Well it finally happened....

Someone asked me if I was carrying twins.

Thats right up there with hearing "wow you must be due any day now" when you've still got 2 months to go. I haven't heard that yet, but now I'm not as hopeful that I won't!

The Good Things

It's sooooooooooo easy right now to run off a list of all the things right now that make me cranky, uncomfortable or are just plain weird. But in getting caught up in that, I'm afraid I'm going to miss the awesome amazing cool things that happen too! So rather than tell you about the back aches, heartburn, and sleepless nights (I know I cheated and listed of a few) I'm gonna make you a list of the things I am so extremely grateful for. Some obvious, some funny, some selfish, but all real!

- How amazing it is to think we are bringing a life into this world
- Laying in bed at night while Josh and I watch my stomach move around and feel him kick
- Watching the girls faces the first time they felt him move and how excited they got
- Not realizing that this journey would bring Josh and I even closer together
- A free pass to eat as much ice cream as I want and not have one guilty thought about it
- How strangers are generally nicer to me than they need to be, offering to let me go first in line, or holding doors for me
- When people get excited and touch my belly - I thought this would bother me, but I actually really like it. When else in life are you going to get a reaction like that about your tummy being huge? I figure I can spend the rest of my life trying to disguise a tummy, why not let it be hugged and kissed now?
- When people tell me I'm all belly even though I know where else it's hiding ;)
- Watching Josh sneak yet another onsie into our shopping cart even though everyone under the sun has told him to stop buying clothes until after the shower
- Accepting help - it's hard to do this one... but its one point in my life where I really have toe appreciate the fact that I NEED to slow down and my family and loved ones want to help so I should accept it!
-When I drink a soda or eat candy I can literally feel it give the baby a sugar rush and it makes me laugh
-Hearing Lizzie's list of all the things she wants to teach her nephew how to do
-Picturing my Dad and Pattie as Grandpa and Nana
-Getting one summer off from stressin about being "bikini ready" and embracing the muumuus


I know there are tons more but I'll stop here for now! Thanks for sharing this amazing journey with me!

A Right Of Passage

After being asked when the due date is, if it's a boy or girl, are we excited... the next question usually is, do you have the nursery ready. Nope, we do not! For lots of reasons. For starters, the crib is probably going to start in our room. Josh and I are dead set on not co sleeping - meaning no baby in our bed! However, Josh's experiences tell me those first few weeks/months he'll be up a lot at night and it will just be easier to have him close. The 2nd big reason is that what will be his room is currently the playroom for the girls. So we've wanted to tread lightly and slowly on this big change for them. The last few months we've quietly been cleaning out toys they never play with, and slowly migrating things into their room. One big storage unit will have to stay, but by the time lil' Jack starts having toys, I think they will start phasing out of all the little toys and the timing will be just fine. Anywho, so while ya, it would be fun to have it all set up, I wasn't really in a big rush to do so. Until now. :) And just think - my nesting instincts haven't even taken over yet! It just dawned on me the other day my shower is in like 2 weeks. I don't want to end up with all of this stuff and no where to put it, and then it's just in piles around the house. So I told Josh my goal is to have the dresser and crib set up and waiting by then.

Back track to the first trimester when we announced to the families that we were expecting. Josh's aunt and uncle graciously offered up a crib and huge dresser/table combo set they had for their son, who had recently switched to a toddler bed. We were thrilled! So Steve, Josh's dad, offered to go get the crib for us this week, and brought it over last night. After dinner Josh and I (read, me sitting in the middle of the room watching Josh) began to assemble the crib. As I sat there dutifully watching and not actually helping, I wondered how many future moms and dads had spent a night after work doing exactly this. Then I pictured my mom and dad, very likely in this same room, setting up a crib for Lizzie... and it just struck me as such a neat right of passage. Call it hormones but it actually got me a little teary eyed. This was like joining some new secret club, not just anyone gets to do this.. and suddenly, sitting there in the middle of the still half playroom/half nursery, realizing Josh was building the crib around me and I was soon going to be stuck (it was hysterical trying to get out later), and watching Josh's face as he concentrated to figure it out, I felt so blessed, and so lucky. I think it's all finally starting to feel real.

The only bummer was the crib actually didn't work out - several pieces were broken so we'll need to scrap it and get a new game plan, but I'm not too worried about it!

Things that are just different...

So, it makes sense that there are things you can't do when you are pregnant. You can't drink, probably shouldn't go horseback riding, sky diving... stay away from sushi... those are some common things we all know. But there is a whole nother list of things you just don't think about. I'm not talking about stuff like lifting things - thats actually a pet peeve. I'm not stupid I'm not going to try to move couches or a bed on my own, butI can carry a bag of groceries.. I'm pregnant, not helpless! It's things that I always do that about 20 seconds in, I realize I can't that I get upset over.

