Saratoga Springs

Friday was race day! Took the bus to Saratoga Springs and enjoyed a day at the races courtesy of some nice vendor from work. We were rookies and now we know what to expect. The area is named for the many springs that can be found and sampled. Personally I would not recommend tasting them unless you have something else to wash the taste away with - in our case we tried the Big Red Spring. Trust me when I say you probably won't like it. It is naturally carbonated and well very minerally tasting. Blech. I tried to tell Mark to not try it and he was not listening. Pays to listen to your wife. Oh and the best part is some people like it!

Outside the race track there are tons of picnic areas and it appears the majority of the race goers bring their own picnic, chairs and stuff. Oh and there are tons of TV's all throughout the area and betting booths too. No need to go inside if you don't want too.

Inside the track there are the grandstands, which you pay to sit in under the shade and the benches, which are in full sun and close to the rails. That part was free on the day we went although we did have real seats in the stands. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not cool at all. Nice breeze too.

Some nice guy took our picture and managed to loose his wife at the same time. Poor guy.

Some races are on the turf (grass) and some are in the dirt. The track is one mile around so really it is kind of hard to see a whole race unless you are up in the grandstands. Tons of history.

Baby likes lemonade. Truth be known it was cheaper than a bottle of water and a necessity after testing that spring water. For $3 you've got a deal! Happy baby and mama.

Before each race the horses make the trek from their stables to the track and you can go watch.

So for next time I've made a few notes and it's something you could make a weekend of with a child in tow. One family had a set of twins and triplets so if they can do it we can too! Definitely a cool way to spend a nice summer day. Would love to see the rest of town as well and spend the night.

no patience for shopping

We headed off last night for dinner and some browsing at BabiesR'Us. First of all not sure why this store doesn't carry much of what I registered for online, but it is frustrating to not see what you think you want and picked out online. I left them as is on the registry because most of the items that I'm not seeing in the store are more than what the store carries leaving me to believe it's an issue with the store in our area. Or maybe I have expensive taste? They didn't carry the crib, stroller or infant car seat. Only the stroller is a bit more than normal and it's what I really want because it's a really good one and I don't want one with 4 wheels. I love to walk and it has to hold up so that played in too. Either way most items ship for free so it would save that trip to the store and they offer other specials at the same time.
Take a look if you're curious and want to give me some more ideas. I'm sure I left off something important! I do have the dressers already so that played into the crib we chose.
Off to try and stay cool on a very hot day!

a better shot

This is the one I meant to post. Better profile. No money shot as they call it. The round part to the left is the head (just for mom!). The round part to the right is the belly. The bumps above the belly are the knee's - he is sitting indian style. Way more flexible than me!

It's a BOY!

110% boy was the comment by the tech. She went so fast, at least to us, but we did see the fingers, toes, heart, spine and brain. All looked great! Now we can start planning more of the nursery. Not going with boy blue, but there will be some blue accents of sorts. yay!

betting on a soccer player

Tomorrow is the big day - we'll be finding out if this little soccer player is a girl or boy! I am being kicked on a regular basis by what I'm guessing is a foot. Tomorrow we'll find out if I'm really being punched or kicked. It's almost always in the same spot and I'm sort of hoping it's a hand because the baby is obviously no where near being head down if it is a foot. Plenty of time to make that turn however and there is still lots of room so maybe I'm feeling somersaults? Breakfast is the favorite meal to get this all started and it probably doesn't help that I eat breakfast twice. Make that lunch twice too. Not that any meal is much because I'm just not into eating. I'm only up 9 pounds and some of that can be attributed to some long weekends where we ate lots of food - specifically the one where we got to have garbage plates.

dang ticker

You may have noticed that I appear to be further from my due date. Guess somehow my date on my ticker got messed up because I knew I was only in my 18th week - heading into 19. All fixed now and it appears I have more days to go. ah well really makes no difference in the end as the baby will come when the baby comes. All is well here.

am I in the 60's?

A trip to New Paltz often makes me wonder what dream I'm stuck in. After my yoga class tonight I was feeling very relaxed as I walked out the door. Across the street there was this guy walking. Not to be gawky, but I just sort of couldn't stop staring and it took me about 30 seconds to process the vision. He was a monk dressed in a brown wool "outfit" complete with flip flops. Just beebopping down the street. Not something you normally see out in public, but this is New Paltz and I totally forget the variety of life that is found there. To make it even more interesting while gawking (and processing the vision) I almost ran into a group of college age hippies - wearing head bands and all. Total Woodstock vision. At that point I was sure I was having some out of body experience and decided my best bet was to high tail it to my car before something else crossed my path. I know I was staring. College must be in summer session there.

