UPDATE:  He’s been found!  We don’t know anything yet, but he is safe.  Thank God.  And all of you for your thoughts and prayers.

My fifteen-year-old cousin is currently missing.  He was last seen by his little brother around 11pm last night.  When my uncle went to get him up for school this morning he was gone.  We have very little to go on.  Searches have been halted for the day due to cold and snow.  Things will resume tomorrow morning and I’ll post updates when we have them.

I’ve posted some of the news links below.  They include the small amount of information we do have.  He could quite possibly be anywhere right now and it can’t hurt to have as many people as possible see his face.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S696424.shtml?cat=1

http://wcco.com/local/missing.cannon.falls.2.882659.html

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/35728379.html?elr=KArks:DCiUocOaL_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

For many reasons Thirty Before 30 just doesn’t fit me anymore.  TTO and I have decided to start a family blog to chronicle the last few weeks of the pregnancy (only 7 left to go and THANK GOODNESS because I am HUGE) and our life post-baby.   

The new blog will be shared with family and will include real names and places as a result the content may be a bit different.  If you’d like to follow us there, please send me an email and I’ll share the link.

Thank you for reading and being part of the TB30 experience.

Ultrasound Tech:  Are you planning to find out the sex of the baby?

Me:  YES!  PLEASE!

UT:  Alright we’ll see what we can do.  (Scans some things that are not my baby and then quickly proceeds to the good stuff)  Well, normally I wait to share the sex until the end, but this baby is giving us a fantastic shot here.  Imagine the baby sitting on a glass table and you’re looking up.  Here’s leg 1, leg 2, the cord and here are HIS boy parts.

Us:  WOW.  Oh my God.  Our SON!  WOW.  (Um, this went on for pretty much the entire appointment.)

As we were leaving TTO looked at me and said, “I know we both thought it was a girl, but earlier this week I started thinking that it was actually a boy.”  I couldn’t quite believe it because as I mentioned in my last post I had thought the same exact thing.  Little L (as he’ll be called until January when we’ll tell everyone his name) spent the rest of the time showing off his Phelpsian flip turns, healthy heart and other vital organs, ten fingers, ten toes (on his 1.5 inch feet!), his TONGUE and many more shots of his personal business (the boy REALLY wanted us to know). 

Prior to the scan, Big Daddy said that whether this baby was a boy or a girl it would most definitely have a big head (courtesy of yours truly) and long arms and legs (courtesy of TTO).  He was right on both accounts.  Little L is measuring a week ahead of schedule.

While my mom (Grandma Kiki – hee!) may be a teeny bit disappointed that this baby won’t be wearing the cute little dresses and wee little swimming suit, everyone has met the news with a big WOOHOO!  Including us.  When I say that we had no preference, I really and truly mean it.  We would have been equally happy if it were a girl.  Sure, this means I’ll live in a house of all boys (for now), but I can manage. 

It still feels surreal to be referring to him as a HIM and with his actual NAME.

Wow, it’s been a really, really long time since my post.  11 weeks if I’m being completely accurate.  I only know this because I last wrote right after our ten week ultrasound and as of tomorrow I’ll be 21 weeks.  We have the BIG ultrasound tomorrow.  By this time tomorrow night I’ll *hopefully* know if Baby O is a boy or a girl.  TTO and I have both felt girl very strongly from the beginning, but lately I’ve been less sure.  With the exception of my mom, everyone else thinks it is definitely a boy.  We’ll be throughly happy no matter what.

I have been extremely, EXTREMELY lucky with the pregnancy.  I haven’t experienced any of the negative side effects everyone talks about.  I had some mild nausea in the beginning, but no puking.  I’ve been a little tired and a few other sundry issues, but absolutely nothing to complain about.  I feel a little guilty about this, especially knowing how awful the experience has been for others.  I’m also worried that because the pregnancy thus far has been so easy this child will be a demon when it is no longer inside of my body.

We’re also a lot farther along with the baby preparedness than I thought we would be at this time.  Thanks to Craigslist, consignment stores, garage sales and the generosity of our families (who are SO EXCITED, THRILLED, ECSTATIC and every other happy adjective you can think of) we are in possession of a crib, a glider, a high chair, three rubbermaid bins of clothes and blankets, a portable swing, a pack n’ play, an exersaucer and much more.  I’m still on the hunt for the elusive natural colored wood changing table/dresser, but we do have a changing table that will work if I can’t find one I love.  The nursery will be staying the current dark sage green because the color will work for a boy or a girl and that room is already on its third shade of green.  We are painting the trim white to help lighten it up a little. 

Yes I am painting, while wearing a mask, with the windows open and a fan on.  Other things I have done that are supposed to be big no-nos (but have been given the okay from my truly awesome doctor) include ingesting caffeine, coloring my hair, sleeping on my back and eating lunch meat.  Everyone is a little surprised at how laid back I’ve been.  Including me.  I tend to be a bit of a hypochondriac (this may be a giant understatement), but I decided that I just wanted to relax and enjoy this.  And I have.  I’ve double-checked every questionable act with my doctor beforehand and I listen to my body when it says to eat, drink more water and rest.  I’ve had one unplanned trip to the doctor where the issue was quickly diagnosed (round ligament pain) and since then all has been well.

The hormones have hit a little bit this week, but nothing irrational.  Yet.  I was beating myself up about not making more of an effort to journal the pregnancy.  I’ve written exactly one entry in the pregnancy journal I HAD to have.  Then I talked myself out of the funk by reminding myself that some of my most favorite memories are things I never would have written down.  If all I remember from this time is that I had really bad, awful, terrible gas, well then so be it.  Or maybe it will be the fact that I’ve had horribly inappropriate dreams about Bobby Flay, Joe Mauer and an old high school crush (definitely not people I would choose to have THOSE kinds of dreams about).  While they might not be warm fuzzies, they are definitely the truth.  What I know I will remember is the first time TTO talked to the baby and told it how much it was loved. 

