productive weekend

I love it when I can get a lot accomplished in a weekend. It's hard getting errands done on weeknights. We both are usually wiped out. Not to mention that we both like to be lazy. There is usually only one thing that can motivate me to get things done around the house---having company over.

We invited some people over for a BBQ at our house Sunday night. In preparation for company, I spent more time on house improvements than on the actual food prep. I wanted the nursery to be more complete, so I washed the crib bedding. We put the crib sheet on the mattress which was a feat in and of itself. The fitted sheet was extremely fitted. I put the bumper and bed skirt on. I had Dust take a big free standing mirror out of the room. In the kitchen, we replaced the trays under the oven burners. They were really nasty looking. We still need to replace the actual coil burner on the back left. I accidentally melted some plastic on it a long time ago and have just never used that burner.

Dust spent a couple of hours Saturday mowing the lawn and weedwacking. It was really humid out which slowed him down a little. Our lawn mower is in the shop getting fixed, so he borrowed a mower from a co-worker. It's smaller than ours, and he has to bag more frequently. Dust also hosed down the patio furniture and most of the siding on the house. It was covered with dirt and bird poop. We also finally put up the umbrella on our patio furniture. The base to it was hollow, so we had to buy some sand to put in it to weigh it down.

We did the routine cleaning around the house. Vacuum, mop, dust, clean kitchen counters. But before that happened though, Dust made his famous potato salad. He loves making it! I almost didn't want him to because of all the dishes he would dirty in the process. And it is such a process!

Everything turned out well and we had a fun party! Not to mention a lot of leftover hamburgers and hot dogs!

contrasting personalities

Monday night Dust and I took a tour of the maternity wing of the hospital. There was a group of couples seated in the lobby of the hospital and every woman was pregnant. I assumed that we were in the right place. Our tour guide (the night pre-admin nurse) arrived and boy was she loopy! She was over the top cheerful and cheesy. As we all got into the elevator, I laughed to myself. I was thinking, "How many pregnant women and spouse's can you fit into an elevator?" That could be the start of a good joke. In our case, it was 10 people total.

The tour guide talked like she should be reading a fairy tale to a bunch of kids. I couldn't get over the way she was acting. Mostly in part because her personality was the exact opposite of the other pre-admin nurse that we had dealt with the week before. There is a day shift pre-admin nurse and a night shift pre-admin nurse. The day nurse that I did our paperwork with was extremely sarcastic and jaded. Very pessimisstic, but still kinda funny in her own way. She was ticked because the night pre-admin nurse had misspelled our last name. Now that I have met both of them, I really wonder how they can work together. I guess that is way they have alternating shifts. : )

Red Robin

Dust and I tried out a new restaurant this weekend. Red Robin. I had never heard of them before, but Dust had. The atmosphere was nice and the place is kid friendly. One thing that stuck out to me was that the majority of the servers/hosts were young teenagers. The hostess led me to the table and told me that Monday nights are kids nights. Then she felt stupid and embarrassed for telling me that. Well, she could tell that I have a bun in the oven, but obviously I had no other kids with me. It didn't bother me. Our teenage girl server was very odd. A couple of times she just stood at our table without saying anything at first. After a minute, she would say, "Oh, would you like a re-fill?"

I did enjoy my gourmet cheeseburger and steak fries. I had the speckled lemonade in a cool twisted glass cup. "Speckled" just means that it had strawberries in it. After she brought me my drink, I was worried that people might think I was drinking an alcoholic beverage while pregnant. I hid my glass behind the cardboard stand- up menu.

Training your elders

Training two women that are old enough to be my mother at work has been an interesting experience for me. Both of the women are entrepreneurial types. They have both had many more years of experience than me in an office environment. They both have had ideas on the way things should be done. This has been extremely frustrating to me. I have had a hard time keeping my patience.

The first lady quit, so now I have been training the new lady. She has been full of questions! She talks non-stop! It drives me crazy! She has dominated the training time. I have to keep saying that for time's sake, just watch me do it and listen to me. Her questions have not been pertaining to the issue or task at hand. She likes to show me how she used to do it. Or tell me a better/quicker way to do it. I have told her that this is the way my boss trained me and he has the final say in the mattter. I think she got the picture.

