Free Breakfast!

For those of you who live/work near a Chick-Fil-A, click here to enter to win a free Breakfast entree. I got one for Jeremy and myself--their Chicken, Egg, & Cheese on a Sunflower Multigrain Bagel has 30-odd grams of Protein! And they have biscuits and gravy... mmmm...

They also send you a coupon for a free milkshake, with the purchase of a Dasani water and Chicken sandwich................. Not sure the cross promo on that one, but whatever! It's free (and I love milkshakes!)

Free breakfast is limited to first 1 million entries, so act fast! The Million Nugget Give-a-way is already over (so soon??) so this is your only chance at free food. :-)

Oh, and if you're not in the mood for breakfast, how 'bout buy one, get one free from Coldstone???

Just thought I'd share the wealth.

We're 32 weeks!

We're 32 weeks! Oh, I said that already.

Sorry, just a bit excited there. It's funny because throughout my pregnancy, I've always said stuff like, "Wow, it'll be really cool to be at XX weeks..." and then I'd get there and be like, "Wow, it'll be really cool to be at XX weeks..." and then I get there and realize, wow, it's almost over! Woot! Not that I hate being pregnant--I never want to be known as the 'miserable pregnant woman'. I don't wanna be remembered for how much I complained about the amount of weight I'm gaining, or the aches and pains (they're there in abundance... but it's "pain with a purpose!") and I never want to say, "SOMEONE JUST GET THIS CHILD OUT OF ME!!" I am anxious to meet this little blessing that God is giving us, but am trying to enjoy the time I have now to rest and prepare before our lives completely change forever!

In other (related) news, we finished our Bradley class today. It was kinda sad, but now we get to sleep in again on Sundays! Woot! :-) But it is kinda sad... It does signal the beginning of the end to our pregnancy, though! That's exciting! And our instructor was great, and very knowledgable, and we'll definitely let her know when we're in labor! If she wants to come for extra support, I certainly wouldn't tell her no! :-) Of course, we'll have lots of support of our own already, with Jeremy's parents probably being in town at that time (we're gonna cross our fingers that he's not late... EARLY! EARLY! EARLY!) and Katharine will probably be here (she's gonna be our pregnant camera woman!) and of course, Jeremy and when the time is right, a midwife and birth assistant, so it's gonna be a full house! But I'm looking forward to it! I know it sounds crazy, but I'm excited about labor. Yeah, I know I'll probably be singing a different tune when I'm actually in the moment, but I've got a great support person (my wonderful husband) and I'm confident in my God-given ability as a woman to give birth! After all, women have been doing it for thousands of years without the help of drugs. To think that we need them now to be successful is ridiculous! I'm not saying that women who get drugs are weak--I think they're just not properly prepared (Lamaze spends a good chunk of time telling you about all your pain killer choices, after all... they set women up for needing drugs before they ever make it to the delivery room! My Dr, before we switched to a midwife, asked me at our first appt, "So, are you going to get an epidural?" *shakes head*). And there are definitely times when a woman needs a break, and the only way she'll get it is with an epidural (like, really long labor, or longer labor that starts before bed, so Mom is tired, etc...) I just don't want to "give in" before I even have a chance to try.

That, and I hate the after effects of an epidural. I've had one before, and I was groggy for days afterwards, my teeth chattered, I shivered... yeah, it was bad. So I'm determined to let my child come into the world un-drugged! I wanna see if he has the "kicking/latching" reflex. Supposedly, non-medicated babies (babies born to non-medicated mothers) have this kicking reflex where, if place on Mom's abdomen immediately after birth, will, with no assistance, make his way up to Mom's breast, and latch on, within the hour! We saw videos of this in our class, and it was really neat! I wanna try it. And see, unlike hospital births, the midwives won't remove the baby to do their assessments and tests--ultimate bonding time for Mom and baby!

SOOO EXCITING! I can't wait! And afterwards, when I've had my baby without the aid of drugs, and at home in my own bed (don't worry, we've got special instructions on how to make it... we won't have to replace it afterwards!) I can tell the naysayers with confidence, "Yup, I did it, and I wouldn't do it any other way..." :-)

Okay, that's enough of that. We're comin' down to the wire! PS3 launches Friday, Thanksgiving is next week, and then 3 weeks later, we could be parents! If not, we'll have Jeremy's parents in town, Christmas, New Years, and then hopefully baby! woo hoo!

Anyways... that's all I've got for ya today. I'm planning on posting some preggers pics soon. Will try to get that up before my next post. Have a great week!

Ah ha!

I've got the comparison shot for Big Fella's "Separated at Birth" post. Now, it's not the best, but hopefully you'll understand where I'm comin' from with his Brak look-a-likeness.

The link to the original post can be found...... here!

We're bad Americans...

We didn't vote.... Not that it would have mattered from a House of Representatives stand point... But it looks like it might for the Senate! Oh well. We were going to, but it would have required going to Arlington to do so, as we've not updated our address with the voter registration people. Next time, we will definitely be ready to go!

I know, no excuse, but, hey, as of right now (8:48 pm) everything we would have wanted to happen is (minus the House, but we would have needed more than us for that one.)

It's so exciting, though! Like watching a really close football game (only more personal, and a little more important...) Should be an interesting night.

Isn't he cute!

He's so sharp, eh?? He has to 'dress up' at least once a week, now! :-)

This picture doesn't do him justice, though... I took it while sitting down, but you get the idea.

Awww... my handsome man... :-D

Oh my gosh!

Britney Spears has filed for divorce from Kevin Federline!

Okay... now, this shouldn't make me happy, because I'm a firm believer in keeping your marriage vows, but.... well, I'm happy for her.

I know, I know, it's bad to be, but gosh, he was terrible for her! She was a saint for putting up with him as long as she did! She can do so much better!

Now, she probably shouldn't have married him in the first place, but it seemed like she was being young and stupid, and she wanted babies.... I'm sure she's not the first gal that settled for "less than best". She definitely deserves better, in my opinion.

Good luck Britney! America's behind you! Kevin, on the other hand... well, he's toast. No one will find it necessary to play his junk on the radio anymore. He can take his handful of fans, few millions from Britney and move to a deserted island for the rest of his life. I'm sure he'll have fun paying child support on 4 kids for the rest of his life ( not that Britney needs it, but seriously, that man should be snipped... no more babies for him! Please!)

Okay, I feel better now.

Awww! Nice people do exist!

On my way home from work, I stopped at Shoppers (local grocery store, for those who don't know...) to pick up a few things. Had to get some fresh veggies, so I grabbed my celery, carrots, mushrooms, etc, and was trying to find the green beans (all they seemed to have was the long chinese kind... didn't want those...)

As I was walking back to the beginning of the aisle, I walked passed this lady, and heard her say, "How pretty you look." I was confused for a second, but when I looked at her, I saw she was looking right at me, and smiling. A bit dumbfounded that a complete stranger would stop just to give me a compliment (really am not used to that!), all I could muster was an, "Oh, thank you," smiled and kept on walking. :-)

Then I had to leave the produce area--it took all I had to fight the tears that were welling up. I was just so touched that someone would do that! Flabbergasted is probably a better word! It really meant a lot to me. The entire way home, everytime I replayed that scene in my head, I couldn't help but smile and start to get emotional. I wish I could go back and tell her how much that meant.... I felt bad that all I could say was "thank you," though I can't think of a different response that would have been more suitable.

Guess I'm 'glowing'. :-)

"MTV hates black people."

So apparently, being the recipient of a Best Hip Hop Artist award at the MTV Europe Music Awards isn't enough for Kanye West.... When his video for Touch the Sky didn't win Best Video, the fool trotted up on stage and starting fuming about his apparent 'dis'.

"In a tirade riddled with expletives, Kanye said he should have won the prize for his video Touch The Sky, because it "cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons."

"If I don't win, the awards show loses credibility," Kanye said."

Riiiiiiight.....

What a baby.

New Ticker?

I'm thinking about changing Jeremy Jr's ticker... But I can't decide if I like the new one or not.

I need a vote! What do you think???

Do I keep this one:


Or use this new one:


Or switch the original one to a more humorous one:


I was trying to find some other choices, but to no avail... Oh well. Let me know what ya think!

Separated at birth???

Big Fella was sitting on the bed, watching me get ready for work the other day (he's a sick ole cat...) I glanced at him, and the face he was making looked just like Brak from The Brak Show! I swear, they coulda been brothers.... Well, I'm guessing most of you don't know who I'm talking about, so I'll put a pic here for ya... Unfortunately, I don't have the comparrison shot of the cat himself, but you'll get the idea...

UPDATE!!! Obviously, I now have a comparison shot of Big Fella. See it??????

30 Weeks!

We're 30 weeks preggers today! Can I get a "woot!"?

Seriously, though, time is going by quickly (thankfully...) I'm not a very patient person, and this is certainly helping me become one a bit more, but my goodness... I just want my baby! 7-12 more weeks to go! Pretty crazy...

I can't believe November is only days away... And November/December are those months that go by even faster than most (with October usually being the 'hump' month) because you've got major holidays in each one--Thanksgiving gives most of us a 3-day work week, and then Christmas??? Forget it. My company shuts down completely from the friday before 'til after New Years. It's like being back in school again, with Christmas break!

