*Cramps - ouch. increasing and increasingly unpleasant. Not just belly cramps, but the leg cramps have returned - the weird inner thigh, kneecap and other random places ones that I was told were related to contractions last time around.
*New craving/obsession - crunching ice chips. Perhaps getting ready for that labor process where it's all you can have because of all the drugs? Oh wait, I won't be laboring this time! I usually don't eat ice, because I can't handle cold stuff too well, but since our ride home in the car, it's been something I really enjoy doing, although most of our ice cubes are too large for me, I have to wait until they are basically melted and then it's not nearly as satisfying or fulfilling, because I have to start over again with a full glass that's too big and wait for it to melt down some.
*Temperature - rising. I am definitely feeling hotter. I've been complaining a lot tonight and have bumped the thermostat down and turned on fans. Eating ice helps, some, too.
*Tolerance level - dipping dangerously low, especially considering it starts below sea level normally.
*Feet - tired and feeling swollen by the end of the day. Even my hands look big at times. The veins seem like they are just bulging at times and I notice them more easily (because they are a darker blue) with all of the blood I'm pumping.
*Belly - growing. still high. tight at times.
*Stretchmarks - one new one, lower right of belly. boo. maybe it's just temporary.
*Clothes -- moving into bigger panels; fun times and oh so fashionable!
*Nose - suspiciously looking slightly swollen as well, but think it's still in my head at this point. I know it got bigger near the end last time and it drove me crazy! I still can't look at pictures without seeing this huge bulbous nose!!
*Complaining - maybe slightly picking up frequency. My answers to "how are you feeling?" are no longer the sing-song, positive, reassuring, glowing "great!" but usually come off as "big. pregnant. tired. hurting." So, you know, the more annoying, honest kind that's not socially comfortable. so bite me.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Catching up
Monday evening I met up with 3 other preggo girls from the gym for dinner! We are all due about the same time and have been good motivators for each other to show up to class. They are all having their first child, though. Well, one is having her first and second, because she's having twins! A girl and a boy. One known girl and one other surprise, like us. We had a good time comparing notes and chatting away. It was a fun get together. Dellaina joined us and was very well behaved! By the end, though, she was ready to get "out" and stretch her legs and she did NOT want to get in the car, so we hung outside on the sidewalk of the Taco Mac for a while. It was a really pleasant evening, weather-wise, so it was kind of nice to be forced to slow down and take it in. But, eventually we did have to go home and I just had to pick her up and force her in the car.
Mema was pleasantly surprised to see us and mom and dad weren't too far behind. We had a nice evening - Mammie spent most of it running after Dellaina while I got to kick my feet up and even check email, etc. It was after 10 before Dellaina went up to bed, but she was ready. She wasn't even interested in reading stories (I finally remember to bring some books so we'd have some here!) and just pointed to her bed, played with a few toys, laid down and didn't fuss a bit when we left the room.
The rest of the week has been a real treat, because things are so slow at work, we were given it off!! Each day was kind of a take it as it comes, call in and see if anything has come up, but worked out well that nothing ever did.
Dellaina and I have had leisurely mornings and it's been nice. I've done lots of running around and had fun looking and getting a few little things here and there. I did get the other nightstand for the bedroom and a few little knickknacks. As well as, getting things done around the house. It was nice to get things cleared out of our bedroom and cleaned up. I lined all of the drawers in the new dresser and chest of drawers and transferred all of our clothes from the old drawers. Beyond that, my big project has been getting pictures in frames to start my wall of pictures in the stairway. I think we have enough now to start it without it looking odd.
I finally just asked this morning if Dellaina & I could go on down to the lake house, rather than have to wait to see if anything was going to come in randomly on a Friday when we hadn't heard anything all week. I had been thinking it since Steve first mentioned the possibility of giving us some time off, but didn't want to tell Mammie & Grandaddy until it was more definite, so it was a big surprise when I called them today to make sure they were coming down tonight because Dellaina & I would see them if they did. We made it down here around 6:00, I think. I left the house around 2:30, but had to go back once to get Greg's lunch he'd left and then run into Wal-mart, go by, pick up Dellaina, go by Greg's work and then then it was 3:40 by the time we got on the Interstate. I had one other stop I had wanted to make, but with Greg's encouragement, I knew I needed to get on the road. I booked it down through the city, which slowed a little bit, but kept moving, because Greg said I-20 was already showing up red on the traffic maps. It did slow, but it wasn't unbearable at all, thankfully! Even with the heavy rains we went through. By the time we got to the Madison exit, though, Dellaina was ready to get out and I was hungry anyway, so we stopped at Zaxby's and took our time eating and letting her run around the nearly deserted restaurant. We ran through some really heavy rain and bad looking storms with lots of lightening, but all in all, the trip wasn't too bad, especially breaking it up some without being stressed about time, etc. 
I did get stressed right after our pit stop, though, when you leave thinking everything is all set and you've collected all the things from the floor from the last segment and now you just have the final 1/4 of the trip left and Dellaina drops one Boppy. Then, I dig around for a replacement (she's getting very particular these days about what COLOR Boppy she wants, so it's difficult to replace smoothly. Finally agreeing to the replacement, she is sated for a few minutes, until she remembers the original Purple that is still on the floor, so chucks the new one in frustration. So, I let her cry it out for a while trying to explain that I can't "get it" because I'm driving and she shouldn't throw it if she wants it. Eventually, I get one more Boppy that will help calm the tears (after some deep breathing exercises that I was amazed she did and worked well) and we have a repeat performance of brief calm and then throwing. So, we go without until we get there and just have to get over it. The replacements weren't doing any good anyway. I remembered about 10 minutes from the house that my car is capable of playing videos/movies and I should have set that up for the trip!! duh! I'm so used to being in Greg's car and have never used the feature before. I'm excited to try it out on the way home, although, I think it may cause problems in our normal commute expecting to watch Elmo, etc. [Picture is from this morning's battle for the correct color Boppy to appease her at the moment. She was wearing a cute headband of mine, but it doesn't really show up well. *sigh]
I did get stressed right after our pit stop, though, when you leave thinking everything is all set and you've collected all the things from the floor from the last segment and now you just have the final 1/4 of the trip left and Dellaina drops one Boppy. Then, I dig around for a replacement (she's getting very particular these days about what COLOR Boppy she wants, so it's difficult to replace smoothly. Finally agreeing to the replacement, she is sated for a few minutes, until she remembers the original Purple that is still on the floor, so chucks the new one in frustration. So, I let her cry it out for a while trying to explain that I can't "get it" because I'm driving and she shouldn't throw it if she wants it. Eventually, I get one more Boppy that will help calm the tears (after some deep breathing exercises that I was amazed she did and worked well) and we have a repeat performance of brief calm and then throwing. So, we go without until we get there and just have to get over it. The replacements weren't doing any good anyway. I remembered about 10 minutes from the house that my car is capable of playing videos/movies and I should have set that up for the trip!! duh! I'm so used to being in Greg's car and have never used the feature before. I'm excited to try it out on the way home, although, I think it may cause problems in our normal commute expecting to watch Elmo, etc. [Picture is from this morning's battle for the correct color Boppy to appease her at the moment. She was wearing a cute headband of mine, but it doesn't really show up well. *sigh]
Mema was pleasantly surprised to see us and mom and dad weren't too far behind. We had a nice evening - Mammie spent most of it running after Dellaina while I got to kick my feet up and even check email, etc. It was after 10 before Dellaina went up to bed, but she was ready. She wasn't even interested in reading stories (I finally remember to bring some books so we'd have some here!) and just pointed to her bed, played with a few toys, laid down and didn't fuss a bit when we left the room.I've since been up organizing my scrapbooking supplies, because (1) it desperately needs it and (2) the preggo girl's are next planning a scrapbooking get together, and (3) I'm nearing the point where I might want to bring some of it home from time to time rather than leaving it all here, so it needs to be more portable.
That's the report.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Favorite icon
A friend with ties to a certain chicken company that uses another farm animal in their advertising sent me this link to vote and as I don't have much else to share at the moment, I thought it might be a moment's entertainment.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Priorities
Greg ended up taking the rest of the week off from work to try to get things done around the house. Things were still slow at my work and I ended up with some extra time in the afternoons and getting off early, so it worked out really well. He helped me by taking Dellaina to school in the mornings so I could actually make it to work on time, even though nothing was going on. I know Dellaina really enjoyed having her Daddy around in the mornings and tomorrow will probably be a shocker for her.
Wednesday morning, Greg took Dellaina to the doctor for her follow up ear appointment. She checked out fine, but ended up getting a surprise flu shot, because they had them in and said to go ahead and give it to her while she was there.
