Road trip

We're off...M needs a little break, and I'm glad that I insisted that we take a long weekend for our anniversary. We're leaving after swim class tonight for DC. Homecoming is tomorrow, and M has yet to experience the great debacle that is Homecoming in Dickson County. I haven't been since I graduated, and I am looking forward to it. Plus, that puts us four hours closer to Memphis, our second destination. We'll head west on Saturday morning and spend three whole days in the river city. We can't wait to see all of our friends, and maybe (okay, definetely) eat some real barbecue. Every time we go to a sporting event, I secretly hope that barbecue nachos have caught on. Word to the wise: they haven't.

In other news, I finally got around to checking out our paint job in S's room yesterday. It turns out the issue with the trim really was just a reflection from the blue tape. We'd never sprung for the fancy painter's tape before, always relying on plain masking tape. I wasn't that impressed. Save the extra $2 and get yourself an ice cream. I also brought in the basinette bedding that Melissa gave us last night and washed it. I am "planning" to clean up the bassinette today and bring it in. Now that S has a room with painted walls, I feel like there should be something in it. I also think I've decided to abandon the pink stripes on the walls. I'm just afraid that I'll never get them straight enough. I have a strong feeling that my Type-A perfectionism would make the project too frustrating, and I doubt S will really care if her walls have stripes. We'll see.

Of course, I still have to pack, and I have to take Otis to his home-away-from-home (the vet). I'd better get a move on...

Have a great weekend!!

Wouldn't it be nice?

There's an article on USA Today about the proposed ban of trans fats in NYC. I know it's being proposed somewhere else, too, as I read about it over the weekend. Is it bizarre that I get excited over laws involving cooking oils and fat? The general lack of people's concern for their own well-being just really bothers me, and I'm pretty sure I've ranted about that one before. The proposal would require all food vendors to eliminate all trans fats from their products and to post nutritional information. Needless to say, Joe the hot dog vendor in NYC is not excited.

I remember about two years ago when the low-carb craze hit the nation. I call it a craze because it was absolutely insane before it died down. Every fast food chain and restaurant was selling burgers without buns and creamed cauliflour. While I was never an advocate of low-carb, I know that it could be handled sensibly by people who actually used it to cut out refined starches and sugars. Most of America just took to frying up obscene amounts of bacon. As quickly as they had come, though, the New Years resolutions were abandoned, and along came the monster thick-burger. We've now gone back to the good old days of clogged arteries with callous disregard to the rising cost of health insurance. (Doesn't anyone else see a connection?)

I think if I were going to go back to school and work, I'd want to be a child nutritionist. Let's teach children how to have healthy relationships with food and how to make good choices. Nip it in the bud. Maybe healthier self-images would result??

I'm never going to understand how people can care so little about themselves. Don't get me wrong...there is a little vanity at work here. I do care about how I look, but I also care A LOT about what I'd look like autopsied. I mean, I don't want a medical examiner finding whole french fries in my arteries. I care about the fact that I can walk my dog without getting tired and that I can tread water for the zillion hours required in my mommy-swim-class. I care about being around for my daughter and my husband. You know what else, I care about maintaining that outlook of my own volition. Some people need medication for cholesterol and other maladies, and they should have it. What about the people who just refused to take adequate (not even good, just adequate) care of their bodies, relying on modern medicine to acheive their desired life expectancy? Is it fair that someone who may have taken better care of himself can't afford medical insurance or the drugs he needs because someone who can afford insurance preferred potato chips dipped in mayonnaise while chilling in his barca-lounger? Even better, is it fair that small children and the elderly can't get decent health coverage (or any health coverage) because of the channel surfer? No, it's not fair. I guess life isn't fair.

Don't take this the wrong way, I'm no saint. I used real butter on my grilled cheese, remember? I also used real butter in my cookies. I eat sugar and fat, just like everyone else. I just try to eat it in moderation. I try to find a balance. It's like A said, it's okay for K to have a twinkie (aka- the edible school bus)...it's nothing to freak out about. He just doesn't need to become fixated on them. They are a TREAT, they are not everyday food.

I guess I'm just trying to do my part by taking care of myself and my family...and crossing my fingers that the trans-fat proposal is just the start of something bigger and better.

