Remodel #3 Day 2: Fine Layer of Dust

Another day and quite a bit of progress has been made. I'd forgotten how dirty things can get with drywall. There is a fine layer of dust on everything, including inside our kitchen cabinets. I guess I have another chore for Saturday. The electrician was here and was able to put the light switch where I thought it should go upon thinking about it rather than where we'd planned for it to go when we made the initial drawings. No word, yet, on the tile but I'm guessing that won't be an issue either.

Today's pictures are probably the last of the interesting ones since the rest of the work is paint, trim, and finish work. Exciting things like that. Paul apparently thought we needed a picture of the electrical wire so there you go:
Looking from the living room, the new door into the guest room/den and Jub coming down the hall. I guess we'll need to figure out what that room will be called now. Of course, we still refer to the second bedroom upstairs as "the new room" even though it will be Baby's bedroom. Maybe when Baby is about 16, we'll stop calling it the new room. About the same time we stop calling him Baby.
And with both doors shut to keep the cat out. The doors will be painted to match the rest of the trim in the house.

Mud and tape on the inside of the room (also on the old door frame in the hallway) as well as trim. I'm happy he reused the some of the trim and drywall. Makes me feel all ecological and green (and like I probably could have paid less for this project since they're reusing all my stuff). I'm happy with how the electrician re-ran the wiring. We were told to be prepared for him to cut the ceiling to move it. This makes much more sense to me.
Looking out the new door into the living room (notice the cat in the picture?). The light switch was supposed to go to the right of the door or on the long wall, two feet over from the corner. MUCH happier with this solution.
There won't be an update tomorrow as the carpenter isn't going to be coming in--he's got a few loose ends on another project that he's going to finish up tomorrow and then will be back on Thursday to finish the trim and probably get started painting. This project is going quickly from the time Paul and I had the first conversation about it (late October) until it will be finished (late December). Considering I didn't call the contractor until the middle of November, this is a really fast turn-around.

Remodel #3 Day 1

This morning started the remodel to change the door from the hallway to a French door off the living room. I ran home during the morning to be with Paul when the lead carpenter came--he was scheduled for 9:00 but called to let us know that it would be closer to 10:00 because of the Monday morning meeting. Paul didn't want to be the one in charge of meeting him and going over plans but it's not as if he could really mess things up. Paul and I talked over where the new door would be placed as well as the option of having a border tile laid in the doorway from the living room into the new guest room/den. I showed Paul the house key as well as an index card with our cell phone numbers to give the carpenter. That's all I would have done had I been the one meeting the carpenter this morning. When I got home this afternoon and met him, all was well. The door was in the correct place and he didn't think there would be a problem with the tile. We chatted briefly about where the light switch would be located next to the new door as the electrician comes in the morning and I leave for work before the workmen arrive.

Today's progress--The new door way from the living room into the guest room.
No more door into the hallway.
The doorway from the guest room into the hallway. It took me a second to realize that the carpenter had reused the drywall which is why the hallway door and the bedroom door were the correct colors. I'm going to repaint the guest room--not 100% on the color but I've found a couple I like. I'm debating using the color that was in the guest room in Baby's room. I like it.
Looking into the living room from the guest room.

The cat is utterly confused by the changes that are currently taking place. Yesterday when Paul and I were finishing cleaning out the guest room and moving furniture, we left the door open and didn't scold the cat for going in the room. Up until then, that was always the "cat-free room" as a nicety to our guests and he was never allowed in the room. Yesterday and today both, he was standing in the middle of the room, meowing as if to get our attention to the fact that he was misbehaving. We just let him have his moment.

And because I love playing with things like this, even though we don't actually own the sleeper & ottoman, this is the plan for the room layout when all is said and done.

27 weeks and the cat

I was woken up at 5:00 this morning when the storm hit--lots of wind, lightning, thunder and rain. Because the weather was so late in getting to the area, the delay wasn't called until almost 6:00. I waited until 5:45 to get ready for work so I'm ready to go a good 2.5 hours before I need to leave for work today. Oh well. I just hope it doesn't become a snow day since the make-up days for those are added at the end of the school year, when I'll be on maternity leave.

And since I'm up and around, I thought I'd take advantage of the time to do a little blog updating, both here and at my (little known) book blog that has been commandeered for a school assignment this semester. The semester ends on Dec. 10 and my plan is to take the posts from there and move them to a blog for my school library. I've got a couple of book reviews and a journal entry that I need to catch up on by Thursday. I'm not taking a class next semester so after I'm finished with this, I'll be done with classwork until next June.

