Ode to Anne and a sick surprise at the end.

There are some benefits to sharing a car with my husband. I never have to worry about getting a parking spot. I get to work early. I get door-to-door service. I'm forced to go home at a reasonable time. And, sometimes it saves me from looking silly. Like today, I got dropped off at 7:15 a.m., well before anyone is awake enough to realize that I was walking into Agriculture Hall with a grocery bag FULL of food and a full gallon of fat free milk.

A half gallon was $1.79. A full gallon? $1.88 So now I can have ice cold milk at any point during the day.

I had a lovely weekend. My co-worker Laura was kind enough to give me a ride home on Friday so I wouldn't have to leave work early to drop Dave off at the bar to work. She was even kinder when I realized my house keys were in my coat pocket, in my house. Oops. So we enjoyed delightful conversation as we drove from East Lansing to North Lansing to the middle of Lansing. Laura got to see my house, which was a nice perk for her as she is my first coworker to come over for a visit. Runa did not emerge from under the dining room table, but she squinted appropriately.

Saturday Dave and I had went out for breakfast and ran some errands instead of cleaning like our usual morning routine. The NFL Draft was on Saturday, so Dave didn't mind getting dropped off at his favorite local watering hole to watch several simultaneous televisions while I drove to Grand Rapids to see my friend, Anne. We had a delicious lunch at Ruby Tuesday and even more delightful conversation. You see, Anne is my PR friend and although she is only a year or two older than me, she is also one of my mentors. Anne is the type of person who just "does" things. And does them well. And isn't conceited about it. And is willing to share her knowledge and perspective. She is at a place in her career, just five years out of college, that some people will never reach in a lifetime. Plus, she's a hoot and a whole lot of fun to spend time with.

I'm not thrilled with my job lately, and talking to Anne really put things into perspective. She was kind enough to take a picture of us. I'm not fond of my squinty self, but I'll post it anyway.

Anne, along with being a high-level PR pro, also writes for a magazine. This month, she just happened to write about maternity clothes. Guess who got props at the end of the article? Yep, yours truly. Here's the link.

Saturday evening Dave and I ventured to the lawn and garden section of home improvement stores. Whoa, it's overwhelming. There are DOZENS of kinds of grass seed, not to be confused with fertilizers, not to be confused with all-in-ones. We finally found a bag that had pretty pictures and a brand name we recognized. Along with a hose, a sprinkler, a few lovely snapdragon plants, some plant food and a few random garden implements we headed home with our outdoor booty.

Sunday morning I cried. Hard. For a long time. Most Sundays I don't want to go to work, but this week it turned me into a hysterical blubbering mess. I wanted to play in the dirt and plant grass seed and just "be" at my house. Folks, it's tough having a one-day weekend. I try not to complain about it too much, but frankly, it sucks. So I called in. And it was a lovely day. I did play in the dirt, but I spent most of the day in the nursery. I got our entire file cabinet cleaned out, organized and ready for its big trip to the spare room downstairs. I planted my snapdragons. I attempted to take Runa kitty outside in her kitty harness to enjoy the birds and sunshine up close. (that was not successful) I squirted Dave with the new hose. It was delightful. I don't want to quit working at the baby store, but having a glimpse of a "normal" person's two-day weekend is enough to make it seem more attractive.

As if this post isn't long enough, today also marks 17 weeks for Baby Cute. I feel good. I've been more thirsty than hungry lately. Cranberry juice, lemonade, milk (of course) and at least two of my one quart bottles of water at work during the day. I'm a mean, lean, peeing machine.

Thanks to my Mom and our old landlords, I was also able to make my big JCPenney preggo clothing purchase yesterday. You see, I wore my preggo jean skirt this Saturday and my preggo khaki shorts this weekend. Oh good, sweet Lord. They are so comfortable! I'm not "showing" yet by any means, but buttoning pants around my expanding uterus is just not as comfortable as the all-around elastic preggo waistband. So I indulged myself, used a penney's gift card I was hording from Christmas time when I returned a MSU sweatshirt and some towels from our landlords and a very convenient online coupon code that saved me 30% on my purchase. Wahoo! Here are a few of my fave items.

And here are my 17 week updates. If you made it this far into my rambling, I applaud you.

BabyCenter: Your baby weighs about 5 ounces now, and he's around 5 inches long — about the size of a large onion. He can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. His sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker.

BabyGaga: Guess what? Your amazing baby is getting EVEN bigger, more beautiful, and smarter every day! As you’ve come to expect, there’s no shortage of growth and development this week: your fantastic little bean stalk has added yet another half inch to its overall height (which makes them about 6 inches long). Their little limbs have reached (or are within one week of) their relative proportions, and will continue to grow evenly with the rest of the body after this week. Reactive listening has begun for your baby, even though their ears are not yet structurally complete or fully functional. Meanwhile, different parts of their astonishingly complex brain are developing to process your little one’s hearing and other five senses, (you know, sight, smell, taste and touch). Mind boggling factoid of the week: if you’re having going to have a little girl, her ovaries have already produced millions of primordial egg cells, which, within a few weeks, will develop into actual eggs! Phew… just wait till she’s a teenager eh?

You still there? Then you deserve a special surprise. Good GOD!