Weekend review

This weekend was pretty fun. On Thursday evening, Erin gathered a group to go listen to Andi and Brian at NXNW. Trent was the perfect little baby, he wasn't phased by the loud music at all, and was so content to be passed around the group and cuddled by all his honorary aunts and uncles.

Trent and I went to the outlet mall in Round Rock on Friday, and he was so good. He endured 2 hours of me trying on clothes, though I only bought 2 tank tops from Banana Republic because it's hard to predict what my body is going to do over the next several months. Plus, now that I'm back to normal size it's like I just went shopping and bought a whole new wardrobe! I bought Trent a couple of cute outfits too. Friday evening we went to Mama Fu's to see Brian play. About an hour in, he started to fuss so we headed home.

On Saturday evening, Brian stayed home with Trent while I went to Mike's 40th birthday party. It was a backyard bbq at his parents' house, and we had so much fun. I saw a bunch of old friends from a previous lifetime. Many of them I had not seen in almost 10 years! It was so great to catch up with everyone.

On Sunday, Trent and I went to the mall. I had intended to take advantage of tax free shopping weekend and buy myself some clothes, and I found the perfect pair of shorts for me, but sadly, I didn't buy them because, again, I'm not sure what size I'm going to end up. The shorts I bought only 2 weeks ago are already falling off me.

I spent some time working out on our trampolene yesterday. Surprisingly, trampolining is really great exercise. Brian helped me come up with some new moves to work different muscle groups, and I also incorporated some kung fu moves into my trampolene work out. I am certain these moves will help me with balance and speed so that when I do return to my Kung Fu classes, I won't be too far out of shape.

Today, Monday, I took Trent to the gym with me and put him in the kids room while I worked out. It was hard to leave him with a complete stranger, and I felt a little over protective when all the other kids in the room immediately ran over to check him out. I wanted to say "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" to all the kids, but instead I just bit my tongue, took a deep breath, and walked away. I can't shield him from germs and other kids forever, so this was a big step for me. Only 2 more weeks until he goes to daycare. I am sure I'm going to be a complete mess when I drop him off and leave him for the first time.

Clean bill of health & the stretch mark fairy

Not that I had any doubts, but it's nice to hear from the doctor that you're medically cleared to resume all pre-pregnancy/birth activities. All of the hard work that I put into keeping my body in shape during pregnancy have really paid off. Today I weigh the same as I did before I got pregnant! Only 6 weeks after giving birth and a gain of 38lbs. Today also marks my return to my work out routine (YAY!).

I went to the gym this morning and did a 10 minute warm up on the cross trainer, followed by a chest/arms/abs weight work out, and then 20 more minutes on the cross trainer. I did notice a slight decrease in my cardiovascular ability, and also a slight loss of strength, which is expected given that it's been 8 weeks since I worked out. It's funny to think that I was in better shape when I was hugely pregnant than I am now. But I am certain that in a couple of weeks I will have regained my former fitness level. The ab work out was interesting. I have lost the most strength there. Not surprisingly since my abdomen has been stretched to the max over the past 10 months, then endured major surgery, but it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating.

I am absolutely convinced that my pregnancy workout routine is largely responsible for the fast return to "normal". I'm also happy to report that I do not have even one stretch mark! The Stretch Mark Fairy might have tried to find me, but I foiled her by moving house! HA! take that! Actually, I attribute the lack of stretch marks to drinking plenty of water during pregnancy, and genetics.

Anyway, all of this is very good for my state of mind. I feel great. One of my big fears was not returning back to normal, and also losing myself and becoming only "Trent's mum", but I feel just like I did before, only now I have one more person to love.

Trent's Road Trip

This weekend we took Trent to Houston to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. This was his first road trip. We set off around 11am, right after we fed and calmed Trent down. He was a complete angel most of the way there, only crying for about 2 minutes 15 minutes away from our destination.
Grandma and Grandpa were very happy to see us, and especially Trent. Grandpa had spent many hours cleaning up Brian's old crib so that Trent would have a place to sleep at their house and it looked awesome. He'd also been to Babies R Us and picked up a few toys for Trent, as well as a hairbrush. The hairbrush amused me to no end because Grandpa kept trying to get Trent's spikes to lay down, which seemed to be an exercise in futility - though he did give him an awesome comb-over!
While we were in Houston, Grandma and Grandpa spent time with Trent while Brian and I went out for a lovely Italian dinner, complete with wine (which I've missed so much) and my favourite Italian dessert, Tiramisu. mmmmmm!
On Sunday, Brian and I got to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I'd been dying to see, while Grandma and Grandpa watched Trent again. He was such a good baby all weekend. Very minimal amounts of crying, it seems that his medication is really helping him to feel better.
On the way home, he fussed about half way home, so I sat in the back seat with him and fed him a bottle while Brian drove, which seemed to be very successful.
All in all, we were very proud of Trent's behaviour on the trip and couldn't have asked for a better first road trip with him.

A big thank you to the Grandparents for giving us a few hours of freedom!

Colic and frayed nerves

Over the past couple of weeks, my patience has been tested to its outermost limits. There's an ambiguous condition referred to as Colic -- unexplained bouts of crying that seem to last forever and render the baby inconsolable -- this "condition" affects one in 5 babies. I guess I can't live a charmed life forever. Trent is the one in five, it seems. During the day he has mild bouts of crying but is usually consolable, but around 4pm and usually until around 8pm, he just can't be pacified. I've researched all over the Web for information on how to cope with a colicky baby. Many experts recommend that you eliminate any possible physical reasons for the baby to cry, then put him down in his crib and just let him cry. Sounds reasonable, right? but it's harder than you think! Your instinct is to try to fix the problem when your little one is crying. To employ this method goes against all of my motherly instincts. Oh stop gasping! yes, I have motherly instincts as evidenced by my extremely spoiled, yet extremely obedient cats.
Anyway, after discussing Trent's symptoms with the doctor, she prescribed an antispasmodic drug called Levsin. Bri and I were hesitant to fill the prescription because Trent's already on one prescription for acid reflux and we just don't want our kid full of chemicals, so we've been trying other methods -- gripe water, mylicon, swaddling, the swing, cuddling, etc. None of these things seemed to work. Eventually the crying would stop, but not until he'd tired himself out. Finally, Sunday evening, we came to the conclusion that our discomfort with so many prescriptions was not worth sacrificing Trent's comfort and our own sanity.
Yesterday I filled the prescription, administered it with his next feeding, and amazingly, he seemed to cry less. In fact, he barely cried at all yesterday. And when he did, it was for obvious reasons, such as dirty nappy, hungry, tired, wants cuddling. There seemed to be less crying after feedings, too and he didn't pull his legs up and scream like he has in the past. It's very early to tell if this is the medication working or just a nice coincidence, but the signs are encouraging.

