A Wii Christmas... this'll be a long one!

Again, I haven't uploaded any pictures because my computer is broken. I'm writing so much because I've not had time to post things! Adam's computer works, but by the time I get home from work, or from shopping, I'm tired and don't want to do anything other than read a book or watch TV. Yesterday, I did both. I read some gruesome details about labor and watched Pirates of the Carribean with Adam (one of his fav's).
The past few weeks have been very hectic. We drove to Cinci/Corydon for a few days. We spent Thursday with Adam's grandfather, and then when Leah and Robert were finished with work the 4 of us (along with Ballpark) drove to see Grandma and Jim in Indiana. The next night, Adam's parents joined us. It was really nice having everyone together, and of course, many pictures were taken, but none of the entire group, but a partial group is posted. Khirsten, Braiden, Derek and Aunt Carol joined us for breakfast on Sunday before we left to go back to Cinci.
Naturally, we ate ourselves through the entire weekend. I believe I gained about 9 lbs in those 5 days. We did Christmas on Saturday night before Leah and Rob left. Adam and I gave them a Wii game (Mario Kart) and they happened to get us the same thing! Great minds... I tell you. What an awesome game that is. The gifts this year were great, a little over the top. We had such a great time this year... Adam decided to take it from me and my mom and be especially giving this year. It was great! He bought so much for my brother and others... of course, his "goal" as he says (I say limit) to spend on me this year was hit and exceeded. But he got me such a cool coach purse. I love it! I took him to the Vertical Runner to get some custom fit running shoes for his marathon. He ended up looking at Brooks and New Balance, and liked the way the New Balance hugged his feet. So I think I surprised him with that gift. Something he never asked for, yay me!
We also have a Wii fit now, Guitar Hero, and a few other Wii games. It sure was a Wii Christmas! It was really nice to get to spend so much time with our families... something we would have missed had we been in India. So we got to see lots of Adam's family, and my ENTIRE family over a matter of a week. It was nice, and for the most part relaxing.
When we got back home from down south, we saw that my mom had painted a wall of our baby's room to make sure we like the color and to get us started... it is SOOO awesome! The room is so bright! I love it! The day after Christmas we went shopping for the new crib and dresser and I am SOO excited that I make Adam attempt to get it out of my car. He had to call my dad to help, but my father, knowing how impatient I can be, lovingly drove all the way to our house to help carry the sucker up the stairs. Unfortunately, there were no threads in one of the holes in the wood, so we couldn't complete the crib. The company is going to send us a whole side piece that has threads next week. It was such a bummer, because I wanted to get the thing put together that night. Ah well, I have something else to look forward to.
My belly got HUGE over the past two weeks... there is no mistaking that I'm preggers (and that I ate too much this Holiday).

28 weeks 5 days

Name Change

We've been going back and forth with a name for a little girl. It's been hard, because I want to stick with the Goddess theme, (but still be a feminine name) and Adam wants it to start with an "A" to keep the theme in our little family. Well, to find a Goddess name that starts with an A is impossible. Aphrodite, Artemis (yes, a woman), Arachne.... ugh. Not pretty. So then we decided that we don't have to stick with the Goddess theme, and I started with Adalyn, which I like a lot, but then I really like Elliana a lot too. Unfortunately, Elli - Smelly, something I would hate to put my kid with. So since it was no longer a Goddess, AND the name started with an "E" and not an "A", I started looking at Goddess names that don't start with an "A" that are pretty. Again, not too many of them. I don't want something super popular, and unfortunately, I have one of the better Goddess names, but then, instead of GREEK Goddesses, I looked at Roman Goddesses, and Maia came up (Maya). I love it! So I think that's going to be the name. Adam says he likes it too. I'm not sure if he really likes it, or he's OK with whatever I choose, whatever it is, I love him so much. Such a great guy!

I have 5 more days of work after today, two of them being in Philadelphia, and I can't wait to be able to sleep in a couple of days. It's so hard to wake up in the mornings now. I can't tell if it's the icky, dark, cold weather outside, or if it's the pregnancy making me tired. Either way, I hate waking up.

So now I'm 25 weeks 6 days
FINISHED WITH SCHOOL
not in India =(

Steelers

The family that was going to watch Ballpark the first week still wanted him for the weekend, and they suggested that take a weekend away since we're not going on our greatly anticipated vacation. We ended up heading over to Pittsburgh, because neither of us have ever been there, and Adam wanted to go to the Church Brewery.

We used some of dad's hotel points to get a free room at the Marriott downtown, and made reservations for LeMont (a 5 star restaurant). We had a really good time! Dinner was paid for by Adam's grandfather who gave us money for a nice dinner in India, but when we tried to give it back, he told us to use it at a nice place here. WOW! Was it a great meal! We started off with Spring water (because I guess the tap water that I asked for wasn't good enough), and a HUGE basked of assorted bread. (Like, over 10 pieces for 2 of us). I am such a bread eater, but I kept it to a single roll so that I could enjoy the rest of the meal. We got some shrimp and scallop Parmesan appetizer that was absolutely amazing, and even at $18, I would get it again and again if I had the opportunity. Adam ordered a NY Strip Steak while I ordered Salmon Wellington. A salmon steak, with a crab cake on top, rolled in some kind of fried flaky tortilla with some sort of Parmesan sauce. YUM!! Both plates came with mashed potatoes, green beans and a couple of carrots. I don't think either of us finished our meals, but then the dessert tray came around, and Adam ordered green apple sorbet and I had a white chocolate cheesecake with strawberries and blackberries on top (YUMMY!) All in all, it was a great time, we were very cold walking back to the incline where we had to meet our shuttle from the hotel (which made us wait over 25 minutes for it to come. At least we were sheltered from the wind since there was no heat.

The next morning Adam and I had breakfast at the hotel, and walked across the streets to see Walking with the Dinosaurs. It was VERY expensive, but quite a good show. There were only a handful of couples that did not have kids with them, lol us, of course, being one of them. We then paid a lot of money for parking, and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a shot glass and walked around a small mall. Everything was Steelers. There was a 4pm home game against The Dallas Cowboys, so we made sure we were out of the city by 2pm. After a quick lunch at Big Boy's (Frisch's for those Cinci people) we were off to pick up our puppy. I'm pretty sure he had a good time as he slept the ENTIRE way home, all evening, and all through the night. Thanks again Comella family!

