What's up witchu?

My blog posts have been pretty erratic lately (sorry), and you can be sure to count on continuous erraticness until after miss Ellie gets her butt here.  Or after I take my month off from work.  Probably that one.

Since my posts have been so random, I figured it'd probably be best to do a little "what's up" post.  Just so you all are up to date.

29 weeks.  Apparently she's supposed to grow 1/2 lb. each week.  How will she fit?!

- Pregnancy is starting to get to me.  Do you know how hard it is to sit back and not be able to do anything?  Well, when you are a stubborn Dutch person, like me, and just want to get things done, it is pretty difficult.  I can't lift heavy things so I have to get help with them.  I am noticing a very nice shortness of breath taking over when I try and do too much at once, too.  It would be nice to be able to do a butt load of work all at once without feeling like I just ran 3 miles.  But, alas, I am just ready and excited for this little girl to come out!  I'm not even at 30 weeks yet and I can't wait to meet her.  And see her!  Nick and I are pretty opposite so I have NO idea what our little girl will look like.  The suspense is terrible!

Alright, let's examine this.
My hair is blonde and straight, Nick's is brown and wavy.
My eyes are blue-green, Nick's are light brown.
Nick has huge hands and feet and mine are average.
My face is a little short and pudgy compared to Nicks.
SEE?!  The possibilities are ENDLESS!
Except, we both have pretty long legs.  That could be a given.

- Minus being pregnant, I am getting quite a lot of goodies from my family.  Most of the stuff is hand-me-downs from all of my aunts that have had recent babies (and baby girls).  Have I told you that with all of the clothes I have received already, I have enough to clothe our baby for her first two years of life?!  I am so thankful for this awesome family and for how much they are willing to give and share.


- Nick is super incredibly busy all the time.  He's preparing to climb Mt. Baker again (I'll try and spare you all with my worrying) and his bluegrass band plays at least twice a week around the area.  Therefore, he is busy hiking and playing music.  And working when he's not doing the other two.  I think he's just trying to get all of it out now before the baby gets here because, well, I'm going to need him and so will his daughter.  I told him he has 'til August to get it all out.  His response is to climb Baker AND Rainier this summer.  And possibly Adams.  I can't keep up.

His very fun bluegrass band.

- I have been catching up on some newly acquired TV shows.  Mostly because I'm lazy tired too often now.  But these shows have included Arrested Development and Call the Midwife.  They are both fantastic and have sucked my life away.  Well, Arrested Development has.  Call the Midwife is such a great show, but there's only one season on Netflix.  Figures.

What I've learned in pregnancy {part 2}

It's about time for round two of the things I've learned while being pregnant.  Part one was written about a month ago when I was only, sigh, 23 weeks.  That seems so long ago now...


1.  There are a million different baby items.  Literally.  Millions.  Okay, okay, it's not that difficult to pick out what you want for your child, but it makes things VERY difficult when there are 30 different types of diaper rash cream or baby shampoo.  I just want a good, decent, natural one, but when the reviews are a hodge podge of varying reviews it gets to be a little difficult.  Who would've known, right?


2.  You stink.  It's true.  The massive increase of hormones in your body make you have way more body odor than you may be used to.  I never had a problem with it pre-pregnancy, but now if I don't put on my deodorant I will most likely get nasty b.o.  It will even come when you are doing absolutely nothing all day.  And it won't bug you until you notice it and then it will drive you crazy all day (or at least me).  Nick has even told me a couple times that I smell.  What a nice guy, huh?

3.  Water is amazing.  I wish I owned a pool because I would live in it.  I practically do when I shower because it feels SO good to just be in the water.  Your whole body forgets its pains and aches and everything just feels.. normal.  Ah, to not be pregnant...  I'm planning on living in the bathtub when labor comes.  If I had my way I would be doing a water birth, but insurance just won't cover it.  Stupid.


4.  Your stomach will become a sci-fi movie all on its own.  I can be sitting down while reading a book or blogging and notice from the corner of my the stomach jabs and ripples that she creates.  Sometimes they are just giant waves rolling across my belly.  It was, and still is, the weirdest thing to witness.  I can't quite explain the craziness of seeing your stomach move on its own, but trust me... it's weird.


5.  Everything grows way too fast.  Not only does the baby/stomach grow super fast, but your hair and nails also grow at super speeds.  Shaving becomes incredibly difficult once you can't actually see your legs or feet and at the rate my leg hair grows.. I just go au-natural.  I'm glad I have blonde hair.  Toenail clipping and painting is equally annoying.  You can't just prop your leg on a table and do it.  It doesn't work anymore.  You become a heavily breathing acrobat just trying to clip your baby toe.

