We Fell In Love All Over Again

...but not only with each other, also with that sweet chubby cheeked baby of ours. Josh and I had a 34 week checkup yesterday afternoon and Dr. Ryder asked if we'd like to see the baby. Our goofy grins quickly told her the answer and voila, there was our precious 5 lb 6 oz surprise right before our eyes - and head down!

The baby sure put on a show for us, too. We saw little lips purse up and blow us kisses and Baby tried to suck on his hand. We saw the baby practicing breathing as it's chest moved up and down. Baby had a full bladder that we could see too, which I am guessing he gets from his mommy already. We could see Baby's closed eyes with the sweetest little eyelids and even a grimmace or two. Those cheeks, though...those cheeks are going to be the most kissable, the softest, and the chubbiest little cheeks ever. And I know it's just a black and white fuzzy sonogram, but if you could just see them you'd understand.

I am going to go stare at our latest pictures now and dream of when we'll meet. I am such a starry eyed momma right now!

It's Official...I'm Pregnant

Goodness gracious I don't think I can fit anymore baby in me. And it still has to grow some more. I just don't know where it is going to go. As of this week, I am officially not able to keep up with whoever I may be walking beside. I officially cannot bend over forwards, at least not without smashing baby painfully into my ribs, liver, stomach, diaphragm and lungs. I officially have pregnant woman's bladder. We're clocking in at every two hours to pee at night - and the other night was FIVE times! And I officially cannot fit into almost all of my old shoes anymore. My feet always look funny when I get home in the evening - chubby and swollen!

Yes, it's true...I am officially pregnant! Six weeks and counting!

Hee Hee Hoooo: Lamaze Day 3

Yes! We learned the "hee hee hoo" method of breathing called Patterned Breathing. I had to slow down at first because I started to feel a little light headed, in fact I don't think I can fully appreciate this method until I practice it a little more. It is supposed to be slow paced and random, not like the stereotypical heeheehoo that many people think of.

This is how this one works: Josh will tell me one, two, or three in any random order and that is how many hee's I give. I finish with a hoo after each set of hee's. It's not like what you see on television where the pregnant lady is panting like an animal...I guess they just thought that makes for good comedy. My hee is a slow breath in through my nose then a slow exhale out through my mouth that sounds like "heeeeeee". I do that once, twice or three times according to what Josh tells me - basically to make me think and keep my mind off of the contraction. Then to let Josh know I am ready for my next random number I take a slow deep breath in and exhale slow with a "hooooooo".

We learned some different ways to deal with back labor, which is when the baby is facing front rather than facing mom's spine. This means that the boney part of the baby's head is pressing hard on mom's spine and causing unrelenting back pain. It occurs in 25% of labors. There are different positions to get in to let baby turn the right way, by opening mom's pelvis wider and also to relieve pressure.

We went over alternatives to pitocin which can be given to induce and stimulate labor. Pitocin is very commonly used but has many cons as well as pros. Most importantly to me, it can cause very severe contractions that are unnecessary and can cause stress on the baby and mom. There are a handful of natural alternatives that release pitocin that I can do on my own if need be. For now I have faith that my body knows what to do and will do it when it is ready...we'll see, won't we?!

I've got my labor, delivery and recovery bag packed as homework. This one is not for postpartum but just for the delivery room. I have my house shoes, robe, mouthwash, hair ties and snacks for Josh. I'm gonna tell him I'll allow him some snacks if he'll sneak me a bite. We've already agreed to sneak me water too cause I know ice chips ain't gonna cut it!

I hope everyone has a good hump day!
Love to all and baby says hello (via the knee in my ribs right now)!

One for You, One for Me

Why do I weigh so much?! Well I happen to have the answer right here!

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends a weight gain of 25 to 37 pounds during pregnancy, for women who were a normal weight before pregnancy. Here is the breakdown:

7 1/2 pounds is about how much the baby will weigh by the end of pregnancy
1 1/2 pounds is how much the placenta weighs
4 pounds is attributed to increased fluid volume
2 pounds is the weight of the uterus
2 pounds is the weight of breast tissue
4 pounds is because of increased blood volume
7 pounds is attributed to maternal stores of fat, protein and other nutrients
2 pounds for the amniotic fluid
Total: 30 pounds

Pretty amazing numbers if you ask me. That is a lot of extra fluids and blood flowing around in me - 10 whole pounds. And a two pound uterus? Yikes!
But I am not planning an exercise regimen just yet...I am still enjoying the turns and wiggles going on inside me too much!

