Little Pistachio has now grown to about three inches long with that giant head being about half of it. The intestines have grown in from the umbilical cord and are working their way to where they’re supposed to be and the kid’s starting to develop vocal cords. Hopefully it will have its mama’s singing voice.
Amanda and I started today off like most every other Sunday by heading to Port City Community Church for the 8:30 service. I wonder if we’ll still be able to go that early after the baby comes.
We saw with Amy Warkentien and her family today. Nick Warkentien, being a staff member of the church now, works each Sunday. Amy’s family was heading back home after the service.
We went home after church (with a quick stop at Lowe’s Food) and didn’t do much of anything for a while. Eventually Amanda decided to go get some things to make some blueberry muffins and I was going to put away the clean dishes when I got a call from Barry Frazelle informing me that the waves were decent, so I had to drop the household chore and head out for some surf.
I let Michael Mercer and Lars Boscaljon know that they should both head out surfing and Lars met me out there but Michael had a friend, Sarah someone, coming over. At least his excuse wasn’t football this time. I think he really would have come out if he hadn’t already had plans though because I’m pretty sure he’d like to try out his wetsuit.
Speaking of which, today was my first time surfing in a wetsuit. It was cold enough that I wore my booties too, and Barry had some gloves for me. It felt really cool first walking into the water with it on. You really couldn’t feel anything at first, but then the water slowly seeped in. Thing is, your body warms the water, so it’s really not that bad. I wasn’t at all cold. The only complaints I could register were when I’d get hit in the face by a wave or I’d have to duck under one. If I had to go under two in a row I felt like I’d gotten ice cream induced brain freeze for a bit, which wasn’t fun. Overall though, having a wetsuit rocked.
Oh, and it rode up my crotch a little, but not nearly as bad as the spring suit.
I got caught in a set heading out whereas Lars found a sandbar and walked most of the way out past the breakers (being 6′7″ didn’t hurt with that), but I eventually got out. The tide pulled me and Lars down the beach pretty fast so that we had to head in to avoid getting too close to the pier. I caught a decent wave heading in after a few failed attempts prior to that. I tell you one thing, between the cold water wax and the booties it was hard to move my foot once I planted it on the board.
Lars and I headed down the shore and got back in. I had a much easier time getting out that time. We talked for a while then I eventually caught a pretty decent wave and decided I was done for a bit. I hadn’t surfed in probably a month or more and I didn’t feel like fighting to get back out. Lars was out shortly after and we discovered that Barry had gone in a while ago.
Lars and Kaitlyn aren’t getting their house, by the way. His job’s in jeopardy too, so pray for them.
After Lars took off I went back out on the beach with the entire Frazelle family and took some pictures of them. I headed home after that and sat around for a bit while Amanda finished fixing the dinner. The blueberry muffins didn’t turn out to somehow have very little taste, so we tossed them, which is a shame.
Nick and Amy came over around 6:30 and we ate baked mac and cheese, green beans and ham then watched Get Smart. I’d woken up and got out of bed a little earlier than usual and went surfing during part of the time I’d planned on napping, plus I was pretty sore from paddling around with an extra ten or so pounds on me, so I dozed off during a few parts of the movie.
Zach Dotsey
Amanda and I took our sweet time getting moving this morning, but eventually we showered and such and went out to get a few Christmas gifts from Mayfaire. We also picked up a photo ornament. Amanda and I have gotten one every year since we’ve been married. We get a picture taken and put it into the ornament. We usually get it with the year engraved on it from Things Remembered, but they only had one ornament available this year, and it was the same as last year’s. We got this year’s ornament from Pier One.
Today felt like a Sunday. It was rainy and dreary outside and when we got back from shopping I napped on the couch a little with Bruce. When I woke up Amanda and I put our fake tree together. It wasn’t as much of a pain as I thought it might be, but I’m not looking forward to taking that sucker apart. We had to rearrange a few things to find a decent spot to put it, but I have to admit it’s a nice looking tree. Now we just need to get some pine scent for it.
