Happy New Year!

I can't believe that it is almost 2008. This is the beginning of my new life. This past Friday was my last day at work. Thank goodness. My boss was absolutely terrible. I think she was jumping for joy when she said good-bye to me on Friday. She couldn't have been happier. I came to the conclusion that the reason why she couldn't stand me working for her anymore, is because I didn't need her. She has very little self-esteem, although she will tell you very differently. She thinks she has tons of confidence and everyone else doesn't have any, but I think if you have to tell people over and over again how much confidence you have, you must have none, so you just try to reassure yourself that you do. Anyway, I was really good at what I did and I didn't need her as much. She really like someone coming to her with questions and asking how to do things.

I also think that me being pregnant and enjoying my life, really pissed her off too. She didn't like the fact that I could be happy, not practicing law. She kept telling me over and over again that I will come back to work really quickly because why would I waste my time at home with a baby when I worked so hard to get where I am today. I don't think she understands the concept of being fulfilled in other ways that don't necessarily have to do with making tons of money. Which by the way I never made working for her because she is way to selfish.

If you can't tell, I am extremely happy not to have to go back to work. It took me a couple of days to wind down. I couldn't sleep Friday night because I was so stressed out from the last 6 months of hell. Saturday night I slept great and then last night I had trouble sleeping again because I was thinking about the fact that I didn't have to go to work today. Yes!

This new year is going to be pretty exciting. We are going to have the baby is about 2 months. It is crazy. I have so much to do before the baby comes. our house is a completely wreck. I can't wait to clean everything. I will start that tomorrow or Wednesday.

Have a very happy new year everyone. I won't post again until 2008!!!!!!

Winding Down

We were in Michigan from Saturday until yesterday. It was very nice. Thank goodness we left when we did because this morning on the news it said that there waws freezing fog and no planes were allowed to leave Detriot. We would have been stuck at the airport probably all day. Anyway, it was a very nice trip. We met our nephew, Jacob for the first time. He was very cute! I will have to post pictures at some point.

So we got back to St. Louis around noon yesterday and we had no food at our house. So we decided the only place we could think of that was open was the Casino. So, for the 3rd year in a row, we went to the Casino on Christmas. We figured this would be the last time we will be able to go for many many years. There is a new Casino that opended in St. Louis, Lumire Place or something like that. I can't really spell today because my brain is still very tired after such a long nice break. Anyway, we ate at the new burger bar. You can create your own burger. I had a turkey burger with cheddar, shredded beets and pickled green tomatoes. It was very very good. Dave had a Kobe beef burger, with swiss and bacon. His was very good too. So, we got our lunch/dinner in and then went to the Casino.

I finally won! I won almost $70.00 on the penny slots. I put in $20 and and walked away with almost $90. It was awesome. I never ever win. Then I played other penny slots and won just a little bit. It was great. I haven't been to the casino in a while, so it was nice to win. So that was our excitement yesterday. Then we got in bed around 6:30 and watched TV and I have no idea when I fell asleep. It was a great way to end our long break. I hope everyone else had a nice relaxing holiday.

So, the countdown really has begun. I only have 3 more days of work left!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. I can't wait. I think Dave and I are going to celebrate either Friday or Saturday night. Thank goodness, I will be done.

Time to get back to work.

Happy Birthday to John and Chris, they turn the big 30 today!

Yesterday we had our Christmas Party at work. It was very nice, but the best part was the fact that the office threw me a surprise baby shower. I was really surprised. I had no idea at all. There was cake and food and presents. I will have to post pictures later of the cakes. They were so cute. I haven't had time to download anything, but I will in just about a week.

3 and a half work days to go. I am slammed with stuff to do and finalize before I leave, plus I have to train the new associate one morning next week. That should be a blast.

I haven't exercised in at least a week and I feel huge. I need to go for a walk or get on some exercise machine. I feel so disgusting. I can't wait to be able to work out a little bit everyday. It will be so nice.

We are leaving for Michigan tomorrow. It is going to be so cold.

I will not be positng until after Christmas, so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

I haven't posted in a while. I have been super busy with work and life, etc. I only have 7 more days of work!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not excited at all. I will post more at that time. We are going to Michigan on Saturday and staying until Tuesday morning. I have tons of laundry to do and packing. We have stuff planned every evening, except Wedensday, but I think that will be filling up soon too.

