Soaking up the sun

Sort of...it has been a little overcast, which is fine with me considering I still manage to get plenty of sun even when it is cloudy! We are having a great time (except for the laundry I had to do yesterday - yuck!) and have more fun stuff planned...luau tonight, snorkeling tomorrow and a submarine ride Monday. Gotta love vacation!

Nicole and Greg left yesterday (they announced they are pregnant so it looks like Bryn and Cletus - baby boy's in utero name! - will have a baby cousin in August) and Uncle Tom, Aunt Sue and cousin Julie came in yesterday so we some new family members to terrorize!

Bryn is loving the pool and the ocean. After getting clobbered by waves on the shore a few times she figured out when to run into the ocean and when not to. She'll run out and then she'll "catch a wave" into the shore. And she's still ready to do even when her whole body is shaking and her lips are blue!

It sounds like everything is going well back home...the cats and fish are doing fine and Elmer is doing O.K. at the kennel. Elmer evidently has a roommate - a little Yorkie mix named Archie. They are having fun playing in the 6 inches of snow that fell in Kansas a couple of days ago - gee I am sorry we missed that! I know that Elmer is fine, but I will be glad to get him back home with us!

Hangin' Loose

We made it to Maui and are enjoying some sand and sun. A far cry from the 15 degrees and snow we hear is going on at home. I'm not complaining a bit!

Bryn is enjoying the water...she and I went out in the ocean yesterday and bobbed around on the waves a bit. We rented some snorkel gear today - we'll see if she can get the hang of that or not.

We went whale watching this morning - it is always so cool to see them and hard to believe they are just hanging out in the big blue ocean.

Hope everyone is getting geared up for a fabulous Christmas!

We're out of here!

I got an all clear form the doc today (my blood pressure was lower than it has been the entire pregnancy) to head to Maui. We leave tomorrow and have an overnight in Oakland tomorrow, but hope to have our toes in the sand by Friday afternoon.

We had a nice Christmas with Aaron's parents this weekend - I was sick a lot of the time as my stomach bug lasted far longer than the 24 hours it seemed to last for everyone else, but we still had a good visit.

Aaron and I got our classes all wrapped up, so with the exception of the emails from students wondering how they can improve their crappy grades (way too late to be thinking about that now!) we are all done for the semester.

Things are progressing in the basement - the studs are up and it is exciting to get a little bit of a picture of how the finished product might look.

Merry Christmas to everyone and all the best in '08!

I finally really got it

That stomach bug, that is. It has been a long night and I figured since I am not really sleeping anyway I'd jot down a few thoughts. Now it has occurred to me I don't really have any thoughts to jot down!

Elmer did fine at daycare and I am going to try to do my best to assume all will be well while he is boarded for 15 days - poor guy!

I have a fridge full of pork chops, chicken and ground beef that I got the other day at the store on sale. I planned on making a bunch of meals up for the freezer and wouldn't you know I get sick the night before it really has to be done. I could throw it all in the freezer, I suppose but it might get sucked into the great black hole in there, never to be seen again. I guess we'll see how things look in a few hours...

I am supposed to volunteer in the computer lab at Bryn's school today for an hour - I am debating whether to cancel that pronto (well, on a few hours when normal people are awake!) or just hope that I am feeling better in the next 8 hours. And I have a dinner date with Stephanie and Monica (we decided to go out for a girl's night instead of exchanging Christmas gifts) so I am planning to recover very soon!


I bought the last of my Christmas gifts yesterday and even have just about everything mailed - hooray! Once I get cards out I'll be done...another year down! Hard to believe it's almost 2008...

Ice storms and stomach bugs

We have had an exciting few days here...the whole area is pretty much closed due to ice. Interestingly enough, the roads are clear as can be but the rain is coming down and freezing on trees and power lines. We have been very fortunate as our power was only out for about a half hour this morning. There was no school today and no school tomorrow, so we are just hanging out and getting stuff done at home.

Bryn has a stomach bug...I think we are at the end of it and I am hoping to avoid it myself. We'll see how that goes...

