Cinco de Mayo, etc.

The weekend was action packed! For you Brits reading this, Cinco de Mayo -- meaning 5th of may, is a Mexican holiday. It seems this weekend was the weekend that everybody chose to celebrate something. We had to skip a few parties but did attend several, which were awesome! Being the only sober (or at least non-drinking) person in a room is interesting. In the beginning of this pregnancy, I granted all of my friends ONE uninvited stomach groping opportunity. Several people cashed in their chips this weekend, and some people were even granted additional future opportunities because I was feeling charitable at the time. It's actually not as bad as I anticipated since I actually know the people doing the stomach groping. But strangers beware, you will get the full force of my indignation.

Speaking of Mexico, my parents are gonna be there tomorrow for a couple of weeks in celebration of my Dad's birthday and also his retirement! So congratulations, Dad, on reaching this milestone in life :-) We wish we could join you in Mexico, and we hope you have a wonderful holiday!

In addition to partying this weekend, we also did some redecorating. The Kid's room is now no longer girly pink, but is a rather more manly shade of blue. Since nobody will agree to let me paint while pregnant (though I think it's a load of crap), Brian had to paint the room himself. I felt awful and guilty the whole time because I know how much he hates to do it. And it damn near killed me to not be able to pick up a roller and help out. I actually love to paint. I did tape off all the baseboards, windows, and ceiling for him, though, which made the job much easier.

Brian put the crib together on Saturday morning and it is beautiful -- a big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Bauman for hooking The Kid up with such a sweet bed. Sadly, in our eagerness to see the crib in its assembled glory, we neglected to measure the doorway to The Kid's room, and the crib wouldn't fit through the door! After partially disassembling it, we got it into the room and it looks wonderful! this is one lucky kid.

As far as pregnancy ailments, well now I've developed some weird pain in the balls of my feet. It's most pronounced at night when I get up to pee, and in the morning. It feels like my bones are bruised. I read that it could be due to a change in posture (due to pregnancy, obviously), which causes an uneven distribution of weight on the metatarsals. It makes sense I suppose, and the only way to relieve it is to get more supportive shoes. I guess my Crocs aren't doing a good job of being supportive, though they are roomy.

Today is our first childbirth class where we learn all the gory details about childbirth. The class is for 3 hours and we have one every Monday for 3 weeks. I'm hoping that the time spent in this class will actually be LONGER than the time spent in labour. Wishful thinking, I suppose. I am not very enthusiastic about taking this class. Sometimes it's better to just not know and go with the flow, than to be too informed. I think that your body will know what to do when the time comes, and if not, some bossy nurse is gonna tell you what to do. Plus I'm planning on getting drugs so hopefully I won't feel anything. Like I've said before, I could go my whole life and never experience the "miracle" of childbirth and be perfectly happy.

Tomorrow is Baby Care Basics. Hopefully they will teach me how to not vomit while changing a nappy (diaper to you yanks), and how to not put on his clothes backwards - yes I've done this to poor Ethan in his first few months of life.

More Idol Ramblings

I was not disappointed by the Bon Jovi American Idol performances. I generally don't like Phil, but his performance of Young Guns was awesome! By far the best male performance of the night. He so didn't deserve to be voted off. I thought Jordin's rendition of Livin' on a Prayer was rather screechy and she fell flat on the pitch change half way through, though I loved her big hair. I liked LaKisha's performance and thought she did it major justice, but again, blown out of the water by Melinda, who completely ROCKED OUT Tina Turner style. LOVE HER! As a Bon Jovi purist, I had mixed feelings about Blake. But as a Blake fan, I liked it. Very original. I had hoped that Blake would do Dead or Alive, but Chris did it, and while it didn't suck, and I was impressed that he didn't make it too "boy bandy", I thought it was a little too soft. Of the choices left, Chris definitely deserved to go home.

Regarding Bon Jovi's performance - while I embrace any chance to see them perform, and I did enjoy it, I was slightly disappointed that they didn't do a more upbeat song. It was kind of the Diet Coke of Bon Jovi performances. Bon Jovi Lite. But nontheless, I am still a true fan and always will be. He can do no wrong.

My Idol on Idol!

OMG! Jon Bon Jovi on American Idol??? I've died and gone to heaven!

I missed last night's show because I was out at the Melting Pot with the girls, but rest assured I have it on the DVR and will be glued to it the moment I get home this evening.

I first fell in love with Bon Jovi back in the late 80's after hearing the song Runnaway. I have bought every album they've made since then. I've been to many of their concerts, including one last year in Houston, I still have them in my CD changer in the car, and I rock out to them at the gym 4 times a week on my iPOD. No, I'm not stuck in the 80's (though I do sometimes miss my big hair). Bon Jovi has done a fantastic job of reinventing themselves, they're like the Madonna of rock. Jon Bon Jovi has been voted sexiest man alive on more than one occasion, and in my opinion, he is second only to my husband (and maybe tied with Will Smith) ;-).

And tonight I get to watch as my favorite American Idol contestants pay tribute to Bon Jovi's work with a full hour of Bon Jovi songs. I hope I'm not disappointed by the performances. Jon's going to be a hard act to follow. I have high, high hopes for Melinda.

OMG! I can barely wait to get home to watch now!

