Birthing Class Stories - Episode 1

Allrighty...so we had our first birthing class experience - and it was interesting.
If I had to venture a guess, I'd say we're probably the oldest ones in the class - which is kinda scary. There is one other couple who MIGHT be close to our age, but it's hard to tell.
So the first thing we see upon walking in the room is that up on the board, there is a list of questions - name, due date, dr's name, job title, etc, etc. - It was like the first day of school when you have to stand up and say your name and one word that describes you or some crap like that. I HATE that...
So she goes around the room and asks each couple each question, as well as what type of labor you plan on having (natural or drugs) and what your feelings are about labor.
Everyone is being so sweet about it and saying things like "well, we're really trying for a natural birth...and we're really excited and anticipating this day...maybe a little nervous - but more so excited and can't wait!"
There were a couple of people who admitted they were a bit anxious - but they would add on how thrilled and excited they were and it was all very sweet and nice.
When she got us though - Hubs said "well...as far as the drugs go - BRING EM ON- for both of us!". Some people laughed - some didn't. I'm not sure if they know that we're totally serious about that. I don't see the point of being uncomfortable if I don't have to be. Course I know, it might not work out the way I think - but I'm all for taking drugs, and have no actual intention of purposefully going without.
When he answered how he was feeling about labor, his response was "blllllggggghhhhhh!" and my response was "as far as labor is concerned...I'm not even gonna lie - I'm scared to death!"
and the instructor was nodding her head and going "ooookay, allright...well we'll try to help you with that - have you ever seen a real birth before?"
and I said "yes, yes I have - but I'm not sure that helped - I think it just scared the crap outta me"
So basically, already our answers were pretty bold compared to everyone else's. I personally think that out of the 12 couples in that class, I can't possibly be the only one who's terrified of shooting a kid out of my vagina - so they're a buncha liars...but whatever.
We're all within just a few weeks of each other, and everyone is a totally different shape so it's kinda funny to look around the room at all these pregnant women in one place. There is one couple there who can't be more than 18...and not only did she not know the name of her doctor - but she also didn't know how many weeks she was ("I only know months" she said...which is flippin WEIRD) and also when asked if they'd chosen a pediatrician - they didn't seem to know what that was. Very odd. I worry for the future.

Anyway - so here we start out being the only ones who admitted to wanting drugs and being completely freaked out...and we're the only ones who don't know what we're having, which apparantly is more unusual than I first thought. We're also the only ones who won't be breastfeeding (I have medical reasons people...don't bug me - I would if I could) and we're the only ones with a doctor who has a porno sounding last name...So yeah, feeling a weeeee bit like the outcasts already.
The thing I can't stand about the class is that we have to sit on these hard ass chairs for 2 hours...NOT COMFORTABLE. Oh yeah, and we watched a video of a mexican woman giving birth in her tub at home. They didn't show a whole lot because she was in the tub - so no up close crotch shots or anything, but after it was over, I looked over and hubs eyeballs were popping out of his head and he leaned over and whispered loudly "Hey...do you think it's too late to change our mind?"
Ummm, ya think?
The instructor was full of information about dialating and effacing and she busted out a baby and a pelvis to show us how that all goes down - at one point she pulled off the baby's head...which cracked me up cause she just yanked it off.....then she pulled out this weird sock looking thing what was supposed to mimic a uterus...and proceeded to squeeze the baby's head through the sock hole. I couldn't help it - I was cracking up! (yes, I'm 12 years old) There's just something really jacked up about seeing a fake baby head coming out of a striped blue sock....call me crazy.

I'm kinda wondering if this class is going to make me feel better about the whole labor thing - or if it's just going to freak me out even more. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

A Shameful Admission...

Okay...it's honesty day over here at Che Serenity Now.
I have a confession to make. Something I'm extremely embarrassed to admit - and I can't believe I've let my procrastination skills reach such a degree.
You remember a few posts ago when I mentioned that I still have my wedding dress crumbled in a bag in my closet, and have yet to get it cleaned? Well, that's pretty ridiculous considering I've now been married all of SIX YEARS. But it's nothing compared to the fact that I have an appointment this afternoon to meet with our wedding photographers to finally turn in my selection of pictures for our wedding album.
Yes folks, I was married six years ago - and have spent the last six years with an album of proofs floating around my house, and have yet to get our wedding photo album pictures chosen or turned in.
First of all - I'm damn lucky the photographers are still even in the area....because everything is paid for, it's just been a matter of me sitting down and selecting the pictures for our album and turning them in to the photographers so they can create our lovely memory book.
I have no wedding pictures of us in our house - nobody on either side of our family have any wedding pictures of us - and I am probably the most ridiculous person ever to even have HAD a wedding....considering my procrastination skills.
I seriously think that we got married - and I said "WHEW! well I'm glad THAT'S over...let's get on with life" and didn't think about anything wedding related after that.
I've honestly never even sat down and watched our entire wedding video...

Sooooo - yesterday, I decided enough was enough...my nesting skills are in full force, and I've been feeling the distinct need to tie up all my "loose ends". Meaning, all the crap that sits in the back of my head in that "oh yeah, I need to do that..." section.
I called the photographers and made an appointment for this afternoon. I asked her if I won the prize for biggest slacker and she laughed and said surprisingly I'm not actually the worst she's ever had. "It's pretty unusual" she said...but definately not the worst.
I spent over an hour last night going through our entire album and selecting pictures for our album and both parent albums. Funny how going through that album really sent me back to that day and how I was feeling and how much I hated my hair...hahaha - until I fixed it right before the ceremony. That day is such a blur for me - I remember I wasn't nervous at all until RIGHT before I was walking down the aisle and I realized every single person in that room was staring at me and I started to panic. I got up there and I was willing to say whatever I needed to say to get OFF THAT STAGE. I must really love hubs alot because I'm terrified of doing anything in public, much less on a stage in front of tons of people.
I looked at pictures of my neices who were so little - Keeley was one of my flower girls and only 2 years old...now she's EIGHT. That trips me out.

Anyway - all this to say that I am FINALLY submitting my pictures and clearing out my procrastination box. I feel like when I actually get that album in my hands - a weight will have been lived off my shoulders. I have to wonder why I do this to myself? Why do I let so much time go by before I take care of the things that hang around in my head?
I'm not sure...but it does feel good to finally do something about it.

All you scrapbookers out there must truly be appalled. ha!

