I was abducted by aliens!

Just kidding.

I think we all know and realize that time flies when you are having fun...and sometimes not so much fun.

For the past two months, Dave's been getting used to the new schedule - up at 4am, out the door by 5 am to ride the bus to St. Paul for nearly 2 hours. Work for 8.5 hours respectively, and wash, rinse, repeat in the opposite bus order to get home.

I am still getting up with him at 4am.

We are both exhausted.


However, wedding planning still moves forwards. We've had a couple adventures and a few moments since June:

• We went to WineHaven (Chisago City, MN) & Eichtens (Center City, MN) and enjoyed a day of food and wine tasting. Eichtens raises their own buffaloes and cows and make their own FABULOUS Gouda cheeses and buffalo summer sausages amongst their delicious bistro/cafe and shop area. WineHaven happened to have a wine tasting the same day we headed out to Eichtens.... and so we tried a few varieties. We've already decided to get the Honey Wine and the Merlot from there for the wedding.
• Dave, Alli, and myself headed out to Howard Lake, MN for the 3rd Annual Garlic Festival; put on by the MN Sustainable Farming Association. They did a wonderful job and we enjoyed things ranging from
• demos from Minneapolis area chefs that work with the understanding of sustainability,
• belly dancers (not what I'd have thought - a few white chicks doing some pop music moves, more power to 'em - I've seen REAL traditional belly dancing though...),
• kids games & art, garlic ice cream (YUM), fresh raw gourmet garlic (It BURNED!)

Then... we hit the MN State Fair this last weekend. On Sunday early morning, we headed out on the Southwest Transit to the fairgrounds. It was a long day full of sunburn, good food (elk burger, porcupine meatballs, beef sticks, funnel cake, cheese curds, strawberry smoothy), and needing more water than I got which resulted in my crabbiness for about an hour. Yes, poor Dave. lol

We saw most of a wood chopping competition, walked around one end and saw the skate park portion with guys on bikes, hunted down food favorites (cheese curds), and waited in line for Sweet Martha's Cookies for about 15 minutes. Well worth the wait. It was fun to see the sights and smell the wonderful foods.


We also hit the Little Farmhands area for kids. Cute! Alli got to put on an apron and pick up some corn kernels, and 'feed the cows', 'milk the cows', drive the hay on the 'tractor' - John Deere of course, and 'grow' vegetables.
Here, we have Alli and Daddy. They gave the kids free John Deere sun visors made from a foamy material and emblazoned with their symbol.

Seriously, they had sunflowers that were REAL
and taller than Alli! Heck, they were even taller than me.













We also went to the Eco Experience - where Dave had been working for most of that week previously. Since Dave works for the Pollution Control Agency, he offered his volunteer services to help out at the Eco Experience photo booth - essentially, he was the 'man behind the curtain' running the technology aspect and making sure that as people came through, had their photo taken with signs saying why they promised to bring their own bag, and made sure that those pictures showed up on the Reduce.org website.

As a momento....

All said, we probably spent about two hours just going through the Eco Experience. Sustainability is something that everyone should think about. Compost when you can - we live in a townhouse and we are looking for ANY way that we can do that. We have been recycling and separating as needed with all our waste as well for a while already, but still, you feel like there's always more you can do to contribute to a healthy Mother Earth.




Alli, hugging Bernie the Burn Barrel at Eco Experience. Bernie tells people how bad for the environment burning your garbage is. He has a lot to say about keeping the environment and air clean and clear - and that just because your parents and grandparents did it - doesn't make it right!






In other news...
We finally met with my friend and the caterer, Josh, this week. Wonderful meeting. Unfortunately I think we made it a tad too long - I didn't get his email about his wife feeling poorly and could we make it a short meeting until the day AFTER. I sure felt like an ass. Sorry Joshy! My email at work apparently dislikes me intensely - but only SOMETIMES.

Thursday night this last week was Alli's Open House. She's heading into Second grade and frankly, her teacher seemed nice, but I'm a bit worried about Alli and her Math skills that we worked SO hard on last year... and haven't used much of this last summer. Her reading is perfectly fine though as she loves to read anything and anywhere.

Time will tell I suppose.

Dave and I went on our first date in about a month last night. To the Claddagh Pub in Maple Grove. It was wonderful! The food was plentiful and delicious - melt in your mouth good. Dave had a drunken steak that was a prime piece of meat with Jameson whiskey. I had the more mellow but still fantastic and homey shepherd's pie. Accompanied by a Guinness for myself and a Newcastle Nut-brown Ale for Dave, it was truly an enjoyable dinner only made better by our dessert of Tipsy Bread Pudding. Yum!

Afterwards, we headed out to the local mall to have our ring fingers resized - I'm a 7, and he's an 11.5. I'm putting it in print so he doesn't argue with me later right before we order our rings. lol

Anyways, we need to get the invitations printed out tonight and things addressed. We need the RSVPs by October 6th and are offering the option of RSVPing online or by phone, or lastly, by snail mail.

