Allergic to dogs???

I'm not allergic to anything. So I thought. But over the past 2 nights I have been to 2 friends houses and gotten very congested. These friends share 2 things in common with regards to their living arrangements.
Both live in Cedar Park. Both have a dog.

I've never been allergic to cedar, and though Barbie has 2 huge cedars in her back yard, I don't recall Mike and Tara having any in close proximity to their house. And both times I was indoors the whole time. I've spent time at Barbie's house before she had the dog and didn't notice the congestion.

So that leaves the dogs.

Could I have suddenly developed dog allergies?
Could it be pregnancy related?
If so, will it go away afterwards?

As soon as I got home, the congestion went away. Maybe sweet kitties are the antidote?

This big ol' house...

Ok, it's not technically that big. In fact as houses in Texas go, and specifically this neighbourhood, it's actually quite small. But right now it feels big because my sweet honey bunny is not here. He's living the high-life on IBM's dollar in Santa Clara, California. Ok, maybe not the high-life, but he did report that he was having fun. Probably thanks to Wassim, who had better be taking good care of him as promised.
Meanwhile, the cats and I are filling up our time with friends, chores, and lounging about. Last night I spent time over at the Masterson house. Today I mowed the back yard. It was in dire need. It took me over an hour to mow because the weeds were SO BAD that I had to mow over all of them twice just to get them. It was a nice break from work, though. I did it during lunch. The sun was shining, it's a barmy 75 degrees! The back yard now looks consistent. Hopefully the weeds will not grow back until AFTER we move out :-)
Today I'm working out twice. I went this morning with Barbie and spent 45 mins on the cross trainer, and I'm going to meet Jen this evening. Maybe I'll do weights and just a wee bit of cardio.
The house is being shown this evening so hopefully the potential buyer will fall in love with the place and offer me a million dollars for it! a girl can dream, can't she?

The cats must be missing their daddy. Onyx has not left my side all day, and while he's been gone, Nikki has slept on my head at night, waking me up with her LOUD snoring. Serioiusly, they need to make those breathe rite strips for cats!

Fun weekend had by all

Well, for the most part anyway, and I'll get to the un-fun part later. Brian went to San Antonio on Friday night for a soccer tournament that he played in on Saturday. He spent the night with his team hanging out, drinking beer, and spent the night in a hotel. On Saturday morning the team played two games. In the second game Brian scored an awesome goal that was one of the highlights of his adult soccer career. He dribbled the ball past over half of the opposing team and nailed it into the goal. Sweet!
Meanwhile I spent some time talking to some roofers. Apparently our roof has some minor wind damage so we're going to get it fixed. Then I spent the day shopping with Barbie. I didn't buy much because my ever changing shape is depressing to buy for, and impossible to predict. I can't even buy shoes because, apparently, my feet *might grow. Barbie had a pretty good retail day, though.
We received the list of repairs on our house that the buyers had requested, and agreed to fix all issues. They also asked for a $$ amount, which I countered at what I felt was a good compromise for all.
After Brian got home he spent a few hours on his hands and knees in the front yard as a result of us recieving a nastygram from the HOA about the weeds in our lawn. If our neighbours ratted us out, we don't really blame them... The weeds were big and I'm sure they were spreading to their lawn, too.
We then headed over to Jay and Erin's and met up with Mike and Tara and Erin fed us with yummy tacos before we headed downtown to celebrate Kitty's birthday, all stuffed into Jay's big ass truck.
We met Nick and Kitty and others, including Brett and Tiff, at the Key bar on 6th, then headed to 219 West where we were met by others. There's great people watching at that bar. Several bachelorette parties came in, along with a wedding party and two cougars that were dressed like hookers. I should make an honourable mention of Tiffeni's hair at this point. I cut it for her last week and added layers, which she's never had before. It looks SOOO great!
Around 1:30am we thought it was time to get some Ropolo's pizza. The outside temperature had dropped drastically so we found ourselves huddled up next to a gas heater outside the pizza wagon as we scoffed down late night pizza, then I got to drive everyone home in Jay's big-ass truck! Fun times!

On to the not so great stuff. Brian's now out of town for a week. I'm gonna miss him terribly. This will be the longest we've been apart in a couple of years. He's in California for a conference. We ran out to the outlet mall this afternoon to buy him some business-casual clothes to wear at the conference, then I dropped him off at the airport. I actually do like to spend time alone, in fact I often NEED to spend time alone, so I'll enjoy it, but at the same time I'll be very happy when my man returns.

And one final not so great thing, depending on your point of view. The house sale fell through. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say we're relieved to not be working with these buyers and are happy that they are now out of our lives. Our house is back on the market and hopefully we can get the right buyer for it this time around. A big fat thank you goes out to Barbie for being supportive and working so hard to almost close this deal. I feel confident that the next one will work out.

In the mean time, I'll work on making it perfect for the next lucky buyer by addressing a few very minor issues that the previous buyers had requested as a result of the inspection.

Running on hormones

Today I just flat out woke up on the wrong side of a good mood. I'm not typically moody. Most people will attest that I'm a generally cheerful person with a positive outlook on life. Today was kind of a blue Monday. I found myself a little irritable/impatient this morning and as the day progressed it just got worse. I feel like my boiling point is low today and I've been trying real hard to keep a lid on it. I haven't blown up, I've just gently simmered inwardly, trying not to inflict my blue mood on others. I realized why I was feeling this way when Barbie asked me if I had the receipt for the wood floors because the buyer wanted to confirm that they were actually wood and not laminate. I then blew up. Over a receipt. I knew it was a ridiculous thing to get mad about, but I was powerless to stop it. Then the irrational behaviour came. I wanted to back out of the deal. However, real estate contracts are not set up in a manner that allows the seller to back out of a deal, so we're stuck with these people who are pissing me off to no end. As I watched myself reacting to this tiny little request that ordinarily would be no big deal, it was like I was outside of my own body and unable to do anything to affect the situation.
When I got home, Brian sat me down and talked to me about all the reasons why we should just put up with it.
After he talked some sense into me, I put on my iPod and went for a walk to clear my head and get some fresh air. It turned into a run, though. I couldn't just walk. As I started running my body complained a little but I pushed on, and eventually I got to a comfortable pace. My breathing was a little laboured at first and I had to walk briefly. The kid was all kinds of bouncing around in there and I could feel him bouncing against my bladder, which didn't feel great but not bad enough to stop. I did about 2.5 miles in all, and probably walked for .5 of it. The second part of my run consisted of over a mile of running (no walking). I haven't lost my running mojo! it's just toned down for now.
When I got home I felt so much better. My head was clearer and I felt like my calm self again. Phew!
It's good to know that a head-clearing run also works on hormone driven irrationality.

SOLD!

Ten days on the market, and our house is SOLD!
I might have mentioned previously that we got a shitty offer and the guy also wanted our washer/dryer/refrigerator thrown in for free. LOL! crazy foreigners ;-)

After playing some hard-ball negotiating the price, we finally got what we feel is a reasonable price for our house. After only 10 days on the market we felt that we were not in a position yet to accept any offers below the minimum Brian and I had decided on. And we were confident that our house would sell. We're happy that it worked out, though, and the closing dates line up perfectly for us to move into our new house with a couple of weeks inbetween to move.

Of course, no deal is done until all the papers are signed, so there's still a possibility for the buyers to back out. So keep your fingers crossed!

Pregnancy progression pictures

To accommodate all of my "remote" family and friends' requests for pictures... here it is:

Meet "The Kid"

Today we met The Kid. Sort of. It was our 21 week ultrasound. This is the one where they tell you the sex of the baby, but since we already knew, it was more a confirmation, and of course an anatomy scan to make sure all things are normal.

We're happy to report that The Kid has developed normally and is showing no signs of any problems.

And at the risk of embarassing The Kid, here's a picture of his junk (hopefully nobody will see this as inappropriate):

During the ultrasound, the ultrasound technician zoomed in on The Kid's face and we could clearly see him moving his mouth almost as though he was trying to speak to us. He was also very active. You could see his little feet going the whole time, and to put to rest Grandad Keith's fears that he will favour his right foot in football (soccer to you yanks), he was moving both feet equally.

And finally, my favourite picture....


Awh... he already takes after his mummy!

Pregnancy and Real Estate

The two generally don't mix. Pregnancy is a particularly trying time because your emotions tend to rule you. I had to really watch myself lately and Brian had to be my voice of reason. I'm an impulsive person any day of the year, and I tend to be ruled by my heart rather than my head, so you can imagine how difficult it has been to make logical, non-emotion-based decisions about houses while pregnant. We looked at so many houses - well, when I say "we" I mean me and my wonderful best friend, Barbie. We narrowed our search down to 4 neighbourhoods, eliminated all the houses that didn't meet both mine and Bri's criteria, and then only presented those to him that met my requirements and *might meet all of his. Barbie has also been a voice of reason in this process.

