Nesting

Oh yes...it's happening. The phenomenon known as nesting has officially happened to me. I have a whopping 16 weeks before Little Pit is scheduled to come into the world, but that hasn't stopped me from pricing out the following:

*Changing tables from the following companies
-Pottery Barn Kids
-Land of Nod
-Bellini
-All 3 via their own websites and Craigs List hoping for a steal

*Dressers
-Same kind of thing, hoping to maybe get a dresser instead of a specific changing table

*Armoires even though I know they won't fit in Little Pit's room

*Strollers even though we already picked ours out, now I'm second guessing

*Every other thing on our registry that I am now second guessing after talking to friends with little ones

*Putting in new windows in the kitchen

*Moving a wall in the basement

*Painting the entire first floor

*New towels for our bathroom (The Company Store is having a sale, can you blame me for looking?!)

*Clothes from the following stores
-Gap
-Banana Republic
-Old Navy
-Vineyard Vines (their Whale of a Sale is awesome!!)
-Lands End
-LLBean
-Ann Taylor
-Ann Taylor Loft
-Bloomingdales

*New cars
- yeah, I don't really have an excuse for this except that I am convinced it's going to be really hard for me to get Little Pit in and out of the car in a car seat because my silly Grand Cherokee back doors don't open as far as I want them too. Mr. Pit thinks this is silly and irrational and most of all WAY out of our price range...so I'll stop looking, but it worries me!

And yeah, everything else in the world that is for sale, or could be going on sale anytime soon or was on sale in the past...I have priced it and talked to Mr. Pit about buying it. Poor guy!

So, that's what's going on with me. A lot of virtual shopping, a LOT of second guessing and some serious instincts to make my house even more of a home!

A Decade in Review

I saw this on someone else's blog and I thought it was a neat way to remember some of the bigger things that happened in the last 10 years.

So, here goes...my life in the last 10 years:

2000- I was a sophomore/junior at Johns Hopkins. Went from living in a quad with my 3 best friends to living in an apartment for the first time with my then best friend. By October of 2000 we are not speaking (ugh). I get my first dog, Morgan, as an 8 week old puppy in a McDonald's parking lot. She was in a cardboard box, and the woman selling the puppies said she would shoot them if no one bought them...yikes! So, $25 later I had a puppy on my lap driving home. NOT a fun phone call made to my parents shortly after that. I realized then how much money a dog cost- and a sick puppy at that. NOT easy money for a 20 year old. But we got through it.

2001-That spring I was not on speaking terms with my roommate, and we had 2 dogs in our tiny apartment. Started dating a new guy, his pre-med status held great allure (though looking back I have NO idea why). That summer I moved into my own apartment, just me and my pup. It was a great change for me. Then 9-11 happened. This changed a LOT of relationships for me as I seemed to react quite differently than everyone around me- definitely a grow-up moment for me as a recognized the fact that I could take control of what relationships I wanted vs. not.

2002- Graduate from Johns Hopkins in the spring. Boyfriend at the time decides he can't take anytime off to come see me graduate (red flags started flying a long time before this, but this was the kicker). I cried graduation night because I had wasted so much of my senior year spending time with him and no time with my friends like I should have. I move out of Baltimore the day after graduation. I move up to New Jersey for my new job in August. The new landlord says my pup is too big for the apartment. She is adopted by a family in my parents neighborhood. I cry for weeks. Boyfriend and I break up in October. I cried for weeks over the dog. I shed nary a tear over the boyfriend...

2003-I move out of my original NJ apartment into an apartment with friends in Hoboken. I know I should love it but I am homesick and hate it. I meet Mr. Pit in June. I kiss him for the first time in July. We are seriously dating long distance by August. I quit my job and move back to Philly in December.

2004- I move into my new apartment on New Years Day. The movers end up losing one of my boxes that has yet to be recovered or 'found' as they first say it was delivered to me and I signed for it, then later admit they lost it. It had all my plates and bowls wrapped in my favorite t-shirts. I still miss those shirts. I start my new job. Mr Pit and I are madly in love. We live about 6 blocks from each other and see each other 6 nights out of 7. By this point I KNOW I will marry him.

2005- Mr. Pit and I start seriously talking about getting married. By the spring we are looking at rings. Mr. Pit proposes in August on a picnic in Pound Ridge, New York, on our way up to Lake Placid for a week. I haven't stopped smiling since :) I had my 25th birthday party at Bourbon Blue in Manayunk. It is 80 of our friends and family and it still stands out as one of the best parties I've ever been to/thrown or had anything to do with.

