My own to do list

I keep thinking "Wouldn't it be great if I went into labor today?" And then immediately think of a bunch of things to do in preparation. So I'm going to make a nice little list that I will hopefully be able to "check off" by the end of this weekend (or today?).

1. Install carseat, get head pillow in place, and set up mirror.
2. Put in the car shades so baby isn't blinded for her first ride home.
3. Pack a bag for myself.
4. Pack a bag for baby girl.
5. Unpack baby things that are all boxed up and put boxes in garage (not garbage, just in case).
6. Get upstairs TV plugged in and set up (maternity leave should not = walking up and down stairs all day to watch tv while I feed baby and try to snooze, right?).
7. Put up paper flowers I got from our display at work.

Ok that is good I think... seems manageable right? Here's hoping ambition kicks in soon and I can do something else besides blog, facebook, and read real books.

Oh, and when I was at the doctor, the other two mom-to-bes had kindles. Call me jealous, now I want one!!

I should also point out that currently Mike is jacking up our deck outside (like that is perfectly normal to do on any given day) and yesterday he installed two ceiling lights/fans. Seriously?? I love how he can do everything. I feel lazy now.

Just to show you his softer side.

This is what we get to come home to:

Love him.

Baby update

I had an appointment this morning with my nurse practitioner.

Good news: I lost 2 lbs (probably water weight) and baby is good.

Bad news: Her heart rate was a little low, in the 100+teens instead of 140's. They strapped me up to a nonstress test and had me chill out for twenty minutes. I was a little nervous for most of this but she assured me that everything is fine. So now I feel that I will be paranoid untl she is in my arms. Lets just pray for this huh?

Week and a half til due date!

38 weeks

How do I look? Huge and uncomfortable?? Well worry not, I am only uncomfortable some of the time. She's really taking up way too much space and getting too used to just kicking my organs if they are in her way. At one point during supper at Zorbaz with my family, I said out loud (to her) "How would you feel if I kicked you in the stomach after you finished eating??" Ok so maybe I need to relax a little.

Two weeks isn't very long, but lets just think of it as 3 weeks so I don't get my hopes up. Today Mike and I are working on some finishing touches around the house, doing some returning of duplicated gifts, buying all we didn't get at showers, and generally trying to prepare us for this huge change that could happen any day within the next 4 weeks.

Its excruciatingly difficult for me the control freak to have no clue if it will be tomorrow or in a month. God, thank you for giving me a slight amount of patience, but I really need more!! My poor husband is probably regretting his choice of starting a family with me since I seem to lose it on him at least 2 times a week with anxiety attacks and generally freakouts. He's good - he knows not to argue back...but hopefully the mood swings will fade away once the pregnancy hormones are gone!!

Better get to it... Happy Memorial Day!

Weddings, family, and bad customer service

Updates are in order!

The wedding was good although I did not get much sleep and felt like I was in "recovery" mode all day Sunday. Good thing I had Monday off. Josie is still in my belly so no early labor in a foreign town for me.

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. I have been having much stronger braxton hicks contractions to the point where I can hardly breathe and have to stop what I am doing. Against my instincts, I decided to tell him about them since most people I had talked to had no idea what I was talking about or describing. What was his reponse? "Yep, labor will be a whole lot worse than that!" Thank you, brilliant man, for making me feel like the dumbest young  new mom in the world. Did you really think I was doubting this? I think he has a problem with biting his tongue... I am completely ready to be done with his rude comments. So after delivery, I will be switching to Essentia Health. No more Sanford for me. He ruined it months ago.

My mom came up and stayed with me from Monday - Wednesday and we got a ridiculous amount done. I will have to put up picture of each room again now that we've pretty much finished/changed most of them. I felt pretty useless most of the time. The sister and mom did all the grunt work while I just stood by and gave directions, but don't worry. I know they'll call on me for pay back when they can. :) Like I said, I will put up pictures soon.

We got our new king size bed, and I have to say it is pretty sweet! Its just sitting on the floor right now, but Mike plans on making a bed frame sometime in the near future which will really make it wonderful. I don't mind it on the floor for now other than the fact it is so hard to get up with this huge belly.

