Cape Cod Photos

Cape Cod photos have finally been uploaded to flickr.

Photos!

Belly at 28 weeks (last week - note the wife beater and hubby's boxer shorts).

Side view:

I am also attempting to upload all the Cape photos to flickr - but they seem to be having issues this morning. I'll let you know when they are up.

Also, I made this Buckle recipe from the latest Martha Stewart Living magazine. Only I used peaches and blueberries and added more of both than called for. Very yummy. I brought the leftovers into work this morning and it was ALL GONE in about 20 minutes. I liked the buckle better than a normal crisp recipe because it has sort of a doughy bottom along with the crispy-goodness on top. So it stays together when you try to get pieces out of the pan.

Like a package of Jiffy Pop

The heat seems to have broken finally. It's now in the mid '70s and quite pleasant. This was after a sweltering evening with the stamping ladies in my house. While the house stays pretty comfortable downstairs, I realized that normally it's comfortable because I immediately change into a wife beater and my hubby's boxer shorts as soon as I get home. Couldn't really do that last night. I opened windows, turned on fans, but was svitzing and flushed until they left and I could change. They all seemed to be doing fine, though.

In other news, Babycakes is percolating mightily. Hence the title. Not that I've ever bought or tried to pop Jiffy Pop - but don't we all know what I'm talking about? I get weekly emails about baby development and activity and the latest ones remind me that I should feel at least 10 movements every two hours. So far, in the last 15 minutes, she has kicked or wiggled or squirmed about 500 times. The main movement this morning is right under my right rib. And it kind of tickles and feels very, very strange. The last two weeks, a lot of the movement was to the right side of my belly button. Which was much easier to hide during meetings by making sure my belly is mostly under the conference room table. Not so with today's rib movements. I guess the lucky thing is that most of the meetings are full of men and they tend not to notice this. Women are a lot more perceptive - or maybe a lot more interested in the belly.

Sorry, still no photos. Are you sick of this yet?

Melting

Ugh. It is so hot here right now. And very humid. I was literally a dripping pool of sweat last night. I could not get comfortable and now I'm exhausted. Luckily they blast the air conditioning at work and it is supposed to thunderstorm later. Try baking a cheesecake in 90 degree/100% humidity. Not fun. Hopefully it turned out okay.

Still no photos, sorry.

No Photos Yet

'Cause it's meetings, meetings, meetings for the next day or two. Always happens after I come back from a vacation. Also, my hubby bought some new pirate computer game and he is monopolizing the computer at home. When he should be working on his big math project in my opinion.

Tonight, even though it is deadly hot out, I have to make a cheesecake because tomorrow is another stamp night with the ladies and I promised them some cake. Stamp night also means that I have to sweep the hell out of the house because the errant fur tumble bunnies are just about ready to gang up and trip me when I venture down the stairs. Also there is the dusting that needs to be done. In a bad way. And then there is the dumping of beach sand from my stamping bag as I used it as my beach bad while on the Cape. You know, the little things.

We're back

We got back yesterday after a 6 hour drive from the Cape. Normally, it takes about 3.5 - 4 hours. Two hours stuck in traffic trying to get off the Cape. And I had to pee progressively more urgently as we were stuck in said traffic. I tried to be as quiet as possible and to concentrate on other things as there was really no good place for us to stop. And the hubs started getting more stressed about it because he could tell it was getting urgent. By the time we finally got to the end of the traffic and off the Cape, we were in crisis mode. We stopped at a little pizza shop where the bathroom was way in the back, through their dirty backroom. I started sobbing as I peed. And then stopped sobbing long enough to get out of the restaurant and back on the road. Hubby driving again. Me sobbing, sobbing, sobbing. He asked: "why are you crying?" and I couldn't answer. I finally stopped after a bit. Not sure what that was about but it was quite the release.

But let me back up here. The week was great. Very relaxing and leisurely. I felt like a lizard, always sunning myself and snoozing. It was faboo to see Aaron's sister and her husband. We realized that this was the last time we would see each other in a while as I will be having Babycakes soon and she is due in January with her baby. As they live on the West coast, it will be difficult but not impossible to see each other. We ate great food, laughed a lot, fought off killer mosquitos, sunned ourselves in the sometimes scorching heat and watched our hubbies drink lots of beer. PLUS, we ended up in a cottage that was two developments over from my sister and her family! We were a short walk away on the beach. It was very cool. I tried to take walks every morning or at least walk around a bit each day. I feel great. Little Paris Lindsey Nicole has become quite the squirmer - she shifted herself around right when we got to the Cape and I kept feeling a foot or a fist or an elbow on the left side of my belly button. That I could actually see/feel moving around.

