Baby Brain

As my husband so lovingly put it the other day, I "just haven't been in the game lately". I've taken wrong turns, I've lost all common sense, my memory is nearly non-existent and I make comments that don't make sense at all. I like to call this Baby Brain. I've assured Freddy that this is a normal side-effect to pregnancy, but I don't think he bought in to that until the other morning.

It was Saturday and, being the FABULOUS wife that I am, I was making my husband bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast - typical Saturday morning (yeah, Right!). The eggs are done, so I grabbed the frying pan and put the eggs on to the plate. Then I set the pan down on the island...Which would be fine if there had been a trivet there. But there wasn't. What was there was our plastic (yes, PLASTIC) table cover that looks like turf/grass. It's a Football Sunday Staple at our house (don't ask why it was on the island on a Saturday). Anyway...It's one of those table covers that you can wipe down and reuse. It has felt/cotton stuff on the back so that, I guess, it won't scratch your table?

It took me seconds - maybe even just one second to realize what I had done. But it was too late. It had melted the the table cover and my expensive Pampered Chef pan now had melted green goo on the bottom.

Baby Brain.

You'll be happy to know that Freddy was able to clean the pan bottom with some Goo Gone and a razor blade.

Here's the damage. Like my referee punching bag (Holding. Defense.) and football chip bowl? I thought they really added something to the picture.

On another note...We went to dinner recently with the neighbors. There were too many of us for one car and no one else wanted to drive, so we all piled in to my SUV. Austin drew the short straw, so he had to ride in the back along with the boxes I had back there. Sadly, it's not the first time he has had to ride in the "way-back" and I doubt it is the last.

Lola's New Love

Lola has a new love. She Luh-oves to run beside Freddy on his bike. He'll only take her around our court because she's easily distracted by other dogs - even ones behind fences.

When Freddy leaves on his bike for a ride and she can see him through the window or the front door, she cries. She literally cries. And this is the only thing that she has ever cried about. Okay, she also cries when she has to be inside by herself and she can hear everyone outside, but that rarely ever happens.

This one is a JEM!

Last Saturday Sara hosted a Halloween Party at her house. Fun was had by all - dinosaurs, super heroes and princesses alike. The kids had fun with the games that Martha Stewart Sara came up with and the adults just had a good time in general.

Amber's husband came in the Reno 911 cop costume. Hill-Lare-E-Us! Out of respect, I won't post pictures on my blog, but here is a picture from the show. Guess which one he dressed up as.

Then there was Jem and The Holograms. Outrageous! I realize that our costumes aren't dead on, but you get the picture. And I'm also aware that none of The Holograms were ever pregnant, but I figured if ever one was to get preggers, it would be the one with the purple hair.

I told a lot of people about the Jem and The Holograms costumes and here is what I learned: You have to be exactly my age to know what the heck I'm talking about. The cartoon aired from 1985-1987 and I loved it! I also loved Beverly Hills teens, but I seem to be the only person alive who remembers that cartoon!

Freddy donned his Tony Romo jersey and taped up his pinkie. It took some people all night to get it. Really, people?! I'll post pictures of us at the party once Sara sends some my way.

Crazy Dog!

My dog Lola is SO FUNNY! When she gets a new bowl of food, she takes the rug from underneath her bowls and covers them - over and over and over again. But she never leaves them covered.

She has also been known to leave single pieces of dog food on our living room floor. Sometimes she ventures a little farther and takes the single pieces of food in to the hallway or our bedroom. But there is ALWAYS a single piece of food somewhere in the house.

Then, a few months ago, it started to be come two or three pieces of food - until the other day. Freddy had been home with Lola for about an hour by the time I walked through the doors. I wander past the living room on my way to the office to tell my sweet husband hello and what do I see? Fourteen - count them - FOURTEEN pieces of dog food spread out on my living room floor. Crazy dog. Wish I would have taken a picture!