The good news is that colic seems to resolve at around 3 months of age, so we only have 2 more months of this (ACK!!!)

I'm "That Lady"

You know her. The very one that I complained about not even 2 months ago while out having dinner with friends. The one who sits in a crowded restaurant with her screaming baby and doesn't take him outside or to the bathroom to figure out what's wrong so she doesn't disturb all the other diners around her.

Brian and I took The Kid down to The Grove at Southpark Meadows to see Brian Lee play. We had a great time and Trent was so well behaved. Barbie, Scott, and Michelle were there and we were all very impressed with how mellow Trent was being. After the concert we arranged to go to dinner with Mike and Tara. On the way to the restaurant Trent threw a massive wobbler in the car and nothing I could do would make him happy. He seemed to calm down by the time we got to the restaurant, though. I had lost my appetite at that point so I just ordered a water and planned to nibble off of Brian's plate. Before we could even order, Trent started wailing like someone was trying to slowly torture him. I took him to the Bathroom and tried to calm him down. Changed his nappy, sang to him, told him what a good boy he is. He seemed to calm down. So I took him back out. The minute my arse touched the booth seat, he started again. I frantically tried to pacify him, but nothing worked. I could see the looks from those around us. The same look that I gave someone else less than 2 months ago. The look that says "lady, you're disturbing everyone. Shove a sock in that screaming kid's mouth!". I was completely mortified. Completely.
I once again headed for the bathroom. This time I called Brian from the bathroom and told him to get his food to go. Thankfully, Mike and Tara are very close friends and extremely understanding. And off we went, back home with our screaming kid. I couldn't eat at all because my stomach was completely in knots.

Of course, it's not Trent's fault. He doesn't know any better. It's our fault for being over ambitious. We over stimulated him and it was foolish of us to think that he could handle it at such an early age. So lesson learned. But now I have a whole new perspective on that mom who can't stop her baby from crying in a restaurant. I'll be a little more sympathetic from now on.

1st month of motherhood in review

Tomorrow Trent will be 4 weeks old. How the time flies! Before I know it, he's going to be stealing my car keys, sneaking out while I'm asleep, and boozing with his buddies.

The past 4 weeks have been interesting to say the least. I didn't think I was cut out for motherhood, but I seem to have taken to it pretty easily. There's a resounding sigh of relief among my circle of friends, who also thought I wasn't cut out for motherhood. Now don't get me wrong, this doesn't change the fact that I don't like kids and I have no intention of becoming a "Kid person". I know this kid, and that's all I need to know.

Over the past month I've been puked on, pooped on, farted on, and peed on (no, not by Brian, get your minds out of the gutter!), and yet I'm un-fazed by all of this. I can change a nappy in 20 seconds flat, having puke on my clothes doesn't send me running to change anymore, and I've become quite adept at bathing a slippery, wriggling infant.

Having 8 weeks off seemed like a death sentence when I contemplated it pre-kid, but now I'm thinking that the remaining 4 weeks I have left are not long enough. My days are anything but dull and when The Kid isn't fussing, I really enjoy being around him. Yesterday I went to visit a few daycare centers. Initially, I wanted a nice grandma type to take care of him while I work, but now I'm starting to think that a more formal daycare would be better because they have a real curriculum where he will learn skills daily. In an in-home daycare, you can never really be guaranteed that he's getting the learning and stimulation he needs to be the genius I know he can be. Unfortunately, Austin's day care centers have very long waiting lists, which means that I might have to be a stay at home mum for a little longer than I anticipated.

During the past month, I've watched my husband become a wonderful father, and even better husband. I can't say that I'm all that surprised, though. One of the biggest factors in my decision to have a kid was because I knew Brian's potential to be an amazing father and I wanted to see that potential realized. He is extremely responsive to Trent's needs and has been an amazing support for me when my nerves become frayed from dealing with a screaming baby. And boy can this baby scream! It sounds like you'd imagine some kind of pre-historic bird sounds when he gets going.

Yesterday, for the first time, Trent and I went out with the jogging stroller (thanks Nana and Grandad for the jogger!). We started off walking, but I couldn't resist breaking into a little jog. We run/walked 6K in all and I felt great. My stomach is feeling much better these days and I hardly notice the pain anymore in my lower abdomen. Only 2 more weeks and I can go to the gym and resume my usual routine! yay!

Some of the cool things about Trent:
When he's hungry, he does this really cute head shake with his mouth open
He loves to cuddle
He can fart louder than his Grandad Fred
He smiles when he takes a poop
He spends hours just staring at me
He looks like a little angel when he's sleeping
He has the most awesome hair I've ever seen on a baby
When we're out in public, people fawn all over him
All of our friends love to be around him

In the past month we've seen a marked improvement in motor skills and he becomes more alert with every passing day. He's extremely strong and can already hold his head up, he's very close to being able to roll over, and you can also see the beginnings of crawling motions when he's on his tummy. He's aware of his hands now and can consciously remove his pacifier from his mouth. Though he can't put it back yet.

