Inevitably Keely

In honor of my husband's 30th birthday, I thought I would share with you 30 things I love/admire about him. This list was easy and difficult to write all at once because their are so many great things about him - it's hard to narrow it all down. But here is a Brief Glimpse into Daniel: He's hot. Have you not seen his eyes or his fabulous smile? Either of them melt me, but combined I am a puppy dog. They're what caught my eye years ago - it was all the rest that intrigued me... His sense of humor. While it's quite possible that no one besides Zoe and I think he's hilarious ... he makes me laugh like no one else can and so I consider him the funniest person I know. His optimism. Invariably, when a situation arises Daniel chooses to see the lessons learned, the opportunities available and the light at the end of the tunnel. He is my light, and when he says everything is going to be OK, I believe him. His intelligence. Whether it's his aptitude for languages,...

March 4th - My Dad getting a clean bill of health regarding his cancer. Best news ever. April 19-27th - Taking Zoe to Texas for the first time so she could meet her aunt, great grandmothers, great aunts & uncle and see her Grammy & Grandpa. It was our 1st big family vacation! May 1st - Getting an unexpected but welcome positive from a home pregnancy test and then having it confirmed the next day with a blood test. May 25th - Seeing Zoe take her first steps - at her 1st birthday party in front of an audience of at least 20 people. What can I say, she's a performer. June 25-29th - My cousins wedding which was a mini family reunion for my side of the family. Special highlights were introducing Zoe to some of my favorite people and dancing with Daniel & Zoe at the reception. July 25th - Having a gender ultrasound and finding out we're having a son! November 4th - Voting and then later finding out who our next President will be.  December 25th - While not planned, we cel...

This last Saturday we got the family up and ready so we could have a family/maternity photo shoot. You know, to sort of document this pregnancy even further and have some nice family photos of us when we were a family of three. One of our theatre friends (Danielle Radon) who in addition to be completely lovely, and a great actress and writer , is also a very talented photographer. What I realized from our shoot is that I'm no longer quite as comfortable in front of the camera now that I spend so much behind it. I got over that quickly though between Danielle making me feel at ease with me just being natural and Daniel making me laugh. What is very, very clear from the photos (I think) is that there is a lot of love and laughter in our family and I fully expect this to grow exponentially with the arrival of our son.* Anyway - let me quit with my words and show you some pictures! You can see all the pics HERE : *We're still set for 12/31... I've made absolutely no progress in...

1. I'm still pregnant. Remember when I said I thought Finn was going to come early? Well, I've changed my mind. I think he's so darn comfy in there it's a good thing we've scheduled the doc to get him out because I think he'd live in there forever if he could. 2. My toes are pretty, pedicured and blue! The last time I got a pedicure was at the very beginning of this pregnancy 10 years 9 months ago, so I did not feel at all guilty for shelling out a little bit more for a "SPA pedicure". I'm partial to a pedicure where I get to sit in one of those fancy chairs and not have the entire salon talk about me to each other in their language or try to convince me that I really "need" my eyebrow done/legs waxed. Anyway, it was heaven except for the conversation: "So, when is your baby due?" "I'm having a c-section on New Years Eve." 15 minutes later.... "So, what are you doing New Years Eve?" "I'm having ...

Last night around 11, Zoe woke up in tears. We hadn't turned her humidifier on (which seems to be a must have these days) and she was having a coughing fit and trouble breathing through her nose. Daniel was in her room first (he moves faster than I do now and I always try to hold back just a moment because my first inclination is to run to her when she cries and she knows this). I followed quickly and just in time to see her projectile spit up in her crib (hey, being a parent is glamorous). The two of us cleaned her up, kissed and hugged her, and told her everything was going to be OK. And then I took her into our room while Daniel cleaned up inside her crib a bit and filled the humidifier. I rocked her in the new chair that we got to use for Finnegan (the wood glider we'd gotten when I was pregnant with Zoe just isn't comfortable). The chair has since become the family chair and my favorite place in the house to hold my fast growing daughter. She had barely woken up durin...

I thought I'd share my view: I am HUGE! But I love it. And I am so looking forward to meeting Finnegan. Such a wild ride this has been!

