The cat vs. The kid

I'm officially off the road and working from home now - WOO HOO!!

Trouble has become very cuddly to me in the last few days and it all started with a kick from the kid. The first time it happened Trouble was cuddled on my lap with his paws stretched across my tummy. When he got kicked, he gave me a look of "what the heck is going on in there?"

Yesterday, when he again was all cuddled in he again got kicked, this time much more fiercely - like the kid was saying "get off of me". Trouble retaliated and punched my stomach back - not once but numerous times. This went on for many rounds - cat unhappy about being kicked and kid annoyed with cat laying on him and punching back.

I was cracking up and trying to keep my composure as I was on business calls but it was absolutely hilarious.

This kid kicks all the time now - 24/7. Alex came home from work the other day and said he had heard that the kid's personality is already developed before birth. We're in so much trouble if this statement is actually true.

I was told by my mom to stop using the word kid because we're having a human baby not a goat.

Less than 8 weeks to go...

48 hours more on the road...

Since I'm being grounded by the doctors at 32 weeks prego, I only have 48 hours left of being on the road. I've been gone for 8 days already since we had our girls weekend and I'm really ready to be home.

It's going to be a very strange transition for me and one I'm very much looking forward to.

What's scary is that our due date is only 9 weeks and 2 days away - I'm shocked at how fast time is flying by. We're going to be parents before we know it.

I'm even starting to finally look a little prego.

I hate Des Moines Chrysler

I would never publicly complain about a company but Des Moines Chrysler has not only treated me extraordinarily poorly as a customer but my minivan is awaiting to be towed for it's fift visit to the dealership in less than 4 weeks.

On Des Moines Chrysler's website I was able to submit a letter to them with a 256 character restriction. Below is my full letter:

I'm extraordinarily disappointed in my service at Des Moines Chrysler. Not only I have had my vehicle at the dealership 4 times in 4 weeks for various incompetencies - I awoke this morning to my van again not working.

The service department is condescending in what little communication they provide, they are incompetent in the fact I've had my vehicle at the dealership now 4 times in 4 weeks and it is again broken in my driveway and the last straw today was the fact that they wouldn't tow my car in for service.

I'm beyond an unsatisfied customer. When contacted by Chrysler for a feedback survey on my service satisfaction I clearly gave you a ranking of 0, on a scale of 1-10. Clearly now, my ranking holds true.

My vehicle, for only being 2.5 years old and having 24K miles has had more issues than any other vehicle my family has owned.

What annoys me the most and what will prevent me from ever driving another Chrsyler besides the poor product is the poor service and poor staff employed at this dealership.

I only wish I could lemon law this vehicle. I plan on also writing a letter to the better business bureau about the service, communication and incompetency this dealership has given me.

I spoke with the Service Manager, Doug, on Thursday 8/14, and he was of no assistance. This dealership is pathetic in meeting the needs of customers and continues to provide incompetency at levels I've never seen with any other dealership.

I would like to be contacted upon receipt of this message.

A Room With a View

I just landed in Ft. Lauderdale for company meetings. Great hotel with an ocean front room. I'm going to crank through some work and take a walk on the beach...

Best Husband

After a very bad day of work and many unhappy clients, Alex made my day.

He told me he's the happiest he's ever been in life and is so excited to be "daddy".

Puts everything in perspective very quickly.

Not much news

So there's cat pictures...

Moby, a.k.a. "Click-Click"



and Trouble



So I'm missing a picture of Jack because when I took these pictures last April he wouldn't sit still for a picture (high strung cat). Projac, whose happily living on Prozac will soon have his picture posted.

Nothing new on the baby front - I'll be 27 weeks prego on Friday with the large gestational diabetes test / blood work which I'm just dreading.

So for now, it's just work work work. Luckily, I'm downtown Chicago enjoying a great atmosphere.

Converting the Yarn Room into the Baby's Room...The Before Pictures

When Karen came from Houston in May, she was a savior; we managed over the course of a few days to pack up the entire chaotic yarn room into bags and containers.

She was a great sport in motivating, strength in moving containers as well as strength in decision making of "do you really need to keep the yarn you've had for 6 years and have forgotten about?"

