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overwhelmed

by Wendy J. La

There are so many one-liners that I keep thinking up as facebook statuses, but then I’m like, “No, I really need to just write a blog post.” At the same time, I am totally speechless. They don’t make big enough words to describe how special I feel. It’s amazing that so many people can love someone so much when they haven’t met him yet. He is one fantastically lucky little boy to be entering a family that’s this incredible.

My baby shower was the shower that I have fantasized about since Tom and I started thinking about making babies.

It started on Saturday morning. Tom and I were up at 6:30 to continue cleaning after having been up until 2 (me) and 3 (Tom) the night before. At about 10:30, the doorbell rang and we were pretty far from being ready for company. Tom answered it, I freaked out about still being in my pajamas. I crossed my fingers and hoped it was a neighbor. I said, “Is it people?” Tom looked out the window by the door and said something to the effect of, “Oh, it’s people alright!” He opened the door and it was Lindsay Kaye and Sarah. All the way from Florida, a whole day early! They were hungry, so the first thing that they did after hugging and hugging and hugging and touring the house was run out and try to find something to eat. They found Five Guys and brought back lunch for everybody.

Since they picked Five Guys, we had to show them this:

After we ate, they helped us clean up and put a whooooole bunch of boxes in the attic. Since I want to live here forever and never move again, there’s nothing in the attic that we have to ever get to unless we are moving out. I have a crapload of Disney collectibles that each came in a box with styrofoam and whatnot, so we put all of those in the attic and that’s it. Tom doesn’t like going up there, so he’s putting all the holiday decorations in the garage. Anyway – in 3 minutes, Lindsay, Sarah and Tom took care of a job that Tom and I have put off for 3 weeks.

Kayce showed up sometime in the early afternoon. Kayce – drove all the way from Northern VA, stopping in Cville, just to go shopping at Ikea with me and watch me open a bunch of presents. I mean, basically that’s the only reason everyone was there. Amazing. AMAZING. Amazing that all these people would come all this way for that.

Later in the afternoon, Trudy, Sunny and Haley showed up WITH MOM! Mom! …or, well, Grandma – I guess… who tried to tell me all week that she was going to the UVA game and coming after that surprised me and showed up with the Herolds + Hay Nick. First Lindsay and Sarah, then Mom.. that’s TWO awesome surprises.

We went to Ikea. Tom was versus me. He’s always versus me. I sat a bunch of stuff by the door to go to Goodwill on Friday night and asked him to load it up and take it. Wouldn’t you know it, not only was the truck (that we needed to fill with baby furniture) full of stuff, but it was also out of gas – which we had ALSO talked about waaaay before everyone was walking out the door to go to Ikea. Try Thursday night. Between Thursday night and Saturday evening he didn’t have a second to put gas in the truck – get outta here.

I didn’t want to be held up any more from getting the gang to the meatballs. I told Tom to drop the stuff off at Goodwill, go to South Carolina to get gas, and then meet us at Ikea… instead of napping, which was our original plan for him.

Trudy drove Grandma, Kayce and me. Lindsay drove Sarah, Haley and Sunny. Tom came by himself after doing his chores, ate with us and then napped in the parking lot. We needed the truck… and on the way home it would only seat two anyway, so we needed to take that many cars.

IKEA was, well… it was IKEA, which is always awesome. We had dinner, then went shopping. Oh! I just remembered one of my would-be facebook statuses. We had a shopping list that totaled over $800 and through savvy shopping, endless generosity from my Mom and sisters and aunts and cousins, and pure dumb luck – we walked out of there spending $175 out of pocket. I was flabbergasted. So flabbergasted in fact that I just used the word “flabbergasted.”

I was adamant about making Tom come in and pay with his debit card so we could get 1%, or what I thought would be $8, in cash back… but after all that we made less than $2. Ha. AND there was no coupon on the bottom of the receipt… so who knows if they even do that anymore.

I told Tom on the way home from Ikea that I felt like all the molecules that make me up were buzzing. I felt electric. There was so much happiness in me that my cells were unable to contain it all.

When we got home, Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Haley put Little Happy’s crib together. Tom took Grandma and the Great Aunts to WalMart and Krispy Kreme.

It was a late night. Everybody was exhausted. We had a huge slumber party.

It was awesome. Can you believe all this people went through all this for me?! Well, for one lucky little boy, anyway.

The next morning was a frenzy of activity. Dad and Lindsay went to the grocery store. Then Dad and Debbie went to the grocery store. Then Dad said he needed some wires to hang up the chandelier and had to go to Lowe’s, and before I knew he was gone, he was back and the chandelier was hung. Our menu was based on the invitations. We had Mexican dip, Chinese wontons, Hawaiian pineapple, American (although not Native American) mac n’ cheese, Italian caprese skewers, and ham and cheese croissants from France. Each dish had a little small world kid on a toothpick stuck in it. I wish I had taken pictures. It was so cute. I found a tube of toy buildings from around the world at Michael’s, so the Pyramids, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Parthenon, Empire State Building, Taj Mahal, and Eiffel Tower were scattered around the food as well. The cake also matched the invitations PERFECTLY.