I had a bad dream last night... Well, it was more of a frustratingly hint of reality to come, I guess. Basically, Jeremy Jr was here (someone gave him to us as a gift at our baby shower... lol!) and he just would not, for the life of both of us, figure out the whole breast feeding thing! And so he would cry, which would make me cry, which made him cry more, and he CONSTANTLY had a dirty diaper, so I felt like a bad Mom for not always getting it right away (I mean, everytime I held him, it was dirty... NON-STOP!) So then I'd debate back and forth on whether to change the diaper or try feeding him and so on and so forth.... Yuck. I'm praying for a good baby! I know there's a good chance there will be trouble at the beginning--but that's what the midwife is there for. She won't leave until we've got the hang of it. And I bought "the book", The Womanly Art of Breasftfeeding. Supposedly, this is the Bible of breastfeeding. So hopefully, he and I will get it figured out quickly and not get too frustrated.

Anyways, time to go work on Jeremy Jr's room. We're painting it "Allegra Blue".... Oooo...

Oh, and Jeremy wants me to say, "Jeremy's the bestest in the world... I love him, he's the best... I need to go now so I can cook for Jeremy, 'cause he's the best...."

Finally! A solution to our "cat" problems I approve of!

**WARNING** Do NOT read the following if you are a cat lover--you will most likely end up hating me. :-) And I know by saying that, you are even more curious to read than you were before I mentioned it. Just realize.... I DID warn you.

Everyone knows I am not a big fan of "Big Fella", the 16 lb Spawn of Satan that inhabits our home (much to my dismay...) As we approach the birth of our child, I have had concerns about this feline and the frustrations he will cause, especially when I'm trying to do motherly things, such as nurse or coax my child to sleep (I have a feeling this will be "his" cue to act up...)

Well, I found a solution to the problem at Halfbakery's website. A few highlights I found particularly interesting....

"Set up a Tesla Coil in the back yard which is triggered by proximity. Unlike the "invisible pet fence" the coil would send a charge sufficient to render your pet unconscious."

"I originally tested this using a small catapult and a whole chicken and other than the 3rd degree burns at the point of contact it was utterly fool proof."

"The cat has not tried to jump the fence ,but rather spends most of the day hiding under the couch, only appearing long enough to use litter box. I have also notice the cat seems to be less intelligent (not possible for Big Fella), not recognizing its name when called and it drools profusely (could be messy...)."

I'm pretty sure this is a joke.... well, let's hope so. :-) Don't get me wrong, I wish no harm on Big Fella--that's just not right. However.... My child comes first. If Big Fella even sniffs Jeremy Jr. in a way that causes me to worry, he's outta here. I just think it would be for everyone's good if that happened sooner rather than later. Oh well. If anyone has any good suggestions, please let me know!

Wait! I just had an idea! Could this be a possible solution to our immigration problem....??? Why build a fence! They'll learn pretty quick that running cross that border will NOT be a fun trip. Huh? HUH??? Am I on to something or what?! :-) I'm gonna write my congressman a letter.

Happy 100th!

Post, that is. Apparently, the previous post here was the 100th post on our blog... Not too shabby, I guess. :-) We'll have to have a big celebration when we hit 1000. That seems to be a bit more of an accomplishment.

Anyways, just thought I'd give y'all a brief rundown on the week thus far. I'd say overall, it's been a good week. Busy, but good (aren't they all busy at this point?) I've got a special event to do at a Best Buy today, so that's gonna eat up most of it, since it's from 12-3 (I'll get there around 11:30 or so, if all goes according to plan...) But I'll be glad when the week is officially over. We were going to head to my parent's house for the night, but they sound pretty busy this weekend, so we may just stick to the homestead. That's fine with me, there is plenty that can be done around here, that's for sure. Anyone want an apple pie???

Jeremy Jr's been pretty active as of late. He's at that stage in development where if he moves even just a little, his whole tiny body moves and I feel it from the top of my stomach to the bottom. Usually he's awake when I'm trying to fall asleep at night, but it seems that lately, he's been a good boy during the night, and doesn't start moving again until I start moving in the morning. But when he moves, boy, does he move! It's cute, though. :-) We're in the homestretch!

And that's enough for now. Time to get ready for work. Hope everyone has a spiffy weekend!

Glad I wrote this this morning...

...because, just as I thought, moods change. :-) Not that I'm in a bad mood--just too tired to come up with anything like this! Glad the day is over. Enjoy!

I don’t usually blog from my car, but today deserves special attention. I’m just in a good mood, and those usually don’t last ‘til the end of the workday, so better get my thoughts down now while they’re still fresh (and hopefully, I won’t get carpal tunnel as a result of holding my laptop against my steering wheel…)I’ve got this great worship CD that I’ve been listening to a lot, and it always helps start my day off right, even if it can’t keep me there all along the way. One of my favorite tracks is “My Glorious” performed by Delirious?. It’s just a powerful tune to remind us of how God’s in control of everything, and in all things we should praise Him (especially since one day, “Every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” or, “My Glorious!” My favorite lines from the chorus really make me tear up everytime, no matter what’s going on my life at that moment:

“God is bigger than the air I breathe, the world we’ll leave. And God will save the day, and all will say, MY GLORIOUS!”

In a world where there is so much chaos, so much hurt, so much destruction, so much fear, it’s comforting to know that God is bigger than all of it, that He is ultimately the one in control, and that He is faithful to His people. Does that mean that we won’t encounter hard times? Hurt? Destruction? Fear? No! Of course not. That’s what Heaven is for—this world is NOT Heaven. This world is where we stay for a short time, to learn and love, and share with others the love of God. Heaven is an un-earned reward—we can’t achieve it on our own merit; It is only through the grace of God that we are saved, after all.

Jeremy and I have seen God’s hand working in our lives in dramatic ways since we met. No small chance that we met the way we did (on eHarmony.com)—we had both been on there before, gotten off, and decided to give it another shot THE SAME EXACT WEEK as each other. And to think that we almost didn’t start talking because I weirded Jeremy out with my secret desires to be a ninja…. God obviously helped Jeremy see past that.

Throughout our relationship, God blessed us, and ultimately we married and were blessed some more! God helped us realize that the best place for me (for a time) was home, and blessed Jeremy at his job while we I quit mine. He then blessed us both again (within weeks of each other) with new jobs that we both love, and now He’s blessing us again with our first child. There are too many “perfect timings”, “coincidences”, “ya don’t say”, “weird” stuff that happens for it to be by chance. I can look back at the past couple of years and clearly see God shaping and molding our lives, ultimately, for His Glory.

It’s exciting to think about what God has in store for us. This morning, before work, Jeremy and I prayed together about Jeremy Jr., our jobs, our day, our week. It was so precious to hear my husband praying for his unborn son, and the “blessing” that he has already been, and I’m sure, will continue to be to us. I can definitely see how God has been working in His life, as he now gets up early for work to put in a good day, wakes up even earlier on Wednesdays to attend First Light, an early morning Bible study for men, just how he leads our family, because it’s the Biblical and Godly thing to do. How could I not be proud of him!

We have some wonderful Christian friends now, which is awesome. It’s so great to be able to say, “Hey, we need help with this or that…” and people actually say, “I’ll help!” We have a wonderful church that has a ministry specifically to help young couples (such as ourselves) grow together in maturity in Christ, to build strong, Christ centered marriages that will ultimately impact the Kingdom. We have loving parents, who are also Christ centered in their lives, who support us, pray for us, and encourage us. Really, we couldn’t ask for more.

The faithfulness that God has shown us is incredible. And even though Thanksgiving is still several weeks away, I can’t help but BE thankful for all He’s done, all He’s given, and all I know He’ll give. I just hope I can live a faithful life in return.

All Good!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I got the thumbs up from the midwives today. They called me during dinner to tell me that the results of my bloodwork came in and everything was a-o-k! My glucose tested at 118 (anything below 140, I believe, is normal), so they were happy with that (I was a bit concerned because I had had an Instant Breakfast for breakfast, and it's a bit high in sugar, but obviously, not a problem!) They were just a little concerned about my iron--it's a little low. Probably because I'm really bad at taking my prenatal vitamins... Haven't taken it in a week or so. I guess I'd better try harder at that.

YAY! I feel better. I wasn't expecting a phone call (thought they'd be like most doctors offices, who only call if there's a problem... So for a sec, I was like, "Aww, crap..."), but am very pleased it was good news.

Only 8-13 weeks to go now!! Woot! It's kinda hard to believe... In as little as 8 weeks, we'll be parents! I know I say that every week, but y'know, it's just so surreal right now... I definitely never doubt that it's going to happen--Jeremy Jr. won't let me forget that he's there for a second! I'm just looking forward to work being done and over with so that I can enjoy just being a wife and a mom... :-)

God is so good! :-)

What's going on...

Just so you know, I have been trying to post about my "Surprise Shower" for some time now, but blogger isn't liking the photos I've been trying to link up, and instead has been replacing them with the same two or three over and over again (too bad they're photos I don't particularly care for...) So I've given up for now, and will try again later. It was a fantastic time, though! I've never had a surprise party of any kind thrown for me before, and I felt SOOOOOO blessed and loved! Every single person there deserves a huge hug and THANK YOU, and I'm so glad to be surrounded by such wonderful people at this time in our lives.

That being said, the awesomeness of that day makes for a very tough week following it, as no day, no matter how good, can compare. Not that it's been a bad week... Just tiring.... Everything is tiring nowadays... And Jeremy Jr. kicked me real good the other day.... I feel like my belly is bruised from the inside out.... Not too happy about that, especially since he continues to kick me there over and over and over.... arga barga! I guess it's kinda cute... although if he continues to kick Mommy after he's born, we'll have some issues to deal with...

