We had a nice holiday at home with our families (a trip that almost didn’t happen because I woke up sick Monday) but I am so glad to be home tonight…and to have a legitimate excuse to avoid traveling for the rest of the holidays.  Though some people acted like I shot their dog when we tried to explain that I was going to be WAY too pregnant to travel home in December, a fact that I thought was pretty obvious by the fact that I’m *having a baby* less than a month after Christmas.  This is NOT new information, people!  But I digress…

Back to the intended topic…chivalry.  Which is really just common courtesy as I see it, but apparently it no longer exists.  On Tuesday I had a regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment to check on the progress of the baby and make sure I was OK to travel for the weekend.  When we got there, there wasn’t a single seat available in the waiting room.  I’d never seen it so packed.  At least one-third were occupied by men who were accompanying their partners.  Kudos to them for making the effort, but is it really too much to expect that at least ONE of them would get off his behind and offer his seat to a woman?  Particularly a PREGNANT woman?  And I wasn’t the only woman left standing.  There is no way I would have let my husband sit next to me while other women were having to stand up.

The same thing happened at a restaurant over the weekend.  The waiting area was full and all of the seats were taken.  Not a single person offered their seat to either me or my mom.  Again, no way would I have allowed my teenager/child/husband to sit while a woman was standing.  It’s mind-boggling.  I haven’t mentioned it lately, but the pain from the pelvic separation has gotten much worse and over the weekend was excruciating due to hours in the car, sleeping in a bed that wasn’t my own, and the fact that I am just reaching that very pregnant and extremely uncomfortable stage.  (My husband commented just the other day on the fact that he caught me waddling, something that I had managed not to do just yet.)  So for me to be forced to stand in these situations was beyond unbearable.

Additionally, there were several occasions where I was in a veryveryvery long and slow-moving line for the bathroom and nobody once offered to let me move ahead.  Six+ years ago, when I was pregnant with my oldest son, I always saw people being considerate of pregnant women in bathroom lines.  I’ve allowed pregnant women to move ahead of me many times.  Do people not do this anymore?  Was my leg crossing too subtle?  Should I break out the peepee dance next time to elicit more sympathy?  What if I make a not-so-subtle cell phone call to my husband and ask if he can bring me a dry pair of undies from the car?

I hate to sound whiny or like I think I deserve special treatment.  I’m actually the opposite most of the time.  I don’t really like to use those special parking spaces for pregnant women and generally prefer to just cope with the every day pregnancy grumbles.  After all, I did make this choice.  But sometimes it all gets to be a bit too much, especially during the holidays or when we’re traveling.  I don’t think it’s too much to ask that others use a little consideration.  On a good day I may just smile, say thank you, and decline.  On a bad day, you’ll probably become my hero.

We usually stop to eat in Statesville when we travel between Knoxville and Sanford.  Last night was no different…one of my favorite meals is Cracker Barrel’s Homestyle Chicken and during most of the year it’s only available on Sundays.  Since we don’t have a CB locally, I rarely get to indulge in this most delicious meal!  I decided we should eat dinner at the CB in Statesville so I could get some deep fried chicken…mmmmmmmmmmmm.

And driving up to Cracker Barrel, I saw this at another restaurant there.  This is not a joke.  I really did take this photo, and it really does say that.  No, we did not go in and see if they were serious.

Really?  REALLY???  I’m no prude.  I’ve been to Hooters a time or two myself.  But the very idea of taking my children there (and I’m assuming the “kids” eating free would be under 12) simply seems absurd.  I really have nothing to say other than that because I’m pretty speechless.

I want Mexican food.  Badly.  And a margarita.  Alas, the margarita will have to wait for a few more months.  I may need to hit San Felipe for lunch, though.

We’ve decided to join Brickcity Community Church.  This church is awesome in a way that I never expected to find in a small town like Sanford.  Seriously.  Even my husband (who has *never* been a regular churchgoer, though he is a believer) is excited.

I talked my mom into buying me a new Bible.  Actually, there was very little talking involved…I emailed her and said that I wanted a new one but it wasn’t in the budget and she was thrilled to do it.  I am torn between the pink camo and this one.  I guess we’ll have to see what I find in the store.

My 2 year old has started throwing some absolutely amazing tantrums.  I wish it would stop.  NOW.  I know it’s the age, but it is not at all fun.  We’re getting about one a day where he gets so upset that he can’t calm down and tell us what’s wrong.  Very frustrating!

My brother is giving us a laptop!  It is supposed to be for the business, but I plan to get my grubby little hands on it when I can.  Blogging from bed?  Sounds like bliss.

I am planning to go back to school starting this summer.  I’m going to do as much as possible online, but my eventual goal is to get an associate’s degree in nursing and work as an RN.  I’m going to take it at a pretty slow pace so I won’t be away from the kids too much.  I’ll graduate around the time baby V is close to starting school.  Then I plan to go back to work full time!

I finally cancelled our hotel reservation for our trip to Washington.  I cried about it.  I’m very sad about not getting to take this mini vacation.

I may need to go get some more chocolate.  My chocograham was fabulous, but I need more.  And more.

Several months ago, we booked a trip to Washington DC for the first school intersession in September/October.  I had researched hotels and found a nice one to stay at (used to be the Holiday Inn on the Hill, but has been bought out and is now called the Liaison Capitol Hill) and got a great rate.  It’s convenient to the Metro, the Smithsonian, and all of the other things we wanted to do.

We had planned to ride Amtrak up there so we didn’t have to mess with a car, but I hadn’t bought the tickets yet.  And of course our financial situation is way different than it was when we first made the plans, so it looks like we’re going to have to cancel.  I just can’t justify the train tickets (roughly $260) or the expense of food once we’re there, at $100 or more a day it will end up being an additional $400 or so.  Luckily I can get our money back for the hotel.  We’ll probably never get it at this rate again, but I guess that’s just something we’ll have to deal with.

I am unreasonably sad over this…it’s not like DC won’t be there in 6 months or a year when we can afford it, but by then we’ll have another baby and traveling will be even harder, especially trips like this that require a lot of going and doing.  This was really our only planned vacation this year, so it hurts even worse.  Yes, we had a long weekend in Gatlinburg, but that was more of a “going to see the family” thing.  I can’t even count that as a vacation.

I’ve held onto our reservations in the hopes that my husband would bring in some money before then, but with time starting to run out, I’m not optimistic.  He’s doing a great job of pounding the pavement but hasn’t gotten any clients yet.  We’re hopeful that it will happen soon, but not soon enough for the trip to go on as planned.  I hate it when the realities of life interfere with the fun stuff.