Better late then never!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Things have been pretty crazy around our house and we were looking forward to some r&r for Thanksgiving week...alas it was not meant to be.

The week before Thanksgiving was pretty crazy. We had travertine tile installed in our downstairs entrance and of course I picked the most beautiful, but intricate pattern. So what was supposed to take 2 days is just now being finished this morning. More importantly, as we went to get the tile the radiator hose in our new, used Range Rover blew out. So a few days later and with our wallets much lighter we finally left for Dallas.

About halfway to Dallas around 10pm our SUV suddenly shrank to a low rider....literally....the dashboard lit up and instructions for us to not go over 35mph started flashing. So...Gabe and I...and the dogs...stopped at a picnic stop to try to decide what to do. We were 150 miles from Houston and 150 miles from Dallas...the only cities with a Land Rover dealership. After 2 hours on the phone with his parents a AAA tow truck finally arrived to come to our rescue. Gabe's dad, Tino and Tino Jr. drove down from Dallas to pick us up with the dogs. Needless to say we were ALL more then greatful when we finally arrived in Dallas at 3am!

The next day we tried to sleep in but baby Madrid likes to wake up early...and so does mommy now. So I was up at 7am and poor Gabriel got up to. We spent all day with Gabriel's family cooking and going between houses (his parents live next to his older brother). We had a late Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed some family and friends time on the patio. Gabe's brother-in-law's parents came over to take pictures and we got a great one with the dogs. For once they actually just sat there! Too bad we had to leave the 3 cats and bird at home :) They aren't too keen on taking pictures anyways.


Gabe didn't sleep that night for fear the Land Rover dealership wouldn't be open...but luckily they were at 7am on Friday. While everyone was out hitting the malls we were at home waiting for a diagnosis. Luckily it wasn't too bad. Our truck has electronic air suspension and evidentally the computer driver went out. Something that could not have been foreseen but we didn't much appreciate being stuck in the wilderness either.

So we're now back in Houston counting down the days until Christmas. I have bought 1 present for Gabe and that's it. Luckily Houston is a great shopping city :) Yesterday I had 2 job interviews for a management position with my current company, BMC. They went great and I have an interview with the Director sometime this week. Exciting stuff!

As for baby Madrid....Gabriel discovered a few weeks ago from one of his books that the baby is now urinating. So everytime my tummy hurts we say the baby is peeing :) Nice huh. My tummy is slowly growing but not too much yet. Everything was great at our last checkup and we will hopefully find out if it's a boy or girl at our next appointment, Dec 15th. We can't wait!

Take care,
Bethany

So here it is a week later and I'm finally posting another blog. Hey, what can I say...it's exhausting being pregnant and working! I wake up everyday wishing I was a couch cushion :) This weekend was pretty uneventful. They came to our house Friday afternoon and hooked me up (or should I say glued me up) to the EEG machine. I couldn't leave the house or do much until 5pm on Saturday. Which considering we had the Opera at 7pm it was quite the race to get all of the junk of out my hair. We made it though...only to have to come home early b/c I kept getting busy. Oh well, we had a great dinner and loved the part of the opera we did see! Sunday was the usual church, brunch then nap time :) Oh and we did like 8 loads of laundry. Exciting life huh!

Bethany

Monday Monday

Thank goodness my boss gave us the option of working from home one day a week. I chose MONDAY, that seems to be the hardest day for me. So yesterday we had workers in and out of our house FINALLY trying to finish some of the things they were supposed to finish in March. I'm beginning to not believe anything they say, ever. Now all of our windows (almost 25) have to be completely replaced. We had noticed that one set of three large bay windows had warping at the bottom due to recent rain. But get this...when they came out yesterday and looked thye said, "yeah, we know exactly what the problem is. All of the windows are going to need to be replaced due to faulty installation. We discovered last year all of the windows had been installed without the metal rim (aka the rain barrier) on the inside." NICE HUH! So they have to re-install them, fix the drywall, paint paint and paint. UGH! These builders really stink!