Final Answer

After about 4 hours of deliberations, we decided that we're going to stay home, and not go to India. Definitely the hardest decision we've ever had to make. We decided to keep our families happy, and to think of the baby. A lot of the things we would want to see after the wedding would be closed, or it wasn't recommended that we go to the markets, and that was what we were looking forward to the most (aside from the cultural experiences). We deemed that I would be pretty cautious of where we went, and that the baby would probably be pretty stressed (because Adam seems to think that I get stressed easily) and it might not be healthy for the child. Makes sense, although, I'm still really bummed, and feel really sh*tty about having to bail on Dia last minute. She and her fiance put so much time and effort into making sure that our trip would go smoothly, that I literally cried many times when I thought about missing the wedding and meeting her family and Dev.
This weekend my coworker still wants to watch the puppy, so we might just get a hotel room somewhere downtown Cleveland or Pittsburgh and get away, have a fancy dinner, and relax. While it's certainly no consolation prize to India, our family and my coworkers insisted that we leave here and do something. (It's been pretty obvious that I'm a little depressed). I'll also be heading to Philadelphia for business on the 15th for a couple of days, (again, no India). *sigh* It'll take a few days/weeks to get over, I'm sure.
The money we lose out on isn't too bad. In fact, the inter-India flight we only lose out on $30. The real flight actually TO India is significantly more, but worth avoiding possible health problems later down the line. I still am waiting back to hear from Dev to see how much we owe him for all of our train tickets. I expect it to be a few hundred dollars, not bad. I still feel awful that they put all of these plans together for us, and we had to bail. Ugh! Life sucks some times... Terrorist bastards, as I said before, I hope they rot in hell.
Anyone remember our Egypt trip? No, perhaps you all recall it being changed to a China trip. Same thing, terrorism, but that time they gave us a few months notice. Of course, this time we were mainly going to India for the wedding, and then were going to travel as well. Stinky Stinky Stinky!!! Now we have to shop for Christmas here at home, rather than in the markets as planned.

More

So this is even worse, the other countries have taken down their non essential travel restrictions meaning it's now "safe" to go. After a night (and some day) of crying (I blame the pregnancy), I've realized that we both REALLY want to go still, and are more worried about what our families and coworkers think than what we really want to do. I think it's easier when Great Britain says "do not go" to say, well, we're not going because a country advises against it. Now, really, the only thing stopping us is family and friends worried that something will happen. Which is completely understandable - I'm not taking back the previous post, but I understand the reasons more now, and am not as insulted. I am, however, extremely confused. We do not want to have our families worry for 16 days straight, but we don't want to live our lives always being afraid. I personally don't want any "coulda-shoulda-woulda's" although I understand that there are some things that we will not be able to see in India (because they are too touristy) and deemed "unsafe" that we would be able to see in say, 25 years or so when we may have the opportunity to go back, (yet miss a friend's wedding, that I'm sure is going to be absolutely wonderful and beautiful). That's it, no decision made yet. Adam and I are totally on the same page of, "Lets go, but lets not let our parents suffer, so lets not go. " I am also afraid that our packing will be rushed (we haven't started clothing yet).

more to come, I'm sure.

My Soapbox

It is so frustrating that after months of planning, researching, excitement and money that a few handfuls of bastards can come and ruin everything. I also think it's ridiculous that everyone around me can plan my life and determine what is right for me without doing anything other than reading what the media says. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the media? They use scare tactics to get people to watch/read their news. Why the hell do you think that the same words are used over and over. "Crisis" Really? Every f*cking thing is a crisis. The fact that they've stopped building new infrastructures in The Flats in downtown is a crisis, but people hear that word, and are more likely to tune in.
Is it right for us to go to India? I'm not exactly sure. I'm certainly not convinced that staying home is the right thing to do though. The people whom I have actually talked to IN India say it's safe, it's the people here in the US that say it's not. Who knows better? Do the people who know me in India want to sabotage my life just so I can see their country? I highly doubt it. I absolutely HATE the tactics that were used to try and "help" us make our decision. It's ridiculous, uncalled for, and demeaning. We are adults, let us make our own decisions.

That's it for now. I can't promise there won't be more to come.

Thanks to all

OK, so I think that Adam and I have produced a little Pele. This child just LOVES to kick! hahaha (24 weeks tomorrow).

10 more days until we leave! WOW! We're certainly not ready, our house is a disaster (except the clean basement), we're not packed, I can't find power converters, I need a travel or pocket calculator, and I have yet to relax since school has ended. Work (thank goodness!) has gotten busier, so the days go by a little faster. the snow has been the worst, not because it's snow, but because it's snowing rain, and there has been 2-5" of slush on the sidewalks and parking lots. This makes for a lot of wet socks and bottoms of pants.

We're off to Cinci tonight to celebrate thanksgiving tomorrow with the in-laws, and then home again tomorrow night because Adam has to work. I am grateful that we are able to do these quick trips, and that our pup is such a good traveler, however I'm not sure if we will continue to do these short trips when we have a child. I think that there's be just too much stuff to pack. (Stroller, clothes, diapers, toys, etc.) Both "grandma's" have toys at their house for the puppy so we don't have to pack anything, perhaps it'll be similar for the baby. Who knows.

Anyhow, everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for being finished with my MBA! YAY!!!

Whew!

I'm starting to feel a little better today. Thank goodness! It's tough to get rid of sinus infections without antibiotics. Recap of the week:
Thursday I went to the dr for my last appt before India. Mom wanted to go to hear the heartbeat, so she got to hear that, and I had someone to socialize with while waiting for the doctor. Before the appt, I was telling her how low my blood pressure has been, then the nurse took it again, and it was high! (Well, not high, but normal). I couldn't believe it. Then when we asked for some medicine for my sinus infection, he said to take Tylenol Sinus and not Sudafed because Sudafed raises blood pressure. HA! That explains it. Anyhow, baby is healthy so far, and Tylenol Sinus isn't the greatest thing. I got the OK to "have fun" but I need to watch what I eat/drink there. (DUH)

Yesterday Adam and I did absolutely nothing all day. It was great. I literally stayed in front of the fireplace and read or watched TV the entire day. haha. Oh, well, I did leave the house to get the newspaper from the end of the driveway. I did get up quickly and in an odd way when my phone rang, and I heard an odd "pop" sound. I felt some pain instantly, and I thought I had snapped the baby's neck! What an awful feeling! I didn't fell any kicks for hours, and I kept telling Adam that I think I killed the baby cuz I got up weird. Adam, of course, kept telling me I was crazy, which obviously true since the "whew" title, otherwise this would have been a different type of post. I got a hard kick to the abs right before bed. Adam was finally able to feel the kicks last night. How exciting!

The most exciting news of all is that today is the last day of school in my MBA career. YAY!!! I finished my final paper last Friday, and with the help of Stacey (a classmate) who proof read it, revised it and sent it out this morning. 4 more hours, it is very exciting, and I can't wait for a Tuesday morning when I am actually in a good mood. (I'm sure those around me can't wait either!)
Other than that and a fairly large belly, things are pretty normal around the place. We packed our essential non-clothing items on Saturday night. OH yeah! Adam took me to "Melt" for dinner on Saturday (for my birthday). It's a restaurant in Lakewood that is famous for their grilled cheese sandwiches (only my favorite food in the entire world!). Wow! It was sooo good. I forgot what each of us had, but they were weird. Mine had cheese and egg and bacon, Adam's had Chorizo and some other stuff, we also had Parma made Pierogees with onions and kraut and other random stuff. YUM!

0 more days of class (4 hours today to be exact)
23 weeks 4 days
12 days until India!

