New beginnings and sad endings

The wedding yesterday was lovely. At my friend's new husband's beach house in CT. The weather was gorgeous; we all had our shoes off all day (I would have painted my toenails had I known that we'd be sitting, literally, on the beach all day). I got to chill with good friends from high school and catch up on each other. It's nice to see my friend so happy. Her husband is wonderful. I love weddings when you just can't stop smiling.

This morning, my lovely hubby started the grill so that I could have grilled sausages with our eggs. I told him that if the neighbors complain about charcoal smoke at 8 in the morning to just say that he can't argue with a pregnant woman. And then it started to rain a bit. And now it is raining more. I cut a bunch of peonies to have in the house. They smell fabulous. The garden has about a thousand more peony plants that are all going to bloom at once. The irises are also just about to open. And the poppies. It is going to be a bonanza. I'll finally get to use all the vases I've collected. The kitties roamed in the grass for a while while the sausages were being grilled. We've decided that Otto is Ferdinand - he is desperate to get outside and then he runs out just to eat grass and smell the pretty flowers. Tabs is a bit more adventurous - so we spend a bit of time herding them back away from the street and the neighbor's driveway. We still need to get their leukemia shots before they get up close and personal with all the neighborhood kitties. I've counted about ten different kitties that like to roam through our garden/yard.

And now for the sad endings. My very cool boss passed away on Thursday. He had been fighting leukemia for about 7 months now. And we all thought it was in remission after the first group of chemo treatments. He had returned to work, had regained his hair and weight and color. And then it came back. And just about a week ago, his doctors gave him the worst news - that there was nothing left for them to do and that he had about 2 months. It took less than 2 weeks. I think it hasn't fully sunken in. I know I'm going to be back at work and expecting a phone call and yet I'll never hear his voice again. I only got to work with him for a year and a half and he was the best boss I've ever worked with. Very generous, smart, humorous, direct, genuine, tactful and laid back. It was a perfect working arrangement. He let me be very independent and yet provided amazing guidance. I will truly miss him. His poor family. This is a man who hiked in Nepal and climbed to the top of Mt. Rainier in Washington. He ran marathons and triathalons and coached cross country and trained other people to run marathons. He didn't smoke, didn't drink. How does this happen?

Weekend

Well, the coughing seems to have subsided, thankfully. I'm leaving work early today to spend some time with my very bored hubby. He's between school and his summer research position and he is having a hard time keeping himself entertained. So we are going to see the new 'Star Wars'. And maybe go bra shopping (but he doesn't know this yet). Then tomorrow is the wedding of one of my high school friends. Very casual, at her new-to-be hubby's beach house in Connecticut. Hopefully the rain will stay away as it is an outdoor ceremony. And then two more days of weekend! One of our landlords will be here this weekend to mulch and fertilize the garden. And maybe plant some more beauties in the bare spots. I think I might try to organize some of the bags and bags of baby clothes I've inherited from my sister.

My mother-in-law just sent a package of very cute baby things. Lots of farm and cows and cats. Nothing too girly - which is great. There is also a very cute velvet elf outfit for Christmas. Although it may be huge on babycakes unless she ends up being a very big baby. But it will still be donned and photographed because it is very adorable.

Have a lovely weekend!

Lost

For Kym (although now it's too late because she couldn't stop reading): SPOILER ALERT ;)

So, I haven't watched this show all season. Partly because it was on at the same time as America's Next Top Model. And self-centered would-be models parading around in their underwear and getting possible flesh-eating diseases is much more interesting than beautiful people stranded on an island with a polar bear and some sort of robot dinosaur. But now ANTM is over and my sister has Tivo. So we were caught up on some of the episodes over the weekend. And I was looking forward to the season finale. I even got the hubby downstairs to watch it with me. And, um, I wasn't all that impressed. You can easily tell that it is by JJ Abrams (of Alias fame). The storyline had huge plot holes and I found myself yelling at the tv (just like when I used to watch Alias). Let's see: why hasn't Hurley lost weight? Why was Rousseau wearing new boots (hasn't she been on the island for 16 years?)? How do all the women still look like they have time to apply perfect makeup? Where did the frickin' torches come from? The science teacher borrowed Kate's shirt to wrap the dynamite and then blew himself up - so where did they get the other material to wrap the subsequent dynamite when they were all still wearing their shirts? Why did Jack and Locke have time to debate science vs. theology when "the others" where coming at sundown (this was where I started screaming at the tv)? It was frickin' dark out! The sun went down! Aren't you supposed to be saving people? Why did they have torches while they were carrying dynamite? They had flashlights - or they wouldn't have been able to give Hurley one near the end. Again, where did they get the torches? And now that the sun was down - it was too late. What were they going to do? Blow open the hatch and then make all those people walk through the dark forest to get into some unknown something in the dark? Great plan. As they hubby pointed out, the men on the raft had a radar-like machine: shouldn't they be able to see the island on the radar? They hadn't drifted that far by the time they started using it. Geez. Give me the models who can't pronounce "magenta" any day.