Karen went home with three suitcases full of yarn and started projects from the yarn room. It felt great to destash, organize and pack up. The pending baby room hasn't been touched since Karen left and most likely won't until the end of September but it's a great feeling to know that at least the hard part has been done.

Before pictures (and this was 4+ hours into the process of organizing):

Meet our Tax Break

We're Team Green (not finding out gender).

Here's a picture from our ultrasound today:

Everything went better than I could have expected at the ultrasound - it was a great experience.

Cat on Prozac

Jack's been given a lifeline...

Our very high energy, high attention cat who has been having "behavioral issues" (aka peeing on my hardwood floors) was put on prozac today.

We were at our wit's end in trying different ideas to break his bad behavior and quite quickly our cat has calmed way down. We're not sure if this will solve the urinating issue but so far so good.

The vet gave us a few good ideas and hopefully those mixed with prozac give us the cat and solution we're looking for.

In other cat news - all the cats were diagnosed as fat and gaining weight - moby only by .2 lbs, jack by a lb but trouble by 3.5 lbs who now tips the scales at 19.6 lbs. At least Trouble didn't bite or scratch anyone today which is numerous steps up from the last visit to the vet where it took myself, two assistants and vet to complete his checkup and we all walked away bleeding in some fashion.

In baby news - Alex and I were playing Rock Band this afternoon and our kid who loves music, decided it was time to wake up and dance - which felt more like he/she was stuck in my ribs and trying to come out through my ribs - instant tears in my eyes it was so painful. Kid just loves Rock Band like his/her dad. I went to give Alex a hug and his head was at my rib cage level - he got swiftly kicked a few times by kid and started laughing.

We were told this is the time to start interacting with the kid - music, stories, talking, etc - we figured Rock Band is about as close as we'll get to following this advice. Kid apparently likes music like his/her parents.

Alex's 8 hour afghan

There's a slight disagreement about who I made the 8 hour afghan for - Trouble thinks it's his blanket and lays on it all day and night. The cat leaves the blanket for food, water, trips to the litter box and cuddle time with Alex. Other than that, you will find the cat on the afghan. I've even folded the afghan up and laid it on top of the couch to wake up in the morning to the blanket on the couch with Trouble cuddled up in it.


Glad the blanket is appreciated. Trouble posing as best he can:

Trouble lifting his head slightly as he hears Alex come home and tries to protect "his" blanket:

A New Game

In the last few days, our little tax deduction has become bigger and a lot more active, which for me is a lot more exciting.

Alex started a new game - we call it poke-kick. Alex finds kid in my belly and then pokes, kid returns poke with a kick - this fun cycle continues until I am either in pain or say enough. It goes for about 5 pokes and 5 kicks

It's really cool to feel the little one being so active and reacting to outside influences.

Yesterday our favorite handy man was sawing and hammering - just making an absolute racket. Our kiddo was going nuts over the jolting noises. It was so bizarre.

Next to the ultrasound, the movement and kicks are the best part of the pregnancy so far - but in fairness, compared to nausea, swelling, hand cramping, back pain, stomach cramping, itchiness, sweating, moodiness, hunger, non stop night time trips to the bathroom and the forgetfulness - it's easy to say that feeling movement/kicks is one of the best parts.

The Apocalytic House

First there was a flood.

Then there was a fire (thanks to a very bad electrician from a company I won't publicly name - not yet at least).

And there's always famine (I'm now 5 and 1/2 months pregnant)...

Thanks to our great friend and relative Meredith, we were connected to the world's greatest and hardest working handy man named Dan. He's been a life saver and our house has really come a long way in a few short weeks. We think Dan is an all around great guy.

So I say the score is House 2, Us 1 and we'll quickly catch up.

Rails or No Rails

So I thought we picked out a crib this weekend:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3012853

but apparently we could be going down the wrong path of choosing a crib without rails - everyone we've discussed this crib with (who all have small children) and they have given us the same feedback - "you need rails".

So, I ask, "why the need for rails?"

We think the rails are for ease of use when a person of average or below average height may have challenges reaching over the rails to lay their baby down to sleep.

We are both very tall individuals so other than leverage to put our tax deduction in the crib, why else the need for rails?

I have received 4 phone calls from my mother since showing her the brochure for the crib about why it's the wrong crib (which in reality makes me think more of how right the crib could be).

