Gizmo is a girl!
We just couldn’t wait to find out what we were having… the anticipation was too much. We purchased an “Intelligender” test last Thursday night with the hopes that the gender would be all revealing and we’d be able to fall asleep with smiles on our face, content with knowing a little more about our avocado sized baby. Alas, the results proved inconclusive for us… all of the message boards out there stated that if the test came back positive for a girl, you were most likely having a girl, but if it came back positive for a boy, it could still be a girl. Our results came out a dark green – or “boy” – which meant we had no more information than we did before spending $30 on a PH test.
A little disappointed, we went on our ways Friday morning… off to our respective places of work to carry out our busy days. But the prospect of finding out 5 weeks earlier than possible through our doctor stuck with me. Some of our friends had recently gone to a privately owned ultrasound business after a disappointing visit with their doctor where they “weren’t quite sure” about the sex. They recommended the place to us earlier in the week, although at that point we still felt confident we would be able to wait it out until the end of June. As the day wore on, I started getting more curious about the prospect of visiting this place and getting a sneak peek into the sex of our quickly growing child.
I decided to give the ultrasound place a call and see what they were all about. They seemed pretty well put together – able to answer my questions and put my fears to rest. The technicians were all RNs with pregnancy experience and assured me that they used the same machines there that the doctors office uses. Then they asked if we’d like to make an appointment for the following day. They’d had a cancellation and we could come in at 2pm on Saturday. Wow… I was not expecting that! I figured it would be a week at the soonest before we could get in, and thought that the delay might help quell my curiosity some. But immediate gratification? In this day and age, how can one resist? I wanted to call my doctor to clear it with them first, but told them to put me down as a tentative yes for the appointment. When I spoke with my doctors office, they gave me the green light, so I called back to confirm my appointment and we were in!
The reality sunk in later that night… this was really happening. We are really having a baby, and we are about to take this to whole other level by finding out the gender. No more ambiguity, no more pronoun games… this little person was about to become a real person.
Excited and nervous, Ben & I headed to our appointment on Saturday afternoon. Our little one was ready for us… hind quarters to the ultrasound, it was clear almost immediately that she was a girl. She was incredibly active during the ultrasound – twisting and turning several times. We had eaten just before the appointment, which generally makes her a bit more active, but we were both surprised by how active she really was! It was a very cool experience.
So now we know… Gizmo is a girl. A few variations of the name have been thrown out to us… Gizma, Gizmina, Gizmarella… all equally cute and endearing. However, after much debate, we’ve decided a much more proper name is in order… we’re going to call her Claire.
It’s official… we’re pregnant!
Yup, folks, that’s right… we’re entering the land of parenthood this fall. Our little one is scheduled to make his/her debut November 13th (which, coincidentally, is Ben’s lucky number!). We’re ecstatic – couldn’t be happier.
We’ve safely made it through our first trimester and the second is progressing quite nicely. Ben has been busy remodeling our office and getting the nursery ready… we’re actually quite well prepared already (which, if you know me, probably isn’t a huge shock!). I’m entering week 17 and felt the baby move on Thursday evening (I actually think I felt the first little nudge around 10 weeks, but I knew it was early and couldn’t be sure that’s what it was).
My brain has been quite scattered lately – I’m a true believer in pregnancy brain now!! Turning on the wrong street to get home, putting clothes in the dryer but forgetting to turn it on, losing my train of thought… and, umm… not being able to remember what else!!
We won’t find out what we’re having until late June… and the anxiety is driving me crazy! I’m so ready to know and stop using generic terms like "the baby", "him/her" and "it". In an effort to give personalize our conversations a bit more, Ben & I came up with a placeholder name to use in the meantime – Gizmo (the lovable, cute and fuzzy creature from Gremlins).
That’s it for my already taxed pregnant brain! We’ll update as things progress… either on my or Ben’s blog (check out Ben’s post about the pregnancy here ).
Long overdue…
Ben and I are on our way down to San luis obispo this weekend for a little getaway. We’re meeting up with a few friends and heading out on Saturday for some wine tasting. I can’t wait. It’s going to be so nice to relax a bit and enjoy the slo life for a few days.