Still so much to do, but we are looking forward to it!

The Tardis Cake Fiasco

I wanted to do something nice for Dave for his groom's cake.

We had seen a while ago an "action shot" on the Thinkgeek.com website a bride and groom and a Tardis cake. Yeah, notice that their cake and mine look NOTHING ALIKE.

Now, for those of you whom aren't familiar with what Tardis is, it's basically a dark blue phone booth that has the words "POLICE BOX" on it. Dr. Who uses it as his time traveling vehicle as he visits the future and the past.

Not familiar with Dr. Who? Don't worry, I wasn't either. It's a pretty neat BBC show that Dave loves. So.... me, being the loving, devoted fiance and having time on my hands and having watched one too many Food Network Cake Challenges.... I did it.

You'll see the slowly sliding frosting that pulls down my perfectly square designs. I didn't expect it to be easy mind you, but even the slight amount of frosting to coat the sides was slooooowwwwwllllyyyyy sneaking down towards the cake board on the bottom. Stupidhead cake.

At least it tasted good, despite the 4 wooden skewers:

• 4 boxes of Betty Crocker Spice Cake mix. Prepared as stated on the back of the box.
• 4 containers of Betty Crocker Cream Cheese frosting
• 1 jar of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter
• 1 entire squishy thing of Blue food coloring (needed at least 3 of them to make it as blue as it should have been)
• 9 inch square cake pans
• over 5 total hours of free time

I mixed 2 of the containers of cream cheese frosting with the 1 jar of pumpkin butter and used that as 'cement' between the 6 layers total that I made. Cut it down a bit, frosted the whole thing, had Dave scold me, put in skewers to make sure the whole thing stood up.... and then, when he saw the finished product, he said I should probably do a 2D version instead of the 3D version I made. Arrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!!! *L*

Don't worry. The cake was gently dismantled and one part was put in a container and frozen, another part set aside for me to take to work, and then the remaining part was turned into what I like to call a "Franken-Cake". It's a sad sack of deliciousness with scary blue frosting and looks like a small hill under the frosting. The side is tilting the to left. It feels like I look: defeated.

Back to the drawing board!

End of School Year Notes

Alli, practicing her spelling words. Yes, even in first grade they now apparently have spelling tests!

Just a couple things to brag about, seeing as I feel we are so fortunate to have our little girl:

* Alli is showing reading and comprehension above 2nd grade level

* She is meeting her Math skills and most of the comprehension things they start teaching in 1st grade. Considering we were really worried about her lack of aptitude with Math in the middle of the year, Dave has spent a wondrous amount of time and devised countless study tactics to help her. Apparently it's paid off! :)



And a couple months ago, I thought it was hilarious when Alli decided to take some old monster Ziploc bags that were empty and play with them. Talk about recycling!

She said that She was "going to the Fuuuuttuuuurreeeeeee!!" Can't you tell that the hanger is her steering wheel?

For some reason, it reminded me of Conan O'Brien's skit "In the Year 2000" where the guy in the background is singing that phrase in a the high falsetto voice.

We actually decorated the inside of the "helmet" and "space ship" with red circles that are all "buttons" that help her drive. It was so flippin' cute!

Due to her cardboard playtime, Dave keeps telling Alli and I that this Yule/Christmas will be a "Cardboard Christmas". Kids are kids are kids. Give most of them bubble wrap or cardboard boxes... wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows... and they are happy enough to sit for hours with just themselves for company. As any parent knows! :)

Mother's Day (late!)

Okay, so it's a bit late, but I have to say, after suffering a miscarriage right around her 7th birthday, my little pumpkin was sure to keep giving me hugs and kisses whenever I moved towards her for one or two. Well on Mother's Day, Dave and Alli let me sleep in. At one point I went to the potty, and had to walk by her bedroom door. In her doorway, I saw this beautiful sign that she wrote ALL BY HERSELF! She spelled everything correctly and it brought absolute tears to my eyes. Such a sweetie!

Little Evie!

Kathleen & Evie


Evie & Alli

We went to visit Kathleen and Charlie and Evie a couple weeks ago and oh my GODS how she has grown! She's more adorable than she was when she was born. Enjoy!

Evie

Updates

Things have healed much here. :) We are focused on the future and the near wedding.

Dave has also had a job offer from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. So, yippee! A continual income instead of the contracting will be a huge benefit to our family. Also helps that he's getting paid WAY more than peanuts. *G*

The downside is that I'll be assuming all pick up and drop off for Alli during this summer AND when she starts up school again in the Fall. This means that my schedule is now changing from 7:30am to 3:30pm, Monday through Friday to 8:00am to 4:30pm Monday through Thursday, and working 8am-2pm on Fridays. I won't be able to flex a lot of time, but at least Alli and I can have our Friday afternoons/evenings together this summer and do mommy-Alli stuff.

