Baby shower!

Today was my baby shower! My friends Michelle, Kim and Katie hosted it across street from me at Michelle's house. My mom, her friend Yvonne, my best friend Christie (with her 11 month old daughter Agatha) came to stay for the weekend and Joe's mom and her best friend Brenda drove in for the day. We had a wonderful weekend and a great time at the shower.

Here are some shots of the day. I hope to add another photo (taken on Kim's camera) that shows the three hosts and me.

On the invitation, there was a little rhyme: A baby is predicted, but first there will be a shower. There were lots of rubber duckies, an umbrella and a very clever flower centerpiece: flowers placed inside yellow rain boots!

On the invitation, also, were polka dots. The cake had polka dots and I was lucky enough to find a dress with polka dots!

Turn around, little baby

Had my latest doctor appointment today, and by her guestimation, the nurse that I saw believes Ava is still in the head-up position - not the optimal position for a natural birth; more like the optimal position for a scheduled c-section. I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for my 36 week checkup (yikes - I'm at 34 weeks; that means 6 weeks left!) and will have an ultrasound before the appointment to determine how she's sitting.

If she's still breech, then we'll have the c-section and external version (where the doctors try to move the baby manually from the outside) discussion; if she has flipped over and is head-down, we'll breath a sigh of relief! At least after 36 weeks the doctors begin doing internal exams and can feel what part of her is down (hopefully they can tell the difference between a head and a foot), so we'll be able to keep tabs on her at the weekly appointments. So for now, send happy flipping vibes our way!

NC State Fair

No, this is not a random blog entry about my least favorite Rogers and Hammerstein musical. This past week marked the start of the North Carolina State Fair and yesterday afternoon Joe and I joined our friend Kim and Mike to be four of the predicted 750,000 people to partake in the fair. This was my first state fair and I had a great time!

Here are some of the highlights:

** Food consumed: 4 polish sausages, 2 orders of large french fries, 1 kosher pickle, 1 sour pickle, 4 samples of seasoned peanuts (chocolate covered, bbq, sun-dried tomato and honey roasted), 1 caramel apple, 1 corn dog, 2 ears of roasted corn, 2 hot apple ciders, 3 homemade ice-creams, 1 chocolate dipped ice-cream cone, 1 hot pretzel with mustard, and many handfuls of kettle corn. Oh, the yumminess! Note: all of the above food was not consumed by one person alone. Remember, there were four of us there!

** Animals seen: lots of cows, donkeys, goats, pigs, sheep, turkey. Amongst the judged agriculture was the best in show - a black cow that was purchased by Harris Teeter for $25,000!

** An OREO COW - I finally saw one up-close. And sadly, they are not called Oreo cows, but Belted Galloway cows. And they're used for beef. After seeing all the cute cows, I'm not sure I can eat a burger for a while. Or spaghetti for that matter. Sigh.

** Flower and garden show: mini landscapes set up and judged; lots of chrysanthemums.

** NC of years gone by: watched a blacksmith at work and saw how farmers used to dry tobacco leaves.

** Did I mention the food? Saw lots of signs for vendors serving fried things: deep-fried oreos, deep-friend twinkies, deep-fried coca cola (?!). Luckily for our intestinal tracts, we all managed to avoid those vendors.

Things to try at the next state fair: funnel cake. Sadly, by the time all of the aforementioned food was consumed, Joe no longer had room for a funnel cake. Maybe next time.

Note: The food you see in front of Kim and I is actually the order for the four of us - Joe was taking the picture and Mike was off getting silverware.

NC State Fair - Having fun!

NC State Fair - Best in Show

Trees!

This Friday, our landscaper brought more Christmas to us by planting our trees a day early. We now have 3 white crape myrtles, 1 river birch, 1 maple, 1 purple leaf plum and 3 butterfly bushes. More to follow in the spring (shrubs and flowers) but for now, our yard is beautiful and no longer barren and dusty!

Woe are us

Can you exterminate a yucky cold? Joe came home from Chicago with some dirty laundry and a bad cold. His cold turned into a sinus infection. Last night, my throat started hurting and this morning it was all in my chest - not sure if it's bronchitis as my OB just called in a RX (thankfully I didn't have to make the drive to the office today and again on Thursday). Now we're both moping about (one will say the other is more mopey than the him / her) with the sniffles and bad coughs.

Yug.