Out With the New, In With the New....

We bought a new truck, we bought a new truck! We are both very excited to introduce to the world our new 2007 GMC Sierra crew cab!

**In very offical car show lady-on-the-platform voice**
This handsome four door pick up truck in Silver Birch Metallic can hold up to six passengers and tow up to 8500 pounds. It's power windows and locks, 360 degree approach to safety, all terrain handling, active fuel management, stalibitrack traction control system, and GMC warranty makes this truck the best in it's class and rated the 2007 truck of the year.
**back to Heather voice**

I just copied all that great info that doesn't really mean much to me from the GMC website. We've really really enjoyed driving it so far and Josh gets to practice parking in the garage at his work this morning. That is the biggest adjustment so far. We've had some good laughs trying to get that thing in and out of the driveway with all the neighbors trash cans and fences in the alley. The actual handling is great and I know before long we'll be whipping in and out of tight places. I love the feel of it on the road and I really really can't wait to throw some camping equipment in the back or lower the tailgate for the fourth of July. Tailgates are just a good thing to have around if you ask me!

Here are some pictures of the sad little Mazda 6 as it was deemed a total loss. On a funny side note, the adjusters name was Bobby Roberts! I know it doesn't look like a huge mess from the pictures as its mostly internal. What we've figured out is that labor costs A LOT, plus many parts for new vehicles are just darn expensive. Take for example the headlights alone were almost $500 each. The water pump was almost $1000. There was a ton of electrical that was severed and of course the big whammy was the frame was bent. That seems to always be the clentcher. So now we say goodbye to our good friend the Mazda and welcome to the family our new addition.

Wordless Wednesday: Chicken Say Whaaa...

Lamaze: Day Two

Lamaze was a little less eventful this time. I think I was overly excited last class so I was a little like a child in a candy store, whereas for the second class I had a little more lamaze self control! Josh had to fly to Houston yesterday for a training conference but he made it back in plenty of time, luckily. His flight was cancelled going out due to weather in Houston, but then arrived back earlier than expected in the evening. We thought he might just be a little late at first...but he was there right on time with bleary eyes to help me carry all my pillows in!

I don't know why I always feel like I have to stir up trouble for myself. I feel so strongly about certain labor and delivery policies that I know I am bound to get myself kicked out of the hospital. But without stirring up trouble with you, my loyal readers (all five of you!), I won't go into detail here b/c everyone has varying opinions. Besides studying these policies and procedures on my own, these are items that we talked about in class last night and I feel myself become even more adamant about what I want done with my baby. This shouldn't be a conundrum anyhow. The hospital should want to make me feel comfortable with their "standard procedures". It should be centered around the family and should be able to look past the standard to instead do what is right in each situation.

Now, with allll that being said...Josh and I have not yet met with the Medical City educators to go over all this in greater detail. I have only visited with my Doctor and Lamaze instructor over what is usually the policy. I will know more of exactly what goes on in labor and delivery after this coming Saturday...and boy am I itching to go down my list of questions and points with them!

As you can tell, Lamaze last night stirred me up...but in more ways than one. We watched our first video! I really really had every intention to prep Josh with a video as home first (babycenter.com has some great ones) but since even the teacher didn't start with a disclaimer for the graphic nature of the video I figured we would be ok! I thought it was just a "regular" video on the stages of labor. Not right! I've seen that same one on babycenter.com but it still startled me and every male in the room when all the good stuff started happening. But just like the first time I watched it...a wealth of emotion came out of nowhere. I am still a little in first time denial about it all so let me enjoy the idea that it will be an incredible experience! Ah yes, I will embrace the pain! It will be wonderful!

Signing off for now...
**Love and Hugs to All**

To Protect and Serve???

I had a most unfortunate run in with a Plano police officer yesterday. Not quite as unfortunate as having to stand by as Josh's info was taken for the accident report last week...but unfortunate none the less.

