Overload

This post might be an overload of information... or it might not be, depending on how quickly I get tired while writing it.

These pictures are from 34 weeks:

These are the newest additions to our nursery: (courtesy of Leila!!)

These are diaper cakes we got at our baby shower, made by an old family friend. So cute!!

This is the stroller we got from a consignment shop. It's a Graco Alano stroller which retails for anywhere between $150-$190. We got it for $56 and it was only used a couple of times (the parents didn't like the colors or something and it was a gift to them)

These are gifts from our friend Kelly who is in Italy right now. What a great surprise to get in the mail!! This is a gorgeous necklace: The picture doesn't do it justice, trust me.

This is for Brianna!

We got a lot of chocolate from her, but since I waited until today to take pictures, you-know-who already ate all the other chocolate.

I got these in the mail today for free to sample them. A whole box of chocolate mocha granola bars! Also, I got a TON of $1.35 off coupons that I'm supposed to hand out to friends. So if anybody wants a coupon, let me know!

This post was really just a picture catch-up. I'll write something later about the weekend and stuff!

So late!

I know I have not yet blogged about our baby shower last weekend! It is called Too Busy For My Own Good, people! But when I try to upload my pictures from this computer, they are TINY!! Jenn put up some great pictures, but I have some really cute ones of Sally's baby that she brought and a couple of other ones. I will put them up from a different computer later. I have spent every day since Saturday going through baby shower gifts. I still have about six big bags to go through before I am completely done. In order to go through gifts, though, I have to actually be at home. That's the problem. And as Stephen pointed out, after Sunday I get to do it all over again, because I have another shower on Sunday! Although that one won't be nearly as involved, I don't think.

Wednesday night, our assistant for youth group called us at the last minute to tell us she had the flu and couldn't teach after all. Rather than coming up with a last minute lesson, we decided to have a game night even though we just had a party last week. But hey, we all need a break sometimes, right!? We spent the first 30 minutes of class outside since it was gorgeous, playing basketball (not me), blowing bubbles (totally me), and sitting around asking when we were going inside (me again). Then we introduced the kids to Outburst, one of the games I grew up playing and a game we still love to play when the whole family is around!! It was absolutely hilarious. I mean, my stomach hurt so much at the end of the night from laughing so hard. My team won, which was even better. The point of the game is that a category is given, and you try to guess the 10 things on the card that have to do with the category. Like, one of ours was simply "New York" and we had to brainstorm to come up with what was on the list. Somehow I missed things like Statue of Liberty and Greenwich Village, but that's what happens when you crack under pressure! You know a game is good when one of the categories is "Other Phrases For Throwing Up". Then you've got a team of 15-year old teenage boys yelling out, "Puke! Blow chunks! Upchuck!!"

Yesterday was a big day! Dad is now officially another year older! And to celebrate his birthday, the NCAA tournament started! Which means....




March Madness, baby!! So far I'm not doing AWFUL, but of course I would always like to do a little better. I'm 14-2 as of yesterday's games - we'll see how I do after today because I picked several underdogs.

Last night we had our fourth childbirth class, which I keep forgetting to update about on here. But lately, the things we've learned... well, if you've had a baby, you know all about them, and if you haven't had a baby, you don't want to know about them!! Really, though, the nurse that's doing this section of our class is AWESOME and I can't wait to see her in the halls when I'm in labor. She did an activity last night to kind of help the husbands understand the discomfort of contractions. She said there's no real way for them to know the pain, but they can understand being uncomfortable. So each guy was given a tub filled with ice and water. They had to stick a hand in the water for one minute (as long as a contraction might last). After about 20 seconds one of the guys said, "Wow, I could not handle having a baby!!" After the minute was over there was a lot of drying and blowing on the hands. Also, we weren't allowed to talk to them during that minute. Then, Joanne said, "Okay, I'll give you about two minutes to have that hand warm up but then you have to do it again. That's what contractions are like!" Of course all the whiners complained and moaned. But this time when they stuck their hands in, we were supposed to talk to them and tell them how good they were doing, etc. Supposedly it made the minute go faster. I started rubbing Stephen's arm and blowing in the water, doing everything I could to take his mind off of it! It did go a lot faster, but I am not good at that - I think I'll actually do better as the laborer rather than the coach. Good thing, cause I don't have a choice.

We also watched yet another birthing video. We watched a short one last week, but this week was a loooong one that took you through the five most likely births you could have. One was epidural, one was other medication (like Fentanyl), one was natural, one was C-section, and one was twins. During the first one, they took great pains to show the mom from waist up, and then all of a sudden, with no warning... BAM!!! Money shot!! Stephen goes, "Whoa, they really snuck that one in there!" And one girl completely turned around in her chair until the video was over. I mean, it wasn't THAT bad, but not something I necessarily need to see either. I don't care what it looks like when my baby comes out, as long as she DOES come out!