Had to do a glucose test today... Basically, it's to see how well your body handles sugar. You're given this super sweet (like syrup, but a liquid consistency) drink, and ya gulp it down, and they draw your blood an hour later. Blaaaaaaah.... needles.... Hopefully I passed, because if not, you have to do a 3 hour version, which requires being stuck with needles 4! times... Not fun... I won't find out for a few days how I did, but hopefully all is well.

Cleaned out Jeremy Jr's room last night... I was upset that it had become "Big Fella's" room, in that his box and food and water were taking up a lot of it, and just looking gross... So I dealt with it--'til 1 am this morning. But now, it's empty, ready to be painted, and much better than it used to be! So I'm happy about that. Amazingly, Jeremy slept through all my banging, and vacuuming, and lights on, etc, etc... Had it been the other way around, I would have woken up as soon as the light turned on in the hallway.... Just not a heavy sleeper. I guess that will come in handy once Jeremy Jr. joins us.

Tomorrow, we leave for Michigan to attend Jeremy's Grandfather's wedding. Luckily, we have direct flights there and back, and it's only about 1.5 hours, so it shouldn't be too bad. Still not happy about being stuck in a tiny seat on an airplane for that long, but it could be worse.... 1.5 hours on a plane is far better than 14 hours in a car. :-)

Much happier!

Mood today: PEACHY!

I feel much better today! My friends... my wonderful friends... threw me a surprise baby shower! I feel so special! They worked so hard on everything, it was just so great! They really went all out!

:-)

This is a serious "feely" booster for me! So THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who helped make it super-special... I really needed a boost.

I'll post more on this later, I just wanted to let everyone know that my sour mood from yesterday is gone. :-)

Thanks especially to Katharine, Layton, Allison, and Sunny! They were the masterminds behind this event. You gals are awesome, and I'm so blessed to have you as friends! Oh, and my wonderful husband Jeremy, who kept the surprise from me since the begining! I'm so impressed! Thank you so much!

Blah

Not happy tonight. The day went well enough... and then I came home... and that went well enough... And then I tried to find something to wear for a party tonight.... That didn't go very well. Nothing looks good, nothing fits right, nothing is comfortable.... And to top it off, the stupid Directv people didn't show up until almost 5, when we were supposed to leave at 5.

1-5 pm window my @$$ (told you I wasn't happy)

So now I still have nothing to wear, no tv to watch, no party to go to, and probably no shoes to wear. My winter coat is in a box somewhere (where, I don't know) and it's chilly outside... I don't really feel like going to any parties, or any socials or anything right now. I just wanna put my pajamas on and go to bed.

But I can't. We did commit to going to this party. And I want to go (does that make sense?). I just don't feel like going.

It's getting cold in here, from the stupid door being open so the stupid directv people can do what they need to do (the guy himself is not stupid... just the fact that they had to send someone out here to fix what should have been done right in the first place! and it sounds like they're going to have to come out again.... grumble grumble...)

Did I mention our house is a mess and that's bugging me?? Stupid work keeps sendin me more stupid junk... We've got boxes EVERYWHERE! And we just threw a bunch out last weekend.

I'm approaching the breaking point...

Does this seem appropriate to you???

See? And everyone thought I was crazy for calling Big Fella "gay". :-)

Goodbye 2nd Trimester....

....hello 3rd!

Am I the onlyone who's a bit freaked out by that??

Don't get me wrong, I'm not 'scared' in the traditional sense.... Just... I dunno, weirded out? I dunno, maybe the realization that Jeremy and I will soon be "parents", responsible for another human beings life (Big Fella is not a human... so the whole "Jeremy's Baby" comparison is a moot point... You might as well compare apples with primordial slime.... that's a better comparison. :-) My parents are going to be grandparents, for the first time... Jeremy's parents are going to be grandparents for the first time.... My GRAND-parents are going to be GREAT-grandparents for the very first time (we're trying to figure out what that makes them, because they're Portuguese, and we call them Avo' [long 'o' sound] and Avo [short 'o' sound] so I don't know if that'll make them Avo-avo' and Avo-avo, or Avo'-gran and Avo-gran or something else... need to look that one up).... Ben (Jeremy's brother) and my brothers, Jason, James and Stephin (who is only 13) are going to be UNCLES for the first time.... My Uncles and Aunts are going to be GREAT-Uncles and GREAT-Aunts (and, as Jason would say, not because they're nice guys...) It's daunting... This kid is bringing a lot of FIRSTS to our families... Pretty crazy.

Anyways, just thought I'd let y'all know that. We're watching the Redskins get roughed up right now... Laurence and Katharine will not be happy.... Steelers don't play 'til tonight, so we'll actually get to go to church and the Union.

The first week of October is officially over! The year continues to fly by...

Update: Found the Portuguese translation for grandparents... they'll be Grande-Avo' and Grande-Avo--this is suitting for my Grandfather, as he's a big guy, but I don't think my Grandmother will appreciate being referred to as "Grande". As someone at dinner last night mentioned, it sounds like a new Starbucks drink or something.

And.... we're back!

We have returned from the mountains, and I'm happy to report that we have not become "country" despite our extended exposure to such living. Well, there wasn't much about our trip that you would consider country, I guess... We were in a cabin, in the mountains, somewhat secluded (with our own private hot tub--wink wink, nudge nudge ;-) for 3 nights, and I'm very glad to be home. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time... It was just.... 'eventful'. :-) Well, here, I'll explain.

We arrived Tuesday evening, a little later than originally planned (we had wanted to leave at noon or one and take Skyline Dr, but we woke up at 11... So that didn't happen.) Got there around 5:10, checked in, unloaded, and hit the hot tub! Don't worry, we turned it down so as to not hurt Jeremy Jr (we kept it between 96-99 while there). After we'd had enough of that, we started to figure out dinner plans, and then realized, DUH DUH DUHHHHHHNNNNNNNN! We'd forgotten Jeremy's CPAP (if ya don't know what that is, Google it--lots of info there) at home. Now, we realized this shortly before 8 pm... Which meant either him trying to sleep without it (and snoring all night, which would have kept me up= no sleep for either of us) and getting it in the morning, or driving back home that night, picking it up, and driving back. We chose the later. So back in the car we go for another 2 hr drive, picked up his machine, and headed back on the road. We got back to the cabin around midnight, and basically crashed after that point. Thank goodness we had decided to go somewhere semi-close.

The rest of the week wasn't really eventful, but it had it's moments (more on those in a minute). We spent our time mostly relaxing (hot tub-TV-eat-hot tub-TV-eat, repeat), but we did get out Wednesday. Headed to an Amish type market (Yoders Country Store), got some spices and cooking stuff CHEAP, some fresh milk (chocolate, of course, that's why there are brown cows), meats, cheeses, breads, goodies, (seedlings gum for me, much to Jeremy's dismay--I tend to swallow chewing gum, so I've been told to try 'spitting it out', but what's the fun in that?! Seriously, who does that????) etc... Spent uber bucks, but it was worth it. I love those places, they should have them around here for me to shop at.

We headed to Charlottesville Mall to get some shopping done that we'd been putting off (new clothes for Jeremy, girl stuff for me, etc) so on and so forth... Had a nice dinner Thursday at The Lafayette Inn (fried green tomatoes.... mmmmmm.... although theirs was so and so... didn't taste like fried, tasted more like baked, but good enough I guess). And then we left to come home today, around 11 (we did stop at Yoder's on our way out, though). We made it home, through lots of rain, around 2 pm. It's good to be home.

Okay, so back to the 'eventful' side of things.. This may be kind of embarrassing for me, but I don't really care, so here goes. So, I was a bit freaked out by the "remoteness" of our location. It was nice during the day, but at night, I had the toughest time sleeping. I was subconsciously convinced that someone was gonna try to break into our cabin while we slept--or that there was someone watching us while we in the hot tub (but only at night, when you can't see anything 5 ft or more away...) or something! It didn't help that the first night we were there, I had a dream that a cop had chased someone down around the cabin, but that guy shot the cop and then said he was gonna go "shoot those people in the cabin next!" YIKES! Yeah, so I didn't sleep well this week. Last night, I had to get up and pee (like I usually do), but was too afraid to go downstairs to do so by myself (yes, I am an adult, and yes, I'm being serious). I had to wake Jeremy up to come with me (which he did! Awww, he's so sweet...) It didn't help that the bathroom was at the end of the kitchen, the door to it in plain view of the outside door (which was glass and had no curtains on it--pretty stupid if you ask me...)

Yeah... I'm glad to be home.

And that's it. I'm pretty sure Jeremy Jr has flipped and is now head down. Hopefully he stays that way. 10-15 weeks to go!

We are outta here!

Hi all, the precious few who read our blog....

Jeremy and I are leaving today. We're heading to the Blue Ridge Mountains for some much needed R&R. We'll be back on Friday, so don't do anything too exciting while we're gone! :-)

Someone wanna look after Big Fella? Aww, he'll be fine, I guess. We've left him for longer periods before.

Okay, so we'll talk later! Have a fun week!

~us wilcox types

And the blessings keep poureth-ing from Heaven....

Do ya think it's too big????

New Date

:-(

I'm no longer 26 weeks pregnant... I'm now 25 weeks and 4 days.