As the trains pull in the station there is a mad rush of people who get off the train and trudge across the parking lots, pedestrian cross walks, sidewalks and thorough fairs to get to their car. If I estimate 50 people per train car (which is an under estimate considering it's rush hour) and 6 cars per train then that is about 300 people trying to walk to their cars at the same time every five minutes as the trains arrive. I give you this background to stress that there are hundreds of people in this area. The Parker Road train station area is fairly self contained - I mean that anyone who is over there at that time of the day is probably not "just passing through", but knows that they need to slow down and that pedestrians have the right of way. It's like a school at 3:00 when the bell rings! Kids running around, crossing the street, and parents waiting in cars....

I am among a group of pedestrians, not too many at this point as people have taken on their own walking pace and others have turned off the sidewalk as they neared their cars. There was a car sitting at a parking lot driveway waiting to turn out and she waved us across in front of her and smiled. Before we could take a step a police car turns into the parking lot without paying the pedestrians any attention. Mind you, there are police cars driving around the area everyday keeping an eye on everything...protecting and serving the people of Plano, so this isn't alarming or anything. Then I hear a soft-ish screech and see another police car (SUV) that stopped suddenly because someone was crossing the street in front of him. He starts to go again but this time me and a man behind me are the victims! We have started to cross the driveway to the parking lot and he doesn't want to wait for us! He hits his breaks and throws up his hands and screams "COME ON!". To clarify the "come on" - this was not a "hurry hurry get across the road please" type of exclamation. This was a "what the hell, you crazy people!" kind of tone. Yeah, he yells at a 7 month pregnant lady who isn't even doing anything wrong to COME ON! His windows were all down and that's how I could hear him so perfectly. I wonder if he could hear my feelings being crushed in confusion and hurt. So maybe I am a little emotional right now but he still hurt my feelings.

Everyone stared at him like he was a crazy alien from another planet, probably all equally shocked that he was yelling at us like that....NO blue and red lights on, NO white or yellow lights on, NO siren on, NO light (or hard) horn tapping, NO warning or indication that he is en route anywhere important. Even without these standard police warning devices turned on in an area with hundreds of people crossing the streets, I will give that sorry guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he was going to save someone's life...with the windows down and the breeze in his hair. Judging by his "jovial" size and arm casually dangling out of the window I will not assume he was on his way to eat some donuts at 7-11 or perhaps the early bird BBQ special at Dickeys. No, I will hope that he was going to help a pregnant lady deliver her baby or save a man from jumping off a bridge.

I will not be mad at the men who took an oath to protect and serve. I will not be mad at the men who have only ever given me tickets or appeared b/c of a car wreck. I will not be mad at the men, police men whom I personally know, who drink and drive, have questionable morals and values, who mistreat their family pets, who walk around with chips the size of the empire state building on their shoulders.

So maybe in their line of duty and from the tragedies they see everyday they have taken on a cynical view of their job. Well, so have I, I guess...
I just hope he wasn't late for his date at Dickeys.

Lamaze: Day One

Yesterday was the big day! I learned my first breathing techniques! I started out the day so tired because the Cowboys played a late game. I actually went to bed before the game was over and once Josh thought they might lose he came to bed too - but turned the game on in the bedroom. I was nice and cozy dreaming of sugar plums and other various fruits when Josh's cheering in the last CRAZY seconds of the game woke me up. I didn't really care about what was going on with the game; I just wanted to get back to my plums. As I fell back to sleep, Josh did also except he dreamed of field goals and Bills fans crying. So, we were very tired the next day and I just wanted to go home after work...but I had to go learn how to breathe.

Our instructor, Wendy, is a registered and/or certified everything under the sun having to do with breastfeeding, Lamaze and child birth. She is my new best friend! Wendy has been a doula for over 30 years and most recently her passion is being a lactation consultant. I soaked up her every word from the edge of my seat. She had already told me to get off her lap once. Yes, yes, such the teacher's pet, I know. Last night we had an overview of labor, roles of the coach (push 'em out, push 'em out, waaaayyy out!), comfort positions and breathing basics - including slow paced breathing - and progressive relaxation.