On a personal level though, I do like her. She is a christian and we have both talked about our churches. We have taken some time here and there to get to know each other better.

Both ladies have told me that I have been a good teacher. I have wondered if they were just being nice. But, they didn't have to say that at all.

Another thing that the women had in common was that they never gave birth to children. I wanted to ask if it was a matter of fertility. The first lady had a step-son that was 18 years old. She had married his father when the son was only one year old. The new lady told me that she divorced her first husband and that they just never got around to having any kids. Her second husband and her got married later in life. I have felt guilty about being excited about my pregnancy around them. I tried to only talk about it when they brought it up and asked me questions. They both seemed genuinely happy for me.

Crib

Dust put together the baby crib yesterday. He started before the Survivor finale, took a break to watch the shows, and finished it late last night. I was really excited that he took this initiative on his own. I had scheduled for him to put it together this coming Saturday.

I think the wood color and design matches well with the rocking chair. A mobile came with the crib and it has three bear stuffed animals attached to it. I think I will keep it up for now. I probably would have preferred a plane or train mobile.

We need to go and buy the mattress for the crib. It kind of slipped my mind because we were so concerned about getting the crib box and changing table box out of Target.

Now, Dust just has the changing table to put together. : )

aaah!

I have the same feelings about my house that Seminole does about hers. And since T brought up whining, I am in the mood to whine. I am really exhausted! I can't remember the last time that I cleaned the house. It has been that long. I haven't vacuumed in around two-three weeks. I want my house to be cleaned and organized but I just don't have the energy.

I have been working more hours than usual because I am training yet another person to do my job when I am on maternity leave. It is taking me longer to get my job done. I hate being behind on my work. There is no way that I am going to get everything done this week and I am just going to have to accept that.

I had a dr. appt. on Monday and I have another one tomorrow. I have another one next Tuesday and another one the following Tuesday! (pediatrician consultation, pre-admission for hospital, another sonogram)

I feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to get done before the baby gets here. I need to have a really good cry, get over it, and plug on. Thanks for letting me whine. I wish that made me feel better.

outside of our comfort zone

Dust and I went to a breast-feeding class on Saturday that was 3 and 1/2 hours long! I apologize in advance if this makes some people uncomfortable. We were definitely uncomfortable during the class. The lady that taught the class seemed a little too excited about the subject. She was extremely loopy. She had a fake stuffed breast that she demonstrated on by putting it right on top of her own breast. She used a balloon to demonstrate how the different breast pumps worked. I was surprised that the balloon didn't pop.

The teacher passed around different styles of nursing bras for the class to look at. It was funny because the husbands handed them to their wives without looking at it. She also passed around "Soothies" for us to look at. They are jelly like inserts to relieve soreness.

We saw pictures of inverted and engorged nipples. It was disturbing looking at so many pictures of nipples. The pictures were of the teacher's patients. These women actually volunteered to have themselves photographed for a slide show that would be used for years to come!

We practiced holding baby dolls the correct way. At least I learned something there. Dust even had to practice with the doll too!

There were a lot of funny jokes and comics that were in the teacher's powerpoint presentation. That helped everyone deal with this embarrassing subject. We really needed some comic relief.
Got Milk?

finding the right card

I have found that it is hard to find a good mother's day card. I usually go to several stores before I find a decent one. Grocery stores never have any good cards. Last year I went cheap and bought the 50 cent mother's day cards at Deals. I didn't want to go that cheap again this year. Those cards were a little lame. Our mothers and grandmothers expect cards. My grandmother prefers the ones that say grandmother on them.

I hit the jackpot at Target. They have really good humorous selections. My mom has said that she wants the funny cards. I used to buy all of our grandmothers the same card. This year I tried to match their personality more. I was quite proud because I think I nailed it. It takes me awhile to find the right one for Dust's mom. Dust said that I made a good pick.

The prices for some of the cards that I saw were outrageous! There was a grandmother card for $4.99! It came with a bookmark. I try not to buy cards that are over $3. The cards I bought were $2.59, and $2.99. Not bad.