Pants with a button only, please.

Now that Lizzie is born, I'm excited about ditching the pants with elastic in the waist for pants real people wear. Zipper, stretch, and even a button. Bring on pants with a button! For Christmas, I went shopping for real, genuine pants with a button. Here's what I found:



I'm just like real people.

Hugh Hefner Christmas

Annie got several great gifts for Christmas. You can read about the one of her gifts here. We didn't get a lot of great pictures over the last few days, but here she is modeling the robe she got, Hugh Hefner style.

Diaper Business

My family sees fit to keep Pampers in business. Not only are both girls still in diapers, Elizabeth has seen fit start the monster baby poos. In the course of one changing, she had
1. the original dirty diaper
2. the clean diaper that I meant to put on her that was also pooed on
3. the second clean diaper that caught still more poo and
4. the clean diaper I finally got on her.

By the time she was done it took a total of four diapers! I didn't even keep count of how many baby wipes we went through.

"My daughter the BF militant"

Went to Abigail's school Christmas concert (no "proper" Nativity this year Sad ). Each class did a little something followed by a song or 2. Anyway, Ab's class did a Nativity scene, with Ab as Mary ( Grin How proud was I?). A few mins into their bit Ab promptly lifted her dress & shoved baby Jesus up it. The script then wandered away from what they'd learnt & goes as follows....

Joseph: "What are you doing?"
Mary: "I'm feeding our baby"
Shepherd: "Have you got a bottle up there then?"
Mary: "Don't be silly he's having milk from my booby"
Joseph: "That's disgusting"
Mary: "No, that baby milk they have in Tescos is disgusting. My baby's having proper milk"
Shepherd: "What's a booby?"
Mary: "Those sticky out bits ladies have"
Shepherd: "They're not boobies, they're nipples"
Mary: "No they're not, they're boobies"
Joseph: "So why can't Jesus have milk from a bottle then?"
Mary: "Because I haven't got a breast pump with me - you forgot to put it on the donkey"
Shepherd: "Can't you ask the teacher for a bottle to feed Jesus with?"
Mary: "No because this is the best way to feed Jesus. Anyway bottles haven't been invented yet & even if they were I've just had a baby so if you think I'm faffing about round Tescos to buy baby milk when I make proper milk in my boobies you can think again"

I felt a teeny bit sorry for their class teacher - she did try her best to steer them back towards their proper lines but she was laughing so much she didn't really stand a chance. The line about Joseph forgetting the breast pump finished her off - she slid to the floor & couldn't get up for laughing....



This was posted by sejjie70 on the British message board Hunybeez. The original post is found here.

As a breastfeeding mom, I thought it was very funny.

Baby Elizabeth Claire is Here!

Elizabeth Claire Schaad was born Friday, December 8 at 12:12pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz and is 20 inches long. Labor only lasted for a total of 4 hours, with only 15 minutes of pushing. Everything went smoothly with no problems. After a short hospital visit we are all now home and settling in, just in time for Christmas!

Sprung a leak...

In a pipe underneath our master bathroom. It dripped through the ceiling, into the center of the couch, through the floor, and made a puddle on our dryer in the basement.

The pipe that sprung was a clean water pipe that brings water into the bathroom--so sanitary conditions aren't a concern, but getting everything dry is. When I called Tim to ask him how to turn the water off in the house, he immediately came home. We then called a plumber and filed a claim with our home owners insurance. This all happened around 3-4 pm in the afternoon. By the end of the night the plumber had come and gone, and while the water mitigation people were willing to come out at 10pm, we scheduled them to come first thing in the morning. They have already come and gone--we just need to keep the fans and dehumidifiers running through the weekend. So, apart from a hole in our ceiling, things don't look to bad. The good thing is that hour home owner's insurance is GREAT and everything will be back to normal soon.

In less than 24 hours we've already made so much progress toward repair, the only thing I have to worry about is that I really really love that couch and it might not get salvaged. I love that couch, not because it's pretty or new, but because it was the only comfortable place to sleep while pregnant. It also didn't hurt that it was 10+ years old and apart from Annie setting fire to it, she couldn't do anything to it to mess it up. I guess we'll wait and see if it dries out.