Shortly after we got the tree together the Carolina-Duke football game came on. Both teams seemed to score at will at first but Duke couldn’t keep up, eventually falling 28-20. Michael Mercer came by with some Little Caesar’s pizza for dinner and helped us set up some of the decorations and watch the game.
A little while after Michael left we went over to Nick and Amy Warkentien’s house. Her parents, brother Andrew and sister Alysse were visiting. We took the leftover chocolate walnut pie over there and, just as it was with my family, it was very well received. We chatted with all of them then watched Fred Claus, which was an alright movie.
I was flipping around just now and saw that Kentucky is playing West Virginia in Las Vegas right now in the championship of an invitational tournament. When I turned it on seven minutes into the second half UK was down ten but with just a little over five minutes left it’s tied up with the Wildcats seeming to have the momentum.
Edit to add: The Wildcats won by nine. I don’t know how they got down ten before, but they played like they were on a mission in the last half of the game.
Zach Dotsey
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Got up early and saw the Sawyers off. Mom made pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. Left the house around 10:00 and went to Amanda’s grandparents’ house for lunch. Was stuffed.
Left there around 2:45 for Amanda’s parents’ house. Watched Duke beat Duquesne with Michael, though game started late because another game was finishing. Duke rolled, 94-75. The last eight minutes was not so good, but all the freshmen were in getting game experience.
Hung out, ate friend bologna sandwich. Were going to have steak but Karen didn’t actually have any, thought she did. Helped Phil with laptop hard drive. New sun room looks great.
Drove home, watched Law & Order SVU and House with Amanda. She went to bed and I cleaned up all the Boston Legal episodes I had on the DVR.
Bruce is limping a bit still. Hasn’t been doing it constantly since yesterday, but still slightly worrying. Were told we’d have to watch his knees, but he’s not even six years old yet.
Zach Dotsey
Got up, had bagels. Amanda added egg and cheese.
My cousin, David Cherryholmes, and his wife, Oxana came by, then his mom, my aunt, Reggie Horner. Aunt Reggie has lost 80 pounds and looks great! Ended up with fifteen people and nine or so dogs at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving.
We had Thanksgiving lunch at noon. Turkey, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole and more. Everyone brought and/or made food. We also had four different kinds of pies.
Finally took Harvey’s sock off. Red but healed.
Went outside after eating just to do something active. Ended up holding Jackson on Cassie, one of my mom’s horses, while my mom lead. After a bit I got on Cassie with Jackson and when we went down to the silos. I rode myself a bit, which was the first time in probably over a decade.
Bruce was limping after getting his leg caught in a blanket jumping off a chair.
Jackson got mad at me. Can’t remember why. I think he was cranky from being up so late last night.
Andra won’t be able to come to Wilmington or even Rougemont for Christmas because of Josh’s work schedule, so I’m not completely sure what we’re doing for Christmas
Watched a bunch of football, dozed off.
Zach Dotsey
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Got up around 7:00. We ate and I decided to clip dogs’ nails while Amanda was in the shower. I tried not to cut too much, but I clipped the third nail on Harvey’s back right foot pretty bad and he bled a lot, which set us back half an hour. Finally tried to fix it up with a paper towel filled with flower with a plastic bag to keep it all in and a sock to protect it all. It lasted until Amanda and I went grocery shopping at the Kroger in Durham. When we got back in the car Harvey had pulled it all off and bled a little in the car. I held napkin a on his foot for the rest of the trip. When we got to my parents’ house we redid it but used an actual adhesive bandage and tape on the sock to hold it on better.
We also got to meet Addison Jaclyn Sawyer for the first time. My niece is tiny and beautiful, and she didn’t cry much at all, nor did she mind being passed around to people.
My uncle, Roy Horner, was there too. He’s been living in Durham for a while, having gotten a job at RDU Airport. It’s got to be tough for him being away from his family for Thanksgiving. he also said he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get home for Christmas.
