Christmas recap

OK - it's time to update after a week's absence, and a ton has happened. Hopefully I can cover everything!

First, here are a couple of pictures from our apartment's decorations. We got a real tree for the first time ever this year (so what if it's tiny? It's ours!).


Here's the top-of-TV garland-and-candle thing:


Finally, here's the wreath just inside our door:


It's not much, but it's ours, and we are happy to have something! :) It was nice to have it up before we left, and we felt more like we were settled. Hopefully next year we can do this again. Baby will need a great first Christmas!! :) OK, now to the day-by-day.

Saturday: So, we eventually made it home. It took us FOREVER to get out of Boston, because there was bad weather in Chicago. We were supposed to get in at about 5:30 or something, but we ended up landing at almost 2 am. It was a LONG day at the airport, for all three of us! Nino was one unhappy kitty. But it was so nice to see J&G at the airport to pick us up! And to get to sleep in a comfy bed!

Sunday: J&G drove us to our hometown, since we couldn't get a rental car on Sunday. (Joy). We made it to Bryan's mom's, though, and had a nice catch-up while we relaxed at her place. Then we made our way to my grandma's place for some Christmas celebration with my family. We got to play with the youngest cousin, and that was tons of fun.

Monday, Christmas Eve: Got a rental car (finally), headed to Wal-Mart for supplies for the kitty (EEK - get me out of there!), had some yummy lunch at Godfather's, stopped by to see uncle's new house, and then went out to Bryan's brother's for Christmas there. That was a ton of fun- the kids are all getting so big! The youngest just turned 4, which doesn't seem at ALL possible! He's more than twice the age his older brother was when we got married!

Tuesday, Christmas Day: unexpectedly spent Christmas morning in the ER, checking out baby (but everything's fine). It was scary but the doc was really great. He said it seems like my uterus is measuring a bit big for how far along I am (probably just a big baby, he says). He listened to the heartbeat, and that was awesome as usual. Anyway, after that we headed to Dupy's to celebrate with my stepmother's family, with the usual yummy potato soup and entertaining antics. It was great to see everyone. Everyone seemed to have ideas about naming the baby, too (even the youngest cousin on that side!). I can't wait to introduce him/her to all of them! After we left there, we headed to my aunt & uncle's place, and grabbed some more Christmas grub with the cousins there before heading with my other grandma to see my other uncle (and his wife and new baby!) in the city. That was great - it'd been awhile since I'd seen him, and I was very impressed with the man he's become. He's taken to fatherhood so well. He's adorable with his little girl!

Wednesday: Worked on my paper a bit, then headed to lunch at Chili's with aunt & uncle. I always seem to learn so much about my history, and my own quirks, when I'm with my uncle! They're so great. It was really great to sit with them for 3 hours!! The time flew by!! After that we made Bryan's mom dinner (goat cheese and spinach stuffed chicken, asparagus, and rice! Yummmm!) and then went to see his cousin. I was starting to feel pretty crappy (I think all the stress and running around kicked my immune system again, and I started to get a nasty cold a la October and November) so we didn't stay as long as we usually do, but it was great to see them, and catch up. He introduced us to a new show - Ninja Warrior. Check it out. It's amazing. Even in my congested, half-asleep state, I could appreciate it.

Thursday: Packed up in a cold-induced haze, headed back to Tulsa. Finally took some Sudafed (I hate succumbing to medication) and then had a nice little nap. Went out for an awesome dinner with J&G and then chatted the evening away.

Friday: Typical. Airport at 10:30, back at J&G's at 11:30. Our flight was cancelled. Love it. But I medicated again and took a 3 hour nap, and Bryan helped Gena around the house. We went back to the airport and barely made our 6:00 flight, and then got delayed in Chicago (shocker) but made it back to our apartment at about 2 am. What a whirlwind! The flight was ridiculously painful on my sinuses, but I didn't care. I wanted my bed!! And it helped - I feel a little better today, but I'm still congested. Oh well.

