Category Archives: lists

Thursday Three

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Sara

Hell Yes. I would forgo my previously required 30th birthday bash in favor of front row tickets to their reunion tour. And might I say Donnie, you have NEVER looked better. Tivo is set for The Today Show tomorrow morning. And if my BFF wasn’t 8 months preggo, we would be on our way to NYC right now.
2. I scalded my hand this morning making tea for Hub. I actually cried; it hurt so badly. I have iced it all day and it still kills and is very swollen. Any suggestions on pregnancy ok pain relief? I’m typing this with one hand which is so not cool.
3. Um, Oreo Shakes from BK? YUMMY!

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L O V E

Posted on March 28, 2008 by Sara

I love this point in pregnancy, when the baby is moving so much, and she still has a lot of room to work with. I feel every tiny kick and punch and watch my belly move like it is a circus. I can place my hand on my belly and feel her kick inside and out.

I love this point in pregnancy, when I feel like the baby has a personality. We are using her name daily, integrating her in to our lives before she is here. We are slowly preparing for her debut, and it is more exciting by the day.

I love that it is no less exciting the third time around than it was the first time around.

I love that when I get home from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, CA is waiting at the top of the stairs to greet me with one of her signature hugs. She tells me without fail “Mama, it’s so nice to have you back home!!”

I love that she gives me the same hug at bedtime and after hearing it from me over and over, says “I give the best hugs!”.

I love that ED can put things in to perspective. If today is Friday, it is pizza night—and that means tomorrow is Saturday and there is no school.

I love that he has legitimate interests and can spend hours in his own world zooming trucks back and forth, sorting and organizing his little cars, or just conversing like an adult with his Grandfather.

I love that my kids are old enough to entertain each other while I laze on the couch after work as the week comes to an end.

I love that they, like me, are bored with going for a walk when we get to the corner, and are content to turn around and go home.

I love that my husband isn’t giving me a hard time about not keeping up on the housework during the week.

I love that he doesn’t mind my granny panties.

I love that he brings home little surprises for the kids after being out all night working.

I love that it upsets him that he is not home for a lot of dinners and bedtimes, and makes up for it by making the time that he is home count.

I love that we have decided to stay in our house and work on it piece by piece instead of packing up and starting from scratch.

I love that our cabinets are here, and our kitchen is really going to be done soon; and that we got an amazing deal on our countertop and sink.

I love that despite a snowstorm last night, we are starting to see signs of spring and warmth.

I love that it isn’t dark when I’m driving home from work anymore.

I love that the ducks have returned to our business park and waddle around in their male/female pairs and will soon be leading their ducklings around.

I love that Starbucks has introduced a delicious Honey Late right in the middle of my honey-craving phase.

I love that I have money to blow on Starbucks.

I love that I have the time in my workday to blog and comment to my heart’s content.

I love that I will have at least 10 weeks of paid time off this summer.

I love that I have the ability to take paid time off before the baby is here.

I love that I am ok with having nothing good to end this with.

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Sooooooo…

Posted on March 25, 2008 by Sara

• CA is probably fine. Dusty either doesn’t know how to read x-rays or was taking some extra precautions, but the orthopedic surgeon did not see any buckle or fracture—apparently a 2-year-old’s bones are still soft and there is still a lot of cartilage and things can be hard to determine. He took the temporary cast off, and she was able to move it with no problems. He suggested letting her wear the cast, if she would keep it on, for the next week or so, and removing it for bathing. He seemed to think that once she realized she was fine without it though, it would be hard to get her to wear it. He was right; she took it off in her sleep last night. He will see her again on Monday for new x-rays to be sure; but it’s a safe bet that she is fine.
• Since I was already out of work, CA and I picked ED up and took him to the early Tae Kwon Do class. To say that he was a real piss pot is an understatement. He wouldn’t start the class with the other kids (there were 2 new boys) and when he did go out there, he sat behind the teacher, facing the class, and goofed off. He poked and distracted the teacher and was a real distraction for the other kids. The last straw was when he took his belt and started dragging it all over the floor. I grabbed him, put his shoes on, and we left. I have never been more embarrassed. He spent the entire night in his room, with the exception of dinner. I’m reasonably sure that being tired and hungry played in to all of this, as he refused his lunch yesterday (potato pancakes) and had his snack taken away from him for smashing it on the table. Combine that with the 8lbs of Easter candy and being out late on Sunday……I don’t know, to me it is inexcusable. I’m not entirely sure where to go from here.
• My hips, tailbone and legs are so stiff and sore; I think the baby must be laying on something. I’ve never been in this much pain while pregnant.
• A friend at work, has a friend who had a baby today……guess what they named her?? ***sigh***
• Hub felt the baby move for the first time on Sunday. YAY!
• Have I ever mentioned that we earn points at work? They are much like credit card points; you can use them for travel or merchandise. I now have close to 10,000 thanks to figuring out how the hell Visio works, and creating 5 flow charts before I left at 1:30 yesterday. Anyway, I’m trying to decide what to do with them. I could get a new high chair and bouncy seat, I could get a new camera, I could get the pasta attachment and the grinder attachment for my mixer, or I could get a Wii. There are actually a million other things I could get as well. What would you do?? Be practical or be frivolous?
• I went to WalMart on lunch, to (finally) get some comfortable underwear, and ended up buying 6 dresses and 3 creepers for The Bean—I spent less than $40. I typically don’t like their clothes, but these were cute. I’m glad to have some new things for her so she won’t completely be the handy-me-down kid.
• Our cabinets are in!! We have to tear apart our kitchen and decide on a floor to prepare for the install. Holy crap!! It’s really going to happen! Maybe I’ll add “before” photos to the list of photos I’ve been meaning to post here.