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. I did this because I was tagged by some friends on Facebook and decided I might as well post it here too. I'm not tagging anyone here, but if you want to share I would love to read your answers. Here's mine: 1. I have a blog , as well as Twitter , Flickr , Facebook, and Myspace accounts so I sort of feel like coming up with 16 things seems silly because I feel like I've shared so much already. 2. I'm such a sap that sometimes I hide behind my sarcasm/humor/complaining to cover up how nervous, worried or scared I am. I worry that this coping mechanism sometimes makes me sound like I don't love being a mother or that I'm not enjoying my pregnancy. I do and I am - honestly. 3. Becoming a mom ...

So, remember how I've been going on and on about Finnegan being evicted on December 29th? Scratch that. Turns out that despite us telling them a month ago that this was the date we'd chosen, they got their wires crossed and forgot to schedule it with the hospital. You know what that means? That means that a very hormonal and unreasonably emotional Keely nearly lost it in the car after our checkup. Because unlike most pregnant women, I had gotten to form a plan. I had everything worked out perfectly in my mind. We were going to spend a leisurely early morning with our first child on Monday, December 29th before dropping her off at her Cheryl's (and Chuck-Chuck's). The "plan" had been to be at the hospital at 10:30 am for prep and Finnegan would be making his debut via extraction c-section around noon-ish. We chose this day specifically based on multiple criteria that I had in my head. 1. I wanted to make sure we got to spend Christmas at home with Zoe and my p...

Just make a guess, mmkay? Here's some quick info to help you out a bit.... - Finn will be evicted via c-section on December 29th 31st* at the latest**. So don't guess after that date! - Zoe weighed 8 lbs, 5oz and was 19 inches. - My due date is Jan. 4th, 2009. - At my last appt. on 12/2 - I was 35 weeks and 2 days, but measured 37 weeks. - At that same appt, I was 25% effaced and 1 cm dilated. - I had three hours of false labor on 12/9... - And... Zoe was induced and then arrived 2 days before her due date, but I had no false labor with her and was not dilated or effaced at 35 weeks... *- Yes. That just changed. ** - I'm not holding my breath about any guarantees regarding this baby from here on out. So, whatever. ;)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards This video would not be possible had Jen not given me the heads up via twitter. I couldn't resist multiplying my little monkey by five too. Cute, funny and a little bit scary all at once, yes?

Soon, life is about to get a whole lot MORE hectic and if I can manage to find a style that looks good without too much effort, that would be awesome. Who better to go to than the lovely and talented Whoorl ?! She's featured me on Hair Thursday this week and it's perfect timing because I am just itching to do something with my hair. So, help a lady out, will ya? Go take a look at her suggestions, vote and give your opinion. Thanks!

Four years ago tonight Daniel took me out on a fancy date. We ordered great food, delicious wine and had wonderful conversation. Somehow, we decided to pretend like we were on one of our first dates and asked those "getting to know you" questions you ask at the beginning of a relationship. Never mind that at that point we'd been together for nearly two years, had been living together for almost as long and had a "daughter", our Boston Terrier, Bailey. We still behaved like a couple of lovebirds, leaning close to each other, holding hands, asking each other what our goals and dreams were. And then in the most perfect moment, Daniel looked at me very seriously with eyes beaming and asked me if I would marry him. There was no hesitation, "Yes!" We stopped pretending like we were on one of our first dates and spent the rest of our time in the restaurant laughing and kissing and smiling from ear to ear. It's amazing to think it's been so long - that...

I had my my prenatal check up yesterday afternoon and it looks like all those contractions I had on the way home from my parents house did *something*. Not much, (I'm 1 cm dilated and 25% effaced) but something is better than nothing in the grand scheme. At least I know all that pain was getting something accomplished, however a part of me says I'm having a c-section anyway so I wish my body could just relax. Whatever. :) The doc says he thinks I'll make it to December 29th. Me: "Are you sure? I'd really like to stay on schedule" Doc: "She likes to be in control, huh?" Daniel: "She's a planner." That might be the understatement of the year. What?

