Happy Halloween

Okay, Halloween is typically one of my favorite holidays of the year. If you know me well, you'll know I love sweets, and besides Easter**, there is no other time to load up the house on all sorts of candy that you don't typically buy the rest of the year. Easter is wonderful for egg hunts, but that's only really fun if you have kids. Halloween is like Easter for the non-kid families because the kids come to you! I LOVE sitting by the door with a bowl of candy waiting for kids to come and show off their costumes. The memory of the rude behavior of a few kids usually fades away and the only thing I can remember from year to year is the cute little princess and the heroic comic book star.


Well, this year we won't be giving candy to the kids. We are heading down to Santa Barbara to a house party with my friend Michele who recently moved here all the way from Chicago. I will have to admit that this idea does come in second to sitting back and handing out candy. I know what you youngin's are thinking..."You'd rather stay home on a Halloween, Friday night and give candy to kids instead of partying with a bunch of people in Santa Barbara?" And my answer would be a valiant, "Yes I would!" Remember folks, I'm pregnant. And, it's just not as much fun watching people do beer bongs and take shots when you are the soberest of the group who still has to go pee more than anyone else at the party.



Dave and I have been searching for costumes to wear to this party, and I came up with the idea of going as nurses in scrubs. (All I could think about was COMFORT.) Well, we went to a uniform shop and the scrubs were anything but comfortable to me. Not to mention, they made me look like Two Ton Tessie. So, I found a little nurses dress and some tights and will be going out as that. (No, not sexy nurse, just pregnant nurse.) Dave is going to look like Dr. McSteamy (he doesn't have the hair for Dr. McDreamy) in green scrubs. He even got a Grey's Anatomy scrub cap.



So, I've been feeling a little better about going out tonight. Until I got an email from my friend Amy and went from better to GREAT! Amy has a little baby named Caroline and has pretty much been my go-to woman for questions about pregnancy and childcare. Well, she sent me these pictures of Caroline in her costume and I was instantly in a great mood.

She is dressed as Amelia Earhart, in case you couldn't figure that one out. Caroline is the CUTEST!

Next year, I won't care at all about a non-kid Easter egg hunt or parties at Halloween. I will have one of my very own to dress up and goosh over. In the meantime, I always have Magnum!



Magnum dressed as Super Man. (Dave would have probably killed me if I had posted the one where they were wearing matching outfits!)


Magnum dressed as a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch last year.






Magnum dressed as a long haired marathon runner.

**I know the real meaning of Easter, and I am not trying to take anything away from that by comparing it to Halloween or saying that I only like Easter for the candy and the egg hunts. I like it for the ham and the bunnies. (JUST KIDDING!)

Where's the closest Cheeseburger in Paradise??

While I was very fortunate in my early weeks of pregnancy to not have any morning sickness, I did have several days where the thought of most foods made me feel like I would yak them if consumed. At that point, I was lucky to get down a granola bar and some fruit for breakfast. My lunch usually consisted of chicken noodle soup, crackers, and whatever vegetables sounded appealing. My queasiness usually subsided by dinner time, and of course by the time dessert rolled around and David was pulling out Drumsticks or chocolate truffles, I was just fine!


One Saturday morning, I had a huge craving for sleepover cereal...you know the kind I am talking about. Sleepover cereal is the kind of cereal that our moms never bought unless we were having a huge slumber party. When I woke up, my mind was rushing with thoughts of Lucky Charms and Trix. I poked David to wake him up and told him I was going to the store for some sugary cereal. This is how that conversation went...


Me: What kind of baaaaddd cereal do you want me to get you?
David: Oooh, Life!
Me: Life?! Life isn't bad. Come on, what do you want?
David: KIX!
Me: Kix?! Seriously, baaaad cereal, you know, Lucky Charms, Froot Loops, Cinammon Toast Crunch...
David: Oh, I know, Crispix.


Frustrated, I jumped out of bed and headed for the store in search of the perfect sugary cereal for our family! I got a box of Lucky Charms for me and a box of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch for Dave. I had remembered him saying once that he LOVED that cereal. Oh, I also picked up a box of mini powdered donuts (or carrots, as I like to call them when David asks me what I am eating.)


