Painting the baby's room

Good lord! Look at that belly.

Tired and befuddled

Sorry for the posting hiatus, but I have been very tired and busy lately. My energy levels have plummeted over the past week or so, even with the extra iron supplements I've taken.

Aquaman is more active than ever; I can feel him moving strongly a lot of the time. Doc and I have been having a lot of fun talking to him with our hands on my belly, and feeling him do acrobatics in there. His "kick counts" have been hovering right around 5 minutes -- sometimes less -- for 10 movements.

I look forward to the times when I can lie down quietly and feel him moving around. It is fascinating and it never gets old.

I worry that I'm not going to be a good mom, though. I have no idea what I'm doing, and I don't feel particularly maternal. Last night I dreamed that he was born and he came out a kitten. Kittens, I know. Babies, I don't.

Doc has been working very hard to get his studio consolidated, pared down, and moved into the other room. He also has rearranged the garage a bit and put some additional shelving in there for storage. By this weekend we might be ready to steam clean the carpets in the baby's room, and start preparing it for painting. Our pile of stuff to put on eBay or otherwise sell or discard has grown exponentially. Know anyone in the market for pro audio gear, slightly out-of-date computers, or older computer software and games?

Next Monday night we have our first childbirth preparation class. I have no idea what to expect. Also on Monday is our 32 week doctor's appointment. I can't believe there's just 8-1/2 weeks to go. Everything's happening really fast now.

Congratulations to Bonnie and Tracy on the birth of their daughter last week, Josephine Theresa. She's a cutie, and already wearing a tiara in her baby photos. Whatever direction life takes her, she's going to be one brilliant kiddo with parents like that.

Also, happy birthday last Sunday to Doc, yesterday to Nate, and Monday to Joel! There's just birthdays all over the place these days.

I'd like to go into a political rant, what with everything that's going on these past couple of weeks with the presidential and vice presidential debates, the massive domino-effect bank failures, the unbelievable bailout package that's being considered in Congress (why are these banks' profits private, yet their debts are public?), etc. etc.... but I just don't have the energy to come up with something to say about it all. I'm angry and nervous and disgusted and hopeful, but in all honesty I think that my pregnancy hormones are preventing me from forming coherent sentences these days. That's not an excuse or anything; I really feel generally befuddled a large percentage of the time. I think it's my brain doing what it needs to do to keep my stress levels lowered.

A few days ago in yoga class, something "clicked" in my head, and I suddenly came to the realization that it is now time for me to begin slowing down. Time for me to begin letting people help me more and do things for me. It was like a self-preservation mode turned on. I took it easy in yoga and didn't test my limits, and then when I came home I did almost nothing that evening. If I am slower and befuddled now, so be it. My body's doing this to me for a reason; I'm not going to fight it too hard.

Another baby update

Last week I had a blood glucose screening test, a standard procedure at 28 weeks of pregnancy to screen for gestational diabetes. I drank a bottle of this super-sweet liquid that tasted like flat orange soda, then drove down to the doctor's office to have my blood taken one hour later. I got my results on Friday, and my levels are well within normal at 110. Anything above 140 would have gotten me sent back for an additional, lengthier test. Good job, my insulin!

We had our 30 week doctor's appointment today. Everything looked great, nothing much to report this time around. I gained just one pound in the past two weeks, so I am right on schedule. I need to gain about five more pounds in the next 10 weeks, which I should have no difficulty doing. :) Doc says he's gaining sympathy weight along with me, but I think he looks thinner. Maybe he's just saying that to be nice!

Have I mentioned that my eating patterns, at least as far as volume and time of day, have reversed themselves from normal? Until I got pregnant, I generally ate very small breakfasts, if any, and then a regular-size lunch and dinner. Now, though, I eat a LOT in the mornings (I now understand why Yvonne occasionally ate two breakfasts when she was pregnant), a medium sized lunch in early afternoon, and then a small dinner late in the evening.

Doc and I are used to having dinner quite late; 8 p.m. or after is normal for us. I don't even get hungry until then, actually. We're trying really hard to skew our dinnertimes earlier, since eating that late with a child is probably not practical or advisable, and we think that family dinnertime is important. When I was growing up, my family would usually eat dinner around 5 or 5:30. I don't know if that was because of us kids or because my folks liked to go to bed early. Maybe both.

