hooded hoods trying to hoodwink car hoods

Good Lord I love the subject generator on Yahoo Beta Mail. Some of the subjects are awesome!

I can not believe that I haven't been here in 11 days or so. Apparently, I've been crazy busy...or super lazy. Perhaps it's a combination of the two. Anyway, I will catch us all up!

1. Tomorrow is the last day of school All I have to do is take my 3 posters down off my ways (1 Corpse Bride, and 2 Edward Gorey) and turn in my keys. The rest of the day is a BBQ thrown by admin. I love my job.
2. Tonight is graduation. I have to talk about my 2 leads that are graduating. I don't want to, but I'll do it. What cheeses me is that the social worker who insisted that lead teachers speak about their students, refuses to say anything at the graduation because it makes her uncomfortable. But somehow she's comfortable with making other people do it regardless of their discomfort. Whatever...I just need to write out a couple of index cards. Humph.
3. I had another check up yesterday. This time with the senior member of the OBGYN practice. The baby's heart beat sounds good. I'm no dilated at all yet (which means more pool time for me!) She also commented that it feels like I have a "good sized baby in there". Then she read the ultra sound results and commented..."Ooooh, about 5 and a half pounds? That is a good sized baby" I think I really might be giving birth to a gorilla in 6 weeks.
4. My co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower. They scared the crap out of me, which they thought was hysterically funny. Bastards. Loving, fabulous bastards, but bastards all the same. They all chipped in and got me my infant car seat! Plus, the shower had a full breakfast buffet with eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, fruit, bagels and coffee. I love these people.
5. My landlords are pissing me off. You see, all in all, my landlords (a husband and wife team) are very nice people. They are just inconsiderate. Chris and I are not allowed to park in the driveway, but the kid down the street is. We were asked to be very gentle with the doors because her father is sensitive to that sort of noise. But who used to come visit him after 10pm and slam doors? She did...now that he's in a home, she'll come to get some of his clothes and guess what...slam doors. And apparently, construction in the down stairs apartment doesn't warrant any forewarning, even if it's going to be occurring after 9pm. Yes, I get to listen to the husband sawing pipes at night. I think I would be pissed even if I weren't pregnant and it didn't throw Reuben into fits. Reuben seems to think that the noise might be coming to harm me. I wouldn't care so much, I don't think, if I hadn't in the last few months of her father living downstairs, had to let the police in a bunch of times because his emergency alarm went off, pick him up off of the ground when he fell, or change the batteries in his smoke alarm. We were also asked to keep an ear out for him, which I did (which is why I knew when he fell, or if his smoke alarm was going off, etc) and I don't get any courtesy in return. Okay...rant over.
6. The house is coming along slowly, but surely. Hopefully we'll be able to move in before Schmoo turns 15.

Yikes!

Here is our newest family photo. My father-in-law took it on Mother's Day and gave it as a part of a photo album to Chris for his birthday at the end of May. It's a cool photo, unfortunately it didn't scan as well as I would have liked. You can totally see my "baby bump" in the photo...I don't know how clear it is in the scanned version. Regardless, I'm here to tell you all about my baby bump.

It has gotten pretty darn big. Like I am starting to have trouble rolling over in bed big. I have to practically roll out of bed to get up in the morning big. I've been taking double takes at small spaces to think about how well I'll fit big. And that's all fine. I can't complain...I don't feel sick, my feet and hands are not swelling up (yet), I can still squat down and get up. If my belly is all I have that is getting unwieldy, then so be it. Although, I'm starting to think it might be the sign of a big-ass baby.

I went for a check up on Wednesday, and as the good doctor felt around my belly she said, " I think you might have a big one in there". I laughed and said. "Only time will tell". Then Friday I went for an ultra-sound and the technician did all the measurements and she tells me that Schmoo is measuring 2-3 weeks ahead in size and that the ultrasound estimates that Schmoo already weighs 5 pounds and 11 oz. I have just under 8 weeks left, people. At a half pound of weight gain expected for little Schmoo (or Big Schmoo?), that could be a 9 pound baby! Dear Lord! Chris thinks it's fascinating and is astounded by that prediction. I told him that it's all his fault because he has gorilla DNA. I have to admit, I think I'd rather have a chunky, big baby than a little Perdue fryer....