Me = Excited. It's the little things in life that make me happy.

Edema - Just a fancy word for "cankles"

So with only 8 weeks to go until The Kid graces us with his cone-headed, wrinkly presence, I thought I'd update you all on my latest pregnancy related ailments and little "challenges".

I've been suffering with edema lately. To put that in lamens terms, it's when your body parts, in my case hands, feet, and ankles, swell up. I am finding that if I spend more than a couple of hours on my feet, my ankles completely disappear and I appear to have a calf that extends down to my foot. Commonly referred to as "cankles". Very unsightly.

In addition to the cankles, my toes are so swollen that they have lost the ability to bend and resemble those little mini sausages you get in a can of beenie weenies. Lovely. I can't fit into any of my totally cute sandals now. Thank the makers of Crocs for the best flip-flops ever! Every pregnant woman needs a pair of crocs. I know they're ugly, but get over yourself and buy some.

When we were in Chicago, I got a weird swelling - it was behind both my knees. Gross! It has only happened once since then, and I can attribute it to my office chair.

My fingers are nice and fat when I wake up in the mornings, too. They tend to decrease in size as the day goes on and I drink lots of water. My wedding ring sure does make a lovely dent in my sausage fingers, though. At least when I have to take it off I won't have to endure the evil stares of the judgemental old ladies at the grocery checkout who notice the absence of a ring and assume you're an unwed mother and doomed to hell! no. I have my wedding ring indentation that clearly tells them that I'm no sinner ;-)

A swift kick in the ribs, anyone?? nobody can ever prepare you for when you're sitting at dinner with your friends, and suddenly, seemingly for no good reason, someone kicks you right in your 3rd rib on the left. I'm not talking a little tap here. I mean the kind that causes you to jump up, swear, and look for the nearest person to retaliate on. Sadly, the person who did it is INSIDE you. In that creepy "The call is coming from inside the house" scary movie kind of way!

Due to the swelling, I drink a lot of water. I'm talking 80 0z a day or more. You can imagine how often that translates into a trip to the toilet.

A penchant for pie - it's not a craving, but more of a preference for pie over anything else that might be available for me to eat. So the lesson here is to NOT have pie in the house. On Saturday morning, I ate blackberry pie and ice cream for breakfast! And I didn't even feel guilty one bit.

I still can't claim to have had any cravings. Brian is feeling a little disappointed because he feels he hasn't been able to come to my rescue as my knight in shining armour, bearing the very thing that I'm craving, at ridiculous hours of the night. I'm still convinced that these stories you hear about women sending their men out in the middle of the night for pickles and ice cream are merely urban legend.

And finally - this isn't really an ailment, but just a sign that I'm getting incredibly bored with being pregnant - I'm very tired of strangers asking me when my baby's due, what it is, and how I feel. I'm thinking of printing up a card to hand out that says:

Thank you for your kind inquiry. I hope this card will satisfy your curiosity:

• It's due on July 4th
• We're hoping it's human
• I'm fine, but my feet are swollen and I need to pee, so much as I'd LOVE to regale you with the details of my pregnancy, I must dash!

Nursery decorating and 1st birthday parties

I'm completely new to the concept of decorating a nursery. Who is it really for, anyway? the kid isn't ever going to remember that you got him the cute crib set with the dinosaurs or race cars on it. He's very likely to poop, puke, and pee all over what you get him anyway. I can only conclude that nursery decorating is for the parents. By the time the kid's old enough to recongize what the hell we've done to his room, the crib will be just a memory and his big-boy bedding will be in place.

So why is it so damn hard to pick a damn crib set?? why? And more to the point, why do I even care? why do I need a set??? I bet you I didn't have a cutesey crib set, complete with matching bumpers when I was a baby. And why would I even need a matching throw pillow? isn't that a suffocation hazard?

Another mystery to me. 1st birthday parties. Who's that really for? honestly. I mean does anyone remember their first birthday? no. did you have fun? probably. Would you care if you didn't get one? most likely not. It's not like the kid will remember it, and so you show him pictures of himself smothered in cake, you think he's gonna be all nostalgic, and all like "gee, you sure are the best parents ever"? No. Let's get a grip here. It's a fricking baby. A drooling, pooping, crying creature that doesn't give a crap what you put in his crib, and doesn't understand why all those people are staring at him wearing cake on his face!

My earliest memory is from about 3 years old and it's a crappy memory at that.

So after much debate with Brian over what to register for with regard to foofy crib sets, I'm taking a new approach. Get whatever you want and I will pick a wall colour that will work with it and any future soft furnishings we decide to buy. It shouldn't be this hard. In my mind, the important part comes when he's old enough to recognize and express preferences for himself.

And don't say I didn't warn you about this: If anyone buys my kid Winnie the Pooh ANYTHING, I will smile politely, thank you for it (and mean it), but it will be re-gifted to the next unfortunate and unspecting person I know who's gonna have a kid.

Goodbye old house

I have no mixed feelings about leaving our old house behind. Despite the fact that it was my first house, and the first place I really felt like I had allowed roots to grow. Brian and I share many great memories, and a few very sad ones, of that house. One of the first things I did at the new house was to unpack Ember's ashes and put them on the mantel. Not for his benefit, I don't believe in heaven and afterlife, but for mine, so I could just feel like a part of him is still with me. I miss him so much.

