Flüten Fløggen Furniture

So what do two reasonably intelligent expectant parents do when they really should be saving money for their soon-to-arrive money sucker? GO TO IKEA of course!

Allow me to justify:
1) My bottom two dresser drawers haven't worked (one doesn't open, one doesn't close) in many months now. The doors at the top are falling off, and you can shift the whole thing from side to side if you dare. So, we purchased:


2) Our coffee table has been on loan from a friend of Danny's for a couple years. He has been dropping hints that he would like it back, to which we quickly find new and interesting ways to change the subject. Finally we ran out of ideas, so we purchased:


3) Our bookcase is more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The other day I took a photo album out of it and it shifted a good inch and half to the left. I truly believe the actual books are what is maintaining its structural integrity. So we found this:

4) And finally, Danny has been using as a side table by the couch a gross, splintery, weird table he found on the side of the road. Initially, we decided it was only fit to take camping and use to hold our beers and citronella candles. I am not sure how it happened, but eventually, with Danny's sneaky help, it found its way into our actual household furniture. It was time. Our last purchase:


I know once we have the kid I will be too stingy to be spending money on anything for us, for the first little while at least. So we figured it was now or never. I guess when you turn 35, you figure maybe it's time for a dresser without stickers and spilled nail polish all over it. But you are still too young for a real furniture store. Ikea is a nice place to bridge that gap!

The Butterfly Whisperer

A few weeks ago a teacher I know gave me these little guys to set free with my students. A couple weeks later, it was a Friday and it became obvious they were about to hatch out of their chrysalises. Once they do that, you really have to set them free within 24 hours or they die, so I had to take them home in case they hatched over the weekend, which they did.

It was late in the year for them to hatch and it was very cold and windy out that day, so we don't know if they really made it past our yard, but they can't live in a container, so we set them free to take their chances. I seriously doubt they made it to Mexico, where they naturally migrate to, but maybe they made it past the Mason-Dixon?

Anyway, Danny thought it was cool to see them so close up, so we thought we'd post the pictures. Oh and some others I had did hatch in the classroom, so we did get to set them free with the kids, too. And you better believe I used that popsicle stick (which I disgustingly found on the playground) to act as a barrier between my fingers and those gross bug legs.

What's Hot List

Things I love:

1. CVS brand Rolaids, peppermint
2. Early bedtimes
3. Carnation Instant Breakfast
4. sympathy
5. McChickens
6. Floofy clothes
7. Long scarves that hide my embiggening stomach (at least I like to think they do)
8. good test results (We have no TB, no gestational diabetes, no cystic fibrosis, and most of all no down syndrome!)

Things I think Danny loves:

1. Beer
2. More beer
3. his ability to tune me out when I go off on a roll; a.k.a. beer

He has been SO good to me since I have been knocked up (and before as well of course). He has always been helpful around the house, but the vacuuming, laundry, and cooking that has been going on with absolutely no help from me is amazing. (Well, I do help a little by making sure to put my feet up while Danny vacuums in front of the couch.) I have good days when I actually make it to the grocery store or empty the dishwasher, but on weekdays, it's much more about naps on the couch and ridiculously inappropriate snacks. I'm just saying, I am pretty lucky to have someone who is understanding and willing to help.

How do you spell relief? N-O-E-X-T-R-A-C-H-R-O-M-O-S-O-M-E-S

Well, it has been a stressful couple of weeks. We haven't posted because we have been too busy trying to distract ourselves from a yucky situation, but thankfully all is now well and we are back on track. Long story short, I got some weirdo blood test results that said we had a 1/4 chance of having a baby with Down Syndrome (normal risk for my age is 1/200; 1/4 is remarkably high. Put it this way: if I actually HAD Down Syndrome myself, my risk would be 1/2, and mine was 1 in 4). So we had to undergo tests to find out for sure, some fun (another ultrasound, where the baby spent a significant portion of time on its head) and some definitely NOT fun (an ouchy test called CVS, and it is nowhere near as fun as the drug store I might add). Then we waited. Friday we found out that the results are completely normal; baby has the normal number of chromosomes, none are missing, and there are no extras. Yay!

So now we can get back to the business of being happy we are having a baby, and worrying about normal things, like how we will never again be able to sit at the bar, or how our house will suddenly be filled with primary-colored crap everywhere you look. Hooray!