I made a pennant banner out of card stock and hung it over the fireplace. It was a quick and dirty project, but in hindsight I like it so much that I think I’m going to hang it in the baby’s room. I wrote “baby” in a different language on each flag. It looked so good.

We played a lot of fun games that I’ve never played at a shower before. Haley and I had each bought a bunch of prizes. It’s funny, because I picked some of my favorite things, fancy soaps, and Haley picked her favorite things, wild animals on stickers, magnets and notepads. There was a worksheet with a list of features (eyes, hair, smile, toes, etc.) and you had to check off whether you thought that I wanted the baby to get each feature from Tom or from me. We put paper plate on top of our heads and had to draw a baby without looking. Everyone tried to guess how big around I was and cut a piece of yarn that length. My cousin Erika came within about ONE INCH!

Speaking of Erika! She and my Great Aunt Jean left Rockville, MD at 5:30 AM to surprise me at the shower. I was totally blown away! Flabbergasted again! I still can’t believe Erika was there. Amazing. Surprise number 3! And Jean! Surprise number 4!

I really want to go into detail about all the incredible stuff that I got, but don’t want to bore you. It was really just… I don’t know. I already used “amazing” and “incredible.” Did I use “awesome?” It was awesome. It was epic. I cannot understand how people love me so much, I just don’t have the brain power to comprehend it. I’ve been unpacking Lil’ Happy’s gifts this morning and it just moves me to tears. I don’t think it’s pregnancy hormones, I think it’s just being so full of joy that it leaks out of my face.

The things that stand out most in my mind are the handmade things. I wanted to buy a stool at Ikea for his room. Ikea was out of the yellow ones. But that’s okay, because Great Aunt Trudy MADE him a stool with Mickey and the gang on it. Anyone can wrap up some onesies and socks and blankets and things, but his Great Aunt Debbie made a platter of onesie cupcakes. It was so adorable that I didn’t want to take it apart. I still don’t. Great Great Aunt Sara Beth made him a blankey and a hat. I am so excited about those that they’re going to the hospital with us. They smell like her house. Love, love, love it. Kayce and Erika are BOTH in the process of stitching something up. Kayce’s sneaky. She surprised me. I didn’t know she did all that. Erika said, “Yeah, she does… and she knits all the time. She’s very crafty.”

OMG, I still can’t believe Erika and Kayce were here for the shower. Totally awesome.

Grandma, Grandpa and Lil’ Happy’s Aunts kept giving us presents filled with more presents. You know? Not just a bathtub, but a bathtub stuffed with shampoo, towels, lotion, etc. We didn’t just get a diaper bag with a giraffe on it, it was stuffed with diapers, bottles, bibs, diaper cream, etc. I LOOOOVE those types of presents.

—

I really wanted to decorate onesies at the party, but we didn’t get around to it. It worked out alright, though. Lindsay, Sarah, Tom and I decorated a few after everyone left. I had such a good time doing that. It was fun with out intimate little group. I think the one that Tom made is probably my favorite, but he doesn’t want you to see it until you see it on the baby. Sarah’s are hysterical. Lindsay’s are PERFECT for MY kid. Mine were kind of anti-climactic compared to everyone else’s.

Looks like this post has gotten long enough. I’m going to go reopen some more presents for a while.

Kirk out.

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room to grow

by Wendy J. La

I don’t usually like to overwhelm you with two posts in one day, and odds are I won’t be able to think of anything to write about tomorrow because I talked your ear (eyes) off today.

I worked on the nursery before we left for Charlottesville on Friday and just can’t wait to show you how it’s going, although a smart Wendy would wait for the big TA-DA in a week or so when it’s done.

It was a big help for me psychologically to get something going. I feel less depressed. I’ve been complaining this whole time, “geez, if only I had a dresser!” But now, I’m all, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with his outfits hanging up in the closet…” So we have an adorable, practically empty, dresser.

BUT I STILL LIKE HAVING IT!

I can’t wait to pick up the matching one and the toy box. And the crib. And, hey, I need to finish sanding and repainting the changing table that we bought waaaay the heck back in February.

But back to my little success story… most people buy a set of stuff that’s beautifully coordinated and create nurseries that look like catalog pages. (I’m talking about you Kinsey Parham! …not that you’ll read this.) I’ve always had trouble with this. Let’s say I pick out that adorable Baby Simba jungle motif that’s out right now. Well, then where do Mickey and Goofy go? Most toys are brilliant primary colors, and I want them to look like they have a home in Mr. Happy’s room. I’ve tried really hard not to be all matchy-matchy, but to keep it coordinated. Let’s see how things are going…

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to-do

by Wendy J. La

I should make a to-do list every day. When I woke up this morning, my mental list included making a flag banner for the shower, but the paint marker that I bought doesn’t show up. You tell me what a white paint marker is supposed to show up on if it’s not supposed to show up on not-that-dark-blue paper. My list also included washing my pajamas and Tom’s athletic shorts. I started throwing stuff in the washer and there was a little lake in there. Crap. How did I not notice that yesterday when I emptied the washer? I am having more problems with this thing… who buys a Kitchen-Aid washing machine?! Honestly.

