Saturday, December 31, 2011

End of the Year Meme

Year six of this meme! Will I ever stop doing it? Eh, probably not.

The hubs and I are celebrating this New Year's so far by trying our damnest to get the kiddo to go to bed. I don't know what's up with that, but he's take at least an hour to go to bed ever since the time change. It's exhausting and so frustrating. So that's all so far. I think afterward, we're going to watch Princess Mononoke and play Lego Pirates of the Caribbean; that is, if I don't fall asleep way before then.

What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Started a program to get my teaching license for elementary school. Fun stuff right there.

Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I haven't bothered to make resolutions in a really long time. Mainly, I want to deliver a healthy baby and try not to kill my husband while I'm at it. (Because, you know, it's all the man's fault while you're pregnant.)

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Some Facebook friends, but no one close. It does seem like everyone's popping out babies right now.

Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.

What countries did you visit?
None. Boo.

What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A second child? I dunno, that's about all I can think of.

What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
November 9th, which is the day I start counting this pregnancy. Middle October is big because that's the month we went to Miami.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting to drink alcohol as much as I wanted for four whole months! Also, I finished breastfeeding at 13 months, so I'm really excited that I did it for that long.

What was your biggest failure?
Eh, I dunno. Nothing really went wrong this year.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major. I'm having some teeth issues because a couple of new fillings that replaced old fillings aren't healing up properly. I'm still pissed about it, and I need to see if I can get them fixed (again) during my second trimester.

What was the best thing you bought?
A 40" widescreen TV for the bedroom. It's awesome-sauce. 

Whose behavior merited celebration?
My brother, maybe. He finally got himself a girlfriend and she's a keeper. :)

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Politics in general. Sigh.

Where did most of your money go?
We kinda had one thing after another hit in 2011 in terms of money. It really sucked.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting pregnant again! Starting school again!

What song will always remind you of 2011?
Probably something one of Grayson's little toys play. Those jingles will always remind me of his babyhood.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
happier, always
b) thinner or fatter?
fatter and it's a bummer. I plan on going on Weight Watchers once I'm not breastfeeding baby #2 anymore.
c) richer or poorer?
about the same? But we're shoveling all of our extra money into hospital savings right now, so there's not a lot of cash hanging around to spend.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
I always say traveling, but we did take a big trip to Miami. I wish I had read more, but I did do a decent amount. I'm pretty happy with 2011 overall.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Dealing with a cat. I'm so tired of living with an animal that hates my kid.

How will you be spending Christmas?
Like last year, we spent Christmas Eve with the in-laws and Christmas with my family.

Did you fall in love in 2011?
I've got two boys filling up my heart right now. I think I can find room for one more (boy or girl) in 2012, though. :)

What was your favorite TV program?
American Horror Story was full of glorious cracktastic awesome-ness. Adventure Time with Finn and Jake gave me hope that there might be something decent on TV for G when he's older. 

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I didn't much mind Simon, our cat, last year because he pretty much ignored baby-G. But he completely hates toddler-G, even though Grayson is very gentle and nice toward him. He tries to bite G whenever G attempts to gently pet him, and I this infuriates me so hard. I just don't know what to do about the situation since Simon is 11 and has to take constant thyroid medication. 

What was the best book you read?
I didn't read a ton, but I did get to rekindle my love of Bruce Coville's My Teacher is an Alien series. I also discovered George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series and read all of those. People complain about them a lot, but they're very engaging. I'm currently reading the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy and liking it so far.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
Nothing new.

What did you want and get?
Pregnant, again!

What did you want and not get?
A new house. Looks like I won't get one until 2014 at the earliest. Sigh.

What was your favorite film of this year?
The last Harry Potter. Sniff, sniff!

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned the big 3-0. Insert very heavy sigh here. But I did have a fantastic one, especially because a bunch of friends and family surprised me at the same restaurant where Dave and I 1) first ate a meal together, and 2) had our rehearsal dinner. We also went bowling. I love me some bowling.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Moving into a new house. Not having any pets.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Trying to dress my post-baby body was a bit difficult. My boobs went back down to a manageable size, but my middle didn't.

What kept you sane?
Knowing that everything in temporary and that I can always look toward the future.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I wrote this last year: Johnny Depp, as always. I want in his pants.
That statement hasn't changed.  