HAve a great holiday and I will post when I have time.

Birthing Class

Happy 30th Brithday Justin!!

So last night we had our first class at the hospital. We got a tour of the facility and got the see a couple really cute new born babies in the nursery. The class was pretty good, just really long. We are pooped. Luckily we have nothing planned for the rest of the week until Friday.

I can't wait to go home early and put on my pj's and go to bed early.

I am up to 6 pillows in the bed now, just for me. George doesn't even have room to sleep, so Dave (who never wanted George on the bed in the first place) let her sleep on his side. She slept balled up in his corner all night. Then she came over to my side in the morning and laid right on top of me. She must have missed being close to me all night. Anyway, the bed is getting really full with pillows, but I am sleeping great, so I don't really care if no one else has room.

That is it for now.

Last Day of Hanukkah

Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah and we will be celebrating by going to another birthing class. Hip Hip Hooray! Dave and I celebrated this year by lighting the candles and eating lots of cookies. I also gave him an early holiday present. I couldn't keep the present hidden, so I gave it to him. I got him a really nice watch. He really needed one and since he surprised me for our anniversary, I wanted to surprise him. He thought I was going to be giving him a CD, so that made it even better.

Charisa asked me to post a little somethign about Hanukkah, so I have put the history below for everyone to read. The best part of Hanukkah is the 8 days of presents when you are a kid, hanukkah gelt (money and playing with the dreidel. enjoy the history.

The History of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian calendar). In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication."

The holiday commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 165 B.C.E. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.

In 168 B.C.E. the Jews' holy Temple was seized and dedicated to the worship of Zeus.

Some Jews were afraid of the Greek soldiers and obeyed them, but most were angry and decided to fight back.

The fighting began in Modiin, a village not far from Jerusalem. A Greek officer and soldiers assembled the villagers, asking them to bow to an idol and eat the flesh of a pig, activities forbidden to Jews. The officer asked Mattathias, a Jewish High Priest, to take part in the ceremony. He refused, and another villager stepped forward and offered to do it instead. Mattathias became outraged, took out his sword and killed the man, then killed the officer. His five sons and the other villagers then attacked and killed the soldiers. Mattathias' family went into hiding in the nearby mountains, where many other Jews who wanted to fight the Greeks joined them. They attacked the Greek soldiers whenever possible.

Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple, and were saddened that many things were missing or broken, including the golden menorah. They cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished, they decided to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration, the Maccabees wanted to light the menorah. They looked everywhere for oil, and found a small flask that contained only enough oil to light the menorah for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. This gave them enough time to obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight-day miracle.

Nothing new

This weekend flew by and I feel like I didn't get anything done. I took Friday off and I was busy every single second of the day running errands. We had two Christmas parties this past weekend, so I was pooped. We didn't get home until after 11 on both nights and I just can't do that anymore. We ate at Flemings for the party on Saturday night. It was very good with HUGE portions. I really like their creamed spinach. That was the highlight of the night for me. I am not going to write a review for Flemings because it is a chain and anyone can go to it. I just like to write reviews for restaurants that not everyone can go to, just in case they travel through the area. It was good and over-priced, so go if you want.

I didn't mention this before, but the natural child birth classes we are taking recommend that I eat 75 grams of protein a day. Can you believe that? I can't. That is a lot of food. Anyway, I have figured out how to get a lot of protein by not eating so much. I am actually fuller by eating more protein, so I am not eating as much as I was before. Let me tell you though, it is tough to keep track of your food intake. I have never counted calories or watched what I ate, so this is kind of hard. Anyway, for the last week or so I have been trying to consume lots of protein (in between my cupcakes and cookies).

I made the best peanut butter, caramel/chocolate chip cookies this past weekend. I will grab the recipe when I get home and post it. It was amazing and easy. I don't normally eat the cookies I make, I just give them out to people, but I couldn't help myself on this one. It was soooo good.

Have a great week everyone.

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday. The orange drink wasn't too bad, I tried to drink it as quickly as possible. It was just very sugary syrup. Kind of gross. I am happy that part is over. I haven't gotten my results back from the glucose test, but I will be very surprised if I have gestational diabetes. I feel great physically, so I don't anticipate any issues, but we will see.