We thought we were making progress by picking out baby furniture...

Still flooding...

Water is still gushing in but at this point it's draining out as fast as it's coming in so the water level remains constant.

Alex cleaned out the entire basement and thanks to 1800-Got-Junk our basement is now our built in swimming pool.

What's interesting is that there was absolutely nothing of value that we tossed and the majority of the items belonged to my ex-boyfriend of years ago who was a complete jerk.

It was on our to do list to clean out the basement this summer so it was a great accomplishment; unfortunately it wasn't in our house repair plans to redo the basement but it's the life of a homeowner.

Our basement is flooding as I type this...

Due to the massive storms we are without power, running water (due to electric pump and a well system) and the basement is flooding as I type this. We can't solve the basement issues without power so it's a catch 22 at this point.

My dad reminded me at 7am this morning that Alex and I are adults and should start becoming homeowners instead of calling him to come help. It only took one, "but Dad?!?" and he came over with all materials and supplies to help with the flooding once the electricity is back on.

Hopefully the power will return soon so that we can take care of the basement.

We're off to the OB today for our quick montly appointment and to meet another random doctor in the practice.

The Swelling and Stretching has started...

Out of much protest, I had to take off my engagement ring because my fingers have started swelling. Lucky for me that my wedding band fits just slightly bigger so it will stay on for now. My friend Lisa who had a baby 4 months ago warned me that if my fingers swelled up too much then the doctors would just cut off my rings if I were to go to the hospital and couldn't remove them on my own accord. We decided that it would be best to remove rings sooner than later just to be on the safe side.

It only led to a minor meltdown - nothing is changing physically for Alex and everything has started changing for me.

1) My clothes are starting to not fit
2) My bust is significantly bigger (which Alex doesn't understand why I'm complaining about that because he's certainly not)
3) I'm becoming forgetful (this is so annoying)
4) I randomly get the hiccups at least five times a day
5) I had to take out piercings that I've had for over ten years that I will not repierce post kiddo
6) Swelling has started
7) I'm constantly sweating, which I believe is what I would classify people calling the "glow" of pregnancy
8) The latest and so far most painful aspect of pregnancy - I woke up at 1am last night and I felt like my stomach was being ripped apart. Tylenol cured everything but it was just bizarre to be woken out of a sound sleep to such intense pain.

I haven't felt any kicks yet and am really looking forward to it as it should be any day now. At times I can feel the kiddo move but no solid kicks. Alex said it's possible that the kid could be mellow like us. I just want some reassurance that everything is ok.

A belated birthday gift

My sweet husband wanted to add some adventure to my life. I was complaining (whining) how much I wanted to go on roller coaster rides and due to be pregnant it's just not a possibility.

For my birthday, Alex got us a hot air balloon ride around Indianola. A very sweet idea. I wasn't sure how I felt about it and was a bit hesitant. Alex spoke to the owner of the hot air balloon company for a while because he was hesitant to take me up because I was pregnant.

It was really cool, albeit a bit scary to go up in a hot air balloon ride. What I didn't expect is that it would 95 degrees in the balloon and have to stand under propane flames - it was hot and sweaty. After an hour of standing in a very crowded basket and sweating profusely I was ready to be done. I think we sweated off a few pounds last night.

On an entirely different note, my mom started shopping for baby clothes last week. She went to Carter's and bought lots of crib sheets, outfits and blankets. Her best line "Nothing I bought was as neat as the tie dye stuff you bought".

I'm loving that statement.

How freaking cool is this?

I'm due with our kiddo November 4th.

My college roommate and very good friend called last night to tell me she's due November 12th. It's so great to compare notes being prego together...

She also told me that our other college roommate is also due November 12th.

How cool is this?

Random Pictures

Random pictures.



Alex's "foot in mouth flowers" (long story)

The Moby Sandwich

My favorite wedding picture

Coming soon - before and after pictures of the yarn room's conversion to a baby's room. At least "before" pictures for now.

Karen will be here tomorrow!!

A new blog

A new blog, a new beginning.

So much has happened since I last blogged (early Feb 2008). I decided because of the nature of topics to start a new blog.

