State of the Uterus

36 weeks and 5 days

I've only gained 20 pounds total - I guess my weight keeps fluctuating, but now I should be gaining about a pound a week until I deliver. I tested positive for Group B Strep (read more here), so now I have to have 4 hours of IV antibiotics during labor. I was hoping to avoid an IV, but now I have no choice. So far the baby is still measuring on track and has a strong heartbeat and is still head down in the "blast-off" position.


I was told to watch for 3 things -

1. Water breaking (about 1-2 cups of fluid followed by a constant stream)

2. Contractions, following the 5-1-1 rule (5 minutes apart, over 1 hour, lasting about 1 minute each), but my doctor said I can come in if they are 30-45 seconds long

3. Bleeding

The doctor said that the baby probably won't drop until I'm in active labor. Who knew I had such strong abdomen muscles? I was also told that a pregnancy massage would help with my achy back - it was "medically ordered" so Tom better get on it.

Now it's just a waiting game - tick tock. So go and submit your guess for the baby's birthday!

Mini Merkel Poll

I set up a fun game to keep everyone entertained until the baby gets here. Play by clicking on the link to the right (expectnet.com) and entering your guess for the baby's gender, height, weight and birthday. Good luck!

Bleh

I'm so uncomfortable now and I can't wait for this baby to make its appearance. I'll try to focus on some of the positives:

1. Only 24 more days until my due date.
2. I get to work from home as often as needed.
3. Since I'm working from home, I can wear comfy sweats everyday.
4. My hospital bag is packed and the car seat base is installed.

Now come out, baby!

Finished Nursery

We finally finished the nursery - we had to hang the mobile, painting and wall hanging. Now all we need is the bambino to arrive. This is one of my favorite rooms in our house.

And a very Merry Christmas to you!

We had a great Christmas yesterday - our last Christmas without a baby. We spent our day with family - opening gifts, bowling, dinner and Battle of the Sexes. Unfortunately I didn't get to bowl, just watched, cheered everyone on and took some pictures. Tom thought I would go into labor if I bowled. Peter and David got bowling shoes and new balls for Christmas. Peter wanted to keep his tag on his shoe, but Tom ripped it off when Peter wasn't looking. Poor Peter. He looks so sad in this picture, but it's all staged. You all know how much he loves attention.

And no holiday would be complete without the requisite wrestling match. I don't know what Peter would do without David. He'd probably lose his mind and end up in the looney bin. At least they both look happy in this picture.

36 Weeks

4 more to go and today I'm officially full term!!! I can't wait for this baby to get here! The baby's been really active and loves stretching in my belly. I can only imagine how active the baby will be once it's out.

My doctor gave me my post partum instructions on Wednesday. Oh boy, those were definitely enlightening - I'm supposed to limit activity and only do a flight of stairs a day for 7 days after the baby's born. So I guess I'll be camping out upstairs for a week or so. Good thing Tom will be home with me.

Let the official countdown begin! 28 days until my due date!

Here's what the baby's been up to this week according to WhatToExpect.com:

Your baby's skull isn't the only soft structure in his or her little body. Most of your baby's bones and cartilage are quite soft as well (they'll harden over the first few years of life) — allowing for an easier journey as your baby squeezes through the birth canal at delivery (and less prodding and poking for Mom along the way). At 36 weeks pregnant, the skull bones are also not fused together yet so that the head can easily (well, relatively easily) maneuver through the birth canal.

So your little bruiser (who you've now learned won't be bruising you all that much with those soft bones) is now about six pounds in weight and measures slightly more than 20 inches in length. Growth will experience a slowdown now, both so your baby will be able to fit the narrow passageway to the outside and also so he or she can store up all the energy needed for delivery.

By now, many of your baby's systems are pretty mature, at least in baby terms — and just about ready for life on the outside. Blood circulation, for instance, has been perfected and your baby's immune system has matured enough to protect him or her from infections outside the womb. Other systems, however, still need a few finishing
touches. Once such notable example: digestion — which actually won't be fully mature until sometime after birth. Why's that? Inside his or her little gestational cocoon, your baby has relied on the umbilical cord for nutrition, meaning that the digestive system — though developed — hasn't been operational. So your baby will take the first year or two to bring that system up to speed.

