Kelly B.com

The baby's doing just great. The ultrasounds were beautiful. The doctor even used the term "perfect" to describe it. I know the gender and I am working with family on plotting a baby shower before the snow starts flying. I am however going to admit that I do not want to explicitly share my baby with the internet. It's been a really hard decision for me to make because I tend to believe in openness and communicating in an open atmosphere but in my heart I do not want to share. I want to keep this baby close and safe and protected and I don't think that the internet is a safe or kind or nurturing place for an infant and I do not want to be that parent who struts their kid around like the prize pig at the fair. My job is to protect this little soul, not to exploit it. For me, my kid is a kid not a status symbol. I don't care how many comments or "likes" I get about my baby. He/she is going to be the most beautiful thing I ever laid my eyes on a...

Happy 2 year anniversary to my Trevor. A year go we didn't have one of these Or one of these And now I can't even imagine a life different than the one we have. And I certainly didn't see this coming And baby makes...4? (I realize that might be the smallest bump you've ever seen but trust me, it's there.) Sorry for the hush-hush. It takes a while to internalize that you've got a tiny human being developing inside of you and to decide how much of that person you'd like to share with the internets. I've decided for me that we're sharing very very little because one day when he or she grows up they're likely to lament what I've shared and there's enough to be embarrassed about when you're 17 without adding in pictures of your naked baby bottom floating around for all of the internet to see. Consider it a case of me proactively shortening the area in my kid's autobiography where they blame me for everything that's wrong with th...

I like to think I try and guilt myself into updating about once a week or two even if whatever I write makes no sense and is rambles incoherently...hey it's the internet . No one cares about that anyway. Kids actually put texting shorthand into the things they write because it's so normal to them they think it's appropriate to put into a paper. Sad. Anyway, commentary about the disintegration of the English language is always fun but...I have a side writing project. I admit it. I'm cheating on the blog. So I may be light on updates as my creative juices are simmering elsewhere. Don't think I died. I did not die. Am I sharing this project via the intarwebs ? I don't know. I guess I'm on the fence about that because it's much more personal and the intarwebs ? She is mean. Full of lurking jerks with cheeto fingers. And I have to fence in my feelings because I will inevitably hurt someone's feelings. I am a feeling hurter . I love Brussels Sp...

Been nursing a bit of a cold. Probably from running around in the rainy weather before. I kind of want to sleep all day and the things I swore I wanted to write about have all fallen out of my head in a haze of exhaustion. I'm not sick very often so when I am I am entirely out of my element. Even though I felt awful recently I still made dinner, organized the kitchen, vacuumed and tried to assist my husband around the house. I'm probably not doing myself any favors by running around instead of resting but resting feels like a waste of a day and each day has a long list of necessary tasks. Like going to redeem cans and buying bread and getting blueberries to munch on. All very important things. This summer should be an interesting one. The Cape Cod Cottage we've spent so many summers at is going to be demo-ed and replaced with a bigger, newer, shiny house where my bonus momma will be living full time. So I have no idea when we'll go to the Cape because we don'...

Clearly I spoke to soon. Takesies backsies anyone? Lex and Mike eloped this Saturday at Wickham Park on what would have been their planned wedding date anyway. It was very last minute even though they had originally planned to be wed on that day and they've been engaged well over a year but all the most important people seemed happy, albeit rather harried. Since Amanda's been in town anyway I've kind of used her as my go between with Lex and this whole wedding because to be rather honest I thought Alexis fell off the face of the earth and hated me for some confusingly unknown reason. I'm not saying I'm perfect but I try really hard to be empathetic. Rather than bother her about it I just preferred to not push the issue any further. Getting married, or not getting married or eloping is a pretty stressful thing without dealing explaining it to every Tom Dick and Harry. Because through the 1+year of plotting this wedding it's shrunk from a 300+ guest event t...

