Best Present Ever

Our Christmas came early this year, she looks like this...

...and this. Seriously, can't top it.

And playing with her on the floor is the best way to spend the holidays.

But Zara had her first Christmas and loaded up on new clothes and a few toys from all the family and us. At least we aren't at the plastic pile stage yet of Christmas presents. She also got a handmade sock monkey from Tay-ta.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Hope you have a wonderful holiday.

2 months

Yesterday was Zara's 2 month birthday and I'm a little late getting these up. But here is a o, 1, and 2 month snapshot of how she's grown. Jiddoh picked up a bouncy chair for her yesterday and I'm really liking it so far. She will at least stay in it without me for a little while. The new fun thing this week seems to be that Zara has figured out who the giver of milk is and doesn't want to be with anyone else. Which means I get very little done now and am now more concerned about daycare in a week and a half than I was before. But for now she is still growing, Monday the pedi measured her officially at 8lb 15oz and 22.5in. That is 10th and 55th percentiles, respectively.



I can't believe it's been two months already...

Jolly Jill

All the travelers are now here as John's mom arrived last night, a day early to beat out the snow storm on the east coast. So she now has also met Zara and all the grandparents are here.

But since I couldn't resist, Zara got an early present from me. I got her three pairs of Baby Legs, I'm pretty sure you can figure out what those are from the picture below. The advantages of them being they keep her warm and I don't have to take them off to change diapers. She only got one pair early, but Jolly Jill here (yes, those are purple and pink skull and cross-bones) was sporting them during tummy time this afternoon. We also did a pseudo-measurement of her and not official pedi measurements today. She is about 22.5 in and 9 lbs, so still packing it on. And her newborn size onesies are getting a tad tight so we just might be growing out of them at two months. Tomorrow... our first vaccines. We'll see how we both handle this one.

Family Ties

Since family is arriving for the funeral, there have been some earlier meeting opportunities for Zara. First my parents who were going to be down next week for Zara's first Christmas flew to Houston and met her for the first time. Then the four of us drove up to Arkansas yesterday. But Monday night Zara met jeddoh (arabic for grandfather) and tay-ta (arabic for grandmother, actually the Palestinian regional term of endearment). Here are the photos of their first meeting.



Last night my brother, who flew directly to Little Rock, met Zara for the first time too. This morning he was watching her for me while I was getting ready. But this is really called PRACTICE, he's going to be a papa in June. So right now we are working on how to identify when baby needs a binkie and what the hunger cry sounds like.

And the best development of the last week is that someone learned to smile, as if she wasn't cute enough already.

Louise Phillips

Unfortunately, this morning we woke to sad news that my grandmother Louise passed away. She was a wonderful woman who will be missed. We always loved to go visit her and Papaw while he was with us. We dearly loved her fried potatoes and pecan pie and everyone always enjoyed telling the stories about her hollering at the TV watching WWF wrestling. Mamaw saw much in her life and was truely part of the Greatest Generation. We love you Mamaw and Bless You.

Here is a picture of her from the big 90th birthday party we had for her, January 23rd 2006.

Night in the Neighborhood

Yesterday was our neighborhood Christmas party. This being our first year on the court, we didn't know what to suspect about the party. But we had a great time and, of course, wherever Zara goes, she is the hit of the party. All the ladies wanted to hold her. Overall the party was great though, with each of four course being served and held at a different house. So everyone traipsed down the street with whatever they were drinking to the next house when cued. It was a good time, we hadn't met everyone yet so there was a lot of talking and introductions still. Turns out one of my neighbors works two offices down from me at NASA too and we just didn't know we both lived on this street.

Good party and good street to live on.

Bootcamp Baby

Zara had her 6 week checkups at both the pedi and the midwife this week. That was her last visit to the midwife, although the visit was more about me anyway. Both of us passed and are healthy but her right ear isn't cooperating with the hand-held hearing tester. They get several good readings but don't get enough all together for the machine to say it's good. So we are going to have to go to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr for the more advanced test. We aren't worried, she can hear, its just getting the proof that is required.

