WHAT A BUST!

Major bummer of the day...Just got back from my doctor's visit and he told me I'm not as far along as I thought. Only by one week, but STILL! I'm already ready for this sucker to come out! :) I don't know if I believe him though cuz the sonogram guy has always measured me at what I thought I was...33 weeks. Doc says I'm only 32. Also, he's going off of the date I told him my last period was (whoops...sorry guys) and I KNOW I had no idea when that was...so I'm thinkin the dude's wrong. I'm 33 weeks.

The silver lining is that if he is right, and I really am only 32 weeks, that gives my husband an extra week of leeway to not miss the birth, just in case I go into labor early. Line of thinking...If I'm not as far along, then I don't have the chance of going into labor as early and having him miss it. (He's in Germany, if ya didn't know).

OTHER major bummer of the day...Doc's surgery schedule is changing...They're moving my baby c-section to Monday, the 16th...Better for my parents, bummer for me.

SLIGHT bummer of the day...I have to go pick up Xoe from school. She threw up twice last night but insisted on going to school and that she felt better. They just called me. She has a 100 degree temperature. And I've been feeling nauseous for the past 2 hours. Greaaaat. And my friend just told me three of her kids all threw up last night. I HATE THROWING UP!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for Xanthe's turn. :)

But all in all, I'm in a pretty good mood. :)

Highlight of the Day...Doc told me I'm measuring perfectly..."right on the money" for my gestational age, and that my weight gain is "perfect." I'm supposed to be gaining a pound a week and that's exactly what I've been doing. So, on the way home I stopped at McDonald's for an Egg McMuffin.

AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHY

So, I'm doing a plug for my friend Bill Lindsay. (well actually it's Brian's good friend from Riverside when he lived there for 10 years. They lost touch for many years and just got in touch with each other last December). He probably doesn't even know I link his blog to mine (I should email him to tell him). But I know a lot of you are into photography (Ruth, Scott, etc.) , and even if you're not, I know a lot of you appreciate great photography. Well, Bill just recently found his love for photography and decided that this year he was going to have a picture for each day. 365 days of photography. A lot of the pictures have his descriptions of the cameras he uses, which is way over my head, but many of them have allegories, and metaphors for life, etc. that accompany the very interesting shots he has taken.

His latest run is his trip to Hawaii. But they're not the pictures you'd think. As an example, one of his pictures is the closeup of a hot pink orchid in front of unfocused white towels. Anyway, you've gotta check it out. His last post was of the airline seats. He uses black and white to show the mood that it was a depressing feeling that he was going home, whereas if they were just heading over there, it would have been in color. It's stuff you see that should be published. I'm very impressed with him, especially since he just recently started. So, check it out every so often and be uplifted and inspired.

Let me know what you think. (There's a link here on my blog).

Burgundy Rose Catering

I went to the best Burgundy Rose Catering wedding yesterday. It was for Brian's really good friend (from college and work) here in Sierra Vista. It was a nice wedding (sit down dinner of ribeye and salmon), but so many things reminded me of Burgundy Rose Catering. Take a gander below...

Precious Moments....Need I say more?

Legos...The most random thing though was that they had a bonding over building legos (the bride and groom)...it was a sentimental thing between them. Anyway, they had little favors of legos for the guests. I don't think they meant for them to be broken open before taking them home, but everyone was building them during the two hours we were waiting for them to get there after taking pictures...*sigh*. I won't say anything more about that because they might read this blog, except for this...that in all the years of weddings that we've done, that's one of the things that kind of bums me out. People were hungry and hot (even though the a/c was on) and getting somewhat grouchy. So, it was good we were building monkeys, race cars and space ships. :)

Here's Xoe's finished racecar. Xanthe built a monkey, then changed it into a hawk, but I didn't get a picture.

Here are the girls with the bride and groom:

OFFICIAL DECLARATION!!!!

This is the last picture that will be taken of me while pregnant...Unlike when I was pregnant with the girls, my face is getting puffier! (I didn't get puffy with them). I guess it's moved from my feet to my face. You may all have noticed it before, and been nice enough not to tell me, but I didn't. And I'm starting to get SUPER bummed about this. I've decided that I'm just going to enjoy being pregnant the next few weeks, WITHOUT documentation though. :) It's going to be shock enough for my husband how big I've gotten when he comes home in 4 weeks, I don't need everyone else to be shocked. :) So, you won't be seeing any pictures of me. :) I'll consider posting of my belly but no face. :)

As Good As It Gets

Yup. The checkout lady at the grocery store asked me if I'm having twins....No, I didn't have my REAL twins with me, and nope I'm not even close to my due date. Still have 8 more weeks. Niiice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

So, I had such a fun birthday yesterday. To give you a background of how much it could have sucked, my husband left for Germany on Saturday for 5 weeks...with me almost 8 months pregnant (just two more days) and the most awful pain in my groin (sorry, guys!) where I can barely walk, sit, stand...anything except for lay down (Oh, but I can't even turn to the other side without it hurting). So I'm kind of an invalid. :) I have Xanthe and Xoe who are great help when they "want" to be, but I also don't want to shoulder them with all this responsibility and have them resent the baby. But I barely keep my dishes done and my house looked like a bomb hit it.

