Ode to Odie

Anyone that knows us knows that our dog Odie is our child. He is incredibly loved and very, very spoiled. Our life revolves around him and he is the center of attention. Well Odie has about 2 weeks left of being our #1. I know that once we have our baby he is going to become slightly less spoiled and probably slightly more ignored. Although everyone tells me that my intense love for my dog will change once I have a child, I am sure that it won't. So before our little girl comes into this world and becomes the #1, here is an "Ode to Odie," our first born child.

This is Odie as a puppy. Apparently we hadn't found a groomer yet!

Doing what he does best...sleeping and relaxing! He must take after his mom and dad.

This is Odie's favorite thing to do since we moved to Charlotte. There is a park behind our house that is full of squirrels. Well Odie has become a squirrel hunter. He loves to stalk them and chase after them. Good thing he isn't that fast, who knows what would happen if he really caught one!

Charlotte Shower

So my best friend here in Charlotte threw me a really nice baby shower. It was at her mom and dad's Coutry Club about 30 minutes south of Uptown. Thanks Jen for all the effort and time you put into this. It was so awesome and I loved it, you truly are an amazing friend! And thanks to all my friends from work that drove to come hang out for the afternoon, I really appreciate it!

Jen and me at the shower. She will hate that I posted a picture of her, but I think it's cute.

Jen had this awesome diaper cake made for me. She also had the beautiful mums flown in from California...they were gorgeous.

All my friends from work. From top left to top right: Jen's mom Melissa Hodge, Ruth Gavin our receptionist, Joanne Dang, Tracy Douglas, Julie Harman, Laura Leung, me, Jennifer Hodge, Rhonda Bradley & Jennifer Sproul. Thanks everyone for coming, it was so nice you have you all there!!!

A Time to Vent & My Prediction

I precursor this blog entry with the fact that I am so grateful to be pregnant. I can't wait to meet our little girl and I know everything you go through in pregnancy is 110% worth it. But hey a girl does need to vent every once in a while right?

So for posterity and my sisters, here is my big belly at 35 weeks. It must be large compared to other pregnant people's bellies because everyone at my work keeps saying either

A: "You are really ready aren't you" or

B: "Are you sure your doctor's haven't miscalculated, you look like you should be much closer than 4 weeks!"

I really love both these comments...they make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. As if it isn't enough that I can't get comfortable to get any sleep, I wake up at least 7 times a night to go to the bathroom, and the most painful part of my day is completing the simple task of putting on my socks, apparently I look miserable too.

I think it is all the little things you don't expect that intrigue me the most about being pregnant. You expect the big belly, but no one tells you about the fact that you will gain so much weight your thighs may rub together when you walk. Or the fact that you may retain so much water that you won't fit into any pre-pregnancy shoes you owned. Or that your bones "down there" separate (who knew?) so it will probably be pretty painful to walk. Or that your face has the ability to pretty much double in size.

I will come clean on one thing I have learned being pregnant. I always told everyone I would never waddle no matter how pregnant I was. Well I have learned that the waddle is inevitable. There is just nothing you can do about it as it hurts far to much to walk regularly. So I say bring on the waddle!!!

Anyhow, I am now done venting. I have 4 weeks left and I can't wait to forget all the bad parts of being pregnant and only remember the good. I also can't even describe how excited I am to meet my daughter! It is like the excitement you feel when you know you get to go to Disney World soon...but a million times better!

The Prediction:

So in conclusion I want to make my prediction, just for the record so I can say I told you so. I predict that although I am due in 4 weeks, I will go into the doctors around my due date and won't even be close. My doctor will proceed to tell me that I look like I am on track and my baby doesn't seem big, therefore no need to rush things. Then 2 weeks later I will finally go into labor and our beautiful little girl will weigh 9 pounds 4 ounces. Just putting it out there...hopefully I am wrong but we will see!

The Nursery Nook

So since we live in the city, we live in a one bedroom condo. This was never an issue until I found out I was pregnant. Trying to figure out where to put everything that comes along with a baby in such a small space has been very overwhelming for me. Well, it has taken a lot of moving, organizing, consolidating and I am not going to lie, frustration, but we finally made it work. We created what we like to call "The Nursery Nook." We couldn't create a nursery room, but I wanted to have a space for out little girl to call her own. So here it is...the pictures don't really do it justice, but I wanted to share it with everyone because I love it. Even though it is a tiny little nook, I love how it turned out. Just a side note, I may have gotten a little carried away with the pictures, but I wanted to document everything for my own sake.

