musings of Mother Hood

"Luck" of the draw...

So unless you're Laura and you live under a rock -- you've heard that the government is implementing an "Economic Stimulus Package" over the next several months -- attempting to give us all a little extra gas money this summer. And you've inevitably seen this:

 

 

 

And maybe even a few of you thought, "man, I feel sorry for those poor unlucky bastards with a social security number ending in 99, especially those who didn't bother to fill out the direct deposit information on their return".

 

Guess when we'll be getting our check...

 

The Rooster Crows at Midnight...

... and every 30 seconds during the ceremony...

Jeff and I went to a wedding this weekend for a friend we both know from school and otherwise. Some of Kyle's extended family is from Smackover - and good friends with Jeff, and Kyle and I went to college together. So anyway - Kyle and Stephanie got married Saturday at St. Catherine's at Bell Gable in Fayetteville -- which I had literally never heard of but apparently is about 2 miles from our house! The ceremony was held at the cutest little stone chapel down a hill off the main road -- stone angels and benches and sculptures, several little gardens, and a waterfall. It was such a perfect place for a wedding - and it was a really pretty day. (And apparently there was some sort of farm nearby with a very curious rooster -- who tried his best to interrupt the ceremony. It was nice comic relief.) Congrats to Kyle and Steph -- of whom I managed to NOT snap a picture the whole time...

 

 

Cute flower girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In front of the chapel. The ceremony was held on the steps - with all of us sitting in little white chairs on the lawn. You can't really tell from this picture - but we're standing on a little bridge -- there's a little stream of water that flows underneath the walkway. The chapel itself would probably hold about 30 people. I didn't get any photos of the inside, but it was beautiful-- stained glass and chandeliers and beautiful old wooden pews. 

 

 

 

 

The last few pictures are at the reception -- there was a dance for "all married couples" but we didn't get to dance long as they were weeding out couples until they found the pair that had been married the longest-- Grandpa and Grandma had been married 49 years!

We stayed out way too late and I was completely worthless on Sunday - I'm still learning to pace myself...

Like a weed.

I am trying hard to convince myself that it is due to the shirt I'm wearing today - but so far it's not working. 3 separate people have made comments today about how big my belly is getting. Thank God they have been polite and limited their comments to the belly...

According to the 33-week email update this past Tuesday, the baby is approximately 4 pounds and 17 inches. A coworker (Kim) and I got distracted today trying to find something in the office that was around that size and the closest we could come was some product on the Fabric Care Account Sup's desk-- a bottle of Dreft weighing 52 ounces. That's not even 4 pounds - and it seemed SO heavy.  Kim was holding it up in front of her own belly-- and then looked up at me and said, "that CAN'T be comfortable". Yeah.

So I'm pretty sure that the baby has had a growth spurt in the last week or so. This whole pregnancy thing was never uncomfortable or inconvenient in any way until about 10 days ago -- let's just say I've already started practicing for the nights-of-no-sleep to come.

In other news, the term "growing like a weed" has taken on new meaning for us. Jeff has been fighting the good fight out on our lawn the last few weeks. He claims that dandelions are literally growing in a matter of hours -- he'll weed the entire backyard at lunchtime only to come home to a spatter of the damned things. We have been intently watching the barrage of commercials for weed-killing-grass-growing miracle products on TV lately and will invest in some if it ever stops raining here for 6 minutes in a row.

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If you haven't visited Laura's new site - please drop by http://www.freewebs.com/chiquitaq/   She's posted a few entries and a handful of pictures -- on her latest adventure.

She mentioned that there's a guy in her group that reminds her of Tom -- which I think is great. I had a dream about Tom last night - I think he knows that his family really needs him right now. He's with Laura on her trip and with me getting ready for the baby - and with everyone else in their own daily goingson. I love that he's as much of an encouraging friend now as ever.