Right now, I do a lot of the cooking for the two of us, because I really enjoy it. I get home from work at 5:30 or 6, and unwind and talk to Doc for a while, so it's usually at least 7 p.m. by the time I start even thinking about dinner. I'm not sure how easy it's going to be for me to launch immediately into dinner preparations when I get home from work. It might be something that Doc wants to do (he is an excellent cook), if he's not too exhausted from caring for Aquaman all day long.

Maybe a solution is for us to have a small, simple meal with Aquaman early in the evening, and then for us to have our "real" dinner after he's gone to bed.

Who knows. We'll figure it out as we go, I guess.

Since my days of sleeping till 7:30 on weekdays and later on weekends are numbered, I imagine that the shift to earlier mealtimes might occur naturally. If I'm up at 5:30 anyway, I might just eat breakfast then, which would make me hungry for lunch even before noon, and so I just might be ready for dinner as soon as I get home from work.

I have been instructed to begin doing what are called "kick counts." You time how long it takes your kiddo to move ten times, at whatever part of the day they are most active. For me, this will be mid- to late-evening. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer. Some babies are really active, and some aren't; it just depends on the baby. We need to get a feel for how active Aquaman normally is, so that if there is a marked decrease in movement, we will know to call the doctor.

Of course, as he grows over the next ten weeks, he'll have less and less room to move around in my body, so his movements will cease being as distinct and sharp as they are now, anyway. We just need to be aware of his activity levels on a day to day basis.

We picked up the crib this weekend (sans the railings that turn it into a full sized bed; those are still on special order), and we also bought a dresser/changing table, a nightstand, and a kitchen table and four chairs. We got everything but the crib from an unfinished furniture store, one of two left in Texas. Unfinished furniture places were everywhere when I was growing up. I guess nobody wants raw wood furniture anymore, to stain or paint themselves. I find that kind of sad.

The salesman we worked with was a trip. When he calculated the sales tax on our purchase, Doc said "I wonder how much of that's going to the bank bailout situation." So Mr. Salesman sized us up, decided to take a chance, and said, "Can I just tell you how angry I am about those government motherfuckers giving $700 billion of our tax money to these private banks." We busted out laughing and then we all had a nice long conversation about those motherfuckers in the Bush administration giving $700 billion of our hard-earned tax money to bail out the private banks. It was a refreshing conversation, to say the least.

So now we have seven pieces of furniture in our garage, waiting to be stained and painted. We have our work cut out for us for the next few weeks...

Belly at 29 weeks

So here I am at 29 weeks pregnant. I'm out on the back patio on the first nice day of fall. Not that it's actually fall yet, but the temperature was much cooler so I went outside to make some Vitamin D for the kiddo. I look like I'm gleaming because I'm covered in sweat. It was a nice day but a bit toasty in direct sunlight.

Birthday weather & stuff

Once again, the first cold front of the fall season has come through on (or within a few days of) my birthday! I am so very happy. A break from the oppressive summer heat is the best present I could ask for.

On Saturday we got some rain from Hurricane Ike (for those of you wondering: no, we did not have lots of wind, we did not lose power, we did not lose phone service, and we only got about 2" of rain over 24 hours) and so it was rather wet and humid near the end of last week.

Yesterday was sunny, dry, and rather pleasant, temperature-wise. Today was absolutely amazing. Again, sunny and dry, and the high temperature reached maybe 78 or so. Right now it's in the mid-60s and we have all the windows in the house open.

Also, the light changed this weekend. It's taken on that goldeny fall hue, and the blazingly white summer washout light is gone. Somehow it's easier to see. Things seem prettier.

I had a really nice birthday weekend. Doc took me out Saturday night to a yummy family-style Italian restaurant, and we met some friends there. No wine with my meal, but only 11 more weeks to go on the moratorium (actually I don't crave wine anymore so it's much easier these days). We stuffed ourselves and then came back to our house, where we had coffee and cake, good conversation, and played some "Pain" on the PS3. I had a great time with good friends and good food. Maybe that's the point of life: good friends and good food.

One of my favorite gifts from Doc is a book called "Hello Cupcake." When it's our turn to bake cupcakes for our son's class, they will be the best damn cupcakes ever!



