Still moving

I'm starting to get frustrated because we're not making the kind of progress I would like to make. Mostly it has to do with my energy level and how often I have to take breaks just to cool down. I can get 3-4 boxes packed at a time before I need to sit down and catch my breath. I'm so used to being active and moving until the job is done that the frequent breaks are taking away my motivation.

The carpet guy came and measured and gave Dan a price quote and told him what the next steps would be. Apparently we won't even have carpet next week, it's going to take several days for the carpet shipment to even come into Lowe's and then after the shipment is in, that's when the contractor will call us to schedule a day to come out. So not only do we have to wait on the carpet to come, but we also have to wait for the contractor to be free once the carpet is in. Even if we had started this whole process at the beginning of the month we wouldn't have had carpet today. We could have gotten started sooner if they had given us a quote on the laminate sooner, not to mention we could have started actually moving stuff over much sooner.

The living/dinning room is still a mess, but it's not much more than a couple boxes-worth of stuff. The bedroom closet is now completely cleaned out and I've started work on the stuff in the den. After the den, that leaves the closet in the hall and the closet in the den itself (which is jammed full of stuff--seriously, it was like a game of Tetris to get everything in there and the door to close). The den doesn't have too much besides Brissa, I already cleaned off the clothes rack and packed the clothes up, now there's the book case (which doesn't have too many books on it, 2 boxes max) and Dan's computer desk plus other random things that will probably all fit in one box. The kitchen and bathroom still have a few things, but mostly it's stuff we're still using. All the little random things that need to be packed can be done quickly and pretty much when we're done everything else. Progress has been slower than I'd like, but it's visible and between that and just wanting to be completely in the new house are the only things motivating me to keep moving and not just sit in the comfy chair watching Lost and knitting.

CamelBak Groove

Only the coolest, best water bottle ever! It has a water filter in the straw so water filters on its way to your mouth! I found it at Target and couldn't resist (my other water bottle is getting old and leaky anyway) because I like the filtered water from our Brita pitcher, but at work I don't have access to filtered water. This is awesome because any water can be filtered. I also (purposely) knocked it off the chair to see if it would spill or leak (my old one would have) and it didn't! It's also pink, which is pretty much the best thing ever.

We're still moving and packing, packing and moving. The carpet guy is supposed to come and re-measure tomorrow along with the electrician to work on our circuit breaker box and other wiring. I'm glad I was off this week to be able to help pack and stuff, but because it's during the week, we're not able to get much help from other people because they're all working. I think that we'll definitely be all the way out by the weekend so lots of our friends are off the hook ;)

Moving

Today Chris came over and helped us move the futon and frame back to my parents' house. Originally, I was going to put it on Craig's List but my parents decided that they would take it back. While Dan and Chris were off at GW, I packed about 5 boxes worth of kitchen stuff, took it over to the house, and unpacked it. We don't have everything from the kitchen moved over yet, but it definitely feels like we ended up with more cabinet space in the house.

I also talked to the people at Lowe's about the carpet situation. Because we changed our minds about the laminate, they have to re-measure the rooms for carpet (though why I have no idea, it sounded bogus to me on the phone) and they can't get out and do that until Thursday. As a result, we won't have carpeting until at least next week. I've not been terribly happy with the speed at which people have been getting back to us about things, but I also know that goes with the whole contracting bit. We told our landlord that we'd be out by this week at the latest so that's what we're going to have to do. The carpet people are going to have to deal with working around our stuff because we've been trying to get the flooring sorted out for several weeks now and we can't wait to move any longer. It is a good thing that I'm off work this week and can help pack and unpack things. While it doesn't seem like much as been done, we're almost done the living/dinning room as well as the kitchen and bathroom. There are the few essentials left in each room, but for the most part everything that's left is in our 3 closets, the bedroom, and the den. Brissa will be in the apartment until we've switched to spending nights at the house, that way there will always been someone to check on her.

That's My Baby 2

Today we went back to That's My Baby Ultrasound in Bowie for a 2nd Visit Package. It's a 15 minute session in 4D and we get several "color" prints (the yellow ones). Just like last time, we got slightly more than 15 minutes as well as additional prints, including some in 2D. They were blobby just like last time, but because the baby is bigger now, the images came out a bit more clear. My grandmother and mom came along and my grandmother couldn't stop crying the whole time. I was talking to Dan and we don't think she's ever seen a live ultrasound. My mom didn't have any with us and my brother and sister-in-law are across the country so she wouldn't have seen the first great-grand baby either. It was totally worth going just to see her so happy, if not for the awesome pictures. We joke and say the one above he's "flashing gang signs" and we'll get him a do-rag and teardrop sticker to put under his eye ;)

Yes, he is flipping us off in this picture. He was almost completely uncooperative and had his hands in front of his face nearly the whole time. Eventually, after much prodding (literally), he took his hands down and we got some clear pictures of his face.

This one is my favorite by far. We can see his chubby cheeks, fat lips, big nose (my side of the family), and even a little bit of hair on the top of his head. I can't stop staring at this one, I can see him, he's always been "real" to me, especially with my stomach getting bigger and bigger, but this makes him mine. These aren't someone else's ultrasound pictures, they're ours, this is our baby and he'll be here before we know it.

