Reality Check

Have you seen my pregnancy ticker lately?

When did I get SO CLOSE to my due date?
I keep telling myself that I have plenty of time to get things together for baby 2. I keep thinking, just get through Christmas and the New Year and then I can prep all the baby stuff.
I used to think that way until I read about my online friend Courtney. We became "online buddies" during our wedding planning days on the knot. We both were planning our weddings around the same time in the same location. After answering each others questions a few times, she discovered that she went to high school with Bry and so, almost 4 and half years later, while we've never met in real life, we pop onto each others blogs here or there.
Just after I found out I was pregnant with baby 2, Courtney also got the news that she was expecting not one but two babies! As I wrote above, I would pop on to her blog to read about her ever expanding belly as I saw my own in the mirror. She posted the most adorable picture of her daughter kissing her belly early last week and I earmarked it as a must take for my friend Ash who keeps reminding me she wants to take some belly pics (covered belly) before baby 2 arrives. The very next day, Courtney posted that the boys had arrived, almost 10 weeks early.
Thankfully they are both doing well and seem to be thriving.
But their arrival kind of hit me with the reality, that could have been me. Grant it, not two babies, but I can deliver anytime soon!
Needless to say, Bry has direct orders that within the next 48 hours he is to bring up the huge Rubbermaid container filled with 0-3 month old clothing, as well as the infant bouncer, swing, and any other newborn stuff, so that I can start washing things.
This mama's gotta get her nest ready for the newest addition!
All the while, please keep Courtney, her two little boys, and the rest of her family in your thoughts and prayers.

A Thanksgiving Poem

'Twas the day after Thanksgiving,
And while many braved stores.
Bry, Jackie, and Mo did not,
And in their beds they did snore.
A day spent with cooking, and cleaning,
and a kid up late,
Left the whole family exhausted
And Mo sleeping past eight.

Thanksgiving was fantastic,
We shared with family a feast,
Of stuffing, potatoes, corn,
and an organic roasted beast.
Bry chopped, and diced and worked hard,
And his menu was grand.
I roasted some sweet potatoes,
And on the day of, lent my hand.
Our new table was set
For fourteen, can you believe it?
Everyone had room at the table,
We made it, we fit!
We were thankful for family,
The young and the old.
For the food on the table,
and the vodka- kept cold!
Everyone seemed happy,
They liked the food.
Mo sat and amused them,
And stayed in a good mood.

It's easy to complain,
When things don't go your way,
But I'm so glad we have the respite
Each year of Thanksgiving Day.
It's a time where we truly can think,
About all we treasure.
How we made it another year,
Survived all we've weathered.

I am lucky this year,
So much to be thankful for.
A husband that cooks, works hard,
and I adore.
A daughter who is happy,
and healthy, and crazy.
That keeps me on my toes,
I can never be lazy!
For my family and friends,
Who have helped in so many ways,
From emails, and phone calls,
To babysitting on crazy days.
For this new baby
Due in less then nine weeks,
Stay in there and get healthy,
Though I can't wait to take a peek.

So Happy Thanksgiving to you,
Whomever you are,
May your days be surrounded
With love near or far.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Art

Just recently I noticed that Mo has definitely seemed to take more of an interest in coloring, or rather, drawing. She asks for chalk all the time and loves to draw on the front path leading up to our house. She'll turn to the empty front cover or back cover of her coloring books and draw on her own. Yesterday we went out to breakfast, just the two of us, to the diner and for a good 15 minutes she drew on the back of the place mat. Before it was just little lines but now she's making swerves and filling up the page.
Of course, me the former elementary and special education is ecstatic! Developmental milestones being hit as I watch her interact with the paper. It's really amazing to think that soon, she'll actually be drawing with a real purpose and telling me stories about what she drew.




Her "project" yesterday was to color on leftover packing paper which I have been using in place of wrapping paper for my sister, Jeanna's birthday gift. I'm thinking that all our holiday gifts may be wrapped in one of a kind pieces of "Art by Mo".
Maybe I can pimp her out to the museum crowd like Marla's parents. I wonder what piece I could commission my 19 month old to make? We do have a large empty space over our fireplace waiting for something large and colorful.
Just kidding!

Almost Turkey Day!