We timed how many breaths we take in a minute, laying down and relaxed, and everyone was around 10-12 and I sat at 17! There was also a 21 so maybe she feels my pain of not having the greatest lung capacity right now with Baby squishing everything around. She went around and showed us how we should be sleeping and where the pillows should be...and then I showed her what works for me! She assured me I would appreciate her positioning once I get further along. We all had padded tables to lay on which was really the best part. Josh and I thought we were going to be on some sorry pad on the floor. They use the tables for physical therapy during the day and they are nice and big and soft. She told us to bring 5 or 6 pillows so I had plenty to lie on and around. My most surprising discovery was the birthing ball. Tammy has told me how much she liked it with her babies but I just didn't see it. Then I mounted the big green monster last night and felt like a million bucks. If only they could guarantee that I would feel like a million bucks hours into labor. Basically it relieves pressure in all the right places and makes my tail bone feel like cottony softness. I now officially hate chairs.

Josh has to go to Houston for a day trip with work next class day so he may be a little late, but I can't wait to learn more. It has been very inspiring to me and even a little eye opening. And that was only the first class. The series is 7 weeks long and I am about 9 weeks out from my due date so hopefully we didn't time that too close! We'll see...

Oh and another fun fact: I used the restroom three times during class and two other girls used it twice. No one else used it! I was shocked. I guess I am doing a good job keeping my fluids flushed and clean and everyone else's babies are drinking dirty amniotic pee water! I am such a good mommy!

On This Day 28 Years Ago...

...Baby Heather was barely one day old. In fact since she was born last night I think she is closer to around 12 hours than one day old right now! I think I hear the angels singing just now....!

Why is the Beatles song "Birthday" so inherent to my family? We were born with it in our brains. Installed right next to the wrinkle that says "Conscious Fact: October 3 is my birthday" is the wrinkle that says "Subconscious Fact: Birthday Equals Beatles". So that is what is being heard in my head right now...and all day yesterday. And it never gets old! You say it's your birthday...!!

I had the most wonderful day! Bright and early yesterday morning we had a group email going full of the "fun-derful" reply-all's as only the O'Brien family can do - out of control with birthday wishes and jokes. Josh and I had planned a dinner at Sullivans Steakhouse in North Dallas for yesterday evening. It was a nice, cushy, 1940's jazzy groovy place, daddy-o. I had a tomato and mozzarella with greens salad, filet stuffed with shrimp and three shrimp scampi, sautéed spinach (YUMMM-O) and au gratin potatoes. And since I am so special...we received a chocolate soufflé on the house! It was my first soufflé and I've always heard how delicate and particular they are. I know it's a disappointment when they deflate so of course our deflated before it made it to the table. Our waiter was just beside himself when he saw it. But it came with two sparklers and no singing waiters, so it was great in my opinion! By the way, I'll take a good ol chocolate cake over that soufflé thing any day...I guess it's an acquired taste.

Some of my favorite birthday wishes were from my good friends whom you might recognize.



A bithday you are having, hmmmm? I sense a happy one it shall be.




I pity the fool who doesn't wish you a happy birthday!





28?! Whatcu talkin bout Willis?






I hope you have the Ultimate birthday! Grrr!





And Alicia's precious Carmen also sent birthday wishes my way! Thanks CJ!

30 Weeks/7 Months!

Only 10 more weeks to go! Ahh but whos counting?! Certainly not the proud mommy and daddy! Our baby's latest developments are getting baby more and more ready to survive on it's own. The baby's brain is developing it's grooves and indentations which allow for an increased amount of brain tissue. The growing brain is beginning to be able to regulate body temperature, in combination with the increased body fat. So, my baby's sweet first peach fuzz style body hair (lanugo) will begin to disappear now. Another huge change...our baby's bone marrow has begun making red blood cells!

I still don't feel that big, although I do feel very pregnant. Everything is tight and pinching and stretching and I can hardly breath and eat these days. I am good if I can get down half a can of soup with the heartburn and stomach aches that accompany it. I often feel a thumping/rolling right in between where my rib cage converges into my breast plate. Even more frequently I feel what I think is a head under the right side of my ribs. It kinda makes me mad that this child has made my rib cage his or her home and I am couting the days until the baby drops down lower. Hopefully he'll drop lower. Won't the baby drop lower? Oh don't answer that.

