Nicky Pics + Video

Nicole and her Daddy after her bath

This is a video of Nicole last night doing what she does best-hiccup, yawn and pass gas! Turn up the volume to catch all three.

I swear this wasn't posed! This is how she slept with Sarah F last night!

Nicky sleeping in her cradle. This is the same cradle my paternal great grandmother was first rocked in and every generation's children have since after her.

How Nicole Entered the World

The short version: I had a kid.


The full version:
After getting over the shock of a planned hospital visit that evening, Jim and I headed for our “final meal” at Chipotle (they told me to eat a lot!) and headed over to Mercy at 8:00. They had our room already assigned and I was checked in and donning a hospital gown within about 20 minutes.

Dr. Silver checked me out and determined that since I was a full 4cm inducing me wouldn’t be necessary, breaking my membranes (water) would should do the trick. Christy was our assigned nurse for the evening and she took care of hooking up my IV and getting my stream (not drip!) going- I couldn’t get an epidural until I finished 1 full bag which took a very short 12 minutes.

There was a natural, and therefore noisy, childbirth going on down the hall that kept Dr. Silver away until about 11 but Greg, Mom and Dad had come to visit by then and helped pass the time. When they broke my water by snagging the membranes there was a huge gush of fluid, much more than I had expected. It didn’t hurt a bit!

I had 2 level 4 contractions in 10 minutes and my IV went in- 3 rounds of a burning sensation and then a lot of pressure as the tube went in concluding with a round of cold as the medicine was pushed into me. The numbness started immediately, all except for a spot in my lower abdomen which proved to be my downfall. It’s called a “hot spot”- an area that for no apparent reason doesn’t react to the epidural and allows you to feel whatever the rest of you should be feeling- and mine grew from baseball size to eventually spanning a 12”long by 4” high area in my abdomen with full-force, teeth-gritting contractions that wouldn’t allow me to sleep.

We called my parents to come back to the hospital around 5 when I hit 10cm dilation and I started to push around 6:00am. This was very painful due to the 1/2ing of the epidural (since Nicole hadn’t dropped below my pelvic bone they thought that more pain might encourage me to push more), the large hot spot area, and being generally really really hot temperature wise. Jim was fantastic: he fanned me, held my leg as instructed (which allowed him to face away from the action area and the mirror that I had requested to be set up so I could watch the process), and was generally very encouraging.

After a half hour of pushing with no progress (still that pelvic bone issue), Dr. Silver suggested we use forceps. “What’s the difference?” I asked. “Another hour of pushing, or she can be out in 10 minutes.” Yeah, easy decision.

We went from a doctor and a nurse to a doctor and 6 nurses within about 20 minutes, but, true to his prediction, the forceps did the trick! Dr. Silver pulled Nicky through to her midsection and after Jim turned him down on his offer to finish delivering her, I got to do the honors of pulling her all the way out.

She came into the world at 8lbs. 14 oz. at 7:05am on 7/11/07 and immediately everyone commented how much like Jim she looks. She had no marks from the forceps but did have lots of black hair and overgrown fingernails. Her eyes are a slate color and her general disposition was pretty calm! Jim did cut the cord even though it wasn't on his original agenda.

Overall, she’s a keeper!

It's Time! Dum Dum Dum!

Tonight's the night! They're inducing me at 8:00pm! I was SUPER CRAZY freaked out about this but I've calmed down for the most part. Jen in my office gave me the confidence in that the whole process from very start to finish will be overseen by medical professionals so this is a great way to have a kid. :)

Be impressed if you hear from me in the next few days! I'll try to have Jim post up some pictures!

Taking Nature into my own hands

So the longest pregnancy on record was 375 days (280 is normal) according to an article in Time .

I broke down and moved my OB appointment from Thursday to tomorrow at 11:00. I'm going to see a doctor i haven't seen before so I’m not sure if that'll work in my favor or against when it comes to inducement. I feel guilty moving nature along medically but I want this kid to be old enough and stable enough to travel and I want jim to be able to stay at home with me for a few days (this is his busiest time of the year).

I also feel sorta guilty for wanting to be induced because I'm not uncomfortable at all. I still have good energy, I don’t think I'm any bigger, and the air conditioning is keeping me cool. I guess we’ll see tomorrow what they say…

5 days and counting...

At least I'm not offended when people are disappointed to see me. Everyone at work gives me this look of “why are you here!?” Trust me, I'd rather NOT be!! I am really touched though that people are checking in on me to see if I'm okay and if there’s any news, which there never is!

Congrats to Dale for winning the baby pool! I made it to 7/9/07! A painful pinch to Dave who thinks a new baby carrying record needs to be established by me. Uh… NO. : )

If you’re around, entertain me – I wrapped up so many projects at work that I need things to do!

40 Weeks + 4 Days

Even through the ceiling and garage painting yesterday, which was then followed up with a walk around the block delivering flyers about the house, Nicole stayed snug inside.

Special thanks to Jen and Tom for dinner and Trivial Pursuit last night! Jen got [what's hopefully one of the last opportunities] to feel Nicky move, and caught her as she was rolling over.

I slept fantastic and would be delighted to use this energy and good night's sleep to be a little physically challenged today... hint hint!

Still no baby....

Pregnancy clearly suits me. At this point I’m wondering if I’ll be pregnant forever! As no sign of Nicole’s arrival has made itself apparent whatsoever, the real possibility of being induced is sinking in. How she went from a due date of 7-7-07, the luckiest day of the century (aka TODAY) to a probable induction date of 7/13/07, a Friday, the most unlucky day of the year, is crazy. I’m talking to her and attempting to explain all the benefits of coming today, but she doesn’t seem to care. : )

Thing is, I don’t feel bad at all! I want to feel something happening, I watch overly attentively, but nothing is happening that didn’t happen a week, a month, 2 months ago. Mom says her labor started out of nowhere and her water never broke with any of us kids. I’m holding out that maybe that one facet of our pregnancies will be the same.

I’m not impatient yet, but I do have concerns about Nicole’s age when we take her to Myrtle Beach in August… I’d have preferred her to be 6 weeks old and at this rate she might be less than a month. I suppose all things will happen at their own time….

Mom bought a double stroller yesterday with intentions of “pushing her granddaughters around the block while they hold hands.” The thought makes me smile.

Relationship Foundations

Yes, I'm still here....

*****************************

Relationship balances are often a delicate thing. Taking two people who have completely separate lives before meeting and then trying to blend them together fluidly can be difficult. In talking with Jim about this task, he came up with a great analogy about the choices couples have to make when getting together.

Option 1: Each partner occupies their own silo of a life before getting together. Option 1 states that you continue like this, living on the same “farm” but in separate silos. What this ultimately means is that while each partner continues with their own hobbies, interests, etc., they now have a neighbor to share life with. As an example, separate bank accounts might be kept indefinitely, even through marriage, by people who choose option 1.

Option 2: Each partner continues to dwell in the silo they had before becoming a couple. However, upon coupledom, they build a bridge between the two silos. In this option, individuals continue to do their own things some of the time but fully share resources between them. Partners who choose this option most likely make a point of doing activities together (ie co-ed softball) but also continue with their own individual hobbies as well, even if the other person doesn’t join in.

Option 3: Each person had their own silo when they first got together but each chooses to knock it down and build one giant silo together to fulfill all of their needs. These couples enjoy doing nearly everything together, keep very few secrets from one another, and practice full partnership when it comes to decision-making.

Jim and I both fall into Option 2. Fortunately, we both want Option 2 and there was no dissention between us on how to live our daily lives once we got together. He has softball, I come watch. I have teaching, he stays out of it. I enjoy reading, he sits next to me and reads too. Jim has his CMA studies, I could care less. I cook, he cleans. It’s a good balance.

I think it’d be challenging for couples who disagree on what option to run their relationship in.

The New Digs

There’s been some house progress in the last two days. My parents went out on Friday of last week and they had the “ceiling” on the basement in. When we stopped by on Tuesday night this is what we found!!

Front view (garage jutting out on the left, next set of windows are the dining room, then the front door in the middle, and living room on the right corner)

"Welcome Home!"

Standing in the great room, the solid plywood marks the fireplace and on either side and above are windows! Kitchen is the room just visable on the far left side of the picture.

