I'm nearing the end of the first trimester. My energy is finally picking back up, and although I'm still having problems with getting woozious when I'm hungry and bloated and gassy when I'm full, I'm doing pretty well!
I finally gave in and got some gas relief tablets from Kroger, and WOW do they help! I wish I'd known about these years ago. I never really believed that they could help, but they really do! So all you ladies out there who are dealing with too much pressure in the baby-cabin, try it! So far, it's even keeping me from having any heartburn.
Of course, it could also be that I'm finally figuring out what I can and can't eat right now... but I'm guessing that's not it, because I had chicken tandoori (spicy indian food with chicken and spinach) and string cheese for lunch, and my two big probem food types have been spicy stuff and milk products.
I still look like a girl with a pooch rather than a girl with a baby pouch, but I'm getting closer. I went ahead and bought my first pair of maternity jeans, and although they feel very loose around the belly when I'm not full of gas, they feel much much better than my pre-pregnancy jeans. I don't think I'll even attempt those again until a couple months after the baby is born.
This weekend my big plan is to catch up on laundry, since I've been too tired to do it, and Mombi has been busy feeding me. It's a bit frustrating to look at those huge mounds of dirty clothes and to know that half of them won't be wearable after I wash them anyway. It's enough to make a girl wish she had a storage facility closet to just hide it all in. Has anyone invented disposable clothing yet? I usually don't use anything disposable, but right now, you could count me in!
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
The Agony of Complete Satisfaction
I am so full. I am so full of good food that I won't even bother adding the extra "o"s at the end of "so" to try to express it. Today I got to participate in a panel at a food tasting to decide on what food will be served at my company's Holiday party, and I ate WAY too much. But oh, was it good... An hour later, I'm still making happy groaning sounds. It's cracking Mombi up. She's quickly coming to understand, though, because I had them box up what I couldn't finish so she could have it for dinner. (Hehe, she just hummed as she ate. She's so cute!)
I've been at a loss for what to eat lately because my digestion is so wacky, but let me tell you, everything they served hit the spot. We're talking two full four course meals and two full size desserts, here. Yes. That's right. Now you come to understand the seriousness of my situation. It's a good thing I just had graham crackers and water up until then today, or my eyes might have popped out. I went from looking like two months pregnant to looking like four months pregnant over the course of an hour and a half!
I've been at a loss for what to eat lately because my digestion is so wacky, but let me tell you, everything they served hit the spot. We're talking two full four course meals and two full size desserts, here. Yes. That's right. Now you come to understand the seriousness of my situation. It's a good thing I just had graham crackers and water up until then today, or my eyes might have popped out. I went from looking like two months pregnant to looking like four months pregnant over the course of an hour and a half!
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Week 11 Sonogram
Today we are 10 weeks and 5 days pregnant!
Here are some pictures from our sonogram this morning. As you can see, Jif has disappeared in the mysterious way that twins sometimes do. Apparently, Jif decided that s/he wasn’t getting enough attention as part of a set, and preferred to wait until next time around.
Skippy, on the other hand, is enjoying the new space by dancing all over the place. It was hard to get good pictures because of all the wiggling going on in there. What an amazing thing to watch, though! We’re a bit bummed not to be having twins, of course, but we’re totally thrilled by how well Skippy is doing. We’re very happy and excited about our new family!
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Dreams Tell All
I haven't posted any dreams lately because they've gotten weirder, longer, and more disjointed. At this point, most of my dreams would take at least four screens to describe, and you'd probably give up halfway through because they would make no sense anyway. They didn't even make sense while I was dreaming them. So, here in no particular order I present to you some selections and synopses of some of the dreams I've been having. Feel free to post any suggested meanings or insights!
I'm at the home of a couple of genius mountain goats who own an art/architecture bookstore. Their home is out in the middle of a field, built inside an old semi trailer. As I'm being led through to the living room, I step on the wrong spot on their raised dining room and the whole thing starts to shift like a precariously balanced rock. The next thing I know, I'm surfing across their bookshelves, which are sliding everywhere, with their dining room floor as a surfboard. My friends (who work in the bookstore) appologize profusely to the goats for my lack of grace, and assure them that they had no idea that I wasn't capable of watching where I put my feet.