Notice how I didn't say we got our new loveseat? Well when I called to see when we could pick the furniture up, the lady said "it looks like the loveseat missed the truck". Listen up lady. The loveseat is not a person that can accidentally miss a ride. Own up to it and say that you guys made a mistake! So she gets the salesman on the phone that had originally helped us (the same one that I sent a sweet he-did-awesome email about). He said he'd look into it, but I didn't hear from him again until I called him back 2 hours later. I explained to him that today, this day, was the day we had someone available to help us move it. He had said Wednesday, so what were they going to do about it? He said his manager was gone so he couldn't do anything but he'd see if another truck was coming up since apparently more than one piece of furniture had been left behind.

By the time he called me back, a whopping 3 hours after that, all he had to say was that he still hadn't gotten a hold of his manager and there was not going to be another truck coming til next Wednesday. Well thank you for sharing all that lovely news.

This brings up my recurring problem. I work in a job where we give exceptional customer service. I'm not just bragging here - people tell us that all the time and we bend over backwards for the smallest things. So is it so wrong for me to expect them to do something that will make me someday want to shop there again? I realize I did not spend thousands and thousands of dollars there, but look at me. I'm a 20 something year old who is having a baby and probably has a lot of crappy furniture just waiting to be updated. I'm like the best customer they could hope for!! Practically everything in my house could be updated in the next couple of years. So we'll see if they come through or not. Because as of now, I went from loving them so much to wanting everyone in the world to know how awful they are. Quite a turnaround in 24 hours.

On to better things - last night was the shower that my friends and sister put on. It was fun and I was so glad with the turnout. They played a couple of games (who's features of Mike and I's do I want the baby to have, guess the baby food which was completely disgusting, and designing the best onesie with the winner being "I heart" and then a huge dog head for Buckley - awesome), had some food, and watched me (awkwardly) open presents. I just loved catching up with everyone and having so many people that are wonderful and awesome all in one room.

So now that the showers are done, I have some serious work to do in that baby's room! Rummage sales here I come.

Better get ready for work. Have a great Thursday and enjoy the sun! Even though right now it feels like a mid October day. Brr... good job May.

36 Weeks

Sorry it is so blurry, but I can't find my camera and the cellphone was my only other option.

Some of you have asked how I've been feeling. Overall I have been feeling healthy. There are places on my body (hips, ankles) that haven't felt this way ever, which can be a bit exhausting. I'm healthy though! I could sleep about 3 hours more each night but that just doesn't happen. Lately my braxton hicks have been a little more intense but that doesn't really mean anything at all (my mind would like to think that is some kind of sign but I can't find anything that supports that...boo).

This weekend, we are going to a wedding (boy I can't wait to dress up and look pretty with my swollen feet/ankles/face and huge stomach!) I'm also getting a pedicure with my grandma and mom and going to spend some time at the lake with my mom (girl's day... at the men's place. I like it!)

It will be a busy week coming up, but the great part is I only work 2/7 days! Can't complain about that even with my husband being gone for part of it. Lets see if I can be efficient and actually get some things done instead of jumping from one project to another. I am notoriously bad at that, but you have to understand - when I start something, another project looks more important or easier to finish... the temptation is almost impossible to overcome.

Hope you all have a good weekend! I will not have any internet access til Sunday night, and I'm fine with that. Who doesn't love a good break from the world?

Here's hoping I don't go into labor in Monticello, MN.



Goodbye money, hello lovely loveseat!

Toda we spent some serious money.

BUT I FINALLY GOT MY LOVESEAT!

Recap: I fell in love with this:

But unfortunately this beauty costs $1200-1600 which is a teeny bit more than we are willing to pay. Oh did you  not catch that sarcasm? Because seriously there is no possible way we could spend that much dough (sorry, I'm watching Jersey Shore as I type this and the word "dough" describing money just seems appropriate. Lets just leave it alone that I'm actually watching this show) on one piece of furniture when we have so many other things to spend our limited cashola (better?) on.

Sadly, I had to move on from my true love, the french loveseat, and try to find a great sloppy second affordable companion. So I go to the FurnitureMart, which is where we got our couch.


They had nothing. All the loveseats were boring and super expensive. Like $800 or more for even the cheap ones. What is that?? Loveseats are not couches. Why do they cost the same? So we moved on. Well, I moved on with the sister instead of the working hubby to go to Unclaimed Freight Furniture Store. Turns out all the couches have matching loveseats so we just had to find a couch and there would be a cheaper version aka the loveseat  available as well. There was one, just one! that I liked, that really made my heart go thump thump. No lie - it was meant to be! Plus, we are also getting a mattress, and the one we had picked out at the FurnitureMart was also available for the exact same price here. So we could buy both things, same place, and pick them up, same place.