We looked at building a new house, and we found the perfect lot to build on, found a floorplan we liked, but not all of our criteria were met. We weighed the benefits of building a new house in an up and coming neighbourhood, and enquired about options for making the house fit both our criteria. We were almost sold, almost put down a deposit, but something wasn't right. The house was a few thousand dollars over our budget and for the money, it seemed like the benefits of a new house didn't justify the price per square foot.

On the day we found the perfect house we looked at I think 5 houses. I already knew from the pictures that the one we chose would be the most likely candidate, and I think Barbie did, too, because she saved that one till last. When we walked in the door I knew immediately. Barbie did, too. Every criteria for both me and Brian were met:
Granite counter tops, wood floors, and a floor plan that orients the couch away from the kitchen for me - my pet peeve about our current house is that I can see the kitchen (and any mess) while watching TV, and that causes me to be unable to relax until I clean it up. For Brian it was the 3 car garage, all bedrooms upstairs, and an in-ground sprinkler system - what guy wouldn't want a bigger garage? and he's always hated that we don't have sprinklers at our current house, and if you look at the state of our lawn you can see why!

We put in a rather low-ball offer on the house knowing that the sellers wouldn't go for it, but we wanted to start low to keep their expectations down. They came back with a counter that seemed still unreasonable, so we countered with what we considered another low-ball offer which we thought they'd reject again. I was fully prepared to walk away from this house if we didn't get it for what we wanted. Which is unusual for me given, as I said, that I am impulsive and my heart was already sold on this house. Brian is completely the oppposite. He's ruled by his head. I see this as a perfect example of how he has influenced me over the years to become a more rational person. We were both stunned when they accepted our offer!

Now that I can let my guard down, I've already hung up all my art work in my mind, and repainted the pink bedroom to a nice manly grey-blue for the kid, with a sports car mural on the wall (for Brian ;-))

The inspection went well. There are only a few minor things wrong with the house that are easily fixed. We submitted an amendment to the sellers in the hope that they will commit to fixing some of them, but we're not optomistic.

Our current house is getting a lot of activity. It's been like Grand Central Station here over the past few days. One realtor asked me not to accept any offers over the weekend because her client really wants the house. That's all very promising.

Speaking of activity, the kid is now moving quite a bit. On Friday night as we were on our way down to Trudy's to meet some friends, he gave me a nice jab in the left ovary. OOOF!

Best Valentines Gift EVER!

Today is shaping up to be an awesome day! Today, my wonferful husband bought me THIS!


Check out those floors :-) And that fireplace passes through to the other room.



And this beautiful kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless appliances!

House hunting

We spent most of Sunday looking at houses. We found one we kind of liked but the yard was rather small, then we went over to a new subdivision in Avery Ranch Parkside and found a floor plan we just loved, but it was way too much money for not enough house. Finally, yesterday we found a house we both love. 3 car garage, 4 bedrooms, a game room, granite counters/stainless kitchen, wood floors... and in a neighbourhood we wouldn't mind living in. We put in an offer. We don't expect they'll take it, but it's a good starting point. The house is beautiful! As we were looking out of the game room we saw about 15 deer in the field across the street. The field belongs to a catholic church - finally, a church is good for something - providing me with a nice field to look at while I'm in my game room!
Cross your fingers that they take our offer!

Our house is now on the market! Somebody is going to fall in love with our beautiful wood floors and awesome floorplan here. Everyone send good real estate mojo our way!

It's SHOW time!

Literally. At my baby doctor visit on Friday, she measured my uterus as being now up past my navel. It's approximately the size of a large canteloupe! It's no wonder I can't breathe! My organs have moved up under my ribs and are crowding my lungs! UGH! It's times like these when you wish you lived in a one-story house.

There's no denying the gut now. Though in my defense it is smaller than most men's beer guts I've seen. Today when I looked in the mirror sideways, I couldn't help but laugh at the large egg shape protruding out front of me. It's going to get MUCH, MUCH bigger in the coming months and that is frightening! I saw a pregnant co-worker in the elevator last week who is only 2 weeks away from delivering. She looked like she was smuggling a large melon. So cute! I hope I'm even half that cute.

The kid is now at the point where he can hear. And to celebrate this milestone I gave him his own playlist on my iPod entitled "Baby music". It's all classical music. I read that babies respond to classical music because it has a similar rythem to the mother's heartbeat. It's also supposed to make them smarter. I'm not sure why, though.
Last night while I watched telly, I lay on the couch and taped my iPod headphones to my belly. I didn't notice the kid moving, but the cat was rather confused by it :-)

Sickness in pregnancy

I have something. It started off as a sore throat, turned into a dry cough, then a (eeeeew!) wet cough, and now, finally, it's a full on snotty nose, watery eys, coughing like an old smoker, cold.
I saw the baby doctor yesterday. Brian came with me and we listened to the kid's heartbeat. It's around 150BPM now. Brian's face was a picture when he heard it. He was smiling from ear to ear at me and looking all goofy and mushy.

My blood pressure is quite low, which I'm told is normal for this part of the pregnancy. The result is a delightful headrush every time I stand up, though.
The doctor gave me a list of things to take to manage my nasty cold symptoms that are pregnancy-safe. Unfortunately, none of them are very effective.

Brian's getting even more excited about his impending fatherhood now. He's been reading the book "What to expect the first year", just so that he can help me out and be knowledgeable when the kid arrives. I am so impressed with his initiative. Other things I'm impressed with are his commitment to keeping his dirty clothes off the floor and the bathtub, keeping his laundry basket from overflowing, and putting his shoes away. We're getting ready to put our house for sale, so that means we have to be extra neat and tidy so that people coming to view our house see the real beauty of it, rather than all of our stuff. It's funny how when you get your house ready to sell, and make it perfect for prospective buyers, you actually like it more. Almost enough to want to stay in it. Almost.

Training day 7, Baby stuff, and a SECRET!

Today was training day 7. We worked on chest and abs. We used 2 different machines this time, plus the roman chair. Chris showed me the difference between working just a small set of the abdominals, and working all of it. Today I felt a little low on energy so I only did 20 mins of cardio.

On to the subject of baby stuff... Erin's sister loaned me the most informative book ever for new parents. It's called Baby Bargains. It cuts through all the crap that the baby stores want you to buy and tells you the good and bad about all aspects of buying for baby. It has reviews on strollers, monitors, breast pumps, car seats, you name it... and it also very clearly tells you how much of everything you will need. So no guessing. It also tells you what is a waste of money. Like Diaper Stackers and Changing Tables! what the hell is wrong with the floor? Or the bathroom counter? or the couch? people who buy these expensive changing tables are just idiots.

Did you know that in the first 6 weeks of life, a baby will go through 600 nappies??? (that's diapers to you yankies). I could only wish for a digestive system that's that ative these days!

The secret... well obviously I'm not going to spill the beans!! what kind of friend would I be if I blogged it to the world? It's going in the vault along with many other dirty little secrets I've collected over the years. Only the very privileged know these secrets. You know who you are ;-) Some day, I may write my memoires and confess all, and possibly implicate some guilty people, but I promise I'll wait until those it could hurt are long dead before I do - unless you do something that negates your vault priviledges, but so far very few people have managed that ;-)

Training day 6, house hunting, and FETAL MOVEMENT!

Thursday was training session #6. We did legs, ass, and abs. I'm convinced that my training is saving me from becoming a complete whale. On Saturday, before I headed to the gym I had Brian take a picture of me. We took the same picture in the same outfit at 11 weeks. On Saturday I was 17 weeks (and a few days) and the pictures are nearly identical. There's a bit more boob in the later one, and a tiny, tiny difference in the stomach. I fully believe that if it weren't for the gym I'd never be able to fit into my Lucky Jeans. So a big fat thank you to my trainer, Chris, and also to Barbie, who does her best to show up to the gym and support me, even though she absolutely hates to go :-)
And just so nobody is concerned, despite my size not increasing dramatically, I am gaining the required amount of weight to maintain a healthy pregnancy. The scale is creeping up slowly at the recommended pace, and no, I am not dieting. I'm eating 300 calories a day more than I used to, and that comes in the form of fruit, dairy, and CHOCOLATE!

On Friday evening, Brian and I went and drove some of the neighbourhoods we are considering moving to. We found quite a few that we liked and one that we absolutely fell in love with, but might be outside of our price range. Barbie is helping us sell our current house and buy a new one. We spent a long time this weekend cleaning out the closet in the master, the garage, and organizing the pantry so it looks bigger :-) I am donating 4 trash bags full of clothes and shoes to Goodwill. I can't believe how good it feels to purge all that baggage!

On Sunday morning, as I was laying on the couch watching the learning channel, as is my Sunday morning ritual, Nikki was laying on my stomach, and purring her little kitty head off, when I felt a weird feeling in my stomach. I thought it was gas. It felt kind of a cross between hunger and gas. Kind of like tiny bubbles, but it was persistent, not like gas. I realized that it was the kid moving around. After I recognized it, then it became more obvious and last night he must have been doing a happy dance in there while I was trying to sleep. I told him out loud to keep still but the kid doesn't listen to his mother. It was only when one of the cats laid on my stomach and purred that he stopped. I wonder if the kid can feel the vibrations or hear the purring?