2006- We registered in January, finalize linens in February, transportation in March, invites went out in April, wedding shower in May and got married in June. We honeymoon in St. Lucia and Virgin Gorda. It was the most relaxing 12 days of my life. I quit my job in September and join a company that I think has TONS of potential in the Philadelphia construction world.

2007- We both got tired of living in the city and commuting to the suburbs, so we bought a house we both adored in a suburb we love and have lived there ever since. The move this time was without peril or stress and by the end of the year we have most of the house furnished. In August we adopted Lil' Pup and he's been with us every since. I start hating my job and quit in November. (the company would go under in mid-2009). I start working at the company I first tried to work for when I graduated from school and never got an interview then. This time around I had my job offer by the end of the sit-down. I start working in the city again- total irony since we JUST moved out of the city 5 months prior.

2008- No job movement, no house movement, no new pets (well, some new fish but who can keep track of those!). We take trips to Vermont to ski, to Vegas to party, to New Hampshire to relax and otherwise are just a very happy married couple. Mr. Pit starts grad school at Villanova. We make new friends and are thrilled by the prospects that his MBA brings.

2009- Start off the year well at work and think I am making great progress in the department I am in. I get taken out of that department and moved to a jobsite over Easter weekend. It takes me a few months to get over the shock of the move and get used to being 'onsite' again. As a result of this, Mr. Pit and I decide we will start trying for a Little Pit. We got to 3 of 5 weddings by August. I find out I am pregnant and we get to celebrate the great news down in Virgin Gorda. We come back to go to wedding #4. We didn't say a word about being pregnant to anyone as we were only 8 weeks. But, by the end of the weekend everyone is telling us congratulations. I guess when they saw me not drinking it was enough for them to assume. We dont even tell our families until the end of September. In October we finally get our 12 week ultrasound and all our wishes are confirmed, we have a healthy baby. In December we get our 20 week ultrasound and are even more thrilled to see 10 fingers, 10 toes and the tiny little heart beating away. We have a great Christmas with both families and celebrate the new year up in Massachusetts with wedding #5 of 5 for the year.

2010-Not much to report on so far, but we have already seen 2 set of friends on New Year's day, put 1000 miles on 2 cars in just under 2 weeks and will go to Vermont for 4 days at the end of January for our annual ski-weekend with friends. In February we are going to Vegas for our 'babymoon' and in March my mother in law is throwing us a shower up in New York. Then, April is the month of Little Pit- unless of course he or she is late, then May will be, but either way, we'll be home those two month for sure! That's as far as we've gotten for this year, and I can't wait!!

I hope you guys had a great Christmas and New Year and past decade like I did. I couldn't ask for a more wonderful husband, great supportive family on both sides and the best friends a girl could ask for.

For the D's

This post is dedicated to the best friends a girl could ask for :)

After having 3 Christmases so far, I am exhausted!

Mr. Pit and I had our first Christmas, just the two of us on Christmas Eve morning. I got quite spoiled with new fleece slippers, an iTunes card, a new calendar, and a whole box of stuff labeled "Mom-to-be survival kit". It was really really wonderful and thoughtful, just like Mr. Pit. It came chock full of my favorite candy, a cute t-shirt and lot's of 'coupons' for me to use later in the pregnancy. They were for things like '1 free back rub', '1 get out of doing the dishes free' and lots of other cute things. We decided not to spend a whole ton of money on each other since we have Little Pit coming in the spring, but regardless of how much money you do or don't spend, this Christmas certainly proved that a thoughtful gift goes a LONG way.

Then our second Christmas was with my family and was this morning. My Uncle showed up on Christmas night to surprise my mom (he flew in from St. Louis and no one knew!) and she was thrilled so we had an extra person at the festivities and it was great. My parents (and Santa of course) spoiled Gavin and I with some awesome gifts. Among the many highlights was an antique tiny rocking chair for Little Pits nursery- it is so freaking cute and little!), we both got monogramed golf balls and best of all we got our Canon EOS Rebel XS DSLR camera. It will take me days if not weeks and months to figure out all the ins and outs of this thing, but I can't wait. It came with all sorts of bells and whistles and I can't wait to decipher the users manual to make it really work for us.