This is another one of my favorites, mostly because it shows how he had his hands up in front of his face but also his chubby fingers and how small a space he's got left. Jennifer estimated his weight right around 7 lbs., which is bigger than the average 32 week baby but he's been measuring big pretty much since Week 19 so I'm not really surprised. At the rate of 1/2 a pound a week, with around 8 weeks left, we're looking at a 9+ pound baby. Did I mention he's also got a big head? The circumference wasn't that big, but the diameter was, if that makes sense. I'm in for loads of fun with this one. That is, unless my cyst decides to be in the way and we schedule a C-section, which is a possibility.

Interviews

We didn't do very much today. We met our interviewer for the dog rescue people over at the house so she could see the yard and fencing. I think it went really well, both of us have had rescue dogs with our families and that was a big plus since it means we know what we're getting into. After the interview, Dan went to karate for a birthday party and I packed. He ended up getting a very generous tip from the parents of the boy whose birthday it was and we used it to go out to dinner. I like being able to go out and do things just the two of us right now. We've both been busy with the house and work and I know that's not going to change once the baby comes, so I'm happy we can have date nights now.

More Good Times

Today was awesome. I spent the morning watching Lost and knitting Cheryl's mittens. Then I headed to Target and got stuff to hang pictures as the house, as well as some towel racks for the bathroom. I spent the afternoon hanging pictures while waiting for Dan to finish at karate.

This is in the kitchen. The frames on the right all have wedding pictures and the pictures up top are me, Dan, and friends. I have to go back to Target and get more sticky things to hang the rest of the pictures that I have, but so far I'm really happy with what I have up.

This is my favorite set. They're above the door in the kitchen and they fit perfectly. I love that they're in a place where I'll see them all the time.

This was by far my favorite purchase at Target. It's a faucet cover for the bathtub and it's awesome!

By the time I was done at the house, Dan was finished at karate and we headed over to Lowe's to pick out carpet for the house. We were going to put laminate down, but it was waaaay more expensive than we budgeted for, so we switched to carpet. Carpet is about half the price, which means we actually come out ahead of what we had in the budget. While we were at Lowe's, we also picked up some heavy-duty shelves to put in the laundry room and went over to the house to put them together.

For dinner, we met Steve and Ashleigh at Cheeseburger in Paradise (which is not my favorite restaurant, mostly because of their service record with us, but the food is decent) and spent a good 3 hours talking and catching up! I love hanging out with them, we're so blessed to have them for friends :)

The Start of Spring Break

After having a night's sleep (at 8 months pregnant, I don't know the next time I'll be able to say "good night's sleep"), today started off much better for me than it ended yesterday. Everyone at school seemed to be in better spirits and we even started the day with a last-minute all-school Mass for the feast of the Annunciation (which, according to Canon Law, if it falls on a Friday you can have meat). Fr. Daniel had a wonderful homily about the feast and how it falls during Lent to remind us that there are always things to celebrate and embrace during the Lenten seasons of our lives. That no matter what, God has a plan for us, even if it's a bitter medicine to swallow.

I started Spring Break off the right way by meeting up with several of the people I used to work with for dinner after work. We ended up spending 3 hours at the restaurant, laughing, talking, and having a good time! It was so much fun and I can't wait to see them again, I'm glad that we've been able to stay in touch and continue to get together for "Happy Hour" (which is what we call it, even though when we started it wasn't during happy hour and we usually lasted longer than an hour).

French Fries

Today, I needed french fries. What I really needed was a glass of wine, but I'm a good mom so that didn't happen. The fries happened instead. Here's my day today.

This morning my mom and I carpooled to work. We typically do this unless one of us has something separate to do after work. Tomorrow I'll be having dinner with the girls from my last job so we're driving separately. This morning on the drive, my mom asked me if I had checked my school e-mail, which I hadn't. Apparently, last night the Board of Trustees (who are now running the school, more about that later) sent out an e-mail to parents, teachers, and staff to let everyone know that enrollment is critically low. Currently, we are three weeks past the deadline for enrollment paperwork and well below the level of students budgeted for the next school year. Staff members in the office have been calling families for the last several weeks reminding them and trying to light fires under butts to get people moving on their enrollment contracts. The decision of the Board is that if we don't get the numbers we need by the time we come back from Spring Break, the school will not be able to function next year and, therefore, will not be able to open.

The school is also currently in transition between management groups, for lack of a better word. Prior to this, the school was officially run by an international group of priests. This year, the announcement was made that the group of priests, while remaining active within the school, would not be running it anymore and that responsibility would fall completely to the Board. What I'm not sure of, is if enrollment is always critically low at this point in the year and the priests would simply let people slide. Now that the Board is in charge and running the business end, it may be their intention to send this letter and let people know a) that enrollment is critically low and give faculty/staff the heads up and b) get parents who normally wait until the end of summer to turn their paperwork in on time.

We did have 13 enrollment contracts dropped off by the end of the work day, which isn't close to the number we need, but it's a start and it's something to be hopeful about. There are people not happy with the method in which the news was delivered, and while I understand both sides, the information is now out and how we deal with it is the only thing we have control over. The other thing is the kids. Gossip flies around the school, it spreads like wildfire, and the biggest worry for me right now is the kids. We discussed it at a meeting today after work, and we want to make sure that the kids remain our priority and that we not only keep up hope for each other but for them as well.

