Saturday, July 31, 2010

Nice.

Last night, when Preston was having baby time and Grimmy was sucking on my hair, I think some milk leaked out of my left boob.

This preggo thing is getting more glamorous all the time.

Friday, July 30, 2010

A Funny Thing

I had an old co-worker, who is just barely younger than me, stop by the other day. I know that she and her husband want kids some day, but of course it isn't any of my business when...

Anyways, we were catching up and she was asking me questions, and occasionally she'd take a really obvious gander at the belly, but more often I'd catch her taking little sidelong glances.

It was so cute!!

A little weird for me, but I'm pretty sure that's how I'd have been acting if our roles were reversed.

It made me feel.... like.... I'm experiencing some great mystery. And it does seem mysterious, strange, intoxicating to women who've never experienced it. But I've said it before and I'll say it again: almost everything happens so gradually that your perception of yourself, your body, and what is happening alters so slowly that it is almost imperceptible. One day you are you: single, not pregnant, you know, normal. And the next you are pregnant even in your dreams and someone in your belly spends a lot of time kicking you. And somehow that is more than ok: it is welcome.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Crib Construction Pics

This whole picture thing has been interesting: we take about half of our progress pictures with P's phone, and the other half with the nice camera. At any given time I can grab the ones from P's phone, but the nice camera ones have to be loaded onto the computer and run through Photoshop before I can post them. Which would basically only happen on a weekend!!

So, without further ado, here are 2 P's camera photos of crib construction, the crib completed, and a cute kitty pic thrown in for the joy of it. Enjoy!




Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Glucose Tolerance Test Results

The long back story: I took the 1 hour glucose test a few weeks ago. The following week, I get a call at work, while I'm on my lunch break, asking me to call Dr. S's office. So I do, and the nurse tells me I failed my glucose test. I needed less than a 140, and I scored a 160. Awesome. I need to schedule the 3 hour test within the next week. I promptly freak out, google gestational diabetes, get myself all worked up, pissed off that I have no risk factors, that I already follow a reasonable diet (except for the ice cream), worry that if I have to really strictly follow a diet I'll go all anorexic like I did in college when I found out I had high cholesterol (which I still do, btw, clearly hereditary - after eating practically no dietary cholesterol for over a year, the score had only gone down 10 points!! 10 points!!), and finally realizing a semi-level of acceptance: if I have gestational diabetes, it doesn't mean I've been eating badly, it doesn't mean I'm a fat ass, it just means my placenta is producing hormones out the wazoo-ee, and as a result my body is insulin resistant. Fine. (But I'm still not happy about it.)

So last Friday I went to take the test, which you can read about in my Week 28 post.

Monday I got a call at work on my cell phone (NOT my primary contact number because I don't answer it during business hours!!!), which I missed. Got the message after work that I was supposed to call Dr. S's office. Ate a shitload of ice cream that night, in case it was my last hurrah. Went into work on Tuesday morning and looked up what time the clinic opens. 7:30. Called at 7:45. My doc doesn't start til 8. Called back at 8:15. Neither my doc nor my nurse are there yet (after being transferred to NO LESS THAN 5 people). How do you spell your name? How do you spell your name? How do you spell your name? (AM I NOT SPEAKING CLEARLY?? IT IS 5 LETTERS. NOT THAT HARD!!!) Ok, they'll call you back when they get in (yeah right).

Finally got a call back at 10:30 - my test results were normal.

Normal.

Holy shit, I'm not a gestational diabetic.

I know I have a tendency to expect the worst. I like that about me: it means I am always prepared, and I have lots of joy when things go well. But, damn, I waste a lot of energy worrying about things sometimes. I wasted a *lot* of energy freaking out about this.

