We Survived the Storm!

Hola a todos. Bubba turned 24 weeks old on Saturday! How wonderful, no? Here we are on Sunday:

This boy is kickin like crazy now! It's great! 

The substitute teaching caught up to me quick. After a few weeks of being around all those kids an germs, I got sick. It was bound to happen. I worked a week and a half straight with no days off- This is great! I'm rakin' in the dough! Then Wednesday came and BLAHHHHH! Stuffy nose, sore throat, exaustion. So I've been resting and I'm just now, 6 days later, starting to feel better. I just have all this thick sticky yellow snot that's still in my head and coming out in chunks. Ew. I know. 

The biggest bummer to me about all this was that it really threw me off my exercise routine. Before I was making it down to the gym nearly everyday. But lately I've just really felt like I need to rest. I think tomorrow I will finally be well enough to get back to it. I hope it didn't set me back too far. I pack on the pounds quick these days, and my developing relationship with Ben & Jerry has not helped. I am breaking up with them now though. Yesterday we had half a pint in the freezer and my excuse to eat it was that the power would probably go out with the storm and it would go to waste if we didn't eat it all, right then! I shared it with Noel... this time willingly. But after I vowed that it would be our last time together for a while. They are just too controlling. 

So anyway, I'll go back to work this week. Tomorrow I'm working a half day in the afternoon. But if I end up sick again in just a few weeks, I don't know if I can keep doing it. The only other issue I have with subbing is that I often feel like this: 

I have to go to the bathroom so frequently, and I can't always go when I need to. 

Sometimes I already feel uncomfortable enough just being pregnant... being sick on top of it is no fun. The other day, while was laying in bed with my sniffles, I just couldn't get comfortable. And well, I was being kind of whiney about it. Noel says, "It's ok sweety, you only have 3 and a half months to go."

I glare at him and start laughing.... "Hahahaha. Haha.... 3 and half months!!! Does that sound short to you!?!?" It sounds like a long time to me, considering I'm only going to get bigger, heavier, slower... I'm thinking You clueless man. You don't know what I am going through here. You don't understand! LoL... the words that come out of a man's mouth to his pregnant wife are quite laughable sometimes. But they all must know... tread lightly. You don't want to bring out the hormone monster. 

Sunday I was about to head out to meet my friend from Peace Corps for breakfast... Noel is kindly trying to help me with how to get there, explaining directions. I am looking at him and trying to listen but next thing I know I am crying. I didn't even know why. He says, "Why are you crying?" and so as not to seem like a stupid cry baby that cries for no reason (although I'm sure he knows pregnant Amy is already like this) I came up with a reason... "I'm hot." Yea, like that's better. A grown woman crying because she is hot. It sounds like BS anyway coming from the same woman that endured the tropical heat of San Vicente, El Salvador for years without air conditioning. It was just one of those mornings, I guess. The sobbing continued even on the road as I got lost trying to find my way to Silver Spring, Maryland where my friend was waiting for me. I call Noel, not sure about my route. He explains to me which way to go again and I start crying. "Pull over Amy if you're crying Amy!" he says, "I don't want you to get in an accident!" I managed to pull it together and get the monster to go away. I made it to the restaurant, finally, after my friend had been waiting for half an hour. Poor Jessica. I apologized a ton, and we had a nice breakfast. The monster went away for the rest of the day, and we haven't seen her since. But she's always in there someway, lingering, waiting to make her next appearance.

So you probably heard about Hurricane Sandy that was headed towards the Northeast this weekend. They were expecting her to affect the DC area, and so schools were canceled and Noel didn't have to go to work yesterday or today. It's been a nice and relaxing few days! And the storm wasn't too bad where we are. We had stocked up on water and food for it.... but we never even lost power! Hallelujah! It was a little unsettling though riding out the storm. We live on the 17th floor of our building and we could feel the building moving a little from the wind. And we have huge glass windows in our living room that were shaking, as the wind whistled outside. All we ended up with in the end though was some wet carpet in our living room that the wind had pushed through the cracks of our windows. Not too big of a deal. I'm sorry for all the people who were so badly affected by the storm, but I am grateful I was able to have these days of rest at home with my husband. 