In Honor of Earth Day

It’s raining. Pretty hard. Like it’s dark outside – at 11am. What a downer. I am trying to decide what to do for lunch – since I left my umbrella in the car like an idiot. Do I brave the rain to get to the car to drive in the rain with my sub-par windshield wipers to eat lunch at home? Or do I wait it out, eat something from the vending machine to pull me through, and leave when/if it stops raining? Hmm. My 4-pound passenger will probably vote for the rain…

 

So I’ve been thinking about this for a few days and I think I’m ready to comment. I don’t quite know how seriously we should be taking this plastic bottle scare. I first saw the story on Today (where I get most all of my TV news) about a week ago.Matt Lauer interviewed some teenage-looking doctor who claimed that there are certain “numbers” of water bottles that are – in a word – poisonous.

 

Grab the closest plastic bottle. Turn it over. There should be a symbol on the bottom that looks like this:

 

 

Apparently, plastic bottles range in “number” from 1 to 7 depending on thickness, durability, yada yada. A typical Coke bottle is an example of a 1, while a Nalgene bottle is an example of a 7. According to this doctor/scientist/whatever-he-was, numbers 5,6 and 7 contain dangerous levels of a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA). So… the doctor went on to warn of all the horrible things that will happen if you (God forbid) reuse a grocery-grade water bottle, and (calling out the Nalgene brand) went on and on about the deadly affects of using these number 6s and 7s.

 

Now.Not only do I tend to be skeptical of such claims, but I also thought it was a TAD dramatic. Out of nowhere, this no-name doctor claims that the BAJILLIONS of plastic bottles we use everyday are causing neurological, behavioral and fertility issues and even some cancers? Please.

 

However. I continued to hear about this through various vehicles: TV, internet Mommy message boards… and I’m starting to think that it’s all a big marketing gimmick choreographed by Nalgene.

 

(Editor’s Note: As always, there is a chance I will be forced to eat these words when the news breaks that this plastic bottle epidemic is, in fact, disastrous on a scale comparable to the recent Pet Food Recall or Mad Cow Disease. Laura – check your peanut butter.)

 

Here’s my take. Nalgene is pulling all of their BPA-containing bottles from stores and replacing them with “safe” alternatives. Does no one else see through this?? Nalgene is a trusted brand with significant brand-loyalty. Everyone who owns a BPA-contaminated water bottle will inevitably throw it out and buy one of the new models. This is genius. Nalgene currently sells a product that is virtually indestructible. Not a lot of repeat purchase. You don’t really go through several of these bottles in a short period – so Nalgene is hurting for repeat business. It’s kinda like whatever that chewing gum is that claims to keep its flavor so long that their sales are suffering because people are “still on their first piece”… Same idea. But Nalgene has devised a plan to get all (most?) of their current customers to RE-buy their SAME PRODUCT!

 

If it’s NOT a marketing trick – it’d be a great one. Suddenly, an image of Pinky and the Brain comes to mind… 

 

Worth the wait!

I can't believe I've waited this long to update you on our fabulous weekend! It was quite a time, celebrating:

• Laura's Birthday
• Baby Showers (plural!) - YES we had TWO baby showers and a birthday party- all in 24 hours!
• Laura passed her boards
• Laura's Bon Voyage to Africa
• Family in town to help us prepare for our little guy

And now - what you've all been waiting for - Pictures!

First, Baby Shower Part I - hosted by girls at my office.

We had such a good time with the girls I work with and got some really great things for the baby.

We got home in time to catch up with the boys for a birthday party!

Mom made an executive decision that the sparklers were an "outdoor activity" from now on -- we almost set the table on fire... But we helped Laura ring in '24' in style.

And Saturday, the rest of the fam arrived for Baby Shower Part II -- hosted by Nancy and Autumn who are both coworkers of Jeff's and friends of mine! We had delicious cupcakes compliments of the talented Autumn Parker, and had a great day visiting with friends and family at Nancy's house. The girls tried to get "Jeff stories" out of his family - but they weren't budging! And I got to open some really beautiful things for the baby - he's all set. :)

 

MANY more pictures in the photo album dubbed "Baby Shower" - click the "photos" then "albums" link along the top of this page.

