Almost Alternative

A few months ago Nathan and I decided to create Facebook profiles and see what all the hype was about.  A few days afterward, Nathan mentioned some confusion about his page.  

He told me, "I don't know if I like Facebook too much.  Every time I log on to my home page there are all sorts of ads for gay themed groups and products."  I replied, "That's weird - I haven't noticed anything like that on mine.  I wonder if it has anything to do with one of the settings you selected."  He was skeptical, but together we logged onto his page to take a look.  

He was a little bit sheepish when I pointed out that in trying to fill out his Personal Profile so that it was obvious he was happily married and not trolling for dates, one of his preferences was marked I Am Interested In: Men.

Nathan changed it, posthaste.

Eye like it, Eye love it

I took my kids for their first checkups at the eye doctor yesterday.  Our optometrist is very friendly and kind to children, which made for a great introductory experience.  Even 3 year old Rebecca exclaimed, "Mom, the doctor for my eyes was Suuuper Nice."  In fact, Cassidy was quite dismayed when told that you generally visit the eye doctor once a year.  "But Mom, he was sooooo nice!  I was hoping I would get to see him again much sooner than that."

The other funny thing was how impressed all the office staff were with my children.  I will admit, they were very good, especially considering we did all three appointments at once and were there for almost 2 hours.  But the ladies at reception went on (and on and on and on) saying, "Oh, your children are SO well behaved!"  "What a nice job you have done raising such polite and pleasant kids."  "I sure hope your new baby is a beautiful as your other two girls!"  Even the doctor commented on what nice children they were after the last exam was complete.  Now, I'm not one to hold back credit where credit is due, because like I said before, I was very happy with them - and they got to have ice cream after dinner that day, which doesn't usually happen on a  weeknight.  However, I did think more than once, "What kind of hellions do you usually have come through here?!?!?!?"

Tagged

10 Years Ago I.....

1.  Went to the corn maze on a date with a bearded guy named Dave (A first for me - the beard, not the Dave.)

2.  Was up to my eyeballs in tests & homework:  my fifteen credits included Doctrine & Covenants, Human Anatomy, Biochemistry, Human Development, and Pathophysiology

3.  Got woken up at 2:30 a.m. one weeknight by my roommate.  It went like this:  

"Brenda, do you have a car?"  (You can tell we were oh-so-close if she didn't even know my transportation status.)  

"mumble-groan...Yes."

"Can I borrow your keys so I can take my fiancee home?"  (Her fiancee, who ate our food, fought with her constantly, was there after BYU curfew frequently, and was a general nuisance.)

"now awake enough to to be irritated and incredulous...Noooo."

"Well, would you get up and drive him home then?"

"probably sounding like I what I thinking about her right at that very second...No!!"  And I rolled over, not feeling at all bad about it, because I had 8 AM class in a few hours.

4.  Stayed up just late enough, studied way too much, went on lots of dates, had way too much fun, and generally enjoyed the simultaneously most fun and busiest and best semester at BYU.

5.  Met Nathan.  He sent me more than one a day emails from USU campus in the two weeks in between meeting and our first date.  It took him longer than I thought it would to ask me out, and I kept asking 'My Married Guy Friend' who sat next to me in Biochem, (whose name escapes me even though I can still picture his face - weird) "Why this guy was sending me all these emails without asking me out?"  More on this later.  I'm hoping to compile a post about how we met, but I keep putting it off, because I know it will be long.

5 Things on my to-do list for today.....

1.  OB appointment.  Meh.  (For all these annoying cxns, you'd think I'd be 5 cm or something.  I was better than last week, but not significantly.)

2.  Not on the list, but I took Becca to play at the park for about an hour because she was so nice and well-behaved at the doctor's office.  I guess I ended up doing this instead of baking cookies to welcome our new neighbors.  Well, that and I fell asleep for an hour and a half this afternoon while trying to watch a Tivoed episode of Oprah.  Oops on all counts.

3.  Drive Cassidy and her two neighbor friends to Activity Days this afternoon

4.  Quit forgetting to touch up the scratch on the van from when Braden closed the garage door while the back hatch was still open.  Not actively angry, but still not happy about that one.

5.  Not watch the VP debate in protest.  (I may cave, but right now I am firm in my principles.)  I'm so sad that The Office got pre-empted for that.  Why Thursday?  The actual real candidates did their debate on a Friday last week.  Friday, night of totally missable shows.  What gives?

5 Snacks I enjoy.....

1.  Cookies (said with a Cookie Monster voice.  Anyone else sad that this means nothing to today's generation of children?)

2.  Dry cereal by the handful

3.  Sweet, firm, crisp grapes

4.  A piece of toast

5.  Candy, of course, any type but black licorice

5 Things I would do if I was a millionaire.....

1.  Buy a bigger house with a whole unfinished basement for lots of awesome storage - and a maid to go with it.

2.  Get Nathan a convertible.  Get myself a fun little around town car and a new van or crossover SUV.  (Hey, we're millionaires right?  We would still need a family vehicle, and that's just not right that my big splurge would have to be a minivan.)