I DID eventually run a load and separate the next load in the queue. Need more detergent. I organized my closet. I started setting hats on a bookshelf in there and before I knew it, the whole shelf was full of hats – so I guess that’s what it is now. It’s a hat shelf.

I have more baseball caps that you would believe. And, well… lots of a certain other type of hat as well, something like a dozen. Most people probably have what, one pair of mouse ears from one trip to Walt Disney World 13 years ago and they HAD to have them (‘cuz that’s what you do) but now, it’s like, what do you do with them? You can’t just wear them around town…

…unless you’re me.

If you’re curious (It’s lengthy – don’t feel obligated. We can just say “Goodbye” here.):

In my defense, I had one pair FOREVER… okay. Then, they stopped hand-stitching the name on the back. And mine was actually VERY well-done. I got lucky, a true artist and professional was working in the hat shop on Main Street that day. It’s basically a regular embroidery machine now using a font that’s very Mouseketeeresque. A Cast Member stopped me in line for a ride once and was like, “Where did you get those ears?!” I said, “Main Street” and she said, “Well, don’t lose them! They don’t make them like that any more!” Sure enough. So, I got myself a new pair. They have a chin strap, which is nice so I am less likely to lose them – but if they DO fall off on Tower of Terror and get lost, it’s okay because they can be replaced and will look almost exactly the same. When I was getting married, I wanted a white hat with a veil, but they didn’t sell them so I bought a black hat and painted it and added a veil. By the time we went on our honeymoon, I had conceded to the headband with the veil on it. We got Tom a top hat with ears, so one of those is his. I think the Sorcerer hat came from Property Control waaay back before Lindsay even started at Disney. I have a red, white and blue top hat – forget where that came from. I just kind of inherited that one. There are 2 pair of gold ears that I believe celebrate Disneyland’s 50th Birthday. I think we got those on a cruise. We also got 2 regular pair of ears on another cruise that have Member (hand-stitched!) on the back. I have pirate ears. Tom has pirate Goofy ears – but I didn’t count those. I bought a pair at Grad Nite, although I am disappointed to report that the tassel has disappeared. We bought a pair of One More Disney Day ears on Leap Day this year, our Babymoon. That’s the only pair that I bought that I probably had no reason to buy. I just thought it was neat. Somehow I also ended up with a “baseball cap” (use that term very lightly – it’s so much more than that) with a plastic Mickey face on it with ears on it. So, if you count that one, we’re up to 15 Mickey Mouse ear hats. I’m as stunned as you are.

I really wish that they had just left those Member ears blank. I don’t know anyone who’ll walk around with “member” on their head. Everyone wants their own name. You know? I considered cutting the name off, just the thread, you know? But now that it’s hand-stitched and they don’t do hand-stitching anymore, I can’t bring myself to do it.

It’s not a good job, either. You can tell they had to hand-stitch about 2500 for a cruise full of Disney Vacation Club Members.

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asian time

by Wendy J. La

Tom has a tendency to run his life on something his best friend Nathan calls “Asian time.” Basically, it means if he has to be someplace at 7 o’clock, he leaves the house at 7 o’clock. I’m not sure if this actually has anything to do with being Asian.

I, on the other hand, cannot stand being late. I think I was traumatized in my youth by choruses of, “well, look who finally decided to grace us with their presence” when we’d have to run from one family’s Christmas to the other. I don’t know why – but we were always late to everything. Fifteen minutes late to church, like clockwork – every week. You’d think that we would have just started waking up 15 minutes earlier. Nope.

I don’t like close calls!

I’m nervous the shower will fall into Asian time. (Sounds so racist, we really should come up with another name for it.)

We have 2 weeks until the baby shower. There is one weekend in between. In those two weeks:

We need to buy bedroom furniture for the grandparents’ bedroom downstairs.
We need to have that room painted or paint it ourselves.
We need to unpack.
The Target registry is almost entirely online-only items. So, do I wait until the shower to see what we get? Shipping takes a while, so we’ll have to order what we don’t get and pray it gets delivered before our boy does.
I’ve got to buy some newborn size diapers. (Cloth or otherwise.)
If I get newborn cloth diapers, I have to wash and dry them about 10 times BEFORE we put them on Jr.’s butt to increase the absorbency to full capacity.
My dad needs to hang my Mickey Mouse chandelier and move the light switch in the Bonus Room. And we need to patch and paint the spot where the switch is now.
Tom’s Uncle Larry is coming to stay with us during the Democratic National Convention, the week leading up to the shower.
Pick out, figure out how to pay for, and purchase the most awesome rocking chair I can find. (Special gift from my Baby-Daddy.)
Pack for a month in Charlottesville.