The weekend was a whirlwind and thoroughly wore us both out -- well all 3 of us! -- but I wouldn't have changed a minute of it. Sunday afternoon we just sat and stared at each other and tried to soak in all the quiet!

Laura was fairly successful in spreading the baby's name as "Bump" -- it seems to have caught on! I feel so lucky that our little family is surrounded by such loving friends and family and that they are as excited to meet the little guy as we are.

I went to my 32 week appointment yesterday and everything is still on track - due 11 June. We are getting so excited. Mom and Dad are coming back in May, and bringing furniture for the baby's room -- I hope they get here before the baby does! 

 

When asked for my "Most Embarrassing Moment"...

...I've never really had a good answer. I usually share a story about Laura instead - because she has "embarrassing moments" to spare. But, as of today, I have a good one.

I was at Flying Burrito for lunch today with my friend Mary. We walked through the line and got our food, and Mary went ahead of me to find us a seat while I paid for my quesadilla. We usually sit in a booth when we go to lunch and today was no different. Except that when I tried to slide into the booth - I DIDN'T FIT! Mary just looked at me with this sad, pathetic look on her face as I was literally wedged between the table (which was welded to the wall and was NOT budging) and the booth. Laughing at the situation might have caused an issue - not being able to breathe or squeezing the baby or something- so I calmly told Mary we should probably move to a table.  She silently got up and helped me escape -- hoping no one else in the restaurant had noticed.

I used to inwardly laugh when (large) people would come into Cool Water or Outback and insist on a table over a booth. It took me a while to realize why and once I did I thought - "Wow, they're really missing out. Booths are WAY more comfortable."  But now I understand.

 

Thursday April 10, 2008

One more thing to celebrate this weekend: Laura passed her boards!! She's official! Yah Laura - you deserve it. Congrats!

   

Update!

So… the blog has been seriously and unfairly neglected lately. And other than my fury at the lack of Fire Lane indicators in Fayetteville – I don’t have any good rants for you. (I promise to tell the Fire Hydrant story soon.) So you’ll have to settle for a good old fashioned Hood Family Update.

 

First, we are in week 31 now – and have attended 3 of 5 Childbirth classes at the hospital. This week we toured the clinic and saw the delivery rooms and the nursery, and Jeff was constantly entertained by this “older” couple in our class – the husband in which reminds Jeff of Homer Simpson.  It was some much needed comic relief from the C-Section video we watched… Our favorite comment of the night was when we were in one of the delivery rooms looking at the bed, the warmer for the baby, the call buttons, etc. and Homer interrupted the class to ask a question about pizza delivery. Nice. Class is fun – and we are learning a lot. Some of it we classify as “more than we ever wanted to know” – but useful, nonetheless.

 

We have been laughing at ourselves lately as we’ve become so “domestic”. We’ve been married for a year and a half and, until recently, never really did anything we’d seen “old, married” people do. In the last 30 days or so, we’ve purchased a washer and dryer, assembled a baby stroller, purchased a lawn mower, MOWED our lawn, purchased a dining room table, and – I don’t know about Jeff – but the simple act of dragging our trash to the curb for someone else to come and take away is enough to make me feel like I just landed in “The Burbs”.   

 

Contrary to popular belief, though, we are still around. We saw 21 this weekend – which made Jeff miss Vegas, we followed the basketball madness pretty closely and have spent many a night at Buffalo Wild Wings with all the other College Basketball junkies, and we’ve been spending some time enjoying the (temporary) quiet at the house – Josh came over last night and we made spaghetti.

 

I am SO looking forward to this weekend. Mom, Dad (back from their exotic Waikiki getaway) and Laura get here Friday afternoon and we’ll be celebrating Bump Arrival/Laura’s Birthday/Laura’s Going Away – all in one weekend! Hoods and Teeds and friends will be arriving Saturday to join the festivities and it should be a blast. 

 

Hopefully I will have some fun pictures for you the next time we chat.

April Fools' Day Fun

This doesn't actually have much to do with April Fools' Day - nothing really. But it's fun and should distract you from work (or anything productive) for as long as you need.

Enjoy.