Baby Sitting

Eric and Jessica called Geoff in a panic - their baby sitter did not show up and they had tickets to the Who concert. They called Geoff and said "You need the practice - we will be at your place in 30 minutes with Ryder." Barb, Geoff, and I all just sat there staring at the baby wondering what we were supposed to do. We were all worried about what the dogs would do: Jake just smelled him, Gus would not stop licking him, and Charlie did not really pay attention to him at all.

Ryder is the most mellow kid ever. He just hung out with Geoff on the couch and FINALLY went to sleep. I went to bed long before Eric and Jessica came by to pick him up. Geoff was exhausted the next day :)

Thanksgiving

Geoff and I went to Scottsdale, Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with my dad and Deborah. We are lucky we made it to the plane... Geoff tested me to the max that day! Our flight was at 2PM and since Thanksgiving is the busiest time to travel of the entire year, I had hoped to be on our way to the airport by 12:30 at the latest giving us over an hour to get our bags checked, get thru security, and get to the gate before boarding at 1:30. Geoff and I discussed this plan the night before we left. Since I was working Tuesday morning, I was packed and ready to go Monday night. Geoff took the entire day off on Tuesday so he was planning on packing that morning. I was showered, dressed, and ready to go at 8AM and only needed to shut my laptop down before leaving. I even checked us in and printed off our boarding passes before 9AM. Geoff decides to sleep in until after 9:30AM. He is milling around the house, disturbing me while I am on a stressful conference call, messing around on his computer, drinking a pot of coffee, he runs to the post office, takes the dogs to the park, and then at 12:00 he decides it is time to shower and pack! I was livid and starving since I was hoping to grab something on the way to the airport. It is now 12:20 and there is nothing in his suitcase.
Since I practically have smoke coming out of my ears, he asks me to help him pack. He hands me the clothes for me to fold and put them into the suitcase. We are going for 3.5 days and he hands me 6 dress shirts, 7 t-shirts, 3 pairs of shoes, etc... I am screaming at him. He narrowed his stuff down to a reasonable amount. Barb is kind enough to drop us off at the airport so it is 12:45 and we finally are on our way. The planets must have been in perfect alignment because we made it to the airport and to the gate with enough time to eat McDonald's before getting on the plane :)

Our trip itself was really great. The weather was amazing (80's), we relaxed, we were in a carbohydrate coma the entire trip, and I took $80 off my dad while playing cribbage. Dad and Deborah enlisted Geoff's help with all things technical at their house. He picked out 2 massive lcd tvs and a new laptop for them to buy - it
is fun spending other people's money. On Thanksgiving, Dad made grandma's stuffing and cooked the turkey on the barbque! It was delicious. We also had mashed potatos, gravy, parsnips, peas, and cranberries. If this was not enough, after an hour or so, we had desert. Deborah makes amazing deserts and after having her pecan pie with ice cream the night before, we of course had massive pieces of pumpkin pie. I ate enough for 4 not just 2. Dad and Deborah spoiled us!

On the baby front, it has been moving a ton! It is bound to be a soccer player, runner, or something very active. Geoff and I just stare at my belly moving like it is possessed.

I finally picked out bedding and colors for the room. The walls will be tan and I have picked out a set of girls bedding and a set of boys bedding. Since the baby will be in the pram at first anyway, I won't order it until the baby is born. I am not one for themes so it is polka dots and stripes. It is by House Inc and is their Neapolitan style.

Belly Adventures in the UK

In order to better transition some of my work to my UK teammates, I traveled over to the UK for 4 days of face to face meetings. I left Denver at 6:30PM Saturday evening and arrived at Heathrow at 10:30AM Sunday. I took a taxi to Milton Keynes which is just over an hour North of London. I was completely delirious and was nervous I was going to get car sick but instead I passed out for the entire drive. I checked into the training center, took a nap, and headed to the mall of course. I bought a few things for the baby – the main thing being a massive stuffed sheep for the nursery.

I worked out of Kent Hill for Monday and then traveled another two hours North to Yarnfield where we have a training center. I stayed in this gorgeous bed and breakfast in this quaint English town near Stone. I kept commenting how gorgeous it was and the boys kept saying “it isn’t gorgeous – it is normal”. The brilliant green country side had beautiful farm houses with sheep and cows, gorgeous Tudor houses, stones covered in moss, and the friendliest people you can imagine. Everyone is extra nice to the American lady with the “bump” as they like to say.

The food here is very “interesting”. White pepper repulses me and it seems to be in everything. On the first night my dinner was completely coated in it so I just had chocolate cake. One lunch, my co-worker had a baked potato with a scoop of tuna salad on top of it! I was horrified and when I told them we put sour cream, chives, cheese and bacon bits on our “jacket” potatoes they were completely grossed out. They drink horrible instant coffee all day and the boys eat crisps (potato chips) for breakfast. I really enjoyed my rhubarb flavored yogurt, Twirl chocolate bars, and of course salt and vinegar crisps. One night I had fish and chips with mushy peas in an old English pub and a few spoonfuls of a traditional English desert sticky toffee pudding. I am guessing it was the sugar but the baby was seriously doing painful aerobics for a several hours!

The trip was very productive. It was great to finally meet my three teammates whom I talk to on the phone several times a week. We were able to accomplish a lot of work and it was nice to get to know the guys on a personal level. Their English sense of humor is so fun and being able to show them how to do things in person made such a huge difference.

On my flight home I managed to have three seats to myself so I was able to keep my legs elevated the entire flight. This helped to minimize the insane leg swelling I had on the flight out. I had no jet leg on the way to the UK with the exception of the first day being a disaster. I am interested to see how I recover on the return flight….

The Third Trimester!

We had our 28 week appointment today. Everything looks great according to the Dr and I am feeling totally fine. I am going to the UK on Saturday so I had to get paperwork stating that it is ok for me to fly. I start going every 2 weeks for appointments now. My belly has most definately gotten bigger. The baby moves a lot and sometimes hoofs me in the ribs which is the strangest feeling. I am not sleeping like a complete log anymore which is expected. The Dr told me I will start feeling exhausted again... hopefully it is not as bad as it was in the beginning.



Nesting is in full effect. We bought a new couch and purchased slip covers for some of our other furniture. I have hauled out a ton of clutter and we have been selling some stuff on ebay too. We don't have a lot of room so we have to clear out some stuff so we can fit all the new stuff.

Barb moved back to Denver! She is staying with us until she and her lab Charlie find a place. It is dog mania here - we love it.

Gus posed for the belly shot picture with me but Jake was too busy watching out the window for squirrels...