Sunday 30 May 2010

26 weeks


This one will be short and sweet, since really it began in high-stress and no-sleep mode and ended on some remote beach with my babydaddy as the sun went down. What else is there to say? Except that I'm a big believer in babymoons now. Just the two of you. A must when your life is about to change in every single way imaginable.


 


Friday 28 May 2010

this moment

 (this moment) - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. -Soulemama

Thursday 27 May 2010

Back from paradise

We are scrubby, tan, relaxed, and deeply jealous of all those people getting off the plane in St. Thomas while we were waiting to board ours. Do they know how lucky they are? And for most of today I wore bathing suit bottoms as underwear since nothing else was clean. In other words, I need to do laundry.

It was one of our most romantic trips ever. I'll write more about it later.

Friday 21 May 2010

this moment

 (this moment) - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. -Soulemama

 

Wednesday 19 May 2010

A vacation

I know it's a vacation because 1) I've been up all night and I always pull all-nighters before a trip, am very last-minute that way.

and

2) Nothing is in my suitcase but bathing suits, cover-ups, a big ole straw hat, and sundresses.

We are going to St. John in the Virgin Islands. One last pre-bébé adventure. I can't wait to go to that beach in the photo above and do absolutely nothing. While lying next to my husband also doing absolutely nothing. 

Cannot wait. So need this. When we get back I'll be more rested. I have to be--there's nowhere to go but up at this point.

25 weeks

The week started out with a wonderful Mother's Day and ended with a relaxing Saturday swimming in Marmee's pool and hunting for bathing suits. Bathing suit tops, I should say. "What are you going to wear with this, shorts?" asked a cashier seconds after inquiring about my due date. Lady, I'm going to wear the same bikini bottoms I've always worn--it's not my arse that's grown (yet)!

The initial glitch in the week came in the form of a phone call from work telling me that a patient I had seen had just been diagnosed with shingles. Lovely! But finally--missing the 3rd grade field trip to SeaWorld because of chicken pox was now paying off--since it meant that shingles exposure weren't gonna bother this pregnant lady. I am passing onto butterball those antibodies as we speak. I wasn't as lucky with exposure to some apparent stomach bug that's going from patient to staff to patient to staff at work. Too bad it hit me the night before we were supposed to go to Disney. The people in the next hotel room must have thought they had found themselves straight up on the studio backlot of The Exorcist from all the sounds being heard through the thin walls. Sorry, whoever you are.

And exciting news: crib! is up! I love it and am so proud of my man. All those hours he put into its refinishing guilted me into promising him that this kid is going to be in that crib 'till entering high school. At least. The 'baby's room' is actually starting to look like a baby's room now. No baby yet, but we have a Bruno who claimed the changing pad atop the dresser as his own personal perch within minutes. The boys know something's up. We are in trouble.

Foods that kept me happy last week:
strawberries dipped in creme fraiche and brown sugar
spinach dosa (nugget gave me the strongest kicks to date after this one)
steak
a 99 year-old's chocolate birthday cake. He threw up right after blowing out the candles (not on the cake) and everyone lost their appetite for a slice but me. Not weird at all, right?
chilaquiles from San Francisco's ferry plaza farmer's market. I had to settle for enchiladas verdes. Tough life :)

Friday 14 May 2010

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.  
- Soulemama



Thursday 13 May 2010

I never get tired of looking at it.

Am realizing I never did post pictures of the perfect-for-spring blanket Marmousch made for us. It started out as a project we were doing together, but the first day of work on it Steve walked into the room and said, "I can see what she's doing; how exactly are you helping?" I was sitting on the floor pinning fabric squares together while Marm was working her magic at the sewing machine. I'm trying to learn how to sew, really, but that beast is intimidating sometimes.

The whole blankie was inspired from this Soulemama project from last year. I adore her blog and all her handmade touches (plus her books have one amazing idea after another). Maybe someday I can get my sewing even half as good as hers.

And yes, our boys love each other. They always snuggle together like that.

p.s. Sorry for the wrinkles. Must work on my photo styling skillz.



Wednesday 12 May 2010

24 weeks

Took me long enough to post, didn't it? Sorry, I've been sick. I guess that will be mentioned in next week's 25 weeks post.

We finally had an ultrasound done at 24 weeks, since it was the first week our insurance kicked in. I know. But that's us. Up until now we hadn't seen the little bean, only heard him or her via the doppler. Which, don't get me wrong, I love that swishswishswishswishswishswish of baby's heartbeat, but was simply beside myself in the waiting room at the thought of being able to at last see this little soul. After seeing it on TV and in film all my life, it was surreal to be the one laying on the table having warm gel rubbed on my belly. I think I'll stick with that word, surreal. At one point the baby turned and looked in our direction and its mouth opened and closed--almost like a gummy smile. Super sweet, right?

