This is the transition from theory to practice

You wouldn't think you would forget that
Huge belly in front of you
But you do I think

I went to the Dr this last week
For my monthly checkup and he measured my belly and went:
WHOA!
My uterus had grown FOUR INCHES upward
In a 3 week time period
And when he commented on this, I said,
Well, actually it was more like in ONE WEEK
He said that put me about THREE WEEKS ahead of schedule
And that obviously the baby is growing well

It wasn't until I was talking to my mom
that I realized the connection though
She asked me how I grew that fast?
And I said, well, you get VERY VERY GRUMPY
For no "real" reason at all

Like when it's the night of Trunk or Treat
And your husband comes home late
from work and you have to rush out of there
And he isn't in the best mood
Like you "want" him to be
And so instead of just dealing, or being irritated
You are FURIOUS with him
And fume all night
And then go home and cry hysterically
Why?
Because he wasn't excited to go to trunk or treat?
(like you were? lol...)
So ya, that's what happens when you grow that fast
HYSTERICAL

Or you have days...or weeks....when you really would like to just punch someone
Anyone
Just for breathing
Husband doesn't take his cup to the sink
And there you go
Kill kill... nice punch in the face :)
lol.....

Well we postponed several weeks
But we finally went
to this beach house for my birthday
This guy in ITEX owed HM some money
So instead of paying us we traded him for a weekend at his house
in Cambria, which is just north of Morro Bay, about 45 miles north of Pismo

It was much needed and very relaxing
This was the house:

It was a different kind of "beach town" because it was 100% residential
You had to drive inland to any kind of shops or restaurants
And it was very very QUIET.

And very mountainous... it was like being in the mountains AND the beach at the same time
There isn't really a "beach" there
Just rocks

Which HM loved because that means he is under no pressure to get in the cold water
They had this lovely path along the bluffs
So we went for several walks


On Saturday we went up the coast
And saw some very HAPPY Elephant Seals

Looks like a bunch of dead bodies doesn't it?


Just down the road we stopped at this really cool beach
It looks like sand right?

Actually it's a bunch of small, smooth little pebbles

Which I guess is what it always is
But these were the coolest rocks ever

And we also saw some good tide pool creatures
and climbed on some good rocks


The only possible downside to this house
was that it has stairs which Sadie thought were FASCINATING
And the first day she rolled down them
And all that day we thought her nose was just red from the cold
But turns out she actually scraped her nose
And her forehead


The last day we went to what would be Cambria's "beach" and ya,
Mostly a lot of seaweed but a lot of animals

That's what they say right?
Bad things come in threes usually
Well  here's my three:

1.  Car Troubles
In the last week
HM had his (my) little white truck break down
The radiator was cracked
And the water pump went out
The place he took it to said it would cost $2900 to fix
That is after you added all the other things they said were "wrong" with it
That they wanted to fix too
We said no thanks
Brought it home and D2 and HM replaced the water pump
Took out the radiator
Took it to a place that fixed it for $80 and then put it back in

At basically the same time
Dudey called and said his truck wouldn't start
So after a few days
We get to Dudey's truck
And his starter isn't working
So they rebuild the starter
Got it going
and GREAT
he drives is away and goes out that night
Only to call back several hours later to say....
It won't start.
So they jump it, get it back
And they fix one of the battery connections
And D2 finally determines the alternator is the problem
So they fix that
And yay... Dudey's truck works!

The last lovely car problems is with our brand new car
I've had to jump it twice in about a month
The last time being today
Me, Sadie and the neighbor's wife
jumping my car less than a block from my house
Cuz I had stopped to get the mail and then it wouldn't restart
LOVELY....
So who knows what is wrong with it
But it's been find since.... since 2pm this afternoon anyway....lol.....

