December Photo Project Day 15: Day 2 of Unemployment

Holy cow - today was absolutely crazy. I didn't have two seconds to relax (except for the two hour midday nap I took). Here is a little bit of what it looked like:

7:00 - woke up (why can't I sleep late anymore?)

8:00 - showered and ate breakfast

8:30 - took Jake on a walk

9:00 - leave for doctors appointment

9:30 - doctors appointment (nothing exciting to report)

10:30 - pick up monogrammed blanket from Oxford Kids Co. (blanket wasn't ready yet)

11:00 - go to Belk and exchange two nightgowns for bigger sizes - ouch (nightgowns are for D-day)

12:00 - fix a dinky lunch at home

12:15 - Aaron comes home from taking his second to last exam

12:30 - we take a nap

2:00 - wake up from nap to start baking cookies for Christmas party tonight

3:00 - still baking cookies - over 100 at this point because I decide to bring some of our new neighbors cookies as a "Welcome to the neighborhood...I'll be your extremely nerdy neighbor for the next year and a half" gift.

3:50 - go back to Oxford Kids Co. to pick up Clark's blanket - its SO cute and I love love love it.

4:00 - run by Walmart to get more cookie making ingredients and a new toothbrush.

4:45 - back home to keep baking cookies and make some taco soup so Aaron can eat a relatively nourishing dinner

5:30 - take shower

6:15 - head over to Liz's house for her Cookie/Ornament Swap Party

8:45 - back home from party

9:00 - start helping Aaron study for his LAST exam of the semester

I will continue to help Aaron study into the wee hours of the morning. He is reading one section of his notes at a time, and then I'm quizzing him on what he read until he pretty much has everything memorized. He has to know somewhere in the vicinity of 300+ cases by 9:00 tomorrow morning. I'm not exactly sure if thats the right number, but I do know we are going to go through 60 pages of notes and there is nothing great about that. I can't wait for 12:00 tomorrow, because that means Aaron is completely finished with his third semester of law school, and then he can sleep for however long he wants to, and then he can help me get ready for Clark. AND...we can play lots of Scattergories. Aaron is walking around looking like a zombie because he has gotten no more than five hours of sleep in the past 72 hours. Poor guy. Just hang in there Arnie - almost finished.

I finished putting all of the ornaments on the tree last night, and I want to show off my all time favorite. Please don't think I'm a terrible wife for loving this so much, I just think its hilarious and I laugh every single time I look at it.

It's probably difficult to tell exactly what this ornament is because I am still limited to the camera on my blackberry. This little guy is a soldier with his right leg missing. No, I didn't buy it with two legs and purposefully cut the right leg off. That would be cruel. Besides, Aaron had his left leg cut off. A few years ago, I was in Midland, Texas browsing some cute little shops while Aaron was hunting and found this ornament as I was rummaging through a huge basket full of defective items that were nicely discounted. When I found it, I died out laughing and knew I had to have this on my tree. I took it to the counter to purchase it and the lady asked me if I was aware of the missing piece on the ornament, and I said something along the lines of "Of course I noticed it, and wouldn't want it otherwise." I told her the short version of Aaron's story and she laughed with me and gave it to me for free and told me to thank Aaron for his service for her. I don't know if Aaron thinks its as funny as I do, but he's not the one who decorates the tree, or even acknowledges its existence, so he doesn't get a say so.

This is going to be Clark's favorite blanket. I'm convinced this will be the security blanket he has to take with him wherever he goes and drags it everywhere in the exact same way Linus does in Charlie Brown. It is so soft and this is what the rest of his bedding looks like in his crib. It may not be the most masculine blanket, but I love it, and of course that is what matters the most at this point. I suppose the deer heads sticking out of the wall make up for the not-so-manly blanket and print I chose for his name. Speaking of the name, I am loving it more and more everyday. There was never a point that I didn't love it, but recently I've been hearing people say his name and talk about him like he's already here and it just makes me so happy that his name is Clark. For example, tonight my mom asked me what she should get Clark for Christmas. Well, there is a good chance he won't be here on Christmas so that is a non-issue. And even if he is here, I suspect he won't be too impressed with anything he receives at that point. Having said all of that, I certainly didn't want to stop her from buying him anything, so I just went on ahead and gave her some ideas of what he might like. Anyway, I believe there is so much in a name, especially a man's name, and I am so completely confident that Clark Randall will one day take pride in the name he was given, and hopefully want to keep the name in the family.