And that is how my husband, proud father-to-be, got to calling our creation Skeletor. SKELETOR. Skelly for short.

This is our favorite ultrasound picture. Rosie (or Ronald) the Riveter! 

In other bump happenings, let's see...running has gotten a lot easier after (duh) cutting up some yoga pants so it wouldn't cut into my stomach. That, and a boatload of water before runs. I know all the pee spots on all my routes and I ain't afraid to use 'em.

The sphere's getting bigger, isn't it? My bag of clothes marked after pregnancy is getting bigger and bigger. See you on the flip side, skinny jeans. And button-down shirts. And did I mention how I finally worked up the nerve last week to measure my bra size? There's this awesomely handy online tool where you put in the circumference of the top part of your chest, then the measurement at the biggest part of your chest, and then click on a button marked Click here for bra size. Then ta da! Except in my case it was more like WHAAAAAAAAT? I texted Steve my new size and all he wrote back was one word: 

Wow.

This whole 40 weeks is one big wow.




****
Foods I loved, loved, loved this week:
Crispix cereal in whole milk (that damn whole milk!)
chocolate cake
turkey, cream cheese, and apple sandwich at The Red Onion
sprite
Meyer lemon cake


Monday 10 May 2010

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!

I really did. My family spoiled me to the core and made me feel so loved. I came home from church with my mom to find our living room decked out with hanging lanterns, flowers, poms, streamers galore, and balloons. A mini party of sorts, courtesy of husband who had worked Saturday night and was resting up for Sunday's shift. And between Marmousch, Lamb, and Steve I don't think our house has ever had so many flowers in it at the same time. I smile just walking into the room now.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas. Here's Marmousch when she was pregnant with me, 31 years ago. Is she not stunning? She lent me her pregnancy and newborn photo albums and I'm having so much fun reveling in all of them. It doesn't go unnoticed how lucky I am to have my mom around for all this.  

Did I mention that skype is one of the best things ever? We called our family in Italy and everyone got to see how roly-poly I'm getting. Speaking of which, I'll post last week's bump picture tomorrow--tonight am rushing out the door on a little adventure, the kind that happens in Orlando, Florida.

Sunday 2 May 2010

23 weeks

Sorry...late again. The photo was taken last week when we were kickin' it on a little getaway. A much needed recharge.


All that's on my mind these days is life with our bunny. Trying to appreciate and not take for granted these last few months that it's just the two of us, but it's hard not to daydream, however unrealistic it may be. Mommy and Me yoga down the street from our house on Thursdays. Going to parks. Marmousch and friends coming for little visits where we just sit and stare at this little one. I met a nurse at work the other day and, within 30 seconds of sizing up each other's stomachs, we found out our due dates were one week apart. In the next 30 seconds we were hugging like we were long-lost besties. The next time I see that girl I am getting her email and phone number just in case she (or I) gets put on bedrest and we can't work. Future playdates--it's funny how you gravitate towards people in your same life stage as you.

About the appreciating part that I mentioned above--I mean it. I know every iota of our life is about to change. And I know we'll love the new life.

But. Lately I'm holding tighter to those little moments--like sitting on the couch talking at the end of the day. Sometimes not having to talk. Collapsing on the bed when we need a break. Cooking together. Huddling around the laptop catching up on our shows. Changing plans as we go. Blasting the 60's Revolution music channel as loud as we want. Being able to put all my energy into planning his birthday, or a surprise for Nurse's Day (Happy Nurse's Day by the way--tell them how much you appreciate them!), or our anniversary. I once heard that if you put your marriage first then the rest will fall into place. The rest being the raising wonderful kids part. I believe that, I really really do, but know it's going to take a conscious effort on our parts to integrate from here on in.

Anyhoo. 23 weeks. Starting the home stretch of the 2nd trimester. It was the week that Steve got to finally park in the Expectant Mothers spot at Babies R Us, huge thrills all around for my husband. The week we decided on the last "big" piece of furniture for the baby's room. The week I got my second-ever prenatal massage, cutout cushion for belly and all.

These days, I am way too lucky.

Foods I dreamed about to get me through the workday:
hummus
lobster roll
any kind of candy but especially Swedish fish
sickeningly sweet birthday cake, the kind that always seem to be at office parties
frozen Reese's pieces