But her updated stats are 8lb 6oz and 21.5in long. So we've grown a bunch. The height works out to the 50th percentile (up from 5th at birth) and 12th for weight. She is our banana baby.

Only problem we currently have is a sudden flare up of diaper rash. Since I switched her into g diapers from pure and natural disposables in the last couple days, we are going back to disposables for now. We will slather on the butt paste until it clears up and then try the g's again. May be coincidence maybe not, but we need to get back to the baseline to find out.

And lastly, pictures. Zara has GREAT head control already and she is doing her bootcamp push-ups daily. Just don't tell our instructor Shannon or she'll be trying to do burpees next week. ;)

Babies Busting Out All Over

Congratulations to Jen and Gavin on the birth of their twins this morning! Eleanor Marie and Drake Michael welcome to the world! Looking forward to meeting you both and Zara is looking forward to her new playmates!

Turkey-less Thanksgiving

This weekend we made the trek up to Rison, AR for the big family Thanksgiving. We didn't know if we were going until a few days before since we weren't sure where we'd be with Zara by this point. But she has been doing great and we decided to try it. Turns out she did awesome. Zara slept most of both the 8hr trip there and back, lulled to sleep by the Audi exhaust, waking only for feedings.

But while we were in Arkansas, she was a hit with the whole family. Zara got to meet her Great-Grandmother Louise which was really important to me to be able to do. Mamaw was happy to see her ninth great-grandchild for sure and we definitely needed to get there for her to see her at our earliest opportunity.

At the traditional Thanksgiving without a turkey at my great aunt Nell's, Zara was also the hit of the afternoon and evening. As far as the meal goes, no one really likes turkey and given that there are probably more than 40 people there, one bird wouldn't do anyway. Besides, who can turn down Gloria's southern fried chicken instead? For Zara, we had a waiting list of people to hold her and the only time she got put down was for diaper changes. I only had her long enough all day to do those diaper changes too. But we also got a picture of all nine of the great-grandkids together for the first time. Great-grandkids 10 and 11 are already baking so this picture will be out of date by June. It was a great weekend and one that makes you thankful those folks are family.

More pictures from the weekdend posted here:

Arkansas Thanksgiving 2009

Baby Games

Who says you don't have a life after baby? Since Call of Duty 2 just came out for PS3, John and I (mostly John) have been playing. Zara is totally cool with this since its compatible with her still getting to sleep on your chest. Video games only require thumbs, just don't get too excited and start moving the controller like its going to help your player move!

Zara also got her first bottle this week for her 1 month birthday. Since we are driving to Arkansas tomorrow for Thanksgiving, we needed to make sure she would take a bottle. Given that the bottle contained food and all she seems to care about is eating, we had no problem. We will still only be giving her bottles when we really have to until daycare starts but at least she will take it without a hint of fuss.

Future Babysitter

Our friends the Wilke's came by the house for a couple hours yesterday. Nine year old Sydney even got to hold Zara for a bit. Then Zara pooped and needed her diaper changed. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince Syd that diaper changing was fun and I still had to go do it.

Pretty in Porcelain

This week we had the old tile removed from our old house and new "neutral" tile put down. It was an expense we could have done without but ultimately we managed to get it done for roughly what we would have expected to shell out in a flooring allowance on the sale. So it is probably a wash in the overall cost to us, but will be a big plus if it makes the house sell faster. Someone went to look at the house mid-construction when no tile was down and they liked the house enough to want to come back when it was done. Maybe we are on the right track, we'll find out.

Here are before and after pics. If we were staying in the house we would have updated the flooring for ourselves and we wish it looked like this before. What do you think?

