The Eye of the World

Okay. I admit I'm a complete dork for loving this book. See, back in February, Todd and I made a little bet. If I won the bet, he had to read Jodi Picoult's "My Sister's Keeper." If he won the bet, I had to read "The Eye of the World" by Robert Jordan. Hmmm, I guess you can tell who won. I was very reluctant at first to read this. I whined a lot about it. "Do I have to????" Todd is a very fair person, so I had to be equally fair and honor our bet. So I started reading it a few weeks ago. I LOVE IT! I'm totally hooked. It's the first in an 11 book series called the "Wheel of Time", and all of the books are about as long as the first one, which is 782 pages long. This book follows the adventures of Rand Al'Thor and his friends from the Two Rivers (Emond's Field) and their fight against "The Dark One." It reminds me a bit of the TV show Heroes in that sometimes, you aren't quite sure who is good, and who is evil! (Especially with the secondary characters, but even sometimes with the main characters).

To be fair to the world of fantasy books/movies, I really enjoyed watching the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy (also something I did not think I would like). I already have books 2 and 3 of the Wheel of Time series lined up at home, ready to read. Todd is waiting for book 4 from the library. They are making these books into a movie (allegedly) too, which is pretty cool. I guess they are still in talks with Universal about the rights/legal issues, etc. So production is still a long way off. I thoroughly recommend this book, even if you don't like fantasy type reading. Kind of like how a lot of people didn't think they would like the Twilight series (which I haven't read) because it had vampires in it- but everyone seems to love those books!

Baby Bailey

Baby Bailey is a little machine! S/he was moving the entire time we were in for the ultrasound, which was about 20 minutes. I totally cried the whole time. I think I realize this time how MUCH I will love that little baby. I knew I would love Natalie... but I don't think you have any idea what the extent of that love will be until they are here. AND... my love for her grows every day! So I know what's in store with this one... and s/he was so just perfect! It appeared that s/he has Natalie's nose (one of my favorite features!). We saw the two lobes of the brain, the heart and the bladder... all things that make you think, "Hmmm, there really IS a baby in my belly!" Oh and the heart rate was in the 170s. Here is a pic of Butterbean. See the legs to the left? The little thing above Butterbean's head is his/her hand. I am SO excited though. I've just known a lot of people who have gone through rough pregnancies lately, and although I'm only 12 weeks and I still have a LOT of time left, it's just so encouraging to see my sweet baby moving all around on the ultrasound!

Missed the game!

I'm so bummed out. Yesterday, we had Red Sox tickets for the evening game vs. Minnesota. They played an afternoon game because the game the evening before was rained out. Yesterday's afternoon game was called after 7 innings (Sox won!) due to rain. The forecast called for a 90% chance of rain in the evening too. Since Maureen, our daycare provider, was nice enough to take Natalie for the night, and we were CONFIDENT that the game would be postponed to Thursday (today), we decided not to go to the game because we didn't want to have to ask Maureen to watch Natalie two nights in a row (even though I'm sure she would have). Of course, the game went on... not quite as scheduled, since it started at 7:55 (rather than 7:05), but they got the whole game in and the Sox won. So we totally missed the game. And I was asleep by 8:30 pm.

On a more positive note, I have my 12 week ultrasound and appointment to see Baby Butterbean Bailey tomorrow, and it's going to be in the 80s here this weekend!

This pic speaks for itself

My daughter, the Harley riding baby girl. She took her cousin Seth's new Harley out for a spin a couple of weekends ago when we were in Plymouth to celebrate Seth's birthday. Okay, she didn't really RIDE the Harley (so don't get mad that she doesn't have a helmet on!), but she did look cute posing for some photo opps in the bright sunshine!

I'm SO ready for the second trimester!

