Movie Blog

In the spirit of Julie & Julia, I'm going to be more thorough and consistent in my movie reviews. I'm going to throw in TV reviews (I watch a few fun things on hulu). I may even go crazy and throw in a book review or album review.

Make my day and comment on the movie blog!

9 months

Violet had her 9 month checkup. She continues to be long and lean - 50 percentile for weight, 90 for height, and 95 for head. The doctor described her as developing preciously since he said that the average baby crawls around 10-11 months and she crawled at 6. I kind of don't believe him, though, since I see the other kids at daycare doing the same thing. My baby development book has her tracking right on target, with some things a little early. Of course, I think she's brilliant.

Violet only uses her pacifier while sleeping. Today she woke up and took it out of her mouth. It's a tiny thing, but something she hasn't done before. It's so cool to get to witness her learn new associations and more complex behaviors. She wants to keep the binky, but she knows that the next thing that is going to happen is I'm going to dramatically drop it in the bed.

And, she loooooves black beans. Yuck!

Everyday changes

9 months old on Friday! I'm amazed by how much Violet grows and changes every day. She is starting to develop a vocabulary. We know she can say momma, and think she has daddy (sounds like da-ee) and no. She's good at communicating her need non-verbally, but hasn't picked up on any of the sign language we've been doing for the past 4 months. Since she seems to be good verbally, I'm guessing that she'll skip signing and go straight to talking.

Her dismounts are getting a little more coordinated now that she realizes that she can bend her knees, making it a little easier for her to get from standing to sitting. Today she made her first attempt at cruising - travelling while holding on to furniture. This was accomplished while also mastering the fine art of clothes sorting (aka pulling clothes out of drawers and bins).

Her eating skills have exploded as well. She can now eat with her hands and get about 50% of it in her mouth. She will eat ANYTHING that we give her - eggplant, hummus, zucchini, feta, pita, carrots, pizza, spaghetti, lemons, oranges, onions, celery, lettuce, tomatoes... She's just now cutting her first tooth, so it all has to be pretty mushy. It keeps her quite busy, freeing us up to eat like civilized people. Yay!

On a different note, I have returned my wedding ring. It has spent almost as much time at the jewelers at it did on my finger, so they have agreed to a refund. Let me know if you find any cool rings that I should look at!

Mama

Violet continues to be a very happy and sweet baby. She is becoming more communicative/interactive which means she's better at indicating what she wants and what she doesn't want.

The big challenge seems to be around food. She'll eat baby food/purees great at daycare, but doesn't want to do this at home. We think this is why she tends to be crabbier on the weekends. She's getting good at eating finger foods and loves citrus fruits.

It's a lot of fun to watch her stand and then make her way to sitting again. She slowly lowers herself down using a variety of different methods. She will put her butt down on carpet and do a mish-mash lowering and butt down and splits on wood floors. We keep trying to get it on film, but she gets distracted by the camera.

Violet is also saying "mama" and knows that word is for me! She clearly knows that I'm the smartest, funniest, and most interesting person in the world. Just ask Jim :)

Video of Violet

Though she has been doing it at daycare for a couple weeks this is the first time Jodi and I got to see Violet pull herself up. Now it's on, she has already started to grab things from higher up on shelves.

Baby Pics

Here's a link to the pics from the photo shoot we had a few weeks ago. The event code is our kid's name. (Email me if you don't know her name and I'll send it to you) Jim & I needed some specific head shots or nature shots for work, so there are a few odd ones thrown in there.

Let me know if you would like me to order any for you.

Also, please consider donating to the Ohio Environmental Council! It's such an amazing organization, that they hired me to work there!

Violet's First Halloween

Violet proved to us that she can hang on to something, if she really wants to. She clung to the mini candy bar for about an hour, turning it to mush.

coin scam

My dad told us about how you can get a ton frequent flyer miles for spending $ on a credit card. He bought silver dollars, which we thought was hilarious. Here's a guy that has taken it to the extreme. Scroll down to the entry with all of the pics. It's crazy and impressive all at the same time.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/833911-buy-presidential-dollar-coins-cc-face-value-free-shipping-341.html

Multimedia message

Circleville pumpkin festival

This American Life and Health Care

So anyone that had ever been in a car with Jodi and I knows that we listen to NPR all the time (and yes we do give). Over the years I have had an on again off again relationship with This American Life, an NPR show. Having bought an Iphone last year I started listening to a lot of NPR shows via podcast, including This American Life (I finish about one out of three episodes, some weeks Ira Glass really gets on my nerves).

