Yikes…so much for updating frequently

I have been informed by my sister in law that I need to update and when I looked at the date on my last entry I realized that she was right!

Probably the reason I haven’t updated since last week is because, well, there isn’t anything to really talk about (ha). B and I had our last Bradley Method class on Tuesday. For those who don’t know what it is I shall briefly explain. The Bradley Method was introduced in the 1960s by Dr. Robert Bradley as a way to help woman achieve natural, med-free births. The classes last 12 weeks and have about 8 couples in them so it is a very intimate setting. It is also known as “husband-coached childbirth” which really involves the husband in the whole process and makes him very important to mom in order to calm her, support her, and help her relax while also acting as an advocate with the medical team. I’m pretty sure B learned a ton in our 12 week course…I know I sure did! It was a little pricey and not covered by insurance but I feel so prepared and not necessarily scared by the labor and birth process. I know that there is an end and I can’t be in pain forever. Funny thing is, I thought the same thing about basic training, too!

On Wednesday I had my 38 week doctor appointment. It went fine and lo and behold I have no progress to report of. I am seeing a certified nurse practitioner instead of a doctor because I’m a low risk pregnancy and she has been really attentive and answers most all of my questions. At Bethesda, they have you come in every other week instead of every week like most hospitals so my next appointment will be two days before my due date (Oct. 15th) to see how things are going. At this rate, it feels like the baby won’t be here until Christmas! What makes time move a little slower is the fact that I’m not working so I have a lot of time on my hands and a lot of just sitting…and waiting…and waiting…

Although I have been spending a lot of my time cooking and prepping cloth diapers. That’s right ladies and gentlemen…I am going to cloth diaper our child and I will still manage to wear deodorant and cashmere (as opposed to smelling gross and wearing hemp sacks). It actually isn’t as intimidating as I thought it would be but you have to wash the diapers a bunch of times (prepping) so they become absorbent…kind of like your towels becoming more absorbent after multiple uses. The cloth diapers they make now actually look like regular diapers…here take a look…I am actually so excited to use cloth because of the money it saves and when it comes down to it, they are just the cutest shit catchers! Even though the outright cost is expensive, we can end up saving over $1500 and they can be used for future spawn!

I also attempted making homemade chicken noodle soup this week and it turned out really good! It was maybe a little saltier than I would have liked but it doesn’t make the soup taste terrible. It was super easy to make too! I was thinking of probably freezing some so we have it when Duder comes home and B and I don’t feel like cooking and we are too poor to order pizza. So this past Thursday we had soup and debate night and I made brownies for dessert (not from scratch but the Ghirardelli brownies in a box are out of this world…seriously).

B had to work last night and tonight so I just spent my evening at home. Today, I got to meet some women in the area who are also pregnant and due around me. We had lunch and talked and it was really the first time I have actually met anyone around here that weren’t friends or coworkers of B’s. It’s a group called Mamistad that one woman runs and basically puts other women in smaller groups in accordance with their due dates, whether or not they will be working or staying home, etc. It was really nice actually and even though I am shy and don’t like meeting new people it wasn’t too bad. 

So tomorrow we were going to go apple picking but it’s going to be like 80 degrees and who wants to pretend it’s Fall when it’s 80 degrees outside so I think we might reserve that for next weekend. But Steeler football is tomorrow night and as always I am super excited! All I have to say is thank goodness my Hines Ward jersey still fits…gotta show my Steelers some love right? It makes me miss Pittsburgh though…*le sigh*

Hope everyone had a great week and an even better weekend! I will for sure update more often for everyone so I don’t seem super lame

A.

 

The goings on

This weekend turned out to be pretty nice and very bike oriented. The weather was pretty gross. Very humid and rainy and although we had a break from the AC for a few days, we had to turn it back on because the air was so thick here. 

On Friday, B got home early from work and we had a planned date night of pizza and debates. I was worried it was going to be pizza and a movie from the recent drama on Capitol Hill but luckily McCain got his shit together and made it to Mississippi for the first of three presidential debates. Overall, I thought it was good. No clear winner but no clear loser. I got angry at some comments and I laughed at others. I’ll be interested to see how the other debates go seeing as foreign policy is more McCain’s strong point than Obama’s. Oh, and our pizza was quite delicious as well. We have had a terrible time finding good decent pizza (think decent as in Pizza Roma or Sir Pizza for my Pittsburgh readers) and I think we finally found somewhere that isn’t awful. It’s called Valentino’s and the owner, from what I’ve read, is from NYC so I guess that means he knows how to make a good pizza. 

Saturday, B had a race clinic in Buckeystown, MD for the race he was in today. Since I turned my car in at the end of July we currently have one set of wheels and instead of me just sitting at home all day I decided to take the car after dropping him off and go outlet shopping. Gotta love the outlets…and of course I bought pretty things. A new Coach purse with some birthday money I had and some shirts at the Gap Outlet which always has great deals! We got home kinda late and B need to carb up for the race so we decided to go to our Italian standby restaurant, Extra Virgin. I had the spinach gnocchi with a gorgonzola sauce (shh don’t tell the pregnant police I ate soft cheese) and I have to say it was delish. Side note: When B and I went to NYC last October his cousin, Liz, took us to a fantastic Italian restaurant. I had the spinach gnocchi with a gorgonzola sauce and honestly have thought about that meal at least once a week since then that’s how good it was. Now what I had Saturday was very similar but I will still constantly think of that meal in NYC and will forever wish I could replicate it here in DC.

