Junky Arm

Nine days after my three hour glucose test, my left arm still looks like I've been doing heroin. The good news is that I do not have gestational diabetes. The bad news is that the crook of my elbow still hurts!
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update on the little guy

we went in today for an ultrasound. we got to see our son swimming around in there. he has finally turned head down and decided today to start kicking me in the ribs. oh the small joys of motherhood.

he weighs about 2 lbs 11 oz right now and has those nice long legs you would expect from the offspring of two people shaped like jeremy and me.

he helped mommy and daddy move all our stuff out of the storage unit and into our new apartment upstairs this morning. we went to babies'r'us and bought his crib and stroller/car seat. jeremy is upstairs right now assembling the crib and spare bed in the little closet/second bedroom. next weekend we will be moving all of our stuff in our current apartment up and living up there.

we are so happy to start puting otgether the little guy's room and preparing for his arrival! we have signed up of birth classes at the hospital - they start in february. we will have a few purcahses to make to complete our new little nest upstairs (like a dresser or two or three, since there isn't a single closet in the whole place and a couch) and i think some painting, but i can't wait!

baby koci will be here in about 11 weeks (give or take) and we are well on our way to being ready!

kansas trip 2011: koci family shower

 darci made a cute diaper cake and the family loaded it down with gift cards! we've been doing some shopping online with some of them, and as soon as we move to the upstairs apartment that is a little bit bigger, we will go and buy our crib and stroller/car seat. i can't wait!!!!

 the women all made tons of food - we ate non stop all day and it was great. YUM. nothing a pregnant lady likes more than a buffet!

the whole family was together in one room for the first time in ages! look at all of us! next time we are all in the same room there will be one more little koci. he is excited to meet his big cousins!

kansas trip 2011: family time!

 i got to have some serious baby time with garrett, the newest (but not for long!) member of the koci family.i spent tons of time with garrett's big brother and sister too, but for some reason didn't take a single picture with either of them :(

 we stayed with shane and darci and it was great to see them too! i have just this one super awkward picture of me and darci - again, i awas apparently a failure at taking pictures.

during our shower we got to see tons of family that we never get to see ever, like aunt corrine!

spending so much time with our families was wonderful. the kids are growing up so fast and everyone's lives are constantly changing - new kids, new jobs, new houses... it is hard to keep up from 1500+ miles away!

kansas 2011 shower #1

 the ladies from central threw us a shower. it was great. not only did we get some great stuff and gift cards for the little guy, i got to see some friends that i havent seen in ages and actually spend time talking to them.

 everyone kept asking me where the baby bump was. he's defintiely in there, but he wasn't poking out so much then. now is a whole different story. all the people at work tell me they think i'm growing by the second. that's the way to a pregnant lady's heart, let me tell you.

 the diaper cake was cute and the little monkey guarding the gift cards was sweet. our little guy is going to have so many cute stuffed animals. not only have we received several as gifts, there are a few of ours in storage from when we were little. i kinda hope that jeremy's old grover becomes his favorite.

most importantly. he received his first k-state gear. it is size 12 mos, so he will definitely need something smaller for football season, but i am happy that our little wildcat will be properly attired for march madness next year. after all, raise a child in the way he should go... and all that, right?

kansas 2011 part 1

after a nightmarish airplane trip, my brother bryce and his girlfriend picked me, jeremy andjeremy's luggage up at the kc airport. not so much my luggage. we made it home for dinner and to celebrate my baby brother's sixteenth birthday. SIXTEEN. yikes.

the next day, after the arrival of my luggage at 3:30 in the morning, my mom and i spent some girl time together. we went and got our toes done, shopped for me and the baby and just played around. we also took some quick time to visit the holiday retirement building in wichita. it was exactly like the building in kittery that we trained in, so i gave my mom a practice tour. we also went to her doctor's office so she could here the little guy's heartbeat. it was great. we arrived home to a small situation with my parents air conditioner unit (thankfully it is winter time and they can fix it).

 after dealing with that, we all went out to eat to celebrate my dad's birthdya and max's again. p.f. changs was delicious as usual. the company was fabulous too. we were loud and the waitress had no idea what to do with all of us, but it was just the way we all liked it. and i had clothes to wear. so that was good.

new day, new year

yep. it is time for the annual "let's see how i did on last year's resolutions and make some new ones" post. here's is last year's post if you want to refresh yourself. i had to look back and see what i wanted to accomplish this year - most of those goals were news to me. so much has happened and changed this year that several of them were not practical to meet.

bascially, losing my job in april, getting a new one and moving all over in may and june and getting pregnant in july meant that life was strange this year.