This picture was taken standing in the greatroom and looking up into one of the guest rooms. Underneath this bedroom is the office.

Not that I expected anyone to be critical, but it was nice to hear positive feedback when we took friends over Wednesday afternoon to see the house. I think now that the framing is up it’s easier to visualize what we’ve gotten ourselves into- debt!

In regards to our current house, I put a FSBO sign at the end of our street yesterday morning and we got a call and request for tour from a single guy my parents’ age which we were happy to accommodate. He seemed very interested in the house and asked a lot of structural questions that I was glad Jim was around to answer. He asked us for our bottom-line price (to be determined) and said to give him a call this week. Jim’s skeptical because he seemed so happy with things right away, but I'm not going to look at any enthusiasm at this point as a bad thing.

We’re averaging about 2 hits/week on the Fairfield house so far and I hope it continues. Chuck and Dale both commented that they think $150K is fair for our house and are surprised we’re willing to negotiate anything below that. Very flattering!

40 Weeks - Fully Baked!

How your baby's growing: It's hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs in at a little over 7 pounds and is about 20 inches long. His skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason your baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. Rest assured — it's normal and temporary.

After months of anticipation, your due date rolls around, and... you're still pregnant. It's a frustrating, but common, situation in which to find yourself. You may not be as late as you think, especially if you're relying solely on a due date calculated from the day of your last period because sometimes women ovulate later than expected. Even with reliable dating, some women have prolonged pregnancies for no apparent reason. You still have a couple of weeks before you'll be considered "post-term." But to be sure your baby is still thriving, your practitioner will schedule you for testing to keep an eye on her if your pregnancy continues.

My Take: Today is “supposed to be” Nicky’s birthday. She’s still snug inside me as of 12:47pm with no signs of wanting to see the world. I’m not frustrated with this fact as I still think the Fourth of July would be a cool birthday and there's 12 hours left in the day. I DO NOT want to go into labor at my parents’ party though. Therefore, I’d be just as happy with 7/5 or the ever cool 7/7/07.

Jim and I built her swing this morning and it’s sitting in the family room waiting for her. Her clothes are waiting, tags on still just in case she’s a Christopher after all, and I think we’re both mentally prepared for her arrival. Hopefully it’ll be any day now!

What's Up

- Happy Birthday, Lindsay!

- The “For Sale By Owner” sign is officially in the yard as of last night. I put it in the ground and actually it made me excited, not sad as I sort of expected it to do. UPDATE: Just got a call about the house- 18hours after the sign went up!! Just general interest makes me happy!
I hear that our new house has a ceiling on the basement now – we’ll make a quick stop over before we head to dinner for Linds tonight.

- Dr. appt. was good but still no baby. I'm sitting at 3cm dilated and still 75% effaced. No painful contractions but a whole lot of eagerness surrounding her arrival (which is incredibly touching). New goal is to be 7/5/07 so I can still go to my parents Fourth of July party without incident.

- I have gotten so much done at work in preparation for being out that I'm now pretty bored. I'm obviously not going to start any new projects, but without any that I can really finish either (to pre-mature in the process to do so) I am dying at work. I’ve also discovered that I have a very hard time entertaining myself without a book, project around the house or TV/movies. The internet just doesn’t interest me and I’d feel too guilty playing online Euchre for half the day (though many of my friends find no fault in sleeping while on the clock, I can’t do that either in good conscious).

Weekend of 6/29/07

I’ve been hoping/expecting Nicole to come early (and technically she still can!) so we have NOTHING planned on our calendars from here until October. This lead to what felt like a long weekend because of so much freedom and a little “wow, what do we do now?” with nothing scheduled.

Friday: Work was BORING. I'm running out of stuff to do as I’ve prepared so well for being gone. When I got home Jim and I hung out and watched The Office which the Erdahls let us borrow. Jim laughs out loud so often and so hard to that show that it makes me enjoy it all the more.

Saturday: I met Lori for brunch at First Watch (delicious omelets and potatoes) and made a quick side trip to Rowe’s Furniture before I met mom for MOTG dress shopping in Kenwood. We discovered that there aren’t many options for formal dresses out there and it’s a darn good thing she picked up the one dress she liked in her size last week. When I got home Jim and I worked on the house more (ok, lots more Jim than me) on the exterior – mulching, edging, cleaning gutters, realigning the front pavement stones, etc. The outside of the house looks great and the reason for our work is obvious to those who know why- the neighbors came to tell us again how sad it is that we’re moving. Awwww!

Sunday: Sunday morning Jim and I had breakfast, relaxed, and then I went with Lindsay and crew to order bridesmaid dresses for her Oct. 20 wedding. She has very good taste and I'm quite happy with what she picked out – it’s flattering on everyone and very reasonable cost wise (<$130). Jim and I did a huge Meijer run stocking up for my expected 3 meals a day at home (hopefully starting soon!).

Sunday evening we got dolled up and met Tom/Meghan, Dave/Rachel & Dale at the Precinct for dinner to celebrate Dale’s promotion. Neither Jim nor I had been there before and the food was fantastic! They put us up in a private room and we dined for almost 3 hours! Dale gave us a really cool book on parenting which both Jim AND I will certainly read (thanks again, Dale), and we got to hear more about D & R’s honeymoon. Great food, great company!

Oh, and a special shout-out from last weekend that I somehow missed! - Thanks to the Boston’s for their visit and lunch with us on Saturday! We only get to see them a few times a year now that they’ve moved to Charlotte so it was great catching up!!

Becoming an author

I think a lot of people out there have an ambition to write a novel. I actually saved a fortune cookie fortune from about 3 years ago that is taped on my computer monitor – it reads “you are a lover of words, someday you will write a book.”

I like the idea of writing for the following reasons:
1) Like blogging, it’d be cool and good for my ego that someone actually wants to read what I have to say
2) Better than blogging, I’d actually be PAID to write!
3) What if my book turns out to be a great American classic!? Don’t I owe it to the world to put it on paper? Ok, this might be an exaggeration… but you never know!
4) What a neat way of getting famous – for doing something that requires actual intelligence/skill (versus being in the email forwards of the Darwin Awards or something like that)

Jim and I brainstormed writing a self-help book together (which I believe I blogged about before). If I had to write one on my own though I think I’d steer myself to what I know best – romantic mysteries. As recently discussed with Lisa though, this genre has several downsides for the author:
1) it’s hard to take any romance seriously (there goes #3 above!)
2) Half the population isn’t interested in this genre (Lisa suspects that the spouses of said authors don’t even read their wives’ books)
3) There are hundreds if not thousands of romances published annually – you’d have to work hard to get yours to rise above the masses
4) I’d need to do quite a bit of homework to really nail a good sex scene (pun ½ intended)- they’re always fun to read but I can imagine they’re difficult to write without being cheesy.
5) So if I do pen a really great sex scene all my friends and family might wonder and joke about what runs through my head (or through my marriage) in real life!

Yeah, this sounds hard…maybe I should go back to my original creations – a childrens’ board game and my new passport idea….

Home Selling, Take 1!

After hours of cleaning and organizing (who knew that washing windows was like an hour-long job!?), we were ready for our prospective home people when they came at 8:00 yesterday evening. The husband couldn't join his wife for the tour so she brought the wife of my co-worker who recommended us to them. We walked the outside of the house and both ladies were really impressed with the lot’s size and space. The kitchen went over well, as did the “very clean” basement.

Becky said that she thinks her husband, Jim, will definitely want to come see the house first-hand so I hope they’ll call about a second tour.

Only kicker to this is that they don’t want to buy but rather they want to rent which isn’t our preference but is doable. We’re more inclined to consider the renting option because they’re friends of friends and, after meeting Becky, she’s the type of person that I’d be friends with in real life so I’d trust her to take care of the house.

Even better than this news, however, was the email waiting for Jim when he got into work today – a hit off his work’s intranet site where we listed the house. A fellow employee wants more information on it as a potential place for her parents. YES!!!!!

Goal is to put a FSBO sign in the yard and at the neighborhood entrance this weekend.

Week 39- 1 to go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby's ready to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) Your baby's organs are fully developed and in place, and the outer layers of skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

If the week passes and your baby stays put, don't panic. Only 5 percent of babies are born on their scheduled due date. And your baby can't make you wait indefinitely for her arrival.

