Quick update

Wow, this break has been crazy. Christmas with Amy's Dad and Stepmom, Christmas with Amy's Mom, Stepdad, brother, sister-in -law, and nephews, and Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas morning with Esther and her family, then on the 26th Christmas dinner with my family. Between all of those celebrations I've had to play with my presents (I've played with my tupperware, used my pots and pans, made 3 loaves of bread in my bread machine, and played with my nintendo DS A LOT...I dreamt about Zelda last night...)

Tonight I have big New Years Eve plans of sitting on my couch, watching John and Kate Plus 8, and having a few beers before I go to bed at 12:01 so I can get some sleep before I start tailgating for the Ice Bowl tomorrow! I cannot wait for this game. The Sabres better win...but, even if they don't, I'll have pictures. Which I'll upload sometime this week, along with some Christmas pictures!

Christmas Eve

Today is my favorite day of the year. Well, this year both May 31st and December 18th were pretty great too, but in an average year, Christmas Eve is always pretty high on my list of favorite days. I'm done with my shopping, everything is wrapped, and now it's just family, food, and fun. Even though I've already celebrated Christmas twice, and I won't get my presents from Santa until the 26th (he leaves them at mom and dad's house for me, still, so I'll get them when I go there for our Christmas Dinner), I'm just as excited. My inner child, who is really happy with this new arrangement where I get 5 Christmas celebrations each year, can't wait for tonight's party. It's really hard to be grown up when all you want to do is dance around your house and sing to Christmas songs. Which, I suppose, I could do, but then Amy would think I was crazy and probably leave me, and I'd be back to just 2 Christmas celebrations (the Christmas Eve party and our family dinner.) So, instead, I'll get all the stuff we need together to go out to mom and dad's for the party, find something to wear to church, and maybe take a shower. That seems like something a grown up would do.

Adelaide Celia

Addie is home! I went to see her this afternoon and Mike showed me this. I was really surprised. And honored. And at first, not sure if they meant to use my name. Or, close to my name. But they did! And I'm going to be Addie's Godmother! I'm so , seriously, and I can't really put it into words yet how I feel. But I will.

Until then, enjoy this: now that I have 4 nieces and nephews, I can make the cutest elves.

AWOOKA IS HERE!

Mike and Lisa had a baby! Adelaide Garvey (middle name to be revealed at a later date), 6 lbs 5 oz, born around 6 pm tonight.

Everyone is healthy and, of course, very very happy.

DONE

I'm done! YAY! Over 4 weeks of family, food, friends, DVR'd TV (from the last few weeks when I was busy studying), working with Dad (which I really am excited about), sleep (which I'm also very excited about, but not quite as much as being back in the office), and just generally being on break. I am so happy! But, right now, I am also so exhausted. Today was Chemistry. After the first test in the class I had an F. On the second exam I got a C. On the third I got a B. I had a possibility of getting a B+ in the class if I did well on the exam, since one of my class exam grades would be replaced with my final exam grade (and there are quizzes and homework added in there.) So I studied a lot. A lot more than I have ever studied for an exam. And I knew how to do all of the long answer problems, and I knew all of the material for the short answer questions.

I was really nervous. I hadn't been worried about my other exams. I very rarely get worried about exams. I stress, and I study, but once I get in there, I take it and I'm done. As the minutes tick away closer to exam time I don't get scared or shake, my stomach doesn't get upset. But I really wanted to do well on this exam. I wanted to do better than my professor expected. I woke up nervous. And it got worse the closer to exam time it got. My hands were shaking, I felt sick, I wanted to cry...it was not fun.

And I got in there, and I was so tired, and so sick of chemistry, and my head hurt, and my back hurt from bending over in those stupid little desks, and I just didn't care for a second. I just wanted to go home. I couldn't remember how to get the density of until cells, or the percent yield of Hydrogen gas from an equation. Things I had done 8 million times just this morning!

But I did it, and I finished, and I think I did OK. Probably not better than my professor expected, but, not worse, either. And really? I'm OK with that.