I, of course, dragged Mike back, he approved, and we made our purchase. $1400 later (for both the mattress and the loveseat plus the tephlon protection layer) we left...with nothing. We'll be able to pick them up on Wednesday, but unfortunately Mike is gone all next week and won't be here to transport it, so I am hoping to trick sweetly convince a strong masculine friend with a truck or trailor to help me out with this. I am so impatient but it is worth it!!

And don't tell me you aren't just as eager to see the lovely new comforter on the new bed sooner rather than later. So many things to look forward to!

So here is the couch version (loveseat picture not available):



I'll get you a real picture when we have it in our possession. I'm loving all the changes being made around here. Each thing makes it even homier, whether we buy it, make it, or just find or are given it.

Oh. And there is a possibility of us getting a rug that I found (rectangle, $214) but I am unable to find a good picture (or one at all I guess). Plus thats kind of expensive. Did I say kind of? Why does everything have to cost so much....

Oh and we got two new lamps at Sam's Club for only $49 each. Sturdy, tall, standing lamps that I love. Well who doesn't love matching lamps that don't look like they are straight out of the eighties. Pictures of those coming soon also. I'm telling you, you aren't going to recognize the "formal'' living room after all these changes!

Picnic update

The picnic went great! Better than expected for sure since the sun was shining and the wind didn't get to crazy. At one point before it started, we had this feeling that a lot more people we didn't know at all were going to come, so Mike boogied over to Sam's club and got more of everything just to be safe. Of course this always backfires in your face because I think everyone was afraid to really dig in and eat!

We expected about 10 people to come that we had met previously, and then maybe 10 more that we hadn't met at all yet. Out of those original 10, only 2 came so the fact that we still had 20-25 people show up was awesome. That just showed how many  people we got the opportunity to meet in our neighborhood. They told me some of the old neighborhood "gossip" and caught me up with who lives where and all that. I am so glad we did this, even if it did totally exhaust me this weekend.

A couple of people even brought more food and one lady brought me a plant! I have no idea what kind it is but it is super pretty. We'll see how long I can keep it along. If you don't already know, I really really really am not good at keeping potted plants alive. Like I can kill them within 24 hours. No joke.

In other news, last night we went furniture shopping hoping to find a loveseat and a new mattress. We had zero luck on the loveseat. I was completely shocked with how expensive they are! And for what? They all look basically the same and have no character whatsoever. I am almost desperate to get a new loveseat for our upstairs living room since right now the one we have is like falling into a black hole. Completely awful for me who is planning on only being upstairs for the first month or so after Josie's arrival.

The mattress shopping went a lot better. We found one we wanted but didn't get it yet. The big debate right now is should we get a queen or king size mattress. I was fine with queen since our room is small and its still bigger than the teeny tiny double we have, but Mike surprised me and said if we are going to get a new one, we should just get the king because he's only going to make one bed frame (yep he's making it!) and we'll probably want a bigger bed in the future. I'm fine with it, but our room is going to look tiny! Good thing I like the minimalist look in our bedroom anyway because we won't be able to fit much more once that beast gets moved in.

I even found a rug I liked that would work perfect for the upstairs living room. Too bad Mike is completely not on board with that! With the noncarpeted floors and vaulted ceilings, the echoing can be a bit overwhelming so maybe I'll get him to see the light on this topic when there is a child screaming and dog barking that can be heard from 3 blocks away. Lets all hope!

Sunny Sunday!

It's a beautiful day for a picnic! Praise the Lord for answering prayers and giving us this sunshine and higher temps.

I cannot wait to get to know some neighbors and eat some grilled food.



Buckley's excited too. :)

Sometimes I think write in a certain way hoping for comments. Is that wrong? I just cannot tell you how much I love getting an email saying "anonymous says..." at which point I race over to blogger.com and immediately read the comment in anticipation. Seriously this is what it does to me! I stress this only to encourage you, not to freak you out. And if you comment almost every post and feel a bit like a stalker, do not let this stop you (Liz. Mom.). Every one makes my day.\

The nestling set in again tonight. While my banana bread (yep, thats right - ultimate nesting symptom numero uno is to make banana bread I've been told) was baking I decided that my pots and pan drawer location junk pile needed to be organized. My ultimate goal was to get this sweet old mixer Mike has to fit somewhere upstairs so we can use it on a regular basis instead of the occasional is-it-worth-going-downstairs-just-to-make-this-recipe-and-get-the-mixer. So the end result? I got it to fit!... but not in that cabinet. Too Tall. Instead, I had to rearrange two more cabinets... Not a bad thing - just not planned. I think there were sweat beadlets on my forehead. Oh, is that too visual? Don't worry, I daintily wiped it away with a handkerchief after.