What political issue stirred you the most?
The upcoming 2012 election. I just can't vote for a homophobe, so all Republication nominees are out!

Who did you miss?
No one really. We did try to be more sociable this year, and we were at least fairly successful. 

Who was the best new person you met?
Made some online mama friends!

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
You can't go backwards. A person from college tried to stir up some kind of friendship between us this year, after two years of nothing, and it just didn't work, especially because she hadn't grown up at all. I don't have time for nonsense in my life anymore... and I think that's a sign that I'm finally - gasp - an adult.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

post-Christmas letdown


My apologies. It feels as though I haven't blogged in ages, though in reality it's only been about a week. The past week has felt like a month.

Christmas was fantastic and I'm so glad it's over. G got sick a couple days beforehand, as did my grandparents, and I spent some time trying not to freak out that no one was going to be able to hang out with anyone. But it all worked out in the end. The hubs and I haven't gotten sick yet, though I'm sitting here with a sore throat and wondering if that will last.

G is still dealing with that blasted cold. His runny nose has eased up a bit so he's able to sleep through the night again, but we're subjected to long crying bouts over nothing in particular. I'm worried there's something more wrong, like an ear infection, but I don't want to bother with a doc visit until early next week to see if this passes on it's own. It could also just be the fact that we're home again. We usually have to deal with a bit of whining and tantrumy attitude from him after being at my parents'. He spends a few days getting everything he wants with a little whining, and suddenly he thinks that's the way to behave all of the time. Of course, we've also been lax with him because he's been sick, so it's a bunch of things piled up.

I feel sorry for the little guy, especially because I haven't been as active in taking care of him as I would like. I've hit 7 weeks pregnant and the nausea has really hit hard the past couple of days. Today was the worst, but I did manage not to throw up. Yet. That combined with major allergies leaving me unable to breath through my nose unless I'm laying down, and crazy intense fatigue... all I want to do is lay in bed.

Speaking of which, I'm in bed right now. I think I'm gonna lay back down and watch the hubs play Skyrim a little longer before poking him for a neck massage.

I promise to post a better Christmas update later once I've edited some pics.

Monday, December 19, 2011

a spring day in December

A couple of days ago, we had a day when the temperature outside reached a very warm 65 degrees. The sun was out in full force, and a calm breeze kept the rays from making things too hot. Of course, the kiddo and I headed to one of our favorite parks where I just turned him loose.

I don't know if it was because we hadn't been to a park in well over a month, or if he was just in the mood, but he held my hand for a while as we walked from the car to the first bit of playground. He eyed the swings the whole time, and I let him lead us over there.



The kid does love to swing. He headed back over to them three more times. It's difficult to help an 18-month-old understand the concept of waiting your turn for a swing, but he did pretty good.

Being able to run around unhendered just blows his toddler mind.


This pose and face cracks me up.



Toddler butt!


There was this really cool artwork on the side of a building. He had to go poke at it.


The boy does love his sticks.




At this point, I needed a break from walking around. First trimester fatigue has hit me hard. So I sat down on a low wall and let him hand me pieces of sticks and rocks. I lined up the first few in a row, and then he got interested in putting them down himself.


I know we won't have a day like that again for a looong time, so I tried to soak up the sun and enjoy every moment. Christmas is in only a few days!

Friday, December 16, 2011

so I peed on a stick

Isn't this the faintest positive you've seen in your life?


I swear there's a second line in the above photo. I was 7 days past ovulation - I know that exactly since I was tempting, charting, and had gotten two positive OPKs. It was the faintest line possible, really just a shadow of a line.

That was in the afternoon of 7 DPO, so I took another test the next morning, at 8 DPO. It was a clearer line, but still very faint. Took another the morning of 9 DPO and finally, a very solid, not so faint anymore line!

Yup, definitely preggers.

I so knew it this time too. I volunteered at a kindergarten class the day before my first sorta positive (the picture of which is above). While there, one of the little girls asked if I had a baby in my tummy. I almost answered, "Yes!" before I caught myself. On the drive back home, I had an overwhelming feeling that I was pregnant. I had this same feeling with G before I tested positive too. I just knew.

I'm just thrilled I got my 11/11/11 wish!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

birthday + finals + surprise = chaos!

This past week has been cray-zee. Here's a recap.