*sniff sniff* happy birthday *cough* *sneeze*

Yesterday was my birthday, it was lovely. I "enjoyed" it sitting on my big round chair, wrapped in a blanket with my heat on high and the fireplace. Even better was that I was working from home, so I had a laptop sitting on my lap, which kept me warm too. I think it's a sinus infection, whatever it is, it has me knocked out for the count. On Monday, I stayed for 1 hour of the 4 hour class.
I did get some cards from family members, which was a great surprise that lifted my spirits, as well as lunch delivered from my mom. Adam drove me to CiCi's for dinner (all you can eat pizza) which was really good too, except my appetite isn't that great. I go to the Dr. tomorrow, so hopefully I can get rid of this thing. I only have 2 1/2 weeks left until we leave for India! I better be feeling better. I can't imagine a 14.5 hour flight with a stuffed up head! Even worse would be the people who all sit around me! Yuck!

17 days until India
22 weeks, 6 days
1 day left of class (one paper to write and one MBA test to take)

Family

Contrary to what many (most??) married people say, one of the best things about being married is having a second family. Adam and I went down to Cinci this weekend and got to spend time (albeit not much time) with his family. It was very relaxing. His mom and I went shopping so I could show her all of the (expensive) baby things we registered for, as well as the crib we have picked out (that is subject to change). We just bummed around, enjoyed some Starbucks, and wasted the day away. It was nice.
Leah and Rob met us (and the 'rents) at Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday (which is tomorrow). I had a great time, not to mention the best meal that I've had in a LOONG time. Everything was perfect, lots of salad, lots of dressing on the salad, no one eats the peppers on the salad other than me and Adam, so I got my daily fix of peppers =) Spinach/Artichoke dip and Calamari for appetizers (my favorite) went with the salad, and I was nearly full by the time the main meal came. My meal was so awesome, chicken and shrimp something or other with great tasting noodles, I ate about half of it, and can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow. Then everyone got dessert, so I ordered a vanilla ice cream with strawberries that wasn't on their menu, but it was a combination of other menu items. YUM! I really felt like I was Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and needed rolled out of there.

Sunday, we went to visit Adam's aunts and uncles who were getting a group picture taken. It was really cute. Adam took a few pics, but left the good ones to the professional photog. Ballpark even made it into a few pics, but only the professional ones.
Unfortunately, on Sunday, the "allergies" I had been fighting for about 10 days has turned into a horrible monster of a cold or sinus infection. My head hurts so badly that I want to call "House" to operate and put a hole in my head to alleviate some of the pressure. UGH! I'm only at work today because I left the power cord to my laptop here, and because I have class tonight, and would have to drive up here anyhow. However, tomorrow, if I even feel half as crappy as I do today, I'm going to work from home. Because of the pregnancy, I can only have Sudafed. At least it's something, but so far, it hasn't done anything to make me feel better.

Countdown
2 days of class left, 1 after tonight
22 weeks, 4 days into the pregnancy
19 days until India!

Registry Shocker....

Adam and I decided to do our baby registry this week. It's a little early to be doing this, but as he'll be out of town the next two weekends, then it's Thanksgiving weekend, and then we leave for India, this is the only time we can do it before the new year starts. That was the original thought. Now, I realize we registered so soon so that people can start to save their money to buy things.
It's absolutely incredible how expensive things are. My mom, Adam and I were at Babies R Us for 2 1/2 hours looking at different pieces of furniture, toys and swings/bouncers etc. They are all so different, and the prices range from cheap piece of furniture to "they want how much for that?!?!". Anyhow, I am grateful that people were with me, as the first aisle had about 14 different activity mats to choose from. They all were mostly green, with a gadzillion other colors and some random things hanging down. It was at this point that Adam decided he liked monkeys, and everything had to have a monkey on it. OK... Honestly, they are all so similar, I let him pick out most of the toys. Of course, there are about 4,500 little stuffed animals that hang and make noises and have crinkly things in the feet... do we want the zebra, doggie, elephant, monkey, moose, or duck? Who knows?! They all look the same. Adam did a great job of just making decisions and sticking with them. I love having him around.
By the end, I was getting really tired. I ended up turning to my mom (a lot) and asking if we really need this. Most of the time she didn't even really know what it was, so I would assume that would mean it's not necessary. The last 4 aisles I just walked through and let Adam scan what he wanted. I was exhausted and again, so overwhelmed. Did you know you could buy a child's car seat that was only good for 30-50 lbs for over $250?!? Insane! No, I did not register for it. Sorry for those of you who are made of money.
We got back to my parents house, ate lunch/dinner and then went straight home to take a nap, we both did.
After I woke up, I went to the Babies'R US web site, and started to do research on all of the products we registered for. Some had terrible reviews, so I deleted those, and others had some recommendations, so I went with those.
After we had a late dinner, we decided to drive up to Target to register there. It was a good thing we did it the same day, because there were some things that we registered for at Babies R Us (BRU) that were cheaper at Target, and I remembered prices. Even though BRU has a price matching policy, we decided to register the product at Target and remove it from the BRU registry to try and save some money.
We found a nice crib and dresser/changer at BRU, but it's a little pricey, I want to go to Burlington again, just in case there's something there that I like that's a little less expensive. I want a nice sturdy piece of furniture, but if I like something the same, and it's cheaper, we might as well save our parents some money.

OH! And I bought two new pairs of shoes this weekend for India! YAY! That was fun.

21 weeks, 4 days,
3 more weeks of class (2 after tonight!) =)

Ugh... belly picture

For my in laws who haven't seen me since I was like, 11 weeks or so.... On the left is my belly after only week 5. The RIGHT side is week 20. Ewwwwww..... Oh, sorry about the dirty mirror, it only looks dirty when taking a picture, I can't actually find the smears when I look at the mirror, it must be the flash and how it's reflected....

Halloween and pants horrors!

Halloween was a lot of tun this year. We went to my parent's house and handed out candy there. Nearly every kid that came by was under the age of 8, which made them absolutely adorable. There was a little three year old skipping up driveways dressed as Dorothy (the most beautiful Dorothy ever, obviously home-made) singing "We're off to see the Wizard!" of course, she didn't know the rest of the song, so she just sang that one line, but it was absolutely adorable. Then she had to make sure we didn't forget her little brother... "He's a skunk"... obviously. Our youngest trick or treater was 7 weeks old. A neighbors little one. That's pretty neat, that our little guy/gal will have someone their age in the development to play with, and only about 4 houses down, (except across the street). Ballpark, naturally was a hit. He was dressed as Sponge Bob. I didn't' realize that every 4 and 5 year old in the world knew who sponge bob was. Most kids played with the dog before they got their candy. Some children, mom even had to remind them that there was candy there, haha. It was cute. Adam came late, dressed up as a Werewolf, however since the kids were so young, he didn't really keep his mask on long, because they were really afraid of him. Some kids he even needed to take the fake/hairy hands off, lol. It was fun, dad ended up with many chocolate bars left over to eat, he was happy.

I'm so sick of this election crap. I can't wait until today is over! I'm leaving work to vote soon, then I'll finish working from home. It'll be a nice change of scenery.

Adam's been sick the past few days. Absolutely miserable. Even so, he worked on Saturday, drove to my parents house and worked on their basement both Saturday AND Sunday. Poor Baby. (Exactly what he is when he's sick). Oh well, he's feeling a little better now, but he has a lot of homework to catch up on.

I had my 4th to last class last night. YAY! She changed our requirements for our paper again last night. I don't think I'm going to start it until the last week, because she keeps changing things. lol. She's right, we're all a bunch of over achievers... most of us had already started the paper, or at least written an outline on what she was looking for. The baby was kicking all day yesterday. It was nice to feel, but really, quite annoying.