Now, on to our 3rd Christmas with Mr. Pits family, and it is lovely as always. I got a really cute maternity dress (though I think it is definitely not limited to wearing with child) as well as cute napkins, an awesome watch with changeable straps and a cute book called Good Dog, Stay. I have feeling it will be quite sad a-la Marley and Me, but it got great reviews and I am sure I will read it and cry and then want to read it again.

We are up here in New York until Sunday afternoon when we go back down to Philly for 2 days and then we're up to Salem Mass for my friend K's wedding. Then we're driving from Salem to Providence to see our friends the A's and the S's and I can't wait to spend time with all of them. The last time I saw most of them I was in the throes of early pregnancy morning sickness so I wasn't feeling so social! So, hopefully I can make it up to them this time around :)

As for the next two days, I think it's going to be a lot of low-key family time, but I know there is a big dinner planned for tomorrow night as well as a big brunch on Sunday. Our big plans for Monday include a trip to Babies R Us to register for Little Pit :) I have never gone shopping for anyone's baby or even bought off anyone's registry, so it should be interesting and fun for both of us. (really, it's like sending us to a foreign country to shop for something that we've NEVER owned and everything in's a different language!) but I'm confident we'll figure it out.

Oh, and Mr. Pit just reminded me to tell you all about the pageant. It was great though there were two changes that I didn't love. First, they switched the passages that are normally read throughout the service from the King James version to a newer version, so the tempo was a bit different than I'm used to. Second, they switched the last song from the First Noel to Joy to the World. Both great songs, but again, not what I'm used to. Overall though, the pageant was great, the star was lit at JUST the right time and everything was lovely. (Even the angels having a giggle fit in the middle of the service didn't bother me).

I promise to blog more when I have more to share...hope you all had great holidays!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Last Day!

Don't worry, it's not my last day posting...but it certainly is my LAST day of work in 2009!!

Though we go on a lot of trips, I am pretty retentive on my vacation time, so most of our trips are long weekends that include holidays, so while I might get 6 days off, only 3 of them are vacation days. This is how I managed to save all of the very important vacation days for the end of the year, and they start TOMORROW! I actually have a 'comp' day stuck in there too, as you get one of those for every Saturday you work- are you learning my tricks here or what?! No one can believe that I have so many days left over, but when I say I am a Virgo, I mean it!

Mr. Pit and I went on some GREAT trips this year, including lots of weddings and our awesome long weekend in the Virgin Islands and our week in Vail and Breckenridge last March. It seems like forever ago that we took those trips, but it was ALL this year! I'll have to do a re-cap of all of our adventures at some point next week so you can really get a feel of where the heck we were all year!

All in all 2009 has been great. Work wise it's gotten a little rocky for both of us, but we're both still employed and that's what's important, especially with Little Pit on the way. Our marriage has gotten even stronger than it was and I am more in love with Mr. Pit than I was yesterday, a week ago, a year ago...and well, you get the picture. The best advice we received on our wedding day, was someone telling us that our wedding day should be the day that we love each other the least, and that our love should grow from there. And well, now with real biological proof in my belly, the love has certainly grown...to about 15 ounces!

I am really looking forward to 2010, and before that, to Christmas! Thursday is the Christmas Pageant, AKA my favorite tradition in the WORLD. As I've said before, I smile, I cry, and I just love that darn mini-play. Then it's home for a delicious dinner, probably a movie or two, then off to bed to wait for Santa!

I'll post more tomorrow and Thursday I'm sure. Tomorrow I'm helping my Mom arrange flowers at the Church for the pageant and Christmas services, and then the rest of the time is Christmas Christmas Christmas, oh and driving to New York and then back and then to Salem, Mass and then to Providence and then home again! But, details on that later.

Have a great day!!

Furry Friday!

Hi all! Meet Lenny!

I have absolutely NO words, well, some, but not a lot for this dog. First, his name is Lenny. For whatever reason that name on THIS dog makes me laugh out loud. Second, he is a Pomeranian, and I think they are SO funny looking. I want to get one just so I can laugh at it everyday. That hair, those eyes, it's really just too much.

What I do know about Lenny is that he is only 4 months old! And, he desperately needs a home for the holidays...how cute would it be to see THIS little face pop out of a Christmas box!? As always, check him out at Main Line Animal Rescue !

Mr. Pit don't have a lot going on this weekend asides from a few Christmas parties and Lil' Pup has another lesson on manners tomorrow at 11. Hopefully the snow will cooperate and allow us to drive out to Malvern for it, but if it doesn't there is NO way I am getting in the car with a bunch of other nut brains out on the road.

