Working hard this weekend...

This weekend wasn't all fun and games at Casino Night. The majority of the time, we worked on our house! After living here almost a year, there are still so many things unfinished, pictures unhung, and items unorganized, so the upcoming baby has really motivated me to get as much in order as possible before he gets here. I just assume it'll make life easier. Gabriel doesn't really agree with me, but he is nice enough to help me with most of the stuff, so he gets dragged into it as well. This weekend, we finished some stuff in the baby room as well as focused on our room for the first time. It's true for most people, I think, that they focus on all the other rooms in the house before they get to their own, and it was certainly true for us. It was just the room for all the left-overs, so now it's a little prettier and more put together...just in time for a baby to come mess it up! :)
-Shirin

Poor Gabriel does all the heavy moving for us right now. Here he is dragging our bed to a new wall this Saturday.

He also does manly things like using a stud-finder. Don't get me wrong...I know how to use one too, but I like to give him a chance to do manly things. Ha ha ha...I know it sounds stupid.

We had company while we worked on the baby room. Jojen (in front) just LOVES Qui-Gon (in back, quietly licking his paw). He follows him around a lot.

After Qui-Gon left the baby play gym, Jojen did too and followed him to the doorway for more together-time.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was doing more manly things, like drilling holes in the wall to put up a shelf.

A new shelf for the baby room. Yay for daddy's hard work!

The baby room still has a guest bed in it for us or visitors. Right now it's holding all the things we're bringing to the hospital. It's crazy how much we've got, but they told us to bring all this stuff, so we're doing it! (Well, I added in a few extra things too, to be honest).

We decorated the wall by the crib too. I think there may be one too many mobiles on that crib right now, but I just haven't found anywhere to put the extra one yet, so it's been staying there for the time being. Once I can attach it somewhere else, I will.

BEFORE: here's what our room used to look like. How hideous.

AFTER: now look at it! Much better.

BEFORE: the other side of the room.

AFTER: Ahhh...much better! There's only so much a person can do with crappy furniture, but it's still nice to have the less cluttered look...and some curtains! No more flashing the neighbors! :)

Dobby is in almost all of the before/after pictures, but that's just because he's such a nosy boy and always is in the middle of EVERYTHING! We have a potential adopter for him, so cross your fingers for us (or if you're German, hold your thumbs)!

Casino Night!

The running joke between me and Gabriel is that as soon as Casino Night is over, it's the saddest time of year for Gabriel because it's the farthest time point away from the next Casino Night (we got it from all the losing poker players in the World Series of Poker). But, he does really look forward to it all year long. So, when we found out it was gonna be April 26 (9 days before my due date), Gabriel got nervous...we just weren't sure if we'd make it or not!
But, I hung in there...there is no Cyrus yet! So, we went tonight and had a lot of fun. I played poker and black jack, and Gabriel just played poker. Together, we did quite well on the chip count, which is great b/c then we get to bid on some great items in an auction at the end of the night. We won quite a lot this time. Several gift certificates, both to restaurants and clothing stores (including some medical scrubs, which are pretty expensive), and some other good stuff, like a bunch of shampoo and conditioner, etc, for itchy dogs (my nephew Cha Cha needs that right now for his allergies). It's fun to bid and be part of an auction, especially when you have lots of chips.
It was a great time and, for Gabriel's sake, I'm glad Cyrus waited to come til at least after Casino Night was over.
-Shirin

Gabriel in his element...at the poker table! I actually really like Texas Hold'em, as well (that's the type of poker we play), but it's probably just b/c I've learned so much about it from Gabriel. He really racked up here. He stayed right there all night too...it makes sense for him to do that, at least from a chip-count sense.

I branched out and joined Denise (to my right) at the black jack table. I actually was allowed to bring a little cheat-sheet to the table that told me what moves to do. It was very helpful. (It's not really cheating...real casinos let people use it too).

Concentrating on what to do...I don't think black jack is hard, but it's kind of complicated to do the right thing sometimes.

