...did they explode?

No they did not! (See last post.) Hooray! I bucked up and got dressed up to go out in the cold to retrieve the bag of beverages. I got there in the nick of time to find them firm but not solid. So ya- that truly must be what all of you have spent the last two days worrying about. I also got a nap before we headed to our prenatal class. Good thing too as it wasn't exactly a show stopper. A lot of common sense information, a lot of review of stuff we already knew and a lot of idiots asking either stupid questions ("There are no stupid questions." I completely disagree. There are plenty.) or questions about stuff the nurse JUST COVERED. But being the goody two shoes I have always been, I enjoyed answering the harder questions the teacher asked, even if just in my head. Ok, so most weren't really that hard. Or at least they shouldn't be. Did any of these people read their pregnancy books? Have they ever been around a pregnant person? Have they watched an episode of the Cosby show?

It reminded Clayton and I of our engagement. Before we got married everyone told us to read "Between Husband and Wife" by Lamb Brinley. Our sweet bishop even gave us a copy to read aloud together. So like good little troopers we did as asked. And laughed through most of it. I hope I'm not offending anyone who really liked that book. It was just a bit ridiculous. If you've taken even a Junior High level health class before, or have read a copy of Cosmo in the past ten years, then you really do not need to read this book. We felt bad for the couples who might have found it insightful.

So prenatal class is a bit like that. There was a lot of good information given, I just can't imagine getting to your 7th month or so, and not have picked up any of it yet. One good part was just the tour of the hospital. I hate not knowing where to go or what to do, so that put me at ease for the big event. We also enjoyed making fun of the other couples. Oh- by the way, we aren't good people. Sorry if you were under a misapprehension there. We didn't say anything to anyone but each other, but still. Very immature. The girls were all fine, it was just the annoying husbands who gained our disrespect. There was the Show Off, who apparently knows more about vaccines than the visiting pediatrician and more about episiotomies than the delivery nurse. The Idiot who kept embarrassing his wife with questions about how often things go wrong. The Front-Row-Joe who just would not shut up, and a few other characters.

Of course, then there's us. The two juveniles, who despite being a few years older than everyone in the class, could not stop giggling. Not over body parts or functions, no. Just our own amusements. However, anyone who might of heard us laughing wouldn't know the difference. So we probably looked like morons. Oh well. One thing that kept us giggling? Deciding early on that we could earn treats by saying certain inappropriate phrases aloud. Which ones? I'll list them, so if you are ever in a class like this, you can avoid them.

Sweet!
Yowza
Gross!
That's what she said.
etc...etc...

Ya- very erudite. So all in all, nothing exploded. Not our drinks, nor our heads from the wealth of information we covered that day. Although watching the birthing videos could make you get close. The vignettes on Chris & Paula and Lourdes & Jonathan were a special treat. Why is it that any video on childbirth uses a national geographic (ie: Extra nude, and usually a bit on the un-photogenic side.) couple as it's focus? I think it's because if you are willing to have a camera crew follow you around, you are a little more "free" with everything else as well. Blech.

For the record, the only people allowed in our delivery room will be me, baby, Dr and maybe Clayton. He isn't even 100% sure he wants to be in there yet. He's not the best around needles and such. In which case my mom would be a discreet alternate. TLC's A Baby Story often shows delivery rooms packed full with father-in-laws, brothers and even neighbors hanging out, videotaping the action from the "wrong" end. Seriously! Ok, so my head did just explode a little.

7 months and charming

Good morning. It is 6:00 AM and I have been awake for roughly three plus hours now. Welcome to my world. This has been the most irritating (well, almost) of the "bad" pregnancy symptoms. Normally sleeping is something that I excel at. I'm a champ. As a kid I could sleep through fire alarms (not really a plus...) and our pet trains haven't bothered me for the two and a half years I've lived here. But for the last few weeks I wake up on average every 45 minutes or so. Sometimes I can get back to sleep, but not today. I'm finding that if I have anything on my schedule I am done for. If my eyes are open, my head is spinning with lists and worries and what not. Right now I am aware that I left a bag of groceries in my trunk. The bag contains a 2 liter bottle of caffeine free Diet Coke, one Gatorade and a bottle of Cranberry Juice. The thought of them freezing and exploding all over our new stroller has kept me extra awake. But it is too cold to venture out and get them just yet. So here I type.

