"Don’t Agonize. Organize."

~Florynce R. Kennedy

Today Anthony and I had the pleasure of having the same day off together. We snuggled and cuddled and napped the day away. I did make a taco bar for dinner and did a bunch of dishes...why does it always seem that every time I leave the kitchen, the dirty dishes seem to grow from the cabinets?!? Luckily, the Salvation Army came and picked up items today (or at least someone came and loaded them into a truck). Today was a beautiful day: Ms. Kate turned 6!!! and a school friend found out she is having a girl!!! So happy to be surrounded by the joys of life! I organized scrapbooking supplies a little and watched a new show with Tony that is kind of addicting: Pawn Stars on the History Channel; you should check it out! Tomorrow I am babysitting for the new nanny family for most of the morning, as well as dropping off a birthday gift and a comment to our home owner's association about our dues and paying for a bulk cable provider as part of those dues (boo!).  Other than that, it was nice having a day at home with the husband! On a side note, I LOVE fresh (chilled) watermelon for a mid day snack-YUM! Good night, monkey! Hugs and kisses from Mom and Dad. I still can't get over how calm you seem to be compared to other mom's tales about their babies being more active around this time.

Another lesson: "In the summer, the song sings itself."-William Carlos Williams. Today is the last day of August and summer for most people. What a nice California summer we had. I think this phrase lends itself to something similar like, "stop and smell the roses," or "appreciate the present." Very fitting for the 31st of August, 2010! What a fruitful, love-filled, memorable, warm, relaxing, family-and-friends-abounding summer we've had! We're so blessed!

·         In the summer, the song sings itself.-William Carlos Williams

"Gardening Requires Lots Of Water-Most Of It In The Form Of Perspiration."

~Lou Erickson

Looking outside today, I made a mental note of yard work for the next week/weekend. Hopefully, I can talk my husband and mother-in-law to work on the items with me. These yard to do list items are: pulling weeds, lawn mowing, edging, bush/hedge trimming, vegetable plants pulling, and spraying weeds with weed killer. With the weather being a little cooler than it has been, I am hoping to get all of the duties done before the end of the weekend so that once Labor Day rolls around, we are set for the end of the summer, lawn-wise. I am hoping that next year's garden bares more fruit than this year. I'm not sure if it was because we planted too late, if the abnormally "cool" Sacramento summer we had, if it was the clay-like ground it was planted on, or a combination of all of the above, but sadly we hardly got any of our garden to grow the way we had intended. Out of planting cilantro, cucumber, onion, tomato, red pepper, green pepper, and jalapenos, we got ONE cucumber that was edible (although it didn't look too tasty), 5 tomatoes, and a few of the other items that grew but were in no way to be considered edible or appetizing to the eye. It was a good first try, and hopefully our garden will get better year by year!

I got a package from my mom this morning of twenty tape runners for scrapbooking! Now, I can work on it for the rest of the week. I also checked into an issue we had with Tony's phone and still being called from the call box of our old apartment, our life insurance monthly payment not being consistent with what we've been quoted, and a telemarketer who's been hounding us about an air purifier.

After stopping at the bank to deposit the babysitting money from last night, picking up the mail, and running a few errands, I came home and hopped on google. Mikee had me checking craigslist for free items that I told her were there: a cat scratch tree, an upright piano, dining room chairs, etc. as opposed to paying money for new items. We shall see what becomes of the search once people email me back. I was also able to find an apartment that she may be interested in. We've decided to go check it out on Friday after work or Saturday while we're on her "new work clothes" shopping date.

I made some veggies, rice, and tender chicken for an Lindsay version of stir fry tonight. Tony has been uncomfortable the last few days with gas, so I had a whole fiber buffet laid out for him when he came home from work tonight. Tony also is interested in getting a leaf blower (we have no trees, hence no leaves...but he wishes to use it to blow grass clippings and wood chips off the sidewalks/driveways/patios). I enlisted the help and advice of my dad and printed out suggestions for Ant to check into when we have the finances available.

Calling the Salvation Army to get answers for why Saturday's scheduled pickup never happened, I am left with no answers but only assurances that there WILL be a pickup sometime tomorrow. Time will tell.

"If You Wish To Forget Anything On The Spot, Make A Note That This Is To Be Remembered."

~Edgar Allan Poe

Mikee and I started out the morning by getting gas for the car, getting a car wash, picking up a few necessities at Target, and getting some info about a possible new futon for her at the futon store downtown. Ultimately we didn't order anything because nothing should be decided until the future plans for Mikee and Nikki and their living arrangements in the future are set in stone. It was still good to see the prices and see what we liked because everything looks so different when you see it online. We came back home where I watched movies, finished birthday gifts for upcoming birthdays, and made soup and grilled cheese for a late lunch.

At 4pm I returned some items at Walgreens and drove through the neighborhood assessing the "aftermath" of yesterday's yard sale and to see if I was the only one with Salvation Army pickup items STILL out at the end of the driveway. Turns out that not only was I not the only one with a scheduled pickup that didn't come as promised, but that there were some people who were taken advantage of the free goodies on the sidewalks. I don't have a problem with this in principle, but they were flinging items everywhere and making a mess so I was hoping that I wouldn't have to come home and clean it up.

Deciding to just "get over it" and let what was going to happen, happen, I drove off to see three special children. A, R, and K have grown so much and it was so great to see them again! I got to see Ms. K's birthday booty from yesterday's unicorn party, hear about Mr. R's speedy reading and awesome time in his new 3rd grade class, and Mr. A's awesome time with soccer and the get together's he's had recently. Mr. A had grown the most since I had seen them a month and a half ago and I think he was quite a few inches taller and a few years older in that time. It was sad that I didn't get to spend more time with them, as I started babysitting at dinner and before I knew it, it was bedtime. It was nice catching up with Mrs. K and I hope I get to babysit again, soon!

After working so much (Anthony) and me being up so early, Tony and I are both ready for bed. We are going to watch a little something and cuddle in this beautifully cool summer evening! It was so perfect today at 79 degrees that we had the windows open and the air conditioner off. The breeze made everything absolutely stunning (along with the sun-shiny sky) and I was hoping we have a few more days of this type of weather in our future! I wouldn't mind a whole season or two of weather like it was today!

Monkey, I feel like you are growing faster and faster now, as today I officially committed myself to maternity shirt AND skort as I felt it was necessary. You really are helping make mom's need to tell people she's pregnant unnecessary! Love you, sweetie pie! God bless my growing belly and the little girl who's on her way!

"A Good Home Must Be Made, Not Bought."

~Joyce Maynard

It is so nice to be rid of all of our clutter, excess...and dare I say, JUNK! Everything that didn't sell has been donated to the Salvation Army (although they have not made their 2pm scheduled pick up as per the email I received, so not quite sure what happened with that). We were able to sell about half of our stuff and that was more than I had expected to sell, because I quite honestly felt it wasn't that great of a selection. Of course, the items that I did think had value and would sell right away are back in our garage waiting to be sold on craigslist sometime this week, hopefully. The money that we made was used to buy some of my prenatal vitamins, fiber vitamins, fiber powder packets, and a few more groceries at Costco. It was a nice day out in the front yard, people watching, neighbor visiting, and it was so nice to have a "cool" Sacramento day. It was overcast, windy and in the mid 70s. Somehow, I managed to get a severe burn on my face and chest, but I'm just glad it wasn't in the 100s like last weekend. We started setup at 6 o'clock this morning and we had our first 20 customers starting at 7am (even though we didn't open until 8am). After 10am we had only 7 buying customers, as most people came earlier rather than later. All in all, it was a nice morning outside and I'm just happy we were able to get rid of all of our unwanted/unused items.

