I Suck At The Internet

http://xtinesscribbleboard.blogspot.com/

I'm hoping to actually keep this up to date. But I don't think anybody else uses blogspot... I still will read my livejournal but I don't anticipate ever posting on here again.

I still love everybody though!

It's been ages sinces I've updated my Livejournal. To be honest I doubt anybody even reads this anymore. I would probably be better about updating if I had more time... but having a 5 1/2 month old really takes up all your free time. In fact, the only reason I'm even able to post this is because I went to work this weekend... so I'm taking some of my "alone" time to make this quick update.

Gabriel is doing good. Like I said he's 5 1/2 months old now and is getting to be a really big boy. I'll never have time to post pictures of him up here, but in case anybody wants to see some recent photos you can go on my website -

http://web.me.com/christinegottenbos

I still try to update that every once in a while...

Oh, and we got a dog! His name is Wrigley and he's a siberian husky/basenji mix. (Don't ask...) It's kind of a weird story because to be honest I wasn't really looking for a dog, but our good friend has his sister and one day while I was surfing on Craigslist I saw an add for a "11 month old husky/basenji mix". Sure enough when I clicked on it this dog was a spitting image of Frannie (my friend's dog). And let me tell you, for a husky Frannie is an amazingly well behaved dog. With that said we just had to get Wrigley... and he's an amazing dog. I just love him to pieces. There are pictures of him on the website too.

I guess the other exciting thing is that next week is James and my 1st anniversary. So we're going down to Seward and going on a 6 hour wildlife tour on a boat. I'm really hoping to see some whales... and then we're going camping. My mom is going to babysit Gabriel and Wrigley for us so we're going to have two nights all to ourselves. It's going to be amazing. But I bet I won't be able to sleep in! And also I bet I won't even last the first night until I miss Gabriel... lol.

Anyway, there is so much more but I don't have to time or energy to talk about it all...

<3

It's been ages since I've posted in my livejournal. Quick update, baby is doing good and should be here anywhere between 3 to 6 weeks.

But the real reason I'm posting up on here is to vent about my god damn fucking snake cage!!!!!!!! ARGH. We're still trying to put this stupid thing together... We got the doors all finished and all this shit and then when I go to put the doors on I notice that where the two doors meet there's this nice big gap between them which our corn snake will be able to EASILY get out of. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH. ARGH. ARGH. FDKSLAJFLJELJAIF.


So then I tried to fuck with the screws to get the door to go over that little bit of less than a quarter inch that it needs to... BUT NO. NO IT DOESN'T WORK. So now my hands hurt... I've accidentally stripped some screws and now I'm just a big ol' pissed off tub of lard that wants her ravioli from this fancy restaurant that we'll be going to tonight.

*head slam*

Ugh, there is nothing exciting on the internet during the weekend. Everybody is actually out DOING stuff, unlike me. It's cuz the husband stays up until 3 in the am so he won't wake up for another hour or so. And it's currently 11:00 am. =C

But anyway it's nice to have a three day weekend and it's actually sunny out! I think maybe I'll go check out some garage sales? That and it's the grand opening of Babies R Us so I should go check that out... Although there are going to be so many pregnant women there... GAH. But, I wanna check out the sales!

Anyway, that's it. The husband surprised me and woke up now.

I'm so friggin' enraged right now. Twice in the past two weeks there have been pit bulls have been in the news in Anchorage because of attack on CHILDREN. One of them almost died...

That's not what gets me going though. I keep up with the local new via online because I don't actually get the paper. What is cool is that online you can post comments about the article. Now, what has me enraged is that how many IGNORANT people out there are blaming these attacks on the dog and not the owner! They are completely attacking the breed of dog and not even giving a second thought that the owner is to blame.

Anyway.. I'm not even going to go into this too much. All I have to say that any person out there that truly believes that it is the dog's fault needs to be shot. Yes, pit bulls are prone to aggression.. but it's the owners fault for not seeing the signs of aggression and not doing anything about it. Or worst, it's the owner fault for PROMOTING aggression. ARGH. It's the people who get hurt and the dog that has to die that loses in this whole situation.

It's so sad...

...That's really all I ever do anymore. This journal will be no different.

I hate trying to deal with medical bills and insurance companies. Whosever idea it was to send out a bill to you AND your insurance company at the same time is whacked. I never know how much money I owe. Then when I go talk to somebody about it they tell me, "Oh, well that should be covered by your insurance." SOOOO needless to say I have some bills here that are quite delinquent because I had no clue if my insurance was covering them or how much. >:E This next paycheck is gonna be TIIIIGHT. That's all right though, we'll survive.