I wore a pair of maternity Capri's today, I was really trying to save them for India, but I decided it was so nice out today, that I'd wear them. Good thing I did. The elastic bands (that you can change to make the pants bigger or smaller) became disconnected to the pants (the sewing ripped) and if I hadn't felt the fact that my pants were loose all of a sudden, they would have literally fallen down. It was quite embarrassing, and I had to rush to the rest room to jimmy rig the pants to stay up. literally. I ended up knotting the elastic around a belt loop and knotting it. Quite an interesting start to my morning... good thing this didn't happen while walking around in India! It took a while to thread the elastic through the waistband again!

3 more days of class
32 more days until India
20 weeks, 5 days

Is it worth it?

I found a website that talks about how to get your baby (before it's born) to start learning how to learn. This "machine" is $149 and transmits some sort of signal to the baby so it can tell the difference between the mother's heartbeat and outside sounds that are similar. The reviews are smashing, and some famous people have even used it for their children (which of course makes me want to go out and immediately buy it). It's called BabyPlus Prenatal Education. It says it makes kids smarter faster and helps them sleep through the nights sooner. I'm all about sleeping through the nights.. oh, and of course helping the kid be smart too.

I've decided that it's a good thing I'm going to India for most of December, so I don't have to worry about people asking me what i want for Christmas. I have NO CLUE as to what I want. My birthday is coming up, and I can't tell anyone anything, other than I want a new TV that's at least 37" (which is almost a whole foot bigger than what we have now!). I have about $510 in credit card rewards that need to be cashed in to help, but other than that, what is there? My house is to small for knickknacks, I'm going to eventually have a baby shower, and I'm not so sure what we even need, I mean, we need everything, but what is really necessary? There are so many dumb products out there being sold to new mothers. No one wants to hear that I need/want a crib, so I'm completely out of ideas. I tried to tell Adam that I want our bedspread to be dry cleaned, the mirror hung up over the stairs, the E-bay pile in the house to actually go up on EBay, the baby's room cleaned out, day care situation to be figured out, etc. I guess those don't count as birthday gifts because they're stuff that needs to be done anyway.

4 more weeks of class
20 weeks today!

Pop!

I absolutely HATE it when people lie to me. That's the end of that, no other comments, no explanation.

So Friday was an excellent day. Our GM for the region took us all out to Mulberry's on the West bank of the Flats (downtown Cleveland) to compete in the "bar Olympics". The bar Olympics consisted of Cornhole, Foosball, darts and Guitar Hero. We knew ahead of time that Guitar Hero was on the list, and since I didn't even know how to hold a guitar, I had my brother Justice (who is like, nationally ranked in Guitar Hero, no joke) help me out. Adam an I played for about a half hour last weekend, and we had a great time. Well, it paid off. The manager that I was paired up with was really good at the game, and I was just good enough to help bring our score up, and we kicked butt! Actually, we won first place in the "tournament". It was so much fun! I am pretty good at darts, however that day you would have never known, we both did pretty well with cornhole, but we lost in the first round and there is no one worse at Foosball than I was. There was a game of dodgeball afterwards, I didn't play, but it was fun to watch. Unfortunately, one of the managers got hurt (my partner) and the game was cut short. I had a really good time, except for the drive home where most of the entrances to 77 S were closed, but I became a lemming and followed lots of traffic, and ended up where I needed to be.

So all day Friday, I had this horrible stabbing/tearing pain in my side. I wasn't too worried about it, but Adam was, as was some of the ladies at work. I knew I would see mom on Saturday, so I didn't say anything about it on Friday. Never really had to, because I woke up Saturday with a belly. There's no doubt that I am pregnant now. I'm not quite sure if I'll fit into regular clothes anymore. I need to try things on tonight as I wore swishies all weekend long. Mom and I drove to see grandma and grandpa Marion so I could pick up the maternity clothes I bought last month. I picked up a couple of sweaters and 2 pair of jeans as well. They're comfy!
Saturday night mom, dad, Adam and I drove to Mentor for the grand opening of Uncle Eric's Traq 3D gym. We had a great time! It's one heck of a drive, but man, it was SOOO much fun! I didn't do any of the jumping things because of the baby, but I did a few agility tests. Adam did awesome on his games all tied up with resistance bands. My mom even tried it! She did great! I can definitely see how it would be a great workout for a half hour or so. After 3 minutes I was totally out of breath, hot and laughing. www.traq3d.com check it out! It's a bit pricey, but totally worth it. If it were only closer to my house or work!
Today (Sunday) was a lazy day. We went to the hardware store to buy some light bulbs and a programmable thermostat. I hope it works. Right now I want the house at 64 degrees, but it says it's at 73 right now... NOT what the plan is. Adam played video games, the Browns beat Jacksonville and I baked brownies... YAY!

A BABY PICTURE =)

We have our first real picture our our little baby, kid, spawn, or whatever you wish to call him/her. I like to say "he" although we have no idea what on earth it is, except the looks of a healthy baby. We have a STRONG 150 bpm heartbeat, 10 fingers, 10 toes, 4 ventricles in the heart, the brain is forming nicely, the spine looks good, the size is perfect for the age that he's supposed to be. In fact, this picture he's blowing us kisses, and in another picture, he's kicking something and throwing a punch. Adam thinks the "punch" is him getting ready to strike a soccer ball, I think the baby is actually throwing something. We'll see, perhaps we have a dual sport baby and he's doing both at once. That's my hope at least. It was nice to have Adam at the appointment with me so that he was able to hear the heart beat, and also see the baby in the ultra sound. I'm sure he didn't want to hear my OBGYN tell him that I cannot get Polio, but he needs to. That's 2 shots that he must get that I cannot. I do feel bad for him. I had 3 shots, and while they didn't hurt to get, they sure did hurt the next day. Adam needs a total of 5 (and that's IF he gets the flu shot as recommended). He's already had one, and needs 4 more. Poor guy. Especially since he's not a needle lover.

We went to Muskingum this weekend to see my sorority sisters for Homecoming. I had a really nice time. We dressed Ballpark up in his little sweater/scarf combination and was such a hit. He was absolutely adorable. I think he was a little afraid of all the attention he was getting, but I'm sure he loved it too. He had people holding and petting him non stop, he got some good food, and slept for about 18 hours after we left. I met some new "family" members of mine in my sorority. In fact, I have a great-great-great-great-great (that's 5) grand little. I think that means something along the lines of "I'm old". hahaha. I've only been out of school for 5 years! I have a really nice picture that Adam took of all of us. I'm going to have to upload them here.

After tonight, I have 5 more weeks of class! How exciting!

Today I am 18 weeks and 4 days along. I think I'm almost halfway finished.

