Ooooo, it's chilly!

Finally stopped raining, but now it's freezing. Literally freezing, it got down to 30 here in Livermore last night. Brrrrr!

Christmas day was nice. Mom, her friend Cindy and Ron came over Christmas day. Mom made delicious quiche, "You don't spell it Son, you eat it!" We watched some basketball, Lakers kicked some green butt :)

We spend some time mulling over the baby name book, still nothing definite. I started making dinner and Rob called and was being passed around for every one's update. Ron entertained himself by playing darts. So I threw a few too. Mom claimed to have never played before so I gave her the basics and off she went. By the end of two or three rounds of 301, she was a pro. She even hit a few bulls eye. Can you say Dart Shark?
We had dinner, nothing spectacularly holiday'ish, just brined, roasted chicken and brussel sprouts. Which I found out not everyone likes. Yumm, I love brussel sprouts. Ron likened them to lawn cuttings, but he humored me and choked down a couple anyway. That was pretty much our Christmas day.

We did exchange a few presents, Pam sent me this beautiful sweater. Here it is with my belly at 4 1/2 months. I'm right at the 1/2 way point.










I have the big ultrasound on Jan 8th. This is the appointment where we can find out the sex if we so decide. Which I haven't decided, I can go either way. The practical side of me says "it is what it is", knowing, not knowing isn't going to change the outcome, just find out so you and everyone else can start preparing. But the old fashioned surprise factor is very appealing to me. We'll see....

The Yule Log

Merry Christmas to my family I won't see this year. I miss you and am thinking of you.

Remember watching the Yule Log on TV20? I got a DVD of it for Christmas :)

So, want to hear what a nutbag I am? OK. I woke up this morning at 6am and decided I needed to bake some cookies. My cubemate at work loves the peanut butter ones with the chocolate kiss in the center and since she's always doing such nice things for me, I decided I should bake her some cookies. In addition, I can take some to Dad's Christmas Eve festivities this evening as he is a peanut butter fan too. I have all the ingredients and some how in my head think this will only take me, what, a half an hour? Yeah, half an hour. Keep in mind I do have to work today, but it's a short day. So the first batch comes along easy enough, but it's already 6:45 and I haven't even had a chance to put some coffee on. I better step on it. Someone not half asleep could have probably done the math better than me, but figure 10 minutes per batch in the oven, 4 batches = 40 minutes + prep time.

Somehow I didn't get done until 7:30!! I still have crunchy sleepness in my eyes and I should be on my way to work! Ha. So I throw on some clothes, brush my teeth, wash the sleep out of my eyes and straighten out my bangs. Off I go.

Is it Murphy's Law? that whenever I'm late for something I have forgotten I need to get gas? So I must stop for gas (only $1.84 gal for Premium!, cheap) but I make it to work by 8:20, not too bad. And "I'm not even supposed to be here today". I'm working because it's only a 6 hr day and because I missed Monday with my typhoid fever. I'm all beter by the way. And the cookies turned out beautifully.

Merry Christmas !!

My Yearly Christmas Sickness

I don't know what it is, but every year I seem to get some kind of cold. This year's was a doozie. Saturday I woke up really early and decided to take a nap in the early afternoon. Beto and his sister were going to the golf range and were going to come back at 2:15 to pick me up to go play 9. I passed out about 11:30 and slept thru 'til 1:30. I had to get ready quick because they were comin to get me. I made it though and off we went. I knew it was going to be chilly so I layered on the clothes. But just saying chilly, does not do the weather justice. I made it to through the 5th hole, which I par'd by the way and I had to come in, my hands were frozen, there was no way I was going to make. So off to the clubhouse I went to get some hot coffee in me. But that was the beginning of the end. I was sick. Even after sitting in the clubhouse defrosting for 45 minutes, I was warm to the touch but I had shivers. So we get up to go and go outside and I have never felt so cold in all my life. I am shivering so hard, I can barely move. It scared the crap out of me, I couldn't get warm. We get home and grab the baby bible, I look under cold, nothing. I look under shivers, nothing. I look under temperature and of course, I need to take my temperature. So I do, it's 101.7. Poop, I'm getting sick, self induced or whatever I've got a fever.
But I'm still cold so Beto buries me under every blanket in the house. I stop shivering and just decide to go to bed. I sleep, but not soundly. I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm thirsty, Tess needs to pee. I get up Sunday and feel dirty after sweating all night. I need a shower. Beto gets up and he has a fever of 102.4 !! He looks like death. I make him take a cold'ish shower to get his temp down. What a mess we are. I check my temp, it's gone down, 100.7. I feel better, but still achey. That horrible sick ache where your bones hurt. I can't lay down anymore cuz the back, neck and shoulders are sore. But we do manage to sleep the day and night away. I feel markedly better on Monday and HAVE to go to the store. We have drank every liquid in the house. Monday is lay around and nap day too. I haven't eaten very well so I try to choke down anything that sounds remotely tasty. I made beenie-weenies and those go down well. I decided to stay home from work and try to get to 100%. Beto is still running a fever so he sleeps most of the day. I can't watch another stupid movie just for the fact to be watching a movie. I read the baby name book. Got a couple new ones....girl-Calys, unisex-Skyler. I've always like Skyler, just forgot about it 'til I saw it in the book. So we're all better now...