On the mornings that I wake up Zoe and get her ready for the day, we have a little ritual. I give her a hug, she says hello to Bailey and Max (and is more interested in them, by the way). Then I go to her closet and pull out a couple clothing options for her consideration. I sing, "What are we going to wear today?"* which is received with big smiles and this twisty, kicking, dance move she does when she's happy (she does a variation of this dance while in her high chair eating something she thinks is particularly yummy). And then she points to one of the outfits. It's our thing. Zoe is a Grabby McGrabbersons. Like most kids at this age if she sees something within her reach (or even not quite in her reach) she wants to grab it. She wants to touch it. She wants to inspect it and see how it works (I think she might get this from her father). But when we take her to a store with clothing (like, Target) this behavior changes a bit. She's more careful with what she cho...

It's a little late, but this is a short list of things I am thankful for: Having a husband who I can't wait to see every day. He's everything I thought I would never find in one person and such a blessing in my life. My beautiful, funny little girl, Zoe. I knew I wanted to be a mom, but I feel like I hit the parental jackpot with her. Every day is a learning experience and an adventure. A healthy/happy pregnancy. It's hard to believe that in twenty-nine days or less our little boy will be here. The roof over our head. Friends and family, near and far. Supportive parents on both sides... who get along splendidly. I cannot stress enough how nice this is. Having people nearby who we can depend on and who treat us like family and vice versa. Good health. Somewhat well behaved dogs. Creative outlets like photography and blogging. They keep me sane. Cocoa Krispies, jalapenos, cheddar cheese and pie. Not all at once though. Although, cheddar cheese on apple pie is awesome. Bac...

Daniel and I loaded up the dog children and Zoe and got on the road at 1pm today. In years passed, we've always stayed until Sunday morning, but decided that we needed to try to avoid the traffic and make sure we had a day of rest before we got into the week and it's demands. It turns out there was a decent amount of traffic today, so we spent a lot of our time at a snails pace. Zoe was restless and a little cranky - she had a hard time napping. I was feeling especially anxious when my contractions got more painful and frequent - I knew they were just Braxton Hicks, but they can be absolutely unnerving when stuck in traffic with no clear path in sight. Let's face it, I have an active imagination and it tends to imagine worst case scenarios. Somewhere around Inglewood, traffic came to a complete standstill on the 405. The two left lanes were closed, and eventually only the far right was open. Everyone was merging at once, trying to get ahead. I rolled my window down and trie...

7am shopping at an outlet = 50% baby clothes for Finn & Zoe Lunch with Zoe, Daniel and my parents at Kings Fish House = some frustration that I couldn't eat the raw ahi poke. Spending some time at a deserted park = Lots of crazy, running around time for our little monkey. Turkey leftovers = Turkey tacos. YUM! Busy Black Friday without crazy spending = Fullfillment, and exhaustion without a tapped out bank account. We've had a lovely visit here. The last few days flew by.

I could be doing a real post right now, but that would take away time from the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the National Dog Show on television, the snacking, the playing with Zoe and the hanging out with my Dad and Daniel. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you're all having a wonderful day with your friends and family.

Well, we're in San Diego! Daniel and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am, and Zoe at 5:30. We'd loaded up our car last night with everything we think we might possibly need over the next few days (and more). We were on the road by my goal of 6am and I was quite impressed with all of us. It was no small feat - normally it's hard for us to get on our way by 10. My family, we enjoy our sleep. So, we got to my parents house around 11:30am, ate lunch, and then the three of us (and the dog children) all laid down for a nap. Kind of makes me laugh that we rushed to get here only to nap, but like I said - we value sleep. We also value turkey. Man, I cannot wait to gobble up dinner tomorrow! But for now, I'm going to get myself ask Daniel to get me some peach pie a la mode. Between the Braxton Hicks and my sciatic nerve, I SERIOUSLY deserve it.

