Baby class dropouts - No graduation date for you

I forgot to share that Buzz and I are baby preparedness class dropouts. We went to one class - got a hospital tour, did some breathing and checked out. The class is Tuesday nights from 7:30 until 9:30. This time coincides with American Idol (the one show that we watch together). We figure that we raised a few dogs, how hard can a baby be, right ;)

In other news, the furniture - including the crib - will be delivered on Thursday, May 7th. Buzz painted the bedroom and the carpet cleaners are coming Saturday. Things are coming together. I dreamed last night that I had my "bloody show" and was going to the hospital to deliver. Yikes. Buzz is leaving for his golf trip tomorrow morning and has been working his butt off all week. He's terrified that I'm going to go into labor while he's gone. I have too much to do at school to allow this!

That's about it. Less than 4 weeks to go. Although, due to the swine flu I kind of want to keep Ella inside me for the next few months or so!

Here are a few photos of the dogs to enjoy until I get more nursery pics up:

The bird bedding has arrived

Now obviously these pictures don't do the bedding justice as they were taken with a flash in the evening. But they'll give you the basic idea.
Here are a few of the bumpers:
The bedskirt:

The fitted sheet:

The valance:

The quilt:

I am absolutely thrilled with the bedding and can't wait to see it put together...that is whenever my crib shows up...

These next few pics are from mine and the dogs last night napping in the bedroom. We have all been displaced now. We moved an armchair into our bedroom and put it in front of the window for Otis and Greta to monitor the neighborhood but it's not the same. There's just no good place to cuddle with them anymore. Well it will all be worth it when little Ella arrives.

It's funny how Otis' a$$ is right on the pillow.

It was not a fluke - Otis Mug sells again!

Late last year, on Zazzle, I sold an Otis mug that I'd made in 2006. Well folks, it's sold again and this time I made $2.00. That's a total of $3.70 in just three years. Pretty soon I'll be able to quit my day job. Here's a link to the mug in case you are dying to have one...
http://www.zazzle.com/otis_mug_with_nose-168606351200720008

Muir & Blackwell baby shower

Last Friday a bunch of my coworkers from the last two schools I've worked at threw me a shower. Everyone brought appetizers and dessert to share. There were pink balloons and pink tulips. It was so much fun to get together outside of school. I received so many lovely gifts. I can't believe how many presents this unborn child has gotten! Thanks to Mary and Deanne for hosting.

Did I mention that my entire basement looks like a very unorganized baby store? I'm wondering how most of this is going to fit into one little nursery...

Buzz wants to move the computer desk and a few other things down to the basement but where on earth will he fit them?

The Gormsen Foursome

I totally stole these pics from Teresa's mom's blog...

Teresa gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Monday, April 20th. Here name is Adriana Rose and she weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces. If I end up with a job this coming year, Teresa has offered to watch Ella three days a week so this will possibly be Ella's BFF. You have never seen so much hair on a child. She looks a lot like her big brother Luke did when he was a newborn.
Congratulations to the Gormsens!

p.s. Do not expect me to look this good after I give birth. Teresa is an old pro and she had a planned C-section.

Cleaning out the nursery

These were taken a few weeks back but due to my blog blues I couldn't get them up. Buzz had encouraged, no forced, me to make way for baby. This started with the moving of the bookshelf. We got a nicer one for the hall but it's a bit smaller than the our previous one. I had to take 4.5 shelves of books and condense them down to 3 shelves.

For some reason I got stuck with the bottom shelves...Did I mention that I have books in storage in our crawl space too? I just love books.

I had to sadly part with a few boxes of books to make this work. Also, there are now books hidden behind books. I think I have two rows of dog books. We have the old books ready to ship off to the local library and then to goodwill.

The next project was emptying half of the closet in Ella's room. Buzz and I were splitting it but now we're going to split a half. Make sense? I was able to donate three full garbage bags of clothes to our school community closet (families in need can go shopping for clothes donated by teachers and staff).

Here is Ella's half. The entire bottom is all newborn to 3-6 month clothes. The top goes from 6 months to 1 year. Crazy! Once we have the armoire and dresser we can move some of the clothes around. And Mandy, I now understand why you hate the closet organizers!

New developments this week:

• Buzz took down all shelving/art-work and patched holes
• Buzz took full size bed and bookshelf to my parents house for storage (thanks Mom & Dad)
• The only things left in the room are an empty computer desk and my old baby dresser
• Armoire and dresser should be delivered in two weeks but crib is over ordered!!!!!!!!!!
• The place where I was going to buy the glider from has mysteriously closed their website
• Bedding is in and I'll post pics soon
• Dogs are misplaced and confused :(

I just wanted to send a shout-out to Buzz because he's been working his tail off. Thanks honey!

35 Week appointment, scare and pics

Today was my 35 week appointment. That's right folks, only 5 more weeks to go. For the last two days my back has been killing me. I also feel like Ella has turned into an alien. I'm getting tons of major movement and body-parts poking out. I was up and down the stairs last night putting her clothes in her closet and I was totally winded. I mentioned these things to the doctor and right away she requested that I get undressed.

Undressed? But this was not expected...

I woke up late. I haven't shaved - in a few days. My feet smell from being in my gym shoes all day. She leaves the room to check about my stool sample (that's a whole other story). I look at Buzz and he is freaked out. Is that Lamaze breathing that he's doing? We haven't even learned that yet. He looks like he needs air. He wants to know why she is examining me and WHAT DOES IT MEAN? The room isn't painted, we have no furniture, he has a golf trip, nothing is ready, bags aren't packed, car seat isn't installed. Only one thing comes to my mind: I need to get my hair touched up soooo bad.

