Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Results Are In!!!!

Jared won the bet, and the Poll tells all...
Sorry Kris, no twins.
Sorry Jared, no rock-monster.

But a Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This one is his little spine and head...

and this one...is his head sideways

and and and this one...ha... that's his man business. :)

And there's his head again, and an arm!!


I think both of us are going to have sore cheeks by the end of the day from smiling so much.
:)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Anxiety vs. Excitement

Well, tomorrow is the day.
The day of appointments...!!! Yaaay!!!(?)
There are mixed emotions, for sure....

Things we're anxious about:
What if it has 2 heads? Three arms???
That it really IS a "rock-monster" ...(one of the "other" votes is that jared believes it is a rock-monster)
The whole... experience of having to meet new dr. and nurses and crap. Hoping they're nice.
The reality of things Setting in.
Kim having to hold her pee for more than 20minutes
Them telling Kim to not eat as much ice cream

Things we're TOTALLY excited for!!
hearing the heartbeat!
finding out its gender!
Getting its first picture!
Us getting a weekday together (refer to a couple posts back...).

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We'll of course let you know how it goes... :)

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Baby? or Beer Gut?

So... uuuh, jared and I DID get some nice time together this weekend... We even put (IKEA) dressers together in the bedroom! With that, I was able to put clothes away FINALLY.
During that process, I found this shirt that was originally purchased for wearing on fancy date nights out to the Demolition Derbies and Stock Car races. ...c'mon, just because I went and took me and gots a college educashion don't mean i left behind ma roots!!
So... we (successfully) thought it would be funny to take pictures with me in it NOW (it used to fit, you know...)... so that it looks like the little parasite is an A+ beer gut.


Luda liked how it looked... so much that he even asked me to dance. Of course, I said "yes."


hahahahaaa....maybe you had to be there.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Reality Strike

This would not be an Honest blog without sharing... both sides of things.
Life isn't Always funny t-shirts, Ludacris songs and Surprise gifts.

Grad school, work, and extra-curricular things are catching up to us. I have seen more of Brooke and James this week than I have Jared. And Jared has probably seen Bob and Drew/other lab mates more than he has seen of me.
I would imagine that, in some regards, this is more...reality than anything.
But, we haven't had dinner together since... Last Sunday? In fact, I've had dinner alone M, W, Thursday, and Friday nights. hmmm.
The weird thing... it isn't out of a lack of friends or socialization. Wednesday evening Jared had tkd and I had friends over. We made chocolates and watch Chocolat!!! On Thursday night Jared had band practice and I had my usual Grey's Anatomy get-together (omg, wasn't that last one just heart-breaking!??!?!??!). Our schedules just don't seem to be meshing this semester.
jared is working on getting band practice moved to Tuesdays though (the night that I have night class). So maybe we'll at least have a Thursday night in there... sorry Grey's....

maybe we will just have to be extra-intentional about one:one weekend time.

Any other suggestions anyone??
(besides...embrace the alone-time/peace and quiet??? heehehehehe...trust me, i do!)

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In other news...
How cool of a mom am I that I....half-way along in this growing process, RIDE MY BIKE TO SCHOOL... Not even just ride my bike...rides my FIXIE in this weather!

(and that was today's ride home...not the morning...)
I will be honest, It is mostly because I do not have a parking pass this semester. But I am finding the silver lining in it. I'm getting a 6 mile bike ride in

...and there isn't much of a choice!! It is either that, or...pay to park in a commuter lot... walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus, walk to class.... which takes Longer than the 17minutes it takes to walk out the door...ride my bike...and get up to the 5th floor studio. And sure, I usually dread having to get on my bike in the cold, but after the first few minutes the good 'ol body warms up and...it isn't so bad. In fact, its pretty damn wonderful. Gah! I LOVE riding my bike(s).
...I think if I ever found out my mom did that, I'd think it was pretty cool...
And I'm sure Jared will give me a ride on days it is pouring rain........ right jared? We'll see what....later in the spring brings...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Quality Finds

I don't do this often,
but...friends now and then send me to fun sites, and point out...fun things. And I must admit, these made me laugh...
They come from a site called Etsy which is a site of... pretty much all hand made stuff that artists sell.

