beanski

money...what's that?

bWe have officially lost it. I got up to a dirty, messy, nasty house on Monday and decided that I needed to clean. When I got to the vacuuming part, I realized the bag was full on our vacuum cleaner and I had run out of replacements. After a small temper tantrum, I sat down and started online shopping. By the time Ski got home, I had decided that rather than buying a new bag for $10, I needed a new vacuum cleaner. And not only did I need a new vacuum cleaner but I needed a $400 vacuum cleaner. I informed him of this need when he got home and he just said, "OK, let's go buy it." Usually one or both of us becomes the voice of reason at some point and we talk ourselves out of it. You know, we do have a baby coming in eight weeks and we do have about a thousand things left to buy for the baby...all of which we've been putting off until our "money situation" gets in better order. Not this time. We drove up the hill and bought the $400 vacuum. We didn't even look at cheaper models or talk to a saleman. We just walked over, picked up the vacuum and walked up and paid for it. We decided on the way home that the concept of money has ceased to exist and the valiant effort we've made to get our heads back above water since our wedding apparently has no bearings anymore. Screw it. Whatever. If you need (want) it, charge it. I have yet to take it for a test drive because I got distracted when we got home by the nice weather and work to do in the garden but you have to admit, it at least looks pretty badass.

bladder boxing

The fetus is back to it's favorite trick this week: bladder boxing. On Tuesday I was walking up the stairs at work and the brat punched me so hard in the bladder that I yelled 'STOP THAT' outloud. I just hope no one heard me or they might think I have Tourette's syndrome (or an imaginary friend). It is also pushing on my ribs periodically throughout the day...almost like it is stretching for 2-3 minutes while I double over in pain. I'm hoping the bladder boxing and rib jabbing mean that it is pointed down because those 'YOU are pregnant? Here read this quick' books tell me that is what we're looking for. On a completely unrelated note, I'm getting really tired of calling the baby IT.

I finally cleaned up the clutter in the nursery (translation 'shoved it all in the closet and shut the door') and took some pictures of it. I need to do wall stuff yet, get a small table and a bookshelf or a changing table for the corner but other than that, it is done. Oh, and a mattress might be nice (by the way the sheets are white with stripes in the same colors as the polka dots). I LOVE it. Every time I walk by the room I glance in and can not believe that there is going to be another human being that is half me and half Ski living in that room in two short months.

Here is my big bad self at 31 weeks. My face is getting fat. I would use the term gi-nor-mous because that is how I feel but think I better reserve that for six weeks from now. Can someone please tell me where 4-7 more pounds of baby is going to go? Not the best pictures but I'm too lazy to redo them. I get lazier and lazier every week, huh?

double birthday

My sister and my husband share a birthday...Happy Birthday, Annie and Michael! One of these years we're going to have to get you two geminis together to celebrate at the same time. Annie's good friend Margot also had a baby boy just in time (10:10 PM) to complete the May 21st trifecta. The baby ratio just went from 5:1 to 6:1 in favor of little boys.

My Ski turned 30. I guess we always thought it would be this momentous occasion and have planned a Twins game with both sets of families and our closest friends in June for the big celebration. We had a talk about it last night and he determined that he didn't feel any older than he did at 20 but that it was totally weird that Appetite for Destruction, The Joshua Tree and Pleased to Meet Me came out 20 years ago. The way his mind works cracks me up. I ordered him a really sweet birthday present this year for the first time ever but I can't tell you about it because it didn't show up on time. I just looked in my email and I ordered it on April 30th. GRRRRRR...

We went to the Brewhouse with the Yesberger's and Peterson's to celebrate and had a good time. I'm going to take a few pictures of the gifts our crazy friends bought because describing them in words wouldn't do it justice. I'll just say that Tara found 'bacon tape' somewhere in town...I'm not even lying that it consists of a roll of tape with very realistic pictures of bacon slabs running all along it. By the end of the night, we were all wearing bacon tape all over our clothes and had even conned 3 members of the Brewhouse staff to sport bacon tape in honor of Michael's 30th. I can't believe I forgot my camera...Happy Birthday to my old man (literally)...