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Fun Facts- The Hub N Me Edition

Posted on March 21, 2008 by Sara

Tessie did fun facts today, and I am going to follow suit. These, however, are fun facts about Hub and me.

• I met my husband on the school bus when I was in 7th grade. I hated him, for he was loud and obnoxious. (He still is today) He had this “nice guy” reputation in high school and semi-dated my friend Lee. I sat with him on the bus a few times and talked to him about my then-boyfriend; a good friend of his. The summer after 10th grade he asked my friend Melissa about me, and called me one day in July to go to Six Flags with a bunch of people. We have been together ever since. I was 15 years old.
• That same summer, before we were “officially” together, I went to VA beach with my friend Staci. I met a boy there and made out with him for the entire week. I told Hub about it, reluctantly, because I didn’t want it hanging over us. He never let on that he was upset (but will tell anyone now that he was crushed).
• Our relationship was made official during a weekend party at Melissa’s dad’s house where he had ordered “Woodstock 1994” on pay per view. Hub drove up there on Saturday afternoon and had to leave Sunday morning by 5AM for work. He didn’t actually “ask me out” until we were on the phone the following Monday.
• My mother was not thrilled about our relationship, since he was 18 and I was 15 (nearly 16).
• We went back to school, for his senior and my junior year.
• I spent a lot of time skipping classes that year, because he had late arrival and early release privileges. I actually dropped morning and afternoon classes and never signed in to the new ones and nobody caught on.
• We both did theatre while we were there, and Hub climbed up to the catwalks and spray painted “Ed loves Sara” on the wall. As of 2 years ago, when my youngest brother was there, it was still on the wall.
• When my class held elections for Senior Class President, Hub and I lowered my friend Jer down from the rafters of the stage and blasted Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra (heard in 2001 a space Odyssey) through the aud. Up until that point everyone thought Jer was a no show and had dropped out of the election. He won the election, and though we all had a good talking to from the principal, we didn’t really get in any trouble.
• Hub graduated and I went back for senior year, and had probably the best year of my life (at that point anyway). All of the fun did not pay off though, and I was “let go” from our show choir, and ended up failing my last semester Government class. That being said, I did not graduate with my class in June, but rather after summer school in August. I never “walked across the stage” and to this day, my mother insists that I did not graduate. I have a diploma to prove that I did, in fact, graduate high school in 1996.
• That wasn’t really about our relationship, but was kind of a lead in.
• This is back tracking a bit……At my senior prom, my friend Ben, whom I’d spent a lot of time with that year (sans Hub), kissed me. Hub was furious.
• The day summer school let out, Hub and I left on a trip to Cedar Point. I had about 10 days before college started. When I cam home, my parents had completely locked me out of the house because they didn’t agree to me spending time in a hotel room, out of state with my boyfriend. This was when I made the decision to leave my parent’s house.
• It took a year of working 3 jobs in addition to going to school, but Hub and I moved in to our first apartment, a cute one bedroom basement apartment, on my 19th birthday. We are still paying off the credit card debt, now rolled in to our mortgage, but it was probably the most liberating and best thing I ever did for myself.
• 2 months after we moved in together, I had my wisdom teeth removed and Hub needed to take care of me. I’m surprised that he didn’t go running for the hills.
• The first piece of furniture we ever bought, a kitchen table and 2 chairs, is the same kitchen table we use today.
• One of my best memories of our apartment is coming home from a very long day to a warm bath and soft music playing. Once I was in the tub, Hub brought me a piece of home made chocolate pie.
• In 1999 we moved in to our current house, then owned by Hub’s dad. He was charging us half of what we paid for our tiny apartment, and we had the whole front and upstairs of the house. This afforded us the opportunity to stop working as much, concentrate on school, and have a little bit of fun.
• In June 2000, I started at my current employer, and soon after, Hub and I got our 1st cat Sebastian—who we still refer to as our 1st born.