Lets see.. my body freakin' aches like none other. If it's not one thing that hurts it's another. For instance right now it's my right shoulder blade. Luckily I get a massage tomorrow... probably the best $25 I'll ever spend. (YAY cheap co-pay...!)

I have severe heartburn. I think Gabriel is having a battle royale with my stomach. Ah, my little kick boxer...

And speaking of kick boxing, he's moving a ton now. And boy does he love to get rowdy right when I'm trying to turn in for the night. It's kinda cute though... and it's not just little pokes and prods, he's now trying to bust his way out. I can feel him twisting and turning and doing whatever else a fetus does. It's enjoyable though.. he kicked (or) punched his dad in the face.

I think I'm at that stage where I'm bored with my pregnancy. Most of the time I'm just completely uncomfortable and now I have to watch my belly balloon up. And to top it off I am finally needing to buy maternity clothes (yay, more money I need to spend that I don't have at this moment...>_>) To ellaborate on my boredom, I'm 6 months... meaning I have another 4 months. Maybe it just doesn't seem real to me yet... I'm kind of one of those people that an idea doesn't hit me until it's reality. And even though I can feel him moving around and I've seen pictures, he's still not a REALITY. I don't think he'll be real to me until I hold him for the first time... or even until I'm back at home and it's after the first night...

Anyway, I gotta jet and get some things done. Sorry that this sounds depressed and angsty and me hating life....

IT'S THE HORMONES TALKING.

I can't wait to be back to normal. :>

My fucking head hurts again. Being pregnant sucks... This is the second time that I've gotten this week long migraine. It blows so hard. I tell ya... no more children after this one. SERIOUSLY. No more! He will be my one and only child and I'm okay with that!

Oh, and we've changed his name... It will now be:

GABRIEL PAUL GOTTENBOS

I love the name Gabriel. It's just a powerful name...

Anyway, just a quick update. I need to go lay down...

Just letting you all know that yesterday we found out that we're having a little BOY!!! We both couldn't be happier! I'll make a more in depth post this afternoon after work and I'll try to post up the ultrasound pictures as well.

I figured I should do a much needed update... and now that I have this page open I don't even know where to start, and it's really hard to type when I can't put these god damned Pringles down.

BABY NEWS
Let's start there! I'm now at 16 1/2 weeks in case anybody is interested. I have my next appointment this Friday and then after that appointment I'll hopefully be able to schedule the ultrasound. I'm really excited for the next ultrasound because that's when we get to find out if it's a boy or a girl. I'll be honest, me and James are both really hoping for a boy, James more so than me. I honestly don't know how he's going to react if it's a girl... don't get me wrong, I know once he sees his baby for the first time when it's born he will love it no matter what the sex. But still, there is going to be that little bit of time when he will be genuinely disappointed. I mean, I guess it's kinda like really wanting chocolate cake for your birthday but instead getting vanilla... you're gonna be disappointed until you start eating the vanilla cake and realize that it's just as good. (Unless you really don't like vanilla cake... then my analogy doesn't mean shit).

I can feel him move now! Well, at least I can feel him when he's going balls to the walls in my womb. (FYI I refer to him as a he even though I don't know if it's a he...) But it's actually kinda creepy because I can also see him kick. I don't know why but I have a hard time explaining how it looks. It just looks like something is kicking/punching me from the inside.

And of course... I'm getting fat... yet not really putting on any weight right now though. It's kinda a weird thing to be seeing my stomach getting larger but the scale not going up. I'll try to get some pictures up sometime when I take some.

SNAKE NEWS
So I was cruising around on Craig's List and found the best deal in the world. Somebody was selling their 5 foot x 4 foot x 2 foot iguana cage and it looked pretty good. There was no price, but James decided to just call and see how much they were asking. When he talked to them they only wanted $125 for it! If anybody that owns reptiles knows that those types of cages don't come cheap... normally that thing should have costed around $300-$400. The previous owners had actually built it so I just don't think they knew how much it could sell on the market...

So needless to say our 6 foot Red-Tail is going to die and go to heaven once we get it finished. We had to clean and sand it down a bit and now I'm trying to paint it. After that we have to make it snake proof because before they were housing 2 iguanas and 4 turtles. We also took off the mesh that it on the doors and we're gonna put on plexi-glass and drill a couple small holes in it for ventilation. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of that up too!

OTHER NEWS
So this part I'm going to make quick because I'm actually trying to walk out the door within the next five minutes to go to the DMV and get a new license. My name is finally changed so I'm officially Christine Gottenbos. It's so awesome having a new last name that isn't generic and plain and old like Johnson. It's definitely taking a lot of getting used to but I really like it.

