedule as it stands now is to teach from 8-10:50am on MWF and 5-7:30pm on Tues. We checked PSU's fall schedule (chemistry) and found only one grad class that met on Tuesday nights, and there were 2 other sections of that class at other times. We wanted to be sure Daddy would be available to babysit. Probably I'll have some office hours on Tues (I need to have 5 hours a week); so I'll probably take baby in with me Tuesday afternoons and also that way I can nurse one more time right before he comes to pick baby up around 4:45. He can come straight from PSU to my office and take baby home with him. He'll be on his own for about 3 hours; I will pump to have extra milk available if he needs to give baby a bottle during that time. I think he's a little nervous about this as he's not had a lot of experience with tiny little babies, but I'm sure he'll do just fine. :-)

Depending on when baby actually arrives, my students might have substitutes the first week of class as if baby came right on the EDD my 6 weeks would end on Aug 29 (classes start Aug 25) so my first day back teaching might not be until Sept 2. If baby comes early though I'll start on Aug 25. Of course I might change my mind this summer and not actually go back FT in the fall, but for now this is the plan. Presuming we will move sometime this year, I think that next spring I'll either only work PT or I'll at least want at the most a 2 day a week teaching schedule (T/Th) as the drive to work will be going from 15 to 45 minutes for me (one way) most likely. We still didn't get the letter from PSU. Paul had planned to visit UD next weekend; so hopefully the letter will arrive soon (today!) so he can let UD know that he won't be coming after all.

I have one question for you moms out there. In the next few months, I want to try to line up my babysitters for the fall semester. I am going to be looking to hire a college student (early childhood or elementary education junior or senior) to watch baby in my office from 7:50-10:50am MWF next fall. What would be a reasonable wage for this? I am clueless as to the going rate for babysitting. I know it's nothing like the hmm I think it was 25 cents an hour I was paid back in 1984, LOL (even I was paid far more than that by the time my babysitting career ended in 1990). I was guessing somewhere between $7-10/hr? Baby would be between 1-4 months old that semester if that factors into the equation.

Gift for Baby!

Well last night baby was given 3 t-shirts from Hawaii by my handbell choir director (they were on a 2 week cruise there earlier this month). This was the first gift that was just for baby. We have been given things for baby as Christmas and bday gifts, but this was the first gift just for baby that wasn't associated with a bday/Christmas gift for Mom or Dad. Now, I hope baby is a girl, because if baby is a boy I think I'll only use the blue one. Anyhow it was very sweet of Carol to be thinking of our little one in Hawaii and bring back these t-shirts for him/her!!!! They are size 12 month so they should fit next summer. Hawaii is a place we want to go to some day. I used to think it was too far to fly, but now that I've flown to China (13 hours non-stop) I think I could fly to Hawaii particularly if we flew to CA first and broke it up a bit. And now that it seems Paul is going to PSU and we won't be living on $23K a year, we can keep taking family vacations. YAHOO! So maybe baby will go to Hawaii sometime in the next few years. :-)

I weighed myself this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I haven't gained any weight the last 2 weeks. So I am at 19w4d and have gained 8 pounds total so far. Only SEVEN more days until the BIG ultrasound. YIPPPEEEE! I can't wait!!!! We've been discussing girl's names again as I told Paul I'd really like to have one by next Tues as if baby is a girl I'd like to start referring to her by name. I have been second guessing myself about whether I really felt baby move yesterday. I guess if it happens again I'll feel more certain I really did feel baby.

I did not sleep well last night At All. It's so crazy how you can have a bunch of really good things happen in a day (the PSU acceptance was the biggest by far) and yet your mind just goes back to the one bad thing. I prayed about it, sang songs in my head, thought about other topics, etc. and could not let go of it for the life of me. Finally around midnight I got up and did some Bible study and then went back to bed. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight.

I emailed my department chair this morning and asked if my grad class can be moved from Monday to Thursday nights in the fall. I have handbells on Monday nights and had to take last fall off due to teaching so I'd rather not miss another four months of handbells if possible. Also, I found that to be too long of a day to teach 8-11am and also 5-7pm on the same day. So we shall see if he's able to switch me. We haven't decided for sure, but I am thinking at this point to work FT in the fall and see how it goes. If at any point it's too much, I can go on (unpaid) leave part way through the semester. It seems like it might work when baby is 1-4 months old to have a babysitter watch baby in my office for 9 hours a week. Then I am thinking of cutting back to PT in the spring (teach 2 night classes a week). Also, this would work best if we end up moving out farther toward PSU that I go to work more often while we're still living only 15 minutes away. Part of the decision will be based on how much PSU is going to offer Paul as far as the stipend goes. Hopefully the letter will come in the mail today. Paul has been hesitant to get really excited about it until the letter is in his hands.

