Deaf Noises

I work next to a guy who is deaf which normally means nothing at all except that all yesterday he must have been low on work because he was playing a computer game at least 75% of the day. Now, I don't care really but the problem was that because he can't hear anything, he had no idea that the sound on his computer was on. The lovely whooshing sounds as he placed items in their correct spots on "the cube" served as an interesting soundtrack to my day.

I was hit with a dilemma... should I tell him that his covert game playing was in reality anything but covert? Do I somehow owe it to him? Anyways, I took the wussy way out and said nothing for 6 hours....... I just wasn't sure how to tell him that his gameplay was being broadcast to surrounding cubes.

In other news...... The Ags BTHO t.u. in College Station last night. The currently 23rd ranked Aggies pummeled the No. 10 t-sips by 17 beautiful points. I didn't want to be too stressed out to sleep, so I passed on watching the game and had Nate giving me updates. Speaking of Nate.... the No. 24 Kansas State Wildcats beat No. 2 Kansas! For those of you unfamiliar with the situation, Kansas is amazing this year and they have beaten K-State at K-State 24 years in a row. It was a fine day for K-State who led the entire game and finished 9 points ahead. What a great night :)

Growth Chart

Today is Wednesday and hence forth it is time for the growth chart. If this wasn't a somewhat established thing now, then I would write about something non-baby, but here we are. I promise that tomorrow I will put forth the effort to supply witty commentary on something that has nothing to do with babies. This is an attempt to not alienize readers who may not think that pregnancy is the most interesting topic in the world :)
~~~~~~~~~
As of today, I'm 15 weeks pregnant->

What is happening with your baby?

Your baby's skin is very thin, and his/her blood vessels can actually be seen through the skin. Your baby's ears are continuing to develop externally and continue to look more like normal ears. Your baby's eyes are continuing to move towards the nose from the sides of his/her head. The baby's bones are beginning to ossify, which means that if an x-ray was taken the skeleton would be visible. Babies at this age have also been caught sucking their thumbs on ultrasound pictures.

How big is your baby?

By the end of this week, your baby is 5 inches long and weighs a whole 2 ounces.
~~~~~~~~~

It kind of makes me sad that they have stopped comparing the baby's size to random foods. It was kind of fun to hear that the baby was the size of a peanut or a lime.... plus it gave a fabulous mental picture for those of us with vivid, albeit screwed up, imaginations. So 5 inches......that's like a small potato...only lighter I imagine. And that is your baby to fruit/veggie comparison for the day :)

Gender Specific

I had another appointment yesterday with my OB and everything is going well. I got to listen to the baby's heartbeat which the nurse said was good and strong and while I have no way of actually knowing, it sounded good to me too :) At this point in the pregnancy, the baby is no longer making me feel very sick and yet I can't feel it moving yet (I still have a month or so before I will be able to feel it) so hearing the heartbeat is a nice little reassurance that it is still alive and doing well.

As for the title of this blog..... I know for sure now that we will find out the sex of the baby on February 25th!! I'm super excited about knowing and it's just really cool to me that we get to find out on my brother's birthday. This supports my mom's idea that if it's a boy he needs to be named Benjamin Jesse...... she'll get over it :) I actually like the name, but I'm not jinxing myself by using it (those that know my brother understand, for the rest of you he was a very....mischievous child :) Anyways, our plans for that afternoon include the following......Have an ultrasound, talk to my doctor, go to Memorial City Mall across the road and buy one gender specific outfit (I'm thinking Old Navy as we just bought Elena some clothes there and they have the cutest stuff right now), go to Churrascos and celebrate (this is also my birthday dinner :). Somewhere in there we will be calling peeps, but let's just say that I have a few ideas about ways to do this that I am keeping to myself :)

As for the poll-> The results were split. 7 of you voted girl and 7 voted boy. Kind of fun actually how it proves that there is a 50/50 chance of either and no one has a clue which it is :)

