Order Up

This is what my preferred meal is at fast food restaurants I eat at (just in case you ever have to order for me)

McDonalds
6 piece chicken nugget
1 double cheeseburger
1 small fry with honey
Water

Frisch’s
Fish Sandwich
(normally do not order side dishes here)

Wendy’s
#6 Combo
Spicy Chicken sandwich with no mayo, add ranch
Side Salad with Fat Free French
Root Beer

Chipotle
Burrito Bowl, Wrap on the side
Rice
Black Beans
Sour Cream
Tomato Salsa
Cheese
Guacamole
Lettuce
Water

Skyline
3 Way with Oyster Crackers
Water / Root Beer

Taco Bell
1 Hard Taco Supreme
1 Mexi Melt
1 Soft Taco Supreme
OR
1 7-Layer Burrito
1 Mexi Melt

Arby’s
2 Cheddar Melts
1 Homestyle Fry
1 side of cheese
Water

Subway
6” Meatball Marinara Sub
Extra Provolone
Spinach
Black Olives
Oregano
Parmesan

Any Chinese Restaurant
Moo Goo Gai Pan
Water with lemon

Any Mexican Restaurant
2 cheese enchiladas
1 refried beans
1 sour cream
Water with Lemon

Any Pizza
Extra Cheese
Spinach
Mushrooms
Tomato

Life Reflections

Have no fear
These are no where near
The best years of your life.

These words are in a song that I like quite a bit, Letter to Me by Brad Paisley. It’s about a guy who writes a letter to his 17-year-old self. I think what always stands out to me is that above all, I hope this is true for me and I’ve actually given the concept real thought.

I’ve had lots of good memories in my short 29 years and I’ve had some particularly good years as a whole (1996-97 and 1999-2000 stand out for sure, Nicole’s whole life is a miracle to experience). However, I like to think that as good as those times were that something even better is up ahead.

I think it’s this optimism that leads me to repeat the advice of “if you think s/he was great and it didn’t work out, imagine what the real “one” will be like” when friends of mine break up. I truly mean it too.

Jim and I sometimes get into goofy conversations about what we would and wouldn't want to know. He’s adamant that he wouldn't want to know how or when he’s going to die; that the peace of knowing and the inspiration to live your life fully (which obviously you should be doing anyway) wouldn't outweigh the weight of the looming end. I have to agree.

Really, that leads right into what I previously said. I wouldn’t want to know that the best has already past. Likewise, I wouldn’t want to know that the real best year of my life is, say 32. As excited as I’d be, and for all the documenting I’d make sure to do of those 365 days, what am I supposed to do on Jan 1, 2013??

I aim to make each year the best and I’ll evaluate my success in hindsight. I wish a 50 year old me would send me a letter that just happens to reveal itself in my underwear drawer some day.

Weekend of 5/29/09

Some weekend highlights:

1) I finished Nicole’s room on Friday night (see previous blog) and presented it to her on Saturday morning. Though she took a shorter-than-usual nap in the big girl bed that afternoon, she was still awake a half hour after the night tuck-in. I laid with her for a minute or so, kissed her, and slipped out. A half hour later when I checked again she was still awake, though quiet, in bed. I took her out and back to her nursery because I didn’t want her to be cranky at daycare. We’ll try again tonight……

2) On Saturday night the Gardners and we went to watch the Cincinnati Rollergirls play roller derby. This is a sport that my grandparents, parents, and Jim recall watching on TV years ago but played on a wooden, inclined track. This was a notch down from that in that it was all flat track and held at the Gardens. Seats were just $10/ea, parking was free, and once I mostly caught on to the finer points/strategies of the game, I got really into it. I decided that I’d probably be a good enough skater to do the JV team (there was quite a significant difference in the “JV” vs. “Varsity” teams skating-wise) but have no desire or time to dedicate to two hours of practice three nights a week + 5 weekends of travel. We all liked it and would go again, maybe even the next home game (June 20) if Chris wasn’t looming.

3) I finished up Angels & Demons which I really liked though it sounds like not all my friends agree. I borrowed Twilight from Caitlin, started it yesterday during Nicole’s nap, and am already on page 232. Very easy read in general (obviously) and since I’ve already seen the movie I have to think even less while reading because, so far, the movie’s been fairly true to the novel so I can see things playing out in my head chapter-by-chapter.

4) I won my current game of Facebook Scrabble against Sean, Jessica and Jenny. Jess’s first word this round used all 7 letters and got her a double word bonus so she’s like 4 turns ahead of the rest of us just in one play. Booooooo!

5) Saturday night, influenced by Angels and Demons, I dreamt that I was elected Pope which was kind of cool. Last night, influenced by Twilight, I dreamt I was a vampire. Too much reading before bed! OK, I don't really mean that.

6) I got to wondering this morning…. I'm normally the first one in the office in the morning so I start the pot of decaf coffee. I don’t have the patience to wait for it to fully brew so after about 2 minutes I remove the pot and stick my cup under and let it fill directly. Does this screw up my cup or the whole pot taste-wise?

7) A very cute habit Nicole has continued for about the last three weeks is imitating Jim and I in our habits. What strikes me about this is that it's the little things she's picked up on like calling us "dear" (as in, "goodbye dear" when one of us leaves the house) and saying "I love you" as part of her well-wishing (like "goodbye, dear. I love you, dear"). Unfortunately her tidings of love don't just stop at home - last night she told the Home Depot cashier goodbye and that she loved her which of course earned her an "awwww".

Nicole's Big Girl Room Presented!

Well, the room is pretty much done. I have some final details but was eager to show it off to Nicole so we presented it today. Below are some before and after shots (you can click on the pictures to make them larger)

Can you see Abby's fairy dust (glitter)?

And here's a minute and a half movie of Nicole seeing it for the second time. Note that she wasn't real happy to see me dash behind a closed door so she was whiney at the start of this movie....

Making herself right at home....

Some "cute" pictures and a memory

The new fashion craze - wearing lunch coolers on your head and carrying a fab-u-lous purse (5/15/09)

Painting Care Bears with water (remember those pages with the paint dots that "melt" when water's added?) for her Great Grandmas (5/16/09)

The water sink's second appearance of the year (5/24/09)


An ice cream cone because she was a good girl (and yes, she did brush after) (5/24/09)

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On the radio today I spent some time listening to a new station, Rewind 94.9, which plays songs from the 80’s “and more” (whatever that means). Anyway, after singing along to Kiss From a Rose by Seal Kokomo by the Beach Boys came on. I remember clearly when this song first came out because it was a song by one of "my dad’s" groups but was actually really cool. One afternoon my brother Mike and I sat in my bedroom calling Q102 again and again about 30 times, each with a “disguised” voice requesting this song. I'm sure the DJ was going crazy and rolling his eyes at our obvious antics but at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon the phone lines weren’t jammed with anything else to block our calls from all getting through.

And he did play it.