The last two weeks This American Life tackled the sticky subject of the health care debate. They did a show two weeks ago talking about the three things that make health care expensive: Doctors, Patients and Insurance Companies (Episode 391). Last week they looked at Insurance Companies a little closer (Episode 392). I'm only 15 minutes into last week's episode and they are really interesting. For example they say the evidence shows that the time when health care costs actually decreased and health care improved was when HMO's were in power (remember how much we all hated them?). As usual it's NPR's dispassionate look at things from a truly journalistic perspective.

I know this is a sticky issues for a lot of people, I'm one of them. Coming from the perspective of someone who thinks we are simply delaying the move to a single payer system, these episodes gave a me pause to think otherwise. Though I'm still convinced single payer will win out to be honest.

You can listen to them or download them on their web site

new photos

We're so busy that blogging has seriously fallen by the wayside. We got pics taken at our house and the nearby park on Sunday. Here's a sneak preview of the photos.

http://www.amysuzannephotographic.com/apps/blog/show/1924831-living-life

Some decision are so tough

It was tough for her to decide but we had a long conversation about it and Violet has finally decided where she wants to attend college.



Go Blue!!!

Bananas!

Violet started on solids last weekend. So far she's had apples, rice cereal (who knew that rice was a cereal?), and banana. Here's video of Jim feeding Violet some bananas.

disappearing car door

It's only a concept, but man if it's real it's really innovative.

Thoughts for the day

A friend sent these to me, thought you might enjoy.

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized you're going in the opposite direction of where you’re supposed to be going? But instead of just turning 180° and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I’d watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*ck was going on when I first saw it.

The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I’d already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, “Both go left, Both go right” game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through - and the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says, "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say. "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in ... (10 second lapse) ...ummm ...G-Spot".

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday, I saw a banana peel on the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it ... thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be much more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

Ever notice how bad decisions make good stories?

I don't even know where my camera is. Bad parent.

At 5.5 months, Violet is working on sitting up and standing. She is a very determined little person. She can sit up, unassisted for a couple of seconds, although she can't get herself into a sitting position alone. She can also stand, hanging on to something for a few seconds. Same story - she can't pull herself to standing. She hasn't made any progress on crawling forward. She is, however, quite a pro at accidentally scooting back.

In 2 weeks she gets to start on solids. She really wants to eat now, but Jim has a ton of allergies and waiting until 6 months gives her the best chance of reducing her allergic reactions. According to her due date, she's 6 months now.

Is that cheating?

We went hiking in the Hocking Hills yesterday. Violet loves being outside. She can spend hours and hours just looking around. Bring her indoors and she can only maintain her attention span for about 10 minutes before she wants a new activiity.

In other baby news, our plan is to adopt a child in a year and a half. It takes a while to save the $ and go through the process, so we should be starting now. I'm surprised that it isn't more expensive. There are 2 nonprofits in town that charge 16k and there is an 11k federal tax credit, for a grand total of 5k. It's possible that there will be other expenses, depending on the individual sitution, but that fee includes homestudy and all other usual costs. I've talked with 2 couples who adopted from these local nonprofits and said it worked great. I need to ask the people who chose other options why they didn't go this route, just to make sure it is as easy as they all saying. If you have any insights, please share them!

Movie Reviews

Lo and behold, people did read my movie reviews. Now that I have an audience, so to speak, I'm going to start writing again. Check out new reviews for Religulous, Bill Maher's documentary on religion, and The Contract, a semi-thriller starring Morgan Freeman and John Cusack.

http://jodismovies.blogspot.com/

Darling Violet

Darling Violet, my little heart, sweetest little baby, all full of laughter and smiles, 5 months old... has started to whine.

Party over.

Recent pics

Violet sleeps with her bum in the air.

Chillin' on the back deck. Yay Jim for rebuilding it!

4 month checkup

Violet had her 4-month check up on Monday. She now weighs 14 pounds, 2 ounces which puts her in the 70 percentile for weight and is in the 80 percentile for height. She remains a champion head-grower in the 90th percentile.

The most exciting update is that she laughed for the first time yesterday. I tried to get it on film, but she clams up as soon as I break out the camera!

Cooper Clappers

It's really strange to say this but my dad sent me this Johnny Carson skit, which I thought was funny.

