65 degrees and sunny

I don't know why Matt complains about Houston weather. It's just perfect today! Duchess is sitting outside with her eyes closed just soaking up the sun. ahhhhh...
Lest you forget how loooong Duchess is - here's a good picture of her. Unfortunately, her back leg is still not back to normal. She's putting more weight on it, but still hops around. Quite honestly, she hasn't slowed down a bit. She still tugs on the leash when we go on walks. She seems unaware that her leg is even hurt! Dare I say that ignorance is bliss? I'm not sure if that corresponds to dog language...maybe dogs just take everything in stride. We should all learn from her.
See that lovely hallo effect around Duchess? It's her new home-made dog food! I got a recipe from my mom. It extended Pebbles life by at least 3 years so we'll see how Dutcher does with it. She loves the food and ate it all! On the other hand, Penny picked out all the green and yellow beans...which was very annoying. I added them to ice cream and she still refused to eat the beans, so no more home-made food for her!
We hope you have a great New Year's celebration! I'm fixing a black-eyed pea dip to bring us all good luck in 2009!

Christmas Day

We saw 'Marley & Me' with my parents are Christmas Day. It's a good movie!

For dinner we went to our friends' house for a savory beef tenderloin. We had some fun after dinner too!


It's a bright, red, round Christmas ornament!


Molly loves licking Matt's head...and I think Matt likes it a lot too!

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve...and so did the dogs! We all met for soup before church then had a feast when we returned. Next, we opened gifts and ate dessert! Great food and great company!

assisted living

Duchess needs assisted living. Since her flying incident on Saturday, her leg has not fully recovered. She can go down the stairs, but can't (or won't) go up the stairs...so we carry her. Other than that, she seems ok - still walking (hobbling) around in circles, going inside and outside (she seems to do fine on single stairs going both up and down) and whining for food. Generally, she sleeps more than she used to, but that's not recent. It's been going on for about a month. We need a Christmas wish that Duchess' leg gets better so she's ready for the baby.

another doctor's visit

Everything's still ok, in fact, I was his best patient today! My weight is great! My ankles are still skinny. The horrible pain in my side is normal for the amount of sneezing and coughing that I have been doing since being sick. I think if I were 2 inches taller that the baby wouldn't push so much against my ribs! We're squishing each other!

sniffers

We hung the stocking. Penny and Duchess have been very curious. They smell something good. Only another day...

stuck

Dutchess is going to be just fine with a new baby...and later a toddler. She let me put stickers all over her! Cute, huh? (Don't mind the mess in the dining room. Matt wore a tie for the first time in a year and had to search in storage for one. ...And the other boxes? I don't even know what they are - they're just Matt's)

We have attempted training the dogs to stay upstairs (or on the stairs) when visitors come to the house. We put a baby gate on the stairs, half way up, to allow the dogs to see what's going on, but not to jump around and act crazy. We were waiting for my friend to ring the doorbell when Duchess decided to leap over the gate. Of course, she fell, screamed and hurt her leg. The poor thing is walking around using just 3 legs now, but jumps up and down from the car and isn't whining so I don't think it's that hurt. The lesson learned: We need a taller gate! Duchess learned that she can't fly!

John and Ashley

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting too. Ashley's a month more pregnant than me and is definitely having a boy! (Please ignore the strange shadows in the above picture.) It's been so fun to share experiences and situations with John and Ashley! It'll be so fun to have cousins so close in age! Please check out their blog - it's listed on the sidebar.

showered

Matt and I are so lucky to have such wonderful friends, family and colleagues! Everyone was so generous! I was showered at work on Wednesday, then again by friends on Saturday. We have so many baby essentials that we're set! Thank you! Thank you!

Kimberly, the hostess with the mostess, admiring the cute, little outfit given by Carol.
The pregnant people! Alissa and Ashley (my sister-in-law) are due in January.
Me and Paola - she's the proud mom of twin girls!
A yummy cake to celebrate the new baby!

sick as dogs

Matt and I are sick! He has the stomach flu and I have a head cold with cough. It's not fun at all!

Thank you to Anna and Hollie in London!

Thank you Anna and Hollie! There's nothing more fun than coming home and finding a mysterious package on your doorstep. We opened them and were thrilled. The storage bins will be so useful. Anna, you know how I like to be over-organized! Hollie, The mobile is adorable! We love it (including Penny). I played it twice last night when I couldn't sleep, so I know if it worked on me then it'll work on the baby.

