Happy Halloween!!

Thank goodness the trick-or-treaters finally showed up! I have been sitting with a big bowl of candy in front of me since 3pm waiting for them to start coming by and subsequently eating chocolate and sugar by the handfuls. They finally started arriving about 6:30 and fortunately there was still candy left.

Is that because Halloween is on Friday night this year?

In years past they always started much earlier.

They really aren't the friendliest bunch either...only a handful of "Trick or Treats" and "Happy Halloweens"... even fewer "Thank yous." Whatever, I'm having fun.

I have had a couple funny visitors...one girl started chatting like we've known each other for years...'oh you have a dog? we have a dog. a chocolate lab. she is really bad. she poops in the house.' Right about that time her dad cut in and said it was time to go. Too bad, I could tell she was just getting started.

Another boy came in an awesome werewolf costume. I said 'wow, you're costume is scary!' he said 'thanks, check out www.werewolf.com for real-skin werewolf costumes.'

Really? Do you think he received the costume free with the stipulation that he deliver that key message at each house?

Stella hates Halloween. So does my hubby. She wants to bark and growl at the kids for no reason other than they dared to walk up the stairs. Hubby just likes to be grouchy. I'm having a great time. They better keep coming. I have six more bags of chocolate I must give away or face the chance that I could polish it all off before Monday.

As an aside, I found a flaw in my favorite new site Flickr - all the cool Halloween pictures I wanted to lift for my POD were copyright reserved. And now that I've been to my online ethics class, I can't violate the rule. Bummer. This one is pretty good though.

Tomorrow I buy a new camera, carve my own pumpkin and perhaps have a late entry to showcase. We'll see.

I also try a new prenatal yoga class tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

Gratitude list: Baby kicks. Dog park friends. Voting.

Pa-few! I blew out of training 10 minutes late and jumped in the car in order to crawl all the way to Bucktown, at a near-comedic snail's pace, towards the early voting location in our neighborhood. Tomorrow is the last day, I can't go, and I'm in Miami all next week. AH!

I parked illegally, threw on the hazzards and flew into the building, up the stairs and prayed I wasn't too late.

I made it!! I even had time to go to the bathroom before getting in to line :)

Early voting rocks. I waited about 30 minutes but it went by very quickly. It is refreshing to see so many people already out making a point to voice their opinion.

Please do the same. Get out there and cast your vote. It is too important not to.

Carrot-time

Gratitude list: Running belt. Halloween candy. Cold sleeping weather.




Baby S is a carrot this week. And growing eye brows! Babycentered showed, actually you just have to see, hopefully this doesn't freak out any unsuspecting readers but look at this image...

There is a PERSON in there! In my belly. Isn't that amazing? I realize I continue to come to the table shocked and flabergasted about this but you can't deny this process is a miracle. And part science project. Anyway, I digress.

I still don't know the sex but I can tell you there is no way he is facing the direction shown here. He is tap, tap, tapping me all the time so his little feet have to be pointed out rather than towards my back as shown here.

I've also been thinking a lot about the ultrasound machine and how awesome it would be to own one. We talked about it during the appointment. And someone reminded me later that Tom Cruise bought one when Katie was pregant, and everyone said he was crazy.

I promise you if money were no object (I have no idea how much one of these would cost but it has to be a lot), I would absolutely buy one. In a heartbeat.

My three best friends are pregnant. Imagine the fun we'd have with one of these in the living room! Everyone could come over, take turns dialing in. I bet we could even figure out how to introduce the kids prebirth.

Anyway, how is that for a randy rant? I don't suppose anyone has an ultrasound machine they want to loan me for the next couple months?

Nite, nite from the carrot.

My grateful list: Baby kicks (it's awesome everytime). Black cherry citrus Fresca. Airplane-free week.

I mentioned I'm in training all week - it's a class on online ethics, how to engage in conversations, an overview of what is happening out there, communities that are rising in influence, interesting evolutions (or "mashups") of sites. We cover blogs, Facebook, Twitter, podcasting, and so very much more.

I've been trying to get in for about 16 months.

Clients are interested in getting into various areas of this space and while I can speak to it, at times I have to do the old "I'll have to check and get back to you," which I'm hoping to do less of after this.