It's been a rough month, sleep-wise and body-wise, but on the good side, I've lost 34lbs (only 6 more to go) and like I said, life is anything but dull :-)

Baby's day out

On Friday, Trent went to see the doctor for a follow up. He's gained several more ounces, which indicates that his vomiting problem isn't too serious. Though he has produced several more fountains of puke since the initial one. After we left the doctor's office we went home and chilled for a while, then we went to the pharmacy to fill his diaper rash prescription and then Trent took his first trip to the grocery store. It was rather uneventful because he was passed out the whole time. Though he did attract his share of admirers, and I found myself positioning myself between him and the admirer lest they should try to touch him. I kinda felt like a momma bear protecting her young. It wasn't even a conscious reaction, it was just instinctual. Since Trent's first outing he's been to several more, including lunch with Aunt Barbie and Uncle Scott at Waterloo yesterday, and today he went to the gym to say hi to Clint and Chris, then we went to visit Aunt Barbie for an hour before the dishwasher repairman showed up at our house.
Today is Brian's second day back at work, he went back on Friday. Trent and I seem to be doing just fine on our own. We've had a lovely day so far and now that we're getting used to each other, things are getting easier.
I've been taking care of all Trent's needs at night so that Brian can get enough sleep to feel good at work. Today he said he slept really well and felt 100%, which makes me happy. Nights are pretty awful, though. I'd give anything to have a full uninterrupted 8 hours right now.

30 lbs in 13 days!

Ok, I'll admit it, I was skeptical. Burning 800 calories a day just by sitting on the couch seems too good to be true. However, after 13 days of feeding a very hungry infant, I was pleasantly surprised to be missing 30lbs of myself!

It's better than gastric bypass surgery!

It's not without its drawback's, though. I'm pretty much chained to the kid because he can't eat without me (you shouldn't introduce a bottle until breast feeding is well established), and of course it hurts like hell. Worse than labour. Though I must admit that it's getting less painful now thanks to Pure Lanolin. No nursing mother should be without this product. Trust me on this.

Trent's been very gassy lately, which probably comes as no surprise to anyone given who his mother is ;-), however, it's painful for him and he's been crying a lot after feedings. A friend at work suggested using Gripe Water, which you can buy at Whole Foods. After one day of using it, it seems to be making him feel better. Yesterday, though, he vomited a LOT after almost every feeding, so we took him to the doctor. We found out that he's got a little acid reflux problem and sitting him upright for 15 mins after meals will help. Today he seems to have puked less, but it's early in the day.

Fountain of Puke

After 10 days of being new parents, Brian and I are getting used to Trent's signals, and he's getting used to us. We're getting the breastfeeding down now and have transitioned from always using the special pillow, to being able to just pop him on wherever. I always said I wouldn't let my kid sleep in the bed with me. Not only is this unsafe for him, but it's also a bad habit that I don't want him getting used to. But I found myself cuddling him till he fell asleep and then putting him in a safe spot in the middle of the bed so I could easily reach him when he made any sounds. It made it easier for me to sleep. Last night, though, he slept in his bassinet all night and did really well. I'm getting about 3 hours of sleep between feeding him, which initially wasn't enough but I'm adapting. Things are getting easier.

Yesterday, Trent had some tummy problems and was laying on my lap snoozing, and all of a sudden I looked down and he was projectile vomiting milk all over me, all over himself, and all over our new couch! This was more puke than you can ever imagine coming out of an 8lb human. Fortunately, Trent is fine and it seemed to make him feel better afterwards. The couch, being made of that fabulous "enduro-suede" cleaned up just fine and there is no stain. The lesson learned here, though is to put an old blanket on the couch where you normally sit with the kid because it's gonna get messy.

A baby story

As most people who read my blog know, I was a reluctant pregnant woman who hated every moment of pregnancy and was completely skeptical that it would be worth the discomfort and pain. In this entry, there might be more info about childbirth, hospital stays and major surgery recovery than you ever wanted to know. So don't say I didn't warn you.

My friend, Castor Oil
On Monday, July 2nd the doctor informed me that no progress had been made regarding dilation and effacement. I was feeling discouraged by this because I really want a July 4th baby for reasons I've gone into before. On Tuesday, July 3rd I took matters into my own hands. I had heard the old wives tales about Castor Oil inducing labour, but the evidence to support a medical theory on this is sketchy at best, when I Googled it. There was a lot of anecdotal evidence, though, and I figured that it was worth a shot. So with gritted teeth and holding my nose to dull the taste, I took 2oz of Castor Oil at 4:30pm. And I waited. It didn't take long for the Castor Oil to go to work for it's intended purpose, which is a stimulant laxative. And the rest of my evening was spent very close to the toilet.
With the pooping came waves of pain, which I attributed to intestinal issues, dismissed it, and went to bed.
Around 3am I woke up in pain, and as the pain came and went I noticed a pattern. I stared at the clock and found that every 6 minutes, I was having pains, and this time it was accompanied by some bleeding. Holy crap! is this labour??? I wasn't sure, so I laid there for another hour and endured the waves of pain, wondering if it would subside. When it didn't, I got up and called the doctor, who promptly returned my call and told me to come in to the hospital.

It's go time!
I woke Brian up at that point with "babe, it's go time!" and he sprung into action. As I gathered the remaining things to pack into my hospital bag, Brian got the car seat and the diaper bag and loaded up the car. And off we went. There's not much traffic at 4:15am so the ride to the hospital was uneventful, unless you count the contractions, now 4 minutes apart, as events. Upon arrival we checked in and I was taken to my room where they assessed me, plugged me into a bunch of monitors, and confirmed that this really was labour. 4cm dilated, contractions every 4 minutes, and not mild ones, either. We called Barbie and told her to make her way to the hospital, and then the nice lady with the epidural showed up. yay!

