Baby Update

Well, here I sit.

Today’s blog entry HAS to be all about the baby since we’re 2 days away. What do you do when you’re 2 days away? I hope you’ve checked out Mark’s Daddy blog – he talks about the calm before the storm. He’s right. Have you seen Jaws? You know those moments before the shark appears where the men are sitting around yapping. They seem relaxed but there’s something in the air… they KNOW that something big is about to happen… soon. That’s where we are. We try to act like everything is status quo but we know better. I’m not really sure what to expect.

Here we are…

Waiting…

Mark’s folks are rolling into town Thursday. I hope the baby shows up mostly on time (which would be Friday). Otherwise, I’m worried it’ll be his folks and me sitting around looking at each other… waiting.

Wouldn’t it be nice if it could always be a set date? Like it is with a scheduled C-section… The worst part is I could still be over a week away. Yikes! I don’t think baby and I can hang on that long. She’s not comfortable in there anymore and I want my body back. This sharing thing is no longer mutually beneficial.

So here’s the update: Everything at the doc’s still checks out and nothing has changed. The one thing he is concerned about is my blood pressure, which has crept up a little bit. I go back in on Friday. I’ve been told to take is easy this week. Which, let’s face it, is fairly easy to do for an unemployed gal 9 months pregnant. I suppose if my blood pressure continues to go up they could take the baby this weekend. But, the doc is hoping to buy me a little bit of time. So, I’m just taking it easy.

I went to the dermatologist today. The nurse came in and was going over my info and said “So, you’re taking pre-natal vitamins?”

“Yeah”

“Are you trying to get pregnant now?”

WHAT? Surely I at least look a LITTLE bit pregnant, right? I mean, I have this belly. I looked at her blankly and said “Well, I’m due any minute now.”

And then we stared at each other; both in disbelief of the other. Not sure what that was all about.

So, thank you to those of you who have asked me how the pregnancy is going. I’m feeling all sorts of emotions… tonight I’m mostly worried. Worried… hopeful that everything will turn out okay. Perhaps her movement right now is a sign that everything will be fine?

Legally Blonde

Hey Showtune fans!

My Saturday nights just aren't the same anymore. But, I do still have the big urge to share some Showtune related tidbits with those of you who are checking in (by the way, thanks for stopping by).

Last June my Hub and I went to NYC and had the privilege of seeing the new musical, Legally Blonde starring Laura Bell Bundy.

Honestly, I'm having some writers block... let's take a break. I'm here at my mom's visiting with my sis who is in town (with my niece!) and my other sis - here with her 1 week old. Not to mention, the whole Hansen gang is around and my mom broke out her Halloween candy. So, I've decided a Reese's is the key to breaking the writer's block (apparently, the Butterfinger, Snickers and 2nd Butterfinger didn't do the trick). Anyway, Reese's in left hand, typing with right hand, 2 yol Katie yelling through the house... needless to say, it's not the most conducive to writing about Legally Blonde. Nevertheless, I feel like sharing.

LB was on MTV last weekend and it was delightful. Of course, something shot for TV is never quite as magical as seeing a show live. I can't imagine that there's any way anyone can capture the magic of a live musical production. But, MTV did a great job.

I'm excited and hopeful that they'll start doing this more often. It's so important to bring musical theatre to a younger audience, to keep the art alive. I was really pleased.

LB was the perfect musical to show since it's so up, fun and a story most young folks already know. What was great about it was it was like watching an NBA game on TV – we actually get to see their faces! Sometimes we theatre-lovers are stuck up a little higher in the rafters than we'd like so it's such a treat to see the emotion the actors bring to their roles.

My suggestions for MTV: Hire me to host backstage! Actually, hire anyone to host the backstage stuff - it'd be better than what they had. They had 3 gals, early 20s perhaps, who were terrible. They didn't know anything about the musical (but seemed to know plenty about the movie), they only looked at the camera when they weren't talking, and when it was their turn to talk they were clearly looking off camera at their cue-cards. Very distracting. But, they did a few really neat behind-the-scenes stuff such as showing us a little bit about the quick-changes. I would have loved to see more of that.

