Boy!
We found out last week at our ultrasound. I tried to keep it a secret. Last about 2 days. :) Now we have to think of a name, but we're in no hurry to do that. Every time I think of a name, it's for a girl. Why is it so hard to think of boy names?
I still refuse to repaint the guest bedroom, aka soon-to-be-nursery. I'll wait until he grows up and asks "Why are the walls purple, mommy?" Then I'll let him figure out what color he wants it to be. Subject to parental veto.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Ultrasound Pictures
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Big Ultrasound on Friday; Rotten Clinic
I had originally been going to the hospital in Galveston for some of my labwork, but the hospital got hit really hard by Hurricane Ike. So I had to go to the Pearland clinic for my genetic counseling and ultrasound.
We got lost on the way there and had to rush lunch. I ended up not even eating because I didn't like my sandwich. My appointment was at 2 for the genetics counseling, followed by the ultrasound at 3. They kept us waiting in the main waiting room for over an hour. I went up to the reception twice to ask what was wrong and to make sure they had me on the waiting list.
Finally they move a whole group of us to a back waiting room, but that did nothing to improve the situation. Now there's just as many people in an even smaller room. And this is the only clinic I've been in that didn't have any magazines, and I forgot to bring in a book.
After 2.5 hours, I was wandering around stretching my legs. I stopped by the nurses' station to look at the schedule and saw my name on it. Finally talked to a nurse and told her I was still waiting for my genetics appointment, and what was going on? She got a worried look on her face and went down the hallway. When she came back, she told me all the genetics counselors had gone home.
That's when I lost it. I was tired, hungry, angry and frustrated. I started crying in the hallway about how I was supposed to figure out if we were going to get an amnio before the ultrasound and now we couldn't do that. The nurse asked if I wanted to reschedule and I blew up at her. Of course I'm not going to reschedule. I took off the afternoon from work and I've been sitting here doing nothing for 3 hours! Why would I want to subject myself to this AGAIN?
Maybe it was because I had a meltdown, but they took us back into the ultrasound room right after that. The tech spent the next hour looking at blobs on the screen and telling me everything looked okay.
The doctor came in, and Daniel yelled at her because of the whole genetics thing. She talked to us a little bit about it, but it's not the same. She said everything looked okay except they found one soft marker for Downs. The femur bone was a little shorter than they like to see. We couldn't be sure of the sex because the umbilical cord was in the way.
On the way out, we found an administrator, and Daniel let him have it too. I'm glad he was there, because I was in no mood to deal with anyone right then. What should have been an exciting visit turned into a hellish one because of their screwups.
Even worse, they never cleaned the bathrooms all afternoon, and the whole place just looked dingy. I wouldn't trust them to give me an amnio there now, anyway.
So that was a rotten end to a good week. On Friday morning, I gave a big presentation I'd been working on for a month, and everyone said it went really well. So I was in a good mood in the morning. Stupid clinic.
We got lost on the way there and had to rush lunch. I ended up not even eating because I didn't like my sandwich. My appointment was at 2 for the genetics counseling, followed by the ultrasound at 3. They kept us waiting in the main waiting room for over an hour. I went up to the reception twice to ask what was wrong and to make sure they had me on the waiting list.
Finally they move a whole group of us to a back waiting room, but that did nothing to improve the situation. Now there's just as many people in an even smaller room. And this is the only clinic I've been in that didn't have any magazines, and I forgot to bring in a book.
After 2.5 hours, I was wandering around stretching my legs. I stopped by the nurses' station to look at the schedule and saw my name on it. Finally talked to a nurse and told her I was still waiting for my genetics appointment, and what was going on? She got a worried look on her face and went down the hallway. When she came back, she told me all the genetics counselors had gone home.
That's when I lost it. I was tired, hungry, angry and frustrated. I started crying in the hallway about how I was supposed to figure out if we were going to get an amnio before the ultrasound and now we couldn't do that. The nurse asked if I wanted to reschedule and I blew up at her. Of course I'm not going to reschedule. I took off the afternoon from work and I've been sitting here doing nothing for 3 hours! Why would I want to subject myself to this AGAIN?
Maybe it was because I had a meltdown, but they took us back into the ultrasound room right after that. The tech spent the next hour looking at blobs on the screen and telling me everything looked okay.
