Obie's Wedding

Last weekend we traveled to the Big Town of Clifton, Texas for the wedding of Freddy's friend and fraternity brother, Brad Obenhaus, aka Obie.

Clifton, for those of you who don't know, has two stoplights, a Dairy Queen and Chicken Express...plus all of the local hangouts like Johnny's, where Freddy and Hag at at twice on Saturday.

Despite the size of the town and simplicity of the route from the church to the rehearsal dinner, we (the city folk) still managed to get lost, forcing the entire group to wait on us to eat.

The wedding was beautiful and comical at the same time. When the bride made it to the end of the aisle, instead of standing next to her husband-to-be, she released her father's arm, yelled "Hold on" (or something similar) and darted to the door beside the stage. She was followed by her mother and some other women only to emerge a few minutes later, ready to get married. The problem? Her zipper had come undone. She handled it much better than I would have. I would have cried, but she simply laughed and played it off.

It was also very nice to see so many friends come in for the occasion.

Obie and the AGRs, minus Morgan who had already left for the evening.

Matt and Megan

Andrew and Kacie
Here's to Brother Obie.

Me and Freddy. By this point in the evening I had already discovered that I was wearing both earrings in one ear.

Morgan and Rachel. That's as much as I could get him to open his eyes.

The new family - Carrie, Obie and Robert

Hag and his Capri Sun. I would like to be able to say that he was drinking that to make the pregnant lady feel better about not being able to drink alcohol, but he just likes fruity drinks.

Happy Birthday, Freddy!

Last Saturday the best husband in the world turned 27. We were out of town for a wedding, so I wasn't able to make a big deal about it because I didn't know what the plans for that afternoon were as far as the wedding party (Freddy) was concerned.

I wanted to make a cake, but Freddy doesn't like sweets much. So I made him a beer cake instead. The ribbons have stickers on them that say "Happy Birthday Freddy".

Pretty creative, huh?

Baby Shower

The weekend before last I had a fantastic baby shower thrown in honor of baby Carly/Mallory/Dilyn Clark (yes, Dilyn is now in the running for first name, too). It was marvelous! I absolutely LOVED getting to see everyone.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my sweet friends who hosted the shower.

My sister Cathy, Jessica, Kristi, Lesley, me in a not-so-flattering dress, Jennifer and my other sister Christy.



My sisters, me and my mom



Me and the grandmothers-to-be

The cake was as yummy as it was beautiful

No one who knows me was surprised the the baby oral care kit was exciting to me!

My mother made me a beautiful baby quilt. I'll have to take another picture so that you can see it better. Did you notice my helpers? I never had to reach for a gift once - they were on top of it!

This week our baby girl is proportioned like a...

This week our baby girl is proportioned like a pineapple when it comes to weight -- a little over 4 pounds. (Length: more than 17 inches, head to heel.)

ONLY 7 WEEKS TO GO!

I ate quite a bit of pineapple this weekend. I even sent Freddy back through the food line at the wedding reception so that I could have more. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Baby Brain #5

This weekend Freddy and I traveled to the big town of Clifton, Texas for the wedding of Freddy's fraternity brother and friend, Brad Obenhaus.

About 10 or 15 minutes in to the reception I touch my earrings and "jingle" them with my fingers like I do throughout the day (a nervous habit, I guess, like playing with my eyelashes).

I had put BOTH earrings in the same ear. I don't even remember putting them in! And none of our friends told me. In their defense, I was wearing my hair down so my earrings weren't that noticeable.

I wish that I had taken a picture.

Baby Brain.

Nursery Pictures

Since we aren't doing a really "baby" nursery design, I wanted to add some special babyish elements. I decided on - what else? - stuffed yellow lab puppies.

I thought that it would be cute to hang some pictures of Lola in the nursery as well. Here is what I have so far - just two and they need to be edited, but you get the idea.