I'm also hoping to make some cool upgrades to this site so keep an eye out! Actually, the whole reason I started cityretreat in the first place was to get a better understanding of blogging. Same with Facebook and Twitter. I have to learn by example.

One thing I learned today was the awesome content available on Flickr. See how much nicer the carrot photo is over there (I attributed the source, per the lesson today)? Nothing like that popping up on Google Images!

And DW said she'll help me figure out how to organize my RSS feeds which has been making me feel kind of slow and out of touch. I'll be back with more updates this week as I get smarter. Stay tuned!

And just like that the weekend is over...Friday night event was a big success and clients were thrilled so that made working on Friday night managable. Hubby came home from JAX, late but home all the same.

I was so excited to show Winona to two strong perspective candidates - neither showed. I don't know how to get appearance rate up. Any suggestions? Rental canddiates. I spoke with "Cheryl" four times over the course of last week about her dog, her son, monthly rent. She sounded legitimate. And another guy called Friday afternoon, we booked an appointment for the next morning.

We spent two hours there yesterday for nothing - neither showed. Maybe this is what property management is all about? How hard is it to call and cancel an appointment if you're not going to show? It's rude.

In-laws were in an out in an instant, though we had a lovely visit. And I worked most of today, trying to catch up from the last two crazy weeks and prep for being out of commision this week (in training).

Hubby is in Phoenix much of this week; I'm in MIA all of next. I think, I hope, there is a light at the end of the tunnel coming soon...

Hum, ok I still can't figure out how to get the baby pics up. They are saved as PDFs, DW resaved as jpegs but I still can't figure out how to get them on. They aren't showing up as jpegs when I try to attach. AGH! Hubby will resave tomorrow so you can see the cuteness soon.

This week was a big pile of garbage which means I still haven't written about how awesome the ultrasound was. Coming this weekend, promise.

Instead of bitching about all the things that were SO annoying about this week, I'm going to share a few great things that did make their way in - more than three things I'm grateful for:

- Ultrasound was truly best 30 minutes of TV I've ever seen. More on this but can't be said enough.
- Baby S is wiggling and dancing all the time now and every time I feel him, I smile (for some reason I feel like I have a secret no one knows about - though at this point the belly is no secret).
- I found $80 on the sidewalk Thurs while walking the dog - how sweet is that?!?!
- I love other moms. I have a whole post on this coming soon but moms rock and I can't get enough of their tips and advice. Keep 'em coming!!
- We had a great event tonight for BK, thanks to my kickass team who pulled it all together with very little help from me.
- We have two renters lined up to look at Winona tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
- I'm diving into Twitter ("cityretreat" there too but I'm going to have to watch for a bit before I dive in, not totally sure how it works just yet).
- Bellydance maternity store is having a sale tomorrow, I'm buying.
- My airplane did not snap in half and fall from the sky as I was positive would happen on Thursday night.
- Hubby agreed to Bugaboo suddenly after initial resistance.
- Went to great muscle pump class this am and my instructor is preggo too so she is going to take a few prenatal classes and bring back the moves for us.

I'm off to bed. Making the list of positives has nearly washed away the week. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up liking everyone around me :)

Happy weekend!

As a follow up to my recent post on "gear" - I did recently buy a new item that has proven to be remarkably handy and I never would have known it existed without a tip from a fellow mom/runner.

Over marathon weekend my sis' s-i-l mentioned she ran into her third trimester using a running belt/support band.

This is safe, by the way, running that is. For those of you concerned. I've slowed down my overall pace, never run more than 4-5 miles a day and have doctor's clearance to log 14 miles a week. Running is what I do (besides eating) so I'd like to try to keep it up as long as possible.

I'm anticipating the hateful stares at the gym will become more uncomfortable before the baby itself. I promise though, it is safe. Natalie Morales (Today Show) ran the day before her baby was born. I just read about it in a pregnancy mag.

Anyway, I went to Running Away to see if they had anything like that. God bless 'em, three dudes working behind the counter and I dared to even ask the question. The best part is, while they didn't carry the band themselves, one of guys actually called his wife to ask her where she got hers. Pea in the Pod. Super.