Bring on the ice cream!!!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Preggo Book Reviews

What to Expect When You're Expecting
By Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, and Sandee Hathaway
ISBN: 9780761150794

Review: Don't read this book!! I know that it is like the bible of pregnancy, the book whose name and title you know. I know there is an iPhone app with the same title (which I'll review later). I know that you want to know everything to expect, but this book is dark. The only preggo nightmares I ever had came after cracking this baby open. This book'll convince you that you're going to have a miscarriage. Or a "broken" baby. Or that you're doing stuff wrong. This book does NOT tell you how you're going to feel, or how to handle things, or anything like that. It does a great job of letting you know all of the things in the world that could possibly go wrong. But somehow I didn't find that knowledge comforting. It was really just disturbing. So take my advice and skip this one.


The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy
By Vicki Iovine
ISBN: 9781416524724

Review: This book has tons of information, including the "gross" or uncomfortable stuff that the other books leave out, without being scary or gory. Written in a very readable, relatable style. Best pregnancy book I've read. I mean, it really just hits the mark. For example, lately I've been feeling like I want a haircut. The book actually warns against this: in the 3rd trimester, you'll want a haircut. But DO NOT GET A NEW HAIRSTYLE!! You don't want a new hairstyle, what you actually want is to not look pregnant any more. And I thought.... good point. The authors relate their own pregnancy "war" stories, and suddenly when reading it, you don't feel like you're alone in this any more.


Hot Mom-to-be Handbook
By Jessica Denay
ISBN: 9780061787355

Review: I had high hopes for this book, but it was rough going. It felt really disorganized. Often the same advice would appear in the same words on subsequent pages. The author would tell a story about some useful advice she got while pregnant, then not tell what the advice was! Poor writing and terrible editing obscured any benefit that I could have gotten out of this one. Skip it.


Your Pregnancy Week by Week
By Glade B. Curtis and Judith Schuler
ISBN: 1555612563

Review: This book is really fun, though for me its information has been somewhat overshadowed/duplicated by some of the apps I have. But in the beginning, it is really nice to be able to open up a hard copy of a book about pregnancy, and see what is going on with your baby that week. I especially enjoyed the "actual size" drawings of baby - really brought home the "size of a grain of rice" bit!! Also good info on what is going on with your body. The one negative thing I have to say is that advice on caring for yourself all throughout the pregnancy is inserted in each week. In other words, I needed to know what fish not to eat at the very beginning, not in Week 28. If I was an editor, I'd move all that up to the front, and just leave the baby, body, and any timely testing information under the weeks. But I'd still recommend this one, especially if you don't get an app!


The baby gizmo buying guide: from pacifiers to potties, why, when, and what to buy for pregnancy through preschool
By Heather Maclean
ISBN: 9781401603540

Review: That first trip to Babies' R Us is insanely overwhelming. How do I know what type of bottle to get? Or which car seat (other than what I can find on Consumer Reports)? Or which type of stroller? Etc. This book really helps with all that. Tells you the features to look for, whether the category of item is essential, just nice to have, or a total waste of your money. Gives registry suggestions, pros and cons of various options, and occasionally ways to save money. Good info, though some of it is redundant with the next book on the list, I'm still glad I read both, and the authors of the 2 books often have differing opinions from each other, and analyzing that data gave me more to go on in some cases. This isn't a read-every-word book, more of a skimmer, or check a chapter in order to make an informed purchase of a specific item. Or one that you read when you're doing your registry.


Baby bargains: secrets to saving 20% to 50% on baby furniture, equipment, clothes, toys, maternity wear, and much, much more!
By Denise & Alan Fields
ISBN: 9781889392257

Review: This book is nice for telling you how to save some money. For example, don't buy one of those quilt/bumper sets, because you can't actually have the quilt or the bumpers in the crib with baby, so what's the point? Also, use a dresser top for a changing table instead of buying a separate changing table. Etc. It also goes into a detailed analysis of the various companies that produce various things, like clothing, telling you where spending a little extra money is totally worth it, and where it is a bust. Like Walmart clothing may be cheap, but it'll fall apart within a few washes, but Carter's will hold up until your baby outgrows it. Great resource, and in combo with "Baby Gizmo" above, really great.