Thank You!

The baby's room is painted and the carpets are cleaned. We still need to put everything where it's supposed to be. Imagine some floating shelves by the dresser and pictures hung on the walls.

it snowed!

It snowed in Houston! Can you believe it! The dogs spent about an hour romping around in the backyard, Penny especially. She ran around like a spaz (again)! There were really big (inch big) flakes but the camera/lighting/my mood didn't capture them. It's just a short video from inside the house. I was hungry and tired and we were on our way to dinner.

28

That's our new ranking at the Child Care Center! Wahoo! We're moving up the list! ...but still no availability for summer.

there was a chance...

...to find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.

I went to another doctor's visit today - just a normal check-up. I told Dr. Papa that I can feel the baby kick a lot and wondered which way he/she is situated or if he/she is flopped in half or what?! I want to start visualizing what's going on inside so he showed me! Yes, I got a bonus ultrasound! I called Matt quickly to ask if we could find out the sex and he said, "Why would we want to spoil all the fun now?" so I didn't see any private parts. I did see that he/she was head down, spine toward my left and kicking on my right side - just what I felt!

the beach

Dutcher is running away from her shadow!

Penny is just a complete spaz in the sand. She's flying.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day in Houston so we drove to Galveston with the dogs to see the Ike aftermath and to walk on the beach. There's still lots of debris and boats not where they should be. There's a lot less beach to be found to walk on but we found some. The dogs just loved running all around! We didn't find anything interesting on the beach except a large lump of coal, literally!

a dream

I had a dream last night that we had a girl! That part was really wonderful and surprising. It all started with me not being able to feel my legs and hearing the birth of my child while I waited paralyzed in the hallway outside the OR. (I know it doesn't make sense - it's a dream so I can't really explain.) I heard the water break and splash all over the floor and then the announcement that it our baby was a perfect little girl! After that I was invited into the OR and put 'under' by anesthesia. I remember not being able to breathe and feeling a warm, hot, then burning pain through my veins and then promptly woke up (for real) from my dream.

Friday night we went to Kimberly and Marc's annual Glue Vine Party, a Christmas Party with mulled or spiced red wine. It was a great party and lots of friends from Poe Elementary. If majority rules, then I'm having a boy. Apparently, my tummy is like a bullet (boy-like), not rounded (girl-like). Kimberly and Marc throw great parties! Next year they'll be living in Australia so I lost my last chance to have Glue Vine!

Penny learns to counter surf

So much for Grandma's cookies....  How good they were, I will never know.

I think Penny was hinting to something as she pointed her nose to the peanut brittle sitting on my desk next to my laptop.  She has taken a liking to zip lock bags lately, first eating the bag holding the instructions for the TV back when I was setting it up, and then again last week when she ate a bag holding a small electronic kit that I was about to assemble.  Both of these were on the coffee table.

I thought Penny had learned her lesson back a couple of months ago when I put her back in her "Room" after swiping the ingredients for my dinner off of the counter while I turned to put a few items in a pan.  My first indication there was her burp before I noticed that half of the sliced steak was missing.  She has been very good for the last few months; not eating tubes of caulk, shoes, or furniture prompting Laura to hold a graduation ceremony for Penny back in the end of June signifying the end of the Room for good.

This evening, it was another subtle hint of guilt.  I hear Laura say "What's this?" as she was working on her laptop while sitting on the couch: it is part of a torn zip lock bag.  At first I think that she has swiped that bag of half-eaten electronic parts from the dining room table, but I find that intact.  However, looking just under the table is another half of the torn bag that was left at Laura's feet; this left me wondering where it came from.  After a quick look through the kitchen, I notice that the bag of Grandma's Christmas cookies is missing from the counter just above the dishwasher, and then glance to a guilty-looking dog sitting sheepishly at Laura's feet by the couch.  

a year

As of Sunday, I have known Matt for a whole year! Time sure flies!

We met at The Empire Cafe on the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2007. I arrived early and found him outside texting his brother while waiting for me at the front door. We had a couple of glasses of wine and talked about all kinds of things, but mostly about computers (I had just bought one on Black Friday). Matt was strongly opinionated, as you can imagine, about computers.

