We interrupt this blogram for a very important announcement...

On Tuesday, August 23, 2005 at 12:16 a.m., Vincent Javier was born two weeks early, weighing in at 7 lbs, 12 oz.  He's extremely healthy and beautiful and enjoying his days spent nursing, pooping, and sleeping.  Please excuse this brief hiatus at "Am I Freakin' Invisible or What?".

HR Mommy

Just came home from the Doctor's Office...

and I'm dilated 1 cm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited that I can't even relax enough to nap.  We're definitely getting close now!!!

T minus two weeks and counting...

So TODAY was actually a slightly stressful day.

Had my hair trimmed this morning -last official chance to have my hair cut without a baby crying in the background. The haircut was not stressful. But the sitting in the parking lot wondering when the owner of the shop was actually going to show up for the 9:30 a.m. opening was. I'm sorry, maybe I'm a pain in the rear, but I think if you open at 9:30 then your butt should be in your shop and ready prior to 9:30. My hair lady? Not so concerned with traditional courtesy. She pulled into the parking lot at 9:30. Emerged from her SUV talking on her Nextel (I freakin' hate people who have to obnoxiously advertise their private conversations) and takin' her sweet time draggin' her short-shorts clad rear over to the door to unlock. Finally we're inside and she's still listening to her hubby on the Nextel -rather than telling him she'll have to call him back because there's a paying customer waiting for attention. That annoyed me.

Next stop? Take Hubby to the Workman's Comp Doc to be checked out after he got diesel fuel (and not a little dirt) in his eye. Sit there for 150 years, er an hour, only to have them say come back again on Monday. Not terribly stressful. It actually could have been far worse.

After dropping Hubby off, it was nearly time to show up for my volunteer hours at 10 yr old son's school. I was really hungry, but really didn't have time to go home for lunch. I grabbed a cheeseburger at Mickey D's and stopped at the CVS before heading to the school. That's when the real stress set in.

I came out of CVS ready to chomp on my cheeseburger and cruise over to the school. While reaching for my burger with one hand, I turned the key -or at least I thought I did, but there wasn't a sound. I turned around perplexed and tried again. Nothing. I made sure that it had been in Park when I'd shut off the engine. Yep. Looked around kind of confused and tried again. Nada. Nothing had been wrong with the car. No recent hesitations in starting. Nothing. I'd actually just been thinking how well it was running (Apparently, that's where I went wrong). I was perplexed.

I actually ended up calling Hubby and asking him to come. While I waited for poor Hubby to drive the 25 minutes to where I was, three men came over and tried to help. The first one had the theory that perhaps just a wire was loose. He put his hands in various parts of my engine to no avail. He apologized for not being able to help and left. But not before I thanked him for being kind enough for trying. The second guy was a motorcycle guy whom I had just watched start his bike with the ol' touch the screwdriver to the starter selenoid trick- I kind of wondered if that could be my problem, but I wasn't going to ask. I must have looked just pathetic enough. He asked if I was having car trouble and jumped off of his bike and tried that with my car. Sadly, no dice. The third guy was convinced from the first that it was a battery problem and proceeded to try all kinds of handy little tricks that might help the battery. Really a very nice guy. Hubby came pulling into the lot about that time. I called Hubby by his Christian name and the guy looked at me kind of funny (Hubby has an uncommon name) and then asked my name. When I told him he said, "Oh Boy. I'm Gloria's son." You wouldn't know this, but Gloria is one of my closest friends from church. Her son goes to a different church so we've never actually met before. So we were all very thrilled that here a guardian angel had come along to help. It turns out it was the battery.

After only two hours of standing out in the 97 degree heat, we had the battery checked at the auto parts store across the street and the battery was completely shot. The auto parts store even installed it at no additional charge. End of stress, but still, all in all quite a long day for the 9 month pregnant woman.

