"The Recession is Over!"

"The recession is over," Tim said when he announced the news to others that we are pregnant. I think he believes my mother is going to single-handedly turn the economy around with buying things for this baby. Maybe it's time to invest in Baby Gap. We haven't gotten too much stuff yet - just a half a tote full. Mom has been going with the theme of bunnies or ducks, so she bought us a book called Duck! Rabbit!. She says it's all about perception. We're getting into the psychological and emotional teachings already! I'm so glad she's on our team. This little one has much to learn from Omamabon as she calls herself lately.

Welcome, Baby Emma

Emma Lily Sutherlin was born to our good friends Ben and Meredith on April 9th. She weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz. She had some breathing issues and had to stay in the hospital for the first week, but she is home now and Meredith and Emma are doing great. We have even had lunch together at MacKenzie River Pizza. Big Sister Alison is very proud of her baby sister.

Kitty Belle's New Do - Notice the Before Picture Further Down

Poor Kitty Belle...

When I picked her up from the groomer she had a death-look on her face. Birdie and Shuge think she is a different cat and won't leave her alone. I'm sure KB is humiliated, but she seemed really cuddly and sweet last night so maybe she feels better. Or maybe she's cold. Either way no more hairballs for us!

Housekeeping

My midnight brainstorming went well when I presented my ideas to Rob. I met him with a smile and a kiss and dinner which made him all the more open to my cleaning suggestions. We've made some deals too. Rob will change the cat litter and I will change the sheets. He hates changing sheets and I am quite fine with not changing the cat litter. All the books say that pregnant women shouldn't change cat litter. However, I have also read that if you have cats you are most likely immune to toxoplasmosis and you wouldn't have much to worry about. I'm just going to accept that I can't change cat litter. The end. We worked together Saturday morning and got alot done. Now Mom, don't go thinking I'm going to turn into the great housekeeper you are, but I might surprise you and do better now that I am thinking about a little baby on the floor who might, no WILL, find the smallest piece of carpet fiber or cat litter and put it in his/her mouth.

In the post below this one you'll see my black cat Kitty Belle. I have had KB for 9 years. We've been through alot together including 5 moves. That's a good cat that will move with you 5 times including one move across the country. This morning I dropped her off at the groomer to have her hair shaved off. She has the thickest fur of any cat I have ever seen. I am tired of the tufts of fur allover the carpet and the sound of her puking up hairballs in the middle of the night. As if the barfing sound wasn't bad enough, Shuge the dog thinks this is the sound of a dinner bell and gets all anxious to go eat the hairball. Gross, I know. So since I can't get rid of the cat, we are getting rid of the problem. The last time I shaved her she ran away for 10 days. A cat's fur is its pride, second only to its tail.

Cheerios at 3:30 am

Good morning blogging world! It's 3:38 am and I am awake. Mild insomnia....also a really fun part of being pregnant. I have been awake for about half an hour. What originally woke me up was the rustling of the dog and cats and a strange ammonia smell which I hope and believe to be imaginary. Then I needed to use the bathroom, followed by a bit of queasiness, remedied with a small bowl of cheerios.

Now that I am awake I am of course contemplating all the things we need to do around here. Specifically regarding the cats, cat litter, our floors, which are dirty, but otherwise great, and other house chores. Those who know me know that I am not a housekeeper, nor am I very organized around the house. But behold, right now at 3:44 am I am considering making a chart of chores that need to be done weekly, monthly, and every six months. I am a person who needs a list. I seldom make them, but they are really useful and help keep me on track. What does Robbie think of this? I haven't told him yet. Let's just hope I can keep my mind over my hormones and inform him in a nice, gentle manner. I won't wake him right now. Wouldn't it be nice to be asleep and dreaming peacefully right now? He will be waking up in 20 minutes anyway for his work day. I will create said chart today and present it to him with a smile and a kiss this evening. He's going to love it. (Yeah right). Here's hoping. I'll post a follow up....

Our First Ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound April 7th. The doctor I chose is Dr. Melissa Augustyn with Big Sky Women's Specialists. My friend Meredith has seen her throughout her entire pregnancy and has been complimentary of her and the office staff. I have since gotten good reviews from others who say they are great. We were nervous about the ultrasound just because this is still such a delicate time of pregnancy and while we are very optimistic, we also want to remain realistic. (Try telling my mom to be realistic when she already has 1000 ideas for the nursery).