It's snowing here AGAIN today. Ladies Bible study was cancelled again. I am not going to cancel my class tonight though since I already cancelled it once this semester for snow/ice. I think it's supposed to turn to rain later today so hopefully when I travel this afternoon the roads will be fine.

What a Day!

Well I said earlier that I like roller coasters, and I do! I am looking forward to trying out the new one they are building at the amusement park near our home (after baby is born not before!). However, I am not as keen on the emotional roller coaster rides. Well today was one of those days. You would think I would have started out the day in a relaxed, refreshed manner since I had a 4 day weekend (Thurs-Sun) and then had a very good night's sleep (over 11 hours!). When we came home from Shawn's bday party I had a really upset stomach, so I went straight to bed (at 7:15 pm!). Well the "down" part of my day came early this morning. Before 8am I was having a total meltdown - sobbing hysterically to the point I was almost having an asthma attack. Paul had to leave for classes; I could tell he felt awful to leave me in such a state. I wasn't upset that he was leaving. I don't want to make this post any longer than it will likely be anyhow, but this upsetting email had to do with a journal manuscript.

This email would have upset me normally, but I think I was even more upset than usual because #1 I am a bit more hormonal than normal and #2 I was already stressed out and this was the "final straw." For awhile I had been dealing pretty well with the suspense of not knowing where we'll be living next fall, but I had been struggling lately. I'll give two examples. Earlier this month I received a letter from Compassion. I have sponosored Cristy through that program for 13 years, and she was graduating from the program. So they were going to assign me a new child to sponsor. I didn't know whether we could afford to sponsor another child as it depended on if I would be working come August or not. Similarly, I was feeling pressured to figure out what my schedule would be in the fall before the deadline for making changes had passed. I felt like everything was in limbo. On Sunday the sermon was on peace. It was just what I needed. Our pastor reminded us that peace is confidence in the Lord's Providence; it has nothing to do with our circumstances. I knew that my getting all stressed out was not helping at all but was just making me crazy.

Anyhow following the email that really upset me, there were three VERY good things that happened today. First, I got an email from an editor regarding another article. I wasn't expecting to hear from her this week, and I took the timing as a gift from the Lord in light of the upsetting one. Second, the BEST news of the day was that Paul called PSU to check on the status of his application, and he found out that on Thursday he was accepted! She said the letter was mailed on Friday. YAHOOOOOO! The letter didn't arrive today; I am very glad Paul called!!! This is a HUGE relief. We will be so much better off financially, we don't have to move right away, I can keep working at my same school (could cut back to PT), and I don't have to find a new church either. PTL!!!!! We don't know the details yet of the stipend, etc., but likely it won't change our decision to accept their offer and turn down the offers from Pitt and UD. The third happy thing was that I am almost positive I felt baby move this afternoon!! I have wondered at times over the last couple of weeks but kept second guessing myself an thinking it was my stomach or something else. Well I was sitting in a mtg at work this afternoon and felt a little flutter tickling me inside my belly. I smiled and another prof asked me what was funny, and since there were just 3 other people in the room and they all know I'm pg, I said "I just felt my baby move." They all smiled at the reason for my smile. I still am not 100% sure, but I feel pretty certain that I finally felt baby move at 19w3d!

Well it's time to scoot to handbells. They will be sooo happy to hear that Paul was accepted at PSU! Many at my church have been praying to that end as they don't want me to leave. It's nice to feel wanted! Now, I have to decide how many hours to work this fall. My mom had a good idea that I could hire a college student to babysit for 3 hours in my office 3 days a week instead of at home (would mean I wouldn't need a babysitter for my driving time and my office hours as I'd just watch the baby myself during those times). I asked my dept chair today if that would be allowed, and he said he had no problem with it. In fact, he said he was fine with me having the baby in the classroom while I teach. I thought he was joking when he had told me earlier that I could teach with the baby strapped to me, but he was serious. I am not sure about that... I was thinking of how Lynn said that if I was going to be working in the mornings it would be better to do so when baby was younger than older so I was thinking maybe I should work FT and then cut back to PT later? Keeping in mind by "FT" I mean I would hire a babysitter for 9 hours a week for the fall semester (to watch baby in my office). Paul could watch baby during my night class. I think I'd want to switch the day of my night class though as otherwise Monday would be a long day. I think I might ask my dept chair to move that class to Tues or Thurs. Well now I really must scoot or I'll be late. Good thing I'm a fast typist, LOL! Sorry for the long post!

