rest in peace jake

on monday we found out that my parents' beagle jake had a massive 11 cm tumor on his spleen which had already spread to his liver. the vet said it was an aggressive, fast-spreading type of cancer. by the time you notice that anything is wrong, it's too late. there was nothing more they could do for him. jake died peacefully today. he was 12 years old and had 6 good years here after my parents adopted him from a beagle rescue. everyone here is very sad, but we're glad that he's not suffering anymore.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

we love you and miss you snort!

uh oh spaghetti-o's

so jeremy and i just got back from our first official appointment in mass. roo thoroughly enjoyed the train ride in. it seems to love all the beeps the train makes - kicking me every time! my records from richmond didn't make it there yet (way to be on the ball richmond doctor's office) so we pretty much had to start from scratch. my blood pressure was pretty high today - the first time it has been anything but good this whole pregnancy. they took it again a second time a little while later - it was lower but still on the high side, especially compared to where it has been during my previous visits. the b-word was mentioned (bed rest) so that's not good. have to go back on thursday and monday to have my bp checked again to see if it stays elevated. it's not like i'm completely stressed or anything ;) but preeclampsia is always a worry. other symptoms include protein in the urine (guess we'll find out soon how my pee checks out) and swelling in the feet, hands, and face. my feet are obviously swollen all the time and my hands and face have been tingly, though not noticeably swollen. hopefully i am just paranoid at this point. what's funny is i always thought that bed rest would be freaking awesome, but when actually confronted with it, not so much :) roo also appears to be tracking big still so we're going in for an ultrasound on thursday too to see just how big we're talking. and since they didn't have my records and were worried about the whole vitamin b12 deficiency, guess who got to give another 6 vials of blood today???? yup. me. at least this time the lab peeps listened to me and went straight for the hand. they were a little skeptical, but did it anyway. good old hand vein pulled through as always and pumped out the 6 vials (including 2 massive ones!) in record time.

productive trip to the mall

hit the mall earlier today with much success.

got a new cell phone (you can call me again - i can't call you - i don't know any one's phone numbers!!) from t-mobile for only $25. i miss my old phone. we had quite the four year relationship. oh well. all good things must end.

got some new maternity shirts that will hopefully cover the whole belly plus a stash of nursing bras (fun!) the girl at the motherhood maternity store thought i was having twins. guess i'm huge :)

also used our babies r us gift card from jeremy's mom to purchase our car seat / stroller thingy. now roo can come home from the hospital after it's born. assuming it has a home. how about this - roo can leave the hospital after it's born. in a car.

34 weeks

so 6 weeks to go. somehow that seems like way less than 7 weeks. at least we are now in the state of massachusetts so that the odds of roo being born without daddy around have just gone way down. we're also making a list of the things we need to acquire asap (car seat, stroller, etc.) so that we're ready should roo make a surprise early appearance. from babycenter.com: Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies. things seems to progressing on the house front. someone came to see our house yesterday too - giving us a grand total of 3 showings in a week! we haven't had that kind of action, even when it first went on the market. plus the realtor called this morning to tell us that the 12-minute lady is coming back to see it again (yeah!) and to let us know he's going to do an open house tomorrow. hopefully something will happen soon so that we can make something happen up here and get moderately settled before roo comes. even if the richmond house sells, we think we might still with the plan to buy a little farther outside the city to save some money. it would be fun to live closer to the city, but it would be nice to have spending money too :)

moving on up (a week in review)