Also, today is our Prenatal class at the hospital. Six hours of... I really don't know what. We are supposed to bring pillows. That's about all of the information I could get out of the lady on the phone. I hope this class is informative. Poor Clayton is not enthused. I just hope there are lots of breaks for treats.

Well, this post is truly the most boring thing I have written in ages. And that is saying a lot. Hope everyone has a super Saturday. Luckily I get to go play with my fun friends later today after my class ends. Right now I am going to go try and get a nap, or watch 30 Rock online. I know you are all on the edge of your seats, so I'll keep you all posted on my morning activities and the state of the beverages.

Little bits

As promised in my last post, I wanted to share some of my favorite little things we have collected for our little girl. Most of them are onesies. When we first found out from our ultrasound that we were having a girl I picked up two at the Gap on a ridiculous sale.

A little back story. Growing up I loved the Roger Hargreaves Mr. Men and Little Miss books. I even found them on an overnight in Canada about 7 years ago and bought a whole bunch. I have an ok collection. My favorite's were Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Chatterbox, Mr. Bump and Mr. Messy. One picture from our ultrasound shows our little miss with her mouth open.

Clayton joked "Oh, great. She's going to be real chatty." Thus:

And in case anyone was wondering if I was going to be obnoxious and dress my baby like me...

One of our favorite websites is www.threadless.com

For Christmas Clayton bought me a few new shirts for the baby. Here are some of them.

This next one is possibly my favorite. Who doesn't love My Little Ponies? Remember how they had stars and rainbows or cupcakes on the bums? Look closely at the picture below.

This one cracks me up as well. It's just so cute!

Ok, now for the painfully cute stuff. I recently went on a shopping trip with four of my nieces, two nephews and a sister in law. I didn't plan to buy anything as I don't feel the least bit cute (a major deterrent to shopping as we all know) and I don't need any clothes for the baby. Or I should say I don't know what I'll need yet, and don't want to end up with clothes she can't wear. That was the plan anyway, I was just along for the ride and the opportunity to hang out with fun people. We went to Fashion Place Mall. I never shop here as it is out of my way quite a bit. Now I know why I REALLY shouldn't go there. A little store called Janie and Jack. Here is their website if you need to understand more.
www.janieandjack.com
I was lucky to make it out of there with as little as I did. Here are two dresses that I purchased. On a great sale, mind you. But still, not exactly on the list of things to buy.

Could you die? Look at the little smocking. I bought this one for next year's Christmas. Is that a bit crazy? Oh well. I am a sucker for fancy-schmancy.

And this one too. So lovely. I believe I was thinking Easter, but it is sure to be too big for her by then. That's ok. Summer is a good enough excuse for me.

And you have to see the little pleated underskirt detailing. That is what is killing me about this store. Everything has tiny little embroidered flowers and pin-tucks and heirloom details that make you want to cry. Clayton almost did. Ok, he didn't get close. But I had a hard time breathing and not squealing the whole time I was in the store.

I have a lot more that I could show already. For being a few weeks (9 if you are enjoying the creepy floating baby off to the side) away from wearing clothes, this little gal has got a pretty sweet wardrobe set up. I haven't even started with the stuff that Linda found me at the quarter sale in Boise. (A treasure trove of finds, all for a quarter, once a month... it's a magical thing.) Alright. Thanks for indulging me here. I will try to blog about something more boring next time. Til then, you could also visit the sites wonderful Shauna has shown me.
www.tippicanu.com
or
www.tinymcsmall.com

Holiday Festivities

The Holidays were terrific this year. Reason one: Because I am getting the one thing I truly truly want more than anything else in the world. Two: Because that present lets me eat like it's the holidays everyday (sorta). And three: We got to celebrate on a bunch of extra days, so we got a lot of partying bang for our family buck. Like the 20th of December. My oldest sister Cassie couldn't make it down for the day of Christmas so we had an earlier party when she and all of her kids could make it. There are 6, so no easy task.

