Granted, as of today, it's the month of February (not on a leap year). I can't believe it's gone this quickly and, somewhat surprisingly, I'm in no hurry for it to end any time soon. Yes, I am excited to meet BabyD and learn about him/her but right now Matt is in California for a Brass Workshop--or I have been calling it: band camp. He has been gone since Monday night and will not return until next Sunday (for a total of 12 days), which has been a cause for a little anxiety for both of us. Of course, I do get tickled when he asks me how the baby's doing every time he calls. In my head I'm thinking, "wiggling around, right where you left him/her." I still enjoy knowing that my baby is tucked safely away and I really don't feel that greedy about keeping all that kicking, turning and wiggling to myself...at least not yet.
Sydne is doing better. Her knee is healing really well and the fur is starting to grow back, but the shaved leg is still quite obvious. We are still having to limit her activities, so she's been trapped in the "den" of our house, especially since she believes herself to be back to full capacity. As a result, Matt and I have been sleeping downstairs. In the past week, I have been alternating between the floor and the couch (depending on thunderstorms) so that she won't try to venture up the stairs and so she doesn't have to sleep in her crate.
Today I am having a surprise wedding shower for two of our friends who are getting married in Hawaii. Casey, Matt's buddy, and I are collaborating on it. He's in charge of the grill and I'm doing everything else, which is perfectly fine with me. Of course, I'm not currently on schedule because I only did the grocery shopping yesterday and didn't clean anything in the house that I wanted to. Instead, I spent several hours trying to convince myself that I wanted to cook, clean, shop, etc. And, of course, now I'm writing rather than doing any of those things. Still, I have about 4-5 hours, so I should be fine. The house isn't a complete mess and the things I have to do won't take that long.
IC is slowly coming back following the flood. The clean-up is obvious everywhere but no one is sure which businesses will be coming back and which have been close indefinitely. The School of Music is closed for the year, the Art Museum is going to move to a new location, and the entire arts campus will be spread across the whole of the city: arts studios at the old Menards, music classes in every church in the city, and lessons in professors' homes. It will definitely be an interesting year.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
oh my, to catch up...
So many things have happened and I have so much to share...
I am now up to week 33, which is pretty darn good and, yes, I'm getting big. As the floating baby (which totally freaks Megs out--teehee) shows, I have less than 50 days to go until the kiddo gets here and I keep getting bigger. This is probably one of the few times in my life in which I won't complain about an expanding waistline.
Two weeks ago, IC was hit with horrible, horrible rain and flooding. As a result, I spent that Monday moving musical instruments from the MT "closet" to the offices of Drs. A & G. The ironic part of it is that we were told it would most likely not be necessary to do only to be notified 3 days later that everything in the music building needed to be moved due to fear of 4.5 feet of water on the first floor, 4.5 FEET! So it was another time in my life that I'm glad I didn't listen to someone who was in charge because they would have been very wrong and it would have been a very expensive "learning experience" (as Dr A calls them). So we moved almost every single musical instrument out of that closet (except a few plastic things that would not be affected by water and could be cleaned with clorox) on a giant percussion cart, in about 5 loads via the freight elevator. We did sacrifice one guitar to the River Gods, but only because it was really broken and needed lots of work.
Thursday of that week I trekked down to Charleston, SC for a girls' weekend we had planned for months. The timing was just amazing. I left Thursday (they closed the interstate on Friday) and got to spend some great quality time with Bev and Amy. Friday we slept late, ate at IHOP, got massages and facials (oh, the happy memory), went on a Ghost Tour of the Charleston jail on Friday, the 13th mind you and ate yummy, yummy food. Saturday we went to see Sex and the City: The Movie. Though I never watched the show, I did enjoy the movie. Of course, it could have partly been the hormones, but I kinda wept through the second half of the movie. This is where the plans changed...