Commericals I love

There are certain commercials that I could watch a thousand times. This is my current fav:



Another oldie but goodie:

Hot! Hot! Hot!

It's our first actual hot weekend in this part of New York state. I spent a good part of the day at the pool yesterday and not packing like I should have. It was 94 degrees out, for crying out loud! Today there is no pool in my future as I'm working at the library...and I'm actually at the library now. I think all of my town is either swimming or running through sprinklers. I'm jealous.

And speaking of swimming...apparently in a few weeks I will not be allowed in the pool. Dilation = no chlorine. Drat! The pool was going to be my saving grace in July! Next time, I'm shooting for a late May, early June baby.

House news: I'm still packing, packing, packing. Chris is still stressing, stressing, stressing. The window guys put our windows in wrong, so now they have to be redone. Good times. Aside from this set back, things are coming together...although you'd never know it from all the bumps we've had. Once the house is done, poor Chris can relax. He hasn't had a day off to hang out and play video games/drums/computer games in weeks. Poor guy.

Pictures from the past

As requested by my buddy Happy Cathy on her private blog, I am here to post a pic of myself from my childhood. Fun stuff!

My mom likes to scan old photos and email them to me...when she emails me some more, I'm going to post more kiddo pictures of myself. It's super fun!

And just for kicks, I'm posting my favorite old picture of all times. My paternal grandparents wedding photo. I love, love, love this picture!

Could my grandfather look anymore Irish for cryin' out loud?

I'm a dork

Yeah, I'm a dork. I started a new blog. It's to help me keep track of the books I've been reading. Here's it is: Books I Have Loved

Please feel free to give me book recommendations! I think that I'm going to be spending a lot of time reading in the upcoming weeks....

Tore Up from the Floor Up

I was finally "allowed" back into the new house. Yay for me! We brought Reuben with us, too. We figure that if we bring him from time to time, the move will be less stressful for him in the long run. A happy dog is a good dog.








Demolished kitchen. Soon to be awesome kitchen with a dishwasher (YES) and an awesome refrigerator that has a freezer on the bottom and french doors on top. I might be in appliance choosing heaven!









Ripped up living room. Chris' dad, who is a professional decorative painter who mostly works in million dollar condos in Manhattan, is going to smooth out the giant fireplace and use a product on it that will make it look like Venetian Plaster. Awesome!









Master bedroom. Someday soon, this room will have windows...and no fake wood on the walls.












This will be the baby's room. It's the larger of the two other bedrooms. It too will have brand spankin' new windows very soon!

Yet another late update

Man, I do not know where time is escaping to! I feel as if time is standing still...I know it's not because my belly is slowly expanding. the house seems to be standing still, mainly because of one of large conglomerate contractor stores giving us the run around. The contractor who arranges for windows to put in tells us that there will be no problems with the type of window we need, that they do it all the time and that if the window guys damage the surrounding concrete it will be fixed. Meanwhile, the guy who actually mans the installation crew and comes to check out the site tells us that our needs are only 1% of what they do, and they have no masons to fix the concrete if it gets damaged. We're a tad peeved, but my mother-in-law (who is a pit bull when it comes to stuff like that) is all over it for us. What really bugs me is that I'm starting to worry that the house won't be done before the baby gets here and I really want to be at least partially settled (read our bedroom is set and ready to go with a bassinet) before the critter comes.

I'm now 29 weeks. I'm back to being really tired at night. Last night I was in bed by 9, lights out by 10:30. I used have lights out at 11:30. Mind you this 10:30 lights out is in addition to a 30 minute nap in the afternoon...I never had to do that to have lights out at 11:30. Sad, but then again, it takes a lot of energy growing a whole new person...or at least that is what I'm telling myself.

I had a check up this week and the baby's heartbeat is very strong. I did not get a "gaining too much weight" lecture this time. And I passed my Gestational Diabetes screening on the first go 'round, so I'm looking forward to more ice cream as the weather gets nicer! Woo-hoo!

Some random things

I don't have much energy at the moment, but I need to update the blog! So I'm going to do yet another list for all of you who are interested.

1) I finally finished registering for baby things. I never realized how tiring that can be. Thank goodness I have people who gave me good advice as to what to get. I don't know who the heck is going to buy me all the stuff I registered for...I don't even think I know that many women!

