A little clarification for "Can't live with her, Can't kill her"

I think my most recent blog had some misinformation in it. I am going to have my baby on Tuesday, April 7Th. The doctor is going to induce at 5am. Yes, there is a 5 in the morning too, and you do not have to stay up all night to get to it. So I will be in class on Monday but not Wednesday. Also, my sister read my blog, and it hurt her feelings. So to Amber: Yes, you drive me nuts sometimes, but I love you. I am so grateful you are here. I would want you here even without the baby part. You are not an inconvenience at all. Please don't take what I said the wrong way. I heart you. I would never lock you in a dumpster unless you wanted me to.

Can't live with her, Can't kill her

My sister is driving me CRAZY!!!!! She flew in last week from the Virgin Islands to be here when my baby is born. Since she has been here, I have done more walking than I think any one person should ever do. We have literally gone shopping 4 out of the past 5 days. I understand that she is only here for a short time, and she does not have access to many of the stores we have here. But I'm big, pregnant, and TIRED!!!! Not to mention, she is a size three. She is trying on clothes saying "how does this look?" It looks like she needs to eat some bacon! Then she will find something and go "here is a size ten for you." I know it was just hormones, but I actually teared up as I couldn't get the size ten skirt over my legs. I do not know why I even tried it on. I knew it wasn't going to fit. I am not upset about my size. I am pregnant after all. Two days away from giving birth is just not the time a person wants to go shopping. Also, my feet hurt (that was my whiny voice). She is kinda nuts. She says she is on a diet, but all she has eaten since she has been here is fried or fast food. I don't care, but why is she saying she is on a diet? She doesn't need to be on a diet. Then, last night, I was getting an ice cream out of the freezer. It was one of those delicious great divide bars. You know, chocolate on top, vanilla on bottom. MMMmmmm-GOOD! So I ask if she wants one, and she says no. I sit down and start enjoying mine. All of the sudden she wants a bite! Let me just say that I am a bit of a germaphobe so this whole bite thing really grosses me out. I won't even eat after my boyfriend, and we are having a baby together. I said to her that I will get up and get her one. Nope, she just wants a bite of mine. I finally break down and give her one. Then she wants a bite of the vanilla part too. So I give her one. Then she decides that ya, she will have one of her own. I wanted to scream!!!! Plus, her and her daughter's things are strewn from 1 end of my house to the other. I would like to blame the mess on my 2 year old niece, but it is not her. It is my 28 year old sister's fault. On top of all that, she keeps using my stuff like my deodorant. She messed with my computer settings. She even used my razor!

I know my hormones are all out of whack, but I am pretty sure these things would get on any body's nerves. That being said, I am so glad she is here to annoy me. I would not want to go through this whole "having a baby" thing without her. And she did give me a foot massage last night. I guess I won't lock her in a dumpster just yet.

Ready or not!!!!!

I am so excited! I went to the doctor today. I go every week now. So he tells me that if I am still pregnant next Thursday we are going to discuss scheduling my baby's birth for the following week (I am going to try to schedule it around my classes to miss as little as possible). I can finally see an end in sight. An end to this part anyway. My mom says then the real work starts. I know she is right, but I don't see it as work. To me it is a new adventure. I was really scared for awhile, but now I am ready to meet this challenge head on. It is crazy how my feelings have changed so much. When I first got pregnant I was sad that I could not do some of the things I could before. For example, during the summers, I used to love packing up my bag and heading out on crazy road trips. Sometimes I wouldn't even have a plan or a timeline. Now with a baby, I can not do stuff like that. I can still go on road trips; they will just take more planning. I was also afraid in the beginning that we would not be able to afford a baby. They are really expensive! Now I just have faith that everything will work out. Yes, I probably won't be shopping as much (or at all for awhile), but that is OK. The truth is that when I go into a store now, I head straight for the baby stuff anyway. I'm not upset about losing my precious sleep time anymore either. I am looking forward to sitting awake with my little sweetie. Just me and her watching infomercials. It sounds nice to me. So life as I know it is about to drastically change, but I am looking forward to it. Bring it on! Let the party begin (just don't invite the strippers, there are children in the room)!