In Memory

In June 2005 I became pregnant (after inj #4/iui #2), and our baby's EDD was 2-24-06. Today marks the day that if we hadn't lost this little one, he/she would be about 2 years old. I still get reminders in the mail. Earlier in the month I got one for pull-ups that said "for your 2 year old." I wish there was a way to let the marketing companies know that we do NOT have a 2 year old. Well in Heaven we do, but we don't here on earth. I didn't sign up for those freebies this time until I was in the 2nd trimester. I learned from my previous mistake. This is the 3rd time that 2-24 has rolled around since that BFP (which came after ttc 3 years). The first time was definitely the hardest especially as quite a few babies were born right around that time (at church mostly). Last year was a little easier because I had such high hopes that we'd adopt from Ukraine during the summer or early fall. This year I still feel grief when I think of that precious life we lost, but it's much easier since there's another little one growing inside me. However, this child doesn't replace that one. I sometimes wonder what he/she would have looked like, etc. I wonder if the siblings who joined this child in Heaven in August know each other? I don't mean to sound ungrateful for this precious life whom we hopefully will meet in July, but I don't think this child's life takes away all the sadness for the seven babies we lost in 2005 & 2007. When you lose a baby through miscarriage, it's a private grief. So I just wanted to say a few words in memory of our little one that we lost on July 5, 2005 (6w4d). From the moment I knew that little one existed (at 12dpo), I loved him/her so very much. I wish I could have held him/her in my arms and shown him/her my love. I hope to meet him/her in Heaven some day. I don't often shed tears over this loss any more, but today the tears have flown once again.

On a much lighter note, I wanted to share my sister's happy news that a recording she was a part of won a 2008 Grammy Award! The recording was made in 2005 when they lived in Vancouver and she was playing in the Vancouver Symphony, but the CD wasn't released until last year. The award was for the "Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra)." She wasn't the soloist, but she was one of the violinists in the orchestra! So congrats to Wendy (and all the other members of the VSO)!!!

Best Nest

I thought I'd share a pic of my "nest" in case you haven't seen one of these total body pgcy pillows before. There are several different ways to use this pillow. This is the arrangement they recommend for the 2nd tri, so that's what I've been using. For example, the one for the 3rd tri gives more belly support. It is SO nice to lie down and not be greeted immediately with pain. I still have some lower back issues during the day, but even my lower back pain has been decreased due to sleeping with this pillow. It was worth every penny! The only bad part is that it makes cuddling very difficult since the pillow is in between us.

Speaking of nests, I think I have experienced some of that "nesting" that people say is common during pgcy. I think it is due in part to the fact that I did cancel my classes yesterday so I'm having a four day weekend since I always am at home on Thursdays. Anyhow yesterday I kept feeling this need to be cleaning/sorting. I did go through most of the closet in the room that will be baby's room. I have a big pile of stuff to give away - a lot of which is perfectly good stuff but just stuff we haven't used. Some were wedding presents. I figure if we haven't used the stuff in 7 years, we aren't likely to use it in the next few years either. Last spring the MOPS group at church had a yard sale. If they do that again, I'll donate this stuff to their yard sale. If not, I'll take it all to Goodwill or Salvation Army. I also was throwing some stuff away like I had several cans of formula which were expired (some were free samples that I'd received since the pgcy in 2005 and a couple of cans I had purchased to be prepared to adopt). I think my desire to do some "spring cleaning" also stems from the fact that we will probably be moving sometime this year.

I finished hemming my one pair of mat pants on Thursday. I am absolutely not a seamstress, but I managed to take them up about 2 inches. The bottom is wider than I'd like. I am just not into that style, but I wasn't about to try to figure out how to alter them in that way as well. I was planning to wear them with a l/s mat shirt on Friday, but I didn't since I stayed home. The mat shirts actually look really good with those pants. I have 4 l/s mat shirts and 3 could be worn with these pants so that gives me several new outfits.

I also had a bit of cabin fever since I didn't leave the house on Thurs or Fri; so dh and I went out this morning to have a late breakfast at Perkins (we treated it as brunch) and also did some shopping. I have to say I just cannot wait until this little one is in my arms. It would have been a lot more fun to have two days at home if I had a little one to love and play with and read books like The Best Nest to.

19 weeks!

Well according to that ticker I've been using, baby now is in the double digits as far as weight goes (in ounces of course, LOL). I imagine at the u/s (in just 11 days!) they'll give us that info on baby (length, weight). Just one more week and baby will be half-baked (presuming he/she goes full term).