2.  Kitchen MOLD
See the previous story for the full story on this one
But latest news as of last night when the adjustor came
Is that the insurance probably will deem this as a pre-existing condition
That this was probably there when we bought the house
And not pay for a thing
But the adjustor was going to try and do what he could to help us
And try to emphasize that this was definitely something that JUST happened
Because I guess insurance companies deem everything over 2 WEEKS OLD
To be something that is "pre-existing"
WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP
So we'll see.... right now it's just waiting to see what the insurance place will say.....
It'll be either NO: we won't pay for anything
Or YES: here's $5000 to pay for removing and repairing everything
That's our cap no matter what
Also stupid I think

The only good news is that we called our Home Warrantee company
And they will pay to have our dishwasher replaced....
After a $55 service fee of course.....

3.  SICK DOG
Yesterday Shay started acting sick
Didn't want to eat or drink anything
And just slept for hours in her pen
And didn't want to come out
I noticed she had a little diarrhea
And she seemed like she really didn't feel good
She threw up once at about 10pm that night
And all day today she acted sick
So I called the vet and got her an appointment for 3pm
As her appointment got closer, I thought maybe I had been overreacting
She ate a little, and acted like she was feeling a bit better
But we took her anyway
Me, 7 months pregnant,
My rambunctious 15 month old
and a small puppy
(what in the world was I ever thinking?????????)

They check her
I told them her symptoms
The whole time thinking: what a waste of time, she's probably fine....
So they decided to test her for Parvo just to be safe
And then go from there
We waited and waited
Sadie tried to unload all the drawers--which were not childproofed
And the room was 100 DEGREES
They finally came back and...... ding ding ding.....
Tell the folks what they won!
A 4 month old doggie with PARVO.

So they gave us some meds for the GahGah
Gave her an IV really fast so now she's all puffy
And now we just wait
In about 3 days she'll either be feeling better....
Or be dead
According to the vet the majority of dogs get over it
But that's not what I've heard about Parvo...
I always heard that dogs it and die a horrible death shortly afterwards....
But I guess we'll just hope for the best

So if you want to talk about
MOLDY KITCHENS
CAR PROBLEMS
and SICK DOGS
We got all that in spades over here

My birthday was Sunday but it didn't really feel like it
HM and I are going away for my "Real" birthday celebration next weekend...
But now its the next weekend after that.
Whatever.
For Sunday, it was right after our big party
(which we always mean to have as my Bday celebration but we always forget)
So HM tells me that day: so you aren't really expecting much for tomorrow right?
Uh... well, I'd at least like a cake or something....?
He was like, Oh....
And so someone ended up making me a cake

(like my lashes? I forgot to wear them w/my costume, so I wore them for my Bday )
And L and HMs mom actually got me presents (that was amazing)

But HM actually didn't even get me a present :(
Not yet anyway....

After I blew out the candles,
Tigger and I were taking them out and licking them off

Sadie got a hold of one and came to the conclusion that
this was like chips and dip
You take the candle, dip it in the cake and there you go!

Kieran saying cheese? :)

---

Monday and Tuesday we spent most of the day putting away the Halloween decorations
Sadie thought the hates were particularly fun to play with:

This year was so much more fun with Sadie
She thought the Pumpkin patch was the coolest thing ever
And wanted to just wander around and look at everything at once
Heck with pictures, she wanted to RUN around
I wanted to kill my camera
Because every time she smiled, it was blurry... GRRR

My two favorite babysitters lately:

This is very serious business....

As of last week, our dearest wall builder told HM
He would be at our house "first thing Monday morning"
To just finish up our wall really quick
He only had to put in the top bricks
And he was done
HM told me this and I said:
So we can expect him at 11am on Thursday????
And I guess I was wrong
Shame on me for being so flippant and pessimistic
He showed up at 9AM on Thursday Lisa.... geez..... lol....
And about 8 hours later....


Our wall is finally done


It's still missing stucco though

So HM's next project is to put stucco on the bricks
And then paint BOTH sides of the wall: the new and old
To match the house

HM says they'll "Just put the stucco on real quick, no big thing"
But I have philosophy:
Anytime uses the word JUST in a description
It's ALWAYS going to be a bigger deal, take longer, be more expensive
Than they are letting on
BEWARE of the word JUST: it means trouble.
But again, I may be wrong
I mean hey, wall guy came at 9am right? I could be a whole 2 hours off here...