New Faves

Ok, just ignore the Toys R us tab....... I went to Babies R us twice this weekend and it just happens to be my new favorite store!!! Everything is laid out so well! The store is bright and clean and has about 50 times the amount of baby stuff that Target does......it's so much fun! They are so organized that it makes me feel as though the world of endless baby stuff is somewhat manageable. They have all sorts of fabric choices for strollers, car seats, pack n' plays and all sorts of things. I felt like a kid in a candy store :) Buying baby stuff can be stressful with all of the choices out there. All you want is a good product that isn't going to bankrupt you. Between advice from Amy (super mom to two kids) and the baby bargains book packed full of rankings and reviews, I am hoping to have my selections made before we register in March (after we know what we're having). Anyways, I'm super tired so I'm going to wrap this one up. In conclusion I'll say this...... similar to my Crate and Barrel fixation during the wedding, I am going to push all of my friends to go to babies r us first for our registries. They have BEAUTIFUL stuff and it is just a really fun experience :)

Tax...... Rebate?

If you have watched the news, opened a paper or visited a news website in the past 24 hours then you already know what this post is about. Let me start out by saying that I am a republican. I also believe in supporting the president. With that said......

The government issued a statement yesterday that they had decided to give tax rebates this coming summer in order to stimulate the economy. Any individual earning less than $75,000 a year will get $600, any couple making less than $150,000 will get $1200. Any couple making more than $150,000 and less than $175,000 would get a partial rebate and there is a similar situation with individuals. Here is the kicker, all people earning a paycheck but make too little to pay taxes will get $300 each. The hope is that people with go buy more things they don't need and put some much needed money into the economy. Here are the problems I have with this...

1) Why the phase out? So the people who pay the most taxes out of anyone get squat back in this deal. Oh yeah, that seems fair :P

2) Can you really call it a "rebate" when you are giving it to people who never even paid taxes? I am all about supporting the poor, but their consolation for making so little is that they get excused from paying taxes.... adding a $300 give away from the government is ridiculous.

3) In order to give this money out, the government has to borrow it. We are adding $150 billion to the federal deficit which has to be borrowed from China. All so that the government can bail out people who bought merchandise, a house, a car, or a who knows what that they couldn't afford and have now found themselves in trouble. Is this the governments way of telling us that financial responsibility is no longer important? These people need to pay the consequences of their greed and maybe next time they will have a better understanding of what they "need".

4) The majority of this money (for those who spend it) will likely go towards products imported from China. As Huckabee pointed out this morning, we are borrowing from the Chinese money which will in large part be spent on items imported from China....whose economy are we going to end up stimulating?

Overall, this is a HORRIBLE idea. Huckabee had some great points about this. When questioned about it he first said that he applauded the Bush Administration for doing something to attempt to stimulate the lagging economy although he wasn't sure it was the best choice. He then mentioned the likelihood that this move would benefit China much more than the US. And then he said, "you know, if we are going to borrow this money, why not put it into something the country really needs?" He mentioned the need for money to expand existing highway, airport, and rail infrastructure. Being a transportation person, I ate that up.

This country, and this state in particular, are in a HUGE budget crises as far as roads go. TxDOT's budget does not even cover the maintenance on it's existing roads much less the construction of much needed infrastructure. For those of you who wonder why we have so many toll roads, that's it. We don't pay enough in taxes to pay for free highways, so the state must borrow the money to build them and pay it back using tolls. I thought Huckabee's statement had significant merit.

Now, as for me.... I'll take my rebate. But I'm not taking it to the mall like the government wants me to. It will go one of two places. It will either go towards the cost to bank our baby's cord blood in order to preserve precious stem cells that can be used to treat an increasing number of diseases including leukemia, or it will go into our child's college fund.

Zestfully Clean?

