2010 Recap

Here is the quiz that I've been doing for a few year's from Linda's website.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?

Put together a crib. Ordered/picked out a ton of baby things. Suffered through months of nausea and exhaustion. Basically lots of baby-related things.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Here were my resolutions:

• Get to work on time. This means prior to 9:00. I am constantly missing the 8:45 train and then have to take the 8:55 which not ONLY has a mean conductor but also puts me in at right after 9. I already messed this one up on Day 2, but am going to make a concerted effort to show up on time!
• Go to Digital 2 class. And by go, I mean actually sign up for the class and attend it this year
• Save money. Hit our savings goal for the year that Mike and I set.

I think I've gotten a bit better at getting to work on time, even if I'm consistently getting there right at 9... at least I'm not rolling in around 9:30. I did go to the Digital Class, which was great. And we've done a good job of saving money as well. We hit the savings goal we wanted to, and then I took $500 out of that account to pay for the water damage to the floors we found when we redid the hardwoods. So we're basically there, I just need to transfer $500 back in!

As for resolutions for 2011, I have no idea. Maybe to not be a total control freak when Dos arrives and let Hubs be the involved, awesome Dad I know he will be. The only thing that would get in the way of that would be my own neurosis.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Mike's friend John and his wife Fran had a baby in September, my friend Jiyon gave birth in June. My brother's fiance's sister had a little boy just a few weeks ago. Lots of babies are on the way for 2011 as well!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Hmmm.... we've been pretty lucky overall. A close family friend died, which stunk. He was a really great person. And Mike's aunt died about a month ago.

5. What countries did you visit?

This was the year of domestic US trips, I don't think we went anywhere out of the country really unless you count the British Virgin Islands for a brief lunch stop over Thanksgiving! We went to Vegas in June, Boston in July, Napa in August, Baltimore in September and the Virgin Islands in November. I also took a trip to FL in April to attend a wedding with Emily, which was a crazy good time. Another trip to FL in September to visit my friend Dora, who is due the day before I am!

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

A real live human baby! On the outside of me! Also, I have been missing my waist for awhile now, that will be good to hopefully have back one day.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

June 10, when we found out about Dos. Sometime around September or so when I felt like Dos would definitely stick around.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Oh man, I feel like I didn't achieve that much this year. But I think I've realized how very blessed I am, which is probably a big achievement. I did work very hard to relax and try to let the baby thing happen when it happened, and I did enjoy a lot of the year because of that.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Getting hella frustrated with the babymaking process in early 2010. Not having faith that it would work out.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Had a few colds, but nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

We got a new TV in January. New appliances this spring, which are pretty darn nice. I think the appliances probably win - the new convection oven and I are homies for sure. Redoing the hardwood floors was a pretty great thing to spend money on, and we took a ton of vacations. All good things!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Hubs for always being willing to deal with preggo complaints, hormones, and drama around food, and for not constantly rolling his eyes at me when I'm being difficult.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Politicians because they just seem to like to argue rather than actually do their jobs.. Other than that, not really anyone. This is totally the same answer as last year.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Mortgage. Bills. Savings. Vacations. Regarding allowance, I bought a ton of new clothes, including maternity clothes. I figure if I have to lose my waist I might as well feel somewhat cute in my clothes.

15. What did you get really excited about?

Baby Dos! Vacations... naps!

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Like a G6

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? happier
– thinner or fatter? Um, fatter around my middle but thinner in my arms and legs. I lost a bit of weight at the beginning of pregnancy and it seems that the only place I've put it back on is around the baby-carrying area, thank goodness. I still have 6 weeks left so we'll see how that goes!
– richer or poorer? richer, just slightly

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Working out. Man, this is my answer every year. I really fell off the wagon though, I tried a few times a month or two ago but the belly just gets. in. the. way!!

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying

20. How did you spend Christmas?

We went to see Mike's family. We started the day with Grandma K at 11, Grandma H's at 12:30, then hit up a third set of grandparents for dinner at 3. Holy Christmas, Batman! Then it was back to Mike's parents' house to hang out with the older two nephews and watch them open a few presents (and beg to open even more :)).

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?

Yeah, I think I've fallen in love with this baby. I'm so guarded that it's hard; I know that not everyone who gets pregnant ends up with a baby, even those as far into the process as we are. But as we get closer it's getting easier to feel like it might actually happen, and I feel like once I see him/her it will all come rushing to me.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

How I Met Your Mother. Top Chef (normal season and AllStars - hated Just Desserts). Glee (oh how I love Glee!!)

