Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Because it is snowing and cold, and because it is Saturday and I am taking a break from cleaning, I thought I'd do this little Christmas thing I saw on someone's blog. :)

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Never even tasted egg nog, so let's go with hot chocolate :)

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them...or in the case of Christmas 2006, he put the gifts in my stocking and stuffed wrinkled wrapping paper around them because he didn't know that in our newly formed family, we wrap them.

Colored lights on tree/house or white? White, white, WHITE. I think I almost refuse to have any other color of lights. The ONLY exception is if the multi-colored lights all match...no orange-toned, then non-oranged toned. Know what I mean?

Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. I can kiss my love whenever I want. ;)

When do you put your decorations up? Usually as soon as Thanksgiving leftovers are safely stowed in the fridge. Or in the case of this year, a week before. We were going to be exchanging gifts with Matt and Erin the day after Thanksgiving and I wanted it to be Christmas-y and not a mess from the night before.

What is your favorite holiday dish? No idea...hamloaf probably.

Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Waking up on Christmas morning and coming downstairs.

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I have no idea.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When I lived at my parents I think we did. We don't anymore, unless you can't the exchanging of gifts with my parents, siblings, etc.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights and the ornaments from when we were growing up (ones our parents got us every year, homemade ones, etc.)

Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it if I don't have to drive, hate it if I do.

Can you ice skate? Haven't ice skated in like 15 years, so I have no idea.

Do you remember your favorite gift? Honestly, no. I think there's a "real-meaning-of-Christmas" illustration in there somewhere...

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Spending time with family and friends and reflecting on Jesus' birth.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Red velvet cake

What is your favorite holiday tradition? We don't have many traditions yet but hope to change that when little Ran enters the world. For now, probably decorating the tree together.

What tops your tree? Star

Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I like both, but I think giving people gifts is SO fun!

Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yum, but only in moderation

Favorite Christmas Show? National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Saddest Christmas Song? Christmas Shoes, hands down.

What is your favorite Christmas Song? Hmm, probably O Holy Night...Josh Groban style.

Baby Appointment Details

Just had my 18 week appointment. She said everything looked good -- the measurement of my stomach, blood pressure, no protein in urine, baby's heartbeat (146...hmm, boy?).

She did say that I just need to watch my weight gain. According to them, I've gained 7 pounds since I found out I was pregnant (according to my home scale WITHOUT clothing, I've only gained 4...stupid doctor's office scales), but what really drove me crazy is that 1) I was wearing all of my clothing AND my winter coat to get weighed and they didn't adjust for that; and 2) the doctor immediately followed this comment up by telling me about a brand new clinical trial she started about women's weight (at all spectrums) during pregnancy. I'm getting a little hunch that she needed someone my size to enroll....funny how those academic medical centers work, huh? ;) Plus, I am almost 1/2 way...7 pounds doesn't really seem like THAT much.

Anyway, I came back and did some research and according to everything I have found I am right on target, ESPECIALLY if you deduct the pound or 2 from my clothing and coat for cryin' out loud.

But she said everything was going smoothly and she still sees no reason why we couldn't go to Jamaica. One more appt. before the big trip so that will be the final call.

Oh....and I felt baby kick two times last night while laying in bed. :) Felt JUST like Erin described at Thanksgiving -- a gentle finger flick and popcorn popping.

Next appt: Dec 15....the big one!!!!!!!!!! :)

17 weeks!

Today I am 17 weeks pregnant. Super hard to believe...seems like just yesterday we found out, thus leaving me to sit on practically every single bench at Hersheypark while Seth and friends went on rollercoasters and pretty much every ride of interest to me. :)

We will find out in 2 1/2 weeks what we'll be having and are SUPER excited. People ask me all the time what I think it is. Quite honestly, I have absolutely NO IDEA. I pretty much feel like it is going to be a boy. I can't pinpoint why but maybe it is because I always thought I'd have a girl first. But now that every female in the family is having a girl, I think we'll be the ones to work on evening out the numbers. Calvin and Logan need boy cousins afterall!

The pin on a string said girl....until I got giddy. Then it stopped moving in mid-air and violently switched to boy. It has said boy ever since. Truth be told, we'll be happy with a healthy boy or girl!

We find out on December 15th, so be sure to tune in then to get the results because I will try to share the news as soon as humanly possible! My appointment is at 10 a.m. and is pretty long, but because my boss rocks, she told me that when I'm done, take some time to go celebrate with Seth and take a nice lunch with him!!!

In the meantime, what do you think? I put a poll at the top of my blog...be sure to take it! :)

Step into Africa

Over the past 8 or so days, our church has been hosting something called the AIDS Experience: Step into Africa. Basically, the gym was transformed into an African village. Somewhat like the Holocaust Museum, each person gets headphones and as they walk through, are hearing a narrated story of a little boy or little girl who lives in a village overcome by HIV/AIDS. You are given the "real life" opportunity to see what life was like for them (all true stories and real props) before their lives have been transformed by World Vision, the sponsor of the event. We did this Sunday night for the first time.