When I got up this morning, Nate was sitting on the couch watching Fox News... nothing weird there, but then I remembered he was planning on going in early today. When I asked him about this, he smiled really big and told me this:

Basically he got home from his 9 mile run this morning and headed for the shower. He turned it on......nothing. Hmmmmmm. He went to the other shower......nothing. Well, a small trickle but not enough to shower by. Turns out some unit down the row from us sprung a very significant leak very early this morning and it was serious enough to get a plumber out there at 5 am AND serious enough for them to shut off the water just as people were waking up to go to work. (typically the complex will shut off water only during the midday if they have to in order to fix someone's problem) Anyways, so there's Nate all smelly on the couch just biding his time til the showers work again (and testing them every 10 minutes.....he has more patience than me :)

As for me, I shower at night and there was plenty of pressure in the sinks still for me to wash my hands without even noticing. The main problem for me would come if they don't somehow resolve this before 5 pm or so.....fingers crossed :P

p.s.- note the new baby survey off to the right...anonymity baby :)

Stranger Dreams Have Happened

So for me, pregnancy has given me some really strange and vivid dreams. I wake up every morning thinking "Really? Did I REALLY dream that?" Of course being the girl who's longest running recurring dream as a child involved running a mall obstacle course (a la the Eliminator in American Gladiators) with Richie Rich and then accompaning him to Radio Shack, I am used to some weird dreams. Just not every night like I have them now. They always tie back to something I did that day and they are always completely random. Last night I ate a peach... here was the result ->

I was back in college and one of my engineering professors gave us an assignment to grow a peach tree. I put off my planting requirement til the night before (I never did this kind of thing in college, but in my dreams I'm always running behind... kind of a nightmare for me actually :). In case you were wondering, we plant peach trees by placing a peach pit in a shallow plastic bucket using wooden shavings (think hamster cage liner) instead of soil. I remember rummaging through the trash to find the peach pit (from last night, remember?) and then stealing a bucket and wooden shavings from the laundry room in the dorm....always your best bet on where to find wooden shavings :P Anyway, that was the entire point of the dream. In the end I was just happy to avoid my normal college dream that I've been having since sophomore year where I get half way through the semester and realize that there is a class I have completely forgotten to go to the whole time..... I hate that one :P

Guess Who

Ok, today's post is a little different....it is an interactive post. I need all you faithful readers out there to pitch in to make this post a success :) Here's the deal, I have several people I know who have very strong opinions about the baby's gender and they all seem to have concrete reasons why they think it is one or the other. I find it amusing since I have NO IDEA!! Well, I will likely find out February 25th and I'm just curious..... what do you think?

Leave me a comment and tell me whether you think I'll have a girl or a boy. If you have a reason...share it! If it is just a wild guess then just say that :) Don't cheat by looking at other responses first.. I want an untainted poll here :) We'll see whether majority has ruled at the end of next month!

Sigh of Relief

It's been two long, embarassing, annoying and frustrating years including multiple trips to dealerships and repair places and FINALLY I can proudly announce that the brakes on my now two-year-old car have finally stopped squeaking! I have dealt with those brakes yelling every single time I stopped or tried to slow down since a month after I bought the new car and now, they're cured! All it took was a trip back to my favorite Nissan dealership where I bought the car and it was easy peasy :)

Anyhoo, other than that what I have going on today is a headache, the beginnings of a cold, the burning desire to take a sick day, and the realization that I'm not sick enough to actually do that :P

I don't think I could do worse.......

This is a short Friday blurb, but hey....I only work half day Fridays so I figure a shorter entry is merited :) For your amusement->

My ex-coworker over at HNTB and his wife were expecting a baby a little after I left. I had discussed with him what names they were thinking about before I left and was really hoping they had changed their minds since then. I never heard anything about the kid so I emailed another coworker this week to find out if they had stuck with their original name...... they had. They had a baby boy and named him Prague.... like the city. The poor kid's name is Prague Daisley. He is SO going to get beaten up in school :P

Gender Issues

So, I really couldn't care less whether we are having a boy or a girl. Honestly. I think about it and I simply don't have a preference. I want a boy so that he will be close to Evan's age and they can be play buddies and be those cousins that are so close that they're like brothers. I want a girl because I like our girl's name better. These two reasons are equal in my head and I simply don't care.