So all in all, it was a crazy, but successful trip. We're not sure when we'll be back, but it was really nice to see everyone there. I know a lot of people are planning to come and visit us this summer, either for Bryan's graduation, my graduation, or meeting the baby, and we say, bring it on! We're excited for people to see where we live.

And speaking of baby, look what happened this week! It seemed like I woke up on Wednesday and there was an extra belly in bed with us! Craaaaazzzzy!

Failed, Part Deux

I was supposed to fly home today.

Today's timeline:

8:30 - Bryan and I roll out of bed, shower, finish packing, I eat some breakfast, get the kitty ready for his big trip.

9:00 - Call a cab (all of our friends seem to be out of town already and we didn't want to take the cat on the T)

10:12 - MG calls, says she can just drive us to the airport in our car (not sure why we hadn't thought of that, but great!)

10:20 - Leave our apartment, bags in hand, for the aeropuerto.

10:45 - Arrive at airport, wait in line to check in (have to b/c of the kitty).

11:15 - Nice lady (who is sneezing like crazy because she's allergic to the kitty) tells us (1) our flight to Chicago is delayed, so there's no way we'll be able to make our connection; (2) the next connecting flight is overbooked, so there's no way we'll be able to make that flight either; (3) we could go through Dallas, and Dallas to Tulsa is fine, but Boston to Dallas is full. SO she books us on flights tomorrow.

11:30? - Leave airport in the freezing cold, with kitty, and take the T home after all. Act all huffy and puffy and very annoyed (because I am).

12:30 - Arrive back at the apartment. Call J&G, mom-in-law to let them know not to expect us in Oklahoma today. Take a relaxing day off instead (watch a movie, veg out, order pizza for dinner, etc) and prepare for leaving tomorrow morning (at 5:30 am)!!

Gotta love "weather." It's going to be interesting tomorrow, too; especially since we have said kitty and now a 4-hour layover. Oh well. At least she got me aisle seats!! Easy bathroom breaks, here I come!!

So, long story short, I'm flying home tomorrow.

Failed...

I was supposed to take an exam today.

It was an any-day take home, and I was prepared. I studied last night and felt as ready as I'll ever be. So I got up this morning, took a quick shower, put on some comfy (but warm) clothes, ate some oatmeal for breakfast, and headed out into the cold to pick up my exam. It was the most treacherous trip to campus EVER. No kidding. People hadn't cleared sidewalks, and the roads were even icy, so I slipped and slid all over the place. It took me twice as long as usual to walk to campus. When I had almost reached the spot, I realized I had forgotten my wallet (and my student ID, which is necessary to pick up the exam). Frustrated, I headed back home to get it. I had to pick up the exam between 8:30 and 9:00, and here it was 8:45. No way. By the time I was halfway home I had decided to scrap the whole thing and just take the exam tomorrow. It turned out OK (Bryan needed his computer and mine has decided to completely crash - it won't even start up at this point). But it was a frustrating morning. I came home and went back to sleep. :)

So I'm taking the exam tomorrow.

Pregnancy Update - 14 weeks (15 tomorrow!)

So we had a doctor's appointment on Thursday (sorry I'm slow to update). We learned that I have gained a bit of weight (about 2 pounds) which is good, because I was worried that I hadn't gained anything. We also got to hear the baby's heartbeat again. It's such an amazing sound - the woosh-woosh-woosh coming from my belly, and it's not at all from me. I love it. It's really reassuring also - which I appreciate. But the short story is everything looks good. And we've got an appointment for our big "halfway through pregnancy" ultrasound, where we'll hopefully find out the sex of the baby!! Stay tuned for Jan. 22!!

I've been noticing that my lower belly is getting a bit bigger, but I've thought this whole time it might just be wishful thinking. But for some reason yesterday it became undeniable. I doubt that anyone else can tell when I'm wearing normal clothes but there's definitely a baby in there! :) I can't wait to have more of a "bump" and start feeling the baby move!

But the good news is, while I'm a little stressed about finals and all of the stuff that's going on before the semester's over, my body is in a good place. I'm not sick anymore, and as long as I get plenty of sleep at night I don't really have to nap during the day. That's a big improvement!

