First Born

While obviously not human (actually not obvious to me, but probably to most of you), Stella is truly our first born.

She came to us a few weeks old, unable to fend for herself, sleep through the night, find an appropriate place to "get busy," and so on.

She taught us our first lessons in caring for something other than ourselves (yes, the cats but they don't really count). We coould no longer leave for a Cubs game at noon with no plans of returning home before midnight. We actually had to check with each other before booking business trips to ensure someone could care for the pup (she doesn't do boarding, a story for another time).

She's also taught us a thing or two about unconditional love. Nothing says forgiveness like allowing the dog in your bed who just ate a big chunk out of your brand new area rug. Most of the time, while neither of us would admit it, we love her the best. She gets the first kiss when one of us walks in the door at night - and why not? She is the only one wiggling and wagging and smiling!

As I mentioned earlier, anyone who knows us has asked about how Stella will do immediately after hearing the Baby S news. Hopefully, this weekend wasn't an indicator...

We watched Rocco, the adorable lab puppy featured above, for our friends and Stella's behavior overall left a little to be desired:

First, she barely left the bedroom. Primarily because it is upstairs and Rocco couldn't figure out how to get up there. Instead he stood at the bottom of the stairs barking for her to come down. No sign of her. Because she was spending all her time sulking, Rocco got her place next to me on the couch. Wouldn't you know it, I look up a bit later and she is sitting on the landing, half way btw upstairs and down, peering down at us sitting together? And I felt GUILTY! Why is this my fault?

The final straw was yesterday afternoon, when Rocco calmed down (he is only five months old) long enough to chew quietly on his raw hide. A delightful peace fell over the house. It was glorious. Stella noticed too and came downstairs to check things out. When she found him, enjoying his bone, she promptly took it out of his paws and proceded back to the bedroom (Rocco-free zone) with it.

So charges that come immediatley to mind, include rude, possessive, jealous and unsocial. And Rocco has to be WAY more appealing to her than a baby will be, at least he is a fellow canine! Looks like we have a bit of work ahead of us.

Coincidentally a friend and pet lover who recently also had a baby gave me a book today about how to prep your pup for baby. It can't hurt, right? Maybe Stella and I will read it on the couch together tonight over a delicious raw hide.

Good sunny Miami morning to you - it actually isn't sunny today but I am in Miami. Two more days until I'm home! It isn't that I don't like Miami, I actually love working down here. However 5 days is a long time and I HATE the food at the hotel we stay at. And since I live for food, it is depressing to say the least. And of course the simple pleasures like hubby, Stella and my own bed are missing.

But the days fly by and I'll be home before I know it. Most of the clients are traveling this week so I left relatively early last night (if you call 6:30 early) to work back at the hotel on the patio. A nice advantage I often take for granted here.

Avacodo is doing well - and growing! Last Friday, literally sometime during the day, I grew a belly.

Truth be told, I've been both dreading and dreaming of the belly. Dreading because what girl wants to get big and fat? Horrifying. But also dreaming because it means it's real, it is proof. I've been feeling so fantastic (thank you God) that I want a little reinforcement that I didn't make this whole thing up.

Consider it done.

I put on my favorite pair of jeans and worked from home. It wasn't until I left later to run an errand and was sitting in the car, that I realized I couldn't breathe. I had to unbutton my pants!

Part of me still wondered if I was just creating the belly to make myself feel better but then hubby came home after having been on the road for a couple days and said'whoa,' upon seeing me. That said it all.

This week I'm using the belly band for the first time. A facinating little thing that looks like it came straight from Units in the '80s. You wear it like a giant belt over your unzipped pants. It keeps you in real clothes longer, delaying the inevitable ugly maternity clothes. The only real draw back is it takes longer to organize yourself after going to the bathroom and of course I go to the bathroom a dozen times a day b/c I drink so much water. I would guess I've slowed down about 10 additional minutes due to the band overall, but I'm still wearing cute black pants so hardly a trade off.

Ok, off to work. Friday is on the horizon. I'm plowing through the vampire books and I have already gotten my upgrade confirmation for the flight tomorrow. Things are looking good! Have a great day :)

A friend at work recently turned me on to the vampire series that is all the rage right now. She blew through Twilight and New Moon while we were in LA and I would guess has finished all four by now. 

