Flourish Bracelets!

Over the summer, I ordered 2 leather bracelets from Flourish Leather on Etsy. I love them! I thought I'd post a photo of the bracelets admiring the progress on the the new World Trade Center. Thanks, Danielle! Check out her blog and coo and goo over her adorable new bebe, Lotus!

Some scenes from the neighborhood

 The other Saturday I woke up really early (9 A.M., I realize that will be a late morning once the baby comes), and so I ventured out to get coffees and a cross word puzzle or something. Not only was there not a single other person on the street, but there were only 3 cars parked on the main drag though our neighborhood. This is NYC, people. This kind of crap never happens. I thought the apocalypses had occurred a few months early and no one told me.

 Ryan posed for this cute photo. Little known fact: Ryan is a black belt!

 Sometimes on Saturdays, they close off the streets in Williamsburg so that you can meander through them. Someone dumped a load of sidewalk chalk in the middle so that people could graffiti. I made this.

 Just read it. It was a joke posted on a fence. I think it was a joke. I hope.

 Those little lines on the towers were the names of everyone that died.

24 weeks!

I cannot believe I am 6 months pregnant. The funny thing that no one tells you about being pregnant, you're actually pregnant for 10 months. Only 9 calendar months, but 10, 4-week months. So I still have 4 months to go from today. Good thing, because we haven't done a single thing to get ready for the baby except register, clean like crazy people and read about pregnancy and childbirth. Registering for a baby wasn't as much like registering for our wedding like we thought it would be. For our wedding, we were able to imagine what we wanted and needed and how we'd use it. Our wedding registry is still active and we buy ourselves things from it for birthdays and anniversaries. We can even still edit it to add new things, like when new colors and pieces of fiesta ware come out so that we can add them to our collection!

But a baby? what the hell does a baby need? I always thought I would just register for a boatload of onesies, diapers and wipes. Does a baby really need a mobile that stimulates her eyeballs and helps her focus? Does she really need a bottle warmer if I'm going to exclusively breast feed? She doesn't need a bassinet, I'll just empty out a dresser drawer for her. But now, I find myself over thinking a lot. I want her to be the smartest baby on the planet. Will a toy that turns her into a Mensa member at age 3 be worth it? Absolutely. What if my boobs run dry and I'm not lucky enough to breast feed? I better make sure that I get some bottles and formula that someone else is willing to buy for us. Sleeping in a drawer? That's funny to think about, and I'm sure wouldn't make a difference in the long run if it had a real mattress in it, but the American Pediatric Association says that sleeping in a crib from the get go is the way to go. Well, if they say so.

Also, this week, I graduated to real maternity clothes. Long shirts and the belly band weren't cutting it anymore. Maternity pants might be the greatest thing ever. I don't understand why all other pants aren't just made this way to begin with! One of the maternity dresses I bought doubles as a nursing outfit, so I'll be able to wear it even longer.

The past 2 weeks I've been craving:
- hot chocolate
- pecan pie
- stir fried bok choy with general tso's sauce
- tom kha gai
- almond joy
- sweet tarts (gross, I don't even like sweet tarts)
- fried pickles
- cheese straws
- reese's cups

Today, I'm off for Veteran's Day, but Ryan is not :( so I'm going to redeem my birthday gift, a prenatal massage! I've never had a professional massage at a spa, so I'm really excited, and a little nervous! I requested a woman masseuse, because males always remind me of this guy that used to live upstairs from my friends who carried around lotion in a holster on his belt. Ha.

22 weeks

Oops. Oh, well.

And, she decided to pop out! Big time! People no longer think I'm just fat, they actually offer me seats on the train (except the 7 train, those people were raised by wolves. Seriously.)

We've had a busy 3 weeks. I had a second anatomy scan, which wasn't necessary, but since my insurance covered it, I decided to go for it. Plus, any opportunity to see the little potato is a good one. She's perfectly healthy, but a little small. I'm making an appointment with a nutritionist to see if we can bulk her up without tipping me over the scales, which I'm dangerously close to. Since I'm not puking on a daily basis, I'm just having a little pregnant party with myself. This is not good for someone like me who is addicted to food.

