Big Squirmy Baby

There is nothing like the feeling of listening to a heart beat that is coming from your own belly. The Doctor assured me that it was not my heart beat, nor his. During the appointment yesterday, we had a quick ultrasound just to let DG and I see the baby. Only because it's been like a month since we last saw it. At this point, it is still too early to be able to tell the sex of the baby. That needs to be at 21 weeks. We'll head back to the hospital for the amazing 3D ultrasound. Look forward to finding out the sex at the end of July.

I think I know what it is.

Help me Pick a Book

I've been on hiatus from bookclub for the past four months with the move and getting settled in, but I am ready to get back to reading. The only thing I've been doing to fall asleep at night is Sodoku. I also picked up Freakenomics which is very interesting as well.

I believe my pick is coming up in August and I need help picking a good book. The only rule is that it needs to be available in paperback at our library. Since I've been working out of the home, I don't even read the paper or catch up on current events to know what is cool. Anyone have any suggestions?

The Name Game

DG recently brought home a book of baby names for us to start going through. We've played games going through the alphabet A-Z shouting out boy and girl names. We've also made a list of family names that we would be interested in using. If it were up to me, I'd already have the baby name picked out, boy or girl. But unfortunately, in this thing called marriage, the guy actually gets a say. Even though I'm the one carrying this thing around for 9 months replacing martinis with milk of magnesia. Shouldn't I get like 75% of the say?

Lately, DG has been throwing out 20 names a day just to see if I bite. I think he feels that if he comes up with enough names that I'll eventually get tired out and concede to name our child some crack pot thing he's come up with. He's actually been pushing for a few of the worst lately. I don't know if it is because he's trying to see how far he gets, or whether he feels his ability to be a part of the naming process to be slipping. Either way, I wouldn't even call my dog any of these names. Here are a few of his latest gems. I only wish I could have recorded the actually conversations for the blog.

1. Gunner
DG: Hey Chris, how about Gunner?
Me: (playing along) Gunner?
DG: Yeah, it's such a cool name, all of his buddies would be like Hey, Gunner?
Me: Hmmm...
DG: No really, it's so cool. (10 times)
Me: Oh yeah that would be great, we'll call him Gunner and he'll grow up to be a gay porn star.

2. Esme - I love old names, but it would take her 80 years to grow into it.

3. Slater - Dude, Saved by the Bell Rang and they want their name back.

4. Winthrop - It's so Bostonian. Unfortunately our child will probably never have a trust fund or see the inside of a country club.

5. All things plants or flowers. I'm not even going to list them all here, though they are all very pretty names. I'm just going to say, no. And no weeds either DG.

6. All things Christmas. We all know DG is Mr. Christmas and the baby will be born right around DGs 40th birthday, but we are not naming our child after the month they are born in.

Now perhaps in my pregnant state, I am being unreasonable. When the time comes, maybe I will look into that sweet babies eyes and see that the only possible name that could ever fit that overbite is Winthrop. I won't say never, more like almost never.

Chalk Art

We headed out Sunday morning to have breakfast downtown at The Market with some friends. This is a great local eatery in Larimer Square where we got the Spring Fling aka our Wedding Cake. As usual, there were about 20 Spring Flings sitting on a 6' cart ready for pick-up. We were there early to beat the heat and view the sidewalk chalk art festival that we go to every summer. Remember last year's?
It was beastly in the sun, and turned out to be a hat day for all of us. Nice angle DG. Can you see my nose hair?

Here are a few of the better pieces we saw. The weather was about 99 degrees in the shade, so I don't know how a lot of these people sat out for two days drawing. I could barely stand the sun for 5 minutes.

Still in Love with Public Transportation

Photo by anthro denver

Since I work from home, I don't get to take public transportation anymore. DG drives .7 miles to the lightrail station every morning to zip into work. The lightrail was recently completed to run along the highway in an effort to lessen highway traffic. It is so handy.

I had a hair appointment last night and because the traffic was so heavy with the Yankees being in town, I decided to try the light rail for the first time. It was so fun, kind of like riding a roller coaster in some places.

I loved being downtown with all the hubbub going on. I miss the energy. I was inspired to cut off all of my hair too. It's hasn't been this short in 3 years. I don't have any pictures yet, though I'm sure DG will get out the camera this week and take some excrutiatingly painful photos of me unshowered, bent over, bra strap hanging out in some awkward belly hanging position. Then he'll decide it's his new favorite photo and post it on flickr. Stay tuned.

Oh yeah, and the Rockies spanked the Yankees in all three games. *ouch*

I'm Showing

I was at a party this week-end and a complete stranger asked me if I was pregnant. This can be a totally risky move on their part. I looked at her shocked and said *gulp* yes, I didn't realize I was showing. I thought my cute sundress was hiding it very well, but apparently not.

At least in this instance I had an excuse. Because there was that one time that I was completely naked in the gym locker room and someone asked me if I was pregnant. ::horror:: Um, no just fat. I'm still working on those extra pounds I gained this winter *nervous giggle*. Mortified - me, apologetic - her.

Would you take that same risk?

Greening Our House

DG posted about our new front yard with before and after pictures on flickr. It is amazing what a little bit of grass will do. It is also suprisingly easy to sit inside and watch the magic happen. First a dump truck delivered manure and dumped it on the lawn. Then a man we hired on Craigslist came and tilled the entire yard and then tilled in the manure. On Saturday morning the sod truck showed up and thanks to Shaun's help, we had a new lawn by 1pm. I was in charge of setting the sprinkler system. Yes I think that's enough exercise for me.


