Technology Woes

"We" (aka-me) haven't posted recently because we had a minor computer crisis at our house last weekend. We had the Clouse's over for the Steeler's game on Sunday, and Laura and I were on the floor looking at her new "Thirty-One" products (check them out online, super cute bags and accessories) on the computer. I stood up and knocked my  FULL glass of water over...all over my laptop. It was a disaster. When I realized that ice cubes were just sitting on the keyboard, I realized it was done-zo. Luke tried to dry it out with a gazillion paper towels, and we put it in a bag of rice over night. It was a goner! We came to grips with the computer being dead. We rationalized it with the fact that I had had it since college, and it was running out of space. We had even talked about getting a new one the last few months...who knows if we would have really gone through with that, but it was comforting that we HAD talked about it. However, we could not come to grips with the fact that 5 years of pictures and files were sitting on drenched laptop...not to mention a PowerPoint presentation Luke needed the next day. I headed to Best Buy, where they reassured me that they could "most likely" save the hard drive and transfer files- praise the Lord! So..we are now proud owners of a brand new MacBookPro. The guy sold me when he said the keyboard illuminates! What a difference! It is a beauty, and works like a pro--we love it! We are die hard Apple lovers, we even converted my parents! You never deal with pop-ups, viruses or it running slow!

The best part of this story is that 36 hours later...my old computer turned back on! ha-ha-ha! Everything is there, but it is running a little slow from the tsunami it went through. OH WELL! Lesson learned there! :)

The day before this ordeal we ventured out to Target to register for the baby. I wish there was a camera there, so we could have photographed our bug eyed faces as we looked up and down, up and down at ALL of the stuff. Phew! 
There are 37 bottle choices, 64 different changing table accessories and 15 different types of pacifiers (all of which ensure healthy teeth-who knew?) Talk about overwhelming. 
Anywho, we walked up and down all of the aisles and scanned anything and everything! We were so proud of ourselves when we left because we conquered making all of those "major decisions" in just 45 minutes. We took the scanner to Customer Service to print our registry, and NOTHINGGGGGGG registered. I knew I should have had control over the scanner gun ;) We were so frustrated that we just left and I went back on Monday and re-did it. We registered mainly at Target, but did a few things online at Burglington  Coat Factory (they had the pack and play I liked), and added a few things at BabiesRUs. The closest BabiesRUs is in Harrisburg, about 2.5 hours away, which made it impossible to go fully register there. 

After both of these frustrations, I decided  I was D-O-N-E with technology. But here we are, one week later, and I am happy as a clam looking at the baby registry on my new computer! :) 

Pet Peeve

Soooo... my newest, biggest pet peeve:

RANDOM person: "How far along are you?"

Me: 24 weeks

RANDOM person: "Really? Is everything OK at the doctors?..you are so small."

AHHHHH! This bothers me on a number of different levels:

1. I am already paranoid that I am going to have a 3 pound baby..I am a first time mom, and when you hear this so often you start to believe that something may be wrong!!

2. These people are complete strangers, so what makes them think it's OK to bring up the doctors and question if there is an "issue"

3. HELLO..I am a small person. Do they expect me to blow up like a whale?

4. Every person carries a baby differently, some women only gain 15 pounds their entire pregnancy...maybe I am just one of them?

I have put on weight, actually 6lbs between Dec. 31st and Jan. 12th! That is A LOT! I was so proud! I eat a good amount of food, and am trying to eat every 2 or 3 hours. So, I know I am doing every thing I can to have a good sized baby! I am sure it will catch up with "us" in the next month or so. The doctors have never seemed concerned with my weight or belly size (they measure with a tape measure every appointment), so I just need to let these comments roll off of my back. However, I am not going to lie and say that they don't keep me up at night worrying sometimes. I guess I just feel responsible to nurture this little thing,  and wonder if I am doing a good job!? 

Mind you, this is right after dinner and about 14 cookies :) 

Maybe I will just wear a paper sack, or moo-moo for the next 4 months so people won't analyze me. Good idea!

A few new baby snapshots..