Tomorrow will be much less chaotic than today and for that I am grateful. Because I was on my feet all day (except the nap, of course), they are swollen and I am walking about as graceful as a 95 year old man. When I stand up, I have to hold my lower back and limp until I can regain my balance enough to stand up straight. I'm about to go to bed, only to be woken up in about 20 minutes to go over the next section of Aaron's notes. Fortunately I can sleep in tomorrow so I'm not too worried about not getting a full nights rest. In fact, I can just sleep ALL day tomorrow and that will be just fine. I'm still waiting on a burst of energy so I can tackle some of the stuff I would like to do around the house before D-day (that would be my deliver day, not the day we stormed Normandy during World War II).

Once that burst of energy does come, I'm going to make myself miserable by cleaning until there is literally not one dirty/dusty/unsanitary item in this house. I'm going to try really hard to not spend money because I'm, um, unemployed now and the lack of paycheck is going to really freak me out when our next bank statement comes in. Oh, but wait, I've been instructed by my husband not to look at the bank statement because Aaron did, in fact, buy me a Christmas present and I would know what it was if I looked on the statement. I look at our online bank account on a daily basis, and it is killing me not knowing what's going on in there. Also, now that I know he got me something, I guess I have to get him something, and that stinks because I have no idea what to get him. If anybody knows Aaron Rice better than I do, please feel free to give me some suggestions. I've already made one big boo boo on something I thought he might like (and suggested it to a family member) only to find out that he despises it. Bummer.

Before I go, I want to leave you with this.

Isn't he simply amazing? I love getting to hang out with him all day now. He's such a great pup. He's laying next to me right now growling in his sleep and passing a little bit of gas. I just love him.

Monday morning.

It is 7:30 on Monday morning and I am not getting ready for work.

This is usually the time of day that I start going over my mental checklist of what I need to do today, who to call, what deposits to make, whose loan to payoff, what closings are coming up and all that jazz. I would normally be rummaging through my closet trying to find something to wear and getting extremely frustrated that the pants I wore yesterday to church don't fit anymore. I would so be annoyed that I drank the last of the milk last night and I couldn't eat cereal for breakfast. I would definitely be wishing for another 30 minutes of sleep and thinking that maybe if I hurry up putting my make up on and skip the whole deodorant thing, I could lay back down for just another minute or two. Of course that never happens. By about 8:00, my phone would buzzing because I would already be receiving emails from bankers, realtors, buyers and sellers. At about 8:10, my mom would call and the first thing she asks would be "how are you feeling?"

Also because its Monday morning, I would normally be repeating to myself over and over and over again this phrase: trash day, trash day, got to take out the trash, trash day, trash day.

By 8:15 I either would or would not have taken out the trash - depending on whether or not I remembered. And then I would leave for work and start a very long week of looking forward to Friday.

As I said before, I am not doing any of those things, because as of Friday, December 11, 2009, I am officially a housewife/stay at home mom-to-be. I swore to myself all weekend that I was going to sleep late today and purposefully miss taking the trash out just because I can. Well clearly that didn't happen, because its 7:40 a.m. and I'm not asleep. Of course I woke up at 6:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. Fortunately, Aaron was awake too, so we have spent the past hour and a half talking, eating breakfast together, taking out the trash, and even found time for Aaron to give me a Mississippi politics history lesson. We let Jake out and he pranced around the yard peeing on every blade of grass we own. And all of this before 8:00 a.m. I wonder if this is what life will be like from now on. If so, I'm pretty excited about it.

I'm sure I'll be able to keep myself busy today and tomorrow, and possibly I will have some leftover items on my to-do list that spills over to Wednesday. I have packed Clark's bag for showtime and got to pick out his first outfit and what he'll be coming home in. That was fun. As soon as my special UPS delivery of Victoria Secret flannel pj's come in, I'll pack my bag. In the meantime, I'm going to get a pedicure, a facial, prenatal massage, and walk, walk, walk, and walk some more, trying to make myself go into labor. I can't let Clark come any earlier than Wednesday at noon, which is when Aaron finishes his last exam of the semester. We were told by the law school that if I go into labor while Aaron is taking an exam, they will not, I repeat, they will NOT, get him out of the exam, or else he fails the class.

On Wednesday at noon, assuming Clark is still baking in my belly, Aaron knows it will be time to start working on his honey-do list. Some of these include changing the nine light bulbs that have been out for weeks, putting the Christmas decorations boxes back up in the attic, moving everything in Clark's closet (that is not Clark's) into the other closet, hopefully building some sort of organization shelf system thing in his closet, massaging my feet, figuring out what to do with his law school and hunting crap that is currently scattered all over the house, dejunking our closet, and other completely mundane and lifeless tasks like that. I'm happy to say our Christmas tree is up and looking beautiful and Aaron was a doll to put his studying aside to make 20 trips up and down the ladder to the attic so I would quit bothering him about it. Now if only there were presents under the tree.