:-(

We went to Birthcare today for our first appointment with the midwives now that we've decided to go with a homebirth. Well, they way to make sure your due date is as accurate as possible, and the furthest away as possible, so that in case you go late (longer than 42 weeks) you're hitting their cut off date as late as possible (to give your body more time to do things naturally, like begin labor!) So they nixed the whole Jan. 3rd date for Jan. 7th, since that's more accurate (the 3rd date was based on an ultrasound size, which the midwives don't use).

So I'm a little sad... I was enjoying being at 26 weeks... But, it's only a 4 day difference, so now I'll be celebrating my new "weeks" every Monday instead of Wednesday.

In other news, we're pretty close to selling my car. Some gal from MD is coming tonight to put a down payment on it, with the rest coming tomorrow. She's paying what we're asking, which is great, considering it's a little more than the loan payoff amount. However, we did still list it slightly below bluebook, so we feel it's a fair price for everyone. So that's good. Jeremy will definitely be glad when this week is over with, as it's the last week of the month AND the quarter, which makes for very stressful times for him. Needless to say, we'll be enjoying our vacation next week! I'm dubbing it, THE BABYMOON. :-)

And that's all folks.

Just so ya know...

Nothin's really going on here. We had a pretty low-key weekend. It was my Mom's birthday Sunday, so we had lunch-ner with them at Bonefish Grill. Of course, we had to miss the 2nd half of the Steelers game... which is probably why they lost, because they didn't have their #1 fan rootin' for 'em (Jeremy, of course). But that's water under the bridge, or over the dam, or whatever you want. :-)

Now, we're just back to work stuff. :-P I'll be glad when that's over.

Something cool, though, that premeired tonight. Heroes is a new series on NBC that follows the life of seemingly ordinary people, and the extraordinary abilities they come to find. Pretty neat stuff. Being a comic buff, I enjoy shows like this. Hopefully future episodes are as interesting and fulfilling as the season premeire. You should check it out.

And.... that's it. Only 99 days to go 'til Jeremy Jr. makes his grand appearance (or around there... for all we know, it could have 99 days to go for a couple of weeks now....)

Woot.

Date night!

Tonight... we had a date. Which hasn't happened in a while. I mean, we go out, but not with the sole purpose of just being together.

And it was fun. We saw a movie (Little Miss Sunshine--nothing else was playing! But it was actually pretty good...), grabbed some kabobs for dinner, and now we're home.

But all I really wanted to say is.....

Tonight, we had a date. It was fun. Now it's bedtime. Goodnight.

Stuffed.

I ate too much. Well, I didn't eat too much, I ate what I needed to eat--there's just not a lot of room for it to hang out right now. I had a late lunch, and by the time I got home from my Soon-To-Be Mom's class, I was ready for some FOOD. I really wanted chicken kabobs, with the curry rice, and the naan bread with the yogurt mint sauce (yum!), but Jeremy didn't want to put on a real shirt so we could go there.... So I had to come up with something of my own here at home. This is more tricky than usual, because now I'm following the Brewers Diet, which puts a lot of emphasis on protein, and eating well balanced. I actually find it's easier to follow this than just "adding 300 calories" because I have a checklist of things to check off everyday, and a protein goal to hit. So I eat what I need to eat to make sure Jeremy Jr comes out happy and HEALTHY, and also to make sure I'm eating what I need to stay happy and healthy. And I don't mind doing it! You just re-prioritize what you might normally eat.

For example. A quick fix dinner for me would have been leftover lasagna. However, there's no meat in there, and while I might get some protein from the cheese, I would have to eat a lot of it to get what I needed. And I still needed to get another veggie in, some more milk, fruit and an egg (two a day is the goal, 4 servings of milk, 1 fruit, 3 veggies, etc, etc...) So instead of lasagna, I ate an egg salad sandwich (one egg, one grain), fresh broccoli with blue cheese dip (one veggie, I'll count the dip as a fat [which I need 3 of per day]), a chicken chili verde burrito (22g of protein, one "protein" [what they call it instead of meat, since you could also have beans or something similar], and the tortilla counts as a grain) which I topped with some cheese and sour cream (another fat and milk). Washed it all down with some Italian Orange Soda (made with real juice, so I'm counting that as my Vit C [I had other things today that help make that up, too]), and then some Gelati (vanilla soft serve with cherry gelati) and a pluot for dessert.

That's a LOT of food.

But I had to get it all in for Jeremy Jr. The great thing is, I eat what I need to eat, I don't go overboard on what I don't, and I don't feel guilty for being full, because I know I'm eating what I need to eat for BOTH of us.

And I don't care what anyone says, I'm still gonna eat peanut butter during my pregnancy and probably beyond--no one in my family (or Jeremy's, at least that I know of) has a history of peanut allergies, so I'm all good. :-) Hey, it's healthier than regular butter on toast in the morning (and an extra boost of protein to boot!)

Needless to say, we've already gotten a lot out of the Bradley Method class. :-)

Woo hoo! 25 Weeks!

Only 15 more week, or 105 days to go! Good, 'cause this kid is already getting heavy, and we've still got a ways left! For the first time yesterday, I got physically tired, not in an overall sense, just in my belly--it was just hangin' there, pullin' me forward, and just really kinda sore by the end of the day.

What am I gonna be like in December?!?!?!? :-) At least it's not twins.

Anyways, here's a pic of me at 20 weeks (it's the only one we've, well, I've taken so far--we've got the camera ready to go, so I'll try to get one from this week up as a comparison. I feel like I've ballooned in the past few weeks, but it could just be me...) See how flat my hair is??? That's from the severe lack of humidity in Las Vegas (and see my nice hotel bathroom?? Fancy, eh? That's the Four Seasons for ya!)

This doesn't look so good...

Right now, Jeremy and I are "watching" the game. That is, the Steelers vs. Jaguars game... And by watching, I mean Jeremy is at the gym peddling the bike and watching it there, while Jeremy Jr is flipping around and I keep up to date on the play by plays online.

Our Directv should be installed by Friday afternoon. (Thank God!)

And as of right now, the score is Jacksonville 3, Steelers 0, and with less than 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter...

And the Jags are on the 15.....

I can't watch.

UPDATE: Well, there's still 6 minutes left... We could still score a touchdown and WIN! WOO!

UPDATE #2: AN INTERCEPTION! BIG BEN WAS INTERCEPTED! BEEEEEEEN! YOU CAN'T LET THAT KIND OF THING HAPPEN RIGHT NOW!!!! ARRRRRGH!

It's okay.......... we can still get the ball back, and get a touchdown...... we've been in situations like this before.... Just don't let them SCORE AGAIN!

UPDATE #3: Jags 9, Steelers.... well, you know....

Grumble grumble.....

LAST UPDATE: We had the ball at the 2 min warning.... Ben passed for an interception... it was returned to the 2.

:(

Sweet sweet justice for the Washington Redskins

...and for football fans in general (unless you're a TO fan, and maybe if you're a Cowboys fan, but I know not many of either of those exist.) :-)

I know it's mean, but the first thing I did when I read this article is laugh... HAA HAA HAA, TO!! HA HA HA!!!!!

I'm sorry your team didn't win, Laurence and Katharine! Does this help at all??

Not much goin' on...

Just thought I'd tell ya that. It's been a busy week, with small group, Soon-to-be-Mom's class, visiting Birthcare and trying to find a Bradley Method Class that works with out schedule.... The weekend started out just as crazy; We had dinner at a friend's house last night, Jeremy had Awakening Fest to help out at (I was also supposed to help, but lucky for me, Jeremy's co-worker Michael, was kind enough to take my place) and tomorrow, our first class starts AND we get to go out to Manassas to watch my Mom paint on stage. Oh and she just got a new job--with my Dad, of all people! :-) Well, for the same company, different offices. So they now get to enjoy the 3-4 hour roundtrip commute together.

And that's about it. Jeremy Jr's been pretty active lately, which is fun. Sometimes it feels like he's practicing his karate (usually using my bladder as a target, no less....) Jeremy thinks he's gonna be born with a PS2 controller in his hands (especially with all the Sony info I'm spoonfed for work!) Well, for my sake, I HOPE NOT! If he rolls out at 7.5 lbs, and no controllers, I'll be fine with that. :-)

Okay, that really IS about it. We'll talk later. :-)

At least 12 shot at Montreal College

See? We're not the only ones with problems....

It's official!

I'm pregnant. :-) I know we've confirmed that before, but today, for the very first time, a complete stranger asked me, "When are you due??" Now, for all the skinny-minny preggers gals out there, that's not a big deal--heck, by the time they're 6 months, they're probably sick and tired of people asking them, "When are you due? Boy or girl? Do you have a name picked out? blah blah blah." But for the gal who's further along than some of the other preggers I've been around, it kinda hurts when people comment about them, and say nothing about me. I've been looking forward to the day when it would become more obvious.

And I'm not even wearing a maternity shirt! I'm wearing the stupid Playstation work shirts that were 3x too big on me before I was pregnant, and they're still big on me now!

Yay. I happy. :-)

PS3 vs. XB 360 vs. Nintendo Wii

I just wanted to say that I'm sick of all the petty controversies surrounding "who will win the next gen system wars???!!!!" It's a simple answer: no one. This isn't the lat 80's and the 90's where only one system reigned supreme, and caused all other systems to dissolve away into the void (R.I.P. Dreamcast... You were awesome! We miss you!) I believe that all three systems will co-exist, and that their market shares will probably even out moreso then they've been in the past (PS2 vs. XB vs. Gamecube; 60% vs. 30% vs. 10% market share).