Instead of coming back to IC on Sunday and spending Saturday afternoon at the beach, I was stuck in the South for a bit longer. (Now, that's not such a bad thing and AirTran was super-fantastic about helping me get my tickets rearranged.) Because of the flooding, the interstate from the airport to IC was closed, which meant that I could either fly home on Sunday at my designated time and spend who knows how many days in a hotel until the road was opened or change my ticket. So after explaining the situation to the airline associate and stating I'd have to charter a boat to get home from the airport the same day as my arrival, my flight was changed to the following Saturday and I had to figure out what to do for the next 6 or so days. Luckily, Amy still lives in our hometown so after the movie, and a bit of shopping, we hopped in the car and headed to her in-laws home in Holden Beach to meet up with her cutie-patootie husband and little boy. We headed out of Holden at 3 a.m. for the drive home and 5 hours later rolled into town with a very unhappy 13-month old (he was ready to be out of the car). From there on, it was a week of quality time with Mom, Dad & Jo, Marc, Challen and Maddox, and other friends from home I have missed dearly.
Meanwhile, on the homefront, the flooding continuously got worse. My beloved IC and C'ville strip became a river, destroying many businesses that may not come back and university buildings that will needs months to be repaired. The pictures I was able to find online paled in comparison to the reality my friends back here were experiencing. I know that I will never truly understand how completely horrific it was because I was in NC and only had the "virtual" experience. In addition, my sweet, sweet Sydne tore her doggie ACL and had to have surgery to repair the damage, which sent pangs of guilt through my heart because I was so far away and unable, once again, to do anything.
This past Saturday, I finally got home. It has been surreal to see all the various businesses closed and muddied, to try to traverse the roads to work, to get everything else caught up, and take care of my husband and puppy. Syd-dog is slowly getting better. She has more energy, which means we have to encourage her to lay down and stay calm. Ice cream has been a good incentive. Dad and Jo are coming in for a baby shower this weekend so they'll get to see some of the remnants first-hand. It should be a good time especially when they haven't been here since 2006.
We also started our MT sessions with the kiddos at the Speech and Hearing Center today, which was fantastic! I love working with them and seeing all the progress they make over the course of 6 weeks working with us and the SLP students. It's a busy, busy time and I'm loving every minute.
I am now up to week 33, which is pretty darn good and, yes, I'm getting big. As the floating baby (which totally freaks Megs out--teehee) shows, I have less than 50 days to go until the kiddo gets here and I keep getting bigger. This is probably one of the few times in my life in which I won't complain about an expanding waistline.
Two weeks ago, IC was hit with horrible, horrible rain and flooding. As a result, I spent that Monday moving musical instruments from the MT "closet" to the offices of Drs. A & G. The ironic part of it is that we were told it would most likely not be necessary to do only to be notified 3 days later that everything in the music building needed to be moved due to fear of 4.5 feet of water on the first floor, 4.5 FEET! So it was another time in my life that I'm glad I didn't listen to someone who was in charge because they would have been very wrong and it would have been a very expensive "learning experience" (as Dr A calls them). So we moved almost every single musical instrument out of that closet (except a few plastic things that would not be affected by water and could be cleaned with clorox) on a giant percussion cart, in about 5 loads via the freight elevator. We did sacrifice one guitar to the River Gods, but only because it was really broken and needed lots of work.
Thursday of that week I trekked down to Charleston, SC for a girls' weekend we had planned for months. The timing was just amazing. I left Thursday (they closed the interstate on Friday) and got to spend some great quality time with Bev and Amy. Friday we slept late, ate at IHOP, got massages and facials (oh, the happy memory), went on a Ghost Tour of the Charleston jail on Friday, the 13th mind you and ate yummy, yummy food. Saturday we went to see Sex and the City: The Movie. Though I never watched the show, I did enjoy the movie. Of course, it could have partly been the hormones, but I kinda wept through the second half of the movie. This is where the plans changed...
Instead of coming back to IC on Sunday and spending Saturday afternoon at the beach, I was stuck in the South for a bit longer. (Now, that's not such a bad thing and AirTran was super-fantastic about helping me get my tickets rearranged.) Because of the flooding, the interstate from the airport to IC was closed, which meant that I could either fly home on Sunday at my designated time and spend who knows how many days in a hotel until the road was opened or change my ticket. So after explaining the situation to the airline associate and stating I'd have to charter a boat to get home from the airport the same day as my arrival, my flight was changed to the following Saturday and I had to figure out what to do for the next 6 or so days. Luckily, Amy still lives in our hometown so after the movie, and a bit of shopping, we hopped in the car and headed to her in-laws home in Holden Beach to meet up with her cutie-patootie husband and little boy. We headed out of Holden at 3 a.m. for the drive home and 5 hours later rolled into town with a very unhappy 13-month old (he was ready to be out of the car). From there on, it was a week of quality time with Mom, Dad & Jo, Marc, Challen and Maddox, and other friends from home I have missed dearly.
