Heartburn Hotel

I *heart* Zantac. The last few weeks heartburn has become unbearable. Last week, on the way to Notre Dame, I woke up in Bloomington, Illinois with what I thought was a debilitating flu. I quickly came to realize that it was the 10:00 dinner the night before that was making me sick. Tums just weren't cutting it any more so I called my doctor. That's when I met my new love...Zantac 150. It's like a winter breeze to my esophagus. I've also refrained from eating immediately prior to going to bed but as the saying goes: you live, you learn!

Christmas Decorations-Done!

With the help of my wonderful mother, Christmas decorations are up! I love how homey and warm it makes my house feel. I figured I'd take some pictures now, who knows what will still be in one piece a month from now. So far so good on the boys leaving them alone.

Peek-A-Boo

Where's Robyn's belly?.....There it is!

Baby Bargains

As many of you know, I am a fan of bargains. Food bargains, paper towel bargains, clothes bargains. Now my focus has shifted to, what else, baby bargains. I was fortunate enough to come across this bargain while on the computer last Sunday night. The above car seat retails for $279.99. You read that correctly, almost $300 for something my child can ride in in the car. The beauty of this seat is two-fold. Number one: Britax is the Cadillac of car seats. Number two: this particular model goes up to 65 pounds and 49 inches. Either boy should be able to ride in it for an extended period of time. RJ has outgrown his seat in Bobby's car and though he met the height and weight limitations for a belt-positioning booster, I didn't feel that it gave him enough support. This, on the other hand, will give him support for hopefully another couple of years. Granted, the pattern of the seat is not my favorite but sacrifices sometimes need to be made for the sake of a bargain.

Oh, and I got it for $59.99

We have a delivery date....or do we???

My 28 week doctor's appointment went well. I haven't gained any weight from two weeks ago (Hooray!) and all of my pressures and other checks look great. My belly is measuring 5 weeks ahead but the doctor says that it's no cause for concern. I left the office today with a scheduled day for my c-section....February 4th!

In the ten minutes following leaving the appointment I thought about that day. Though February 4th has never had a ton of significance to me up until this point, it was to be the day that our daughter would be born. 2-4-2009. I really liked that day! It was just about that time when the scheduler called to inform me that the hospital I had chosen to deliver at would stop accepting my insurance on February 1, 2009. Therefore, I had two options: 1) change hospitals, 2) change delivery days. My guess is that my doctor won't go any earlier but we'll see. I may just have to fall in love with another day. I'll probably get it all planned out and she'll decide she's ready mid January.

Updated: February 4th is officially the day!

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Holiday Season

It's officially starting, the Christmas holiday season. Even though retailers have had their stuff out for about three months now, tonight was the first night that the boys and I sat down to watch a Christmas show being broadcast on tv. The beauty of The Grinch (and Frosty as well) is that they are nice 30 minute shows. They keep the kids' interest but don't get too long. MJ has expressed interest in "The Reindeer Show" aka "Rudolph" but the hour length gets to be too much for him. I remember as a kid watching all of these shows on video in the middle of the summer eating Schwann's ice cream sandwiches and push ups in the basement with my little brother. It seems like it was just yesterday. I hope when my kids are adults, they still get as much enjoyment out of these shows as I do now.

Annoyed

From the start of today, I've been annoyed. Everyone or everything seems to want more money and provide less service for it. It's open enrollment time right now for benefits. I expect premiums to go up a little bit every year but this year not only did premiums go up, coverage is going from 90% to 80% and RX prices are going up.

Annoyance number two: in order to accommodate this little girl, the guest room and office are now becoming one. Not a big deal except that we have a DISH Network receiver in what will be the nursery that needs to be moved to the guest/office room. DISH wants to charge us $99 to make the measly 3 foot move to the other side of the wall. If it wasn't due to being spoiled by our digital video recorder (DVR), I'm sure I could get by with basic cable and get rid of this stupid technology that loses it's signal every time it rains or the wind blows.

OK, I'm stepping off my soapbox. Thanks for listening.

3 Months to Go

T minus 3 months to the big day. As fast as the first seven (almost) months have gone, I'm afraid the rest might creep along. I fully expect the rest of November to scurry by and then December should be OK, with the Christmas holiday and all. That just leaves January, a month that drags on in any normal year when I am not 36 plus weeks pregnant. I am a little concerned of KC January weather and being on the roads at that time but I'm sure I'll make due (no pun intended). Today I was able to get the dresser cleaned out in the guest room. It held all of our spare blankets and a few miscellaneous items. I am also taking this time to make a Goodwill pile. Normally we are scrambling on Dec. 31st trying to find stuff to donate but as the nesting continues, I am finding more and more stuff we can probably live without. I did come across some beautiful blue baby blankets that I just can't seem to part with yet. I may have to hold on to those forever.

I can only imagine...

What room is this, you may ask? Currently it is the guest room AKA the "catch all" room. Normally it does not look like this but nesting has officially taken over. Now that we have had our 3d sonogram and verification that she is still a she, I am bound and determined to get things moved where they need to be. The guest room is moving in to my office which will now share responsibilities. In order to do this, several things need to be done. 1) my large desk in the office needs to be moved to the garage, 2) the closets need to be consolidated, 3) the guest bed and desk need to be moved in to my office 4) the nursery needs to be painted. My dad has been volunteered to do the painting during Bobby and my upcoming trip to see the Irish play. In order for him to do that, everything (excluding the dresser) will need to be moved out of the room by the time we leave. That means making room for everything else, somewhere else. I think I have quite the job ahead of me. The two pictures are the "before" and I'm hoping that by the end of this adventure, the last picture may resemble the "after".

What are the chances?

Gestational diabetes occurs in 4% of all pregnancies. I had it with both RJ and MJ. I had resolved myself that I would once again have it this time around. I am shocked and pleased to report that I am diabetes free! I passed with flying colors. Just for fun here are my numbers:

Fasting number was 77, needed to be under 90

One hour was 108, needed to be under 180

Two hour was 74, needed to be under 155

Three hour was 80, needed to be under 140

I hope I am not eating my words (and my protein) in a few weeks....

It's Still A Girl!

Today we went in for a 3D/4D ultrasound amongst other appointments. She was very active but not very cooperative. She seemed to love to snuggle her face in to the side of my stomach, the placenta to be exact, which does not lend itself to great face shots. Her legs were clear as day though. I had Bobby bring the boys to the appointment which is something I would not recommend. MJ wanted to lay on the table with me (which he did) and RJ couldn't care less. Luckily we left with both a CD and DVD of images so we can actually take the time to see what we missed while dealing with two uninterested boys.