Story of US

Tomorrow is our anniversary. Hubs and I will be celebrating six years of marriage!
It's absolutely crazy to me that we've been married 6 years already...and even more crazy to me that we're about to have our first kid. Over the last couple of days, I've been reminiscing about when we first met, and how we got together, and how wierd life can be sometimes.
SO - I honestly can't remember if I've told "our story" before on this blog (who came up with the word blog anyway? it's annoying - I prefer journal instead of baaalaaawg) but I don't have the patience to dig through archives and find out....SO I decided to tell it anyway.
Let me start out by saying that I have a friend named Amanda - we've known each other since we were 4 years old, and she's like a sister to me. We haven't lived in the same town since we were about 6 or 7, but we've always stayed close and our families visited each other often. If it weren't for Amanda, I never would have met hubs...and even after meeting him - I sometimes wonder if we would have gotten together without her insistance that we were perfect for each other. SHE KNEW, long before I did....that hubs and I were meant to be.
We initially met about 3 1/2 years before we actually got together...while I was up in the Bay area visiting Amanda...a bunch of us went out to a comedy club in the city. Of course I was with "the chair" boyfriend at the time, and wasn't in THAT frame of mind. But over the next few years Amanda kept hinting that I should dump my loser and go out with this friend of hers I had met, because she thought we'd be good together. From time to time, I'd call her at work and she'd be on the phone with him and I'd say "oh, well tell him hello" and he would do the same back and that's just how it was over the next few years. She would tell me funny things he'd done - or talk about some girl he was dating - and then mention that he and I would be a good match and remind me to kick my current relationship to the curb. ha!
When I finally got smart and broke up with my ex....amanda tried to arrange for us to get together quite a few times - but somehow it just never worked out. To be quite honest, I was ready to be single for a while anyway - I didn't want to jump right into another relationship right off the bat. I loved living alone and doing my own thing, and didn't want to think about MEN for a while.
Well then in November of 2001, Amanda's younger sister got married - and I went to the wedding, and unbeknownst to me...was seated right next to hubs (sneaky amanda) who I didn't even know would be there. We chatted - and he asked me to dance - I was nervous as hell, and while there was definately a spark between us...and SOMETHING there, the practical side of me said "you're crazy, he lives in San Francisco...never gonna happen".
Which is funny because a few months later we were engaged. All our friends thought we were insane (I think even amanda thought that) because we hardly knew each other and didn't even live in the same town. I got lectures from my friends and family and he got lectures from his friends and family...but somehow, we both just knew it was right. I've always heard that when you know, YOU KNOW - and that's it...and I finally understood what that meant. Eventually all our friends and family did too because when they saw us together, you could just tell it was right.
We did the long distance engagement thing for a year - did all the premarital counseling sessions and saw each other as much as possible. Hubs moved here December 2001 and we got married January 26th 2002.
Hubs was hot to trot to start a family, but I was like "whoa - let's BE MARRIED for a while first"...so we agreed to wait 3 years. Then 3 years came and went and we were both kinda feeling like "wow, that was fast...we're not ready yet". Another year and a half went by before we finally decided to go off the pill and just let nature take it's course. Exactly one year later, I was in the bathroom at work staring at a positive pregnancy test in complete disbelief. And here we are, celebrating 6 years of marriage, and preparing to have our first baby. I don't think we had any idea that we would wait this long, and yet part of me feels like the time has just whizzed by.
I truly cherish all the alone time we've had together, and I love the fact that our relationship is strong and stable because I feel like that's the best gift we could possibly give our child. We truly are best friends, and I couldn't ask for anything more. While we do have our tiffs every now and then - our house is constantly filled with love and especially laughter, and while I can be sappy and heartfelt - hubs can OUT-SAP me any day of the week...and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Last night, we were getting ready for bed and chatting about how we can't believe it's been 6 years already, and I said "you ready to do six more?" and he said "only if you add a zero to the end of that", and as I climbed into bed and put his hand on my thumping belly....I think we both felt like even 60 years, is just not enough time.

Victory

Obviously, any readers of this blog should be able to tell how much I love my dog. She truly is part of our little family and we treat her as such. She gets attention and loves and snuggles and we try our best to make sure she's living a comfortable life. I have always had a passion for animals...I believe animals are good for the soul - and if you're feeling down in the dumps, they have a way of making you smile anyway. Even when I was little, I never played with dolls or barbies - for me, it was ALL about either our real animals or my stuffed animals.
When I was about 6 or 7 years old, my mom took me to the doctor because I was consistently dealing with a stuffy nose. Well of course, they told her I had allergies and to get rid of our pets and all my stuffed animals and try to make my bedroom as dust free as possible. If I remember correctly she chuckled when the doctor said that because she KNEW that wasn't going to happen. I sooooo did not care that I had a stuffy nose, or that our cats would make my eyes itch - I simply could not live without my pets, I would have been a miserable child. At the time, we had 2 cats and 2 guinea pigs. A few years later, we moved out to the country and ended up with 2 dogs, 3 cats, a bunny rabbit, and the guinea pigs. I was in heaven with all my animals and was more than willing to deal with allergies.
Now here I am with three cats and a dog and while it can be chaotic sometimes - and yes, I still have allergy issues as well as some asthma issues....I just love it. There is nothing like coming home to a houseful of unconditional love.
One of the things we try and do almost every weekend is go to the dog park. It kinda sucks because it's quite a drive to get out there, but Georgia loves it so much that we feel it's very important for her to have that social interaction being that she's our only dog. We always meet and chat with the nicest people out there...I'm not sure what it is exactly - but there is just a certain comraderie between dog owners, so it's been a nice social thing for hubs and I as well.
We've attended fundraisers and dog park workdays helping to spread woodchips and things like that....and really wishing we had a dog park closer to home so we could go more often. We became members of the local dog park association in hopes that eventually one would be approved here in town closer to home.
Last night, we attended a city council meeting about the dog park, and the public hearing for that subject alone lasted almost 2 hours. Being pregnant and all, sitting anywhere for 2 hours is not exactly comfortable - but it was fascinating hearing what everyone had to say on the matter. Back in August, the city council approved the dog park - but then some local residents became up in arms about it and everything got stuck in appeal. So last night was a last ditch effort for everyone involved. Some residents stood up and expressed their concerns...some very VALID concerns - some just completely ridiculous concerns....and while it was easy to see their point of view...those of us who actually attend the dog park with frequency knew that their worries would not be an issue. There is an apartment building owner across the street from the park who had hired a lawyer/spokesperson and spent WAAAAY too long at the podium and bringing up some ridiculous points of view that had alot of us just rolling our eyes.
Anyway - when all was said and done...the city council had done a good job with their poker faces and none of were sure which way they were going to vote. One by one, each council member voiced themselves in favor of the park - and so we won 5-0...hands down! It's so exciting because now it's like a done deal, no more appeals - we're actually going to get a dog park.
Course it still has to be built and fundraisers have to be done and all the logistics still have to be worked out...but we're on our way. I have a feeling I could potentially be there almost every day - sometimes there's just nothing better than a worn out and happy dog - and a cup of coffee with friends :)

The Chair

I believe an entry or two ago, I mentioned that we have a papasan chair...you know, one of those bamboo satellite dish looking things with a cushion in it? They are insanely comfortable, but they also take up a helluvalot of room, and they're very difficult to get out of. Hubs has been wanting to get rid of that thing forever, and I just couldn't do it....until recently.
Let me explain.
Once upon a time, at the mere age of 19 - I made the decision to move in with a boyfriend. We had been together a little over a year, and of course I knew EVERYTHING back then, and I was sick of living at home by my parents rules. I was trying to find a place of my own, but nobody would rent to me because I didn't have any rental history, and my parents weren't about to cosign for me (can't blame them at all for that by the way)...my boyfriend at the time wasn't getting along with his roommate and wanted to get his own place too - so one day, strictly out of convenience it seems, we decided to just get a place together. Looking back on that time, it's all very ODD how it happened because there was never a big discussion of "let's move in together and take our relationship to the next level"....it was more like "hey, do you wanna?" - and "sure, let's do it".
dumb, dumb, dumb - stupid, stupid, stupid
But I digress....anyway, he was a nice enough guy, and we got along great - and despite my parents and family and friends all knowing I'd made a huge mistake...things calmed down after my initial move out and we lived in our first apartment for a couple of years, and then moved to a bigger and nicer apartment...which is when I decided that I really wanted a papasan chair. Back then I think I tried way too hard to be agreeable and avoid confrontation, so I pretty much let him call the shots - and he was completely opposed to getting a papasan chair. I would bring it up from time to time, and it was always a resounding NO from his corner. It was a real sore point for me because our apartment looked like a bachelor pad...seriously - a big ass stereo, guitars, posters, 2nd hand couches, etc, etc - but the ONE thing I really wanted, I wasn't allowed to have - and for some reason I allowed that to happen.
I was with this guy for a total of 4 and half years...and I KICK MYSELF for all things I let him get away with in our relationship. I was way too passive, and didn't stand up for what was important to me as much as I should have. I finally got smart and knew I was never going to marry him, and got the courage to initiate the break up. He took it well, I think he kinda knew that we were going in different directions as well....but then he proceeded to take his sweet time finding his own place (which is what we had agreed on by the way). We lived as roommates for a few months...until we finally found an apartment he could afford and I really had to just PUSH him out at that point. Why would he leave when I was still keeping the place tidy and doing laundry and cooking dinner? And what the hell was I thinking continuing to DO all that stuff? I have no idea...
Anyway - the first thing I bought after he moved out? MY PAPASAN CHAIR. I went and bought the one I wanted, and put it in the living room and did my own little victory dance because I was finally on my own and I had finally gotten smart about my life's decisions. It's ridiculous that it took me so much time to finally realize what I wanted out of life, and do something about it. But that chair was definately a symbol for me - I called it my "independence chair", and it just reminded me how good it felt to finally decide that what I wanted was important...and my feelings shouldn't just be cast aside.
When hubs came into my life, he knew all about the chair and it's symbol to me...and as much as he hated the thing - he knew it was important and never made me get rid of it. He would suggest it sometimes, like when we bought a new couch and matching chair - and then had this huge monstrosity of a chair crammed in a room because there was no room for it anywhere else...but he fully respected WHY I just couldn't get rid of it. That's the great thing about hubs...he may not have liked that chair - but he understood it was important to me, and he cared more about that than anything else. I definately married the right guy!
So last weekend, I was cleaning and getting prepared for company...and I was vacuuming that chair. I took a break and sat on our sofa and stared at it, realizing that I'd had the thing for 7 years. It had been taking up space in my house and remained a symbol of my independence for 7 years. I sat there and I thought about how often I really ever sat in that chair, and even when I'm not pregnant - it seems to be more of a cat bed and a clutter zone than anything...and why on earth would I need my independence symbol when hubs gives me all the independence I need, and what we have is almost a complete opposite from my previous relationship? Now I'm about to have a baby and my life is going to change completely...and I'm at a totally different place in my life then I was at that age. I don't NEED that symbol in my life anymore, you know? I have everything I want and more.
So I resolutely took the cushion out of the chair - decided to give it to Georgia for a dog bed...and hauled that big ole thing out of my house and into the driveway. I took another chair from our office that we didn't really have the room for, and placed that in the living room and decided I really liked how much extra space I had just created. Hubs came home and didn't say a WORD about the chair....so I finally said "so ummm, did you notice what's sitting outside?" - and he said "well yeah, but I didn't want to assume anything in case you were cleaning it or something"
and I looked at him and said "hun, I've decided to let it go"
and he looked at me with huge eyes and said "really? are you sure? you're really ready to get rid of it?"
and I nodded affirmatively - "I'm READY" I said.
He jumped up and said "well allllllright! let's do this!"
and proceeded to make a big sign that said FREE and he dragged that chair down our driveway out to the street. 20 minutes later, it was gone. My independence chair tossed into someone's truck and hauled off to take up space in someone else's house.
Oddly enough, I felt lighter once that thing was gone. After thinking about it, I realized, that perhaps instead of being a symbol of my independence...over the years, it had just become a reminder of a past relationship...and a reminder of some bad decisions I had made...and a reminder that I had let another person make decisions FOR me, instead of with me.


