Go Fish!

Tomorrow is the Kindergarten play - thank goodness. I don't think I could take another day of practices and neither could the kids! :) It's going to be great. The parents did an amazing job painting a mural on the wall, decorating the stage, making the costumes, everything. The kids will be adorable. That's the nice thing about it - the more goofs, the more the parents love it.

Anyway, back to the talented volunteers. They even took the time to make shirts for the teachers...



... and added something extra special to mine!



Too sweet!

I Need My Mommy

To me, you know how much you love your mom by how much you need her. So here's a list of all the ways I still need my mom:

1) When I'm sick. This is particularly on my mind today as I am the most miserable I have been in a long time. If my mom were here, she would make me soup and run out and buy me a humidifier. Then we would watch my favorite "sick" movies from when I was a child: The Parent Trap, Pollyanna, & Summer Magic (apparently being sick in my house meant hanging out with Hayley Mills all day!).

2) When I'm cooking. I have a shelf full of cookbooks, but I don't really need them. When I have a question, I just call my mom for the answer. What temp to bake? How long? That secret ingredient? She has all the answers.

3) When I'm shopping. I cannot shop by myself. I need her brutal advice about what makes my butt look fat, what colors are simply hideous with my complexion, and what are the "must haves." It doesn't hurt that she likes to pick up the tab most of the time either.

4) When I want to watch a romantic comedy. This may be my mom and my favorite pastime. There's nothing like an afternoon laughing (and sometimes crying) our way through a feel good movie. Sometimes we even watch the same one back to back!

5) When I want to gab on the phone. My mom and I talk daily (multiple times). Most conversations are short, just checkin' in. But there are those days when you just want to dish about the ridiculous: people, life's embarrassing moments, that TV show you love... it doesn't matter. My mom is the first person I'm going to call.

6) When I need someone crafty. My mom is unbelievably talented. She paints, she crafts, she beads, she knits, she sews. And most of her projects end up coming to me - I am so spoiled!

When I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm planning, when I'm stressed... the list goes on and on.

New to the list:
7) When I'm pregnant.
And soon...
8) When I'm a mom!

So thanks mom for always being there when I need you!
I know you'll do the same for my daughter as well.
Love you!

Birthday Wishes

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

The Beach, Bon Jovi & Bomb Threats

So yesterday was a beautiful (and slightly bizarre) Saturday. I was able to attend the Beach Bash in honor of Jess and Jerry's births. Best part: It was a little overcast and there was a nice breeze off the ocean so I barely even sweat. Good friends, good food, good times!

Two funny beach stories:
1) Some of our crew was playing bocce ball in the sand. Suddenly these two adorable little girls came walking up to the balls and you could tell they were very intrigued. It was like they had discovered dinosaur eggs! Suddenly one of the girls kicked a ball and then the other one picked one up and threw it. Meanwhile, the crew is groaning and yelling "no!" (especially the person who had the best shot up until that point!). It was so hilarious. Then after their investigation, they just turned and walked away. :)

2) A guy next to us was grilling and somehow managed to step on a hot coal that had fallen out of his grill. He hobbled over to the picnic table where his friend slathered the bottom of his foot with barbecue sauce! Later, he was resting his foot on a paper plate to keep the sand out of it. Poor guy. I guess I shouldn't characterize this story as funny - but it sure was something you don't see everyday!

After the beach, it was time for Jon and I to part ways. He and some of the rest of the gang were heading to a Bon Jovi concert while I was off to play Hanna Hobard in "Hulas and Homicide" (our Girl Scout Mystery Night event).

Here's the short version of Jon's night. The Bon Jovi concert was supposed to start at 7:30, but there was a bomb threat at the Bank Atlantic Center. They ended up not getting into the stadium until like 10:30! It sounded pretty interesting, but we didn't have a lot of time to share stories when he finally came home at 12:30. I'm sure there will be some good posts from Jess (21 Days) and Ryan (Al-ko-hol). Click over and check them out. Unfortunately for Jon, he was up-and-at-'em early, heading off to a Shark Tooth dive on the west coast of FL today. (No he's not trying to do any dental work on a great white, just picking up "shedded" teeth from millions of years ago.)