Tortoise and the Hare

The baby is due to arrive next week. I'm excited, I'm already in love but I've also been pretty tired. Resting a lot--but when I rest, I also think. Combine that with the pregnancy hormones and I'm gushy and thinking in lots of different directions and having lots of Pooh Bear's "Deep Thinks." A good friend described me a 'crazy pregified' to refer to how far along I am and how close the delivery is. I think it describes the mental state pretty well too.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a recent thought. Nothing earth-shattering by far, but I guess it is feeling timely and relevant to me. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? The moral of the story was, slow and steady win the race. Does that mean a steady dedication to a task will yield better results or that a slow and steady course through life yields the best results? Can you move so quickly through life that it exhausts you and you miss the best parts?



I've been ruminating about how much a person's life can change in just a short while. I'm also thinking about how big and sudden some life changes can seem when you haven't been in touch with a person for awhile. Maybe that's the missing out part, when you are so busy you don't stay in touch with people and everything seems to have passed you by?

Many friends and family and loved ones are going through lots of changes right now. A dear college friend of mine just got engaged; one of my sister's friends is about to be engaged. One of Tim's friends just got married. A friend of mine is trying to launch her own business. The company my SIL worked for just closed so she's making plans to go into business for herself and tackle a few other jobs on the side. Husband and I are expecting our second baby any day now, and good friends are expecting their third. The list goes on and on.

All of these changes are so life-altering that they can loom big and scary while on the horizon, but all of these life-changes are good too. They represent a maturing of each of the individuals involved, they herald the next stage of our lives and they are the natural consequence of being out there and living life. Some of it seems so sudden, as though we're the hare in the race rather than the slow, steady plodding tortoise. Right now I wish things could slow down and we could all be the tortoise and just savor the moments before everything changes again. Being the Hare just seems like a blur.

Catepillars are Ew

Bugs don't bother me,
Bugs don't bother me,
They might bug,
Some of you mugs,
Bugs don't bother me.



I was able to handle the GIANT COCKROACH living in my suitemate's dorm room the freshman year of college. I caught it in a cup and threw it out the window. Very dignified, with a limited amount of screaming, and all that. I'm able to smile indulgently at the weird spider crickets that make first made their way into my basement apartment and now, my basement. I never saw them until I moved north 30 miles. I've even calmly smashed to a mushy pulp dangerous and posionous spiders.

I do not deal well with caterpillars. They used to be pretty cool to play with when I was a kid, but they are tricksy and mistrustful. When I was all of five, I was playing outside and braced my hand on a nearby tree. On the tree was some sort of caterpillar with stingers. Red needlepoint-marks crossed my entire palm and it took months for it to heal completely. I've never seen the same sort of caterpillar since then, but then again, I don't care to look.

Fast forward to present day. I have the bed linens heaped up in a pile on the floor, in front of the washer. The other day, I washed two white mattress pads. When they came out of the dryer, I noticed one had a weird black stain on it. Not knowing where the stain came from, I decided to rewash the mattress pad, and continued running laundry. As I took the bedsheets out of the washer, I noticed something that looked like a big black piece of lint in the bottom of the washer barrel. I fished out--what I thought was lint--and threw it on top of the dryer. When it landed, it landed belly up. It was no giant piece of lint, but a long, black, fuzzy CATERPILLAR!

I allowed myself a mini-freak out. Sent an IM to The Husband, expressing that I could not write 'ew' enough to express both my displeasure at having run wash with a giant caterpillar and my disgust at having touched a CATERPILLAR. The Husband had to dispose of the caterpillar from the top of the dryer when he got home. Only then did more laundry get run.

I'm a little surprised that I found a caterpillar at the beginning of winter though, I thought they were a spring bug. So far, I've only seen one, so I believe this incident is over. The Husband said if I find two, I can assume there are more. If I find a second one, Orkin better come out the same day.

Stay Tuned

I posted earlier about what to wear to a wedding. The wedding is this weekend, and I did find the accessories and put an outfit together. Stay tuned, I'll post some pictures in the next two days so you can see what I wore.

Edited to Add: I forgot to bring my camera, so I didn't get any pictures. Lots of pictures were taken though, so I'll see if I can't get a hold of something to post.