So, when I worked from home last week I noticed Lola slowly adding to her stash of food throughout the day and I tired to document it. She didn't get to 14 pieces and I didn't remember the time span like I told myself I would, but here are some pictures anyway.

I didn't catch on until there were 3 pieces.

Then there were 4.

And then 5. At least it wasn't 14!

What would you do?

Let’s pretend for a moment that, for whatever reason, you HAD to change jobs and your next job could not be the same job that you presently have – could not even be in the same field of work. For example, I could not do fundraising/events and I would have to leave non-profits all together. Nurses can’t be doctors (or anything medical) and teachers cannot be counselors or principals, etc.

Also, ignore the whole training and degree aspect of it. You could be WHATEVER you want.

What would you do?

I would be a sonogram technician in an ob/gyn’s office. Yes, I know that when I tried to guess my own baby's gender, I was wrong, BUT...to be fair, I didn't have any formal training and that umbilical cord can be deceiving.

I was watching The Bachelor a couple seasons ago and one of the Bachelorette's was a sonogram technician. Since then, I have always wanted to be one.

What a fun, low-stress job! Not to mention I wouldn't have to worry about what to wear to work – I would just throw on the designated scrubs for that day (to match everyone else in the office, of course – or is that only in the dental field that they all match?) and away I go.

Yes, I know it is not all happy times of “it’s a boy!” and taking pictures of babies, but I would still like this job very much, I think. In fact, if I could take classes somewhere at night, I would have already started.

So…what would you do? And none of this “I wouldn’t want to do anything else” business.

Garage Door vs. My Car

It is Saturday morning after a late night (late night for a preggo that is) at the Ice Breaker portion of my ten year reunion at Fox and Hound. Before I make my way to the family picnic, I have to swing by the house of the Johnny Reb sponsor to pick up the buster poster (the big fabric RHS flag that the football team runs through at half-time). We are using it for decoration at the dinner reception that night.

I have tons of stuff to load in my car because I am going straight from the picnic to set up for the evening (an evening that it seems no one appreciated). Lola is eagerly following me around because she thinks she is going with me. It also happens to be neighborhood garage sale weekend and there are more cars than usual on our quiet court. Not wanting to chance Lola taking off into the street and getting hit by a car, I opt to partially open my back hatch in a closed garage rather than open the garage, allowing the hatch to fully open.

Note to self: When done loading, close the hatch and THEN open the garage door. Do not- I repeat DO NOT – open the garage without closing the hatch that is currently half-open and propped against the closed garage door.

Phone rings. It’s Freddy. He is asking if I want an autographed Brady James jersey he found at a neighbor’s garage sale. Sure, he’s hot but I’m not big on autographed memorabilia. Gather purse and keys, put Lola in her “room”, open garage door. Crunch! “Freddy, don’t be mad but I need you to come home right now. I just opened the garage door with my back hatch in it.”

My sweet husband wasn’t mad (I'm a lucky girl!). Things happen and it could have been worse. He just manually shut the garage door and I shut the hatch along with it. It left a small dent and a small scratch, but nothing major. I got off easy on this one.

If Brady James weren’t so hot, I wouldn't have been so distracted. I blame him for this.

Here is what I did:

IN OTHER NEWS:

Looks like I will have to wait a few more months before I can check “get CPR certified again” off of my Thirty by Thirty list. It was canceled this weekend and we can’t make the one in November. BUT… we can make the one in December and by then they will be in the brand new YMCA just half a mile from our house.

So, if you are interested in taking the class with me and Freddy, let me know. It is CPR and first aid and the cost is $57 for both. It only takes 4 hours on a Saturday afternoon.

After the Cowboys game last Sunday Freddy and the neighbor guys hit the street to play some catch with the pigskin. First Josh knocked his own mailbox off and then Freddy tripped to avoid Lola and jammed his elbow. This has slowed down his mountain biking considerably.

10 Year High School Reunion

There is so much to say about the reunion! But I am going to stick to bullet points because after 9 months on the planning committee and three reunion events in one weekend, I’m tired of talking about it.