The past few months have been busy for me at work – which was nothing short of what I expected, but at the end of it I always seem to feel more drained than I would hope. I feel really good about this past busy season. We’ve really come a long way to streamline our processes at work and improve efficiencies. We also added an intern position this year, which helped spread out the work quite nicely. It was just enough extra to get us through it while maintaining sanity (the latter has been somewhat compromised in prior years).
I’m working through my masters program – slowly but surely. I knew trying to take classes jan – apr would have been a joke, so I signed up for just one late class this semester. I’m midway through it now (the classes are only 6 weeks long) and it’s going well so far. Although I must admit, it would have been really nice to get a break between the end of tax season, Q1 reporting and the begining of my class, instead of having them overlap by a week and a half. But I know I’ll survive regardless… I always do! More classes to come this summer – I’m going to pile them on when things are slower so I can get this program done in under 3 years :)
I’m looking forward to summer and am ready for some camping trips! Car camping, backpacking, day hikes – bring ‘em on!! A little one on one time with nature sounds ideal to me right now.
Well, that’s it for now… I’m posting from my iPhone, so I blame any typos or errors on the tiny keyboard and autocorrect feature that seems to get words right about 70% of the time. Have a great weekend and enjoy some time in the great outdoors!
Hello internet.
Hello Internet.
I’m writing to you tonight from my new iPhone. The decision to move to the iPhone was a labored one for me. It wasn’t so much the initial purchase that made me weak kneed as it was the long term service contract that comes with the phone. Being tethered to my phone company for another two years pains me a bit. It’s not that I’ve had any bad experiences or even considering a change, but the commitment that comes with the phone gives me a bit of anxiety.
Aside from the statements above, I absolutely LOVE my new phone – and all the cool features that comes with it (including the unlimited data package). On demand email, web browsing, chatting and the awesome text message interface are just a few of the gems I’ve fallen in love with. And,of course, you can’t forget about the wordpress app. On demand blogging is pretty freakin rad. Unfortunately, this doesn’t guarantee an increase in my blogging frequency, but it couldn’t hurt, right?
To all of you out there in the world tonight, I wish you all the best and hope you are doing just peachy!
Never felt better…
Looking back over the past year, I realize that I’ve made quite a few drastic changes in my life. They’ve snuck up on my slowly, but cumulatively, they really amount to something nearing the realm of significant.
Let me go back a bit… my last new years resolution was to live "greener". This amounted to bringing my own bags when I shopped, buying more items in bulk, using less disposable and single serving items, recycling more, etc. Most of these were things I was already doing, but making a conscientious effort to make a difference gave me a new sense of empowerment and commitment.
I’ve tried to stick to my goals and have done an okay job of it. Probably better than I’d ever done before. I still frequently forget to take my bags with me to the store and will do the cost-benefit analysis before purchasing in bulk (eg, our body wash is MUCH more expensive to refill from the bulk container than to buy a new container… strange, right?), but all in all, I feel pretty good about my efforts. I know that every small change can make a big difference if we’re all heading towards a common goal.
Last summer, I started researching links between diet and impact on stress levels, and found some interesting information that recommended reducing refined carbs and going to more of a whole foods diet. I started reducing refined sugar and wheat products – mostly removing bread and crackers from my diet. It seemed to make a difference – stressful situations became more manageable and I felt really good.
Later in the summer, I stumbled upon The Cosmetics Database web page, which analyzes the chemicals and toxins used in beauty products and rates them based on how "bad" they are. I started thinking about the impact of these chemicals as they relate to the environment and my body, and decided it was time for a change. We started to switch over our shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and soaps – using up the remaining supply of what we had in the house and replenishing with all natural (or mostly natural) versions.
Just before Thanksgiving, I started to notice a small twinge in my left eye. Slight at first, it got increasingly worse as the weeks progressed, and progressed to the point where it was visible and just incredibly annoying. Six weeks in to the twitch, Ben made the correlation between my eye twitch and coffee consumption. It seemed to get much worse immediately after drinking coffee and tapered off as the coffee did. So, the next major change was cutting out coffee – which is HUGE for me. I’ve always been a coffee drinker. I LOVED coffee. It was a ritual for me. But I was willing to do anything for the eye twitch to stop, so I gave it up. It had an immediate impact on the twitch, but it also had another odd impact on me… it increased my energy and decreased my drowsiness during the day. I was waking up earlier without feeling sluggish and able to function off less sleep.