• Hub proposed to me at Cedar Point, where we had vacationed every year since 1996, on August 14, 2000.
• We were married 9/14/02 and had the best day of our lives. We threw a kick-ass reception!

• (You guys know the rest)
• I was pregnant by April 2003 and we had our first baby, a boy, January 7, 2004.

• By November 2004 we were expecting our second, a girl, who was born August 18, 2005.

• We are currently expecting our third, another girl, on August 6, 2008

This all kind of makes me wonder where we will go next.

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10 For Thursday

Posted on March 20, 2008 by Sara

1. I came in to work early again today because my calendar is booked solid from 9-4. I am double booked twice and I have to do 2 interviews. What the heck?? Of course, instead of getting work done, here I am……

2. Hub has worked every night this week leaving me to deal with the kids on my own. It’s not really a big deal, but I sure am wiped out. He will be home tonight until 10, so I feel like I’m getting a break.

3. I have 2 videos that I want to post and I keep forgetting to upload them. One is of ED on the sled, screaming up to Hub after he says “all right ED!” that he is actually Jeff Gordon. The other is of CA who wanted to watch herself sing the ABC’s on camera. So we recorded that, and then she insisted on singing “I love you”. Maybe tonight.

4. My mother had a panic attack last night because the ham she ordered from QVC for Easter Dinner is on back order. Am I the only one who thinks that ordering a ham from QVC, as well as a ham being on back order in general, is hysterical? She didn’t find it very funny.

5. I’ve been on the border of getting sick all week. I has stomach issues on Tues and Weds and today my throat and ears hurt. I credit the prenatal vitamins with keeping me healthy. As opposed to the 2 other times, I have hardly been sick at all. It’s refreshing.

6. I found out that our hospital has remodeled all of their post-partum rooms; they are all private and they boast a home-like atmosphere. The baby gets to room in with you the whole time you are there. I’m pretty sure the nurses will still barge in on me at all hours of the night. I wouldn’t exactly call that home-like.

7. I’ve been giving more thought to my proposed early induction. I hated being induced, however, if it gives me the chance of having a smaller baby, one who does not have to go to the NICU for hypoglycemia, I think I’m going to do it. I would rather be uncomfortable and somewhat miserable instead of going through what I did with CA. That thought has terrified me since I got pregnant; I can not leave the hospital without my baby again. It’s not going to happen. So when we evaluate at 36 weeks, I will ask for a scheduled induction.

8. Speaking of this baby bean, Hub has decided he really doesn’t like the middle name we have chosen. He’ll go with it, but I’m not sure that I want to hear his incessant complaining about it. Every time he hears CA’s middle name, he makes a comment. He hates it. Whatev. We’ll see what happens.

9. I’m also prepping myself to begin dieting before I come back to work from my maternity leave. This will be hard because typically I am hungrier when I am breastfeeding than I am when I am pregnant. It’s been proven, however, that I can not start a diet at work. I need to establish the good habits prior to coming back. It’s going to be hard, but I need to do something. I can’t look like this anymore. I bought “You on a Diet” just before I got pregnant, so I’m going to study up and figure out a way to do this without depleting my milk etc. (there is a huge change that post-partum feelings will send this all down the toilet, but it’s good in theory, right????)

10. Finally, I commented somewhere the other day that CA was 26 months old. Am I on drugs? She is 2 years and 7 months old, which makes her what, 31 months old? Holy hell! She’s closer to being 3 than I realized!! I worry about her not being the baby anymore. She is SO the baby. I had similar worries for ED before she was born and it all worked out fine, but I can’t help but worry that we are forever impacting her life by making her the middle child. It’s valid; her life—all of our lives—will change forever when the bean is here. She’s just had so much time to herself as the baby of our family, where as ED had less than 2 years, and it scares me. I’m encouraged though that she has already offered to help change diapers, and rub the baby’s back, and be my helper. She’s going to be a great big sister, of that, I am sure.

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There Is Nothing Holding This Post Together…..

