my friend griffey

day 199:


last spring i started looking for a dog. 

the main reason i wanted a dog was because i was getting lonely. with tim being at baseball every day in the spring, and me being home alone, i decided i needed a little company.


and it was the best decision. she is great company.


thanks griff :)

s'more please!

day 198:


i know i have taken pictures of cake pops in the past, but this one takes the cake... ok that was a bad joke.

but seriously. the other day i was in starbucks, and i saw that they had cake pops. i thought one of them was s'mores flavored, but it was in fact rocky road. what i thought was graham cracker was actually nuts.


now, that didn't stop me from getting the rocky road cake pop, however, i left this idea of a s'more cake pop on my mind.


well, i do not make cake pops, but i knew just the person to give the idea to. alexis.


and let me tell you... this s'more cake pop she made is a little piece of heaven brought down, balled up, dipped in chocolate and stuck on a stick.


i think it might be one of the best desserts i have ever had. no lie. it is amazing.

bananas!

day 197:


i think i have gotten bigger... 

the baby is the length of a banana this week. and it's crazy to think that he/she could possibly be that big.


i have started feeling the little banana move around, which is really cool. before i could feel the baby, it was almost like i wasn't pregnant. feeling the baby move just makes it so real. it makes the growing stomach make sense. it makes the exhausting days worth while.

spring is here

day 196:


it might not feel like spring out there, but there are signs of spring!!


these little buds are going to be leaves pretty soon.


i can't wait! as much as i love the snow, i love sitting outside in a hammock.


and soon enough, i will be sitting under this tree, enjoying the shade, reading a book, in a hammock.

best pens ever!

day 195:


let me tell you a little about erasable pens.


they are the best invention ever.

i used to use the papermate red erasable pens... but they don't really erase very well.


but i found a new brand of erasable pens this school year. pilot frixion erasable pens.


they write like gel pens and they erase completely.


not only that, but they come in red, blue, black, pink, orange, and purple.


i don't know what i would do without my erasable pens. 

mall madness!

day 194:


tonight was mall madness. and it was awesome.


what is mall madness, you ask...


well, we have a bunch of people from our church go walk around the mall for a few hours, and then the kids from the youth group try to find them.


it's like a scavenger hunt for people. it seems like it would be easy, but it is kinda hard, especially because the people who are being found try to elude the hunters.


i didn't get a group picture early enough, and a few people had left, but this was the majority of the group.


yeah, it was pretty awesome.

can you hear me now?

day 193:


well... it's about that time. time that my car slowly starts to fall apart.


and it looks to me like i need a new muffler. in case you can't tell, the entire tail pipe is missing.


the best part is, i have no idea when this happened.


but let me tell you, this car has been good to me. i love this car and hope it lasts me a whole lot longer.

beautiful bella

192:


i have always loved dogs.

and bella is just the cutest. 


the best part about bella is she doesn't shed. sometimes i get sick of lint rolling my clothes. 


but then again... i wouldn't trade griff for the world.

take me out to the ball game

day 191:


baseball season has officially started. which is funny, cause it snowed today...


for those that don't know, tim is the varsity baseball coach at hampshire regional high school. which means that during baseball season, i am a widow. 


i actually like baseball season though. not because tim is not around, but because it is an excuse to get outdoors. i enjoy going to watch his games... and this year i want to take the dog.


however, like i said before, it snowed today. no one wants to watch baseball when it's cold out.


so if i'm going to lose my husband for the spring, can it at least feel like spring?

ranch tooth

day 190:


have you heard that i love ranch dressing? and no, it's not because i am pregnant... i have always loved ranch.

i dip everything in ranch, well... everything within reason. for example: cheese sticks, chips, cheeseburgers, pizza, chicken fingers, onion rings, veggies, buffalo wings, and my favorite... french fries. 


and although cool ranch doritos do not exactly taste like ranch, they're still pretty awesome... and i bet they'd taste pretty good dipped in ranch.

baby's first pictures

day 189:


today i had my first (and probably only) ultrasound.


normally i can't see anything when people show off their ultrasound pictures, but today i saw everything clearly. 

everything except gender that is ;)


the first picture is of the baby's profile. and it is with the regular old ultrasound technology.



but the second one, which amazes me to look at, is with the new (or fairly new) 3D ultrasound. and as you can clearly see, it is of the baby with its arm up in front of its face.


i know it's still a little blurry in spots, but i love it. i can't wait to meet this little person.


and this baby better get used to being on the blog, because i have a feeling once it's here, there will be many more pictures :)

the leaner

day 188:


i know i just took a picture of the dog, but i thought you guys had to see this.


this is how griffey keeps tabs on everything that happens outside.


apparently she cannot just look from the ground, or from the chair...


optimal viewing is only achieved by getting as high and as close to the window as possible.

