Jiblette!

I thought it was time for an updatey blog post, seeing as how we had an ultrasound today and found out that we're having a girl! This is what she looks like:

Seriously, I love the nose! The ultrasound technician actually showed us a closeup of her nose and mouth, and she has an upper lip! A big thank you to the Jibson genes for that one, because we Mangum women aren't so blessed.

Anyway, the whole ultrasound experience was amazing. We'd had one ultrasound at 10 weeks, but Jiblette looked like a bean and was 50% head, so being able to see her fully formed (at 18 weeks) was awesome. We got to see her cute profile (as seen above), see her heart actually beating, and watch her flail her arms around and stretch out her legs. She's apparently pretty active, which I have yet to feel a lot of but definitely expect to soon.

When it came time for the gender revelation, Jiblette was not the most cooperative. She had her butt tucked in and her legs blocking the way (which, it was pointed out, is very ladylike). But she did finally spread 'em to give us a better look, and the technician said she was pretty convinced that Jiblette was a girl from everything she'd seen (and not seen). I'd have loved a super-sure answer like, "Oh, I'm positive it's a girl," but Daniel's convinced they never say that to anyone. So I'm going with it; Jiblette is a girl.

Some highlights:

• Seeing so much movement and even feeling it as I watched
• Finding out that everything appears to be healthy and in good working order (in typical fashion, I've been worried)
• Seeing her hands and feet (which are too cute on babies)
• Watching her step on my bladder (at least that's what the technician said she was doing)
• Laughing about something, seeing how my laughter jiggled Jiblette, and then having a really hard time not laughing
• Being able to call Jiblette "her" and "she" rather than "it"
• Finally being able to plan!

As part of our gender reveal, we decided to buy one boy outfit and one girl outfit. This is the girl outfit we chose:

It was pointed out that the dress is blue, which is typically the boy color, but that's just because I'm not super into pink. Plus I think the dress is totally adorable. Check out that sweater! And besides, there are pink bows throughout. It's totally fine.

Long story short, Jiblette is amazing. I tried to declare today National Jiblette Day, but Daniel said I should wait until her actual birthday. I guess that makes sense.

In other news, I'm walking/feeling better today than I have been since this whole hip/back fiasco started. Here's hoping I continue to improve! As long as I don't sneeze while lying down, I might just be okay. (Seriously, I did that last night, and it was agony for the next few hours. What the heck?) 

And now, a bump picture for those who wanted one:

And that is all. Yay Jiblette!

Pirates of the Charles River

So there are a number of things I'm not spectacular at. Obviously, one is blogging. This post is an attempt to make up for that.

Another thing I've decided I'm not that good at is planning big themed dates. Cue story.

After an inspirational chat with my good friend Pam, I decided to surprise Daniel with an elaborate, all-day Saturday date. I started by making a list of the types of things Daniel likes. It went something like this:

• Hockey
• Science
• Food
• Acting/pretending 
• Pirates

After much research, I decided to combine the last three items into one super-date. Then, of course, came another list, this time naming stuff pirates do. It went something like this:

• Sailing
• Pillaging
• Feasting
• Finding treasure

I came up with what I felt were appropriate pirate-like activities for each of these four things, and I figured that everything together would fill the majority of the day without being too much (after all, I AM pregnant and lazy). All I needed was a few hours to prep everything, and we'd be set.

So on Thursday night, while Daniel was gone, I rushed around like a madwoman trying to get everything prepared. I printed a map of Waltham and the surrounding areas, and the plan was to write—in pirate speak, mind you—short clues explaining each activity and place them on the appropriate parts of the map.

But first I had to make the map look old (of course), so I tried baking it to make it brown. But it got too crisp in the toaster oven, so I printed another copy and used the regular oven. Same problem. So I, like a stubborn idiot, tried the toaster oven again, with (shockingly) the same results. Finally, after some Googling, I discovered that wetting the paper with diluted soy sauce and THEN baking it would achieve the desired results. Success! But then the edges were too pretty, so I decided to burn them. That was all fine and good, except that it made the apartment fairly smoky, so I had to light a bunch of candles to mask the smell.