There were people talking today like it's a done deal, like the school is for sure going to close and not be open next year. Kids, staff, and parents, it's crazy. Granted, several of our staff members have gone through this already as little as a year ago with their last school. One of our staff went through this as a parent when her son's high school was one of the Catholic schools closed by the Diocese of Baltimore last year. They probably heard a lot of the same things that we're hearing now and aren't holding much hope for the numbers to rise. The other worrying thing is having people who are currently enrolled will jump ship with this news and rather than going up, the numbers will go down by the last deadline.

I'm fine besides being tired of dealing with everything. I empathize with my friends/family a lot, it's how I am, so when I first heard about everything, I was fine. By the end of the day, I was ready to start crying, not for me because I was upset but because of how upset everyone else was. I also called our Spanish teacher (who I'm friends with) to let her know how the meeting went. So I've already talked this thing to death and it's as dealt with, as far as I'm concerned, as it can be until we get to the deadline and find out the final decision. I know it will still be the topic of discussion tomorrow, and I'm kind of glad I only have Kindergarten and no other classes, because if they know anything it's easy to distract them. I was (and am) still undecided about going back in the fall anyway. So if the school closes (and that's still an if at this point), that just makes that decision for me. If they remain open, I will have to actually decide whether or not I'm going back. I'm staying up until Dan gets home from work tonight so we can have a conversation about everything and options and all that.

My walls are empty :(

We've been packing unnecessary items from the house and today Dan did the picture frames. I totally agree that they can go over to the house, but the bare walls make me sad! I can't wait to hang everything at the new house though! I want to get more picture frames and hang more pictures, but I'm waiting until all the furniture is in so that I know how much wall space I have to work with. I miss having things on my walls though, it's so weird to see the apartment empty and not empty at the same time.

First Pair of Mittens

My first ever pair of mittens are done! Blocking is done and dry on mitten #2. They're still way too small so I'll be donating this pair as a silent auction item for the gala at work. This new pair that I'm making for Cheryl will definitely be much bigger. I compare what I have so far to these mittens and it's already almost 1/3rd the length and I'm only 20 rows in to the pattern.

Happiness is: Size 11 Bamboo Circular Needles

Seriously. I love the feel of bamboo needles. I now own two pairs, both circular. One is a size 6 and the newest is size 11. Biiiig difference lol. The 11's are now the largest needles I own and I really dig the way they feel in my hands. Both because they're bamboo and because of their size. I finished the second mitten I was working on, but the pair still feels like it's a child-size. I bought fatter yarn a few weeks ago and just got these size 11's to further increase my gauge. I'm only 10 rows in, maybe that much, but I'm already soooooo much happier with the size difference. I don't know what the original writer of the pattern was using, but it was waaaaay off for me, even following the directions exactly. At least I have experience with holding the yarn double now, which was something new and not at all as hard as I was expecting. I like this new yarn I got, it's not the same wool-acrylic ratio as the Patons (which I think was 50-50), but it's soft and fluffy. It's also a lot darker than the other yarn, which I'm sure will be fine, it's close enough to the original and not a crazy color like orange or something.

Couldn't Resist

We had our last Baptism Prep class today and I didn't notice this giant notepad until we were leaving. I made Dan take my picture with it. Apparently whoever used the room prior to us was teaching teenagers about chastity. I think my picture is way more awesome though ;)

Surviving The 3 Hour Glucose Tolerance

Here's what I learned about my whole experience getting the 3 hour glucose tolerance done:

1. Make an appointment. I used Quest Laboratories and they usually have a whole bunch of walk-ins, so an appointment is helpful. When you do make the appointment, talk to a real person and explain that you're going for the 3 hour test, not the 1 hour, this will help you avoid being turned away because the online system let you make the appointment to close to closing time (ugh).

2. If you can't make an appointment and have to be a walk-in, get there before they open. I'm not sure what other labs are like, but I got to Quest at 6:20am (they open at 6:30am) and there were already at least ten people standing in line outside the door.

3. Fasting is easiest if you have an early morning appointment. That way you can just sleep through the fast. If that's not possible, make it an afternoon appointment and have a really big breakfast before your fast starts. I had eggs, bacon, and a bagel, and it was the right combination of protein and carbs to keep me from hunger pangs almost until the appointment time. It was hard to remember not to snack though, so watch out! ;)

4. When you get there, tell whoever is at the front desk that you are a 3 hour glucose tester. This will make sure that they can get your drink and start your clock right away. I did not find the drink particularly nasty, but I'm a fan of sweet stuff and sugar anyway. I got a 100g bottle, which was still only 10oz. Even though they increase the sugar, they don't increase the amount, so if you can get 10oz. down quickly, you won't have too much of a problem.

5. Bring something to do! I can't stress this enough. Since I knew that I couldn't leave the office and I'd be there for at least 3 hours, I brought my iPod (loaded with new podcasts) and a knitting project. There was another woman who was also doing her 3 hour tolerance who didn't bring anything to do at all. I can't imagine how bored she was. I, on the other hand, got through several podcast episodes and am now almost finished my knitting project. Time did seem to slow down, but it would have been so much worse if I hadn't brought those things with me. If you're a reader, bring a big book or a book you've just started (or a Kindle/Nook if you have one). There were also kids in the waiting room playing on their DSs, which is also a good idea.

6. You are going to get stuck with needles at least 3 times. I was stuck 4 because they drew a fasting sample, so I got there, they stuck me, then I got the drink and the clock started. 3 more sticks after that. I did get to leave after the final stick, no final paperwork to do or anything like that. If needles bother you (they don't bother me, but I can't watch myself get stuck or I'll flinch), be aware of how much you'll get stuck for this test.