The worst part

My house is a mess. More specifically, my office is a mess. Studying generates a lot of papers.
For Anatomy I have 2 finals (lab and lecture.) Each final is 85 questions, and the questions are taken from the exams and quizzes we've had throughout the semester. Which means that I have 10 quizzes (at an average of 4 pages each) and 5 exams (at an average of 8 pages each) plus 2 packages of 3X5 cards. For Bio I had 10 quizzes (3 pages each) plus 17 internet quizzes, 30 pages of outlines I made from my notes and the book, 4 scan-tron sheets from the exams taken during the semester, 4 or 5 packages of 3X5 cards, and about 40 pages of loose-leaf paper to write stuff down on, do problems on, etc. while I was re-taking quizzes. I'm getting ready to start studing for Chem. I feel bad just throwing out all of this stuff from the exams i've already taken, but, really, I don't want to look at it anymore. And I don't want to take the time to separate it all into piles (Bio vs. Anatomy, quizzes vs. exams vs. outlines, etc.) So instead of doing anything with any of it, I take it all out of my bag, and pile everything up on the futon in my office. The futon is a fire hazard right now.

On a totally unrelated note, you know the iPhone? How everybody who has one loves it? Well, I love mine, I do, even though I'm on my THIRD ONE! Seriously. The first one I got was great until the space bad on the text messaging stopped working. That's kinda important. So I took it into the Apple Store and they said that, although they had never actually seen it, this was possible (obviously) because the phone is run on an operating system just like a computer is, so if the operating system stops working right, the phone stops working right. They gave me a brand new phone and I left. Well, notexactly like that...I had to go home first, empty my pictures and contacts on the Amy's computer (because at the time I didn't have a computer,) then go back to the mall and get the new phone. Then with the new phone I had to re-set up my voicemail, email, favorite places, etc.

Yesterday my study partner asked to use my phone, so I gave it to her. After a minute she asked how to dial the zero. So I said press it. But it didn't work. And I couldn't get it to work. So after my exam I emptied my phone onto my computer, and then went to the Apple store. I told them that this was already my second phone, and the guy was amazed. He had only seen this problem once (uh, yeah, that was me...) and never heard of anyone having the bad luck of having thier bad phone being replaced with a bad phone. So I have a new phone, with a new, updated system. At least Apple is good about just giving me new phones.

Thank you Esther!!!

After Wegmans last night I went to Esther's house. Look what she made me:

The perfect study package!!! It also included a pomagranate, but I left that at home. Once I finished my Starbucks Peppermint Mocha this morning, I had the breakfast of champions, which I'm sure will help me in my studying for today:

My Own Personal NaBloPoMo...

I think exam period is better for blogging than NaBloPoMo...you know...that thing where people try to post every day in November? Really, all you need in order for me to post every day is to put me in the library for extended hours surrounded by books that, while I find them interesting on an intellectual level, I'd rather be watching Pysch and Monk that I have DVR'd from last night...and this way I can at least think about how much I'd rather be watching Psych and Monk.

Anyway, I'm not in the library. I'm outside the library. Because it is 9:05 am, and the library doesn't open until 10:00 am. Why doesn't the library open until 10? Probably because this is COLLEGE. And in the real world: college edition, people went out last night. There was a happy hour that started at 9 pm! At 9 pm I was going home. It was late. I was asleep by 9:30! Which is why I had to DVR Monk and Psych, and why I'm up now, ready to study. In my day, we didn't have bars that were open until 4 am, and we got up early to study, and we walked through snow and ice and wind to get to the library! (Haha, that's partly true...the bars in Canada are only open until 2, and we didn't have fun tunnels to walk through, to get to different buildings from the one you were in, so if you went to the library, you did walk through snow and ice and wind...but I don't know anyone who actually did go to the library...)

