Ewwwwww!

I love my family. I am willing to do lots of things to make them comfortable and/or happy: clean poopy bottoms, wipe snotty noses, scrub icky toilets, cut up raw chicken....well, you get the picture.

The line is drawn at cutting the heads off of live animals, however.

You see, Sunday is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary and to celebrate, we (meaning my parents, my family and my sister's family) are having a huge picnic tomorrow. Their only request was that we have shrimp and my sister and I could plan the rest of the food and activities.

Since Ryan is the official crustacean cooker of the family, we agreed to supply the shrimp. I looked around for a good deal and found one at a local grocery store (hurray for Hispanic grocery stores with seafood departments during Lent!) that I just couldn't pass up. Unfortunately, to get the good price, I had to buy the shrimp with veins, shells and heads.

"No big deal," I thought. I can peel shrimp. I can de-vein shrimp. Certainly I can cut their heads off, right?

WRONG. Just as I got my work station set up and had my hand poised to pick up the first shrimp, it's little leg/tentacle (whatever you want to call it) moved. "It just shifted a bit," I thought. And then it moved again. And then another one moved.

After silently screaming, since Liam was down for his nap, I hurriedly called Ryan. He suggested that I take them back to the store. What would I say? "Ummm....I'd like to return this really fresh seafood because I'm a total wimp." Or "Can I exchange these really fresh shrimp for some really dead ones?" Certain I'd become the crazy Anglo lady whose squeamishness would be the fodder for much laughter among the store employees, I quickly vetoed that idea.

The shrimp are now wrapped back up and in the fridge awaiting certain death once Ryan gets home this evening. Luckily for my parents, he has no problem cutting the heads off of live animals (or boiling them alive in the case of crawfish).

And what did I learn from this? Despite being able to tolerate the likes of infant explosive diarrhea and yogurt based vomit, I cannot decapitate live creatures. I also learned to not be so cheap and to buy the beheaded, de-veined shrimp next time.

*Shudder*

Supermodel

Over the weekend, Sydney was in a style show at my parents' church. She got to go to a major department store and pick out an outfit to model in front of over 100 ladies (and a few men). Of course, the outfit had to coordinate with my dad's since he was Sydney's escort. There was even a cosmetologist at the style show to do hair and makeup for the models. Needless to say, Sydney was in heaven.


Here she is with my dad:




Here's her "official pose":




And her "silly pose":




I wouldn't be surprised if she declares her new life's ambition to be modeling (instead of a fairy princess). Sadly, due to her gene pool, she will not be blessed with height, so I'm not so sure how modeling will work out for her. But perhaps she'll be satisfied to model in future church fashion shows.

*************

And in baby name news, as predicted, Ryan pared down our list of possibilities. We're down to 12 girl names (from 16) and 8 boy names (from 13). Of those, I really like 5 of the girl names and 3 of the boy names. So we're getting closer!!!

More Baby Name Madness

Upon the suggestions of Swistle and Mairzy and their "Baby Naming Blog", I checked out "The Baby Name Wizard" from the library (can you believe there are only THREE copies of this in our entire city library system?!?).

What I found most interesting about the book was the sibling name choices it gives. For example, for the name Sydney, it suggests sister names of Mackenzie, Bailey, Aubrey, Jordan & Shelby. For brother names, it suggests Hunter, Logan, Dalton, Connor & Parker.

For Liam, it suggests the sister names of Chloe, Ava, Mia, Lily & Riley. For brother names, it suggests Gavin, Riley, Aidan, Carson & Connor.

Hmmmm.......

NONE of those names were on our lists. Some of them fall into one of my two "no-no" categories: last names turned into first names (Bailey, Jordan, Hunter, Logan, Dalton, Parker, Carson) and names that can be either boy or girl names (Mackenzie, Jordan, Shelby, Riley, Aidan [seriously, I know a little girl named Aidan]). I have no problem with other people using names that fall into those two categories, but they're just not for me.

