Friday

It's Friday. I had a few scattered thoughts I wanted to share from the past 24 hours:

Last night I had one of my classic crazy dreams, only in this one I went to lunch with Greg only to realize I had my OB appointment that afternoon and forgot to bring my glucose drink, thus causing panic. Yes, this is what I dream about these days.

My psycho pup woke me up from a coma at 1am. And again at 4. And whined continuously at our bedroom door until I nearly killed him at 6:30. So how do I punish him for being so obnoxious? I'm packing him up and taking him with us to my parents' house this weekend so he isn't left alone outside in the storms tomorrow. No, I'm not a sucker.

I still haven't resolved the broken part issue with our crib. I emailed the company on Monday and never heard back. I called the number on the assembly instruction sheet yesterday and it's no longer in service. I looked on their website and there is no phone listed, only the email address, mailing address, and fax. Today I decided to just order it using their online form under "miscellaneous parts" which then asks you specify in the comment section. Figure that will be harder to ignore. Then I accidentally used my medical flex plan card number as payment instead of my debit card. Because I'm an idiot and shouldn't be allowed near anything that involves money. I'm about one step away from buying a tube of super glue and just fixing the stupid part myself.

I've changed my mind 19 times about what other furniture I want in the nursery. I think my husband is about to beat me. This is why I don't actually buy the expensive stuff until the last minute. I know better.

Giddy

I have a thing for buckets. No, not the generic five gallon type, storage buckets. Baskets, bins, boxes bags... any kind of bucket that holds stuff. So imagine how thrilled I was to score all of this at Big Lots over the weekend:


I knew back to school time in a college town would provide me with some nifty finds! I've been searching other Big Lots in the area to see if they have the canvas bin sets in other colors. I'd love to have some in the orange or greens like the baskets. And the stripe in the canvas is same lime green, by the way. That's hard to see. And for the finale, notice the cd player on top, which Greg made me buy because I'd been wanting one for the nursery and I became downright giddy when I found this one in the matching green.

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to put in them. I'm thinking one of the bins would be good for baby socks. And hats. Because babies come with hats. If you don't believe me, you didn't watch enough West Wing.

I'm also contemplating if the white shelves are paintable. Yes, also from Big Lots. They're the basic press board shelves. I don't know if it'll work or not. Anybody ever tried to paint cheap shelves? May be too much color, perhaps I should contemplate some flowery decals or something for the sides...

Piles of Stuff

The aftermath of a week of feeling like slug slime is piles of stuff. Piles of dirty dishes, piles of dirty laundry, piles of fast food bags, piles of posts in my Bloglines...

You know I'm feeling blech when I cancel two lunch plans in one week. Sorry guys.

I've been feeling mostly human again since Saturday, so Sunday I started attacking the laundry and dishes and such. I hung out with BFF Addyson all day yesterday, but managed to finish up some baby registry chores at Dogwood. Today I need to get some cleaning done that I'd intended to work on last week. And go to Walmart before the rain starts again. And put together a bookshelf. And eat something, since I go back to the doc next week and right now I'm on track to get in trouble again. Meanwhile, we managed to almost get our crib put together on Sunday. We were installing the last rail when we broke off a rather important piece of plastic that holds up the drop-side rail. I'm waiting on the company to get back to me on whether or not they can send me a replacement part. If we ever get that, I can post pics of how the nursery is coming along. Meanwhile, remind me to post later about why I ADORE shopping at Big Lots.

In other family news, I got word Saturday night that my mom won her first bracket racing round in my old Taurus. In truth, she won by default because her "broke out" (which means he ran a faster time than he'd predicted he would, bracket racing is a little more complex than heads-up). Greg thinks her opponent was intimidated by her feistiness. I think he was scared of her fine ride. Either way, she was quite proud, and I'm proud of her too. Seriously, my mom drives a race car...

For Those of You I Haven't Seen in a While

For the record, that's right at 35 inches at the belly button at 25 weeks. And yes, I've gained a net of 5 pounds in six and half months.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband Greg! You're present is on backorder. It should be here around November 1st.

I love you!

Tot Turns 25

Tater Tot turns 25 fetal weeks old today. Wow, they sure grow up fast.

I was thinking about that this morning when I realized that I never really reported in from my last doc visit, since we left the office headed to South Carolina.

Despite my insistence that I had gained 3 pounds, the doc's scales said I'd lost half a pound. They were kind enough to call it breaking even. Sigh. Dr. T wasn't too upset, since last month's sonogram showed Tot was a monster child in the 94th percentile for size and measuring anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule on most of the measurements. And my physical growth was fairly impressive. Tot's not exactly stunted. BUT, I was told to put on at least 2-3 pounds before the next visit in August. I'm TRYING...

While in SC Lauren noticed and pointed out that while I am indeed eating real food again, I'm not eating meat. I suppose I realized this but hadn't really thought much about it in terms of my lack of weight gain. For instance, several times we've gone out for BBQ and I've eaten all my side dishes and took my pulled pork home for Greg to have for lunch the next day. We'll go to a buffet and I'll get a plate of veggies and such and one tiny piece of chicken. The chicken may or may not actually get eaten. It's not that I don't like meat, my preferences have just started running to other things. So now I'm making the effort to eat meat more often and make sure I eat at least part of it first when I have it. Instead of going to Wendy's and getting a baked potato, I'll get a chicken sandwich combo with a baked tater and eat half the sandwich and half the tater. It's a compromise, since all I really want is the tater. Greg's also started practicing the age-old parental line of, "Two more bites..." Heh. I try to be good and do what I'm told, but I still haven't noticed a whole lot of improvement on my scales. I think I need new scales.