My Take: Dr. appointment this morning went really well – I’ve lost a pound since last week bring my total weight gain to 37lbs. Nicole’s heartbeat was 152 (normal), and I'm 75% effaced/2-3 cm dilated. Making good progress!

I'm past the nervous stage and onto the excitement stage. I'm not even worried about the epidural! I really really really look forward to getting back into my normal clothes again – it’ll be like getting a whole new wardrobe!

The doctor’s parting words this morning were “see you in a week, if not before” – let’s hope he’s right! Greg’s out of town until Friday night so anytime after that I'm ready when she’s ready.

Weekend of 6/22/07

Friday: The big Father’s Day Morton’s dinner was AMAZING! We got all dressed up and headed downtown to enjoy our complimentary dinner for the contest I won. The server was excellent but Mom and I felt bad when they presented our entrée options and the lobster they showed was still alive, trying to crawl of the plate onto Dad’s lap! He was too cute to eat! We had shrimp and bacon-wrapped scallops for an appetizer, salads, filet mignon, sautéed mushrooms, grilled asparagus, the fluffiest mashed potatoes I've ever had, cheesecake and lavacake for dessert. It was fabulous!!

Saturday: Last week we distributed a flyer about our house to start to get some traction on it for selling. In just about an hour we had a bite and someone who wanted to come see it ASAP. Yeeeeaaaahhhh… wasn’t counting on that and so we worked our tails off organizing the basement, packing up stuff, cleaning out closets, etc. It’s not even near done (we crossed off only 5 of 24 to-do items) but now that they’re officially coming to tour on Wednesday of this week we’ll be full-out running to get stuff done. It's all little cosmetic stuff (ie laying new mulch) but there's enough of it to do that it's a bit overwhelming. Nicole officially can now NOT come until Thursday.

We also got to spend some time with Greg and Lindsay at their graduation party that night. Good times, good occasion! Congrats to both again!

Sunday: I packed up a lot of Nicole’s stuff while Jim went to visit God for us at church. As soon as he got home we headed up to see the Erdahl’s PHAT new house in Troy. It’s gorgeous! We were mostly there to celebrate Dr. K’s graduation from medical school (HOORAY!) and hang out with their friends and family. Fantastic food, beautiful house, hot couple.

I'm going to try to talk my boss into letting me take a half day tomorrow and Wednesday to prepare for our tour. So much to do and no time to do it in with work in the way and all! :)

I Have an Opinion on Everything: Wedding Attire Edition

There are some things that I just can’t wrap my head around… like why people would wear jeans and a cut-off t-shirt to a wedding. What barn did you crawl out of and how do you justify in your head that the same outfit you mow your lawn in is appropriate for a wedding ceremony?!

I wasn’t even at the wedding (Jen & Tom were) this happened in last night but, sadly, it went down at my wedding and I’ve seen it at others. Jen said there was actually a guy there who was wearing a hat that said “I Y Bikinis” on it. WOW. The invites even clarified “summer semi-formal” on them!

Who controls the education rights?

I found out last night that my cousin is going to be changing his major from Industrial Design to History at the start of his sophomore year of college. This change sparked conversation about the value of a degree.

Years ago when Jim and I first discussed whether we’d pay for our child’s undergrad education, I was on the side of what was done for me – parents pick up the tab for the degree and give the gift of no debt upon graduation. Jim, who had his whole undergrad paid for by scholarships, took the side that some help could be given but it’s a life lesson in responsibility to have the kid pay for at least part of their own education.

While both of us generically view a college degree as a stepping stone to earning real money, my chemist of a husband placed significantly more value on a business, science or engineering degree as they have the highest earning potential in the real world. My vote was let the kid study whatever they want to, including liberal arts.

Fortunately for our kids, Jim’s come to see my side a little brighter and has crossed the line to agree with my education-financing philosophy.

Which brings me back to my cousin who’s now making the jump from a well-paying degree to one with significantly less job opportunity because it’s more limited in scope...

As my aunt/uncle are paying for his degree, do they now have the right to redirect what school he goes to (one less expensive) based on the fact that the monetary value of the degree is less?

My viewpoint is biased because I have a very expensive degree ($20K/year +) in secondary education (low-earning potential job) but I used those skills acquired during college to land my current job. Even though my degree says I should be earning $30K/year or so, my income from my sales career, derived from having that degree and the associated skills, is higher. Therefore, I think that it is that it’s still worth it to pay a high tuition for a degree from a reputable school, nearly regardless of the degree acquired. (Side note: I'm a huge believer in the fact that the college experience itself is equally important to the "receipt" given at the end and worth the price paid for 4 years of schooling.)

Thoughts?

Week 38 - 2 to go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby has really fattened up. She likely weighs between 6 and 7 1/2 pounds now (boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls), and she's probably between 19 and 20 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test with your pinky! Her organs are fully developed and in place, but her lungs and brain — though developed enough for her to function now — will continue to mature right through childhood.

My Take: The one thing Jim and I agreed on during our hospital stint on Monday is that we’re both eager to see what Nicole will look like. Jim “can’t imagine” her with any other hair color than his, I'm not so sure (I was blonde and still “am”). Thanks to recessive genes we know she’ll have blue eyes and unattached earlobes.

Appointment this morning was not as great as normal because I gained more weight than I wanted to (any). Nicole’s doing well and the doctor still maintains she’s going to be a small baby (hooray!)- Mom says don’t count on that 'cause they told her that too with Greg and he was a pound+ more than me. I'm 1cm dilated and 50% effaced – making good progress.

I still feel really great- moving at a slower pace but still have quite a bit of energy. I hope this keeps up when she gets here!

A little baby excitement

Around 3:00pm yesterday I had quite a bit of clear fluid loss- enough to get my pants noticeably wet and make me wonder if I had sprung a leak. My baby books mentioned that some times your membranes can rupture but the baby acts as a cork and prevents the rush of fluid normally associated with your water breaking. Anyway, I wanted to make sure so I called the doctor who wanted to be sure and consequently sent me to the hospital.

Now, before I continue, recognize that I do not have a baby yet…

So I left around 4:40 and headed to Mercy. I waited around for a half hour for the nurse to see me which had me antsy but afterwards I understood – she was with me for about 45 straight minutes, so it’s no wonder there was an initial delay. She hooked me up to a baby monitor (watching heartbeats which were stable around 148) and a contraction monitor. I had had non-painful contractions much of the afternoon, but it was really eye-opening to watch them being tracked on the little graph paper where you could see the peaks and valleys of contraction-no contraction every 3-5 minutes.

Yeah, every 3-5 minutes was pretty stable which made the nurse think something may be starting… Ultimately the contractions continued from around the 3:00 time when this ordeal started until we left the hospital around 8pm. So, once the doctor FINALLY arrived and I got checked out firsthand by her with a very painful device, she proclaimed there was no rupture and sent me home. Had there been a rupture they would have ultimately induced me to start the "real" contractions.

What I learned:
1. If I'm not in pain or soaking a towel with fluid don’t bother calling
2. Being in the hospital is BORING
3. The monitors are really really cool. If I owned one I’d just sit on my couch and watch it for hours

Weekend of 6/15/07

What a weekend!! We were so busy I felt like it was almost a long weekend… which made getting up this morning NOT fun.

Friday: Our original plans cancelled on us so we were open to accept an impromptu grill-out invite at Jon & Kristi’s. Good food, good company, nice wrap-up to a boring workday

Saturday: Jim bought a book on selling your own house since Greg’s going to grad school and saving money by continuing to live at home. He (Jim) hands it to me on Friday night and instructs “read this book this weekend”. While flattering that he thinks I can read a whole book in a day and a half, it was a challenge that now I had to live up to! So, Saturday I spent about an hour and a half with the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) book, trying to learn about title companies, escrow, and financing. Semi-interesting though hard to fully understand as I’ve personally never bought a house to have experience with these things. Good thing Jim’s been there, done that.

Megan, Stephanie and left early afternoon to go to the spa for massages/pedicures (thanks to a gift certificate from our former boss). They had a cushion with a big hole for my stomach and two divots for my breasts that went on top of the massage table so I could lay front-down. What an odd sensation after not having “laid” on my stomach for 7 months!