We cleaned up the garage, put stuff away, put the new groceries away, and took a nice shower. Because I was up since 4am (had to pee and was unable to go back to bed), I am more than happy to head to bed for the night. Buenas Noches, California! xoxox

"A Misty Morning Does Not Signify A Cloudy Day."

~Unknown

Let's hope that is true for tomorrow for so many reasons! Tomorrow is a little friend's 6th birthday party, a love filled day for a friend and her family, and a big block yard sale. We shall see what tomorrow brings!

As for today, I have to tell you that I decided I need to make an appointment with the doctor based on this morning's activities (or lack there of). After one or two days of napping, I could easily write it off as "catching up on sleep" or that perhaps Monkey was going through a growth spurt that was helped by my resting. It seems, though, that this has been an ongoing thing all week and now I'm concerned about why I'm tired. I slept last night (not extremely well, but slept nonetheless), woke up to use the bathroom and kiss my husband good bye (he was off to work) and then proceeded to sleep until 11:45am. I am thinking that when my anemia seems to kick in, I usually get a tired sensation. Perhaps this is my body's way of telling me that with the every growing baby belly, perhaps I need to ask a doctor if there is anything wrong. My hope is that I might just need to increase my daily iron supplement for the remainder of my pregnancy. I will schedule an appointment for next week and hopefully it's an easy fix.

Today I stopped by the neighbor lady's house again to pick out some of her maternity clothes she was going to sell in the yard sale. It's so nice having a VIP shopping experience! Anyway, I walked away with 8 maternity items for $30...not too shabby! I did a "boat load" of dishes, went grocery shopping, unpacked the groceries, and finished all of the last minute yard sale info/emails/organizing/pricing/signing before tomorrow morning. I hope we get a lot of traffic at tomorrow's sale and that we are able to sell a lot of our stuff! It'll be so nice to have our garage cleaned out from all of our "sale" piles (the Salvation Army truck is scheduled to pick up all of our unsold items after the sale tomorrow).

Tony and I agreed to snuggle while watching a "Friends" DVD, so I am going to head to bed so I can get up bright and early for a good sale day! I'm excited that it's only supposed to be a high of 76 tomorrow...finally, a nice cool weekend! And then, the rest of the day will be errand running with Mikee.

To our Monkey: Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, see you in the morning light! (On a side note-and a gross note-bed bugs are in the news right now as a big issue in the midwest. So happy we don't have THAT problem!)

"When There Are No Words…Know That Silences Are Carrying The Thoughts And Prayers Of All Who Love You."

~Dawn Dais

First, I would like to take a moment to send a prayer out to my friend and her family. Her father is fighting cancer and right now the family could really use peace, comfort, and understanding in this difficult time. Oprah Winfrey once said, "Breath. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure." I feel like that is really true for what they are going through right now. All our love with the Colemans!

This morning began by making 35 MORE yard sale signs to hang around the neighborhood. Aside from a plethora of emails from more people wanting to participate and trying to coordinate emails/addresses/etc, I also spent the morning doing dishes, laundry, and cleaning. I almost dumped over the recycling bin while trying to bring it out to the side of the road for pick up tomorrow and luckily the only casualty was the skin on the top of my little toe. I was able to "pre-shop" a yard sale down on the south side of the development and found a bunch of baby clothes (14 outfits AND a swim hat) for $20 and I will most likely be back tomorrow to get some maternity clothes from the same family/lady.

I was at a loss for how to prepare tonights chicken (served with asparagus and rice) but ended up pouring random things to saute it in. I think the overall flavor was good. Some of the ingredients I remember putting in are: soy sauce, mustard, onion, garlic, salt, water, and syrup. You should actually try it. It made the chicken very juicy and tender and not a single piece of meat was left by the end of the meal.

Today marks the end of the 22nd week of monkey baby's continual growth. She had her foot pressed against my left ribs all day but didn't really move at all.  I have to tell you that last night's cold shower felt soooooo good, but unfortunately I didn't make it to bed before Tony fell asleep. Instead, I spent a little extra time shaving my legs and doing a fluoride treatment on my teeth (something I need to do during pregnancy to help with the increased chance of getting a cavity). My legs felt so nice...it really is the SMALL things that make a difference!

I was happy to not have to clean up any pet pee/barf today (my "welcome home" present yesterday after babysitting) and got a chance for a nice leisure walk around the north side of the neighborhood today. Right now I'm listening to Project Runway in the background and am determined to finish the blog before 9pm. So, with that, I will sign off. Sending love and serenity to those closest to me and those around the world who are not alone! Good night and God bless!

Hugs to you, sweet princess! Mom loves you more than you know!

"If You Have A Preference, Voice It. If You Have A Question, Ask It. If You Want To Cry, Bawl. If You Need Help, Raise Your Hand And Jump Up And Down."

~Unknown

I think another thing that should be added to that quote is to "Only Ask Help From Others For That With Which You Are Also Willing To Help With." That would be my addition AND my lesson for the day.

This morning started with a nice kiss from your Dad...boy do I love being woken up with a kiss. He made me his delicious oatmeal for breakfast and then sadly had to leave for work. I unfortunately spilled some of my pink fiber drink down the front of my white tank top/pajama top this morning at breakfast time...maybe I should change my name to Janet Jackson and just accept the fact that I am a walking wardrobe malfunction.

Your Aunt Taylor was in the news last night being interviewed about a service that she had paid for and the service was not fulfilled even though she paid the amount. She wisely told everyone who would listen about her situation and got enough people to rally about the Chase Wellness Center in Virginia Beach to have a local news station cover the injustice. Good for her for standing up for herself!

While browsing around the internet this morning, I found an adorable link to a store that sells kids items AND the world's CUTEST website of a lady who caters and plans a whole myriad of parties but I specifically fell in love with how she organized the kids birthday parties and the baby showers (under the "Children" tab). Plus, her asthetic is AMAZING and super organized and she has such an eye for  design and simplicity. I could look at that website all day and not get tired. I am so amazed at the beauty of it all! I would love to throw parties like this for you, sweet angel. If your dad and I had oodles and oodles of money, I know who our party planner would be, hands down! Ah...to dream...

Some adorable boys and I had fun reading books, splashing in the pool, and reading this afternoon. I babysat for K and her family today and those two handsome young men of hers make me smile from ear to ear and giggle the whole time. It's hard NOT to enjoy yourself when you're in their presence.

When getting home from babysitting, I met up with a neighborhood lady to exchange some yard sale items and to collect a few signs. I made a pizza for dinner and got all of my sign-making supplies together for tonight's neighbor meeting. At Summer's house tonight, I was surprised that more neighbors did not show up to help make signs for the neighborhood yard sale. Perhaps it just wasn't a convenient night for most people, but at least a few showed up! We were able to make a few signs and get the BIG signs strategically placed. Tomorrow I will make a little project for myself to make a bunch of computer-generated "fluff" signs to fill up the neighborhood for the 18+families participating and to get as much traffic as possible.

Today was a record breaking temperature day...107 and boy did it feel like it! There have been hotter days, but never this late in the summer. On the other hand, we have not had AS many hot days as we traditionally have had in the past twenty-some years. Usually by this point we have had over twenty days above 100 degrees in the summer and at this point we're under ten. Tomorrow it is supposed to be fourteen degrees cooler than today and supposed to get cooler all week. According to our weatherman (and I know to take this with a grain of salt), by this weekend we will be in the 70s...which, if it happens will also be a record low for us in August.