it's been a helluva week. not sure i'll remember everything, but i'll give it a shot!! thursday 7/5 after scrambling to get out of the office early (got to love junk mail related emergencies!), i picked up my mother at the train station and headed home to meet some folks from work who had GRACIOUSLY offered to help me empty the fried-tape boxes from the attic so we could get them re-taped before the movers got there on tuesday. my friend jenn and i went off to pick up some virginia bbq for dinner, while her husband buck, jay, and jeffrey unloaded the attic in record time. (they were quite pleased to find that it is a walk-up attic as opposed to one of those creaky pull-down from the ceiling contraptions!) they were done before jenn and i made it back with dinner! we enjoyed a wonderful southern meal (mmmmm hush puppies and sweet tea!) before they all left. my mom passed out on the couch due to her long day of train travel, and i returned a call to our realtor. someone wanted to come see our house - yeah! on saturday - boo! the weekend really needs to be all about the packing, but we also really need to sell the house. so friday would have to be a "make the house look presentable even though we are mid-move" day instead of a "hard core crazy packing" day. sigh. friday 7/6 i had to work friday, but i gave my mom a list of stuff to work on while i was out, mainly re-taping and organizing the boxes the boys had brought down from attic the day before. we also found some stuff that could be easily packed without making the house look empty for the showing the next day. she got going on her list and i headed off to work. until our entire day was thrown off course... around lunch time i received a phone call from my mom. jackson the beagle had gotten into her suitcase (he knows how to open zippers!) and had eaten her entire week of medications and vitamins including blood pressure medicine and a crapload of ibuprofen. (she takes fish oil pills and we think that the aroma of those was just TOO good to ignore for jackie's beagle nose!) fortunately (or unfortunately - not sure) this was not the first time jack has ingested mass quantities of human medication so i am familiar with the routine. last time, when he ate a whole box of zicam, i wrote down the instructions from the aspca's poison control hotline (god bless them) on how to induce vomiting in a canine (hydrogen peroxide and ice cream - yum!) i told my mom where to find those instructions as well as the puppy poison control phone number. she got off the phone with me to get working on the ice cream concoction and to call poison control. she got him to vomit on the first try, but the aspca recommended that he get to a vet asap to get some activated charcoal. turns out of all the stuff he ate, ibuprofen is the worst and can be fatal in dogs. i called the vet and got them to squeeze us in even though they were booked all afternoon. i scooted out of work early to get him to the vet. jack got his dose of charcoal from dr. riley (and apparently enjoyed it!) dr. riley said that most pets hate the stuff, but jack ate it right up - figures! back at home, jack was relaxing on the couch in the living room. the living room with the light tan carpets. without any notice at all, he vomited up the charcoal from his belly. on the light tan rug. fun. remember that we have a showing at noon the next day. and we're supposed to be packing. because the movers that are already paid for are coming on tuesday. mom and i spent about an hour cleaning the huge black puddle out of the carpet. by the time we were done, you couldn't even tell it was ever there. phew. but we lost essentially a whole day of packing and cleaning time. we used the rest of friday evening to organize and clean the house as much as possible for the showing on saturday. but there was still a ton to do before noon... but jack is ok :) saturday 7/7 we got up pretty early to get to work cleaning and prepping for the showing. absolutely no packing was done. but by 11:30 a.m. the downstairs rooms were gleaming and looked thoroughly lived-in. the upstairs rooms were mostly empty, except for some well-organized boxes, but they were good enough to show. these people have to understand that we're seriously in the middle of moving, right??? we loaded the dogs into the car, went through the drive-thru for some limeades, and then pulled into the parking lot across the street from our house to scope out these potential buyers. they stayed in the house for 12 minutes - a new record for one of our showings! maybe 7/7/7 would be our lucky day! we headed back in once they left and rested a bit before launching into some serious no holds barred packing. we got a lot done. it looked like a tornado had come through our house, but boxes were getting filled left and right. we got a good chunk of the living room, dining room, master bathroom, and master bedroom done. the kitchen and the shed loomed in front of us, but we had some major reinforcements coming in the next day. feeling good about our progress, despite the inconvenience of the house showing and jackson's digestive pyrotechnics :) sunday 7/8 another early day for me and mom. we got back to work on the dining room and living room while our assistants for the day made their ways toward richmond. jenny and john came down from dc to help and jeremy's mom came up from williamsburg again. they all arrived around the same time and we all got back to work. virginia and jenny ROCKED OUT the kitchen (major props to them!!) while john tackled the scary, manly outdoor project - the shed. my mom kept going in the living room and i essentially finished the dining room. we ran out of cube and medium boxes at one point so jenny and i made a trip to the uhaul store to get more. the girl there officially knows me now and couldn't believe we were back for more! i have too much stuff. jeremy - please notice i said "i" - i know it's my fault :) additionally, we unloaded the contents of our kitchen cupboards on to the counters and everyone went grocery shopping before they left. by the time the help dispersed, we were tired but feeling really good that we would be ready for the movers to show up on tuesday.