Today has been amazing. I feel utterly revitalized and everything that was bothering me has melted away into a puddle of inconsequential goo. We went kayaking down part of the Farmington River today with the Pup. He wasn't terribly pleased but he was significantly happier when his butt wasn't sitting in standing water. He is a great water lover but seemed very confused about the current pushing at him and feeling out of control of where he'd end up. I don't much blame him but the poor dear was crying an awful lot. The weather, however? Beautiful. Sunny and warm but not hot and the water was refreshing. And the scenery was stunning even though it was right down in my own hometown it looked so much more special. It was like seeing the world from a different perspective and I needed that. I really did. I just felt so terribly downtrodden. And I typically hate physical activity. I feel like that's all we ever do between chores and the house and puppy but this was ...

I guess I should just say it because I've been ignoring it for months. Lex's wedding has been postponed so, unfortunately no wedding this June. No rush of getting your hair done that morning. No pretty dresses to wear. No tiny favors to wrap. Because the underlying reason for this postponement are hers and hers alone there's not a lot to expound upon except to say that if you have any reservations in your mind about what you're doing then you're absolutely doing the right thing to push the pause button and if anyone judges you for it then they're not a terribly understanding friend or aunt or whatever. It's a huge decision to make and not one that you take lightly after over a year of being engaged in the first place. Moving on to a different subject, Amanda's still coming to town and I hear Cathy's coming into town as well, so I am elated that I have friends that will be in the area even if they're schedules are busy with seeing everyone else...

Somebody finally has a beautiful granite kitchen countertop. But somebody is not sharing any pictures of it because she'd rather have folks come see it when we finally get the housewarming together. Yes we are planning to have something this summer. I think the constant work we've been putting into the house has made it easy to become hermits. And now that we have a dog who needs human interaction? The pup loves us despite unwashed hair and bad social skills. Kidding aside, I love this dog but he is waring on my last nerves with the biting. Hardly a day passes where he doesn't break the skin and I'm wiping blood from my arm or hand. Seriously. My arms are a weird roadmap of scratches and nibbles. Between eying his poops and cleaning up wounds I'm really beyond exhausted. I love him but it's been something that wears on you. The bones have not come out. Repeat. The bones he ate like a MONTH ago have not come out. The vet says that if he's pooping regu...

I am ugh..behind in posting. Have I mentioned I don't believe in owning a scale? Not because I'm overweight. Rather, it's the contrary. I am naturally slim but I have a bit of a streak of obsessive compulsive when it comes to my weight. So in my experience it's better to just not know. Not put the temptation in front of me. Not to have that number scream at evil judgmental thoughts my way. But my dad asked how much the puppy weighs now. My guestimation is a lot. I carry that little guy around like he's a big sack of sugar. He's such a sweet little cuddle bug and I don't care that he's going to be gigantic one day. Right now he's a puppy and right now I get to hug him and cuddle him. But anyway the point is that dad was curious and asked if he could weigh Roni. Well, sure. Why not? But you can't get a puppy to sit on a scale, so I had to carry him. Well, long story short the weight of me and the Roni is under 140lbs and I started to ...

House is coming along. I wish I could tell you I finally had counters but, ya know you get used to whatever you have and I hardly mind the cement board and the wood planks we've been using in the meantime. There's no more visible pink on the first floor. Can I tell you how momentous that is? How much more normal our kitchen looks, even with no tiles on the floor and a ton of junk on top of the cabinetry. This might be how normal people live. I was reading this article that Nia Vardalos wrote about Mother's Day after finally becoming a mother this year and it nearly broke my heart because although I'm never that person who would ever ever ever assume someone is pregnant without like, a written documentation of the fact and like 3 sonograms I can understand how women have a build in competition. To be the thinnest. To be the most fertile. To be the smartest. To be the most successful...and it's just true of people from all walks of life. Whether you're a celeb...

