False Alarm

At 4 am I thought my water broke.

We waited an hour and called the hospital. They had us come in to see if I was right, or off my rocker.

They did tests and hooked the baby (my belly) up to a fetal heart rate monitor and put a monitor on me to track contractions.

Jr. was doing well and my contractions were all Braxton-Hicks, painless and not the start of labor. I was ready to have the kid, but around 10 am I was starving and thought it best to return tonight. That way I could EAT, have my toe nails painted and baby could have a March birthday like we want.

More waiting in maternity triage... did or didn't my water break?

It didn't. False alarm. I'm off my rocker. Let's eat!

Chandelier Upgrade

So here I am going stir crazy.

I decided to upgrade two tea light chandeliers we have in the bedroom. We bought them at Urban Outfitters 3 years ago for $20-$30. They came with cheesy, plastic beads which I have always wanted to replace.

Out with the old...

I patronized both bead shops in Kirkland gathering some light pink, aqua and crystal jewels. Beads are expensive.
I stripped the cheap beads off and wiped the dusty chandeliers with a damp rag.

"I'm Naked!"

Then I sorted the new beads and started planning my assault.

"Oooh, pretty!"

I started at the top and used tiny wire to affix the strings of beads, replacing the old ones.

"Trust me, I'm gorgeous."

Several hours later I was done! The photo doesn't do it justice, but please believe that our little lamps are upgraded and much more attractive (aqua is the new pink!)

Hmm, what should I do next?

No News

I'm still here, twiddling my thumbs, trying to stay busy.

I wonder if a double mocha would move things along.

9 Month Belly

www.christytrottophotography.com

Milestones

So, I'm at home now. My last day of work was today. I packed up and took my laptop for home use until junior comes to visit.

People at work were very nice. They even gave me hugs, which usually tends to make me uncomfortable, but these were essential, supportive, good luck-don't die kinds of hugs.

I'm feeling quite uncomfortable now. The kid is kicking, my heartburn is killing me, my back is out of whack, wearing clothing sucks, sleeping is elusive, my appendages are swollen because there's no way I'm drinking 8 glasses of water a day! I mean seriously, 8 glasses? Some guy just pulled that number out of his... ear.

Muppet keeps looking at me oddly. Can she tell I'm going to pop? Is that one of those 6th sense things?

I'm taking the next 2 days off to write thank-you cards (see my baby-shower post below) meet and decide if I want a doula and buy anything off the registry that we need but didn't get. I also get to go see the doctor. When I started seeing her every week I thought it was overkill. Now a week feels like a month and I want to hear what she says. How far am I dilated? Effaced? Can you up the due date please?

People say that no matter how much you plan, you can never be "ready". But I feel ready. The 0-3 months clothes are washed, her crib is ready, her bath stuff is organized... I feel ready.

So, what are we waiting for?

Bebe Shower Photos

Thanks for the baby shower mom! What an incredible job you did from the catering and decorations to the party game and prizes to all the other details! I love it!

Lori- behind the scenes making the good stuff.

My mom and a few of her "foodie" friends spent lots of time, energy and other things ($$$) planning and hosting my baby shower. Of course the food was spectacular, not to mention the pink punch and the whole table of hand-made desserts. I particularly loved the croissant, brie & ham sandwiches. I ate the leftovers for days. My mom gets an A for effort for pickling hard-boiled eggs with red beets to make the whites pink.

Oh yum! Food!

All hand-made, including the strawberries! Stacia, you're a magician!

The gifts were all beautifully wrapped. One party-goer said "I've never seen so much pink in my life." I say, mission accomplished! The blue chair is my new rocking chair. It's very cozy. The quilt laid on the back was hand-sewn by my mom for the little bambino. The white crib was refinished by my mom and has been passed around to friends and family members for many years.

The Hultin Chicks! Gorgeous!!

My mom grew "baby thyme" as party favors. Gramma and the aunties have little planters of the thyme in dirt! So cute!

Thanks to Lauren for writing the gift list out; huge help dude!

And thanks to Monica for keeping the opened gifts merchandised, the wrapping paper manageable and Elaine's ribbons safe for future use!