Dr. comes back and Buzz asks her why she's doing this. She says that my back pains could be signs of labor and she wants to check things out. She gets in there and my God the pain. How will I ever handle labor?

She says, "It's close."

We look at each other in a panic.

"It's close?"

"No, it's closed. Your cervix. You are not having contractions."

Wow!

She tells me to take it easy...really, take it easy? Weren't you the one who wouldn't write me a note to get me out of school a few weeks early? How am I going to take it easy? I played volleyball and danced for 15 minutes today.

She also thinks that Ella is head down now.

At least I got to see cute blood guy as he drew my blood for the millionth time while Buzz stood to the side smirking. I tried to make small talk and asked if I provided enough pee this time. Am I serious???

Here are some preggo pics from a few weeks back and from Saturday.

We had to order a new internal hard drive for our computer so I'm using Buzz's work laptop to blog.

Computer Virus

We suspect our computer has a virus...We are working on it. This is why I haven't been posting. If anyone has any insight please share. We are getting tons of pop-ups (pop-up blocker is on), we can't open e-mail programs, can't open links, general slowness. Help!

Dogs and Easter Eggs...who's in?

This is at Otis' doggie daycare.

Oh wait, you people with kids will probably be taking them to the mall or something, right?

Dog photoshoot pics

If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures the photographer took of the dogs (and me) you can follow the directions below. They'll only be up until April 14th.
Go to:
www.bellajackson.com
Click on website
Click on proofing
Type Ella under password - it's hard to see but it's there
Marvel at the beauty of my two dogs...

**If there is a mother, aunt, sibling, friend, acquaintance that wanted to order a pic of Otis for above his/her bed, you can do so right through the website.

33 Weeks or So they want a stool sample...

I had my 33 week appointment today. I met with the only doctor I hadn't met. She was an odd bird. I broached the subject of maternity leave. I was shot down by the other female doc in the practice when I asked if I could get a doctor's note to get out of jail, I mean school, two weeks before my due date.

Me: I've been feeling really tired and run-down.
Her: That's normal.
Me: How long am I expected to work until?
Her: Until your due date.
Me: But I'm a preschool teacher. I'm on my feet all day, there is a lot of activity, up and down...
Her: It is our practice's policy not to write doc notes.
Me: But I'm all swollen and it's harder and harder to work.
Her: Sorry but that is our policy.
Me: Huh, but this girl I work with just got a note from her doc for swelling and shortness of breath.
Her: We are monitored very closely for fraud.

I should have mentioned at this point my fear of my water breaking in front of the young, impressionable children. Instead I mentioned my plethora of bowel movements. For about the last month I've been going 2 to 4 times per day. That's all I'll report to you people. Well immediately she's concerned, "When do you go? What is it like? How many meals a day..."
Next she informs me that I'll need to collect a stool sample.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Why am I so upset??????????????????????????????????????????????













Because I need to get the instructions and materials from the really cute blood guy! When I looked to Buzz he had a sly smirk on his face. We left the room and headed towards the blood guy.

But wait, there is someone in his chair. The doc tells me to go wait in the waiting room and she'll bring me the stuff. Saved from humiliation. Sweet Jesus. Buzz leaves and I sit up front, smugly enjoying a magazine.

A few minutes later...here comes the doc, her hands are empty! She tells me to follow her and we head right back to the blood guy's territory where he is waiting for me with an at-home stool collection kit. I will not go into details on the collecting of poop but do know that I was completely red-faced and wanted to die. The sad thing is that to him, I'm just some random pregnant chick whose blood he's constantly collecting because of my thyroid issues.

Twilight - Robert Pattinson

That's it. I'm officially a married, washed-up, pregnant, thirty-year old that is crushing on the star of Twilight - did I mention he is 22? Wow, I'm a loser. Buzz was at the Blackhawks game with his pals Friday night so I rented Twilight. I've always loved vampire movies/shows and thought it looked cute. I'm totally hooked now. On my maternity leave I will be reading the series of books. Oh, to be a teenager again...

A muddy day at the dog park

Winter is over at the dog park. While I am happy to shed some of the winter layers (especially the snow pants that haven't zipped in the last two months), I am very sad to say good-bye to the frozen, snow-covered ground. Yes, I suffered under the worst conditions - back when it was way below zero - but I had the luxury of coming and going as I pleased. For the next few months, the dog park will be wet and muddy. This means that I can only go when Buzz is home and willing to bathe the dogs - or at least carry them up to the bath. You see, we have very light carpeting througout our house and the bathtub is up two flights of stairs. Otis does a lot of standing around and bitching at the other dogs but Greta runs like the winds and plays with anything that moves.
I am at least thankful to say that I don't have a lab. Look at this dog! Where do you even start the bath when it's not hose season?

This mess of a dog is one of Greta's favorite pals. Greta drags her around the ground by her collar.

If you can, click on the pic below to make it bigger. Otis has the most annoyed look on his face and Greta's tale seems to be in his way.

Otis gets a bit stressed out at the park for this reason or the other. Check out that long line of drool. He carried it around for ten minutes till it was left on some poor dog's back.

In an attempt to get some of the mud off, I let them go in the flooded section of the park. Otis loves to play in the water.
How do you stop a dog from drinking nasty, standing water? You don't and you pray that they don't pick up a parasite. And when they do, you remind yourself why you continue to work at a vet's office on the weekends.

I wonder how Ella is going to like the dog park...