Even though its Monday morning and I woke up extraordinarily early for no reason whatsoever, I'm completely okay with that. And the reason is because at any given moment, I can decide to take a nap, and then do just that...take a big fat nap. There are 17 days until January 1, which is Clark's "official" due date. That means unless Clark plays a cruel trick on me and decides to continue baking after his due date, we have two weeks and three days. I am crossing my fingers that he will be early. Not because I'm in pain or miserable or uncomfortable, but because the anticipation is killing us. I'm definitely ready for the sleepless nights, poo poo diapers, and screaming baby. I'm so excited to see our families when show time gets here. I'm ready to send out a mass text message that says "on our way to meet Clark!" or something cheesy like that. (If you want to be added to the text message list and I don't have your number, email me and we'll take care of that.) I can't wait for Clark to meet his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and great-grandparents. He's one lucky little dude to be born into such an awesome family. His aunts and uncles are most certainly going to spoil the crap out of him, and that is completely fine.

Speaking of naps, I'm going to go get me one of those since I've been up for an entire two and a half hours. Aaron is going to be studying and drinking coffee all day and Jake will be keeping watch of anything suspicious looking around the house. I suspect Clark will be busy sucking his thumb, blinking, squirming around, practicing his breathing, and dozing in and out for the rest of the day. This will be the norm for the next week or two, and then our daily routine will be transformed into one I literally can't wrap my mind around quite yet. I'll most likely be updating this blog in between naps because, frankly, there's nothing else to do. Keep Aaron in your thoughts as he finishes up these last two exams. Halfway done with law school! Woo hoo!

December Photo Project Day 11

Thanks, Aaron, for getting the Christmas tree down from the attic.

And also for stripping the wires (or whatever it was you did) so that all the lights could work.

We don't have many Christmas decorations, but this is my favorite:

Handmade by Yaya, Clark's 89 year old great-grandmother.

Next on the to-do list:

1. Pack for hospital.

2. Wait for Clark.

December Photoless Project

Top Ten Thoughts This Evening:

1. I have the best of intentions of sending out Christmas cards but it just never happens. I absolutely love receiving them and putting them on my refrigerator, and I'm going to try really hard to do it next year.

2. I've had all of my baby shower thank you notes written for weeks now. I even have stamps on them and they are sitting in a nice looking stack on my kitchen table. The only reason I haven't sent them and keep putting it off is because I'm going to have to write my address 40 something times on the back of each envelope because we don't have any return address stickers or stamps. I look and feel like a complete slacker, but I just can't bring myself to do it right now.

3. I've received so many emails and facebook messages about what to pack for my short hospital stint. Let me just say...thank you thank you thank you thank you and thank you. I got some great and honest advice and by this Sunday, I am determined to have our bags packed and sitting in our room waiting for show time. Seriously, great advice and I really appreciate it.

4. Aaron took an exam this morning and has another one on Friday. And another one Tuesday. And another one Wednesday. Bless his soul. On December 16, he is officially halfway through law school.

5. This Friday is my last day of work. Bittersweet.

6. Clark is terribly squirmy lately.

7. The grilled chicken salad for dinner and strawberries for dessert was just perfect.

8. We have started cutting Jake off at 5:00. If he doesn't eat after 5:00, he doesn't poop! Its amazing!

9. I can't decide if I'm going to buy Aaron a Christmas present or not. We both agreed that we don't really want anything, but I just know that Aaron is not going to leave me empty handed on Christmas Day. I would feel so guilty if he got me something and I didn't get him anything (except Clark), but he is IMPOSSIBLE to shop for unless you want to spend a substantial amount of cash.

10. Still no Christmas tree. And still no camera. And house is still very dirty and un-ready for baby. And I'm going to Walmart after work tomorrow to buy paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware, because doing dishes is just not working for me lately.

December Photo Project Day 8 sans the Photo

Still no camera. Logic is telling me if I haven't found it by now, I'm probably not going to. So for DPP Day 8, I'm not going to have any photos to post, and probably won't for days 9-25 either, unless, of course, Mr. Aaron Rice kicks it up a notch and either helps me look for the camera or surprises me with a Daniel recommended camera. If not, we will be taking pictures of Clark on my phone, which is pretty terrible. Therefore, Aaron, its up to you. I'll support you in whatever you do, unless you continue ignore the fact that we don't have an adequate way of documenting history. In that case, I'll take matters into my own hands, and I'm not sure you or our savings account will smile about that.

