Score!!

Return and rebuy totally worked. This might just be one of the best Target deals of my life!

The CS rep didn't even bat an eyelash. After she finally understood what I wanted to do, she rang it up for me immediately, right at the customer service desk. I put it on my Target card, so I got an extra 5% off. Regular price: $379.99, plus tax. With tax, I paid $96.55!

And then for fun, I bought these too:

Lily is due at the very beginning of the season...maybe she'll even come on Opening Day! So she definitely will be needing lots of Rays gear.

I've missed another 365 day. I seem to miss them around days I work, as work these days totally wears me out. I wish I could take pictures at work, but I have a feeling it's frowned upon. Anyway, here are my last few shots that made the cut.

Toby is getting accustomed to our new office. It's easy to take pictures of him since he sits right next to me almost all the time.

I ordered something off of Etsy a few weeks ago and I was wondering why I hadn't received it yet. Well, this would be why. Its long journey is complete.

And finally, another picture of my furry shadow. She is a fan of my new flannel sheets. These are the softest freaking sheets ever, and unfortunately, the fitted sheet in the package turned out to be a queen instead of king. Le sigh. I crammed that sucker on to my memory foam topper anyway.

So, I worked Monday night, and there was a brief period when I first got up on Tuesday that I literally could not walk. That sucked, and it's not the first time it has happened. If I am in charge at night, generally I am still able to move the next day. If I am scheduled to take patients, it ends up breaking me and then my hips just decide to stop working. I don't recommend it.  Later in the evening we were under a tornado warning, with actual tornadoes spotted in the vicinity, so I'm glad my hip function returned in the event that I would need to cower in my closet.  

Well, I've had a few days off and I managed to break and then subsequently fix my desktop in that span. Right after my last post, we set up our new printer and I attempted to install it on my desktop, which is not a "normal" computer. I built it in June and put OSX on it, so yes, it is a "hackintosh". It is totally awesome, 99% of the time. I somehow "broke" it trying to get the printer to work, and then I went crazy and decided to update my OS, and then that began about 2 days of reinstalling things, taking the hard drive out, putting it in Mark's computer to get my stuff off it, putting the hard drive back in, adding another hard drive, ram out, ram in, lather, rinse, repeat. Finally, I am back up and running, with a 100% awesome system!

Computer Intestines

We also managed to FINALLY move our computers out of our dining area and into our office, exactly 13 months (to the day!) after buying the house! We aren't nearly done, and we have to clean and re-assemble our dining room now, but it is definitely a start!! The broken computer saga kind of put a damper on my quest for the best breastpump deal ever, but I've not exactly given up yet - I've just changed my game plan. Will let you know if it works!

And here are a couple more pics of Liz Lemon, for good measure. Both the cats are somewhat confused by our move into our office.

Back to work for me tonight, unless I'm lucky enough to finally get canceled! I feel like it's been forever, as I was sick last time. :(

Thrill of the Hunt

Well, here is Monday's pic of the day:

Jack: a new Macbook Pro accessory from Apple.

Of course, I missed Tuesday's picture, as I've been very busy. When I got up, I saw that someone posted online about a super-expensive breast pump on clearance at some Targets for about 75% off. So, that's an almost $400 pump for $94, plus I would get an extra 5% off for using my Target card. I love a good deal!!! So, I went hunting. Only a few stores in the area claimed "limited availability". The rest were sold out. The first store we went to had it, but not on clearance. The second store had a space for it, with clearance tags on the shelf, but no actual pumps. We called a third store as we started heading that direction. It was crazy far away. They said they didn't have any and I hope they were correct about that. We stopped at a fourth store that said "sold out" per Target.com, and yep, they were sold out. I'm off again Wednesday, and I'll go down to Sarasota since there are 2 stores that claim they have it. Not sure how much further I'd be willing to go unless I absolutely know they have one. Would it make me crazy if I drove to Naples for it? Possibly.

Hello, Beautiful

MTHFR

I'm in the middle of a medium-sized freak out. Due to my history of unsuccessful pregnancies, when I found out I was pregnant this time, my doctor ordered some blood work to check for clotting disorders. I have crappy veins, so it involved 7 sticks at 2 locations (my doctors' office (3) and LabCorp (4)) and 15 vials of blood. Everything came back fine, except that I am homozygous (2 copies) for the C677T MTHFR mutation. It's somewhat common among people of European descent and doctors aren't exactly sure it is really a type of clotting disorder or not. Anyway, as a precaution I take baby aspirin, though some doctors prescribe low molecular weight heparin like Lovenox - in fact, the doctors (not my actual doctor) that said I didn't need it used to prescribe it routinely. Sooo...yeah. Plus, I have trust issues with them to begin with.