Speaking of finals, it's back to taxation of nonprofit organizations. Woo-hoo! Taking that one tomorrow, and then one more on Wednesday. (And then a lot more stuff to do before we leave for OK on Friday, and then a paper to finish by January, but we'll ignore that for now...) I'm SO ready for this semester to be OVER.

Crazy Hahvahd

The entire Northeast is covered in a major snowstorm, Boston and Cambridge have both declared snow emergencies, but by golly, Harvard Law School exams are a go.

One exam down

Two exams, a journal article, and a 3L paper to go. But at least I can forget all about Regulation D.

Countdown: My life by the numbers again

• 17: hours until exam #1
• 300: words left to write on paper due at exam #1
  
• 49: hours until our next doctor's appointment
  
• 4.5: days until exam #2 (probably)
• 6.5: days until exam #3
• 229: hours until we leave for Oklahoma
• 20: days until BIG PAPER is due
• 35: percentage (probably) written on said paper
  
• 176.5: days until graduation
• 180.5: days until baby is due
  

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving this year was much more relaxed than last year, since there was far less running around. Awesome. We went to Kel's parents' place in CT again (along with J&K, of course, and Tyson & Kelly, and Kat, Kelli's lil sister), which is always amazing. We really love them - and they're moving back to Texas (boo hiss) so this is probably the last Thanksgiving in Connecticut for us, and maybe one of the last times we spend an extended period with them at all (though I certainly hope not!).

We left on Wednesday after a flurry of getting packed and everything... it was a busy morning. We loaded the car, headed to Harvard Square to buy some flowers from my favorite place, and then headed down there. It took us over three hours to get there (usually it's about an hour and a half max), but it was worth it. Kat showed up just after we did; we love her too - she's so energetic you can't help but laugh around her! She gave us the sweetest card congratulating us on the pregnancy.

We had a really great, relaxing time. We all slept a ton, which was great. The only down side to the whole weekend is that I was fighting off a cold the whole time (a cold which eventually caught up with me and still hasn't really gone away). Perhaps the proof is in the pictures:

Preparing for Thanksgiving lunch (Kelly, Kat, Mr. W):


Preparing for Thanksgiving lunch, part II: the boys (Bryan, John, Tyson):


Karaoke show-down: The Queen (and King?):


My Heisman candidate, playing football in the front yard:


What a great time! There was much more (and I swear I was there, although there are actually no pictures of me, as usual!!), but I'm tired and you don't want to look through all 40, trust me. Although I have some great video of karaoke, if anyone's interested in some blackmail material. :)

Update on end of semester craziness

So after my freak out moment, I decided to be proactive. I've been fighting a cold since Thanksgiving, and yesterday it seemed like it was kicking into high gear again. Apparently pregnancy can make colds last longer, and more annoying. One of the joys. (I know it's worth it, I just sort of like complaining, obv.)

Anyway, so I stayed home from class (again) yesterday and emailed my professors explaining why I've been missing so much class. Two of my classes are really small, so I wanted to make sure they understood what was going on rather than thinking I am just some delinquent. They were very supportive. I asked one of them, the one who teaches the class I'm most worried about, what he thinks I should do about the final (drop? take it? write a paper instead?), and he said not to worry too much because it'd be almost impossible to fail or get a really bad grade. So I am worrying less about it. And my paper supervisor said she didn't need a draft if I didn't think she needed one - which I guess is good. So I just have to get a polished version of the paper to her by January. Guess what I'll be doing over Christmas break? :) The other two classes I'm not too worried about - one is a really big class, and I think I'll be ok. The other is small but we're doing a collaborative outline, so I can mooch off of other people's attendance. :)

It's looking up but I still need the grace of God to get me through the next three weeks.

OK, back to outlining (collaborative = I have to do some of it...).

MPRE results

The results are in, and while I am apparently ethical enough for 35 states in our glorious union, Massachusetts isn't one of them. I'll be taking that one again...