Ok, anyway, last night I went to Wegmans, which is normally a nice experience. I was out of one of my prescriptions, and had called in the refill on Wednesday. I knew there'd be a problem calling it in, because there weren't any refills left on the bottle, but my doctor prescribes me 2 drugs, A and B. I ran out of B a long time (like 2 weeks) ago, so she send in refills for both A and B. Now I wanted A refilled, so I call Wegmans and can only get the automated thing, which says I don't have any refills, they'll call my dr., come in Friday it should be ready. So I went in yesterday to get it. Nope, nothing filled for me. So I explain the above to the guy, who looks at me like I have to heads and says, "I don't get it." Then he looks at the computer and and says, "Oh, yeah, your doctor did fax us a refill for A two weeks ago, and on Wed. Do you want one of thoes filled?" I said yes. He said it would be 1/2 an hour. I said I didn't want to wait, but I'd be back when they opened this morning. This is our conversations after that:

Me:What time do you open tomorrow?
Him: well, I get here at 8, so probably about 9 or 9:30.
Me: Um, Ok...Oh, there's a sign. You open at 8:30. I'll be here at 8:30. I'll pick it up then. Can you have it ready by then?
Him: Yep. Which one do you want?
Me: Drug A
Him: But there are two precription refills for it.
Me: Are they exactly the same?
Him: let's see...2 weeks ago it was for this much this many times a day, Wednesday was...yep, exactly the same!
Me: then I don't care.
Him: So I can fill either one?
Me: Yes, as long as it's ready for me to get at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Him: You don't care if I fill the one from 2 weeks ago or the one from Wednesday?
Me: No, they're the exact same thing...
Him: Ok, let's see...how do I do this...
Me:

But it was. I went in this morning and the guy was there and he said "Oh! You were here last night! But I don't remember your name." So I told him, got my drugs, paid, and left. As I was pulling out of Wegmans, I realized I had also called in a refill for something from another doctor that DID have refills left, but, since I can also get it OTC, I figured I'd let it slide.

One Down, 3 to Go

YAY! LAST DAY OF CLASSES...well, for this semester...only 14 semesters to go (not counting those summer semesters...or residency, because I don't think they have semesters...they have rotations, according to the TV I watch.)

I had my first final exam last night. Anatomy and Physiology Lab. I was all ready for it to last all three hours. It started at 6. At 6:10 I finished question 85 and went back to look for any questions I missed or skipped over because I wasn't sure. There was 1. It was a fill in the blank.

"A heart rate of over 100 bpm is ______."

So I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out a word for "heart beating too fast." See! Free rice DID come in useful! I went through the Latin - hypercircsomething....no. Then through all the diseases I remembered from people when I worked with dad - allergy to penicillin? Nope. Finally, after spending more time on this question than on the rest of this test, I wrote:

"normal, if you're exercising."

It's true, right? Besides, since the exam is only out of 80 and there were 85 questions I can get 5 wrong and still get a 100%.

Studying...

My freerice.come addiction was becoming too much, so I'm in the chem library to study for a chem quiz that's later today. I figured that working here where there are fewer computers avaliable would force me to read the chapter and fill out my cheat-sheet (which is allowed.) Obviously, that hyopothesis failed miserably. But, really, what is science except for dissproving hypotheses all the time? At least, that's what I've learned in my labs...maybe I've been doing my labs wrong...

Anyway, I'm about to die I'm so tired. I was up way too late studying (seriously studying...I only played free rice for a little bit) for my anatomy lab final that's today. That would mean a lot of wasted effort put into this semester if I died of lack of sleep right before exams...Maybe I'll go get some coffee. And then read the chem chapter.

Mary -- yes, playing free rice does count as studying for the gre's. Not so much for chemistry, but I did count it as studying for anatomy because I used the Latin roots of the words to figure out what they mean, which is also how I figure out a lot of the anatomy vocab. It only works about 50% of the time...maybe because I don't know Latin.

So, although I'm not as busy as Mary, I'm busy. So far this week I've had one exam (just a normal one...not a final one or anything), 1 quiz, and and 5 assignments due. It's only Wednesday. Tomorrow I have another quiz and a final exam (YAY! ONE CLASS DONE!), then one last assignment on Friday, then I'm done except for finals. Which, you know, should be a breeze.