And let the auction begin!!! I should explain that Casino Night is held at one of the veterinary fraternities and is a fund-raiser for a group called Gracie's Fund, which raises money to help people pay expensive hospital bills for their pets. This event is planned by all the freshman/sophomore vet students, and they get a bunch of donations for the auction. Very well done, folks!

Yay!! We're winning so much stuff!!

Gabriel bidding on who knows what!

Life is good to us sometimes...

Last night was our annual vet school Honors and Awards banquet. It's an event where the school gives us drinks and dinner AND a bunch of scholarships and awards. I think the dean said they were dispersing a quarter of a million dollars last night to students and teachers (teachers get awards too). Most of the money comes from organizations (like Kennel Clubs), companies (like Hill's), and private donors (like a fund set up to honor a veterinarian who died). I'm so amazed at the generosity of people who want to help out us poor students, and it's also just cool to see some of the most accomplished students get recognized.
I was lucky enough to be one of the people who got a scholarship or two (for work with animal rescue and/or animal welfare). I actually got to meet the sponsor of one of my scholarships (he was a private donor from Atlanta), and he was an amazing guy. He was quite young to have extra money to give to students, he lived in Atlanta where I believe he has an animal shelter, and he was really funny and interesting. He'd just come back from a trip to Ecuador and had gone to the Amazon and the Galapagos. Gabriel and I were invited to come to Atlanta to tour around his no-kill shelter (FurKids Animal Rescue) and we are planning to take him up on it, whenever we think we can fit it in with Cyrus, of course.
After the ceremony, we decided to walk from the conference center around downtown to go to Ben and Jerry's. In typical form, Athens was hosting some cool street festival/jazz fest last night, I believe in honor of the Tour de Georgia that is going to be coming through our town tonight...not exactly sure. I just LOVE street festivals, so I happily wandered around, holding hands with my bubby, smelling all the funnel cakes and sausages, and taking in the sites of families and events.
It was a good night.
-Shirin

At the awards ceremony, right before dinner. This is the only picture I have of it, since Gabriel had the camera and isn't too snap-happy.

Downtown after the ceremony...funnel cakes, yum!

They had lots of hot dog vendors and music, etc, going on too.

Gabriel got himself a mango shake at Ben & Jerry's and brought home a tub of ice cream as well. He sure does have a sweet tooth!

My healthy hubby...

Lately, Gabriel has had a lot of time to listen to his audiobooks on our Ipod. Why, you ask? I'll tell you...because the man has started to walk to work every day. It's not horribly far (about 2 miles or maybe a bit more), but it takes him a good 30 minutes (and it takes me about 45 minutes) to walk from our door to the vet school's door. Is he doing it for exercise or pleasure, you might ask? Nope. He's doing it so that I can sleep the extra hour that I'm allowed during electives and can drive to school for the start of my classes at 9 o' clock.
While I appreciate it every day when I wake up at 8 AM that Gabriel has left the house early and walked himself to work just so that I can be well rested, this is not the only benefit that has come from this change of transportation. The audiobook that he has been listening to while he walks, called the Omnivore's Dilemma, has had quite an impact on him in a very positive way. Since I haven't read the book and have only been getting accounts from him second-hand, I can't describe it as well as he could, but the book is essentially about how big business has driven our food chain down the drain, until Americans are eating all sorts of junk that we are totally unaware of. That kind of thing just makes Gabriel mad.
So, this past week, he hasn't drunk any soda and has been actively seeking (and cooking) healthy meals for us. I couldn't be happier! I've always cared about health, and he's always eaten the healthy food I've provided, but it's so much easier (and more fun) to work on good food together. He has also been very interested in pursuing measures to obtain locally grown, organic food. We did find a local place, called the Daily Co-op, that can provide some of that, and we've agreed to try to buy at least our produce there (it's really expensive).
So, I have to say that I'm really proud of him and really grateful to the book's author for having such an impact...it will probably change the way we shop and eat for the rest of our lives!
-Shirin

Gabriel in the kitchen, chopping up veggies for subs.

Subs aren't the most healthy thing in the world, but making them at home sure makes 'em better for you...in this bad boy you'll find soy lunch meat, avocado, romaine lettuce, green peppers, red onions, and tonatoes. Yum! (Ignore the Baked Lays).

