The Wedding Cake

As most of you know, I was hired to create my first ever wedding cake for this weekend. The wedding was this afternoon, and here are some pictures of the finished product! What do you think?







To answer some of the questions...
1) All the flowers are silk, to match the silk ones in the bride's bouquet (the roses) and to complement those roses (the red "coral" and hyacinth)
2) Why make creme brulee when I know the QUEEN will make it for me? :-)
3) I designed the whole thing, from top to bottom, and did all the flower combinations, too. I think the flower placement and combinations took me almost as long as assembly on the day of the wedding! I had no 2nd opinions, so I'd place them, look at them for a few minutes, move them, place them again, stare intently, fix the frosting, move them.... you get the idea. hehe.

Not so prolific lately

For some reason I have had trouble coming up with the energy (ENERGY?) to write lately. I think almost daily "I should post today" and nothing comes of it. It isn't as though we don't have a lot going on to be written about.... renovations, the tree that blew over in a storm last weekend and smooshed part of our pool, Ella getting bigger every day and finding my bladder a GREAT trampoline, Hubband passing all his classes, Christmas shopping, the church Christmas program... all of these things have been part of our life for the last 2 weeks, but have I felt up to putting them into an interesting post? No. And here I am posting a wordy excuse that basically just says my words are lost.

Can you help me find them, or did they vanish along with half of my memory when I got pregnant?

It's that time of year....

He was helping put the top section on... Helping. Really.

Ribbon draping requires height....

Hubband and the Dragon

Like St. George in days of old, Hubband has slain his personal dragon! The firebreathing calculus monster has been defeated once and for all with a whopping B! Hurrah! Congrats love!

28 Weeks

Is it any wonder I feel like a cumbersome whale every time I try to move around?

My 4-year-old niece saw the picture on her mom's computer screen and said "Is that Aunt Chrissy? she looks funny? Her tummy is fat! Is that a basketball or WHAT?"

Of course, she then clarified that she KNEW it was a BABY, but that JAMES (her younger brother) thought it was a basketball. Which could be true, after all, he saw the picture and started babbling and pointing and he is all boy so the ball concept could be what got him excited.

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Ok, so I didn't get this up the "next day", but I've been busy! and tired! and busy! See, good excuses all around.

Our trip west was wonderful, fast, busy, tiring, and expensive, as all the best trips are. We spent the actual holiday with my mother-in-law, sister and brother-in-law, and new nephew.





On Friday, we met Hubband's dad for lunch and spent some time with he and his wife in the afternoon, perusing the Pooleyatici house addition and opening some early Christmas presents. We spent Friday evening and Sabbath morning lazing and chatting and generally just having a grand time with C-Mom at her place before diving into the car for the trip back to Portland. Made it there just in time for our photo sitting and got the welcome news that 2 of our close friends in the area were going to be able to be in the same place at the same time for a while that evening. We pounced on the opportunity and got to meet the 2 newest members of their respective families, Sawyer and Brayden. It was great to see all 4 of them, and the 2 hours or so we spent chatting and cooing at babies went by much too fast.
(Faye and Brayden)
(Sawyer giving me his shy grin)
(Triple trouble!)

On Sunday we were treated a repeat of Thanksgiving at Hubband's aunt and uncle's house and got to spend some time just chatting with the fam.


On Monday we ran errands and spent some time with our friend Ronnie (No pics thanks to a dead camera battery! Ronnie, did that one shot we wrung from your battery turn out?! If so, please send it!!!) before a nice relaxing evening with Dad and Janis at their place. Then it was up and at 'em bright and early Tuesday to come back home. Hubband had a chem test on Wednesday am and I was back to work... no rest for the weary!

Im leary of posting the picture, below, because the angle has me looking like a roosting hen rather than a nicely pregnant woman... however, it was the only shot of the 2 of us taken all weekend (Thanks for grabbing our camera, Nate!!) and I think our expressions show what a good time we had. After not seeing most of Hubband's family in over 18 months it also was a sort of balm to the soul. Now, if we could only figure out how to get to NYC in January....Know any good banks that are available to rob? ha. ha. sigh.

A taste to whet your whistle

I've got a busy busy day ahead, and will update re: our entire trip shortly, but thought I'd give you a look at utter cuteness just to get you started...

Yawn.