Tonight we are having pizza and a movie night with the youth group. We're finally watching Fireproof. Tomorrow we get to see Melissa at her baby shower, who is totally about to have this baby, but I hope it doesn't happen during the shower. Then tomorrow night we are hanging out at Potter's Cafe to hear our friends in the band Caught Up play. Ahhh, nothing like a decaf something with caramel in it in a cozy coffee shop with great music! This time we are getting there EARLY because we could hardly get seats last time. Well, actually Stephen didn't but I did cause preggers always gets a chair.

So, busy busy!! Next week we actually have a somewhat slow week with several nights off, so maybe I will get our baby shower stuff put away?? And maybe I will do all the things that I keep putting off, like vehicle inspection (just scheduled it for Monday, so check that off), car seat inspection, packing our hospital bags, putting all my pictures up on this blog, finishing thank you notes, keeping up with doctors appointments, talking my cervix into dilating, freezing a couple of meals.... I mean, of course I won't do ALL of this next week but I can get a good start on some of it! I am so goal-oriented in my head.

#31 - Host a movie marathon

Thank goodness for Jenn and Matt, who are my "go-to" people for pretty much everything. We've been trying to work out a movie marathon for quite some time now, and we were finally able to do it Saturday, even after a baby shower and the ACC tournament. They are definitely good sports. Jenn and I had our joint baby shower on Saturday, which lasted from 1:00 to about 4:30 or so. Then they came over to our house at halftime of the Duke game, and Jenn and I went to pick up pizzas for dinner. We were able to start the marathon around 6pm. First we watched The Departed (Matt's pick), then Love Actually (my pick), then We Were Soldiers (Stephen's pick), and then Steel Magnolias (Jenn's pick). During the last part of We Were Soldiers it was getting really hard to stay awake (in my opinion) so before we started the last movie we got up and made some popcorn and had some more pizza. That was almost 2:00am, so it gave us enough energy to push through that last movie! All of them were really different and a great mix of movies. Actually, I'd LOVE to do it again sometime, just starting a little earlier next time!!! I don't know about Jenn and Matt the next morning but it was very hard for us to get up for Sunday School. It was definitely the type of morning where it would have been easy for us to convince each other to sleep in but we did it - we got up on time! After church, we were so ready to get home and eat so we could take a nap. We ran out to our car (because of the rain), only to find that someone (not naming names) had thrown the keys in the center cupholders and then locked the doors. And our duplicate key for this situation was gone because it wasn't a good copy, and we've never gotten it replaced. These are days where I am so glad to live near mom and dad!! I called them frantically and they came to our rescue. Dad came and picked us up, and mom let us borrow her truck for the afternoon. I guess if they didn't live so close we would have had to call AAA. So, definitely by the time we got home and ate lunch we were sooo tired. I definitely don't even remember crawling into bed. We slept for three hours and then went back to church for choir practice. Of course then I couldn't sleep last night. That's one thing I don't like about naps!

Anyway, I am really grateful to them for doing the marathon with us, staying up so late, and everything! It was fun! And now I get to check one more thing off my list - yay!

I will blog about the baby shower later, with pictures. Oh yeah, today I am 35 weeks exactly, which means I'm also exactly 35 days away from my delivery date. I like it when numbers match like that.

#81 - Savings account up to X amount

I just checked my bank account, not for any particular reason (I'm addicted to Quicken Online) and found that thanks to our honkin' federal tax return, we have surpassed my goal on what I hoped for our savings account to be up to. Our state tax return should help on this as well! Especially since we will probably be spending a lot of this money in the next few months on baby necessities, although I will certainly spend as little as possible.

I figured I needed to check this off before I look again and this money is gone.

101 update

So, it turns out that I have accomplished a couple of things from my 101 in 1001 list but not updated. They were pretty small anyway.

#21 - Find something to do here that I miss from Boone and always forget we have. I have happily thought of three things that relate to this. One is the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines that offers foreign and independent films (and others), as well as small snacks and wine while watching your movie of choice. That is a very Boone-like thing to do. Next is Artist Alley which isn't quite on the scale of Boone or West Jefferson, but I really like our eclectic local artists!! Another is Potter's Cafe, which is a great coffee shop where we go to hear live music every so often. That's definitely a Boone thing.