Five Months!

Another peek at babycakes.

By comparison, why did I look bigger at four months? Perhaps because I sucked in my gut this month and didn't last time.

Also, big CONGRATULATIONS to daymented!

Teaser

Guess what tomorrow is? It's officially 5 (lunar) months into the pregnancy. That means I will have reached the halfway point! Did you know that if you use the lunar month method (i.e. there are 28 days in a lunar month) - you are actually pregnant for 10 months! And that most books and pregnancy websites use that method? So 20 weeks translates into 5 months - which means I have 5 more months to go!

Anyhoo, my present for all of you tomorrow will be a new 5 month belly photo. Yeah!

Coughin' and Hackin'

The weekend was lovely. My nephew's t-ball game was very fun - he slammed the ball out of the "park" each time he was at bat, made some great throws and catches. Very impressive. And was very excited by the big group of fans cheering him on. This is the early t-ball - no outs, everyone gets up to bat, etc. So it made it a lot of fun for everyone. Some very tiny kids with t-shirts down past their knees, batting helmets that looked enormous on them, etc. Then it was back to the house for yummy food and chatting, into town for mochas and shopping, back to the house for more running around the house and playing wiffle ball and kick ball. After dinner, my sisters, mother and I worked on the scrapbook for the kids' former teacher who is retiring after 30 years. It came out really well - there is no way she could not be thrilled by it. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the end and my feet had started swelling up a bit. It didn't help that we got up pretty early to make it down to NY for the t-ball game. Then it was a full night of coughing, coughing, hacking and coughing. I never had a cold - it just went straight to a cough. I'm okay during the day and then as soon as I lie down, I'm miserable. The next morning, yummy bagels and talking and then we watched some saved "Lost" episodes on Tivo. A show I had not watched this year. But now I'm definitely watching the big finale on Wednesday. And the we drove back home. Last night was also lots and lots of coughing. I think I slept about 3 hours total. Ugh. Hopefully it will go away soon.

Weekend

We are headed down to my sister's house for a weekend of scrapbook making. The scrapbook is going to be for her son's teacher as a big thank you. So my mom and other sister are also coming down/up to help. We are also going to go to my nephew's t-ball game! Very exciting. Hopefully it won't get rained out. I'm making a very tart pan of lemon bars for the weekend. And maybe some other goodies, I'll have to see what looks good at the grocery store.

Babycakes has been moving around a bunch lately. Last night, I could actually feel the kicking (flipping? shifting?) when I put my hand on my belly. I yelled for the hubby but she stopped as soon as he got downstairs. Ah well, we'll have plenty of time for that. She's moving around at the moment, actually.

Have a lovely weekend!

Very Dirty Tabitha

(This is my first time trying to link my flickr photos to my blog.) So, here goes. Tabs' first adventure out in the backyard. And what does she do? She rolls around in the dirtiest spots. She was quite pleased with herself.

Hell Ride

Last night was another stamp night with the ladies. We ordered Thai food - yummy! And I made a chocolate oblivion torte with very tart raspberry sauce (from The Cake Bible). Stamping was fun, lots of laughter and good company. And then, on the ride home, the leftover Thai food (which had smelled and tasted so yummy during dinner) was overwhelmingly stinky in the car. The basil and the coconut and some undertone of yucky made the air in the car unbreathable. So I opened the passenger car window. And then, apparently, I was in an entire neighborhood of dairy farms. Because the manure stink from the window! So I'd close the window and then the Thai stink! So I'd open the window and then the manure! Have I mentioned that my normally strong sense of smell has only been heightened by the presence of babycakes? I was mentally exhausted by the time I got home. But I will be eating the leftovers for lunch today, because Thai basil and chili chicken? Yummy. When you are not in a car smelling it.