Well, those are my thoughts on the first-ever broadcast of LB on TV. Thank you, MTV, for sharing and bringing a little big of Broadway to SLC.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on LB if you saw it: Showtune.erica@hotmail.com

By the way, if you'd like to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff click here: http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/legally_blonde_the_musical/series.jhtml

Little Girls, Little Girls

I’ve got two blogs - This one about my regular (or irregular) thoughts and happenings and then the baby blog (see Baby Central). My thinking was not everyone is interested in baby stuff, in fact it irritates some, so I’d create two and then you could read as much or as little as you’d like.

But, when you’re unemployed and 1 ½ weeks from giving birth that tends to be what consumes you… as least me.

By the way, GO READ MARK’S BABY BLOG!!!! He actually posted some video of us at the gym the other day so you can see my mad basketball skills – even while being prego! (Click on Daddy’s perspective on the left side of the screen).

So I have baby news but its different baby news. My sister had her baby!!! On Friday she had a beautiful baby girl. We all trotted up to the hospital to take a look. She’s gorgeous. 7 lbs and 13 oz and pink, pink, pink. Both mom and baby are doing really well. They’re home from the hospital now and my other little niece is starting to figure out what this infamous ‘baby sister’ is all about – she’s heard us talking about it for months.

To keep track: My older sis now has two little girls. I’m having a girl in a week or so. My other older sis already has a girl and is pregnant again. So, the Hansens continue our girl-streak thus far (remember I’m one of 6 kids – 5 girls, 1 lone boy). The big question now is will Jamie be the first to break the all-girl streak and have a boy this February? Or will we have 5 little girl cousins running around?

Ellen And I Are Disappointed

So, you've seen the Ellen Degeneres clip haven't you?



It stopped me in my tracks seeing Ellen sobbing like that. She's usually so perky – something was amiss. The whole dog saga aside – frankly, I don't know how ANYONE went into a home with 2 young girls and ripped a little dog out of their arms... but anyway...



I imagine that would be the day I ended up with tickets to Ellen's show. I would have made the trek out there with my sisters, spent hours deciding and talking about what to wear, waited in line, excitedly found our seats and sat there in anticipation of dancing with Ellen and maybe walking away with a freebie or two.



Then that.



Can you imagine? The story is heartbreaking and I feel badly for Ellen – who clearly feels awful. But I know I'd be sitting there looking around thinking 'Are we going to dance today?' 'Umm... Ellen... after commercials can we dance?'



I was lucky enough to go to Oprah once. I had a girlfriend living in Chicago and she had friends who worked for the 'Queen.' So they got us some tickets and off we went. It was great – a ton of fun and so neat to see how it all worked. But, as I sat there before the show anticipating an 'Oprah's Favorite Things' episode, imagine my disappointment when the topic was how to talk to your teenage kids. This was almost 10 years ago – I was years away from having kids or caring if I could relate to them. Though the experience was neat, it certainly wasn't as much fun as the episodes I watch from my couch.



So if you were at Ellen that day, I guess it's two-fold: 1) You were there on quite a big day. Everyone will know they day you went to Ellen. Or 2) I'm sorry. How disappointing you didn't get to dance with Ellen.



Hmm... I hope I'm not the only one who would be disappointed by that.



Would love to hear your thoughts!

Showtune.erica@Hotmail.com

Lawrence Welk

I miss Showtunes!! I really do.

But my Saturday nights are horribly lonely… and empty. Even worse, I can’t even listen to the show I was instrumental in creating as it’s just too painful.

So, here I sit with my laptop and Lawrence Welk on the TV.

I love Lawrence Welk – did you watch it growing up? We sure did. I’m one of 5 girls and we loved it (though my 1 bro didn’t seem quite as fond of it). We sisters would get all bathed and cleaned up at the end of the week, hair in curlers, PJs on, and settle in front of Lawrence Welk. We’d watch the ladies and their sparkly, shiny lips. They were so pretty and their costumes were so elegant! Now I chuckle a bit at their hairdos and makeup… but we sure wanted to be them when we grew up. We had our ‘favorite girls’ and we’d pretend to be them while they sing.