And the weekly pictures:
Parents.com - yay, I'm the size of a beach ball!

WhatToExpect.com

Belly Shots

My work-from-home outfit - so comfy!

State of the Uterus

The doctor said I could teach classes on weight gain during pregnancy. I don't think I gained anything in the past two weeks - maybe 1/2 a pound at most. She is estimating that the baby will be around 7 pounds at birth, but not much bigger than that. During the exam, she was pushing around on my stomach and the baby pushed its butt and feet out. She said she wanted to be sure the baby was in the right position for birth - which it is. Our baby gets an A+ today.

I'm on to weekly appointments now, so I'll be heading back on New Year's Eve and then every week until my due date. Let's hope this little booger comes out before then - I really don't want to be late, but I have to be realistic - the baby is 1/2 Taves. Tardiness is in its blood.

35 Weeks

35 days to go! The doctor said if I go into labor after Christmas, they won't stop it, so I'm trying to get myself mentally ready. I'm becoming less and less comfortable as the days go by. The baby really enjoys pushing its body parts out, especially into my ribs. I've just started having some weird baby dreams. The other night I dreamt that we had the baby, but never changed the diaper so we still didn't know what we had. I was walking around calling the baby an it. And then last night I dreamt that the baby was a stuffed animal and people were looking at me like I had 3 heads when I would show them my baby.

I'll have to make sure that we're aware of the sex of the baby when it's born (now I'm going to check a dozen times after the baby's here to be sure). And that it's an actual baby and not a stuffed animal.

Here's what the baby's been up to according to WhatToExpect.com.

At about 20 inches and five and a half pounds (but with about five more weeks to grow), most of your baby's growth over the next month or so before you meet will be in weight (with a gain of anywhere from one pound to several), not height (baby's pretty much reached the in utero limit in that department). Accordingly, fat continues to accumulate at a rapid pace these days (on baby, not just on your hips). Back in the middle of your pregnancy, your baby's weight was made up of only two percent fat; now at 35 weeks pregnant, that percentage has soared to closer to 15 percent (and will increase to 30 percent at term). Which means your baby's once skinny arms and legs are now quite plump…and irresistibly, squeezably soft.

Also continuing to grow at an amazing pace is your baby's brain power. Luckily, the part that surrounds that amazing brain — the skull — remains soft. And for good reason: A soft skull will allow your baby to squeeze more easily through the birth canal. (Mother Nature was really thinking this one through — imagine trying to push out a rock-hard head…ouch!)

And now for the weekly pictures.
Parents.com - I have no idea why it's the size of a throw pillow. Weird.

WhatToExpect.com

Belly picture

35 more days!!!

Maternity Tour

We went on the tour of the hospital last night so we could see the Labor and Delivery floor and rooms. Fair Oaks has all private rooms (yay) and free WIFI. We saw two brand new babies being discharged as we were waiting in the lobby for the rest of the group. I couldn't wait to see the nursery and all of the little babies. It was just our luck that there was almost no one on the Labor and Delivery floor - a really quiet night. There was only 1 baby in the nursery, but he was so so cute and all swaddled up after his bath. I could have stayed there watching the little guy instead of finishing the tour.

The tour guide said we could have up to 4 people in the L&D room (not including Tom), so you guys better come and entertain me while I'm laboring. Don't worry - we'll kick you out when it's time to deliver the baby. I need to start packing my hospital bag - I keep saying that and forgetting to do it.

We also turned in our pre-admission paper work, so now we're good to go. We just have to show up to the hospital, show ID and insurance cards and get our bracelets. I really hope I go into labor during the FREE valet parking hours - 6:00 AM - 6:00 PM. How convenient would that be?