Once that whole debacle was over, I made a mad dash to the grocery store to buy food for a piratey picnic—root beer, crusty bread, grapes, Goldfish crackers (hah, get it?), Cap'n Crunch (hah, get it?), and other stuff I can't remember now. I knew Daniel would be back around 8:30, and I was barely going to make it home in time to hide everything before he got home, so I hurried back as fast as I could. Only when I got home, I discovered that my key to the apartment building was GONE. As in no longer on my keychain. The stupid little ring had stretched too far, and it had fallen off, never to be seen again.

Now, I'm not proud of what happened next.

I pathetically tried to force the front door open and then frantically searched the car for the missing key. And finally, after some inappropriate words, I lost it. I flung myself over the driver's seat of the car and cried. That's when Daniel pulled into the parking lot and found me. Crying. Surrounded by mysterious grocery bags. Muttering incoherently about everything being ruined.

So then I had to tell him I was planning something. I managed to avoid telling him the what or when, but I was still not happy about the whole thing. On the plus side, he thought the apartment smelled nice because of the candles. At least I didn't have to explain why it smelled like smoke. :)

On Saturday morning, our date went off as planned. First on the schedule was sailing. We headed to the river and rented a canoe, which we paddled downstream while singing the Pirates of the Caribbean song. We also spoke like pirates to the people we passed, who found us very threatening indeed. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we were dressed as pirates. Here's proof:

Once we reached our destination (a nice park), we dropped anchor and had our pirate picnic. All the kids on the playground totally thought we were awesome, too. That's 'cause we are. I mean, come on...

We leisurely paddled back to the canoe rental place, said goodbye to our ship, and headed off to do our next piratey thing: pillaging. But since we're opposed to actual theft and/or destruction of property, we decided to steal something from our good friends, Kyle and Vanessa, with the intention of returning it the next day at church. But the only thing we could get from their apartment was their doormat, so that's what we took.

Isn't Daniel piratey perfection? Check out that pillaging!

Anyway, after that it was time for feasting. Only it was, like, 2:00. Somehow, my all-day date had become a brief outing. I hadn't planned enough activities. But there was nothing to do about it at that point, so we went to KFC, where the plan was to get drumsticks (They seemed piratey, okay?). Only we ordered white meat, so we didn't even get drumsticks. And what we got was gross. Sadly, a feast it was not. (Sigh)

After that we went home, where Daniel found his "buried treasure" (really just candy shoved in my jewelry box and buried in our blanket bin). Then we crashed on the couch and watched a movie. And it wasn't even about pirates.

The moral of the story: Pirating cannot be planned. So don't even try.

Jo-Jo and Leslie

So you know how we all mishear lyrics sometimes? I have a couple of good ones. Here are two lyric flubs that have inspired never-ending mockery in our marriage:

1. The Beatles, "Back in the USSR"

One of the things Daniel and I first bonded over was music, particularly that of the Beatles. Early on in the relationship, we were driving in the car blasting the White Album. During "Back in the USSR," I thought I'd impress Daniel with how much I knew about the music of the Fab Four. So after the line, "And Moscow girls make me sing and shout / That Georgia's always on my mind," the conversation went as follows:

Me: I love how they add that little throw-back to "Get Back."
Daniel, with a confused look: Huh?
Me: You know, when they talk about Jo-Jo from "Get Back."
Daniel: Wait, what?
Me, singing too enthusiastically: "That Jo-Jo's always on my mind, my my my my my my my mind."
Daniel: Um, they're saying "Georgia." You know, like, the country?
Me: Oh. Crap!

Yes, I totally misheard. Even worse, it didn't occur to me that "Get Back" was written after "Back in the USSR." Beatles fan fail.


2. The Killers, "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf"

Daniel has gotten me into the Killers, among other bands, and when we drove home from "camping" last weekend, we listened to them. During the song "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf," we got into discussing the use of the name Jenny/Jennifer in the band's songs. In "Jenny was a Friend of Mine," the guy kills Jenny. In "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf," the guy is telling Jennifer that he'll always love her, etc. So I joked that "Leave the Bourbon," which we were listening to, had to have been written first since Jenny was still alive. The conversation went as follows:

Daniel: Yeah, and she has a kid.
Me: What makes you say that?
Daniel: He says "I love you and Leslie," so apparently she has a daughter.
Me: No, he says, "I love you endlessly."
Daniel: *embarrassed face*

The worst part for this one was how Daniel tried to justify himself by creating a scenario in which his interpretation of the song made more sense than the actual lyrics. It didn't work.