I think we've picked a baby name! I'm 95% sure. There is a small chance I will find another name that I love even more in the next few months, so I'm not going to be 100% til he's here. I did some shopping for him this week, and then my mom did too! Baby Bubba's wardrobe is growing and oh so cute!

This is the stuff I got at Target. I wish I had the picture of all the stuff my mom got.  So cute! All this stuff is newborn, which was apparently stupid of me to buy because he won't be able to wear them for very long. *sigh*

I've been hitting up the Goodwill lately for maternity clothes. I found this dress for $3! It's look kind of spring timey thought doesn't? I don't care, I like it! 

This week, I am thankful for....

... this wonderful man that cooks me delicious dinners all week when I just don't have the energy to do it myself. And look, he even does it with a jig and a smile on his face! :) Love you!

So my tummy is rumbling... Egg time! Happy fall everyone!

Paz y Amor.

Kicking 24/7

Hey everybody! Whew! What busy days I've been having! Is it just me or do the days go by faster the older you get? Why is that?

It got cold for a few days here last week, so I got this stupid looking hat at Ross ($5!).  Lina bina took this pic of me on our way to school one morning. You don't see many cowboy boots around these parts. I'm educating these people on southern style, lol.

Substitute Teaching
I have been busy with my substitute teaching gigs. It can be tiring but I'm really enjoying it. I am working at Lina's elementary school, sometimes for full days, sometimes for half. Elementary aged children are new to me. In many ways they are a lot more tiring than the middle schoolers I used to teach, but their sweet innocence and willingness to follow directions makes it feel easier. So far I've done special ed pre-school and 3rd grade classes. I think I like the littler kids better. They are so darn cute! And they have nap times :) a great time for me to be able to sit down and rest my feet. I'm looking forward to my Kindergarten class on Monday! It's nice to get my mind somewhat off of pregnancy for a bit (although baby Bubba does a good job of making sure I never forget his presence). And boy is it nice to earn some of my own money after several years of being a volunteer in El Salvador.

Little Bubba Kicks!
I am FINALLY starting to be able to feel Little Bubba's kicks! They get stronger everyday, and I love it. I'm still not used to the sensation, sometimes when I get a strong one I actually gasp out loud! Ok, so this is the cool part of pregnancy! Today I was sitting watching Lina do her gymnastics class, and I feel Bubba kicking. And I look around at other people as I feel him move, and I feel kinda like it's our little secret. No body knows but us. Well, and Noel because I told him.

I will call for him to come from the other room just because I felt a kick. But then he comes and puts his hand on me to feel, Bubba stops moving. That's ok I guess pretty soon here he will be so big and strong, he won't be able to miss it.

I feel like he is always kicking me in my (sorry to be so blunt) vag.

Delicious Dream
I haven't been having many crazy pregnancy dreams lately. Unfortunately, I have been dreaming about food. One night last week, after several days of successfully being good and avoiding junk food and sweets, I woke up and realized I had a gluttonous dream in which I ate a thousand donuts. There was me. A long table filled with towers of every donut imaginable. And there I was stuffing my face with all of them. I wish I could eat lots of donuts in real life!

While on the topic of food... Noel took me to have my first Dim Sum last weekend. It was delicious! I can't believe I'd never had it before. Apparently Dim Sum is just like Chinese tapas. People come by your table with carts full of different foods and you take what you want. You all reading my blog probably already know this, but it was a new and exciting thing for me to try so I felt it was totally blog worthy.

Happy Girl likes Dim Sum!
(except for that sweet mushy stuff on the left, that was gross)

Hormones and Tears

The worst thing about pregnancy for me is that I tend to cry easily, about small silly things, or sometimes about nothing at all. So what has it been lately?