Meanwhile, on the homefront, the flooding continuously got worse. My beloved IC and C'ville strip became a river, destroying many businesses that may not come back and university buildings that will needs months to be repaired. The pictures I was able to find online paled in comparison to the reality my friends back here were experiencing. I know that I will never truly understand how completely horrific it was because I was in NC and only had the "virtual" experience. In addition, my sweet, sweet Sydne tore her doggie ACL and had to have surgery to repair the damage, which sent pangs of guilt through my heart because I was so far away and unable, once again, to do anything.
This past Saturday, I finally got home. It has been surreal to see all the various businesses closed and muddied, to try to traverse the roads to work, to get everything else caught up, and take care of my husband and puppy. Syd-dog is slowly getting better. She has more energy, which means we have to encourage her to lay down and stay calm. Ice cream has been a good incentive. Dad and Jo are coming in for a baby shower this weekend so they'll get to see some of the remnants first-hand. It should be a good time especially when they haven't been here since 2006.
We also started our MT sessions with the kiddos at the Speech and Hearing Center today, which was fantastic! I love working with them and seeing all the progress they make over the course of 6 weeks working with us and the SLP students. It's a busy, busy time and I'm loving every minute.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
When Momma C comes to visit...
Things get done! In a hurry!
Mom came to visit last Thursday, our first visit since she game in Dec '06. It was the first time she got the see the house and first time she'd seen us since Christmas. Needless to say, there were some slight changes in my figure and other fun things.
Mom got here Thursday night when we joined miss Molly on her 25th birthday. We had an excellent dinner of yummy Japanese food followed by chill time for Mom and me and then some emptying of the nursery, which more closely resembled a room struck by a tornado. Friday, the three of us (or four, if you count BabyD) went for my doctor's visit and then went out to lunch. When we got home, our changing table had arrived (woohoo!) and then a trip to Lowe's to pick out paint and all the necessities. When we got home from Lowe's, the crib and mattress had arrived, making it a wonderful present day. That created even more urgency for me to have the nursery set up. The taping and painting began, which resulted in my prompt removal from the room. At the end of day one (Friday), it looked like this:
Mom got here Thursday night when we joined miss Molly on her 25th birthday. We had an excellent dinner of yummy Japanese food followed by chill time for Mom and me and then some emptying of the nursery, which more closely resembled a room struck by a tornado. Friday, the three of us (or four, if you count BabyD) went for my doctor's visit and then went out to lunch. When we got home, our changing table had arrived (woohoo!) and then a trip to Lowe's to pick out paint and all the necessities. When we got home from Lowe's, the crib and mattress had arrived, making it a wonderful present day. That created even more urgency for me to have the nursery set up. The taping and painting began, which resulted in my prompt removal from the room. At the end of day one (Friday), it looked like this:
Saturday morning, we went to the Oto baby shower. Mom got to meet the great ladies I work with, which was a wonderful time for both of us. I got wonderful gifts from my coworkers and friends. Mom displayed yet another talent and excitement about the new BabyD with another display of her knitting prowess. It was too cute.
After the shower, it was back to work. I grabbed a blade and started taking the extra paint off the baseboards; Mom grabbed a paint brush. After dinner, it was crib assembly time, then off to bed.
Sunday we took Mom out for breakfast and then came home to give the room it's finishing touches. By Sunday afternoon, the nursery was finished, at least as much as we have right now.
As Matt put it when talking to one of our friends, she "cracked the whip." I love it when she does that. :-)
Can't believe there's only 80 days (or so) to go until BabyD gets here! I feel like I have so much more to write, but the cold I caught has decreased my verbal skills, at least for now.
peace, love, happiness!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Lots of breathing
Today required a lot of breathing, some to relax and some of relief, all to do with work.