Long Weekend of 5/22/09

• I know I’m ruining it if she really wants this, but this seems like the perfect gift for Lindsay. Saw it advertised on my Facebook page: http://www.vat19.com/dvds/giant-gummy-bear-on-a-stick.cfm?adid=FBKgummi2 .
• Even after 22 months we’re still sometimes novices at this parenting thing. Nicole went to daycare today with no shoes. She does have her milk and yogurt though….
• Happy belated birthday, Jenna! We had a great time at Vinoklet and last night at the parents’. The big 2-4!
• Between Friday at the winery and last night at my mom and dad’s I got to see every member of my immediate family 2X this weekend except for Mike who I only saw once. We define “West Siders”.
• True to Alissa’s warning about time for relaxation dwindling, we saw two movies this weekend – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which made me cry on too many occasions (A) and Valkyrie which was interesting from a historical standpoint but overall not that engaging (B-).
• Making tremendous progress on Angels & Demons, which I’ve read before but am reading again in preparation for the movie, and borrowed Caitlin’s first two copies of the Twilight series. Having a good book in hand and a highly recommended one on deck and in the hole makes me excited for 10:00 when we read every night. I actually look forward to it throughout the day.
• Now that the deck is signed off on and the deposit paid I'm suffering not from buyer’s remorse but designers doubt – I keep thinking about how we have things set up and whether or not there’s a better/more aesthetic way of doing it. We went patio furniture shopping and were astounded by the quality and respective price difference, each 2X, of “big box” offerings from places like Sears and Lowes versus a specialty retailer like Watson’s. The Watson’s stuff is fantastic but the thought of writing a check for $3K+ for a dining table and sitting furniture is horrific.
• So much visible progress was made on Nicole’s room. Depending on Jim’s softball schedule this week I might finish the project ahead of schedule!
  
  

Nicole

Hanging out watching Zoe.

Nicole has gotten hand-me-downs from several friends/family members and that’s helped out quite a bit as far as wardrobe diversity and keeping spend on clothes to a reasonable level. The outfit you see above is one such ensemble but this is the only time you’ll ever see her in it again… at least the shirt portion- it’s being retired.

Why box a shirt after one wear?

Because she doesn’t have the boobs to fill it for one. Why in God’s name would you make a 2T size shirt with puffs for boobs?! Second, the skirt’s fit around her hips and won’t go higher due to the built-in bloomers so her belly inevitably sticks out which Jim doesn't like.

She looks like a hootchie. ; )

On a positive note, in addition to regular singing, Nicole and I have been working on categorizing things. For example, today on the way home I asked her what a doggie says, which she knows, then “Nicole, what doggies do you know?” Immediately she comes up with Piper (my parents dog) and then Laila (the babysitter’s dog). Today she got a third, Sunny, the babysitter’s former dog that they got rid of last weekend. With some reminding she’ll repeat Rambo (Ryann’s dog), Lincoln & Jasper (Uncle Tom’s dogs) and Sydney & Bailey (Jenna’s dogs).

I want her to understand that things go together, even if they’re not all exactly the same (every dog above is a different breed).

I asked her about who’s in her family but I don’t know that she understands the word “family" yet because she gave me a bewildered look and couldn’t come up with a single person.

She did get 5 colors before I had to prompt her for more – blue, yellow, blue, black, and blue.

Naming

I really liked the name Nicole in general but it specifically has one attribute that stands out – it’s ability to be shortened. Growing up I was Karen. In college I was Karen. As an adult I'm Karen. I always wanted a nickname (other than Karebear) that people in my tight circle could call me. Nicole is most often referred to as “Nic” when Jim and I talk about her between ourselves. I probably split equally between Nicky and Nicole when speaking directly to her with a healthy dose of “Nic” thrown in. The sitter and the kids at daycare call her Nicky most of the time, probably because that’s the easiest thing to say of the three. My grandparents always refer to her as Nicole because it’s “prettier” and Ryann calls her Ni-Cole is this super-cute voice.

Even shortening her name it has variety. Sarah spells it Nikki as does the sitter. Doesn’t matter to me. She’s gotten cards from people who put an H in Nicole (Nichole) which also doesn’t bother me. Maybe someday the variety will annoy her but it reinforces that her name has versatility and that’s what I was going for.

Now, saying all this you’d think then that I’d be adaptive to my friends changing names. Not so. Jenny J. will always be Jenny first in my mind even though she prefers Jen and goes by that in “real life”. I saw a facebook comment by Elizabeth P.; I don’t’ think I’ll ever be able to call her anything other than Betsy which is what she went by in college. If Viki insisted I call her Viktoria I think I’d reduce using her name by 80% - I just can’t imagine it.

If Nicole ends up gravitating to an abbreviated version of her name in her youth I wonder if her friends will have a hard time converting to Nicole when she becomes a professional.

Nothing Special

• The water bottle I have is just a little too phallic as its texture reminds me of some dildos I’ve seen at sex toy parties. I feel a little dirty drinking from it.
• Nicole figured out how to turn door handles yesterday morning and let herself into her big girl room which I’ve been keeping her out of since I started painting as to surprise her. Unfortunately she saw Elmo on the wall and went wild with excitement then wild in a bad way when I carried her out and closed the door. We bargained that if she calmed down and got dressed I’d let her back in to look around which worked. I wish the whole thing had been a complete surprise but she’s 22 months – everything is exciting, even the second time around.
• Steps for Monday (slightly screwed up as my sensitivity level moved mid-way through the day and changed my step count): 6946. Steps for Tuesday 4902.
• I know this is pretty random but it’s getting to be summer and I saw an ICEE truck on the highway and it got me thinking. In terms of icy drinks/snacks my preference is:
  1. traditional SnowCone – you know the cone shaped, wax-lined cup with a ball of shaved ice and liquid sugar flavor squirted on top. Rainbow is best followed by Blue Raspberry.
  2. Lemon Ice – these are most often found at the zoo, amusement park, ball park, carnival, etc. They’re often overpriced, I think, at $3 each, but man they are so lemony and delicious
  3. Slush Puppie – this is the drink version of a SnowCone in my opinion. I like the ice crystals in it. Blue Raspberry is best but it definitely stains your tongue. When I was in grade school you could get a Vita Pup for 30 cents for a 4oz. cup. MMMmmmm!
  4. Icee – this reminds me of summer and begging for an impromptu treat at the gas station. While several flavors (Blue Raspberry, Cherry, Cola) are available and it is very smooth to drink, I don’t particularly like the taste of any of them.

Weekend of 5/15/09

Went to the doctor’s office this morning for my ultrasound. Chris appears to be doing fine – he has enough amniotic fluid, is roughly 5lbs. 2 oz, and is only 3 days behind from the technician’s viewpoint, not 3.5 weeks as initially suspected. Hooray!

I started painting Nicole’s room murals this weekend – it’s going well so far. I'm roughly 40% done and expect to continue to make good progress this week and weekend. I haven’t painted hardly anything on Abby (see left) because she’ll be rather color/time intensive. I did take “before” pictures so I’ll post the after when I'm finished.

We had a MAJOR mess at Meijer on Sunday when Nicole got bad bad bad diarrhea and it started leaking out of her diaper, on her dress, down her legs and into her socks. I had to buy diapers/wipes at the store and was disappointed when we finally made it to the “Family Bathroom” that it didn’t have a changing table. I had to lay her on the floor and clean up probably the worst mess I’ve ever seen (she basically got bathed in wet wipes) all the while getting dirty with black water on the floor myself. Amazingly, I can tune out what it is I'm actually cleaning and tend to the job at hand which makes it go faster.

The deck contract has been awarded and the project will be completed in time for Nicole’s birthday party (July 11). Hooray! Before, during, and after pictures will be posted when progress starts. I’ve discovered there are too many nice patio sets and buying online will be difficult without actually seeing them. Looks like lots of running around over the next 2 months…

My pedometer is on and today starts the base week. I’ll be happy if I get 4000 steps in today and am disappointed that the goal is 10,000 and I'm so far away…. Many of my co-workers are starting to take the steps versus the elevator. As my office is on the 7th floor and I'm 7.5 months pregnant that’s not going to happen….