Thursday, Greg & I met at Kauffman Tire to drop off my car and get new tires put on it. Then, we went and had a nice lunch together at Ruby Tuesday! He used one of the gift cards he's had in his wallet for years and surprisingly, it still had value! Then, we ran to the local furniture store I love to go to in downtown Woodstock. We have gotten several pieces from them (mostly Broyhill) and have been very pleased and the last piece we'd gotten, Greg had gone with the new Broyhill furniture outlet down at Barret Parkway and it was a nightmare, so we're back to supporting the local guys! We were looking for a TV stand/console table because we'd finally talked ourselves into getting a flat screen TV soon. We were all set to order one from Pottery Barn, but I got sticker shock and decided we needed to look around some, not just throw it in the cart with the few other things I was looking at getting that I'd been looking at for a while. After doing some searching online and in stores, we were really glad we hadn't sunk the money so quickly - even though it was still one of the ones we liked the best, it wasn't worth the drastically higher price tag. We had kind of decided we wanted something that was a little narrower and taller than a lot of the really low, long stands - more along the lines even of a sideboard, or bookcase. We needed glass to hide the components from little fingers, but still be accessible with remotes. We didn't really see much in the way of a TV stand at the local furniture store, but we did run across this great dresser with a mirror and nightstand that we both really liked. The set we have came from Greg's parents and we've always sort of known it was a temporary thing. It's been really awesome to have a full set from the start, but we've kept our eyes open for suites we really liked or deals we couldn't pass up.
This set was black, but distressed and old looking, with antique silver hardware, so not too formal or stark and it was a really big piece. We laughed that every piece of furniture in our house is going to end up being black! Something about it just makes it look nice to us. We usually go for the rustic look, and this still had some of that, but was definitely more elegant or formal than we normally gravitate to. Rather than a rustic cottage look, it says more Southern Plantation or Manor to me. So, still gives you the old solid furniture feel (like from Grandma's attic that's being passed down for generations), but a little bit nicer, better taken care of over the years. The set had been an excellent price and the nightstand was very reasonable, too, but they were all he had left of the set and he didn't really have a picture to show us or any thoughts on getting more in -- have to order from China and they are slow and he'd need to order like a full crate of like 10 sets, rather than just one to make it affordable. He gave us the name of another local store up in Canton, though, that he'd split the last container with who still had one set out on the floor. We really wanted to ride up there, but I decided I should get back to work. Turns out, I get back and I'm all alone - Tyler had already called Steve and taken off! I did end up getting off early, too, though and we decided to drive on up to look at it, liked it just as much and bought it on the spot (obviously, with some financing options). They said they could deliver it Saturday! woo-hoo, that was terribly exciting for me. Also, daunting to think about clearing out our room in two days when we weren't prepared for this change at all.
Friday, I got off by lunchtime and Greg felt he'd done enough running around and wanted to actually get some yard work in around the house. So, fortunately, my ever-eager sister was off and agreed to join me for a whirlwind furniture store marathon. I went to one other little local store on the way down to meet her and we went through 4 stores before grabbing lunch at Rafferty's (yummy!) and then hit about 3 more. Emily was also looking for new living room furniture ideas, so it worked out. I, of course, wanted new linens to go on the new bed and we found a great deal on some clearance items at Linens 'n Things, plus multiple 20% off Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons, so I was excited about that purchase.
I needed something dark to help with the dogs, but going dark on a black bed was tricky! The sheets were great, because they were generall light with brown and leaves form the comforter and green from the walls! I didn't find much in the way of TV tables, though. Or furniture for Dellaina's big girl room. I did enjoy looking at accessories to put on top of our new clean dressers - intentional pretty stuff, rather than piling it up with our junk! - but it was hard without seeing them in the room yet and living with them some to really make a decision, but now I have some definite ideas of what I'd like to get, eventually. Emily got a few options to come to with Daniel, so that was good, too. We were exhausted by the time we called it quits around 5:00 and I got up to pick up Dellaina and headed home to start dealing with clearing out our room.
Dellaina had a play date scheduled with the next door neighbor at 10:30 on Saturday, but by 9:00 we got the call that she'd been up throwing up all night - like 8 times! She'd had some shrimp the night before and they thought that was the cause, because she'd also just had her 2 year checkup Friday and was fine, but didn't want to take any chances. Ironically, that's exactly what happened the last time we had a play date scheduled at our house! Maybe she forgot she'd already used that excuse with me once? just kidding! So, then, I called Granny to see if she was interested in meeting us, after the furniture was delivered to go ahead and take Dellaina for the night. We had already planned to come visit on Sunday, because Greg was meeting Granpa and some friends to play golf, so Dellaina & I would go visit Granny. This way, it would just give them all more time to visit with her and free up our time to organize the house and do more running around.
The furniture came a little after 10:00 and it was fun to watch it all being brought it. They had brought 4 guys because they'd heard it might be a challenge with our steep driveway and getting upstairs. We just sat and watched them - even Dellaina was having a big time, with 4 strange men around, that's shocking! And asked if they liked having an audience to which they replied they were used to it. They said the real funny ones were the older gentlemen that stand right there over your shoulder and hand you tools and such. 
We just commented on how we didn't have much exciting to do that day. So, once that finishes up, we head out to meet Granny around 11:00 and deliver the Chunky Monkey. Then, we head to Best Buy. What a cluster. I could go into all the painful details of our nearly 3 hour excursion there, but suffice it to say, we did EVENTUALLY walk out with a new 42" LCD TV, an HDTV receiver and my new video camera!! They had 24 months, no interest financing and we clearly took advantage. I had a gift card from my parents to use towards my video camera, too, because it's been on my wish list for about 2 years now. I went with the kind that records onto mini DVD's in the hopes that it will make it easier to make copies/share with less transferring like on the tapes. We'll see! So far, I've enjoyed it. Every time I go to put it up, I think "that's cute" and want to capture it. go figure! I see that Blogger now has video upload feature, but thankfully for everyone, I don't know how to use it exactly from my camera yet, so you'll be spared endless video clips. . for now. So, we're worn out, but we still go looking for the Crate & Barrel to try to look at some of the TV consoles we'd seen in the catalog in person. The first place we eventually find directs us to either Lennox of North Point, where there are the C&B Furniture stores. So, we head up 400 to North Point and eventually find our way to the store, take the catalog in and point to the picture and are directed to the piece and I'm very pleased with it. Much more so than anything else I'd seen. It's. . on backorder. We're so bummed, because we had worked in our heads we were going to walk out with it to go set everything up, forgetting that most furniture, if we're going with the real pieces, not just ready-to-assemble, will have to be ordered. But, we go ahead and put our names down. .it should be October sometime. Maybe before the baby, we'll see. So, we finally head home and Greg starts working out. Josh comes over after 6:00 to help Greg carry down our old bedroom furniture and carry in the new TV and hook it up. 
We are just using our sofa table temporarily, because we wanted to go ahead and clean out the big entertainment center we had and get it downstairs, so the set up would be similar to when we do get the cabinet we ordered. So, obviously, things don't really fit and there are cords hanging out everywhere, but I really love the change and the sleek look of it all. The TV is so great and it even has the ambient lighting that changes as the colors on the screen change! Not something that's really that important or that we even knew it had/did when we picked it out, but it is kind of cool to have things so lit up around it - especially since we have it in the corner and not flat up against a wall. Josh was a big help and we cooked out dinner and watched the Bristol night race, so it was a good evening.
Josh just crashed with us, and we all got up and headed out Sunday morning. We ate breakfast at the Waffle House (just like old times, except we were actually up and going somewhere rather than just staggering in from somewhere and headed off to crash/sleep!) and then drove towards Athens. We dropped Josh's truck off when we got to 316 and he rode with us to the golf course. I then drove on out to Granny's. Andrea was there playing with Dellaina. She even read her stories and tucked her in for her nap. 25 minutes later, Granny went up to check on her and came back down with her! She'd just been wide-eyed and not asleep, so Granny couldn't resist. We got her to eat a little bit and let her play and I tried taking her back up one time, but it just wasn't happening at that point. Fortunately, she didn't get too cranky and she fell asleep in the car when we were riding back out to the golf course to pick up Greg & Josh. Granny rode with us so she could see Greg and rode back with Granpa & Blake. It was storming and lightening pretty heavily and Dellaina managed to stay asleep for about an hour, so that was good. She woke up about 10 minutes from the house and was so out of it and still sleepy, she got fussy and cried and screamed, rubbing her eyes and holding her hands on her head, over her eyes like she just couldn't handle it all. She wanted to "get out" and it also sounded like she was crying for "Georgia, Purple Hands" but it was hard to make out. Maybe she'd been dreaming about school? Or Georgia holds and rocks her sometimes? We made it home and she recovered and we had a good evening. She enjoyed Sesame Street on the new "Big TV!" and "helped" me put drawer liner in the new dresser. I enjoyed sleeping in the bed last night - it is a little bit taller than our old one, but not so much so that I need a stool or anything to get in it, so I like that! Soooo, I think we're having a baby soon and should return focus to fixing up Dellaina's "Big Girl" room and getting ready for these big changes, huh? This will just be our last chance to do something for us for a while. . .that's our story and we're sticking to it!