I am happy though that I only gained 5 pounds since my last visit about 5 weeks ago. The doctor said that I did a very good job of the weight control especially since it it the holiday season. She said tons of people have come in and had gained 10 to 15 pounds since their last visit. I would die, if I gained that much.

I am measuring 28 weeks, only a week ahead of schedule. It is pretty exciting.

We attended a breastfeeding class last night. It was actually a very good class, we learned a lot. It didn't really help me with the fear of breastfeeding though. I know it is a wonderful benefit to the baby to breast feed, but does it weird anyone else out? I am really going to have to get used to the idea of a baby eating out of my boob. Very strange.

I can't wait to write about that whole experience.

Have a great Thursday.

Happy Hanukkah!

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, so I hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful evening. It is so early this year, I haven't even had time to think about gifts. Oh well. At least I have 8 days to think of something.

I am not very motivated lately. Very difficult to get anything done.

Tomorrow I have my doctor's appointment. Not really looking forward to the blood drawing and drinking some nasty drink. I will let you know how it goes. I am also not looking forward to getting on the scale. I already know I have gained a ton, so why do they need to know the actual amount? Thanksgiving and holiday cookie making hasn't really helped with the weight gain either.

15 work days left, thank goodness. It is getting more and more difficult to get up in the morning. Have to continue to think positive!

Comments, Weekend Errands

I love all the comments you all have left. I love knowing that people are looking and ready my blog. I am sure I will have much more interesting stuff to read about once I quit work and the baby comes.

Dave and I ran errands all day today and spent a good two hours at Home Depot. We desperately needed to fix things in our master bathroom, so we bought new faucets and a new shower door. Both are both currently absolutely disgusting. We have needed to do this for a long time, but have been putting it off until both of us were so disgusted. We reached that point this past week.

I am so tired. I love the weekends and then we run errands all day and then the weekend is over.

Note to self - never check work email over the weekend. I just spent about 5 to 10 minutes screaming at the computer because of all the work I am supposed to do. Whatever, I am so done! I am only working 15 full days in December. They can't come quicker.

I think I am going to make some holiday cookies tomorrow, in between all the laundry and my pre-natal yoga class.

Oh, I forgot to mention earlier. Dave and I had our first Natural Child Birth Class. We are planning to use the Bradley Method. Anyway it is a 10 weeks class, so there is a real possibility that we could have the baby shortly after the last class. I would be 36 weeks and since this is the first, I have no idea if I will be early, late or what. Kind of scary.

Anyway, we had our first class with one other couple. It is like getting private lessons. This last class was just learning relaxation techniques, which I have already learned in my pre-natal yoga class. So far so good. Oh the craziest part is the amount of protein I should be eating. They suggested that I eat 75 grams of protein, basically impossible. I thought I was eating a lot, but apparently not enough protein. We will see how that goes.

We have our first breast-feeding class next week. It is just one evening class, so it shouldn't be too bad. I will let you know how it goes.

Adam and Theresa congratulations on your new baby girl! We are excited for you.

Have a great weekend everyone and stay warm.

Stuffiness and Pregnancy

Did anyone else have allergy and stuffiness problems when they were pregnant? I am so sick of blowing my nose. I was sick several weeks ago and then the runny nose just won't go away. I am so sick of ichy eyes too. I can't take anything either. I tried Sudafed one time and that completely screwed me up, so I won't be doing that again. I would love to just cut my head off. I am sure Dave would love that as well, but for many other reasons (like talking too much for example).

What are some remedies?

I am 26 weeks tomorrow. Thank goodness. I felt the baby kick my ribs today, is was a very interesting experience. I am sure it will now happen much more often now. I have a doctor's appointment next week to check my sugar levels to see if I have gestational diabetes. I don't think I do. I feel perfectly fine. It could have somethign to do with the fact that I eat constantly. This week my appetite has picked up. I think I could eat non-stop all day. All I want is fruit and chocolate cupcakes.

Well, off to go eat another snack.