I unsuccessfully ran some errands then read more of the FSBO book until Jim came home from Spencerville around 7. We decided to go out for Mexican and on the way the Sentra stopped working literally while we were driving. Same symptoms as this winter that cost us $1100. We did end up getting to dinner around 8:30 after taking the car off at Car X and after I ate my enchiladas an exciting thing happened – Nicole dropped! It was an odd feeling because I literally felt her move from high on me about 2 inches lower – suddenly the weight of carrying her was resting on my thighs as I sat! When I saw Mom the next day she unprompted commented on the fact that I was now carrying lower. Things are getting closer! Lindsay said that Ryann dropped about 2 weeks before she was born. That would put Nicole’s birth on July 1 if the same rings true for me!

Sunday: I cooked for about 3 hours (made my first cheesecake from scratch which turned out really well!), we took my aunt and uncle up north to see our model house (which they raved about!), and we went to my parents for Father’s Day. This is a good time to mention that on Friday I got a call from Morton’s Steakhouse informing me that I won an essay contest about why my dad is the “rarest” which earned me/us dinner for 4! Hooray! Dale graced us with his presence and tolerated all the Templin/Wolf bonding. Dessert went over really well, which made me happy, and we got home around 10:30.

Thursday 13

Thirteen Names I don't Expect will Come Back in Vogue Well, the name Nicole is in the 80's as far as popularity for 2006, which suits me just fine! Here are 13 names I don't suspect will make it back to the top 100 list in my lifetime.... 1. Bertha 2. Gertrude 3. Hildegard 4. Herman 5. Bernard 6. George 7. Bernice 8. Lois 9. Grover 10. Mildred 11. Marberta 12. Wanda 13. Hank

Week 37- 3 to go!

How your baby's growing: Congratulations! Your pregnancy is now considered full term — meaning your baby is developmentally ready to handle life outside the womb. (Babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 weeks are post-term.) Your baby probably weighs a little over 6 pounds at this point and measures between 19 and 20 inches, head to heel.

Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children are born blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

My Take: We’ve taken lots of steps in the past week to make final preparations for Nicole’s arrival – the stroller/car seat has been purchased, assembled, and the base is installed (firmly thanks to a handsome firefighter!) into my car. The hospital bag is mostly packed (need to buy a nursing bra and new cute slippers and I’ll be done!). The spot where her bassinet will go is cleared out and waiting for the rocker’s delivery from Mike and Lindsay. Cause we’re nutty like this, Jim and I put towels in the car to protect my leather car seats during transport to the hospital if I'm leaking and put a picnic blanket with a waterproof side down under the sheet to shield the mattress in case my water breaks while I'm in bed.

I thought that dancing at the wedding and 30 flights of stairs at Homearama would do me some good labor-wise, but apparently not. I have a maternity massage scheduled for Saturday that’s been known to start the process for others. The doctor at my appointment quizzed me on when it’s time to call when labor’s started- I got both things right (water breaking and 5 minute apart contractions)! All this being said, when I woke up at 5:21 with some pains this morning, I started to get nervous at the possibility this was the real thing, thankfully it wasn't!

Weekend of 6/8/07

A few highlights from the weekend:

1. The “hole” is coming along (see picture) – we got to take Jim’s parents and his aunt/uncle/cousins to go see it over the weekend when they came to visit.

2. Dave and Rachel’s wedding was WONDERFUL. Couldn’t have asked for better weather, which was great as it was all outdoors. The ceremony was a man-friendly 11 minutes, and the dinner was a great ethnic blend of oriental, Mexican, and Italian buffets. Loved everything about it!

3. Also took in Homearama this weekend with the family (I have friends with busy social lives!)- I was looking for decorating ideas for the next house. Didn’t find as many as I’d hoped and many of the houses were very average. One we were in Mom commented, “I like your new house better and it’s $2 million less”. She wasn’t just being polite… Only 3/10 houses were in the $1 millions, none of them were worth the cost. Still nice to see how the “other half” (2%?) live.

4. I was asked to teach an MBA class this summer (intro to Marketing) but declined as the class starts 2 weeks after my due date and I think I’ll have more than enough going on to keep me busy. Flattering to be asked though!

Getting Older

I get an email column from Aaron Karo, a comic I read back in college who graduated at the same time as me and went though a lot of what I did at the same time I did. Anyway, here’s a line that he wrote this week that struck home all to clearly:

You know you’re twenty-eight when, every once in a while, you turn on Saturday Night Live and realize you’ve never even heard of the musical guest.

Life Updates

1. The House: We have a hole! We went out last night to see the hole and it was… a hole. I thought it should be deeper. Jim and I both thought the footprint was smaller than expected. Ultimately we conceded that we don’t know squat about this stuff and we’ll leave it to the experts. Concrete should be poured this weekend or the first part of next week.

2. The Kid: … has got to be out of room. Her rolling is sometimes painful as it’s so strong and forceful on my stomach. I’ve been wrong with everything else with this pregnancy (the fact that I was pregnant, her being a boy, etc.) but I'm expecting her to come early. Putting that in writing probably means she’ll be 2 weeks late.

3. Kid Stuff: the crib is in and they’re going to hold it for us until we move to the new house. We found out that Toys R Us carries the pattern that I wanted for our stroller/car seat so we’re buying that tonight. Jim’s co-worker was confused why we were going out of our way for a specific pattern for the travel system then she realized and exclaimed “oh, I forgot, this is your first kid.” :P ha ha

4. Teaching: I got my Spring semester reviews back and they were awesome. My overall effectiveness average was a 4.78/5.0 as rated by 24 students. Class value was a 4.82/5.0. My lowest score was a 4.52/5.0 on “makes me work hard” – oh, I can fix that! My favorite part of the evaluations were the unprompted 3 write-ins of “The best teacher I’ve ever had at XU” and 2 “Karen deserves a raise”. I'm so glad my boss reads these things!

Social Responsibility

There was a woman who called into my morning show the other day that got my mind going. The situation was like this:

Her sister is a long-time drug user who’s been in and out of jail over the last several years. She just had her third child, a son, who has birth defects like his two older brothers as a direct result of the drugs his mother used while pregnant. This woman who called in is now adopting this new baby and has asked her sister to please stop having children as they are all mentally and/or physically challenged because of her capriciousness and all of the boys have been taken away from her. The sister refuses.

My issue with this:
1) this drug user obviously can’t take care of herself or the children she’s bringing into this world
2) this woman’s addiction and irresponsibility have directly and forever negatively impacted the lives of her children
3) the state and its taxpayers are now financially responsible for taking care of these children and she is not held accountable in the slightest

So what’s the answer? Whose job is it to hold her responsible for her actions and the damage she causes to those around her?

Do you tie this woman’s tubes and physically restrict her from having more children and causing more harm? Is it the government’s right to take away that ability from her, even if it's the government who has to clean up the mess for years and years? If you do physically restrict her from having kids, what happens if in 10 years this woman cleans up her act and wants children that she would take care of?

Do you lock her up in jail or a treatment center (also at the state’s expense) away from men so she can’t get pregnant and hopefully gets better?

What should be done?

36 Weeks- 4 To go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby is still putting on the pounds — about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is a little less than 19 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the creamy substance that covered and protected her skin during its submersion in amniotic fluid. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, which will stay in her bowels until birth. This blackish mixture, called meconium, will become her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Babies between 37 and 42 weeks are considered full-term; a baby born before 37 weeks is pre-term and after 42 is post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position by now, which is optimal for a smooth delivery, but if she isn't in the next week, your provider may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position manually, by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

You might also notice that your Braxton Hicks contractions are a little more frequent now. Be sure to review with your practitioner exactly when and where to call her when you think your labor has started. As a general rule, you should call when you start having regular contractions coming every five minutes for about an hour.

My Take: I had a doctor’s visit this morning (I'm going every week now). Here are the stats and life updates:

• My blood pressure: 100/62
• Nicole’s heartbeat: 170 (my honey nut cluster breakfast was blamed for this)
• I have gained exactly 29.5lbs. since I got pregnant
• I am now 1 centimeter dilated
• I'm getting a Braxton Hicks contraction roughly 1/day (not painful, just makes my already firm belly like a rock!)
• Jim is reading the Labor chapter of my What to Expect When You’re Expecting book and I'm gaining more respect from him by the day!