If it was just an instrumental number, we’d dance to it, sometimes conduct them. And during the dance numbers, we sit riveted. Especially when the tap dancer came on – even now, I’ll stop what I’m doing to watch and listen to the sounds that man can make. Amazing!

We watched Lawrence Welk at Grandma’s too. After the baths and a bowl of ice cream, Grandma would sit and pin-curl her hair and we’d do our usual dancing, conducting and ‘calling’ to be our favorite girl. Grandpa just sat amused – sometimes giving us ideas of better ways we could pretend we were them.

Even still, its great music and those performers truly were talented.

So, yes I’m missing Showtunes – greatly – but at least I’m in good company! Lawrence Welk, his gang of performers and my good, good memories!

By the way, I’d love to hear from you!!

Showtune.erica@Hotmail.com

Aging Like A Fine Wine?

Perhaps I’m getting old. I hope not. I try not to lose my patience, but I seem to more and more.

I really don’t like stupid people. Or, perhaps to state more correctly, I don’t like people who act stupidly.

Picture, if you will, a crowded IHOP at breakfast time. I look across the restaurant and see a big, tall teenage son shoulder-butting his big dad. The first one didn’t bother me – a sign of affection. No big deal. Then he did it again and soon the dad was doing it in return. Bear in mind that others are trying to eat their breakfasts at the same time these two ‘grown’ buffoons are doing whatever ritual they’ve dubbed this. Would anyone else have been bugged or am I getting crabby?

What about at Albertson’s check-out. I’m waiting patiently with my jug of milk, bananas, and Clorox and the two college-aged kids think it’s funny to try to swipe their backpacks. Excuse me? Do I look I have time to sit here through your asinine ‘fun and games?’ Put down your stupid bags and scan your groceries – PLEASE! The WalMart self check-out is worse. There they have a limit, 20 items or less. Am I the only one irritated when a slack-jawed man and his look-alike son stand over their brimming cart trying – SLOWLY – to find the bar code and getting it to read? COME ON!!!!

Don’t even get me started on teenagers at the movies, the sample tables at CostCo and anyone loudly blowing their nose at the table in a restaurant.

I do really try to be patient and I hope this isn’t a sign of me growing into a curmudgeonly old coot. Surely you’ve had similar experiences, right?... Right? Please drop me a line and let me know I’m not alone in this!


Showtune.erica@hotmail.com

And You Thought I Did Nothing All Day

So far today, I’ve fallen down AND been yelled at by a hot-head in a truck. Not bad for an unemployed pregnant gal huh?

I’ve read that clumsiness is a common problem for pregos. Our bodies are kickin’ out a hormone called Relaxin (or something like that) which helps everything loosen up for the big day. But, on the other hand, it loosens up all your ligaments BEFORE the big day. Therefore… I seem to be falling a lot.

I’m walking through the parking lot at Trolley Square and I noticed the uneven pavement on the way into the mall, but I guess I didn’t see it on the way out. I was calling Mark before he left for work and wasn’t looking – I know, I know, lesson learned on walking and dialing – and down I went. (Luckily not on a nationally televised program while trying to look graceful.) Phone grinding against the black top, my right foot folded under itself scraping my arch along the ground, should have gotten a hole in the knee of these jeans and got dirt under my finger nail. Not to mention, horrid embarrassment. I hopped into the car before I assessed my damage. Not much to speak of except a scraped up phone and a slightly sore neck. Bleh.

After getting my bean burrito for lunch, I headed out to my folks to use their MUCH faster internet service. On the way there, a guy was backing out of his driveway in a big red truck. He didn’t look at all, he just charged out. Obviously, I was concerned that he didn’t see me, so I beeped the horn. BIG MISTAKE!!! He gunned his big truck and rode my behind all the way through the neighborhood. When we finally came up to a T-turn, he gunned his truck again and pulled up right alongside me almost stopping me from moving on. So, I rolled my window down, ‘this ought to be goo

d’ I thought. Boy did I get an earful.