In the mean time I can attempt to overlook the necessary evil and concentrate on the new bundle of joy baby will be! Josh gets to feel big time kicks and punches these days. It's funny to watch my whole stomach jump and move. I try not to think about Aliens too much since it hits close to home. My baby will not be an alien, my baby will not be an alien. Josh and Bob finished sanding the baby's room and retextured last weekend...so it's time to slap on a coat of primer and paint! We're getting closer to it being a real bedroom!

I got all of my pre admission forms filled out and mailed off yesterday. That was a nice little check off the list of to dos. We start lamaze next week and I am really looking forward to that. The instructions are to bring 5-6 pillows and a blanket to class each time so I am pretty sure this is my and Josh's style of class!

My love to you all this week! And in the wise words of Jerry Springer from his closing monologue each show...take care of yourselves...and each other.

***Tums and Zantac Free Wishes to All***

Not My Baby

Kids these days! Sheesh!
Actually...PARENTS these days! Sheesh!

I've been collecting these to present to you on a blog that I'll title "Not My Baby". Let me start by saying that I can be open minded. I can appreciate funky rainbow toe socks as much as the next person. I like things a little different and cutting edge, but some of these baby - and I mean infant, sweet, innocent infant - items are just wrong! What small child wants to wake up from a nap distressed and see scary fish with razor sharp teeth eating other fish, ON THEIR CRIB BEDDING!?

Now, the hats are borderline cute...but still a little kooky. And the skull and crossbones/motorcycle gang/drinking refrences clothing and accessories are everywhere it seems. Those types of designs are what makes my eyes pop out of my head as I shop for pastels and flowers and puppy dogs and only the highest quality cotton to grace my child's skin. And ruffles in case it's a girl...lots of ruffles!

I'll just say "to each, their own". And I'll stick to the puppy dogs and flowers, thank you.

The Funnel

Last week I had an OBGYN check up. I am 28 weeks now and beginning my third trimester! My goodness, can it be true? I SWEAR that just yesterday we were staring at a pee stick wondering if we really knew what we were getting into. Time has flown right into my final 'mester and I imagine I'll be saying the same thing in two months when I am holding my new baby. Sorry, gotta grab a tissue real quick.

Ah, so the appointment last week...
I had a sono, which I've been getting often to watch a cyst or mass on my right ovary. The ovary is fine (relatively speaking) with no changes in the size of the cyst and no pain associated with it, but Doc. is keeping her eye on it. While taking measurements of that, and amniotic fluid, and baby, my sonographer came across a cervical funnel. This is not so bad but definitely not good. It is an opening in my cervix which appropriately enough looks like a funnel as it narrows down and opens into "the canal". I'll save you the pain of hearing the "V" word. It's just not one of the world most beautiful words, I know.

So the crazy part is when Mom and Josh and I are sitting in the examination room waiting to see Doc, and she walks in and shows us the picture of this fascinating (sarcasm) cervical funnel and tells me I have the possibility of going into pre-term labor in the next two weeks. Point blank. Staring straight at me. So Josh and mom and I looked at each other and started laughing! I guess shock/nervous laughter is more accurate but I really was not expecting those words to come out of her mouth, and it was a little funny in an ironic sort of way. But mostly I was floored! She said there would be more testing (called a fetal fibronectin test) and a follow up sono in one week. No bed rest was ordered, life was to go on as normal. I wasn't having anything remotely close to contractions or cramping so that was excellent. Even more excellent was that my cervix was not thinning. It was nice and thick at something like 38 cm (out of 40ish max)...how's that for too much information?!

On Monday I called to check on the test results and Nurse Tiffany broke it to me that my sample wasn't sent to the lab frozen like it should have, so there were no results. Oh man, didn't she know that we paced the house all weekend wondering if it was time to go ahead and pack a hospital bag? Didn't she know that people's lives were at stake here?! Just kidding, everyone's life was just fine...in fact the baby was at a point developmentally where everything was up and running and had something happened even the lungs were developed enough to survive in the outside world. Never mind that my dearest only weighed 2 lbs. 8 oz., AND the baby's room wasn't ready!