After that me and James are going to go and look at some new phones. Our current ones are going to shit and once the baby comes or even gets closer to coming there is no way that we're going to be able to afford getting new phones, so really it's now or never. Not to mention it will be nice for us both to have two phones just in case one of our phones breaks and we need another, especially considering we don't have a main line... we just use our cell phones.

And I'm sorry I haven't responded to anybody yet... I just suck at the internet right now. Seriously... I really need to start talking with people again but I just have been in my own little world as of recently.

And to top it all off there are TONS of thank you cards I need to send out....!

I figured it was probably about time that I post up wedding pictures and let everybody know how the wedding went! Although there really isn't anything to talk about, because as far as I'm concerned it went perfect. Well, I mean it was really obvious that we had not rehearsed the ceremony once, but it still went good. Lots of old friends showed up, like Rachel and Melissa, two of my best friends way back in Kindergarten and even before that. So that was really awesome.

And then other than that it was really cool that his mom got to come up and help us out. It was nice to see her again and his little sister. However now I need to get my butt into gear and make thank you cards... But I'll explain later why I haven't been able to. But first, ONTO THE PICTURES!!!

( Wedding Pictures )

So that's wraps up my wedding spiele. However I'm right now stuck at home for the next three days because I've had an excrutiating headache ever since Saturday morning. The doctor had already prescribed me Tylonel III which would take the edge off but not completely. So then I went to the doctor and they gave me some hefty pain pills. I have to go back in tomorrow cuz we don't know what's causing this headache. The good news is that the baby is doing just fine.

And the other good news is that my head doesn't hurt right now... so I think I'm gonna work on drawing a picture for thank you cards.

1996-2008

That's all I've really got to say about that...

Where to start? I guess I'll talk about wedding stuff first... considering that's the biggest thing happening in my life at the moment. (I mean, the baby is big too... but that really doesn't come more apparent until later on... as of right now he/she is fully self effecient and enjoying his hot tub/water bed home.) So, shall I talk about how badly I'm procrastinating with things? Right now I need to photocopy our state IDs so that way we can send them to the Bereau of Vital Statistics (something like that) along with $40 and along with the applications I printed out that way we can legally get married at our wedding rather than just standing up there and pretending that we're getting married! Oh, and along with that we still need to go with Erik to the court house that way we can get him solemnized to get us married! And don't even get me started on the actual wedding... me and my mom have this idea that we're just going to do it on a fly... you know, pretty much plan it as the day comes, but uhm, yeah we all know how well that's gonna work. So luckily a couple of my friends/my mom's friends are gonna help us out with organizing. I mean shit, I've only been to one wedding in my life!

Okay, so enough of the freakin' out part. Let's talk about how wonderful yesterday was! My old boss threw a wedding shower for me. I honestly wasn't expecting one, period, because all my girly friends are off doing their own things in the lower 48 (and the one that does live up here has much bigger issues to be dealing with right now). So of course when I first heard about having a wedding shower I was a bit skeptical... I haven't had a party thrown for me since I was 11 or 12 ya know? So I seriously thought it was going to be just kinda lame and awkward but in actuality it was a friggin' BLAST! I haven't laughed that hard in ages. And don't even get me started on the presents that I got. You know, I wasn't expecting anything more than some cards and gift certificates for like $10 but I got a new comforter, new sheets, and just a whole bunch of useful stuff like that. So now I gotta make up thank you cards which I'm hopefully going to whip out my art pad and draw something for them because I know they will all appreciate it.

That evening was also amazing by the way. James took me out for Mother's Day (D'awwww) to The Paris Club which supposedly has the best slab of steak here in Alaska. And let me tell you.. it was just as good as everybody says. I got a Petit Fele Minon (however you spell that) and a baked potato and I actually ate the whole damn thing. And to be truthful, it was also probably the best baked potato I've ever had too! (I think it had to do with the melted cheese... ever since I ate this baby I have been craving dairy like mad.)

And lets do just a little baby talk real quick. My next appointment is this coming up Friday which I'm a little nervous for because it's the appointment that they can check for down-syndrome. I mean, I know I shouldn't worry... I'm young and healthy and so is James so the chances of it happening are like less than 1 in a 1000 but still... just knowing that the possibility is there freaks me out. Oh and here's a fact that may make anybody rethink about having kids past 40... the chances of down-syndrome in a baby birthed from a woman over 40 are 1 in 80. I personally don't understand why somebody over 40 would want to have a baby.. or even worst, somebody in their 50s. Anyway, I'm not even going to get into that.

That's really all I've got for now. I'm sure I could rant on about ten billion other things but I don't want this to get boring.