To catch up on the last few months:

On February 21st, 2008 Alex and I flew to Barbados for a long weekend for a company perk trip. On the flight down from Atlanta to Barbados I started feeling nauseous which for this seasoned traveler was completely out of the norm. Alex also started feel to sick so we concluded that we both may have picked up the flu along the way. We spent the weekend sleeping and not feeling well. In retrospect, Barbados is by far the prettiest place to have the flu. We only spent about 10 minutes on the beach throughout our days there, which was long enough for Alex to pick me up and throw me in the ocean.
While in Barbados I started questioning why I was so tired and could I possibly be pregnant. I wasn’t officially late yet so I assumed all will be fine. I didn’t drink or take any medicine just in case I was pregnant. My coworkers caught on.

On February 25th, 2008 I still hadn’t started my period and am now officially late. I take a pregnancy test after some prodding from my friend Laura. It’s mid-day and I bought a EPT test which is the stupid test with a control line and then a second line will appear if you are pregnant. The test came out negative. No second line. Hmmm, I was really thinking I may be pregnant. I emailed Alex and he was equally shocked (he had been saying for a week that I was prego).

February 26-28th, 2008 - I leave for Nashville and Milwaukee for work. I find that after numerous delays that I’m absolutely exhausted and by the time I get to Nashville, I’m so physically tired I barely make it through the airport to my hotel. I think that this flu is still kicking my butt. I have a suitcase full of pads and am just waiting for my period to start any second. By Thursday, Feb 28th, I was really starting to think that I could be pregnant, but how could that be possible if I had a negative test result on Monday? I shoot an email to my friend Marge, “ever heard of a false negative pregnancy test?” Shockingly, yes she had and told me to take another when I got home the following day.

February 29th, 2008 – it’s Friday and I meet my parents for what will be my final sushi lunch for a long time. After lunch I run errands and decide to buy more pregnancy tests. I’ve never been this late in my entire life. I don’t buy just one test this time – I buy three. I avoid EPT or any test that requires visible seeing a second line. I buy digital tests that just say pregnant or not pregnant as test results. I finish my errands, go home and spend until about 4:30pm on work calls.

Alex comes home and I tell him no period and that I bought more prego tests. He said go take one now. I said no – it’s really best to wait until morning. He said go now – how long does it take? He was playing Rock Band and I told him it would take 5 minutes (or one rock band song). He pushes me upstairs and starts playing a song. I pee on the stick and it shows a flashing time capsule – while it’s deciding my fate I start walking back down the stairs thinking the results would show once I was downstairs. The test changed as I was halfway down our stairs and I about fell down the remaining stairs. Pregnant. The test said pregnant. Holy crap. Alex hits pause on his song and hugs me, saying “I told you so”. I started my “Oh my god” repetitive hour. I told him to finish his song while I go upstairs. When he is done with his song he joined me upstairs when I was just repeating “Oh my god”. He was excited, I was freaked out.

I called Margie to share my news and at the time I asked her not to say anything to anyone just yet but she was very happy for us.

Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to discuss anything because he had a trainer appointment to work out while I was heading to my parents then we were all going out to dinner later that evening.

That dinner was the most awkward, longest dinner of my life. Alex sat across from me and held the conversation with my parents while I continued to freak out quietly. He winked at me numerous times from across the table. I was very visibly tired and stressed, both of which my parents picked up on quickly. I told them it must be the aftermath of the flu we just had while in Barbados.

Alex and I had been engaged since early November, our save the date cards for our wedding already sent out, fliers for the cruise already sent out and now we’re pregnant. The cruise will not allow women in their third trimester to cruise. I would be 6.5 months pregnant by the time the cruise came around.
We just ruined our wedding cruise. Back to this topic in a bit.

At 4am, on March 1st, I can’t sleep and take another pregnancy test. Alex hears me stir and asks me if I’m STILL pregnant – I say yes and he says try to get some sleep.

March 1st, 8am – I get up and go workout. I call Alex afterwards and he tells me he has already called the doctor to set up a formal appointment for confirmation on Tuesday but that we can do a walk in clinic if we wanted. It was the first step needed for an OB referral since I didn’t have an OB.