I now sit in a completely different chair, in my now spacious living room, with my hand on my belly, and I think about how different my life is now, and how much I've changed, and how much I have to look forward to. And I smile...

Time flies

I'm currently 29 weeks along, which just blows my mind. 11 weeks to go...or a little less or a little more - who knows, I think THAT'S the part that freaks me out.
We had our ultrasound on Friday, and everything looks great - the kidneys are fine, no more extra fluid in there. Hubs ended up being able to go, his bosses caved and let him come in a bit late...so we had both my parents and hubs in there - which was pretty funny because the doctor walked in and his eyes got all wide "oh man, I better make sure I do a good job this morning because I've got quite the audience!"
At one point during the ultrasound - he was measuring the baby's head, and he looked at me and goes "allright, who's responsible for this big head?" and we all raised our hands, even my parents...hahaha - he patted me on the arm and said "good luck to ya"
GREAT - so my critter will be sporting a giant noggin, think stretchy thoughts people! haha
Also? the kid does NOT like the ultrasound wand because wherever the doctor went - he'd get kicked and thumped.
He got a pretty good 3D facial picture and let me tell you it's SO WEIRD to see this because our kid has hub's nose and lips to a tee. If I hold the picture up next to his face, the resemblence is unreal.

I keep staring at this picture because I find it so bizarre. That's my KID in there. At what point will this ever seem real? I'm starting to wonder...

Also, that was our last ultrasound - so the next time we see this baby, it'll be HERE.

***

So Friday morning I piled Georgia into the car, and dropped by my brother's house to pick up Jasper, and my parents ended up bringing their dog Libby to the doctor's office too - so once we were done, mom went to get Libby and she was going to come with me to the dog park, since I had the day off. Well when she opened the door to put Libby in - Jasper hopped out and then Georgia hopped out and then Libby backed herself out of the collar. The next 5 minutes were a calamity of mom and I trying to round up dogs who were STOOOKED to be out of the car and running around a parking lot. I was freaking out because G does not come when I call her and so I have this huge fear that she'll run out into the street and get hit by a car, and Libby lives out in the country - and isn't so good about coming when called either - so mom was trying to round her up - while I'm running around with my big ole belly trying to round up my naughty dog who's just having the time of her life running between offices and cars and soooo not listening to me. Jasper was good and got right back into the car and just watched the scene play out - mom finally grabbed Libby and got HER back in the car...and I finally yelled enough at G that she layed down in the parking lot and let me walk up and grab her. She knew she was busted because I was NOT HAPPY. Mom and I both got in the car and looked at each other and said "what the HELL were we thinking taking 3 dogs to the dog park?" - hahaha

Well, after a stop at Starbucks...we drove all the way out there and they had a blast and came home VERY tired, so it was definately worth it - I just don't know how soon I'll have that bright idea again.

More random thoughts...

I swear I have the BEST BOSS EVER. Remember how I mentioned that I'll be essentially moving our office to my house, and then the warehouse/tech stuff will be moved to a workshop on my boss's property? Well he's been cleaning out his warehouse and going through stuff - organizing and getting rid of things in preparation for the big move. He came in this morning and said that while he was going through stuff yesterday he found a rocking chair...and his wife insisted that he keep it for me, so that when I come in twice a week - I'll have a place to feed the baby at the "office". So he cleaned it up and set it in a quiet corner where my desk (and probably a playpen) will be for after the baby comes. Seriously you guys, in my emotional state I just wanted to cry when he told me that. How many bosses would DO THAT? Not many I imagine...it just makes my heart flip flop to know that he and my coworkers are going out of their way to make my life easier. I mean come on...I now have my own rocking chair at work - serious warm fuzzies and appreciation happening over here!

***

I am a notorious list maker. One of the habits I've gotten into lately is making a daily "to do" list when I first sit down at my desk. I think it must be because I have such severe belly brain that if I don't write it down, I will inevitably not accomplish anything that day simply out of forgetfullness. Sometimes I make one list for work and one for home - or sometimes I combine them, but I just feel better prepared for my day when I have a list going. Now, that's not to say that I complete everything on the list, in fact I think I've only completed an entire list once, haha - BUT, just having everything written down and having my thoughts organized helps me have a plan for the day. I can sometimes be very spontaneous and that plan goes right out the window, but I think that's probably good otherwise I'd be labeled as anal - and honestly, the only thing I think I'm truly anal about is my checkbook. I have to balance my checkbook every day, or my head will explode.

Anyway - I find myself getting ready for work in the morning and finding certain things around the house that need to be done...nothing major...but just stuff I need to remember like watering the plans, or sending off certain bills, or starting the dishwasher, or stopping at the store (which of course involves another list that I have to doublecheck 58926 times because if I don't have my list, I'll go in for cat food and ice and come out with eggs and string cheese). These days my lists are like my lifeline to getting everything ready and feeling better prepared for this big life changing event we're going to be experiencing. I feel like if I do something every day, then I won't be stuck stressing at the end or feeling like I'm not ready....course I have a sneaking suspicion that no matter what I do, I'm still not going to feel completely ready.

Eventually I guess I'll be putting "GIVE BIRTH" on the list...just for the sake of being able to cross it off - ha!

***

Speaking of lists...here is a list of things I've noticed lately about my comfort level:

-I've discovered that I can't sit very comfortably anymore. Sitting on the couch, I'm only good for a few minutes of regular sitting before I end up in the leaned back to make room for the belly position...and even then, I'm still not comfortable and I find myself fidgeting alot or getting up and fussing around the house.

-We have one of those papasan chairs in our living room, and I absolutely cannot sit in that thing if I'm home alone. Hubs has to help me out of that chair, or I'm like a turtle on it's back with legs and arms flailing around.