I am so excited this year!
While we have hosted Thanksgiving for the past four years or so, this is our first big holiday in the house. Instead of the usual 6 or 7 for dinner, this year we're at 12 plus Mo.
My mother-in-law came to visit yesterday and while Mo napped, she babysat as Bry & I braved Wegmans yesterday. I had visions of elbows being thrown over turkey or shin kicks for sweet potatoes, but honestly, for the Sunday before Thanksgiving, it wasn't too bad! We were able to get everything (we think) that we need for the feast in under an hour and a half. The 20 lb. bird is now taking up residence smack dab in the middle of the fridge, leaving little room for anything else. Needless to say, we're doing either pasta or take-out until T-day.
I have BIG NEWS on the house front!
***drum roll please****
Just in time for Thanksgiving, we have purchased a dining room table.
Purchased a dining room table is such an understatement. We went to this HUGE ASS auction this past Saturday that Bry had discovered in the home & leisure pages of the Inquirer.
Yes, hold your laughter please. Bry checks out the home & leisure section.
Anyway, back to the auction. I know very little about the exorbitantly wealthy social scene. I've never went skiing in Montana or summered in the Hamptons. I have never purchased any art from a notable artist, nor do I have any collectibles that would warrant actual t.v. time on Antiques Roadshow.
I say this because this auction was from a former billionaire (yes, Billionaire) divorcee who had filed for bankruptcy and formerly opened this gated community in Montana where the likes of Bill Gates would vacation. Over 800 items (or lots in auction term) were up for quick sale with zero reserve. Meaning, something like 8 wood chairs with leather seats in decent condition could sell for as little as $10 per chair. This actually happened! There were many unique things available:stained glass windows of varying size and style, heavily ornate Victorian sideboards, marble statues, a plethora of carpets- Persian and native American, a moose head and a set of hand carved stairs to name a few.
We got to the auction right as it began and purchased the catalogue. With so many items, it was a necessity. Being our first auction, I won't lie, I was a little nervous, thinking what if I scratched my nose and they thought I was bidding and ended up purchasing some expensive doorknob without even realizing it. I could just imagine the glare from Bry, so my eyes stared far away from the auctioneer and my hands remained stuck in my pockets for the first hour.
After some time, I found myself getting quite interested in the goings on. Furthermore, I began to get excited about the prospect that we could actually walk out of there owning something.
And that's what happened!
We are now the proud owners of a 10 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, simple arts & craft style table that happens to weigh between 500 and 600 lbs!! We are using a moving company to pick it up and move it in on Wednesday, so we'll have it by Turkey day! Grant it, while the table will be awesome, the chairs surrounding it will be a combination of folding and our kitchen chairs, but hey, we got ourselves a huge table!
We also went in looking to purchase rugs. The auctioneer mentioned that it was a typical to have so many large size rugs in one auction and I think that's what brought out most of the buyers. We had eyed up three rugs in the catalogue- thinking we could get something for the dining room, living room, and master bedroom. Plus, the estimated worth for most of the rugs fell between $100 and $300.
That was a gross underestimation!
The rug I LOOOVVVEEED the most ended up going for $2400! While it would have looked fabulous in our dining room, there was no way we would (let alone could) pay that much! We were outbid for numerous rugs, including a few that we were only lukewarm into. BUT, we did get a large Persian Ker man rug for the dining room. It should look fabulous under the new table (and folding chairs) for Thanksgiving.
Like I mentioned, they're scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday afternoon. Nothing like cutting it close, and I will most definitely post some pictures once they have arrived and make it into the dining room.
Until then, my favorite picture from last Thanksgiving
Mommy's Little Carnivore!

29 wks. 4 days

I had an appointment this morning with the MFM- Maternal Fetal Medicine- doctor to assess my pregnancy thus far and more excitingly, to get another ultrasound of the kid.
Things are looking good! He/she appears to be following the footsteps of his/her older sister. Already weighing in close to 4 lbs, baby is kicking up a storm and based on the measurements, growing about a week ahead of schedule.
As I was walking out I had to schedule a final appointment for 7 weeks. As I flipped my planner to January I almost lost my breath! Besides the date reading 2010, I looked again to January 28 which I had circled and realized how close we are to that day. The holidays are just around the corner, first we're tackling Thanksgiving, then St. Nicholas day (I want Mo to put out her shoes this year!), Christmas, then New Years then....BABY!!
WOW!
I'd share the ultrasound pic, but honestly he/she wasn't cooperating too much today. His/her hand spent most of the time covering his/her face. I guess he or she is already over the attention!

Music to my Ears!