Smoothies and Dancing with the Stars

Well, I was on a mission this morning. I woke up and all I wanted was a smoothie. I was way to lazy to make one myself, so I thought I would run by the smoothie place right by my house. They were closed. I couldn't believe it. So, then I headed to work, but my craving for a smoothie was getting out of control, so I stopped at Whole Foods. I figured it is a healthy store, they should have smoothie. No, no they didn't. They don't make smoothies at that store. So by this time, my craving was becoming out of control and I knew I couldn't go to work without a smoothie, so then I made a last stop at Wild Oats. Thank goodness, they had smoothies. So I got the organic berry boogaloo. Yum Yum. It had organic raspberries, strawberries and blueberries with grape juice. It was perfect. It probably would have taken me less time to make it at home, but it made for an adventurous morning.

On to Dancing with the Stars...this season sucked a big one. I didn't really like any of the dancers and I was bored to death. And then Scary Spice didn't even win. The only intersting part about watching last night was trying to figure out all the names of all the different spice girls. Thanks to Justin and Charisa, we would have never figured out the name of the last spice girl. So here are this names, just in case anyone was wondering. Scary, Posh, Baby, Sporty and (drum roll) Ginger. Had no idea on the last one.

Anyway, on to the next reality show, whatever that may be!

Thanksgiving Ends

Well another Thanksgiving has passed. It was actually a very nice. I was worried with all the family, but it was surprisingly very enjoyable and relaxing. We had so much food, it was gluttonous. Thank goodness I took time off from Wednesday until Monday. Our house was a mess and we are finally almost done with all the dishes and dirtiness.

As you know, I posted earlier about the gooey butter cakes. We ordered the Maple Pecan and it wasn't very good. It might have something to do with the fact that I don't really like nuts in things, but it just didn't do it for me. We did have a apple cranberry pie, that was delicious. Hopefully we will have that again next year.

We took lots of family pictures, which I will post a little later. I have to figure out how to post the pictures.

I have to admit, I think my therapy is actually working. I got through the entire Thanksgiving festivities without blowing a gasket. I usually get so overwhelmed and irritated (not at any particular thing) that I just can't relax and enjoy having everyone around. I think it was different this year. I anticipated that I would be more emotional and uptight and crazy, due to the fact that I am pregnant (or because I am a complete control freak), but that wasn't the case. I didn't even get paranoid and upset with other people doing the dishes and cleaning my china and crystal! (By the way, one glass broke and I didn't even care.) In years past, I would have flipped out and required that I do everything for fear it wouldn't be perfect. Oh well. I realized that it isn't worth the stress. Thank goodness.

The one thing I am not looking forward it is going back to work to a hellish week. 4 and a half more weeks to go. (and yes the countdown has begun!)

Have a great Saturday night. We will be watching football. Not that I really care, but we have to see the MIZZOU v. KU game, since we live in Missouri and it is an important game. I guess if I have to pick someone to root for it will be MIZZOU. So GO TIGERS!

Pregnancy Sucks

I know that I should be very happy about being pregnant, especially since it took us so long to get pregnant, but there are days when I just hate it. Yesterday was one of those days. My stomach hurt so badly, I felt like I was going to die. The baby was super active and I think it kicked me for about 5 hours straight. I felt like I did a million sit ups because of all the kicking going on. Anyway, then I woke up this morning and I swear my stomach grew overnight.

I hate the fact that I can't go on long walks anymore without figuring out a path that goes by a bathroom because I can't make it that far. I am so out of breath just when doing light exercises at the gym. I have barely any energy after 8:00 at night. My pelvis is killing me because the baby is sitting so low it feels like it is splitting my pelvic bone apart and not to mention sitting directly on my bladder, so I am peeing about every 10 minutes. I could go on and on with all the uncomfortableness of all of this, but I will stop now.

I am very excited about having a baby and being able to stay at home with the baby. It really is amazing to feel the kicking and movement and knowing that there is a living being inside of me (I won't go into more commentary about that because it kind of freaks me out too).

Anyway, all and all it is very exciting, but when I have days like yesterday and last night it makes me question why I even wanted to get pregnant to begin with.

Please people have a glass of wine or two or three for me.

Almost Thanksgiving

In preparation for Thanksgiving, Dave and I tried cleaning the house, did all the laundry and bought lots and lots of food. Dave cleaned the ceiling fan blades and lights. My goodness that gets so dirty. I don't think we have cleaned the ceiling fan since we put it up at least a year ago. The one thing I didn't do, but desperately needs to be done is dusting. I hate dusting.