I am super tired and need to take a shower and snuggle with your Dad before he falls asleep because I didn't get to see him too much today because I had only seen him for about 15 minutes after work until I had to leave to make garage sale signs and didn't return until about 9:45pm. I miss him so I have to let you go.

Oh, and on a happy note to leave you with, your Grandma K was just offered a new job today! She (as well as us) is so super excited about the new possibilities this job brings and we all know it will make her so much happier! Congratulations, Mikee!

"Dance Like No One’s Watching. Sing Like No One’s Listening. Work Like You Don’t Need The Money. Live Like It’s Heaven On Earth. Love Like You Have Never Been Hurt."

~Unknown

In my case, they WERE watching. They are ALWAYS watching. Even when you hope to God that they are not. I don't mean that to sound creepy nor do I mean that to sound like the intro to a really bad movie where you're being secretly taped...let me explain...

Have any of you ever woken up in the wee hours of the morning and decided there was no need to spend extra time combing your hair, rubbing the sleep out of your eye, brushing your teeth, or dare I say putting on a bra to just quick go grab something out of your car. Such was my fate today. Nikki had called saying she had lost her work ID badge somewhere at home and had asked if I would look for it. Not finding it in the house, I checked the driveway (quickly, mind you) thinking she may have dropped it on her way to her car. On the plus side, I did INDEED find her badge laying at the bottom of the driveway. Unfortunately, three of my closest neighbors had been entering their cars on their way to work at the same time I was trying to secretly operate my stealthy investigation. To only add to the embarrassment, I quickly slip my way inside and am so happy to close the front door only to brush my arm against something unusual. Yup, that's right, I had my pajama shorts on inside out! With the 3 WHITE tags hanging out and happily waving and my morning neighbors against my dark purple shorts, I'm sure I was THAT girl! Yup, the next unsuspecting star on a show of WHAT NOT TO WEAR. I swear I thought that I could easily slip out, check for the badge, and come back inside, undetected. Will I EVER learn my lesson? Does this qualify as another wardrobe malfunction?

Either way, I quickly changed my shorts to be facing the right side out and slipped on a bra. This was just a precaution in case I happened to have left my pride out on the driveway with my episode this morning and one of my nice neighbors decided to take pity on me and knock on our front door to return it. At least none of them tried to talk to me or have me wave them a work send off...they (rightfully so) pretended to not see me and drove off in the opposite direction as fast as their cars could carry them.

To add to the drama of the day, I have a question for you all. Do you ever notice something that you're not particularly fond of but out of respect for creating a non-confrontational living space with roommates, you over look this particular aspect. And then it happens again. And again. Such was the case of my disappearing fiber packets. Now, bare in mind that I have consume higher levels of fiber than the normal person to keep my stomach at ease. Because fiber doesn't happen to be the tastiest of all food, I relish in the few high-fiber items I can find that do NOT taste like cardboard. Of course, they come at a price, but if they make my stomach feel better and are tolerable (dare I say, tasty) to eat, the price is not an issue. That being said, I have found quite a few good finds, in case any of you are needing to supplement your diet. Sandwich Thins, Fiber Select Wheat Thins, Fiber One Bars, Cereal, Gummy Vitamins, muffins, Healthy Choice Dinners, Skinny Cow Ice Cream Bars, and ultimately, DRINK MIX POWDER (in packets or in a tub). Anyway, my packets have been "walking away" at a faster rate than what I had been drinking in the last week or two...so, naturally I had fingered a few suspects but to keep the peace in the house, I had chosen not to confront the culprits. This is the part in the story where my husband walks in to clear his cup and I happen to notice a pink rim around the bottom edge of his empty cup. This is also the point in the story where I put all of the pieces of the puzzle together...My HUSBAND has been the one stealing my packets. In a moment of desperation, as he likes to tell the story, he was "starving" and had to resort to a snack of flavored fiber water. Having low expectations, he was surprised to find how good it tasted AND has been enjoying MY fiber water since. Now, normally this would not be an issue except I take them kind of like a medicine, if you will and he is just helping himself to my medicine, tasty and non-prescription or not. I also feel terrible that I had been pointing the fingers at my mother in law and sister in law for the last week, thinking that they had been operating a undercover side operation to deplete my fiber sources. And here it was, my husband, the whole time. I should have known. Mystery is officially solved and now I know I need to allow more of my budget for fiber drinks, because ultimately, it's not a terrible thing for Tony to be drinking sugar-free, fiber water. Next time something starts disappearing, I know who my top suspect will be...

On a more positive note, I was able to speak on Skype with my favorite British lady this morning. The newlyweds were on their way back across the Atlantic today before heading off for a week long vacation on the Mediterranean. They looked happy, healthy, and in love and seemed to be full of energy, considering that they had a honeymoon in Kenya, a week long reception back in the states, and a big London wedding to kick start the nuptials. Either way, it was so nice to chat and I'm happy that they're happy!

Today I finished the work on the birthday present I talked about yesterday. I won't give too much away, but I have enclosed a sneak peak of one of the items just so you know what I spent time on today.

Tony made a delicious chicken, mash potatoes, cream of mushroom, and corn type of casserole today and I actually had two helpings. I will confess to another nap today, I'm wondering if I am getting lazy, if the baby is in the middle of a growth spurt, or if it's somehow a combination of the two. Tony had a dentist appointment today that was supposed to be a simple check up that turned into a crown replacement (they discovered a cavity under his most recent crown) and periodontal maintenance. His twenty minute appointment turned into four hours, but at least they caught it before it came a huge problem, he got it all taken care of in one visit, and it was at no additional cost to us (with the exception that Tony's dental allowance for the year is now maxed out on insurance, so anything else that comes up between now and the end of the year will be out-of-pocket). He was happy that it got him out of a day of work, because he was supposed to go in as soon as he got out of his appointment but by the time he got home, it was 2pm and work said it wasn't worth coming in for 2 hours.

I thought that I had been in the mood for chewy peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so I made some for dessert, however one quick steal of a dollop of the dough satisfied my craving, so the cookies are ready to be packed for lunches for tomorrow or a snack for the rest of the week. Perhaps I will bring them to share at the garage sale sign making meeting tomorrow night...hmmm...

Lesson #10 cuddle bug...learn to laugh at yourself. That's the greatest way to stay humble.

"Care No More For The Opinions Of Others, For Those Are Just Voices. Act For Yourself. Face The Truth."

~Katherine Mansfield

Productive day! Started off with some yummy brown sugar oatmeal from my honey. Then he headed off to work and I GOT to work! I sent off a bunch of emails, coordinated more items on our neighborhood website for things coming up in the next few weeks and planned a few meet ups with neighbors for some baby clothes exchanges for sometime later this week, did a bunch of dishes, and started in on the project of the week: SCRAPBOOKING.

I started out by organizing the stuff that I want to hang onto and the stuff I want to try and sell in the yard sale. I went through EVERYTHING: paper, stickers, albums, idea books, tools, embellishments, etc. After that, I separated all of my scrapbook stuff into sections, grouping everything by theme/layouts. I made sure I had the pictures, embellishments, paper, stickers for each of the things I needed to scrapbook. I picked the smallest project out of all of the separate sections of themes to work on, knowing full well that I had only HALF of a tape runner to work with until I ran out. I made some future layouts for my ticket stub scrapbook and didn't even finish that before running out of the glue. I knew that I had chosen the right project to work on because I would've been really frustrated to get "into" one of the other themes only to have to stop, so this had been a good decision on my part.

