Cats For Gold

1. The baby is still a boy. As Brandon noted, baby Calvin is in the 80-95th percentile of growth in everything except his arms, which are at 57%; this means that he has "little T-rex arms." They'll catch up, but I'm hoping that his accelerated development means an earlier end to this pregnancy, which still SUCKS.

2. Seven more teaching days of school. I'm finding it really hard to keep on caring knowing how close I am to the end (and with prom and yearbook distribution coming up this week). I'm exhausted and just ready to be done.

3. My baby shower at home was awesome, and I got to see lots of my family and some of Brandon's too. I'm about set on stuff: I still need a stroller, car seat, first aid kit, and breast pump, which is awkward even to write. I also need a changing pad, which I forgot about. But mostly I'm set. We could have this baby tomorrow and have enough stuff to take care of him for at least the first week (as long as we don't go anywhere and he doesn't get injured).

4. I have no idea why I'm numbering these points; there's no reason for this to be a list. The items aren't even related. Let's stop that then, shall we?

I guess things are going pretty well. We're still waiting to hear back about Brandon's job prospects, which is frustrating and driving me up the wall. He's worried too but better at hiding it. Summer is closing in fast, which means two months of lying around doing nothing because I can't travel or anything. Brandon gets to go visit Lisa in DC when she's back in the country and I am a bit jealous. (Not of Lisa, but of the fact that he gets to see her and I don't. Just making that clear.) It's going to be nice not to try to balance work and pregnancy, and after the baby comes...well, I guess we'll see where we stand as far as jobs and housing go. I need to remember that there are still over two months until I have this kid, and that's plenty of time to find something. For Brandon, anyway--I still want to take some time off. I just hope I have that luxury.

IN CONCLUSION: http://www.catsforgold.com/

Love, Love, Love

I keep hearing this song on the radio and, for some reason, it never strikes me as a love song as much as it does something about having a baby. Somehow I don't think that this is what Michael Buble intended when he wrote the song, but I thought I'd share it anyway. Please feel free to dismiss it as the crazy ramblings of a pregnant lady.

I'm not surprised, not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times, I stopped keeping track
Talk myself in, I talk myself out
I get all worked up, then I let myself down

I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought, I thought of every possibility

And I know someday that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, that I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

I might have to wait, I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck
Wherever you are, whenever it's right
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life

And I know that we can be so amazing
And, baby, your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility

And somehow I know that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

They say all's fair
In love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right and we'll be united

And I know that we can be so amazing
And being in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility

And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work to work it out
Promise you, kid, I'll give more than I get
Than I get, than I get, than I get

Oh, you know it'll all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid to give so much more than I get
Yeah, I just haven't met you yet

Baby Stuff: Baby Weight x 200

First of all, I'm going to take the opportunity to publicly thank my friends who came to my baby shower today. I had an awesome time and am so unbelievably grateful for all the stuff, excited to use it on the baby, and lucky to have supportive wonderful friends.

Today was the first of three baby showers (seriously, I don't think that's justified, but my friends and family are kind of scattered around, so...yeah). We played Jeopardy and The Price is Right, ate a ton of delicious snack food, and had what I considered a pretty good time. I'm always apprehensive about showers, because it feels like an occasion for a person to say "Hey! Come to my party and bring me presents!" That's why I don't like birthday parties either, and why I stopped having them in middle school, or at least trying to combine them with New Year's so people wouldn't feel like they had to bring me presents. That might be weird, but it's how I feel. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and my friends are amazing. It's terrifying to think that in a few months I'm going to have a baby WHO IS GOING TO NEED ALL OF THIS STUFF. Because there is a lot of it.

Brandon just told me I should write a book about being pregnant: "Like that one book you read, only it's your book and you get the money!"

In medical news, I had my glucola test on Wednesday, and I am proud to announce that I passed. I do not have gestational diabetes. Also, I don't need to be too worried about my blood pressure--it's at a managed level--and as long as I'm driving, moving after the baby arrives is cool. You can't fly with an infant under eight weeks old because of vaccination issues, and really you shouldn't take them anywhere with lots of people and their potential diseases, but driving is A-OK. I'm getting tired of waiting to hear about Brandon's job and I think it's going to get to a point where I stop thinking about it because doing so is too stressful, and right around the time I start to forget about it we'll hear something. That tends to happen to me. Still, it would be nice to know if I need to start assembling a nursery here or putting things in boxes to move.

Maybe he'll grow up to play that foosball

The fetus has determined that his sleep schedule is NOT going to match mine, no matter how much I wish it would. He starts kicking late at night, and hard enough that it can actually wake me up. This morning he got started right around 8:30. It's almost as if he's sitting in there going, "Hey, did you know you have to pee? *kick* Because you do. *kick* And if you weren't aware of that fact, I'm going to make sure you're absolutely undeniably aware of it! *kick* *headbutt* Also, pushing on my head won't make me stop whacking you in the side." Because he DOES NOT MOVE. He finds a spot and says, "I'm going to kick here for a while."

This baby is going to have the most ridiculously well-developed calf muscles EVER.

