Looking back....

I really wanted to write a long, thoughtful post to commemorate 2006, but the thought of it just seemed too daunting. So, I found this meme while lurking on MissZoot.com and decided to borrow it - thanks!

Happy New Year, everyone!

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
* Got pregnant
* Got my picture in the “Albany Business Review”
* Took a week-long family vacation with hubby, my mom, my dad and my brother

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Not sure about 2006 – I vaguely remember something about maintaining my goal weight all year (definitely didn’t happen!). For next year, I have plenty of resolutions in mind, but they will be “February resolutions” – getting me back into shape post-baby.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Our good friends Terri and Darren, and Deana and Randy – along with other friends, family members and co-workers.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank God and knock on wood!

5. What countries did you visit?
Does California count?!?

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Our little one.

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Too many to count – getting my positive pregnancy test (both at home and at the doctor's office), a perfect day with hubby on July 21, our ultrasound on September 5.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Successfully orchestrating a major PR event for work that went just perfectly – and got us some great national coverage – tied with finishing a scrapbook for my mom for Mother’s Day.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I definitely could’ve done better with my pregnancy diet – more dairy and less soda wouldn’t have killed me.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes – that rotten sciatic pain that plagued me through the beginning of my pregnancy. But it’s finally gone – thank God!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A Snoogle – it’s just the world’s best body pillow.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My hubby – he has just been way too supportive and good to me lately.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
People whose manners go out the window when in the presence of a pregnant woman – trust me, there is not a single mom-to-be out there who wants to hear how enormous she looks…

14. Where did most of your money go?
Booze and cigarettes – kidding. Seriously, I have no idea.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to California with my hubby and family; telling family and friends about McNugget; preparing for the McNugget’s arrival.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
A tie between “Hockey Monkey” and “Connecticut’s for F**king.”

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier/Fatter (what do you want, I am 35+ weeks pregnant?!?)/Richer (not by much, though)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Took pictures/documented more of my pregnancy.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Complaining about my weight.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent at home, with my family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
I have grown more in love with my hubby.

22. How many one-night stands?
Too many to count. Kidding – just wanted to see if you are still with me.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
I don’t watch too much TV, but I have a few favorites – How I Met Your Mother is hysterical; Justice is sooo good (of course it will end up canceled); Monk is great; and hubby and I absolutely love Cheaters – it is our guilty pleasure.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope.

25. What was the best book you read?
Not sure – I have read too many to count… maybe “The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy”?

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Definitely Panic! at the Disco (have been listening to them almost all year).

27. What did you want and get?
A Rowenta iron (yeah, I’m pathetic!)

28. What did you want and not get?
Can’t think of anything.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Brokeback Mountain, without a doubt. I thought that it was a very emotional story.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29 – spent the day at work, got my eyebrows waxed, and went out to dinner with hubby, my parents and my brother.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Kept in touch with friends a little bit more.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Pre-pregnancy – preppy, classic. Now – whatever fits and doesn’t make me look too much like a whale.

33. What kept you sane?
My husband.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Not sure – I actually think that I have burned myself out on celebrity gossip.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Eh, a tie between the Sweeney/Gillebrand race for Congress (what a joke!) and the recent resignation of Alan Hevesi (don’t even get me started).

36. Who did you miss?
All of my NJ friends (and my one NJ/VA friend).

37. Who was the best new person you met?
My co-workers Christina and Jennifer – we actually “met” last year, but didn’t really become friends until recently.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
Don’t sweat the small stuff (something I am actually trying to incorporate into my life).

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
“Three… it’s a magic number…”

True Companion

Three years ago, I married my best friend - undoubtedly one of the best, most perfect, days of my life. It's funny... sometimes it feels like it was only yesterday, and sometimes it feels like we have been married forever.

People go into marriage with the understanding that it is a forever commitment, even though things don't always turn out that way. But I cannot imagine spending a single day without the hubby by my side. He is my perfect fit, the love of my life, my best friend.

He can always put a smile on my face, can always make me laugh. He is compassionate and caring. He does not judge me when I go through my "eating Hershey Kisses in bed" phases. He can finish my thoughts (as I can finish his). And he is damn cute.

On my way to work this morning, I heard "our song" - the one that was playing during our first dance as husband and wife. I still remember the way I felt at that moment, and the song never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

True Companion - Marc Cohn
Baby I've been searching like everybody else/Can't say nothing different about myself/Sometimes I'm an angel/And sometimes I'm cruel/And when it comes to love/I'm just another fool

Yes, I'll climb a mountain/I'm gonna swim the sea/There ain't no act of God girl/Could keep you safe from me

My arms are reaching out/Out across this canyon/I'm asking you to be my true companion/True companion/ True companion

So don't you dare and try to walk away/I've got my heart set on our wedding day/I've got this vision of a girl in white/Made my decision that it's you allright

And when I take your hand/I'll watch my heart set sail/I'll take my trembling fingers/And I'll lift up your veil

Then I'll take you home/And with wild abandon/Make love to you just like a true companion/You are my true companion/I got a true companion/True companion

When the years have done irreparable harm/I can see us walking slowly arm in arm/Just like the couple on the corner do/'Cause girl I will always be in love with you

And when I look in your eyes/I'll still see that spark/Until the shadows fall/Until the room grows dark

Then when I leave this Earth/I'll be with the angels standin'/I'll be out there waiting for my true companion/Just for my true companion/True companion/True companion

Happy Anniversary Hubby - I love you.

