Memorial Day Weekend 2012

This weekend was fairly relaxed here at our house.  School ended for me on Thursday and we went to Carb Day at the track on Friday afternoon.  

It was hot.

I drank a lot of water and did some people watching.

I may have thrown a fit because I couldn't find one of those rolling ice cream kiosks that sold M&M cookie ice cream sandwiches.  I really enjoy those things. 

I have a slight case of cankles here.

I noticed swelling in my ankles and hands in the heat.  

Awesome!

Here is my non swelling, seems to be getting skinnier husband.

That makes me feel ever so good.

After 3 hours at Carb Day, I can't really say what they do there.  I saw maybe 3 cars.  I did not see Ashley Judd and I couldn't find my M&M selling person.

The day was a bust.

On Saturday I chilled in the backyard.

Maybe I should say I tried to cook my unborn baby on the patio.

That might be more accurate.

*Cue the gratuitous maternity swimwear shots.

Look away if you have an aversion to large legs.

Vivi and I would lounge, try to look glamorous whilst reading Southern Living and Indianapolis Monthly, then fold like cheap stadium seats and run like total trash through the sprinkler located mere inches away.

We held off as long as we could guzzling lime infused water until I would scream "Trinity, get the sprinkler!" and then I would run through the grass shrieking.

*lime infused water is water from one's Fridgidaire with limes sliced up and floating around in the cup, and no, I didn't get the damn recipe from Pinterest.

Trinity went to the race early at 6:30 on Sunday morning.

He dressed the part and looked fetching in a Budweiser T shirt purchased from our local Kmart.  I cut those sleeves off myself, at his insistence.  

It was 92 degrees in Indianapolis on race day.  

Naturally, I left town.  

 I headed home for the night with my parents.  This time I had an actual poolside sitting episode.

Mother thought I was pretty cute swathed in stretchy chevron spandex.

I've got lots of room to grow in this suit.

I ordered my usual chicken salad fruit plate from the clubhouse and ate it all in about 30 seconds.

The clubhouse was looking swell, and will be quite the site for Robeghan's reception in a few short months.

After 3 hours of sunning, Mother and I returned home to this scene.

Dumbest dog in the universe.

She sat down right in front of the car and would not move. 

I pulled that fool hound through the garage, where she stood until my dad came and hoisted her up the steps.  She is 12 years old, senile and slightly overweight.

What a combo.

We do love that London.

Mom and Dad took me to see What to Expect When You're Expecting, which was so cute.  Seriously it was snorting laughter funny to me, possibly more so since I can relate to so much more now.  It has the same title as that stupid book that I refuse to read.  I find myself remaining ignorant about most gestational topics.  

Ignorance is bliss, I say.  

I returned home this morning with a car load of clothes, shoes and various items for my daughter.

My sister is a bit of a pack rat.  She saved everything from Caroline.

She is either a hoarder or I might have threatened her with a menacing voice to "save everything for my child!" each time she bought a thing for Caroline.

It has royally come back to bite me in the ass.

It is overwhelming, but I don't think I need to buy a stitch of clothing for Genevieve until she is at least 4 years old.

I started the sorting process this afternoon by size.

Praise Jesus that Katie isn't a freak like me, because I've never been so thankful to see little tags in all of my life.

Sizing is everything for these little ankle biters.

There were relatively few newborn items, but I found a precious hat.  Only one head could possibly fit in that hat for the next 4 months.

My original baby's head.

Kashmir may have had lots of baby bags on her feline figure today.  She is the perfect test case.  

T was overwhelmed by just one box of loot.

24 weeks in, 16 more to go!

Happy Memorial Day!

23 Weeks and a New Job

My first comment in this post has to do with my husband's latest obsession with pulling weeds. I'm not complaining, except neither one of use knows what is weed and what is lovely plant/flower.  I came home yesterday to find him in our tiered flower bed seething and ranting about "weeds."  We just had our yard overhauled by a landscaping company about 3 weeks ago, so I wasn't convinced that what he was calling a weed was indeed a weed.

That rhymed.

The pesky "weeds" were like 2 1/2 feet tall, which meant they had to grow super fast since our landscaping.  I convinced him to wait until my mother's next visit, when her green thumbing would tell us what to remove and what to keep.

That calmed him for 24 hours.

This evening I plopped on the couch and opened my computer to this...

he had taken matters into his own hands.

Literally.

I then went outside to see this precious rear end-

in full effect.

"Weeding."

I guess they're weeds.

They're gone now.

We'll never know.

He is totally interested in the yard, which I can appreciate, since I hate it.

It's a fabulous change from his usual outdoor routine-

iPadding on the porch is a popular pastime in our household.

I got this new app on my phone called CameraPlus.

Me likey.

It does borders and captions and all kinds of craziness.