While I had no idea that I needed it, and wasn't experiencing any sort of discomfort, it really was amazing the difference it made. It wraps around the belly, tightens in a couple place (though not like the crazy-ass contraption advertised in some of the mags), and viola! Support. I'll be a running fool until March!

See you on the treadmill (or outside as long as possible)!

Check him out!!!! More to come later but you must see...

By the way, healthy report from doctor. Baby looks good, normal. Growing at a good rate, heart is strong (we could actually see the four chambers beating in the ultrasound - crazy).

Cheers!

Baby update - part 1

Cheesy popcorn. Stella's smile. Hugs.

This week we're a banana, which isn't as exciting as an heirloom tomato in my personal opinion (nor necessarily bigger based on my farming experience) but I digress. AND, even better, this weekend we officially moved from internal baby kicks that only I could feel and speculate were actually kicks, to movements hubby could touch too.

It probably goes without saying, it is pretty awesome. And weird.

It seems to happen much more often in one particular position - a completely lazy near, lay down pose I've perfected on the couch, laptop in place, feet on table. It started on Friday and I checked out the scene myself to double check. Sure enough: thump, thump, thump.

Hubby came over and he kept going, bless his little heart, so hubby got in on the action.

And of course it is a little weird too b/c there is a BABY growing inside of my belly?!?! No amount of high school science can really prepare you for this.

Tomorrow we go for the 20 week ultrasound and get to see the little critter on the big screen. I'm pretty excited. We are not going to find out the sex. I've had shirts made saying as much, just in case.

Much more to come tomorrow or Wed regarding the big day. In-laws in town tomorrow night so might not get a post in but will try.

Mental capacity to do my job. Thursday night date. Baby kicks.

Baby S is an heirloom tomato this week - 19 weeks. I love the choices for the comparisons, my favorite! Hair is growing on the head and apparently he can hear my voice now. It would be easier if he could hear my thoughts. I'm talking to him in my mind but not out loud yet. I'm sure that will come soon.

I can feel him moving. It is pretty neat, just little pulses or nudges but from the inside out. Nothing on the outside yet and I can't tell when or where it will happen. Next week we have the Level 1 ultrasound (20 weeks). We're half way, can you believe that??

This is supposed to be a great appointment because you see the baby (I haven't seen him since 6 wks old and I was looking at the wrong thing on the screen), big as day. I can't wait. We'll upload some pictures.

We're both taking tomorrow off. We were supposed to go on away for a long weekend but cancelled it b/c neither of us can stomach the idea of getting on a plane. Instead we're thinking about going to WI for the day. Regardless, it will be lovely. I'm going to try to avoid the bberry and see if the earth stops rotating on its axis.

I'm enjoying one of my two glasses of wine in October and the vacation is fabulous already.

Finding Balance

Bisco. Ethiopian food. My bed.

I’m losing my balance. Or rather my distorted view of balance.

I’ve logged approximately 25K miles with American since Labor Day with at least another 2 flights booked by early Nov (in case you’re wondering, that is four trips to Miami and one trip to LA to date) . I’ve been drowning at work for weeks with no real end in sight. I am behind on my real life responsibilities and I’m really tired.

This happens. Things ebb and flow and I’m in a really deep state of flow I guess. Something needs to give because I can’t keep up the pace.

I’m sitting on a flight home from Miami (shocker) and found an article in American Way about the power of positive thinking. Of course I’m not even supposed to be reading this mag, rather reviewing the three decks sitting in my inbox, but my brain needs a minute to relax so I’m allowing it.

In reading the article, it suggests noting three items your grateful for at the end of each day. It strikes me that incorporating this into my routine couldn’t hurt. I could use a little dose of positive and this doesn’t seem like too much to add to my already overloaded plate.

For the short term at least, I’ll include them at the top as a reminder for you to do the same. I won’t go into what they mean, though I will tell you that Bisco (the cat) somehow slept outside on accident last night and I was pretty surprised to see her meowing on the deck this morning when I left for the airport.

In making the effort to do the list I already feel better.

Or perhaps it was the 30 minutes I allowed myself to break away from Outlook?