A perfect example was that this weekend the girls finally decided to try out the roller skates Granny and Steve had gotten them for Christmas. Granny wanted to help Kali, so Kenzie and I set to work getting her set up with the oh so necessary knee, elbow and wrist pads. Then we waddled down the grass and she started off on the side walk. Where we had to pause, was when she lost her balance and depended on me to hold her up. Any other day, this would have been totally fine... but with my big belly and lack of any core muscles... my back immediately took the brunt. Holy moly that hurt - and more importantly, I was worried I wouldn't be able to really catch her if she fell. So we had to sit and wait for Kali to be tired so Granny could take Kenzie around. I was so frustrated sitting and watching. For the record - both girls did great, Kenzie fell 3 times but much to my delight, she laughed each time.

Another thing that makes perfect sense, but I had never really put that much thought into it, was my health during my pregnancy. Unless you are just one of those annoying people who actually remembers their vitamins every day... I was never like that. I would go through phases of taking them religiously for a week straight, then forgetting for a month. Right now? If I forget... I'll be laying in bed and gasp.. get up, go eat some crackers and take my prenatal vitamins before falling asleep. However, this weekend boasted a whole new problem. I got the stomach flu.. and not just a piddly stomach ache. I'm talking full on, laying on the bathroom floor, can't even keep an ice cube in me. Half way through the day and not having any food in me..it's overwhelming how worried I was about the little guy. But alas, he kicked my stomach (thanks bud, just what I needed) all day long, letting me know he was OK. However, where normally I would have bounced back and been back at work today...I'm still home. I feel so weak and exhausted. So I'm spending the day trying to rest, and eating the most nutrition packed stuff I can to get Jack and I back to normal.

So thats been my excitement. Before Josh and I both got the stomach flu (along with the rest of his family) we celebrated Mackenzie's birthday at the zoo - everyone had a blast!!!

Dogs DEFINITELY have personality!

I should start by saying I am so bummed that I did not take a picture to capture this moment. That being said, here's the story.


Time and time again, I've said to Josh "aww look, Rufus looks sad" or happy, or some other emotion.. and Josh always looks at me and talks like I'm deaf and says "DOGS DON'T HAVE EMOTIONS! THEY ARE DOGS, NOT HUMANS!" And I firmly disagree! Of course they do! Well, I think Rufus finally convinced Josh he does in fact have feelings! Josh and I both have big blankets that we keep in the living room for when we want to snuggle up and watch TV. They were folded up in a stack on the floor and Rufus was laying beside them. I pulled mine up leaving Josh's prized "car B" on the ground. Rufus immediately readjusted and sprawled across the car B.. which is a big no no, but I like a little humor so I left him there. A few minutes later Josh came to join me on the couch and ordered a very sleepy Rufus off of his blanket and yanked it out from under him. What happened next was priceless. Rufus stood there GLARING at Josh... for added effect his eyes were bloodshot since he had just fallen asleep. I could see Josh ignoring him, but after at least a good minute, Josh finally broke and laughed and I said OMG He is SO pissed at you! If Rufus could talk all I could picture were swear words!! It was too funny. He stood there for another minute just staring Josh down, then like a total snob, sauntered off to the playroom where is bed is, and stayed there the rest of the night. He showed us!!!

Josh now believes that dogs can show emotion LOL!

Side note - 75 days to go, WOOHOOO!!!!!!

Turning Into Your Parents

Growing up, I can remember my Dad saying quite often "Megan (or any of my siblings) you left the hall (bathroom, bedroom, patio, kitchen, etc) light on, please go turn it off." This broken record request wasn't limited to just lights. We'd leave doors and windows open in the winter "heating the whole neighborhood" things like that. My personal evil favorite was when we moved into the house he's in now. Before they remodeled, along one wall in the kitchen was a series of cabinets. A few long ones and then a few that opened right at his head level. In my self absorbed years I can't remember if Katie and Lizzie were as bad, but I was notorious for leaving those cabinet doors open, specifically the ones up top. And dear old Dad would come in, distracted, looking at something in his hands, and walk right into the cabinet doors. And naturally, they opened opposite of the direction he was walking so they wouldn't just fall closed. They'd hold firm, usually gashing the corner right into the cute lil' bald spot on the top of his head. I sit here chuckling to myself as I hear "Goddammitall MEGAN" ringing thru my memories. But as I chuckle, I'm reminded of the fact that what goes around comes around. In the years since I've moved out, karma has come full circle in two ways with this one.