Unfortunately, this 2x C677t this is the worst kind to have. And Dr. Google has not been my friend this morning, as I got to reading about horrific third trimester losses possibly caused by blood clots in the placenta or cord, the risk for which is theoretically increased with the mutation I have. I really don't need anything more to worry about. My job already gives me a complex about bad things happening, as I see it happen all the time. Every time I see someone's name on the L&D computer "chalkboard" typed over a gray background (meaning they had a fetal demise) I panic on the inside. Now I'm considering essentially insisting on Lovenox for the rest of the pregnancy. The prospect of something happening to this baby and me "what-ifing" myself for the rest of my life is basically incomprehensible.

California Re-Do, part 4

Ok, so we got up early on Saturday, May 15th. We got everything packed up, went to the gift shop to buy a hoodie I liked, and went outside to take some pictures around Union Square.

Full Circle

I suck at this. So, I didn't take any pictures yesterday either!! I need to buckle down! I just took a couple today...I've not done any of Stanlee yet. He's not really a fan of the camera and it's usually hard to get him to look at it. Today, I bribed him.

Yesterday, Mark and I went down to Bradenton so he could pick something up from work. We then went over to the outlets - bad, bad, bad! I got new shoes for work, so I suppose you can call them a necessity. But since we were down there, I went in the Carter's outlet. I got out after only having spent $50, but found a lot of clearance stuff, and bought some things in bigger sizes (like 2T) for later. It's hard to beat $20 items marked down to $3.99. We are definitely set on tiny clothes though. And I have a load in the wash right now!

After, that we drove up 75 to Brandon to Buy Buy Baby. This was solely an educational field trip and we didn't buy anything there. We needed to test 2 different car seats to see what fits in our car. They both fit, but the one I've been wanting is a pretty tight squeeze. I think we're still gonna go for it though, but through Amazon since it's cheaper.

It's a freaking tank. I know that some car seat people will say that all car seats are "equally safe", but I just don't buy it. They all must meet minimum standards, just like cars. And yet, some cars are rated more safe than others, so why can't a car seat be considered safer if it has additional safety features?

After BBB, we stopped at Publix and stocked up on some food, and drove back to St. Pete via the Crosstown/Gandy. So, this was our route yesterday:

I've lived here for 28 years and I think this is the first time I've ever made a loop like that!

I exchanged my dysfunctional glucometer for one that works. So far, everything is fine. Fasting in the 80's and postprandial from 80's-low 100's. Odds are I would have passed my GTT if they actually had run the test! I'll keep a little log, show my doctor in 2 weeks and I think that should be it.

I got paid today and unfortunately, I didn't have enough PTO to cover all of the days I missed when sick. I'm short like $700 and that totally sucks.

Ginormous

Well, I've been a bad photographer and have missed a couple of days of my project. 12-hour shifts can really put a damper on things! There's really no time do to anything but eat, sleep and get ready to go back to work! Then, I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday afternoon so I only got 4 hours of sleep before that. I came back home after, had some food and essentially passed out on the sofa. For 7 hours. Oops!

Baby girl seems to be looking good. I had an ultrasound and she is quite chunky - approximately 3lb4oz - an entire POUND more than average right now (currently 80-something percentile). However, I'm 5'9" and Mark is about 6 feet, so it's not terribly surprising to me, and as long as she's growing, I'm happy! Plus, she is head down and hopefully she stays that way!

I asked what my blood sugar was from my diabetic screen last week. I assumed I passed since they never called to tell me I needed the 3 hour test. The nurse started paging through my chart and couldn't find it! Unfortunately, they sent the blood to the lab, but never ordered the test! So, that really sucks. Instead of repeating it, my doctor is going to have me do some accuchecks at home, which apparently is more accurate anyway. So I stopped and bought a meter on the way home from my appointment, and of course we got a dud - it won't turn on. So tomorrow I'll exchange it and we'll see how things go! Going to really try and be "good" with my diet, just in case - that is going to be hard! I guess I'll have to go grocery shopping today.

Lets Build Something Together

Well, we finally made it to Lowe's and got paint for Lillian's room. It had been on the agenda for quite a while! I am usually a Home Depot kind of girl, but Lowe's has a zero-VOC (colorant included!) version of their Olympic brand paint that comes in 1200+ colors. It's decently priced around $20/gallon, compared to $60 for Benjamin Moore, and Home Depot doesn't even have a similar option available. The color we (um, I) picked is Blue Dusk and it's kind of a robin's egg or maybe a lighter version of Tiffany blue.

This is my inspiration.

So, we need to paint, put flooring down, change the ceiling fan and either get new closet doors or hang curtains in place of closet doors. Then I just might order a crib!

