Hi

I am 40+ weeks pregnant. I am no longer required to be productive.

Posted: August 24th, 2008 | Author: alexiarudolph | Filed under: Pregnancy | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Back when I was in my final weeks of work and freaking out about how much stuff I had left to do both at work in my personal life, I kept a to-do list. A very long to-do list. I kept telling everyone that the last thing on my to-do list was to have a baby, and once I completed everything on my list that came before that, I would be able to relax. I am happy to report that I have actually completed about 95% of the tasks on the to-do list, and have moved almost completely into Relax Before Baby Arrives Mode. In case anyone was worried, here is proof that I am really, truly taking it easy:

How I spent my LAST babyless weekend:

SATURDAY:

8am: Wake up.

9am: Meet Jen for breakfast at Gravy. Eat a lot and gossip a lot. Things we are best at. Besides G-Chatting.

10:30am: Go by my Portland house to pick up some stuff I still have there (prompting a call from Aaron later, worried that someone broke in since I locked the deadbolt, something he never does. Yes, someone broke in and stole all the pink candles and pregnancy books, and then decided the house wasn’t secure enough.)

11am: Home Depot. Tracked down tiny pegs to hang shelves that we MUST hang in cabinets before Holland arrives. Decided Home Depot employees are incompetent and that place is hell on earth. Found pegs myself. Am exhausted from effort.

11:30am: Arrive back at home. Change back into default outfit of maternity leave (boxer shorts, tank top and my green robe. I am officially the weird pregnant cat lady of my neighborhood).

11:35: See what the cats are doing.

11:45am: Fall asleep.

5pm: Wake up. 

5:15pm: Call Emily, from whom I had four texts and four missed calls of the OMG ARE YOU HAVING THE BABY variety.

5:30: See what the cats are doing.

5:45: Emily arrives.

6pm: Joe comes home from Sauvie’s Island. Entertains us. Goes to bed.

6:30pm: Emily and I install my car seat base. We are successful. Or rather, she is. I watch. We decide I am a soccer mom.

7pm: Emily and I pack my hospital bag and pick out Holland’s going home and picture outfits. Squeal. Fold baby socks.

8pm to 10pm: Lay around the house, read. See what cats are doing.

10pm: Joe still isn’t awake, and thus, cannot cook us dinner. Mom and I eat warmed up leftover taco meat with cheese on top with chips.

11pm: Go to safeway for ice cream. Spend 10 minutes in the magazine aisle reading fitness magazines while holding a quart of double chocolate brownie ice cream, hot fudge and caramel topping. Decide even I can’t bring myself to purchase that combo, and leave the magazines behind.

SUNDAY:

Midnight: Joe wakes up, leaves to watch olympic basketball with his friends. Emma wakes up Mom and me. We entertain ourselves by looking at all my old pictures on my Flickr account, watching Fresh Prince reruns and spying on the cats.

3am: Finally start to fall asleep again. Joe comes home, wakes up me, Mom and all the animals.

4am: Mom makes us macaroni and cheese with kosher hot dogs. I tell Joe that I used his iTunes to download a Jonas Brothers song, to which he replies “MOM! Alexia used my password to buy a Jonas Brother’s song on my iTunes! Now someday when I try to buy a house my credit will be ruined!”

4:30am: See what the cats are doing.

4:45am: Go to bed.

8am: Wake up. Promptly go back to bed.

2pm: Wake up again. Take inventory of house. Everyone else is asleep. Even the cats.

2:30pm: Go to Burger King. Eat. Wonder how I could have forgotten how amazing Burger King is.

3pm: See what cats are doing.

3:30pm: Write blog.

4pm: My mom just woke up and said something about how we have stuff to do before Holland arrives. I am going back to bed. Right after I see what the cats are doing.

Mine

Posted: July 4th, 2008 | Author: alexiarudolph | Filed under: Fun, Pregnancy, Shopping | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

I have been thinking about what sort of baby bag to buy for quite some time. Despite the fact that my mother informed me that I “don’t need” one (give me a break), I continued to think about it (please! like I am going to pass on a good reason to buy a new bag!). Bags are important to me. This couldn’t be just any purchase or just any diaper bag. NO. It has to match my outfits, fit the baby stuff, be convenient and useful…but I really didn’t want something that screams “diaper bag” either. There are a lot of ugly diaper bags out there. There are also a lot of EXPENSIVE diaper bags out there. I had to stop imagining myself owning the Coach Signature Stripe Patent Tote (in black!) because, let’s get real, I am not at a point in my life that I can rationalize a $400 bag purchase. Maybe someday. I had been anticipating payday for a while, pondering what sort of big purchase to make this month now that I don’t have to worry about a crib…new sunglasses? Pack and Play for the baby? Diaper bag? ALL THREE? That remains to be seen. Anyway, yesterday was payday, and I was having a bad morning. Coming up on a holiday weekend, no plans to be seen. All my friends made plans to go out of town and didn’t include me (thanks, friends!) and to make things worse, I actually WON tickets to see Maria Taylor at the Doug Fir this Saturday, and have no one to go with. Nobody wants to hang out with the pregnant girl. So, on the verge of a meltdown at work yesterday, and without Alana online to talk me down like normal, I decided to do some shopping to make myself feel better. I waked right over to Nordstrom, checked out the sunglasses (decided to wait for the sale), bought a couple of tops at BP (they fit!) and looked at sandals (my feet have grown! aaah!). On my way out, on a whim, I walked into handbags. I looked around for a while, and then stopped at a display of some marc by marc jacobs totes…and there it was. Not a baby bag, but usable as one. Nylon. Quilted. Black. Pretty. I put it on and it fit me perfectly, and I could wear it and have my hands completely free because of the long strap. Perfect for pushing a stroller. Anyway, I bought it. I love it. I am going to buy a diaper bag organizer kit to put inside (travel changing pad, some sort of bottle holder, etc..). And here it is:

 poppy-tote

After my exciting purchase (I was excited, the salesgirl was excited, we were all excited) I skipped out of Nordstrom and stopped by Baskin Robbins on the way back to the office and bought an Oreo Explosion Sundae (which was amazing) to top off my great lunch hour. A good time was had by all. Later that day, Alana finally got online and I told her my story. She promised to hang out with me this weekend (Me: I had to buy something because I was sad that everyone ditched me this weekend. Alana: I am staying in town. I could have saved you a lot of money!) but being Alana, could appreciate the purchase of an expensive bag. Sunday we are going to do our favorite activity: JB shopping (Jantzen Beach, for those of you not from the ’hood) and I plan to buy some diaper bag necessities. Happy weekend!