Kelly in NC

Well, my spring break is officially over as of 7:30 am tomorrow morning. While in someways I am not ready to return to work, in other ways I am happy to return to the busy days that make the time pass so quickly. It seems as if since my nephew Jack was born, the time until Grayson arrives seems to just tick by. I am so anxious for him to get here. Although I must admit that on other days, I am scared sh*tless. It is funny how my feelings on the subject seem to change daily. I guess it is just the aprehension of knowing that he is coming, but not knowing when!

Ok, so all of my friends from High School constantly send these “get to know you” e-mails. While I love reading about them, I almost NEVER actually fill the survey out on myself and return it like I am suppose to. I guess that my friends are not offended by this, since they still include me on the mailing list. (Thanks y’all!) Anyhow, I finally broke down and completed one. I actually like the design of this one. So, for those who care…Here is a little “Get to Know Me!” and if you want you can copy it to your own blog and leave the link in my comments so that I can check yours out too!

Place an X by all the things you’ve done, or remove the x from the ones you have not, and send it to all of your friends (Including me). This is for your entire life:

(x)Smoked a cigarette

(x) Drank so much you threw up

( ) Crashed a friend’s car

( ) Stolen a car

(x) Been in love

(x) Been dumped

( ) Been laid off/fired

(x) Quit your job

( ) Been in a fist fight

( ) Snuck out of your parent’s house

(x) Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back

( X) Been arrested

( ) Gone on a blind date

(x) Lied to a friend

(x) Skipped school

(X ) Seen someone die

( X) Been to Canada

(X ) Been to Mexico

(x) Been on a plane

(x) Been lost

(x) Been on the opposite side of the country

(x) Gone to Washington, DC

(x) Swam in the ocean

(X ) Felt like dying

(x) Cried yourself to sleep

(x) Played cops and robbers

(?) Recently colored with crayons. (does markers count???)

(x) Sang karaoke

(x) Paid for a meal with only coins.

(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t

(x) Made prank phone calls

(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose

( ) Danced in the rain

(x) Written a letter to Santa Claus

(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe

( ) Watched the sun rise with someone you care about

(x) Blown bubbles

( ) Made a bonfire on the beach

(x) Crashed a party

(x) Gone roller-skating

(x) Ice-skating.

Any nicknames: Kell Bell

Mother’s name: Teresa

what is your favorite drink: Sweet Tea and when I am finished with being pregnant (3 weeks left) Margaritas!

Tattoos: nope

Body piercing: just my ears

How much do you love your job on a scale of 1-10: 8

Favorite vacation spot: Loved Mexico

Ever been to Africa: nope

Ever steal any traffic signs: No

A, B, C, D, DD cup size: Pre Pregnancy: C Pregnant: D

2 Door or 4 Door: 4 DOOR

Salad dressing: Balsamic Vinaigrette

Favorite pie: Apple

Favorite number: 7

Favorite movie: When Harry met Sally

Favorite holiday: CHRISTMAS

Favorite food: anything chocolate!

Pasta: eggplant parmesan

favorite day of the week: Saturday

Favorite brand of body soap: Dove

Favorite TV show: Desperate Housewives, Lost, American Idol

Toothpaste: Crest Orange…whatever it is called

Favorite smell: fresh mowed grass

What do you do to relax: Read a book

How do you see yourself in 10 years: 10 years? I’m just trying to get through the next three weeks!

What do you do when you are bored: Read, blog, scrapbook

Last night was my turn to host dinner club. Now while I thoroughly enjoy the dinner club, it is always a bit stressful when my month comes up. Luckily it is my spring break, so I had the entire day to clean my house, set the table, and prepare the meal. All of the hard work paid off. I felt as if the dinner was a success. And now, I won’t have to worry about it again for another 9 months. Due to the request of a few of the girls, I am posting the recipe for the London Broil. This recipe was passed to me from my sister Renee’. It is very easy to prepare and can feed a lot of people. Perfect for a dinner party! Anyone else out there have a fabulous recipe that you want to pass along? I can always use something new to add to my repertoire.