With the end of the semester quickly approaching I have been working on everyone's schedules, including my own, trying to make sure everything is lined-out and ready to go. Planning for the summer has been interesting. With the smaller patient load this year, there have been fewer patients to test. Yet, as the summer approaches, many different programs always appear to pick up. Until this afternoon, we had one potential student who wanted to work and even then I wasn't sure that would work. Now we have two other potential students to work, both of whom will need to be trained on how to do everything on our team--for a month. The only real bonus for me is that one of them has completed all of her practical experience which will help in our summer kiddo program and planning. (deep breath)
Then there's the thorn in my side (but only for 5 more weeks). I simply don't know what to do. I feel like I'm doing so much for her that I don't want to help her anymore. But in the same respect, I want her done and gone. Now, with a month before she's really gone, nothing is done compared to what needs to be completed. And now she's expected to do nothing else at work, but try to accomplish the impossible, which means her duties will passed on to me. This wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have almost every hour of work time available for just that. (another deep breath).
A good thing is that we finally got our galley proofs, the ones that should have been here in December. The only problem is that, despite the fact they arrived, 5 months late, we have until Monday to go through them and get them returned. And I'm the one who gets to read through the galleys first to look for the errors all while doing other short-notice errands that must be done in 30 seconds.
But my breath of relaxation came from looking at my current vacation and sick time I've built up and realizing I have saved enough time to cover my leave in August. Talk about a sigh of relief.
Okay, enough fussing and whining...
BabyD is getting bigger, which means so am I. To quote Dr G, I'm "getting more pregnant every day" which is funny because I hope I am. :-)
That's all. Real update to come!
With the end of the semester quickly approaching I have been working on everyone's schedules, including my own, trying to make sure everything is lined-out and ready to go. Planning for the summer has been interesting. With the smaller patient load this year, there have been fewer patients to test. Yet, as the summer approaches, many different programs always appear to pick up. Until this afternoon, we had one potential student who wanted to work and even then I wasn't sure that would work. Now we have two other potential students to work, both of whom will need to be trained on how to do everything on our team--for a month. The only real bonus for me is that one of them has completed all of her practical experience which will help in our summer kiddo program and planning. (deep breath)
Then there's the thorn in my side (but only for 5 more weeks). I simply don't know what to do. I feel like I'm doing so much for her that I don't want to help her anymore. But in the same respect, I want her done and gone. Now, with a month before she's really gone, nothing is done compared to what needs to be completed. And now she's expected to do nothing else at work, but try to accomplish the impossible, which means her duties will passed on to me. This wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have almost every hour of work time available for just that. (another deep breath).
A good thing is that we finally got our galley proofs, the ones that should have been here in December. The only problem is that, despite the fact they arrived, 5 months late, we have until Monday to go through them and get them returned. And I'm the one who gets to read through the galleys first to look for the errors all while doing other short-notice errands that must be done in 30 seconds.
But my breath of relaxation came from looking at my current vacation and sick time I've built up and realizing I have saved enough time to cover my leave in August. Talk about a sigh of relief.
Okay, enough fussing and whining...
BabyD is getting bigger, which means so am I. To quote Dr G, I'm "getting more pregnant every day" which is funny because I hope I am. :-)
That's all. Real update to come!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Oh, baby
Last week we reached our half-way point for BabyD to make his/her arrival. We had our ultrasound and aside from my child being less than cooperative, things were once again "perfect" (not my term, but that's what the pros said). All appears to be going well in the baby-cooking department. And, no, we didn't find out boy or girl, just that there is a shy baby with a beautiful spine a-growin'. We weren't able to get a profile shot of the kiddo, per the previously mentioned lack of cooperation. Instead, we have a full-on face shot, which I think looks a little like Skeletor (only cuter, 'cause it's my kid).
On a happy note, Spring has finally arrived and by "Spring" I mean consecutive days above 40 degrees and thunderstorms. Oh, how I love thunderstorms. Something about the rumbles of thunder, flashes of lightening, and torrential downpours soothes me. All I need is a tin roof next to a window and I could sleep/relax for hours. I do love the sunshine of spring, though, so maybe we could have the thunderstorms in the evening and the sun during the day... just not every day. Now to see if any of my tulips have survived the move...
-peace and love!
On a happy note, Spring has finally arrived and by "Spring" I mean consecutive days above 40 degrees and thunderstorms. Oh, how I love thunderstorms. Something about the rumbles of thunder, flashes of lightening, and torrential downpours soothes me. All I need is a tin roof next to a window and I could sleep/relax for hours. I do love the sunshine of spring, though, so maybe we could have the thunderstorms in the evening and the sun during the day... just not every day. Now to see if any of my tulips have survived the move...
-peace and love!
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