Thursday, July 31, 2008

Passing it on...

Something that I am intensely interested in is passing along MY passions to my sweet baby. To all my future offspring, really. I'll be listening to the radio on my way to work and hear a song, and think "I can't wait to play this for the baby!!" But, I as quickly as these thoughts enter my mind, a severe case of placenta brain forces the thought back out the other side.

My solution? I need to start recording these thoughts here!! Right here in this blog. And I'm going to make an effort to start using labels for my posts so when the baby finally gets to an age where he can appreciate music, I can pull up all my posts and start passing along the goods!

So, here is my first post. I thought I'd start with a simple list of Music and Movies that I can't wait to share with Baby G!

Music: (Top 10 Alternative/Rock)
1. Invincible - Muse
2. No Leaf Clover - Metallica (off S & M Album)
3. Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
4. Tonight, Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins
5. Beautiful Day - U2
6. Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
7. Licking Cream - Sevendust
8. Are you in? - Incubus
9. Thoughtless - Evanescence
10. Doin' Time - Sublime

Movies: (Fantasy/Sci-Fi)
1. Willow
2. Princess Bride
3. Lord of the Rings (all of them)
4. Star Wars (all of them)
5. Harry Potter (all of them)
6. Dune
7. Labyrinth
8. Star Trek (all of them)
9. Legend
10. The Never Ending Story

New Walmart!

Woot!!! Copied from http://www.85239.com

Walmart to break ground Aug. 12; open in spring
Submitted
July 31, 2008

Maricopa Mayor Anthony Smith, City Council members and representatives from Walmart and Shea Properties will break ground on a new Walmart Supercenter in Maricopa’s new retail power center, The Wells, Tuesday, Aug. 12. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place from 8 to 8:30 a.m. with photo opportunities following the ceremony. The Wells is located at the northwest corner of the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and Porter Road.

“The city is proud to welcome Walmart as Maricopa’s first anchor store in this new power center,” said Smith. “This store will provide residents with new local employment opportunities and shopping choices.”

Maricopa’s first Supercenter is slated to open in late spring of 2009. The highly anticipated Walmart store will bring local residents more than 200,000 square feet of grocery, apparel and home items. The new Walmart also will create hundreds of new local jobs.

Maricopa’s new Walmart Supercenter is part of the approximately 650,000 square-foot power center being developed by Shea Properties. The center’s name, The Wells, is derived from the historic well stop where travelers and locals alike stopped to get water.

“Walmart has been an excellent development partner throughout the entire planning process,” said Burton Dezendorf, senior vice president and general manager of the Arizona Division of Shea Properties. “The company has worked closely with Shea Properties and the city of Maricopa to create an architectural design and theme for the project that is perfect for Maricopa. We could not ask for a better anchor tenant.”

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Baby "G"

At the request of many, here are some 4D photo's from the last appointment. Wish the doctor would have given me 2D photos - they look better. Please don't mind my speckley pictures or the speckley scanner :)

Oh, and don't feel bad if you have no idea what you are looking at. I swear, he was flailing around madly and he even looks like a blur to me.



Saturday, July 26, 2008

Got my mind set on you...

I think I've found a pregnancy theme song, lol:



I didn't buy nearly as much as I thought I would. Actually, I started out with literature. I bought "What to Expect: The First Year" and also purchased "The Baby Gizmo Buying Guide." They also have a website at http://babygizmo.com. Of course, I had to get a little something for the boy, so I picked up a two pack of bodysuits for the D-Backs games next year:



And of course I spent a good deal of time adding to the baby registry. I'm surprised at how quickly we were able to agree on items once we knew what we were having. Some of the bigger stuff off the registry:

The Crib:



Changing Table that matches crib:



The Crib Bedding:



Travel System (Stroller and Car Seat Match)



Oh, and of course, I registered for the matching play yard, and swing.

And now I need to plow through these books and see what else I'm going to need for baby that I'm not considering.