Kiddie Update

• This morning Nicole looked very cute – she had on a little orange skirt that showed off her chubby legs and a t-shirt that read “I can always play the cute card”. :) She also said the word “another” for the first time today in reference to having “another bite” of my cheerios.
• Nic is real big into eating “big girl cereal” now – basically cereal with milk in a bowl. I eat this every morning while her breakfast is varied (eggs, yogurt, fruit, granola bar, etc.) but the past two weeks we’ve shared the last several bites of my breakfast. Yesterday we were in the middle of doing so and I had to use the bathroom suddenly and urgently. I debated taking the bowl away from her but figured neither Jim nor I wanted to hear her whine until I returned so I left it on her tray and dashed down the hall. I wasn’t surprised (but did groan) to return 45 seconds later to see the bowl empty and milk running down her cheeks and all over the high chair tray – she tried to drink the milk out of the bowl like I do and was quite proud of herself. “Mommy, I drink!” she announced. “Oh I see you did,” I replied.
• I had a doctor’s appointment for Chris this morning. Had bloodwork done for my thyroid (which has been stable throughout the last 33.5 weeks) but Chris measured at only 30 weeks in length which had the doctor a bit concerned. I have to go in for a second ultrasound next Monday. While I'm excited to have another one, I am a little worried about what this could mean. Not that I can do anything about it, and I'm assuming it’s nothing, but still….. I’ll keep you posted.
• Chris is incredibly active and kicks so hard you can feel individual parts of him. I made Jim touch me last night when a lone foot was pushing out and you could feel the whole shape of it. I'm suffering from some bad acid reflux/heartburn in the last two weeks which comes and goes all day whether I’ve eaten or not. I'm also having periodic Braxton Hicks contractions which can be painful for the short duration they last.
  

Various Observations/Happenings

• Jim’s softball game is on it’s way to being rained out tonight. If this happens that means that only 1 out of the last 4 have actually happed and the other 3 rained out.
• I don’t know the appropriate response when someone, especially a co-worker, answers the question “how are you doing today” with a reply of “I'm constipated”.
• Nicole is a good eater and I'm glad for it. Many people comment after dining with her that her palate is wide and varied and she rarely turns down an opportunity to eat. Just like her mother. :)
• The guilt of having a second brownie never outweighs the joy of actually eating it.
• My office is sponsoring a fitness challenge –tomorrow they’re handing out pedometers and I'm excited to get one! I told the coordinator that I fully expect to be the biggest weight loser this calendar year… of course I'm cheating.
• I'm calling the deck builder today to negotiate out the final price and deliverable. Perhaps construction will actually begin *gasp* in June!
• I'm changing the theme of Nicole’s bedroom to Sesame Street as she’s a little more than obsessed with muppets. Progress on this starts this weekend!
  

Weekend of 5/8/09

Friday- we relaxed and watched the end of Sideways which my former boss leant me. It had a really funny scene where a guy who had an affair left his wallet at the other woman’s house and needs his buddy’s help to get it back. This was a 2004 Best Picture nominee and was overall enjoyable – B+..

Saturday – I was a dumbass and after only being in the car for less than 20 seconds scratched up my front bumper making a too-wide turn into the garage (I was moving the car in from the driveway). It’ll probably be about $400 in damage. Pissed me off. Jim was cool though and didn’t rub it in or make me feel worse.

We drove up to Columbus to see his step-sister Laci and her daughter Nicole. Laci is due 2 weeks after me and we had some boxes of clothes to return. Even though we drove ~2X longer than we stayed it was a nice trip and worth the time/effort.

Mark and Caitlin joined us that night for a movie, Mall Cop, which is as good as you’d expect a movie called Mall Cop to be.

Sunday - Nicole brought me a card and a rose while I was drying my hair with a “here you go, mommy” before she darted off again to watch Sesame Street. Jim brought me flowers, we all went to church, checked out a deck our front-runner contractor built as a reference, and had Chipotle for lunch. That night we went to Mom’s for a casual celebration and were in bed, on time that night. We worked out a plan for how we’re going to negotiate the deck and I'm eager to see if maybe it could be done in time for Nicole’s birthday (July 11).

My mom and her 3 kids (Greg, Mom, Mike & Me)

The little girl who gave me the right to celebrate Mother's Day

I'm getting BIG I think but Jenna made me smile when she sincerely and insistently told me I look good. Caitlin and I worked out a plan so she can be my delivery nurse…. If the kid and doctor will cooperate we’ll be in business!

Expiration Dates

Jim and I are very aware of expiration dates; he more so than I. I pitch the “essentials” (milk, eggs, yogurt cheese, etc.) within one day of the date printed on the carton, even if that’s just a “sell by”, versus consume by, date. Jim will go to the extent of purging cabinets of all expired things- dried spices, medicine, canned goods… stuff that I don’t even think about checking the dates of. Our tolerance for dates on these type items is more liberal (ie I’d take 2 month old Aspirin) but maybe it shouldn’t be?

Jamie once told us that toothpaste has an expiration date of 2 years from packaging but really Crest is good for 3 years. I feel okay with my one day after policy on most things because I assume that the FDA says X number of days when really it’d be okay for X + n (where n is some quantity of additional days relative to the item at hand).

When I looked online at HowStuffWorks.com about this it suggested that eggs, for example, be bought within 4 days of the date printed on the carton and used within a week. That tells me that three days after the date is still safe to eat. That would make me too nervous to actually do though.

My father is bad about watching dates and the kids get all riled up when he presents us with 2 month old salad dressing and the like. His issue is that he shops so much he keeps bottles of perishables with back-ups to those so that the back-ups expire before the primary bottle is finished.

I'm not sure if there is a politically correct way to refuse to eat/drink expired food at other’s houses when served. Recently Jim and I had breakfast with some people and Jim noticed that the butter used on his week old bread expired in January. Is he suddenly supposed to just not want the item he asked for any more once he realizes the dates? Do you say something? He kept his mouth shut from speaking but open for eating as not to be rude. He’s not dead yet so I guess that worked out okay.

More weirdness...

Some other weird things about me…

• I prefer to chew food on the left side of my mouth.
• I don’t know how to spit (how do you say… “hock a luegy”)
• My favorite color specifically is midnight blue (color of my bridesmaid dresses).
• I like being the youngest in my group of friends.
• My fingernails often bend as they grow.
• I think my handwriting is pretty.
• People with asymmetric nostrils distract me especially when I'm looking up at them (like if I'm in a chair and they're standing)
• When I have a list of things to do I always do the short and the easy stuff first and groan when the long boring stuff piles up. I know it’s my own fault but I really like crossing things off lists.

I know I can be a little weird...

1) The best dipping condiment for French fries is honey.

2) I always look in my tissue when I'm done blowing to see if I was effective.

3) Having a plan for every aspect of my life, even if it changes, makes me happy.

4) My preferred drink with Skyline chili is orange juice

5) I feel generic and disappointed that my favorite color is blue but it is.

6) I still really like Wilson Phillips’s music

7) I still don't know what Twitter is.