ANYWAY I thought it would be fun to share some of the ones we found to be funny. .....People don't Really get as huge as the people in the pictures though - false advertisement. All wrong. Don't they do research??????









And of course, there are funny ones for Jared, too...


Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Mystery Person Discovered and Obama!!

Okay ....
So no one is really commenting, but... I have a tracker thing on this site, and yesterday was the most hits in a day we've ever gotten. That said... :) Thanks for reading, everyone!!!!

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Also,
the ever-wonderful MYSTERY PERSON was revealed today...Jared figured it out at work. We'll keep her anonymous, but... We can all sleep at night knowing that ...I didn't forget to lock the back door, it was someone with a key!

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Not to beat a dead horse.... but whew Inauguration day...
Whew.... You all caught that, RIGHT? *siiigh* Dear Barack, read me a bedtime story?
Dear GW, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

How freakin COOL is it, that Our kid will sit in class... and it will just be "normal" that a black man is president. And probably in his/her lifetime, there will be a woman as a president. What a change! What a barrier TRAMPLED on! How strange will it be for us to FINALLY get a well-spoken president after 8 years of Bushisms?
Obama said it best today
"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."

How cool is it that Our kid is born with a president who has a view of:
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." ... "Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage."

I think quite possibly my favorite quote from Obama today though was this one:
"To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."


I must say... That the day Bush won that first election.... I was still in high school and even then...I was Ready to move to Canada. When he was re-elected I think I about crapped my pants in despair (sorry for the over-share, there...). But that Now there is a president who (crossing my fingers) gah...brings hope! Brings Pride! Its not so Shameful to be an American. ...And that's good, because I think if we were to have had a kid during Bush, we would have raised it to believe it were Canadian................ey?

Also......Obama has Ludacris on his iPod.
*dreamy*


(that's who our dog, Ludacris is named after, by the way......in case you didn't know....)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Thanks, Mystery Person!!

I came home from panera at about 1:15pm... and what do you know but...I forgot to lock the backdoor. What else do you know that the chair by our front door...has a big red bag on it, with pretty orange and yellow tissue paper sticking out of it!!!

And inside,
inside inside!!

ooh oh oh
but the cutest things!!

there were receiving blankets, and a baby healthcare kit, and baby hangers, and a little stuffed toy!!!!, and pajamas, and other amazing little wonderful things!!

but no name.

No one to give credit to!!!

SO, whoever was So thoughtful. Thank you! And not just for the gift, either...but for thinking of us and reminding us how much we're loved....aaand how much the little banana is loved too. :)
(yep, it is supposedly the length of a banana this week...)


------ and btw, thank you for not stealing my bicycle.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

pee.

we went to dinner tonight with some friends

...I went pee before leaving the restaurant
...when we got home
then we walked the dog
...went pee again
worked on the computer for probably 15 minutes...
...peed again.

this is stupid.
This is Just stuipd.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

House-Warming Party!

We broke 'er in this past saturday!!

We had us a beaaaaautiful cake!


a showing of where Creature the cat hides:


twister!!!


and Sami had gotten us a baby book/photo album, and allll of our friends who came signed the first couple of pages with really really sweet and endearing notes. :) Thanks everyone!!!!!


Our best friend, Luda was there... He got lei'd like the PIMP that he is.


It truly was a wonderful crowd (there are even more people in the kitchen, more who came and left, ....really, a wonderful turn-out!!)


Of course, it would not be a Jared/Kim partay without some HOOPING!!!! .....errr...in the living room...

Go Erinnnn!!



And none of it would have happened without the WONDERFUL work of the Samster...

THANKS SAMI!!!!!!!!!