34 Weeks...

...and 6 more to go! This baby has now taken up almost all of my space. It's become almost impossible to put on my socks by myself. My back is always achy now and I'm getting more and more tired. I have my 34 week appointment with Dr. Wertheim today. I only have one more bimonthly appointment (36 week) and then I go to weekly appointments. The baby will be considered full term in 3 weeks! I better start packing the hospital bag, just in case. Tom put together the car seat and stroller, but we still need to install the car seat bases in our cars and have them inspected. Apparently 80% of car seats are installed incorrectly. 80%!

Here's what the baby's been up to according to WhatToExpect.com:

Your baby could be as tall as 20 inches right now and about five pounds. Need a visual? Hold a five-pound bag of flour in your arms and imagine it's your soon-to-be-born baby (cradle it, and you'll only get strange looks in the baking aisle). Then stack three such bags one on top of the other (and get ready for some more strange looks, maybe from the same clerks who saw you grinning and holding that one-pound box of sugar a few weeks ago). That's how tall your baby is at 34 weeks pregnant. (Now go bake some oatmeal raisin cookies with all that flour!)

If your little doughboy is, well, a boy, then you'll be pleased to know that this week his testicles are making their way down from his abdomen to his scrotum. (Some baby boys — three to four percent — are born with undescended testicles, but they usually make the trip down sometime before the first birthday.)

Your baby's fingernails now reach the end of the fingertips and may even curl over the tip, making a manicure one of the first things you'll need to do for your little bundle.

Weekly pictures:
Parents.com




WhatToExpect.com


34 Weeks - belly button hasn't popped yet


Ready for work and for the week to be over

'Tis the season...

...for holiday lunches and parties. I love free lunch at work and we have about 5 of them this week and next. Although the lunch we had on Tuesday was technically my going away lunch. We had it early because of the holidays and the unpredictability of the baby's arrival. My team did give me a going away gift - something I have been talking about and wanting, but wouldn't buy for myself - YOGA TOES! They're always advertised in the back of my US Weekly and Tom makes fun of me every time I mention getting them. I put them on the past two nights for about 5 minutes and my toes feel nice and stretched afterwards. Ah, another way to pamper myself.

Baby care class

We learned how not to kill our baby last night. All kidding aside, the class was really useful and well worth the $50 we spent on it. Our teacher was a nurse with 30+ years of experience and 4 kids of her own. I left with a huge boost of confidence, thinking "we can do this." It's funny because I've babysat for years, but I've never taken care of a newborn. Plus babysitting only entailed a few diaper changes and feedings - no bath times or sticking thermometers up butts. I think my favorite parts of the class were the bath time lesson - it was really easy (although we were working with plastic baby dolls) and learning some soothing techniques.

There were about 8 couples in the class and all of them were having girls. When we walked into the room we were told to pick a baby (they were swaddled). Well, come diaper changing time we discovered we had the only boy doll in the whole room.

Our teacher suggested that we put together the car seat and stroller when we got home so we could practice with a doll. The car seat and stroller came pretty much put together - we just had to put the wheels and tray on the stroller. I then practiced with our stuffed Bart Simpson doll - it's a good looking baby.

We parked like a mile away from the hospital doors because we didn't realize there were multiple patient/visitor parking areas. Next week we have our maternity tour and we'll make sure to scope out the closer parking. They have free valet parking Monday-Friday, but only during the daytime business hours. I hope I go into labor then so we can take advantage of that service. Otherwise I'll still get valet parking, but Tom will have to be the valet.

Baby Shower

We had the best time at our baby shower! It was unlike any shower I've ever been to and the games were awesome! I couldn't believe how many people cam eout for the shower - and how generous everyone was. I spent last night washing the baby clothes and putting everything away. I'll post pictures from the shower as soon as Jennifer and Joe send them to me. Hopefully there is at least one decent shot of me and Tom. I know there are some great ones from the beer chugging contest.

I still need to take pictures of the nursery now that it's done. I'll try to get those taken this week so everyone can see how it turned out.

Thank you thank you thank you to Aunt Peggy and Jennifer for throwing the coolest shower ever! I've got to get working on the thank yous now. Too bad I can't make the baby write the thank yous.