Before:


After:

Newborn Pictures

We had a professional photographer friend of ours take newborn pictures of Zara. Here is the slideshow from the session. We'll be ordering some keepsake photos from these, but enjoy.

http://photojenicinc.com/Slideshows/oct2009_merancy/

Higher Education

Our pediatrician recommended elevating one end of Zara's bed, this is supposed to minimize reflux and stuff. Even though Zara hasn't had a problem, we went ahead and did it just to reduce the chance she starts having issues. For now Zara is sleeping in our room in the pack and play and here is a shot of the jack stands. We are finally putting our education to good use.


And here is the most recent picture of our long, skinny monchhichi...

Apparently It Is "That Bad"

We are currently the owners of two houses and wish we owned only one, but, unfortunately, our old house is still on the market. It has now been on the market for two months and that sucks because most of the houses in the neighborhood are moving pretty quick. When John and I bought the house, we thought the green tile in the house "wasn't that bad" and we bought it anyway and lived with it.

Apparently, only the first owners liked it enough to put it in, we didn't mind it, and no one else agrees with either of us. The only real comments we get on the house for feedback are "out of our price range" or "hate the green tile". So we are now going to have to spend money to remove and replace the loathsome tile just to get our house to sell. Argh. We were willing to give a flooring allowance on the sale, but no one can see past the green tile it seems to get that far.

While I'd love to put in something cheap (e.g. carpet) our realtor thinks we should put in another (non-green) tile to keep the home value. I think our home value is there with carpet given all the other upgrades, but we haven't totally decided what to do. Whatever it is we are going to do it fast so we can try and move this house. Just sucks. Essentially we are going to guess at a neutral flooring and spend money on it and it may or may not get a buyer.

Lesson learned from all this: Never buy a house with something that makes it hard to accept/resell unless you immediately fix whatever the problem is and can enjoy it yourself.

Weekend Update

Not much to report for the weekend. We are getting into the swing of things and starting to work out a routine with Zara. She is doing well and we made it through the airshow with the Blue Angels dive bombing our house okay. Just a few times it startled her, but she was mostly able to sleep through them.

I did screw up and forget the diaper bag when we made a run to the store, but Zara slept until we got back. Then she UNLOADED in her diaper, like full capacity unloaded (but not a blowout). Really I think this girl likes us. She waits to go until we have backup diapers available again, she delivered according to a plan, and she likes to eat and isn't fussy. I am now waiting to find out what the catch is, but right now I'm smitten and Daddy is too.

It's Been One Week...

...and I think she's a keeper. Zara has been adjusting well (I think, since I really have very little frame of reference) and we are sure enjoying our first week as parents. Zara is an "energetic" eater and we think her weight should be back up above the birth weight when we go to the pedi for the second appointment Monday. She is also starting to have a couple active periods during the day, meaning just awake and not needing to be fed, and has enjoyed her last couple soaks in the bath.

I probably still have the biggest adjustment to get used to and that is the sleeping in only 2-3hr shifts. It's going ok and I'm getting better at falling asleep fast which was never something I have done naturally. But since I don't have to be up for work being on maternity leave, I eventually get enough sleep one way or another. But one week down and no major crises.

Also they are FINALLY finishing the kitchen remodel work today, I'll throw a picture up (really, a non-Zara picture) when they clear out later. The days they work (since it hasn't been continuous) we have retreated to the study to stay out of the way and close off from the noise.

Mini-Me

Zara is doing well and John and I are adjusting to having another little person around that depends on us. Mona has also been a great help to have here, as I'm not allowed to lift anything heavier than Zara for a bit and am supposed to be generally resting. Zara eats, sleeps, and poops and my schedule isn't a whole lot different except interchange "eat" with "feed" and delete that whole sleep part. But she is a wonderful baby and we are both extremely happy to have her.

Zara is a cute, cute baby (yes we are biased) but has some distinctly mini-Nujoud characteristics. First, the full head of dark brown hair, definitely not John's. Second, she has already inherited the monkey from me with her feet. Second toe longer than the big toe and a gap between the two, monkey feet.

