My new favorite Christmas song.

Everyone I know thinks I’m nuts for absolutely loving this song… I walk around the house singing, “Mamacita… Donde Esta Santa Claus?” all the while doing a little dance step that goes along with it.  Imagine my left hand on my stomach, my right hand in the air and semi-mamba’ing across the room and you’ve got the mental picture down pat.  

I’m nuts… but this is slowly but surely helping me get my holiday groove back.  Take a listen:

Guster’s Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOganSDZyLM

Christmas Spirit – I has none.

I woke up this morning and thought it was Friday… AGAIN.  My timing for these holiday weeks is always off.  I realized today that it just doesn’t seem like Christmas is 1.5 days away.  I mean, shouldn’t I feel more?  Shouldn’t I be eagerly anticipating all the fun stuff that Christmas day brings (gifts, time with family, joyous celebrations, etc.) instead of feeling just so blah?

Sure, my presents are purchased and (mostly) wrapped – I’ll finish those up tonight while I watch Boise St. and BYU TCU duke it out in the Poinsettia Bowl – but I just can’t get it through my thick skull that Thursday is a holiday.  Maybe it’s because I have to work Friday, travel to Pennsylvania on Saturday, and then turn right back around and come back on Sunday?  I dunno.  I DO know that Christmas with my family is going to be especially rough this year as it’s the first we’ve had without my Grandma.

Ben and I haven’t decorated the house this year mostly because our Christmas stuff is buried behind lots and lots of cabinets and other miscellaneous items that made their way into our basement.  We even skimped on decorating the tree choosing the simplicity (ha! we’re just lazy!) of white lights and the awesome bow with long tendrils that Ben crafted for the top last year.  I don’t even have my Christmas Santas out 😦

I think we’re going to try a new tradition of going to see a movie on Christmas Eve – just the two of us.  Of course, this could be the shortest lived tradition on record as we’ll have a 7 month old daughter (OMG, I’m going to pass out just thinking about it!) at this time next year.  Maybe next year we’ll have to settle for watching a movie at home… hellllooooo James Bond on the big screen downstairs with a fire?

So yeah, I’m kinda down in the dumps with the holidays and don’t know why.

It’s a…. it’s a… it’s a…

GIRL! 

Yeah, color me surprised.  I’m pretty disappointed that my maternal instincts have let me down from the get-go.  I thought for sure that it was a boy.  The only drawback is that the baby (from here on will be referred to as ‘she’) was being extremely modest by having her legs tightly crossed and her knees drawn up into her chest so that it was difficult to get a 100% definitive answer.  We’re going to have to settle for an 80% chance that it’s a girl.

She’s got long legs and long arms – don’t know where she got that from seeing as how I’m only 5’4; Ben isn’t much taller at a little under 6 feet.  She’s also dead on for weight at her ‘age.’  No obvious defects that the doc can see – everything today was pretty much what you’d hope for in an ultrasound.  We’ll have pictures up soon – they’re not very definitive but hey, it’s a baby.  One problem was that she was positioned directly behind my belly button (no wonder it’s getting more shallow!) and the belly button was casting weird shadows on the u/s.

Ben and I are really going to get the nursery project going full tilt here shortly.  We need to get all the ‘stash and dash’ stuff from the room that will become the nursery out of  there – and this time I’m going to go THROUGH it instead of just dumping it somewhere else.  We’ve got a fun week of clearing out, sorting, organizing, filling nail holes, and taping the woodwork so that Ben can paint.  One benefit of being pregnant – there’s not gonna be a paintbrush in THESE hands for the next few months.  I’ll keep you posted with our progress.  I’d take before & after pictures if I wasn’t so ashamed of its current state *sigh*

Went to dinner with the folks – his and mine – to do the great reveal.  It was funny because our family was evenly split between boys and girls.  Learned that the baby absolutely LOVES hot fudge sundaes 😀  She started wiggling up a storm a few minutes after Mom and I shared our ice cream.  Speaking of which, she’s pretty darn active now, too.  It’s funny that now I know where she is I’m more in tune with her movements.  Thank goodness she’s nowhere near my bladder *whew*.

Today is the day!

Our appointment is at 11AM ET.  I should have pictures and a definitive verdict of boy or girl by 1PM. 

Ben’s official prediction: girl

My official prediction: boy

I’m going to dodge all phone calls from my family until we get together this evening for dinner.  I know, I’m evil 😉

The Great Snoogle Experiment

I’ve been sleeping with the Snoogle for the past 2 nights and I’m still undecided.  There’s pretty much three sleeping configurations – curled up inside the C, backwards C, and freestyle.  Here’s a breakdown of the last few nights…

10:32PM – Inside C.  Aaaahh… finally, enough support for my head, a pillow between my knees that I don’t have to adjust every 10 seconds, and support for my back so that I’m not tempted to roll on it every night.  Drawbacks include that the hand supporting my head at the top of the C gets cold easily.

1:46AM – Backwards C.  I kinda like this position because you still have the head and knee support, but you can wrap your arms around the C part for more support in the front.  This is what I need because I have always been a stomach sleeper.

3:22AM – Freestyle.  Lying on my stomach, hand on the top part of the Snoogle and the rest of it is lying ON TOP OF ME.  How did this happen?  Readjust to Inside C position. 

Last night pretty much the same thing happened except that it became a Snoogle Prison!  I was trapped in the backwards C position.  Then, I attempted to roll over with both my body AND the Snoogle and it didn’t work very well.  Covers went everywhere, I got cold, and Ben started snoring.  Shortly after that I realized that while I had rolled over, the position was backwards – instead of Backwards C I was curled around the outside of the C.  Duh.