Movie Reviews

We’ve had the opportunity to watch some movies recently:

Slumdog Millionaire – this, of course, was the Academy Award Best Picture of the Year for 2008 so I had pretty high hopes. Plot is about a kid from, obviously, the slums who becomes a millionaire by playing India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The storyline wasn’t always fun to watch (who wants to see homeless kids?!) but the way it tied everything together was intriguing. Good acting, good directing. A

Seven Pounds – this was another Will Smith blockbuster but I had no idea what it was about before watching it. Not previously knowing the plot made it a little hard to catch on to what was happening but not knowing kept you involved and paying attention. Jim described it as a movie that he still thinks about days after watching and I’d say that’s a pretty good description and testament to its quality and message. A-

Twilight- Jenny J. has been on this bandwagon for a while so I was happy when Jim told me that’s what he picked out from Red Box last night. I can get REALLY into vampire and witch-themed things (books, movies, etc.) so this was right up my alley. While I liked the storyline in general, I didn’t think the directing was very good and the characters weren’t as developed as I’d like. By this I mean I wasn’t as fully involved with the movie as I’d like to have been. Upon conclusion of the flick I gave it a B- but I dreamt about it twice last night and have thought about it more today which is typically a good indication of how much I liked it. I’ll raise my final grade to a B but highly anticipate the next edition.

Thursday Night Fun

On Thursday, as a special treat we took Nicole to Chuck E Cheese for the first time ever. When I announced to the kids at daycare where she was going they all snapped to attention with awe and wonder. Cameron asked "who's birthday is it?" and said "wow" when I responded we were taking her because she's such a good girl.

My brother Mike actually likes the food at CEC and we had a coupon off of our Minute Maid carton for 40 tokens + 1 large pizza + 4 drinks = $20 so we didn't figure it would be so bad.

End result - Nicole really liked it. She sang and danced in the booth as the characters "played" on stage. She rode in a car, played skeeball (with help), and went down the slide many times.

We gave the 23 tickets we earned to some other little kid who would appreciate them as we have (and who really does) no need for more trinket stuff to step on and she doesn't really know the difference yet.

After CEC we stopped at the park for a while too.

Once we got home we did a little singing

and she went to bed. She had a great time but I doubt we'll be going back for a while unless it's for an occasion... Mike's enthusiasm for the food didn't really meet reality so closely and we still have about 25 tokens left over. She sure did like that mouse [from a distance] though.

(Wo)Man with a Plan

Things have been very stressful for me personally (though thankfully not professionally) lately in regard to Chris and Nicole’s daycare. Our primary sitter is still in the hospital with no ETA of recovery which leaves her two daughters to watch the kids during the day. We’ve been evaluating our short and long term options as a result which has worn me out emotionally to the point that I might be getting sick and have lost weight.

Last night, after watching Seven Pounds, Jim and I were up until almost midnight working out contingency plans and the like. I think we might have a Plan A and a Plan B that we agree upon and can move forward with. At this point, Plan A involves Nicole being at home with me through the duration of my maternity leave- something that we weren’t going to do when things were normal so that she could maintain her schedule/friends and I could devote the time and attention I need to Christopher.

Being a full-time mom was never the plan for our family but it’ll be nice to have both kids at home and the opportunity to do the stuff locally that I read about that other stay-at-home moms do like visit the local parks, library time, petting zoo, water park, etc. It’s only 7 weeks but hopefully a quality 7 weeks for all involved.

bad day

I'm on crying spell #4 right now. Feeling overwhelmed and overemotional. I'm sure pregancy horomones have something to do with a lot of this making me go overboard but I'm so out of practice of being sad/mad/frustrated/etc. that I don't know what to do with myself now that I've got a bad case of it all at once. I guess that's something to smile about.

Weekend of 4/17/09

Saturday I graded papers for 2 hours but didn’t get done with them all. Ugh. Reading the same answers over and over gets bor-ing and I ache for that one shining light of brilliance.

Lisa, Kendall and Max came over for dinner and games on Saturday night. Our first half of the visit was very kid-centric. Max’s tummy was upset, Nicole was super-excited and loud, dinner was cooking, and we were chatting- lots of activity in general going on. What I really liked about this portion of the get-together was that I don’t feel like I have to entertain them – if they want a drink they get it. If our kids are good or bad we mutually understand. I don’t have to impress them at all which makes things so much more relaxed, at least for me. After both kids fell asleep (a little earlier and later than normal for Max and Nicole respectively) we settled in for some Italian cake and Yahtzee / Scrabble Slam. Having adult conversation and competition was just as much fun. I like my friends.

Sunday was our big bowling tournament and lead to MANY hours spent at the alley. The tournament was scored on points under/over average cumulatively for a team. We bowled all three games with a nice other team who’s league is on Saturday nights (ironically their parents bowl in our league) and ended up tying with 54 pins over average which tied us for 4/5th overall. We got about $31/ea as a result! With only an hour break in between the tournament and regular league play we were all pretty worn out by the time it was over. Our team ended up in 5th place overall in the league and Dave got a pin for bowling a 600 series. We’ll be back again to improve in August!

Though my reflection doesn’t show the most attractive figure of my lifetime, I seem to frequently surprise people that I'm 7 months pregnant (I look smaller than that apparently). As of yesterday I'm officially 75% done with the process and though I’ve gained more weight than I did with Nicole overall, it’s all in my boobs and belly. Long before this point with Nicole I had swollen out of my rings and my face was fuller. This time I still have my wedding rings on and am wearing the same size shoes. Will need to be buying some more spring/summer bottoms (shorts/capris) though it pains me to do so for just 70 days of usage. Think I’ll hit up a consignment shop….

Greg is wrong.

On Monday nights I give Greg a ride home from school (he has class, I'm teaching class but we get out at the same time and he only lives 5 min away). The class he’s taking is Marketing and of course the class I'm teaching at that same time is Marketing. He and I routinely debate the value of the material. He’s an accountant and sees all marketing as fluff. I, of course, love marketing and see it as an essential part of every business. Here are my arguments to him:

1) Even if you have a great idea, if no one knows about it you won’t be able to sell it therefore won’t make any money and will cease to exist. Therefore, because awareness is essential, marketing is essential.

2) Marketing is what helps put a positive image of the company/product/service in the consumer’s head, especially in situations of recalls and negative action/reactions. Therefore, because positive perception is essential, marketing is essential.

3) Accounting is important to a company. If you sell something but don’t get paid for it that’s useless. If you in turn don’t pay your debts (to vendors, shareholders, etc.) they’ll quit working with you making operations/production cease which is deadly to a company. No arguments that we need F & A folks. HOWEVER, they don’t have a job if nothing gets sold. Therefore, because companies need customers to exist, marketing is essential.

4) Greg tries to counter-argue that companies need start-up money to even exist in the first place and that those finances are done by accounting people. However, who is often the most compelling person presenting to those money-holders? The guys/gals with business plans, short & long-term visions, and sales prospects. The people who can spin the story so it sounds so compelling the money-holders can’t wait to dump some on them. Therefore, because raising capital is essential to companies, marketing is essential.


So, Greg, fluff snuff. Marketing is more important than Accounting.

Spicy

I'm not into bland food. Salt at a minimum is a must on many dishes including mashed potatoes, turkey, beef, etc. Though I cook frequently I don’t use fresh herbs very often as the dried ones are more convenient from a shelf-life standpoint. However, almost everything I cook gets spiced in one way or another.

Turns out that Nicole has the same opinion. Though I won't salt her food, she sees me salt mine and asks for some routinely (I just shake the upright container over her food and she’s none-the-wiser).

Being a P&G family we of course eat Pringles and most recently tried these jalapeno ones which Nicole and Jim devoured. Jalalpeno, while flavorful for sure, is a bit beyond me, but the two of them were quite happy with them. Next on the Pringles docket – Buffalo Wing.

One other side note – Nic ate “big girl cereal” (Cheerios in a bowl with milk) for the first time today and was quite proud of herself. Her spoon skills have developed enough that about 70% of the cereal was scooped with a utensil and only 30% was picked up with her hands.

