winter wonderland

It's been snowing here for over 24 hours - it's the perfect snow too with huge flakes sticking to everything including the tiniest branches of each tree. Even though I could not be more excited about going home this weekend (I'm over work and I'm over cloudy Cleveland and I need a break!) it's nice to leave on a positive note that Ohio has its moments when it's absolutely beautiful... who knew?!

This picture ran in Cleveland's main newspaper today...

needles and shots and epidurals? oh my.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and had the fine opportunity of skipping breakfast and having an orange fizzy drink instead courtesy of the lab before I had my blood drawn for a glucose test. Things went from bad to worse and having it all on a Monday morning made it that much worse...

I ought to preface everything by saying that everything is fine, Baby Girl is growing normally and other than wicked heartburn that wakes me up each and every night panicked and cranky, I'm doing fine. I ended up seeing a midwife today, which I quite prefer over our OB, and she spent a lot more time with me and never made me feel ridiculous. -and then she reminded me that when I was done in the lab getting my blood drawn I needed to come back over for some special shot since I'm one of 15% of women fortunate enough for my blood type to be negative. (the baby's blood type is very likely to be positive and it's a risk to me and a huge risk to our next pregnancy if my blood mixes with Baby Girl's blood during labor. I don't understand at all, but I generally don't.)

I got to the lab and immediately started what I can only imagine is similar to Lamaze breathing, so I can get through getting my blood drawn. I've always been afraid of needles (I still can't even get a flu shot without growing tense) but about this time last year I went through stuff and had my blood drawn so often it's quickly become one of my greatest fears. The tech asked multiple times if I was okay, explaining her reluctance to begin when my face had already lost so much of its color and she hadn't even drawn blood yet. The blood was drawn, I managed to survive, and after a refusal to lie down, went back to the OB.

The nurse comes in and she was super chill and tried to calm my fears by explaining it's just going to be a pinch, so I reluctantly followed directions, never again. I swear that woman must have finished a 100 meter sprint she jabbed that thing into my hip/stretched-mark-badonkydonk it was so hard! If you have to give it a jab to effectively give the shot, that's fine, but don't tell me it's going to be a pinch. a pinch?! I literally jumped off the table, turned and asked what the hell that was! I felt terrible... but seriously! I'm left now seriously doubting an epidural, how am I supposed to handle that? AUGH!

a goodbye of sorts

I feel like I start so many of my posts with "I've been meaning to post about this for awhile..." and it's always true. Even this post I don't quite feel like I'm ready to write, but know that if I wait for the photos I wanted to include or the perfect way to write what I want to convey, it will likely never get done - which just isn't an option for this one.

I wish I could remember my first memory of my Grandpa Woody, but I can't. I wish I had a favorite memory, but I'm not sure I do. I wish I had a closer relationship with him if for no other reason than he was such an intricate part of my California family, and now I don't have the chance. My grandma's second husband, Woody, passed a way a couple weeks ago. I didn't know him very well, my family only made it to California about once every four years when I was younger, and I can't remember him ever making it out to Colorado when Grandma would visit. When we did go to California he mostly stayed to himself and never went on the trips we'd take to Disneyland or the beach. He was always patient when my family of six invaded their small house, but he was always quiet and kind.

I do remember one year specifically when my family went to California for Christmas. One of our traditions is to go to breakfast on Christmas Eve, as we were all gearing up to head out, Grandpa Woody got out of his comfy recliner and walked toward the door announcing he was going to join us. I'm not entirely sure why, but I remember it meaning a lot to all of us. When we finally got to breakfast, he insisted on paying, which again, for whatever reason was extra special. Maybe that's my favorite memory because for that morning, we felt like part of the California family.

I almost always call my Grandma once a week, and Grandpa Woody almost always answered. We'd talk about the weather (sunny Cali, there was rarely any change) and briefly what I've been up to and finally how crazy Grandma was for going out square dancing-again. Usually our conversations were brief, only lasting 2-3 minutes, but the last time I remember talking to him he kept me on the phone. He asked me a lot about my pregnancy and mine and Justin's plans, and before we hung up he said "I love you" which is literally the only time I can remember exchanging that phrase with each other. So I don't have the memories and I can't claim to have had a deep or incredibly meaningful relationship with him, but he'll certainly be missed and I'll always be grateful for how he helped take care of my Grandma and supported my cousins and aunts.

Thumbs Up Thumbs Down

Thumbs Up - getting a Cosmo in the mail today and double thumbs for one of their cover stories with "va jay jay" in it -- haha!

Thumbs Down - still getting big... everywhere. I'm not sure if that's to keep the equilibrium or what, but it's just not workin' for me

Thumbs Up - for a husband who has a bath running for me when I get home while he's starting dinner because I sounded stressed when he called me earlier at work

Thumbs Down - to having a boss who makes me cranky. every day.

Defying Gravity

When Justin heard the musical Wicked was coming to Cleveland last year he did everything he could get tickets, but it quickly soldout before it even went on sale and I refuse to pay three times the amount of a ticket to a scalper. He was bummed because, those who know me well, know that I'm a huge Wizard of Oz fan.