-In bed, when I need to switch sides, I kind of roll back and forth a couple times just to get up the momentum needed to hoist this belly over...you would think that all this movement would wake up the hubster, but so far he has slept through it every time.

-You know how when you finish a big meal and feel sort of "uncomfortably full"...like you want to go home and put on your elastic pants? Yeah well, pregnancy gives a WHOLE NEW MEANING to the term uncomfortably full. If I don't eat slowly and give myself a chance to digest before deciding if I'm done, then I seriously regret it later and I swear that my belly has doubled in size and there isn't an elastic pant on this earth that will make me comfortable.

-Shoes with laces are challenging and I usually feel like I need a nap after that particular event.

-Whenever I sneeze, I get this major sharp pain way down low and I end up wincing and bent over cursing (not to mention legs crossed)...hubs swears that I must be scaring the poor kid and it's in there with all four limbs stuck straight out against the inside of my belly going "what the hell was THAT?"

-My cats are pissed because my lap is getting smaller and smaller. In fact just the other day Tweak crawled up on me and then proceeded to flop over on his side like normal, except that there wasn't enough lap left and he rolled off onto the floor and then glared at me and stomped off in a huff.

-Dropping something on the floor is a much bigger deal now than it ever used to be...The other night while cooking dinner, I dropped THREE different spoons on the floor - and just kept getting new ones until hubs came into the kitchen and could pick them up for me. Yes, I AM that lazy.

-The kicks are getting harder and harder, and while I still think it's wierd - I also think it's incredibly cool to be able to sit in one place and watch my belly jump and move on it's own....I think I will really miss that once this baby comes. There is just something about being able to feel that movement - kind of a reassurance that everything is okay in there.

***

Some pictures I found on my camera....

One morning, I was sitting on the floor putting on my shoes - when I felt a staring, and I looked up and saw this from the top of our dresser:
He looks like he could jump on my face and suck out my eyeballs or something.

This one was during Christmas while I was wrapping stuff - I had set this box out to package some stuff up and looked over and found that Not-So-Tiny had crammed his big butt into this thing...

well this was just the most random post ever...my thoughts are all over the place today!

*Blushing*

Gosh - thanks for all the props everyone....apparantly all our hard work paid off! I'm glad you all like it - I'm excited to see it all come together too, with all the fabrics and whatnot. And yes, the belly is big - hahahaha - it's okay, I've expected this. I weighed 8.7 when I was born, and hubs was almost 10 pounds. Girly-bits-are-cringing.
As you can all see - hubs was wearing his big giant "I'm humble" button last night in the comments:

Anonymous said...
Once again that hunk of a husband of yours comes to the rescue. I can only dream of having a man like that..rrrrrr(tiger growl)

I have to state FOR THE RECORD (HUBS) - that I'm the one who sanded and spackled and sanded and sweat over that darn desk...yeah, yeah, he painted it - but I did the hardest part. hahaha - so stop taking all the credit there mr. tiger growl.

***
So I have an ultrasound on Friday, and hubs was supposed to have the day off - but his bosses aren't cooperating, and even though my appt is at 8:30am, they STILL won't even let him come in late that day...which really sucks. But, there's nothing we can do, so I called my mom last night to see if she wanted to come with me - and turns out my DAD wants to go too!
He's been super sappy about this whole event and keeps hugging me and saying "I can't believe my baby is having a baby"...it's all really very sweet. So yes, I'll be going to my appt with both my parents in tow. Mom and I were laughing about how I'll be stereotyped as the teen mom who's parents will be helping raise the kid. I told her I'd gladly put my hair in pigtails and sport the high top converse to boost my 15 year old image. HA!
Who cares...mom was thrilled to see the last one - and dad's never ever seen an ultrasound in action before, so he's gonna be stoked to see his grandbaby on that screen.
I have the day off - so I think I'm gonna bring Georgia and maybe my brother's dog Jasper...and maybe even my parents dog Libby and take them to the dog park afterwards - let them run around and wear each other out for a bit.
Okay, I'm off to dive into a big pile of paperwork....

***Oh, and thank you Jeannette for sending the recall list. I did check it - and I specifically didn't pick a crib with a drop down rail because of all the dangers popping up in recent news. I do appreciate the heads up though :)

Busy, Busy

There's a crib in my house...

and instead of looking like this:

It now looks like this:

Well, the baby's room is started at least! We finally did what we set out to do over the weekend and painted and sanded our butts off. Okay, hubs painted - I sanded (with a mask, for all you worriers out there...MOM).

Let's see, Saturday morning - I slept in until about 9am, which felt SO GOOD. We got dressed - loaded up the pooch, and headed out for pancakes. You know, hubs and I would have been fine with just a bowl of cereal or something so we could get started on the day already - but the BABY was demanding pancakes...so I sucked it up and accomodated.

We then headed to SLO and hit up the dog park for about an hour so G could burn off some energy. After fully wearing her out, we went to home depot and picked up all the supplies and paint we needed...and then after stopping at coffee bean for a pick-me-up (again, ALL baby's idea) it was back home to get crackin.

We took EVERYTHING out of the room and piled it all in the living room - which basically means, we couldn't even see the tv by the time we were done what with all the crap stacked everywhere. Hubs moved the bookshelf and the desk/changing table outside for me so I could start sanding...and he got started painting the room.

Tiny decided to get comfortable on our bed which was leaning up against the couch in a very awkward position:

Just Chillin

And a few hours later, he was still there...but decided to REALLY relax:

Those back feet just kill me...this is his "don't bother me" face.
Honestly - in my head, I figured sanding would take maybe a couple of hours...not all damn afternoon...but that's exactly how long it took. The bookshelf is one that my dad built when I was about 4 years old - and hadn't been painted since, so it was pretty hammered and the paint on that sucker was THICK. I wasn't trying to get all the paint off - but I wanted to at least have a smooth surface to repaint, you know? I mentioned to my mom how long it took and she goes "oh yeah, that must have been during your dad's enamel paint phase of 1981" - ha! Apparantly he thought enamel paint was the bomb back then...nevermind that it went on like MUD.

Anyway - after sanding and spackling in dents and sanding AGAIN on both peices of furniture - I had to give up for the day and save the painting for Sunday. Hubs was pretty much done in the room - he just had some trimwork to finish up, and the baseboard to touch up as well.

We actually showered and got dressed and went to church Saturday night too, which was impressive for all the work we'd both done...but my parents rewarded us with pie afterwards, so that was cool.

So Sunday morning - we got up and went to the hardware store to pick up a few things we'd forgotten and we picked out some handles and contact paper to line the desk drawers as well.

Got home, and started painting - unfortunately for me, it was super hot that day....but fortunately it at least helped the paint dry quickly, and hubs came out and painted the desk for me - so we got that stuff done faster than expected.

I got this desk second hand from a Poly student when I was in 8th grade and it was supremely beaten up from all the years spent in my bedroom, and then being moved around with me three different times. Here is a before:

aaand after:

It came out much better than I expected...and I've spent the last two evenings installing new handles and lining the entire insides of all the drawers with sage green contact paper. I SUCK at lining things...in fact, so far every time I've moved - I've gotten my mom to come line all my drawers and shelves because she is the master, and I'm terrible. But hubs and I are working our way through Season 1 of the Unit on Netflix, and so it's a good time for me to do tedious stuff like lining drawers, ha! I decided to do all the sides as well as the bottom since I'll be using this as a changing table and will have diapers and things stacked in the drawers.

Here is the bookshelf before:

and after:

This is probably the best picture to show the color we painted the room. It's called Aqua breeze and it's a veeeeery subtle pale blue. I wanted the color to be really light because there is only one window and the room is dark anyway - so this color ended up being perfect, it's not BLUE! it's blue....hahaha.

That chair there is going to be my rocking chair - it's actually an IKEA chair, but it's super comfy and the arms are down low enough to be comfortable for a short person like myself to hold a baby in. The chair pad doesn't exactly match the rest of the room, but I've decided I don't care.