I will say though, a part of me is leaning towards a girl now simply because I want to go to Baby Gap and buy this~

Thumb Twiddling

Sooooooo.... the project I was on is done and is being bid on by contractors. That left this Monday as my first non-Cotswold day in awhile. I went into my boss' office in the morning to tell him I was out of work and I got...... the grimace. In Civil Engineering here is what the grimace means, it's four fold really->

a) You aren't the first person out of work
b) We don't have anything for you to do
c) We don't know when the city is going to give us the go ahead on the stuff we do have for you to do....probably a long time
d) You still need to be job chargeable though so get ready for a string of 1 hour- 2 day busy work activities that will have to be made up every time you complete a different one.

This is not my first time with "the grimace". Having been in this industry for almost 3 years now, I know that it is very cyclical with high volume times where finding the time to breathe can be hard and low volume times when anyone without a PE after their name goes scrounging. I did manage to make it about 2 weeks longer with work than at least 3 of my co-workers who have been project-less for awhile now. I can also see two more of my colleagues who are about to run out as well. It's going to get VERY interesting around here in another week or so. :P

So for now I do a mix of busy work, ipod solitaire, and constant checking of email to try to keep myself entertained. The other aspect of "the grimace"? They always give you twice as long as you need to complete something since they have no idea what they will give you after that. If you come back early with it done then you get "the sigh". Anyhoo, the good news is that CE companies don't fire anyone in the low times because they know that the high times will come more quickly than anticipated and the number of CE's needed in Houston exceeds the supply by at least 20-30%.

Condiments

So yesterday I was reading about weight gain during pregnancy and when it is supposed to happen and so on and so forth. At the point I am at, I am supposed to be gaining 1 pound per week from here on out. So far I have a giant goose egg it the weight gain column. They say it's ok to not have gained weight during the first trimester although average weight gain for those three months is 2-4 pounds. (Many women don't gain weight due to morning sickness) But now I have to step it up and deliver a pound a week. I read a WebMD column that suggested the following->

How Can I Gain the Right Amount of Weight During Pregnancy?

If your health care provider recommends gaining more weight during pregnancy, here are some suggestions:

-Eat five to six small, frequent meals every day.
-Keep quick, easy snacks on hand, such as nuts, raisins, cheese and crackers, dried fruit, and ice cream/yogurt.
-Spread peanut butter on toast, crackers, apples, bananas, or celery. One tablespoon of creamy peanut butter will provide about 100 calories and seven grams of protein.
-Add nonfat powdered milk to foods such as mashed potatoes, scrambled egg,s and hot cereal.
-Add condiments to your meal, such as butter or margarine, cream cheese, gravy, sour cream, and cheese.

The last part of this sort of got me.... since when are butter, cream cheese, gravy and cheese condiments? I mean, I'm all about it but I've never exactly seen them put into that category before. Well, wanting to be a good future mommy and put on a pound this week, I fixed fried chicken with rice and gravy last night.... lots of gravy :)

side note to my mom- I am no longer scared of this recipe! Last night was my best ever chicken and my gravy was a cut above the last time I made it (It tasted as good as yours)..... I have conquered the beast!!

The monster

Every time I think it's dead,

Morning sickness rears it's head

I really wouldn't mind a bit,

Except I'm TIRED of being sick

I was told that when I reached 3 months,

The sickness would disappear at once.

But they were wrong, so very wrong,

and now I sit here all day long

Wondering what I'll accidentally do, smell, or eat
That will make the monster and I once again meet.

The following will be shocking for some of you so I wanted to warn you so that you can prepare yourself before I reveal something about me..... are you ready? I am....... a planner. Phew, feels so good to get that off my chest! Ok, so I know this likely does not surprise a single one of you .....at least not if you've EVER met me :P However it struck me this morning just what an extreme I take this to.

I have some errands I need to run after work today at 11. I am going to three places that are all actually very close to each other but because it is a high traffic area and they are not placed just right, it makes getting to them in succession.... interesting. Now a little twist is that one is a food place which means I have to go there last since I am getting my Jamba to go (like everyone else). Problem is that it would fit 3,000 times better as the second stop, but oh well since I can't take it into the store with me. I have spent the last THREE DAYS (how sad) contemplating the best route to all three stops and while I have a workable model, I am still hoping to be struck by inspiration at the last moment and come up with the "perfect" route to combine all right turns and no heavy traffic.... HA!!