Warning: This blog entry is heavy on my family and Allie in general. If you don't know these people, you may not care much for what follows. Enter at your own boredom

My lovely parents did the whole shebang of a dinner early, which might be my favorite part of it all. Our Christmas dinner is always the exact same as our Thanksgiving dinner. My dad does 90% of the work himself, including homemade pumpkin pies with homemade crusts. Here is my muse Allie enjoying a piece of it. Or rather the homemade (ok, I'll stop.) whipping cream off the top.

Here she is resting between bites and talking to my mom. It was my mom's piece of pie that Allie had commandeered in the first place.

Here is my nephew Tommy (Allie's older brother) holding my niece Allison's daughter (my great niece!) Ayla. Got that? Ayla is so lovely and fun at this age. 9 months I think. This picture made the blog because she would NOT stop staring at Tommy while he held her. She didn't show the same love for anyone else like that. Kids are so funny that way some times. What's so interesting about Tommy that a 9 month old is mesmerized? I mean, he is a super cool guy, but how does she know?
My niece Caitlin has a tiny Chihuahua named Mika. Here are my great-nephews (Seriously, are we catching the great part of these sentences?) Nolan and Jordan carefully holding her. She is fragile and has already had a spell of bad luck with her tiny ribs. (Not injured by a kid.)


Here are Clayton and Mika. By the way. That would be a teeny-tiny Juicy Couture sweat suit that Mika is sporting. What are you going to do? This is why I probably can never have a dog quite that small. How can you resist dressing something up that is the size of a Barbie doll? You really can't.


A few days later Clayton and I invited ourselves over to spend the night at Tom & Jenni's house. Mainly to watch Allie enjoy her presents Christmas morning. What is more fun than watching a 2 year old get excited over an orange? Ya ya, she like the presents a ton, but her biggest reaction was on seeing her sister Megan get an orange out of her stocking. Too funny. Here the two girls are in their Christmas Eve pajama's.

My niece Megan and her cousin Kaylee put on a family talent show of sorts each Christmas eve. They make up an impromptu list of what everyone in the family will do and even print off a program. You don't get a say in the matter. They call it the "Sharing of personal talents". As Clayton and I were present this year, he got to give a recap of recent sports news while I had to give a recap of recent celebrity gossip.

(By the way, these really are our talents. Just try to beat us in Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit. It hasn't been done. This isn't necessarily something we are proud of. And we really want you to play with us.)

Kaylee's sister Stephie had to do an interpretive dance to "Santa Baby". Luckily all the girls joined in. Including little Allie. "What? We are dancing now? Ok!" Allie is always game.


On actual Christmas day we went back to my parents for a re-do. It was nice and laid back and cozy. Lots of food and games and general hanging out. Here are me and C in our Christmas portrait of sorts. Note the ever growing tummy? Only two more months. Too bad I hit my target weight gain already. Oh well.


My friend Julie and I got to stop by my friend Betsy's house to see her, Jay and little Spencer while they were in town. Our families lived just a few blocks away while we were in high school. That night we got to enjoy some Rock Band on the Wii, but more importantly a little Spencer time. How cute is he?


Christmas is soon followed by Clayton's birthday on the 30th. He turned the big 2-8 this year.
Here he is blowing out the candles.



Oh ha ha ha. They don't blow out! Clayton is such a good sport. Ya- has anyone actually been fooled by these? They are fun nonetheless.


New years was also great. Good times, great food, fantastic family and friends. Oh, and lots of Rock Band. I'm getting pretty good. All in all it was such a great way to end 2008. Oh, I should probably do a recap of 2008 blog. Maybe that will be the next one. Or maybe my next blog will be about the exciting stuff we got. Ya- all materialism and such nonsense. But seriously, you need to see the little stuff. It's so eye-stabbingly cute. Ok, till then. Happy New Year!