Zachary

The band

The other band

Cooking stuff (temporarily inactive...)

 
I'm now 28 weeks and boy have things progressed. For starters, it's a boy. We found that out during our 19th week. He's since been growing steadily and I have been feeling him more and more. I'm hardly showing and it's easy to conceal that I'm pregnant if I want to, especially in the winter time. We started birthing classes and I'm the smallest in my class. :) At the ultrasound exam he was normal size so I assume I just hide it well. Plus it seems many of the other mothers-to-be in the class have put on unnecessary weight, which I have managed not to do. I've gained about 15 pounds, while in contrast another gal with the same due date has gained 30. You're only supposed to gain 25-35. I'm happy to say I'm right on track. My doctor is happy about that as well.

He's kicking a bit. I thought he was doing dive bombs to my pelvis, but I may have been mistaking that for Braxton Hicks (sp?) contractions. The kicks (or punches??) are easy to identify, but the rest, well... it's either a butt, a head, or a contraction. J.T. has been able to feel him from the outside. Even tonight, Mom and Dad got to feel a couple little bumps. I am curious how he is oriented because I only feel the bumping on the left side. Sometimes it is quite rapid and I wonder if his leg (arm?) can really move that fast, or if it's two limbs and he's really coordinated. But usually, he just hangs out, mellow.

The second trimester was a joy. I was Wonder Woman. Lots of energy, few discomforts, felt and looked great. Even slept better. Now I'm starting the third trimester and I'm sure it will not be as easy. I've started my yoga and everything, but my hips and lower back are starting to get achy. And I feel I have no room in my torso...where on earth is he going to fit? He has another 3-4 lbs to go! Already it's difficult to eat. A snack and a glass of milk and I'm bloated. My stomach gets smaller but my appetite will increase - hardly fair!

But all in all, I cannot complain. Some of my peers have had a tougher time. And we are increasingly excited. No worries, doubts, or anxiety about being a parent yet, just excited for him to finally get here. Either we're confident, or reality hasn't set in yet. :)

posted by hbt at 10:20 PM

 
Why is it we can plug practically the entire band into one power strip without problems, but when I run the toaster and the microwave at the same time, it trips??

The real question is why do I keep doing it?

No matter.

J.T. and I got a special experience yesterday at the doctor's. Not something you can say all the time, is it? Well, when you're going to check on your baby, it's always special. The doctor used his little amplifying tool on my belly and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat. Man, it was going a mile a minute! Sounded like a propeller underwater. I mean, it is underwater so to speak.

I'm 16 weeks now. That's 16 out of 40. If you do the math, that's 10 months total. They count funny. You feel pregnant for about 36 of those weeks (i.e. 9 months). The first two weeks are a no-op, and the second two weeks you don't KNOW you're pregnant yet... :) All the same I'm due Feb 24. And all the same, I'm out of the first trimester, which was tough. Though not as tough as other women have had it. I can't complain really (but if you ask J.T. I'm sure I did.) Friend of mine was throwing up five and six times a day. Now that's bad!

posted by hbt at 11:06 AM

 
Well, busy gets to be an old and tired reason for not doing things. The reality is this blog has been less important than other areas. Now what's wrong with that? Nothing I say.

Nobody reads this silly blog that doesn't already know so it's safe to say that my hubby and I are expecting. Naturally it made me wonder if the new year's resolutions I made at the start of the year had any relevance anymore. Hmmm.

Try meditation
Beautify the front yard
Take my lunch to work more
Experiment with one or two new exercise routines
Create a Heather sanctuary in the house
Create a family financial plan

Let's see. Meditation, naw. Beautify the front yard? Not so important. Take my lunch to work. This I'm actually doing. New exercise routine. Does "Yoga for Pregnant Women" count? I haven't tried it yet, but it certainly classifies as an experiment. Heather sanctuary - it will have to wait. :( And the family financial plan suddenly got a lot more important.

Two things have changed in the area of finances: 1) we bought a "new" used family-friendly-better-than-Heather's-faitfulbutold-Nissan car, which means we have a car payment. And 2) we have to afford a baby plus pay for expenses during any time off I take.

And buying furniture. And diapers! And saving for college! AAAaaack! Oh, wait. The baby isn't even here yet. Whew.... I have to remind myself that the baby doesn't care if its room is decorated. It doesn't care if its diaper is changed on a diaper changing table. It doesn't care if it sleeps in a dresser drawer (or so I hear).

