This one calls for a list baby:

1) Exhaustion.

When I was pregnant with Rt, I worked full-time for a cartoon company in Los Angeles. My boss was a VP of development and considered it inconvenient I was “with child”. So, it was my job to act like I wasn’t. FOR 9 MONTHS. Was I this tired back then? Who the hell knows? Currently, my biggest complaint is being oh so freakin pooped. I guess having all day to think about it does make a difference. And no, I am not a napper. Funky-ass dreams are not relaxing.

2) Constipation.

Ya, ya, laugh all you want you people who have never experienced issues with your pooper. This seriously BLOWS! I experienced this on a MINOR scale with Rt, but way down the pg line closer to the 3rd trimester. Not in the FIRST ONE!! My saving grace has been 2 servings of Benefiber daily followed by a Colace chaser, if more “assistance” is needed.

3) Feeling “ill”.

After a larger meal, one that was scarfed down waaaay too fast, I may need to pop a couple Tums to get through the rumbling in my squeamish tummy. Or, when I wake up suddenly to an Rt nightmare, get up too fast, then lie back down again, I feel a rush of motion sickness. It doesn’t last too long, but it’s the last thing you want to encounter when you want to fall back asleep pronto! With Rt, I had way less morning sickness than this, so I do feel lucky in the grand scheme of things, but still it’s no joy. Chocolate milk has been my bees’ knees!! Go calcium.

So, those are my top 3. Since I am only in week 12, I am sure there will be lots to add. Oh, the joy.

What was your top 3?

e

up the duff….

bun in the oven….

in the family way……

You name it, I’ve got it. Yep, yours truly is pregnant baby!

In my 12th week and doing well.

e

the agony of aging.

I wouldn’t say this year, celebrating another year of my life, was agony, per say. I’m just not turning 16, 18, 21, or even 30! Luckily, with a few partners in crime, I made out rather well.

The birthday weekend was splendid. What we couldn’t achieve on Thursday, the actual “birth day”, was made up for on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday for that matter.

Friday night, hubs and I went to Benihana. Ever been? Something similar, like Shogun? Same thing, different ambiance, same food. All I can say is DEE-LISH! And, yes, hubs did call ahead and told them it was my birthday. After the announcement over the PA system, the budda-lite candle, the fru-fru dessert, AND the Polaroid to capture the moment forever, I truly felt special, and horrifically embarrassed. And, yes, yes. I loved every minute of it.

Saturday consisted of my regular early morning sleep-in. But Rt woke up at 7:30a.m., so not feeling the need to pass out again, I just chilled out and watched who-knows-what till 9a.m. Then, hubs, Rt and I went for a walk to Peet’s coffee and picked up some bagels at the local market. Once Rt “napped”, hubs and I went to see “3:10 to Yuma” while my mom babysat. (little did we know Rt never slept, just pooped. Poor gal.) We arrived home to a house filled with the aroma of cupcakes. Hot damn, the celebration never ends! Rt wanted red icing, so we mixed our concoctions, sprinkled our creations, sang Happy Birthday to me, and Rt blew out my candle. Ah, the love.

Sunday came with another round of cupcakes, this time, GREEN! Another song was sang to me, another candle was blown out, by Rt. Ah, the love.

e

Last night’s birthday dinner was mildly PAINFUL.

Actually, it was really nice to be taken out to dinner by my mom on my birthday. It took me back to the days before I could drive and got to pick my favorite restaurant to celebrate my special day. However, I drove and met my mom there, and it wasn’t my favorite restaurant.

We went Chevy’s.

Reasons why we went to Chevy’s on my birthday:

*I have a two and a half year old. I need mindless entertainment to offset my two and a half year old.

*It was down the street and we were pressed for time on a school night. Rt’s bedtime is 7:30 and all.

*I figured enchiladas would solve my cravings and hubs and I are going out ALONE to a Japanese Steakhouse tonight! (Let’s get a Hell Ya!) Mexican is so the total opposite.

Since my mom was running late due to lame ass traffic, Rt and I drove ourselves and sat down at a table. He had brought two Thomas trains with him. I thought that would be enough to keep him from turning into a two and a half year old, but I was mistaken. Honestly, he did extremely well. It’s just that, who truly enjoys dining with anyone who is under the age of 3? 10? 16? It takes that little something extra, which I clearly did not have last night. Or most meals outside of the house for that matter. IT’S NOT RELAXING.