I'm in a hotel with a bunch of other college students (no, I'm not still in college in real life) for some sort of spring break conference or event. We're getting ready to meet friends, when the cat I'm petting out by the pool suddenly starts talking as if channeling spirits. Very strange. So we try to find our friend's room, only to discover that the floors seem to have changed around on us. The next thing we know, we're in the middle of a series of freaky interactions with "spirits" of some sort. We're battling our way through hallways, rooms, and lobbies, growing less incredulous moment by moment, until at last we're in this one room when we hear yet another voice coming from nowhere, saying something or other. When I finally get my breath back from battling invisible force fields to get into the room, I realize that the voice is actually addressing each of us. For example, "Stephen, you're such a cool and calm leader. Leaders like Stephen use X anti-perspirant for when the heat is really on. It helps a leader stay cool." Eventually we all realize that the voice is not taunting us, but trying to sell products to us. Out of the restroom comes one of the people in our team who had been "lost to the underworld" somewhere along the way, modeling an argyle sweater... The man who provided the "voice" walked next to him. After describing the sweater, he explained that we were some of the first people in the world to experience the radical new technology of interactive advertising. Everyone who stayed in the hotel would be subjected to some variation of the maze we'd been led through.
I'm helping out serving food at the wedding of some unidentified extended family member. My mom asks me if I'd be willing to distribute the ice cream. Sure, no problem, I think. Yeah. Problem. She hands me a half gallon plastic tub of some sort of three flavor swirl ice cream, and a plastic spoon. There are at least 30 people sitting at the table watching me, waiting for their ice cream. There's no way I'll be able to serve them each more than a tablespoon and still have enough to serve everyone, and they don't have any spoons or bowls or anything. I need supplies and a plan. What follows is a bit too painful to describe, but involves a lot of melted ice cream and grumpy/frustrated guests.
Mombi and I and our 9 mo old child are living in an old psychiactric hospital that we've purchased to remodel into a home. The only down side is that the former (psychotic) residents haunt the place, and they want us out. Whenever they feel our skin make contact with part of the buliding, any spirits that were close enough to sense it try to get rid of us by turning into corporeal giant spiders that spit toxic sludge at us. The good news is that we were all still alive and unharmed when I woke up.
I get caught messing around at summer camp when I'm supposed to be paying attention to a field trip presentation on how the gears on stage curtain lifters work. I explain that I already know, that I figured it out, and that I could probably build one myself if I wanted to. The teacher/guide is pissed, much the way most teachers are when they realize that you already know what they are supposed to be teaching you. So as "punishment" he assigns me to do just that, and points to a huge pile of spare parts. I think the intention was to make me back down on my statement that I already knew how they worked. It totally backfired, though, when I got all excited and wanted to get started right then, while the other students were still sitting there listening to a lecture. So I ended up getting to spend my evenings (presumably for the whole summer) climbing around on riggings up in the ceiling of a massive theater. Awesome!
I'm at the home of a couple of genius mountain goats who own an art/architecture bookstore. Their home is out in the middle of a field, built inside an old semi trailer. As I'm being led through to the living room, I step on the wrong spot on their raised dining room and the whole thing starts to shift like a precariously balanced rock. The next thing I know, I'm surfing across their bookshelves, which are sliding everywhere, with their dining room floor as a surfboard. My friends (who work in the bookstore) appologize profusely to the goats for my lack of grace, and assure them that they had no idea that I wasn't capable of watching where I put my feet.