He also tells me that he has already called his mom and started off the conversation with “Hi Grandma”. She’s thrilled for us. I was a bit miffed with Alex that he so quickly told his mom and that was so excited. I was miffed because I knew my parents would not take the news as well. Alex said tell them today. I told him that my dad was going to NYC and that I would call him first – easier if he wasn’t around my mom.

I called my dad on the way home from piano lessons and through tears and choked words I told him the news. He was in shock – he first said Mazel Tov (congrats in Yiddish) and that we would work through the details of the wedding later. He told me to worry about finding a good doctor and just to take care of myself. He advised me not to wait to tell my mother and that Alex and I should take her to lunch the next day, in a public place and give her the news.

So we did, we took to lunch at Biaggi’s and gave her the news. Lunch became quiet and uncomfortable. Very quiet and very uncomfortable. Luckily it didn’t last long. I felt a huge relief with at least getting the news out. My mom was pissed, embarrassed and more embarrassed.

My phone stopped ringing. No more calls from mom.

March 4th, 2008 – we went to Dr. Woodward to confirm the pregnancy. It was another prego pee test which surprised me, I was prepared for a blood test but was relieved. My mom rudely called that afternoon to get hear what the doctor had to say and she was just cold and rude. She said that Alex and I need to come to their house to discuss everything with her and my father. I told her we would figure out when a good time would be for that discussion given our work schedules.

At this point I was 5 weeks pregnant. 5 weeks is a small amount of time in which anything can go wrong and stress should be eliminated. I’ve never felt as much stress before in my life. Alex said if it came down to it he would marry me the next day if it made my parents happy. I was so stressed I was concerned about miscarrying.

The doctor made us an OB appoint for April 7th, 2008 – far enough out to have an ultrasound and possible see/hear the kiddo’s heartbeat. I just wanted to get to April 7th and make sure everything was ok. I also wanted to get to twelve weeks as the chance of miscarriage would go significantly down.
March 5th, 2008 – Alex and I are very uncomfortably sitting around my parent’s kitchen table. My mom’s concern is her image and reputation, my dad has concerns for our kid. Both are living in the 1940’s still. I should mention that Alex and I are 31 and 37 with plans to wed only months away. My mom is concerned that the jewish people in town will talk and that no one is to know about this (very realistic given that in a year I’d be toting around a newborn who just magically appeared). My dad had a concern that the kid someday may realize that he was conceived before we were married. In 1940, that may have been an issue but in 2008 it’s not an issue. My mother made it clear that she was going to tell the world that we married in February 2008 so that no one would question anything (my mom obviously can’t do math).

The discussion wasn’t awful but it definitely wasn’t friendly. It was a simple discussion at the end – the cruise wedding was a religious ceremony and we would still need a civil ceremony to make our marriage legal. We told my parents that we just need to get through the next few weeks to make sure that there wasn’t going to be a miscarriage and that we’d let them know our decision on marriage but it would be our decision. My mom was pushing for us to get married April 5th when they were in Vegas and that Alex’s mom should just fly in for it. We said no – the OB appt was April 7th and in no way were we risking missing that appointment. We left their house on a somber note.

From there my mom didn’t speak to me. It was odd that my phone didn’t ring.

Fast forward to April 7th, 2008 – our first OB appointment. I was weighed, examined and 3 large vials of blood were drawn. I hadn’t had a OB exam is 12 years and hadn’t had blood drawn in almost 10. The coolest part of the entire appointment was the ultrasound. I had to lay back so Alex and the person conducting the ultrasound had the first view. All I saw was Alex’s eyes getting wide. I didn’t have any expectation of seeing much more than a bean but when the individual turned the screen I saw what looked like a gummy bear with a beating heart. We had our first baby picture.

We really liked our doctor from the start – he was friendly, he bantered back and forth with Alex, he answered all of our questions and gave the time we needed. The only negative thing I could think of from the entire visit was what small hands he had and if that would be bad when catching our kid. My friend Sunshine pointed out that small hands at some point would be much more comfortable than larger hands.

I would like to point out that I was a total trooper when it came to having blood drawn and what a great phlebotomist I lucked out to have. The last time I had blood drawn I passed out. Not only was it quick but it was relatively painless. She found a vein right away. No one has ever been able to do that.

So I was tested for STD’s, HIV, pap test for cancer and all other typical blood test stuff (cholesterol, blood sugar, etc). One of the more interesting tests of the blood was my blood type – I didn’t know my blood type.