The Countdown is on

I haven't posted in awhile, for a simple and unglamorous reason. I'm tired. The baby is due in four more weeks--December 8! A coworker of Tim's said the last month of pregnancy is designed to make labor and delivery look good. Aint it the truth. I've been neglecting the opportunity to blog so that I can rest or nest.

Cow the Horse

A friend of mine from college bought her very own horse. She recently emailed with news about the horse, how she was thrown, and how she got right back in the saddle. Owning a horse is pretty cool. Horse-ownership is almost every little girl's dream---but not my dream. I never wanted a horse, and here's why...

I fell off a horse as a kid, and I did NOT want to get back on. And it wasn't even a horse-riding lesson where you're learning how to do something cool, like jumping, itw as just a simple trail ride where a sedate, fat old horse walks along a trail!

I was riding second, behind my brother in the saddle. The horse, named "Cow," was known in the stable for sucking air into her belly when being saddled. If a horse does this, the saddle doesn't fit as tightly and it risks sliding out of place. Whatever stable hand saddled her, didn't wait for her to release the air, so the saddle was mounted loose.

As we were riding the pokey old trail, the saddle started to slide waaaay to the left. I was behind the saddle, so I had nothing to hold on to when it started to fall off. Hit the ground with a hard thud. The entire left side hurt, and I had the wind knocked out of me. Otherwise uninjured though. My siblings (who were along for the grand adventure) thought it was hilarious and wouldn't stop laughing. To add insult to injury, my mom also laughed when we got home and the boys told her about "The Great Fall from Cow."

Euphemism for Vomit

I was mulling over a few topics to post about as I sat down at the computer. Looking over the recent comments, I'm going to expand on what Mark wrote.

In case you didn't see the comment he posted:
This probably isn't for public consumption (pun intended), but as long as I'm filling up your blog,here goes:
What with everybody in the world being sick (read: physically ill), I took it upon myself to compile a short list of euphemisms for it.
My favorite is "street spam".

street spam

1. A term to describe any disgusting looking thing on the ground that has an unknown or vague origin.

2. A euphamism for Vomit.
======================================
1. vomit
upchuck
barf
vomit
hurl
ralph
purge
puke
hork
buick
spew
regurgitate
throw up
toss your cookies
lose your lunch
toss a sidewalk pizza
tango with the toilet
make modern art in the toilet
have a technicolor yawn
expunge the contents of your stomach
bare your guts to the world
become a multicolored organic fountain
revisit your breakfast
vomit your victuals
drive the porcelain bus
perform peristaltic pyrotechnics
paint the town red.. and green and orange and pink
have to say "that tasted better going down than coming up"
burp to the ninth power
make the janitor get out the ol’ sawdust bucket
find out just how acidic your stomach contents are
greet your guts
pray to the porcelain god


First, I invite you to add any of your own euphemisms that he might of missed.

Second, I'll explain all this by saying that Annie, Husband, and I were all held hostage for several days by some serious-unfun-GI-bug. Husband seemed to get the most mild case. Annie's illness lingered. Since I'm 34 weeks along, I got to spend Saturday at the hospital to take precautions against dehydration causing pre-term labor. So I got to the hospital so that I could go to the hospital in another few weeks.

Fortunately, everyone is well again and we have moved past this illness.

Proof of Fall

This photo might not be the best shot, but I took it from my back deck, as proof that it is fall here in NoVa. This is for people in Vermont, where they've already had the thier first snow fall of the season, and for people in Hawaii, where mangoes fall from the sky more often than snow.

What to Wear...Part II

Here is is a photo of the dress I bought for the upcoming wedding:



As you can see, it's a deep purple dress, with some gold embellishment. Here's a close-up of the embellishment:



So that give you, the reader, a little more to go on to get an idea of what I bought to wear to this wedding. I'm liking the photo I posted that was meant to give you an idea of what the dress was supposed to look like. It's listed online as cheaper, and the top provides more coverage. I might order it online and see if I can't return the first dress...hmmm.