Procrastination is BAD!

Here it is, Thursday already. Spring break is almost over, and I do not feel like I have accomplished anything. I planned on using this time to get ahead on some school work and make some final preparations for my new addition (my baby is due soon in case anyone hasn't been keeping up). I always say that I work better under pressure. I think that is a lie. Now I am starting to freak out a little. I have so much to do that it is overwhelming me. I am getting less accomplished, because I am so worried about it. I have a 6 page research paper (single spaced! YIKES!) due on Monday. I am ashamed to say that I haven't started yet. Guess what I'll be doing for the rest of my time off. Thank God I am not behind in any of my other classes. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. I want to say I am just tired, blame it on pregnancy. I am not sure that is true though. I just dread writing this paper, because the topic is so boring. It is on universal health care in the U.S. The topic was assigned; I didn't pick it. I'll get it done though. I always do. My problem at home is that I have a hard time delegating tasks. I want to ask my boyfriend to help me with stuff, but I know exactly how I want things done. It seems easier to do things myself than explain it to him. Also, when it comes to cleaning the bathroom or doing the dishes, I do a much better job than he does. When he folds clothes, they look so sloppy! I think he does bad on purpose so I won't ask him to do it again. Is it really that hard to fold all the tee shirts the same? In his defense I am kind of anal about stuff like that. I blame my Mom. So it is crunch time. I guess I will get to work. One of these days I am going to learn to just do what needs to be done. No more putting things off until tomorrow, because eventually I run out of tomorrows.

Super Powers

Did you ever wish you had a super power? I know I do. It would be neat to be like those witches from the television show Charmed. To be able to orb to wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted to would be cool. It would save a lot of money on gas too. Or to have the power to freeze time would be useful. Then on those days when you have more stuff to do than time to do it, you could just freeze time and accomplish everything you needed to. This would have been a handy power to have when I was a teenager. I remember when I would come home, and my grandma would ask me what I had been up to, knowing it was no good. I could have just froze time right there and thought of some good story. Instead she got lame ramblings that usually fell apart as I said them. I do not think the power to move stuff with my mind would be good for me. I would be really lazy. Instead of getting up to get a drink, I would just bring the drink to me. Or whenever I lost the remote to the television (which happens a lot) I would change the channel with my mind. I think I would gain a lot of weight with this power. Although, now that I think about it, I guess I could use it to make myself exercise. I could just think of leg lifts and suddenly be doing them. Now the power of premonition would be fun. I could use it to win the lottery. I think the best power would be mind control. That way when my boyfriend was torturing me with racing on television I could just will him to change the channel or give me the remote. I would make him do stuff my way, since I always think my way is better anyway. Ya, having a super power would be really cool. What power would you want?

Happy Birthday To Me

Happy Birthday to me! That's right. Today is my 26th birthday. The funny thing about a birthday is that it is supposed to be your day, but shouldn't the day be to celebrate your Mom? I mean, she did do all the work. She went through the pregnancy and the labor, not to mention the day to day job of taking care of you. I know with me, that was a hard job. I know moms get Mother's Day, but that doesn't seem like enough. Another funny thing about birthdays is that the more you have, the less important they become. I remember when I would anticipate my birthday for months. All year actually. This year it kind of snuck up on me. It was a nice day though. My good friend called me at 7:30 am to sing Happy Birthday. That could have waited until after lunch. Later, I went to my Mom's house. She helped me do my laundry, and we watched soap operas. The best part of the day was when she made me this awesome chicken salad that I love. Then she put a candle in a cupcake and sang to me. It was sweet. We don't do whole cakes anymore, because they just go to waste. After that I had to come home to study. I had a big marketing test. As far as presents, I couldn't think of anything I really wanted. My mom ended up paying my phone bill for the month. That is actually better than anything she could have went out and bought. My boyfriend bought me this dresser I wanted for my baby. You know, so she can have her own space since, for now, she doesn't have her own room. I did have a baby shower last weekend where I got all kinds of presents, so I wasn't expecting anything really. Oh, my boyfriend also promised to take me to a nice dinner on Friday. That will be nice even though I could get that anyway. Friday is our date night. At least this week he won't have any say in the restaurant. Maybe I can get him to try Greek food. So all in all, it was a good birthday.

