I was so looking forward to catching up on some writing.  Imagine my shock last night after brewing my decaf coffee and settling in on the couch with the laptop to find this…

Um…who is that generic-looking college student and what the hell is she doing on my blog?  I panicked and immediately contacted the woman who is my savior when it comes to technical blogging fiascos, my blog host Kelly from Twenty70Hosting.  I’m all like, “Kelly!  HELP! What happened?!”

Turns out, my domain name had expired even after automatically renewing itself last year.  So, um, okay. What was up? Apparently my payment method had expired also.  I registered somebodysparents.com like, I dunno, 1 1/2 or 2 years ago.  I learned if you buy through eNom or GoDaddy, an expired domain automatically defaults to Google. (Specifically Google Apps.) Google Apps sent me notices to my Gmail saying that it would automatically update.  Great! No worries!

Ha! What a joke.  According to Google, I don’t have access as an admin to MY OWN DOMAIN!  Yes, the one that I own. Huh?! Any time I requested a username or password change to log into Google Apps to reclaim my domain I got a response that it was an invalid request.  Kelly couldn’t help me unless I could reclaim my domain name.

In desperation I called GoDaddy and eNom. They told me to log into Google Apps.  Right.  Sure.

In further desperation I called Google Apps support.  They wouldn’t let me talk to anyone without getting a pin number from my Google Apps admin page.  Yep, the same one they wouldn’t let me access after repeated requests.  Right.  Sure.

This went on until nearly midnight, way past my bedtime since getting knocked up again.  I sent a sad Tweet and posted a pitiful message on my Facebook Fan Page before collapsing into bed.  I couldn’t do anything while I was busy at work and busy as a mommy this evening.  I sadly ignored all the amazing Facebook messages and Tweets from some of my darling readers today. They just made me sadder.  (I have since responded. Thanks for all the support! Love you guys!)

I will tell you.  I never actually cried over the Internet.  (Even though I wanted to.)

Yes, I was worried about blog stats, SEO and losing readers.  Of course.  All bloggers worry about that stuff.  But, that is not what made me panic.  It’s not what made me want to cry.

I almost lost it because I thought I had lost all the memories I had recorded.  This blog is not a place where I just write about cool free stuff I get.  This is my heart and my life on a screen.  The thought of losing it was terrifying.

So, until I can get Google’s attention, Kelly helped me get set up here at somebodysparentsblog.com until some Internet Nazi from on-high will let me have somebodysparents.com back.  I will change it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc. Let me know if I missed somewhere to update.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading.  I will keep writing because I love it.  Before I collapse in bed tonight after another evening of troubleshooting, I will leave you with a picture of the girl I always want you to see when you come to this place.

You see that face? That’s the face of a woman living out a lifelong dream.  It has always been my goal to find a pillow that stays cool at night.  I had heard of people putting their traditional pillows in the refrigerator.  I have to tell you, as icky as it sounds to have your pillow next to your sauerkraut and cottage cheese, I considered it.  I like the cool side of the pillow, what can I say?  You can imagine how psyched I was when Chili Technology asked me to review their Chili Cloud Gel Pillow.  I imagined it would be like the other side of the pillow for Peter Griffin

I have this thing where I can’t sit in a seat someone else just sat in.  I hate residual butt heat.  At my last job the guys in one area knew this.  So, when they saw me coming they would all run and fill the seats before I came in the room.  Some would even proudly announce how much gas they had produced in their seat so I would be sure to know how warm they had left that particular chair for me.  Gross.

I also can’t stand to have my head get too hot at night which meant I was a frequent pillow flipper.

I even had a fancy Tempur-Pedic-like pillow from Brookstone for the past few years that my Mother-In-Law bought me for Christmas.  The Chili Cloud Gel Pillow had a big pillow case to fill because I really liked the support of the foam in the Brookstone one.  It had a satin side and I liked how the satin made my head feel a little cooler, but I still found myself turning it instead of flipping it.

I was skeptical, but the Chili Pillow has not disappointed me.  It has a gel panel that keeps your head and face noticably cool. It’s a really neat technology.  Check it out here.  The foam-like material it’s made from is amazing, ya’ll! It is very supportive and doesn’t lose shape.  I HATE bunching up hotel pillows or doubling up old traditional pillows.  Again, I was coming off a fancy pillow, so this one had to deliver in supportiveness and it did!

The one thing I would change about the Chili Pillow is the size of the gel pad.  I wish it extended all the way to the edge of the pillow, that way my neck and shoulders would feel cool all the time too.  Plus, my head rarely stays in the middle of the pillow.  Call me a pregnant princess, but I really want complete comfort as I am gestating and sleeping at the same time.

The Chili Cloud Gel Pillow would be awesome for any pregnant woman, or anyone fussy about their temperature at night.  Have any of you ever used a pillow like this?  Would you? Have you tried others before? Would this kind of thing appeal to you?  Let me know and I’ll tell Chili Technology what you think.

Disclaimer: Chili Technology gave me a Chili Cloud Gel Pillow to collect my drool.  My drooling over it is totally free and totally honest. 