What's the haps?

I know, I know, I haven't updated y'all on the baby front lately. There's just not much goin' on. I'm getting bigger. I am still tired.
Beto made me clean the house last night, in prep for his Sister's arrival Thursday. I was in charge of the kitchen. Although Beto did help with the dishes, I was still exhausted when I was done. The thing is, that kitchen is like the Bermuda Triangle. Everything ends up in there and it's always a mess. I swear more than two people live there, they must come in while we are at work and dirty all of our dishes! Anyway the kitchen finally gets clean and of course I gotta make some dinner. Beto has a name for when I cook dinner, the "Whirlwind". Doesn't matter what I make, the kitchen is a disaster when I'm done. This is not my intention of course, because I just finished cleaning it, I don't want to do it again! Try as I might to "clean as you go", this doesn't work for me. I make the Whirlwind and then sit down to eat. Usually I'll leave the Whirlwind 'til tomorrow and do it all over again, but today I can't. Beto is on a mission to CLEAN the house. So I have to clean it again after dinner. By the time I'm done with everything, it's 8 o'clock. I finally get to sit down on the couch and I literally pass out from exhaustion. I think I was drooling on Beto and awoke myself with a snort and finally went to bed about 9. I've never been so sleepy in all my life. Geesch, nevermind a Nanny, I need a maid.

Baby Tess

Due to the time change and such, Tess has been getting less walks after work. I feel bad because I know she LOVES to go on her walks to the park and sniff every inch of every yard along the way, but I don't like to go out in the dark. In addition, it's been really cold! So as we sit in the living room, Tess makes her countless circles around the couch, in front of the TV, behind the table and back around. She stares at me as if any moment I will get up and grab her leash. But I don't and she starts to talk to me. Yes, she talks. She makes this really funny half grunt, half roar kind of voice and she is trying to tell me something. So I ask her a series of questions to determine just what is it that she needs. Are you hungry? Do you want to go outside? She hears outside and her ears perk up and she starts her dance towards the back patio door. This means she wants to go outside. So she steps onto the patio, looks back and stares at me in anticipation. I say "GO TESS!" and she tears off with nails scratching in place until she takes hold and bolts to the yard where she picks up her tennis shoe and proceeds to throw it around the yard, shake it back and forth in her mouth, hitting her head with each thrash. I can't do anything but laugh and laugh, it's the cutest thing ever. Tess is a strange dog, she doesn't play fetch or catch or anything like that but she will toss things to herself and also chases her tail. Which she'll do until she looses her balance, falls to grass and continues to roll around on the ground still chasing her tail. This is how she releases her pent up energy when we don;t go for walks. She also runs at full speed up and down the yard like a racing horse. Pam captured her in a rare motionless moment during the shoe toss.

Oh, the pressure of a name !!

As previously mentioned, Beto and I both like the name Maximus (Max) for a boy. However, one lunchbreak I was reading "Star" magazine and was sad to learn that Max has become very popular with the Stars. J-Lo, Xtina and Trista(Bachelorette) have all recently named their boys Max. Dang it! First, I never hear it and then it's everywhere. I was even shopping at Target in the lightbulb aisle and a Dad with his son come rolling by and the kid is whining incessantly about the bicycles about 20 feet away. Dad says, "No Max, not today." Ugh! How can everyone steal my name?
So, during the Thanksgiving holiday while sitting around a Karaoke bar in SF listening to bad Karaoke, me, Ron and Pam began brainstorming names.

Boys:
West
Joaquin
Ryne
Cal

Girls:
Alec
Magnolia
James
Dallas
Addison

I still like Max, so it's not completely out the running....
any thoughts?

On the road again!!

With my current condition, I have been hesitant and too tired to get out on my bike. But I miss it sooooooo ! I bought this contraption that turns my fancy road bike into a stationary bike, pretty cool, huh? Not sure Beto's too excited about it because I put it all together at the foot of the bed. But it's a perfect spot to be out of way of the normal house happenings and smack dab in front of a TV, so I can be entertained while I exercise. The plan is to roll out of bed and hop on in the morning. I did it this morning for 1/2 an hour and worked up a little bit of a sweat. Tour de France, here I come !