Training day 5 and cravings

Tuesday was training day 5. We worked on back and abs. This time we focused on all the back exercises first, then abs, rather than having the ab workouts dispursed in with the others. I am finding the ab work out in the Roman Chair to be more challenging every time. It's not because I'm doing more, I think it might be because I'm gaining weight and my body isn't used to the excess yet. I imagine it's only going to get harder. I get to my 4th set and can barely hang on any more.

I've been doing pretty well with my diet. I've been trying to eat as much fruit as possible every day, even though I don't really like fruit. Brian mentioned to me today that he's suprised by my lack of cravings. I guess you hear stories of men being sent out to the store at all hours of the morning for weird food combinations, or getting up in the night to go make some weird sandwich for their pregnant wife. I haven't experienced any really strong cravings at all. I get a taste for something and that's what I'll choose to eat, but I could easily be talked out of it. Maybe the really strong cravings come later on. I have developed an aversion to most meat, though, and I used to LOVE lemon pepper and dill on my food and now it smells like ass to me.

Perhaps my cravings are in denial because what I truly crave is sushi and tequila, both of which are off limits. I had sushi for lunch with Jack yesterday, and of course I only chose vegetable and cooked varieties, but I really wanted a Spicy Susan or a spicy tuna hand roll. Jack is super supportive, too. I know he wants a Spicy Susan but he doesn't get one because it would torture me :-)

Training day 4 and painting

Saturday morning I got up early and went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for my Chicken Enchilada soup that I was preparing for a party over at Erin's later. Started prepping my soup, then as it simmered, headed to the gym for my 4th training session with Chris.
Chris was having a bad day but I cheered him up a bit by letting him complain to me. It always helps if you can vent to someone and they just listen, I find. He seemed in better spirits when I left. The workout was gruelling, as always. We did chest and abs and then of course finished with cardio. I find it hard to do the free weights because I don't yet have the balance and coordination required, but I am improving over last time.
After the gym I showered and headed over to Erin's with my soup. The party was fun. Everyone had made their favourite soup and we all tasted each others recipes. After the party Brian and I headed to the mall and I attempted to find some trousers that fit. Unfortunately, everything came up too high in the waist to accommodate my growing belly in the first store, and I resigned myself to having to go to the maternity store. When we got there, though, I just couldn't do it. I tried on 3 pairs of trousers and one pair of jeans. The jeans were ok, but I just couldn't do it. I'm not ready yet. All the other pants were too big. I'm in that awkward phase between fat and pregnant that all women dread. Brian was awesome, though. He kept giving me hugs and reassurance when he saw my facial expressions, and we headed out of the mall empty-handed.

Today, Sunday, we got up semi early for a sunday and ran some errands, then Brian spent most of the day weeding our front lawn by hand to remove the clover, and I painted our hideous blue guest bathroom back to off-white at the insistance of our realtor (Barbie) who said it devalues our house. It is now back to its original vanilla colour. This is probably a good time to mention that we're planning to sell our house in the very near future. We haven't started looking for houses yet because we want to get this one on the market first, so we've been spending some time organizing the closets, donating clothes and all the things that we don't use anymore like old computers and hardware, etc. Hopefully it will sell fast and we'll find our dream house for a bargain price by mid June. If not, we plan to take the house off the market and stay for another year. It's not a good idea to move when you have a newborn, so we're hoping to do it before the baby arrives.

Happy 29th birthday to me!

Ok, so it's not really my 29th, but that's what I'm claiming because I can still get away with it and that's all you need to know! My birthday was awesome. I got up and went to the gym in the morning to get a good start on the day, then chatted with mum on the web cam while I drank my tea and ate my bagel (which is a birthday treat for me, as usually I have yogurt and fruit), then I headed in to work where my very thoughtful friend, Dana gave me yummy chocilates and a happy birthday baloon, and a card from my whole team. At lunch I went with Danna and Dana to get pedicures.
When I arrived home there was a big basket on my doorstep with a ballon and all kids of fruit and cookies and chocolate from my parents. I spent another 45 minutes on the web cam to my mum and dad, who was now home from work. Then Brian came home and I opened my birthday presents from him, his brother, and his parents. All gifts were awesome. Then we headed out for dinner with 22 of our dearest friends to Kobe Steakhouse. I haven't had a steak in about 5 months, so this was a real treat for me. We had so much fun. I can't imagine the day turning out any more perfect.

So thank you to all my family and friends who made my whole day so special. Everyone should be as lucky as me!

Pregnoid training day 3

I had to skip my Tuesday training session due to inclement weather and someone scheduling a 4 hour meeting during that time! 4 hours??? what the hell do we have to talk about for 4 whole hours?

Today I did my skipped work out, and rescheduled today's work out for Saturday morning. Today's work out was awesome. We did legs and abs. We added a little more weight to the leg press and did 2 sets of 20 instead of 2 sets of 12. Then we did quds and hamstrings, and some lunges with 2 10lb weights, and then the roman chair for 2 sets of 20 reps straigt up, and 2 sets of 20 side to side, followed by the crunch machine, where I did 2 sets of 20 and held for 10 seconds half way through. Then Chris instructed 20 mins of cardio, but I did 30 so I could have a chocolate grahm cracker cookie at lunch :-)

Today was one of those work outs where you still feel it hours afterwards, mostly in my lungs. It almost feels like it used to when I'd do a good long run. I like it.

In pregnancy news, the acne seems to be under control now. I have been using a combination of Proactive Solution, and Arbonne's RE9 line. My skin seems to be getting back to normal. I'm also happy to report that I can still fit into my lucky jeans. I attribute this to my workout routine. Without it, I would be a total whale by now. No question. So anybody who thinks you can eat whatever you want and don't have to work out becuase you're pregnant... take note. You can't, and you shouldn't.

My hair is doing something funky now. I have aquired a cowlick on the front left. Today, Chris couldn't stop staring at it during our work out... until I told him that it was one of my horns trying to show itself ;-) I'll take a picture of my baby gut soon so you can all see it for yourself.

And in family news, the web cam I got my parents for xmas is awesome! I love that I can now see them whenever I want. It feels like they're not so far away. It's nice to know they're just a click away now. I also found Tiff on Skype, and my uncles Derek, Norman and Terry. How cool is that? I had a chat with uncle Derek on Tuesday. I haven't spoken to him since new years about 4 years ago!

Lower Back Pain!

We're in week 16 and my back is killing me! You're not supposed to use heat pads during pregnancy, and I'm not sure why, but I also can't take any OTC meds to relieve the pain, so I've been using the heat pad on low in an effort to loosen up the muscles a little.
In other news, Brian and I can't agree on a name for the kid. I might have to resort to duct-taping him to a chair and torturing him until he agrees to the name I want. Then again, he might like that.

Oh, and it's snowing! YAY! Too bad it won't be enough to make a snowman.

Pregnoid training day 2 and belly explosion!

Yesterday I met Chris at the gym. He was feeling crappy because of allergies. I was feeling probably the best I've felt since becoming pregnant. It's amazing how your mood alters once you stop being nauseaus all the time. We started off with an easy cardio warm up for 10 minutes, then did back and abs. Apparently I am very strong for a girl :-) Already after only one work out with Chris, I noticed that despite the bulging belly, I do have a line of definition down my upper abs. After my work out, I told Chris that after the baby is born I expect him to get me a six pack and two tickets to the gun show (gesturing to my huge biceps).
Barbie joined me for the latter part of my workout where I did 30 minutes on the cross trainer with her. A true friend is one who will come to the gym to support your fitness goals, even though she hates working out :-)

My stomach seems to have taken on a life of its own this week. Last week it wasn't that noticable. I kind of looked like I had over indulged in holiday goodies, but not really a pregnant stomach. Today, though, it's protruding out to the front and there's no mistaking what it is. I'm kind of glad to have reached this phase because being as vain as I am, it's mortifying that people might look at me and think I'm just gaining weight for no reason. At least now people will know I'm pregnant.

I've been working my arse off to make sure I don't gain too much weight, although I'm supposed to have only gained 5lbs by now according to sources on the Web, and I have gained 10. ACK! Given the amount of working out I've done lately, though, I'm going to claim that at least 2lbs of that is muscle gain - and nobody had better tell me otherwise or I'll burst into an hormonal fit of tears and you'll feel really bad!

It seems that the growth spurt has not limited itself to my belly. Just when you think your jugs couldn't get any bigger, they do. So I'm going to claim at least another 1lb of this weight is boobs. So there, That's 3lbs accounted for out of the extra 5 I've put on. The rest is most certainly green tea ice cream, sugar cookies, and chocolate.

Pregnoid training day 1

Yesterday was my first day to train with my personal trainer, Chris. I absolutely believe in the benefits of exercising while pregnant:
Reduces backaches, constipation, bloating, and swelling
Increases energy and stamina
Lifts your spirits and balances your mood
Improves posture
Helps build better muscle tone and strength
Promotes better sleep
Gves you a sense of control and self-confidence
Provides you with time for yourself to do something for yourself
Increases blood and oxygen flow to the placenta

In addition to keeping you fit and healthy now, regular activity during pregnancy also helps improve your ability to cope with the rigors of labor. And after baby is born, it is easier for you to get back in shape if you've been staying fit all along.