Friday, July 25, 2008

It's a Boy!!!

And I'm so excited :)

We would have been excited either way, but I'm extremely excited to have a sweet little boy (actually, the sweet little boy is measuring 1 week ahead, and according the ultrasound technician is going to be quite tall). Baby G (we will begin using the name soon as Husband has decided it is no longer a secret) is lookin' healthy all around!

Let the shopping commence! And the nursery decorating begin! Oh - and I've even started a registry at Babies R Us :) I'll post pictures of the crib and other furniture we have registered for.

Hooray!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Baby Stuff...




Some stuff for baby I have my eyes on:

New Blog Layout

Please excuse the mess while I rearrange some stuff around here :) I had to get with the times and get a 3rd column :)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Baby Stuff...


Some stuff for baby that has caught my eye:

Most amazing nursery I have ever seen:



























What do you think?

Boy, or Girl? I find out in a very small amount of time - in less than 48 hours, actually! I'm so excited, I can barely contain myself! Also excited because I started to feel Baby G flippin' around today. No kicking or punching --- guess "G" just wanted to get more comfortable!

There is a poll up on my sidebar - I would love for you to participate because, well, it is fun for me!

I can't wait to start shopping this weekend :) I promise you all a belly shot photo and pictures of all the goodies!

Other exciting stuff? One of my Rachael Ray Cook Books has arrived! 30 Minute Meals, here I come!! I would also love to know what your favorite meals are. I'm always on the lookout for a good recipe, and a lot of cookbooks tend to have recipes that include things I don't like, such as olives, mushrooms, and squash/zuchinni. Oh, and I don't like fish. Or any seafood for that matter. So, with that in mind, what are your favorite recipes??? :)

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Look Around...

I've been doing a lot of that lately. Looking around - analyzing what I'm seeing. I see a couple of young adults that tend to live like overgrown children, and here we are expecting a baby. I see a lot of evidence of my shortcomings, and find myself in a panic over these flaws. I'm dealing with a limited amount of time before I'm in charge of another human life. Is it possible to make the transition to full fledged adult in 167 days?

Yep - 167 short days until this baby is due. Baby G. *sigh*

I can't be a failure from the get go! I can't stand the thought that my offspring might see me for what I really am. Messy. Chaotic. Lazy.

Despite these flaws, I still find myself trying. WE are trying. Cleaning here and there. Heck, I even did the dishes after dinner tonight. My normal MO is to let the dishes pile up until I am unable to cook because everything is dirty. Husband and I went so far as to buy cleaning supplies at Target, and then *gasp* use them.

Now, don't get me horribly wrong. I often feel as if I'm living in a cesspool pit of despair and destruction, but I know in reality this is not the case. Sure, we've got dust and animal hair - and yeah, our laundry usually lives in a laundry basket instead of hanging in a closet. Knowing that we aren't the messiest house on the block doesn't really soothe my anxiety, however. It is important to me to bring some order to my chaos. I think order is soothing.

So, what else have I been looking at? Today I spent some time looking at our friends. Husband and I headed off to the West Side to meet up with three other couples that I have known since High School. Two of the couples have children, and they are both dealing with infant daughters at the moment. Being pregnant, my friends graciously handed over their babies for practice. The women folk all sat in the kitchen and discussed breast feeding, stretch marks and day care. It was interesting that we all had different thoughts and philosophies, and yet everyone was "ok" with what the other had to say. It is amazing to watch the friends that I have known for so long grow in to parents. It gives me hope that Husband and I will be able to do the same.

Today I also spent some time googling 17 week ultrasounds and found a lot pointing to anatomy with proclamations of BOY! or IT'S A GIRL! In just a few short days I should be able to see the very same thing. How exciting to finally put a name to this humanoid that has taken up residence in the Chateau Right Wife. This being that is making the simple act of urinating nearly impossible (I think the little bugger pushes on my urethra for fun). This bundle of joy that is making my skin rip apart at the seams. I feel like a walking stretch mark on most days. My son or daughter, that now can hear what I'm saying, which is giving my dear husband an ulcer trying to clean up my sailor mouth. "Honey - the baby can hear you! Watch your mouth!" *sigh*

Finally, I've been looking around my blog. I've already fallen out of love with this template. The martini glasses seem silly for a lady that can't even stand the smell of alcohol at the moment.