We'll just sing this song every time we shave.

6.  Speaking of breathing heavily, that also happens.  It happens WITHOUT ME KNOWING!  Nick has told me many, many times that I'm breathing really hard.  I don't even notice until I start thinking about it.  It's pretty terrible and makes you feel old and lazy to be breathing so hard.  But guess what?  It's normal!


7.  Say goodbye to that wonderful deep, constant sleep.  Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone, but I toss and turn all night.  Lately it's been taking extra long just to FALL asleep because this little girl won't stop kicking me.  I hope she plays soccer.  It makes it worse when you wake up randomly at midnight to change sides, deal with unexpected and terrible heartburn, and/or have another kicking session.  At least this is prep for when she's here, right?


8.  Waiting for the birth day just gets more and more exciting with each new gigantic kick (after the uncomfortableness goes away).  I can't wait until I get to hold this crazy active girl in my arms!

Things I don't get

1.  How sayings, phrases, and words get to be so popular.  Words like: presh, totes, or lawl.  I know lawl is supposed to be "lol", but why say it?   Or even the saying YOLO.  It just makes me think of the new Lonely Island song.


2.  Couples that go on dates and sit on their phones the ENTIRE time.  I've seen this more than once!  We went out to eat the other day and the couple in the booth next to us came, sat down, whipped out their phones, ordered in record time, and said probably about five things to each other.  AND they even finished before us!  I fear for our children and their future dates... or worse: blind dates!

3.  Toilets that suck so hard they splash you back.  You know what I'm talking about.  The kind they put in tiny stalls so you have to race against the toilet flush to get out of the bathroom door before you get splashed by the water.


4.  This article about parents being fined for their kids being bullies.  It would be good for SOME parents to know that their kid is a bully, but there are quite a bit of bad parents out there that would probably make their kids pretty miserable and want to bully more if they were fined for their child.  Although, I do understand that they aren't just handing them out like candy, but still...

I couldn't resist.

5.  Captcha images for blog comments.  'Nuff said.  Referring back to #1, shouldn't it be 'nough said?


6.  Bikers who don't wear helmets.  This bugs even more now that Nick bikes a lot.  Why do cyclists bike on busy roads, or even roads in general, and not wear helmets?  Did they not learn anything in school?

Michael Scott knows where it's at.

Netflix: Hidden Goodies

I love Netflix.  Actually, ex that.  WE love Netflix.  I even love it on the days that I can't find anything to watch.  This is usually because there are too many things on our instant queue and I'm just being indecisive.

I wanted to serve you all with a PSA (public service announcement, in case you didn't know).

Did you know that there are some things on Netflix besides TV shows that are pretty amazing and fantastic?  Sure, there is also a lot of crap, but can I just share with you some of the lesser known things that we, or just me, have thoroughly enjoyed.

I'll try not to include documentaries because most of the documentaries I've watched, so far, are listed here and here (and can be found on Netflix).

1.  Creature Comforts America.  I HIGHLY recommend this to any comedy fans.  Basically a bunch of people went around the U.S. and interviewed various people about different topics.  The people were then turned into claymation animals and their answers are animated with them.  It's hilarious.  Some of the things people do and say are just... crazy and stupidly funny.  At least watch the talent show episode if you aren't going to watch all of them.

2.  TED Talks.  There are SO many TED talks on Netflix right now.  Any topic you could think of is probably on there.  It's pretty much a bunch of demonstrations and lectures on different topics, inventions, discoveries, etc.  You can learn so much about what new ideas are coming out in the world.  It WILL make you think and probably make you want to be a million times smarter.  Or maybe that's just me.  I suggest checking out the "Artistry and Illusion", "Invention", or "Smart Laughs" ones.

 

3.  SNL:  The Best of Commerical Parodies.  Some of the best SNL skits are in this collection.  From Dan Akroyd to Andy Samberg.  Watch them. 

4.  The Giant Mechanical Man.  This has been floating around for awhile and I know a few of my blog friends know about it because I learned about it from them, but if you DON'T know about it, it's an extremely good chick-flick.  It's not so overly-cheesy as most and Jenna Fischer is very cute.

5.  Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  A good friend of ours showed us this because he is a big fan.  It's pretty hilarious and it was made by Joss Whedon.  What could go wrong with THAT?  Neil Patrick Harris is pretty adorable as well.  I can't give you anything about what it's about because, well, it's a musical and you'll just have to watch.


There you have it.  Watch some of these and then come back and tell me if you hated them or loved them.  And let me know if there is something else out there that is pretty amazing and not well known.