I've been dealing with back spasms the last 2 days and as a result feel that I haven't been the most productive person in the world. I have just barely squeaked through with what I needed to accomplish at work, done the bare minimum at home, and spent much of my time on either the bed or the couch taking deep measured breaths and trying to remember to sit up straight so it wouldn't get worse. Ahhh, the joys of pregnancy.

I've been tagged! Middle Name MEME

Here are the rules:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Ok, here goes! My middle name is Leigh:

Love to cook and bake
Editor
In church choir
Gestating....
House renovations continue to progress

SO that appears to make 5 people I have to tag... We'll go with Queenie, Hummingboyd, DangerElf, MomBoyd, and Kate.

Each name is a link to their page. If you haven't visited them yet.. you really should! They're some of my bestest friends...and half of them are family!

Thanks to Rachel for tagging me! :-)

Reality is....

Sabbath afternoon walks with our puppy
Going over bills and seeing how much more the desired/owed outgoing is than the actual incoming amount

Being awakened by the most vicious leg cramp

Seeing a stroller and car seat in my office that are MINE for MY child


Heartburn from really good lasagna

Heartburn from oatmeal

Heartburn from a sandwich

Hubband cleaning the living room, foyer, and front bathroom for me while I cook for an impromptu dinner party

A 95% complete living room, missing only baseboards to be the first completed room in our entire house
Peaceful coexistence...for now

The Easy Way Out

This weekend (and week... is it really already Tuesday?!) was so full of so many things that I'm going to take the easy way out and give you the old list as an update.

Friday:
Rushed around all day working and trying to get the house clean and in shape for Sabbath as well as driving around for an hour looking for a music store that seems to have evaporated off the face of the earth. Ended the evening with choir and men's group rehearsals. We got home around 930 and I think I was asleep by 945!

Sabbath:
I taught SS at church, so we were up and about early. It was a gorgeous day, and with my mobility decreasing rapidly we decided to snatch the opportunity and snuck away after SS. Came home and ate lunch and took our nap and still were up in time to do a nice long walk with Pris in the park. Saturday evening, Hubband finished the final prep work on the living room and did some homework while I did laundry. Lots of laundry.

Sunday:
Hubband laid the rest of the living room floor (hurrah!) and helped me with dishes before he did his homework. I did laundry and dishes and planted some of my daffodil bulbs in the front yard. yippee! At 130 we quit all projects and raced around getting ourselves cleaned up to make his 3 pm call at the Cathedral for the Fall University Singers and Chamber Choir concert. Stopped off at Sears on the way home to pick up a new iron (ours was dead) and a replacement water filter for the fridge ($48.99. Ouch!). Hubband did homework and I finished the last of the laundry and lazed around with a book until bedtime...For me? That was around 845.

Monday:
Work. Depression. Clouds. I guess you could say it was a typical Monday. I didn't help matters any that in the midst of my funk I decided it was time to update my spreadsheets of our debt burden. Even more depression. Our stroller came! A wonderful shower gift from my sis and her family. Its pretty! We start to put it together and realize they didn't send us the axle for the rear windows. Good thing we have time before we need it, it will take 2 weeks to get us the part! Obie-cat loves the basket under the stroller, he slept in it all night.

Made Huevos Rancheros for dinner to cheer me up. Ate too much. Bed by 10 and had weird dreams...Also, a first! I actually got up TWICE in the night to go to the bathroom. Proof positive that this little girl is getting bigger and bigger!

Tue-day (get it? today/Tuesday? I suck.)
Rain. Restless cat who has no balance left. Work. Computer frustrations. Pretty normal, all around, morning. About to go grab lunch... I think I'll have leftovers huevos. :-) The afternoon? Well, I'm thinking about a nap after work...and maybe watching some tv...I should also do some freelance work, but I have a feeling it won't happen tonight. After all, its TUESDAY. Right?

Honesty, please!

Ok, ladies and gents, here is the first-ever paid for and delivered baby shower cake I've ever done. I was exhausted at the end of it (was literally asleep by 845 last night) and I'm quite leery of it as Im not sure its up to "professional amateur" standards. Please tell me the truth...

What do you think?