monday 7/9 i had to work again, but mom kept busy while i was out, packing boxes and shredding catalogs to use a packing material. my sister becky and her boyfriend came by "to help" after work, though they really didn't do anything except distract us from packing. oh well. at least they took some more of the unwanted food with them. a scheduled trip to the vet for bailey (just his regular shots) also slowed us down. it was a late, late night as we tried to get everything packed before the movers arrived some time between 9-11 the next day. i tackled as much of the master bedroom as i could before having to throw in the towel a little after midnight. if i wasn't pregnant i could probably have stuck it out much longer, but the extraordinarily swollen ankles, back pain, and general fatigue just wouldn't allow it. i set my alarm for 6 the next morning, while mom continued to work well into the night (she didn't go to bed until 3:20!!!) tuesday 7/10 i got right out of bed at 6, nervous about our ability to be ready for the movers when they got there. i decided to let mom sleep in since she had been up so late, especially when i saw how much progress she had made! with my energy refreshed and my ankles at their new "normal" size i was able to finish the master bedroom by 7 a.m., including isolating things i didn't want the movers packing into the master bathroom, master closet, and guest bathroom - three areas they didn't even need to touch! mom got up at 7 and between the 2 of us we tackled as many of those weird items that you end up with (you know the oddly sized or shaped ones that just don't fit nicely into boxes) as we could. i also ran out quickly to get bottled water and gatorade for the movers ( it was gonna be a HOT one!) and to hit up the atm for cash to tip them at the end of the day. we were making good progress, but secretly hoping the movers would come toward the later part of their 9-11 window. nope. they pulled up at 9:06. we got the dogs crated up, and took the movers for a walk-through of all that would need to be POD-packed. they immediately expressed concern about the ability to fit it all in 2 PODS, but committed to giving it their best shot. 2 of them got going loading the PODS, while the 3rd started packing up all the stuff we hadn't gotten to yet (lamps, framed art, etc.) there wasn't much left for mom and i to do by 10ish so we just watched as they hauled and hauled and hauled. not looking good for getting it all in to the 2 PODS. by 3 p.m. they had gotten everything out of the house (furniture and boxes) that they were supposed to, but the PODS were bursting at the seams. all the outdoor stuff (patio furniture, grill, shed contents) remained but there just wasn't room. oh well. the movers went on their way just as the thunder clouds rolled in and jeremy and i started planning "plan b" to get the remaining stuff up to massachusetts. "plan b" basically consists of a one-way plane ticket for jeremy and a uhaul truck :) no fun, but there's enough stuff left that it is worth it. 20 minutes after the movers left, the realtor called. someone wanted to come see the house in a half hour. though i am quite desperate to sell the house, i had to say hell no. when the movers moved the furniture, we discovered several of the kitty's favorite hiding places. there were patches of black cat hair under everything. the house was a certifiable disaster area. we took a chance that the potential buyers would be willing to come on wednesday instead. the realtor called back a few minutes later to say that we were on for 3 p.m. on wednesday. phew. but another freaking showing to prepare for when we have some MAJOR cleaning to do. oh well, gotta sell the house. realtor did mention that the peeps who saw it on saturday absolutely loved the house, but they were concerned about the lot across the street. but they liked it enough to call the city to research the plans for the lot across the street, so that's promising. we'll see. i had to run off to a going-away happy hour that my coworkers were having for me and mom stayed home relaxing (though without any furniture!) and doing some organizing. later that night i made a walmart run to get us some blow-up mattresses to sleep on. i think i totally scored a $37 air mattress for free thanks to the general incompetence of my walmart cashier. sweet. the air mattresses weren't the most comfortable ones in the world, but after a long day of packing and moving, they were good enough. wednesday 7/11 reality sets in. there is no freaking way we'll get all the remaining packing, cleaning, spackling, etc. done in time to leave on thursday plus be ready for the showing at 3. it's just not going to happen. even if we stayed for 3-4 more days we probably couldn't get it all done to my standards. we decide to add the spackling and painting to jeremy's agenda for his "plan b" trip and to hire merry maids to do the cleaning when jeremy is back in richmond. we started packing up the remaining things to make jer's uhaul loading easier. and cleaning up all the cat and dog fur. which is when the vacuum craps out. yes, the $500+ dyson. lovely. it just wasn't picking up any of the hair like it normally does. but i quickly diagnosed two issues - one it was set on the bare floor setting (why? i do not know) and i was doing carpet, and the beater bar thing was coated in layers of tangled thread, hair, etc. after switching the setting and cleaning out the beater bar we were back in business sucking up fur like a freaking dyson should. phew. i didn't want to have to hate my dyson. i love my dyson. at 1:57 the doorbell rings. it's the potential buyer and her agent. my mom is holding 3 of the dogs by their collars and i had the 4th. this is a rough re-enactment of our conversation: realtor: did your realtor tell you we were coming? me: (tersely) yes. at 3. realtor: (awkward pause, as if waiting for me to offer to let them see it now) me: we're in the middle of moving. come back at 3. realtor: ok we'll come back at 3. me: great. i'm sure we're at the top of their list now, but i don't care. i just want to be able to get on the road like we're supposed to on thursday. mom and i quickly finished up what we were doing, loaded the dogs into the car, deciding to forgo the limeade, and parked across the street to watch. they came back promptly at 3 and stayed in the house for 6 minutes. not bad considering there is no furniture or decor of any kind in it. just empty rooms. we dropped the dogs off and set out to run some errands. i dropped my mom off at the scrapbooking store while i ran into the office to check email and do some web-necessary to-do items. afterwards, we dropped a bunch a crap off at the goodwill, grabbed some wine boxes from the wine store to pack our wine in, and grabbed dinner (our first real meal in days!) at lonestar. delicious. except i think i left my cell phone there, though they said they didn't find it. so if you're trying to call me, that why i am not answering. there's a chance that my phone is just somewhere else amongst all the chaos but i'm pretty sure i left it there. oh well. it was circa 2003 and dying a slow death anyway, but it does suck to be without cell phone. so that's it. yesterday was a relatively uneventful drive from richmond to my parents' house where all the rupons were reunited for the first time in over a month! the dogs and i are hanging out here catching up on email and other things, while jeremy had to run back to boston for a meeting this morning. next on the agenda - figuring out how to not be mortgage-paying homeless people!