It snowed Wednesday night, and it's supposed to snow again today. All the school districts (in a large radius around us) are closed today. Paul's school is on a regular schedule. If it weren't for the fact that he has an exam at 9:00, I believe he'd stay home today. He's taking my cell phone and leaving a lot of extra time to get there, and he's going to come home right after the exam is over as it's supposed to turn to sleet/ice this afternoon (and then back to snow again this evening). My school is on a compressed schedule which frankly makes NO sense to me. They are going to have more people driving in the sleet/ice??? There are 4 of us in my dept who teach on MWF (the others teach on T/Th). I emailed the other 3 to see what they are doing. One (who has a 2 hour commute to work as she lives near King of Prussia) has already cancelled. One said she's waiting to see what I decide (she has about the same commute as I do; she cancelled that one Wednesday when I didn't cancel). I haven't heard back from the 4th yet. I have some time to decide as this means my classes wouldn't start until 1:20. I did cancel once this semester, but it was my Tuesday night class. So this would be my first time to cancel my 3 MWF classes for snow/ice if I decide to go that route today.

Speaking of schedules, the fall schedule has now been posted online. I see I am scheduled to teach 3 sections of undergrad LA from 8:00-10:50 MWF and one grad class from 5:00-8:00 Monday nights. The part of this that pleases me is that the grad classes are back to 5-8pm (they are 6-9pm this semester and I definitely prefer 5-8 as do many of the students). The perplexing part is that I asked my chair to keep M&M I open for me in case I opt to teach 2 night classes (part-time schedule). I have taught M&M I the last 8 semesters. He has someone else scheduled to teach it, someone who has never taught it before (I know this because he started the same semester I did and I've taught it every semester I've been here). That is scheduled for Wed pm. Well if we find out that I will be working PT in the fall, I will ask if I can still teach it. I can't see why the other prof would mind since he's never taught it before. There is an evening section of Social Studies that no one has been assigned yet on Tuesday nights 5-8 that he could teach if I do the Wed pm one OR I could teach if he doesn't agree to the switch. I have taught SS before (but not since spring 2005). I have to say I've liked my schedule this semester better than last. Last semester I taught MWF 8:00-10:50 and MW 5:00-8:00. My schedule for the fall looks virtually the same minus the W 5:00-8:00 as I wouldn't be on overload like I was this last fall. This semester I've been teaching MWF 12:00-2:50 and T 6:00-9:00. I wonder though, which is better in light of a baby's schedule? Of course I have no idea what I'll be doing in the fall. I will be a SAHM if we move out of the area. If we stay in the area I was planning to teach PT not FT. But if for some reason I am teaching FT in the fall, which do you think would be better - for me to arrange for someone to watch the baby (in our house) from say 7:00-11:30 (that includes office hours and driving time) MWF or would some other time of day be better? Here again is why it would be so nice if we knew where Paul was going in the fall. The students start registering in about 4 weeks. At that point the day/time a course is offered can't be changed (although I could still switch to teaching a different class or cut back to PT).

Lastly, for those of you who don't know me IRL, I should say that I am a person who goes to the bathroom frequently even when not pg. I'd say I rarely go more than one hour during the day without going. I am sure I'd be a good candidate for Detrol, but I've opted just to go a million times rather than pop a pill every day. If I know I'll need to go an hour or longer w/o going then I don't drink anything or eat any fruit. During the night (when not pg) I get up a few times to go but not every hour. Well I've been getting up to go during the night more than usual while pg (even in the first tri). I was guessing maybe about 6 times a night, but I hadn't actually counted. Well last night I kept track and that's about right. It seems I need to go every 90 minutes. For example I went at 3:00, 4:30, and 6:00 am. Thankfully I can usually fall right back to sleep very easily (well not at 6:00am but prior to that I mean). I wonder if I'm going to have to go MORE often during the night in the 3rd tri?

149

We're down to 149 days til baby's EDD!! When I found out I was pg, there were 252 days left so I've known I've been pg for over 100 days now. Of course baby will most likely not come exactly on the EDD, but still it shows that we're getting closer! In just 9 days baby will be half-baked (280 days is the total amount based on 40 weeks). That also means we're getting closer to the u/s...just 13 more days!