So, I. AM. PANICKED.

…to say the least. I reckon I should go unpack instead of writing a whiny blog.

The planner in me is like, you can’t just do this on Asian time. But… there is a little half-Asian boy inside me that is doing EVERYTHING on at least half-Asian time.

We are really doing this. In about a month, I WILL HAVE A FREAKING BABY.

Hooooooooly cow.

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craft all the things!

by Wendy J. La

We have so many pictures to hang on the walls!!! Yesterday we found the Ark of the Covenant: a box full of pictures big and small from the Virginia house that had been wasting away in the garage for a year and a half. I can’t wait to unpack my life!!!

Okay, I have been waiting, and waiting for this.

Basically, you buy as much food as you want in the cafeteria at Ikea, and then use it as a coupon on your purchase of $100+. With a nursery to furnish, I was like, “How AWESOME would it be if everyone that is coming to the baby shower goes with us to Ikea to buy the $800 worth of baby crap and WE ALL eat for free?!?!?!”

Not happening. Eat for Free is the weekend before the shower. Womp wah. And as it turns out, that’s a VA weekend for us.

However!

However, there IS a silver lining!

My dad needs to come down here and hang up my Mickey Mouse chandelier and take care of some other electrical work before the shower. So, I think I conned the family into coming down after the UVA game on Saturday. We can buy part of the Baby La Collection and at least Mom, Dad, Tom and I will eat for free! (Squirt can have some free Texas toast, I guess, as this only applies to the restaurant, not the food stand near the exit that sells the pizza.)

—

We had a busy day around here yesterday. My beef isn’t with opening boxes and putting things away. I just don’t want to take everything up and down the stairs. Tom is perfectly willing to take stuff to where it needs to go, but he doesn’t know where that is. Match made in Heaven!

I actually emptied one of those under-bed storage containers, which has been full of junk (art supplies and cards and pictures) since maybe high school? Middle school? There was some college junk in there, too, so who knows. Anyway – it’s totally empty now. All the cards are in boxes with other cards. The pictures are in boxes with other pictures and the art supplies are all sorted into their appropriate bins.

I told Tom that my Art Closet is a dream come true.

“You want crayons, here’s the crayons! Glitter, what color? Seashells? There’s a box for that.” It’s like my own personal Michael’s Arts & Craft store in the hallway, and it makes me want to get crafty RIGHT NOW. Now I understand why people get so excited about organization. It’s really a beautiful thing. My whole life has been, “dammit, I knew there was a glue stick in here somewhere!” And now I can just go to the glue bin! (Or the hot glue gun/sticks bin, depending on the kind of glue stick to which I was referring.) (Was that the proper use of which?)

I think I’m going to go stand in front of my art closet for a few minutes. Kirk out.

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lately

by Wendy J. La

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. No progress on Little Happy’s room or anything. At this point we’re just trying to get out of the old house. We’ve got one week.

It’s been a rough few days.

We bought a house, closed on 7/27 and have to be moved out of our rental by 8/18.

I don’t have gestational diabetes per se… but my numbers are elevated. So I’m diligently trying to figure that whole mess out.

Tom went to Dallas last Thursday and Friday, so in addition to be pregnant and having to work on the old house by myself, I was super-duper depressed at being alone. There’s nothing in the new house to eat. So, I had to go to the store. Everyone I know who has a pet can just walk out the door and go to the store. Not us. We have to dog-proof the whole house. Close all the doors to all the bedrooms… Put boxes on the couch so she doesn’t jump up there and cover it in fur… Move anything that’s edible higher than 5 feet off the floor… It’s exhausting. I just want to be able to go to the freaking store without having to turn my pantry into Fort Knox. I just want things to be easy. I just want my life to be simple!

So. I put the dog in the garage. I prayed she wouldn’t crap in the garage – because I’m still nauseous all the time and didn’t want her sh*t to make me throw up. Still, I bought clothespins at Walmart so I could put one on my nose if she did poop and figured we could use them at the baby shower.

It started raining when I went into Walmart, when I was ready to leave it was a gosh-darned MONSOON. I got soaked, despite the umbrella (“…big ol’ fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways…”) I looked like a drowned rat. Aaaand I slipped in the parking lot. Stubbed my toe. I’ll live. My super-long second toe kind of folded and saved the rest of me from going down, but it got cut pretty bad and hurts like a mug. Added injury to the insult of being soaking wet, and lonely, and sad, and frantic about Jasmine.

At home, of course there was sh*t in the garage, which infuriated me. Of course. Just because I DID NOT NEED THAT IN MY LIFE AT THAT MOMENT. So, okay… fine. I can pick up poop. I mean. I’m having a baby. Me an’ poop are about to get real friendly.

But geeeeeez… do I hate dog poop.

