Shower Me!

The big weekend has come and gone and it was fantastic. This past weekend was Ellie's baby shower and I received so many cute things! I've been a little behind on the blog because I have been marathon thank you note writing - 46 notes in 2 days. I'm up to my oygs in thank you notes. Oyg is Yiddish for eyeball. More on that in a bit.


My baby shower was on Saturday afternoon at 2pm the Dallas Country Club, and it was spectacular. About 35 guests traveled in from East Texas and the surrounding area. All of the tulips are blooming right now so the club looked really beautiful. Ellie got some really great gifts and it makes me want her to be here even sooner. We had tea sandwiches, strawberries, macaroons, and lots of other yummy pastries. I'm arranging all of the gifts so I can take one big big picture, but here are the highlights for now:


A going home outfit from Mom and Dad













A redneck-in-training outfit from Cousin Nicole













A personalized lambie blankie from Amanda



















A Jeep jogging stroller from the Brights so I can get my fat butt back into shape
















A baby video monitor that Lee will probably still be using in 16 years to watch Ellie and her boyfriend on the sofa watching movies (it has night vision)



After the shower I was completely exhausted so I came home and relaxed, right? No. I felt compelled to open and assemble EVERYTHING while simultaneously writing 46 thank you notes. Lee went to a concert and when he called to check on me at 8:30 pm, I was down in the garage hunting for a Philips Head screwdriver so I could put the Baby Papasan together. I continued the insanity on Sunday until my eyes felt like they were going to burn out of my head. I'm in the baby zone right now, and I'm probably going to work this up-coming weekend washing everything that she was given and all of her bedding. She's coming in 6 weeks and I have to be ready. Last weekend, we picked up her rocker, a gift from mom and dad. So comfortable. We're getting the sofa-bed recovered right now and it should be done within the week so we're almost good to go.

Other than that we've been relaxing. Barely. Last weekend, mom and dad were out of town so at the last minute, our house turned back into the Bright Dog Ranch since we wound up taking care of their dog, Abbey. She got sick at the kennel on Friday so Lee went and got her. We've seen some good movies lately - on Sunday night we watched "A Beautiful Mind" with Russell Crowe and last weekend we watched a movie called "The Prestige". We really liked it, but I'm partial to Christian Bale. Make that really partial to Christian Bale. If it wouldn't be weird at age 30 to have posters of movie stars on my wall, I'd have posters of him, Clive Owen, Vince Vaughn, Kirk Herbstreit, and a Corey Haim circa Lost Boys for old time sake. I'm not a huge fan of blonds, but for what Kirk is lacking in hair color, he makes up for in his quarterbackiness. Maybe Lee will let me put up posters in the closet?

My latest drama has been with Ellie's daycare situation. I'm going back to work when she's about 4 months old, and I thought I had it all figured out. Registered at a great place close to me so I could go see her at lunch and last week found out I'm #7 (SEVEN) on the waiting list for the day I want to get her in. Apparently people who really want to get in this place get their kids registered before they're conceived. I registered Ellie when she was 6 weeks in utero and that was too late. The director told me she'd get in eventually, but I'd probably need alternative plans for a month. So I started calling around and I've started looking for other arrangements. Today I "interviewed" my first alternative - a day school attached to a Jewish temple. I liked it, but it's $400 MORE a month that my #1 choice. Yikes.

I go check it out and the director of the school, Linda Richmond from Coffee Talk (not making that up), was my guide. I told her I wasn't Jewish and she said that was fine and told me that the school was closed on all Jewish holidays and Ellie would be observing Shabbat with the other kids and Rabbi Shlomo on Friday. That's fine. I pictured her singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at daycare, but "Hava Nagila" will be okay too. Then I met the women who worked in the infant room. I walked in and both of the ladies were 70 year old bubbies from Eastern Europe with thick accents. The theme from "Schindler's List" started playing in my head. They were really nice and I could tell that the kids loved them. One other difference - since we're in Texas, everything in the day schools is usually labeled in English and Spanish, but here it was labeled in English and Hebrew. Then one of the three-year olds called me a schmuck. Kidding.

So it was interesting. I don't think the school is for me because it's an all-year program and I really want to have Ellie at my #1 choice so I may start hunting for a temp nanny. Oy vey. I'll keep you posted.