I'm handling all this stress remarkable well, if you ask me. Wanna know how?
Free Rice. It's the best possible way to waste time EVER! I learn words I'll never use and forget about school for a while (well, hours, really), and starving people get grains of rice...Perfect!

This was the first year Amy and I cut down a tree for our house. Last year we moved in in early December, so we just bought a tree from a nursery on Sheridan. We knew we needed a skinny tree, but we didn't really consider how tall it could be...apparently we should have:

It was OK, though. I figured we could just cut the top off with the big scissor things that trim trees...only we don't have any of those, so we used kitchen scissors (we as in Amy...me+sharp objects/high places = disaster)

Beautiful, right?

Until we tried to put the angel on...we decided it just looks like she's praying over all of your presents:

Dear Ethyl

We've had some good times, we've had some bad times, and we've spent a lot of time with me sitting outside of you. But, you're old. And not safe. It's time to break up. I'll always hold a place for you in my heart, but you're being replaced. By this:

Amy and I went to the Ford place today to test drive some cars. I had narrowed it down to a few cars that I wanted, and of the ones I wanted the Escape was the one with the best lease deals. The CR-V, the car I really really wanted, isn't available for lease, apparently. And, really, the way I drive, no car will last longer than 3 years :)

So, we went to test drive. I woke up scared this morning. I was already thinking about driving a car that didn't belong to someone who has to love me unconditionally (or, at least love me.) I spent all day thinking about it. So I decided Amy could test drive it and tell me how she liked it. She didn't think that was such a good idea. But I made her pull out onto Southwestern Blvd. and into the Ambulatory Care Place, so I only had to take right hand turns in the un-paid-for-car that didn't belong to anyone who has to love me. It was still stressful. Because I had to park this car. But I did it, without hitting anything. Yay me!

Anyway, I went in and said yes, I want it, the cheapest one with 4WD and no I don't really care about a moon roof. But, those people at Ford...they can sell stuff.

I have a moon roof. I'm not sure how. Except it, apparently, is free. It was the satellite radio, (something that I'm already paying for, which is all hooked up in Ethyl,) that was the expensive part of that package. Don't ask me why they're packaged together, or how I ended up with said package, but, apparently, I did. Amy assures me it's OK, that she wants my Sirius anyway, so it all works out, even better actually because I get Sirius for free for 6 months in my new car now, so, whatever, but, I was confused.

Then, I wanted Pearl Black. I really liked the Pearl Black. Mostly because it's Pearl (which in my mind is white), but it's black (which in my mind is...uh...black.) I ended up with silver. I guess if you mix Pearl and Black together, you get silver, so it all works out, right? Side note here -- until very recently, I always thought that you decided on all of the stuff you wanted and they made your car, then you went and got it...I mean, that's why it took so long for you to pick it up, right? So, if I want pearl black and they don't have my package in pearl black, they just make it, right? No, apparently it doesn't work that way. I get silver, or I pay more. I got silver.

So, they asked if I had a car to trade in. I laughed (sorry Ethyl.) Kelley Blue Book said Ethyl was worth (being very, very generous...like, I lied and said she was in good condition) $800. I figured we'd get about $300, but, it'd be about a payment, so, great, right? The guy took it to get it appraised, came back and said, "it's worth more than I'd give you for it." Well, gee, thanks, I guess. Ethyl is worth $600 to Ford! Ridiculous! I should keep her! Or...not.

So after I got all of my packages worked out it was time to go to the credit woman. I was worried, honestly. I don't have a credit card. I don't have a mortgage. I pay a student loan, but that's it. I don't really have any credit. The last time I applied for any type of credit (a credit card) I wasn't approved because of a mortgage in 1992 or something, when I was 11. I was pretty sure Amy was going to have to co-sign. The credit woman was kind of amazed that I didn't have a credit card, but she took all of my information, took some blood, did a DNA test, checked my urine (ok, that may be a slight exaggeration...)...and I was approved almost immediately. Weird, huh?

