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Heidi Chronicles

Life (In London), Medicated

Nothing at all witty to say, so I’ll just write about my day.

Filed under: Aaron, Blah Blah Blah, Friends, Liam, Scooters, Suburbia — Heidi at 10:36 pm on Friday, March 31, 2006

It was actually a pretty productive day.

AJ got up and got his scooter ready to take to Oklahoma for a rally. L and I were outside at 6.40 in the beautiful sunshine so that I could help him load it on the trailer. (Incidentally, AJ also had to learn how to remove and reinstall the car seat. He’s never done it.) As for the rally, L and I went along last year and stayed with my sis. It was cold and rainy weather, which sucked for Aaron, and L got sick, which sucked for me. It was a fan-freakin-tastic weekend, let me tell ya.

So, when the prospect of going again this year came up, I cringed. And when we determined that we’d be staying in a hotel and my sis and fam were going to be busy on Saturday, I declined. The five-hour drive is bad enough, not to mention trying to sleep in the same room as my kid, and the same queen bed as my husband. (Love ya, AJ.) So, since he’s on vaca this weekend, I’m on Mama AND Daddy duty. Don’t worry…I’ll get mine.

I grumped about getting out of bed so early, but it was a beautiful day and L and I had been to the grocery store and were home by 9.30. He watched the last 30 minutes of Sesame Street and then we mixed up a huge batch of sugar cookies. (I mixed. He attempted to shove his wooden spoon into the mixer. Scary.) The cookies are for a wedding shower at the end of the month, but I want to have a little time to experiment with the recipe and the icing. This gives me enough time to remake them if I need to.

Our buddies, Jack and Ade, stopped in for a short visit. I didn’t get a pic of the two boys together because L is wearing the same pajamas that he wore all day yesterday - and to bed last night. I didn’t think you really needed to see them again. However, Jack is looking very GQ these days. I’ll post a picture later on when I don’t have to go downstairs to get the camera. (It’s 10.10…I’m in bed, people.)

Updated: Here’s Jack.

2006.03.31 Jack.JPG

L ate and then took a nap. I also took a short nap and then got up and cleaned the house a little. I’m in a state of flux at the moment. There are things without a “place” and I need to find places for them. Said things are mostly stacked on the floor, on the island in the kitchen, or strewn around the house at random in plastic Target bags. My goal for the weekend is to get at LEAST everything on the main floor into a new home. I even packed up L’s toys in see-through plastic bags (suffocation hazard, I know, but he’s always supervised) to put in the toy box so he won’t get every freakin’ thing out at once. Now he has to ask to have me open the bags - at least until he figures that out, which will probably be tomorrow. Oh well, at least the toys have a place to be put away. My desk, on the other hand, still has a serious problem with homelessness. That’s what I get for not having drawers in which to hide things. Ugh.

Since it was 65 degrees, I had no excuse not to work outside a bit, so I cleaned out L’s frog pool from last summer and turned it into a bean box. It’s up on our deck now, so we can play outside up there and stay out of the mud, dog poop, and scary spider webs and ticks haunting the forest of our backyard. I think he’ll love it.

It was too chilly (shaded) for him to play out there when he woke up from nap, so we went on a walk. He’s figured out what a house is, so he was thrilled with the neighborhood and named the colors of many of the houses and counted them as we walked. I said something occasionally to appease him and listened to All Things Considered as we made our rounds. I did stop to show him daffodils, dandelions, and a really cool crane moving part of a building frame into place. I’m sure the construction dudes thought I was a weirdo. Shit, L probably thinks so too. Oh well.

We came home and I proceeded to check out the damage done to our electric dog fence when the lawn guy came to aerate and reseed last weekend. I knew it was cut because Aaron called to tell me while I was at my parents’ house and it made me cry. I spent six hours putting in that fence last summer. Anyway, the damage doesn’t SEEM to be as bad as I thought. So far there are only two spots on either side of the yard that are cut. I think I can fix them and the fence will be in working order again. This is a good thing…I had visions of relaying the entire thing. That would be a bad thing. Now I just have to get some electrical tape.

Had dinner and then I worked on the sugar cookies while L entertained himself with Mardi Gras beads. He loves them. It’s insane.

Cookies are cut and baked and I think I even figured out how to make my favorite recipe hold the shape of the cookie cutters a little better. I know, I know…you are all dying to know. Well, it’s my little secret. If I tell you, then I have to kill you. Last I checked, there were like 90 of you out there reading my site occasionally. And you know, I just don’t have the energy for that kind mass death stampede.

Well, I warned you that this was going to be a hodge podge of stuff. The only thing I have to say for myself is: at least the title rhymes.

There really is a baby in there.

Filed under: Aaron, Pregnancy — Heidi at 7:37 am on Friday, March 31, 2006

AJ felt AxLita move last night.  It was faint, but now he knows that the kiddo is alive and kickin’.

What Easter’s All About

Filed under: Family, Food, Friends, Liam, Mommyhood — Heidi at 8:50 pm on Thursday, March 30, 2006

2006.03.30 Easter Egg Decorating-6.JPG

2006.03.30 Easter Egg Decorating-18.JPG

Pics of what happened in between here.

So what is a spam filter, really?

Filed under: Blah Blah Blah — Heidi at 7:38 am on Thursday, March 30, 2006

I was so excited about a year ago because I got a spam filter free with my ISP. I downloaded it and got it going and lo and behold, it caught a LOT of email spam.

I was highly impressed so this year, when I needed to update my subscription, I was totally willing to go through the hoops to keep the software. It required removing Norton, reinstalling the software - but only the piece I wanted - and then reinstalling Norton. However, our subscription to Norton was expired. Now, this other virus software that came with the spam filter didn’t have all of the capabilities that Norton does, so I did need to have Norton. However, since we have two computers using the same Norton subscription (Evil, I know.) I couldn’t uninstall and reinstall because our renewal required an updated subscription key - not a complete download - which meant that if I removed the program, I would have to start over and pay for the entire thing again, instead of just the update. UGH.

After a month of annoying reminders for the spam filter renewal, I finally decided that there wasn’t a good solution to the problem so I took it off.

Imagine my surprise when, following the removal of the program, I received LESS spam than I did when I had the filter!

Just a little suspicious, no?

Incidentally, I also recently installed a plug-in to help keep the spam out of the comments section of my blog as well. It’s working great. However, prior to using the plug-in, the most spam I got in a week was maybe 20. Since installing the program two weeks ago, it’s blocked more than 300 spam comments.

I can’t help but surmise that these companies pay people to spam their users so that the user feels good about the software.

And I find that disgusting.

The AxLita Weekly Round-up: Nineteen Weeks

Filed under: Pregnancy — Heidi at 3:14 pm on Wednesday, March 29, 2006

General:

  • My prediction: Boy.
  • Gender determination countdown:  5 days.
  • Names:  Please be a girl.  Please be a girl.  Please be a girl.  Boy names are just too hard.

About AxLita: (Courtesy of Fertility Friend Pregnancy.)

  • Your baby measures about 5.2 to 6 inches (13-15cm) from crown to rump and weighs about 7 ounces (200g).
  • The buds for the permanent teeth are forming behind those that have already developed for the first teeth.
  • Your baby’s nervous system and brain development continue at a spectacular pace. By this week, your baby’s motor neurons, which connect muscle to the brain, have grown into place so that your baby can consciously direct her movements. Millions of neurons inside your baby’s brain are growing and forming connections and the nerves in her body are being covered in a fatty substance called myelin.
  • Your baby’s ears are now placed on the sides of her head and her limbs are now in proportion. Your baby’s tiny foot is just one inch long, but is in perfect proportion to the rest of her leg.
  • Your baby can hear your voice and recognize it.

What AxLita is doing to my body: (Word-for-word courtesy of Fertility Friend Pregnancy.)

  • You have probably gained between 8 and 14 pounds by now, though your own experience may be different. (YEAH…ABOUT 10.)
  • You may continue to feel fatigued and dizzy at times and you may continue to have a backache and round ligament pain.
  • People are probably beginning to comment on your pregnancy as it becomes more obvious. (”OH, YOU’RE NOT JUST FAT.”)
  • You may have felt movement, or “quickening” as it is sometimes called at this point. You have probably heard your baby’s heartbeat by now with an ultrasound device and you may have even seen your baby’s heart beating on an ultrasound. Feeling, hearing and seeing your baby in your body can be an important bonding time for you and your baby as you begin to feel the reality that you are carrying a new tiny person inside of you. You may already be feeling strong maternal attachment to your baby. You may enjoy talking to your baby (who can hear and recognize your voice and may even be stimulated by it) and encouraging your partner to do the same (if he is comfortable with doing so) as a way of connecting with him. (THE BABY IS EITHER GOING TO THINK HIS NAME IS “LIAM, HANDS OFF.” OR “MURPHY! ENOUGH BARKING.”)

Pregnancy Symptoms:

  • Cravings - Chicken salad.
  • Fatigue - Tired, but trying to force myself not to take a nap.  I can make it through the day without one and I get a lot more done.
  • Night Sweats - Sticky and clammy.
  • Sciatica - SERIOUSLY on the prowl again.
  • Quickening - I can feel baby more consistently when I rest now.
  • Hormonal Changes - Something kicked me into feeling pretty good.  Yes, I did say GOOD!
  • Stomach Protrusion - Can still wear some of my larger shirts, which is good, because the maternity shirts are still huge on me.
  • Morning Sickness - See hormonal changes.  I only get sick if I eat too much in one sitting.  I’ve been doing better with smaller meals more often.
  • Sore boobage. The girls are still a-growin.’ I thought this was supposed to get BETTER.

Most Interesting Emotional Breakdown(s) This Week:

  • Upon arriving home from my parents‘, I was completely exhausted  It was a fun weekend, but very long and very busy.  I am glad to be home.

 

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