I had to describe what the first trimester feels like to a man the other day. Not just any man, my husband. I wasn’t sure where to start with this description. How do you define these three months of life that begin another? I think you have to take it in phases.

Phase 1: Ignorance and Wonder: In this phase you don’t even know you’re knocked up. Nope. You are in the dark as much as that zygote in your uterus. During this time you may be blissfully unaware of your delicate condition and decide to party hard at your friend’s wedding, eat sushi appetizers and go on roller coasters because you have to get all that in before you get pregnant, right? So, you feel oblivious.

You may be more cautious because you are in your “two week wait.” If you don’t know what that means, you must not hang out on fertility and pregnancy message boards. For shame! The 2WW or TWW is the time between ovulation and your expected period. A gal desperately seeking conception may not dare let champagne nor raw fish touch her lips. This means she is probably counting the days until she can pee on a plastic stick. Chances are, you are overly assessing every stomach rumble to figure out if it’s morning sickness. So, you feel anxious.

Phase 2: Queasy: Morning sickness is a woefully misnamed affliction. Pick a time of day. Each girl feels sick at a different time. For me, it was in the evening. Most are hanging over the toilet when they wake up. The unlucky ones are so sick all the time they actually lose weight in the first trimester because they can’t keep anything down. The doctor may give them Zofran. Then they feel like they’ll never poop again. So, you feel nausous and constipated.

Phase 3: Drugged: Surely someone has poisoned you. They must have slipped something in your drink. I personally had flashbacks to my 8th grade mono days. That’s how tired you feel.

Imagine you are on a long car or boat trip and you feel seasick. Okay, then what do you do? You take a Dramamine, right? Let’s be honest, Dramamine only touches nausea a little. It really just knocks you out. Combine the feelings of phases 2 and 3. So, it feels like you’re a seasick person on Dramamine.

Phase 4: Generally Emotional: If you really want to be pregnant, you could be crazy elated. Regardless of whether this is a surprise baby or not, you’re pretty much terrified because once you see that plus sign, the uncertainty sets in. You are worried about the baby and hoping the pregnancy goes well. You are unsure you will be a good mother, or unsure you can handle another child. So, you feel overwhelmed.

Phase 5: Bloated: That’s self-explanatory.

I guess if you have to describe it to someone you can say the first trimester feels oblivious-anxious-nauseous-constipated-drugged-exhausted-elated-worried-usure-overwhelmed and puffy.

Thank God it’s over. Hello second trimester. I’ve been waiting for you. You’re much easier to describe.

I didn’t know that I needed today.

I didn’t know that I needed to see my daughter’s excitement when she woke up in the bed next to me, surprised that I was there. We are spending the night with my sister and brother-in-law. When I put her down, she thought that was just her bed for the night, not knowing we were sharing. I didn’t know that when I woke up I needed her wide eyes smiling at me and I needed to hear her whisper, “Mama!”

I didn’t know that I needed to catch my husband on the phone for a last goodbye early in the morning before he flew to the other side of the world. I needed to miss him and needed to tell him I loved him.

I needed the last minute rush of printing blog business cards at the FedEx Kinkos at 8:00am this morning because I can’t for the life of me find all the damn cards I had printed for BlogHer ’12 and I had to have new ones for SITS Bloggy Boot Camp today. I needed the fast work and kindness of Chris at FedEx Kinkos. Hey, FedEx execs! Give that guy a raise!

I needed the bustling room of other bloggers and chats about SEO and utilizing Pinterest. I needed to hear the ideas of speakers and reminders of new Facebook rules for fan pages.

I needed to come home to my happy child who is finally feeling better after almost a full week of nasty funk. I needed to see that she had been spoiled rotten that day as only aunts and uncles can spoil a child.

I needed to eat greasy pizza and lick the parmesan off my fingers while listening to my sister’s infectious laugh. I needed to sniffle through the final episode of “The Office” and recall our favorite of Steve Carrell’s “That’s what she said” lines.

Mostly I needed this break.

I needed to restore myself a little and today did it. I’ve been a little worried about me lately. I wasn’t really myself through the first trimester and then the move. I’ve been more stressed than necessary at work. Frankly, I need to relax about it all. The pregnancy, work, the move, all of it. I need to give myself a break.

So I did, because I needed it.

Greyson let me sleep in while he got up to make me a spectacular breakfast.  Before that, he had to deal with a massive out-of-Pull-Up explosion Charlotte had overnight.  (Remind me of this before Father’s Day.)  We watched Kristen Wiig on Saturday Night Live on the DVR.  We took some time to blow some bubbles in the yard before I took off to get a much needed pedicure and made a Target run.  

After a family nap my mom came over to play with Charlotte and we ate dinner.  Mom and I left to see Carol Burnett perform at a theater.  My mom was always a fan of the Carol Burnett Show and we knew her being in town on Mother’s Day night would be the perfect gift.  The loud cackling across the theater?  That was us.

I figured this would be a good day to debut the bump at 15.5 weeks.  I hope your Mother’s Day was this awesome!