Work Rant

I have so many unkind things I could say about work right now, but I'm trying really really hard not to be a complainer. I have to keep reminding myself that this job has been nice enough to let me work from home, set my hours, work part-time, and has generally afforded me more flexibility than almost any other job would have. So.. if, from time to time, they completely abuse me, I should just be quiet and take it right? :)

Just Looked at the Calendar

Just looked at the calendar and its going to be May this week. How crazy is that? May is my last month of work. By the end of May, I'll be 37 weeks pregnant. It's going so freaking fast!

I worked 8 hours of overtime this weekend. As much as I love SpringSource, I feel like this has been the busiest part-time job ever. I wonder if I've really ever put in just 20 hours a week. I'm always signed on at night and on the weekends, trying to wrap things up. Its crazy. It's going to be nice to not have to think about work for awhile. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

On a totally unrelated note, here are a few random pictures that I want to share. First, three pics from Mike and Angelle's visit (stolen from their website):


And here's an adorable pic of Halle in some new Tigger and Pooh jammies from Arielle. Thanks, Air!!!

WOAH

I just got an email from Joe DuBois, the real Joe DuBois, with information on how to set up my reading with his wife, Allison.

Woah.

I don't know if any of you out there watch the show Medium, but I do. It's based on a real woman who has helped solve crimes using her psychic abilities. I sent an email to her almost three years ago asking for information about having a reading done and I'm finally at the top of the list.

It would cost $1000 to have a one-hour mediumship reading where she would attempt to communicate with my father (who, for anyone who doesn't know, was murdered almost four years ago, and the case has gone unsolved). I've done some research online and of course there are a lot of people who think she's a complete fraud. And a lot of people who think she's the real deal. I find this article particularly interesting.

I'm somewhat conflicted about what I should do.

I'm kinda leaning towards having the reading though. I mean, yeah, worst comes to worst, I'm out some money. And its not that the money doesn't mean anything to me, but there has been so little that I've been able to do in this case that I have trouble passing up the opportunity to do anything at all. Of course, I had this same philosophy when I agreed to go on the Montel Williams show and that proved to be completely worthless.

For the record, I don't expect this reading with Allison to solve my dad's case. What I do expect is to hear things I already know (things that will wow me that she could know, but nothing that I didn't already know). That's not really worth the money to me. But what if there really is something that he can tell me?

Anyway, I'm curious what you guys think.

Holy Terrible Twos, Batman!

Good Lord! The tantrum this child threw tonight. Unbelievable. Thankfully I've gotten decent amounts of sleep the past two nights, because I was very calm handling her through the whole thing (I don't typically respond as patiently when I haven't slept well, and a cranky mom NEVER helps). But this little tantrum tonight was one of her worst! No fun.

It's Easy Being Green

I have to admit that I haven't really caught the "going green" bug that seems to be going around. But reading other people's posts about what they've done to live greener has made me realize that for one reason or another, Jason and I just so happen to be pretty green.

A lot of the "green" things we do aren't motivated by saving the environment, they're either just a way of life for us or choices we've made for personal motivations that just so happen to be environmentally friendly choices. Like me working from home. Jason living 3 miles from work. Halle's daycare being 2 miles away. We've also recycled for as long as I can remember, at least ten years, despite the fact that neither one of us grew up in homes that recycled. And we're very religous about it and always have been. We don't get the newspaper delivered because we get all our news online or on TV. We've never been big on buying bottled water because we're cheap, and thankfully live in a city where the tap water doesn't taste bad. We do filter the water we drink through our refrigerator, and we do buy bottled water on occasion for parties because it's more convenient for guests. But at least every single one of those bottles gets recycled. Even potty training Halle early and getting her out of diapers as quickly as possible is a big help, even though, again, it wasn't motivated out of our desire to help the environment.

All the appliances in our house are energy efficient, even the toilets. And we've been buying the energy-efficient light bulbs for awhile now. Anything that makes sense financially over the long run, we're interested. We also water our lawn using reclaimed water. And Halle and I shower or bathe together almost every time, which saves on water, but is also just more convenient for me.