Because I can't resist and you should expect nothing less, gratuitous baby pictures will also now be all over this blog... ready, go.

Zara Louise Merancy

It appears in this family we are an on-time, on-schedule kind of group. Friday morning we headed into the birthing center and the labor encouragement began. Since it really doesn't seem like a sure thing, it was actually quite funny since the midwife insisted we'd have a baby and before supper time at that. The encouragement included a lot of walking, a walk to Wal-mart to get some fruit to eat during labor and a trip to the park where we did laps on the walking trail in between me pausing with serious back pain/contractions. Note, I also apparently have had contractions for more than a week without knowing it since mine only manifested as minor lower back pain until I was deep in labor. Really, the first several hours were no worse than a minor common back ache.

Around noon we headed back to the center for a check-up and another round of tea and this time, things really got moving. About 1pm, I started having serious contractions and the dilation went from 5 to 7cm. Once I got to 7cm and it was really starting to go, I was able to get in the pool which was fantastic. Being in the water really, really was awesome. Even though the contractions were getting extremely intense the water at least allowed me to relax in between them. With the pushing about to start John got in to support me and we had a baby. Of course, it did not feel easy in the moment (at all, all you moms out there know what I mean), but Zara was clearly happy to make her entrance into the world yesterday and we only pushed 15min.

After nursing, getting all our checkups, and getting cleaned up, we got all the going home instructions. Thank goodness they write them down, I was pretty beat and so were John and Mona after such an intense day. But we headed home a little before 6pm. So here she is, Zara Louise is a healthy 6lb 4oz, 18 1/4in baby with blue eyes and long, skinny fingers and toes just like her momma and poppa. Right now I am especially glad we already get to enjoy her at home. Midwife will be making a house call tomorrow to checkup on us but I think it is going well so far.

You and Me and ????

We are headed off to the birthing center in just a few minutes, so this is just a quick post. Baby M will be getting some "encouragement" this morning, but since we aren't doing this au natural, that doesn't guarantee anything. Status to come later either way.

Stay on Target

John and I have been going in for weekly checkups on baby ops and things are looking likely to happen before the due date of next Tuesday. The short status is that Mona, who will be acting as my doula, will be on a flight to Houston bright and early Thursday morning. We will go to the center Friday morning to "encourage" labor, e.g. stir the pot without the use of drugs. This doesn't guarantee you go into labor and wouldn't if baby wasn't ready, but since I am so close it has a high probability of doing so. Either way, we will most likely be "and three" shortly.

My current neurosis is worrying about the baby coming sometime in the next 36hrs instead of just waiting for Friday. At least, I've gotten through the last 36hrs since the appointment and we are halfway there, but still, now every little bump and Braxton-Hicks contraction has me thinking "is this it? Nope, doesn't seem painful enough yet." Seeing how I haven't done this before, I am still "assuming" this is going to hurt when it starts and that is how I'll know its labor. Seriously, I may be an engineer and prefer facts and data but it is still a very strange thing to just "not know" what to expect.

Wishes for the Woods

Tonight our very close friends Brent and Alicia got married! I know by this point in the evening the wedding must have happened and everyone should be partying it up at a beautiful reception to celebrate. We were unable to travel to Philadelphia for the wedding given the circumstances, but are no less happy for the new couple and wish them all the best. Congrats Brent and Alicia! We Love You Guys!

The puppies haven't made an appearance on the blog in awhile but they want to wish their favorite dog sitters all the best too. Woof Woof!

Waiting for the World

Today was another baby-centric day as if we have many that aren't anymore. First was my work baby shower at Tommy's for lunch and cake, a purple and gold cake at that from my fellow Husky and boss-man Howard! It was a nice outing with the coworkers and John was able to come too. Good to see people out of the office for once and not talking work stuff, at least not much work talk. ;) We got some great presents and everyone had to write out some parenting advice for us, so we'll see how well that pans out.