I had another sonogram today and everything is going well. Baby boy (definitely a boy, BTW) is growing perfectly and evidently has very long arms and big feet. My blood pressure was up a bit today, but the doc wasn't concerned so neither am I. I'll go next Wednesday for my final check to get the all clear to head to Maui...I guess if we can't go we'll have to create our own luau at home and hang out in our bathing suits!

So much to do...

It seems like I can never quite get caught up on all of the things I need to do...

Today I am working on washing clothes, cleaning bathrooms, sorting through baby stuff, making a menu and grocery list for our Christmas next weekend (we are doing it early before we leave for Hawaii), finishing up with Christmas shopping/wrapping/mailing and taking a really long nap!

I decided to have the baby shower at my house...I am too tired to worry about it any more and I figure if I am banished from polite society here in town, I'll just have that much more free time!

We had a couple inches of snow on Thursday. It was a crazy day...I dropped Elmer off at doggie daycare at the place he will be staying over Christmas (he was shaking like a leaf when I left and happy to see me when I picked him up, but he seemed to be O.K.) and headed to a meeting with another instructor about developing my spring online course. By the time I got to my meeting, the snow was coming down pretty hard and the roads were getting slick, so we postponed, I had Chinese for lunch, picked Elmer up and went to the school to get Bryn b/c they got out early! Whew! Anyway, it was a crazy day and we're hunkered down today waiting for another round of winter weather.

Off to work on my to do list...I am sure it will still have a lot of the same things on it tomorrow!

Help - need advice

So I need some etiquette advice... I mentioned that a couple of dear friends of mine are going to host a baby shower for me. I have been slightly uncomfortable with the idea since this is not my first baby, but have pretty much gotten over that since it has been almost 6 years since Bryn was born, this baby is a boy and I live somewhere totally new where there will be no overlap (except family) in who had to suffer through my first pregnancy with me! That being said, the question is whether or not it would be appropriate for the shower to be held at my house. All neurons in my head familiar with Emily Post scream "no", but I am not sure if it is actually "improper" or not. My friends want to host a brunch and I have the roomiest dining and living area to put people in and they asked if they could host the shower here.

Will Miss Manners haunt me forever if I have the shower at my house if I am not the one hosting it?

There may be hope yet...

that the basement will actually get done! We met with Ralph last night and he is supposed to be getting started next Wednesday. He is estimating 90 days until completion which means we will probably be in utter disarray around her when baby shoes up and won't have a baby room, but it will just be more exciting (challenging) that way, right?!?!

Stephanie and Monica are going to throw me a baby shower (which makes me feel a little weird since it is not my first baby and I think showers are technically only for first babies), but I am excited since I didn't get to have a pre-baby shower when I was pregnant with Bryn as I went on bedrest so early.

It has been a quiet couple of days, which is good since I think I am trying to get a cold. Things will pick up tomorrow - I am meeting Christi in Topeka to do some Christmas shopping and have lunch. On Thursday I have a meeting for work and Elmer is going to doggie daycare to check out the digs where he will be staying over Christmas. I must admit I am looking forward to a break from puppy world...it will be nice to sleep in a little and not have to clean up "accidents" all the time (yes, Elmer has still not completely caught on to where his toilet is located - I am so thankful for the wood floors I could just about cry).

We did get Bryn's correct school pictures and even got to keep the crazy pictures as a bonus. Not surewhat I'll do with a 8 x 10 of my wild-eyed child - I guess it will be good to pull out when she starts dating someday...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well, it will by the end of the day anyway. Today we are finally putting up Christmas decorations (although I must admit I am opting out of putting up a tree since we won't be here to enjoy it).

Bryn got to open the first door of her Littlest Pet Shop advent calendar today...you would think today was Christmas the way she has been anticipating that. She and I are going to go shopping and to lunch today...something I love to do but Bryn (im)patiently endures. Then Bryn has a birthday party to go to and we have an afternoon filled with watching college football. Busy day!

I went scrapbooking last night, but came home a couple of hours early since I didn't have the pictures I needed and I was so very tired. I am not sure I actually caught up on any sleep since I always stay awake too late reading, but I guess I at least did get to sleep earlier than I would have if I had scrapbooked until midnight.