I'm in a hotel with a bunch of other college students (no, I'm not still in college in real life) for some sort of spring break conference or event. We're getting ready to meet friends, when the cat I'm petting out by the pool suddenly starts talking as if channeling spirits. Very strange. So we try to find our friend's room, only to discover that the floors seem to have changed around on us. The next thing we know, we're in the middle of a series of freaky interactions with "spirits" of some sort. We're battling our way through hallways, rooms, and lobbies, growing less incredulous moment by moment, until at last we're in this one room when we hear yet another voice coming from nowhere, saying something or other. When I finally get my breath back from battling invisible force fields to get into the room, I realize that the voice is actually addressing each of us. For example, "Stephen, you're such a cool and calm leader. Leaders like Stephen use X anti-perspirant for when the heat is really on. It helps a leader stay cool." Eventually we all realize that the voice is not taunting us, but trying to sell products to us. Out of the restroom comes one of the people in our team who had been "lost to the underworld" somewhere along the way, modeling an argyle sweater... The man who provided the "voice" walked next to him. After describing the sweater, he explained that we were some of the first people in the world to experience the radical new technology of interactive advertising. Everyone who stayed in the hotel would be subjected to some variation of the maze we'd been led through.
I'm helping out serving food at the wedding of some unidentified extended family member. My mom asks me if I'd be willing to distribute the ice cream. Sure, no problem, I think. Yeah. Problem. She hands me a half gallon plastic tub of some sort of three flavor swirl ice cream, and a plastic spoon. There are at least 30 people sitting at the table watching me, waiting for their ice cream. There's no way I'll be able to serve them each more than a tablespoon and still have enough to serve everyone, and they don't have any spoons or bowls or anything. I need supplies and a plan. What follows is a bit too painful to describe, but involves a lot of melted ice cream and grumpy/frustrated guests.
Mombi and I and our 9 mo old child are living in an old psychiactric hospital that we've purchased to remodel into a home. The only down side is that the former (psychotic) residents haunt the place, and they want us out. Whenever they feel our skin make contact with part of the buliding, any spirits that were close enough to sense it try to get rid of us by turning into corporeal giant spiders that spit toxic sludge at us. The good news is that we were all still alive and unharmed when I woke up.
I get caught messing around at summer camp when I'm supposed to be paying attention to a field trip presentation on how the gears on stage curtain lifters work. I explain that I already know, that I figured it out, and that I could probably build one myself if I wanted to. The teacher/guide is pissed, much the way most teachers are when they realize that you already know what they are supposed to be teaching you. So as "punishment" he assigns me to do just that, and points to a huge pile of spare parts. I think the intention was to make me back down on my statement that I already knew how they worked. It totally backfired, though, when I got all excited and wanted to get started right then, while the other students were still sitting there listening to a lecture. So I ended up getting to spend my evenings (presumably for the whole summer) climbing around on riggings up in the ceiling of a massive theater. Awesome!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Ginger is Good for Morning Sickness
But try to mix it up with other stuff, it's very strong. I was practically living on it for a week or so. I stopped when I couldn't stand the sight or smell of anything ginger any more, but I've been having stomach pains for the past week or so. Now I'm afraid I may have burned the lining of my stomach!
Monday, September 18, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Baby gear
Date check: I'm 9 weeks 3 days pregnant as of today.
We received our first baby gear gifts yesterday! My sister in law gave us a ducky that indicates if bath water is too hot (very cool, since one of our bathrooms houses our ducky collection,) and my mom gave us a nice small "quick trip" diaper bag. Woo hoo! Maybe it's time to start thinking about clearing out the baby's room. Although truly, since we're not really planning to decorate it other than to hang a picture or two, it's not like we don't have plenty of time.
We're hoping to get as much stuff "used" as we can, including gifts, so the chances of getting anything that matches is pretty slim. We figure there's plenty of time to do a themed room once the kid is old enough to have an opinion. Still, I haven't been able to resist doing some registries. We're registered at Target and BabyCenter.com. I figure most of that same stuff can be found at consignment shops or on ebay anyway. What we really need are a bunch of cloth diapers/covers and a washer and dryer, but I haven't found anyplace to register for good cloth diapers, and I'm not about to be so rude as to register for a washer and dryer. Ah well.
