Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Baby Brady's New Ride

We got our stroller today! We got the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe with the infant snug ride car seat. So far it looks pretty good. I'm not sure how well it works in the real world, but I'll find out soon enough. And I single handedly built! It was pretty much assembled, but I did put the wheels on.



I set it up early because I wanted the bullies to get used to it. Mickey is afraid of wheels, i.e. skateboards, shopping carts, bikes, and strollers. I want her to be able to enjoy going for a walk with the baby, so she needs to get used to the wheels.



She's still not sure what to make of it. She keeps staring the stroller down and then running past it. I don't really blame her, the thing is a beast. I'm a little afraid of it myself.



I knew Frank wouldn't be afraid of it. He's pretty brave. But he does have tendency to pee on things he dislikes. He has definitely peed on my vacuum cleaner. So I'm letting him sniff it and I'm keeping a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't leave his mark.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

There Is Always One

There's always one. One in every class. It could be high school, college, or law school. There is always that one super annoying student that you just cannot stand. That student usually has one of the following characteristics:

- They raise their hand for every question and shout out the answer before they are called on.
- Their answers are always wrong, even moronic, and you wonder why they even bothered to open their mouth.
- They have no sense of personal space and push out their chair from the desk so far that they are practically sitting on top of you.
- They breathe heavy, like they just ran a marathon and are about to collapse, except that they are just sitting there.
- They smell slightly strange, just strange enough for you to notice.
- When the teacher is trying to wrap up class and asks if there are any more questions, they always have another question.
- They laugh inappropriately at the teacher's failed sense of humor.

I could go on but you get the idea. I was in school for a long, long time. I have had many annoying classmates. But I have met the most annoying classmate ever in my sister's confirmation class. Stephanie is getting confirmed in the Catholic church and I am her sponser which means I have to go to all the classes with her (even though I was confirmed when I was 15). And there is this one guy that embodies all of the above-described characteristics. He is so unbelievably annoying. I want to make a Dos Equis commerical about him. Instead of "the most interesting man in the world," the booming voice would announce "the most annoying student in the world."

Let me just leave you with a couple of the stupid things he says. Yes, I know it is terrible to talk trash about somebody in a church class, but I'm pretty sure that the big man himself realizes how annoying he is. One class we were talking about the "kingdom of God" and the teacher asked what that phrase meant. This guy yelled out, "castle." Castle? Really? Yea, God lives in a castle, that makes a ton of sense.

In another class we were talking about the word homogenous. The teacher was breaking the word down in parts and asked what does "homo" mean. The annoying guy yelled out, "home." The teacher looked at him like he was a moron and said, "no, think of homosexual, what does homo mean?" And the guy yelled out, "bad." So not only is he a moron but he is a close-minded jerk too.

Monday, March 29, 2010

What I Want

I am so tired. I am burnt out. I am sick of stressing about work, money, the baby, and life.

I want to be in Cancun on my honeymoon again.



I want to sleep in and have no plans for the day and look at pretty scenery.



I want to go out and be with my husband, even if that means wearing funny hats.



And I want a freaking dirty martini.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Fro-Yo

This is how a pregnant lady does frozen yogurt:



Chocolate and vanilla frozen yogurt topped with animal cookies, coco pebbles, cinnamon toast crunch, reese's peanut butter cups, and pineapple (you know, fruit for the baby). So freaking good.

A Realization

It is a good thing that Brady and I are about to have a kid.



Because you know you have too much free time on your hands when you try to dress your bulldog in a sweater.



We obviously have a void that we need to fill in our lives.



I certainly hope that we are better at dressing a child.



Please note, no bulldogs were harmed in the making of this blog. See, Frank liked being wrapped in the coziness of a sweater, sort of, maybe, ok not really. But he was fine and we took the sweater off right away.

People Say The Darndest Things

People say weird things when you are pregnant. There is a lot of advice, unsolicited or not, requests to rub the belly, comments on how big/little you are, how high/low you are carrying, etc. Mothers also like to immediately launch into their horror stories of labor and birth upon learning that you are pregnant.

I got my favorite comment so far today from Brady's grandmother. She told me that I probably wouldn't need a c-section because "my hips are wide enough." Um, thank you?

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Revolutionary Road

Last night, Brady and I watched Revolutionary Road, a movie about a young couple in 1950s suburbia who are unhappy with their lives and unhappy with each other. Numerous married friends had told us that we should not watch this movie if there was any kind of fight going on between us because it is depressing and will make you hate your spouse.