This afternoon was our weekly checkup. Things are moving along but not much change since last week. I was at least hoping for a possible birth this week, but that looks unlikely unless things progress very rapidly. Baby wants to bake a little longer, we'll see where we are next week. Now that we are down to the end, it's just weird not knowing when the big day will be. Hurry up and wait...

Also, work started on the kitchen today. They got the new cabinet in above the range and took out all the old boxes that had to come out where the new oven and cabinets are going in. So maybe by the weekend we'll have an oven and John might finally get some apple crisp with the fresh fall apples.

Baby-zillion Decal

This last week (and weekend) John and I really buckled down and finished a bunch of house projects pre-baby arrival. In particular I got some help from Alicia, Erin, and Jen and their crafty hands getting the tree decal on the wall in the baby's room. I then spent another 3 nights sticking the 8 gazillion leaves on the wall. I love the way it came out but I think I'll check how many pieces there are before the next time I choose a decal. In any case the tree is up and the baby's room is DONE! Still need to get some things like a mattress for the crib obviously, but the baby won't be in the room for a couple months so no rush on that really.


John also got the surround sound speaker run in the living room, and added some much needed outlets and lighting to the garage (2 fluorescent light ballasts, 5 outlets, and a new circuit breaker), we put some built in book shelves into the study and generally finished un-packing. So the house is for the most part done as well. We have the contractors starting work Tuesday in the kitchen and that should be complete (please, please, please) by the end of the week. Here are some snaps of the house and the decal process.

Barefoot and Pregnant

Since I am getting towards the end of the pregnancy, 2.5 weeks to the due date and probably won't make it that long, things are starting to change quickly. First, my feet are swollen and retaining water so I am wearing flip flops at work today as none of my shoes fit all of a sudden. The baby has dropped and that at least means less heartburn and an easier time breathing.

I would have to say the thing I like least is how much my hands hurt. Several hormones make your joints relax and, for me, that means all the knuckles in the my hands are swollen and retaining water as well. It is just really uncomfortable and is at its worst in the mornings after I wake up.

But I think the best thing is cuddling up to John while the baby is kicking so he can feel it wiggle around. And we have an active little dude or dudette in there so even John has gotten a few kicks from the baby. Only fair that baby gets a shot at him too.

So stay tuned over the next couple weeks as things are starting to happen and we'll keep posting news here.

Term Limits

I'm sort of one day early, but I'm calling it since going into labor in the next 12hrs really isn't going to happen. But we are now full-term on the baby at 37 weeks! I wasn't terribly worried about going into pre-term labor even with with the onsie, twosie contractions, but I am still relieved to hit this milestone. Since we were not planning to birth in a hospital and have instead chosen to use a birthing center with Nurse Midwives, this makes it possible. Only normal pregnancies are allowed to use the birth centers, so any high-risk complications like pre-term or multiples are by default sent to the hospital and for good reason, so I'm not knocking it. One big hurdle crossed for us this week.

In anticipation of this milestone too, John and I spent Saturday in the house prep mode for "if the baby comes today what do we need" which included a shopping trip for some random items. But this weekend we now have the diaper changing box together, the pack n play (where the baby will sleep in our room to start), clothes washed and folded, and everything else all setup and ready to go. The last major item is putting the car seat in the cars and getting the diaper bag in the mail (at least for the what needs to be done now catagory).

Otherwise the weekend was busy with me giving a Monopoly whopping to John, Brent, and Alicia Saturday night who were all simultaneously trying not to go bankrupt to me. They all went into don't lose mode and it didn't work out so well for Brent which ended the game. Sunday was Texans tailgating and game with my work this time and then Jen M's baby non-shower for the twins. Busy weekend but a good one.

My Baby Called Me a Geek

...or at least Mona and Kari did with this gift! :P Really, I'm not surprised by this present.


Here are a few more pictures from the shower that Alicia and Erin took.





Thank you to all for the great presents and wonderful company at the baby shower!

