juice and gyros

The return of a pregnancy to our home has also brought the return of the cravings. Beth didn’t have the “peanut butter and pickles” type of strange cravings while pregnant with Natasha, but she did crave two things a bit more than normal. Those two things were fruit juice and gyros. Fruit juice was a hot commodity in our house during the first pregnancy and it has returned.

This time around, Beth was hoping to find some light fruit juices (as in fewer calories). Her doctor has asked her to steer clear of NutraSweet, but has said that as long as she limits her intake, Splenda is okay. The first light juice she tried was a white grape and peach juice cocktail. She couldn’t drink it. The peach juice was too much for her to stomach. I loved it. I usually hate artificially sweetened drinks, but it tasted great.

She has since discovered the Ocean Spray has some light cranberry juice cocktails. Right now we have light cran-grape and light cran-raspberry. I hate both of these, but I think it’s the cranberry that turns me off. I always enjoyed cran-apple, but these two taste bad to me. What really matters though is that Beth likes both.

The other craving is one I enjoy as much as Beth. Gyros are an interesting craving, but I love a good pita sandwich, so I won’t complain. This past Saturday we drove to the South Side to Mike and Tony’s gyro shop. Personally, I think they have the best in town. As we approached the store, we noticed that in the block next door (about 3 doors down) a new gyro shop had opened up. Mike and Tony’s isn’t the nicest place as far as looks are concerned, but the gyros taste good. This new place was bright and clean, but empty inside. Mike and Tony’s was as busy as ever (and mind you, it was about 2:30 when we stopped in; hardly lunchtime). Best part, it was as tasty as ever too. Here’s looking forward to more trips to the South Side.

big sister

Short post, but the subject says it all. We’ve been pregnant for about a month. Beth went to the OB/GYN today. Because of the eptopic pregnancy around New Year’s, she’s considered high risk. Our families have known since we took the home pregnancy test, but I thought my readers (all 2 of them) would like to know. By the way you two; when are you getting started on your family? Natasha’s little sibling is going to need a play friend.

surfer girl

Okay, so she can’t really surf. But Natasha LOVED the beach. She did ride a boogie board. Granted, she only rode it in the super shallow water along the shore and she rode it sitting instead of on her belly. But she’s only 14 months old. Nitpicking aside, the girl loved the ocean.

We went to the beach everyday. She got knocked over by the waves and would scream for a couple of minutes afterward, but she would go running back to the ocean once she was over it. She would sit in the shallow water and just let the waves crash on her.

[Let me make a disclaimer here for anyone who has not been to Hilton Head Island. The waves are very gentle and the surf is not rough.]

She loved the sand too. She didn’t mind it on her hands and legs. She seemed to like the feel of it in between her toes. She let people bury her feet and she loved wrecking the sand castles I made. She didn’t even cry when she got some in her mouth.

We know she loved it because when we got home and watched the video we shot of her on the beach, she went and put on her hat. We wouldn’t let her go to the beach if she took it off and I know she understood that. She also cried a little while we watched—she knew the beach wasn’t just across the street from out house like it was when we were there.

Next year ought to be even better. She will be a year older and will be able to do even more. I’m going to start looking into places to stay right now.

highway robbery

I took my car to the dealer last week. Before you scream, “you eediot!!”, read on. The air conditioner was not working (it hadn’t worked all summer actually) and it was still (barely) under warrantee. We dropped it off and the next morning they called and said that a rock must have put a hole in the condenser and that the Freon had leaked out. It was covered by the warrantee so we only owed the $50 deductible.

Then they tell me that since the car is near 50,000 miles, the transaxle and transmission fluids should be changed. We own a Jeep Liberty, so both suggestions make sense. I ask how much. They say (are you ready?) “$319 plus tax.” I politely declined their offer to complete the work.

A week later, I took the SUV to the local Firestone shop for the inspection and emission tests. The Liberty passed, but the guy told me the brakes are close to failing. He told me they could replace the brakes for about $250 for parts and labor. Again, I declined. After I declined, he warned me that they should be changed in about 2,500 miles or I may damage the rotors.

We leave for vacation on August 12th. I wanted to get the transmission fluid changed along with flushing the coolant since I am looking at a 1,400+ mile round trip to Hilton Head Island. My dad uses a car shop on the South Side and I gave them a call. I asked only for what the dealership had told me I needed: transmission and transaxle fluid changes. He told me about $120 for both including tax. That’s $200 cheaper than the dealer. Freaking criminals.

Wait, because it gets better. I took it to these guys today. Not only did I have them change the transmission fluid and the transaxle fluid, but I also asked that they rotate the tires, flush and fill the coolant, and check the brakes.

They did it all. Turns out the brakes were only halfway through their useful life. No danger to the rotors like the guy at Firestone had told me. More freaking criminals.

Total charge for all of these services? Are you ready?? $203.37. That’s still over $100 cheaper than the dealer’s quote on the transmission and transaxle fluid changes. That’s about $50 less than the brakes I didn’t need. Screw the chains. I’m going back to R&R K’s on 10th Street in the South Side next time the car needs to be repaired.

We’ve known for some time now that Natasha loves water. She has never really gotten upset over getting a bath and she likes swimming pools. Grandma has an above-ground pool that she’s been in a couple of times and for her first birthday, Uncle Billy and his girlfriend Jackie bought Natasha a wading pool and about 50 pool toys.

This is not your run-of-the-mill wading pool. This behemoth is about 5’ X 8’ and has a rainbow sunshade, 2 flower ball toss games, and a slide that is kept wet (and slide-able) by two dolphins that spray water all over the place. It’s a pain in the butt to keep it clean, it needs to be dumped every time it is used, and it takes forever to fill it up again, but Natasha loves it.

All of this positive water experience still left us as unsure about how Natasha would take to a large body of water. We’ll be heading to Hilton Head Island in about two weeks, so our trip last weekend to Deep Creek Lake was our feeler. If her reaction to the lake is any indication, the trip to Hilton Head should be tons of fun.

She loved it. I had her in the water off of the dock where the cabin we stayed at was located. At first, I had a float vest on her and I held her as we floated around the dock. Later, I put her in an inflatable ring and pushed her around. She kicked and screamed when I took her out.

The next day, we went to the “beach”. Again, she had a blast. We had her jumping the waves on the shore caused by passing boats. I held her out in the deep and she laughed and kicked the whole time. Once again, she kicked and screamed when we took her out. We’re pretty sure she loved the “beach”. At Deep Creek the sand is rockier than it will be in Hilton Head, but she still had fun digging in the sand and playing with her toys. The only problem was that she tried to eat it. Thankfully, she never got any in her eyes.

When we go to Hilton Head next later this month, we will have the best of both worlds. The house we are staying at has its own private pool and the beach is just a short walk from our front door. We will probably spend more time at the pool than at the beach, but I’m fairly certain Natasha won’t mind. As long as she’s in the water, I’m sure she’ll be happy.