3.  Go on a cruise or fun trip with our parents.

4.  Go somewhere far away just us - either Italy or Mexico.  

5.  College funds for the kids.

I know he would like this one.  Maybe not blue though.

5 Places I have lived.....

1. Utah

2. Texas

3. Utah again

5 Jobs I have had.....

1.  Copy center attendant

2. Sears Telecenter scheduling appliance service at their 1-800 number.  (Thank you for calling Sears Home Central.  My name is Brenda.  How may I assist you?)

3.  Training Table table busser for 5 weeks while I waited for something better to come up.  Worst.  Job.  Ever.

4.  Super Target associate in Softlines.  I put away clothes from the fitting room and organized clothes on the racks.  Hey - it bought my food my sophomore year of college.

5.  Registered nurse in Labor & Delivery and the ER.  I liked L&D better.  If I ever went back to work that is what I would do.

Good old Target.  You haven't lived until you get to stay till 2 a.m. cleaning and closing up shop during the holiday shopping season.  Talk about incentive to stay in college.

I'm not in the mood to figure out who to tag.  I tag anyone who reads this and is looking for something to post because they just realized their last like 4 posts have all been about the same topic.  (Mine's been pregnancy.  Sorry, all.)

Today I have a favorite child

And it is NOT the baby.  I have been contracting every 10 minutes for 2 or 3 hours at a time the last 3 days, but never enough to take me in to the hospital.  It's wearing on me.  I think she has set up shop inside me and will never be born ever.  I wish patience was one of my virtues.  I'm not even near my due date, and yet, every third day I feel like crying for about 20 minutes.  Then it passes, and I move on.

Yesterday Cassidy commented, "Mom, you said that you were going to get HUGE by the end of being  pregnant.  But, you're not.  Your belly is big, but it's not near as big as you said it would be.  (Gesturing a few inches from the belly border)  This is how big I thought you were going to be!  I think you still look just regular big."

Keep talking, sweetheart.  The favorite child trophy is yours.

It Happened Early

Kapow.

A Marathon - of waiting

The last few weeks of pregnancy remind me of what I would guess running a marathon would be like.  Because let's face it, even in tip-top shape, I hate running to the end of the street.  How could I ever know the reality of actually running 26 miles?  I say this because in my mind I picture marathon runners periodically thinking "just make it past the next two trees."  "Only two more street signs and then I'll be within viewing distance of ______."

I think with the mind of a marathoner at the end of pregnancy.  I've been saying things like that to myself all week now.  I cleaned all the bathrooms today, and as I did I counted out that I would probably only scrub the toilets 3 more times until the baby came.  I only drive the school and kindergarten carpools one more time each, and after that the baby will be here before my next turn.  Week 35 has brought new pains I don't remember from previous pregnancies.  I vainly hope they all mean I'm dilating early and I won't have to wait even until an induction date.

Yesterday I was wondering what women did back before elective induction existed.    Knowing it will be "no longer than" keeps me going.  I have much in the way of retrospective sympathy for my poor mother, whose second pregnancy was 16 days overdue.  I'm sure much of it has to do with my congenital lack of patience.  It's a disorder I've almost given up trying conquer.  Even so, if I began my quest anew, now would not be the time!

In a previous post I mentioned ricocheting off the wall.  For your information, I'm predicting my official time of impact with The Wall will be the afternoon of Monday, Sept 29th.  Just so you know.

The True Cost of Pregnancy

I have rhinitis of pregnancy:  AKA - I have a stuffy nose all the time.  Plus I have the standard last trimester always-in-the-bathroom-itis.  I hadn't put two and two together until this morning, but our household budget has stretched to accommodate the cost of extra tissues (half of a Costco case-worth over the last 4 months!) and extra toilet paper.  It is sad when you change the TP roll today and remember which day last week you did that task....

On the upside, I had a doctor's visit today and I am dilated to 1+ cm.  Not bad for 35 weeks.  I'll certainly take it!  I am ricocheting off the wall though.  Not in the "I'm excited and jittery just like when I was a kid" sense.  More in the sense of, I haven't quite Hit The Wall yet, but I've touched it and bounced back a few times in the last couple of days.  I'm just getting ready to be done being pregnant.  I love the many iterations of this sentiment you can find in parenting/childbirth magazines:  

"Whoever designed pregnancy in the first place knew we'd never be willing to go through labor if the whole nine months was a bed of roses.  That last month makes labor seem like the best party in town."

My friend Liz brought her baby home from the hospital today.  I held him for a while when I went to visit and take her a baby gift.  Luckily, it made me excited, not just to be done being pregnant, but excited to have my new baby arrive!   I hope she is as cute as my other children.  I hope she sleeps as well or better than my other children.  I hope she weighs a lot so that more of this baby weight counts as her instead of as me!  I hope she is healthy.  I hope Nathan really takes 1-2 weeks off work like he said he would/could.  

I just realized that as big and round as I feel, I wore a red shirt today.  I bet I look like a giant garden tomato.   Oh, sad but true.  :-)