Dave will be taking the bus from Minnetonka to St. Paul which means he'll be leaving extra early and coming home barely before 6pm each night. More of the daily routines will be my responsibility - getting dinner on the table, helping Alli with homework, etc. - whereas before they were shared. It'll be a hard adjustment, but nothing I haven't already done as a single mom before. And Dave, you better read this and realize that just because you are working outside the home doesn't mean you're excused from HELPING! So there! :P

And onto the wedding/handfasting planning. Oy! Who knew napkins and linens were so expensive? Probably every other woman who's done wedding planing.

It's all in the details, you know? Each person's table setting is going to amount to around $10 each - including glass goblets, coffee cups and saucers. Don't forget the coffee pouring items, and the salad forks tongs, the wicker bread bowls, and OHMYGOSH, don't forget the TENT and sidewalls! We'll also need a tent heater, and while we're at it, crap, we might as well find a generator to beg, borrow, or rent. *L*

So yes, it's been exciting. We have an appointment to see Aarcee Tent and Party Rental
on Monday at 5:30pm. Because of Dave's analytical nature, I even made a spreadsheet detailing everything. Holy buckets. There's way more than I anticipated. I will say this though: the price isn't nearly as bad as I thought for what we've listed so far.

Anyways, Alli starts summer camp on June 12th, Dave starts his new job on June 11th, and the fun really starts then.

Flatulent Funnies (well, to me at least)

The other night I was in the process of falling asleep, cuddled close to Dave; fortunately facing him.

Cocooned in my own little sleepy world, I heard a LOUD sound that made me shake and wake myself up.

Dave had farted. It sounded like a sonic BOOM to me.

Apparently I said, more than half asleep," Oooh! That was loud. It scared me!" in a small little voice. Then I promptly giggled as he laughed a full belly laugh ...and then I fell back asleep.

So now, at random intervals Dave will repeat the "That was loud. It scared me!" in a falsetto voice and we both giggle. I know. We're weird.

Little Evie

On the bright side, and somewhat, I dunno, ironic? side some would say, my best friend Kathleen had her daughter on April 16th, 2008.

Evelyn "Evie" Elizabeth weighed in at 10 pounds, 5 and 3/4 ounces, measuring 21 inches.

Kathleen ended up having a c-section because her body just wasn't cooperating with such a large and healthy little girl.

We went up this weekend to Sandstone to see them and I have to say, Evie is absolutely ADORABLE. And so disgustingly good a baby you've NEVER seen. Seriously, she barely whimpered when she had gas - and she ate like a champ. I was just in awe! Kathleen joked that she was going to be a hellraiser when she hit 2 though... payback for being good the first couple of years. Tee hee hee.

Aunty Witchy has nicknamed her "Cheeks" because she had the most sweetest and pinchable little cheeks... That kid is lucky. :)

Kas and hubby were obviously tired and all, but doing well. After 8 years they finally have their first child and the glow hasn't worn off yet...as they are already planning for their second!

Blessings to the mothers of the world on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. :)

Just the latest...

After spending the last couple weeks dodging people, accepting condolences, having people dodge ME, and getting on with life here, I would say most things seem to be back to normal for myself and my little family.

We've refocused the energy we were using for the baby to cleaning out our nest, taking care of little things that needed to get done (cleaning out the basement/storage area, cleaning out the other finished portion of the basement - the family room) and regaining health.

I've decided to go back to trying to lose more weight - sensibly. Not like I'm a huge a$$ cow, but I wouldn't mind looking a little more on the voluptuous side in our handfasting pictures, instead of bloated and sporting a near double chin. Whomever said double chins are in, LIED.

Dave has been nothing but supportive and loving - with the exception that he can't process some of the deeper emotions that I as a woman go through during the grieving process. *shrugs* And the whole 6 weeks of pelvic rest isn't all roses, but there are ways around that.

My hematologist, Dr. Wienshel, agreed to let us give this conception thing another shot in about 6 months - to quote Dave: "You tell him that we are getting married November 1st.... and that we are going to start trying to have another baby that night!"

According to the latest information that I was given when I went in for the D&C, Dr. Ney from MN Perinatal (whom I love to death! she performed my last d&c and was nothing but the nicest and calmly up-front doctor) advised me before they took me in for the procedure that the vials they had drawn from me at MN Peri on Thursday were testing positive for CMV and that likely could be a cause why the pregnancy terminated.

For all those not familiar with CMV, it's a virus and according to one of the websites I found (I think it was March of Dimes or some medical journal), Cytomegalovirus is the "...number one condition responsible for congenital mental retardation..."

It's too strange that over half of all adults will have contracted this by the age of 40 and exhibited little or no symptoms aside from minor cold or flu-like ones, and they go on their merry way without issues. However... for someone of my compromised immune system (due to clotting and platelet issues) and pregnant, when I contracted CMV, my body didn't have antibodies to fight off the virus, and my baby wasn't able to do it alone, so the pregnancy ended without my knowledge.

