MexMo: Sure. That'll work, too.

Yesterday when C. and I went to the grocery store we were pleased to see that the workers were wearing those respiratory masks to prevent the spread of the pig flu...

...around their NECKS.

(I hear they work better when they're covering your nose and mouth. It could be a rumor, though.)

Pass.

When I got pregnant I became a member of a horde of baby-related websites that send you an incessant amount of email that tends to accumulate and already start to make you feel like a slacker pre-parent for just deleting them from your inbox.

Got this one today.

Read the subject line. (Click to make larger.)


Um. I think I'll pass on watching those.

PSA*: Have ya'll seen this?*Public Service Announcement

The GAP now has athletic performance apparel. Apparently it's designed and developed by women athletes.

Cute yoga stuff, swimsuits and dresses.

Check it here.

(I think that logo is terrible.)

WHERE has the time gone?

May will be here on Friday.

Not to be Debbie Downer...

So, I've been meaning to write my quick thoughts regarding the recession.

As someone who hasn't shopped in the States for quite some time - I was floored by how empty the stores were.

FLOORED.

Target? I swear there were 20 people there. Tops.

At the mall, the same girl greeted us when we talked in at Express, then she opened the dressing room and then rang us up. (Crazy.)

The downtown stores were dead.

There were so few people in the stores and restaurants. (And let's just say I shopped a lot and ate even more.)

On what seemed like every corner, businesses were closed or boarded up.

The GROCERY STORE was even eerily quiet.

I will say that I was floored. And a bit wigged out.

I'm definitely a believer. A recession is in full-bloom.

Everything about this article is perfect.

Especially the headline:

"Blown-away Chihuahua reunited with owners"

(hahahahahaaha)

Article goes on:

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Tinker Bell has been reunited with her owners after a 70-mph gust of wind picked up the six-pound Chihuahua and tossed her out of sight. Dorothy and Lavern Utley credit a pet psychic for guiding them on Monday to a wooded area nearly a mile from where 8-month-old Tinker Bell had been last seen. The brown long-haired dog was dirty and hungry but otherwise OK.

The Utleys, of Rochester, had set up an outdoor display Saturday at a flea market in Waterford Township, 25 miles northwest of Detroit. Tinker Bell was standing on their platform trailer when she was swept away.

Dorothy Utley tells The Detroit News that her cherished pet "just went wild" upon seeing her.

Thank you to C. for this blog post submission. Article found here.

Pregnancy & unfair threats.

Actual conversation between the husband and I as we were lying in bed last night:

Me to C.: "My feet hurt. Please rub my feet."

Him: Approximately 30 seconds of silence.

Me: More sternly, "Please rub my feet."

Him: "Feet are gross. You even think feet are gross."

Me: "My feet are clean! I just got out of the shower. And I'm pregnant and my feet hurt. And I can't reach them. Other husbands rub their pregnant wives' feet. PLEASE.RUB.THEM."

Silence.

More Silence.

Me: "Ok. Fine. I'm going to write all about you on my blog."

--

Who says you can't reason with a pregnant woman?

Another reason to be proud of Detroit.

It appears that Detroit beat out EVERY other city in ALL of the United States and proudly now can be called, "The Country's Most Dangerous City."

I find this slightly ironic given the fact that many people are questioning whether they want to fly to Cabo, when they're probably more "at risk" departing out of Detroit Metro.

Check out this quote from the article, "The situation in Mexico has escalated in recent years, but Detroit has been dealing with the same problems for decades."

Hee hee.

Article here.

Go Tigers!

As a Mexico resident...

...and in order to prevent the swine flu from permeating my cuerpo, I have lysoled my desk, mouse, computer and phone.

And my co-workers.

:)

(Kidding. Sort of.)

Update: I just sent this to my co-workers. Because I'm me.

Subject: In order to keep our offices germ-free & healthy!

According to the CDC
http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentSwineFluMexico.aspx

Practice healthy habits to help stop the spread of germs

• Wash your hands often with soap and water. This removes germs from your skin and helps prevent diseases from spreading.
• Use waterless alcohol-based hand gels (containing at least 60% alcohol) when soap is not available and hands are not visibly dirty.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and put your used tissue in a wastebasket.
• If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not your hands.
• Wash your hands after coughing or sneezing, using soap and water or an alcohol-based hand gel.
• Follow all local health recommendations. For example, you may be asked to put on a surgical mask to protect others.