The doctor came in, and Daniel yelled at her because of the whole genetics thing. She talked to us a little bit about it, but it's not the same. She said everything looked okay except they found one soft marker for Downs. The femur bone was a little shorter than they like to see. We couldn't be sure of the sex because the umbilical cord was in the way.
On the way out, we found an administrator, and Daniel let him have it too. I'm glad he was there, because I was in no mood to deal with anyone right then. What should have been an exciting visit turned into a hellish one because of their screwups.
Even worse, they never cleaned the bathrooms all afternoon, and the whole place just looked dingy. I wouldn't trust them to give me an amnio there now, anyway.
So that was a rotten end to a good week. On Friday morning, I gave a big presentation I'd been working on for a month, and everyone said it went really well. So I was in a good mood in the morning. Stupid clinic.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
And the verdict on our roof is...
We need to get it replaced. That's what our insurance adjuster said. I'm actually happy. I wasn't happy with the idea of patching it, but he got up there and tromped around for a while. He also poked around our attic, the backyard with the blown-over fence and shattered pillars, and our water-stained ceilings.
After all that, he said that his report would show we needed carpet cleaning, repainting for a textured ceiling, a new roof, 80 feet of new fence and a new set of patio pillars. Awesome! I didn't even know some of that qualified. It's funny that I made this big list of food we threw out, and he said that was personal property, not building, so it had a separate deductible. Since food is the only thing on it, we won't meet that one. But we will on the building, and that's the most important one.
It'll be a week before he gets us the report, and in the meantime, I have to search Google for the cast stone pillars to find out replacement costs. He said there was a place in Austin that sold them, so I'll look for them tomorrow.
After all that, he said that his report would show we needed carpet cleaning, repainting for a textured ceiling, a new roof, 80 feet of new fence and a new set of patio pillars. Awesome! I didn't even know some of that qualified. It's funny that I made this big list of food we threw out, and he said that was personal property, not building, so it had a separate deductible. Since food is the only thing on it, we won't meet that one. But we will on the building, and that's the most important one.
It'll be a week before he gets us the report, and in the meantime, I have to search Google for the cast stone pillars to find out replacement costs. He said there was a place in Austin that sold them, so I'll look for them tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I love long weekends
Somehow, having that extra Monday off is just a fantastic feeling.
We were busy this weekend. Last week, I admitted a desire for Ikea's meatball lunch. Silly, yes, but Daniel said he'd had the same desire. We also needed some new bedside tables and thought we could probably find something decent at Ikea. It's on the north side of town, so it's not someplace we normally go on a whim.
So we had a pleasant morning of shopping around and having lunch. We did a lot of window shopping, and actually found a nice pair of nightstands we both liked. Wouldn't you know, they were out of stock! However, I did manage to find a nice rocking chair to use with the baby. Daniel put it together, and we took bets as to how long it would take one of the cats to claim it. We both lost. It took 3 days.
Sunday I was still restless, plus I needed some new clothes badly. I'd been looking at Kohl's and Target, but didn't like any of the clothes they had. So I decided to buck up and go to the mall. Sears was a bust so I tried the actual maternity store in the mall.
It was great! The lady there helped me find a new bra and I found lots of shirts that actually looked good on me, looked professional, and fit right. Daniel winced when I told him how much it was, but I said it was going to be my entire wardrobe through next spring, so that wasn't so bad.
Daniel had school on Monday, and for some reason, I woke up early. I hope this isn't a trend. So I made biscuits and gravy, with everything made from scratch. Then I decided that I shouldn't spend my free day playing video games, I should actually do something productive. So I cleaned the house. I did all the stuff that Daniel never sees. He does a pretty good job keeping the house clean, but he never thinks about cleaning the top of the washer and dryer, or getting the cat hair off the ceiling fans.
I also got serious about cleaning out the storage closet. I'd been using it for all my craft stuff over the years. I got rid of a bunch of stuff, but some of it's still too hard to part with. Like an autographed painting by a world-class fantasy artist, even though I don't have it framed and wouldn't know where to hang it. Still, it's a start, and I've still got many months to sort stuff out. I'm gonna have a heck of a lot of stuff to give to the charity thrift store.