How sweet! I didn't even have to pose her. I made Freddy take a million pictures of this so that I would be sure to get the perfect one. This is what gave me the idea for the pictures.

This one isn't for the nursery, I just thought that it was sweet.

New Belly Pic

Thank you to everyone who commented on my belly pics - heck, on ALL of my posts.

To be fair... I have to admit that when I post belly pics, I post the ones that make me look the smallest. So in the spirit of full disclosure, I decided two weekends ago to don a tight-fitting T and take some more belly pics so that you could get a better picture. These pictures were taken two days before 31 weeks (I'm 32 1/2 now so they are almost two weeks old - sorry!).

This is the one that I would have posted because I thought it made me look the smallest.

And here are a few of my random thoughts on pregnancy:

I think that maternity pants are a conspiracy. They aren't long enough to wear heels with, forcing women in to flats and out of heels before they are ready. I miss my heels! However, they are VERY comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that I have already told my friends that they will have to stage an intervention to get me out of them after this baby girl gets here.

I have weird pregnancy "side-effects". I don't mind the weight gain. I can handle the growing belly. The aching back is kind of annoying, but I'm learning how to ease it with Tylenol, the Boppy Pregnancy pillow and massages. But there are a few things that I could definitely do without. The first one I debated about posting because it is slightly embarrassing, but oh well. My feet smell. Never did before really. But now certain shoes are banned from being taken off in the car if Freddy is with me. The good news is that I discovered I am not alone in this. A co-worker also suffers from smelly feet. The second is that my hair is staticy. YUCK! So annoying.

Upcoming Posts: My baby shower, My Christmas gift, wedding weekend and the Super Bowl. Stay Tuned!

This week my baby girl weighs as much as...

This week my sweet baby girl is taking up more and more space and weighs as much as a large jicama -- about 3 3/4 pounds. (Length: about 16 3/4 inches, head to heel.) Anyone ever have a jicama? Not me!

This little angel loves to me. I feel her kicking really low -always have. This means that her head is up and her feet are down. The doctor says that she has plenty of time to move before delivery (so that she isn't breech), but I kind of think that she will stay put. From what I have been told, I DO NOT want the doctor to move her. Apparently the pain that comes with that is intense to say the least and it doesn't come with an epidural.

Wylie-inspired Pretend Survivor

Allow me to introduce you to someone. His name is Wylie and I met him in college when my roommate (and bff) and I traveled to Lubbock for the weekend. We stayed with her best friend, Wylie. Oddly enough, his roommate Alyssa is my friend Shelby’s cousin. Small world, huh?

Anyway…Wylie is hilarious. His blog is hilarious. If you haven’t already ventured over there by using the link on the side of my blog, please do. My friends follow his blog now and email me to tell me to check out new posts. Shelby is convinced that the two of them would be good friends. I agree. And Caroline (his wife) and Matt (her boyfriend) would probably just sit back and laugh at them.

Anyway…Wylie’s last postis his vision of how his favorite tv characters (reality and non) would fare against each other in Survivor. I found it to be on par with the rest of his blogs – full of belly laughs and worthy of reading aloud to my husband. It also got me thinking…how would my favorite tv characters do in a game of Survivor? Here is how I see it:

The players:
Kate Gosselin – Jon & Kate Plus 8
Jon Gosselin – Jon & Kate Plus 8
Meredith Gray – Gray’s Anatomy
Izzie Stephens – Gray’s Anatomy
Michael Scott – The Office
Dwight Schrute – The Office
Meredith Palmer – The Office
Kitty McCallister – Brothers and Sisters
Justin Weaver – Brothers and Sisters
Nora Weaver – Brothers and Sisters

Jon and Kate decide that leaving their friend Beth with all 8 kids would be too much of a burden, so they bring Joel and Alexis with them. The first night, Joel bites in to a glow stick and Jon leaves with both kids to take Joel to the hospital to have his stomach pumped. At the first challenge, Dwight misinterprets the instructions and thinks the task is to find and kill a bear (yes, there are bears in Africa. He saw one last year, idiot!). When he pulls out the cross bow he hid in a tree trunk and a sword he hid beneath a rock before the competition started, the producers disqualify him. Justin has the lead until he falls and breaks his leg and Meredith Gray swoops in and wins the first immunity.