The bedding is picked out...will have to buy it one day. We can get 10% off everything though since I made it into a registry. The plan is to get the Brooke bed skirt and then Hayley sheets and valences. Skipping the bumper in place of a breathable one since it's safer, and we'll probably never get the little quilt since they're hardly ever used. We are planning on having her in our room while we sleep, but I'd like to have her room done so that it will be her napping place. It's right next to the computer room, and we know that's where Mark will be once we actually move the computers in there.

So far, I've managed to not screw up or cheat at my Project 365 thing. Here are my contributions from the weekend.

Liz Lemon still doesn't agree with the notion that she's an indoor-only cat. She scratches at the blinds/door daily, and assists the dogs in breaking the blinds.

Paint, finally!

Baby shoes! This is the first pair I bought her, and actually the only pair she has so far. What you can't really tell is that they're on my belly. I had some technical difficulties. :/

California Re-Do, part 3

Friday, May 14th was our last full day in the San Francisco area. We got up earlyish and attempted to find Mark a hat to block the sun. Despite visiting a dedicated hat store and a drug store, we weren't successful due to his giant head, LOL. So we were hoping to find a Target before our vineyard trip, but we got stuck in traffic and had to nix that idea. So, around Petaluma we got off the freeway, got some Subway (so much better than Florida!!) and drove through some small towns on our way to Napa.

More after the jump!

California Re-Do, part 2

For our first full day in San Francisco, we had a lot planned. First off, we needed to pick up our car, so we walked a few blocks to Avis. I was really hoping to get something good again, and I specifically asked for an Altima. Alas, we got the sucktacular car that is a Kia Optima. The driver's seat was so uncomfortable and I considered taking it back just about every day of the trip.

It took a little longer to get the car than I expected. We were supposed to go on a funky city tour that I had bought with a Groupon offer, but we couldn't make it on time. So, instead we set out in search for some food. Eventually we made it over to the Presidio, and found the Acre Cafe inside of the Thoreau Center.

Thoreau Center for Sustainability

After we were fed, we went to Crissy Field, which we neglected to visit on our first trip.

Golden Gate Bridge from Crissy Field

Crissy Field Warming Hut

We took a ton of pictures there of course, and then drove over to the Golden Gate Bridge so we could walk across (something else we didn't do in '09!). More pics after the jump!

California Re-Do, part 1

I'm trying to remember how this trip even started. Essentially, the pretense was for us to go out there and scope out possible places to live, as our entire family really would love to move out there (unfortunately, it doesn't look like it will happen now - housing out there is just too expensive). I know Mark and I were watching some shows about San Francisco on TV, and reminiscing about everything we didn't get to do in September. I also really, really wanted to go back to Disneyland, as the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain were both closed the first time, and we never made it to California Adventure. I also was really upset that I didn't have my DSLR before going the first time - it had been in the plan the whole time, then I decided to save the money and use a camera we had - worst idea ever!! That is definitely my biggest vacation regret of my life so far, as the piece of shit camera I took didn't actually capture a lot of the pictures of Andra's wedding. So, there were several reasons for us to go back. Originally, I was looking at summer and fall dates, since our flights in September were so freaking cheap. But nothing was really jumping out at me. Then I started looking at May. There were some decent flight deals, so we decided to just go for it!

I did a ton more research and planned out our trip essentially from start to finish, as that's what I do. The agenda consisted of flying into San Francisco, hanging out there for a few days, driving down the coast to see Big Sur, and then staying in the LA area for a few days before heading back home.

Pictures and story after the jump!

Etc.

Lily decided to scare the shit out of me Thursday night at work. I just could not get her to move. I tried drinking soda and juice and eating dinner and dessert. I put my phone on my belly and made it vibrate and play music. I got a tiny kick from that, but nothing like usual. So finally I went to antepartum to use one of their monitors. I miss the days when we had monitors on our unit. Another nurse tried to help me, but she couldn't get her on the monitor, and finally I found her as the other nurse was off getting the ultrasound machine. Thankfully, that wasn't necessary. She must have just been in a weird position where I couldn't feel much. It didn't help my mental state with several very sad situations in L&D that night. Friday, she was all over the place, of course. A while after my near panic-attack, I decided to check my BP. I monitor it at work and home because it's always very high at my appointments.

Looking good! I really wish it was like that at my doctor's! Unfortunately, my heart rate is always borderline tachy even at rest now, and definitely up there when I'm doing anything just about anything physical. That is a a lovely pregnancy side-effect!