After some leftovers for lunch, Nicole picked me up to run to a local farmer's market off of Jackson. We started talking about baby names and that is where I got the idea for the quote for this blog's title. I was telling her about all of the baby name suggestions we have made and how I've been brutally honest with my reaction to the names and how I feel it only fair that you all are AS honest with me about names...because right now everything is in the hypothetical stage. In then end, we agreed that it would be a different story if our baby was born and then we were making less than supportive comments about name choices once there's an actual little girl involved and I know that you guys are way above that. It is more a matter of me being very open and blunt about how I react and I want to take this opportunity to apologize if I have offended any of you with my responses about name suggestions! Please know that I appreciate all of your suggestions, but ultimately, we are going to go for what is right for Tony, myself, and baby monkey!

When I got home, I worked on a birthday project for a friend coming up but I can't get more into it because I feel she may be reading my blog. Mom called and we chatted for awhile, then I had a nice evening with my husband, complete with dinner and watching Bachelor Pad while eating brownies. I gave him a hair cut (more accurately described as a shave) and then we cuddled. It was a good day with a great ending!

I am ready for bed and glad to have the friends and family surrounding us during our lives and during our pregnancy! Hugs!

Lesson #9 sweety, "A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though  he knows you are slightly cracked." Bernard Meltzer. Enough said. 

"If You Focus On Your Family, The Needs Of Others, Your Work, Meeting New People, And Doing The Very Best You Can, Happiness Will Find You."

~Unknown

It has been a rather uneventful day. This is not to be misunderstood as a bad day, just simply that it was a nice, slow-paced Sunday!

We had a little excitement in the morning when your Grandma K woke up to find her car alarm going off at 5:30am. This is not a good sign, as there have been an increasing number of neighborhood break-ins lately. She went out to investigate and noticed that someone had attempted to enter her vehicle from the driver's side window using a wire. Luckily, the effort had been thwarted by the noise of the alarm.

To get the morning off on a better start, I got right to work making some homemade pretzels.

They turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself...(and also they disappeared within an hour, so I'm using that as an indicator, as well).

I watched a couple movies, read a sweet email from one of my FAVORITE men (Mr. Kae) and painted my fingernails. Now, for those of you who know me well enough, you know that this is a big deal and a big step for Ms. Lindsay...I painted my nails red! Yes, you read that correctly: RED! I know, it's hard to believe. I think the world is coming to an end for me to freely pick out that color, but it DID happen. In the process, I did, however, drop my nail brush on our couch pillow and it rolled into three different areas. Perhaps that was a sign that forces are out of balance from my decision? Either way, some nail polish remover fixed the problem and after making some fresh fruit salad for lunch, all was right in the world of Lindsay Land. :)

As you can easily determine, I did not have a physically exhausting day by ANY stretch of the imagination, however, I somehow managed to be extremely tired around 1pm and took a 3 hour nap. I know, what a rough life I live, eh? When I woke up, I made a comment about how warm I was (a comment also shared by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law) to which my husband smiled like a cheshire cat and chuckled under his breath. Some of you may be aware of the battle I continuously have with my husband and his lack of desire to cool our dwelling below 80 degrees. I knew that his reaction implied the crime he had committed...while the ladies of the house were resting in their respected rooms, my dear, loving husband had taken it upon him self to sneakily raise the temperature in the house. Little did he realize that not ONLY do women pick up on slight temperature changes, but that the wrath of a pregnant woman in a California summer is not worth the trouble when air conditioning is involved. Hopefully he learned his lesson.

To show him I am forgiving (but NOT forgetful), I made a delicious dinner of breaded chicken, noodles, and spaghetti sauce followed by soft, fluffy brownies. After a nice shower to cool off and the trimming of Tony's cuticles, I am now ready for bed. Now, now...for those of you raising your eye brows (or shaking your head) at my last confession...YES, I do trim my husband's nails and cuticles about once a week. It is some nice shared time that we have after a shower in which I get to pick at his nails. This is something I really enjoy doing, and truth-be-told, he actually enjoys, too! It makes his nails look nice and I think it also allows me to keep my nails long because I don't seek cutting my own nails down to nothing because I have his to entertain me with. If you want another confession, I also partake in manicuring/pedicuring my sister-in-law's and nanny kids' nails on occasion as well as my father's when I see him. I know I sound extremely weird by admitting this strange habit of mine, but like you will come to learn, I willingly over-share, go beyond normally accepted human boundaries, and have no problem telling everyone about my idiosyncrasies. If I haven't grossed you out, stay tuned for another blog where it will most likely happen. Either way, thank you for laughing WITH me instead of AT me! :)

Lesson #8 our sweet cupcake: Be whoever it is you are meant to be. Make no excuses, for you only want to surround yourself with people who appreciate who you REALLY are!  "You are unrepeatable. There is a magic about you that is all your own!"-Dellinger.


Now, if I could only seem to get myself on to a schedule where I am not entering my blogs so late, this may be a really good thing I've got going. I have a feeling that my entries will start to get earlier and earlier, so I won't worry about it too much right now. 


Oh, and thank you, Mom, for ordering me some adhesive for my week of scrapbooking starting tomorrow! I really appreciate it and it will help me get a lot of work done (as I promised) with regard to pictures and album organizing!




Buenas Noches! 

"An Unhurried Sense Of Time Is In Itself A Form Of Wealth."

~Bonnie Friedman

While leisurely reading Craigslist posts this morning, I stumbled upon a listing for a natural wood children's bed with storage underneath. It was in beautiful condition at a garage sale in Folsom, so Tony and I hopped in the car for their 7:30am opening. We got there to find out it was not priced at a garage sale price, but we told ourselves it just wasn't "meant to be." On the way home we had a nice conversation about the wonderfully cool morning we were sharing and stopped off at Home Depot to buy some shims for our A/C  water tray and some extra lawn sprinkler heads to replace the two heads that weren't working properly. As soon as we got home, Tony got  to work on putting in the shims and switching out the sprinkler heads.

I watched one quick episode of our recorded episodes of Clean House before Nikki and Tony left to go look at computer/gaming stuff and Mikee and I left to run errands. We stopped off at the gas station, the bank,  ASPCA to get Sugar her license, Costco for some groceries, and Home Depot for more shims for the A/C unit. When we got home, we washed all of the new tupperware that Mikee had bought, put away all of the groceries, and washed all of our new fruit. We celebrated a successful day of errands by treating ourselves to some homemade grilled cheese sandwiches, pickles, and watermelon. Sadly, the sandwiches didn't hit the spot we were hoping they would because we were out of our grilled cheese cheese and had to substitute (unsuccessfully) with shredded mexican cheese.

Anthony and I took a bike ride around Anatolia where we were able to stop in at five different open houses. Is it just me, or when did open house day move to Saturday? Another surprise was that there was not a single garage sale going on? Since when is Saturday not THE day for garage sales? Am I backwards or what? It made me think I was going crazy!

After getting home, I did some www.metrolistmls.com stalking to see what the market looks like in our area until it was time to leave for babysitting tonight.

Those two boys are quite possibly the world's BEST snugglers! They are so happy go lucky, goofy, fun-spirited, and well behaved young men! I wish I didn't have to put them to bed so I could have spent more time with them!!! I can see why they are growing up to be such amazing men...their parents are so nice, thoughtful, and sincerely kind hearted! That whole family is so blessed and I am so lucky to share these moments with them!