Just minutes before the first tribal council, Meredith Palmer is bit by a bat, gets rabies and has to leave. Michael wants to leave to organize the Michael Scott Dunder Mifflin Scranton Pennsylvania Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure, but decides to stay and sends Meredith a goodie basket instead. Come tribal council, everyone has decided vote off the oldest contestant, Nora. Never one for face-to-face confrontation, Michael casts his vote and runs away, leaving the show and saving Nora from having her torch extinguished.

Before breakfast the next day Kitty receives a call telling her that she and Robert have been selected by another birth mother to adopt her child. She leaves so that she can insult the woman and miss yet another opportunity to adopt. Izzie plays on Justin’s weaknesses and offers him pain killers to ease the pain of the broken leg. He accepts, becomes addicted and is voted off at the second tribal council.

Final Four : Izzie. Meredith Gray, Nora and Kate.

During the “stand on the pole in the middle of the ocean for as long as you can challenge, Meredith Gray falls in, no one notices and she drowns. Later that night, Ghost Denny appears to Izzie and convinces her to undergo heart transplant surgery and cut her own HVAC (or LVAT or whatever the heck that things was called) so that they can have their Romeo and Juliet ending. Always a sucker for Denny, she does it.

So we’re down to Kate and Nora. Two Moms. Face it, Nora maybe older and have more insurance, but Kate is the mother of 8 – two sets of multiples. Kate wins, regardless of the fact that she hates the outdoors almost as much as she hates getting dirty.

Mystery Baby Gift

I arrived home from work today to find that we had received a package. A package addressed to "Baby Girl Clark". Yay! I love baby gifts.

I glanced at the return address and did not recognize the name (the address was in Houston). So I asked Freddy if he knew the name and he did not. My heart sank. What if someone had meant to send this gift to a different Baby Girl Clark? It's not like Cheryl Clark is an off-the-wall name. They could have clicked on the wrong Cheryl Clark on the registry list.

But wait! If they had sent something from a registry, the package would have come from the store, not the person and that person would have to know my address. Hooray! It is for our Baby Girl Clark.

But if this is from the person on the return address, I have a new dilemma. How do I write a Thank You note to someone neither I nor my husband know?

Just open it. Maybe there is a clue inside. So, I open it and find an uh-door-uh-bull gift set that includes a bib, a pouch to carry wipes, etc., a burp cloth and a changing pad. It is beautiful. I love it. It matches the purples in the nursery and even has polka dots - another element I am going to incorporate in to the nursery.

Ah-ha! A clue! A business card with a web address - but not just any web address, one that ends in etsy.com (etsy is a website of handmade items - if you aren't familiar with it, check it out).

It has to be from my friend Sara. She is the queen of etsy (she sells amazing jewelry - http://www.goingcoastal.etsy.com/ - check out the new earrings that I am IN LOVE WITH) and she isn't able to make it to the shower.

I call and ask her. It wasn't her. I ask her if she thinks I should just contact the seller to find out who sent it to me (since there was no card indicating the purchaser). She said no, give it time, let the person reveal themself. But I can't not send a Thank You. Immediately.

So I ask you, my loyal blog readers...

Do I email the seller or let the gift-giver reveal themself?

Freddy thinks that Sara must know something and that is why she is telling me to wait. I don't think she does.

Here is the adorable set. Isn't it perfect?!

Mystery solved! This perfectly precious gift was from my friend (and fellow blogger), Courtney, whom I have known since...was it 6th grade.