Last Tuesday I went shoe shopping and searched the whole day for some winter shoes. I left every store empty handed. I wear a size 10 shoe and with my pregnant feet, the size 10 shoes were all too snug :( This was disheartening. I was blaming the shoe brands, even though in the back of my head I knew it was because my feet are fatter, wider, bigger, whatever. I just didnt want to face that fact. 

So the next day, Noel got an email update from whattoexpect.com. They send out emails to expecting parents about pregnancy- facts and tips and things. Well I'm just sitting there happily working on our wedding photo book on Shutterfly.com, and he starts reading me this email from them that he found really interesting... about pregnant feet. It said something like, "Your feet will get bigger while pregnant..." and here's what brought the flood of tears... "and they won't go back after." 

I totally lost it! I'm already a size 10! Most stores don't sell any bigger than that! I'll never be able to find cute shoes anywhere, I thought. I will have big huge clown feet forever! :'( 

I immediately dial my mom for some consolation. She swore that her feet were the same size after pregnancy as before. That helped a little. She also said they are probably just fatter, not longer. But the "fatter"part got us to talking about nutrition and how I should be eating. I am not fond of these talks, because I wish I could eat hamburgers and pizza and ice cream all the time. But it's good I have someone that so candidly talks with me and keeps reminding me about the importance of nutrition. I'm trying my hardest to make good decisions, no bingeing, lots of protein and veggies, yada yada. Thanks mom!

Now don't get me wrong, I still look for a little ice cream therapy here and there. Sometimes it feels essential. So last night when I went to the freezer to get the Ben & Jerry's Fro-Yo I had been saving, I picked it up and it felt lighter than I had remember it being when I last touched it. He didn't!!!! I thought to myself. I asked him... and he did. Now I know this is not the kind of thing that should really be that big of a deal. And pre pregnancy I wouldn't have hardly whined about it at all. But last night, the fact that I only had a few bites of fro yo left because he had some of it, felt like the end of the world to me. I know it's totally crazy, but I cried harder than I have in years over the loss of a few bites of ice cream. Ridiculous!

Sometimes it seems as though I just need to cry like a crazy blubbering hysterical fool just to feel better and like a normal person again. And it's like I am just on the edge waiting for that one tiny thing that goes wrong to set me off so I can get it out. 

Oh man. Like my mom told me, "Good news is... it doesn't last forever, Amy." 

"What?" I asked.

"Pregnancy."

LoL. Some days it feels like that. Like you have to remind yourself that this is only temporary. And Little Bubba, if you read this one day... I don't want you to feel like I was miserable the entire time you were in utero with me. I'm really pretty good most of the time... I just like to share these sob stories because I think they are funny. The comical side of being preggers. It feels nice laughing at myself about it.

In other news...

Tomorrow I go to my Bradley Childbirth class for the 3rd time. *sigh* I'm really regretting signing up for this... only because my teacher is so disorganized and not really teaching us. We paid her $400 to be in this class and learn and she is so lax and chatty about unimportant stuff and not covering the stuff I want to be learning that I see in the book. Boo! I cried about this too one morning this week. It always sucks when you feel like you've wasted your money, right? I was considering writing her and trying to get a refund. But I think I've decided instead just to keep going and see what I can get out of it. Whatever that may be, big or small. Maybe in the end I will have gotten more out of it than I thought I would.

We went to the zoo today! It was A LOT of walking and completely exhausting, but totally worth it! I never thought about it, but the only zoo I'd ever been to in my life is the Houston zoo I think. It was fun to be a nice new zoo. And it's in DC so it was a Smithsonian thing and free! My favorites were the otters, the cute eating Panda bear, and the Sea Lion that beautifully glided past us over and over while we sat in front of his tank. What a nice way to spend our Saturday! It's fun having Lina on the weekend. We haven't had a weekend together in DC since we got here because she usually goes to her mom's. But her mom is out of town this weekend, so lucky for us we get to go to fun stuff together for once! Instead of just toting her around to school and after school activities. It's nice. 

