August

I haven't blogged since July.

I know, slacker me.

It's not that I haven't had things to write about or rant about or just hash out in front of the eyes of the world...... it's more that I haven't properly made time to do so.

And let's be real here. I need to make time.

Otherwise, the pandemonium that is the day to day activities of my brain will implode shortly and then who will bring Baby R into the world in November and teach her all the awesome things about random daytime TV, crafting, and the wonderfulness that is No Doubt? Seriously. Her life would be sad and empty without me. :)



Really, a lot has been going on here in Virginia.

From our progress with the baby's room to my cutting of hours at work, we have been doing and seeing and experiencing a roller coaster of emotions.
We put a screen door on the front door, to increase the airflow throughout the house (once the intense Virginia heat goes away). Shark Fin even made sure to put a lock on it, so neither baby nor doggie can escape! I was very excited about getting it, so much I think I beamed every time I opened the front door and saw it... for about 4 days. Haha. I have always wanted a white screen door.
Xeus had his 2nd birthday on the 28th and well, it was a quiet affair. (Actually...... we forgot about it until the 30th, my best friend's birthday. I'm a bad fur-baby mom!) We got him a new collar. It's black with white bones on it. I'll have to post a picture of him all handsome in it later on. The new collar on the birthday is like their doggie right of passage. Lunabell desperately needs a new one, but she will have to wait until October for that. For now, since she has broken 3 this year already, she's wearing Xeus' old one with the turtles on it. She makes it bad-ass. Haha. Anyways, it's hard to believe my little french-toast scented furbaby is 2 years old! We used to snuggle on the couch everyday from Days of Our Lives til Oprah and now, I don't know if we both would fit on our couch! He's still a snugglebug, even though he's 82.5 pounds, and he's become the gentle giant I always knew he would be. I know we got him on a whim and I know it hasn't always been easy (boxing gloves and wedding shoes, anyone?), but I wouldn't trade that doggie for the world and I know Shark Fin feels the same way (if not stronger). Happy Birthday Xeusy!
I started construction on my first baby-stuff project yesterday and have passed it on to my test subject. My fingers are crossed, as well as my toes, that it gets a good review. If it doesn, whoo buddy! the sky is the limit! Baby Empire here I come.
And, for the final revelation, let me wave my dork flag high.

I started playing World of Warcraft with Shark Fin.

Go ahead and make fun of me. I kinda like it. :)

Happy Tuesday y'all.

ps. One more thing. My bestest most wonderful sister in law is coming to stay with me for a weekend the end of the month. Now if that doesn;t kick ass, I don;t know what does!

First Kid, Second Kid

1st kid: After dropping the pacifier on the floor, boil it for at least 5 minutes.
2nd kid: After dropping the pacifier on the floor, blow off any visible dog hair.

1st kid: Create a beautiful, peaceful nursery with an aquatic design theme and a bookshelf full of carefully arranged toys and books.
2nd kid: Toys and books spread all over house. "Theme" can be described as "extra storage room where a baby happens to sleep".

1st kid: Entertain the baby with expensive developmental toys featuring age-appropriate patterns and colors.
2nd kid: Hand the baby a plastic measuring cup.

1st kid: Expose baby to television rarely, and only in the form of Baby Einstein-branded DVDs.
2nd kid: Have baby watch HBO during his late-night feedings. Explain some of the more complicated Eff Words if need be.

1st kid: Immediately discard milk in bottle if it sits out more than ten minutes.
2nd kid: Immediately discard milk in bottle if there's a cat hair floating in it. Okay, two cat hairs.

1st kid: The baby's crying! Hurry, tend to him immediately!
2nd kid: Huh, the baby's crying. I hope it's not bothering the neighbors.

1st kid: Gingerly clip baby's nails with the special infant clipper, hyperventilating the entire time.
2nd kid: File baby's nails with your emory board while watching So You Think You Can Dance.

1st kid: Keep a detailed log of your baby's feedings and diaper contents, carefully updating it after every single feeding/diaper change.
2nd kid: Ha ha ha haaaaaa! ARE YOU KIDDING? HAAAAAA.

1st kid: Put adorable pair of Robeez on baby whenever you leave the house.
2nd kid: Cover baby's bare toes with your purse if someone gives you the stinkeye.

1st kid: Obsessively read infant development books so you can anticipate all upcoming milestones and fret over potential illnesses.
2nd kid: Enjoy baby.

(I borrowed this from Linda Lee's blog on parentdish.com. Here's the link, she's a good time!)

Meme Friday is coming......

No Water Means No Washing

Or "You don't desire me right now."

This post could really be called either. Let me start with the first one.....