I’ll still keep sleeping with it… it may just take a little more getting used to.

Snoogle – it had better save the world.

So I’ve been havin problems sleeping lately and Ben finally convinced me to go to the dreaded Mega-Mart of all things infant – Babies R Us – to try to find something to help.  Derek, the guy who is in my weekly Team Weight Loss class and works at BRU, recommended something called the Snoogle.  I’m pretty frugal when it comes to purchases like this and didn’t really want to spend money when I thought I could do the same with pillows but to make Ben happy I went and promised to have an open mind. 

I’m a member of the genus Shoppus Reclusivis, noted most for its need to not have salespeople bother them.  Ben and I were perusing the entire support pillow area (there are more than you could imagine) trying to figure out the difference between the Boppy, the Amy Coe, the pregnancy wedge, and other assorted covers for those items.   I picked up the Amy Coe thingamajiggie and was trying to decipher what it would do for me, when the woman who was working at the registry desk leapt up and immediately started extolling the virtues of the Snoogle.

Apparently she’s having twins and swears that the Snoogle has saved her life and she can’t imagine her life without it.  She also let us know that she will continue to use it even after she has the babies because it’s so comfortable AND that she bought the extra cover (an additional $19.99) so that she can throw one in the washer and put the other one immediately on.  One testimonial is enough for Ben who convinces me to put down the Amy Coe device and get the Snoogle.  I made him carry it.

Next we headed to the baby furniture area because we need to let Mom know which furniture that we want.  I’m guessing we need to know by mid January and then we have to do our registry… oi yoi yoi.  Luckily, we quickly agreed on a crib style, changing table/dresser, and the bedding  – *whew*!

While we were checking out with the Snoogle Ben realized that the one we had picked out had already been opened and returned because there was hair all in the inside of the package!  Gross.  As he went to get another one from the shelf the lady behind us pipes up with HER experience with the Snoogle and how she just luuuuuuuvs it.  We managed to get it into the car without any further comments; I’m surprised that I didn’t have people ambush me while I was out doing the rest of my shopping with their experiences after catching just a slight glimpse of the Snoogle in the back of the Explorer. 

So tonight I begin the Great Snoogle Escapade.  I had best sleep like the dead, not wake up at 4 or 5 AM, and wake up to find that world peace is rampant.  I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Pregnancy Woes

Warning… this post may contain TMI for the faint hearted (read: male) reader.  Proceed at your own risk.

Baby Update – 21 Weeks

The countdown continues… only 1 more week until we find out if we’re having a boy or a girl.  I’m so jealous of our friend Alice who found out last week that she’s having a girl!

Here’s what’s going on with baby this week…

Your baby’s blood circulation is completely functional. The umbilical cord system continues to grow and thicken as blood travels with considerable force through the body to nurture the baby. The placenta is now almost equal in size to the baby.  This scares me somewhat and I don’t know why.

Your baby will be getting much larger during the second half of your pregnancy. Your baby’s crown-to-rump length at this time is 7.2 inches and she weighs approximately 10.5 ounces.  You should be able to feel your uterus about a half of an inch above your navel.  No kiddin’.  Your weight gain so far will be around 10 to 15 pounds. Ha!  Not this chica!

As your baby begins to lay down more fat, your weight will also increase. During the next 10 weeks, you will gain about half of the total gain for your entire pregnancy.  Strangers can now tell that you are pregnant!  Oh good… now they won’t just think I’m fat 🙂  You might notice an increase in appetite because you need 500 more calories a day to support your charged up metabolism. It is best to avoid processed foods or foods high in fat, calories or sugar.  Duh.  But it’s fun to break the rules sometimes.  I made Ben take me through the DQ drive thru Saturday… num!

Plans Interruptus

You know, life isn’t perfect and things don’t always go as planned.  I expected today to be a kind of laze around the house day with all I need to do is make devilled eggs and sausage dip for my dad’s birthday ‘party’ but those plans went out the window with an early morning phone call.  Now we pretty much have the rest of the day to ourselves (maybe).

So, now what?  I’m currently sitting on the couch in my pajamas with Ben… Shiloh is curled up between us.  I think I’m going to finish up the laundry left over from yesterday, wrap some more gifts, head to Andersons and pick out a new paint color for our bedroom (yes, we’re going to try to tackle it next weekend), and do some general clutter busting around the house.  I’ll definitely take time out at 4 to watch the Steelers game; maybe that’s a good time to get my Christmas cards finished.

Alrighty… enough dilly dallying around the house this morning.  Time for an invigorating shower 😀

Yesterday’s Accomplishments…

I’ve decided to focus on what I did get accomplished yesterday instead of my perceived failures.

• 1 hour of water aerobics – my legs got an awesome workout
• Baked lemon poppyseed muffins (they were from a box.. i’m not *that* Martha Stewart)
• Completely rearranged my walk-in closet including separating out summer clothes & shoes, stuff that doesn’t fit me at the moment, and stuff I’ll never wear again to give to charity
• Eliminated the dust bunnies hiding in the closet and on the ceiling fan
• Did 5 loads of laundry

Ben made me stop around 3 so we could run errands.  A quick jaunt to Target (seriously, how could I be out of deoderant?) and also the promised 1/2 Price Books reward!  I found a Kim Harrison novel I hadn’t read, an audiobook for my mom, and a tv series for my dad, and Ben found a book by an author he was surprised to see there.  I made him stop at Dairy Queen and get me a hot fudge sundae 😀  In return he got a triple triple from Tim Horton’s – we were both winners.

I worked on a new goals page – how I did mine – and also started my 90 day action items offline.  I’m excited to work with Ben to get the accomplished.