I'll be glad when I no longer hafta pimp out any particular system. I have no beef with the XB or the Wii... I'm glad they're there. They make the world go round.

Okay, just wanted to get that off my chest. :-)

Ah the weekend...

Weekends are great. And I mean great as in AWESOME GREAT! The only problem with weekends, though, is that they end, and then you hafta worry about having "a case of the mondays". Booo... At least tomorrow, I have a conference call 1st thing in the morning. Helps get me up and motivated. That just means no sleeping 'til 9, so I can leave by 10... Oh well, better start trying to get used to sleepless mornings, right?

I had interesting dreams last night. Granted, I have interesting dreams every night, it seems, but most of them are not blog-worthy (like the scary one where I was in a store, and for some reason, trusted this total stranger to take care of my baby, only to find out later in the day, that he was a cannibal and had eaten him... I think even my sub-conscious realized this was too horrific for anyone to experience, so it covered it up by saying it was a movie, and it wasn't true, so I had nothing to worry about.... riiiiiiight... I still woke up crying, needing to cuddle with Jeremy to feel re-assured--okay, that was way too much of a tangent.) Not that last night's dreams were particularly 'blogworthy', but I figured if it was interesting enough for me to share with Jeremy, it was interesting enough to put on the blog? Well, that's my theory and I'm stickin' with it!

So the first dream I remember involved me working, and Stephin was tagging along with me (as he sometimes did during the summer.) We stopped at the Target in Potomac Yard (a couple of miles from the Pentagon, for you non-NOVAtians), and I went in, started doing my thing... But then I noticed Stephin was no longer with me. Turns out, you had to show you're ID to prove you were of "shopping age" in order for you to enter the store. I tried explaining to the gal that he was with me, and that he was too young to have an ID, and she said, "well, then he can't go in," or some crap like that. This episode ended with me cursing up a storm (I get very vulgar in my dreams....) at the stupid gal, swearing I would never shop at that store again, and so on and so forth. Then, for some reason, it took us over 2 hours to get home that night. I dunno, weird.

I think a lot of it had to do with a combination of recent events: it probably took place at Target because of the stupid lady I encountered there in May? June? a while back (it's in the blog somewhere), followed by a gal at Wal-Mart telling me Friday that I could not bring my purse into the stock room when I went to sign in and out of the vendor log (why, I don't know, because they allow my laptop bag and pull bag... just not my purse), and finally, the carding thing because yesterday we were at Costco, and we don't have a membership, but are thinking of getting one, and they were carding people at the door (we just snuck in around some people while the guy wasn't looking...) So probably all that stuff put together = my dream.

The 2nd dream was a little more.... realistic? Well, maybe not. You decide. It was Thanksgiving time, and we were in the middle of a huge ice storm. Yet, our small group and some other friends still managed to get together for Thanksgiving dinner (on the Wednesday before [I know it was wednesday because I was excited to not have anymore work that week, after just coming off a three day weekend... man, I'm lazy, huh?] at some random restaurant). We just hung out and chatted, and I guess I thought that Jeremy Jr was gonna make his appearance soon (my brother James was born in the middle of a terrible snow storm), and I was telling everyone how I hoped I would go into labor in the morning after having a nice full night's sleep, so that I wouldn't be so exhausted throughout the process (this probably stems from the fact that last time I did the whole labor thing, I went to bed at midnight, and woke up at 2 am with contractions, and delivered at 2 pm later that day---exhausted! Took me... well, a long time to recover... Probably 3 weeks or so. Of course, the depression may have had something to do with that... Anyways!) The following day (Thanksgiving) we woke up, and no sign of Jeremy Jr. Which is fine, considering that would have made him about 5 weeks early. Not terrible, but not ideal, either. So we'll see if that holds true. And I am hoping for the AM labor, vs a PM labor, but hey, as long as I don't hafta get induced, or a C-Section, whichever way he appears will be okay with me.

Oh yeah, and during that ice storm, Steve Irwin appeared--he poked his head through the window of the house I grew up in, in his khaki shorts (we're still in an ice storm...), asking for donations for his zoo or something. I guess Stephin had been in the same "accident" that cost Steve his life last week, but both of them had survived (in my dream, Steve asked Stephin, "How ya holdin' up there, buddy? You okay? Great!") Yeah, that Stephin's a fighter!

On a related note, it's very sad that Steve Irwin is gone... He was a cool guy, and from what I hear, a really good guy, too. It's unfortunate he's dead, but that is an inevitable part of life... We'll all die at some point, whether by sting ray or natural cause. I hope his wife and kids can recover from this tragic event.

Okay, that's too sad of a note to end this post on, so I'll just say we're only a few days away from bein' 6 months (technically speaking, if going by the 4 week months instead of the lunar months... Although even the lunar months start the 3rd trimester [and 7th month] at the 28th week mark, so I guess I am right! Woot!) Time is flying by, and thankfully so. This week is gonna be crazy, but at least it will go by quickly. Tuesday, Jeremy and I are going to Birthcare to check them out and see if we want to go with them to deliver Jeremy Jr or if we're gonna stick with my psycho doctor. Wednesday is Small Group/Soon-to-Be-Mom's class, Thursday we get a break, but then the weekend is nuts. Friday dinner with friends (should be lots of fun!), Saturday, we're doing security for Awakening Fest, and Sunday, my Mom's gonna be painting on stage during praise and worship at their church's Sunday night service. So that should be okay, since it doesn't really require much of us--just showing up! Yay!

Okay, then, that's better. Time to go 'start the day' (and kick Jeremy off of the XBox 360--which is making a lot of noise, by the way... and we just swapped it out a month or so ago! Junk! Cheap American Junk!) Oh, and if you're familiar with the whole video game industry, and follow what's going on with the XBox, PSP, Gamecube, and if you've ever shopped at Gamestop (or EB Games), check out this video... It's kinda vulgar (okay... it's very vulgar, especially on the part of the PSP), but very amusing for those industry insiders who "know". You've been warned...

Another bright season lies ahead...

The Steelers kicked off the football season this year, beating the Miami Dolphins 28-17. It was a CRAZY game! The first quarter was boring--neither team could manage more than an occasional 1st down... 2nd quarter, we started picking things up, and by half time, was having a lot of hope for Batch, our backup Quarterback (does that make him a Quarterback-back?)

Beginning of the 3rd quarter, I thought we'd left our team in the locker room as we just let run after run, and pass completed after pass.... Then we came back... then we "dropped" the ball at the 1 yard line (Baaaaaaaatch!). But Polamalu redeemed us with a pick, that we then converted to a touchdown, and then in the 4th quarter, Porter picked off Culpepper for a TOUCHDOWN, and that was about it. No more points for the Dolphins.

So, not a bad game... I was impressed at times, disappointed at times, scared at times, bored at times, but over-all, it was worth staying up late for.

Steelers 28
Dolphins 17

OMIGOSH! IT'S SURI CRUISE!

All I have to say is...

She sure looks like she could be alien spawn.
:-)

Geek.

I didn't think this was cool until he got to the middle of the song.... And then I thought, "What a geek."
But a cool, devoted, talented geek! Rock on, Mario Geek!

I think I may have over done it....

Today, Jeremy asked me to "show" him the inventory of clothes we have for the baby.... He thinks I've been going crazy. My Mom says it's silly to get so many clothes when that's all people are gonna wanna buy for us at our shower.... :-/ Well, I wanted to prove 'em wrong, so I laid it all out!

I think they may have been right....

Well, kinda sorta. For newborn, we're STOCKED! We've got some 35 onesies, 6 sleepers, and 6 gowns (though those gowns will probably work through 6 months). Now, most of those (probably about 20) onesies are from Andie. So technically, it isn't my fault. :-) I'll just make sure to change 'em two or three times a day, just cause I can. It'll save me some laundry, if nothing else, for the first couple of weeks.

Now, the rest of the months, we're fairing more evenly on. We do have a lot of clothes clothes for the 3-6 month age, however, we still need socks, and maybe some plain white onesies (you can bleach those when the diaper gets a bit over-soiled... I'd rather do that, then hafta worry about the cutsy ones...) And we only have a few days worth of clothes for the 6-9 month stage (which will probably be the 3-6 for us...)

So, I guess the rule of thumb for all those folks interesting in buying clothes for Jeremy Jr is to BUY BIG! Anything 6+ months (or plain white onesies and socks for 3-6) will be very graciously accepted. :-) You people are so nice.

Da d'daaaaaaaa!

We are officially 5 months pregnant (and in our 6th month)! Thank gooodness the time is going by more quickly now. Can anyone tell me where August went? Anybody? Still trying to figure that one out...

Rain rain rain... Blah. Don't get me wrong, I like rainy days, but there are a couple of reasons I don't like them RIGHT NOW!

1) It makes for a very dark morning, which makes the difficult task of getting up and out even more difficult.

2) It's freakin' cold outside! Like, seriously C-O-L-D! Even Jeremy was cold. I'm sorry, I can't remember the last time it was in the 50's... It's been awhile.

Did I mention it was cold?

Thanks a lot Er-nest-o! Stupid hurricanes with it's stupid wind that blows my stupid umbrella inside out.... I know, it's not a hurricane anymore. Sheesh. Everyone's a critic.

How annoying...