What to Wear to a Wedding (Not Mine)

Husband has the honor of being the Best Man in a wedding in November. I'm thrilled for the couple, yadda, yadda, but I'll be 38 weeks along when we attend this wedding. A pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks, and doesn't exceed 42 weeks. By 38 weeks, a woman is considered full term and ready to have the baby at any time. If a woman is not lucky enough to have the baby at 38 weeks, she waddles instead of walks, pees often, and shifts uncomfortably in her seat, and other things my brain has blessedly erased from my memory. Nothing is comfortable, everything is wrong.

With that in mind, if I'm not in the hospital having the baby, I'm there for that wedding. I'd really like to go in pjs, or the closest maternity-version of pjs that are out there, but since this looks like a pretty fancy wedding as weddings go, and my date is the Best Man, I'll have to spiff it up a little.

Annie's Grandma came with us out to the Leesburg Outlets not to long ago. We shopped for a dress.

I tried this dress on in the store. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it's very thin, so the popped belly button showed right through all the pretty red wrapping paper.




I ended up with something similar to this dress. I actually like this dress a little better, because it covers the shoulders (and the bra straps underneath).




My actual dress (I'll try to take the time to take a photo of it and upload it to the post) is a deep purple, not black, with a similar embroidery, embellishment along the top. The actual top of the dress is straps. My guess is that it was a summer, not fall, selection.

So I've got a dress to wear, but I need a cardigan or wrap or something to ward off the November chill and to feel appropriately covered, whilst making the rounds feeling like a beached whale.

My sister sent me the following links for cardigans.

Target 1
Target 2
Old Navy
Motherhood Maternity

What do you think?

More Cleaning

...makes the house look so nice, and makes me so much less stresed out. Tra la la la la.

Yesterday Grandma kindly took Annie so that I had a day in the house to get housework done. Now, this cleaning philosophy might not jiive with the FlyLady (see below for a post on her) but I often waffle back and forth on what should be the first priority in cleaning. Should I maintain or tackle the mess? Should I go into a room that's been recently cleaned and pick up the clutter, do a quick dust, make sure everything looks nice then go tackle a room that's been neglected for awhile OR tackle a room that's been neglected for a while, get it looking nice, and turn around to see the recently cleaned room in shambles again?

The FlyLady would try to tell me that consistent maintenance in each room wins the gold star, but my energy doesn't extend that far. Yesterday I decided to maintain first, then tackle projects second. It took most of the day to run some laundry, tidy up a few bathrooms, get the kitchen back into shape etc--basically to maintain areas that were in good shape just a few short days ago. In the interest of full disclosure, there were also several rest breaks in there as the pregnant lady doesn't seem to work for more than 2 hours at a time without needing a break.

Today, I'd like to try to tackle a few areas that have been neglected for a bit longer, specifically the bedrooms. Clothes are everywhere. Annie's off season clothes and the clothes she's grown out of need to be stored. The drawers also need to be organized so the dresser works for not one, but two babies. I have a lot of stuff I'm growing out of and growing into; plus Husband started a new job so his work wardrobe has shifted some. All of these issues need to be resolved and the clothes need a home. We don't have the most closet space, unfortunately, or I doubt this would be as much of an issue.

So, finding a home for lost clothes is the plan for today, combined with Annie helpfully grabbing at the neatly folded stacks of clothes and whipping them around her head. She does it with such glee though, so it's hard to get upset. Hard to get much done, but also hard to get upset.

The Weekend

This weekend we cleaned house, had the Husband's family over for brunch, and had our final Teams of our Lady piloting session. A fairly busy weekend all in all, but thinkgs worked out pretty well.

The reason I attribute things going so smoothly is that we were actually able to spend the day at home Saturday! I can't remember the last time we had a Saturday where we weren't scheduled to be somewhere or do something that took a significant part of the day. Husband and I were both home, both able to clean and tidy, and both able to look after the baby.

Husband even sorted through all the computer's operating disks, game disks, and miscellaneous computer stuff to get it all organized. Previously everything had been lumped together in one box. The box kinda exploded when the new computer arrived and Husband installed the programs and games he wanted on the new computer hotness. The end result, our basement is looking good!