This is a meal I made; since Gabriel wants me to eat more iron during the pre- and post-partum period of my life, I tried to make sure I included iron-rich foods.

Spinach and potatoes are both high iron foods. The fake chicken was baked in corn flakes (corn is the enemy), but what can you do...

Gabriel made this meal. It included veggie burgers and...

steamed broccoli! Beautimus!

Sometimes, we just don't have time to cook. This is the meal we got off of Earth Fare's buffet. It's expensive but mostly organic and really good. There are tons of veggies to choose from, including garbanzo beans and pumpkin seeds for protein, lots of fresh fruit, and good hot food too, like this chana masala. We had some locally baked rosemary foccacia bread at home, so this made us a delicious, quick dinner tonight.

This is the Daily Co-op. We've only been there once, but it was a nice little place with good local produce and local eggs. If I can figure out how the chickens are treated at the place they get them from (and learn that they are real "happy chickens," unlike the fake "happy chickens" that lay our free-range eggs that we buy now at Kroger), I will be SO happy and never buy my eggs from anywhere else.

Some old friends return to us...

While our goal was the be cat-free before the baby was born (because of Gabriel's desire to have fewer responsibilities), we always knew we'd not accomplish it at the expense of the cats themselves. So, while we did manage to procure a temporary foster home for our two long-time tuxedo foster cats, we knew they might not adjust well or get adopted, etc, and we'd have to take them back. Also, we got Qui-Gon adopted out and then took him back after his owner didn't want to deal with possible medical bills for him, which we preferred to do rather than leave him uncared for. So, while we got down to 1 cat for a while, it wasn't without caveats.
Today, we got an e-mail from my rescue lady saying that one of the tuxedos seemed to be missing at his new foster home...possibly escaping outside when a workman came by and left the door open. We've had other semi-feral cats "disappear" for several days, only to find them in some well-hidden spot, doing perfectly fine inside our house. So, we headed over to his apartment to help him look. By the time we'd gotten there, both cats had actually been accounted for, but it was clear to us that these boys had made no progress at his house these last two months (they basically just hid under the stairs in the laundry closet all the time). So, we made an executive decision to bring them home.
Catching Benjen was easy, catching Jojen was hard, but we managed to get them both and take them home (the guy was SO impressed with Gabriel's cat-wrangling abilities....he did do an amazing job with a very wild Jojen). They are still going to be foster cats, but we're pretty sure they will be with us for quite a while before we find a nice soul to take two scaredy cats that will take months of adjusting before they become good pets. Oh well...there are worse things in life than sharing our home with cats. Their other option was to go to a barn, and I just wasn't OK with that. So, I hope Cyrus is ready to be the big brother to a bunch of fuzzy playmates!
-Shirin

Benjen in his foster home today when we got there. To the guy's credit, he's tamed other feral cats before and had some experience with that, but I guess these two nuts were just too tough for him to crack. Definitely not the place for them to make any progress...oh well, we tried!

I some how squeezed myself back there first to pull out Benjen, but then Gabriel took over for the more difficult Jojen. One must be flexible for cat-wrestling, and I am pretty immobile at the moment.

The nice foster guy was REALLY amazed that Gabriel scruffed and subdued a freaking-out, hissing Jojen under the stairs and managed to get him into this box. We taped up the box before Gabriel let go (cats can somehow find ways to tear out of cardboard boxes when they are scared). Jojen didn't try to escape, though, so all went well. We really appreciated this guy's effort with them.

Poor scared Jojen when we got home. He wasn't freaking out anymore, just really scared.

Benjen, on the other hand, was SOOOO happy to be home and couldn't get enough love from us. His face is all squished up like that from purring so much! :)

We trimmed his nails and gave him some TLC.

I love this boy...he's my baby.

Jojen had to be coerced by Gabriel to sit on his lap, but he allowed it to happen. He was trapped later than Benjen and has always been a little slower to adjust. Note: he came home with a new white spot on his face (right cheek). No idea how that happened or why. Sometimes hair can grow back a different color after an injury, but I am not aware of any wounds that he sustained over there...so, I guess it's a stress spot! :)

Then it was time for Benji to reacquaint himself with two old buddies of his, Qui-Gon and Dobby. It went pretty well with almost no hissing.