All things in perspective.

So new goals for the year are

-take care of myself (good food, rest, exercise)
-create a family financial plan
-try to wrap up house projects so the baby room can be somewhat ready
-park the car in the garage :)

That's it. That's all I'm committing to!

posted by hbt at 12:06 PM

 
I have this habit, I won't call it bad, of picking up a book and not finishing it. I'm currently reading "Spin Sisters", "Pride and Predjudice", "From Potter's Field", "Hardball for Women", and "Wicked". Ridiculous.

Actually I just finished "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire. It was facinating. The life story of the wicked witch of the west. It's a luxory to find a book that's sophisticated, not pretentious, and not over my limited vocabulary. Oh, I had to keep a dictionary close by for this one, but it was usually worth it. Anyway, I highly recommend it if you don't mind a few somewhat graphic scenes. Not for kids...

And actually, J.T. and I are reading Patricia Cornwell's "From Potter's Field" together. The Kay Scarpetta series is one of my favorites and now he's reading them for the first time. It's fun!
posted by hbt at 12:39 PM

 
I love pockets. Really I do. But they trick me every time. It's like our cats. Well, Harvey really. No matter how conscious we are to cat-proof our laundry, he still manages to trot down the stairs with a pair of my underwear in his mouth.

That's how I feel about pockets. I do most of the laundry washing in the house and I try, I swear I do, I try to empty the pockets before dumping the clothes in. A couple weeks ago I left a tube of chapstick in my pocket and it made its way to the dryer. Melted wax everywhere. As you can imagine, most of the clothes were demoted to "around the house" or thrown away altogether. Gotta make a better effort to check pockets or I might get fired (a not-so-original way to get out of chores).

Today is laundry day. I checked the pockets. Load one produced a tube of lipstick in the bottom of the washing machine (not the dryer thank goodness). "Grrrr" I said. Ok, you got me. I only checked the "used" pockets forgetting I stowed that lipstick in my stupid cargo pocket on the knee which I otherwise never use. Load two, I methodically checked pockets. In transferring the clothes from washer to dryer, damn it if a tissue didn't sneak through and shred all over. Oh, and 2 hair barrets in the bottom of the washer for good measure. "bleep, bleep, bleep" I said. Hmmm, there was a bathrobe in there. Maybe I missed a pocket. Or checked the same pocket twice? Maybe I should install video surveillance?

The end result is the same. I can't take it anymore. I'm only washing socks!
posted by hbt at 4:29 PM

 
For our 2 year anniversary, we flew off to Las Vegas for a few days. We went mid-week to save on plane and room prices. Gambling was cheaper too since the casinos were slow. We stayed at Treasure Island hotel which has grown up a bit since I last saw it. Much more "adult"... TI (as they like to call it now) had the neatest bar called Kahunaville. Wednesday night they had a band, and Thursday night it was karaoke, but that wasn't the neat part. The bartenders were right out of a movie, juggling bottles and shakers, pouring 5 drinks at a time, slinging bottle openers around like guns, rolling glasses down their arms...holy cow! Neat stuff!! TI also has a street side show that I'm sure is worth watching. It was cancelled the two nights we tried to see it. :-( Overall though, a fun hotel.

The highlights of our trip include seeing the Cirque du Solei show, which was, of course fantastic (though not as good as La Nouba). We followed up the show with an expensive, very excellent, steak dinner in our hotel. We did lots of window shopping at the upscale malls, walked around many of the casinos, including the new Paris (mmmm, good crepes). Hard Rock turned out to be one of our favorite hotels. Comfortable, not too big, cool black jack dealers, fun atmosphere - seemed to cater to the 30-something crowd. The Stratosphere was hands down, the worst hotel. Another night we had a fabulous Italian dinner at the Mirage - soooo good. And the last big highlight: I played poker! Texas hold 'em 3/6, meaning the first two betting rounds are $3 and the last two betting rounds are $6. Fixed, low, betting makes the whole thing less intimidating. I was a bit nervous, especially when I had a hand worth playing, but after a couple hours I calmed down and made less mistakes. I only lost $40 bucks - not bad for a few hours of play. And the highlight for J.T., was passing through the Bellagio on our way out to find a handful of professional poker players in the poker room. J.T. is always watching the poker shows and tournaments on TV and it was a real treat to see TJ and the Professor in action at the same table. We wanted to get an autograph or two but had to catch our plane instead. Maybe next time!
posted by hbt at 8:51 PM