I am planning to take pictures of our delicious spread of food on Thanksgiving, so maybe I will post those after the holiday.

I am not sure how much time I will have to post between now and Thanksgiving. So Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Travel safely, if you are traveling and eat lots!!!!

Domestic Violence

I was watching the today show this morning and they were interviewing Drew Peterson, the police officer that is a possible suspect in the disappearance of his current wife and a possible suspect in the death of his 3rd wife, that was previously ruled an accidental death.

When Matt was interviewing him his morning, I couldn't help but think that this man is an abuser if I have even seen one. He blamed the women for thier depression and unhappiness. He said that both women came from families that were abusive. He described both women as beautiful, but crazy with mental problem. The man made me sick. He blamed thier failing relationship on the women and didn't take resposbility for any of his behavior. He didn't address any of the accounts that he was abusive to the women. INterestingly, both women disappeared when they were planning to move forward with divorce proceedings.

What really upsets me, is that the issue of domestic violence is rarely talked about in the media or in our community. The only time it become a topic is when something like this happens. Men aren't held accountable for thier actions and women are continually isolated.

While I am out of work, my goal is to begin intereviewing victims of domestic violence and putting together an inspriational and educational book for victims of domestic violence and for the public in general to encourage discussion about this crime.

Watching that interview, just made me sick. Anyway, I am done with my bitching for now.

Pediatrician, Work...

So our lives have been boring for the past weekend. I didn't feel well all weekend, so I basically sat around and relaxed. It was very nice. I pulled out work to do on Sunday and then I said screw it, I am quitting December 31st, so why should I do work on the weekends. Whatever is left after I leave is not my problem.

Today has actually been interesting. We interviewed our first Pediatrician, Dr. David Hartenbach. He was a very nice bald man and an extremely fast talker. I almost had a hard time keeping up with him because he was going a mile a minute. But, he did cover a lot of information. He has three kids, so I guess not only is he a good pediatrician, but he has experience too. I like his opinion about breastfeeding, sleeping, pacifiers, etc. I may want to interview another pediatrician, just to see if we like someone better, but I really liked him.

Anyone have any suggestions for other pediatricians in the St. Louis area?

I took the day off today because I can't get over this cold. I barely slept last night.

I am heading off to bed now.

I just wanted to say to my brother Jonathan, I know you have made fun of me for my blog, but I see that you check it everyday. So you must like it!!!

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Food, Baby and Sick

Well I am still sick. I am trying to fight this cold off, but I am not doing a good job.

We had another doctor's appointment yesterday. Everything was great. The baby's heart rate is back up into the 160s. The last three times it was in the 140's. We have heard every prediction about what we are having based upon the heartbeat. But, it keeps changing every time we go in, so who knows. I had to get a flu shot yesterday. I never had one before. I was always a little nervous about getting injected with a virus, but the doctor said that it is recommended now for all pregnant women, so I am not going to argue. My arm doesn't hurt at all today. Hopefully I won't get any sicker then I am now. That would be horrible.

I wasn't able to write about our Anniversary evening, so I will do a little blurb now. Dave and I had agreed not to exchange gifts this year because we have been doing so much baby stuff. So, of course I follow through with our deal and I don't get him anything. But, then we are at dinner and Dave pulls out a small green box (our jewelery store has green boxes) and I was instantly angry (not really, because I love gifts, but mad because I didn't get him anything). Anyway, he gave me these beautiful Sapphire and diamond earrings. (For those of you that don't know, my wedding ring and band are sapphires and diamonds). They were beautiful. I will post a picture as soon as I download them off the camera. I love them. They were perfect. It was a wonderful surprise.

So onto the dinner. This was the first time we have eaten at Cyrano's (other then the dessert, which they are known for). I don't know if it was because I was coming down with a cold or what, but I did not think the food was that good. Everything was over seasoned. We got a marinara and goat cheese appetizer that had a ton of red pepper in it. It was okay. Then I got a grilled tuna with stir fry veggies. The veggies had way toooo much soy sauce, it was so full of salt I could barely eat it. Then Dave got two small dishes, a chicken dish and beef dish. The chicken was good and soft and flavored well, but the beef had way too much seasoning (Dave didn't think so) and was overcooked and chewy. So the main meal wasn't so great.

