Taking a Break

Well, this past weekend we gutted the bathroom.  When I say we, I really mean Chris did.  I was sent away so that I wouldn't pester him with questions or annoy him with "trying to help" or get all the tile dust and such in me.  Saturday Chris did demolition while I went to a 1 year old b'day party for a friend.  He managed to get all of the walls down and out of the house that day.  I'm sure our neighbors love us, but hopefully they will more when it helps the resale value of their condos.  Sunday was an adventure because we ripped up the flooring.  It came up significantly easier than Chris was expecting so that was quite nice.  We also got the old ridiculously heavy bath tub out with help from a few church friends.  We got the new tub in with only one friend, if that tells you the extent of the old tub.  It was a wrought iron tub coated in ceramics -- impossible to do much with in reality.  The new tub has whirl-pool jets, arm rests and hold enough water that it covers my legs when I want to get in it -- you know, we had to test it out to make sure everything worked properly. Since the new tub is deeper than most we needed a special drainage kit and the one Chris got first didn't work.  I got sent to Lowe's with the kit to ask for help, apparently people love helping pregnant women who look clueless with their plumbing problems. Monday I went to work and Chris got a lot of stuff together so we could get the sheet-rock and backer-board in for the tile after I got off of work.  He also got the condo association to turn off the water so that he could replace the plumbing in the walls just a bit.  Yesterday (Tuesday) he started sheet-rocking walls and putting up the backer-board.  He also got the walls primed and ready for me to paint.  I'm currently taking a break after scraping the old paint off of the ceiling and letting Chris finish putting up the backboard around the new tub.  We bought all the tile and stuff today, so the people at Lowe's won't have to see me a whole lot more (hopefully). 

Today at Lowe's I had a whole new experience with a complete stranger walking up and congratulating us.  We had a flatbed full of stuff and the lady (lady A) was having a conversation with the check-out lady (lady B).  They both believe that I'm having a boy because I'm not "big all over", though lady A did lift up my jacket in the back and say I had some hips on me to help me carry the extra weight.  She didn't actually attack me or try and touch my stomach, though she did make motions like she wanted to.  Chris was glad of this because originally he wondered how many hands he would have to break from people deciding my abdomen was public domain.  So far his total is zero, but this is also the first time any complete stranger has said anything.  I also got the traditional, "I hate you. I wish I could have looked like that at months," when Lady B asked me how much longer I had to go.  Apparently me telling them 2 months, that I was 8 months into this pregnancy was NOT what they were expecting.  However, since I get that from EVERYONE -- from the OB/GYN to friends -- it is what I expected.  

On the Ripley front -- we regularly see him move, it isn't uncommon at any point in time, so I get some weird looks occasionally because people don't expect it from my abdomen.  We get arms and legs and random body parts that stick out quite a bit sometimes.  It has become interesting to wonder where exactly Ripley thinks it is going.  Apparently my abdomen is getting a little small because kicks to the ribs are painful and it still likes to stay hang out playing piano on my spine. 

Anyway, it sounds like Chris is almost done roto-zipping the backer-board as the last piece for the tub so I should get to painting.  I'll post a series of pics (since I've taken some everyday) once this is over and we have everything back together.  

Week 31, Day 2

OB appointment took FOREVER today.  Especially for me just having stuff checked out -- I mean like, BP, weight, fetal heart rate, stuff like that. 

Everything is normal thus far with both Ripley and me.  :)

We also made all of the rest of the OB appointments we'll make for before Ripley gets here.  This means in nine weeks we'll be parents!?  I suppose this means we'll be busy and have to get to work on getting everything ready. 

T minus 7 minutes

Well, I've got pasta boiling and it will be the end of having supper ready, so I've got seven minutes to post something.  We've made it through the first couple of weeks of March with not much ado.  We're still in limbo about all sorts of things, so no resolution on any job fronts.  We do know that we're still working on having a baby in May though.  We go back to the OB this Wednesday.  This is the last of the monthly appointments, so we start biweekly after this.  Two weekends back we managed to put together baby furniture and have moved the house around a bit.  This past weekend we didn't do much of anything, just recovered.  I also taught my last couple of courses at Westwood so I'm done there until August-ish.  This coming weekend we will start demolition on the bathroom.  Chris wants to get it all done in a week, so we'll see how it goes.  I have faith that it can happen, just will it is the question.  I'll probably get to do some painting, but as long as he gets the major stuff (like the bathtub, tiling, and sheetrock hung) we'll be good to go.  I'm still at the cafe though that will only be through the end of the month -- it has been very painful to be up and about so much.  Anyway, this is apparently as much as I can type before the timer goes off, so I had significantly less than seven minutes to start with.  I hope that all is well by everyone. 