If there is any sadness over leaving the old house it is completely eclipsed by the joy I feel over being in the new house. Since Wednesday we've been living in the new house and getting used to all the quirks that come along with it. Adapting things to be more convenient, such as putting the lamps in the living room and bedroom on X10 switches, and relocating things when we find their current location to be awkward. There are a few things for which I need to find solutions, such as where to put our shoes when we enter the house, and where to store all of the stuff that used to be in the office closet in our old house. The office in our new house is lacking a closet.

Brian went to Houston this weekend and I spent some time hanging out at the house and putting up art work. The house looks so bright and beautiful with all the colourful paintings up. The wall colours chosen by the previous owner really compliment the paintings, too. It must have been meant to be ;-)

Brian had a fun time in Houston and took some really good pictures at the Grand Prix with the Nikon D50. Some might even be art-worthy. Meanwhile I worked on a project for our anniversary (which is coming up on May 20th!) and spent some quality time with the girls (and Ethan). I had dinner with Jen and Ethan and Barbie on friday night. Jen's got some exciting things going on in her life right now. I won't disclose it because it's up to her to do that, but suffice it to say that it's a big move, and she's super excited, and we couldn't be happier for her and Ethan.

On Saturday I found myself completely lacking in energy and it was all I could do to get off the couch and go run my errands. I seemed to pick up some energy around 2pm or so and headed off to the mall to see if I could find something cute to wear for girl's night. I did find a couple of tops and a really cute pair of pink sandals. It's surprising, but I did not own a pair of pink sandals. Shame on me! Saturday night was so much fun hanging out with the girls down town. We went to Cuba Libre for appetizers and drinks, though mine was a Shirley Temple. Delicious! Then we headed to the Key bar, and ended the night with some blueberry bread pudding at 219 West. I got home at a very respectable 1:30am. A big thanks to Jen B for planning some much needed girl time. Our lives are all so busy that we sometimes don't remember to spend time with those who are important to us, and I always say I'll try harder to make time for my friends. I really need to act on that more.

Yesterday (Sunday) Brian came back from Houston and made a final trip over to the old house to mow the yard and pick up the last load of things from the garage. He unfortunately got a little over zealous with the broom and managed to snap the wire to the garage door sensor. Consequently, we had to make another trip over there with the tools so he could fix it. I did a final walk through of the house to make sure we didn't leave anything behind, and we reprogrammed the garage door keypad to its factory setting so that the new owner can choose his own code. Then we waved goodby to our old house forever!

Thank you, America!

I have many things to blog about this week, but let's get the most important thing out of the way first. I want to thank America for doing the right thing this week. I must admit that I was confused by your willingness to keep a lesser Idol in the running, and concerned that your judgement was suffering more than a momentary lapse. But you came through, America. Sanjaya is no more! (see the results show recap here).

In hindsight, I see now that these several weeks of contraversy served to keep me glued to the TV every Tuesday and Wednesday night in anticipation of what this kid would come up with this week, and even, I dare say, a glimmer of hope that he'd redeem himself and actually measure up. I didn't get to see the shows this week due to other commitments, though it was well timed because I am not a fan of country music.

I'd also like to thank Sanjaya. Because of him, I will be getting FREE SUSHI in the not so distant future - as soon as I'm able to eat all the good stuff again and rack up a good bill ;-) And Mikey, just to show you what a good sport I am, I'm giving you a few months to build up a good buffer in your bank account. HEHEHE! Freeeeeeeee sushi!

Chicago trip report - reader's digest version

Over this past weekend we spent some quality time with the Hoffelt family in Chicago. This trip was badly timed from a move perspective, but a very welcome break from the stresses of juggling a full time job, a pregnancy, buying and moving into a new house, and selling a house.
We arrived Friday afternoon and were met by Uncle Ray, who I recognized right away becaue he looks so much like Joan. We arrived at uncle Ray's house and he gave us the grand tour. Aunt Vivian made a brief appearance while we were geeking out for a while in the basement as Ray showed us his home theatre system, complete with home automation. Then uncle Mike and Grandpa dropped by for a quick visit.
That evening we met up with Kris at Gale Street Inn for a very relaxed and delicious dinner. We loved spending time with her, the only down side was that it was too short.

On Saturday, we went out for breakfast with the whole gang and I met Aunt Pam, who had made us a beautiful fleece blanket for the baby. After Breakfast we spent some time with Uncle Mike sightseeing around Chicago and ended our sightseeing tour with a visit to the Science and Industry museum. We could have easily spent many more hours in there because it's so interesting and so much to see. I, of course, pushed every button I could find. Afterwards we all went for Chicago Pizza at Gino's East. Brian was hoping that real Chicago pizza would change my mind about pizza (while I'll eat it, it definitely is not my favourite food). Sadly, though, it didn't. I thought the crust was better than the stuff we get at home, but the actual pizza was the same as you get at Mangia's.