I took a new job.  4 years as District Literacy Coach has come to an end.  My new job keeps me at one school, but I continue to focus primarily on school improvement through professional development, observations and modeling.  I like to model.

I can't wait to go back and "model" effective teaching strategies at 32 weeks pregnant when we go back in July.

My new job placement was approved by the Board of Education on Monday, so we went to the meeting and I stood up and did my best parade wave.

I decided to dress as Smee from Peter Pan. 

I even have his rotund shape these days.

Today was the final day of school, so I donned some killer maternity shorts with a rockin' panel for packing up my room. 

My face is always shiny these days, despite pressing about 6 oz of pressed powder onto my mug daily.

Pregnancy "glow" or sweat, I think. 

In more exciting news, I finally got some new white bedding for our bed.

It looks great. 

I am very smart to buy white bedding and mirrored nightstands when I have a baby coming.

Spills and little fingerprints are in the near future. 

I always think practically.

Lastly, Kashmir continues to be her adorable self.

We think she is already plotting her baby breath stealing techniques.

I will be posting more frequently now, as I am unemployed for the next 9 weeks and have little to do with my time.

Lucky you!

1st Mother's Day and Recent Happenings

We celebrated my first Mother's Day last weekend.

We went to mass in the morning, and Father Larry asked all of the mothers to stand up for a special tribute.

I balked.

A lot of people still can't tell that I'm pregnant.

Then I remembered, hells bells, we're Catholics!

Life begins at conception!

I'm a bona fide, totally legit momma.

If there is any place where I can stand proudly and relish in my maternal glory, it's our church.

I stood, got my little poem and received lots of congratulatory smiles.

Trinity took me to a relatively new gourmet burger restaurant for lunch where I had a black bean and Tallegio cheese burger that was divine.  I can't imagine that beef would have been better.

Here I am sipping my water with lemon.

I have never had so much water in my life as I have been consuming lately.

Cupcake debauchery quickly followed lunch.  

We went to Nurture, this darling baby shop on Massachusetts Avenue to buy Genevieve a little present.  T was dismayed by the prices.  His quote of the day was, "Doesn't she just wear one of those baby bags for the first couple of months anyway?"

Yes, she will wear sleep sacks, and point well made.

No purchases were made.  

My gal pals from school celebrated Karen's 60th birthday at Bravo!

Karen is one of my funniest friends and I love her dearly.

I was thinking of how friendship changes when you reach adulthood.  Age no longer matters.

I regularly hang with a 60 year old, and she is awesome.

We entertained ourselves on a raucous Friday night by using the baby belt that plays drumbeats and/or heartbeats and is going to make my baby all kinds of genius.  

I really don't know how my brain functions currently when I didn't have all of this in utero intervention.  

A friend from school let me borrow this, so we checked it out.  

T strapped on his lighted headpiece, turned off the electricity and set to work putting together the new light fixture for the nursery.  

He survived and we were quite pleased with the results.  

The nursery is so far from complete it is hilarious.  We will go to get the furniture from Katie in July, but I did order some fabric swatches (seen below) to ponder.  

I'm thinking perhaps some coral and pink.  

I was going to stay away from pink and then I realized I was just kidding myself.

It's my favorite color.  Duh.

Source: flickr.com via Betsy on Pinterest

Robby Graduates

Saturday was a big day in our family.

Li'l brother Robby graduated from law school.  

He has officially morphed into my father.

We sat through the longest ceremony of our lives.

When Robby's name was called to be "hooded" my seriously refined husband may have hooted.

This is kind of a no no in our family.

I may have wanted to smack him, if I didn't love him so much.

I don't think anyone noticed.  The people behind us had a cowbell.  I'm not even kidding.

Other than some random hoots and cowbell ringing, the entire event was quite lovely.

Robby was a sport and posed for Jane's photogging session.

This was a great pose after we encouraged him to "make like Angelina."

We always keep it serious.

Kudos to these parents.

They continued to unconditionally love and support Robby when he spent 6 years in Bloomington as an undergrad chain smoking and living the nocturnal lifestyle of a vampire.

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Mother will stroke about that comment, but I must give guff where guff is due.

He no longer smokes.

We are seriously proud of him.

Both for law school and for saying no thanks to nicotine.

Look over your shoulder, Robby.

Now walk away.

Show us the hood.

Fortunately our Meis catalog modeling days make us prepared for any photograph.

Future wife was in attendance, ever supportive.

Nice shades, brother.

I bought those for him.

We had a celebratory dinner at The Columbia Club, site of our wedding and many family events.  Bob loves that place, and we have gone there since I was a child.  I love that it is steeped in Republican tradition, and that every Republican president Benjamin Harrison has visited the club, either as a candidate or President.  It is such a beautiful place.