Produce Report: The third week of the Squash

I am 31 weeks pregnant. What does this mean? Let me break it down for you: I am going to be a mommy in approximately 9 weeks.

(GASP!)

Let's dig right in.

Q. How's Lila doing this week?
A. From what I've heard from her, she's great. Apparently she weighs approximately 3.5 lbs. and is settling into the "birthing" position. (Head first.) (I know, I know... more than likely that's too much information. I feel the same way and it's my body and my baby.)

Q. Is she still moving around a bunch?
A. The answer to this question is YES! And, I still adore it. The more movement, the better. Active = healthy. At least to me. I have noticed that my little squash is starting to enjoy chillin' in the vicinity of my ribs. She's clearly just trying to make her presence known.

Q. How am I feeling?
A. Still quite good! I'd like to think that I was an absolute trooper during our trip to Ohio last week. (Craig?) I am noticing that moving around is getting harder and I'm a bit more tired than I was, say six weeks ago. But still, I feel great. And water-retentive. (I have sausage fingers. Seriously, Bob Evans sausage link fingers.)

Q. Are you still sleeping on your back?
A. Yep.

Q. Do you feel guilty about it?
A. Nope.

Q. How is your weight gain?
A. Slow and steady. :)

Q. Do you want to tell us how much you weigh?
A. Sure. I'll tell you exactly how much I weigh if you tell me how much you weigh. (Hee hee). But I will tell you that I've gained a solid 24 lbs. Yep. I'm serious. (Yes, I know. Some people gain 25 lbs throughout the entire duration of their pregnancy. I feel that those people are fictional.)

Q. So, how often are you eating?
A. I'm not kidding - I'm hungry literally ever 2-3 hours. No joke. (Chances are that whilst you're reading this, I'm eating.)

Q. How did the maternity shopping go in Ohio?
A. TERRIBLE. Those clothes are horrendous. I don't care what ANYONE says - they're ugly. There ARE exceptions, but for the most part they're terrible. I was quite successful just buying dresses up a size.

(As far as I'm concerned, all pregnant women need the following items in order to dress for moderate comfort: a hair tie/rubber band (to extend your button on your jeans for as long as possible), a bella band, bra extenders and those super-tight camis. Preferably in a silky material--they smooth you out.)

Q. How are you feeling about this whole impending birth?
A. I'm anxious. It's getting more real. After our showers, C. and I were looking at all of the items that we were showered with and we felt a.) incredibly loved and b.) like, "Oh-my-gosh-there's-no-turning-back." This is the real deal.

The next time we go back to Ohio, we'll be parents.

Us.

We're going to be someone's parents.

Q. Have you finished any crochet projects lately?
A. Yep. Remember how I have a slight fear regarding the potential pointy-ness of Lila's head? Well, I crocheted her a gnome hat that will totally hide that. Just being proactive. :)


Here's me at one of my shower's last week.

Just one of the ADORABLE outfits/gifts Lila got.
(This one's from Patt.)

And Lila's cute shower cake.

Kidding.
But how funny is that? LOVE the cakewrecks blog.
Here's her real cake.


And, here's my belly as of Saturday. (I'm waiting for my belly button to pop. Still nothing -- yet C. bets that by week 35 it will.)
I'm huge. But there IS a baby in there.


Note: This is with NO makeup after pancakes for breakfast. :) I'm only posting it so you can see the proportion and the "squash" I'm dealing with.


Here's me clothed, later that same day. Those are maternity shorts. (Target.)

Ok, I think that's all!
More stuff next week.

What a treasure.Bea Arthur passed away.

Dorothy Zbornak was my favorite Golden Girl.

What a sad day.
Article here.

Ferg Friday: Jet setter

Here's the Ferginator yesterday in the Dallas airport.
Smiling.
Let's just say - she's a FANTASTIC traveler and we've decided to keep her.

This made me laugh.

So my best friend was telling her neighbor that she was going to Toledo last Saturday for my baby shower.

