How to Scare an Expectant Father – Week 13

I’m trying to stay as active as I can during the pregnancy. During the cold weather, Ryan and I have been going to the gym in the evenings.

One night last week I was so tired, I didn’t take my gym clothes off before bed. Instead, I put my fleece pajama pants and my sweatshirt on over my gym clothes.

The next morning I complied as usual with my home office’s very casual dress code (aka I worked in my pajamas). As lunch time neared, it was time to make myself presentable for the general public.

I went into the bathroom and took off the pajama pants to prepare for a shower. I noticed something odd in the mirror.

“Oh my gawd,” I blurted out. My reflection was clearly wearing her gym shorts inside out.

From the living room, I heard Ryan shout, “What?”

My mind replayed the previous evening. I had been at the gym for over an hour. Over…an….hour! I did elliptical and lifted a few weights…with inside-out pants the *entire* time! I rotated my hindside to examine it in the mirror. Yup– there was a bright white tag right smack in the middle of my butt.

“Oh my gawd,” I repeated.

And then from the living room, I heard Ryan again. This time he had substantially more concern in his voice:

“WHAT? What is it?!? Is everything okay?!?”

Poor, poor Ryan. He had every reason to believe there was actually something more dire wrong. He was not impressed when he found out the whole ado was caused by clothing. He also didn’t seem anywhere near as distraught about my gym shorts as I. : )

Happy Café au Lait Day!

Thanks to The Year of Living Unofficially, I was made aware that February 17 is National Café au Lait Day. So this morning, Ryan and I whipped out our French Press for the first time this pregancy (to make decaffeinated coffee, of course!). We cheated a bit and used half and half instead of steamed milk, but our hearts were in the right place.

We have beautiful spring weather today, so as water boiled and dishes were done, we had the screen doors open letting in fresh air and the sounds of happy birds (who were apparently unaware of the three cats in their vicinity).

Even without coffee, I start each morning with a Longaberger coffee mug my paternal Grandmother gave me some time ago for Christmas and thus I start each morning with thoughts of her. Today was no different. Whenever I use the French Press, I think of my Aunt and Uncle in Maryland who always rave about their French Press….and I think of my younger brother who is to blame for their passion. He gave them their first French Press as a Christmas present! When I fetched our Half and Half from the fridge, I was greeted with a picture of my maternal grandmother, now 11 years deceased, with one of my cousins on her lap.

Longaberger Coffee Mug, Half & Half, French Press

On the surface, Cafe au Lait Day sure sounded like such a simple holiday. And our celebration itself was brief– our beverages were consumed in no more than 30 minutes. But it was the simple, brief pleasures that made my morning– fresh air, thoughts of family and delicious, rich coffee*.

*Yeah, in the last three months, I had forgotten how very very very delicious French Press coffee is! 🙂

Valentine’s Flowers… Sort Of

Happy Valentine’s Day! I have friends who are getting married in May. Instead of hiring a florist, they have recruited friends and family to help them *make* their flowers. They have all sorts of neat projects in the works– paper flowers, felt flowers, even flowers made out of feathers!

Every now and then I spend some time working on my contributions. Mostly I have been doing five-petal paper flowers, but this weekend I got back on the horse (I had a flop in November) and retried Coffee Filter Roses. I think I’m starting to make progress! Enjoy!

Coffee Filter Roses

News x 3

Happy Friday everyone! Families have been informed, co-workers are up to speed, neighborhood kids are in the know. Now is time to update my blog with all the latest news from our household.

1. Ryan’s Job Change
Ryan’s changing jobs. The timing actually worked out super great for me and my colleagues. We’re in the middle of a big migration project and Ryan’s been able to assist us out with some contracting work. Right now he’s integrating our application with Mettler Toledo balances. Ryan’s been a tremendous help! I’m still hoping I can convince him to stay with us permanently!

The Obligatory Hairnet Shot

Ryan Working on Balance Integration

2. We’re Moving
Related to #1, we’re moving circa February 26th to my hometown of Occoquan, Virginia. I have very much enjoyed Hunter Street and I am sad to leave. Surprisingly, I have yet to find a neighborhood kid who seems as sad as I am! They’re resilient! Nonetheless, I do look forward to being closer to my family… and closer to the mountains. In November, Ryan and I spent a week gutting my maternal grandmother’s house. We’ll be working on reinnovating it once we are back in Occoquan (don’t worry some of that work will be overseeing contractors doing to actual work. 🙂 ).

Home Sweet Home….Eventually*
*It doesn’t look like this right now, Ryan already cleared away all the brush

Living Room on 9/19/2010

Living Room on 11/1/2010

Living Room on 11/2/2010

Until reinnovations are done, we’ll be staying on the top floor of my parents’ house. It should be a great exercise in patience and stress management. With our combined pets, we’ll have a total of four dogs and three cats on one property. We’ll see how that goes. 🙂

Last But Not Least….
Shortly after we were married, I received a Facebook inquiry from Tyrek.

Vicky When Is You Going to Have a Baby!

It took a while, but I finally have an answer for him.

August!

Ryan and I are expecting our first child in mid-August!!! We’ll be at 14 weeks tomorrow, which means I somehow survived the terrifying first trimester without the terrifying part. I skated by with minimal trouble from morning sickness. I really, really, really lucked out. A big shout out to whatever force it was that decided to spare me. I owe you one!

Ultra Sound at 8 Weeks, 4 Days

And so we have a lot of big changes coming. They’ll be a lot of stress, I’m sure. But there is going to be a lot of great things as well! : )