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120 days to go

to celebrate the remaining 120 of our co-habitation, baby and i went to our new favorite place: Boston Creme.  in the spirit of full disclosure, we also went there days 129, 127, and 124-21.  cause it's just that good.

i find myself lacking motivation for many things these days, but i regularly muster up the werewithal to strap and stuff myself into some sweats and head over to the the site of extreme tastebud delicous-ness.

**side note:  it just occurred to me that i used the term "sweats" very loosely. i believe the term usually connotates a recognizable article of clothing that has some sort of elasticized waistband. (and in the sweet, sweet, 80's, elasticized ankles as well.)  whereas what i casually term "sweats" is more of just two pieces of fabric sewed down each side and through the middle.  no discernable beginning or end to these things.  a fabric bag of sorts. who rely entirely on the constant-widening of my hips to keep them up. hips that never let us down.  if you ever happen to see me on one of my "sneak-outs" on a quick errand in my fabric bag, just ... look away. (honk if this side note excites you.)

anyhow, i've been fervently converting cohorts to Boston Creme because i'm so afraid that they'll join the rest of the businesses in 2008 business heaven and leave us if EVERYONE doesn't hurry and go there.  and i can't imagine my life without peach-tart yougurt with sprinkles.   so! if you live in las vegas on the west side, it's in the same parking lot as costco --over by the jamba juice.  if you live on the east side, drive over for FHE. if you live out of town, send us gift certificates to go there.

it's self-serve -- which is nice because i hate the pressure of the 17-year-old staring at me from behind a counter while i deliberate and deliberate. plus, i'm pretty specific about how i want the yogurt to go into the cup and the exact number of sprinkles that make my concoction perfect. but if you take little kids with you be on the super outlook, cause one little person can wipe out an entire container of sprinkles in a wink.

and....apparently, as i found out last nite, if you go there enough that you actually have a relationship with the owner at the checkout, he'll give you a "frequent-flyer" discount!!  i'll see you there.

survey #2

   

i am sooooo over the image of bottocelli's venus springing to life from a seashell.  which is A LOT coming from my mouth (or my fingertips) seeings how i adamantly believe -- no, feel -- that bottocelli is hands down the best painter EVER!!  (who cares that he didn't live to see the invention of "perspective")

but somewhere along the way the italians figured out that we americans love to have our art served up to us on pens, and cups, and stationary, and t-shirts and on and on.  and if there can be a little joke along with it, say...turn your pen just the right way and venus's hand will coyly drop, then, ALL THE BETTER! (those clever italians.) 

far be it from me to deny us the joy of giggling at the sight of TWO breasts instead of one, i just wish there was a way to get the WHOLE painting on to our treasured venues.  cause...it's just so cool.

that being said, i'm SOOOOOOOOOO into bottocelli's painting, the birth of venus. it's just so .... bottocelli in all the best ways

this is why when i was approached by a toally AWESOME local artist who wanted to trade a painting for services...i couldn't resist! being a bottocelli lover i immediately started trying to convince her to paint me my favorite piece, Primavera.  and her, being a real, full-blooded (clever) italian, immediately tried to convince me to take a venus birthing from a seashell. i tried to, gently, explain my "issues" with this particular icon.  she, however, convinced me that if she cropped it all down to just the top 1/3 of venus, i'd love it.  and i could see that being true.

many many moons later i got my painting and she was right. i LOVE the top 1/3 of venus.  she exudes the true essence of girl-power.  i scurried home to hang it in the spot that had been reserved for it for 2 YEARS!!  and within a very short time 2 previously ignored facts became very evident: 1. i have a little tiny tract home.  2. my venus is a very large painting. and to further complicate matters, the reserved spot places venus' bare breast right at eye-level. 

for the past 3 months venus has been sitting in my entry way while i try to decide if her large nudity on my tiny wall would be offense.  i was just getting comfortable with her and deciding that it's "art", when i overheard the following conversation between my sister and brother-in-law: 

sister, walking up stairs from entryway: "don't get horny because there's a naked boob in candice's entryway."

brother-in-law, from entryway:  "too late."

and with that i was RIGHT BACK to where i started. 

so the question of survey #2 is: if you came to my house and saw my venus, would you be filled with art-inspired inspiration? or mostly see a big boob in your face?  tell the truth, cause....i gotta know.

outback steakhouse

  "oh yes, and for him we'll have the one crouton, one tomato combo, with a side of lemon sucker. and...a kiddie cup with water. thanks."

130 days

only 130 days to go.

and lest that sound like A LOT of days to you, keep in mind that when i've already spent a little over 500 days getting this little baby girl growing, 130 days is, really, nothing. or so i tell myself.

especially in the mornings.

or late at night.

