A year? Already?

Wow..times flies. Ian and I were married a year ago today. Lots of changes in the last year!

Last night, we went out on (I'm sure a final date for a long long time) a date for our anniversary. We saw a play, Don't Drink the Water, and had dinner at a place called Chester's. Dinner was..eh. The place has been open for over a year and is always getting good reviews so we decided to venture from our usual "going to dinner without Ady" place, Micheal's. We should have gone to Micheal's. It's not that Chester's was bad, it just wasn't anything to write home about. I never ever leave Micheal's feeling like that. I leave Micheal's and I'm in heaven. Anyway. We skipped desert at the restaurant and had gellato at a new European chocolate shop in the mall we were in. It was pistachio flavored and oh so good!
Then it was on to watch the play. I thought it was pretty funny but Ian wasn't very impressed. He usually isn't impressed so that wasn't a shock!

I started this entry talking about all the changes over the last year. Guess I should cover those..

• Obviously, we got married
• Took a fabulous honeymoon cruise. I can't wait to take another one!!
• Ady spent the summer in Alaska with her grandparents (that was a long hard summer on me!!)
• Became pregnant in October, right on schedule!
• Ian was accepted into the PhD program. Awesome accomplishment but also very scary.
• I finished school
• Ady started taking dance and can't wait to start school. Poor kid has to wait another year

Now, here we are 365 days after saying 'I DO', ok so we never actually said 'I Do' but you know what I mean!

37 Weeks

Nothing new to report really.
I spent most of my week in the nursery trying to get things organized in there. I'm still not happy with it. That might be b/c I still can't see the top of the dresser. Stupid fish tank. And baby socks. Hopefully, Ian will move the fish tank outta there this weekend and I can put in the drawer dividers and get the socks in a drawer!!
I need to get to Babies R Us and get diapers, wipes, powder, and changing pad covers. Then, I think, maybe, I'll be ready for this kid.
Tomorrow is my last day of work and I'm so so happy about this! Ady has been getting mad lately when i have to leave for work and Ian has always gotten grumpy when I leave for work in the middle of the evening. No more!! yay!! They want to keep me on as 'supplemental' staff, ie pick up extra hours that they need covered, but I don't anticipate I'll be taking on many shifts.

I'll have Ady take a picture tonight when we get home from work/daycare. I think it's going to be a girls night since Ian is probably going to a movie. I need a girls day out soon for a pedicure and yummy lunch before I have this baby! I deserve it! :)

Weekend Recap

I shouldn't wait this long between posts when we've been so busy. It makes me forget things.
Saturday.
Ian went to work. Boo. Ady and I...what did we do? See, I told you I forget. I think we just hung around the house maybe? Caught up on housework or something?? Anyway..
Saturday night after Ian got off of work we went to a neighboring town for a blues concert and BBQ from a place called Bob's Smokestack Ribs. Ian fell in love with them last summer and we haven't been able to have them since. We took a couple of my friends along and Ady had a great time dancing to the music.
Sunday.
Ian went to work, again. Ady and I went to the park and had a good time. I read my book, got some sun and watched the kiddo run around and play her little heart out. Oh and we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and the grocery store. I went to BB&B b/c I had a 20% off coupon that was about to expire and I wanted to us it on drawer dividers. Ian has yet to make me any, so I'm covered. If he every gets around to making them, I can return the ones I bought!
I made steaks on the grills with bakes potatoes, broccoli and cheese sauce that night for dinner. It was yummy.
Monday.
Guess where Ian was..yep! at work. Ady and I took my friend Jen and her dog Ella to the park and to lunch. Then we took Ella to the dog park. Ady had a ball playing with the dogs. She played with a Great Dane that was taller than she was! At one point the dog got right up next to her and ended up drooling all over the side of Ady's head! YUCK!! I love spring.summer but it's impossible to keep a kid cleaner longer than the time she is in bed and asleep!
I brought Ady home and we both took a much needed nap. I think she was out before I got down the stairs!! I love those days!
I made a chicken and pasta dish with Havarti cheese on top b/c Ian loves his Havarti. It was OK. Next time I will have to use the cheese to make a sauce of some sort instead of just shredding it on top.
Today.
Ian is in class and working on a presentation he has to give just before our newest edition makes an appearance so Ady and I are just hanging at the house.
Dinner...brats or burgers..not sure which yet!