Alas the break is over. Whatever doesn’t get done tonight will just be waiting tomorrow with 10 more things piled on top.

Immediately following the marathon yesterday I headed out to do the baby registry. Horrible timing but Bid and I both needed to do it relatively quickly b/c we have showers coming up and KJ offered to help us out.

She is slated to deliver in a couple weeks so our window of opportunity was pretty small. We jumped at the chance to have her on hand to explain all the things we needed but didn't understand why.

Bid and I arrived early, got our scan guns and turned to stare blindly and naively into the infant feeding section. We even approached the shelving before quickly turning away totally confused.

Throughout our time there, several thoughts struck me:
1. There is a tremendous amount of crap out there;
2. It is really overwhelming how much crap there is to choose from;
3. Most of it is plastic and that makes me environmentally disappointed and concerned.

I guess my way of contributing to the solution is that I can't deal with clutter so I will be registering for a minimal amount of the aforementioned #1.

Seriously though, if you didn't make a trip in there yourself, you wouldn't even know the glut of stuff out there. I'd estimate 50 different types of car seats; same with the strollers; and the travel swing, which isn't the same as the full-sized swing or the bouncer. Oy.

And everything is so expensive. I'm not one to really get easily ruffled about the costs of things, especially as I tend to lean towards the nicer things. Admitedly I'm a little bratty. But even I am slightly turned off by the costs of things and the suggested "must haves" on the registry. Does one person really need five different types of strollers (lest you think I'm exaggerating: travel, full-size, umbrella, jogging, convenience stroller are listed on the checklist)?

As I put together the registery I realized there are whole categories I will not include simply because I don't want subject those nice enough to purchase gifts to these options.

Perhaps I'm naive and soon my house will be wall-to-wall with bouncing, swinging, playmats and mobiles.

I'd like to think the little one will survive just fine with only a careful selection of the 'necessities.'

WOW! It is such an amazing experience I can't believe everyone doesn't partake. We had the best day today cheering on the marathon runners.

The weather was perfect, actually it was a bit hot for the runners but perfect for spectators. We made our first appearance at mile 3 and caught both hubby and Loren come through at a great pace for both. We crossed the street and marked our spot at the 11th mile. Much easier as fans than for the runners to shave those 7 miles.

We saw everyone come through: wheelchair participants, the elite men and women, oh boy it is so amazing. I was on the verge of tears a dozen times for a dozen reasons - the man with abnormalities on his arms and legs, yet somehow beat the odds to participate; the man from Mexico pushing his daughter, ala Hoyt style; and the elite runners...there is just no way to describe the ease with which they move through the race without having witnessed it personally and also struggled yourself, to fully appreciate it.

Sadly I missed hubby here but was astounded to see him hit the half way point at 1:53 (via text alert). He hasn't run a long run since the half marathon in early Sept so it was really hard to know what to expect today. With half completed he seemed to be out of the gate very strong.

We hustled to mile 21 where I was slated to jump in with him and run the rest of the race -- though I was a little leary of his blistering pace. We barely made it to the meet up spot on time before he rounded the corner. I eased on in and he was fantastic! Looked good, seemed to feel pretty good. He made his way through the toughest part of the race - facing south, into the sun, towards Sox field. It was hot. I didn't want to make too much mention of it but I was warm and I had only been running for 15 minutes. It had to suck but he just kept truckin' along.

I ducked out at mile 25 - disappointed not to finish the race with him but it just didn't make sense to try to keep pace with him - baby S has a lifetime to set records in the marathon, no need to start today. I knew hubby would push it even harder the last mile (how did he have any gas left?) and I wasn't bringing any speed to the team.

He finished with an amazing 4:00:10 - his best time ever, by nearly 20 minutes (previous PR was 4:17). I cried when the text came through. Totally awesome. He, of course, is pissed he came 11 seconds short of his goal of sub-four. I say pooh to that. Four hours rocks, no matter how you look at it. Congrats baby, I'm so proud of you.

And congrats to all the other American Brain Tumor fundraising runners. Loren and Brad both had great races too, coming in at 4:25 and 3:54 respectively. We had such a great day and saw so many amazing runners accomplish their goals. AND we raised $5500 along the way.

