TMI

Alright, I realize I may be having a bit of a TMI moment right now, but I'm putting this out there anyway.

My child thinks my bladder is a punching bag. If my bladder gets too full and is invading baby's space, good golly does this kid put the beat down on my bladder until I drain it. I think the personality of a first child (especially my first child) is shining through already.
What a little peanut.

One of my students just said to another student "Well aren't you a smarty pants? Smarty wanna party!?" They really are hilarious.

monthly update

apparently I am down to only blogging monthly. I'm really going to have to work on this. But, what's been happening?

1. Baby. I'm at 24 weeks. I feel baby kicking lots. It's so neat to have something moving inside me that isn't me. Baby is especially active while I'm in class. But as soon as baby's around Adam, baby stops moving. If you've ever seen Adam with a baby, you will be immediately amazed because he has an extraordinary power to lull baby to sleep. I've decided his amazing ability even works in utero. He has felt baby twice, but I know he's ready to feel more kicks and baby is just not cooperating. I have also entered that stage where I am HOT all the time. Over the winter my mom was amazed that I was spending so much time under blankets. Now, I'm hot all the time... particularly while I'm in class teaching. My students told me tonight that I'm waddling already.

2. Furthur. Was AMAZING. third row seats and totally fabulous. Phil and Bobby were fantastic. John from Dark Star Orchestra only sang three songs while we were there (he's the 'Jerry'), while most of the songs were sung by Bobby or Phil and Bobby together. I have a top ten favorite grateful dead songs (and they move up and down the list, but mostly the top ten doesn't change) and they played 2 of my top 10 - and considering the number of songs that are in the Dead repertoire, I'm amazed that I got 20% of my top ten. What are these two songs, you ask? Uncle John's Band and Scarlet Begonias. So fantastic. Which, Scarlet Begonias is extremely often combined with Fire on the Mountain in concert, and they continued that tradition this night too. Other highlights - China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Eyes of the World (sung by Phil), Jack Straw, Wharf Rat. We had to leave early to catch the train, and I checked out the setlist the next day. We missed Box of Rain, which is my mom's all time favorite song, and in my top ten, but we had to catch that train! Bummer, but oh well. Of course the people watching provided some entertainment. In particular, a guy was dancing like a nutso, even during intermission. My favorite was when he stuck his ticket on his forehead and danced around staring at the ceiling like the ticket was his ticket to the universe. Absolutely hilarious. I'm not really doing him justice, but believe me, he was great people watching material.

3. My dad. Broke his leg. At the bottom of his fibula. The poor guy has a boot on his foot and cannot put any weight on it. He's been pretty bummed out about it, but I went and saw him this past weekend and he has a system of using a walker, scooter, and wheelchair, so he's getting around pretty well. He's accidentally fallen twice since this happened and aggravated his leg again, but he seems to be okay. He goes to the doctor in three weeks for another x-ray and to find out if everything's healed or not. Nerve-racking!

Alright, that's all for now.

weekend of fun

My doctor wanted me to not travel for a few weeks because things were not in the right place in there. After going to the doctor again last week she okayed me to travel so I had to venture home to visit little Eli monster man (and parents and brother and sisterinlaw). I got to spend a lot of time with the little two and a half year old terror and it was so much fun! He's started reading books to you, instead of you reading to him. He is so freaking cute! He read a book to me about animals, telling me what all the animals are and what color they are. He's so good at his animals and colors and shapes, and he's learning counting (right now he always skips 4, and sometimes skips 4,5,6&7). The last time I saw him he only knew 1 and 2. It's been a month and such a huge difference in what he knows. And, whenever you ask him something and he doesn't know the answer he says "I don't know" and it is the cutest thing EVER.

I'm at the 20 week mark now, so I'm halfway done baking the bun in my oven! I went to a used clothing store over the weekend and was able to get quite a few maternity shirts and pants, and all clearance was $1! Such a successful shopping trip! My hair is growing out faster on the left side of my head than the right, so my wonderful sisterinlaw gave me a great haircut over the weekend. It took her a while to even it out my crazy hair, and she also said that my hair was even thicker on the left side of my head, i suppose adding to the whole growing faster thing. She did a great job, despite my head being ridiculous.

