MLK Jr. Day

Thank you, MLK Jr for all the sacrificing you did to deserve a National Holiday.  And thank you work, for paying me for said holiday.  I needed it. Mostly because I knew I needed an entire day to tackle this project. And I'm still not done.  This is why I shouldn't do big projects.

Once again, the perfectionist side of me has taken over.  

We bought a glider on Craigslist a few months ago for only $20! The padding is gross and smelled slightly of smoke so it couldn't be just recovered, it needed completely new cushions. I've never done anything like this and it is very intimidating to do completely from scratch! I perused Pinterest for tutorials, but they don't do very much good when they just instruct you to retrace the old pattern.  Needless to say, it's a good thing I'm starting this project early and when I'm not too pregnant.  My back hurt enough after 10 hours at the sewing machine and crawling on the floor tracing and cutting patterns.

So yes, 10 hours later I have accomplished:

• Cutting new cushions
• 10 yards piping (made by me) with an additional 15+ yards of bias tape (This is where I got in over my head! Just cutting the bias tape and making piping took 2+ hours and of course I have waaaaay too much).
• And finally, one cushion covered.  It even is removable so that it can be washed.  I would have liked it a little more snug, but I'm trying to be okay with it mostly because there is no way I'm redoing it.

And finally things I did NOT accomplish after a whole day at home:

• Putting on a bra or putting in my contacts (which of course means no showering)
• Starting the dishwasher or cleaning up any of my dishes
• Making any sort of dinner for Ryan (thank you, D'Giorno's pizza)
• Taking Ryno on a walk (but hey, there were 40 mph winds)

So this one time it snowed and everyone can now guess that I'm not just getting fat.  

Also, these two things are probably not related.

And now, the perfect example of "puppy dog eyes." 

How can you say no?

Proof of our uber boring life

While I am a little behind and have pictures on my real camera of our "Neck 'N Nog" party and some baby bump pictures (I failed and took only one Thanksgiving photo), I just thought I'd take a moment to share the photos that we snap in our boring daily lives.

(L) Now that we have a house to decorate, the projects are getting more ambitious!I bought a whole bunch of barnwood that is currently sitting in our family room hoping to one day be magically turned into a TV stand and end table. 

(R) The old "Nebraska Crossing Outlets" between Omaha and Lincoln were recently revamped into REAL outlets. So long Osh Kosh B'Gosh, Van Huesen and Indian Motorcycles (that was pretty much the extent of the stores).  We now have Gap, Banana, Coach, Michael Kors, Nike, Under Armour (hooray!) and so on.  I made the mistake of going opening day because heck, it's only 10 minutes from our house.  Once I arrived I remembered how much I dislike shopping and crowds.  Combine the two and I'm not a happy camper. Oh and clothes never fit right when I wasn't pregnant, so I'm not quite sure why I thought this would be an enjoyable experience.  I blame the baby brain.  I hoped that Motherhood Maternity would be a good place to start shopping for my first maternity clothes but it was a terrible experience.  The prices were too high and the jeans were... mom jeans.  Somehow they just made me look extra wide, even though they were hugging my hips.  No, thank you. I'll stick with the unbuttoned pants for now.  But back to the pictures - that is the line to get INTO Coach! 

About a month ago Ryno was excessively scratching his neck and WOULD NOT STOP. He was a hot mess of scabs, puss, and fur (too graphic?).  We tried to handle the situation ourselves with some cleansing wipes, guaze, and athletic tape but it would just slide down and the next morning it was a fresh wound once more.  On the same day I went to the outlets (yep, great day) I finally gave in and took him to the vet.  It was some sort of allergic reaction and he had developed "hot spots."  $150, a shaved neck, 10 pills, and one tube of ointment later we were on the road to recovery. I spoiled him with long walk through the park, but at home he would just hide his neck because it was so painful.  Poor little guy.

Now comes the really fun and random pictures on my iPhone. The nipple cream my friend gave me and recommends (the pic was to send to best friend, Bri), an extra bone that Ryno came home with after being puppy sat by Rob and Melissa over Thanksgiving, and the dresser we are most likely going to buy.  Super exciting stuff, hey?

Now this really IS exciting! We got to see our little babe again! Ultrasounds are seriously one of the most amazing pieces of equipment out there.  It's just amazing.  We weren't quite prepared for when they switched over to "High Definition" and holy moly, there was our baby's face! Talk about getting real!  Because we're not finding out the gender, I didn't mind waiting until 23 weeks to get the anatomy ultrasound.  I knew the little thing would just get even more developed and defined as I let it grow.  Ryan is warming up to the idea of letting it be a surprise, but the temptation to find out was almost too much as we had to turn our heads as the tech inspected the lower half of the body to make sure everything was okay.