3D Round 3

I'm going to have to tone it down on weekends or else I'm going to have to take off Mondays to recover... which may not be such a bad idea.

I had my 32 week appointment today and snuck in to try for another 3D sonogram. This was the final shot. Since the last two attempts have been unsuccessful, this time I tried to make Ellie move by jacking her up on a Coke before my appointment. I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a real Coke (maybe I split one with my grandmother 3 years ago?), but I haven't had any caffeine since I found out I was pregnant. "The Experts" say it's okay two have up to two cups of coffee per day so I figured she'd be okay with one dose of caffeine in nine months. But even with all of the caffenation and desperate pleading from her mother, she didn't move. Still one hand is in front of her face and since she's pretty big now, the other side is smashed against the wall. I'll just have to wait to see here when she gets here. The sonographer did get some profile shots. She's got my lips.


All is still going well with the pregnancy except for the swelling in my feet and legs and massive calf cramps at night. And by massive, I mean I'd honestly rather have a steak knife shoved into my leg. I feel like I'm walking around on big tree trunks. In part two of our childbirth classes yesterday they told me I can't start working out until six weeks after I had the baby. What?!! It may be earlier if I get cleared by my doctor, but that seems like so much down time. Maybe I'll sneak in some "light" exercise before the six weeks are up depending on how I feel.

On Fright night, we met our friends Lloyd and Amanda for dinner at Stephan Pyles. It's so great to get out with friends. I'd never been there before, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it was one of the best meals I'd ever had at a restaurant and probably my #1 favorite restaurant in Dallas now. Outstanding. I can't say enough good things about it so if you live in Dallas or are coming to visit, I'd definitely make reservations and give it a try.

On Saturday, I helped with the shoreline cleanup at White Rock Lake, and then mom came over to take me shopping for a maternity dress for my upcoming baby shower. Actually, it was more like a four-hour long public humiliation fest. I never thought the area north of my waist would be so cartoonishly large that nothing would look good on me or fit me, but here I am living in Toon Town. All of the dresses I tried on were short and low-cut showing off Porky and Petunia Pig. And for the record, I heard "this is so cute on" from the salesgirls three times. I'd so much rather them tell me something won't make me look like a knocked up dime store hooker because at this point, that's really the only thing I'm hoping for. There are a lot of pregnant girls much bigger than me and I have no clue where they shop. So the quest for the dress is still on-going...

As mentioned above, we finished part two of our childbirth class on Sunday. They taught us infant CPR and gave us information on breastfeeding and post-partum care. I have this sinking feeling that breastfeeding is going to feel like having a cinderblock dropped on my nipple from a 20-story building. But I know that I am probably wrong and that it will actually feel a lot worse. It's weird to go to the childbirth class and see films on babies because most of the time I'm sitting there thinking "What are we doing here with all of these pregnant women? It's not like we're having a baby or something". It'll be even stranger when the nurse hands me my newly-delivered baby and tells me she's mine. Maybe the next 58 days will help me get used to the idea.

A Complaint Free Blog

It's Friday, and it's time for another public service announcement. Yesterday afternoon, I got my haircut and while I was waiting, I read an article in People Magazine. It was about a pastor at Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, Missouri who has challenged his parishioners to try to go 21 days without complaining. He's started giving out purple Lance Armstrong "Live Strong"-looking bracelets to wear as a reminder. To begin, you wear the bracelet on either wrist. When you catch yourself complaining, gossiping, or criticizing, you move the bracelet to the other arm and start the 21-day count again. I was so inspired by this idea that I ordered myself a bracelet. You too can have your own free bracelet by ordering one at acomplaintfreeworld.org. Since I'm entering my last 2 months of pregnancy, I think now is a great time to be positive and complaint-free. I feel like I probably complain less than the average person, but the recent swelling of my ankles and trouble sleeping have left me a little cranky. Plus, getting into the habit of not complaining now will set a great example for Ellie to follow.