Baby Showered

Sunday my good friends Alicia and Erin hosted a baby shower for me and it was fabulous. I got to hang with a bunch of my favorite ladies and eat all the great food and cake they made. We had a great time talking and, since there were other pregnant ladies and a couple already moms, swap a few pregnancy storie. For the non-preggo, I think it was educational if nothing else.

I got lots of super cute goodies and thank you to all that could make it!

I'll post more pictures when I get them since I wasn't shooting any myself, but for now, the pretty, pretty diaper cake.

Gross

I can't even come up with a good title to this blog post because I'm having a hard time keeping my lunch down looking at this. If you ever had any reason to question why we have an obesity problem in this country, just take a look at what KFC is test marketing to masquerade as a new "sandwich". Note, the Vancouver Sun estimated (because KFC won't yet release this information) the calorie content is over 1200! WITHOUT accompanying fries (300cal/medium) and a soda (250cal/20oz) in the "meal". Seriously, that 1750cal "meal" is literally more than I eat in an entire day!! Never mind, that it is all fat and carbs. I'm aghast.

http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/08/kfcs-new-double-down-chicken-sandwich-is-frightening/

New Kids On The Block

Monday night we drove up into our driveway and saw a Labor Day party occurring in the driveway of a house down the street. 5 minutes later we got a knock on the door and were accosted by more than half the ladies that live on our new street (or rather dead end court). We were being welcomed officially en mass and invited to the party, which as it turns out, was most of our neighborhood.

I'm already impressed. At our old house we literally only knew the neighbors on either side of us and certainly didn't do anything social in the hood. But the new street appears to be a lot of fun as they were quickly trying to tell us and we had a good time hanging out for an hour or so in the evening as the party wound down. The new street comes complete with Halloween parties, progressive dinner Christmas parties, and other parties and get-togethers to be discovered. At one point I jokingly told one of our neighbors she could stop selling it as we had already bought the house and were committed. Seems like there are a lot of interesting folks on the new street and it was a great introduction to the neighbors.

p.s. If we ever get mostly unpacked, I will take some pictures and post them of the new digs. But right now if generally looks like rooms with boxes, no artwork on the walls, and a kitchen with no oven. I think the only "complete" room minus artwork is the formal dining room seeing how that mostly just involved putting the chairs around the table.

Homes Have a Sense of Humor

Moving, as with remodelling, must be approached with a sense of humor I think because inevitably things happen you can't prepare for. Friday morning, the movers came and moved us in under 3 hours. WOW! Totally worth that money for sure. John and I spent the rest of Friday and most of Saturday unpacking and have made a huge dent in that. So we are in the new house and already enjoying it for the most part with a couple minor exceptions.

Saturday afternoon, we wanted to install the new oven after pulling the old non-working oven out in the new house. Hmmm... so when the contractor told us the house had a 30" oven, it didn't, it's a undersized 27" oven. So the awesome brand new (and working oven) is still on the floor and an empty space exists where an oven should be. So we have an oven we can't return easily because we ordered it online and doesn't fit the space, an oven that doesn't work and does fit the space, and no usable oven in general in the house. I don't want to buy an oven that "fits" either because I don't really want an undersized space saver oven at all. We are waiting for the contractor to call us back so we can see how much moving some of the kitchen remodel we wanted to do up is going to cost.

Second fun thing, we were back at the old house doing some last fix up things and I cleaned the doggie door. When finished I put the plastic panel in to lock it up and "close" the door... and it broke. So there it is, the very last time I needed the doggie door to "work" and it broke. Murphy's Law in the extreme. Now we have to put a new doggie door in the old house just for grins and giggles.

Today I did some pretty cool stuff at work. Since I'm working on Orion, sometimes the best example of how to do things is just go look at how Apollo did it. The Apollo 17 Command Module (owned by the Smithsonian) is on permanent display at the JSC visitor center, so the astronaut I've been working with setup with them to let us get in and take a look. I actually got to climb into the sucker to get a view from the seat out the window for the hardware. Really cool although incredibly cramped and hard to get in/out of.