Source: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

At my gym there are currently three other pregnant women who are in training. My first session with Chris was awesome. We worked on chest and abs. Chris showed me a whole new set of exercises I wouldn't have even thought of and pushed me outside of my comfort zone with regard to while machines and exercises I was familiar with. Taking my doctor's advice into consideration, we came up with a safe way to work out my abs. Today I am moderately sore in my chest and abs, but it's the good kind of sore. The kind that lets you know you really did something good for yourself.

Today I went to the gym and just did a set of abs and my usual 35 minutes of cardio. My next appointment is tomorrow, where I hope we will focus on ass, legs and abs.

More realities of pregnancy

As I stated, my previous post was just the tip of the iceberg. Aside from the little bundle of joy at the end of all this, there are many other little gifts of nature that you can look forward to. Of course all women are different, so perhaps others will not experience all of these unpleasant things, but it seems that mother nature threw her entire bag of goodies at me.

Acne...
I have never in my life had more than 2 active zits at any given time. Not even during puberty. During pregnancy, and from very early on, I have been plagued with zits. Forehead, nose, chin, upper lip. The T-zone. At one point I had 11 active zits on my forehead. I got so desperate I bought Proactive, which has helped somewhat, but here's the catch... no pregnancy testing has been done with Proactive, and your doctor will tell you something vague like "if you think the benefits outweigh the risk, then use it". Well, sorry kid, but I will not be a pizza face for you!

Backne...
Hormone induced zits do not discriminate. They don't care that you can't reach your back to put zit cream on there. In fact, that's perhaps why they live there. They know you can't get them! My once beautiful smooth back now has a nice collection of back zits.

Hair growth...
With raging hormones comes a growth spurt in hair. The hair on your head will grow faster, and fall out less. Your hair will become thicker and fuller. This is a good thing for me because I have fine hair. However, it does not limit iteself to your head. Hair will grow where you never had hair before. Mustache, stomach, NIPPLES! WTF?

Pregnancy glow...
In my experience, this is a complete myth. Maybe I just don't see it because I'm too busy focusing on the zits and hair. Nobody has told me I'm glowing. Sure, I've got increased blood volume, which supposedly should cause me to have a rosey glow, but I'm just not seeing it. You're supposed to get better looking during pregnancy, because the increased blood volume plumps the skin and reduces wrinkles, etc. Of course, you're too busy staring in dismay at the cheese forming on your upper thighs to notice.

Cravings and aversions...
My cravings haven't been that strong. I fimd that I'm highly suggestible. When the restaurant or food advertisements come on around dinner time, I'm very driven by those images. Pregnancy literature and anecdotal evidence suggest that during pregnancy you gain an aversion to things that are bad for you, and crave the things that are good for you. If that's true, then why am I craving Tequila shots and I have an aversion to chicken? I also crave sushi, medium rare steak, and sweets.

Sleeping...
I have Restless Leg Syndrome. It's an hereditary condition that causes your legs to get a weird fidgety sensation that causes you to move to relieve it. Sometimes the movements are involunary. During pregnancy, this is amplified many times, and guess what? all of the drugs that relieve RLS are not safe for pregnant women! On top of that, during the second trimester, you should not sleep on your back because it cuts off circulation to your heart and to the placenta. You can't sleep on your stomach because it becomes uncomfortable, so you're left with left side or right side. I really believe that the problems you encounter sleeping while pregnant are preparing you for the sleepless nights and 4am feedings that you'll be a slave to when the kid is born.

I have to pee!...
We're told that the single most important thing you can do for yourself and your baby is to hydrate. Recommendations range from 64 to 80 ounces of water a day. Drinking water helps flush toxins from your body, and deliver much needed nutrients to the baby. In addition it helps stop stretch marks from forming (though if you're genetically predisposed to stretch marks, this won't do anything for you). What 80 ounces of water also does is make you pee every ten minutes, including in the night. I wake up in agony around 3am and 6am every morning because my bladder is full to the point of bursting. Again, I believe this is designed to prepare you for the frequent feedings when the baby is here.

Why am I here?...
The old wives tale that the baby sucks the intelligence right out of you is true. My ability to focus is severely deminished. I find myself being distracted very easily, and I can't count the number of times I've walked up the stairs with a purpose, got there and forgot why I went. It's not limited to the house, either. I went to the mall a couple of weeks ago with a purpose, got there, forgot why I was there, got pissed at myself and left. And of course, there's the hormonal outbursts. When emotion is high, intellegence and rationality are always low.

Clumsiness...
This one baffles me. I first noticed it while cooking. I have always considered myself to be a very competent knife handler, but recently I can't count on one hand the number of times I've almost chopped my finger off while preparing dinner. I drop things, knock things over, and trip over my own feet. I thought this would show iteself later in pregnancy when my center of gravity shifts due to the giant belly, but no, it happened even before I started showing. Coordination seems to be a little off.

Sense of smell...
It's a well documented fact that pregnant women have a sense of smell that would rival a hound. I was very surprised by how quickly this kicked in. We were on our honeymoon in Bali when mine did. I could smell someone smoking from the other side of the hotel! Of course, Brian and I didn't put two and two together until we got home and took the test and found out we were pregnant. Then the lightbulb came on! A delightful side effect of this symptom is that when your husband farts, you are the first to smell it, and it lasts twice as long, and it's ten times as bad as it usually is. Lovely!

Everyone who's ever been pregnant has advice for you...
This one is particularly annoying to me. I appreciate that these people are offering their 2 cents with the best intentions. They'll tell you how their whole pregnancy went, and how they felt, and how you should be feeling. They'll draw comparisons and sympathize with you. Why I find this annoying is beyond me. I know I should be grateful that these women are sharing their experiences with me, and are trying to impart their wisdom on me to help me feel better, and to let me know that I'm not alone, but I just find myself thinking "Lady, are you in here? No! so how can you possibly know what's going on in here?". I'm going to blame my intolerance of this on hormones.

Gas...
Everyone who knows me knows that my gas is legendary. And during pregnancy most women are afflicted with an excess of gas. I remember one of my very modest friends who never farted, leaning over to grab a gift at her baby shower, and let out a loud fart. I laughed my ass off... My gas seems to have subsided. At least from the rear end. Now I'm afflicted with man-burps. After every meal I can let out the loudest most manly belch you've ever heard. If you heard it, you'd look around for a 300lb man.

It's ok... she's pregnant...
One benefit of pregnancy is that you can get away with almost anything. If I belch out loud in the office, my office mate excuses me with "it's ok, you're pregnant". If I burst into tears for no reason, it's ok! I'm pregnant. If I get irate over seemingly insignificant things, it's OK! I'm pregnant! If I am at dinner with friends, I can say "Hey... are you gonna eat that?" and reach over to get it because it's OK! I'm pregnant! Finally, one benefit of being pregnant that I can get behind!

The reality of pregnancy (long)

Ok, since I've been in the closet for so long, I've been unable to share the joys and woes of pregnancy, but today marks day 1 of Amanda Tells All. If you find this TMI (Too much information) then don't read it.

The first 3 months were hell. Anybody who tells you that they loved being pregnant is just a sicko. In my experience, pregnancy is unpleasant. Here's what I've experienced so far.


Morning Sickness...
Why they call it "morning sickness" is beyond me. I was nauseous morning, noon, and night! Not the kind of nauseous that produces vomit, either, just the kind that makes you feel shitty. The ONLY time I didn't feel nauseous was when I was eating or sleeping.

Constipation...
Let's talk about poop for a moment. Or lack thereof. I was so constipated one night that I woke up with the most godawful cramps imaginable and thought I was going to die. I spent an hour on the toilet trying to push out a very dense and compancted poo that felt like I was passing an acme brick. Poor Brian had to run out in the night to get me something to make me feel better, but of course, nothing did. Since that incident I've been eating lots of fruit, taking my DanActive every day, and an Activia yogurt for regularity. It's helped, but not as much as I'd hoped.

Porn star nipples...
I don't even recognize my own boobs. They are HUGE and hurt like hell, and my girlish pink nipples have been replaced by these hot pink giant ones! WTF??? I read that the colour never goes back to the way it was before, though the size will go back to normal.

Being inhabited...
The feeling that your body is not your own anymore is quite common, I hear. The little parasite is taking everything you have. You're tired and lethargic all the time in the first trimester, at least I was. I found myself passing out at 7:30 in the evening in front of the TV. My sweet husband just quietly went about his business while I crashed on the couch. The cats must have sensed my tiny passenger because they became very clingy and always wanted to lay on my tummy. As pregnancy progresses, the feeling of being inhabited doesn't get any better. You eventually come to the realization that even when the little critter is out, he's gonna be sucking on you for many months afterwards. Your body will not be your own for a long, long time.