33 Weeks

7 more weeks!

I've been having heartburn from hell. Even Tums aren't working as well as they used to. I've noticed that my body gets tired faster - I have to pause while making my way up the stairs at home. I struggle to get my socks on, but I can still manage if I sit on the floor. The only problem then is getting up off of the floor.

The baby still moves around all of the time - mostly sticking its body parts out from side to side. It's also started hiccupping a lot, which is a really weird feeling. It's almost like a constant light kick, but in the whole belly.

We're really excited for our baby shower tomorrow, mostly because we'll get to see everyone and they'll get to see the house. Okay, you got me - I'm really excited because tomorrow is all about me! Wait - it's not? What do you mean it's about the baby?

Oh, and my belly button still hasn't popped. I think I might actually get away with an innie this entire pregnancy.

Here's what the baby's been up to this week according to TheNest.com:

Baby’s senses are continuing to improve -- when light peeks in through your (extremely) stretched belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs… time to start practicing your lullabies! Growth (at least inside your womb) is starting to slow, and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month.

Weekly pictures
TheNest.com - I'm a honeydew melon!

WhatToExpect.com

Belly shot

Ready for work


And finally, a cute picture of the cat curled up on Tom. She usually does this every night if we haven't been giving her enough attention. She's so social.

Finished nursery

Whoo-hoo! We finished the nursery tonight. I am going to make one more thing for the nursery though (I just can't help myself). And we're still waiting for the painting to be framed. I'm so excited that the baby has a nice room to come home to. I'll post pictures after the shower on Saturday - I want to keep some things a surprise for the guests.

"Emergency" visit

This morning I woke up with a dull chest pain on my left side and some shortness of breath. I figured it would work itself out and go away by the time I got to work. Well, it didn't, so I took Tom's advice and called the doctor. I had a scheduled appointment for tomorrow, so they just cancelled that and squeezed me in today.

After the usual nurse time (pee in a cup, BP check and weight) we were put in an exam room to wait. And wait. And wait. Apparently the nurse forgot to put our room number on the doctor's list. Finally Dr. Pickford came in and checked everything out - heartbeat was good, fundal height is right on track and my lungs are clear. She checked my legs for red spots (clots) and swelling, but nothing there, then asked some questions about the pain and shortness of breath. Apparently what I've been experiencing is all pregnancy induced. My other organs have moved in with my poor lungs and now they're cramped, which caused the shortness of breath. I can thank my wonderful pregnancy hormones for the lung pain. And as soon as we left the office the baby started moving all around.

So all's well that ends well. At least Tom got to hear the baby's heartbeat again. He hasn't heard it since I was about 12 or 13 weeks pregnant. And I don't have to go in for another appointment until next Friday.

DIY Maternity Pics

I've seen a lot of people post their professional maternity pictures and have been wanting to take my own. I couldn't justify spending the money to have professional pictures done, so I grabbed the tripod and my camera and snapped away. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be - I would set up the shot, set the timer, rush to get in the frame and smile. Over and over again. I must have taken a gazillion pictures and only ended up with about 20 decent ones. I'm glad I have some nice looking "belly pics" now and not just my weekly wet hair pics. Here are some of my favorites.

32 Weeks

Well Thanksgiving is over and even though we sent people home with tons of food, we still have a lot of leftovers. At least we won't have to cook for the next few days. Since I never cook any of the Thanksgiving dinner, I spent the day (and night) doing dishes and just cleaning up after the cooks (Tom and Peter). They went a little overboard on the amount of food and the number of dishes they (and others) prepared. We had fried turkey, rib roast, leg of lamb, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, 2 kinds of stuffing (though people really liked Mrs. Bishop's sausage stuffing), rice pilaf, corn spoon bread (one of my favorites!), Martha's beans, cranberry sauce, mushrooms, 2 kinds of salad, corn bread, regular bread - I think that's just about everything. We also had tabouleh, hummus, tzatziki, cocktail weinies and other bite size snacks for appetizers. Plus 6 pumpkin pies and 2 apple pies. We had food coming out of our ears! And we managed to fit everyone (all 16 of us) except the 2 kids at the same table (the kids ate at a small table in the same room). It didn't take too long to clean up after everyone left and now the house is back to normal.