A post to push down posts

I like to read other people's blogs. To get to these blogs conveniently and only when there is something new to read, I have them listed on the left hand side under "blogs I follow", which means I am frequently visiting my own blog page and getting a good eye full of what you all see every time you check in.

Since my last post, the 33 1/2 week update, I have gotten ridiculously sick of looking at my perfectly posed self. I don't know how you people do it! Swollen face, awkward pants that don’t fit well with the sneakers (huge pet peave. I don't mind comfy tennies, but not at the expense of looking slightly  normal! I feel as though these jeans are an epic fail. Skinny maternity jeans, you win hands down), cheesy smile (I find with a swollen face, there is no such thing as noncheesy smile...they all look weird) <insert 20 more things I don’t like about myself>

And now to top it off, my lovely blog isn’t saving. So all of this may or may not be for nothing.


What else, what else. Things I'm looking forward to:

• Running, running, and more running! I miss it. Please let me be able to figure out a way to get back into without failing miserably right away
• Real spring/summery weather. Enough of this post-winter garbage! It is cold, sporadic, windy always and I am ready for some serious window opening and walk taking
• Having my first experience with labor be over
• The showers that my friends and family are throwing!
• Normal sized feet
• Last but not least... a baby girl that will be all ours, that was created by us (well, really God), and entrusted to us to raise and develop and protect... no small task!

Tonight is dinner with the in-laws... Tuesday night tradition that has consisted of Mike's mom cooking, serving, and cleaning up while I either sit down (Tuesdays I stand... a lot) or sleep on their "not made for sleeping on" couch, exhausted from standing, eating, and generally just living. Maybe someday I'll be that lovely daughter-in-law that is helpful and productive and a joy to be around... give me 6 weeks or so! Most of the time, while I'm sleeping, the rest of the family is playing a game and being all "family-like"... I guess thats what I get (being discluded) since I can't keep my eyes open even a little bit as soon as the meal is finished.

And tomorrow - Tutti Frutti with my dear friend Katie after only a half day of work!! Oh the joys of half days! I'm sure I'll be less than productive, it's kind of my thing these days, but I'll enjoy it in a "full of guilt my husband works so hard and I hardly do anything" sort of way. Its not the truth, I just sometimes feel that way. Darn him for being so workaholic-like. I know I carry this trait too...where is it these days??

33 1/2 weeks ft. Lara



Auntie's getting excited... :)




She's really in there??



And just because we'e featuring her, here are a couple of pictures of her playing with her nephew, Mr. Buckley Michael Deyle (his true full name).
-these pictures were taken a couple of months ago, and are just now making their debut

That was fun... but now I'm exhausted

Worst 1st of May ever...

Really? Must it be this cold when it is supposed to be the start of summer season? Mike and I agree that we practically had frostbite from walking around our  neighborhood handing out the May Day baskets. I just cannot believe it is this cold! It also sucks all my ambition away. I had a nice list of things that I would like to get done... and it probably won't happen. Oh well I guess!

I was a little worried that it would be awkward walking from house to house in our neighborhood. Some people saw us, but nobody said anything. We got a couple of good long stares, which kind of annoys me since you wouldn't think walking door to door would be the weirdest thing you've ever seen. I remember people dropping stuff off on our deck all the time growing up... its just kind of unheard of in our neighborhood. Everyone lives in their backyards, and the front door is just about unused. I even wonder if some of the baskets will go unnoticed for more than a couple of days since the front doors are not the first choice. I have to admit that we have not noticed things on our doorstep in the past... we'll see!

I want warm weather... on a weekend... Please God give us a beautiful weekend soon!

Happy May Day!

This is what I started with. Well, really I started with tissue paper, pipe cleaners, etc... but that's boring to photograph

With the help of my bible study girls, I got about 120 of these done! Fun to make, but not in large quantities

the "baskets"

crepe paper stuffing

candy to go in the basket

the invite going to our  neighbors so we can hopefully get to know them in a couple of weeks

finished product

doesn't look like much, does it? can you believe it took  me all day today to make these?

