Dreams 4/25 & 4/26 and Engagement!

Dreams:

I dreamt that I was back at Augie, but it was more of a big open field. But at the same time I was in Lundahl's upper gym, playing basketball (well, actually I was sitting on the bench). Every time we would run to one end of the gym, we would hear all this yelling, and I kept telling the other girls "oh, that's just the DONs doing pledging activities." (I think I was thinking about this because Andy had talked about DON pledging earlier in the weekend). Anyways, I can't remember exact detals, but it turned into me and a couple of other people hiding in the hills of the fields from some guy trying to kill us! Weird... So then all of a sudden my Grandpa Preston drives up and gives us the "pretend I'm not here, stay quiet" look, and goes and "takes care" of the guys trying to kill us! So scary. Somewhere my mom was in the dream, and I actually think she was one of the bad guys, but I can't remember exactly.

In real life I lost a St. Gerard medal that my mom gave me, and I am really upset about it. In the dream, I was putting ads up on Craigslist and in the paper trying to find it.

In real life I had watched E! True Hollywood Story on Growing Pains, and I kept dreaming that Kirk Cameron and his wife were trying to change everything in my life. So weird...

Engagement!

So, Andy surprised Sarah with a proposal this Saturday, and of course she said yes! He had arranged for both of their families to be at dinner without her knowing, and then for all of their friends to be at Irish Pub later on in the evening. It was a great celebration, and we now all add another wedding to our lists for next year! Who's next???

Other news:

Squirrel is growing! It's about the size of an apple now, I guess, and we have an appointment with Dr. Barnabei on Friday morning. I'm not quite as comfortable in my clothes at the moment, but not big enough for maternity yet... Soon!

1st Tri Screen plus Dreams

This morning we had our 1st Trimester screening tests at Children's. We first had an ultrasound, and it was so surreal to see the baby! According to the tech and Doc, everything (from what they can tell now) looks perfectly fine. The baby even totally moved around for us, which was so cool! The tech says "you've got a little athlete!"-- and I said "Yesss!" We will have to wait for our "official" test results, but for now we're happy. After our ultrasound we met with a genetic counselor, who put us at ease that I will be okay giving birth. We went over our ethnic backgrounds to see if we're prone to any particular issue, and really we're not. And most of all, our concerns about what happened to Sarah happening to me are pretty uneccesary, at least for now. So that was good. "Reassuringly pointless" is what I've been saying :).

Dreams:
I was at some big auditorium place and I was on America's Next Top Model. So was Michael... He went first down the runway, and looked like a total goof, waving his hands in the air because he had no idea how to walk. Then I had to go, and I did a really good job, despite the fact that I was the shortest one there. They had this whole system for the runway that you were assigned a specific color, and when your color was listed on this map thing, then it was your turn to walk. I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and I looked really pretty. Weird.

Then I dreamt that someone had driven by our house and stolen Scotch. I recognized the car when I was driving down the highway, so I turned around and followed it, until it pulled off the highway onto a deserted dirt road. It stopped, so I pulled over and pulled up to it. When I got to the car, there was Scotch, on the lap of the passenger. I said "that's my dog! Give him back!" and the lady says, very nicely, "no this is our dog, and we are keeping him." I said, "you're crazy, come on Scotch," and he promptly jumped into my car. We were back on the highway and that was it.

Dreams 4/1/09

I am going to begin jotting down some of my dreams that I have, since I keep forgetting to write them down in my journal. Plus, I type faster than I write. Excuse the choppy format, because it's hard to remember each detail.

First dream: I was on vacation with my mom and Sarah, and it was implied in the dream that Harrisons were around, too. Sarah had picked Puerta Vallarta to go to because there was some concert going on there. My mom and I were alone and she was telling me how she didn't like the place because it was too busy and it wasn't tropical enough. I kept telling her that we should have gone to Playa del Carmen because there were less people. We took a shuttle-boat through a jungle-like lagoon area to get to the restaurant, that I think could only be reached by boat. When we got there, it was like a Carlos and Charlie's type of place-- and very busy. We had to share a table with a couple of guys, and Sarah finally showed up saying she was loving the place. The concert was going on outside of the restuarant, and it was really loud and there were thousands of people. We left the restaurant and started walking through a series of planked pathways across the water, but they were all flooded so we called our shuttle-boat driver back. He picked us up, and took us on a ride through the lagoon, and we saw two huge alligators in the water. He thought it would be cool to get the boat bucking up and down so we would get close to the gators, which we didn't like, and were very scared. When we got close to one of them, it tried to bite my arm, and got a little bit. My mom was really mad at the driver-- he just thought it was funny. That was the dream...