Behind in Blogging

This weekend was really busy with Easter, which we hosted, and general running around. A few notes about what’s happening:

On Friday Jim was off and I had a half day for Good Friday. After Nicole’s nap we went to the hospital to visit our babysitter who’s having medical issues. After that we had diner at Red Lobster, Jim’s favorite. Not that dinner wasn’t tasty, it was, but paying $40 for dinner feels crazy when our weekly grocery bill for 3 people is only about $75.

Our babysitter is probably still in heart surgery right now which means I’m home with Nicole. We took the opportunity to visit daycares around the area just in case something doesn’t go well with surgery/recovery. My sister-in-law babysits which is a very desirable option but my major hesitation is that I wouldn’t be able to visit Nicole over lunch, or, more importantly Chris (I nursed Nicole every day over my lunch break which was great as I got to see her and didn’t have to pump) ever because of the distance. It’s probably working mother’s guilt but I feel very compelled to hang out with Nicole at any available opportunity I can over my break.

All the daycares didn’t live up to my expectations – while the proximity to work is great, the cost is roughly 2X what we pay now and I instantly didn’t like the odor that seems to linger in all daycare centers. I appreciate the activities they did – one classroom was learning shapes during our visit, but felt the the home atmosphere we get with a private sitter at half the cost outweighed the benefits of structure from what I witnessed.

They were probably just being polite, but each of my tour guides commented several times how impressed they were with Nicole’s manners, language skills, and general cuteness. I never get tired of hearing my kid is great.

I got my results back from the 3 hour glucose test – I passed. No gestational diabetes and no restricted diet – hooray!

Easter was nice. We went to church, cleaned up the house and started cooking for company and entertained from 4-10 or so. We gave Nicole some coloring books, an Elmo sing-along movie, and of course some eggs with surprises inside. All of which are a big hit. Because I feel that she gets enough TV accessibility at the sitter’s all day we don’t really let her watch any here at the house. The Elmo movie and recent permission to watch Sesame Street clips on hulu.com have her fascinated and she signs and asks frantically for “more more Elmo/Abby/Zoe/Big Bird” when the clip is over. It's cute but hard to tear her from the computer chair when she's had what we feel is enough.

Too much business this morning lead to Nicole falling asleep on the way home from the tours. She's in bed now, sans lunch, and I'm making the most of the quiet time by heating a chicken cordon bleu, munching on waldorf salad and contemplating some sauteed mushrooms.

What's happening

Things on our end are staying consistently busy but a comfortable busy rather than frantic busy.

Nicole- is saying a lot more words lately and I’ve noticed that most of the new ones over the last month have been verbs – “come here”, “see”, “look”, “sit”, “wake up”, etc. Of course she has no idea what Easter is but I'm pumping up the fact that she has a bunny dress for Easter, a fancy Easter hat, and we’re having an Easter party.

Chris- the fibernectrin test came back negative which I expected but was happy to officially hear. This means I have less than a 1% chance of having pre-term labor. The pressure has subsided a bit but not gone away. I take the 3 hour glucose test tomorrow and I'm prepping for passing this one by not eating any sweets yesterday and today and drinking lots of water.

Work is really busy right now but it makes the time go faster. I’ve not gotten to see Nicole for lunch but one day this week which makes me sad but more appreciative of our evenings. Bosses are happy with the job I'm doing and it’s nice to be appreciated.

Jim’s been extra sweet lately and I don’t think he even did anything wrong. *grin* he brought me flowers last week, restocked my cotton facial pads, and has been a great guy in general. Getting married to him specifically remains the best decision I ever made.

I heard a quote I liked this morning – “In the world there are givers and there are takers. The takers eat well but the givers sleep well.”

I don't like that Jenna & Martha's blogs are private because it's therefore at the end of my blogroll and I consistantly forget to check it. This is especially frustrating because Jenna writes often and I like like both of their writing styles so when I do remember to go look I normally have like 3 each to catch up on.

Hi Chuck & Kristi – I randomly thought of you today. Miss you both and hope you’re doing well.

Tuesday Night, Wednesday Morning

Last night after dinner we went shopping – something that’s not normally done on a weekday night but we had things to get. For Christmas Lindsay and Mike got Nicole this really cool projector that shows view-finder slides (remember those!?) and has coordinated music. Jim loves/d it. Unfortunately the mechanics didn’t work quite right and it just zipped through all 20 slides continuously. We got a credit from Fisher-Price for $20 off of any of their products and have been looking at various times for just the right thing to replace it since. Jim wisely suggested we hit up Toys-R-Us as where better to find a toy?

Every time we go to TRU Jim comments about how much he loved the store as a kid. I didn’t go all that often so while we shop at the exact same store I did as a kid I'm not in as much awe as he is. Still makes me smile when he gets reminiscent though. : )

Anyway, I found these skates that clip over your shoes, something I did have as a kid, and Nicole’s feet will be big enough (size 6) to fit them by her birthday. Since they were on a shelf randomly I didn’t know the price and needed a check. To my amazement they were not only $24.99 but they qualified for the BOGO promotion Fisher-Price was having that we didn't know about. We ended up getting the skates and a learning vacuum (a favorite pastime of Nic’s) that teaches colors, alphabet and opposites, $50 in toys!, for $6.69 out of pocket! Nicole’s will get the vacuum now and the skates as part of her birthday present. THANKS LINDSAY!

After toy shopping we went to JC Penney where I might have found our curtains for the family room. OK, let me clarify, the curtains that I'll adjust and make my own as I never seem to be satisified with off-the-shelf draperies. I must have bad taste as the things I like/want don't seem to be sold anywhere and always need to be custom-created.

This morning Nicole was a terror. Breakfast was fine (how nice it is that she can use utensils and feed herself almost completely now) but then she wanted to fill her arms with books and take them all upstairs with her. Letting go of said books to lay down and get her diaper changed and clothes on led to fits, thrashing, yelling and crying. Ultimately she got a time out, stern talking to and smacked on her hand for bad behavior which did the trick and she calmed down. Sometimes I wonder if punishing her will make her mad at me but I’ve found that it typically has the opposite effect – she realizes she’s bad, thinks I'm mad, and then works extra hard to get back in my good graces. She was clingy, lovey and well-behaved the rest of the morning. Oh how I wanted to ring her little neck though!

Ironically Jim and I discussed what our morning schedule with Chris and Nicole will be the night before and I went to sleep feeling pretty confident of having a plan in place… clearly that won’t always work….

Videos of the Monkey

I bought Nicole an Easter hat at the dollar store this evening. She was wearing it around the house as she "hung out" with her friend Max.

A new fun activity that gives her mother frets...

Weekend of 4/3/09

Saturday morning we woke up early and prepared for Nicole’s second Easter Egg Hunt (this one at our church, last year we went to Mason with Meghan and Tom). We got there a little early and discovered that fashionably late would have probably been better as 1-2 year olds (Ryann came too) aren’t interested in too many activities like the Easter Bunny, face-painting or extensive coloring that would have filled the time. Oh well. They had a nice spread for breakfast and when the big moment came for Nic and Ry’s age group to be released to get the eggs… both girls headed straight for the slides and ignored all the plastic shells all over the ground. With a bit of coaxing I guided them back to the task at hand and they started filling their baskets.

Following the hunt we went to the grand opening of the neighborhood UDF where they were having 49 cent ice cream cones and hot dogs, 25 cent soft serve and fountain drinks, $1 gallons of milk, and 3/$1 Krispy Kreme donuts. You know your life is exciting when I'm reporting on our attendance of a convenience store’s opening.