Of course, Brady and I had a huge fight right before the movie which ended with me crying, eating a chocolate chip cookie the size of my head, and pouting in my office. The crying is not a big deal, I do that a lot these days. The other day I cried because the rug in my living room had a ripple in it and "looked like crap." Our fight was pretty stupid too. It started with me nagging that Brady wasn't building the crib fast enough and that he was not paying enough attention to the baby gear that I was so painstakingly picking out, making sure that it coordinates with our home's decor. He said he didn't care, as long as the stuff was safe and I lost it over his complete disregard for harmonizing colors and textures.



We watched the movie anyways. I can see why people think this movie is depressing about marriage. It highlights, what I think, are very common problems in marriage. The nagging, one wanting to talk things out while the other doesn't, jobs that aren't very fulfilling, etc. There were definitely a few scenes where we both thought, that sounds like us! In the end, you realize that Frank and April are hideously dysfunctional and while every marriage has its ups and downs, I don't know anybody that screwed up.

The part of the movie that really struck home for us was Frank and April's discontentment with suburbia and their desire to escape it. We live in total suburbia and while I don't completely hate it, I don't completely love it either. It would be easier to handle if we traveled more and could escape the confines of suburbia. I just get so sick of the chain restaurants, the mall, the need to be cookie cutter, the soccer moms in giant SUVs, and such. Brady is a total wanderlust and gets antsy when he can't travel. I am not as bad, but the fact that I have had two real vacations (not including weekend getaways) in the past four years is really annoying. But our traveling has taken a big hit. It's expensive, hard to take time off work, we have two dogs, etc.

I also hate the fact that I have never lived outside of Southern California (I count Santa Barbara as being So Cal for the most part). At least Brady had the guts to get out of the state for college. We have talked about moving to Chicago or the East Coast and just trying something different. But it is hard to leave friends and family for a place where we wouldn't have jobs or know anyone. Plus our jobs make it near impossible to move out of state. We would have to re-take the bar exam, wait months for results, and hope to get a job. While we are sad that we are stuck in California indefinitely, we have a plan. Baby Brady is not allowed to go to college in California, he has to go somewhere really awesome (crossing fingers for Chicago). That way we can visit him and get the hell out of Orange County every once in a while!

All in all, I thought Revolutionary Road was a good movie and made me feel good about my marriage. At least I know we aren't that screwed up!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Ultrasound Protocol

Today I had another ultrasound to check a few things out and everything looked great. I never get tired of seeing Baby Brady. I do, however, find the ultrasound process a little strange. First of all, the medical technology that allows you to see your unborn child freaks me out a little. I mean, it is just a little too sci fi to be able to see inside your body like that.



And second, I never know how to respond to the ultrasound technician during the ultrasound. I always feel like Miranda from Sex and the City, when she had to feign excitement about being pregnant. Of course I am excited for my baby and it is amazing to see him on the screen but when the technician says "oh there's the head," "oh can you see his feet?" I get all awkward and can't think of anything to say but "oh yeah, I see it." These technicians probably think I hate my baby. I'm just not a very touchy-feely, talkative kind of person. I don't like talking to waiters/waitresses, the nail lady, or my masseuse. Just do your job and let me relax and do my own thing. And I especially don't want to get all cutesy with the ultrasound technician who was totally bitchy and wouldn't wait five minutes to start for my husband.

This should be my last ultrasound unless a complication arises. If I have another one I'm going to think of some cute phrases to say to the technician so she doesn't think I'm a baby hater. Unless, I get another bitchy technician, then I'm just going to stay quiet.

A Bit of Bad Luck

Brady and I have the absolute worst luck when it comes to gift cards. Don't get me wrong, I love getting them but something always ends up going wrong with them.

For example, my friends got us a very generous gift card to a great wine bar for our engagement party. Then the wine bar closed, and I hadn't used the card yet so I threw it away thinking it was no longer worth anything. A couple of weeks later, I realized the wine bar had reopened and it was just closed for remodeling.

We were given a $50 gift card to home depot as a housewarming present. When we needed a new dishwasher we specifically went to home depot so we could use the card towards the cost. When we tried to redeem the card it had not been activated and we couldn't use it. It was one of those cards you buy at the grocery store which I swear are only activated properly about 50% of the time. This also happened to us with a gift card to the restaurant Chili's. Now I don't buy gift cards at the grocery store because I'm afraid they won't be properly activated.

For Christmas, my parents got us some sheets from J.C. Penney. But then we got a new bed so they were the wrong size. I returned the old sheets and got a gift card, waiting to purchase the sheets until I had picked out a new bed spread. Then I lost the stupid gift card.