Who farted??
The epidural lady hooked me up with some pain relief. The epidural wasn't painful, but it was not easy to sit still while having contractions, and add to that the fact that it took 2 attempts to get the thing into my spine. After about15 minutes, though, it was in and I was starting to feel better. Labour progressed relatively pain free from here on out, and every hour or so the nurse came in to check progress, monitor the baby, and hook me up to more things. An IV, an internal monitor for the baby, an internal monitor for contractions, an oxygen mask because the baby was going into distress. I laid there oblivious to any pain and joked with Brian and Barbie as we waited for the "pushing phase" to start. Periodically, I heard someone fart in the room and I'd look at Brian and Barbie with an accusatory look, then I realized that it was me! of course it was me. I had no feeling from my waist down. I was like my auntie Minnie! just tooting away, willy nilly, even once while the nurse was checking me! We cracked up quite a bit about that. As most people know, I'm highly amused by farting.

No exit!
Around 11am the nurse consulted the doctor on call and they monitored my progress. After about 15 minutes she informed me that I had a choice to make: Labour had stalled at 6cm and the baby was in distress. They could try to induce laboour with Pitosin and see if that would start the contractions again, or I could do a C-section and get him out. A tough choice. A sobering choice. I asked the doctor what was best for the baby. Of course it was the least appealing of the options, the C-section. So with as much calm as I could muster, and with a quick look over at the concerned faces of Brian and Barbie to reassure them that I would be ok, I said "let's do it".

Let's get this party started
My room became a hive of activity as people came in and out to administer things through IVs and inform me of what would happen next. Then Brian was "Suited up" and I was wheeled off to the operating room. Whatever Dr. Dave put in my IV started working immediately, and I could feel absolutely nothing below the chest. As I laid there on the operating table they prepped me, draped me, and Dr. Dave reassured me and kept me appraised of the situation. Brian came into the room and the operation began. I held Brian's hand and tried to keep myself calm by imagining being on a warm beach. The bright lights of the operating room was the sun warming my face, the floaty feeling was not from the cocktail of drugs in my IV, but from the several shots of tequila I imagined I'd just done. The voices of the doctors and nurses were those of other people on the beach, laughing and splashing in the surf. The suction machine that was probably now vacuuming up all the blood that was gushing out was providing the surf sound. And Dr. Dave said that I was the most calm person to have a C-section he'd ever seen. After what seemed like only a moment I heard the sound of a baby crying. Perhaps someone's child on the beach? and then I crashed back down to reality and realized that the baby crying was my kid! "THE kid"!

Who's your daddy?
After my realization my first question to Brian was "does it look like Jay?" - because it's been a standing joke in our circle of friends that Jay's the baby-daddy... Brian laughed and said he didn't. Then they showed him to me. He was all pink with a ton of black hair and my first comment was "ooh he's CUUUTE! he doesn't look anything like Winston Churchill!". That got a laugh from everyone in the operating room. They took the baby and Brian away and put me back together while discussing every day things like what they saw on TV last night, and the latest celebrity gossip. I heard the doctor say "let's get those abs back in place, she's worked really hard on them", and I thanked her for noticing. And the final step... replace my belly button ring, which they had taken out for the surgery. They put it back in for me while I was in the operating room! What service.

Hello world
Trent Aston came into the world on July 4th, at 11:33am, kicking and screaming, much like how his mum had gone into pregnancy. It seems like the whole world (at least MY world) was waiting with baited breath to meet him. Aunt Barbie was the first to meet him, followed by uncle Scott. I spent some time in the recovery room and they brought him to me. Here the details start to get a little sketchy. I assume because of the drugs and I recall being wheeled to my post partum room where Brian, Trent and I would spend the next 3 days. Trent's grandparents, Keith and Joan, showed up pretty soon after his grand entrance and were so excited to see the little guy. And as my epidural and drugs wore off and my visitors disappeared, the nice nurse lady came and took Trent to the nursery so that I could get some sleep.

Happily ever after
There were many unpleasant experiences that followed the birth of Trent, many of which made the labour and major surgery experience pale in comparison. The 3 days following the birth were the most challenging of our entire lives. Sleep deprivation, pain, and being cooped up in a tiny hospital room with people poking and prodding at me and Trent every few hours made those few days feel like several weeks. And I was so ready to come home on Saturday. My doctor cleared us to stay until Sunday, but I just couldn't do it. And that night, Saturday, our first night home with the baby, Brian and I didn't sleep a wink, were totally clueless, and made it up as we went along. Thank heavens for Grandpa and Grandma! Without them, this would have been so much more difficult.

It's now a week and one day since Trent's birth. I've been in more pain than I could even imagine over the past week, with the C-section recovery and pain of breast feeding, which you can't ever fully understand until you feel it. I haven't slept more than 4 hours at a time in over a week, I haven't put on make up or fixed my hair in over a week, not because I don't have time, but because it's not important.

So the question question remains: was it worth it?

You'll be surprised by the answer. It was so worth it. I'm not saying I'd do this again. But I'm happy that I did it. Nothing can prepare you for how your own baby worms his way into your heart, no matter how much kid-proofing you have done to it. Last night I spent hours just staring into Trent's eyes, even though I was dead tired, because I just couldn't take my eyes off him. Surprised? nobody's more so than I am!

Proud Aunt Barbie

I can't say she's been very patient, but she's been the most excited person about meeting Trent. Here you can see him just a day old with his favourite aunt and un-godly mother ;-)\\

Introducing...
Trent Aston

Born on July 4th, 2007 at 11.33am
weighing 7lbs 13oz, and measuring 20 inches tall.

We are so happy to meet our beautiful little boy, and can't wait to introduce him to all of his amazing honorary aunts and uncles here in Texas and around the world!

A big thank you to all the well-wishers who have e-mailed, called, and sent flowers... we truly appreciate all of your support! And most of all, a big thank you to Aunt Barbie - we just can't tell you how much your help means to us. You've been our rock :-)

More details surrounding the birth to come as I find time to update - Life is very crazy right now, and many phone calls are going unreturned, so please be patient and rest assured that we will be in contact just as soon as we return to a state of sanity. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

update on The Kid

...or lack of update, I should say.
Yesterday's appointment went well. The doc did a membrane sweep, which should help get things started. However, all that's happened so far is some cramping. I'm feeling very discouraged and every day that goes by now is causing me to get a bad attitude. It's almost like a deflated/defeated feeling. I think it's because I so desperately want to be in control of this situation and I can't be. It's not too much to ask to be in control of your own body, is it???
Tomorrow is July 4th. His actual due date. In preparation, and so I can feel like I have at least a small amount of influence over the situation (if not control), I'm going to pick up a bottle of Castor Oil.
Message to The Kid: I'm your mother. You had better get used to doing what I tell you to do, starting now. So be a good boy and make your exit! I don't like children, and I was hoping that you could help change my mind about that. But you're off to a rocky start. Now MOVE IT!