Oh, the Wendy's update? They actually made amends by coughing up $30 worth of gift certificates good at any Wendy's. Now I just have to get up enough confidence to try Wendy's food again so I can use them. The plastic that was found in my burger? It was a piece of a lid to a dressing container. I'm just still kind of grossed out over it. But they've tried to make it up to us. Okay it's the weekend. Enjoy it!

The good news...

The humidity is only at 90% today.

The bad news:

It's about 80 kajillion degrees outside.  On the pregnancy body heat index it's the equivalent of sitting naked on the sun while covered in Crisco.

Another day another Doctor's Appointment...

Everything's normal.  Doc H says, "Don't worry.  Not yet.  See you next week."  I tell the doctor that I really wish this baby would come SOON.  I wonder if it's okay to indicate that I have an actual date that I'd prefer little V.J. to make his entrance, er exit.

Happy Birthday BIG BROTHER! TEN YEARS OLD TODAY!!!!

Happy Birthday
to our big boy
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well...

Tomorrow is another Doc's appointment.  I'm getting pretty excited.  We only have like 3 1/2 weeks to go.  I really want to have him in exactly 3 weeks.  And I would appreciate him coming right around this time of the day too.

There's just one problem...  BABY'S don't adhere to schedules very well.  Anyway, I do recognize the wisdom in waiting patiently for all to happen in God's own time.  So I'm trying really hard to chill out and be less of a control freak -the one thing I can't control is my control freak tendency.  My suitcase is packed and in the back of the minivan.  The car seat is installed.  We really do ONLY need the baby now.  And it REALLY would be convenient if he'd make sure he comes on a Sunday afternoon when his Daddy is home so that Mommy won't have to sit waiting for Daddy to get home.  Patience may be a virtue, but no one ever called Mommy a virtuous woman either. 

Big Brother's birthday is this coming Friday.  We're keeping it low key.  I'm too far along to get crazy with plans, so we've promised to do something extra special with his little school friends in a couple of months.  We did try to do something bigger sooner, but his mates were off with their divorced dads for summer break.  School goes back on Tuesday.  I'm going to be really lonely and anxious sitting home alone all day.  My big boy is really a huge help and such a love.  There ought to be an Amazing Eldest Child award.  He's the greatest.  But I'm only capable of making Amazing children ;)

So let's see, what's new at HR Mommy's house?

Not a whole heck of a lot.  It's already been a busy week for us here.  The trip to the mechanic was quick and painless.  They said they couldn't find anything wrong to be causing the car to run hot.  They checked every bit of the cooling system.  The guy said the only thing he did at all was to add a tiny little bit (less than a quart) of coolant.  But when I left there the problem had gone away.  This van has been having this freaky act like it's overheating thing periodically.  Every single time they can't figure out why it's doing it and every single time some bizarre little inconsequential thing seems to make it stop.  I think the van is a hypochondriac.  It's just doing it for attention.

Afterall, with the baby coming and all the focus has just not been on pampering the automobiles.  No steam bath for the carpets and interior.  No hot wax treatment for the chassis.  It's gotta hurt.  LOL

Wendy's?  Okay, so I took Big Brother (aka my soon to be 10 yr old) swimming at a friend's pool on Saturday morning.  After two hours of swimming I really didn't feel like rushing around the kitchen fixing us both lunch.  I decided we'd get some fast food.  I cruised over to McD's for a happy meal and an extra cheeseburger for Brother and then went across the driveway to Wendy's for my lunch. 

