Here are a few pics Casey took of me tonight (since it's rare that I do my hair & make-up these days). Peanut is 36 weeks as of tomorrow!! :-D
-Ash
Casey, Ashley, Keaton, Nikolaus, & Rowan take on Chicagoland...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Pics for Week 36
The Pediatrics Meet & Greet was a success! I'm going to register for the hospital now and we should be all set. :)
Here are a few pics Casey took of me tonight (since it's rare that I do my hair & make-up these days). Peanut is 36 weeks as of tomorrow!! :-D
-Ash
Here are a few pics Casey took of me tonight (since it's rare that I do my hair & make-up these days). Peanut is 36 weeks as of tomorrow!! :-D
-Ash
Getting ready...
I am (impatiently) waiting for Casey to get home so we can eat dinner and prepare for our Meet & Greet with a group of pediatricians tonight... I've got my list of questions ready, and hopefully we will find one we like! If so, I plan to register for the hospital tomorrow. That will be one less thing on the To Do list! I also have the camcorder almost ready- I'm charging the batteries tonight. I have most of the bag packed for the hospital as well- baby clothes washed, some toiletries packed, etc. I am probably doing this WAY too far in advance, but that is rare for me, so I'm rolling with it. And who knows, maybe the kid will decide to be a bit early? I kind of hope so because I'm starting to have a harder time getting around, sleeping, and generally doing things that came easy to me a month ago. I realize that I will still not get a great deal of sleep when the baby arrives, but it seems like getting up to feed a baby would be much more enjoyable than getting up to 1) go to the bathroom for the 300th time, 2) have to literally roll in bed to get comfortable, 3) have to change positions because my hips hurt or fall asleep, etc. I think you get the idea...
The baby has been rather quiet today, so this afternoon when I was getting dressed I decided to put the headphones from my iPod Shuffle on my belly again... HAHA!!! The baby definitely responded with a very large kick (or maybe punch) to my left rib region! It actually made me laugh out loud... pretty neat to have an interactive tummy right now. :) (The song was 'You Can call Me Al' by Paul Simon.)
I guess that's about it- I will update again tomorrow with info on the Ped visit, in between cleaning sessions to ready the house for the brief Hetrick visit tomorrow evening. For now, I'm going to go eat my arm... unless my husband spares me by showing up sometime in the near future!!!
-Ash
The baby has been rather quiet today, so this afternoon when I was getting dressed I decided to put the headphones from my iPod Shuffle on my belly again... HAHA!!! The baby definitely responded with a very large kick (or maybe punch) to my left rib region! It actually made me laugh out loud... pretty neat to have an interactive tummy right now. :) (The song was 'You Can call Me Al' by Paul Simon.)
I guess that's about it- I will update again tomorrow with info on the Ped visit, in between cleaning sessions to ready the house for the brief Hetrick visit tomorrow evening. For now, I'm going to go eat my arm... unless my husband spares me by showing up sometime in the near future!!!
-Ash
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Oh, Charley...
I have neglected to write about the dog recently, and he's done some fairly entertaining things, so I thought I would give him the spotlight for a moment.
Charley has never been the most graceful dog on Earth. It's pretty entertaining to watch him when we're playing and he runs past his toy, then suddenly realizes that he's done so and practically flips himself over to get the toy. The other night, I was using the guest bathroom (located in our main hallway) and Casey was playing with Charley, throwing the toy and having Charley bring it back to him. For some reason Charley got so excited, he apparently saw me in the bathroom while he was running, got distracted, and face-planted into the wall right in front of me! It's probably a good thing I had just gone to the bathroom, because I would most definitely have peed my pants from laughter... Charley just (literally) shook it off and went back to playing. Once he face-planted into the back glass door because he apparently didn't realize the door was shut... I'm surprised he didn't break anything! What a blockhead!!
On Monday night, Casey was playing the new Super Mario Brothers Wii game. He'd been playing it quite a bit the day before, and for a few hours already that evening, so it was nothing new. For some reason, Charley suddenly noticed all the strange noises from the game coming out of the speaker on the floor near our entertainment center. He stood in front of the speaker for almost 2 minutes and cocked his head from side to side, listening to all the noises. I wish I had the video camera at that point, it was too funny! He's such a puppy sometimes!
Other than that, he's basically been my little brown shadow the rest of the time. Since I'm home all day now, I have started to be able to tell all of his little noises and what they mean. I know his boredom whine from his potty whine. I know what the little sniffing noises mean based on when he wants something, or is excited, etc. People that say "it's just a dog" have obviously never spent much time around dogs, because they definitely have their own personalities. When Charley wants something, he will think of all kinds of ways to get it. He always brings Kong to me and wants me to fill it, but if he hasn't eaten his dog food yet, I tell him, "You can't have Kong until you eat your food." Sometimes Charley will go back, get a few pieces of food in his mouth, come to where ever I am and show me that he's eating it, and then pick Kong up and hand it to me. He's too smart for his own good... which is reassuring considering how many times he's busted his head on the wall, etc! And if he can't find Kong, he will find just about anything that you can put a treat in, and bring it to me. Such a spoiled guy. If he gets too insistent, I try to make him do an elaborate set of tricks before he gets anything, so I'm not just giving in to him... so far that seems to work.
Life is going to drastically change for him in the very near future, and I hope he does well with it. I can see him really enjoying being around the baby, but I can also see him getting frustrated when our attention isn't on him as much anymore. I feel a little guilty, but I also realize that he's almost 6 years old, and he's been an 'only child' long enough. (As I write this, Charley walked up to the baby swing and pushed it with his nose! Haha!) He'll be a good big brother, I think.
Anyway, that's enough from me. I'll post a (terrible) pic of Chuck and I with Peanut... minus the fact that I have no make-up on and look pretty scary, I thought it was cute of CB because he looked like he was feeling Peanut move in my belly. :)
-Ash
PS: So far this week, 4 people (of out ~20 pregnant women I know) have had their babies!!
Charley has never been the most graceful dog on Earth. It's pretty entertaining to watch him when we're playing and he runs past his toy, then suddenly realizes that he's done so and practically flips himself over to get the toy. The other night, I was using the guest bathroom (located in our main hallway) and Casey was playing with Charley, throwing the toy and having Charley bring it back to him. For some reason Charley got so excited, he apparently saw me in the bathroom while he was running, got distracted, and face-planted into the wall right in front of me! It's probably a good thing I had just gone to the bathroom, because I would most definitely have peed my pants from laughter... Charley just (literally) shook it off and went back to playing. Once he face-planted into the back glass door because he apparently didn't realize the door was shut... I'm surprised he didn't break anything! What a blockhead!!
On Monday night, Casey was playing the new Super Mario Brothers Wii game. He'd been playing it quite a bit the day before, and for a few hours already that evening, so it was nothing new. For some reason, Charley suddenly noticed all the strange noises from the game coming out of the speaker on the floor near our entertainment center. He stood in front of the speaker for almost 2 minutes and cocked his head from side to side, listening to all the noises. I wish I had the video camera at that point, it was too funny! He's such a puppy sometimes!
Other than that, he's basically been my little brown shadow the rest of the time. Since I'm home all day now, I have started to be able to tell all of his little noises and what they mean. I know his boredom whine from his potty whine. I know what the little sniffing noises mean based on when he wants something, or is excited, etc. People that say "it's just a dog" have obviously never spent much time around dogs, because they definitely have their own personalities. When Charley wants something, he will think of all kinds of ways to get it. He always brings Kong to me and wants me to fill it, but if he hasn't eaten his dog food yet, I tell him, "You can't have Kong until you eat your food." Sometimes Charley will go back, get a few pieces of food in his mouth, come to where ever I am and show me that he's eating it, and then pick Kong up and hand it to me. He's too smart for his own good... which is reassuring considering how many times he's busted his head on the wall, etc! And if he can't find Kong, he will find just about anything that you can put a treat in, and bring it to me. Such a spoiled guy. If he gets too insistent, I try to make him do an elaborate set of tricks before he gets anything, so I'm not just giving in to him... so far that seems to work.
Life is going to drastically change for him in the very near future, and I hope he does well with it. I can see him really enjoying being around the baby, but I can also see him getting frustrated when our attention isn't on him as much anymore. I feel a little guilty, but I also realize that he's almost 6 years old, and he's been an 'only child' long enough. (As I write this, Charley walked up to the baby swing and pushed it with his nose! Haha!) He'll be a good big brother, I think.
Anyway, that's enough from me. I'll post a (terrible) pic of Chuck and I with Peanut... minus the fact that I have no make-up on and look pretty scary, I thought it was cute of CB because he looked like he was feeling Peanut move in my belly. :)
-Ash
PS: So far this week, 4 people (of out ~20 pregnant women I know) have had their babies!!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Poked and Prodded
I had been asleep for almost a full hour last night, when suddenly I feel this movement and poking on my arm. I woke up to discover that Peanut had been pushing my arm via my ribcage area- apparently my arm was pushing down on the baby and they had had enough... it was strange! So this evening as I'm laying in bed, I put Casey's hand right where it had happened last night, and almost immediately it started pushing back on Casey's hand! The look on his face was priceless... it's pretty strange/cool to be able to feel a little leg (or maybe arm) sticking out. I'm waiting to see a foot or hand poke out one of these days.. I hear it happens, but so far I haven't witnessed it yet. There seems to be a lot happening in there right now, especially when I lay down... according to the doctor, that's about the only time the kid gets any room. Needless to say, that's the main reason I'm awake right now- I laid down and started getting poked again!
So our doctor's appointment went better today. Casey came with me, and I thought I was going to have to have an internal exam this time, but it turns out they just did a bacteria test (normal for 35-37 weeks) and the internal exam will be next week. Joy. But anyway, the exam today went fine and I'll find out the results when I go back a week from Friday. I gained one whole pound over the last 2 weeks, which is slightly depressing because I ate a LOT of food. And anyone that can drink an entire gallon of milk by themselves in less than a week should be able to gain some kind of weight, you'd think. But I guess 1 lb is better than nothing. When they measured me this time, the doctor just said, "You are measuring small/normal, and we wouldn't expect anything else from someone your size." So that made me feel better- they don't need to do an ultrasound at this point because Case and I aren't big people so the baby shouldn't be, either. It was nice to get some peace of mind after going a bit nutty over the past 2 weeks. :) Oh- the heart rate was 138 bpm this time. :)
We met yet another doctor today. So far I like everyone, so I'm not very particular about who delivers the baby at this point. I do realize that the two male doctors have somewhat strong personalities, and both like to talk, but I am definitely used to people like that after some of the jobs I've had over the years. The guy today apparently liked caffeine- when Case or I would ask a question, he would spew out a ton of information on the subject- it was almost dizzying for me to try to keep up. I figure the guy did a good job, though, when Casey said that his answer was thorough enough that he didn't have any more questions! When I go back for my next appointment we will meet a new doctor to the practice. I think we will have met everyone by then. I can't even keep their names straight at this point!
We were lucky and saw the nurse practitioner that I like today. I told her I missed her last time and the last lady was apparently having a bad day or something. She said that she actually hears that a lot about the other lady... so for some odd reason I decided to be candid and said something to the effect of, "Yeah, she said she left her stethoscope at home that day, but I'm pretty sure I know where she had it instead!" I instantly turned bright red when I realized what I said, but luckily she and Casey both got a good laugh about it... haha... oops! Darn those baby hormones, making me speak my mind again! ;) At this rate I might say it to the other lady's face next time. She was a jerk!!
