Tuesday, March 25, 2008

remember when I wondered why people have big houses?

I wonder if it's so they don't have to store the bike in the kitchen, the crock pot and the blender on the kitchen table, and the recycling in the closet. That might be it. I'm starting to see. We have gathered more stuff and at this point it is virtually impossible to have everything put away. There's not a place for everything. When people come over we do this weird shuffling which usually involves putting stuff in the bathtub. If they are overnight guests, we have to be really strategic. So, yeah. I get it. At least, I get the idea of a little more space than THIS. We are planning to hold on to this cheap rent for another few months and then maybe when I'm 7 months along, move into a two-bedroom apartment. (I plan to take a supervisory role in the moving process.) My requirements are: washer/dryer inside the unit, bathroom, dishwasher, in that order. It's a renter's market, so I think we will be able to find something without going broke. I'm excited about the novelty of walking to the washing machine and dropping in some dirty clothes without actually leaving the house. Woohoo!

Friday, March 14, 2008

OK, I remembered, and it is earthshaking.

Well, actually not. But: what I remembered is that the other night I was talking to someone about the emotionalness of pregnancy, and I said, "I don't really think I'm more emotional now that I'm pregnant." Now those who know me well might be thinking, "Now that's really saying a lot....NOT," and I would have to say they are right....I'm sort of an emotional person and I cry easily. But, with that said, I asked Alexander, who would certainly know if anyone would, and he agreed. In fact, he said, "Less." "What?" I asked. "You're less emotional now that you're pregnant." I agree. So....put that in your pipe and smoke it. Isn't that strange? But I have a theory related to this, that I will go into in the third paragraph. First I have to digress and appear to disprove my own point...

So for the sake of being sort of honest, I do admit that there was that one time recently when I started crying in the middle of Target -- I had called Alexander on the phone and asked what color helmet he wanted for an upcoming nighttime bike ride, and he said, "No helmet, I'd rather not go," (??#$%#$%@????!!???) and to me, since I'm carrying his child, that meant "I'm not going to do everything I can to stay safe so I can be around and not a vegetable for our child," and so naturally, I hung up on him, sat down on the lowest shelf of the aisle, and cried. When he called me back, he soon realized that foregoing the helmet would be generally hazardous to everyone's health, whether anyone crashed or not, so he told me to get the helmet. (Whew.) But THAT is directly attributable to the FACT of pregnancy, I think, like this weird protective thing where suddenly there's this child to worry about and you can't just freely not wear a helmet because you don't feel like it anymore because it's not all about you. And this possibly hits the mother first since she's the one whose body is incubating the little bundle of cells. So, what I'm saying about that cute little incident, is that it doesn't count as a random "Why did I cry about that? Must be because I'm so emotional these days," -- it was not random and it's very easy to trace why I did. So. Point being:

I know some people who were extremely very happy, like over the moon, the whole time they were pregnant. One or two of those were people who had some chemical imbalances that were later corrected by medication. (As for me, I have tendencies toward mild depression and an SSRI that works great for it, which I'm still taking... I explain that because that's how this could relate to me...) Anyway, this is my theory, and, um, maybe other people have had it -- I haven't looked it up: certain chemical imbalances are temporarily "cured" or greatly improved during pregnancy, because, I don't know, some combination of the pregnancy hormones supplies whatever's missing usually. Now, for the next part I know there are many interrelating factors, but: This would be a partial explanation, or an explanation in some cases, for why certain women have kid after kid when it seems that they don't really love them that much once they've arrived and/or their socioeconomic situation would indicate that maybe fewer kids would be a better choice. Maybe a woman like this spends her entire life very depressed/angry/hopeless and the only time she's happy is when she's pregnant. For someone steeped in an undiagnosed, untreated illness related to chemical imbalance, nine months of freedom would be like heaven. Well-worth the consequences. Interesting, no?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

I forget what this post was going to be about

Hmmm. Well, that's never stopped me from talking in real life, so I don't know why it should hinder me here. I think I was going to write about something to do with pregnancy, but I can't think of it. Um, I am 12 weeks along, now, yay, and the little pollywog has lost his/her tail and graduated from embryonic status to fetus-hood. I went running today finally, for 20 minutes (I know, I'm a warrior), but...um...I've been working out roughly once per week. I think it's time to step it up a bit. I feel good now and am rarely queasy. So I think I got off pretty easy, all things considered.

Seriously, I had something to say. But I like it when people update their blogs often, so like a nonpost is better than no post, right? When I think of whatever fascinating thing that was in my head , I'll let you know.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

When you have really good friends....





You can call them and ask to borrow -- not a cup of sugar, not a brush -- but their wedding dress. Yes, I did do that. I needed a dress in which to take wedding pictures, since we never did, and I sort of didn't feel like spending hundreds of dollars on something I wouldn't even be wearing for an event. Hers is really cute. So, yeah, I boldly requested and she said yes! And shipped it to me. Here are a couple of pics -- my brother Erik asked if there was trick photography involved since Alexander appears to be supporting my weight....hahaha.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ah, a milestone

Vomit. Seems like a good rite of passage. I think it was the combination of stuff I ate. I don't know. Ick. Anyway, now I feel marginally but only marginally better. Somehow I thought you'd want to know that. In other news, um, I can't think of any other news. I don't think that was the last of it. I think I'm reporting this because I want everyone to suffer, not just me. I guess my work here is done...

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

If we could move in, this would be the perfect job

I'm up in Northern California, doing some legalish work for a good friend who needed help so she can get enough stuff done to go on vacation. I got more time than money these days so I was very happy to oblige. Working conditions are tough. We tumble out of our respective beds and work out of her well-equipped office upstairs, in our sweats. She makes all our meals and snacks, except when she takes us out for sushi. Her daughters are cute, very smart, and hilarious. Her husband is really nice too, but he's been gone on business. If I wanted to, I could get up and go to her gym with her, but that happens at 5 a.m. Gotta make that one a miss. I think I'll ask if Alexander and I can move in. Worst she can say is no.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Giants upset the Patriots 17-14

Wow! We caught the last 10 or so minutes of this game (radio in the car, and then actually saw the last few minutes on someone's TV) and it was extremely exciting. If I'm not otherwise loyal to a particular team, I'm always a sucker for the underdog, so of course I was going for the Giants. I'm really happy they won. What a crazy upset. Eli Manning somehow getting away from the pass rush and getting that throw off to David Tyree, and Tyree's amazing, ridiculous, gravity-defying catch -- that was awesome.

Alexander, who didn't grow up playing or watching American football, suddenly became a Patriots fan during this ten minutes, which was interesting. I mean, I've heard of Johnny-come-latelys coming out of the woodwork at the last minute when a team starts winning a lot, but come ON. "Yeah, babe! I'm a Patriots fan!" He said. When he was unable to name a single player on the team aside from Tom Brady, I decided he was probably not one of your more serious aficionados. When the radio announcer mentioned a player, he said, "Walker! See, Walker! That's my favorite player." Tell me his other name," I said. "I don't worry about that. I just concentrate on the game. How many downs do they get again?" Later we found out his name is really Wes Welker. I mean, not knowing your favorite player's name, that could happen to anyone.

Anyway, the Patriots won three Superbowls from 2001-2005. The last time the Giants won was 1991. So, yay Giants. And it's pretty cool, that the Dolphins are still the only team to go all the way undefeated.