We spent most of today relaxing, which I really needed after being on my feet most of yesterday. Since we're not hosting Christmas, I plan to spend that whole day on my butt. We did manage to get out of the house though. Tom's been saving for a while now and has had his eye on this PRS guitar, so we went out and finally got it. Then we went on our search for a bureau for the nursery. We drove out to Buy Buy Baby in Springfield and saw quite a few bureaus, but they were a bit too much for us. Tom couldn't believe the amount of baby stuff in the store - the same feeling I had when I first walked into the store. We finally found something at Target, so we'll put that together tonight or tomorrow.

My back is really starting to ache at the end of the day. The baby's been pretty active lately (especially right now since Tom's playing guitar). The websites say the baby should be sleeping 20-40 minutes at a time. It must get all of its sleep in while I'm asleep because it's usually pretty active during the day. I'm still getting charley horses in the middle of the night which are no fun at all. My feet have decided to join in on the fun by spasming randomly throughout the day. My belly button still hasn't popped - I'm starting to wonder if it'll just stay an innie for the rest of the pregnancy. I love playing with it - it's all soft and squishy now - kind of grosses Tom out. I also love watching the baby push its butt out of the side of my belly. If you push down on it, the baby will swing over to the other side. It's weird to feel and see the baby moving from side to side. Cool, but definitely weird.

Alright, enough babble - here are my weekly pictures.
Parents.com - A sack of potatoes!


WhatToExpect.com - This is definitely the position the baby's in - that butt is always sticking out around my belly button.


Morning after Thanksgiving belly

32 Weeks

Thanksgiving preparations

The house is ready for our big Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. We'll have a total of 18 people tomorrow; well 19 really, but one is still in the womb and doesn't eat a whole lot. Tom's got a pretty big menu planned - fried turkey, leg of lamb, a roast and a ton of sides. I'm going to bake some banana bread tonight since all of our bananas are close to being all black.

I'll try to take some pictures of the festivities to share, but I can't promise anything. I usually get so wrapped up in preparations that I forget to take pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ouch!

This baby is kicking and punching the crap out of my insides! And when it's not doing that, it's pushing other body parts into my ribs or out of my sides. This morning it kept ramming my side with its butt over and over. Like it was trying to beat its way out. And here I thought the baby would be nice to me today since I'm feeding it grilled cheese, fries and a pickle.

Busy weekend

We got a lot done so far this weekend. We went to Joanne's last night and got fabric to make pillows for the couch, curtains for the kitchen and covers for my glider. The pillows and curtains are done and I'm almost finished recovering the ottoman for my glider - I just need to find the staple gun and then I'll be done. We finished painting the nursery last night and we're going to put together the crib after the Redskins game.

We still need to get a bureau, bookcase and lamps for the nursery. And get the zoo painting framed and hung. I'm going to get the lamps and curtain rods for the kitchen in a bit. I promise to have the nursery finished before the baby shower and will post pictures of it as soon as it's put together.

31 Weeks

31 down, 8 to go! I am not sleeping well at all anymore. I end up waking up once to use the bathroom, but then multiple times to get comfortable. By the end of the day, it's a little more difficult to walk and my lower back starts to ache. I've also been having Braxton Hicks contractions a few times a day and they're pretty uncomfortable. I had one last night as we were walking in the mall and I had to stop to let it pass. It's also getting a bit harder to put my socks and shoes on - that's going to become Tom's job soon (luckily all of my work shoes are easy to slip on).

I'm getting really excited for the baby shower and love checking the evite everyday to see who's coming. And everyone will get to see the house and all of the work we've put into it. We're going to finish up the nursery this weekend (I know, I keep saying that, but this time it's true).