As you end the tour, you are brought into a room with a long wall. On it was literally THOUSANDS of handwritten notes or prayers for these children in Africa. Seth wrote one for us, while I browsed the walls of children who are up for sponsorship through World Vision. We've always considered sponsoring a child, but never got around to it because apparently our privileged-go to work-eat a hot meal-sleep in a nice bed kind of life got in the way.

Being the way I am, I was immediately thinking that $35 a month is sort of high for sponsoring a child. But then Seth brought up a good point....we basically have to give up NOTHING to make up that $35 a month. Maybe it means we don't go out for dinner one single time. Or we don't buy a new shirt at the mall. Or go 156 minutes over our cell phone plan (hypothetically speaking, of course).

As I looked around, I was instantly drawn to a little boy named Henry. I have no idea why because they were all adorable. Maybe it was his little blue shirt that was clearly worn through. Maybe it was that he was from a country that this history-deprived girl has actually heard of (Uganda).

While we stood there and talked about it, I thought how could we not??? Knowing that our materialistic $35 a month was anything but materialistic to these kids and their families. That maybe, just maybe, they'd be able to drink clean water and wear a clean shirt--things we take for granted every single day as our clean laundry makes piles several feet high in the laundry room.

Now, if we were going to do this, we had to pick a child. As we walked around looking at them all, I wandered back over to Henry with Seth. And do you know when his birthday was? December 16. Our anniversary. Now we knew we had to not only sponsor a child, but this precious little boy. How cool is that? Just that final nudge we needed at the right time.

So Henry from Uganda is now our sponsor child. That night before we left the event, we were able to write him his first letter. I wrote every single sentence in a different bright color. Seth said I was going to overwhelm the poor 5-year-old but I tend to disagree. Kids love colors, and colors it had. :)

Do you sponsor a child? Or have you ever considered it?

Show Us Your Life - Pets

Today's Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner is all about pets. And you know I love me some of our baby (for now), Bentley! :)

We got Bentley in the summer of 2008, the day we got back from Florida. We picked him out the day before we left, and I talked about him the entire vacation. He's such a good dog -- super sweet, a little lot hyper, all kinds of adorable, and fairly obedient. We love him so much!! For now, he is hands down like a child to us. We spoil him just like he's a kid.

SO -- without further ado (adieu?), I present to you the cutest boxer in the whole world!!

That's our baby boy! :)

Bentley's 6th Sense

Bentley knows I'm pregnant. I can just tell and so can Seth. I've always wondered if dogs can tell and I think I have my answer.

Since pretty much the time I found out that I am pregnant, Bentley has been different around me. He just seemed to "know" something that I didn't. He's been super clingy to me, often times waking up from a dead sleep on the couch to follow me into the kitchen for a drink. When I'm cuddling with Seth, he'll push his way between us ("you did this to her, now get away!") and "fall asleep." When I go to the bathroom or take a bath, he'll lay outside the bathroom door. He'll jump up when Seth and I hug each other as if he's saying "hey, let me in on the hug, people!"

And more recently, when I lay (lie?) on the couch, he'll come up with me and rest his chin on my stomach. It is seriously the most darling thing I have ever seen. I wonder if he can hear the baby?? Dogs ears are incredibly good, afterall.

Hopefully he'll be this protective of his baby brother or sister too! :)

Happenings of Late

Again, I have nothing intriguing or exciting to say. Well, except congratulations to Phil and Bethany on the baby!!! I came home and checked your blog and sure enough, she was here. Very excited to see pictures!

Here's what's been up the past few days:

- I purchased a pair of maternity dress pants and absolutely fell in LOVE with them over the past week. I wish it was acceptable to wear the same pair of pants to work every day, but I'll settle for wearing them to all kinds of places where the same people don't see me (i.e. work, then church, then jury duty) Elastic stretch waistbands are like God's gift to women. Can I get an amen from the pregnant ladies out there?! :)

- I was summoned for jury duty and was there yesterday and today. No lie, on Monday they had about 150 people crammed into a room that was about the size of 2 conference rooms side by side. As soon as I walked in, I was scanning for the nearest exit should I begin to feel faint. It was like a thousand degrees in there!

- I was rejected and then chosen for my very first jury case ever. Unfortunately, the one I got rejected for was a more exciting one but I had a tiny little inkling that because I work at a hospital, the lawyers weren't really going to want me on their jury for a medical malpractice case. I'm just sayin'...good thing I got picked for slip and fall. Boy, are court cases humorous.

- In the process of cleaning up our house and prepping it for the holidays, we decided that rather than blocking the pre-lit, artificial tree in the storage area, we'd just move it out into the family room now, but not turn it on. Yeah right. I turned that puppy on in .2 seconds. And then I found a small bag of ornaments and hung them on the tree. And left it on all night. It makes me SO happy. And it looks SO GOOD in the remodeled basement.

- I officially now have a belly bump, hence why maternity dress pants are so lovely.

That's about all in Ran Land right now. What's new with you?