Back to me: Mystery Night was quite a success and much more fun than I imagined it would be. As a character, you get a couple of pages of backstory and your timeline of events the night of the murder. Then the girls come around and interrogate you and you have to answer based off that information. If you don't know the answer (i.e. it's not mentioned in your packet), you say something coy like "I don't recall." The whole time you're playing, you don't know whether you are the murderer or not. As they ask questions though, you begin to pick up different pieces of the story and find that there is conflicting information. Are you lying? Is another character lying? You're trying to solve the mystery at the same time.

Well, it turns out I was the murderer! I killed the organizer of the hula competition by throwing a coconut at the back of her head with my wicked underhand fastball. Motive: I was the star of the Boston Baked Beans softball team recently turned pro hula hooper but I knew the organizer would never let me win because I wasn't a native Hawaiian and she always rigged the competition so that a native won.

Today I have a special birthday post to work on, but I think I'll get to that later. Right now, I'm sitting on the pool deck in the breeze (attempting to smell the fresh air through my plugged up nose) and it's hard to see the computer screen through the sun glare. I think I'll lounge back and rest for a while instead...

Oh, by the way, you better watch out if you ever see me with a coconut in hand! :)

List

1) I think we should start taking bets on when my belly button is going to pop out and change from an innee to an outee. It's very close to the surface...

2) Thanks to everyone for their advice on the meds. After consulting with my personal pharmaceutical consultant (Venessa) and the nurse at my OB office, I decided to take the pills. I picture them releasing little soldiers to do battle with those disgusting Musinex-type monsters from the TV commercials as we speak. Bam! Pow!

3) Jon and I could use some help in the name department so if you have any girl names that you like (but aren't saving for yourself), please feel free to submit them for consideration. Our neighbor Dave is taking this very seriously (possibly more seriously than we are). He called yesterday with his list... of A names. It took him all day just to get through the A's! Obviously, he's putting a lot of thought into this competition. :)

4) I'm having a little difficulty with my maternity pants. The wide elastic band at the waist is usually sewn inside a lycra-type material so it feels good against the belly. All good, right? Well the band inside keeps getting folded over and twisted and then I can't fix it because it's inside that other material. It's starting to get on my nerves.

I could probably go on with my random thoughts, but I feel like resting on the couch instead. Guess you'll have to check back for more another day!

Thanks!

Oops, almost forgot to say thanks to Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Chip. The rocking chair was part of their baby gift to us. Thanks guys - you rock! :)

Rockin' Out

The rocking chair was delivered today. The first of the furniture to arrive - yeah! It looks really nice and is very comfortable. For now, it's in the new man room. It might stay there since then Jon and I can sit together. Plus there's a TV. :) We'll see. It will look great in either room regardless.

I'm still miserable, so I'm posting some pics and then heading to bed. Dr. Moran got me in today and said I needed some meds, but I haven't started taking them yet. They're only a category B on the safe fetus site which means they are safe in pregnant animals but haven't been significantly tested in pregnant humans. I would prefer if they were a category A. I'm planning on calling my ob tomorrow, but based on Erin's experiences I won't expect a call back until after my delivery. Any of you medical people want to weigh in with your thoughts on Omnicef?

On to the pics...

Freak Out

My chest cold is worsening (can't wait to see Dr. Moran next week - he's the only doctor Jon and I have faith in anymore - if he would just agree to catch the baby I'd never have to go back to my ob's office... but I digress) so tonight I left school on time with hopes of laying on the couch and getting a good night's sleep.

Is that what happened? Of course not!

Instead, I got the call that a Girl Scout event, that we advisors thought was canceled, was in fact on. 65 girls will be showing up THIS SATURDAY expecting a mystery night event that has not even been planned. So we have three days to plan, shop, script, costume, decorate, cater etc. Looks like I have some busy days ahead and will probably not be attending Jessapalooza on Saturday. (Sorry Jess! I swear I am a worshiper of the faith of Jesstianity the other 364 days of the year!)

That means tonight I have to get my lesson plans and other things done that I was planning for this weekend. No couch time for me. Ugh!

Quick Thoughts

- With play practice and swimming lessons for my kiddos, I basically taught one 15 minute math lesson all day. Yet, I'm still exhausted....

- I saw one of my students at Target the night we found out we were having a girl. She brought me some little bootie socks today. Awww, how sweet!

- My cold (which has been hanging on since the beginning of March) has decided to resurface with a venegenace. Great.