Since I'm staying home with Mo, it's important we have something that resembles a schedule. I need a reason to get out of the house every day, and more importantly, she needs to get out of the house everyday and interact with more people then just Bry and I.
We visit our local library on Mondays for story hour. Okay, it's more like story 20 minutes, but there are usually three or four other kids around her age and I just like the idea of frequenting our local library to get her exposed to all the books. I think she likes to go mainly to say "hi" to the bust of Abraham Lincoln in the Children's section.
Tuesday is usually shopping day! Having a new house, there's always a trip that needs to be made to Home Depot or Lowes or Target, and Tuesdays seem to be the perfect day for that.
Wednesdays and Thursdays are music days. I may have mentioned before that we attend Kids Music Round class and our teacher, Ms. Marcia extended unlimited class attendance policy this session. On Wednesdays we get to sing and dance at the Pop Shop, while Thursday Mo and I get our groove on at temple.
Fridays have been play dates or just chill days.
Today, being a Wednesday, meant that we were due to attend music at the Pop Shop. As usual we were running a little late. Library and Music at the temple both are at 10:30, while music at the Pop Shop runs a half hour earlier. You would think that half hour would not make too much of a difference, but really it does!! Bryan does not leave until 9:30 every morning, so on Wednesdays we kind of butt into his morning routine and if you know Bry, he is not a guy you want to mess with in the morning, let alone rush. It's always a race out the door with my hair in a ponytail and Mo's shoes barely velcroed.
Today, as usual we were delayed as Bry was moving a bit slower then usual. Lucky for us there was a space open close to the entrance. We walked in to find....
no other kids, just the co-teacher Ms. Jen & her own two daughters.
We were about 5 minutes late, and the only people there.
We chatted for a bit, and then guess what?
No one else showed up!
Usually there are between 5-8 kids and their parents/nannies/grandparents who attend this class, but today it was just Mo, myself, the teacher and her two school-aged daughters.
I found it to be a little weird, frankly at the beginning. Imagine singing a welcome song to only one kid, but after a few minutes class basically went on as usual. The two girls were really good with Mo, singing along, and trying to get her to do it too. At this age, sometimes she will, but most of the time she stares from person to person with her thumb in her mouth and her brow furrowed. She did warm up quicker then usual and I know Mo loved all the attention. I think her favorite part may have been the fact she had ALL the instruments during play time to her self. She was banging the drums and shaking the maracas like I've never seen her before.
In the end, while I won't say weekly private music lessons are appropriate for a nineteen month old, one day of it was actually kind of fun!

The Pics Say It All!

I know I am officially an adult when the following things make me happy:

1. New Heater and Hot Water Heater
The great state of New Jersey is taking part in this energy star program where basically if you can show that your energy costs can be lessened by 25% by upgrading your old home, the government will cover 50% of the costs. In essence, we are getting a shitload of work done to our (old, dated, energy sucking monster of a) house for half-price, and better yet, if you qualify you can get it financed for a sweet 0% over 10 years. With that being said rather poorly, we've used an approved HVAC/Energy company to get a new hot water heater/gas heater. It's AWESOME to have heat, since the recent chill that spilled over NJ caused us to discover a few leaky radiators and one geyser of a radiator which prevented us from using the tad bit of oil we had left in the tank.
Check out the before and after pics:
Before: The Monster Boiler and Hot water heater that took up a quarter of the basement, not to mention the oil tank that took up another fifth.

After: Our gas boiler/hot water is so small and petite and weighs less then me!



2. Sheer Pleasure
We have finally found window sheers for our living room. I know it doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but this was a royal pain in the ass to accomplish.
I used my points from our once paid off and now not so much credit card to get gift cards for Potterybarn. Hell, Bry and I figured our plan is to be in the this house forever, so we might as well get good window treatments. Since I had never redeemed points before, we were able to get $450 worth of gift cards.
Before being a home owner, I never realized how expensive window coverings and hardware can be, plus those stores get you because they don't sell the curtains in pairs, so you're stuck buying four panels! GENIUSES!
Anyway, I bought adorable green polka dot curtains from Potterybarn Kids for the nursery. Just putting those curtains up has made the room so cozy! I plan to post pics once we get things hung up on the walls. I then used the remaining gift cards to purchase silk shantung curtains for our master bedroom, and 6 panels of sheers for the living room at the Potterybarn store.
Let's just say our living room windows are NOT common size so to find the appropriate size curtains it took me three separate trips to the store, two returns, one Internet order, and then a trip to a seamstress to cut off close to 12 inches. In the end, the windows are now dressed and the people on the street can't just look into our window.

Eventually we plan to get fabric drapes to frame the windows, but on the list of things to do that's pretty low down there.

3. Grass!
I posted a few weeks ago about the royal pain in the ass our yard has been and how Bry has been the ever warrior sacrificing his weekends to kill, cut, rake, and remove the evil that is ivy. He then spent another week-end shoveling dirt, spreading grass seed, and pounding it all down, only to have the first frost of the season come in October, of course the weekend after he finished it. Bry was seriously downtrodden. He had spent SO MUCH TIME and ENERGY on the yard, and for the frost to come, he thought it was for nothing.
Well, guess who's laughing now!
WE HAVE ACTUAL GRASS! YIPPEE!



Sure, they're only sprouts and you can still see the dirt, BUT there is grass growing and from afar, it looks green.

4.Mo's Nap
I had to include these pics. I thought she was asleep, and then I heard some noise and this is what I found. I should mention, she was in her crib for about 45 minutes when I found her. Yet again, she figured out how to remove her pants!




What a week!