Ironically, according to the book, Sydney falls into both of those categories. Maybe it didn't bug me as much when we named her almost five (gasp!) years ago. Or maybe we just really loved Sydney Bristow five years ago.

I won't tell you which ones, but a couple of the names the book suggested were added to our ever-growing lists. And now we're up to 16 probable girl names and 13 probable boy names. I'll be handing the list to Ryan tonight so that he can scratch out the ones he doesn't like. Therefore, the list should be cut almost in half by tomorrow morning. And since we generally shy away from names that fall into the current "Top Ten", several more will be cut just because they're too popular. After all, I don't want my child to be labeled "Emily L." or "Jacob L." for their entire school career (and no, neither Emily nor Jacob are on our lists).

Naming a baby is tough and for some reason, naming Baby #3 has proven to be the most difficult for us. Silly me thought it would be EASIER having done it twice before.

At least we still have two more months to decide. Sigh.

Pregnancy Weirdness

Lots of people have asked me how this pregnancy compares to my other two. I think they're just trying to figure out the gender of the baby (which is funny because keeping the gender a surprise seems to be driving everyone else crazy, but not us).

I wish I could give them some "clues", but generally, it's going the same as the other two. I had terrible morning sickness with all three. I've had a couple of bouts with heartburn, but I had that with them, too. And the anemia? Well, that's par for the course as well.

There have been a few differences, but I don't think they have anything to do with gender (that I know of at least - if you've heard differently, please clue me in). For instance, this time, I have had terrible nose bleeds. The doctor didn't seem concerned or even bother to tell me how to prevent them. He simply said, "That's fairly normal." Thanks, pal. Because I'm really enjoying having blood drip out of my nose with absolutely no warning (at CHURCH) and waking up congested with blood instead of the usual pregnancy-induced sinus ickiness.

My hips have also been giving out/popping out of place. I didn't have that with Sydney or Liam. I suppose my body didn't get the memo that a c-section has been scheduled and it doesn't have to prepare for labor.

And the weirdest thing has been the dreams. I remember having strange dreams with the other two but nothing like what I've been having lately. The top three weird dreams I've had so far:

1) I could tell women the gender of the baby they were having by the way they cut chicken. I'd watch them cut up chicken (like for a casserole) and I could instantly tell by the way they cut it if they were having a boy or girl. I interpret this to mean that I've been cooking chicken too often and need to broaden my repertoire of dinner menu items.

2) We went to a local art/street fair and saw a vendor selling toupees. Ryan insisted on buying one that looked like squirrel fur. It looked so fake and I tried to convince him that he did not need it, but he wouldn't listen. I'm at a loss for an interpretation of this one.

3) We went to our big ultrasound and instead of seeing a baby on the screen, we saw a sock monkey. The doctor acted like it was completely normal, even saying, "Here's your baby!" All the while, I'm lying on my back covered in ultrasound goo crying out in disbelief that I would be giving birth to a sock monkey in a few short months. I haven't looked at a sock monkey the same way since. In fact, they pretty much give me the creeps now.

So....what's the weirdest thing that happened to you while pregnant? What was your weirdest dream?

Hallelujah X 3.....And Also a (semi) Cowgirl

Whoever said that bad news comes in threes must have gotten it wrong because for me, at least this past week, GOOD news came in a set of three.

Hallelujah #1: My test results came back and I do not have gestational diabetes. I do have pregnancy-related anemia again, but that's no surprise. I'm just thrilled that I don't have to give up carbs and sweets! I think I'll celebrate with a milkshake.

Hallelujah #2: After sitting in a crowded room with 50 other hopeful mothers and their restless children, Liam's name was finally called ensuring that he has a spot in a Mother's Day Out program next fall. Seeing as this program is at my sister's church in The Land of Fruit (and I've already paid the non-refundable registration fee and one month's tuition), this pretty much confirms that we are, in fact, moving out to the 'burbs sometime this summer.

Hallelujah #3: Liam is FINALLY walking!!!!!! He toddles all over the place now. Check out this video for proof. Of course, I recorded it a week ago today so he still looks wobbly, but he is really starting to take off. Pretty soon I'll be running after him.