I remember when I first moved out, calling my Dad in that first week, joking that I had every light on in the house, I took a shower that lasted an hour, and had the heater running with allllll the windows and doors open. Ahhhh, the freedom!!!! Then I got my first set of utility bills. WHAT THE HECK!?!?!? I even called Dad (landlord) to inquire of possible leaks because there was just no way my water bill was this high. But, probably the best pay back I got - well I'd imagine my Dad would think this is the best... was the day I left one of the top cabinet doors open. This is the only cabinet door that you risk really running into. It sticks out further than the rest, and is at the end of the kitchen, near the doorway into the hall. I woke up one sleepy eyed Saturday, pulled a box of cereal out of the said cabinet and poured a bowl to bring back to bed. I remember adding too much milk, so I was looking down as I walked to make sure I wasn't spilling. I was also walking really fast because I was freezing (now suddenly a cheapskate, I was more willing to hide under 30 blankets than run the heater just for me!) Well you can probably guess where I am going with this. Yep - 5 or 6 quick steps later BAM I ran right into the cabinet... and I didn't just hit my head. It caught me so off guard, and I hit it so hard, I flew back, lost my footing, fell on my butt, dumping the milk and cereal all over me. I could just picture my Dad standing over me going NE NER NE NER NE NER!!!!!!!! Man did I deserve that or what!!!

But the harshest reality I think I've met -that most people who eventually have kids can appreciate was the day I realized... holy crap. I sound like my Dad. All the sudden, all I see is the girls leaving every light on anytime they walk into a room, they leave their TV on anytime they walk away (This solves the mystery of the TV magically turning off growing up - My Dad later explained he'd set the sleep timer on them since we'd walk away half the time leaving it on.) I'm beginning to think Mackenzie thinks the light gremlin is going to eat her hand off in the bathroom if she were to ever turn off the light. I feel like a broken record!!! "you left the light on.. please go turn the TV off... close the fridge door, nothing is going to magically appear, you know what we have....Close the recliner when you crawl out of it so we don't walk into it... close the door you are letting flies in.." After saying it for the 50th time I thought OH NO! I sound just like my Dad! LOL!! But you know what, I get it now. So I guess it's time to pay my dues, and maybe one day in 20 years, Kali and Mackenzie (and eventually Jack) will call me laughing, saying they get it now too.

Mother's Day

Ahh Mother's Day... admittedly a tricky one for me. Our family has dealt with a lot of changes, some sad, some upsetting, some the best thing that every happened to us, and well a lot of that revolves around Moms! But as we get older and we are all falling into our nitch in life, our hearts have lead us to where we want to be and guided us to how we want to express that.

That being said, yesterday was nice and mellow and very relaxed. Josh and I were excited to give our Mother's Day gifts... unfortunately we'll have to wait until today to give his mom her surprise because not everyone was feeling so well yesterday and up for visits. However, I don't think she follows the blog so I'm safe so spoil the surprise on here and talk about what we did!

Denise has been (unsuccessfully - man he's stubborn) trying to guilt trip Josh into painting her bedroom for her. I'm not exaggerating - this has been going on for over a year. They have a love-hate relationship where Josh rags on her 24/7 but when push comes to shove, the first person he calls when he needs advice or help is his mama. So we (I, as Josh keeps joking, there is no we in this activity) came up with the idea that we should offer to get all the supplies and paint her room for her. The only caveat right now is that I can't be around those fumes until after Jack arrives. So I made the certificate you'll see below. I am lazy and just used my iphone for the picture, so its a bit blurry, but you'll get the idea:

The font is a bit blurry, but you can see the certificate is to "Jack's Paint Shop" and the way we explained she'll have to wait until he comes, is by putting "Grand Opening: July 2010" at the bottom. I hope she likes it!!

After spending most of the day being lazy, we headed over to Dad and Pattie's house where Dad and I planned to make Pattie dinner. I will stop here and give a little praise to Dad - I did absolutely nothing to help with dinner. Every time I looked up, he was already taking care of something and telling me he "got it"... I did nothing. Josh even did the dishes, so I literally, did nothing! Thanks Dad and Josh!

Anywho, like a total airhead (let's blame it on baby brain shall we) I forgot to take a picture of what we gave Pattie before we gave it to her! But I can describe it easily enough! The tricky thing with Pattie is she doesn't ask for much and if she needs something, she usually just runs out and gets it. So we all tend to default to gift cards - which I know she loves and they get used, but after a while giving her the same 4 gift cards, you just feel like a schmuck. So, Josh came up with a great suggestion, why don't I think of something she and I can do together. If you know Pattie, one of the very first things that comes to mind is that she LOVES sewing, specifically quilting. For Christmas I was spoiled enough by my parents to get a new sewing machine that is absolutely amazing. Then, just to make me feel like it was Christmas all over again, Pattie brought over a ton of tools to get me started on quilting! It was so thoughtful of her. I love seeing her excitement in something, and what honestly makes it seem like so much fun to me is the idea that it's something we can share together. VIOLA! Let's take a quilting class together! So what we 'made' for her, was another certificate as well. Al beit she may have to 'dumb it down' a little for me and go to a class that will be fairly easy for her, but the idea of getting to share that together sounds great. So since she is the expert I asked her to let me know where we should book the class, and hopefully we'll be on our way soon!

p.s. I think she loved the idea! :)

As the day came to an end I was laying in bad last night thinking wow, starting next year, Mother's Day is gonna be a bit different for me! I smiled, thinking well, just another addition on our Mom saga for the family, and this one is definitely one I'm looking forward to.

