Guess Who Got Lucky?!

That's right. Moi. So, I'm on some babyblog...the best way to prepare yourself for impending motherhood if you ask me...and there's some random giveaway for a random person who posts a comment on the blog. They were giving away these super cute muslin baby blankets and burp cloths and I thought, "eh, what the heck." So I post my comment and then forgot all about it...until Friday! When I get an email saying I WON! Now, I was skeptical....my debit card number having recently been stolen I was wary to give anyone my information...but I checked the blog out again and it said, "BrittanyR won our giveaway!" Shweet. Shuper Shweet.

So now I am going to recieve some super cute blankets and burp cloths that I will have to stare at anxiously until this little bambino arrives to spit up on them :) Precious.

Plus...how freaking cute is that baby? :)

Belly Pic!

20 Weeks, 5 Days...Looking and Feeling Fine :)

How to Make a Baby Boy

By Luke Rebarchik (the husband... not the usual author)

Ok, so there's no real reliable method for determining the gender of your baby.  I just thought that would be a cool title for my first blog entry on this shared family blog.  However, I do think that there were some interesting factors that contributed to our baby having a penis.

First of all I actually thought it would be a girl.  My dad had six boys.  Out of 8 grandchildren only 2 were boys. The universal balance was pushing for girls in my family, or so I thought.  I imagined my wife taking care of a little girl and dressing it up in cute little clothes.  I also imagined me having very little clue how or what to do to help.  (Honestly, that's my usual position.)  But most of all, I expected it to be a girl because I just didn't think it would be anything else.  When the ultrasound gave us an image of my little guy's manhood I was completely surprised.  You know how when you expect something to happen so much that it doesn't?  Well, I theorize that the opposite is also true.  You can not expect something so completely that your lack of expectation somehow pulls the threads of fate until the unexpected can't not happen.  (Isn't English a fun language?)  It's almost like the universe has a strong sense of irony.

"Hey, it seems like everyone expects us to be predictable..." says one cosmic entity to his neighbor in the early 80s. 

"Yeah, I've been feeling that way myself," smirks the other. "Let's boggle their minds by causing Michael Jackson to turn white!"

I mean seriously...  Who expected that?  It was so weirdly unexpected that it just HAD to happen.

Now I'm not saying that my baby being male is at all like Michael Jackson's weird racial transformation, the only similarity lies in the unexpected nature of events.

Another interesting factor that may have contributed to my baby's gender is the fact that deep down I think we both wanted to have a boy.  I can't imagine what it must be like to have a baby growing inside you, but I know exactly what it is like to be anxiously awaiting its arrival.  However, the one must affect the other.  The anxiety of producing the baby has to affect your feelings about its pending arrival.  Added on top of that is the pressure to not only eat right and exercise so the baby will be healthy, but also to grow as a person and become the best parent you can.  Having a boy makes both those pressures a little less.  Boys are (generally) less trouble than girls.  They are (theoretically) less delicate and fussy.  But, more than that I think, we needed to have a boy first because a baby boy will prepare us to have a baby girl.

(I hope that it doesn't turn out to be a girl at delivery just because it's unexpected...)

Anniversary, Whaaat?!

Yes, my dear friends in less than a month Luke and I will be celebrating our TWO year anniversary! Time needs to slow down. Shoot. And while I may be in a delicate condition there is no end to the party we are planning:

Hotel on the La Jolla Beachfront: Booked.

Maternity Swimsuit: Purchased. (Beach worthy body: MIA)

TWO gift certificates to TWO different pizza restaurants in San Diego: Check. Don't judge, I love pizza.

Passes to the San Diego Wild Animal Park: Yessir.

The only lame part about this vacation is that the San Diego Wild Animal Park offers OFF ROADING SEGWAY TOURS (!!!) buuuuut they won't let preggo people ride them. Ugh! Ask anyone, and riding a segway is like, a life-long dream of mine...riding a segway through a safari, yeah, kill me now. I am in heaven. So I guess I'll just have to wait until next year. Sigh.

All in all, I am desperately willing the next three weeks to go by faster, but it's not working. Maybe sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day isn't helping. But I guess I can't complain, I have a good job, Luke works in the office right next to mine, and the hours are good. But when San Diego beckens.....

Its a BOY!!!

Due Date: September 27th. Name: Pending. Cuteness: Inevitable :)

Weird Things I Have Been Doing While Luke is Gone...

