Ladies Night!



Lynn, Cheree, Leslie and Me



(Sorry about the iPhone pics- I'm still working on an iPhone 3, while actively campaigning for an iPhone 4...)

Saturday night, while our husbands drowned sorrows of a less-than-stellar football game with amazing amounts of beer and pizza, some girlfriends and I treated ourselves to some girl time at Trulucks.  And honestly had the. best. time. I've had in ages.

The night started with me noticing that wine was sold by the bottle, the glass, and by sampling.  Sampling?  Yes!  A 2 oz pour.  Having decided Drew is cooked enough to handle 2 ounces of wine, I ordered a Syrah which was absolutely amazing.  I only got about 1/2 of it down (grrr.... acid reflux), but I think I could have been happy just smelling it.  The other ladies opted either for something stronger (martinis) or just greater in quantities (wine flights).

Small piece of Heaven

Leslie and her flight

Once everyone (else) got sufficiently liquored up, the laughter started and did not stop.  At one point I asked the table (while tears ran down my cheeks) if they knew how to deliver a baby because the laughter was bound to start labor.  We had a great waiter who was full of one liners and we sparred right back with him.  We ordered way more food than we ever needed, and then ordered dessert on top of that.  Along with two of the largest pieces of chocolate cake, the waiter also brought these:

to celebrate Lynn and Cheree's upcoming birthdays and Drew's impending birth.  We had dessert for 10, and only 4 of us there to eat it.  We did our best and took the rest home.

I am so, so thankful to have great friends like Lynn, Leslie and Cheree to go do things with.  That will likely be my last girls night before Drew gets here, but I can't wait to do it again!

Au Naturale?

One upon a time there was a girl (me) who peed (sorry mom, I know you hate when I write with the word "pee," but it is necessary here!) on a stick and saw two blue lines, which meant she was pregnant.  She called the doctor to make an appointment and came in 2 weeks later to figure out what the next 9 months of her life would look like.

(Sidenote- Phone staff at an OB/GYN's office should be trained to say "Congrats!" when you call to make an appointment because you are pregnant.  It was the first time I "told" anyone, and she reacted like she hears it all the time.  Which she probably does.  But I didn't get to tell people all the time.  A little enthusiasm would have gone a long way.)

After the appointment, they sent said girl to the lab to have all the bloodwork done.  Said girl, knowing her reaction to needles, brought her husband back with the phlebotomist (I just wanted to use that word).  Good thing, too, because after the blood was drawn said girl passed out cold and hit the floor in the hallway while wearing heels and a skirt.  Not her proudest moment, but not uncommon.

Fast forward 31 weeks.  Now it's time for that same girl to be taking childbirth classes.  They are going rather well until the nurse starts talking about IVs, epidurals, and C-Sections.  That girl is basically sitting curled up in her chair with her arms clinched across her growing belly, protecting her inner arms.  And seeing a few stars. And reading a magazine during the movies that depict these things.  And feeling bad for making fun of all the "granola" women in Austin who choose to have their baby in a blow up pool in their living room.  Because that idea is looking better and better.

So this long post is just to say I am SERIOUSLY considering having this baby au naturale.  I'm not anti-meds, just anti-cutting-open-my-body.  If I could get an epidural through wearing a gas mask like they used to give you at the dentist, I would totally do it.  No promises- if pain gets too bad I may decide to get over my fear of needles for a moment, but for now I'm considering writing a birth plan....

Austin Shower!

Last Saturday my friend Hannah Mouton threw me a lovely shower in Austin!  Forgive the delay on the post, but the pictures were on my home computer and I find that most of the time I'm sitting on my work computer.

I didn't get a good picture WITH Hannah, but that's her, looking model-esque in the purple maxi-dress!

Anyway, the shower was adorable!  She themed everything in Drew's bedroom colors- navy blue and apple green.

Isn't that cake too cute?!  It was almond cake with strawberry butter creme and tasted like a wedding cake.  It was also HUGE.  I ended up taking some to work to share, but I cut it up first-- nothing like taking a boob cake to work!

She also made chocolate chip banana bread for favors (top right of the corner) and had lemon ricotta cookies (top left).  The adorable pics of the little boy with the blue bow on his butt was for the guests to write me a note for Rob to bring to the hospital for me to read.  I haven't read them yet, but I'm anxious to do so!!

And that sweet picture in the top middle- that was Hannah and her husband Ian's gift to us.  It is a little longhorn baby carrying a Bevo and a football helmet.  It's called "In Training."  I have no doubt my kiddo will re-create this look at some point!

And, yet again, Rob, Drew and I were blessed beyond our wildest dreams.  From a diaper bag to a bouncy seat, shopping cart cover, baby's first Christmas ornament, and a seemingly never-ending box of clothes.  All of the gifts are much appreciated!