Why didn't I think of that?

Do you ever have one of those moments when you run across something so brilliantly and simply wonderful that you have to ask yourself, "Why didn't I think of that?" I had that moment yesterday in the form of a grilled cheese with bacon and pear. A little history- M and I tend to have little fruit and cheese picnics for dinner a lot. Sometimes I'll make bread or popovers to go with the fruit and cheese, and sometimes I'll pick up a baguette and call it a day. We vary the cheeses (havarti, brie, VERMONT cheddar, gouda) and we keep the fruit seasonal (peaches, necatarines, berries, pears, apples). Back before we had a bun in the proverbial oven, there was usually wine involved, too. Yum. Wine.

Thought interruption- Otis just tried to eat a screw. I have no idea where he got it.

Back to food. I ran across a new favorite blog yesterday: Simply Recipes, and I saw a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and pear. It's so deceptively simple and perfectly contradictory. Seriously, I can't believe it took seeing this sandwich to make me think of it. Just the same, I made them for dinner last night...I cheated the southern-food-gods and used wheat bread and turkey bacon, but I did use real butter. It was delish...served with sliced apples and grapes. I highly encourage anyone who sees this to make yourself one immediately. I also made Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies yesterday, and those were wonderful, too. M brought the entire cookie jar into the living room last night to partake of their tastiness.

I am so happy that I like food again.

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame

So this weekend in football adequately made up for last weekend. The Notre Dame comeback was pretty awesome, even though I slept through most of the 4th quarter. UT and the Colts won, too, so I was pretty happy. I'm acting like I don't know that the Cougars lost. You know, I don't think that anyone who looks at this blog could care less about football...why do I always post about it? Oh, wait- because I care about football. At least, I care about it right now while it's early in the season, and I've not been overly inundated.

It was a fairly worthless weekend for me, but M got some things accomplished. Together, we managed to nearly bore our dog to tears. Seriously, Otis does not care for "doing work around the house." Too often, loose nails and such land him in his kennel, or he's stuck behind the baby gate. I did manage to hang the rest of the pictures on the "family wall" (the empty frames are lacking mats for now), and I replanted the "pots" on the wall in the dining room. The baby tear ferns that I planted there when we moved in were a smidge past dead, and the whole room looks better now. M painted S's room. We can't tell if the trim needs another coat or if the blue painter's tape is just reflecting onto the new yellow paint. I need to pull a strip down this morning and look...I'd have to buy more paint. The walls look good, though, so I need to think about the best way to get the pink stripes onto the wall. I love the pale yellow that we picked out, it makes the room so much lighter. I just can't wait to start getting the room REALLY put together. I guess that means I need to get painting on the furniture!!

That's really all we've had going on lately...oh, except we bought ice cream at the grocery store Saturday night. Not too exciting, I know, but we got MAGIC SHELL, too. Man, that stuff is good. It's been a highlight of our weekend. Is that sad, or does it say, "we appreciate little things?" Leans more toward sad, doesn't it?

Happy Monday.

Give in to the cravings

I've always had a problem with cravings. M used to have to go out and buy me chicken strips when we were still in school as he couldn't get any studying done over my whining. Sometimes, I just randomly decide that I cannot go on without a cheeseburger or a pizza or Mexican food. We always thought that my being pregnant would mean constant trips out to satisfy my cravings. We've been surprised so far. Granted, I spent four months hunkered over the porcelain god, but I still haven't really craved anything. Well, I hadn't really. Saturday, before we left for Knoxville, I had an insane desire for chocolate/vanilla swirled frozen yogurt. There is only one fro-yo place in Lexington, and it's on the other side of town, and I didn't want it nearly that bad. Over the last couple of days, I've continued to think about the chocolate/vanilla swirl. I keep trying to think of reasons that I need to be on that side of the world. I simply can't justify driving all the way over there for a small cup of yogurt. The whole situation has gotten me thinking about ice cream, though. It got so crazy that yesterday, after I left Lowe's from buying the paint for S's room, that I looked up, saw a McDonald's, and I had to have a McFlurry. I don't think I've ever had a McFlurry in my life, but at that moment, it was a life-or-death situation. I think that counts as my first major, out-of-control craving.