It's amazing.....

Some people think a lot more is owed to them than I believe is. I KNOW it was a terrible tragedy, I KNOW it was a lot for these people to endure.... but really? I hope at least one of these if from the City of Houston suing for damages associated with the increased crime rate we acquired when the evacuees we housed just decided to stay here.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,321246,00.html

Growth Chart

Now the weekly email will tell you the specifics on what is happening inside my body, but because every woman is different, it can't tell you what you will look like on the outside. For those of you that haven't seen me recently, I have a definite and persistant pooch. For those who HAVE seen me recently, it got bigger over ther last 3 days. I am officially into maternity pants and have had to buy some longer shirts to cover the waistband of my new Gap maternity jeans (they are soooooo cute!). I have to brag on Leslie and myself really fast..... we went to the Gap maternity store in the Galleria and all of their fall stuff was on clearance so I got->

-> 2 pairs of jeans (different sizes.. one to grow on :) for $27 each
-> 1 pair of khaki pants for $9.99
-> 1 really cute jean skirt for $20.99
-> 2 pairs of capris, one khaki and one dark brown, for $12.97 each
-> 1 black wrap dress that is PERFECT and I can wear pregnant or not due to it's wrappy nature for $24.99

After tax, Leslie and I made a major hall in paying less than $150 total for all 7 maternity items. Anyhoo, moment over.... now, growth chart :)

What is happening with your baby?
This week your baby will begin to take on more of a normal appearance as the eyes move closer together and the ears move closer to their final position. The intestines have grown so fast that they actually extend into the umbilical cord, but they will begin to move back into the abdomen. The kidneys can now secrete urine, and the nervous system is continuing to mature. Your baby may have developed more complicated reflexes such as sucking.

How big is your baby?
Your baby is 3 inches long and weighs 1 ounce by the end of this week.

:D

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!

They're Baaaaaaack!!

That's right kids, American Gladiators has returned to network TV with somewhat of a vengeance. For those of you who are fans of the old show, this one keeps many of the same games while adding a twist (jousting over a pool of water) and also adds new games. (Like running across a suspended bridge while gladiators throw 100 lb demolition balls at you from both directions) Anyways, I'm pretty pumped about it even though the new AG persona is just about as corny as the original.... but hey, that's part of the fun, right?

Nate and I went over to Kim and Tim's last night to watch the premier after we all discovered on Friday night that we secretly watched old reruns of AG on ESPN classic and really REALLY enjoyed them :) Anyways, for those of you that didn't see it yesterday and don't like football (GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!), they are re-airing the premier tonight on NBC. Fun stuff :)

Houston.... Winter?

Ok, so it's been cold recently. Not just Houston cold (65 degrees), but legitamently cold. All Houstonians are used to this is a small way. Every year we get one or two cold fronts that last one or two days and then we're back to life in the 70's. If you are very generous then you could say that we get 4 truly cold days a year. Well...... not this year. When was the last time we had almost two weeks of straight cold? This is starting to get insane! It is supposed to warm up this weekend, so we will see what comes of that.

Here is the problem--> Typically Houston has 4 cold days a year. This means that even a very fashion conscious person might have 5 cold weather outfit. This means that I have 3. When you go two weeks, you start to lose your ability to be creative with combining your 3 sweaters in different ways. Church is particularly difficult. Anyways.... come back to us warm weather (or even just cool weather) ...finding stuff to wear that will mask the fact that I can no longer button my jeans is difficult enough without it having to be long sleeved. Thank you :)

Cop out

Soooooo, my creative juices are less than free flowing right now, so I am stealing one of those surveys about me from a friend's blog. It's lame, and mindless of course, but those of you out there who blog understand the occasional total lack of anything to say. Anyways, here it is :)