We also had a fit check for the hardware in the Orion mockup in Building 9 today. What a difference 40 years makes. People may call Orion "Apollo 2.0" but the similarities end at the hatch. Orion actually has space to get in and out of and can fit way more people and equipment, mostly because your watch has more computing power than Apollo did and it fits on your wrist and not half the interior volume. Here's me in the Orion mockup too, we look a little cramped but that's just because we were in the seats to see out the windows again. Really there are two other people and loads of extra space when this was taken. Interesting to get in both on the same day though to really tell the difference in the two.

Un-greening

Later this week we are closing and over the weekend will be moving into our new house. We are really looking forward to it and are mostly packed up and ready to go. We've even completed all the fix it items in our current house (new hardwood in the entry, painted blemishes, etc) to put it on the market as soon as we are out.

But I just found out one crappy, crappy fact about our new house. We don't have ANY recycling program at all. L-A-M-E! We are only moving a block away, less than a mile literally from door-to-door, yet we go from our (what is normal in most of the country) curbside recycling to zero. How stupid is that? And keep in mind, we aren't changing city limits or anything like that, the new neighborhood just doesn't get recycling pickup.

So once again, we are going to have to cart all of our recycling to the Ellington Field recycling drop off because Houston has, once again, proven how behind the times they really are.

Dinner Options

Lately, I've been getting home from work and, after a bit, heading into the kitchen to make dinner. When I wander into the kitchen the routine has been going something like this: open fridge and stare blankly at some leftovers, open freezer stare blankly at the frozen items and think about how I should have defrosted something yesterday, and finally open the pantry and staring blankly again at canisters flour or pasta. Then I make something easy (tonight: grilled cheese) because I am, if you haven't guessed it, drawing a blank.

I need to go grocery shopping soon, so who's been making what for dinner lately? Got any good suggestions for easy but good dinners? This isn't the time to throw out cheese souffle or Bayless' 27 ingredient mole recipe, I'm too preggo for those, but it's time to rotate in some new dishes to our dinner possibilities. What are your best mid-week meals?

Air Inflation

Helga (the Audi wagon) has been beeping at me for several days about needing air in the tires. Don't know why but this is the second time I've had to fill the wagon wheels up. Today I stopped for gas and pulled out the pressure gauge and, sure enough, all 4 tires were running lower than recommended. Must fill them up so I can do my part to save the environment right? I pulled up to the air pump and grabbed a couple quarters only to find I needed THREE of them. Really 75 cents for a couple minutes on a compressor? I remember when it was free, which really wasn't THAT long ago, at least since Michael Jackson was actually popular for his music and not as a circus side show.

Resturant Week #1

August 10-23 is Houston Resturant Week (which is sort of two weeks, but shhh don't tell) and last night Alicia and I headed to my favorite local resturant Bailey's for dinner. For anyone that hasn't heard of a resturant week in a city, many fine dining establishments, and even some not so fine, put out 3-course chef's special tasting menus for a fixed price of $35. Part of the proceeds (a minimum of $5 a plate) then go to the Houston Food Bank.

At Bailey's last night, I was suitable impressed. I've been several times and really like the chef's food there and they pretty much had their best dishes on the Week special menu to pick from. I had my favorite appetizer there, the fried green tomatoes with goat chess and lump crab, a GIGANTIC portion of prime rib with yukon gold gratin, and for dessert the raspberry white chocolate creme brulee. It was totally yummy and made this preggo woman very happy. We were even chatting with the waiter and he said they don't skimp on their portions just because it's the charity tasting menu, which I heartily agreed. I still have half the steak and potatos in the fridge for lunch today.

So for any other foodies in Houston, here's your chance to get out and have a great meal for a good cause. More than 75 local resturants are participating and there are some great places to pick from, locations and menus on the link above.

