Oh Happy Day!

Wow!  Today was beyond nice.  So nice I feel like sharing why.

• We are 29 weeks pregnant today.  Only 11 more weeks to go.  
• I got to sleep in a little.
• Made perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs.
  
• Made it to and through church without passing out.
• Went to the Hixson Target (I really like this Target).
• Looked at some really cute baby clothes.
• Found an awesome [free] photo editing site: picnik.com
• Listened to Dave play the banjo.
• Ate dinner on the porch then afterward played Scrabble and ate watermelon, all while having great conversation with my Dave.
• Won said game of Scrabble (this rarely, or maybe never happens).
  
• Enjoyed the amazing weather ALL DAY LONG.
• Watched a season finale and premier of The Shield (my favorite).
• And....I am probably about to go to bed early tonight.  What a great ending to a great day.

It's starting to feel more like September than August, which hopefully means that I'll have more days to enjoy like this.  This sure does make being really pregnant a lot more enjoyable.  

It's a little too hot to think of something clever....

Happy August. It's not my favorite month or anything, so on with it. I knew that I would dread the heat that August had in store...I was right. It has been HOT, and we're just 4 days in. I am not sure if maybe it has seemed so hot since July was somewhat pleasant, or if it's just plain hot no matter what last month was. I have always looked at August as a gateway to September, one of my favorite months. This is possibly because my birthday is in September, or because chilly fall nights make me feel warm inside. Just like every year in the past, I do look forward to this fall, although this one more so than ever before.

I had to practice a bit (or a whole heck of a lot) of self-control today. I stopped by Target today and (obviously) glanced at the baby stuff. It appeared as though they are getting their fall stuff in and boy, was it calling my name! I have already mentioned that I am doing a woodland themed nursery with owls, squirrels, and hedgehogs. Mainly I wanted to do this kind of nursery because it was stuff that I liked. Pre-pregnancy I was drawn to this same sort of stuff and also I have wanted a pet hedgehog for years now. I can’t really tell you why I am obsessed with them, besides that I think that they’re incredibly adorable. Well to my delight, and my detriment, Target’s Dwell Studio brand has an entire collection of hedgehog baby attire. I stood there with my mouth hanging open just wanting to buy it all up. My intention to calm my baby clothes craving was to rush home to write about it. I was hoping to find the stuff on Target’s website, but sadly it’s not there. I did happen to snap a picture of the blanket in the collection, so I’ll share it. Enough about that, the writing didn’t calm my craving any.

When I asked my doctor when I would start showing, he told me that Dave could see the bump around 20 weeks and then the world would see at 26 weeks. I thought he was crazy...26 weeks is six and a half months! Well turns out, he was basically right. Last week I think some clothes didn’t quite accentuate the bump, but this week nothing is hiding it. It’s beginning to look like there is sporting equipment being stored in my belly, and it’s kind of feeling like it too. Before now it seemed like I could tell a difference in my size week to week, but now it seems like there are noticeable little changes day to day. And to think, we’re not even to the third trimester.

26 weeks 2 days

Chiropractor update: I went and I didn’t really like the guy. That, and I am not sure if it’s really worth the cost and the hassle. I am a little bitter over my short experience with him, so I think I have officially quit going. Instead I plan on getting a soothing pregnancy massage from Natural Body. I hear they’re to die for.

This one may bore you.

Not much is new right now which is quite refreshing. The summer is treating us well and I am glad that we're enjoying it. Dave has been doing some work on the house, trying to get us more organized. Well I should say, he has done a lot of work on the closets which in turn should encourage us to be more organized. He had been using the closets in both his music room and the (now) nursery for his clothes and other junk. Our closets basically consisted of a bar set high and a shelf above. Pretty boring and inefficient, if you ask me. The nursery has a "walk-in" closet that is 4' wide by 5' deep. He lowered the bar for hanging clothes to the lower half of the closet and added four 20" deep shelves above, then added five 10" shelves to the right side of the closet. It is now a storage mecca, and it is beyond nice to have that project completed.

*The target will be coming down soon.