While that breakfast was filled with sugary deliciousness, most of my cravings have not been that unhealthy. One of the strangest cravings I am having is for wilted spinach. I have NEVER been a fan of spinach before...not wilted, nor in salads. (Give me my iceberg and romaine lettuces please!) While we were at a restaurant in Austin (and I was getting fried chicken), Dave ordered salmon and spinach. I took a bite of it and it was SOOO good that I had to take more bites. Well, that started my kick and every week since then, salmon and spinach have been on the menu.


Another hunger I am having is for Olive Garden salads (I told you I liked iceberg lettuce). We have an Olive Garden about 10 minutes from our house and every time we are in that direction I beg David for us to go and eat there. Earlier in my pregnancy, he had sympathy for me and would give in. Those days are pretty much over. The last time we had it, I had convinced him to at least do carry out. I placed the order and repeated numerous times to the guy on the phone that we wanted LOTS and LOTS of salad. Well, when David went in to pick up the order, there was a half container of salad in the bag. Dave had to do some finagling, but ended up walking out with three whole containers of salad. And, yes, he used his pregnant wife as an excuse! Because we can't eat there all the time, I had to get a bottle of the dressing to keep on hand at home...

(It tastes best when eaten in the large bamboo bowl!)

Speaking of salads, another one I am craving is the Son of a Son of a Sailor salad from Cheeseburger in Paradise. We don't have a Cheeseburger in Paradise out here, so this is one craving that is going unsatisfied. I was even planning a trip out to see my brother in Atlanta in November and was THOROUGHLY looking forward to eating that salad at least once. That trip has been rerouted to our parents' house in Phoenix, and much to my dismay, there is no Cheeseburger in Paradise there. But, there is an Olive Garden AND a Buffalo Wild Wings!

Oh, have I neglected to mention my cravings for Buffalo Wild Wings? It's a wings place that Dave and I used to go to almost every Saturday night. We would get wings, Blue Moons, and multiple orders of celery and play trivia for hours. (Yeah, we were nerds and acted like an old married couple. So what!) Anyway, when we were in Dallas, driving from the airport at 10 pm to the hotel, I spotted a Buffalo Wild Wings on the side of the road. I yelled to David, "We are SO eating there this week!" So, the next night, we took my parents to Buffalo Wild Wings for wings, beer and trivia. Okay, okay, it wasn't exactly the same without a Blue Moon for me, but the wings and the company made up for it. It was so good, in fact, that David and I had it again for lunch the very next day.

Okay, the last and final craving I am going to tell you about is one that I have and satisfy daily. I have given up my most favorite drink in the world. No, it's not red wine (that's my second favorite). It's the most wonderful drink ever created...Diet Coke. Ice cold Diet Coke in a can. Mmmmm. I know I could probably have one a day and it probably wouldn't do any harm, but I'm not...and, boy do I miss it! To curb that hunger, I make myself a nice pitcher of decaffeinated iced tea. My favorite used to be the kind my mammaw made with tons of sugar in it, but I do without that too. I still make it in the same pitcher she used, because somehow, that just makes it taste even better.

Will I ever crave pickles and ice cream? I hope not. I'm perfectly content with my meal of salmon and spinach or wings and salad as long as they are accompanied by a nice glass of iced tea! Oh, and the answer to the question/title of my post? Oklahoma City! That's not too far, is it??

Namaste What??

Tonight I took my very first prenatal yoga class. I will admit, I was extremely nervous before going to the class. I have never done yoga before and the thought of trying something and not being very good at it scares me...A LOT. (Uh, am I scared to be a mom? Definitely.)

Anyway, the class was wonderful. There were only two other women in the class. One is 18 weeks pregnant and the other is at 29 weeks. Our teacher is young and made me feel very comfortable as a first-timer. I was nervous that the people in the class would be all hardcore. I mean, my teacher's middle name is "tree" for goodness sake. Tree?

The class was incredibly relaxing. We did a lot of stretching and hip exercises that I hope will be useful in childbirth. We also did a lot of exercises to help us use our legs more which will help take some of the stress off the back.

I don't know if I buy in to the whole yoga goal, but I do know I would rather go there than to the gym and move endlessly on the elliptical and treadmill machines!

On another prenatal note...I scheduled our next ultrasound for Wednesday, November 19th. We should be able to find out then if we are having a boy or a girl! 22 more days!

