::hiss::

I'm sorry, and I apologize in advance if this isn't the most level headed blog post, but THIS article makes me so angry I could spit!! So angry I can't see straight.

Some of the highlights:

And those people, says Greg Mueller, a veteran anti-abortion political operative and former spokesman for Pat Buchanan, are getting a powerful message. “She’s going out there as a pro-life woman to say that there’s great joy in special needs kids — and that we shouldn’t be aborting them.”

and

“You just can’t escape it — she really is cut from a completely different cloth than most men, but also women, in politics,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports anti-abortion candidates. “She had the audacity in the eyes of the abortion rights world to actually have this child, and then has the audacity to bring him along with her and feature him as a centrally valued person in their family.”

HOW DARE THEY! How dare those twisted, self-righteous assholes, imply that just because I'm pro-choice, I think that disabled children aren't valuable members of the family. How dare they imply that I think disabled children should be aborted.

I believe in a woman's right to decide what happens to her own body.
I also believe that people with disabilities are people just like the rest of us... unique, special, and either great or horrible people as decided by the individual, not the disability.
And those two beliefs, are seperate matters, not contingent on each other.

Travis and I would not have aborted if we found out our little girl had Downs. Nor if she had a miriad of other disabilities. If we found out she had horrible chromosonal abnormalities that made her prognosis one of pain, suffering, and inevitable death... then Yes, there is a chance we would have, to spare her the pain.

I spent most of my first 18 years around those with disabilities, assisting in the IU classroom at my middle school, visiting a friend of my dad's at Good Shepherd, etc. I have met there, some of the best people I know. Of the quadruplets, one is partially deaf, and one has a sever vision impairment. Both are the most amazing, wonderful, loving kids. You don't see me parading them out to the press to get attention for my pro-choice stance.

I'm sorry to end the week on such an angry note, but I just had to get that out. I'm livid.

nicer

I took a dose of Zantac and brought two extra pillows to bed with me last night (bringing my total to four, three behind/under me, one supporting the back or belly as needed), and while it wasn't perfect and I definitely had some of that searing, burning pain.... it was so so much better! I think I'll take the Zantac a little earlier tonight, to give it more time to kick in before I lay down.

So this morning was my midwife appointment. After a little scare in which I determined that my boots weigh a pound each, I figured out that I've gained 2lbs in the past two weeks... just right. So that brings my total to +12... which brings me to 130, a weight I've never seen before, which is a little weird. Its fine, my weight gain is going well, but its just weird to see.

Little girl is measuring well, with a HB still at 140, and I passed the glucose test. So that's all good! Oh, and I got another Rhogam shot in my butt. Fun. But I'm done with those now until post-birth, and then only if she is Rh+.

Hmm... now I'm at work and plodding through my to-do list. I'm working on creating a document that lays out all of the things I do on a regular basis, with step-by-step instructions on how to do them, so that there will be no problems when I'm gone. I wanted to start working on it early, because its a bit time consuming to type everything out, so I wanted to give myself lots of time. Plus this way I can slowly add to the document as I am actually doing the projects, and make sure I'm not missing any steps, or any big items that I take care of. Its crazy to think that in only 12 weeks (give or take), someone else will be taking care of all this stuff! Yipes.

Well, I should get back to it. Have a great Wednesday!

rough night

I had a bit of a rough night last night... I kept feeling like I had to pee, and when I finally fell asleep, I only stayed asleep for about an hour before I woke up horribly nauseous. I made it to the bathroom just in time, but it was not the way I wanted to spent the witching hour! Luckily after that I was able to fall back asleep and stay that way until the morning.

Sleep has been funny the past week or so... I'm either out right away, or I'm laying there forever completely uncomfortable. I've been having more and more heartburn, which makes it hard to find a good position... especially since my only options are left side or right side. Unless I wanted to sleep sitting up, which I'm not good at! I just added a pregnancy pillow to my registry (any recommendations? or advice on which ones to stay away from?), so hopefully that will offer some relief, or at least expand those two options a little. Hopefully it also won't make life too difficult for Trav as those things can be rather bulky.

I'm feeling better today, though still "shaky" in the stomach. I'm just going to treat my belly extra gently today... had tea and oatmeal for breakfast, fruit for a mid-morning snack, I'll have some soup and gateraide for lunch... we'll see after that. Not sure what caused the sick, but hopefully it was just a fluke. Wish me luck.