While the two little men were sleeping, I borrowed a book of K's called "Eat, Pray, Love"...some of you may have heard of the movie that's out now, starring Julia Roberts. I only got to the 30th-ish page, but it was definitely good so far! I think when I go back on Wednesday I may read a few more pages if the boys are napping in tandem.

Either way, it was a nice and relaxing, yet fulfilling day! I am SO ready for bed as soon as I take my prenatal vitamin. Good night to the peacefully cool Sacramento Valley and sleep tight to my little angel! xoxo

"Everyone Has A Photographic Memory. Some Just Don't Have Film."

~Unknown

Sometimes I can't remember what I am doing as I'm am on my way to go do it...does anyone have this? Is this a pregnancy thing? (Please say, "YES!") I may need to have my head checked out...please tell me I'm not the only one who is having this issue.

This morning I spent a good while scrapbooking and journaling in a "Baby's First Year" album. One of my favorite things I have from my childhood is a Hallmark Baby's Journal where my mom recorded pregnancy thoughts, family information, and a plethora of my "firsts" from growing up. I attached pictures of Monkey's family and friends and added as much pre-birth data as I was able. I also started work on my scrapbook organizing in our closet.

Aside from having a nice phone chat with Mom (Grandma Wipp) and conversation via Skype with (Uncle) Logan, I was also able to instant message a few people on Facebook. Cheryl was worried about the Wisconsin weather, and Mr. Steve-O was making no excuses for his wife, who was supposed to have a virtual date with me.

I enjoyed an afternoon of watching "The Proposal" with some homemade white kettle popped popcorn and some kiwi strawberry fiber drink. I was surprised to see how many people had "bra" advice to share with me! I really appreciate it and think that I am going to try out these...look forward to my review of them the next time I go shopping and am able to give 'em a "test run." Thanks, Hailee for the suggestion! It looks promising plus when we (and by we, you all know I really mean "I"...) get to nursing, I feel like it will double it's use!

Let's see, I unfortunately did NOT get a chance to go to the pool or on a bike ride (as planned) today, nor did I do the house cleaning I was planning on. However, I did make my sweet hubby a nice dinner of chicken, steamed veggies, and rice. Tomorrow him and I will work on shimmy-ing the drainage panel of the A/C unit, weeding, bike riding, swimming, and getting some cleaning done.

Knowing that it's not entirely helpful at the moment, but I have found quite a few cute and dare I say, flippin' A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E monkey ideas on various websites while I was postponing my scrapbooking. (Oooh, which reminds me...I am officially on my LAST tape runner, so Mom, if you are reading this BEFORE you make your run to buy some more for yourself tomorrow, could you PLEASE pick me up some too...you can use my profits from the garage sale. Thanks!)

Here are the Top 10 links I've found today:

1. Here's the website I found where I got the idea of the nursery's theme.
2. This is the link to a sweet little piece of luggage...for all of our trips back home.
3. I really enjoy the monkey baby announcements shown in the middle of this page!
4. How insanely precious are these monkey sock animals?!?
5. I've always thought that I would have these when we had a girl...how can you NOT like these girl's caps?
6. I just can't decide which one I like more...#5 or this monkey hat (which is cute in white AND brown!)...
7. How cute would this banner be, permanently hung in the nursery with our little girl's name!
8. Just in case I don't want to do a whole monkey hat, this could work...
9. I would LOVE to have something like this for our little girl's birthday!
10. So excited we'll be having a girl so I could get a chance to use these sweet little clips.

Right now I am listening/semi-watching "Van Wilder" as Tony sits next to me playing his video game. Tomorrow evening I get to babysit two cute young men while their parents have a much deserved date night! I'm off to bed. Thank you everyone for your continued support and interest in how baby and momma are doing!

Lesson #7 darling: "Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!'"-C.S. Lewis

I was reminded of this today when so many women shared their bra/pregnancy/wardrobe malfunction issues with me. Thanks, girls, for making me feel like part of the group. And to coin a term used by a good friend, we could all use a "pregnancy artillery" that we also have the duty to share with others. I feel blessed to be learning some of your secrets!  

"Life Is Full Of Beauty. Notice It. Notice The Bumble Bee, The Small Child, And The Smiling Faces. Smell The Rain, And Feel The Wind."

~Ashley Smith

Let's start with the not-so-bad but most definitely "interesting" and then end with the good, shall we?

Woke up to find that our air conditioner was still on...YAY...I almost forgot what that nice, rested feeling is like in the morning. However, when I went out to the main part of the house to open the windows (part of my morning routine) I was disturbed to find that both of our patio doors had been unlocked all night. Not a good feeling! Now that everyone in the house is made aware of it, hopefully this will be the ONLY morning I wake up with that feeling!

I had also hoped to hook up with my British/American friend Amy via internet this morning, but was sad when I was unable to "ring" her on the "mobile" (I guess that's what they say across the pond). Perhaps I will have better luck with it tomorrow...

WARNING: Pregnant "Wardrobe Malfunction" #1
Avert your eyes and skip to the next paragraph if you tend to think I over-share...This morning, while getting dressed, I was putting on my undergarments and went to put my shirt on. In the process of pulling on my shirt, I hear a loud tear and run to the mirror, only to find that...in my current theory...my increasingly busty, pregnant self effectively ripped my bra strap completely off of a 4.5 month old Victoria's Secret bra. :( I was so disappointed because it is what I referred to as my "sassy" bra...it was nude on the outside but leopard print on the inside and now it was totally, completely ruined. BUMMER! I said a naughty word and dug out my #2 favorite bra as a replacement. And here I thought I would be so happy to have bigger boobs. Who knew they would be so much trouble!

I had errands I wanted to run this morning, so I started out at 10am (after doing dishes and getting the laundry started) by dropping off our monthly HOA dues at the club house. That was a nice morning walk and I considered going swimming, but then re-thought that idea, realizing how much I dislike being in public settings alone. I wish I had my hubby or a girlfriend to spend the day at the pool with...why is it that they're not available...oh yeah, they are working. Perhaps this weekend...

Moving on. From the clubhouse walk, I then jumped in the car to hit the outlet mall in Folsom. First off, I must mention that Californian's concept of "outlet" must be RADICALLY different from that of it's Midwestern counterpart! The prices at the outlet were still ridiculously more expensive at their discounted rate than anything I would ever spend regularly-priced at a normal store. So after walking in -and RIGHT BACK OUT OF- Baby Gap, Carters, Gymboree, Motherhood Maternity, etc. I quickly realized I was severely out of place. I then jumped in my car and headed to JCPenney, a place where I feel much more comfortable.

ATTENTION: Pregnant "Wardrobe Malfunction" #2 (And .. YES... to those of you wondering, "TWO wardrobe malfunctions? HOW is that possible? One word: LINDSAY!)
While trying on some maternity clothes at Penneys, I was leaning over to pick up some clothes I had dropped on the floor just outside of the fitting room and upon bending over, SNAP and PING! My second bra of the day's strap snapped and caught me RIGHT IN THE CORNER OF MY EYE. Of course, my initial reaction was to say a naughty word, to which I will not repeat. My second, and almost immediate, reaction was to look around and evaluate how many other people were privy to my embarrassing moment. Luckily, I was alone in the area but I'm sure I'll appear on some hidden camera show in a few months...The rest of the afternoon I was forced to walk around with a single strap on my bra. Am I just pressing my luck where breasts are concerned today, or what?!?