This is 27-almost-28 weeks. Last week, I had a coworker tell me that I was "huge" and a woman at church tell me that I was the cutest pregnant woman. I like the lady at church better for obvious reasons.
Not huge although I could definitely tell that I've grown this week. According to an email update I get, Baby is probably about 2.5 lbs. and 16 inches long, on his way to what we're expecting/hoping to be about 8 lbs. and 22 inches. So from here on out, we're both just getting fatter. :) I am curious as to see how big my belly button can actually get. I have a fairly deep "innie" and it's getting flatter and flatter every week. I think it looks rather alien-esque now.

I liked this next series of pictures because it is such a common, and amusing, battle of the wills occurrence at our house. Anytime Paul sits down, the cat feels the immediate need to sit in Paul's lap. Typically Paul will acquiesce but occasionally, he just wants to be left alone. And poor Jub will put on his most pathetic look and sit right beside Paul, hoping that eventually Paul will give in. It was a new thing for Jub to sit on the footrest portion of the recliner.
Jub's pleading his case with me--he'd probably like me to tell Paul to let the cat sit in his lap. Instead, I continued to take pictures.
That man has no heart. It's just a little lump of coal. Sad, I tell you. Sad.

Sad, neglected little blog

Things have been busy around these parts and add in a good bit of laziness when it's not busy and this little place ends up a bit neglected. From my vantage point, however, things are going well for our little clan.

Paul had a business trip to Berkeley right before Thanksgiving. It was his first in many months--good and bad. It's always nice to have him home but since the lack of travel is due to lack of funding, it's not necessarily a plus. Because he didn't get home until Tuesday afternoon following a 24-hour shift, we opted not to travel any farther than his parents' house for Thanksgiving. It was just the four of us for dinner, football, and board games. A nice way to spend the holiday.

I had a doctor's appointment just before Thanksgiving. I will admit that I have an issue with the nurse who does all the vitals--she won't let me pee before she weighs me. She's nice enough except for that because while I know I'm gaining weight at a healthy rate, I'm enough of a girl that I would prefer to be naked and empty before stepping on a scale. I did convince her at this appointment to let me take off the boots I was wearing because I knew they weighed about 2 pounds (I'd weighed with them on and off at home just to see). Small victories. I saw the PA for this appointment with the OB popping in briefly just to check that things were OK. He said that personally, I was quite interesting but medically, I was utterly boring which is just how he likes his patients to be. I've had very little swelling (only one day after a VERY salty meal), my energy level is still good, Baby and I are both gaining weight and growing at a healthy rate. I was sent with orders to return in four weeks, just before Christmas, and to have the 1 hour glucose test done before the next visit.

I played hooky from work on Friday to complete the glucose test as well as run an assortment of errands that just never seem to get done when I have to do them after work. I had been advised by several friends and my sister to select the orange flavor and chug it like I was back in college. And to hope it was cold. I did just that (and the drink was cold). I don't think there should be any problems with gestational diabetes. I've been asked by several people about traveling at Christmas--I've not actually asked the doctor (nothing like waiting until the day before we're scheduled to leave to do that) but again, I don't think there should be any problems. I've not had troubles with the pregnancy at all so while I know I'll be grounded to ABQ during January and February, this will be one last trip I can make. And if the doctor says no, we'll just pull a Smokey and the Bandit except for trying to run beer across state lines with a really cool Trans-Am, Paul will be transporting a pregnant woman in a Subaru Forester. Eh. (Oh, but I just looked on IMDb to make certain I had the right movie and Sally Fields character's name was Carrie. Didn't remember that at all but I probably haven't seen that movie in 25 years.)

And in other news, I met with the remodeling contractor and that is scheduled to get started on December 14 with a completion date of Dec. 22. We didn't get to add the lovely flooring I'd selected to the project at this point in time. Holy cow--I have good taste. When I saw that 1/3 of the cost would be floors, it didn't take much time for me to say that the current carpet will be just fine. It's not a big room so that might be a DIY project for us at a later date. In anticipation of the remodel, we sold the hall tree bench and the futon that was in the guest room on Craiglist last week. I probably didn't price them high enough since I sold both quickly but if I'd priced them higher, I might not have gotten any takers. Catch-22. But both pieces are gone and we've got a little extra money in our pocket to put towards new furniture for the room.

We've decided to go ahead and do the our neighborhood holiday party even though we'll have construction happening. I didn't wrestle up a Christmas tree this year because between the construction and the belly, it just didn't seem worth it. My MIL gave me a 4-foot pre-lighted tree so I've got that and will probably do the mantle and put out a few other things to gussy up the joint beforehand. Our neighbors probably won't even notice the difference in decorating that I normally do, and if they do, I think they'll understand. We figure that if nothing else, they will probably be curious to see what's up at our house when they see the contractor's truck again.

