The family car

Well, we did it!  We bought ourselves a sensible, 4-door family car.  It's a pearl-colored Mitsubishi Galant and I couldn't be happier.  Getting rid of the Scion seemed like the last tie to an old life.  Now we're well on our way to being parents.  How weird!

So it is YES, sensible, and NO, not as fun as the SUV's we were looking at, but definitely more practical.  And let me tell you, it's a lot less pimp-a-licious than the Chrysler 300 we test drove overnight on Monday.  That car was cushy and huge inside, but I felt like Cruella DaVille when I drove it, and there was no way I could have people thinking I was coming to steal their puppies or yelling, "There's that crazy woman driver!" when I passed.  Yep, this Galant is grown-up, and I fully accept that.

Now if only we could find a happy home for Berkley (sniffle).  How could anyone say no to this face?

  

The bittersweet

Nate and I are making some lifestyle changes.  Well, in particular, two lifestyle changes.

Number one, we're investing in a sensible, 4-door vehicle, for obvious reasons.  I'm not trying to haul a peanut in and out of our 2-door Scion, so we're trading in, and possibly up, in size.  It's going to be okay, though.  We can still be cool, right? 

Number two, we're going to have to find a new home for Berkley.  This one hurts my heart.  A LOT. She is a precious, sweet, wonderful dog.  But she is simply too big.  She has so much energy and is so playful, and when I get home after work, all I can do is lie down because I've been so sick.  Nate is busy trying to take care of me, and the poor baby is being sadly neglected.  I want to cry every time I think about her sweet face right outside our sliding glass door, just waiting for someone to come play with her.  It's all a matter of bad timing, because had we known we would get pregnant so quickly, we never would have taken her.

All that said, it's a bittersweet time for me right now.  And that's really all I've got today.

the PERFECT weekend

Well let me just start off your Monday by telling you how divine my weekend was.  In a word - spectacular.  You see, I have this amazing husband who absolutely loves to spoil me, and he pulled out all the stops for our anniversary weekend.

Now, mind you, this was a special anniversary - our 5th, on 05/20/2010.  And Nate loves numbers divisible by 5 (one of his most adorable quirks), so he was extra excited about this one.

So we left on Saturday morning and drove to Houston to grab a bite to eat at Panera Bread, which I can never resist, no matter how bad the morning "ickness" is.  We looked at baby clothes in a posh little store called Mint Baby, and headed to our first destination - the Museum of Natural History.  I have never been there (go figure, considering how much I love dinosaurs and planets), and Nate had a special treat: a movie at the planetarium theater.  How awesome is that?  It literally looked like a planetarium, with the dome ceiling and reclining seats, and at first I was confused about how we would see the stars during the day.  But they actually project movies across the dome, so it looked like we were flying through outer space.  I gave it two happy thumbs up, especially because I got to lie down during the whole thing. 

Then, my fabulous husband actually planned naptime for me.  Hello?  Can you say perfect?  So I cozied up at our hotel with the air conditioning cranked and the covers pulled up to my nose and had such a delightful rest while he went out to get my gift (yes, I got a nap and a gift at the same time).  When he came back to wake me up he had brought the most amazing camera/videocamera that I have ever seen and it was all for me, ahem, I mean, all for us (wink wink).  So now I have a new toy, and I'm frantically learning everything I can about it.

After that, we got dressed and went to Whole Foods Market, which is second to heaven for me, and picked out as many yummy things as we could hold for our picnic at Miller Outdoor Theater, which was showing the opera Tosca!!!  My very first opera, and it couldn't have been more exquisite.  The geniuses who put it on figured out that a small screen at the top could play subtitles, so no one had to struggle to figure out what was going on.  Plus the weather was perfect, we were at the top of a hill with the wind blowing and our picnic in full swing, and the music was gorgeous.  I had to pinch myself multiple times to make sure it was all real.

We rounded out the evening with another picnic in our hotel room - snacks from Taco Cabana (another first) with the balcony door open to the gorgeous Houston skyline.    I wish I were back there right now instead of at work on a Monday morning...

On Sunday we got up, searched for an Astros t-shirt for me (found a cute one with sparkles) and headed to the Astros game with the Foys - such good times!  I put the new camera to good use, and Nate had his fill of ballpark hotdogs, and although we were sad about the Astros losing, it still ended up being a great time.  On the way home to Lufkin we ate at PeiWei (fabulous) and grabbed some Baskin Robbins ice cream.  All in all, I spent the entire weekend smiling.  It was perfect.