Day with the hubs

Ian has to work all weekend long so I got to spend yesterday with him, since it was his day off. We took Ady to daycare so we could have one last day 'just the two of us'!
When I got back from taking Ady to daycare, Ian and I walked to a couple of garage sales I saw in the neighborhood. We bought Ady a kite at one of them. Now we just need to wait for a windy day!
When we finally got home, my poor feet were swollen and miserable. Ian said the perfect thing. "Lets go get breakfast at the bottom of the hill'. Going to breakfast is my favorite meal to go out for!! After a couple of quick showers, I was eating yummy pancakes!
Ian had been wanted to go to a comic/book store for about a week but our schedule just wouldn't allow the time so we took off for that. Eh, it wasn't anything special. Next on the list was the movie theatre. We saw Wolverine. It was good and Hugh Jackman has a nice butt! :)I liked seeing this history behind Wolverine and look forward to the next one!
Then we were off to a couple of nurseries to buy some flowers and reed grasses for the backyard. So now I have flowers to plant in my flower box today!
We made a quick trip home to get the flowers out of the car and get the seats out of the back b/c our freezer was waiting for us at Lowes. Ian was worried it wouldn't fit in the back of the van. We got (ok, Ian and a guy working at Lowe's) the freezer into the back with TONS of room to spare. Guess he thought it was bigger than it actually was!
We went to Target and bought Ady a little swimming pool, exchanged some nursing tanks for me, and got odds and ends for dinner that night.
We also stopped at a local butcher shop to buy some meat for our new freezer! They were out of what we wanted so Ady and I might go back there this afternoon.
That was about it for yesterday.
Tonight, when Ian gets off of work we are going to a neighboring town for a Blues concert and BBQ! Yum!! Hope it doesn't rain!

36 weeks!

Helllooo Month 9! I'm soo very happy to see you! The last two days have been torture on a pregnant lady! Over 90 both days..very very hot! I wanted to just lay around in nothing all day but I don't think my neighbors would have liked that! :) And Ian wouldn't let me turn the A/C on. He said it's not that bad in here! It was over 80 in the house! Too hot for me! Luckily, today is going to be much better. It rained at some point this morning and it's only going to be in the mid-70's today. Yay!

My allergies are getting better. I'm still taking Claritin everyday, but I'm not so zombie like from it. I can breath at night now since I've started taking the meds in the early evening. The downside? I'm getting nose bleeds. Fun! They don't last long or anything but they still suck. I'll get one every couple of days. Oh well.

I looked at the calendar today and noticed that I will be 38 weeks when I go to the Dr next! How crazy is that?! Ian is thrilled I've managed to avoid a bunch of appointments!

Ian has tomorrow off so Ady is going to go to daycare and Ian and I are going to enjoy a day together. I think we plan to see 'Wolverine' It will be the last movie we see for a long long time, which makes me sad since the new Harry Potter is out in July! I've seen every single one of them in the theater. I even made Ian take me to see one of them while I was in Seattle to see him! :) We saw it at an Imax theater! Tres cool.

Since Ian has to work all weekend long and on Memorial day, he has Tues off. I'm trying to talk him into us doing something special with Ady since, again, it will be the last time it's just her. After this there will be a baby brother in tow. I'd love to take her to an aquarium but the closest real one is in Duluth and thats way too far for my to travel and would require hotels and such. There is one at the Mall of America but the cost to get into the thing is ridiculous! So maybe the Children's Museum? It's one of the top in the country, but I just can't get excited about that since I grew up with the best one in the country. I haven't sold Ian on the idea yet, so we'll see.

Let's see...what else....
Oh. I bought some nursing tanks from Target a while back. I tried one of them on last night. Yeah, I had a lot of trouble getting it over 'the girls'. I don't think that is going to work when 'then girls' are bursting with milk. I'll have to go to Target and see if they carry them in store here. And go to Walmart to find some comfy lounge pants I've been reading about on thebump.