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No. This is the same answer as last year....I can't say I really hate anyone. More like I really pity some people, people who do my loved ones wrong. Because they don't get to have the awesomeness that is my loved ones in their lives.

24. What was the best book you read?

I really liked Three Cups of Tea, and I read a ton of baby books. My favorite was by Dr Oz, and was called YOU: Having a baby

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

The Script - love the song Breakeven

26. What did you want and get?

Pregnancy. Husband not travelling so much!

27. What did you want and not get?

Baby Dos a bit earlier... I guess shim is on his/her own schedule. But the timing works out really really well for us - especially for me at work. So I guess shim knows what shim is doing!

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Really liked Inception. I also liked going to see Sex and the City 2, even if the movie wasn't all that great. We went to the Icon theater on Roosevelt and I had some amazing dirty martinis and good times with the gals. The movie was a bit secondary to the event as a whole though!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 31. Went to lunch with the coworkers at Rivers, ate entirely too many chocolate cupcakes, hit up dinner with my future sister-in-law at CPK, then came home and fell asleep on the couch. It was awesome.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Not quite sure... as I said I've felt incredibly blessed. Maybe less things breaking around the house? haha...

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Whatever fits and looks remotely cute. Lots of Target, Old Navy, and Gap maternity clothes.

32. What kept you sane?

Does HGTV count? I did try acupuncture early in the year and that was pretty awesome. I actually saw a therapist for a few sessions and really appreciated being able to talk to someone about some things I was going through. I think everyone would benefit from a few therapy sessions a year. My Mom also keeps me sane by listening to me complain or mock whatever is going on at the time.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I don't know, they are all a bit crazy.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

I have no idea. I get kind of fired up at people just wanting Obama to fail. I mean, why would people want our president to fail? Don't they get that that has an affect on them regardless of their party orientation?

35. Who did you miss?

My Grandma S. Still missing her, years after she passed. I guess the whole baby thing makes me really wish she were around. I know she would be so excited for us.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Can I say Gracie? She's not a baby anymore, she's a little girl, and I feel like she's a whole new person!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.

I still haven't learned this fully, but it's that sometimes I can't just fix things, as much as I want to.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Oh, I have no idea!!

Yay, holidays :)

Hubs and I are off to Indiana tomorrow with beagle in tow, but just wanted to send along some holiday greetings! Hope everyone has a very merry holiday!

By Less Ordinary Designs

Misc update

It doesn't really seem like Christmas. There, I said it. Maybe it's because we went to the tropical vacation route for Thanksgiving... maybe because Mike and I were too lazy to put up any Christmas decorations save for one little stocking with a question mark on it (which is a tradition in my family when a baby is due - my mom used it for Jay and Katie and my niece... and I asked to borrow it before thinking that THEY might want to hang it up for Dos, oops :)) and one knick-knacky plate thingy that my Grandpa gave me from one of Grandma S's many collections.

Regardless of "feeling like Christmas" or not, all our presents are purchased and wrapped, and I'm looking forward to seeing the wrapping paper fly when all four nephews tear into their stuff. That is always a fun time. We gave Grace her presents last week in Fort Wayne and we got her a pillow pet, a little puppy toy, and some clothes. "A pill pet! A pill pet!" she kept exclaiming.... so cute!

All along, I've said that Valentine's day will be here before we know it and Dos will be here. The impending holiday is making that all the more real. The doctor has said Dos is measuring a little larger than normal, so I started to get worried that shim might come a little sooner than expected. So I moved up my audit-finishing timeline to January 15th, to hopefully ensure that my work is done before baby makes his or her appearance.

Yesterday we had a pretty chill day and I washed all of Dos's linens and diapers (we're going to try to cloth diaper when we're at home... the daycares won't do it). I felt really accomplished and like I got alot done. Then I couldn't get to sleep to save my life last night. I kept drifting in and out of consciousness and having these crazy dreams that the hospital wouldn't let us bring Dos home because we didn't have the crib mattress yet. Nevermind that the kid won't use the mattress for the first couple weeks AT LEAST and will sleep in the bassinet attachment of the stroller. Nevermind that the only thing you HAVE to have is a car seat. Or nevermind that there are these things called STORES that will sell you things that you do not have pretty much whenever you want it. Or that I am not even worried about the things we still need to get for Dos - after our last shower I plan on just adding the last few things to an Amazon list and having them shipped to us. I think my obsession with the mattress is that it went up $20 in price on Amazon like THE DAY I was going to order it and it's been ticking me off mightily ever since. I keep waiting for it to drop again, but I fear I'm SOL and I'm stubborn enough to try and wait it out :)

So anyways, that's what is going on here. A trip to visit Mike's family for Christmas, then we settle in to wait for Dos. I am excited to meet the kidlet, but not overeager... I'm liking that the kid is contained right now and the punches I get all day long amuse me. Let's just hope that shim waits until at least January 15th!!