So far I feel totally fine, still am not feeling movement but am looking forward to it soon. We had another ultrasound last week, and when Adam would talk, baby would move even more. So I'm really looking forward to feeling baby's reaction to daddy's voice. :) :)

a name for baby

Adam and I haven't spent a whole lot of time thinking about baby names. So many people have offered suggestions, which I listen to none of them. But I have also been told that we need to come up with a name for baby to use in the mean time. I have just been calling baby "Baby", but that is not very creative. I also don't want a nickname that is gender specific. Yet, I keep calling Baby a he, and that really makes me want a gender neutral nickname until Baby comes out. I've loved the ideas that friends have used for their babies, and I need to come up with something as great at theirs!
We have started talking about decorating Baby's room. Adam wants to paint the room blue with clouds and stencil in trees. :)
My hair is growing faster on the left side of my head than the right side. It is making me keep my hair in a ponytail most of the time. It's subtle and probably no one else would notice unless I point it out to them, but I know that it's goofy, so ponytail it is. Hopefully my wonderful sis-in-law can come visit soon and fix this ridiculous problem.

baby news

we had our first ultrasound yesterday. baby was super active, rolling around and not cooperating with the tech at all, and making me laugh quite a bit. when she measured the head, the screen said that the size of the head corresponded to 16 weeks, so I am as far along as I had thought (which the doctor questioned at my appointment on wednesday). The tech showed us baby's feet and legs and arms and hands. When she was looking at baby's head, she was even able to show us baby's brain in there, which was super cool. Baby was opening and closing his/her mouth and waved at us a bit (we got a picture of that!). Whenever the tech went to look at baby' nether regions, she had us look away since we don't want to know the sex of the baby, but I think it's too early to tell anyway. Everyone of my parents generation who finds out what we don't want to know the sex of the baby thinks that's great, everyone of my generation is totally disappointed and a little mad at me (especially my brother) that we're not going to find out. I'm totally entertained by this.

Poppie

My grandfather (my mom's dad) passed away on Tuesday. He was 92. He had fantastic handwriting. He liked to sing, especially Irish songs - I think one of his favorites was "Oh Danny Boy." Whenever anyone offered him another drink (beer years ago, pop now), he would say, "Just one more, then I have to go." Or he would say, "I'll split it with you," and he would split the next one with you too. His favorite drink was a Bloody Mary. He loved to tell jokes, jokes that were so corny they were funny. At Poppie's 90th birthday party, there was a clown at the restaurant making balloon animals. The clown made a balloon hat for Poppie and he donned that hat with such pride, enjoying every minute of his party.
When I told him I was having a baby he clapped and bounced (as much as a 92 year old can bounce), making him the second most fun person to tell I was having a baby (Adam was the first). Everything about him was so sweet and funny. He sent cards for Left Hander's Day (August 13) to the four people in the family who are left-handed, myself included. He would always marvel at my eating, since I used my left hand to do it.
I found my last birthday card from him this morning. It said "Granddaughter, whereever you go, whatever you do.... my love will forever be with you." I'm sure it made me cry a little when I got it, but I immediately forgot what it said. Needless to say, when I read that this morning the tears wouldn't stop.
I will miss him always, but he is finally reunited with my grandmother again, after 26.5 years apart.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=fred-a-smith&pid=138554383

how do you like them apples?

2009 was a great year for me and my Adam. It started with moving into our house, then I finally finally finished my PhD, then I had so much fun planning our wedding and actually having our wedding and being married. We finally went to San Francisco, a trip we were hoping to take for a very long time and it was so so wonderful. And then we found out we're having a baby! I don't think it would have been possible for 2009 to get any better.

So, what's up for 2010? It goes without saying that we have to get our house ready for baby! We know which room we will use as the baby's room, it's just a matter of figuring out what to do with the desks, book shelf, and futon that are currently in that room. Luckily our master bedroom is big, but it will need some rearranging. We are so excited for the coming months - I'm really really looking forward to the first time my baby kicks me! And I'm looking forward to the nausea that comes and goes so often to stop completely. I have not vomited thoughout my first trimester, making me feel like I'm having a very lucky pregnancy so far, but today Adam drove us from the fort back home and I couldn't look out the window because it was making me feel so sick. And I've never had a problem with motion sickness (I'm one of those weirdos that can read in a car - so often people have been amazed that I could read without vomiting). I've also been dealing with a lot of dizzy issues (which isn't helping with the nausea). I really thought I was done with the nausea, but apparently not. Hopefully I will be soon!

Another pregnancy update - my belly is getting really hard. My pants all still fit, so I'm not really showing yet, but I have a hard belly! Alright, I think that's all for now. Happy New Year!