Joe is heading to Ohio at the end of the month. I told him if he catches another cold while out of town, he can stay in Ohio.

Spooky spider

Last night Joe and I went to a party. When we came home, we saw a little toad in the driveway. Rather than risk squishing him, I jumped out of the car to chase him into the yard. Unfortunately - or fortunately - he decided he'd rather explore the garage. I found him right next to the wall, sitting amongst some stuff, right next to a large spider web which held a large black widow spider killing another spider.

Tomorrow we'll be calling the exterminator.

I can handle orb spiders or wolf spiders or general house spiders - well, I can tolerate them, I don't handle them - but I draw the line at black widows. There's something about their shiny black bodies and long legs and the way they walk that makes them absolutely icky and creepy.

Until we moved to NC, I had never even seen one. Since we moved, we bbq'd one on our grill, I killed one in the front garden with weed killer (I couldn't find the bug killer), Joe came face-to-face with one under the house, and the one last night met her (um)timely death at the hand of a ziploc bag box. Four black widows on my house.

First all the ticks and tick bites. Now the poisonous spiders.

Yuck.

PS. No, I did not take the picture. We weren't about to run in and grab the camera when there was spidercide to be done.

Itchy and scratchy

Seems the itchies (or rather, PUPPS) have returned. While not as bad as last time, I thought I was done with being itchy, so it's slowly driving me mad. Had my bile acids tested to make sure it wasn't the nasty liver problem that can manifest itself as itchy skin, and all that came back normal and negative. Big sigh.

Off to grab some lunch and pick up ingredients to make artichoke dip for a party tonight. Yummy! Hopefully there'll be some leftover to actually take to the party when I'm done making it!

Back from the windy city!

After a week in Chicago attending the Adobe Max conference, Joe got home last night earlier than planned as he moved his flight home up. Here is one of the pictures he posted from his architectural tour of the city. He says Chicago is awesome and that we should go there together sometime. Perhaps in the new year, the three of us (!) could go as a family.

What the heck is that picture? Take a look at this one and others from his trip.

Brain taken by aliens

So, I'm at 31 weeks and it's official: my brain has been taken by aliens. Not only am I extremely forgetful and scatterbrained, today it was playing tricks on me.

Leaf peeing? What's that? (see illustration below from weather.com for what I really saw!)

Hiccups!

Just spent the last 10 minutes laying on the couch, watching Oprah and my belly move and squiggle. Baby has hiccups! Quite funny to feel baby hiccups (they feel sorta like a much stronger pulse). Now I'm hiccuping...

Joe's in Chicago - has been there since Saturday and will fly home Thursday. I've been trying to keep myself busy and out of trouble. So that, for me (when Joe is gone), always involves home decoration of some sort. Last time Joe was out of town, his dad and I painted the nursery. This time around, I continued my nursery adventures by painting little birds around the room and hanging the baby's name above the crib. I would type her name here, but not everyone has been told and I'd rather not have people read it before we get a chance to tell folks in person. So for now, she'll continue to be "baby."

I really need to continue the nursery adventure by painting the bookshelves so Joe can get to work this weekend and hang things on the wall. Between my haircut and lunch out tomorrow and my teeth cleaning on Thursday, I'm not sure I'm going to have time. But we'll see how the next couple of days plays out.

More garden shots

Indi loves her new yard

(Well, perhaps she loves the mulch more!)

Summer's bounty in the fall

A trip to Lowes with my friend Michelle yesterday prompted Joe and I to return to Lowes in the evening and purchase some of the flowers I had planned on planting in the front beds next spring. Fall is the time for planting and since the store had the flowers I wanted, we planted them now instead of next year.

Here's what the yard has looked like over the past year and a half, ending with the newest additions: black-eyed susans, coneflowers, and white daisies. I think the coneflowers will flower next summer (there are no unopened buds) but the black-eyed susans are in full bloom and the white daisies are covered with buds ready to open. Looks like we'll have some color soon!


PS. We LOVE loropetalums (the three purple shrubs in the front/middle) - they've just taken off this summer, despite some rather severe drough conditions.

3D and 4D shots of our baby!

Just got home from our 3D/4D ultrasound appointment and have some neat shots - and video - to share!

Our baby was sitting in the breech position with her feet up to her face. In these shots you can see her face, her feet and her hands all together! She still has some time to flip around into the proper birthing position but for now, the breech position makes for some fun photos!

