happy new year!

so yea. karl and i are expecting, adding a new addition to the family, pregnant, have a bun in the oven, knocked up, in the family way, eating for two, preggers, with child, um... i am running out of pregnancy slang... please contribute your favorites in the comment section.

bridget got her wish: we were pregnant at the same time!! not very long since she delivered mylee jayne shortly after this picture and i didn't actually know i was pregnant until a few days after this picture.

so this is our big BLOG announcement!! *HOPEFULLY* we have gotten to tell most of you in person or over the phone. *HOPEFULLY* friends and family that were sworn to secrecy did not tell you. and, if you knew, and you let the secret leak, well, that is dissappointing. for you. and the people that you told. because they got to find out second hand. and that sucks.

so here are the answers to the FAQs:

• i am 13 weeks, 1 day (as of this morning). That is pretty much thru the first trimester/first third. (big sigh of relief!)
• i have been pregnant since BEFORE halloween, i was pregnant in mexico! (BOO!), and for thanksgiving and all the happy hours and christmas parties in between and after. FAKE drinking is FUN. (fooled ya!)
• karl and i agreed not to tell the world until we heard a heartbeat/had an US. we heard a strong heartbeat (160 something) at 12 weeks exactly right before xmas. doc says chances of a miscarriage at this point are SLIM to NONE. yea. it was a great christmas present to share. it made the secret worthwhile.
• my official due date according to the doctor is july 5. but july 4th is much easier to remember.
• we have our first Ultra Sound January 18 at 16 weeks. (i don't know why they measure it in weeks; it is secret doctor code. it is like measuring babies age in months. 18 months old? JUST SAY ONE.)
• we are NOT finding out if it is a boy or girl. it is going to be a surprise. you can buy me things in green and yellow and orange (and even pink and blue if you are bold!). i promise it won't ruin the fun of buying baby gifts or decorating a nursery. (not that you have to buy us any gifts, but if you do it will still be fun!)
• we don't have any names yet. ALTHOUGH john robus hills, eric desjardin hills, and phillip matthew price matheny hills HAVE already been suggested.
• matt price is in the lead in the running for godparent. he has given us a presentation. though, if we have a girl, he might not be interested.
• i am not really showing (i can tell. you probably can't.) i FOR SURE look bigger than that picture above! i will post a picture tomorrow or monday. you can be the judge. it just looks kinda like a beer gut. i have gained two pounds. pretty good for three months. momma said she didn't show till month 5 or so. i can wait.
• um, let's see, this is getting lengthy. i feel good. i have had some morning sickness. (nausea and vomiting both.) karmically, i think that is good. i don't mind puking. it is those girls that HATE throwing up that shouldn't have to do it. i have had some cramping, a few migranes (new to me!) and some bloody noses. and some searing pains in my ass. literally. all of which doc said are fine and normal. i promise to try and not gross you out. it really hasn't been bad at all. i sleep a lot and i feel pretty normal!!

I will stop for now. I will try not to blog SOLEY about the pregnancy BUT i have been keeping it a secret for three months so I kind of need to get some of it OUT of my brain. i still feel nervous it's not real or something is going to happen, but we are really trying to enjoy this time, and i hope i can share a little of it with you all. if you have any more questions or i missed something major, let me know and i will address it next blog.

the great christmas carol debate

so the great debate of chicken dance vs. duck dance (DUCK!) and bbq pit vs grill (BBQ PIT!) and kitty corner versus katty corner (KITTY!) and binki vs paci (BINKI!) and oh so many more rages on.... karl and i discovered one more this christmas... we were on our way back from church with our nephew fisher and were listing to rudolph the red nosed reindeer... and we are singing all the silly parts... rudulolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose... glows LIKE A LIGHT BULB... they wouldn't let poor rudolph play any reindeer games LIKE MONOPOLPY and so on and so forth and we get the part where they say... YOU'll GO DOWN IN HISTORY... LIKE ____________. You fill in the blank here. Remember the price of our friendship is on the line here if you get it wrong.

blink blink blink blink

so, speaking of careers, we received some interesting news today:

here is one of the many articles about it
here is another one

so we aren't really sure what it means yet for karl and his job. basically, it could mean a variety of things... they could keep an office here and karl would stay there, they might work remotely and he would work from a home office, it might mean an offer for a job in Cincinnati, it might mean a whole new job, um, it might mean many things. and, of course, no one can give a definate answer at this point. we are optimistic whatever the outcome it will be good - karl is great at his job (of course) and a great employee so I (personally) am pretty confident he will be just fine. BUT STILL. geez. merry freaking christmas! don't stress out over the holidays.

more news to come... we'll keep you posted. you might just have a new city to visit: friends in OHIO! (we are destined to never leave the mid-west/mid-south)

things about me: 2007

when i was younger (oh so much younger than today), here are some career choices i did and did not want to make:

think grade school:

things i did not want to be when i growed up:
1. an astronaut
2. a vet
3. a race car driver
4. a dancer (not the dirty kind) (i knew i wasn't graceful even then. we have some video of me at age 4 telling everyone i wanted to be a ballerina and then performing the most horrid, spastic dance you have ever seen. ever. not meant for me. ever.)
5. a cop

things i did want to be when i growed up: (keep in mind these are childhood thoughts)
1. the first woman to play major league baseball (think there is still a chance?)
2. a fashion designer (i drew many outfits)
3. a daycare owner (see? i liked kids when i was 10. now? i still like kids but owning a daycare? i think no. for me.)
4. an author (oh the stories i wrote... in them someone always died or lost a limb.)
5. an artist of some sort (this one lasted till maybe early high school when i lost interest.)
6. a hockey player (this was a brief desire b/c i can't really ice skate very well. well, and i hate being cold.)

