Last Date Night BP?

After spending the last few days cleaning every inch of our house, hanging our Christmas decorations, taking the dogs to check out a local lake, going to any movie that we had the slightest interest in seeing, we decided to make last night our last official date night BP (before Poppy). We joined the massive crowds at the Plaza and ate at PF Chang's. After taking the photo the waiter looked at the picture and said "wow, it's actually pretty good" - we weren't sure if that was a slam against me, BJ or his picture-taking abilities, but we appreciated his honesty.


It's been the two of us for so long and we've been able to do all kinds of "crazy" things (as deemed by our friends who are already parents) like go to two movies in one night, sleep in on the weekends, etc. We are more than ready for a change, but it was nice to have one last dinner to toast our "crazy" child-less memories. Finally, this will be our last post before Poppy's debut as all we have left to do at this point is wait and that doesn't make for very exciting posts.

Large, In Charge and Still Representing

Just got home from our weekly doctor's appointment with no news other than Poppy is very "comfy and cozy". I still feel really good so we'll see if there's been any progress when I go back on Tuesday morning.

All along I have said that this is not a time to attempt to be fashionable and the attached pictures prove just that. My favorite outfit to lounge around in has become my "Cascade Basketball" sweatshirt from my 8th grade year (1994) and a pair of UNI sweatpants (complete with elastic around the ankles) that I purchased at Wal-Mart in Cedar Falls for $12 during my first weekend on-campus (1998). My only regret is that you cannot see that my name is embroidered on the sleeve of my sweatshirt. I like to think that even in my condition, I continue to represent the Cougars and the Panthers. Also note that when photographed from the front, I feel the need to take the "fight song" stance. Never mind that there is no way that I could do a toe touch or jump kick in my condition, but I could still sport a mean pair of jazz hands given a moment's notice.

We hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving as our little turkey continues to cook.

What do you think this is, a Holiday Inn?

We apologize for the lack of recent posts, but we've just been waiting for Poppy to make his/her debut. We had another doctor's appointment today and Poppy seems pretty cozy and comfy with no immediate exit plans. I have been convinced that Poppy is going to arrive before Thanksgiving, but my doctor doesn't seem to think so. I told him that I've created too hospitable of an environment for Poppy and that maybe I should start drinking or smoking. Let's just say that my sarcasm isn't always appreciated.

Work has been interesting the last few days. There are a few individuals who feel the need to walk past my office every day to see if I'm still there and every day they stop and say "You haven't had that baby yet?" I'd love to respond "actually, my water just broke so if you all could boil some water and come back and help me deliver the baby, that would be great." Instead I smile and say "not yet".

We joke that Poppy thinks that I am an Extended Stay Holiday Inn, but we are fine with Poppy taking his/her time, we are just anxious to meet this little person.

Carey = 0, The Parking Garage = 3

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been really lucky with an easy pregnancy and while that is true, there is something in our household that has not been as lucky...my car. I drive a little two-door, 2008 blue Honda Civic. I originally wanted to get a Prius, but there was a lengthy waiting list here in the KC area, so we settled on the Civic, which I really like. After previously driving a 1997 Mercury Sable and our 2004 Escape, the Civic seemed so small and speedy. So small that BJ and I nicknamed it the "Baby Car" because it was easily lost in parking lots and seemed so small compared to some other vehicles.

We discussed getting a four-door car when we realized that we were expecting, but ultimately decided that we could make that change while I'm on maternity leave after Poppy arrives and I could continue to enjoy my little Civic. A decision that the Civic resents to this day.

I'll be honest - I'm never going to be featured under a "best driver in the world" title; however, I was lucky enough to avoid any collisions or incur any vehicle damage until the last few months. In my defense, I now park in a different parking garage that has numerous cement barricades and very small spaces. Granted, somehow F-150 trucks and Hummers park in the garage, but that defies my sense of depth perception and I consider those feats small miracles.