The best was getting her to kick on cue. She had been moving while we were in the waiting room but settled down when it came time for the ultrasound. So towards the end, I tapped my belly and she kicked back. My belly popped up, so I tapped again and the second time we got to see her foot kick on the screen!

Note: Some of the shots look like she has her eyes open or just a little weird; that's just the nature of the ultrasound. She had her eyes closed the entire visit, but graced us with a lovely yawn and a tongue poking out at one point also!

Little smile

Big yawn

Feet and hands

Peaceful baby

More peaceful baby

RAIN!

A month and a half in the waiting...

Ok, so maybe I'm a dork for taking photos of the rain but hey: 1. I got to use the action speed setting on my camera; 2. Our new sod appreciates the FREE tasty beverage; and 3. Our soon-to-be hefty water bill appreciates not having to add this evening's watering to the list.

Please make there be more where this came from!

Oh no you don't!

Yesterday Joe spent a while outside waiting with zoom lens while watching our neighbor's hummingbird feeder. We see the hummingbirds often fighting while flying up into the trees, but Joe caught this shot when a second bird decided to fly in for a snack while the dominant male was dining. Needless to say, bird number two left a little hungry.

Insta-yard!

Christmas has arrived early for me . . . and Santa brought just what I asked for: a new yard! No more weeds, no more red clay (at least not visible to the naked eye), no more mud. (Did I mention the weeds? We are now free of crabgrass!)

(One from the archives - the before picture)


The landscape guys arrived on Friday afternoon and started stripping the yard of all growth.


Then on Saturday, they continued by filling the one-day-to-be-filled beds with top soil, landscape fabric and mulch and adding a layer of top soil to the rest of the yard.


Monday they arrived with a giant truck-load of sod!



We now have a beautiful yard (just picture some shrubs, flowers and trees) where Indi can roam and sniff and lay in her sunbeams without laying on rocks and clay.



Yay for insta-yard!

Best friends

A dog and her duck. 'Nuff said.

Our crazy dog!

Our yard has been in a state of disrepair since Friday afternoon as we await the arrival of new sod today. Indi has been in a similar state of disrepair as the yard has mostly been off limits to her since that time.

This morning I let her out with me while I was taking some "before" shots that I'll post with the "after" shot when we have the sod.

She ran around like a nut, creating a huge dust pile wherever she ran. She's crazy!

Belly shot: 27 weeks!

The boys are back in town

This weekend Joe went with Jason and Scott to ride in the MS150 in New Bern, NC. For those watching the weather - specifically Tropical Storm Gabrielle - you might have wondered if they were rained out.

Yesterday they were all able to ride the first 100 miles. The plan was to ride another 100 mile (essentially making it the MS200!) but the 75 mile and the 100 mile rides were canceled, leaving only the 30 mile ride. So they rode in the MS130 this weekend!


Here they are while unpacking their bikes before hobbling to their respective houses to soak in their respective tubs.

Sore muscles abound in this house. Wonder who will rub MY back tonight?

Last weekend

Last weekend we took Indi to a nature park up a little north of Raleigh. Here are some pictures from that walk.

Could get away with murder?

So, we're getting our yard prepped for sod this weekend; sod will be set out on Monday. Our county is in the midst of water restrictions due to the severe drought conditions, so I was told by someone who worked for the Town of Clayton to call the "code enforcement officers" to find out about getting permission to water our sod every day for 2 weeks.

I called. Here's a snippet of the conversation:

Lady: Clayton police.
Dale: Yes, I was told to call this number and speak with the code enforcement officers about watering my yard on the restricted days.
Lady: Hold please.

Another lady: Animal control.
Dale: Yes, I was told to call this number and speak with the code enforcement officers about watering my yard on the restricted days. Since you're animal control, perhaps I have the wrong person.
Lady: No, that's me.
Dale: Great! We're getting new sod this weekend and I wanted to find out how to get permission to water on the restricted days as we have to water the new sod for at least 2 weeks.
Lady: That's fine.
Dale: Great! Do you need my name and address for the record?
Lady: Um...... No, I have so many things to keep track of right now. You'll be fine. If anyone shows up or questions you, just tell you spoke with me.

I had to ask her what her name was just for my records, since they don't seem too hung up on keeping such things.

So, I'm wondering. If it's this easy to break the water restrictions and water every day, what other rules might we be able to break - er, bend - easily?