Grilled London Broil

Combine all ingredients and marinate meat for 2+ hours. After marinating, grill or broil the steak for 15 minutes, flipping once. Heat marinade in the microwave for 45 seconds and drizzle over the cooked steak.

1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp basil
1/2 chopped onion
1/4 cup oil
1/4 tsp rosemary
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 London Broil (1- 1 1/2 lbs.)

I am so excited to announce the birth of my nephew Jack Francis Brun, born Tuesday, March 14 at 8:01 pm. He was induced 4 weeks early, but still weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs. 9 oz. and measured 20.5 inches. Tim and I were able to get to the hospital with in the first hour of his birth and even got to witness his first bath. Gee was he mad!
Seeing Jack made me both nervous and excited about the little boy growing inside me. It was definitely a wake-up call on all the things we need to finish before he arrives. (Kate and Marc weren’t exactly expecting to be induced so soon.) There are still a number of items I need to buy; from a diaper pail to a monitor and lots of things in between. The nursery has gotten even closer to finished. The only thing left is installing the cubbies and Tim says he’ll finish those this weekend. My spring break begins this weekend, so I hope to get a lot accomplished then.
So congratulations to Kate and Marc. I can’t wait for Grayson to get here and meet his little cousin!
To see the photos I took of Jack, click on the link below:
Jack’s 1st photos
(FYI- You do not need to log into the Kodak site to view the photos. Just click on the picture of Jack once the Kodak screen appears.)

Well, Tim returned from his vacation on Friday night. I couldn’t believe how excited I was to see him. I guess distance does make the heart grow fonder! And to prove how sweet and thoughtful he was, he even brought me home a present…now imagine that…a present. I definitely felt like the luckiest wife in the world.

Now of course this “honeymoon” feeling didn’t last too long… just until Sunday night. Here is what happened: Tim finished moving the telephone and cable wires into our guest bedroom a couple of weeks ago. So last night I decided to officially move the desk and computer out of the nursery and into the guest room. Well, Tim came in the house just as I was beginning the task, came up stairs and asked what I was doing. Apparently he did not approve of this idea and proceeded to tell me (in his “not so pleasant” voice) how much he disapproved. As is my way of handling him when he gets an attitude, I politely asked him to leave me alone. He of course proceeded on and on until I was near tears and only then, when I said “Tim this is the last time I am going to ask you to leave me alone before I get really upset!” did he finally stomp downstairs and stop complaining. Now mind you, usually it makes him angrier when I start to “cry” about something, so I do have to commend him for turning around and walking away. So now I have updated my top 10 list below. Check it out!

So Tim is out of town this week on a “boys” snowboarding trip. He has really been looking forward to going…and truthfully so have I! Here are the top 10 reasons why I am glad that he is out of town:
1. I can sleep in the very center of the bed with 7 pillows, 2 blankets, and a sheet without hearing any complaints.
2. I can put anything I want anywhere on the bathroom counter without hearing that my things are in “his space”.
3. I can make and devour meals that do not follow the 3 rule!
4. I am not woken up 3 times in one night being told that I am snoring. (It’s due to the pregnancy, I swear!)
5. I can leave my shoes lying all over the house!
6. I can nap after work.
7. I can surf the internet and “blog” without interruption.
8. I can take long, hot showers and not have to hear about how “hot” I have made the entire house!
9. I can turn the lights on when I get up in the morning and get dressed in the bedroom (instead of scurrying into the bathroom in an attempt to not wake him up).
10. I can talk on the phone for as long as I want! I can move furniture aournd my house without question.