And.....

Friday was "Go Texan Day" here in Houston. I always hated Go Texan Day growing up because 1) my family never went to the rodeo it celebrates and 2) I didn't have any Texan-y things to wear. I've never owned a pair of cowboy boots (and, frankly, I never plan to), I don't listen to country music, and the last time I rode a horse was at Girl Scout Camp circa 1986. Ryan feels the same way about it as I do, minus the fact that even though he claims that he hates country music, he magically knows the words to just about any old-school country song that we happen to hear when we're out and about. Anyway, I digress....

As much as we dislike the whole stereotypical Texan thing, Sydney, however, was all gung-ho about it and who could blame her with her teachers hyping it up all week. So, I did the best I could in putting together a cowgirl outfit for her. Does this look cowgirl-ish enough to you? (You can't really see them, but she's wearing her knee high black boots under her jeans.)




I certainly hope it's Texan-y, because after last year, when I completely ignored it and dressed her in regular clothes, the other kids made fun of her and even her teacher semi-scolded me at pickup time. Sheesh.

So this year, I actually tried and Sydney seemed to fit right in. Who knew that there would be so much peer pressure in pre-school?

Life by Numbers

1 - the number of times the phlebotomist had to stick me for my glucose test this morning
2 - the number of hours I was at the doctor's office today
3 - the number of pieces of pizza I had for lunch today
5 - the number of dollars I had to pay for parking at the doctor's office
7 - the number of steps in a row Liam took on his own on Sunday
16 - the number of steps in a row Liam took on his own this morning
27 - the number of weeks pregnant I am
29 - the number of weeks pregnant I am measuring
35 - the number of miles my parents had to drive to babysit Liam this morning
42 - the number of times Liam flirted with the pizza place waitress today
53 - the number of times I told Sydney that she needed to wear pants instead of a dress to school today due to the cooler temperature
0 - the number of times she listened to me

Wanna Feel Like a Loser?

On Thursday, I received my "Semi-annual Make You Feel Like a Loser Newsletter". This is also known as my college alumni newsletter. Twice a year I am subjected to the braggings of my fellow alumnus and although I never give the school money or send them my contact information, they always seem to find me anyway.

Most of the alumni updates are about people I don't know so I usually scan them to find names that I recognize. And I have to say, their lives sound a whole lot more interesting than mine. Granted, I attended the Honors Program at my university (and that's the alumni newsletter that I get) so most of the submissions are from people who had near perfect SAT scores and went on to get one or more graduate degrees. But I still feel like a loser compared to them.

So, I got to thinking: what would my ideal "alumni snippet" look like?

"Jana ______ ('98, history) married Ryan _______ ('99, biology) in 2000. After shaping young minds in the arts of social studies for several years, Jana went on to have and stay home with two fabulous, even genius, children and is expecting a third in the spring. She owns her own chocolate business, volunteers at church and is next in line to be Rick Steves' travel assistant in Europe. She and her family currently live in an historic area of Houston, but will soon be traveling throughout Europe trying out and writing reviews of various restaurants, hotels, historic sites and tourist attractions. She may be contacted through PBS."

Instead, I'm afraid my actual snippet would read something like this:

"Jana ______ ('98, history) married Ryan _______ ('99, biology) in 2000. After spending several years teaching geography to disinterested and unappreciative high schoolers, Jana went on to have and stay home with two children and is expecting her third in the spring. She owns her own chocolate business (that is on hold until her life gets sorted out), volunteers at church (for the free childcare and to feel useful to society) and dreams of someday needing to get a passport so that she can finally fulfill a life-long dream of going to Europe. Anywhere in Europe. Jana and her family currently live in an historic area of Houston, but will soon be moving to the Land of Fruit where she will desperately try to fit into suburbia and find friends for both herself and her children."

And this is why I don't bother to send in my little snippet to the newsletter. (Don't get me wrong, though. I love my life and wouldn't change a thing.)

So....what would your ideal "alumni snippet" say?