update on the whole moving adventure forthcoming

things are crazy and no more internet at home (computer and modem are packed!!) so i will get an update on the whole crazy moving adventure later tonight if i can find a wireless network to tap into, or tomorrow once i get into my parents' house :)

I'm currently staying at Keira's aunt house in Hanson, Ma. I can't thank her enough for bailing me out in a time of need. The house is 30 miles or so from Boston and is definately in a more rural area. Keep in mind that there are lots of little critters that live around the house. On Sunday, I went to see a house in Quincy and when I opened the door I found a mouse in the corner where the door meets the car. I tried to grab it with some pliers that i had in the car but it got away. I figured it crawled into the engine and probably would jump off or burn. I got into the car two more times that morning with no sign of my mouse friend. Then i stopped at duncan donuts, opened the door and there was my friend. this time i was able to grab him with the pliers. i got out of the car right by the drive through holding a mouse with a pair of pliers. a guy in line was looking at me like i was crazy. then this dude in van sticks his head out the window and said "I'll have one of those with a large coffee to go!" I let the mouse go and went to the car to lock it and get some donuts. mmmmm donuts. in all the excitement i left my keys in the car which i locked! so i had to wait for AAA to bail me out. anywho, thought it was a funny story that you all may get a laugh out of :)

33 weeks

this week marked the first time i was belly-molested by a complete stranger. the grocery store lady who helped me bring my groceries to the car just reached out and started patting the belly to determine if it is a boy or girl. random touchy-feely ukrop's grocery bagger says girl, for what it's worth! :) from babycenter.com: This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood. As your baby fills out even more of your belly, lots of things might start to change: Whereas before you were sashaying, you may find yourself waddling. Finding an easy position to sit in — let alone sleep — is becoming more of a challenge. And bumping into chairs and counters is par for the course. You may be feeling some achiness and even numbness in your fingers, wrists, and hands. Like many other tissues in your body, those in your wrist can retain fluid, which can increase pressure in the carpal tunnel, a bony canal in your wrist. Nerves that run through this "tunnel" may end up pinched, creating numbness; tingling, shooting or burning pain; or a dull ache. roo is huge!!! as for the other stuff... waddling? check. difficulty finding a comfy sleeping position? check. bumping in to everything? check. tingly fingers and hands? check. also, spilling stuff all over myself? check. dropping everything i touch? check. :)

happy 4th!