I do have photos and will upload as soon as I've had a chance to sift through my work email, etc. The hubster has a big math project due at the end of the week so he will be monopolizing the home computer for a bit. Not that I blog from work. No way would I do that.

I feel like there is more to say but I'm having a total brain fart. Oh yeah, the house is COVERED with fur and fur bunnies are drifting around everywhere. The kitties look thinner because they seem to have dropped at least half their weight by shedding. They seem happy to have us back even though Otto is pouting a bit. I guess is was a real scorcher here while we were gone.

I hope you all had a grand week.

Vacation!

We are headed out bright and early tomorrow morning for a weeklong vacation on the CAPE! with the hubster's sister and brother-in-law, my sister and brother-in-law and assorted others and assorted kids (both spawning and spawned).

So far, the weather for the week looks great. Not too hot, not cold.

I may or may not be able to find the innernets while I'm gone, so this may be my sign-off for the week.

I hope you all behave yourselves while I'm gone. ;)

What we've got here is a failure to communicate

Well, we bought a cheapo Pay-As-You-Go phone from Cingular in preparation for the impending spawn's arrival. Because I may be at work and the hubster may be at school when all water breaks loose. And if today is any indication of his emergency phone answering abilities - we're going to be in serious trouble. I may have to start working on Plan B. Three phone calls at different times today and no answering of the phone by the hubbage.

Or I may have to condition him with phone ringing + not answering = lots of punching.

Third Trimester!

Today is the first day of the third trimester! I've officially entered the 7th month. She is moving a lot - although I think she turned herself in the last couple of days because instead of feeling the punching and the kicks, I'm feeling more slow wiggles and shifting with the occasional kick. The hubby has been able to hear her heartbeat a couple of times just by putting his ear to my belly. And she'll move when she hears him zerberting my belly and really loudly yelling her name. Speaking of which, the belly is completely noticeable at this point. I can't hide it anymore and have taken to wearing more tight-fitting tops. No sense trying to hide it - I just look enormous when I do that.

No strange cravings at the moment. I'm just trying to avoid all the pastries and donuts I was eating by concentrating on more fruits and vegetables. Monday was an unofficial donut day at work and I managed to not eat a single one. Yay, me!

My lovely sister-in-law asked me if I've been more weepy. And really? I haven't. I've just been more likely to want to punch someone. I'm finding the usual annoying people at work ULTRA annoying at the moment. As my friend Andrea says - the hormones only accentuate how you really are. So I guess I'm punchy and easily annoyed.

More updates: no swelling in my hands or feet at this point. My feet are normally very long and narrow so my shoes are still fitting fine since they were all already a bit wide. I do have a line on my belly now - it extends above and below my belly button. I have a tiny belly button - so I don't think it's going to "pop" - but the skin around it is more stretched. No stretch marks at this point, either. I'm exhausted and my belly feels really tight by the end of the day. I have to pee all the time. My belly itches a lot and I'm trying not to scratch it and keep it moisturized. I can't effectively reach my toenails to paint them. Tomorrow or Friday I'm going to attempt to shave my legs - we'll see how that goes. I keep forgetting I can't bend over as well due to the protuberant growth of my belly. I'm trying to keep my arms in shape and I do squats whenever I can remember. My boobs are enormous. My nails look great. My occasional nosebleeds have mostly stopped. The gaseousness has gotten more uncontrollable. ;) Heartburn sucks ass.

All in all, I've become more used to the idea of carrying a being in my belly. It is still a bit freaky, but I'm feeling much more Zen about it.

And now it's time to pack for the CAPE!!! Yippee! We leave on Saturday.

Animals Yawning

I'm currently thoroughly enjoying this animal yawning group on flickr.

Especially this photo of a cow yawning.

Do you smell burning?

