Roadtrip Day 1

Hi all! Mom and I arrived safely in MN yesterday just in time to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad. The trip was long and interesting (as will be my post about it, I'm sure... long anyway, I can't guarantee interesting!) so I've decided to break it up a bit. Here is:

Day 1 Ft Lauderdale, Florida to Macon, Georgia
Day 1 was quite pleasant and the only day without drama really. Mom did all the driving. (And I don't just mean during day 1. The only driving I did was a short trip from the restaurant to our hotel on day 3 after Mom consumed a margarita the size of a fish bowl... but that's getting ahead of the story.) She'll tell you that she drove so that I could relax and put my feet up so they wouldn't swell, but this is only the partial truth. She drove because she is a control freak and the worst backseat driver. It would have annoyed her more to sit in the passenger seat as she would have spent the whole time telling me that I was driving too slow and that I wasn't jockeying lanes to advance in traffic at the appropriate time. She did an excellent job, kept her road rage to a minimum, and I got to sit back and be the "entertainer" so it was fine by me. (She did have a little issue pumping gas, accidentally putting in V-power at one place and then Super Plus at another, but with so many fillups over the past four days, she was afforded many additional opportunities to practice!)

Mom's van with it's alligator skin hood got many interesting stares at all our restroom stops, which was often since we kept a pretty tight schedule of stopping every hour and a half as that is what my doctor recommended. But what it lacked in style, it made up for in comfort. Her seats recline almost flat back so I literally reclined, stuffed with pillows on all sides, and with my barefeet up on the dash a good majority of the time. I'm sure the truckers we passed thought it was an interesting sight!

Mostly I read aloud to keep us entertained and laughing. Jen Lancaster's "Such a Pretty Fat" was our favorite causing mom to laugh so hard she cried and couldn't see the road at one point. I also read a little of "Breastfeeding Sucks" and "Bedtime Sucks" which were also both very funny, but slightly negative and depressing at the same time - I think I'd rather cross those hurdles as they come up than obsess about them ahead of time. :)

We stopped at a very nice La Quinta for the night, but I got stuck on the sleeper sofa since the air conditioning in that part of the suite didn't have a deep frost setting like the one in the bedroom with the king sized bed. I have slept on many bad sleeper sofas over the years, but this one takes the cake. It felt like I was laying on a chain link fence as the springs were literally an eighth of an inch from the top of the mattress! Luckily, I used many pillows to prop up my back, belly, and head so in the end I could only feel them digging into my legs. :)

Stay tuned for day 2's adventure tomorrow...

Blog Break

This isn't a great blog post to celebrate my 200th post, but it's not that huge of a milestone (Jess hit her 1000th a while back - now that is impressive!). No time to be cute or clever... I am swamped with packing, last minute household chores and I'm running out to the ob/gyn one last time to make sure I am AOK to travel tomorrow.

Since I will be roadtriping with my Mom Thursday - Sunday at least, don't expect any posting until at least next Monday or Tuesday. Do something fun or productive with the two minutes you usually waste checking my blog!

Minnesota or Bust! :)

Tah Dah!

The nursery is done and it looks amazing! Okay, it needs baby stuff, clothes, junk and, I guess, the actual baby... but for the most part it's finished. Huge thanks to Jon for all the painting (really wall art) and labor assembling furniture and hanging curtains.

I can't even begin to thank my seamstress extraordinaire (my Mom) for all her hard work. Everything looks fabulous (she made both sets of curtains, crib skirt, crib bedding, and hamper) and she happily worked within my unrealistic time frame of... this weekend! Currently she is wiped out and resting her sore arms and neck. Oh, and did I mention her sewing machine broke on the last project with six stitches left to go? See mom, you outlasted your machine, "you're stronger than you think!"

The pictures don't really do the room justice, but for all of you long distancers, here you go...

This is the view from the doorway/hallway:


Crib area against Jon's art wall:


The dresser is next to the crib on the art wall. You can see I won the closet debate so the doors have been replaced with curtains:


The opposite wall from the crib/dresser. I wanted mirrors to reflect Jon's art wall onto this wall as well, unfortunately you can't see that too well in the photo. The space above the mirror is reserved for baby girl P's name (to be determined) which will be spelled out in painted wood letters:


Here's another closeup of the crib bedding:


I love, love, love it! I may move in myself! :)

Look Before You Leak

I'll admit it. I tend to have irrational fears when it comes to creepy, crawly bugs. When sucking them up with the dust buster, I worry that they somehow will come shooting out the other end and fly up my arm. If Jon squishes one and throws it away in the garbage, I never feel entirely safe until that garbage has been removed from the house and picked up by the city. And if he chooses to flush it down the toilet, I always think there is a remote possibility that it wasn't truly dead, managed to avoid drowning, and will somehow crawl back up and attack me while I'm sitting on the toilet.

I know you're reading this right now thinking, "wow...this girl has issues," but before you judge me too harshly, let me recount a little tale from my last day of school...