Abode Agreement

Just a quick post. As of yesterday, we finalized the contract for the house so that makes it pretty much official that we are moving labor day weekend. The inspection turned up a few pretty much usual suspects in any house and a couple that left us a little annoyed that they weren't included in the Seller's Disclosure. In particular, the fact the both the oven and the vent over the stove just plain don't work. So we had an estimate completed on all of the repair work and have a credit from the seller which for the most part will cover the bulk of the cost which was what was completed yesterday to arrive at the agreement.

Note to all: I am officially tired of realtors around here and the lack of customer service. If anyone ever gets one that they REALLY, REALLY like please let us know. Considering our realtor didn't even find the house and has only had to draw up contracts for us, I would have appreciated a little more effort on our behalf. Our major complaints have been the slow response in negotiations from all parties and our realtors comments and pressure to just settle on the house repair agreement without waiting for the repair estimate. One of their major comments was that the seller's agent was still fielding phone calls with offers for the house. You know what? Big whoop-dee-doo if she is, we have a contract and are in process so you can't force our hand just because there is other (too late) interest. In general, John and I both agree that if we conducted work and negotiations like this in our jobs we'd be in big trouble or fired. And that's extra sad because I'm a government contractor...

Baby Day

Today was my off-Friday, which really just means it's the free time to schedule baby checkups. This morning's regular exam included the gestational diabetes check. Fortunately, at the birthing center they handle it a lot better and I don't have to drink the nasty sugar concoction that everyone complains about. I had to eat a specific protein rich, sugar limited breakfast which included eggs, toast, and water with prohibitions on fruit and juice. Not a big deal. Then I headed to the office with my choice of 12oz grape juice or 16oz coke (for the record in that pairing I pick coke any day) and drink up. An hour later they drew my blood and that's it. While there, I was told to schedule another ultrasound, so I actually went ahead and did that this afternoon and got John to meet me there from work. All is well in baby-land. Baby is running on the small side (30th percentile) but still totally acceptable and in-range and, frankly, a smaller baby will be A-OK with me come October. Here is an updated portrait of mini-Merancy.

Relocation Redux

So any regular blog reader here knows that we almost bought a house 6 months ago before finding some really fantastically bad construction inside and walking away. Well, now its round 2. After the initial fiasco, we said forget it we'll stay where we are and just continue to save for awhile... only that doesn't work when we then keep poking around on HAR just to see what becomes available.

Turns out the same floor plan that we liked 6 months ago in Autumn Creek, was also built in Northfork which is only a block from where we currently live. The house was available for $36k less and arguably has some better features inside and doesn't back a busy road. We like the area we currently live in and the ability to stay on the north side of Clear Lake was a big plus. So we went to the open house, which led to a 2nd walk through with our agent, which led to an offer, which was accepted and here we are again.

So we are in the midst of squaring away financing, inspections, and all that jazz to hopefully complete the deal this time with a planned closing on Sept 3rd (house is already empty). And suddenly we now have several things to do in what was supposed to be a quiet month. Status to come...

Plenty O' Pilots

Last week I was in Boulder for work for the week and got to have dinner with The Sanders and Marotta. Good to see them all once more and we had a great time at dinner. I was glad for one last trip up for work, because I'm pretty sure I'm quickly approaching the commercial flight limits while preggo. We have officially entered the third trimester and, aside from some trouble sleeping, all is still well.

But while I may not be able to go fly commercial for awhile due to the time en route whilst trapped in a tin can and the pressurization, I can still go up in private aircraft flown by moi. For reference commercial aircraft have equivalent pressure altitudes to 8000 ft which is why you feel so tired and dehydrated after flying, but is also not good for an already the already stressed respiratory system on late term preggo people. Today though, Jen M and I took off on Clown Flight part deux for a round robin to Angleton for lunch and back, which maxed out at an altitude of 2000ft. We also had to get a picture to document since we don't think we'll be able to do this again before both of us are ready to pop. Jen also appropriately wore the right t-shirt for the occasion.