Then last night after dinner as M and I were putting the dishes into the dishwasher, I wanted cake. M didn't think cake sounded so bad, either, and I found myself looking into the cabinets to see what I could put together. Hallelujah...there was brownie mix. I actually made brownies at 9pm just because I wanted a bite of cake. That's two cravings in one day. I suppose it's all downhill from here??

Oh, Otis says hello...I know it's fuzzy, but what do you expect when he jumps up and licks the camera?

New York State of Mind

Our little S has received two packages in the last two days...from the Plattsburgh S2s. M and I are crazy about both gifts! The first from S and B in Ithaca (which included much appreciated happies for M and me, too), is a dino-riffic tee and adorable boots. Not only did I think the boots were cute, I know that they are awesome because even M loved them, stating something like, "those are the cutest things I've ever seen," followed by some baby-ish noises. I am especially fond of the tee, as I have notived one majorly disturbing fact about baby girl clothing/gifts/decor. While little boy stuff is full of animals and letters and numbers and other educationally-based things, little girl stuff is all princessy flowers. It just goes to show you...gender biases are alive and well...little girls are still supposed to be cute and sweet, little boys are supposed to be smart. Off my soapbox now. The pink tee has a dinosaur on it, and I am told that the dino is Cecil the Ceolophysis. Paleontology lesson for the day, courtesy of S: the ceolophysis is the only dinosaur ever to live in NY state. The second gift arrived from S and D in AZ. M and I had seen this baby set on Colgate's website, and I was planning to order it, so I am thrilled to have gotten it as a gift. Again, our little girl will be plenty smart...she'll have to be when she heads to Colgate in 18 years! Huge thank yous and hugs for all the wonderful presents.

S and I attended our first pre-natal swim class yesterday, and it was a lot of fun (and a lot of work). The water was cold on my belly when I first got in, and S went CRAZY, kicking up a storm. Could it be that she is already adverse to being cold? She is totally my child. The class was great, and I got to meet some other mommies-to-be, which is a major reason I'm even going. After treading water for what seemed like half an hour, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to move today, but I seem to be getting around just fine. Thank goodness.

Today we've been working around the house...our major accomplishment being that we taped S's room, so it's ready for paint. I'm heading out to purchase the paint in a few...

Lastly, there have been a few requests for pics of the bump, so I attempted it today. Let me tell you, it's hard to take a picture of your own belly. At least you get an idea...either way, to put the expansion into perspective: my pre-pregnancy measurements were 35-25-36. At 22 weeks, I'm up to 37.5-33-39. It's scary...what's even scarier was me just trying to locate my "waist." It is non-existent, but the line from the stretchy panel on my maternity jeans is clear as day. Nice.

A long post

We've had a lot going on the past few days...bear with me. For starters, congrats to S and D on the newest addition to their family: Chewy! He's precious. Now on to the show...I finally accomplished something for the nursery. I worked on it a little bit Friday night and a little Saturday morning before hitting the road for Knoxvegas. Now I just need to paint the nursery walls so there is somewhere to hang it. Actually, M doesn't want me around the paint fumes, so I just have to tape the trim, then M has to paint the walls. I'm hoping to get all the rooms in the house that I want painted done while I'm pregnant...seeing as I wouldn't have to do any work!!

We started our trek south around one on Saturday afternoon. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for driving and there was very little traffic. Once we got to Knoxville, we had a great afternoon. It was a little warm at first- especially hoofing it up and down all the hills in the afternoon sunshine, but it was perfect in the shade. M got to have his very first UT experience, complete with the Vol Walk and Running through the T. Of course, the game didn't end as we'd hoped, but it was a GREAT football game, and I think all 107,000 people stayed until the very end. We did notice in the course of the day that Otis is the perfect build to replace Smokey when he's ready to move on to greener pastures. Granted, he's not a blue tick hound, but a labradoodle makes a much more current statement! We even bought him a new collar to get him used to orange...we also found some cute future gifts for S, but we didn't want to carry a bag around with us.

