Trick or Treat

Would you believe that we still have Halloween candy leftover from last year? Last year we had SO many trick-or-treaters (is that a word?) that I had to go out and buy more candy because we ran out. Unfortunately, once I returned with the second round of candy our doorbell only rang two more times. SO, we had so much leftover candy that even I couldn't finish it in a year. We have a bag of those mini boxes of Nerds in our fridge and they've been there for 1 year...so do Nerds expire? Can we give them out tonight?

Twice in one week

There's this stupid mindless wasteful thing that I accidentally do occasionally...and this time I did it twice in a few short days. When I'm in the kitchen, I'm always cleaning up as I go and I often get ahead of myself. I love lemons and juice them often in my hand juicer for recipes or to make hot lemon water (a favorite now that it's colder and I'm afraid of most herbal teas since I'm pregnant). I have this horrible habit of juicing the lemon and then immediately cleaning the juicer (before I even get the lemon juice from it!) so I've wasted two lemons this week. I never even notice what I've done until I come to that point in the recipe where I need the lemon juice and I can't find it and then I realize the lemon juicer is rinsed clean and sitting in the dishwasher. How can I stop doing this?!? It's becoming a habit!

the Visitor

I rarely like movies - I can rarely even stay awake for a whole movie...but I really liked this one. Maybe you will too.

Doug and Tracie's first dance

Month (and a half) in review

I just read the baby ticker and the part that says "I wiggle lots & wake mommy up at night..." -- that is so true right now! Those ticker makers really know what they're talking about! I can't remember the last time I stayed asleep for more than a couple hours. I suppose I should get used to it - in between the leg cramps I'm still getting way more sleep than I will once February comes! I'm feeling the baby move all the time and Sameer can often feel it too. We love it!

Here's a valuable lesson I learned this month: When you're feeling queasy, don't eat a whole grapefruit and then about a dozen baby carrots. It's not a good idea. I repeat: it's not a good idea, even if your cravings say it is.

I'm STILL feeling sick several times a day and while it's a tad better than the first trimester, I do think all that talk about the wonderful second trimester is a big LIE. (or maybe I'm weird or wimpy) Sure, the fatigue is better, but the leg cramps?!? Wow! Even nightly yoga can't compete with these. I think I'd rather just be fatigued! Oh - and I'm suddenly huge - I can't believe how quickly this is happening! Look out, California! All in all, it's DEFINITELY worth it and we just love preparing for our baby boy.

The last several weeks have been full of great things. We are happy...and tired. We're heading out to California again later this week for Tracie's wedding and then after that I don't think I ever want to travel again. Anyone want to visit us in NC?

Back in August we went to Wrightsville Beach for the most relaxing weekend we've ever had. Because I wasn't feeling great, I was not my usual vacationer and I think Sameer preferred this mellowed out version of me. I normally want to walk everywhere and see everything, which ends up requiring us to walk an average of oh, 10 miles a day...my idea of a great vacation = Sameer's idea of torture. So for this weekend, we planted ourselves under this umbrella here and took naps. That's about all we did the whole weekend. I didn't take any other pictures because that would have required moving.



Then two weeks later we went to California for Tracie's bridal showers...


Tracie and some of her bridesmaids


Tracie and her grandmas


mom and daughters

I also got to go to Tracie's classroom and watch her teach her second graders one morning. My favorite part was when she led them in a song of "Yankee Doodle" complete with marching and hand motions. Really, Tracie is an excellent teacher and I loved seeing her interact with her students. (She's also really good at singing patriotic songs)

Since we've been back, we've joined a small group at church and we're really excited about that. Our life in Durham is becoming rich and full. We've even started developing this peculiar attachment to the city. There's this phenomenon that I've seen happening to people who move here. At first they don't like it...then it slowly grows on them (very slowly for some)...then they become committed to the place and end up staying for years. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say, "I'm committed to Santa Clarita" or some other place but I can't tell you how many times I've heard the phrase, "We're committed to Durham." If you've visited, you wouldn't understand because it's not that charming of a place at first glance. It's a peculiar phenomenon indeed, but it's kind of happening to us.

So just as we settle into an autumn routine here, off we go again -

to joyfully celebrate the marriage of this sister we so love:


Happiness!

Isn't that a beautiful smile?