What a day

I was in a car accident today. Totally not my fault either. I was stopped at a red light and some guy rear ended me. It was funny as hell. Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing.

Now it wouldn't have been as funny if the dude hadn't been on a bike, but since he was indeed on a bike (just a regular old bike), it was freaking hilarious.

Yep, a dude on a bike ran into the truck while I was at a red light. I'm ok. The airbags didn't even go off. He on the other hand had some road rash and his bike looked a little dented.

Freaking hilarious.

Another Appointment

All you do when you are pregnant is go to doctor appointments. Or at least it feels like it. I had another appointment on Thursday. Same old, same old.

Stowa is growing as she is suppose to. My blood pressure was high at the beginning of the appointment but when they redid it at the end it was normal. I've been told to be on the lookout for swelling. They didn't really say what to do if I had swelling but if it's like any other pregnancy issue I'm probably just suppose to lay down (on my left side) and drink more water. We also talked about my anxiety issues but I'm told that it's normal. I disagree.

The great and powerful "To Do" list is a little shorter after this week. I got Stowa's "dresser" done. Instead of buying a dresser we re-purposed something we already had. It worked out pretty well and the price was right. I finished two of the baby blankets I was making. Nothing fancy, but they turned out cute.

I probably would have gotten more done last week but I've been distracted. There's a lot going on. To top it all off, Cuddles has been limping for almost a week. We were hoping that it was just a spider bite (we've had a few spiders in the apartment recently) but we can't find a bite mark. I shaved her arm to get a better look, but still nothing. Now she looks like she has a peg leg. She won't tell me where it hurts either. It's her cancer arm which makes me worry. Itchy wants to give it another couple days before we haul her off to a vet.

Surgery

Itchy's mom is having surgery tomorrow. Stupid cancer. Any positive thoughts that you can send her way are appreciated.

ETA: As far as we know (only talked to Itchy's dad-he's unreliable at best) the surgery went well. The entire kidney and tumor have been removed and they didn't see any other signs of the cancer spreading.

48 days

So my due date is 48 days away. Why is it that 7 weeks sound like forever but 48 days makes me hyperventilate (just a little)?

My slacker ways have got to come to an end. That "To Do" list I made weeks ago really hasn't seen much change. By the end of the week I swear I will have at least one thing crossed off.

When is this whole 'nesting' thing suppose to kick in? Out of all the symptoms of pregnancy, why couldn't I have that one?

Planned procrastination

Itchy and I were going to set the crib up this week. It's still currently sitting in the living room. Since it's leaning up against the (cat's) love seat the cats have used it as a fort. They like it.

However, our plan to set it up has been put on the back burner. I've resorted to planning our procrastination. So much easier than actually doing this stuff.

Now I just need to get Itchy to move it into the other room so that it's out of sight, out of mind.

ETA: Don't worry, Stowa will have a safe place to sleep. We have a bassinet thingy that she will be sleeping in at first. I will get Itchy to set that up as soon as I find a tent for it. Apparently, to keep the cats out we need to put tents up over everything. It'd be easier to just put Stowa in a bubble.

Sorry

I'm really glad that you don't have to tip the UPS delivery man. Or are you? Crap. Now I'm going to feel really bad if I was suppose to tip him. I'll be looking that one up on their website later.

Anyway, a lot of the larger baby items have been delivered via UPS. Not everything is that heavy but it does come in awkwardly sized boxes. Pretty much every time something gets delivered, I think about how glad I am that I didn't have to carry it up the stairs. Not that I would have, since that would fall under the category of "Itchy's job", but you know what I mean.

I felt really bad for the UPS guy today though. Poor guy (I wish he would wear a name tag, I like to know people's names) had to carry the crib upstairs today. A very heavy crib. Without any help. If there was ever a day to tip UPS guy, today would have been the day.

But you have no idea how happy I am that I didn't have to deal with it.