Her neighbor said, "Oh yeah - I remember her...)

(I met her last summer.)

The neighbor then goes on to say: "Isn't that 'Heaven' from Puerto Rico?"

Lol.

I feel that is so cooler-sounding than, "Kylee from Cabo."

From henceforth - please call me, "Heaven de Puerto Rico."

Gracias.

Travel Perspective.

So Craig and I are walking in the Dallas/Fort Worth International Terminal D earlier today waiting to catch our flight back to Cabo. The airport is clean, sleek and modern and Terminal D pretty much has all of the necessities for life. It's nice. One of our faves.

So, we're walking directly in front of a couple - maybe in their mid-50's - who clearly have not traveled or been to the airport in quite some time.

They seem nice.

We're eavesdropping on their amazement with the airport.

The wife: "Wow. Look at all those stairs. Now that's a lot of stairs."

(She's referring to the approximately 60 stairs to the people-mover system on the floor above. She's right. It's a lot of stairs.)

The husband: This is one nice airport.

He goes on to say: Real 20th century...

(Just then, a police offer zooms by on his segway... I couldn't have scripted it better if I wanted to.)

Husband says: I mean, ya got police officers flying by on two wheels and everything...

--

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

This may not be funny to you, but it's 10:55 p.m. and Craig and I are still laughing about it.

It was totally Flintstones meet the Jetsons.

Awesome.

g'night.

Casa Sweet Casa.

We're home.
Back in Cabo.
Empty fridge.
Always hungry.
Ate instant oatmeal.
Apples & Cinnamon.
My favorite.
Bedtime now.

I couldn't disagree more.

Read today's "Real Simple Daily Thought":

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.
―Leonardo da Vinci

Ok, so maybe the foot is an engineering work of art - but no matter what, FEET ARE GROSS.

Seacrest out.

Traveling Today.

And we shall be landing back home in Cabo at 8:20 p.m. today.

'Tis the last time C. and I shall be traveling as a threesome with The Ferginator.

We shall be a foursome in no time at all.

If I lived in Toledo...

...I can GUARANTEE that I would be at the Toledo Zoo on July 20th listening to John Legend at the amphitheater.

How cool.

I mean, he's no Lionel...but he's still pretty fantastic. I own all of his CDs.

Are you on twitter? Should I be following you?

Give me some following suggestions, por favor.

Thanks.

(I'm TwoPretzels.)

Special Day!

Yay! Today is Wrestling Kitties' birthday!

Truly, one of the nicest, sweetest and kindest people in ALL OF THE WORLD (it's true).
W.K. - enjoy your day and I'm so glad you were born.

Swiss Rolls, rainy weather & shopping, oh my!

While I'm slow to call the tiredness I'm feeling on the same level as, "exhaustion" - I have to say, I'm tired. Socializing, shopping, walking, tying my shoes - well, it all makes me want to sleep.

I'm excited to go home and rest after my "vacation." (We fly home Thursday.)

So far...

• Two baby showers - DONE
• Ate at Wendy's - DONE
• Ate at least one breakfast sandwich from McDonalds - DONE
• Post-baby items purchased - DONE
• Hair cut & colored - DONE
• Wedding rings rhodium- dipped & checked - DONE
• At least 2.5 hours spent at Target - DONE
• Buy Ferg a doggie toothbrush - DONE
• Eat entire box of swiss rolls - Almost DONE
• Friends & Family visited - As DONE as humanly possible*
• At least 1 hour at Babies R Us - DONE
• At least 2 pairs of shoes purchased - DONE
• At least 2 trips to the mall** - DONE
• More suitcases purchased - DONE

*Forgive me if I haven't seen you. There are only something like 15 waking hours of the day. We just can't do it all.

**Friends, countrypeople - I will take it to my grave now having visited maternity sections of various stores 92% of all MATERNITY CLOTHES ARE UGLY AS ALL GET OUT. I shall write more on my next produce report.

Still to do:

• Pack
• Write Thank You's
• Sleep
• Laundry
• Pick up Ferg's new collars from Teeny Tiny Collars.
• Go to Post Office
• Go to UPS
  

I tell you what - these "vacations" to Toledo are everything a vacation should be! Calm. Relaxing and restful.

(Please tell me you sense the sarcasm.)

Ok. Must go to sleep.

P.S. I've DOUBLED in size since I've been here. Is it attributable to the swiss rolls? Possibly. I think Lila has a hand in it, too.

Last thing: I can't stand Kenny Chesney. (He was just on a beer commercial.) I'm just not a fan.

I lied. One more thing: BIG THANK YOU to my brother who is SO cool that he offered his Toledo-based home AND car to us. (He lives in Cabo.) It has been so, so, so, so wonderful. Thank you, brother. T.h.a.n.k. y.o.u.

Produce Report:It's the second week-o-the squash

I'm currently in Ohio right now and I hate to say it, but my produce report for the week will be quite short. It has been b.u.s.y.

I shall write more upon my return. Expect next week's update to be better than this week's.
I am 30 weeks pregnant.

Un.be.lievable.

Q. How are you feeling?
A. GREAT! I'm a titch slower than I've ever been, but I'm feeling good. Putting on non-slip-on shoes is an adventure. A slow, turtle-like adventure.

Q. Are you getting bigger?
A. YES. By the minute.

Q. Do you mind?
A. At this point? No.

Q. How were your baby showers?
A. Fantastic and lovely and wonderful and so enjoyable. I'd like to say that the thoughtfulness of my friends and family has astounded me and actually made me tear up when I sat down and reflected.

And, I'd also like to note that the baby-shower-thing was so much more stress-free than the wedding-shower experience. I mean, what do you prefer to "ooh and ahh" over? A new toaster or a cute baby dress?

Q. How has the visit to Ohio been?
A. WONDERFUL. You know, this is the first time we've been to Ohio and everyone KNEW that we were pregnant. (We were still keeping it hush-hush when we were back here in October.) It's been so much fun to be excited with others. Who feels the love? We do.

Q. What has surprisingly been great?
A. All the belly-touching. You know what? Something shifted. I'm proud of my belly. I have *loved* having my friends and family touch what may be La-La-La-Lila's head or rear end. ;) I love seeing the eyebrows raise and the smile form when she kicks for them.

Q. Is Lila moving all around?
A. YES. And I love it. Quite a lot.

Q. Overall, how are things?
A. Excited. Ready. I am so excited to meet our daughter.

'Tis been a long time coming... a long time coming.

Until next week...

Book Reviews

I'm absolutely out of books and have scored a few loaners from folks.

Sunday at Tiffany's, James Patterson
Total love story. (Not my normal genre.) Little girl basically ends up "together" with her imaginary friend. As in, becomes a couple with her imaginary friend later in life. 'Tis a "happily ever after" story. Sometimes these reads are necessary, no?

Absolutely a quick read.

Start out at used for $2.25 on Amazon.

--
Family Tree, Barbara Delinsky

I couldn't put this book down. Possibly because I'm pregnant and so is the main character. Who knows? Gist of it: White couple is taken aback when their newborn daughter is African-American.

Finished it in less than 24 hours because, well, I needed to know how the story ended. Worth the read.

Available on Amazon used for $.01. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Ferg Friday

Ferg just wanted to offer a quick hello.
She's thoughtful like that.
And friendly.
And cute.
And very soft.
(Seriously, she's bunny-soft.)
(Ask anyone who's met her.)

Bee-youtiful.

So, we had this really ugly vine in our courtyard.
It wouldn't grow.
C. decided to move it to the backyard so it could get more sun.
It started growing.


And growing...And it budded...
And LOOK at this flower!
It's AMAZING.

I have no idea what it is.

It's so intricately perfect. The outside petals alternate from purple and green, then the interior is that spiky lavender. It's amazing.

It's say it's about 4.4 inches in diameter

Safely in Ohio.

Traveling.

We shall be flying back to Ohio today!

C., the Ferginator and I will be leaving Cabo around 8 am and arriving in DEE-troit around 6:30 pm.
C. and Ferg haven't been back in the states in over SIX months.
I haven't been since mid-December.

We.are.ready.

I had to.

I had to buy this onesie for Lila, per the suggestion of A.

I mean, I had to. See here.

Statement.

Today could not go by fast enough.

Their eyes have been opened.