This morning was a very early, early morning. Like leave the house at 6:30 am early! (ugh) And it was rainy and gross out (see: action shot) and the course B had to ride on was ridiculously muddy and gross. Luckily he was in the first group to ride and even though it was super muddy for him, at least he wasn’t the last group to go and have to battle the destroyed course from the groups prior. I got some good pictures which I will post a little later and hopefully I can coax B into posting an entry about his ride. 

Alright, the week is proving to be another boring one.  Doctor’s appointment on Wednesday (ps…only 18 days if anyone is keeping track…yikes!) and there will definitely be apple picking this coming Sunday (I promise) and plenty of pictures from that. Okay, I’m so excited about Desperate Housewives tonight so I must go and fix a snack and settle down for a long awaited fall premire! Hope everyone had a good week

A.

 

Fall weather and more bike racing

It’s finally getting to feel more like Fall. I asked B yesterday to find me somewhere to live that is always 65-75 degrees, semi-breezy, and sunny (with an occasional rain shower). He said San Diego, which I agree with, but I would probably be living in a shoebox seeing as the cost of living is ridiculously high. Oh well, I guess DC will have to do 

There has been a new addition to my family (no, no not me don’t start freaking out…I’m still pregnant…36 weeks and 5 days pregnant to be exact…). My cousin Courtney had her baby girl on September 22nd at 9:34 pm. Her name is Addyson and from what I hear she is adorable. Hopefully I will be getting pictures soon. That’s the downfall of the iPhone…I can only receive pictures through email not text message so don’t text me pictures because unfortunately, I won’t receive them.  Tonight, B has a cyclocross clinic in DC that he will be going to and to get a little more training for a race he is going to be in this weekend. It’s the Ed Sander Memorial Cyclocross race in Buckeystown, MD. It should be fun and there will definitely be more action shots taken. If you haven’t seen the pictures from last weekend take a look to the right at the pictures feed!

That’s about all that’s on tap for the weekend. I think next weekend will definitely be a weekend for apple picking and cider drinking…I love Fall!!

oh and ps in case anyone was curious…only 23 days left! eek!

A.

 

Race Day, Game Day, and the Emmy’s

So yesterday B had his very first cyclocross race in Baltimore. The weather was beautiful and we got there early enough to scope everything out before the race started. I was a little nervous for B to race because it’s on grass, not pavement, and you have to do crazy obstacles to complete laps. You aren’t scored based on time but based on laps. The race last 40 minutes and you are split according to age and ability. I’m sure B will write a post later to explain more in depth. It was fun to watch and I got a lot of great pictures (see: Action Shots!). There were a lot of different types of people that were in attendance. Some were crunchy granola, some were kinda punk, and then you had you regular run of the mill Starbucks drinking, Columbia wearing spectators. I was so proud of B for completing his first race, not puking, and looking hott while doing it.

Thankfully we made it home in time to see the Steelers game! This year I think we will get the opportunity to see a lot of games but I would prefer seeing games that we actually play well. Thank you Steelers for letting the pocket collapse and having Ben get his clock cleaned what seemed to be a bajillion times during the game. Even if we lost every single game I still would cheer them on but it gets ridiculous when they can’t fix problems that they had last year (special teams and offensive line sans Ben). 

Since t.v. in the summer is lame I decided to watch the Emmy’s. They were good…not too many dresses that I liked and a few surprise wins. I have to be honest, I really don’t watch half of the shows that were nominated so I’m not a completely informed Emmy watcher. I certainly didn’t enjoy all of the acceptance speeches that had political messages in them. I watch the Emmy’s for the dresses and to see who wins…if I want politics I’ll turn on cable news (jumping off soapbox now). Overall, slightly disappointed with the night expect for Ricky Gervais who is now my new favorite person in the world.

Alright, B has off today and who knows what we’re going to be up to. We never made it to the zoo the other day so maybe we will do that. Oh and if you are looking for a present to get me for no reason at all, I think this Steeler’s couch would look amazing in my basement!

Have an awesome day!

A.

 

“Ghost Town”

B and I had an unplanned Friday night date night tonight and decided to go to the movies (which might I add is ridiculously expensive but I’m sure I didn’t have to tell anyone that). So we decided to see the movie “Ghost Town” which was actually pretty hilarious. There were certainly parts of it that had some serious tones but overall, the movie kept us laughing a good portion of the time. It starred Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, and Ricky Gervais. The soundtrack was actually pretty decent as well but I couldn’t find anything on iTunes indicating it was available to buy. I’m terrible at describing things and not giving stuff away so I suggest following the link to IMDB.com and reading about the plot so you can’t blame me for spoiling it

Nothing really planned tomorrow. I was thinking Eastern Market since the weather is cooler or maybe the National Zoo. It totally rules that the zoo is free but parking is $20 after three hours…it’s nice that the Metro is so convenient on the weekdays but on the weekends there are always train disruptions that almost make $20 a reasonable price to pay for parking when you might be waiting an hour or two for one train to come around and take you somewhere! We shall see where tomorrow takes us…

A.

 

Hola!

Can’t say a ton is going on with us at the moment. We are definitely looking forward to the weekend especially because B will be racing in his first cyclocross event. It’s called the Charm City Cyclocross race and it’s in Baltimore on Sunday, Sept 21st. I’m super excited to see him race and take many “action shots” for all to see. I’m slightly nervous since this is his first race and it seems a little intense but I know he will rock it. So send him rocking vibes for a good race day. 

We only have 4 more weeks (29 days if you want to be super exact) until D-Day (aka the due date). Everything is set and ready to go…it’s just the waiting game now. I think B and I are both ready for Duder to get here and be settled. I know it will certainly be life changing but in a good way and we are both ready for that. 

We’ll keep everyone posted on what is going on and especially what B’s final time is on Sunday! 

Adios amigos

A.