Baby sign language basics: early communication for hearing babies and toddlers
By Monta Z. Briant.
ISBN: 9781401921606.

Review: Accessibly written about benefits/faqs about signing with a baby before they can speak. Complete with personal anecdotes of the author signing with her kid. Incredibly useful last chapter of 80 first signs which were simple to learn. Highly recommended!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Week 28

Cravings:
Screw everything except vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. (Not totally true: Saturday night I craved a baked potato. Which I ate. Yummily.)

Aversions:
Nope.

Other symptoms:
Heartburn. Headache. Sciatica.

Things bugging me:
It seems like nothing on the house moves as quickly as it could. It is soooo frustrating.

Current weight: 154.4 I made the under 24 pounds at the start of Week 28 like I was hoping for. And then the next day I went over! Oh well, if I gain a pound a week from here on out, I'll hit just over 35 lbs gained. And like I said, it seems to be slowing... a bit. I've got this graph on one of my iTouchy apps that tells me what my weight zone should be. For awhile, I was going exponentially above the upper end of my zone, but now I seem to be taking a parabolic curve back towards the zone. Which makes me happy. Don't get me wrong, this gain still sucks, but I'm feeling more resigned to it.

Renovations:
No go on finishing the first half of the upstairs this weekend, but we did make progress.

We went to Ikea on Friday. Got see-through curtains (which will have to be complemented with something not see-through behind, but they're so cute!!), a little flower light to hang on the wall, a nice bookcase, and a changing table. Got the changing table home and realized it is too small, have to take it back. Decided to attach changing pad to top of a chest that we had liked, so we'll exchange the table for the chest. More storage anyways. Put together the bookcase on Saturday, hung the curtains in the closet on Sunday. Haven't hung the curtains or valance over the window yet because I can't find a curtain rod that I like!

Also on Saturday, P discovered that the fan situation in the guest room is worse than we feared, so he opened up a hole in the ceiling to fix it. Ugh!! I was really upset. Not at him, just because it was yet another super-time-consuming delay in the whole process.

By Sunday that was mostly taken care of, so the floors in the hallway got laid (looks soooo good!!), a second coat of ceiling paint went up in the guest room, and the guest room got mostly painted... there is just a bit of finish work around the edges that P needs to take care of. We also got the guest room significantly cleaner in preparation for working on the floors.

Oh, also I agonized over the layout of the nursery, but I think I've finally settled on something that will look nice AND make sense. Where the cube is in the photos below, I think I'm going to put the chest/changing station. This makes sense to be because all the clothes will be in that one corner of the room, since the closet is right there. The crib is on the other side of the window against the far wall, and the bookcase is on that same wall in the opposite corner. The cube will be just to the right of the door as you walk in, and the chair will be between the cube and the bookcase. I know that no one can picture this right now but me, but I'll post some pics when it is all done! Suffice to say that I feel really relieved to have finally mentally settled on a layout.

Next up, I hope, is baseboards in the hallway, finally hanging the fan in the guest room, finishing the painting in the guest room, then ripping out the baseboards and taking the flooring into there. Once again, I really really really really hope we can be all the way through the guest room by the end of next weekend. Please?

Other stuff:
Had my 3 hour glucose tolerance test on Friday. It totally sucked. I woke up at 5:30, when P left, hungry, and couldn't fall back to sleep. The lab didn't open til 8, so I knew right then that it was gonna suck. I got there right at 8, and they didn't call me back until 8:25!!! I was practically crying by the time they finally called my name, because I knew that was 25 minutes longer without food! Took my fasting sample, made me drink the stuff, orange flavored this time, yuck, and then stuck me once on the hour for the next 3 hours. I brought plenty of reading with me, but the chairs were uncomfortable, and the pricks got progressively more painful, but that was that. All morning I dreamed about Freebirds, but by the time they finally let me go, I was so exhausted (probably from boredom and lack of food) that I stopped by Murphy's on the way home. Then I took a nap. And I felt hungry for pretty much the rest of the day.