The drive-thru line was unbearable, but it was at the late side of the lunch hour.  I finally got up there to place my order and the girl typed it in wrong.  It took her literally FIVE minutes to change the order from Monterey CHICKEN to Monterey CHEESEBURGER.  FIVE.  MINUTES.  After some wait I pull up to the payment window and then up to the food window.  They DID not even know WHAT I ORDERED.  They asked me.  I told them.  Monterey CHEESEBURGER.  They seemed to be in disagreement with each other over what my order was but finally handed me my bag and my drink.  I started to pull away, got about 6 feet from the window and then thought about their obvious confusion.  I stopped and checked the bag.  What do you think was in there?  Can ya guess?  Monterey CHICKEN sandwich.  I should have said the hell with it and went home.  But I was really craving BEEF.  So, despite the fact that I did not want to walk into Wendy's in my bathing suit with my 9 month pregnancy belly, I went inside to point out their mistake.  They looked at me like I was nuts.  Then wandered off with the wrong sandwich.  Then they sauntered over and asked for the right sandwich and finally handed me a bag with my cheeseburger in it.  Would you believe they hadn't bothered to give me back my fries?  Now I had to flag one down to get that.  When I got home I found they also didn't bother to give me any napkins or a straw for my drink.  So that was a sucky experience right?  Couldn't get a whole lot worse, right?  WRONG.  I park myself in front of the TV hoping to go ahead and eat my now cold fries and cheeseburger.  I eat a couple of fries and then start on my burger.  FIRST BITE.  FIRST. FREAKIN'. BITE.  Something small and hard clamped between my teeth.  I pick up a napkin and find that there is a 1 inch long piece of white hard and sharp plastic in my sandwich -or there was, 'cause now it's been in my mouth.  Not only was I grossed out, but I was thoroughly pissed off.  NO WAY am I going to drive back to town to return it, so I now have no lunch.  Not only that, but I'm feeling sick over it.  I'm 9 months pregnant.  I use papertowels to turn on the water and open the door to public restrooms.  I've accosted other women in the bathroom for leaving pee on the seat.  I avoid all sorts of germ ridden people everywhere.  Now I'm eating some foreign matter that for all I know came off the floor of their restaurant.

I opened the phone book, looked for the number for the local Wendy's, and dialed them up.  FORTY FIVE RINGS.  No answer.  I was even angrier now.  I was going to go online to complain, but that was not fast enough for me.  I wanted to talk to someone YESTERDAY.  I look on the bag and see the 800 number.  I call and IT rings forever, but eventually someone answers.  I explained everything and they tell me to save the plastic and someone will call me.  Couple of hours later their Regional Manager calls back from a nearby major city.  I tell him everything and he says they'll be sending coupons.  I told him I want them to let me know exactly what happened and exactly what that little plastic thingy was.  I agree to drop the piece off at the restaurant on my way through town.  That was Saturday.  That major town is only two towns away from us.  I didn't receive any coupons yet.  I forgot to drop off the piece of plastic 'til yesterday.  I really just want to know what the hell that plastic was.  It was sort of crescent shaped and appeared to have broken off of something.  It kind of looked like the edge of a screw on cap from like salad dressing or a coke bottle, or ketchup bottle, or something similar -you get the idea.  The only problem is Wendy's doesn't have bottled sodas, dressings, or ketchup.  They all come in industrial strength plastic bags.  So what the hell was that thing and why was it in MY lunch?

Ah who knows?  Okay, pregnancy update?  4 weeks to go and now I'm having these gosh awful cramps way down low -like menstrual cramps.  Not contractions.  Not pre-labor, but definitely a normal part of pregnancy for some women.  It doesn't generally occur in first pregnancies but is fairly common in subsequent pregnancies.  The cramps are unbearable.  I cannot believe how uncomfortable and I cannot believe that they will probably continue all the way to the end.  A month's worth of menstrual cramps!!!!  That's no incentive to continue having babies!  Oh well, I have had a fairly easy time of it.  I guess I'll survive.  I just keep trying to tell myself that these cramps are just getting my body ready for delivery and that they're going to make for a much faster and easier labor and delivery.  I just hope I'm not lying to myself.  ;)

Good Morning

I'm off to the mechanic to find out why the minivan seems to be running hot, eventhough it's not losing any fluid. 

I'm really not looking forward to sitting in the lobby of the auto shop, but I know that if I leave and wait for their call I'll be left waiting forever.  When I'm sitting right there they bring the car right in and don't do any of that slipping my car out for a while to look at someone else's.

Remind you to tell you about my misery at Wendy's on Saturday afternoon.  Customer Service has become an oxymoron.  Let's hope that's not the case at the auto shop this morning.