spent my whole day "off" packing. heard the fireworks but didn't see them - oh well! got a lot done though. now the office, guest bedroom, and guest bathroom are entirely packed. i also got a good start on the master bedroom. mom will be here tomorrow to help with the packing and cleaning, as will a few AWESOME people from work who are going to help me haul the boxes with fried tape on them from the attic. fyi - the dachshund barks at fireworks and the beagles are all afraid of them!

anemia update

talked with temp doc earlier today. my hemoglobin levels have fallen again, down to 9.2, despite the fact that i have been taking my prescription strength iron+ vitamins like a rock star. my iron saturation is actually normal - i have vitamin b12 deficiency anemia. guess that's why he needed 7 vials of blood - to look for all the different types of anemia. what causes b12 deficiency? from webmd: Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia usually develops when your body cannot absorb this vitamin from food. This can happen if:

• You have pernicious anemia. In pernicious anemia, your body destroys the cells in your stomach needed to help your body absorb vitamin B12
• You have had surgery to remove part of your stomach or the last section of your small intestine
• You have a digestive problem, such as sprue (also called celiac disease), Crohn's disease, bacteria growth in the small intestine, or a parasite.
• You take medicine to treat heartburn and ulcers for a long time. Examples include omeprazole (Prilosec) and lansoprazole (Prevacid).

guess it's either the pernicious anemia or a digestive issue since my stomach is intact and i don't take ulcer meds! anyway, we'll talk with new boston doc at my next appointment to see what we need to do, but it may require b12 shots (fun! i love needles!) big bummer from webmd: You should not drink alcohol while being treated for a vitamin B12 deficiency. Alcohol interferes with the body’s ability to absorb this vitamin. i've already had to go 7+ months without a drink. not sure how long i can hold out after roo is born! :)

temporary doctor hates me

today was my last appointment here in richmond. i have a temporary ob/gyn because my original richmond doctor is out on maternity leave. i also have a doctor lined up in boston, but for the time being i have been seeing one of the other doctors in the richmond practice. he is worried about my anemia so i had to do another blood test today. i was kinda hoping that it might just be a finger prick because he was just checking in. nope. and it was even worse than the previous two blood tests, including the glucose screening. i think he's trying to torture me because i stopped taking the iron for a while (with my original doctor's permission) because of how bad my nausea was. the nurse drawing my blood had never even seen a doctor order the some of the tests he was requesting (scary!) AND whatever he was looking for requires 7 full vials of my blood to see (ouch!) the regular jabby nurse was out on vacation today so i had their substitute nurse. like original nurse, she's an older lady who believes that the best place to get blood out of me is in my arm even though my veins are non-existent. i try to tell these people that the veins in the back of my hand are far superior but they don't listen to me. substitute nurse jabbed me in my left arm and managed to get 3 of 7 vials before that vein ran dry (meanwhile leaving me with a nasty bruise - again.) fortunately, before she could dig in my other arm to get the rest, another substitute nurse swung by the lab and offered to help out. she was much younger and willing to give my hand a try after i promised her it wouldn't bother me any more than the constant arm jabbing and bruising. sub nurse #2 got 4 vials out of my right hand in half the time it took to get the 3 out of my left arm. she said i had the most productive hand veins she'd ever seen. see - you should listen to me nurses! and the best part - no bruise and no pain. roo is still tracking a little big, but within normal tolerances so that's good. but getting papa john's for dinner last night = bad idea, at least on the night before a doctor's appointment. i weighed 3 pounds more this morning than i did yesterday morning because the papa just sitting in my belly. oops! but sometimes you just need comfort food!