Second dream: I was laying in bed at around 5am, when I got really bad stomach cramps (in real life I had just woken up with the same thing, so I had a hard time distinguishing between the dream and reality at first). I got out of bed, and called my mom because I knew she'd be up, and I wanted to ask her advice. She told me to call the doctor to make sure it wasn't anything pregnancy-related. So I was getting off the phone with my mom, when I heard our back door open. Skip and Scotch were in bed, so I was scared. Scotch growled a little, and in walks Kathryn Gray-- wasted! It was funny. She had said she was out with friends drinking (but I can't remember the rest of the details). She was acting really silly, and I told her that it was a great fun thing to do the last night before her last year of college started. She started feeling bad because it was so early in the morning, but I told her it was okay because I was already up. She started getting really sleepy, so she pulled out the pull-out bed from the couch (which we don't have in real life), and crashed. That was the dream...

1st "Official" Appointment

This morning we had our first official prenatal appointment with our doctor, Dr. Barnabei. She seems like quite a nice woman, and a great doctor. I think she will fit us well! We went over just a couple of little things regarding our medical histories, and talked about our upcoming appointment with the genetic counselor. Though it is optional for all expecting parents, Skip and I feel as if a talk with the counselor will put our minds at ease in case there are any things that could come up throughout the course of this pregnancy, as well as when I go into labor. Based on my sister's history and only for peace of mind in regards to Elizabeth's diagnosis, we thought that it would be a good idea to just get checked out and talk to someone. So we'll update next on that appointment...

But for now, all is well, and we're very excited!

I guess the wish bone worked!

Well, it's March 10th and as of yesterday, I'm officially 8 weeks pregnant! Skip and I found out about a month ago, and we were very excited. I wasn't due for "Aunt Flo" for a couple of days, but I thought "what the heck (haha Jan!) I'll take a test." So I did, and there was this faint little second line. Hmmm... I taped the test to the bathroom mirror for Skip to find when he got home from work, then I went back to the living room to finish my last beer (it was a PBR. The least it could've been was a good beer for my last one. Oh well.). Skip came in the room when he got home and said, "Are we going to have a baby?" I wasn't convinced as of yet, and not to mention 3/4 asleep, so he didn't get much of a response from me. When I got to work the next day, I looked online and learned that any second line, no matter how faint, is a positive result-- so that was that!

I took another test a couple of days later (one that Skip had yoinked from Sinai), and wabam! A big fat plus sign! I was convinced now :). We told our families that weekend, and they are both very excited!

Up to this point I've been counting my blessings for how I've been feeling. A little nausea here and there, and of course sore tatas (tmi, I know...). I've been extremely exhausted though, so that's been rough. To describe it better: Pledging at 3am, right around week 3. Or ~2am on a 24 when you've been running calls all day long. Sleep is all I've wanted, and I've been doing pretty well on getting it. I've heard the second trimester is the best, so I'm looking forward to a month from now...

In the meantime, I saw a nurse and she confirmed our due date of October 19th. She also went over our social/medical histories and gave us a lot of information on what to expect in the coming months. My first OB appointment is March 27th, and we're really looking forward to seeing how everything is progressing.

Aside from the big news, other updates: Skip is nearing the end of the "nursing school tunnel," and (fingers crossed) will be done in August. Sinai ER has been treating him well as a Nurse Extern, and he hopes to continue there for some time after graduation.

My job is the same as always, I suppose no news is "good" news.

Scotch = Neurotic. But what else is new?

My Thoughts

So, last night I watched the election results and was so glad to be able to celebrate Barack Obama's victory. His and McCain's campaigns were historic, and I know his presidency will be even more so.

I have to say that my experience with politics has been much like my experience with religion and the Catholic faith over the past 4 or 5 years. 4 years ago, I walked out of the church that I grew up in because I was told that I was wrong for having the beliefs that I do. The opinions and feelings that I developed so deep in my heart throughout my childhood and early adult life were shot down throughout the course of a short few months while sitting through masses and listening to priests berate people like me. So I stopped going to church. I bet the priests would be happy that they got rid of a "heathen" like me-- "Mission accomplished," they would probably say. Well guess what? I took that time to really think through what I believed in, and only became stonger in my convictions. And I have now found a church that supports me for who I am, and doesn't make me feel as if I'm a horrible person just because of the fact that I have an open mind and heart and accept the fact that the world is not what it was in 1950.

In the past 2 presidential elections (the only ones in which I've been able to vote) I have felt like my opinions and beliefs don't matter. And as I've grown over the past 8 years, I've felt even more so. I felt crushed watching the results unfold 8 years ago, whether those results were legitimate or rigged. 4 years ago, it seemed hopeless that anything would change when the country actually did legitimately decide the results. However, I didn't stew over it, I accepted that that was the way it was, living my life the best ways I knew how, but not backing down. Disagree with their decision? Yes. But insulting those who exercised the same rights that I did was not going to get anything accomplished.