So there you have it. We're really good listeners.

12 Steps to Camping Like a Jibson

1) Select campsite with public restrooms and amenities.

2) Leave after work on Friday, stopping for dinner at Wendy's on the way.

3) Arrive after dark, set up tent; forego fire due to rain, lack of wood, and general inability.

4) Fall asleep immediately on air mattress inflated from car-powered air pump (ideally. Note that car batteries cannot provide enough electrical current to run an air pump. Sleep on ground grudgingly.).

5) Eat breakfast: bananas, store-bought mini-muffins, hot chocolate heated on small camp stove (the only reason we brought it).

6) Take pictures to prove ruggedness to skeptical friends.

7) 9:00am, break down tent and shove equipment unceremoniously into car trunk.

8) Spend morning walking leisurely on the beach. Scare birds.

9) Using phone app, select a gourmet seafood restaurant for lunch in Provincetown.

10) Return home after less than 24 hours.

11) Owing to lack of fire while camping, cook s'mores over kitchen stove.

12) Watch movies and TV for the duration of the weekend.

This Is How We Are

I thought it would be fun to start our "family" blog with a description of what my and Daniel's relationship is like. I'm sure this is the kind of post that no one will want to read, but I'm going to enjoy writing down some of the things that define our relationship in this stage of our marriage.

I happen to think that my husband is awesome. We've been together for a year now (that is to say that we started dating a year ago, hah), and I can honestly say I am truly happy. This is not to say that things are perfect. I hate it when girls paint an overly idealistic picture of their relationships, and I promise never to do that. But I really am happy, and I feel the need to express it. This is going to be fairly stream-of consciousness, so bear with me.

We love "marriage high-fives." We find them ironic.

We once camped in our family room, spending the entire night in a tent that we squeezed into our family room. Plans for an actual out-of-home camping trip are in the works.

We consume massive amounts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I think even the Italians would be appalled... well, maybe not.

We have a notebook, given to us by a Jibson family friend (thanks, Denise!), in which we randomly write messages to each other.

On a much less cute note, we also have a gay pirate doll named Jaxson (no, we did not name him that ourselves), which we periodically hide in random places in the hopes of scaring the other person. He has made it into the shower, the dresser, the bed, the freezer, the car, etc. Jaxson gets around.

If I get out of bed in the middle of the night for any amount of time, Daniel will inevitably roll into the middle and sprawl. He denies this. He lies.

I have been known to wake Daniel up by elbowing him in the head (sometimes repeatedly) or loudly talking in my sleep. I can't deny this.

We play games a lot. Right now we're on a backgammon kick, because we just learned how to play. Daniel also taught me how to play chess, which I suck at. We constantly have a Scrabble game going; on most nights we play a few rounds before we go to bed.

Before we got married, we agreed that Daniel would do the dishes and I would do the laundry. I got the better end of the deal.

When we drive by a Wendy's, we almost always stop to get Frosties. This happens a lot.

I constantly hurt Daniel with my clumsiness. One time I dropped ridiculously hot, cheesy potatoes on his hand. I was trying to dish up some dinner for him (to be nice!), but I ended up giving him a second-degree burn (not nice).

We are incapable of being on the same sleepiness cycle. When I'm alert and want to stay up late, he can't keep his eyes open. When he has energy and doesn't want to go to bed yet, I'm incapable of staying awake. It's kind of annoying.

When we're not watching one of our many TV shows or playing some sort of game, we can often be found imitating an old couple. Daniel works on his Jackson Pollack puzzle while I sew and/or cross stitch.

We often eat dinner in the family room so we can watch something while we eat. We use foldable TV trays. We're ashamed of this.

Okay, I'm done. I suppose I could go on forever, but no one wants that. Suffice it to say, we've got a good thing going here.