Final weekend as DINKs?

This weekend I tried to do things that I won't have much opportunity to do over the next several months. On Friday we had Barbie, Scott, Michelle & Brian over for dinner. We just ordered out so that I wouldn't have to do a whole bunch of cooking. Michelle and I spent some time relaxing on the trampoline. I saw a satellite pass over head.

Saturday during the day was spent doing house work (and yard work for Brian), followed by a fun evening downtown with Nick, Kitty, Mike & Tara. We got scammed at the parking lot on 7th street. We parked and the attendant was nowhere to be found, then this homeless looking guy came out from between some cars and charged us $7 to park, which we handed over, but then when he didn't give us a receipt I questioned him. He made a grand show of going over to the adjacent parking lot to get us a ticket, but came back without one. At this point I was sick of waiting and just said "whatever". When we got back to our car, thankfully it had not been towed, but the REAL parking attendant asked us to pay! we told him we paid the homeless guy, and he then informed us we got scammed. So lesson learned. ALL of the parking lot attendants at the pay parking lots downtown wear shirts with the parking lot logo on them, and they ALWAYS give you a ticket for your dash.

Sunday was spent doing more things around the house, and mostly relaxing for me. I did clean out the refrigerator in the garage, which had started to grow black spores from being left unplugged with the doors closed. We had to replace a breaker so that we could run the fridge but now we have a beer fridge and overflow freezer, which is a good thing since Costco is keeping our regular freezer stuffed to the gills!

Sunday night I left Brian to watch the DVR loaded with bass fishing and racing shows and I headed downtown to see Brian Lee in his new cover band "Suede" at Cedar Street. Barbie, Michelle, Andi & Mike were there, too. It was an awesome show and we couldn't believe how many people showed up on a Sunday night. I got home a little after 1am.

In all, it was a great weekend, only momentarily punctuated by my frustrations about being pregnant and ready to get this thing over with!

In case you were wondering...

In case anyone was wondering what a belly ring looks like on a gigantic 40 weeks pregnant belly, here are some pictures:


and



I think it looks quite stylish!

Geek parents

ok, it's totally geeky, but we set The Kid up with his own e-mail address. The intent is that all his family and honorary aunts and uncles can e-mail him with their thoughts on meeting him, hopes for him, advice, or just introduce themselves and explain their roles in his life, etc., and when he's old enough to read/understand, he'll get to read them.

I won't disclose the e-mail address here, but if you want the address, you know how to find me :-)

Zero station!

My Friday Doctor's appointment revealed that I am now 1.5 cm, and the baby is at zero station. That means that he has dropped and that his head is now down in the pelvis and in position. We are 90% sure he will be here within the next 10 days. It's probably going to be a long 10 days for me because I am SO uncomfortable and I have to pee every five minutes.
Everyone around me is excited. The inquiries as to how I'm feeling are getting more frequent. It's hard for me to describe how I'm feeling, but here goes:
Physically I feel fine. In the mornings I feel best because the weight of the baby hasn't been pushing down on me for hours. I don't even really feel pregnant until I attempt to get up from the couch, or if I bend over. As the day progresses, though, it gets harder to feel comfortable sitting or standing. My feet and hands swell, and the pressure in my lower abdomen increases. By bed time I am in pain. It's not unbearable, but it's a constant ache that extends from the lower abdomen to my ribs and all around my back.
Mentally I'm feeling a little frustrated and mixed up because I want this to be over, but I also want him to stay put a little longer because, selfishly, I am not ready for the responsibility, but, unselfishly, I think having a birthday on July 4th would be cool. Everyone will be in a celebratory mood during his birthday and he'll have many choices in parties to attend.
One of the great advantages our kid will have is that he automatically has dual nationality. He'll automatically be an American because he will be born here, but he will also be British because I am still a British citizen. Brian and I hope that he takes advantage of this and studies and works in Europe some day. With his British passport, he can live and work anywhere in Europe and not have to deal with all the red tape. He's a very lucky boy!

No progress

Well, my Friday doctor's appointment revealed that The Kid has already picked up some personality traits of his father. He's a procrastinator. This could be good, and bad I suppose. Good because a lazy baby means he'll be far too lazy to be demanding, bad because he's procrastinating on making his grand entrance into the world outside of my body. I'm feeling rather impatient and would like to to quit sharing the real estate in there with him and all my other organs. It's like having a squatter.

So there I was, all ready for some "good" news that maybe that one centimeter from the previous week had progressed a little futher, but no. I guess the The Kid caught a glimpse of the outside world, saw my giant ankles, probably thought they were some kind of weird animal waiting to eat him, freaked out and decided to set up camp. Ok, that might have invoked a visual you weren't prepared for. Sorry!

This part of pregnancy is weird. I don't know if other women feel this way, but I'm having mixed emotions because I am not ready for my life to change so drastically, yet I am interested to meet the little monster that's been poking and kicking at my ribs for the last several months.

Brian is excited. Of course, he doesn't have to go through the indignity and pain of giving birth. I'd do anything to trade places with him right now.

Today I'm going to work out extra hard at the gym and see if I can induce labour a little early :-)

New floor!

Timing couldn't have been worse, but our floor guy, Matt, made what could have been a stressful situation a very easy and stress free one. We picked out a wood that was similar in colour and texture to the wood in the rest of the house and Matt came and removed the cat pee carpet and leveled the floor on Wednesday. Then on Thursday he came over and laid the floor. Today he came over and did the final part, the trim. He saved us a bunch of money on the trim by staining it to match the floors himself.