I got verbally molested at the Dead Sea kiosk

I went shopping today (actually shopping! spending actual money! which I don't actually have!) and ended up stopping at the Dead Sea Cosmetics kiosk because the guy working was SO DAMN INSISTENT. Usually I can get by them but I had to pass him twice and the second time I failed. I guess it was kind of like the situation with the teacup pig (if you watch How I Met Your Mother, you will know what I mean). (Also, I want a teacup pig.) Anyway, so he ended up selling me this nail kit which is kind of baller, and makes my nails all shiny...so then the other girl working, I guess it was his manager? wanted to show me the main thing they sell, which is a Dead Sea salt scrub.

I was totally cool with that, and washed my hands with the stuff, which was actually rather nice and smelled like lime and coconut. But then as she was trying to convince me to buy some of that, she started making suggestions about how to use the salt and the accompanying body butter. It started off simple enough--talking about how the body butter can help with stretch marks from pregnancy, benefits to your skin, relaxing properties...but I really have never, nor ever want to in the future, considered the possibilities of using salt to spice up your sex life.

Let me repeat that, because it bears repeating:

YOU CAN USE DEAD SEA SALT TO MAKE SEXYTIME EVEN SEXIER.

(It took me a moment to determine whether that should have been "sexier" or "more sexy." Way to go, English major.)

This girl went on for about 5 minutes into a whole scenario about putting the salt scrub into bathwater, lighting some candles, getting a foot massage from my husband, using the body butter (I am so serious about this you guys)...fortunately she skipped over whatever was supposed to happen next by saying "so when you go to sleep later, when you wake up, you will feel like a prince and princess!" All of the folks who work at those kiosks are Israeli, so they have fun accents, if you can imagine that said in an Israeli accent.

OK, so I maybe considered buying some, but Brandon doesn't take baths, only showers, and I was still a little creeped out by the whole descriptive scenario. As nice as it might be. And considering that I'm married it's totally OK with Jesus if I want to introduce salt into the bedroom, right? But I didn't want to spend more money, and again: little weird.

Also I bought a baby jacket with monsters on it. IT WAS NECESSARY, OK? Here is a picture:


(Imagine this with a baby inside.)

Now you try to tell me that wasn't necessary. Also I got some free carrot cake at the jewelry store. NO, IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. I don't know why I'm feeling so defensive; I think it's that I never, ever spend money on anything that isn't absolutely necessary, so I feel weird about this. But that jacket makes everything awesome. My mom's reaction: "Your child is going to have the strangest clothing." Yeah mom, I'm going to dress my baby in a Run-DMC t-shirt and a jacket with monsters on it--I THINK YOU MEAN HE WILL HAVE THE AWESOMEST CLOTHING.

This thing is viable and is the size of an eggplant and, thank God, he's growing eyes. If he wants to pop out anytime between now and ever, I will welcome him into the world and out of my belly. Of course the longer he stays in there, the better it is for him; however, he kicks too much. He's kicking me right now. I think he knows there is an awesome monster jacket waiting for him, and he is excited about being the stylin'est baby on the block. I'm sure fetuses have that capacity for thought at 25 weeks.

Week 24

Today was the first time I looked down at my belly at the right time and saw the kick. It didn't look like a foot; in fact, it looked a little like in the movie Alien when the thing is kicking around in her stomach right before it BURSTS OUT THE FRONT...but he stayed in there. It was strange to see and to think, "Hey, that's someone else's foot."

Also today, Melonie--our guidance counselor--brought me some more maternity clothes and a few baby clothes that her three month old has outgrown. I didn't ever really stop to realize that baby shirt torsos are the same size as my hand. And these are clothes designed to be worn by a human! A tiny human, but an actual human! This is kind of terrifying and also kind of awesome. At this point, the baby is 12 inches long, according to the 3D pregnancy calendar, which means he is the length of a $5 footlong. I don't think I'll look at a sandwich the same way for a while.

Brandon's job interview went pretty well. We're waiting to hear the results, and I'm going to be biting my nails until we find out. I just want him to have a job so I know that everything is okay. Regardless of where it is, if it's a job and he's happy with it, I will be too. But I'm not moving until the baby comes!

Unimportant Information

Things that have been going on, healthwise:

I was put on medication for my blood pressure, which was high. The first medication they gave me was your basic beta blocker, which apparently interacts with my inhaler, which they didn't know I had. So they switched me to methyldopa, which has dropped the BP numbers and left me with no unpleasant side effects! Which is good, because the first drug made my head tingle.

My next doctor's visit is my glucose test where they check for gestational diabetes. I can't eat any sugar the day of that visit. HOW WILL I MAKE IT THROUGH MY CLASSES?! Actually, probably with little trouble. After that visit I will have to go once every two weeks for a checkup until June, I think, when I start going every week. This is going to be so weird.

Things that have been going on, otherwise:

We had a lovely trip to San Francisco. I did a lot of walking and we saw all the stuff we wanted to see, and on the whole it was just really enjoyable. Nice, considering this is our last big trip for God knows how long. You can't travel with children. I firmly believe that after being on planes and in public with small children (see also: facebook status update about children roaring like dinosaurs).

Brandon is leaving for Boston tomorrow for a job interview. Wish him luck!

There was a painter in SF who had the most gorgeous paintings of his daughter that I wanted to buy. I can't remember his name; it was one word, started with a T, and we didn't buy one because we are broke and Brandon said it would be odd to have paintings of a small black girl in our house. If anyone finds this guy's name I will love you.