This morning, the water in Alcatraz was shut off. Not just in our little homey home home, but for the all 6 units in our building. Guess who forgot they were going to do this?
Me.
Guess who had to rinse her shampoo-filled hair out with Aquafina from the refridgerator?
Me.
And go to work without (ew!) brushing her teeth or washing her face or any of those necessary human upkeep activities, etc. etc.
So gross. So, needless to say (but I'm going to anyways) I came to work looking like a bus hit me today, and none too happy. I haven't been sleeping all that great either, with the baby doing little dances every time I try to lay down and my mind racing with all the things I still have to do to get ready for it. Don't get me wrong, I love making a good to-do list and planning out my activites or projects for weeks at a time (Shark Fin can attest to this - his "honey-do" list grows daily!), but this is getting a bit crazy. I can't be writing things down at all hours of the night - I'm going to have to attach a pen & notebook to myself! I think the other part about all this baby-mess that's really hard for me is I just don't have the time or the funds to do every little decorating thing I want to do... yet. Patience is truly a virtue I am still working on.
I went home for lunch at 1:15, though... and the water was back! Yay! Guess who called in an extra half-hour and BATHED?
Me. :)

Which brings me to Part Deux of this post: the " You don't desire me anymore" part.
This preganancy has been hard in a lot of ways: the sleepiness, the nausea, the lowered sex drive, the want for all the best things, the doctor's appointments, the "breast/bottle" debate, the general crankiness. And a lot of it isnt' founded on anything at all, besides just me, being pregnant for the first time, scared out of my mind about bringing a human into the world that I will be responsible for feeding/bathing/clothing/educating/making sure doesn't DIE.
But, it's been especially hard on Shark Fin.
He gets all of the bad parts without the good parts I am getting to experience - feeling Baby R move and dance and bonding with the person inside, feeling semi-secure in knowing I am providing all it needs to survive right now. And it's really hard on him..... I think my decreased sex drive is especially hard, since it was pretty regular and consistent before, not too mention that we waited our whole lives to share it with just eachother and now it's like, "Thanks for the sperm! Here's 9 months of forced celibacy for you." Ouch. However, this is one thing I just don't know how to fix. I just don't want to do it right now, either because I'm tired or overwhelmed or just not interested in taking all my clothes off to expose how big my midsection is getting (yes, yes, "there's a baby inside you so it's okay." I know. just bear with me here. it's a yay/nay struggle with me.). I'm trying to express my love in other ways: making his favorite desserts and dinners, packing his lunch with little notes, awesome Father's Day presents!, etc. But last night, I really got hit hard with the reality of how bad it's gotten for the love of my life when he said to me, "You just don't look at me like you desire me anymore."

Ouch. That would be my heart breaking.

What do I do, though? I don't ever want our intimate moments to be me just going through the motions, but he needs that sort of closeness so much and it's something that I am just not in the midset to give enough right now. I really don't want him to spend the next 4 months depressed and withdrawn, especially since I have heard it is not much better for a few months post-birth either. How do I get to that intimate point right now? I feel so big so often and I know baby inside baby make body grow baby needs extra weight gain blha blah blah..... but that doesn't change the fact that I feel like I have no control over my body oftentimes, something I just don't like.
Ugh. Need to fix this.... just no idea how.

Ah, Blogger. How I've missed thee.

I'm back. *evil laugh*
My apologies for the absence; things in our world have been quite hectic and tumultuous over thepast few months, hence my neglect of this blog. Again, bad choice, but hey, it happens. Life takes over.... things, important things, suffer.
Though for now, life is semi-back on track and here I am, writing away.
Everything with the incoming Baby R is on track and I have finally recovered from the first trimester nasties. Thank God! It was getting ridiculous, and really, who can survive on McDonald's and yogurt?! No one! I hit 21 weeks today and have gained 12 glorious pounds since making it out of week 12. My knees and hips are feeling those pounds, as I have never gained so much weight in my life. I know, I know, make all the snarky "skinny twig girl" comments you want, but it's true and the pain & general joint strain is true, too. Yucky. Other than that, things are back to normal for our little family at Alcatraz.
We took an incredibly wonderful trip back up to Michigan June 26 - July 3. I was in a dear friend's wedding (hence the new picture) and had a great time! I got to spend three days leading up to the big day with the lovely bride and some friends, getting pedicures, setting up for the reception and just catching up. Made me feel old to watch her get married (even though I've been hitched to Shark Fin for almost two years!). It was really a great time though and I wish both Casey & Jon much happiness! :) Loves!
Shark Fin & I had a combined baby shower for Baby Jethro while we were up there, and man, what a turn out! We were the recipients of a ton of great stuff.... so much we couldn't fit it all in our Jeep to come back to Virginia and his momma is bringing the rest of it down this weekend. THANKS TO EVERYONE that came for helping us get this baby set up right!
Now that we know what we're having.... did I say that? Yes, we know, we just ain't telling!...... I can work on adding some gender-appropriate accents to my sage green and chocolate brown stuff. I am so darn excited for this baby!
I am still working for the city and I will probably be here til they close our office doors on October 3. After that, I am just going to focus on having a healthy baby for a while. Shark Fin & I have been really concerned about our financial status once I go out on maternity leave and whether I would need to find a job after the baby is born to help keep us afloat. (One thing I do have to say I hate, loathe, despise about Virginia is the ridiculous cost of living.) Turns out, though, after some finagling with our monthly budget, it looks like I will be able to stay home with the little person for a while. We will still get a small monthly "allowance" (what Shark Fin & I call the money we don't have to be accountable to anyone for) to allow us some freedom and Shark Fin will be able to rest easy knowing his little person is not trapped in a disease infested daycare center (which is a discussion for another post entirely. I went to daycare!) At any rate, that is a huge blessing and we are extremely thankful for it.
I am , however, already thinking up some schemes for making a little money on the side. We inherited an incredible Singer sewing machine from my grandmother by way of my mom, and once I get it cleaned & oiled, it will become my new best pal. I have plans for aprons, dish towels, burp cloths, blankets, crib sets, binky leashes... pretty much any textile item I can think of. Watch for me on Etsy. I'm gonna be a star! Haha.

I think that's it for now. :) LOVE!