Okay, so apparently a Houston Grandmother was shot and robbed by her 21 year old grandson. That---is sad. What's incredibly frustrating, though, is the way in which the "reporter" reports this news. Now, I'm no jounalist, but I'm pretty sure when you're writing an article about something, you're not just simply typing out your lines of notes.

The grandson of a 75-year-old woman found shot to death in her home has been arrested and charged with her killing, officials told KPRC Local 2.

Houston police said Sean Saunders, 21, was arrested in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Houston police said Sean Saunders confessed to killing his grandmother, Dorothy Saunders.

Dorothy Saunders was found dead in her home in the 3000 block of Shady Park Drive on Sunday. She had been shot in the head, police said.

Police said the car missing from Dorothy Saunders' home was recovered in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Police said there was no forced entry into the home, and the door was bolted from the inside, indicating that the killer was someone she knew.

Relatives said they suspected Sean Saunders the entire time.

Family members said that a family friend called police to report seeing Sean Saunders driving Dorothy Saunders' car.

See what I mean? And for a second here, I thought it was going to get better, but it reverts back to it's original format:

Dorothy Saunders' neighbors said they are shocked that a family member allegedly took her life.

"A relative come out and of no where and kills her for money, her purse and a car," neighbor Charlie Musick said. "He shot her three times in the head. Come on, your grandmother?"

Houston police said Sean Saunders has been charged with capitial murder and will be extradited to Houston soon.

Surely I am not the only one who is annoyed by this?? I don't think it's the pregnancy this time... I could be wrong... Am I wrong???

Happy thoughts!

Okay, so things have improved greatly since our last post.

First, the power went out at about 7:45. Yes, this sucked, especially when you don't know WHY the power went out. All of our neighbors had power, it was just us. So of course we argued about who didn't pay the electric bill, or if someone had run into the house and we didn't notice or WHATEVER! Eventually, we were able to get intouch with Dominion (the folks who do our power), and they said they would send someone out (therefore, probably not a bill thing.) We then got intouch with our property's maintenance folks, but the guy who called us back lives 45 minutes away.

By that point, we were beginning to worry about the evening, and how Jeremy was going to sleep without his CPAP, especially since he's got some pretty big meetings tomorrow. Luckily, we didn't need to call too many friends or check into a hotel. Dominion showed up, switched the MAIN circuit breaker (outside out house, in a little room in the community) and we were back in business! YAY DOMINION! That's the best part about something happening unexpectedly, such as losing power or the cable going out or something--once it's fixed, you usually forget how mad you were when it happened, and are just grateful to have it back (especially during "the big game"! So I guess if you ever want to be a hero, switch off someone's power (don't let them know it was you, obviously) and then be the one to discover "the problem" and fix it, especially during the Super Bowl, or season finale of Lost or American Idol... Guys, great way to impress the ladies... or something...) So let this be a lesson to ya--not a good idea to do laundry when you've got the AC running on a hot day.... "She cahn't take much mora dis, Cap'n!"

After that whole thing, we were able to eat dinner (around 9:15--luckily, we have a gas stove, so dinner wasn't delayed except by not being able to see what the heck was happening on the stove...) and remembered we had CANADIAN CANDY BARS in the car! Of course, they were a little melted, but a few minutes in the freezer took good care of them. I had half a Wunderbar, and Jeremy had a Mr. Big. Did you know that Cadbury makes more than just Cream Eggs???? Before meeting Jeremy, I had no idea. They actually have a full line of candy, like Hershey's or Nestle does here in the States. And personally, I like them much better than those two--chocolate doesn't taste so cheap (when was the last time you ate a Hershey's Chocolate Bar? On a s'more, probably, because by itself, it's kinda gross...) Mmmm.... Yummy.

So overall, the night turned out okay. The only thing that really stunk about having no power for 1.5 hours is that I'm behind on my laundry.... really wanted to get another load done tonight... Oh well. TOMORROW!

Where's my motivation.....?

Right now, I'm trying to talk myself into making something for dinner... I haven't made chili in a long time, and I know Jeremy would like it, but it's a lot of work, and I tired.... All day, been very blah. BLAAAAAH! And I only worked for 5 hours... Well, technically, more than that because I had a conference call this morning, but out in the field only 5 hours. So I dunno... It was so hot today... They said it was 85, but it wasn't. My car registered at 107 at one point (I guess it takes the humidity into account, because it did rain a bit today...) and that didn't make me feel any better. Oh well.

I'd really REALLY like to start working on the baby's room. I'm anxious, but at the same time, I walk in there and just cry because there are so many boxes still just stacked up hiding... We took care of most of the boxes when all my wonderful friends came over to help unpack us, but there's still more junk (mostly Jeremy's... All of my junk is at my parent's house.) And way too much work junk. I mean, really, it's getting out of hand. They just send me four more boxes of these stupid game cubes (they're broken down in the box, but when put together are about 12"x12"x18" cubes) that I'll probably never get rid of because most stores don't want them in their stores, and I don't really have a lot of room for them in my car to cart around with me.... ARGHA-BARGHA, as James would say. :-P Maybe when we take our vacation in October, we can work on that before we head outta town (don't know where we're going yet, but I don't really want to go away for a long time... and no more freakin' planes... I'm so sick of flying, and I've only done it a few times since being pregnant... well, 4 times round trip, I guess... NO MORE!) I guess we'll see.

I haven't mentioned the stupid cat lately. He's still stupid and I still hate him. Jeremy bought him this little fancy water bowl fountain thingie... It's a good thing I buy stuff for OUR baby, because Jeremy's already got HIS--the dang cat. Maybe he'll follow me outside one day when I go to work, and get lost trying to find his way home... His collar's gone now, so someone would think he's a stray and maybe keep him???? okay, time to stop dreaming. The beast is only 4 or 5 years old... he ain't going anywhere for a long time. Double :-P :-P

August is almost over... My brothers are back in school, the stores a less busy, and it's business as usual in the Wilcox home. I guess we're getting ready to sell my car soon. It was nice while it lasted... kinda... I hate buying cars, and then having a somewhat negative experience about it, because then everytime I get in the car, I associate it with those negative feelings. And gosh darnit, I don't need anymore negative feelings invading my life! I've got enough stuff to bring me down already. All I hafta do is think about trying to work on the baby's room.....

I have yet to shed the rest of my "Vegas Weight". I came back from Vegas and my scale at home said I gained 17 lbs... I knew I couldn't have gained THAT much in one week, and luckily it's gone down (I'm assuming it was mostly water weight from travelling, though we all pigged out a little more than usual--I did try to fill up on salad and fruits, but there was always so much good stuff to eat! And we had soda available to us at all hours of the day. That didn't help...) but I'm still 5 or 6 lbs heavier than I was when I left. Still, that would put my total weight gain for this pregnancy thus far at only 10 lbs, according to my scale (I'm afraid the one at my Dr's will think differently...) So I guess I shouldn't beat myself up TOO much about. This is no time for dieting after all... it just kills me because I was doing so well. Add another "negative" to my repretoire of thoughts.

Stephin is taller than me. He's 13, has a "man's voice", and is now taller than me. Soon, he'll be taller than James (another inch or two...) The big question is, will he beat my Dad... Hmmm... At 6'4", that's a tall order (ha... ha.... ha....), but outta all the boys, I think Stephin's got the best chance. Jason stopped at 6 ft (although he claims "6 ft 1 inch!"), James is just shy under 6 ft, so who knows... I guess that's not a bad compromise, considering my Mom is only 5'2".

I bought this Dial Foaming Handsoap stuff, mostly because it was on sale (3 pack for $4.77). It's not as nice as the berry Softsoap that we had before. In fact, this stuff is junk compared to that stuff (and that stuff wasn't expensive...) I'm disappointed. Ohhhh welllll....

Jeremy bought Madden 07.... There goes our "quality time". It's football season, ladies and gentlemen. And he wants to get Directv so he can get "The Ticket!" Yay....

On a happy note...... ummm.... hold on, gotta find one....



Still looking......



There's gotta be something here somewhere.......



Umm.... okay, how 'bout this: nope, nope, that won't due....



Oh, okay, I got one. Well, small group is tomorrow night, and that's usually good times. And in a couple of weeks, we'll be having dinner with the Cote's, which sounds like good food and good fun. Yup, those are both happy things.


That's all I've got for tonight.

The randomness that is James....

This is NOT my brother James........this is my brother Stephin (from a few years ago). But I couldn't FIND a picture of James, so you'll just hafta get a general idea of where I'm coming from based on this.

Now... I swear to you, my brother does not smoke crack, nor does he drink (unless you count Red Bull or BAWLS...) but the following story from his blog may make you think otherwise....

And I quote:

"Ok. Yesterday, i wnet to Walmart. I saw something on the ground on the way to the door. I'm like" I'll see what is on the way out." So finish shopping. I got new blades for my fancy shmanshy Norelco and a soda for those curious people. So I'm walking to back to my car(van)(oohh. Booms) And i'm like oh yeah. the thing on the ground. You'll never guess what i found. I let you ponder. What could it be. A hamster, a blue whale, my shoe, a "honey i shruck the kids" kids. If you guess any of those, your wrong. Its was a.......................................a.................a wheel weight. Some of you say " this guy is retarded" or "WTF" or "cool" or some of you don't care. I do. You don't see a wheel weight on the ground like that all the time. Think about it.its sitting on my desk. Now Think About IT.

nice I cracked my KNee"

For that, James, you get the rubber chicken:

*clap*..............*clap*.....................*clap*................................