Anywho (anyone else "kind of" not like that word?), Saturday night our doorbell rings and we thought it was just the girls' friend's mom coming to pick her up when I hear one of the girls yell, "Grammy! Grandpa!" I almost burst into tears right then. "What!?!" It was like my dreams (and prayers) had come true. When I had talked to my mom earlier, I was trying to explain to her how bad things really were without sounding too whiny. I was secretly hoping that I could get her to come out here to help me. I was really starting to get depressed.

We had a great weekend! She was so much help and I was able to rest my leg and the girls weren't being ignored. I've actually worked on the baby's room, putting clothes away and decorating, things I couldn't do before because just doing the dishes would be too much for me. She stayed til this morning where she had to leave at 4:00 a.m. to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight but managed to stay through my birthday yesterday. It started with my friend bringing over muffins and cupcakes, and dad making omelettes and moogie (yum!). We went and got pedicures and manicures, out to dinner and open presents! Then we had Movie Night watching "Dan In Real Life"! I didn't get to watch much of it cuz all my brothers and sisters were calling me, but that is one of the highlights of my day! So thanks everyone! And thanks for all the great presents (love them all!) that everyone efficiently got to me on time so I could have them to open on my actual birthday! You guys rock! Here are some pictures from our day.

Thanks Mom and Dad for bailing me out! I wish you were here all the time (secretly, of course. I'd never admit it...hahahah) and thanks to all the renditions of "Happy Birthday" that I got from all my family (including two part Indiana Harmony from M&D, Rocky and Piper, and Ruth & Katie's "special" version)! Love you all! Can't wait to see you! Christy

A TRUE SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

There aren't many things that I would term "A True Accomplishment." To earn that title, I feel you have to really work for it, AND it has to be something that was working against you from the beginning. To me, one of those things that I can truly deem "A True Accomplishment" is winning a niece or nephew over. But not the ones who just give it willingly (even though I love those ones too), but it's the ones who SERIOUSLY don't want anything to do with you. The accomplishment comes when I can get them to not only smile at me, but giggle with me, play with me and actually choose ME to go to!

Ruby (my brother Ben and Katie's little girl) was one of those nieces on my last trip to California. I was with Heather when she watched her for three days and at first she wanted to have NOTHING to do with me. She would hide her face in Heather's shoulder, or EVEN try and fold herself in half in the high chair just to hide from me. She was dead-set against having to make any eye contact or acknowledgement of me. I think she was SERIOUSLY hoping I was just a bad dream and would just go away. hehehe. If she walked into a room that I was in, her smile disappeared and she did a full 180 the other way. BUT I didn't take it personally. It just became more of a challenge. By the third day, she was like my bestest friend. She would run and giggle with me and smile for the camera for me, like in the picture above. What a cutie! I love bonding with my nieces and nephews. It's so fun! My sisters, I hope, can all say that I love their children each differently and have a different bond with them. Go Ruby! And yes, I have truly accomplished that feat! Let's just see if it lasts until the next time I come around. :)

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Baby Pethel is going to be a "Friday the 13th" baby. They've scheduled the C-section for Friday, June 13 (unless I go into labor sooner and I have an emergency surgery). The doctor assures me not to be superstitious, but should I be?

THE DAY I BECAME A VEGETARIAN

MY CHICKEN AUTOPSY

I don't know how to even post about this because I'm still dealing with what Nanette made her 6-1/2 month pregnant sister do! Yes, at the time, I was laughing because that's the only way I could deal with it. But needless to say, I will never be eating Cornish Game Hens again.

****WARNING****Contains some graphic descriptions...:)

As you all know, Nanette is a self-taught gourmet cook. And every time we visit her house she has some awesome recipe to try out, or make, for us. When I was in California visiting, here's what our Sunday dinner was going to be...

Sounds good, right? Ya, I thought so too...Until Nanette read out loud the first instructions for preparing the actual chickens..."halved, backbone removed, rinsed, patted dry." I don't know about you, but "backbone removed" does not sound very fun. I thought, "Great, Nan is a real trooper for being able to remove the backbone." Suuuuure.....She only got as far as unwrapping the plastic around the chicken and said, "Christy, I can't do it. You have to." So, I'm thinking, there's no problem... until she holds it up and it is a freakin WHOLE tiny, baby chicken.