I expected the appointment to go 2.5 hours and took the day off of work – we had the exam, ultrasound and blood drawn all in about 50 minutes. It was a great start with our new doc.

I called my mom first to tell her about the appointment – she was cold and really didn’t seem to care. Whatever, I was excited. I then called my sister who was more excited but didn’t have time to talk. Later that afternoon I called my dad who was more excited by far than my mom and I proceeded to say it was one of the coolest things ever and that mom isn’t going to ruin this experience.

Luckily, the parents left for Europe the next day for a few weeks.

Alex and I for a few weeks kicked around how we wanted to do a quick civil ceremony. We considered getting married in Des Moines and then realized they publish wedding licenses in the newspaper. This would be an issue and disrupt my mom’s lies. We then decided to go to Vegas for a weekend. We invited our parents to join us and unfortunately they couldn’t join us.

April 25th – we leave for Vegas. We have first class seats from using my mileage and hotel rooms using my points. Alex did something amazing that will forever be held in high regard to me. He lined up a rabbi and a chapel that we could be married underneath a chuppah. This eventually would go very far with my parents. We get the hotel around 10:30am and they tell us it will be at least two hours before we’ll get our room until they seem my premiere elite status (I’m in the highest 1% of revenue for Marriott). We not only got a room immediately but they upgraded us to a VIP suite. The room was amazing – it had a dining room, kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms, large bedroom and a walk in closet. The bathroom was dreamy as it had a Jacuzzi, a huge shower with two large shower heads and Jacuzzi jets, two sinks, etc.

We could only admire the room for so long as we were starving and needed to get a marriage license plus stop by the wedding chapel to sign appropriate paperwork. We had a great breakfast at a famous diner called Peppermill’s and then were off to get our license. Getting a wedding license was relatively painless and rather quick. We then found our wedding chapel and was able to get everything lined up for the following day’s ceremony.

That night, we had a nice dinner at Gallagher’s and then saw Zoomanity which is a Cirque De Soleil show that is about sensuality and sexuality. It was really neat.

April 26th, 2008 9am – we venture out to different hotels and gamble a bit. We saw someone bet thousands of dollars on a hand and watch him split, double down about 3 times – I think he won $12,000 on that hand – I had never seen anything like it. I wasn’t feeling great and told Alex I wanted to crash at the hotel for a bit. While we were resting at the hotel, we had a knock at the door…Alex’s mom sent us a huge bouquet of balloons saying congratulations – it was so nice.

April 26th, 2008 – 6pm – After napping a lot of the day away we get ready for our wedding. The rabbi meets us at the hotel at 6pm to discuss the ceremony and get to know us. We tell him we’re pregnant which he doesn’t bat an eye at and actually asks us what’s wrong with my mother, why is she so out of date. A child is a blessing and should never be viewed negatively. The rabbi has the best toupee I’ve ever seen and by best I mean the worst – it’s so distracting to not stare at it. We go together to the chapel and the ceremony itself was about 20 minutes. Alex looked so cute in his Yamakah and we kept the light bulb he stepped on. It was wonderful and sweet and very private. Pictures were taken and then we were off to the Stratosphere for a nice dinner. The evening was perfect. Alex made the weekend absolutely memorable.

April 27th, 2008 – We call our parents from the airport to give them the news. Shockingly, my mom said congratulations and her toned changed a bit. Being married by a Rabbi went a very long way.

April 28th, 2008 – we went back to work and back to our normal lives. Surprising to me, it didn’t feel any different to be married. We were already living as a married couple without the formalities.

My phone started ringing again. My mom was back to speaking to me and actually started discussing the pending kiddo.

May 9, 2008 – we had our 2nd OB appointment and heard our kid’s heartbeat for the first time. So cool.

That should bring everyone up to date on all of the happenings. I’ll probably rehash some items I forgot over time.

Next weekend will be the start of cleaning out the yarn room to turn it into the kiddo’s room. I’m so lucky – my best friend Karen is visiting me for the weekend from Houston. I’m really looking forward to her trip and have so much planned.

Here’s to clothes somewhat still fitting, sleeping better through the night and the nonstop sweating easing up.