She lent me Twilight and I was surprised how quickly I got through it too. I reminded me a lot of the Ann Rice books I fell in love with ages ago. First the Witching Hour series, and later the vampires. 

In fact, I even went looking for Witching Hour in the house b/c I was considering rereading it. I've never reread a book but if you're going to make the leap, might as well choose one that is a thousand pages and I really loved that book. 

Alas, I couldn't find it and I guess I should focus on the task at hand first. I'll finish book #2 tonight and while R's planning to send me #3 in Miami, I'm guessing I'll be at B&N by 9am tomorrow picking up the remaining two. I've got a week in Miami, starting with a four hour flight Monday morning. 

It's finish the series or register baby S. Is there any question which I'll choose? 

Apparently Stephanie Meyer dreamed up the whole series one night, has never written a thing before in her life. Brilliant. 

I tuned into True Blood last night too, the new series on HBO. May just be a bit too many vampires for me. My interest is piqued but I think I went through this phase years ago and Ann Rice is a far better story teller. 

We'll see, maybe I'll get bitten again. 

I've been hearing rumors of dissatisfied Facebook users lately. I may have even seen a note on my homepage once indicating a change was coming. I have to say, I didn't believe it. Why change something that isn't broken? 

And yet, they've done it; and I really don't like it. Honestly I haven't tried to like it. I was just there and everything was different and wrong, so I ran away. Why? Why did they change it? I just joined this exciting community (yes, you could argue that means I should adjust to the change better than say my young colleagues who've been in on from the start - they must be really pissed), why change now? Everything looks wrong and out of place. 

You don't see Google suddenly changing things up and moving the search bar on us, do you? 

I'll have to go back. I love Facebook. And I'll have to figure it out. But I'm definitely going to sulk a little more first. 

Does anyone know why??

Babycenter has this weekly newsletter you can sign up for and each week they send an email with news on what is happening with the baby. Thankfully there are a million woman who have gone through this before me and everyone wants to share their tips, this one has been a favorite so far. 

Rather than discuss potential names for baby S, we refer to him/her by the size described in the weekly emails. This week we are an apple. Most descriptions seem to be fruits so far. 

Oh, fruit, that reminds me. I have so many posts to come...

Anywho, this week we're an apple and the funniest thing is hubby signed up to get the alerts too and he somehow receives his a whole 24 hours in advance of me so he always scoops the fruit type on me. 

This week her legs are longer than her arms and she can move all of her joints and limbs (they change sexes each week, the apple is female). And she is already moving around - can you believe that?? I can't feel it yet, not for a few more weeks I guess. 

Totally crazy! I have a few books too, some I read more than others. The "Girlfriend's guide" is great and funny; I also like "What to expect." There was another I bought and read five pages of before totally scaring myself senseless and vowed never to pick that one up again. Apparently I didn't screen it very well in the book store. 

Lots to learn I guess but taking it one week at a time definitely helps. Much less daunting. And like I said, everyone offers their input and tips and these are far more welcome to me than I ever found input on wedding details to be. Perhaps because I am so completely out of my element??

Without further delay, the news teased in an earlier post (not the LA celebs, this is better I promise!)...

It is official. In March we will be welcoming a little S into the world, into our home, into our lives. 

WOW! 

Crazy, right? It still kind of is to me. We had been trying for awhile,  in kind of a relaxed fashion. And, surprisingly enough, it isn't really that easy! But we kept at it :) and then suddenly, like we weren't expecting it at all, it happened! 

We found out at the end of the 4th of July weekend - ironically Independence Day meant something all together different for us - and have been soaking it all in ever since. 

We had a couple blips in the beginning so we were extra careful about telling people until the first trimester was behind us. Yesterday marked 14 weeks so we're officially official! I saw the tiny little being via an ultrasound at six weeks - boy that really drove home the whole miracle of life concept. Totally amazing. 

And on Friday we heard a big, strong, healthy heartbeat (trying to upload, stay tuned)! Doc says its a boy b/c the heartbeat is 140 (over 160 means a girl). He says he's right 50% of the time :) We aren't going to find out so your guess is as good mine. 

The journey begins and topics here will shift from tomatoes and cucumbers to baby socks and car seats (OMG that is scary to even type), fall is coming upon us and I needed something new to keep me busy until the garden goes in again anyway. 

