Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The (Ultrasound) Results Are In...

We'll be having another girl!

So I guess that answers the question on weather my husband and I are the sort who want to find out the gender or not. We are the sort who want to find out.

For my own part, I think it's a suprise whenever you find out, so I'd be content to find out at the ultrasound or wait until the baby is delivered. A few things tip the balance in favor of finding out during the ultrasound. Those things were my husband...
and my husband again.

A prospective dad can have a very hard time relating to the prenancy and the baby. I read this insight way before I was even dating the husband, but for some reason, that idea stuck with me. The ultrasound lets dad see the baby, but knowing the gender means they know at least something about the child they are expecting.




My husband definitely needed some positive associations with the first pregancy. I spent the first trimester very sick and tired. My blessed husband was sent down to the kitchen every night for multiple glasses of milk & juice, or for snacks to ward off morning-sickness. He woke up most mornings not to the sound of his alarm clock, but of me stumbling out of bed and into the bathroom. I felt like a person with a chronic illness rather than a person expecting a baby. Husband was basically bolstering me along until I got past the illness.

The ultrasound was a turning point for us. It occured around the time I started feeling better. Finally we had a glimpse of our daughter. Since I hadn't felt her move yet, it was also further proof that a little baby was in there, waiting for us.

The second reason we were in favor of finding out the sex the baby is that we have a very difficult time choosing a name for the baby. We discovered this early on in the first pregnancy. We decided to declare the topic of baby names off limits until we could eliminate a full 50% of the names that existed. For the second baby, we didn't even bring up the topic of baby names--much less any specific names--until today.

So yeah, we're having a second girl!

I will try to figure out a way to scan in the ultrasound picture & upload it, but don't hold your breath.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

their, thier, there, or they're?

I know I should just quickly look it up in an online dictionary, but the word that indicates plural possessive is "their" or "thier"? Both look misspelled to me. I blame my pregancy that I even noticed such a small thing and then forgot how to spell such a small thing.

I do know the difference between "there", "their/thier", and "they're" and all the stuff about proper usage. I didn't forget everything about 9th grade English or other things I needed to know to major in the subject. But I did forget the spelling rules for "i" before "e" except after "c". Good Grief Charlie Brown!

Friday, July 21, 2006

Air conditioners redux

We've collected a few quotes on replacing an air conditioning unit. I've learned a lot about air conditioners in the last few days. Did you know:

1. The requirements for the energy efficiency of air conditioners changed this year. Most homes have an 8 or 10 seer rating for their outdoor units. Top of the line stuff when the units originally went in, but now, the minimum rating to install is 13 seer.

2. A 13 seer unit can't be retrofitted to indoor air-handlers that could accomodate 10 seer units.

3. This time of year, the cost to install a new outdoor unit and air-handler is in the neighborhood of 5 or 6 Gs.

4. The companies like to quote a flat rate to cover the parts, labor, and installation--but should be able to give you a more specific cost-breakdown. If a guy can't or won't break it down, it's a sign he is seriously padding the price. I won't say that a specific company (Parrish Services) padded the price of the lowest quality unit on the market above the highest quality units on the market. I won't tell you the low end unit was $400 more than the high end unit.

5. I know a lot more if you want to ask me about it--variable temp air handling, the differences in new and old refrigerant, goodness, I can even recommend some good people to work with.

6. I hate air conditioners.

Monday, July 17, 2006

No beer and no TV make Homer something something

Go crazy?
Dont mind if I do!

Our air conditioning unit has been on the fritz since Memorial Day Weekend--basically the first day we turned on the a/c. While the unit would blow air, it was all hot air.

We got servicemen out to check things out. They noticed a leak, refilled the unit with freon, charged us some money, and went on their way.

Less than a month later, the unit stopped blowing cold air all over again. We called the servicemen again. They came out, said the problem was worse than they thought, and refilled the unit with freon so that we had more cool air while they did some tests on the sytem.