The credit woman is also in charge of selling the warrenty-type packages. The first one she told us about I was like, "Uh, no, thanks." But then I listened to what she said. And to what Amy said. And it made sense. I mean, I need oil changes, right? Why not pay for them monthly? I'm sure there's other stuff in there too...like anything that goes wrong with the car other than if I run it into something...they fix it. And free windshield wipers and wiper fluid whenever I need it, and all of that stuff. So, I said OK. Then everything she said sounded good. Tire protection? Well, I have gotten a flat tire before. Road salt protection? Hey, I live in Buffalo! Acid rain protection? Of course! Haven't you seen An Inconvient Truth? Ok, so, I didn't actually get any of these packages (the crazy ones...I did get the wiper and fluid one...because I like clean windshields.) But I was tempted. Thank God for Amy...for so many reasons, but, today, for convincing me my new car won't melt in acid rain.

So, I leased it today. Well, I picked it out and test drove and whatnot today. I pick it up Monday. If, that is, I can find the title to Ethyl...

Miles

I had dinner with Esther and Mary last night at Esther and John's house. It was great, and we hadn't all hung out together, just the three of us, in a long time.

I got there before everyone else so I had some time to play with Miles (my mom was watching him until I got there, he wasn't there alone...)

The best part of my time with Miles? After dinner we cuddled up under a blanket and I gave him a bottle. He had maybe two sips before this:

Isn't he perfect?

Happy Halloween!

Well, almost. I (um, or Amy...)



















carved our pumpkin!

Happy Fall!

Amy's mom and stepdad grow pumpkins. Big pumpkins.

Julia got one too, but I didn't get pictures of her with it. Stay tuned for pictures of us carving it, though. She wants to use her tools.

When I was little I used to love to sleep on the couch in our living room. So much, that if I went out there in the middle of the night and someone was already on the couch, like Louis, I'd hold his eyes open until he woke up and then I'd tell him mom said he had to go back to bed. Then I'd steal the couch from him.

However, there was one thing I hated about the couch:

Yes, this creepy skull was always sitting above our TV on the bookshelf with all of my dads books and surgery movies. It was my dad's from school and most of the time I could forget that it was there. But at night when it dark and I was alone on the couch, I swear it would come alive and try to kill me.

Now? It doesn't bother me. In fact, it's sitting in my house. My dad let me borrow it to learn the bones of the head for my anatomy class. I have it sitting right above all of my movies. I haven't really thought about it, until last weekend when the DirectTV guy came to switch our dish receiver.

He walked in and looked at our TV and said, "Nice TV." I said, "Yeah, thanks."

Then he looked at the skull and said, "Uh, is that real?" I had forgotten it was there, and said, "Oh, that?" I tried to explain it without looking like a homocial maniac. "It was my dad's." I realize now that that doesn't really sound great. "I mean, it's not actually my dad...he got it in school. He's a doctor. And now I'm in school. So he let me use is."

I don't think he heard anything after "It was my dad's." He decided to do all the outside work first, and commented a few times on how close the houses were. I hope this doesn't hurt our chances of getting service if we need it at a later date...

Today was my first day of school. I think there was a pre-school that had a field trip to Canisius or something, 'cause there were a lot of really really young kids in my classes. And they all looked scared. And slightly hung-over.

Really, though, the freshman this year? Are little.

Mondays and Fridays are my short days. I only have 3 classes from 9:30 to 12:30. Tuesday I have class from 11:30 TO 8:45 with 2 half-hour breaks, Wednesday I have class from 9:30 to 12:30, then 2:30 to 5:30, and Thursday from 11:30 to 12:30, 1:00-2:30, and 6:00 to 8:45. It's going to be a busy semester.