Happy at the zoo!

Lina takes pretty good pictures!

Pickles and Elephants, what a wonderful day!

I get a little scared on the huge long steep escalators in the subway. I'm def not used to them! So I hold on tight and try not to look up or down. Lina seems to find it hilarious.

I got my new Ugg Boots last week! Love them! I just wish it would get colder again here so I can wear them all the time. It's been kinda warm here the last few weeks. But I shouldn't complain about that. Soon is will be really cold and I'll be freezing and wishing it was warm again.

I saw this article about why Diet Coke is bad for you online today. I always heard people say it's bad for me, but I wasn't sure why. I was sad to see this because I love my Diet Coke. Of course, I don't hardly ever drink it anymore now that I'm pregnant. But before, I had probably 2 Diet Cokes a day at least. Probably not so good, I know. But I loved my sodas! So reading this article made me sad. It got me wondering if I should kick the can for good. If I'm gonna, it'd be easier to just not go back to my pre pregnancy habit once baby is here. So that's a great positive thing about having a baby. It's cleaned me up a lot. I eat better. I don't guzzle cokes and alcohol. Maybe it's really helping me clean up my act in the long run. Thanks baby!

Anyway, that's about all I've got for today. That... and all these pictures!

Mr. Jefferson says, "Stay away from my woman!"

This is the outfit Lina chose to wear to school one day. I tried to tell her it didn't match, but she seemed to like it so, whatever.

I helped Lina start her own blog!

23 weeks!

Thanks for reading folks!

I'm looking for good funny Halloween costume ideas for my pregnant self. Please send any good ideas my way!

Lots of love.

Paz y amor.

Something to Say (From the top of my soap box)

On our way home from brunch on Saturday, Little Bubba is 21 weeks.

Hey guys, I've got something to say.

Up until recently, I would roll my eyes when pregnant women would say, "Yes, we've decided on our baby's name, but we're not sharing it with anyone." I'd think to myself Come on lady, what's the big deal? Well now I get it and wish I would have done the same. 

You see, I'm feeling irked that I decided to share my name choices with family and friends when they asked what I wanted to name my kid, and then they offered criticisms that got me to rethink my favorite name choices. If you know that you are one of these people, don't worry I forgive you. But I just want you and the rest of the world to know that it is not ok to offer your opinion about what I want to name my baby. No offense, but what you think about my name choice does not matter. You should just smile and nod and supportively tell me how beautiful you think that name is. Even if you think it's ugly and sucks. You wouldn't criticize my name choice to my face AFTER the baby is born, so why is it ok when the baby is still in my womb? 

Because of hearing what people think about my favorite names, I actually started considering other names, that I don't love as much. I know that you might think Well Amy, you don't have to be so easily swayed or care what others think. Well obviously. And this is what I'm getting to now. I'm ready to say screw what others think, I'm sticking with what I love. I don't want to look back and regret what I name him, or wish I would have named him my original favorite.  I just care so much and value my loved ones opinions so much that I always take what they think into consideration. I guess this is an example of a time though, where I don't need to take others' opinions to heart. Because this is the kind of thing where their opinions don't matter.

So, that's my message today, folks. If a pregnant lady shares her baby name choice with you, don't knock it. 

I also wish strangers would stop inquiring about my pregnancy. Especially with the "How far along are you?" question. What's it to you, stranger? Do you really even care? No. I feel like most people are just asking me so they can size me up and decide on whether they think I'm big or small for wear I'm at. And what shirt I'm wearing that day definitely makes a difference. 

When strangers out in public ask me questions, I almost never tell them the truth, after several encounters with strangers who dropped their jaws and said I look huge like I'm having twins. I need this t-shirt: 

It always feels better and more fun to tell strangers I'm due within a month or, even better, within weeks, and that yes it is twins, and then get all kinds Wows and Praises about how fantastic I look. Definitely more fun.