Needless to say, I left JCP and had intended on heading home when, in the parking lot, out of the corner of my eye, I spied Old Navy and a children's consignment store across the street. So, with my one-shouldered support, I drove to the other side of the street and went into Old Navy where I found neither cute baby clothes nor attractive maternity wear. At this point I walked down to the opposite end of the strip mall where the consignment store was. I must admit I was pretty defeated at this point. I had not been successful in the "bra/breast" department, in the maternity wear hunt, or in the baby clothes search so far, no matter how hard I had tried today.

Let me just say that I spent over an hour at Once Upon A Child because there were just so many good finds!  My day had been redeemed! Had I not seen it by chance in passing, I would have never known what I was missing! All I have to say is there are some adorable kid's clothes and gear here and so much more affordable! It was like I had stopped and smelled the roses for all of the cliches about noticing what's around you where this store was concerned! It was hard to restrict myself, but ultimately my budget won out and that was how I narrowed my purchases down today.

Here's some of my finds (complimented with a very reasonable, somewhat surprisingly low price tag attached)...

All of these items cost less than my age, so I was a happy camper to get 10 items for that price!!! The last outfit was in honor of my first (and currently ONLY subscribed follower of this blog: my mom and monkey's grandma: Grandma Wipp). Thank you for your interest in the website and in honor of you, one of monkey's first outfits will be "Grandma's Lovebug" with cute little flared flower leggings. 

The other outfits seemed so cute AND I think they will be a perfect ensemble wardrobe for when we take our first family vacation to Hawaii at then end of February (a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa Wipp). You, little girl, are totally going to be tropical and fit in with the locals! We can't wait!

After a successful trip of shopping, I grabbed our mail and headed home for the day. I was surprised, curious, and slightly worried that your father had received mail from the FBI today. I called him, and he asked me to open it up and read what it said over the phone while he was at work. As it turns out, he had applied for a Special Agent position about a month ago and this was follow-up correspondence about the next step in the application process: a 5 hour written exam AND also a physical exam to qualify for phase two. After looking at the position a little again (and a little more closely this time around) and realizing that there were no actual positions open in Sacramento, let alone Northern California, we both agreed not to proceed with the next step. It was kinda cool getting a letter from the FBI, though!

After having something really solid poking at my left abdomen ALL day (not moving, just pretty much staying put) I am rethinking yesterday's theory of being elbowed by you to get my attention. My current theory is that it is actually one of your feet and you're stretched out today and your foot is simply resting along the side of my body. Luckily, I don't have a footprint bulge on my left side, but I had Tony feel it and he smiled, also agreeing that he thinks it's one of your limbs pushing against my belly. If only we could have an at-home ultrasound machine to see what you are up to all the time...

Lesson #6 "Roll with the punches." (Or in this case, kick...or at least a push, if nothing else.) Not only does that apply to my repeat offense wardrobe issues today, but also your addition you added to my belly's profile today. There's always going to be something new that comes up that you couldn't possibly have planned for and I think it says a lot about one's character and adaptability to be able to move on or accept the unplanned things in day-to-day living! But think what I could've missed out on had I given up at the first wardrobe problem. It pays to "roll with the punches!"

Good night my little ray of sunshine! Thank you for listening yesterday when I requested you be more forceful when trying to get my attention! I know you were trying all day with your foot! Well done! Mama's proud!

"The Summer Night Is Like A Perfection Of Thought.

~Wallace Stevens

First off, we are so happy to announce that we are officially chilled. The A/C guys came back today, spent over two hours, but when all is said and done our air conditioner is fixed, working, and making us happy campers again, hooray! What a great end to the day! No summer night has ever felt so nice!!!

This morning was used to check in on your grandma, who took a sick day because she wasn't feeling any better and your aunt who came home early from work because she was feeling under the weather.

At the new nanny family's house today, it was so nice to see the boys and their mom! As always, Little "J" was a charming young man full of smiles to greet me at the door, and giggles to last the afternoon. Big "M" has grown even more since I've seen him in 3+ weeks...he's already tipping the scales at 18lbs and was such an adorable sleeper. Even while he's asleep, he just tugs at your heart strings! K shared some smaller clothes that the boys had grown out of. That was so nice and SO appreciated! There were some great finds, including: an Eric Carle "Very Hungry Caterpillar" onezie and matching bib, a couple silly monkey outfits, some Baby Gap, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hillfiger clothes, and some really cute baby animal clothes. We are so lucky to have this fantastic family in our lives who are willing to share all of their cute memories with us! Thank you, thank you!!!

Looks like there are a couple more people interested in having the neighborhood garage sale, so that's good as it will get traffic coming in our direction so hopefully we can move a lot of unwanted stuff out of our garage! That's always a good sign! On a sad note, I feel like my attempt to sell my roller blades on Craigslist was probably a poor call on my part...I feel like I would've been more successful at the beginning of the summer (or even the spring). I feel like my sales window has officially past as my roller blades have been up for two weeks (refreshed to new status after a week) and not a single nibble...live and learn. My next step will be to try and sell them at the garage sale in a few weekends.

I know this sounds like an excuse, but I really sat down at 8pm to write the blog so as to get to bed at a reasonable time, but the internet wasn't working and my laptop needed to be reconfigured...so here I am, after 10pm and still having another late night. I will try again tomorrow!

Some wonderful news happened today: a close family friend has had his baby with his wife. Congratulations, Trowbridge family for your wonderful and handsome new addition to your home! Noah, welcome to the world! You have such wonderful people surrounding you and they will take such good care of you!

Tomorrow I am looking forward to Skyping with my London-Lady and life-long friend, Amy McBaldwin. She is back in the U.S. of A. for a short state-side reception and celebration. Even though I can't make it back to Wisconsin for her, I've sent my love (and homemade present) and we will get to chat tomorrow via webcam. I am so happy for her and she looked so beautiful on her important day! Welcome to the family, Steve!

I think tomorrow could be a nice day for a swim in the neighborhood pool, doing some laundry, and maybe some reading on the deck swing along with a healthy-dose of people watching...

Oh, as far as today's "To Do" list goes, I updated our baby belly book and finished journaling in the scrapbook with all of our movie ticket stubs. The air conditioner being repaired was also on that list and we're so excited to be able to cross that off of the check list, too!!!

The night ended with some leftover spaghetti and some sandwich thins made into garlic bread. Tony put in a request for some of Mary's special Funfetti cookies that I happily whipped up for him. Mmm...it really hit the spot! I feel much more accomplished than yesterday...I also think I may have felt Miss Monkey's first movement on the left abdomen side this evening...but I'm not quite sure...if I had to guess I would think she was elbowing me, but it was so soft and short-lived I couldn't be sure. Stay tuned for more movements by our little girl!

Lesson #5 big girl: Mama doesn't do subtle so much...make an entrance, make a statement, be loud...I respond to that because then I know you're trying to be noticed, otherwise I question myself or over-think what happened...Mama needs your help sometimes! :) This will be the case all of your life, sweetheart! xoxo

"People Don’t Care How Much You Know, They Want To Know How Much You Care."

~Unknown

Today was a day of correspondence. There are a bunch of people you will meet when you are born in a few months who have upcoming birthdays or important life milestones in the near future. Between emails, snail mail, and Facebook chats, a lot of catching up was done! I am not at liberty to disclose any names, but a very special person shared with me today that she's expecting. She is going to be such a fantastic mother and that kid will feel so loved. I am so happy for her and her growing family and I will share official news once I get approval.