7. Have a post-test plan. My plan was food. Originally, when my test was yesterday afternoon, my plan was to hit the fast food place right by the office and get something to eat in the car on the way home. Even though I didn't have the appointment that day, I still did that because I was starving. Today I got out at 10am, right before all the fast food places switch over to their lunch menu. Since I had already been up for 5 hours, I wasn't in the mood for breakfast food, so my plan changed. I headed over to the mall to kill time before the lunch menu started and then went to Chik-fil-a when I was ready. While at the mall, I stopped in Motherhood Maternity and got two t-shirts on sale (I needed more short sleeve for work). My favorite is the one I'm wearing in the picture, I love pink and it's about time I got some color in my shirts! Winter time is apparently all about black and gray maternity clothes, no fun.

The test that never happened.

I hate it when I try to talk to a real person and companies are so set on customers using technology, that you just can't get a real person ever. Two weeks ago when I attempted to set up this appointment, my first thought was to talk to a real person since it's a 3-hour test and I should probably let them know that's why I'm setting up the appointment. The website appointment making section didn't have a whole lot of information on it and only had 10 minute slots set up, plus it didn't have that many and they weren't on a Saturday and they didn't go past a certain time. I attempted to call the office to make an appointment and only got a voice recording and no options for what I wanted. Not wanting to spend 20 minutes on the phone talking to a computer, I took 5 minutes and picked a time that worked into my work schedule where I could just leave early for the day and not need anyone to cover my classes.

Turns out I really did need the live person. That particular branch of lab closes at 5pm. My appointment time was supposed to start at 2:30. I got there at 2:20 so I could check in and do the insurance thing, they were running behind and didn't call my name for insurance stuff until 2:45. The girl behind the desk saw that I had a 3 hour test and then let me know that they close at 5. I was so mad. Not at her, because she was nice and I now get to fast AGAIN and go super early in the morning tomorrow (I'm asking for her when I get there, that's what she said to do), but mad that I couldn't talk to a real person and that the website let me schedule this stupid test without specifying what kind of glucose test it was. So something that should have been over and done with by now is put off until tomorrow when, by the time I get to the lab, I will have fasted for 16 out of 24 hours. I'm no doctor but I doubt it's good to make a pregnant woman do that much fasting. I better not have diabetes.

Sunshine

These are my daffodils. Well, they're not really mine, they just grow next to our walkway. They've been coming up every spring since we've been here and this will be the last spring that I see them It's just this one section, no other ones pop up anywhere else on our walkway. There are way more in the front of the house, but these are ours. They've been slowly opening since Sunday or Monday, and today they were finally all in full bloom, just in time for the really nice weather. Today was 68 and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's! This is my favorite time of the year, when we get to break out our warm weather clothes, but it's not stifling hot yet.

Tomorrow is my dreaded glucose test. I don't dread it because I think it'll tell me I have diabetes (which I don't think I do) but because it's at least 3 hours long and they have to draw my blood at least 3 times (I don't know if they'll draw once before the drink for a control or something) and I have to fast 8 hours prior to the test in addition to during the test. I asked my doc and she said I could have water which is good, but still, we're looking at nearly 12 hours (or longer) without food. I've done it before, when I was sleeping. This time I'll be awake for all of it. I'm taking knitting and my iPod with me. I have several hours worth of podcasts and I charged it all day today so it's ready to go. I also grabbed a new skein of yarn so if I finish the current project (which I'm thinking will probably happen) I can cast on the new one. I'm headed off to bed now (10 minutes to 8) so I can wake up early and eat a big breakfast before I have to start fasting. Appointment is at 2:30pm, which means I have to start fasting at 6:30am (thank you military time for helping me figure that one out). It does mean that I don't have to pack a lunch for work tomorrow, so there's a silver lining I guess. I went to bed super early last night (6:30ish) and had no problems getting up today, also haven't been as tired today as I have been the last couple of days. I think I was jet lagged from Daylight Savings Time and the long sleep last night helped shake me out of it.

No Frag Wipes!

I know that by "frag" they mean "fragrance", but I thought the sign was funny. I stopped by Babies 'R Us today to pick up a maternity support belt. I've had random and various hip/leg pains and I still had a gift card, so I figured at the very least, I could continue to avoid back pain. They didn't have the exact belt I was looking for, but they have something close and it seems like it will help a little bit. I'll give it a try at work tomorrow, which is one of my busy days.

Also it turns out I've been having Braxton Hicks. That's not new, not exactly anyway. I talked with my doctor yesterday about what I thought were Braxton Hicks, turns out I was mixed up. After she told me what they're like, I didn't think I'd actually had anything like that yet. Then I had one this afternoon in the car. What turned out to be Braxton Hicks I thought was the baby moving a certain way. I thought the baby was shifting his body to the front of my stomach, and this has been going on for weeks sporadically. Today I realized that it wasn't the baby moving, it was my whole stomach contracting, because my whole stomach was hard and then faded. It finally clicked today that those were really Braxton Hicks.

Side note: Jerk Alert. Hard to see in this picture because it's my cell phone, but the lady in front of the white sign is smoking. Not completely unusual except that there is only one door in and out of the store and she is right next to it. Since the majority of the customers going in that store are pregnant women and children, she's really inconsiderate. Inconsiderate people piss me off. She hadn't quite lit up when I walked out, but she was pulling her cig out of the box and I could see her smoking from my car as I was getting ready to leave.