So, I open the clothespins and they don’t fit on my GIGANTIC, HUGE, ENORMOUS, TITANIC nose.

I stuffed a paper towel up my schnoz and picked up the crap, put it in a bag and cracked the garage door so I could throw it out on to the driveway and throw it away when it’s not raining cats and dogs. Oh! And speaking of rain/dogs… Jasmine decides she’s out. She’s gon’ bounce. She peacin’. So, she runs out of the garage into the rain. Nice little plus. Like my evening wasn’t already awesome… now I get to go find a wet dog.

JASMINE! WHY YOU SO DUMB! WHY YOU RUN OUT INTO STORM!

I don’t get it. I’ll be damned if I’m going out there. I yelled and she came back. I yelled at her to stay and went inside to get a cup of water the flush out the pee that she also made for me while I was gone. Come back out – she’s gone again.

SUNNUVA!

I called her again and she came back. WTF, Jasmine?! It. Is. RAINING. Stay in the garage… if for no other reason, because I JUST told you to.

WHY YOU SO DUMB?!

This happened every time I went in to get another cup of water. By the time the pee was flushed out into the rain I was ready to just shut the door and leave Jasmine out there. I didn’t. I called her back into the garage from wherever the heck she was. I stood by her bowl and watched her eat the food that had been there since I left. (If you don’t know this dog, she loves to eat. We pour the food at dinner time, she eats it. Interesting, huh? Leave her in the house and she will eat anything within those 5 feet of ground level. Leave her in the garage with a full bowl of food and she doesn’t touch it.) Poured her some water. Stood there while she drank it. Went in the house, told her to get the F away from me, and I finally got to eat something. Finally. Sat in the kitchen and cried and ate “dinner,” a Lean Cuisine.

I was beginning to think Tom had forgotten about his wife. It was about midnight, Texas time. So… clearly he’s having more fun than I was. Whatever. I’m going to bed… Jasmine was finally dry, but I didn’t want her near me and she knew it. She got as close as she thought she could safely, which was the landing halfway up the stairs and eventually outside my bedroom door.

Tom called at about the same moment I gave up on him.

Maybe none of it is a big deal, but I FEEL depressed. So, I FEEL like it’s a nightmare.

Tom got home and we decided that we’re never doing that again. Ever. That was stupid. Lil’ Happy and I are going next year.

The screen on my laptop, my only means of communication with the outside world, went black on Tom’s first day away – JUST as I was opening photoshop to create Baby Shower invitations. I also have someone WAITING for me on Etsy, and no way to create a listing. Our shower leaks. The washing machine stopped working. The ceiling fan and light in our bedroom turn on and off at random. And oh yeah, we have a house to move out of. Oh yeah, and my nose is huge.

Friday night – Tom was finally home! I met him at the door. It was like in the movies where they guy has been over seas fighting Nazis for 9 months. We just wanted to be together. We drove to get food at 11:30 – not because we were hungry, but because we wanted to drive around and talk and just be together. Took the Holy Terror with us. Got home and Tom showed me cupcakes! And presents! We were in bed around 12:30.

At about 1:30 am, his phone starts going off and we both thought it was the alarm. We were supposed to leave early to go to Virginia. It wasn’t the alarm, it was the neighbor that lives by the old house. She said some kid told her he thought our house was robbed. We got dressed, loaded Jasmine up in the truck that was full of stuff from me moving earlier that day and went to the old house. The cops were there. They said the back door was open. Great. We went in the front door. The cop was like, “alright – what’s missing?” “Nothing. It looks just as it did when I left this evening.”

Turns out, they had parked the getaway car in front of our house, broke in to a house about 5 houses down and ran behind all the houses in-between with the goods. But it wasn’t us. It’s like Tom’s back home and all is right with the world. Nothing is a big deal. Everything’s okay.

We were up late.

We went to Virginia for a glorious wedding – but traveling is always tough anyway. I’ve got this gestational diabetes problem and it’s been tough to find good nutritious food on the road. Anyway. Being on the road is just an extra stressor on the existing list of crap that’s going on. We were both tired from the night before.

It was a whoooole weekend that we weren’t moving.

It was a great weekend. Great wedding. Great day at Busch Gardens – although I could not ride a damn thing.

I take that back, I rode the carousel. Everything else was either too dangerous or part of the Sesame Street Forest of Fun.

As if my list of whiny complaints wasn’t long enough, at the wedding a friend of mine pointed out that my voice is suddenly very deep. Yes, it is. Thank you. I actually find it quite devastating. Huge nose… growing a beard… voice of Gaston… wedding band doesn’t fit… yes… pregnancy is AWESOME.

Side note: this sounds like me, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1770619/, I’d love to know other peoples’ opinions on the subject. People on various message boards claim the nose thing will go away after I have the baby, but the deep voice bit sounds like a legit issue (that will resolve itself eventually, but an issue nonetheless). All the stuff about the ovaries sounds like me… just sayin’. Look at it.