We were busy this weekend. Last week, I admitted a desire for Ikea's meatball lunch. Silly, yes, but Daniel said he'd had the same desire. We also needed some new bedside tables and thought we could probably find something decent at Ikea. It's on the north side of town, so it's not someplace we normally go on a whim.
So we had a pleasant morning of shopping around and having lunch. We did a lot of window shopping, and actually found a nice pair of nightstands we both liked. Wouldn't you know, they were out of stock! However, I did manage to find a nice rocking chair to use with the baby. Daniel put it together, and we took bets as to how long it would take one of the cats to claim it. We both lost. It took 3 days.
Sunday I was still restless, plus I needed some new clothes badly. I'd been looking at Kohl's and Target, but didn't like any of the clothes they had. So I decided to buck up and go to the mall. Sears was a bust so I tried the actual maternity store in the mall.
It was great! The lady there helped me find a new bra and I found lots of shirts that actually looked good on me, looked professional, and fit right. Daniel winced when I told him how much it was, but I said it was going to be my entire wardrobe through next spring, so that wasn't so bad.
Daniel had school on Monday, and for some reason, I woke up early. I hope this isn't a trend. So I made biscuits and gravy, with everything made from scratch. Then I decided that I shouldn't spend my free day playing video games, I should actually do something productive. So I cleaned the house. I did all the stuff that Daniel never sees. He does a pretty good job keeping the house clean, but he never thinks about cleaning the top of the washer and dryer, or getting the cat hair off the ceiling fans.
I also got serious about cleaning out the storage closet. I'd been using it for all my craft stuff over the years. I got rid of a bunch of stuff, but some of it's still too hard to part with. Like an autographed painting by a world-class fantasy artist, even though I don't have it framed and wouldn't know where to hang it. Still, it's a start, and I've still got many months to sort stuff out. I'm gonna have a heck of a lot of stuff to give to the charity thrift store.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
I heard the heartbeat!
I had another checkup at the doctor's office yesterday. I guess I've entered the time frame of the short and sweet visit. Pee in a cup, get weighed, see the doctor for 5 minutes. The coolest thing was getting to hear the baby's heartbeat on a Doppler machine. Sounded very cool. Sort of a swishing thump-thump. Made me smile.
And just like I figured, she gave me a warning about gaining too much weight. I'm blaming my clothes. Because the scale at her office weighed me 7 pounds heavier than I do at home. Still, I know I need to watch it.
Oh, we got DirectTV last night. The installer came out, and it took him a good 3 hours to install the dish and all the receivers. Gonna take me a long time to get used to the new system. We had to put it on a pole in the side yard because we have too many trees in our yard to get a good signal anywhere except that one place. The only thing I'm disappointed about is the loss of Entertainment on Demand. I was hoping to be able to browse movies on Showtime On Demand
And just like I figured, she gave me a warning about gaining too much weight. I'm blaming my clothes. Because the scale at her office weighed me 7 pounds heavier than I do at home. Still, I know I need to watch it.
Oh, we got DirectTV last night. The installer came out, and it took him a good 3 hours to install the dish and all the receivers. Gonna take me a long time to get used to the new system. We had to put it on a pole in the side yard because we have too many trees in our yard to get a good signal anywhere except that one place. The only thing I'm disappointed about is the loss of Entertainment on Demand. I was hoping to be able to browse movies on Showtime On Demand
Monday, October 06, 2008
Doing good so far in the pregnancy and movie reviews
I have to give kudos again to the "Eating Well When You're Expecting" book. Every recipe in there that I've made is great. Last night I made beef and barley stew, and it was fantastic. Took a couple hours prep and stewing time, but that was no problem. It said to add half a cup of barley, and I thought that didn't look like enough and I was debating adding more. After the 30 minute cooking time, I'm very glad I didn't. It was just enough. Another thing I like about the recipes is that they make just 1, 2 or at most 4 servings. Very handy when there's only 2 of us.
For breakfast this morning, I had a broiled grapefruit and stuffed french toast, again from EWWYE. It had whole grain bread stuffed with peanut butter and apple slices, then soaked and fried as french toast. Sprinkled it with a touch of powdered sugar instead of syrup and it was delicious.
I am definitely keeping that book for a recipe book for years to come.
