So a man walks into a bar...

Chris took the NM bar exam yesterday and today, and is now slowly recovering from the stress of the last few weeks of preparation. Over the past three years, I have frequently wished there was something I could do (like snap my fingers) to make everything right in his world again... and tonight we are finally in sight of the finish line. Apparently all I ever needed to do was pop in the Cinema Paridisio DVD and make him martinis. Or perhaps that would not have worked as well six months ago or two years ago. Hmmm...

I have come to understand that the bar exam is really taxing. It's the culmination of three years of law school, all boiled down into two days. And if you don't pass, you usually can't practice law. I can't think of really anything else in life that carries that much weight in such a small time period (well, maybe birth). No wonder people can't sleep the night before.

I'm just glad that it's over and that Chris made it through without losing his sanity. He's told me some stories of people in his bar review class and those he saw during the exam this week, and I question whether their wives/boyfriends/families are getting back a whole person.

But anyway... congratulations Chris! You did it. You made a decision four years ago to apply to law school, and between then and now, you got into a great law school, we moved twice, you completed law school in 2.5 years instead of the normal 3, had two wonderful internships, made great contacts, graduated from the University of fuc*ing Wisconsin, got an amazing job that starts in just three weeks, and now... you finished the bar exam. Congratulations babe. I'm so happy to be here with you.

My growing belly, part two

I can definately feel that my belly is getting bigger, but I had no idea just how much bigger until I looked at the previous pictures as compared to the ones I took yesterday. Yikes. Here's the new set. And yes, you are allowed to call me and tell me just how distended my stomach looks. I am well aware. I am also aware that I'm only 23 weeks pregnant. That means there are still a lot of weeks (and a lot of growing) to go. Double yikes. Scroll down the page for the first set of pictures if you feel the need...




What's that you say? That my belly doesn't look so big in that picture? Well let me tell you... it is much more impressive in this next one.

Just call me Martha

This weekend I turned into a domestic godess. I cooked beef stew, baked two loaves of bread, spent many hours sewing, and even contemplated doing laundry. I suspect this may be pregnancy hormones taking over, but even if it is, I'm having fun.

I found a wonderful recipe for beef stew (a fairly typical one with sirloin, carrots, onions, potatoes, red wine, beef stock, thyme, etc.) and had lots of fun chopping and stirring on Sunday. And I have finally, according to my loyal taste tester/husband, mastered the art of French bread. I made one loaf of that and one of jalapeno cheese bread, which isn't half bad either.

It's the sewing, though, that amazes me. Sewing is so much fun. How did I never know this? I received a sewing machine for Christmas and already have grandiose plans of making curtains, pillow covers, baby clothes, and all sorts of other items. My skill level so far consists of straight lines, basic sewing, and not much else. I have made five "door dogs" and a sewing machine cover. Door dogs are those long snakey-things that you put down at the bottom of outside doors to block drafts. We have somewhat drafty doors, so the door dogs were a necessity. They're harder to sew than they look because how the heck do you sew up that last end? I wasted a fair amount of material learning how to sew up the last end after the dog had been stuffed. (tip: you must cut the material longer than you need in order to turn the ends in and make this look finished)

The sewing machine cover was a last minute project yesterday that I undertook because I had extra material. It was actually quite hard to make, but lots of fun because I used all sorts of crazy stiches (my sewing machine has 135 of them!). The best part is that the cover fits on the sewing machine and looks pretty decent. Next up is a pillowcase cover for my new body pillow. I have to find a zipper first and learn how to sew a zipper onto a piece of cloth.

Stay tuned!

New due date

Yesterday Chris and I went to a perinatologist and had our second ultrasound. It was a really neat experience; the office was quite swanky with bottled water (with labels advertising the peri's office), good magazines to read while we waited (and boy did we wait), and a dentist-like chair that I got to sit in during the ultrasound. For those of you who have not had an ultrasound recently, the first place we went to had me lie down on a table for the ultrasound. It wasn't a problem at the time, but I worried that I'd be too huge this time and in the future to comfortably get up on a flat table.

So... getting to sit in a comfy chair that reclined was really nice. The ultrasound technician was pretty cool too; she explained everything that we were seeing and even used slow motion instant replay to show us Baby A kicking Baby B in the head. Yes folks, they're fighting already. Both of the girls looked healthy and seem to be growing well. We got to see their hearts beating, and looked at all of their internal organs. I had always thought ultrasounds were only black and white, but the tech pushed some button and we saw the blood flows in blue and red. I was amazed to see circulation to/from their umbilical cords and through their hearts. It was so neat.

All went well, but the bad news is that the second ultrasound confirmed what the first one said... I'm less pregnant than I had thought (and hoped). So, my new due date is June 12, although with twins there's virtually no chance that they'll stay in that long. Any day after May 1st is acceptable (34 weeks), but not good. Better would be after May 15th (36 weeks), and the doctor would probably induce me by May 29th (38 weeks). They told me all this like it would help with my planning. Ha! Don't they know that I'm a project manager? I need definate dates! I need firm slack time estimates! I need to know the critical path!

And all they could say is that I'll probably be pregnant for two weeks longer than I had planned. Sigh.

There's a mouse in my house!!

Eeeeeeeeekkkkkkkk! There is a mouse in my house. A literal corporeal mouse. Last night I was lying on the couch (as I am wont to do frequently these days) and Chris was upstairs in our bedroom. I heard him yell "go get it Monster" and then heard some banging and furniture moving sounds and quite a bit of scuffling. It turns out that a wee little field mouse had found it's way through a hole in the wall next to an outlet box (which was covered from our view by a big shelving unit) into our bedroom and the cats had it cornered.

However, they then got confused because the mouse didn't play dead like the wadded up paper "mice" we throw for them to chase. So Chris had to get in on the action. He chased it all over the room and finally yelled down for me to grab a bucket and join in the fun. It's a long story... but the end result is... we have a mouse in our house. Somewhere. Not sure where. You see, it escaped. It manged to outsmart two people and two cats in a confined space. It ducked into the baseboard heat unit, where we were sure we had it cornered. But no, turns out there's a hole in the wall there too, just big enough for a little mouse to shimmy off to somewhere else.

If you're getting the impression that there are lots of holes in our walls, you're right. The previous owners were, shall we say, less than worried about small holes, electrical outlets meeting code, and other minor home improvement details. Don't get me wrong. My house does not look like Swiss cheese. All of the holes are covered up by heating covers, shelving units or cabinets, but since we have moved in we have found quite a few gaps and holes and little things that we need to plug up, insulate, and/or fix.

All that said, there's still a little mouse somewhere in my house. Or maybe by now he's found another exit. I bought some of those sticky traps and we're going to put them out eventually. Just like we're going to seal up all the holes. Eventually.

We've got priorities you see. And lying on the couch is number one.