After pizza Pam and Mike took us to Oberweis, which is an ice cream place in Chicago. The nearest thing we have here would be Amy's. I had a snickers soft serve ice cream. Uncle Mike being the supportive uncle he is, of course, joined us as we gorged ourselves with ice cream, lest we should feel like total pigs ;-)

On Sunday we went out to get bagels for breakfast, followed by a trip to Ohaire, where Uncle Ray took us up the ops tower for a stunning panoramic view of the airport. We got to watch planes taking off and landing and all the ground operations happening, as uncle Ray explained to us what was going on. I could spend all day in the tower just watching the planes take off. It reminded me of when I was a kid and mum and dad would take me to the airport just to watch the planes take off and land. I think it also helped me with my flying issues (well, taking off issues). I hate to take off. I think it all tracks back to that bad experience I had in St. Louis on my way to England many years ago. Since then I get very nervous taking off. Seeing all the planes taking off and landing so easily put me more at ease.

After the airport I mentioned the word "pie" and like a genie granting my wish, the next thing I know we are stopping off at Baker's Square where we all got pie. I got a slice of Bavarian Blackberry pie that was probably THE BEST pie I've ever had. After pie we all veged out for a while and then Brian and I showed uncle Mike, who has a complete aversion to computers and technology, how to view our photo gallery online, and this blog - so hopefully he's reading this :-)

We went for an early dinner over at Vince's Italian restaurant, and a very pleasant surprise - another set of family memebers - Brian's second cousins, lisa, Linda, and Craig, joined us. We spent a good few hours chatting over dinner. Afterwards we headed back to Grandpa's house and he showed us old photos of the family, some dating back to 1935. We got to see Joan, Ray, and Mike's baby pictures as well as pictures of Grandpa when he was very young (about 7 years old onward). We hung around Granpa's after Mike and Pam left and chatted for a couple more hours before turning in for the night. It was time well spent with Grandpa. He has a million stories to tell!

On Monday we departed. We had a wonderful visit with the family and arrived home feeling rejeuvenated and ready to continue tackling our long list of things to do for the move.

For pictures from out trip, go here: Chicago_07
Sadly, I just realized that I neglected to take pictures of Uncle Ray and Aunt Viv!

keep on movin'

So far we've moved the contents of the garage, both bathrooms, my closet (including 3 boxes of shoes!), the guest room and closet, the office, all the chachkas and knick-knacks, the plants, and 3/4 of the kitchen, including food. I've unpacked all of the closet stuff, kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, and taken over all of my art work and staged it in the dining room to make it easy for me to select where to hang things. The new fridge arrived yesterday, too. It's a perfect match to all the other appliances. Thanks to Brian's extensive research. All this in 3 evenings :-)
I've scheduled the carpet cleaning to be done the day before the movers take our furniture over. Transferred all of the utilities over to the new place, except the cable/net/phone, which Brian is researching to see if he can get us a better deal than Time Warner. I plan to move the fish the night before the move, and the cats the morning of the move.
I still need to pack up the remaining kitchen items and of course the things in the closet I am still wearing, and move Brian's closet over.
All that will be left then is a quick cleaning of the old house and final walk-through to make sure we didn't leave anything behind.
Brian's going to Houston for the Grand Prix next weekend, so I plan to spend my 1st weekend at the new place organizing the house, hanging art, and I might even pick out a paint colour for The Kid's room and start taping off the trim.

Idol threats

So I made a bet with my friend, Mike, that if Sanjaya wins, I would treat him to a sushi lunch. If Sanjaya loses, then he will buy me a sushi lunch.

Mike is one of those mindless drones who is voting for the worst (sorry, Mike, but the truth hurts sometimes ;-))

Today he sent me this:
LOL! He so funny. He crack me up long time.

New House!

Today we signed the papers on our new house!!! Everything went very smoothly, thanks to Barbie.

After work Barbie and Scott came over to help us run a couple of loads of small stuff over to the new house. We borrowed Mike's truck and packed it up with all the things we don't want the movers to move (pretty much everything but the furniture). Barbie and I filled up my car with clothes from the closet. It's not like I'm going to need them any time soon anyway, given my current shape. Brian and Scott loaded up the truck with all the boxes and small furniture, etc.

When we got to the new house the old owner was visiting with a neighbour so we got to meet her. She is really nice. We met our neighbours on either side, and the one directly across the street and one across the street one house further down. It was like they rolled out the welcome wagon. All of our neighbours were super friendly and very sincere about welcoming us to the neighbourhood. I was very happy to meet the woman who owned our house previously because I had wanted to tell her how much I liked the colours she chose. It's always nice to hear that people like your taste.
When I went into the house, I discovered that Barbie had put a little care package in the kitchen, consisting of the necessities, like TP/Paper towels, paper plates, dish/hand soap, a sponge, and a cooler stocked with beer, water, gatorade, and snacks!! All the stuff you need, but never remember to bring. She also put a plant and some lucky bamboo in the house for a little splash of colour! That was the sweetest thing ever!

Barbie, Scott, Brian and I made short work of the first load and headed back to the old house for round 2. When we got back to the new house we ordered chinese food to be delivered and I set about unpacking my kitchen. I have all the kitchen boxes unpacked already! That's the most fun part about moving. Deciding where to put everything in the new house. Unpacking the kitchen is my favourite part! Stacy had left the house spotless, too.
When the food arrived we made a makeshift table out of the two TV tables and 4 folding chairs and set it up in the breakfast area. I found a candle in one of the boxes and we lit it for a little ambience.
In one day we have gotten so much done with the help of our friends. I would like to say a big thank you to Barbie and Scott for all of their help today, and also to Mike and Tara for loaning us their truck. We have the most amazing friends.