Latest accomplishments

Violet now sleeps like a regular baby in her crib - no longer swaddled or in her carseat! Also, she can take her pacifier in and out of her mouth. She's not totally accomplished with putting it in, often forgetting that she should let go once she's reached her goal.

She loves music and books, staring intently. Yesterday she tried to grab the pictures in the book. Didn't go so well.

This is my 4th week back to work and it's still hard to leave Violet at daycare in the morning. Knowing that I don't have a choice makes it easier. Mondays are the worst.

Baby fight!

One of the other babies in daycare accidentally scratched Violet's forehead. You should see the other guy!

Back to work!

I went back to work 2 1/2 weeks ago, which means I'm 2 weeks behind on everything - email, work, sending the baby announcements, thank you notes... It's been very overwhelming to have to be totally present for so long each day. Not to mention how early I have to get up. 6:30am is not my optimal wake-up time, 8:30 is.

With that said, I'm thrilled to be back at work. We are far behind on fundraising, mostly because I was gone, so I have a ton to do. The economy is still slow, so fundraising is going to be tougher this year. That all adds up to more work in less time in order to make our budget. If you ever wanted to give to an environmental advocacy group, now is the time! www.theOEC.org.

Violet is growing like a weed. She turned over for the first time last week. At 3 1/2 months Violet can roll both from back to front and front to back. Take your eyes off her for a moment and she's in a totally different position than when you last saw her. Sometimes when she gets on her belly she gets a little frustrated, which you'll see in the video below.

She's all smiles all of the time. One of the daycare staff said she's one of the happiest babies she's ever seen. We're starting to put away the newborn props (bouncy seat and swing) in favor of more interactive games like the play gym, pack & play, and stuffed toys. She's also starting to teethe. You can't see teeth yet, but she's constantly knawing, drools a bit, and is a bit stuffy.

She has adjusted well to daycare. I miss her all day long, but she is getting a lot of attention and a wide variety of experiences. Each week a guitarist plays and sings for the babies, she gets outside nearly every day, they have TONS of toys, and lots of staff.

Finally, I just got to drop $350 on a new pump. Apparently the one that I had isn't made to last very long. Since I got it from someone else (the manufacturer said this was OK), it had burned out. Now I'm hands free. The whole get-up is rediculous, I look like I should be in a 1950's ad. I'm more worried that a co-worker will walk in and see what I'm wearing than see me exposed. Such is life.

Cankles

Recent baby photos

2009

Take the "How Well Do You Know Jodi Segal Quiz" on Facebook

http://apps.facebook.com/quizdoyouknowme/quiz.jsp?q=6361351

Look what we found! Want him?

Tiny hiney

Our sweet baby slept for 11 hours last night. She loves us!

Violet chooses some interesting positions to sleep in...

She's a big smiler now!

Here's the beautiful retaining wall that Jim built.

Santa Barbara on fire

Santa Barbara is in manditory evacuation mode. Only a few dozen homes have burned so far, but the town is seriously threatened. Manditory evacuation is ordered just a couple of blocks from where we lived. http://www.keyt.com/ for pics and updates. Currently, it's 0% contained.

Violet's 2 month stats

Violet had her 2 month check up today. She was 11 pounds 9.5 ounces, which is 75th percentile, height was 23 1/2 inches, which is 85th percentile, and head circumference was 16 inches, which is 90th percentile. She's grown 3 pounds and 3 inches since birth.

So, basically all of her weight is in her giant noggin!

She's holding her head pretty steady on her own, is jabbering quite a bit, smiles a ton, and seems generally happy. She's still sleeping well, although she needs to be swaddled in her car seat to get a full night's sleep.

Go, Violet, go!

Finally, we've decided to get a second car. We're buying an '04 Honda Accord with 50k miles on it. We would prefer to have a European style car, like our Saab, but the #s didn't add up since repairs are so expensive. We'll drive the Honda all of time, except when we have to cart the dog somewhere or are in need of a second vehicle, which isn't very often. We should be getting it tomorrow.

losing life

A good friend of ours (who will remain anonymous here) lost a child to a miscarriage this weekend. This is a tragedy that struck our family last august. Though I could never imagine the pain felt by my sister or my friend at this sort of lose my sympathies and thoughts remain with them in times like these. This sort of event does take me back to the realization of the how fragile our balance really is. Further we need to keep our eye on the prize and make sure our priorities really are just that.

