Only five weeks, 35 days to go. Wondering if I can last that long. Starting to feel like everything is shifting, and stretching and pulling. It's all very uncomfortable. And sleep? What sleep?! It's impossible. Was having horrible nightmares for a couple nights in a row, out of no where, and I haven't been able to sleep at all. No nightmares about the baby, just other crazy things. I never dream either, so this is very strange to me. The last time I had dreams was the four days after I got pregnant and he was traveling down into my uterus to implant (I'm not joking, I actually know this was going on). So maybe he's on the move again and that's why I'm having these nightmares.
That is my massive bump! So done being pregnant, but our house is so not near ready for a baby. I haven't felt any strong nesting urge to clean, so I'm thinking that means we still have some time. Really though our Christmas decorations are sitting in bins in the dining room. I think it may be time to start organizing.
I said I was going to complete this and I promise I will! I only have 11 pages left to complete, and I have all my pictures printed, so it's just a matter of scrapping them. It's been a lot easier since I have my new desk and ink for my printer.
Some people think that the way Andy and I are doing things is very strange, and certainly not traditional. With the baby coming and having the boys over for a long weekend I started reviewing our life together so far.
We met in August of 2008 through work. We met at The Lobster Shop for a work lunch. Andy showed up in slim cut light colored jeans, big work boots, a buzz cut, white undershirt as his t-shirt, and his Schnitzer mock zip jacket. I didn't think much of him. I was wearing a skirt, sweater top and heels.
What I remember from that lunch is he was funny, and I could feed off of him being funny and in turn I was funny. When we walked out of the restaurant and Andy got in a Pearly white Cadillac with white wall tires looking very gangster I thought there was something I was missing.
What Andy remembers is he thought I was cute from the start, I was funny, and I told him to order the lobster bisque.
Over the next couple of months we had several innocent flirty phone conversations. He gave me a ride in the golf cart at work to the ship and told me I was wearing engineer pants (pants that are blue and white striped, that I will probably never wear again, though now can't get rid of them for sentimental value). Gordy (Andy's work spouse) told Andy that we were soul mates. He met up with me and my friends at the Loft in Ballard and I remember telling my girlfriends that he was "industry cute". We had our first kiss at a Mexican restaurant in Federal Way. After which I told him to stop smoking otherwise I wouldn't be kissing him anymore. He promptly stopped. We had our first date at Oliver's Twist where we drank too much tequila.
We officially started dating in November, after cleaning him up of course!
Once we realized how much we liked each other I started to worry about my work, Andy being a new client, and what my boss would think. That December I got a call from my current boss offering me an opportunity to start Anchor in Seattle with him.
Then we were a couple.
I think we look really young in that picture! And me with my brown hair!
We spent our first Christmas together. Even got the tree together. It was the first tree to ever enter my house.
Andy read to me that Christmas. He read The Tales of Beedle the Bard. A dream for me as I always wanted to be with someone who would read to me. Didn't really matter what he was reading it was just that he wanted to read to me.
Spent our first New Years together in style at the China Room in Smith Tower
January 3rd, 2009 we took Vinnie to see his first movie in the theatre. He was 3 1/2. We saw Tales of Desperaux. A very strange kids movie. The plot was impossible to follow. Afterwards we went for Chinese food. Look at how little he was! Drinking out of a sippie cup still.
In January I left my old job and started on my new adventure with Anchor. At this point Andy had almost completely moved in with me, and he was already working on my house- hehe!
March 1st, 2009 Leo was born. Andy drove down to see him that night, then drove back to Seattle a couple hours afterwards and then we went straight to the airport and took off for Hawaii.
In 2009 I started my new job, worked like a slave during the summer. Got to know Vinnie as he started staying with us every other weekend.
In 2010 Andy got promoted at work.
In February Andy and I went to Italy.
March 5th Andy brought Leo home and I fell in love
We took Vinnie to Disneyland for Halloween 2010. He had a blast, and we tired him out every day! He fell in love with Auntie Lesley.
January 2011 after much discussion we decided we were ready to have a baby, and I was ready to get pregnant. Coming up on my 30th birthday I was ready and thinking I was getting too old to wait any longer. Finally in June I got pregnant. I remember taking this photo (taken July 29th) thinking how excited I was that I had a bump. Looking back at it now makes me laugh- that is no bump!
In August we took the boys on our first family vacation to Hawaii. Vinnie said he loved Hawaii because it has three pools!
In the fall we took our annual Pumpkin Patch Photos
In 2012 we will be adding one more boy to our family. Hopefully a completed house, and a very busy household. So Andy and I have done a lot in the three years we've been together, but no, it has not been the traditional way of doing things, but it works for us and we're really happy. Happy to have been able to be together all this time, and to have Vinnie and Leo in our lives, and happy to welcome our newest family member. Looking forward to many more years of being non-traditionalist together.