Anyway, enough of that. I spent tonight hanging out with Casey, watching KU kick the crud out of Missouri, and pretty much vegging out. Around 9 p.m., my friend Ben called; he was driving back from Kentucky to go home to Madison, WI, and was having a hard time getting through Illinois due to snow. He asked if he could come crash at our place for the evening, so I ran around and tried to do some last-minute tidying of the place so it looked presentable (and because I slept most of the day due to lack of sleep last night and didn't get anything done today). About 45 minutes later Ben called back to say that the weather cleared up and he was going to go all the way home tonight after all. I guess it turns out to be a good thing because Casey's parents are stopping by on Friday night and staying Saturday, so it will be less cleaning to do before their arrival. The guest bed is made, and the guest bathroom is mostly clean now. Everything happens for a reason, right?
So I feel like I'm mostly rambling now, and that never makes for a good blog entry. I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep.... I hope Peanut and Case will allow it!
-Ash
PS: Peanut is due in ONE MONTH!!!!
PPS: My stomach just growled (after eating a plate of waffles) and it made the baby jump! I have also enjoyed putting my iPod headphones on my tummy the past few days and letting it listen to some music. It moved around most when Sting and The Beatles came on. What can I say, the kid has good taste in music! :)
So our doctor's appointment went better today. Casey came with me, and I thought I was going to have to have an internal exam this time, but it turns out they just did a bacteria test (normal for 35-37 weeks) and the internal exam will be next week. Joy. But anyway, the exam today went fine and I'll find out the results when I go back a week from Friday. I gained one whole pound over the last 2 weeks, which is slightly depressing because I ate a LOT of food. And anyone that can drink an entire gallon of milk by themselves in less than a week should be able to gain some kind of weight, you'd think. But I guess 1 lb is better than nothing. When they measured me this time, the doctor just said, "You are measuring small/normal, and we wouldn't expect anything else from someone your size." So that made me feel better- they don't need to do an ultrasound at this point because Case and I aren't big people so the baby shouldn't be, either. It was nice to get some peace of mind after going a bit nutty over the past 2 weeks. :) Oh- the heart rate was 138 bpm this time. :)
We met yet another doctor today. So far I like everyone, so I'm not very particular about who delivers the baby at this point. I do realize that the two male doctors have somewhat strong personalities, and both like to talk, but I am definitely used to people like that after some of the jobs I've had over the years. The guy today apparently liked caffeine- when Case or I would ask a question, he would spew out a ton of information on the subject- it was almost dizzying for me to try to keep up. I figure the guy did a good job, though, when Casey said that his answer was thorough enough that he didn't have any more questions! When I go back for my next appointment we will meet a new doctor to the practice. I think we will have met everyone by then. I can't even keep their names straight at this point!
We were lucky and saw the nurse practitioner that I like today. I told her I missed her last time and the last lady was apparently having a bad day or something. She said that she actually hears that a lot about the other lady... so for some odd reason I decided to be candid and said something to the effect of, "Yeah, she said she left her stethoscope at home that day, but I'm pretty sure I know where she had it instead!" I instantly turned bright red when I realized what I said, but luckily she and Casey both got a good laugh about it... haha... oops! Darn those baby hormones, making me speak my mind again! ;) At this rate I might say it to the other lady's face next time. She was a jerk!!
Anyway, enough of that. I spent tonight hanging out with Casey, watching KU kick the crud out of Missouri, and pretty much vegging out. Around 9 p.m., my friend Ben called; he was driving back from Kentucky to go home to Madison, WI, and was having a hard time getting through Illinois due to snow. He asked if he could come crash at our place for the evening, so I ran around and tried to do some last-minute tidying of the place so it looked presentable (and because I slept most of the day due to lack of sleep last night and didn't get anything done today). About 45 minutes later Ben called back to say that the weather cleared up and he was going to go all the way home tonight after all. I guess it turns out to be a good thing because Casey's parents are stopping by on Friday night and staying Saturday, so it will be less cleaning to do before their arrival. The guest bed is made, and the guest bathroom is mostly clean now. Everything happens for a reason, right?
So I feel like I'm mostly rambling now, and that never makes for a good blog entry. I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep.... I hope Peanut and Case will allow it!
-Ash
PS: Peanut is due in ONE MONTH!!!!
PPS: My stomach just growled (after eating a plate of waffles) and it made the baby jump! I have also enjoyed putting my iPod headphones on my tummy the past few days and letting it listen to some music. It moved around most when Sting and The Beatles came on. What can I say, the kid has good taste in music! :)
Friday, January 22, 2010
35 weeks!
I am happy to report that I actually got sleep last night! I still woke up 2-3 times for bathroom breaks, but apparently I fell back to sleep quickly, and woke up when Casey's alarm went off. (Funny Casey moment- last night while he was asleep and I was watching TV, he rolled over and said, "Delivery. Delivery." I wonder what's on his mind? Unless it's pizza or something. :)
Speaking of last night, I met up with Casey and some of his coworkers to say farewell to one of them who is going to Exxon next month. It was nice to get out again and socialize. It was me, Casey, and 5 engineers he works with. I was the only girl. I figured this would be awkward, but instead I spent most of the night joking around with them and trying to give back a little bit of what they give Casey every day. Apparently I did fine and didn't overstep my boundaries or say anything too embarrassing... haha. :)
After dinner/drinks, Casey and I headed to a Meet & Greet with a group of pediatricians close to our house. I screwed up the date and found out after we got there that we showed up a week early. Yikes! I guess the positive thing was that the office was still open at that time, so that was good to know- it was 8 pm. I still feel pretty stupid about going a week early, though- I guess I want this month to be over! Casey was forgiving, and it gave us a chance to stop by Target and Walmart to get a few items we needed. Still, I could have saved us time if I would have realized that I wrote down the 28th but kept insisting that the Meet & Greet was last night. Blah!
Sounds like Case will be busy with work stuff this weekend, so I may try to take advantage of the warmer weather (40s!!!) and get some shopping done. I have managed to drink an entire gallon of skim milk since Monday- Casey got MAYBE 2 glasses out of it. I don't recall drinking that much milk before... it was delicious. I guess that will happen, though, when I average 2 breakfasts every day. I must say, my nails look pretty awesome right now! Gotta keep it up! :) So yeah, I will at least need to go to the store and get more milk!
Today marks 35 weeks! I have an appointment on Monday and am happy to say that Casey gets to go to this one with me... it makes me much less nervous when he's there. Hopefully all this eating will have me back to where I'm supposed to be as far as measurements go... I would like to avoid doing another ultrasound right now because then there's a decent chance we could find out the sex... we've gone this long without knowing, hopefully it will stay that way!!
I guess that's all for now. Today I plan to get some laundry done, and continue collecting items for my hospital bag. If anything exciting happens later, I'll be sure to update.
-Ash
Speaking of last night, I met up with Casey and some of his coworkers to say farewell to one of them who is going to Exxon next month. It was nice to get out again and socialize. It was me, Casey, and 5 engineers he works with. I was the only girl. I figured this would be awkward, but instead I spent most of the night joking around with them and trying to give back a little bit of what they give Casey every day. Apparently I did fine and didn't overstep my boundaries or say anything too embarrassing... haha. :)
After dinner/drinks, Casey and I headed to a Meet & Greet with a group of pediatricians close to our house. I screwed up the date and found out after we got there that we showed up a week early. Yikes! I guess the positive thing was that the office was still open at that time, so that was good to know- it was 8 pm. I still feel pretty stupid about going a week early, though- I guess I want this month to be over! Casey was forgiving, and it gave us a chance to stop by Target and Walmart to get a few items we needed. Still, I could have saved us time if I would have realized that I wrote down the 28th but kept insisting that the Meet & Greet was last night. Blah!
Sounds like Case will be busy with work stuff this weekend, so I may try to take advantage of the warmer weather (40s!!!) and get some shopping done. I have managed to drink an entire gallon of skim milk since Monday- Casey got MAYBE 2 glasses out of it. I don't recall drinking that much milk before... it was delicious. I guess that will happen, though, when I average 2 breakfasts every day. I must say, my nails look pretty awesome right now! Gotta keep it up! :) So yeah, I will at least need to go to the store and get more milk!
Today marks 35 weeks! I have an appointment on Monday and am happy to say that Casey gets to go to this one with me... it makes me much less nervous when he's there. Hopefully all this eating will have me back to where I'm supposed to be as far as measurements go... I would like to avoid doing another ultrasound right now because then there's a decent chance we could find out the sex... we've gone this long without knowing, hopefully it will stay that way!!
I guess that's all for now. Today I plan to get some laundry done, and continue collecting items for my hospital bag. If anything exciting happens later, I'll be sure to update.
-Ash
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Flippin' Out
I am pretty sure I had a dream a little bit ago about the baby rolling around and actually flipping to the 'head up' position. Then when I woke up, the baby started rolling around A LOT. This has me a bit paranoid this morning. More and more this week I have heard stories about breech babies and c-sections, and for some reason it's getting stuck in my head now that it could happen to me. I really don't want to have a c-section!! Mainly because I want to be able to see the baby right when it comes out, and be able to hold it right away. (Our hospital really believes in skin-to-skin contact immediately after the baby is born, and this would delay that.) I also don't like the recovery time, pain, and all that seems to come after the surgery. I am really trying to bank on the fact that my mom didn't have to have one, and I am bigger than her all the way around. But if the baby flips, I will have no choice. I am just hoping the fact that there's not much room left in my stomach will convince the kid that it does not want to do anything but roll side to side. And I am also going to stop having A Baby Story on in the background while I do things in the house. I am no longer allowed to watch that show... at least until after the baby is born. There are too many scenarios that happen on that show and I'm going to screw myself up mentally if I put myself in the place of the women on there, which is something I tend to do. Ahhhh!!
As the time draws closer, I really do find myself freaking out a bit about labor. I know I shouldn't because it won't really help me at all, but quite a few women I know are getting close to their due date- some have had false alarms already- and reality is setting in quickly. A classmate from elementary school is due next week, and last week she started showing signs of going into labor. All of the symptoms she's having are the signs we learned in class that indicated the baby would come within about 24 hours normally, but her labor is not progressing. She's frustrated (I would be, too!) especially when doctors are telling her it could be up to 3 weeks before anything actually happens. It would be nice if there was a way to know if this was 'it' or not when events like that happen! Again, I'm not exactly a Type A personality, but the uncertainty of this whole thing is starting to get to me. Let's throw in the fact that I will have 5 weeks as of tomorrow, but could potentially have 7 weeks if the kid decides to hang out in there a bit longer. I don't know how I'm going to do 7 potential weeks of this.
Maybe it's the crazy dream. Maybe it's lack of sleep. Maybe it's being cooped up in the house and I'm starting to lose it. Either way, as I write this entry this morning, I can't help but be nervous and paranoid, and can't talk myself out of it right now. I know it's not going to be this way for the next 5-7 weeks, but sometimes it feels like it's not going to go away. Throw on top of that the fact that my last appointment didn't go the way I thought it would... I'm convincing myself that something's wrong. I know it's better to stay positive, though... the power of positive thinking is a great thing. But I was born with this ability to worry about EVERYTHING (Mom, I know you're reading this right now... guess who blessed me with that trait? ;) Love you!) and right now, everything is what I'm worried about. Soooo... with that said... I don't think I am going to sleep too much more this morning.