As an additional note... these are also the first ever "homemade chocolate cake" cakes I've ever done... and I made the butter creme from scratch, too. The lady who picked up the cake last night tasted the cake/icing (I had a cupcake for her for that purpose) and loved the icing... didn't say much about the cake, but she ate the whole cupcake so I guess that's good! She wants me to do her wedding cake.....Terror! Thrill! Excitement! Stress!

Chocolat-i-fication

I've been hired to make the cake for a friends baby shower on Friday and decided that I would forgo the normal "box cake" easy way out that I usually take and would actually make the cakes from scratch. As I've only ever made cake from scratch one other time in my life (Carrot Cake. turned out great), I was a little leery and followed every step of the recipe with great care. As the batter was ready to be put in the pan, I carefully unlocked the mixer and went to turn down the blade speed as I lifted them so they would gently whiz into the bowl and be cleaned off.

Only I accidentally turned it all the way UP instead.

The batter flew everywhere, little chocolate droplets of destruction coating my face, hair, and clothes as well as the cookbook and I think even a little bit hit the dog. It took Hubband about 10 minutes to stop laughing long enough to help de-chocolate-batterify me and I think there is still some in my hair that will have to be washed out.

The remaining batter seems to have baked up fine...we'll see how the decorating goes. With my track record for the day, I'm going to suit up in full hazard gear before I get started.

Tears of Joy

Ella's quilt came yesterday, and its even prettier in person than it was in the pictures online. Hubband and I were quite excited, and I immediately pulled it out of the box and its protective bag. As I held it up and exclaimed, I looked over at Hubband and his eyes were glistening. A little embarrassed and a little choked up he said:

"I just looked over and saw our little girl wrapped up in that in your arms"

And then we both were choked up.

Ella at 24 weeks

We had pics of the belly at 24 weeks yesterday, now here are some pics of Ella at 24 weeks! This may be our last ultrasound of the pregnancy... they had to look at her face again to verify that she was ok. All was good, no cleft palate, no mongoloid features, etc. According to the tech, she has "long skinny fingers" (we saw fingers, but wouldn't have known them to be longer or skinnier than usual). As we watched, she doubled up and kicked a good wallop with both legs, which cracked us all up. Here they are then, the latest and greatest!

In the top one, I think it looks like she's blowing bubbles... or are those her hands? Anyone?

24 Weeks

I think I've outgrown that shirt....at least, in the belly!

"Free"lance?

Im wondering why its called free... not only do we charge for freelance work (whether seeking or providing), but once you have it to do, you're no longer free with your free time because its now being taken up by freelancing. Just an observation.

I took on a new freelance client, at a much reduced rate from my normal, to help us get a little extra cash (and Im saving to get Hubband something fun for Christmas!). So far? What I thought would be 3-5 hours on Sunday has turned into something more like 12+ hours a week. Not that our wallets will complain, but here I sit on a Sunday afternoon ready to do some serious loafing and instead am drafted to verify permission status for a manuscript. Its days like this, when all the pets are snoozing and the sun is pouring in, that I wonder what on earth possessed me to shackle myself to computer on my one free day.

Oh yeah. Free-lance.

Sigh.

Nursery Time

For those of you who are interested and have been wondering about Ella's nursery and what it will look like...have I got a post for you! (cue veggie tales music).

We can't start the room until the rest of the house is done, at least not in the sense of actually putting it together, however...I found Ella's quilt! Its the foundation for her whole room, from which we'll pick a rug, knobs for her dresser, art for the walls, curtains, and paint colors. I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for something mediocre, and the bedding "sets" that I actually liked were basically asking for a soul or 2 as payment, so I decided to do it this way. I ended up finding the quilt for under 40, including shipping!

Her crib, bumper, and bedskirt all will be white, which I can embellish a little (new ties, extra panels of fabric, etc) if I want to (and have time or energy). We've decided to do a chair rail in the room with white below (sort of faux wainscoting) and a soft green above. I have some pretty little fairy accents for the walls, and we'll get some nice art pieces that she can "grow" with... The sheets, knobs on her changing table (4 will be pink roses, the rest white; the table is white), changing pad, baskets, etc. will be a mix of white and pink, with a few soft touches of green to bring it together. I think it will turn out pretty!