Seeing the pictures of Karen’s nephew (born 6/5/07 at 8:20am) freaked me out a bit – in under a month those pictures will be floating around but it’ll be MY kid friends are holding. Even with 7 (8) months for this to sink in it’s still not fully real.

What's happenin'

1. I get to babysit Ryann tomorrow! Mike’s getting a table from Lisa so I get the honor of watching my niece for the evening. I'm VERY excited.

2. We got a call from the project manager of our house – they’re breaking ground TODAY! We’ll have a hole by the end of the day! I'm going to go take pictures tonight. Concrete should be poured by the end of the week.

For reference, this picture was taken 2 weeks ago and we're standing about 10 feet into our land. The property we bought (.45 acres total) extends all the way to that black dot (a gas meter) near my right shoulder. That road to our left is the private drive for the lots that sit behind ours. Click on the picture to enlarge it and get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

3. Now that the house is more of a reality (actual visible progress is starting), Jim and I are getting more in the mindset of what will happen to our current Fairfield house. Our hope is to sell it to Greg, but we’re realistic that perhaps not all the stars will align (my over-achieving brother wants to start grad school in the winter). We’re putting together the list of projects to do to make the house ready to sell to whomever – mulching, basement organization, brush removal, etc. Of course none of these projects sound like fun, but all make a big difference on the appearance of the property.

4. Foot swelling went down for about 3 days but is back with a vengeance this morning. I head to the doc tomorrow and will ask to make sure that other than elevation there’s nothing I should do (or worry about).

5. Tonight we head to the hospital for our maternity ward tour. On our visit we’ll stop by and see Karen C who’s nephew, Nicholas, should be born by then!

Weekend of 6/1/07

Friday: work was SLOW- boring projects led to a long day. I did have a highlight at the end when Sarah W stopped in and brought me flowers! :)

That night Lisa and Kendall spoiled us with these amazing cheeseburgers, salad and chips. Jim & Kendall played some Wii and Lisa and I chatted up a storm. Nicole actually made an appearance (apparently she likes Kendall’s burgers too!) putting Lisa on a very short list of friends/family who has felt her move in utero. It was very sad to realize that was out last shindig in their current house. :( I know their new house will be amazing, but I liked THIS house!

Excitement on the way home: We got pulled over. UGH. It's so nerve-wrecking for me to see those lights behind the car, even if I'm not driving. Anyway, the guy was really nice and let Jim off with a warning (78 in a 65) which we VERY much appreciated.

Saturday: As I was reading People and Jim was studying, Dave P called and asked Jim if he would step in as his Best Man that evening for Dave/Carole’s vow renewal ceremony (Dave’s brother got sick). Of course Jim was honored to do so and his wife was delighted to see him all dressed up. The ceremony, my first renewal ceremony, was beautiful – the flowers were gorgeous, Carole looked “hot” as Tom and Meghan pointed out, Dale played wonderfully, and the whole event was incredibly touching and meaningful.

Sunday: Got up around 8 (on a weekend?!!?) and did some around the house stuff until we left for OSU around 11. We went north to see the OSU Dental School graduation ceremony for a few of Jim’s friends (a groomsman and the reader in our wedding grad’ed together coincidentally enough). Nice ceremony, John Glenn gave a funny commencement speech, but it was WEIRD to hear them call out Jim’s friends as “Dr. Robert Yoxthimer” and “Dr. David Bernal”. I think it was kind of weird for them too!

When we got home we ate dinner and watched The Prize Winner from Defiance, Ohio, a movie Kendall let us borrow on Friday. I think I cried about 4X during the movie. Some parts were just so sad/happy I couldn’t help it! Great acting, good plot. B+ (not an A because I wouldn’t want to watch it again – who likes crying so much!?)

Some Morning Thoughts

1. My feet are SWOLLEN (see picture from last night). Jim propped them up for me in bed while I slept and they looked almost normal by the time I woke up. That progress, of course, is all gone now that I'm up and moving around again.

2. I think that the Michigan travel commercials are excellent. If you’ve haven’t seen one, here’s the link to just one of the many they've been putting out. Very professional and emotional. Makes me want to go to Michigan.

3. Is there a woman out there who doesn’t like that Winnie the Pooh song, Pooh Corner?

4. I got to eat with a SPORK today - what a great invention!

Thursday 13

6 Things I Can't Do and 7 Things I Can! 1. I can’t see those stupid magic eye things that used to be popular a few years ago. I stare and stare and nothing pops out at me. 2. I can’t get through Forest Gump without crying. Especially the ending scene where he’s at Jenny’s grave under that big tree. 3. I can’t understand how people zone into heavy metal music. It truly sounds like noise to me. 4. I can’t justify spending more than $15 on lunch 5. I can’t do a pull up. 6. I can’t get comfortable parallel parking- it always is a daunting thing to do, especially downtown! ** -- ** -- ** -- ** 7. I can finish my entire bowl at Chipotle, even with the extra rice! 8. I can read a book and forget within 6 months what the plot was. Same for a lot of movies I watch. 9. I can watch elephants at the zoo for an hour without getting bored 10. I can spend a half hour trying out different fonts for a project and justify that it’s time well-spent 11. I can count some of “Jim’s” friends (friends before I knew Jim) as “my” friends now because we’ve spent so much time together over the last 5 years 12. I can negotiate a deal so well that it impresses others 13. I can publicly speak without getting nervous

35 Weeks - 5 To Go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby's getting big. She weighs a tad over 5 pounds and is just over 18 inches long. Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

My Take: Special thanks to Mom for letting me borrow a diamond ring of hers to replace my own. My fingers are so swollen my wedding rings got stuck and it took me hours of elevation to get them down enough to yank them off. Yeah for still looking like I'm married though in this day and age probably no one notices or would care if I was 8 months pregnant and didn’t have a ring on my wedding finger.

There are a few questions that people who haven’t seen me in a while universally seem to ask. Here they are with the answers for your reference!

1) Do you know what you’re having? Yes, we’re having a little girl.
2) What are you going to name her? Nicole.
3) Are you going to take drugs [during labor]? I'm not above an epidural if it’ll make me enjoy the experience more.
4) Is Jim excited? No, he’s irritated that I got knocked up, especially when I told him it is really Dale’s kid.

Duh, obviously that fourth one isn’t my real answer but geez, people, what do you expect me to say? Even if Jim wasn’t excited (which he is!) he’s smart enough to put on a good act!

Anonymous Fan

I reposted my receipt blog but purged the original to get rid of the comments.

I find it peculiar that someone takes the time to continuously read my blog though they find it and my friends "annoying". To further illustrate how backwards this person is, they actually comment and CHECK BACK to comment more!! And they think I'm not interesting?! Apparently I am- they keep reading day after day!

I Have an Opinion on Everything: Receipt Edition

Similar to my pet peeve on how restaurants waste a lot of food on oversized portions we don’t need, I have a similar issue with businesses that unnecessarily print out 2 feet of receipts for a simple purchase. I think perhaps the worst perpetrator of this is Blockbuster. Why I need not 1, not 2 but 3 separate receipts for an item that I'm taking with me and won’t return for money back at any time is ridiculous. I have never known anyone to actually have a use for any of the receipts Blockbuster, or most vendors, print out except for those budget-conscience folks who track every purchase/dollar spent via keeping a receipt copy or of course if you're concerned you might return the item for a refund.

My solution: have a single button on the cash register that is “no receipt” and is pushed in response to a negative answer to the question “would you like a receipt with your purchase today?” That way, those people like me who would pretty much NEVER want a receipt don’t waste the paper and those who do can continue to get them. I suspect this would save companies thousands of dollars per year in paper.