Please, enjoy "Look Around" by Blues Traveler:



And if you can't already tell
I am unable to let things go
I'm told I do it very well
But more important you should know
That all the same
You've got no one to blame
But yourself
If you call that a waste

Cause it ain't me
That's been hurting you inside
And if you've learned
You'll know much more than I
That you're gonna have
to go and find it
You'll have to dig beneath the ground
You'll have to unearth
every ugly stone
That kept you on your own
And simply put them down
You're gonna have to look around

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Itty Bitty...

Hey folks - Happy July! I've been gone for awhile, and on vacation for the last 10 days in fact, yet I have had absolutely nothing to post. But, in that time I've been doing lots of thinking and dreaming. On the thinking front, I've been thinking an awful lot about this tiny town I live in. Maricopa, AZ is small town. Some facts:

As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 1,040 people, 292 households, and 226 families residing in the CDP.

The city was officially incorporated on October 15, 2003, becoming the 88th incorporated city in Arizona. The city's first special census was completed Saturday, March 13, 2004, and showed a population of 4,998.

Right now, Maricopa's main attraction is the Fry's Marketplace. We also have a Walgreens and a CVS, and several gas stations (only one of which my husband will allow me to stop at after the sun goes down). We have no Walmart, no Target, no McDonalds. We do, however, have Fast Food galore! On the list: Panda Express, Carl's Jr, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, Arby's, KFC, and Sonic. Oh, you want to sit down? We have those restaurants, too, but no major chain restaurants, just local dives.

You must be thinking - holy moly - what has the Right Wife gotten herself into?? No Target!?!?! Gasp, horror, shock!

Folks, we are not living in the sticks here. Maricopa is literally 30 minutes south of Phoenix by Freeway.

What even got me thinking about all of this? Well, the New York Times and a couple of other liberal slanted media outlets had several articles on Maricopa being the poster child for the housing crisis. Yep, according to these articles, I currently live in a ghost town. And by what I have described to you, you must be thinking that indeed I do live in a ghost town.

But, I tend to disagree. Yeah - we don't have a McDonalds, yet. But, it is under construction, and should be open by August. And the Wal-Mart? Oh - that is under construction, too. It is going to be a Super Wal-Mart. Obscenely huge. Should arrive around January 2009 (which sucks in terms of timing, but I guess I can do my shopping outside of Maricopa for the next 6 months). Unfortunately, the Target is a bit farther off. Vestar Development Co. (one of the big dogs in shopping developments in AZ) has the following brochure available for its Maricopa Development at their website : http://www.vestar.com/newsite/PropDev.html

Maricopa Vestar Development - 900,000 Sq Ft.


So - why would Vestar and Wal-mart be coming for a ghost town with a measly population of 4,998 people?

Oh, I guess you could say the population has increased somewhat since the 2004 special census. In 2007 another census was conducted, and even with a cajillion homes sitting empty because investor assholes bought them, the population was still not too shabby:

In fact, according to county estimates, the population of the city was 33,923 as of July 1, 2007. And judging by the traffic on the 347 on the way to work in the morning, and the ever increasing lines at all times of the day and night at the Fry's Marketplace in town, the population has not decreased since that time. Moving trucks are in my neighborhood frequently, filling in the previously empty homes. We've got 5 elementary schools, several middle schools, and of course a high school. We've got a Hospital ready to start construction and did I mention that Wal-mart? Lol.

That is ok - at some point down the road, tons of jerks will be sad for not purchasing in Maricopa when they had the chance and the prices were reasonable!

*Shrug*