Oh and to add just one little thing... I FOUND A DRESS. Thank God. However now I just gotta find some shoes.

At buying a dress... UGH. That's all right. I still have time. Although I'm really tempted to just wear a t-shirt and jeans at this point. Dresses just aren't made for small booby girls like me.

The babyfair was pretty cool. Found the car seat I want to buy eventually and James actually made his first chiropractic appointment. So hopefully he can eventually not have to use a sleeping pill every night to get to sleep. The poor boy...


And one more thing...

GO SEE IRONMAN.

I'm not really that big of a fan of all the marvel comics... I personally thought Spiderman sucked balls. But Ironman was epic.

So this past Wednesday was my first official appointment. It lasted around an hour and a half and was very informative which was nice. First she had me sit down and she pretty much drilled James and me with family history questions. The only thing that she says we may need to watch for is that James had a thyroid problem when he was younger which made him not grow. He had to take growth hormones for 9 years but luckily as far as anybody knows it shouldn't be genetic. Nobody else in his family had it, but his mom is adopted and has no idea about her biological parents so really who knows what could have come from her side. But other than that I'm not too worried! We're both young and healthy so I don't really foresee any problems (knock on wood).

Okay, so after the drilling she had to do a womanly check (blech) even though I had one just recently, they say every newly pregnant woman needs to have one done again. That was all right though because after that we got to go into the next room and get the ultrasound done!



This is little Tyler OR Alice at 10 weeks. As you can see he/she already is starting to look human! He/she has nice little arm buds and feet buds and a big head and at this point probably a face only a mother could love.

After that we went back into the doctor's office and that's when she started prescribing me better prenatals and she also prescribed me Tylonel 3 for my migraines. The cause of my migraines has always been fluctuations in my hormones, which is why I had to be on a progesterine only birth control, and which is why being pregnant kinda sucks because my hormones are now all whacked which is making the migraines act up.

I'll admit, so far pregnancy isn't all it's cracked up to be... between the back pain, morning sickness, the migraines, always being tired, and the lack of a sex drive it's really just kinda sucking, lol. I know it will get better though once I hit the second trimester and I can't WAIT. The house is trashed but I just can't pick myself up off the couch to really do anything right now. I don't know HOW somebody could go through this after already having one kid.

But besides all that I'm really excited to go through all this. I'm very ready for the challenge of raising a child. It'll be like nothing I've done before and of course part of me is scared shitless, but like I said, I'm more excited for the challenge. And I could probably just ramble on and on about this but I think it's really unexplainable... the bottom line is you either want kids or not. If you want kids you know what the feeling is, and if you don't, well it's not something that can be explained. Or maybe it could... but I'm just not the one that can do it.

Anyway, enough rambling about that! Today I'm going to the baby fair with James, my mom, and a couple friends. That should be pretty fun and then after that I need to go dress shopping. I'm getting married in three weeks and still don't have a dress... ha ha. I hate dress shopping...

Oh, and I bought NINTENDOGS. And it was so totally worth it.

I really need to get my ass in gear and clean this fucking apartment. It's really starting to drive me insane. I just keep looking at some of the dirt collecting on the floor and I feel that little tinge of irritation crawl up my spine. But alas, I'm too fucking lazy. That and we're pretty much out of cleaning products because of our last move. Well, if I just get laundry done today.. that will make me feel a bit better.

So other plans for the day include going to the store and trying to find Mariokart. Surprisingly when Super Smash Bros. came out, they weren't all sold out. So maybe, just maybe we can get lucky and find a copy. That and I'm probably seriously going to buy Nintendogs. I used to have that game ages ago, but when I sold my DS I also sold that game. And as of lately I have just been have this dying urge to get a dog. It's really bad actually... So maybe that game can help curve my desire a bit. Because the worst part is that even if we did live in a place that would allow us to have a dog, it just wouldn't make sense to have a K-9 quite yet. I mean, if we had a dog before we got pregnant, that would be one thing, but trying to get one now after knowing that we're gonna have a newborn in a few months just would be unfair to a dog...

Anyway, to continue with my plans for they day, James and I are also going and getting some old fashioned pictures taken today. There was a deal going on at a local grocery store where you can get a 13x11 print for $15. And if anybody who has ever gotten professional pictures knows, those damn studios charge an arm and a leg.

And now I will begin my day by sorting laundry and waking up the boy... *snicker*

So apparently a bunch of people have added me to the friend's list and I never added them to mine on this here Livejournal.