2) Work is going okay. My new lead student is still having trouble adjusting, but she and I are certainly seeing eye to eye more often now. She understands me for the most part and that's a big step.

3) I have an odd hobby to share. It makes me think of my friend Cathy from work, because she will probably find this to be funny. One of my favorite thing to do is to appear in stranger's pictures. If someone is taking a picture and if I'm even remotely in the background, I will turn to the camera and smile like I'm supposed to be in the picture. There have been occasions at shows, or at the zoo when people take a huge group photo with a singer or in front of an animal cage, and I've found my way in to the picture. Don't worry, I don't stand in for every shot. And I don't do family shots...that's just wrong. I have to admit, it makes me chuckle to think that someone, somewhere got pictures developed and they point to my smiling face and ask "Who is this?" Good times.

4) I'm now in my third trimester. I waddle, I get really tired at night, and I have trouble bending at the waist. I think about chicken pot pies all the time.

Quilt show

My friend, CA, and I went to a quilt show on Saturday May 3rd and I can't believe it's take me this long to post pictures from it. Sheesh!

Things I've noticed

1. My nose is working overtime. While at school, I can actually smell hormones off of the kids. At the library, sometimes I have to hold my breath while helping patrons because of their scent. It's not that they smell bad, their scent might just be too intense for me.

2. Doug Wilson from TLC's Moving Up is wearing way too much make-up this season. He looks like a dolled up cadaver.

3. My newest lead student at work hates me....but I'm sure that will pass. You see, she's fairly new to my school. She's been sent to my school because she liked to cut class at her old high school. What I don't think she realizes is 1)We only have 50 kids at my school, so slipping between the attendance cracks rarely happens 2)When I say I am going to do something, I'm going to do it. I had a long conversation with her yesterday about cutting and getting to class on time. I told her that if she can't get that done, I would have to escort her to class the following day. Well, she cut math yesterday...only about an hour after our conversation...so what happened today? I waited for her outside of each class, and followed her to her next class. At one point she started yelling at me to leave her alone. I basically told her this: We talked about what would happen if you couldn't make it to class on time. You knew what would happen if you cut class, so accept the consequence. I will not be following you tomorrow if you are where you are supposed to be today. She didn't say anything about it for the rest of the day. I'll have to see how tomorrow goes. I'm hearing ugly things about her behavior in class....I might have to let her know that I can arrange my schedule so that I can sit with her and help her in class if she wants. This time, I'm sure she'll understand that I am dead serious.

4. The weather is finally getting nice.

5. There is a serious lack of skorts in the maternity department. This makes me sad. Designers...get on it!

6. The baby keeps a very tight schedule. It's active from 9am-10:30am, 12pm-1pm, 3pm-5pm and then 8pm-10pm. Not bad. I'm sure it's moving around at night, but that I'm asleep and don't notice at this point. I'm sure once the baby is bigger, I'll get some righteous kicks at night time.

7. I have less than 100 days until my due date. Eeep!

Tea!

Just a brief post to tell you all how happy I am that I got to go have tea with my friend Christina at Silver Tips Tea room in a town very close to mine! I love visiting with my friend, Christina, whom I haven't been able to sit down and chat with for a very long time...and I love the fun of sitting in a tea room, sipping iced chai and eating fancy sandwiches and scones. Yummers! The Schmoo really enjoyed the yummy food to because it was doing a nice little Schmoo dance afterward!

Dreams

Just checkin' in...doctor's appointment went well yesterday...baby's heartbeat sounds good...good growth and the like. I like good news.

Here's what I really want to tell you. Last night I had a dream that Chris and I had a baby boy and when we brought him home all Reuben wanted to do was lick the baby's feet. I hope Reuben's real life adjustment is just that easy.

And the pic? Reuben sleeping under the covers. Too cute.

Reuben's Babies

I haven't had much going on these days...just working, eating and sleeping for the most part. The baby has been having little dance parties a few times a day, which is a nice reminder that all is well.

Since I've got nothing really interesting happening as of late, but wanted to share something with ya'll I thought I'd share some pictures of Reuben and one of his "babies". Reuben has 3 stuffed animals, that are left overs from my childhood) that he likes to groom and sleep with occasionally.

I don't usually have an opportunity to take pics like this because if I leave the room, Reuben will get up and follow me...and his baby is forgotten.

