Making its photo debut...

m+j+1

Things have been a little crazy around here as most probably know at this point.  I started a new job in April and have been getting my legs under me with the new company, new responsibilities, and new benefits (yeah car).  And in true m+j fashion, we decided to add a new thing to the mix --- a baby -- a +1 to our lives.

I'm still getting my head around everything, just starting to believe that it's actually happening.  It took two doctors appointments and two ultrasounds to make me believe that it was in fact real.  It may sound silly, but I was surprised by how "not pregnant" I feel.  There was about two weeks of complete nausea that made me wonder how on EARTH I was going to make it through.  Luckily that passed almost over night, but that of course brought a whole new set of concerns about why all my "symptoms" had disappeared.  John at this point has pretty much decided to dismiss most things I say since they generally start with "I really don't have any symptoms..... I really don't think it's real....".  Then a few minutes later to say "geezz.... (insert appropriate body part here) really hurts right now, I don't know what's going on".  Pretty sure he's getting good exercise just through the total number of eye rolls he completes in a day.  

But we (I guess it's more me at this point, right?) have made it through the first trimester and things are looking pretty good so far.  Baby has a healthy heart beat, looks creepily like an actual human inside there (including ability to punch, kick, and open/close its mouth - that doesn't bode well for me in the future  I don't think).  We have probably been disappointing to ultrasound techs and doctors since we don't get misty-eyed and sentimental when we see the ultrasound and/or hear the heartbeat... we essentially just stare open-mouthed at the screen while repeating "whoa, that is so weird" and "oh my gosh, it's moving, that's kind of creepy".  I think they get more excited for hand-holding and staring lovingly at the screen while periodically looking in each others eyes and saying "I love you" or something.  

As for everything else?  What I find the most surprising is the response from strangers when I'm at a restaurant or bar and not drinking.  Apparently that's unheard of!  Here are my latest examples, I'm sure they will only get better over time.

Example #1 - 4pm at a bar before going to a birthday party with John and my friend KG:

Enter waitress to take our orders, John and KG both order beer. 

Me: Can you make something non-alcoholic?

Waitress: Recovering from last night?

Me: No, I'm pregnant.

Waitress: Oh!  Well, I'll see what the bartender can put together.

Apparently if I'm not drinking it must be because I'm hungover from having one hell of a night before.

Example #2 - 7:30pm at a bar after volleyball:

Waitress takes Johns beer order and turns to me.  I try to order a root beer but she says they don't have it and proceeds to mention a margarita special and some other mixed drink special.

Me: Well, I need something without alcohol.

Waitress: We have cider!

Me: Like apple cider?  I could go with that.  I'm thinking at this point that it's nearing September, they could in fact have apple cider for some weird reason.

Waitress: Woodchuck.

John: Woodchuck hard cider?

Me: That has alcohol in it.  I can't have it.

Waitress: Of course it has alcohol in it.

Me: I'll have a Sprite.  Meanwhile, just staring at her as though my eyes could pierce through her thick head.

I guess she skipped out on listening to me once I said I wasn't interested in margaritas, or just assumed that when I said something without alcohol I meant something without hard liquor.  Either way, awesome.  

The only other story I have so far is the first preseason Bears game that we went to.  Mind you this was about a day after I had been talking with JuliAnna about being pregnant and chatting about if I was emotional about things or anything and I said no, that I was pretty much the same as before.  That was before the "umbrella incident".  I take back all claims to being "even-keel".

Let me set the scene of the preseason game.  It was crappy weather, as in, rain, lightening, thunder that was crazy loud.  It was a mess.  We were walking over to the game in our rain coats with umbrellas.  Clearly we should have read the rules for Soldier Field more closely as apparently umbrellas are a banned item.  Let me also share that I have an umbrella that I'm particularly attached to.  It's striped, it's pretty awesome, it's from Sears, and I bought it about 5 years ago within my first or second year of living in Chicago.  I didn't have it open, I didn't have it out.  It was at the bottom of my bag.  I got through the metal detector wand people and was trying to get through bag check.  Mind you, all of us have umbrellas.  Charlie has one in his back pocket, John has one in his back pocket, and Dani has one up her sleeve.  I'm the only one that apparently has one in a bag and visible.  We are also standing in the rain.