Joan of Arcadia

I just read that CBS has canceled 'Joan of Arcadia'. What a dumbass move by them. Instead, they are going to have a show with Jennifer Love Hewitt - as a woman who talks to dead people. Wow, that will be utterly terrible. What is with these networks and the canceling of great tv shows? Apparently, they want to appeal to younger viewers. Well, CBS? You officially suck. Forever. The end.

Update: defamer.com has the (faux) work-in-progress titles of the Jennifer Love Hewitt show. My favorite? "My Tits Hear Dead People".

Cravings

Currently, I'm craving tart and sour things. Like lime juice. I bought some lime-aid from Trader Joe's a couple of weeks ago, but it was way too sweet. So then I bought a dozen limes, squeezed them, and added them to the lime-aid. Much, much better. Although I was just about the only one who could drink it. And now the cravings are for tart fruits. Like bing cherries. While I've always craved the bing cherries - I have a feeling that this June (when we actually get them in the grocery store for less than a billion/pound) is going to break records as far as cherry consumption. Watch out everyone in the vicinity about an hour after the mass gorging. 'Cause they tend to go right through me. Although, with the pregnancy constipation, this should be very interesting and entertaining. For me. The hubby just runs screaming when he starts to hear the stomach gurgles.

The lime juice has the added benefit of waking the babycakes up. She starts flipping and turning as soon as the full tartness starts to hit her.

Great, now I'm craving lime juice and I don't have any at work. Bummer.

Britney

So, I tried to watch the Britney and Kevin train wreck last night. Painful. They are just all so dumb. And dorky. I think Britney was trying to be Madonna in her 'Truth or Dare' film. And failing miserably. I finally had to shut it off and wash my eyes out. The hubs even came downstairs at one point to ask why was I even watching this trash? and I answered: "Because she's skanky."

Update: from defamer.com: "There are no circumstances under which showing Kevin Federline taking a shower is permissible, even if fire ants are streaming from the shower head and he’s hog-tied with thorny ropes, helpless to escape his punishment. You might find that smashing yourself in the genitals with a toaster oven is something of an overreaction to Federline’s shower scene, but you would be wrong. It’s the only sensible thing to do."

Exactly.

Weekend

The weekend seemed to fly by for me. I spent Saturday reading Naomi Wolf's Misconceptions. A very powerful book about how our society treats pregnancy and parenthood. A lot of it, and the most important part for me, was how hospitals and the medical profession on a whole treat pregnancy as a medical problem to be solved vs. a natural process. It really opened my eyes to the questions we need to ask our OB practice. Great book. I never read "Beauty Myth" by her, and now I'm interested.

I also worked in the garden a little, gave myself a manicure and a facial, watched two movies (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) and mostly just lounged around. Oh yeah, and we went shopping at Motherhood Maternity at the local mall. Great store - lots of choices and very inexpensive. I got a new long skirt and a few tops. The dressing room also has a belly pillow you can strap on so you can see what you are going to look like in about 3 months - scary! I think that is where I'll go when it's closer to July and our trip to Cape Cod. 'Cause I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get a bathing suit.

Introducing Babycakes!

The ultrasound went really well. It is amazing how much you can see - the heart beating, the 4 chambers of the heart, the spinal cord, the ribs, the stomach, the brain (!), bones in the legs, feet, hands, arms! All very exciting. AND, we found out she is a GIRL!!! Yeah! She was moving all around and her heart was beating 154 bpm! Amazing.

So, without further ado, I introduce Babycakes:

Play the Babycakes Game!

I've added a new banner to the top of the page where you can play the Babycakes game! You can all make guesses as to the sex, size, date, etc. There is a short registration at the beginning. Please enter your guesses now!

Veronica Mars

Last night was the season finale of Veronica Mars. And we finally found out who killed Lilly Kane. And I have to say I was shocked! He was not even on my list of suspects. Although, in hindsight, there were some signs pointing in his direction. Also, Keith really is Veronica's father! Yeah! Which means she and Duncan are not brother and sister. Some issues were left open for next season, although without the big murder and rape investigations, it will be interesting to see what they do with the show. Like, what happened with Logan and Weevil? Who showed up at Veronica's house at the end? (probably Duncan). All around, a great show. And if you didn't watch it, well, you missed out.