Please control your child lady!

I don't know if it is because I am about to be a parent or if I am just less tolerant than I used to be, but I am noticing how some parents just let their kids do whatever. I was in the doctors office earlier this week. I had a fever, a runny nose, and a terrible cough (turns out I had the flu). Anyway, this women came in with her little daughter. She was probably 3 or 4 years old. The little girl started talking to me. I was trying to be polite, but I felt awful. I just wanted to be left alone. She came and sat by me. She took over the magazine I was looking at. She started digging in my purse. The whole time I was hoping the mom would say something to her, but she didn't. When I moved my purse to the other side of me, the little girl started crawling on me. No joke, right on top of me. Here I am, 7 and a half months pregnant, sick as a dog, in the doctor's office, and this little girl is using me as a jungle gym. Her mother never said a word to her. I would have thought that a mother would not want her kid that close to a stranger, much less a sick stranger. I was ready to yell at the mom. I was so relieved when the nurse called my name. I would have hated to be rude, but the situation was sending me to my boiling point. So to all you moms out there, don't let your kids bug sick strangers.

My Baby Shower (if you can call it that)

Well, my baby shower is next weekend, and it is turning into quite a spectacle. First of all, my mom is coming, of course. So is my step mom. They get along really well. The problem is that my step dad and my Dad don't really like each other, so I had to ban them both from coming. My boyfriend's Mom is also going to be there. So is his step mom, and they despise each other. The hard part for me is going to be giving them equal attention. They get really jealous of each other. Maybe I can avoid them both. Too bad I can't ban them too. If that's not complicated enough, my boyfriend also has 2 aunts that are twins. They have been in a feud for over a year over some dead relatives jewelry. I have seen them at family functions. It is not pretty. Not to mention, a few of his cousins are coming. I am pretty sure they didn't like me until I got pregnant. All this drama and I just found out my best girlfriend can't get off work, so she won't be there. This shower is turning into an episode of Jerry Springer. I just hope everyone can put their differences aside for the day, and focus on what is really important. Presents!!! On a positive note, I talked Tab (the girl throwing the shower for me) out of playing smell the diaper. That is where diapers are filled with gross stuff, and you have to identify the smell. Who thought that would be fun? Not me. At least by the end, I will have a lot of cool stuff for my baby. That makes it all worth it.

My Mom

I was going to blog about what I would do if I won the lottery, but I changed my mind. So that will be next week's topic. Instead I thought I would take this opportunity to tell everyone how great my Mom is. I see some of my friend's with their moms and am so grateful for my Mom. I know this sounds sappy, but she really is my best friend. We talk about everything. She is not judgemental at all, even when I say something crazy. She always has input, but she never tries to force her opinions on me. Recently, I have been doing a lot of things I have never really done before like cooking, making appointments, and assembling baby things. She has been so helpful. She knows all these cool things that make life easier. She is also very organized and clean. I admire that a lot. Another thing I admire about her is that she is self sufficient. She has a husband, but she doesn't wait for him to do stuff like fix the sink. She does it herself. She knows some about cars too. Enough to at least be able to identify where the problem is. I hope that my daughter turns out to be like her. Heck, I hope I turn out to be like her. Sweet, strong, smart, and loving. She really is awesome.

Car Problems Are A BIG Problem For Me

This week, my brakes on my car messed up. It was a real pain too. My boyfriend went out of town on Sunday, so of course he wasn't around when it happened. Monday morning, I had a doctor's appointment and on the way I noticed that my brakes weren't working properly. I was having to hold them all the way to the floor and it would still take about a hundred or so feet to stop. I know, scary right? It was getting worse and worse, but I had to keep driving my car. I had classes I just could not miss. Talk about stressful. I told my boyfriend on the phone and he said "Why don't you take it to a break place?" I got to thinking about all the times in the past that I have tried to deal with car problems on my own.

