Cynthia needs...

My friend Katie had this on her blog, and instead of folding laundry like I should be doing, I thought I would test it out. It actually turned out to be kind of funny in a silly sort of way :) 

Rules of the game: Type your name into Google followed by the word "needs" i.e. "Cynthia needs". List the Top 10 hits. Here are mine:

1. At just five feet tall, Cynthia needs to learn how to wear clothes that don't drown her.

2. Cynthia needs a lot of love.

3. Cynthia [needs a name change] is going out today, but I'm not sure where.

4. Cynthia needs the pillow police.

5.  Cynthia needs to go HOME!

6. Cynthia needs to BE IN THE DEBATES!

7. Cynthia Needs Our Help!!! It's time! Refuse to Lose!

8. Cynthia needs to lighten up about saying her name.

9. Cynthia needs a CAR for CHEAP!!

10. Cynthia needs more attention.

11. (I just had to add this one because I really like it) All Chef Cynthia needs is a clean kitchen and refrigerator when she arrives.

12. (ok, ok, last one) Cynthia has a vision disability. She lacks peripheral vision and needs sight-enhancing toys to play with when possible. She wears special glasses...

Now that I've had my fun, I'm going to spend some time with the laundry!

Special Note: I'll post pictures of my sewing project when I finish it...I'm still working on the blanket and as much as I want to work on it everyday, life happens and it's still a work in progress. So stay tuned :)

Handyman Travis

Enough about me, here's a little about Travis. He's hard at work again, doing projects around the house. This week was hanging our bikes from the ceiling. I thought they were in a pretty good spot before, but as Travis puts it, now it's ever better! I must admit, it does make for a lot more floor space in the garage. Thanks to our good friends for getting these for us! We think they are awesome!

30 Weeks

I had a great doctors appointment this week! He doctor said I passed the glucose test with flying colors. My iron level is right on and my blood pressure is good. The baby's heart beat was a strong and steady 135 beats per minute. He doctor also said the baby is measuring to be about 3 pounds right now, and he guesses he will be about 6 1/2 - 7 lbs. at delivery. I said I was ok with that :) He also said everything else was great, a textbook pregnancy. Got to be grateful (and very happy) about that!

Oh yeah, I got my hair cut a little while ago. Not just any haircut, the shortest haircut I've ever had haircut! I'll blame it on pregnancy (sure, I'll give in, why not?) but I wanted it and liked it, then  hated it, and then wasn't sure, but ended strong on love it. How do you like this pile of hair? It's only half of it!

Sewing Project

Before you read any further, let me just say...this is an emotional saga!

So I wanted to make the baby bedding with the help of a friend (love her surger!). I only had a couple of days that she could help me, so I was really crunched for time. When I went into my favorite fabric store, I set out on a mission to find something I loved, all while wanting to keep it gender neutral. By doing so I figured I wouldn't have to make another set some day because let's face it, fabric can be expensive.

The day I traded my arm and my leg for this cute arrangement of fabric pieces, I was super excited about it! Over the next two days as we cut and sewed I kind of wondered, "Hmm, did I make the right split second decision? I mean I think it's still cute, but do I love it?"

When I got home and put the finished pieces on the crib, I decided, "Nope, not the right decision. In fact I think I hate it! Why did I do that? Why didn't I just get something different?" Well, after a spat of ridiculous tears, Travis gave me a nice little pep talk and put me down for a nap. I guess he thought I was tired...wonder why he thought that :)

Now that it's been a few more days, I think it's cute but am still wishing I had picked something different. Maybe just gone all out boy, or different colors, or something. But what's done is done, no use in crying over sewn fabric any more :) 

Which leads me to one question...why am I all of a sudden second, third, and forth guessing all my decisions? Decisions that really should have no effect on my personal happiness and certainly do not pertain to my eternal salvation! Am I going crazy or should I give in to the fact that maybe pregnancy hormones are actually starting to mess with me?

26 Weeks

Yesterday was another week, which means another picture day. Not sure how many more of these I'll be willing to share, so be sure to really enjoy it! :)My favorite thing these days are to stop and pay attention to what the baby is doing inside. Just what is he doing in there? From the outside, sometimes I can feel his head, back, or bum (never sure which) pushing out. Occasionally I can feel a stick like object...probably an arm or leg but I'm really not sure :) And almost without fail, the baby enjoys a round of night games just before bed, and a session of morning stretches just before breakfast. This is all still pretty fun since the baby's muscles aren't too strong yet :)

Checklists

Checklists! I love checklists, to do lists, lists in general. But what I love even more than lists, is crossing things off my list! I have been known to make a list of things to do for myself at the beginning of the day, and if I end up doing something not on my list part way through the day, I'll add that item to my list (even though I've already done it) just so I can cross it off!

Travis was assigned his year's worth of vacation during January (that's another story I'll tell sometime).  So naturally Travis and I made a list of important things we should accomplish so the time didn't just get wasted away. These are some of the things we've been doing...