Yesterday, I went to my polling place and filled in the arrow next to the name of someone I so hoped would be able to renew my faith in the American people, and last night, my faith was renewed. The country legitmately decided that this man is the one to bring change to our system by integrating our history with the reality that the world is not what it used to be. To those people who voted for McCain and have not seen the results they hoped for, I will say to you that I understand how you feel. It probably hurts. But realize that by insulting and crying over the results you will not accomplish anything. You and I must take this opportunity to acknowledge that it is what it is, and we must work together to accomplish as much as we can with the system we have in place. If you feel some law or process isn't right, challenge it! Be that voice that reminds us that not everyone agrees-- that is the blessing of living in the society that we do. We can challenge the beliefs and opinions of others without having to worry that we'll be killed doing so. But we also must respect the different voices that people have, and not make others feel oppressed or wrong for feeling the way they do. We all came to have our own beliefs and opinions, however different they may be, but we all did so under the SAME SYSTEM. We can use this new time to work together to make that system even better for everyone. Yes we can.

September Update

Having not posted for a while, I seem to have sort of forgotten what has happened over the past couple of months. So I'll look at my calendar and update based on that.

The Preston Family Reunion 2008 was held the weekend of July 4th in Crystal Lake, hosted by my mom. She did an awesome job, and it was great to see all of the family. I had some very important and emotional conversations with certain family members, and ultimately feel closer than ever to them.

I'm still waiting for my wedding photo album from my asshole photographer. It's going on 10 months now since I ordered...

I went up north for a short weekend visit at the end of July, while the rest of the fam stayed the whole week. It was a little weird not staying up there the whole time-- that's the first time in like 15 years that I haven't been up there for a whole week in the summer :(. That's what I get for taking 2 weeks to go "down south."

Skip and Paradigm Pulse had a show in August at The Rave. I was very proud of all of them, and they had a great turnout. I even got a visit with Kathryn, Lindsay and Steph out of it!

We celebrated Stephanie's birthday with a boat cruise on the Milwaukee river at the end of August-- so much fun, and great to see everyone!

As for September, the summer has been winding down, and I'm trying to make the most of these last few weekends of beautiful weather-- I hope they last! The DSAW Buddy Walk is coming up this weekend, which is always a fun event and great fundraiser for Down Syndrome awareness. That's it for now!

Adios Locks

So, last Wednesday I cut 10 inches off my hair~ yikes! I was actually really relieved, and Molly did a great job. It's taken some getting used to, I think this is the shortest it's ever been, but I really like it. I hope some little girl needing a wig from Locks of Love enjoys my hair!

Trip Report Numero Cinco

The rest of the trip was kind of a winding-down for all of us. We spent one last night in Cusco, then flew out early the next morning for Lima. We left Steph and Mike in the airport, then got a taxi for our hotel in Miraflores. It was nice to have the day in Lima to relax and explore, and that's pretty much all we did. We had a great dinner and went out for drinks, then went back to the hotel.

The next morning was still pretty calm, just packing and getting ready to head out. Then we had to ride in a taxi-van back to the airport. IT WAS THE SCARIEST TRANSPORTATION EXPERIENCE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! Our driver and the traffic were INSANE! I saw a car hit another car, then they both kept driving! Then we almost hit a bus head on! That was when I screamed "I hate this fucking city!" and promptly burst into tears! I swear I almost asked the driver to pull over so I could puke. When we got to the airport, I wanted to kiss the ground. I've never been so happy to get OUT of a car in my life. Wow. Okay, deep breath. Whew.

Anyways, we flew out of Lima to San Salvador, El Salvador to Miami, then spent the night in the Miami airport. I passed out, and apparently Jes and Sarah took compromising pictures of my ass with a small stuffed llama... I have yet to see those pictures, ladies. When we got to O'Hare, Mom and Dad were waiting for us in the airport, and we got our bags and said our goodbyes. The trip ended on a light note, and we all counted our blessings that we got each place safe, including home.

Trip Report Numero Cuatro

Day three was an okay day, as we only hiked for about 5 hours total, and it wasn't as hilly as the other parts. We were still glad to see the campsite, though, and it was only lunchtime! We got to take showers at this point, and man did they feel good! I've never felt so refreshed in my entire life. Seriously. After showers we had lunch, then had a couple of hours to just relax and take it easy. That evening we headed to a set of Incan ruins that were right near our site, and explored before dinner. Dinner that night was great, then we got to say goodbye to our porters (some of whom tried to makeout with the gringas...eew)

The next morning we were woken up at 3:30 so that we could be on the trail by 5. Everyone wanted to rush to get to the Sun Gate in time to see the sun rise over Machu Picchu. I was SO tired by that point, though, that I lagged back quite a bit. No need to hurry. I made it to the Sun Gate in time to see everyone, then started right back again down to Machu Picchu. It was kind of funny, though, because I was trying to beat the sun as it was coming over the mountains, so I was totally running down the trail. I think I probably looked pretty goofy. Getting to Machu Picchu was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, not to mention it was nice to take off the back pack and rest for a while. We had a tour of the ruins, explored some more, then went down the hill to Aguas Calientes for lunch. I have never tasted such the sweet taste of an ice-cold beer and pizza! After lunch we took a train to Ollantaytambo, then a bus back to Cusco, and our Inca Trail adventure was over.