Thursday 13

Thirteen of my Friends and something I like about them (Today's could be a Thursday 30!!) 1) Jim – he hit a grand slam last night at softball! And he tells me I'm pretty. 2) Mom – besides Jim, she’s literally the only person I’ll call without a purpose and still chat with for a half hour 3) Dad- he called me the other day to tell me about a fair at work where I can come get free lunch and samples! 4) Sarah F – she sees what other people need and actually does something to help them get it 5) Sarah W – she’s quilting Nicole’s bumpers and quilt and didn’t make fun of me when it took me a long time to pick out the fabric 6) Greg – he asked me for help with his tuition reimbursement program – it’s nice that your little brother still needs you some times 7) Lisa – the person who inspires me (even though I don’t act on it) to change my hairstyle. She’s got amazing courage in the salon chair. 8) Viki - I want to hold her hostage in my basement and make her sing to me all day. 9) Jen – I’ve noticed that her favorite word to use is “fantastic”. Since I’ve noticed it I always smile because even when she writes it I hear her say it in my head like a little .wav file playing 10) My grandparents – they are the epitome of what I want to be when I'm 82+ - active, social, and loving 11) Jessica – it’s so weird and cool to see a friend go from a kid to one of the best moms I’ve ever seen 12) Karen C- she’s going to frickin’ Albania to study something she loves. Seizing opportunities is kick-ass. 13) Chuck- about once every other month I get an article in the mail that he thinks I’d like. It’s fun to 1) get mail and 2) know someone was thinking of you

34 Weeks - 6 To Go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is probably almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her central nervous system is still maturing and her lungs are well developed by now. If you've been nervous about going into preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that 99 percent of babies this age can survive outside the womb — and most have no major long-term problems related to prematurely.

My Take: I went to the doc this afternoon. I gained 4lbs. in 2 weeks which I thought was high but the nurse said it was no big deal and Dr. Johnson didn’t say a thing. They’re not worried, I'm not worried. My abdomen measures right on with where it should be. Johnson felt around and said that Nicole is head-down and will probably stay that way for the next 6 weeks! Hooray!

Acid Reflux = Gone
Charlie Horses = Reduced
Swelling = Continuing at current pace
Thirst = I'm drinking about 4X more water than “normal” me
Fatigue = only when wild women come to visit and wear me out!
Nicole’s movement = she’s not getting any more extroverted personality-wise though I feel her strongly several times a day. I'll see if I can video her during one of her active times.

I feel great! I'm not exaggerating that if someone told me I had to be pregnant, even 7.5 months pregnant, for the rest of my life I’d shrug and say okay. Jim would not agree as he misses my old figure (which I take as a compliment). I’ve been really lucky and I’ll try not to gloat too much or jinx it for next time!

Stop the Noise!

I feel like a crotchety old man for saying this, but I really don’t like inspirational pop songs. I think they’re beyond cheesy. Perhaps because “I Hope You Dance” by Leann Womack was so horribly overplayed I'm now instantly annoyed when I hear a tune that encourages me to be all I can be. The latest in the stream of these songs- Rascall Flatts’s “My Wish” – I want to gag as soon as it comes on.

Weekend of 5/18/07

Long post, but it’s been a long weekend!!!

Friday: Worked all day which was “fun”. As soon as I got home I got a message from Sarah F saying she was stuck in traffic and to go to the homesite without her, which I did. They had an open house at the brand new model to welcome the 7 families who’ve already bought and to introduce ourselves to our soon-to-be neighbors. I checked out two main things from the model – the color of the ceiling fans (white or brown wood) and what furniture they put in the morning room (as I suspect the table Jim wants will be too small for the room). Then we headed over to our site to do the walk through where we approved the stakes in the ground. It was cool to see things as they’ll be laid out. I have two lot issues- 1) our house is set further back from the road than everyone else’s because of some berm that they’re not even putting in but is registered with the county. The means that our front yard is bigger than our backyard which isn’t my preference but Jim says is fine. 2) the second lot behind us is practically unusable for new construction which leaves the door open to us to purchase it if we want – a move that will give us 1 acre of land though ¼ of it would be woods/unusable. That decision is currently on hold. Ground will be broken in the next two weeks!

When we got home we met Sarah, Lisa and Kendall for dinner which was good (we never have roast beef b/c it’s too hard to make for just 2 people), and played with L & K’s new Wii. Other than my girl friends being too cool to do the bowling approach when they played, it was awesome!! We made little Mii’s (cartoon characters of our likeness) and used our own characters to play the games. It was fantastic! Lisa even made a little midget Nicole with a pink shirt and hat on!

Saturday: We got home at 12:30am from picking up Viki at the airport and went to bed not long after- we had to be up early to go to Mom’s and set up for the shower. What a great time!! So many people came to celebrate, the food was wonderful, the games were fun, the generosity of my friends with their gifts was overwhelming. I seriously have the best friends ever. THANK YOU to Sarah W, Sarah F, Jess, Viki and Mom especially for making my party so spectacular!!

After we left the shower I shuttled Viki, Sarah and myself over to Dale’s for his graduation party. It was funny because so many of our friends overlap and 3 of the girls from the shower were at Dale’s party too- ha! CONGRATS to Dale on his 5 years-in-the-making accomplishment!

We headed to Meijer for a fun shopping trip after the party and got Viki her nightly vanilla Frosty from Wendy’s. We hung out talking until about midnight or so and hit the sack- long day = restful sleep!

Sunday: Sarah left us (boooooooo!) around 10 and Viki and I solved the world’s problems for several hours while Jim studied and got his hair cut. I snuck away to go to Ben’s first birthday party (he’s so cute!) for a few hours. We went back to Meijer for our weekly shopping trip and had marinated chicken, broccoli, and crescent rolls for dinner. We watched Legends of the Fall last night – what a depressing movie! Great acting but man- everyone dies!

It’s a weird feeling to have been up for almost 3.5 hours already! I took Viki to the airport and then got ready and came into work. It'll be an early night I predict!

Game Chic

Jim and I pride ourselves on being on the forefront of all new games and introducing them to my family where enthusiasm spawns from there. Let’s review the past few years:

2004: Cornhole is all the rage. Parents, grandparents, and children alike enjoy tossing beanbags outside in the sunshine. Steve & Jim capitalize on the trend by making and selling their own sets.

2005: The Erdahls teach Jim and Karen Mexican Train Dominos. Quickly buying a set of their own and teaching the Templins, now nearly every extended Templin family (aunts, grandparents, etc.) owns the game. Mike and Lindsay got their own set for Christmas this past year.

2006: Bocce is introduced as the “new cornhole” after family picnics with Jim’s side of the family where the game is played. The game is so universally loved it makes its debut appearance as a second tournament at the Annual 4th of July party. At least 3 bocee sets were purchased by guests of said party as a direct result of playing there.

2007: And the new game is…?? Jen & Josh taught us a card game called Quiddler a few weeks ago that I bought for my mother for Mother’s Day this year. When we left the cook-out there were 6 family members playing the game, including Mary Ann who doesn’t normally play anything. It’s unfortunate that Jim doesn’t care for it as much…

Smaller Portion Follow-up

As a follow-up to my restaurant post, Chuck S sent me a link to an article that TIME wrote about this same complaint (Thanks, Chuck!).

Here's a snipet:

Big Chain Restaurants' New Small Portions
by: Joel Stein

It's the big gulp theory. The basic laws of restaurant economics state that meals keep getting bigger because food is cheap and fixed overhead--staff, rent, equipment--is the same no matter how much is piled on your plate. So giant servings are a win-win: you pay a little extra for a lot more food, and the restaurant makes extra profit. It's the same rule that created tubs of movie popcorn, venti-size coffee cups and Burger King's Meat'normous Omelet Sandwich. It's why no restaurant will ever give you a reasonably sized stack of pancakes.

Read More...

Week 33- 7 to go!

Nicole this week: This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and measures 17.2 inches. Thanks to she recent weight gain, she's losing that wrinkled alien look. Most of your baby's bones are hardening now, but her skull is still quite pliable. It's actually in separate pieces with spaces in between. This flexible structure allows your baby's head to compress so it can fit through your relatively narrow birth canal. The pressure on her head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a cone head-like appearance. This is totally harmless, normal, and temporary. Her skull plates won't completely fuse until she's about 9 to 18 months old.

My Take: I love how the baby people called my kid alien-like. Ha!

I’ve made good progress on the acid reflux since last week – I'm down to about 2 TUMS every other day or so. MUCH better than the 8 I was taking daily before. What has gotten worse though are the charlie horses I get- my calves are so sore that I can’t fully straighten my leg or walk without pain. I see now why pregnant women waddle – it’s because their legs hurt and they can’t walk right!

The swelling in my ankles (which are starting to blend right into my pained calves) is also consistant now. Fortunately not painful, it's reduced me down to a very small quantity of shoes that I can comfortably wear. I wear newly purchased size 9-10 (I'm normally an 8) beaded flip flops more than anything else now. Megan was a gem and lent me a blanket to soften the prop I keep my feet up on at work.