After our first ultrasound, there were a few "little" things the doctors wanted to keep an eye on. It looked like I might have low amniotic fluid, and a low lying placenta. They don't seem too concerned at all, they think both "issues" will work themselves out with time, but need to be tracked. After the initial panic attack, I feel more at ease that these are just little things, compared to some of the things that could be wrong. If the placenta continues to stay low I will just have to have a c-section around 37 weeks. It causes no harm to the baby, it will just determine the birth. However, it did move up in the last two weeks, so it is headed in the right direction. They said 99% of the time it works itself out. The low fluid is just "subjective", and is too early to really tell if it is low. The one positive is that we get to have lots of ultrasounds! This week, the baby was in a much better position, and easier to see! Lil' Wayne still has his cute nose :) 

 We have all 5 toes on 1 foot...

 Front view of the baby's face...kind of cute...kind of scary...

 He/She was opening and closing its little mouth..too cute!

 What do you think? A boy belly, or  a girl belly? 

Luke said "you are def. pregnant this week"

...Well, duh! I've been pregnant the last 22 weeks, too! ;) I think he meant that it was def. noticeable!

Praise the Lord for SNOW!

Well, we got our first 3 inches of the year last night! Thank God, because if I had to continue to listen to Luke complain about the fact that we moved to PA and had yet to get an inch, I was going to lose my mind. He was very angry with the snow gods, so I am relieved something white fell from the sky last night! The last three days of school in Fayetteville, NC have been canceled due to snow..something was seeming a little backwards? Anywho, I think Luke would be less partial to snow if we had to do our own snow blowing. We have to pay a homeowners association in our neighborhood, and snow plowing is included! However, he did get his fix shoveling the steps off today! :)

 I love, love, love this picture! Curious George!

Top Reasons to skip the summer months during pregnancy..

Today, as I was packing on the layers of clothing, I realized how smart Luke and I were to have a baby in May. Being pregnant from September to May, in the North, is the best idea ever...you totally miss out on the hottest months of the year-June, July and August...

- Just to state the obvious, who wants to be gross and sweaty with an extra 20lbs on them? No one...which is what causes there to be cranky, mean, pregnant women. NOT this one! :)

- You can cover up your ever growing body with layers of clothes.

- Exposing my legs is completely out of the question. Even if it was July, there would be NO way I would show my gross knee caps right now, it looks like I have 2 knee caps on each leg. Gross!

- Being tan is out of the question and no one can see your pale, veiny skin! Wahoo!

- Warm, filling foods..like chicken pot pie..are on the menu, rather than salad and chicken BBQ! Way better for the 'ol appetite!

- You walk faster outside because it is 4 degrees out..extra exercise!

- May is the perfect time to bring a new baby home! No cabin fever, and we can instantly go for walks and enjoy the sunshine!

-You feel more entitled to stay in and "put your feet up" (aka-be lazy), because it is 4 degrees out! Who wants to go out in that?

The only downfall I have found thus far is that I have NO excuse to want ice cream! It isn't hot, so I don't need it to cool off. It isn't hot, so I don't need it because the heat is causing my appetite to go away and all I could possibly eat is an ice cream cone. It isn't a form of winter entertainment.. we always use ice cream as a nightly "event".  So..no reasons...except for the fact that the 1lb baby inside is craving it! :)

20 Week Ultrasound

Lets just say the 20 week ultrasound was NOT the experience Luke and I were hoping for. Our ultrasound tech was a cold, old woman who brought no comfort to us.. I will update about that later, but here are a few pictures of our little guy/girl. The baby was in a breeched position the entire time, almost folded in half, so pictures were extremely difficult to get! We are most likely going back for another ultrasound soon to try to see if the baby moved. The baby sure wasn't cooperating...hope it isn't a sign of what is to come ;) Regardless, s/he is still a cutie. 

Again, the pictures aren't great because 1. the ultrasound tech was the worst and 2. the positioning.

 The baby's feet are both there..with what looks like 5 toes on each foot!

 Luke's mom said "It has a nice shaped head"..well, of course it does-have you seen our round noggins?

You can see the baby's cute profile and spine!

 I love it's little ear in this picture. I think s/he is going to be a cute little booger!

Baby Room Remodel...

Well, saying after Christmas we were going "baby gung ho" was not an understatement. I think we have been looking forward to getting the baby's room going, and once we (well, Luke) got started..it was hard to stop. This week Luke worked 1/2 days, so we took advantage of having the afternoons to work on the nursery. L painted, and we finally found some baby furniture that we l-o-v-e-d. 

First of all, THANK GOSH for Home Depot's Behr paint with primer (thanks for the suggestion, Dad). 