From discovering the problem to fixing it was less than one week! I highly recommend our floor guy. He also did 3 of our other friends' floors and his workmanship is awesome. So if anyone is in the market for new floors, be sure to let me know and I'll give you Matt's number.

The dining room looks beautiful. It finishes off the downstairs nicely. I never thought it was weird that our dining room was the only room with carpet downstairs, but now that the wood is in there, it just ties it all together. Kind of classes up the place. Now I can't wait to actually buy a dining room set, of course, that's low on our list of priorities at the moment.

Misc. weekend activities and sushi ramblings

The weekend started off very well. It started with sushi for lunch with Miki, which is always so much fun. Miki's one of those low-maintenance friends who I don't see very often, but when I do, it's like a breath of fresh air. She and I have many similarities as far as our outlook on life, and many similarities in our childhoods.
That evening, two friends who we only see every now and then suggested we go for sushi downtown at Uchi. I could eat sushi for every meal, so of course we went.
My thoughts on Uchi:
Uchi is ok if you like foofy and creative (and expensive) sushi. I'm a bit of a sushi purist, though. Although I can't eat the raw stuff right now, which limits me to pretty much Eel and rolls, my preference is for a place with simple and fresh Nigiri sushi, and a couple of rolls, such as a spicy tuna roll, or Sushi Sake's amazing Spicy Susan. Uchi is wasted on someone like me. I found myself looking at the menu and thinking "you're charging HOW MUCH for that tiny morsel of food?". While I won't deny that the food is well presented and tastes good, I would much rather get better value at a more traditional sushi bar where you can get full without breaking the bank. The one roll I got at Uchi was the Shag roll. It's basically a veggie roll that's dipped in tempura batter and deep fried. It's served with a splash of squid ink. Sure it's interesting, but was it better than the sushi at my usual place. Not even close. So after 2 experiences at Uchi, I think I'm crossing it off my list of places to eat from now on.
Don't get me wrong, we had a great time on Friday night. But not because of the food or venue, but because of the company. I find that to be true most times we go out.

On Saturday we discovered a cat problem that had been apparently happening over some time and has caused us to need to replace the carpet in our dining room. It's a behavioral problem, we think, because there's nothing wrong with the cat. She's just deathly afraid of the new Littermaid catbox and won't go near it. We made the mistake of thinking that if we put a regular and the automatic cat boxes in the cat's bathroom, the scaredy cat would simply use the manual one. But no. She chose to use the carpet in the dining room, instead. What's strange is she was fine with our old Littermaid box. Lesson learned. Manual catbox only from now on.

We shopped around for wood floors to match the floors in the rest of our downstairs and found several good options. One based on some recommendations by several friends. We were planning to get wood in the dining room anyway, just not right away, and of course the timing is awful given that the baby could arrive at any moment. But it has to be dealt with.

Saturday evening was spent with friends at Nutty Brown Cafe in Oak Hill where the very talented Brian Lee was opening for Monte Montgomery. We had a great table outside with a good view of the stage and close to Michelle who was working the merchandise booth. We had dinner and spent some quality time with friends. Again, venue and menu had nothing to do with the fun level. We have such great friends.

Saturday night, though, was awful for me. I spent the entire night sick to my stomach. The kind of nausea that won't let you actually throw up but is bad enough that it turns you fetal and groaning. This was followed by a visit from the poop fairy around 5am. Consequently, most of Sunday was spent on the couch groaning some more, trying to hydrate, and going stir crazy because I was a prisoner in the house. I did do some productive things, though, like laundry and changed the bed.
Sunday evening we had dinner with Tiffeni, whom we hadn't seen in many weeks! One of the few remaining unmarried friends in our circle these days, soon to be converted to old married lady in August!

The countdown begins...

Today's doctor visit revealed that I am 1cm dilated!

Don't get excited, though. It really means nothing if it's not accompanied by painful contractions. Which it isn't. So while it's progress, the little bugger is hanging in there. If I have been experiencing contractions, then I'm just oblivous to them. I haven't really even noticed much Braxton-Hicks activity, either. Unless Braxton-Hicks feels like The Kid is striking poses in there with all his appendages spread out and shoved into various organs. He does seem to be very, very active lately, and he seems to get the hiccups on an hourly basis. Perhaps I should lay off the Tequila?

Maybe I am having contractions, but I'm such a badass and my pain threshold is so high that it feels like no big deal! Wishful thinking on my part. I'm a huge baby and the slightest bit of pain turns me fetal and crying for my mummy. Can I get my epidural now?

Has the baby dropped??

Yesterday (for the record that's June 2nd) I experienced what I can only describe as a frequent urge to pee. I went 3 times in 20 minutes. Every time I stood up, I felt an immense pressure on my bladder, and a lot of lower abdominal discomfort. In addition, I can now more easily take a full breath. Could this be the "lightening" that they talk about? or am I just imagining it because I so desperately want this to be over?

Brian thinks my shape has changed. Everywhere I go people comment on how "high" I'm carrying. And it honestly does look like he's all up in my ribs (and feels like it, too). But yesterday, the bump looked a little less prominent at the top. If he has descended then that means it's not long until The Kid makes his grand entrance into the world (and thankfully, his exit from me). Lightening usually happens between 3 weeks and 2 days before labour starts, according to my sources. So if that's true, maybe he'll be early.

I have mixed feelings about that because I really would like to have him on 4th of July. But on the other hand, I really want the infestation to be done!

Another really freaky thing is that you can now see a foot or an arm moving around and can pretty much distinguish what it is just by observing my stomach when it happens. It's the weirdest looking thing, and I can't even describe how it feels other than "creepy".

In other news, Brian and I tried out Kona Grill last night. I went there for lunch a few days ago and tried their sushi (cooked, of course). I don't recommend their sushi. In fact it was about grocery store quality. I do like the ambiance in the place, though. And the service has been awesome both times I've been there. Brian had the Pad Thai last night and it was really good. I had the Pork Tenderloins. It came with white cheddar mashed potatoes and a shitake mushroom sauce. Delicious. So I can certainly recommend either of those two dishes. When I went for lunch, Dana had the Macadamia crusted chicken and it was extremely tasty. So that's 3 dishes I'd definitely go back for.