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Sara

To say that I am lazy when it comes to housework is a huge understatement. Clutter is kind of a way of life for us. I don’t see a huge point in spending 2 hours cleaning every night after work when I could be spending time with the kids. I’ve been a little more lax than I should be concerning the kitchen lately, since we are getting all new stuff, but yesterday I got some sort of bug up my ass, and decided at 8:30 that I was scrubbing the kitchen from top to bottom. It was like I went in to panic mode or something. There will be people in our house, installing cupboards and what not. They’re not going to think, “Oh, the floor is dirty because they’re getting a new one” but rather “these people are scumbags and rather than clean, they’re getting new stuff!!” So I cleaned until 11PM, and am paying for it today.

Hub noticed though and thanked me (at 2:30 am) without stating the obvious, which is, “What’s the point”. I think I need to have a serious talk with him about talking to me when he gets home though. Isn’t it bad enough that the bean keeps me up with her cervix kicking, leg cramps and heartburn all night?

Funny story—one of my reps who is pregnant called in 3 days in a row last week without giving me a reason. When she came back, she told me that she had called in because she was just so tired, and she knew I would understand. Seriously? Talk to me when you have 2 kids getting up in the middle of the night AND you’re tired from being 6-months pregnant. Ass. (I feel like I told you this story already)

Another story about a pregnant friend (and employee)……she actually had her baby today! She tried for 9 years, since her 1st was born and had been through fertility treatment and several miscarriages. Last summer she said she had enough; and if she was not pregnant by the time she turned 30, she was done. She attempted to sell all of her baby stuff at a garage sale in June, and nobody came. She found out days before her birthday in July that she was pregnant. She had tons of problems and has been out of work since November, and against all odds, this baby, who she named Faith, was born today, healthy and almost 9lbs. I am so thrilled for her and her family. Did you know that today is St. Joseph’s day? He is the patron saint of families. The whole situation, if you ask me, is remarkable.

I am 20 weeks today!! WOOT!! Half way there!!

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The Weekend, Wind Burn, The Monday After and a Crisis of Underwear

Posted on March 10, 2008 by Sara

We had a pretty big snow storm this weekend which forced many cancellations, including CA’s gymnastics on Saturday morning. I drove home from a baby shower on Friday evening, willing the snow to cancel my bowl-a-thon on Saturday morning, but alas, I had no luck and had to bowl anyway. I came home and Hub, CA and I ventured downtown for our local home and garden show. It was pretty interesting, especially the part where we talked to a guy about remodeling our existing house VS. building a brand new house and how comparable the price would actually be, and the vanilla ice cream with a minty swirl in it.

Hub snowblowed a pretty good hill on to our porch, so the kids spent the day sledding in the front yard yesterday. Well, CA mostly threw snowballs, but ED really enjoyed the sledding. I have photos and video to prove it, but you know me……you may not see them for a while……or at all. The kids’ cheeks were rosy like apples from the cold and the wind, but I was not so lucky. I ended up with a horrible windburn, complete with raised blotchy bumps, all over my cheeks and chin. At first I thought I was having some sort of allergic reaction, but the fact that it only appeared where my skin was exposed convinced me that I did not need to bust out the benedryl (though I had to try harder to convince myself that my throat was not closing up as I drifted off to sleep last night). I’d also decided that if I woke up today looking the same, that I was not coming in to work.

My skin today is red and blotchy, but not bumpy, so I did come to work, but only after dealing with horrific dreams filled with blood and miscarriage all night long (can we do something to shut the dreams off already? It’s getting OLD!), the kids not wanting to get out of bed this morning because it was still dark, a partially flat tire—I thought it was fine but drove FIL’s car in anyway, and an underwear crisis.

I have never had to buy new underwear during pregnancy. I wear them below my belly anyhow, so it has never been an issue. (TMI?? Perhaps.) But this baby girl, she is so low in my belly, that all of my underwear is severely uncomfortable. She is kicking me in my waistband as we speak. I fear that I will be investing in granny panties soon. I’m telling you, its one thing after another these days.

In any case, I arrived at work less than an hour late. And I won another free coffee, bringing my tally to 4 out of, say, 11. Not an entirely bad start to my week.

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Weekend Recap

Posted on March 3, 2008 by Sara

This weekend was long, and not the good kind of long. Although we were busy, it seemed to drag on and on and I constantly had the feeling of “when is this going to end??” I guess maybe I was just tired, but I am looking forward to this coming weekend when we have nothing to do.

I called my mom on Saturday to get her sloppy joe recipe and was told that when she had her chest x-ray for pneumonia, 2 weeks ago, something else showed up and she had a cat scan a week ago. She didn’t want to tell me because I’m pregnant; she didn’t want me to worry. The Dr. is optimistic that it is scar tissue from a previous infection, but as of now she hasn’t got the results. It would be nice if it was scar tissue, but honestly, after 40 years of heavy smoking, I won’t be surprised if it’s more. Not that I’m wishing for it to be more—it would be great if it was just a scar, but I am preparing myself for it being much more. I’m the type of person who doesn’t worry until I have all of the facts, but this—-this is gnawing at the back of my brain like crazy. Until we know more though, that’s all I’m going to say.