Walk in the Prairie

Well I had today off.  I should be writing thank you notes for the shower, or grading papers, or sleeping, or the list could probably go on indefinitely.  I chose to do something I wanted to do though and go to the prairie.  The prairie has a trail that I walk and run on -- the first outside walking this year since I was on a strict no slipping policy for this winter.  I took my phone which means I could get some pictures of winter giving way to spring.  This time of year really is great in my opinion as we watch the snow melt, the water levels rise and green buds begin to form.  We won't have anything close to a true spring for a month or so, but it is still nice to see the preparation of it all.  

Some remaining snow caught in the bushes

Bubbling brook

Not quite thawed out pond, but its getting there -- see the lighter colored ice?

Trees in the distance

Almost makes me forget I'm in a metropolitan area when this is what I see. 

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Shower Pics (Finally)

My niece and me all shower ready.  She had a great dress!

cake -- it was apparently good as most of it got eaten.

Wrapping up a month

Well, this starts week 29 for me.  I finally decided to "pop" a little.  The chiropractor today was not surprised I was so sore because what takes most people several months to do, I managed to do in about three days.  I got a lot of sleep in Tulsa over the weekend in so that's probably where some of it comes from -- getting enough rest that my body could do what it needed to do.  The past few weeks have been interesting -- from an interview for me to new closets both Chris and I have been super super busy. 

My school term at Westwood is almost over -- I have two weeks left!!  I'm so excited that I can't contain it.  I'm not teaching for the next two terms so it will be a welcome break.  Hopefully by August (when the next possible term for me to teach in) I will have a new position that doesn't require me to teach, but I could teach if I wanted...which at this point I don't. 

I'm actually planning on writing more tomorrow because I've got time off in the morning.  I will upload a few shower pictures and go from there.  My mom had a GREAT shower for me this past weekend that brought in lots of interesting stuff.  I got a few essential things (like diapers, bibs, diaper bag) and some fun things -- like toys and teethers.  Since we didn't find out gender people didn't bring us clothes at all, which is kind of weird.  We now have one thing that we can bring the baby home in.  :) 

Chris is having a lot of drama at work and hopefully it will all work out in a way that is immediately recognizable as good.  There are several scenarios where he loses both of his "underlings" and has to train a new person who makes considerably more money than he does.  Hopefully the department will realize that they've got to do something and end up paying Chris more.  I mean, even bringing the position up to market value would be a great thing and help us out tremendously. 

I'm off to continue my trend of getting a ridiculous amount of sleep each day. 

Busy Busy Busy

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks.  Last weekend we decided that we'd make a quick trip to Minne to see our friends there.  We drove up after work on Thursday and then drove home on Sunday.  It was nice to get out of town and enjoy each other in the car.  It was nice to just stop and let things be.  We also realize that this will be the last trip that we make just the two of us and so that was an interesting conversation we had.  We played lots of games and made lots of good food -- as is normal for our trips to Minne.  Heather likes to cook and bake so we are always inventive of things to eat.  We managed to make chocolate covered strawberries this time -- yum.  It was also nice because David recently quit his job so we got to hang out with him on Friday.  We also got above freezing so David and Chris went out to get some of the slush off of the drive way.  Here's a pic of them doing so.

Cooling the strawberries outside since there was no room in the fridge.

That brings us to Valentine's Day.  We discussed going to a movie but decided that after our busy weekend we just wanted to stay home and chill on the couch.  Ripley did have a lot to do with this decision because I didn't want to sit down much more.  We also opened a couple of great presents for Ripley -- a carseat and a stroller.  :)  We're slowly accumulating stuff for Ripley.  As Chris says, "Ripley takes up a lot of space and it isn't even here yet!" 

Wednesday last week I had my monthly appointment.  It went well, except for the blood pressure part.  That was enough of a problem that tomorrow I get to go back and have it checked and whatnot again.  Hopefully it won't be too bad and I can finish out the term at Westwood and a bit of working at the cafe. 

Friday I had a phone interview with a company called Cabot Microelectronics.  I've applied for several positions with them, but finally found one that I'm easily qualified for.  They do inorganic slurries that are similar to some of the projects I worked on at OU in my undergrad years.  The phone interview was at 330, and by 530 I had heard back from the HR person.   :) Hopefully this means that I'll get an in person interview this week before I leave for Tulsa.  I missed the call because we had gone to see "The King's Speech."  It was quite a good movie and the fact that it is based on George VI is a cool thing.  I have heard several interviews about the movie on NPR and so I really wanted to see it. 

Today we went around looking for closets and bathroom stuff.  We are trying to remodel the closets to make them more space efficient (we've basically decided that the space in our place is about as in-efficient as it gets, so we're working on changing that) and think we've found the right pieces that it won't break the bank or Chris' back putting everything together.  We've also started to put bathroom stuff together because over Chris' spring break he wants to remodel the bathroom.  We purchased a dual flush toilet from Costco today, so it is now going to happen.  It is weird being grown up and being excited about getting stuff for toilets and closets, but hopefully it will enhance the last few months of this pregnancy thing and help us once Ripley gets here.