Back when I was 23 weeks pregnant with James, Kevin and I did a staycation* babymoon** to Manhattan. We spent part of the day at the American Natural History Museum enjoying the marine exhibit on the 1st floor and the dinosaur exhibit on the 4th floor. We mused about when we'd be able to bring James back to enjoy the exhibit. We figured he'd be somewhere between 3 and 5 years old, and that it was a long ways away. In a phenomenon we've noticed in many other parents though, we are eager to give James experiences even before he'll be appreciative of them and way before he'll remember any of them. Also, we get bored.
James, ignoring the whale at ANHM
So when I noticed he was obsessed with Curious George books, one of which was a dinosaur book, I decided, yes! Let's go back to ANHM! It was... interesting. Much like I did, 2-years prior, James had a lot of complaints about the trip. I decided the trip was a huge success if by success you mean that it took an hour to get out the door after James woke up from his nap, an hour and half to get there, a freezing cold walk from the car, 55 minutes of trying to get James to look at the whale and the dinosaurs while he tried instead to pick little pieces of trash off the museum floor. Success!
Pointing out the allosaurus
James is pretty psyched that the prehistoric crocodile is on his level
Still getting used to holding hands
Feeling a dinosaur foot
Ignoring the mastodon
Posing near triceratops
*staycation is a post-recession made-up word indicating that you take time off work and do "fun things" close to home to save money on your vacation **babymoon is a pre-recession made-up word indicating another excuse for a fancy vacation away from home preferable somewhere warm and beachy at a time when you are constantly uncomfortable and look scary in a bathing suit
We tried to make the best of the beginning of the week. It's supposed to be really important to have good dental hygiene while pregnant so I went for a cleaning and check on Tuesday. As far as the dentist could tell without an x-ray, no cavities. I think I like the no x-ray system best. We also had a romantic joint eye doctor appointment on Wednesday- Kevin got new glasses but my prescription remains unchanged since 2004. Sadly the style of my glasses is out.
But anyway, we took advantage of my dentist being in the city to go out on Tuesday. We got soup dumplings after my appointment, walked through Central Park, and then went to the American Museum of Natural History. We were particularly excited about the dinosaur exhibit after watching about four hours of dinosaur documentary with Brady last weekend. It's a little sad that so many dinosaurs that we learned about when we were little have been "revised" and renamed. For example, the brontosaurus doesn't exist, and now it's the apatosaurus. Thankfully, tyrannosaurus rex and stegosaurus still exist. But the real stars of the dinosaur world are now the diplodocus, closely related barosaurus, and the somewhat T-rex-looking but not related, Allosaurus. It was fun discussing how old Baby Clou would have to be before we could bring him back here. We're guessing it won't be for a few years.
23 weeks + 2 days belly shot in Central Park
The Barosaurus at the entrance of the museum
Self-portrait with an old-school triceratops
Kevin was also pretty psyched to see the gigantic whale in the Oceans Exhibit, though ironically it took us a lot of effort and time to find it. It took even longer to make cheesy videos on their email machines, but I insisted on it.
Kevin and his Moby Dick, if Moby were a 94-foot blue whale
Videos best with sound
You can hear me complaining that it makes no sense that we're sharing a wetsuit
Afterward, we went for dinner at a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant, and then to Rockefeller for pictures with the tree and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. Apparently, mom and dad brought me when I was five or six and I critiqued Santa's credibility. I don't remember it, but this has always been one of their favorite stories.
Then we went on a visiting-family spree, starting with my grandmother Daisy, then Christmas Eve and the day before it with my mother, visiting Chrissy's family who truly understands what we're going through. Finally, we hauled out to the Cape for Christmas dinner with Kevin's family. They showered us with love and presents for us and for the baby. Despite our best efforts though, Christmas without my dad has been extremely sad.
Soon-to-be Great Grandma (bisaubuela) Daisy is 80 years old
Gwen, Matthew, Chrissy, and Owen
23 Weeks Milestones: Baby is kicking all the way up on the top of my belly now. Kevin has developed sympathetic pregnancy symptoms (also known as the common cold) complete with fatigue, sore throat, stuffy nose, difficulty sleeping, and increased appetite. Today he almost said "I shouldn't kiss you because I'm pregnant," when he meant to say "because I'm sick." What I miss the most: Sleeping comfortably. Being allowed to lose weight. Craving: MILK, DAIRY, ICE CREAM, CHOCOLATE, I want to bathe in it, also yogurt, egg nog, fruit bars, sugar sugar sugar. I am trying to restrain myself... and failing. Anti-craving: Food without sugar or salt. Symptoms: Acid reflux, stuffy nose, left knee still hurts. The floor is far away and uncomfortable to reach. Baby-size: Mango! Weight gain: 19.5 plus? Weighing myself on Christmas wasn't going to happen