Anyway, in addition to the weight thing the doc asked if I'd started feeling movement. About that time Dr. T was measuring my tummy and got kicked. Tot's seriously active these days. Unfortunately, she prefers to do the majority of her womb remodeling when I lay down to try and sleep. Or when her father walks near by. Every time he touches my belly she starts moving. If I make a comment about her being quiet all day he'll just reach over and touch my tummy with one finger and sure enough, she'll kick him. We call this "Poking the Tot." She's going to be such a daddy's girl. And feisty. No idea where she gets that.

I go back in early August for another check up and to drink the nasty glucose testing Drink of Doom. I'm looking forward to that day. Blech. Guess I should lay off the Spree and peanut butter cups that week. Tell me again how I'm not gaining 10 pounds a month?

It's Not That I Don't Appreciate...

It's that time. BFF Jen has started harassing me to put together an invite list for a baby shower in September. SIIIIGH. It's not that I don't love all my friends and appreciate hanging with them, I just hate having to put together the invite list. What's the rules on that? I mean, I know we'll probably have 4 different showers. Who goes on which list? And how good of friends do you have to be to ask them to buy you stuff? Especially right now, when I know good and well that most of my friends don't have the money to spend on baby stuff for me. Can you have a baby shower where people aren't really expected to bring gifts? I dunno. I can only put Jen off for so long before she hunts me down and beats me.

And hey, you're all invited! Just send Jen your address for an invite. I know you're all dying to buy me stuff. =)

Closure

Ok, on the less cheery and considerably more depressing side...

I've mentioned here a few times about my former boss from my days as a banker, Mr. E, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year. I'd kept up with his condition through one of my informants at the bank and knew that things had gotten worse and he was on hospice. Today I was forwarded an email that his wife had sent out around noon today saying that the nurse from Hospice Ministries said she thought he was near the end. In the email she shared how she had struggled with God over Mr. E's illness and suffering, but that she had come to some understandings and realized that God's timing was perfect, even when watching a love done suffer with cancer. She had finally come to some peace with the situation and realized that God was taking care of them, and would continue to do so.

A few hours after I got that email, I received the call that he had passed away this afternoon. As much as that pains me, and as much as I am grieving for his family, I can't help but believe that God was waiting for her to be at peace before taking him, giving her some closure on what has been a horribly difficult year. I hope she is able to hold on to that faith and celebrate his life rather than dwell on his suffering. He was a good man.

So Very Awesome

We made it home. We had a great visit with BFF Lauren and Ed and the boys. Tater Tot was quite happy to be there. She couldn't be still the entire time! I also learned that she really likes Lauren's fried jalapenos. Tasty.

I thought this would be a good time to take a minute and point out how awesome it is to have people around you who share. At six months pregnant the total maternity wear purchases I've made has been two pair of shorts. Yet my maternity wardrobe is larger than my pre-maternity wardrobe. And considerably more stylish... =)

Upon leaving Lauren's house this was the view when I turned in my seat in the van:

We were afraid to open the back of the van until we got home. This was after we removed our suitcase and overnight bag:

The van was packed with Tot's baby gear. Granted, there are a few items that found there way into the van with an evil laugh - items Ed called "revenge toys." You know, the really noisy ones, many of which I originally purchased. And of course the giant ball pit I bought Edwin for Christmas a few years ago managed to end up in the van. Ok, so I enjoyed playing in the ball pit as much as Edwin did, so that's really not a bad thing. =) I'm not even going to think about unloading the van until tomorrow.

Later Gators

We're heading out of town for a few days after our doc appointment Wednesday. Ya'll have a good week. I'm already missing my pup, but we've arranged for him to maintain the comfort of his couch during the hot days while we're gone. Cause he's spoiled like that. I'm not taking my computer but I'll have my phone (and thus my email) if anybody needs me. Except for Lauren. If Lauren needs me she can just poke me or yell in the next room, as we'll be camped at her house starting on Thursday!

Six

Apparently six is the magic number. It took six years for me to forget how much I hate the whole process of painting. I remember now.

After the last time we painted my father informed me that the next house I buy better come in the colors I wanted it. I'd like to add to that - my next house won't have vaulted ceilings (and WILL have an attic!).

I Can Do IT!

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think I'm going to have the nursery ready to go before we leave for South Carolina. My goal had been to get the room completely empty and cleaned so that when we get home with loads of gear we can unload it directly into the nursery and start setting things up.

I've got the cleaned out part done, it's completely empty. It hasn't been this empty since the day we moved in. Yesterday I vacuumed and washed down the walls in preparation for sprucing up with a fresh coat of paint. Today I started taping up the walls so we can paint on Saturday. Monday I can clean the carpet and it'll have a week to dry before we start moving in.

Look at me being all domestic and ahead of schedule. I thought for sure I'd still be hauling junk out of there Tuesday night. Now I need a new excuse to procrastinate packing...

Tasty

This week I've been keeping Addyson at my house. This was Casper's first real experience with a little person.. I'll admit, I've been curious about how well he'd react, considering that we have one of this particular model on order. The verdict? Babies are TASTY. (The white blur in the pictures is my pup. My camera is not SLR!)




And in case you haven't figured out that this entire post is just an excuse to show off BFF Addyson's complete cuteness...