Our Garden is BACK!!

Ok, I know you've been anxiously waiting at the edge of your seat for me to post that we've done something with our garden. For those of you who don't religiously read my blog or go back and re read my blog endlessly... here's the short story:


A year ago Pattie gave me an idea to start a fairy garden for the girls, which they LOVED the concept of. The reality? We killed the flowers, twice. So, Pattie and I came to the conclusion that while part of it may be my lack of a green thumb, our dirt was old, untouched for years and icky. So D&P said you dig the planter out and we'll fill it. Well that planter ended up being about 18 feet long 3-4 feet wide and 2 feet deep. It was a monster to dig. Well by the time we accomplished this task, it was closing in on winter. So we waited. 2 weeks ago D&P brought over 10 bags of soil and 3 euonymus (sounds like yowannamus!) shrubs. But alas, that weekend it began to rain, and the following weekend we all were busy. Nervous that the plants weren't long for this world trapped in buckets, Josh and I decided to dive in head first this Sunday and here is what we did!



The plan with the old dirt was to mix it with the new soil that D&P brought over. The tricky part was, the dirt was sitting in 2 huge mounds next to the trench, and had been rained on, baked in the sun, and even had their own colony of weeds growing on them after sitting there for 6 months! So what does one do? Put those kids to work! HA! We may have broken a few child labor laws along the way, but they were happy to go into demolition mode and break those mounds down to a nice smooth mixture. In dresses and flip flops no less!

But, alas, little girls run out of steam, and don't like being sweaty. So what do you next? Get Grandpa involved!!! Josh's parents come over every Sunday to eat lunch with the girls before they head back to their mom's house. Wver a softy, Steve couldn't just sit and watch 2 little girls and a preggo lady digging dirt, so he hopped right in. Things went a lot faster for he and Josh than it did for Josh with the 3 of us girls helping!

5 hours (yes, 5, I could not believe it!) and 24 trips with the wheel burrow later, we finished!! I am so thrilled to have it full and to kiss those dirt mounds GOODBYE! The fine print on the yardwaste bin says do not dump dirt, so we'll have to add a little to the bottom each week (don't tell) to get rid of the extra old dirt we didn't use up. Then we'll have to reseed the grass where the dirt mounds were, but a small minor detail that is totally worth it! Next weekend, we go pick out flowers! I can't wait!!

You gotta give a lil' push sometimes...

The girls have been asking about getting involved in some new activities. I think its fantastic and was so excited to see their enthusiasm. Specifically with Mackenzie - who is so shy. Kali usually can be swayed into trying anything once. During the last summer Olympics the girls were obsessed with the gymnastics. So it wasn't a huge surprise that they both asked if we could check that out.

I was immediately thrown back into my childhood when all of us girls went to California Cartwheel Center. It's mainly glimpses into memories that I have left, but I just remember we had so much fun, and we'd come home and practice in the front yard seeing who could do hand stands the longest. And then of course, there is the Nadia movie. A heavily abused, recorded from TV VHS of the Nadia Comaneci story. You know the Russian gymnast who was amazing. We all wanted to be her.

Anyway, we looked into it turns out CCC is still up and running and just as popular. So we signed them up for an intro class this past weekend. In getting them geared up I told them about the things I could remember. Hands down my favorite part was the giant trampoline next to the HUGE pool of foam. You could jump as high as you could and go flying into what felt like clouds. It was the neatest thing ever.

So Saturday we head on over, and I admittedly question to myself.. did they move? Downsize? Gosh it seems so small now. There is the "giant" trampoline and "giant" pool of foam as promised, but it sure doesn't seem as giant. Ahhh the joys of growing up I guess. Anyway, Kenzie's class was first, which admittedly wasn't optimal as she was getting the jitters and would have much preferred to watch Kali go first. By the time her class was called she had a death grip around my leg and was near tears. The teacher let me carry her in and sit with them while they started class. For the first 5 minutes she flat out refused and begged me to let her leave. My heart broke in so many ways. I never, ever want to do something to cause her to cry, ever! But at the same moment, I know in my gut this is something she will love, she just needed to give it a chance. So I just kept repeating it to her that she has to at least try. After the kids finished the first exercise the teacher asked them to come stand by her, I took this opportunity to kind of shove Kenzie in the mix and duck behind a wall. She could still see me but I wasn't in the area with her anymore. Man, if looks could kill - she was well aware of the maneuver I just pulled. So once I felt like she wasn't going to have a complete melt down, I went back into the room where Josh was, lined with windows so we could watch. It took all of 5 minutes before she was running around with the best of them, doing summer salts and... well, attempting cartwheels. It was the cutest thing ever.