It appears that the parents of teenagers have finally retrieved their heads from their back-sides and are no longer shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch for $100 jeans for their growing offspring during this current recession.

Finally.

REASON.

According to this article, Abercrombie has experienced a severe decrease in retail sales and they refuse to settle for anything less than being a "premier" brand. (American Eagle and Aeropostale are positioning themselves at the budget-friendly alternative. And, A&F has their "sister" company, Hollister to be the lower-cost alternative, I suppose.)

I for one, hope that A&F goes down in flames. (I know, I know...they're based in Ohio.)

The store was cool back when I was in high school. But it's always been overpriced. (I remember buying a pair of $79 jeans when I was there 12 years ago. I believe I paid with drug money.)

Yep, it was cool.
Then the store got too dark.
Then far too loud.
Then the models became far too skinny.
And the advertising far too porn-esque.*

*Note: These were my thoughts LONG before I was with child and almost a parent. I cannot ABIDE how loud it is in that store.

Farewell, A & F.

(Company profile here.)

I'm not going to lie.

I absolutely want this book.
While it appears via reviews that this is definitely not an "encyclopedia" - it's allegedly a great reference book.

And well, you know how I feel about Martha.

$21.00 on amazon.

Pet Peeve

I can't stand it when Americans and Canadians living here in Mexico speak Spanish to me.

Um, you speak English.

I speak English.

Why don't we just speak Norwegian to one another then?

You know, since we're avoiding ENGLISH.

Tools.

Produce Report: And for the entire month....She's a Squash

And, welcome to week 29! This is my FINAL week in the 20's. (And my final 4 months, incidentally.) It's flown by.

I feel like the "teen" weeks of pregnancy are fun. You're starting to show... you feel the first flutters... you're feeling better after the first trimester doldrums...

Then, the 20's are cool, too. By this time you know the gender, you're bonding more, you're shopping, you're preparing. Your boobs don't kill anymore... It seems much more real.

The 30's are somewhat intimidating. They mean that ANYTIME after 37 weeks, your baby is considered "full term" and can just "appear". Legally. And be ok.

THAT is terrifying.

So, let's dig in.

Q. What is Lila up to this week?
A. Well, she's maturing and packing on the pounds. I have a feeling I'm going to birth a Reese's peanut butter cup Easter egg given how many I have enjoyed inhaled in the past 10 or so days...

Q. How was your Dr.'s appointment/ultrasound last week?
A. Um. Fantastic! I love seeing Lila's heart beat and seeing her move around. She's definitely growing.

In the beginning we could see the whole squash on ultrasounds, now we just see various parts of her cuerpo (body). And, all of those parts appear to be perfect.

Highlights:

• She's healthy.
• She's got chubby cheeks.
• She weighs approximately 2 lbs and 12 oz. (These ultrasounds have quite a significant margin of error in the weight department - so that's approximate. Unfortunately, my scale does not.)
• The dr. swears she has my nose but aside from that she will look like C. (It will be fun to see if he's right.)
• There is absolutely zero indication that she has any hair. (Does hair even show up on ultrasounds?)
• My weight-gain is on par.
• I continue to have a non-eventful, healthy pregnancy. (THANK YOU, God.)
  
• We go back in 3 weeks, then we start the every 2-week visits. (CRA-ZAY.)

Here are some pics of the squash's face. Can you see La, La, La, Lila's eyes? Nose?

Note: I told my Dr. about my fears of hemorrhaging and of the actual insertion of the epidural. He explained that Fear A. will pretty much, more than likely not happen. And Fear B. will be fine because the anesthesiologist here in Cabo is actually fantastic and yadda, yadda. I did feel better after I talked to him. I really like my doctor. Here in Mexico you meet with your OB for an HOUR at each visit. He literally says, "Ok...what are your questions?" Love that.)

Q. So, how are you feeling?
A. Honestly, very good. I'm a forgetful person by nature, but it seems to have increased a titch.

Case in point: This past week I took a shower and washed my hair. (I am not a daily hairwasher). I then conditioned my hair whilst in said shower.

I then got out of the shower, put my hair in a bun on the top of my head (sexy) and went to bed.