:)
Love, Kim and Jared.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Particular Procrastinatory Posting Predicament

I feel like Kim posts on here way more often, and more elegantly than I do,....so....that's sort of what catalyzed this post. I don't know right now what I am going to write even as I sit here and type it into the very keyboard that sits just right beneath my moving fingers. Well, it seems as though I have missed the elegant part, but at least, eet eez more often, no? That's what them beeg coompaneez do - quantity over quality. I mean...powdered cheese is delicious, even though it's probably not the greatest thing for you to eat. Think of my posts as powdered cheese - just add water...or something...where was I going with that?

On a side note, this looks awesome:

Cheese popcorn at the shake of a button...or...whatever.

Anyway, everything around here is settling into a routine, and it is bitterly, bitterly cold outside - freeze your eyelashes cold. Kim and I are back to school. I have band practices on Thursdays, though I want to change it to Tuesdays (and this week we are going to sacrifice band practice to go ice fishing....on the coldest day of the week, no less), taekwondo on MWF (I looooooooove taekwondo, though), Kim has night classes tonight (I want to be there when she gets home 'cause it's usually the other way around). I just checked on a recrystallization in the freezer and it resembles a long bout of diarrhea sprayed as an aerosol into a flask...and I don't want to clean it up, so I am sitting here looking at things on the internet and typing blog posts into the computer.

Gyyyyyaaaarrrggghhhh!!!

Bah! I'll go clean it up.....hold on.........as a late thought, I wish that I could have though of a great post topic like "one year ago...", but mine will probably be on the more corny side of things (they'll end up like this). I could write a reminiscing post...I thought of that, but then that would just be copying, and I don't want to be a copycat. I want to be original - want to know where I was one year ago, one phrasin it? I was going bald, okay, bald....and it's time I reimbaldened myself since my last full imbaldification a month ago.....maybe, if you're lucky (unlucky???), I will give some kind of meaningful post to follow this one up tonight - how lives change, or how come that cat won't come out of underneath the cabinets, or how the dog can't ever find his balls, or how Kim gets frustrated and hands over the controller for me to play the bonus stages in Donkey Kong (Nintendo skillz for the win =) ), or maybe even something about our housewarming/baby party that was awesome. In fact, there are even pictures I can use...........yes.............hmmmmmm..............but then I might just prep some food. Delicious delicious food.

okay

-procrastination over-

Friday, January 9, 2009

one year ago...

I returned from Winter Camping up in the boundary waters. It was a freezing, epic adventure. What a freaking blast! but, gah it was dumb. ANYWAY. ...Afterwards, I spent my days at Cafe Diem, catching up on to-dos with friends (betsy and gwyneth)... There was even a particular day... we were having lunch at Jimmy John's and the three of us decided to chop my hair off.

I spent the rest of my break sharing my stories with Mickey and Kris. The start of that semester was spent... up at my counter space there, doing homework and spilling bottles of beer onto mickey's recently cleaned floor (okay, that was only once...). My bike was set up in the kitchen on my rollers, pointed toward the TV. Kris sat in front of me and would hold her beer in the air to make the torture of indoor training even worse.
It seemed like every other night was... a drive through a blizzard to find some trashy bar for Small Town Bar Night, and...at least once a week was Cribbage night! Nights we didn't do that, we played guitar hero/rockband. It was... it was my last semester of school and I lived it up!!!

Sometime early in the semester though, I did get into grad school - that changed things a bit...... There was Even Less motivation. Ha.

Anyway, safe to say... Things are different now.
Sure, I still go to class and work...
But even those are different. Much much more research/writing instead of... learning design principles. A totally new group of graphic design friends (my undergrad friends all moved!). And...my "family" has entirely shifted.
This last semester, I even had professors who I never had before - how refreshing! ...This semester I have my major prof for...every...class. .....I will probably spend more time with Lisa this semester than I will with Jared. hahahahaaar.
But nowadays, There is a garbage bill to be paid - internet to pay for...its always been free!! what the hell!?!? - we have a dishwasher!!! - a toilet that overflows (jared...) - a driveway to shovel - drapes for the windows?!?! - A GARAGE!! and a shed!! - we painted a nursery!!... - and on and on...
More nights than ever before are spent... being a good girl and doing homework, or watching a movie. ...I haven't stolen anything from a bar in...gah, probably 6 months!!! Shit! What has happened!?!?