Another good note is that I was finally feeling well enough to do some light exercise last night. I pulled out the Wii Fit, which is so much fun. It even weighs you, and to my relief I had only gained 1 pound in 2 weeks. I was worried that with all my bad eating habits, I'd gained too much, but it looks like I'm not doing too badly.
The Wii keeps telling me I'm overweight and I should lose weight. It lets me put in a goal, so I keep doing a 1 pound gain for 2 weeks. Feels weird to put in a weight-gain goal.
Caught some movies on HBO over the weekend. Finally watched The Silver Surfer. Oh my god, that was a horrible movie. Every cliche you can imagine and enormous plot holes. Normally I'm very forgiving, but even I couldn't get over the problems in that movie.
Next I saw The Seeker. I was really excited when it came out initially, because I adore the books it's based on. But it got poor reviews, so I never bothered to watch it. After seeing it last night, I was sorely disappointed. It bore only the faintest resemblance to the book and was terribly scattered. Very bad movie.
Saw most of Interview With a Vampire. I can't say it holds up very well. Maybe it wasn't so good when I saw it the first time, years ago. But my goodness, what a whiny, emo movie. I wanted to kick Brad Pitt part way through just to give him some emotions instead of that flat monotone he kept talking in.
Tonight, hopefully I'll get to watch A Clockwork Orange. We downloaded it from the PS3 network as a movie rental. Started it yesterday at lunch. I think it finally finished downloading at midnight.
For breakfast this morning, I had a broiled grapefruit and stuffed french toast, again from EWWYE. It had whole grain bread stuffed with peanut butter and apple slices, then soaked and fried as french toast. Sprinkled it with a touch of powdered sugar instead of syrup and it was delicious.
I am definitely keeping that book for a recipe book for years to come.
Another good note is that I was finally feeling well enough to do some light exercise last night. I pulled out the Wii Fit, which is so much fun. It even weighs you, and to my relief I had only gained 1 pound in 2 weeks. I was worried that with all my bad eating habits, I'd gained too much, but it looks like I'm not doing too badly.
The Wii keeps telling me I'm overweight and I should lose weight. It lets me put in a goal, so I keep doing a 1 pound gain for 2 weeks. Feels weird to put in a weight-gain goal.
Caught some movies on HBO over the weekend. Finally watched The Silver Surfer. Oh my god, that was a horrible movie. Every cliche you can imagine and enormous plot holes. Normally I'm very forgiving, but even I couldn't get over the problems in that movie.
Next I saw The Seeker. I was really excited when it came out initially, because I adore the books it's based on. But it got poor reviews, so I never bothered to watch it. After seeing it last night, I was sorely disappointed. It bore only the faintest resemblance to the book and was terribly scattered. Very bad movie.
Saw most of Interview With a Vampire. I can't say it holds up very well. Maybe it wasn't so good when I saw it the first time, years ago. But my goodness, what a whiny, emo movie. I wanted to kick Brad Pitt part way through just to give him some emotions instead of that flat monotone he kept talking in.
Tonight, hopefully I'll get to watch A Clockwork Orange. We downloaded it from the PS3 network as a movie rental. Started it yesterday at lunch. I think it finally finished downloading at midnight.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
I got the book "Eating Well When You're Expecting" and it has some great recipes in it. I plan to keep using it for many years to come. Since it's fall, I was in the mood for something pumpkin-ish, and these muffins did not disappoint.
The neat thing about her baked goods is that she substitutes frozen white grape juice concentrate for the sugar, to give you some extra nutrients. The recipe used a cup of whole wheat flour and a quarter cup of ground flaxseeds. The muffins are so moist and delicious, you can't tell it's whole wheat flour, and the flaxseeds aren't noticeable at all. The only thing I didn't like was the addition of chopped dried apricots. Normally I like them, but in this recipe, they seemed jarring everytime I got a bite of one in a muffin.
Since I had some light cream cheese and leftover pumpkin, I creamed the two together with a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. I would have added some maple extract, but I was out. A bit of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and I had the best topping ever for my muffins.
I even had a bit of batter left over after I made the 12 muffin cups, and rather than throw it out, I thew it in a non-stick skillet and made a pumpkin pancake out of it. Turned out pretty good, although it wanted to burn on the bottom before it cooked all the way through.
I highly recommend this book just for the recipes alone.
