Christmas in July

Last night, Daddy declared it Christmas in July night at our house. And if you've read our blog ever, you can probably imagine what that entailed. Yep.......The Polar Express. Joshua was in a mood yesterday from the moment we got home. I don't know what got into him, but nothing we did or didn't do suited him. Jason and I had the nerve to try to have a conversation about a few little piddly things- like finances and naming our daughter- and he was having none of it. He wanted to go outside, but the torrential downpours weren't making that a viable option. Things were going downhill fast before Daddy declared that it could be Christmas in July and popped the magical movie into the DVD player. Wisdom beyond anything I can even begin to tell you, my friends.

Joshua immediately went into mesmerized mode. He moved to the couch with Jason and sat perfectly still while eating a snack and soaking up every single moment of the movie. Soon, it was my turn to cuddle up with him and watch, and we enjoyed that a lot. Especially considering the fact that Jason and I got to resume our conversation.

Meltdowns ensued again when it was time for tub and bed, but I believe Joshua's exhaustion played a role there. He had a round of bad dreams last night which moved mommy to his room for a little while to help him calm down and go back to sleep, and he was still dreaming peacefully when I left for the office at 8 this morning.

Hopefully today is better because I really am not ready to start making The Polar Express a daily ritual quite yet. Although I did see one holiday commercial on TV yesterday morning. I chalked that up to some programming specialist at the tv station pushing the wrong button and putting the "I'll be Home for Christmas" Crest Whitestrips ad in the rotation, but maybe not. Maybe they were having Christmas in July too.

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In other news, I thought I should share with you a few of the comments I've gotten lately from relative strangers regarding my pregnancy. I want to record these for the sake of posterity. And quite frankly, I think it's funny.

Exhibit A: While sitting behind my desk yesterday on 2 different occasions by clients I haven't seen in a while. "Woah.....expecting another one already, huh?" and "Wow...you're pregnant!" I struggled really hard not to break out my "Well, duh!" response that was appropriate only in 7th grade. Perhaps "Here's your sign" might have sufficed.

Exhibit B: There's a store I've been inside one time to splurge on a Vera Bradley bag for myself and to pick up some gifts. My staff got me a gift certificate for there for my birthday and apparently the owner of the store was quite concerned about whether or not I'd had the baby yet and asked Julie to please keep her posted. Hello.....I wouldn't know her if I tripped over her. But I guess it's nice to have concerned folks around town.

Exhibit C: I went to Subway to get a sandwich for lunch yesterday. It's no secret that it's a place I frequent, and moreso this pregnancy than ever before in my life. I have a new found love for the Italian BMT...what can I say? In recent weeks, the ladies there have gotten pretty friendly with me and have started to ask questions. I guess they figure I might be the next Jared, although my waistline continues to expand which I don't think is the marketing message they're after. Well yesterday the lady who was helping me said, "It's a wonder that baby doesn't talk back to you with all the pepperoni you eat." Nice.

Exhibit D: (This is the one that led me to write all of these down. There just has to be a straw that breaks the camel's back, you know?) I was running a bit behind schedule this morning and didn't get to eat enough breakfast at home. So I stopped by Dunkin Donuts to pick up a bagel. Now, it's no secret that I go there quite a bit but so does every other single person who lives or works in Lewisburg. It's a local fact here that if you want to see anyone in town you go to Dunkin Donuts and there's a real good likelihood of running into them. On top of my daughter's love of BMT subs from Subway, she is also quite fond of bagels with reduced fat blueberry cream cheese on the side. I can't help it, I'm just part of the miracle in the making by the Big Guy and it's my job to help her grow big and strong until she's ready to come home with us. If she wants bagels, I'm not going to deny her. So, I'm pulling up to the drive through to get my (I mean her) bagel. The drive-thru ladies are not known as the most friendly of all folks. I try to make it my mission to get a smile out of them and feel quite proud when I do. They're busy- people want their coffee, and it probably gets pretty monotonous to hold hot cups out of a window while collecting $1.49 day in and day out. But today, the person who is waiting on me is someone I've seen a million times but never spoke a word to other than "bagel toasted with reduced fat blueberry cream cheese on the side" and "thank you so much, I hope you have a great day". And she says, "We haven't seen you in a while. We've all been wondering if you had your baby yet. Do you know yet what you're having? We've all been curious." OK...."we've all"? And really? I'm a topic of conversation inside Dunkin Donuts? Seriously.

They lead to me conclude one of the following:

1. I am huge and need to go into hiding somewhere because clearly my state is impacting how things move in the local economy.

2. This whole concept of "living in a fishbowl" as a State Farm Agent might really hold some weight. I mean, I know I have billboards around town and people see my face places, but this really kind of freaked me out. It's right up there with the time I was walking through Wal-Mart and three different people spoke to me by name who I am certain I've never before seen in my lifetime. I guess that's why I pay so much money for advertising. I need to work on converting such comments into new insurance applications, though, and not just pregnancy related comments that make me self-conscious.

3. I need some variety in my life. Ever since the Subway comment and now Dunkin Donuts, I've had a bit of a complex about the analysis that's going on about my dietary choices.

4. All of the above. I think it's that one.

Enjoy a good laugh at my expense.