I’ve been reading more articles about the signs of labor. Though I'm sure I can’t miss it, I don’t want to misdiagnose it either (exaggerate something that’s not labor into a trip to the hospital for example). I'm hoping that it’s (forgive the pun-twist) not too painfully obvious.

I Have an Opinion on Everything: Restaurant Edition

I share an annoyance with my grandparents that came to light yesterday when I had dinner with Karen C (thanks again, Karen!): restaurants always give you way too much food. You read in the news all the time about how Americans’ concept of a portion size is sometimes 2-4X what the professionals would deem “1 serving” and as a result, we eat and eat and get fatter and fatter.

When I went to Chipotle for dinner last night they didn’t fill my bowl as full as they normally did. My first reaction was to pipe up and ask for some extra but then I figured, “why do I need to eat a 5lb. burrito bowl anyway?” and kept quiet. Lo and behold the portion they did serve me was not only finishable, but had me comfortably full and not stuffed. I think I just got used to seeing my bowl piled inches higher than the rim of the tray and translate it to “that’s how it has to be” versus "that's how it needs to be".

I’ve said it before, but I really wish that restaurants would correct this issue by giving me 1/2 the food but charging me 2/3 the price of a “normal” meal. That way they’d still be making a great profit and I’d feel better that the meal was more affordable. I wouldn't overeat and I wouldn’t have to kick myself the next morning for forgetting the doggy bag on the table when I left because there wouldn’t be one- I'd have finished all my food the night before. Side benefit: we'd eliminate all those smart alecs that exclaim "feel free to send my "wasted" food to the poor children in Africa 'cause I'm not eating it."

School's out for the summer!

Well, the school year is officially over – I turned in my final grades today. This semester was an interesting one. I wasn’t nervous at all like I sometimes got with my first class – perhaps it’s because I have a semester of experience under my belt or just that I knew my subject (sales) really well. The students were fun and I got a lot of good feedback and suggestions the last night of class. Nearly everyone said they’d take a Sales II class if it was offered. I got some hugs from students as they left and have already received a few emails from folks just since Thursday. I hope some of them keep in touch – even I never did with any of my college profs and that’s probably weird- they were good people.

Comparatively, I liked the 2X/week during the day better than 1/week at night just because I got to know the students better. I also think I gave out too many A’s this semester. I know how to adjust this – no more participation points and no more dropping the lowest quiz score. I would have doubled the amount of B’s had I made those two changes and the grade inflation wouldn’t have been as high.

Hopefully my feedback on the evaluations will be as positive as last semester’s… not sure when I’ll find out…

I don’t start back again until mid-October! A long break to settle into my other life changes (kid, house, etc.) before we start up with the madness again!

Perhaps now it'd be kosher to set Greg-Scott up with some of the girls from the class? They're his age and in his city! And pre-screened for his convenience! ;)

Weekend of 5/11/07

Friday: The family met up and went to the Olive Garden for Greg’s graduation celebration. The funniest part of the night came when Mike spilled the beans about Greg’s tattoo, which my parents didn’t know about, over dinner and the whole ball of yarn unraveled quickly. Greg announced Jim is his new official brother and Mike tried to divert attention from Greg and his error by pointing out that Lindsay has a tattoo. She didn’t seem thrilled to be in the limelight either. Quite entertaining!

Saturday: Got up, breakfast, furniture/mattress shopped, got a call from Martha (a pleasant surprise!), bought flowers, got groceries, went to Jim’s boss’s house. Full day, led to sleeping in until 10am on Sunday.

Sunday: I made Jim and I strawberry pancakes for breakfast which was so great. I planted flowers along the front of the house (1 more flat to go!) and we headed to Mary Ann’s for the mother’s day dinner. As my first “unofficial” mother’s day, it was nice but weird to have people wish me a good day. I got a card and a frame from the neighbor across the street, my baby book and a card from Jim (that he signed for him AND Nicole that made me all smiley), and a back massager from my dad. Mom liked the card game and novel we got her and a large number of family ended up playing it at the party through the time we left. Hooray for successful gift-giving!

I am T-I-R-E-D this morning!!!!

Ma Bell's my enemy

I work in telecom but I hate getting telephone calls. It’s not that I don’t like to talk to people, I do, but I'm never around when people call – I'm either at work/school and can’t answer my cell phone when friends call, or at an appointment/already on the phone so I can’t answer my office phone when my clients call.

As a result, my friends/clients seem to be forever leaving me voice mails, which I like less than getting phone calls. I literally cringe when I see the red blinking light on my phone indicating that a message is waiting. As a result, I am terrible at returning voice mails promptly because I typically don’t listen to them for a few days. I can’t really get away with this at work where I have to call people back to be polite/professional; but even then I often reply to their VM with an email which I like SO much better– it’s fast, convenient, and to the point. I think that I've just gotten burned out from talking all day that I appreciate the break email offers.

How this happened to the person who spent 4 hours a night every night on the phone in HS talking with friends is beyond me…

Self-inflicted misery

I'm really congested. So congested that there are times that I talk and get so stuffed up I choke on my own words.

Why then, do I spend so much time blowing and hacking to just immediately swallow all that gunk and re-create my own suffering?! I want this crap out of me, not back in!!

32 Weeks - 8 to go!

How your baby's growing: By now, your baby probably weighs almost 4 pounds and is almost 17 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. She has tiny toenails now, and her fingernails have grown in, too. Some babies have a head of hair already; others have only peach fuzz.

My Take: Two words define my life: Acid Reflux. Y-U-C-K. Sarah and the “old wives” predict this means I’ll have a hairy kid, which I’d like, so if that’s the case it’ll be worth it. Tums are my friend. Lots of Tums. Hint: Dale, buy stock!

Also, over the last two weeks I’ve had a handful of Braxton Hicks contractions which feel weird but I'm grateful my body’s getting “practice” now!

I conned Jim into going to the park with me last night. We walked the trail (about a mile and a half) and watched the geese. He held my hand and then took me for ice cream to put all those hard fought calories back on. He’s the best!

An update and 3 random thoughts

1) went to the doc this morning and here are the stats: I gained 2 ¾ lbs (perfect!), Nicky’s heartbeat is 150 (right on!) and my blood pressure was 112/68 making pre-eclampsia no longer a concern! Hooray!

2) We were talking about excuses over the weekend and Dad brought up a co-worker’s strategy of always calling off 2 days in a row since it makes the illness look more plausible, especially when your first “sick” day is a day after a weekend. I think that has some merit to it if I ever called off sick….

3) Does anyone other than the person him/herself or their significant other notice someone’s “signature scent”? I have no idea what my perfume/cologne my friends wear. Hell, I don’t even know what Jim wears. I do know what he wants to wear (Armani Black Code).

4) If you had to bring to mind the image of yourself in a photograph, which would it be? The first photo that comes to mind with me in it was was taken at the zoo with Lisa and is displayed on a picture box in her bathroom with her arm around me. I think I recall it because I was genuinely happy in the shot and it shows.

Weekend of 5/5/07

Friday: I woke up feeling like C-R-A-P. My throat was still sore from Thursday evening and it kept me up all night. Talking was painful. Swallowing was painful. The only real positive is that it DID get better as the day progressed and that so many clients/vendors were concerned about me and wished me well. Awwwwww!

After work, Jim, Mike, Lindsay, Ryann and I drove the 3 hour trek to Toledo to watch Little Greg get his college receipt. Long trip, another crappy night of sleep later…

Saturday: We got up early for Greg’s graduation and sat for 3 hours watching the business school file through. I lost to Dad in the dot game (you know, the one that you connect dots to make boxes and the person with the most boxes at the end wins) and I'm ashamed to admit that he won because he was truly more strategic than I at playing. I hate losing, especially when it can’t be blamed on bad luck which so many games are. Anyway, CONGRATS to G-Scott for finishing up at UT and for entering the tax-paying world of work.

When we got home we caught the last hour and a half of Tom/Meghan’s Derby party (great food, great company!) and got to see Dale’s CCO concert. I loved every minute of it. It was fantastic. I would go every weekend if they had a show. Jim appreciated the music but is not a fan of the orchestra so I'm not sure he’ll be joining me much in the future. We did agree that Nicole will be required to play a musical instrument (piano to start probably) as a significant percentage of the smartest people we know have this ability and I do not think it’s a coincidence.