He couldn’t BELIEVE that I would honk at him and he watched me and I had plenty of room to just go around. I kept saying “I didn’t know if you saw me or not” “OH I SAW YOU!!!!” He was wildly waving his arms around, pulling hideous faces at me. Then I thought I’d use the sympathy card “Do you always go around yelling at women who are 8 months pregnant? What a big man you are!” “WHY DON’T YOU GO GET YOUR HUSBAND (sorry Mark) YOU KNOW WHERE I LIVE!!!!!” I’ve never seen anyone SO upset. And at what? I mean, was he already mad at something when he left his house? Did my stupid little Outback horn REALLY push him over the edge like that?

I finally just said “

Well, have a lovely day. I hope you just have a great day!” And rolled my window up. After mocking me for 15 seconds, he just sat there. I motioned for him to go on ahead and he shook his head no. He just sat there. I motioned again, he did the same. Well I wasn’t about to get in front of this nut-job, but he certainly wasn’t budging. So I put my car in reverse and backed the hell out of there. He sat for a second and then sped off so fast it worries me for all the kids getting off school buses.

So, he’s out there. I’m sorry for the wrath I caused and I hope no one else encounters this man. The strange thing is, he’s like 60 years old. I can’t imagine my sweet dad berating some gal somewhere over anything. What is this man’s problem? Where did we all go wrong? Shouldn’t there be some type of breathalyzer in cars to gauge how angry you are? It could be an angrylyzer…. Or a hot-headalyzer. A man like that has NO business being behind the wheel! (I’d better go; he’s probably vandalizing my car right now!)

Babies, Dogs, Cars and 2 Year Olds

Okay it’s time for a baby update.

As many of you know, KOSY fired me. It was a very unceremonious ending to a pretty decent stint there, but alas…

On the flip side, many of you have asked me about how my pregnancy is going. We’ve been a little remiss in doing updates so we need to get back at it.

If you’re interested, you can now start checking the baby blogs for regular updates for both the mom’s blog and the dad’s. I’m a month away!! YIKES!!

We went to our birthing class this weekend and I think my belly button is going to pop out - My new concern. You can read about those things in the baby blogs (yes, we actually did this pose.)

In other news…

Ginger may have a partial tear in her ACL – something to do with the knee. She’s a super-active dog and I think it just happened while doing her usual hijinks. Nevertheless, I now have a dog that LOVES to run and chase, won’t use her back right leg and could be facing an $800-$1,800 surgery. We’ve been told to have her rest as much as possible (which is killing all of us) and give her something to stop the swelling. Hopefully it’ll do the trick.

I also have a car that doesn’t want to start on command – nice, huh? It’s just a little fussy. I have to push the clutch in and if it doesn’t start then I have to do it again. Then it usually starts right up but I’m worried there’s going to be a day when it just decides it doesn’t want to start at all. Ugh. Why do all the financial burdens happen at the same time?

And then there’s the baby nursery. We still really need to get that put together. I’m guess I’m sort of in denial. Mark and I were ready to buy a house when KOSY canned me and I guess I’m still hopeful that we can figure out a way (the house we want is still on the market). I suppose it’s time for me to resign myself to the fact that we won’t have the house or the room I had hoped for and I just need to get the nursery put together. At this point, the baby may decide she’s ready to make a move early… who knows (of course, she’d be the first in the family to arrive ‘early’ to anything!)

Nothing super-entertaining for you, my apologies.

This Friday we’ll have a chance to practice our parenting skills – we’re babysitting our 2 yol niece, Katie. I’m hoping it’s all fun and games… we’re going to go out and about, grab some lunch and then over to grandma’s to frost sugar cookies! Hopefully it’ll go smoothly….

Send your thoughts!

Showtune.erica@hotmail.com