Goodbye Sadie

A few night's ago, I found out that some very dear friends of mine were going to have to put their dog Sadie to sleep. When I got off the phone with their daughter Kelsey, I cried my eyes out in David's arms. It was so strange to have such an emotional reaction to a dog that wasn't even mine.

But, Sadie was an incredibly special dog. My first year of teaching in Indianapolis, I shared a room with Diann Oberlin. I was teaching in a somewhat different position than my previous job in Columbus. Even though I was still teaching special education, the difference in the types of students was incredible. Diann was (and still is) an amazing teacher who used so many different methods to reach the students that we worked with. Sadie was one of those methods.

Diann would bring Sadie into our classroom about once a month. She was the most calm dog to be around. Some of our students had never been around dogs -- something that struck me as a little odd coming from the small town of Columbus. One of our students, Kenyon, was particularly scared of Sadie. He would wince and grimace the second he saw that she was in the room. But, after a few visits from Sadie (and some licks and wags of her tail), there was not one student in the whole building who was afraid of her. And, there definitely was not one student there who didn't love her to pieces.

Diann would usually try to let me know if she was going to bring Sadie in to school, but sometimes it was a surprise. And, one of two things would usually have happened that morning before work. I would have either chosen to wear a skirt and have legs covered in lotion or would be wearing all black. Normally, a dog licking the lotion off my legs or shedding their thick blonde locks all over my clothes would not make me a happy camper at 7:00 in the morning, but it was Sadie. It was NEVER a bother.

Whenever the Oberlins would go on vacations, I was asked to stay at their home and watch Sadie. This was always a welcome request. One, because it was nice to get out of the small apartment I lived in, but, mostly it was because it was so great to lay and snuggle with Sadie. She always seemed to know if I was having a bad day because she would stay by my side or snuggle even longer than usual. Even though the Oberlins have two (sorry) very annoying cats, I would have moved in for a month to stay and take care of her.

Sadie was mostly an outside dog. She loved nothing more than to lay in her front yard or driveway and watch the day unfold. During the summers, it was always difficult to drag Sadie in for the evening. She also loved hunting squirrels - especially the ones who would tease and torment her. Cars...gutters...nothing could stand in the way of Sadie getting a squirrel.

My favorite memories of Sadie would definitely be the numerous times of pulling into the Oberlin's house to share a glass (er...a bottle) of wine with Diann and have Sadie eagerly greet me in the driveway. It automatically put a smile on my face.

I know this last week has been hard on Mike, Diann and Kelsey. Saying goodbye to someone we love is never easy. I guess we just have to rest assured that Sadie is now up in Doggy Heaven watching our days unfold.

It's all good in the uterus hood!

Just wanted to give a quick update...

Dave and I just got back from our monthly doctor's appointment up in SLO. Of course, I have been a nervous wreck all week. Poor Magnum got the blame for my not sleeping two nights ago, and since he didn't join us in bed last night and I still slept horribly, I am thinking it had more to do with nerves over our appointment than anything else! So, this is my public apology to Magnum. I'm SOOO sorry!

Anyway, the doctor had the results from the nuchal screening that we had done earlier this month. The doctor there said that delivering a baby at my age and factoring nothing else into it, my chances of having a baby with Down Syndrome was about 1 in 632. After doing the screening and the bloodwork, the new risk is 1 in 10,000. Praise God. We were also able to hear the heartbeat again (a first for David). The heartbeat was at about 156 beats per minute. (How many of you out there are saying, "Well, must be a girl!" ???)

The doctor was cracked up at the different myths we had been trying out...especially the Drano one! (Thanks Dave for ratting me out!) She said there was no way to tell based on the heartbeat. We are going to try and schedule our next ultrasound for sometime in the next 2 1/2 weeks, so hopefully we will know something by then!

But, so far, things are going well!

My Sympathetic Husband

Last night, David and I probably had the worst night's sleep that we've had in ages. I have had several sleepless nights in the past couple of months where I just toss and turn and turn and toss and can't ever seem to get comfortable. Usually, part of my problem stems from the fact that I am getting up to use the bathroom (don't be gross - #1 guys) at least two times, and sometimes up to FOUR times each night. I know, I know. "Just wait 'til the baby comes..." Well, peeps, I've got some time before that happens and I'd like to get a good night's sleep before then. I usually complain a little to David and he usually gives me a, "Sorry babe. Take a nap today." And, I do!


