Pregnancy Things I Love and Not-so-much

First, the Love:

• Feeling like it's perfectly legitimate to negate the benefits of my 2-mile lunch walk by grabbing a hot chocolate on the way back to the office
• Cute little boy clothes!
• Good excuses to buy things
• A reason to set Kevin remodeling (he's a great sport)
• Realizing there's always another little person with me, especially when he moves

And the things that are Not-so-much:

• Being exhausted at two o'clock in the afternoon, or at eight o'clock in the evening
• Not ever finding that comfortable sleeping position, even after taking up 2/3 of the bed
• Realizing there's so much I have to do
• Kicks in the lungs with accompanying lightheadedness
• Severe hampering of my exercise rituals (although I think the change to standard time is also to blame)
• Tons of decisions. Who has time for that?

And just for fun:

A baby bump.

A Twitter Type of Journal

I've noticed that between working two jobs and being in my third trimester, I have little time or energy for much else. Facebook has of late become my preferred form of social communication because it's shorter and easier to keep up on than blogging. And even then I'm not very good at keeping up on it.

But as I progress further along and begin to look forward to this baby, I want to have some way of recording my thoughts, intentions, and insights. Which is why I purchased a small one of these yesterday.

Kevin has one of these and often writes very short blurbs in it. He calls it "tweeting his journal," referring to Twitter, which allows updates that are 140 characters (I'm @BristleconePine, btw).

As far as journal writing goes, I think that's something I can do as well. Yesterday's was the first entry: After a remarkable weekend full of friends and family, I feel so much love and support. I decided that my problems are much easier to handle, and I'll take my own problems any day over those others must face.

Baby Hungry, Baby Delicious

Every week I get an email from an infant formula company updating me on my baby's growth at his week of gestation. At first, he was as big as a pomegranate seed, then a grape. Later he was about the size of a small peach, then an orange.

They have to know what they're doing to the minds of me and pregnant women all over the country. Because my pregnancy has left me craving tart fruit and I am very susceptible to the power of suggestion, I can't but help feel the impressions of all these delicious fruits that are the same size as my baby. When I was sick with the stomach flu awhile back, the baby was about the size of a large grapefruit. And you know? Grapefruit was all I wanted to eat. Kevin was skeptical that it was the right sick food, but it was, and I ate the whole thing in about 10 minutes after not eating anything for days.

Last week the email said the baby is the size of a little pineapple. Can you guess what delicious fruit I've been craving all week? I'm thinking of nicknaming the baby "Little Pineapple."

October Crafts

I don't have a lot of time or skill for crafts, but occasionally, sitting at a computer all day gets to me and I want to get around to actually doing something. So, this is something that's like my kind of craft.

Should I tell you the supplies cost me $4 and it took about four minutes to make? Hmmm. Wouldn't want to destroy the mystique... if there is any.

A couple of weeks ago, I borrowed a hat knitting kit from a friend of a friend. I signed up with a Christian group to knit hats for the homeless, so I decided to make these youth hats. I've also made a couple of baby hats (one pictured on the right) for keeping or giving away. It feels good to actually *make* something for service with my hands, and it works very well for making me feel like I can get something done while I unwind.

Fall in Big Cottonwood Canyon

This photo doesn't do the leaves justice, but it's the reddish-orange ones I love the most. A perfect drive.

Sleeping Lessons

I've been playing this video over and over because I don't own it, but I love it. Maybe it's my pensive October mood, or just a feeling that I get from all of the contention out there, particularly the will so many have to dominate over others to build themselves up. But I've been thinking a lot about this, and I love the power in this song.

Sleeping Lessons (The Shins)

Go without,
Till the need seeps in
You low animal,
Collect your novel petals for the stem.

And glow.
Glow.
Melt and flow.
Eviscerate your fragile frame.
And spill it out on ragged floor.
A thousand different versions of yourself.

And if the old guards still offend,
They got nothing left on which you depend.
So enlist every ounce
Of your bright blood.
And off with their heads.

Jump from the hook.
You're not obliged to swallow anything you despise.
See, those unrepenting buzzards want your life,
And they got no right.
As sure as you have eyes,
They got no right.

Just put yourself in my new shoes.
And see that I do all I do.
Because the old guard still offends.
(Their pudgy hearts and slimy hands)
They got nothing left on which we depend.
So enlist every ounce
Of your bright blood.
And off with their heads.

Jump from the hook.
You're not obliged to swallow anything you despise,
That you despise.

25 Weeks

Here y'all go. (This is a different door, btw. Not that I would care about a thing like that.)