Things Not to Say to a Pregnant Woman

A collection from over the years:

• I'm sure the extra curves are just muscle (but that's a sweet thought, right?)
• See this weight spike here on your chart?  That's the day you split the bagged salad with your friend you were just telling me about.
• Before your ultrasound appointment, please drink 4 glasses of water.  No bathroom breaks.
• You're 4 months pregnant?  Oh my goodness- you're not even showing yet!
• I'm sorry- your ultrasound appointment was on Monday.

So here's a funny story.  Mimi has a cold, and hasn't been sleeping well.  Now I have the cold and haven't been sleeping well. However, we got our whole family out the door by 7:30, dressed and breakfasted, dropped Mimi off at my sister's to play, and pulled into the hospital parking garage by 8:15.  At the check in desk, she says "Oh- I see your appointment was on Monday."  "Hmm...she told me Thursday."  "Oh really?  Let me check something."  So she proceeds to check us in and sends us down the hall.  

After filling out all our paperwork, and waiting about half an hour, the medical imaging receptionist comes over "I'm sorry- since you don't have an appointment, we might be able to squeeze you in at 10:30 (It was 9:00).  Maybe."  Hmm...if I don't have an appointment, why did they check us in?  And since you weren't even OPEN on Monday, why did someone schedule me for that day?  And since you always give reminder calls, why didn't I receive one?  "I really don't know dear, I'm very sorry- there's a direct line to scheduling right there next to your elbow."  

SO, we'll go back next Wednesday...and please, please never tell a pregnant woman with a full bladder, a horrible head cold,  and very, very little sleep "I'm sorry, your appointment was 2 days ago, we just forgot to ever tell you that."  

I'm pretty sure all I need is a bath and a little carton of Dibs, and I'd be a new woman!  

We've Been Making Memories

*edited: photo links are fixed, thanks guys!*


We've been over the mountains for the past week. The Cascade mountain range act like a giant filter to squeeze out all the water that blows in from the Puget Sound and the Pacific ocean, so while the West part of the state has rain forests and mild weather year-round the Eastern part is sunny and dry in the summer, with cold winters. (i.e., the Eastern part has actual seasons.)

My parents rented out three big 'ol houses near a big 'ol lake, and filled them full of family and friends. Yes- on the last evening, everyone got together for dinner and that was hamburgers for 25! Lucky for LoLo and I (the resident cooks) our brothers volunteered to head up the cooking crew for the last night. Before counting heads :)

We've been coming here for years, it's such a fun tradition. It's getting so big, I don't know what will happen in the future, but MAN has it been fun to get everyone together. This little "resort" community has so much to do- boats, ski-doos, mini golf, a beach, tennis, pools, lots of hills and roads to bike around on, basketball, volleyball, a little farmers market across the road, and on and on. This is our first time in a few years with ALL the siblings here, and that's been a real treat too.

The kids have been inseparable- Aunt LoLo went way over the top and made new dresses for all the girls so they could match. Here's Ming-Wai and Ernie in their red and white dresses (do you agree with me that they're pretty hard to tell apart from the back? The joys of having cousins with genetically identical mothers :)

Ernie and Mimi playing at the beach. We were out there every morning by 9:30, before the crowds. For some reason, the crowds thought that 72 or 75 was too cold to go to the beach. Excuse me? 75 degrees is about as good as our summer afternoons get at home. It's FINE beach weather :)

Mimi playing mini golf. She was pretty good at this- whack the ball off the tee as hard as she could, toddle over to grab her ball, then toddle over to the hole. She'd carefully place the ball a few inches from the hole and smack it in. Yay!!

This was Ming Wai and Ernie's favorite perch at night- after dinner they'd split a popsicle and sit at the very corner of the lawn. We had a great lot, right at an intersection with a stop sign. Ernie figured it was her duty to stick her hand out and yell "STOP!!!!!" at all the cars whose drivers, obviously, couldn't read as well as she could.

It's been such a fun time, but it's time to be home! Just a week left until Ernie and I start Kindergarten together, so there will be plenty to keep us busy this last week of summer.