So there you have it - we still have to sand the dresser - which is almost exactly the same honey color as the crib, and then we'll be DONE with the furniture. We're in the process of washing all the bedding - and we have a new bedskirt and bedspread to put on. I also need to wash all the baby clothes and blankets that we have so far and start putting things away. The closet still needs a good sorting out as well. My wedding dress is still in there crammed in a garment bag...never been dry cleaned since I wore it almost SIX YEARS ago. So maybe this week I can actually take it in and have it cleaned and boxed nicely.

At some point during the day on Sunday, I pulled a muscle and had to sit on the balance ball for about an hour because I was in so much pain...that sucked. I keep having to remind myself that I can't just DO all the stuff I want to do - this body doesn't cooperate like it used to - the baby starts complaining after a while. I'm STILL a bit sore and it's Tuesday...so there is much ball sitting going on in my house (if THAT sentence won't get the googlers hoppin, I don't know what will!).

I leave you all with a 28 week picture of my ROUND-AS-CAN-BE belly...I'm continually amazed at what I look like from this angle. The next 12 weeks are going to be interesting to say the least. I might have to take two pictures and put them side by side because I may not be able to fit my entire belly into one picture...just LOOK at how this thing has grown! hahaha

Just for the sake of comparison...this was 24 weeks:

Operation Baby Update

I had a doctor's appointment today and I passed the glucose test! Yippee! Not sure why I was so worried about that (gummi bear addiction maybe?) but I'm really glad I don't have to worry about it anymore. They did find out that I'm slightly anemic, so I've got to take an iron supplement every day. Doc said that it's very common at this stage of pregnancy because the baby is growing alot and snatching all my nutrients. ha!
Unfortunately, I gained FIVE POUNDS since my last appointment, which was only a month ago. Yeesh - that's the most I've gained so far...that puts me at 12 pounds total. Doc said that's actually pretty good for being almost 28 weeks and I shouldn't worry about it - but 5 pounds in 4 weeks just seems like alot to me. He chalked it up to the holidays and told me to not to think about it and just try to eat healthy and drink lots of water. I think I've been lacking with the water thing lately...and the eating healthy thing...so I can definately focus more on both.
He found the heartbeat right away and said it's good and strong, and then told me that the baby is in a breech position - which explains why the top of my belly is so hard, but all the kicking is way down low. (which reminds me...ahem, kid? you think you could stop doing LORD OF THE DANCE on my bladder? thanks) He said this is also normal and that the baby will change positions alot between now and birth. I'm now switched from 4 week appts to a 3 week appt - and then down to 2 weeks and then 1 week and then there will be a BABY IN DA HOUSE. Frickin wierd.
So that's the update for now - we have an ultrasound scheduled for the 18th to check the fluid levels in the baby's kidneys...so I'm hoping to have some pretty good pics to share. Hubs and I are planning on taking the day off together and setting up some appts with a few pediatricians we'd like to meet. Doc said that's our next step, and we should start "interviewing" and making a decision. Again..frickin wierd.

This weekend is supposed to be sunny and clear, so the plan is for hubs to start painting the room - and I'm gonna start sanding furniture for repainting. It would be AWESOME to have it all done by this weekend so we can actually start setting up the room...but I'm trying not to count on it because things like this usually take alot longer than expected. We have a bookshelf, a desk (changing table), and a dresser to sand and paint, so we'll see how it goes. It'll be nice to start washing some of the blankets and clothes we've been given and start putting things away. I'll have to try to remember to take before and after pictures.

*speaking of washing...thanks for all your comments about Dreft - I shared them all with hubs and we both think we'll take Jeannette's suggestion and just buy one box and finish it out before we try the stuff we normally use. All thoughts were greatly appreciated, so thanks!

****

So I have this book list over on the sidebar - and I can't remember exactly why I started doing that, other than maybe I was curious to see exactly how many books I read in one year. I read 28 books in 2007, so that's about 2 books per month. I'm curious how my reading is gonna go once this critter shows up - I love to curl up on the sofa with a good book, but I have a feeling mommy time is going to crowd out reading time. Lately, I haven't been reading as much, other than right before bed, and usually I can only get a chapter or two in before my eyeballs start to roll back in my head and sleep wins out. The book I'm currently reading is one I started on the 1st, and here it is the 9th and I'm not even halfway through. Course it's a ridiculous 600 some pages, but still, I feel like I'm lagging. Especially when I can blow through a People magazine in one hour, with completed crossword puzzle and all. Last night, my brother was over playing the Xbox with hubs and I was on the computer catching myself up on the gossip rags...when I heard my brother lean over and loudly whisper "dude, I think my sister is a celebrity gossip whore" - which is when I turned around and said "yup, totally"...I'm not ashamed! How can I not read about the trainwreck that is the Spears sisters - or about all the pregnant celebs out there these days - or which singer or model is cracked out and looking like it? I can't quite figure out why, but I find all that stuff entertaining just the same.
Not sure where I was going with all of this - it's a rambling kind of day I guess.
Time for me to go guzzle some water now...

Random stuff

Yeah baby...hubs did ALLLLL the laundry yesterday. Now, usually when I say hubs did laundry I mean hubs put clothes in the washer and the dryer and then piled them all on top of our dining table where they remain until all 3 cats have had turns sleeping on our clean warm clothes, thus creating mounds of cat hair and the need to rewash everything. Or he'll pile it all there and suggest "a folding party!", which kinda sucks because it's usually been there for so long that everything is all wrinkled and schmunkled.

But THIS time...he actually folded everything right as it came out of the dryer - AND put everything away in drawers or on hangers. You guys, I'm flabbergasted. I actually for a brief moment thought body snatchers had entered my home.

I recently put this sign up in the laundry room:

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT WORKED!
****
My brother recently bought himself one of those new style mini-coopers. It's sort of his "fun" car...since he's got 3 kids, and no chance of the entire family of five fitting into that thing all at once. But he loves it - he's always wanted one, and I guess they decided to go for it. Hubs and I stopped by their house to check out his new wheels and he tossed me the keys and told me to take it for a spin. My older neices (6 and 8 years old) wanted to come with, so they climbed into the back seat, hubs rode shotgun, and I drove off feeling like a total badass chick driver...think Charlize Theron in the Italian Job. That thing was SO FUN TO DRIVE! I drove for a bit, with the girls shouting "go auntie!" in the backseat...and then I begrudgingly pulled over so hubs could have a turn. We were both very impressed at how that little car handles corners and had a total blast driving it. So this Christmas we got a very appropriate onsie for "the bun" from my brother and family:

How cute is that?

****

For those of you who don't know, my mom is a signpainter - but she also does alot of interior stuff for people, murals and things like that. When my brother and sister in law were pregnant with their 3rd child, they decided to do a theme in the nursery from the book "Guess How Much I Love You?". My mom and Carie looked through the book, and chose a couple of pictures for mom to paint on the walls. I was going through some of my computer pics today and stumbled upon some pictures of the nursery. I'm so amazed at how my mom can just look at a picture and then dictate it onto a wall with a paintbrush. Seriously - she's so talented...and I can't even draw decent stick figures. Check these out:

My brother and his family knew they were going to be at their current house for quite a few years, and they got permission from the landlords to do such a scene on the walls. But in our current position, I would hate for mom to go through all the trouble of painting something on the walls and then risk us finding a house to buy and having to leave it behind. She did paint some wood cut-outs for some people once who were renters and wanted to be able to take it with them...so that sort of thing would be a good option for us. Their son's room had a superman theme, so she did this:

Pretty darn cool.
Sooo...since I've gotten such great advice from all you blog readers in the past, if you were me and you weren't into themes per say...but you had a talented mom who was willing to do a nifty little something or other for the walls of your baby's room - what you have her do? I'm kind of at a loss, and tempted to just let her sit this one out and just help me decorate and get the room together without a specific painting project. But I don't know...any suggestions??

A peek into my world

Hubs is home sick today...and the following conversation recently took place over the phone:

"Hi honey, hey..while you're home do you think you could make a few calls?"
"sure - I've just got some laundry going right now"
"oh reeaaally? Playing Coco the houseboy are we?"
"hahaha....yeah, sort of"
"soooo - is there a speedo and a feather duster involved?"
"umm, babe - no speedo - that would be like wrapping a rubber band around an orange"
"haha - okay, how about some Lady Marmalade action then?"
"Gitche-Gitche-Ya-Ya..."
"okay you can stop now"

aannnnnnndd THAT would be a pretty typical conversation in our household.