A few years back, I had this cute, little, 2 door Saturn. I got into a wreck and decided it was worth fixing. Among other things, I needed a new radiator. The man fixing it charged me $300 plus labor for the new radiator. I paid it and got my car back in the next few weeks. It was still acting funny so a friend's grandpa took a look at it for me. He discovered that the man had just put the wrecked radiator back in after trying to straighten it up. The worst part was that he used zip ties!!! Also, there was duct tape under my hood. I know duct tape is supposed to fix everything, but come on. It took more work and another $600 to get my car back to running right. I only kept the car for about 6 more months before buying another one. Wish I would have just bought another car from the start.

The next April, I was driving downtown to the bus station to pick up a friend. All of the sudden, my power steering went out! After messing around with the car a little, I discovered that when I turned the air conditioner off, the power steering would come back. I took the car to a shop to have it looked at. The man explained that the compressor had went out on my air conditioner, and for $800 he could have it running like new. He acted like he was doing me a favor because compressors were usually much more. I didn't have that kind of money or any way to get it, so I committed myself to a southern summer with no AC. It was miserable. What made it worse was that I had leather seats, so it was gross too, because my legs would sweat to the seat. The following September, the guy I was dating borrowed my car. When he got back he was running the air. I was like "Noooooo! That will mess up my car!" I explained about the power steering and the compressor. He looked skeptical and decided to have a look under the hood. He discovered that my problem was a $20 serpentine belt that took all of 20 minutes to change. At least, I didn't shell out the $800 but I was still upset.

Many times I have taken my car to get an oil change and the places have tried to convince me that I needed a $200 part, or I have taken a tire in to have it plugged and ended up leaving with a $60 bill. So, my boyfriend wanted me to take it in myself, I don't think so. He got back in town late Wednesday night and took my car in on Thursday. It is still costing me $300, (Ouch! That hurt!) but imagine if I would have taken it myself. I would probably be car shopping right now.

Baby Brain

I guess I should start with a brief introduction. I am Miranda. I am 25 years old and expecting my first (and only, if everything goes according to my plans) child this April. I was not one of those people who wanted to be surprised by the sex. I wanted to know as soon as the doctor could tell. I found out at twenty-one weeks that I was having a girl. To be honest, I was a little disappointed at first. I always wanted a baby boy although I am not sure why. My disappointment faded fast though. Now, at 28 weeks, I could not imagine it turning out any better. At Christmas time, I was buying gifts for my boyfriend's brother and sister. They both had lists of stuff they wanted. On Katy's list(the sister), there was stuff like craft supplies and cutsie knee socks. On Andrew's list (the brother), there was x-box games and extra controllers; both of which are EXPENSIVE. At that point, I thanked God I was having a girl. Not to say girls are less expensive but, being a girl myself, I have learned how to lessen the blow of "girl" expenses. I am clueless about boys.
All of you mother's out there probably know this well, but now that I am having a baby, it is all I can think of. Every conversation I have turns into baby talk. Every thought, no matter what it is about, turns into thinking about the baby. Even the shows I watch on television somehow turns my head into nothing but baby thoughts. Everything I do know is gearing up for the baby's arrival. I suppose this is the way it is supposed to be and it will be that way for the rest of my life except the word baby will change to toddler, then pre-teen, then teenager and so on.
I have been very lucky in that I have, for the most part, not had any problems with the pregnancy. The biggest problem I have ran across is naming my baby girl. Who knew it would be so hard. I, like most girls I know, named my children when I had my first real boyfriend. It was easy then because it was pretend. Now that it is for real, it has turned into a big stress spot. Also, I only made it worse. Let me explain. My boyfriend and the father of my baby is named Bill. When we first found out about the baby, I said casually, "Wouldn't it be cute if it was a girl and we named her Billie after her daddy?" Then we found out it was a girl, and everyone in his family remembered that comment. They all love the idea. Now it is like I have no say so. I guess it is cute but I am not crazy about it. I always wanted something more girlie and abstract. Plus, I can not find a middle name that seems to flow with Billie. Any ideas? And please don't say Jean. I just don't want my little girl to hate her name and be mad at me for giving it to her. On a positive point, I don't know many girls with that name.
No matter what her name turns out to be or the way anything else works out, I am so excited to have a baby girl of my very own on the way.

This is a test!

Testing Testing 1 2 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!