Baby S. is almost 18 weeks

Friday was one of my 4 week appointments. I appear not to be on any sort of schedule other than every 4 weeks. Baby sounded great and this time I knew what I was listening for as he spends all of maybe 10 seconds checking out the heart rate. It sounds like a swooshing sound and not the beat, beat I was thinking last time. Blood pressure was great and my one ankle swelling up a little more than the other once in a while is normal in the heat. No cankles yet! And the one test they ran the other day was normal. AFP? Something about spina bifida I guess. Since it was normal I didn't get into it. He did go on some tangent when I asked about the ankles being different sizes. I had to laugh as I was not asking if he thought I had a blood clot, but I thought it was weird one swelled a little more than the other. A little. We go for the big ultrasound in about a week and half and seeing how insurance pays for it all I'm sure the doctor will find a reason to do at least a 3-D ultrasound. Got to make some money somehow because insurance pays so little. He also does the 4-D in the office. Not sure I'd want them to find a real reason to do that one.
I think the whole appointment lasted 5 minutes. Again fine by me. I thought for sure I'd start being put into the rotation of meeting the other doctors, but he is not doing that yet - another fine by me moment. Would rather not change at this point and have to spend more time getting to know another doctor. I mean in the end do I really care who delivers the baby from the practice and if we've met. Nope, because I'm going to guess they won't remember me anyway from the one appointment I might have with them. Again fine by me as they probably will end up living down the street or something equally crazy in this small town area. Tomorrow I will get Mark to take some pics - not looking so hot after a dip in the pool tonight.

Desert Garden

So we had to have this dug to lay the electrical. We were just told an 18 inch trench. Then aweek later were told the electrical outlet pole had to be 5 feet from the pool. So Mark had to hand dig it. No small feat. Nightmare actually. We live in the most rocky place ever. Then the electrician sends one of his guys to install it and I'm the only one home. I hear him on the phone with his boss saying the trench is not far enough from the pool. Now I know he said the pole had to be five feet from the pool and it was so I went down to chat. Turns out the WHOLE TRENCH must be 5 feet from the pool. Seriously how about communicating that to us a bit better. So he and his boss decide they will just call their inspector friend to come check it out - he will pass it. And he did! It was pretty close and that's all I'm saying.


So why the desert garden topic post? Well since the earth is so hard and rocky here I figured this was my chance to put in a garden of sorts. We went to Lowe's and I moved some plants I had in other gardens to start filling it in. Mostly blooming flowers that will attract butterflys and humming birds. And they were advertised to be heat tolerate requiring little water. Now who does this is 100 degree heat? Me. Probably not the brightest plan, but if I let the earth sit too long it will get hard again. So the poor plants are getting lots of water and this does look like the desert right?

Pool Ladder Deception

Our pool came with an "easy to assemble" ladder. That was what we were told and also what the packaging said. We started assembly last Tuesday night. We just finished on Monday. 6 days of assembly? Easy to assemble? I think not. Do not be fooled and never buy a ladder that looks like this! Ever! Plastic is your first warning to step away from the box. Run, don't walk. We could only handle about 30 minutes of assembly at a time. Get this you have to bend the plastic steps and then pop them into holes. This requires superhero strength. Lucky Mark was the super hero, because I certainly am not. Oh the best part. We are supposed to drill into the railing that goes around the pool and attach that god damn thing with 3 inch bolts. Whatever. That is not happening.

So the plan. It just has to last this season. Next spring we will put up a deck at ground level and have some steps that go up to the pool and then a different type of easy entry steps to get into the pool. I can't wait to try and get the ladder (which is now filled with water because the plastic is hollow) out of the water this fall. I think it's a job for three men.

Pool Time

Perfect pool weather. 90 something and sunny. The water last Monday was 54 when they filled the pool. Today is was about 82 and I'm sure it will be much higher by next weekend. High 90's to 100 all week. As you can see Mark had some fun! I did too, but we didn't get any pictures. Next time.

Safety Suggestion

At work the employees get $25 for each safety suggestion that is implemented. Yesterday morning I found the following shoved under our office door.

Please describe safety issue you have observed: Slip hazard.

How would you correct this problem: Put a lock box outside your office door. So you don't have to bend down to pick up all these papers. Soon you won't be able too!!!

Now it wasn't quite filled out all the way, but I know who did it as she did leave her initials along with several unclaimed paychecks, an accident report and some vacation requests. She was being funny in a way, but I know she hates bending down to shove them under the door too. LOL! And she is right the first thing I thought when I opened the door was "maybe I'll leave them for someone else to pick up". Problem is the next person doesn't come in until 9:00 am and I'm not that lazy and there were a lot of them! If I share this funny with the right person I'm pretty sure I will get that lock box and the jokester will get $25.