Wednesday morning, Greg took Dellaina to the doctor for her follow up ear appointment. She checked out fine, but ended up getting a surprise flu shot, because they had them in and said to go ahead and give it to her while she was there.
Thursday, Greg & I met at Kauffman Tire to drop off my car and get new tires put on it. Then, we went and had a nice lunch together at Ruby Tuesday! He used one of the gift cards he's had in his wallet for years and surprisingly, it still had value! Then, we ran to the local furniture store I love to go to in downtown Woodstock. We have gotten several pieces from them (mostly Broyhill) and have been very pleased and the last piece we'd gotten, Greg had gone with the new Broyhill furniture outlet down at Barret Parkway and it was a nightmare, so we're back to supporting the local guys! We were looking for a TV stand/console table because we'd finally talked ourselves into getting a flat screen TV soon. We were all set to order one from Pottery Barn, but I got sticker shock and decided we needed to look around some, not just throw it in the cart with the few other things I was looking at getting that I'd been looking at for a while. After doing some searching online and in stores, we were really glad we hadn't sunk the money so quickly - even though it was still one of the ones we liked the best, it wasn't worth the drastically higher price tag. We had kind of decided we wanted something that was a little narrower and taller than a lot of the really low, long stands - more along the lines even of a sideboard, or bookcase. We needed glass to hide the components from little fingers, but still be accessible with remotes. We didn't really see much in the way of a TV stand at the local furniture store, but we did run across this great dresser with a mirror and nightstand that we both really liked. The set we have came from Greg's parents and we've always sort of known it was a temporary thing. It's been really awesome to have a full set from the start, but we've kept our eyes open for suites we really liked or deals we couldn't pass up.
This set was black, but distressed and old looking, with antique silver hardware, so not too formal or stark and it was a really big piece. We laughed that every piece of furniture in our house is going to end up being black! Something about it just makes it look nice to us. We usually go for the rustic look, and this still had some of that, but was definitely more elegant or formal than we normally gravitate to. Rather than a rustic cottage look, it says more Southern Plantation or Manor to me. So, still gives you the old solid furniture feel (like from Grandma's attic that's being passed down for generations), but a little bit nicer, better taken care of over the years. The set had been an excellent price and the nightstand was very reasonable, too, but they were all he had left of the set and he didn't really have a picture to show us or any thoughts on getting more in -- have to order from China and they are slow and he'd need to order like a full crate of like 10 sets, rather than just one to make it affordable. He gave us the name of another local store up in Canton, though, that he'd split the last container with who still had one set out on the floor. We really wanted to ride up there, but I decided I should get back to work. Turns out, I get back and I'm all alone - Tyler had already called Steve and taken off! I did end up getting off early, too, though and we decided to drive on up to look at it, liked it just as much and bought it on the spot (obviously, with some financing options). They said they could deliver it Saturday! woo-hoo, that was terribly exciting for me. Also, daunting to think about clearing out our room in two days when we weren't prepared for this change at all.Friday, I got off by lunchtime and Greg felt he'd done enough running around and wanted to actually get some yard work in around the house. So, fortunately, my ever-eager sister was off and agreed to join me for a whirlwind furniture store marathon. I went to one other little local store on the way down to meet her and we went through 4 stores before grabbing lunch at Rafferty's (yummy!) and then hit about 3 more. Emily was also looking for new living room furniture ideas, so it worked out. I, of course, wanted new linens to go on the new bed and we found a great deal on some clearance items at Linens 'n Things, plus multiple 20% off Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons, so I was excited about that purchase.
I needed something dark to help with the dogs, but going dark on a black bed was tricky! The sheets were great, because they were generall light with brown and leaves form the comforter and green from the walls! I didn't find much in the way of TV tables, though. Or furniture for Dellaina's big girl room. I did enjoy looking at accessories to put on top of our new clean dressers - intentional pretty stuff, rather than piling it up with our junk! - but it was hard without seeing them in the room yet and living with them some to really make a decision, but now I have some definite ideas of what I'd like to get, eventually. Emily got a few options to come to with Daniel, so that was good, too. We were exhausted by the time we called it quits around 5:00 and I got up to pick up Dellaina and headed home to start dealing with clearing out our room.Dellaina had a play date scheduled with the next door neighbor at 10:30 on Saturday, but by 9:00 we got the call that she'd been up throwing up all night - like 8 times! She'd had some shrimp the night before and they thought that was the cause, because she'd also just had her 2 year checkup Friday and was fine, but didn't want to take any chances. Ironically, that's exactly what happened the last time we had a play date scheduled at our house! Maybe she forgot she'd already used that excuse with me once? just kidding! So, then, I called Granny to see if she was interested in meeting us, after the furniture was delivered to go ahead and take Dellaina for the night. We had already planned to come visit on Sunday, because Greg was meeting Granpa and some friends to play golf, so Dellaina & I would go visit Granny. This way, it would just give them all more time to visit with her and free up our time to organize the house and do more running around.
The furniture came a little after 10:00 and it was fun to watch it all being brought it. They had brought 4 guys because they'd heard it might be a challenge with our steep driveway and getting upstairs. We just sat and watched them - even Dellaina was having a big time, with 4 strange men around, that's shocking! And asked if they liked having an audience to which they replied they were used to it. They said the real funny ones were the older gentlemen that stand right there over your shoulder and hand you tools and such. 
We just commented on how we didn't have much exciting to do that day. So, once that finishes up, we head out to meet Granny around 11:00 and deliver the Chunky Monkey. Then, we head to Best Buy. What a cluster. I could go into all the painful details of our nearly 3 hour excursion there, but suffice it to say, we did EVENTUALLY walk out with a new 42" LCD TV, an HDTV receiver and my new video camera!! They had 24 months, no interest financing and we clearly took advantage. I had a gift card from my parents to use towards my video camera, too, because it's been on my wish list for about 2 years now. I went with the kind that records onto mini DVD's in the hopes that it will make it easier to make copies/share with less transferring like on the tapes. We'll see! So far, I've enjoyed it. Every time I go to put it up, I think "that's cute" and want to capture it. go figure! I see that Blogger now has video upload feature, but thankfully for everyone, I don't know how to use it exactly from my camera yet, so you'll be spared endless video clips. . for now. So, we're worn out, but we still go looking for the Crate & Barrel to try to look at some of the TV consoles we'd seen in the catalog in person. The first place we eventually find directs us to either Lennox of North Point, where there are the C&B Furniture stores. So, we head up 400 to North Point and eventually find our way to the store, take the catalog in and point to the picture and are directed to the piece and I'm very pleased with it. Much more so than anything else I'd seen. It's. . on backorder. We're so bummed, because we had worked in our heads we were going to walk out with it to go set everything up, forgetting that most furniture, if we're going with the real pieces, not just ready-to-assemble, will have to be ordered. But, we go ahead and put our names down. .it should be October sometime. Maybe before the baby, we'll see. So, we finally head home and Greg starts working out. Josh comes over after 6:00 to help Greg carry down our old bedroom furniture and carry in the new TV and hook it up. 
We are just using our sofa table temporarily, because we wanted to go ahead and clean out the big entertainment center we had and get it downstairs, so the set up would be similar to when we do get the cabinet we ordered. So, obviously, things don't really fit and there are cords hanging out everywhere, but I really love the change and the sleek look of it all. The TV is so great and it even has the ambient lighting that changes as the colors on the screen change! Not something that's really that important or that we even knew it had/did when we picked it out, but it is kind of cool to have things so lit up around it - especially since we have it in the corner and not flat up against a wall. Josh was a big help and we cooked out dinner and watched the Bristol night race, so it was a good evening.Josh just crashed with us, and we all got up and headed out Sunday morning. We ate breakfast at the Waffle House (just like old times, except we were actually up and going somewhere rather than just staggering in from somewhere and headed off to crash/sleep!) and then drove towards Athens. We dropped Josh's truck off when we got to 316 and he rode with us to the golf course. I then drove on out to Granny's. Andrea was there playing with Dellaina. She even read her stories and tucked her in for her nap. 25 minutes later, Granny went up to check on her and came back down with her! She'd just been wide-eyed and not asleep, so Granny couldn't resist. We got her to eat a little bit and let her play and I tried taking her back up one time, but it just wasn't happening at that point. Fortunately, she didn't get too cranky and she fell asleep in the car when we were riding back out to the golf course to pick up Greg & Josh. Granny rode with us so she could see Greg and rode back with Granpa & Blake. It was storming and lightening pretty heavily and Dellaina managed to stay asleep for about an hour, so that was good. She woke up about 10 minutes from the house and was so out of it and still sleepy, she got fussy and cried and screamed, rubbing her eyes and holding her hands on her head, over her eyes like she just couldn't handle it all. She wanted to "get out" and it also sounded like she was crying for "Georgia, Purple Hands" but it was hard to make out. Maybe she'd been dreaming about school? Or Georgia holds and rocks her sometimes? We made it home and she recovered and we had a good evening. She enjoyed Sesame Street on the new "Big TV!" and "helped" me put drawer liner in the new dresser. I enjoyed sleeping in the bed last night - it is a little bit taller than our old one, but not so much so that I need a stool or anything to get in it, so I like that! Soooo, I think we're having a baby soon and should return focus to fixing up Dellaina's "Big Girl" room and getting ready for these big changes, huh? This will just be our last chance to do something for us for a while. . .that's our story and we're sticking to it!