#38 - cook 50 new recipes
I might as well list the 50 recipes I tried. If there are any that are duplicate names, that means I tried different recipes for the same type of food.
1. Bacon and Mushroom soup
2. Melting Moments
3. Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies
4. Asian noodle soup
5. Glazed Meatballs
6. New York Cherry Cheesecake
7. Reuben Cracker Toppers
8. Honey Garlic Pork Chops
9. Italian Tomato and Pasta Soup
10. Smoky Corn Chowder
11. 30-Minute Minestrone
12. French Toast
13. Pound Cake
14. Chocolately Cookie Cake
15. Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
16. Ham and Black-eyed Pea Soup
17. Glazed Baby Back Ribs
18. Potato Corn Chowder
19. Sausage Biscuits
20. Tomato-Basil Zucchini Soup
21. Cinnamon Raisin Scone Sticks
22. Garlic Knots
23. Garden Tortellini Soup
24. Baby Back Ribs
25. Chocolate Truffle Pie
26. Raspberry Chocolate Buttercreams
27. Beer Cheese Soup
28. Chocolate cheesecake
29. 2-step cheesecake (cherry)
30. Philadelphia Cheesecake (strawberry)
31. Hearty Lasagna Soup
32. Cheese Lasagna
33. Tomato and Rice soup
34. Kielbasa Stew
35. 5 Minute Chocolate Pie
36. Glazed Raspberry Heart Scones
37. Never Fail Yeast Rolls
38. Crockpot Corn Chowder
39. Yeast Rolls (recipe #2)
40. Soft Pretzels
41. Hearty Alphabet Soup
42. Golden Corral Yeast Rolls
43. Wassail
44. Vegetable Chowder
45. Million Dollar Caramel Cookies
46. Easy Tortellini Soup
47. Ham and Veg-All Chowder
48. Chicken Parmesan
49. Tortellini with Spinach and Tomato Soup
50. Broccoli and Cheese Soup

As you can see, lunch with mom and dad really helped since I was making a new soup every other week!! Don't worry y'all, I still plan on using you as guinea pigs for new recipes.

#75 - Invite one family from our neighborhood to church
I did this one but neglected to mark it off because they never came. No one wants to drive 30 minutes to church for some reason, even though we offered to carpool. Even then, no one wants to be at church as much as we are. But anyway, I did my part in inviting them!

#92 - Sell all yard sale stuff
This was actually aimed toward getting rid of the stuff in a big box in our attic. It turned into a project where I've gotten rid of that, and much more. I have sold anything that's worth anything at all, and the rest has gone to the Coalition. Of course, the donation pile never really completely goes away.

That's it for now! Although I'll be able to check off another one very shortly.....

School's out for the summer . . . early!

Okay, let me just have this post to revel in this. I realize it may be uncouth to post grades on here, but I am really excited!!

If you can't see those grades (this picture might turn out tiny or blurry), that would be a final grade of a 97. Including a 97 on my final paper thankyouverymuch!! This class has been pretty high stress for me, so I am really glad to get it over with. I certainly did not expect an A, but it feels really good to still have that unwavering transcript. Now I will take a break from classes until the bebe gets here, and then I'll probably do some of the on-campus classes I need for my degree. That'll mean a vacay to Lynchburg, VA! Woot, woot.

Correct speling necessary.

I came across a posting while browsing Craigslist. The ad is for someone to do a voiceover for a company. The ad states they want:

"Someone professional.
Crisp clear voice.
Bi-lingual a SUPER PLUS!
Correct grammer is a must."

Good thing correct spelling isn't necessary.

Shocked!

Those sneaky coworkers!!

This morning, Granny called me and asked if I could leave work to come to her house and help her with something. When I got there, she asked if I would help her do some shopping for our upcoming baby shower that's next week. We got a lot accomplished, but Granny did seem a bit worried about getting back to the store for us to meet everyone for lunch. I kept putting her off, thinking, "They can wait!" Finally we headed back to the store. I was starving but no one had decided where we were going for lunch yet. Renee asked if I would look at some samples upstairs quickly before we left. When we got upstairs, to my shock and surprise, everyone was up there with food and goodies for a surprise baby shower for me!! You can tell it was a surprise, otherwise I would have attempted to look semi-nice for the day.

CUTE cake!!

Lotsa goodies!

Goodies for ME!!

This is Brianna overlooking her cake:

Yums! Roly Polys, egg & potato salad and baked beans. And sweet tea!

Everyone except the planner (Renee)

A very flattering picture.

Bottles!

Teddy bear!

Sippy cups!

Diapers!

The funniest stork pen ever. It's my new sidekick.

Bibs!

Wipes!

Too cute outfit!

The Reese's are MINE!

Awesome lotion!

Awesome body wash!

Candle!

FUN socks!!

Chapstick, my best friend!

A huge thank you to everyone here at work! I know it was a lot of work but it was so much fun! I love surprises!!

Buzz Buzz

Buzz... like a bee? Get it? Cause I'm busy like a bee? We normally have something 4 or 5 nights a week but the past couple of weeks have just been ridiculous. This week in particular because our finals are this week.

