GREAT news!

I just got back from my doctor's appointment and am happy to say that I get to go back to work tomorrow! We're all flabbergasted; several people were convinced that I'd be on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. Nope! Turns out my uterus is as fussy as I am. Technically, it's "irritable" (it puts me through hell in preparing for this baby), but it's not "productive" (my cervix hasn't made any changes).

Way to go irritable uterus! NO more worrying and NO more bed rest for me! Yippee!!!!

Now I've got to go make dinner for my husband.

BTW--if you're interested, apparently there are support groups available for those like me: http://www.irritable-uterus.com/

Ta-Dah!!! The Big Reveal!

Yesterday, Keith worked a full day and then did a whirlwind six-hour round-trip to San Diego for a college basketball draft he does with my dad.  When he returned, he couldn't help NOT putting things away in our new closets.  I did my best to help put my things in drawers while he fetched them from the other room, but after the second contraction (yes, you heard me--yikes!), I threw in the towel.  There are still some odds and ends that need to be done, but we couldn't be more pleased!

Here is the final product:

Work in Progress

The AFTER shots

My new closet (formerly, Keith's ridiculous closet):

Keith's new closet (formerly my less ridiculous closet):

My new wardrobes (Keith, the wonderful one, allowed me to have more hanging space here in these new and pimptastic wardrobes that take the place of our mismatched dressers. I'd say it's a major improvement!):

I promise to take more pics once all of our clothes have a space.  I'm amazed that my clothes (I'm guilty of having WAY more than one girl should) are actually fitting in this new closet arrangement!  Wow.  Who knew?  Of course, I think it's high-time to do some more pruning and weeding for Goodwill...

Purging

Remember that post about how much crap we humans can acquire? Well, I'm proud (and ecstatic) to report that my wonderful husband and I have taken major steps to downsize in this area. (As I write this, I am ignoring our garage, which has a lot of crap in it and several passageways cleared for foot traffic, rather than actual cars.)

For Christmas last year, we identified one of our greatest needs: our master bedroom closets. (You may remember back in January that I mentioned this remodeling job.) Keith's is atrocious; it is encumbered by a huge HVAC soffit and has a ginormous section shoved into a corner that isn't even accessible, given that there is a wall blocking it. Lovely. Mine is a straight-shot reach-in closet that takes up the better part of one wall of our master. Not pretty, but functional nonetheless. Thanks to Dad and Yvette, our Christmas gift was about to be realized! Except it would take a little longer than we thought...

For a month and a half, we contacted and met with various contractors and handymen, all of whom gave differing suggestions on what we could do with the space. At one point, we were even considering removing part of our fourth bedroom and converting the space into more closet space for the master. While potentially great for us, this would be suicide for resale value. Add that to the conundrum of where to put kid #2 when he/she comes along and you've 

got yourself a bad solution.

Enter John, the owner of Yorba Linda Remodel. I have never met this man before, nor do I have any personal connection to him. Yet when I invited him in for a free estimate, he was the most honest businessman I've ever met. He and his wife were also in the position of having their first child together and he totally understood the need for a growing family. In addition, he was extremely realistic, pointing out the flaws of trying to change the infrastructure of our imperfect master; in short, creating a walk-in closet would encroach on our already small space and not do much of anything for storage solutions. He actually (gasp) recommended going with a company like California Closets, a company with which he had no personal experience, but about which he has had clients rave for years. Color me surprised. I thanked John and sent him on his way with the assurance that if we ever had any remodeling needs, he'd be my first phone call.

We had such a horrible space in which to design, but Bonnie over at CC really did work her tail off for us.  Three weeks later, we're finally getting installed on Monday (it feels like it's been forever to someone who is notorious for instant gratification, but I realize that it hasn't).

In preparing for our new arrival (no, not the baby yet!), Keith and I had some major work we had to do. Over the past three weekends, we've cleaned out the baby's closet, the guest closet, and done some more pruning of our own--we're usually pretty good about weeding for Goodwill a couple of times a year, so this wasn't too difficult.  

Keith and Jack, my wonderful bro-in-law, also cleaned out the entire gym and transformed it into our guest suite.  Since I'm not allowed to do any heavy-lifting, Keith even put up all of the wall trimmings!  I did some minor demolition, ridding the room of its bright blue metal horizontal blinds (no tears here!) and hanging a gorgeous set of brown drapery panels that we already had from our previous office in Irvine. Bonus! No money spent! The result is a zen space that Ali and Mom have already enjoyed immensely. They both agree that the new room is lovely enough to come visit frequently once Princess arrives. Joy!

This weekend, I'm still on modified bed rest and can't do anything to help. Fortunately, I have a handy hubby who was able to move everything out of both closets in record time and do demo. He's set to spackle and paint tomorrow, readying the space for our installers. It just pleases me to no end to see both closets totally empty and ready for their makeovers. I'm a long-time devotee of HGTV, so I feel like this before and after will be extra-special for me!

By moving the entire guest room into the front bedroom, Princess' room has also been totally cleared and is now ready for decorating...that is, until all of our closets were dumped into the empty space. But no fear, we'll be filling our new, organized space with these things again on Monday night. I can't wait!!

A message to our over-the-fence neighbor

Hey there neighbor! We've since forgotten your name, as you live over our back fence and we haven't seen you since the day you offered us any citrus fruits that fell into our back yard. Sorry about that.  But I wanted to say that your kindness has not been forgotten.  This is why it is difficult to write you this today.