Go Runners!!

It's marathon eve and we're preparing for the big day tomorrow. We had a nice dinner tonight at Club Lucky - our traditional pre-race event. Brad and family were in town, totaling 10+ guests. Sis' inlaws and our crew totalled another 10. We had a nice night and are home early.

Hubby has ipod loaded, bagels packed. I'm trying to figure out how to spectate a race I've run the last three years. As I've said all along, I'm thrilled to have an irrefutable reason for not running, but will definitely miss the excitement of the race tomorrow (MUCH easier saying with baby on board).

Hopefully I'll jump in and run the last few with hubby.

More race highlights and results tomorrow. Good luck to everyone running.

Nite!

Baby Report

Last week we were a turnip and since I don't know what a turnip looks like, nor do I like the sounds of it, I skipped that report. This week we're a bell pepper (I prefer to think of a red pepper myself). Baby S is supposedly kicking arms and legs and moving all around.

I had two doctor's appointments last week - I'm in the process of switching OBs (brilliant timing, right?) -- but the fun part was I heard baby twice.

Let me back up, in the early stages (i.e. first two trimesters), I go to the doctor every 2-3 weeks. At these appointments the doc just asks me how I'm feeling, answers questions and listens to the baby.

They use a Doppler which I think is a type of sonar that allows you to hear the heartbeat. A little jelly to the belly, place the wand and viola! Heartbeats. Mine and baby S. And also intermitent static, which means kicking! Crazy.

So I have one recorded heatbeat from 14 weeks but still haven't figured out how to upload it. And last week was 17 weeks and I heard it twice - still a boy based on old wivestale of number of beats per minute. Hearing it never gets old. He is thumping away in there and kicking too.

I can't tell if I feel anything. Sometimes I think I do but it is really hard to say. As I get further along it will become more obvious (that too is obvious I guess). And the bump is still there, though now it just seems like fat. Can't wait for the beauty to kick in :) No complaints though, I feel fantastic.

I have been eating like absolute garbage the last few days though so need to get back on the wagon to provide nutrients rather than pure sugar and chocolate. :) Sorry buddy.

Toledo-stravaganza

So word trickles my way that my little sis is being recognized for some award from her alma mater, University of Toledo. I don't even think she was the one who originally mentioned it, rather my parents. When we discussed, she blew it off as no big deal and she didn't know any of the details. I put it in the calendar just in case.

I was able to duck out of work early on Friday and head over to T-town. Hubby was working in Vegas for a long weekend, so Stella and I packed up for a mini-road trip. There was a dinner on Friday night and then a parade and a football game following. No big deal says sis.

UT would have us thinking otherwise shortly...

We enter the ballroom Friday night and there are at least 500 people in the room (mom counted). The individual colleges recognize people of interest, approx 25 of them, all leading up to the three highest awards of the evening -- sister being one of them! She was recognized as "Outstanding Alumni of the Year" for her work in community service.

They put together an amazing video (we all cried), highlighting her work for the Toledo Young Professionals organization, American Cancer Society, the Ryan Serber Run, her March of Dimes and Leukemia Society work to name just a few! (Where does she get the time??) And then she goes on stage and delivers an amazing acceptance speech in front of all these people. Totally, completely amazing and impressive.

Saturday, while she is still unclear on details (and while I'd like to tease otherwise, she is so modest, I honestly believe she didn't pay attention to the details b/c she thought it wasn't a big deal), we find ourselves in our own car of the Homecoming parade!

It was SO MUCH FUN!

Her friend drove us, the car had a big picture of sis and her title on the side, and we threw candy to onlookers all around town. Some of us actually aimed and threw candy AT people, not me. Sister waved like a beauty queen and of course dozens of her friends lined the route to cheer her on.

AND THEN, we were invited to the President's Suite to watch the football game where my sis was recognized on the field during half time!

Can you believe this? I had no idea the magnitude of this award. Everyone wanted to meet her, congratulate her. It was so fun to be there!!

A seriously awesome award to a seriously amazing lady (and kick ass sister too).

Congrats to you and thanks for inviting me to celebrate with you!!