reason #527 why maternity leave will be awesome

The past week, weekend, and beginning of this week have been probably one of the busiest at work that I have had in a while. Combine that with being 38 weeks pregnant and you get a very emotional, tired, and often cranky person. Nelson, being the great husband that he is, decided that I needed a little gift today to celebrate getting through the crazy times. I now am the proud owner of the complete set of the Gilmore Girls TV show. This is what I will be doing while on maternity leave- watching it from start to finish (hopefully Steph will come and join me for lots of it :) ). I can't wait. Forget sleeping while the baby sleeps, you'll find me watching the Gilmore Girls instead!

church shower

I was blessed again this past Sunday by some wonderful friends from church who threw me a great shower. We got lots of things that we need for the babe and also some wonderful advice and prayers that I definitely need as a soon-to-be mom. It really is an amazing blessing to be surrounded by such godly women who have been and will continue to pray for and support us! Thank you to you all from the bottom of my heart!


my mom, shelly, janet, me (in case you couldn't tell who the very pregnant one is), cris and kelli

student shower

Today some of the student's in our lab (plus one of the people who is taking over for me when I leave-not a student) had a lunch for me at a great place in the Lou called Wildflower's. It was very sweet and fun to spend some time together. They are all very excited about the babe coming and it means a lot to me that they care so much. Here are a few pics from today!


Carrie, Aliza, Kari, Sarah


Head rest/support and some sun shades from Kari


Cute clothes and a book from Aliza


A homemade blanket from Sarah (matches the nursery perfectly!!)


A Cardinals outfit from Ali


Tasty dessert

my favorite gas station

I have a little bit of an obsession with the gas station Mobil on the Run. I just love the inside area. It is just such a great spot- great soda fountain, great snacks, nice people, all around great spot. When I lived at my parents, there was a MOTR (that is what the cool people call it) very close by, but after getting married and moving to another part of town, we were not even close to the MOTR any more. I would look for excuses to go there, but it was just so far away, there was no way to justify it. So you can only imagine my delight when I found out a few months ago that they were tearing down a regular Mobil a block from our house and putting up a Mobil On the Run instead. I have already become a regular customer (it is a great thing that I have to drive a lot for my work so that I can visit the gas station more often). I always support their low gas prices by going inside to buy something from the store (I know, that is how they make their money, but I am happy to support them in that way). I usually go in the morning, get my gas and then get a breakfast bar or drink of some sort. If I am out of gum, I get some of that too! Well, now that you understand my love for MOTR, I can tell you the rest of the story. Today when I got home from work I noticed everyone had yellow bags on their doors. I thought it was probably the yellow pages or something like that. But it was way better. This yellow bag was from Mobil on the Run. It had a free mug inside it, a super absorbant towel and many coupons for the store. You would have thought it was Christmas at our house with all the excitement that I had towards this yellow bag. I even called my dad to tell him and make him jealous of the fact that he did not have one. You can bet that I will use my coffee mug with pride (right now it might have to just have water or decaf in it) and I will dry off my car using that super absorbent towel with a smile on my face. I will also go buy some cheese nachos with my coupon and savor every bite of the very processed cheese. Thanks MOTR for making my day even brighter!

work shower

Today I had a shower with my co-workers at the Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately it was snowing outside so we did not get to enjoy the outdoors and beautiful flowers. We still had lots of fun though, and I got lots of great gifts. I feel truly blessed to have so many people who love and care for us and who are so excited for our little guy to be here!


Carrie, one of the hostesses and me


opening some gifties


Lisa and her super cute son


Jeanenne and Jackie, two great co-workers


Susy, my boss!


a really cool frame- a picture goes in the middle then a footprint made out clay on one side and a handprint made of out of clay on the other side (the clay came with the frame!)


everybody!

diaper bag!

Earlier this week, a friend and I made the trip to a wonderful St. Louis store called Melanie's. It is pretty much a girl's delight- jewelry, bags, monograms, stationary, etc. We found some great bags, I will use mine for a diaper bag and she is using hers for a gym bag. I am very excited about my bag and already put a few things in it to get it ready for when our little guy comes!

windshield wipers and blinkers

so today as I was driving home through the rain, I realized something- that I have two very strong pet peeves related to windshield wipers and blinkers and the speed of them both. Let me explain. First, windshield wipers. They need to be at the right speed. When it is barely raining, there is no need to have your wipers on full blast. It is just not necessary. When you are sitting at a red light and are under an overpass, you can turn your wipers down, your windshield is not getting wet. You can turn them back on when you start driving again in the rain, but while you are under the overpass, turn them down. On the other hand, if it is raining and you do not turn on your wipers, that is just dumb. So turn them on, just make sure they are right speed. Now onto blinkers. Some people's blinkers are just entirely way too fast. I am not sure if there is a short in the circuit or something, but it is so fast that I like to call it an "overactive blinker." I am not sure what can be done about this because blinkers are not really adjustable like wipers are. But I have to admit, if there is an overactive blinker somewhere in my field of vision, I have to turn my head so I can no longer see it. That's how bad my aversion to overactive blinkers is.
So just a little heads up to the drivers out there- make sure your wiper speed is under control and your blinkers are not overactive!