Still growing....

I finally tracked down a water aerobics class this week. After serious effort psyching myself up, convincing myself I was going to have a lovely time chillin with the old ladies and rocking the pregnant bikini, turns out the start date is postponed until June 14th. That means I have to hold on to this false excitement for 2 more weeks. We'll see if I'm capable. In the meantime, I found a community fitness center for $25 a year! Sweetness. Turns out lunges are more difficult when you're carrying 20 extra pounds of weight. I've got a long way to go; better to start now, I suppose, than wait till post baby.

My friend Gullx was in town for a few days; the mini golf and horse racing cured what ails me. It's weird to think that these are all likely lasts... last time I'll see her before I have a baby. Last time I'll be normal before my life changes forever. I'm mentally very baby centric right now. I can't wrap my head around what life will be like. I feel like A and I are in such a good place right now, so happy, and I'm a little terrified of changing that.

Maybe the mumu's are just going to my head.

Progress

I am much more proud of the basement progress than my own. This photo shows the first coat of paint, which is definitely ::bright:: Too bright? Hope not, cuz we're stuck with it. A wanted "Bold" and that it is. As a side note, this photo was taken without a flash, using the "vibration reduction" feature of my camera lens. It works surprising well! Still a little blurry, but the w/VR and w/out VR pics are markedly different.

As for my progress:

This is from 2 days ago. I checked the scale today: I have gained 3 pounds in 3 days. Seriously. Many pregnant women say "chuck the scale" while pregnant. I am the exact opposite: I freaking chart my weight gain. I have a little line on a graph, which is consistently higher than the recommended weight gain. ::le sigh:: I try, I really do. I can now tell when I'm going to have a big weight spike, because I have a big jump in hunger and a couple days later *voila* the scale is scary again. I know you gain weight while pregnant, I'm fine with that, I just wish I could stay between the little lines on the graph that define "normal" weight gain. Being above normal in most things is great, this just doesn't happen to be one of them.

New Camera Joy

There is quite possibly nothing better. When we have a second child, all I need to do is buy a new camera to insure there are plenty of pictures taken of her/him too. I feel like Ansel Adams, this baby's sweet.

Seriously Overdue

While I have an excuse that lasted until last Friday, I don't have one that works for the nearly week that has passed since.

Awkward Moment Yesterday:

I went to the library to return a book and decided I should see if I needed any others while I was there. I got all excited about a new geochemistry textbook, then I saw a nice text on mass spectometry, then one on quantitative geochemistry.... soon, I had accumulated 6 more books for my office bookshelves. That's the beauty of college libraries, you can check things out for so long you move them to the bookshelf and soon forget you don't own them.

Anyway, as I was checking out, a prof. from our department came in to buy coffee (coffee shop in the library, how cool is that). He took one look at me and said "Now it's official". I had no idea what he was talking about and assumed it was the mountain of books I was checking out. As in "Now it's official, you're a geek". So I say "Yep, gotta load up" as I'm walking out of the library. Then I hear him say "Congratulations" when I'm already out the door. Doh. Did I just refer to being pregnant as "loading up"?

I have ranted on here before about the oddity of "congratulations" when you're pregnant, but I just discovered a new use. It's a helpful way to realize someone is talking about your pregnancy and not your latest hobby.

Side note: I ordered a new camera. This is to replace the camera that DH somehow managed to soak in beer. This is a very nice camera (by my slightly poverty stricken standards) and I will soon be posting lovely, lovely pictures. It shipped yesterday. I can hardly contain myself. For anyone interested, it's a Nikon D60, a very low end digital SLR, but an SLR nonetheless.



Okay, I thought I was done, but I have one more thing. I try to keep blog posts short, because who wants to read a treatise every time they log on. Anyway, I think I have the beginnings of being a bad mother. While sometimes I find it cool to feel her kick, often I find myself thinking "Seriously, I'm trying to concentrate. Save it." Everyone I talk to loves feeling the baby kick. I do like knowing that she's alive and, apparently, well. But I don't really get the beauty in feeling a creature kicking your internal organs. There's the novelty, I suppose. But I'm not all dough-eyed every time. And from talking to other mothers, this makes me a callous person. I'll work on enjoying it more.

Finito.

Finally. I have been doing nothing but thinking about the marine uranium cycle for the past two weeks. And it is finally done. To be fair, I will give it one more read through when I have fresh eyes in the morning, but I'm tempted to email it out tonight so I don't even have to do that. I'll restrain myself, though. I really thought I was on track to not have to cram at the end, but I was very, very wrong. As of Monday I was not certain it would be finished. Rarely do I have that feeling. And when my advisor stepped into my office on Monday morning to ask where my paper was, that didn't help. He was visibly peeved when I said I thought I had until the end of the semester (i.e. tomorrow).

Anyway, while it's not my best work ever, it's worlds better than what I feared on Monday. I'll just have to wait and see if the committee agrees.

A's out of town, so I had to gloat to someone. And unwind before crashing into my bed. If you've been on here lately you've probably noticed I'm a week overdue on updating my food of the week. That's how busy I've been!

Ummm.... crib.....

I logged on this morning to post a pic of our crib. And, truly, to avoid writing this odious paper about the uranium cycle. I'm sure most of you don't need details about why this is odious, the words "uranium cycle" are sufficient. To me, "uranium cycle" sounds exciting, but I'll spare you the details of why it's not as exciting as it sounds.

Anyway, the crib.

A and I put this together on Sunday and I think it's just beautiful. Exactly what I was hoping for, matches our trim, not overly cutesy. (Thanks, Mom!) One of the sides is cracked, but Albeebaby is sending another piece, so I'm happy. And as you can tell, it has become the much needed storage bin for all the baby crap we're accumulating.

But here's what this post has turned into. I logged on, and saw TONS of traffic on this site (yes, I consider 10 people a ton). Not sure why, but I like to have some idea of whether anyone in the ether is reading my rambling; I think I tend to hold my tongue more when I know that they are. And it was all coming from A real baby peach, a blog I discovered in my first weeks of pregnancy. The writer of this blog is due about a week before me, and therefore I felt a kinship with her blog from my early days (because 3 months is ages ago). I got a post from her a few days ago that she had discovered my blog, and my little heart went pitter patter. And now she has passed on an award to me, and I feel very humbled:


The citation reads:
"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…"

Which is tricky, because I'm not much of a blog reader. And my favorite blog, Dooce, is widely read and doesn't really need an additional award. The other blog that I read, A real baby peach, nominated me, so it feels like a copout to just bounce it back. So I'll start with A Midwest Girl. Let me get back to you on the other 2, I don't want to make this decision lightly.

Anyway, in light of this prestigious honor, the crib suddenly feels so unimportant. But lord knows, baby's gotta sleep!