Another thing that plays a factor in my night's sleep is Magnum. There are not enough dog treats in the world to get him to hang out with me during the day - he always wants to be back in Dave's office, but come nightfall...it's in the bed, right by my feet. Last night, between the hours of 2am and 4am, I kicked him out of the bed 4 times and each time, he ended up right back where he started!



I know, I sound mean, but it's not like I am making him sleep on the floor. He has a heated bed right next to our bed with a nice, soft blanket for him to bury himself under!


Anyway, this morning, Dave says to me, "I did NOT sleep well last night." When I inquired as to what his problem was, he quickly replied, "I had to go pee like 5 times last night!" Ha. Now he knows how it feels. I'm going to watch him a little more closely...if I see his belly grow or see him craving the same foods as me, I'm going to diagnose him with Couvade syndrome!

Don't Believe Everything You Read

Two weeks ago at our ultrasound appointment, the doctor said that there was a chance that he might be able to tell us the sex of our baby. We hadn't really been thinking that it was going to be a possibility at that appointment and had been preparing ourselves for the long wait for my 18th week of pregnancy. Well, his saying that really got my hopes up, and unfortunately he wasn't able to tell. We were on such a high from seeing the baby on the ultrasound that it didn't really matter to us then. But now....now I am just itching to know if we are having a boy or girl.

And, when I itch for something, I really itch for it. I have been bugging David DAILY asking him what he thinks we are having. And, I've been stalking the internet looking for ways to determine the baby's gender without the ultrasound. First I rechecked the Chinese lunar calendar. This calendar required me to calculate my Chinese age at the time of conception and line it up with the Chinese lunar month of conception. It says that I am having a girl. Then, I found this calendar, and it says I'm having a boy. So, no real answer.

I know there is some really crazy stuff out there, but I have been willing to try just about anything. I've got the itch.

I even stooped so low as to do the Drano test. Never heard of the Drano test? Well, let me tell you about it. The Drano test involves a teaspoon of liquid Drano and a sample of your (in this case my) urine. One website I read said that if the Drano turns green, you are having a girl and if it turns blue you are having a boy. Well, my mixture turned brown. Another website said that brown meant boy while another one said that it meant girl. Hmmm. No answer there. (Don't worry, I wore a mask while I did the mixing.)

I also enlisted David to help with the ring test. We put my wedding band on some yarn and Dave held it over my swollen belly. At first it went back and forth and then Dave had it go in a circle. Again, I've read several websites with conflicting theories. Some say the swaying back and forth means you are having a boy and the circle means you are having a girl. Others have it as the opposite. Again, no real answer there.

I took a vote on the blog to see what you all thought we were having. Of the 19 people who voted on our poll, 13 people (68%) think we are having a girl and 6 people (32%) think we are having a boy.

Finally, I found this quiz online that had all sorts of questions on it and I pretty much figured that this was where I was going to get my answer. It only took me about 3 minutes to answer the questions and my results came back instantaneously. When the new screen popped up, it said I have a 65% chance of having a girl and a 35% chance of having a boy.

Here are some of the strong indicators that I am having a girl:
The hair on my legs is not growing any faster during my pregnancy.
My feet are not colder than they were before my pregnancy.
I refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread. (Clearly, I've been pregnant with a girl since I was 5)
David hasn't been gaining weight too.
My favorite -- I am not looking particularly good during pregnancy.
A needle on a thread moves side-to-side.
I am craving sweets. (Again, I've been pregnant with a girl since I was 5)
My nose hasn't changed during pregnancy.
I've been craving fruits. (They are sweet, aren't they?)
My baby's heart rate is more than 140 beats per minute.
I would pick up a mug by its body and not the handle.

Indicators that I am having a boy:
I didn't have morning sickness.
The sum of my age at conception and the number of the month of conception is even. (Uh oh, is that Chinese age and Chinese month?)
I have no desire for orange juice.
I have had headaches.
If someone were to ask me to show my hands, I would show them the back of my hand.

Those are some really logical conclusions, I know. Turns out, we are just going to have to be patient and wait until our next ultrasound to know for sure. (Ha. I say "for sure" but Lauren just told me about a coworker whose daughter was told they were having a girl and when it was born, they realized they were wrong! It had a little wiener.)