Hobbit feet

In case anyone thinks I'm joking when I say my ankles have disappeared, check these babies out! It's only 2pm and my feet are massive!



See the complete lack of definition in the ankles? See the puffy toes that look like vienna sausages?

Lest anyone should accuse me of not taking it easy, I've been sitting ALL DAY. I tried elevating my feet while I work, however, it causes lower back pain. I guess I'm just doomed to have Shrek feet for another month!

BAH!

A memorable memorial day weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun. Our friends, Andy and Hilary, came to town - they stayed with Jay and Erin. We spent our entire weekend surrounded by friends, we spent some time at the outlets, and some much needed time on the lake.

On Friday evening Brian and I headed over to Jay and Erin's to hang out with Andy for a while before they headed off to pick up Hilary from the airport. The gang went down town, but Brian and I went home and watched a movie instead because my feet were already swollen.

Saturday we bought a new couch! we picked it up for a steal at a furniture place on Burnet Road. I talked the guy down by $200 ;-) Mike and Brian picked it up (which saved us another $100 in delivery fees). It's an L-shaped sectional, leather on the bottom/back, with micro-suede cushions and various shades of brown throw pillows. It's super comfy and is perfectly sized for the room. We had been to almost every furniture store in the city and in most cases the secitonals were all too big. We're very happy with it.

Saturday night was spent over at Jay and Erin's with Mike and Tara and Andy and Hilary, and a few others. We grilled, hung out, and had a hilarious evening of cheesy Kareoke, complete with video, which I'm hoping will be posted on youtube.com in the near future. You haven't experienced Kareoke until you've heard Andy and Jay's rendition of Sonny and Cher's "I got you babe". Brian and I made it home around 3am.

On Sunday, Brian camped out on our new couch in front of the Indy 500 while I took a trip down to the outlets in San Marcos with the girls. we spent a good 5 hours there and I bought one thing for the kid - a race car night light from Pottery Barn, some awesome linen trousers for me, some red mugs to match our other dishes from Crate & Barrel, and of course, smelly lotions from Bath and Body Works. While we were gone, Brian took a 6 hour power knap. Apparently our new couch is *really* comfy. So much so that Brian didn't answer anybody's calls and was only woken up by Mike opening our garage and moving more stuff into it. Then Brian went back to sleep until dinner time.

We had dinner at Chuy's on North Lamar. What's interesting about this Chuy's is that there was no wait and it was relatively dead. Yet when we called over to the Chuy's at 183/Duval there was a wait of 1.5 hours! After dinner we went to Main event for some bowling and basketball.

Monday we woke up to awful weather and it was looking like our lake plans would be cancelled. We headed over to Mike and Tara's for some pancakes and lattes while we waited for the weather to improve. By noon it was brightening up so we packed up the truck and went to pick up the boat, then headed out to Volente to launch. The rest of the gang met us at the boat launch and we headed off to Devil's Cove for some sun and people watching.

Due to the weather, boat population in Devil's cove was relatively light at first, but as the day progressed the number of boats increased, as did the number of girls in tiny bikinis making complete arses of themselves and humping each other's legs, and the number of young guys shotgunning beers. We met up with Bob and his crew in the cove and tied up at a respectable distance from all the debauchery that we could observe unobstructed. It was very entertaining.
We did get pulled over by the police on our way into the cove and they did a check to make sure all of us had life jackets, etc. But I think we were the least of their concerns.

The day turned out to be perfect. The clouds burned off and the air temp was in the low 90's while the water temp was in the mid 70's. Perfect for cooling off. The kid seemed to go a little nutso when I went in the water. I suspect that it was due to the temperature differences between being baked in the sun vs doused in 75 degree water. By the end of the day we all had a healthy glow from the sun and were exhausted. After putting the boat away, Mike, Tara, Brian and I headed to Rudy's for some BBQ before heading to our respective homes for a much needed shower and some relaxation in front of the TV.

I'm SO over American Idol

I had recorded Tuesday's American Idol and watched it yesterday before the finale. Based purely on those performances, Jordin deserved to win. Blake is going to do very well in his genre, but he really isn't that good of a singer.

I went over to Barbie's to watch the finale and Michelle joined us, too. Impromptu girl's nights in are always so much fun. Barbie made dinner for us, and a special treat for me, Razzleberry pie with vanilla ice cream! YUMMY!
We watched the show commercial free, and right before they announced who the winner was... what happened? the damn DVR stopped recording it. The show must have ran over time, but the DVR isn't smart enough to know that. So we missed the announcement of the winner!

OK, so we know Jordin won because it's all over the AI web site. But I have to say, Jordin did not deserve to win over Melinda. No way. I can't wait to buy Melinda's album, though.

A few observations from the finale:

• Kelly Clarkson rocks. Love her. She's gotten a lot cuter since her arrival on the scene, too. I love that she's starting to explore more rock type songs, like the two she has in the charts right now. Rock-on Kelly!
  
• Carrie underwood - I don't like country music, but I do like that one song "before he cheats". I think she has a beautiful voice, but honestly, her remake of "I'll stand by you" doesn't compare to the original. Especially since she didn't change it up at all and make it her own. I thought it was very kareoke-like. Nobody can sing like Chrissy Heins, so don't even try.
  
• Ruben Stoddard- Dude, you're rich. Get a personal trainer. Being called the velvet teddybear is not flattering.
  
• Taylor Hicks - Taylor who? I haven't heard a damn thing he's done since winning idol. Very disappointed here. Chris Daughtry should have won that season. You hear his voice on EVERY radio station.
  
• Who the heck were those two people Melinda got stuck singing with??
  