So, mom showed up, chips were consumed, drinks were sipped, and our order was taken. And then our order was delivered to the table next to us. It wasn’t even what the chic ordered, but she took a couple of nibbles of the rice and beans. That meant, our food would have to be cooked again and the wait continued, with a two and a half year old. You’ve got to be kidding people. Where is the customer service? free dessert? Clown to distract the kid? Sombrero?

The kicker to all of this is, the food was actually really good. I ate my whole plate. Well, I ate what was left after I shared it with Rt. He likes Mexican food. He doesn’t like chips. Total score.

Getting out the door once our plates were clean was the biggest drag. A 10-top showed up in our section and orders were being taken. For the love!!! We just want our TO GO ORDER and get the hell out of dodge. It was already past my two and a half year old’s bedtime. Every minute counts people!!! Once she made it to our table, I asked if they served Sopapias. She looked at me like I was crazy. Great, no luscious dessert for me. Fine, I didn’t want the obnoxious birthday song anyway!

Fortunately, my mom picked up the tab and told us to go ahead and head home before the bill arrived. Thanks mommy!!

15 minutes later, the little one was in bed, not clean and passed out. Victorious! (Did I mention he took a 3 hour nap for me as well. What a sweetheart.)

Little did I know, hubs had been at the airport since 2:45pm trying to catch an earlier flight home for my birthday. Every flight he tried to catch was booked and even wait-listed. He finally got on a flight scheduled to leave one hour earlier than his original 6:55p.m. flight. But, this one was 30 minutes delayed!! The luck!

Hubs showed up on our doorstep at 8:55p.m., 5 minutes earlier than his regular arrival time……………..with a dozen roses in hand.

I couldn’t of asked for a better gift. My man and baby’s breath.

e

Rt came into my room this morning to tell me “Happy Birthday, Cake!” He then preceded to get into bed with me, lie down, roll over and kiss me on the lips.

Now if that doesn’t get you in the festive spirit, nothing will. Let’s party!

e

Since I have been everywhere and back again recently, I have come to realize I have yet to talk about anything besides my travels. Is anyone sick and tired of looking at my photo albums? I am. (No offense to anyone in them, it’s just, enough already!) I am beginning to wonder if I am capable of talking about anything interesting ever again.

I feel like this is my first post. What to say, what to say. Oh, I know! No, actually, I don’t. I just thought if I wrote that something would come to mind…..

OH, I know. I got my haircut and colored on Saturday. It had been since March since I had it cut and May since I had it colored. I was beginning to look scary people. Even my hairstylist commented on my ends. Hey! It’s not that easy to get to the salon. Well, actually, it is. I called on Wednesday and was able to schedule a 10am appt for Saturday. I guess I just needed the actual threat of looking bad again another day to get my mind off it’s lazy ass and do something for me. Why is it so hard sometimes?

My Saturday started off with hubs getting Rt out of bed once he woke for the day. Our daily ritual is bring Rt to bed, “hang” for about 10 minutes until he repetitively convinces one of us to get up for the day. Usually, it’s me. But not Saturday. That’s MY day. It was already 7 something in the morning, so I wasn’t sure if I could fall back asleep, so I turned on the tv and nestled in to watch 2 hours of mindless tv, alone. Once the Lifetime movie was over, I got up, made some Godiva Hot Chocolate and got dressed. I never once had to do something “parentish”.

Once at the salon, I was offered hot tea in an actual china tea cup and was pampered on for a good whole two hours. It was heaven. What came out of it? A good ass trim and a lovely highlight touch up. No evidence of any outgrowth left. Fantabulous!

What did I learn from this experience? I wish I had a lot of $100’s to do something like this for myself every weekend. Since I don’t have that kind of money to be frivolous with, I need some ideas. Anybody out there have any ideas? What can I do just for me on a Saturday morning to spend some quality time ALONE without breaking the bank.

Do tell.

e

if I could do this all day, I would. gleefully.

So, it has been an entire week since our return from the okie state and I am just now getting around to chatting about it. Good flipping grief! Where has the time gone? It’s a blur filled with early mornings and loads of laundry.

I don’t know how it is for some of you, but when I go home, the entire time is spent with family. There are several people I would like to see, but due to timing and a 2 1/2 yr old that still naps the afternoon away (thank the heavens for that) I had about 30 minutes to drop by to see one group of great friends, Brian and Danielle and their little boy Jack. I wished there was more time, but due to the recent events with my grandmother, every moment I had was family-focused. Luckily, I dig my family.