This Just In...

The FedEx man stopped by today and brought something that I should have blogged about yesterday!

Dave's cousin, Brianna, is a designer for Nike. She is always hooking us up with passes to the Nike store in Portland where we always leave with loads of goodies. Well, naturally, she wanted to deck our baby out with Nike gear too and sent us these adorable Nike shoes.

Thanks Brianna (and Michael too)!

My Favorite Things

Since finding out we are pregnant, we've received several little gifts from friends and family. The coolest thing about getting the gifts isn't just getting the gifts themselves (I'm not going to lie...I like presents!), but it's also seeing people get so excited about our having a baby.

Today I thought I would share some pictures of the adorable little things we've gotten.

These baby socks were given to us from Dave's sister and her fiance, and his mom and Bill.

My parents got our little peanut an IU onesie and little IU socks. We may be living in California, but this baby is going to be a Hoosier for sure!

Dave's mom got us a whole bag full of duck-themed baby clothes, including the little stuffed duck, the baby blanket and the yellow sleep sack.





Our good friends Terri and Bob surprised us with a Serenity Star maternity pillow. Terri owns Moonlight Slumber which makes state of the art baby and toddler mattresses and maternity pillows. Her mattresses have been purchased by all sorts of famous people, like Minnie Driver, Maggie Gyllenhal, and Gwen Stefani. On a less famous note, she has also allowed me to give them as shower gifts to my friends Cole Healy and Tara Moter. Cole's little baby, Olin, loves his mattress.



I've already had a few sleepless nights and I'll attribute those to nerves and anxiety, and maybe even an extra-snuggly husband. I know when I start getting bigger, this pillow is going to be a lifesaver! Also, there are so many uses for the pillow post-pregnancy. The large pillow can be unzipped and inside are 3 separate pillows. The curved pillow can be used for nursing and can also be used to prop the baby up on its tummy or its back. The other two bolsters are the length of king-sized pillows and can be used as a body pillow or bolsters on our bed. Oh, and did I mention that Dave wants to use it too!





This is the Serenity Star maternity pillow. Sorry, no chance of me modeling this yet!


Dave and I are so thankful for all of these gifts, and also for all the people who are showing their support for us through their kind words and enthusiasm. We are so glad that you are as excited as we are!


**Also, a special thanks to Jill who taught me how to do the hyperlinks and how to make the pictures look nice and professional!

'Nuff said!

Probably the cutest thing this side of the Mississippi!

He's Gonna Be a Good Dad...

I definitely had other plans for blogging tonight, but after this evening's events, those were quickly scrapped.

Dave and I got home from the gym this afternoon and Dave pulled out his new model airplane that he's just been itching to try out. I took some nice pictures of him posing by the plane and he was out in the street ready to get it started for take-off. The plane used the street as its runway and it was just incredible to watch it take flight. For the next 3-5 seconds, Dave had that plane flying over our house, across the street, and towards our neighbors' house where it promptly crashed into their roof! Our neighbors weren't home, so Dave tried his first attempt at getting it off their roof by using our barstool as a ladder. The barstool kept sinking in the mulch everytime Dave climbed on it...oh, and it was also about 8 feet too short.

Fortunately, Leslie arrived home only about 20 minutes later, because I know that Dave was plotting all sorts of ways to get on that roof. We borrowed their ladder and Dave climbed up and got the plane and the canopy that had split off and was on the back roof.

Never one to quit when the going gets tough, he put the plane back together and we ventured off towards the gazebo area in our neighborhood where there is more open space. Dave got the plane up in the air and it immediately hit the first eucalyptus tree it could find. He quickly retrieved it, started it up again, and before even taking off, it ran into the gazebo. Well, Dave must have figured that the third (er...fourth) time was a charm because he tried it again. And, this time, it worked! He got that plane flying. He circled it round and round and made it fly high and low. And, for about 10 seconds, it didn't hit anything. And, I suppose for that, he paid a price. That plane flew right into the biggest eucalyptus tree in our neighborhood! And, it didn't come down. Believe it or not, it even stayed up there while Dave threw rocks at the tree.