Do you think I'll even have time to plant a garden next spring??

Lots more to come!!

Catching up - other news I promised details on...

The King made an appearance at a hot Hollywood party last weekend. Part of my job, glamorous indeed, is to occasionally escort the King to events. He is actually a great ticket to fun. I've been to several Super Bowls on his account, the Halo 3 premiere,(my colleagues followed Jonas Brothers around this summer) and most recently an afterparty for the VMAs.

I'll give you the scoop and it was awesome, but also totally reaffirmed my believe that I could never live in LA. It is fantastically fun, more like surreal, to visit and revel in the fact that people live like this everyday. To wake up and do it myself, not possible.

The deets - it was the young who's who of Hollywood - Paris, Nicki, Lindsey (with her new GF Samantha). Some old favorites including Matthew Perry, David Spade and Kid Rock. Micheal Phelps even came. Hubby joined and had a blast. The royal experience alone is a good one, toss in all the celebs and it is hard to beat your first time out.

But the paparazzi were overwhelming, and the hangers-on. Regular people hanging out beyond the party gates, hoping to see someone famous. And all the people on the inside hoping to soon be. Again, it is awesome to take it all in but overall not my scene. Maybe my tune will change when I'm show in the rags next week alongside the King...

The other little wrinkle in my consistency of posts is that I've picked up reading again. Apparently I can't walk and chew gum very successfully because the reading has been all consuming. It started, I believe, on my way down to Miami a couple weeks ago. I was looking for a diversion to keep my mind off the real purpose of the visit (staff thing), so I bought a book.

And then proceeded to stay inside all of Labor Day weekend reading it (In the Woods, if you're interested). To follow, a colleague turned me on to the new vampire series, and I plowed through Twilight this weekend and moved on to New Moon on our way home from Toledo.

So while I had grand plans of typing away my deepest thoughts all weekend long in the car, instead I was reading.

That and we got an extremely late start on Saturday which made me mad, so all I could do was read. Torrents of rain came down Friday night and all morning Saturday, flooding at both our house and Winona. Hubby spent lots of time cleaning drains and gutters, time well spent, but we were super late hitting the road.

Long story long, we made it to Toledo in time for the festivities associated with the Ryan Serber Classic - the annual 8K run sis and Brad organize in Ryan's memory. Brad hosted a big spaghetti dinner at his house, tons of people and a great time. We all anxiously speculated what race day would hold in terms of weather since it been raining in the midwest for days with no signs of stopping. The race was anticipated to be its biggest ever but much of that depended on the weather. Who wants to run in the rain?

We woke this morning to a sunny day. I kid you not. Sun. We had braved the worst rain storm in recent memory to get from Chi to Toledo and when we got up there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Everyone was there, my p's, the inlaws (ps and sisters), aunts and uncles, it was wonderful. In fact, it was HOT?! Ryan was undoubtably with us today, smiling upon us with a blessing of good weather. Thanks buddy - we'd have rather had you with us but definitely appreciate the great day. xoxo

I know, I know. WTH? I do have a few pretty good explainations though and even better stories to follow soon.

Briefly, here is the scoop - we had a pretty significant staffing change at work which required a trip down to Miami for a few days at the end of August. I made it home late Friday night in time for a nice, long, relaxing Labor Day weekend.

That weekend we finished Winona and officially put her on the market - we laid sod, ordered all new appliances, painted. I'll include some pictures in the next couple days but everything looks fantastic.

A short week at work followed and I jumped on a flight to LA. I had a couple events with Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy and American Dad, one Friday and another Tuesday. Chris joined me and we made a fun weekend out of it.

As it happens, a King appearance opportunity came up at a VMA afterparty at Chateau Marmont over the weekende. For some that will mean absolutely nothing, for others, you'll recognize it as the coolest work assignment I'll ever receive. More to come in a couple days.

Everything went smashingly well across the board and I'll have pictures and deets to follow. I got home last night, SO HAPPY!

Continuing with the fast pace - I dropped everything off at home and went over to AMB's to visit her tiny new little Kate who is just 6lbs and too cute for words.

And I can promise a pretty exciting announcement that most of you already know but we'll go live on the blog and start including fun details on that subject regularly.

We have the Serber Classic in Toledo this weekend which means I'll have several hours to catch up and update posts.

For now, consider this a teaser of great things to come!