Anyway, one of the few mornings that I wasn't feeling so hot, I was very casually pulling into a parking spot with a cement barricade on my right. I heard a scrape and instead of stopping, putting the car in reverse and avoiding any further damage, I hit the gas a little harder. Incident number 1 - a scrape along the front passenger side of my car, totally my fault. I was upset, but not defeated. With a renewed sense of paying better attention to my surroundings, BJ and I obtained a quote from a local body shop and were ready to fix the damage the following week.

A few days later, but prior to our body shop appointment, I was leaving the office and saw a huge door ding on my passenger side door. It was huge and it made me mad. Us lowly associates do not have assigned parking spots so there have been numerous issues with door dings in the parking garage. So, I decided to cancel our body shop appointment with the realization that I should wait until the policy changes for us to receive assigned parking spots. Incident 2 - a door ding that was not my fault.

Last Wednesday, I was leaving the office to attend a client meeting. For reasons completely unknown to me, I decided to "crank it" as I was backing out of the spot, despite the cement barricade to my right. Well, I heard a loud crash and watched in horror as my passenger side mirror started dangling. I pulled back into the spot to assess the damage and realized that we would have to replace the side passenger mirror. I called poor BJ to explan the latest saga and assured him that it was just the mirror. Incident 3 - the detachment of my passenger side mirror, my fault.

We were at the Honda dealership getting a new side mirror attached when we started talking about a trade-in for a four-door model. The salesperson went out to assess the Civic, came back in all wide-eyed and said something along the lines of "with all of the damage, you'll be looking at a much larger monthly payment." "All of the damage" I thought...heck, now that we fixed the side mirror it is just a door ding and small scrape on the front of the car. I shared my thoughts with BJ and said "no, it's pretty bad - I don't think you looked at your passenger door." So out I waddle to the car when I realize that it was not "just the side mirror" like I originally thought, I also managed to cause severe damage to the passenger side door.

Given the slew of damage that I've caused in the last few months, we made the decision that I should continue to drive the "less than pretty" car until my depth perception (hopefully) returns. I now get fun little emails every morning from co-workers giving me a "heads up" that they are parked six spots away from me and to try to avoid hitting their cars when I am leaving.

I would post pictures, but I feel bad subjecting the Civic to additional ridicule and I do have a few shreds of dignity left.

(Wo)Man's Best Friends

This post is dedicated to our current "kids" - Copper and Ginger. Where oh where to begin.

Ginger joined our family last fall from my brother's family after an allergy issue led to the need for her to find a good home. BJ and I always thought of Ginger as a great dog, so our conversation when we decided to ask if we could take her lasted all of 3 minutes. Ginger (a/k/a Ginger Girl, GiGi, Wolf Dog, Miss Mysterious or the "Nice Puppy" as referred to by the neighborhood kids) has been a great addition and has confirmed that we aren't horrible dog parents, Copper just has a unique personality. GiGi's personality is very calm, although she would love to chase the deer that we see on our daily walks and likes to randomly eat items just to keep us on our toes. Case in point, Miss Mysterious has been able to somehow open the bread drawer, carefully unwrap a full loaf of bread and eat every slice of bread. Or, Miss Mysterious has been able to carefully select a book from my bookshelf and nibble a little bit. I'm OK with the tattered book look, but so far GiGi has only selected books written by Barack Obama or a few books on liberalism. Clearly this raises concerns that she may be a conservative. If I start coming home to our TV on Fox News, we'll have a sit down. On more than a few ocassions than I would like to admit, we've given into her pleading brown eye ways to let her have some off leash time, only to be wandering around for the next 20 minutes screaming "Ginger" at the top of our lungs. She always comes back though :)! When Copper is acting up and being scolded, GiGi loves to play the role of older sister and chimes in on the "scolding". Because GiGi came from a house with little ones and because of her sweet personality, we are not at all worried about her reaction to Poppy. In fact, the neighborhood kids know that they are more than welcome to come up and rub GiGi's stomach, while we send Copper to the back room.