date weekend

THE most relaxing weekend EVER. The highlights were the Cabin at Chimney Rock, reading A LOT of Harry Potter and having a fire inside to hang out next to all weekend long. We ate at the Gunflint Tavern and Sven and Ole's pizza and cooked in for the rest of the meals. We had planned to try Chez Jude but just didn't feel like dressing up and going out so we decided to save that for next time and went for pizza instead. If you're looking for a nice, quiet weekend, the Cabin at Chimney Rock is it. Nancy and Clarence have to be well in to their 70s and Nancy rents out the cabin for "something to do." They were really funny...still poking fun of eachother after 42 years of marriage. She raises chickens and brought over fresh eggs in the morning and even baked us cookies. Too cute. Everything in the cabin was BRAND NEW and there was enough firewood to have a fire all weekend long. Which was nice because it was about 35 degrees yesterday in Grand Marais and is precisely 37 here in Duluth today. I'm fine with the weather though because it makes it seem OK for me to do absolutely nothing. Which reminds me, I better get back to Harry. And speaking of Harry, if the kid is born on July 31st (Harry's birthday) and is a boy, we're going to have to go with the name Harry, aren't we?

I took exactly 7 pictures and exerted very little energy for all 7, so this is all I have to offer.
 

75% cooked

I had my 30 week appointment yesterday. The fetus is officially 75% cooked. So if we're talking in steaks, still pretty rare. I've gained 21 pounds and everything else was normal. My doctor listens to the heartrate for about 2 seconds and then says 'sounds good' so I have no idea what that is these days. I have been feeling really good physically...now if the house gets painted and the other 30 things on my list of things to resolve get finished, I'll feel like a million bucks.

We started our childbirth classes on Tuesday night:
The annoying stuff

The length - 5:30-9:30 PM for three nights in row might kill me. Don't they know pregnant women need to eat dinner and go to bed by 9 PM? At least this one does...

Fun Fetus Facts - we both had to bite our tongues to stop from laughing...and not in a 'haha' way but in a 'this is totally lame' way. Does everything really need a gimmick?

Sound effects on PowerPoint slides - everything had a 'bleep' or a 'boing' or a little kid laughing. I'm presuming this was designed to keep us awake but seriously, it's just annoying. The horrifying pictures and video of babies coming out of the birth canal would have been enough to hold my attention.

The good stuff

Ski getting involved and educated so I'm not alone in the labor room - I have been reading obsessively about the whole birthing thing and pain relief options but he had no clue what to expect. He came home actually saying 'that was helpful' which is odd because complaining endlessly is usually more his style.

Tour of Birthing Center - we got to see a birthing suite and how the beds operate and what kind of equipment is available. This made me feel about a thousand times better. We also got to see a teeny tiny 5lb baby which made me even more excited to see what this baby looks like.

Other pregnant people - It was good to see other pregnant women with the same due date to see that I'm not THAT unnaturally big and to hear them complaining about heartburn and back pain to reassure myself that I'm not a total wuss.

We are supposed to go up to Grand Marais this weekend to stay at a remote cabin on Lake Superior. Hopefully mother nature cooperates and the fires up there slow down so we can actually go. We're beginning to think we're not meant to have a quiet weekend alone before this kid comes...first the blizzard to thwart our trip to Austin and now wildfires in Grand Marais. These combined with the other nagging problems (with our new chair, tickets to the Twins game and rain every time we try to do a outdoor project) and I'm beginning to wonder if I did something to invoke bad karma. I'm really hoping not. Think positive thoughts...think positive thoughts...think positive thoughts...

The new Wilco album came out on Tuesday and I haven't even bought it yet. That is pathetic. I'm really losing my touch...I must rectify that today.

mom, mom, mom, almost-mom

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my mom-in-law! I love you both! I only hope that I can be half as good of a mom as you both are.

Here is my beautiful mom getting a little Grandma snuggle on Mother's Day.


My two sisters, their two boys and my mom came to Duluth for the weekend. We had a good time garage-saling, greenhouse hunting and just hanging out together. The man who rung us up at the greenhouse actually said 'I'll see you all at the Betty Ford clinic for your addictions' when we checked out because we spent about a cumulative $500 on plants and flowers between the four of us. Out. of. control. I really wanted to take a picture of the beautiful hanging basket I got for almost-Mother's day but I felt like a dork standing outside taking pictures of my flowers in front of the neighbors. Next time...

We have created little camera monsters. Every time either of them see the camera, they show off their cheesy smiles. This weekend was extraordinary, however, because we got them both to 'give the cheese' at the same time. They had all four of us in tears from laughing so hard.

Griffin at bathtime - how about those for blue eyes?


Charlie outside being a sweetie...