I felt like it was going to come alive at any moment and instead of crying, I started laughing. I started playing around with the wings and teasing Nan to make it worse. I was showing her the butt hole (sorry) and flapping the wing joints and everything. It was so horrible, but all I could do was laugh. I was laughing as I cut down through the chest and opened it up. Until....I realized I was performing an AUTOPSY. It looked exactly like what they do on CSI. I just cracked the chest cavity open and all these ribs and bones were making a crushing sound. I just kept laughing uncontrollably and Nan was so grossed out she was getting so pissed. BUT I was totally okay, even when I had to scrape around the backbone and had to pull each little teeny tiny rib out, one by one, UNTIL a kidney popped out. I had to lean on the counter cuz I almost fainted. It was all I could do to not throw up. That was just too much for me. It was the size of cherry seed and all bulbousy. I couldn't handle it. (You can see it below). At THAT point, it was Nanette who was laughing and said she had 3 more for me to do. I just put down everything and walked away. I told her, "Hell no. I cannot do another autopsy. That just did me in."

Myles was the good sport who carved and butchered the next three. Nan made the sauce and we finished cooking the chicken but between the two of us, I was the only one that ate it. It was pretty good actually, as long as you didn't think about the process. Nan couldn't even look at it. And I still can't stop laughing. I think I've joined you, Ben. I might have to convert to vegetarianism.

California Series, Part 3

LUCK OF THE IRISH TO YA!

I know this is late comin, but I wanted to post a few pictures of how we spent our St. Patty's Day in California. I really do love St. Patrick's Day, even though it gets forgotten most of the time. Xanthe & Xoe surely didn't forget. Before we could even say anything, they came out dressed in all green, from head to toe. Didn't even know they had packed that much green! They ended up changing their green pants and green skirt for jeans, but believe me they were definitely in the Blarney spirit!

We were at Nan's house in Camarillo, California and they helped Rocky & Piper pick something out. Again, green from head to toe. Here are some pictures...

Picnic At the Park. Next, we went to the park and had a picnic, courtesy of Subway and Auntie Katie, who gave them the picnic basket. And yes....the girls brought this picnic basket all the way from Arizona. You might be able to see it in the picture of our "Jimmy-Rigged Car". Thank you Auntie Katie! They have picnics everywhere we go! :)

Am I really THAT pregnant?

Here I am with one of the first pictures I have taken with my belly that seemed to double in growth in just the few days from Arizona to California. I was 27 weeks at the time and I'm almost 30 weeks. I know I'm twice that size now in just a few weeks. I can't even get that shirt on now.

Underwood Farms. Nanette lives in beautiful Camarillo and has all these orchards and farms around her that stretch for miles and miles. One of the farms has a food stand near her house. We go there most every time we're there and feed carrots to the animals. The kids love it. One EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA large bag of carrots, please? Seriously look how huge that bag of carrots is.

Check out the cute haircut on Xoe. Xanthe has the same one, and they wanted it to be like Auntie Heather's! Thanks Nanette for the haircuts!

There's one other thing we did that night, but I have to save it for my next post. It deserves it's own entry! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Plea for My Blog

So, I haven't blogged for a couple of days. Sorry about that. I had a catering job....need I say more? Luckily Puffy didn't come back. :)

I'm putting out a plea to all you fellow bloggers for some help with my blog. I only know simple basics and am wondering what are the cool things you guys do. How do you get those cool borders around your pictures? Is it something I've just missed "turning on" or is it part of your template? And I'm very concerned with my pictures. Do I need to not have the flash on sometimes? Or have it in a different setting? Tips are welcome and I look forward to them with eagerness. :)

Latest in Arts & Crafts by Xoe & Xanthe

Don't know where they get this from! The girls had a friend over and they were coming up with crafts. Xoe came up with a cell phone made from a capri sun juice box. She swears that she made it up and no one gave her the idea. Seriously...They surprise me all the time. They're now making paper cell phone bags with white paper and a stapler (the purses include handles and all)

AWARDS ASSEMBLY

To take a break from my California Trip series :), I wanted to post that today the girls received two awards at their School Awards Assembly. The first was for Good Attendance, which for us, is wholly amazing because there hasn't been a semester where they have NOT missed less than 8 days of school (which is "no-no" in schools. They send a letter home scolding the parent for denying the child an education (whatever) and that the parent needs to do their "responsibility" for their child (again, whatever. I've gotten plenty of those letters) because of our trips to California. Then, to everyone's surprise, their class voted them BOTH as Citizen of the Quarter. This is a huge deal cuz everyone knows you're only allowed to have one but their teacher verified that they both got equal votes by their peers. It was really funny the reaction the crowd got when their teacher said, "And I have to give it to two kids, it was a tie, and they are identical twins, Xanthe & Xoe Villa." There was this funny laughter by all the parents and some cheering by all the kids, cuz I'm guessing they thought it was such a novelty and it took them by surprise. Xanthe turned red in the face. I guess it still never gets old that they're twins, even though for me it's such normal life. It's cool though. I enjoy it. It reminds me that it is pretty cool that they're identical twins. Anyways, Congrats Girls!