What a Girl Wants

Do you want to know one of the reasons I never told y'all I was pregnant?  Your ignorance of the fact was the only thing saving you from my daily declarations of despair.  It's true.  Now that you know, all I want to say is:

• I'm so tired of being hungry.  I eat every hour, on the hour, and I am sick of every bit of food in this house.  I made peanut butter balls, and they were AMAZING because one little chunk of peanut butter and honey, dipped in chocolate, kept me full for an hour.  How efficient!
• I would like a Wendy's frosty, a package of marshmallow pinwheel cookies, some fried chicken from Albertsons, and some kimchee.  Please.  
• My husband is urgently reminding me that I only want a bite or two of each, so PLEASE Myrnie, don't purchase these items at Costco.  And then he reminds me of the great Fruit Snack debacle of 2004, when after weeks of pining I finally caved and bought them at Costco...and could only eat half a bag before they made me nauseous.
• After spending two hours in a car, without food, ferrying family members around towns, I was nearly in tears by the time we got home tonight.  I ate tortilla chips dipped in apple butter, because they were closest to where I was standing to prepare dinner.  (I had only planned on spending 45 minutes TOPS in that car.)  

Nesting is starting to kick in, on my "up" days.  I cleaned the upstairs playroom with the girls for TWO AND A HALF hours yesterday.  Yikes.  We organized the toys, recycled a tub full of papers, sent all the Tupperware back to the kitchen...I even got out the crevice tool and vacuumed the baseboards and window sills.  The girls were shocked when I was true to my new mandate: You get out one toy, you play, you put it back.  I sat next to the toy cabinet for an hour enforcing this rule!  (Please don't let them know it's because I was too tired and sore to get up.)  But, in my defense, this is the "upstairs" toys- things they don't get to play with unsupervised, like board games, art supplies, and play dough.  

(I love the way Ernie wears her headbands)

The husband swears I did this last time too, but I don't remember being so miserably hungry all the time!  So tell me, moms: What do you keep around for emergency snacking and meals?  

Walking and Heart Beats

What I did this afternoon, while the girls played

You guys are so fun, I love sharing happy news with you :)  Thanks for all the well-wishes.  I am half a week from being officially "second trimester" and am so happy to have energy and enthusiasm back.  I didn't realize how sluggy I've been...until I wasn't.  heh.

I went for a walk tonight for the first time in a long time, and stopped to say hello to a friend from our former congregation who is expecting her fourth in September.  She proudly showed me around her garden, and we had a great chat.  I've been realizing that I'm an introvert (which I knew) and that I've been lonely...and you know what, my friends have too.  Definitely need to be better about reaching out and contacting people- we got so wrapped up in our own concerns the past few months, with my pregnancy and my husband's new company.  I've been lucky to make some amazing friends in this area, and I want to keep them!

My second "baby" appointment was this afternoon- it was amazing to hear that tiny heart beat for the first time.  The baby was lined up perfectly with my own bloodways, and we could listen to both our heart beats together.  I had to laugh to myself- you and me kid, we're in this together.  It's a little weird to me to be in a new duo separate from everybody- it's just me and the baby, growing together, for the next 6 months until we finally get to meet.  That feels very holy to me, as it should feel.  It was nice to hear the heart beat- it always make the pregnancy real to me.

Do I Look Fat to You?

Aunt LoLo says I don't. But she also says I don't look pregnant, so then I whack her up side the head and go eat another piece of pie. Because that's the appropriate response to darn near ANYTHING when you're 3 months pregnant.

Although so many of you have written to me to say "Haha! You sound just like you're pregnant!" (See: copious mentions of food aversions and sloth-like behavior) this hardly seems like an announcement, but hey! Now it's official! (And after realizing that my baby grew from the size of a green olive to the size of a PLUM the last two weeks...well, that would explain the sudden need to cook, wouldn't it? Sakes alive, I've been hungry!!) And, umm....this ALSO explains my sudden insanity.

To everyone with whom I have day to day contact....I am truly sorry for how crabby I am, and please don't try to speak to me until I've eaten. It's not pretty.