I saw this on Jen's blog and thought I'd join in the fun. The rules: You leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on. 1. My amazing husband, Daniel . If I've said it once, I've said it a billion times: Meeting Daniel changed my life. With him I have found my best friend, my soul mate, my partner, and one great father to Zoe and soon Finnegan. I am so grateful that we both decided to do the show we met in and that despite neither of us wanting a relationship, that we took the time to discover we were meant to be together. 2. My daughter , Zoe. Zoe is the kind of kid that makes you want to have more. She is my sunshine, my monkey, my little performer extraordinaire and in having her I have discovered what it's like to see the world through a child's eyes. Li...

A few minutes after my parents had arrived Saturday afternoon my Mom sat on the couch with my Dad, looked at me and said: "You don't look nearly as big as your pictures you've posted make you look." I took this in and thought to myself that maybe the camera really does add more bulk than I realized. So I stood up for my parents and smoothed my shirt over my tummy and did the "pregnant pose" - you know hands on either side of my belly. "WHOA! I guess you are that big!" My parents laughed. To really drive home the point, I lifted my shirt so they could see the belly and my pants barely stretched over it. There was more nervous laughter. The general consensus is now: Yes. Keely has a big 'ol belly. I've come to accept this and just embrace it. I'm making adjustments. My overalls are no longer an option because they make me look like the mayor of Munchkinland Tweedle Dum or Tweedle Dee (THAT'S what I should have been for Halloween!). M...

To Look A Lot Like Christmas! Normally, I have a rule: No Christmas decorations or songs until the day after Thanksgiving. After years of retail, anything sooner puts me in a Scrooge like mood. I just like being able to focus on Halloween and Thanksgiving as their own special days and find that retail establishments pushing Christmas at us negates those days. The thing is, I'm tired. As I get closer and closer to being full term, I find my energy waning. Between this huge belly (that measured 38 weeks* last Friday - I'm only 34 as of today) and Zo-Zo monkey I feel less and less motivation to take on big projects like decorating - and decorating for Christmas is always a big, fun project for me. I wanted to make sure I had the time to do it right, to make the first Christmas that Zoe is really aware of the festivities special for her. So, our tree is up now. My parents have decided to scale down so we traded them our 6 foot tree for their 9 foot tree, we did the trade this weeke...

It's been a busy Saturday - getting ready for our trip to San Diego this Wednesday, cleaning the house since my parents came into town this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll do more cleaning and I do believe we'll decorate the Christmas tree, too. It's usually something we save for the day or weekend after Thanksgiving, but I want to get it done while I'm still somewhat mobile. The mobility is rapidly lessening with this sciatic nerve issue and general discomfort - but it doesn't stop me from trying to push my limits whenever possible.

So, the other night we're wrapping up dinner and getting ready to get Zoe out of her highchair. Daniel is clearing up her "dessert" and getting ready to put the remains of it back in the refrigerator for another day. General freak out/fussy/woe is me/how dare you try to end a meal! noises come from Zoe. If she had it her way, certain meals would go on and on and on. Daniel pauses and looks at me as I look back and forth between him and our daughter. I'm exhausted, lounging on our couch and completely letting him run the show, but I offer this: Me: She wants more, honey. Him: Should I give her more? Me: Well it is apples, not.... CRACK!* (I had paused as I tried hard to think of something we shouldn't give her too much of. Didn't want to say something boring like cookies or ice cream.) Him: You need to blog this. So - she got more apples and she was thrilled - like we'd given her the best thing in all the world. What can I say, sometimes she's easy to...

As I was scanning photos in, I would show them to Zoe. "Look at mama, Zoe!" She'd stare very closely at the photo and then look at me for a moment. "Nooooooo!" giggle,giggle. Like I had just told her a silly, silly lie and I wasn't fooling her. I know, kiddo. I barely recognize me either. It sure was fun going down memory lane though! 1. High School Me's , 2. High School Me's , 3. High School Me's , 4. High School Me's , 5. High School Me's , 6. The gang - Senior Prom , 7. Me w/ my Sharon. , 8. 15? With Ramsey... , 9. At a school show , 10. BFF from high school and me , 11. Silly Girls , 12. With one of my good pals Created with fd's Flickr Toys .

