Doctors, Accidents and Hard Drives - Oh my!

This week has been one of the craziest weeks for our family (and its only Wednesday!) Matt was out of town over the weekend to get some last minute snowboarding in with his friends before the season ended (He was gone two weekends in a row - I told him to get it out of his system now since he wont be doing much of anything next year :)

Since starting the third trimester, I am now in the "every two weeks" bracket for my OB checkups. I had a checkup Monday morning and although Matt wasn't there (they were traveling back that morning), it was pretty routine: weight check, urine sample, blood pressure check, listen to the heart beat, measurements, questions and out the door. I received good news that I passed the glucose test I had done earlier in the week. Yay! No gestational diabetes for me. Blood pressure was good as well - 114/65. I had a few quick questions for my doctor and then was on my way.

But I was surprised to see two missed calls when I got out of the appointment - one being from Matt. He knew I had a doctors appointment so I called him back to see what was up. Only to find out they had just been in an accident on the way home from Sierra Summit. Of course I was worried, but from the tone in his voice and knowing he was able to talk on the phone, I knew he was ok at this point. He assured me everyone was fine and they were waiting for the tow truck and police to arrive. It wasn't their fault. The driver coming the other way had NO CHAINS and was driving way to fast around a corner. Unfortunately the car they hit was our Avalon. I didn't think it would be that bad, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Ironically, Matt was originally going to take the Escort up there because of the roof rack. But last minute he took the Avalon because we couldn't find chains to fit the Escort. Thankfully they were in the Avalon because Im not sure how well the Escort would have done in the accident. We're still waiting to hear back from the adjuster but we're pretty sure its totaled. Oh Avalon - you treated us well.

On a happier note, everyone at my work has been wonderful. One coworker has been picking me up for work and dropping me off at home. A close friend of mine has offered to let us borrow their extra car for a few weeks if we need it. The extra support during this time has been a blessing.

On another side note, we also found out this week that many of our cherished memories have been lost to a hard drive catastrophe. A few months ago our desktop went belly up and we tried to see if we could salvage information off the hard drive (one of which being pictures). Unfortunately, we must mourn the loss of a computer we're still paying for (Im currently laughing out loud, but secretly crying inside).

I dont want to end this blog as a Debbie Downer, so I leave you with this thought:

"No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper "~Murphy's Law

Im in love with this room!

My parents came down today for a visit and I decided to put my dad to work (That's what grandpa's are suppose to do right?)

After a quick bite to eat for lunch, my dad went to work on putting up shelves and letters in Ava's room.

Dad was very focused on making sure everything was perfect for baby Ava's room. The shelves had to be the same number of inches apart and the letters for her name needed to be level (although we soon found out the A's for her name were bigger than the V). My mom and I were very good at supervising :)

We also put up the canvas frames I bought that go with the bedding. After much debate on whether they should be vertical or horizontal, we ended up making them diagonal! lol

In the end, everything DID come out perfect!

Now all we need is the mattress for the crib.

And of course, little Ava :)

Surprise! And Baby makes Seven.

I got to work this morning at 8 and began my day as usual. Computer start up, check email, grab water from the water cooler in the conference room....

But as I go to get water I notice there's a note on the conference room door (which is closed) that says, "Fumigating for ants. Please stay out - Thank you". My coworker, Carol, tells me that they had to spray last night because of ants and it smells REALLY bad in there. I dont really think anything of it because we've been having a slight problem with ants. And the last time someone sprayed for ants it smelled for HOURS in the office. So I leave it at that and go about the rest of my morning.

So around 8:30, my supervisor, Kathy says we're going to have a quick meeting and tells everyone, "Lets meet in the conference room." Of course Im thinking, 'You want me to go into that awful smelling room. Especially when Im pregnant?' Im of course not looking forward to this.

And then she says, "We should let Stephanie go in first". What?! They want ME to go into the fumigated room first?!? Are they trying to kill me?!?!?

But as I walk into the room, I realize there's no smell. And no ants.

Instead, the table is decorated with a pink tablecloth, baby plates, napkins, even party favors! There's juice, bagels and muffins - and in the corner of the table is the baby bedding I registered for!

Im speechless! They did this? For me? Seriously, I work with the greatest group of people. I couldn't have asked for a better place to work.

So we enjoy a nice morning breakfast together and I cant stop staring at the bedding. I want to go home and decorate the rooom right now!

Here's a snapshot of the festivities:

Little Ava Jayneen is going to be one spoiled girl!

Webinar, Smebinar

So the CEO at work sent me an email to sign up for this webinar (online seminar) "Free and Low Cost Tools You Can't Live Without". Before I even signed up, I was pretty sure I wouldn't need ANY of these so called "free" or low cost tools, but I figure it was an hour out of my day that I could just sit and stare blankly at the computer screen.

Needless to say, there were two websites that made me laugh, that I just HAD to blog about it.


The first one:

http://www.getmooh.com/

The concept is genius!

Senerio: You're worried about a date and have a gut feeling that its going to be horrible. So you ask your friend to call about an hour in with some urgent request and that she needs me to be there asap. Only thing is your friend never calls! And those three hours of your life will never come back.

So what do you do? You go to getmooh (get me out of here!) and type in the number to call, when you want it to call, and what you want the recording to play. Seriously, is this the best thing since sliced bread?