I also realized that if I only sit up halfway, my belly makes this weird cone-like shape and my belly button gets all squishy and weird. Tom hates when I do this, so I try to do it and trick him into seeing my belly all weird. I figure I should find something fun to do with my big belly, right?

Here's what the baby's been up to this week according to WhatToExpect.com:

As far as growth goes, your baby's still on a roll, measuring an impressive 18 inches and weighing in at more than three pounds. At 31 weeks pregnant, you can still expect your baby to gain at least three to five pounds, possibly more, before you two meet.

Your baby's brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and your baby can now perceive information from all five senses. Sure, your baby can't smell anything right now, but that's only because he or she is still submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. Lucky for you — and your baby — yours will be one of the very first scents your baby breathes in, a scent
that will quickly become his or her very favorite.

So what's your little dove doing all day while you're busy feathering your nest for his or her arrival? Making faces, hiccuping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little
hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb. In fact, some babies suck their thumbs so vigorously while in the womb that they're born with a callus on their thumb (what a little sucker!).

And here are the weekly pictures.

Parents.com - No idea how I went from a basketball to a sweater to a soccer ball, but whatever.

WhatToExpect.com - This isn't the position our baby's in though - our baby is head down with its feet in my ribs.

31 Weeks - My belly button hasn't popped yet, but is getting close (keep those fingers crossed, Jennifer).

Dressed for work in my new cords.

New couch

Our new couch is here and looks great! I haven't sat on it yet; I'm waiting for Tom to get home so we can both try it out at the same time. I'm going to recover the three smaller pillows in a dark brown or blue (I don't like the pattern on the back half of them). So now our living room is officially finished. Yay! Another one down!

State of the Uterus

I just got back from my doctor appointment. Everything's measuring right on track, my blood pressure's good and the baby's heartbeat is strong. When Dr. Pickford was trying to find the heartbeat the baby pushed its butt out on her. Then she felt around to feel the position of the baby and said the baby was head down and should stay that way for the rest of the pregnancy. This is great news because that decreases our chances of needing a c-section. She did say the baby would probably do corkscrew turns, but probably won't be flipping anymore. So what I've been feeling pushing out of me has been baby butt, knees and feet. Tom was worried that I've been poking the baby's head, but Dr. Pickford said it's fine if I did.

The nurse told me I have to start doing fetal kick counts every day at 34 weeks. I have to make sure the baby kicks at least 10 times in an hour. Ha! Try 10 times in 10 minutes. Although the baby's really stopped kicking and is now just stretching and pushing on me.

They gave me the pre-admission forms for the hospital today as well as the circumcision forms (in case it's a boy). Dr. Pickford told me all of the Labor and Delivery rooms are private rooms (yay!), but the triage rooms are 3 to a room (boo). She also confirmed that the tightness I've been feeling in my belly have been Braxton Hicks contractions, but since I'm only having a few a day, it's not a problem. Oh, and I gained less than a pound since my last visit.

My next appointment is in 2 more weeks. Right now I'm working from home for the day and waiting for our new couch to arrive. I promise to take pictures of the living room once the couch is here.

30 Weeks

9 more weeks to go! WhatToExpect.com says the baby hasn't grown much in the past week, but it feels like it's running out of room in there. I'm constantly stretching back to ease some of the pressure in my ribs. I wish I could take a peek inside to see what the baby's up to. I swear it's just stretching and rolling all day to entertain itself. We still have a pretty long To Do list before the baby comes.

-Finish the nursery
-Sign up for car seat inspection
-Baby Care class
-Maternity tour at the hospital
-Contact my family doctor to see if she can see the baby
-Complete my leave forms (they're so confusing!)
-Choose a name for the baby

And the list goes on and on. Hopefully I'll cross some of those things off by the end of next week.

Here's what WhatToExpect.com says the baby's been up to this week.

Your baby's height and weight haven't changed much in the past week, but the big news is your baby's brain gain. Until now, the surface of your baby's brain was smooth. Now, your fetus's brain is taking on those characteristic grooves and indentations. The reason for this change in appearance? Those wrinkles allow for an increased amount of brain tissue — a necessary change as your developing baby prepares for life outside your womb, and the street smarts he or she will need.

Another big change at 30 weeks pregnant: Your baby's bone marrow has taken over production of red blood cells (before, tissue groups and then the spleen took care of producing the blood cells). This is an important step for your baby, because it means he or she is better able to thrive on his or her own once born (with a little TLC from you, of course).

And here are the weekly pictures.

Parents.com - a wool sweater
I think Parents.com has the weirdest items to size up the baby each week.


WhatToExpect.com


My belly in all of its glory


My belly dressed for work

National Pie Day

Our baby is due on National Pie Day. Now we have to rethink baby names. I'm leaning toward Mincemeat Merkel.

The baby's lucky it missed out on National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Then it would've been named Blackbeard Merkel.

New furniture

Our dinette is finally complete. Pete graciously gave us a table, 8 chairs and some paintings from the restaurant for our dinette. We love the way it turned out and Tom is very happy to have some roosters in the house. Pete also gave us a bunch of beer glasses and we'll get all of our dishes from the restaurant, too.

We bought a new couch tonight which gets delivered next week. Once we have that in place, I'll take new pictures of the living room to share with you. I'm hoping to get the nursery finished this weekend, too. I just finished the baby blanket I was making and will upload pictures of that once the nursery is complete.

Yay for furniture!

Missing: Trashcan

Have you seen me?

Last seen: Friday, November 7, 2008, late afternoon

Yes, that's right. Some pathetic sole stole our trashcan. I called the company and they want $100 for a new trashcan because we didn't choose to pay for the trashcan protection fee. I really didn't think we'd need the protection fee, but apparently people do steal trashcans. How they get away with it in broad daylight is beyond me. I mean, wouldn't you think it funny if you saw someone dragging a big garbage can down the street? And it was only our garbage can that was taken - all of our neighbors have theirs.

Tom and I have a master plan. We're going to take a nice stroll around the neighborhood on trash night and look for our trashcan. How will we know it's ours you ask? We have our can's serial number (confirmed by the company). If we find it, we're taking it back, with the help of the police (I'm afraid of what someone might do if they see me "steal" their garbage can at night).

In the meantime, we're just going to use the cheap garbage can we bought for our yard work. We're also going to alert our HOA and the sherrif's office of the theft. You might think that's a bit much for a trashcan, but it's worth $100 so that's petty/petit larceny. And I figured they could use a good laugh.

Happy Halloween 2009

I went to the mall today to pick up my new lenses and had an hour to kill before I could pick them up. I went to Old Navy and found the cutest Halloween costume for Baby Merkel for next year.




It's a bat! How cute is this? And it was only $0.97! I couldn't pass this up for that price. I'm so proud of myself - it's my first official baby purchase (beyond the things for the nursery).

Dead mouse

The cat just killed a field mouse. Tom's walking around praising the "good kitty" now and is very happy with her. I can't believe she KILLED a mouse! I mean, I'm used to her leaving bug parts around the house, but a MOUSE! Yech! I feel like I need to sterilize her before she comes near us. I should have taken a picture of the mouse before Tom threw it out, but we had to get it out fast - the cat was stalking around trying to play with its dead body. Double yech! I think the mouse must've come in through the utility room and I hope that Tom can figure out how to keep more out.

Fur baby in trouble

This is our greenhouse window over our kitchen sink. The cat is not supposed to be in this window, but sneaks up there when she can. This morning we heard a big crash come from the kitchen while we were getting ready for work. I ran downstairs to find the cat on the floor looking guilty and a broken glass in the sink. She had knocked over a bottle when she jumped down from the window, which broke the glass. As soon as she saw me, she took off - she knew she was in trouble. We're going to have to figure out how to keep her out of that window.


Here are a few more pictures of her from this week.
Spying on the neighbors


Sanitizing her feet



Up close and personal


Ah, this is a new game of hers. She pretends to be frightened and then runs up and down the stairs all poofy and arched. She did this for about a 1/2 hour the other night. What a weirdo.