We were thrilled to see her skipping to us after the class was over, followed by one of the teachers to come give her a high 5 and tell us how great she did. So Kenzie was beaming, the teacher was all excited and said "did you have fun?!" and Kenzie said "YEP!" and she said "OH GREAT! So you'll come back next weekend?!" ... "NOPE!" Oh for peet's sake Kenz.

So I think we are going to sign her up for another week and not give her the option LOL. Because Kali was about to pop out of her seat having to watch Mackenzie get to do it for an hour first, and the second the called her class she was barreling thru the door to go do it, and LOVED it. So I think Kenzie will regret backing out when we sit week after week watching Kali do it!

The first thing Kali said? "Can I get one of those pretty leotards like the other girls have?"... thats Kali for ya!!

I see rain

And Fritz said I wouldn't. Just sayin.

Me and Fritz, we are about to have a problem

Fritz is the "weatherman" if you want to call him that on the Channel 4 11 o'clock news. I usually can hold one eye open long enough to hear his weather report before blissfully passing out asleep every night. (Sometimes I'm woken up on the couch at 11, just to move to bed when Josh is ready lol) With California weather you have to kind of figure it's not rocket science. So usually good ole Fritz with his tiny glasses and beady eyes is not far off. Unless we have real weather. Well, are supposed to have real weather. Example: this week. Monday night he says, and I QUOTE! "The rain will hit Ventura County some time Tuesday evening, and then you will have showers on and off thru Thursday." K, sounds great thanks Fritz, nighty night.

Now I must pause to explain that finding out rain is coming was once a happy occasion. Until you have dogs. Rain for us now equals either muddy dogs when you get home, or having to pull them into the backyard on the leash before work, wait for them to do their business, then lock them in the kitchen all day while we are at work. It's a pain, and I hate doing that to them.

Tuesday morning I wake up and it's a bit dreary outside, but I figure fair enough a storm is a brewing! So, rather than locking the dogs up in the kitchen for 3 whole days, and deal with Chance having an accident, I happily send them outside figuring the rain will not come till we are home anyway. Well Fritz was WRONG! We are literally driving to work as I see rain drops hitting the windshield. Sigh. Fritz's only saving grace was that it never rained that hard, so we thankfully did not have muddy dogs when we came home!

Last night while watching The Biggest Loser, I hear the preview for the news, and its Fritz, his beady eyes now taunting me saying "If you hated the weather today, you are gonna hate tomorrow!" Sure enough come 11pm he's claiming full on rain for today. So, imagine my surprise today, when my alarm goes off, I throw open the curtains to be BLINDED BY THE MORNING SUN!!!! Fritz, YOU ARE A LIAR!!!

Thats all I have to say about that!!

Where Assumptions Will Get You

I look as though I have a basketball under my shirt. There is no turning back now, no way to conceal my secret and protect Jack from the world. Not that I didn't want people to know about him, but I liked that it was my decision whether or not people knew at first. Don't get me wrong, I ham it up, running into someone I haven't seen in a while and squealing with delight about whats to come. However, there is always some Eeyore, some dark rain cloud lurking somewhere. This week, it was at the grocery store.

Josh has taken care of the grocery shopping for what seems like the last month so I volunteered to tackle it by myself this week and let him stay comfy on the couch. (he was minutes from dozing under his B, too cute!) So off I went, filling my cart with the usual suspects for the week. Our splurge dinner happens to be bratworst, which we boil in beer and onions before throwing on the grill. So I grabbed a 6 pack of beer and threw it in the cart. I eventually made my way to check out, unloading my cart while the cashier got started. I should say, this cashier actually lives in my neighborhood and stopped at the house JUST to ask about Rufus because she sees him at the fence during the day and can't get over how adorable he is. We've since exchanged stories and while going through her line in the past she's whipped out her cell phone to show me pictures of Bowzer, her bully. So it caught me off guard when she scanned the 6 pack across and with a horribly judgemental eye on my stomach, asked for ID in a tone that was obvious she did not approve. As I bit my tongue, I thought of a few things I wanted to say, I wanted to give her a piece of my hormonal mind, and let her know that only in my dreams would I be able to go home and crack one of these bad boys open right now... or ask for a pack of cigarettes too, just for kicks, or lastly.. point out that she should open her eyes to the gallon jug of chocolate milk she's about to scan and realize theres a much bigger chance THATS for me to pig out on. Really lady? We swapped doggy pictures and you have to ruin all that by assuming I'm a knocked up alcoholic. Well, see if I stand in your line ever again! Meany!!!

On a happy note, today marks 100 days left!! That still feels like an eternity, but I'm happy to move into double digits tomorrow!