I still have to decide what to do about curtains, although I think I can get away with white ones since the room doesn't have any direct sun exposure and I won't have to worry about making it truly "DARK". Then maybe I can find some nice velvet in a pretty pink and make new ties for the bedskirt and matching tiebacks for the curtains. Also... does anyone know where I can find a pretty, solid color (white, or soft pink preferably) rocking chair pad? I have my mama's rocker, but it has no padding and I'd love to get one that has a back and a seat both so I can sit in it comfortably and breast feed or rock her for naptime, etc.

What do you guys think?

Playing Hooky

Its been a long time since I was this happy for a Friday to arrive. The week has been full of stress, from a big chemistry test and paper for Hubband to uncountable "fires" to be put out at work. As Ella gets bigger, Im also not sleeping as well, so the idea of Sabbath is just Heaven to me right now! Hubband has his Navy reserve weekend this week, so sadly he will not get to partake in the extra rest. I, however, am planning to get up with him and get him off to the base and then crawl back to bed and stay there. I could get a ride to church, I'd be sure to get invited somewhere for lunch.... but Im really looking forward instead to just staying home, sleeping in, going for a walk with Priscilla... and having a true day of REST.

Tomorrow evening is our Fall Festival at the church, so we'll be having a bonfire, hayride, roasted hot dogs and marshmellows, and even a chili contest! I'll let you know if I place....

Excited!

I think I may have my very first order for a wedding cake. :-) I'm so excited, I've not yet made a cake for someone who A) was willing to pay me or B) for a wedding. That sounds bad, but most of my cakes have been for family who I wouldn't ask to pay me anyway or for the church get-together's where they turn to me because they won't HAVE to pay.

The design the bride wants is very simple, and I'm quoting her basically costs plus a tiny bit for my time. I think it will save her money, and will give me a WEDDING CAKE for my cake portfolio! We'll see how it turns out...I'll update you when I know more!

I love Fall

It's my favorite time of year, and while last week was full of the rain and the dripping and the semi cool and the wind and the lightning... this week? Is full of sunshine, and cool weather, and changing leaves... its wonderful. I'm enjoying it greatly from the comfort of my couch.

Yesterday officially marked Hubban'ds last day of work for a couple months. Until the house is finished and exams are over, he has transitioned to a "alternate" status and will only work when no one else can be found. Perfect timing, too, as he has a chemistry test on Wednesday and the first full draft of his research paper is due tomorrow.

For me? Freelancing on weekends and working on weekdays means just laundry and dishes and sleeping in between. Im planning to quit the extra work at the end of January...we'll see how it goes!

I have now filled an entire entry with nothing news and nonsense. Happy Monday!

90% means 10%!

URGENT BULLETIN!

On October 27th, 2007, LadyBoyd discovered she was not 100% wrong! >cue cheers<

Seriously! Apparently I accurately predicted that Hummingboyd was having a boy. I'd forgotten my "guess" as to gender and figured it was wrong like all the others, but NO! My average is now 90% wrong instead of 100% wrong.

Don't you just love 10%?

Embarking on our 4th year....

Yesterday was Hubband and I's anniversary and we celebrated in style by installing the floor in the living room. We got most of it in and then dolled ourselves up and braved the tempest (literally--Memphis had flash flood and tornado warnings last night) to go out to our favorite restaurant in the area. We'd dickered back and forth with the idea of going someplace "new", but the Grove won out.

We indulged ourselves and shared a spinach and goat cheese salad and had steaks. Mine? Was on a bed of gorgonzola mashed potatos, with a brandy cream sauce, and some fresh rosemary that I gleefully ripped to shreds and scattered around the plate. It was so yummy! Hubband says Im probably the only person to actually USE their garnish. :-) We finished up with a pecan tart and vanilla gelato with COFFEE (mine was decaf, but STILL!).

We blew home and fetched into our foyer like drowned rats, giggling as the umbrella tried to race down the road with the wind. Went straight to the bedroom to change out of our soaked clothes and as we stepped into the room, lightning hit a transformer down the street (zing. pop. BOOM) and the lights went out. So the rest of our anniversary was romantic indeed, fully candlelit!

Hubband woke me up this morning with a kiss and a murmured "Happy 4th year". How did I get so lucky?

BREAKING NEWS!

As of 11 pm on the 13th of October, Hummingboyd is IN LABOR. Last word at 745 am (545 her time) she had just received her epidural. Will fill you in as we know more!!!