On a little bit brighter note, I took the initiative last night and actually put the baby swing together, virtually by myself. I would like to say to anyone reading this that yes, I do live with an engineer who would be more than able and willing to put the swing together, but I did it on my own. Okay, he helped me with two pieces that were really hard to fit together. Other than that, all me. There's no doubt in my mind that Case would have done it quicker and had an easier time than I did assembling it, but it was my decision to do it... I don't want to emasculate him! See picture... I am pretty proud of my work. :)
-Ash
As the time draws closer, I really do find myself freaking out a bit about labor. I know I shouldn't because it won't really help me at all, but quite a few women I know are getting close to their due date- some have had false alarms already- and reality is setting in quickly. A classmate from elementary school is due next week, and last week she started showing signs of going into labor. All of the symptoms she's having are the signs we learned in class that indicated the baby would come within about 24 hours normally, but her labor is not progressing. She's frustrated (I would be, too!) especially when doctors are telling her it could be up to 3 weeks before anything actually happens. It would be nice if there was a way to know if this was 'it' or not when events like that happen! Again, I'm not exactly a Type A personality, but the uncertainty of this whole thing is starting to get to me. Let's throw in the fact that I will have 5 weeks as of tomorrow, but could potentially have 7 weeks if the kid decides to hang out in there a bit longer. I don't know how I'm going to do 7 potential weeks of this.
Maybe it's the crazy dream. Maybe it's lack of sleep. Maybe it's being cooped up in the house and I'm starting to lose it. Either way, as I write this entry this morning, I can't help but be nervous and paranoid, and can't talk myself out of it right now. I know it's not going to be this way for the next 5-7 weeks, but sometimes it feels like it's not going to go away. Throw on top of that the fact that my last appointment didn't go the way I thought it would... I'm convincing myself that something's wrong. I know it's better to stay positive, though... the power of positive thinking is a great thing. But I was born with this ability to worry about EVERYTHING (Mom, I know you're reading this right now... guess who blessed me with that trait? ;) Love you!) and right now, everything is what I'm worried about. Soooo... with that said... I don't think I am going to sleep too much more this morning.
On a little bit brighter note, I took the initiative last night and actually put the baby swing together, virtually by myself. I would like to say to anyone reading this that yes, I do live with an engineer who would be more than able and willing to put the swing together, but I did it on my own. Okay, he helped me with two pieces that were really hard to fit together. Other than that, all me. There's no doubt in my mind that Case would have done it quicker and had an easier time than I did assembling it, but it was my decision to do it... I don't want to emasculate him! See picture... I am pretty proud of my work. :)
-Ash
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Cookies & (Braxton-Hicks) Contractions
Judging by the little tapping noises on the window, I guess the freezing rain has arrived. We are supposed to have it the rest of today into tomorrow, which of course makes me worry about Casey's commute home tonight from work. I do have to say that the RAV4 makes me feel quite a bit safer, though, so I'm sure he'll be fine. Yay for 4 wheel drive! I am happy to say that all of the weather reports so far this week have mentioned temps in the 40s this weekend. Heat wave!!!! Maybe some of this white crap will melt and we'll see some of the ground again.
So today I'm making sweet & sour pork in the crock pot for dinner. I'm thinking about whipping up a batch of cookies soon for dessert... the downside is that I spent a good amount of time yesterday cleaning the kitchen, and I would only mess up my progress if I get flour and sugar all over everything... but then, it's COOKIES. I have a hard time resisting that.
The Braxton-Hicks contractions were pretty intense this morning, but luckily they didn't last long, and haven't come back. They started around the time Casey got up for work, and lasted about 20 minutes or so after he left. Every time they happen, I wonder how close they will be to the real thing... all of the unknowns of pregnancy and labor at this point are a little scary to me. When will it all happen? Where will I be? Where will CASEY be?! Hopefully somewhere nearby. Ahhhh!! I'm not necessarily a Type A personality, but it would definitely be nice to have a little more insight or structure to this whole thing. Can you tell I've been under the influence of an engineer for 11 years now? :)
So I'm excited to say that tomorrow night, I actually have plans to get out of the house and socialize! One of Casey's coworkers has gone to the dark side (Exxon... haha... maybe I should say the 'darker' side...) and his last day is next week. Everyone is going out to eat/drink/be merry, and I actually got a formal invitation to join them!! This means I actually have to bathe and put on make up. Thank goodness, though... I've definitely been wearing pajamas (or Casey's sweat pants) every day now. I actually 'dressed up' for the last belly picture. If anyone were to come to the house, I would be super embarrassed... and for once it wouldn't be because of the condition of the house! Anyway, another highlight of going out tomorrow is that I will actually have something more interesting to write about! Hooray!! :)
I guess that's all for now... time to get started on some cookies.
-Ash
So today I'm making sweet & sour pork in the crock pot for dinner. I'm thinking about whipping up a batch of cookies soon for dessert... the downside is that I spent a good amount of time yesterday cleaning the kitchen, and I would only mess up my progress if I get flour and sugar all over everything... but then, it's COOKIES. I have a hard time resisting that.
The Braxton-Hicks contractions were pretty intense this morning, but luckily they didn't last long, and haven't come back. They started around the time Casey got up for work, and lasted about 20 minutes or so after he left. Every time they happen, I wonder how close they will be to the real thing... all of the unknowns of pregnancy and labor at this point are a little scary to me. When will it all happen? Where will I be? Where will CASEY be?! Hopefully somewhere nearby. Ahhhh!! I'm not necessarily a Type A personality, but it would definitely be nice to have a little more insight or structure to this whole thing. Can you tell I've been under the influence of an engineer for 11 years now? :)
So I'm excited to say that tomorrow night, I actually have plans to get out of the house and socialize! One of Casey's coworkers has gone to the dark side (Exxon... haha... maybe I should say the 'darker' side...) and his last day is next week. Everyone is going out to eat/drink/be merry, and I actually got a formal invitation to join them!! This means I actually have to bathe and put on make up. Thank goodness, though... I've definitely been wearing pajamas (or Casey's sweat pants) every day now. I actually 'dressed up' for the last belly picture. If anyone were to come to the house, I would be super embarrassed... and for once it wouldn't be because of the condition of the house! Anyway, another highlight of going out tomorrow is that I will actually have something more interesting to write about! Hooray!! :)
I guess that's all for now... time to get started on some cookies.
-Ash
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Another day of housework...
I just did my second load of baby laundry. I must say, if you have a hard time keeping track of regular socks, baby socks disappear much much faster!! I have had to search for a pair already (but that's what I get for putting them in with crib sheets... lesson learned!). It makes me really excited to think about the little feet that will fit into those socks soon. :-D
Not much to report today. I'm getting caught up on laundry and house cleaning, and taking my sweet time doing it. It amazes me how much slower the days go now that I don't have a job. I remember thinking that my days off would just fly by back when I was working, but now it seems like I have plenty of time to do everything I want to do in a day. I should probably be a bit more productive now, all things considered, and in a way I am. I also know that I still have a long way to go. I am finally getting to a point where it bugs me if there are dishes in the sink or junk laying around. Glad my standards are finally getting higher. I have also been consistent in clipping coupons and thinking of a meal plan for the week, and making sure Case has a decent lunch every day (and a fresh cup of coffee in the morning!). I've managed to make 2-3 big meals every week this month, and I am happy to report that Casey and I have only eaten fast food 3 times in the last 3 weeks! This is a big improvement for us, and we're excited to save the money. I look forward to increasing the number of items I can put on my "Consistent List" as time goes on... it's something I have struggled with all my life, and it's something I definitely want to teach our kid eventually.
Well, the sun is out and I can hear the snow melting... that is a beautiful thing right now! There is still about 3 inches of snow on the ground, but it's supposed to be close to 40 this weekend so hopefully we'll see a bit of the actual ground at some point soon. I'm glad there won't be a WHOLE lot of winter left after Peanut is born... I look forward to taking Charley out with the stroller and going for walks around the neighborhood.
I just heard the dryer go off, so time for me to get back to it...
-Ash
Not much to report today. I'm getting caught up on laundry and house cleaning, and taking my sweet time doing it. It amazes me how much slower the days go now that I don't have a job. I remember thinking that my days off would just fly by back when I was working, but now it seems like I have plenty of time to do everything I want to do in a day. I should probably be a bit more productive now, all things considered, and in a way I am. I also know that I still have a long way to go. I am finally getting to a point where it bugs me if there are dishes in the sink or junk laying around. Glad my standards are finally getting higher. I have also been consistent in clipping coupons and thinking of a meal plan for the week, and making sure Case has a decent lunch every day (and a fresh cup of coffee in the morning!). I've managed to make 2-3 big meals every week this month, and I am happy to report that Casey and I have only eaten fast food 3 times in the last 3 weeks! This is a big improvement for us, and we're excited to save the money. I look forward to increasing the number of items I can put on my "Consistent List" as time goes on... it's something I have struggled with all my life, and it's something I definitely want to teach our kid eventually.
Well, the sun is out and I can hear the snow melting... that is a beautiful thing right now! There is still about 3 inches of snow on the ground, but it's supposed to be close to 40 this weekend so hopefully we'll see a bit of the actual ground at some point soon. I'm glad there won't be a WHOLE lot of winter left after Peanut is born... I look forward to taking Charley out with the stroller and going for walks around the neighborhood.
I just heard the dryer go off, so time for me to get back to it...
-Ash
Monday, January 18, 2010
Zzzzzzzz......???
Well, it's me again. I laid down to go to sleep, and 2/3 of the Trifecta decided that it wasn't going to happen. Charley was good and stayed out of it. I'm considering sleeping on the couch, on the blow-up mattress in the basement, or on a sleeping bag in the nursery. We'll see...
So another weekend has come to an end. Yesterday after I caught up on sleep, Casey and I ventured out... it was my first time leaving the house since- I dunno- Wednesday? I can't even remember. But it was great to get out again. Case went to Sports Clips for a haircut, and I went to Starbucks. Everything was fine except for a table of people near me who noticed I was pregnant and then started talking about people they knew who died during birth- either the mother or baby. This was pretty unsettling to me, and I ALMOST got up to ask them if they could change the subject, but luckily they got distracted by something else and didn't continue. It was pretty awkward, to say the least. Glad that it didn't last long, though!
After the haircut, we went home and picked up Charley, and took him to downtown Naperville to a pet store called Two Bostons. We always get him these things called "Bully Sticks", which are wonderful because they 1) don't stain the carpet or smell bad when he eats them, and 2) take him a pretty long time to devour. It's almost like a pacifier for the dog, actually. He's been driving me a bit nutty lately so it will be nice to have some of those around when he gets super needy.
Other than watch a movie last night, we did a whole lot of nothing. Today, we went to our last Prepared Childbirth class. I almost wish we could have taken the 5 week class, because there is SO much to learn... but I think the instructor did a nice job trying to inform us about all of the important things. Today we also took a tour of the birthing suites and mother/baby rooms at Edward Hospital. We got acquainted with the hospital a bit more, so we know where things are when we go there for the Big Event in just over a month. The mother/baby rooms are just like any other hospital room you would normally see, but the birthing suites are pretty amazing! They've got just about everything you need there, so it made me a little less anxious about the whole process. And apparently the staff there is great- everyone gets their own nurse! That doesn't always happen so it's nice to know that we'll have someone there that will basically be 'ours'. :)
I guess that's about all for today. I watched the Golden Globes tonight, and then attempted to go in and get some sleep... but you see where that got me. I'm going to attempt this again, and if it doesn't work out... I guess you'll get entry #2 soon enough.
