I'm Having a Baby!

Oh my God, I'm having a baby! Not that that wasn't obvious or anything. It's just started to hit me a bit more the past few weeks. As my belly keeps growing and Dominic keeps getting stronger, it's becoming much more apparent that I'm carrying a tiny human around. I actually had a hard time painting my toenails this morning. When the hell did that happen!? My belly isn't that big in comparison to other women as far along as I am, but with a 2 pound child lodged in my mid-section, bending down still proves to be challenge. It's a good thing I'm flexible and can lift my legs up to shave them, otherwise I'd be in bad shape. Now accepting applications for personal assistants to paint my toenails and buckle my sandals. Any takers?

I actually ended up having a good time on Friday when I volunteered for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer prevention booth at the fair. The other volunteers were around my age and seemed to have quite a bit in common with me. Perhaps I was wrong - maybe there are some decent people around here. There is hope for my social life yet! It was also nice to hear some of the inspiring stories from people who have beat cancer, and to hear some of the reasons behind why other people volunteer. It makes me happy to know there are good people left in the world, no matter how few and far between they might be. "A fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them."

In other good news, my mastiff Trixie went to her new home today! I miss her so much, but I'm just glad she went to a good home where I will still be able to visit her. Thanks again to my good friend, Eric Ray, for getting me in touch with his sister who happened to be looking for a big dog. Trixie's new owners sent me over a couple pictures earlier today and she's still so damn cute! I hope she likes her new home and that everyone loves her as much as I do.

<3 Talese Turner <3 10/28/76 - 09/04/10
"There Is Always Hope"

Rainy Day Fun

How 'bout that Hurricane Irene, eh? As devastating as it was in some areas, upstate NY made it out relatively unscathed in comparison to all the hype that was made about the storm. I'm just glad everyone here is perfectly safe and we didn't lose power. A bit of rain and wind was the extent of the "severe weather" around here. But I figured that would be the case...

The rain made me want to be lazy, so I was less than productive today. Well, less than productive this entire weekend actually. Went to the NY state fair yesterday with my dad and brothers and spent about 8 hours walking around. Needless  to say, Dominic and I got our exercise! We also got some great food. Lets just say Dominic completely approves of the ribs from the Dinosaur BBQ ;) I had planned on staying to see the free Trace Adkins concert, but by the time 8 PM rolled around I was exhausted and annoyed with the insane masses of people. At that point my bed sounded much more appealing than a free concert. All in all, it was a great day but I almost had a small outburst towards one of the fair vendors. I was waiting with my 5 year old brother while my dad was in line buying fudge. There happened to be a vendor set up selling back massagers across the way from where my dad was standing, and there were 8 available chairs. I took a seat since no one was using them, and about 60 seconds later the sales lady approaches me and asks "are you going to try out the product?" I say "No, I'm just waiting for someone to get out of line." Very rudely she tells me "well I've got a product to sell and if you're not going to buy one then you need to leave and stop taking up the seat." Woah bitch, pump the brakes! First of all, I wouldn't have sat down if there was a crowd of people waiting to try your product. There were 8, count them 8, FREE chairs that no one was using. Second of all, as I stated I was only taking a brief rest for about 2-3 minutes while I was waiting for someone. Lastly, and most importantly in my opinion, kicking a 7 month pregnant woman out of a chair when you have 7 more available chairs is probably NOT the best way to sell a product. But what do I know about sales? I mean, I only own two sales based businesses so clearly I know nothing..."It is higher and nobler to be kind. "

Dominic The World Traveler...

Well, I made it nearly to the 7 month mark without having to buy maternity clothes. But I'm now down to only 8 or 9 articles of clothing I can wear comfortably in my new pregnancy body. I suppose it may be time to stop procrastinating and actually get on that maternity shopping I've been talking about for so long. I'll add it to my "to do list". Yeah, that same list that seems to be getting longer everyday. It seems like every time I check something off the "to do list", I think of 2 or 3 more things that need to be added! Still need to finish reupholstering the chair for Dominic's room, get my baby shower invitations printed and sent out, plan 1 or 2 fundraisers before the Out of the Darkness Walk in October, get started on my prenatal yoga classes, schedule a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital, and finish writing Dominic's baby books about Steve and Talese. And that's on top of working a minimum of 8 hours a day on my businesses and taking enough time out to relax and sleep somewhere in between! I think I need more time in the day. Or a personal assistant. Ooooh, a personal assistant would be SO nice...

Once Dominic is about 6 months old and I'm able to hire people to manage the day to day functions of my businesses for me,  I'd like to start traveling again. With Dominic of course. Now of course I know I'll get the naysayers bitching and moaning "he's too young to travel" or "what a waste of money" or "he won't even remember traveling at that age."
My response to that would be "bullshit", "it's my money to waste" and "so what." Life does not stop because I'm having a child. Life CHANGES because I'm having a child and I'm perfectly ready for that to happen. But why not take the first few years after Dominic's born before he starts school and take him places that I've always wanted to go? I'm sure as hell not going to be one of those parents who leaves him for long stretches of time with a babysitter and I see absolutely no reason why he can't come with me. Odds are he won't remember most of our adventures at that age, but it will make for some great stories to tell his friends when he's older. And I'll obviously take him back to many of these places again once he's old enough to appreciate it. Now that's not to say I'm going to backpack through Europe or something crazy like that with a newborn. Dominic will obviously have stability in his life. I'm talking about 1-2 week trips a few times a year to different places. One of the first places I want to take him next year is Ireland. Talese's family is from Belfast and I was hoping to go with them this September as they spread her ashes along Whitepark Bay in northern Ireland. But obviously with me going into my 3rd trimester this September, I had to rearrange my plans. My new goal is to make a trip over there sometime at the end of summer/early fall 2012 to check out the amazing culture and scenery, and of course pay my respects to my beautiful best friend. I'm very much looking forward to my world travels with my new little man. And quite frankly, I don't give a damn what anyone thinks about it! "The question isn't who is going to let me, the question is who is going to stop me!"