- I miss my hip bones. I used to have these adorable hip bones that would kind of peek out of my low rise jeans. They were one of a few feature that I truly liked about myself. Well, they have disappeared. Maybe they're still under there somewhere, but I can't find them anymore. I know, not really a shocker, but I should have taken a picture of them (just in case they never come back!).

Drumroll please...

So congrats to those of you that predicted girl (Jon, my dad, my K class - we did a graph yesterday and everything, and several others). I can't wait to use all my girly fabrics - yeah!

The sonogram was amazing yesterday. The baby has changed so much since our last ultrasound. She looks like a little girl and not just a cashew anymore. She had all her little parts (Jon was counting fingers and toes!), everything was functioning (heart, kidneys, stomach etc). We saw her little brain and her "VJ" (she's difinitely a girl!). FYI: she has the cutest little bum! :)





Jon and I were so excited we did a little clothes shopping at Target. We bought her a little onesie that says "Daddy's Little Sweet Pea," a couple of t-shirts (one says "Free Bear Hugs" and the other "Little Miss Cupcake"), and two adorable, ruffly sundresses. The best news is they were all on clearance - she's a bargain shopper already!

Predictions

Tomorrow is the sonogram so it's your last chance to make predictions about the baby.

In case this helps: As per my Wed appointment, my weight was normal, my belly measurement was perfect for 18 weeks, and the heart rate was still in the 140s.

I'll post something tomorrow night or Saturday morning. That is if he/she cooperates. I have this nagging feeling that we aren't going to find out. I guess we'll see.

Wish us luck... or more exact - an unobstructed view! :)

Deadliest Catch

This is a busy week for me (Girl Scouts last night, Volunteer Breakfast, Grade Chair release day and Ob appointment tomorrow, Kindergarten orientation Friday). Although K orientation and the thought of giving a speech does have me in a little bit of a panic, I'm mostly just trying to get through the days till my ultrasound appointment on Friday. Learning the sex of the baby should help distract me from any embarrassing stumbles I made during my speech that morning!

So I'm too preoccupied to write. Jon is making us jambalaya for dinner and then we plan to get comfy on the couch with Deadliest Catch. If you haven't already watched the past three seasons, tonight (the season 4 premiere) is the night to start. Oh, how I've missed the antics of the gruff crews of the Northwestern and Cornelia Marie!

I *heart* Sig and Edgar. :)

Almost Done

There are a few touch ups that need to be made here or there, but Jon pretty much finished the nursery this weekend! Wow! He deserves a husband of the year award (or at least for me to retract my Friday statement in which I said he was annoying - sorry honey! Luv ya!)

So here's how it turned out....

The west wall (facing Dave's place) has the color blocking. (Looks even better today with the blue tape pulled - shocker!)


The east wall (next to our guest room) has the lighter of the two blues from the color blocking wall.


The window and closet walls got the dark brown.


It looks fab and we can't wait to get the furniture in there to see how it will all come together. Unfortunately, we have a month or so to wait before the furniture gets delivered. :(

Work in Progress

Today Jon began the arduous task of painting the nursery. He taped off the grid for the wall...



...and then waited patiently for me to figure out the placement of the five colors we chose. He had made me little painted squares that I could rearrange like a jigsaw puzzle (he is a model maker afterall). Turns out it was as frustrating, and about as much fun, as one of those bar puzzles that only Jerry can figure out. Finally, we both agreed on a "random" pattern and he painted away.



Hmmm... we liked it, but something wasn't quite right and none of the colors seemed to work on the other walls. One green was too yellow looking, one green was too light, one green was too dark, one blue was too bright, and the one blue that we thought would be perfect was catching a weird tint from the sunlight when placed on the other walls. It was obvious that we needed to amend our plan. So we decided to paint 2 of the other 3 walls the dark brown color we just painted in Jon's new manroom. The 3rd wall will get the blue that we like. (We think anyway - that will be tomorrow's adventure!)

He changed a few squares to brown and got one coat done on the brown walls. It's starting to come together! Hopefully tomorrow I can post some finished pictures. :) Enjoy our work in progress for now...

Mood Swings

I might be more hormonal than I think...

