November 2005

November 09

FINALLY!!!!

We are in our house!!!!!!!  We moved last Wednesday.  We finally got our cable and Internet today so we are here!!!!  It has been really fun shopping for all the stuff we wanted to get for the house.  My mom and aunt came down last Thursday and painted the nursery for us (among millions of other things!!!!) We woke up to a flat tire on Saturday and had to go to the mall to have it replaced.  While we were there we went into Sears and found a front loading washer for half off!!!!  I guess it was fate that took us to the mall...  That was delivered today as well.  Very exciting day off I must say!  Tomorrow I will pick up an opaque projector for a baby's room project and then I have Friday off for Vetran's Day!!!!  WAHOO!!!!  Next week is my last week teaching, then punch guy comes on Wednesday to work on some things wrong with the house, then I take my Glucose Tolerence test on Thursday (no sweets for Erin next week....boooo) and then we leave for vacation next Saturday!  I am so excited to be at my parents' house in the mountains!  If only there was a job for Jerry up there... Oh well, I am very content in our new little blueberry house. Eventually everything will be unpacked (I keep trying to twitch my nose and make things unpack...I've tired the snapping thing too...nothing hangs itself up...stupid Mary Poppins and Bewitched fooling me....) and everything will be perfect.  Until then I am enjoying our weekly trips to Lowe's and having fun learning new skills, such as changing the plug on our dryer to fit the outlet (it only took us 3 hours...BUT we did it ourselves!)
Little Ruckus must really like it here.  He has been super dooper active lately...not a bad thing at all. We went over the first stage of labor on Monday night and we learned how to simulate a contraction.  This is going to take practice, but I really believe I can do this with Jerry's help.  He's really good at keeping me calm.
Okay, enough rambling...time to eat!!!!!!
November 12

the nursery

I started work on the nursery last night.  I got so into it that I didn't get in bed until midnight.  I have to be up this morning, one to feed the beast, and two because the opaque projector I borrowed from the library is due back at 9:00 this morning.  YAWN!  Oh well, good thing it is Saturday.  It's fairly chilly here, but our house has held the heat really well!  Good to know for our electric bill.  Yesterday I had some friends over for milk and cookies.  One of them brought her baby.  She is so cute!  And she's such a good mom.  She totally just let's the kid crawl around on the floor and play with stuff.  It did make me realize that our house is no where near childproof.  At least I had the cleansers up off the floor.  My other friend is pregnant as well.  She is due in March.  I am so glad little Eli will have a built in play group of friends.
I got an e-mail from another friend yesterday.  I knew she and her husband were thinking about moving up north to be closer to her family.  But they put their house on the market and had an offer in 48 hours!!!!  So they are moving on Tuesday!  I can't believe it!  It was so fast.  They have two kids and I am so sad they are leaving, but I understand.  She is going back to the airlines and can be based out of her hometown easier.  Plus there is a built in support system there too.  I hope to see them before they leave.
Today is my dad's birthday!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!  I gave him his present way early but I sent him an e-card today.  I really like thecare2 website.  They have really cute cards and the donate money to great causes daily.  Anyway, we are going to the mountains in one week!!!!  I am so excited to see the family and stuff.  My aunts and mom are giving me a baby shower the day after turkey day.  And our crib is waiting for us up there too!  My friend Rachel is giving me a party at the library on Friday.  Between all these parties and all the eating, I will be surprised to be able to fit through the door!  Oh well....tis the season!
Okay, I had better get dressed and to the library... Oh these are the beginning photos of the nursery!!!

November 19

over the river and through the woods

...to grandmother's (to be) house we go...  I hvae been up since a quarter to 6 thanks to a little kicker I have in my tummy.  I think Jerry was up rather late last night and is rather sleepy.  I waited until 7:30 to wake him up... poor guy.  I will drive as much as I can today.  Maybe I can get at least to the other side of Greensboro.  Our goal is to get up the mountain before the sun is right in our eyes.  I think if we leave within the next half hour this is completely possible.  This is a new experience though.  i'm sure we'll have to stop every hour or so for me to pee.  I have issues with staying hydrated when traveling when I'm not preggers, so this should be an adventure for sure.
Anyway, we are very excited to be on vacation (even though there is a ton to do here...)  My dad is not feeling great, so I can't be around him too much.  Maybe us being here will help, I hope so.
I can't believe we only have about 10-ish more weeks until the baby comes!!!  I'm sooooo excited.  Last Monday the parents at the school had a surprise shower for me and then I had a shower at the library yesterday and my aunts are giving me one this coming Friday.  It's insane how much really cute baby stuff is out there!  We got lots of really nice gifts and I am sure there are even more to come.  The nursery is coming along, but I haven't finished.  I have 8 more pictures to paint and the we need a crib.  Hopefully we will get that this week while we're in Asheville.
Okay, I'm off to finish packing the car and load up sleepy Jerry.  Happy Turkey/Tofu Day!!!  Maybe I can post an entry while on vaca....we'll see!
November 22