Dr. Visits...
I really think that the seemingly endless appointments with various doctors is just a way to smack the modesty out of you. Yea sure, I'm guilty of mooning large crowds and you might be thinking "Amanda? modest?" but let me assure you that I don't like people nosing around in my business down there and I'm mortified at the mere thought of the annual visit to the gyno. During pregnancy, you get violated many times with vrious instruments to check on the baby. Get used to it. By the time the baby's born you'll be ready to invite the whole world to come watch and video tape as you pop out a bloody, screaming, purple, cone headed, tiny Winston Churchill look-alike from your va-jay-jay.

Genetic testing...
This is an unpleasant but necessary evil when you are considered to be a "high risk" pregnancy. Brian and I opted for the CVS, which is done at 11 weeks. It detects Downs Syndrom and other genetic defects, such as Fragile-x, etc. The procedure requires a full bladder for the ultrasound, and a very large needle inserted right through your stomach into the placenta. I had to pee so bad that the doctor felt sorry for me and let me go to the bathroom, but only to release a little. Imagine having to pee so bad you could just pee on yourself, and then having to quit mid-stream. Not an easy task! During this ultrasound, the kid looked like Charlie Brown - a giant head and little body. When I saw the size of the head in relation to the body, I panicked! "Jeezus! it's got a giant head". The doctor assured me that it was disporportionate at this point and I had nothing to worry about. About 10 days after the giant needle takes a sample, you get results. Fortunately ours was negative, which is good, but we found out it's a boy, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted. Brian's over the moon, though.


Baby got back...
During pregnancy, you release a hormone that causes you to retain fat. This fat does not discriminate. It doesn't care that you're hoping for no bodily changes other than the cute pregnancy bump. No. This fat attaches itself to your ass, thighs and love handles. Your regular jeans may still fit, but you look like someone shoehorned your ass into them. Trust me, just go out and buy fat jeans early on to save yourself the crying in front of the mirror episodes every time you attempt to dress.

Showing...
When you first start to show, your friends will want to pet your belly and tell you it's cute. You, on the other hand might feel violated that everyone is touching you in a place they never touched you before, and you'll try to wear your normal clothes and will find that you just don't look good in them. It's not really that you don't look good, it's just that you don't look like you're used to, but this won't matter. You're gonna feel like a whale, and you're going to cry about it, so just go out and buy bigger clothes as soon as this happens and save yourself some heart ache. Not a whole wardrobe, just a few pieces to get you through the awkward phase before you need maternity clothes.

Mood swings...
I'm normally a very stable person. I'm not prone to mood swings and I don't get PMS, at least not the kind that can be percieved by others. I had my first hormonal outburst a week or so ago over cheese. Yes, cheese. I cried, stormed out of the house, went shopping for fat clothes, and when I got home had one more cry about elephants, then I was fine. Cheese and elephants. Two things I'm usually indifferent about, although I do like cheese a lot.

Registering...
This is quite possibly the worst experience of all. Brian and I headed to Babies R Us and picked up "the gun". About 45 minutes in and we had only one item on our registry. It was frustrating, overwhelming, and it completely freaked me out to the point that I've been having anxiety attacks ever since. We got about 1/3 of the way down the massive checklist of things we'd need, and my stomach was in knots. We had to leave. I have't been back since, and since then, we've added things from the Web with recommendations from friends. If I never have to go back to that place I will be happy.

Coming out of the closet...
There's always those trusted friends and close family that you tell before you get results back. We opted only to tell those who we trusted, and would feel comfortable around if we had to abort due to genetic defects, or if there was a miscarriage. We swore those friends to secrecy. Others guessed. Some were totally clueless. Kitty, for example, guessed when she observed me drinking Shirly Temples at happy hour. Jay, on the other hand, saw my Shirley Temples, saw me down three of them, assumed they were Cosmopolitans, and teased me about being a lush. Hehehe.

Things I want but can't have...
Tequila. God I want tequila so bad. I want a shot, not a margarita. I want a shot of tequila with salt and lime, and by god, somebody better deliver that to me as soon as the peanut is out!
Sushi. I miss my spicy susan and spicy tuna hand roll. Sure I can have the cooked sushi, and it does pacify me a little, but I really want regular sushi.
Medum rare steak. Apparently you can get parasites from under cooked meat. Parasites normally wouldn't bother an adult, but during pregnancy you're 10 times more likely to get sick, and it could harm the baby. I hate my steaks done medium or above, so since the only way I can eat them is well done, there's no point.
Blue cheese. Who knew that blue cheese was off limits? I love blue cheese.
Ceasar salad. This was a surprise to me. I'm still not sure why I can't have ceasar salad, but it's on the list of things I can't have.
Deli meat. Apparently, deli meat, like the kind you get at subway or any sandwich shop, is off limits because it harbours harmful bacteria that ordinarily wouldn't bother you, but again, being pregnant makes you 10 times more likely to get sick.
Salad bars and buffets. Again. Bacteria.

I've completely disregarded the salad bar rule because I crave salads. I think the benefits of me eating salad outweighs the risks. So don't give me any lectures.

Body image...
This is an important and seldom mentioned reality of being pregnant. Your body image will make you feel like a whale. You don't look like one. you look like a cute pregnant lady on the verge of showing. If you let your body image rule you, you'll eventually start to resent the tiny passenger in your belly. I'm speaking from experience here. I'm pissed off that I'm gonna get fat, and I'm blaming the kid. Do something about this before it goes too far. Which leads me to my next point.

Exercise...
I'm a runner. Except that since becoming pregnant it's been damn near impossible to run. I have ran several times. My boobs hurt so bad that it's almost unbearable. And as you start to gain a few pounds, you also notice it's harder to run. Not only that, but your joints beging to loosen because of pregnancy hormones, which makes you less stable. Being pregnant does not mean you need to, or should give up working out. Quite the contrary. You're not disabled. You're not sick. You need to stay in shape using alternate methods, otherwise you'll increase your risk of a c-section, prolong your labour, and lose your stamina so you will have a harder time during pregnancy, deliver, and recovery. So get off your fat pregnant ass and work out. I've hired a personal trainer. It's important to me that I get back to normal as soon as possible post partum, and there's no better time to get started than right now.

Time for daddy to "Man up!"...
This one is specifically for Brian. And he's been doing a stellar job of manning up to the task. Don't expect your man to just know what he's supposed to do. You need to tell him. No hints, either. Just flat out have the discussion. I needed Brian to show me that he's going to improve in certain areas to help ease my mind that I won't be burdened with two kids when the baby arrives. Picking up after himself, being more proactive about the cat box, dishes, house maintenance, trash, and laundry are all things that help put my mind at ease and show me that I have a partner in all this, and won't be the one doing all the work. I told him, and he's doing it. End of story. You're dealing with enough during pregnancy, the last thing you need is to be nagging your man, too.

That was a lot of info, and I've only shown you the tip of the iceberg here. But I hope that this piece of honest information will help prepare others for the things that most people don't tell you about being pregnant. And if nothing else, it helped me organize my thoughts and feelings as I wrote it.

Coming out!

I'm coming out of the closet today. All of our close friends and family have already been notified, so this is the last step in coming out of denial. Our lives are about to change completely. No longer will we be able to go out whenever we want, get up whenever we want, or take mini vacations on a whim. Our friends will think twice before inviting us over, they'll also think twice before coming to our house. Yes, we are going to become parents. To a baby boy, to be precise, who will enter the world outside of his mother on or around July 4th, 2007.

Happy Hogmanany, Y'all!

New Year's eve was a total blast. Brian and I, and a group of our bestest friends and family headed down to Donn's Depot where we received stellar service, were thoroughly entertained, and were surrounded by many of the people we love. Those of you that couldn't make it (you know who you are), we REALLY missed you!
New Year's Day was spent recouperating and relaxing. I made breakfast tacos for all of our guests, and Jen and Ethan came over. The rest of the day was spent shopping, eating, and veging in front of the telly with my extremely hot hubby :-)

This year's gonna rock!

Congratulations are in order to Renee and Sonny! I'm so happy for you both!

Time for a little reflection

Today is my favourite day of the year. The last day of the current year. In Scotland there is a tradition where at the stroke of midnight you leave the house through the back door, which symbolizes taking out the old year, and enter through the front door, which symbolizes bringing in the new year. If you want to be really fancy, you leave a bucket filled with coal outside the front door, and each guest brings a lump of coal in with them, which symbolizes prosperity for the new year. Since coal is in short supply, it's been replaced with shortbread. You can buy shortbread at World Market. Walkers is the best. Also, it is considered especially lucky if a tall, dark, and handsome man is the first to enter your house after the new year is rung in.
So that's a little nugget of worldly trivia with which to impress your drunken friends.

