Yep, she's that important

It's my big sister Chaney's 36th birthday today! (seriously, if anyone has issues with me divulging ages on here, speak now or forever hold your peace) Because she is very popular in the greater St. Louis area, people all over the city are flocking to the grocery store today to pick up birthday cards and cakes for her birthday celebration. I also heard mumblings about some devastating ice storm that is headed this way, but surely that was just in reference to how any weather developments might hinder this evening's celebrations. I am sure everything will be fine.

We went out on Saturday night to celebrate Chaney's birthday a few days early, "grown-up style". We visited Amigo Joe's, where the queso and margaritas were provided en abundancia (I'm sure that's accurate). Chaney was even serenaded by the lovely restaurant workers, which was awesome.

She even took a suspiciously green shot of tequila! Ole!

There are plans for a family pizza get-together this evening. Hopefully mother nature will grant us a reprieve and allow for this to happen. It should be mandatory that pizza places and hospitals remain open during violent winter weather. I will add that to my list of mandates for when I rule the world.

Parker's Barbie: A Cautionary Tale

At one point Barbie was fully-limbed with blonde flowing hair. She was Parker's first doll and thanks to some sort of repetitive fidgety motion Parker did when she slept, she was soon known belovedly as "Dreadlock Barbie". But Dreadlock Barbie was hip and edgy! No one would mess with a super skinny chick with dreads. Especially one that was rarely wearing pants.

Dreadlock Barbie, wearing pants and a tasteful midriff-revealing top for the photo

Beware the effects of alcohol, kids.

Then the rubbing continued, and ultimately all hair was lost. But Barbie rocked that look too! She was a hot bald chick and no one batted an eye. Especially sweet Parker, who loved that Barbie. Slowly, over time, limbs started to fall off. Then the head. Not even Barbie and her shiny white smile could hide the shame of that her homemade neck brace and pointy where-her-limbs-used-to-be nubs. I think she started to even scare Parker. Barbie mysteriously disappeared about five years ago, never to be heard from again.

Guess who showed up in a box in the Hagemann basement today??? You guessed it!!! I was so excited when I got the text. But the Elizabeth Smart of barbie dolls does not look good. She appears to have stayed too long at spring break and has the scars to prove it.

SVU Barbie

So while I am a bit nostalgic over prodigal Barbie and am thankful that they mystery of her whereabouts has been resolved, I now see why she went away. She served her time and made a little girl very happy for a long time. Thanks for the years of service, Barbie! I expect you to surface in another 10 years during the next Hagemann basement cleanup effort.

Who's up for a game of soccer?

Because, according to my phone, at 24 weeks my uterus is the size of a SOCCER BALL! Impressive! Super is now around 13 inches long and 1.25 pounds. She's continuing to develop taste buds, branches of her respiratory system, and is starting to hear completely. In a scary little piece of info, I just learned that a baby would likely survive a premature birth at 24 weeks with very special care. Though I know Super is very excited to meet us, I hope she enjoys that cozy womb enough to stay in there another 16 weeks. I have zero interest in learning the miraculous capabilities of a NICU right now.

I learned in my appointment on Monday that I will be going in for my glucose tolerance test before my next appointment, so that will be interesting. Apparently I have to drink some super sweet tang-like substance and then wait an hour to see how my body handles all the sugar. Can't they just give me a jar of nutella?

Advantage: Me

I will freely admit that I blatantly ripped this off of a college friend's blog.

I read it last week and it has stuck with me since then. I think of all the times I hear people talking about how much they do for their husbands, bosses, children, etc, with little to no reciprocity. It's easy to fall into a "well I did it last time" or "that's not my job" (which is an ongoing joke at Casa de Erwin) mentality, which just breeds bitterness and resentment. I am going to make an effort to appreciate everything that others do for me and doing all I can to enrich their lives as much as they have mine. Life is so much more pleasant when you try to focus on and match the good others do, rather than focus on how much you are doing for others.

I am also going to pray my husband is not keeping score, because I am getting trounced right now.

Pregnancy Math

Here's a little riddle to start off your Tuesday:

What do you get when you combine a pregnant woman, a family trip to Miami, a Sam's size jar of nutella, and a crippling illness which prohibited any sort of working out for 3 weeks? If you guessed a NINE POUND WEIGHT GAIN IN ONE MONTH, you would be correct! The grand prize is a lifetime of Spanks and a Thighmaster. You can claim your prizes at your next over-eater's anonymous meeting.

Oh well. Sure, I gained the same amount of weight in the month of January that I had gained in my previous 5 months of pregnancy. Can't unring that bell. Dr. J insisted that my weight gain was still "perfect". I really wish he would sort of lay into me at this point, because all this positive reinforcement is seemingly backfiring. He did add the "just do your best" line, which was cute.

Truth be told, I think I was just in a funk yesterday, because I feel fine about it all today. It's just part of the process/experience, I think it is more funny to talk about than to get upset over. It's like your body is on a mission and doesn't plan to include you on the agenda, so you "just do your best" to not explode out of your pregnancy jeans and hit the gym a few times a week. Oh, and try to ignore that cake that your contractor brought you. That's proving to be a little difficult.

Does this baby make my butt look big?

It's starting. The feeling that your body is not your own. That you are skidding off the rails. The wheels are falling off. I have heard about it from all my friends and hoped it would not happen to me. Well, it's happening.

Official 23 week picture. Super, meet the blog. Blog, meet Super.

I have naively wondered in the past how people could gain 80 pounds during a pregnancy. That just seemed like quite an accomplishment for a 9 month period. I now completely understand. It's quite a frustrating situation. I liken it to a "less than attractive" person going on a diet. You can lose all the weight you want, but you are still going to have that face. Same concept applies to pregnancy: you can try all you want to eat right and limit the damage, but in the end, there will be damage, and you will never feel skinny.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's the whole "but it's so much better for you and the baby" business. I realize that, and frankly that is the only thing keeping me away from riding out the rest of my pregnancy at an all you can eat pizza buffet. I guess I also still hold out hope that I can be a cute pregnant person, but that dream is slowly slipping through my hands as I stare down the barrel of the third trimester. Who knew I was so vain? Ok, put your hands down.

My goal for the next 16 weeks is to focus on enjoying the pregnancy experience and trying to focus on the positive and the miracle of everything that is going on with my body. And when that fails miserably, you can find me at the all you can eat pizza buffet.

Fast Track

Today has been a big day in Casa de Erwin. We started off the morning with Parker's soccer game, then went to meet some nanny options, which was eye-opening and scary all at the same time. We then came home and moved the large furniture out of the nursery and moved in the chest of drawers that we purchased off craigslist. As if all of that was not enough, Joe Naert came over to go over last minute plans for the big basement remodel, which will start next week.

We are headed to Parker's indoor soccer game later today and then hopefully can lay low this evening.

Here are some before pics of the basement so you can see how awesome this thing looks when Joe is finished!

Pretty creepy, no? Needless to say, I can't wait to see the finished product. And because Joe's a true professional and knows his clients, he brought this pregnant lady a cake! What other general contractor do you know that would do that?