Where does the time go?

It's Sunday night already? I'm exhausted.

Hubby and I went down to NJ yesterday to visit friends and celebrate Hanukkah with his family. It was definitely a lot of fun, but my very pregnant body does not like sitting in the car for long periods of time anymore.

We got home a little after midnight, then we sat up with the dogs for an hour, so by the time we went to bed, it was after 1:00 am. I got up at 7:00 with the dogs and was so exhausted, I seriously felt hungover. Bleh. So, for the first time in God knows how long, I actually took a nap this afternoon - and it was great. Wrapped some gifts, worked out and now have a seafood lasagna in the oven for dinner.

So, hubby and I are playing hookey tomorrow - just spending some quality time together... With next Monday being Christmas and the following Monday being New Year's Day, I don't have another Monday in the office until 2007 (yikes!) and only 4 more Mondays until the McNugget arrives (double yikes!).

Meeting the McNugget is going to be awesome, but I really should try to make the most of the time that I have left before I become a mommy. Any ideas?

Evil beast!

Seems like the little red dog is getting hubby and I prepared for parenthood. The little brat slept on the couch all day yesterday, then decided to get rid of her pent-up energy by barking almost all night. Ari woke up with her at 3:00 and 4:00, then I went and took her out at 5:15.

Of course, as I left for work this morning, she was curled up on the couch, under her blanket, settling in for a lazy day. I called her some choice names, and she managed to lift her head and stare at me, as if to say, "Excuse me, can't you see that I am trying to get some sleep?"

I have been doing my best to keep her awake this evening (so she will actually sleep all night), but part of me is enjoying the peace and quiet. Do you think that she'll behave if I tell her that Santa only brings presents to good little pups who let their mommies and daddies sleep?

Probably not.

Sick day...

For the first time since getting pregnant, I actually called in sick today. I just wasn't feeling like myself today.

Anyway, here is the official list of "Things I Learned by Staying Home From Work Today":

1. The red weiner dog hates Rachel Ray. Seriously, every time her "$40 a Day" commercial was shown on the Food Network this afternoon, she started barking.
2. I can see how people become addicted to home shopping - they had these chocolate/caramel-covered apples on QVC today that looked delicous!
3. Thankfully, I have had no nausea at all during my pregnancy. However, the sound of the spaniel tossing his cookies is enough for me to lose my lunch.
4. There are just too many judge shows on television - I love Judge Judy, but there are a whole host of judges with shows on daytime TV that I have never even heard about.
5. I gave the spaniel a new nickname - Sweet Pickles - and he loves it!
6. "The Golden Girls" never ceases to amuse me.
7. Our dogs are damn lazy. They spend all morning and most of the afternoon asleep on the couch, on the chair, or on the floor. Only when 4:00 rolls around and dinner is near do they start going crazy (that, or anytime that hubby is on a call).

Hope that everyone had a day as great as mine...

Like eating a lollipop?

This has been a very busy week in our little world. On Tuesday, hubby and I attended a breastfeeding class at the hospital. Other than the fact that we are probably still too immature to actually have children (some of the videos almost gave us the giggles), it was very informative (she actually gave us Blow Pops to show how a newborn eats - um, interesting...).

But is it possible that the class was a little too informative? Seriously, I guess I never realized that there were so many things to know, so much to think about, when feeding your newborn. What did they do in the days before hospitals gave breastfeeding classes? I thought that it would be pretty intuitive, but now I am kinda freaked out about doing something wrong and having my poor little one starve.

And that's not my only concern. What if I forget what to do? And I don't know how comfortable I will be feeding in public - am I going to be stuck in the house for 12 weeks? And what about work - what if I start "leaking" during a business meeting? How am I going to be expected to pump at work every 2-3 hours when I can't even take 15 minutes to eat lunch on many days?

Seriously, I am more than a little freaked - I am freaked the f**k out! There's gotta be someone out there who has dealt with this before - please just tell me that it will all be okay...thanks.

Tonight...

... I spent 15 minutes on the Mega Millions Web site, making sure that none of the old tickets that hubby and I have been accumulating on the fridge were our key to early retirement. (No winners, of course.)

What an exciting life I lead - glad that hubby and I are really living it up in the months before the baby is born...