Afternoon with Akua 2013

Do to a failure of retrieving iPhone photos, I skipped over my fun little outing with Akua. We haven't seen each other in way-too-long, but the universe has organized it so that I've recently been seeing and reconnecting with some people from my old job. We met in the afternoon between lunchtime and dinnertime, but you don't think that would actually stop us from eating right? I'm a little (a lot) obsessed with Koreatown lately because it's the only decent place to eat near Penn Station where the train drops me off, and it's actually delicious. We went for a little walk beforehand so we totally burned the extra "afternoon tea" meal. (By the way, why haven't we adopted this from the British yet? Americans love extra meals!)

 

Me and Akua outside BCD Tofu House in Koreatown

So we ordered some Korean at BCD Tofu House, and some Korean rice wine, and caught up on our personal and work lives. We talked about vacationing, our ability and lack of ability to party, small businesses, jewelery, etc. Basically, it was like not a day had passed since our offices were next door to each other, and we shuttled back and forth. Next time, it won't be a million years until we see each other again. Oh and this is not advertising -- no one paid me, I just think this is fun-- Akua's friend makes jewelry and named a necklace after her. So here's what Akua looks like as a necklace.

The rain didn't stop us from walking everywhere

Girls' Nights- August 2011

Group photos of two recent nights out with the girls. For the record, Kevin goes out regularly with his guy friends but he doesn't document everything he does with photography.  Go figure.

Getting Cuban food at Copellia in Chelsea- Michele, Christina, me, Rachel, Sarah T

 
Mexican food at Cancun with the ladies from work- Adrienne, Christie, Akua, and me

38 Weeks and Nesting! April 3-9, 2011

Milestones: Nesting! I think. Maybe it's too premeditated to be nesting, but on the other hand all my premeditation about cleaning and organizing before didn't lead me to actually get off the couch and do it. This week I have completely reorganized and cleaned the bedroom and closet, the living room and closet, the bathroom and closet, put the finishing touches on the nursery with Kevin's help (see below), guestroom and closet, finally shelved all my dad's books, and reorganized the closet we use as a pantry. Yes, we have a lot of closets! Lucky us, but bad for fighting hoarding urges. Kevin also moved my office things into his office, and I set up stuff neatly, but I wouldn't say I've actually organized that stuff or have any interest in doing so. The last frontier is the kitchen. Most of the cabinet space is too high for me, so figuring out a place for the new baby stuff like bottles is challenging. Okay, I know, fascinating stuff.

Weekly Wisdom: I realized I am thoroughly not afraid of change. I might be freaked out by the idea of giving birth (what sane person wouldn't be?) but I am not afraid of actually taking care of the baby, or how my life will change or any of that. I try to imagine being afraid of that, and come up kind of blank. The only thing I can think of that would be worrisome is when the baby gets sick.
What I miss the most: Not feeling like I'm an arthritic 100-year-old fat person.
Craving: Tons of water, yogurt, seafood, Thai curries
Anti-craving: Burgers, no thank you.
Symptoms: Pain everywhere, especially my hands. Difficulty standing. Random Braxton Hicks contractions that bear no relationship to each other. A tightness here, a shooting pain there. The only thing the pains have in common is that I'm sure they're not the real deal.
Baby-size: Small elephant.
Weight: I look like I am carrying imaginary triplets, and weigh the same.

Akua visited me at home on Wednesday, which was lovely since I'm not mobile for very long distances. We got to chat for a long time and binge on organic lollipops together. What could be better?

On Thursday, Kevin's friend Trey came in from out of town, but he didn't have a lot of time so Kevin met him for breakfast in Manhattan. I was sad to miss him, but my aforementioned lack of mobility kept me at home. It was a good opportunity for them to compare expectant-father notes, though.

On Friday, Dr. C told me I hadn't progressed at all and tried to encourage me to have the baby sans c-section. For a person who never had any intention of writing out a birth plan, I officially have birth plan whiplash. In fact, for about five minutes during my appointment, the doctor thought the baby had turned himself breech again because she couldn't find his heartbet where it should be, but high up on my right side. A move to the sonogram room revealed that baby is not breach; he is HUGE and curled all around my belly.

And today, Jon came by to watch some Red Sox with us. That didn't really work out so well for the Red Sox.  Oh well, at least the baby is starting to learn the comforting sounds of the game in the background.

This is what my belly looks like most of the time:

Outside view


Sonogram of inside

Compare to:

See how oddly shaped my belly is?

Tomorrow I am 39 weeks! The official due date is April 17th. We have a 39-week doctor's appointment on Thursday, April 14th ... will we make it? It's starting to look like we will...

33 Weeks, February 27-March 5, 2011

Milestones: This week, baby is supposed to be filling out his loose skin and losing his wrinkly look. Look your best for the sonogram, Baby!
What I miss the most: Not carrying a boulder. Going up a set of stairs without needing to stop to catch my breath and wanting to nap on the landing. 
Craving: Strawberry juice, which doesn't exist, but to Kevin's chagrin I won't accept this and keep asking him to bring it home. Vanilla. Cereal with flakes. 
Anti-craving: Water gives me acid reflux. And even though I fantasize about drinking gallons of cool refreshing water, I only manage a glass or two a day and then have to make do with milk and juice the rest of the day.

Symptoms: This was the first really difficult week of pregnancy symptoms. The first week when I thought, if only for a moment, would it be so awful to have an only-child? It's been the best hits of all my symptoms, even nausea. Epic mess.