 
Last Sunday was Easter. A time for good food with the family. J.T.'s mom brought us an Easter basket, and bunny ears for the both of us. I didn't realize how much I swung my arms in the space over my head until I had something to knock off. In the spirit, we both wore our ears throughout the celebrating and have cute pictures to prove it. In turn, we also gave out gifts. Each place setting at the table had a dressed up bear or bunny sitting on it, guarding the napkin. Mine was dressed as a strawberry (naturally), Grandma got the banana dressed bear - there was a grape, pineapple, apple and watermelon too, and they all smelled like their respective fruit. So cute!! Since there were only 6 fruit animals, I had to get an extra animal for J.T. which was a bear in a black sheep's costume. :-)

J.T.'s mom also brought hard boiled eggs and an egg decorating kit. What fun! Everyone dipped at least one egg, including both grandmothers. And you thought egg decorating was just for kids. Hah! Naturally, this provided an opportunity to reminisce about Easters spent at Grandma's. I'm an only child, and on that side of the family, I'm an only grandchild. Sometimes you have to entertain yourself... Eggs were hidden, and found, and hidden, and found, and hidden, and found, ... until the grown-ups were tired of hiding them or the eggs fell apart. I don't even remember decorating the eggs. Just finding them over and over and over. I always did love hide and seek.

The rest of the day was spent sitting on the covered patio blowing bubbles in the spring breeze, chatting in the kitchen, and later watching the King's obliterate the Lakers.
posted by hbt at 2:34 PM

 
Next Tuesday is our 2 year anniversary. We've almost been married as long as we've dated. :) Way back when I was engaged, my coworkers took me out to lunch to wish me well with the wedding. As part of the entertainment, everyone was given a slip of paper to write some words of advice for the soon-to-be-married. Nearly everyone at the table was married so the advice was, well, special. Sounds corny, but I really appreciated it. One I wanted to take to heart was "always get away for your anniversary, even if you just go away for the weekend". What better time to put life on hold so you can honor your special relationship?

Last year we drove to San Francisco for the weekend. We had a fantastic time. This year, we're flying to Las Vegas to hang out for a few days. We booked early so the price wasn't too bad. We have reservations for the Mystere show by Cirque du Soleil, but are otherwise winging it for the trip. We'll probably walk around and see what's new since last time, check out some clubs, do a little gambling, and eat at some fancy restaurant.
posted by hbt at 12:44 AM

 
Not much writing since January. Hmmm I wonder why that could be? What's changed since then?? Maybe it's the Dish network and Tivo? I have to admit I've watched more TV than ever before. Ahhhh, no commercials is a beautiful thing. I can rip through a half hour show in 15 minutes. I'm especially fond of the Home and Garden network. So many design shows! It's so inspiring!

My grandmother asked me if I'd been working on any of my resolutions. Uhhhh, hmmmm. Not really. The first step of the financial plan is to do our taxes. That is underway. I expect Dance Dance Revolution on our PS2 to be an exercise alternative, but I haven't been doing it. I bought a couple exercise videos, but haven't used them. The Heather sanctuary will be the master bathroom, but I won't work on that until the kitchen is done.

Three months into the year already - I better get going!
posted by hbt at 11:27 AM

 
So I had a dream last night that I got a thousand dollar parking ticket. Was it guilt, or a premonition?
posted by hbt at 11:06 PM

 
Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day! Time to reflect on how lucky we have it, and that we got here not by accident, but by the hard work and sacrifice of many people fighting for change and fighting to protect rights.


posted by hbt at 12:39 PM

 
I've been rewriting my resolutions for the last 3 weeks. I pondered what I'd do; I thought about monthly resolutions, then semi-monthly. I've added and removed. But I think I have it now.

incidentally, part of the pondering was reflecting on last year's. Not too shabby. I didn't expect to become an expert keyboard player, or fluent in another language, but I did make progress. Just two nights ago I played keyboard at a gig. It was only two songs, but hey, it's progress. :) I have three or four more on deck! And needless to say I picked up a few words on my trip to Germany.

So it's progress I'm aiming for, not miracles. Here they are for 2004!

Try meditation
Beautify the front yard
Take my lunch to work more
Experiment with one or two new exercise routines
Create a Heather sanctuary in the house
Create a family financial plan
posted by hbt at 12:36 PM