Monday night we had a planning meeting for mine and Jenn's joint baby shower in March. I've never felt so many emotions overlapping at once. When I got home my stomach hurt because I had spent so much time stifling laughter at inappropriate moments.

Tuesday was mom's second liver anniversary! So she's not only young at heart, but.... well, I won't go there. Too corny. A bunch of us went to celebrate at Thai Orchid, which has the best plum-glazed chicken ever. It was a lot of fun, as usual. I am very thankful for mom, especially since there's this whole new baby thing coming up and I need her on call. Just kidding, mom. Half.

Yesterday we went on base to get our taxes done. I think we could do our taxes ourselves, but one year in Charleston Stephen tried to do them with Turbo Tax and by his calculations we owed a couple of thousand dollars or something. So we had them done by H&R Block that year, which cost somewhere in the mid-$200 range but because we ended up having to fix some mistake they made, we got a rebate for $100 or $150, I can't remember. Then last year we got them done on base because it's free and we both worked in NC and SC which just makes it that much more confusing. This year we went on base again for several reasons. I don't trust either of us to handle itemizing everything, we had school expenses for the first time, four different jobs... things that probably aren't difficult but you might as well get someone else to do it, particularly if it's free. They even had a thing that calculated how much money we saved by not paying someone to do it ($214) and showed on the screen as we went how much money we were getting back. Stephen kept kicking me everytime it went up the slightest amount. I get it! We're rolling in the dough now! Stop kicking me! Just kidding, not rolling in the dough. But every year I am reminded how much fun it is to get that big chunk back. Now we can break apart that chunk and pay off some credit card debt, some baby debt that will happen, and stash the rest for a rainy day.

I can't complain about the guy preparing our taxes, but I can tell you bluntly that I didn't appreciate his behavior. He spent half the time cussing under his breath and the rest of the time acting like we were complete idiots.

Bad mood guy: So, how much did you get back for the stimulus last year?
Stephen: (glancing at me, raising his eyebrows, getting no help from me since I can't remember anything from ten minutes ago much less last year) Uh.... $1600?
Bad mood guy: (stares at us with mouth open) Well, considering the fact that you each got $600, I'd say you received $1200. NOT $1600.
Me: (mouthing to Stephen) Why did he even ask!?

Girl double-checking our taxes: So why did you put C here? This is supposed to be code A.
Bad mood guy: Since when?
Girl: Since always. It's always been code A.
Bad mood guy: Whoops. Wonder how many people will get audited from that. I've been putting C for months now. That's how I was trained and I've been doing this a long time. Whatever.

Speaking of not being able to complain, I've had several people ask how I'm doing on my Lent sacrifice. Today is day 8 and I have complained four times so far. I'm even keeping a journal of what I complain about. I complained twice on Feb. 25 (the day I started!) and then not again until I woke up Sunday morning and promptly said, "I hate rain!" Darn it. There was a situation on Saturday where I didn't actually complain, but I was pretty much a butthole so I counted it against myself for that reason. Last night in youth group someone mentioned a show on the Disney channel and I said, "Oh, I don't like that show." Some of the kids thought that was a complaint, but I think it's a statement. What do you think?

Tonight we have our second childbirth class. I've really been wanting to blog about last week's class (immunizations) but I just haven't gotten around to it. It was very interesting.

Oh yeah, another great thing about getting taxes done yesterday is that I had a chance to take my final exam before church. I was trying to figure out at what point I was supposed to take a 3-hour exam and write a 20-page paper when we have something until at least 9:00 every night. So, thank God I was able to at least get that done yesterday. Now I just have to figure out when I'm gonna write that paper...

That's the end!

Playing the Waiting Game

Today was such a lazy day. At church this morning, our preacher cancelled night services because he said it was easier to do it then, then have to call 150 people that afternoon. In hindsight, we probably would have been fine, but it's better not to take chances.

So... we watched yet another James Bond movie. I finished up my last short paper for school. Now I just have my final exam to do next week (can take up to 3 hours!) and my final paper (another 20-pager!) and then I'll be done with school for a couple of semesters.

Stephen cooked some cinnamon-sugar bread today:

Two loaves of cinnamon-sugar goodness! It was soooo good right out of the oven. I also finished one book and took a nice (but way too short) nap. We played several hands of Uno but someone doesn't like getting beaten several times in a row, and plus it's pretty boring when you don't have to break a sweat to win, so that was short-lived. We click over to the weather channel every so often but I keep telling Stephen it's not worth it yet! It's still 36 degrees so even though it's raining it won't do anything for a few more hours. He is like a little kid watching the closings and delays. This is one thing I never get too optimistic about - snow. But it has been nice being pregnant during these past couple of snows. It's fun getting up in the middle of the night to look outside and see what's going on, but if I didn't have to go to the bathroom I'd miss it! Maybe we'll get at least a dusting.