Still doing C25K Week 2. This morning The Kid was on my sciatic again, but I finished. This sciatic thing is getting really old.

Last week at work was rough even though it was a short week from me comping myself back time from the week before. It was all long meetings that just completely wiped me out. This week might be a little rough because my assistant manager is out, and that always means more crap to deal with, but at least I think I'll be in my office more... also I'm still owed 1 hour, so home a little early on Thursday!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Last night I was handy!

So, yesterday was a busy day. I was supposed to get home early, but I went to Target on the way and bought one of those cube organizer thingys, because I saw in an ad that they were on sale, and then I had to take the cats to the vet. Because of the timing on everything, I skipped lunch (I know, I know, I shouldn't do that), so P and I went to Freebirds after, and we weren't home to really do anything until 5ish.

But I really really wanted him to paint the guest room ceiling because that's one of the things that I can't be around for (couldn't find no VOC ceiling paint), so a weeknight is perfect for that. So, I thought why not try to assemble the cube I bought?I would normally never, ever do this without Preston, but he'd be in the next room, so what was the worst that could happen?

So, I opened the box and got him to help me dump it out (heavy!). Then he went to paint, and I got started.
Whee!! I was so proud of me!! And now I have little boxes to put all those sorted clothes in, so they aren't on the rug!! And they are still all sorted!! (This is really helping my nesting.) Target was out of a few colors of the canvas cubes that I want, but I'll keep looking...

And you see the rug, cute, right? (And it is super soft and squishy.) And I also got a tension rod to hang a valance in the closet. Instead of doors I'm thinking of getting some curtains, because that'll make the room's look easily (and cheaply) changeable as she gets older. I looked for curtains and a curtain rod for the valance for over the window while I was at Target, but I didn't find anything that I liked. I think we may head to Ikea this weekend to look for a dresser, so maybe then...

Nursery pics

So, I got in trouble for not posting a picture of the baseboard installation in which you could see Preston's new tool, so here is one with the new man-toy. And the lovely baseboards.

I got this incredibly generous donation of baby hand-me-downs from a co-worker in a hand-me-down bassinet. Cal wasted no time checking it out and declaring himself a gift to the baby too.
While Preston installed the baseboards, I hung out on the rug in the nursery occasionally helping him and sorting through the stuff from the bassinet. She gave me so much stuff that I don't think I need anything in newborn sizes any more! I need to tell everyone to get me 3 months and up.


Monday, July 19, 2010

Week 27

Cravings:
Fruit and vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. Guess it might be this way until the end? Had a strong craving one day for french fries, too.

Aversions:
Nope.

Other symptoms:
Heartburn. Ugh!! This one is new. It started on Friday after having shrimp etouffee for lunch (from Treebeards, yum!). I was miserable by mid-afternoon. The PBJ I had for dinner felt like fire on the way down. Then on Saturday, Preston wanted Red Robin, so I got my usual BLTA croissant with fries and watermelon, and heartburn by 2pm again. Finally, on Sunday, I played it (what I thought was) super-safe. I had a wheat tortilla wrap with cheese, meat, mayo, spinach, sprouts, and tomato. And heartburn by 2pm. BOOOOO!!!! It'll be interesting to see if my typical work lunch of Amy's burrito and banana has the same effect today. All my books say that this is typical in the 3rd trimester, but boooo!

Another somewhat new one: my fuse is about half a centimeter long. It takes absolutely NO TIME at all for me to get ticked. It sucks.

Things bugging me:
I'm still just ready for the house to be done!

Current weight: 153.4 (My book says I should have gained 15-24 lbs by week 28. Fingers crossed that I can go 4 more days and only .6 lbs so I can make the upper limit!!) On the good news side, the insane rate of weight gain seems to have maybe slowed down a bit. I hope.