3x5

day 187:


there is a john mayer song called 3x5... and it hit me tonight... what he's saying in that song is so true. 


sometimes you just have to see something with your own eyes. sometimes it's just not the same in a picture.

the moon was absolutely beautiful tonight. it was so big. i hope you all saw it, because my picture doesn't capture the beauty of it at all.


although i love this blog, and i love taking pictures, i am realizing that not everything can be captured.


"today i finally overcame trying to fit the world inside a picture frame" ~ John Mayer

window seat

day 186:


griffey loves it when the curtains are open. and as the sun moves across the room, she follows it.


this afternoon she was lucky that a pillow (which she pushed off the couch this morning) was right in her favorite spot.


sun bathing... chewing a new bone... life doesn't get much better than that.

the shake weight

day 185:


well, if you haven't seen the commercial for the shake weight, then this might not be funny...


however, if you have seen the commercial, you can stop peeing yourself anytime now.


as a side note, this is not tina's shake weight... it is sheri's, but tina was nice enough to pose with it, or scared enough of the other picture i threatened to blog about.


as a second side note, tina was awful at using the shake weight. 

busy day

day 184:

wednesdays have always been busy, but ever since i got this baby growing inside me, sucking the life out of me, i have been even more exhausted at the end of the day.


last period today was the student vs. teacher volleyball game. 


it was pretty entertaining. especially when everyone was leaving and they had an impromptu dance party.


then i had youth group. it was a blast. i love hanging out with those kids.


but honestly... now, i am spent.

farm life

day 183:


tim and i talk about moving back to western mass at some point...


we love it there.


however, we love it here too. when i look out the window, i see horses and donkeys, fields and barns.


i don't know that i can give this up.

keepin it classy

day 182:


do not make fun. i do not care if you like my watch or not.


all day long, i look at my watch. wether it is to see how much time is left in the period, or to write the time on a pass for a student... i always need to know the time.


and the clocks in the school don't work, so the watch is all i've got.


so i have been wearing a sport watch every day. a digital, plastic band, sport watch. then i got to thinking... this sport watch doesn't really go with my work clothes. i'm dressed for work, but my wrist looks like it's going to the gym.


that is when i began the hunt for a digital watch with a silver band. i want it to look nice, but i want to be able to tell the time in less than a second. it's more efficient that way.


unfortunately, the watches i was finding were men's, and they were very bulky. but then i found it. at target. the perfect watch.


who cares if it looks like an old man's watch.


*and as a side note, i wear my watch upside down, so it really just looks like a silver bracelet. i just took the picture this way, because it looked funny upside down.

babies everywhere!

day 181:


a girl at my church just had her third child. this is her first boy. he is just so precious, i couldn't stop staring at him.


in one week, i am going in for an ultrasound. we could find out then if the baby will be a boy or a girl, but we are going to wait.


everyone keeps telling me they think i'm having a boy. maybe people should start placing bets.


i really do not care if we have a girl or a boy. i don't have a preference at all. we will all just have to wait till around august 4th to see what this baby mango is :)

all grown up

day 180:


i had to buy some more dog food today... and i realized that griffey is going to be one in just one month, so it wouldn't make any sense to get her a bag of puppy chow.


i know this might sound stupid, but i can't believe she is already a year old. it seems like just yesterday that she was small enough to run underneath the island in the kitchen, or fit through the squares in the horse fence.


it makes me wonder how fast time will go by when the baby gets here. as much as it seems like it's taking forever for this little bugger to get here, i feel like i will look back and say, wow, i can't believe this baby is already here. like i will look back and say, i can't believe my baby is already turning one.

fail = who cares?

day 179:


so... i know you might be sick of my DMV story, but i have GOT to share what happened today.


my car failed emissions, so i had to have it fixed. i got it back last night and went to get it tested again today (so that i can officially register it) and they said i have to drive it for 150 miles after it's fixed so the car can reset itself... or something like that.


i explained that i needed it to pass emissions so that i could register it, and the guy told me just to bring the "fail" report to the DMV, and that they would let me register with that.


i didn't believe the guy. why would they make you get an emissions test in order to register if they don't care if you pass?


well, he was right. i went to the DMV and the lady took the "fail" report and processed my registration. i told her i got the car fixed... i asked if i needed to prove it... she said it didn't matter.


apparently the state of connecticut doesn't really care about clean air... they just want my $20.00 for the test.

sweet ride

day 178:


if you are following, then you know about my awesome day at the DMV. so to update you on the story...

my car failed inspection, and i had to get it fixed. luckily, while my car was at the shop, i was able to drive my father-in-law's car. 


but as i walked through the parking lot and into work this morning, i noticed something. i don't know why i didn't realize it before today, but alas there it was...


ms. pava's car. parked in the handicap spot. ms. pava's tan buick... the exact same car as me.