Moodiness was a big one. I admit this is not the first week I have been moody, but this is maybe the first week I have been so bothered by it that I have waged battle against my moodiness. I held back a lot and then broke down at inopportune times, usually at night when I'm too tired to be reasonable.

And obviously I'm big and uncomfortable almost all the time. Picking things off the floor is a disaster because I get a rush of acid reflux. When I'm a little horizontal (for example when I try to sleep) I'm attacked by acid reflux.

The baby likes to somersault a lot still. He turned upside down again for a brief while, but mainly he hangs out in awkward horizontal position.  He enjoys kicking some organ I can't identify. Every day I feel generally ill. So I'm really looking forward to the next 6 weeks of increasing suffering. But then I think, at least I don't have to feed and diaper him right now, I can just exist and take his beating. Although once he's out, I can at least be rewarded by his cuteness.

Baby-size: A pineapple
Weight gain: 34.5 pounds. Yeah, I'm sure I'm just going to gain half a pound in the next 6 weeks.

It was a fairly low key week, except I went into Manhattan on Friday to have lunch with some friends from work. And then afterward I sat through a super boring Ethics Continuing Legal Education class. Lots of random people were there, including my friend from law school Jane. It was good to catch up with her, and apparently she secretly reads this blog, so hi, Jane!

Me, Christie, Adrienne, and Akua

Second Trimester 2010!

13 Weeks, October 10-16, 2010:
We started telling other friends and family this week, which was lots of fun. A few people suspected, but many were surprised. Kevin got to tell Jon, Briggs, and Lukas in person. They bought him shots for fatherhood. The same does not work for motherhood. I called my close friends, and I got to tell Wendy and Clark in person, as well as my friends from work, Akua, Christie, Adrienne, and Lee. Sarah said I could tell our law school friends the weekend of her wedding, so I waited to make it totally public until we were there.

Milestones: End of first trimester, telling close friends and family about the pregnancy. Our baby book says that the baby is growing vocal cords.
Craving: Cereal
Anti-craving: Coffee
Symptoms: Round ligament pain (still sick but that doesn't count).
Baby-size: Medium-size shrimp, hm
Weight gain: 5 pounds

Friends watching the sonogram video

14 Weeks, October 17-23, 2010:
Hurrah! We're public! And it's the second trimester! It was a lovely week of being completely in the open about being pregnant. I finally got over my cough. Dad was in rehab and is improving every day. His leg tumor got smaller so he was able to walk more with a walker, and this put him in much better spirits. His speech is almost perfect, he just occasionally gets stuck on a large word like "obstreperous." But considering most people don't even use words that big, mom and I don't think this is a big problem. The final hurdle to taking him home is that he be able to get up and down the stairs to our apartment.

My clothing is just too uncomfortable now, so I had to give up on just using the belly band and I bought a couple pairs of maternity pants and shirts. Sadly, being short is an even bigger problem when it comes to maternity pants than it is with regular pants. Maternity pants only come in small, medium, and large, and because of this inexact sizing, even the petite sizes are too long.

Milestones: Second trimester! Being completely public about being pregnant! Maternity pants. Our baby book says that our baby might be growing some hair now.
Craving: Fish!, rice, cereal, fruit, lots of water
Anti-craving: Not exactly interested in red meat
Symptoms: Bending over a little when I'm sitting is uncomfortable, acid reflux
Baby-size: Lemon
Weight gain: 6 pounds

Labor Day Cookout 2010

When we moved to the suburbs and started having unironic conversations about tax breaks and parking, we knew we would need to do something redemptive, like holding long cookouts with hundreds of beers and scores of hamburgers and sausages.

On Sunday lots of fun, sexy people welcomed our new backyard with good company and laughing and fights about where to acquire the best pastrami. I'm proud to say all five boroughs were represented, as well as Philadelphia, Long Island, and probably other places. Michele and Briggs celebrated their 31st birthdays without even a little crying! Then, when it got really dark and we finished listening to The Chronic, we watched the characters in Mad Men act even worse than the worst-behaving people at the barbecue, which was frankly a little disappointing. Maybe next time.

Daily Show 2010

We went to the Daily Show! Thanks so much to our patrons Jon Stern and Becky Smith who decided they had better things to do than enjoy hilariousness. Kevin lined up two hours before show time, and Brian, Akua, and I rolled up at the last minute because the tickets say you can do that. Kevin also played the part of Stern in getting us into the event because theoretically you should have the person named on the ticket with you. We were a little nervous about that one.

The blurry long line at the Daily Show

We went to the May 12th episode. Jon Stewart is pretty funny even off camera which is nice to know. During the writers strike of 2007-08, I was starting to suspect that he really depends on his writing staff. One of his funniest jokes had to be cut out of the broadcast because it depended on an off-camera set up. During the off-camera warm-up, someone in the audience commented that they were traumatized when John Oliver came to their college and spent most of his comedy routine discussing his father's penis. Stewart responded that it's all Oliver ever talks about. Then during Stewart's back and forth with Oliver about David Cameron being elected Prime Minister, out of nowhere, Stewart zings him with crack about his dad's penis. The audience erupted with exuberant laughter, and the video editors had to figure out how to slice it all out.

Michael Patrick King, Director of Sex in the City 2

The interview with Stewart's the director of the horrible Sex in the City sequel was a bust. But Lewis Black, who I rarely find to be funny, stole the episode with his attack of Glenn Beck and the Arizona's new immigration law. Please watch it, aside from being hilarious, it details in just under 6 minutes what a horrifyingly scary and dangerous network Fox News is-- ironically dangerous to democracy. Good times though!