UPDATE:
Our newest nephew, Oliver Dean Pooley, was born at 8:47 am Pacific time, weighing in at 8 lbs and 8 oz and a whopping 21 inches long! He and mommy are doing well. :-) More pics over at CMom's page!

20 Weeks

As you can see from the strange expression on my face, Hubband made a remark of some ilk just as he shot the photo. And then our battery died... so. Here is my 20 week belly and very odd expression. Enjoy!

ITS A GIRL!!!

So I was wrong... again...which puts my average at 100% WRONG with guessing baby genders be they of friends, family, or self. Hubband says that means I'm also 100% right if you figure that its always the opposite of what I say. :-)

The appointment went well, everything looks like its where and when it should be, although she's a little bigger than her original dates so they moved our due date to Feb. 24 now. We're wondering if she may make an appearance on her Grandpa Boyd's birthday (the 26th).

They weren't able to get a good shot of her face, so we get another US next visit. Everything they COULD see looked good, no spina bifida, no down's, etc. They didn't give us much, but here's some pics of our beautiful little girl!After our appointment, we went to lunch and then picked up our first baby purchases. GIRL purchases. Guess which one I picked, which one Hubband picked, and which one we jointly picked?

LET THERE BE LIGHT! and... water? and... RATS?

Hubband got our pendant lights put in (yeah! pretty kitchen necklace of lights), but just as he finished the washer suddenly overflowed as it tried to drain. Apparently we have a clog somewhere... and then, when we tried to clear it, it backwashed into the master bath toilet. I swear with this house if it isn't one thing its 12 others. As we were leaving the bathroom in a newly dry state, we noticed Priscilla had found a dead rat and was playing with it in the backyard. EW. ICK. GROSS.

BUT! pretty kitchen necklace, see?

Sticker Shock, Somersaults, and Snot

Sticker Shock-- We spent a lot of money yesterday on the car, and she still needs more! Thankfully, we have this blessed thing (with horrid interest) called a SEARS CARD so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We had to renew our registration ($106) and get new tires ($518; our old ones were literally bald in the front). They also did an alignment for us, and tried to charge us $200 for new brake pads to be put on, but as Hubband has done that in the past and we can get the pads for $35 at Advance Auto Parts, that one just went on our "to do" list along with a new windshield and an oil change and interior detailing.......

Somersaults-- Every time I start to worry because I haven't felt the baby move in a while he/she will suddenly decide its time to compete on Dancing with the Stars. Yesterday, he was either doing the rhumba or the flamenco or some sort of complicated gymnastics routine suitable for the olympics. I don't think she likes when I cough, as I also had the new experience of not just feeling the stretching of my uterus as the baby moves but actually having the baby rap on my stomach with its hands or feet. Felt like someone was knocking on the inside and waiting for an answer... so i knocked back. Not sure he liked that too much....

Snot-- What?! It's alliterative... and true, sadly. You know you have a bad cold/cough/infection when there is so much mucous built up that the pressure pushes tears out of your eyes when you breathe. So far I have escaped without a fever, and thus without being forced bodily to the doctor, but I think the day is coming (today...) when Hubband will no longer take no for an answer. Not only is he worried about me and the baby, but starting last night he began to fear for his own sleep. Apparently I coughed in my sleep all night long. So, today I will at least start taking some OTC medicines that are on the "approved" list from my OB and if they don't work, by Friday I'm going to be in the doctor's office.

Furthermore....
Hubband was able to start working on the house again this week. Not a LOT, but SOME! He's got all the wiring finished and the first coat of mud over the patched drywall in the ceiling over the island. All we have to do now is sand and paint and touch up and then my pendant lights go in! He also finished the final touchups on the mud on the new archway we framed in the dining room/living room junction. It had been molded sort of like a really wide doorway, so we've torn off the molding and reframed the edges where they'd built it out and redrywalled it. This week was the last coat of mud. Hopefully today the final mud goes on the ceiling, the dining room light is moved to our room (no more ugly ceiling fan, hurrah!), and the last pot lights are installed in the dining/laundry rooms. Of course, Hubband DOES have homework, and classes, and work... but a girl can dream, right?

