New York, New York

As the husband and I quickly approach our 2 year anniversary, it reminded me of our 1 year anniversary. And, as I've mentioned before, the husband and I went to New York to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Neither of us had ever been and I was dying to just go and walk around everywhere. (Living in southern Cali doesn't promote positive pedestrian atmospheres.) We had many activities planned like going to see Chicago on Broadway and seeing Ground Zero.

Before heading out I started getting pretty nervous. I of course blamed this on the husband. All the other trips I have ever been on I have been excited to go and then the husband starts asking questions.  Did you remember to pack this?  Did you book the tickets for Chicago?  When does our flight take off?  Seriously, it's like he can't do any of this himself and I am left stressing over the details.

I have many reservations about traveling.  Sure I love the idea of traveling.  the thought of going somewhere foreign and exotic always sounds so appealing.  But then comes the planning and the worrying. First of all, the husband and I don't really travel by air too often. We make sure to go with the family to Arizona a few times in the summer, but using a plane to get us to the next destination is a little nerve-racking. The airport in general is a scary and unknown place for me. I always worry about getting there far enough in advance, but also worrying about not getting there too early. (Who wants to sit in the airport for longer than necessary?) Once you get there you have to find where to actually go. Are we supposed to check in at a kiosk? At a self-checkin station? Wait in line for the airport-checker-inner? And what are we supposed to do with our bags? Where do those puppies go? Then there's security where you have to almost completely undress and then re-dress. I'm not a big fan and the mere thought of going there gets my stomach all gurgly and topsy-turvy.

To make matters worse, the most recent air travel experience before New York was a disaster. We went to San Francisco shortly after we got engaged and decided to fly. (It's faster and less of a hassle because have you seen San Francisco? All those one-ways and no places to park?!) Also, the husband hates road trips, so flying seemed like a decent alternative. I have learned many important lessons from flying to San Fran.

#1 Most important thing to check on? What your luggage tags say. Because when they say Fort Lauderdal, Florida and you are going to San Francisco, California you have a problem. A big problem. Because, as it turns out, they send your bags to wherever those tags say. So our bag? Yep, ended up in Florida.

#2 When the airline tell you that you get up to $100 a day to replace your belongings and don't worry they will refund you as long as you have receipts, that doesn't include certain items. We had food and toiletries and face wash and my hair dryer in our bag. So when we went to the store, we bought things that we felt we needed, like breakfast foods so we didn't have to go out to eat every single meal. Guess what the airline said. No food items. But when did they tell us this? When we faxed in our receipts to get reimbursed. But not right away, mind you, weeks later.

#3 American Airlines does not list their phone numbers on their website. So how in the heck do they expect us to get a hold of them? Fax. or E-mail. And when they don't respond there's nothing we can do to get a phone number to talk to a real life human being.

#4 In short, I will never fly American Airlines again. I got back barely half of what I spent and a voucher for $100 to use on a subsequent plane ticket that expired in a year. Guess what we didn't do in that year? Travel.

So I was worried about New York posing some sort of awful experience as well. But as it turns out, I love this city and try on a regualr basis to convince the husband that we need to move there. He is not having it.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Sweet Innocence

I know it's been quite a while since my last post, and for that I have a few reasons.  Of which, work has kept me extremely busy this year, including trying constantly to find a full time teaching position as well as trying to expand my credential which means taking a really annoying and time consuming English course.  Probably the most time consuming and exhausting reason is that I am pregnant.  Yes, me, the lady that devoted an entire post to how I do not want a baby is pregnant.  And I want the baby.  And it wasn't an accident.  And we are having a boy due May 7 (which means I am 7 months pregnant and counting down).  It's a really exciting time, filled with 5+ months of morning sickness, lots of weight gain and jabs in the middle of the night resonating from within my belly. 

Turns out, there is a lot that comes with being pregnant.  Take for instance the amount of doctors visits a woman must attend, and the number of times she must go get blood drawn for one test or another.  I have been to the lab to get no more than 6 blood samples and various other testing, like glucose and thyroid testing.  Not to be outdone by the amount of pricks my arm has endured, since I found out I was pregnant, I have had to go to the doctors every 4 weeks.  And recently my doctor informed me that since I am now 7 months they want to monitor my progression more closely and I must come in every 2 weeks.  That is a lot of time spent in the doctor's office, not to mention a lot of co-pays.  And I almost forgot the ultrasounds.  Although there were only 3 of these, and I actually wish there were more ordered so I could see my lil guy.

Not only have I spent my time at my obgyn's office, I have spent time looking up baby articles and reading baby magazines and of course reading "What to Expect When You Are Expecting"  My world has flipped upside down  and now revolves around my unborn son and everything I need to do to prepare for his birth.  I have registered, researched pediatricians and talked to every mom I encounter about what to expect during labor.

As my belly has grown and my sickness has subsided, I get many questions from other moms about how baby is progressing and even more questions from my students.  Just the other day, a class of Kindergartners were ery excited that I was growing a baby in my belly and had question after question.  Their cute little faces and curious eyes peered up at me while I confirmed. "Yes, I am growing a baby in my tummy."

Them: "Are you growing a baby boy or girl?"

Me: "I'm going to have a baby boy/"

Them: "What is his name?"

Me: "We are going to name him Liam."

Then, one knowledgeable little girl announces "Yea, and her baby is gonna come out her vagina!"

I blankly stare at the kids as a little boy quickly asks: "What's a china?"

All I wanted to do was laugh, but instead I replied "All right, we are going to read this story about the tooth fairy!"

The one thing I have learned working with such young children is they will tell you how it is and they aren't shy about it.  Oh, the joys of children.  I can't wait to hear what my son will say to his teachers.