Finally, they came back out, and declared the unit near-dead. They even filled it with more freon so we had cool air while we worked on getting a new unit installed.

They did the last freon refill yesterday. Today, I came home from a long day out to an interior temperature in the 80s. The unit is truly dead. And we're in for a record heat wave this week.

Great.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Oh yeah...

I realize I should provide a couple clarifications from the previous post.

First, I am pregnant with our second baby! The baby is due December 7, otherwise known as Pearl Harbor Day. The very limited readership of this blog should already know the news, but if there are any lurkers I don't know about, now you know too!

The other thing I'd like to add is that I've heard the term "doctor" so much lately, it's become so repetitive, that the word now sounds like nonsense to me. If you don't know what I'm talking about, say "doctor" over and over again until it doesn't make sense. Then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Man, what's it with doctors?

I majored in English in college. This has nothing to do with this post except I've noticed a theme in my life lately, especially when I look at the topic of my blogger posts. By theme I mean "a distinct, recurring, and unifying quality or idea" (definition courtesy of Encarta). Doctors, doctors' offices, doctor's visits and other doctor-related things seem to be recurring over and over in various ways lately.

While I've been kinda vague about the doctor's visits I've mentioned previously (except to note the baby's wonderful behavior) it all started about four months ago when I thought I was pregnant again. First, there was the intial OB visit, with a follow-up ultrasound scheduled for the next week, then there is an appointment with the OB every four weeks or so. Then the dentist for a cleaning and check-up. Then the baby hit the stage where illness is common, and we saw the general practioner for a) the baby's earache b) the baby's cold c) my cold I caught from the baby that turned into a sinus infection d) a girly problem common to pregancy (which the GP didn't catch but the OB did catch a week later). Oh, and we almost went to the doctor when the baby came down with a high fever for roughly 24 hours.

Once everyone in my household finished with the doctor's appointments and courses of antibiotics, I found out my mom's doctor thought surgery was necessary to improve blood flow to her legs to combat her cardio-vascular disease. Instead of a round of doctor's visits, she spent a few days in the hospital to recover from the surgeries and is now home recuperating. Her recovery is going quite well.

While things are slowly returning to normal, I'm left wondering if this theme is going to fade or continue as strong as ever? I guess the baby still has well-baby checkups and I'll still have OB visits...but can we visit with the doctor without somone being sick or undergoing surgery? Can we stop by and just sit and have a nice chat? Would insurance cover a nice chat?

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Sister's Wedding

Over the Memorial Day holiday, my sister got married. Here's a photo of the bride, her matron of honor (me), and the baby that's about to eat the bouquet. I loved the flowers.

I wasn't so in love with my dress, or rather, I really liked my dress, I didn't like that the lady who did the alterations did such a poor job that the top of the dress is still gi-normous 'cause she admitted it would take more time to do another nip and tuck to the dress.

Unfortunately, I only picked up the dress a day before the wedding, and did not have an opportunity to stand over her and her sewing machine to make it right. But isn't the green silk gorgeous in the picture? The wrap was a last minute addition to cover the immodest top of the dress and make it wearable for the wedding.

The wedding itself was very nice. Beyond the beautiful people milling around for pictures (see above) and the cake was G-R-E-A-T! A wedding is made when the cake is good. The cake was moist and the icing held in place but wasn't rock hard. Yummy. Even the baby had a piece.

Sick & Better & Rain!

Ok, no posts for a while. First the baby was sick, which is common for 9 month old, then I got what she had, and then she picked up something from a cousin, it spread around, a solid 30 days of someone in the house either not well or on antibiotics.

But now we are much restored, just in time for lots and lots of rain. Seattle-like even.

The rain has caused a lot of flooding, downed trees and general mess in the area. Glad to report that there was no flooding in mi casa, but I did realize our gutter is bent and needs some fixing. It poured a ton of water down the front of our house. I hope the foundation can take it.

Next post will be on something we did during the 30 days of illness--provided I can get the pictures loaded ;)