you've got *more* mail

Yesterday was yet ANOTHER great mail day. I got not one, but two special packages. I allowed myself to open one right when I got home. It was from my Southern friend Harley or Rachel if you must. It was a sweet card with some scrappy embellishments. So unexpected. So appreciated. Thanks Rachel, such a sweet surprise. I loved it. The next one was not allowed to be opened until I did some work in the soon-to-be-nursery. So, once I made a significant dent in that project, I opened up envelope #2. This one was from my God daughter Ava and her mom and my best friend (we've known each other and have been friends since we were 12 years old- OMG!) Tina. From Ava I got this wonderful drawing. I love kids' art. She drew me with a baby in my tummy and I think the fella next to me is Tones... but who knows. It is a CRACK UP! Check it out. (click to enlarge). It's kind of light, but I think you can see it all.







The babe in the belly is priceless. Thanks Ava. You are the bomb and such a great artist! keep 'em coming! Tina also included some super shee-shee note cards that I love. You have such great style girl. At least my note cards will have style now. What a great surprise... I love them. Thank you.

In other news.
I have an hour and a half before my VACATION starts! Wooo hooo! Only 2 more days until the ROAD TRIP of the YEAR begins. Not only are we going to the creative extravaganza of the year, we are hitting up SPRINKLES cupcake shop while we are there. Gotta love me some cupcakes. I might even get to squeeze in a visit with Krista while I'm out there. That would be icing on the {cup}cake. I don't know if I will be posting while on the road.... actually I know I won't be posting from the road. I might manage to get another in before I leave... but I am not making any promises. I'll touch base as soon as I get home though....

You've got mail!

I heart getting mail. The good kind, not bills or political propaganda. The best ones are surprises, like this cute outfit my friend Krista & fam sent over for the boy. Awww... look at those little jeans... I can see it now... little dudes bubble butt in those jeans... I won't be able to resist just taking a big bite! Thanks Krista, you're always so thoughtful and on top of it.

What is it about wanting to eat babies? I know I'm not a cannibal, but cheeks and arms and legs and toes and bellies... YUMMY. I can totally understand why animals eat their young, they're just so cute and fuzzy they can't help it! Weird? Does anyone else out there want to eat baby parts too?

On another note... I have a rant about panhandlers. Geez... just STOP IT already. I swear, everywhere I turn, someone is asking for money or for me to buy some of their crappy candy or candles or ______ (fill in the blank). Don't get me wrong, I donate to charity, etc. I have a heart. But it is SO annoying to constantly have to dodge these people. I was at the grocery store and as soon as I pulled into a spot, this teenager comes up to me with this huge plastic bin with some schpeal about trying to go on a trip or something... "no thank you." I don't think they should be combing the parking lots (or knocking on my door for that matter)... I don't know where they should try this but when I was selling stuff to raise money for new cheerleading uniforms or something, I hit up my relatives and maybe a few good neighbors... I didn't dare go out to flat out strangers... So after I'm done shopping I walk out of the store and some guy asks if I can spare a quarter. Oh sure, let me just drop all of my crap right here and dig a quarter out for you. I should have said "sure, do you have change for a hundred?" Every corner you stop at, every highway off ramp, every mall... isn't that what shelters are for? I don't know... I feel bad for them, but seriously... I also can't go around giving every one a quarter, a dollar, a job, food, beer....

17 weeks

3 weeks away from the half-way point, which will quickly become the home stretch. I can't say that this has been flying by so far... it hasn't been. I worry too much not to "just let it happen" so each day goes by very slowly. I'm at the point where I feel much better as far as my boobs don't really hurt much and I'm not nauseous but I don't yet feel the baby moving. At least I don't think I do, although I've been told that these "things" I feel are probably the baby moving. I'm waiting for that one definitive KICK so I really know it was the little dude and not just a gas bubble. So, since I don't really feel anything one way or the other, I worry because I think "is everything down there as it should be?" I'm a nut-job, I know... but at least I'm admitting it.

Here is the latest belly shot taken after a 6 mile walk... so I know it's not just bloating b/c there was nothing in my stomach.

On another note...

My good Friend Naomi and her hubby welcomed little Mr. Alex B to the world last week... what a cute, serious face on this guy...

Welcome to the world little guy... enJoy the ride!

we're on cloud nine...

we couldn't wait to share the news... and for the record... Tony is the one that started telling people... "because they asked."

2 weeks from today...

...I will be getting ready to go to Arizona for the yearly Creative Escape. This time I am road-tripping with Mabelle and Shannon. Once there I will be reuniting with my Donna. I don't know what I'm more excited about, meeting up with Donna or all the crafty goodness I'm about to dive in to. Besides the girl-time, arts n' crafts, shopping, and just plain ol' fun, it also means a WHOLE WEEK of NO WORK!!! Wooo hooooo! I think overall, THAT has to be the best part, aside from the Donna part.