Week 24

Because we have a courtyard entrance, our front door isn't visible from the street so when we first moved into our house, I made it a habit to use the front door when I was going to the mailbox as a way to check for packages and make sure every thing was find out that way. Yesterday, I didn't go out that door but used the garage instead. Imagine my surprise when I saw a note in the mailbox that we had a package at the front door. And not just any little box. A great big box all the way from Michigan full of maternity clothes courtesy of a friend. Hooray for (very generous) imaginary friends!
Clothes, clothes, and more clothes. What fun! I'll be able to share the bounty with some friends who are due later than me (in late April and late May) because they'll need two seasons worth of maternity clothes.

As for the rest of it, I've been going crazy finalizing vendors for the upcoming Holiday Ole' that Junior League is doing this weekend. I think we'll have about 32 or 33. Maybe 36, depending on everyone getting their application in. I hope they will soon. My eyelid has been twitching for the past two weeks because of this. But it will be worth it--I think it will be a great event.

Paul is just going crazy because of work. Seems to be worse than usual this week with some problems. Throw in that he's leaving for Berkeley on Friday and it ups his stress level. He's always more stressed before he leaves on travel because he's trying to finish up everything at work in preparation for being gone and so it won't be looming when he returns. We're staying home for Thanksgiving--hopefully he'll be able to relax some next weekend.

One funny thing from this week--I was lying in the recliner and the cat was lying on me across my belly when Baby kicked up a storm. The cat gave me the strangest look like "What the hey?" then walked over to the other chair to continue his nap, uninterrupted. I think he and Baby will get along great.

This week's belly shots. Paul only took a couple and this was the better of the pictures. I'm good at blinking.
And just in case there are any questions:
That's right. Pregnant is the new skinny.

And I was reminded why I hate the mall

I've had friends and acquaintances who start wearing maternity clothes at the first sign of pregnancy bloat. I was not as excited about giving up my normal clothes. It's not even that I'm a fashionista with great clothes but I do like the clothes I have and I've finally got my "style" figured out--whatever it might be. I honestly didn't expect shopping for maternity clothes to be this difficult. My first attempt to buy maternity clothes a a month or so ago ended in tears with nothing really being purchased. I picked up a few items when I visited Donna but I was still mostly wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes with the pants unbuttoned. Taking the advise of a friend to order a bunch of stuff online and try on in the comfort and security of my own bedroom, I placed a couple of orders online and ended up with a few more things that I really liked. You have no idea what a happy pregnant woman I was when I walked out of the house on Tuesday wearing a denim skirt, black cable knit sweater, and black knee-high boots. For the first time in weeks, I felt like I looked like me. As I told one of my coworkers, this is what I look like when I'm not pregnant.

Every year for the past however many years, my mother-in-law always takes me shopping for my birthday. It's our annual outing and just a fun way for us to spend time together. And I will not say no to someone wanting to buy me clothes. We went again today as I didn't have school. When I was first pregnant, I knew that I'd have this day to look forward to in the maternity clothing department. However, I was also functioning under the assumption that I wouldn't actually need maternity clothes until about this time. Because in my head, I'm apparently much taller than I really am in the real world.

I had a few things to do this morning at the house, including waiting for someone from one of the roofing companies to come give us an estimate. I was told he would be at the house between 10:30 and 12:30 (hate that). Guess who showed up at 10:15? Guess who was just getting out of the shower when the doorbell rang? But it worked out fine and I was able to head over to my in-laws' house earlier than planned and my MIL and I were able to have lunch before heading out.

Shopping for maternity clothes isn't as much fun as shopping for regular clothes because it was pretty much us looking at stuff for me instead of both of us shopping and having a good time. MIL said she didn't mind since it was for my birthday but it will be more fun again next year when she can be a full participant. We only went to a couple of stores but I was able to find several new tops, pants, two dresses that I LOVE, and a couple of cardigan-type sweaters. Thank you for all you've done, veterans, including providing us with ridiculous sales like 25% off everything at Gap Maternity including sale items. Of course all the pants have to be hemmed which goes back to the not as tall as I think I should be.

There are still things I look at longingly that are sitting there in my closet, just waiting for me to be able to wear them again. I guess liking my pre-pregnancy wardrobe is good motivation to lose all the baby weight I gain.

And for the title--seriously. I hate the mall. Mobs of wandering teenagers and those obnoxious people at the kiosks who want to sell me hand cream or gold chains by the foot, or a onesie that said "Made in Burque" or "505" in Old English script like the gangstas all use. Although that last thing would be pretty funny for a little gringo baby. I might have to brave another trip....