Feeling big
So, I'm 30 weeks along now! 
I never took my 28 weeks picture, oops. The pictures I had last time for 28 weeks were the really bad, dark, grainy, camera is really dead shots, anyway, so it worked out. I'm definitely feeling more cumbersome and pregnant. I was walking by a window today and caught sight of my belly and it shocked me! 
The baby is kicking and trying to move around a lot now and I watch my stomach contort as s/he flips around! 
Hopefully, we'll be getting the call this week about when we're scheduled for the c-section. I think it will be October 26th or possibly the 29th. On one hand it seems right around the corner. . on the other. . an eternity away!
And for comparison to last time around. . . these were clearly right after the "Paint the Nursery" Party, so it was a double capture/showing. And I think I must have been setting them up with the timer and doing them myself, because that would explain why things are so low on the floor and not centered, etc.
I never took my 28 weeks picture, oops. The pictures I had last time for 28 weeks were the really bad, dark, grainy, camera is really dead shots, anyway, so it worked out. I'm definitely feeling more cumbersome and pregnant. I was walking by a window today and caught sight of my belly and it shocked me! 
The baby is kicking and trying to move around a lot now and I watch my stomach contort as s/he flips around! 
Hopefully, we'll be getting the call this week about when we're scheduled for the c-section. I think it will be October 26th or possibly the 29th. On one hand it seems right around the corner. . on the other. . an eternity away!And for comparison to last time around. . . these were clearly right after the "Paint the Nursery" Party, so it was a double capture/showing. And I think I must have been setting them up with the timer and doing them myself, because that would explain why things are so low on the floor and not centered, etc.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Traveling
A few sights along the way:
*mailboxes facing the wrong way - I hadn't noticed, but Greg pointed it out and it would have made a funny picture to see if anyone could pick out what was wrong. They all faced the houses rather than the road and there was clearly a little drive for the mail truck to pull off the road around them. It was just funny-looking.
*One mailbox "post" was the exhaust pipe from an 18-wheeler! Very creative.
*A man and young girl -in shorts or a skirt - riding on a motorcycle on the Interstate. The girl couldn't have been more than 10. Is that legal? It just seemed like not a smart idea to us even if it is somehow law abiding.
*3 military helicopters flying around - perhaps doing drills over the pastures?
*Rooster housing: individual metal tents filling the yard in rows and rows
*Lots of white fluffy clouds. One in the distinct shape of Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast.
*Family-owned estates: i.e. Bartell Airport, Bartell Ranch, Bartell Country Store. Sounds like they had a real cartel of the area.
*mailboxes facing the wrong way - I hadn't noticed, but Greg pointed it out and it would have made a funny picture to see if anyone could pick out what was wrong. They all faced the houses rather than the road and there was clearly a little drive for the mail truck to pull off the road around them. It was just funny-looking.
*One mailbox "post" was the exhaust pipe from an 18-wheeler! Very creative.
*A man and young girl -in shorts or a skirt - riding on a motorcycle on the Interstate. The girl couldn't have been more than 10. Is that legal? It just seemed like not a smart idea to us even if it is somehow law abiding.
*3 military helicopters flying around - perhaps doing drills over the pastures?
*Rooster housing: individual metal tents filling the yard in rows and rows
*Lots of white fluffy clouds. One in the distinct shape of Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast.
*Family-owned estates: i.e. Bartell Airport, Bartell Ranch, Bartell Country Store. Sounds like they had a real cartel of the area.
Vacation End: Going home
We managed to get up, get packed and pulled out by 9:30! 
This was our sad attempt at capturing a family picture -- the truck is running and we're headed out. Apparently the camera was fogging up and we should have done a close up one, too. *sigh.
The ride home was pretty successful, too, all things considered. The map we were using was from 1993 and some of the roads seemed to do things a little differently in real life than what the map showed, so we had a few turn arounds on the way down there and on the way back, we just took a round about route at one point rather than turning around and backtracking. The race was finally able to happen, so we had something to listen to to pass the time, although it took some fiddling to keep up with the local stations that were broadcasting as we continued to move. I was impressed Dellaina even recognized it was "race cars!" She refused to take her nap until we were about 30-40 minutes away from the house! But, she did really well. She even was clever enough to pull a fast one on us. We had gone through a drive-thru for breakfast not too long into the trip, then, we stopped very briefly at a KFC to change her diaper and get her some chicken and biscuit about halfway/3 hours in. She didn't get much time to really stretch and so, it wasn't too much later she told us "change diaper." We were really praising her and asked if it was dirty and she needed us to change it? She continued to assure us it was and repeat, "change diaper" so we pulled over on the side of the road and got all the supplies ready and before I got her shorts all the way off, I decided to just do a check and she said, "nope!" like she does when I go to check and there's nothing there. Sure enough, she was fine. So, I grinned and let her get out and walk around and look at the horses in the pasture for a few minutes. Then, we got back in the car. Little stinker. I warned her about being the Girl Who Cried Wolf and the next time we might not believe her. She just grinned like, that only hurts you, lady, you'll be the one left cleaning it all up! She had a few moments of outbursts, but never really started crying to "get out!" Only near the end she said "all done race cars. Daddy turn off. Doggie music." Too cute, she was ready to listen to her CD. We listened to it all the way through and then found another CD I had for her that was just musical "Lullaby's" and it did the trick, she finally surrendered to sleep. We only made one other "stop" going through the Arby's drive-thru at our exit to eat at home and Dellaina was asleep by this point. So, that's pretty impressive!
The ride home was pretty successful, too, all things considered. The map we were using was from 1993 and some of the roads seemed to do things a little differently in real life than what the map showed, so we had a few turn arounds on the way down there and on the way back, we just took a round about route at one point rather than turning around and backtracking. The race was finally able to happen, so we had something to listen to to pass the time, although it took some fiddling to keep up with the local stations that were broadcasting as we continued to move. I was impressed Dellaina even recognized it was "race cars!" She refused to take her nap until we were about 30-40 minutes away from the house! But, she did really well. She even was clever enough to pull a fast one on us. We had gone through a drive-thru for breakfast not too long into the trip, then, we stopped very briefly at a KFC to change her diaper and get her some chicken and biscuit about halfway/3 hours in. She didn't get much time to really stretch and so, it wasn't too much later she told us "change diaper." We were really praising her and asked if it was dirty and she needed us to change it? She continued to assure us it was and repeat, "change diaper" so we pulled over on the side of the road and got all the supplies ready and before I got her shorts all the way off, I decided to just do a check and she said, "nope!" like she does when I go to check and there's nothing there. Sure enough, she was fine. So, I grinned and let her get out and walk around and look at the horses in the pasture for a few minutes. Then, we got back in the car. Little stinker. I warned her about being the Girl Who Cried Wolf and the next time we might not believe her. She just grinned like, that only hurts you, lady, you'll be the one left cleaning it all up! She had a few moments of outbursts, but never really started crying to "get out!" Only near the end she said "all done race cars. Daddy turn off. Doggie music." Too cute, she was ready to listen to her CD. We listened to it all the way through and then found another CD I had for her that was just musical "Lullaby's" and it did the trick, she finally surrendered to sleep. We only made one other "stop" going through the Arby's drive-thru at our exit to eat at home and Dellaina was asleep by this point. So, that's pretty impressive!
We made it home by 3:30. 
We carried Dellaina up to her crib, she woke up a little bit, looked around, we told her we were home and she said, "Hank!" She passed right back out when we laid her down and slept hard. We got unloaded and Greg jumped back in the car to go pick up the boys. I unloaded a few bags and then laid down myself. Greg called when he was on his way back and said the boys seemed to be doing well and were of course happy to see him. They all came up to get us up when they got home and Dellaina was happy to see her brothers. She'd been asking about them all day.