I always manage to make little projects into huge projects. We will invite 36 neighbor families and we hope that 9-10 actually show up. We'll see! May 15th - you will come very quickly... hopefully the prep for that doesn't kill me.

Time to go take a great afternoon nap. I have to take these while I can! In six short weeks (or so) I'll be getting 2 hr naps in... and no good sleeps in...right? :)

OH BTW. Avatar was fine... but not amazing. It reminded me of every other "we're destroying the planet and dooming ourselves" movies. I'd probably watch it again, but wouldn't pay for it!

Any ideas for a good Mexican supper for tomorrow night? Can't be too hard because my sister will be making it without our supervision (she's not as bad in the kitchen as she thinks she is, I swear!) and she has a ton of schoolwork that needs to get done... 2 weeks left is what I hear for all my lovely students friends/family members.

Ok for real this time, I need me a nap!

Best appointment ever

I cannot believe what a difference time of day makes. I've heard it a million times, that having your appointment early in the morning is so much better because you don't have to wait for all the appts that went late during the day. My appointment was at 8:15 and I got there right on time. I was out the door by 8:45. That is impressive and all, but what really got me was how much nicer everyone was!! That alone is worth having our appointment early on in the day. I can honestly say I have no complaints about my appointment today.

PLUS I only gained 2 lbs. :) Thats less than a lb a week and I am very happy with that. Too bad my doctor was gone and I couldn't brag in his face. Oh wait - I'm not doing this for him? Thats right, its to keep my child healthy... how  quickly we get off track.

Tonight we are watching Avatar. Obviously we've heard good things but we are going in with no expectations. We'll see.

Here's a little peak of what else has been accomplished at Sarah's art and crafts store:

The fitted sheet experiment worked! I really truly did make these myself. And they fit the mattress. Only thing I'd change is that I would have less elastic so they would be a bit more snug. Nothing I can't fix next time! (And yes there has to be a next time... I already have the fabric for the green fitted sheet)

Latest thing that I have been working on is making tissue paper flowers for the May Day baskets I'll be distributing throughout the  neighborhood. 40 in all - call me crazy ambitious! I have time on Saturday but really just hope that it doesn't take the entire day. Mike sounds like he will be ambitious this weekend and we might be able to get a ton done. We can only hope?

Wait did I not tell you ALL the things we got done last weekend??

• Finally got rid of  borrowed  a dresser to my sister which now leaves room for one of the many dressers upstairs to move to a more permanent home
• Bought a new washer (review of that to come in the near future)
• Picked out carpet for our rug in the baby's room
• Bought a ceiling light and a matching mini lamp for the baby's room
• Bought a ceiling light/fan for our room

That is progress people! Another weekend like that could really get us in a good place... Lets all just take a moment in prayer... :)

I better pay attention to this movie. Its looking weirder and weirder each minute.

Week 32 picture

Because this dog is the biggest goon I know... I had to pick this picture.

I realize that I am 33 weeks along...but losing the USB cord doesn't help me upload pictures! I'll try to keep it in a safe place for next time. :)

2 months, wait what??

Things I need/want to get done before the baby is here:

• Frame around window in her room
• Buy replacement letters, paint them, hang them (boo failed attempt.. I need some motivation people)
• Make fitted sheet for crib (times two, I'm too adventurous for my own good sometimes)
• Get a rug
• Have a baby shower or two
• Find a place to put the toys she won't be old enough to use for a while

And those are just the things in the baby's room! There are so many other things... and I get a head of myself ever so quickly. Lets make this a bit less overwhelming...

Today I will mop the floor. I will also empty the hamper that is currently filled with the clothes I cannot wear now (out of sight out of mind thus far because I miss them, as shallow as that is).

My sister moved the dresser that was in there to our bedroom. Now there are four dressers in our room... it's getting comical up in there! I'm even hoping that Michael may have time clean out one or two of the "old" dressers so we can move those this weekend to our downstairs guest room. Rotating dressers just keeps the rooms taking turns with the humor. Someday maybe we'll have a normal amount of dressers per room?? What is the proper ratio for that anyway?

Rambling thoughts all day long about 30 topics a minute...exhausting!