And yes (Brody) I am "holding my belly" since it's getting heavy these days. I want everyone to know where the baby is located too!

I was so tired after the shower it took me all Sunday to recover. I had looked forward to this event for months and was happy to see much of my family and friends. I'm surprised everyone fit in my little house! (Maybe we should get a bigger place ; )

Emmy- you were missed!

RIP Anna

Another one bites the dust.

Sadly, the much bespectacled Anna-Nicole Smith has died.

There is no cause of death yet. She just collapsed.

I wonder if that Howard K. Stern has anything to do with it. Let the conspiracy theories begin!

Crime Against K9

It hadn't occurred to me how crazy I've become until I picked my dog up from the groomer last week.

Usually, the Mups gets a traditional Welsh Terrier cut which leaves the legs and facial hair a bit longer than the rest of her body. I decided that I wanted to see what she looked like without the normal cut because she gets her rawhide bone goo stuck in her paw hair which leads to more maintenance. (Just go with me on this.)

So I had them cut her hair to the same length all over her body.

"Look at me! I'm hideous!"

It turns out that a dog is only as cute as her haircut! I couldn't stop laughing at my poor pet! It took me until last night to identify which celebrity dog she reminds me of.

Santa's Little Helper on The Simpsons!

The point of my story is that I was trying to get the dog the most efficient haircut so she didn't have to go back to the groomer for 6 months. This is part of preparing my world to focus on a baby and nothing else for 6 months. In 6 months, I'll have been back at work for a month, it will be summer and hopefully we will have a nice routine established at which time I can think about extracurricular tasks such as buying shampoo and having the dog's hair cut.

I've read about other pregnant women buying 6 months worth of toilet paper. Right now I'm a little peeved that I didn't think of that. I have however, renewed my Costco card. I don't know why. We don't even go to Costco. I guess it's about being prepared.

I'm trying to hold myself back a little for the benefit of my husband. I feel like he's going to want an excuse to get out of the house, away from the mayhem, if even to run errands. "Honey, I really, really need beech nuts. Don't come back until you have some."

The Beauty of Working Remotely

Do not confuse working from home with working remotely.

Working from home means you never leave your house and you have to stay at your house or the coffee shop and you don't have an office at work.

Working remotely means you get to leave home and take care of certain things in person at work and have a change of scenery and enjoy the social interaction of the work place.

Working remotely means that when nothing is going on at work and everyone is in a meeting, or at a conference you can work from home since there is less to do.

Please note the difference between "working remotely" and working remotely.

If I'm going to "work remotely" it means I have some laundry to do, I need to pick someone up for the airport and I have a doctor appointment.

If I'm going to work remotely, it means I'll be online (with work- not with my friends) cranking stuff out and being ultra productive; sometimes far more productive since my time feels like my own and the sooner I'm finished, the sooner I can play.

During the holidays "working remotely" is a wonderful thing. It really takes the stress out of the Christmas shopping time crunch and hosting family. The trusty laptop sits on the desk diligently chiming whenever an email pops up. The email is managed and it’s off to the races.

Working remotely is a sweet deal and really helps with the work-life balance. It gives you time away from the office and you don't feel like you're a slave to the clock. Just think how much time you waste at work because you have to physically be there.

But think how much you get done when you go into the office and there aren't all the distractions of home...

Server Hiccup

Has Wonderland died?
Is there no place left I can spew my meaningless words?
What happened to my FTP? Server down!?! Impossible!

S'all good now.

I'm singin' a la Slim Shady "guess who's back. back again. Wonderland's back. Tell a friend."

Good-bye Harley Hog!

After 2 sad years sitting in the driveway, I finally put the bike up for sale on craigslist.

I got over 20 emails of folks asking for photos and to stop and see it. Out of 4 people this week, none actually showed up to see it when they said they would.

One guy was stoked from the start and emailed me that he had "cash in hand" before he had even seen photos. I was wary since he seemed very impulsive. He emailed me 5 times one morning asking to buy it. He called me last night 3 times after he saw the bike. I was like, "dude, chill out."

Today he showed up with cash, though he presented $500 less than the selling price. We told him to go to the bank.

He and his two friends smelled like cigarettes.

Anyway, the bike is sold and things are good.