Well if you're going to be so bossy

I've always thought this sign was hilarious for some reason. It's from where 70 East starts to merge with 695. 70 goes from two lanes down to one before it hits 695 and that's where this sign is posted. I feel like there should be signs preceding it that say "Form single lane nnnnnnn......" and then "NOW" when the dotted lines disappear and it's supposed to be one lane.

I had another doctor's appointment today. Everything's great, as usual, thank God. I finally broke 200lbs., I'm at 205--which still isn't bad. My stomach is measuring right on, which means baby is growing as well as he should be. I talked to my doctor about my upcoming glucose test, thankfully the fasting is food only and I can drink water. She was surprised that I'm doing the test after work but glad that I'll be eating a big breakfast before my fast. I stopped at Sonic on my way home again. I got the cheesesteak again, but this time I tried their cheese fries. I should have gotten the Ched'r Poppers, I love those.

Right now, I'm watching Return To Me and balling my eyes out. I love this movie. It's so sweet and Bonnie Hunt is a great storyteller. I'm about to pull the ice cream out of the freezer and have myself a good night in :)

Waiting on Letters From Home

Ok, I don't live in Chicago and I'm not deployed, but getting letters from friends in boot camp (and sending them) is pretty awesome. I've now gotten 3 from Theo and I've only sent her 1! So to up the ante, I wrote two separate letters and am mailing them together! I don't know if she'll get them in time for graduation or not (this Friday I think), but either way she'll get them eventually and when she does she'll love them. I love her letters because I can see how she's changed since being in the Navy and how she's still the same person all rolled into one. She wrote a little bit about boot camp, but since my brother went through I know what's going on and she was tired of talking about it anyway so I got to hear about other stuff that's going on. She brings up some really interesting points about not "standing out" because getting noticed typically gets you the kind of attention you don't want.

She's having a difficult time reconciling her upbringing of "it doesn't matter what you look like", "don't judge people by how they look", "don't worry about what other people think of you, be yourself" with this Navy (and probably all military branches) attitude of joining the ranks and becoming part of the masses. No individualism. No standing out. Just complete assimilation. She knew that assimilation to Navy life is part of the deal you make, but she doesn't want to betray herself or the parts of her identity associated with being unique. I hope whenever she does get my response she can find it somewhat comforting. I think you can be yourself while still putting things aside to get the job done. I think in a survival situation, whether it's literally life-and-death or just working to put food on the table, everyone can agree that you do what you need to in order to get through the day. It's not a betrayal of self if you're doing something you don't normally agree with. I tell my students all the time, "You aren't required to like it, but you are required to do it" and I think the same goes for things like being in a situation that you aren't normally put in. So even if you don't 100% agree with what's going on, if it's to get a job done, if it's to accomplish something for the greater good--even if it's just your greater good like completing boot camp or A-school--you don't have to like it, you just do it. There's something really liberating in knowing that you aren't required to like what you're doing or what's going on. Granted, if you're stuck in the same rut you were in 10 years ago, I could see that getting old and this advice not really working, but for getting through obstacles immediately in front of you, it totally feels good to remember that you just have to do it, not like it.

Happy Curtains

Ikea was awesome today. We brought our floor plans with us and got everything figured out! We're going to end up spending a near fortune (or about as much as our sofa is going to cost lol) there when all is said and done, but it's going to be so worth it to have an awesome, non-hand-me-down house with plenty of storage :) After Ikea, we headed over to the house because I had picked out some magnetic strips to store knives and I wanted to put them up. Turns out, and they DO NOT say this on the outside of the package anywhere, they don't come with any type of mounting hardware. Super lame. We didn't find that out until we were at the house and had opened the package. Dan will pick something up tomorrow while he's waiting for the electrician to call/come over. In the meantime, I did switch out the curtains in the kitchen to my set and they look awesome!

I'm also a super huge dork and had fun with the new TV, my computer, and a VGA cable XD The new TV has all kinds of inputs on the back and basically will let me use it as a second monitor. I totally tried it out and watched CSI this morning before Baptism Prep and then when Dan got up we watched the episode of Bones we missed this past week. The sound still comes out of the computer speakers, but if you're not moving around or anything the volume is just fine. I tried to turn my computer around and face the TV and take a picture with the webcam, but it wouldn't let me :-/ Well, I just tried on Facebook, I didn't actually try with PhotoBooth.

Designer At Heart

I have been so excited to pick out paint colors, flooring, and now furniture for the new house! I think I might have been an interior designer in a previous life. We ended up deciding on a sectional because a Chair and 1/2 + a sofa/love-seat wouldn't have fit. Today we went to the house and measured the rooms for a layout and then went back to Value City to see the furniture we liked and get those measurements (they are very handy on the back of the price tags). The best use of space in our case would be the sectional seen above, a sofa + a love-seat. We decided not to do an ottoman and get a coffee table instead. Because the arms of the couch are so high (a feature we LOVE), side tables would be awkward to access (about as awkward as "awkward" is to type) and we eat/drink in front of the TV on a regular basis, so a place to hold our cups is a necessity.