However, from what I read from various websites, this baby was honestly better off checking out than hanging around, waiting to be born to a possibly less than ideal quality of life.
From the CDC:

"Each year in the United States, about
1 in 750 children are born with or
develop disabilities as a result of CMV infection."

"Most babies with congenital (meaning from birth) CMV never have health problems. But, in some babies, congenital CMV causes health problems when
the baby is born or later in the baby’s life. These health problems may include

* Hearing loss
* Bleeding problems
* Vision loss
* Liver problems
* Mental disability
* Spleen problems
* Lung problems
* Growth problems

Sometimes health problems such as hearing or vision loss do not occur until months or years after birth. With proper care, most infants with CMV disease survive. Of those with symptoms at birth, 80% to 90% will have problems within the first few years of life. These problems may include hearing loss, vision loss, and various degrees of mental retardation. Of those infants with no symptoms at birth, 5% to 10% will later develop various degrees of hearing and mental or coordination problems."

I ran across a website where a woman was talking about her child and how she was a miracle baby who had spent her whole first year in the hospital and had numerous procedures, seizures, lung problems, etc - and yet she was a 'miracle'.

I'm sorry, but when you love someone or something so much, to see it suffer through it's first year of life... I don't think that's a miracle. I think it's fairly cruel. I came across another mother who's first daughter suffered the effects of CMV and had developed severe cerebral palsy, was unable to do barely anything but drool - and although she loved her daughter, understandably, when she became pregnant again and tested positive for a recurrent strain of CMV, she terminated the pregnancy 11 weeks in because it was too much of a risk for her to take that she would bring another unsuspecting soul into the world and have it possibly turn out for the worse again.

I've always believed there's a reason for everything happening, as trite as that sounds. To me, this was another angel taking a peek into our family, I think, and saying "Hey, I'll be back later, ok? You guys seem kinda busy. I'll stay forever next time!"

I go back to MN Perinatal May 13th for a post D&C check up and for some additional results. Dr. Ney did tell me that the baby was perfect, although obviously small. It had all 10 fingers and 10 toes, she said. For whatever reason, that made me feel better.

The Two Pound Soul

So....

I went in on Thursday April 17th to my Perinatal appt. It was supposed to be routine enough. And I suppose in a way it was for me.

I peed in a cup. I got weighed - I lost 2 pounds! And I've been eating normal and all. Weird, I thought.

The nurse tried to find the baby on the in-room ultrasound which isn't really the best. I'm sure my fat roll didn't help at all. At least that's what I was blaming the fact they didn't see anything on.

The doctor came in - Dr. Lynch-Salaman. AWESOME, one word. We moved to a fully equipped ultrasound room and the tech and the doctor decided to do a trans-vaginal ultrasound for best results.

And there, on the screen, was no heart beat, and my fetus that I had started calling a "baby" even though I know better, curled up like a centipede curls up when it dies. Dr. Lynch-Salaman was apologetic and extremely kind in my first moments of shock.
And no, I didn't break down there; I had to remain calm to drive myself home to Dave so I could tell him the news. The nurse offered to let me use her cell phone - she was sweet and I declined. There's just some things you want to do in person.

The doctor and the nurse worked it so that on Monday I get to go to North Memorial Hospital for the initial cervix-opening procedure, and then on Tuesday, the full D&C at Abbott. Allegedly, the cervix-opening procedure is supposed to be gentler on your body and better for when you try to have more children later on. I told the doctors that I really didn't think it mattered since this was going to be my 3rd D&C in 8 years due to tissue not passing when the pregnancy self-termed. I knew what to expect as far as the surgical D&C.

Then they threw this procedure for the cervix at me. Yikes. They stick Laminaria, or seeweed sticks into the opening of your cervix - as many as the doctor feels is appropriate to help open it - as the sticks swell and soften the cervix. They each have a loop and are all tied together as they hang from your cervix. I talked to the nurse at North Perinatal Clinic at the hospital and they said likely to expect cramping, possibly some discharge, but if tissue and bright red blood presented, to head directly to the ER - meaning my cervix is dilated enough and is trying to pass the fetus without assistance from medical personnel. This would be me, RUNNING to the ER.

So as I lay in bed on Thursday night talking to Dave, we had gotten past most of the heartbreak -for the moment- and I said something about how I lost two pounds from the last time I'd been to the perinatal clinic.... and I wondered if a soul was two pounds. We looked at each other. I teared up a bit. This baby was not expected, but it was wanted. It was almost like we were on borrowed time from the beginning. Were we greedy? Or stupid?

I feel stupid, after the fact, having told people - even though things were kosher and swimming along just fine. It's easier to share good news, than to share bad news and have people feel extraordinarily uncomfortable. You put on a brave face, put the "logic" chip back in your brain and explain to people that it's okay, it was unplanned, and you and your significant other are doing well and have plans to actually plan/try next time, and yes, it's never easy, but there are truthfully always others who are worse off than you are.

To the mothers out there who have gone nearly a whole pregnancy and lost their babies, who have lost them at 20 weeks, who have given birth and had a stillborn child.... I have nothing to complain about when I think about those mothers. And yes, they are still mothers.