• And finally, how did they choose the winning song that Jordin will now release? Who's responsible for that crap? That's the cheesiest song ever. It sounds exactly like all the other cheesy songs that the winners have to record. Poor Jordin is gonna have to work hard to erase that one from the minds of America. I wonder if those guys who wrote it did it as a joke? I hope they're laughing all the way to the bank with royalty checks from that. That'd be the jape of the century!

And for all my whining and complaining about the unfairness of the competition, and my incredulousness about the tone deaf population voting, I am looking forward to the next season.

Barbie's Birthday

We had so much fun for Barbie's Birthday. We met at Donn's, then headed to Hut's for dinner, then back to Donn's for a little Murphy's Inlaws. Generally what happens at girls night stays at girls night, however, these pictures are too funny to not share. So here you go:

A little T, but no A.


Workin for tips so my baby daddy can get a new grille!


Andi's your private dancer.


She works hard for the money.

Two for the price of one!


Girls just wanna have fun!

1 year of married bliss!

Today is our one year anniversary!
It's been the most awesome year, and fortunately, the bad things that happened in the Dominican Republic were no indication of the year ahead. It seems we got all of our bad luck out of the way before the wedding :-)

In our first year of marriage, we've travelled South East Asia, bought a beautiful new home, and became future parents. There isn't one minute of the last year with Brian that I'd do differently. Even down to the black ankle and jelly fish sting on my wedding day. While those things were inconvenient, they have become part of our memories and a funny story. During the past week I've spent a lot of time daydreaming and remembering the most fun wedding I've ever been to - 9 whole days of fun in the sun, spent with all the people we love most in the world. The only bad thing about our wedding - we may never have another vacation as fun as that!

As I think back on those times, it makes me long to be on a beautiful white sandy beach with a turquoise ocean to play in, and surrounded by friends. I am hopeful that one of my friends will have a destination wedding soon, and we can do it all over again. (Hint, HINT! - you know who you are.)

I'm looking forward to another amazing year with my perfect man (ok, so he's not perfect, but he is perfect FOR ME), and despite my objections and foot dragging on becoming a mother, I can't wait to see Brian as a dad.

Here's to another fun year!

American Idol Shocker!

I'm completely stunned that my girl, Melinda, didn't make it to the finals. I thought for sure she was gonna win. She was by far the better singer of the three. I'm so disappointed. No matter, though. She's going to make it big, and I will certainly buy her CDs.

Between Blake and Jordin... I think Jordin gets my vote. Blake's beat boxing is starting to get old, and when he sings he's just a little bit nasal. Blake seems like a nice chap, though. I bet he'll be a huge success.

Childbirth class 2

This week's class was much less gory than last week. We talked a lot about drug options and asked a ton of questions. The video this week was of a woman giving birth who had an epidural. It was much more pleasant, and the videographer spent less time on the full frontal crowning shot, which I appreciated. I was actually able to watch the whole thing without closing my eyes. The woman in the video looked a lot more relaxed. She was a race cyclist and was in very good shape when she got pregnant, so her endurance was probably pretty high, and throughout her pregnancy, she continued to work out as normal.
I saw a lot of similarities between this woman's pregnancy and my own and that instilled me with a bit more confidence that I can do this. It reinforced that my working out is going to help me during labour and recovery. I need that kind of positive reinforcement right now because working out is hard when you don't have much energy and you hurt all the time. It's all I can do to drag my tired arse to the gym anymore.
We got many of our questions about epidurals answered, including how many people have been paralyzed from the epidural at this hospital. The answer is zero. Which is comforting. There is a slight risk, but I do think the benefits outweigh those risks.
Next week we're going to see a cesarian section delivery. I made the mistake of watching one on the web a month or so ago and I just can't imagine having that done.
As we get closer and closer to delivery, I am getting more and more freaked out about all this. I know I'm being a huge pussy, and I know I can do this, and it's not like I have much choice anyway, but nothing anyone says is going to make me feel better until it's over and I can look back on it.
And on top of my fears of delivery, another issue has surfaced: despite me wanting to get this prgnancy over with, and my body back, I'm not ready to be a mum yet!

I'm trying to remain positive. Truly I am.

Running Mojo and Pregnoid Pics

Yesterday Barbie and I went down to beautiful Town Lake for a bit of exercise. We only did the 3 mile loop, but it was so great to be outside excercising again. We did about 50% walking and 50% running. The running was uncomfortable, but bearable. The extra weight made my muscles feel sluggish, and of course it didn`t make the cardio easy either, but it felt good to actually run and it did wonders for me mentally. It is just nice to know that I can still do it, even at 7.5 months pregnant. Of course, I am still going to the gym 3 - 4 times a week, but it just is not the same as getting outside and enjoying the beautiful trail around Town Lake. I can not wait until I can go running with my girls again on the weekends.

For those of you who have been bugging me for more pictures, I have posted a couple of new ones in the gallery for you to ogle my ever growing belly. Here's one for you instant gratification types:



And also, I did my first bit of decorating of The Kid's room. You can see pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keylimeypie/TheKid
Check out the awesome crib that Grandma and Grandpa B got for him :-)

Childbirth class 1

Last night Brian and I attended our first in a set of 3 childbirth classes. Imust admit that I didn't want to be there and I certainly didn't want to see a video of child birth. The instructor was wonderful, though, and the class was very informal, which I liked. Here are a few things I learned in class:

• Despite well meaning people who comment on how big my stomach is getting, I am actually average/smaller than average - though this doesn't make me feel any less of a whale.
  
• We really need to choose a pediatrician ASAP
• We really need to get our car seat ASAP because I could deliver at ANY MOMENT! ACK!
• Being in the room with someone you care about while they give birth is a much different experience than watching a stranger on a TV screen.
  
• Deep breathing while something the size of a watermelon is pushing its way out of me is NOT GOING TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER!
  
• I'm completely freaking out.
  

During the video, I had to look away. I can see all other manner of gory things, even open heart surgery doesn't bother me, or face lifts... but for some reason childbirth is the most disgusting thing in the world. I think women who choose to do this naturally with no drugs are completely insane.

OMG! OMG! OMG! What have I done???

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 ;-)