Today we returned for the follow up sono. And like a good friend, the smiling sonographer said "Oh hon, there's nothing there. It's strong and thick in there. Ohhh, the baby just elbowed me!" She was very jovial which I could appreciate given the news. Then, just like every other time, the magic happened...we saw the eyes, and the heart, and the feet and fingers and spine and the cheeks, and finally the tech swears our little turkey stuck it's tongue out at us. I think it was actually licking its lips because of the chocolate covered Krispy Kreme that I had just shared with it. Sorry, gotta go grab a tissue again. Gosh I love that baby.

Doc confirmed the nonexistent state of the funnel and told us that either it was nothing in the first place, or perhaps the baby was putting too much pressure there and it opened a bit. It was a 7mm opening to be exact...less than a centimeter. Funny how less than a centimeter can represent so much. At first, for a split second I dreamed of how cool it would be to have my baby two months early. But making a human is a little different than, say, taking cookies out of the oven a few minutes early. Or leaving the nail salon before you know you're nails are really good and dry. Wouldn't you agree? Luckily our baby decided to stay nice and cozy in my belly a bit longer - or my body chose not to kick out its tenant too early after all. I may have to sit down and have a talk with "someone"; don't they know that I am the one in charge here? So maybe I'm not the one in charge...these shows of perspective are quite enlightening.

Stupid Horse

I guess I have a love hate relationship with my hobby horse. And for future reference - Shannon, Michael and Peter - the horsy will be referred to as mine because in my head it always was mine. I guess that is the spoiled and loved to death and "no one in the world but me" sibling syndrome you guess instilled in me. Sometimes I think you guys loved me more than mom and dad. But I digress.

So it started as and was always a love relationship with the horse. But once I decided that I had to have it for my unborn (but conceived) child and that it would be the perfect weekend project to re-pad and re-cover the darn thing, it turned into a hate relationship in about 5 minutes. Let. Me. Tell. You. That thing is nasty! Is stinks realllly bad, like smelly feet and nasty cheese all mixed together. It is dusty and disintegrating. And I know it's not the horsy's fault, but it's really hot in the garage where I was working. Since then a fan has been taken out there to keep us cool during various jobs. These things were expected, however, since the poor dear is 40 years old (at least 37 for sure) and a little wood work was expected but lordy. See last picture - what in the heck happened to you horsy? I will trudge ahead and I will laugh and smile every time my children ride the darn thing. For years to come!

A few P.S's for the close:
Yes, I know his face looks funny painted like that. Not too realistic, eh? What's up with those BIG black eyes?
Yes, we do watch TV in the garage. It goes good with ping pong and beer (or soda).
Yes, it does hurt your crotch realllly bad to sit on him. We'll spring for extra good padding!

The Shoes and a Drill...

This morning I woke up nice and early. Who else is laughing with me? I don't wake up nice and early...I hit the alarm no fewer than 5 times (which really is a random guess, it's too early to be counting or anything else productive) between 5:40 and 6:30-ish and then started to wake up. Josh rolled over and not even half awake this is what he said.

"There was a wierdo guy across the street drilling holes in my car. He really made me mad."

I said "what are you talking about?" and Josh told me he just had a crazy dream. Haha! I figured this was gonna be good. I asked why he would do that to Josh's car (and why wasn't it in the garage, anyway?).

"He was just walking around close to my car and had a drill, and he kept pushing the button and he really messed up my car. I was mad."

This is so funny since he is more than half asleep and probably doesn't exactly know what he is talking about, so I egg him on. I say that I'd be mad too and ask if the "wierdo" culprit fixed it.

"No, he wouldn't fix it. But it's ok, I got his shoes."

I had to laugh out loud at that! He got his shoes! Well thank goodness! Some collateral for the damage to Josh's beautiful car! I come from a long line of wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-talking-about-what-just-happened-in-a-dream family members and we really get to laughing at each other. Here's another for the collection, but it may not be quite up there with Michael's middle of the dream night stories. We are still talking about some of those from years and years ago!

