Early Riser + Thanksgiving Happenings

Well, one thing is for sure.  My body does not let me sleep past 7am anymore.  It doesn't care if it's Thanksgiving, the weekend, vacation, or a lazy work day.  Bummer.  Sometimes it's even earlier!  But at 7am, it's like a signal is transmitted from my stomach to my brain, "EAT NOW."  I'm currently at my grandma's house in Bossier City, LA and she was thoughtful enough to buy me some delicious powder sugar donuts... my favorite.  So every morning at 7am I've been raiding her pantry for these scrumptious, not so healthy, goodies.  Russell laughed at me this morning... bringing the bag of donuts back to bed at 7am because no one else was awake.

We have enjoyed a great trip to my great home state of Louisiana, filled with good food, (too much) football, laughter, and some always welcomed family time.  I also got to see my friend Keri who I've known since I was 3 years old.  I hope the little baby in my belly makes a friend like that that he or she can stay connected to for so many years.  It is such a blessing. :) 


Keri & I about 5 years ago :)  We need an updated pic!

Yesterday, we went to my aunt and uncle's house for the afternoon.  We had Johnny's pizza... something I probably haven't had since I was 14 (when we moved to OK) and OMG I had forgotten how incredible this pizza was.  My sister and cousins went shopping, and I opted for a pedicure.  My nail color is called "I Don't Do Dishes."  I just couldn't pass that up.

A recent picture of my cousins and sister and I eating pizza... but not Johnny's pizza.  I guess we like eating pizza together.

We are leaving this morning to head back to OK!  Bedlam is tonight!!  And we're going!!  That's OSU vs. OU for those of you that don't know.  It's a big deal.  And really big this year b/c OSU is having such a great season!!  If we beat OU, we will go to the Big 12 Championship... I'm not a football expert, but I don't think that's ever happened.  Go Pokes!!!  We haven't been able to go to a game all season, so we are so excited to be in Stillwater in Boone Pickens Stadium tonight!  We'll be watching the game with this cute newly engaged couple...

AAAHHH people are awake!  Yay!  Gotta go... more to come later.

Cravings and Close Calls

A trip to the grocery store now-a-days is much more eventful than before.  Some things make me instantly nauseated and some things take a life of their own and ask me to rip them open and eat them right that second.  Thankfully I still have enough self-control to speed past the gross foods and not tear open the yummy ones.  A few things I've eaten lately that I don't normally buy... cottage cheese & peaches, pistachios, chocolate pudding, I could go on.  The most impulsive buy was this...

I LOVE this key lime pie.  My family knows this and my grandma usually has one waiting for me when I come visit.  I walked past this pie in Target the other day and practically drooled on the floor.  I looked for the individual servings, but had no luck... so I bought the whole pie!!!  I gave in to the impulse and am SO glad I did.  I'm still working on finishing it, but it's delicious every step of the way!

Close Calls... I'll try to write about this delicately... I'm in Walmart yesterday, eating a sucker I just got from the post office, and all the sudden intense nausea.  Like, WHOA I need to find a bathroom.  I looked like the old women in our neighborhood, speed-walking to the bathroom.  Thankfully I was able to calm myself and not toss the cookies, but I really thought I was going to for a second. 

Another close call happened with my good friend Emily.  Here is a pic of us and Katherine at Emily's wedding a couple years ago.  We've known each other for almost 10 years now and she knows me really well!  So I just couldn't keep a secret from her a few weeks ago...

We were on our way back to Tulsa from watching Freshman Follies in Stillwater and I was feeling so nauseated riding in her car.  Where were my crackers when I needed them?!  I was taking deep breaths, trying to distract myself with conversation, but it just got really bad.  This was the weekend before our doctor's appt when we were going to start telling everyone.  I complained of car sickness (which has NEVER happened in our long friendship) and I got her to turn the heat down and put some air on my face.  But it just wasn't getting better... so I made her pull over.  I don't think I have ever pulled over on the side of the road to get sick.  And I really didn't want to right then!  So we pull over and I just couldn't handle it anymore, "I'm not carsick, I'm PREGNANT!!" She screamed and hugged me and it was a really exciting moment.  Thankfully the excitement and all her questions got my mind off it and I was able to keep it down.  I made it home and scarfed some crackers immediately.  Problem solved.  I think this will remain my favorite (or most comical) way the pregnancy news was spread.  Ha! 

FAQs

I get a lot of the same questions right now, so if you were wondering - I'll answer them here!

When are you due?  June 22nd!

How are you feeling?  Really, really tired.  I'm an early to bed person anyway, but this has just gotten ridiculous.  If I sit on the couch for more than 30 minutes at a time, I just melt into it.  There have been a couple nights Russell and I have been watching tv and I'm out at like 7:30pm.  It's crazy!  Someone told me that forming a baby inside you is the equivalent of running a marathon everyday.  I sure do agree.

Have you been sick at all?  No throwing up yet so that's good... but I get queasy every few hours.  I just never feel 100%.  But that's ok, b/c there's a baby in there!!  I've found that if I always have something on my stomach, I feel better.  So basically I'm eating all the time and will probably get HUGE over the next few months.