What else... this weekend I took FULL advantage of the hubs being home. Get your mind out of the gutter... I mean in the "why it's so nice to have a husband around" sort of way... like fixing the garbage disposal. This weekend was BABY OLYMPICS 2008. We went to one of those places where you can get a 3D or 4D image of your peanut... YES, I KNOW... those 3D/4D pics FREAK.ME.OUT. However, we went to find out the sex of the baby. The good news is that they also do the 2D black & white images that we are all very used to... they just don't advertise that. Once you're there though, they've got ya, so they'll do whatever you want. We chose to stick to only 2D black & white. The equipment they use is SO CLEAR and just plain AWESOME. It seriously puts the doc's equipment to shame. We saw the little monkey moving around like cRaZy and the very first thing we saw was the little babe throwing us a peace sign. It was so cool. We got a good look at the junk and got the answer we were searching for. Tony and I are pretty impatient, so we just decided (I decided) on a whim to just "do it." We're so glad we did. We couldn't imagine waiting another 6 weeks. It got us even more pumped and excited (as if I could be any more excited). Since Tony is leaving again for another month, I wanted this additional piece of information so that he could feel more connected.

Don't even ask. We decided that all (18) of you will have to wait until the "official" ultrasound on September 22nd to know. Hee hee. We want to keep it our little secret for now. Tony is SURE I'll spill the beans before then, but I am going to try... TRY.

Anyway, back to taking advantage of the hubs and the baby Olympics. You see, since Tony is only here for a week or two between month long business trips, and because I want him to be involved in this waiting-for-baby process, we are doing as much as possible to get ready. This means putting together the stroller, testing out the car seat- to see if it fits in the mini... (it does) and to see of the stroller fits in the mini, at the same time the car seat is in the mini (it does). It may seem too early to be tending to this kind of business, but I am a planner and I like to be ready and when he's only here for a week every month, technically we only have 5 weeks to get all this stuff done. See what I mean?

Now if I could only get that darn room cleaned out... UGH!!!!

"my, what a big baby you have"

So today was the highly anticipated check up at the ol' doc's. I had a little panic attack at work right before I left to go to the appointment. I don't know why, really, since things are going well... I guess it's just me having flashbacks from the last time. I thought things were going well then too. ANYWAY... we knew that this appointment was *supposed* to only be a check up with a listen to the heart beat. Well... I asked nicely and the doc said we could take a peek at the babes too.
First she got caught up to all that was happening with me. I have never seen her before, so it was nice that she took the time to catch up on my chart. I was her last patient today, so maybe she was just so excited to be done that she was extra nice. Either way, it was a nice change of pace. Next she went in for the heartbeat. Well, initially she couldn't find it and I about crapped my pants. Tony said when he heard her say she couldn't find it, he about pooped his pants too. The only thing keeping me from losing my freaking mind was the fact that the doppler was picking up on a 130 heartbeat... and I knew it wasn't mine. So I knew it was in there somewhere... little baby was just hiding I guess. Doc found it for a sec but then had to take my pulse because she said "now that I've scared the shit out of you... I have to make sure it's not YOUR pulse I'm picking up." It wasn't, I was still (amazingly) calm. It was junior's heartbeat. Cool... coming in at about 140... right where it should be. We all heard it loud and clear.

Next we (I should say the doc and Tony, the screen was facing towards Tony) got to take a sneek peek into the baby's world. Tony got the grand tour (which was a first for him... so I let him have it- he video taped it though, so in the end I got to see it too) and got to witness junior waving hello. Personally I think it was more of a "get the hell outta here, I'm trying to sleep" wave. We had to wake the bugger up. So, I have edited the video quite a bit, so all you have to endure is the waving part. The doctor said all looked good and the baby was healthy and BIG. Nice. She said it a couple of times too... c'mon, let's not give the kid a complex already.

Here ya go. (The doc's finger shows you the arm, so if you keep watching in that spot you will see the wave).

15 weeks

Well.... as reluctant as I am to do this... my need to please happens to be more powerful than my reluctance... so I am actually going to post a belly pic. UGH. I do realize that it only gets worse from here. As in one day I will look back at this pic and say "man, I was so skinny back then." The funny thing about having another human living inside your gut is that you can't "suck it in." Nope. It's not like trying to hide those 2 donuts you ate when you have to pose for an impromptu photo shoot. It is THERE and it is to be seen. So here you have it.



More to update on Tuesday when I go to my next appointment.

**underwear update: I have resorted back to my non-pregnancy underpants. As it turns out, the grass is not greener in this case. I will go as long as I can and possibly consider another option when the time comes. Now... what do I do with 6 pair if brand-new underpants that I want nothing to do with? Do you think my cleaning lady would freak out if I put them in the "cleaning rag" bin? I mean, they're cotton and brand new... I'm sure they'd make great dust cloths....

Totally hot

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Diapers: a great find that helps the planet too...

Check out what I just discovered. These are FABULOUS!!! I just received the "starter kit" I ordered (to do my own quality check) and have found that we have a winner! I have been bothered by the whole disposable diaper thing, since they just sit in the landfills for 500+ years. Cloth diapers seem so messy and just, a lot of work! So then I came across these lovelies and I have found the perfect hybrid of cloth and disposable. The inner "pad" decomposes in 50 days or so. You can choose to flush if you want (there is some manipulation to be done so it doesn't clog your toilet, but still possible), toss them (since they decompose anyway) or, if you happen to have a compost pile, you can toss the pee pee ones in there (poopy ones should not go into a compost pile). Cool, huh?

I have found the new go-to "baby shower gift" for any showers I go to in the future. I think this is a great invention with not much inconvenience. If you pre-load the diapers, this system would also work for daycares (I think they require the use of disposable, no?). There is a TON of information on the website. Check it out here. There are some videos too... they are worth looking in to.