We've opted out of insurance and credit card mailings, and phone books, because seriously, I just can't handle all that junk mail. And recycling phone books is a hassle. And then I have to store them. And I NEVER use them.

We're also really good about disposing of things properly, like electronics and paints and batteries. And I've started buying a lot of the greener cleaning products because they happen to be safer for kids and pets, and keeping my family safe is definitely a big motivation for me.

The only really green thing that I started doing recently which definitely falls into the "going green" bandwagon category is not taking plastic bags from stores anymore. This is the one area that I actually consciously think of the environment and the waste and trying to make a difference. So hey, what do you know, I'm not completely selfish. :)

7 Months!

Helping 'Cole

Much like Annabelle, Halle loves to help Nicole vacuum. :)

Three Things

Three things I want to share:

1. Today in the bath I was trying to get Halle to learn how to spell her name, but she kept saying H-A-L-MNOP.

2. Look how big my baby is!

3. Today Erica got 18 visitors to her site that came directly from this blog. I don't keep any kind of stats on who visits my blog and I've never asked you lurkers to comment and let me know you're there. But I was shocked to find out that not only did 18 people visit my blog today, 18 people visited my blog and proceeded to go to Erica's blog (and I didn't even link to her blog from my post!). Who knows how many others visited without clicking on Erica's. If you are one of my lurkers and feel like revealing yourself, I'd certainly be interested to know who you are. I'm flattered you find my blog interesting enough to read. :)

Fantastic Four Day Weekend

We had a wonderful extra long weekend! Mike and Angelle came down to Florida to visit with all the kids, and tons of our other friends came from all over the state to hang out. It was so much fun to see everyone and get all the kids together. I didn't take too many pictures during this visit, but here's one of my favorites from Saturday night at the beach. Erica took this and about 1200 other pictures this weekend, so stay tuned for links to some of those. :)

Saturday the ladies went out to a fancy lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Continental Flambe. It was a baby shower for baby ELENA (not Sonja!), and I am so grateful to all my wonderful friends for sharing this special time with me. I got lots of great presents for the baby too. Thank you, ladies!! Special thanks to the friends who couldn't be there but still made the day special (like Arielle and Stacy!).

Saturday afternoon we set up our water slide in the backyard to entertain Brynn and Zach, and apparently some of the adults too. I did take some pics then, and you can see them on our gallery.

Thanks to Erica and Liz for the delicious dinner Friday night, and thanks to Keri and Keith for the delicious breakfast this morning!

And a final thanks to all the travelers for taking time out of your busy lives to share the weekend with us. We love you all so much!

30 Week Ultrasound

Had the ultrasound today to see how the supposed gestational diabetes that I have is affecting my baby. Apparently I've done a great job keeping everything in check, because the baby is measuring right on. Weight is just over 3 lbs. which is the 50th percentile for this age. Perfect. Length measured 30 weeks and 6 days (and I'm 30 weeks and 2 days, so that's basically right on). She also said the baby is breathing on her own with her lungs, which apparently not all babies do at 30 weeks, so that's great news. Oh, and she's DEFINITELY a girl. :)

The ultrasound tech took one look at me when I walked in and asked, "YOU have gestational diabetes?!" Apparently women with G.D. retain a lot of water and have that really bloated look, which I guess I don't have. Sweet. So... my blood sugar levels show no sign of diabetes. My body is showing no signs of diabetes. And my baby is showing no signs of diabetes. Super sweet.

The results of the ultrasound were fantastic, but the ultrasound itself was MISERABLE for me. Lying on my back caused my uterus to press on the vena cava, and I felt light headed, clammy, and really, really uncomfortable. Several times I thought I was going to pass out and had to sit up or lay on my left side. Ah, just another fun discomfort that we pregnant women get to endure. The daddies seriously just don't know.

