Saturday, November 28, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

WE were so thankful that our little one had a healthy checkup and it was a wonderful surprise to find out WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!




To celebrate Mom and Daniel fixed an amazing Thanksgiving Feast in the new kitchen (with newly mudded walls by Dad and Daniel). Kevin supervised.

I actually ate most of the Thanksgiving Feast...skipping over only the wine and the squash casserole (one of which I never partake in anyway, I'll let you guess which one :)

I've provided a video of the wonderful weekend. There are some pics on the Picasa site as well. Mostly however we just enjoyed being a family... a lot of games (including one of Risk where the pregnant lady took over the world!, some tears, a newly discovered love of feeling the baby kick, introducing mom and dad to Sushi, learning how to watch football with Kevin, fixing drywall, shopping urban style (meaning not a mall in sight!), and enjoying having 4 more people to boss around other than Daniel!



Saturday, November 21, 2009

BOY or GIRL?

Okay everyone....this week is your last chance to make your final guess....

BOY or GIRL?


If the little one cooperates this coming Wednesday we'll have an answer. For those of you who need some clues in your guessing.

-I'm still morning sick.
-The foods I do like are mangoes, apples, peanut butter, yogurt, whip cream, and strawberries.
-The foods I hate are chicken, peas, and lasagna, and garlic (the last two mean the baby agrees with its parents assessment of New Jersey :)
-My hands are soft.
-the heartbeat is 150 bpm
-When Daniel dangles a ring over my belly it goes from side to side.
-I'm carrying high (although on my short torso I'm not exactly sure where low or high really would be!)
-I sleep on my left side unless I'm sleeping on my right side.
-The little one was conceived in July.
-I am 29.
-I have had exactly three dreams about the baby. All of them scary but in one the baby was a girl in one the baby was a boy and last night the baby just cried and I couldn't get it to stop but I have no idea what sex it was.

I hope that helps. I am refusing to guess. Daniel has his own guess. My mother swears she knows because (and you all didn't know this but apparently she is a psychic). And my brother changed his guess once he came and visited me.

Good Luck. We'll let you know soon!

Kitchen Remodel Part IV


Wherin Pascal helps build shelves, the sink starts running water, and there is a guest appearance of french toast! Unfortunately I took the french toast making video with the wrong kind of computer file.




But Daniel make a lovely breakfast the other morning of orange, ginger, and vanilla french toast with navel oranges on the side. We cooked on the stove, used water from the sink, and took dishes OUT of the new shelves. There obviously is still a lot of painting, sealing, and aesthetic work to be done but I actually think that we might be on the way to completely a successful kitchen remodel.

I use the word "we" very generously as Daniel has worked his fingers to the bone getting this accomplished. I have managed to put together a few shelves and shared a few choice critiques....but truly this has been Daniel's project and he has done it so very well.

Also a shout out to my brother Kevin who visited for a week and really worked hard...even missing a Bengal's win as he stayed in our non-cable abode.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Kitchen Remodel Part II




Is the baby going to like the new kitchen?















Little brother goes DEMO crazy!!!





















Safety above all else (I was in a hotel by this point...no water, no electricity, and old lead paint dust do not make soon to be mommas happy)!









And DRYWALL goes up.....the kitchen begins to (slowly) take shape!



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The Kitchen Remodel Begins



THE KITCHEN BEFORE (cleaned up and ready to go bye-bye)













None-insulated 100 year old walls.















The ugly drop ceiling which covered originial but unsalvable tin!






The walls are all gone!
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Friday, November 6, 2009

Forgetting...for a moment

So, I'm sitting in a hotel room waiting to hear whether or not Daniel and Kevin survived the trip to the ER. (Kevin stepped on a nail during our kitchen demolition phase...he's fine but it could be a long wait for a tetanus shot.....otherwise the demolition goes smoothly, Daniel said that they were right on track and had just gotten to the major plumbing work...the electrical was done and the walls were insulated).

In any case, without running water or continuous heat I escaped for a night. I really wanted to restart my writing. Now that my nausea has dissipated I feel that I need to get back to a writing schedule.

Of course, I am worried about Daniel and Kevin but they assured me that they were okay. So, I finished my simple dinner of cheese, crackers, and hummus. I had used the hotel pool, availed myself of the complimentary citrus shampoo and dried my hair. I opened up the laptop.

I checked email, facebook, a few blogs, and stared.

And then, I started writing. And I kept writing.

I actually finished a section and then looked up. Not that much time had passed. But what I had noticed was that I had forgotten I was pregnant. Just for that amount of time. I was in my paper, in my mind, in my work!

Now, it's not that I want to forget about my child or that I don't notice that I'm starting to sit funny in chairs but and this is the important part: I truly believe that although you cannot sever the bond that exists between parent and child both parent and child must become separate persons. They must learn to develop together but grow as individuals at the same time. This obviously is complicated because it really means that there is no separation between individuals and often the parent/child is one of we and not two I's.

In any case, I want to celebrate this little space between me and my little one....just a little space...but an important one nonetheless!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Eating Again

This weekend I ate vegetables. With Rice. At a table. Daniel ate fish in front of me. There was a waitress. There were cooks. People walked by us with wine and food.

We laughed. We talked. We giggled a lot. We gave the waitress a big tip for being part of our First Night Out in 9 Weeks!

Pure Bliss.

I did not know how much I loved food until I could not eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

I'm still not 100%. Mornings are blah....an don't anyone bring me over garlic and tomatoes! However last night I ate a salad and today I ate hummus for lunch.

Here's hoping to a great 16th week!