A couple days ago I told one of my high school friends that I was going to bust out some photos of us from our younger years and post them on Facebook so we could relive the memories. I had to search them out. They were stuffed in a box on the top shelf of our guest room closet and it was no easy feat to pull them down to sort through. But when I found them I was struck by our silliness, our innocence, our youth. As I looked at photos of me from as many as seventeen years ago, I barely recognized the girl smiling back at me. Sure, the blonde hair had something to do with it as did the svelte figure. The adult me is wanting to kick myself for all the times I called myself fat, all the nights I spent crying because I thought I was so ugly and that's why I never got asked to the dances. Maybe it's with my adult eyes that I'm able to see that I was perfect the way I was. I just hadn't reached my full potential - despite how I looked, I hadn't accepted myself for who I w...

Act III (The Act opens in KEELY and DANIEL'S room. KEELY is stretched out across their queen sized bed and there seems to be no room at all for DANIEL. A lamp R. of the bed lights the stage dimly. KEELY has a look of amusement on her face as she observes her belly. DANIEL has just finished brushing his teeth offstage and is trying to assess if there is any room on the bed for him to lay down.) KEELY. Look. (Lights fade up slightly. There is a spot on KEELY and her protruding, bare belly. It is almost ominous.) DANIEL. Heh. He's moving, huh. (sits on the tiny open space R. of KEELY on the bed.) KEELY. Yes. But look. This is my pregnant belly. (Beat.) This is me sucking it in. (KEELY takes a deep breath in, looks at her belly and then at her tired husband.) DANIEL. Huh. (He sees no real difference.) KEELY. Pregnant belly. Sucking it in. Pregnant belly. Sucking it in. (There is actually, no real difference but she is clearly amused and still has not budged from the center of the ...

So, apparently - I've been managing this gestational diabetes thing so well that it looks like I won't have to depend on insulin injections at all for this pregnancy. I'm thrilled because, hello! Insulin injections in a full, pregnant belly is no fun... and also, I'm managing it. I'm eating healthy and taking care of myself and I've learned from my last pregnancy - even if I did pretty darn good with that one too. I'm relieved because whenever I thought of giving myself injections this time, I imagined Finn kicking with such strength I could not get the needle to go in. The force is strong with this one. I am such a geek. Anyway...The lady who counsels me has really gotten off easy with me because I'm so low maintenance. I go every couple months and she weighs me and looks at my blood sugar log - which takes five minutes - and then I have to sit there and make small talk so she feels like I'm getting my money's worth. If I didn't live on the...

Between not feeling like myself physically with this damn cold/flu/whatever and not feeling like I have anything more important to say than what I said yesterday ... I'm going to just ask that you read the 2 posts below this one. I find myself complaining about my discomfort or stress sometimes and that all seems to pale in comparison to losing ones home in a fire. Clearly there are people out there worse off than me and I feel like I have so much to be thankful for. Mmm. Future blog post that I'm NOT going to wait until Thanksgiving to post. Stay tuned.

Some family of my friend Missy lost their home and everything in it yesterday in the Santa Barbara fires. They have a 3 year old son and another son who is just a week old. Luckily, they are all ok - but they sure could use some help. Let me know via comment or email if you have any baby supplies or anything you'd like to donate to help them. I know they would appreciate it. 'Tis the season! Thanks everyone! Lend a Hand - Part 2 Missy posted a blog about her family who lost their home and everything in it in the Santa Barbara fires. You can read it HERE . Anything you can do to help would certainly be appreciated.

3076. That's how many photos I have taken of my daughter since she was born nearly eighteen months ago. Let's do the math: My little one has been on the planet for 548 days, so that works out to being about 5 pics a day. Except, I didn't take 5 pics every day - which somehow seems more reasonable. Instead, I would go days and days without taking a picture and then all of a sudden I was uploading 100 pics of her in the same outfit , each photo nearly the same except she might have changed expression/position a little. And while we're being completely honest here, I've deleted tons of pictures of her. There were the ones that just weren't flattering at all - why save those? And then there were the ones where the lighting was bad and nothing could be done to salvage them. What has become evident though is this: 1. I am clearly obsessed with my child. 2. There is no way I'm going to be able to keep this up. Finn, I'm sorry. There just will not be as many pho...