Once we got home and we were looking at our layouts with possible furniture in them, we also took a look at the bedroom and what we want to do in there. Our bed frame is from Ikea (love that place) so the dimensions were already online (yay). Since there are no closets, we have to get creative with clothes storage. Ikea has really cool customizable wardrobe pieces where you buy the shell and put whatever you what inside, you could do all racks for hanging clothes or half racks and half shelves. They even have a thing on their website (which broke halfway through yesterday) that lets you design your wardrobe and then print out a list of everything you'll need to make it happen.

I've been all over the Ikea website for the last two weekends, I pretty much have it down for what I want to get, but I need to see it all in person. Tomorrow, after Baptism Class and Mass, we'll be heading up to Ikea to check all this stuff out. I can't wait to get in the store, I haven't been in a long time!

The weekend is here!

Today was a Professional Development day at school. The kids got the day off and the teachers and staff got to come in casual clothes! All around, not too bad. We had a speaker come in and talk on using technology to engage the kids. Our table had the most fun and laughed a lot, usually about something completely off topic ;) When I got home, I had another package waiting for me! This package was from one of our aunts in North Carolina.

My Sister-in-Love Jackie looooves her Moby Wrap and I'm all about wearing the baby, so this was awesome to receive! I picked out one in black so that in the rare instance Dan might want to use it (we'll also get a Bjorn carrier or some other front/back pack type of thing), it's not a girly color or pattern. I'm so excited because you can also nurse discreetly in it without moving baby around that much!

I'm so glad it's Friday, this week seemed to drag on. Only two more full weeks of school and then we have Spring Break! Everything with the house is coming together, Dan finished painting today and we made a trip out to Home Depot to look at flooring. The electrician also called Dan and will be coming to the house Monday or Tuesday to give an estimate. While we were out, we also stopped in Value City Furniture to look at living room ideas. We've been using my parents hand-me-down futon for a sofa and I'm ready to get rid of it and get something that's ours. I've been talking about "my chair" for a while now too, a super comfy chair for the baby's room that I can use for nursing. Dan is insistent that he get his "Daddy Chair" and is totally fine with keeping it in the living room and sharing it. We found that we love the "Chair and 1/2" idea (extra wide arm chair) combined with an over-sized ottoman and matching couch or love seat better than a large sectional couch. Considering the small size of our living room, a sectional is pretty much out of the question.

Stoney Creek is on The Rise

I am once again having issues getting pictures to this blog, except (for once) it's not Blogger's fault. This time, the Bluetooth connection between my computer and phone is completely failing. I just wanted to get 2 pictures off and only got 1 before the connection just stopped working completely. At least it was the better of the two pictures. We got our first present from our baby registry from Ms. Karen! The second picture would have showed how UPS or FedEx left the box in a plastic bag (it's been raining cats and dogs ALL DAY), but with the open end up so all the water could pool at the bottom of the box. Thankfully, as you can see by the picture, the Boppy comes in a nice heavy plastic bag of its own, so no harm done! Thank goodness it's warm out because otherwise all this rain would have been a blizzard! I drove by Stoney Creek on my way home from work and it was the highest I've ever seen it! There were parts of the peer by the Stoney Creek Inn that were nearly underwater!

Today was the last day of classes this week! We have a "professional development" day tomorrow but that translates into "Teacher Dress Down Day" and that's ok by me. Today my classes were crazy, except the last one. Normally I have the 7th and 8th grade boys at the same time, but 8th Grade had a Travel Fair for their Geography class and I only had the 5 7th grade boys (there are 6 but one is on vacation). It was actually really nice to sit down and work with them on their video projects and have a really chill last class of the day. And then I came home to a surprise package (the picture for today) and that was super awesome. I love surprise packages and I haven't been obsessively checking my registry to see if anybody bought anything so I was completely surprised. I then went and checked the registry to make sure that the Boppy got counted as purchased and saw that someone else bought something too! Amazon keeps track of who bought what off your baby registry so you can send thank you cards. How cool is that for them keep it all organized for you!

Pregnancy in Haiku

Month Seven:
I'm a nice person
But if you touch my belly
One more time, watch out

More paint, this time with the trim! I can't wait until it's done and I can go see it in person...once the fumes have dissipated.

Dan's thoughts on the paint, "When we left yesterday, the paint looked like a 5 year-old did it. Today when we went back and it was dry, the walls actually looked kind of ok."

I told him I didn't care about the quality of the work (well I do a little bit, but they're staying "in the lines" so it's fine), I just need some color on my walls! We're headed back to Home Depot this weekend to look at flooring (I don't think we'll be ordering any yet though) and we also need to get an electrician out to give us a price quote for the work we need done and get that started. I am headed to the house tomorrow to see the paint and show off the new pad to a friend :)

Painting!

I'm not allowed to be around the paint fumes, so I didn't get to take these pictures. Dan sent me updates on the painting progress and I can't wait to see the house when it's done! They put the first coat on today, a second coat is coming soon and after that the new floor goes down.

I'm so excited to have a house and decorate (or have Dan and friends do the decorating) it however I want :)

Starting the countdown next week!

I still can't find my camera so pictures will be taken by my phone until I do. I missed out on two weeks worth of belly pictures because I can't find it and I'm determined not to miss any more. So here I am at 29 weeks. Next week, I'll be the big 30 and start the T-Minus 10 Week Countdown to the ever-glorious 40 Weeks!