For those times when you need more than words.....

Or when ya really don't know what to say....

Elmo is an Evil Doer!

This article made me sad.... I, like many other americans born in the 70's and 80's, grew up with Sesame Street, and looked forward to it everyday (the power hour of Sesame Street, followed by Mister Rogers---and then unfortunately, followed by Little House on the Prairie... No offense to the fans, but gosh darnit, I hated that show! It meant morning kids shows were over.... :-( ) I loved Elmo growing up, but Big Bird was my favorite... Along with Burt and Ernie (it did make me mad, though, that Ernie would always pin everything on Burt....)

Anyways, it seems that Sesame Street has taken a turn for the worst... which is very sad, as we approach the birth of our first child. Check out this excerpt from the article:

"Elmo is just a baby-voiced, self-obsessed character who is only concerned with Elmo," says Lee. "He just passively observes things: 'Elmo is looking at a sandwich. Elmo is eating a sandwich. Elmo is crapping out the sandwich and writing his name on the wall with it.' " The last celebrity to so obsessively refer to himself in the third person was Richard Nixon.

"I desperately don't want the show to go away, so I know they can't afford to run the "Elmo accidentally drank bleach and died" episode. Instead, they need to simply take Elmo and his buddies and give them their own hourlong show for the idiot spawn. Then put Luis, Gordon and the cool Muppets on their own half-hour "Classic Sesame" for the kids who will one day actually contribute to our society."

I just wanted to share, because I absolutely LOVED Sesame Street, and will hate to have to show our child "alternate broadcasting" when they're four or five and watching those shows... Maybe they'll release a "Classic Sesame Street" DVD for us old school types... :-)

Blah.

I don't really feel like blogging today. Was gonna write some stuff, but it's either gonna be really boring, or depressing. So I'll just pass today. Hopefully, tomorrow fares better. :-[

Cat Flushing

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA

Sorry, this was too cute. Well, funny/cute. Actually, I'm not sure why I find this so interesting, but I do.... If only we could teach Big Fella to do that...

Still in Vegas

Hello everyone!

Blah. I'm still in Vegas. Don't get me wrong, it's been a good time, but I am READY to come home. Absolutely. I've had the pleasure of "walking the strip" and being brainwashed by all the Sony folks here (not a bad thing, but I certainly do feel 'brainwashed'.) We got our new laptops yesterday, though this is the first time I've actually had a chance to get online with it, since the hotel wants to charge $11 for wifi in the rooms... I waited until the PC clinic today, and set up shop outside the conference room. Don't know when I'll be kicked off, but hopefully this will post before I do.

The new laptops are pretty sweet--bigger, but not huge, lighter, brighter, and much FASTER! This thing is about twice as fast as our old, crappy Fujitsus (may it rest in peace...), with a gig of ram, and a 6-8 hour battery life (more than enough for a day in the field!) People are already complaining, though, because it doesn't have a touch screen (the old ones did, though I never used it) and doesn't "auto-sleep" when the cover is closed (I'm sure I can change that setting).
Whatever, though! I'm thrilled! I like it a lot! So I'm happy.

It's been an up-and-down week for me... I was doing alright, until I was in line for the bathroom Tuesday (for the up-tenth time) and there was another preggers gal in front of me (she's due 3 days after me), and all the other gals in front of me were like, "Oh, honey, you've got priority here, you go ahead!" and let her cut all 6 or 7 of them. I just stood there like, "Hello?!" I guess it's just not very obvious with me (I think I carry more like a long watermelon, growing up more than out whereas she's a tiny thing, so she's packin' a cantelope under her shirt) so no one paid me any heed.... :-( Oh well. My district knew already, so they've been treating me well (not that I want special treatment--I just don't want anyone else to have it!)

And I think I'll stop there... Don't want to press my luck. I'll be home Friday evening, so hopefully I'll have more to post then. Have a great rest of the week!

Doomed to stretch marks...

Well, so much for that! The Palmers Tummy Butter that I was so excited about is about as helpful to me as poison ivy. Yes, that's right, I broke out in an itchy, annoying rash all over my belly.... Guess that whole, "Your skin may be more sensitive during pregnancy, " bit is entirely true. :( What a way to end a 'great' week.

So it's back to regular old Aveeno. I guess I won't worry about the "stretch mark do's and don't's", which include, 'If your stomach is itchy, DON'T SCRATCH IT! This will only help stretch out the skin more, and make stretch marks more noticible. ' I've resounded myself to the fact that I will have stretch marks, and will probably always have stretch marks, as this is not going to be the only child we have (God willing, of course). So gosh darnit, if my belly is itchy, I'm gonna scratch it! Jeremy's married a walking roadmap! He says he still loves me anyways. (Awww....)

We have scheduled an ultrasound, though! That's good. And bad. The bad is that because I'm out of town next week (in Vegas for work), I have to wait until the following monday to have it done. So no baby news (genderly speaking) until after 2 pm on Monday, August 21st. :( It'll fly by (of course, I'll literally be 'flying' by, spending almost 10 hours in airports and on planes. Booooo.... And of the freaking times for a stupid terrorist attack to be spoiled--right before I fly! Guess there's no reason to pack lightly, now... Gonna hafta check it anyways! Bring out the big suitcase!)

Okay. Time for work (last day! Yay!)

No news is good news...? :p

Just thought I'd let y'all know that we did NOT have a sonogram today, as we thought we would... :-( Turns out, they were supposed to refer me to a perinatologist or something for it, but my psycho doctor DIDN'T! So now we have to wait. I couldn't even call today to schedule the appt. because their system was down--gotta wait 'til the morning. :-p Jess is not happy. Jess is mighty pissed off, actually. I started crying in the car... Just frustrated. Of course, I'll cry about anything nowadays.

I've been kinda down the past few days... I wonder if there's such a thing as pre-partum (or would it be just "partum") depression... Seems like I'm carrying a burden (and I'm not talking about the baby--that's pure joy there) that I just can't shake. Felt like God was lifting that off of me today... Left for work early this morning, and it was absolutely GORGEOUS! I'm talking 'paradise' perfect! It was only mid-70's, sun was shining... Beautiful. Then I got to my first store (ironically, the same Target I ranted about in June... big surprise...) and everything was downhill from there. My 2nd and 4th stores were okay, but in general, it was a blah day.

I got to the Doc's around 2:15, Jeremy arrived around 2:45, we got in there around 3:15, and found out NO SONO TODAY! The last hope I had for the day, though very anxious about it, was crushed. That's all it took for me. I just want to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow, hoping it's better than today, because right now, I have little desire to finish the day out. :-p I say again.

Oh and the psycho doctor was walking around the office while I was waiting (I was the only one in the waiting room, and still had a 45 min wait... Go fig.) First, he called me "sweetie" (which I hate... I'm not his 'sweetie'...) and then asked me how I was doing. I said fine, he then said, "Well, you're pregnant--somebody did that to you." Like it's a bad thing? And he's an OB\GYN? Why??? The thought of having him deliver my child is kinda scary... I mean, if he's the doc on call that weekend, that's who I get. Yay. Good times.

The whole birthing center idea sounds more and more attractive. I guess we should go start looking into them...

:`( <~ That about sums the rest up.

Oops.. I schtoooopid...

Okay, I admit it, I'm a retard... I'm sitting here, complaining that no one really reads my blog only to find out that people do, AND have been leaving comments---that I just found. Y'see, at one point I kept getting spamming comments, and only spamming comments. So I turned on "comment moderation", thinking I'd get an option to approve comments as they came through. Well, I DO have that option, I just didn't know where to find it. I found it now, and feel really stupid not noticing it sooner.

So to everyone who's posted comments to the blog (Ted, Paige, Jeremy, etc) THANK YOU FOR READING!! It's nice to be heard. I'll try not to be an idiot from now on. (I wuv you guys!)

Changing gears a bit, Jeremy Jr (or Jess Jr) has certainly been more active as of late. We're at that stage (almost 19 weeks) where not only can I fell 'em moving, but if you're patient enough (which Jeremy hasn't had a chance to be yet), you can fell 'em kicking with your hand... SO COOL! Usually, we'll be laying in bed, and I'll start pokin' my belly to motivate some action, and it's just so neat! Jeremy's always a little to late, or a little to tired to get to feel it, but I'm sure he will soon. :-) Only 3 more days 'til next appt! Hopefully we'll get to see if our little one is a he or a she. Will let ya know when we do!

:-(

I get the distinct impression that no one reads our blog... Well, no one that I'd like to be reading it (except maybe Paige... I think she tries to read it often... Thanks, Paige!) I guess I'd rather have no one than a bunch of stupid strangers who would feel inclined to leave their "anonymous" comments, because they lack the courage to reveal themselves... I don't even think Jeremy reads this unless I tell him to.

On a more happy note, did you notice the new ticker at the top of the page here?? (Well, that would require "you" to actually exist, now wouldn't it?) I think it's cool. Now I can tell everyday what's going on with little Jeremy Jr (or Jess Jr.. we find out wednesday!) Very neat stuff.

