Never spit in another man's face, unless...

...his beard is on fire! My cousin, Katie had her bachelorhette party this last friday. When I arrived and saw that we each got our own personal pink boa's, I thought to myself: man, I really picked the wrong year to be pregnant - this is going to be one wild and crazy night. As if going to 2 Indiana Alum weddings (with the potential for 4) wasn't a big enough hint, this one really hit home. All was not lost though, I did get to part-take in the pizza and homemade ranch.
Katie's wedding is the one I alluded to at some other point, with the possibility of 9 pregnant women, the count is up to 11. I would like to add, if it wasn't completely obvious, that there are actually only 3 girls truly "with child" in this photo - the other's just have skillz.
And finally, the gift. EVERYONE else got Katie some sort of darling little nighty...but we (my sisters and I) went with something a little more practical: a muumuu. The best part of the whole deal, besides the garment being a 1x, had to be that it was nearly the last gift she opened. Or maybe that isn't the best part. Maybe the thing that made this gift soo extraordinary was the saleslady at Macy's. In all seriousness, she asked my 24 year old sister, "And who is recieving this lovely gift?" And Leah responded, "My cousin". And the women said, "Oh she is going to love it, it has such a clean and crisp look." A 1x muumuu!? Can anyone seriously admire the look of a 1x, cotton, baby blue, floral print muumuu? I wonder.

Face painting? Count me in!

Cramer, Inc.

Annual Picnic

September 20th, 2008

I guess Matt's company has an annual picnic. I have no idea how long this has been going on, nor how successful it usually is - as far as turn out - but I can tell you that this year was a great success! A couple of his co-workers were pretty much professional face painters! I think someone almost lost a head playing a pick up game of softball, the basset peed on a cooler, a little girl nearly put Tater's entire head in her mouth in an attempt to give him a kiss, and perhaps the smallest child in attendance drank at least 3-4 cans of Sprite (all of which belonged to someone besides herself.)

Oh, and despite the appearance of the above photo, Matt and Danny do know each other, and do get along.

Plaza Art Fair - 2008

This is the artwork Matt and I purchased this year; "Watch Dog" by Keith Grace. I have seen this artist many times, and have mostly enjoyed his work. Though I am not really that obsessed with my Italian Greyhound, it was all to irresitable for me to purchase this representation. Tater is always being described as cartoonish, so this was only fitting. (And I kind of have a thing for clocks/watches in artwork.)

The Opera

La Boheme

The Lyric Opera

Kansas City

Leah and I decided to make it a date to the opera. Niether of us has much experience in the opera scene, but we have both decided it is for us. This particular opera, we were told be many, "is a great one to see as a first", because it provided the inspiration for the play, Rent (and everyone has seen Rent!) Therefore, the storyline was very familiar, and the superscripts helped - no such thing as old-fashioned opera anymore, now we have translations.

Overall, it could have been a wonderful and completely positive experience, if it weren't for a few things... One being the woman who thought every goofy moment was the funniest thing she has ever witnessed, thus bellowing with obnoxious laughter every other minute. It got to a point whereI began to feel bitterness at the light-hearted moments of the play, instead of joy. The other obstructions to pure enjoyment were: my hot flashes, RLS and the extreme case of the hiccups Baby O developed for the entire last scene (guess Opera's not O's thang - a boy?)

The big 3-0!

I posted on time! I am exactly 30 weeks today, aka 7 months (if my due date is November 23rd). Not many changes to report on in the last 5 weeks. The baby has hit me in the ribs a couple times, which just tickles at this point. I am sure that will change when it weighs more like 6lbs, not 2 & 1/2. During some wild kicking/thrashing fits, I do just stop and look down at my belly and smile...that is my baby in there creating all that pandemonium. Then I look in the mirror at my belly, and I don't smile. My weight gain, to date is 17.5 lbs - not bad? I still have some rough nights with the indigestion, but thank you Pepcid AC!!! That stuff works like magic. And we have finally made minimal progress on the nursery, as evidenced by the background of my photograph. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

My cousing, Katie, had a wedding shower at Brio this weekend. She informed me that she there will be 9 pregnant women at her wedding! That is just crazy, it's not even a huge wedding. I guess we are just that age. I am quite sure there is a baby boom forming though. Or, it could be one of those instances where you never notice it until it happens to you. For example, when my mom first got our 1995 Ford Explorer, yea, I had noticed them, but all of a sudden, EVERYONE seemed to have one. Maybe people just copy off me and my family a lot.

Blast from the Past

As I sit here at midnight, trying to kill time so that maybe some more of my food will digest, I peruse my old photo files. (I knew ice cream was a bad idea due to my "gestational lactose intolerance - which I think I made up.) Here were just some of the highlights, all dating sometime in 2005-06.
Alexander at about 6 months of age...umm, have you seen anything so darling!?
Me, at 22 years of age...um, hae you seen anything so sexy?!
Tali at 4 months of age, while she was still the same size as Tater.
Matt and I at the peak of a really, really windy Sunset Mountain, attempting descent for only my third time in life, on our first true vacation together.