In Little Pit news, my email from Babycenter.com today tells me that the baby is now 3/4 of a pound and 10.5" long...and they compared that to a large carrot, ha! I have another appointment on Tuesday to check heartbeat and all that good stuff and to tell you the truth I don't really know what the next milestone is...30 weeks maybe? All I care about is a healthy beating heart and safe travels for the two of us this winter.

Hope you all have great weekends!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Seriously...BE A PARENT!

I am re-blogging this from Glamour's website, specifically Chrissy's "Storked" blog because this is the kind of stuff that REALLY gets on my nerves, especially as a parent to be.

Here's the story:

Taylor Pugh, four, has been participating in an in-school suspension for the past month because his hair is too long. (Watch this video) Taylor's father, Delton Pugh, says he won't "hold his son down" and make him cut it because Taylor likes it long. But the cute boy also likes his friends: "I miss my friends," he told the AP.

Here's the thing, though: The school's dress code is black-and-white. Boys' hair must be above the ear lobes and collar. Laura Jobe, from PUBLIC school, Floyd Elementary in the Mesquite School District, maintains that the hair code is designed to minimize distractions in the classroom.

I'm just wondering if you caught the third line of the first paragraph. Taylor likes it long. Well guess what. Taylor is 4. You don't always get what you want, especially when you're 4. It BOGGLES my mind that these parents, who probably pay REALLY good money to send their child to this school would ever allow their 4 year old to decide ultimately on not only his hairstyle, but eventually his suspenstion. CUT the freaking kids hair. He's 4. He'll get over it. Sure, there might be tears, but guess what, growing up isn't easy and no one says it will be.

What annoys me about todays parents, is that they have their kids on a level playing field with them. I am all for letting the kid weigh in on little things, maybe what movie to see for a matinee, or having some sort of say over what they eat, but come on, I do NOT plan on having my child decide FOR me what is best for them. I will be the parent right? So shouldn't I act like one?

Maybe it's because I was raised in the 80's, but let me tell you, I had NO say on what I ate, where I went to school, how I wore my hair, anything. I went to private school from Kindergarten to 12th grade. There was a dress code. I followed it EVERYDAY for 13 years. I didn't get the choice from my school OR my parents. When I broke dresscode, I first got in trouble from school, and then AGAIN from my parents. My parents were NOT the ones to go fight the school on my behalf, no way no how. I had made my proverbial bed, and my parents were going to make sure I was going to lie in it. And guess what...I hardly ever broke (those) rules. Other rules sure, but in school, no way. The consequences were too high. I knew VERY early on what a priviledged life I lived, and how lucky I was to go to that school. If I screwed it up, I would have no one to blame but myself.

I don't believe in the whole 'let your kids express themselves' BS that so many parents tout today. So, put your kid in an art class. You pierce your nose, your belly button or anything else funny, I have a pair of needlenosed pliers and I know how to use them. You have the rest of your life to express yourself however you want. If you're under MY roof and I'm paying for you to go to a private school with rules, you better be certain you'll be following each and every one of them.

If you want your kids to do whatever they want, whenever they want, move to a commune and raise them there. Home school them for all I care- they are your kid's after all. But if you are going to send your kids to my kids school, I expect you to be a parent and your kid to be a kid. My kid will NOT decide if they have a haircut. If I think you need a haircut, guess what, you do. If I think you're acting like a turd, you're going to be put in time out or somewhere else similar. I am not going to negotiate with you like I'm an effing terrorist negotiator. What I say GOES. What your father says GOES. You can reason with me all you want, you can break my rules and scoff at me behind my back, but until you're 18 and out of my house, I AM THE PARENT.

I just wish more people agreed with me. Don't even get me started on the people who don't have a bedtime for their kids, insisting that it makes them more creative. No, what makes them creative is a good night's sleep and positive academic action during the day. But, that's not todays post.

Sorry for the rant, this one just got me all sorts of fired up today. Hope you have a great afternoon!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Christmas Edition- A lil' bit about The Preppy Pitbull

(This is totally stolen from the brilliant Black Labs and Lilly !)

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your blogger friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy this entire post and paste into a new post on your blog, if you have one. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.This is not a Meme or a Tag. You simply play along if you wish to. Or just read the answers! Enjoy the Disney Pictures sprinkled throughout the post!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Remember, I am an engineer, so I love love LOVE to wrap, it makes me feel like I'm actually creating the gift.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real all the way. Our tree this year is HUMONGOUS but I love it anyway.