I was told by my doctor this morning that because I'm 37 weeks (almost) pregnant, it is safe to say that Clark could literally come at any point. Maybe even tonight. Maybe in February. Who knows. So that got me thinking real hard about the details concerning show time. Since I will most likely be in the hospital for two nights, one thought that kept popping up in my head all day was "Oh gosh. What pajamas am I supposed to wear in the hospital?" Petty it may be, but I certainly couldn't dismiss it. They have to be comfortable and MUST be cute and strategic in a baby-feeding machine kind of way. Since I've never had an overnight stay in a hospital (besides that time I lived in one for two months in Washington D.C.), or should I say I've never been a patient in a hospital (knock on wood), I really have no clue how to pack.

So I spent a hefty amount of time shopping around Oxford and was extremely unimpressed. I didn't want any frumpy flannel pj's or anything cheesy with cartoons or hearts plastered all over them. I didn't know what size to get because I just know I'm going to lose every single pound of baby weight the second Clark is on the outside. That's a big, joke. Big, big joke. From what I hear, I'm going to look like I'm still about six months pregnant when I leave and maybe even several weeks afterwards. That's fine with me, but makes it difficult to plan my pajama wardrobe.

Like I said before, Belk had nothing. JC Penny had nothing. Walmart had nothing. And those are my only options in Oxford. Panic started to set in earlier as I realized I was going to have to wear Aaron's pajama pants (as I have been doing for the past four months). And then a little light bulb went off above my head and I started shopping online. Even though I currently cringe at even the thought of Victoria Secret given my current physical condition, they offer a huge selection of great flannel pajamas that lack any cheesiness. And, to put a giant cherry on top, they come with FREE slippers that match them. My motto has always been if its free, give me three. So that is exactly what I did. I ordered three sets of flannels and got my three free slippers. How perfect for a two night hospital stay? My only predicament is that they may take about eight days to get here, so I'm going to be having chats with Clark every night about how he probably needs to continue to bake for another week and a half just so he can see my new pj's. If anybody wants to email me or send me a facebook message on other things I might want to bring to the hospital, I would very much appreciate that.

On to more important things...this Friday is my last day of work. Strange. I was going back and reading my previous blogs during my unemployed days last year, and I sure did do a lot bellyaching back then. I realize it will be different being unemployed this time around because I will be trying my hardest to keep a baby happy and healthy, but its still going to be so odd not getting dressed up every morning and being productive in a money-making sort of way. I won't have to get out of my pajamas (that is, my new cute VS pajamas) and I probably will just nix showers altogether. For anybody who wants to come visit Clark, you have been forewarned. I may or may not continue the habit of brushing my teeth. We'll see about that. I just can't imagine what its going to be like not working. I'm so excited about getting to spend more time with Aaron and being a good wife that cooks (kind of) and cleans (kind of). In my head, I have this image of me in an apron and Aaron will come home from class and I have an ice cold beer and a deluxe dinner waiting on him every single day, although I'm sure that's far from reality. He'll be on his own for a while, kind of how its been for the past five years. But he is a true sport.

Let's talk more about Aaron. He is right smack in the middle of final exams, and while he should be nose deep in a book labeled "Corporations," he is sauteeing mushrooms for me. What a man. He has already taken one exam and has four more scattered throughout the next two weeks. He is studying like a madman. His study habits are pretty odd, to say the least. For some reason, he is most productive in the wee hours of the morning. So, for the past week or so, he has been completely nocturnal. He sleeps during the afternoon and starts studying right before dinner, and he is usually still wide awake, although slightly delirious from the twelve cups of coffee has consumed throughout the night, when I wake up in the morning. I don't understand it, and I've quit trying to understand it, but it works for him so I keep my mouth shut. He will go back to being normal the day of his last exam, but until then, suffice it to say I am having to deal with seeing Aaron for about ten minutes per day. Woe is me.

I'm so ready for these dang exams to end so that Aaron can climb up in the attic and get my Crimma tree and my shoebox full of Crimma decorations. I don't want to bother him with these mundane tasks now, and I don't think the pull down latter to the attic will hold me anymore, so I'm just having to wait. But when these exams are over, Aaron can (and will) help me with the final touches on the nursery, and deep cleaning the entire house for that matter, and if he mutters one word about not wanting to do something I ask him to, so help me God, he will pay. I have waited patiently and silently for December 16th (day of last exam) and I will not back down. Also, if we are on our way to the hospital and I ask him if he packed the camera, and he says "I never found it" or "I never got us a new one," he can just take his packed belongings and go live elsewhere. And that IS a threat, Aaron Rice.