We waited an entire year and when the musical came back to Cleveland I pulled a few strings from peope I met in the industry (it's nice to know people, I'm not going to lie) and we got to buy four tickets to see the show on Valentines Day. It was AMAZING! -without a doubt my favorite. Even Baby Girl loved it, she never stopped moving the entire time! I don't know if it was the music or my excitement that got her going, but she was doing backflips and barrel rolls for hours!

The musical itself was phenomenal! I laughed and cried, had goosebumps and was amazed the entire time! I love that Justin enjoys going to the theater too, it's not something we were able to do when I was younger. I remember going once to see a Christmas Carol with my entire family. My Dad's treat, we all dressed up and made a big deal of it. Justin took me to see the Nutcracker our first Christmas when we were dating and we try to go at least once a year now... it's the first tradition we've made for ourselves and I treasure it. Each time we're at the theatre I still feel like I'm playing dress up and practically skip into the building with excitement! (such a dork!)

We've seen Phantom of the Opera, Lion King, Nutcracker, a Christmas Carol (he took me again because I remembered enjoying it so much when Pops took me) and Wicked is easily my favorite. I want to go again so bad, but have to be practical. apparently. I'd like to see it with my mom sometime, I know she'd love it too! I don't want to write too much about it for those who haven't seen it, but when Elphalba (a name for Baby Girl maybe, haha!) sings "Defying Gravity" in the last song before intermission, I was stunned by how good she sang and crying because it was inspirational and amazed by the theatrics.

The best part was how it added a totally different element to my favorite movie... it truly gives this incredibly unique and creative untold story about what happened before the little girl from Kansas lands Over the Rainbow. It really has you rooting for the underdog and wondering how many people you yourself have been quick to judge. The soundtrack has been on repeat in my car and my computer at work, I can't get enough!

those were the days

I got an email from my old boss in the sports information departmennt at Geneva today--it simply said, "who is this girl? these were the days..." and included a picture he used in the track and field media guide of me preparing for one of my attempts at pole-vault and then the actual run. It's crazy because this was taken only four years ago and this girl feels a million miles away in the midst of growing everywhere and not being able to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling incredibly winded.

fondant fun

I truly don't think it was a subtle hint (or I'm very good at denial) but Justin's mom gave me cooking lessons for my birthday last year... we had talked about it previously how it'd be cool to take a class so I got to pick whichever one I wanted. I was looking through the list and they had some interesting ones but nothing very basic. I didn't figure a class on cooking a gourmet Mediterranian meal was something I'd be able to utilize often, so I opted on a cake decorating class. I'm not entirely sure that's what everyone was intending, but how cool it would be to make my daughter's first birthday cake and have it be kickass!

J's mom told us about this cake decorating show on Food Network called Ace of Cakes (we're both completley obsessed with it now) and even though I've no intentions of making a cake shaped like an airplane or armadillo, it only put in my head that I wanted to learn how to do the fondant and extras for a cake... we just recently took the class and it was a ridiculous amount of fun! Miriam and I had a blast, laughing together and learning (and messing up) the technique. It's the sort of thing that would be fun to do with a group of girlfriends or family as well. I would definitely do it again. Anyway, my itty bitty cake they gave me to work on is hardly impressive, but for my first time even touching fondant and getting it over the cake smoothly, plus the extras, I was pretty pleased with it. I'm looking forward to trying it again soon!

The place we took the cake decorating class is the company that makes all the birthday and special event cakes for the Cavaliers... here's one they made for one of our forwards, not bad eh? I'm sure I'll be making stuff like this in no time! right...

a few things...

• In the shower this morning I noticed I can no longer see my feet
• Despite my best efforts, I got stretch marks -- but not on my stomach, no one tells you you can get them anywhere suffice it to say I won't be wearing swimsuits anytime soon (or ever again)
• Another little tidbit no one felt necessary to share: you start leaking long before the baby comes, old wives tale says that means breastfeeding won't be as difficult, at this point I just would have liked a warning. The first time it happened I thought I had drooled on myself!
• I'm pretty convinced that our baby is going to be "Baby Girl" for at least a few days - we absolutely can't decide on a name that we both like... and everytime I mention a name we're considering I get so many opinions about them that we're done sharing until her announcement.
• I'm left wondering after every shopping trip why the maternity tops are cut so high... clearly the designers haven't been looking forward to filling out a bra their entire life. Have they never heard flaunt it if you've got it?! geez...
• We went registering for Baby Bail last weekend, I've been back a few times and still I'm so overwhelmed by it all. I remember registering for wedding gifts and it was basically the same thing. We had lists of suggested items but are left wondering still the difference between what we'll need and what's extra.

I leave you with a picture Justin and I took on New Years Eve -- at the beginning of my pregnancy I asked him to go pound for pound with me, but not so much anymore. At our last OB appointment the doctor said I'm supposed to gain 1-2 lbs a week so I let him off the hook! I'll get another picture up soon, this was six weeks ago!