Scary that someday soon we're going to actually go to the hospital - and then they're just going to let us come home with a baby. BY OURSELVES.
In fact, that kinda makes me laugh - because I remember when we adopted Georgia and we had to fill out like 4 pages of questions about our "parenting" skills. How much time we'd be spending with her - what our philosophies were about potty training - whether or not we'd be enrolling her in dog obedience school - how much time she'd be left alone during the day....it was crazy - I mean I'm glad they do it, but I'm pretty sure that to have a baby they don't give you questionaire's like that (or do they? ha!). So we had to jump through all these hoops to prove we'd be good doggie parents and yet any ole Joe Schmoe can walk into a hospital and leave with a baby. There is something soooo backwards about that.

Course - if anyone were to tap our phones to become reassured of our fantastic parenting skills - we'd be totally screwed.

Part of the process

This weekend hubs and I actually went and bought a solid colored quilt for the bed in the baby's room - and we also picked out a paint color for the walls. We're getting there...slowly, but surely. Since our local weather report said it was going to be storming all weekend, we planned on hunkering down at home with a fire in the fireplace. Course it didn't actually rain on either Saturday or Sunday until late afternoon...but oh well. I am in sorting/purging mode! We took a big load of clothes to the Goodwill on Saturday - and I already have two more boxes of stuff piled by the door ready to go as well. I found myself sorting through kitchen drawers at 10pm last night because I just had that ITCH to get rid of stuff we don't need. I've become very anti-clutter lately. I suppose that must be that whole nesting thing people talk about because normally I'm not bothered much by clutter.

My sister in law reminded me this weekend that I need to get on the ball and register for baby stuff...and I groaned. I was immediately reminded of the disaster that was registering for my wedding.

See, hubs lived in the Bay area when we met. He also lived there during our entire dating and engagement, which made the whole wedding business a bit more difficult to manage. My husband is not the "just tell me when to show up" type - he was very involved in everything from color choices, to table decorations...which means that alot of things had to be decided upon over the phone or during our weekend visits. When it came time to register...we decided to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond - and we decided to do it on a Sunday while I was up north visiting him. I must first explain, that I had already been living on my own and had an apartment full of my own stuff at this point. Hubs on the other hand was new at this entire experience and was still living at home at the time (understandably so because it's so darn expensive up there). So I had to relinquish a bit of control over things in my house that I'd had control of for so long. And letting go of my control issues? not an easy thing for me...in fact, that was probably my biggest challenge when it came to us getting married and hubs moving in. I liked living alone...and I liked having my own space with my own things - all that pretty much goes out the window when you decide to get hitched...

So anyway - we went to register, which began what I believe was "our first real fight" of 2001.

Let's just say we had a hard time agreeing on much of anything, from glasses, to dishes, to towels, to sheets, to pretty much ANYTHING. His taste was completely different from mine, and vice versa. At one point, I remember sitting in the bedding section on the floor with the scanner in one hand and a completely defeated look on my face because we'd been there for 3 hours and could NOT agree on what sheets to register for. hahaha - in retrospect, of course it's completely ridiculous and unimportant now...but at the time, it really sucked. My biggest problem was that hubs was notorious for wandering off and playing with different gadgets and gizmos. I wanted to just get it DONE and get OUT - but since hubs is actually the type to give a crap about what household items we had, I was constantly having to draw him back in and reind him to pay attention to what we were doing.

The one thing he kept doing was dancing...to the music I mean, playing over the loud speaker. I would normally laugh and giggle at this aspect of him - but by hour #3, I was so sick of being in that place and so sick of us arguing and him being distracted, that the dancing was really getting on my nerves. Just as we were about to finish, I turned and asked him a question about something and he was busy bustin a move in the middle of housewares and I just flipped out..."would you QUIT dancing around and focus, so we can get F*%$ out of here!"

and he spun around and threw his hands up in the air and shouted "IF I CAN'T DANCE, I HAVE NOTHING!!!!"

Which is when I exhaustedly collapsed on the floor in a fit of laughter because THAT? was the funniest thing ever. Seriously, the best way to end such a miserable experience was for us to be laughing so hard tears were rolling down our faces in the middle of BB and B. I still tease him to this day about that, because we were both just so irritated with each other and that one little statement made all the irritation disappear....not to mention everyone in the store probably thinking he was a Broadway reject or something.

So here we are facing a baby registry and all I can think of is hubs in Babies R Us shaking his booty to the music and me getting ready to throw the scanner directly as his head. HA!

Maybe I should just let him go and pick out the stuff...so I can avoid the whole thing. Although I suspect he would find a reason to register at Best Buy and give me a million reasons why our child needs that big screen plasma tv.

By the way - here's a shirt that hubs got for Christmas from my brother and his family...how very appropriate, hee!

Sidenote: hoooly schnikes, does that ticker really say I only have 90 days left??? How is that possible? that's cuh-razy.

A Choice is Made...

Well now...my bedding dilemma is over - and I'm actually...wait for it...excited about getting the room all together now. I PICKED FABRIC!!!

We still have a ton of stuff to do - we never did get started on painting the furniture like I wanted to, and that's a desk, a bookshelf, and a dresser - so that'll be a pretty big project to undertake. Of course it'll be raining cats and dogs this weekend, so it's going to have to wait. But now, all our christmas decorations and gifts are piled in the babies room, waiting to be sorted through and put away. We can't even walk into the room at this point - so while my house is looking extremely clean and organized these days...that one room is like my nemesis. Now that I have a "vision" about what it'll look like though, I'm really excited about getting organized and ready for the baby. (that sentence right there still throws me...holy crap we're having a baby...breathe K!)

So first off, I need to say that I know the colors I picked are more geared for a boy - I still like it - and I feel like if we have a girl, then it'll be pretty easy to girl it up a bit, you know? add some flowers and twinges of girly things. I'm not into pink anyway, so it's not like it would be super girly even if we knew ahead of time.

Anyway - sister in law Carie and I headed to the Cotton Ball in Morro Bay the day after Christmas...because apparantly they have the best quality fabric - AND it's nice because they have everything coordinated by shelf. So if I pick one fabric, they have all different prints also there - but in coordinating colors...which is perfect because I really don't want to walk into the room and see everything all matchy-matchy. I like having different patterns and prints, but in coordinating colors.

I immediately found this striped fabric and just knew that this was what I wanted...

So the stripes will be the bedskirt on the crib...
and then I picked the coordinating polka dots for the bumper pads - and she's going to make ties out of the striped fabric to pull it all together. Also, she's going to make a quilt with one side dots and one side stripes.
So then I picked out this fabric for a curtain...not actually a curtain, but more like just a valence across the top...I'll probably just get some soft sheers or something because there is only one window in that room and with the blinds that are already there - it would be too dark with panel curtains. I didn't actually like this print at first - but the more I look at it, the more I like it...and it'll only be a very small part of the room, otherwise I think it would be too garish.

and then I saw this fabric and really liked it - but I wasn't sure what to do with it because it's pretty girly...so Carie suggested making a couple of throw pillows for the chair and the bed (we have a full sized bed in that room that we'll be getting a soft green duvet cover for) so it's not too much, and just little accents. So there it is...I'm excited because I really like it and I think it'll all come together once it's done. It's hard to look at fabric and imagine it in the room...and I really never thought I'd choose such blues and greens, but I surprise myself sometimes. We'll see how it all comes together!

Also - Carie does these awesome diaper bags that she's sold before...so she's going to make me one with a matching changing pad...she told me to pick out any fabric I wanted - and I saw this and HAD to get it...it's totally groovy and very much my style. I actually thought hubs and my mom would hate it - but they both ended up liking it after all. I figured who cares what gender my baby is - I'm the one carrying the bag, so I'm getting what I want! hehe

I'll definately take pictures as it all comes together.

My parents have the cradle all cleaned up and ready for me...mom is going to make bumper pads for that too - slowly but surely we're getting ready for this little arrival.