This is all leading up to my most recent decision… reducing my meat consumption. For anyone who’s known me more than 5 years, this is nothing new for me. I was a vegetarian off and on for about 10 years until about 5 or 6 years ago. My reasons were mostly health related – my brother and I both made the switch in 1994 after our grandfather passed away from heart problems. We both wanted to live a healthier lifestyle and keep our hearts as healthy as possible. He’s stuck with it this entire time and I stayed away from meet for quite a few years, until I started showing signs of anemia. Since I was doing it for health reasons, it seemed silly to me to solve one problem while creating another, and I started eating meat again. After a while, I figured out the balance that was needed to eat a vegetarian diet while still maintaining healthy protein & iron levels, and I went back… that is, until I developed an allergy to mushrooms. At that point (early 2000’s), it was really difficult to find vegetarian substitutes that weren’t mushroom derived. So, once again, I went back to meat. Since then, it’s been off and on for me… and so the story goes…
A few years ago, Ben & I made a rule that we wouldn’t eat meat at home. It was an easy way to reduce our intake without making a significant change in our lifestyle. One of the biggest things that I hated when I wasn’t eating meat was inconveniencing others and being the "difficult" one in a group. It may have been all self perceived, but I felt that way nonetheless. I hated being the odd one out – making any group food orders or dinners complicated. So this was a good compromise. We strayed from our rule in the past year, but decided at the start of the new year that we would go back to it.
This time, I’m taking it one step further for myself – exercising the dollar vote and making a conscious effort to not purchase any meat. This means restaurants, groceries, take out, lunches, etc. I recently pulled out my 1991 edition of Diet for a Small Planet and reaffirmed my belief in a vegetarian diet. Regardless of the reason, it just makes a whole lot more sense to me than a meat-centric diet. It’s a personal decision that helps me feel like I’m living a more socially responsible life… so if I show up with veggie burgers in tow, don’t be surprised :)
Heading back to work in the new year, a coworker introduced me to a book she’d read over the holiday break – "Skinny B*tch". A main theme of the book is removing toxins from your life to improve health. The authors advocate an organic vegan diet – discussing the toxins, hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and other unnatural chemicals that can be found in non-organic, non-vegan foods. They made quite a few good points that resonated with me. I’d made changes to reduce the chemicals I was putting on my skin and in the drain, but wasn’t addressing the chemicals I was putting in my body. Although a lot of the products I purchased were already organic, I hadn’t made any effort to change over to a fully organic diet (nor do I think I’ll ever be able to fully accomplish this). So I started switching that over as well – substituting organic items when possible.
So here we are… two months in to the new year and I can honestly say I’ve never felt better. It’s hard to say what the cause and effect of all of this is… there have been so many changes that it’s difficult to isolate which one has made the biggest impact on me, but at this point, I’m not willing to give up any of them. I’m feeling really good about what I’m putting in and on my body, and feel like I’m making a small difference in the world by embracing my social responsibility as a world citizen. That’s it for my soapbox – I just wanted to share. :)
Hope you all had a lovely valentine’s day and are enjoying the weekend!
The Scholarship Essay
I found this essay today while doing a little file maintenance. I wrote it back in 2001 when I was applying for scholarships for my senior year of college. Although I’ve written about Missy on here in the past, I thought this really captured how I was feeling and wanted to share…
**********************************************
Most people think it’s odd that I’ve known what I wanted to do since I was thirteen. However, it was merely the art of imitation that led me in this direction. As a little girl, there was one person who I especially looked up to and admired. I wanted to be just like my cousin Missy. Even though she was ten years older than I, she never treated me like a little kid. When I was young, Missy seemed perfect to me. She took me to movies, amusement parks, and was just always there for me. As I got older, she was more of a sister than a cousin. She became a roll model and a mentor for me.
Missy attended Sacramento State, and about the same time that I was deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, she was finishing college. She graduated with a degree in Accounting, and she opened my eyes to this field of study. I began to take classes in accounting, and I really enjoyed it. I realized this was the direction I wanted to take with my education and my life.