A Very Happy Birthday Indeed

My birthday kind of started Friday when Dan and I went to dinner just the two of us. Today we did go to lunch with his family and that was delicious. We then stopped at the mall where I got two cropped cardigans to wear to work (on sale and with money my grandmother gave me) and two pairs of work shoes (my own money) and Dan eyed up a replacement TV. I also got to pick a DVD as Dan's present to me. The seasons of CSI have been dropping their prices like crazy and I picked that.

The TV was a long time coming. We've never had a brand new TV, we've only had hand-me-downs that Dan picked up over the years. We just finished making payments on our mattress. We had made a deal that we wouldn't get a new TV until we paid off the mattress. This TV is pretty awesome. I wanted a smaller TV so our living room wouldn't look as cluttered and this is a wide TV (I love the wide screen for movies!) but it's really thin. It's also HD and I'm still adjusting to that, because even standard def stuff looks different on a HD TV.

It's also been 6 full months since I started this blog and have done a pretty good job at updating almost every day. It's good having a goal to keep me motivated.

The Changing of The Locks

I've been saying that the first thing I'm going to do when we get our new house is laundry! Today, I made good on that promise! I had two loads of laundry to do so I took the baskets, my computer, and my knitting over to the new house and started the washer! I was there much longer than I anticipated, not sure if the washer has a problem or if I'm just not patient enough, but it didn't seem to move out of the wash cycle, even after more than an hour. I could stop it and manually turn the knob down to rinse. From there it rinsed and went into spin and stopped on its own, I thought it was odd that it would take so long to get itself to rinse from wash. Thankfully the dryer timer worked just fine.

We definitely need to update the dryer to a more energy efficient model, but as long as it mostly dries stuff, it can wait a while. It's a pretty old-looking dryer. I put both loads in for an hour and both loads came out with things that weren't quite dry yet. I figured the towels wouldn't be dry, and they went in for an extra few minutes, but when socks come out almost-dry-but-not-quite, that's generally not a good thing (unless they got stuck in the folds of the towel, which could have happened).

OUR HOUSE!

We got the house! Everything finally came together in time for settlement and we got the keys! So here is a photo tour of the house. Unfortunately they were all taken with my cell phone because Dan moved my camera and now I can't find it :-/ Anyway, the above picture is our tiny little bathroom. The bathtub/shower area all look pretty new and the sink is definitely brand new because in the listing pictures it was a more vintage sink (which I wish they had kept, but having a cabinet underneath is good too). We don't need to update anything in here. I'd like to get rid of the tile on the walls, but that's a want, not a need.

This will be our room, it's smaller than the one we've got now, which means I get to be creative with storage and take many trips to Ikea :)

This will be the baby's room, it's got two windows like ours. It's not as wide as ours, but it is just as long. I can't wait to see it with paint on the walls and baby stuff in it!

This is part of the kitchen. It's an eat-in kitchen, so behind where I'm standing is open space for a table and chairs. There is no dinning room so this is the only eating option besides the living room couch ;) The fridge is currently located in this open area and we don't like it there, so we'll be moving it out to the laundry room to have more space. Notice there is no dishwasher, good thing we already have our own! We're thinking of taking out either the drawers to the right of the sink or the cabinet to the right of the stove and putting one in, because if it's done before we're completely moved in, we won't miss the space.

This is the living room, also smaller than what we've got now, but again, more creative trips to Ikea! I've been all over their website for ideas and I can't wait to get my hands on a measuring tape and get in the store. I plan on being just like my dad and measuring everything in the house, creating floor plans with graph paper, and taking those into Ikea to see what fits. I also plan on taking pictures and printing those out so I can "see" what would look good where.

Dan also took me to Carrabba's today for my birthday (which is Sunday). Both of us have been craving some good Italian and we were quite happy to be able to go tonight :) I got my usual, Sirloin Marsala, and Dan got Pasta Carrabba. Both were delicious of course and we had a lovely dinner with just the two of us. My birthday is the same as Dan's brother, so when we go out and celebrate with all of them it's a shared birthday, this was nice because it was just for me :)

The day where nothing happened...

Seriously. I went to work, I came home, I went to sleep. That was my day. So here's a picture of Jimmy being adorable :)

Stupid Beltway

So I didn't end up making it into work today. I don't even have a picture for today, that's how stupid the beltway was being. While driving to my doctor's appointment (I left at 7:30am for my 9:00am appointment, I only live 30 miles away if that), I heard on the radio and saw on the electronic billboard thing that all four lanes of traffic were shut down a mere two exits before the one I wanted. Crap. I had been warned in enough time to get on 95 North and cut through the city that way, so that's what I did. Well, turns out traffic was also pretty bad going THE OTHER WAY, the direction I was now headed. I pull out my trusty GPS and have it direct me down back roads and through Towson. I arrive with 5 minutes to spare of my 15 minute grace period that the doctor's office gives everyone, so I arrived at 9:10am. Grr. My hope had been to get there early so they could start me on the glucose early, apparently I had no such luck.

I do the "wait 20 minutes in the waiting room" thing that all doctor's offices seem to do and then they call me back. I let them know I'm also doing the glucose test and they grab me the sugar drink. I had to drink the whole thing (only 10 oz.) in 5 minutes and then go back to the phlebotomist in an hour. It wasn't awful, I was expecting a horrible, chalky drink, but this was a fruit punch flavored thing. With my history of cravings (the first trimester being maple syrup and this trimester being Slurpees or virgin daiquiris), the drink was no problem, they had even refrigerated it which made it even easier to drink. I see the doctor for all of 5 minutes, like usual (blood pressure is perfect, stomach is measuring right where it should be, and I've still only gained about 20 lbs.), and go back out to the waiting room for my hour. I had come prepared with my iPod and my knitting so the hour flew by.