So Saturday we cleaned, and Sunday we welcomed guests. Since we'd been home, we had time to prep some of the food to minimize the kitchen time, we were able to set up the dining room table so everyone would fit, and able to put together a few games and toys for the neices and nephews while they were here. Husband even had time to run outside with the guys to kick the soccer ball around 20 minutes before dinner and getting dinner out went smoothly. Although a lasagna takes more time in the oven than the cooking directions state....otherwise a smooth day. It was so, so nice to have things clean, organized and ready to go in the house.

Did I mention how much I loved being home and using the time to clean Saturday?

Project Runway Finale

I'll admit it, I'm a Project Runway fan. Saw some episodes during the first and second seasons, but with the third season, I made a point of following it all the way through. Last night was the finale to determine which of the four (not three!) designers would be the ultimate winner. Very excited to watch because each designer was likable with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Even Husband watched a few episodes this season, and had his opinions on the designs. He may not out-and-out like the shows I like, but he is very tolerant and will sit and watch with me. He notes that there are two categories of reality shows. The first is the Survivor sort of show, where everyone is back-stabbing and double-crossing. The second are the types where they do a make-over, redesign a room, you win a prize and these shows may have some drama, but they are ultimately designed to help and promote the people that are featured on it. The positive reality shows he doesn't mind watching with me.

Last night Husband was out, and it was Annie and I alone for the night. I thought Annie would settle early and I'd have the evening free to do my thing and watch the finale. Annie had a horrible night. She took forever to settle and I completely missed the finale. I was ok with that, until I went to the bravotv website to pull an interesting pic for the post and found it plastered with congratulations to the winner. Bravo usually replays the same show over and over, so I'll probably catch it within the next day or two. Sigh.

Update: Sure enough, Bravo was running the episodes from season 3 today. Did I get to catch the finale? No. Why? Husband scheduled a raquet ball game this afternoon and neglected to take his equipment with him. When he called to ask me to bring his stuff out to him at work, I don't think it would have gone over well if I told him it didn't jiive with my plan to watch tv today.

Further Update: It was on this evening! I was glued to the tv (and not making dinner) when Husband came home from work and the raquet ball game. He was able to catch the collections come down the Runway, and we watched the end of the finale together. Everyone had a lot of talent, I'm not suprised at the outcome. Laura is a one trick pony, Michael Knight still has skills he can develop (that will take him far in the fashion world) but both Uli and Jeffrey had good looking collections. While I do agree taht Jeffrey had the best collection, in terms of the variety and cohesive look of the collection, I don't think telling Uli that she had a lot of marketability and success in women's design was enough to make up for not winning.

Cleaning the Flylady Way

"The house did not get dirty overnight and it will not get clean overnight" as quoted from Flylady.net. If you're familiar with her cleaning approach, she has a system of housekeeping that relies on routine. She emphasizes making small, consistent changes that will last and enable one to keep a tidier house. She also mentions that it's easiest to start if you work in brief bursts.

The brief bursts work well for a lady who's 8 months pregnant with a messy one year old. I've been working on small patches around the house--my bathroom is looking good except for the tub, the kitchen sink is shined, I'm running laundry--but that I haven't accomplished any real cleaning project, like a single room or floor of the house. With all the small patches I feel like I'm making progress, but I'm also looking for that moment where things really come together and I can look around and say the house is looking pretty good. I guess I need to repeat the mantra until I get to that moment. "Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps."

Endodontic Experience

Us pregnant ladies are supposed to make sure we receive regular dental care. Dr. Spock explains why dental care is so important and why dental problems seem to crop up for pregnant ladies:

Gingivitis (an inflammation of the gums) is a common problem, which may be the result of increased blood flow to the gums caused by pregnancy hormones. It can lead to bleeding gums and has been associated with complications of pregnancy, such as premature birth. It isn't known whether gingivitis directly causes premature labor or whether it's a marker for poor self-care and other health risks that might predispose a woman to pre-term birth. It's always wise to take good care of your teeth; just consider the potential risk of pre-term birth as one more reason to pay attention to this aspect of your health.

I did not worry too much about dental care during the first pregnancy. Well, I worried about it, but I didn't do anything about it during the first pregnancy. I really, really needed to have my teeth x-rayed to check for cavities. Since it's very difficult to get a full set of x-rays during pregnancy, I figured I would wait until until Annie was born, then I'd go to the dentist.