*a side note: to those that don't know ms. pava, there is really no describing her. words would not do her justice. however, i will say that she looks like she is 90, and she still subs at our school. also, this post is in no way meant to make fun of ms. pava, only to make fun of myself. the suggestion that i am synonymous with a 90 year old woman, is enough to make any one laugh.. whether you know ms. pava or not.

baby mango

day 177:


i visit a couple of different pregnancy websites daily. and on these websites there is a way to track the growth of your baby.


for some reason they compare the size of the baby to various pieces of produce. 


and if you ask matt longo, he thinks that the size isn't consistently getting bigger, but in fact fluctuates from week to week.


like one week it went from a peach to a lemon... i guess lemons are longer cause they're kinda oval shaped, but i'm with matt, i always pictured peaches bigger than lemons.


well, i am at week 19 now, and this week the baby is the size of a mango.


that kinda scares me, cause a mango is big... and matt will be upset if it's a smaller fruit next week.

biggest winner

day 176:


i know that i am supposed to be gaining weight...

however, there is still something wrong with watching the biggest loser...






and eating a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

not happy!

day 175:


my dog is very strange.


we have crate trained her since the day we brought her home. she started off being in there only at night, but once we went back to work she was in during the day too.


at first my dad would come over and let her out around lunch time, to break up the day, but since like october she has been in the crate all day while we are at work. with no problems.


and then today i came home and she was sitting in the corner of her crate, trying to stay away from her pee. it was all over most of the bottom of the crate, and consequently her.


so, she had to have a bath. and she was not happy. 


afterwards she kept giving me these looks, like she was mad at me. and then i was sticking my camera in her face, so that didn't help.

baby bump

day 174:


so i got to thinking about my post a few days ago... i am all for documenting my ever growing belly.


but i am not for documenting it the way some people do. take for example kourtney kardashian. she has a naked picture of her pregnant... and it's hanging in her mother's bedroom. now that's just too much for me.


but to each her own.


however, i did realize that i had only taken one picture of my belly, and it was very early on. for someone who takes pictures every day, that is unacceptable.


so i am going to be more diligent in taking pictures of my journey to motherhood. i won't necessarily post them all on here, but i will definitely take them.

cat light

day 173:


today started out pretty awful... i had to work. 


oh well... the day got better though, as we were able to spend the night with friends from DC.


i may have put a pic of their cat on here before, but i just couldn't resist posting this pic.


i love the lighting here. it was so dim in the basement, but there was this one light shining on tabby cat.


just beautiful.

eating for two

day 172:


tonight tim ordered pizza... for himself. at first he ordered a large, but when the lady told him he couldn't get the large cut in pie slices, he opted to downsize to the medium.


his change made the lady ask how many people would be eating this pizza. and he felt ashamed that the answer was, "just me", so instead he said, "me and my wife".


he lied. he lied so he wouldn't be judged. 


i love it.

airing my dirty laundry

day 171:


as i have said many times over, my husband is amazing.


and one thing that i love, is that he has not mentioned the pile of clothes on the floor outside of my dresser.


i will be honest, i used to be very messy. my room always looked like a bomb went off. but since i have been married, since i have been sharing a room with someone, i have been super clean. never a mess in my room.


so let me explain. now that i do not fit into many of my clothes, i have been forced to buy new clothes, maternity clothes. and those clothes, do not have anywhere to go. i need to empty out my dresser and my closet and put the new wardrobe in them.


but until then... thanks to my husband for being patient. i will get it done. i swear.

baby business

day 170:


i had an interesting conversation with my faves tonight... a new trend with pregnancy photos. how much is too much?


anyway, i can kind of see both sides of the argument... i understand why people do it, but i also understand why it can be a little much.


at any rate, i have started a baby book. not quite into, or ready, for pregnancy photos. but i have started documenting my pregnancy in words. not pictures, just words.

hell

day 169:


i think that people that go to hell are forced to stand in line at the DMV for eternity.


on my way to work today i realized that my vehicle registration was expired. and not just a little expired, like january expired.


so i thought it best to go straight to the DMV after work. 


when i got there i learned that, because my registration was expired and i had not yet passed emissions, i was going to have to be issued a temporary plate.


this temp will last me ten days... during which i must get my car inspected and go back to the DMV to renew my registration.


i won't rehash all of the details. i know you don't want to hear them, and believe me, i do not want to re-live them, but let's just say it was more of a hassle than it had to be...


ok, i will take part of the blame, but the DMV is not innocent in this! i should have had my car inspected long ago, and been prepared to renew. but the DMV was supposed to send me the renewal form, and they definitely did not. i would know if i slacked off and didn't mail it in.