We're celebrating Christmas, not with gifts, but with the 12 Dates of Christmas. Yep, we're going to have dates and celebrate the season with each other! Actually, I thought 12 dates in 31 days was a bit much, so I reduced it to 6 (3 for him to plan and 3 for me to plan). Start sending Matt ideas! He needs them! :)

Grandma's Cookies

My mom brought some of my grandma's Christmas cookies back from their trip to Missouri. They are so yummy! Thank you Grandma!

Thanksgiving at The Eriksson's

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Matt's cousins, The Eriksson's. We had great (truly moist) turkey (Jack says the secret is soaking it overnight in brine), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (or yams?), butternut squash soup, salad, cranberry compote and two different kinds of dressings (regular and oyster!). The meal was delicious!! We had the greatest time afterwards eating dessert and listening to vinyl records! Do you remember Squeeze, Talking Heads, The Jam, The The and Elvis Costello?

Names, names, names.........

My creativity is being tested as Laura sets a deadline to choose names. She has a lot of rules which kind of take all of the fun out of it. We have had some help with this while complying with the rules, (three syllables, has to have a flow, can't be too funny,...etc.), so that leaves out great names like Erik's suggestion of Banana (which meets most of the criteria). Personally I prefer something that would make any given grade school teacher blush while trying to figure out the proper pronunciation, but Laura has another rule that the name has to be easy enough for the child to pronounce at an early age (thus, the old Irish suggestions). But in all reality, the kid will learn how to pronounce his/her name long before they learn to spell it anyway, so what's the difference there? Any votes for Amhlaoibh (Olaf), Beibhinn (Bayvin), Meadhbh (Maeve), or Proinsias (Francis), with my personal favorite being Caoilfhionn (Kaylin). Please don't limit your suggestions to those on the voting slate, but they have to be creative and have some significance.

5 lbs. in 3 wks!

I saw the doctor again. I gained 5 pounds in the last 3 weeks - Yikes! Matt thinks it's all between my ears, which I think is a compliment. The 4 weeks before that I gained no weight so I guess the baby is playing 'catch up.'

The whole time I was at the doctor they referenced the baby as a BOY! He this...he that...His... It was driving me crazy. I'd prefer to call it "the baby" or "it." Matt says that it's a boy because it has to balance out the girl energy from our dogs...but I quickly remind him that our dogs are fixed and there's no doggy-girl energy around! Duchess wears the ugliest green collar (that Matt seems attached to) and Penny looks and acts like a boy dog all the time. I'm not going to mention the kinds of things she chews up and eats!

the calm before the ...holidays!

It's really quiet and peaceful this weekend, but the fun of the holidays is about to begin!

more blood

The nurse called today and my glucose was normal - Yeah! Unfortunately, the lab people put my blood in the wrong tube so my hemoglobin could not be tested. BAD LAB PEOPLE! They know it took me 3 tries to give the blood...and now I have to do it again! Last time my hemoglobin level was 11.8 but it needs to be 12. I'm going to eat lots of meat this weekend to get my level up for the blood withdraw on Monday. Yuck!

I'm in the process of getting help for this needle/blood phobia. The psychology department has a desensitization program. At the intake, the director told me that there is a genetic component to blood withdraw. I didn't really understand it, but it seems that there is a physiologic reason for people to fear giving blood. It really does make you feel different and lowers your blood pressure. I guess it's good to know that it's a typical phobia. I do get special attention because I'm pregnant - it's not like I'm suddenly afraid of spiders - eek!

Turkey Time!

We had some fun over coffee this morning! My Tuesday morning friends (they are friends all the time, not just Tuesdays) helped me to get ready for the holiday next week. Don't worry - it's paint that is made for pregnant people - all non-toxic, washable and not itchy.

child care

46. We're number 46 on a waiting list for 9 newborn spots at the Child Care Center. The odds aren't so good, especially since their are 9+ siblings waiting for those precious spots. Siblings of children already at the child care center get first priority, then UH students, then staff, then faculty...and you guessed it, I'm faculty. It's a great, safe, warm, loving child care center that almost all faculty use (obviously lots of students use it too). It's across the street from my building so it's so easy to walk over and breastfeed, which is highly encouraged. We'll find out if we're definitely in or out in April when enrollment forms go out to those that are higher on the list. In the meantime, I've called around and no one (except the child care centers that misspell their names - e.g. Dimples Acatame or Kiddie Kollage) has a place available. I'm sure we'll find something or someone, but any suggestions are welcome!