Auntie Alice is hopefully going to be our nanny for at least the first 9-12 months of Baby O’s life.  I’m going to let her and TTO hammer out the financial details because that was the other issue I was handling a bit hormonally.  I have to say that I am truly excited by the thought of sharing the early part of Baby O’s existence with Alice.  Having a seven year age difference has prevented us from really bonding through the major life events and I hope this is our time to really get to know and appreciate each other. 

Also?  The way Alice says goodbye to the belly whenever we see her melts my heart.  She wiggles her fingers at it and talks in a squeaky voice that just seals for me how much this baby is already loved by each and every person around us.

In addition to all things baby-related, we’ve experience a few other life-changing events in the last few months.  You may remember that I started what seemed like a great new job back in February.  Unfortunately that job turned out to be completely hellish.  The work itself was fun, but the people I worked for were completely psychotic.  I wasn’t the only one who thought so – there had been 10 people in my job in the last 2 years.  My replacement lasted six weeks.  I’m not going to rehash how awful it was, but the stories of my experiences are becoming legends.  If you ask nicely maybe I’ll email you a few. 

I can be so nonchalant about it because I was able to get the heck out of there and into a fantastic, pinch me-worthy situation.  I found a great job, doing something I thorougly enjoy, in Hometown – meaning I get to go my parent’s house for lunch every day and it will make the eventual move back much less difficult.  I was really nervous about breaking the baby news to them.  I opted not to say anything during the interview process because I was worried it might hurt my chances and it was still relatively early.  I broke down and told them the Friday of my first week.  Their reaction?  Why would you be worried about telling us?  This is fantastic news!  Nothing is more important than family!  I was blown away.  This is definitely the job I was meant to have.

Last night we found out that TTO will finally get to leave his crazy, crazy work schedule behind.  No more 12 hour shifts, nights or weekends.  Instead he’ll be doing four ten hour days.  And he’ll get to take about three weeks off when the baby is born.  He has been an amazing support through everything and I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else.  While our relationship has always been rock solid, the pregnancy has brought us to a new level of trust and appreciation.  He is already a fantastic dad. 

We’ve also worked out a plan that will have us moving back to Hometown and onto a FARM (I’ll have to save that  for another post) in roughly two years.  Everything we’ve talked about for almost seven years is falling into place.  I really can’t believe it.  There is a part of me that keeps feeling like the other shoe is going to drop, but I’m not going to buy into it.  Instead I’m going to savor the blessings that have been given to us and be thankful each and every day.

Also, Gus?  Did not have cancer.  He is 100% healthy and so ready to be a big brother.  All of the above-mentioned baby stuff has been sniffed for approval and he hasn’t jumped up on me when I’ve walked through the door since June.  I think he knows, because TTO and Auntie Alice still get the full body treatment.

I apologize for the jumbled-ness of this post, but I just needed to get it all out already. 

Basically life has been a Jason Mraz song (who I will be seeing LIVE in November when I am probably going to be too huge to enjoy it) for the past few months.

Lucky I’m in love with my best friend

Lucky to have been where I have been

Lucky to be coming home again

I’ve had every intention of writing a very long, very overdue update but all I can really think about right now is January 21. 

We saw Baby-O for the first time today.  I have never felt more completely and totally blessed in my entire life.

A few months ago TTO noticed a small, hard bump on Gus’ rear ‘passenger side’ (also known as the right) leg.  We agreed to keep an eye on it and take him to the vet if it changed at all.  It stayed exactly the same until late last week.  TTO pointed out that it felt bigger and a bit softer.  I made an appointment.

That brings us to this afternoon.  Gus HATES going to the vet.  He trembles all over and it is the only time that I ever see his stumpy little tail stop wagging.  The vet came in, felt the bump and had the tech come in to take him back and aspirate what she had determined was a cyst.  At this point I still wasn’t that concerned.  Boxers are known for having skin issues and I figured we’d been pretty lucky up to this point. 

Then the vet came back in with the syringe.

It was filled with gunky brown liquid.  She proceded to tell me that she hadn’t really seen anything like it before.  She was anticipating a waxy, clear substance.  Apparently the brown = melanin, which is not good.  The combination of the melanin and the specific kind of cells she was seeing can equal melanoma.  She wanted to send out the sample for additional testing before having the lump surgically removed.

My doggie might have cancer, even if he doesn’t he will probably still need surgery.  We won’t know for sure until the lab results come back next week so until then I’m doing my best to stay positive.  If something really is wrong with my little Gus I’m not quite sure what I’ll do. 

A long, long walk through the beautiful scenery of an old neighborhood

Fantastic conversation that just didn’t stop

Laughing uncontrollably

A pitcher of top shelf margaritas

More Mexican food than two people should rightfully eat

Continuing to reconnect with an old friend

Thank you, KT!  I had SO much fun.  We will DEFINITELY do it again soon.

And new places to do it!

After searching for the perfect couch for about a year and a half, last Sunday TTO and I FINALLY found what had eluded us.  We even scored a pretty good deal.  The main couch piece was delivered today (the chaise lounge cushion/ottoman was backordered until June) and we were a little worried about how Gus would react because he isn’t a big fan of change.

Apparently our apprehension wasn’t necessary.  I wasn’t here when the couch arrived, but TTO said Gus gave it a few compulsory sniffs, hopped up and made himself at home. 

He was even nice enough to drool on it a bit – thank goodness for microfiber!

Find out where Smalls, Kaya, Rufus, Ben, Gus, and Zapp cuddle up.

Achoo!  Wow, there’s a lot of dust in here, huh?