We made it back to Lexington around noon yesterday, and I figured we'd just crash, but we had a fairly productive afternoon. M dug up the garden (goodbye, summer) and trimmed the hostas up a bit while I painted the rails on the front porch. Then we organized the garage. After that, we crashed. Now that it's Monday, it's back to the grindstone for him...and I'll be working to get more things done around the house. In fact, I should get to work now...

For the record, does blogger make anyone else angry when arranging pictures? Aaaaagghhhh!

I can see clearly now

It's amazing how much more light can stream into our new windows without the "Otis prints." There were lots of nose prints on the front windows, and I'd given up on cleaning them except for major reasons like parties...they always came back. Since he's not allowed on the couch anymore, I'm hoping the problem will go away. Of course, the storm door will remain coated in nose prints and slobber...I consider it a homier version of a "Beware of Dog" sign. Besides, soon enough the "Otis prints" will have to contend with "S prints." Our old windows didn't have screens, so we were never able to put the windows up as we would become overrun with flies and such. It was wonderful to put the windows up yesterday and let the cool fall air into the house. They are not up now, though, as it is a smidge too cool out there. You know how I require warmth...

As the coolness of fall took over the house yesterday (I had on SmartWools and a light sweater!!), I felt the need to bake. Of course, I also wanted to combat the less-than-enticing silicone caulk smell. I made an "Apple Dessert" out of some old church cookbook that I've managed to acquire over the years. It was okay, but not quite right. It was something between an apple cobbler and an apple crisp. Either of the originals would have been better, but I lack a good recipe. Any suggestions?? Either way, most of it will likely go uneaten as we are heading to Knoxville for the UT-Florida football game tomorrow. Go Vols!!

FIVE SENSES FRIDAY
Sight: The fattest squirrel in history outside the kitchen window...I'm pretty sure Otis could have caught him. He looked pretty slow.
Smell: The "Apple Dessert" baking
Taste: Gala apple and cheddar cheese sandwiches
Touch: S practicing her yoga
Sound: 10,000 Maniacs Unplugged that I'm listening to right now. I love Natalie Merchant's voice.

Cry baby

The new windows are here, and our house is quite active today...full of hammering and such. Otis is unnerved to say the least, but he is handling it well. It helps that he found his doughnut toy and a rogue tennis ball when the couch was moved from in front of the windows. As I knew that I would be "holed up" in the house, I bought my first Parents magazine to read, and I just ran across what I found to be a very interesting statistic. In a baby's first year (on average), she will sleep 4,745 hours. She will cry for 730 hours. I saw the crying statistic first, and it scared me to think that divided out, that is a solid month of crying. A month, people. Then I saw the sleep statistic. The crying thing doesn't seem so daunting when the baby will be sleeping for almost seven months. It's nice to see those two things listed together...it puts things into perspective a little. Maybe when little S is screaming her head off, and I can't remember the last time she wasn't crying, I'll force myself to look back at this post.

Speaking of cry babies, though, Otis has been the biggest whiner lately. I'm really trying to break him of barking at everyone who walks by the house. Fisher the dalmation barks at everything, constantly waking my friend Anne's child. I don't want to have to worry so much about that with Otis, and he's starting to get it. I understand that he is a dog, and he is going to bark. I just want him to understand that he doesn't need to bark at everything- like our neighbors checking their mail...they are not a threat to our home. Anyway, he has been putting two and two together, figuring out that if he barks, he gets squirted with the water bottle. So, he circumvents the punishment by whining loudly instead of barking. I can't decide if it's funny or really annoying. Mostly, I just make fun of him for it. I love that dog.

Here's a picture of him chilling in his kennel...I don't want him jumping out of any of the gaping holes in the house...

Not quite Vanity Fair

Suri Cruise made headlines by premiering her little face in a 22-page spread in Vanity Fair. We've not quite made it into the tax bracket that VF is looking for, so little S is making her debut right here on mom's blog...here's our little yogi!!

The second pic is one of the cool new 3-D shots. I feel bad that her head is currently nice and round, but will likely be a conical shape by the time she makes it here...I keep telling her I'm sorry if I mess up her perfect little head. The fourth shot is my personal fave...I love those fingers!! M's favorite is the fifth...we actually got to see her opening and closing her mouth during the ultrasound, which was pretty cool.