Some (mostly) True Facts

I absolutely dislike the fact that I cannot get the text part of this web page to be wider. Who wants to read 4 words at a time before they have to go to the next line? Too much white space. Grrrrr. Random facts for the day:

*I couldn't wake up this morning. In fact, if someone would have told me today is the last day of my life, it still would not have gotten me up and moving. Luckily for me, the traffic was light, and it only took me 45 minutes to drive to work, so I was only 10 minutes late!
*I was craving Oreo cookies so badly, that Adam took me to Walmart to go buy some. I got home and ate animal crackers.
*I would much rather read people's blogs all day long at work than actually do work. Too bad my manager doesn't feel the same way.
*Right now a Wendy's frosty and french fries sound good.
*I have to go buy some bella bands from Target. How nice it would be to unbutton my pants right now.
*My hair keeps falling out. I'm shedding like crazy! I think that means I'm having a boy, right?
*A chicken broke into my house, and ate my breakfast.
*That last one was a lie.
*I wish I could have pancakes for breakfast. With lots of syrup. I'd be afraid of the sugar crash I would have at 10am at work. It's hard enough not to take naps on my keyboard to begin with.
*My dog is so freakin' spoiled it's disgusting. But he looks so good in sweaters!
*It's becoming that time of the year when as soon as Ballpark comes in from outside, he runs to the fireplace expecting us to turn it on. Thank goodness it's just a light switch!
*I never drink pop.
*I want a Sprite or Rootbeer so badly I'm willing to pay the $1.35 it costs for a measly 20 oz.
*The reason lifesavers are called lifesavers is because if you swallow one, the hole in the middle allows air to pass through so you don't die
*I almost died choking on a red lifesaver when I was 3 years old in California
*If I had a choice of cooking or not, I'd eat cereal every day.
*I made Hamburger Helper last night for dinner, and didn't burn anything for once. Of course, I still used the spatula that was nearly burned in half the last time I made Hamburger Helper. It's been through the dishwasher hundreds of times, yet still leaves black on my hands when I use it.
*I have finally felt the baby move last night. It was a weird feeling. I wasn't sure how to explain it to Adam (he could hear it), so I compared it to something like laying in bed with post nasal drip. Adam insists we're going to have a snot faced child because of the analogy. I quickly fell asleep after that conversation. I'm not quite sure I even participated at the end.

Indian Summer!

I am really starting to hate this blogging site. Sometimes it double spaces, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, I have no control over what it does. It's very frustrating, and I'm not even the one really reading it. Anyhow, this week was the most beautiful week in October. It has been in the 70's, sunny, and just perfect. Somehow, it managed to be like this over the weekend!
So over the weekend, Lisa and I went for a nice walk in Hudson Springs Park, and pushed Aubrey on the swing. She absolutely loved it (8 months old), it was so cute! Later, mom and I went to Burlington to look at the mother of all strollers. I found one I LOVE which is easy to work with, simple to do, and even has a temperature gauge and timer to time how long you've walked.... Genius! I didn't actually push it around yet, I need to do that with something heavy in it so I can tell if I like it (at least that's what current mothers have told me). There's no way this mother of all strollers would fit in any of Adam's cars though. Looks like "Monster" will get a LOT of miles on it soon! After all of that fun and when Adam and dad were finished with the basement, Adam and I went to Red Lobster for dinner. It's amazing how much money you save when you don't get something to drink. The best part... we had a gift certificate, and didn't realize it until we were on our way there! YAY for free dinner! Thanks mom! I wore a maternity shirt that night. Not because I needed it, but 1) it was cute, and 2)it covered a hole I have in my jeans. I refuse to buy new clothes until after this kid comes.
Adam went for a long bike ride, then a nice jog Sunday morning, then we went all around Twinsburg looking for treasure (geo-cashing) we had a good time, but it sure doesn't take much to get me tired anymore. We sat outside at my parents house, and then we went home and I cooked dinner while Adam took a long nap. (Roles were reversed there for once.)
The week has been pretty busy with school projects and stuff. I only have 6 more weeks to go though, so I'm VERY excited! Oh.. and I am really starting to show a little bit. lol, well, I can really tell, and I only think I'll last in regular clothes for another few weeks. I better get my clothes from grandma and find a place to buy some jeans!

** Additional note: I forgot to mention that at 3:30 in the morning Saturday night, I didn't feel the baby moving, but we sure did hear him. It was a little weird. It was super loud, it woke me up, and then I started to giggle, and it woke Adam up. He asked if that was my stomach, and I told him it wasn't, that it was the baby. It sounded like (Adam's terms) "Farts in a bathtub". It was really like bubbles underwater, it lasted about 3 minutes and then was done and we all fell asleep again. Silly baby. 3AM is not a good time for me, lol.
17 weeks
6 weeks left of 1 class
2 weeks left of another class =)

A womanless family....

This past weekend mom, grandma, Aunt Diane, Aunt Dana, Aunt Cindy, Cassaundra, Aunt Jeanette, Carol, Sandy and Kathy all drove up to Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania to stay at a very old inn. There were 3 bedrooms, and 11 people. That was a lot of fun, thankfully there were two full bathrooms, so there never was an issue of us fighting over bathrooms. We went for a Medieval dinner/theater. It was really funny. Not so fun, however, was the fact that I was able to get into my dress on Friday with no problems, but come Saturday night (when I actually needed it) I had grown. It took two people to get into the dress. It wasn't so bad, as my bosom was plentiful and actually filled out and above my dress. It was really period looking. Of course, a little depressing as it looks like I'm getting bigger and bigger, and feels like that even more. (More about that later.) Anyhow, we were the only ones to dress up. I had a great time. The food was to be eaten only with fingers, kind of like at the Medieval Times places, except they gave us food that really NEEDED a fork... like salad with Italian dressing. Hard to eat with fingers, but we did. Beef veggie stew, ate with fingers, an entire Cornish hen, most ate with fingers, I put it into a "chicken condom" (plastic bag) to take home because I was stuffed. BBQ ribs, cheese, apples, and some dessert I couldn't even look at I was so full. The singing and acting was really fun. I enjoyed myself a lot.

The only disappointing thing was that we went to a homemade chocolate store, and they had everything, except for caramel apples. It's fall, they needed caramel apples, I ended up getting some sour patch kids repackaged. I couldn't get chocolate because there was no milk. The two are complimentary items and one cannot go without the other. There was a wedding the night that we were there... interesting. Since Cassaundra and I are the youngest, we went to bed the earliest (by far). We both have excuses, she was sick, and my NRG levels are low. Anyhow, the bride and groom got into a huge fight and were telling each other to F*ck off - really loudly. It was fun. I guess those that were still awake (all but me and Cassie) got to see her pink underwear that was autographed by hotel patrons. Classy.

The inn was so old, that the doors each had a lock in the handles, and then between 4 and 6 chains and slide bolts and stuff. The windows were so old that they were completely painted shut. I had a dream that night that there was a fire, and we couldn't' get out. That would leave the entire Walter's family without any women. I dreamt that it made the world news, and dad and Uncle Terry tried to hide their excitement, but couldn't. When I told the story in the car on the way home (8 adults in my Honda Pilot), someone said that they'd miss the Monkey Puke at Easter too much to be excited about no women. Somehow I doubt that.