I am still lucky in many eyes, including my own. I have a beautiful little girl who just turned 7 on Friday the 18th. I just thought that if this baby was supposed to be here, it would have been perfect for the timing. We'll always have next time, right?

27 weeks to go

Now that the room has stopped spinning and I can eat peanut butter related items again, I'm just having to deal with the fatigue. Which is normal - and believe me, I'm not complaining! Just stating a fact.

I remember when I was prego with Alli that I used to fall to sleep and it would take a foghorn in the ear to wake me up. Exhaustion was my constant companion then.... but it's mild now compared to what I remembered. Still, I'm old. I turn 29 on Sunday. Alli turns 7 on the 18th of April. Which brings me to remember what it was like when she was born and how I'm preggers again. Oy.

When Alli was born, it was by emergency c-section and I was about 27 weeks with pre-eclampsia and HELLP. She emerged at just about 1 pound, 11 and 1/2 ounces. Talk about traumatic for us both!

And so now, nearly 7 years later, I look back on her birth and promise myself and my family that this time should not be nearly so traumatic or dramatic. According to my perinatologists, I have only a 25% chance to develope pre-eclampsia again, and that knowing about any predisposition means that we are armed to take better care this time. I think a large factor that is in my favor this time is that Dave isn't asking for a divorce when I'm 6 months pregnant (as my ex husband did). *L* Stress is never good, let alone when you're pregnant. Go figure.

But... so far all is well and normal. I have my Level II ultrasound in about 6 weeks to check for additional possible issues and do a really COOL 3D picture of the baby. We should also be able to see something as to the gender as well. I'm pretty darn excited this time - Alli was a surprise, but I am too old for surprises. *L* I want to know what gender it is so we can plan ahead. No fun you say? Oh well. I have enough surprises daily with my 7 year old.

Locks of Love

So much has been going on, but here's a brief story to share:

I've been trying to get to Great Clips or Fantastic Sam's to get my hair and Alli's hair cut this entire week. Since my brother was visiting, we had other things to do, and when we weren't doing those other things, I was laid low with exhaustion.

So this morning around 8:30 Alli bounces into our room and puts her cold hands on my face and giggles. Sure, Mom gets shocked awake! I admonish her, cuddle her for a minute as Dave wakes up enough to tell her she can play quietly for a bit while we "wake up". Really what he means is while we sleep for another 45 minutes.

However... since I've been pregnant, I've had a harder time getting to sleep, and falling back to sleep when I've been woken up. It's extremely annoying, believe me.

So I ly in bed and think "Hey! Fantastic Sam's opens at 9 I think..." I jiggle Dave awake around 9am and tell him Alli and I are heading out for hair cuts. He falls back asleep slightly drooling into his pillow.

Alli and I put on clothes, brushed our teeth, brushed our long, glorious locks, and headed out.

We had a 20 minute wait, but nothing major at Fantastic Sam's. The gals there were extremely friendly.

Alli went first and the gal who cut her hair asked if we wanted to "donate" after I showed her the shorter hair cut I was thinking of for Alli. I looked at her and said, "Eh... sure!" She went on to explain that they need at least 10 inches to qualify for a Locks of Love donation that they can send in for us. I told them heck yeah, take it!

Alli now has a much shorter and more manageable look for herself - one that she can certainly help more with than her nearly butt length hair previously. She likes it; I think she's adorable.

Next it was my turn. I looked at my salon person, Patty, and told her to take ten inches off as well. She was stunned! My hair, too, is butt length. Suffice it to say that I now have a much shorter, more free-floating hairstyle. Right at where my neck and my back meet. My hair hasn't been this short since when I was pregnant with Alli I think....

So we had a great time, donated to Locks of Love, and then went up to the counter to pay. The gal, Patty, looked at us blankly and said "Oh, since you both donated today, the haircuts are free!"

I was STUNNED.

Imagine doing something because it feels good knowing that your hair is going to help others and then getting a free haircut and NOT EXPECTING IT.
It was a wonderful surprise. Now I know that our hair goes to help fund children who have/are going through chemo and suffer from alopecia areata. :)

To find out more: http://www.locksoflove.org/

103.9

no, the above is not a new radio station.

it's the temp that dave reached all by his talented self last night despite ibuprofen, and other 'nsaids' - then i took kathleen's advice and shoved some acetaminophen down his gullet and his fever started dropping.

and a nice cool bath where i put buckets of water over his head while he breathed in through clenched teeth.

he has the flu.

and i am exhaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddd.
and i have to work tomorrow.

and he is doing better. thankfully. but i am pooped.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

I am exactly 8 weeks pregnant today. I have no fear in sharing this as I went to see my Perinatologist for the first time this morning.

They performed a trans-vaginal ultrasound ... lo and behold! A baby with a heartbeat of 164 beats per minute was clearly visible!!