Oh! And happy December all... can you believe its here already?!

full

I feel so lovely and full after this long weekend. Not just full, as in "I ate too much"... though I am certainly that type of full too! But full, as in full of contentment and love and all that sappy stuff. It was so great to see my family, and have a house filled with conversation, crazy playing puppies, and laughter.

My parents brought their camera tripod with them, and my mom snapped some shots of Trav, the pup and I for Christmas card use... and just to have. I am using two for Christmas cards (which I don't want to break out yet), but here are some of the outtakes (they were all a bit bright, but I was able to color adjust for the cards, I didn't bother with these):



She also snapped some of just Trav & I, while she was at it:





Thanksgiving dinner was great. We had so much food! Trav actually did a lot of the cooking, with my mom as sous chef... so I got to relax and just handle one or two things. Afterward we observed one of my family traditions and watched Miracle on 34th St. Every year that would be the first Christmas movie we watched... and we would do it after Thanksgiving, so as to respect the turkey. ;-) It was always that movie, since MoTFS starts with the Thanksgiving day parade, and ends with Christmas... so it seemed fitting. We also watched much football, of course.

Friday we had breakfast and relaxed for a bit before my parents got on the road. Then Trav, Ethan, and I went food shopping to stock the boy up for the rest of the semester. He went home with a lot of food! I rode into the city with him again, then came home to relax. Trav harassed the puppy:


Saturday we cleaned up some more from Thanksgiving, then used the extra space we finally had to set up the nursery furniture! We're leaving the futon in there, but it will be upright unless someone is coming over and needs to use it.

The changing table:
The crib:
A close-up of the pattern on both:

They were actually pretty easy to put together, and now its really starting to look like a babies room in there!!

After that we both wrapped the Christmas presents we had accumulated so far... we both had gifts for each other that we wanted wrapped, and I also wrapped stuff for my parents and for Ro. It makes Christmas seem right around the corner to see wrapped presents sitting in my closet!

Sunday (today) we were pretty lazy... watched more football, and Monk episodes (there was an all-day marathon since the series is ending on Friday), played with the puppy and just relaxed. It was the perfect end to the weekend. Now I have to get ready to go back to work... but hopefully this nice, full feeling will carry on for a while!

you might have noticed

...that things look a tiny bit different around here. I did some updating yesterday. Went from two columns to three, rearranged things a bit, changed the background, and updated the banner. I'm pleased with it, and it helped me kill time on an otherwise slow day. Hopefully you like it too and that it makes finding things a bit easier.

Otherwise not much to report. Still just prepping away for the holidays... Trav brought up the big dining room table last night, vacuumed and dusted, I made the guest bed and cleaned the last of the "stuff" from the guest bedroom/nursery, and sorted some more "stuff" in the office. Its really pretty much there. Tonight we're going to prep the appetizer veggies and clean the kitchen. And then I think we are ready.

And tomorrow... well a big old

I hope its full of delicious food, loving family, and thoughts turned to all that you have to be thankful for. We have so much this year.

Enjoy your holiday, and enjoy your weekend.

this that and the other thing

Weekly Review
(And guess where that picture was taken! More of office, at the bottom.)

How far along? 27 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: Not sure... but I'm sure there will be a gain when I go back next week, especially after Thursday!

Maternity clothes? Oh yes.

Stretch marks? Nothing new, nothing on the belly.

Sleep: Okay, lots and lots of crazy dreams.

Best moment this week: It will be showing off my belly to my fam... and hopefully letting them feel her move.

Movement: Great big movements, ones that move my whole belly.

Food cravings: Not too much right now. Just the normal stuff.

Actual Gender: GIRL! :-)

Labor Signs: Nope.

Belly Button in or out? Innie... barely!

What I miss: I would love to be able to drink this awesome apple wine with Thanksgiving dinner... but I'll have some yummy sparkling grape juice instead. :-)

What I am looking forward to: My baby shower on the 12th.

Weekly Wisdom: I got nothing.

Milestones: 3rd Trimester!!!!!!!!!!


Also... I present the office!:

Before:


And NOW:



What do you think? We're very happy with how it turned out!

check, check, check

Furniture is moved back into the office, and we actually picked up a new (smaller) desk to replace the large L shaped one we had. We purged as we put stuff back in, and managed to throw away 3 extra large trash bags full of old papers, junky knick-knacks, etc that we no longer needed. Because of all that, and because Trav finally got rid of the nasty beat-up recliner chair that had been in the office (left by the previous owners!), we have so much more room in there now. Its great.

We have our nursery/guest bedroom back now too... which is also great. Washed the sheets last night, will do the comforter tonight, plus vacumming (etc) and the room should be ready for my parents.