Before Josh rolled back over and went to sleep again, he said...referring to the shoes..."They weren't expensive but I got 'em."
Well, good job, baby...good job.

Showing Off My Babies!

Connor Got New Glasses!
Who can resist this face? Certainly not me!


















I Didn't Know That Angels Drove Monster Trucks, But Apparently They Do!
Look at those ruby red lips!























The Best Neices Ever!
Another angel among us...our Lindsey.




















Keep Those Feet Up, Jessie!
She is so beautiful inside and out.

Tootin' My Own Horn

Toot, toot! We had left over topiaries from our wedding that the florist made with fresh white roses and baby pears for some of the tables at the reception. Recently, I fixed one up with silk and faux (sounds so much nicer that FAKE) flowers, eucalyptus seed, and leaves for our entry way - or where ever I could find a spot for the darn thing. We just don't have many shelves or other surfaces to display many home accoutrements but this one settled in nicely by the front door. For the crafters out there...some details:


I haven't figured it exactly, but my estimate is that something like this would be much more reasonable to purchase complete than to make your own. One would like this project who finds it relaxing or who finds it to be an outlet for creativity. It becomes hard when you have a sphere like this that you want to look good on all sides. Or if you're like me...you place it in front of a mirror for all the world to see the reflection of the partially complete back side! Just don't look there if you come over, ok?! Also, I couldn't decide how many varieties of flowers to combine. My nature is to put more variety, or at least a bunch of variety with similarity (hows that for ambiguity..."variety with similarity", hahaha!) but here I went kinda wild and threw in a few magnolias and I am still deciding if it was a bit much.


Technical details: The container is filled with floral foam other various filler material and the stem is hand made from twigs and woody vines - and stuck in the foam. The ball is green floral foam with green moss glued on, and more green moss tucked around at the base of the stem. I tried for some pears there at the base but they wouldn't sit to my satisfaction. All of the material covering the ball of the topy (short for topiary) is secured by one way or another and layered and fussed with until perfect! I used pins, floral sticks, and a glue gun, and had a Dr. Pepper for back up. Then if you are like me...you get tired of all this fussing and decide that perfect or not, you are done!

Dr. Pepper and your favorite CD highly recommended. Viola!

It's 11 O'Clock (AM)...Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

Why, yes, indeed I do! My child is right here in my belly all snuggly warm! I thought I'd update you all on the latest and greatest achievements of Baby Blachly. Most impressively (to me) is Baby's gift of sight! Baby's eyes were fused shut around week 11 and now, around week 27-28, he can open and shut them! Perhaps I am easily impressed, or perhaps I am biased and simply think that my baby is the best ever, but that is a pretty cool development. I've been feeling very rhythmic, twitch-like movements, too fast to be arms stretching or legs kicking. I am feeling my baby hiccup! These hiccups are not quite the same as what Baby will experience after delivery. These are helping the lungs continue to develop and occur quite often in utero. They also say that our baby has developed a regular wake and sleep cycle...which very well may be the same as mine since I haven't been woken up at night yet. "Yet" being the operative word here.

Josh and I went and registered for our bambino this weekend. Registering for things for people to buy you, practically begging for gifts, just seems so fundamentally wrong for so many reasons. At the same time, I really enjoy giving gifts to people during super momentous times in their lives. It especially helps knowing that I am shopping off a registry for something special that they will like because they have picked it out. Right? So I don't know what my hang up is...but panic attack in almost full swing, we headed to Babies R Us and Target to register for some basic necessities. I have to admit it was really fun looking at all the sweet, and fun, and cute, and crazy baby things. We've been VERY lucky so far to have received the things we have and I can't imagine where we would be without the hand-me-downs and borrowed "equipment"!

Josh and I have chosen to start with g-diapers which are the latest and greatest in earth friendly diapers. They are not cloth diapers (before you fall over thinking I am crazy), but are flushable and biodegradable and have won me over with their awesome website and rave reviews. I've researched them a lot and heard both the good and the bad. After educating myself and Josh in all the horrible ecological facts of disposables, I am simply devastated at the hit our earth is taking. We recycle everything else in our house so this only makes sense for our lifestyle. I am game to consider a cloth diaper service as well once I get the hang of being a mommy. I've priced them and it fits into our budget just as well as any other method of diapering. I think we would like to have some regular disposables on hand for an "upset tummy", or the occasional diaper-challenged person who stays with the baby and doesn't want to use our g-diapers. Anyway, I am very excited to try them out and I am open for any suggestions on other eco-friendly diapering methods! Check out their website if you'd like, http://www.gdiapers.com/, it's a very cool site.