In other news, I guess I've been a little stressed lately. Friday night I became dizzy and saturday I spent the whole day feeling drunk. Obviously I wasn't. Mum thinks I was suffering from high blood pressure. Mine is usually low, so I imagine high blood pressure for me wouldn't be much above normal for most, but I certainly felt weird on Satuday. I tend to handle stress outwardly very well and usually appear together and calm. Inside, though I guess I am stressing quite a bit. Juggling a full time job, moving, and creating a life must have just caught up with me.
On Sunday I felt quite a bit better and today even more so. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment and a screening for gestational diabetes.

I'm shocked!

Gina??? Really, America??? really?

I voted for Melinda yesterday. I thought it was time I stopped bitching about the results and actually participated in them. Sadly, my vote didn't matter. Sanjaya looked like he wanted to sell the audience a used car last night, his performance was like open mic night at a local mental hospital. Yet somehow he was still NOT in the bottom 3.

I find myself no longer surprised by this. Sickened, but not surprised.

I'm disappointed in all the people that are voting for Sanjaya because the idiot Howard Stern said so. You people are pathetic sheep with no original thoughts. Baaaaaaaa!

I'm now suspicious that the producers of American Idol are the ones behind the "vote for the worst" web site. Afterall, it is reality TV and having a crappy and outclassed contestant consistently beat out his peers week after week does make for controversy, and thus, good reality tv.

And for all my complaining, I still watch it! Now I find myself watching partly in the hope that America will do the right thing, and partly because I'm so curious to see what this freak is gonna look like, and what pathetic excuse for singing he'll come up with each week.

What is wrong with me??? I'm just as bad as the Sanjaya-lovers.

Shame on me.

Pregnancy reprieve?

As I've mentioned in the past, one of the lovely side affects of pregnancy is the hormone-induced pizza face. I'm happy to report that today is the first day that I've been zit free since November!

This is cause for celebration.

Also, I'd heard that your hair is supposed to become thicker and fuller. Sadly, it seemed that this gift of pregnancy skipped over me, but lately --and this could be due to my shampoo/conditioner combo, but I'd like to believe the universe is rewarding me for being brave about all this -- my hair has become manageable. I won't go so far as to say it looks good, but at least it's laying down now and doesn't resemble horns.

Sadly, the balance has tipped on other things. It's now very uncomfortable for me to reach my toes to paint them. I can reach them, but bending over for the period of time it takes to remove old polish, scrub, buff, and repaint causes me discomfort, adn The Kid to squirm, which in turn grosses me out. So today I'm getting a pedicure. I deserve one.

And while I'm on the subject of pregnancy, I'd like to offer a little bit of "friendly" advice to all you well-meaning folks. It's not polite for you to say something like "wow! you just get bigger every time I see you!". While this observation is likely accurate, it's not something that a pregnant woman wants to hear. A better thing to say is "Wow, you look great! you're carrying the baby very well" or "gosh, you look so cute pregnant. And you can't even tell from the back!" even if it's not true, is a little white lie gonna kill you if it makes the pregnant woman feel less like shamu??? Learn some manners, people.

And finally, do not comment on the size of my jugs. I know they're gigantic, and I don't need you calling attention to them. It's all I can do to contain them in my shirt without looking like porno. Pointing this out only causes me to feel self-conscious, which in turn might cause me to slap you.

8 days to go!!!

Only 8 days to go until we become the proud owners of a new (to us) house!

Moving is never pleasant, but this seems to be an easy move, despite the fact that we have a house full of stuff. I think this is thanks, in part, to a very detail oriented Realtor, who insisted that we pack away a lot of personal items and organize closets to make them look roomier, and minimize on clutter. We followed that advice for the most part, and organized every closet. I gave 4 very large trash bags full of clothes and shoes to Goodwill, threw away much of the stuff that was just sitting in a closet unused, and categorized things into storage bins in closets. I've packed a majority of the glasses and dishes we seldom use and stored them neatly in the cavernous under-stairs closet.

Today I'm going to find more things to pack. Brian is out fishing with the boys, which gives me some much appreciated time to get productive. We plan to move all of the small stuff, like clothes, boxes, fragile things, lamps, soft furnishings, etc., ourselves, then after we get back from our trip, we'll have movers do the rest.

As I look around my downstairs, I'm suddenly struck with the feeling that I'll miss this house. It was, afterall, my first house. The first time since moving to the U.S that I've actually established roots and dared to call a place home. Made the transition from home being with my parents in Stoke on Trent, to home being here in Austin. But missing this house is completely overshadowed by the excitement I feel when I think about our new house. I can't wait to cook a meal in my gorgeous new kitchen. I can't wait to have a reason to use the double oven. I can't wait to see Brian's face the first time he parks his car in the garage and we still have room for 2 more!