So, I guess there is hope for Reu when the real baby comes. I just hope he doesn't try to groom the baby. He's tried to do it to me, and it feels like he's trying to eat corn on the cob...I've seen dogs do this to their young, I suppose it pulls junk out of their fur. Doesn't feel too great when you don't have fur...take my word for it!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with more exciting/interesting news than my dog and his pretend offspring. Check ya later!

Mudders and Grunters

I finally posted Amazon Hill's pics over at Amazon Strength, if anyone is interested in seeing the blog we post on only about 5 times a year...

Is fate trying to hint at something?

Chris and I decided not to find out the gender of our baby. We figure it's one of the last big mysteries that people can still have in an age where you can Google yourself to remember all the wonderful and stupid things you've done. I think fate is messing with me. Before I told anyone about my pregnancy, aside from Chris, two different friends from work on two different occasions had dreams that I was pregnant with a little boy. These women claim to have predicted the gender nieces and nephews perfectly over the years.

Today I'm working at the library. Last week, I put some dog books on hold for one of my brothers who is thinking of getting a dog. Those books came in today. This is what I found under the pile of dog books, with a slip a paper with my name on it:



I think someone or something out there is trying to tell me something.

My new favorite thing

Can I tell ya'll how much I love lemonade and limeade since I've gotten pregnant? I looove it. I love that it's sweet and tart all at the same time. And today I discovered my favorite so far. Target was having a sale on Simply Limeade and man is it awesome!

In other ridiculous food related news, I had the worst food day ever. All I wanted to eat was junk. I actually went to McDonald's lunch. For dinner I had instant Hamburger Helper. I have never, ever had any Hamburger Helper ever before in my life. Not once. I just couldn't say no to it when I saw it at the store. I think the baby must have like it because now it's turning somersaults in my belly...either that or it invited a lot of friends over or something. There is some serious business going on in there. Yikes.

On the other hand, I did make sure that I got in 5 fruits and veggie today so all is not lost.

The Quickening

I feel as if my organs have come to life and throw the occasional party in my abdomen...not a kegger; it's more like a small family BBQ or something of that nature. A little whiffle ball, a bit of swimming...that sort of thing. Low key.

I've been having strange weight trouble since getting pregnant. It seems like some months I can help but gain 6 or 7 pounds, and then other months I have trouble putting on one pound. My doctors think it's funny...I'm not laughing. It seems like the months I really try to eat right are the months that I gain the most! Then the months where I eat without over thinking it, I stay the same when I weight myself at home. How bizarre. Did any of you moms out there have that experience?

I have other fun news...my friend, Amazon Hill, is going to be moving back home at the end of May when she graduates with her Masters in Education. So my training partner of old will be back. We have running plans for the fall that involve the two of us, plus a running stroller. We're amped. I saw her this past weekend because she came down for Mudders and Grunters, which is an awesome cross country race that involves running through the woods, marshes and a stream. I have pics and a short video that I have to post to our old blog Amazon Strength (a blog that we'll be taking up again come May and we can do fun outside stuff again like kayak!)

Quilting Mistake!

I finally got around to cutting the fabric for the baby's quilt...I probably should have done this weeks ago or I should have set up a table to cut on. My belly did not cooperate while crawling around on the floor trying to cut enough pieces to at least get me started.

In the new house, I will definitely have a cutting station, because this stank....

And just for fun, a gratuitous picture of Chris and Reuben.

20th Week of the Schmoo

I promised Auntie Marta that I would post about my ultrasound. I haven't gotten the blood work back, but the tech told me the heart rate is excellent...the heart has 4 chambers, I saw the brain, the spine, 2 hands, and 2 feet. The funny thing is the tech needed the baby to open its hands but the baby wouldn't. It had its hands on the sides of its face, so she jiggled my belly. The baby then crossed its arms in front of its face. She jiggled again...so the baby put its hand behind its head. Too strange. The tech made me go eat a Twix bar and come back. When we continued the ultrasound the baby was playing with its feet...which made the tech laugh out loud.

I have to say...ultrasounds are super cool. The baby was moving its mouth while we were watching...I never would have expected that. I thought leg twitches and arm movement, but to see it moving its little mouth? Unbelievable.

I go to my regular doctor on Monday to talk about the ultrasound measurements and the blood work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all looks good. The baby looked good to me, but what do I know?