Not only can it get you out of a date quick, you can also program it to call OTHER people to wish them a happy birthday. No forgetting mom's birthday!

I have yet to try it, but you can also prank call someone so don't be surprised if you get a call from a frusterated man insisting that you JUST called him!

The second website:

http://www.privnote.com/

This website allows you to send notes to other people that will SELF-DESTRUCT after being read!

Come on - how many of us have sent an email to someone thinking it won't get forwarded to someone else, only to find it posted on Facebook 30 minutes later? (Its never happend to me, but it COULD)

Now you don't have to worry about Jenny finding out you hate her boyfriend, Billy when you CONFIDENTIALLY email Susan about how much you loathe him. So when Susan blabs to Jenny that you emailed her about your new found hate for Billy, you can play dumb and say "I dont remember that email. Can you show it to me?" (And then get rid of Susan who obviously can't keep a secret)

But she can't because its already self-destructed!! I seriously cant get over this. Its so Mission:Impossible XIVLL.

So I guess the hour webinar wasn't TOTALLY a waste. I did learn how to get out of a horrible social gathering AND spread gossip without it being linked to me - oh how technology has grown.

13 weeks and counting!

It still blows my mind to think that in 13 short weeks Matt and I will be having one of these

Which will be doing a lot of this

and A LOT of pooping and peeing (I'll spare you the images)

Which in turn will make us feel like this

If she likes us, she'll hopefully be doing a lot of this

And giving us A LOT of these

Even though it'll be a tough journey, I cant wait to smother her with these

And fall asleep with her like this

Parenthood - Here we come!

Sick and Tired (of being sick)

This cold has been hanging on since last week. I thought it was finally going away but it came back with a vengence this morning. I have eight hours of work when all I really want to do is crawl back into bed and sleep all day. But Im saving all my sick/vacation days for when Ava gets here, so Im sticking it out (I know I'll appreciate having that extra time with her).

The worst part is that when I feel a sneeze coming on, the SECOND I grab a tissue it disappears and my eyes start watering. Seriously?! Whats up with that? Whenever I feel a sneeze coming on and I DONT have a tissue near by, I sneeze. I just dont get it.

I cant wait to spend all weekend on the couch doing nothing except watching trash TV (I think I hear a marathon of the Newlyweds or 90210 calling my name).

Dont ever sell your car to someone you don't know

So Tuesday afternoon, I get home from work and there's a pile of mail on the counter. As I skim through the pile, I notice an envelope from the Fresno Police Department. I open it only to find a Vehicle Inventory Report - I skim through all the horrible police handwriting and realize that the Cavalier (that we sold LAST summer) has been impounded.

At first Im shocked that my poor little Cavalier is sitting in a lot somewhere, ALONE. And then Im angry that the people we sold the car to never took care of their end of registering the car with the DMV. Im still seen as the registered owner. Luckily my dad always imbedded in my mind to make a copy of EVERYTHING so I go through my home organizer and find the Release of Liability form I sent into the DMV and bring it with me to work the next morning to call the Police Department.

Luckily everything went smoothly. The woman is able to look up my case number and yes, verify, that the DMV has a copy of the liability form I sent in. She says theres nothing I need to do on my end with them, but they legally have to inform whoever is seen as the registered owner. I must have asked her a million times about any fees, and she reassures me that because we sent in the liability form there's nothing I need to do. She does advise I call the towing company that has the car to make sure there's nothing I need to do with them.

So I call Joe (the plumber?) I tell him my whole story and he asks if I had filed the release of liability with the DMV. I said I have and the police department has record of it. He says there's nothing I need to do then and everything will be taken care of. I thank him and he says, "You have a good day ma'am" (Ma'am? I just turned 24 - did I really sound like a ma'am"? I digress).

I think back to when we sold the Matt's Thunderbird and a few months later received a ticket in the mail because the people who bought it from us never registered it in their name. Seriously, is Fresno only filled with irresponsible people? (Dont answer that)

This is why you never sell your car to someone you don't know.

** In Memory of the Chevy Cavalier **

Shake your groove thang! Yea Yea!

I kept hearing that if put music to your stomach when you're pregnant the waves from the sound will make the baby move. So, last night I decided to bust out my iPod and test it out. I started out with something a little soft so I wouldnt bust her ears - Coldplay was my choice. I played almost the whole song with no movement. Matt commented, "Maybe she doesnt like Coldplay" to which my reply was "If shes my daughter, she will like Coldplay." I then moved on to Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Usher and John Mayer - still no movement. So Im not convinced that babies can hear the music. Maybe she was sleeping? Maybe the earphones were too small? Maybe she was annoyed and not moving because I WANTED her to move? In any case, here's a picture to document my crazy experiment (excuse the unflattering picture - it happens when your stomach is expanding rapidly).

The funny thing was I tried for a good 20 minutes with my crazy experiment with no success. But about 20 minutes later, Matt and I were watching TV and she started going crazy! And by crazy, I mean it felt like she was doing one of the following:

Martial Arts

Gymnastics

I think she was just on a delay and really DID hear the music. Matt thinks she was soothed by the music, so when I stopped playing it she wanted it back. In any case, Matt loved feeling her move so much and I loved seeing how excited he was to feel her move around.

Experiment for the future - shining a flashlight on my belly and seeing if she moves away from the light (I think I will start my own "Myth Busters" show).