I probably should mention a little bit about how The Kid is doing these days. He's very active. You can actually feel him kicking if you put your hand on my stomach now. Everyone else thinks it's so cool. That's because they are not the ones getting kicked. He expresses a preference for my bladder, of all organs available for him to kick, and the occasional rib. Perhaps it's just that I feel the bladder kicks because it makes me have to pee. Pregnancy boredom is setting in for me. I am tired of the moving around, I'm tired of feeling winded when I go up the stairs, and I'm tired of the "warg!" noises I make when getting up from sitting, or bending down, or getting in and out of the car. I'm also tired of the constant pressure in my lower abdomen. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss the days of the second trimester when I would forget that I'm pregnant because I felt great. The good news, though, is that I've made the transition from feeling disappointed that I'm not having a girl, to relieved that I'm having a boy. I think the turning point was when Brian agreed to the name. Now I'm actually looking forward to having a son. When I think about how much fun Brian is going to have with him, and when I think about all the times I'm going to get to see Brian's face light up when his son does something for the first time, it actually makes this all worth it. As for me, well let's just say I still don't like kids, but I will like mine ;-)

American Idol Revisited

After watching American Idol results show last night, I am once again shaking my head in disbelief that Sanjaya was not in the bottom 3. I now suspect that there is a conspiracy at work here. Let's face it, Sanjaya is the least talented of all of the contestants, yet every week he avoids the bottom 3. While Sanjaya may not have talent going for him, he does have a few other things, and let's face it, American Idol is not purely based on talent. Looks, stage presence, and personality all go a long way in making a candidate popular with the public. And while Sanjaya may be low on the talent totem pole, he is undenyably cute, so he probably appeals to teenage girls. While his sexual orientation isn't up for debate here, there's no denying that the liklihood of him being gay, of all the other male contestants, is pretty high, therefore he probably has the gay vote, and thus the in-the-closet teenage boy vote. And given that he's soft spoken and mild mannered, he probably appeals to all of those teenegers' moms, too.

So ok, that's a lot of votes, but how can someone so clearly out of his league be so popular in a competition where a diverse population votes for their favourite Idol? At the risk of pissing off the whole population of India, I submit that the only logical conclusion lies in the fact that he's the first American Idol contestant who is an American of Indian descent. With so many Indian call centers having the ability to make calls to the USA for next to nothing, it doesn't seem like a coincidence that the least talented person in the competition is getting a very high number of votes. In fact, Sanjaya had the 4th highest vote tally of the 12 boys in the competition, according to Ryan Seacrest.

I could be completely off, and perhaps the better theory is that the demographic who take the time to actually vote is predominantly teenage girls, gay teenage boys, and soccer moms. I, myself, have never voted, and I know most of my friends have not. I suppose instead of complaining about the results I should contribute to swaying the balance by actually picking up the phone.

I heard a rumour that Simon Cowel has said he'll resign if Sanjaya wins. Come on, America! Simon is one of the biggest reasons we all watch this show. His rude comments and bluntness make an otherwise boring talent show highly entertaining. Do you really want to risk losing that? So now I'm launching my "Save Simon" campaign. Please, everybody who never votes, pick up the phone and vote for anybody other than Sanjaya.

SAVE SIMON!

Do it for me :-)

American Idiots!

I'm very disappointed in America. I don't normally get on my British high-horse, but a nation that would put Stephanie Edwards and Chris Richardson in the bottom two in American Idol has to be a nation of complete morons.
Sanjaya's performance on Tuesday was absolutely awful. He was off-key, out of tune, completely all over the place. It was absolutely horrific. Yet America voted and he got more votes than Steph and Chris???

WTF???

I'm absolutely disgusted. I'm embarassed to live here right now. I thought I was embarassed when America elected G. Dubya for the second time, but this just is the last straw. I'm moving to Canada.

New shoes and tight abs!

The weekend was good. I spent a majority of my day on Saturday shopping with Barbie. We even spent 45 minutes at the Clarins counter where Barbie tried on new make up and the nice lady gave us samples and put make up on us. We left looking all kinds of glam! Then we met Brian and his parents in the mall. They were shopping at Sears and we all headed back to Barbie's to hang out and play some Fusball with Scott. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I bought a rockin' new pair of sandals (since all of my shoes are too tight now). They're a leopard print thong with a kitten heel. Super cute!
Saturday night Brian, the in-laws, and I went to my favourite Tex-Mex place, Papasitos, and had Fajitas, then Nick and Kitty came over and celebrated St. Patty's day with Irish Car Bombs and a chick flick (yes, we're old!). An Irish Car Bomb consists of half a pint of Guinness into which you drop a shot of Bailey's and Whiskey (usually Jaimeson, but we only had Makers Mark). The result is actually VERY yummy.
On Sunday Barbie took us to show off our new house to the parents. Of course they loved it, and we were so happy to be in our new house again. I'm a very visual person and can see all of my furniture in there in my mind, and all the potential it has for hanging new paintings and making improvements. I fall in love with the place all over again every time I go there. Oh, and I took the trampoline in the back yard for a test drive. Yes, they're leaving it for us. I've always wanted one!
After the house viewing we stopped for a quick sandwich and then went to San Marcos for a day of outlet mall shopping! We spent a good 5 hours browsing the shops. I found the perfect purse in the Coach store. It was $90, though, and I've never spent that much on a purse (or anything else for that matter), so I didn't get it :-( . I did, however get a nursing bra (yea, I know! I broke down and got one because it was super comfy), and two cute tops which Brian's mum picked out for me that look fabulous!.