On Sunday, we went to our local garden center and purchased trees at 50% off. We got a white ash for the front yard, and a Redbud and Serviceberry for the back yard. The ash will get to be about 50' tall in about 15 years, but the flowering trees for the back will only be about 20' tall and gorgeous.

16 Weeks and Counting

I am entering into my second trimester and other than feeling a little heavy, things are going great. The baby is approximately 3" long and weighs about 4 oz. It is already breathing amniotic fluid and has a full range of facial expressions. We will be able to tell the sex in about 4 weeks or so. And yes, when we know, you will know. Should we bet on this? What do you think we are having?

And the Stink Goes On

Actual conversation during Studio 60:

DG: I can't believe they are cancelling Studio 60. Who would cancel this show? It is some of the most intelligent writing on television. Is America too dumb to get it?

CG: Well apparently the fans haven't raised enough of a stink to keep it.

DG: I've been raising plenty of stink.

CG: I don't think clearing us out of the room every night is what the supporters had in mind.

Best in Show

We have had Tica for 1-1/2 years now, but never returned her original crate to the owner. After having now moved it, we finally contacted the daschund breeder Lisa to return it to her. As it turns out, she was going to be at a dog show in Colorado Springs this week-end so we made the trip down.

Unfortunately we did not time our trip very well, and missed the entire dachshund showing *sniff*, but lo and behold who walked in the door the same time as us? It was our old neighbor Amy who was there with her 7 month old Russian Wolf Hound Roger. She was showing him for the first time.



DG took a bunch of picks of Roger and he won several ribbons in his category and got his first points. Congratulations Roger! The dog show was fun because we got to see so many different breeds of dogs from Newfoundlands and Saint Bernards, to Doberman Pinchers and Poodles. They were all gorgeous show quality. It was fascinating to me to see 10 dogs of one breed in one place. Maybe DG will post some more pics.

Shuttlecock me

Walking into a sporting goods store last week, a sale immediately caught my eye and brought me back to childhood all in one minute. It was a 2-in-1 set of badminton and volley ball. After day dreaming about playing every summer with my parents, I ran next door to Ace Hardware to ask DG if we could please, pretty please, ::eyelash flutter:: get the set. I didn't want his permission so much as his acquiescence to erect the net. There was resistance at first due to our self imposed spending freeze, but he was getting a saw and wash bucket, so I thought a badminton set would make us even. Um yeah.

By Saturday evening, the games began with threats of ass kicking and total domination. I'm going to make a great parent. I did not let my legacy down in the match. Don't worry about DG though, he'll have the upper hand soon as my reflexes and ability to dive for the shuttlecock slow down.

The problem now is that all I want to do is play badminton. I want to roll out of bed and play. I could play all night and have been working on DG to install flood lights so we can play after the sun goes down.

The Line Judge - who got paid off in tennis balls and bull penises.

House Project Numero Dos

First we spent the entire Memorial Day week-end planting a small patch in the front yard which DG outlines here. That was project numero uno. The second project my dad handled when he was here last week-end.

Ta daaaaaaaaa. Presenting our new ceiling fan in the master bedroom. So pretty, yet a tricky little bugger to install. You see, the entire inside of the house had 70's brown support beams running the lengths of the high ceilings. In the redo, they lowered the ceilings to cover up the horrendous look of them, while adding steel for added support. The plate next to the fan was the original location of the bedroom light. Dad measured 5 times and found the support beam the first time. Then he drilled through the metal, all so that he wouldn't have to stay up at night worrying about the fan falling on his new grand baby.

I say tricky, but honestly I spent the entire time laying on the couch eating bon bons while he did all the work. Thanks Dad, now we can all sleep cool through the summer.

Dance Dance Revolution

DG recently signed us up for a dance class that one of his coworker's got him interested in. Over the next 4 weeks, we are going to learn strictly ballroom moves. During our first hour and a half we picked up the foxtrot and waltz. No sweat and no bruised toes. Ok maybe a few toe jams, but nothing serious.

The last time I waltzed, I was standing on my dad's feet. No, it wasn't at the wedding, I was little. It was like picking up where we had left off. Easy. I'm ready for some more moves.

The Lost Files

DG figured out how to download the photos from his phone this week and there were some fun ones that made me ooh and ahh. This picture was taken the first day of our honeymoon on our cruise ship as we drank the Bon Voyage cocktails on the poop deck. A drink with an umbrella, um yeah I'll have two.

A Girl and Her Daddy

My dad came to visit this week-end to see the baby bump, celebrate his future grand-baby, try out the new guest suite, and install a ceiling fan. We went to a great baseball game (10th row behind 3rd base), had a stupendous brunch while listening to a jazz band, walked around a festival, saw Judge Roughneck play, took a tour of DG's office, and all in all had a great time.

By the way, my dad does NOT want his picture broadcast on the blog so that is not a picture of my dad, it's just some wierd guy I met at game.

Brave Husband, Panicky Wife

Marriage test #1 - a trip to the Emergency Room.

I was planting the last of the flowers out front when DG came out holding his arm saying that he needed to go to the ER. I thought the worst at first as he had been out back on a precariously perched ladder, 20' in the air. It wasn't a head wound however, instead he lost in a battle with a filing cabinet. The scrape on his forearm wouldn't have been so bad, but there was a wierd tendon thing sticking out of it. *ew* I couldn't even look at it. As it turns out, it was just fat. *double ew* But the hospital was glad that we went because DG needed stitches.

After we figured out the closest hospital, we were off. The staff at Porter Hospital was awesome. They were so much fun and the location was so great that we want to look into having our baby there.

DG was so brave through the numbing, cleaning and stitches. I was sweaty and nervous. I may have to work on being more calm during crisis mode.