32 weeks

I'm 32 weeks pregnant today. I'm already uncomfortable so the thought of 8 more weeks (at least, since most first babies are late) sounds umm, less than thrilling. My "To Do" list hasn't changed much so I guess I'll be passing the time trying to accomplish that stuff.

Here's the belly picture from today:
I'm wearing the same shirt that I wore in the 28 week picture for continuity's sake. It doesn't look like I have legs in this picture but I still do. I'm just wearing black shorts today.

I'm also going to add a couple of other pictures. Be prepared for the cuteness. It's overwhelming.

Here are the blankets that my mom made for Stowa:



Those blankets are so freaking cute and soft. Totally love them.

The details you've all been waiting for

Honestly, by this point I've forgotten most of the trip. But here are a few highlights!

Friday night when we arrived at Itchy's parents house we were immediately told that we were causing his dad to have a severe (rolling my eyes) allergic reaction since we were covered in cat hair. There were fake sniffles, imaginary watery eyes, and everything. His dad may be mildly allergic to cats but he was being dramatic. Once he *thought* that we had showered and changed, the symptoms were gone. Magic! Both of Itchy's brothers and their wives came over that night too. It was the first time everyone had all been together. It was interesting.

I think Itchy, Itchy's mom, and I went shopping for baby stuff. His mom loves to shop. I'm ok with it, but I hate getting ripped off. So when his mom was set on shopping at Baby Gap, I was cringing on the inside. I can find clothes that are just as cute at Target for a lot less money. I didn't see anything there that I had to have, but what can I say, I'm cheap! Itchy and his mom picked out a pair of shoes though. $30 for one pair of baby shoes! I don't even like spending that much on my shoes. I'm guessing they'll be returned for something more practical!

We also went to Target and got a few necessities. His mom and I also had our first disagreement in the middle of Target. That was fun! His mom suggested that we stock up on diapers and when I told her that we are going to use cloth diapers, she threw a minor tantrum. She acted as if it were the most absurd thing we could ever do. I tried to be diplomatic about our choice but she was adamant that it was stupid. Itchy, of course, said nothing. Thanks for backing me up jerk!

We spent some time with friends that night at a pre-fantasy football draft party. Silly drunk boys. On Sunday we spent most of the day at the fantasy football draft. Good lord that was boring. They need organization and a time limit. Hanging out with friends afterwards was fun though!

Monday we went shopping again. This time it was because Itchy told his mom that I needed maternity clothes. I could have punched him. So we went and bought maternity clothes. And his mom made me feel like a freak. She was looking at one of the shirts that I tried on and made a comment about the sleeves being made for giants. She wondered who could ever even wear a shirt like that. Umm, guess what? When I tried that shirt on, the sleeves were too short. Like 3 inches too short.

Tuesday was the day that Itchy and I went the the State Fair! That was fun but all the walking made me sore and swollen. We did run into a friend of Itchy's though. They somehow ended up playing a game of football with 2 other random guys though. It was pretty funny and not that weird if you know Itchy's friend. We also went to Itchy's oldest brother's house that night. I got to meet his daughters for the first time. They are pretty excited about having a new cousin. They had lots of questions and were pretty chatty.

Wednesday: Itchy's mom had a bunch of friends over. They all speak Urdu. I don't. I have no idea what was being said but I'm pretty sure they were talking about me. After they left, you guessed it, more shopping! Itchy's mom had a coupon for a baby store and they were having a sale. We got a lot of cute stuff. This kid has a ton of clothes now. Between my mom and Itchy's mom, I think we could dress triplets! We also went to a friends softball game that night. They lost both of their games but it was fun to watch. It made Itchy miss flag football a lot.

Thursday we spent the day with Itchy's mom and dad. You may notice that Itchy's dad really hasn't been mentioned much. It's because he has no interest in me or the baby. Anyway, Itchy's mom had a couple of doctors appointments so we went with to those. I thought it was weird, but she asked us to go with so we did. When we were in the waiting room of the cancer clinic Itchy and I saw the most hilarious crazy person. I'll tell you more about him some other time, but he totally made me laugh.

Friday, after a tearful goodbye, we drove up to see my family. Traffic was terrible. We sat on interstate for 2 hours. Not moving at all. It was incredibly annoying. But we finally got to my mom's house. Everyone was there waiting for us! They were all pretty excited to see the belly. And Itchy. And the cats. They haven't seen Itchy or the cats since before we moved to The Island.

Saturday my aunt and grandma drove up to see us. My mom went nuts and made a huge meal for everyone. Lots of pictures were taken. Games were played. It was a fun day!

Sunday Itchy, my sister and her 2 kids went to my other sister's lake. The kids got to swim and Itchy and I got to fish. I caught more fish than anyone else. Take that Itchy! Itchy fished well past dark. If I had not gone to get him, I think he would have fished all night. He wasn't even catching anything but he didn't want to quit.

Monday morning my mom took us out for breakfast and then to buy a baby book. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at her house. Since Itchy and I had to leave that afternoon, my sisters and nieces came over and we all hung out there. I wish we could have spent more time there but we had to get back here because I had a doctor's appointment.

Overall, it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be with Itchy's mom but it wasn't exactly relaxing. She's pretty freaking sick right now and that was hard to watch. Since she was a pediatrician she had plenty of advice to give me, but some of the things she told me are just plain wrong. She clearly disagrees with some of our/my decisions. I didn't want to argue with her though. I'll deal with that when I have to. She also kept calling the baby by the name that she picked out. She told a lot of her friends that it was the baby's name. She really didn't ask if we had decided on that name, she just assumed that it is the name we are using. I avoided that subject as much as possible and was vague when confronted (there was a lot of "we're still thinking about names"). Itchy also got very quiet when names were brought up. It's weird, he'll confront his mom about anything else but when it comes to baby stuff, he has nothing to say.

Tomorrow I will try to get a new belly picture up.

Bargain!!

Ever since Itchy and I moved here, I have been looking for a small grill. Since it's just the 2 of us we don't need anything big and I really wanted something that could be used for future tailgating.

I saw a few that would have worked but I didn't like the prices. Of course, given that it was summer (aka grilling season) retailers had jacked up their prices in response to the demand.

Now that Labor Day has passed I was keeping my eyes open for clearance sales. I totally hit the jackpot on Thursday. Itchy and I went to buy groceries and as we were making our way to the checkout we passed by their clearance table. What was on that table?

This:
It was at the bargain price of $6! It pretty much kicks ass.

9-11-01

I think everyone is aware of the date today. It's hard to believe that it was 8 years ago already. No one has forgotten or will ever forget that horrific day.

Updates

Itchy and I are back at home. The drive took forever and the cats weren't happy with it. But we all survived and don't have to do it again until January.

I had a doctor's appointment today (which is why we ended our trip when we did, I think we both would have liked to stay a little longer). Little Stowa is measuring as she should be, still head down, and has her butt jammed into my liver. This was the first appointment that Itchy was able to go to, so he finally got to hear her heart beat. It did not move him to tears. Nor did I expect it to. My blood pressure was better this time too.

After my appointment Itchy and I went shopping. We decided to wrap up the baby shopping. After being given so much stuff (our families have given us a lot!!) there wasn't much left that we needed. Our list of necessities is done. I got most of it on sale or had a coupon for most of it too. Of course, I kind of thought that stores would have some kind of Labor Day sales, which is why I waited to buy stuff like the crib. I need to sort though everything once more and make sure we have everything we need but I do believe that we are ready. Now we just have to put things together.

Working our way back

We're slowly working our way back home. "Vacations" are exhausting.

Details will have to wait

Visiting family and friends is a lot of work. We haven't had much down time. The stories are there though. We'll talk about it next week.

We did go to the REAL State Fair though! Fun fact: Itchy got a hug from a stranger at the fair.

Real

I believe that Itchy and I are going to go to a REAL State Fair today!