That night we went to Rob and Shirley’s for about 2 hours to socialize and headed home to finish assembling Nicole’s furniture. We didn’t put the box springs in so the bed was low enough for her to get into without a step-stool but it wasn’t all that stable for an adult’s weight (just fine for her) with just the mattress in there… we need to get some cross-beams for extra support.

On Sunday morning I presented Nicole with her new room and she was SO excited. She immediately got on the bed and climbed all around, put her head on the pillow, etc. Mom suggested that we let her start napping there on the weekends to get used to it… that would kill my painting time but it’s probably not a bad idea….

I also went to the Aronoff to see Cirque Dreams: A Jungle Fantasy which was tremendous.

Bowling went perfectly with us winning 4/4 games and my bowling a 123, 151, 167 (average = 127) which made me quite pleased. Next week is the big tournament!

Life Documented 4-3-09

Went to my routine OB appointment this morning and told them about the pressure. They did a Fetal Fibronectin test on me which will determine if I'm at risk for pre-term labor. He wasn’t too concerned after the initial pelvic exam but this test will tell for sure what’s going on and if I need any lifestyle changes (bedrest would be the most extreme solution). I'm not really worried about this but eager to hear the results either this afternoon or, more likely, Monday.

I also failed my Glucose test which is not surprising because 1) I failed the first one with Nicole too and 2) sweets are a daily indulgence for me in one capacity or another. So, I have a 3-hour test for diabetes on 4-11 at the hospital starting at 7:30am. Boo!

Allergies are getting better but my ears get clogged up and require popping several times a day. Its amazing how much comes out of my nose still when I blow 2/hour.

Jim is 95% done with the deck planning stage and is prepared to submit his plans to the county next week!

Nicole’s night stand and dresser are assembled. Perhaps tonight we’ll work on her bed and have the room, furniture-wise, mostly ready. My grandfather is sanding and painting a bookcase for me and that will be the last component. I found coloring pages on the internet that I'm going to use as templates for the walls in her room (curious george). I'm going to borrow the projector from work and shine the images on the wall. Only work-around needed is that the pictures are from the current Curious George and I like the image of the classic George better. Will require some tweaking when it comes time to paint. Fear not – I’ll take pictures!

Hosting Easter this year 2X for both sides of our family. Previous conversations regarding hams that we had with Kendall are floating in my head….

Weekend of 3/27/09

Weekend was busy but very fun.

Friday: After work the Gardners came over for pizza and games. I won Scrabble and the first game of Shang Hai but lost the second. Good company, good times!

Saturday: Woke up earlier than I do for work to head out to West Chester for a big Mother’s Sale. Bought Nic and Chris each a bunch of clothes and Nicole a Fisher Price shopping cart (which was a big hit) for a grand total of $34.50. Realized again that I like two things too much – overalls on little boys and sun-dresses on little girls. Oh well, they’ll look the same every day….

After the sale I volunteered for two hours with Kids Against Hunger which I found immensely rewarding. I wouldn’t call it “fun” work but it wasn’t unpleasant or hard to do and at the end I felt like I really accomplished something.

That night Nicole and I visited my parents and Grandma who came for dinner and Jim and I started putting together Nicole’s big girl furniture. So far so good though we’re not done after about a 2.5 hour assembly investment.

Sunday: woke up too late for Church but enjoyed waffles and long baths/showers instead. Grocery shopped, bridal showered, made shrimp/pepper/asparagus stir-fry for dinner.

I'm feeling a fair bit of pressure in my “nether regions” but am not concerned enough to call the doctor before my Friday already-scheduled appointment.

A step below

I just finished a piece of Cheesecake Factory Snickers cheesecake.

It was better in real life with Sarah Ford. : (

Frickin' Allergies

I want to stick a spoon down my throat and scrape out all the phlegm that’s draining, getting stuck, and making me cough.

Nicole Update 3/26/09

Jim and Nicole have had quite a bit of bonding time lately as I’ve been out for a multitude of things- class on Monday, a business trip to Akron yesterday (that I didn’t get home until 9:30 from!), and an upcoming long Saturday of mother’s sale/volunteering/bridal showering. Not to mention I start all over next week with class and then cookie-making with Jenna that will keep me away on Wednesday. They’re managing very well though.

Nicole has a recent habit of recognizing colors. If you ask her what color anything is she’ll 95% of the time tell you “blue” at which point I remind her that “no, this is yellow” and she repeats “yellow”. Not sure how much it’s sinking in though… Anyway, what she DOES recognize is colors that are the same. On Monday she got excited because her yogurt cup matched her green and pink shirt and kept pointing back and forth between them showing the babysitter her discovery. Last night she was rifling through socks and found a pink pair. She held them up to her pink pants and got quite happy about them matching. Jim of course had to put them on her.

Count down to the daybed transition… 1 week. We want her to have a month of it before she moves to her new room (furniture coming in tonight!) where she’ll have time to adjust to a big girl bed and new setting before Chris arrives and takes the nursery over.

Not quite a house... maybe a trailer? ha!

I seem to have grown quite a bit lately... and people are commenting. My uncle said to me - "I'd forget you were pregnant before, but looking at you today, you're definitely pregnant." Uh, thanks? He didn't mean any harm and I realize each moring before I step into the shower that I definitely am very pregnant.


How or why then it was such a shock to realize on Friday that I still have 3 more months to go seems odd, even to me. But when I see myself as "very pregnant" and realize it's only going to get more (I don't want to use the word "worse") from here I shake my head in amazement. I'm losing the cute phase too quickly!


I don't think I look that big in real life but this picture was just taken 2 minutes ago....

and yes, that looks like a big tummy to me.

Chris is a very squirmy little guy and I don't mind a bit. Since I also don't mind people touching me several have gotten the chance to feel him in action. Their smiles at feeling him kick make me smile.

So far on a Saturday

I bought another gun today. Really I bought it but have no intention of using it. Jim couldn't buy it for himself because he has yet to get a new driver's license with current address information- therefore I was the only one who could legally buy it. For the record, this is the second gun I've bought [for him] and it was still pretty weird to be doing it. 8 minutes of a background check and no registry required in Ohio is a bit spooky....

After gun-buying we went to Chik-fil-A for lunch. Nicole climbed all the way to the top of the jungle gym and crawled through the tube by herself. Then, when done, came all the way down by herself the same way. This was pretty surpising as she was about 15 feet in the air. She's still a little nervous to go down the tube slide by herself though.

Deck Design

My brother burned a copy of Home Designer and gave it to us to help design our deck. Though our first ideas started on paper and were transferred to this program, this is what ultimately helped us put things together in the final design.

I took some screen shots of the mostly completed “decorated” version. I can’t yet figure out how to make a bar and some colors are off but it’s 90% there.

Jim’s working on the blueprints now to turn into the city and he’s doing a TREMENDOUS job.

Here's the overview of the entire deck (this shows it in scale to the size of the house. In reality our house is 1/2 brick on the sides and has tan siding on the top half and all on the back but you get the idea...)

Here's a shot of the octagon siting area. The real deck will have some sort of outdoor furniture like this but a fire table (coffee table with a fire pit in the center) in lieu of the general table you see pictured below.

This is the dining area. you can see the back-side of the grill we'll be permanately installing.




This view is as if you were standing in our back yard looking at the house. The dark brown square on the wall is the fireplace - in real life this is sided, not bricked but the program won't let me change it. Also, as previously mentioned there will be a bar area along the left side on the wall adjacent to the grill. This will have barstools and overlook the back yard where I'll be losing in cornhole.



Jim went to Home Depot this evening while Nicole and I played at the park and not only did they know him by name but they entered his phone number from memory into the system too. SCARY.