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger. If you've ever been pregnant (and if you haven't, you'll just have to take my word on this), then you know how hard the first trimester can be. I am utterly exhausted. Pile on top of that the usual things to do... take care of Natalie, go to work every day, do laundry, pick up around the house... (thankfully I don't cook!) and I can barely function by 8 pm. Thankfully, Todd has been picking up the slack. He will never know how much it means to me. He cooks dinner, cleans up, gives Natalie a bath and we both try to put her to bed. I try to pitch in where I can, but even excessive standing (as in, longer than 1 minute!) makes me feel the need to sit down because I'm so tired. This is one of my least favorite things about pregnancy. I work a full time job, so it's not like I can take a nap at my desk in the afternoon! I just have to suck it up (as my friend Kare Bear would say!) and plow through. The good news is, I'm 11 weeks today. Only a few more weeks and I should start feeling more energetic again. (Really, I just want enough to get on the floor and play toys with Natalie for longer than 5 minutes!)

Exhaustion

It's hard work making a baby. The process of supporting the new life inside you taxes every system in your body. The ensuing fatigue is often particularly strong during the first trimester, when you're building the placenta that feeds and nourishes your baby until birth. Also, the additional hormones circulating during pregnancy -- particularly progesterone -- can make you feel sleepy and less energetic. Your metabolism is also affected. Many women have low blood pressure while pregnant because their blood is circulating through two systems -- mom's and the baby's -- and that can cause fatigue.

Someone is going to be a big sister!

What? Does Natalie's shirt say what I think it says? Yes it does! Natalie is going to be a big sister in November. She is very excited. If you ask her where the baby is, she points to my belly. Of course, sometimes she points to daddy's belly too! She also occasionally says, "Poor baby!" I have to tell her that the baby is very happy, warm and safe in mommy's belly. We had an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and everything looked great. I would post pics... but really, it just looks like a blob. (Sorry kid!). Next appointment: 4/24. We get another ultrasound too! Hopefully this time we'll be able to see some arms and legs, and it might actually resemble a baby and not a butterbean. We won't learn the gender until about 18-20 weeks, but we'll keep you posted!!!

We've moved!

We finally moved to Natick. After living in Plymouth for almost 5 weeks, we finally live much closer to the city and our jobs. Instead of Todd having a130 mile round trip drive every day, he now has a 1.5 mile commute! Natalie is about 1-2 miles from daycare, and I have a 45 minute -1 hour commute. I had been commuting 1 hour and 45 minutes door-to-door! I'm very glad that is over. It was extremely nice of my in-laws to let us stay at their place though. We love our new place too! We got 10 inches of snow on Monday and it looked really pretty. Today, however, it looks like a brown mush. So we especially love the new garage we have. My sister-in-law has Todd's car this week due to an unfortunate incident with a concrete parking stopper in the parking lot of the dance studio near our home. So my car has been enjoying some alone time in the garage. Natalie LOVES garages. She loves pushing the button to make the "godge down." She's very proud of herself when she does it. I apologize for not posting any new pics of Natalie here, or on our smugmug site. To be honest, we haven't taken any! We've been really busy with the move (and getting up at 4:30 am when we lived in Plymouth!!!). Now we're trying to get everything unpacked. Once we get our lives a little back to normal, and once we find that darn camera cord, we'll upload some more! PLUS... it's supposed to be 58 degrees both Saturday and Sunday, so we hope to get out and explore our new town!

Inauguration Day!

