CBOTB

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Hamming It Up

Nevermind the oversized, double-chinned giggling mama in the background. Check Ella out! She's such a little ham!

Leslie Coehlo took this and many more pics the other day at Cleveland Park. I'll post some good ones soon!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Stupid Preggo Comments (Made Mostly By Men)

What is it about men that makes them utterly idiotic when they approach a pregnant woman? I personally think it's just because they have absolutely no idea what that woman is experiencing, and therefore, have absolutely no idea as to what to say. Even the men who have children of their own...their wives could have gone through it 2, 3, or 4 times and they can still really prove themselves to be major boneheads when they try to talk to a preggo.

Point in case #1:
I won't drop names, but will say a very influential person in our community who has three children of his own said this yesterday as he ran into me taking lunch orders for some volunteers who were helping with a project: " You look like you've put away some cheeseburgers..." What?!? Did you really just say that? Then he tried to back peddle by saying, "well, darlin' you deserve every one of them."

Point in case #2:
I stopped by the church yesterday with my dad to show him some renovations that are happening at the Teen Arena. I was greeted at the door by the husband of one of Brandon's staff members. I think they have 5 kids. I got out of the car, and he said something about how are the triplets, er...twins, er... I had to inform him that I would take him out without remorse if he said one more word to me.

Point in case #3:
While shopping at the Fresh Market with my mom yesterday, we were ordering some meat at the meat counter. The butcher who was helping us was trying to be funny (I guess all these guys were trying to be funny...he was the closest) and said to his partner, "Call security. This lady is trying to smuggle a watermelon out of the store under her shirt." That was followed by "If you were in a race all by yourself, you'd come in second." Okay...those were somewhat cute. I told him that I'm so competitive that if I was in a race with myself, I'd turn around and cross the finish line backwards.

Men...I know that if you have had a wife or girlfriend who has been pregnant that you had to have been more careful with your words with her. Take some advice...stop trying to be funny. Just be the caring and sensitive guy that you were when your significant other was about to have a baby.

In fact, here are few phrases that a pregnant woman would accept coming out of your I-have-no-idea-what-you're-going-through mouth:
  • Wow! You look beautiful!
  • How are you feeling?
  • Is there anything I can do for you?
  • You carry that baby so well. You have such grace during this stage of life.
  • I remember when my (wife, girlfriend) was pregnant. I hope your man is treating you like the queen you are!
  • How far along are you? or When's your due date? (and if she lets you know that she's not as far along as you thought she was, don't say anything else!)

Ladies, if you have any other acceptable phrases, feel free to leave them as comments.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Block Party






I just wanted to let you know that I'm serious about this no-touchy the belly thing. Today I started taking actions against unwanted outreaches.

A girl came up and looked like she was about to dribble my belly like a basketball. I pulled a Karate Kid on her and "waxed on" (or was it "waxed off"?) and gave her a look that told her to stop immediately. Yes, it was awkward, but I didn't care!

Someone else blindsighted me before this incident, though. She came from the side, and had her hand on my belly before I could chop, block, kick or spit, so I was stuck getting a Buddah rub.

But I'm getting quicker. By the time I get my defense tightened up, my belly will be replaced with a squirmy infant!
35 1/2 weeks

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Craving Satisfied

We recently took a quick trip to Charleston for Claire's baby shower. Brandon was originally going to stay home and work, but decided to escort Ella and I down to the lowcountry so we could get some coveted family time. It was awesome. We stopped in Columbia to see Mom and Dad for lunch, and made it down to Mt. Pleasant in time for dinner before the shower.

Ever since I had decided to make the trip, I had been nursing an ever-growing craving for a favorite dish served up by a local restaurant:

A fried-green tomato, (homemade) pimento cheese, and ham sandwich with collard greens on the side from Boulevard Diner. Ahhh...I almost want to type it out again...this is not your ordinary sandwich or your ordinary restaurant. The restaurant owned by a family who has a few restaurants of different genres in the Charleston area; there's an Italian restaurant and a more upscale restaurant...and then there's Blvd. Looking at it on the outside, you'd never know it was such a gem. But once you taste and see...and you walk out with money in your pocket AND a doggie bag of extra food (the portions are great), you'll understand. Brandon and I laugh when we think of our first date sans other people. He drove 3 and a half hours from Greenville after working construction all day and was covered in red clay when he arrived at the door. But after cleaning up, he was hungry, so we went to Blvd Diner and I introduced him to fried pickles. He was a bit skeptical at first, but ended up loving them!

So we had approximately 45 minutes to get to the restaurant, order, eat, pay, change clothes and make it to the shower on time. As unreasonable as it sounds now, I was NOT about to miss out, and Brandon was NOT about to allow me to forgo satisfying my craving. Here are some lovely pictures of pure preggo bliss:

The even had red Texas Pete for the collards, although my heartburn would only allow minimal coverage.



Excellent!

I take full credit for my husband's love of collards.

Daddy introducing Ella to fried pickles

She's such a good eater! She'll try anything!

Friday, March 06, 2009

Snow Fun!

Ella saw her first real snow this week, and we had a great time experiencing it with her. I tried to wait for Brandon to wake up naturally, but got too excited and had to become his alarm clock. Too bad, since it was an unexpected day off for him and one of his only opportunities to sleep in a little in weeks! But we needed to take advantage of all the fresh snow!

We quickly realized that we didn't have proper snow clothing for Ella, so she looked a little like a ragamuffin with all mismatched items, but we finally got her dressed enough that we thought she'd stay warm for a while.

Brandon's first order of business was to teach Ella how to make a snowball and throw it at Mommy. Here you can see the progression of his snowball throwing clinic.

The example:


The proper packing of a snowball:


The windup:


The release:


And yes, she hit me right on the belly (it's a nice, BIG target).



We also used a cookie sheet to go down a small hill in the back yard. She only liked that once. And...before we knew it, 10 minutes had come and gone in the glorious white stuff, and Ella was ready to go back inside, get in a warm bubble bath, and have some of mama's slow-cooked grits.