Swing

 

This is one of Vi's favorite activities.  She just goes back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and, well, you get the idea. 

Baby gym

Violet is starting to interact with the world around her.  She responds really well to the activity mat that Aunt Kim & Uncle Scott got for her.  Thank you!

Finally, some pictures!

More recent photos to come...

V asleep and swaddled in the rocker at 5 weeks, 2 weeks ago.  Look at the cheeks!

 Grandma Carol giving Violet her 2nd bath.

 Carol's going to kill me for posting this... :)

Jim is starting to put in a low stone wall in our front yard, which will extend across the front of our neighbors' yard.  (I'm so lucky that he has energy that he loves to burn on these projects!) The white tipped post in the ground is the end of our front yard and the start of our neighbors'.  You can catch a tiny bit of our front porch on the far left.

6 week update

I guess 9 months of misery was enough and Violet is willing to be nice to us as an infant.  She slept for 7 hours straight on Saturday night and Sunday night.  My body hasn't yet adjusted to her ever-changing schedule, so I'm still getting up at about 3am to pump before she wakes a couple of hours later.  I'm still tired, but it's not that bad.

V now can smile, coo, and is starting to interact.  We had a conversation on Friday for a few minutes, which was a lot of fun.  We've also figured out the bath.  It turns out that she prefers warm water over kinda warm.

Violet weighs in at 11 pounds, which is 25% more than she weighed at birth.  I feel great, have only 13 pounds of baby weight left to lose (plus 5 more to get to my goal weight), and have all of my old energy back.

Plumbing

We're back in our house.  The good news is that it was about 1/2 to 1/3 as expensive to fix as we expected.  The bad, or rather odd, news is that the problem ended up being in the FRONT of the house.  Apparently the pipe that the plumber found in the back went nowhere.  That's why the camera and snake hit a block and Jim dismantled the deck.  The real problem was solved by a quick snake in the front yard...  Maddy has gotten good at jumping in and out of our back door. Again, I promise to take a picture and post it.

updates

Last week, a sewage pipe collapsed on our property. So, we have no water in our house. Jim's still working from home, but we are spending a lot of time at his parents' house, which is just 2 miles away from us. There's a possibility that it will be fixed tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

Also last week Violet began smiling and sleeping longer at night. She's developing like a baby 2 weeks older than her, which makes sense since she was 2 weeks late. She's had a few shifts of 5 hours between feedings and typically has at least 4 hours once per day. Since our sleeping arrangements have changed, I've gotten determined to get V to sleep in a crib. It's been working, with help from infant anti-gas drops.

Finally, I've given up on the cloth diapers. I'm sad to do it, but using them means V is wet and a little red all of the time. Newborns pee 20 times a day and the cloth diapers don't keep the wetness away from her skin. When I change her, she's wet and therefore cold, so screaming session ensues.

It's a relief that I'm starting to get a little more sleep and that she's becoming more interactive. Parenting is starting to become a little more rewarding.

I've been taking pics and video and will post them when I have a little more time.

Segal photos

Grandma Segal with baby Violet and our nephew Adam.

My sister-in-law, Kim, holding Violet at 2 weeks.

Us with nephews Zach & Adam. Adam no longer smiles for the camera...

Cousins, all in a row.

Thanks for taking the pics, Kim!

Boob tube

I spend half of my waking hours holding the baby, leaving me plenty of opportunity to stare into space.  Not having cable or TV reception, I haven't watched much television in a long time.  Put these 2 ingredients together and add free online episodes via hulu.com and I'm now watching a good bit of TV.  Here's what I've been enjoying.  Please let me know if there is something brilliant that I'm missing.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - witty comedy starring Danny DeVito

Californication - who knew that David Duchovny could act?  Very well written and executed

House - always waiting for the next episode of this formulaic yet entertaining hospital show

30 Rock - gotta love that Tina Fey

Arrested Development - amusing in its idiocy

Other favorites that I have watched via blockbuster and highly recommend:

Dexter - watch out, this is very gory!

Carnivale (season 1 only)

Weeds (season 3 is a bit weak, but picks up again in 4) - adult humor in every way

Six Feet Under (earlier seasons are better)

Entourage

Freaks & Geeks  - probably best enjoyed by my generation since it's set in high school in the 80s

Intake and outflow

My life now revolves around bodily fluids.  All of them.  In and out.  So when one of the fluids isn't flowing, I start to wonder.  Now I know that it's not completely abnormal for a very small human to go an entire week without pooping.  A little help from the pediatrician proves that all of her functions do indeed work and she can be inspired to take action.  