My 2006 New Year's resolutions were as follows:

- boldly go where I have never gone before (mentally, emotionally, and physically) ;-)
- sing every day
- continue learning Spanish
- be a wonderful wife to Brian
- become a mother ;-)

SO how did I do?
boldly go where I have never gone before:
Well, this one's ambiguous, but I did challenge myself mentally last year by learning a new language, and taking on additional projects at work that I had no experience with. I'm claiming complete success here. Emotionally, I've grown as a person. I've learned to let go of things that aren't important, and learned to recognize feelings that I had traditionally supressed because I thought they made me weak, and embraced them instead, let myself feel them, process them, and move on from them. I feel great about that. Physically, I have challenged myself by committing to going to the gym and lifting weights. I've kept this up for more than a year now, and while I'm no American Gladiator, I was able to drop several percent in body fat and gain lean muscle, and maintain a healthy weight. My running has suffered a bit this year, though. I have'nt done many races, and I'm not training for anything. I have only ran for fitness/weight maintenance this year, and I'm ok with that.

sing every day:
That's easy. I did. In the car, in the shower, and to the cat, who loves when I sing to her and follows me around, climbing on things to try and reach me and put her little kitty paws around my neck and hug me and chew my hair. The downside of this is if I don't let her up, she bites my feet.

continue learning Spanish:
I failed here. I took spanish one, then I stopped. I will try again this year.

be a wonderful wife to Brian:
Brian would be a better judge than me as to whether I accomplished this goal. But I take comfort in the fact that I am the best wife he's ever had ;-) All kidding aside, I do feel like things between us are as great today as they were when we first met. I'm still crazy about him and have enjoyed the last 6 months of being Mrs. Brian Bauman.

become a mother:
Well, obviously I didn't accomplish this one this year. So I'll roll this one over into 2007.

So I've had some successes and some failures, but in all I'm pretty happy with 2006. I got married to the love of my life, surrounded by my best friends and family. I've lost family members, and deepened relationships with friends and other family members. I've gained a whole new family. I've fulfilled my dream of going to Asia. I've gotten over some disappointments with what I hope was a little grace. Now I'm looking forward to all the challenges that 2007 brings. And I know for sure that this coming year is going to be the biggest challenge of my life. So here's what I'm hoping to accomplish in 2007 (in no particular order):

Buy a new house
Become a mother
Maintain a healthy weight
Continue to go to the gym regularly
Continue to run
Learn to be more paitent (a major challenge)
Pick up where I left off on Spanish
Paint more (and perhaps paint for my friends, specifically, Tara)
Focus on the positive and take action to destroy the negative (when appropriate)
Allocate time to hanging out with friends
Balance work and life appropriately

Wish me luck!

This evening I plan to park myself in front of the web cam for a while and watch the festivities at Aunt Glenys and Uncle Terry's house in England as the Burton clan celebrates ringing in the new year. Listen to Big Ben chime 12, and hopefully sing Auld Lang Syne with them, before heading downtown to celebrate the new year in style with a big group of close friends and family.

I LOVE NEW YEAR'S EVE!

Happy Hogmanay everyone!

Xmas

Xmas was fun, as always, Brian got me the most thoughtful gifts and even one big item from my list -- a pink iPod Nano! I just loaded it up with all my favourite bands and am now going to test it out with a work out at the gym.

This year we did the usual Bauman christmas rituals, such as decorating the tree, xmas eve dinner with the Rambins, and opening presents on xmas eve. But we added a new tradition this year, just me and Brian. While I'm thankful to be included in the Bauman traditions, my family tradition is that we don't open gifts until xmas day, and it just doesn't feel right to me to open everything on xmas eve, so Brian and I reserved some gifts for xmas morning and opened them in private. Another new development this year, usually we open my parents gifts early because we have to go to Houston for xmas, but we took them with us this year, and I got an international calling plan on my mobile phone especially so that I could call my parents from anywhere. At 2:30am on xmas morning we called my parents and opened gifts over the phone. I was so happy to talk to them on xmas day for a change. Next year will be extra special because they are spending xmas with us! For once, I'm actually excited about xmas. The bad thing is that it's a whole year away!

New year's is just around the corner. It's my favourite holiday. To me it symbolizes new beginnings, self improvement, and hope for the future. I like to reflect on the past year, and this year has been the best one of my life so far. It seems hard to top the events of this past year, but I have a feeling that next year will be even better.

My extended family...

I'm heading to Houston to spend xmas with my new family. This is my first xmas as a full member of the Bauman family, although in past years the family has always gone far out of their way to make me feel included. As I head out, I just want to let all of my English family know that I miss you terribly and wish we could be together for the holidays.

Mum and Dad, I'll call you on xmas eve or xmas day! (P.S. The best present ever would be if you moved here *hint *hint)

Aunty Glenys and Uncle Terry, I wish we could join your for your New Year's Party. I'll be calling you at midnight to hear Big Ben chime and listen to you all sing me a drunken rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

Daz and Mel, it was so great to talk to you yesterday, sorry it was brief, I will talk to you again before New Years (P.S. The info I told you yesterday is not public, so mum's the word ;-)) Give my love to Louise!

And for my Austin family, you know who you are... Though I don't get to spend xmas with you, you guys make every day a holiday {{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Much love and happiness to all for the holidays (even you, Wassim ;-))

Shoes really do motivate a person

I've been less lazy this week. I ran yesterday with Brian, then today I did 30 mins on the treadmill at the gym, and weights. Last week I said I would buy shoes if I ran twice (I think), and I actually only ran once, though in my defense I did go to the gym several times and use the cross trainer, so that should count. Anyway, I bought two pairs of totally cute shoes from Stein Mart. They're closing their shoe dept so everything is on sale. I view today's and yesterday's efforts in exercising as paying off my shoe credit, since technically I didn't deserve the shoes when I bought them. So nobody can say my shoe purchase wasn't legitimate :-)

In other news, Festivus was a huge success. The festivus pole had a new addition this year. A red light. It was warranted after last year's display of lude poses with the festivus pole. This year, two new feats of strength were added entitled penis envy, and sumo sammi, and of course, the traditional airing of grievances was done by all. Pictures from the Festivus Spectaculous can be viewed here. A big thanks to Mike and Tara for hosting. And mum, everyone loved the trifle -- I added Bailey's as suggested.

Great weekend

I had a really relaxing weekend. Nothing was expected of me. I didn't have to DO anything, and I spent most of it with my best friends. I love weekends like that.

Brian and Mike went to College Station to do a race car driving class on an actual track. They had a blast. An instructor rides in the car with each driver and gives advice on taking turns and driving the course. Brian did so well that next time he goes, he's moving up into the next rank of drivers!

Way to go Brian!

In other news, Christmas sucks! I hate the crowds at the malls and I hate the obligation you feel to buy gifts for people, and the awkwardness you feel when you don't get someone a gift, but they get you something. I hate the indecision when you find something you think worthy of giving, but then you question whether that person needs it, already has it, or would enjoy/appreciate it. Or if it's just another one of those "oh... er... how thoughtful... a christmas sweater" type gifts. I'm not a total grinch, though. I do love to give gifts when I have the perfect gift to give. It's just the getting there that pisses me off to no end.

Can we just skip christmas this year?

I've been bitten!

By the Lazy Bug!

Since returning from our honeymoon where we did no running whatsoever (though in my defense we walked a LOT), I have ran a grand total of 4 times. In a month! I have been going to the gym very regularly, and I do weights and 45 mins of cross trainer, but it's not the same. I just can't motivate myself to go out and run. I especially can't motivate myself to go and run by myself. I think it's the cold weather. And I used to love running in the cold weather.

I need to make a deal with myself to try harder. Maybe a reward system! So if I run twice this week, then I can buy a new pair of shoes. Yea, that'll help!

Honeymoon pics are here!

Click on an album below to see the highlights from our trip:

Thailand

Singapore

Bali

Hong Kong

Secret revealed

Ok... so I've had some people bugging me about the secrets I've been keeping. One has now been revealed. And most people already know this, but if you don't, it's that Tiffeni and Brett are now engaged.

So congratulations to them both!

Thanksgiving

This year was a very special thanksgiving for the Bauman family for several reasons. Most importantly, Kevin and Darice flew in from Indiana, and Brian got to spend much needed time with his brother. Everyone came to our house for a fabulous thanksgiving feast complete with my Rosemary Guinness turkey with sage and apple stuffing, yorkshire puddings, garlic and blue cheese mashed potatoes, among many other wonderful side dishes. Jen and Ethan joined us, as is the tradition. And an intersting announcement called for much celebration in the Bauman household ;-)

I'm on an old lady schedule.

I mean it. I pass out in front of the tv by 9:30, and I'm wide awake at 5:30. On the way to Asia, I didn't have this kind of problem adjusting to the many time zones we crossed. We even lost an entire day because of the date line, but I functioned just fine when we were there. Coming back, though, we arrived in LA BEFORE we had left Hong Kong. And I just can't get my internal clock to understand that I don't want to be awake at 5:30am.
The cats don't seem to mind. In fact, since we've been back they've been within 2 feet or less of me at all times. I guess they missed their mummy. Awh!
This morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn, did some work, then went to the gym with Barbie. Imagine Barbie getting up and working out at 7:30?? Who is she, and what has she done with my best friend? I supsect alien abduction. If she stops smoking, I'll know for sure ;-)

I swear I'll put pictures from our honeymoon up soon. I'm just too damn lazy at the moment, and as always, work is consuming all of my time. Things ran very smoothly while I was gone, though. Thankfully. And all because of my awesome team. I am very lucky to have them. I spent most of my day today recording speaker notes for a bunch of slide presentations that will go on the web. It's a good thing that the recording software lets you alter the pitch of your voice. I had no idea how much like a 12 year old I sounded. Ack!