Going to close for now and get ready for lunch. I have some delicious left over’s from our steak dinner last night. I copied Edie's delish baby portabellas and zucchini with marinara side dish, and of course we had mashed potatoes (cause what's steak without potatoes?). Josh thought we needed a good steak dinner in honor of the Cowboys season opener! It's a good thing they won and all I have to say is boy, that Tony Romo is one cutie patutie!!!

***Love and Recycling To All...and Go Cowboys!***

Labor Day was A Laborious Day

We were among the lucky few that benefited from Shannon and David's neighbor's generosity with their abundance of sandstone rocks. Lucky because once everyone got wind of the free landscaping stones they went fast! Perhaps not everyone would call us lucky to have recieved rocks, and perhaps Josh and I didn't feel so lucky towards the end of our laboriousness, but it saved us a ton of money in the end and that was what counted! Besides that, Shannon and David loaded them up in their truck and Shannon and the girls drove them from Argyle to Plano for us! Talk about curbside service! And service with a smile! And being forever in debt! Actually, the debt can be paid back in a number of ways, I am sure. But for now...we have a beautiful rocky edged garden.

Josh was able to explore all sorts of ways to crack up the rocks. Many were HUGE and the task lay ahead of us to break them down to fit where we needed them. A bunch could be cracked on each other, while others took the hand held mini jack hammer Bob loaned us! That method was only fun for awhile and ended up not working so well. Josh went to Home Depot and priced sledge hammers, but then Bob remembered a crazy 30 pound long sharp stick thing that he thought would work. Josh went to pick up that sucker from Bob's house and by the time I went to see what method he liked the best, he was a smiling crazy 30 pound long sharp stick thing wielding machine! It worked like a charm!

Even the almost seven months pregnant lady got some landscaping exercise this weekend...but Josh was the real edge designer. I would really like to get some more flowers in along the length of the garden now to spice things up. I think with or without more flowers the beds look 110% better than what we started with seven months ago! Thanks BUNCHES Shannon and David (and neighbor) for all your help!

David's First CAT-Scan

Well, I wanted to get in a little interview from the patient to post here on the blog, but I never got around to it. I did talk to his momma, though...and sounds like everything is back to normal.

So, to catch you up, nephew Little David (referred to hereafter as just David: our little David isn't little AT ALL anymore) was working his "two-a-days" this summer at football practice. They practice twice a day to rev up for the start of football season, hence the name two-a-day. And may I say that although it did start to heat up in late July and August at least the guys didn't have the same record breaking heat as summers of the past.

He got hit pretty good and sounds like it really rocked his world! Amazingly the hit even moved the braces on his teeth! He had to go to the ortho to get them straightened out. The orthodontist diagnosed a concussion right away by the looks of things. He ended up with some pretty nasty bruises and scrapes around his head and neck and it was decided that his helment wasn't tight enough. They actually air them up (yes, like the old Nike sneakers)to help protect the boys heads and possibly his wasn't aired up enough. Regardless, the week went on and David was having some horribly painful headaches.

So, we got the call last Friday that they were on the way to get his head examined. By the way, that was a classic line wasn't it?! My mom used to say we needed our heads examined when she was mad at us! Anyway, he got scaned Friday, got a second opinion Saturday, and was diagnosed with a killer sinus infection and yes, a concussion. Seven days of no symptoms before he gets any play time! And right before the first scrimmage! You can imagine things were a little tense for the poor kid! And I wonder what he thought about being in that thumping, enclosed CT Scanner thing. And I wonder what his brain looked like!

Here they are ready for the first game tomorrow and David has been cleared to play! Yahoo! I don't think they had any practices with pads this week, just strength and conditiong and play book meetings which he was able to participate in. Josh and I can't wait to make it out to see him play! There is just nothing like high school football in the fall!