The sweetest response yet

So, this weekend pretty much sucked rocks. I honestly spent the majority of the time crying or trying not to cry for no real reason other than hormones. I mean, I wasn't THRILLED with the idea of turning 35 and haven't been for quite some time but it really didn't warrant the sobbing. Or the moodiness. Or the general gloom and doom that I was projecting.

I was snuffled my way through church service on Sunday and while the sermon put me in a better frame of mind, I was still all moody and melancholy. We were standing in the Narthex afterwards, talking with some friends as well as Paul's parents and their friends. Last Sunday, I wore a maternity dress to church for the first time and the thing about maternity clothes is that you look very pregnant. Coupled with dinner after church service, I thought pretty much everyone knew I was pregnant.

Several of Paul's parents' neighbors also attend our church and they've known Paul since he was just a twinkle in his mom's eye. One of the women, Mrs. R., is honestly one of the sweetest, gentlest people I know and I think she genuinely sees only the good in people. When others tell me stories of a mischievous younger Paul, Mrs. R. will talk about what a cuddly baby he was or how he was always smiling as a little guy (probably because he was up to no good). And she always, always gives us a hug and a kiss on the cheek when we see her. Yesterday, after we greeted Mrs. R., Paul asked if she had yet heard the news and motioned in the direction of the bump. She didn't know. I told her it was going to be another Paul and tears came to her eyes. She told us that this news just made her day. Another round of hugs and kisses and

A bit quiet around here

Things are going well as far as the pregnancy goes. Weeks 22 and 23 have been relatively uneventful as far as any new developments. My OB appointment during week 22 included a sonogram which my mom was able to be there for. Baby was moderately cooperative with the pictures although he wouldn't pose for the profile picture my mom wanted. The doctor declared both mama and baby healthy and deemed there to be no reason for me to continue with the perinatologist visits.

This past week, I attended my first Pregnafit class at the gym. It's basically really, really low impact aerobics for pregnant people. I'm going to try some of the prenatal yoga classes as well. I'm doing a decent job of hitting the gym most weeks and either doing the treadmill or elliptical machine and some light weights. I think it's doing a pretty good job of keeping the aches and pains at bay. I've slacked off a bit the past two weeks and have felt more icky the past two weeks than I have any other time. So exercise and prenatal massages are worthwhile indulgences. I can also say week 23 is when I definitively felt the baby kicking on the outside. He's apparently taken up kickboxing classes about 4:00 every afternoon. And then he'll do his softshoe routine on my bladder. Love this boy.

I've decided to not take any classes next semester since Baby will be making an appearance right about midterms. I'll have 18 hours at the end of this semester--halfway through the program--so I'll definitely continue with it. I'll probably take one class during the summer and then go from there as to how to finish up.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet for both of us. There is a bit of melancholy that seems to have settled over the house. Paul's job is going through a rough time--more work than money and they are having to cut a few more people which makes for even more work for those left. He's understandably stressed about that as well as how the impending arrival of a wee one will impact his crazy work hours. I'm just moody and hormonal and not liking the number today's birthday brought which is making me even moodier. It's been a great weekend around these parts, let me tell you. Cheery. Festive. Woohoo. But we know how to work through it and we're doing just that. This too shall pass and things will be cheerier once again.

Some people move. We remodel.

When we first started telling the neighbors that I was pregnant, quite a few of them asked if we would be moving. We have no plans to any time soon. In fact, Paul has devised the four-year plan to pay off the mortgage and own the joint out-right. Instead, we remodel. Both Paul and I love our little house--it really has been a great place for us and we have really good (for the most part) neighbors. I guess this is our way of making the space even more perfect. And it is cheaper than buying a new house.

The first remodel we did four years ago added Paul's office space while enclosing a rarely-used yet enormous (9x11) balcony to expand the second upstairs bedroom and add a walk-in closet. The second remodel last year took out the two extraneous windows that I HATED in the living room and upgraded the kitchen countertops. And yes, we're planning a THIRD remodel on our house.

One of my complaints about our house has always been that the living room is too small. I think this will become even more evident when we add in a little guy and all his stuff. Heck, we just got one hand-me-down from friends yesterday (a glider thingy) and already, we're seeing how things can quickly grow out of control and we can quickly run out of room.

When we built the house a little over 9 years ago, we had an option on what we wanted to do with a front room. Some neighbors left it open, others enclosed one wall, others made it into a bedroom. We opted to make it a guest bedroom with a door onto the hallway. We also added a shower to the downstairs bathroom, making it a 3/4 bath. This worked well since the bedroom door was next to the bathroom door. Except that in nine years, the guest room was used about one week out of the year so we have 1oo sq. ft. of usable space that hasn't been used much. Earlier this year, we moved the bed out and I bought a small desk and a new futon for the room to make it more of an office/den space. Still not used much but a little more usable than it had been.

