Overachieving Annie

ah, what a wonderful Christmas holiday this has been ... for my family, just being together this year was the best present ... of course, having said that, this Christmas somehow turned into an impromptu baby shower for Annie as she got LOTS of presents!! such fun ...
speaking of Annie, had dr's appt. this morning ... doctor very happy with appropriate weight gain and said Annie weighs about one pound now. so in 24 weeks she has gained one pound but by next visit in only 4 weeks she will have gained one more pound ... dr says she will begin extraordinary growth from this point on ... said pregnancy was going extremely well, and if this were school Annie and I would have an A+ ... great news as I believe the only thing I ever had an A+ in during school was talking ... nonetheless, good to excel in something!

Merry Christmas

have spent three of the last four days in the madness that is the pre-holiday craze ... even ended up in Wal-Mart, a store I have VOWED to never again visit ... while there, was in line behind a mom and a three-year-old who was holding a Mountain Dew while in the buggy ... he was slugging back that Mountain Dew like it was juice, and I rejoiced in the fact that he was NOT coming home with me ... good grief.
will not write again for a few days as family is arriving in town and festivities will occupy the next few days ... Merry Christmas to everyone!

Another Christmas Miracle

have lovely new maternity Christmas Eve shirt for annual family gathering at Calverts' house ... will FINALLY be able to compete with Calvert side of family: what better way to celebrate the miracle of Christmas than by wearing a shirt that shows off my new miracle cleavage?? cannot wait and don't care how superficial that sounds ... if possible (read: if I can figure out how) will post Christmas cleavage picture ...

Moxie CrimeFighter

has been cold and dreary day here ... good day to paint the nursery (actually Anthony painted; I just taped everything off) ... beautiful paint is called angelic pink. is wonderfully soothing color ... have visions of little Annie waking during the night and being so soothed she simply sings beautiful hymns to put herself back to sleep ... no need to cry when your room is angelic pink ...
on subject of Annie, received annual Best and Worst of 2005 issue of People today ... among other highly interesting topics was a list of wackiest celebrity baby names and I SWEAR I am not making these up ... Top Names: Pirate, Poet Sienna Rose, Kal-el Coppola, and (my personal favorite) Moxie CrimeFighter ... have mercy, can you imagine your middle name being CrimeFighter??

Tragedy of King Kong

do not understand current hype over most recent "King Kong" remake ... did not see original but know it's sad ... how could it not be?? tragic love story between gigantic hairy ape and tiny blonde woman cannot possibly end happily ... according to every review I've read, movie must be breathtaking but is not for me ... animal sadness (even sadness involving aforementioned gigantic hairy ape) always makes me cry ...
made trip (is becoming more of an actual trip with the traffic ... now stock car with food, water, blankets and books) to Wal-Mart today ... approached trip with fairly good attitude and the Barenaked Ladies Christmas CD so was ok ... always end up conversing with neighboring shoppers while in line, and today was no exception. talk is always of post-Katrina life, and everyone (including self) has an opinion ... did much better with tempting right-by-register items by NOT purchasing purse-size spray starch, purse-size static-guard, purse-size benadryl, purse-size hand sanitizer and purse-size puzzle ... how can tiny items cost about 10 times as much as their normal-size counterparts??

No End In Sight

The past two days have not been good "hurricane days." Sometimes it's almost easy to forget about the rest of the area if you only do a few errands relatively close to home ... however, I've been out and about all over the last couple of days, and, even three months later, the devastation takes my breath away. I know it's been said and written numerous times, but television cameras cannot capture the vastness of what has happened here. Very disturbingly, there are still an extraordinary number of people living in tents, people who have been paying house mortgages on concrete slabs, people with good educations who are now unemployed and cannot get a job, and people who are struggling simply to survive. The stories that come out, whether at a dr.'s office or in line at Wal-Mart, are staggering and make me feel all the more guilty that Anthony and I fared relatively well ... "survivor's guilt," I believe they call it. Rest assured and make no mistake, positive steps have been taken in the last three months in an effort to rebuild, but the situation is still very, very dire. I only ask that you pray for the thousands of people here who have suffered unimaginable losses and for all the legislators, politicians, etc. who are fighting for relief money so the Gulf Coast and all of its people can live and move on.

Baby Rocky

am recovering from gross cold or allergy/sinus attack that arrived last week ... feeling better but not great.
while laying around with tissues up nostrils read a good bit about Annie's development this week ... turns out she is now able to make fists and actually punch the uterine lining ... am NOT making this up as came from reputable book and also can feel it ... occasionally feel like punching bag for tiny daughter ...

A Few Loose Screws

**still having technical problems with our computer, so blogging may be sporadic for the next little while**
assembled Annie's high chair today all by myself ... yes, I realize she won't be using it for quite some time, but the particular model we registered for was being discontinued so I went ahead and ordered it ... only slightly unnerving part of the assembly was that some screws were left over ... can only pray leftover parts don't lead to some sort of bizarre high chair accident for little Annie in the future ... shall see ... is cute baby Mickey pattern ... not obnoxious or overly precious but appropriately cute ... good thing as we do have quite awhile to look at it!!

That's What Dreams Are Made Of

Annie has become a much more real presence lately ... not only because I feel her move a lot, but because suddenly she has a little identity. I always thought when I got pregnant I would have grandiose dreams about my child being a doctor or the next NFL star or even the next President. Though they've changed a bit, I still have grandiose dreams for Annie, but they're grandiose because I want her to be healthy and happy. At the moment, I can be very assured that she's healthy, which is indescribably miraculous. I can only hope she will grow up happy and always know how much she's loved. If someday she becomes President, that's just fine, but I'll be just as happy if she's kind and thoughtful and considerate.
My dreams now are of meeting her for the first time, holding her in my arms and looking into her eyes. I absolutely cannot wait ...

Look at those Knockers

very good pregnancy day today ... had to go buy new, BIGGER bras ... very, very exciting!!
on flip side, am presently watching our local news station's airing of their Hurricane Katrina program ... is absolutely mind-boggling to see the footage ... as we were in Columbus the night before Katrina arrived, we are seeing much of this footage for the first time ... is heart-breaking and almost surreal ... even though it's been over three months since Katrina hit and much progress has been made, rest assured that recovery is far from over ...

We've Got Annie

has been wonderful day with thoughts mostly on Annie ... fighting urge to go paint baby room pink, although we have got the most beautiful paint chip picked ... very pale and not at all Pepto Bismol-colored ... thanks to Molly for the paint suggestion ... have edited Target and Wal-Mart registries to reflect Annie's pink identity as opposed to neutral yellow and green ... discussed Annie's dating rules with Anthony last night and mutually decided that 25 is the perfect age for a first date ... watched video from ultrasound appointment last night after soccer game but if honest, had trouble picking out things as found Annie to be somewhat chimpanzee-looking ... mean that in nicest way possible as certain child is beautiful and perfect ...