Renovations:
Nursery floor sealed, baseboards installed, cute rug laying in there! I worked on Friday last week, so I'm getting off early a few days this week, so I'm hoping to get the crib assembled (yay!!), curtains picked out and hung (at least the valences, which are already purchased, up!), and start laying floors into the hallway and guest room before next weekend. If there is any possible way that we could finish out this side of the upstairs this weekend, I would be sooooo thrilled.

Other stuff:
I got a call at work last week that I failed my 1 hour glucose tolerance test. This means I might have gestational diabetes. I have to go in for the 3 hour test this Friday. Not looking forward to it. :-(

Still doing C25K Week 2. I got the 3 days I wanted last week, and felt great about that. I'm getting ever slower, and to be honest, the running is getting harder and harder, but I'm still banging out week 2. This morning I got through it even though The Kid was on my sciatic again, and it hurt like hell.

Last week at work was rough - I worked 48.5 hours. This week I've got so much going on that I'm not sure I'll manage to comp myself back the full 8.5 hours, but I'll try. I'll carry it over into next week if I have to. It is tough coming back on Monday for a busy week after such a loooooong week last week, and such a busy weekend. Hell, I'm already looking forward to this weekend, and I'm just getting started!!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Pictures

26 weeks pregnant, post morning run. (I'm not normally a fan of running skirts. I mean I got this one at Target to try it out, and it wasn't really for me. The legs roll up, and I just feel like a tool. But, now, it is the only running bottom that I have that fits me, so a skirt it is!)Pulling up carpet staples - one of the key steps before you can lay wood!Preston with his new table saw. He saw this pic and said, "Look at that MAN!" (Man pronounced Maaaah, loudly, and like your mouth is full of food.) And I said, "Yeah, look at that sexy man with the big ring on his finger." And he says, "Oh my goodness, is that really the first thing you notice about this picture??" Well... kinda. That and he's smiling well. And he's cute. :-)
Table saw with sawdust flying at the camera.
Cutting under the trim (with another new tool!) so we can lay the end of the first row of planks in the nursery.
Nursery floor = laid!!!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Kicky!

So last night while I was eating dinner, The Kid was seriously kicking. I mean *seriously* kicking. Right up in and just below my right ribcage. When I finished eating, I put my hand there, and it was jumping around with every kick, so I grabbed Preston's hand, and he, "Whoa, Whoa"ed with every kick, they were that big and that frequent. So we pulled up my shirt and for the first time we could really see her moving around under my skin - Alien Baby!!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Week 26

Cravings:
Still fruit. Also still vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.

Aversions:
Nope.

Other symptoms:
Still "timing out". Feeling pretty grumpy on Saturday. A little nap helped me to hit the reset button.

Things bugging me:
Meh, just ready for the house to be done!

Current weight: 153.4 (UGH!!!)

Renovations:
Well, the floor is in the nursery, but not sealed yet, so no furniture.

Here's how it went down:

Friday when Preston got home I asked him to go to Babies' R Us with me, because they were doing 20% off on monitors. Got one. And had snow crab at Red Lobster for dinner!

Saturday morning I woke P up by putting away dishes, loudly (sneaky, no?), and we went out to the garage to de-clutter so he could set up his table saw. Got that done, went for groceries, watched the soccer match, then he set up his saw, and we worked on laying the floors until almost 9 after that. I think there was a really severe learning curve with the floors. At least I hope there was, because we only got half the room done in like 7 hours!

Sunday we got up, laid a row, ate, and then laid until it was done, just in time to make lunch and watch the match. I didn't have it in me to work any more that day!