I'd been plotting for a while another remodel that we might do to open up the living room space and make the front room more usable. I even tried to convince Paul to do it last year but he didn't like the idea. Enter the positive pregnancy test. Now, even Paul has had to admit that it wouldn't be a bad idea to change the house one more time.

The plan right now is to make what is the guest room into more of a den space, opening it to the living room. To do that, we'll enclose the door that leads into the hall from the bedroom and make that a solid wall. We'll then open a space on the wall that faces the living room and open it up with skinny French doors--something like these. I'd like to rip out the carpet and put in hardwood flooring of some ilk. We're then discussing buying a twin sleeper chair and storage ottoman and probably a twin air mattress as well for guests. The remodel will require a little bit of electrical work since we'll have to move the light switches and one electrical outlet but hopefully, it won't be too time-involved. We're not sure when we're going to do this--maybe even before the holidays. I've asked my friend who is a realtor about the ramifications of changing the room but because it will still have a closet, technically we can still call it a bedroom if we do decide to move (you know, since we've pretty much exhausted every remodel option).

Of course, of most pressing need is to call a roofer to come out to the house. It seems that the two inches of rain a couple of weeks ago and then last week's snow both found the leak in the roof. It's in the new bedroom upstairs (what will become Baby's bedroom) where old-meets-new after the first remodel. It had a two year warranty so we're out of luck there but thankfully, the damage inside isn't too much so hopefully it won't require an entire roof. Just one more of the joys of homeownership.

To give some idea as to what I'm talking about, I found this old picture from Christmas two years ago. The hallway door just visible on the left will be enclosed and the new doors will go roughly where the hall tree is--a little to the right actually.

Week 21

This week has been pretty uneventful. Paul was out of town all week for work and a conference in Seattle. The cat and I held down the fort here, generally watching bad television and going to bed much too late every night. This weekend has been a good mix of work and play. I spent a good part of yesterday visiting the Homes of Enchantment and having lunch with my friend Devlyn while Paul stayed at the house and goofed off. We invited him to come with us. His refusal was swift and definite.

On the baby front, I definitely can't deny that I'm pregnant. I've discovered that if I wear maternity clothes, people will ask when I'm due. I'm slowly moving into maternity wear. I'm pretty much out of regular pants that I can wear unbuttoned with the Bella Band. I'm carrying pretty low--OK, very low since on the vaginal ultrasound at the peri's two weeks ago done to measure my cervix, you could see Baby's ear just a bit above the cervix. He won't have far to drop, that's for certain. Since the bump is pretty low, I've been able to get away with wearing some of my empire cut tops and longer cut shirts rather than the maternity tops I've bought.

I'm definitely feeling him move more. When I was watching a movie on Tuesday, I'm fairly certain I felt a little foot/head/arm on the outside of my stomach. I haven't felt it again but I do feel him moving. When I was in the shower this morning, apparently Baby felt the need to shift very suddenly and definitively to the left. Odd when one side of your stomach bulges out and is very hard and the other side is soft and mushy. I know I'm in for more of this--he's a very active little fellow. I keep telling him to move all he can now because his mama is short and he won't have much room in another month or two.

Week 21 pictures--gratuitous picture of Paul and the cat. Paul was very sweet and patient taking the belly picture that I suggested he take and then proceeded to criticize all the pictures he took and generally groused about having having my picture taken. Very understanding, this one:
We were arguing as to whether or not I needed to raise up my shirt. I don't think so but Paul said I did. So here are both of the pictures:

And I would just like to say that this kid is KILLING my complexion. I'm broken out more than a hormone-ridden 16 year old. I know it's because I'm a pregnancy-hormone ridden 34 year old but this is one part I could do without. I'll be lording this over the boy when he's older. Don't think I won't.

Weeks 19/20

So, um, yeah. Things have been busy around this place. The past two weeks have flown by in a whirlwind of activity--or something like that. Paul and I were trying to figure out why and how we managed to schedule ourselves on so many weekends in September and October. During September, we had an assortment of activities from Labor Day on. The first weekend in October was our anniversary and Balloon Fiesta. The second weekend, we were in Lubbock for Tech homecoming. Last weekend, I went to Ft. Worth to visit Donna although the basis of the trip was actually to go to the IKEA store in Frisco to look at baby furniture.

I kept seeing a crib mentioned on several Best Baby Bargains lists and I really wanted to look at it. I'm not at all sentimental about the baby's crib perhaps because I know it will be used a couple of years and then sold or donated. I didn't care to purchase an "heirloom" crib and I didn't want to lock into a three-way convertible crib (one that uses the crib rails as head/foot boards).