things i wanted to be in college:
1. um. i had no idea.

i was always jealous of those people who "knew" where their careers would take them - especially doctors, nurses (no way i could stomach being a nurse or doc), lawyers... you know, the "dream i'm-gonna-be-a-doctor-when-i-grow-up careers" that people just know they want to pursue. and do. and are successful at it.

and now? well, now I work in Advertising for a successful publication company. And I like it. It's fun and my company is great (remember that mandatory week of at christmas? it's paid. oh yea.). I may not do this exact JOB forever, but I'm good at it and my company appreciates me.

Still figuring it out, right? I'm not all growed up yet. I have plenty o time. :)

Christmas Party 2007

isn't it beautiful? leah created it. it makes me happy. we had a great time and came home with some great gifts - a traditional nepalese corta (which karl wore for a good portion of the evening) and a potato pellet gun (it worked!).

laundry is in the wash. mac and cheese and hotdogs and kool-aid were made for dinner. 50 first dates is on the tv. fleecy blankets are piled high. one more week of work until the holiday break.

i can't figure out this photo. but you get the gist. it's FABULOUS.

rudolph ain't got nothin on me

hey guys! i am trying to be cheerful today when all i really want to do is nap so i busted out my rudolph light-up nose that i won from the family christmas snatch at turkey time! (it is cold and raining and the perfect hibernation weather!!)

here are some things i am looking forward to:

• having the week between christmas and new years off (company policy baby!)
• not traveling for christmas
• spending christmas with karl's parents and kim and sean and the boys (we haven't had christmas in LR in awhile!)
  
• leah and blue's annual christmas party this saturday (i am going to make stuffed mushrooms again. both veggie-tarian style (read: MORE cream cheese!) and meat lover style (read: MORE cream cheese sprinkled with bacon!)
  
• wearing a tacky christmas sweater to the party AND possibly to work next week sometime (who is with me?!)
  
• smelling our real live xmas tree (yea it is half decorated. the lights are on. it smells delish. MOST of the ornaments are on. it has no star. it is shedding minimal needles. yum yum yum.)
  
• the sheer number of time i use parenthesis in a post (what? i like them!)
  
• ANTM finale is tonight and, despite this cycle being incredibly lame (sauce), i still have a shot at winning our fantasy league.
  

things i am cranky about:

• bobby petrino leaves the atlanta falcons (mid-season!) to join the arkansas razorbacks as head coach. it is not so much that i am CRANKY about that specifically i am just TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT IT! (bringing it up helps, right?!)
  
• counting down the days until 12/21 (last day before the holiday!) is driving me nutso. yep, nutso. can it please be that day please?
  
• all my friends in tulsa who have no power and will "hopefully get it back before christmas "... yikes. please don't start fires in your homes. that is very risky.
  
• the rain, rain. i like the rain. maybe this should go on the happy list.
  

ok i am going to figure out what my husband is feeding me for dinner. goodnight ya'll. ;)

magazine coverage

look - it's me! (scanned from a magazine). i got to play in a photo shoot for one of our publications at work (a perk of working in publishing)- it is a meeting planner "helper" which is appropriate for me as my last job was as a meeting planner. i have tried to block out that whole period of my professional life! i loved the work, but MAN do you guys remember how miserable i was!!?! thank god that is over. i still feel happy about my decision to leave there. ANYWAY, the article was about different generations and how they view conferences/meetings (i was portraying the gen y-ers... which we are pretty much on the cusp of gen x - gen y BUT i look like i am twelve years old so it all worked out ... the gen y'ers like to bring their lap tops, i pods, pdas, and cellulars to their meetings so they can multi-task!). So there you have it! FUN PHOTOS from me.

let's see. today is my dear friend kristy's bday. Special wishes for a great day to her.

Jennifer and Jeff visited Little Rock this weekend on a whim which made for a fabulous weekend... i love unexpected lovely surprises such as that one. we made a roast and watched movies. i liked it.

My company christmas party was on Friday. It was as lame as i expected it to be, but we still had a good time.

i have a migrane today. at least i think it is a migrane. it's pretty much THE worst head ache i have ever had... there is lots of pain. i don't do medicine, so it's been a quiet day with the lights off. suggestions that don't require pill popping? ANYONE?? it hurts behind my eyes real bad.

oh the weather outside is delightfully warm

things i did and did not do this weekend:

- i bought ONE christmas present. one. and i think i am going to take it back.
- i decorated nothing.
- i got no tree.
- i cleaned minimally.
- i cooked not at all *unless you count heating things up*

maybe this whole get into christmas thing isn't working out.

pretty much i feel like a worthless piece! :) my windows are open (70!) and i am going to take a nap with that nice breeze blowing in!

also, i went to the store (grocery style). Can someone please tell me why milk is like $4.50? Seriously. Karl and I each drink a gallon a week (at the least! and of the 2% variety!). It is becoming a more expensive habit than smoking! I NEED MY MILK. what can we do about this!?