In the past 3 weeks, I've been craving:
- vanilla ice cream (which is weird because I think vanilla is boring)
- Tabasco sauce
- taco salad
- chili con corne wafel from Wafels & Dinges
- corn on the cob
- baked potato
- lasagna

The only other thing out of the ordinary that I've been experiencing is really bizarre dreams. I had one where a co worker's twin sister was dating the man who is the voice of Skooter from the Muppet Babies. They met at Applebee's and went camping. Also, he was a dwarf. In another dream, a little boy taught his pet hamster to speak. It said beautifully poetic things and met the president. The 4 of us went para sailing around the world together.

I'll stop eating pecan pie before I go to bed.

19 weeks

Really, it's just the shirt that's making me look like there's a belly there. Still no real, discernible bump.

This week was a real headache. Literally. I had two killer ones and took Tylenol to quell them. Tylenol is the only painkiller you can take during pregnancy, because everything else threatens to constrict blood vessels to the baby. I never take Tylenol though because it tears up your liver. I feel badly taking it because it might also be shredding little Flannery O'Conor Flannery's* biggest organ as well. It's a hard pill to swallow - pun intended. I've tried all of the other remedies; walking, napping, water, scalp massage, etc. Nothing but the Tylenol works, and even then, only the pain goes away. I can still feel the pulsating sensation in my skull. I called the Dr. today, but had to leave her a message because she was delivering a baby. I asked her how often it was safe to take Tylenol. Some other googling offered that a half a cup of caffeinated coffee is safe for relieving a headache, so I tried that today, but it didn't work either. Any Mamas out there have any answers?

You may also notice my lovely Belly Band. It's a garment that you wear at the top of your pants, like a pull-on belt, that allows you to wear your pants un-zipped without them falling to your ankles. It's the best thing ever. I throughly plan on wearing after pregnancy, especially at Thanksgiving, and Ryan asked for one.

This week in cravings:
- strawberry soft serve ice cream from Ameri-stop. I have no idea why, but what I do know is that they only serve it on Sunday
- crab rangoon
- Tom Kha Gai (acquired!)
- creamy fish chowder (?!?!)
- almond joy
- stuffed shells
- cheez-its
- nutty bars (scored! a lovely co-worker came to the rescue!)

next week, week 20! Half way!

18 weeks - it's a...

 GIRL!

This week was pretty exciting. We found out we are having a girl, and more importantly, that she couldn't be healthier. She has every organ that she's supposed to, and all of her bones are growing the right length. The appointment for the anatomy scan was not at all like everyone told me it would be. First of all, they asked me to pee before going in. I was surprised, but relieved (pun intended). Also, the ultrasound tech performing the scan was really difficult to understand through an incredibly thick accent. I barely understood anything she said other than, "all healthy," and "it's a girl."

3 days later I had a regular check up with the baby doc. Good news - she gave me the all clear to eat soft cheeses, including goat cheese and blue cheese as long as they're made with pasteurized milk. Yay! There are 3 schools of thought on the soft cheese front; that you can't eat any soft cheese, that you can eat it as long as it's made with pasteurized milk, or than you can eat any cheese as long as it's heated to boiling. I'm so glad that my lovely counselor went with the easiest of these 3 choices. Bad news - I've gained too much weight. 12 pounds total. She informed me (for the first time) that I should only gain 25 pounds during this pregnancy, and 12 pounds is a lot to have gained so far for not even being half way there. Her suggestion was to simply quit eating so many carbs and not to drink my calories. Easier said than done, lady.

Other than that, the weird food cravings haven't ceased. This week was brought to you by:
- Keebler sugar wafers
- Apple cinnamon cereal bars
- a tomato sandwich (white wonder bread, tomatoes, mayonnaise)
- fast food fish filet sandwich (say that 10x fast)
- orange hi-C
- corn in a cup*

Not as many as last week, but they're just getting weirder as time goes on.

You might be happy to know that Ryan and I resolved our differences in regards to the dishwasher situation. I've decided to just relax about it and let him load and unload when he gets the chance. Why was I fighting about doing the dishes?

This coming week looks like a lot of rain. I'll be staying indoors mostly, eat low-carb soup and watching the presidential debates. What about you?

*OMG, corn in a cup. There is a phenomenon you may or may not have heard of yet called "Mexican Street Corn," or sometimes, "Elote." This entails a grilled ear of corn on the cob, rubbed with mayonnaise, rolled in cotija or queso fresco crumbles, then drizzled with lime juice and sprinkled with cayenne. SO DELICIOUS. At our local weekly food gathering, Smorgasburg (get it? a smorgasbord in Williamsburg?) a genius family took it upon themselves to scrape the kernels off the corn, and mix all of the ingredients in a cup so that you can eat it with a spoon. Ryan still prefers his on the cob, but I enjoy the uninteruptted bites I can shovel in with the freed corn in my hand. If you don't have corn in a cup near you at any street festivals, I highly suggest you find the nearest Mexican neighborhood and get some Elote on the weekend. It will change your corn eating habits, I promise.