Tuesday
I have (well, had, since it's now over) a Monday evening class that had a huge project due this past Monday. So I went a good portion of Tuesday working on it, basically whenever G was asleep.

Wednesday
It was my birthday. The big dreaded 3-0. Sigh. Dave was determined to recreate my Birthday Weekend Spectacular of 2007, and I'd say he got pretty darn close. Except for a ring and a proposal at the end - ha!

My husband cooked me a damn tasty meal of potatos au gratin, stuffed mushrooms, and chicken cordon bleu. Yummy!


And then I got this cake. I appreciated the 29th on there - har - but I was kinda amazed at the size of it. I think that's the smallest bday cake I've ever seen. But it was chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, so I wasn't complaining. :)


A bazillion people sang happy birthday to me. Like a lot of people, I get embarrassed to have so much focus on me, but I don't really mind the happy birthday song. (Unlike the hubs, who can be a bit fuddy-duddy about it, especially in public.) The highlight was that Blue Sky Riders sang for me over the phone! That's my father-in-law, my future step mother-in-law (whoa, weird title!), and Kenny Loggins (who's really really tall in person). How cool is that?

As part of the 2007 Birthday Weekend Spectacular, we then headed out to the Opryland Hotel. We couldn't find the trees outside, which is where he proposed to me, but we wandered around inside until G was stumbling and really started to zone out. We wore him out! But he refused to be carried, so we let him run all over the place.







If you're in the Nashville area, I highly recommend an evening out to the Opryland Hote. It's just gorgeous! I'm so happy they were able to rebuild after the floods last year. The mall still isn't fully open, though that's supposed to change in March.

Thursday
After my birthday, it was back to the grind of working on that project. So exhausting!

Friday
Since eating some pizza Tuesday afternoon, my right back gum had been hurting. Thursday evening, I thought it looked infected - so gross! So after giving a final from 8-10 this morning, I headed over to the dentist. He took an X-ray and told me that I might need a root canal because the tooth near that gum might be infected. Say whaaaa? I was terrified. He referred me to a specialist, so thankfully looked at it and told me it was definitely not the tooth. Likely, something I ate had irritated the gum. He cleaned it out - ouch! - gave me an antibiotic, and sent me on my way. I was so relieved!

I got home about 1:30, and I was just exhausted. I locked G and I up in his room, which is babysafe, and just passed out on the floor. Every few minutes, he'd come over and shove something in my face or climb over me, but I was able to snatch a few minutes here and there of a nap. I definitely felt much better after that.

Saturday
We spent the morning and some of the afternoon preparing for our Christmas party on Sunday. Then we headed out to dinner at Buca di Beppo, which is the restaurant where we had our third date and our rehearsal dinner. The hubs had been acting suspicious, so I was kinda suspecting something was up. I walked in the restaurant to find most of our friends and family waiting for us. I was not expecting that many people! Even Grayson was there, brought by my mother-in-law who I thought was babysitting back at home.

Of course, it was such a perfect set up for what was to come. Dave and I whispered about it a little and decided to go ahead and surprise everyone who had just surprised me. Dave stood up to give a toast, and said something about "the mother of his children." Now, of course, we only have G, our one child. A few of them picked up on the "children" and it took a little while for others. I loved seeing their faces as they finally realized what he had meant.

Yup, we're pregnant with baby #2!

A bunch of us went bowling afterward. We all bowled one game, then some of them left to head home. That left me, hubs, Jennifer, and Michael, two of my best friends. Michael had come all the way from Iowa to surprise me! The four of us, since we had already paid for two games, decided to double-bowl. Oh my gosh, we were exhausted by the end of it! We would have to bowl one side, then turn right around and bowl the other. We were home by 8:30, but it felt like midnight. My arms felt like jello and my butt hurt the next morning. Who bowls three games and comes away with a sore butt? Me, apparently.

Sunday
Party time! We prepped all day, then the party started at 3pm. Tasty good, good friends, and dirty Santa. Since Michael was still in town, we hung out that night before he left Monday morning.


Monday
Dave had a dentist appointment early in the morning, so I was on baby-duty for a bit longer than usual. When G went down for a nap, I finished up my project for class. That afternoon, we took G to his 18 month doc appointment. Afterward, it was a quick earlier dinner and then I headed off to my last class.

Tuesday
Totally crash day. After the craziness of the past week, I was ready to lay around and watch TV all day.