Since today was pretty much the only day this week I'd have to get errands done, after class I stopped at Esther's house to play with Miles, then ran to the tailor to have some pants hemmed, and then to SuperCuts. I've needed a haircut for a long time, and right now, with 7 chapters to read and about 3 hours of calculus problems to do, seemed like a great time. While I was there a guy walked in to have his hair cut. He was basically bald, but had some hair around the sides and back of his head. He looked really familiar, but I couldn't place him, and I couldn't stare too long because the hair cutting woman kept moving my head to face away from him. The woman cutting my hair asked him his name and he said, "Steve." That's when I realized who he was:

I guess now that Cellino is back he can't afford more than $10 on a haircut...

For Christmas I want a car alarm...attached to a new car.

Last night I went to the Chocolate Bar. A place that, due to its owners and issues I have with them from when I was a pastry chef, I swore I would never go to. But, Leah is in town and she was there along with Esther, Gina, Julie (I think this is her blog...I stole the link from Leah's blog...), and Mary (who still needs a blog of her own.) So, I gave up my petty boycott and Amy and I drove down to Chippewa.

Before we left I joked, "let's take my car...maybe someone will steal it and I can get a new one."

We parked on Elmwood just south of Chippewa. There were lots of cars on the street and we've parked there before. It was well lit and fairly well populated - and not by scary people, either...by normal-looking people. When we were getting out of the car I grabbed the portable part of my Sirius radio for some reason. I normally don't, but I put it in my purse.

After one of the best cocoa puff milkshakes I've ever had (ok, the ONLY cocoa puff milkshake I've ever had, but, really, it was awesome), and some really great conversation, we left.

My front passenger-side window was smashed. The stereo was gone (with my new Plain White T's cd in it.) My iPod was gone. The full can of diet coke that I had to drink on the drive home was gone (well, at least emptied onto my backseat.) Amy scraped the glass off the front seat and I called my dad. We decided there was no point in reporting it...I've had this happen before and it just takes time - waiting for the police to show up, waiting for them to do paper work, etc - and there's not much they can do. Amy and I spent the drive home telling each other that it could have been worse. We could have been in the car, they could have taken my Sirius attachment instead of just pulling it off so it needed to be re-attached, and stealing the remote control for it (really...they took the remote control for it, but no other part.) They could have taken my cds (although, as Esther pointed out, no one likes Melissa Ethridge anymore now than they did last year when all my stuff, except my cds, was taken out of my car.) They could have taken the whole car. I could have not just put the new cd into the cd player, and they could have taken the cd Mike made me (the sister mix) that I had been listening to up until just the other day. There are a million and two ways it could have been worse. Sitting on the glass stuck in the seat for the few minutes it took to get home wasn't so bad.

I spent today getting the window replaced, getting a new stereo installed, and cleaning out the car. I found the full can of diet coke, so I don't know what was poured on the backseat. Most likely one of the other cans of diet coke in the car, but, I sprayed a lot of lysol in there...just in case it's not diet coke...

Catching Up

I've been so busy lately that I've missed blogging some really important things.

I missed Lou's birthday.

But we celebrated in NYC with dinner at Per Se with amazing food like oysters and caviar in tapioca, and wine from the year he was born (1983.) Definetly a Birthday Meal to remember. They did not, however, bring over all the waiters to clap and sing Happy Birthday to him when they brought out dessert. He did get a candle.

I also missed Dad's birthday.

I had a great post written in my head about how great it is to work with him, how much fun we had in NYC at our conference, ending with Happy Birthday, but, I never typed it out. I was having too much fun working with him instead. So, Happy Belated Birthday, Dad.

I didn't write about the ICAT conference in NYC that I went to. Dad and I were the only ones from the office to go. There were very few people there who weren't either doctors or sales reps of some sort. It was really cool to be there, at a conference, with Dad. I mean, we've gone to the Buffalo Convention, and to the one in San Deigo, but this time I got to go into the doctor lectures and sit with Dad, not he assistant lectures where they walk about taking impressions and sterilizing instruments. It was fun. And I learned so much.

And, I got to spend lots of time babysitting my nieces and nephew.

