lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Friday, April 28, 2006
Tummy update.
I call this one, "Three and a half months." You're going to have to figure out on your own what that one means.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2006
McDonald's, who?
Chipotle.  Noodles & Company.  Skyline Chili.  Discovering new and different fast food restaurants is superfun.  My newest discovery:  Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits.  Having never eaten there before, I mistakenly thought it was a KFC clone.  I was wrong.  Their menu is cajun-inspired, something I'd never come across before, especially in the midwest.  My favorites (that I've tried):  the New Orleans Spicy Chicken Strips, Red Beans & Rice, Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya, and Mashed Potatoes & Cajun Gravy.

Because I'm hungry, a few more of my fast food favorites:

Arby's Roast Beef Sandwiches and Potato Cakes (french fries?  what are those?)
Dairy Queen's Flamethrower Grillburger (the only burger you'll find on my list, and only because it's hothothot)
Quizno's Steakhouse Beef Dip Sub (because, yummy)
Taco Bell's Baja Chicken Chalupa and ZestyChicken Bowl
A&W's Cheese Curds (as long as their battered and not breaded -- we've run across both, strangely enough)
Pizza Hut's Personal Pan Pizza
McDonald's Sausage Breakfast Burrito
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (one of my favorite foods) from either Boston Market or KFC (or Popeye's), but NOT from Culver's
Panera's Broccoli & Cheddar Soup in a Sourdough Breadbowl

Dang.  Now I'm really craving a big plate of Skyline Chili over spaghetti with a big pile of shredded cheese on top.  Too bad their closest location is in Indiana.
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Friday, April 21, 2006
Full report.
My doctor found the heartbeat relatively easily, and we listened just long enough to be able to go, "whoa" and for her to calculate the baby's heartrate, which at about 160 bpm she said was "perfect."  It all went by very fast.  With something so big (especially something that's over with so fast), even though you're there and you know in the moment what's happening, there's a tendency afterwards to sort of feel like you missed it, even though you didn't.  It was very surreal and yet definitely made the pregnancy more real, moreso than my slowly expanding belly -- and also served as welcome reassurance that our baby is alive and likely soon kicking.  :-P  Exciting and scary as all get out.

Quote from Josh after today's check-up:  "You're pregnant."  Ah, I loves my Joshy...  :-)
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Congratulations, our baby has a heartbeat!
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Proof that at least one thing we planted last year is still alive.
Our magnolia tree:

Tummy update.
My belly button isn't as deep as it used to be. Riveting, isn't it?
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Wednesday, April 19, 2006
My Bathroom Scale, by Beth-Annie Prins.
When I put all my weight on my right foot, it reads 125. When I put all my weight on my left foot, it reads 130. The end.
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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Sorry, Andrew.
Big thanks to VH1 (gee, never thought I'd say that) for showing the unaired episodes of CBS's canceled "Love Monkey," starring the lovable and charming Tom Cavanagh.  Boo for showing it at the same time as "Veronica Mars," "House," and "Scrubs," but thanks to cable and their reruns throughout the week, that doesn't really matter.  (Incidentally, I was mistaken when I said all the midseason shows were crap -- this one I actually liked.)

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As you probably know by now, we like to go to at least one LPGA tournament a year, and that's usually the State Farm Classic in Springfield, IL, since that's the only regular tournament within relatively easy driving distance for us.  However, as it always falls around Labor Day weekend, that's going to be out this year.  Driving five hours to walk miles around a golf course in the blazing hot sun is just not going to happen with a woman who's 7 1/2 months pregnant.  So we're left with three options:

1.  Fly out to visit Matthew, Kim, and Benji in mid-May and go to a day of the Michelob Ultra Open in Williamsburg.  Pros:  get to actually go to a tournament this year;  will only be four months along;  early enough in the season it might not be too hot (though you can never be sure).  Cons:  admission is inexplicably expensive compared to other tournaments on the tour;  cost of plane tickets, with not much time to wait for a good deal to come along;  will be seeing the Virginia Prinses in June anyway, making the visit not exactly necessary.

2.  Drive to Ohio in mid-July to go to the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.  Pros:  get to actually go to a tournament this year;  my favorite player is the defending champion;  relatively cheap admission;  will only be six months along;  get to see Jamie Farr in person.  Cons:  kind of a long drive;  will already be six months along;  could be uncomfortably hot.

3.  Don't go to any tournament.  Pros:  don't have to walk a golf course at any point during my pregnancy;  obviously the cheapest option.  Cons:  don't get to go to a tournament this year;  obviously the least funnest option.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Once upon a time, we were married almost six years and we finally got our first real dining furniture. The end.

10:37 PM || I want to be a comment. Post me!

Monday, April 10, 2006
Kaly & Paul:  Any chance you want a crappy-wobbly kitchen table and chairs?  ;-)

Matthew:  When you take Benji out and about, how do you change his diaper with baby-changing stations in the women's restrroms and, I'm guessing, usually not the men's?

Baby car seat/stroller makers:  Why do you insist on making almost every design mostly navy or black?  Those are not "baby" colors.  They're ugly, and I don't want them.  The only other colors we've seen are pink (um, no, even if we knew we were having a girl, no, no, no), beige (seems too yuppy/preppy somehow), and light green, which I guess is going to have to be the winner.  Picky?  Who, me?

People of the world:  Sometimes the generic cottage cheese is actually better than the name brand cottage cheese.
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Friday, April 07, 2006
"Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me."
Yup, we just got a little tired of everyone else hogging the spotlight, what with their "weddings" and their "babies," so we're just gonna go and have a "baby" ourselves.  Take that.

So the reason I haven't been posting much is because I've had a pretty rough month-and-a-half.  My "morning" sickness has stuck with me pretty much all day every day -- it's been kind of like having the flu for six weeks straight.  It can be tough to deal with something like that when you just plain never get relief.  I'm a little bit better now (though still not great), but for a while there even reading or getting on the computer made me feel even sicker and I just couldn't do it much -- let alone think of anything to write when we weren't yet ready to share the one thing that was consuming my thoughts.  Tomorrow I'll be at 12 weeks, which some things I've read have said is considered the end of the first trimester, while others have said 13 or 14.  Whenever it is, the nausea is usually supposed to go away around the time you hit the second trimester, and I pray that happens for me soon.  PLEASE let it happen soon...

Other than that, I've been experiencing a lot of the classic symptoms of pregnancy, including sometimes extreme fatigue, backaches (yes, already), and crying at any little thing -- and sometimes even nothing.  I've also experienced things I had no idea could happen, like mouth-watering (like when there's something sour in your mouth, except there isn't), and, for some reason, lots and lots of burping.  :-P

I've also found that I have to get a lot more sleep than I used to.  If I get only 7-8 hours instead of, say, 10, I feel so wiped out the next day that it can be really difficult to do something as normal as standing for more than a few minutes at a stretch during a church service without having to sit down.  It's absolutely insane.  That's supposed to go away soon, too, and when I start to feel better I'm hoping to be able to start taking daily walks and maybe even exercising a little.  I wasn't exactly in great shape before, but over the last couple months I'm afraid I've gotten WAY out of shape, which isn't the greatest thing for the eventual labor to come.

So.. Enough about me.  Even I'm sick of me.  Let me answer the two most-asked questions thus far about the baby:

1.  No, we haven't decided yet whether we're going to find out the sex of the baby, or if we do whether we're going to tell other people or not.  We will, however, let you all know when we do make that decision.

2.  Little Maeby Prins is due October 20, five days after Josh's birthday.  :-)
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Thursday, April 06, 2006
[Insert clever title here.]
I don't have recurring dreams, per se.  At least not in the sense that I have essentially the same dream multiple times.  But I do have a couple of recurring themes that come up in my dreams repeatedly, both of which could be filed under the scary-but-not-quite-nightmare-level category.  One of the themes is that I'm in college and have somehow completely screwed myself academically, like by completely forgetting or not preparing for a test or by just skipping a class for almost the entire semester and then panicking.  I still have these dreams off and on, despite the fact that I've been out of school for almost five years.  The other recurring theme is that I have a baby and neglect to take care of it in one way or another, or sometimes many ways.  I've been having those dreams since before I was even married.

So come this October I just need to remember to actually feed my baby.  And, you know, not accidentally leave it on the roof of the car and drive off.  And not give it poison ivy to play with.  Because I've heard those are real parenting "don'ts."

Oh, and "Veronica Mars" seriously KICKED last night!  :-)
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Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Miscellanies.
Hooray for Maryland winning the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, mainly because their coach is a former assistant coach at Iowa State (I wonder if she got Bill tickets to the game...).  And it was an exciting game, too, with Maryland being down as much as 13 and hitting a 3-pointer with about 15 seconds left in regulation to send it into overtime, where they then pulled out the win.  It doesn't hurt that they beat Duke, who I've never liked and were a 1-seed (though Maryland was a 2, so it's not like it was a huge upset).  I echo my sister's thoughts about not giving a crap about the men's tournament.

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"Sons & Daughters," which just finished its midseason run on ABC, is eh.  Whoever thought comparing this show to "Arrested Development" was valid needs to have their hand bitten off by a loose seal, preferrably one wearing a bowtie.  But that last part's negotiable.

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Come to think of it, every midseason show I've sampled this year has been notgood to hideous, with most falling toward the latter end of that spectrum.  Good.  Like I need more shows to watch.

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Also, I feel like I need to have a moment of silence for the dearly departed "Arrested Development" on here.  It's only fitting as I've talked about it ad nauseum........

Okay.  I'm okay now.  Really, I am...  Really.....           *sob*

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I need it to be spring.  Not the kind of spring where it's 35 degrees and rainy, but the kind where it's 60 degrees and sunny.  I'd even take 60 and rainy.  Just give me the warm.
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Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Yay!
It's totally surreal to watch a friend of yours compete on a game show like "Jeopardy!" It's even more surreal to watch that friend WIN on "Jeopardy!" That's right, for those of you who missed it, you have another chance as Mike won and will be on tomorrow as well! So, so weird, but then he is a little smarty-pants.

Here's the summary of how it went down:  going into Final Jeopardy Mike had $16,200, one opponent had $16,800, and the other had $1800.  The low guy got it right and ended up with $3600.  Then Mike got it right and ended up with $17,401.  Then the high guy got it wrong and ended up with $3600.  (Yes, there was some kind of odd wagering, of which Josh and I have discussed the possible strategies.)  The shocked look on Mike's face when he won was priceless, and I think I screamed a little.  It was way cool and I liked it.  :-)

So, yah, watch tomorrow.  Because, yay!
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Sunday, April 02, 2006
Alert!  Alert!
Yes, I am posting.  Kindly pick yourself up off the floor and read the following:  on Tuesday, April 4th (that would be two days from now), barring any funky syndication scheduling-messing by your local station, please watch "Jeopardy!" and see our friend-from-college Mike compete and surely win lots of money.  He'll be the one named Mike.  If there is more than one Mike, he'll be the short Mike.  Unless they have him stand on a box or something to make him look the same height as the other Mike, in which case, um, I can't help you.  But I'm sure there won't be more than one Mike.  Because Alex has to say your name when you buzz in first before you can answer, and if there were two Mikes that would be rather confusing.  So he'll just be the one named Mike.  Unless he goes by Michael for some strange reason.  If so, then he'll be the one named Michael.  Gosh, I hope this all isn't too confusing.
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