And now, I have a question I want people to weigh in on:

You know how they sell that Dreft laundry detergent at the store? I know that's for babies and you're supposed to be all carefull and wash all the babies clothes seperately and with the special detergent. A big part of me feels like this is just a gimmick and a rip-off...at what "magic age" do you stop using that detergent and just use the regular stuff?

Assuming my kid doesn't have sensitive skin or something - I'm assuming I'm fine with saving pennies and using the same ole, same ole...thoughts? anyone??

Merry Christmas to ALL....

This year I thought I was so on top of my game. We shopped early for all our neices and began piling presents in the babies room ready for the wrapping party to begin. A few weeks ago I smartly started wrapping and piling things under the tree. But now here I sit on the 23rd - with tons of stuff to wrap and no motivation at ALL to do so. We're still waiting for some items to arrive from online orders and I have a sneaking suspician that they won't show up before Christmas. Hubs is in bed sleeping and trying to catch up from the hellish week he had at work...and I'm still in my pajamas trying to motivate myself to get out of the house and grab those "last minute" items that I still need.
This year we are staying home and heading to my parents house Christmas morning. In my family, we decided to keep the cost and amount of STUFF down and just do stocking stuffers for the adults...and keep the actual presents for the kids. That will be nice because sometimes the present opening in my family can take ALL day...and I'm not sure this pregnant body of mine could handle it. Also - to keep things more simple, we've decided to go to the Madonna Inn for dinner. Which is awesome because we'll be able to do the present thing in the morning...go home and sleep or do whatever and then get all fancy for dinner...no cooking, no preparing, and NO DISHES. Normally I don't mind all that stuff - but this year it's about all I can muster to grunt through getting my shoes on every morning. So I appreciate the whole "keeping it simple" aspect of this year.
Next weekend, hub's parents are coming - which is awesome because they rarely come here to visit...and it's nice to not have to pile all the gifts in the car and find pet sitters. We're not sure about his sister and all of her clan. I suspect it will be a last minute decision on their part whether or not to come....if not then we will still potentially be traveling - but it'll be nice to avoid the holiday traffic and just go sometime in January.
Speaking of January - hubs and I have an anniversary coming up, and we really want to get away for the weekend. We figure it'll be kind of like a "babymoon" of sorts...but we haven't decided where to go yet. Any suggestions? It's only for a weekend so we can't rush off to Maui or anything much as I'd love that....hehehe. Gotta save that vacation time of his for when the baby comes!

Merry Christmas to everyone - or whatever holiday you do or don't celebrate. Whatever you do - someone PLEASE drink a few glasses of champagne for me mmmkay??

Belly pic

*disclaimer*

with me being as picky as I am these days about pictures - you all who've requested belly pics are damn lucky that I'm putting this huge lumbering body of mine in front of a camera at all. I know, I know - later on in life I'll be GLAD I took pregnant pictures...but today, I'm having one of those days where I don't feel at all cute and pregnant, but more like a hippo stuck in the mud.

That being said - here I am at 24 weeks:

One of these days I need to figure out how to make a seperate page for these pictures so I can gradually see myself grow bigger, all at once...ha!

I'm feeling tons of kicks lately - and hubs has yet to feel any of them. I'm going with the theory that he has a "calming affect" on this baby...and so when our kid has a temper tantrum in the future, I'll be passing him/her right on over to hubs so he can take care of things with his soothing/calming nature. Course maybe I can then dangle cookies and candy in front of our kid and sabatoge him, hahaha...kidding! I would never do that...nooooooooooo

****

So remember how I said we were going through things and sorting and organizing and getting rid of crap? Well, I stumbled upon a bin of childhood stuff...and made a discovery that I have COMPLETELY forgotten about for oh...17 years or so?

Now this might sound crazy to some of you - but back when I was about 13, I remember being at what was called Thrifty's Drug Store. Now it's a Rite Aide - which we seem to have every 3 blocks (hate). I remember I came across what I thought were the coolest baby bottles ever - and since they were limited edition, I decided to buy them and store them away for that wonderous time in my life when I had a baby of my very own.

I must have stuck them into a box along with other childhood belongings and just ended up moving them from house to house where they would get shoved under a bed until I finally rediscovered them almost 20 years later.

I was SO stoked when I found them because I still think they're super cool...and I will definately be using them for my critter...check em out - old school soda bottles!

This pic came out crappy - but it's a welch's grape juice bottle...
The SPOT! You never see the Spot anymore...

So anyway - while it's kind of embarrassing to admit that I bought BABY BOTTLES when I was 13 years old...and now I'm 30 years old and kind of freaking out about this whole baby thing....I'm quite stoked that I had such forethought as a kid. I can almost guarantee if you'd asked me back when I was 13, how old I thought I'd be when I had my first child - I sure as hell wouldn't have said 30. 30 probably seemed OLD to me at 13. How wrong I was eh? Course I was wrong about pretty much EVERYTHING at 13...just don't tell my mother that I actually admit to that :)

And the winner is...

ME

Thank you everyone...with emails and comments included - I won, six to zero. Course, I pointed this out to the hubs - and lo and behold, I get online this morning and there is a mysterious comment added:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Opinions Needed":

I say the hubster wins. tecnically the cat in the background is looking at the grey cat. SO THE HUBSTER WINS!!!!!! ps. HE's one hot looking man. you're sOOOOOO lucky

Bwaaaahahaha! I think we can all agree he's still trying to sabotage me :)

*new belly pics will be posted later today*

Opinions Needed

Allrighty...I need some opinions please.
Here's the story:
Last night, hubs and I were talking about Christmas pictures - and while we know it's impossible to get all the pets together, I toyed with the idea of doing a type of collage with us in one picture, Georgia in another, and the cats in another.


Hubs said there was NO WAY that I could get a picture of all 3 cats looking at the camera at once. Well, being my incredibly stubborn self...I got defiant and said YES I CAN! Aaaand that's when it all began.
I jumped up - grabbed the camera and proceeded to gather cat after cat and put them into the laundry room so they were confined to a small space. There is a door between our kitchen and our laundry room with a window on the top half....so I had all the "kids" gathered on top of the washer and dryer, and of course a bag of treats - and I proceeded to try and get their attention and make them look my way. In the midst of this process, hubs decided to try and FOIL my plan and stood in the window with a can opener and a can of cat food. Course they all looked HIS way instead of mine...especially when he busted out the catnip and tried to shove it under the door - and even went so far as to get out the milk and pour it into a bowl while they all watched and went crazy in the laundry room.


He laughed his evil laugh while I was shouting "KNOCK IT OFF! Quit sabatoging me!" and doing anything I could to get them to face ME..."Kitties! here kitties!"
We must have looked utterly ridiculous - but I wanted to WIN dammit.
So...after much trial and error - and picture after picture of two cats looking, but one not looking, or all three of them climbing on each other and trying to jump off the counter or walking away from each other (dogs are SO much easier) and just being a total crapshoot...I FINALLY got my shot! Observe:

Now - hubs says this doesn't count because they're not looking AT the camera. I say it counts because they're all facing the camera and looking in my general direction. Besides, they're CATS...I can't even get my neices to look right at the camera half the time - and granted, they're all squinty eyed - but I did the best I could with the felines.

SOOOOO - this is where you come in. Opinions please?? Who wins...ME? or HUBS?