Last night, as we were watching 'Hell's Kitchen' (and by we, I mean me, the hubby, babycakes and the two kitties), an enormous fly started buzzing around us. Otto freaked out and started chasing it everywhere while Tabitha just opened one eye as she remained sprawled out on the couch. Otto finally got tired and collapsed on the floor while the stupid fly continued to buzz us. We tried to cajole the kitties to start chasing the frickin' fly - that's why we GOT the kitties - to eat the bugs that are annoying us - to no avail. Finally, the fly made a death dive into the halogen light near the couch. A little while later we started smelling burning and we started walking around to find the source - is it the dryer? is it from outside? Nope, it was the burnt corpse of Mr. Fly, sending up a final smoke signal.

The moral of the story? If you smell burning, it means your kitties have failed.

Sunday

A very nice relaxing weekend. I ended up getting some semi-permanent hair color and dyed my hair a shade slightly darker than natural. The highlights are now a dark reddish and the overall tone is much, much better. Plus my eyes stand out more, I think. We went shopping on Saturday for another bathing suit for me but they were all horrid. My belly is misshapen at this point. Or maybe Babycakes was just at a weird angle. But there were soft bits and hard, angular bits and it all looked scary in the mirror at the mall. So, my sister and others will just have to bear with me wearing one swimsuit at the Cape. As the hubby says - it's a cute suit and why should they care? He's so sensible sometimes. We rented "Gunner Palace" (which I highly recommend), "The Stu Unger Story" (or something like that. It was okay.) and "Unforgiven" (because it's one of the hubby's favorite movies. I'm not one for Westerns myself, but I didn't fall asleep watching it, so that's something).

Today, I woke up and made blueberry muffins and then we went for a walk into town. Going in was fine, I had lots of energy and everything, but it kept getting hotter and hotter and the walk back was much more slow. I hate feeling like I'm out of breath. And I had to go to the bathroom. We even stopped TWICE for me to pee and I still had to go when we got home. This was about an hour walk in total. Yikes. I better map out the bathrooms at the Cape if this is what it's going to be like. Then the hubby grilled a bunch of chicken for us to have for dinner and then to have during the week.

He also painted my toenails for me in preparation for vacation. Since it is getting harder for me to effectively reach my toes. He did a very good job for a first-timer. Red, of course.

I'm now starting stacks of things we are going to want to bring with us for next week. Since we are staying in a cottage, we have to bring sheets, pillow cases, towels, toilet paper, etc. And since my memory is becoming worse and worse the bigger Babycakes gets, I've started piles and lists and hopefully I won't forget anything. Or anything important, anyway.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our nephew Ben! We hope you had a fabulous 5th birthday and we really wish we could have been there to celebrate it in person. Sorry your present is a bit late. :(

Highlights

So I was just looking at the highlights in the bathroom and I'm not loving them at all. Way too brassy for my hair color (dull dark brown) and they don't match my skin tone (more peaches & cream than tan). I think I'm going to have to get some semi-permanent dye to fix this. Note to self: say NO the next time she tries to convince you about the stupid highlights. Shit. And just when I was trying to get back to my natural hair color. And don't worry - it is okay to dye your hair when you are pregnant. I checked.

Hee

from PopBitch: (makes me love Ricky Gervais even more)

[Update: I moved this to the extended entry because I forgot about some people who may now be reading my blog. And they may not like the content of this post. So, if you are easily offended, please don't click 'Continue reading "Hee"']

>> When Ricky met Paris <<
Miss Hilton gets a mouthful

Exit Paris in a huff."

Friday

I took yesterday day off because I had my 6 month OB appointment in the morning and I also wanted to get my hair cut. And my hairdresser has some crazy hours that don't fit into my working schedule. I haven't been sleeping well - mostly from being uncomfortable - and I was pretty foggy all day. This OB appointment was the gestational diabetes test which consists of drinking a very sweet orange drink and then getting my blood drawn an hour later. I had 3 vials drawn because they were also going to test my thyroid and test my blood for proteins to get baseline readings to watch out for preeclampsia. I gained 6 pounds this month! Stupid cinnamon sticky buns at the bakery. Stupid bakery for making them so tempting with the case right in front of me and the "Anything else today?" questions. It could also be the pounds and pounds of cherries I've eaten this month. I'm up to 18 pounds total. Which is about 2-4 pounds above average. So, not the end of the world, but I'll try to be more careful. And then I felt extra chubby all day. No hubby around for reassurance as he had to work. Foggy and fat. I treated myself to a healthy breakfast, snoozed in my car for a while (as I was not near my house), read my book and walked around a bit while I waited for my hair appointment. And then because of the fogginess, she slyly convinced me to get highlights. And really? I just wanted to sit in the chair longer and didn't really think about how much I've hated any highlights I've gotten in the past. Plus, the extra expense. She did a nice job on the trim and I guess the highlights are okay. But I'm still mad at myself for having my defenses down and not saying "no thanks". And then it was off to the town where my husband works to eat a salad and wait until he was done for the day.