We carried Dellaina up to her crib, she woke up a little bit, looked around, we told her we were home and she said, "Hank!" She passed right back out when we laid her down and slept hard. We got unloaded and Greg jumped back in the car to go pick up the boys. I unloaded a few bags and then laid down myself. Greg called when he was on his way back and said the boys seemed to be doing well and were of course happy to see him. They all came up to get us up when they got home and Dellaina was happy to see her brothers. She'd been asking about them all day. Vacation Day 3: Rinse & Repeat
The next and final day of our vacation was very similar to the one previously posted. We woke up, watched a little TV, had some breakfast (our blueberry muffin was mistakenly substituted with a Poppy Seed one from The Donut Hole but that still falls into the range of what I will eat, so we were ok) and then went swimming in the pool. (She absolutely refused to look at the camera to get any pictures of her with me) 
So much vacationing stimulation (or perhaps just being a toddler?) made Dellaina fairly fussy, opinionated and tired. She went down for her nap and Greg ran out to pick up the pizzas we'd ordered from a local place - one of the menus in the book the Martin's had for guests that had a rating of "Excellent!" It was quite tasty. Greg said it had been a very authentic little Italian place. The pizza crust was thin and could barely hold up the mound of toppings Greg got on his pizza. Mine had big hunks of Italian sausage and they were both quite yummy. I laid down for my nap with my belly full. The race was rained out yet again and Greg spent some time floating in the pool and piddling. He was ready to head to the beach by the time his girls both finally roused.
So much vacationing stimulation (or perhaps just being a toddler?) made Dellaina fairly fussy, opinionated and tired. She went down for her nap and Greg ran out to pick up the pizzas we'd ordered from a local place - one of the menus in the book the Martin's had for guests that had a rating of "Excellent!" It was quite tasty. Greg said it had been a very authentic little Italian place. The pizza crust was thin and could barely hold up the mound of toppings Greg got on his pizza. Mine had big hunks of Italian sausage and they were both quite yummy. I laid down for my nap with my belly full. The race was rained out yet again and Greg spent some time floating in the pool and piddling. He was ready to head to the beach by the time his girls both finally roused.It's a process to convince Dellaina into each step of changing diapers, putting on her swim suit, eating, putting on sunscreen and loading up the golf cart with chairs, umbrellas, toys, towels, etc. 
We eventually made it back down to the beach and Dellaina did great again, jumping right down in the sand to play. She was coated pretty quickly and decided "all done beach" a little sooner than we thought, but we talked her into going to rinse off with her Daddy in the water. She giggled and had a big time in the waves, until one caught her in the face, but she overcame it quickly. I managed to get a little video of them in the water. 
She sat in her Daddy's lap and drank lots of water and ate a few mini Nilla wafers for a while. Then, she played a little bit longer, but we knew we'd be leaving again soon. She had dropped one of her cookies and I threw it up to a Seagull that was flying by. Immediately we were being surrounded by Seagulls swarming in from all directions. 
[Picture: peaceful, before the ATTACK. I got that on video, but not in pictures] I had resisted feeding them the day before, because I knew Dellaina would get a kick out of it and want to keep doing it, so I only intended to do it when we were ready to leave for the last time. Dellaina did get a big kick out of all the birds coming so close. She started to get a little scared at times and look at me panicked to pick her up, but we'd just laugh (especially because Greg was so worked up that I'd done it in the first place) and say "silly seagulls" and she'd laugh again. It was like this huge neon sign over us saying, "THEY FED THE SEAGULLS!" We got loaded up and I was worried myself for a time that they might come attack our bags, but thankfully, they kept a little bit of distance. The crazy family that was just down the beach came running through them as we were leaving. Throwing sand up in the air to try to get them to fly around after it like it was food.
When we got back up to the house, we spent time washing everything off well - including Greg even shop vacuuming the garage! Dellaina had a big time climbing all over the golf cart and we took it for a little spin around the neighborhood to dry it off before putting it up. Then, we all went inside and rinsed off in the BIG master shower, that was like a hallway and had 2 shower heads. Dellaina had a big time being in the shower with BOTH mama and daddy. She even did well to turn around and stand in the water so I could attempt to get the sand out of her hair. Then, the big clean up process started.
We put in some Elmo DVD's for Dellaina on the "Big TV" and let her zone out for a bit. We just reheated the pizza for dinner. Tile floors are nice for looks and cleanup, but after several days going barefoot on them, your feet do get tired and sore. Even if you aren't 7 months pregnant. We all crashed hard that night.
We eventually made it back down to the beach and Dellaina did great again, jumping right down in the sand to play. She was coated pretty quickly and decided "all done beach" a little sooner than we thought, but we talked her into going to rinse off with her Daddy in the water. She giggled and had a big time in the waves, until one caught her in the face, but she overcame it quickly. I managed to get a little video of them in the water. 
She sat in her Daddy's lap and drank lots of water and ate a few mini Nilla wafers for a while. Then, she played a little bit longer, but we knew we'd be leaving again soon. She had dropped one of her cookies and I threw it up to a Seagull that was flying by. Immediately we were being surrounded by Seagulls swarming in from all directions. 
[Picture: peaceful, before the ATTACK. I got that on video, but not in pictures] I had resisted feeding them the day before, because I knew Dellaina would get a kick out of it and want to keep doing it, so I only intended to do it when we were ready to leave for the last time. Dellaina did get a big kick out of all the birds coming so close. She started to get a little scared at times and look at me panicked to pick her up, but we'd just laugh (especially because Greg was so worked up that I'd done it in the first place) and say "silly seagulls" and she'd laugh again. It was like this huge neon sign over us saying, "THEY FED THE SEAGULLS!" We got loaded up and I was worried myself for a time that they might come attack our bags, but thankfully, they kept a little bit of distance. The crazy family that was just down the beach came running through them as we were leaving. Throwing sand up in the air to try to get them to fly around after it like it was food.When we got back up to the house, we spent time washing everything off well - including Greg even shop vacuuming the garage! Dellaina had a big time climbing all over the golf cart and we took it for a little spin around the neighborhood to dry it off before putting it up. Then, we all went inside and rinsed off in the BIG master shower, that was like a hallway and had 2 shower heads. Dellaina had a big time being in the shower with BOTH mama and daddy. She even did well to turn around and stand in the water so I could attempt to get the sand out of her hair. Then, the big clean up process started.
We put in some Elmo DVD's for Dellaina on the "Big TV" and let her zone out for a bit. We just reheated the pizza for dinner. Tile floors are nice for looks and cleanup, but after several days going barefoot on them, your feet do get tired and sore. Even if you aren't 7 months pregnant. We all crashed hard that night. Sunday, August 19, 2007
Vacation Day 2: Real Vacation starts
Today was our first real day of being on vacation. 
Dellaina woke up a little early and I brought her into the bed with us, which made for a nice, cozy family vacation moment. She actually went back to sleep for a while, too. We all got up around 9:00 our time (trying not to adjust to local time because hate to have to adjust back when we'd lose an hour going home) at Dellaina's persistence "Daddy get up! Mama get up!" after climbing all over us and talking about the beach and Seasame street and other wonderful things. 
We got up and got Dellaina to eat 1/2 Poptart. We decided we'd try to go find a local place to get breakfast, so we got dressed and in the car. Dellaina got in an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, too on the "big TV!" 
We drove around and ended up at The Donut Hole, which was small, but about what we were looking for - if you can overlook the girl puking in the parking lot. Greg was tempted to ask her if she'd just eaten here or not and should we take that as a bad review and go somewhere else. It looked to be a young twenty-something that had had a late night or not done well traveling in the car. . we did see her come through later to get something from the people she was traveling with that were eating. It was really clogged up and we had a little wait, but got a big table on the porch area (closed in, thankfully) Greg ordered an omelet and I had a stack of pancakes with strawberries (officially on vacation, thankyouverymuch!) and we got Dellaina an order of biscuits, but she mostly ate my pancakes and Daddy's jelly toast. I had neglected to bring a sippie cup, so the attempts at drinking from the straw in the kiddie cup were quite numerous and futile. Finally, she let me take the top off and hold the cup for her to actually drink out of. It was not amusing for a while, but we managed in the end. And Daddy did buy us some muffins (no doughnuts, mind you, those "aren't breakfast") for in the morning rather than attempting another outing.
Dellaina woke up a little early and I brought her into the bed with us, which made for a nice, cozy family vacation moment. She actually went back to sleep for a while, too. We all got up around 9:00 our time (trying not to adjust to local time because hate to have to adjust back when we'd lose an hour going home) at Dellaina's persistence "Daddy get up! Mama get up!" after climbing all over us and talking about the beach and Seasame street and other wonderful things. 
We got up and got Dellaina to eat 1/2 Poptart. We decided we'd try to go find a local place to get breakfast, so we got dressed and in the car. Dellaina got in an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, too on the "big TV!" 