i did run a 5k (just one! i am so ashamed!) but did not pr. i prolly made my goal of 500 miles but fell off keeping track around the time i found out i was pregnant.

instead of focusing on what i didnt do last year, let's talk about what i am going to do this year...

i got a wii fit for christmas and i would like to do at least 30 min on it four days a week. its fun and interesting and has plenty of exercises that will keep me occupied through the end of this pregnancy in april. after that i make no promises because i dont know what kind of baby this will be. if i wind up taking him running in my bob instead of doing the wii fit thats even better.

i'm not off medication and in fact have added several vitamins etc to the mix but i feel healthy and the baby is healthy and thats the main thing. once he arrives i can cut back again and that will be a good thing! im not setting any goals about this for the year because pregnancy is weird and i dont know what will happen after he arrives.

there are some reading/writing related goals i have been thinking about, but i'm not ready to commit most of them to paper. i would like to pay more attention to my blog in 2011. hopefully i have plenty to talk about in april!

i don't really have tons of goals or ideas for this year because i know that life will take a dramatic turn once the little guy arrives and i dont want to set too many expectations for myself without knowing him yet.

anyone out there making goals for 2011? do share!

cats on my chair

rumpy as sitting in my computer chair and i moved him so i could sit there. he jumped up with cricket and started kissing her. she tolerated it for a while then pushed him off.  its a short clip and i am NOT a good videographer but enjoy!

22 Weeks

all the requests for belly pictures have now been satisfied. mostly i just look like i've been eating too many french fries but the little guy is definitely in there and making his presence known (to me and possibly the cats but jeremy can't feel him yet).

we are excited for our trip to kansas next month and hope to see as many of you that are around as possible!!!

p.s. that is not our furntiture. that's from the guest apartment we stayed in when we were at guilford this weekend. just in case you were wondering when ceramic painted flowerdy vase lamps became my favorite thing.

gone to guilford

ourboss called wednesday night and asked us for help. another community in connecticut needed one of the couples from windham falls to come help out for the weekend. jeremy and i volunteered despite my massive cold (pregnancy colds are the absolute worse) and we drove up to guilford on thursday morning. we arrived not knowing how long we would be staying - it winds up we will ne here until sunday. this is a beautiful building and there are lovely people living and working here. even though it is weird and stressful to be managing someone else's building, we are really enjoying ourselves.

it snowed a little bit today - just flurries that didnt stick, but it really made me want to curl up with a cat and a book. however, the cats are still in groton. i miss them much more than any normal person should (ahem crazy cat lady). i'm feeling super pregnant (although still just have a little baby belly) and the little guy is kicking around like crazy. this cold has made me even more tired than usual and sleeping in a strange bed (a double no less) doesnt help.

life has been busy and i'm just trying to keep up. christmas shopping has been completely overwhelming to me, even though we have less people to buy for this year than before, due to a name draw thing on jeremy's side. there were those people who were super easy and were done a month ago and those that are really hard to buy for. somehow those always get saved for last. ugh. our priorities are changing and our unique job situation combined with the impending arrival of baby koci mean christmas isnt as exciting this year. that sounds weird to say. next year with an eiight month old it will be so much fun but this year i dont even think we are decorating. maybe not even a wreath. not that i'm a grinch or anything but i'm too tired.

i've got a doctor appt monday and i will schedule my next ultrasound - sometime at the end of january. yay! there is nothing like watching my son kick around on a screen and hearing his little heart beat. i'm 22 weeks and 2 days. in one week and 5 days he has a 50/50 chance of surviving outside the womb. hopefully he sticks around in there til april though - we certainly are nowhere near ready to met him. he is truly just a little person in there and it is beyond weird to me. we made our registries at babies r us and amazon but still arent sure where we are actually going to fit any baby paraphenalia in our little apartment. i barely have room for the few outfits and blankets we have acquired so far.

incompletely unrelated thoughts, i am watching what not to wear and commercials for the next great baker keep showing. apparently the bakers who are cut from the show get shipped off in the delivery truck. this is defnitely jersey! the cake boss doesnt mess around, yall.

thanksgiving, untraditional

Image via Wikipedia

we are working in our community this year for thanksgiving. it is the first year either of us had to work on this holiday, and it is a little weird. last year we were in a whole other state celebrating by ourselves and this year we have 140 friends to celebrate with, although most of them were with their families for the noon meal.

our chef made a wonderful turkey dinner with all the traditional sides (well not all. there were no la seur peas). the phones arent ringing and our bosses arent sending out tons of emails, no one's toilet is overflowing... so far a good day.

there are so many things we have to be thankful for. obviously for our jobs and home and each other, our health, family etc. but there are other things.

things like feeling my baby move around inside me. this little guy has tons of energy y'all!
things like sitting in my rocker with my feet up and having a soft fluffy cat crawl into my lap and purr.
or hot apple cider available 24-7 in our coffee bar.
my netbook that allows me to get online anywhere my phone gets a signal.
our dvr.
my down comforter and quilts on cold nights like last night.
jeremy going to starbucks whenever i feel like a hot chocolate.
friends in new hampshire that we get to see on sunday.
friends in la that are having babies (and the ones that arent).
friends all over the country, and really the world, that love us.
half and half from nantucket nectar
granulated honey


there are so many little things that i take for granted all the time. today is a wonderful time to sit and reflect on some of those things.

what little thing are you especially thankful for today?

welcome to parenthood

yes, we will be parents. in april. but thankfully i have two amazing furry friends that like to give me wee little glimpes into what life will be like as a mom.

take this saturday as an example. it was like day 15 of working straight without a day off. i was tired. when my alarm went off at 6:$5am it was all i could do to peel myself out of bed and head into the shower. rumpy and cricket both wait very impatiently for me to wake up in the mornings so i can feed them. after i used the bathroom, i stumbled into the kitchen to get the cat food out and almost stepped in a special little gift in the middle of the rug. im still not sure which end of which cat it came out of, but i am sure that no one should have to deal with something like that before coffee. i put on gloves and dealt with the mess and put the rug in our empty laundry basket (yes they waited until i had finished all the laundry to make a nasty mess).

i fed the cats and the fish, took a shower, got dressed and got ready for work. jeremy got in the shower and i was in the bathroom burshing my teeth and putting on makeup. cricket and rumpy both came in, because they like being around and rumpy is obsessed with the shower. cricket looked at me, walked over to the bath mat and peed. right there. only about three feet from their litter box. looking at me the entire time as if to say "im mad that you are working so much so here's what you get." and she is supposed to be the good cat!

so, inbetween serving meals, answering the phones and all the myriad of other tasks that come on a saturday at windham falls, i got to do dirty nasty laundry. i thought i still had a few months of carefree living before having to deal with stuff like this!!!

book review: maybe this time

synopsis from barnes and noble's website:

The New York Times bestselling author of Bet Me, Tell Me Lies and Welcome to Temptation delivers her long-awaited novel


Andie Miller is ready to move on in life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, he asks one final favor of her before they go their separate ways forever. A very distant cousin of his has died and left North as the guardian of two orphans who have driven out three nannies already, and things are getting worse. He needs a very special person to take care of the situation and he knows Andie can handle anything.
When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren’t your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What’s worse, Andie’s fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right. Andie’s dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house. And that’s not the only haunting.
What follows is a hilarious adventure in exorcism, including a self-doubting parapsychologist, an annoyed medium, her Tarot-card reading mother, an avenging ex-mother-inlaw, and, of course, her jealous fiancé. And just when she thinks things couldn’t get more complicated, North shows up on the doorstep making her wonder if maybe this time things could be different between them.
If Andie can just get rid of all the guests and ghosts, she’s pretty sure she can save the kids, and herself, from the past. But fate might just have another thing in mind…

my review: if you haven't read a jennifer crusie book and you like fun, flirty chick lit, then you better get started. her characters are funny and quirky and off-beat, and the plot lines, while a little odd, keep one's attention and keep me laughing. this book was no exception. i loved the characters, especially the kids she is taking care of. if you like ms. crusie's work already, then rest assured that this one is just as good, if not better, than her previos novels. definitely read it.

baby pictures!

this was our ultrasound at 12 weeks. i'm 17 weeks now and scheduled for my anatomy ultrasound in a couple of weeks. yay! you can see baby's head, wee little hands, and belly in this picture. cute, isn't he? (or she...)

book review: A Deadly Row

A Deadly Row

Casey Mayes

Capturing the hot new craze:
The new Math Puzzle mystery series.

Math whiz Savannah Stone makes a living creating Math puzzles in rural North Carolina. But when the mayor starts receiving death threats, Savannah needs to solve this puzzle-before the next box to be filled is the mayor's coffin.

my review: this was a fun mystery, not too brain bending or terrifying. savannah makes math puzzles (i assume sudoku but it is never explicitly stated what kind of puzzle) and her husband is the retired chief of the charlotte police. i had a pretty strong hunch who the killer was throghout the book but there were other plot points and interesting tidbits to keep the story moving. it is a genre mystery, meaning if you like math puzzles and mystery books you would prolly like this one more, but i prefer the siamese cats of the cat who series for my genre mystery reading. there was nothing objectionable or exceptionally bloody in it. i'd be interested to see what subsequent book sin the series are like.