The heart rate has consistently been 149 the past few visits, and it's currently approximately 1 lb. 2 oz and in the 35th percentile.  I am totally fine with a little baby.  The doc said it'll most likely be in the 6-7 lb range which to me is normal.  Does anyone else think that babies are getting bigger? Or is it just my friends having all 8lb+ babies?

To top off the baby excitement, Ryan also felt the wee one for the first time just a few days before we went in for the visit.  If it wasn't real for him before, it definitely is now! 

Kindness and Panic Attacks

First, can I just tell you how awesome the people are in Nebraska? It is the number one reason we moved back here.  Not just for our fabulous friends, but the people here in general are just good people.  Take for example my other day at work.

Normally I am only dealing with the students who make not-so-great decisions and it can get pretty negative having to be the rule enforcer.  But I must say that most of these kids take it like a champ.  They admit the error of their ways and accept the punishment in a humble and apologetic manner (most of them at least). Then I have days like the other day that just can't help but brighten my  mood!

As I was walking into the building for breakfast, a student was ahead of me quite a ways.  He had already entered the first set of doors and was going through the second set when he saw me walking up.  He kindly waited in the vestibule then came completely outside and held the door open for me even though I was at least five steps away still! What a sweetheart.  Then, it happened again at lunch!  A different student was holding the door open for his group of friends and saw me coming, still at least 10 steps away (which to me is that awkward time to wait). But he did it; he stood there with a smile on his face holding the door open for me.  Nebraskans are such good folks! (Ryan says I just looked really cute that day).

Ryan has even said when he comes to eat in our cafeteria how nice everyone is.  The staff and students all say please and thank you and "excuse me" when they are in your way (and even when you're in theirs). I love it.

Now onto the panic attack.

Holy moly, I just almost had a heart attack.  Ryan and I are going to St. George for Thanksgiving and flying in and out of Vegas. I was checking my email to put our flight times on our calendar.  I open it up and it lists the date as SUNDAY FEBRUARY 2.  WHAAAAAAAT??? I was in a big hurry booking our tickets and I had to do it through two separate accounts paying cash and using points and it was quite a mess. But I was pretty sure I got the date right at least. That's a huge thing to mess up.  The hot flash came on immediately and my heart was racing.  There was no way we could get a flight back to Omaha now on such short notice!! Thankfully it hit me fairly quickly (but not quick enough in my opinion) that Ryan was going BACK to Vegas in February for a conference. WHEW.  Not cool.

Women in Engineering

So although in the end, a career in Engineering wasn't for me, I highly highly encourage girls to get involved in Math and Science.  It always makes me sad to see the statistics that girls perform better than boys in these subjects from Elementary to High School yet they don't consider a career or higher education in any of these fields.  I saw this video this morning on Good Morning America and Upworthy.com and I loved it.  You go, girls! I will not be raising princesses in my home.

Pretty Impressive, huh?

I bet you've never seen anything like this before. I sure hadn't. 

Well helloooo!

I take full responsibility for being a failure at blogging lately.  When I am on the computer 40 hours a week at work, the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit on the computer at home.  So instead, I get home and sit on the couch with my husband.  It's pretty awesome.  We're pretty awesome (hence the title of the blog).  

In all reality though, one of us always has something on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays each week so that only leaves us with Thursdays and the weekends.  The past two weekends we went out of town so I was not ashamed when we may have spent the entire last weekend in front of the TV (I hate you, Netflix) getting addicted to a show called Arrow.  But it was all so Ryan could get over a cold; it was well needed, I promise.  I gotta do what the sick person asks!

Alright, Ryan is home and it's time to wrap this thing up.  So you're not going to get the total update. But you will get weekend getaway #1 - Kansas City for the half marathon.  As I mentioned I was a liiiiittle nervous for this thing.  Unfortunately, it went more poorly than I expected.  The 10k we did a month before gave me too much confidence in my pregnant body.  As the pictures will show, a few weeks makes all the difference.  This time around it was my hips.  That whole loosening of joints pregnancy thing was not working in my favor.  Only a few miles in my hips started hurting until about halfway through they were killing me and the walk/jog began.  Sadly without about 3 miles left there was very little jogging to be had unless it was downhill.  And it was freeeeezing. As you can see by our hands tucked in our sleeves even at the end of the race!

Ryan had fun telling people I was pregnant. 

 Melissa convinced us to run the race back in May and she at least rocked it. Go you!

We got to stay with an old resident and classmate of mine, Joanna, and her hubby she also met at the dorms.

We had to compare our bellies.  However, Ryan can suck his in and I can't hide mine anymore!

Maybe in future posts you'll get a few other pictures from recent events (because I've actually got energy again - YAY!)  For now though, be amazed as I am at what a difference 5 and 10 weeks make in a pregnancy!  And just so you know, I swear I do not look as big in real life as the 18 weeks picture makes me seem.  I wore a form fitting shirt today and I don't think most people would know that I'm pregnant.  What's that saying, the camera makes you gain 15 pounds? I'm sticking with that story.