I made appointments for a dental cleaning and exam when Annie was 6 months old, thinking she's old enough for to manage the appointment. Alas, I was already pregnant again. So for this second pregnancy, I was taking good care of my teeth, but more by default rather than actual design.

I had a cleaning, but no x-rays. Not a huge deal, but the dentist told me to come back as soon as the baby was born so we could get a good look at my teeth.

A couple weeks ago, I was up all night with a toothache. Went back to the dentist to check it out. He was glad I came, but wanted to proceed cautiously as I was still pregnant. He draped two lead-aprons over my belly, assured me a quick x-ray was safe, and targeted the tooth that ached. He then referred me to a specialist.

The specialist is an endodontist. To become an endodontist, you must go to school for an extra two years. An endodontist is defined as someone who studies "a branch of dentistry concerned with diseases of the pulp." He recommended a root canal cause that's what he does. So I had a root canal yesterday.

It wasn't as uncomfortable as I expected. When you have a cavity filled, they use the drill. The drill vibrates and is pretty uncomfortable as far as I'm concerned. For a root canal they don't really drill so much as file the tooth. Kinda feels like having your tooth flossed from the inside. Not so bad really. Today my tooth is a little sensitive, where you want to chew your food on the other side of your mouth, not go to the dentist for the toothache kind of thing. Overall an improvement. I still need to return to my regular dentist for a crown though...

What to name the new baby?

Husband and I are trying to come up with a name for the second baby. For our first daughter, "Anne" was the only name I suggested that he didn't hate. Our daughter is named "Anne." It was the only name we had for a girl's name. How are we supposed to come up with a name for another girl (or any other girls we have for that matter)?

We decided to solicit the suggestions of friends and family. One Sunday at brunch, Husband's 7 year old nephew suggested "Pear Blossom." Funnily enough, I have a neice on my side of the family whose name is "Cherry Blossom," whom he has never met.

I then suggested to the 7 year old that we might want a name that reflects a saint's name. He then suggested "Claire Theresa" since "they're both saints!"

In that vein, a priest friend suggested such names as "Scholastica" and "Philomena."


Above is a picture of Saint Philomena. Her biography (as quoted from Catholic.org) states, "
Little is known of her life, and the information was have was received by private revelation from her. Martyred at about age 14 in the early days of the Church. [Eventually her bones were allowed to be transported to a shrine.] Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures of cancer, healing of wounds, and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe heart ailment overnight. Philomena became the only person recognized as a Saint solely on the basis of miraculous intercession as nothing historical was known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom. "

Thanks for the suggestions, we'll keep working on it.

J-E-L-L-O

Just wanted to post a picture of a cutie pie! Now that we have a computer again, I'm finally downloading the pictures from the camera and uploading them online. This photo is nearly a month old, but it doesn't matter. In this photo, she is showing that she loves America's favorite gelatin desert, Jello!

Blog Restored

Well, it's been a month since the computer crumped and we ordered a new one. Now we have the nice, new computer hotness and the blogging is restored! Will update soon...

Annie Turns 1!

Annie turns 1! Her birthday is Monday August 21, and we celebrated her birthday a few days before, on Saturday.

The best images are videos of her playing with her birthday hat & eating her birthday cupcake. As you can probably tell by previous posts, I'm not the most internet & computer savvy, so I'm not sure how to upload the videos.

So, here is a picture of her offering her birthday cupcake to her daddy (who is out of the shot). I think a good time was had by had by all. Even those who were two hours late after getting lost trying to make their way through Northern VA.

Blogging Hiatus

The home computer is busted, so the blog is on hiatus for awhile. I hope I remember I have a blog once we get the box replaced.

Please take a look

I'd like to post a link to a blog of a friend of mine. The entry is "Parting with my Quilts" posted 8/1/06. She writes about the gift she gave to Annie the day she was born. I feel very grateful to Kate for allowing my daugther to have the quilt, as well as the emotions and memories attached to it.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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?

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 ;)

Sick Baby

Baby is sick with her first ear infection. It was diagnosed during her 9 month well-baby check. It started as a runny nose that developed last week, then got worse. She developed a fever yesterday & would wake up from naps crying inconsolably. Even though she never pulled at her ears, crying when on her back is a classic symptom since the built up pressure causes pain. She's on a penicillin, tylenol, and dimetap. I hope she feels better soon.