CA did well at gymnastics, especially any of the parts that involved jumping. ED still would not participate in Tae Kwon Do. Hub is taking him this afternoon when there will be no other children there to give him one last shot. It may just not be for him. I actually think he would enjoy gymnastics too, but the discipline factor of the Tae Kwon Do is what makes it attractive. So again, we’ll see how today goes……but this time, it really is the last time.

The kids enjoyed Sesame Street Live yesterday. CA got cranky during the second half and fell asleep on me before the end. She was crabby when we got home around 4 and was running a temperature so I bathed her, and she crawled up on top of me around 6:00 and passed out. She was in bed by 6:30 and slept all night. ED was in bed by 8, which is rare and Hub and I retired as soon as “The Simpsons” was over.

This baby is very low in my pelvis, which has never been the case before. I keep thinking that it is way too early to feel it jumping around on my bladder, but honestly, that’s one of the only places I ever feel it. It seems low, and far back. I’m nervous about Thursday—what if, at 18 weeks, they can’t tell? And I waste my time and my one and only sonogram shot until I’m like, 38 weeks? I need to know! I need to buy a baby book and start taking inventory of what we have compared to what we need. I need to make lists, tons of lists!! Everything hinges on the sex of this baby!! Ok, it really doesn’t. I’m stressed, nonetheless. (It is jumping like crazy right now, BTW)

In an odd twist I dreamt that the baby was a girl last night. Of course, in this dream the dr. was unavailable so the Assistant Director from our Daycare stepped in to do the sonogram…… I had another dream that I was riding in a log flume boat with an old manager of mine and we got trapped in an underground cave. There were lots of people there, including my Uncle Jim, who had superpowers that could get us all out, but he didn’t want anyone to know that he was a superhero. He was dressed all in yellow spandex though, so everyone knew he was a superhero. It was ridiculous.

It is Monday and I have an awful headache (but that is not news). I’m ready to go home. At least I finally won a free coffee! 1 out of 6….not bad.

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S E V E N

Posted on February 20, 2008 by Sara

Ok, Carrie tagged me, so here it goes!!

The rules are as follows:
# Link to the person who tagged you
# Post the rules on your blog.
# Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
# Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

1. I am overly freaked out by feet—to a ridiculous extent. It took me years to be able to even touch my husband’s feet, and even now, seeing him barefoot, disgusts me. True story: a friend and I went to a new health club downtown (a few years ago) and took a tae bo-type class upstairs and then headed downstairs where we had signed up for a free martial arts lesson. When I saw all of the naked feet on the mat, I had a panic attack and could not go through with the class. What was worse was that I had to cross the mat with the naked feet in order to leave the building. It was horrifying and I am truly scarred for life from that one. (The exception to my foot issue is my kid’s feet—I have no problem with them at all.)
2. I am mildly obsessive compulsive about a couple of things in my life but none more so than my alarm clock which I obsessively set and reset no fewer than 6 times before bed. It goes a little something like this: set, view to see that time was set correctly, double check to make sure alarm is set to AM and clock shows it is currently PM, turn the alarm off, click it back on and repeat the entire process. Yeah.
3. I can not handle any type opf repetitive noise (think someone tapping their pencil or clicking their pen—or better yet the dinging in your car when you forget your keys or leave your lights on; even the microwave beeping at the end KILLS ME) OR any sort of repetitive blinking (think the light on the answering machine). It seriously takes me over the edge. I may have some sort of mild sensory integration disorder.
4. When I was a kid, I used to practice smiling in the mirror so that I would always look great in photos. Seriously. (It was time well spent though, my wedding photos being proof)
5. I loathe board games and puzzles. The thought of sitting down and going through the motions of any board game, especially monopoly, is worse to me than having to peel off my fingernails one by one. This carries over to all of those crappy kids board games too. (I’m talking to YOU Chutes and Ladders!!!) They actually make me feel claustrophobic and confined—like I’m in a straight jacket. There is one exception though, and it is Scrabble. I love it!!
6. I will only eat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese if it is doused in ketchup. If you haven’t tried it, you should!
7. I pretend to be pretty outgoing—especially at work, but typically I feel out of place and somewhat retarded in social situations. I can always be counted on to say the wrong thing in an awkward moment. In fact, I often create awkward moments.

Umm, here is who I tag:

Emily

Misty

Shelly (if she hasn’t been killed by a rogue realtor)

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