No lesson today, but I DO have a wish for you... One day, I hope you will go through all the mail that I receive and save, and get a picture of what your mom used to be like and how many people are rooting for you and who love you so much even before they met you! It is truly amazing to me how many people are checking in on you constantly, who are asking about you all the time, and who are so excited for your arrival into this world! You are truly a blessing unto us!

There was homemade spaghetti for my husband's dinner tonight with fresh *cold* watermelon for dessert. We had a visit from the "air conditioner fairy" and found out that along with the service call fee, we are at a minimum looking at the cost of a new transformer. In the process of trying to install the new transformer at a pretty steep cost, the repairmen blew it out and had no other transformers in his vehicle. Thus continues the A/C saga until tomorrow. Before leaving, he also pointed out that we have standing water in our unit because our drain system must not be working properly and that when he returns late tomorrow afternoon, he will take a look at that and evaluate the repair plan for that once the transformer is installed. He also pointed out that there is some sort of blown fuse still hiding somewhere that is causing a new transformer to fail, so I hope tomorrow doesn't become astronomically expensive. Please continue to cross your "repair fingers" for us as it is going to be another long, hot night!

Onto some actual Monkey news, I did get a chance to schedule a few things today. Aside from setting up our next few prenatal appointments, I was also able to schedule a Late Pregnancy class and a tour of where we will be delivering our little girl (at the Roseville Kaiser Labor and Delivery Center). That class is set up for the middle of October. We were also able to get into a Newborn Baby Care class AND a Breastfeeding class for November and December. I'm really looking forward to "going back to school" ... as that seems to be the theme for this time of year. I'm also excited in bringing your dad with me so he will be a little more prepared as to what to expect from me, from the process, and once you're born. I know he tends to respond well to research and informed decisions, so I think he will enjoy the class as much as I do. At least, that's what I hope...

On a side note, your Grandma King had her tooth pulled this afternoon, so she's a little under the weather. She might be home with me tomorrow if she doesn't feel better in the morning but I will be gone to babysit the Mullards around lunch time and like I mentioned before, hopefully the A/C repairman will be back tomorrow afternoon to finish the job he started today.

Just got done with a cold shower to try and cool off and now it's bed time. I had aimed at trying to get to bed at a reasonable time tonight, but again I was distracted and not tired at my normal time.

"There’s Never Enough Time To Do All The Nothing You Want."

~Bill Watterson, “Calvin and Hobbes”

As ambitious as I was in my head today, my body just would not cooperate. I resigned myself to a "relaxing day" of resting, but I must admit it made me feel a little guilty knowing that I am not working right now and that I feel the need to take a vacation from my vacation?!?

The day started with taking Sugar, my mother-in-law's chihuahua, into the vet for her appointment go get spayed and for her yearly shots. Then, I came back home and got ready for the day by cleaning up some dishes, making the bed, taking a shower, and replying to some emails before heading off to my Dr.'s appointment.

At the appointment, everything went stellar. This appointment was fulfilling two purposes: follow-up from Friday's ultrasound, and also my monthly prenatal appointment. My nurse practitioner assured me that my bp 98/60 is healthy, the baby's heart rate of 144 was good, that I have effectively stopped LOSING weight, but that I haven't gained any either (which I knew was coming), that the size and development of our little monkey is right on track, and that we may need to keep an eye on her kidney in the future. They said part of her kidney is slightly bigger than normal, but definitely not in the "worry about it" range, so we'll just keep an eye on it for now.

Before going into my appointment, I felt unusually tired and as soon as I got home from my appointment, I tried eating some lunch thinking that might help. Adversely, it made me more tired and my cramps were not getting any better. The fact that we didn't have a working air conditioner today probably didn't help the situation and I was simply feeling lethargic, so...I decided to take a "little" nap (which turned into 3 hours). I tried to make myself feel less guilty about it by reminding myself that there's a little person inside of me who would probably benefit from a rested mama and I easily fell asleep. :)

I woke up, not with a lot of energy, but with the feeling like the nap actually helped and was needed. I made some dinner and lounged on the couch while watching some TV and petting Sugar now that she was home from her surgery.

I should probably come clean that while I was "vegging" on the couch, I ate bananas dipped in chocolate and watched "Bachelor Pad." If THAT is not a guilty pleasure, I don't know what is! I would like to have included a list of what I accomplished today but sadly it's a non-existent list.

Life Lesson #4 my sweet peanut: "An  occasional 'mental health' day really is needed every once in awhile and can be beneficial even if you feel guilty at the time." Also, to quote Josh Groban, "There's no half-singing in the shower, you're either a rock star or an opera diva." And with that said, at least I really committed to my day of lounging...which I guess I could put on a "to do" list and check it off...To Do: rest and relax. Check! :) There, now I feel better about getting something accomplished today! :)

Happy to report that our A/C will be checked out tomorrow evening and hopefully it's a quick fix because today was pretty brutal, heat-wise. The best I can say was at least we saved on the expense of air conditioning today...is that a silver lining, or what?!? Good night my little belly! Sweet dreams!

"We Should All Do What, In The Long Run, Gives Us Joy, Even If It Is Only Picking Grapes Or Sorting The Laundry."

~E.B. White

I love little girl's leggings with cute tops...these are some of the cute finds from yesterday's exchanges.

As I have confessed, I am a self-proclaimed organizer...by hobby, if you will. So I had a very fulfilling day of organizing today! It was very cathartic and relaxing! The day started off by sleeping in until 8am. This is a big feat, as I have not slept in passed 5am for the last 4.5 months due to waking up at 4am having to go pee and then holding it as long as I can knowing that as soon as I get up to go to the bathroom, I won't be able to go back to sleep. So, sleeping in until 8am is a HUGE accomplishment. I am taking it to mean that: 1. my bladder is getting bigger, or 2. my urinary-related pregnancy frequency issues have resolved themselves, or 3. Monkey girl is trying to butter me up for something and she knows my soft spot, already. Either way, I'm happy and I'm celebrating!

Then I went to my computer as the 2nd place I always visit every morning, like clock-work (the bathroom being #1, hands down). When I open my email, I see a cute letter from one of my favorite men: my adorable little Kae Kae. I even think he typed the last few sentences and I just can't get over how big he is getting. I miss my little Wisconsin men! It was such a nice surprise to hear from him!!!

Look at this adorable jewelry holder we found in your Aunt Nikki's bins in the garage.
She wanted her soon-to-be niece to have it! Awe!

Because I was in such a good mood, I made some pancakes for my man and got to work. I started in the garage by re-organizing all of our storage items and grouping rummage sale items into categories. After doing this, I enlisted Tony's and his mom's help in bringing all of your Dad's collectibles and storage items up into the attic to get them out of the way. It was a hot, sticky mess up there, but we got a lot of work done AND the garage looks so much more spacious. I think your father had 9 bins we moved up to the attic. Whew! That was a work out as all were big tubs and so very heavy! We also had to rearrange some of the Christmas items to fit some overflow and recently acquired items. Unfortunately, I think that in the process of moving some of the items, we may have bumped the air conditioner some how :(. It stopped working (it was 88 degrees today and had a humidity rating of 89%) so it was not good news. After trying a new fuse and cleaning the filters, we needed to schedule an A/C repair for Tuesday, so cross your fingers it's an easy (and inexpensive) fix!