Good news – they took our plans to their “bid room” which is basically where they submit for special pricing from the powers that be in an attempt to secure your business. They lowered the material cost about 12% overall! Working with HD has been a really good experience so far. For being a “big box” they’ve really added the personal touch.

Life Documented

I posted the bedroom furniture we’re getting for Nicole earlier. I ordered this quilt set for her this weekend. The room is a pale yellow and I wanted a comforter that had enough colors that it could withstand redecorating and not have to be repurchased. I'm now debating hand-painting the Curious George stuff on the wall so that the hues match the bedspread versus just using the wall stickers I found online.

Vacation plans came, went, came again, went again. We’re actually back to Plan A. Hope to have this finalized in the next few days. Otherwise I might lose my sanity for good.

I haven’t mentioned it yet but class is going well this semester. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. Students turn things in late, make excuses, frown when I refer them to the syllabus that states 2X that no late assignments are accepted. Discussion is better than usual. Got my first call where a student used me as a job reference… would have been nice if she forewarned me so I didn’t totally blank on who she was when I was caught off-guard with the HR person on the other end…

I'm 2/3 in Facebook Scrabble (behind Lisa by 10 and ahead of Dan by 35ish). It’s addictive and frustrating. The application is in Beta and doesn’t work ½ the time which is annoying because I check back very frequently. Lisa’s words are pissing me off (she got like 30 points for “jin”- total bullshit). My pew of 1 point tiles for the last 5 rounds is pissing me off. I played “Careen” to try to dump quantity and pick up new, good ones. Didn’t work that round but just now I acquired not one but 2 good letters with my play of “dow”… if I can only find a place to use them…. I will admit that I feel a compelling need to win at scrabble with my degree and what I consider a large vocabulary. I’ll also freely admit that my brain has a hard time unscrambling words so finding goods ones takes a lot of concentration (which makes me annoying to play with in real life). If I have to lose though, and I'm not saying this just to suck up, losing to Lisa is acceptable because for the same reasons as me should be a good player. I still won’t be happy if I lose though.

Driving

I don’t know a kid out there who doesn’t like to drive. With all the video games out now, I suspect most youngsters first taste of driving is in the form of Mario Kart or maybe in a simulator at a Chuck E Cheese equivalent. Every few minutes at Kings Island this summer I bet there'll be some hopeful 6 year old standing with his back to Yogi Bear's raised arm to see if this year he can have his own bumper car instead of sitting alongside Mom or Dad.

When I was tall enough to drive the bumper cars I had absolutely no intention of bumping. My turn at driving wasn’t going to be spent jarring but getting the most time driving as possible. That involved avoiding all collisions and mostly sticking to the outer edge which was fine by me.

My favorite memories of driving are from grade school mostly when my dad would take me and my brothers up to Colerain High School on a Saturday afternoon so we could cruise around the parking lot. When we were little he’d let us sit on his lap and he’d control the pedals but even lack of full control didn’t matter – I was steering and to me that was the most important thing. Up past the baseball fields, across the front courtyard, swinging around the back entrance- we went everywhere about 8 times each.

Weight and height probably played a role in graduating us to drive the car ourselves versus sitting on Dad’s lap. Regardless, it was always a thing to do with Dad. Oh we’d gush to Mom about how well we did behind the wheel but the fact that he let us drive the real car before we were really allowed always made Dad cool

It was that same parking lot years later that Mark tried to teach me to drive a manual. After taking those same routes all over the school he suggested we head out on the real road, something Dad obviously never had the opportunity to do in our practice sessions. My heart raced and I prayed for continual green lights. Though I did stall his car more than once, Mark like Dad, was very patient and consistently encouraging.

I'm embarrassed to report that that was the first and last time I ever drove a stick shift. Call me blonde, call me unprepared for an emergency, but the thrill of driving is quite different in the parking lot of the high school compared to the real world. I like those memories better.

Though I’ll miss seeing it with my kids, I feel tradition must continue and Jim get some glory (whether he wants to or not!) for taking Nic and Chris up to that same lot. Though Nicole is so much fun at this age, this is one of those things I look forward to hearing about when she’s old enough to drive herself.

Rambling

This is going to be more of a journal entry than most – notes so I can document what’s going on in every-day life should I care to read it later.

I'm tired more mornings than most lately. We’ve had our share of stress and smiles lately at home and there’s no end in sight….

Vacation got changed a bit lately which was frustrating because of the hours and hours I put in researching accommodations and locations- all of which now is moot. Still waiting for some outstanding information before we can finalize plans. We’re all still going, that’s the good news.

Nicole has been singing more lately, especially when we put her to bed and turn off the lights. I sat outside her room the other night and listened to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” about 6X through. She can’t pronounce all the words but she “uh uh”’s the right amount of syllables to fill in things like “the world so” and then concludes with a clear “high”. It’s really really cute. She was up singing until 9:05 last night (went down at 8:30 like normal).

Other thing she’s really into – pulling all of her bed items (2 blankets, 6 animals, 1 Curious George book) out, surrounding herself on the floor with them and laughing hysterically. We’re not sure what’s so fabulous about having your bed friends out of bed, but it never ceases to make her outright giddy.

In my toddler 1/week newsletter I get via email it gave a chart of what kids should and might be able to do in the months ahead. She can already do some of the things that are 24 month “shoulds” like name body parts, make 2-3 word sentences, etc. but can’t yet put on clothing (a “might” for 22 months). She does understand some non-physical concepts like “sorry”, “ready”, and “here” and “now” and uses those words correctly in everyday speech. Thanks to Sarah's zoo book she knows roughly 20 animals by sight now (walrus, penguin, lizard) and can say most of them like rhino, lion, frog, etc. too (though flamingo is still "pink bird").

Yesterday at daycare the sorries came out more than a few times as she bit another kid not once but twice. She was put on the time-out step after they explained why & she cried the whole time she sat. When I came at lunch to visit Marsha told me what happened and I sat her down and firmly explained that teeth are for food only. There’s no doubt she understood that – she burst into big tears as soon as I said the word “bite”.

Jim’s been spending hours drawing deck plans so that we can submit them to the county for approval. At Home Depot we’ve designed and refined the plans in their software system. More than one associate knows him and our plans now and when he comes they say “oh, you have the nice deck”. In fact, our plan is called “nice deck” in their system. We’re investigating hiring part of the building process out because of the ledger board primarily – hopefully we’ll know more by the end of the week on this front.

We bought a new Dell and sold our old one for about a third of the cost of the new. We still have to buy a monitor though (sold the old one with the computer) so as of yesterday we can't actually use our new toy...

We’re not going to NYC anymore but are going to do a popular “staycation” instead.

I think our bed is finally broken in – I'm more and more comfortable in it than ever before and don’t like to leave it if I don’t have to. :)

Operation: Relax is a go!

Vacation plans are made and hopefully by the end of the day will be set (as in deposits in). Miraculously ALL of my immediate family is going – parents, brothers, niece, everyone! This will be the first time in several (3?) years that we’ve all gone together. As a result we’re getting a house rather than a condo and it should be really nice – has 5 bedrooms (one for the girls!), foosball, air hockey, is 3 [long] blocks from the beach. With so many people the cost for us all is split and significantly reduced when it comes to lodging compared to when it was just Mom/Dad and my family. I'm already looking forward to it.

Random realization: Though some of her songs are catchy, I think I can safely blanket statement that I don’t like Gwen Stafani’s music.