Now, this doesn't really work with the people in the elevator at my building. We live on the 17th floor, so I tend to face a lot of people in the elevator. I don't feel like I can lie to my neighbors. If I tell them I'm due any day, it would just look ridiculous when I am still pregnant months from now. So fine, I tell my neighbors the truth. But I also don't appreciate how people in the elevator also ask me about whatever purchases I'm carrying with me. Like yesterday when Noel and I got back from scoring our Craigslist items, and we had a cart full of baby stuff. We were asked about what we were doing.... "Just hoarding baby stuff" I told him. I guess I am just used to a more private kind of life. I thought that I left the fish bowl questions behind me in El Salvador. 

I know, I sound like I have a bad attitude about stuff today. Sorry to sound so grumpy. I feel like I have been pregnant forever, and I feel like I still have forever to go and sometimes I miss just being like a normal person- one that still goes out at night, doesnt need a nap everyday and can stay up past 9pm, and that doesn't get lots of questions form strangers. LoL, but it's all worth it.

I watched the What to Expect When You're Expecting movie and I actually really liked it. I was laughing out loud at the part where Elizabeth Banks calls bullshit on pregnancy. Here is a clip of it in the first part of the trailer.

I don't feel that terrible about pregnancy. Usually I don't really feel terrible at all. Maybe because I'm still in the sweet spot. But when I'm not too thrilled about things I try not to complain about it too much, except for to Noel and maybe a few other close people. What's the point in complaining about it anyway? And when people ask you how things are going with it, it always feels best to just say everything is great and wonderful and such a joy. I think people who ask almost always don't really care anyway. Maybe the same as how we ask others "How are you?" all the time as we walk by but we never really stop to hear what their answer is, and people almost never say anything other than "Good." 

We did really score some great stuff via Craigslist this weekend though. It may be somewhat early, but I don't know, not really! Baby will be here in about 4 months. I was keeping my eye out for good deals on good stuff, because you have to snag it when you see it. We decided to forego spending a fortune on all brand new store bought stuff, and find our stuff on Craigslist. I got the inspiration from my prego friend who also found great stuff for cheap that way. It's totally worth it. Baby stuff is expensive and we'd be spending thousands of dollars in the end getting everything brand new. 

So what did we get?

We got this nice glider for $50 :)

We got this great crib! I love that it is white because wherever we go it won't clash with whatever we end up having in our furnished home. It's also in great condition!

Our cart full of Craigslist baby stuff

And then the people we bought the crib from just started unloading all this other stuff on us pretty much for nothing. We only gave them an extra $30 and we scored a Gymini play mat, an Exerswivel, Changing mats, a jumpy bouncy thing, a baby gate, a baby bath tub and other toys. WHOA! Thank you kind strangers from Craigslist. They just saved us a lot of money. Now we just need a changing table.

We aren't going to get more stuff for a while now, because we don't have anywhere to put it in this little apartment. It feels good though to have crossed some things off our list for now though.

Noel and I had big ideas about getting out of town this weekend and going to visit Williamsburg Jamestown to see some historic stuff. But we are both still recovering from our colds, so we ended up just staying home and resting. It's COLD outside today too. In the 40s this morning. EEK! 

I need to go get some warm winter shoes. Like UGGS. Apparently my feet are going to get bigger being pregnant. For real? I'm already a size 10! Please don't tell me they are gonna get BIGGER!

Our kitties have gotten into this habit of being obnoxious in the morning. We lock them out of our room at night when we go to sleep because Mr. TJ attacks our feet under the blanket, which is highly annoying. And Liberty just crawls all over us and paws at us. But every morning between 5 and 6 I wake up to hear them scratching at the door, meowing, and even running into the door to try to push it open. I freaked out the other day when they were actually successful at opening the door. I thought, Wow these are some talented cats if they've figured out how to open the door! Turns out they really aren't that smart, they were just pushing on it and it wasn't latched closed all the way. Now we make sure to push it when we close it. Crazy cats.