We also did our Thanksgiving shopping, so food-wise, we are ready. We have pepperoni, cheese and crackers, shrimp, and some veggies for earlier in the day snacking. For dinner we have a big turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, crescent rolls, and cranberry sauce. My mom is bringing desserts... maybe pumpkin pie and monkey bread? We have sparkling grape juice and wine for toasting. For breakfast the next morning we have eggs, bacon, scraple, and cinnamon rolls. Maybe I'll get Trav to pick up some fruit too.
We are going to be stuffed!

The next few nights will be busy as we sort the last of the items back into the office, clean the house, and bring the big table up from the basement... but I'm feeling relaxed about it and confident that it will get done. Even if the table has to be brought up on Thanksgiving day, my parents aren't going to care.

Trav is going to ask my dad to help him hang our diploma's in the office. Finally they will be on the walls!! Probably the only things going on our beautiful new walls. ;-) If we get the chance, we'll pick up blinds sometime this week too (we're looking at maybe the white faux wood kind)... so Trav can get changed in that room again without feeling like a perve. But he can work around that for the time being.

As for the other weekend activities... my movie night on Friday was great. Very fun, very relaxing, and I got home early enough to not be completely wiped by it. Saturday at Lehigh was fine... though I didn't get to see many people, which was disappointing. But I did pick up a cute Lehigh onsie and baby hoodie for our little girl to wear when we head up next year! :-) Mama got a new hoodie too. Lol.

All in all, good stuff to report!

No pictures of the room at the moment... I ran out of time to snap them this weekend! But hopefully I can get some tonight, and can share tomorrow.

For now, I'm back to work since we are very busy with an event today.

ahhh, that's better

Last night went so much smoother. The second coat always goes on nicer anyway, but we also figured out a better process, so we were done at 8:30 instead of 10. It helped that there were better spirits/moods in play, and no frustrated breakdowns.

So! Besides a little touch up on the trim, painting is DONE!! I'm very excited*. Pictures after the weekend I think... I want to get them once the drop clothes are off the floor, and furniture is back in place. I'm liking the color, but can't wait to see it dry and in sun. I think the game plan is touching up tonight (either Trav will do, or we'll both do when I get home), then letting dry and air out tomorrow, then Sunday moving furniture around, vacumming, etc to get the room back in place. Or something like that. And we can also move furniture, empty the guest bedroom of stuff during the evenings next week.

As for tonight, I have my movie night with two of my friends from work. And tomorrow morning we are heading up to Lehigh! We also need to go shopping Sunday for our Thanksgiving fare, because if we get a frozen turkey, then it will need to straight into the fridge to start thawing for Thursday. It will be a full, busy weekend... but definitely fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing people and getting this room finished up!

OH! And this morning Trav and I went back to his favorite daycare to tour it again together, and I really like it too. Plus, our friend's Brian & Stacey have their two kids at this same place, the younger of which is in the baby room. So our babies would get to play together. I think we found our place! Another checkmark!

Well, on that note... its back to work for me.




*this does NOT negate what I said yesterday... still want that kick in the shins next time! Lol.

the next time...

The next time I come on here saying, "oh yay, we're going to redo a room... its going to be fun... we'll do it all leisurely and nothing will go wrong!", KICK ME! Hard. In the shin.

The first coat of paint on the walls is done. We are so close (one more coat, then some touching up, then moving everything back in the room). But holy hell... I HATE PAINTING.

So yeah, next time people, talk some sense into me!

new coats, awesome husband

I got two new coats today, since my old ones were no longer closing over the belly... and I still have 3 of the coldest months left!

(Sorry for the crappy cell phone shots:)

(This will be my "nice day out, not too cold" coat.)

(This will be my "holy crap its cold and snowy" coat! ;-) Its also my first puffer coat ever.)

I'm excited to start wearing them right away!

On another note, when I got home last night Trav was finishing up the second coat of trim paint! Yay for my awesome husband.
So all the trim (plus closet) is complete and tonight we will start the walls. I'm hoping that between the two of us, we'll be able to finish the first coat tonight, second coat tomorrow night, then Friday night can be a let everything finish drying night (its also my movie night with friends, and probably our recover from sore arms night!)... and this weekend we can start moving furniture back. ::crosses fingers:: We'll see how that goes.
After that it will just be a matter of straightening up and putting away and cleaning. Maybe we could even set up the crib and changer (it would be very helpful to get them out of the dining room).

Well, I have plenty of work to get done, so I better get back to it.