Keeper of Secrets

I'm keeping 2 secrets right now. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! You may think you know what they are, but you don't.

Hello from Hong Kong

Well, we're on the last leg of our trip now. We've seen some amazing things, eaten lots of weird food, which we've really enjoyed, and have soaked up some Asian culture. We're now in Hong Kong. Today we took a tour of the city, which took us up Victoria Peak for an amazing view of Hong Kong from above, then to stanly market for some shopping, and to the aberdeen floating community where we took a water taxi around to get a look at all the people living on boats and working the floating market.

Bali was beautiful and a real eye opener as far as the culture goes. We took two days worth of tours, including a trek through the rice terraces, which was wonderful. Our guide showed us all the different types of rice, and picked fruit from the trees for us to try. There's a fruit here that I really like, the Dragon Fruit, which I've never seen before and I love it. In Bali, I also tried the Durain fruit, which we saw on one of the discovery channel shows and is the smelliest fruit in the world. It smells like hell but tastes like heaven, apparently, and they were not kidding. It did smell really bad, but I liked the taste. The only problem is that you burp it for hours afterwards and we all stunk up the car ;-)
The houses in Bali are really weird, too. I'll explain more later, but bascially, they are pretty much out in the open and only the beds are covered, and the kitchen. No privacy, whatsoever. It makes you realize how spoiled you really are when you see cultures like this.

So only one full day to go now, and then we'll be on our way home. We leave at 1:30pm on thursday, and arrive at 9:30am the same day in LA, so we're going back in time ;-). Maybe this is the secret to staying young?

Anyway, we're happy that we got to take this amazing trip, and we have lots of stories to tell and pictures to show, which we may bore you with whenever you come for a visit, but we are both very excited to come home and resume our normal lives. We miss our cats and friends, and we miss hanging out on the couch in the evenings. So we hope to see all our Austin friends this coming weekend so that we can feel back to normal.

I haven't missed work one bit ;-)(sorry guys)

(Hi Wassim - We're thinking about you slaving away while we're out here NOT thinking about PDE).

Getting old(er) is a bitch!

Not only does getting older bring you more to shave, but it also brings a variety of physical ailments that let you know that while you might have the maturity of a 15 year old, your body is wearing down. It sucks because when you're in your 20's, and somewhere near your physical peak, you lack the experience that you gain in your 30's to appreciate it. By the time you get into your 30's you're already struggling with gravity and those extra few lbs a year that creep onto your ass. Before you know it, you start looking up things on Web MD to find out what your latest sucky symptom is a sign of, and how to aleiviate it.
My particular problem today is back ache. And I'm not talking a slight dull pain that hurts when I walk. No, this one hurts when I sit. That's going to make the plane ride fun :-(
I'm not one to run to the doctor at the first sign of a sniffle, but yesterday, after about 2 hours in my office chair I couldn't handle the pain anymore and went to the doctor. She hooked me up with some vicodin and some muscle relaxers. I had THE best nights sleep EVER last night. I slept from 10pm to 8am, all the way through. Not even getting up to pee several times (another thing that age brings you).
Today, my back hurts still, and I'm hoping that resting will make it go away for the trip tomorrow. But if it doesn't, then I'll take a vicodin and pass out on the plane.

My timing on injuring myself is impeccable.

Ouch!!!

Today is my second day of pain! Damn you, Larry, and your correct form for squats! Yesterday I was rather uncomfortable when getting up after sitting for a while, and of course getting in and out of the car. Going down the stairs was also a challenge. Today, it's twice as bad. Today my legs feel *worse* than they did after all of the marathons I've done. Needless to say I skipped the gym yesterday, and I'm skipping again today. I'll go tomorrow when I might be back to yesterday's level of pain. Oh how I long for yesterday's level of pain!

We went to a new bar last night in Pflugerville. Can't remember the name of it, but we had fun. Andi, Barbie, Scott, Michelle, Renee, Sonny, Kitty, Nick were all there. There was a duo playing. Not particularly good. We're all hoping that Andi gets gigs there. It was a cool place and I wouldn't mind going there to see her play.

In other news, work's calming down. We've shipped the final big docs to translation and are now working on the minor details. We shipped on time, though, which nobody thought was possible. So big pat on the back to my entire team who are fricking awesome! And now I have only 2 work days left before it's HONEYMOON TIME! wooohooooooo! Good timing too. I hate to say it, but I did plan my holiday around the release schedule at work, which is majorly nerdy of me, but it is in keeping with my life goal, which is to have a happy and stress-free life.

This weekend will be all about preparing for the trip. Making lists, buying things we'll need, like... um... new shoes... no wait... I can get them cheaper over there. Ok, like... new... well crap! I don't have any excuse to spend my weekend shopping. The only thing we need, really, is a new suitcase for Brian. He borrowed one from the 70's from his parents for our Dominican Republic trip, and let me tell you, that thing is UUUUGLY. It's also not very easy to wheel around on account of it not having wheels ;-)

I do have a nice long run planned for Sunday with Andi. Let's hope that the muscle soreness goes away so I can enjoy it!

Leg work with Larry

So I was at the gym yesterday, just trying to get through my weights work out as fast as possible. I was almost done and was on the leg press machine when this guy in a weight belt came over and said "can I give you a tip?". I'm not one to refuse helpful hints so of course I welcomed the information. So this guy repositions me on the machine and makes me do 10 reps. Yea, that's more difficult. I'm gonna feel this tomorrow. So then this guy, who then introduces himself as Larry, offered to show me some other exercises that would maximize my limited time at the gym and help me get the sculpted ass that all women want. How can I refuse that??

So Larry takes me over to the squat machine. The one where you lift the dumb bell but it's on a track, so you can't drop it or get stuck under it. And he shows me the right way to use it. Positioning me just so, and boy! did I feel it! Then he showed me an exercise for my calfs, and then how to use the leg press machine properly, and then an exercise on the ball that is damn near impossible, that he made look super easy. Oh, and then that awful torture machine that does the hip abductors. Yea. I'd been doing that wrong this whole time. And 5 minutes doing those machines the right way is like spending 30 minutes doing it the way I had been!

So 30 minutes later, I was sweating like a hog, and had a fabulous work out with some random guy at the gym who used to be a personal trainer. It turns out he works for IBM now. Small world. Larry offered to show me any machine I liked whenever I was at the gym. How lucky is that? people pay lots of money for that kind of help at the gym!

So I know you're thinking that this guy was probably trying to get into my pants. That's the first thing Brian thought, too ;-) but actually he's married and mentioned his wife and kid on numerous occasions during our workout. He was genuinely just helping me because he was a nice person. How refreshing is that?

Party like a rock star!

Jeezus! I've been eating like crap over the last couple of days. I feel the need to confess all the bad food I've eaten, or booze I've drank. I'm embarassed, but I feel like if I confess, I can start today with a clean slate. On Thursday I ate a Wendy's chicken sandwich, fries, and a 1/4 of a vanilla frosty. And I had 2 glasses of wine. On Friday, I ate a molten chocolate lava cake and vanilla ice cream for dinner. On Saturday I ate a fried egg sandwich at Waterloo and on Saturday night I had vietnamese noodles, 1 wine, 2 beers, 2 cosmopolitans, and 1 dirty martini, followed by a slice of Roppolo's pizza at 1:30 in the morning, and THEN fries from Whataburger on the way home. I obviously need to go to the gym today!
Brian's in Houston this weekend, and I spent all day saturday with friends. I had a great day. It included a huge amount of greasy food, booze, and shopping. What more could a girl want? Fabulous ass jeans! that's what. I bought a pair of jeans from Buckle. There is nothing more satisfying than a pair of jeans that make a woman actually like her booty.

Pfft! I knew that!

So now I can tell people that my singing in the car is just my way of expressing how intelligent I am....

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

7 miles of fun

My run on Sunday was awesome. Andi and I did a 7 mile loop and it seemed quite effortless. When we were done, we both felt like we hadn't ran 7 miles. During our runs, we solve the world's problems. At least those problems in our world. Ok, maybe not solve them. But definately share them and the old saying "a problem shared is a problem halved" really seems to hold true. I always feel lighter after a good run. In both senses ;-)

I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel at work now. And only 2 weeks until we leave for our honeymoon. A few days ago, the field guide for my new Nikon arrived. It's extremely helpful. I feel all the stuff I learned about photography so many years ago (thank you, Mark) flooding back when I read it. And today my new Nikon 70-300mm lens arrived! I've read great reviews about the lens, and the only negative is that it searches for a while in low light. Easily remedied by flipping it to manual control and focusing yourself.