Once I'm all done in the office, I head out to my car and check the traffic. I do not have a smart phone, so by "check the traffic", I mean "call someone to use traffic.com for me." First I called Dan, and he then reminded me that he was out with a friend and not near a computer. Knowing my mom was at work, I call Dan's mom (I had questions to ask her about house stuff anyway). Turns out the beltway is STILL horribly backed up, this time from new accidents and, of course, they were in the direction I needed to go, right before the exit I needed. At this point, it's almost 11am. On a good day with no traffic, it takes me at least an hour to drive between my doctor's office and work. I call in and let them know that there's no way that I'm going to make it to work in any kind of reasonable amount of time. If I had headed to work, it would have been an hour and a half--at least--to get there, which puts me at 12:30 (or later). We get out of work at 3:45 which meant that I would have been there for only a few hours, making my total travel time in the car longer than what I would have worked.

Dan was hanging out on that side of the beltway with his friend, so I met up with them to put off more driving (I don't mind being in the car for prolonged periods when I'm not the one driving or when someone else is with me) and we got some lunch. I think I ended up driving home around 3 or so and getting home only a little while before I would have gotten home from work.

I talked to our Spanish teacher much later, and she said that even when she was going home the beltway was pretty bad. So all in all, the beltway completely sucked today and never recovered from it. Or it was being nasty out of spite for some reason.

Mmm Sandwich.

I love sandwiches. I have pretty much given them up because I love deli meat and I'm really not supposed to eat it until it's been heated because of my increased risk of bacterial infection. I only cheat every once in a while and one of my favorite cheats is the Bacon Turkey Bravo at Panera Bread. It introduced me to Gouda cheese and I'm so thankful for it. Trader Joe's has sliced Gouda in their cheese section and I LOVE to put it on my sandwiches (when I'm not pregnant).

It's time once again for my monthly 2-hour hangout at Panera while I wait for my meeting at work to start. We get out at 3:45 and the meeting doesn't start until 7, so I'm stuck with about 2.5 hours to kill in the meantime. Panera has great food and free wi-fi, so here I am. I'm actually kind of glad that the meeting got bumped back to tonight (was supposed to be last week but we had the snow that canceled stuff) because my doctor's appointment is tomorrow morning. So I'm staying late tonight, but I get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow. The appointment is at 9, but I'm going to try and get there at 8:30 to see if they'll give me the sugar stuff early, so I'll be leaving around 7:30--which means I can sleep until 7 :) I ordered hot lunch tomorrow so I don't even have to pack lunch, I can just shower, dress and go! I do need to eat breakfast because of how long I'll be at the doctor's office, but I can't have carbs because it could throw off the glucose test and give them a false positive. I definitely don't want a false positive, because if I test positive, that means I go back for another test that's a 3 hour test! That would be my whole day right there, although I could probably get away with scheduling it during Spring Break, which is at the end of this month (which is March now!).

I can gauge how my hunger has changed month to month by my ability to resist getting more food at Panera while I sit here. I've been here for an hour now, and have been eying the menu seriously considering ordering more food. I'm definitely thinking some mac & cheese but what I'm really debating about is a frozen caramel. That's their version of Caramel Frappiccinos and it's even more amazing than Starbucks. I think so anyway because it's way more caramel flavor and less coffee. Normally, I feel a little bad about sitting for so long, but it's pretty empty in here today, normally around this time it's filled up and I can hear how busy they are. The people at the counter actually have time to breathe. I think it's because I'm at a two person booth today instead of a four person booth. That's mostly what I feel bad about when it gets busy, but they only seem to put the outlets at four people booths. I fully charged my laptop today though so I won't need to plug in.

The baby is moving around like crazy since I sat down. He was pretty active today too, but he's really moving now. I guess that means he liked the sandwich. I loved food to begin with, but being pregnant has more taken my guilt away than added to my appetite. Don't get me wrong, I can definitely eat almost all day long, and bigger portions too, but I wonder how much of that is pregnancy and how much is I've been giving my stomach what it wants, when it wants it. When you're training to run a marathon, you run a little farther every day and soon you don't notice distances that used to bother you. I'm sure eating is the same way, I've been eating more so now I'm able to eat more. I shouldn't get more food right now, because my wallet would love me, but my stomach (and probably the baby) would also be happy if I got more.

So my procrastination on Facebook and blogging paid off. It's almost time for me to leave and I've successfully fought the urge to get some mac & cheese. I will be getting a frozen caramel thing though, but to-go and to get me through this meeting and the drive back home afterward. I've been going to bed between 8 and 9. I try not to go to bed before that because otherwise I'll just wake up early like I did yesterday. I'm not really looking forward to my doctor's visit tomorrow, but I am looking forward to only a half day at work. If the appointment goes too long, I'm allowed to just use a sick day and not come in at all (it's an early release day, which means for the last hour of school the kids are gone and the teachers can work on their own or have meetings), which is a nice option to have. I'm hoping it doesn't go too long, because I want to save my sick days (they roll over, so if I go back in the fall, I can keep what I have left), but I'm glad that there's not pressure to get back to work by a certain time.