So I do feel like I'm freakin' huge. I have 2 pair of pants that don't fit, and now a wedding dress. I went to the doctor's today for a prenatal checkup. My blood pressure was amazing, the nurse couldn't stop gushing on what a perfect number it was. Wish I remembered it. Oh well, anyhow, then came the awful part. They weighed me... since the last time at the office, I have gained.... drum roll please..... 1/2 lb. Yeah, seriously! All I complain about is how large I feel, and I've gained a total of 2.5 lbs in 17 weeks. I guess I can't complain too much now, huh? I'm still lower than my weight in June of this year.

Adam watched his ice melt on Sunday night, and then had to make blue ice and watch it melt (and measure the temperature) on Monday morning. Then he got his Typhoid shot and was off to the airport to catch his flight to Tampa for work. He got a really nice Nissan Altima with navigation as his rental car, and learned he gets $45 for dinners. They're getting sushi tonight, lucky him. It's OK, I went to my parents house and got a good home cooked meal. I'm sure it's better than anything I would have made, and then thrown out, and then cereal. I had a long class yesterday with some good news, the midterm is now a take home. YAY! Of course, I came home to an excited dog who peed all over me, and a night with no husband. Those are always so depressing.

16 weeks, 5 days

7 more weeks of class!!!

Does that include Mandarin?

So we went to the day care center last night. It was pretty nice. Adam says it's way different than the one he used to go to (which was a part of the same chain). There were a lot of people there that I went to high school with. It was nice to see them. Of course, for 3 days a week, it was $201 dollars.... each week. I nearly choked, and then nearly cried. This wasn't even the place that offered to teach my kid Mandarin. So I'd pay an arm and a leg and if I accidently lost my kid in China, they wouldn't know how to get around.
On the plus side, I had an awesome dinner after the visit. Adam and I went to.. well, I forgot the name of it, but it's in Twinsburg behind the Dairy Queen and Arby's. Anyhow, I got the best-est sandwich in the whole world. It was a BLT with three cheeses on it. So really, it was a BLT and a Grilled Cheese sandwich combined. YUM! Like, two of my favorite sandwiches together. How sweet is that!? It's the little things, I know.

8 weeks of class left
16 weeks 1 day along

Noooo! Not yet!

I got to talk to Julie yesterday, it was really nice, it seems like I rarely get to speak with her anymore. Anyhow, I realized that I missed something extremely important yesterday that I had forgotten to blog about. I... no longer fit in a couple pair of pants. VERY depressing. Not that I really liked the pants... but they were a part of my rotation. Oh yeah, and one of my coworkers told me she can see my belly now. It's true, but since it looks like jiggly stuff, not exactly what I wanted to hear, lol.
I've been really good about going to the gym recently. Of course, I'm exhausted when I leave, but hopefully the work that I do will keep my weight right where it should be. We'll find out on Tuesday!
Adam's going to Florida on Monday after his Typhoid shot. Last time he went for work, it was in March, right after my ankle surgery when it was snowing up here. It's gotten cold (which I'm having a hard time adjusting to) and again, he goes to Florida. What a lucky guy. When I travel, I go to Scranton or Harrisburg, which is nice, but not Florida.
I've been calling around to different day care centers. It looks like the going rate is $50-$70 a day. I haven't seen any of them yet or really learned about the programs (we're going to our first open house tonight) , but I certainly hope if I'm paying that much money, it includes diapers and meals and the guarantee of a rich husband or wife in their future. (I'm pretty sure it doesn't, wishful thinking though!) A lot of places offer Spanish, French, some German and some Mandarin classes for kids, pretty neat. My kid can speak Chinese for just $70 a day. Crazy. I hope they train it to be some sort of Olympian. Perhaps in speed skating. Then little Ares can follow in Apollo's footsteps. I can totally see it in the headlines now... just think, everyone would be naming their little boys after Gods thinking they'll become famous speed skaters... all because of the crazy tuition of daycare. Enough random thoughts for now.

Mamas and Papas

I'm back to being tired a lot. It kind of sucks. I wish I had the energy I used to have that would allow me to run around and be as hyper as my husband. This past weekend I went shopping for maternity clothes, studied for a mid term, took a mid term and studied for another mid term.
The shopping part wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it certainly wasn't fun. We first started at the Salvation Army. I ended up finding a handful of really cute tops that looked like they were worn 3 times, but I went for pants... There were absolutely no pants that were my size. A lot of the shirts (at first) only looked like fat lady shirts. Not maternity ones, I finally found 7 or 8 things that were super cute, and we high tailed it out of there. Next came JC Penny's. I finally found some pants that looked good AND were comfortable. YAY! Mom picked out some really nice tops, however a few of them came down well past my thighs and made me look like Mama Cass. NOT very attractive. I had to pass on those, but she ended up finding me a bunch of nice things, most on the clearance rack. YAY again! Of course, after 3 hours of shopping, an Auntie Anne pretzel and a free sample of orange julius, we were off to stash away my new clothes. I slept on the way home, and then slept for the next 2 hours before my mid term exam. I was exhausted! Luckily for me, Ballpark must have known how tired I was, because he just curled up with me, the entire time. What a good boy!
Today was pretty good. I woke up feeling like crap, and that never went away, but I still fit in my jeans AND was able to buckle a belt, so that's a plus, right? *grin*. Oh yeah, and my class was cancelled. I enjoy the class, but today was another mid term, so it was pushed back until next week, and again, I've felt like sh*t all day, so I came home and took *gasp* another nap!
I've got to get my veggie tray together for our pig out tomorrow at work, Adam's doing homework (this weekend he painstakingly figured out how many milliliters of salt water it took to submerge a balloon in fresh water, without closing the balloon, and without the balloon sinking to the very bottom). Sounds a lot more interesting than what we're studying in class, but it took him a long time to get it just right (the answer is 12.55 ml). I'm not sure that I have the patience to do that. (Adam just informed me that it depends on the volume of the balloon). Thank goodness I don't have to that! I am watching the Cheetah girls in India (a movie that is NOT thought provoking). Perhaps I'll go get my fall stuff out and decorate my house. I spilled pineapple juice all over the kitchen table, so I had to take the old place mats off. Rambling on and on... Until next time!

After getting our Halloween/Fall stuff out of storage, Ballpark had his best friend back. The singing ghost... all night long... whether or not the ghost is singing, Ballpark is barking at him. EVEN if the ghost is on top of the cabinets in our kitchen! hahaha. They're the same size!

15 weeks, 4 days preggers
8 more weeks of class

Happy Anniversary!