So… yeah. That’s what’s happening down here. I’m just kind of waiting for this pregnancy thing to get fun. At first, I figured it was lame because I was waiting until after my cousin’s wedding to make a big deal about it. But here it is a month later and I’m still miserable. I don’t feel special! I’m not glowing! I’m just… kind of… blubbering. I’m tired. I’m fat. I’m sad. Projects are not getting done. The house is a mess. I was looking forward to the baby shower because that’ll be fun… show off my new house, you know? But like, people have a problem with it because I want it to be at my house in Charlotte. That’s really getting to me for some reason… like, making them unhappy is completely filling me with anxiety and irritability. There really just aren’t words to express my feelings about that. I can’t imagine any of the complainers being like, “oh – you know what, I’m going to have my baby 4 hours from home because that’ll be easier on Wendy,” but that’s what I’m doing for them. (Not just for them, I like the doctor, too – but if you ask, “wow, why are you having the baby in Cville?” First thing out of my mouth is, “Well, my whole family is there.”) And they can’t come here, to my home for a shower, so I can nest for one f*cking minute before I have to move to Charlottesville for a month – away from Tom, and we’ve seen how well that worked out – and live as a guest, out of a suitcase while I have this baby?!

Buuuuut…. trying to be optimistic. I don’t know. Trying. Sorry if you wanted a fluffy entry about magic baby fairy dust. Tom makes me feel better. We tried for so long. This is our little miracle. I’m hoping it’ll be a whole different story when he emerges from… my… gosh… I do not want to think about that right now.

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even more design!

by Wendy J. La

We’re making progress on Lil’ Happy’s post-uterine habitat. We could just buy a normal dresser for about $200… but since when have we been normal? We went to Ikea tonight and each had a quarter of a roasted chicken for $3, then perused the children’s department so I could show Tom what I’ve been thinking about.

Together, we created this:

I think this might be overkill for a nursery, a baby doesn’t need all that, but there’s no sense in redoing it for a little kid in 2-3 years. We might as well set it up now, right?

The piece in the center is that toy chest/bench/desk that I’ve been talking about since, well, forever.

I also love, love, LOVE this idea that I saw on Pinterest. I LOVE children’s books! We have a whole bookshelf full, and this way I can display the covers of my favorites. And wouldn’t you know it… these shelves are Ikea!

Designing for our little guy is already a challenge… just because it’s not what I’ve had in mind all this time. I need to take the quilt into the store and make sure I love it with the lime green – jury’s still out on that. If I hate it, green can easily be replaced with blue:

or birch!

The green is obviously my favorite, and it works with the under-crib storage that I love so much, and I like it with red.

I can’t wait to see it all come together. Part of me thinks I should just keep it a secret until it’s all put together and awesome… but I’m assuming that you, like Tom, can’t grasp my final vision. So, you’ll still be happily surprised to see it all come together AND I can do something with this excess nesting energy, since I can’t actually nest yet.

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really! i wanna know!

by Wendy J. La

Can someone please tell me why the cribs at Land of Nod are worth ten times as much as the cribs at Ikea?

Here’s the thing: when I was getting married, and debating about where to register, Target seemed to fit the bill. We picked out a china pattern at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I also found some really luxurious towels at Kohl’s that I fell in love with. Basically, if you asked me where we were registered, I’d have answered “Target.” We never got the china. I’m not sure whether I registered for it or not. I picked some functional, replaceable, everyday stuff from Ikea that I really loved. (Side note, it’s the same stuff as Barb’s house on “Big Love,” but we picked ours first.)

Anyway, anyway, anyway… when it was all said and done, I was like, “why am I so dumb?” I thought about Lindsay and Trudy taking lunch breaks from Compass instead of what I really like. I really like Crate and Barrel! I REALLY like it! Crate and Barrel, and Ikea. I should have registered at Crate and Barrel! Why was I stupid?!

Fast forward to Little Happy here. Not gonna make the same mistake twice… that’s for sure. I love Crate and Barrel, so by golly that’s where we’ll register. They kiddie branch of Crate and Barrel is called Land of Nod. All the stuff is really mod and designy and just awesome.

What’s that? Huh? They don’t sell car seats at Land of Nod? Oh. Come again? (That’s what she said…) They also don’t sell strollers? Shoot. Excuse me? Their cribs are TEN TIMES the price of a crib from Ikea?! W… T… F… So, the bedding and designs and stuff are neat, but I already have a crib quilt. So, what are we looking at? High chair? Crib? Dresser? Storage?

Explain this to me:

: $349.99 – Whyyy?!

: 89.99

: $749.99 + $99 conversion kit

: $69.99

Look, I’ll pay more money for a better item. Is it solid wood? I bet it’s solid wood – is that it? Actually, cribs have to be solid nowadays, don’t they?

Okay, fine, alright, swell… I’ll give you that they’re better. Are they TEN TIMES better? Because, they cost like they’re TEN TIMES better. They’re better looking. Two or three times better looking than Ikea cribs, but are they ten times better looking? I’m not so sure about that.