Muddy dog

Our new windows were supposed to be installed today and tomorrow, but it's raining. We'll be waiting at least one more day. No big deal...we've waited this long. Speaking of the rain, it's actually only sprinkling, and Otis just went out for a potty break. I noticed that the rain drops were getting a smidge bigger, so I called him in. (He doesn't mind, he doesn't like getting rained on or splashed anyway.) He came inside earlier today chewing on a rock that was as big as my fist, so I immediately checked out his mouth when he came in this time...no rocks, but his whole face was doused in mud! He must have taken a nose dive into the dirt somewhere. Of course, he'd licked most of it off by the time I could wrangle him into the mandatory headlock for wiping him off. Amazingly, there was no mud on his paws. He was literally out there just eating dirt. What a nerd.

Of course, he's not a nerd in the traditional "smarty-pants" sense. M and I keep trying to talk to him about the baby, and he's not getting it (not that we really expect him to understand what the baby is when he can't actually see it). Most of the time we can ask him questions like, "Otis, where's your mom/dad/bone/dinner," and he'll show off his superior intellect by finding the item in question. We've been asking him lately, "Otis, where's the baby," and he just stares back at us. This question brought on my daily "is this really my life" moment. I spent a few minutes trying to make the dog understand that the baby is in my belly. He was not interested, and I realized about three minutes into this inane exercise that I'm really only teaching him that my belly is a baby because he can't comprehend that there's a baby INSIDE my belly. Needless to say, I gave up. That's when he went outside to chow on the dirt. Seriously, is this really my life?

Oh, our spider friends are also back in full force. About a month ago, we noticed these freakishly enormous spiders spinning webs every night on our front porch. M made it his personal mission to smash their little guts out with a 2x4 every morning before work. (Please don't think that M is a murderous fiend...these are SCARY big spiders.) After several mornings of whacking at them, they were gone...annihilated, running scared, I didn't care. They were gone. Or so we thought. They are back. There is one in a big web about a foot from the front windows right now. Unfortunately, that means the web is about three feet back into the landscaping out front. I was going to take a picture of the vermin to see if anyone could identify it, but I'm too afraid it will attack me or that it has a secret army hiding in the hostas waiting for me to come closer like guerilla warfare. It's a scary world out there!!

Oh the frustration

For someone who really, truly, legitimately does not want to be high maintenance when it comes to her baby, I am completely STRESSED OUT over the nursery. M and I went to Baby Depot, Babies R Us, and Target this weekend to look at nursery stuff. I found some bedding at Target that I like, so we bought it. Go figure, it's green...not pink like a girl, but green. I only really went for it because the green will actually look really good mixed with pink. I am still seriously in doubt about our purchase, and I cannot figure out why this decision has me so up in a wad. After we bought the bedding, we went to Lowe's to look at paint colors, and I picked out a bunch of colors that I hated as soon as we got the paint samples outside in actual light. For the record, the bedding has elephants on it, which is not to imply (in any way) loyalty to any political party or SEC football team...just to clarify.

My sister-in-law gave me a couple of catalogs with baby bedding in them when we went to visit her yesterday (thank you again for everything!!). Pottery Barn kids has some insanely cute stuff, but I just can't justify spending so much money for crib bedding. Someone please slap me back into sanity!

Aside from stressing about the nursery, I was inspired by the Beef to actually do the Yoga Mama video that we bought ages ago. I haven't been dizzy for awhile, and I felt pretty good this morning, so me and the mini-me busted out the yoga mat. As in all yoga videos, there is a relaxation pose at the end, and the baby started going nuts...like she was saying, "hey, mom, I'm not ready for the relaxation pose yet, let's do downward-facing-dog again!" She continued to practice her own yoga poses for a solid hour after I was done.

When a spade isn't a spade

So it turns out the backache has nothing to do with my back. I noticed that the pain wasn't anywhere near where anyone/book/website said it should be, so I did some sleuthing. Go figure, it's right where my right kidney lives, and I had several other symptoms that seemed completely normal because I'm preggers. I have some UTI/kidney infection type of malady, so now I'm taking anti-infection pills that look like bumble bees. Wonderful. No major cause of concern, but I still don't want any infections swimming around in there near my baby!

