You know you live in the South...

when you're listening to the radio and they say that it's 83 degrees and feels like Fall!

Autumn

Well, it's not in Arkansas, yet. Still in the 80's and humid - but I know that Autumn is coming! Autumn has always been my favorite time of the year - crisp days, lower humidity, changing colors, football, etc...
Living in Inidana, though, always brought a bit of dread, too. I knew that just around the corner was winter. Winter would be my least favorite time of the year, dreary, layers upon layers of clothes, wind chill factors, never being able to get warm where I lived because I never wanted big heating bills.
Not the case down here. Yeah, there made be some cold days, but not like North Central Indiana. I'm sure that in time I'll miss snow, but for now, I'm reveling in the thought of a mild winter.

Life is good!

Football season is underway!!!

GO COLTS!!

Shopping for gear

Mark and I made our first voyage out to Baby Depot(Burlington Coat Factory) and Toys R Us on Sunday to actually look at stuff. I had been doing research online, but this was our "hands on" trip.
Our conclusion? Most of it comes down to preference because it seems like most everything meets the safety requirements.
We have decided on getting a travel system (stroller and car seat). The practical side of me wanted to get a convertible car seat - so we wouldn't have to be buying one anytime soon, but that may not be what is necessarily best overall. Allowing a sleeping Matthew to continue sleeping when he falls asleep in the car seat seems to be the wisest decision. We did find a Graco system that allows the baby to be in it up to 34 pounds. I think that's where we're leaning at this point - most of the other ones only went up to 20-24 pounds.
We are happy to hear suggestions on this and other gear - it's a bit overwhelming to tell you the truth.

We are obedient owners

Mark and I admit it, our cats have us trained.
Mackey and Moe play fetch and catch. They bring their little toys to us and then start off in the direction they want us to throw the toys. Then they bring it back for you to throw it again.
Another fun activity is throwing the toy into the air and then watch the cat jump up for it to catch it - either with his mouth or in his paws - imagine a dog catching a frisbee and that's pretty much what it is like.
Occaisionally, I'll round up all of the toys and put them away on the bookshelf in a big crystal vase - it doesn't take long before you see one of them picking out a toy from the vase and bringing it to you for another game of fetch.
Although they drive us crazy sometimes, Mackey and Moe are a lot of fun!

better safe than sorry

Saturday started out being a typical, uneventful day. We needed some stuff at Target and wanted to eat in Little Rock. We drove up in the afternoon, on the way up I occaisonally felt some back pain, I told Mark that my back was hurting, didn't think too much of it. I didn't really feel that great - which is not that unusual these days. We went to Chi's (chinese) to eat and while we were sitting there I kept noticing that my back pain would come and go. After a while I realized that it would come in a wave and then subside. It was what I only could describe as contractions - just guessing since the miscarriage was different.
So, by the end of the meal(or should I say Mark's meal - since I really didn't eat but a few bites) I decided that I should probably start timing the pains.
We did go ahead and go to Target, the pains were from 3-8 minutes apart. We drove home, still having the pains, but now they were consistently every 2-3 minutes apart - I was starting to get a little nervous.
When we got back, I called my OB/GYN and he told me to head to Labor and Delivery at the hospital. By the time I spoke with him, it had been about 5 minutes since the last pain.
While I was being checked in(three hours after the pains started), I felt a couple more pains, by the time I got up to my room - I really wasn't feeling anything.
They did a UA and that was fine, they hooked me up to the "contraction monitor" and we listened to Matthew's heartbeat and him kicking for an hour. No pain or contractions the whole time. A doctor's visit, three pelvics and an hour and a half later - I was on my home.
I'm glad that I called - but, you know, I just felt like an idiot. I felt like I had to prove that I really was having pain, and it really was every 2-3 minutes. Oh, well, it was a great relief to know that everything was fine, we are very thankful for that!

blue dodge spirit

Blue dodge spirit - a call him my arch nemesis when commuting. This old guy drops someone off at the university, presumably for class every morning and picks him up every afternoon. He drives the road that I do to about my halfway point to work - which is about 20 minutes. I wouldn't mind it so much except for the fact that he always(and I do mean always) drives at least 5-10 miles under the speed limit.
It is so frustrating that I leave for work early so that I won't have to encounter him on my way to work.
So, that is how I know that summer is over, I met my arch nemesis on the road when I was coming back from work yesterday ---------- and he had a line of about ten cars behind him.