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April 30, 2007
bend and not break
me at 21 wks
full of tapas. yum. and in the one of 2 maternity shirts i've worn. i am currently in love with this shirt. it makes me look a little bigger than normal clothes, but so it goes.
ben is off at pete's show. pete's band is in town and I can't go because of the smoke issue. though it works out as i have a midterm tomorrow and staying out to midnight or so tonight would not be the best idea. but i did go out to dinner with everyone and it was excellent. i had sangria and it was yummy. i love sangria. and yes, i stayed without my dr's rec of 1 glass of wine, which is like 1.5-2 glasses of sangria. as i look more and more pregnant, it makes me want to drink in public just to dare people to say something. : )
once you get use to going to bed with someone for, well, many years, it is weird to go to bed without them. just me and the puppy and my note cards tonight. i've actually gotten a fair amount of productive studying done during my 5 miles on the elliptical in the mornings and on the train friday and monday. stupid memorization. i will be glad to be done with my last core as it seems that my days of straight up memorization will be over.
some days i am reminded why ben and i are such a good match. we just are zen about things, including the child. people like to ask if we are excited/terrified. neither, really. we are happy, but we rarely go to either extreme. This is something we want and are happy. And are very thankful that it was easy and has been easy and hope it will continue to be easy.
Posted by christina at 9:58 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2007
knee bone's connected to the leg bone
so there definitely is not enough room in my body for a child and food. I cannot eat a normal amount of food without feeling like i am going to burst. It is that feeling people get after Thanksgiving dinner where you eat more that you think you can. This is how i feel after any meal. It is annoying because i get hungry, eat, feel horrible, not eat for hours, cycle starts all over again.
despite what my scale says, my stomach is quite prominent. though it hides well in most clothes as a woman at work invited me out to a bar for drinks for her birthday. I had other plans so i didn't have to explain why i couldn't go to a bar. though i doubt i would have explained and went with the other plans excuse even if i wasn't leaving to see thomas for china food and pan's labyrinth. The movie was excellent.
i just am now starting to dip into my maternity clothes. i really only have any sort of maternity clothes because my awesome family has been buying me things. i really have got to get out and get some black pants. i have little motivation because i am still pretty much fitting in the ones i have as long as they can sit under my belly. friday i wore this really cute shirt that kit got me. it is a preggers shirt, but totally is in the style of shirts are in style, so i got away with looking stylish and not pregnant.
so, our big news is that we are having a boy. i thought it was a boy so i wasn't surprised. my mom is so excited. she had already made a bunch of really cute baby clothes. she is excited about the boy as she had three girls. i am happy with a boy. i would have been happy with a girl. so would ben. i am just happy that everything is healthy, it appears, in there. i had my follow-up ultra sound to look at the heart and spine and everything looks good. he has two hand with 5 fingers each and 2 foots, one of which has 5 toes, the other i didn't get a picture of so that will be our surprise.
yes. we've named him. we easily picked out a boy's name and a girl's name months ago. i picked the boy's first. ben picked the girl's name. ben picked the boy's middle name. and we liked what each other picked. and so it was easy. but we aren't telling anyone. except pepper.
Posted by christina at 8:42 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2007
up up and away
we went down to hot springs this weekend to see my oldest friend get married. it was very nice to see my family while getting to celebrate with her. i actually got to hang with her a bit at the bridesmaid luncheon. there were lots of events and it made me so happy to have a husband, as at the rehearsal dinner it was all out of town people and so we knew no one. so we just hung out by ourselves and talked about how those crazy Louisiana people like their crawfish.
my parents house was a zoo as they just got a stit-zu puppy that is 11 weeks old now. she is so so so so so cute. rachel brought home her cat maddie and her new 8 week old kitten. these are in addition to my parent's old pets - rascal and Chloe.
there really is nothing cuter than a puppy and a kitten playing together.
so i have taken many flights in and out of ohare over the past couple of years. I have no had any real trouble since the summer of '03 when we got stuck on the plane over night. Currently, we are sitting on the ground in Indianapolis because o'hare is a cluster fuck sometimes. i understand if there is a weather issue, but today it is clear skies and for some reason we took a meandering flight over the middle of the US and now are currently stopped for fuel in indie. we now have fuel. but the door is still open and i am having not a lot of faith that we are going make the projected 7 pm landing (we were due in at 5:30). oh well, we are a lot better off than a bunch of people on this plane that are missing connections and they are unable to get booked on other flights. I think it is stupid to land as it just gives ohare the opportunity to keep us on the ground here forever. but i do like to not crash. ooo, they just closed the door. yeah, here we go.
Posted by christina at 6:08 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2007
head and heart
rachel's kitty.
when rachel came to visit during her spring break, she brought her kitty. i love her kitty. her kitty loves to eat plants and really loved our row of plants. it really amused me.
life is busy as i try to "work" and do school and grow a child and take care of the ones i have.
we did the "big" ultrasound this week. I watch way too many medical shows. As i laid there with the probe on my stomach watching the screen, i really didn't make the connection that the screen image was not just a tv show, but coming from my tummy. i still don't really believe it. though it was seriously cool to see the kid's spine on the ultrasound. i didn't know it would be so visible. so everything looks good, but it seems we went a little early for them to get a good look at the heart, so i'm going back in two weeks.
courtney is getting married next weekend. crazy crazy. i'm quite excited to see my h.s. friends. i got the "bridesmaid" letter today. the husbands are invited to go skeet shooting at 9 that morning. i think ben should go. he says needs his sleep. after reading that hair doing is starting at 8 am i am SO HAPPY i did not sign up for hair doing. that is a long day. hair doing at 8. lunch at 11:30. pictures at 3. wedding at 6. reception until late. it is definitely a weekend full of wedding extravaganza. it is my first wedding to be in besides my own. so that is exciting. i am also excited to be finished with worrying about fitting into the dress. but i think it will be fine.