There was a strange occurrence when I woke up 2 days ago. To my surprise I looked at the mirror on top of our dresser and it had broken in the night. There is now a huge crack all the way across it. How does that happen? I would blame the cats, but I have no idea how they could break a mirror, and none of the stuff on top of the dresser was knocked over. Spooky? Something to do with the change in temperature? Who knows! But we don't own this furniture. The apartment better not charge us for it!

Anyway, I'm off to Yoga! Happy Columbus Day!

Paz y Amor.

P.S. Had my first taste of Indian food this weekend! I was surprised by it and how yummy I thought it was. I don't know why it took me so long to come around to it. Here's what we had that we ate with this awesome bread called naan. It was all so flavorful and rich.

Palakpaneer, Daltadka- Yellow Lentils, and Lamb Vindaloo (spicy!!)

The only downside of the Indian food was all the stinky burping afterward. So I don't think it's something I could eat all the time, but I definitely will have it every once in a while.

It's a BOY!

 It's a BOY!!! YAY! Check him out. He is just perfect!

It was so fun finding out and nice to see him moving around on the screen and see how good looking and normal he is. Unfortunately, I feel a little uneasy about how the ultrasound went just because it took SO long. Why on earth do you need a 45 min. + ultrasound? I was disappointed in myself because I didn't want my baby to have that much exposure to the ultrasound- because I've heard about possible links between ultrasound and autism. Although this hasn't been proven, I just feel like being cautious.

So I wanted them to stop and be done, and I didn't speak up and tell them to stop :( I tried only a little and the woman said she couldn't stop. Um, yea she could have! We were the ones that wanted the ultrasound. And we just wanted it to find out the sex and see him real quick. We didn't want or need every single part of his body to be measured and photographed! They were acting like it was so important to get a profile picture of his face. And I'm laying there thinking, get this machine off my baby! Finally when they left the room to review what they had and came back saying they wanted to do more I just straight up said "No, we're leaving." Grrrr, well I'm getting over it now. I'm sure baby Hartley is just fine. Lesson learned. Maybe with baby #2 we won't go for an ultrasound at all. I feel silly that we went through all that just so I could know he's a boy and pick his name and buy him stuff. Oh well, it's gonna be fun doing it!

I had a great weekend! I drove up to Pennsylvania to visit my Peace Corps buddy, Jamie. It was not only great to see her and hang out with her and her parents, but it was fun getting to know this part of the country I had never experienced before, especially after I had heard Jamie tell me about where's she's from while we were in El Salvador.


My first night there we went to this restaurant on the river called The Fence where they have great fish sandwiches. Yummy! I had no idea so pretty PA is. Rural, country, cute small historic looking towns, all the jazz. Oh, and my favorite part- seeing Amish people! I never ever saw them in real life. I think they are fascinating- how they can live with no electricity, travel with horses & buggies, and truly resist all the modern conveniences of American life. They make great baked goods too! I was lucky enough to try their whoopie pies, cookies, and wet shoo-fly bottom pie that we got at the yard sales we went to in town.

Great shot that Jamie got of the Amish cruisin' down the road

Buying a whoopie pie from an Amish kid

The yard sales we went to on Saturday were crazy! The whole town sets up all their junk outside for sale. It was SO much. We didn't even go through it all. After a while it all just really started to look like junk. Maybe because all the good stuff was picked over. All I bought were these two little outfits for Little Bubba. His first two pieces of clothing. So cute he is going to be in them!

Says "Handsome like daddy" :)

That night we went to her dad's car show, where he shows off his beautiful '57 Chevy. Then they treated me to dinner at the Country Cupboard restaurant where I got some delicious down home cooking... and saw more Amish people! The whole weekend was so nice. I'm so glad I was able to make the drive up there to visit!