* I also apologize for any spelling errors in this post as I am typing one-handed.

The Baby Crawled out of her Diaper

Yeah, that's basically it. I changed her diaper and promptly took the dirty diaper to the trashcan in another room. She had crawled along to meet me in the other room. I noticed she was sitting next to a diaper--was this her latest toy? Perhaps, but her bare tush made that question moot. The one thing that suprises me is that she was able to get out of the whole thing. Yes, she got rediapered and I haven't seen any more Houdini-like tricks.

Lost on DVD

Back around Christmas, I convinced my husband's Mom that he'd really like to have the first season of Lost on DVD--read that I'd really wanted Lost on DVD and the husband was interested in watching it too. Sure enough, Husband got Lost. We began watching the episodes this week. Me likey.

What's the delay in getting started you may ask? Well, one of Husband's co-workers loaned us the first three seasons of 24 when he learned I was pregnant with the baby. We had to get through those seasons before we could start a new series. The first season of 24 was great. We were riveted.

The second season was going strong, but then...we noticed a few holes in the plot. The impossible conditions became comical.

Then the third season, and I just didn't care that much. Sure, I appreciated it when Jack finally killed Nina (sorry if that's a spoiler for anyone out there) but, within 24 hours he gets over his heroin addiction? Really? I don't get over a simple cold in 24 hours and Jack beats heroin? We perservered though. Husband would watch the episode while I slept through it on the couch. I would then watch the "prevoiusly on 24" & promptly fall asleep again.

Now that we've watched as Jack Bauer has single-handedly saved the world not once, not twice, but thrice, we're ready to change gears. That's where Lost comes in. Husband and I have only seen a few episodes, but I already like it--especially what is left unseen and untold. The only thing I'm wondering is if it will take on an X-Files- like element of unexplained phenomena that becomes convuluted and difficult to understand. No spoilers on the other seasons please!

KMart & Mother's Day

I saw a KMart commercial today. It's a close-up of a toddler with an introspective expression on his face. The camera then cuts away to show him on the toilet in the bathroom as he shouts, "Mommy, I'm dooone!" The voice over announces, "For all the things Mom's do, Mother's Day at KMart." I laughed out loud, which suprised the baby.

Things a Mommy notices

Is it just the way I feed the baby, or does the highchair get dirty really quickly? Even though I wipe the highchair down at least once a day, I have to go back and scrub off the dried cereal and crumbs once a week. Since she only eats pureed baby food, where do the crumbs come from?

More Medical Appointments & Sleep

Went to the doctor's office today. I had a very early appointment 7:15 am. Glad to report that I actually showed up on time.

The baby was also very cooperative. Her normal waking time is between 9-10 am. She was awake at 6:20 am and kept a sunny disposition until about 9:20 am. We made it home, took an hour long nap and her spirits are restored. She's still running at a sleep deficit though, so are we looking for a second nap or an early bedtime today? Time (and temper) will tell.

Dentistry

My good and loving husband has been on my case to make dental appointments. Nothing fancy, just a cleaning and exam. Ugh. We went today. They cleaned my teeth. My teeth felt weird. I drank some Pepsi. Dousing them with sugar made my mouth feel normal again.

Pampers Rewards

After trying several brands of diapers, I have settled on the Pampers brand as one of the best fits for the baby.

Most brands of baby items have websites where you can register. The registration process allows you to recieve coupons and free smaples, making it worthwhile for the consumer.

Pampers also has the 'gifts to grow' program. You get a package of diapers & there is a code on the inside packaging. You enter the code on the website and voila, you rack up points for free stuff. While the free stuff is in no way near the price I'm spending per package of diapers, it's not a bad return for having to spend $.30 per diaper.

The only drawback has been that I have purchased a few packages of diapers that didn't have the proper codes added to the packaging. If they are offering an incentive to purchase thier product, that incentive better be there. Overall, a good idea to promote brand loyalty.