Ok, so today's goal list. (It really worked for me yesterday, so we'll try it again today! )

• Put away Ady's laundry
• make beds
• sew up baby blanket
• final load of baby clothes
• start packing hospital bag

I think thats enough for today. Especially when you through in potential trips to Target and Walmart.

Perfection

• The perfect outfit: (First, lets pretend I'm not 9 months pregnant) Fabulous jeans, a pretty top, flip flops, pretty painted toes, great earrings
• The perfect meal: I've been thinking about this one all day. I can't decide. I love food. Right now, (again pretend I'm not 9 months pregnant) A very very cold beer, brat with relish and onions, corn on the cob. Or my mom's beef cube steak with mashed potatos OR my fried chicken OR biscuits and gravy.
• The perfect hangover cure: Never really had many hangovers. So I guess sleep would be my choice.
• The perfect road trip: great music. great company. open road..no interstate please. I'd love to drive to Alaska again. The trip was beautiful, I just didn't enjoy it all that much.
• The perfect facial feature: Smile and eyes.
• The perfect drink: Cold milk, Pina Colada (if I'm somewhere tropical), Raspberry Iced Tea
• The perfect song: Streetcar Symphony by Rob Thomas. I hate dancing but I have to dance to that song
• The perfect sign of affection: Saying 'I love you' while looking at me. Telling me you are happy to be with me
• The perfect afternoon: going to the movies then sitting on a deck and having a cookout. and swimming with Ady.
• The perfect vacation: A cruise. I loved the cruise we took and can't wait to take another one someday.
• The perfect invention: hmmm..right now, I'd say air conditioning!!!
• The perfect type of wedding: at a resort. having only the ones that matter the most to you there. relaxed. simple dress.
• The perfect album: Best of the Eagles OR Metallica's Black album
• The perfect accent: A Scottish brouge
• The perfect date: going to dinner somewhere fun. walking in a park.
• The perfect weather: 70 or so..perfect enough to wear jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt and be perfectly happy
• The perfect party: good friends are the only real requirement
• The perfect sport: Colts Football
• The perfect thing to say: Someone once told me that I have the cutest nose. It was the weirdest thing to hear but made me feel so good b/c I've always been self consious about the bump on my nose.
• The perfect day of the week: Saturday. Or Monday. I'm very productive on Monday's

Breakfast of Champions

Ok, maybe not the breakfast of champions but the breakfast of a 9 month pregnant lady!

I'm working on a 'favorite' list to post later on. Maybe this evening while I'm at work or something.

Goals for today:
Clean living room
Empty dishwasher
Put away towels
Go for a walk (before it hits 90!!)
Get new ringtone for phone

You all know I love Aerosmith, but I'm just sick of having Dream On for a ringtone. I've had it for YEARS!! I need a happy 'summer' song!!

Oh and we sent out the e-invites for our 4th of July BBQ/Meet Owen party. People were asking about it already so we figured we'd go ahead and get them out there..and then people can start making plans.

A mother's hearing

It was flippin hot last night. We had every window in the house open. It didn't help at all. I live in a town often referred to as the '2nd windy city', behind Chicago. We have a friend from Chicago and he swears the wind if much worse up here. Anyway, I digress. My point is, it wasn't windy last night so sleep was crappy.
When it finally cooled off in the wee hours of the morning good sleep came to visit me. At 5:19 (I checked my cell for the time) I woke up b/c I heard someone yelling 'Mommy!!" My first thought was, 'Yes, Ady I know it's daylight out but it's way way too early to be up!!" I got up and went across the house to the stairs. All was quiet. This is normally where she hears me and would start talking again. Hmmm..Ok..not my child yelling for mommy.
Get this...the nearest kid is 2 houses away. Ian was sound alseep and had no idea I even go up, let alone that some child wanted her mommy.

A dream come true...

Last night I had a dream...about cake. A cake that I had made. I woke up this morning remembering this cake and more importantly, I wanted this cake! I made it my mission for today to make this cake!!
I bought a box of super moist cake mix and some cool whip and chocolate pudding mix for the icing and whipping cream to make ganache. I've never made a cake before so this was a big deal for me. It's taken me most of the day but I'm damn proud of this cake and can't wait to show it to Ian tonight!!