I was so inspired by your dad and all of his collectibles organizing, that I decided I needed to get all of your books (that I have stock piled for you) organized. Your dad had cleared off a shelf and I got to work. I truly love organizing and it made the afternoon go so fast...plus I was able to reminisce a little when going through all of my childhood favorite books. I know you will enjoy them as much as I did! There were some Disney, Dr. Seuss, Eric Carl (loaned to you by your Uncle Logan), and various other oldies/goodies. I even got started on organizing our closet: specifically the scrapbook stuff I have, but that will need some more work, rather than the hour or two I put in today. I WILL get to it, though, because anything I want to get rid of, I want to add to the rummage sale in 2 weeks!

After all of the organizing, I felt refreshed and energized, so I had some homemade chicken, artichoke, and stir fry veggie stew that I had made in the crock pot over a bed of rice. Yum! I followed it up by baking some of my famous and delicious (...if I do say so myself...) ooie, gooey chocolate chip cookies. I flipped on my new favorite show: CLEAN HOUSE with host Niecy Nash. While watching her and snacking on my goodies, I put all of my movie theater ticket stubs into a scrapbook, uploaded pictures, and took pictures of all of yesterday's exchanges/purchases that celebrate our finding out that you are a GIRL!

Some cute girl monkey gear.

Some pastel onezies, and cute dresses for our little girl.

It was a very productive day! It feels so good to get organized! As your Grandma W. likes to remind me, I DO need to stop procrastinating and start working on getting on top of my scrapbooking projects. I AM working on it and when I get something impressive done, I will make sure to post it! Hopefully this week I will finish all of my "little" projects and next week I will focus solely on scrapbooking, hardcore!

Lesson #3 to our little one: "You've got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice."-Steven D. Woodhull. Any day where you start out positive has no choice but be a good day! It's easy! Start out the day happy, and see how it's a domino effect!

Your piggy bank :)

Tomorrow morning, I will be taking Grandma King's dog to the vet for a little "girl surgery" procedure and having my ultrasound follow-up appointment. I will make sure to include a summary of my Dr.'s appointment in tomorrow's blog! Love and snuggles, my little monkey! Mama loves you!

"When I Count My Blessings, I Count You Twice."

~Irish Blessing

Wow! What an amazing day! I am glad that nothing more yucky than choking on my prenatal vitamin happened, because I was able to enjoy a packed Saturday and get a lot done! It started with a car trip "field trip" with my mother-in-law going to scope out an estate sale up in Loomis, going to see the schools where my husband grew up (Albert Einstein Middle School and Hiram Johnson High School), and a whole boat-load of "baby girl" shopping/exchanges to be made. Then we stopped for a few groceries, came home, ran a few errands after a brief lunch of grapes, watermelon, and fiber water. After we came home from running errands, we spent 2 hours getting garage sale items organized and pulled together and sorting through storage bins. I had just enough time to take a quick "cool down" shower before heading off to the neighborhood's first block party. It was so nice to meet all of the neighbors in our little section of Anatolia and I had NO IDEA there were that many young children just in our little corner of the neighborhood. We met so many nice and interesting neighbors and it's finally nice to know who we are surrounded by, although I'm so terrible with names that I know I will need reminders down the road (can I blame name remembering issues on the fact that our little one is using up all my brain power, or is it still "too early" to play the "pregnancy card"?)! Ron and Jen were so great for putting this all together and I hope we can have another block party soon! Either way, we spent two hours socializing (yes, can you believe I was able to talk my husband into that and that he participated willingly, nonetheless?!?) before I called it a night and excused myself to go home to bed at 9pm. When I came home I had a little chat with Tony's mom about moving out and we talked about some apartments she was considering and where Nikki fell into the whole situation.

Now I am off to bed to cuddle with my man before he doses off. Sorry to be so short (and totally unlike my usual self), but I am ready for the day to be over as I was awake since 4am and it is now 10:30pm.

I think tomorrow I will post pictures of all of my baby goodies...oh, which reminds me, I met a lovely gal tonight named Summer who mentioned to me that she may be interested in passing some "girly" baby stuff onto me...yay! Score one for the neighbor team! Bonus! That was exciting and I think Monkey will enjoy it because Summer seemed to have good taste in clothes! Summer is also the one coordinating the neighborhood rummage sale in 2 weeks so I know I'll bump into her again..and her husband, I think his name was Ed...

Lesson #2, my darling, "Never be too embarrassed to tell someone it's your bedtime...they will appreciate you more when you are well rested and are more engaged in the conversation and you will appreciate their company more, too."

Okay, my brain is fried and I can feel Monkey trying to call me to bed, too! Good night everyone, and I promise to have a more entertaining blog tomorrow (well, at least I will be entertained). Sleep tight!

"In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words; and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet."

~Winston Churchill~

Today is a new day! Today we found out that we are having a little girl. To all of those who know me, you can attest to the fact that since the day we conceived, I "knew" we were having a boy. I went so far as to convince my husband of that fact and even decided I didn't need to play the "girl name game" because I was convinced that it was an unnecessary battle when I knew that a boy's name is what we really needed.

Let me just say that I have NEVER been so happy to be wrong! As much as I encouraged the ultrasound technician to spend extra time today (an hour) exploring for any signs of hidden "boy parts," the gleaming tear that rolled down my cheek as we saw our little girl all cuddled in my belly will be an image I cherish for the rest of my life. Our little "monkey" was so content during the whole process. Aside from the ADORABLE suckling motions of her mouth and the absolutely awe-inspiring flicker of her heartbeat, our little girl was so comfortable and cozy snuggling. Nothing will ever change the moment of happiness we felt when we changed our generic monkey references to "her/she-isms" during that one hour appointment. I cannot hide that we had been planning on a boy monkey, but a happy and healthy little girl will most definitely put smiles on our faces and love in our hearts! We are so blessed and words cannot express the love you instantly feel for the little miracle growing inside of you!

Lesson #1 little girl, "The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us!"-Montagu

How true that is! You have truly captured our hearts! Watching you was so exciting! We got to see your little hands, so gentle and safe next to your cheeks. We saw your perfect little arms and legs, the swell of your belly and cute little cheeky buns! Your heart was a healthy 153bpm and the technician even zoomed in so we could see all of the chambers of your heart, strongly pumping away. We checked out your kidneys, liver, stomach, and spine. According to your size, we were quite surprised to find out you are probably a week older than we were led to believe. It turns out that instead of a January 5, 2011 due date, our technician is actually thinking you might possibly be a New Year's Eve baby of 2010...now that we have seen you, I don't think we can wait until next year to meet you! :)

Although we tried a lot of tricks to try to get you to uncross your legs and ankles, you were perfectly content to rest in Mom's belly. We tried tipping Mom back a little, moving to different sides, and even jiggling you, but just as your father, you are a very mellow baby, and that's nothing to shake a finger at. I'll take it as long as you're happy!

Everyone is excited for the news and we are happy to report that we've got some business to do on our end to make up for my mistake of ever thinking you were anything but who you are...there are a few exchanges to be made in the clothing department and then there is the business of finding you a name. We currently like the name Mackenzie and I am thinking of you as Peyton Mackenzie...if I have learned nothing else, though, I know that things can always change. I am open to all of the changes, opportunities, challenges, and love you will bring us and am so excited to see you, my darling girl!

P.S. Don't tell anyone, but even though I nodded along with the technician when she pointed out your toes, I really could not quite make out what she was showing us...but at least I didn't look as confused as your dad... :)