The ultimate piece of gift card bad luck was tonight. We have been so good about saving money, not using credit cards, eating in, bringing our lunch, etc. We had this gift card to Ruth Chris Steakhouse for $100, a Christmas present from Brady's dad. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice, free dinner. We had salads, steaks, and dessert. It was not a small bill but covered by the gift card. So we tried to pay with the gift card and it was inactive! The computer system showed that the gift card had been bought and used on the same day. Totally does not make sense. We think that when Brady's dad bought the card he paid in cash (as he always does) and the Ruth Chris employee pocketed the cash and pulled a fast one with the gift card. So we just had a random, Thursday night dinner for $100.00. Grrrrr. I hope karma bites that Ruth Chris employee straight in the ass and hard.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

27 Weeks!

I am 27 weeks pregnant today! I am officially (according to some websites) in my third trimester. This pregnancy seems to be flying by. I'm sure it will come screeching to a halt when I am in my last month and look like a land whale, but for now I feel like I'm running out of time to get everything ready!



But I am making progress and Baby Brady already has some possessions. Baby Brady has a crib. Yes, it is still in the box. But at least it is in the house. Please disregard the massacred dog toy in the background. I walked into the nursery this afternoon and found a bloodbath of stuffing. Those bullies show no mercy.



Baby Brady has clothes, a few of them at least. Brady doesn't want me to buy any more newborn size clothes, he is convinced Baby Brady is going to be huge. I weighed 8 lbs, 5 oz at birth and Brady was over 10 lbs! Brady might be right.



Baby Brady already has two best friends who are very excited to meet him. Mickey is excited about all the new toys that will be coming into the house. Frank just wants to snuggle him.



And Baby Brady has two parents who already love him very much and are even more excited than the bullies to meet him. Note to Baby Brady: your mom may be slightly unstable but she is pretty fun and definitely not boring.


So Baby Brady has some necessities, and that is a darn good start.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

I Found The One!

I am trying to be on top of things for when Baby Brady makes his debut. It's driving me crazy that his crib is here, in my house, in the nursery, and it is still not put together. I would put it together but I'm afraid that my handy skills would result in the crib crashing down in the middle of the night with my baby in it. That would be bad. So I must wait for Brady to do it.

Last week, in preparation for Baby Brady, I filled out his college applications. Just kidding, I'm not that crazy. But I did sign him up for daycare and put down a deposit to secure his place. I ended up choosing a daycare center over in home daycare. I toured a couple of in home daycares but never felt really comfortable with them.

I really like my daycare center. It is in a very upscale resdential neighborhood. I would actually like to live in this neighborhood, but that is many, many years away. I think that these daycare centers are probably all pretty similar but I loved the staff at this one. They were very attentive, genuine, and seemed to truly love what they were doing. When I went back the second time, they remembered me and my baby's name which I thought was really cute. I liked their philosophy of childcare, it was super clean, it just felt right.

I have been to the center twice and both time the babies in the infant room looked really happy. It's kind of strange to judge the daycare by the kids reaction, but they were having a blast and didn't seem to mind at all that they were in daycare. I really think that babies and children do just fine in daycare and that all the anxiety resides pretty much in the parents' heads. While I am very comfortable with my decision to be a working mom, I am anxious about putting my baby in daycare. But I am feeling better now that I have seen the daycare a couple of times, at different times during the day. The babies look happy and so I will be happy with my choice.

A Confession

I love when I contradict myself. A few days ago I posted about my thoughts on marriage and mentioned that I take pride in the fact that I am a housewife and work full time, I cook dinner, don't serve hamburger helper, blah, blah, blah.

And tonight, I made hamburger helper for dinner. Please note, I actually made wholesome helper. It has more whole grains and is therefore healthy. I think you are supposed to disregard the insane amount of sodium in the box. I also grilled some asparagus, so we ate one thing that was slightly healthy. Oh well, I can't be perfect everyday.



FYI: Strawberry mini-wheats are heaven in a bowl. The box is sitting on my counter because I must have them within close reach at all times. I think I'm going to go have a bowl now.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Exiled

Frank got kicked out of my office. He insists on sitting underneath my desk while I work and gets all tangled up in all the computer/printer cords. He was not very happy about this.



Poor Frankie.

Table for Two

Tonight Brady and I went to a Mexican restaurant. We walked up to the hostess stand and put in our names for a table.

The hostess says, "right this way please, would you like a table or a booth?"

Brady turns around, looks at me and says in all seriousness, "Babe, do you fit in a booth?"

I replied, "I fit in a booth just fine, do you?"

Do I fit in a booth!?! Of course I fit in a booth! Someone is rubbing my feet for a long, long, time tonight to make up for that comment. Stupid husbands and their boneheaded comments.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Brown Bagging It

I did it! I actually did it! I brought my lunch to work everyday this week, Monday-Friday. When I eat lunch out I typically spend about $10, so this week I saved $50! I brought leftovers for lunch everyday and one day I had an apple, cheese and miracle whip sandwich (delicious and not a prego craving, I've always loved apple sandwiches).

With a baby coming and extra expenses coming (i.e. daycare) I have been trying to re-think the way I approach food. I'm not talking about eating healthier, I actually do ok in that area (ignore the chocolate cake I just ate). I am trying to teach myself to spend less money on food. I love to eat out, in restaurants, nice restaurants. And that adds up, quickly. I remember when Brady and I first started dating he was shocked at the restaurants I wanted to go to just to get a bite to eat during the week. I was picking places worthy of a first date just for a quick dinner after class on a Wednesday.

So I am cutting way back on eating out and when we do eat out I am choosing placings that are not going to break the bank. Let's face it, dinner on a Tuesday should not cost $40 for two people, that's ridiculous. I've been cooking a lot more, which is nice because then I have leftovers for lunch. Brady and I still go out to eat on the weekends, hello, I never cook on a Saturday night. But we have totally revamped the weeknight eating. And it is saving me so much money! I always blamed shopping for my excessive spending, but now I see eating out is really a big chunk of it.

This new approach is also preparing me for when the baby comes. I know I won't have time to eat out, especially with a newborn. I am getting used to grocery shopping on Sunday, with a comprehensive list, and buying enough food to last the entire week without eating out. I have become the queen of casseroles because they are easy, relatively inexpensive, there are lots of leftovers for lunches and dinner the next day. I do believe that casseroles may be the salvation of the working mother. Next on my list is to conquer my fear of the crockpot.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Rambling Thoughts About Marriage

The other day I had the bright idea that Brady and I should work on the ol' marriage before the baby comes. You know, if you are going to take a long drive, you take your car to the shop just to get it checked out. Nothing is wrong with our marriage but I thought we could use a little "tune up" before our lives get flipped upside down.

I thought about one of those marriage encounter weekends but we don't really have time for one. I know, sad that we can't devote a weekend to our marriage but we really have a lot going on in the next few months and I don't think bulldogs are welcome at those things.

So I thought I would buy a marriage counseling book and we could peruse it together. Then I remembered that someone had given me Dr. Laura Schlessinger's "The Proper Care & Feed of Marriage" as an engagement gift. I thought that was a little bit of an odd gift, we weren't even married and we already needed advice? I also had to ignore the fact that the couple who gave us the book is currently going through a hideous, contentious divorce.

I knew Dr. Laura was conservative but really did not know much about her or her philosopy. It took me about three pages into the book before I was flaming mad and ready to throw the book through my window and hunt down Dr. Laura to punch her in the face.

Basically the gist of her book is that women need to be feminine and men need to be masculine and occupy typical gender roles. Women should take care of the home, the children, not focus on careers, feminism is evil, and do everything in their power to make their husbands happy.

It is kind of funny that all this angered me so much because I am actually pretty conservative in my role as Brady's wife. I believe that a woman can be career oriented and a wife. I just hated the idea that a woman could only be a wife and not have a career as well. I also hated the idea that a man needs to be coddled all the time. I don't think a wife should solely exist to make her husband happy. A person needs to be happy on their own before they can function in a relationship. Don't get me wrong, people in relationships should make each other happy, or else maybe you shouldn't be in that relationship, but I don't think people should solely exist to make their partner happy.

As a so-called "career woman" I just get so offended when people suggest that women cannot have careers, or couldn't possibly care for their home and have a career at the same time. I can't even believe that in 2010 this attitude still exists. I pride myself on being both a housewife and a lawyer (being proud of this is what keeps me from going insane when it all gets to be a bit much...and it does at times). By profession, I am an attorney but I easily could answer the question "what do you do?" with "I'm a houswife." I think it is possible to do both, in fact I know it is because I do it. I do all the things a typical housewife does, I cook, I clean, I grocery shop, I do the laundry, I decorated the house, I manage our social calendar, I buy the gifts when the occasion arises, I pay half the bills (Brady gets the other half), and I run the errands (Target, dry cleaning, the usual stuff).

It is a lot of work managing the house and working full-time, Brady helps out here and there, but mainly I do it all. (Brady also works longer hours than I do so I have more time to take care of the house.) And I do it all because I want to do it. My goal isn't to make Brady's life easier or happier as Dr. Laura suggests it should be. Brady would be just as happy with hamburger helper, a light film of dust on the furniture, and papers strewn about. But that would drive me crazy. So I take the time to make homemade lasagna, keep the house as clean as possible with two dogs, and pick up when things get cluttered.

I think that as I prepare to become a working mother, I am very sensitive to those who criticize women with careers. But to those shallow-minded people I will just say, I'm a great lawyer, excellent cook, I have a clean house (most of the time), and my husband is happy at home. So you can kiss my career-oriented ass!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Yay for Grandmas!

Tonight I went to my grandparents' house to celebrate my grandpa's birthday and have some burritos in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Not exactly corned beef and cabbage, but way tastier.

My grandma knit Baby Brady booties, aren't they cute!?! She had a second pair of booties for my sister, "in case she gets married some day." Low blow Grandma, low blow.



My grandma also fixed up the bassinet for Baby Brady. This bassinet was used by my mom, my aunt, my uncles, my siblings, my cousins, and me! It's so precious and adorable, I can't wait to put it in our bedroom. Now I need to clear the bedroom of Brady's crap. I can't have my precious and adorable bassinet intermingling with the array of junk Brady leaves around.



Grandmas are the best. And she sent me home with a laundry basket of food and a ginormous piece of chocolate cake. I'm going to try really hard to not eat it for breakfast but I make no promises.

I'm so excited about the bassinet and booties. I'm picking up my crib on Sunday and I have a big Bergstrom's (a baby superstore) trip planned this weekend too. It's baby mania around here!

Monday, March 15, 2010

It's A Boy?

As a mom-to-be I have a lot of fears. Some are rational, some are totally irrational. I fear that I won't be able to handle the pressure and stress of working full time and raising a baby. That is a rational fear.

My irrational fear...is that when I give birth the doctor is going to say "Congratulations! You have a healthy baby girl!"

This is a huge fear because I've been told I'm having a boy. Take a look at this ultrasound, that's a boy right?


I just have this fear that somehow the ultrasound is wrong and there I will be with a ton of boy clothes, and a boy themed nursery, and a boy name all picked out, yet I'll be holding my little girl and I'll be totally unprepared. She'll have to wear a lil' slugger onesie home from the hospital and won't have any dolls or frilly pink things in her nursery. I am very aware this is an irrational fear. But, I do have people that will be on standby, ready to run to Target to buy pink stuff...just in case.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

My Little Mickey

My family has a lot of birthdays in March and Mickey is one of them. She turned two years old on the 13th, I can't believe how big my little baby is!



Mickey was a total impulse purchase. At the time we were living in a one bedroom apartment that did not allow dogs. We were at Fashion Island in Newport Beach for lunch and decided to look at the pet store for fun. We saw Mickey chasing her litter mates and nipping their tails. We played with her and knew we had to have her. That was on a Saturday, the next Saturday we were already moving into our new dog friendly apartment. Yes, we bought a dog and then moved solely because of that dog into a much more expensive apartment. We are a little crazy. And we do feel guilty that we purchased Mickey from a store but we just loved her so much. Frank is a rescue dog and I always donate to the homeless pets when I shop at Petsmart. I think that makes it a little better, right?




I am really glad that we had the experience of raising a puppy before we have a baby. Not that raising a puppy is anything like raising a baby but it does lay some groundwork that I think a couple needs before attempting to raise a child together.





Raising a puppy taught Brady and I the necessity of working as a team. There are a lot of different approaches to dog training, we had to make the decision together as to how we would train her. And then we had to be consistent and on the same page or else our training just wouldn't work. We had to share the responsibility of making sure the dog had food, water, walks, and was healthy. We had to figure out how to discipline together and learn when things were just an accident. Mickey had a lot of health problems as a puppy, she had two eye surgeries before she was 6 months old, Brady and I learned to lean on each other when we were worried and scared about our little puppy.




Raising a puppy is not the easiest thing in the entire world. There were lots of times that I was just plain sick of cleaning up dog vomit and poop, replacing her dog bed for the millionth time, and having to get up in the middle of the night to take her out. But today Mickey is a relatively well-trained and very happy dog. And I feel good that Brady and I worked together as a team to raise her. This makes me very optimistic for our prospects as parents. I know a baby will be so very different from a puppy, but at least I know that Brady and I are capable of providing for a living thing. And I would like to note that I was the one that crate trained Mickey, which means that I was the one that got up in the middle of the night, every night for a month to let her outside. Which I think earns me a month off of getting up with the baby in the middle of the night.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

What A Relief

Brady and I have had a string of bad luck in the financial area lately. We got absolutely hosed on our taxes and we were definitely not expecting that. Mickey suffered a pretty serious injury to her paw which was scary and costly. We are trying to save up for the baby and for my time off from work but it seems like everywhere we turn there is another thing to pay for.

And then Brady's car started smoking and smelling like burnt plastic when he drove it. We tried to ignore it and see if it would go away, but we kept smelling the awful smell. Obviously something was seriously wrong with the car. We were finally able to take it in to the shop today. On the way there we speculated as to how much it would cost, how we would pay for, whether it be better to just buy a new car (Brady's car is getting pretty old). It was a somber ride as we prepared for the worst.

We pulled into the shop's garage and Brady explained the problem to the mechanic. The mechanic said "yeah I could totally smell the burning when you pulled in." Great, I thought, it really is bad. We went into the waiting room to wait for his diagnosis.

Another mechanic came in and delivered the news, a plastic grocery bag was caught around the exhaust pipe and the plastic had melted causing the awful smell. That's it? A plastic bag? Really? I was about to junk the car and buy a new one! Finally, something that didn't cost a fortune! A little bit of good luck! The mechanic removed the plastic bag and we were on our way with a fully functioning, totally fine car. Sweet.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dad's birthday was a couple days ago so I am a little late with his happy birthday post but it was a crazy week at work and I know he'll forgive me because that's what dads do.

Happy Birthday Daddy! Thank you for always being there for me, with all your dad wisdom even it you are a man of few words.


Father-Daughter High School Dance, I think this is around 1996. My dad rocks a sweet mullet.

Thank you for all the times you helped me move, even when my apartment was on the third floor with no elevator. Thank you for buying me a fancy new mountain bike when I went to college even though I had no idea how to change the gears and ended up crashing into a curb in front of a bunch of people and never riding the bike again.


My wedding, October 11, 2008. My dad was an excellent Father of the Bride. He even went to the dress salon to pick up my wedding dress.

Thank you for being there to meet all my dates in high school when they picked me up, even if you were conveniently cleaning your gun at the time. Thank you for attending all my dance recitals and competitions (and for leaving the event when I wasn't on stage to go buy me flowers). Thank you for supporting all my ventures into sports with buying me the best equipment and sending me to private coaches and sports camps, even though I very clearly sucked.


Thanksgiving 2009, he thinks we are crazy but loves us anyways.

Thank you for your corny jokes, your tireless work to provide for our family, your support of all my different career and educational adventures, and for just being a great dad.

Happy Birthday!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

More Nursery Stuff

I heart Target. More specifically I heart Target's dollar bin. It's at the entrance of every Target, just waiting to greet you with great little bargains on stuff you don't really need, but hey it's only a dollar so why not?

I found these monkey hangers in the dollar bin (actually I got a tip from a friend on Facebook, Facebook can work for good). They are really cute but kind of an odd shape to actually hang clothes on, so I am going to use them as clothes dividers. I'm going to use a paint pen to write 0-3 months, 4-6 months, etc. so that we can find the correct size of clothes. And they were only $2.50 for a pack of two, what a deal!



And I thought this frame was cute for only $2.50. I'm doing a jungle nursery theme but the main animal actually going to be a lion not a monkey. Which is hard because there is so much cute monkey stuff out there! Now I need to find some cute lion stuff.



Not So Lucky

When I was little, if I was lucky, my mom would buy Lucky Charms instead of the actually nutritional cereal. If I was really lucky, I would be able to eat a bowl of delicious Lucky Charms with the delicious little marshmallows before my brother got to it. My brother would pick out every single marshmallow out of the entire freaking box of Lucky Charms and leave the boring, not good, cardboard like cereal behind.

A few days ago I was at my parents' house, rooting around their cupboard for a snack when I came across a box of Lucky Charms. Yes! Marshmallowlly goodness was mine for the taking! And then I looked in the box...




My brother had been there first! My 28 year old brother had already gone through the box of Lucky Charms and picked out every freaking marshmallow. Damnit! I'm going to buy my own box of Lucky Charms and keep it under lock and key so that I can finally enjoy the marshmallows.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Fashion and Maturity

Tonight I finally got around to watching The Devil Wears Prada. Brady actually DVRed it for me, he loves him some Anne Hathaway. I can't believe it took me so long to see this movie, I love fashion, accessories, Vogue. This movie had my name written all over it!

I suppose I should say that I used to love fashion, accessories, and Vogue. When I was in college, I was so madly in love with clothes and fashion. I poured over the pages of Vogue, I watched all the runway shoes on television (this was back when the Style network actually showed the runways and not just a bunch of home decor/how do I look crap), I was even accepted to fashion school! I spent whatever money (or credit) I had on whatever designer clothing I could afford. Which meant I owned a fair amount of BCBG procured from the nearby outlet mall. But I dreamed of the day when I would wear Prada, Gucci, and Chanel without blinking an eye.

I really thought that by the time that I reached thirty I would be wearing all kinds of designer clothes. And I am. That is if you consider Target designer. I suppose J. Crew is somewhat designer, and I still have my love affair with Nordy's. But somewhere along the way from college to where I am now, I just stopped caring about all the labels. I stopped buying Vogue. Now don't misunderstand me, I still love to shop and the thrill of a new dress will always get me, but I just no longer feel the need to spend exorbitant amounts of money on clothes. I guess this is what they call "maturing" or "re-prioritizing." Of course having a mortgage and student loans that equal a mortgage don't exactly provide the right financial environment for loads of designer shopping. I have just realized that there are more important things in life than having the most expensive or hottest designer outfit. I can look just as cute and put together from shopping at your basic stores in the mall rather than spending a ton of money on something that is going to be out of style and unwearable next season.

I am proud of myself that I have moved on from the lure of designer labels. Now, I just need to get over my love of designer purses. It doesn't make much sense to buy a purse that costs as much as a month of daycare!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Obsessed

Pregnancy has brought one a whole new wave of obsessions. I've always obsessed about things, keeping my house clean, buying new clothes, purses, Mexican food. But I've found myself obsessing over things that I either never thought of or hated pre-pregnancy. And yes, most of them deal with food.

Pre-pregnancy, I hated Chick-Fil-A, I thought it was bland, overrated, and simply a hunk of chicken on a bun. Now, it is a current obsession. I love it, I pine for it, I think about it always, and I will wait in a ginourmous drive-thru line just to get it. Luckily, I'm obsessed with the grilled chicken sandwich which is not actually that bad calorie wise. And the line today was so long they gave me a coupon for a free sandwich, score!

My other major food obsession is cookies. I've always liked cookies, I would never turn one down if presented to me, but I never actually purchased them or kept them in my house. Now, if three o'clock rolls around and I haven't had a cookie yet, I find myself jonesing for one bad. Like I need a cookie right now or someone's head is going to roll bad. I'm now frequenting lunch places that also have a bakery just so I can buy a cookie. I buy bags of them at the store and pack them up as snacks. They are my new drug. Before bed I have to have milk and cookies. (This is partly due to my raging heartburn, milk helps, a lot. And if you are going to be drinking milk, might as well throw in a cookie). Around ten o'clock in the morning, I start wondering, "is it too early for a cookie?" "Will anyone judge me if I eat a cookie right now?" "I'll just have one, I can stop anytime." And then I gobble up three.

I am grossly aware that I have a cookie problem. I won't admit to a Chik-Fil-A problem because I eat the grilled chicken sandwich, see how healthy I am? And you know what, I'm not going to fully admit to a cookie problem either. My cookie of choice is oatmeal raisin. Hello, whole grains and dried fruit...totally healthy. In fact, when Stephanie was little and only ate mayonnaise sandwiches, my grandma used to make her eat oatmeal cookies because they were healthy. If grandma says oatmeal cookies are ok, then they are ok! I think I'm going to go grab one right now.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Baby Steps

Today I am feeling very accomplished and slightly less overwhelmed because I finally ordered Baby Brady's crib! After looking at many, many options, I finally settled on the Babi Italia Pinehurst Classic crib in cherry espresso from Babies R Us. I saw it in the store and it just looked really nice and solid. I liked the color, style and it was a good price. I'm not too crazy about the dresser in the collection so I might have a bit of a challenge finding the dresser. But I decided that trying to find a matching dresser and crib where I loved both pieces just was not going to happen. FYI: this is a stationary side crib, I think this picture is old because it looks like the very dangerous dropside.



I also picked out the bedding. It's from Target and very cute. I love the little lion.



I registered for the big quilt even though I probably won't use it much. It's just so cute! I think I might throw it over the glider. Now, I need to get working on a potential mural for the walls. I think I want someone to recreate the characters on the blanket on the wall.



We are making progress people! Progress is good! Now I just need to pick out a dresser, stroller, car seat, crib mattress, bouncy chair thingy, a swing, pack n play...ok I'm starting to feel overwhelmed again!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Dirty Thirty in Vegas

This weekend I celebrated my 30th birthday and a very good friend's wedding in Las Vegas. I was completely dreading my 30th birthday, but I ended up having a wonderful birthday and had a great time at the wedding.

We stayed at the Bellagio. Brady and I go to Vegas a lot and I've stayed at a lot of the hotels on the strip. We had a great corner room with fantastic views but I was not in love with the Bellagio. I think I prefer the Wynn or theHotel (at Mandalay Bay).

Brady and I kicked off my birthday bright and early with the breakfast buffet at the Bellagio. The buffet is amazing and huge. One of the best Vegas buffets I have ever visited. One of the best things about being pregnant in Vegas is feeling great in the morning when everyone else is hating life. Although I did not appreciate listening to the guys at the table next to me talk about how they had thrown up, were about to throw up, wished they could throw up, etc.

This is how a pregnant lady handles a buffet, see the fruit for the baby?



We walked around the Bellagio gardens, it was a Chinese New Year Theme. It is the Year of the Tiger which I think is a very good year for our son to be born in .



After breakfast, Brady said we had a ten o'clock appointment for my birthday present but would not tell me what it is. He walked me to Tiffany's and made me go up to the counter and ask if they had something for Brady and they did; he had bought me a beautiful bracelet! After that, I enjoyed a wonderful expectant mother massage purchased by a wonderful friend. Then it was time for the wedding!

I didn't take any pictures during the wedding. I've stopped doing that ever since I got in the way of the photographer at a friend's wedding. I try not to be an annoying guest, sometimes it works.

Brady and me at the reception. I'm 24 weeks!



My senior year in college roommates. I love these girls!



Yay, the bride! She looked gorgeous, the wedding and reception were beautiful and lots of fun. Many congrats to the happy couple!



The next day, Brady and I got up early went to Serendipty on the recommendation of a friend to try the frozen hot chocolate. We had to try one of these doughnuts, it was the size of my head!


Mmmmm, doughnuts...



We wrapped up the trip with the water show in front of the Bellagio and a great lunch with Brady's sister. Then it was back on the road to go see our bullies who were being watched by my sister. Thank you, thank you, thank you Steph for watching the bullies!

The Many Sides

There are many wonderful, happy things about pregnancy. The loving anticipation of your baby. The new, special bond that develops with your spouse as you discuss your dreams, fears, goals, and aspirations for the baby. Picking out darling onesies and baby blankets. The outpouring of congratulations and love from family and friends.

And then there is the ugly side of pregnancy.

The watching all your friends get tipsy and have fun in Las Vegas while you enjoy a crazy sugar high because you just had three shirley temples. The trying to get dressed for work in the morning, desperately attempting to look professional, and leaving the house looking like a whale stuffed in a suit. The long, long list of things you can't eat or drink which happens to be all the stuff you love. The exhaustion, the headaches, the queasiness.

And there there is the really ugly side of pregnancy. The stretch marks. Pregnancy is supposed to be lovely and joyful. Let me tell you, there ain't nuthin lovely and joyful about a stretch mark. They are gross, plain and simple. And I just noticed my first one. I did not have a single one until today at 24 weeks and 3 days. I thought I was lucky. I thought I was special. I thought I was going to escape them. I was wrong, so very wrong. There they are, on my stomach, mocking me. They are saying, "go ahead and throw away your bikinis, welcome to wearing dowdy one pieces for the rest of your life." I immediately rubbed tummy oil on them to shut them up. We'll see if it works.

Although there are definite downsides to pregnancy, there is always this:


This is Brady as a little baby, how cute are those chubby cheeks?!

At the end of the roller coaster of your pregnancy is your wonderful, little baby. And that makes it all worth it. So Baby Brady, I will endure the rapidly expanding waistline, the lack of wine, and the stretch marks all because you are so absolutely worth it. But know that when you misbehave, I will be the one screaming "do you know what I went through for 9 months for you!?!"

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

A Home Cooked Meal

Tonight I threw a hissy fit that Brady never cooks me dinner. He said he would take me out to dinner. I said no, I wanted him to cook for me and pouted. He asked what we had to cook. I replied in a pouty voice, grilled cheese. So he went into the kitchen to prepare my grilled cheese.

Brady: Babe, how dark do you want your grilled cheese?

Me: Not very dark.

Brady: Sh*t!

Um yeah, next time I'll let him take me out.