Have you ever.....
() Smoked a cigarette
(x) Drank so much you threw up-> Let me clarify, it was water and my pregnant stomach couldn't handle it. As far as the traditional meaning... I've never been drunk :P
() Crashed a friend's car
() Stolen a car
(x) Been in love
() Been dumped
(x) Shoplifted (as a child)-> Piece of candy from a 7-11. I felt so bad I went and put it back 5 minutes later.
() Been laid off/fired
(x) Quit your job-> Anybody who has been reading my blog this fall knows about this one
() Been in a fist fight
() Snuck out of your parent's house. -> Umm, hi... perfect child here, I don't think so.
(X) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back. -> Haha, ummmm... only during the entirety of high school. I had a better record once I hit college though :)
( ) Been arrested
() Gone on a blind date.
(x) Lied to a friend - not often, just when I couldn't bear to break their heart.
() Skipped school
() Seen someone die
(x) Been to Canada-> Multiple times, I'm 1/4 Canadian.....Eh.
(x) Been to Mexico-> Hello, I live in Texas
(x) Been to Japan-> When the 'rents lived there. Quite possibly my favorite place on earth... it's at least in my top three :)
(x) Been on a plane-> Getting to Japan without doing this gets tricky
(x) Been lost-> Not very often... I can't think of a specific example, but I would think I had at some point... at least for 5 minutes :)
(x) Been on the opposite side of the country
(x) Gone to Washington, DC-> 9th grade school "field trip"....pretty dang fun
(x) Swam in the ocean-> Multiple oceans
(x) Felt like dying.-> Migraines, ingrown toenails..... YEAH
(x) Cried yourself to sleep (LADIES you know what I mean)-> Um, yeah but not for the reasons you'd think. It was actually a migraine in it's third day and i'd had it.
() Played cops and robbers
() Recently colored with crayons.
(x) Sang karaoke -> Laura and myself.... never thought that would happen
() Paid for a meal with only coins
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) Made prank phone calls...-> Is your refridgerator running?
() Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue -> In New Orleans on Christmas Day... how weird is that?
(x) Danced in the rain
() Written a letter to Santa Claus
() Been kissed under the mistletoe
() Practiced kissing on your hand and/or pillow
(x) Watched the sun rise with someone you care about -> Maui, my fam
() Made a bonfire on the beach
() Crashed a party
(x) Gone roller-skating -> Hello, child of the 80's here! I had a roller skating birthday party one year.
(x) Ice-skating -> I stink, but I've done it

So Cool

On New Years Eve, Nate and I went for my second doctor's appointment for the baby. We had our first ultrasound and it was possibly the coolest (albeit a tiny bit freaky) experience of my life. We got to see and hear the heartbeat. Not only that, but baby was kicking and punching like there was no tomorrow. This is reassuring for multiple reasons->

~ The baby does have arms
~ The baby also has legs
~ They move
~ The baby is developing well and by all of the Muhammed Ali movements, appears to be not only healthy, but possibly athletic :) (you seriously had to see this baby punch.... it was crazy. Kinda like when Tae Bo got popular and the instructor would tell you to go into "double time" which normal humans seemed incapable of doing.... our baby laughs in the face of double time, I mean, give it a REAL challenge, ya know?)
~ Side note- according to the ultrasound nurse, the baby is developing on schedule, has a normal, strong heart beat, and is very very active for this stage.

We got these little souveniers from our experience.... it's amazing how far ultrasounds have come... my mom was amazed by the 10 1/2 week photos. As you will notice, the baby has a head (always a good thing :) and though the fluid makes them look as though they are not attached (you'll just have to trust me that they are), you can see the arms and legs that luckily I am unable to feel moving yet. (I bet it will be fun when I can, if in fact the baby acts like karate star ALL the time)

And because it's Wednesday..... the growth chart->

What is happening with your baby?
Your baby’s head accounts for almost half of his/her entire length. Both the fingers and the toes have separated by week 11. The baby’s skin is still very transparent, but his/her bones are beginning to harden. The external genitalia have almost completely formed, and in several weeks you might be able to know if you are having a boy or a girl. Even though you cannot feel your baby moving around, he/she is very active.

How big is your baby?
Your baby is about 2 ½ inches long and weighs about half an ounce.