*LOVED seeing friends that I haven’t seen in years and spending time with friends that I am still in touch with.

*LOVED getting to work with and actually getting to know Pam. We knew each other in hs, but didn’t have any classes together or do the same things, so we didn’t hang out.

*The committee did a great job!

*The senior video was hilarious!

*I got FED UP with all of the complaining about the price. Hello, people! I do events for a living. I challenge any of you negative nellies to plan a reunion for less – and it has to be a reunion that people won’t complain about. Besides, $60 for an entire weekend is not bad. Most are between $75-100 for a night. You try to do something nice for people and b******g is all you get – and to my face, none the less.

*Wish more people would have come, but the ones that did were fun!

*Everyone looked the same, I thought. I only had to make a few double takes.

Here are some pics! I wish I would have taken more pictures of all the different people that were there. Oh, well.

Me, Freddy and Sara's funny hubby Peter!

The Phams, Stephanie and The Clarks

Committee buds - Stephanie, me and Sara

She is probably touching my stomach in this pic! The woman is obsessed!

Me and becky showing off the bumps, but I cropped out the bumps because I promised Becky that I would. We only took the pic to make Sara happy.

Family Picnic

Aubrie Little Beck and me. We've been friends...forever! Or at least since she used to make me ride her sister's bike in to a sewer!

Aubs, Jeremy Broom and Jon Eakman

Sarah, Jeremy and me

Me and Chelsea, due two days apart.

Jennifer Roseberry Foster

The Brooms, Freddy and his stand-in wife, Sarah and the Becks.

Taking a picture of Peter taking a picture of me!

Sara - she talked a LOT! Just kidding, Sara!

Me, my hubby and our daughter!

Cross Country girls - Amber, me and Sara

The committee minus Namicha. Wish you could see my rockin' red heels!

Porter Pride!

Jodie Campbell Stuth and me. Call her if you are in the market for a new house!

And I leave you with this "Jem" (you'll get the joke after I post Halloween pics). Wonder what was so interesting?

Baby what?

This morning Freddy and I went to the doctor for the second half of my screening. I stopped by Starbucks for a little caffeine before hand. I wanted to make sure that this baby was moving around and showing off his or her parts. How disappointing would it have been to have to leave not knowing what we were having because someone wouldn't uncross their legs?!

I asked the sonographer if I could guess the gender. After all, I was there when Jessica found out the twins' genders so I am practically an expert. Three lines = girl and "turtle" = boy.

So I guess boy.

And I guess wrong.

We are having a GIRL!!! Man, is Freddy in trouble!

The doctor said that she is beautiful and perfect - everything about her is perfect. What a relief!

We have two names picked out - Carly and Mallory. We don't want to pick one until we see her, but the middle name is FOR SURE Dilyn - a combination of our moms' names - Diane and Lynn.

I am excited to start putting together the nursery. In my mind it is purple and white with lime green accents. It's sophisticated and maybe slightly shabby chic. We'll see if we can pull that together with what is in the stores. Wish me luck!

A lot to say today

1. I love blogging! I can't believe the feedback that I get from my posts. Thank you all for sharing comments and advice.

2. I think that Freddy and I will most likely take the class at the hospital. I loved what Katie had to say, "I wish I could go back to that time--a room full of first time, eager, excited parents." It helped me to view this experience as just that - an experience that I will never have again. So, I'm taking it!

3. Today Adam "Pacman" Jones has been suspended from the NFL indefinitely. Good! He has not treated his "job" in the NFL as a privelage and an honor so he shouldn't be allowed to continuously give the NFL and the Cowboys a bad name. Besides, he hasn't done anything good on the field all year. However, I am sad that the Cowboys have "fallen" so hard in just three days. By the way... How great was Peyton on Sunday?! (knock on wood)

4. Tomorrow at 9am, we have an appointment for the second half of my screening. I will be just over 18 weeks and the sonographer is confident that she will be able to determine the baby's gender. I don't want my baby to sit completely still for the entire thing like he/she did last time, so I will be stopping for some Starbucks on my way there (don't judge me - I don't drink any sodas, so I allow myself a coffee or two per week).