Roni ate some bbq baby back rib bones...whole. If that's not enough to give me a heart attack I don't know what is. To cut to the chase...he's fine. He's as frisky as ever but we have to closely observe him because there's a good chance he'll pass it. But if he doesn't he's going to be rather uncomfortable and verbal about it, so either way we have to stay attentive to him and inspect his poop for bones or blood. What a sexy thought, right? Because everyone gets a dog to deal with piles and piles of poop. But he's acting perfectly happy and content so I guess my worries are still unfounded. I was really pissed at Trevor for giving him those bones in the first place but I understand it's not explicitly his fault. Roni was going to eat something whole eventually anyway. Wanna see our little man? He's huge already and I'm lamenting the loss of puppy but I'm rather proud of what a handsome little fellow he is. But I'll be psyched...

Puppy motherhood has been interesting. I wish I had a lot to talk about but it's mostly just been a monotonous repetition of the prior day's events. Wake up way earlier than I should so he can go do his Roni business outside. Take him inside. Prep his breakfast. Watch him eat it and make sure he's being pet and doesn't get overly possessive and aggressive about his food. Play with him for at least 10 minutes or so. Take him out again to relieve himself about half an hour after eating. Take him back in. Make my own coffee. Try to pack something to eat for lunch. Get dressed for work and then my day actually begins and I go on my way to the office. Then he spends the day with Trevor and I take the pup out again once I get home. By then he's typically exploding with joy to see another one of his humans. He's extra frisky lately. I don't know what happened to the timid little puppy we got before but he's been replaced with a much more outgoing people fr...

Pupperoni is settling in fine. He's...eccentric. And not in that puppy way that everyone hears about with the chewing your shoes and eating your homework and pooping on the rug. That's normal puppy stuff. My Pupperoni's first night was fraught with anxiety. The poor dear hardly moved. His first day? Mostly spent in his crate. He was just so overwhelmed that I think he felt that if he stayed in his crate at least that was a smaller less crazy start. He did warm up considerably with the addition of very tiny tennis balls that he could fit into his mouth and play with. His second day he was more like a puppy and less like a cat. He played. He licked. He chased things. And each consecutive day is another step closer to success. My mom already thinks he's a genius, but I guess that's natural for all grandmothers to say. But he can recognize his name and sit on command so it says a lot about him. He knows his puppy parents and he loves us enough to give us many snugg...

Hi Internet, we got a puppy! Wanna meet him? Isn't he precious? I know I was concerned about the whole labrador thing but who could say no to that? Or this? (Please ignore the rolls of insulation. DON'T JUDGE ME.) We've been talking about it for a long time but the opportunity arose today pick him up because he was the very last of his litter and his breeders were rather anxious to give him a home after placing all the rest of his siblings. They described him as their mellow love bug. I was sold. He's rather gigantic for 8 weeks, but he really is a sweetheart. He didn't cry, bark or whimper the whole ride home. We're working out the name but so far I've been calling him Pupperoni. Because I like it. There's really no amazing story to go with that. I like food names. I was also open to calling him Blanket but Trevor thought it would be creepy to call our dog the same name as the kid Michael Jackson dangled over a balcony. True enough. But really...

House, how's the HOUSE, Kelly? That's what our families are always asking. If you're tired of house talk, turn away. Our water closet on the first floor has been though an awful lot. That poor little room. When we first bought the house it had a shower stall and a toilet. Seeing the obvious problem with going to the potty and having to rinse your hands in a shower stall we pulled that shower out and placed it on the 2nd floor (for now) and were living okay with a vanity in it's place. However, like with a lot of things in the house the water closet still needs work and so this past Sunday it got gutted. The toilet and vanity are now in my kitchen (my poor kitchen) and Trevor's been working on fixing the wall there to be more sound proof. It's one of the very few walls through which we can hear our tenants. Otherwise the house is so massive that I can't even tell when they're home. I covered up the pink paint (yay!) and we've bought new tile...

As you may have already noticed, I have really random luck. Not particularly "good" or "bad"...just random. Like, that $100 gift card a few months ago. Like constantly getting hit by other drivers in my car and it not being my fault and my car perpetually being in the shop. If it was good luck I wouldn't be hit. If it were bad luck, I'd be horribly disfigured and hurt. As it stands I'm perfectly whole and healthy. And I apparently tapped into some more random luck. If you haven't already guessed I am a bleeding heart. I don't want to be a crunchy granola chomping hippie but I'll be damned if I don't secretly want to wear all organic clothes and throw away everything I own that's plastic. Dirty Dirty Petrochemicals. As it stands I don't want to shave my legs, but that's another story. So these hippie tendencies in me tend to make me want to secretly save the world. I don't have a brand name one, but I have a stainless ...