It was a beautiful shower.  Thanks again, Hannah!

R.I.P. ripped jeans

(An Obituary)

Goodbye, Jeans.

 

I really liked you.  You fit so nicely, and were so comfortable before pregnancy.  Sure, you were getting tighter and tighter and I kept making the comment that I couldn't wear you with the bella band anymore, but week after week I tried to put you on and you still worked, so I wore you proudly.

 

But alas, all good things must come to an end.  Today's attempt was met with your complete disdain for the new size of my butt, and a nice little "rip" sound.  I just wish you didn't choose to make this declaration of my largeness in front of my husband, who no doubt will never let me live it down.

 

I realize I pushed you too far.  Thanks for being great jeans.

 

Lindsey

Hmmm.... Typo.

Last Friday I set up a conference call for several co-workers and outside people.  I sent around the call in number and passcode, and called in myself about 5 minutes before the call was to begin.

"Welcome!  We're glad to have you.  Now you can talk to LIVE and LOCAL Girls....."

SLAM.

It seems I combined the first three numbers of the call in number with the last 4 numbers of the alternative call in number, which combine to be some sort of XXX rated phone line.

I corrected the mistake via email, but not before everyone else called in.  Luckily most found it hilarious. 

Can we call in pregnancy brain?

The Great Flood of 2010

When Rita came through Houston in 2005, I "fled" to Austin.  By "fled" I meant I took a long weekend to go see my fiance since I had a great excuse to do it.  If you think people in Houston are bad about hurricanes, people in the hill country are even worse.  When I got to Austin the talking weather heads were starting to forecast lots and lots of rain up here, and there wasn't a can of Spaghetti-Os or a case of bottled water to be found at H-E-B.  Everyone was preparing to live in utter chaos for several days.  Not to miss out on the fun of purchasing emergency supplies, I bought 2 large bottles of lemon flavored Perrier and some canned veggies.  It rained about 4 drops and I drank my Perrier while everyone made fun of me for my "emergency supplies."  But hey, water is water, and if we needed it, Perrier would have worked as well as Ozarka.

So that was the flood we were prepared for that never happened.  A couple of years later, my house had the flood we were NOT prepared for thanks to tropical storm Hermine (horrible name, worse storm).  It sat over the hill country for about 27 hours, raining off an on.  But for about 5 hours, from 10PM to 3AM on September 7th, the heavens opened up above my house and the rains came down.

About 10PM I was in bed watching Rachel Zoe and Rob came in to watch the end (he secretly loves that show, I swear).  Rob said the water was almost to the porch.  At 10:30 he went to check again and opened the door to a lake.  It was about 1.5 inches from coming in the house through the front door.  We had noticed some water spots on our new wood floors earlier in the week, so we went to check the back french doors and noticed that if you smushed down on the board, water came up between the boards.  Not good.  So Rob took a push broom and started pushing water away from the front door for the next 3 hours, while I used towels to soak up the water coming in the back and occasionally went to sweep water away from the outside of those doors. 

Water never did come in the front door (thank God), but the french doors and a couple of hardwood boards near them need to be replaced.  The upside is while we were calling contractors about replacing the doors we decided to get them to bid out renovating our kitchen, so we should start that in the next week or two.

What, you wouldn't renovate a kitchen at 33 weeks pregnant?

Goodbye, Sleep!

I have no trouble saying I'm an "8-hour-a-night" kind of girl.  I cherish the days where I can get in bed in the 9PM hour.  I've gone through more sets of bedding in my 28 years than many people would go through in a lifetime.  My bed is my refuge.

Except when it isn't.

Like now.

The going to sleep still isn't a problem.  Oh, I can get in bed and fall asleep 5 minutes later watching a show.  Rob has had to remove the glasses from my face on more than one occasion recently (and tell me about the end of "The Rachel Zoe Project.")

But then I wake up.  Usually at midnight, 2:30, and somewhere between 4 and 5:15.  If I'm lucky I pee and go back to sleep.  If I'm unlucky I toss an turn and ultimately fall back asleep about 15 minutes before my next pee break, where I wake up again.  This has lead to significantly less than than the necessary 8 hours of sleep a night.  For too many nights in a row.  And I don't expect it to change for, what, 6-8 months?  If I'm lucky?

But I want to go on record that I think it is completely unfair that OB/GYNs limit your caffeine intake exactly at the time when it seems like the only way to make it through the day is with cups and cups of Starbucks.  A coffee pot may be on my Christmas list this year.....

And then there are the dreams.  Crazy, wild dreams.  VIVID dreams.  Last night I birthed a teddy bear with a pulse.  The good news was it was an easy delivery.  The bad news was it didn't phase me AT ALL that it was a teddy bear.  I really should start journaling the dreams.  Maybe there is deep hidden meaning in there somewhere. :)