Other then that the day was fine. I think we are growing REALLY OLD though. By 6:30pm we were both ready to get in bed. We wanted to watch "Wheel of Fortune" but neither one of us wanted to stay up. So we played it on the computer in bed for awhile then went to bed by 8pm. GEEZ are we old or what! Even my grandparents stay up later then that! And this morning I was exhausted....felt like I didn't sleep at all!

Bethany

This weekend...

So this weekend was kind of crazy. Despite an ear infection (and sleeping all day Saturday) Gabriel did his duty and accompanied me to the Houston Grand Opera. It only took him 3 hours to get ready to go...and in the end tying the tie was pretty hilarious. Despite a few tries after watching some sample "tie tying" videos...this is what we got!

I had to head off to pick up the dogs at their salon (picture to come as soon as they sit still)...leaving Gabe alone to finish up. After a few more tries and a little adjusting Gabe was able to get this"Windsor" knot to look pretty good! Too bad it wasn't still Halloween. He would have been a very good clown :)

We enjoyed a wonderful night at the opera - Simon Boccanegra. And Gabe is thrilled we have another one next weekend too!

Sunday we enjoyed another week in our new Fidelis Sunday School class at St. Pauls Methodist. Oddest thing, there are 5 pregnantt women all due in the spring! Maybe there is something in the water????? I was a little bored on the way to church so I broke out the camera. This is Gabriel in his usual pose and I am wearing my new, tummy covering blue cape :) As you can see my rash is pretty much gone, except for some nice flakey dry skin! Not too bad though. THANK GOODNESS!








So we rounded up the evening with dinner at home after I had been canning Cranberry Orange Marmalade all day. Luckily my wonderful husband let me rest and he spent the evening doing the dishes!

Take care,
Bethany

HILARIOUS video..take a look...

Okay I had to link this from Chrys's website. For those of you that have a foot thumper in the family (I am married to one) you will be able to relate. And for those of you that don't...well the music is enough to make you laugh.

Take a peek...

http://www.chrysandmike.com/blog/2006/10/fancy-feet.html

Thank goodness it's Friday!

Okay so day 2 of posting this blog thingy....

We had a nice peaceful night last night. Gabriel finished doing some touch-up painting on our gold stucco wall. I rested and watched Ugly Betty. And then we went to bed at 9pm, which is pretty late for us now days. The night before it was 7pm...are we old or what!

I'm VERY GLAD it's finally Friday. It's hard to keep working when I feel cruddy most of the time. We're definitely ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas break. The sooner the better!

As far as my doctor's appointment yesterday, she said things look "okay" for now. They are sheduling a 24 hour EEG, which I didn't even know existed. Apparantly they come to your house, hook you up, then you detach the device 24 hours later and mail it back. So we'll be doing that sometime soon. This picture could be me soon! No wonder they don't want me going to work with this hooked up on me!

Gabe and I are looking forward to a peaceful weekend! Hopefully I'll be able to FINALLY sleep in on Saturday so I don't drive Gabe crazy by waking up at 5am!

Take care and have a great weekend!
Bethany

First Posting

Okay so Gabriel may think this is cheesey, but I decided we needed a way to capture our new pregnancy and let the world share in our joy. So here it is! I am currently 12 weeks and 2 days. Only 194 days to go! (no I didn't calculate this I have to depend on my handy-dandy myspace counter)

When we visited the doctor a few weeks ago everything was great. The baby was definitely bouncing around...we couldn't even get a good, clear picture! Nice to know it's already energetic though :) Our next visit is November 15th...which will be 14 weeks exactly. Sure hope we find out whether it is a girl or a boy so we can do some Thanksgiving sale shopping!!!!

As far as the pregnancy, things are going pretty good. I had a few incidents last week where I blacked out at work so I go see a nuerologist this afternoon. Fun times. Oh and I have a BEAUTIFUL swollen, itchy, flaky rash all over my face this week. Go figure! I have never had real problems with my face but geez...I look like I stuck my head in a bee hive! Oh well, I hear it will go away. Only time will tell!

So far we have a crib, changing table, baby armoire and everything sort of set up in the room. Not alot more we can do until we know whether it is a boy or a girl though. Hopefully soon! I'm not very good at waiting games :)

Take care - Bethany