Notice in my opening sentence I said, “why are they worth more?” I’m not saying they’re not… I’m just saying that I don’t see it.

So. Anyway. We registered at Target. Everything that I loved at Land of Nod (the Puj tub, the Skip Hop Tubby bath toy organizer, the grass drying rack, the Skip Hop Hare comb and brush set… you name it) was all also available at Target, often for way less. (The Skip Hop Moby Bath Spout Cover is actually $ .09 more at Target.) Plus, Target happens to have a plethora of strollers, car seats, and Pack n’ Plays.

Since I can get a crib from Ikea for 1/2 to 1/10 of the price of a crib from Target or Land of Nod, I don’t know how not to go with Ikea. The little booger’s going to destroy it anyway… gnawing on the railings and stuff. I might as well not invest a crap-ton of dough in the thing.

EXPLAIN YOURSELF, LAND OF NOD.

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busy weekend!

by Wendy J. La

Rough weekend. Someone reading this would assume it was because of my full house over the weekend, but I promise that has nothing to do with it. On Thursday, we narrowed our house-hunt down to 4. On Friday, 3 of those 4 went under contract. Two of them literally went overnight. So depressing. We had no idea that it could happen so suddenly, and I’m not sure whether that is a faux-pas on behalf of the realtor, or naivety on our part. Probably both. She knew how we felt, surely if she thought we should throw down asap she would have said that. So, it seems like we were all caught off guard. Three out of four times.

Mom, Dad, Haley, Starsky, Van, Trudy, Tyler, Bree, Sunny, Nick and Toby were here over the weekend. Now it’s just me and Jasmine, and I’m so lonely. Tom and Dad went to the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races on Saturday and Sunday. The Herolds were here for a wedding. So, let’s see… on Friday Dad, Haley and Starsky got in around lunch time. We went to Speed Street in Uptown and won lots of fun swag. I was a rockstar. I won game after game. I tell you what, ever since Mr. Nasty was removed, my hand-eye coordination and ball-handling skills have gone through the roof.

On the way home on Friday night, it occurred to me that I had left a Chickfila sandwich on the table behind the couch. CCCRRRAAAPPP. I knew that Jasmine and Starsky would have been all over that thing after we left and was positive they’d get up on the couch, spill half-empty soda glasses (also on that table) down the side of the couch, and litter my floor with the sandwich wrapper. Craaaaaap. The covers come off of the couch cushions easily enough, and are machine washable, but it was already midnight. And I have no idea how we’re going to wash the cushion part of the couch…. I felt so sick on the drive home. So sick.

We pulled up to the house, Tom apologized to Haley in advance because it hurts her feelings when we yell at Jasmine. As we made our way to the door, Haley ran to the window and looked in at the living room.

“IT’S STILL THERE!”

I opened the door to two happy, friendly pups and a perfectly intact Chickfila chicken sandwich exactly where I left it on the table behind the couch. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so happy in my entire life. I felt so warm, almost drunk. Drunk with happiness. It was kind of like marrying Tom, or sitting there with Tom watching the two lines on the pee test form. So good. So wonderfully awesome.

We had dinner at Mac’s Speed Shop (I think), because it’s rated the number one restaurant in Charlotte. It was perfect. A unique Charlotte experience, lots of food for the money – oh yeah – and also it was delicious.

Saturday, I had big plans. Haley and I were going to hit up Old Navy and then paint pottery. We went to Chickfila to get lunch for the Herolds, and Target to get her some pizza. When we got back to the house, everyone was there. It was good timing. That’s what we were shooting for, we wanted their food to be hot. We pretty much got there at the same time, I think.

Turned out we had to dog-sit Tobster. Makes sense. It was really hot out, so he couldn’t wait for everyone in the van like he usually does. Plus, the van was loaded with their stuff for the beach. Everyone was in formal wear. It really wasn’t practical for them to take a slobbery, hairy hot mess with them to that wedding. It just didn’t occur to me until about 30 minutes before they left that Haley, Starsky, Jasmine and I were all in for the night with Toby. Womp wah. (Not that I mind, Toby is always willing to babysit Jasmine!) Haley and I watched the Nationwide race, which I thought was really fun. 🙂 We watched about 6 hours of Jersey Shore in Florence. Haley ordered us a free pizza and breadsticks. She’s a good egg. We had a good time. It’s kind of like when it snows and you decide you have to walk to the grocery store. We felt a little bit of cabin fever because we couldn’t go anywhere, but we made a really good night out of it. My favorite part was our last two hours or so. Haley got a cup of Sammy Snacks and had all 3 doggies sit, lay down, and speak for a treat. She’s really amazing. She is a dog person… she’s an animal person in general. It was like watching Andreas Deja draw in my sketchbook, watching a pro do what they do. Very, very cool.

At 2 in the morning, Dad, Haley and I went to the train station to pick up Mom. And all was right with the world.