("late" being 6:30pm and beyond.)

it feels like if i count it off in 10-day increments it will feel like progress is being made.

so to celebrate our last 130 days together as siamese twins of sorts, the baby and i went to visit "our" doctor.

he and we were very happy that we passed the LAST of the "chromosomal abnormalities" tests, and that baby girl is the right size with all the right parts where they should be. really incredible the things they can find out and discover these days with 4D ultrasound. i really wish insurance companies could/would view every pregnancy as a "premium pregnancy" ... cause who's to say one isn't over another.  shouldn't we know every last stinking detail about our little peanuts to keep them ALL healthy? but i digress, now isn't the time for a soap box.  mostly because, i reiterate, i'm too tired to get up on the box.

anyhow, a huge relief.

because a year spent with a fertility dr. continually discussing the "quality" of your 38-year old eggs can make one quite apprehensive about what those eggs can do when left to their own devices.

he and we, however, were not happy about my blood sugar levels.  when i was pregnant with levi the same doctor diagnosed me with gestational diabetes, and 1.5 days later levi was born.  my body, apparently feeling robbed of its right to a legitimate disease, decided to get right to the point this time. diagnosed at 10 weeks, i managed to control it ... for awhile.

but my weekly logs faxed over showed it slowly creeping up.  actually, (warning: super-mini soap box ahead) the ONLY time my levels are too high is in the morning, WHEN I'M FASTING!!  let me get this straight, day after day after day of self-denial of 90% of all the good things in the gastronomic realm, followed up by a TOTALLY INNOCENT night of sleeping (or laying awake with eyes closed in the dark) and its all blown to smitherines?  the logic evades me.

so, end result, at T-minus 130 days "we" give ourselves insulin shots every night.  i made a mild-to-moderate complaint to my doctor that i am like a little personal clinic/pharmacy here.  pricking my finger 4X a day, taking my blood pressure 4X a day, logging it all, swallowing pill after pill and now back to self-injecting? 

he had the nerve to say, "hey, 9 months of your life, 80 years of your daughter's life. it's a good exchange."

don't you hate it when people make super-good points that turn your mild-to-moderate complaint into super-selfishness.  i gotta say, it made me REALLY tired.

welcome to 2009

sadly my "christmas break" has ended and i went back to work this week.  i had 17, YES 17!, days off work and optimistically planned 178 celebratory activites.  my big plan was to be the best, funnest, funniest, coolest, creative, temporarily stay at home mom ever.  big plans are fun, aren't they. i'm afraid what i really ended up being was a super tired, moderately grumpy, old mom who randomly pulled herself off the bed or couch, to cut an apple or restart a movie. true story.

but seriously, in some sort of desperate defense of myself, we DID do a few fun things.  but just the mere act of doing the fun things sent me running back to pillows and laying on my side.  so...levi will have to cross-reference his scrapbook for evidence of fun christmas times he had with his old and pregnant mom.  (the scrapbook that i'm hoping i work on after i complete the next 137 days of life)

any original musings i had about going to back to work and how great the year is going to be and how much i would (be forced to) accomplish that day started to wane around 7:30am and completely dissapated by about 11:15. it went something like this:

7:30am: levi walks into my closet were i'm choosing from 1 of my 3 maternity shirts, and when i turn to say hi my belly is eye-level with him, and HE says, "whoooooooa-ho-ho-ho!!" and starts patting both sides of my ever-growing flesh with his tiny hands. and repeating "whoooooooooa-ho-ho" until i can finally stuff the belly into the chosen shirt.

9:45:  i see my business partner for the first time in 3 weeks.  she says, "wow! your hair is so thick!" perking up a bit i begin to respond and then she says, "oh! and you have pregnant face.  you got pregnant over the break!"   yeah....good old pregnant face.

11:15: i'm walking down the hall of the office and the manager comes up from behind me and says, "you're starting to waddle!!"  yeah...ye olde waddling.

i guess it's a good thing that i'm starting 2009 with my pregnant face and "whoooooa-ho-ho"-deserving belly that makes me waddle cause...i can only improve from here. right?

**update: after this post i went to my parent's for sunday night dinner. heidi was giving me a hard time for not posting in so long. her main complaints being: 1. levi is almost 2.5 (total exaggeration) and i still have up his birthday post. and 2. what's up with my baby? how come i don't write about her. so i informed her that i had JUST posted today and i hope she found it satisfactory.  While looking at this newest entry she said, "what table in your house has a green tablecloth?"  huh???  after a few moments she said, Oh! that's your belly? i thought that was a table!  keep it comin people....i am women.  me and helen reddy. hear us roar.