Today, I was elated it was Friday.
Then after a comment from a particularly infuriating parent, I was down right cranky.
My bad mood couldn't last long, however, as I enjoyed my relaxing stress-free day with the kids (my behavioral challenge was absent - that never happens - it had to be appreciated!).
After work, I began to fret about finances and started to cry.
Then, I was determined to figure out our budget.
When Jon came home, we had one of those "fun" financial discussions and I decided I hated him. (Okay, hate is a strong word, but he did annoy me!)
Now, I'm... I'm not sure. Resigned, blissfully-ignorant, in denial?

Who knows? But that's a heck of a lot of emotions to go through in one 12 hour period. I think I'll go play with my ice maker some (ice cubes make me happy!) to see if I can't cement my cheerfulness for the rest of the evening.

"Yump" for Joy

My life has improved greatly since yesterday (no, not because my mother left - that's the downside of life right now) but because Jon fixed the refrigerator!

As my great-grandfather would say with his thick Swedish accent, "what do you want... the ice to "yump" right into your glass?" Well, yes I do.

AND I want it cubed, not crushed. Thank you very much!

One More Night

Since mom leaves Wed (boo-hoo!), we are having one last girl's night out tomorrow. We're heading to the dollar theater to see The Bucket List and then to Bahama Breeze for dinner.

(We saw Juno there on Sunday - that was a hoot. I loved the scene with Dwight from The Office as the store clerk where Juno was buying all her pregnancy tests. He said something like: third test today... stop denying it, "your eggo is preggo." That cracked me up!)

Anyway, I knew I wouldn't be able to post tomorrow so I thought I would let you know why. Especially in case anyone wants to join us for the 4:00 movie. Trust me, it will be easy to spot us among all the gray hair. :)

Busy Bees

I'm exhausted from my fun filled yet busy weekend and the reality of work tomorrow is setting in so I have only a few minutes to blog. I would have skipped a post, but I had to take a minute to thank Jon for all his had work this weekend.

He painted the new man room (which we may have to start calling the den - it looks too nice to be just a man room) and moved all the furniture, his aquarium, everything. It looks fab. After we get some pictures hung, I'll try to take a few pics.

He worked so hard that he even fell asleep watching Bee Movie last night. Though that may have happened whether he was tired or not! I enjoyed it however. :)

The best news: next weekend painting in the baby room will commence! Yeah!

Enjoy your week.

Facing Facts Friday

Today I came to the depressing realization that my work pants no longer fit. I tried on several pairs (pretty much all of them) and they wouldn't even zip. (Some of my regular non-work pants and capris still work. Those low waists are good for something - they go under the belly!)

Obviously it was time to invest in some maternity pants. The thing about maternity pants is they have that belly panel that you then have to hide with longer shirts. So it was time to buy some maternity shirts too. A trip up to the Boca Raton Town Centre yielded successful results. Of course this meant that when I came back home I had to rearrange my closet to make room. I now have a little maternity section. :)

That is how I spent my Friday. What did you do??

P.S. Southland Tales is the worst movie ever. I want that hour and a half of my life back please. I don't know how they got all those people to appear in that load of poo. Spare yourself the confusion (lack of plot and bizarre storyline) and agony (painfully bad acting)!

What Day is Today?

I love being on vacation. I even had one of those I-have-no-idea-what-day-of-the-week-it-is moments. I love those! It's Wednesday by the way...

If Sunday and Monday were all about getting things done, then you could say Tuesday and Wednesday were all about FUN! Here is the crib notes version:

Breakfast with friends: banana nut pancakes, conversation and childhood recollections - all delicious!

Shopping: It's shopping! What more is there to say?

Hanging with the hubby in Home Depot: Man room paint, check. New ceiling fan, undecided. Paying for supplies with gift card, priceless.

Ice cream and How I Met Your Mother: tasty and hilarious. As Barney would say, "wait for it... legendary!"

Lazy morning viewing of Atonement: Nice to be a bum on the couch. Not so nice when I have to cry at the end and then channel surf for something happier to lift me out of my depression.

Lunch at Pizza Time: I think it is better than Anthony's! I can't wait to go back.

Barnes and Noble: So many baby books, so many conflicting view points, so I bought 4. One a dummy manual with pictures (I'm a visual person), one about how breastfeeding sucks (just kidding! but that is the title of the book), one about babies and sleeping (or the lack thereof), and one with more schedules than... (who's someone who has to keep a tight schedule?...Donald Trump, Bill Gates?). Wish me luck sorting through all that advice!

Tonight: Netflix. It's either Bee Movie or Southland Tales. Decisions, decisions...