Dave took off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with me this week to work on these projects and other things that needed to be worked on. Since he is working on his school stuff, we really only have time on the weekends to get things done and then every other Saturday is occupied by his actual classes. Needless to say, the time this week has been quite valuable for us. It's also been kind of nice to have more than an hour a day to communicate. Tomorrow we plan on going on a lunch date to see a movie (which we never do) and eat lunch, and possibly grab Bean Sprout a little outfit with a BRU coupon that came in the mail. I may even dress up a little for this occasion ;) Speaking of our time together we have played tennis for the last three days. Sometimes I enjoy tennis and other times I am really bad and don't enjoy it at all. On Monday evening we played in something like 98% humidity, which took the life out of me. It was so sticky out and I tired out far too quickly. Yesterday's games were played in the morning and were much more enjoyable and I decided to dress in more appropriate attire. Getting exercise in without hurting, cramping, or sweating to death was a real treat. Today we played around lunch time and it may have been 1000 degrees out, I was having a ton of fun playing and even playing better than I had been, but my body decided it was too hot. I was drinking tons of ice water but I still had to surrender to the heat and not over do it.

Yesterday I made something for dinner that I may end up craving all the time now. It was a delicious combination of chickpeas, cucumbers, red onions, and tomatoes. Ohh....how I love love love chickpeas, I could eat them everyday. I mixed all the veggies with olive oil, a little red wine vinegar, lemon juice, dill, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Yummy!! Healthy and tasty!

Over on the left you can see my latest product of boredom. I had been joking about making "bean spout '09" tee shirts for anyone who wanted one (even if it is just me); and like most things I joke about, it came to fruition. I found zazzle.com and it's now one of my favorite things. You can get to my store by clicking here . The site is very nice, you can customize just about anything you want from postage stamps and travel mugs to dog shirts and baby onesies. Here's the shirt that I created, which you can get to by clicking on the image of the shirt in the zazzle box on the left.
The font that I chose for this shirt is called "birth of a hero" which I thought was fitting (but first I liked it for the way it looked). I also did a Bean Sprout beer stein but felt it a bit unrelated to the birth of my son. I put his "logo" on a mug too and I am considering dog shirts next. Oh let me know if you have any suggestions for anything that I should put on the back, like a slogan...he needs a slogan...

Hopefully I didn't bore you too much. Next time I should have much more exciting things to write about....I hope.

Our First Year

Summer is officially here. Normally I am not the biggest fan of Summer, this year is no exception. It has gotten hot already. The other day it was 91 degrees outside and 78 degrees inside my work. I really think my coworkers are secretly trying to kill me. I am trying to wear less and less to work, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. The only time I can really enjoy the heat is when I am near a cool body of water. Oh...I take that back. When I am at home there is a gorgeous pool staring right at me, but this pool belongs to my elderly neighbors and I have never ever seen anyone actually swimming in it. I have only seen Mr. Neighbor cleaning it, sometimes daily, but never swimming. This breaks my heart a little. Sometimes I think I hear the pool calling to me just to come over and feel the refreshment that it would provide, maybe that's just the voices in my head. Dave compares their pool to a formal parlor room in someone's house--the room that is always keep to the nines but that no one is allowed to actually sit or use. The jealousy from their pool makes me really really really want to go swimming. To add salt to my wound, I bought my first and only piece of maternity clothing so far--it was a maternity swim top.

This Sunday is our first wedding anniversary. We planned a last minute trip to leave town to just get away for the weekend. Dave was originally planning our anniversary festivities, but I busted his bubble when I found out that they were taking place at our house. My motivation to leave our house and to stay in a hotel is the pool. I need it to keep my sanity. His plan was really sweet and I felt guilty for ruining them, but we don't know when we'll be able to go out of town for fun next and thought we should take advantage of the opportunity. It will just be a little vacation but as long as there is a pool, Dave, our cake, and a bottle of sparkling grape juice, I think we'll have a great time.

Speaking of our anniversary, I CAN believe a year has gone by and I am surprised that so much has happened in the last 12 months. It has been a long year that has speed along at lightning fast speed. So much has happened this year; so much that I am very grateful for. Immediately following our wedding, we traveled outside of the country for the first time to the Dominican Republic. This was a fabulous trip and we had the best time, and it lit my fire for traveling. The August after our June wedding, we purchased our first home. At the time we had no idea that we were about to become homeowners, but we were both tired of our crappy little duplex with the series of bad neighbors, and I was tired of renting. We still have no regrets over our decision. The plan for our little house was to live here for 5-7 years and then move when we were ready to grow the family. Change of plans! Our first house will now be the home to our first child, and there are no regrets for that either. This year also involved Dave getting a nicer position at his long term job, which opened doors that we didn't realize would need opening. Dave also began working on his Masters degree. This means we don't have much free time together, but this will be such a benefit to carry to the future. The year has been full of blessings and I couldn't be more thankful. Over the past year my heart has been reconfirmed a million times that Dave was made for me, and for that, I am most grateful.