Strollin'

Nick and I are pleased to announce that we are expecting this sweet Baby Jogger City Mini sometime in the next month!

Nick speaking: In addition to it being oh so stylish it features a seating capacity of 100 lbs which can be evenly or not so evenly distributed amongst 2 children. It comes in at 26 lbs with 8" *bling* spinner wheels. Wait--no spinners, but they do roll, which probably contributed to its 5 star customer rating from joggingstroller.com. Its mean AND lean with a 29" wingspan like Alan Greenspan. It may even fit into some closet somewhere being only 11" wide when folded. I'll leave the rest to my man from strollerdepot.com to fill you in on the rest.

One last thing. It was very very hard to find this stroller at a not retail price. But we did. I am a man, and I have to mention not paying full retail price.

Nicole speaking again: I'd like to thank the many friends and family members that contributed to this purchase. We couldn't have done it without you and I hope you're proud to see what you made possible. We did our homework folks: this is our dream stroller. Thanks again.

The Pregnant 'Idealist Portrait of a Teacher'

Here's what I look like now @ 31 weeks. At our appointment last week baby A was 3lbs 10oz. and Baby B was 3lbs. 11oz.

My visiting teachers came over last night and we had an engaging conversation during which one of them mentioned her score on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. I've never taken one and heeding her encouragement I found one online last night that is 72 questions long and took it. It's not the real thing, but this is what it said about me:

I am the

Idealist Portrait of the Teacher (ENFJ)

"Even more than the other Idealists, Teachers have a natural talent for leading students or trainees toward learning, or as Idealists like to think of it, they are capable of calling forth each learner's potentials. Teachers (around two percent of the population) are able - effortlessly, it seems, and almost endlessly-to dream up fascinating learning activities for their students to engage in. In some Teachers, this ability to fire the imagination can amount to a kind of genius which other types find hard to emulate. But perhaps their greatest strength lies in their belief in their students. Teachers look for the best in their students, and communicate clearly that each one has untold potential, and this confidence can inspire their students to grow and develop more than they ever thought possible.

"In whatever field they choose, Teachers consider people their highest priority, and they instinctively communicate personal concern and a willingness to become involved. Warmly outgoing, and perhaps the most expressive of all the types, Teachers are remarkably good with language, especially when communicating in speech, face to face. And they do not hesitate to speak out and let their feelings be known. Bubbling with enthusiasm, Teachers will voice their passions with dramatic flourish, and can, with practice, become charismatic public speakers. This verbal ability gives Teachers a good deal of influence in groups, and they are often asked to take a leadership role.

"Teachers like things settled and organized, and will schedule their work hours and social engagements well ahead of time-and they are absolutely trustworthy in honoring these commitments. Valuing as they do interpersonal cooperation and harmonious relations, Teachers are extraordinarily tolerant of others, are easy to get along with, and are usually popular wherever they are.

"Teachers are highly sensitive to others, which is to say their intuition tends to be well developed. Certainly their insight into themselves and others is unparalleled. Without a doubt, they know what is going on inside themselves, and they can read other people with uncanny accuracy. Teachers also identify with others quite easily, and will actually find themselves picking up the characteristics, emotions, and beliefs of those around them. Because they slip almost unconsciously into other people's skin in this way, Teachers feel closely connected with those around them, and thus show a sincere interest in the joys and problems of their employees, colleagues, students, clients, and loved ones."

Eh? Does that sound like me to you?

Here is my ENFJ broken down: E:11 N:62 F:12 J:22

• slightly expressed extravert
  
• distinctively expressed intuitive personality
  
• slightly expressed feeling personality
  
• slightly expressed judging personality
  

Interestingly enough, I took the test again this morning and the second time I was a Rational Portrait of a Field Marshall: E:11 N:62 T:1 J:33

So, evidently in the mornings I'm rational and by nighttime I'm an idealist.

If you have time, I'd love to see what you scored. Here's the link again. Nick was an ISTJ, (that's: introverted, sensing, thinking, judging) 'Guardian Portrait of the Inspector', but neither of us felt like the description truly fit him. Maybe I can convince him to take it again and see what happens.

our woodland friends

It's fun to live up against the woods because it attracts all sorts of fun wildlife. Let me esplain. No--there is no time, lemme sum up. Here are pictures of animals we have seen out our sliding glass door:



This is a groundhog. We had about 3 or 4 living out there last summer, but they've all left we think...except for this guy. Next:



It's a snail. Next:



Those...were deer. Next:



I believe this is a skink. Blue tailed skink to be exact. Although, this guy's tail isn't as blue as some others we've seen. I saw a very green lizard while I was out disc golfing, too. Very cool li'l creeping things. Next:

This one is actually outside our friend's window. It flew up to the window and flashed it's abdomen at us. I don't know if that's obscene or not for insect life, but we took a picture anyway.

Aside from these majestic creatures are others such as the gray squirrel, flies, spiders--oh wait! I got one of a spider:



...big bumblebees, cardinals, blue jays, blue birds, crickets, green grasshoppers, moths, and a slug--got one of those, too!  

We don't discriminate against those creatures that don't live out back, though. For example:


So there you have it. Oh, and by the way, wildlife love the souds of Lenny Kravitz. Put some on sometime and watch the animals roll, walk, creep, crawl, or waddle in. It's like a magic flute of sorts.

If I were an animagus...

If I were an animagus...

I think I'd be a squirrel. I'd be fast, look awesome while I was hopping about, have a luxurious tail, be able to grab things with my little front paws, look funny when I was holding anything, and scurry places. Also, squirrels are found all over the world, so I wouldn't look too out of place where ever I went.

Look, I can even get into cookie jars.

Sometimes though, I think I'd be a racoon. Mostly because they're cool looking to me.


What would you be?

A Confession

I have to admit that I just don't like hands in my armpits.  Is it so much to ask that people keep their hands out of my armpits?

and randomly: a ring that I love.

So this is completely random, but today while I was looking for images of birds I found this ring, that turned out to be from etsy, and fell in love. Unfortunately, this item was sold last year, and is no longer available, but I wanted to blog about it nonetheless.

Wonderful.

And while I'm being random, I'll show you the images I have saved in my "artsy stuff that I love" folder:

This was an installation piece somewhere, and I can't find the info about it anymore, sorry about that...I'm showing you anyway.


And this:

I wish I could tell you all about this one too, but I can't. Up until this point I haven't been doing a good job documenting where I find these things that inspire me. This post has motivated me to do better in the future, and next time I show you artsy stuff I like, I'll have the info too.

Look closely at the last two. There's a lot to notice, and I think that's why I like them so much.

Four and a half pounds of baby.

Here's an overdue shot of my belly progression:

This is me at 26 weeks, that is, almost 7 months.

At my appointment two weeks ago my doctor said I was measuring 5 weeks ahead of a singleton pregnancy. So, at 24 weeks I was measuring at 29 weeks (let me just take care of that math for you). At our ultrasound on Monday Baby B weighed 2.4 lbs and Baby A weighed 2 lbs. I'm finally feeling huge-ish, and that makes me nervous for the next two months.

Nick: In unrelated news, I finally fixed my music website so that you can actually get to it beyond the entry page.  Download some music, it's fun.