The learning curve: First we had to figure out how it was going into the room, how we wanted to stagger it, etc. Read the directions. Then, the spacers weren't working so great because the sheetrock doesn't go all the way down to the plywood, so the spacers would just angle back into the slot whenever we hit the thing too hard. Annnnd, unfortunately, the first row had a cut for the closet, which was a bit traumatic, though we got it done. We discovered that I'm not really strong enough in most circumstances to actually get the planks tapped in, so I wasn't as useful as we had hoped. Then on the second row, Preston broke a few planks with over-vigorous tapping-in (that's how tough it was to get those suckers to lock!!). Finally by rows 3-5, we had a routing: I pull out the plank, set it, he taps it in length-wise, then I monitor the seam while he taps in the other direction. Rinse repeat. Anything requiring sawing took much longer: measuring, going downstairs to saw, etc. Hopefully we'll continue to get better at that. Had kind of an alarming amount of wasted product, but I'm attributing it to the learning curve plus what is normal! Hope there is enough to finish the upstairs!!

(Will post pics of all of this soon!)

Other stuff:
Belly check was fine on Friday. Nice strong little heartbeat in the 140's again. Fundal height still measuring a week large. Oh! And she said The Kid was 2 lbs at the 24 week ultrasound! 2 lbs! This kid is gonna be huge!!!

Still doing C25K Week 2. Hoping for 3 days this week, since I am working Monday-Friday (abnormal). Day 1 done this morning.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

24 and 25th Week Belly Pics

24 weeks belly:
24 weeks goofy!
25 weeks belly (on our anniversary).
25 weeks, eeeewwwww, it's turning into an outie!!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Cool first!

So, I was sitting in the breakroom at work today for my afternoon break. I was reading book 3 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Titan's Curse, and rubbing my belly (in a totally publicly appropriate way). The Kid was really kicky. Then, I swear, I felt her little foot go into my abdominal wall just below my ribs at the top of my bump on the right side and stay there. I moved my hand over there and I could feel a little lump! I was even able to gently squeeze it a little! This went on for probably a minute. Then she got bored and ended the whole episode by giving me a powerful kick with her other foot lower down on my right side. In my head it looks like a bicycle kick...

A Conversation with my Mom

Me: Mom, how much weight did you gain when you were pregnant with me?

Mom: Oh, about 21 pounds. 7 of those were in one month: from Thanksgiving to Christmas! Why, how much have you gained so far?

Me: 22 pounds.




*crickets*




I'm not getting fat, I'm making a baby. I can lose this after. I'm not getting fat, I'm making a baby. I can lose this after. I'm not getting fat, I'm making a baby. I can lost this after. I'm not getting fat, I'm making a baby. I can lose this after. I'm not getting fat, I'm making a baby. I can lose this after. I'm not getting fat, I'm making a baby. I can lose this after.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Week 25

Cravings:
Still fruit - you should see me in the produce section: "And I'll have some oranges, some bananas, some pineapple, some apples, oooooo, those peaches look yummy.... do you think grapes are good yet? Etc. Etc." Also still vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, but I've started making Preston scoop it for me, and he is under strict orders to slowly start reducing the amount I receive in each bowl.

Aversions:
Noper.

Other symptoms:
Still "timing out" on a regular basis. I don't know how exactly to describe this (other than the "It's past 8pm and time for bed" time out, which I've totally perfected and is pretty self explanatory: get me to a bed or you're gonna meet a me that you aren't gonna like!)... it is like I'm just done. We'll be at the grocery store, and I'll get tired, achy, sometimes dizzy or short of breath, and moody, and I'll try to push through, but finally I'm just done. I don't care any more that we don't have all the groceries, that we'll have to come back, I just want the hell out of there. NOW. Luckily I can recognize the signs early enough to give Preston some warning, so that when I'm "pushing through" we can try to get all of the true essentials out of the way and get the heck out of there, but it is just a really weird and totally inconvenient phenomenon. And as soon as I get home, things are suddenly, miraculously ok.

I've also had pain in my pelvis. Not like muscle, kind of like bone. The other day I was sitting on a (padded) stool working on pulling up the carpet tack, and finally I told Preston I was going to have to go lay down. Oh, my tailbone hurt so bad when I got flat, and both hips were so sore. I rolled around on the floor for at least half an hour trying to stretch it out.