Oh, you think that that's the end of the story? You must not know David. Because there is NO WAY that he could leave that precious plane 50 feet up in the air without doing everything he could to get it down. So, we went home and got his trusty bb gun and when we went back, he shot at that plane four times and hit it at least three. But that plane wouldn't budge! So, we are hoping for a good strong wind tonight to blow it down.

Now, I wish that this was the only childlike thing that Dave has done, but it's SOOO not. In fact, just yesterday as he was waiting on me to get ready for the gym, he decided bouncing a new bouncy ball he got in our bathroom was a good way to pass the time. And, within thirty seconds of bouncing the ball, he had broken one of our new apothecary jars that was filled with bath salts.

Dave's response to all this? "Well, at least you know I'm gonna be a good Dad!"

The Good Doctor

WARNING: 7th grade boys or people with that mentality may find that there is TMI in this blog. Read it anyway.

Dave and I have had three doctors appointments since finding out we were pregnant. Let me preface this story by saying that the week of each appointment sends me into a whirlwind of paranoia. Did the turkey sandwich I ate before I knew I was pregnant do some harm? Should I have held the laptop on my stomach last night? When I was driving and using my hands-free adapter, the phone was on my lap...did I do some damage? Dave does everything in his power to calm me down and not show his annoyance, and I do my best to keep most of my worries between me and God. At the first appointment, our doctor did a transvaginal ultrasound because we were having some difficulty pinpointing exactly how far along we were. Although the images we saw on the screen were very basic and not so HD, it was really cool for Dave and me to see the little baby inside the uterus and see the flicker of the heartbeat. We were also able to establish that at that point, we were about 7 1/2 weeks pregnant.

Dave was up in Stanford during my second appointment and I honestly believed he wouldn't be missing anything since we had an ultrasound scheduled for a week and a half later. I was a nervous wreck at this appointment and had to wait about 25 minutes for the doctor to arrive. When she came in, she had the doppler in her hand so I could listen to the heartbeat. I am sure most people take the first few seconds of hearing their baby's heartbeat and ponder the joys of carrying something so small and precious inside of them. I, however, took that opportunity to thank God and the doctor profusely for letting me know that the baby was just fine. I'm sure she thought I was a total nutjob and all I wanted to do was warn her that there was more of that to come!

Our last appointment was with a different doctor who does the regular (pelvic) ultrasounds. We were there for a nuchal translucency screening which factors in your age, some blood tests, and the amount of clear space in the back of the baby's developing neck to let you know your risk for having a baby with Down Syndrome. We don't have the results from that test back yet, but the doctor said that the clear space looked normal. Seeing the images on that ultrasound was just absolutely incredible. The baby was moving all around and punching and kicking. It was just amazing to think that all that was going on inside me. It was wonderful for Dave to see too, because it helped him to have more of a connection to the baby.



So, today is the start of our 14th week of pregnancy. We are due around the middle of April. We aren't sure if the little peanut is a boy or a girl, but we definitely are too impatient to wait until April to find out. I will not tell you how much weight I have gained, now or ever, but I will let you know there is a little pooch starting to show. I have been very fortunate to not have had any morning sickness, just lots of days of extreme fatigue. I'm hoping that as we start into our second trimester, that tiredness will go away. My baby guru, Jenny McCarthy, says it will for a couple months. In the meantime, I'm off for a quick nap before the gym!

Start From the Beginning...

With a little urging from a couple of friends (the Shes Who Shall Not Be Named), I have decided to start a little blog. I honestly have no idea how or where this blog will take me, but my purpose for now is to keep friends and family updated on how things are going with the newest addition to the Michelson family that is growing inside me.

For those of you who followed (or tried to) my blogs from our wedding website, www.coopermichelson.com, you'll know that I wasn't the best at updating. I promise to do better with this one, as I'm sure most of you are more interested in seeing me get large and in charge and hearing about food cravings than you were in hearing about the color of our wedding linens! So, I will do my best to update at least every few days.

Because I know my mother (and probably even my brother) will be reading these blogs, I also promise to be less crass than my dear friend Jill from www.buttonsmcsweet.com. But I am pregnant, and from what Jenny McCarthy has told me, there will be some less than lady-like things that happen...and those just might get blogged about. But, I am a modest person, so I'm sure it will all fall in the PG-13 category.

I hope you can at least get some laughs out of what I post and can feel a little more connected to our little peanut. We are anxiously awaiting his/her arrival!