So, to IKEA Donna and I went. I've looked at the website before. I've heard tales about IKEA stores. Holy cow. I don't think either of us was prepared for the enormity of the actual IKEA store/warehouse. It took us 20 minutes just to weave our way to the exit and that was without much dawdling. I do like the looks of the crib--although I will admit that there was a small tinge of guilt that it's not fancier but I think that is just because there was another lady in IKEA who was purchasing one of these cribs as the secondary/grandma's house crib. I will be sending Donna back in December to brave the store once again to purchase Baby's crib and dresser. We're still debating the tall storage unit.

Also during this trip--when we weren't visiting with the couple of friends I could squeeze in during the 36 hours I was in D/FW--we headed to the Container Store. I was wanting to get an idea for redoing the closet in Baby's room. It is a 5-ft. square walk-in closet that Baby will be sharing with some of Paul's books and board games. Currently, it has a single rod and shelf on of the three walls as well as some crummy shelves Paul and I put up a couple of years ago for Paul's books. The plan is to gut the closet and start from scratch I had an idea on what I wanted and Bob, the friendly Container Store employee, hooked me up with a shelving system that gets lots of shelf storage (mostly for Paul) as well as drawers and hanging space. (OK, that link is just to the general elfa page because I can't link to our actual plan.) When I was showing Paul the plan, he commented that he and his dad could do something like that. And I said, yes, you and your dad can install this lovely closet system and it will be much easier than trying to get you and your dad to actually create/build/install such a thing. Again, Donna will be playing delivery person in December and bringing us all this stuff. We figure paying her gas (even over-paying her gas) for the trip home at Christmas is still cheaper than paying delivery costs (and no, ABQ doesn't have a Container Store or IKEA any nearer than Phoenix or D/FW).

We haven't actually done anything in the room to prepare for Baby--it is still currently a ginormous dumping ground for everything that doesn't have a home and assorted Paul things but we've made some serious headway in planning for Baby. In addition to the closet, crib, and dresser, we've also found some narrow bookcases that we like for either side of the window in the room. I'm willing to spend a bit more on these because I know that I will keep them in the room longer or move them to another place in the house to use at a later time. I'm not sure what color I'm going to order--probably play it safe and go with either the espresso or white but I really like the navy blue. The final thing we've found that we like is the crib bedding. I'd toyed around with a couple of ideas on how to do the room but ultimately thought the little guys on this bedding were just about perfect. I also love the polka dots. I'd found a polka dot bedding set that was quite cute and gender neutral but Paul nixed it. This was a good combination of happy animals and polka dots. We'll probably paint the room a blue that coordinates with the bedding and I've debated adding some dots in the same colors as the bedding to the walls. I've got a couple of ideas for artwork (not the ones that match the crib bedding--a little too sweet for me). Now, all we've got to do is get it all together but we probably won't do that until January or February.

I attempted my first shopping trip for maternity clothes last week and came away in tears with two pairs of leggings and a dress that I'm not that fond of but it fit when nothing else did. I assumed it would be easier to buy maternity clothes than regular clothes--like all my trouble spots (butt and thighs) would magically disappear or the clothes would magically be cut to fit my ever-expanding trouble spots. When I was with Donna this weekend, we went to Target because I'd forgotten my toothbrush and while we were there, I tried on a couple of things that were approved by Donna and I acquiesed to purchase (a pair of jeans, a pair black trousers, a sweater, and 3 t-shirts because if one fits, buy it in every color). Apparently, I will need the buddy-system when trying on maternity wear. My ego needs stroking.

In the past two weeks, I've had more people/strangers commenting on the bump. Baby has definitely made his presence known. So far, I've been told I'm really small and I'm really big. Who knows what I actually am. Normally sized pregnant for someone who is 5'4" most likely. I'll admit I'm worried I'm going to be enormous before this is all over. Since I'm almost officially 21 weeks, I'll wait and post a picture in a couple of days.

Wreck 'em, Tech (and get me some cocoa!)

Last weekend was Texas Tech's homecoming game. This year, I twisted Amy's arm and convinced her to come with her family and to stay in Lubbock overnight on Saturday. We were planning on meeting our friends Chris and Karen and their girls and just enjoying a great weekend in Lubbock with friends and family. Little did we know that a "mock-Arctic front" or some such meteorological term would definitely put a damper on all our plans.

When we left ABQ on Friday afternoon, it was nearly 70, sunny, and beautiful. When we arrived in Amarillo, it was 45, cloudy, and drizzly with little chance of it getting better. There was discussion as to whether or not the front would dip down to Lubbock so we were cautiously optimistic that we might be able to go through with our (limited) plans on Saturday.