Things bugging me:
I'm not feeling too grumpy, actually. I wish we were moving faster on the renovations, and it is frustrating that every can we open seems to contain worms, but we are making tons of progress, and that is going a long way towards making me feel better.

Current weight: 151.8

Renovations:
We still hadn't gotten the floors for the nursery, so this weekend we cleared out the guest room entirely and ripped up the carpet in there and in the hallway connecting the nursery and the guest room. We also scraped the ceilings in both. I'm feeling a little panicky, because it looks soooooo bad right now, but I think if we can manage to get the floors in the nursery in next week, I'll calm back down. I think I'm panicking because it only seems to be getting dirtier/messier for the past several weeks, but if I can see the end in sight, I'll calm back down. I think!

So, my hope is to get the floors this afternoon, and they need 3 days to acclimate. So we have until Saturday morning to get the nursery and as much of the hallway and guest room as possible completely ready to lay floors on Saturday. Because I am laying floors on Saturday (damnit!). This involves Preston finishing sanding and patching ceilings in hall and guest rooms, priming and painting ceiling in hall and guest rooms (I can't do that because I am messy and because ceiling paint doesn't come in Zero VOC). Then me painting the guest room on Friday. And we need to clean all the debris up off the floor, he needs to de-squeak it and possibly sand it. And then, voila, we're laying floors! (Hopefully.)

Other stuff:
I was wrong, my belly check isn't until next Friday, so one more week until the doc tells me that my little girl isn't a pinhead. She isn't. I just want to hear the doc say it.

Still doing C25K Week 2. It is getting progressively more difficult, but I am trying to congratulate myself on any movement at all, and telling myself that the longer I do this, the easier it'll be to come back when it is over.

I am hoping my comeback (5K) race will be the EP5K on January 30, 2011. Even if The Kid is late, that should give me enough time to get back to 5Ks! (I hope!) Annnnnd, it is the only 5K I know of that gives completion medals. And damnit, I'll deserve a medal for this one!!!

Oh, one more thing: we got the a rug at Target on clearance yesterday. I saw it 2 weeks ago, and it matched the color scheme, and finally got P around to see it, and it was even cheaper! It isn't the cutest rug ever, but for more than half off, it was totally worth it. It is pink and purple and really soft to the touch. I told P my biggest requirement for a baby run was really that it felt nice to lay on, and this one definitely fits the bill! And at $30, we can throw the thing away when she doesn't like it any more (or it is too gross to keep!). I was looking for a picture online, but it was so on clearance that I can't even find one to post!!

Friday, July 2, 2010

50 Pictures of Preston with a Fan

Or, how to hang a fan in 13 (NOT) easy steps.

Step 1: mount the new switch plate.
Step 2: look at the hole where the old fan was.
Step 3: look at the stuff in the box. Then quit for the day.
Step 4: mount the thingy that is going to keep the fan from taking out The Kid. Do this after cussing a lot, trying 50 other options and nixing them, and making 3 trips to Home Depot.
Step 5: hang the motor. Hate your wife's nesting intensely. She is responsible for this fan fiasco.
Step 6: attach the blades.
Step 7: poke at the blades with your screwdriver.
Step 8: keep nudging at it.
Step 9: turn on the power!
Step 10: hang the light cover.
Step 11: do something with channel locks. Teach wife what a channel lock is.
Step 12: Yay done!
Step 13: tell wife that fan is your nemesis. You will never hang another one. Fail to realize that there is one more crappy fan in the house that she will surely make you replace. Bask in the glory of your victory.

(Love you, Preston! The fan looks awesome!)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Blimpber

4 people in the past 2 days have told me I look "big" for how far along I am.

Thanks? That's just what I needed to hear in the week that I'm now officially my heaviest ever, despairing that I'll ever be my pre-preggo size again, and feeling like a fat cow?

This week has been really hard on me.