I love history, despite my own conflicting politics.

I just want to scream

"George W.  stinks!  I am a crazy liberal Democrat who thinks everyone should have access to healthcare!"  whenever I'm in there.

Alas, I do not.  

I just admire the copious amounts of mahogany and leaded glass.  

Robby got a grill set from Meg's parents.

He was jazzed.

T had a bourbon and I came across the table to get a picture.

I just really wanted to smell the bourbon.

Excuse my appearance.

I'm suffering from an affliction known as pregnancy.

It didn't photograph so well on Saturday.

Meg's mom Carole joined us. 

Congratulations, Robby.

Now pass the bar and get a job.

Drama and Prenatal Massages

This week's festivities included a stellar performance.  My 2nd and 3rd grade drama club members wowed the packed crowd of proud parents and my husband last evening.

They performed The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body.  

I was in charge of the red blood cells and germs backstage.  

The germs and single white blood cell prepared for their run across the stage.  

This blurry shot was the red blood cells' dance to a very catchy tune entitled "Circulation."  

Did you know that I was the after school drama director?  

Fitting, no?

That is a fib.

I was the school drama director's trusty assistant.  

I never did show choir, school plays or any other such nonsense, despite my mother's bribes to buy me Samantha Parkington's entire wardrobe if I simply auditioned for Children's Theatre.  

I refused.

I was one stubborn little lass.

My besty, Jake, is like the Max Fischer of elementary dramatic productions.  He was in Purdue's Glee Club, and has vast experience in the dramatic arts.  

This picture demonstrates that.

His wife is an equally talented thespian.  

I believe they actually met on stage.

Dorks.

Jake and I were the Rogers and Hammerstein of the elementary scene.  I laughed constantly as we practiced each Monday.  I thought  of Corky St. Clair, Libby Mae Brown and my other favorite characters from "Waiting For Guffman."  We took this production very seriously.

I had my first prenatal massage.

Prenatal massage is different from regular massage because you never lie on your back or stomach, but rather on your side clutching a huge body pillow as if it was a piece of wreckage from the Titanic.  

It was heavenly.  It was so heavenly that I fell asleep and had to be awakened by the masseuse.  I like that word.  I was so oiled up afterwards that I nearly slipped in the shower.  Consider that my public service announcement for post massage safety.  Do be careful.  

Our weekly awkward photo shoot went particularly poorly.  

We aren't really mastering the cute maternity photo sessions.  

21 weeks and the marination continues.

Party Party!!!!

We enjoyed the evening with our friends and family on Friday night revealing that our baby is a little girl.  I was super excited to share the news.

Marinda made these hair bows and bow ties for people to wear to vote.

There was a serious pink and blue theme going on in the home.  

Steph led the charge with her vote for a girl.

Mother cut the cake to reveal a lot of pink and buttery goodness!

Mom and Dad were thrilled, although Dad clearly thought we were having a boy.

I wore both colors to avoid unfairly influencing anyone during this highly dramatic event:)

The new outdoor furniture provided some serious lounge space for the partiers.  

Whitney, John and the girls lived it up with some lemonade and cake!

I think this would make  a wonderful Christmas card, and they could just add a note that they adopted a pregnant girl who is only 10 years younger than them.  

Marinda was a huge help with the soiree.  Jamie is all sunny and yellow.  I was plotting to borrow that shirt but I think we may be past fitting in that puppy.

My brother really is a giant.

We said no gifts, but leave it to my dearest pals to make us laugh.  In true Allison style creativity, she created onesies with Tequila and Tequilo on the front, filled the arms with tissue paper and filled the tummies with bottles of tequila. 

Husband loves tequila.  I do too, and I hope there is some left in a few months.

It was such a thoughtful gift from Jamie, Tim, Allison, Steve and Court.  

Kirby and Cinda preferred some vino.  

Kathy and Rick were a divided house on the vote and brought some gorgeous pink and blue flowers for us.  

This might be my favorite picture of the night.  Jake was taking chocolate cake pops home to his 3 children after my declining my generous offer of pieces of cake.  He explained that he would have accepted had our bambino been a boy, but the red dye in the cake would cause his children to bounce from the walls.

I have a lot to learn with this parenting thing. 

At the end of the night the boys broke into Tequila and the fun started.  

Everyone shoots liquor at a baby party, no?

The evening was a success and my first foray into entertaining was fun!  

We are still debating middle names, but have decided that our little girl will be

 Genevieve.

It is a family name for me, and one of my all time favorites.  

It is also the name of Madeline's dog, one of my beloved book characters from childhood.

I promise it's more about the family name.

We are looking forward to meeting Miss Vivi and I am talking to her a lot now.  According to my research, she can hear me now and will soon distinguish my voice from others.  Either that, or babble.com is seriously messing with  me.