Lazy lazy

I have done nothing productive this weekend. Well that's not entirely true, but when you look at the long list of things/projects I have started and have not finished, what the heck was I thinking?? I need to get going on this stuff or I will be completely overwhelmed. I could use the excuse "waiting for Mike to get me..." or something along the lines of "don't have what I need so I'll have to wait until..." but either way, I could have found something that I could check off my internal "hurry up and get done" list.

On a fun note, we are babysitting Scooter and Chloe, my friends Katie and Jarrod's little dachshunds...



Jarrod with Scooter and Chloe


Cuties, huh? Katie and I went to high school together and managed to somehow stay connected and stay pretty strong friends all these years later (I sound like I'm 74, and I'm fine with that.)

This lady is awesome. She's lost a ton of weight by working with Weight Watchers and working out consistently and is the smallest she's ever been. Pretty much my hero! I told her that once the baby is here, she needs to be my personal trainer/motivator. She said she's ok with that so I'm going to hold her to it!

Anyways, they got to go to Arizona while we stayed in the chilly rain here, and we are in charge of these pups for the next couple of days.  Favorite part of today so far: we had a rodeo on the tv, and every time the bull was let out, Scooter absolutely freaked out barking and jumping all fierce. This made Chloe freak out, and Buckley, being his normal adorable self, ran to the door to see what all the barking was about (up the stairs and another room away from where Scooter was barking). He has no idea what is going on most of the time. I think they are a little high energy for my large, slow dog.

My only fear is running over the little shadow that is always behind me.Chloe is the sweetest girl but seriously she's tiny and I might step on her. I make no promises.

K here is a pic of Katie: She's the best... Happy Sunday night you all!



(taken from her facebook page)



Bassinet dilemma

I cannot figure out if we need a bassinet or not.


When looking for a bassinet, I've noticed that a decent one costs anywhere from $80-$200. I cannot justify spending that much money on something that will only be used for 2 months...

But then I think of how often I'll have to wake up to feed her, and how convenient it will be to just role over and pick her up. On the other hand, her bedroom is literally 10 steps away. It wouldn't be much different than me getting up to go to the bathroom every couple of hours like I have been doing already.

I found one that I like:

Its from Ebay and its actually quite cheap ($45 with shipping). So what do you think? Do I need it? I know its cute and would definitely look great in our room, but can I get by without it? Is this something I will not regret skipping if we don't get one? So many questions...

 

My friend Jen pointed out that it won't rock. So there is another question. Is it important that it rocks? Will Josie really notice the difference if she never experiences a "rocking bed" to begin with?

 

Lets hear some feedback please. I'm feeling lost here!

Room update

So I need you to know that this room is nowhere near done... I just thought that I would put up some pictures of our progress thus far. Its getting close, just some rearranging and a couple more purchases of necessary items are needed before we are ready to welcome a baby.



Tree decal minus the birds that we'll put up once the room is mostly done





Crib!




Changing table, with a bunch of junk "hidden" beneath the cushion on top ;)



Mike's riding horse from when he was young

Tea set from Mike's mom. Not sure where these will be but they are cute!



Blessings

Sometimes I find myself complaining more than pointing out all the wonderful things, so in order to right that wrong, here are the blessings I am so thankful for (pregnancy-wise) everyday.

• I have had no complications to speak of
• The swelling and water retention that I thought was just starting and would last all throughout the rest of my pregnancy has minimalized so much that I hardly notice it
• I only have 2 1/2 months left, and the rate my stomach is popping out just assures me that she is growing and getting really  close to meeting us!
• I'm not sick at all and can enjoy foods again
• And of course, the best part - - I get to feel more and more of her movements and activity as she stretches, turns, gets used to her body parts, and lets me know she's alive and kickin (literally). Its so fun to just watch my stomach move and feel all the different jabs and kicks! Especially now, since she isn't as crowded...she hasn't really attacked the ribs yet and only goes for the bladder every now and then.

Mike and I are going to the circus tonight. I won the tickets from work, and when I went to tell Mike about them, his response was "Isn't Josie a little young for this? We'll be going to stuff like this all the time in just a couple of years". I of course cannot wait. I haven't been to the circus since I was a kid and think it will be fun for a Friday night event, especially since it will be done by 9 so I can get in bed and get ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to get the crib and changing table! My mom, Mike, and I are all driving down to the cities to load it up and bring it back. I'm sure we'll stop and shop along the way and one of the ways I got Mike to agree to going was promising and outing to Cabela's... he thinks he's getting another gun, can you believe it?? :)

You know what that means - more pictures once the room is set up. I'll keep you updated, don't you worry, readers!