In other news, our garbage can was full of maggots. Lots of swearing by the hubby about having to deal with the maggots and then we also find out that our town has decided to charge us for each bag of garbage by requiring you to buy these green bags that are the only thing you can use. A pack of 10 green bags costs $15. More swearing and yelling and then driving to buy bags because today is garbage day and there is no way we are going to live with the maggots any longer. He wouldn't let me take care of the maggots because if he was gagging and hacking over them - then surely I would have thrown up all over the place. He even bought a can of RAID to kill the maggots but I think they are more wiley than that. Anything that gross can't be killed easily. The thing with having to buy bags to put your garbage in is ridiculous. There was a referendum in town in which 80% of the citizens said they'd rather pay for the library than garbage and yet the town keeps the library free and makes you pay for garbage. So much for a democracy around here. I have a feeling that there is going to be a LOT of illegal garbage dumping from this.

And now thankfully it is the weekend. This is the last weekend before we head to the CAPE in a week (does that make sense?) and so we have lots of laundry and packing and planning to do. Yes, we will have another week of work before going to the Cape but weekdays are much harder for both of us to get organized.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Pirate Onesie from Styro!

Hand-stitched by styro!

26 weeks belly! There's also a side photo if you click through to flickr.

(is it just me or is flickr having issues today?)

Raccoon-proofing your garbage

I've created a flickr photoset on how to raccoon-proof your garbage can.

Happy Anniversary!

To my gorgeous sister and her hilarious hubby - Happy Anniversary (yesterday)! I sent you both an email but our new firewall at work is not allowing emails to get to your company. Your hubby got his, but yours is still sitting there. So. Very sorry I didn't send a card. I suck that way. I'll make it up to you at the Cape. 'Smores with peanut butter cups! BBQ! Fried clam bellies if the red tide ever clears up! ;) I love you both very much.

Monday

A nice long weekend. Although a bit busy. I had people over on Saturday - a coworker and his fiance, my brother and his wife and the landlords and their baby - to show the coworker the kitty details and the others to join in on the food and festivities. We made the chicken and I made a cheesecake and we grilled artichokes and corn. And then all dishes and cleaning were finished for the next day for my hubby's school/work mates to come over for another BBQ. More chicken, corn, etc. Today was much more relaxed. We watched movies ('Hitch', 'In Good Company' and 'Kinsey'), I sat outside for a while, we walked to town each morning to get some exercise and some coffee for the hubster. We also got the exhaust/muffler fixed on the car.

Also - got the BEST present in the mail on Saturday - styro made a pirate onesie for Babycakes! I'll post a photo shortly.

Now it is about 9:45 and I can hear the fireworks going off in town. But neither of us really feel like walking into town to watch. I'm in my pjs and my hubby is in the bathtub.

I will have photos in the next day or so of the anti-racoon contraption and another belly photo. And the pirate onesie photo. And maybe some kitty photos. ;) Actually, it may end up being on Wednesday as I have a couple of long meetings tomorrow. This time, no cherries beforehand. Hopefully.

July!

I just turned my calendar to July and the big photo at the top is of a beach in Provincetown, MA. AND we are going to Provincetown in July for vacation! It's a sign! What are the odds of that?

Most Annoying Commercial

The most annoying, teeth-grating commercial on television right now is for Coca Cola Zero. They took the song "I'd like to teach the world to sing" and changed it to some weird crap where all these young "hipsters" are on a rooftop singing "I'd like to teach the world to chill". To CHILL? Jeebus. Hey Coke - just wanted to let you know that I turn the channel every time that stupid commercial comes on.