Smell Bad.

Our parking lot and building is surrounded on two sides by very big cornfields. And since it is now Spring, they are spreading the manure to prepare for planting. It smells SO BAD, not only in the parking lot, but actually in the building because the shipping department has the loading dock doors open. Ugh. Brings back bad memories of working on my grandparents' farm. It really smells very, very awful. And the sun is shining, so it is a very pungent, cooked shit stench.

Hungry?

I'm at a weird point now where I can't tell if I'm hungry or if it is just my belly expanding and feeling uncomfortable. So I eat, but then feel really stuffed. Because I was probably not really hungry. It's a strange feeling. And it makes me realize why some people gain a lot of weight when pregnant. I need to get more fruit so that when the suspect hunger pangs hit, I can munch on berries and fruit instead of ice cream and donuts.

Thursday is the ultrasound! Hopefully babycakes will cooperate and we will find out if all the voodoo old wives tales were correct. If it is a boy, the hubby will officially eat crow because he didn't believe the pendulum test at all (even though he was pretty freaked the first time I did it in front of him).

CNN has sunk so low

We surpassed 1,600 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq this weekend. And there is now even more evidence that Bush lied to Congress and the American people about why we needed to go to war with Iraq.

What is CNN's most pressing question on Monday?

Weekend

Saturday was a movie marathon - Ocean's Twelve, Birth, Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events and Hotel Rwanda. Considering it was very windy and cold and rainy, it was a great day to sit inside and chill. We also did a lot of preparing for our early Mother's Day lunch on Sunday. We started the chicken marinating in a yummy Thai herb mixture, steamed the artichokes and then marinated them in olive oil and garlic. We then grilled these on Sunday, too. I also started the pie crust for a strawberry rhubarb pie. Yummy. My mom and dad, brother and wife and her parents all came over for an early lunch and a stroll around the garden. Our first real dinner party and it went swimmingly.

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day. ;)

Crazy Lady Update

So, one of the ladies downstairs, who I was avoiding, has just found out that I'm pregnant. One of the reasons I wanted to avoid her knowing as long as possible was because she's a notorious belly rubber. Luckily, she came up to congratulate me while I was sitting with my arms crossed. So there was a lot of shoulder rubbing instead. Also, she is one of those women who feel it is perfectly okay to relate every horrifying miscarriage and pregnancy story to you. And no, she's never had children herself. Ugh. Just what I want to hear first thing in the morning.

Time to talk a little politics

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

Doesn't this remind you of anyone in particular?

How healthy is your poop?

From a recent Oprah show.

"It should be an S shape and you want to make sure the color's normal because the color of the poop tells you a lot about how you made it," Dr. Oz says.

Etc.

I have been redesigning and programming our new company website and it launched Monday. Finally. A bit of stress as I had to take the old one down first and then quickly upload all the new files. The overall consensus is that everyone likes it. Whew. And we're talking distributors all over the world with fairly strong opinions. So, yay me. ;)

It's actually been quite busy and it's making the days go faster.

You'll notice that I'm now at 17 weeks (or maybe you didn't notice until I just mentioned it). Babycakes has distinct finger and footprints at this point. All finger and toenails are in place and growing. And he/she is probably about 4.5 inches or so in length. A very substantial cupcake. Or between a cupcake and a grapefruit. Which explains why my belly feels like it is being stretched all day. Yes, I know this gets worse, but it's been quite noticeable lately. Also, I'm fairly certain I've felt babycakes move around a bit. Not gas bubbles, but more like a shifting of something. Very interesting. Next week is the ultrasound - I can't wait. I hope babycakes cooperates and we can find out if it is a boy or a girl.

Weekend

We went on a date yesterday to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was fantastic. Kept the spirit of the book(s) alive. Lots of funny scenes. Very dry, British humor. I highly recommend.

We also went to a May Day party at a friend's house. It is a Celtic celebration of the Celtic New Year. We planted a tree, made some little boats with candles that we sent sailing down the very bubbling brook in their backyard. Too bad it was pouring - but it was actually quite nice. They set up a tarp way above an outside fire. Quite cozy.