Mother Nature had other plans. The weather definitely put a damper on our plans but I don't think our spirits--while we did go to Spanky's, the hamburger place across from campus, for fried cheese and burgers, we didn't walk around campus at all on Saturday. The hotel's swimming pool was indoors but the atrium area wasn't heated so swimming was off as well. We went to Raider Alley around 4:30 for dinner but it was cold to be standing around outside. Plus the band that was there was playing slow, mellow, moody music--not exactly what we'd like to hear to get pumped up before a game. We were bundled up but it just wasn't as much fun as it could have been.
Looking tough although she later decided that she didn't like these--they made her shy when the cheerleader was talking to her. Amy found the Double-T tattoo stickers and the kids switched out the eye black for the tattoos.
There's pretty much anything you can think to eat at Raider Alley including meat on a wee-little stick.

We headed into the stadium about 20 minutes before the game and went in search of hot cocoa. There was no hot chocolate to be had in the stadium. There was coffee and cold drinks. Plus, while we were searching for something warm-not-coffee, we missed the band coming onto the field which is easily the highlight of the game, especially this one.
Amy and Benjamin bundled up before the game got started.
Abigail watches the action on the field.

Apparently, K-State forgot that they were supposed to show up for a football game and by halftime, the score was 38-0 and the fans were beginning to leave in droves. We hearty souls made it until after the halftime performance. The band's show was a bit of a let-down as well. Who knew that Boston had more than one song? I didn't until the band decided to play four of them.
Yep, that says Texas Tech 38, K-State 0. The final score ended up being 66-14.
We'll say this was during "More Than a Feeling" which is the only Boston song I know.
Bundled up but ready to go. We were glad we had a blanket in the car to bring with us into the stadium. Thankfully, the wind wasn't blowing too much--it was just the rest of the weather that wasn't much fun.

By this point, the children were restless, we were restless, and the game was pretty much in hand. We left in search of something warm to drink at the Starbucks across the street from the stadium. As waited at the streetlight, a carload of college boys were yelling "Raider!" to which all the pedestrians were replying "Power!" I'd "taught" this to Abigail earlier as we were walking to the stadium. She thought it was a silly cheer until everyone at the crosswalk was participating--then it was more fun to do.
Goofing at Starbucks--Paul opted not to get something warm but continue to eat the kettle corn we'd gotten at the game.
Little arms make it hard to do rabbit ears, even when your mama ducks down some.
No one to help out didn't deter Abs from getting in the rabbit-ear action. She'll just do it herself.

From Starbucks, we headed back to the hotel to watch the rest of the game on the television while flipping around between some other, more competitive, games as well.

Sunday morning, it was still cold and drizzly and the indoor swimming pool was still closed. However, the hotel's breakfast did feature make-your-own Texas waffles. So we all had waffles shaped like Texas for breakfast, including the non-Texan who just thought it was fun to make his own waffle. More hanging around the hotel since it was too chilly to do much else and then we headed down to Gardski's for lunch because Paul had commented earlier about their onion straws and David likes it as well.
Quite the look from the four-year-old.
Picture by Abigail. She's getting much better than some of the past pictures I have. She even asked us to move the glasses so they wouldn't be in her shot.
Yep, David was there too. He's just hard to catch in a picture.

We left from there to head home, driving through some light fog and drizzle until about Santa Rosa. By the time we got home, it was about 70 and sunny again. The weekend wasn't quite what we'd hoped for and not exactly the experience we'd hoped Abigail and Benjamin would have for their first Texas Tech football game. Hopefully there will be many more games and much better weather for future football weekends. And if the children ever whine, we'll all tell them about this one game in 1992 when it was so cold and rainy and windy and that they just need to toughen up a bit.

Balloons! The 2009 Edition

(I wrote this last week and didn't post it at that time. Not sure why but here's this year's balloons recap.)

This year's Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta kicked off on October 3 . Paul's cousin and his wife and almost-4-year-old daughter were in town on their way to Ruidoso and stopped over on their way in order to see the balloons. Because I love the balloons, I was happy to go with them and Paul (happily? begrudgingly?) tagged along with us.

Figuring it up, this is probably the 10th time I've gone to the balloons in the past 12 years. This was the *craziest* year I've ever seen at the balloons. Not the balloons proper but getting to the balloons was an ordeal. We left my inlaws' house (where Doug, Michelle, and Beth were staying) a little before 6:00. We took our normal route (Tramway) over to the balloon field. We got stopped near the casino. And we ended up sitting for almost TWO HOURS. Generally, there are cops out directing traffic and the lights at the intersection of Tramway and I-25 have been overridden to allow for better traffic flow. This year, there was none of that. Well, cops were there but the lights were still cycling normally. Grrr. . . Talk about frustrating. We were discussing skipping the balloons as it was nearing 8:00 before we even neared the parking lot and just heading to breakfast. Thankfully, the weather was cooperating and the balloons were hanging around for quite a while.