San Diego 2008

So we just got home from our yearly San Diego trip with Lee's family. I really wonder why it is that vacations go by so fast when work weeks go by so slow! It felt like we were there for 2 days even though we were really there for 7. Lee's parents rent a really nice beach house right on the Boardwalk of Mission Beach. Last year I was a little skeptical of how much fun this would really be, but I was very surprised. This year I went in with a much better attitude and again it was a great week. Traveling from Charlotte to San Diego is no small jaunt, especially when you are 28 weeks pregnant and already very uncomfortable all the time. It is crazy to think we could have flown to Europe in about the same time it takes to fly to San Diego. Once we were there it was a lot of fun. Usually we go over the 4th of July so the weather is a little nicer and there is more going on. However this year we had to go a few weeks early so the weather wasn't quite as warm and sunny. It was definitely a well needed break from the 99 degree 150% humidity we have been experiencing in Charlotte lately! Most of the days consisted of relaxing on the beach and just hanging out. Lee and I really tried to keep sleeping like we were in Charlotte's time zone, a 3 hour time difference may not sound like much, but it is a killer when you get back home! Other than that we did a lot of shopping (more for Lee than myself...it just isn't the same trying on clothes when you are 7 months pregnant and really retaining water!). We also went to Sea World which was really fun. I haven't been since Shalice was pregnant with Kason, so that was like 11 years ago. I will say I do have problems with Sea World and the fact that these animals are kept captive and forced to preform 3-5 times a day. However once I got past that it was really awesome. The shows were amazing, the fact that they can train pretty much any animal to do really cool tricks baffles me. I can't even teach my dog how to not bark at the neighbors! Another thing that was really great was digging a whole in the sand on the beach so that I could pretend for 10 min that I could lay like a normal person (it was very exciting). All in all it was a great week and I was sad to come back to reality. Below are the top 10 things I want to always remember about our trip!

Top 10 Things About San Diego
(In no particular order)

1. Needing to wear a sweatshirt when the sun went down.

2. Eating ice cream at Mr. Frosties pretty much every night.

3. Lee catching a really huge fish within the first 30 seconds of his deep sea fishing adventure.

4. Seaworld!

5. Being with Lee's entire family at one time.

6. The beach and the sun (I don't need anything more than that really).

7. Coming home with about 4 new giant stuffed animals and a bright red elmo hat...this is what Seaworld carnival games and $50 can get you too (but as long as you had fun babe, that's what counts)!

8. Sharing pregnancy stories with my niece that is about a month further along than I am. Oh, and surprising Lee's family with the fact that I was 7 months pregnant (since no one but his parents knew).

9. Sunset walks on the beach and boardwalk.

10. Spending uninterrupted, relaxing, quality, no-work time with my husband.

And here is a picture of my belly at 28 weeks for those who would like to see it. Bathing suits while pregnant are pretty unforgiving!

Now That's Love

So my husband did probably the cutest thing ever. I have been missing Arizona a lot lately, mostly the weather and the food. I am a Mexican food lover and Charlotte has NO Mexican food...and when I say none, I mean Taco Bell is my sole Mexican food option! So Lee went to Arizona to visit his family and I was so sad I couldn't go with him. He ate at my favorite Mexican food place called Gecko Grill and I was so jealous. My sisters and mom can attest that this is probably the most incredible Mexican food ever. When we lived in Arizona Lee and I ate there at least once a week, and that isn't an exaggeration. Well my cute husband went to Gecko the night before he left and bought me my favorite burrito. He immediately put it in the freezer so it would be frozen when he traveled home. When he got home he gave it to me and after heating it up it pretty much tasted like I had just ordered it from the kitchen. I mean even if it hadn't worked as well as it did it still would have tasted amazing. Let's face it, when you have been deprived for so long that Taco Bell tastes good, you know anything will be a step up! Even more than how good it was, it just made me realize that I truly do have the best husband. He was so sweet to think of me and go so out of his way to make me happy. I love you babe, you really are the best husband a girl could have!

Also, I know I haven't posted much lately, but I am currently in San Diego at the beach with Lee's fam. I should have a good post coming soon!

Happy Birthday To Me

So I have learned that as you get older, birthdays are much less fun than they used to be. When I was little I looked forward to my birthday all year. My parents always made birthdays such a big deal. They made you feel so special all day, and they always surprised you with good presents. You would go to school and everyone would know it was your birthday and you would always have plans to get together with your friends to celebrate. Well 26 years later I am an adult that gets to spend my birthday at work where no one even says "hope you have a great day." My family and friends all remember and usually give me a call, so that is nice...but it's just not quite the same. So needless to say I had quite an uneventful 26th birthday.

Lee and I did plan a nice dinner out however, not much longer we will be able to do that without getting a babysitter. We went to this really nice restaurant in Southpark called Oceanair. They have amazing seafood. The best part is Lee ordered king crab legs and they were actual crabs from one of the boats on that Discovery Channel show "The Deadliest Catch." Of course they were a little pricey, but sooooooooo good. Probably the most amazing crab I have ever had. The chunks of meat you pulled out were the size of my wrist. I know you aren't technically supposed to eat shellfish when you are pregnant, but I decided I could splurge a little just once. It was delicious! I captured the moment just for this blog, nothing like a grown man in a bib! Needless to say it was a very fun night. So here's to being another year older & 6 month pregnant...gotta love it!