We drove around and ended up at The Donut Hole, which was small, but about what we were looking for - if you can overlook the girl puking in the parking lot. Greg was tempted to ask her if she'd just eaten here or not and should we take that as a bad review and go somewhere else. It looked to be a young twenty-something that had had a late night or not done well traveling in the car. . we did see her come through later to get something from the people she was traveling with that were eating. It was really clogged up and we had a little wait, but got a big table on the porch area (closed in, thankfully) Greg ordered an omelet and I had a stack of pancakes with strawberries (officially on vacation, thankyouverymuch!) and we got Dellaina an order of biscuits, but she mostly ate my pancakes and Daddy's jelly toast. I had neglected to bring a sippie cup, so the attempts at drinking from the straw in the kiddie cup were quite numerous and futile. Finally, she let me take the top off and hold the cup for her to actually drink out of. It was not amusing for a while, but we managed in the end. And Daddy did buy us some muffins (no doughnuts, mind you, those "aren't breakfast") for in the morning rather than attempting another outing.By the time we got back to the house, we decided it was close enough to her nap time and race time, that we should just hang out, possibly swim in the pool, and do the whole beach escapade afterwards. I begged off the swimming duty this time, feeling I might still have some of my own with her after our naps when the race was still going on. So, Daddy & Dellaina eventually got to go swimming in the pool (it took some repeated efforts to get Dellaina ready, because she was tired and didn't have much of an attention span to focus on coming to put her bathing suit, sunscreen on, etc. 
She would get distracted running around, chasing her pink ball, etc. Picture: "One of these things does not belong. . ") and Mama took pictures and vi
deos. Daddy got her CD of music to play throughout the house and outside, so she was pretty excited by that feature. 
She was quiet and mellow mostly, but had a big time. She & I got our nap in and the race ended up being rained out. So, we'll get to plan around it again tomorrow! 
But it works out well during nap time and the middle/heat of the day.
She would get distracted running around, chasing her pink ball, etc. Picture: "One of these things does not belong. . ") and Mama took pictures and vi
deos. Daddy got her CD of music to play throughout the house and outside, so she was pretty excited by that feature. 
She was quiet and mellow mostly, but had a big time. She & I got our nap in and the race ended up being rained out. So, we'll get to plan around it again tomorrow! 
But it works out well during nap time and the middle/heat of the day. When we got up, Daddy was getting the golf cart loaded up and ready to go to the beach. We tried to get Dellaina to eat some ABC's and 123's, but without much success. She did eat some pears with me and Daddy & I split a PBJ sandwich and milk. We packed snacks, drinks, chairs, umbrellas, toys, towels, hats, sunscreen and headed over to the beach, despite protests from Dellaina, hoping we'd be able to conquer her fear or dislike of getting dirty and having the sand touch her skin. Daddy started making trips unloading and setting up, while Dellaina & I slowly made our way over the bridge. I just kept holding her hand and pulling her along, not allowing her to freak out long and eventually, she got over it, when she realized the sand didn't hurt. She walked all the way down to the umbrella and we got out her bucket of toys and she started playing and slowly relaxed enough to sit in the sand. . .and then put her hands all in the sand, letting it flow through her fingers and pouring in on her legs! By the end of the time, she'd gotten her shoes off and was enjoying putting her feet through the soft white sand, too! It was amazing progress. 
We even got down to the water and she held onto us while the waves washed up and even bent down to wash her hands off and clung to her Daddy while we went out into the water. She was laughing and had a big time, expect maybe the few moments of panic when she got a big surprise splash in the face from one wave. The water was exceptionally clear and salty. As Marcy had warned, the seaweed was churned up and there was lots of it to muddle through, but it was nice. Very warm! 
We went back to the umbrellas and hung out in the shade in the chairs for a bit, watching Dellaina play in the sand. We attempted a little walk to pick up shells, but it didn't last very long and the shells are super tiny here. They are a beautiful, smooth, white, but just very small. Granny won't even have room to write where they came from on them, but we got her some! 
Then, Dellaina decided she was ready to go, so we had to start the multiple trips loading everything up and she decided she didn't want to actually walk or leave anymore and it was a slow process getting her across the stretch of sand to the ramp while Daddy ran back and forth getting chairs, umbrellas, etc. We managed to wash off a bit and get back to the house to wash off a bit more with the hose and then jumped in the shower. It's been an adventure doing showers rather than tub baths, but it's worked out ok. After cleaning up, we got dressed to go out to eat, but took our time, sitting down and relaxing for a bit.
We even got down to the water and she held onto us while the waves washed up and even bent down to wash her hands off and clung to her Daddy while we went out into the water. She was laughing and had a big time, expect maybe the few moments of panic when she got a big surprise splash in the face from one wave. The water was exceptionally clear and salty. As Marcy had warned, the seaweed was churned up and there was lots of it to muddle through, but it was nice. Very warm! 
We went back to the umbrellas and hung out in the shade in the chairs for a bit, watching Dellaina play in the sand. We attempted a little walk to pick up shells, but it didn't last very long and the shells are super tiny here. They are a beautiful, smooth, white, but just very small. Granny won't even have room to write where they came from on them, but we got her some! 
Then, Dellaina decided she was ready to go, so we had to start the multiple trips loading everything up and she decided she didn't want to actually walk or leave anymore and it was a slow process getting her across the stretch of sand to the ramp while Daddy ran back and forth getting chairs, umbrellas, etc. We managed to wash off a bit and get back to the house to wash off a bit more with the hose and then jumped in the shower. It's been an adventure doing showers rather than tub baths, but it's worked out ok. After cleaning up, we got dressed to go out to eat, but took our time, sitting down and relaxing for a bit. We eventually decided to go with the Crab House place we'd passed looking for breakfast this morning and headed out. Dellaina was already getting hungry and the place was just what we were looking for. I had some yummy fried shrimp and hush puppies, Greg had the broiled seafood platter with shrimp, oysters, fish, crab cakes and something else and we got Dellaina the popcorn shrimp from the kids' menu and a side of corn on the cob. Her meal came in a bucket with a shovel and was a large amount for the kids menu! She ate really well as did Greg & I and then we loaded up and headed back to the house to just hang out together, being silly. It was fun. Daddy & Dellaina crashed early and mama's been up, working on pictures and videos and blogs! It's strange being in an unfamiliar house. There are so many noises to figure out. They even left a note about how the ice maker was noisy! Which was the first thing I'd heard when we got here and tried to place what it was. Water running somewhere? A fan wobbling? A dishwasher? Trash compactor? One of the noises I just heard wasn't so unfamiliar: Dellaina crying. I went to check on her and was trying to let my eyes adjust when she cried out again and it was so muffled, I went running into the room and feeling all around for her and drug back out from under the bed! The pallet we have set up for her is just on the floor between two twin beds. We have pillows all around her, but somehow she managed to get through them and wedge herself under the bed. I'm not sure if she was partly awake, trying to work her way out and kept going the wrong way or what. At one point last night, I came in and she had her legs halfway under a bed, but was still sleeping on her pillow, so I just moved her around and stacked the pillows back up. So, I just laid with her for a few minutes. Who knew she moved around so much at night. Guess the confines of the crib do contain her more than I realized!
Vacation Day 1: Traveling
We woke up fairly normally on Saturday and started getting everything ready. I'm not sure what I had really accomplished the entire day before, because it still felt like we were packing for days. How can 3 people have so much stuff? And it's not like we're going for a week, either? I know I pack too many clothes and shoes, but you've gotta have choices, right? And without the dogs, there's more room, so we've got to cram it full, right? As Granny always says, "it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." So, that's our philosophy apparently. Although our other philosophy is "if we forget something and really need it, we'll go buy it when we get there." Because it's not like we're going somewhere mysterious that won't have normal, everyday items available.
Greg left to drop off the dogs around 10:00, so it's nearly a good hour and a half before he gets back from that adventure. We start actually loading up the truck and manage to pull out of the driveway around 12:20!! sheesh. Mama & Daddy are pretty hungry, quickly, but don't want to stop as soon as we get on the road, so we decide to wait until we get through the city and at least try to stretch it an hour or so. Then, something amazing happens one hour into the trip:
Dellaina actually falls asleep! It's like somehow she knew this was going to be a long trip and she shouldn't fight the nap she usually fights when we're going to the lake or Athens. So, then mama and daddy definitely don't want to stop and decide to eat some of Dellaina's snacks and keep on trucking. 30 minutes go by and then 45 and I'm very excited. 
I wonder if we'll get her 2 hour nap out of her, but decide anything over an hour is awesome. Right before one hour, she suddenly jerks awake, crying. She was kicking off the covers and looked scared, like something was attacking her or biting her, but I guess she'd just had a bad dream and was disoriented waking up in the car. But, we still got an hour out of her. And she woke up content, entertaining herself and we were not in a populated area exactly, so we kept going. It was right about halfway, 3 hours before we had our first pit stop at McDonald's to eat, finally! 
Mama & Daddy were ready to eat our fists by this point and we all needed to stretch. I got Dellaina's diaper changed and guess this is where I left the Triple Paste we'd had to special order from the Publix pharmacy and had just gotten. Lovely. Dellaina did really well and didn't really fuss when we got back in the car again. She really did wonderfully and so much better than I anticipated. I had really been worried about it and had tried to get Greg to understand how horrible it was going to be. I'm so glad I was wrong! 