The ganache layer over the cake

All decorated with chocolate pudding whipped icing

Sitting pretty in my cake dish (a wedding present that has taken me a year to use!)

Holy crap! Look at the date!!

I'm due in ONE MONTH!! ONE MONTH!! Thats it!! Yay!! I'm sooo ready to be done and have an outside baby!!

I bought someone a computer!

Last Friday morning, I was woken up by the phone ringing. I never answer the house phone and just let the machine pick it up. I vaguely heard a message being left and went back to sleep. Later that morning the phone rang again, this time I answered it.
It was the fraud department with one of my cc. They asked me if I had purchased a $1029.46 computer from a website that morning. Nope, wasn't me. I wouldn't mind a new shiny laptop, but I didn't buy it. Great. Awesome. Somehow, someone got a hold of my CC number. No problem they said and closed my account.
I still have no idea how that happened.

Colors of the Wind

Ady had her dance recital on Sunday. She did a good job of doing her dance on stage. I've seen her do the routine many times and sometimes she is so excited about everything going on around her, that she doesn't pay attention to her routine. On Sunday she did great!

We got ready to go and dropped Ady off so she could be backstage during the show. Ian and I bought Ady a flower to give to her after the show and found our seats. They were pretty good seats. The show was over 2 hours long and it was fun to see all the different classes and levels of dance. I don't think Ian enjoyed it as much as I did though! We were told no flash photography when we got there, so we tried to take some pictures without the flash, but they didnt turn out very well :\

We picked Ady up after the show and her face was filthy!! Somehow, she had managed to find some dirt backstage! Next stop was Dairy Queen for an ice cream reward. I think Ady ate about 5 bites of her sundae before she decided she was done. Oh well!

I woke up at some point in the wee hours of the morning to make a trip to the bathroom. (For the sake of my bladder and my nose!) From that point on, Ian and I were awake, for the next several hours. sucky. Ady was up before 7 because 'it's morning mommy. the sun is out" Really annoying how smart that kid is sometimes!!
Anyway, last night while Ian and I just layed around awake, I had about 3 braxton hicks contractions. I have no memory of having those when I was pregnant with Ady. Then again, I didnt even believe I was actually in labor until I got to the hospital and they told me so.
My point is, I think that this time around, I'm going to be a lot more anxious about going into labor b/c I know what to actually look for. I fear that with every contraction I have when I'm actually close to my due date, I'll be wondering 'Oh! Is this it???"

In other news, Ian is going to try to pick up a chest freezer tonight when he gets off of work. Then I will have the task of filling it with food that we can eat after I have this baby so we can avoid going out for every meal because there is no way I'm cooking! Then Ian is going out with a bunch of people from work. He deserves it. I don't remember the last time he went out and he won't be going out again for a long time. But it still sucks to know that i'm going to be sitting here alone all night. Oh well. Ady and I will have to find something fun for dinner tonight. Any ideas??

Weird

I'm at work and I don't have a bulging bag full of ridonkulously heavy accounting books. I don't know what to do with myself!!
I like it!

35/35

That's right, I'm 35 weeks pregnant with 35 days left! Cool, huh?
I'm about to burst. A lot of my shirts are being stretched around the belly now. This late in the game, there certainly isn't a point in buying anything else.

It doesn't feel like Thurs to me. I keep thinking Friday. Probably b/c I wasn't up first thing this morning going to class!

My last day tasted like Perkins

Today was it. My last day of school!! Yay!! Ok, so I have to go in tomorrow, but thats just to get test results back, so we aren't going to count that! I handed in my final today and then my class went out for breakfast. We went to Panakoken. (Thats a Dutch pancake) We got there and the hostess said that she would have to put us at two separate table b/c she had two groups of 40 coming in!! So we left. Perkins it is. It was...eh. Panakoken would have been better. I got eggs benedict, my fav 'going out for bfast' meal and you could tell the hollandaise sauce wasn't home made. Oh well, I guess. I did get a Raspberry muffin to bring home!

After breakfast I met up with my friend Jen to go fabric shopping. I'm going to send the ridiculous amount of fabric that I bought to my sister so she can make me Boppy covers. (Scared yet Abby??) The fabric, zippers, and cord to go around the edge, and a 40% off coupon later, I'm out nearly $80...I don't think this is cheaper than buying a few covers in the store! But whatever. They should turn out cute. I meant to get yarn to finish the baby blanket and forgot it. Oh well.

Then I came home and took a nap. A much much needed nap. Allergies are kickin my butt now. I take a Claritin every morning, but I'm not too sure how much it helps. It helps with the itchy eyes, thats for sure. But I'm not sure it's worth the sore throat, foggy brain, and constant desire to sleep that the medicine also seems to give me. And this late in my pregnancy I'm not even sure how much of that stuff is allergy related and how much is baby related!!

Now I'm sitting here with my Blended Mocha, very light on the coffee, from Java Detour waiting to go and get my monkey!

Holy swelling, Batman!

I'm swollen. Specifically, my ankles are swollen. very swollen. It never goes away. It sucks too! I must blame this on the fact that I am growing a boy inside of me! This never happened when I was pregnant with Ady and I was on my feet for most of the day!

In other news, I just took my final. I have 2 accounting problems and I'm avoiding at the moment and then I will be finished!! Yay! I have to turn in my test tomorrow and then go to breakfast with my class and that is it. I can't wait to be done.

I applied for a job today (well yesterday but they couldn't open my attachments). It's a couple of towns over but only takes about 15 minutes to get there, so it's doable. The best part is that it's a casual office...that means I could wear jeans!! yay! I heart jeans. I loath dress clothes. There are two other people rumored to be applying for the job. (They aren't opening the job publicly. They just notified my teacher of it) So not too much competition. Especially since it's a full time job and I'm the only one that is done with school. The other two have about a year left.
Here's the problem. I'm nearly 35 weeks pregnant and they want someone to start right away. Well the earliest I can start is June 1. That's 18 days before my due date. Not much point right? And then to let me off for 8 weeks...they would have to be crazy to hire me but I'll stay positive and hope for the best.

Ok,I'm going to tackle my accounting test now.

Doctors appt and weekend score

I had another doctors appointment this morning.
On my way to class the dr.'s office called me, informing me that my doctor was sick and gave me the option of seeing a nurse midwife. That was fine with me.
After a very uncomrfortable class, I headed for town. I have gained a total of 30 lbs and my blood pressure was 102/62. The midwife was happy with both. She asked me if anything new was going on so I told her about the pain I've been having in my back and upper abdomen. Once she was sure it wasn't from my kidney or liver, she told me it was probably just sore muscles and/or ligaments and gave me a couple of stretches to do a couple of times a day.
She told me to come back in a couple of weeks and my doctor will do a Strep B culture and start internals.
Well, the only available appt in 2 weeks is at a bad time so my next appt in in 3 weeks again. Oh well.

Ok, now for the weekend score.
There are only a couple of items that I really need before the baby gets here to make me feel 'ready'. A Boppy and a changing table pad. I'd explained this to Ian and he wasn't following me, at all!
We decided to go and check out a few garage sales on Saturday and one of the used kiddie stores in town. I found my Boppy pillow for $7 at a huge sale of kids stuff put on by a group called 'Moms and More'. Score #1. Those suckers retail for about $40!! Oh and of course, we had to(ok, I hat to) buy a couple more outfits. :)
The other sales were a bust but the used kiddies store..well, they had a changing pad and we even picked up a pair of really cute Robeez shoes! :) It was a good day.
Now, I just have to convince Ian to let me buy covers for the pillow and changing pad instead of trying to make them myself or just wrapping a sheet around them...sheesh.

Name update

I don't really know how many people out there 'follow' me with this blog, but I've changed the name of the blog and decided to change the web address as well. I figured I should get my actual name outta there. So, if you have me bookmarked or something, change it. The new web addy is :
www.cornstalksandsalmon.blogspot.com

Happy Mother's Day

On Thursday, Ady came home with a wrapped package from daycare that contained my Mother's Day gift. She wanted me to open it right there on the spot. I've been torturing her and refused to open it until today. I'm so glad I did.

The poem reads
"I miss you when we're not together.
I'm growing up so fast.
See how big I've gotten since you
last saw me?
As I grow, I'll change a lot.
The years will fly right by.
You'll wonder how I grew so quick
When and where and why?
So look upon this hand print plaque
that's handing on your wall.
And memories will come back of me,
when I was very small.

L&D tour

Last night, Ian and I went to the hospital for a tour of the L&D floor. The woman giving us the tour told us that they were very busy in L&D that night and might not have a room for us to look at. I was bummed. So in hopes that a room would be cleaned soon, we started our tour on the recovery floor.
Mayo, is big on security. You can't get onto the maternity floor without being granted access. Once you have asked the nurse to unlock the door for you, you need a visitors badge. The room we saw was a double room and a very small room at that. I looked into the bathroom on our way into the room and noticed THERE WASN'T A SHOWER!!! They didn't expect me to give birth and then not shower for a couple of days, did they?!!? The lady told us that if we wanted a private room, we could pay and extra $50 out of pocket b/c most insurance plans won't cover that. The private rooms are the only ones that husband can sleep over in. I'd like a private room, but not so Ian can stay with me. Frankly, I think he'd drive me a bit nutty!! As we were leaving the room, our tour guide mentioned 'tub rooms'. She pointed one out across the hall from the room we were in. I asked her if any of the room had showers in room and she made me feel much better by telling me that most of the rooms do have their own shower or tub/shower. They had a couple of rooms without a shower and those were used last. If I get one of the rooms without a shower, I will be asking to go home ASAP!! Otherwise, I'm happy to stay for a couple of days. I told Ian it will be the quietest and most relaxing time I have for a very long time!!
We went back to the Labor and Delivery floor to try and see a room, but sadly, housekeeping hadn't been able to clean the room yet. So we looked at a triage room. She told us that when we first come in, we will be put into a triage room to make sure we are in active labor. Once we reach 4-5 cm then we will move to a L&D room. I think this is a lot of moving around! You go from triage to a L&D room, then after baby you are moved a floor up to a recovery room. Sheesh.
Oh and the babies wear security bracelets. If you try to take babe across a line by the doors of the floor, an alarm will go off! What else..oh, they don't have you fill out an order for your meals when you get there. That's what they did when I had Ady and then they just brought trays around to all the rooms. Not here. Here we get 'room service' Between 7am and 6:30 pm, I can order food whenever I want and I can order food for whomever I want. And there is a 'nourishment center"on the recovery floor as well, so if I want a snack or some juice I can send Ian down there to grab it for me.
They also have several computers on the recovery floor so that you can send out the required pictures to family and friends that can't be there!
When the tour was over, we all started talking about where we had all come from since none of us were first time mothers but none of us had delivered there before. One lady is here from Washington DC, one lady flew in from Russia to have her baby!!, and another lady was from Sydney Australia! Crazy!!

All in all, looks like a good place to have baby to me! :)

34 weeks..and oh the pain!

The back pain that is. It's constant now. And I still have 6 weeks left!! ugh. I don't feel like filling out that survey thing today so it's just going to be a random update.
I have one week of school left. YAY!! I have a presentation to give this afternoon and a test to turn in on Wed and that will pretty much be it.
My teacher has given me a lead on a job. I wrote up a new resume yesterday and so thats all ready to go. I just need to hear from her about how they are going to do the interviews. As far as I know, there are only two other people interested in applying for it. My gut tells me that one of them won't actually apply.
Seriously, I"m about to cry from the back pain..and to make it worse THERE. IS.NOTHING.I.CAN.DO.ABOUT.IT!!
Ok, anyway...
Ian and I have a tour of the hospital tonight. I'm looking forward to that! I'm hoping things are better here at Mayo then they were at Home Hospital where Ady was born.
Thats all really...things are getting hectic around here with classes ending and Ian's work schedule is a bit hairy this month but it will pass. And then we will have a baby!!