Thanks to ExEverything , I have found a new time suck/fascination: Creating online mix tapes! For my first go at it, I just chose the songs we had on the Mixed CD we gave guests at our wedding a few years ago. Some of the songs weren't available so I had to choose different versions or omit them completely, but you get the idea. Love, yada, yada, yada! :) So here you go: Now go make your own and let me know when you do. Fun, fun, fun! Come on, people. Entertain me. I'm wallowing in sickness over here and music makes me happy.

A couple nights ago it hit me hard. I went from feeling fine to instantly having a sore throat and sinus pressure. Almost as if a switch had been turned on to bring all the symptoms rushing at me full force. I was laughing with Daniel and Zoe one moment and then all of a sudden, "I'm sick. Really sick." Now, instead of giving you a long whiney post about how horrible it is to be SWP - Sick While Pregnant - I'm going to show you something that makes me smile: That's my munchkin playing dress up at her Cheryl's house. If the photo doesn't make you smile just a little bit, you are even sicker than I am and you should get yourself to a doctor, stat. Alright. Back to sleep I go.

Some of you aren't going to enjoy watching this video because you disagree with the points he is making. I felt like I needed to post this though, to continue to stand up for what I believe in: The closing plea for mercy by Clarence Darrow in a murder trial: "I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar-Khayyam," he told the judge. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all: So I be written in the Book of Love; I do not care about that Book above. Erase my name, or write it as you will, So I be written in the Book of Love."

1. What is your first name? Keely 2. What is your favorite food? Sushi 3. What high school did you go to? Palm Desert High School 4. What is your favorite color? Red 5. Who is your celebrity crush? Jack Black. And just so you know, this was the hardest question for me to answer. I almost went with this guy . 6. What is your favorite drink? Shiner 7. What is your dream vacation? New York . 8. What is your favorite dessert? Today, Red Velvet Cupcakes. (Tomorrow it will be different.) 9. What do you want to do when you grow up? Travel. 10. Who/ what do you love most in life? My family. 11. Choose one word that describes you? Thoughtful. 12. What is your Flickr name? KeelyE. I saw this on Sarcomical and Jayesel , and just had to join in the fun. I know, I know - I JUST did one of these. Give a pregnant lady a break people. I've got actual posts floating around in my head, but I seem to lack the motivation to sit down and write them. Anyway, the rules are the same as the last time :...

Well, my little family was up and out the door this morning at 10AM for Zoe's first movie theater experience. The showing was at 10:30 and I thought getting there at 10:15 would be ample time to get seated and situated. It was, but Wow! I was so surprised to see the theater full! Silly me thought we'd be the only ones willing to drag our family out to the movies so early. We got seats in the last row on the floor instead of the stadium seating and I think that was probably best. There was no one behind us to be bothered by Zoe standing up in her seat and we were far enough from the people closest to us that she couldn't reach out and touch someone. Zoe really enjoyed Madagascar 2. She's a big fan of animals in general and when they're singing and dancing - that is even more awesome for her. She was in awe of the large images and color and didn't seem bothered by how loud the movie was - which has always been a concern for me. We made sure to bring snacks and dri...

I've noticed it's harder for me to blog on Saturday's and Sunday's. Those are the days where I have Daniel with me and where I don't feel like I'm missing out on adult interaction. I feel less of a need to connect when I've got my favorite conversationalist here with me. Today I felt this even more because after a friend helped Daniel move Zoe's brand new and very heavy dresser into her room, we sat in our living room catching up with him and one of my favorite people - his fiance. We talked about weddings, theatre, Prop 8, politics, the environment, etc. and I felt happy to have them in our lives and friends who we can just sit back with and relax. I couldn't help but observe I am making lots of headway in my needing to have my house perfect when guests are over because I didn't even blink at the messy kitchen or the carpet that needs vacuuming. I mean, I'm freaking out a little about those things now, but for a time they were less important...