I've been teeter tottering between how to approach this subject without sounding really weird or racy. It's not racy at all. But if you happen to know me you might know that I hate shaving. I just hate it. I can't stand the stumble, I can't stand the repetitive regularity that you have to do it. I can't imagine being 90 and leaning over trying to shave my legs. I'll just tell you now that it just isn't going to happen. I'll just be that really hairy 90 year old, thanks. Despite my ire, I don't want to be that random weirdo with hairy man-legs. Not that I have anything against it, but the social stigma is too much for me. So I actually find a lot of interest in hair removal alternatives beyond the razor. My favorite for a while was the Nair Sugar wax system, which I guess I'd liken to cheaper Nad's. If you were alive in the 90's you are all too familiar with the infomercials that Nads made. Oh Nads. What a wonderfully colorful n...

Lex asked for another post so here it goes. Apart from the mild euphoria of squeezing into those jeans and losing all feeling in my legs and slightly bruising my hips (which by the way, do not whither away as quickly as I do) it's been more of the usual. Weekends spent at Lowe's. Looking at granite slabs. Looking at cabinet swatches. Feeling generally nauseous about the cost. Ya know. The usual. I'm a little confused about this granite versus marble thing because I've had laminate or tile in my other kitchens and it's been fine. I think it looks cool, and I'm kind of excited about the prospect of having a cold surface for chocolate tempering and dough rolling but otherwise? I just wish for a kitchen that works. My needs are pretty modest. I don't even need a funky back splash or granite light switch covers or a tin ceiling or built in bar sinks or anything. Other than that I've been painting things, mudding up holes and generally sore from stan...

I'm going to tempt fate for a hot second and tell you something you totally don't want to hear. I squeezed into those zero jeans! It's not in the slightest bit comfortable but I wriggled, zipped and buttoned up those 7s . My butt kind of looks like that model's too...really flat, but whatever. I accept that as an unfortunate side effect of being thinner than usual. That fat's gotta come from somewhere, right? In about 8 hours I'm likely to just slightly too bloated for them, but for now? VICTORY. And designer jean victory, she is sweet. (I probably just made 39049090 enemies right there, but hey the recipe for such success is packing up a house worth of stuff, going up and down eleventeen billion steps from your 3rd floor apartment, not eating the meals you want to eat when you want to eat them and generally being overworked and underpaid. Easy, right?)

Usually I'm not very timely with my posts but just in case you had your hand on the trigger waiting to call DCF, babysitting was rather successful in that it was totally uneventful. Kim's baby is perhaps the most laid back a child can be without the aid of say, anesthesia . He let everyone hold him and didn't seem in the slightest bit concerned that we were all strangers that smelled different than his momma and made weird faces that him and repeatedly tried to eat his tiny feet. Kim finally saw the house, and if she were slightly closer and didn't have, oh ya know, a small infant to take care of I imagine she'd love helping out painting, decorating and generally taking advantage of my shiny new appliances. Obviously I'd love help. I can't do all this myself, after all, but she's got different priorities than the rest of us do because of the baby and I'm totally understanding that he's the number one on her list. In fact, if he wasn't he...

So complaining about my life and my house not-withstanding, how are things? I'm endeavoring on babysitting my friend Kim's kid tomorrow. Wish me luck. I hope not to inadvertently scar him for life. But since he's only like 4 months old he won't remember any of it (thankfully). I joke that I hope baby doesn't hate me, but in all seriously I hope he doesn't because I'll feel like a world class failure at life and that I will never be cut out to produce offspring and my poor husband will have to deal with me whining about how my sub-par mothering will result in crazed emotionally unstable children with bad hygiene. Joking aside (and yes that was my version of joking) I'm sure it'll be fine. It's not like I'm babysitting for like 12 hours. I'm more or less holding her kid for like 2 hours and then she'll be back from her long awaited pampering since I chipped in for a massage for her in like October and I gave her a salon giftcard fo...