The bag checker says that I'm not allowed to have umbrellas and I'll have to throw it away.  Something about that makes me start to lose it.  I grab my bag and turn around in the 3' space allotted between the wand people and the bag people.  John is about to get wanded so I wander about 3 spots over and am talking to him over the security something along the lines of "they want me to throw away my f-ing umbrella.  I don't want to throw away my umbrella, I've had this umbrella for years".  At this point, I think John probably thinks I'm a little crazed since it's just an umbrella and so I see that Dani has put hers up her sleeve and I proceed to try and put it up my own.  However I have a snap on my sleeve that won't allow me the room for an umbrella and my arm.  I became slightly frantic trying to shove it so that I can make it through the last line of security.  One of the other bag checkers notices what I'm doing and looks and me and says "no umbrellas allowed.  You will need to throw out your umbrella."  At this point, I turn on her (poor woman never saw it coming) and scream "I KNOW!  I'M WORKING ON IT!!".  Meanwhile, the tears have started to flow, thankfully they are masked by the rain that is also pouring down my face.  

I finally open my jacket, throw my umbrella in my back pocket, zip it back up, walk back to another bag checker (thank goodness there were more than 2 otherwise I would have been a goner) and get through security with my contraband umbrella, yet without any dignity having completely lost it over the idea of throwing out an umbrella.  At this point Dani asked if I was okay (thinking it was rain not tears) and I have to confess that the thought of throwing out a $12 umbrella nearly put me on the "do not allow" list for Soldier Field.  If the security personnel had been more aware they probably would have asked me to leave since I was essentially wandering back and forth in the 3' space between the wands and the bags holding the umbrella and probably muttering to myself.  It was NOT my finest moment.  So yeah, I guess I can be a little emotional.  I'd like to believe that my irrational attachment to inanimate objects which has followed me since childhood had the most to do with it - although maybe that makes it worse.  

Oh and there is the time when I nearly (or perhaps did convince) convinced a friend that my doctor had me on crack because it was good for the baby... oh the joys of not drinking and convincing my drinking friends of ridiculous things.  I mean, I have to entertain myself somehow, right?

So those are my first stories.  Imagine, I'm not even showing yet!  So they can only get better from here I imagine.  I'm sure that others have amazing stories of strangers saying the "darndest" things and I would love to hear them!!'

I guess that's about all I've got for now... I have some pictures of the last 5 weeks of my non-existent belly (pregnant belly that is... beware, there is a belly included in the picture but that has nothing to do with our +1) that I can share, of course I don't have it on this computer so I'll have to post it separately.  

Generally, we are excited for this next chapter, terrified of all the responsibilities that it will bring and the life changes that are bound to happen, but I know that we'll get through it and make it work in the best way we can.  We do a pretty good job of it - making things work as best we can that is.  Just don't judge us if you hear a few f-bombs come out of my mouth (I swear, it's the baby that makes it happen... my doctor only said I couldn't blame pregnancy for all the bad food I eat, not the bad habits that I have), a few off-color jokes about some terrible parenting techniques that we plan to implement, and just generally our ridiculous way of dealing with change.  By the time 6 months rolls around, we'll hopefully be acting a little bit more like adults.  Ha.

So here is to the next 26 weeks and 2 days!  Yikes!!!

PS - sorry for no pictures (and the ridiculous length of this post)... I'm finishing this up on a different computer which means no pictures available.  I put together a lovely little slideshow though with Weeks 8-13 (still need to take Week 14) on the off chance that anyone is interested.  Next post will be on the new color of our bedroom since we decided we really needed to get our shiznit in order so that we could prepare our spare room turned office turned nursery.

PPS - not that it probably matters, but this news is still on social networking blackout.  I have to tell my boss still... wish me luck on THAT one.  

What's new?

I thought for some reason that I would be able to find time to write, but that has clearly gone by the wayside.  I think a lot of it is that I'm searching for something to write about, and still coming up short.  Either way, I figured I would provide some insight as to what we have been up to... I'll start with a recent trip to New Orleans --

 First, we lost Dani... luckily she surfaced, albeit with some new plumage.

We were lucky guests for a beautiful wedding for Jacob and Colleen.

They led the way of the Second Line Parade through the French Quarter.