I finally started to de-Christmas the house today. My SuperBronchitis™ delayed it quite a bit. Fortunately, I loved my tree and it lasted quite a while. We bought it in November, and if we kept watering it,  it would still look pretty awesome. Actually, it's dry, but has hardly lost any needles. It was a great tree! Anyway, I got the ornaments safely packed for the most part, but I need to stop by Target today and get another large storage bin to put some smaller boxes in. The lights are off and the tree is now ready to go be mulchified.

Where were we?

Last year, I successfully completed 2 semesters of grad school (3 A's, 1 B) and promptly quit. Honestly, I was very bored by it and generally felt like I was doing it because it's what was expected of me. It just wasn't what I wanted to be doing. In a perfect world, I would love to not work at all (time to buy some lottery tickets!), so the prospect of trading my 36-hour weeks for 50 and 60 hour weeks as a nurse practitioner was totally unappealing. Not to mention, if you break it down hourly, it's the same amount of money. No thanks.

Eventually (once I get more skilled and get better lenses), I'd love to attempt to make some money as a photographer. I realize I can probably never afford to quit nursing, but taking pictures (and editing them) makes me very happy. However, we'll have to see what happens once we add the baby into the mix!

So, we've been in our house for a little over a year, and already we are counting down to when we can sell it. We were lucky enough to receive the first-time home buyer tax credit, so we have to live here for at least 3 years or else pay it back. Our house is great, except for the fact that it's in Florida. We are just so over it. It's too hot, there are no seasons, our homeowner's insurance is ridiculous and the cost keeps rising even though the state hasn't been affected buy a hurricane in 6 years. If we could afford it, we'd move to California, but realistically our best bet seems to be North Carolina - specifically the Raleigh/Durham area. Housing is super affordable, the weather is awesome, it's supposedly a great place to raise kids, and there are job options for both me and Mark. You can drive a few hours in one direction and be in the mountains, or go a few hours the other way and be at the beach. The one thing so far that bothers me is the absence of a professional baseball team, but I think I'll survive. Plus, there's always the Durham Bulls if I get really desperate.

...

Since I found out we are having a girl (A GIRL!!) I've gone a little crazy with the clothes-purchasing. Today's pictures is of most, but not all of what I've bought in the last 10 weeks. There is much, much, much more in the closet. I can't wait to wash it all.

A Very, Very, Very Fine House

So, I had last left off in October 2009. We were looking at houses (and had a contract on one), went to California, etc.

We ended up withdrawing our offer on the house after we had it inspected. Per the inspector, it was "very scary". There were just so many things wrong with it - structural, electrical, plumbing - you name it. So, it was back to square one - realtor.com.

We didn't have to wait long though. In November, we found a house that met just about all of our requirements and then some, managed to get approved for a larger mortgage, made an offer (and some counter offers) and were under contract again. This house was not a short sale, so we were able to move much faster. The inspection went well, we somehow managed to get everything signed and paid for and we closed on December 21st, the day after my birthday. Now it's a year later and we are still working on getting things situated. 2 of the rooms needed new flooring. One of them we tiled over the summer - tiling is such a huge PITA, but it looks so much better now. That room is our office...in theory. We still haven't actually moved our computers in there yet, but really need to get to it soon. The other room we're going to put wood in, and that will be the baby's room, so it's time for us to get a move on.

I like my kitchen. 

Back to the future:

I went to work last night for the first time in 10 days. Pregnancy tends to shut down your immune system, and I got the worst bronchitis ever. I'm a lot better now, after calling my OB for antibiotics, going to my PCP for breathing treatments and unfortunately, making a trip to the ER (breathing is important). The ER trip was absolutely horrendous, and made worse by the fact that I'm an employee. Let's see - I had no nurse, and they didn't even check my vitals after triage. We won't even get into the state of the room they put me in or the unprofessional doctor and "respiratory practitioner". Their manager will be getting an email from me, that's for sure.

And here's a picture from today for my 365-day picture project. I got a box of cuteness from Gymboree and Liz Lemon decided she needed to investigate.

I'm back, again.

Guess who hasn't updated her blog in over a freaking year? That's right - me!

Over the next few weeks I plan on getting caught up on the last 15 months or so. Things I'll cover:

• buying our first house
• going back to Cali!
• our still-cooking baby, Lillian
  

In the meantime, I want to try my hand at this picture-a-day thing. Of course, I've missed the first 3 days, but I won't hold it against myself. I've been preoccupied with growing another human, so I've been a bad photographer for the last 6 months. All of a sudden at around 5am, I realized how much I missed it, I got my camera back out, and it feels great. Unfortunately, I have to go to bed soon because I have to work tonight. But here is picture #1 of what will essentially now be a 362 day challenge.

Toby says, "Crap, she's at it again."