One of the highlights for me was attending the first OU football game of the season. For some reason, my brother offered to watch Rt from around 4pm-10pm. As I mentioned below, the guy already has two young boys and had no probs adding another one to the mix. I asked him if he had run this fab idea past my sister-in-law. I don’t know how thrilled I would be to spend my Saturday night in matchbox derby hell, but they were both willing and glad to help. Thanks guys!

As the photo illustrates, we creamed ‘em, over and over again. 70 something to 13? Yes, it was North Texas, but it was still a sight to see. Did you happen to catch the Miami game last weekend? Priceless.

I think I spent most of my trip eating beef, hamburgers that is. If you’ve never experienced it, OK has the best hamburgers around, especially from Johnnie’s. My entire youth was spent at this place. Pep Rallies? After softball games? Off- campus lunches? You name it, we were there. The onion rings, people. The rings.

This photo was taken right after our Johnnie’s experience. We had attended Parker’s, the little dude on the left, baptism earlier that day. It was nice they could schedule such an event while my mom and I were in town. Nice to be around for such an occasion. I tend to miss a lot. The hardest thing about living so far away.

Come Monday, we made our way up to T-Town, Tulsa that is. My cousin and his wife recently moved back from living in Dallas for 10 years. We had a Tulsa family get-together filled with aunts, uncles, cousins and little ones. There is nothing better than family. Rt and his twin cousin’s clearly enjoyed themselves. I think Sesame Street was playing during the photo above. It truly was the only time any of them sat still. Can you believe this photo has been viewed on Flickr 195 times? Hell, that’s a record for me.

Once back in OKC, we celebrated my sister-in-law’s, brother’s, and my birthday. Our bday’s fall within 4 weeks of each other, so our routine is to celebrate them all together when we can. Other than that, I can’t even remember all what we did. Between napping and sleeping and running around from house to house, we managed to really enjoy ourselves.

I flew home with Rt alone. My mom stayed a couple of days later than I did, so this trip was all me. I am so thankful Rt does so well on the plane. He has already flown on 28 planes, so, by now, we’ve gotten the whole “ordeal” down to a science. Who knew the airplane instruction manual would entertain him for a good 20 minutes before take-off? Wonder how long the barf bag could’ve held his attention. Next time.

e

So, my brother and his wife are having their third child. By the time the third child is born, due in February, my nephew will be 3 1/2 and my other nephew, 2. How in the hell do they do this? Did they get the “the more the merrier”, the “why the hell not?”, and the “we’re so tired, what’s the difference?” gene that I did not inherit?

By all means, I am thrilled, more than thrilled, I’m ecstatic for them! I truly am. It’s just, WOW, WHOAAAH NELLY! I have one kid, currently, and feel quite spent some days. I can’t imagine what even two will be like. Here’s a toast to those with 3, especially ones SO close in age. YOU HAVE SUPER BALLS. ROCK ON.

The best part of their news………………………….It’s an itty bitty little GIRL. We’ve got one folks!

My grandmother, the one I mentioned below has FIVE great grandsons. All of them are only 16 MONTHS apart. How does that work? I’ll tell you. My bro, started us off with Bennett, currently age 3, then there is Rt (do you get by now we don’t call him Rt in real life? ok, just checking) currently 2 1/2. My cousin added two boys, twins, now almost 2, and my brother ended the crazy boy saga with Parker, now 1 1/2. Phew. That was long-winded. Anywho, it has been loads of male testosterone around our family parts, all in small packages of course. So, we are delighted to add a little bit of PINK to the crazy mix.

That’s all I’ve got. Rt has still been waking up before 6am everyday since our return from Oklahoma last week. So, to say I’m pooped is being polite.

e

In the midst of uploading photos from our trip back home. Until I can get them all imported into a readable post, I’ll leave you with an update of my “Nonna”.

From what I have been told over the past few days, after many doctor’s appointments, cat scans, and fluid extractions, my grandmother has Stage 4 Endometrial Cancer. It originated in the uterus, then spread from there. This type of cancer is not detected on a pap-smear. Some say it is even related to colon cancer. The doctors recommended a trial chemotherapy program. Starting next week, she’ll have one day of treatment, then go back every 21 days. Her type of cancer is non-curable, but if she reacts well to the chemo, she can live comfortably for around 2 years.

Who knows what will happen. All I do know, is if and when we lose this woman, it will be a sad day for all of those who have been fortunate enough to know her. I was happy to capture a sweet moment between Rt and Nonna before we all headed to bed the last night we were there…