*  Cleaning up, organizing, and filing papers in the office. Both of our desks are in this room now, so really there was double the cleaning, organizing, and filing. Hmmm, maybe I should've had that on the list twice...Cynthia's half & Travis's half :)
*  Take Travis's uniform clothing to the dry cleaners. I'm under the impression most people he works with do this weekly. Poor Trav, he only gets it yearly. Sorry hun!
*  Reevaluate our insurance carrier. Are we paying to much? Is it time to make a switch? This was all Travis's hard work, calling and comparing. Thanks hun! I hate that kind of stuff. (And just in case you're wondering, it was time for a change.)
* Start painting the bedroom for the baby. 
*  Finish painting the bedroom for the baby. We went crazy in our color choice! Yup, our favorite neutral tan on three walls, and an almost milk chocolate brown on the forth.
*  Find a crib. It's not my favorite and I have permission to keep looking for a trade, but Travis thinks I'm a little picky and kind of hard to please in this department (ok, ok, so I've been known to be picky in a lot of different departments). This way Travis can stop worrying about it because he's been very worried about it, and he can stop checking craigslist everyday because he really has been checking it everyday. Now we have something and that's better than not having anything for when the baby does come. And if I want to keep looking that's fine, but Travis is done looking and me telling him, "Hmmm, probably not that one either." :)
* More shelves. Cut, paint, build, and calk more shelving in our closet...eventually for some extra food storage space. Travis did a great job don't you think?
* Saddest item of all...Get the truck ready and listed to sell. Now if someone would only want to buy it so I can stop dreading the awful day of "goodbye"!

Other items on our list included things like...

*  Sell old TV stand

*  Work on graphic design project (it was a menu for a cafe in Dallas)

*  Get baby gifts for friends and family having babies

*  Make, write, and send some thank you notes

*  Return wrong size of belt and socks to store

*  Work on our 2nd job (insurance billing)

*  Mend pocket ripping on jacket and alter too wide of a neck shirt

*  Pay bills

*  Cut coupons
*  Get groceries

*  Clean bathroom (hey, that's a workout these days)

*  Do dishes (actually, when there's lots of pots to hand wash, that's a workout too!)

*  Vacuum (this hurts my back too much now, so Travis gets this one all to himself...lucky!)

Some of the household chores are regulars on my lists, but I didn't want them to feel left out :) So in a nutshell, this explains what we do at home all day. I think I need a vacation from our vacation...Just kidding! I'm just glad we got so much done!

Christmas

Travis was flying Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve, so we had our Christmas Eve on Monday and Christmas the Tuesday before the 25th. We did such a good job faking it, we didn't feel like we were missing anything by not actually being together on the 25th.

On OUR 24th, we woke up and had little smokies for breakfast, a tradition from my family (the little smokies are actually for my mom's birthday...yup mom's birthday is the day before Christmas...but this tradition that now feels like part of the Christmas routine really is in honor of her. Hope she doesn't hate hearing that too much!) We made cookies that day, maybe a tradition we will continue together. And ended the day with a family movie (The Tales of Despereaux), a tradition from Travis's family.

This is our glowing Christmas tree...or should I say trees. If I had to buy a fake tree, it better have been super cute! (I grew up surrounded by a Christmas tree field, fake trees were never an option!)

This is us on OUR Christmas morning.

After opening presents, we headed to the doctors for our sonogram. It was so nice of them to open up their office for us on Christmas! hehe! This is how excited Travis was...

...and this is how excited I was!

We finished off the day with a delicious Christmas dinner. I think we probably spent the entire dinner trying to think of boy names we liked. We've had girl names picked out for probably 5 years, but never any boy names...and we're still wondering...what will we come up with???

What a wonderful Christmas!

Pregnant Pics

Why I'm doing this to myself, I'm not sure! This is what I looked like at 21 weeks 

Some clothes are definitely better looking than others. So far this is probably my favorite sweater. On my last trip to Oregon, my nephew was playing with The Bernstein Bears figurines, and I've decided Mama bear and I look very similar...nice round belly, nice round bum! Nobody warned me my bum would expand at the same rate as my tummy! Oh well, you can only control so much of what your body decides to do I guess.

The Results

A very healthy, cute, little boy!

I wish we could watch him all day! It was amazing to see just how developed he really is! He is 5 1/2 inches long, and apparently likes to take very good naps at about 2:00 in the afternoon. We got to see a few wiggles, but he was very sleepy.

We are very happy and grateful to have such a healthy, normal baby boy! We were kind of hoping for a girl, but figured it was probably a boy. I thought I had prepared myself to be just as happy in case it was a boy...well, maybe I wasn't quite as prepared as I thought. I'm not at all sad it's a little boy, but I must admit, I'm a little heartbroken to have to wait longer for the little girl I've always envisioned. Regardless, I know I will (and do) love him just the same :)

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas

From Travis, Cynthia, and little baby coming in May

We're finally spilling the beans about our new little baby! We told our families at Thanksgiving time, but have otherwise kept it a secret. It's been fun to get used to the idea of actually being parents, and getting more and more excited together. We didn't realize how fun it would be to share the news, and see how excited others are for us too!

Since weeks change more often than months, that's what we've been keeping track of :) I'm 19 weeks (I think that is well into the 4th month), and just about half way. The due date is May 14th, and we get an early present this year...Tuesday we get to see how our baby is doing and find out the gender!!