105 hours = <10 dollars per hour

So I made it through my first week of residency. I logged 105 hours. When you break that down, it's less than 10 dollars an hour. Anywho, it was brutal. I'm on the surgery service which is not much fun. However, I switch to a new more laid back rotation in a little over a week, so that's not bad. The good news is that the surgery service travels all over the hospital so I got to see where Roo will be born! Very exciting! I can't wait! In other news, life away from home is very hard. I miss the fam a lot but will get to see them in about 10 days or so. That is going to be awesome. Well, i gotta run I'm supposed to be watching a surgery but there is really nowhere for me to get a good view so i am pretending to follow-up on some lab results. hehehe. talk to everyone later!

tired of this real estate market, tired of packing, and just plain tired

i didn't go to either of the open houses today. was in a groove packing and didn't want to lose momentum. there were a bunch of people at the one next door. i don't get it - tons of people come see that house but no ones comes to see mine! depressing. oh well at least i won't have to look at it much longer, even though i'll essentially be homeless. yeah. awesome. but at least my 3-page, 3-column per page, single-spaced 10-point font to-do list has a lot crossed off it. progress. the office is 100% packed. all that remains in there is spackling / painting and cleaning. whew. i got some work done in the hallway and the guest room too. i'm fairly confident that we'll get everything packed in time, i just don't know how we'll get the house clean at the same time. plus, all the packing tape is peeling off the boxes that jeremy packed and put in the attic before he left. it's too darn hot up there - the tape just looks fried off. i will need to get all those boxes re-taped. but i certainly can't carry them down the attic stairs myself to do so! i may need to swallow my pride and ask for help from all the people at work who offer to help me pack and prepare for the move. i pay well (with pizza and beer!) so tired - two straight days of nothing but packing - i'm pooped!

hard core packing has begun

really the packing began back in march when we rented the first POD and filled that sucker up, but until today the house was still lived in and it didn't really appear that we had starting packing. with less than two weeks to go, i have kicked into high gear and begun the REAL packing. jeremy's mom came up from williamsburg today to help me pack. we done good :) we attacked the office since the tall bookshelves housed a lot of stuff needing of packing. i am happy to report that we packed 27 small sized boxes of books, photo albums, and miscellaneous office stuff and decor. the office is essentially packed - just have to take the stuff off the walls and load up the computers. one room essentially down, a whole bunch more to go! this was the worst one though. the kitchen will be a little time consuming, but all the other rooms are already down to bare bones. i am terrified that 2 additional PODS is not going to be enough. we have a lot of stuff. a lot. i know we don't need it all but i don't have the time to sort through it right now. we'll have a big tag sale up in massachusetts as soon as we get settled! for now, fingers crossed that 2 more is enough. if it doesn't all fit into 2 PODS we can leave some stuff here and come back for it later, i suppose. the house that's been for sale next door is also having an open house tomorrow. i'm going to check that one out as well. maybe peeps will come to the two open houses on our street and then see that our house is for sale too and call our realtor for a showing!

Long Over Due and Long Hours!

Hello all! Suffice, I may not win father of the year this year! I have not had much time to post but will do my best to try to post more. Anywho, I am in my first week of residency. I am on the Pedi Surgery team for the first 17 days, not that i am counting. it's very overwhelming. the responsibility level is truly amazing, but its fun b/c i get to write orders and they get done. better yet, i can prescriptions even for narcotics :) anywho, the hours are long. i am on call every third night, that means a >24 hour shift. this week i will have logged about 100 hours. you might be saying, isn't there an 80 hour limit, to which i say yes but it is an average over 4 weeks :( a sad fact i just found out. i miss keira, the baby belly, and puppies more and more everyday. to say things aren't going to plan is the understatement of the year. it's hard and i am very down, but someday this will all be a story. i really can't wait until we are sitting around with the kids and our dogs and i say, "Roo, i remember the summer you were born. Boy was that fun...." i'm sure the kid won't care, but hopefullly it will understand how much mommy and daddy love him/her and how much they love each other. last thoughts for now. commuting into boston is no fun. when i am not on call, i get up at 420 so i can drive to braintree for the 515 train that gets me to mgh at 545 for rounds at six. when i'm on-call i drive in b/c i have to stay the night. i got these tickets for parking near the boston garden. i used them for the first time on tuesday morning after quite an ordeal. i was running a little late and the gps confused me and i could not find the lot so i had to park in a different lot to get to rounds on time. after rounds, another intern covered for so i could move the car to the right lot. i was running the whole time and it was a very humid day in boston. i was covered in sweat when i got back the hospital and had spent 17 dollars on parking for 2 hours! the good news was, i only had 24 hours left before i got to leave! ttfn!