Dallas was great fun; Danger Elf and I roamed with abandon... usually around our hotel suite with books in our hands. It was fun to just relax, chat, eat good food (at the meetings) and ok food (hotel restaurants) and great food (the one mexican place we traveled off the convention grounds for). Of course, we got home and I was swamped with work, her kids got sick, then I got sick, then she got swamped with things....On Friday we were wishing we could go back to Dallas, just to sleep!

This shot was taken at the dessert reception our last night of meetings. For those of you who don't know, or who forgot, or who I forgot to tell... we were there for the relaunch of Victoria magazine. It looks like we both may end up getting some freelance out of the deal, too!

The Twilight Bark... Updated

My managing editor and I both work from home, he from Colorado and me Tennessee. This morning as we were going over our project status and doing our weekly (sometimes daily) planning session, his pug heard my boykin bark and they started talking to each other. I'm not sure what they were saying, but both dogs were quite puzzled about that invisible barking dog in the black box. At first, I thought Priscilla was just barking at something in our neighborhood, but she stopped as soon as Clancy stopped. I guess they were passing messages of some sort. Maybe the weather? Coded messages re: the planned takeover of Cat-dom? Tips on how to win a treat from their human?

16 Weeks...

Had my 16 week checkup this am and all is well! The belly is big enough now that the doc measured it as well as taking the baby's heartrate (145-150). Our ultrasound is scheduled for Oct. 08. Get your votes in now! Boy? or Girl?!

Busy Bees....

It seems we are always busy these days... I find myself constantly thinking "I should put that on the blog" and then a week goes by and I finally have the time to post and can't remember any of the tidbits. So today, I'm going to post a nice newsy bulleted list and hope that I can remember a few of the juicy bits along the way.

• Sabbath was... insane. I was tagged late Friday to make a cake for yet another farewell potluck and insanely, I agreed. Sabbath also was potluck, and a men's group performance at a different church, and the ice cream social in the evening. We ended up getting up at around 7 am to finish frosting and decorating the cake (Friday night after men's group I baked the cake and made my potluck contributions while Hubband started the custard for his mango ice cream), threw on our church clothes, and ran over to OUR church to drop off the food. We then ran over to the other church (35 minutes away) where Hubband and the gang performed beautifully. Immediately after their performance, we snuck out and raced back to our church, arriving just in time for potluck. Got away around 230, home by 3, had to pick up our friend who was helping with the vespers song service before the social at 530, leaving us just time to change clothes, take the dog out, and pretend to take a nap for about 30 minutes. Back to the church for the social, where we led out in song service, Hubband made his ice cream, I judged the contest, and we limped homeward around 10 pm where I immediately fell into bed, exhausted. The cake, for a family moving to Peru, went over very well.
  
• On Sunday afternoon, some friends came over and painted our living room for us! We originally had asked them to come help, but when we tried to cancel after work schedules got in the way, we were told in no uncertain terms that PAINTING WOULD OCCUR. They finished all the walls and touch ups, leaving only trim for Hubband and I to complete this week/weekend. To pay them as best I could, I made vegetable curry and chicken tikka masala for dinner, followed by Hubband's homemade mango ice cream (leftover from the ice cream social at church the night before).
• Monday... Hubband started classes! Fall semester is officially underway, though his schedule is still in a little bit of flux. He's definitely taking Chemistry, Calculus, University Singers (choir), Chamber Singers (elite choir), voice lessons, and Research Writing. He's been going to class for Oral Comm (speech), but we're not sure if it will fit into his schedule in the end. Its going to be a rough semester for home-work with all that homework!
• Tuesday afternoon I broke down and agreed that yes, my ever evolving body needed to have at least some new bras to keep it modestly contained. The size horrified and amused me, this baby is going to make me porn-er-ific. Hubband said that if I continue to grow belly and breasts at this rate, the former will never catch up to the latter! We found 2 nice bras for me, though, on sale (only 10 bucks each, and they're decent quality!) and a couple of non-maternity-but-oversized comfy tops that I'll be able to wear for a few weeks now and then again after delivery. Also ran into a decent sale at Sears and was able to replace 2 of the pairs of shoes that Priscilla has chewed (last count was 17 total pairs of MY SHOES decimated. She's chewed up 1 pair of flipflops and one set of shoelaces from Hubband's side of the closet. hmph). All in all, we got out with EVERYTHING having spent only 65 bucks, so quite a worthy trip.
• Wednesday. Nothing of any interest happened. We were lazy. I worked. He went to class. We steadfastly ignored the plethora of projects needing attention and spent about 2 hours watching tv before bed. Priscilla got in trouble for something and took her lecture with good equanimity.
• Thursday. Here we are to today! I'm officially 14 weeks today, if you haven't noticed the lovely ticker. Now I'm in the 2nd trimester, no matter what calendar you use!