vacation

so here we are in black mountain and it is really cold!  today it snowed all day long.  it wasn't cold enough to stick to the ground until this afternoon.  we may get up to one inch tonight though.  then it will warm up to the 40s.  it's rather pretty.  we went to look at stuff for the baby today.  we found a front carrier and a car seat for really good prices.  then we went to the same place mom got our new dinig table and bought 6 matching chairs.  mom said she and dad would bring them down at christmas in the truck so that should be interesting.
my cousin came by with her kids this afternoon.  they are really cute and are always ready to pose for pictures.  we are having thanksgiving day dinner on friday instead of thursday, so it will hopefully be quite here the next couple of days.  so far our vacation has been really nice.
on another note, i got the results of my glucose tolerance test back yesterday...sigh...i am at the high end of normal.  the top of normal is 139 and i am at 139... SO what this means is i have to cut out simple sugars...less fruit and juice and no cookies and sweets...though i am saying that turkey day does not count.  i can also choose to retest in a few weeks.  i think i screwed up the test by eating a protein bar the day of the test.  it has a lot of protein but also has simple sugars in it.  my weight is normal and i am measuring normal, so i think i'm okay.  my mom has been testing my blood sugar.  after eating the other day it was 159..a bit high...but i had just eaten apple cinnamon oatmeal and sweet potato biscuits (yummy!) and a huge thing of juice (100%).  this morning she took it before i ate and it was 79...a bit low, but i hadn't eaten anything since yesterday evening.  i'll get her to take it again before i go to bed.  i have been SUPER good today...
on another note... we went to see harry potter yesterday.  we went in the middle of the day while kids were still in school and shared the theatre with 5 other people.  excellent!  the movie rocks!  that's all i'll say in case you haven't seen it yet, but it was really good i think.
that's it for now... i'll try to write more as things happen..though probably nothing will....this is vacation after all....
November 23

oops!

so i tried to start a new album of just belly pictures, but i accidentally deleted all the pics instead.  now i will need to wait until we get back home to reload....ahhh computers...
we didn't get the snow we thought we would get, but it is still rather cold.  at least the sun is out.  today we may go back uptown to eat at a restaurant called TABLE.  it's run/owned by some WWC alum.  mom and dad said it is very yummy.
otherwise i am taking it easy today!
November 28

home again

we arrived back home on saturday afternoon.  on sunday we went to home depot and priced some things.  we went to once upon a child (a used kids store) and found a hardwood changing table for 55 bucks!  getting it home was challenging, but we made it.  we will refinish it and it will be perfect.  i'm glad we found it.  we were both getting discouraged at the high prices for particle board out there.
anyway, we celebrated thanksgiving on friday so that most of the family could be there.  it was lots of fun and good to hang out with family we only see once a year.  i was given a great baby shower and got very generous and beautiful gifts.  i also ate my fill of food and dessert.  since i barely passed my glucose tolerance test i am back on a strict-er diet.  but we decided that celebration days like thanksgiving and christmas don't count.  i really tried to eat smaller portions at dinner, but dessert i admit i went a little crazy.  there were just so many good things.  i think we had as much dessert as we had dinner food!
so last night we went to the dreaded wal-mart.  we got wall mounted shelves to open up the office a bit more and some curtains we needed as well as black out shades for the nursery.  i wasn't keen on the shelving idea, but now that i see them up, i really like them.  it really opens up the space.  now if we had more guests, we could put the air mattress on the floor in the office.  and the shelves were fairly cheap!  we could have bought a new book shelf for the same price as 6 packs of 2 shelves.once we got the assembly down they were super easy to install.  so the office is almost done.  today i plan on painting two more pictures in the nursery.  i want to finish those by the end of the week.  then we will move onto the other rooms.  the master bedroom is the biggest pain, and maybe it won't be all that bad.  then, of course, there is the garage.  jerry found a huge black widow in the garage yesterday and got a bit upset about it.  he thought it was because of all the clutter, but we live right next to woods, and we haven't been in the garage in over a week...so it was nice and dark and warm... anyway, we need to make a run to the good will and organize the garage for sure!  this to shall happen, but one thing at a time!
okay, i need to write thank you letters and get stuff in the mail before too late!
oh yeah, as soon as i remember what i did with the camera i will put up the other turkey day pic.