-Ash
So another weekend has come to an end. Yesterday after I caught up on sleep, Casey and I ventured out... it was my first time leaving the house since- I dunno- Wednesday? I can't even remember. But it was great to get out again. Case went to Sports Clips for a haircut, and I went to Starbucks. Everything was fine except for a table of people near me who noticed I was pregnant and then started talking about people they knew who died during birth- either the mother or baby. This was pretty unsettling to me, and I ALMOST got up to ask them if they could change the subject, but luckily they got distracted by something else and didn't continue. It was pretty awkward, to say the least. Glad that it didn't last long, though!
After the haircut, we went home and picked up Charley, and took him to downtown Naperville to a pet store called Two Bostons. We always get him these things called "Bully Sticks", which are wonderful because they 1) don't stain the carpet or smell bad when he eats them, and 2) take him a pretty long time to devour. It's almost like a pacifier for the dog, actually. He's been driving me a bit nutty lately so it will be nice to have some of those around when he gets super needy.
Other than watch a movie last night, we did a whole lot of nothing. Today, we went to our last Prepared Childbirth class. I almost wish we could have taken the 5 week class, because there is SO much to learn... but I think the instructor did a nice job trying to inform us about all of the important things. Today we also took a tour of the birthing suites and mother/baby rooms at Edward Hospital. We got acquainted with the hospital a bit more, so we know where things are when we go there for the Big Event in just over a month. The mother/baby rooms are just like any other hospital room you would normally see, but the birthing suites are pretty amazing! They've got just about everything you need there, so it made me a little less anxious about the whole process. And apparently the staff there is great- everyone gets their own nurse! That doesn't always happen so it's nice to know that we'll have someone there that will basically be 'ours'. :)
I guess that's about all for today. I watched the Golden Globes tonight, and then attempted to go in and get some sleep... but you see where that got me. I'm going to attempt this again, and if it doesn't work out... I guess you'll get entry #2 soon enough.
-Ash
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Whoa.
I feel like someone threw me in the microwave. I really don't know how else to describe how I feel right now after the worst night of attempted sleep thus far during the pregnancy. It was the lightest, most interrupted sleep I ever remember having so far. I heard virtually every noise in the house, but the most noise came from Case. I have GOT to get him in to see a doctor sometime soon.. this snoring thing is going to kill me! Sorry to say it, babe... but I don't think you read this so I'm not going to worry about that right now. :-/
The alarm is set to go off at 8, because we have to take Charley in to see the vet for a check up on his ear infection. I hope right now that I can find a second wind, or manage to take a nap sometime this afternoon. If not, I have a feeling I'm not going to be a very fun person to be around today.
I know that there will probably be nights that I get just about as much sleep as I did last night, so I'm trying to put things in perspective. Maybe it'll be easier to justify when there's a little kid that needs something from me. Right now, it's just me against the Trifecta (squirming baby, snoring husband, dog that insists on jumping in bed and laying on me)... so far I'm losing.
Alrighty, I suppose that's enough complaining from me for one entry. Let's get this day started!
-Ash
The alarm is set to go off at 8, because we have to take Charley in to see the vet for a check up on his ear infection. I hope right now that I can find a second wind, or manage to take a nap sometime this afternoon. If not, I have a feeling I'm not going to be a very fun person to be around today.
I know that there will probably be nights that I get just about as much sleep as I did last night, so I'm trying to put things in perspective. Maybe it'll be easier to justify when there's a little kid that needs something from me. Right now, it's just me against the Trifecta (squirming baby, snoring husband, dog that insists on jumping in bed and laying on me)... so far I'm losing.
Alrighty, I suppose that's enough complaining from me for one entry. Let's get this day started!
-Ash
Friday, January 15, 2010
Pictures: Crib, Nursery theme, and 34 week belly!
The Crib is here!!!
With the bedding and theme... this is just preliminary decorating... we plan to have more on the walls soon!
I can't believe there are still 6 weeks left. I'm a planet!! (Does anyone else find it humorous that Charley appears to be smiling in some of the belly pics? I love those crooked teeth!)
Peanut, Charley Brown, and I
34 weeks, and random tidbits
So Casey doesn't say as much as "Sleep Talkin' Man" does, but last night during a pretty intense snore-fest, I tried to quiet him down a bit... I tapped him on the shoulder and said "Casey, you're snoring" and he almost jumped out of bed! At first I thought I had freaked him out, possibly thinking that the baby was coming or something... then he said, "I was at the theater." He doesn't even remember jumping up or talking to me at all. I wonder if STM's wife tries to carry on conversations with him in his sleep, or if he just starts rambling. Case normally says more when I start talking to him after he's said something. Even if it doesn't make any sense, I start asking him questions and sometimes I'll get some pretty funny answers. Still not as crazy at STM, though. (www.sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com)
So not much to write yet today, besides the fact that we're at 34 weeks now! I haven't taken a picture since we left for Christmas... so I'll update that sometime this weekend. I feel huge! I plan to work on the nursery at some point today... still not sure what I'm doing in there, but oh well. I went to bed around 2:15 this morning, then woke up when Case was getting ready for work. I just woke up again around 9:45... so I got a decent amount of sleep, just had a hard time getting there. I watched a ton of good TV last night- I'm glad some of the shows are coming off hiatus or whatever was going on. I am still upset about the Leno/Conan situation. Looks like Leno is taking the Tonight Show now, and Conan is out on his ass. That's so messed up... Conan and all of his staff moved all the way to LA, just to be screwed over. :( Hopefully something good will come out of it for him. He's been in the business for a LONG time, and it would be weird to have some sort of stability and then not be sure where you would be in a month. Although apparently he's had offers from the adult entertainment industry?! LOL...
Well, that's all for now. This weekend we're taking Charley to the vet to get a check-up on his ear infections, and Sunday we have our final Prepared Childbirth class. We get to take a tour of the OB unit, and get to see what our birthing suite will look like! I'm pretty excited about those... I've heard a lot of good things about the hospital where we'll deliver, so I'm pretty stoked about Sunday. I'm actually just excited to get out of the dang house for once... I'm about to go crazy in here!!! (As someone pointed out, at least I'm not on bed rest!! I would have lost it a long time ago!!!!)
-Ash
So not much to write yet today, besides the fact that we're at 34 weeks now! I haven't taken a picture since we left for Christmas... so I'll update that sometime this weekend. I feel huge! I plan to work on the nursery at some point today... still not sure what I'm doing in there, but oh well. I went to bed around 2:15 this morning, then woke up when Case was getting ready for work. I just woke up again around 9:45... so I got a decent amount of sleep, just had a hard time getting there. I watched a ton of good TV last night- I'm glad some of the shows are coming off hiatus or whatever was going on. I am still upset about the Leno/Conan situation. Looks like Leno is taking the Tonight Show now, and Conan is out on his ass. That's so messed up... Conan and all of his staff moved all the way to LA, just to be screwed over. :( Hopefully something good will come out of it for him. He's been in the business for a LONG time, and it would be weird to have some sort of stability and then not be sure where you would be in a month. Although apparently he's had offers from the adult entertainment industry?! LOL...
Well, that's all for now. This weekend we're taking Charley to the vet to get a check-up on his ear infections, and Sunday we have our final Prepared Childbirth class. We get to take a tour of the OB unit, and get to see what our birthing suite will look like! I'm pretty excited about those... I've heard a lot of good things about the hospital where we'll deliver, so I'm pretty stoked about Sunday. I'm actually just excited to get out of the dang house for once... I'm about to go crazy in here!!! (As someone pointed out, at least I'm not on bed rest!! I would have lost it a long time ago!!!!)
-Ash
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Crib delivery!
Crib guys are here! (An hour early, actually! Who delivers things an hour earlier than the projected time? So far so good!)
I will inspect and take pictures when it's all finished. I also realize now that I don't have a clue how to do the crib bedding when the crib is put together. This could get interesting...
I'm also waiting on my order from Babies R Us to arrive... it is 'in transit' now, so anytime today it should be here. Then I can start doing baby laundry and maybe, with any luck, have the nursery almost all ready to go by the beginning of next week! :-D Hooray!
Time to go watch Ellen... I'll definitely update later.
______
Okay I decided to just update now and not add yet another entry... I'm on a roll so far this year!
The delivery guys got here at 3, and were done assembling the crib and out of the house by 3:40! I am impressed. It got awkward for a second because they called me into the nursery about 10 minutes after they had arrived to say they were done. I was surprised, until I walked in to see that the crib wasn't assembled at all. After basically saying, "This looks nice, but... did they say anything about putting it together?" one of the guys went out to the truck and realized he had overlooked that detail in his notes. Thank goodness... I was not very excited to try to put it together tonight after Casey gets home from work. (The old, passive me would have just said, "Okay, thanks! Bye!" so I'm glad I spoke up. They assembled it, and it looks awesome! Pictures to come. I want Casey to see it first!
I managed to get all the bedding unpacked, and I actually made the bed so I could get a better idea of what it will all look like. I need to wash everything now, but I am happy with our theme- I think it will be really cute. I will probably spend a good amount of time tomorrow actually putting decorations up and getting everything where it needs to go. Just after the delivery guys left, our BRU shipment came in, so we now have our diaper bag, sound sleeper, Dreft laundry detergent, some pacifiers, and another fitted crib sheet! Starting to feel a bit less anxious about everything now. :) I guess all we really need now is Peanut!
That's all for now. I just made some human Puppy Chow (Chex Mix w/chocolate & peanut butter) so I'm enjoying my pig-out session in celebration of all the new baby items we received today. I plan to post pictures of the room tomorrow!
-Ash
I will inspect and take pictures when it's all finished. I also realize now that I don't have a clue how to do the crib bedding when the crib is put together. This could get interesting...
I'm also waiting on my order from Babies R Us to arrive... it is 'in transit' now, so anytime today it should be here. Then I can start doing baby laundry and maybe, with any luck, have the nursery almost all ready to go by the beginning of next week! :-D Hooray!
Time to go watch Ellen... I'll definitely update later.
______
Okay I decided to just update now and not add yet another entry... I'm on a roll so far this year!
The delivery guys got here at 3, and were done assembling the crib and out of the house by 3:40! I am impressed. It got awkward for a second because they called me into the nursery about 10 minutes after they had arrived to say they were done. I was surprised, until I walked in to see that the crib wasn't assembled at all. After basically saying, "This looks nice, but... did they say anything about putting it together?" one of the guys went out to the truck and realized he had overlooked that detail in his notes. Thank goodness... I was not very excited to try to put it together tonight after Casey gets home from work. (The old, passive me would have just said, "Okay, thanks! Bye!" so I'm glad I spoke up. They assembled it, and it looks awesome! Pictures to come. I want Casey to see it first!
I managed to get all the bedding unpacked, and I actually made the bed so I could get a better idea of what it will all look like. I need to wash everything now, but I am happy with our theme- I think it will be really cute. I will probably spend a good amount of time tomorrow actually putting decorations up and getting everything where it needs to go. Just after the delivery guys left, our BRU shipment came in, so we now have our diaper bag, sound sleeper, Dreft laundry detergent, some pacifiers, and another fitted crib sheet! Starting to feel a bit less anxious about everything now. :) I guess all we really need now is Peanut!
That's all for now. I just made some human Puppy Chow (Chex Mix w/chocolate & peanut butter) so I'm enjoying my pig-out session in celebration of all the new baby items we received today. I plan to post pictures of the room tomorrow!
-Ash
Bye Bye Belly Button...
My belly button is GONE. In fact, it sticks out a bit now on the outside ridge, so if I look down at my t-shirt, I can see a little bump now. Sticking out of the big bump, I mean. WEIRD. I may or may not take a picture at some point... and I hope to see my 'inny' again sometime in the future.