Maybe a boy child won't really want these particular cupcakes for class, but I think they're beautiful:



And probably the cutest cupcakes EVER...

Baby news

Things are going well. Busy, but good.

Today I had my 28-week doctor appointment. I can't believe I'm already 28 weeks into this pregnancy. Now that I'm not having morning sickness all the time, the time kind of seems to be flying by.

Mr. Baby is healthy and big. Not too big, but measuring one week and a handful of days larger. The doctor says that anything within 2 weeks is considered normal, so this doesn't mean we'll end up with a ten pound baby.

My belly looks like I've swallowed a small basketball. Sometimes it feels that way too. The basketball squishes all your guts upwards and makes it hard to eat and breathe sometimes.

As I suspected, my back pain is increasing. My pelvic bone is still sore all the time. I guess that's probably not going to go away, either. My badly-twisted ankle from two weeks ago is finally beginning to feel a bit better. It's still swollen all to hell but the party-colored bruise that swallowed the left half of my foot is fading.

Other than all that (!) I am feeling pretty good. I've been taking iron supplements and don't feel quite as exhausted as I did a few weeks ago. I need to increase my calcium intake lest the baby start sucking it out of my bones. Baby's gotta make his own bones somehow!

My weight gain is back on track to where it should be for 6 months into the pregnancy, although the doctor did say that I can start scaling it back a bit now. It hasn't seemed like I've been eating much more than I normally do, though. Maybe I'm just retaining more of the calories or something. It's interesting how your body does what it needs to regardless of what YOU do.

Mr. Kicky is kicking me all the time now. Sometimes I can feel it on both sides of my belly ... like his feet kick me on one side and his head bounces against the other. Luckily, he was snoozing during the sonogram this morning, so it did not take too long.

We may have settled on a name for Aquaman. I think we might be keeping it under wraps for now. We haven't really decided yet.

I'm having "Braxton-Hicks contractions," which are like practice contractions that don't hurt. I don't even notice them most of the time; when I do, my belly is rock-hard to the touch, and if I stand up and walk around there is an odd sensation of downward pressure in my pelvis.

We've started a baby registry. Two, actually. I kind of hate doing that; I don't have any expectations for my friends and family to buy me presents, but that's the only reason registries exist. "Here's a list of stuff I demand. Now buy me something!" Ugh. I know, I know. Lots of people probably WANT to do it. I need to just get over myself and let people know what I'm interested in so it's easy for them. I guess part of it is my aversion to accumulating "stuff." But I am deluding myself if I think that I can have a baby and not have to have a hell of a lot more "stuff" now! Babies simply require THINGS. 'Tis the nature of a baby.

So, anyway. We are registering at Target and Babies R'Us (a store designed to part you from the contents of your wallet as quickly as possible). We've just begun the registries so they're not complete yet, but we hope to finish them up this week.

It's now 7:10 and I have to go get ready for work. Must be there before 8 a.m. Oh, and last night I was there till almost 10! More on that later.

Who wants to go polar bear huntin'?

Stop overloading my lady-brain!

Sigh... I am not even going to get into the whole Sarah Palin GOP VP pick thing, how one woman is apparently just as good as another.

Must... control... self.... AIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHH!

For now,  just enjoy Samantha Bee's report on last Friday's episode of The Daily Show.

Get your supporter kit

Hey,

I just made a donation to support the Obama campaign before the August fundraising deadline.

Make a donation now and receive a first edition Obama-Biden supporter kit:
https://donate.barackobama.com/collection2008

Thanks!

How much of an omnivore are you?

This is an interesting list, compiled by the folks at VeryGoodTaste.co.uk. How many things on the list have you eaten? My score is 49, which is not too bad considering how picky I am about meat. And only 24 things I wouldn't consider eating!

The VeryGoodTaste Omnivore’s Hundred:

• Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
• Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
• Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses de Bourgogne
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam Chowder in Soudough Bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted Cream Tea
38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whiskey from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (I have had Kaopectate, does that count?)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost (Gjetost is one of my favorite cheeses!)
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu (nasty stuff)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang Souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. 3-Michelin-Star Tasting Menu
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (and hated it)
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake