Weekend pics!

I make my friends peel grapes for me. With their teeth.

Beautiful West Virginia!

Driving into Keyser. It's a sad little town, but it's so pretty out there!

Ah...West Virginia.

NOW do you believe us??

New Creek. We like that it's "Unincorporated."

Andrew's office up in the mountains. Oh, the power. The mountains

behind the buildings belong to ATK as well.

"Pizza In, Pizza Out"

Frostburg- this place is a sham.

www.weather.com says we're expecting 6-10 inches of snow. I don't know why I check that ridiculous site anymore. I really don't think the weather.com people have any idea what happens up here. We usually double the numbers they give us, and that's about right...it's coming down like crazy right now. What's really sad is that I was too hasty, and our down coats are in the storage unit, along with our sweaters. I was too excited. But I should have known better. I've been here for 6 years now- I should know not to put these things away until the end of April...I was just too excited.
HAHAHA, I just heard a snowplow hit a curb.
Frostburg's elevation is about 3,000 feet. This makes it a little town on top of a mountain. Population 8,000. It's cute. But cold.

Whew.

I just got back from a 3 mile walk. It was very nice. I went to the library and got 4 books, I secured a storage unit down by 7-11, I went to the PO, and I stopped at Gianni's for lunch. That hill is a killer, but it's nice to feel what little burn I can still feel, being this pregnant. And the baby loves the exercise. She gets very wiggly and excited over it all.
Let's see...this past weekend was really nice. Mom and Nina hosted a beautiful shower, and everyone was so generous and giving to our little Lucy. It was so nice being around all of the women who make such a difference in my life!
Andrew and I met with Rick and Celeste about Lucy's baptism. I think we're going to do it in June, hopefully the same weekend of Josiah's party. We asked Lisa and Michael to be Lucy's godparents this weekend, and they were thrilled. I know they'll be wonderful. (Ack, I need to call Good Shepherd and get this baptism scheduled. I'm going to do that right now. Line's busy. Well, I de-registered from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, so that's a step in the right direction.
In that case, I'm going to be really proactive and get Dr. Menchavez settled as her pediatrician. I am such an on-the-ball momma.
Ok, well, Zeita was not in. I left a message. Good enough. I feel like a very responsible parent at the moment.
Andrew had his dentist appointment this morning. He has one wisdom tooth that needs to be pulled. That is going to be done at the very beginning of next month. I'm glad we're getting all of these things out of the way before B-Day; it'll make the event much more relaxing!
I get to move a bunch of stuff to storage this week! I am so excited. We have so much stuff and just not enough space! It will be really nice to get some stuff out of here and get this place a little more open and cleaned out. I need more space if we're going to move a munchkin in here!

Suzzy reads my blog.

Ha, Andrew was wrong. I have at least three people reading my blog these days.
Andrew will be here today! It's been a very busy week. Today is payday, so bills are all paid, and we got out tax refund this morning! Woo!! What we need to do is put the entire thing toward paying off debt. We're doing really good. However, I think we need to wait til the end of the weekend to see what we still need to buy for Miss Thang, and then put the difference toward debt. I think we'll need to buy the carseat and the jogger. This leaves me with a huge dilemma. See, the jogger isn't really museum/mall/crowd friendly. But I really want it for working out, since the terrain in Frostburg is less that adequate for Graco's sweet designs. However, the carseat is going to be about $150. Well, a travel system is the same price, and it's got a smaller stroller with it. I don't know how well Andrew will respond to my plea for two strollers, but there's no point in buying a car seat when you can buy a car seat and a matching stroller for the same price. Hm. I am going to have to butter him up really good...his biggest concern is going to be storing them, but the Graco would probably just stay in the trunk of the car permanently, for the mall and other outings, and we'd be using the jogger around the nrighborhood, so I'd keep it in the garage. I hope he reads this today and realizes how sensible I am.
I am going to go upstairs and take a little shower. I do love my showers. Andrew will be here in less than 12 hours!!! Ahh!!! I love him!

Comments for everyone!