Yesterday I wore a skirt I bought on eBay a few weeks ago, but it was too big. Well it was still really too big but I was just very tired of recycling through the few outfits I have at this point. I had to wear a maternity top with it, not that I really need to wear maternity tops yet, but the skirt kept sliding down it was so big (XL without a spandex type tummy panel) so I needed a top that was really long in case it went sliding on me. Well I looked fine, but I felt ridiculous so I am not wearing that skirt again until my tummy is significantly bigger. I was wearing a l/s black mat shirt, and I have a sleeveless black sleeve shirt so I can save this outfit for the latter stages of pgcy. The other reason I wore the mat shirt was I got several l/s mat shirts for Christmas (size L) and well if I don't start wearing them soon I'll never use them since hopefully in April it will be time for short sleeve clothes. My tummy shows LESS in those type shirts though since they are like big tents.

Monday I wore my black mat skirt (definitely the one I've gotten the most use of thus far since I can wear all different tops with it) with a turtleneck. It wasn't a mat turtleneck but it did go down long enough to almost completely cover the tummy panel. Well that is probably the outfit that BEST shows my tummy. I wore it on Monday on purpose bc a guy at church (who is in the handbell choir) every time he sees me has been checking out my baby belly (since Dec!) and the previous Sunday (10th) he commented that I still didn't look very pg. Well this Monday with that outfit he agreed that my baby belly is now more visible. Actually quite a few people noticed the baby belly that day. I still say it's not enough that a stranger would be sure I was pg (they might just think I'm a bit overweight) but in the right outfit those who know me can definitely see my baby belly. I can also still wear a non-mat outfit in which you can't see my belly At All. It really depends on what I am wearing and also whether the person sees me sitting or standing (far more visible when sitting).

Yesterday 2 more skirts came in the mail through eBay. I've only been buying skirts that way as I find I need to try pants on so I haven't tried to buy them through eBay. Today I plan to hem the pants my Mom got me for Christmas that fit well but are WAY too long. They are black so again I should get good use out of them. Last week I had bought 3 skirts on eBay. Turns out the cheapest one ($5.50 including s/h) is my favorite! It's really pretty (at least I think so!) and fits great but still has room for growth. I am going to wear it today. :-) One of the others is a little big now (although not as big as the one I wore yesterday!) so I'll wait a bit on that one. The third is actually a little snug in the belly panel area. It fits now, but it's not going to last very long. So I'd better wear that one soon also. So between these new skirts and hemming the pants, now I should have more options and not feel like I'm cycling between the same 3 skirts all the time.

I have never bought clothes for myself on eBay before aside from mat clothes, but since most women don't wear the mat clothes long and I don't plan to wear them long myself, it seems like a good place to shop for them. I do need to make a shopping trip once to Motherhood in the spring, but in our area the only option is Walmart for mat clothes and all they have are pants and shirts (no skirts or dresses). I had bought 2 mat skirts on eBay in 2005 when I was pg, but I had given them away in 2006 I think it was so I never wore those. I also gave away the 2 pgcy books I bought then (one was What to Expect when you're Expecting) and since I bought them and then gave them away I just didn't feel like buying them again. I did NOT give away my copy of What to Expect the First Year as I assumed I'd use that w/ an adopted baby so I still have that on hand.

Akan

On Tuesday as I was looking at Dr. O's diploma on the wall, I was wondering what country he was from. His full name is Samuel Kwapong Owusu. Well today I noticed on his website that it says he speaks the Akan language. Any of you know in which countries Akan is spoken? I didn't until I looked it up. The answer is Ghana and Suriname. My guess is that he's from Ghana.

Yesterday a prof commented that I am starting to show a little. So at least for those who are *looking* (as they already know I am pg) my belly is starting to show a little. Trust me, I am no where near the place yet where a stranger would figure it out. I look forward to that day though! I think part of it is that I have a long torso. I can actually wear petite pants even though I am 5'7" as my length is not in my legs. If I had a shorter torso, I think my belly would be popping out sooner. To me my belly is more noticeable when I am sitting down than standing up.

Another prof brought brownies to our faculty meeting yesterday. I hadn't had a brownie in about 2 months as the last time I ate one I had a horrible case of heartburn. I am happy to say that it didn't give me heartburn yesterday! Well maybe I was better off thinking I should stay away from chocolate, LOL. Normally I am one who craves sweets, but aside from fruit I haven't been craving sweets. Ice cream and such doesn't appeal to me anywhere near as much as usual. On the other hand, I've been craving salty foods like Doritos. I've been restraining myself from buying such junk food as I know the pounds would be going on too quickly if I had something like that in the house. Normally I can go many months without craving chips of any kind. I will say though eating that brownie yesterday is making me want to have a Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard from Dairy Queen. That is one of my most favorite things to eat in the whole wide world! :-)