Going from an orange room to the color "White Clay" could have been disastrous, if it wasn't for this paint...not to say that Luke didn't have his work cut out for him. It was def. a challenge to get the orange edges around the molding painted, and having 2 slightly different colored gallons of paint surely didn't help. We decided to go way neutral on the walls, as the furniture is so rich, and the baby bedding is quite colorful. I think when it is ALL done, it will be super cute.

 Before...happy to get rid of this color. 

I was over it within the first week.

After..a nice neutral cream.

We went and picked out the baby furniture in Altoona on Thursday. We ended up at a, what looked like, hole in the wall furniture store called "The Bedroom Showcase", which had "Baby World inside. 

When Christmas shopping in December, we saw the outside and sign that said "Baby World" and laughed as if we wouldn't step foot inside. Well, it taught us a lesson to not turn our noses up at old fashioned looking places..shame on us.

I had showed my mom the furniture that I liked online, and she googled it and found it at Baby World! I was so excited to be able to go and actually SEE it, rather than just hope and pray that we would like it, and order it online. They had a fantastic selection, and we ended up getting what I originally liked:

The convertible crib, which will switch from a crib to a toddler bed, day bed and then full sized bed..

 A sneak peak at the bedding....

I will pot more later, once I get the bed really put together (it is just thrown in there now)

 

The dresser, which we will use as the changing table for the time being. 

The bookshelf we got at Target for about 400.00 cheaper than the one that actually went with the set. It matches perfectly. 

I just threw stuff on it to get it off the floor...

SO..we are off to a wonderful start. Thank you Mom and Dad for helping us with the furniture! It is a gift that the baby can continue to use for years, and years. However, I am a little bitter that it is nicer than OUR bedroom furniture!! :)

Also, a big thanks to Luke's dad for helping carry it up the three million stairs!

By no means is it close to being done, but the big jobs are done! Now onto making curtains, wall hangings and filling the room with colors!

Happy 2011! :)

Christmas Vac-a...

Phew! Another holiday season is in the books! We survived another year of running around and stuffing our faces! :) We had a wonderful holiday that, yet again, went way too fast. We stayed with my family this year, which was Luke's first Christmas morning with my family. My mom's attempt of a "simple holiday", or in Luke's ARMY acronyms a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Christmas, really paid off. We just enjoyed each other company and tried to keep it low key. We did our normal Christmas Eve "routine", which consists of Christmas Eve mass at our church, followed by dinner, followed by round 2 at Luke's church. Both were lovely, but I was more partial to Luke's church this year because we were actually able to sit down for the hour service. My church was P-A-C-K-E-D, we even arrived 20 minutes early, but ended up standing for the entire 1 hour and 20 minutes. If only I was more pregnant, some poor soul would have felt bad for me and let me sit... I betcha!  We were attempting to take pictures before church, which resulted in about 20 different "takes" because my mom kept closing her eyes. It was all her fault ;)

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning at the Guinane's...

Which would you think a man would like more, a new flatscreen TV, or a toggle coat? Well, Lucas must not be your average bear, because for as much as he liked the TV, he quickly became obsessed with his new coat. I think he asked others "Like my new coat" at least 30 times Christmas day! :) It is the little things... :)

 I finally graduated to REAL diamond earrings! Thank you, thank you, thank you to my wonderful hubby! Oh, and Patty got a lovely new pair from HER hubby!

We love them!!

No one is going to freeze this winter, that is for sure!

A  new crockpot for mommy-cakes!

 

 

 

Another box for Dad to rip apart (his favorite part of Christmas)

   

Patrick and Jenna. Patrick is nocturnal, and most likely in a sleep coma here! :)

So, this might of outdone the coat! A cover for the cab of L's truck...

Hallelujah! New shoes....I am sure they are just what he wanted! ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Patty's pretty dinner table! :)

 Luke and I with Patrick and Jenna in the SNOW!

 The snow on Christmas night made a perfect outdoor photo opp.

Not to mention, Luke got to try out his new coat! ;)

 Our last Christmas..just the two of us!

I hope I can be as good of mom to Lil' Wayne as my mom is to me!

..and onto the Wheeler's

My New Year's Resolution is to not get lazy with taking pictures at the second house (I did this at Thanksgiving, too, but reversed it and didn't any pictures at my house)

 Take 1...

 Take 2...just not happening.

 Exhausted from opening, opening, opening ;)

 Dominick delivering Christmas cards

                                                                                                                                 Grandma helping!

Grandma and Grandpa got him his own sized recliner!!

Can you guess who got Dominick a basketball hoop? It might have been for Luke's enjoyment!