Caffeine

My doc says that I can have two servings of caffeine a day which means two cups of coffee or one diet coke (really all the variety I would drink otherwise). This was all well and good when I was dying of thirst and drinking water like a camel, but I have not been nearly as thirsty lately and therefore my attention has turned to diet coke. Seriously, could it be more distracting? It might not help that I have a coworker who drinks 3-4 cans a day, or that the sound of a pop can makes my mouth water.

I do really enjoy coffee also, so the problem comes down to which one I have each day. Since its one or the other, it gets to be a hard choice. My current attempt at fixing this is the purchase of a twelve pack of caffeine free diet coke. It does wonders!! We'll see how long it "fills the need" since its not the real deal.

And today, I got a coffee from Caribou (favorite coffee place. ever). Here's the thing though - I ALWAYS get the white chocolate mocha, medium, with skim milk. Always. But then my seester got plain coffee with sugar and cream, and it was delicious (not to mention half the price). So I ventured out on my own and confidently  sheepishly ordered a plain coffee, hoping I could make the magic happen with the right combo of sugar and half/half.

IT WORKED. And I loved it! Goodbye $4.50 drinks, hello $2 drinks!

Baby steps people. You can't expect me to just love plain black coffee right away right?

So creamed coffee, caffeine-free diet coke, some water thrown in there.... no wonder I am using the restroom every half hour.

:)

Gotta love random posts!

Weekend Update

• My feet didn't get as swollen all week. Huge deal. I am not sure if I was unconsciously sitting more at work, drinking more water, wearing better shoes (don't think so... only have a couple of options!) or a combination of all. Either way, I am super thankful for this.
• I have now painted the baby room letters 2-3 times and they are just starting to look like something worth hanging up. Boring solid colors for now, hopefully add detail later. At this rate, I might get done... they day before the baby gets here. Yikes. I didn't realize I would need so many layers!
• Went to Target with my sister, spent over $75. Why is it so hard to spend less than $50? I don't think I've ever left Target without spending $50 or more. Target- you are not good for my pocketbook.
• Got to see sister's new apartment. She'll be living pretty nice in a brand new apartment, vaulted ceiling, her own bathroom! Best part is that she is only 5 min away from me! Or .6 miles away if you are planning on a nice jog or bike ride (which will most definitely take place this summer).
• There's talk of practice for a praise band in our church if I can get the youth group kids motivated. I cannot tell you how motivating this is for me since music is kind of my thing and these kids are king of my other thing. To combine the two would really be awesome. We have a potential drummer, guitarist (or two?), violinist (two for sure), and me on the piano for now. I'm not worried about singers at the time, so this could really happen! Anybody know of a young bass player? We could always do the bass line on the keyboard but you all know (or should know) that you can't replace a real bass.
• I'm getting super antsy for spring. Like dressing inappropriately kind of antsy. Don't get the wrong idea, nothing ridiculous. I just can't justify putting on a parka and boots when in my head spring is just about here! I'm ready for flip flops, sunglasses, sunburns (only a little please), no coats, and capris.
• Buckley has also caught the antsy bug. His amount of energy continues to astonish me... and he needs a walk. But I am not really feeling walking around on the ice outside. So he gets to wait. One more reason why spring needs to get here faster...
• I finished season two of "Dexter". What is it about this fictional character that makes me root for a serial killer?? Luckily, a coworker of mine is going to borrow me season 3 so we don't have to wait for Netflix to catch up and put it on their instant shows to watch.
• I worked on Saturday and got McDonald's for myself and a few other coworkers. Let me just tell you. If you have to work an extra shift, it needs to be wonderful. And this was a great start. Sometimes I just really like working on Saturdays. To my boss, who reads this: No thanks, one once in a while is enough for me :)
• I bought a new nail polish (my first OPI) and it is called Chihuahua bites. Yep -reddish/pinkish/orange piece of springlike heaven on my fingertips. I'm in love. It better last for a could week or so before I have to remove it. Thats my pet peave with nail polish... you get it perfect and it chips and looks stupid after just a day or two. Doesn't seem worth it in the long run but I just need  any reminder that spring is almost here that I can get. Because when I look outside - I'm not seeing spring!!
• Still ready for this baby to get here... Is it June yet?