Weekend of 3/6/09

This weekend was crazy busy. Some quick notes/observations:

1) What recession!? On Friday, Jim, Nicole and I met my parents at Graeter’s for ice cream and then came back to our house to play Scene It. When we arrived at Graeter’s, which for those of you out of town is $3.25/scoop premium ice cream, there was not a single table available and over a half dozen people waiting in line. Things didn’t slow down while we were there. If everyone’s so hurting in this economy why the heck are they eating expensive ice cream!? Even if you want a treat go to friggin’ Kroger and buy a HALF GALLON for $3 or Wendy’s and get a dollar Frosty. This leads me to believe that the recession is only real for those who don’t have a job and therefore don’t have an income. The rest of us employed folk are going on right as usual.

2) On Saturday I went to a mother’s sale which is essentially a big indoor garage sale where kids clothes, toys, shoes, and necessities like cribs, etc. are sold by moms in the area. I bought Nicole 5 things (3 dresses, 1 capri pant and 1 pair of shorts) and Chris 5 things (all overall sets & one set of PJ’s) and spent $23.50. I can’t resist a good deal ($4 sundress with the $22 tags still on!).

3) Immediately following I met Mike, Lindsay and Ryann up at the local elementary school for a carnival. I won’t go into long detail but I thought that it was a very very affordable event, well managed, and a good atmosphere. Nicole got a puffy headband with antennae that she adored and a recorder she can’t figure out how to blow in.

4) Bowling was not good due to below-average performances which lead to a 0/4 night. HOWEVER, because of our exceptional bowling last time we were one of the Top 10 teams in the entire center and therefore get to go to a special tournament where the minimum payout just for showing up is $25/person. Wahoo! We’re cool! There’s no cost to bowl as it’s an honor to have made it and our dues along the way pay for it. It’s based on how much over our average we bowl that afternoon. NYC just got bumped. We’re west siders….

The Day

Jenna and I went through a MOUNTAIN of clothes last night and discovered that

• Chris has more 0-3 month stuff than I thought (most of it green and yellow but that’s okay) as far as onsies go.
• Lisa’s comment to me in the car about little boys needing pants on is running through my mind. I let Nicole hang out in just a cute onsie (that was intended to stand alone as they’d have designs on the butt) but maybe that’s not how boys work? Maybe I need to buy him some shorts?
• My biggest clothes hole is 12 month spring/summer stuff
• Jenna kept saying that she thinks Chris will be long. I'm looking at these pants I bought for him and wondering if he’ll look dumb if they’re too short if she’s right…. Oh well! He’ll just be sitting/laying around anyway so you probably wont’ be able to tell.

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I went to a funeral of a life-long friend of mine – a neighbor, Bill Miller. It was a very Catholic service and had me wondering about some logic. According to the priest’s homily:

• He (the priest) feels that living life without a belief in a heaven would be a sad existence. Essentially knowing you were leading up to something better should inspire you to live happily and fully
• We (all people) weren’t created with this life in mind but our heavenly eternal life

What had me wondering then was why this guy kept pushing Bill through surgeries, painful medication, and a rough life because the sanctity of life was more important and letting yourself die is against God’s will.

Well, if I'm created for a heavenly life and I believe it’s waiting for me, why the hell do I need to be resuscitated 50 times + over the course of 20 years to stay on this Earth?

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I got a picture card of Max in the mail that had Jim and I laughing out loud. Only Lisa would use the word “sucks” on a baby card. Ha!

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Today over lunch Jim and I went to see Nicole. This was the first time we BOTH went to see her over lunch and it was nice it was warm and we could all play outside. She figured out how to push the button and drive the power wheel and was having a grand time zooming around the yard. She’s getting to be a big kid.

23 Weeks & Counting

Few folks were kind enough to ask how Chris and I are doing – so far so good. The day I was sick, Friday, must have been loud with my stomach churning – he was up ALL DAY squirming around. I didn’t mind a bit because I was so bored and it least it was entertaining waiting to see where his next kick would come from. Apparently that wore him out because he was really quiet the next two days.

I'm still in the “cute” stage of being pregnant – big enough that there’s no mistaking that I'm knocked up versus just fat, but not a house yet. Now, being cute pregnant is not the same as being cute. Whereas other women might “awww” at me, sexy is not an adjective I’d remotely use. Poor Jim. I think I am smaller than I was with Nicole and I'm hoping this continues.

I have a bigger sweet tooth than last time though and I really have to keep myself in check to not munch an entire row of girl scout cookies. I go to the doctor on Friday and unlike last time I could care less how much weight I'm gaining – if I'm at 20lbs. already so be it.

Again I find myself happy we know the gender. Partially because I'm a planner and partially because it’s nice to be able to refer to the baby by name. Nicole can say “baby brother” and “baby Chris” if you say it first but won’t answer questions about him without the answers directly prompted. For record, we'll probably call him Christopher, Chris or CJ interchangeably.

Jenna’s coming over tomorrow night to help Nicole and I sort which clothes are gender-neutral enough to re-use. I need a greater feel of how much more of what he needs before I head to the mother’s sale on 3/28. Searching my memory back 19 months ago, many of the newborn onesies Nic had were green/yellow/orange and will work but by the 6 month size her wardrobe turned sharply to teal and purple and I fear his pickins will be slim. Jenny, Mom, and my Aunt Mary bought me a few clearly boy items and I picked up about $40 worth of stuff at Old Navy but a lot of it was 6-12 month in size and I think, again if memory serves me, I’ll have a [hopefully small] hole in the 3-6 month clothing size and definitely 12+.

Uno

Not sure if you'll be able to view the video - it's about a minute so I started uploading it at home and am writing this at work (so I haven't closed my home browser).

Nicole has taken a renewed interest in her "counting crab" that she got for her first birthday. Funny thing is that she only says the spanish....

What we're up to - with pictures!

Well, after reading up a bit, I again agree with Martha – sounds like a food intolerance on Friday. I ended up getting sick again after I posted and reading the fine print of email was more than my stomach could handle (felt like car sickness) so I left at noon. Most of the afternoon was spent eating chicken noodle soup in shifts and laying in bed. Just like last time. :(

Next day though I was good as new which was helpful since we had things to do. Remember our list of goals for February? We’ve pseudo-accomplished all of them.

1) filled the settling cracks – this is 80% done – light plays a factor in our ability to finish it which means it’s a weekend project mostly.

2) The will – we picked a lawyer out, filled out a ridiculously comprehensive worksheet and are waiting on one final answer before our appointment on Wednesday

3) Nicole’s bed- selected after visiting several stores. We’re getting her a white, full-sized one from IKEA. Ignoring the price in the picture I stole from their website, she’s getting the bed, end table, dresser and mirror. Once we coordinate a truck we’ll pick it up

4) Deck design – as you know, we settled on a shape. Yesterday we spent several hours at the Home and Garden show where we got some ideas to refine the details a bit more (use of stone and permanently putting in a grill). There were so many outdoor chimneys there on display that it got my mind turning but they’re ridiculously expensive ($5K-15,000) so it’s not going to make the final plans.


Goals for March include:
1) Fixing my car from the accident

2) Having a final draft of the will in our safe

3) Buying Nicole’s furniture, linens, curtains & artwork (Curious George is going to be the theme I think) and I found these cute wall stickers, amongst others, to decorate!

4) Making decisions on the morning room furniture (found some on Saturday we liked, just have to measure the room)

5) Sorting Nicole’s clothes for Chris-usable items

6) Submit deck plans to the city for approval

7) More??

We’re (Jim and I only!) also trying to plan one last get-away to NYC for April. Need to get doctor’s approval at my appt. on Friday though.