All I can say is Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet... I get to stalk more people now. *Cheezy satisfied grin*

My nose is congested and I constantly have the feeling that I need to sneeze, but then the sneeze doesn't happen and instead my eyes just get all watery from the irritation. And to top it all off a couple of weeks ago I peed on a stick and come to find out that there is a good chance there is going to be a little Xtine running around (YAY!!!!). And the reason this becomes a problem is because I'm pretty much not allowed to take any medication... except Sudafed, which only makes me feel queasy.

My first actual appointment is going to be on April 30th... and for the most part everybody so far knows. Well, with the exception of my work (with the exception of a handful of people there that know - completely by accident on my part) and of course my internet friends which I'm just now throwing into the loop! I was going to wait, but, I'm home sick and damn bored and I wanted to blog and that's really the only thing I can think of blogging about. I mean, I could go on about how this weekend me and James decided to watch the Lord of the Rings Triology (extended edition, I might add) but quite frankly there isn't all that much to talk about with that. Except I would bone Aarogon (and I think I fucked up the spelling of his name, oops). He's hot.

Anyway, so me and James are friggin' excited beyond belief. We both want children and we were kinda hoping that it was going to happen a little later than it has because we were hoping that it would happen after the wedding. And we say we were expecting it to happen later because, believe it or not, it's really hard to get pregnant! There's only like a 5 day window every cycle that you can get pregnant apparently! And the last time I went in to the doctor for birth control they said that I have a tipped uterus which is supposed to make it even harder to get pregnant. She said that it would more than likely take longer, but apparently James has super sperm. And also, it takes a couple cycles for your period to get back to normal after you get off birth control as well. But, as life always goes, things don't ever go according to plan, and we're perfectly fine with that. We knew that there would be a slight possibility that I could get pregnant really fast and we were okay with that. In fact it's kind of a pleasant surprise.

Sadly though, my blogs for the next few months now are going to just bore everybody with baby talk. I apologize in advance for that but it's really a big part of my life now, ha ha, so it's kinda hard to be thinking of other things. That and the morning sickness makes it hard to think about other things...

Oh, and by the way, can I just say that my boobs have been FABULOUS lately?!

The weather is going CRAZY!!!

I mean, I understand I live in Alaska... and I also understand that sometimes it likes to snow in May, but we just got maybe a foot of snow! Everything was just about melted but now we have to go all through breakup again!

All I have to say about that is I'm making the boy wipe off my car. Because I'm a brat like that.

In other news my wedding plans keep changing. Well sorta. The only thing that definitely hasn't changed is the date May 23rd 2008. That and we've definitely decided on making it a pot luck, so if you plan on coming try to bring a small dish or something. We'll provide plates and silverware and drinks and probably the main dish (because I'm going to see if my dad can BBQ some ribs) and right now we're trying to figure out if it's going to be at the Beach Lake Chalet or at the Chugiak Dog Mushers Club House. Our first pick will be the Chalet but there's a good chance that it's already booked for Memorial Day Weekend.

I'm beginning to think that maybe I should just keep my mouth shut about it until we have all the plans actually together, but whateveerrrrrrrr.


And to top it all off... I desperately need to Livejournal icons. Like ASAP.

How do you help your friend who is using heroin? I mean REALLY.

It's been AGES since I've updated this journal and I really think I should keep a constant updated journal, mostly for my own sanity, I think. Venting out on a journal would probably really help me out I think... and as much as I would like to do it on my Myspace Blog, there are just too many people from my work on there and I want my private life as far away from work life as possible. The End.

But enough of that.

I'm moving this weekend, yay! Into a two bedroom. My fiancee and I figure that it's only $15 a month more and also when the time comes that we want to have kids it will be nice to already be situated in a two bedroom rather than trying to scurry and hustle to find one later. The packing and actually moving part SUCKS. Yeah, it's fun to move for the first time... but after that it gets to be no fun anymore. All it is is stress, and this time we have to do a deep clean of the apartment we're in now so that way we can get our security deposit back. Blech.

Lets see, the other thing we are planning on doing is building our snakes a new home. They currently live in a 55 gallon and we are wanting to build a nice 5 foot tall home for them. We don't have the dimensions figured out yet, but we're going to talk with the lady who we rescued them from because she has made plenty of custom homes so she'll be the best help we can get.

Speaking of snakes, I have some pictures of them. ( Behind this cut of course!!! )

WEDDING PLANS!!!! We have finally set a date! It's May 23rd! If anybody is interested in going let me know! We're having the ceremony on Skyline and the reception afterwards either at the Beach Lake Chalet or at the Chugiak Dog Mushers Club House. Not sure which yet. We also got the rings in the mail today! I'll post pictures of them in another post sometime.

Anyway, that's an update on my current life. Not too too much happening but enough to get me a little stressed out... mostly just with the moving thing.