No pictures this time. Well, she gave me one, but its not good. The baby just looks like a few lumps. I guess at this stage the baby is just too big and there isn't enough room to get a great photo. So, I'll just happily look at the pictures from the last ultrasound. :)

God Knew What He Was Doing...

... when he gave Halle curly hair. I straightened her hair tonight just to see how it would look.

NOT. GOOD.

These pictures don't even do justice to how bad it really looked.


Although this one is hilarious. She's a mini Joe Dirt! :)

Twinkle, Twinkle

Halle's version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. :)

Mama's Gotta Big Ol' Gut

In hindsight, I should not have swallowed that watermelon.

"That One Night...

... you made everything alright."

I can't get this song out of my head!

Getting Excited!

I'm going to have another one of these soon!! Monday will be THIRTY WEEKS ALREADY! I'm getting sooo excited!!

(Halle was a week and a half old in this picture).

Fun at IKEA

Keri and I made our first trip to IKEA with the kids, with the wonderful help of Auntie Erica, and the trip was a success! The kids were VERY well behaved and had a blast playing with all the fun kids' toys. With the minor exception of having to take Halle to the bathroom 6 times (seriously, how can anyone pee THAT much?!!), it was a perfect trip. And we brought home lots of fun stuff too!

More pics from our trip to IKEA are posted in my photo album.

Getting to Know Halle

1. What's your middle name? Andrea (pronounced on-dray-uh)

2. What food will you eat every time? Mac-n-cheese, pb&j, spaghetti, yogurt, chocolate

3. Describe a usual lunch for you? pb&j and yogurt

4. What's your favorite drink? any juice

5. What are your very favorite songs? Twinkle, Twinkle; the Mickey Mouse Happy Birthday song; Hot Dog

6. Who are your favorite fictional characters? Dora, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters, the Pooh characters, the Backyardigans

7. What is your favorite TV show? Backyardigans, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora

8. What is your favorite movie? right now, Sesame Street - Do the Alphabet

9. What/who are your favorite stuffed animals? Mickey, Minnie, Pooh

10. What are your favorite electronic toys? Mommy's computer, Grandpa's cell phone

11. What are your favorite non-electronic toys? puzzles, play kitchen, markers, paint, dolls, stroller

12. What are your favorite books? Biscuit books, Backyardigans Deep Sea Countdown

13. When's your naptime? 12-2pm

14. When's your bedtime? around 8:30pm

15. What's your bedtime routine? Night-night kiss and hug for Daddy, climb upstairs, feed the fishies, read 3 books in Mommy's bed, potty & brush teeth in Mommy's bathroom, into the crib, night-night to the fishies (turn the tank light off), Mommy walks out of the room.

16. Besides the obvious, what's in your bed at night? just a pillow

17. When is your happiest time of the day? all day, with rare exceptions

18. What can make you laugh 100% of the time? being tickled, watching Baby Bear on Sesame Street

19. What makes you mad 100% of the time? expecting juice and getting water

20. What do you do to make others laugh? dance and sing and make silly sounds

21. What do you do that drives your Mommy crazy? refuse to wear pants

22. If you talk, what word(s) do you say incorrectly every time (but it's so cute that you can just go on saying it that way for a while)? "yewee" for yellow, and "wash your handsies"

23. If you talk, what are your favorite words or phrases? "Yes it is.", "More juice.", "Watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (or whatever show) on the big TV?"

24. What physical feat have you just accomplished? completely potty trained

25. Who are some friends you play with often? Belle Belle and Baby Corgan, school friends

29 Week Update

• I've tested my blood sugar 15 times since I got my home kit and haven't had a single reading out of the normal range!
  
  
• At my doctor's appointment today I learned that, as expected, I just barely failed the glucose test. But apparently resistance to insulin gets worse throughout the pregnancy, so even though I'm doing fantastic right now, I could still have some issues in a few weeks if I don't keep monitoring my levels. So I'll keep on fingersticking four times a day til this baby arrives.
  
