Our New Toilet

The top photo is our new toilet, and the bottom is the old one.

Andrew and I have a new toilet! Haha, it's funny what's all exciting when you're a home owner. Really, though, it's quite the improvement. The last toilet ran all the time, used gallons of water to flush, and was really (really) gross. I don't think the last owners were fans of cleaning their toilets, to be honest.

We removed the last toilet, and the last floor, and the last baseboards, and the last sink & cabinet. We also removed the toilet paper holder because it was crazy-crooked.

Since then, we've gotten the new floors in; we put in the new, thicker baseboards; and, today, my dad installed our new toilet. It's so exciting! Once we get the piece we need, we'll put in the sink, add the mirror and towel ring, hang a few photos, and call it good!

Baby Shower!

Jean and Colleen threw me a baby shower today! It was for all our work friends. I was excited to go, but I had even more fun than I expected. Everyone was so funny and so generous. They spoiled me and the baby! ;-)

They held it at Jean's house, which is so beautiful. The food was great, and the conversation was hilarious. I really had a great time. I'll post pictures soon!

New Floors!

The flooring is offically done in the dining room, kitchen and living room! Once we get our bathroom pipes moved on Tuesday, we'll finish the flooring in there, too. It looks so much nicer in here, and it feels great to be rid of all the stinky (literally) blue carpet.

It's Something Out of Alien... or Spaceballs

My poor stomach. It started as a good thing. At 4am this morning, I woke up to a (most likely) foot stretching out sideways in my abdomen. The little guy really got his stretch on! I wasn't able to go back to sleep, so I laid there feeling the baby move and stretch. He's getting so strong (and long)! I'm not sure if it could have caused my stomach distress or not, but he was pretty active today, and my stomach's been quite sour.

I went to the doctor's on Wednesday where I saw Dr. Oster. She felt my tummy and said she'd estimate the baby at 3.5 pounds. She said I'm measuring a week and a half large (which is down from 2 weeks large at my last few appointments). I take that to be good news... hopefully, I'll be able to deliver this mega-baby!

I also signed Andrew and me up for an infant care class to learn how to bathe and diaper the baby (It's three hours long! Hopefully, we'll learn a lot). Andrew's mom, Colleen, got us a book that our house inspector recommended called The Happiest Baby on the Block. I like it a lot, and I think I'm learning a lot from it. Is it enough to figure out what the hell we're doing when the baby gets here? Probably not, but I like to hope so!

Tomorrow, I reach the 33 week mark. Seven more weeks to go! I'm starting to get very excited. I find myself wondering what he'll look like, and I'm excited to finally hold the baby that's been in my belly all these months. Soon!

You're Protesting What?

I'm amazed at how many parents are protesting the broadcast from President Obama to our schools. On the radio, people were calling in and saying there should be permission slips to parents so they can opt their children out.

In our public school system when I was growing up, we frequently had speakers. I remember listening to Miss America in 5th or 6th grade talk against drugs, and I remember hearing the fire chief discuss fire safety. Speakers were in and out all the time, and they never caused a commotion.

President Obama is speaking to our kids about staying in school and the importance of a good education. How is this topic controversial?

I read an article today where they interviewed a man who said it scares him that there's a direct communication line between the President of the United States and students. Why is that scary?

It's true that I'm politically quite liberal. Still, when I was in school, I would have been thrilled to have the chance to hear any president speak, whether I agreed with him politically or not. As it stands, however, the president is not speaking on controversial issues that have partisan divisions. He's simply speaking about the importance of an education. Isn't it an incredible opportunity for our students?

I brought the subject up to some of my coworkers today. I told them how weird it seemed that so many people are up in arms over this stay-in-school broadcast. The drug rep who provided lunch said she didn't approve of the move because the President was going to have celebrities on the broadcast who are pro-UNICEF. I didn't argue with her, really, but all I could think was, "Who can be against UNICEF? Do you not want to prove food and health care to poor children around the world?" Instead, I said, "There's no speaker that everyone will agree with, but I think it's a wonderful opportunity for students to get to hear directly from our nation's leader."

It's so bizarre what some people take issue with.