In one other bit of interesting news... I was cruising CraigsList.com the other day and found an add for a dresser for 20 bucks. We went and looked at it and ended up buying it on the spot. Hubband is in the process of refinishing it (scratched varnish off, white paint on) and we'll use it for the nursery. Its nice and long and the perfect height for a combo dresser/changing table. Pictures will follow once it's done. :-)

3 Months

It has been said that this photo could just be me "sticking it out", but I swear, this is the equivalent of sucking it in!

The ticker ticks on

Its funny, I remember watching the homecoming ticker with baited breath, trying to hurry it on its way. This morning, I came to the blog and saw the ticker and realized I hadn't really seen it since about 6 weeks. It's jumped 6 whole weeks since then! The time has just seemed to go by in a fog of nausea. Hubband and I realized as we went into our 12 week appointment last week that it felt like only a few days since our 8 week, but so much has changed. If I can keep this non-ticker-watching momentum for the whole pregnancy, think how shocked I'll be when its suddenly at the end!

That reminds me of a funny happening in the family last week, too. My older sis is preggers right now, too. She didn't find out until she was about 6 weeks along, so we like to tease her that she lost 2 weeks of her life somewhere (she thought she wasn't even late). We were talking over due dates last week and she asked me why doctors call it 40 weeks all the time when its really only 39. I was quite confused, but she insisted as she flipped through her calendar that it was 39 WEEKS. Then she got really quiet and I could hear her blushing over the phone as she started to giggle. She'd missed a week on her calendar when she was marking her weeks ahead so yes, she only counted 39, but it wasn't the doc's fault! Not only did she therefore "lose" 2 weeks at the beginning, it means that her actual scheduled C-Section date will be a week earlier than she'd thought. Pregnancy brain strikes again!

Week 12!!

Hurrah! Week 12. Nausea is starting to subside, and we had our 12 week checkup yesterday at the doc. Everything looks good still, baby's heart rate was 152 yesterday. We got a babybeat so we can also measure and hear it at home. I'll try to get a recording up here as soon as we figure out how. :-) New belly pics also on the way. I have 10 million things to do today (clean house, laundry, dishes, choir practice, work, gestate...), so I'll leave it at this. Did want to get an update posted though! I promise I'll be back soon..........

One year anniversary, a panic attack, a birthday, and wasps

August 2nd marked our 1 year anniversary as Memphians and we celebrated in style. Hubband worked at the restaurant and I hovered around the toilet waiting for "Bud" to send my dinner back to me, express mail.

A couple of days later, we missed C-Mom's bday by calling her the DAY BEFORE and then forgetting to call again. We are horrid children, Mom, but know that we LOVE YOU! and we were sending HAPPY BIRTHDAY thoughts to you! In the midst of her birthday, I actually had a pretty severe panic attack, the reason (though not an excuse) that we forgot to call. I realized that evening that I had not been sick all day. Not at all. A few crampy feelings, some mild vertigo, but no nausea! NONE! ALL DAY! and was immediately convinced that I was losing the baby. It took quietly hysterical phone calls to my sister and my sister-in-law before I calmed down. The next day? I threw up 4 times... karma, I guess.

Today, I've been swamped with work. Really and truly swamped and Im wading around with a straw trying to breathe through the muck. Priscilla gave me a nice little break, though, when she decided that a paper wasp would make a good playmate. She chased it and before I could stop her, swatted it to the ground with a paw that then didn't touch ground again for about 20 minutes, until the sting wore off. She followed me around on 3 paws, waving the 4th at me like "HELP! MAMA!" until I put some baking soda paste on a rag and held it to her sting for a few seconds. She's been sleeping every since. Ahhhh, the joys of August in the Boyd house.

Hours of Enjoyment

Thanks to my mother-in-law... she sent us a great little package of pet toys, magazine articles, etc. I had to share some pics of the blue elephant cat hat. Because there is nothing so funny as a cats in a hat.