I'm going to end this post with just one more little fact:This past weekend, I installed the car seat complete with Mr. Dangles in Aaron's truck, and yes, he has been driving around with it since Saturday. I'm sure he looks and feels like a complete tool driving around Oxford, Mississippi with a stuffed monkey buckled into a car seat in his backseat, but he's dealing with it. So sweet.

I've actually got so much more in my head, but now comes the point in the night where things start getting blurry and the sandman is tempting me to fall asleep. And its 8:11 p.m. How impressive. I'll continue the December Photo-less Project tomorrow.

December Photo Project Day 6: Confession

I missed DPP Day 5. Still no camera. I would love more than anything to say something witty about Aaron losing our pretty pink camera, but unfortunately, I've come to realize that I think I am the one who might have misplaced it. I may have been the last one to use it, but I honestly didn't realize this until I started thinking of the timeline of events. I just had to use it to take a cute picture of Jake, and that was after Aaron used it to upload pictures of the millions of deer that he, his brother and dad killed on their manly hunting trip. Up until this realization, I could have sworn that he had it last. I have no idea where I could have left it and I've looked all over the house for it. But Aaron gets to keep some of the blame because he has yet to find it. Or he has yet to buy a new one. I'm pretty sure I will find it when we are packing this house up to move in the next two years, or I'll find it somewhere completely obvious and Aaron will get to say something cheesy and sarcastic like "Its a good thing it wasn't a snake or it would have bitten you."

So for the photo of the day, I wanted to share one of the family pictures I took over Thanksgiving. This is most of the grandkids with the two grandmothers.

Because Aaron abandoned his eight month pregnant wife over Thanksgiving to go hunting, Jake and I packed up and headed to Jackson. It was so much fun and I got to spend some much needed time with my family. One of the highlights of the whole trip was Friday night when we got together to play board games and eat gummy life savers. We played Scattergories, and in case you've never played it, it is one of the funnest games out there. I realize funnest is not a word, but in the game of Scattergories, sometimes its necessary to make up words.

As it turns out, my brother Chase is pretty darn good at this game. Even better than me. For example, school supplies that start with an 'S' . What would you say? Chase said Sharpies and I said smelly markers. After an intense debate on whether or not smelly markers qualify as school supplies, I was not allowed to count mine. Or what about a breakfast food that starts with an S? Chase said sausage and I said sun-dried tomatoes. Apparently nobody in my family eats sun dried tomatoes for breakfast so I was not allowed to count that one either. It really is a fun game and I laughed the whole night.

I'm thinking about bringing Scattergories with me to the hospital and playing a couple of games in between contractions with whatever poor soul is in my room at the time. Or maybe I could venture out into the waiting room and play the game with whoever will humor me. I'm pretty sure it would pass the time and make for some good memories. I don't know if I would let Aaron play with me though, because we would have to Wikipedia every single answer he put. He has way too many useless facts stored in his brain and it would definitely be annoying in this particular game. He can be the timer.

December Photo Project Day 4

It is only Day 4 of this project and I am already struggling because I can't think of anything to write about or post pictures of. It might not be so tough if Aaron had not permanently lost our digital camera, because I would love to show a picture of Clark's room, or our Christmas tree (that is not currently up yet but will be when Aaron gets around to getting up in the attic), or even a cute updated picture of Jake. There will be no new pictures until Aaron gets me a new camera, and not having photos seems to defeat the purpose of the December Photo Project, so I may not be able to see this thing through to the end. So in the meantime, I thought I'd post a few of my favorite photos that were taken by Daniel, my new brother-in-law, for my 24th birthday.

We like to call these our engagement plus four years photos. We only had about eight weeks to plan our wedding, which made finding time to take engagement pictures impossible. We never had a nice little announcement in the newspaper and I never got bridal portraits, and that kind of sucked. So for my 24th birthday, Aaron surprised me by hiring Daniel to drive all the way to Starkville to shoot us for the day. I had just spent two consecutive weeks directing summer camps for rising high school seniors, but somehow Daniel managed to make the bags under my eyes disappear and keep my complete look of exhaustion to a minimum.

He's so talented and we always have so much fun with him and his new bride. I can't wait for him to get some good photos of Clark.

P.S. He is also participating in the December Photo Project and puts all others to shame.