Yesterday (Monday), we had a routine doctor's appointment. Things are progressing well with The Kid, and his hearbeat is around 150bpm, which is normal. When the doc was measuring the size of my uterus she said "Wow, you have very tight abs". She was having a hard time getting a good measurement because of my rock hard abs! That will make my trainer happy. The good thing about that is that I'll have good core muscles for all that pushing and undignified grunting that's in the near future (too much information, Wassim?).
The doc did chastise me for my shoe choice. While she agreed that the animal print, thong, kitten heels were adorable, she told me I should not be wearing anything with a heel because it will give me back problems and because all my joints are loose right now (because of the appropriately named hormone, "relaxin") that I ran a very high risk of falling off of them and spraining my ankle. And of course, the last thing I need is a repeat of our wedding day during pregnancy! So I guess I'll retire my awesome new shoes and maybe borrow Brian's dad's nursing shoes (sorry, Keith, couldn't resist the dig! HAHA).

So that was our weekend in a nutshell. Quality time spent with the family and lots of shopping. I wish work were running as smoothly. Maybe it's because it's a Tuesday, and I have back to back meetings from 8am to 4:30 pm, but I'm a big grumpy. I need me some kitty lovin'. Nikkieeeee! come see mummy!

STOP KICKING ME!

The kid has become a total nightmare! I'm convinced he's in there partying like a rock star because it seems like he's constantly moving. The only time he's still is when either I'm moving, or someone puts their hand (invited) on my stomach to feel the moving. Then he turns into a statue!

It's particularly bad after I eat. About 5 minutes after my last bite I feel this flopping around in my stomach, and a periodical prod in an internal organ. It's SO GROSS! I can't even begin to describe the feeling. It's just unpleasant!

Another unpleasant symptom of pregnancy is the nose bleeds. Yea. They don't tell you about those, but apparently because of your increased blood volume the capilaries nearest the skin (like those in your nose) are more susceptible to breaking. Lovely!

I still have not had a zit free day since last October. Today's fresh crop is under my right eye and on the left side of my chin. Both look like I'm trying to sprout a new facial feature.

And let's talk about my hair for a second. It's become lifeless and weird. It looks fine right after I dry it, then 10 minutes later it looks like I just got out of bed! Oh, and let's not forget to mention the itchy scalp! Yea, it's only on the sides by my ears, but JEEZUS does it itch!

And finally, as if I didn't have enough to bitch about, my feet no longer fit comfortably into ANY of my super cute sandals! I hope it's due to a slight swelling, which will hopefully go down in the future, and not because my feet have grown and will never go back!

Thanks, kid! not only are you making your mother FAT, but you're also making her UGLY, and itchy, with giant feet. Love ya!

American Idol

I'll admit it. I have Idol fever. I sit glued to the TV and talk back when the judges give their crittique. I usually agree with Simon, and I waffle between annoyance and agreement with Paula because she's always trying to say something positive, and when she says things like "you look great", it's a thinly veiled insult. Now Simon, he tells it like it is. Sure he could use a little filtering so as not to be such an ass, but you gotta hand it to him, he usually has a good point. Randy used to be nice in past seasons, but this season he seems to have PMS or something. I like Randy, but he needs to tone down the "yo, you, check it out, yo dawg" after every song. Get a new hook, Randy. The Yo Factor is SO Vanilla Ice.

So here are my idols in order of preference:

1. I predict that Melinda Dolittle will be the next American Idol. If she doesn't win, then either America is deaf, or the competition is seriously rigged. Love her!
2. Next on my list is LaKisha. That girl's got some pipes. Though I find it hard to get past the fact that she kinda has a lisp when she sings.
3. My #3 (and top choice for the guys) is Blake Lewis. I like him because he's different than the other guys, but honestly, I don't see him winning. Those are my top 3. I 'll be surprised (and disgusted) if any of them get voted off any time soon.
4. Stephanie Edwards is pretty good, and probably the sexiest idol, but by far overshadowed by Melinda and LaKisha when it comes to singing. I don't think she's gonna go all the way.
5. Chris Sligh reminds me of Meat Loaf for some reason. I think it might just be because his chin wobbles when he sings. I like his voice, and forgive me for this observation, but he's too fat to be an American Idol when we, as a country, are so wrapped up in looks. I do think he'll be in it for a while, though.
   
6. Jordin Sparks is talented, but again, overshadowed by Melinda and LaKisa. I like her, but I don't think she's going to win.
7. Brandon Rogers is super cute, but he forgot his words last night! I felt so bad for him. But that was not a good performance.
8. I have an on again/off again relationship wtih Gina Glocksen. Last night I thought she did ok, but last week when she sand Evanescence I almost cried because it was SO BAD. But the judges loved it! What??? you people are TONE DEAF! she was way off key and completely murdered the song. I was embarassed for her.
9. Haley Scarnato - I bet she can paint with all the colours of the wind! sounds like she should be singing for Disney, not on the American Idol stage. She's got absolutely no stage presence.
10. Chris Richardson is way too boy-bandy for me. I hate how he constantly slides notes. He's like a female version of Mariah Carey. Completely overdone! I do think he has talent, but for some reason I don't like his face. He looks like a date-rapist to me.
11. Phil stacey can sing nicely, but nothing to write home about, but there's something uber creepy about him when he sings. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just can't look at the TV when he's on. It's not like he's ugly, either. I just get a weird serial killer vibe.
12. Sanjaya Malakar. Bitch, go home. I agree with Randy here. His hair is awesome, and that's about the only nice thing I can say about him.
    