Petsmart Commercial

I know I don't have much of a readership, but if I never blog, it'll never grow right? Let me go ahead and throw up a few things I've been meaning to write about and haven't taken the time for:

Petsmart started a new marketing campaign. The commercial I saw had a small terrier with a large chew toy. There are several shots with the dog in different scenarios, always keeping the chew toy with him. Finally, the dog is asleep on the bed (of course with the toy) when a woman's hand enters the scene to throw the raggedy toy in the trash can. The final scene is the lady and the dog walking the beautifully lit aisles of Petsmart to get a new, clean chew toy.

While watching I notice that it seems like they are drawing some sort of parallel between the dog and a toddler with a beloved (if dirty) blankie.

Then the voiceover states "Petsmart:Everything a pet-parent needs."

WHAT?! A pet-parent?

What has society come to if marketing refers to pet owners as pet parents? I state for the record that I cannot and will not be a parent to anything that doesn't have an immortal soul, If it doesn't have an immortal soul, then it's something I own, not parent. As a parent, I'm offended.

Cherry Blossom Adventure

Last Wednesday, a week ago now, the baby and I went to go see the Cherry Blossoms in the Tidal Basin. We went with another baby and mommy friend.

Here is a shamelessly cute picture of the baby...


trying to grab a clump of cherry blossoms and wad them into her mouth. I let her chew on a grape instead...




while she put forth game effort, I don't think her heart was in it. She was perked up by this furry fellow...




Overall, I think a good time was had by all...




Save the brutally rebuffed.

My Mad Skillz

Humility can be defined as "being modest about one's accomplishments. " So why be humble and modest about our accomplishments?

If we were aware of just how good we are at something, then we know we really aren't that good. The last thing in the world we want to do is brag about how good we aren't at doing something. Humility is in fact self-preservation, to keep us from looking like jerks. A big part of humility and humbleness is being able to see ourselves accurately.

So with a humble heart, I will share with you just how good I am at at installing car seats for babies.

Something I actually said on AIM:
polskapolska: it wouldn't have been checked by a safety official, but i can usually install a latch car seat pretty well after a round of good cursing and finger smashing

Hot Friday Night

9:20 pm--Come home from the brother-in-law's house. Where I had dinner with his family.

9:21 pm--Unload the baby gear from the car.

9:26 pm--Unload the baby from the car.

9:27 pm--Put PJ's on.

9:30 pm--I nurse the baby to sleep. I fall asleep with her.

11:00 pm--I wake up to hearing the whistling sound of a fire cracker. Immediately followed by raucous laughter and voices. Annie startles awake too.

11:05 pm--The noise doesn't stop. I stumble downstairs to make a phone call to our local police department to report a noise violation. I also step out on my back deck to figure out where all the noise is coming from.

11:06 pm--It's a house party across from my backyard and the open area.

11:07 pm--I love the internet. Mapquest lets me make sure I have the street name correct and the phone number for the police department correct.

11:08 pm--I'm filing a noise complaint.

11:11 pm--After filing a noise complaint, I am still very much awake. Will read online to wind back down.

12:14 am--After reading the news online, catching up on emails and the like, I am still awake.

12:15 am--I hope the police showed up at that house party. Things seem pretty quiet. This lets me know that at least they ran out of firecrackers.

12:16 am--Baby notices she's alone and cries for Mommy. My cue to go.

Happy Birthday to Me

Last week was my birthday. I turned twenty-five, which, my husband helpfully pointed out, is halfway to over the hill. While I can't dispute that, I expect another full twenty-five years to get there. Meanwhile, he turns thirty in just a few months. Thirty seems like a bigger milestone to me. Most 25 yr olds I know are lucky if they are simultaneously in grad school and don't still have their heads up our shorts. By 30 though, our lives should have some direction, and we should no longer be flexible enough to still have our heads up our shorts. Another good friend of mine also turned 25 this week. Her opinion is that being another year older only brings us one year closer to the time of our natural death. Death didn't figure into my concept of age, but then again, shorts didn't figure into her concept of age either.

First Post on Blogger!

Well, I guess I should welcome myself to the blogging world! Or rather, rewelcome myself? I temporarily had a blog with Xanga. Only, I never blogged because I was very unsure about what would be appropriate to blog. Now, I'm still unsure about what's appropriate to blog, but I think it'll be fun. Bring on the bloggin' snafus!