Aches and Pains

The nesting is in full force people!
Yesterday, hubs and I got up and got dressed - he started laundry and decided to tackle the baby's room himself (what a great little "Coco the houseboy" he would be eh?) - and I headed outdoors to tackle all the yardwork that's been staring me in the face for the last few months.
My brother decided to take our mower and see if he could fix it...he also was nice enough to bring HIS mower over and mow my lawn for me - how awesome is he???
We have this brick area in the front of our house where I had several barrels of tomatoes and squash growing over the summer. That whole area had become completely overrun with weeds and just STUFF that somehow gets piled out there. Well, the veggies were pretty much done for the season, so I yanked those suckers out and weeded the heck out of that side of the house. I also pruned this massive bush of daisy's that had become huge and mostly dead. I then weed wacked along the side of the house and along the fence line.
With all the bending and pulling and sweeping and raking I did...I was HUUUUUURTING last night. Thank GOD for hubs because I sat on my balance ball and he massaged my back until his fingers gave up.
I have to say though, our yard looks so much better. I didn't get everything done - but it definately made a noticable difference. I actually really love to work out in the yard, but I just don't have the time needed to keep it up...especially now that it gets dark so early.
At around 1pm yesterday - my 2 year old neice Gracie was dropped off, along with Jasper the dog, who is always good for Georgia to play with. The first thing Gracie wanted was "piggies" - (which means pigtails), and then we headed back outside and she "helped" me in the yard and also kept the dogs busy with balls and toys. All in all, a great day - and since Gracie was so good, we headed for her favorite thing...Jamba Juice where I got to slam some fruit and satisfy my craving all at the same time.
Georgia was so exhausted after running around the yard all day, she came in the house at about 5pm and passed out. She got up to eat dinner, but then turned around and went right back to bed until 7:30am this morning. Gotta love a worn out puppy!
This morning I felt like an 80 year old woman between the stiff back and the sore legs, and what's with all this PELVIS PAIN?? My doctor says it's normal, and I know I shouldn't complain because it's only downhill from here....but DAMN this kid gives me some aches and pains I never knew I would have. I keep forgetting that I can't just go out and weed the yard without paying for it later...

Hubs and I have gone through almost ALL our clothes and blankets and sheets and we have tons of stuff to take to Goodwill. I'm in this mode where I just want to get rid of stuff. I feel a sudden need to be as organized and clutter free as possible before this baby comes. We've been going through drawers and boxes and closets trying to PURGE (ha) ourselves of too much crap. Since we don't have a garage where we live now, this is ultra important because our storage shed is very small - and it's reserved for things like tools and camping equipment, so everything else is either in bins in closets, or in bins under the beds. One would think that a 3 bedroom house would be plenty big enough for 2 adults and a baby, and yet we kinda feel like we're bursting at the seems a little bit. The clothing situation has been interesting for me because I now have multiple sets of clothes:
Pre-pregnancy clothes
Pre-pregnancy clothes that I don't fit into, but swear I will someday
Maternity clothes
Maternity clothes that I've already grown out of, but need to store somewhere
Maternity clothes that don't fit yet - but will in the coming months

Thank goodness I've been given hand me down maternity clothes and only had to buy a few things because that can get seriously expensive. Especially since I'm not one of those itty bitty types who can just wear big stretch pants and a giant t-shirt. I need that extra material to cover this belly!

This morning at work, my boss noticed how huge I'm getting and so we had a good long chat about what will be happening when this baby comes.
Something in my mind says that I'm just not cut out to be a stay at home mom. Alot of people tell me I'll change my mind once I hold this baby in my arms - and who knows, I've never done this before, they might be right. But knowing myself...I just never saw myself as the type to let my husband be the sole provider while I stay home and take care of things. I've always thought I'd be a better mom if I at least worked part time, so I had something else to focus on...something that's just mine...not to mention contributing to our finances.
So when we found out we were pregnant - I really wasn't sure what was going to happen with my job. I knew I didn't want to work full time and put my baby in daycare all day every day - mainly because the cost would most likely cancel out my paycheck. I had hoped that I could work part time and do part time daycare. Granted, it would mean we'd have to pinch our pennies and be more careful - but at least I'd be working AND staying home for the most part.
I kind of dreaded having "the discussion" with my boss about this whole subject - but one day he sat down and asked me straight up what would be ideal for me. I told him that IDEALLY - I'd love to be able to work from home and come into the office a couple days a week...and still make my full time wages. I kind of laughed because I honestly didn't think that would be possible - I just KNEW we'd have to hire someone to cover for me and I'd have to train and go through that whole process.
But I was wrong.
I honestly am not sure how I could have lucked out anymore than I have as far as a job situation goes.
Basically - my ideal situation - is going to be my reality after this kid shows up.
I'll be taking some maternity leave, but then I'll be working from home...and going into the office twice a week - and BRINGING THE BABY WITH ME.
How insane is that? They're even going to make room for a playpen and whatever else I need so I can be working in the office and doing my stuff and have the baby right there with me the whole time.
I realize this is not going to work forever, and at some point I'll most likely have to pay for daycare or a sitter on those days...but in the meantime, I don't have to worry about it.
I don't think I can fully express how grateful I am that my boss is doing everything he can to make this a managable situation for me. He thinks it's important that I have my "mommy and baby time" as well as being able to continue with my job...which is what I really want to do so our finances will stay relatively the same.
I know it's going to be hard to work full time and be a full time mom...but I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to do both and have full support of not only my boss, but all my coworkers as well. My boss is very in tune with the fact that babies are unpredictable and he keeps telling me that I can't expect for my days to all go smoothly - so he's making arrangements so I can work around my unpredictable days and not be stuck in my normal 8 to 5 schedule.
Seriously - do I have the best boss ever???? I'm flabbergasted by the whole thing - and yet I'm filled with an overwhelming sense of calm as far as the whole thing goes. I just know that it's all going to work out, and I'm determined not to slack off and take advantage of this opportunity.

My Darling Clementine

As you know, my craving all throughout this pregnancy so far has been fruit. I seem to go through phases, and while my last phase was apples - I am now obsessed with all things Tangerine. Our local store sells these little tiny clementine tangerines and I am so not kidding when I say that I can eat an entire bag in one sitting if I'm not careful.

The other day I mentioned to a friend that I had eaten 8 tangerines, and she freaked out thinking that I was going to OD on vitamin C or something...so in the interest of not freaking anyone else out...let me just show you all how tiny these things actually are. This is in comparison to a lemon.and actually - since my craving these little bastards doesn't help AT ALL with my heartburn issues, here is a better example:

I also recently learned that not only real tangerines are necessary...but tangerine popsicles are just as craving worthy these days. I know..popsicles in December - who would have thought - but hey, I'm blaming all this weirdness on the BABY.

****

My sweet hubby - works as a courier for a certain popular delivery service (not sure if he'd want me to say WHICH company...but think arch rival of the brown clad folks) and the one part of his job that he really loves is his customers.
He has his favorites of course - and apparantly he must talk alot about impending fatherhood because we've gotten GIFTS from people...isn't that just crazy? Complete strangers have bought things for my baby - I don't even know how to express how cool that is. Gotta love small towns!

Some of his customers bought us our first sleeper outfit, appropriately neutral so I can put either a wee baby boy or a wee baby girl into this cozy little item:

I just realized what an awful picture I took of that thing...in actuality, the outfit is light green and soooo snuggly - this picture doesn't do it much justice I'm afraid.

(Note to self: Still need to write thank you note for this item)

Also - another one of his customers was nice enough to knit our baby's first blanket!

(Note to self: must also write thank you note for this item - get on it girl!)
I just can't get over how neat it is that hubby's customers have gone out of their way to do this for us...it's one of those warm fuzzy type things that if I really thought hard about - I'd probably cry. Course I cry at the drop of a hat these days, so that's nothing new.

Also - while cleaning the baby's room last weekend, I stumbled upon our very first purchase for this kid. We bought these only a couple weeks after getting the positive result...or 6 positives as it may be. I really wanted red ones, but black will have to do for now :)

so tiny! Lord help me when it comes to itty bitty shoes...I just can't help myself. And in my house, high top converse are a must (and quite comfortable for pregnant people who are supposed to wear relatively flat shoes...even if they do make me look like I'm 15 years old).





And now I must boast about my hubby because while downloading these pictures - I found some from Thanksgiving that I forgot to share. I like to cook, but baking just isn't my thing. LUCKILY the hubs likes to do the baking...so much so in fact that his parents were nice enough to buy us a red kitchen aide mixer for our last anniversary. So my mom put us in charge of a few things for the holiday meal, and one of them was PIE. She wanted typical pumpkin pie which he gladly made...but hubs decided to up his game and make a homemade apple cranberry pie as well. So on Thanksgiving day - he created his masterpiece...and I walked into the kitchen to find this...

VOILA - he did all that lattice work himself...and I must say, I'm so impressed!