So now it's Monday, and my new pre-natal vitamins are making me burp up the taste of fish sticks.  I'm trying to remind myself that there's only a week of school left, and that I can do (almost) anything for a week.  I guess the memories of this weekend and my swell new camera should keep me busy, at least for today.

Friday 10

Today I spent most of my conference period lying in the copy room at work, underneath a desk, trying to get warm and to sleep off this UGH that I feel today.  Because not only am I pregnant sick, now I'm sick sick.  My throat's on fire, my head is all plugged, and yes, I am feeling quite cranky.  Thinking happy thoughts isn't helping because I'm just plain tired of feeling gross.  And it's only been two and a half weeks of this kind of sickness.  I always thought I was pretty tough, but I'm starting to realize that I'm just a big sissy. 

On the funny side, though, yesterday Ann was looking up morning sickness for me on google, but actually typed in "morning ickness."  It described how I feel perfectly!!!

Anyway, to combat my hideous crankiness, today I'm going to spend my time making a top ten list of things that make me happy.  Maybe you can add to it if I get stuck.

1.  My super fantastic husband, who has been planning our anniversary getaway this weekend for weeks, and who took me out on a hot date last night, despite the fact that I have officially given in and look permanently haggard.

2.  The fact that our grown child Ann (otherwise known as my youngest sister) has decided that she wants a baby brother, and the fact that referring to her as our child confuses the heck out of everyone.

3.  The idea of me sitting in the corner of my room sniffing an alcohol wipe like a crack fiend because someone told me it would help with morning sickness.  Just FYI, it didn't.

4.  Tomato soup and ginger ale.  Not only do I like it when I'm sick, but it makes me feel cozy every other time.

5.  People who genuinely ask me every single day how I'm feeling, and really want to know the truth.  I always want to give them a hug, even as I'm feeling bad for saying I'm not feeling too great...

6.  (insert name)  VS.  (insert name).  It's my favorite game to play, creating imaginary match-ups between people at the church, co-workers, etc.  Somewhat like celebrity death match, but with people I know... 

7.  The fact that all but 6 of my students passed the English TAKS test, and quite a few of them were commended as well, even after the dreadful Fall that I had.

8.  Scrabble, bananagrams and moxie.  All word games that I adore.

9.  Did I mention my super fantastic husband, who is kind to me ALWAYS, even when I don't deserve it?

10. The fact that today is Friday, and in an hour and a half, I get to go home and take the biggest, fattest, happiest nap I've had all week.

5 years and counting

Once upon a time, a boy

met a girl

and fell in love.  They were a perfect match - silliness and smiles, music and dancing.  In their world, they were like a prince and princess.  Of course, most of the people in the kingdom were delighted to see the pair, but of course, as in all good fairy tales, there were lots of ogres and witches who tried to block their way.  Nothing can really stop true love, though.  So after all the hard times, they're on their way to living happily ever after.

Happy 5th Anniversary, baby!  The adventure is just beginning for us, and it will just continue to get better all the time (and next year there'll be a peanut in our picture!).

I love you!

A green day

Every day is a new day.
Today is an especially green day, and by that I mean I'm alternating between extra pale and a strange shade of olive.  And I can't figure out why (well - duh, besides just having a peanut).  That would make things too simple, though, right?  I'm taking this as another lesson for my future as a mommy.  Pregnancy sickness follows no pattern, no rhyme or reason, somewhat like the behavior of teenagers.  Brilliant correlation, right?

I've spent the morning listening to country music, and not on purpose.  I assigned my students a project to analyze song lyrics as poetry, and they all had to bring in a song for us to study.  Somehow my first period, which is a remarkably diverse class, ended up with almost entirely country songs.  How do these things happen?  I mean, I guess a country song tells a story better than anything else, but goodness.  No more trucks, no more whiskey and six packs, no more sad tales of angst and love lost.  I'm officially exhausted at this point.

In other news, Berkley is getting HUGE, and Nathan and I are seriously considering letting her become an inside dog.  It's sad to let the two little dogs in and make her stay outside.  However, do pregnancy and fifty-pound puppies go together in any weird world?  It's worth a shot, I suppose...  

My Conner

Oh my WORD, look at this little nugget.  He just lost his first tooth.  If I were the Tooth Fairy, I'd leave him a hundred bucks, just for being so perfect and adorable. 

Can you believe I was in the delivery room when he was born?  Where has time gone?