Really Nothing to do with Pregnancy

But still pretty cool, so I had to share...

The other morning, Don was making us some BrMuffin sandwiches for breakfast.  (Pronounced BrrrrMuffin - it's our version of the Egg McMuffin, and oh so much better!)

And he actually found a double-yolk egg!  Can you believe the luck?!  Of course, I took a picture of it for our blog.  Enjoy!

So - this may not be the best picture, but you can kind of see, the one yolk that's still intact - and the one that accidentally broke right before I could waddle over to take the picture.  Fun, right?!

Dixie Cups are like Duct tape

You can use them for ANYTHING.

My pals at work have started to put some money down - placing bets on when Baby will get here  - winner takes all.

Here's the kitty:

Aren't they fabulous?!  I laughed so hard when I first saw this.  I think the pot is up to a whopping $4.86 now.  I can't wait to hear who finally wins.  :)

Oh - and PS - still no Baby yet...

Those diapers are sooooo tiny!

Somehow, we managed to have a free sample of a newborn diaper lying around the house.  Mamma-jamma, is that thing TINY!  I had no idea just how small that diaper was going to be - I almost can't believe it!  For those of you that don't know how small these are - or haven't been around one in awhile, here it is - next to my hand for comparison...

And now the real test - next to Don's Blackberry...

That's right - a newborn diaper is only slightly bigger than a standard Blackberry.

What are we getting into?

Hump Day Bump Day! (11/4)

Good news!  We found my phone!  I had left it in a friend's car.  I know, I know - I should be more careful.  But hey - at least I didn't leave it in a cab... this time.

So - without further adieu - this week's HDBD photo...

TA-DA!

While we were taking this photo, Don said "stop sticking out your butt."  He really did.  And then he immediately lost brownie points.  It's okay though - he won them again when he made me a delicious lunch.  YUMMY!

Oh - and purely for fun comparison - here's the first HDBD photo - from the archives:

Preggos are EVERYWHERE!

In case you've been under a rock for the past 6 months or so, I feel I should come right out and say it.  "Everyone is pregnant".  This is, of course, a slight exaggeration, but I assure you - not by much.  It might be more like 1 out of 3.

I run into other preggos everywhere.  Everywhere except work, that is.  I'm definitely the only one there - at least the only one that's been "outed".  And now I'm so big that I couldn't hide it even if I wanted to (which I don't).

But back to my first point - preggos are everywhere.  Maybe it's just Chicago... but I'm not so sure.  I think it's a National epidemic.  When we picked up my prenatal vitamins, the pharmacist said "been fillin' a lot of these lately".  Um yeah - that's your job.  And I heard the hospital where I'm supposed to deliver Baby has broken the 'birthing record' every month for the past few months - meaning they birth a record number of babies every month than from the month before.  Wow!  That's a lot of babies!

You have to wonder - why all the babies?  I heard someone mention snarkily that it was the recession to blame.  I'm not sure about all that.  It really didn't have a lot to do with our Baby - Don and I are both employed full-time and hadn't really stopped going out when Baby came to be.  I heard another theory that it's the boomlet's having babies.  That's right - that Baby Boomer's kids are now having kids.  That makes a little more sense to me - but what really explains this?

I guess it doesn't really matter in the long run - but it's great for those like me and the preggos coming after us - we've going to have so much maternity clothes for them to borrow/buy from consignment shops!  Speaking of consignment shops - I heard a recommendation for a great kid's clothes/maternity wear consignment shop in Chicago - called The Second Child.  I'll have to check it out and write a review. 

In the meantime - i'll leave you with my deep thought for the day - "preggos are everwhere".  Except my apartment.  I'm the only one in here right now...

Alcohol-removed Wine?!

I was watching Food Network the other day when I saw a bit about these wines (below).  They're "alcohol-removed" wines.  The brand is fre (http://www.frewines.com/) and they're made by Sutter Home.  The wine is made like normal, and then the alcohol is removed afterward via some fun, secret spinning cone method.  Interesting.

We had some close friends over last night for Don's birthday (which is today) and decided to get a couple of bottles to try out.  And it was good.   We had the Chardonnay last night.  It smelled exactly like a Chardonnay wine and my mouth watered.  Even though it tasted complex and fruity and oaky and delicious, it didn't quite taste like anything I'd ever had before.  It was very similar to wine - but almost like a grape juice - but not.  I guess I'm not doing a very good job of explaining it here...

But just know - for those of us that are choosing not to drink alcohol - for whatever reason - there's a good alternative out there.  It's yummy and will fill that "wine-shaped hole" in your palette.

Practicing on Other People's Kids...

Since Don and I are both on our way to being parents for the very first time, we've suddenly started taking more of an interest in helping others with their kids.  (See title)

I've even started volunteering in the church nursery once/month with a friend.  (Never really saw that one coming...)

Anyway - over this past weekend, we got to see a lot of our friends - some of which already have little ones.  Kevin and Jana brought their adorable little baby, Kameron, out to play too.  Kameron was completely intrigued by Don and they had a pretty good time together, as you can see from this picture.

Way to be, Kameron.  Way to be, Don.  :)

What am I craving?

Almost the very first thing that people ask me as soon as they find out that I'm pregnant is, "Are you having any cravings?" - or something along those lines "What's the weirdest thing you've craved?", etc.  You get the point.

To be honest, I haven't craved too many WEIRD things, but things that are just really weird for me to want - namely, meat.  If you've known me for longer than five minutes, you know that I'm a pseudo-vegetarian.  That means that I'll eat meat from time to time, but it's rare.  I just don't like meat - the taste, the texture - none of it is appealing to me and it really never has been. 

Lately - in the past month or so - I've been asking for mini-cheeseburgers and tacos with ground beef and all kind of other delicious meat things.  Last night I had to pick a place for dinner with our friend, Scott.  I picked Weber Grill.  True - it was a block away and I was beyond hungry at that point.  But that place is meat central... fish, cow, pork, chicken - you name it.  And I was happy there.  I repeat, I was happy at a meat place.

Mark this in the record books, peeps.

From what I've heard and read - this is my body's way of taking care of itself and making sure that it gets all the nutrition that it needs.  Baby is pretty good at getting everything that it needs - and will even take from me if I'm not eating enough of it.  (Which is scary).

But it's amazing to me how my body knows what it needs and my taste buds adjust accordingly.  Wow - God knew what he was doing when he created us people.

Fun things about pregnancy...

There are many things about pregnancy that aren't fun.  I've experienced quite a few of them so far.  "Morning" sickness/nausea  (which lasts all day), crazy horrible heartburn that only smoothie-flavored Tums can cure, getting up 3 times in the middle of the night every night just to pee... 

But I'm finding that there are some really fun things about being pregnant too: being required to eat lots of calories (well-balanced, of course) and the cream of the crop - new clothes!  Of course, a lot of the "new" clothes, are really just new to me - but who cares?  They're so cute!  (My sister, Renee, let me borrow a bunch of clothes that she used when she was pregnant. Thanks, Renee!)

It's tricky because I'm not big enough to require actual maternity clothes yet - and probably won't be until at least 2-3 more months, but I'm starting to stress out some of my buttons...  I learned some tricks for extending waistlines during pregnancy involving hair ties and another trick with something called a belly band - which should work for at least a little while longer - but what do I do when those don't really work anymore?

Seriously - what's a girl with an ever-growing belly to do about this?  Go shopping, that's what.  This girl is on a serious budget, so I'm hitting an outlet mall and some clearance racks with Momma Mags this weekend while Don is sailing the Tri-State. 

And that, friends and loved ones, is a fun part of pregnancy.  :)