Mr. Doggy

I am not ashamed to admit that I sleep with a stuffed animal. It's something that has comforted me since I was a small child. When I lived alone having my bunny I got for my 11th birthday tucked under my arm against my side provided comfort. Tease me all you want, I don't care! When Josh moved in, out of fear of embarrassment I tucked my dear bunny up into the girl's stuffed animal net, hopefully hiding him from the elements. So, a few months later when I was having a tough day and stalked down the hall to change out of my work clothes, I immediately smiled when I saw the cutest doggy stuffed animal sitting against my pillow with a card in his lap. It was from Josh, telling me to cheer up and that tomorrow would be a new day. That night, the stuffed animal was firmly wedged in my side bringing me back to that childhood comfort and all was right in the world.

Well, that lasted about a week before Josh started teasing me. First, he thought it was ridiculous that he didn't have a name. Now, I never named my previous stuffed animals so the extent of my creativity went to Mr. Doggy. Well this just sent Josh over the edge, you can't name a stuffed dog Mr. Doggy. Oh really? I think I just did! Well, ever since then, Josh has just had it out for the poor guy. If he gets into bed before me, I'll occasionally see Mr. Doggy go flying against the wall in the hallway while I stand there brushing my teeth. Sometimes I crawl into bed and realize he's not there and look around... here are some of the places I've found him:

- In the laundry basket

- Wedged between the top of the door and the door jam

- "Hung" by the neck in a small wreath near the bedroom door

If I put Mr. Doggy on the same side as Josh I can count on him grabbing him at some point in the night and throwing him across the room. Josh claims it's because Mr. Doggy "makes me sweaty". Hmmm, I'm beginning to think Josh is jealous of Mr. Doggy! What do you think? ;0)

And yes, I know I sound crazy, but it's a kooky kind of day - ride it out with me!

Meet Chance!

Just because things were getting a little to easy and predictable around the house, we thought we'd add something to the mix - or rather, someone to our family! I introduce to you, our new puppy, Chance!

Chance would be a perfect poster child to help change the stigma that surrounds pitbulls. I have never (sorry Rufus) met a sweeter dog. He is 5 months old, and so well behaved it's almost uncanny. We keep wondering if something is wrong with him because it has been such a smooth transition. The only "puppy" issue we are still working on is potty training at night, but by housing him in the kitchen, it's pretty easy clean up. He's already learning to stand at the door to signal it's time to go potty. (At his old house, they had free run to come and go whenever.) All he wants to do is get love from you... and hands down the best part, he'll even take love from Rufus. We have been contemplating getting a playmate for Rufus for some time now. He does seem so bored during the day when we are at work. We've even done a handful of meet and greets with dogs at the local shelter trying to find a good match. There has just never been a gut feeling of this is the one, there was always some doubt. So, we agreed to take Chance on a trial basis, with the caveat that he and Rufus meshed well. So we headed home and upon tons of google research, the first thing we did straight off the bat was go for a walk. Which... had an unsuspecting challenge. Chance had never been on a leash before. So it took Josh going ahead with Rufus and giving us a few minutes for Chance to start to get the hint. Rufus really had to focus (thats my boy) on walking and not turning around to sniff butts, but by the time we got the park down the street they were galloping around each other like baby horses and Josh and I were hopeful. Over the next few days their bond only increased as Chance started to become familiar with us. Rufus still likes his alone time when it's time to go to sleep but will begrudgingly allow Chance to spoon once in a while. The best part hands down is their budding friendship. Rufus is easily double the size of Chance, and yet, when they play, you see Rufus going belly up and letting Chance get plenty of opportunities to take over and get a few playful jabs in. It truly warms my heart to watch!

Sorry for the awful picture, their noses get the window dirty in 2 seconds flat! But they are definitely buds!!

On a quick side note... Teddy's tracker says 111 more days to go, can't wait to break 100!!!

Finally, feel like we are making progress!

July 28th is my due date and it is a number ingrained in my head. I'm not obsessed with the idea of that being THE day. I get it, Teddy may already be with us at that point, or we may watch that day come and go on the calendar. But for now, this far away, its all I have to hang on to. It seems like light years away. Everyone says "oh coming up soon!" ya not really. At least, when for the last 5 and a half months my life consists of counting the weeks pain stakingly monitoring small milestones... I feel like Ive watched every hour of every day of each week slowly meander by.

However today, I got a little bit of excitement as I looked through the calendar. Next week we have a monthly check up. So I counted ahead 4 weeks to see when our next appt would be and how far along I'd be. That will be the last "monthly" appointment! After that, we will need to start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks as I'll be in my third trimester! YAY!!!! Something about that connection just really makes me feel like we are finally getting somewhere with this!!

Some other out of the ordinary events in the next two months: our 4D ultrasound, glucose test (Bleh, but I'm actually anxious to have it just to get it over with) and my shower!!! This will surely help build some of the realization that it is FINALLY getting near!