Yikes, think I'm starting to stress a bit about Bubbles coming and not being ready. Andy and I have been sleeping on our mattresses on the floor of Vinnie's room for the past week while Andy has taken down our old ceiling, walls, and electrical, and put up all new lights, insulation, plugs and drywall. He just finished putting up the drywall last night. Now it's time for the mudding and taping.
Kids got home last night so we moved our bed back in our room. Would have probably slept really well since it's now warm in there, but poor Vinnie was throwing up all night last night. We had put a pan next to his bed in hopes that he might vomit in it and not on the floor or in his bed (reminds me of my childhood), but it didn't work out so well.
We started out reading stories on the couch and Vinnie said he was hungry, and that he must be going through a growth spurt because he had eaten so much dinner. Then he got up and said he needed to throw up. Now, has anyone seen Parenthood? The scene where Steve Martin walks in his room and his daughter is sitting on his bed and says her tummy's not feeling well? See clip here:
Well that's what happened to us last night. Andy told him it was okay he could throw up. Vinnie said "Okay" and then started vomiting on the floor right there, not two feet from the toilet. It wasn't funny at the time, or at midnight or at 3am, but thinking about the movie and thinking about last night... this is my life, and I can't believe we're going to have another one.
So we're hanging around the house today. Vin is sleeping. Leo is learning how to wear underwear. This kid has to learn how to potty train. He has Cars underwear on. So far he's remembering to go to the potty. We'll see how the day goes. Wish us luck!
I'm a huge fan of New Year's Resolutions. I was having a hard time coming up with resolutions for 2012, so I looked to Wikipedia for some guidance and inspiration to create my resolutions. Wikipedia defines "New Year's Resoltions" as:
A New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more lasting personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit. This goal must be reached by the Next New Year. Keep in mind that this is a goal, not a wish and should be something that you as a person could strive for.
Quoting Frank Ra (author of the new year's resolution book "A course in happiness" [1]): "Resolutions are more sustainable when shared, both in terms of with whom you share the benefits of your resolution, and with whom you share the path of maintaining your resolution. Peer-support makes a difference in success rate with new year's resolutions". According to Gretchen Rubin (author of best-seller "The Happiness Project"): "You hit a goal, you achieve a goal. You keep a resolution".
This lifestyle change is generally interpreted as advantageous. A New Year's Resolution is generally a goal someone sets out to accomplish in the coming year. Some examples include resolutions to donate to the poor more often, to become more assertive, or to become more environmentally responsible. A key element to a New Year's Resolution that sets it apart from other resolutions is that it is made in anticipation of the New Year, and new beginnings. People committing themselves to a new year's resolution plan to do so for the whole following year.
A couple of thoughts came to mind...
1. I Need to work on my organizational skills. I bought a new planner, and will be actually using it this year. It's a mom's planner that will be able to include my schedule, Andy's and Bubbles. I imagine there will be doctors appointments for him and me, work and a nanny schedule to organize. Hopefully the planner will help. This one also has a section for meal planning, which leads me to my next resolution...
2. With having a baby coming and having to pay for all those things baby, including a nanny, Andy and I will be living a tight budget. He even suggested we might need to start coupon clipping. Since that is not something I'm going to be able to do, I think it might just be a better idea to start planning our meals, so we only purchase what we eat. Rather than buying all this food and never finishing it, or going out to dinner all the time. So need to figure out how all those mom's out there plan meals for a week at a time and how to shop for it. Looking forward to cooking. This will be a challenging one though once we start to open up our kitchen.
3. On the topic of money, we're starting a savings account for Bubbles. Hoping to put away $100/ month between the both of us. If we actually do this he will have $21,000 by the time he graduates from high school, which will (assuming he goes to college) help pay for a lot of those costs.
4. Continuing resolutions from last year, taking my vitamins every day, drinking 8 glasses of water (need to be better on this one again), and flossing my teeth more often.
Will probably come up with a couple more once I get to reading my January magazines. They're my favorite month to read (December with the "Gift Guides" is my second favorite. January magazines are all filled with hope and new ideas, new gadgets, new recipes, new everything. Love them!
A couple of quotes from the covers:
Improve your life for good
Be happier now
Save and earn more in 2012
5 minute organizing tricks
Sleep better, and be healthier, feel happier!
Get organized!
Healthy and hearty weeknight dinners
Start the New Year Bright
A whole new you!
3- minute health fixes
Doesn't that all sound great to you?!
Also, still working on my December Scrapbook. We went to Ikea the other day and I bought a desk- super excited about it! It's all set up in my closet, which I love scrapbooking in. Just perfect, so check back in for my December Scrapbook pages! I'm determined to finish it this year!