Todd and I got up early this morning, dropped Natalie off at Barbie's (despite the fact that she's got a nice cold brewing), and headed up to the Ballston metro stop where there was still plenty of parking- on our way to Barack Obama's inauguration! We finally get to the actual metro (a hike if you're familiar with where the Ballston Mall parking garage is!), no one was getting into the station, but plenty of people were waiting. Apparently, since Ballston is fairly close to the city (about a handful of stops), by the time the trains got there, they were already full, so no one at Ballston could get on the trains. Thankfully, we talked to a guy on our long walk TO the metro station and he mentioned the 38B bus that went into the city. Well, not today! Today, it only went as far as Rosslyn (the last stop in Virginia). So we got on the bus and went to Rosslyn, then walked across the Key Bridge, through Georgetown (actually down the Whitehurst Freeway, HA!) and to the Mall. The sea of people was unbelievable. And everyone was in such a good mood! We walked up to the Washington Monument (which is on a hill, and provides pretty darn good views for a short person like me) where we stayed from 9-about 12:30. It was cold, but we had feet and hand warmers and lots of layers, so it wasn't really that bad. The wind could have settled down and that would have been helpful, and I'm pretty sure I have frostbite on my chin, but it was an incredible day. Even more incredible was that after the ceremony, we walked (slowly, with the crowds) off the Mall, and to the Foggy Bottom metro stop where we promptly got on a metro car. I even got a seat! We went back to Ballston and went to Rock Bottom brewery where we celebrated with a few delicious Oatmeal Stouts and a nice late lunch. Today was really amazing though. The crowds were amazing, Aretha Franklin was amazing, Yo Yo Ma and the quartet who played Air and Simple Gifts was amazing, and of course, the inauguration itself was BEYOND amazing. I was so proud to be a part of such a historic day. Since Todd and I are moving to Massachusetts this week, it was probably our only chance to get to attend an inauguration. And really, I can't think of a better one to attend! I'm cautiously optimistic though. President Obama has a huge burden on his shoulders, and I hope he can handle it. Bush has soured me to politics, but President Obama has given me hope. While I have always been and will always be proud to be an American, President Obama has renewed the excitement that I feel for my country. I don't expect miracles in a week, but I hope in 4 years (or 8 years!), we are better off than we are today.

18 month appointment

Natalie had her 18 month appointment this week. It was a bit late because of the holidays, but the stats are in. She is 24 lbs 11 ounces (50-60th percentile), 32.5 inches (75th percentile) and off the charts once again with a 20 inch head circumference! If she were 3 years old, she would still be in the 90th percentile with a head that large. That's my brainy girl!

Meme - The Tagging Blogger game

Okay, I got this from Mimi (Defining Sienna) and I'm passing it on! Because she already sent it to half of my blogging friends, I'm not going to ask anyone to do this.


Here are the rules: Link to the person who tagged you.-Post the rules on your blog.-Write 6 random things about yourself.-Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post.-Let each person know he/she has been tagged (or let them get tagged by reading your blog).-Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are the 6 random things about me.


1. I have the worlds longest tongue. Okay, not quite, because I found out the guy who has the world's longest tongue (in the Guinness Book of World Records) actually has a couple of inches on me (can you believe that?). But I was born without my Frenulum, the little piece of skin that connects the underneath part of your tongue to your mouth. SO... it appears that my tongue is really crazy long.



2. I love cupcakes, donuts, and Diet Coke. It's really an obsession. I try to hit all of the cupcake places I can. Just last night I had one of Best Buns vanilla/vanilla cupcakes. I'm a big fan of Magnolia Bakery (NYC), Cakelove (DC), and Crumbs (NYC).



3. I hate to cook. I really hate it. Thank goodness my husband is a GREAT cook. Otherwise I would starve. Not only do I hate it, I'm actually terrible at it. When someone says, "I can burn water" - it's really true with me. We have a flat top stove and I can always manage to boil the water so much that it overflows and burns onto the stove. I hate recipes that say things like, "Bring to a boil, then simmer." What does simmer mean? And please use words that I know and understand (and that match my stove) such as "Medium Low" or "High."



4. My college roommate Kristin is my 4th cousin once removed. We didn't know it when we met. I had never met her before we went to Auburn. She was from Georgia, I was from Florida, but we both had family in Indiana. We became sorority sisters, roommates, best friends, and little did we know, we were cousins too! My great great grandfather and her great great great grandfather were brothers (or something like that). Oh, and my parents are 5th cousins! Which probably explains a lot about me. I am my own cousin!



5. I love to write books. Not just stories, I mean full novels. 400, 500 pages. Typed. No one has ever read them. I would be way too embarrassed for anyone to read them, because the main character is always me. They aren't very good, but I love writing fiction and being able to escape into another world. When you have a toddler, sometimes you just need to escape!


6. When I worked for XM, I was the first person to ever give a traffic report on any satellite radio medium. Word got out that XM was going to start their traffic and weather stations on March 1, 2004 (at midnight). So it was somehow leaked that Sirius would begin traffic and weather reports on February 29, 2004 (at midnight). Secretively, XM jumped ahead, and I was the first person to give the traffic reports (for Washington DC) at midnight on February 28, 2004.