Sunday evening after I got back Noel and I went to our first childbirth class. I walked into it with a This is going to be fun! attitude. I ended up sitting there with big bug eyes nearly the whole time. I was surprised that the information was so shocking to me. My whole life I knew I would be having a natural birth at home. But I guess I just never really pictured myself in the act of labor or imagined what it would feel like. It all suddenly became very real to me- like "Whoa. This is really going to happen. I am really going to do this." And it freaked me out, to say the least.

We left the class and got in the car and the tears came heavy. I'm not afraid to share this, because I'm sure it's pretty normal to have anxiety about having a baby. And although I'm a bit nervous about it and what it's going to feel like, I think I would be even more scared and nervous of having a hospital birth. Where I would be confined to my bed and only given the option of laboring on my back. At home I can move around and get in whatever position is more comfortable for me. I would have to have needles stuck in me as part of procedure. At home I only have to have them if I need them. I am so afraid of needles. I am pretty sure I am more scared of having a huge needle in my back for an epidural than I am scared of the pain of contractions. And at home I will just have more freedom and control. I will be able to eat when I want. Shower when I want. And I won't have people bugging me or urging me to have any kinds of drugs or interventions I don't want or need.

So yea, I'm happy about our plan for home birth. It just feels a little crazy and overwhelming because I have no earthly idea what the actual having a baby part will be like. I can read all I want about it and take these classes to prepare... I'm sure that all will be helpful... but ultimately I won't really know what it's like until it's go-time. I'm starting to let it all sink in and am slowly being able to wrap my head around it. I have plenty of time to prepare. Like 20 more weeks!

In other news, our kitties have really become part of the family. We are really happy with them. Mr. Thomas Jefferson is a bit more social than Liberty. I think Liberty is still holding a grudge about all the medicine we were shoving down her throat and ears in her first weeks here. But she seems to be forgiving us a little more everyday.

Mr. Jefferson likes to chill next to Little Bubba

Our other pet, Snuggles the Beta fish, had a suicide attempt last week. I had cleaned his tank and put him in a small cup for holding while his tank got to room temperature for him. Noel went to the kitchen for something and looked at the cup that had nothing but poopy fish water in it, no fish. "Where's the fish?" he said. He found Snuggles laying on the counter next to the sink. "Oh, he's dead for sure," he thought. Then he went to touch him and he moved. So he put him back in the water and he was swimming around a little. The fish was still alive! He didn't eat or move much for a day, only had one working fin, and he looked really pale, when he's normally got a vibrant bluish purple color. But he just slowly came back to life and now he's just like his old self. Yea, Snuggles! The miracle fish!

Noel's caught a cold :( He left classes early yesterday for it. I was out to lunch with my prego buddy- we were scarfing up some awesome Prez Obama burgers at this place down near the Capitol Building. I think it's called The Capitol Eatery? Kasey was kind enough to introduce me to it. It was AMAZING!  The owner of the place is a top chef. We got killer milkshakes too! It's good that place isn't in my neighborhood! After, I came home with some soup for my sick hubby and napped the rest of the afternoon. That's what happens when I eat big meals these days. All I want to do after is sleep! Noel seemed like maybe he was ok last night, but today he kind of seems worse. Hope he gets better soon! He's home and resting now, so I'm off to pick Lina up from school!

Last thing. This has nothing to do with anything. Just something that gets to me- I hate self-flushing toilets in public restrooms. They always flush at the wrong time- while you're still sitting on it. And usually don't flush when you actually want them to and you have to push that little button. Some people don't know how to push the little button and their junk sits there til someone comes along that does know. Gross. I just really feel like the world could do without self-flushing toilets!

What do you think the world could do without?

That's all folks!

Paz y amor.

I leave you with a few more pictures from the weekend...

20 weeks and 2 days

Street in the cute little town where the yard sales were.

Amish horse butt

Amish buggy parked by the river. They are so tiny, they look like you can hardly fit more than one person in there.

Now this can carry some people