I then woke up, unrolled the bun to blow-dry the hair and realized halfway through drying my hair that I clearly had not rinsed out the conditioner.

Tip off?

My greasy hair/schmutzy-feeling fingers.

It was gross.

Aside from that, I'm feeling "pressure." I told C. a couple of days ago that for some reason I didn't think a baby would slow me down at all - but she kind of is. That added weight, not to mention the "squash" resting in my lower abdomen makes it difficult to move desks and furniture. (Yes, I attempted to do that this past week at work. Yes, my sister told me to stop. Now. It's hard. It's my nature to be a busy-body.)

Q. Do you like being pregnant?
A. Yes, 3/4 of the time I truly do. I love having Lila with me all the time. And at this point, I love feeling her move.

Everyone says, "That won't last for long - before you know it, she'll be jabbing you in the ribs like Diego Sanchez." (A UFC fighter. Thank you, C.) But for now, dance and move away my Lila Baby. At least this way I know she's ok.

And I've found that pregnant women really don't need one more thing to worry about.

Q. How's the eating going?
A. Solid. I'm a solid eater. I will tell you, though - that my body is less able to eat the vast quantities it could earlier on in my pregnancy.

It's just not comfortable. There's less room in the 'ole abdomen, I believe.

Take Saturday for instance. I only ate HALF of my cheeseburger for dinner. (Yes, I did have second dinner... but at that initial sitting, only half of my gourmet main course.) What?! Say, 10 weeks ago I would have eaten the first cheeseburger and wanted a second.

Q. So, how are you dealing with the "secrets of pregnancy"?
A. In the following ways:

• I've been waiting for my belly button to "pop" out. It still hasn't.
• I've been waiting for that dark line (linea negra) to appear on my lower abdomen. It really hasn't.
• I've been waiting to stop peeing every 35 minutes. I still do.
  
• I still get up at least 2-3 times in the middle of the night (to pee). This has been consistent throughout my entire pregnancy. I've come to the conclusion that it's preparing me for Lila's sleep schedule.
  
• I still haven't experienced any overwhelming cravings. (How boring am I?)
  

Q. What's the best part about being pregnant? Physically?
A. Um. How shall we say, a "larger up-top." Definitely.

Q. How's the weight gain?
A. I'm holding steady at an acceptable 20 lbs. I'm certain that will increase hugely. I'm betting that I'll gain a total of 30 lbs. Craig says 35. We shall see. ;)

I don't want to disappoint him...

Ok, here's me sometime last week. Of course, I was on my way to the Grocery Store.
Here is my niece Chloe, my [very big] belly, and I yesterday on Easter. Yes, that's Chloe's phone in her hand. (She's very small. My stomach is like 5 times bigger than her head.)
Have a great week!

Hair advice?

I'm getting my hair trimmed/colored when we go back to Ohio and I'm in search of a cute LONG cut.

I'm thinking more layers. Side bangs.

Any thoughts?
Please feel free to email me/show me a link of hair you might like.

Following through.

As someone who believes in God, Jesus and the whole kit-n-kaboodle, I appreciate Easter.
It actually quiets me.

(This is difficult to do.)

I cannot imagine giving my child to die for anyone - let alone strangers.

For me, the Easter Story is the ultimate, "See? Yep. I exist. I did what I said I was going to do. For you. Because I love you."

If you haven't read it - now may be a great time to. Grab a Bible or google it.

MexMo: Bummer

So you paint the whole sign.

It looks cute and colorful...then...What?!
A spelling error.
--
Oh well.
No one will notice.

Walk the walk.(Or is it, "Walk the Talk"?)Anywho...

I don't believe for one minute that most spokes-people actually use the product they advertise.

Stacey London - Pantene?
Sarah Jessica Parker - Garnier Fructise?
Ellen - Cover Girl?
Eva Longoria - Loreal hair stuff?

As far as I know, the only person who actually wears the crap they advertise is Beyonce in House of Dereon.

And that's just a shame.

Hey kids...

Download your Hoops and Yoyo calendars TODAY.

(And some other fun stuff here.)

Yep. My husband is one lucky man.

Me: What do you want for dinner?

C: What are the options?

Me: Spaghetti. Breakfast. Or corndogs.

(We went with breakfast.)