Here are 6 (in honor of the 6th grade) why Courtney is so cool (thought there are many, many more):

1 She's my friend. Just kidding! She is an eco-friendly mommy. I wish that I could use cloth diapers (no, not the traditional flat ones with safety pins) on my baby like she does on Nate. Unfortunately, I would eventually be forcing that on my baby's care giver when I go back to work and that isn't fair.

2. She's frugal without having to do without. She sees item. She likes item. She sees price tag. She hates price tag. She makes item. (For example, a blanket that covers the stroller and cloth diapers). I give her less than one year before she is selling on etsy.

3. She does things that other people just say they are going to do - like walk to the grocery store.

4. Not only does she blog, but she also built her blog. I can barely figure out how to upload pictures in order using blogspot and she built hers!

5. This girl does not give up. Whether it's running, working out or cooking - she must succeed.

6. She is a great mommy. She has a seperate blog devoted solely to Nate. She is a stay at home mom who loves her baby and the time she gets to spend with him, even it means paying for a new dining room table one coupon at a time.

Thanks, Courtney, for the beautiful gift set. Baby Girl Clark will love it!

Baby Brain #4

Freddy: When I get out of the shower remind me to get the work phone out of my truck . (He was on call last night).

Me: I'll go get it.

Noticing the 5 or 6 empty water bottles and Gatorade bottles on his floor board, I grabbed them and threw them in the recycle bin. Good wife!

An hour or so later:

Freddy: Where did you put the work phone?

Me: On the counter.

Freddy: It's not there.

Me: On the table?

Freddy: Not there either.

Me: In the bedroom?

Freddy grabs his keys and heads to the truck.

Me: It's not out there! I know I brought it in.

As Freddy is looking through his truck, I have an idea. I lift the lid on the recycle bin and there is the cell phone among the papers and plastic bottles.

Baby Brain.

Do it yourself weekend

This last weekend truly was a do-it-yourself weekend...For Freddy. I wanted to help, but he insisted that none of these projects were pregnancy-friendly. Dangit! I could have marked "Conquer a home improvement project" off of my Thirty by Thirty list.

The first project was to replace the old sink. It was the standard sink that comes with the house. Shallow, metal, scratches easily, stains easily, etc.

Here is the old sink

Freddy (and Lola) working on the sink

And this is the new, beautiful, granite composite, 9 inch deep sink! I love it!



Look how deep - even a wine glass doesn't reach the top.



The next project was to add a ceiling fan to the nursery. Originally I wanted a light, but couldn't find one that I loved, so we settled for a ceiling fan. Kinda figures since Freddy and I are both fans of fans in bedrooms. Me because I like to cuddle up under the covers and him because his body heat is like an oven and he needs the fan to save himself from spontaneous combustion.



I didn't get to take a picture before Freddy took the light down, so I took a picture of the same, standard light fixture in the spare bedroom. I don't know why this picture is blurry. Sorry.

Here is the new fan in the nursery. And I would just like to say that the drapes look horrible in these pictures. Maybe it's the flash or the lighting, I don't know. I PROMISE the color looks much, much better in person. So either drop by and check it out or take my word for it. And I know that they are different lengths. My mom and I made these together and I need to decide on a length so that we can cut and hem them.

After the fan went up, I went out to run errands. When I got back I found Freddy trying to put together the bassinet that Kristi and Ryan let us borrow. Thank you! He was literally scratching his head.

Since the bassinet had been used by Landri AND Sara and Andy's little boy, Owen, it no longer had directions. After a few minutes, we figured it out together and here is Freddy with the finished product.

In other nursery news...the old dresser that we wanted to refinish to match the crib we bought in November could not be refinished after all. So, we looked for a dresser to match but nothing was great and everything was expensive.

Freddy explored Craig's List and found a dresser and hutch for $250. It didn't match, but we decided to check it out anyway. We traveled to Carrollton and found it to be in PERFECT condition. So, we bought it, returned the dresser we had previously purchased and bought another one that matched. We saved TONS!