We received our first baby gear gifts yesterday! My sister in law gave us a ducky that indicates if bath water is too hot (very cool, since one of our bathrooms houses our ducky collection,) and my mom gave us a nice small "quick trip" diaper bag. Woo hoo! Maybe it's time to start thinking about clearing out the baby's room. Although truly, since we're not really planning to decorate it other than to hang a picture or two, it's not like we don't have plenty of time.
We're hoping to get as much stuff "used" as we can, including gifts, so the chances of getting anything that matches is pretty slim. We figure there's plenty of time to do a themed room once the kid is old enough to have an opinion. Still, I haven't been able to resist doing some registries. We're registered at Target and BabyCenter.com. I figure most of that same stuff can be found at consignment shops or on ebay anyway. What we really need are a bunch of cloth diapers/covers and a washer and dryer, but I haven't found anyplace to register for good cloth diapers, and I'm not about to be so rude as to register for a washer and dryer. Ah well.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Happy Friday!
TGIF!
It's been a heck of a week, and I'm so glad that it's Friday! It's not that this week has been particularly busy or particularly tiring or anything like that, it's just been emotionally draining. I'm looking forward to some quality time on the couch with my trusty laptop this weekend to even things out. Some people go for shopping therapy, I prefer to stare at an LCD screen for as many hours as I can stand. Which of course is diminished now that I fall asleep so easily, but that's another matter entirely!
Here's my question for the weekend: If you could imagine the perfect slogan to put on a gift for your partner (particularly around pregnancy or parenting, but I'm up for whatever) what would it be?
It's been a heck of a week, and I'm so glad that it's Friday! It's not that this week has been particularly busy or particularly tiring or anything like that, it's just been emotionally draining. I'm looking forward to some quality time on the couch with my trusty laptop this weekend to even things out. Some people go for shopping therapy, I prefer to stare at an LCD screen for as many hours as I can stand. Which of course is diminished now that I fall asleep so easily, but that's another matter entirely!
Here's my question for the weekend: If you could imagine the perfect slogan to put on a gift for your partner (particularly around pregnancy or parenting, but I'm up for whatever) what would it be?
Perks of Pregnancy
Sure, it's nice to be able to sleep through the night without any effort when you're not pregnant. On the other hand, it's also nice to give in to the desire to hop out of bed at 3:30 AM to fix yourself some bread with butter and strawberry preserves.
Life is good. Cheers, everyone!
Life is good. Cheers, everyone!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Firsts: Tears
Sad news, it does not look like Jif (Baby B) will be making it into the world. Ultra sound today showed no heartbeat and very little room since Skippy is doing so well.
We are sad, yes very sad but we are now going to focus all of our positve energies on Skippy who is doing very well and is developing on schedule and has a wonderful heart beat.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and keep is in your hopes.
Mombi
We are sad, yes very sad but we are now going to focus all of our positve energies on Skippy who is doing very well and is developing on schedule and has a wonderful heart beat.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and keep is in your hopes.
Mombi
Monday, September 11, 2006
Happy Birthday Nana!
My mom turns 50 today. In honor of her, I'd like to take a moment to share some of my best memories of her when I was little. At bedtime, I used to curl around sideways so I could put my head on her lap while we said prayers. I tended to get a bit elaborate, just to keep my head there a bit longer. Mom had a way of making the simplest meals the most special. The ultimate dinner treat was tortilla chips with cheddar cheese melted on them. Mom used to eat toast with peanut butter for lunch every day. It was her quiet time, and she usually read while she ate. I totally respect her for holding on to that time for herself. We lived out in the country, so she went grocery shopping for our family of six once every week or two. When she got home, the entire kitchen floor would fill up with brown paper grocery bags full of stuff. It was awe inspiring then, and even more so now that I know how much effort that must have taken! Mom encouraged us to find ways to amuse ourselves, and provided the basic means for us to create whatever we wanted (within reason). When we went to the fair and I saw the "invisible dog" leashes they were selling, I desperately wanted one. She said no, but let me use a coat hanger and a whole bunch of pipe cleaners to make my own! She never told us to not be silly. Mom encouraged reading. We'd come home from the library with a 15 lb stack each. We got to choose one book to read immediately, while she wrote down the names of all the others in a notebook so that none would be lost without us knowing it on due day. When we were old enough, Mom let us play in the bathtub for a LONG time. Mom hates camping, but she never tried to stop us from going with Dad. Frankly, I bet she enjoyed the "time off." Mom taught me to be clean when it counts, although it took me 25 years to decide that it does indeed count sometimes other than holidays.