though i am really not looking forward to talking a lot about the sack o' organs. people really like to talk about the sack o' organs and i don't really have that much to say. yes, i came down with a baby. yes, we are excited. yes, it was planned, though it happened way too fast to believe that it was as planned as some people's, but it was planned. and a surprise. maybe people will just think i've gained some weight.
i felt validated on Thursday after attending a women in public policy lunch. one of the panelist, who is older, answered a question about balancing a career and children with a word of caution that she has friends who have waited until all of their ducks were in a row (the next promotion, etc) to decided it was time to have a baby and have gotten really frustrated when it hasn't happened the first month or the third. so though i haven't questioned my decision, it reminded me that this is the right choice for me.
Posted by christina at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)
April 7, 2007
two by two
i've been replaced.
thank be to the god of classes, as the whole course debacle ended up exactly how I ended up wanting it to - with me in the morning class and not in the class of two people. so happy to have that settled.
it is so cold here. as i know it is all over the country. it keeps flurrying. i am so missing flip flop weather. oh well. soon enough.
i am excited that my tummy has now enabled me back in to some of my favorite jeans. and they are perfect for the growing tummy as they are of the fashion trend of no button (torn off top and frayed bottoms). i am still fitting into the bridesmaid dress. as it is the same size as my wedding dress, i am pretty impressed. it is tight, but looks good. part of me is excited to be able to fit as to not have had to buy another dress, but the other part wishes i would have gained enough weight that two weeks ago it would have been tight and i would have bit the bullet and just bought another dress. alas, too late now. i think it will be fine. how much bulk can I really put on in two weeks? i have been right on the 1 lb/wk target since my last dr's appt, but feel like i have ballooned in the two weeks since then (really, the two lbs went right to the front of my stomach). anyways. the dress has room for some more belly. it is the rib cage that is tight. how this is possible, I have no clue.
Posted by christina at 6:06 PM | Comments (1)
April 4, 2007
8 seconds left in overtime
me. 17 wks.
ben wonders why i just don't let him take the picture, but i love the traditional self-protrait belly shot. sometimes i look a little bigger. in the morning, smaller.
Posted by christina at 9:35 PM | Comments (0)
April 3, 2007
Sincerley, Me
SO. I'm in this very strange situation at school. I have never experienced anything like it. It started with the new quarter last week. I signed up for a persuasion course. The prof is old and amusing and very interesting. He was bewildered at the 30 people who where there the first day. It was much bigger than expected. and he was at a loss for what to do. (Why not cap the enrollment?) Anyways, he mentioned that he was teaching a history of science course in the afternoon that had very few people in it. I though it was be interesting, and so I decided to transfer into the afternoon class and leave the persuasion for next spring when it might be smaller.
So i go the first day. There are 6 people - 4 undergrads and 2 harris people from the morning session. I go the second day - just me and the other harris dude. I am perfectly happy to go back to the persuasion course. dude is also in the persuasion - i.e. history of science is his third course. The prof is willing to teach the course, but he and I are both uncomfortable with the lecturing to two students situation. Dude says that he is going to try to get into another third class, but won't know until the next class (today).
So this morning after I sat through the persuasion course, we find out he couldn't get into the econ course he wanted and instead of just finding ANOTHER COURSE so history of science can die a peaceful death, he decides that he wants to do the history of science course. of course, i am a nice person and go with it. The prof does too, though is obviously not excited about it. So we meet in the afternoon. Prof still not excited. Dude has some change of mind since noon and the end of this class and decides that, wait, maybe i should try to get into another course. Instead of just doing it (as i know the course he is looking at doesn't have a cap) he is stringing us along. It is so weird. He has no respect for my or the prof's time. The prof feels obligated to teach the course if he wants to take it. I feel obligated to stay to make it not just a one person course. though I am pretty much at the end of my rope and am really close to just saying f*ck this and telling them both that I'm taking the persuasion course. This is ridiculous! If I didn't like the prof so much, and wasn't shamelessly using the opportunity to get the 85 year old man to learn my name as to give me an A in the persuasion course which has no formal evaluation system, I totally would be e-mail them both. I am doing the readings for both classes, which is annoying since I have much less time due to the saving of the earth on Mondays and Fridays. The readings are interesting, so that makes it a little better.
So strange.
so. strange.
almost as strange as the fluttering in my lower tummy. it has been off and on all day. is it the sack o' organs? or is it stretching of the uterus? Whatever it is, IT IS STRANGE. Some people say it feels normal, but to me STRANGE. VERY STRANGE. This morning in the persuasion course, i felt it and almost flipped out. It is very similar to the feelings I had in that region before spring break during a final exam. I brushed it off as it was early (14 wks). Though most people don't sit around in a silent room staring at an exam for the 3rd time and giving their body their undivided focus. As i was not doing that over spring break nor at saving the earth, i haven't really felt it until i was back in class not distracted. Though the fluttering is distracting me now.
I just want my schedule finished.
I am love love loving commuting downtown. Even with the mean renovation to the el which is making my commute more people packed, I love sitting on the train reading. I love walking to my building. ben came down on friday for dinner and walking north across the river i had occasion to turn around and point out the building I worked in and it turned out the my one of my favorite of the skyline - the Jeweler's Building. I never looked up before. It is awesome.
Posted by christina at 8:38 PM | Comments (0)