Mom and Rob went to the appointment with me. It's been a while since Mom got to be up close and personal with a pregnancy, so she was amazed at how early ultrasounds can be done and that they can pick up images of a thing so small. The doctor found the baby and we saw its little heart flickering. I think for Rob it became more real to him after seeing it on the monitor and having its existence confirmed...as if I would use THAT as an excuse to be a little bossier or something. The Dr. said the baby is well placed and everything looks good inside. She also told me, and she is the second doctor to tell me this on unrelated separate occasions, that I have a beautiful cervix. Hmmm.... I think it may now be my best feature. She said it would be able to withstand alot of pressure and that it's long, wide, and perfectly placed. If I am ever in a beauty pageant, I'm putting that down on my "About Me" section.

Next appointment is in 4 weeks! We can't wait!

How We Told the Parents

For opening weekend of The Foreigner, my parents had flown out here. Rob's parents also wanted to come over that weekend to see the show Friday night. We had plans to all have breakfast together at Mom and Dad's Saturday morning.

We gathered around to say the blessing before breakfast. After the blessing Rob said, "We're happy that everyone got to see the baby's first performance."

Rob's mom got it right away. My mom said, "Huh?"

Rob repeated himself followed by another, "Huh? What?"

Finally I patted my stomach and pointed toward where the tiny baby would be and she erupted into screams, "WHAT? OH MY GOSH!! WHAT??? OHHH!!! OH MY GOSH!!! REALLY?!?!?!?"

She could then barely contain herself as we sat down to breakfast. She kept getting up and jumping around. My dad had to tell her to please sit down. Everyone then wanted to hear the story of how we found out and who all knew before they did. After breakfast the whole group of us spent the next 2 hours calling family members with the phone on speaker so we could hear their reactions.

Here are some of the best reactions:
When we called the Godwins, Mom asked for Tyndal who is 7. Mom then told Tyndal and asked her to yell it outloud to the rest of them. It was so cute hearing her little voice go, "OH MY GOSH LEE'S HAVING A BABY!! LEE'S HAVING A BABY!!!" We could hear the rest of them screaming in the background.

We also called Sonya our former housekeeper in Mobile. Many of you may know Sonya, so you'll appreciate her reaction. She said, "Ohh lawd! Pookey (what she calls me) is having a baby! Tell yo daddy to fly me out there FIRST CLASS and buy me a case of bleach and a bunch of lysol. I'm gon' need to come ova there and disinfect yo entire house so that baby can lick, suck, and gnaw on everything it can grab. Girl, you know you gonna be soakin' wet for the next 3 years!"

The Foreigner

I'm going to start at the beginning since some of you may not know the story. I'll get caught up to present as soon as I have some photos to post.

Around the end of February a friend and coworker of Rob's talked me into auditioning for a play called The Foreigner. I was hesitant to audition but highly interested in tapping into the dramatic side of myself. Auditions had started at 7 and it was after 7 when we were having this conversation about how well suited I was for a certain part in the play. Our friend told us he was going to send a text to the director and ask him if I could come downtown to audition even though it was late. I decided that if the director answered I would go. If he didn't, I wouldn't go. Well, he answered and off I went to the theatre in Meredith's minivan (I had ridden my bicycle to their house). Despite the 3 beers I drank before leaving the house, the audition went brilliantly and I got the callback the next night and was cast in the play by Thursday morning.

Hold for the irony....

The part that I play is that of Catherine Simms. She is a wealthy, saucy southern girl from Georgia who inherited a large sum of money when her parents passed away. She was a debutante who greatly enjoyed the charmed life before facing the reality of supporting herself and taking on the care of her awkward brother. In the play she is engaged to a preacher named David Lee, so her name would be Catherine Lee. She's a bit spoiled, but entirely unkind and has a certain depth and introspect about her. And she is pregnant.

This is now the beginning of our new adventure. We must have conceived the week I auditioned for the play. We had been trying for several months with no success. I had finally decided that I didn't want to have a baby in November or December because it's SO dark and cold out here during that time. Plus I thought 2010 would be a great year since I was born in 80, my brother in 70, my parents in 50. Mom always said that the way to get pregnant is to get distracted, go into debt, or plan some event that would be significantly less fun if I was pregnant. Sure enough, I was completely distracted by the play and that's when it happened!