This was entirely a surprise and completely unplanned - in fact, Dave and I have been working in the OPPOSITE direction as I was on Coumadin (which crosses the placenta - no good) and according to my Hematologist he wanted me to wait until this summer to go back on the Lovenox (safe for baby, pregnancy good).

Luckily, although I went into the doc about 4 weeks ago because I thought I had a urinary tract infection and they diagnosed me as pregnant, I haven't had any issues. Praise the Gods. No bleeding, no cramping; just nausea and the occasional minor headache..... and FOOD CRAVINGS that have been driving Dave nuts. *L*

Seriously? I was craving chilli and ate a whole can for lunch yesterday. It was SO GOOD. And I paid for it by feeling stuffed for 7 hours until I ... well...let's just say the juice helped me out with getting rid of that bloated and miserable feeling. *L*

According to my Perinatologist, Dr. Fairbanks (a lovely, well-organized physician, very caring and astute) even though I'm considered to be high risk due to previous pre-eclampsia with Alli, and my blood disorder issues, she was reassuring when I asked her what my chances of full term birth were and she looked me in the eye and said "I would say you have a 98% likelihood of having a happy, healthy baby." I then asked if it was okay to tell people and she said "I don't see why not! A heartbeat is a wonderful thing." It put my mind at ease and put me on guard for taking care of myself - which between Dave and myself, we've been doing quite a good job. :)

He loves me so much...he's been making dinner for the last month - letting me ly down on the couch and catch a 15 minute snooze while he preps dinner, and then runs to pick up Alli from the bus. When he and Alli return, he then completes dinner prep and has been taking care of the kitchen for the most part. My HERO! :)

We finally told Alli tonight and she is ecstatic about being a big sister. My best friend Kathleen, and my other friends Beckah, Jenn, Sheila, etc.... they were all told and are excited for us as well.

It's funny when you think about it though. I'm due October 7th. Dave's birthday is October 9th. Even if they decide to schedule me for an early c-section, my sister's birthday was September 21st.... which made me pause. :) And then we are still getting married November 1st. Oy! So MUCH to do this year - and I haven't even gotten into how my little brother, Alex, who's 19 this November is going to moving in with us this summer and staying for the length of Le Cordon Bleu cooking program...or longer.

I'm looking forward to the challenges this year is going to be bringing. Aren't you? *L*

Kisses

We have special kisses in our family when it comes to goodnight kisses...and we have just added a new one.

First, we have the "puppy kiss", where you basically fake your family member out like you are going to give them a kiss on the cheek, and instead you stick out your tongue and lick them like a puppy would. This kiss was courtesy of Grandpa Gary and Aunty Kathleen.

Next, we have "vacuum kisses". These were invented by Dave; where basically you suck in air close to the person's face, thus creating a bit of a vacuum pull. It tickles. *G*

Then, there's there are "zombie kisses". This is ALL Dave's invention again. He loves horror and zombie movies so he created a fun kiss for Alli where he pretends to gnaw on the top of her head while mumbling "Mmmm gooooooooood brains! Me like brains!" Of course, she giggles and laughs heartily.

Well, tonight, mommy invented a new kiss. The "chicken kiss" where you pretty much peck kisses on the person's cheek/face like a chicken would peck at corn. Yay, me! I finally came up with one .... and luckily she laughed in enjoyment. Tee hee hee!

May you hold your little ones close and invent new kisses and ways to make them giggle into sweet dreams! :)

For those that are Socially Awkward, I salute you

How To Have More Social Success!

The above site was pointed out to me by my love, Dave. Yes, my geek man showed this website to me, laughingly.

To which I asked, "Have you read it yet?"

He pouted and walked away, muttering "have I read it yet!"

It features such wonderful reading as (don't worry, I've picked out the highlights!):

How To Be More Fun / How To Be Less Boring
Regular Logical Mode vs. Fun Partying Mode In Social Interactions

Thoughts On 'Connecting' With People
What To Do If Your Friends Suck

The Importance of Getting Your Appearance In Order
How Your Interests Can Affect Your Social Success

And other links you can click on the main page that made me giggle:

Geared More Towards Guys:

How To Dance - For Average Guys
My Advice For Any Shy, Awkward Guys Still in High-School
How I (Gradually) Became Less Obsessive About Playing Video Games

Geared More Towards Women:

Inside The Mind Of Guys Who Are Shy And Inexperienced With Women

Somewhat Controversial / Things You May Not Want To Hear:

At Times It's Socially Practical To Know About Things Other People Care About
Being Honest With Yourself About Your Social Problems
Are You Sure You Know What You Want Socially?
What To Do If You Can't Relate To All The Shallow People Out There
It's Fine If You Don't Drink, But Don't Be Too Uptight About It

Fantastic reading for those who live with, love, are married to the geeks, nerds, and dweebs of the world. It gives you a bit more insight. ;)

The Mom Song

You HAVE to see this!

Gettin' Back on the Horse

Well, really, more like getting back to planning the Handfasting/Wedding.