17 weeks! Tomorrow is the big day!

Well, not the big day, but the day we find out if it's a boy or a girl! At first, I didn't want to know, I wanted the surprise. I wanted the baby to be born and hear Ryan yell, "It's a...!!!" Also, if you don't know what you're having, people will give you gender-neutral baby items. If you have a second baby that's the opposite gender, your boy won't have to use a My Little Pony blanket or your girl won't have to wear a coat with trucks and hammers on it. EVERYONE else in the world has encouraged me to find out. The surprise just comes 5 months earlier. If I don't like the way I feel after I find out, we can keep it a secret for the second baby.

So tomorrow's appointment is called an Anatomy Scan. In addition to finding out if the baby wears bows or bow ties, the ultra sound technician will make sure the baby has 2 lungs, 2 kidneys, etc. I'm told I need to show up with a full bladder, as if my bladder wasn't full enough already ALL THE TIME. I never drink anything at work after 3 P.M., so that after I go to the bathroom at 5 P.M. when the workday ends, I can ride the 2 trains I take home without peeing all over the other poor riders. It's especially torturous if the trains are crowded and I have to stand. I can't wait to show enough that people offer me their seat. I digress. When we show up at the doctor tomorrow, and if I feel like I'm going to geyser right there in the office, I'm allowed to ask them to check all the parts that require a full bladder, pee, then come back for the rest. This is the longest ultrasound we'll have in our pregnancy. If I had my way, I'd get an ultrasound every day. I love watching the little potato kick and punch me from the inside. At the last ultrasound, 4 weeks ago, it looked like he or she was pumping it's legs like it was on an exercise bicycle. I still can't feel it yet.

I've been craving things like crazy. Nothing too weird yet, like pickles and ice cream together at the same time, but just really strong, hungry urges for certain things. You know when you're hungry and you get a taste for something? Like, when it's almost time for lunch, and you think about what you're going to have so you start counting down the seconds until you get to eat it? It's like that only times a thousand. When I was a Weight Watcher, which I had to quit because they don't allow pregos, it's unhealthy, I learned tricks to deal with cravings. When I wanted ice cream, I would eat yogurt. It's cold, smooth and sweet and when I'm finished eating it, I've forgotten about the ice cream. Now, that ice cream is down the hatch without giving yogurt a glance. Other times, when I craved a cheeseburger for lunch, I would eat a healthier sandwich. Now, if I manage to actually eat the healthy things first, I don't so easily forget the thing I really wanted. In no particular order, here is, shamelessly, the things that sounded really good this week:
- grits
- breakfast sausage
- shrimp scampi
- cafe latte
- nacho cheese sauce (the fake, neon orange kind, a la stadiums and movie theaters)
- pumpkin pie
- chili cheese dog from the roach coach
- sauteed mushrooms
- cherry danish
- fried mozzarella sticks
- peanut butter
- cheesy bread from papa johns
- cheeseburger
- zeppole (never had one, but it was described to me and it sounded great)
- olives
- Golden Grahams
- strawberry ice cream

I've noticed some bizarre mood swings, too. I got upset with Ryan because he puts dishes in the dishwasher incorrectly. It's not his fault. He didn't grow up with a dishwasher. I get weepy at sad commercials. Technically, I always have, but now I have real tears falling down my cheeks when I see ads for adopting puppies and children from 3rd world countries who don't have clean water. Friday night, we attended a lecture my Melissa Harris-Perry, my favorite TV journalist whose show we watch every weekend morning in our pajamas on our futon. Just seeing her so close to us made me swell with joy. Of all the celebrities I've seen in person in NYC since moving here, she's by far the best yet. I also had a dream that at birth, the baby weighed 13 pounds, and our OB "suggested" that we have a C-section. "Suggest?!?!?!?" Ugh, my poor va-jay-jay actually hurt when I woke up to the thought of a 13 lb. progeny.

I've also been tired. I scarf down my lunch on my 20 minute break, then sleep for an hour at lunch. It actually works out really well.

I'll be sure to let everyone know tomorrow what the verdict is!