You see, you, like many Yorba Linda residents, own a motor home.  Motor homes are large, hulking beasts that, unless one has a behemoth garage, usually reside along the side of the lot. Yours is no exception.  While I don't relish the view up to the gloriously green hills by way of your atrocity, I forgive you this "on the road again" passion.  I'm sure that motor home has provided you and your family with wonderful memories across this great nation.  I don't begrudge you that.  However, I do have a small bone to pick with you regarding your care and maintenance of said vehicle.

Throughout the rainy season, we would watch as you scurried to the top of that tan-colored roof to stretch a tarp over the top.  I remember thinking upon seeing this for the first time: Wow! That guy is committed to keeping his possessions in good repair. I wish I had that kind of commitment.  That is, until I saw the color of the tarp.  Don't get me wrong; this particular shade of blue would not look at all out of place in, say, Santorini, but here it is just a plastic eyesore.  

I had to keep myself in check; this guy sweetly shares his oranges and lemons with us (none of which have ever fallen into our yard, but whatever) and seems to put this ugly monstrosity up only when it rains...which is close to never in Southern California, right?

Wrong.  Now that we've lived here for almost two years, I am coming to the realization that our friendly neighbor has had it with the climbing.  This blue tarp stays up nearly 24/7.  

Possible plans of action? Finding a large tree to transplant, sneaking over to his house in the middle of the night to covertly steal it (tarp or motor home or both), um...yup...that's all I've got.  So if you have any bright ideas, I'm in the market for one.

What the &%!@ ?????

So I had on and off cramps for two and a half hours on Friday morning...like menstrual cramps.  I had them in the beginning of my pregnancy during the first trimester and remember it being totally normal; your uterus is expanding and this is part of it.  That's why they feel like your period. It's your uterus moving around and making room for the new addition.

I thought about calling my doctor, but wasn't really alarmed until I spoke to a teacher friend of mine who was incredibly concerned. She and her sister-in-law have both had pre-term labor and this is the first symptom, so she urged me to call right away.  I went to work, putting in a call to both the 24-hour nurse line (they told me to call my doctor, but his office doesn't open until 8:30) and then my doctor.  A few hours went by and my cramps, while subsiding greatly, were still intermittent throughout the morning.

During second period, I received a phone call from Dr. Henderson. I had to silence the phone (I was teaching, after all!) and call him back the second break started.  His message did not comfort me in the least, as it intimated that I was in grave danger.  Greeeeat.

Because he was in a room with a patient, Dr. Henderson asked the nurse to keep me on hold, as he needed to speak with me as soon as possible (did I mention the grave danger part?).  The minutes ticked by as I watched the clock tensely, knowing that the bell was due to ring any time.  As the bell rang, I heard his voice on the other end. Can we all say, "Murphy's Law?"  Oy vey.

He was all business: you're checking into labor and delivery immediately. We don't mess with pains like these, especially after you've told me that the pain wasn't very extreme.  

Okay. Here are immediate thoughts in my head: Uh...I've got a room full of students streaming in and no sub to speak of.  I also have bitchin' lesson plans with awesome amounts of technology--both of which are so much better when delivered by moi, rather than a sub.  Oh 

well. I gotta do what I gotta do.

I called the office and freaked the hell out of our amazing secretary, who informed me that the administrators were conveniently off-site and that she'd find someone with third period prep to send down to my room as soon as possible.  Enter Debi Storing, my savior, who enabled me to call/text my husband to come get me and mother-in-law to come bail me out of my classroom until a sub could show up.  I have an awesome local support system, don't I?

I'm going to bypass a lot of this, as it gets somewhat monotonous.  Let me break it down.  Keith and I spent over four hours in the Labor and Delivery ward where I was hooked to monitors for both the baby's heartbeat and my contractions (of which there were none).  Finally, after a urinary infection test (negative) and a shot to relax my uterus, we were sent home to rest all weekend.  In other news--Ali came up early; hospital nachos were eaten; her hair was shorn a bit more than she may have liked, but it was cheaper than $300.

They sent me home for lots of rest and water (that's a theme here, so get used to it) and told me to call my doctor if the symptoms continued.  On both Friday and Saturday nights, that's just what happened.  So, I called on Sunday and Dr. H told me to report to his office at 9 a.m. the next day.  Fast forward to sub plans and a ton of tests (all of which turned out GREAT!) and you've got my three-hour appointment. I was told to go home and call if the cramps returned.

I drove home by way of Yogurt Mania!, my fave fro-yo shop.  As I pulled out of the parking lot with my tasty treat in the cup holder, cramp #1 hit.  Pulling onto our street, cramp #2 surfaced. Fun times.  More followed, and this morning, more yet.  I put in a call to Dr. H, per his instruction, and was directed once again to the L & D ward for the FFN (fetal fibronectin test). Keith, bless his heart, picked me up and drove me there while I tried to hide the fact that I was quivering like a cold chihuahua inside.  Even though I bet him $5 that the test would be negative, I was still nervous that I might be experiencing some strange pre-term labor thing.  Lo and behold, after sharing three hours and a passable lunch of hospital roast beef, we heard the news: negative.  The doctor's official instructions: drink more water.  No, I'm not kidding.

So here I sit, two cramps later (I'm tracking them), wondering what the hell this all means.  It's annoying and frustrating, but I guess we're doing all we can to keep the princess safely encased in my warm little womb.