Oh and Wall Guy actually isn't done yet
He told me he'd be coming by... probably Monday or so
To JUST fill in this gap really quick....
I expect he'll show up about 12pm on Friday.... :)
Sure glad our wall is finally done!!!!!!!!!!

---

Well on to brighter subjects
One of our last "we just bought our house" projects
Was to finally put shelves in our weird hole in the wall

So last night late
Dave and  HM worked together
And made shelves for our weird hole in the wall:

HM is going to stain them and lacquer them (outside)
sometime this next week


At to be done before Halloween festivities
(we hope...)

Happy Birthday Cheryl!

It seems my family has an affinity for serious ailments these days...
I called my parents' house the other day
Tom answered and he sounded like DEATH
I mean hardly even sounded like him at all

Then a couple days after that,
I called again and my mom answered
She sounded horrible
And she tells me, "Oh ya, we all have Swine Flu"
I laughed, no really....
Oh ya, they all have Swine Flu....
What in the world....
They are all feeling better though
No worries
Lots of fluids, rest and all that and it's all good

My doc told me if I start getting any kind of flu
I'm supposed to call them immediately and they'll start me on drugs
Because since I am pregnant I am considered in the group of those with
"compromised immune systems"
I'd rather not be the next pregnant woman to die of Swine in KC...
Isn't that crazy???

---

Cute story really quick:
HM came home the other day and told me he found the best perfume ever
Said he found it at one of the apartments
And he LOVED it
He made me hold out my arm, and try some
Without telling me what it was
So I did and when I smelled it, I had to smile
What is this called? I asked
And he finally showed me.
Honey, I said, this is the same scent I used to wear
Only I just had the lotion
I wore it when we were first dating!
Oh, he said.... Maybe that's why I like it so much
So cute....

---

So I had my next Dr. Appt yesterday
Everything is fine and the baby is growing well
In fact, he was doing the heart monitor thing
And she kicked it hard
Enough that I jumped and the doc went WOW!!!
Then she kicked it a couple times also,
Guess he didn't like him poking around there
So she had a good heartbeat and good movement as well

---

Now how often can you say that and have it be really true?
Yesterday it was.
So yesterday was a normal crazy Monday
It's the end of 3rd quarter
So slacker kids were turning in their stuff
Everyone needed to talk to me
Things needed correcting
I was getting tired of answering the same questions
I had a ton to grade that night
Have been sick with allergies for 5 days now
and so I'm tired AND sick
And I can't be cuz I have too much to do

So as I am rushing out of school
Finally turn my phone back on for the first time since 8 that morning
And I have two messages.
One from my mom:  Call us as soon as you get this.
Odd....
Then a text from my Dad
(first reaction before I even read the message: Daddy knows how to text??? I wonder how long it took to type all this...)
Lisa. Did you get your mom's message? Stef in brain surgery as we speak fairly serious.
Doubly odd.....
If it had been from anyone one else besides my Dad I would have thought it was a joke!

So I called right away
And turns out my sister Stefanie was having brain surgery
(random.... what in the world???)
My mom, dad, and Jef were waiting for her to come out of surgery at UVMC
So come to find out, my mom tells me
Stef had been having super bad migraines for awhile
And the last 3 days especially had been horrendous
She had gone to the doctor and she had tests scheduled for later in the week
But Sunday night at 10:30pm it finally got so bad, her husband, Jef, took her to the ER
They ran tests and found out that she had a cist in her brain!
That cist was building up fluid
which was causing the migraines
So once they found all that
They took her immediately to surgery
And that was where we were.

About two hours after that,
She came out of surgery
Doc said everything went really well
They got everything out,
Didn't look like there was any damage
And so far she was responding to commands
(like wiggle your toes, shake hands, what's your name, etc)

So as of today, she's just been sleeping
Still drugged up but was awake earlier in the day
And same thing, everything seems to be fine
She can remember things, she knows normal things
She can move, you know, all those positive things we like....
So right now we just wait and so far everything looks like it will be fine....

The only thing next on the agenda is to buy her some nice hats
Because little perk of having brain surgery:
They shave your head