I guess you learn something new every day.

Baby Violet on Saturday, being held by my co-worker, Jen.

Overachiever

Violet had her 2 week doctor appointment on Wednesday. The big milestone goal was for the baby to be back at her birthweight. Lo and behold, she's nearly a pound heavier at 9 pounds 9 ounces.

Violet's umbilical cord stump fell off, so she now has a belly button!

Here's Violet's first video, taken on our new camera.

today's pics

And people were worried that Maddy would be jealous and neglected. She's still spoiled rotten.



I've become a piece of furniture.

A benefit of working from home.

Week 1

Grandma Carol holding Violet on her first day home from the hospital.

On day 5 Violet began sleeping in her crib and on the changing table. Up until then she wouldn't sleep unless someone was holding her. We are very grateful to be able to get lot more sleep already. She's been such an easy baby so far. I wonder if she'll become more difficult over the next few weeks when she's fully out of her haze.

Batman has claimed his new favorite spot.

Houdini has escaped from the baby straight-jacket. This thing is super velcroed. I don't think I'd be able to get out of this on my own. I'm hoping that I accidentally didn't fasten her in properly. If not, we're in for real trouble.

Fat baby

We saw the pediatrician today. Yes, on Sunday. (This is an awesome practice!) She's already gained an ounce since leaving the hospital. She's an overachiever like her perfectly brilliant mother, if I do say so myself. So far Violet has passed every single test that she's faced.

Great discovery of the day, she is quiet in the sling. Up until now, in her very long experience, she needed to be held all the time. Now we can put her in the sling and do dishes (Jim), take out the trash (Jim), read (Jim), talk on the phone (Jim again), and sleep (Jodi).

Baby Violet

Here she is! Baby Violet was born on Wednesday, March 4th at 8am. She weighed in at 8 pounds 12.7 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Labor was very long at 23 hours including 2.5 hours of pushing. Call if you want the gory details... Here's a photo from day 2, March 5th.

We are all well, catching up on sleep, and recovering from our very big day!

Techmology

You may remember a little HBO show called "Da Ali G Show" which was the genesis of his Borat character. He pulled the same stunt on a former co-worker of mine from PIRG, Jeremiah, who is featured in this clip. He's the young guy with the look of complete disbelief throughout the interview.

Ali G Science Roundtable - watch more funny videos

no baby update

You may have noticed that we don't have a baby. We noticed that, too. We're one week past the "due date." I now believe that doctors shouldn't give you an actual date. Full term is anything from 37 weeks to 42 weeks. First time births are typically 7-9 days past the due date. Then why in the world do you get a due date that is a full week before they actually expect the baby to arrive?

So, we wait. No, we don't have plans to induce any time soon. We will only do that if it becomes medically necessary. We haven't seen any signs that this is currently the case - her heartbeat is strong and I'm healthy and feeling well.

I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for 2 weeks and every day they are just a tiny bit different. (BH contractions are abdominal tightening that don't lead to labor, but typically increase as you approach labor) Signs point towards progressing to labor, but there's no way to predict when the big event will commence.

More news and pics as soon as we have any!

Adam's work

My long time friend Adam put together a video of his work, it's available on YouTube

Baby time?

Just a little update - I'm due on Tuesday, but the doctor (and Jim and I) think I'll be about a week late. And here I thought Friday would be my last day at work!

I love Ellen

Poop scoop

I was so excited about the diaper service. Well, it's going out of business. Big bummer. The owner said it's considered a luxery. I thought disposables were the luxery.

The good news is that she explained step-by-step how we can wash our own cloth diapers and it's very easy. All you have to do is dump the diapers in the laundry every other day, run them on cold rinse with no detergent, then run them on hot with detergent. It's OK to add white vinegar, oxybleach, or borax to help keep them white. Hang them in the sun to really bleach them.

The better news is that it doesn't sound disgusting or very difficult. So, we're going to give it a shot; at least while she's exclusivey breast-fed. After that it gets a little bit grosser. It's definitely a lot cheaper, especially since we have a front-loading high efficiency washer that doesn't use that much water and gets everything super dry before it heads for the dryer.