Dave and I have finally picked our colors - and they are based on this Godiva Chocolate tin that he gave to me for Yule. Frankly, I feel like a flake for saying that, but it's the truth. *L* I fell in love with the colors, and Dave has disavowed any real say in the color scheme, linens, flowers, etc. Believe me, I've tried to make him interested, but he at least realizes he's out of his element as the type of man he is.

I emailed my buddy who'll be catering the handfasting to see if we could get a jump with the new year on wedding details. We need to sit and plan the menu out, and then have a tasting meeting, and move along from there with payment, etc.

We really need to make an appointment with Midway Party Rental to spend a few hours with them and Dave. He may not care about colors and textures, but our pocket book will - and he DOES have say with that. ;)

I now have to find a new dress, too. The silver one I ordered and now have hanging in our closet won't match anything - the tin has copper, gold, yellow, green, and some doe brown hues. Really quite pretty. Dave doesn't have to worry - he has already picked out his clothes and he can get them in either soot black or doe brown. Easy choice.

And so.... we're picking up again and moving forward. I still need to reschedule with our choice of officiant. Gods, I hope she doesn't say no. We had to cancel the first time because of Kathleen's dad's accidental death and we just haven't gotten around to rescheduling again. Oy.

Good Weekend? Mine was!

We were SO FREAKING BUSY this weekend! It was INSANE!

Friday night I bit the bullet and said "Screw it!" to all the cooking implements that had no place to live in our kitchen. I enlisted Alli's help and we went through all the cabinets that had pots and pans I knew were just sitting there, unloved, and unused.

My kitchen is clean! I have places that now lovingly house new cookies sheets, new pizza pans, my new crock pot and toaster from Kathleen, and ....well, I didn't quite get to the cabinet that houses the rats' nest of tupperware, but was pleased with the results. Tupperware is a plan for next weekend, methinks.

Exhausted, I then headed upstairs and started packing for Sandstone. Alli tried to help. I know she did. But all she really did was play on our bed in the sheets and hide while I asked her every few minutes to go and get things to put in her bag - which she did - and then she'd hide back under the sheets. Silly girl. After the bags were packed, she realized it was time for bed and ran to brush her teeth.

She gets really excited when she knows we're going to visit Aunty Kathleen and Uncle Charlie - especially since Kathleen's been pregnant.

Saturday morning began bright and early with showers, getting dressed, grabbing breakfast and taking leave. We arrived at Kas's around 11am and chilled for a bit before destroying her living room.

No, really - she asked us to.
We helped her and Charlie move around their living room so they could put the changing table in there for the baby. Yes, it makes sense - their rooms are upstairs, but everything else is on the main level and really who wants to be running up and downstairs all day when you're already exhausted from being up all night?

Anyways...Dave and Charlie spent about an hour trying to figure out how to re-hook the cables up once the entertainment center had been moved. Pretty hilarious when neither man knows how it's supposed to go because it was Kathleen and I who just ripped the cables out and threw them on the couch. hee hee hee. We're evil. Diabolically so.

I cleaned their kitchen while the boys played with the TV- because that's the kind of friend I am; Kathleen's back was hurting so bad. I can't say I remember being nearly 6 months pregnant, but her body has certainly changed shape and she is still trying to do things that she used to, although her center of gravity has changed.

We went out to dinner - minus Charlie who's back hurt so badly he came home early from poker.
Kathleen, her mom Linda, Alli, Dave, and myself all had a lovely dinner at Tobie's - Dave had a 20 oz porterhouse steak. Gah! It made me glad that we don't really eat that much red meat, that he could enjoy the steak without guilt.

Sunday morning we snuck out, not wanting to wake them. Yes, we frequently sneak out when they are still asleep and let ourselves out. Hey, we have a key to their house, we're allowed. *L*

We headed over to my parents' house and Alli was deluged with pressies while my brother Alex gave us his old Nintendo 64 and talked alot about moving in with us this summer, and going to Le Cordon Bleu in Mendota Heights which is about 25 minutes from where we live.
Think he was trying to buy us off a bit? Alex even pulled out his Guitar Hero 3 and let us crank on that for a bit. I have pictures I'll post later; it was pretty funny. :)

A good weekend. And now...I'll just watch some Keith Olbermann and chill with my honey.
Make it a good week everyone!

December 25th

We still sort of celebrate Christmas, as well as Yule. This stems from the fact that I grew up with it and why the hell shouldn't I get two days of presents? Okay, not so much....but more really to do with Santa.

You know Santa, right? The guy in the red suit with white trim? Well we are still encouraging Alli to believe in him. And why not?! I equate her belief in Santa and the spirit of the season with innocence. I want her to remain innocent about the commercialism for as long as she can (this is why we have a DVR and fast forward through the commercials!).

We had lovely breakfast of cinnamon rolls and fruit, then took to the presents. Tally ho!

Our Trader Joe's Gingerbread house....look how the cat is stuck to the house.