Now, we still have the return trip, and it always seems to take twice as long and everyone is cranky and ready to be home, but maybe I'm just Ms. Doomsday on that thinking as well. Dellaina enjoyed looking our the windows to see cows and horses and donkeys and birds. We went through some very beautiful, scenic parts. She definitely serenaded us with "Sunny Days" quite a few times as well. We only had one other pit stop, a little ways into Florida and it was just a quick bathroom break/diaper change/stretch your legs walking around the car. She did get fussy the last 30 minutes or so, but we were starting to get cranky ourselves and could hardly blame her.
We made it to the house by 6:30, and it is pretty spectacular. Beautiful and very nice inside and out. It's very spacious and well designed and decorated. It's been fun having the run of it for a few days. I know I definitely want some kick lights or under the counter lights in the bathrooms or my next house (ha!), that's a great feature.
We have a night light switch at our house that I love, but this would be another option. Also, the fan lights shine up, which is really neat for good, ambient lighting, but not very helpful if you actually want light to see with. After orienting ourselves a little bit, we decided we'd come all this way, we should at least ride over and set foot on the beach. 
We got a few things together and jumped on the golf cart to go over to the private beach ramp for the neighborhood. Greg carried Dellaina and she absolutely refused to let him put her down. He'd try and she'd curl her legs up so far, screaming "no!!" She did NOT want to touch the sand or the water. 
We were concerned about how this trip was going to go, but decided we'd just let it be and try again tomorrow. When we got back to the house, she noticed the pool and of course, wanted to go swimming. 
So, we tried doing it with clothes and just dipping, but that clearly wasn't working, so I got my bathing suit on and put a swim diaper on her and we splashed around for a while. The spa part worked well for her, at least around the edges. It's really deep in the middle (I'm standing up! ok, not that that's saying much, but still), so adults can sit and have their legs down in the hole, so it takes a lot of supervision, but it works well to stand in the middle and let her walk around and around. 
She had a big time and was actually tired and passed out well on the little pallet we made for her. Our room is connected to hers via the bathroom, so it works out well. Mama & Daddy weren't long behind her, guess traveling does make you tired, even though you feel like it's just a lot of sitting!
Greg left to drop off the dogs around 10:00, so it's nearly a good hour and a half before he gets back from that adventure. We start actually loading up the truck and manage to pull out of the driveway around 12:20!! sheesh. Mama & Daddy are pretty hungry, quickly, but don't want to stop as soon as we get on the road, so we decide to wait until we get through the city and at least try to stretch it an hour or so. Then, something amazing happens one hour into the trip:
Dellaina actually falls asleep! It's like somehow she knew this was going to be a long trip and she shouldn't fight the nap she usually fights when we're going to the lake or Athens. So, then mama and daddy definitely don't want to stop and decide to eat some of Dellaina's snacks and keep on trucking. 30 minutes go by and then 45 and I'm very excited. 
I wonder if we'll get her 2 hour nap out of her, but decide anything over an hour is awesome. Right before one hour, she suddenly jerks awake, crying. She was kicking off the covers and looked scared, like something was attacking her or biting her, but I guess she'd just had a bad dream and was disoriented waking up in the car. But, we still got an hour out of her. And she woke up content, entertaining herself and we were not in a populated area exactly, so we kept going. It was right about halfway, 3 hours before we had our first pit stop at McDonald's to eat, finally! 
Mama & Daddy were ready to eat our fists by this point and we all needed to stretch. I got Dellaina's diaper changed and guess this is where I left the Triple Paste we'd had to special order from the Publix pharmacy and had just gotten. Lovely. Dellaina did really well and didn't really fuss when we got back in the car again. She really did wonderfully and so much better than I anticipated. I had really been worried about it and had tried to get Greg to understand how horrible it was going to be. I'm so glad I was wrong! 
Now, we still have the return trip, and it always seems to take twice as long and everyone is cranky and ready to be home, but maybe I'm just Ms. Doomsday on that thinking as well. Dellaina enjoyed looking our the windows to see cows and horses and donkeys and birds. We went through some very beautiful, scenic parts. She definitely serenaded us with "Sunny Days" quite a few times as well. We only had one other pit stop, a little ways into Florida and it was just a quick bathroom break/diaper change/stretch your legs walking around the car. She did get fussy the last 30 minutes or so, but we were starting to get cranky ourselves and could hardly blame her.We made it to the house by 6:30, and it is pretty spectacular. Beautiful and very nice inside and out. It's very spacious and well designed and decorated. It's been fun having the run of it for a few days. I know I definitely want some kick lights or under the counter lights in the bathrooms or my next house (ha!), that's a great feature.
We have a night light switch at our house that I love, but this would be another option. Also, the fan lights shine up, which is really neat for good, ambient lighting, but not very helpful if you actually want light to see with. After orienting ourselves a little bit, we decided we'd come all this way, we should at least ride over and set foot on the beach. 
We got a few things together and jumped on the golf cart to go over to the private beach ramp for the neighborhood. Greg carried Dellaina and she absolutely refused to let him put her down. He'd try and she'd curl her legs up so far, screaming "no!!" She did NOT want to touch the sand or the water. 
We were concerned about how this trip was going to go, but decided we'd just let it be and try again tomorrow. When we got back to the house, she noticed the pool and of course, wanted to go swimming. 
So, we tried doing it with clothes and just dipping, but that clearly wasn't working, so I got my bathing suit on and put a swim diaper on her and we splashed around for a while. The spa part worked well for her, at least around the edges. It's really deep in the middle (I'm standing up! ok, not that that's saying much, but still), so adults can sit and have their legs down in the hole, so it takes a lot of supervision, but it works well to stand in the middle and let her walk around and around. 
She had a big time and was actually tired and passed out well on the little pallet we made for her. Our room is connected to hers via the bathroom, so it works out well. Mama & Daddy weren't long behind her, guess traveling does make you tired, even though you feel like it's just a lot of sitting!
Vacation Day T minus 1 and packing
I took Dellaina to day care Friday morning and Boss to the vet by 9:30 to get his Bordatella vaccine because we are boarding the boys this weekend. He loves getting to go for a ride and all of the attention at the vet. We ran by and saw Greg at work afterwards, too and he loves to lean on everyone and get pets there, too. Then, I went home and started getting us ready/packed. We made a list and I was working through it. Some of it is hard to do when you're still going to be home another night, but I got lots of laundry done and suitcases laid out and some of the other things I could.
I laid down a little before 1:00 for about an hour and then got up to do some of my running around - going by work, picking up Dellaina's prescription and then picking her up early from day care. We went down and met Aunt Emily at Target to do some shopping for some things we'd need on vacation - more tapes for the video camera, sun hat, beach bag, possibly a beach chair for Dellaina. Emily had to get a wedding gift also, so it worked out. She volunteered her 2 beach bags, and especially once we discovered Target had already cleared theirs out, we decided to take her up on the offer and we drove down to her house to hang out for a bit. 
Dellaina had a big time chasing Marble around and even got her to sit still for some pats once or twice! Then, we headed back home to continue the great packing expedition. Dellaina enjoyed her new hat and was a big help packing. Greg got home pretty late, but ironically on the Sesame Street that we watched before he got home, the little Elmo's World segment was on the beach! So, it really helped Dellaina get geared up and excited and she kept saying, "Beach!" and knew we were going. 
It felt like she was continually asking and we were replying that we were going to go to the beach the next day. She went to bed saying it and woke up asking for it and I had to keep promising her we were going to get there. . eventually!
I laid down a little before 1:00 for about an hour and then got up to do some of my running around - going by work, picking up Dellaina's prescription and then picking her up early from day care. We went down and met Aunt Emily at Target to do some shopping for some things we'd need on vacation - more tapes for the video camera, sun hat, beach bag, possibly a beach chair for Dellaina. Emily had to get a wedding gift also, so it worked out. She volunteered her 2 beach bags, and especially once we discovered Target had already cleared theirs out, we decided to take her up on the offer and we drove down to her house to hang out for a bit. 
Dellaina had a big time chasing Marble around and even got her to sit still for some pats once or twice! Then, we headed back home to continue the great packing expedition. Dellaina enjoyed her new hat and was a big help packing. Greg got home pretty late, but ironically on the Sesame Street that we watched before he got home, the little Elmo's World segment was on the beach! So, it really helped Dellaina get geared up and excited and she kept saying, "Beach!" and knew we were going. 