It's not like me to be proactive and a planner when I take a trip. I usually like to just figure it out as I go, so it might suprise people to learn that for this trip I put together what is now a 12 page document, complete with all the embassy information in each country we will visit, and things to do based on my internet research on frommers.com, fodors.com, and lonelyplanet.com, and of course suggestions from people who've been there. The reason I'm putting so much effort into it is because I don't want to waste a moment of our time their trying to figure out how to get around or where to go, or what to do. One of the things I'm most excited about is the food. I love Asian food. At least America's rendition of it. I can't wait to sample the real thing, though.

14 days and counting down.....

White and Nerdy

Weird Al's version of Camillionaire's "Riding" is so funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw

Random thoughts

Only 3 weeks until we go on our trip. In preparation, we ordered me a wedding ring. Just a plain band so that I don't have sparkly, come mug me and cut my finger off written on my forehead during our travels. It arrived yesterday and I like it a lot. I also ordered a new zoom lens for our new digital Nikon, which is totally badass, by the way! I ordered a 70-300mm Nikkor lens from Amazon.com. It got great reviews and I can't wait to try it out.
I used the camera and the 18-55mm that came with the camera last weekend when we went wake boarding. The autofocus is extremely fast! I got some awesome shots of Mike doing jumps at 2 frames per second! you do not miss a thing with this camera! Speaking of wakeboarding, I managed to face plant twice. The first one knocked the snot out of me and pulled me right out of my bindings. We captured some good footage of Brian so that we can see what he needs to change to make it all the way across the wake.
This weekend I finished up the floor tiling project in the upstairs loft closet. It looks a million times better and smells better, too.

This weekend has been full of friends, as always. Friday we did happy hour at Mesa Rosa, followed by Donn's Depot. Brian was pretty wasted from the two massive 'rita's at happy hour, which made for a very entertaining time. Saturday night we tried a new place for burgers - Casino El Camino on 6th. Don't recommend the burgers, but it's definately an interesting place for people watching. On Sunday we grilled with friends.

Brian's been playing a lot of football (soccer to you yankies). He's playing on 3 different teams. 2 indoor teams and one regular. Tara and I went to watch 2 of his indoor games on Sunday night.

I'm considering going back to martial arts and learning an internal form - Tai Chi. I noticed during my run on Sunday morning that Andi is way more flexible than me and I used to be way more flexible than I am now when I was going to Kung Fu. It's not good to be so stiff. So after we get back from our honeymoon, I plan to check out my old school's (Shaolin Do) Tai Chi program. I think it will also be good for me mentally as well as physically.

As for running, I've done a couple of 7 mile runs. I have absolutely no desire to run a marathon this year. I might consider the half marathon, though, because I love training for a half and there are some great races for that distance in Austin.

Tonight I have a hot date with Barbie to go see the new Jackass movie. I imagine we're going to be completely grossed out!

Tomorrow I'm volunteering at Goodwill, where I will be dismantling computers and salvaging parts. Sounds like a nerdy and fun time!

Thailand

Well, we met with our wonderful travel agent today to discuss options for our honeymoon in the wake of the much hyped-up coup in Thailand. It seems that things returned to normal within hours of the military taking over, and tourists and locals alike are unconcerned. We weighed our options and have decided to continue with our honeymoon as planned. Which makes me extremely happy because the main reason for us choosing this intinerary was because of my fascination with Thailand.
So our honeymoon pictures might have tanks in them, and that's kinda cool. I've read reports that the military were very friendly to tourists and would pose for pictures, so I hope to get some good photo opportunities.

Mum and Dad, I know you're probably concerned for our safety, and rest assured that we will take any and all measures to ensure we don't get into any trouble or bad situations. Plus, you know my big strong hubby will protect me :-) Here are a few links to read that might put your mind at ease:
http://www.visiting-asia.com/asia/thailand/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293920-i5037-k798193-l4884159-Phuket.html#4884159

So YIPEEEE! We're back on!

In other news, work is still stressing me out, and one very minor health issue has arisen, but a blissful home life with the cats and hubby help keep my stress level manageable.

Amanda out.

HoneyDoom?

Brian and I are so excited about our upcoming honeymoon to Southeast Asia. However, recent developments have thrown a bit of a spanner in the works. Due to the coup in Thialand, and specifically Bangkok, which is to be our first city to visit, we might have to consider other options. Our travel agent is investigating our options now. So of course, we're still going on our trip, we just might have a different city than Bangkok on the itinerary. Travel advisories from the embassies are urging people to reconsider their travel plans, but I've been reading many news articles and tourist reports that say otherwise.
So I guess we'll wait for a few more weeks and see how this thing shakes out. I won't be too mortified if we have to spend 3 extra days in Bali, though :-)

Remembering

You never recover from the loss of a loved one. Even a pet. Things that happen around you remind you of them. For me, Onyx serves as a constant reminder of my beloved Ember. Every day I see her display a mannerism that is like Ember's and for a split second I see him. It makes me smile because he's still alive in my heart. There are other times, though, when the memory makes me cry. Like today. A friend's precious dog just lost the fight for life and she had to make an awful decision to let go. And as I followed the progress and hoped for good news, I relived every moment of Ember's last few days. And when I read the news that her sweet doggie had gone, I became a bawling, snot-covered, tear-stained mess. Crying both for her, because I know how she must be feeling, and for me because the memory is still so fresh in my mind, even after almost 2 years.
Just the other day, I was talking to my mum about pets and she still hasn't recovered from Tootsie, our first cat that we got when I was 5. Tootsie died when I was 23.
Even after 2 years, I stil can't talk about my Ember without coming dangerously close to crying. Even when I'm recalling great memories.
I sometimes wonder if it's worth opening your heart to a pet when I think about all the sadness when you lose them, but then I remeber all the joy Ember gave me, and all the joy I get from kissing the top of the sweet kitty heads and rubbing those soft kitty bellies of Nikki and Onyx every day, and I realize it's more than worth it.

Going back to my roots....

Literally. Last night I changed my hair colour from it's usual red to a brown very close to my natural colour. Semi-permanently, of course. Red is so yesterday.

In other news, I think I'm developing an ulcer. I've been pushed over the edge of my stress tolerance over the last couple of days, to the point where I feel physically sick. I am now unable to politely simmer inside while outwardly maintaining an ever so nice and patient facade, which is so very English. No, instead I'm given to short outburts of indignation, incredulousness, and then physical fury. I have become a New Yorker.

My new mantra: "Seriously! What the fuck???"

Current mood: PISSED OFF

The weeks are just flying!

It's been a rough week at work. Someone who I need to be able to rely on has let me down again. I'm not surprised, though. Just disappointed. I find myself constantly having to figure out a way out of a resource hole because the project isn't appropriately funded. It's testing my patience and my problem solving skills. Fortunately, there are some members of my team that I can always count on and that's what keeps me going to work every day :-) Anyway, enough work drivel! What have I been doing with myself over the last week or so?
Last weekend was Labour Day weekend and we had Friday and Monday off, which was much needed and ever so nice! We threw a party on Friday night for Jen, who turned 30 and fabulous! We had so much fun! we grilled fajitas, drank magaritas, and opened my special brew of Mamajuana (it's a drink from the Dominican Republic) that I've been tweaking over the last 3 months. It was perfect. Tasted exactly like we remembered it from the D.R. And despite the fact that most attendees at the party were in their 30's or approaching, we still managed to not go to bed until 4am!
Saturday was spent recovering from the night before. Not that I was majorly hung over, but I didn't get much sleep and my stomach was a bit dodgy the next day. Brian headed over to Terri and Joe's for a BBQ while I laid on the couch recovering. I did start to feel better and completely lazy around 6pm so I went for a run. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't think it was such a good idea! Saturday night, my wonderful husband took me out for a date. Dinner and a movie. Dinner was at some Mexican restaurant on I35 I've been wanting to try, then we saw the movie "Crank". It didn't have much of a plot, and I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, but Jason Statham is hot, and there is a lot of gratuitous naked arse, and if there's one thing Jason is good for, it's a nice bum shot. Ok, so I have a crush on him. What's not to like? he's got a smokin' body, an awesome ass, and an English accent [droooooooool]. So thank you, Brian, for indulging my silly crush :-)
Since this was such a long weekend and we were in town, I felt I couldn't let an opportunity for DIY to slip by, so Brian and I replaced the flooring in the downstairs and one upstairs bathroom on Sunday and Monday. We had one small misshap when we were tiling around the toilet and Brian accidentally tried to give me a nose job with his foot! no real damage, just a little painful for a few days, and I think he actually straightened my nose out. There used to be a bump on the right side that seems to have disappeared since the incident. The bathrooms look so much better! We have one more bathroom and a small closet to do and we'll be done with our floor replacement project.
Monday evening was spent with friends in the traditional holiday weekend manner, grilling and stuffing our faces.
In other news, our new camera should have been shipped today. Brian got a great deal on it and almost $100 off the price because we used a coupon and credit card points. I'm now reading John Hedgcoe's book of photography to brush up on my mad photography skillz in preparation for our amazing honeymoon.
Even though this has been a short week at work, I'm so happy that it's friday. Today I met with Danna over lunch and we went for pedicures. My toenails look so pretty with the pink polish and little white daisies! Very much needed girly time. Now if only I could find a massage therapist to work this burning knot out of my shoulder!