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY. Tom got donuts for the gang. I want to say the Herolds left at 11 for a 7 hour drive, but didn’t hit the OBX until close to 9. (Just a guess based on facebook.) So, I’m real interested to find out how that trip went since I have to do it in a little over a month. I’ve been told 9 hours, so if they did make it there in 7, I want to go the way that they went! You know, of course, what I am thinking. “Nine hours?! I could be at Disney World in 9 hours!” Not just at WDW, but in 9 hours, I could be all the way inside the Magic Kingdom enjoying a Dole Whip.

Dad and Tom left around noon for the Sprint Cup race, the Coca-Cola 600. Mom, Haley and I left Starsky to babysit Jasmine and again I had big plans. Lunch, Old Navy, and Painting Pottery! Woo! We went to Wendy’s and Old Navy. By the time we left Old Navy, Mommy had a “hegg-aig.” We went back to my house and watched… something… what did we watch? I forget. We watched some of the race. Haley and I went to Target and bough the stuff to make PKP and chicken spaghetti. It was a fun little meal. About the time we were done cooking, Tom and Dad came home. Everyone was so exhausted. We ate and passed out.

On Monday morning, I had booked us a breakfast date in Rock Hill. We met Will, Joyce and Sara Beth at 9:30 at Cracker Barrel and sat there running our mouths for about 2 hours. It was so good to see them. I had so much fun. When my food came, I was sad, because it meant we’d be leaving soon. (We actually didn’t, we sat at the table for a loooong time after we were all done.)

We left Cracker Barrel and I whispered into Tom’s ear, “Disney Store?” He smiled at me and nodded.

We headed up I-77 from Rock Hill, into North Carolina and got on I-485 heading east. Dad was fussing at Tom for being in the wrong lane, going the wrong way… he sad something about being a bad driver in front of Mom and that opened Haley up to her Anjelah Johnson, “honeeey, I try to he’p yoo,” impression. We were all dying laughing, wishing Lindsay was with us, and just saying it over and over. So, although Dad thought Tom was going the wrong way, Tom’d just say, “Hon’ay, I try to he’p yoo!” We parked at Macy’s, walked through and looked at luggage. It was kind of nice to just do nothing. Mom hit the nail on the head later, she said that whenever we get together it’s because we have something going on. It was nice to just do nothing. Just shop. Just be together and be funny.

We left Macy’s, walked around that corner and Haley said, “Gah! I know why we came here!” She RAN to the Disney Store. I was nervous, you know. We have a sister that get’s a discount and all of the merchandise is available online. I was afraid they’d think it was pointless to go there. They didn’t. They were excited. We shopped and shopped and shopped and shopped. Dad talked to a Cast Member who said that the stores are making a comeback. Dad said, “Yeah, because you can’t take your kid into an online store.” Dad bought tiny sunglasses for Lil’ Happy. So cute. He also asked me when we find out, because he’s excited about being able to get gender-specific stuff. I am so tickled that he’s playing that Grandpa card.

I bought a Disney Store vinylmation and got the chaser! I wasn’t as lucky with the Snow White minis. I got Sneezy. Not bad, but you know I wanted Dopey.

They were so not-annoyed with going to the Disney Store without our walkin’ talkin’ discount machine, that we went from South Charlotte to Concord Mills to visit the Disney Outlet. The pool in my neighborhood opened this weekend, I was chompin’ at the bit to paint pottery… but the Johnson Family went to the Disney Store. That’s how we roll. That’s what we do. It was pretty fun, as fun as a pool day I’d say.

They left around 4, and I have been ridiculously lonely ever since.

In other news…

I had a BombPop this morning that Tom bought me yesterday from an ice cream truck. It was SO GOOD. The problem? What does a pregnant gal do when her craving is something that rolls by the house at random on weekends? (Or not at all.) What? Go to the grocery store and buy popsicles? Not the same. They’re more watery, more icy. This was so soft. It was a popsicle, but when I broke through the frozen barrier, it turned to some kind of delicious miracle of cushy goodness. The ones at the grocery store don’t slush as much as they just plain drip. Anyway, now all I want is another BombPop. I don’t know what cravings feel like, but this is as close as I’ve gotten to it so far.

It just occurred to me that I have a fridge full of wedding cake from the Herolds! Woot!

Kirk out.

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bonus

by Wendy J. La

How would you use a 20′ x 20′ Bonus Room (with a closet)?

Common sense tells me it should be the kid’s room. Or eventually kids’. Here’s what it looks like now with the furniture I’ve picked out. LoL.

Bonus Room with crib, bookshelf, changing table, and Ikea kids’ wardrobe and drawers flocking a storage bench.

So much space. It’s a good problem to have, but it is a problem.

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That La Kid

wishin' an' hopin'!

overwhelmed

room to grow

to-do

asian time

craft all the things!

lately

even more design!

really! i wanna know!

busy weekend!

bonus

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