Early on in our relationship, Daniel and I had a disagreement that basically arose from us not communicating. I can’t remember the specific details now, but the situation became uncomfortable because we didn’t talk about it. I do remember sitting with him on the couch and telling him, “Wow! This is a bigger deal than it needed to be. All you had to do was tell me.” We talked about whatever that issue was – I can’t for the life of me remember - and Daniel immediately felt better. We agreed that for us to work, we had to have an open line of communication even if it meant we were momentarily uncomfortable getting “it” out there on the table. As a manager I used to have all these catch phrases I ran my store by: “You can’t find the answer unless you ask questions.” “You can’t move forward unless you understand where you’ve been.” I’ve adjusted those ideals to my personal relationships: “You cannot expect to be understood unless you make an effort to understand the other side.” Two days ag...

I'm having a not feeling so good kind of day, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do this Food Meme I found over at Imelda's blog . Right about now, I could totally eat some of my comfort food: Chili Spaghetti. Check out all my answers below and if you decide to participate, let me know in the comments. I love talking food! Type your answer to the questions into Flickr search Using only the first page of results, pick an image Copy and paste each of the URLs in the Mosaic Maker And, of course, the questions: 1. What is your favorite restaurant? El Mirador in San Antonio. It's a shame that my favorite restaurant is so far away! 2. What is your favorite type of cuisine? Sushi. If only I could have some now! 3. What is your favorite comfort food? Chili Spaghetti. I can't get enough of it lately. 4. What is your favorite childhood food? Pizza, of course! 5. What is your favorite dish to prepare for company? Guacamole is always easy and Daniel loves it. ...

In 1996, I got married. I was nineteen. I was not as mature as I thought I was and despite what I said, I had no idea what a serious commitment I was making and to what type of person I was committing to. I got swept away in the idea of being married – I thought the wedding would be the beginning of my fairy tale and that all the doubts and problems I had would be erased with “I do.” I was young and naïve, and had no business making such a serious decision in my life when I didn’t even really know who I was yet. But I had the right to get married. I had the right to make my own decision and to do so without being judged. Well, I know I was judged because of how young I was and that plenty of people thought I was making a mistake but I was free to make that decision. It was my right. So before friends and family, I said my vows in a large Catholic church. I had the expensive dress with the long train and I looked like a princess all the while taking for granted my freedom to make my o...

I've had a relaxing day today. Zoe was kind enough to sleep in until 9:30 this morning so I was able to be lazy in bed for a while and then take a leisurely shower. When I did get Zoe up, we got her ready for the day and fed her breakfast. We played with the dogs and read books and cuddled. There were no tantrums, no freak-outs... just a lovely morning and early afternoon with my girl. And then shortly after Zoe's lunch, one of my best friends here in town came over with her seven month old and some salads. I put on Zoe's favorite movie: Annie while I got to sit back and relax while talking to a grown up and gushing over her precious little boy. Zoe, by the way, did fabulous with my friends' son. She gently pet his head and touched his arm and feet and you could see the glee in her eyes. She did not mind that I was giving him attention or that she was not the only child in the room. Frankly, she handled it all so much better than I thought she would. This gives me a gre...

For the past few days I've had complete emotional breakdowns where I just cry and cry and nearly hyperventilate from trying to stop the waterworks. It's not pretty. And it's annoying. When the waterworks start it's normal enough... I'm usually talking about my list of things to do before Finn gets here and freaking out about how fast the time is going. And then I start worrying about this big transition our family is about to go through and how it will affect our little ones. Now, if you remember from last time - this isn't new for me. The day our doctor told us we could start inducing Zoe's birth, I had a mini-breakdown because I hadn't given Max and Bailey "kisses" and explained to them that we'd be coming home with a baby in a few days. In fact, on the way out the door I'd accidentally stepped on Max's front paw and made him yelp. All I could think was I'd hurt my dog and that was going to be his last memory of me before we b...

Last Tuesday I purchased a great big bag of Halloween candy. It was the good kind: Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Hershey's bars, Mounds, Milk Duds. It stayed sealed for about 24 hours while it was in our home, and then the baby in my belly told me I needed to rip it open and have some. Just a few, I told myself - nothing that would make a big difference in our supply. But my demand was very, very high and the candy tasted so good... so I kept going and going and going. What's kind of funny about this is generally speaking, I'm not a candy person. I'm not a sweets person, really. Sure, I'll partake in a dessert now and then but my snack of choice is generally spicy or salty or both. I'm all over potato chips and dip and nachos with extra jalapenos. If given the opportunity I would go carb wild if it weren't for the gestational diabetes. Well, actually I did sort of go carb wild with the candy. It was a moment of weakness. And I felt really bad about it and ...