We took a carriage ride through the French Quarter with a stop over at the cemetery.  (Story of note - while in the carriage and riding past the police station, we noticed an old man dressed in bright orange with inmate written across the chest -- apparently he still has a few years on his sentence and washes the police cars.... so weird, and frightening.  If I hadn't been so shocked, I would have taken a picture)

We walked around the warehouse district.

We went to the French Market and ate fresh crawfish.

Stopped in for some beignets (and chocolate milk for me!) at Cafe du Monde.

After a long weekend of drinking and eating in New Orleans, it was time to come back home.  Immediately after returning, I went on my last bridge inspection (phew) -- went through the pain and sadness of turning in my two-week notice to Baker -- and came out the other side with a new job. 

I started with Thomas Engineering at the beginning of April and have just finished my first week.  I'm working from home (weird), I have a car (more weird), and all in all I'm completely overwhelmed with starting something new.  It was much harder to leave Baker than I ever imagined, and I think it will take a few weeks to acclimate.  So far it seems like it's going well though - they all seem like really great people, so I have high hopes.

One of the perks of working from home is that I was able to take a stroll around Wrigley for opening day yesterday.

Even though the Cubs lost, everyone seems like they still have a lot of expectations (good ones even) - and I have to admit, so do I.  Go Cubs go!

And with the start of baseball, it's clear that spring is sprung.  The trees have all bloomed, the flowers are all out - it's absolutely beautiful in Chicago.  It has been such an amazing "winter", and I am so grateful for the blue skies and sunshine that we have had -- now if only it could get back to the 75 and 80 that it was back in February and March, that would be great!

Oh - and it turns out I'm still crazy... I registered for TWO races this year.  At least to get me started.  I registered for the Soldier Field 10 mile (yesss...... 10 miles, not to be confused with kilometers) at the end of May, and then I'm going to try and better my time from last year in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.  Hopefully it goes well.  I haven't really started training for the 10 mile which could prove problematic, but I have confidence that I can at least finish it, even if it's not as quickly as I would like it to be.

I've had all sorts of ideas for what this blog could turn into... nothing seems to stick with me for long enough to try and transform it.  We'll see what happens.  I should probably post some of our New Orleans experiences on the travel blog since it was through traveling that we got there.... Running one blog for me is seemingly difficult, I don't know why I thought I could do two.  Ha.  But we did just get a new camera, so hopefully that will inspire me to want to add more pictures and therefore lead me to post more.  Hopefully we will also have some fun trips with the car in the area that I can post.  Lots of exciting things will be happening this year I think ... so hopefully lots to share!

New Year.... New Closet

Sometimes I get what I believe to be really great ideas with home improvement.  I see kitchens and start dreaming about completely redoing ours, including layout, appliances, cabinets... Bathrooms, I being to imagine new vanities, new paint, new tile... I can get kind of carried away - and of course think we should do everything right now.  John usually just shakes his head.

This time I managed to get him on board with my latest project.... master bedroom closet overhaul!!!  I don't know what prompted it, but I suddenly got extremely fed up with our closet and asked for a new one.  Ours is pretty inefficient, and I also have a problem with owning a lot of stuff... so it just wasn't working.

We started it thinking we could get the demolition and painting done on Saturday, buy the new system, and ultimately install on Sunday.  Sounds like an easy project, right?  We so should have known better.  John had to work on Saturday so that left me with the demolition.  It was tough.  Just getting everything OUT of the closet took longer than I expected.  Then the "geniuses" that put up the closet (essentially a shelf with a rod - not too tough) decided they were really nervous about it falling, so they had screwed, nailed, and glued the shelf supports to the drywall.  It took some serious muscle to get that thing down (which I apparently don't have and required help).

The long and short of it - it took us the weekend to just get the closet ready for install.  We had a lot of patching to do, holes to fill, priming to do.  We finally got our closet painted by the end of Sunday.  We lived out of our living room for the entire week before being able to install our new closet.  It wasn't pretty.  Our condo is still recovering -- I think it will be a slow process.  But, our closet looks great, and we are pretty excited to have done it all by ourselves (alright - Pat came down and helped a little with the demo, and we couldn't have done it without some of the tools he brought down)... but overall we did a good job, and it looks great!  I'm excited because there is just so much more space, and I'm hoping we can get rid of our IKEA dresser still in our room.  Oh, and we even managed to squeeze in a little electrical work!  We had broken the light in the closet, so we bought a new one and installed it ourselves... well, John did.. after a little trepidation about touching wires even though we knew the circuit was off. 

We had a couple of mishaps along the way: measuring (note to self, always always always check to make sure that you measure where you really need measuring and don't assume a room is square - thank goodness it was an easy fix), top rails being put on upside down (another easy fix), but in the end we still managed to get it up... and 4 days later it's still on the wall!  I'm pretty psyched.

So - below is a quick little slideshow to show what we did (hopefully it works, for some reason I have serious problems with this). 

Now on to the next project....

Happy Hump Day!

This post won't do much except to hopefully brighten your Wednesday with a fun tidbit of conversation I overheard on the way to work this morning..."When I was younger and I didn't like 90's rap, I used to tell people Will Smith was my favorite rapper".  It was pretty awesome to hear this random confession from a guy to his friend, who seemed to accept this bit of knowledge with no judgements passed....

Although who am I to judge?  I used to LOVE Will Smith..... but that doesn't mean I didn't like the other guys too.  Ha.  (By used to, I mean I could probably still "rap" along word-for-word with almost every song on Big Willie Style.... Don't judge)

Happy Hump Day everyone!  I hope you have a wonderful day... I'll update more this weekend once I have pictures of our first completed project that we've done (essentially) on our own.  It has been a harrowing experience.

Can't believe it's 2012 already

It's been a while.... as in months a while.  While I know I've never really made a point to write regularly, this has been a little ridiculous.  I hope to get more into updating in 2012.  I feel like I need a "purpose" to this blog, instead of my ramblings on non-exciting, every day life.  So, I hope to find something exciting to write about that you would be interested in reading.  I'll let you know if I come across it, or you'll still be reading my daily musings.. to that I apologize.  Ha.  :)

Happy 2012 everyone!  I hope it is exciting and wonderful for you all!

Three years later (plus a little)

It's been three years (plus a few extra days) since we got married... where do we stand?  We have a house... we're still awesome... I guess that about sums it up.  Ha.  In all seriousness, it's been such a whirlwind and I had no idea how quickly time would pass. 

Six years ago (yeah... weirds me out a little too) we decided to join some friends for dinner... it's crazy how even with so much time can go by without talking to someone it can turn into such an easy conversation.... So we started over...

John helping me drive across the country to start a new chapter in Chicago in the summer of 2006.

Bringing in 2007 -- No judgement with the bottle of champagne.. it was a lovely night.

From that dinner in 2005, to my move to Chicago, to many trips to Cincinnati, to John's graduation and finally getting to Chicago... we made our way to this:

October 12, 2008

You know you love someone when you both wear tights for Halloween (2009):

Sam Adams Oktoberfest and Robin Hood Men in Tights - Classic.

2010 brought big Texas hair... and a new home! 

So, I know it looks like I got caught in a hurricane while having aqua net hairspray.  I promise you that's not the case - this is what is described as "a bun to the side" and "natural make-up".

I just wanted to prove that I looked like myself while in Texas, while posing a gas station with longhorns in the background.

Now here we are... 3 years after our wedding day... and I'm still amazed by how "easy" it's all been.  Getting married didn't mean a huge "change" where we seemed like different people.  It was just a natural progression.  The big joke around our house now is that every time John starts doing something in the house, be it cleaning, or cooking, or something seemingly random.. I end up gravitating to his side and when he asks what I'm doing - the inevitable response "I don't know - I just want to do what you're doing".  We're like that.  I feel lucky that I truly just love being a part of what he's doing and I know that he feels the same.  I look forward to many years of enjoying being a part of each other's lives.

Our friend's wedding this past weekend - October 15, 2011

So here we start year number four... three years went by so quickly, I think I've got this "for-e-ver" thing in the bag.

(Disclaimer - you must read the "for-e-ver" as though you are watching Sandlot and then it sounds a lot less haughty and a lot more funny....)

(And as a shameless plug - I'm still updating our travel blog (www.m-plus-j-plus-theworld.blogspot.com)... although not as quickly as I would like.  I'm slowly adding the rest of our trip.  To be fair, I think I was overly ambitious to start the blog with such an intense travel experience - and honestly it would have been great if Europe's Internet was more reliable.)