And of course, one of the biggest differences ...physical GROWTH! I'm posting this, primarily because my sister, Amie, has been BEGGING for me to share....AND because so many people, especially at the house-warming party, still insist that I'm not really 'showing' ..well folks, maybe not through my clothes necessarily, but there is Definitely a ...visible change. The first one is ...mmm like 2 weeks after we found out...




uuuuugh!!! haha.
@#$%
I think it is a ...kind of a bad angle? lol...Something!!! RIght!??! And yes, the pictures are both post-shower...

*siiiigh* haha.

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in other news.... we have our ultrasound Jan. 28th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Luda - Bling Bling

So, some of you may be wondering why so many of the posts include Luda. Well...for one, he's our other family member! There is Creature the cat, too...but she mostly just hides under the kitchen cabinet.
For us, Luda is in some way, practice. A lesson in prioritizing. We feed/walk (let him out at least) Every morning. He gets another 15-30minute walk in the evening. Which also means...we've gotten used to picking up large quantities of poop!! We take him down to pet smart for his bath/nail clipping/tooth-brushing every other month or so.... When traveling with him, the backseat needs the sheet on it. We have to pack his food, his dishes, toys, extra long chain for putting him outside, and of course his leash....


We have to scold him about getting on furniture - and in his smart-ass (but entirely adorable) way, gets on the couch HALF WAY...

How do you scold a dog for THAT??? Its So cute! And....he's not ON the couch... He just likes to cuddle!
We have play time during the day, he has his own corner of toys...
We even have to keep things out of "luda-reach." Not to mention "luda-tail-wagging-reach."

We even dress the little guy!!
BLIIIING!!


And you might be thinking "yeah, but he doesn't scream and cry" but, if you're thinking that...I don't think you were with him the first few months we had him when he would whiiiiiiiiiiiiine and whine. He had separation anxiety and would shred things to pieces (tore up a carpet, even!) when left behind. And there have certainly been nights where he whined ALLLL night ....and jared and i would take turns getting up to take him outside (this was before we understood that the rawhide chew bones give him awful awful butt issues...). So yes, ...we have even gotten to practice the 'no sleep' routine...

So sure, there is a huuuuge responsibility difference, we are certainly aware of that!!!! But he has been a good stepping stone! if you will. And he may even always be known as our first "kid." And THAT, my friends, is why mr. Ludacris gets to be in so many posts....other than that he's just That amazing. :)

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IN OTHER NEWS...
Brooke is cool.

Monday, January 5, 2009

firsts!

So, here and there, Jared and I have received a few "firsts" for the ... currently tomato sized.... parasite.

From our dear friend Davy Crockett (yes, he is a direct descendent...) a monkey friend/pillow/blanket! Its sooo soft!! It is/was officially the first blanket!! Yaaaay Davy! (sorry its sideways)


From the wonderful KT... we have our FIRST clothing article... A Packers Onsie!! We'll raise it right, I promise......cheese and all! We'll even tell bed-time stories about Brett Favre...


Jared's grandma knit us some lover-ly booties!!! Never will our child have cold feet...for the first couple of months anyway....


From my parental unit - the first Nikes!!! HA! ...I think it was my mom cursing me for all of the times I was so picky about shoe buying. ...Thanks Mom! Stylish children are important...ish.


And its first Teddy Bear from a friend, Lisa!! Its suuuper soft, too!!! We'll have to come up with a good name for it. Maybe this one I'll let Jared give some... weird war-lord sort of name to... Bolteron or... Rontor-the-magic, griffin-tor, compu-tor?
THAT REMINDS ME. We haven't shared about how we plan to brainwash/confuse our child by telling it that things like "milk" are..."table" and that "table" is ..."lamp" ....and "lamp" is "chair" and "chair" is ...."book" so when it goes to public school it is...confused and when the teacher tells the students to sit in their chairs, our kid sits on his/her books. HA. brilliant.