Copper (a/k/a Copper Whopper, Squirrel Puppy, Copperella, Topair, Crabby Butt, Baby) is considered our first experiment in parenthood, but if he were a teenager, he would probably be smoking, drinking and stealing our cars. Copper was a gift from BJ on our first anniversary so he has been a member of our family for over 7 years. I feel like I could write a book about Copper, whether it be the reports from doggy daycare that we used to receive, to the fact that he actually smiles, to the fact that he has "fake" thrown up when we've started talking about Poppy. Most people say that we humanize animals too much and to that I say - come and spend some time with Squirrel Puppy. A random side note about the nickname "Squirrel Puppy". Despite Gigi's mild temper, we were warned that she tended to chase squirrels. Well, when we first brought GiGi home, she just stared at Copper like she wasn't sure that he was a dog. It was then that I became concerned that she might think that he was a squirrel. Thankfully, that was one of my many irrational concerns, but the nickname "Squirrel Puppy" just stuck. Most people know that Copper is very protective of BJ and I and has snapped at more than his fair share of people. In light of this, we began "Operation Peaceful Co-Existence Between Copper and Poppy", which entailed private, in-home dog training. While we cannot guarantee what the outcome will be, we want to be armed with as many tools as possible to (1) keep Poppy safe; and (2) keep Copper, period. We're optimistic. I also envision many baby gates, but that is ok. To my mom who is probably saying a rosary right now, please note that keeping Poppy safe is our number one priority.

At the end of the day, B.J. and I are crazy dog people. We call sheriff departments when we (I) suspect animal abuse, are lifetime members of the ASPCA and can cry just thinking about Marley and Me. We've switched vets when we thought that the vet wasn't giving enough TLC to the dogs, checked out various boarding places to the same degree that some parents check out daycares, called to check in on the dogs when they are boarded, ordered birthday cakes from the local dog bakery, driven 45 minutes so that the dogs can play at the "nice" dog park, etc. It is hard for us to envision a life that does not involve a dog and I know that growing up my pets made pretty good play mates (sorry to those cats that I used to put dresses on...I didn't know any better at the time), so we are hoping that we will become one happy family - Poppy, puppies and all.

We've been told to "wait and see" how life will change when we become "real" parents and while I do not doubt for a minute that Poppy will become number one priority, we wanted to give a little shout out to our current "kids" who keep us on our toes and love us unconditionally.

I'm Smuggling a Pumpkin

Consider this evidence that Poppy is entering his/her final weeks of life on the inside. I've told BJ for the last 20 weeks that there is no way that my stomach can stretch any more...only to be proven wrong week after week. About two weeks ago cankles officially arrived at our house. I was putting my tennis shoes on to take the dogs for a walk when I saw my swollen ankle and thought, "Oh my gosh, I wonder when I twisted my ankle...weird that it doesn't hurt." Needless to say, when I recognized that giant ankle's twin (i.e. my left ankle) was equally large, I realized that my ankles were just swollen. This week, the waddle arrived at our house and I'm pretty sure that once you start to waddle, there is no going back until after d-day. We were at a wedding last weekend when a little girl came up to me, rubbed my stomach and asked if there were two babies in my stomach. I realized two things: (1) that despite the best parenting efforts, kids are some times inappropriate and (2) what the hell, I might as well eat that second piece of buttercream wedding cake. I'm not complaining though - other than a few mornings of feeling a little queasy, I've been really lucky and had an easy pregnancy. My next doctor's appointment is this Wednesday and I'm hoping that is when Poppy's Exit door is installed in my stomach.

The Caped Crusaders

Happy Halloween! Despite envisioning dressing Ginger up as the Wolf/Grandma and Copper as Little Red Riding Hood, our house was costume-free today. In the spirit of Halloween, we posted this picture of Copper and Ginger from last June. While I was inside the Supreme Court building in Des Moines being sworn, BJ decided to let Copper and Ginger have some time exploring around the Supreme Court and the Capitol buildings. This is one of our favorite pictures because it looks like they should be wearing capes and that they are upholding justice.