So, Luke is gone for 2 weeks. He's currently being a bachelor in Wisconsin....and working....he might be working. So far, that is inconclusive. And now, I have found myself a bachelorette in a very lonely apartment. Because of this, I have found myself doing some odd things to either A. pass the time, B. Make it seem like Luke is there C. Entertain my overactive imagination. And here is a list....because life is not complete without lists. Going from most normal to weirdest:

10. Microwaving EVERYTHING! Now that I don't have to impress anyone with my culinary skills, I have stocked my fridge with weeks worth of single portion, microwavable delights.......because cooking an elaborate meal for yourself is depressing.

9. NOT cleaning. For me this is w-e-i-r-d. I always clean. Always. It is almost a pastime. Almost. But let me tell you, right now, that apartment is a hot mess. And guess what? I don't plan on cleaning it until the day before I leave to meet Luke in Wisconsin. Take that authority! I'm so bad :)

8. Going to work....EARLY. Conrad keeps asking me why I'm so early recently....because I have NOTHING else to do.

7. Going to bed....EARLY. 10 o'clock rolls round....nothin' on TV....nothin to do.....Well, may as well hit the hay.

6. Watching WAY too many episodes of The Golden Girls. As I'm going to bed earlier than usual I find it hard to fall asleep right away. So I've gotten used to lulling myself to sleep with the witty antics of Blanche, Rose, Sophia, and The Tall One (aka Dorothy). Oh, Rose! When will you ever learn to stop talking about St. Olaf! It drives everyone crazy!

5. Doing way too much homework. Doing an online class is fun. I can take my sweet time. But now I've only got one lesson left and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself! I shall have to try and find some more early British literature to fill my time with...especially before bed. That stuff is sleep inducing. (P.S. I know I've offended some English majors out there and I'm sorry. It's just not my bag. Give me some Vonnegut and I'll be happy as a fat kid in a pool of pudding)

4. Getting the mail! I know this sounds normal, but trust me, its not. Our mail box is like a five minute walk away. Usually it is a once-a-week affair and outing. But once again....not a lot goin' on over here. May as well get the mail. Maybe I'll run into one of our white-trashy neighbors and try to initiate an awkward conversation?

3. Scrapbooking! Actually, that one was a joke. Under no circumstances. No matter how dire, would I ever start scrapbooking.

2. Not hanging out with long lost friends. I SWORE to myself I was going to reconnect with friends I have sorely neglected since I got married. But guess what? Luke or no Luke, I still have no time for anything.

1. Sleeping with the TV on. For some people, this might not be too weird. But WHY I'm sleeping with the TV on is weird. Luke stays up later than me most nights, so in order to entertain himself he plays video games on his computer in bed...sexy, I know. This has been going on for the better part of the past year, so I have become way too accustomed to it. Now that Luke is gone, if I leave the TV on mute and just let the screen glow it puts me to sleep like a baby because it is similar to the computer screen. I find it to be kind of pathetic, but do what you gotta do! I just wonder how much electricity I'm wasting when I leave the TV on for the better part of the night/morning?

One more week though!

I'm all alooooone....there's no one here beside meeeee....

It's that time ofyear again....Luke's two week solo-sojourn to the great unknown...Milwuakee. On a tangent, it is weird to me how many people ask what state Milwuakee is in or just have no idea where it is and have never heard of it beore. Weird. But I digest. Luke is gone to Wisconsin to work mano en mano con su hermano. El situacion es muy lamentable para mi porque estoy muy triste. For all of you who don't speak Spanish, I'm sad that Luke's gone to work with his brother. And I thought I'd forgotten all of my spanish!

But it's all good because I've got a plethora of surprises for Luke when he gets back! Ssshh, it's a surprise. However, I've found it much, much harder to be away from Luke than I thought it was going to be. I thought unto myself, 'Self, you are going to enjoy some time to yourself, etc. etc.' But guess what, self? You were wrong. Not only is it hard to sleep in a huge bed all by yourself after a year of sharing it with a great, big, tall guy, but I also don't really enjoy doing things by myself anymore. Don't get me wrong, it is tolerable. But still, I guess I'm not as independent as I thought I was! Lame.

At least Nick is here. We hang out, eat dinner, go to Denny's, eat more dinner, watch movies (Note: The Soloist is NOT a good movie). And then we both go to work at the same place and think about what we want to eat for dinner...together.

Happy note: I am going horseback riding on Saturday! I haven't ridden in like...forever. But I had my mother send me over my half chaps, spurs, boots, gloves and all other kinds of riding parephenalia, which made me even more exciting. Yes, I love half chaps, and no, there is nothing wrong with that :)

I wish I could disclose more information about my surprises, but that will have to wait until Luke sees them...you know, just in case he reads this? ;)