Tada!

DSC_0092, originally uploaded by agstratt.

Gracie has been taking gymnastics classes and when you say Tada! she will strike a gymnast-at-the-end-of-her-routine pose. It's kind of awesome to just yell TADA whenever.

Gracie and the candy

DSC_0046, originally uploaded by agstratt.

One of my baby showers was this past weekend and Gracie ate about a hundred of these little candy baby bottles. I was cracking up at her standing here next to the table, like "what? I am totally not interested in this candy. What are you talking about?" trying to be all nonchalant. Hilarious!

St John - Day 6

Since Mike and I flew out at the buttcrack of dawn on Friday after Thanksgiving, the actual holiday was our last day in St John. This worked out pretty well. Originally we planned on Mike and I making dinner that night, but then my Mom and I got the idea to try and put together an impromptu Thanksgiving meal. We left it largely up to the Fates - if the grocery had the things we needed we would go for it. If not, it was going to be a signature April meal of goat-cheese stuffed chicken :)

Well, the fates complied and everything we needed was available at the store! After breakfast was over that morning, my Dad and I got to work on two pumpkin pies and baked those asap. Then my mom prepped the turkey breast she'd bought at the store and put that into the oven to roast while Mike and I peeled/cut up potatoes for the mashed potatoes. A couple days earlier Mom had cut up bread and set it out to dry up a bit for the stuffing. I cut up the celery and onions for the stuffing and Dad made some broth to make it as well. We were pumped that the turkey breast came with some junk (technical term that is, junk) to make gravy. So we didn't have to try and backdoor it as much with broth as we'd originally planned. Mom had purchased peas and corn to have with dinner as well, so I put some peas on to boil for an hour or two since Mike likes them mushy (everyone else got fresher peas!).

Around 2:00 or so everything was ready and we sat down at the table on the deck to eat our grub.
Everyone agreed that for something we didn't get too stressed over, it was really good. It helped that everyone pitched in, but really we didn't spend too much time cooking the meal. Mostly it was checking on things and then laying out on the deck some more! Plus, having a Thanksgiving meal with a view like this one was a great experience.

After the big meal, there was copious amounts of laying about and relaxing/napping. We took a belly shot for the week.... love the background. This will be fun to put in the Belly Book I've been using to document the pregnancy :)
This was the location of some of the laying around. Deck time!!
Later that afternoon I decided to finally get around to taking pics of the sunset. I had to have taken close to 200 over the course of an hour, watching the sun go further and further down. Here are some of my favorites.



So beautiful, and such a nice relaxing vacation!!

St John - Days 4 & 5

This vacation is not going to have as many posts as my vacations normally do... mostly because we chilled out alot more than normal!

On Tuesday we decided that a day in the beach was in order, and headed to Trunk Bay. It's rated consistently in the top three beaches of the world, and once we got there we could see why:
Amazing! Luckily, Dad kidding around with some cab drivers in the parking lot netted us a parking space and we sauntered in. You paid like $4 each for everyone to get in, because they had some pretty decent bathroom and shower facilities. I'll pay $4 not to pee in the jungle, so that was fine by me.

We basically laid on the beach and chatted and caught some rays. Oh, except for Dad, who rolled in the sand. Hahaha!
Here is a pic of he and my mom getting some swim time in. The boys spent some time snorkeling about as well. I had no interest in snorkeling, and very little interest in getting in the water (for some reason I was worried it would hurt Dos). But after some prodding from Mike I ended up in the water for a little bit.
For lunch we hit up the snack bar at the beach. Once we got home we got all cleaned up and headed into town for dinner. We started at this SoGo's place that looked pretty shady, had appetizers and drinks and decided to bail. Then we went to this place called The Fish Trap which was much better. The hostess insisted that I am having a girl and asked me to "bring her back to see us sometime!" So funny - I crack up at people that are so insistent upon Dos's gender being one way or another... I suppose they have a 50/50 shot right? We'll find out who is right in February!