I ate pretty much all day long yesterday. I am determined to gain more weight and actually measure up to where I need to be on the 25th! I realize that if the baby has decided to slow down in growth, my efforts will not matter as much, but there is a possibility it could be my fault and not Peanut's, so I'm not going to take that chance!
I couldn't sleep much at all last night, so I went to bed around 1:30, got up probably 3 times in the night to go to the bathroom, and woke up at 5:30 to eat first breakfast after Casey left for work. He works late tonight- he has a meeting that will make him get home after 7. The crib people are coming today between 4-6... I sort of hope they come later and Casey comes home earlier, that way he can inspect the crib before they leave. I plan to do that as well, so hopefully nothing is wrong with it. It would be awkward if I find something wrong and have to tell them to take it back... again. Thinking positive thoughts, though!
Watched a lot of TV last night when I couldn't sleep. I recorded Conan and watched it, mainly for the monologue about Jay Leno and Conan's stabs at NBC. It was pretty hilarious at times... poor Conan. He's really getting screwed over by the network, and at this rate he doesn't hold back with the jokes. Even his guests get into it. As I posted in my Facebook status earlier this week- I like the pale skin more than the big chin. Sad to see Conan's run come to an end.
I also watched American Idol last night... dear God. I knew Atlanta would be crazy!! Guitar girl reminded me too much of of Kelly Pickler and made me want to throw something at the TV. Larry, the guy at the end that sang the song about Pants on the Ground, was hilarious. I had that song in my head for a LONG time afterward. Maybe that's why I didn't sleep well...
Anyway, really not much else to write about right now. I need to go back to sleep! Let's hope Charley and Baby Hetrick will allow it! :)
-Ash
I ate pretty much all day long yesterday. I am determined to gain more weight and actually measure up to where I need to be on the 25th! I realize that if the baby has decided to slow down in growth, my efforts will not matter as much, but there is a possibility it could be my fault and not Peanut's, so I'm not going to take that chance!
I couldn't sleep much at all last night, so I went to bed around 1:30, got up probably 3 times in the night to go to the bathroom, and woke up at 5:30 to eat first breakfast after Casey left for work. He works late tonight- he has a meeting that will make him get home after 7. The crib people are coming today between 4-6... I sort of hope they come later and Casey comes home earlier, that way he can inspect the crib before they leave. I plan to do that as well, so hopefully nothing is wrong with it. It would be awkward if I find something wrong and have to tell them to take it back... again. Thinking positive thoughts, though!
Watched a lot of TV last night when I couldn't sleep. I recorded Conan and watched it, mainly for the monologue about Jay Leno and Conan's stabs at NBC. It was pretty hilarious at times... poor Conan. He's really getting screwed over by the network, and at this rate he doesn't hold back with the jokes. Even his guests get into it. As I posted in my Facebook status earlier this week- I like the pale skin more than the big chin. Sad to see Conan's run come to an end.
I also watched American Idol last night... dear God. I knew Atlanta would be crazy!! Guitar girl reminded me too much of of Kelly Pickler and made me want to throw something at the TV. Larry, the guy at the end that sang the song about Pants on the Ground, was hilarious. I had that song in my head for a LONG time afterward. Maybe that's why I didn't sleep well...
Anyway, really not much else to write about right now. I need to go back to sleep! Let's hope Charley and Baby Hetrick will allow it! :)
-Ash
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Another Early Morning
Baby Hetrick decided that 4 a.m. would be a good time for me to get up today. :-/ Needless to say, after the hiccup session is over (baby, not me) and first breakfast has settled, I am going back to sleep.
Last night for dinner, I made the (un)wise decision to make Tempura. I always forget how much work this is and seem to remember right in the middle of it, when I can't just quit and eat the food... I have to stand there over the Fry Daddy and keep going. The kitchen was a disaster when I was through, and I was so tired from standing up that I had to take a break in between cooking and eating, then eating and cleaning up. But it was worth it... turned out to be pretty decent after all. I made the tempura batter and sauce from scratch this time- normally I cheat and have one or the other from the store. My dishwasher must love me right now... I've used it just about every other night since I've been cooking so much. I am getting really tired of cleaning the kitchen all the time, though!
Other than that, last night was pretty tame. I started watching American Idol. I think I've only made it all the way through 1 season so far, watching somewhat religiously... but I think now that I've got a lot more free time, I will probably watch all of the episodes this season. Casey's been working at least a little bit every night for the past week, gearing up for when Peanut arrives so he can have some time off. I have to keep this in perspective right now, so when I start to feel lonely because he's home but not hanging out with me, I have to realize that it will pay off in a month or so. I also have to realize that the guy doesn't get any real 'alone' time, so when he comes home he doesn't always want to hang out with me, either. This is harder to understand sometimes when I have all day by myself, then depend on him to entertain me when he gets home. I guess I knew this ahead of time, having had a preview of it last year when I was unemployed, but it's still tough to really understand until it's actually happening. I think I really miss living in a college town right now... there was always something going on, and people my age to hang out with, as opposed to the 'burbs where it's all families and such. I will be more grateful for where we live once we have a kid, but for now, I AM BORED. I miss having a vehicle!! But think of all the money I'm saving by not being able to go shopping or drive around... (hmph).
Case will be up soon to get ready for work, so I guess I'll go and try to get his lunch together or make him coffee or something productive... until later...
-Ash
Last night for dinner, I made the (un)wise decision to make Tempura. I always forget how much work this is and seem to remember right in the middle of it, when I can't just quit and eat the food... I have to stand there over the Fry Daddy and keep going. The kitchen was a disaster when I was through, and I was so tired from standing up that I had to take a break in between cooking and eating, then eating and cleaning up. But it was worth it... turned out to be pretty decent after all. I made the tempura batter and sauce from scratch this time- normally I cheat and have one or the other from the store. My dishwasher must love me right now... I've used it just about every other night since I've been cooking so much. I am getting really tired of cleaning the kitchen all the time, though!
Other than that, last night was pretty tame. I started watching American Idol. I think I've only made it all the way through 1 season so far, watching somewhat religiously... but I think now that I've got a lot more free time, I will probably watch all of the episodes this season. Casey's been working at least a little bit every night for the past week, gearing up for when Peanut arrives so he can have some time off. I have to keep this in perspective right now, so when I start to feel lonely because he's home but not hanging out with me, I have to realize that it will pay off in a month or so. I also have to realize that the guy doesn't get any real 'alone' time, so when he comes home he doesn't always want to hang out with me, either. This is harder to understand sometimes when I have all day by myself, then depend on him to entertain me when he gets home. I guess I knew this ahead of time, having had a preview of it last year when I was unemployed, but it's still tough to really understand until it's actually happening. I think I really miss living in a college town right now... there was always something going on, and people my age to hang out with, as opposed to the 'burbs where it's all families and such. I will be more grateful for where we live once we have a kid, but for now, I AM BORED. I miss having a vehicle!! But think of all the money I'm saving by not being able to go shopping or drive around... (hmph).
Case will be up soon to get ready for work, so I guess I'll go and try to get his lunch together or make him coffee or something productive... until later...
-Ash
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Check out this blog...
Not sure if any of you have read my posts about Casey talking in his sleep, but there's a blog that was mentioned on the news this morning called "Sleep Talkin' Man". I highly recommend checking it out if you need a good laugh! In fact, I'm going to send it to Casey so he doesn't feel as bad about me blogging about things he's said in his sleep, because this guy takes it to a whole new level!! :) Basically, a British woman starting a blog because her husband was saying some pretty crazy things in his sleep... now they are making t-shirts with some of the sayings! I don't know how or if this woman ever sleeps at all. Hilarious and definitely worth checking out. :)
-Ash
(www.sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com)
-Ash
(www.sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com)
Step It Up!
Somewhere down the line, I think I missed a memo or two about how to be a good wife and housekeeper.
There are many reasons I could back this up, but instead of going into all of them, I will let you know about my Epic Fail last night. After I got done grocery shopping yesterday afternoon, I came home and decided it would be a good idea to wash our bed sheets and comforter. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I forgot that the comforter was in the washing machine until almost 8 pm last night. Casey tries to go to bed around 10:30 pm usually. I threw the comforter into the dryer on high, thinking it might actually be done by the time we went to bed. Not so much. I ended up scrambling around to make the bed, and 1/2 of the comforter was still wet. Our pillow cases weren't even dry yet.
It's things like this that you'd think I would be able to handle, esp. since I don't have a job anymore. I have all day long to take care of this stuff. Not only that, but there are times that I start the laundry and somehow forget about it, and have to rerun it or run it through the dryer again. I would save time (and money) if I just did it one time and stayed on top of it. Not sure why I space out and forget, but I struggle with being consistent about ANYTHING. Except maybe blogging. :-/
I realize I'm partially being hard on myself, but mostly being realistic about how things go around here... I really need to step it up. I hate when Casey comes home and is disappointed for one reason or another, and it's something I could have taken care of if I would have thought things through.
So anyway, I wanted to blog about it so I could read it again later and remind myself that my role in the house has changed, and it's time for me to adapt to the change and get into better habits before the baby gets here... that way I don't totally drop the ball when I actually have time to get things done around the house. I don't think it's a bad thing to set my standards a little higher now so I can feel the need to keep up with it when things get really busy. Soon.
-Ash
There are many reasons I could back this up, but instead of going into all of them, I will let you know about my Epic Fail last night. After I got done grocery shopping yesterday afternoon, I came home and decided it would be a good idea to wash our bed sheets and comforter. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but I forgot that the comforter was in the washing machine until almost 8 pm last night. Casey tries to go to bed around 10:30 pm usually. I threw the comforter into the dryer on high, thinking it might actually be done by the time we went to bed. Not so much. I ended up scrambling around to make the bed, and 1/2 of the comforter was still wet. Our pillow cases weren't even dry yet.
It's things like this that you'd think I would be able to handle, esp. since I don't have a job anymore. I have all day long to take care of this stuff. Not only that, but there are times that I start the laundry and somehow forget about it, and have to rerun it or run it through the dryer again. I would save time (and money) if I just did it one time and stayed on top of it. Not sure why I space out and forget, but I struggle with being consistent about ANYTHING. Except maybe blogging. :-/
I realize I'm partially being hard on myself, but mostly being realistic about how things go around here... I really need to step it up. I hate when Casey comes home and is disappointed for one reason or another, and it's something I could have taken care of if I would have thought things through.
So anyway, I wanted to blog about it so I could read it again later and remind myself that my role in the house has changed, and it's time for me to adapt to the change and get into better habits before the baby gets here... that way I don't totally drop the ball when I actually have time to get things done around the house. I don't think it's a bad thing to set my standards a little higher now so I can feel the need to keep up with it when things get really busy. Soon.
-Ash
Monday, January 11, 2010
33 week check up
I wish I could say better things about the Doctor's appointment today, but alas, I cannot. I gained 0 lbs in the last 2 weeks, which is strange because I know I've been eating/cooking quite a bit recently! The doctor said I shouldn't be worried, and that if I haven't gained much next time we'll do an ultrasound just to make sure the baby is still getting bigger, etc. I didn't find out a whole lot more during the appointment today. I did get to meet yet another doctor in the practice, though. So far I have liked all of them.
I can't say the same for the nurses at our office. The one that was on duty today apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or had a stethoscope up her bum, because she was NOT nice at ALL. Normally I try to disarm people when I can tell they are in bad moods, either by joking around a bit or trying to make conversation. This chick did not impress me in any way, so I sat there and gave her 1-word answers... basically what she was giving me. I hate when I have to ask how much weight I've gained, etc. It'd be nice if they would be a little more forthcoming about that kind of information. When she told me I hadn't gained any weight, I wanted to ask if I should be worried, but I decided to wait for the doctor to come in because I didn't want to be around her any longer than I needed to. She listened to the baby's heartbeat, and instead of taking the time to actually calculate it, she just said, "It's in the 130s" in passing. Neat. She also forgot to wipe part of the Doppler gel off my stomach so my shirt got all nasty. I guess I'm just looking for more things to be upset with now, so I'll stop... I was just not impressed with her at all.
Overall, it wasn't a terrible visit, but I guess it was not quite as exciting or 'fruitful' as previous visits. Next time will be more invasive... and I'll leave it at that. I'm not really looking forward to that part, but it was bound to happen eventually.
I just got back from Walmart, and now I'm on a mission to definitely gain more weight for the next visit. I bought a whole bunch of snacks today at the store... so I'm going to start in on some of them now. The only other thing to report today is that Casey heard from Cribs To College, and they will be here Thursday to install the crib and take the broken one away. I may actually get something done in the nursery this week!! I'll be sure to take pictures when it looks presentable. :)
That's about it... I'll write again later this week when more interesting things happen. :)
-Ash
PS: Forgot to mention that Charley got to ride in the RAV4 for the first time this morning! We took Case to work around 5:45 am. Charley seemed to enjoy the ride. :)
I can't say the same for the nurses at our office. The one that was on duty today apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or had a stethoscope up her bum, because she was NOT nice at ALL. Normally I try to disarm people when I can tell they are in bad moods, either by joking around a bit or trying to make conversation. This chick did not impress me in any way, so I sat there and gave her 1-word answers... basically what she was giving me. I hate when I have to ask how much weight I've gained, etc. It'd be nice if they would be a little more forthcoming about that kind of information. When she told me I hadn't gained any weight, I wanted to ask if I should be worried, but I decided to wait for the doctor to come in because I didn't want to be around her any longer than I needed to. She listened to the baby's heartbeat, and instead of taking the time to actually calculate it, she just said, "It's in the 130s" in passing. Neat. She also forgot to wipe part of the Doppler gel off my stomach so my shirt got all nasty. I guess I'm just looking for more things to be upset with now, so I'll stop... I was just not impressed with her at all.
Overall, it wasn't a terrible visit, but I guess it was not quite as exciting or 'fruitful' as previous visits. Next time will be more invasive... and I'll leave it at that. I'm not really looking forward to that part, but it was bound to happen eventually.
I just got back from Walmart, and now I'm on a mission to definitely gain more weight for the next visit. I bought a whole bunch of snacks today at the store... so I'm going to start in on some of them now. The only other thing to report today is that Casey heard from Cribs To College, and they will be here Thursday to install the crib and take the broken one away. I may actually get something done in the nursery this week!! I'll be sure to take pictures when it looks presentable. :)
That's about it... I'll write again later this week when more interesting things happen. :)
-Ash
PS: Forgot to mention that Charley got to ride in the RAV4 for the first time this morning! We took Case to work around 5:45 am. Charley seemed to enjoy the ride. :)
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Trifecta
Whhhhhhy am I awake right now? The Trifecta has done me in again; Moving baby, twitching dog, snoring husband. The pessimistic side of me says that things are only going to get more interesting (read 'worse') as time goes on.
I think they baby has started to drop a bit. I have been fairly uncomfortable the last two days. We'll see what the Doc says tomorrow.. which reminds me... I didn't write down the time for my doctor's appointment. Yikes! Normally they call and remind me, but since it's the weekend, I haven't heard from them at all. Oh well, the office is only about 5 minutes away from our house, so if I need to I can run over there without much warning.
Not much to write, really. I'm just awake and bored. Yesterday, Casey and I spent a good chunk of the day inside, until we decided to get around and run some errands (which was nice b/c I was going on Day 3 without leaving the house and it was driving me crazy!!). We took the title for the Mazda to the Toyota dealership, then went to Blockbuster and Target. We ended up getting more baby stuff at Target so we can be ready when Peanut gets here. We bought a monitor, a small travel changing pad, some newborn mittens, a set of Swaddlers... and I think that's it. Still trying to figure out what type of bottles to buy, but I guess that will come in time... and I have a bit of that left. Hopefully we have just about everything we need... I look forward to the Babies R Us shipment coming soon... hopefully this week!
Speaking of that, we haven't heard from Cribs To College yet about the crib, and I'm getting pretty anxious about it at this point. The nursery is a disaster, and there's no getting around that until the crib is assembled. I really hope they come this week! Maybe Case will call them tomorrow to follow up. I want to be able to give them the glowing recommendation that I had for them just a few months ago! Don't let me down, people! I guess worst case scenario would be that the kid has to sleep in the Pack N Play for a bit until the crib arrives. Could be worse.
Alright, I'm done now. We have our 2nd Prepared Childbirth class today, so I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep this morning before I have to really get around and start the day. Let's hope the Trifecta will allow it!
-Ash
I think they baby has started to drop a bit. I have been fairly uncomfortable the last two days. We'll see what the Doc says tomorrow.. which reminds me... I didn't write down the time for my doctor's appointment. Yikes! Normally they call and remind me, but since it's the weekend, I haven't heard from them at all. Oh well, the office is only about 5 minutes away from our house, so if I need to I can run over there without much warning.
Not much to write, really. I'm just awake and bored. Yesterday, Casey and I spent a good chunk of the day inside, until we decided to get around and run some errands (which was nice b/c I was going on Day 3 without leaving the house and it was driving me crazy!!). We took the title for the Mazda to the Toyota dealership, then went to Blockbuster and Target. We ended up getting more baby stuff at Target so we can be ready when Peanut gets here. We bought a monitor, a small travel changing pad, some newborn mittens, a set of Swaddlers... and I think that's it. Still trying to figure out what type of bottles to buy, but I guess that will come in time... and I have a bit of that left. Hopefully we have just about everything we need... I look forward to the Babies R Us shipment coming soon... hopefully this week!
Speaking of that, we haven't heard from Cribs To College yet about the crib, and I'm getting pretty anxious about it at this point. The nursery is a disaster, and there's no getting around that until the crib is assembled. I really hope they come this week! Maybe Case will call them tomorrow to follow up. I want to be able to give them the glowing recommendation that I had for them just a few months ago! Don't let me down, people! I guess worst case scenario would be that the kid has to sleep in the Pack N Play for a bit until the crib arrives. Could be worse.
Alright, I'm done now. We have our 2nd Prepared Childbirth class today, so I'm going to attempt to go back to sleep this morning before I have to really get around and start the day. Let's hope the Trifecta will allow it!
-Ash
Friday, January 8, 2010
33 weeks, and other baby stuff.
If there is one thing about this pregnancy that I am tired of, it is dropping things. I can't seem to hold onto ANYTHING anymore. Not only that, but it's getting more and more difficult to bend over because I'm so out of proportion and top-heavy, so anytime I drop something I get ticked off because I have to bend over yet again.
I literally drop everything. Pens, clothes, pieces of cake at my baby shower (see picture... I think I still have crumbs in my boot!)... please don't hand me anything of value, because there's a darn good chance it will end up on the floor. When I was driving the other day, I forgot to get the base for the GPS, and instead I put the GPS in the cup holder. It stayed there for awhile, until I picked it up and dropped it right by my feet. I definitely can't bend forward the way I used to, but it was getting close to going under the gas and brake pedals, so I had to get to a stop light and bend forward. I really thought I had smashed Peanut there for a minute. That was definitely not comfortable in any way... but I had to do it so I didn't have an accident! Lesson learned.
I've managed to break 2 nice glasses (in one sitting) while I was trying to clean the kitchen. Case is getting used to hearing me yell obscenities and at this point realizes that it's just me dropping things again. It's so annoying!! I may be closer to the ground than most people, but I'm really tired of picking things up off the floor now. I hope that goes away at some point after the baby is born!
I don't think I have any major complaints other than that. I have finally tackled the acid reflux problem by taking a Pepcid AC every day, as the Doc suggested... wish I would have tried that out earlier. It has really solved my problem- so much so that I can tell when I forgot to take it, almost down to the HOUR. I am happy to report that with the exception of one night this week (when I forgot the Pepcid), I have not woken up in the middle of the night to eat Tums because of the acid reflux! I think at one point I was eating them in my sleep. Seriously.
Last night I decided to take advantage of a few coupons that Babies R Us was having online, and bought some things with the gift cards we received. Sometime in the next week, I should get our diaper bag, sound sleeper, the Tree Tops crib sheet (that matches our bedding), a large container of High Efficiency Dreft laundry detergent(for cleaning baby clothes, etc), and some pacifiers. We got free shipping on it, plus saved money using the coupons. I did some comparison shopping (and felt almost like an engineer with all the research I was doing last night) and found that a lot of the items we found at BRU are cheaper at Target. We still have gift cards to Target, so I bought the things we needed and could only find at BRU last night, and we plan to head to Target this weekend to get a few more items. We are getting some kind of baby monitor... we just can't decide which one yet.
We're at week 33 now! So hard to believe that there are only 7 weeks left! (This is assuming that Baby Hetrick is not super late... I think I would be miserable by that point, so let's hope the kid is punctual!) Casey was able to sit and hold my belly last night while he watched the Texas/Alabama game on TV. It was nice for me because I got to spend quality time with him, and he got to spend time doing something he wanted to do, all while we were 'hanging out' with Peanut. He was cute and talked to the baby, telling it that he is excited to meet it soon, play with it, and even change its stinky diapers. :) He's going to be an awesome dad.
I guess that's all for now. Casey's going to the repair shop today to drop off the title to the VW, and get whatever items we still have in the car. Weird that I won't see the Jetta again. We did have some fun times, until it decided to be a total piece of manure and have tons of problems. Time to move on! And time to end one heck of a week!
-Ash
Thursday, January 7, 2010
A bit of good news...
Some good news on the car front, finally. The shop Casey took the VW to to get repaired has someone who wants to buy the car from us for $300 (which is more than the wrecking company offered)... to top that off, the *mechanic who bought it is paying for the inspection fee earlier in the week, so they are basically buying the car from us, with interest! And what more could we ask for after this week? It's still early in the day, and I hate to be a pessimist, but I almost hesitate to write the good news before the day is over. But oh well... unless the car spontaneously combusts or something before we get money for it, I think things should work out fine.
It has snowed probably 5 inches or so in the last 8 hours... maybe more than that. Casey got up to go to work this morning and shoveled off the driveway. By the time he finished, the first part he shoveled was already starting to get covered again. I hope he'll get home early from work today... it's supposed to keep snowing all day and I'm sure it'll be a mess by the time 5:30 rolls around.
I'm lounging around today and am planning to make cookies this afternoon. Besides getting some laundry done and cleaning up the kitchen, I think that will pretty much summarize my day. Charley is bored, as usual, so I will try to entertain him somehow today. I wish he liked playing in the snow! Heck, I wish I could go outside and play in it without the fear of falling down and hurting myself, otherwise I'd be right there with him! Baby Hetrick seems content on staying inside where it's warm.
Speaking of Peanut, the poor kid got some serious hiccups last night, then again this morning while Casey was getting ready for work. My stomach was bouncing around all over the place! As strange as it is, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. (Okay, seriously... it just started hiccuping again as I type this... maybe it's growing??) Tomorrow we'll be at 33 weeks! Only ~7 weeks until we meet our little one! :) I would like to say, again, that I hope (s)he stays in there for at least a few more weeks while we figure out this car situation... I really really really don't want to go into labor at a time when Casey can't get to me or has trouble coming home, etc. I'm better off not thinking about that, but of course it hangs out in the back of my mind.
Alright, that's all for now... I'll definitely update if something else exciting happens. Hopefully it'll be exciting in a positive way and not something else totally insane to make the week even crazier. :)
-Ash
*I had to correct the story b/c I found out I got my facts screwed up... wouldn't be the first time! ;)
It has snowed probably 5 inches or so in the last 8 hours... maybe more than that. Casey got up to go to work this morning and shoveled off the driveway. By the time he finished, the first part he shoveled was already starting to get covered again. I hope he'll get home early from work today... it's supposed to keep snowing all day and I'm sure it'll be a mess by the time 5:30 rolls around.
I'm lounging around today and am planning to make cookies this afternoon. Besides getting some laundry done and cleaning up the kitchen, I think that will pretty much summarize my day. Charley is bored, as usual, so I will try to entertain him somehow today. I wish he liked playing in the snow! Heck, I wish I could go outside and play in it without the fear of falling down and hurting myself, otherwise I'd be right there with him! Baby Hetrick seems content on staying inside where it's warm.
Speaking of Peanut, the poor kid got some serious hiccups last night, then again this morning while Casey was getting ready for work. My stomach was bouncing around all over the place! As strange as it is, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. (Okay, seriously... it just started hiccuping again as I type this... maybe it's growing??) Tomorrow we'll be at 33 weeks! Only ~7 weeks until we meet our little one! :) I would like to say, again, that I hope (s)he stays in there for at least a few more weeks while we figure out this car situation... I really really really don't want to go into labor at a time when Casey can't get to me or has trouble coming home, etc. I'm better off not thinking about that, but of course it hangs out in the back of my mind.
Alright, that's all for now... I'll definitely update if something else exciting happens. Hopefully it'll be exciting in a positive way and not something else totally insane to make the week even crazier. :)
-Ash
*I had to correct the story b/c I found out I got my facts screwed up... wouldn't be the first time! ;)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Bad Car-ma
Our current car situation is reminding me of the weather in Kansas... wait 10 minutes, and it will change. I just wish it would change for the better.
Earlier today, I got a phone call from Casey. The repair shop discovered that the VW needs a new engine. $3200+ (read: arm + leg + another arm + ...) on a car that may have additional issues, and is now 10 years old. Do we spend the money and replace the engine, knowing that there are several other things we need to have fixed that could go bad at any time? Do we take the RAV4 back and try to negotiate something with the dealership on two, less expensive vehicles? Do we keep the RAV4 and invest in another vehicle? Or do we stick with the RAV4 and not replace the VW until after Casey gets his bonus this Spring? The obvious concern I have about that is that I would go into labor and somehow Casey wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital in time. I really don't know what we're going to do. I love my husband, but at this rate I'm dreading anytime he calls me, because so far it's all been bad news.
I have woken up the past 2 days thinking, "Today has to be better than yesterday." So far I have been proven wrong. I will try not to dwell on that and just hope for the best. This is just getting ridiculous.
Hoping for a better, more positive entry next time,
Ash
Earlier today, I got a phone call from Casey. The repair shop discovered that the VW needs a new engine. $3200+ (read: arm + leg + another arm + ...) on a car that may have additional issues, and is now 10 years old. Do we spend the money and replace the engine, knowing that there are several other things we need to have fixed that could go bad at any time? Do we take the RAV4 back and try to negotiate something with the dealership on two, less expensive vehicles? Do we keep the RAV4 and invest in another vehicle? Or do we stick with the RAV4 and not replace the VW until after Casey gets his bonus this Spring? The obvious concern I have about that is that I would go into labor and somehow Casey wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital in time. I really don't know what we're going to do. I love my husband, but at this rate I'm dreading anytime he calls me, because so far it's all been bad news.
I have woken up the past 2 days thinking, "Today has to be better than yesterday." So far I have been proven wrong. I will try not to dwell on that and just hope for the best. This is just getting ridiculous.
Hoping for a better, more positive entry next time,
Ash
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Spoke too soon...
Got the key from the dealership today. Had to wait 45 minutes, but at least dealt with people that seemed to know what they were doing. Yay! The day is looking up!
Went to Walmart for grocery shopping, came home, and Casey called. The shop actually got the VW finished today by replacing the _____ (whatever the heck it's called). It only cost $100! Hooray!! Hang up.
Not even five minutes later, Casey calls back. Oil light is on again. He's taking it back to the shop.
I went to pick him up, then it took us over an hour to get back home due to idiots on Route 59 not knowing how to drive. Not the best evening... but at least the day part was better. I think with the exception of taking Case to work tomorrow morning, I am going to stay home. Hopefully they'll find out what's going on with the VW and it won't cost an arm and a leg.
Until tomorrow...
-Ash
Went to Walmart for grocery shopping, came home, and Casey called. The shop actually got the VW finished today by replacing the _____ (whatever the heck it's called). It only cost $100! Hooray!! Hang up.
Not even five minutes later, Casey calls back. Oil light is on again. He's taking it back to the shop.
I went to pick him up, then it took us over an hour to get back home due to idiots on Route 59 not knowing how to drive. Not the best evening... but at least the day part was better. I think with the exception of taking Case to work tomorrow morning, I am going to stay home. Hopefully they'll find out what's going on with the VW and it won't cost an arm and a leg.
Until tomorrow...
-Ash
Here goes nothing...
It may be too early to say, but hopefully things are going better so far today. We had the car towed to a company very close to where Casey works. The downside is they didn't know when they could get to it... as in, maybe not until the end of the week! (Please pray that Peanut doesn't decide to make an early appearance until we have more than 1 vehicle!!!) I dropped Casey off at work, and came back home. I just got a hold of the Toyota dealership, where the Parts guy assured me that the key is in and I can come pick it up anytime now. We won't have an owner's manual for a few weeks, though. Oh well, one thing at a time. I want to note that the guy I spoke with on the phone earlier definitely seemed to know what he was talking about, which is a nice step up from just about everyone else I've spoken with so far. We'll see how it goes!
I have a feeling the blogfest is going to be pretty regular now that I don't have a job and it's so freaking cold outside. I have managed to keep myself very busy, though, and besides not having a paycheck anymore, I think it's a good thing that I quit working when I did. That would have complicated a lot of things this week if I had to worry about work now that the VW crapped out.
I'm going to head to the Toyota dealership now and hope for the best.
-Ash
I have a feeling the blogfest is going to be pretty regular now that I don't have a job and it's so freaking cold outside. I have managed to keep myself very busy, though, and besides not having a paycheck anymore, I think it's a good thing that I quit working when I did. That would have complicated a lot of things this week if I had to worry about work now that the VW crapped out.
I'm going to head to the Toyota dealership now and hope for the best.
-Ash
Monday, January 4, 2010
Fan Freaking Tastic
Wouldn't you know it... the day Casey officially takes the car, it decides to revolt. Case finally got home and needed to change the oil and filter in the car. He got everything done and needed to drive the car around after the oil change, so he took a movie back to Blockbuster (very close to our house). He barely made it down the street before the oil light came on again. Put more oil in. Made it back home, but the oil light still kept coming on. When he got it here, it was almost bone dry, and he had put 7-8 quarts of oil in the thing to begin with... so we took the RAV4 to Walmart to get more oil. Driving away from our house, we see that there is a line of oil from our driveway all the way out to Route 59 (basically the edge of our Subdivision.) We had to laugh a bit because you can see the trail Casey took on his way to drop the movie off, and when he ran out of oil the first time the light came on. Anyway, we grab more oil and bring it back to the house. Case had to put more in the car just to see where the damn thing was leaking. I realize it's necessary, but what a waste of money and oil! Apparently there is some kind of crack in the oil filter housing. (These are his words, not mine... I have no clue about this stuff, which is a good reason for the VW being a piece of s....)
Looks like we're going to have the car towed somewhere tomorrow morning. I'm glad we invested in AAA. And a new, more reliable vehicle. I really hope our luck changes tomorrow... the sad reality is that if the car costs too much to get fixed, we may have to scrap it and look for a new one. I honestly don't even want to think about having to get 2 new vehicles (*new to us, at least) in one week. Everything happens for a reason, right?
Grrrr....
-Ash
Looks like we're going to have the car towed somewhere tomorrow morning. I'm glad we invested in AAA. And a new, more reliable vehicle. I really hope our luck changes tomorrow... the sad reality is that if the car costs too much to get fixed, we may have to scrap it and look for a new one. I honestly don't even want to think about having to get 2 new vehicles (*new to us, at least) in one week. Everything happens for a reason, right?
Grrrr....
-Ash
Not the best day.
I think I may have jinxed myself with the final line of the last entry. I had to run to the Toyota dealership today to pick up the remote entry key for the RAV4, as well as an owner's manual. I tried to think ahead and called the shop before I went there, just to make sure I wasn't driving 30 minutes away for no reason. I was told that they'd have a key for me, so I asked about the owner's manual. I got transfered to a guy who was less than happy to help me, and he told me he'd talk to his manager and call me back... this was around 8:45 am. I ended up waiting until 11 before I finally gave up and just decided to go to the dealership. When I got there and asked about the key, the service guy had no idea what I was talking about. He said that it would take a few weeks to get the remote key from the original owner. I told him I had called this morning and was told they'd have a key for me, otherwise I wouldn't have driven the 30 minutes to be there. He went to talk to someone, then came back and said they could get a key for me today. Great! So I sat in the waiting room for about 40 minutes before he came back out and told me I would have to come back because the key wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. I was pretty annoyed when I left, but there's not much else I can do... plus, they already charged us for the key, so I'm at their mercy now until they actually give it to us. I just wish someone could have figured that out beforehand... like maybe when I called this morning? I could have saved myself some time and gas money.
Then I headed to the Post Office to mail a bunch of cards (43 to be exact). I had hoped that they would have a metering machine (like we had at Baird & Warner) which didn't seem like a horrible assumption since they are the POST OFFICE, but when I asked the lady at the desk about it, she shot me down, and instead gave me 43 stamps to put on the envelopes myself, plus some attitude.
I think both situations wouldn't have been too bad if the people I dealt with weren't jerks about it. I realize today is the first day back to work after the holidays for most people, and I probably wouldn't be thrilled to be back at work either, but their attitudes would have made the situation much easier to deal with if they hadn't been so negative or lazy.
To make matters worse, Casey just called me 3 times on his way home. The first time was just to let me know he was on his way. The second was to let me know that the oil light in the VW came on, and that it was making noises. The third was to tell me that the car died on him and he was going to stop and get oil so he could make it home. I'm not sure if I've expressed my feelings about Casey taking the VW before in this blog, but I will tell you that I felt guilty that Casey would have to take the car after what kind of shape it is in. The front grill is busted after a small accident I got into a year ago due to snow, not to mention the initial problems we had with the front of the car basically falling off because it sits so low to the ground. One week to the day that we bought the car, Case accidentally pulled up too far in a parking space, and when he went to reverse, the front part of the car came partially unattached. We tried several times to get it fixed in Columbia, but they never totally fixed it. Every now and then we still have to pop the front back on. Additionally, the oil has had problems from the get-go, and although there were never any leaks found (that I recall), it seems to burn through the stuff very quickly. There always seems to be something wrong with the car, and I have basically figured out that most of these things were my fault because I didn't take very good care of it. So the fact that I am the primary driver of the newest vehicle not only has me paranoid about driving it, but increases my feelings of guilt about burdening Casey with the VW. This newest problem is just compounding the situation. Casey's not very happy either, and for good reason. Sometimes the lessons I learn in life aren't learned early enough to make a difference. I am really starting to see that now. :(
Sorry for the bummer of a blog entry. We all have bad days, and I guess this is just one of them for me/us. Hopefully Casey will be able to change the oil tonight and that will take care of it... if not, it looks like we'll be spending a lot more on vehicles this week than we ever intended.