This and That

It's a combination of nothing too out of the ordinary happening lately, and a huge lack of sleep in my world that has lead me to be indecisive about what to blog about lately. Refusing to let the blog slip away into oblivion, I'll do what I do best. Ramble.

2 years ago, Kali played on a Newbury Park Girls Softball Team. Her experience consisted of twirling in the outfield picking flowers during innings and making friends. Which, at 6 years old, is the best thing you could hope for! But it wasn't shocking when she passed up signing up for the next year. Plus, there were lots of changes, right when the season ended, her mom moved, so it became tricky to figure out how we'd swing games and practices. So when she expressed interest a few months ago, we initially said, we'll see. We just weren't sure what we could get her signed up for. Typically the rule is, you don't go to practice, you don't go to games. So we got in touch with NPGS and explained the situation. They were so supportive of the situation, they found a team happy to let Kali just show up for games when she's here, and just like that, Kali became a team mate on the Blue Angels. She was SO EXCITED! So, very quickly, our Saturdays have become busy. We head out a little early to the game because the coach has offered to show up early and work with Kali (So cool!). The one rain cloud over this, is what it means for Mackenzie. She gets bored out of her skull sitting there every Saturday morning watching the girls play. In true Kenzie form, last weekend the girls on Kali's team were singing a cheer. When they finished Kenzie mumbled to herself "Thank God thats over"... we just about died.

So, once softball ends in early May, both girls have expressed interest in gymnastics, so we found a center that has classes on Saturdays, so BOTH girls can attend. Hopefully Kenzie will start to feel the love!!

In other news, I'm growing at a rapid pace these days and have the growing pains to prove it! I'm noticing that while I can still manage on my own, its a helluva lot easier to get up when Josh gives me a good heave.. (I can hear someone mooooooooooing at me somewhere). Teddy kicks on a regular basis, and it's still not strong enough to hurt so for that I am grateful. We scheduled our next doctor's appt for next week, when the girls are with us during Spring Break. They always ask if they can come along, so we were stoked to get an appt when they'd be with us during the week.

I think that brings you up to speed on my exciting world!! That's all for now...

I heart daylight savings!

I have been looking forward to daylight savings for a few weeks now. I truly love it. Minus the first few days when it feels like you get no sleep. But that is worth it to me. There is something psychological, at least for me, about it being lighter, later. During the winter months, by 6pm I am shuttin' it on down for the night. Once it's dark my internal clock goes "GO TO BED!" Besides it annoying Josh that I can't stay awake through any movies, it leaves me feeling so lazy. I feel like I don't accomplish nearly as much as I should or could. A perfect example to prove this, is last night, the first day of day light savings we didn't eat dinner until close to 8pm because we were side tracked doing so many things outside, simply because we still could at that hour. It was GREAT!

I don't mean to use the lack of sun as an excuse for my laziness, I know full well I can still clean my room with a light on rather than depending on the sun. But seriously, I do think there is something some what psychological behind it, I refuse to believe I am THAT lazy. ;)

Another reason I am so stoked for the change is that Josh and I can start going walking after work again. It is my favorite time of day to get outside, get some fresh air and put the day's hassles behind me. Plus Rufus will love us even more for it, getting to go on regular walks again!

So Spring, I welcome you, and your warm, longer sunny days with open arms!!!! Hooray you are finally going to be here!!!

You can have your trip to Belize! I have a paper heart worth more.

So my stomach is growing. I embrace it, it's growth signals that Teddy is growing, he's healthy, he's developing, he's going to be here! I follow message boards for women who are having babies in July as well. It's neat because its a bunch of people going through the same things as me, at the same time. I've heard several of them talk about how gross their bodies feel and how hard of a time they are having dealing with the changes. I can definitely relate, it's insane how different my body feels, and its admittedly a little hard to watch the number on the scale creep up and remind yourself that this is what's supposed to be happening right now. But my experiences haven't been negative, the bigger picture of why it's changing makes it so worth it!

Well, then this morning happened.

It's a pretty obvious statement that if your tummy grows, your clothes get tight. My pants wouldn't button, so I got bellybands, perfect fix! But now, my shirts are starting to not fit. So this morning after 3 shirts came on and got peeled off.. I was frustrated. Taking twenty minutes to decide on a top set me back and now we were running late. Of course this is the morning that the cats decided to sleep on my black jacket last night and Rufus decided to rub up against me right after I put my black pants on. I made my way out of the bedroom pausing at my make up bag, but ditched it realizing we had no time. As we backed out of the driveway I looked down and sighed, I was covered in hair. We got to work, Josh had to jam so he took off while I went through 5, yes 5 sheets on the lint roller. I looked down and decided it would have to be good enough!!