On the to DESSERTS. Now, if you want a good place to go for desserts go there. It was amazing. We got an apple crisp and caramel cherry bread pudding. I have never tasted a better bread pudding. It was like eating butter cake. It was so good. To die for! I highly recommend it. Yum Yum.

Happy Birthday and more to come.

I wanted to wish Charisa a very happy birthday today! Hopefully she has some really yummy cupcakes to eat today.

I am not feeling great today and have a ton of work to do, but I will post later about my wonderful anniversary night and the food at the returant we ate at last night.

Gooey Butter Cake

I am still planning for Thanksgiving and I knew there was a place in St. Louis that had tons of different varieties of gooey butter cake. This is a St. Louis thing and it is soooo good. My sister-in-law's family is coming to St. Louis for Thanksgiving so I wanted to have something St. Louis for them to try. Anyway, look at this link if you are interested, Park Avenue Coffee they have 60 different flavors and they deliver all over the world. It is worth a try. They are yummy. Enjoy.

Our Anniversary!

Yes, yesterday was my parents 31st Anniversary and now Dave and I are celebrating our 3rd Anniversary today. Time really has flown by. We have been together for almost 8 years! That is the most amazing part. It has been wonderful. This is our last year to celebrate without having a child around. We wish we were more creative, but we aren't. So we are just going to dinner at Cyrano's. We ate there for dessert one time, but never for dinner. I am excited to try it out. I will give an update tomorrow on the food.

The baby is kicking me like crazy this morning. I don't know if it was the juice I drank or the yogart I just ate, but this baby is moving!

So I had my first semi-alien dream the other night. I gave birth to a baby that looked like E.T. when it came out. Of course the head was huge, so in my dream I looked and Dave and told him it was his fault that the baby had such a big head. Anyway, then the doctor gave me the baby, but didn't tell me what the sex was and I looked down and it was a boy. My first boy dream.

I have had at least 2 baby girl dreams since I have been pregnant and Dave has had 1.

Anyone know what that means? I have no idea. Everyone is playing the guessing game, but we won't know until March 11th (at least that is the new date the doctor's tell us, I think it will be earlier. But, what do I know, this is only my first).

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Oops, almost forgot. I wanted to wish my parents a very happy 31st wedding anniversary. Love you!

Pre-Natal Yoga and STAR Court

So, I was way too hungry yesterday to post after pre-natal yoga. I think my stomach was the only one in class making noises by the end. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. There were about 10 women. All different ages, stages of pregnancy and number of pregnancies. There was only one person in the class having twins (but she was only about 11 weeks, so you can even really tell she is pregnant.) Most people were having their first. We did a lot of stretching, which my body is not really used to do anymore. That might be way my stomach feels a little sore today. The class is an hour and a half and we have the yoga class portion, relaxation and then discussion about pregnancy at the end. I think it will be really nice. I need to meet more people. Anyway, it was nice and relaxing. It is a seven week class so by the end I will be about 30 weeks pregnant. So close to the end!!!!

Okay, so a little bit about STAR Court, which used to be Truancy Court. I am a volunteer Judge. I go to an elementary school every Friday (unless they don't have school) and I meet with about 10 kids. All of these kids have issues ranging from not attending school, being tardy or social and familial issues that are affecting their progress in school. I would say the majority have behavioral problems stemming from their home life that causing them to misbehave in school. I love this program. The kids act like they hate coming every Friday, but they get so excited to sit down with me and talk about their week.

This isn't a completely fun program. If I feel like they are not following the rules or I feel like there may be abuse or neglect at home or educational neglect, I can refer the family to Children's Division, which may end the family in Juvenile Court. So there are serious consequences. But our goal is to try to deal with the problems, before it ever gets to that point.

This is my third year participating in this program. I will be going every week until I have the baby, then I will try to go back as soon as I can after the baby comes. Anyway, I will have to post the funny things that the kids say. Sometimes I can barely hold back laughing because they are so funny. Most of the kids in my session are in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. They are so smart and sometimes I can't believe that a little 8 year old comes up with some of these things.