Being preggers and all, I obviously have to use the restroom more frequently than before. So Friday while visiting in another K teacher's class, I asked if I could use her bathroom. Of course she had no objections to this so I slipped in, sat down, and peed. As I stood up and turned around to flush, my heart skipped a beat and my breath caught in my throat: a live cockroach was chillin' inside the toilet bowl (near the back of the tank where the water whooshes out)! I didn't see him in the bowl when I sat down so I don't know exactly where he was hiding and honestly I don't want to give too much thought to the fact that a disgusting roach was in such close proximity to my bare bottom. Thank God I wasn't sitting there any longer!

So you see, these fears are not entirely unfounded. Just in case this is a new form of insect attack, I will be pre-flushing all toilet bowls before assuming the position. I suggest you do the same... especially in bathrooms of questionable sanitation (like Sears, for those of you who read Minnesota Mom's blog)... and even if you plan to use the hover method. One can never be too vigilant!

Knowing my level of fear towards bugs, you might find it hard to believe that there is another teacher on my team who is even more petrified (especially of the roach variety). After telling "L" about my harrowing experience, she was practically trembling with fear. When our other friend "K" innocently commented about there being a toy tomato near L's foot, she only heard "I think there's a..." before she freaked out, screamed bloody murder, and practically knocked me down in her attempt to escape the area. It was like George Costanza ramming his way through children and the elderly while trying to flee a fire.

So there's one more cautionary tale for you. Beware a woman freaked out and fleeing the presence of creepy, crawly creatures. Not even your pregnancy status can save you in such a crisis.

Miller Time!

Sorry I didn't get to post last night, but I was very busy introducing myself to little Miller Jeffrey Froyd! And let me tell you, he is one cute little dude. I'm not just saying that either. He has great skin. He's not all weird and alien looking. Mom and Dad say he has a conehead, but with his adorable spiky hair sticking out in true bedhead fashion - I couldn't tell. If this is any indication of his future good looks, it will be extremely difficult to keep our little girl from falling under his spell. :)

Visiting also gave us a chance to scope out the hospital since I will be delivering there too. Getting in and out was a little like entering and exiting Fort Knox so I'm no longer concerned about baby snatching. They even have a little theft detection monitor on Miller, ala baby LoJack! Listening to Erin's delivery horror stories, however, was not as reassuring. Not really looking forward to the delivery part of this whole pregnancy gig. :(

Afterwards, Jon and I stopped at Pizza Time for some pizza. It's reportedly better than Anthony's Coal Fire Pizza, but after taste-testing for ourselves, we still like Anthony's best. Though nothing can beat Rafferty's for me - I started salivating just thinking about eating some when I'm back in MN.

Today was officially my last day with my kids. We didn't do anything except play games all day and both my stinkers were playing hookie, so it was a really nice time. At dismissal one of the boys said, "I might miss you Mrs. P." "Might, huh?" I asked. "No, I will miss you forever and ever," he corrected. Can you believe those boys are already players at age five! Actually I think his original sentiment is right on the mark. I might miss them too... after I celebrate my freedom, enjoy my summer vacation, and forget all their annoying little habits! Nah, I'm only half-serious. I'll miss those guys, but I am definitely ready for a break.

Tonight, I'm off to book club. Tomorrow is clean up and then our teacher luncheon. Tomorrow night... crib time! At least I hope I can con Jon into setting up the crib and dresser, that's my plan. Check back for photos over the weekend!

Waiting!

I'll spare you my boring existence of school days followed by cleaning out my classroom at night and get right to the good news:

Erin is in the process of having her baby right now! Ryan got the call at work this afternoon that her water broke (can't wait to hear the details behind that) and they rushed off to the hospital. Fans of her blog know that she had a false alarm last night, but this is the real deal!

So I'm sitting back, wishing her an easy and speedy delivery, and waiting for the final call that baby has arrived. Can't wait to meet you Miller!

Too Busy to Blog

Whew! I've had a productive and eventful weekend. I have the aching back and sleepy eyes to prove it. If I had more energy I would give you all the details, but you'll have to settle for this brief recap instead. (I know you're all groaning inside at the thought of missing out! ha ha)

Friday:
Doctors appt - all good, staying on asthma meds, appts set and insurance approved for MN trip, check. Dinner with Jon followed by Lost season finale (interesting, shocking, confusing). Lost was such an appropriate title for that show since that is how we viewers feel most of the time.

Saturday:
Last marathon day of school work for the year! Burned kids DVD gift, graded papers, ran errands, stayed out of Jon's way as he finished painting the nursery (pink color blocks added), made fabric covered cornice board for nursery, hosted MMA (mixed martial arts) party, consumed lots of Totinos pizzas (minus the one Jon spilled on the floor - our waistlines actually thanked him for this!), checkity-check.

Today:
Finished lesson plans, paid bills, headed up to Boca Town Centre for maternity shopping (capris, jeans, sweats, flip flops, check), started figuring out fabric placement for drapes and crib bedding, dinner, laundry, last friggin' check - I'm exhausted!

Good News: Nursery furniture has arrived! We should be able to pick it up on Thursday, so I'm hoping to have updated pics on the blog next weekend! Stay tuned...