This is the dresser/hutch. Next to it is the leather arm chair glider that we bought at Rooms to Go with the buy one, get one free $100 gift cards we purchased on Black Friday. We wanted a chair that could transition to another room after the baby (or babies) had grown. It's brown, but it looks kinda purple in the room.

Here is a better picture of the drapes. Looks like a totally different shade, huh?

The crib came in on Monday, but we were a little busy at the hospital, so Freddy picked it up yesterday and assembled it last night. Simple and convertible.

This week my baby girl weighs as much as...

My baby now weighs as much as four navel oranges. (Length: over 16 inches, head to heel.)

I always like to post these on Monday, when I start a new week in my pregnancy. I didn't get around to doing it yesterday, I know, but I have a good excuse. Weak stomaches, beware.

I spent the entire morning puking. Yuck! I couldn't keep anything down, not even water or the anti-nausea medecine my doctor called in for me. So, off to the hospital we (Freddy and I) went. Three hours and two iv bags of fluids later, we were out of there.

Turns out I had a stomach virus. There is nothing you can do but let those things run thier course -unless of course you are pregnant and severely dehydrated, in which case an iv is required. When I wasn't puking, I felt fine. That is until I went home. I thought that getting hydrated would boost my energy, but quite the contrary. And all of that laying around just made my body ache. Everywhere!

And I would like to take just a minute to brag on my husband. He was so sweet, caring and attentive yesterday. I am a lucky, lucky girl!

Belly shot, even if it is a few weeks old

This post is for Jessica Garcia - and everyone else who has been asking to see belly pics. Sorry it's old. This one was taken at 28 weeks and I am now 30 1/2 (yes, I count half weeks). Notice the Christmas gifts in the background. We must have been getting ready to go somewhere because Lola is already in her "room".

I'll post a more current one soon.

I'll bet that is one more item off my thirty by thirty list

I can mark one more thing off my Thirty By Thirty List!

When Freddy announced last Thursday that he wanted to have a poker game at the house (we used to have them all of the time with the neighbors, but I never played because I was playing hostess), I told him that I would play if he taught me how.

The next night, Sara and Austin came down, we broke out the poker table and Sara and I learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em. Beginners luck, I won and Sara came in second. Too bad we didn't play for money...or something more interesting.

I did play on Saturday night. There were 11 people that played. I didn't buy back in like some people did and I made it to the final table. Not bad! But then I was the first one out on the final table, which means that I came in 6th. Not too shabby.

The winning hand - two pair. Did you notice that I separate my chips by color?

Marley and Me...and me

Note: If you don't know how Marley and Me ends and you don't want to know, stop reading this post HERE.

At the urging of several co-workers, I read the book Marley and Me. That was probably close to three years ago, shortly after we adopted Lola. As I neared the end of the book, it became apparent that Marley was going to die. So I save the end of the book for a night when I knew I would be alone and I didn't have to be anywhere early the next morning (puffy eyes). I curled up on the couch, grabbed my puppy, read the end of the book and ugly-faced cried through the end of the book and about ten minutes after I finished the book. Yes, it was that sad.

I was thrilled when I heard that they were making the book in to a movie. I anticipated it's release for at least a year. The day after Christmas Freddy and I went to watch the movie. As we pulled in to the parking lot, I saw a little girl with blond pigtails getting out of a car. I thought, "That looks like Landri". I couldn't see her face, so I thought I was being silly. Every little girl with blond pig tails isn't Landri. Oh, but wait! That's Kristi's dad! Sure enough, Kristi was there with her entire family. What are the odds? Pretty good, I guess. We both love to go to Tinseltown because all shows before 6 are only $4. They were going to see Marley and Me, so we sat by them.

As the end of the movie approached, I knew what was coming. I dug through my purse for my Kleenex. I couldn't find my Kleenex! So I went to the bathroom for the second time during the movie (I'm pregnant, remember!) and grabbed some napkins on my way back in.