  
• I've lost a few pounds since I stopped gorging on sugar (who knew?) and now I'm only up 23 pounds for the pregnancy (woohoo!). :)
  
  
• I'm still measuring 3 weeks big... which means...
  
  
• I GET TO SEE MY BABY AGAIN! They're scheduling me for an ultrasound sometime before my next appointment (which is in two weeks), so I should see my little girl this week or next week. :)

Overall, a very good 29 week update!

A Magical Day at Disney

We had a BLAST at Disney on Friday!!! Meg, we can't thank you enough for making this day happen for us! Halle was so happy to share the day with her Mia and Pop too. This day will be one of the sweetest memories that we will all treasure forever!

We started the day at Hollywood Studios to catch the Playhouse Disney show, and this was definitely one of the highlights of my day. Halle absolutely loves Playhouse Disney shows so she was in heaven. Here are two short videos of Halle enjoying the show:

After the show, Halle got to meet Minnie and Daisy (see pic above) and two of her favorite Little Einsteins, Leo and Annie.

It was SO WONDERFUL watching Halle's face light up when she saw her favorite characters. The look of excitement and her genuine happiness when she was around them and hugging them couldn't have made us feel any better! It's one of the sweetest things I've witnessed in my life!

Our next stop was Animal Kingdom. Here's a nice photo of the family in front of the Tree of Life at the entrance to Animal Kingdom.
The highlights from Animal Kingdom include the Nemo Musical (which Halle was pretty scared of at the beginning, but definitely liked by the end of the show), the Safari ride, Expedition Everest (for Jason), and watching Halle meet Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. Here's a cute pic of Halle enjoying the Safari:
Here's an adorable video of Halle meeting Pooh:

And some more pics with her favorite characters. Love the eskimo kisses with Piglet!

By this time it was almost 6:00 and we wanted to rush over to Magic Kingdom for what we thought was going to be a couple of hours over there. On our way, it started raining HARD. This slowed down the bus and the monorail, and the crowd leaving the park was so thick, it was hard to make our way into the park. By the time we got there it was pouring down rain, about 6:25, and we noticed the big sign at the entrance announcing that the park closed at 7 today due to the Pirates and Princess party that evening. GREAT. We gave up on trying to go on any rides and just went to the gift shop for a little while to let the rain slow down. It eventually did and we got this picture of Halle, still happy at the end of the day. :)
My mom was smart enough to ask one of the employees how we could get back to Hollywood Studios without fighting the horrible bumper-to-bumper, soaking wet crowd of people trying to get on the monorail and ferries. The lady told us to walk the short distance to the Contemporary hotel and catch the bus there. It only took a few short minutes to get out of the park and onto our bus, which was a great way to end the day instead of fighting the crowds!

One final note about how perfect this day (and my daughter) was. Halle was literally happy the ENTIRE day. Not so much as a whimper of discomfort or crankiness. The only time she wasn't smiling was when she was scared at the beginning of Nemo. Otherwise, nonstop happiness all day long. She napped in her stroller at the best time of day for us (between shows when we had some time to kill anyway), and best of all.. not a single potty accident! Not only did she tell us and hold it and use the public restrooms like a pro, she even managed to have to go at convenient times. You gotta love when a day comes together like that!

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post and share our wonderful memories!

GD Update

Saw the endocrinologist this morning. Low numbers again, which is fantastic. They sent me home with a kit for testing my blood sugar, and a journal to record my readings four times a day. So, I have to do the finger stick blood test four times a day, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be (although I'm sure my finger pads are going to get sore after awhile if I'm sticking them that often). I'll fax my results in every few days so the doctor can monitor my numbers. It's nice to be able to test myself though. Gives me confidence that I'm making good choices and really gives me a nice feeling of control over the situation. So, all seems well so far. :)

Cutie Pie

Took this picture of Halle this morning and it was too cute not to post. :) Annabelle actually has this exact same outfit. I'm sure we'll be taking pics of them together in their matching outfits soon. :)