Thanks Everyone!!!

Airlines!! part II - jared's version

Well, let me start off by saying that Kim's version is pretty much everything, but there are a few things I would like to add...such as air pirates. Let me tell you, when you are flying, and you hear those cannons, and there is a big airship traveling at 500 mph right next you with a bunch of single-toothed, mouth-foaming, rip-roaring, stark-ravin', un-shaven, baby-hatin, raggedy randy, not-so-fine-and-dandy maniacs aboard, you know somethin is up, and it better be your shootin' arm, otherwise you mighta be in trouble, lads n lassies.

Here is a picture I snapped of the offending airship.A closeup of the airship - notice the flying bullets and terrible looking pirate (whom I had to throw overboard 9 times I might add - he kept coming back!)
More ugly pirates - notice the scungy teeth showing through their pernicious grins.

So I jumped off the plane, did a triple kick backflip off the wingtip to get in the airship. I ripped their roars, starked their raves up their arses, and shaved their sorry beards right off the side of the boat...er...airship...and all I had was an Airmall catalog and an empty can of ginger ale. Needless to say, I was a hero that day...too bad everyone else was sleepin'.

Anyhoo, when we landed in the Detroit airport and I talked to the guy at the Northwest desk about our transfer flight and hotel rooms (Gregory I think his name was - he was actually really helpful, but his efforts at having our luggage transferred to Harrisburg were obviously in vain), I noticed painful stuffiness right in and above my left nostril - a sure sign of oncoming disease that would stick with me until about Christmas Eve.... sure enough, after we crashed in the hotel room, I was plagued by painful sleep and a disgusting nose. I blame Northwest for this one. They can lick my...well, they can lick all my offensive parts, as long as I haven't washed for at least three weeks of sweaty, sweaty workouts - and caked on gold bond. Yeah - that'll show em. Thanks again for nothing, Northwest. On a much sweeter note, however, in the morning, Kim went to the lobby and brought me the first round of our enormous breakfast while I was still in bed. Thankee, sugar, that shore were awful peachy of you. =)

Kim is so sweet - just like peach cobbler.....mmmmmm.....peach cobbler.

I would also like to mention that we saved the pizza we ordered and took it to the airport with us the next day when we went back to the airport. Everybody in the airport kept telling us that we had the right idea or if they could have a slice. After our pizza had passed through the x-ray machine (RADIATION!!), the security dude at the other end asked us what toppings were on the pizza - we told him that they should already know.

The really strange thing at the airport that day was that the gate for our flight kept changing. It changed like 3 times!!! And all the people for our flight would get up, migrate, and settle in again till we had to move to the next one. Eventually it all ended, and I got me some DayQuil and Benadryl for the flight - knocked me out and cleared up my nose. It was nice to get some good rest. Those airplane seats, though - man, they have to be bad for your neck.

I found this neat design for airplane seats - this has got to be better than what they have now.
The airlines need to get crackin on replacing their seats.
Well, I've gone on long enough for one post methinks. I tend to be longwinded, so I'll cut myself short....er...long....er...whatever. I'll type y'alls later in another post. For now, I hope you enjoyed the show. Stay tuned next week, cause here...I...gooooooooooooooo......Ciao!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

House Progress

We've been back for a few days now and...look where we've come!!!

The desk area:





The [ever important] living room area:






The laundry room (truly exciting!!!! our own laundry!!!)...



The cat/dog area...



Guard dog Luda



KITCHEN!!





The nursery ...i.e. storage room for boxes/tubs that are not yet unpacked...


This one, we'll have to update more on later. Same with our bedroom which is now...clothes everywhere as...there is only one dresser between the two of us, and we...we forgot to bring hangers from our other apartments! ha!