The neat thing about her baked goods is that she substitutes frozen white grape juice concentrate for the sugar, to give you some extra nutrients. The recipe used a cup of whole wheat flour and a quarter cup of ground flaxseeds. The muffins are so moist and delicious, you can't tell it's whole wheat flour, and the flaxseeds aren't noticeable at all. The only thing I didn't like was the addition of chopped dried apricots. Normally I like them, but in this recipe, they seemed jarring everytime I got a bite of one in a muffin.
Since I had some light cream cheese and leftover pumpkin, I creamed the two together with a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. I would have added some maple extract, but I was out. A bit of vanilla and a sprinkle of cinnamon, and I had the best topping ever for my muffins.
I even had a bit of batter left over after I made the 12 muffin cups, and rather than throw it out, I thew it in a non-stick skillet and made a pumpkin pancake out of it. Turned out pretty good, although it wanted to burn on the bottom before it cooked all the way through.
I highly recommend this book just for the recipes alone.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Having a cold while pregnant is miserable
Having a cold is bad enough. But you can usually take enough drugs to alleviate your symptoms to get through the day. Not when you're pregnant. I can take plain Robitussin, cough drops, and tea with honey. I've been coughing now for a whole week, and I've taking 3 days of sick leave. I guess I'll have to actually go back into work tomorrow.
I talked to the nurse, and she said this cold going around is bad, and I can expect to keep coughing for another 4 or 5 days. Great. Hopefully, it won't turn into bronchitis, and hopefully I'm on the downhill side of this thing. I even broke down and bought a netti pot to use for my stuffed up sinuses. It's kinda gross, but it works great.
I've been so productive with my time at home too. I've caught up on Survivor, America's Toughest Jobs, and HBO's True Blood. It figures that as soon as HBO puts out another series I'm interested in, I'm about to switch to Showtime because we're changing to Verizon over Comcast. I also had the new Lego Batman game to play, and it's a lot of fun. So I kinda got a vacation, although it wasn't what I was planning. And I was still checking emails and doing a bit of work to keep up with stuff.
I must be feeling better, because I'm actually contemplating making some healthy muffins for breakfast tomorrow.
I talked to the nurse, and she said this cold going around is bad, and I can expect to keep coughing for another 4 or 5 days. Great. Hopefully, it won't turn into bronchitis, and hopefully I'm on the downhill side of this thing. I even broke down and bought a netti pot to use for my stuffed up sinuses. It's kinda gross, but it works great.
I've been so productive with my time at home too. I've caught up on Survivor, America's Toughest Jobs, and HBO's True Blood. It figures that as soon as HBO puts out another series I'm interested in, I'm about to switch to Showtime because we're changing to Verizon over Comcast. I also had the new Lego Batman game to play, and it's a lot of fun. So I kinda got a vacation, although it wasn't what I was planning. And I was still checking emails and doing a bit of work to keep up with stuff.
I must be feeling better, because I'm actually contemplating making some healthy muffins for breakfast tomorrow.
Hurricane Ike Pictures - Finally
I've been promising. So here they are. I guess they aren't as dramatic as the news pictures you've seen of Galveston and Bolivar peninsula, but it's my house, so it's pretty dramatic to me.
Here are some before and afters:
The soccer field near our house, before the storm and after. We got a lot of rain.
Next is the drainage creek/bayou behind our house.
Before:
After:
My back yard before the storm:
And after:
And what it did to our patio:
Here's our neighbor's house. Their chimney got pushed away from the house. It was probably the worst damage I've seen, so I think we got off pretty light here.
We saw cars in the ditch
An empty Wal-mart
Lots of destroyed boats and marinas
And lots of lines for ice and water.
Here are some before and afters:
The soccer field near our house, before the storm and after. We got a lot of rain.
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
| From Hurricane Ike |
Next is the drainage creek/bayou behind our house.
Before:
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
After:
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
My back yard before the storm:
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
And after:
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
And what it did to our patio:
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
Here's our neighbor's house. Their chimney got pushed away from the house. It was probably the worst damage I've seen, so I think we got off pretty light here.
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
We saw cars in the ditch
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
An empty Wal-mart
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
Lots of destroyed boats and marinas
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
And lots of lines for ice and water.
 |
| From Hurricane Ike |
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