We went and played after the girls left yesterday, so we ditched our normal routine of grocery shopping on Sunday afternoons. The result, no breakfast .. oops. So I stopped at the work cafeteria on my way to my desk. I barrel through the door in my shirt that doesn't quite fit, my pants and jacket that still are covered in hair, my lap top bag and purse threatening to slide off my shoulder at any moment, self conscious that I have no make up on... and my eyes can't help but see the gorgeous woman who is at the omelet bar. She was tan, had boots that all season I've wanted so bad but never could afford, and the prettiest "I just bought this just because I'm perfect and spring is coming" dress on. My eyes scammed over my own outfit as I trudged to the bagel bar. I heard her ordering her egg white healthy omelet as I slathered cream cheese across my onion bagel. Then I heard someone say her name and ask how her vacation was. "Oh we went to Belize.. it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g." I can instantly picture her perfect body (one I once had, not just a few weeks ago!), perfect cute bathing suit on some perfect beach with a perfect drink with a perfect umbrella in it. I instantly wanted to cry! STUPID HORMONES!!! The kicker? As we both left at the same time, I realize she sits right near Josh and walks by his desk every day with her perfect dress, perfect legs and perfect tan. Just perfect.

So I'm dragging my feet across the courtyard to my desk feeling awfully sorry for myself, as my stupid laptop bag slides off my shoulder and I almost drop the bagel I just slathered with 5 servings of cream cheese. I get up to my desk, throw the bag in my chair and rip it open to get my laptop out, and I stop. There in the front pocket was the note Kali made for me this weekend. A cut out heart, with her adorable 8 year old writing "You are the best Megan in the world". What am I doing.. am I really about to have a pity party because some random chick at my work has a tan and boots and got to go on a trip? So what. I have a family that loves me, that adores me, that leaves notes on my pillows. How did I get so lucky? There is no trip, no pair of boots, no tan in the world that could even come close to being worth what I have. This weekend Kali had her first softball game, and at one point in the game I went to the dug out to see how she was doing and she turned to me with the biggest grin and said "I love you!"

I sat down, got my lint roller I keep at my desk out, finished my pants, and smiled as I enjoyed my bagel, rubbed my Buddha belly, and hung Kali's note up on my desk. Screw Belize, this is way better!!!!

Here's a shocker: Teddy is stubborn!

So today we had our "detailed, full, complete" .. it's been called many things... ultrasound. This is where they check his anatomy and make sure everything is on track and there are no red flags. Abnormalities, slow development, club foot, cleft pallet, etc. I was so busy at work (yay!) that I didn't think to eat anything with some sugar in it just to make sure he was moving around. So big surprise, he was asleep, curled up in a cute little pint sized ball. Sigh, again! What a stubborn little punk. I'll jump ahead to tell you that the little snot did not 'wake up' and cooperate AT ALL. He essentially stayed in the same position the entire time.

It is amazing what these technicians are trained to see. She kept pausing the screen to show us different things. Some were obvious, and quite neat. The last ultrasound we had, his bones were still almost completely soft cartilage. In the past few weeks they have been hardening into bone. So while we could see his limbs before, we could actually see the bone, even fingers and toes!! But then she'd zoom way in and we'd completely loose sight of what she was looking for and all the sudden she'd say "oh there's a kidney" ooookie dokie, sounds good! Then of course, theres the weird alien baby stuff. She was trying to get a measurement of his head, and kept rotating around, so the image would kind of go away and appear, and when it first appeared, his face would look like 1 of two things. Either an alien with big round black eyes, or a skull head straight from the set of Pirates of the Caribbean! It's wacky!!!

Hands down the coolest part though, was when she was trying to get an image of his heart beating. While he never rolled over or changed positions, he kicked his legs a few times. So we were watching him on the screen move around, while at the same time, I could feel him kicking my stomach. It was such a weird sensation!!!!

And I should point out that as I sit here typing, my sleepy butthead is awake and kicking at the laptop. Just because he can. PUNK!!!

Next Milestone, CHECK!

Josh felt Teddy for the first time last night!!!! It was so great! We were watching TV, I just ate way too much ice cream, so Teddy was most likely hyper thanks to me, and bouncing around. I had my hands resting on my stomach and I felt him kick me with my hand! I turned to Josh and told him to get over here with his hand... a minute later, Josh practically jumped to the ceiling, he felt it!!!! It was so exciting! We were both giggling like little girls. Definitely one of those moments to tuck in there and never forget.

On a semi-related note.... I got my order of BellyBands over the weekend. Hands down, best invention ever! I'm in that in between stage where my pants hurt to button, but I'm way too small for maternity pants. For those of you (like me before Teddy came along) who have no idea what they are, bellybands are a big, tight piece of material that look like a tube top. You slide the bottom half under your pants, and fold the top half over your pants, leaving them unbuttoned, and unzipped. The fabric is tight, so it holds your pants up, while concealing to the world that you are undone! I feel like I'm hanging out at work in my sweat pants. SO COMFORTABLE! Screw pregnancy, I could have used these a long time ago!