The next day we rented a boat that departed from the nearby Westin's docks. Our captain, Stan, stopped by a good place to snorkel while the girls filled out our customs paperwork.
Then we stopped in Jost van Dyke to clear customs. Here is the police station that processed our paperwork.
Here we are waiting to clear customs. You can tell it was pretty hectic.
After clearing customs, we headed down Main Street to Foxy's bar. Dad was enthralled with "Main Street". About 80 people total live on this island!
Getting a drink at Foxy's.... love this pic of Mike...
Then we all got back in the boat and headed around the island to Soggy Dollar Bar. It is dubbed this because there is no dock so you have to swim in and then pay for your food/drinks with soggy money. Good thing I got over my reservations about swimming the previous day! The food at Soggy Dollar was just bar food, but it was really good all the same. I had a jerk chicken sandwich that was super tasty, and the onion rings were massive and the batter they had been fried in was nice and doughy. Hard to explain, but I highly recommend for a good midday meal!
After getting back in the boat at Soggy Dollar, we set off to find the small beach where the Corona commercials are taped... then settled on Sandy Key and some pics. It was this super small little island with nothing on it, so we swam in to hang out a bit. We cracked up b.c as we swam in we noticed Jay up on the beach trying his darnedest to crack open this big coconut. Jay was obsessed with cracking open coconuts on vacation, it was pretty funny.
Wednesday was "Jay and Kim dinner night" where they grilled some grub and we ate out on the deck. Delish!

St John - Days 1-3

We started vacation on Saturday by getting up at the buttcrack of dawn and heading to the airport. Hearing horror stories about TSA groping patdowns and security lines of hours, we decided we should get to the airport arond 6:00-6:15 for our 8:20 flight. We had a cab pick us up at 5:30 and dropped by down the street to pick up Jay and Kim.

Of course, we were through security in about fifteen minutes. Figures.

Jay and Kim flew American and we were on United, so Mike and I headed to the Tuscany at one end of the B gates for breakfast. Why, you ask? Because there were pictures of divine-looking french toast hanging all over advertising the place. Count me in.

Once we were about done with our food, the parents and Grandpa Stratton showed up for breakfast, so we chilled out there until our flight.

The flight as a whole was pretty uneventful, and we got to St Thomas around 3 o'clock. We hit up a cab to the Red Hook ferry and took that to St John. We ended up getting the 4:30 ferry, which was then met by our rental car company and our villa company. The villa lady followed us to the rental car place, where we put my Dad and I on the driver list (me being the backup for sober-driving purposes). After that we headed to the villa, and were greeted with this place:


Pretty nice, if I do say so myself. The place was pretty cool and had four bedrooms and four baths. The downstairs bedrooms had their own baths, which was nice, but you couldn't reach them from inside the house. It wasn't too much of a pain to go outside down to our rooms, though.

Once getting our stuff in, we headed to dinner at the Lime Inn and then Mom/Dad picked up Jay and Kim from the ferry. They'd had a connecting flight, wheras ours was direct, so they were a bit later. It worked out well actually, since the car we had the first night only fit 5, and the parents picked up a larger car the next day that fit 7.

Sunday we pretty much just laid around the pool at the house and then headed into town to watch the Colts game ("game day baby!" says Jay). Monday we decided to take a drive around the island. It rained off and on throughout the day so we basically drove around the whole island, ate a lunch of cheeseburgers at Skinny Legs (the cheeseburger smell made me queasy, so I didn't get much down. But I did have a nice after-lunch snack of Goldfish and Berry Berry Skittles that helped), and settled on hiking to a small beach off the roadway called Salt Pond bay. It was so nice, and overall not very crowded at all. I didn't take my camera to this place since it was a bit of a hike and I didn't want it to get soaked. The boys snorkeled a bit and the girls and Gramps laid on the beach and caught some rays. Perfect start to vacation, esp since our bedtimes mysteriously migrated to around 8-9 PM (which was 6-7PM our time... not sure how we started that!). At least I was getting lots of sleep!!

Doughnut sadness, nicknames

With the end of Thanksgiving has come the day that I have dreaded... I am pretty sure that Dunkin' Donuts has discontinued their pumpkin doughnuts. So sad. It's become a Friday tradition for me to drop by and snag one on Friday (along with a Boston Creme for the Boss). They only had them about half the time though, so when I asked for it, sometimes I got greeted with "No." Not "We're out" or "Sorry, no more".... just NO. The Dunkin guys in the train station are such odd ducks. But so sad that I won't get my pumpkin doughnuts on some Fridays anymore. Ahhh, such is life.

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Mike refers to me as "Upper Management." It totally cracks me up - when people ask us if we can do dinner or hang out, he says "let me check with Upper Management." So funny. He's been telling me that the Sportsguy refers to his youngest kid as "The CEO." Want to guess what Dos's second nickname will probably be? It's good that I think that nickname is pretty funny as well.