5. I have decided to share with everyone my baby's gender. Who was I kidding? I couldn't hold that in for another 22 weeks! We will even share our top baby names, but we don't plan on making a final decision until Birth Day!

6. I went maternity pants shopping last weekend (thanks, Lesley, for going with me). I was a little bummed at the way the pants at Motherhood fit (maybe they will fit better later), but I LOVED the pants at GAP! They are still a little big, but I couldn't stop myself from wearing them this weekend. Those things are COMFORTABLE! Also, I got a great pair at Old Navy and can't wait to check out Target. P.S. Ann Taylor LOFT now has maternity and they have a sale going on right now where pants are $20 off.

7. Picture coming soon! Including the boo-boo that I gave my car last weekend, my high school reunion, Kristi and Ryan's daughter Landri and maybe some from my photography class.

Amendment

I would like to amend my Thirty by Thirty list.


Remove: Learn a ballroom dance


Add: Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity


This weekend I will complete one more task on my list - become CPR certified again. Freddy and I are taking a CPR/First Aid class at our local YMCA.

Enroll Now or Play Hookie?

My friend Sara INSISTS that since I am having a baby I need to take a Prepared Childbirth Class at the hospital.

It is one 2 1/2 hour class once a week for four weeks OR one Saturday from 8 am until 5 pm.

Here is the course description:
This course is designed to help prepare mothers and their partners for the labor and delivery experience. We explore topics such as physical and emotional changes during and after birth, the role of your labor coach, techniques for relaxation and breathing, vaginal versus cesarean birth and the labor and delivery experience. A tour is included. Fee is $85 per couple.

I'm not so sure about this. I think I can figure it out.

So...Did you take one of these classes and are they a waste of time?

Pregnancy Update

So, I went to the doctor last week (or was it the week before?) for a normal check-up. As we were chatting, my doctor casually mentions a March 16th due date. So I stop her. My due date is March 11th, not the 16th.

I ask her if the due date has been changed and she says yes. The original due date was based on blood work and my cycle, but after two sonograms they determined that my due date is in fact March 16th. Bummer. That is 5 more days of indigestion and unnecessary gagging. Oh, well.

With the new due date in mind, I call the specialist and changed my appointment for the second half of the screening from tomorrow to next Wednesday. I want to be 18 weeks for the sonogram so that our chances of learning the gender are better. So, we'll know next week if this baby in my tummy is a boy or a girl. We haven't decided yet if we are going to make the news public (which would make the pendant I bought completely useless), but I will keep you posted on that.

Also, I feel like I am finally starting to show a little. Not enough where people would ask when am I due (though I did get that question several times BEFORE I was pregnant, so I wouldn't put it past some people), but enough where people who didn't know would secretly question. It think it might be time to shop for some pregnancy pants. I've been resistant so far, but I know that once I put on a pair I will never want to wear anything else ever again!

Where should I shop for maternity clothes?

Baby Confession #2

About a year and a half ago my friend Sarah introduced me to a fun boutique in Keller called The Funky Monkey. I am now addicted! I love to buy jewelry from there for myself and my friends.

A couple of weeks ago I was there buying a birthday present for my new friend and neighbor, Melissa. All of their bubble pendants were on sale - 40% off! Their supplier was no longer going to make them, so they were discontinued. Not one to pass up a good sale, I browsed the pendants and found a cute one that says "It's a Girl" and bought it! No, I don't know what I am having and I don't have a feeling one way or the other. Had there been one that said "It's a Boy" I would have bought them both to cover my bases.

If it turns out this baby I am having is a boy, then I will simply gift this pendant to the first of my friends to announce that they are having a girl.

Okay, moms. Did you buy something gender-specific before you knew what you were having?