I'm not sure if you noticed I'm back to not posting pics of Zoe again. No biggie, just a privacy issue.... I do have photos available to friends and family on Flickr. What I did decide to do was post pics of Zoe where he face isn't so visable... and I thought these were pretty cute:

Happy Halloween! Honestly, I'm not really into today as far as holidays go... I ended up not getting a costume this year because the idea of dressing up as an oven with a bun in it or a pregnant nun just wasn't appealing. Don't even get me started on slathering my nekkid belly with paint so that it looks like a beach ball or a pumpkin. While I commend people for bravely sharing their pregnant bellies and using their current state towards their costumes, there's just no way I can hang with it. For one thing, I've got a toddler who would not be able to resist my belly with paint on it and two, I'm cool with just Daniel, Zoe and my doc seeing my belly. It's not that I'm not proud, I'm just modest. Zoe on the other hand, does have costumes... and isn't particularly modest, but THAT'S another post for another day. First, there's the "daytime" costume which isn't so much a costume but a festive nod to the day. She's got her s...

Well, it's official - I am pre-registered for my upcoming hospital visit! According to my packet from my doctor's office, I should have registered ten weeks ago. Since the paperwork and setting up billing took just under two hours, I am convinced that they want to get the pregnant mother's in soon enough so that they won't go into labor in Admissions. Seriously. Two hours seems a bit much, no? I've set up a payment plan to pay for the birth and apparently, the hospital's new policy is to have patients start paying immediately. This seems super weird to me - like I'm paying for something that hasn't happened yet. I was told I wouldn't get a bill until months after Finn arrives and that they're only giving me an estimate on what the birth will cost because there is no way of knowing how long we'll stay in the hospital but that I have to start paying now. So we'll be making payments based on an estimate... does that seem weird to you? Regard...

Daniel and I have it good - really good. We have some very special friends here who in addition to renting us a beautiful home, they also have become our extended family. These people are who we entrust Zoe's care to when I need a break or when Daniel and I feel like we need a break together. I am so thankful for them and am quite aware that this pregnancy would be so much harder if we didn't have them to lean on for support. So last night we dropped Zoe off and Daniel and I ventured out for a nice dinner at P.F. Chang's. We had a leisurely dinner that included a calamari appetizer, crispy honey shrimp, and banana spring rolls... oh, my goodness - BANANA Spring Rolls... with coconut pineapple ice cream and caramel sauce! Heaven! We talked about living in Bakersfield, about Zoe, about how excited we were for our son to arrive. We flirted and beamed at each other, laughed, and we people watched. We made fun of our server who might have been the worst server ev-ar - he made a ...

This morning I went into Zoe’s room to get her out of bed and get her ready for her day. As she lay stretched across her changing table she pointed at my t-shirt: “What’s that?!” “It’s a lion.” “Rion?!” “Yes! It’s a lion! Roar!” “Rion!” “Lion! Yes! Roar!” “Rawr!” “Roar!” At different points today we have repeated this conversation about the lion on my t-shirt. Each time, Zoe seems to be filled with as much pride as I am. She’s learning so much everyday. Here’s a list of the words that come out of our little chatterbox daily: No. Yes. Please. Thank you. Daddy. Mama. Baby. Bailey. Max. Chuck. Ellie. Nana/banana Juice. Cookie. Bite. Yummy. Mmmm. More. Up. Down. Boom Boom. Uh-oh. Hi. Bye. Belly. Bellybutton. Nose. Eye. Head. Hat. Shoes. Sock. Dog. Cat. Fish. Duck. Quack. Tweet. What’s that? Nigh-Nigh. Ball. Mine. Bath. I love Zoe! As you can see, she’s got quite the vocabulary for an almost 17 month old. I also love that she’s starting to piece some words together. She’s also quite the lit...