Mom sent me chainmail underwear and vitamins for Easter when I was in college, and messages in bottles. When Mombi and I decided to leave Denver and move back home, she helped to make us comfortable and never asked up front how long we intended to stay. It was such a huge relief. I could go on and on, but I have to save something for the next "Mom" event.
I love you , Mom!
Mom sent me chainmail underwear and vitamins for Easter when I was in college, and messages in bottles. When Mombi and I decided to leave Denver and move back home, she helped to make us comfortable and never asked up front how long we intended to stay. It was such a huge relief. I could go on and on, but I have to save something for the next "Mom" event.
I love you , Mom!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Shifts in Priorities
It's been a tiring week. Good, most of it, but tiring. I've come to the conclusion that I'll be doing most of my living on the weekends for a while. I'm just too tired during the week to start anything really interesting. I've been re-reading all of my favorite books for the bazillionth time, chatting with my girl, and generally lounging about.
This weekend I think I'm going to sew myself some belly bands because most of my shirts are already too short. OK, so most of them are too tight around the top, too, but I can't fix that. I've also got some new ideas for the gift shop in my head, so I'll be spending some quality time on the couch with my trusty Wacom graphics tablet. (If any of you out there are into graphic design or photo editing and don't have one, shame on you!) I may even spend some time standing in the middle of the mess in the future babies' room, although I doubt I'll actually jump in and start organizing.
And, of course, I'll be spending all this time in as close of proximity to my fabulous wife as possible. She's so amazing. Seriously. She rocks my world. She made me clove toast for breakfast today. Like cinammon toast, but with cloves instead. YUMMY!!!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Chemical Messages and REM Sleep
Wowie, it's been a few days! Sorry about that! I've been either sleeping or catching up on housework since I posted last. No, I take that back, I've been doing housework, sleeping, and having crazy dreams!
Dream 2:
There's something physically wrong with me, something that can be fixed in a radical new surgical procedure that a doctor says he can do for me. I agree, and within hours I'm in the hospital, going under general anesthesia for the surgery. As I'm losing consciousness, it occurs to me that all I know about what the doctor plans to do is that it has something to do with replacing some of my parts with cat parts. For some reason, I have a fear that he's just going to take my lungs out and put them in a cat. Hmm... Maybe I should have asked for more details while I could? It's way too late for that, so I just have to hope for the best.
I wake up in the hospital feeling great, and look down to see that I still have all my own limbs. I feel like me. So far, so good. My family shows up (along with one of the family cats, Abydos) and they all coo over how great I look and how much better I must be feeling. Mom even mentioned that she loved my hair. Well, not everyone is cooing. Abydos is rolling around on the nice cool hospital floor, mumbling something about stupid humans that don't know a good thing when they see it, and that they should all be enjoying the finer things in hospital living, rather than standing around a bed talking to another stupid human.
No, I didn't just intuit that because that's what it always looks like cats are telling us. I could actually understand him. I don't know if it was the aim of the surgery or just a side effect, but I could definitely communicate. Of course, Abydos didn't believe that the replies were coming from me. He figured he was imagining things, because clearly there were no inteligent beings in the room to answer him. He just concluded that he was bored out of his mind by all the "human stuff."
