Andi – Page 68 – ANDI HAYS

my apologies

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Andi

I wanted to write something witty or funny or with lots of pictures. But I'll admit, I have not had the motivation or the energy lately to do so. If you pay any attention to my countdown at the top, you'll see that I have 38 days to go until my due date. When I get home from work, all I want to do is sleep. I am so exhausted. Sitting up and typing or thinking about what to type has not been easy. Usually I open my laptop to get something done, and then I just sit and stare at the screen. 🙂

So, I am going to do what I can to get the posts written that I have on my list to do before the baby makes her arrival and I am even more exhausted and have even less time to just sit and type.

So stick with me. There will be more stuff to come (there are a couple baby showers in January and one more Christmas yet to celebrate…hopefully I'll remember to take pictures).

Wishing everyone the very best in 2011. I know that we are very excited about all that is to come in the new year!

get in the bowl

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Andi

I have seen this commercial a couple times today and I needed to share it. If you haven't seen this commercial, be prepared to laugh! I think this commercial is hilarious!

Enjoy!

M&M Commercial

12/27/10

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Andi

Yesterday we drove back from Iowa. Today we drove to Duluth to see Chuck’s dad. That was such a hard trip to make. I cried a few times on the way up there. But I really wanted to hold myself together.

Chuck and I didn’t really know what to expect since we hadn’t seen him in person or talked to him any way other than e-mail or letters since February 2009. Paige and Brian went with us since they had been up there before. I was glad we made the trip when we did since I am getting so close to my due date and I wouldn’t want to take the trip up there too close to the due date.

It was hard to see him after so long, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be. The hardest part for me was when we got home. That’s when I was the most emotional because it was hard to know that he won’t be here when Thumper is born and that one of her grandparents won’t be able to see her all the time. I know we’ll make the trip up to see him when she is born, but it was still just a hard reality for a hormonal pregnant lady. So I cried. Or more accurately, sobbed. But it was good to get it out.

I know Chuck’s dad is really excited for us, and I am comforted by the fact that Thumper won’t be too old when he is out of prison, so they will have many years together to have fun. And I am sure Thumper will have siblings by then, too!

12/26/10

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Andi

Today is Sunday, and Wednesday we headed down to Iowa to spend some time with Chuck’s grandparents. We weren’t able to go at Thanksgiving because the weather wasn’t good enough to travel. Any other year we would have gone, but we didn’t want to risk it this year. So I was glad we were able to go down for Christmas.

Not too many people showed up this year, but I was thankful to spend time with his grandparents. The Schminkes are so excited to have their first great-grandchild! I get all sorts of e-mails from Doris checking up on me and telling me how excited she is! It makes me think about how excited my grandma would be if she were still here.

We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend and were fed like crazy! I love visiting them and I hope we have many more chances to visit them with the baby!

merry almost christmas

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Andi

I thought I would share our Christmas card with you from this year.

I used to make cards for Christmas and send them out, but I have not had any time (or creative mojo) for that in a long time!

Last year we did a photo card as well. And after seeing hoe easy that was, I knew I wanted to do another one this year!

I'm happy with how they turned out. They were cheap and fast and get the point across! 🙂

Happy holidays to all of you!

nineteen minutes

Posted on December 21, 2010January 30, 2011 by Andi

I was given this book for my birthday. I was reading another book at the time, but I just finished it last night on my long bus ride home during a snow storm.

I was a good book…as are all books I have read by Jodi Picoult. This one was hard to read because it was about a high school shooting. A kid had been bullied most of his life and something snapped one day and in the matter of nineteen minutes….lives were changed forever. It was hard to put down because there were a lot of unanswered questions throughout most of the book. Most of her books don't really have a happy ending. But this one had both an unhappy and happy ending. It was a little different than other books by her.

Overall, if you have read other books by this author and enjoyed them, you'll probably enjoy this one as well.

I don't want to say too much more about the book because I am sure I will give too much away.

Happy reading!

downtown

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Andi

Yesterday on the way to work, it was slow going. I take the bus downtown to work and getting downtown was fine. But once we got there, the traffic just stopped. All the snow we had this weekend was still around downtown. They had plowed the streets, but there wasn't anywhere for the buses to drop people off because all the snow was on the streets. So instead of three buses dropping people off at a time, only one could.

I was only delayed about 15 minutes this morning. Other people had a much worse time getting to work.

When I left, there was the same issue. Snow was everywhere. This is where we usually stand to wait for the bus:

There's a heat lamp in there that we couldn't use and it was filled with snow. This was, of course, the problem at all the bus stops and slowing things down like it had in the morning.

The buses were running really late. I got on a different bus than I had intended (because the one I was looking for was so late and we had somewhere to be). It was standing room only, but I was freezing and didn't care. I actually had a nice man give me his seat and even had a woman offer hers as well. It was so nice of them and I was happy to see that there are people that still do those things for pregnant women.

And we made it to our destination on time. All is good in the world.

Happy ~~not Monday~~ Tuesday!

comfort is best

Posted on December 14, 2010January 10, 2012 by Andi

I little over a month ago, I got myself some new tennis shoes. I thought they were great to (possibly) help keep me in shape with all the walking I have done. I found them at Walmart. They are these:

They are like the Sketchers “Shape-Ups” that you have seen around…only MUCH cheaper. I love them. I was worried it was going to take a while to get used to them, but it didn’t take long at all. My legs and butt were sore the first couple days. I loved it.

Then this happened to my feet and these shoes were the only ones that I wanted wear.

My feet have continued to be swollen and I went to put on other shoes this morning (mind you, just about ALL of my shoes are kids shoes) and none of them fit. The shoes above did fit, but Chuck insisted that I go and buy other tennis shoes that fit and were comfortable and didn’t where the butt-shaping ones because the last thing my body needed was to work harder right now.

(I’m so glad I have him around to watch out for me and remind me of things that should be obvious!)

So I went to Target this morning when I got to work and bought these:

They are very comfortable and loose fitting, but supportive at the same time. The material moves very easily which is good for my feet right now. The only strange thing was wearing them after the other shoes. I wasn’t used to flat shoes anymore and kept tripping on my feet today. 🙂 Thankfully I didn’t fall on my face or anything!

So there you have it. Stubborn Andi gets a new pair of shoes. Just what I am sure you wanted to hear about today!

connor

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Andi

One of my best friends, Katie, had her third baby early this morning. They named him Connor and he is so adorable! He was 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and 19.75 inches long. They originally thought he had red hair, but now it looks like he has light brown/blonde hair instead. He looks just like his older brother did when he was a baby.

I couldn't wait. I had to go see him!

Congratulations to the Christenson family on your newest arrival!

oofda

Posted on December 7, 2010January 30, 2011 by Andi

Apparently, when you look like this:

And you wear these for a couple hours to your husband's holiday party:

Your feet and ankles look like this:

I have learned my lesson. I will not wear heels for the duration of this pregnancy. And I most definitely won't think it's ok to dance in them to a couple songs at holiday parties. My feet protest and get very upset with me.

Point taken feet. Point taken.