More later,
Ash
PS: Not the best time to post pics of the new car, but what the heck.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Out with the old...
We officially own a 2008 Toyota RAV4. :) It is pretty and sitting in our garage right now, in place of Casey's truck.
I had a feeling that would happen yesterday. We spent almost 3 hours at the Toyota dealership, going back and forth about pricing, etc. We had more leverage because the day before when we went to the Honda dealership, they basically gave us a quote on a 2010 Honda CRV, and we were able to take the price they were willing to sell the CRV for and haggle the RAV4 down a bit. Casey did a great job (in my opinion) and we got some pretty good things out of the negotiation. So, I officially have a 4WD vehicle that will seat 5, plus a ton of storage space in the back! I am especially excited about how easy it is to drive (since I was concerned about driving such a big vehicle b/c I'm used to smaller cars). One feature I really like is how easy it is to put the middle seats down- there is a lever on both sides of the very back, and when you pull them, it easily releases both seats and folds them down. That will make things much easier when we need extra space and have something to load into it, like a stroller, etc. I always enjoy when things are easy like that, especially right now! Anyway, I will attempt to take pictures of it ASAP. It was insanely cold here yesterday, so there was no way I was going to stand outside and do that... I may love photography, but I love the use of my fingers even more... and didn't want my camera to be traumatized by the cold!
Other than the vehicle purchase yesterday, and taking Charley Brown to the vet for his regular check-up (he has yet another set of ear infections... Poor kid can't catch a break with those!), we pretty much stayed home and got things done around the house. Since the Christmas tree is down now, I guess I got a little stir-crazy yesterday and went on a card writing spree... I managed to get all of our thank you cards done from the Topeka baby shower, as well as finish, print, and stuff the majority of our Holiday letter cards as well. I looked at all of it after I was done and thought, "What the heck is going on with me?!" I love the motivation I have right now, and I really hope I can keep it up! I even started picking up the kitchen, living and dining room area yesterday, without any prompting from Casey! This is a very good thing. Besides getting out of breath a little easier lately, I am very happy to have found some kind of second wind. Or whatever you want to call it. Good times!
In other news, I'm awake right now because Baby Hetrick decided to get the hiccups yet again in the wee hours of the morning. I think that may be the 5th hiccup session in 2 days? I'm losing track. It got them yesterday while we were signing the paperwork for the RAV4, and I had a hard time concentrating. Either way, it really is difficult to sleep at that point, so I'm sure after I get off here and possibly eat "first breakfast", things will settle down and I'll get back to sleep. I need it, too, because today we start our Prepared Childbirth class and I need to be able to pay attention! I hope to meet and connect with other expectant families today so maybe we can start hanging out with local people our age that are in the same boat we are. I hear that the friend dynamic changes a bit after you have kids (friends w/kids vs without), so I'm sure meeting people with a similar situation to ours will be a positive thing.
I guess that's about it for now. It's day 3 of the New Year and so far things are looking good. :) More later!
-Ash
I had a feeling that would happen yesterday. We spent almost 3 hours at the Toyota dealership, going back and forth about pricing, etc. We had more leverage because the day before when we went to the Honda dealership, they basically gave us a quote on a 2010 Honda CRV, and we were able to take the price they were willing to sell the CRV for and haggle the RAV4 down a bit. Casey did a great job (in my opinion) and we got some pretty good things out of the negotiation. So, I officially have a 4WD vehicle that will seat 5, plus a ton of storage space in the back! I am especially excited about how easy it is to drive (since I was concerned about driving such a big vehicle b/c I'm used to smaller cars). One feature I really like is how easy it is to put the middle seats down- there is a lever on both sides of the very back, and when you pull them, it easily releases both seats and folds them down. That will make things much easier when we need extra space and have something to load into it, like a stroller, etc. I always enjoy when things are easy like that, especially right now! Anyway, I will attempt to take pictures of it ASAP. It was insanely cold here yesterday, so there was no way I was going to stand outside and do that... I may love photography, but I love the use of my fingers even more... and didn't want my camera to be traumatized by the cold!
Other than the vehicle purchase yesterday, and taking Charley Brown to the vet for his regular check-up (he has yet another set of ear infections... Poor kid can't catch a break with those!), we pretty much stayed home and got things done around the house. Since the Christmas tree is down now, I guess I got a little stir-crazy yesterday and went on a card writing spree... I managed to get all of our thank you cards done from the Topeka baby shower, as well as finish, print, and stuff the majority of our Holiday letter cards as well. I looked at all of it after I was done and thought, "What the heck is going on with me?!" I love the motivation I have right now, and I really hope I can keep it up! I even started picking up the kitchen, living and dining room area yesterday, without any prompting from Casey! This is a very good thing. Besides getting out of breath a little easier lately, I am very happy to have found some kind of second wind. Or whatever you want to call it. Good times!
In other news, I'm awake right now because Baby Hetrick decided to get the hiccups yet again in the wee hours of the morning. I think that may be the 5th hiccup session in 2 days? I'm losing track. It got them yesterday while we were signing the paperwork for the RAV4, and I had a hard time concentrating. Either way, it really is difficult to sleep at that point, so I'm sure after I get off here and possibly eat "first breakfast", things will settle down and I'll get back to sleep. I need it, too, because today we start our Prepared Childbirth class and I need to be able to pay attention! I hope to meet and connect with other expectant families today so maybe we can start hanging out with local people our age that are in the same boat we are. I hear that the friend dynamic changes a bit after you have kids (friends w/kids vs without), so I'm sure meeting people with a similar situation to ours will be a positive thing.
I guess that's about it for now. It's day 3 of the New Year and so far things are looking good. :) More later!
-Ash
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Starting the New Year...
We are officially into the New Year now, which is crazy to me. When people ask when the baby is due, I can officially say "next month", which is also insane. :-D Very hard to believe, but it feels like everything is going in fast forward now.
We spent New Year's Eve at home, making dinner, playing Yahtzee (boy does that make me feel old!!) and watching TV. I didn't think I was going to make it to midnight, but then during the last 30 minutes before 12, I suddenly got this burst of energy, and then had a hard time going to sleep before 2. After that I was up every 2 hours, basically because my body didn't want me to sleep, I think. Not sure why. All I know is that we woke up around 8:30 or so, made cinnamon rolls, and then I went back to sleep until almost NOON. I haven't done that in YEARS! Apparently I needed it, though.
After I finally got up and around yesterday, Case and I decided to leave and check out one of the local Honda dealerships to look into buying a new vehicle. We were there a good hour, crunching numbers and attempting to see what kind of deal we could get on a CRV. We got them down to a fairly decent price, but because the details of trading Casey's truck were a little shady (and we didn't bring it with us so we didn't have specifics), we couldn't make a deal right then and there. Weird to hear salesmen basically say, "What can we do to get you to spend money here today?" Unfortunately for them, we never said we were going to commit to anything right away, and we are still not totally happy with the price they gave us. We may go back today, but that will be after some comparison shopping around town. So I have a feeling by the end of today, we could have a new vehicle in the garage. What can I say, when my husband puts his mind to something, he definitely gets the job done! This could be said for many different aspects of our lives. :) Happy New Year!
After the car ordeal, we ran a few more errands, then went to see Avatar in 3D. All I have to say is, it was totally worth the money! It was unlike any movie I have seen before. 3D has really come a long way since I was a kid. Speaking of kids, 1) the little kid next to me in the theater was really cute because he kept trying to reach out and grab things on the screen during the movie. 2), Peanut got the hiccups (again, for at least the 2nd time in 2 days) and Casey got to feel them during the movie. That's actually the 2nd day in a row that Casey got to feel them, too. For some reason I think hiccups in the womb are so funny! Something about an unborn baby showing traits of infants makes me laugh... I know, I'm weird. But you try concentrating on something for very long when your stomach is jumping around! Very cool, and distracting. :-D Speaking of hiccups, Peanut got them again this morning, which is why I'm up blogging right now. Kind of hard to sleep when my stomach is bouncing around... LOL...
Tomorrow we start our first Prepared Childbirth class. If reality hasn't set in yet, I think it will after that! I am still pretty motivated to get things done around the house. Maybe it's because we still have boxes everywhere from Christmas... I don't know. But I'm enjoying the Nesting phase so far; it is very motivating. The baby will be here before we know it!
Well, I should go now. It's almost 6 and I'm hungry for what I have started calling 'first breakfast', the one I eat when I wake up early... then I eat another one when I wake up after going back to sleep. At this rate I will not have a problem gaining another 2 lbs when I go back to the doctor on the 11th. :)
Love,
Ash
We spent New Year's Eve at home, making dinner, playing Yahtzee (boy does that make me feel old!!) and watching TV. I didn't think I was going to make it to midnight, but then during the last 30 minutes before 12, I suddenly got this burst of energy, and then had a hard time going to sleep before 2. After that I was up every 2 hours, basically because my body didn't want me to sleep, I think. Not sure why. All I know is that we woke up around 8:30 or so, made cinnamon rolls, and then I went back to sleep until almost NOON. I haven't done that in YEARS! Apparently I needed it, though.
After I finally got up and around yesterday, Case and I decided to leave and check out one of the local Honda dealerships to look into buying a new vehicle. We were there a good hour, crunching numbers and attempting to see what kind of deal we could get on a CRV. We got them down to a fairly decent price, but because the details of trading Casey's truck were a little shady (and we didn't bring it with us so we didn't have specifics), we couldn't make a deal right then and there. Weird to hear salesmen basically say, "What can we do to get you to spend money here today?" Unfortunately for them, we never said we were going to commit to anything right away, and we are still not totally happy with the price they gave us. We may go back today, but that will be after some comparison shopping around town. So I have a feeling by the end of today, we could have a new vehicle in the garage. What can I say, when my husband puts his mind to something, he definitely gets the job done! This could be said for many different aspects of our lives. :) Happy New Year!
After the car ordeal, we ran a few more errands, then went to see Avatar in 3D. All I have to say is, it was totally worth the money! It was unlike any movie I have seen before. 3D has really come a long way since I was a kid. Speaking of kids, 1) the little kid next to me in the theater was really cute because he kept trying to reach out and grab things on the screen during the movie. 2), Peanut got the hiccups (again, for at least the 2nd time in 2 days) and Casey got to feel them during the movie. That's actually the 2nd day in a row that Casey got to feel them, too. For some reason I think hiccups in the womb are so funny! Something about an unborn baby showing traits of infants makes me laugh... I know, I'm weird. But you try concentrating on something for very long when your stomach is jumping around! Very cool, and distracting. :-D Speaking of hiccups, Peanut got them again this morning, which is why I'm up blogging right now. Kind of hard to sleep when my stomach is bouncing around... LOL...
Tomorrow we start our first Prepared Childbirth class. If reality hasn't set in yet, I think it will after that! I am still pretty motivated to get things done around the house. Maybe it's because we still have boxes everywhere from Christmas... I don't know. But I'm enjoying the Nesting phase so far; it is very motivating. The baby will be here before we know it!
Well, I should go now. It's almost 6 and I'm hungry for what I have started calling 'first breakfast', the one I eat when I wake up early... then I eat another one when I wake up after going back to sleep. At this rate I will not have a problem gaining another 2 lbs when I go back to the doctor on the 11th. :)
Love,
Ash
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