Holiday Break

Now that I am in my 25th week, the baby is busier than ever. He is stretching, kicking, turning, poking. Not only can I feel him more often, but so can b. During our Xmas trip to San Diego this year, aunt sabrina, grandma linda and erica got to feel him too. Sometimes his movements are so big, b and I can see my stomach move (jet out and shake). According to most books he is about 12" long and weighs just a little over 1 pound. During the weeks to come, he will continue to get taller and gain weight.

This morning we signed up for a Lamaze class which starts on January 6th. The class is a 5 session course and will last for 2 1/2 hours each session. Other baby preparations include finding out that b can be put on our son's birth certificate (easily) and researching other legal issues. B and I realized that if you subtract by gestational age from the baby's due date that we have approximately 14 weeks until the baby is born. When I think of it in those terms, our son will be here even sooner. The nursery is coming along pretty well. I have been spending about 4 hours a days in there recycling papers and organizing things into piles (e.g. to give away, to throw away and to store). My goal is to reduce my stuff by about 60%. Its a grueling process, but also very liberating. Making space for our son is a GREAT incentive. B and family & friends plan on painting the nursery sometime in February. Right now (for those who have not seen it) the baby's room is an electric green. We would like to bring the color down a a tad. And now that we have chosen a themed crib set we have something to work towards.

tummy shots

ok, so several of you have asked for tummy shots. here are some g rated ones of V this morning at 24 weeks!

also, some of you may have noticed V's freudian slip in her cravings post ("bowl"), well she did another cute one today at breakfast when she told the waitress she would like a "hoard" of hashbrowns and eggs rather than an "order." ;->

Cravings!!!!!!!!!!

(V eating a pickle in bed)

I've been discovering what my food cravings are. Some of them are cliche like pickles (I like classic mini dill pickles) and ice cream (Dryers Chocolate is where its at). How do I know they are cravings (above and beyond my usual desire for them?) Well, several days ago while B and her sister (we'll call her "S") were in Montreal, I decided to buy some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. So, I went to the store right after work and bought a pint. When I got it home, I discovered that it was a funny consistency. It looked as though it had melted and then froze again. Although I was VERY tired. I decided that this was unacceptable and that I wanted (or rather NEEDED) to eat ice cream. So, I jumped back into my car with the pint in hand to exchange it for something more acceptable. I took it to the customer service desk and then when to find another tub of ice cream. This time I focused not only on the flavor (chocolate), but also its firmness. I also, asked the customer service lady if I could open the container before taking it home. After I inspected the ice cream, I smiled and exclaimed that I was pregnant and was REALLY looking forward to eating ice cream after work. I took the Dryers chocolate ice cream home and ate a big bowel of it. YUMMY!!!! It was so. . . .creamy and chocolatey. . . and delicious!!!! I think it was the BEST ice cream I have ever eaten.

I could share having experienced similar feelings of ecstasy about the following foods: dill pickles, apple juice, fruit salad, Indian food, Kashi Harvest Wheat cereal, milk, Top Raman (Oriental flavor) and Jamba Juice ("Mango a Go Go").

Foods I don't like anymore or avoid: chicken, spicy food (except Indian food) and onions. This changes from day to day or hour to hour. Sometimes the only thing I want is a bowl of cereal and cold milk. :) -v

The World Really is Small

There was one funny thing that happenend during the scary hospital run on Wednesday... our doc that day was a very young Black woman. And I'm thinking- "cool." But she was "interesting." To start, it took her wayyyy too long to figure out that V and I were together- she didn't even catch on when she asked V "When is the last time you had sex?", and I answered. But finally we spelled it out directly to her that we were a couple in response to more sex questions (we'll save the details since family might be reading this-but feel free to ask cause it was hilarious!!). but anywayz, v was telling a little joke about the gauze she had wrapped around her tummy to hold the doppler monitors in place, and how she had first mistakenly put it around her bum like a skirt. i made a joke that she thought she was at freaknik (an AUC spring break from days past) and the doc got all sassy and said "what do you know about freaknik!?"

well, as we talked that out (i didn't really tell her all I knew about freaknik) we realized that not only had she and I both graduated from the AUC (she of course went to spelman) the same year, but she had been roomates with my good friend Zaje!! crazy crazy small world... and kind of weird to realize that my friend's old roomate had her finger up my wife's butt.

time for some new clothes...

V accepted today that it is time to temporarily retire her fav green shirt as it is now practically a half-shirt.

just a little scare...

so yesterday, we rushed to the hospital b/c V was bleeding below. shout out to lauren who totally covered me at work without hesitation!!! luckily everything is totally fine and the baby was kickin up a storm throughout the ordeal! but i could not believe the overwhelming sense of terror i felt, especially at first. and just how much of my fear was about the lil baby inside...in a weird way i cherish that day b/c it was the the beginning of really feeling like a mommy. -b

testing the feed

just trying to see what that does...

it's my potty, and i can pee if i want to...

that is V's new motto. she is up every 30 min or so these days, especially at night. poor sweetie. but she has told the little one inside that it is all worth it!