I changed my blog so that everyone can leave comments now.
I just got back from a walk around the resort. So many children...I think that once Lucy gets ready to travel, I really don't want to do "family vacations." I know this sounds mean and horrible, but we really want to expose our kids to things that are off the beaten path, where people don't bring throngs of kids to experience all the same things. And with a giant waterpark in the middle of the resort, it's hard to get them to do anything but swim.
I'd really like to take Lucy to Africa when she's about 6 or 7. I'd love for her to see a bunch of different cultures and people, and to learn that you don't need to stay in your own country to feel like you belong somewhere. I feel like raising a kid in the US really cuts your off from the rest of the world. Maybe it's because we're so closed off from other countries. I just think that there is a huge snobbery that goes along with being an American, where most US citizens never feel the need to see the rest of the world. There are so many amazing things out there, and so many people I haven't met. It would be a shame to never try to meet them. I don't see how anyone can ever stop moving around and settle in one place. It just seems like there are so many places I haven't tried. I need to see at least 13 more countries before I decide on the best place to live. What if my best fit is somewhere in Ireland, or Mombazique? I just hate to make a decision when I don't know all my options, and I'd hate to raise Lucy to think she doesn't even have those options.
I think that's what scares me about Allegany County. There are so many different things out there, and I'm so afraid to raise Lucy in a town full of people who are so set in their ways. I want her to approach people, ask questions, eat anything, speak many languages, plan less and never settle for what's in front of her. I want her to know that there is always another way to do something, and there is always someone out there who does things differently. I want her to know that there life doesn't begin and end with purchases, and that love isn't confined to Mom, Dad, your siblings and your grandparents. I think the biggest challenge in raising a child today is raising them to be free of the societies around them, and to challenge them to think bigger than themselves and their daily routine. I don't care if Lucy never goes to college, as long as she lives a life dedicated to serving the people around her. I'm not the most interesting person, and I'm definitely not the smartest, but if Andrew and I can raise a child who relies on compassion, empathy and wit to get the job done, I know that I will have lived the right life.

Snack wraps and secret babies.

Well, I just walked in the door from the doctor's office and a big WalMart trip. The WalMart trip was ultimately more interesting than the doctor's office, but that's kind of par for the course at this point. Dr. H said I'm still looking great, and as long as I'm feeling fine, I should just keep up the good work. Hooray! And I passed my one-hour glucose test. I guess all those expensive cereals and chocolate chip cookies paid off; looks like little Lucy is immune to my incredible sugar intake.
I spent a large part of the afternoon watching the old men at McDonald's shoot the breeze. I had an hour to kill, so I ordered a snack wrap and parked myself in the corner. The big event was the broken ice machine...it actually turned out to be much more exciting than sitting at home.
I actually mailed Sarah's care package today! I figured that after the big explosion at Bagram today, she deserved a little gumption on my part. A woman at the post office rubbed my belly. Surprisingly, I didn't get upset at all. She was so cute.
Andrew and I were talking at the doctor's office today...what happens if you have a baby at home, and you never tell anyone? Are there rules pertaining to making your child an official person? I mean, could I just have a baby and never obtain a birth certificate or SSN or anything? Are there people out there without official identities? I'll have to ask my Nesties.

Recent Happenings

Our Icicles. They're a great reminder of our honeymoon. They remind me that Key West is so very, very far away.

The guys at dinner last weekend- L-R- Tim, Calvin, Manik and Andrew

Really, she's waving. This is Lucy and I at 31 weeks. Getting BIG!

Lucy's wall letters. With any luck, this is the last color scheme we'll go through! Our "I Love Lucy" theme is now in full swing! Well, it would be if she had a bedroom...

Lucy at 30 weeks- so much cuter than my belly makes her seem at first.

What the 4D ultrasound doesn't show you. Ah, technology...

A new truck.

Well, I should have known better than to fall asleep on the couch last night. Andrew got lost on Craig's List, and found his new love. A 1989 giant red truck. Well, I can do better than that. How about a picture?

So, we have emailed the guy, and will see what he says. It looks like it would be a champ in the snow, but...it's so big. I think we're going to list the Saturn in the paper and see if we can't break even on her, to pay her off and find a car a little more suited to Frostburg weather. And if we don't sell her, that's fine too. I can drive her as long as I need to, I suppose. It would be nice to have something a little higher off the ground. I'd really like a 4-Runner. Andrew seemed agreeable, if we can find something for the right price.

I took my nap. It turned out to be better than I expected, but I had some VERY weird dreams.

Our weekend was very nice. On Friday night, Andrew came home from the gym and declared "I ran the flu out of me!" Apparently his 10k completely cured his two-week illness. Who am I to argue? He sounded much better, so...

We had a light dinner and then took our fun money and saw "The Number 23." Oh, it was beyond creepy and scary. We loved it.
On Saturday, we drove down to the hospital so Andrew could have his blood drawn. While he was registering, I dropped my water bottle and it sprayed all over my legs and I was absolutely soaked. And of course, when a pregnant woman gasps, everyone stares in concern. So, while I dried off, Andrew did his thing, and we were back in the car in just minutes. We went to Big Lots, which is a very neato place. Our first time. Then we headed home, where Andrew sat for about an hour before he decided to drive to "Bloomington" to look at a house. We drove for a looooong time, and finally found the place. It was less than thrilling, but it was a nice little drive. Any drive is nice when you have a bag of Fritos and a good traveling buddy.

We spent Saturday night...jeez, I don't even remember Saturday night. We watched a movie, maybe? I know I made chicken and pilaf...I guess we were just around the house...I really can't remember.
It snowed a LOT on Saturday night, so we spent Sunday in the house, cleaning and doing homework, and went to Mass at 8 at Cook Chapel.
Lucy had a very quiet weekend. She never knows what to do with the weekend. We have a very distinct routine during the week, and I think she gets confused when the hustle and bustle of the weekend gets going.