Nearly every single day, I check all of the blogs that I read. About 10 from people who are in Mauritania in the Peace Corps, Karen's Ethiopia blog, sometimes other blogs that are passed to me for baby pictures etc. But I absolutely love reading about other people's adventures around the world. I even get disappointed when people do not put new posts up so I can read about their adventures.
Which brings me to... OOPS. It's been a while since I've posted anything. In fact, I completely forgot about it until Julie called and asked what the website is again, hahaha. Too funny! Things have been SOO hectic. We've gone to Cinci for a wedding, another Medieval wedding. Everyone dressed in style, which at first I complained about (I have to wear that dress... again..) but then I realized that I didn't have to buy a dress, or complain that I had nothing to wear and look bad in everything. It was pretty nice! Of course, they didn't have Medieval themed food like we did for our wedding. Other than the wedding, we had a nice enjoyable relaxing weekend in Cinci. Hurricane IKE's aftermath which tore through Cleveland pretty bad, devastated Cinci. We tried to go hiking, but every trail was closed, as were some roads due to the heavy damage to trees. Lots of people didn't have power for an entire week!
This week, Adam and I have both been really busy with school work. He's got experiments where he has to watch dye seep into water, and see how salt water freezes vs fresh water. I have two mid-terms, one for Information Systems, and the other class is Integrated Business Strategy. I do fear that both exams will be hard. One is Saturday from 6-8PM and the other is on Monday evening. BLAH for the Saturday night one.
I still haven't really started to show yet. I feel like I've gained about 22 lbs (more like 3) though. I feel it's completely obvious, but Diane says I look identical as to what I looked like about 4 months ago. I hope she's not just saying that. Of course, even if she is, I'm OK with that, it made me feel better *grin*.
I am hoping to get a flexible schedule for work next year so that I can save money on day care, but I'm not really sure how that will work out. Someone told me that one girl here is working 8-12 here, then going home, and being with their kid, then working when her husband gets home from work, from home. That would be really nice. I'll take that. Plus all day at the office on Wednesdays. I've got to do some research to see when I can look at daycares, and if they'll even allow part time. UGH the not fun part of planning.
So want to know what's interesting? Today is my and Adam's 4 year anniversary. We both keep forgetting. We went to Steak 'n Shake last night for dinner, so we'll just say that is what we did for our anniversary. Wahoo!! Except I didn't splurge and get a milkshake, I just had water to save money.

**UPDATE- He brought home flowers that night! So pretty!

As you can see, nothing really is interesting in our lives just yet. I'm still not feeling any real symptoms, other than wanting to put banana peppers on everything. (Pizza, salad, Mac 'n Cheese).
9 more weeks of school
15 week into the pregnancy. Or like..... "in the 4th month" or "3 1/2 months along" or however people want to say it. It all means the same thing.

Is it spring training yet?

Needless to say, it was NOT a good football weekend for us. USC wiped the field with OSU, it was not fun to watch. The other team scored 35 unanswered points. It was depressing, and I'm happy I skipped the 4th quarter.
I know I do not even need to talk about the Browns/Steelers game. It did not end well, I think the coaching staff lost this game. 10-6, but it really wasn't that close. Good defense, that's it. I'm ready for this to be NEXT season for the Tribe. The only good thing in Cleveland is that Cliff Lee (Pitcher for the Tribe) has 22 wins this year, and still 2 more games to play. Good for him to keep Clevelander's smiling, a bit.

Hurricane Ike came through last night. It was some of the most incredible wind I've ever experienced. It was so crazy, it knocked a shutter off of my parent's house, and we got to see a tree fall over, and other's uprooted. Our drive home was interesting as a lot of the roads were closed due to fallen trees. Many places lost power. Streetsboro had no power, except our development did. Too bad, I stayed up way too late watching the Browns lose.
Told some people at work the good news. My manager being one of them, so I don't feel bad that others find out. I have class tonight. It's going to stink. There's a person in there that I really can't stand, I believe the feeling might be mutual among a lot of people in the class. Anyhow, there's one less person in my class because of this other person I dislike. The one who dropped has gone through the entire program with us, and was always in my group. It's a bummer we won't see him any longer, since our other class together is a web class. Too bad the other person wasn't the one to leave.
We sent a package to Mauritania this week. It had crayons, a flat rugby ball, a cheap hand pump with needles, colored pencils, a drawing pad and some koolaid and gatorade mixes. It cost us $50 to ship!!! Crazy! The stuff in there was a total of like, $25. Ah well, I know it will be appreciated, and the Peace Corps is not an easy job.

That's it for now. Life is really uneventful.

13 weeks, 4 days
11 weeks of class left *sigh*

It's all about the Scarlet and Gray/Brown and Orange

So this weekend is a big football weekend, I am very excited, except I've not been feeling the greatest. I'm not sure what it is, but now I'm always hungry. I'm not eating, but I'm hungry. Perhaps that's why I don't feel so great. I've only gained 2 lbs in 13 weeks, however I feel like I'm about 3x the size I was. Obviously that's not true as I still fit into all of my "regular" clothes. I'm dreading the day that I have to go maternity clothing shopping. They're so expensive, I can't imagine paying $30 for a pair of pants that will only be worn a few times. I have decided that I'm going to put off real clothes shopping until I'm sitting on my bed crying because nothing fits. I'm sure it'll happen on a Monday or Tuesday morning, and I won't be able to do anything about it then, but I feel if I can push off shopping a little bit longer, then I'll be a better person for it. We'll see.

This week, we learned about the Fundamentals of Industry Analysis in school. Adam talked about why the ice didn't overflow the glass when it melted in class. I haven't quite gotten over the jealousy yet, can you tell? One thing I have going for me is that I'm finished in less than 3 months! Wahoo!!! If only it got me a bigger paycheck. Some day it will, I have to keep telling myself that.

So the big game is tomorrow night, and then the Browns vs Steelers is on Sunday night. Both games are at 8pm. I sure hope I can stay awake until the end, but at the rate that I've been going, I might only make it to half time. I'm going to make Nacho's and cheese with jalapenos and kool aid-- as an appetizer. Yum! And then Sonic's opened up finally by our house! YAY for Strawberry Slushies! Can't wait for this weekend to start.

Adam's not having a good car day. He blew a tire on his Del Sol (in the pouring rain) and then he took all of the big huge tires off of his jeep, and put on the little ones again for better gas mileage. In the garage---with the pouring rain outside.

Random Statistic I learned from Karen who's in Ethiopia right now. Yesterday (September 11) was Ethiopia's New Years Day.... 2001. A day that I wouldn't want to live over, but since they use the Julian calendar, that's what the year is. If you are there, and the year is 2001, can you say that you're 7 years younger? I'd love to go there and be able to tell people that I'm only 20. Man, I sure do look awful for a 20 year old.

11 weeks of school left
13 weeks preggers

Master in Education vs Masters in Business Administration

It has been a while since I've posted anything. We've told the parents that we're expecting. Everyone is excited. It sure is easier to live when others know our secret. Keeping secrets really suck. I hope to never have to keep another one. One person at work knows, which kind of makes it easier to say something when necessary. I haven't told my friends, or my coworkers yet. Not sure when a good time for that is. We'll see

I'm collecting diapers (clean ones only please). Size doesn't matter, as long as they're not adult diapers. I figure, we've got 2 years of diapers ahead of us, might as well start collecting coupons and diapers now!

So Adam decided two weeks ago that he wanted to go back to school. Kind of abrupt, but I'm really impressed that he got his butt into gear, got his transcripts, student loans, and admissions stuff together VERY quickly. Within one week he knew he started school in 12 days. He's going to Walden, an online school for K-8 Science education. It's exciting. While I'm sitting here reading how to "apply DCF analysis to valuing companies, businesses and strategies", he's watching ice melt. No joke. Right now, I hate him. I'm taking a short break because what I'm reading is fairly boring.

OSU played OU yesterday, I thought they were going to lose. I was really scared for a while. Luckily (for them) they pulled it out in the end. Adam accepted an invitation to an out of town wedding for next weekend, which is great... except OSU plays USC next week and that's a game that I have NO desire to miss. Luckily, it's an 8pm game, so I think we'll be headed to a bar very early to watch and only make an appearance.