Hospital pick

Today I decided on a hospital for delivery. We had 2 choices - Riverside or Dublin - because they are both associated with my doctor. We planned to go to Riverside because it's a little closer and we were impressed with the place when Susie delivered there. However, Dublin opened just a year ago and people kept getting a glazed over look in their eye when describing it. One friend said, "Go to the glory." So, we decided to check it out.

We had a tour scheduled for Tuesday, but a blizzard started and the telephone receptionist said we could come on Saturday, so we decided not to then. I called back to reschedule and was informed that the tour was full and I couldn't go. The only obvious solution was to crash the tour, which I did.

The place is really small, it's bright, quiet, and comfortable. They have sleeper sofas in every room, and your primary care in maternity is done by a nurse-midwife. The labor & delivery rooms are a little bigger and nicer than the average patient room shown in the virtual tour video. Gone are the days of shared, cramped rooms!

Gooooaaaallll!

I was so bummed to have missed a fundraising goal for the first time. I kept telling myself that it wasn't that big of a deal. We got 99% of the goal, it's still an increase over 2007, the economy sucks... but I was still very bummed.

On Tuesday I found a missed entry in our fundraising database. So, you guessed it, we made the goal! Now I have to hope that there aren't other errors that push it back the other way, which I dreamt happened last night. I have less than a $500 buffer.

2009 isn't going to be easy, either, but I'm stubborn so charging ahead full steam.

New pics as promised

Hot times

So, we need a new furnace. It turns out that the old furnace, which we just tuned up and paid boucoup bucks to repair, is ruining the bricks in our house. It's venting through the chimney, cooling on it's way up, and then condensing moisture on the bricks. As a result, they are literally crumbling. This mostly happens on the second floor which is, you guessed it, the baby's room. So, we have to replace the furnace ASAP. The good news is that our new, more efficient furnace will pay for itself in efficiencies over a period of 4 years. We might be able to recoupe a little bit of the cost by selling the old one, since it still works perfectly well.

By the way, I'm 3 weeks and 2 days from d-day, which means 2 days from "full term." Pics to come soon.

Farewell humor

1 month left

My due date is less than a month away, on February 17th. First time births are typically 9 days late, so have a pretty wide window of when to expect the kid. Today we interviewed our first, and fortunately our last, pediatrician. He was perfect so we need to look no further. He's honest, straight-forward, listens, educates his patients, doesn't act like he knows all of the answers, has opinions, knows and likes my obstetrician (who I love), and comes highly recommended by someone I trust. What more do you need?

He answered our critical newborn questions, so I now feel like we're ready for the little one.

Jim and company (thank you Adam, Stacey, Chris, and Carol!) just finished repainting our house, so it no longer looks like a circus tent. We'll post pics once we have the furniture moved back to the walls.

A love song

The things no one tells you about pregnancy

When mothers talk about pregnancy to women who are expecting or contemplating getting pregnant they tend to use terms like magical, wonderful, instinctual. For some reason when people talk in public about pregnancy they neglect to mention a few minor details about the 9 months before the birth. Mind you what I'm talking about here is not the actual birth but gestation.

So here goes:

1.) Morning sickness is a total misnomer, it's not restricted to morning. Further it's not limited to vomiting, it entails the whole body experience.

2.) As it turns out your arms do not grow with your belly hence you will struggle to complete basic tasks when your belly is an extra foot further out. (i.e. you cannot reach the sink, try squeezing into a tight bathroom stall).

3.)You will need two extra sets of clothes (maternity clothes). You need one set for the first couple of months when you are only slightly larger and then another for when you are really big.

4.)Okay now lets talk about sleeping. First you have to get up every couple hours to use the toilet (much less room for your organs in there). What people neglect to mention is the hip pain. You will be shocked to learn that when your hips are spreading out (a natural process when you are preparing to give birth) you will have hip pain. Further, what may not be so obvious is this will cause you a ton of discomfort when you sleep at night. You need to turn over every hour or so. Turning over when you have another human in your belly turns out to be quite a process. You have to move your body pillows, your partner, the family pets, and then you get to try to fall back asleep.

5.) No one tells you about stretching the perenium, enough said!

6.) Everyone has experienced late night lag cramps. Now imagine trying to jump out of bed in the middle of the night when you are 30 lbs heavier.

Seriously I have no idea how single moms do it! And I'm even the pregnant one!