Nikon D80

Merry Christmas, Happy 8th Anniversary, and Happy Birthday TO ME!! I finally got to order THIS awesome digital camera today. I can't wait to be able to go on photo shoots with my sis, Jenn. Not to mention that I get to bring back a passion of mine - one I haven't done since high school. This will be refreshing. I might add that I did actually win contests in photography while in high school - Chelle, remember taking pics around the farm and surrounding abandoned areas near you for one assignment in school? Fun times. If I had my ultimate dream it would be to own the equivalent but in film vs digital and have my own dark room. I can dream! But this should be here before Maysen's birthday parties, but more importantly I'm excited that I have this before Christmas and the birth of Griffin.

I propose that Halloween candy be illegal to go on sale until the day before Halloween. Of course it's on sale today ... buy 4 get 83 million free. Augh. I have no will power ...

And what's up with all the presidential candidate's wife hype? I swear I've heard more from the wives and what they think than I have the candidates themselves. And it's a typical Real World Gotta-Have-a-Catfight episode ... all the estrogen talking for itself. Where's Bill at when they have the spousal debates? Pedicure, maybe? Don't blame him :-)

Full week

This past week has been a blur! It started with my dad and Jo coming up from California on Wednesday. Jenn came down on Thursday and we had a great time. Dad's birthday is in a week, so we celebrated while he was here. Friday night was my sister-in-law's baby shower. She and I are just a few days apart on due dates. No, the pregnancies weren't planned together!

It was very nicely done, being held at King Estate Winery near here. It was beautiful! It was held at night, and when we left at 10pm, there was thunder, lightning and it was raining buckets! Jessica and I were driving together and chatting about our common love of Ghost Hunters on the SciFi channel when, of course, we missed our turn in the forest and got lost. At any time I was imagining my van shutting off spontaneously shutting off and mummies coming out from the trees. It was funny because any time we're together we get lost; we went to Disney World 2yrs ago and we would take the kids back for naps. Every time we left the park we'd get lost - all of course while I was driving. I'm glad she just laughs, because it defuses the stressful situation!

On Saturday, Jenn and I met my long-time friend, Amanda, for brunch at Ihop. I haven't seen her in awhile and she was coming to MY baby shower being held later that day. On my way to meet Amanda I got a call from Bob saying that Bonnie was having terrible stomach pains (again) and was leaving the art show. On Tuesday she had such bad pains she was nearly to her knees - I asked if she had ever had pancreatitis before which she had not. I told him he needed to take her to the hospital as something wasn't right. Turns out she had pancreatitis and her liver enzymes were out of control. She's currently still in the hospital as they're trying to rule out what caused this.After brunch we headed to my baby shower, hosted by Nate's mom and my sister-in-law (the always-get-lost-and-loves-Ghost-Hunters sister). It was a great time! Some of my friends from work were there along with a few of my favorite patients. We laughed and just had a blast! I got MAJOR loot including 24 pairs of socks (thanks matching-sock game), a video hand-held monitor, lots of open-ended sleepers, diapers, wipes, bottle drop-ins, great blankets, gift certificates, lots of firetruck goodies for the nursery, and numerous other things. My spare bed is completely filled with packages and stuff that Nate and I are going to re-go through tonight.

I had my OB appointment yesterday. She cleared up some questions I was having. We went through Griffin's measurements again and despite the fact that 3 of the measurements were showing 3 wks over, when combined, he's only showing 1wk 5d over my due date. He is still 15oz overweight - but Maysen was a big baby, so this one will be too. She said that they'll schedule my C-Section about a week before my due date, so around Jan 12th. I have been having Braxton Hicks, which I never did with Maysen - I never went into labor at all with Maysen! She said that even if I go into labor this time, they'll either stop it if it's too early or they'll just do the C Section then. My pelvis is too small to facilitate birth the natural way, so I have to have the C-Section. And to be honest, would prefer that. I was up sweeping my floor about a week after having it. I did great! Unfortunately my blood pressure is "creeping up" so I have be seen in 2 weeks and to have another ultrasound. She asked if I was ever on bed rest with Maysen. Goody. I can't imagine being on bed rest with a 3yr old..

Thanks, Jenn, for taking the great pics again.

Pumpkin Weekend

This weekend was our annual Lone Pine Pumpkin Patch weekend with Auntie Jenn (which took these wonderful pictures). We had pizza with Poppi, then went to the farm where Maysen played in the playground there. Nate stood in line for the horse-drawn hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. We let Maysen pick out Griffin's pumpkin, his pumpkin, and Auntie's pumpkin, which he did a great job!

Stinky Goats...

Maysen's pumpkin

Griffin's Pumpkin

Our loot (from L to R): Daddy's, Griffin's, Maysen's, Momma's, and Auntie's

Gutting his pumpkin

We had a great time carving pumpkins. We laughed, drank apple cider, and listened to cheesy "Ghosts and Goblins" CD with howling wolves and cackling witches. We had a great time and I hope Maysen carries with him these fun memories. Jenn stated in her blog last week about fun fading as age approaches. I hope you saw this weekend, Jenn, that it doesn't have to be like that. Didn't this take you back, perhaps for a minute, to when we used to do this at home when we were 8yrs old? I have these moments every day ...

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handsome

What's the attraction of fall leaves to children? I remember the smell of them as we all piled into huge raked piles of them. Fun times ...

Maysen is going to be the child attendant for his babysitter (and homecoming princess), Amanda, for the homecoming game on Friday . I'm not sure how he's going to do, but he's going to be so handsome doing that ...

...and the obsession continues ...

Baren Land

This weekend was, for the most part non-rainy so we decided that since it was our only free weekend until Dec 1st we'd take advantage of getting our yard "winterized". That, coupled with the fact that my decreased flexibility will be raging over the next couple of months, it was time to get it done. You'll notice the *nine* huge lawn bags this took to accomplish, as my yard is a jungle all summer. You can get a small glimpse here.

The weather has been pretty unpredictable this time of year. When the weatherman says it's going to be 20% chance of showers, it's foggy/cloudy/cold all day. But when it's 100%, the sun is out half the time and the rain is barely noticable. I guess that's the life of a weatherman. But since for the most part the weather has still been mild (low 60s, upper 40s at night) things in my yard are still blooming! I know in about 4 more weeks they'll be dead as a doorknob so I had to keep thinking that while I cut down living things thinking "You think it's hard NOW to bend over, let this go another 3 weeks". That was motivation enough.

Am I really blabbing over getting my yard winterized? Yes! Because it was a job, Maysen has a cold now, and today it was 70! We were worried about getting it ALL done yesterday for fear of the "60% chance of rain" today. Ha! God's sick sick joke :=)

PS: Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow to all my Canadian Geese out there!

:-(

Pregnancy hormones completely suck. I'm in a pretty depressed rut lately and I'm hoping it fades quick so I can "hopefully" get back to normal. I could use an extra thought or two if you have any free!

To the Kleenex!