Alien creature!!

Last night I sacrificed some time to sit with Mark in front of the boob tube. I felt some strong movement so I lifted my shirt to see if I could see it. Sure enough, you could see my belly moving! GROSS!! Mark saw it - it freaked him out. There's definitely something in there!

:) Fun!

Check-up!

So I went to the doctor Monday and the doctor said 4 lbs in 4 weeks was too much and it puts me on track to gain 55 lbs. which is too much. I got upset because it is what it is and he seemed to soften a bit. I said what else do you want me to do, I eat bear food and I'm walking and doing yoga. I said I can't play my sports and my body is having a very hard time adjusting to that. Hockey is very specialized you know - hockey muscles and the metabolism that hockey creates are pretty unique. That is why we all have fat all over our butts and thighs. Of course, those who also work out in other ways don't. But anyway he said yeah, hockey is difficult to play when you're pregnant. So we agreed that I'm doing all I can and it is what it is.

In three weeks I get a shot and have to do a glucose test which I am not looking forward to. I'm afraid it's going to taste yucky (the orange stuff I have to drink) and I'm going to be starving because you have to fast for 10-12 hours which is okay when you just wake up but not okay if I have to be awake for 4 hours before he draws blood. And it can cause nausea and stuff... man I've made it this far without barfing and I don't want to stop now.

Anyway, that's the latest news from me. :)

Finally, the Belly Shot!

Well, Mark has several belly shots, but this is the most recent. It looks a little bigger from this angle than it really is. Or maybe not. I don't know any more. Sometimes it feels humongous, but it doesn't look that big to me. Other times I'm like trying to drive an 18-wheeler in reverse. In the dark. With no eyes.


And here's a close-up of me...


...and the world's cutest cat, Ike. Who, at Fintan's birth, will weigh twice the baby. And probably try to squish him. For fun.

Och, my legs hurt!

Yoga awakened the quad gods. The rest of me feels great! But without hockey, my quads have been underutilized and atrophying, and yoga seems to have, uh, well, let's just say it's painful to walk, go up or down stairs, get in or out of a chair, etc.

Meanwhile, here's an illustration of my 1-pound dos manos burrito. Personally I think it looks way too big, like a 9-monther. If Mark ever downloads the digital photos of my gigantic belly, we can compare...

Baby's first Yoga

"Let the light shine."

Binky & I went to our first prenatal yoga class today. It was interesting, a little funky, a little more "feel good" than actual yoga, but afterward I definitely "felt good" and my legs were definitely getting something out of it too. My arms would have felt more if i hadn't been using the Bowflex more lately.

We chose this particular place based on a friend's recommendation and also because Binky had heard of it and this particular instructor in some yoga magazines. I find that I have a pretty unsually open mind about trying new and weird things ( like acupuncture). I'm sort of in an all-time Zen mood on weekends now that school is over, and, well, why not?

A lactation consultant was there to talk about one of the yoga places' classes they have for breastfeeding. I'll probably use this woman for the first couple of weeks. Why not? Or maybe some other woman. Who knows who. The whole experience reminds me again that our bodies were designed for this, and that the newborn baby and the mother's post-natal body know what to do naturally. In our culture, it's all about the end result and not how we get there; it's all about convenience and not the Natural way or God's will or whatever you believe. It's all about formula and making excuses for commercialization and not about the natural processes and bonding and spirituality built into our genes, and our power as women to do all of this our way.

Anyway, after all that, I felt good and strong and empowered.

No pics of me yet.

Still waiting for *someone* to give me access to the pictures of me and my ginormous belly. He doesn't take them off his camera so it's a little difficult to post them.

As you all probably heard, we had a massive greater LA area power outage today. No, it was not caused by terrorists or natural disasters or federal incompetence. It was caused by a couple morons cutting the wrong power cables that caused a shortage that triggered a chain reaction of safety shut-downs. Contrary to European reports, chaos did not ensue and things were just fine as most places out here have generators.

I'm inspired to work out regularly. This is a new thing inspired by something in my geek life that awoke the athlete in me. I have to decide which gym and how exactly to fit it into my lifestyle. I know that as soon as I do it, I can make it a habit. Still haven't started Yoga yet... I better contact miss Binky. Meanwhile, my Bowflex is great for an upper body workout. Unfortunately my leg workout extendor requires me to lie on my belly for some of the exercises.

Burst of energy?

Wow. I think hormones are weirding me out. It's fascinating yet annoyingly unpredictable.

I felt great Sun-Tues. High energy, no desire for a nap, doing okay. Wed.-Thurs. I was depressed, exhausted, and clearly hormonal. I went home a little early on Thursday to take a nap which was nice, plus got a full night's sleep. Felt "normal" on Friday finally. No "nonsense tears" or over tired feelings.

I was up until about 1:00 am with Mark catching up on Battlestar Gallactica episodes. We're behind for the season and need to catch up. Anyway, we went to bed. Then around 4:30 am I woke up, feeling not so good. I felt awful all morning (not morning sickness, more like something bad that I ate). And I tried to lie down but around 8:00 I just gave up, went downstairs, and cleaned out my car.

I've had too much energy today. Uwe called it "nesting" - but I think it's just hormonal surges. I have an overwhelming desire to clean although I don't know where to start. I need a storage unit somewhere to put half this stuff just while I'm rearranging and just to get to the crap behind it all. I'm tempted to just throw it all out just to get it out of here, but we'd need to hire a dumpster.

Oh well, so I sit in the filth a while longer...

Mark's Spawn

Awww here is daddy's little spawn. Make of it what you will... notice the "gun" shape of his hand like he is making a "shooting" gesture toward his temple. See, he really is advanced already! He says, "If I don't get a PlayStation 2 in here I'm going to kill myself!" (sigh) Already so demanding. Or maybe he's just cleaning out his ear so he can hear the Mozart I've been playing.



Okay some of you may think that's not very funny, but cheer up. This creepy ultrasound is superceded by these cuter pictures. Note the artistic rendering done by our very talented ultrasound technician. In pen. On the actual prints.

Oh that last one, if you look closely, is the phallus shot. No mistaking the little wanker. We saw it from all angles.

WHEW! Long time nothing!

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I now have Photoshop installed and some other stuff so I can post pictures. Unfortunately I don't have them on this computer. So I have to wait for Mark to send them to me.

He also took some pics of my belly. I never did get that last pic up, so you'll just have to wait. :)

We've been going through house-buying blues. Everything in LA that is worth living in is worth too much money. And I'm not talking about ritzy houses on the hill. A simple 3br+2ba or 2br+den is outrageous. We are starting to think we're just going to rent for a while longer, either here or in a rental house.

More to come...