I bought some Palmers Tummy Butter yesterday (and the cutest onesie!) to fight the stretch marks trying to fight their way onto my belly. It's REALLY thick... like... ummm... like shortening! That's actually the texture of it. It's harder than butter at room temp, and I would say it even goes on like shortening (if you were to rub shortening on your belly, that is...) If nothing else, it smells really yummy... Like cocoa butter. Mmmmm... cocoa butter.... Anywhoo, hopefully it helps... Not that I'm anxious to save my "bikini worthy" belly for next summer or anything... But stretch marks are like the annoying cousin who is at every family gathering--you really wish they wouldn't show up, but they inevitably do, and always get center stage. If I were the bikini wearing type, that'd be the first thing people would see... Oh well. Thankfully, I'm not that type, but still..... who wants red/white/silver scar like lines all over their stomach!

I love being pregnant. :-)

After nearly 20 years, Joker lives...

It's been officially announced that one of our favorite gay cowboys will be playing the infamous oldest villain in comic book history, The Joker (behind Lex Luther, of course, but Lex was never as badass as the Joker... sorry, Lex...) Heath Ledger is taking the role of the psychotic madman in the newest installment of the Batman series, The Dark Knight.

Did I mention that I LOVE the Dark Knight series of Batman? Never really got into the Detective Comics (where we first meet Batman and his foes), but man... the Dark Knight series is just so harsh and edgy and... well... freaky! This Joker is not the Joker you came to know and love back when Old Jack took up the role in the late 80's... Nah, this one is much more... disturbed? Maniacal? Evil? Messed up?! All of the above? Well, you get the idea.

I'm a bit concerned for ole Heathy, though... He's gotta pull this off the right way, or people will be comparing him to Jack Nicholson, and you really don't wan that--cause "Jack" was the man back the day! However, I think Ledger is different enough to be able to put that wacko, neurotic twist on the Joker that will allow both versions of the character to exist peacefully. Heck, the movie will probably already be better simply because we'll be sans Vicky Vale and all her yellin'. Oh, and for a double whammy... little chance Tom Cruise will let his kitty Katie out to place for the sequel, too. I could be wrong, but as of right now, she's not signed on. That's a good thing. **keep them fingers crossed** [[I think we should make a new rule in Hollywood--neither Tom Cruise, nor Katie Holmes may be cast in another movie until Suri shows up. Until she does, I'm saying,"FAKED!"]]

"Stress Marks"

Today I woke to find a new series of stretch marks appearing around my abdomen... I'm confused by this, simply because the places they're showing up don't make much sense in my mind--at least not yet. So unless a bigger belly intends to "pop" out in the next few days, my skin is getting ready for nothing... I've been good, really I have! If you ask Mr Bathroom Scale, he'll tell ya I've only put on a few (as in single digits) pounds onto my pre-preg weight. And actually, depending on what day it is, I haven't always gained anything... it's just kinda shifted. I guess it's obvious now where that shifting is taking place...

Jeremy came home from a meeting this morning and found a lost cat in our neighborhood. Being the good samaritan that he is, he caught it, and hid it in our 2nd bathroom with food, water and a litter box. Big Fella was NOT happy. Thankfully, we only had to deal with the extra beast for the work day, as his "Mommy" (who lives about a half a mile down the road...) came and picked him up after work. Praise God! I thought for sure we were gonna end up with not just ONE spawn of Satan, but TWO! Maybe we could just find someone to come pick up Big Fella now, my week would be complete....

Did I mention I dislike these new stretch marks? Don't get me wrong, I definitely didn't have the smooth, sexy belly before, but come on! I don't need a road map to Canada... that's what Google Maps is for. OH well. Like all things, I blame them on the cat... Hence the "stress marks". See? It all comes full circle.

Interesting Article...

Came across this article while perusing a friend's blogsite, friend's blog (friend of a friend). I won't say much about it, other than I find it very interesting how this has become the perception of non-Christians (and even Christians) of other Christians. I wonder if I fall into the group their discussing (I don't think so, but I know I could be better... couldn't we all, though?).

Anyways, I won't say more on it for now. Would like to hear what you all have to say. :-)

Baby Registry Information!

Hi everybody.

As most of you know by now (as dedicated readers of our blog, that is...) Jeremy and I are expecting a new addition to our family in Dec/Jan this year. Yay! It's very exciting (17 weeks down, 23 or so more to go!) So! We've had quite a few people ask us if we're registered anywhere, and what we need. I figured this would be the best place to include that info (especially since not too long ago, we had our wedding registry listed here, too) So here it be. Don't forget to drop us a line sometime, whether by phone or email! We haven't heard from many folks in a while.

Take care!
J2

Amazon Registry

You can search for us by typing in either of our names--I think we're the only Wilcox's on there, but just in case, we're in Oak Hill, VA!

Babies R Us

Registry # 58666391 or search by our names (if using Jeremy's, click on "search by co-registrant" if nothing comes up)

Target Registry
We do not yet know if it's a boy or a girl (hopefully we will by Aug 9th!), but will dress a girl in some blues, if you find something that is just too cute in blue. Also, we've got plenty of clothes/onesies for 0-3 mos, and a few for 3-6, however, we still need an infant coat (we're delivering in winter, after all!) and clothes for the older months, so keep that in mind. :-)

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!! I guess I can share now that we're having a boy, so blue away! :-)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

UPDATE 12/28/2007:
Chances are if you're reading this, you're either very nostalgic, curious, or nosy. :-) Whatever it may be, congratulations! You've figured out our little secret! Yes, we are preggers again--Jemiah's gonna be a big brother! Our due date is Sept. 1st, 2008. We have updated our registry information to reflect that, and yes, they are current, as far as what we're figuring we'll need to get this time around. :) We're not asking, but if you're feeling so inclined, we will thank you profusely! So thank you ahead of time! And keep an eye out for a 'major announcement' on the blog, coming soon.

Yikes!

Wow. What an interesting past couple of days!

My laptop for work is officially on its way back to Sony HQ, to be swapped out, so I can get back in business. Right now, doing manual calls kinda stinks... It's just more work, and less thorough work, even though it takes less time for most of it. That, and I'm not used to it, so I'm constantly forgetting to have folks sign my sheet, and have to go back in the store to get it!

I'm tired.

I'm still waiting for this whole "burst of energy" to show up in the second trimester. At 4 months preggers, all I want to do is N-A-P! I got home today at a little after 5, and just been chilling ever since... At some point, I need to get up and make dinner... But I too tired... Oi.. If only Jeremy could cook. And we're sick of take out. So... I'll give myself a few more minutes, and then I guess I will get up. Blaaaah.

I parked in the preggers spot today at Kinkos. It's a busy shopping center, and there were no good spots within a reasonable distance of the store, so I said, "Ah, the heck with it..." and parked there. I felt kinda guilty, even though I AM pregnant. I guess I just think that because I'm not further along (or showing a lot), I don't deserve it yet. But it was a nice break.

Okay. Just thought I'd throw that down for all two of you who read this. :-) maybe someday, someone else will read my blog besides my husband and one friend.

OH! And one more thing--this is where the yikes comes in... I just found out that a really good friend of mine IS ALSO PREGGERS!!! They just found out yesterday morning--I think we were the first people they told! I feel so special. :-) They're awesome people! I'm super happy for them (of course, she's kinda stealin' my thunder a bit... I mean, hello! I was pregnant first, wait ur turn! ;-) Just kidding. I'm excited to have someone to hang out with who's also preggers. She'll be about 6 months by the time we deliver Jeremy Jr, so maybe she can come and hang out and help, get used to the whole baby thing (I've seen her handle babies before... she needs a lesson or two. ;-) love her, but yeah, definitely could use some more exposure! And by the time she delivers in April, she'll be a pro! If she's nice, maybe I'll let her even change a really nasty dirty diaper. Hee hee)

Just wanted to share. yay!

Getting better...

Hullo.

So, this week turned out much better than when it started! My wonderful friends, and their wonderful friends came to my rescue Thursday night, and the place has never looked so good! Of course, it didn't last that long... I mean, it still looks great, but things got moved around a bit since a couple of those wonderful friends gave us a very nice entertainment center to hide all of our video game junk! Ah, it's very nice indeed (and from what I heard from them, kinda pricey, too...) So we've been very blessed this week! God is so good! And to everyone that helped out--THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

Right now, we're kinda just taking it easy. Jeremy's playing XBox games on his brand spanking new XB 360 (our other one died... but we were smart, and bought the warranty... When it comes to expensive electronics, always buy the warranty! $40 is much better than $400). We picked up a couple of used games, cheap, and that's all he's been doing since we got home at 8 pm last night. I don't even know when he came to bed, I was asleep by the time he showed up. Oh well. What're ya gonna do...

24 weeks to go, on the baby front. I'm anxious.... I have a hard time being patient. But I think I'm doing alright, considering... Even though I wouldn't mind being home right now, work does help the time go by so much better. So that's a good thing. I can't believe July is almost over already. That's crazy. It was just the 4th, like, yesterday! Well... not quite, but you know what I mean.

Next Dr's appt is Aug 9. I'm hoping it's sonogram time again. Even though I wouldn't mind waiting until the birthday to find out if we've got a Jeremy Jr or a Jess Jr on the way, I'm kinda excited about finding out. Place your votes now! I'm guessing girl... Jeremy's guessing boy... But we'll be happy either way (one of us is right, after all!)

Okie dokie, I think we need to go pick up Stephin now... He's bored and wants to come over. I think he felt bad about leaving during the week last week, and so now he says he wants to help me work (he pulls my bag around, which is very nice, 'cause that thing gets HEAVY!) At least the house looks a little better. Once we get all the dvds and games unloaded, we'll have so much more room, and so many fewer boxes lying around. Ah, that'll be nice.

Byeeeee!