Oh! The glucose test went well (I don't have results yet) but I made it through. Matt and I found the nursery, but could only see 2 babies. It's a small hospital and the nurses around seemed very nice. My parents came down to meet us for dinner to celebrate the test being finished! Thanks for celebrating with us!

3rd times a charm

Tomorrow I'm going for my third attempt at finishing the glucose test. I tried Tuesday. Then Wednesday I actually got closer to doing it (saw the drink, talked more about the blood withdraw). The last chance is tomorrow. I'm fearful of the needles and blood removal! There's nothing worse than knowing that I have 5 minutes to drink a nasty tasting drink then ONE HOUR to wait until blood is drawn...and knowing that I can't freak out because they have to get the blood within a 5 minute window. Anxiety is the worst! Matt's coming with me and we scheduled it at 4 pm so everyone will move quickly to get the weekend started. During the hour wait we'll walk around the hospital and see if we can find the nursery.

In the meantime, I've signed up for some desensitization therapy with the psychology department at UH. My department shares half a building with psychology so I walked over (with a friend) to ask whether they had some sort of program to help with anxiety over needles, IVs and shots. Lucky for me, they do! I'll keep you updated.

Sunday afternoon

Matt was home alone this weekend and finished lots of projects! He did laundry and dishes, trimmed the bougainvillea (with scars to prove it), caught up with old friends AND finished the rollers on the bookshelf! We now can empty all the boxes of books and place them back in the bookcase. Wanna see what it was like?

last trip til baby

I went to the lake house to visit Dan, Sandy, Carol and Tiffany this weekend. It was my last trip until the baby arrives. It was a good, relaxing visit, as always. Good food and good times. We even fed the Jacksonville carp dog food so that they won't starve to death (they already ate all the hydrilla).

not here or there, not anywhere!

We received disappointing news today: We can't travel to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. My doctor says that I can't travel starting at 28 weeks...and the week of Thanksgiving is the beginning of that time for us. It's quite a bummer since we were all looking forward to the visit.

I'm a bit perplexed about my doctor's recommendation. He's not very conservative with other things (although he did make me stop bowling!) but it's best to be safe than sorry...and delivering a premature baby in the backwoods of Louisiana (no offense to those from Louisiana) does seem very daunting to say the least. Dr. P says that flight attendants aren't allowed to fly starting at 28 weeks so I can't either. He says driving is just as dangerous because of the risk of an accident (which he admits could happen in Houston as well) in which the trauma could separate the placenta from my uterus.

Already bored...

The Tin Man

Marc told Matt that once the baby arrives that Matt will grow a heart. It'll beat out of his chest when he sees and holds the baby. Marc's not saying that Matt is heartless now; just saying that having a baby changes you and makes your heart grow. I can't wait! Will Matt love the baby as much as he loves Duchess? ...that remains to be seen.

a moose in the forest...with a proud papa

Here's a snapshot from our Halloween weekend. We went camping and Duchess played her role as the moose in the forest. She wore the costume all day!

We had a great time with Kathy, Patrick, John and Ashley. The weather was perfect for camping!

Pumpkin Carving

So I finally get around to adding a post (not totally voluntary however).  We were preparing for our camping trip this weekend, but since we will be away for the frightful night, we had to get our Jack o'lantern ready and put it out by the front door; (have to make sure none of the neighborhood's scary creatures make it into the house while we are away).  The dogs don't seem to pay any attention to it (and they like the cut-outs either).  We baked and salted the seeds, and I saved most of the insides for either a pie or soup tomorrow night.

Philly

We had a bit of time before boarding the flight to walk around Philadelphia. Here's a picture of me along the Delaware River. Matt took the picture without warning so just pretend that I'm smiling.Matt with Irish immigrants.

Reading and B & O

Next we were on our way from Philly to Reading (pronounced "redding"). On the way we saw 2 rail lines: B & O and Reading - just like Monopoly! It was time for business...and the whole purpose of our trip. Monday we woke up early to go to a steel foundry in Pottstown, PA to talk about some pads that they are making that help install umbilicals of the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

Uncle Jerry in Germantown

It was great to meet Uncle Jerry! He lives in a seminary which is beautiful! We drove around and received a personal tour from Father Jerry about Germantown and his life that has woven in and out of this seminary. His place has a great view of the town...I noticed the top of a castle-like structure peaking over the tree tops from his window. Did I mention earlier that the leaves were changing? Driving from city to city was wonderful because we could just stare out at all the gorgeous fall trees. They were spectacular next to the water - the reflections were magnificent! Back at the seminary, the staff and food were great! We visited, toured then ate dinner and visited some more.

