• I preregistered for my c-section and my copay is the same as it was with NikkiZ which was two years ago and different insurance. It didn’t go up! SCORE ONE FOR US!
• I’m thinking about going back to being a vegetarian after AndyZ gets here. I did it for nine years and just kinda miss it and feel like I was healthier when I was one. Any thoughts?
• NikkiZ decided the other day that she does NOT want to share a room with her brother. So, we’re going to make him sleep outside.
• I asked a friend of mine if I could borrow her kids tomorrow to photograph because I’m sick of taking pictures of my own kids. Aren’t I sweet?
• My feet swell up so bad on the days I work at a desk that my flip-flops actually get too tight. It’s super sexy.
• This baby will be here in 12 days which is good because I had forgotten how much boobsweat I produce in a car without air-conditioning when I’m pregnant. It’s A LOT.
• I bought Pop Tarts this week, which I never do. Last night I ate TWO PACKS before going to bed. I’m going to miss that part of being pregnant. BUT ONLY THAT PART.
• I found out this week that our Barnes & Noble is having a Vampire Ball when Stephanie Meyer’s new book for the “Twilight” series comes out (Breaking Dawn is the title if you hadn’t heard) and I can’t WAIT.
• I am looking forward to Mother’s Day this weekend because I’m totally going to make my family (sans LilZ who will be spending Mother’s Day with his Dad…heh…) take me to breakfast that morning at Another Broken Egg. We can only justify eating there for special occasions because it’s expensive. Lucky for us - I’m very creative at defining special occasions. The last time we ate there it was because MrZ had to fast before a medical test. See? “Special Occasion.”
• Did you hear the Duggar Family is pregnant with their 18th child? I don’t know what else to say about that besides, “Wow.”

My Dad used to keep our “best” pieces of “art” growing up and either hang them on the fridge or would put them in these books/journals he kept. It always made me feel really accomplished when one of my creations was chosen. Like it had been selected for some exhibit somewhere. And it made me feel really confident in my skills as an “artist” so I kept doodling/drawing my entire life. I took art classes in high school and continued screwing around with various artistic endeavors even into adulthood.

Now, at some point along the way I realized my skills were limited. I would get ideas in my mind but they never turned out the way the looked in my head. In other words? The ideas were there, but not the talent. The creativity, but not the skill. Now, the drive still allowed me to make some cool things, and in school I had one or two things that actually did get put in student expos, but all-in-all? I was simply someone who liked to create but who wasn’t all that great at it.

BUT - the fact that I kept (and keep) going with it is something I owe to my Dad. And it’s something I swore I’d foster in my children as well.

I used to have a long empty wall in one of my apartments in college and I filled it floor to ceiling with LilZ’s artwork. Once we bought our house, my first mission was to actually frame some of it. And hang them in - what I call - the Art Hall. He currently has several pieces hanging there and they range from preschool to 5th Grade. 6th grade didn’t give us any art classes so nothing was created that year. This year, however, we had another art class and some of my favorite pieces have been done. Here are the two I matted yesterday.

I haven’t bought frames yet because I wait and do that when Hobby Lobby puts them on 50% off. But I’m looking forward to adding them to various empty walls around the house. I’m not going to put them in the Art Hall because I want to save room there for some of the other kid’s art someday. But, we have so much empty wall space, there will be plenty of choices. And I’ll hang them proudly knowing that my son is very talented. But that he also has his mother’s creative drive which means one thing: My walls will never be bare.

I edited the crap out of the photos we took of NikkiZ painting my belly this weekend. (Dear P-Dub, can you make an “Unpregnant” action next time? None of the actions you made with the last batch seem to help remove my giant stomach and stretch marks.) I know most women hate their appearance when they’re pregnant, so I’m sure you can relate. BUT - I also know how much I enjoy looking back on pregnant photos, once I’m not longer there. So, I resisted the initial urge to delete them all and just edited them so much that they almost appear tolerable to this very-sick-of-being pregnant woman.

I’ve been really down about being pregnant this last month or so. Pretty much since I had that dreadful cough for that week. My allergies have not let up since and although Claritin and Benadryl have been approved, neither of them to do any good. And it’s really impairing my ability to sleep, which makes me KRAZEE. I get overly emotional without solid sleep and I’m hitting that point of exhaustion where I’m crying at the drop of the hat. And usually, no matter what is making me cry, I’ll throw in some sort of line about how hard it is to be pregnant and not get any sleep.

For example:

OnStar commercial airs on the radio where some girl has pushed the button because her Mom had a seizure and she wrecked the car. I start crying (like I do often with those damn commercials) and then go into some tirade about how it’s so hard to be a perfect Mom all the time! Much less if your epileptic! Or pregnant! And I ranted about how much harder it is to be pregnant with a toddler to care for because they don’t understand! And then I cry even harder.

Here’s the kicker: I’m the only one in the car.

Essentially? I’ve lost my freakin’ mind.

So, If you see a large and sneezy pregnant woman with dark circles and big bags under her eyes in the produce department at the grocery store crying while holding an orange angrily in her hand? Just move along and say a silent prayer for her poor family.

LilZ and I have a Mother’s Day tradition called Mother’s Day Movie Extravaganza. It is one day (usually Mother’s Day weekend but sometimes another weekend depending on LilZ’s Dad-Weekend schedule) on a weekend where we head out to the theater and see three movies in a row. Since next weekend is a Dad Weekend, we’re going today. I get to choose the movies since it’s my day, so we’re seeing Baby Mama, Made of Honor and Iron Man.

And I Can’t Wait.

Yesterday was mildly exhausting. After my intense morning of cleaning, we went shopping for a rocking recliner (a purchase we’ve been talking about since the day I found out I was pregnant) and ended up doing lunch at the mall. That was the first time LilZ and NikkiZ have both been at the mall with me since they set up those bungee-cord trampoline things in the food court. NikkiZ has been asking to jump on one of those things since Day 1 but I always had the excuse, “We’ll do it the next time brother is with us.” And yesterday he was. So I had to let them. And it was the HARDEST THING I’VE EVER DONE.

You’ve seen those things, right? The trampolines with the bungee cords that somehow create this “safe” environment for out of control jumping? Yeah. Evidently the weight-limit on those things is only 25lbs. And NikkiZ is heavier than that. Which means it’s “safe” for her to do it. Which is INSANE.

I wish I had my camera on me yesterday so you could see how DANGEROUS this whole situation was. But also so you could see how THRILLED she was with it. How did I - the biggest chicken shit on the planet - breed a daredevil? I was freaking out the whole time, but she was loving it. For the most part. There were a couple of points at the extreme height of the situation that she looked a little terrified, but for the most part? She loved it.

We also took her swimming for the first time this season. Which is another activity she loved, even if it did require seeing her mother who is 18 days from having a baby - In a Bathing Suit. It was probably scarier than the bungee-cord trampoline.

Of course, it’s a little cold yet and she only handled it about 30 minutes before turning blue.

So, today? I’m looking forward to spending six hours doing nothing but sitting on my ass and eating popcorn. The perfect Mother’s Day Celebration.