Shoe Fetish

Milo has two favorite sleeping spots for whatever reason. So if you don't see him at the top of the stairs, he is undoubtedly surrounded by shoes. He loves sleeping on and near our shoes. He cracks me up, but is as happy as a clam when he's surrounded by shoes.

Now Oscar on the other hand likes to beat up our shoes. His favorite being SD's big brown shoe (near Milo's tail in the picture). When we went on vacation a few weeks ago to the Cape we came home to find one of that pair in the upstairs bathroom! He literally dragged it across the kitchen floor, through the living room, and up the stairs into the bathroom. It was hilariously sitting on the bathmat next to the tub, where he likes to bring all of his "prizes." That shoe is not light, and Oscar is quite small so that's a feat I would have loved to see!

These cats are so silly.

My Celebrity Mom

My mom is really good at writing grants to get money for library books for the Springfield Public Schools. I believe last year, thanks to her, one of her schools received a prestigious federal grant that only 1 other school in Mass was awarded bringing thousands of dollars to help revitalize their somewhat rundown library.

Now her hard work has paid off again, and she made it to the papers. She really cares about helping the children, even if it means extra unpaid time at work running the Scrabble club or buying supplies with her own money. She's passionate about what she does and I very much admire her for it.
So nice job Mom! You rock!
;-)

Prepared?

I'm not sure if one can ever be prepared for giving birth, but in an effort to be a little less unprepared we went to an all day "Prepared Childbirth" class last Sunday.
Description:
This comprehensive childbirth class covers all aspects of pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum including: the anatomy and physiology of late pregnancy, the labor and birth process, signs and stages of labor, options for coping and pain management, common complications and promoting positive communication with your care-giver. We will help prepare you for all aspects of birth from knowing when to leave for the hospital or birth center to taking care of yourself after birth. This class provides some information on natural coping methods such as relaxation, breathing and massage (although not as much as the natural childbirth class), as well as information about pain medication and epidural anesthesia. All participants will receive a detailed information packet and view a birthing video. We encourage participation by your partner or support person. You should call to register for this class in your 4th or 5th month of pregnancy and it should be taken around the 7th or 8th month of pregnancy.

Having very few weekends left to sleep as late as we want before the little guy makes his debut, there are very few things to get us up early and we hoped it would be worth it.

It was a pretty good class and I'm glad to have gone, but probably not worth the nearly $200 price. There were 4 other couples, all first timers, and all of us except one having boys (I swear it's the new craze!)

I love Anatomy and Physiology thanks to an awesome teacher I had in high school and that part of the class made me want to go back to school. The body really does some amazing things!

Luckily there were no annoying people in class and the instructor was pretty entertaining. We learned some good techniques to try to help labor along before the doctors would intervene. I'm trying to not set my mind on any one way to do it, though my fear of needles has me hoping it won't be too painful (yeah right, I know). I hate needles, but one in your spine makes my back hurt just thinking of it.

I was thinking of maybe becoming a member of this Isis Maternity, the company that partners with a lot of Boston hospitals to provide these services, but since they wouldn't give me the 10% discount on the class even though someone on the phone had told me that would apply if you signed up for membership close to the class (we signed up on Friday), it was really no longer cost effective. I still may check out their "Mom and Baby Yoga" class during maternity leave since my coworker dates a woman who wrote a book about how beneficial it is in helping both mom and baby sleep and feel better. Could be interesting. They also have a class to lose that "Mummy Tummy" but I think I'll just go back to the gym.

All in all, still not feeling prepared, but feeling a little better about childbirth.
=)

November Babies

They say good things come in threes, and babies are pretty good indeed!

I recently found out another one of my friends is pregnant and she is also due in November!!! I've been so tired I've been bad at keeping in touch and hadn't seen her and her husband since I held the MS Charity Dinner Benefit back in late March when she was almost a month pregnant and I was a month and a half. We're about 3 weeks apart!

-Photo op with someone elses empty beer bottle... sneaky, sneaky, hee hee;

It was kinda hard not drinking that night (besides good ol' Shirley Temples) as I got a lot of offers from people to buy me a drink for putting the event together.

This is her first and they're waiting to find out the sex, which I was thinking today during A Baby Story how exciting that would be, but the suspense would have killed me by now! Maybe next time...

So now I literally have back to back to back weekends of baby showers from late September to October (for Tad, then Button, then Poof)--how exciting and special to share this with two friends who go way back (Jennifer to childhood and Aura to 5th grade).

Congratulations Jen and Brian!!!
-Two more BU alums
See you soon for a nice "adult" dinner before we all become parents! And the extra great thing is since she's in the area we'll be on maternity leave together. Starting with our fathers we'll have 3 generations of friends...hmmm kinda rooting for Button to be a boy now that I think of that!

Another Wedding and a Trip to Chicago

Here I am: still being a bad blogger.

Wanted to post real quickly in between trips.
We went to Elizabeth's wedding last Friday in Chicago. It was gorgeous weather, and it was held right on Promontory Point which juts out into Lake Michigan. She looked beautiful and was so happy! When they were getting married a butterfly came and landed right on the bride's dress near her shoulder!
It was a mini BU reunion and we all had a wonderful time!

The next day E and Dan were off to the Bahamas and Joanna, Ji Yeon, Woojin, Scott and I met up downtown at Lou Mitchell's for brunch. YUM--MMMMY! It was a place recommended by Jo's hotel and it was so good! If you're ever in Chicago it's worth going to. You're greeted with a smile and a nice lady who serves fresh homemade donut holes while you wait for a table (because it's sure to be packed). Then as we waited for our food they brought us all a little cup with fresh orange slices and a prune. The food was all fresh and made to order, as each omelette came out in it's own little pan. Then to top it off before you pay the bill they give everyone some of their homemade ice cream for free.

After that we all headed separate ways as they had planes to catch and we met up with Jesse and his new wife Miriam for the day. I literally don't think I've seen Jesse since Espresso Royale the night of graduation. 6 years too long--I'm very happy he is done with going to Iraq after two tours and is now out of the military, though I guess they can call him back for one more year. We hung out and went to Millenium Park for the Jazz Festival, though we didn't hear much music.

We then took the Metra and went to a delicious Italian restaurant in Little Italy. It was a good time and good conversation. They got a sweet Creme Brulee and we got a Chocolate and Mint Ice Cream Lava Cake. I have to admit, ever since my glucose test came back just fine (yay no gestational diabetes!) I have been indulging a little too much in my sweet tooth.
Well I'll try to be better with baby updates since I only have 10 weeks left--yikes!
For now we're off to the Cape to get away for the rest of the week and celebrate our 3rd year anniversary.
Last vacation just the 2 of us (though the little one makes himself known by kicking me like a little ninja!)
Hiya!