This past Friday was my first week meeting with the kids. I sat down with one of my kids, Aaron and I asked him how his week was. He told me that it was good and bad. I asked him if he wanted to tell me the good stuff first or the bad stuff first. He said, "Lets start with the bad stuff, because I want to end this session on a good note." So cute. With that, I will end my post for the day.

Is it too early to be planning for Thanksgiving?

Well my sister in law and I created our whole menu this morning. We were thinking that it might be a little early to start planning, but what the heck. Dave and I are having 11 people so far at our house this Thanksgiving. I think it will be the third or fourth year of hosting. The attending will be: me and Dave, my brother (Jonathan) and sister in law (Laura), my parents, Dave's parents, Laura's parents and Laura's sister. It should be a packed house.

We are planning to have tons of food, but I always feel like we need more. The menu (so far): Turkey, Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli Cheese Casserole, Potato Casserole, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, maybe salad, maybe a fruit salad and I guess that is it. Anyone have any other suggestions? Of course we will have pies too and think we have 5 pies already bought, so I am not worried about dessert.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Family can all get together, have fun, eat a lot of food and then not worry about exchanging gifts or having to get dressed up. I love it. Plus this year will be special because it will be our last one without a baby. Forever our lives will be completely different, which we are of course looking forward to, but it will be nice to be able to eat my own food without having to worry about a baby (the kicking I am experiencing very frequently may be a little disturbing, but it won't stop me from chowing down on the food).

I will miss the wine drinking with dinner, since I won't be partaking in that. Hopefully, my family will drink for me!

Tomorrow I start pre-natal yoga. I will give an update about how that goes. It is from 12:00-2:30 on Sunday. Dave is happy about that because then he gets football watching time, without me bugging him.

Tomorrow after yoga I will write about a few organizations I am involved in, one being STAR Court. I am a volunteer Judge at a local elementary school in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. I love it. More on that later.

Back to the Michigan/Michigan State Football game. GO BLUE!!!!!

How much is too much?

So, I have been debating how much information I should divulge on my blog. I am normally a pretty open person, but if anyone can read my blog, how personal should I be? I guess I will just cross that path when I come to it.

If you can't already tell from my widget, I am pregnant. Almost 22 weeks. The time has flown by thank goodness. The first three months were horrible, all day sickness! Now I am just dealing with the fact that I am getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I want to eat everything. I was never really a carb eater, but now I don't feel like I can get enough. I need to watch what I am eating because I am starting to gain so much weight. Yuck. (But I LOVE food).

So back to my analysis of local resturants. Dave and I ate at Red, a new resturant that opened about a month or two months ago on Washington Ave. The atmosphere was very nice. A long narrow resturant, with lots of concrete and obviously lots of red. They mentioend that after 10:30 p.m. or so, thier goal is to turn it more into a night club. So, if you are like Dave and I, we were long gone by then. Plus being pregnant puts a damper on night life. Anyway, to the food...the salad appetizer dish we got was not great (it was spicy lettuce of something like that). The flat bread pizza was pretty boring. Dave ordered two small plates. A modernized beef stroginoff and a beef tenderloin with a cognac sauce and potatoes. They were the most amazing dishes. The beef literally melted in our mouths. It was amazing. I got a fish dish, which was very tasty as well, light and flacky with a grapfruit and strawberry sauce. Although it was nice, the beef was amazing. We highly reccomend trying it out. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't outrageously expensive either. The wait staff was wonderful. We will go back, if we are ever in the mood to eat downtown again.

Okay, back to work.

Something New

So I am very new at this whole blog thing. I stole the baby widget from Charisa because it was really cool and she had it on her blog. So Dave and I decided that since we have this blog and we (I mean really "I") have always thought it would be fun to be a food critic, so when we try new places in St. Louis and around the country, I will be sure to let you know our thoughts.

We ate brunch at this new place (for us at least) Geyer House in Soulard. They were written up in Sauce Magazine as having a nice brunch. We did not like it because there was very little variety. The only redeeming quality was the free dessert, which was a peach bread pudding and a banana bread cake thing. They were both tasty, but not tasty enough for us to go back and eat there.

More to come...

Good Morning

This is my first post. More to come later.