3. When do you put up the tree? Normally a week or two after Thanksgiving. It depends if we travel for Thanksgiving. This year it went up the 5th of December, perfect timing if you ask me!

4. When do you take the tree down? We normally take it down the first or second week of January, it all depends on the tree pickup in the Township.

5. Do you like eggnog? Nope, not at all.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My pink BMX bike. It was totally rad then, I love love LOVED it.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad. He has everything and wants for nothing...so yeah, he's tough.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My older brother. He LOVES clothes and is extremely preppy, so anything from Brooks Brothers, Vineyard Vines or Jos. A. Banks is a win for him.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Ever since we've been married we've sent out a photo card via mail. I LOVE getting mail and love sending letters out too, though I am not that good or consistent at it!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A jewelry box from my college boyfriend. Totally random and impersonal. I am the easiest person on the planet to buy for. I like anything pink or navy or at all preppy.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This is a tough one, Rudulph (the claymation one) is SO good, but then there's Elf, and of course It's a Wonderful Life, and Love Actually is a new favorite as well, so I'd say toss up on that one.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? In the summer or whenever the mood strikes. If I see something that is SO perfect for someone else, I buy it when I see it, otherwise it's never there when I go back.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, but I know I have been the recipient of a recycled gift. The fact that the person thought of me in the first place was fine with me.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My mom makes a FABULOUS beef tenderloin on Christmas Eve. It's always perfectly cooked and my dad makes AWESOME mashed potatoes, it's always one of my favorite meals of the year.

16. Lights on the tree? Heck yes. 4 strands of white and 4 strands of color. And LOTS of ornaments :)

17. Favorite Christmas song? Baby It's Cold Outside is definitely a favorite, but my favorite hymns are Oh Holy Night and It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. They make my hair stand on end when we sing them at the midnight service on Christmas Eve, they are so beautiful.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It depends on the year. Growing up we ALWAYS had Christmas at home. My first Christmas away from home was our 2nd year married, and we spent it with Mr. Pit's family. It was a very very hard day, but you have to grow up sometime!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yep...you want me to? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donner, Cupid, Comet, Blitzen and Rudolph :)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? My parents tree has an angel, ours has a star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. ALWAYS. Our Christmas takes FOREVER, we open one present at a time, from oldest to youngest. I wouldn't doubt it takes 4 hours to do, but I love it. The focus then is on the giver and the receiver, not just the present itself.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The traffic in and around the mall and other shops. I feel like people buy things for the sake of buying...I'd much rather spend time with a person rather than get a gift they found in a checkout line...but that's just me. I chose to buy my family gifts to an event this year in addition to presents. I think it's more important we get out as a family and get some culture rather than everyone just getting a sweater or something.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? I don't have a favorite ornament, I really like all of them, but I do love our theme. Red and silver with lots of reindeer and classic Christmas images. NO snowmen at all, they totally creep me out!

24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner? We do a Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas dinner is usually sandwiches or left overs from the night before!

25. What do you want to do for Christmas this year? For Christmas this year I just want to have a nice Christmas with both families. This is the last Christmas without an infant running/crawling around, so I want to cherish the quiet grown up part this year!

26. Favorite Christmas tradition growing up? I love our whole Christmas Eve tradition. My Mom and I go to church in the morning to get all the flowers set up on the altar and then at 4 the whole family goes to the pageant. I LOVE the pageant. It is the exact same every year and EVERY year my Mom and I cry at the exact same spots while my brothers and husband just roll their eyes. Then we come home and make a yummy beef tenderloin dinner and end up watching It's A Wonderful Life on TV. It's been pretty set for a long time now, I don't think we HAVE any other Christmas traditions!

27. Favorite tradition now? Same thing as above! It's of course different when we go to Mr. Pit's family (they do Chinese food on Christmas Eve, and a big Christmas Dinner) but this year we are going up there Christmas day, and next year we're having everyone come to us...so it looks like this is it! We'll have to create new traditions when Little Pit is here!

28. Favorite Christmas Memory? My favorite memory is from a few years ago when it was a crazy 70 degrees in Philly on Christmas day. The entire family opened presents together and then ALL went out to play 9 holes of golf. It was hilarious as we were the only ones out there, but the weather couldn't have been nicer!