Extra Extra! Hear all about it!

We originally were going to go to Cinci first, tell Adam's family, and then drive home Monday (Labor Day) to tell my family that we're expecting. Of course, that's all changing, as do all plans I seem to make. It's OK though. The original plan was made that way just in case my mom couldn't help herself but post something on AIM or Facebook, and we didn't want Adam's family to find out that way, so tell them first and make them hold off for two days from telling anyone else. Well, that won't work either because Adam says that his family will want to post something on AIM or something.
Well, I just found out yesterday that my Godmother's big 5-0 birthday party is coming up on Labor Day, so that decided it for us. We'll tell my family before we leave for Cinci, and this way my dear Aunt Diane can keep ALL of the spot light! Lets hope it works out! Now we'll have a Labor Day party to go to, YAY!!!

Adam decided on Thursday that he wants to go back to school.... NOW. He starts next week. When he wants to do something, man, he does it. There's no stopping him. I wish he wanted to hang that mirror for me above the stairs.... ah well, baby steps.

Went golfing last night. It was a perfect night to golf. There was a thunderstorm, and then the temperature dropped about 15 degrees. I wore shorts and a long sleeved shirt. The only problem is, that of the 4 of us who went... well, we all suck. So we didn't even finish 9 holes because we needed to get the carts back. LOL. We only did 7. I beat Adam by 1 stroke, once again. He's by far a better golfer than I am, he almost always beats me by a stroke or two on each hole, but he always has that 1 hole that kills him. In this case, it was 11 strokes. I got a 5 on that one, and that made up for the 1 stroke on nearly all of the other holes he beat me on. I'll take it though. Some day he'll kick my @ss, but until that day comes, I'll enjoy the single stroke wins. =)

For the Gold!

I swear the Olympics are going to be the end of me! I don't know what sleep is. I do know that a 16.775 if you're a US gymnast is not as good as a 16.775 if your a Chinese gymnast. Adam's really ticked off about the way gymnastic scoring is done. Never knew he could be so caring about a sport such as gymnastics. I think it might be listening to Bela Karoli (sp?) and his passionate rants about how things are not fair and how some of the judges might be watching different routines from one another... I love Bela Karoli, Adam wants to make a T-shirt with his face on it with one of his crazy comments he's made this Olympic year.

Michael Phelps got his 8 gold medals. Amazing. What's even more amazing, (in Adam's eyes) is that Adam and I managed to watch every single race. He says he doesn't know how we managed to catch every one. I do. We have watched over 4 hours of swimming/volleyball/basketball and gymnastics a night. We're bound to see everything!

We went to Cristal and Pauls house this past weekend for a BBQ in Pittsburgh. It was only about a 2 1/2 hour drive, which is much better than their previous location in Louisiana. Their house is beautiful with one of the most amazing back yard pools imaginable. I went down the slide only once, and the water was FREEEEZING. Then, I just stood in the shallow end trying to soak up the sun. Adam, Paul and Cristal had a splash contest off of the diving board. They're silly. Cara, Lisa, Betsy, and Derek were also there this weekend. We had a great time!

Baby Bean's HB

Today was a fairly exciting day. First, I got to sleep in for almost 45 minutes. THAT is very exciting, especially as tired as I always am. Adam followed me to the doctor’s office with his convertible top off. Somehow, as dark as the sky was, he missed the rain by about 3 minutes. From what we heard, it was a torrential downpour. We saw the lightning right before we went into the office, and heard the thunder while we were filling out our family history. Then the lights go out. Normally electricity just flickers, but no, it was out-out.

So the nurse called us in, and we worked by the window light to go over the family history and so I can get measured and weighed. (Still haven’t gained a single pound, lost some if anything.) We spoke with the doctor about the trip to India, and he’s not sure about the anti-malaria medication. He says that the vaccines should be OK, but probably not any pills. I need to get him an exact list of what I need and then he’ll look into it some more.

He decided that since Adam was there, he’ll do the exam in the dark using a flashlight, but we won’t be able to do the ultrasound. This was a bummer as it’s difficult for Adam to get off of work, and he really wanted to see a heart beat. Well, after in the examination room for about 10 minutes, the lights go back on! YAY! We got a print out of the little baby bean! I don’t have a scanner, and the ‘rents don’t know yet, so we have to wait until we tell the family before a picture can get scanned in.

Adam was nearly in tears though. I think we’re both really starting to get excited. We were assured that there is only one, so the India trip is definitely on! We were given a large bag full of literature for first time parents, and it was SO hard to come back to work. I just want to sit and read (I’m a dork, I know). We went straight to CVS to make copies of the picture. We only made 3, but Adam wanted to make like, 10. I figure we’ll scan the next ones.

Anyhow, only a few more weeks until we start spreading the news. I was given a general date of March 19th for a due date. Adam’s worried that it’ll be a St.Patty’s day baby, me, I don’t care, I can’t drink either way, hehe.

9 weeks

Olympics!

Personally, my Olympics have consisted of how many naps I can take during the day. The only symptom I have is my being excessively tired. It's awful! Poor Adam totally doesn't understand my need for a nap after a long hike, or heck, even a short hike! If I'm up for a long period of time I need a nap. I can't wait until that part is over. One of my softball teammates' wife is also pregnant, she's about 4 weeks ahead of me, so I know I'm not alone, and I know that the tiredness will go away.

On the plus side, the past 3 weeks I've been female player of the week for my team. Maybe these extra hormones are doing something good. I had some excellent plays in the field this week, and my batting was good, although not like the past few weeks.


On Friday 08/08/08 the Olympics began in Beijing, China. It's really neat seeing pictures of places that we've been. The TVs tend to concentrate on "The Summer Palace" because of it's huge man made lake and pagoda's not to mention the palace. We were there, and even got to ride on the dragon boat that is constantly shown. it's very exciting. I'm exhausted today because Adam and I stayed up to watch the men's 4x100 freestyle relay. It was amazing. The US upset the French (stupid Frenchies) after they talked smack about the US team. It was an amazing race, probably the most exciting I've ever seen swimming to be. They beat the world record by nearly 4 seconds! That's incredible! It was at least Midnight before I got myself to bed. But well worth it. We also watched the Men's basketball game (US vs China) that was also an incredible game as Yao Ming had a great game, as did Lebron James, our Cleveland Pride. He pretty much stole the game, and the US won by over 30 points. The first half was great, the second half we pounded China, at least we were 2 of 1.2 BILLION people who watched the game. YEAH!

Doctor's appointment is on Thursday, I am excited. I think Adam is too, but he's really good about keeping his feelings to himself. So I'm going to pretend that he is. I've got lots of questions to ask regarding India. At least I feel like I can trust the Dr's opinions as he's from India and will probably know everything that I'm going to ask him- I hope so at least! We're really getting excited about our trip. We have less than 4 months before we leave! Just need to find a place for Ballpark to go while we're gone. That will be a little stressful. 3 weeks is a long time to be gone.

26 days of class left (It's summer break for the next 2 weeks)
8 weeks 3 days along