Had I not been in a theatre full of strangers - pitch black or not - I would have whaled. bawled. cried so hard I threw up. I tried my best to contain the sobs and the tears, but I was NOT successful. I ugly-faced cried again. The faces were even uglier, actually, because I was trying to hold back the tears. Are you picturing my face crying? Trust me, it was ugly.

Yes, I will be buying the movie when it comes out on DVD. It will take the place of 8 Seconds as my "I need a good cry, so I'll pop in this movie" movie.

I am now looking forward to the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic (or maybe they're just calling it Shopaholic). These books (a series of 5) were so good! I believe the movie comes out in February. Woo-Hoo! Meet you there, Kristi?

I'm taking my blogging to the next level

Today I read Katie's blog. Her most recent post was about a Christmas gift that she got from her sweet, thoughtful husband. He had her blog printed and bound in to a book. What a brilliant idea! I immediately emailed my husband and told him that I knew what I wanted for Valentine's Day - my blog (from start until December 2008) printed and bound in to a book. I also told him that I would look in to the best site for doing this (I like the on that Katie suggested) and I that I would do it myself. Does that still count as a gift from him? I would let him wrap it.

The thought is that I will do this every year. So, in an attempt to blog about all of 2008 in time to get this printed for Valentine's Day, I will be doing some serious blog catch-up in the next couple of days. Forgive me if it is out of order.

As for 2009, I plan on putting a lot more effort in to this blog now that I know it will become a keepsake. I hope to make it as entertaining as possible while documenting as much as I can. The new camera that I got for Christmas is going to be used a LOT this year.

Whose present is this anyway?

My back has been aching lately. It's all part of being pregnant. I accept it.

I mentioned the back aches to my mother in law and for Christmas I got the Boppy Pregnancy Pillow.

While everyone was playing with the wii fit (did I mention that we got one for my mother in law and she is addicted? We may have to stage an intervention), I decided to break out the pillow.

I got up for all of ...umm...maybe one minute and I returned to this:

Lola loves the Boppy Pregnancy Pillow. If it is in the room and I'm not using it, she is on it. I think it's cute. Freddy thinks it makes Lola high maintenance.

And when I kicked her off of the pillow and everyone took a break from wii fit, she used the board as a pillow.

Christmas

Christmas this year was great! I've was told several times that this is the last year that any focus - any focus at all - will be on me. I don't doubt that one bit. I think that I will be okay with that, though.

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent's house and Christmas Day at Freddy's parents' house. This is the one holiday every year when we know how the family-holiday-time-distribution will go (married people out there, you know what I am talking about).

I didn't take any Christmas pictures. Sorry! But I did take some random pictures with my new camera on Christmas. Does that count?

Lola riding to Wylie with the presents.

Lola again
The only picture I took of Freddy where he wasn't making a face at the camera.

Lola was the only subject who didn't mind the continous flashes in her face, so I took a lot of her.

This week my baby girl weighs as much as...

Has anyone missed the "my baby is roughly the size/weight of..." posts? Even if no one did, oh well. You only have to put up with NINE more!

My baby rivals a good-size cabbage in weight, tipping the scales this week at 3 pounds. (Length: about 15 3/4 inches, head to heel.)

She is moving around like crazy (which is reassuring). I am still feeling really good. My only complaint is that my back is starting to ache. The pregnancy belt (yuck!) that my doctor recommended and the Boppy Pregnancy pillow that my in-laws gave my for Christmas are helping, though.

I have a doctor's appointment this Thursday and I expect that we will schedule my last sonogram then. I registered with the hospital and signed us up for the birth class/hospital tour. The only thing is that the next class with open seats is just three weeks before my due date. It will be cutting it close, but hopefully it won't be too late.

I think that I will quit jogging (can't call it running anymore) at 32 weeks and stick to the prental yoga and pilates dvds - and wii fit, of course.

Oh, and I don't have gestational diabetes. Woo-hoo!