The Magi...or is it?

On our way back to Philly, we stopped to see Matt's sailboat. I had heard that it was called the Magi, but really it's a no name boat (you'll see in the pictures). It was surprisingly clean and looked ready to go! I could just imagine taking the dogs (with their life jackets on) and our family out on the boat. It has a bathroom and plenty of storage room and sleeping room. Dare I say that it's more comfortable and appealing than staying in the half demolished house? We'll see...

The Dolan Family

After coffee we drove South or West toward Annapolis to see The Dolan Family. Matt met Dave over 10 years ago and was with Dave when he met his wife, Barbara. They have a beautiful house and 2 boys, Patrick and Quinn. We ate dinner with them (yummy eggplant parm) and spent the night at their house. It was a wonderful visit. My favorite was playing with playdoh while drinking tea on Sunday morning while Matt and Dave went to the marina to see about a boat.

Constantino

Constantino is a friend of Matt's that lives in Fells Point. He checks in on Matt's house every once in a while. He's a traveling, busy guy with his own business. He's Italian and speaks 5 different languages. He helped tell us about the meanings of names. For instance, Bellatrix literally means warhead. Hmmm... Matt and I still like the name. It's one of the 57 navigational stars and means female warrior according to the constellation map. "Cos" as Matt calls him, suggested some boy names too. Vladmir was the top of the list, especially since it has 3 syllables.

We enjoyed a couple of hours out of the rain at the coffee shop. Cos is a good guy and I can't wait to hang out with him more when we vacation in Baltimore.

Fells Point

Matt and I visited Fells Point, Maryland (Baltimore) and I got to see his house for the first time! Well, let me talk about the neighborhood first... It's a walking around kind of place, little restaurants and coffee shops all around. No franchises at all! (well, maybe Subway, but that's ok) You can walk to the water from his house too!

Now for the house... It looks totally normal from the outside (but I forgot to take a picture of it). Once you're inside you quickly realize that it's a shell of at house and needs a bunch of work. My plan is that when we confirm that our baby is happy and healthy, that we take advantage of parent leave at work and live in Baltimore for part of April or May. The kitchen, bath and dining room are intact and livable. We can spend some money on the house then to start getting it all back together.

Here's the bedroom with 3 pretty windows and a fireplace. Remember that this house was built at the turn of the century.

Here's the other bedroom in the back with an attached full-size bathroom (which will eventually be renovated into a walk-in closet and the bathroom will be moved between the bedrooms).
A spiral stair case! (with sail boat masts in the way)
The front door and family room with fireplace (and a sailboat!).
The dining room...or the functioning bedroom of the house.
The dining room, kitchen and bathroom can be closed off from the rest of the house so workers can work and we can live.
The kitchen! It all works!

The patio which is need of some cleaning up and a privacy umbrella.
The fully functional bathroom!
Johns Hopkins is within walking distance and beginning to expand so this house will become a great rental property someday in the future. Until then I want to use it as a vacation home. It's such a fun neighborhood to hang around in. We'd have the best time walking around and being neighborly!

baby-P in action!

Here's baby Paulonis in action! Now you can scan to see if you think he/she is a boy or girl. Apparently Dr. Papasakelariou knows!

accomplished!

Matt and I have completed lots around the house! In fact, that's how we spent the entire weekend. Painting-done. Wiring-done. Reorganizing-done. Cleaning-done. It's so nice to be done (with almost everything). Now we can plan to get away!

Baby Paulonis

Here's our first picture of our baby! Isn't it the cutest thing?! It was a lot of fun to get our ultrasound. Matt was better at seeing things than I was; he picked out it's nose all on his own! Seeing it move around, especially it's lips was really amazing. I liked seeing it's spine the most. Now that there's just a single, little, blurry picture, it's not as cool, but that's ok. We really were just getting a head count...and yep, there's just one head.

Just FYI: BPD means biparietal diameter (head), HC means head circumference, AC means abdominal circumference and FL means femur length. ...And I found out that my blood type is A+. Matt is O-.