Other than that, Otis has gone into "holy terror" mode this week. He has decided that he doesn't want to go to his kennel when we leave the house- he wants to go with us. Anytime the door to the garage gets opened, he runs out and tries to get in the car. He also steadfastly refuses to go to his kennel all the other times he is supposed to- except when we're eating, he still does that. He's getting into trash, into the kitchen sink, trying to eat dishtowels, you name it. I don't know what's gotten into him, but I want to flick him on the nose because I'm so frustrated with him. There's an electrician here now, and I had to put Otis outside because I couldn't get him into his kennel. Aaaaaggghhhh!

On the crib bedding front, I did go to one fabric store the other day, but I really only found one pattern that I liked at all, and I have a feeling that M would not like it...so I'll try to look some more this weekend. Like I said before, I don't know why I care so much- the baby is just going to ruin her bedding anyway. We'll see what happens with this situation...

Five Senses Friday:

Sight: Do I have to say it? Seeing our baby!! (I should be able to post pics tomorrow.)

Sound: It's a toss up: "Her heart looks great," "Her stomach looks great," "It's a girl." Too many to choose from this week!

Smell: Vegetable soup cooking the other day (unfortunately, the smell was misleading- it tasted pretty bland)

Touch: Baby girl kicking away...and M getting to feel it

Taste: peanut butter and apples and milk

She's a She!!

We made a lot of phone calls yesterday afternoon, so I apologize to anyone "hearing" the news for the first time here...

IT'S A GIRL!!

We had our 20 week check-up and ultrasound yesterday, and everything is going great. To those of you who've not gone through this yet, seeing the baby's fingers and toes and nose and heart and other parts for the first time is hands-down the coolest thing EVER! (Those of you who've had babies- I guess you know what I'm talking about.) I can't imagine what it will be like when the actual baby comes along. M and I were both mesmerized the entire time- especially when we could see her little heart beating away. I promise to post "pictures" of our beautiful little baby girl as soon as M gets around to scanning them in. Oh, and she is absolutely gorgeous, by the way. In fact, I think she's just perfect...can you tell I'm the mom? I can't wait to meet her...although my bladder is already intimately familiar with her! So familiar, in fact, that between 11pm and 6am, I had to go to the potty five times. That's an infamous record...I feel seriously geriatric.

Now, I'm venturing into full-on "we're having a baby girl" mode. The first thing we did after the appointment (okay second thing- the first was EAT...), was go to buy a girl outfit. Funny thing about that is- we wouldn't buy anything for the baby until we found out her sex because I thought it silly to buy unisex things when we were going to "know". We bought a green sleeper anyway!! Of course, it has pink trim and girly dancing cows on it. Then I went out looking at crib bedding, looking for ideas on how we want to decorate her room. Why is all the girl stuff either Disney princess, pink with huge flowers, or purple with the word "princess" all over it? Not to mention the fact that it's all outrageously expensive when all the baby is going to do is puke and drool and poop on everything. Oh, and why are there crib comforters if you're not supposed to put a blanket in the crib with the baby? It's all very overwhelming to a Type-A personality. I'm heading out to a couple of fabric stores today to see if I can just find a pattern for a bumper pad and crib skirt. We'll see what happens...

As for Otis, we keep telling him that we're going to have a girl, a little sister for him. He just looks at us like, " don't you realize that I don't know what that means?" Poor little guy. He was very interested in the smell of my tummy yesterday, though. Why do they have to use so much of that jelly stuff for the ultrasound?

Gettin' jiggy with it

Yet another completely worthless day for me. M did get some things accomplished around the house, but my only sense of accomplishment comes from having read Newsweek cover to cover. The only reason I am even posting is to inform everyone of our one momentous occasion of the day...M got to feel the baby move for the first time. The little booger's kicks have gotten a lot stronger in the past week, and it was going crazy earlier. I really didn't think M would be able to feel anything, but I guess the baby wanted to say, "hey, pops," because it unleashed its biggest movement to date as soon as M put his hand on my belly. It was pretty awesome. Of course, the baby has been moving pretty much nonstop all day, which is a little freaky since I am not used to it. I've only recently gotten to the point that I can feel it when I am sitting up...I used to have to be lying flat. Hooray for babies in motion!!