Mommy (aka, my sister Annie) and her son Griffin on their first Mother's Day


My sister Jen and I (and the two up and coming additions to the family) - yes, I look tired. I am tired. Those little turkeys wear me out!


Finally, my husband came home from fishing opener with something other than a hangover this year! We had fresh walleye for dinner tonight and it was DE-LI-CIOUS. I keep making fun of him for actually 'bringing home the bacon'...

I had a brain fart in the middle of editing these pictures and resized them all to different proporations. I'm not going to lie but I'm too damn tired to fix them. So deal with it.

the odds

It is 'Baby May' as I've been calling it since I started hearing the names of the billion people that I know of that are/were having babies in May. The ratio is STRONGLY in favor of little boys. We're talking 5:1 here people. This, coupled with our three nephews (and no nieces YET), and I'm beginning to think the world may well be overcome by males and cease to exist. There are two more babies on their way in the next couple of weeks so we'll see if the odds start to even out at all before July. If not, poor little Sidney is going to have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Michael officially changed his mind sometime during the day yesterday and now thinks his baby is a boy. He informed me of this while we were watching the Twins get their asses kicked and eating not-so-good-for-me-or-the-baby pizza last night. It was 'Date Night'...we've been trying to do something alone together at least once every week before the baby comes and we don't get to ever do anything again. Do you love the drama or what? Last night, we actually got in the car to drive somewhere for dinner and I was whining about how tired I was and how I didn't care what I ate. This prompted my very patient husband to suggest we go back home and order pizza. We literally drove around the block for 'Date Night' this week. Talk about lazy. To top off the sweet quality time he got to spend with his wife, I fell asleep on the couch no later than 8:15 PM. How lucky is he?

third trimester starts now...ready go...

28 weeks on Wednesday. I went from "I can hide my belly" to "totally pregnant" in the span of two weeks. Even the neighbors are excited and asking when the baby is coming (there are a LOT of kids in our neighborhood and I think they have been secretly wondering when we were going to get off our butts and contribute to the chaos). Welcome to the third trimester, I guess.


I had my 28 week appointment this morning...I'm measuring right on, the fetus' heart sounded "good" (she didn't tell me the heartrate) and she checked me for dialation and there is nothing going on down there (thank the Lord). I'm in to the go-to-the-doctor-every-two-weeks phase now so I'm really excited about the hours of time I'll get to spend in the waiting room reading Harry Potter instead of being at work.

Did I mention that our crib is in? I don't think I did. OUR CRIB IS IN! The baby is going to have a bedroom before 2008 after all. Total sweetness. Ski somehow managed to con his mom and dad to pick up all of the furniture and haul it up here for us this weekend. He is a master manipulator. He told me they were coming for a visit anyways and didn't mind just picking it up on their way when in reality I think they are just driving it up here for us and then going home. I feel terrible and would have insisted on us going to get it ourselves if I had known...which he must have known because otherwise he would have told me. In any case, THANKS John and Chris!

I also ordered this rug for the nursery last week on ebay. I think it will look nice and it is supposed to be pretty plush and soft. This is good considering we have no carpet in our house and the little thing's knees are going to need at least 5-by-8 square feet of softness to crawl on. I'm hoping that if it doesn't get puked and pooped on too much, I can actually use it for longer than the baby years. It is ivory, which I'm sure I'll regret in about two days after my black felines have had a chance to defile it, but I already have bright green walls and a red chair, how much color do you think the nursery can handle?

My final baby-related thought is that it totally freaks me out that when I started this blog I had a respectable 144 days left until my due date and now it is down to 81. Whoa dude, slow down, would you? I would like my three final months of freedom to last.

five years

Ski kissed me in my parent's old Ford Explorer for the first time five years ago today. Since then, we moved in together, moved to Duluth, bought a house, got married, took numerous trips, became "auntie" and "uncle" three times over, switched jobs at least a couple of times and are now 12 weeks away from meeting our own baby. For the last couple of days we've been talking about it and how one day we're going to wake up on May 3 and instead of five years, we'll be talking about the last 30. Or 40. Or hopefully even 50. It is crazy to me that five years feels like almost no time at all.

To celebrate we're going to eat dinner out (still not sure on the place) and then we are going to see Blades of Glory. Nothing like a little Will Ferrell to get you to reflect on your relationship. In our case, it is appropriate because it is no secret that one of the most compelling reasons for me to marry him was based on his ability to make me laugh every single day.

I love you, beeb, and am so glad you worked up the courage for that kiss five years ago.