1. The heater isn’t working properly and I need him to fix it!
2. The dog keeps following me around and I need a distraction!
3. There isn’t anyone lying in bed next to me when I want to share how much the baby is moving!
4. I do not have any boring wood working dilemmas to listen to in order to make my dinner pass quickly!
5. I have to go to the birthing class all by myself tonight.
6. I don’ have anyone to listen to me complain about my day.
7. It just doesn’t feel right without him here.
8. The floor really needs to be swept…and it is HIS job!
9. I want to start working on the cubbies for the nursery, but I can’t do it without him!
10. Because I love him immensely and hate when he’s gone for more than 2 days!

FYI-He’ll be home on Friday, so I am pretty sure that I’ll make it! I hope he had fun!

Charlotte has had beautiful weather this week. From the Carolina blue skies with lots of sun, to temperatures in the high 50’s. Spring is definitely on the way and I am ready. Only 2 more weeks until my spring break. Then my in-laws will be visiting the following week. After that Tim and I will only have 3 weeks until D-Day (Due Day) arrives.
Speaking of D-Day, I have started the nervous wonderings of how prepared I am to take care of a baby. I have so many questions now…like can I put the baby on his stomach at all and if so, for how long? How will I know when he is hungry? How can I get him on a schedule? Will I like breastfeeding and if not how will I know which formula to buy? With all of these uncertainties in my mind, I recently purchased a copy of “What to Expect the First Year.” The book says that what I am feeling right now is completely normal, so that did make me feel better. I still have lots of questions, but the book has been very helpful at answering them all!
As for our birthing class this past week, it was much better than the week before. This time we learned about pain management. Yippee! I had no idea that you could ask for pain meds before the epidural. Knowing that made me feel a lot better. We did watch another delivery movie, although I refused to watch the parts that showed the baby exiting the vagina. Yikes! I can’t think of any reason why I need to “see” that and so now, I am sure you already know that answer to the question: “Would you like to use the mirror during delivery?” Hell no! To me it’s kind of like a cut. It really doesn’t hurt that bad until you start seeing the blood and then the pain really begins, so why would I want to see any hole of my body stretch to huge dimensions???
Speaking of pain, yesterday I saw my first ever Rugby match…played by women no less! My cousin and friend, Anna and Emily play for the Charlotte Mayhem and they had a game in town this week. Now if rugby is not the definition of a sport I am not sure what is. Picture football without pads, wrestling, cheerleading, and soccer rolled into one dirty, long game. You will never see me signing up to play, but it was very entertaining to watch. Those girls are tough and “feisty” (as an opponent referred to Anna during the game). Watch out!

Today, I attended Renee’s (my sister) baby shower. You should have seen all of the cute girl clothes she received. In some ways I am jealous that I am not having a girl. For some reason, I just don’t think that Tim will let me dress Grayson in pink. The shower was great…she only has 5 weeks until her D-day…and has already started Braxton-Hicks contractions. Yikes!

One of my monthly highlights has definitely got to be the girl’s dinner club. One Monday a month, a group of 9 girls gets together to eat, chit-chat, and otherwise unwind. Since the dinner club started this past summer, it is one of the days that I look forward to the most. Especially now that I am pregnant. No, it’s isn’t just the food. It’s the keeping touch with close friends, getting caught up on the details of each other’s lives, and otherwise just feeling connected. I can’t thank my friends Katie and Anna enough for coming up with this idea and for including me in on it! Because of them, I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know 5 more amazingly funny and caring women. It is funny how in the group of nine of us, we all seem to be in various stages of life. From single to married, jobless to well established…and I feel lucky to have thier support as I start the next chapter of my life: motherhood.
This past Monday, the dinner club got together and gave Grayson and me a baby shower. I was so touched by the thoughtful gifts. From handmade blankets to all time favorite books. I could tell that much thought went into the details, especially on Stephanie’s end (thanks a million Steph!). I just want to say thank you to the “Dinner Club Girls” for all that you have done for me. I truly appreciate how kind and generous you all are!

One more thing to view photos from the shower click here: baby shower photos. You do not have to log into the kodak site to the view the pcitures. Just click on the photo in the window and then you will be able to start the slide show. Enjoy!