These flowers are part of the lovely bouquet Dave got me for Yule- there's also a swag, and a LOT of Godiva chocolate. Yum.










Here we have Alli, with Rudy the Godiva bear she got from Dave with some of her own chocolates. She is waiting patiently to open presents.






Dave - not sharing his roasted chestnuts.
And to that I say "I didn't want your nuts anyways!" So there.










It was nice to be home with my family Christmas day. Food, cheese, chestnuts, and love. Mmmm. And not in that order necessarily. May yours have been as good as mine! :)

Yule 2007

Our family celebrated Yule with members of our extended family - Jenn and Beckah.

We had a non-traditional meal of yummy proportions (although I still think that the cornbread stuffing made in the low fat way was a bit dry):

Yule Dinner:

• Relish Tray: pickles = sweet & dill, olives = black & green, devilled eggs, and beets
• Pineapple/Honey glazed Ham - 7 lb
• Sweet Potatoes from Schwan's Man
• Honey Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
• Green Beans w/bacon
• Cornbread Stuffing
• Cranberry Jelly
  

Dessert:

• Pannetone Bread Pudding w/Butterscotch Caramel sauce

The girls were lovely enough to enjoy a peaceful and loving meal. Alli enjoyed chattering with Jenn and Beckah. Everyone loved the green beans with (surprise!) real bacon chunks mixed in.

The one splurge where no fat was spared was with the Pannetone Bread Pudding. 5 whole eggs, milk, sugar, brandy.... Have I told you I'm a master bread pudding maker? I had the recipe down back in high school for what I called my "Man Catcher" bread pudding. Simply delightful and ultimately sinful. Alas, since I have my man, I no longer need to stoop to such fattening lows...that often. ;) Topped with Butterscotch Caramel sauce.... heaven in a bowl (we had Schwans' low fat vanilla frozen yogurt as well).

I however, won't discuss the Chambord incident. Nor how tipsy I was from a bit of Rum and orange-pineapple juice from the night before. I'm such a non-lush.

We opened pressies after our late lunch/early dinner....

Here we have Jenn and Alli on the couch; I believe this was after dinner - Jenn went into an alcohol and food induced stupor.

But seriously, aren't they adorable? I happen to know one is over 18 and single....heh.


And I also have a feeling she'll seriously maim me if she ever reads that.

Anywho....

Beckah, the author, is holding a mighty scary shirt. She's already told me that I'm partly in her novel as it is.... some of me is manifested in the main character. Yikes. Jenn is supposed to be a smarty pants in her professional job, so I thought that the shirt fit. More people SHOULD be taking notes when Jenn opens her mouth. They should so bow down and worship her.

And here we have Alli opening her pressie from Beckah ~ yes, she asked if it was okay first.

Beckah got her THE cutest deck of Tarot cards! Seriously, cards are fine (but Ouija boards are out of the QUESTION; those things creep me out and I have found that they let more bad things near than good). They are adorable - check the instructional book out here.

Alli in front of the Yule tree. Like the decoration? Dave and I (well, mostly Dave, acting like Mr. Monk) made it last year for 2006. It's held up pretty well. And no. I don't know or remember why Alli was holding an empty wrapping paper tube.


All in all, Yule was fun: we ate, we drank, some of us threw up a little in our mouths from time to time, and pressies were had by all.

New Year Goals

Happy New year!

It seems like every year a friend of mine (Beckah!) will make a list of 100 Things to Do...or something of the like. I decided to attempt that. Maybe not 100 though. Hmm.... we'll see how far I get.

Things I would like to do in 2008:


1.) Spend more quality time with my family.
(1a.) Remember to make time for Dave, time for Alli, and separate family time!)

2.) Try not to be such a spaz about the little things.

3.) Finish planning our wedding (before the ceremony! tee hee hee :)

4.) Eat better/more low and non-fat into the diet.

5.) Walk more.

6.) Make Dave walk.

7.) Communicate more with loved ones and friends (phone, email, snailmail, etc).

8.) Meditate.

9.) Spend more time studying Wicca and rites.

10.) Return to Tarot (thank you for the faerie cards, B!!)

11.) Be more involved with Alli at school - as much as possible.

12.) STOP PROCRASTINATING on doing necessary things! (See how far down the list this is?)

13.) Make sure no more than $500 in debt is on credit cards at any point in time.

14.) Make sure to use Upromise for Alli's benefit. :)

15.) Plan for baby #2 to be conceived this coming summer - get body and mind in shape!

16.) Get Dave ready for baby.

17.) Get Alli lots of "Big Sister" style clothes after confirming pregnancy has reached 3rd month. ;)

18.) Make at least one trip to the theater as a family to watch a family-friendly show.

19.) Have a date night with Dave at least once a month.

20.) Find a regular sitter.

21.) Find time to write.

22.) Listen more to my body and mind....empowering internal and external intuition.

23.) Blog more.

There. That's it so far. That's all I got. For right now.

Have a Happy and SAFE New Year my friends. Be well. May this be your best year yet! :)