The Power of Suggestion

Last night, I thought it would be fun to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. Seth thought that sounded about as fun as having bamboo shoots shoved under his fingernails, but I begged and pleaded and he finally gave in. His only requisite was that I had to drive at least one way.

As I backed out of the garage (through the OPEN door, not the closed one), I casually mentioned to him that my car was being finnicky the past week or so and had sputtered when I turned the car on 2 whole times out of 9 days. He said that we'd have to get a battery soon and that was that.

While I ran into the store, Seth sat in the car with Bentley. He turned the car off but left the radio on and the windows down. I came out a mere fifteen minutes later and jumped in the driver's seat.

I think you know where this is going...

I turned the key and nothing. And I mean nothing. Oh I lie, the dash light might have flashed for .2 seconds, but then nothing. We sat and waited for a few minutes and I tried again. Even more of nothingness. Excellent.

Good news for us: we had jumper cables and a lovely couple asked if we needed help, so we were jumped in no time. Plus, Seth was with me. I probably would have freaked out if I was alone and had to jump a car with someone's help because for the life of me, I can NEVER remember that the colors are to MATCH UP on the cables, not be a 1 to 1 kind of thing of black to red. Chances are good that I will ruin more than just a battery some day with that lack of knowledge.

The other good news is that there is a car place just across the lot, so after we were jumped we headed over there, and the nice people installed a new battery for us. Nearly $100 later, we called it a night and headed home!

The point is this: if your battery is being finnicky, don't say it out loud.

Oh Baby, Baby...Stuff.

Seth and I aren't planning to register until after the holidays when we know if baby is a girl or boy. Not that it makes a huge difference because we planning on registering for all neutral "big ticket items" like car seat, stroller, pack and play, high chair, etc. so that baby #2 can use it too. But there are some things like bibs and other things that can be gender-specific, so I'd rather wait.

And wow can Babies R' Us be overwhelming. We had to run some errands around there on Friday, so we decided to stop in and just browse around and get a feel for what all we'd need. Lucky for Seth, I prepared a "baby gear" list of things that I want/feel we need. Some of the things had specifics like brand name/pattern, etc and some things just said "umbrella stroller" because I still need to do some more searching.

So, if you're a mom and/or know anything about baby stuff, what are some "must haves" when it comes to baby and what are some downright "Please, you totally don't need thats"?!?! I already know a few things I have to have and a few things I think are not necessary but there are literally thousands of things out there.

I mean, what are your thoughts on vibrating seats? Diaper bags? Monitors? Breast pumps (yes, I said it)? Learning tools like DVDs/CDs? Pack and plays?

I'd love to hear your advice!

Life's Going-Ons

It seems like I've been awfully tongue-tied and/or too tired to write anything lately, so it has been like a ghost town around here for sure.

Do not be lead astray. Please, oh please, allow me to grace you with the Ran happenings this week:

- We made a little visit to the ER last Friday night because Seth hurt his shoulder playing dodgeball at school. Nothing too serious or dramatic, but he was in pain and it was the weekend, so he needed the drugs. He got the drugs. The end.

- My parents came over Saturday while Seth was at work; my mom fixed the new slip covers to make them look lovely and not ghetto and my dad painted baby's nursery. Yes, I know we aren't due until May, and yes, I am impatient. But we had 5 gallons of leftover paint from the basement, and it happened to be the perfect color that would go with pretty much any single baby bedding I we would choose. And I knew my dad had nothing better to do with his time. :)The room looks lovely (but empty) and I can't waiiiiit to get furniture for in it!!!!!!

- My clothing is starting to get a bit snug. I bought a pair of maternity jeans a week or so ago and fell in love instantly with how comfortable they are. And then prompty got caught on our screen door and ripped them the 2nd time I wore them. Wonderful. Just what I was hoping would happen to my overpriced preggo jeans.

- I got paged during the night while I was on call about H1N1. Seriously. I'm going to get on my soapbox here for a second because I am about to go out of my mind with it. H1N1 is being blown out of proportion by the media. It is basically just.like.the.seasonal.flu. The H1N1 vaccine does not cause paralysis. Everyone is missing a very important part of that story. The 1976 vaccine (as well as the seasonal vaccine) had a few cases of people developing guillain-barre syndrome, a disorder which can cause paralysis. The number of instances was so low, health officials cannot even clearly link the 2. And yes, I am getting the vaccine when it becomes available for pregnant people (unless it is a waste because it takes so long and flu season is over). Though a fairly simple type of flu if treated, it can be bad for pregnant people because of not being able to take much of anything -- the CDC, the American Association of Ob and Gyn, and all 3 OB/GYNs I have talked to say absolutely 100% pregnant people should get it, no questions asked. Off my soapbox.

- I gave out glow sticks for trick or treat, and I was hands down the coolest lady on the street. Who would have thought tkids would be so enamored by them?!

- I totally finished the twins for Christmas today. That means I'm done with like 6 people now! Woo hoo! And also, one night when I got bored, I really wanted to break out my cute new wrapping paper so I wrapped Logan's and the twin's gifts already.

That's about it -- what have you been up to?