The due date changed to February 18th (Happy Birthday Kimberly!!!!) but our C-section will probably be scheduled on February 11th...or maybe the 9th to appease Matt.

I added a poll to the side so you can guess the sex. Matt thinks it's a boy since it has a long femur bone. I think it's a girl because I really want a girl.

oh the fun we have when Matt's away

Dutcher is looking back to see that she's still a pumpkin!! A very cute pumpkin! She was even comfortable enough to sit.

You see, since Matt's away, Dutcher and I get along very well. She's so sweet; no whining, no barking and even snuggly. I gave her a pizza crust beforehand and then put the pumpkin costume on. She didn't mind at all. Now...if Matt were here, she would have whaled and cried as if we were removing her tail. Obviously, it's all a show, just for him.

She wouldn't look at me.

Here you can see how well her green collar goes with the ensemble!

Just the cutest, little pumpkin that I've ever seen! (P.S. See the orange piece of plastic on the floor? It's Dutcher's favorite toy that got shredded by Penny...not maliciously, just over-zealous. Duchess still likes to chew on the parts so we leave them around for her.)

Just wait a couple of weeks. The pictures will get better. We'll put Penny in her moose costume and Duchess again in her pumpkin costume and take pictures of them together!

IT moves

I forgot to tell... I felt a funny feeling from inside...almost like a 'toot' but from the front of your belly. Matt felt it too - he held his hand on my belly and pressed for awhile and IT pressed back! Personally, it feels like an alien inside. Since we haven't had an ultrasound, it's hard to imagine how big it is (books say it's 10 inches) or how it's situated...or if it really is normal-looking. Sometimes it keeps tapping which feels like a rolling feeling through my belly. Then it feels like I'm a jelly-fish with cilia and tentacles churning inside and around.

Friday we get our ultrasound to see what IT really looks like.

a cold

Yuck, yuck! I have a cold. I think it started with allergies...and then turned into much more. Resting and replenishing fluids are recommended, so that's what I'm doing. I tried out Tavist and Tylenol to relieve congestion and a headache, but they didn't work (but they're 'safe' to take during pregnancy). Matt left for Mobile, Alabama, but should be home in a couple of days.

a mess

The last couple of weeks have been a mess around the house. I've been so patient and Matt has been working hard, but it seems that every project takes more and more steps before it can be completed. Here's what we're working on:

• lowering the front yard (for proper water drainage), adding edging to keep dirt in one place and gravel in another, deweeding and replanting pots
• wiring the cable/internet/tv cables so that the tv can be wall mounted about a bookshelf in the family room. Matt's an expert at this and has drilled the holes, run the wires, repaired the sheet rock, spackled, sanded and is now repainting. Next is to actually hang the wall mount and attach the tv
• reupholstering the rocking chair cushions
• rearranging, swapping out and reorganizing the kitchen to accommodate all Matt's kitchen supplies with what was already there. He's got a lot of good items and some fun stuff too, like a hand coffee grinder.
• building a shelf for the cable box in the storage closet under the stairs, then all the storage boxes can go back into that space and we can stop walking around them
• replenishing the refrigerator of all the food, especially condiments that were spoiled during the power outage
• painting the baby's room
• hanging shelves in the baby's room
• building a diaper changing station on top of a dresser
• replace a battery to make the alarm system work again
  

Anyone who wants to help with any of this is WELCOME! We're making good progress but I'm ready for it to be done sooner!

Family Pictures

"Hurrication" - I don't think so!

Many people called this event a "hurrication." Those people obviously had power early on and could stay in their homes and actually have a mini-vacation from work. We're just thankful that after 12 days without power, it was restored! Yeah! On Saturday when the temperatures rose to the 90's with a lows in the upper 70's we discovered that Matt's old apartment had power so the last 4 nights we've been sleeping there.

Above is a picture of Matt getting ready to make French toast in the morning (Day 3). Notice the apples that he lined up in the background...spectrumy, huh?



So, during the time that our house was not air-conditioned, I got to wear a heart monitor for 48 hours to monitor my palpitations. I also got to get another echo cardiogram. My heart is structurally sound (no volume overload from being pregnant) but I do have "premature atrial complexes" or extra heart beats from the top of my heart. Dr. Civitello says it's "not dangerous."

Our "hurrication" wasn't complete without a dog party. We celebrated Penny's Gotcha Day by making her a hurricane party hat and wrapping her with ribbon. She loved it - can't you tell?