Updates? I have a fridge. No ranges because they didn't fit into the 60" spot they're meant to be in and Trevor had to unfortunately refuse delivery. The description listed one size and when the came? Surprise, too big. I had my heart set on finally being able to cook something. We ordered replacements from the store's direct competitor...ya know, because that's the right thing to do to really stick it to (insert air quote gesture here) The Man . I have a new kitchen sink faucet because the last one was broken and although it would dispense water would do so only at one super fast velocity and it would splash everywhere all over the entire counter and you. I'm happy I no longer leave the sink soaked from head to toe. We have a number of rugs now after much argument with Trevor about how I think it's pointless to have beautiful wood floors if you insist on covering every single last square inch with rugs. He's of the mind that we need them to pro...

We got the house. Finally. The problem with that is that I've been so busy packing, cleaning, painting, unpacking, reorganizing and buying stuff that I've become terribly unsociable and grumpy and tired and generally unlikeable. But after working 8 hour+ days at work, running to our multi, changing, throwing together some boxes, running them all down 3 floors, packing up my car, driving to the new house, unloading those boxes from my car and then painting, cleaning and generally tiring myself out until about 10pm when we go back to the multi, shower, sleep on an air mattress because all of our other furniture is at the new house and repeat. I know, I know, I signed myself up to this. But it's really exhausting and to describe it would be pointless because it's just a haze. My mom's been worried about my constant g0, go, go and thinks I'm making myself sick. She doesn't even know I've been skipping lunch, consuming nothing but coffee all day long and th...

Work has totally eaten up all my time. I even went into work on Saturday for a few hours to kick out some work that I knew I'd never get to complete otherwise. I feel awful because I want to have a good work/life ratio where I actually, like...live. Like, a LIFE. So with that said I don't want to stress any more about it than I already do when I wake up at 5am stressed out about how I should load XYZ file as soon as I get in the office Monday. I roll my eyes just listening to myself. It's so uninteresting but I'm drained and I'm a horrible updater as a result. I'm also a horribly inconsistent chef and my husband has on, more than one occasion, been left eating olives and crackers because there is nothing pre-made for him. I'd feel bad, but if he wanted to he could always fry up some eggs and toast but he is not that person. He's more of a "if there is nothing I can reheat in the microwave there is nothing to eat" fellow. I think he'd ...

News? Ugh, nothing good, so I'll just say things have been happening but most of them not-so-much things I want to talk about because I totally believe in jinxing things. For example? My husband went to NYC for a business day-trip. He got there just fine. Hopped on the Amtrak and was at the conference hall just fine. He insisted on taking my phone because mine is a normal cell phone. I told him he should then give me his for the days "just in case" and he brushed me off. I know when he's listening to me and taking me seriously and I know when he totally doesn't think what I'm saying has merit; this was one of those times. He didn't think it was a big deal and I'd be fine without a phone for one day. And I am the first to admit that I am not a phone person, and often forget the darned thing or keep it on vibrate. Well, inevitably things go wrong. He misses the last train from NYC to our town. He'd have to take a train to New Haven. I'd hav...

Happy New Year! Let's start off with the fluffy stuff. Did I make a resolution? Not so much. But I hope to focus our lives in the new house and be much more organized. I can't stand the piles we have floating around now. There's so little space everything is on top of everything and it's a bit discombobulating. Hand-in-hand with that is to throw away/give away everything we don't actually use. I think we're always have way too much of what we don't use and too little functional furniture or storage. I could use a few dozen less bottles of body fragrance type sprays and a few more shelves. I spent my NYE with my friend Lex and my husband. It's amazing how increasingly calm each NYE gets. If the world doesn't end in 2012 I entirely anticipate sleeping right through it. I used to be out there in a not at all weather appropriate outfit trying not to be killed by drunk drivers and now I can hardly be bothered with leaving my living room. In much l...