And that was my week! I have a couple more posts in the works, one about the pregnancy so far (yaaaay!), and one about G.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

a whirwind of a week

Gah, I still mean to post a couple times a week, even if NaBloPoMo is over - and thank goodness it is! I have a ton to talk about concerning this past week, but for now, here's a pic.


Yep, that's my kiddo down there at the bottom of that massive Christmas tree, running at us full force with a giant smile on his face. This was, hmm, Wednesday night, day three or so of the SEVEN DAYS OF CRAY-ZEE.

I promise I'll get up a week-long report later.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

a Christmas survey

Starting from my Livejournal days, I've just really loved surveys. If you don't <3 them, then you might wanna look elsewhere. :)

This Christmas survey comes from Matt and Kara Adopt.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Since egg nog is nasty (though the hubs disagrees), I choose you, hot chocolate.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped all the way. That's half the fun.
 
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I love how the white lights glow, so white, definitely.
 
4. Do you hang mistletoe? We don't. My grandparents used to, though. It was cute.
 
5. When do you put your decorations up? As soon after Thanksgiving that I can!
 
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? My parents cook a Cuban meal for Christmas Eve. I haven't been 
able to eat it on Christmas Eve for a couple of years, but they always save me leftovers. Traditional Cuban pork, black beans and rice, yucca - so yummy!
 
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? I loved the year we went to Miami for Christmas. I was 16, I think. It was freaky to have Christmas when it was warm outside, but we had a blast. I loved getting the entire Cuban family together like that.
 
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My brother and I just figured it out. I'm not sure how old we were. But my parents weren't very good about making sure Santa's handwriting didn't match their own... Luckily for us, Dave's pretty good at calligraphy, so I'm sure he can cook something up for G.
 
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope.
 
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We have a fake tree, so we put that sucker up, then pile on the ornaments. We love a variety of all shapes and colors, especially those that mean something to us.
 
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it! For G's first Christmas last week, we actually woke up to snow in Alabama. We weren't going to head down until the day of Christmas, but we ended up driving down late on Christmas Eve because people were so sure it was going to snow. Sure enough, it did!
 
12. Can you ice skate? Can I? Yes. Do I care to again anytime soon? Nope.
 
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Some stand out to be as a kid, such as our first gaming system (a Nintendo!) and my first bike.
 
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Getting large amounts of family together.
 
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Something chocolate, but that's nothing different. I don't like a lot of traditional holiday desserts, I'm afraid.
 
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Waking up to open presents on Christmas Day and eating omelets afterward.
 
17. What tops your tree? A star. It always has to be a star!
 
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? I'd be lying of I didn't receiving, but I get a huge rush from watching someone open a gift I gave them. As a mom, I especially love giving my kiddo gifts.
 
19. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Yum, but I have to be in the mood.
 
20. Favorite Christmas movie? I love a ton of them. There are actually very few I dislike.
 
21. Saddest Christmas song? Do I know any sad songs? I don't think so.
 
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? "All I Want for Christmas," "Carol of the Bells."

Monday, December 5, 2011

halfway to 2


Dear G,

I can't believe you are halfway to two years old. YWO. TWOoooo! The mind? It's boggled.

You honestly didn't change a whole lot between 17 and 18 months. You can pick out some new body parts - eyes, especially. You shake your butt when we ask where it is. ha! You love to dance, and usually your moves involve getting low to the ground with your butt sticking out. We just crack up at you all day long.

G, where's your nose?


Head?


Eyes? (He'll usually just squint them rather than poking himself in the eye, but still, funny.)


What about your butt?


Oh, I get it. You don't shake your butt on camera, huh?

Heh heh heh.

Anyway, you love giving kisses more and more, and you'll throw your arms around our legs and squeeze really hard. I know I say this over and over, but I really hope you're always this affectionate. Even as an adult. You'll make someone a very happy husband. :)

Sometimes it sounds like you're trying to say "banana" and "eyes," but it's difficult to tell since you don't say them often. We can tell that you understand a ton, though.

We're having a time keeping your little fingers off the Christmas tree, since you're so fascinated by it. I can't wait for Christmas, to watch you tear into your gifts. You love anything paper, so I'm sure you'll love ripping the wrapping paper. Gah, can't wait!

Love you so much, G!

~Mommy
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