Perfect day!

Well, almost! The only thing that could make it better would perhaps be winning a large sum of money. It started off like an ordinary Saturday. We hung around the house and ate breakfast. Then as I was telling Brian that we are now in our 7th month!!! (can you believe it??) and that if the baby were born prematurely now he would more than likely survive (which is really cool), he told me the best news ever. And I really wasn't prepared for how it made me feel, either. In fact, when he told me, I totally burst into tears. What was the news??? I guess you'll have to just keep reading ;-)

Then I talked to Barbie, who had just received an offer on our house. This one was good! We've had multiple offers over the weekend and this one was the most solid, so once again our house is under contract. And after only being back on the market for 5 days. I met Barbie at Starbucks to sign the counter offer.
Meanwhile Brian spent some quality time with Onyx laying on the hammock in the back yard.
After signing the papers, Barbie and I went to the Tattoo shop up the street to see if they could help me with my belly ring. It's getting to the point where I might need to think about taking it out, but I'm kinda stuck in it. I can't get the ball off. So we talked to the heavily pierced guy at the tattoo place who assured me that he could get it out without hurting me, and advised me to buy a flexible pregnancy ring to put in it so that it wouldn't close up and I could put my usual silver ring back in after the pregnancy. They didn't sell those so I had to order one from the Web. But the good thing is he will take this one out and put the new one in for me.
Meanwhile Barbie is ogling the tattoos. She's wanted one forever so she picked out one she liked, took a pic of it with her camera phone and we went on our way.
When I got home Brian and I made the house ready for the slew of showings we had scheduled that day, then vacated and headed to the library in Cedar Park where we copied some info from a back issue of Consumer Reports about refrigerators. I've never actually been to a library in the US. Of course, they're very similar to the ones in England, but it's just funny that I've been here for almost 15 years and hadn't set foot in a library.
Afterwards we had lunch at Whataburger, then went to Barbie and Scotts to play some fusbal and hang out while our house showed.
As the boys played fusbal, barbie and I went back to the tattoo shop with a picture of what Barbie really wanted, and the guy at the shop sketched it out for her. It looked awesome, so she decided to go with it, and fortunately he did not have an appoitment until 8pm so he could fit her in.
Barbie took the pain like a woman! ( would say man, but we all know that men are complete pussies when it comes to pain). Her tattoo is awesome, and very ballsy for a first tattoo. It's a butterly at the bottom of her back, then a series of smaller butterflies of varying sizes going up her back. It looks awesome! During the tattooing the boys showed up briefly to take a peek, then headed back to the house for more fusbal.
When we got back to the house they were still playing, and continued to play for several more hours!
We ordered pizza and a small impromptu party broke out. Mike and Tara showed up, Michelle and Ginger, and even Sifu Paul, my old kung fu instructor. And of course, our favourite out of town guests, Chad and Kim were staying at Barbie's this weekend.
While the boys watched basketball and played fusbal, we girls hung out, waxed off some unwanted hair, and Barbie painted my toes for me, which I'm now having a hard time reaching.

Around 10:30 the munchies hit and the girls piled into the car to pick up cheesecake. mmmmmm. Cheesecake. I'm ashamed to admit that I ate three slices. In my defense, though, they were tiny slices and all three pieces wouldn't make up one piece of the cake from the Cheesecake Factory. Although I am afraid to get on the scale this morning.

After everyone started to pass out from carbs we hung out on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful Texas weather before heading home. I love the weekends. Especially when they start out unplanned and end up being such a randomly awesome day.

The guy who put in the strong offer on our house agreed to the counter offer and we now have a contract! Barbie and I are both relieved that the deal with the other people didn't work out because we're getting what we want for the house, and the buyer seems a lot less high maintenance. I have a really good feeling about this one. Oh, and best of all, our move in/out dates line up so perfectly, that we won't need to cancel our trip to Chicago, and will have plenty of time to move out, without incurring another mortgage payment.

So what was it that Brian said to me this morning? let's just say we now have a first name picked out for our baby, and it means SO much to me that our child will have this name. I didn't quite realize how much it meant to me until he told me we could use it. It surprised him too, that I reacted that way and he said if he had realized just how important it was he'd have decided a lot sooner! I think I always knew he'd come around but I didn't want to pressure him into something he wasn't comfortable with, so I just let it sit for a while. Meanwhile our friends didn't (you know who you are!). But Brian's never been one to bend under peer pressure so it had little to no effect anyway.

So that was my pefect day.

Happy Birthday Brian!

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday. Which makes me 26 years young because as my dad would say "you're only as old as the man you feel".

He's heading back from California as I write this, and I can't wait to see him. I love spending time alone, but I REALLY miss him when he's not around.

Tonight we're going to dinner with a bunch of close friends to celebrate, and possibly will be going camping this weekend if we can get our act together in time to reserve a site and pack up the equipment :-). The weather in Austin has been amazing these last few days. Bright sunshine and 80 degree days. Perfect for spending a night under the stars.

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!