Sunday: Finally, a good night’s sleep!! After working around the house we ran errands to look for a front door (for the new house), buy mom’s mother’s day present, sew bean bags for the cornhole set we’re going to be making/selling, grocery shop, and share a milkshake. Good day all the way around! My "illness" morphed into straight-out allergies and now I'm all conjested, snotty, and sneezy.

I did buy my mother’s day present for myself too: a fancy baby book for Nicole. I won't write anything in it until I confirm in June/July that we don't need a blue one, but here it is!

Seeing the States

Here's my state map:

Create your own visited states map

I think I've been to WI but now I can't remember fully. I only counted states I'm spent the night in, not just ones I've driven through as I don't think that really counts. I'm at 54% (28 states). Most desired to see next: Maine.

Yeah, I'm expecting some harrassment from Martha about how I could/should check OR off the list... I'm quite proud that I have some far away states in red, specifically AK, CA, HI, WA, AZ...

Thursday 13

Yeah, I'm a day late but yesterday was crazy from 7:30am - 10pm and there was no time to blog!!

The 13 Things I want to do in the next 365 Days 1. Give birth a healthy, little baby with as little pain as possible 2. Go to Costa Rica for Jen/Tom’s wedding where I intend on zip-lining for the first time! 3. Have at least one room in my new house that my friends honestly and enthusiastically think I decorated really well 4. Get a raise at XU 5. Lose more weight than I gained with Nicole 6. Make 1 new recipe a month out of a cookbook or from a referral 7. Spend time, not just money on charity work 8. Have date nights with my husband where we leave Nicole with a babysitter and “keep the flame alive” 9. Maintain or improve my 128 bowling average 10. Continue blogging at least 3X/week 11. Avoid getting any traffic tickets 12. Try a drastically different hair style 13. Visit one new city

31 Weeks- 9 to go!

How your baby's growing: This week, your baby measures about 16 inches long. She weighs a little over 3 pounds and is headed for a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and she's beginning to accumulate a layer of fat underneath her skin in preparation for life as a newborn. As a result, her arms, legs, and body are filling out.

My Take: This kid is moving a lot and the feeling is so neat. I sat in a meeting yesterday and she was so active even Megan got to watch her move my stomach. I can truly say that though I feel like I’ve been pregnant for a long time (how do I have 2 more months!?) I’ll miss it when it’s over.

I'm obviously pregnant now, rather than just oddly shaped, as strangers ask me when I'm due without hesitation. I am REALLY grateful that all my growth has been in my middle and not spread out over my whole body. And though I think he’s mostly being polite, I smile every time Jim tells me I'm pretty.

Interesting fact – about half the time I dream (which is roughly 3-4/night) I'm pregnant in my dreams.

Catchin' up from the weekend

Some Random Things…

• I think everyone with those annoying word verifications on their blogs should turn them off and just see what happens. I know they turned them on because they got spammed, but that was a long time ago. You should forgive and forget. :)
• Since the transistor on our street blew the whole office had to close yesterday around 3:30. How did I spend my extra 2 hours? With Ryann who’s so adorable and slept on my chest most of the time.
• Best thing about the weekend?? A really awesome baby shower put on by Jim’s mom in Van Wert. Great games, great food, great attendance!
• For Dale: I “met” Katrin from Vienna because she randomly commented on my blog a few months ago so I checked out hers and found she had many similarities to Viki (in that she calls her grandma ‘Oma’, wears authentic German attire at times, has been through much of Europe, etc). Anyway, I directed Viki to her blog and now we’re all friends!
• How amazing is this 85 degree weather!?

I was tagged!!!

So Katrin has decided to tag me, which means I have to follow the rules.

The rules: each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. When we were younger, probably to keep us quiet, my parents had a game that if we spotted our initials, in order, on a license plate we’d get a candy bar. I'm still playing that *&^# game into adulthood and ONLY ONCE did I see KLT but that was after I became KLE. UGH!

2. My favorite candy is anything gummi.

3. I'm addicted to post-it notes. They’re everywhere on my office desk. They’re too convenient not to use!!

4. I think I own too much black. Problem is the color’s so versatile that I can’t escape from it. I probably own about 4 black t-shirts and I replace about 2 a year from fading.

5. It bothers me that I sweat more than Jim. Girls are supposed to be fresh and well-scented all the time. I stand still in hot weather and I need to wipe my brow; he can play 3 hours of tennis full-force in the sun and not have a drop of perspiration on him. It’s not fair.

6. I have a current friend (Alissa) whom I’ve known since I was 4. I’ve been friends with Jessica since I was 6, and Lori since I was 8. I still see them all regularly. I think my newest friend is probably Katrin whom I’ve never met in person.

7. It’s taken me two weeks to get 13 items together for a Thursday Thirteen on my goals for the next year. Getting 7 general but diverse items here took about 15 minutes.

Who I'm tagging: Lindsay, Megan, Carol, Tom P, Tom S, Greg, Dave S, & Dale

Did they just sing what I think they sang?

I heard the song “Too Close” by Blue on the radio the other day and despite myself, couldn’t turn it off. It reminded me of college when they used to play it at frat parties!

Like I said 8 years ago, however, how do songs like this ever make it to radio? There so inappropriate!!

Here’s the refrain of this one:

Baby when we're grinding
I get so excited
Oh, how I like it
I try but I can't fight it
Oh you're dancing real close
Plus it's real, real slow
You're making it hard for me.

If you want to watch a video of this song hit up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWDf5NWsgYU.

Rick K. introduced me to another college song around ’98 that I was in disbelief that it existed until I heard it in real life. Again- how is this allowed on public airwaves?? Remember this one? How could you forget?

She had dumps like a truck truck truck
Thighs like what what what
Baby move your butt butt butt
Uh
I think to sing it again
She had dumps like a truck truck truck
Thighs like what what what
All night long
Let me see that thong

There’s another scandalous song that is escaping me now that also fits into this category. I'm sure there are a half dozen others as well!

Lion King

Last night was girls’ night out for mom, Lindsay, Linds’s mom and sister (Karrie and Holly), and me. We had 4th row, first balcony seats to the Lion King down at the Aronoff. Some notes for those who haven’t seen it before:

- Same plot as the movie and many, if not all, of the movie's songs were included.

- A few new songs (written by Tim Rice) are thrown in to keep it a full musical.

- The voices of the actors remarkably matched those from the movie, especially Mufasa’s.

- The costumes were incredibly creative (see pics). While it was obvious that they were humans in costumes rather than puppets, all the kids around us “got it” and seemed really into the show

- The dance was great, but sometimes too much was happening and you felt like you were missing out on something while you choose to watch something else.

- There was an elephant (full sized) and a baby elephant in the opening scene that were so cute! The little baby elephant danced to the music and made me smile.

- Nicole went nuts for the full three hours. I think it was all the loud music and the thumping from the ever-present drums. She was so active I did feel like I had an alien inside of me and felt really “pregnant”. She had a VERY restful sleep, as did I after so much excitement!

30 Weeks, 10 to go!

How your baby's growing: Your baby's a bit more than 15 1/2 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and fills out your uterus. Her eyes open and close, she's able to distinguish between light and dark, and she can even follow a light source back and forth. Once she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have a visual acuity of only 20/400 — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. ("Normal" vision in adults is 20/20.)

My Take: I'm tired. My schedule has been jam packed lately and combined with poor sleeping for the last month, I feel like I'm in slow motion today.

I don’t have (or want to share) a picture of my stomach, but I have the linea nigra (a darkened vertical line running the length of my stomach) full force now which threw Jim off when he noticed it recently and/or finally got up the courage to ask what the heck it was. More weird than this to me, are the changes my belly button has undergone- it used to be a deep “innie” and now is more shallow and flat. I do not look forward to it popping out!

And my husband's take??
This was an exchange over email this morning:

From: James
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 10:41 AM
To: Karen
Subject: all kinds of changes

I will have to go into the company system w/in the week following Nicole's birth and fill out all kinds of forms for insurance, W-4's, dependency, etc.

I guess that makes us even... you get to go through the birth process and I get to fill out these forms :)


From: Karen
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 10:45 AM
To: James

“even” - yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh