Backyard Discovery

This morning while I was taking the bullies outside to "do their thing," I encountered this:



I know this is a blurry, crappy picture but you can clearly see that it is a turtle. In my backyard! Just standing there. I thought it was dead at first and Brady was already at work. I frantically texted him asking what I should do and if I should call animal control. He said to throw it away. Yea freaking right. There was no way I was going to pick up a dead turtle and put it in our trash can to rot there. That's beyond disgusting. When I looked at the turtle again, it was gone. Clearly it was still alive, so now a turtle is roaming around my backyard and it totally grosses me out.

I absolutely abhor turtles. I have much irrational hatred of certain animals that are kept as pets due to bad experiences as a child. Turtles are one of those animals. My brother had turtles. He had two. One walked away when my dad left it unattended in the front yard. And the other somehow got maggots and had to be taken to the vet. Bless my mother's heart for driving a maggot filled turtle to the vet for her son. I would not do such a thing. But that is why I hate turtles so much because the thought of maggots infesting an animal is just to much for me to bear. Safe to say, Baby Brady will never, ever have a turtle for a pet.

The other animal that I hate is mice. I used to like mice. I thought they were cute and fun little pets. Stephanie and I had pet mice together, Susan and Lucy, after the main characters from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Then Stephanie's mouse, Lucy, murdered and ate my mouse, Susan. It was a disgusting blood bath. We didn't know that two female mice would be so brutal to each other. And that was the end of keeping mice as pets. Ugh, I'm getting the willies just thinking about it.

I also hate pet rabbits. They are worthless pets and Stephanie had two of them. The first one died in its cage. My mom didn't want to deal with it, so she paid me $20 to throw it away. I think I was in junior high or high school. I wrapped a trash bag around my hand, picked up the dead bunny and tossed it in the trash can, which I think is illegal. It had been dead for a little bit and it was stiff. Again, disgusting. And because Stephanie's bunny died, my parents, for some unknown reason, got her another one. And like most mothers, my mom ended up taking care of it. And then she came down with viral meningitis. I remember that cleaning up the damn bunny's droppings was pegged as a possible cause of the illness. So that's why I dislike rabbits.

We had many, many pets as children. In addition to the turtles, mice, and rabbits, we had hamsters, lizards, skinks, and lots of fish. My parents were extremely patient with all the pets we had. But I am definitely scarred for life with some of these pets. While it was very nice of my parents to be so accommodating to their children's wishes for pets, I will not be following suit. I'm just fine with a couple of bullies.

Moving On

I finally got around to deleting my myspace account today. I think that at 30 years old they should automatically delete your account because you are clearly too old for myspace. But before I deleted it, I went through and read all the messages Brady and I wrote to each other when we were very first dating in April 2006.

A lot of the messages consisted of me whining about studying (hey it was the very end of law school) and me whining about my job (I was working at a law firm as a law clerk and absolutely hated it). Sprinkled in between my whining were some really cute and sweet messages. Things like "can't wait to see you," "I adore you," and other cutesy things that brand new couples say to each other.

There were messages about planning our second date in Vegas (see picture below) and Brady asking me what kind of Starbucks drink he should bring me in the morning. My reply was "venti zen green tea, two bags, with an inch of soy." He definitely can't say that he was surprised that I'm high maintenance.

So this is our first picture together as an item. We look so young. So full of hope and promise.



Four years, the bar exam, two apartments, one house, two bulldogs, an engagment, a wedding, and a pregnancy later, here we are. Dear Lord we have aged a lot in four years. Although it has been a jam packed four years.



We no longer communicate via myspace. Now we are lucky to exchange two texts or emails during the work day. Usually we have a full catch up on our day as we are about to fall asleep and sometimes we just pass out. The cutesy messages have been replaced with things like "did you pay the mortgage?" and "you need to change a lightbulb upstairs." While practical matters rule our life, we still find little ways to let each other know that we still adore each other. Like this weekend Brady fully completed his "honey do" list (well he still has one light bulb to change but close enough). If that doesn't say "I adore you," I don't know what does!

And It Begins...

The baby stuff takeover of my house has officially begun. We had set up the nursery a while ago, but the baby stuff was pretty much contained to that room. That is no longer. Today we moved our dining table and bookcase to make room for the pack n play and swing.



At least I picked out baby stuff that coordinates with our decor.



I wonder if I can find a floortime mat in sage green and cranberry?

By the Books

I'm a big believer in book learning. I think that you can lots of things from books. For example, I learned the law from books. Yes, I went to class, paid attention, and took notes. But most of my learning came from studying cases. Plus, there was a fair amount of online shopping happening while I was in class.




I taught myself how to knit from this book. I can knit and purl. I just can't finish a scarf in under four years.

So as my pregnancy draws near an end, I've been reading lots and lots of baby books to learn how to take care of my baby. I realize I can't learn how to be a mother from a book but I think I've learned lots of interesting pointers and tips.

I really like the Baby Whisperer. Its very common sense based and the author is British. She calls everyone "Ducky" or "Luv." It's very cute. A big part of this book is tips on how to get your baby to be a good sleeper. The Baby Whisperer does not advocate the "cry it out" method, but says to pay close attention to your baby's sounds/cries and do not rush in if the baby can soothe itself back to sleep. There are lots of other great sounding tips to get your baby to sleep through the night.

So I read the book and I'm feeling pretty confident that I can follow the tips and help my baby be a good sleeper when he gets here. Then last night, I put the bullies to bed like I always do. I go up to bed and around 10:00pm, Mickey starts barking her head off. Usually when she does this, I let the bullies come up and sleep in the bed. But it is really, really hard for me to sleep in the bed with them. They snore, they hog pillows, and they are, um, slightly gassy. It's not pleasant. So I ignore her and she stops barking. I'm pretty proud of myself that I didn't give in.

Then around 11:30pm, she starts seriously barking her little puppy head off. Now, I think she must be barking at something, an intruder or something. So I go downstairs and of course there is nothing. I let the dogs come upstairs and get in bed with me. But Mickey won't get in bed, she stands at the bedroom door looking annoyed. When I open the door, she runs downstairs and gets on the couch with a toy and goes to sleep.

Damnit! This dog just totally worked me over so she could sleep on the couch. She knew that if she kept barking I would let her out of the kitchen. Frank slept in the bed, Mickey slept on my expensive leather couch, shedding all over it, and I got no sleep.

Exactly how I am going to follow the Baby Whisperer if my dog walks all over me!?! I need to take control of this household before this baby comes, I'm in charge damnit! And now, if you'll excuse me, Frank is licking my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I must go deal with it.

My Cute Husband

How cute is my husband? I got this the other day while he was out of town on a business trip. Apparently there was not too much business because he was able to fit in a round of golf. Anyways, he looks adorable.





Marriage is so funny. Sometimes I look at this man and I want to cry tears of happiness for finding a man so wonderful and so perfect for me. Other times, I look at him and it's all I can do to refrain from taking my non-stick, wedding present, frying pan to his head for leaving his mail on the coffee table. Ah marriage, so many wonderful emotions.

Getting Near the End

Today I am 37 weeks pregnant and this is how I look and feel:



Actually not really, I don't have the pleasure of enjoying cool ocean spray all around me. I just feel gigantic, immobile, and my back hurts. I don't think my dinner is really helping these feelings, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and two quesadillas isn't going to make anyone feel 100%. And I'm just waiting for a respectable time so I can eat some ice cream. I think 7:45pm is respectable. Although I'm not sure I can wait 45 minutes.

I know, I know I should should stop whining. I'm so close to the end. But seriously, I'm ready for this baby to come on out. My husband keeps telling me that I look like it shouldn't be physically possible for me to stand upright. Thanks babe. I'm of the opinion that the only thing you should ever say to a pregnant woman is "you look great!" There should never be any mention of size, or how she is carrying, or how she looks like she is about to pop.

Ok, I'm going to stop whining now. It's inefficient and unproductive. And we all know how I hate inefficiency and lack of productivity. Instead I shall focus my attention on ice cream and finding some crappy reality t.v. to watch. I might even read a baby book. I think I should be nesting and cleaning everything. But for once in my life, I just don't care about cleaning. Way too much effort right now. Ice cream and reality t.v. it is! Is it 7:45pm yet?