Are you going to find out the sex?  I am waaaay too much of a planner not to.

Do you have a preference?  I will of course be happy either way, but I'd like to have a girl at some point so if the first one could be a girl I'd be thrilled.  Russell wants a boy, but will be happy either way.

Do you have any names picked out?  Yes!  Before I met Russell, he had already decided on his first boy's name.  Gabriel William.  We'll call him Gabe (or Gabey-baby early on...my idea! ha!).  William is Russell's middle name so we'll carry it down.  A girl's name is much harder... we like SO many.  It's a little tough to pair something with Friske, so I tend to not like anything that ends in a "long e" sound.  Like my name for instance.  Ha.

How was the first doctor's appointment?  Great!  I was so anxious/nervous/excited to see the sonogram, find out the due date, and start telling people!  My doctor is great and I'm very comfortable with her.  She actually went to school in Shreveport, LA where I'm originally from!  She was listening to me breathe and she said, "are you nervous?" and I said "Yes!  Anxious!"  She said my heart was going crazy and to take some deep breaths.

What has been the coolest part so far?  Telling Russell, my family, and everyone close to me was incredible.  But seeing the sonogram for the first time was just the neatest thing in the world.  It definitely made it more real for both of us.  Russell teared up and I was just giddy with excitement.  Pretty much exactly like when we got married!  We could see the little tiny heartbeat going crazy in there.  The human body amazes me and God is so good!!  It's a cute little peanut... or jelly belly as Russell has been saying.  He or she was not quite an inch long here.  Here's a pic...

Spreading the News...

I took a test (well...4 to be exact) before church one Sunday in mid-October.  I had to hold back the excitement and act normal at church so Russell wouldn't suspect anything.  Inside I was going nuts!  It was a LONG day waiting for him to get home from work... I bought some pink and blue balloons and tied them to a bib that said "If you think I'm cute, you should see my Dad."  I put them in what will be the nursery, set up the video camera, and led him there when he got home.  His reaction is priceless... shock, excitement, tears, fulfillment.  Maybe we'll show the video at a baby shower or something. :)  One really cool thing he revealed to me was that while he's been fasting (a voluntary thing he felt God was calling him to for 40 days) he had been praying that God would fulfill the desire of his heart...to be a Dad.  I had no idea he was specifically praying for this to happen and when he told me, my heart melted.  God truly answers prayers!  We are so blessed!

 

How cute is he?!

So then we had to tell the parents.  I happened to be going to visit my parents the following weekend, but Russell wasn't going with me and he wanted to see their reaction.  I made this t-shirt and had him start talking to them on Skype.  I came into the computer screen with my "Baby" shirt and the conversation stopped, then there was a short pause, then a loud, long SCREAM from my mom and an adorable smile and big eyes from my Dad.  Then my mom screamed, "Spencer (my 16 year old bro), your sister's pregnant!!!"  They were completely overjoyed and a little shocked too I think.  The next night we told my sister, Marissa, the same way.  She absolutely cried her eyes out and had really sweet things to say about what great parents we would be.  A couple days later we took Russell's parents out to dinner under the premise that we were thanking them for hosting our LifeGroup a couple weeks prior.  They bought it and believed us when we said we got them a gift.  The gifts were little bibs that said "I Love Grandma" and "I Love Grandpa."  They opened them and showed as much excitement as you can in a public place.  They are thrilled to add a 4th grandchild to the mix.  That weekend I went to New Orleans to visit my family and my mom's parents were there too.  I put the "Baby" shirt on and told them I wanted to show them my new t-shirt.  I recorded this one too.  My grandpa literally shouted "WHAAAAAT?!?!" and my grandma was still trying to figure it out.  It was so cute.  Then the thought of adding a "great" to their name was kinda scary but they just couldn't be happier.  We told the rest of the grandparents over the phone and made them keep a secret for like 3 weeks.  It was torture on everyone...us too.  Here's a pic of me in my baby shirt...

As most of you know, we waited until after our first doctor appointment at 8 weeks (more on that later) to tell everyone else.  It has been such a blast telling everyone and seeing people share in our excitement!  This baby has a whole lot of people awaiting its arrival and will be SO loved!!

P.s.  anyone know how to rotate pictures?  Or do they need to already be rotated when I upload them?  Blogging beginner... bare with me.

Why Brussell Sprouts?

Hello all!  I am new to blogging, but hoping it will become something I love to do.  I love reading my friends' blogs, and now that we are having a BABY...I thought it would be a fun thing to do to document the pregnancy and help out-of-towners feel closer.  Why call it Brussell Sprouts you ask?  In college my dear friend Heidi nicknamed Russell and I "Brussell."  I was racking my brain trying to come up with a fun way to use our last name, Friske, in the blog name but couldn't settle on anything.  "We Got Friske," "Friske Adventures," "It's Good to be a Friske,"... just weren't quite cutting it.  My mom remembered the Brussells nickname and I mentioned it to Heidi who came up with Brussell Sprouts!  Get it?  Sprouts b/c it's like a baby!  Ok, maybe you are quicker than I give you credit for.  Anyway, that's the origin!  Thanks Mom & Heidi!  Successful first post?