Driving to the parking lot after 8:00, we missed the first two waves of balloon launches. Paul and I had been telling Doug and Michelle about our friends who never quite make it to the field before the first balloons go up. We were laughing that this is what they must see--it is pretty but nothing like being on the field.
Walking down to the ticket booth--it was definitely the farthest out we've ever parked and not at all like the time with my parents when my dad insisted we leave the house before 5:00 and were the second car in the parking lot.
At the ticket booth finally but we missed the bees taking off.
Watching the balloons as we got our tickets, we spotted the jack-in-the-box. I don't know if we'd seen him before but he was a fun balloon to see.

Finally on the field with the third wave of balloons going up. Lots of balloons from the previous waves were still in the air near the field. I don't think the "Box" was working but the wind wasn't blowing so the balloons hung around. I think we saw one I {heart} NY balloon that went up with the first wave as one of the last balloons still in the air.

Doug, Michelle, and Bethany on the field. We waited until after watching the balloons go up to get our burritos and hot chocolate so that Beth could enjoy the whole experience. She was definitely a trooper during the long wait in the car. We kept promising her that it would be worth it in the end.

Paul goofing around on the field "enjoying" the balloons.

YAY! I LOVE THE BALLOONS! (Totally cheesy posed picture courtesy of Paul)

More balloons just hanging around as the last goes up.

Love the witch balloon. There was troubles getting several of the special shapes balloons to the U.S. from China where they'd been for a balloon rally a couple of months ago (they were stuck in customs). Darth Vader made it but not until later in the week.

Bethany has a couple of Zebras by the tail. She was given the "job" to cheer and wave whenever the balloons took off which she took very seriously and did a very good job of doing.

10 years married and we still like each other pretty much OK.

10th Anniversary

Our 10th anniversary celebration was pretty low-key but exactly what I had wanted/hoped to have. We took the Rail Runner up to Santa Fe which was something I'd been wanting to do since the rail was extended up there. Paul isn't a fan of Santa Fe so normally, I can only get him to go once or twice a year, generally around our anniversary and my birthday. I'll definitely recommend the train to anyone who comes into town and wants to go up to Santa Fe. $7/ticket round trip and children under 10 are free. It was an easy, fun way to go. Oh! And our favorite part of the train is that as the doors are closing, the warning is a roadrunner's "meep, meep." We were laughing about the meeting in which that was pitched as an idea.

We studied out the schedule and decided to leave ABQ on the 4:20 train to Santa Fe which got us to the Santa Fe railyard about 6:00. We'd decided to eat at the Mexican food restaurant at the railyard. It's a fairly popular tourist haunt and we had about an hour wait after we put our names on the list. I'm not sure it's worth the hour wait but it was good and I've waited that long at generic restaurants.
Since we had time to wait, we opted to walk around a bit before sitting in the restaurant. The area is building up with more shopping places although most were closed by the time we were there. We noticed that there are shuttles to the Plaza and I've heard it's a 10 minute walk or so over there. So, very easy to do with visitors.

Not many shops were open although there was one cute little shop I noticed that was that had housewares and advertised Fiesta dinnerware in the window. Against Paul's better judgement, we crossed the street (it was busy but I was smart and waited until there was no traffic--the incident in London when I stepped out in front of a taxi still has him spooked. That one was coming from the wrong direction though.) And it was the cutest little shop indeed. Lots of vintage dinnerware and dinnerware made from vintage patterns, dishtowels and other kitschy kitchen items. Stuff totally up my alley. After much discussion between us and with the owner piping in his opinion on whether they should be the same color or not, I bought new Fiesta salt and pepper shakers in bright blue. It's the first pieces I own in this color which is probably my favorite shade of blue.
By this time, it had been about 40 minutes since we put our name on the waiting list so we headed back to the restaurant (again, safely crossing the street). I think we waited another 10 minutes before being seated. The hostess asked if we'd mind sitting on the patio. It was chilly but since it was out of the wind and because there were heaters out there, it was a pleasant place to sit. We both ate way too much and after we finished, we lingered for a bit, chatting, waiting for the train at 8:00, and trying to figure out how the people at the table next to knew each other since it seemed of the 9 people there, only 2 people actually were acquainted.

We walked back over to the waiting train and opted to head to the upper level for the ride back to ABQ. All in all, a very pleasant evening and a good way to celebrate our anniversary. In fact, it was pretty much a perfect fall weekend in my opinion--beautiful weather, our anniversary, time with some family, and balloons!