Good ol' Rocky Top

Life is good, and all is right with the world. Well, maybe not entirely, but college football is in season, so around our house, things aren't too bad- especially with UT and the Irish winning. Of course, UT did it in a much more convincing fashion, and I'm not complaining about that. Go Vols!! It was funny...when I woke up Friday morning and let Otis out, I knew- this is football weather, and the overcast cool temps lasted through yesterday. It's great to be southern in the fall. I mean, even my beloved DC Cougars won on Friday night. M asked last night if I thought the baby would like football even if it was a girl. While no small child can be expected to sit still and watch a three hour football game, which he understands, I explained that I can think of no reason why our offspring wouldn't love the gridiron...it won't have much of a choice anyway.

I suppose I should get ready for church now. I'm going to pray for this hellish backache to go away. I woke up Friday night at 3am nearly in tears because it hurt so bad. Needless to say, I was worthless all day yesterday, taking Tylenol every 4-6 hours and laying on a heating pad. While it feels much better today, I worry- if this backache bothers me so much, how on earth am I going to get through DELIVERING A BABY?? I think I'll pray about that, too.

Happy Sunday, peeps.

Happy, happy, happy

I love my family, and I loved everything about my visit with them. There's just something about being home, though. Dinner with my husband...staying up until 1am (unheard of around here) to watch Andre Agassi survive another round of the US Open...laughing at how silly we both are together. Once again, I realize how much I love my little "in the process of expanding" family.

Oh, yeah, PRESENTS!! M got me the Dansko clogs I've been wanting for a couple of years but was never willing to pay for myself. Of course, I wanted the shinier black ones, which he bought...the sales lady says we need the others because they won't show scuffs and dings and such. I'm torn. He also got me Heart's Greatest Hits, which I am totally pumped about! To quote Roz from Frazier, "for your information, classic rock is both classic and it rocks." Normally, I'm all into my little indie rockers and songwriters, but I've got a serious soft spot in my heart for those Wilson sisters and their big hair, big guitar chick rock! Bring it on!

As for the agenda now that I'm home...I made sure the house was pretty close to spotless before I left, and M did a great job of keeping it that way, so I've got some laundry to do, but other than that the house is in good shape. I'd like to walk Otis, but it's raining, so that's out. I saw a quilted bib on the Moopy and Me sight that I'd like to tackle, so maybe I'll be crafty today. What I should do is head over to the library for books on window treatments. The new windows should be here soon, and I'd like to do something different on the front windows. The old owners left the sheers they'd made (crazy tall windows in a corner, likely requiring custom treatments) when they left, and they've haunted me since. They have to go, and I want the windows to have a little more pizzazz anyway. I'll also need something for the baby's room soon! I can even start that little endeavor next week as we find out the baby's sex on TUESDAY! That's FOUR DAYS people. I'm positively giddy about the whole thing!

Also (I haven't posted in a week, I feel like I can ramble a bit), I read what may be the best sentence ever today...in terms of summing up what I want from life. From All Buttoned Up, "I want to be full and happy." You can really read it anyway you want, and it seems to work. I've gone through my entire life in type-A, overacheiver, "I must be number one" mode. I thought I'd always be that way, but things are changing. Maybe 27 years of that just caused me to burn out, or maybe my priorities are just changing. I'm not saying that I'm not still a type-A control freak. I am. What has changed is what I have to be perfect about. The main difference being that the answer isn't everything. I am in a pretty content place in my life, and I think being a mom will just reinforce the newer me. I just want things to be simple. I want to live a life and raise a child with real complexities, not manufactured ones. What matters, what really doesn't. Family and relationships matter. Memories matter. Responsibilities matter. The shoes in the closet (while perfectly aligned) don't really matter. My beautiful Juliska cake plate and dome (while adored) doesn't matter. I don't want to be that person...that person who is more worried about stuff and junk than people. Stuff and junk go away, but the memories and the stories stick around. Five bedroom, four bath homes with theaters and three-car garages can succumb to any number of disasters, but the memories made will stay...the smells, the sounds, the lessons learned. I just want to learn to remember those things all the time. I want to be full of all of the good things that matter...I want to be happy about that.