So, the tuxedo boys are back. And, from the looks of it, they are plenty happy to be so...

A happy ending!

The sweet female we rescued from her less-than-perfect life in FL has just gotten a home! She went a lady who had a few cats and dogs that had just lost one of her kitties. The cats are indoor only and the dogs go in and out. All are on flea preventative and fed several types of food! A happy ending for this sweet little kitty makes me happy that we took her and gave her a chance for a better kitty life!
-Shirin

Gabriel will miss his pillow! :)

How time flies...

After reading my mom's blog a few days ago about how different everything was just 8 months ago when we just found out we were pregnant and no one knew yet, I thought it would be interesting to go back and look at some of the pictures we took that we never showed anyone b/c of our relative secrecy on the matter (til it was no longer possible to hide the belly).
It will be a nice little trip down memory lane for me...
-Shirin

When I was late (around the end of August), I took a pregnancy test that was negative. It was still really early, so I decided just to wait a while longer. A few days later, in a break between my parasitology written exam and my parasitology lab practical, when Beth and I were at my house cramming, I got impulsive and decided to pee on another stick...this time it looked like this:

Gabriel was actually at work when I saw the news, so I sent him a picture of the positive test from my cell phone. I know some of you from previous generations probably think of that as impersonal, but we both were just as excited and he got the news faster that way. We met up outside the vet school later that day at lunchtime to have our own private little celebration.

I saved him the stick so he could see it that night...here he is proudly posing with it! :)

A week later (or so) Gabriel's parents and grandma came to visit us. It wasn't at this restaurant but at another (the Grit) that we gave them the good news. They were ecstatic (their last grandkid was born 18 years ago, so they were due for another!) Later that week, we went home to Rock Hill and told my parents as well. I was worried about my father's ability to handle the news, but he did quite well. I knew my mom would be happy, but I didn't know how absolutely giddy she would get...I guess I'd never seen her in grandma-mode before!

Fast-forward to October. We took a trip to California to see my relatives. We waited til they were "interviewing" Gabriel and asked about kids to tell them we already had our bases covered. They were really surprised, of course, and gave us lots of advice (as there was a new baby in their midst and they had a lot of recent experience with babies).

If Cyrus' grandmas are anything like Nahid, Cyrus is gonna be one spoiled, loved little baby! She couldn't get enough of him.

This is a picture of a 7 week old fetus. Some of you probably think it's gross and uninteresting, but one of the coolest parts of this for me has been to follow along with the developmental stages of this baby of mine. I thought he looked adorable at this age! :) Now, there's a fish-frog if I've ever seen one!

Then began the wait for the belly to get bigger. Don't ask me how, but I felt like I looked pregnant right here. It just blows my mind right now. I guess it was because my pants were already getting too small and tight, and I was wearing maternity pants because they were so much more comfortable. I think I was a couple months along here.

This is me at 13 weeks pregnant. Lord, I thought I was getting big...I was crazy.

Well, by x-mas time my secret was out and most of you probably got this picture from me. Merry X-mas!!!

This is my belly at 23 weeks. I was feeling him move at this point...mostly small little pokes and kicks and nothing that Gabriel could feel, but there was definitely a baby in there.

Fast forward to April 18...I am a stuffed turkey!!! Cyrus is strong enough to kick me away from the table when I'm leaning on it and has the hiccups at least once a day. He is almost 38 weeks along and considered full-term. I have to say that I've had it pretty easy as a pregnant woman. I was only nauseated for 12 weeks in the beginning and not a big puker, I felt great during my 2nd trimester, and am only now to the point where I'm getting fed up with being so huge. My feet aren't swollen much and my biggest complaint right now is just some heart burn (and the fact that bending over is nearly impossible). Thanks to all the support from you guys and I promise to let you know when the big boy decides to make his grand entrance into this world. Let's hope I don't get much bigger than this, b/c I don't know how much more my skin can stretch! :)