Her brother, Jackson Sawyer, was very excited to see me. He always is. It’s so fun to see him notice me, the way his face lights up. He’ll look at me, grin real big then run over and hug me. He’ll be four at the end of December, and I wonder for how many years he’ll react that way.
His dad, Josh Sayer, had rented Mortal Kombat vs. DC, a fighting game that pitted several Mortal Kombat characters against DC Comic heroes. I really didn’t think it was fair for Superman, Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel to be on it. No way the three of them could be beaten by anyone else on there, particularly Superman, and you could probably add Green Lantern to the list. Anyway, Jackson and I played that for a bit. He didn’t mind losing some (though I made sure never to lose with Superman- it just wasn’t right), but he did start to fuss about it after a while, even when he did win some. We played a little bit of Marvel Ultimate Alliance too. I was impressed at how well Jackson navigated around in the game, it being somewhat complicated.
We ate spaghetti for dinner. Jackson spent most of the time doing everything I was doing, from getting the same food to going to the bathroom. I wonder if my own kid will pattern after me like that.
Dad and Josh built a fire outside and we roasted s’mores. My brother, Adam Dotsey, and his girlfriend Renee Sikes showed up sometime during that. Renee decided to spend some time cooing over Addison before joining us, but for a while it was just the guys sitting out there enjoying some man time. Jackson came out with us too and entertained us. He sat in the dark behind my dad sneaking marshmallows and danced on the other side of the fire from us, sticking his butt out and smacking it. He also almost fell into the fire climbing off my lap, but I grabbed him and pulled him back. Yes, I’m a hero.
My sister, Erin Dotsey, rounded out the cast as some point during the night, I think around 10:00. She and Josh went on a beer run and Adam and I tended the fire until they got back, but we were tired and cold by that point and headed on in.
Zach Dotsey
We had small group at Flaming Amy’s tonight. It was a nice time to get everyone together before Thanksgiving and just hang out. The ladies all sat at one end of the table and talked about whatever they were talking about and us guys sat at the other end and talked about sports and music.
There wasn’t a whole lot going on today. My baby sister, Andra Sawyer, called and told me that her husband, Josh Sawyer, was unable to get Friday off so they were heading to our parents’ house in Rougemont this evening instead of tomorrow. If we’d been told earlier Amanda and I could have gone ahead and packed up and maybe left after small group tonight, but as it was we’d have had to go to small group then come home and pack then leave and get to Rougemont around midnight or so. Amanda would be exhausted and I wouldn’t get to see Addison or play with Jackson anyway, so we’re just going to get up in the morning, pack and go. We were originally going to have lunch with Amanda’s grandparents, but we moved that to Friday for the trip back to Wilmington.
We finally started to watch Sweeny Todd tonight, but Amanda was tired and didn’t finish it. I didn’t make it far in at all before falling asleep myself. One thing about falling asleep, Amanda remembered that I needed to take the trash out, so what we do when I don’t feel like doing that (like if I’m dozing on the couch for example) is that we’ll leave the front door cracked to remind me to do it. Well, I woke up from dozing and glanced over at the front door, which was now wide open. The first thing that popped in my mind was that the house was dark and the door was open, so anybody could just come on it. Then the thought crossed my mind that somebody had come in, and that’s why the door was open. That gave me a shot of adrenaline and woke me up pretty fast, but then I realized that Cobblet was at the door, and when it’s cracked our cat will often open it up more so he can look out the storm door. Still, the door being wide open when it was barely cracked before gave me a pretty good fright for a split second or two.
Amanda told me that while she was at work she was going to look at this website to see what I’d posted about her Pregnancy Crazies. There was a server error this morning though, so she couldn’t see it. I actually hadn’t posted it yet anyway though. When I’m behind on my entries I make notes then go back and flesh them out. I don’t think she’ll mind the Pregnancy Crazies picture I made unless she’s having a Pregnancy Crazies attack.
Zach Dotsey
