Saturday, August 23, 2008

The Time has Come, the Walrus Said...

...to talk of many things. Of shoes and ships, and sealing wax, and the fact that Tony and I are going to be parents!!! (How was that for subtle?)

That's right, everyone. You heard me correctly. Tony and I have a bun in the oven, due in March...March 6th, to be perfectly precise (for those of you without your calendars nearby, that's my birthday). We are SO excited (but I think every couple is expected to say that), and are trying to adjust to the idea of having a bean running (well, crawling at first) around next spring. Who would have thunk it???

To answer the next barrage of questions, I'm feeling pretty good now. The first four or five weeks (I knew almost right away), I felt great. I was going to the gym five or six days a week, had lots of energy, was sleeping great. A girl couldn't ask for better. Right around the sixth week, though, the dreaded morning sickness (who calls it that, anyway? Morning sickness? Try all day nausea!) kicked in and I was a pretty sorry site. I spent something like a month or so on our couch, feeling sorry for myself (what every self-respecting woman does, I'm sure), and wishing for my own demise. Nothing I ate sat well (although I only actually threw up twice), I was never hungry, and to top it all off, I couldn't sleep to save my life.

...That's all behind me now though. Tony and I have been to two ultrasound appointments, and everything is progressing swimmingly. I feel great now, the bean (the name of our future child...) is growing at what seems an astronomical rate, and we are well on the way to month four. That's about all we have to report for now...as soon as I can figure out how to crop the ultrasound pictures, I will have those posted, along with pictures of my diminishing waist line (is everyone excited now?). Stay tuned for monthly updates, because there is certainly more to come!!!


~a two month old bean...you understand now where s/he earned the nickname!~


~three months old! less beany, now kinda alieny. s/he still has time to human up!~

Some time later...Tony and I are thinking of signing this kid to our future family band (a la Partridge Family). He'd give the bean a run for his/her money!

Monday, August 18, 2008

One More, Super Important, Thing

If you guys have a minute, please please PLEASE check out my friend, Andrea's blog. She is doing a raffle for another little girl who also has heart problems (Andrea's son, Drew, just recently finished an 8 week stint in the hospital for his most recent heart surgery). Anyway, this family that Andrea is fundraising for could REALLY use some help and support. If anything else, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks, everyone!

The Dawg Days of Summer

This is what dog sitting in Echo Park looks like...jealous much???

Hello faithful readers! I know that I have been noticeably absent the last few months, but since the beginning of summer, my days seem to just slip by. As I sit on the couch (in not my house, Tony and I are dog sitting in Echo Park this week) I'm realizing that I have only two short weeks left before I am heading back to work. Sigh...you blink and before you know it, summer is gone!

I wish I could start updating everyone about the wild adventures that Tony and I had this summer, with trips abound and whatnot, but that was not really the case. In the words of whatever kook came up with the new phrase, Tony and I enjoyed a lazy "staycation" in the lovely SCV. While it sounds oh-so-exotic, it was far less sexy in reality. Probably our highlight in the last few months was 4th of July weekend that we spent with Tony's family in San Diego. It was our nephew, James', 3rd birthday (who is SO CUTE!), so we celebrated with a bbq for the birthday and the 4th at his parents on the 4th, and then ANOTHER bbq at Tony's sister's on the 5th as well (it would be a sin not to take advantage of the beautiful San Diego weather). I also spent some time by our pool working on my Vitamin D/skin cancer intake, keeping up with my TiVo programming, and reading lots of books that weren't assigned to me by a professor of some sort. I LOVE reading books that aren't part of classwork, or need a paper written about them, or anything even close to that vein. My two favorites so far this summer have been Ahab's Wife and The Virgin Suicides. If you're looking for a good read, both of these are HIGHLY recommendable. I'm hoping to get to The Glass Menagerie and/or A Prayer for Owen Meanie before my new CSUN semester begins. I'm also plugging through The Count of Monte Cristo, but its sooooooo not as good as I was hoping it would be.

Tony just celebrated his one year anniversary with Razorgator, and is going strong there. His work anniversary is pretty synonymous with his move back to SCV anniversary (both are within the next week or so). I can't believe its already been a year since he started at Razorgator and moved up here, but then again, I also said I couldn't believe that it had been a year since our wedding. Anyway, he's as busy as ever with work, and is going into his "busy season" again, which means 16 hour days and high stress. It seems that this year is slightly less crazy than last summer was, but I've probably jinxed myself now that I've said that out loud. I can kiss my husband goodbye now for the next two weeks!

Hmmmm....what else? We're still kicking it in Saugus, and laying low in the condo until 1) a miracle happens and the housing market picks up again, 2) a bag of money falls into our lap and we can afford to move with selling our souls to do it, or 3) we can finally work out the logistics with my dad and MAYBE move back into the house where I grew up (this is no small feat...organizing with my dad--however much I love the man--is remarkably similar to herding cats). It works for now, and when Tony and I are supposed to move, we will. For the time being, now is not the time, and we're (mostly) ok with that. On another note, I start CSUN again in a couple weeks (although I couldn't for the life of me tell you what day...) and will be taking a class in Literary Criticism. I've decided that two classes while working full time is INSANE, and that I don't actually have to finish my master's program in some sort of super-human amount of time. Finishing in 2-3 years is fine with me, and whatever career opportunities that will be available post-Literature degree will still be there when the time comes, you know?

See? Like I said, we've had a pretty low-key summer this year. I'm sure there will be more to report once the school year starts up again. Stay tuned!