I started my blog book on Blurb last night. At first, I thought "do I really want to have a written record of all of my rantings?", but I think it'll be great to have a yearbook of us. Plus, the program on the site is so easy to use, it would be a shame for me not to do it. It pretty much does everything for you - transfers all of the text and pictures with one click. I would love to have a week-by-week account with pictures of my great-grandmother's or grandmother's life. In 50 years, how cool will be for us to have a weekly written account of everything that we've done? My first book will run March 2006 through December 2007 and then my plan is to compile a yearly one every year after that. The book I'm working on now is already over 60 pages! I can't imagine how much longer it'll be once Ellie gets here when I'll really have something to write about. We'll see how motivated I am though. I'm a scrapbook dropout, so this may be my best chance to have a record of our family. I need to get better at taking pictures to make this long-term project a real success.

That's all for now. More baby classes are in store for us this weekend and maybe a 3D sonogram will happen Monday during my 32 week appointment... if Ellie isn't trying to hide. Let's make it a complaint-free Friday!

Post #50

I can't believe that this is my 50th post on my blog or that I've actually kept up with a blog. I really enjoy writing and this is a great way for everyone to keep up with the Bright's world so here's hoping for another 50 more! I found a place on the web where you can upload your entire blog and make a book of it, so I may do that at the end of this year.

This was our Childbirth Class weekend and the participants were not as I had secretly hoped. They were all pretty much like me and Lee - Type A future parents wanting to know all about baby before the little one appears. Lee made a good point that this class isn't mandatory or free. It's something that cost money so not everyone does it. The irony is that the people who probably need this class the most were not in it. At any rate, I'd bet that I was labeled the weird one because I asked the most questions. I can't help myself. It's sort of like the time that my former roommate, a pharmacist, invited me along to a discussion on how psycho-pharmacal drugs interact with male enhancement drugs since the drug company was hosting the discussion at one of my favorite restaurants. So who knows all about depression and male impotence now? It's me because I couldn't stop raising my hand to ask questions about penises and Paxil.

The class was good because we toured the hospital and saw where all of the action is going to take place. In the labor and delivery rooms, this panel in the ceiling opens up and a huge light drops down. It's seriously as big and bright as one of those spotlights that they use during a new club or restaurant opening. I can't wait. The hospital where I'm delivering also has these awesome suites where you can stay for an additional fee. Lee liked them because they have a real bed, living room, and flat screen television on the wall. Because Lee's comfort and his ability to watch Mavs playoff games in high definition during my delivery is priority #1.

I was not so comfortable with two aspects of the class. The instructor thought it necessary to pass around the 18 gauge needle that will be inserted into my back when I get my epidural. If you're unclear on my thoughts on needles, please revisit my "Valentine's Day Massacre" blog from last month. I don't need to see the needle, thank you. When we first started the class, we all had to introduce ourselves and say if we were going "natural" or having an epidural. Can I tell you that half of those women said they were still undecided? These women act like they're going to go old school and bite down on a stick while they push the baby out. Liars. The other mildly uncomfortable part of the class was when we had to watch a real birth. I'd seen live births before, but this video was more porno-rific because the lady was buck naked. I would never let myself be videotaped giving birth for educational purposes, but if I did somehow loose my mind and agree to it, I'd sure as hell throw on a tee shirt and wear a little lipstick.

The most exciting part of the day happened on the way home from the hospital when we witnessed a man and a woman having a physical fight in a parking lot. Lee pulled into the lot, called 911, and gave them a play-by-play. I felt like I was watching a dashboard camera from a cop car while listening to a Tyson/Holyfield fight. Very exciting. The rest of the weekend was spent getting Ellie's baby book together and mom and dad took us to dinner at Grotto on Saturday night.

Last night, Lee put his head on my stomach to talk to Ellie before we went to sleep. I think he must have ticked her off because every time he spoke, she kicked him in the head. He thinks it's cute when she does it, but when I do it? It's "assault and battery". So unfair.

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

This is my first ever blog about poop chutes. I met my friend Renee for dinner last night and she reminded me that March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. This is important to her because she lost her husband to colon cancer a little over two years ago. Michael was not even 40 when he was diagnosed so it happens to the young as well as the old.

It's something that's easily preventable and treatable if detected early, so today I encourage everyone to click here to read the symptoms of colorectal cancer at the Colon Cancer Awareness website. It just takes a second! Have a great weekend.