Soon, I was awake enough in my dream to realize that I had to go to the bathroom. I got up and went into the hospital bathroom. I looked in the mirror, and cracked up. The hair on the top of my head had been replaced by a big mop of longhaired calico craziness. It was too long for cat hair, though. It looked like a human-scale version of the mess that sits on top of a long-haired guinea pig. Very chic.
I woke up loving life, and wishing I had that hair!
Stay tuned for the other dream I had the same night. I'll post it tonight, but right now it's time to get ready for work!
Dream 2:
There's something physically wrong with me, something that can be fixed in a radical new surgical procedure that a doctor says he can do for me. I agree, and within hours I'm in the hospital, going under general anesthesia for the surgery. As I'm losing consciousness, it occurs to me that all I know about what the doctor plans to do is that it has something to do with replacing some of my parts with cat parts. For some reason, I have a fear that he's just going to take my lungs out and put them in a cat. Hmm... Maybe I should have asked for more details while I could? It's way too late for that, so I just have to hope for the best.
I wake up in the hospital feeling great, and look down to see that I still have all my own limbs. I feel like me. So far, so good. My family shows up (along with one of the family cats, Abydos) and they all coo over how great I look and how much better I must be feeling. Mom even mentioned that she loved my hair. Well, not everyone is cooing. Abydos is rolling around on the nice cool hospital floor, mumbling something about stupid humans that don't know a good thing when they see it, and that they should all be enjoying the finer things in hospital living, rather than standing around a bed talking to another stupid human.
No, I didn't just intuit that because that's what it always looks like cats are telling us. I could actually understand him. I don't know if it was the aim of the surgery or just a side effect, but I could definitely communicate. Of course, Abydos didn't believe that the replies were coming from me. He figured he was imagining things, because clearly there were no inteligent beings in the room to answer him. He just concluded that he was bored out of his mind by all the "human stuff."
Soon, I was awake enough in my dream to realize that I had to go to the bathroom. I got up and went into the hospital bathroom. I looked in the mirror, and cracked up. The hair on the top of my head had been replaced by a big mop of longhaired calico craziness. It was too long for cat hair, though. It looked like a human-scale version of the mess that sits on top of a long-haired guinea pig. Very chic.
I woke up loving life, and wishing I had that hair!
Stay tuned for the other dream I had the same night. I'll post it tonight, but right now it's time to get ready for work!
Monday, September 04, 2006
So Many Kinds of Family
One of the most remarkable things about the TTC process is that it brings together people of such different backgrounds and situations. During the past few months, we have heard of so many kinds of families that we've truly been awed and amazed by the range of what "family" means to different people.
I've been doodling and designing shirts and gifts for many of my new friends, and have come up with enough designs to open a gift shop for the blog. To celebrate all the beautiful variations on the concept of "family," and also, I admit, to help support the rather shocking fact that we're going to have twins soon (!) we'd like to invite you to visit the new gift shop, and perhaps find something for your own family.
I'm still designing (in between naps and all that other pregnancy stuff) so if you have an idea for a design that you think I should do, just post it whenever!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Introducing Skippy and Jif!
After much debate, Mombi and I have decided on Skippy and Jif as temporary names for our little peanuts. Thanks for the great suggestion, Nana! Now all we have to do is come up with more "real" names, since the chances are two in three that we'll need one more name to go with one of the two we already have picked out.
We were on BabyCenter last night using their name search engine. If you haven't seen it yet, you really should check it out. It's much better than any of the other onese we've seen out there, which pretty much just list a bunch of names. At BabyCenter, you can search by first letter, last letter, number of syllables, and/or origin. You can also search for names with the same meaning. Excellent! Of course, now Mombi has her heart set on naming a girl Dwynwen...
We were on BabyCenter last night using their name search engine. If you haven't seen it yet, you really should check it out. It's much better than any of the other onese we've seen out there, which pretty much just list a bunch of names. At BabyCenter, you can search by first letter, last letter, number of syllables, and/or origin. You can also search for names with the same meaning. Excellent! Of course, now Mombi has her heart set on naming a girl Dwynwen...
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