32 weeks

oh baby. we're getting big. and i can feel it. there's always a head or a butt protruding from my belly. i think roo is starting to get uncomfortable in there as the wiggles have picked up. poor thing just can't get cozy anymore. from babycenter.com: By now, your baby probably weighs almost 4 pounds and is almost 17 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. She has tiny toenails now, and her fingernails have grown in, too. Some babies have a head of hair already; others have only peach fuzz. roo and i have an appointment on monday and unfortunately will have to give blood again. i've been really good about taking my iron horse vitamins so hopefully my hemoglobin levels will be back in the good range. this will be our final appointment in richmond :( but we've already got our next-next appointment scheduled in boston 2 weeks later. we've got an ob/gyn at mass general so roo will likely be born at the hospital where its daddy works :)

more info on new house for sale

ok, so the house that when on the market yesterday is roughly the same size as ours square footage wise, but has one additional bedroom. recently remodeled but nothing fancy. they're asking $329,950. good luck peeps. of course, they'll sell this weekend.

another joins the fray

there's yet ANOTHER house for sale on our street, about 3 doors down from the one for sale right next to us. sign went up today. don't know what they're asking or anything about it - not showing up on yahoo real estate yet. it's open on sunday so i'll probably go check it out to see what they're offering. like we need more inventory on the market in this neighborhood! i think we are seriously going to own this house forever.

normal? or not normal?

i know it's normal for my feet and ankles to swell. and believe me, they are. but is it normal for one to be substantially more swollen than the other??? i think the gargantuan size of my left foot may have been the cause of the busted sandal referenced in the post below. my left foot is noticeably larger than the right. weird.

and so it goes

i got up early this morning to head downtown to the permits office, armed with my photos of the roads from every angle. i hate driving downtown and really hate trying to park downtown. somehow i got there and found a free street spot. i paralleled parked on the first try - not bad since i haven't needed to do it since we moved out of our last house. i was parked about 5 blocks away and as i was walking my sandal broke. i had to limp and waddle at the same time to try to keep my shoe on. must have looked funny to all the passing rush hour traffic. found the permits office easily and went right to the street permit counter. i explained my situation to the little old man working there (i swear he's probably worked at that same exact counter for at least 40 years.) he handed me the permit application and then requested 3 copies of a measured drawing of the streets in question. WHAT???? the lady on the phone yesterday said photographs. the little man was not impressed with my multitude of photos. i burst into tears again. where the heck do you get a measured drawing of your property??? i certainly have no clue. the little old man and the other lady behind the counter felt bad for me so they said they could look up the streets in their little computer program and make print outs in lieu of measured drawings. then the little man asks me how long they will be on the street. i told him no more than 5 days, but probably more like 2-3 days. at that point, he said that i didn't even need a permit. even for 2 PODS. seriously. i went all the way down there for nothing because the PODS people and the permit office lady from yesterday didn't know what they are talking about. love it. anyone need any detailed photos of westbrook avenue and stratford avenue?!?!?! as soon as i got to work i called PODS back to book my 2 new PODS and schedule the move of all 3 PODS from richmond to the driveway of my uncle's house in massachusetts, since we don't know where in boston we'll be. seems pretty simple to me, but apparently not. after spending one hour and 34 minutes on the phone with two different service representatives i have all my PODS needs met (i think.) because the last lady i was working with seemed somewhat incompetent i will probably call back later tonight to verify that everything is set up correctly. but assuming it is set up the way we discussed, 2 new PODS will be delivered to our house here on 7/9 and picked up on 7/12. on 7/13, all three PODS will start a long journey to the PODS warehouse in ludlow, ma to arrive there no later than 7/20. emotional roller coaster (temporarily) good. in other news, got a message from the realtor. the lawyer dude is apparently out of the picture now. he loved the house. his parents loved the house. it is exactly what he and his fiancee are looking for. but his fiancee won't even come look at it because it's not in the west end of richmond. i can seriously throw a softball into the west end from our front yard. sigh. realtor called her a princess. i laughed. but the realtor has left a message with the other interested dude from the open house, so maybe we'll hear from them soon. or maybe the west end princess will change her mind. at least i have PODS. and PODS packing people to pack my PODS. that's something.