Despite how it looks in the pictures, we didn't actually spend the entire time we were with them on the couches...and I was reading to Julia right before that picture. Amy and Maeve? I think they were watching Jimmy Neutron.

Another Birthday!

Dear Maeve,

Happy Birthday Monkey!

This past year has been wonderful, watching you grow from a tiny little thing

to a beautiful little girl who can bring a smile to anyone's face, just by looking at them!

I hope this year is your best year yet!

Love,

Aunt Cecilia

Two Years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JULIA,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Happy In The Nursery!*

Although Esther and John had alread known each other for a while, and I had already met him at least once, the first time I really remember him is when he got her tickets to see the Sabres play the Rangers...or maybe Phoenix...Or St. Louis. Wherever Gretzky was playing for at the time. Probably the Rangers. Anyway, I told her right then to marry him. I'm glad she listened to me.

Congratulations on six years of a wonderful marriage.

*Check Esther's for an explanation...

New Name

Hi! I changed around the 'Bus (in case you didn't notice...) I was feeling a little...un-PC. And you know I'm nothing if not PC. I'm not in love with this template. Or name. I've thought about a few others, but nothing really fits all of my personalities, so, if you have any ideas, or if you know how to get a tie dye background on this thing, Please let me know. Oh, and just because they're beautiful:

Not Mone...

It's Miles!!!

May 31, 2007 at 11:12 pm
8 lbs, 2 oz

Absolutely perfect.

I didn't know they liked American Idol so much...

Before Julia was born I was sure she was a boy. I couldn't imagine a girl since all we had had born lately were boys. But as it got closer and closer to the day she was born I had dreams that she was a girl.

With this baby (let's call him Jesus -- the latino version, not the Son of God version -- for now), I wasn't positive. But as the pregnancy went on I became pretty sure it was a boy. I've stuck with that, just because Esther's pregnancy has been different that her pregnancy with Julia. But lately I've been having dreams that Jesus is a girl.

Most of them are just John saying, "It's a girl!" But the other night I had a crazy dream. In real life I had gotten up to go to the bathroom and realized that I had left my phone in my pants pocket, so I must have been worried about that, because in my dream I was sitting on my bed with Mary. I heard my phone vibrate signaling that I had a message, so I reached over to my table to get it, but next to it were Mike, Lisa, and Mary's (sidenote: Mary needs a blog) phones. I couldn't get the text message from John (sidenote: has a blog, but never writes on it), to open on my phone so all I could see was the part that was flashing on my screen. It said, " She went in." So I picked up Mike's phone. I could see the messages he and John were sending back and forth, and then hear their conversations (weird, I know, since I had his phone), and I heard Mike say, "You took her to the hospital?"
John said, "Yeah, she had the baby. It's a girl." I had to ask Mike to ask about the name, size, etc. John said the name was Mone.
Mike said, "You mean Mona?"
John said, "No, Mone. M-O-N-E. Like Simone, after Simon from American Idol."

Then I woke up. I'm kinda hoping Jesus is a boy.

Chicago

I'm back from Chicago! Well, I've been back for about a week, but, I've been SO busy, that' I'm just updating now. And it's mostly going to be pictures.

We had a WONDERFUL time. The Cubs beat the White Soxs:

And we were there:

We spent a lot of time shopping, but I don't have any pictures of that. And we walked around the city, went to Navy Pier, but our camera battery was dead by then because before that we went to the aquarium. It was SO cool. I'm only going to post a few pictures because we have over 100, but we couldn't use our flash so a lot of them are only recongnizable by us...This is the REALLY BIG fish outside with his crazyman dancing partner.

This crab is much bigger than it looks like in the picture...it made me hungry.

Haha, the turtle were doin' it...we took a lot of pictures of that...

The dolphin show was amazing. It made me want to become a dolphin trainer. Until I remembered that they're swimming in all that dolphin poop and pee...

I think these frogs thought they were hiding...

There was a HUGE shark tank that was really cool, until I realized it was leaking...then I didn't like it so much.

There were a lot of other cool animals, too: