Today's Etiquette Lesson

The following is a list of things NOT to say to a pregnant woman, especially one who is holding scissors, and has 10 more weeks to go:

1. "WOW. You are going to have a BIG baby!"

2. "You must be due any day now?!"

3. "Are you sure you aren't having twins? Really? Are you SURE? I mean, did the doctor check for twins? They did? And they're sure there's only one? There's not another one hiding in there???"

Creative Title Goes Here.

I'm back, the lazy blogger that I am. I took a break from life in general the past couple of weeks, due to the ridiculous heat. Any time I wasn't at work, I was here at home, sitting not on the bird couch, but standing in front of the one window air conditioner we have in the living room. Good times.
It's cooled down to a balmy 85-ish now though, so I can go out in the world again. (Keep in mind however, 85 doesn't sound that bad, but that's about 105 in pregnant-degrees!!)
This past weekend was great- Joe ran in a 5K race in Flint, MI with his running group from Switzerland. (Well,actually, they're mostly from Michigan and Ohio, but they met in Switzerland.) I was excited to get to go with him and meet these people who I have heard so many great stories about! And yes, they were as nice and fun as Joe said they were.
The race went well, Joe ran it in 29-ish minutes ( i forget the actual down-to-the-second time). The weather was awesome, in the 70's and cloudy, so it wasn't too hot. It rained on and off, but not enough to keep us from having a good time. I stayed on the sides and watched everyone else run. Obviously. I mean, really, when have I ever been known to run anywhere, with the exception of through the mall on a good sale day, such as the day after Thanksgiving?!
They do have a 5K walk, however, and I think I'd probably do that next year. I think I may have actually done it this year, because I'm pretty certain that we parked a good 4 miles away from the starting line....I'm definitely not the speed-walker I was this time last year. This baby really slows me down.

Speaking of the baby, I'm up to 30 weeks now (and I"m sure, at least as many pounds gained!) I learned last week that one of the doctors in the practice left the office, so now 3 doctors are handling the patients for 4. I'm sure that will make for a nice long wait at my appointment tomorrow. I have one more ultrasound, tomorrow morning. I'll try to remember to not be lazy and scan in those pictures!

The next few days are work, work, and then more work. Joe's back into football full-swing, and getting a great tan from it, I have to say! I'm a little jealous of that.
We're headed up to the UP (that's Upper Peninsula, for those of you not familiar with Michigan-speak.) for a wedding, so I'll blog when we get back. Have a great holiday weekend!
This is a photo of Joe and his running club (minus the two people from New York and Florida). I tried to load more pictures, but blogger is being difficult tonight, so we'll have to settle for just one.

this week in photos

It's fair week in Urbana, and we live just blocks from the fairgrounds, so the air smells like cow poo, my 'short-cut' to work is off limits this week (I usually take the road by the fairgrounds to bypass all the stoplights) and I can hear the announcements in the grandstand in my backyard. Sunday night I got to enjoy a Phil Dirt and the Dozers concert. I know no one knows who they are, but here, they are celebrities. They're basically an oldies (50's and 60's) cover band. Last night was some lame contest about 4H girl of the year or something like that.
Tonight, for my listening pleasure, I get to enjoy the Oak Ridge Boys.

But enough about that. Onto the BIG news in town.......

MCDONALDS IS OPEN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yes. They tore down the old McD's at the beginning of summer to give our town a new fancy-pants Mickey-D's, complete with not one, but TWO drive thru speakers! (Yet, only one pick up window...now, do we really think the intellectuals of U-town are going to be able to figure THAT one out? Doubtful.) I took this photo at a stoplight this morning, but it doesn't really do justice to just how busy it was there. (Yes, the light was red when I stuck my head and camera out the window, mom.)




















Onto other photos now.


Me, 27 weeks pregnant. Joe requested this one...he's been gone so long I think he's forgotten what I look like. I'm just going to say that me and the August heat are not getting along very well right now. It's not so bad at night but the other 18 hours of the day that I'm awake are not so good. I find myself wandering around Target, Kroger, the mall -really anywhere that is air conditioned- to pass the time and not have a heat stroke.
OK, really it's not that bad, I'm just spoiled and I don't like to sweat. And I'm really starting to miss my ankle bones.





















This is Junior Special-Agent Tarquin's (the kid's got a lot of nicknames!) room, so far. There's a few minor details missing, such as a crib and changing table, but hey, who really needs those?





















And some photos from Lake Erie last weekend. Grandma on the jet ski, Carsyn in the sand, and Peyton...I'm pretty sure she's in the process of throwing sand in Marcus' face. I hope I spelled all of those kids' names right.