I began my college career at a Community College in my hometown. During my time at this college, my short-term goal was to transfer to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Once I accomplished this goal, I began setting new goals for myself. These smaller goals are the stepping-stones that will lead me to my main goal of becoming a CPA at one of the “Big Five” accounting firms. One of these “stepping-stone” goals was to be involved at school. Becoming a member of Alpha Kappa Psi became a priority for me. Pledging was not an easy task, but it was an excellent learning experience that helped me discover who I am. It taught me leadership, teamwork, and most importantly, it showed me how to handle stressful situations. These are skills that I value and that will help me in life.
Though I have dealt with difficult and stressful situations before, it was just recently that I faced the biggest challenge of my life. A few weeks ago, my cousin, Missy, passed away suddenly. Seemingly healthy, and only thirty years old, she suffered from a condition known as “Long QT Syndrome”. This disease frequently has no symptoms, and can lay dormant for years. Upon learning the news that she was in the hospital, I got in my car and drove to Stockton at 2:30am to be with her. She was in a coma for four days before it was assessed that she had no chance of recovery. The doctors felt it would be best to take her off the life support machines. I’d been filled with hope that she would recover, and even though I stood next to her bed as she drew her last breath, I still somehow believed that she would wake up.
When someone dies, the timing is never good. In my case, it couldn’t have been worse. I had interviews for summer internships set up with “Big Five” companies that week, and I knew that this was a big opportunity. Although it was hard, I knew that I couldn’t miss my chance to move one step closer to my long-term goal. It was the longest week I’ve ever been through, but I made it, and did it successfully as well. I was offered a position at one of the firms, and I am going back for second interviews with two other firms.
Through hardship, a person builds character and strength. This was a difficult experience for me, and it will take time to heal, but it also taught me an important lesson. I realized that to reach your goals, sometimes you have to overcome your personal hardships and do what’s necessary to continue on. Missy and I had talked about my interviews in the weeks before she died, and she had given me encouragement and support. She was glad that I had such a wonderful opportunity, and I know that she would not have wanted me to miss it. In my life, I often set high standards for myself, but I have the determination and drive to push me toward those goals. As time passes, I believe this experience will help to strengthen me and make me a better person. I’ve felt Missy’s influence on me all my life, and even though she’s gone, that influence will still be there.
Favorite Wines
I’ve started a wine log with a list of all of the wines we try… the favorites and flops alike! I’ll update the page as we go… here’s my first entry:
|
Wine |
Notes |
Price |
Score |
| Gina 2005 Sangiovese Napa Valley | 12/26/08 – This was a tasty wine; very light and fruity. It was slightly effervescent on the tongue and finished nicely. We paired it with a pesto pasta – it held up quite well and was still yummy after the food was gone. |
$14 |
7/10 |
Here’s a link to the page (or click “Wine Log” on the right column).
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you all the best this season and for the year to come!
Ben & I are enjoying a leisurely day at my parents house… opening presents, listening to music and relaxing.
Have a Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year!
Where do you go when I’m not looking?
I’m sure this question must date back to the beginning of laundry… where do my socks go? I’ve been short on clean laundry lately, and my sock drawer has gotten down to the 
dregs. The final survivors that are missing their mates. They peer up at me sadly from the drawer – hopeful that I’ve brought their match to them to be reunited once again. Alas, each morning it is the same routine. I rummage around, searching for two socks that might pass for matching then, more often than not, decide to move on to shoes that don’t need socks. Each morning, the widowed sock hopes it has a chance to once again see the light of day (or the inside of a shoe) and strains to get my attention. Sadly, many of the singletons these days are among my favorite winter socks. The winter wool socks from the Gap are the coziest of all of my warm socks. I purchased a set annually until a few years ago, when my wool sock collection seemed sufficient and I was comfortable easing up on the acquisition of more. And then there’s my “Rock Star” socks (a small play on words – there’s a cartoon picture of a star holding a guitar on the ankle). These were a purchase from Marshall’s years ago and I loved them dearly. The other sock went missing 4 years ago, but I haven’t given up hope. The surviving sock patiently awaits it’s return in my sock drawer.
Christmas Wish List – 2008
It’s that time of year again, and for those who’ve been asking for it (ahem… mom?). Drumroll, please… ta da! here is my wish list.
Merry Christmas to all!