It felt like she was continually asking and we were replying that we were going to go to the beach the next day. She went to bed saying it and woke up asking for it and I had to keep promising her we were going to get there. . eventually!Daddy discussing the planned route with Granpa. .because that's what men do, right?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
To to the Beach
So, apparently, I haven't really mentioned our big family vacation this weekend to many people, because I keep getting blank looks or shocked responses when I've mentioned it this week. Fortunately, I did remember to inform my work, but neglected a few others. So, for those of you who have not yet been informed, we are taking our first ever Family Vacation with just our little family! To the beach! Dellaina's first trip to the beach, as well, so very exciting. I was a little anxious about it when we first planned it back in June, thinking about going it alone and being pregnant, etc. But, now I'm really kind of excited it'll just be us together.
Greg's boss, Mr. Martin, has kindly offered us to stay their new house in San Destin. By all accounts, this house is going to be quite swanky and we're actually a little apprehensive about going down there alone and being responsible for it. Originally, they were going to be there to at least "show us where the light switches are" but now they won't be there at all. So, we'll have to navigate whatever alarm codes, remote controls, golf cart keys, etc. on our own. The prep work has been a little stressful leading up to the trip, and I'm NOT looking forward to the long drive, but I'm greatly anticipating actually being down there and relaxing and exposing Dellaina to another wonderful adventure. I can already see the scrapbook. . .hahaha. We stole Granny's video camera, too, to make sure we could properly capture it all.
I actually got off a little early today and was given tomorrow off as well, which is a huge help, because I have several things to run around and do to get ready. And it's a huge relief that work is in a lull cycle just in time for us to be gone. That alleviates a lot of stress. I'll probably take Dellaina to school like normal and try to get everything done in time to go back and get her early. So, we'll be out of town until Tuesday. Maybe I'll check in/post, but if not, hopefully, it means things are going well and we're too busy relaxing and having fun.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Greg's boss, Mr. Martin, has kindly offered us to stay their new house in San Destin. By all accounts, this house is going to be quite swanky and we're actually a little apprehensive about going down there alone and being responsible for it. Originally, they were going to be there to at least "show us where the light switches are" but now they won't be there at all. So, we'll have to navigate whatever alarm codes, remote controls, golf cart keys, etc. on our own. The prep work has been a little stressful leading up to the trip, and I'm NOT looking forward to the long drive, but I'm greatly anticipating actually being down there and relaxing and exposing Dellaina to another wonderful adventure. I can already see the scrapbook. . .hahaha. We stole Granny's video camera, too, to make sure we could properly capture it all.
I actually got off a little early today and was given tomorrow off as well, which is a huge help, because I have several things to run around and do to get ready. And it's a huge relief that work is in a lull cycle just in time for us to be gone. That alleviates a lot of stress. I'll probably take Dellaina to school like normal and try to get everything done in time to go back and get her early. So, we'll be out of town until Tuesday. Maybe I'll check in/post, but if not, hopefully, it means things are going well and we're too busy relaxing and having fun.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Life shots
Yesterday, after work, Dellaina & I went to do some shopping. 
We had presents to get for a 2 year old boy, a 2 year old girl, a special someone with a special need (to be revealed at a later date) and perhaps an item or two for ourselves. Payless was having their usual Buy 1 get 1 1/2 off deal, so in addition to the practical sandals to replace the ones from 
Megan/Ella that she's worn religiously all summer and is about to grow out of, she also came away with these fabulous pink glitter sparkle shoes. I got them a little big, so they'd be good this Fall, but she wanted to keep them on for a while last night. Thankfully, she didn't remember them this morning, because they really wouldn't work yet to try to wear to school all day. 
I realized most of my pictures this week have a similar theme/situation. So, here are a couple shots of our typical morning routine - Dellaina gets to stuff her face while mama finishes gathering stuff up for the day, feeding the fish, putting on socks/shoes and getting Boss & Hank situated.
She also knows it's when mama tries to capture her cuteness and outfit for the day, so she can occasionally strike the pose with the winning smile.
Thank goodness for easy, portable things like Gerber Cereal bars, Kellogg's Go-Tarts and Entemann's Strawberry Little Bites! 
It may not be the home cooked meal I'm supposed to provide for her, but she enjoys it and I don't think they are horrible choices, maybe?
It seems to give her enough energy to ride Boss in the mornings, even Super Elmo style. 
Speaking of Super Grover, it's funny because we've progressed from "blue" to "flying" to "fall down!" and it's really cute what she picks up on. I want to find the Grover book I loved as a kid that Ashley posted about a while ago. It was great and I think Dellaina would enjoy it, too.
The other day, we were looking at a big picture book and saw a picture of an iron. Dellaina immediately said " Granny" which is very appropriate, because if there's one person that does a lot of ironing, it's Granny! Greg does his own ironing, but we're still sleeping when that takes place, so Dellaina wouldn't know to associate it with him yet. She's seen me make an attempt or two, which always seems futile as soon as I pick her up or ride in the car, the wrinkles are right back.
There have been a few times recently when we've been explaining something to Dellaina, she'll listen so intently and then say, "ooooh" with her little mouth in an 'o' shape and the right inflection for "oh, I see now! I understand!" like it's a huge epiphany. It's just amazing to think where she learns responses like that and truly grasps the "ah-ha!" moments.
I dropped my fork on my lap today and had a lovely 4 prong stain of chicken salad on my pants. It was rather amusing to me fortunately.
I have been getting tightness in my belly at the end of the day pretty regularly lately. I know I got the same sensations last time around, it's just hard to remember how much/often/long they lasted. I definitely have been getting a few more leg cramps (the kind where you have to jump out of bed to try to alleviate, but jumping out of bed or attempting any sort of movement quickly and with agility these days proves difficult! Thankfully, they haven't been the odd inner thigh cramps just yet like last time -just once, maybe twice - but are the more typical calf. The kind that leaves it sore for the day, you know? And the heartburn has picked up nicely, too. Fun times. I don't know how people deal with that condition regularly, it is so unpleasant to me.
We had presents to get for a 2 year old boy, a 2 year old girl, a special someone with a special need (to be revealed at a later date) and perhaps an item or two for ourselves. Payless was having their usual Buy 1 get 1 1/2 off deal, so in addition to the practical sandals to replace the ones from 
Megan/Ella that she's worn religiously all summer and is about to grow out of, she also came away with these fabulous pink glitter sparkle shoes. I got them a little big, so they'd be good this Fall, but she wanted to keep them on for a while last night. Thankfully, she didn't remember them this morning, because they really wouldn't work yet to try to wear to school all day. 
I realized most of my pictures this week have a similar theme/situation. So, here are a couple shots of our typical morning routine - Dellaina gets to stuff her face while mama finishes gathering stuff up for the day, feeding the fish, putting on socks/shoes and getting Boss & Hank situated.
She also knows it's when mama tries to capture her cuteness and outfit for the day, so she can occasionally strike the pose with the winning smile.
Thank goodness for easy, portable things like Gerber Cereal bars, Kellogg's Go-Tarts and Entemann's Strawberry Little Bites! 
It may not be the home cooked meal I'm supposed to provide for her, but she enjoys it and I don't think they are horrible choices, maybe?
It seems to give her enough energy to ride Boss in the mornings, even Super Elmo style. Speaking of Super Grover, it's funny because we've progressed from "blue" to "flying" to "fall down!" and it's really cute what she picks up on. I want to find the Grover book I loved as a kid that Ashley posted about a while ago. It was great and I think Dellaina would enjoy it, too.
We are making progress with getting Dellaina to respond with "yes" rather than "yeah." She's been doing it much more consistently on her own, rather than just repeating after me, once I correct her. Now, we just have to keep a check on ourselves and how we respond to each other and her and we'll be all set to start working in those "yes, please" or "yes ma'am/sir."
The other day, we were looking at a big picture book and saw a picture of an iron. Dellaina immediately said " Granny" which is very appropriate, because if there's one person that does a lot of ironing, it's Granny! Greg does his own ironing, but we're still sleeping when that takes place, so Dellaina wouldn't know to associate it with him yet. She's seen me make an attempt or two, which always seems futile as soon as I pick her up or ride in the car, the wrinkles are right back.
There have been a few times recently when we've been explaining something to Dellaina, she'll listen so intently and then say, "ooooh" with her little mouth in an 'o' shape and the right inflection for "oh, I see now! I understand!" like it's a huge epiphany. It's just amazing to think where she learns responses like that and truly grasps the "ah-ha!" moments.
I dropped my fork on my lap today and had a lovely 4 prong stain of chicken salad on my pants. It was rather amusing to me fortunately.
I have been getting tightness in my belly at the end of the day pretty regularly lately. I know I got the same sensations last time around, it's just hard to remember how much/often/long they lasted. I definitely have been getting a few more leg cramps (the kind where you have to jump out of bed to try to alleviate, but jumping out of bed or attempting any sort of movement quickly and with agility these days proves difficult! Thankfully, they haven't been the odd inner thigh cramps just yet like last time -just once, maybe twice - but are the more typical calf. The kind that leaves it sore for the day, you know? And the heartburn has picked up nicely, too. Fun times. I don't know how people deal with that condition regularly, it is so unpleasant to me.
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