Old Blog Posts: August 2009

…so I can sneeze without seriously considering trading in my stash of hanky panky thongs for a trusty pack o’ depends.

Nic hugged me yesterday and said “Ahhhh–your belly sticks out now!”

Which means I need to get in the good hugs while I can–I remember those 7 month pregnant hugs–those hugs suck!  All belly no real hug!

I pulled my first full sized ripe tomatoes from the garden today.  My cherry tomato plant has been producing ripe fruit for at least a month, but I’ve been waiting on the full sized tomatoes to ripen for a LONG time!

Today I pulled a Cherokee Purple and a Green Zebra.  Both plants look to be big producers, but the green zebra has been a smaller plant and has a few less fruits…the Cherokee Purple pushed down its frame and has been out of control for about a month.  The green zebra was a lot prettier than the purple, with a more symmetrical shape and more attractive color (the purple was more of an ugly burgandy) and in my informal taste test I preferred it.  It’s sweet but has a bit of a tang–just a tiny bit more interesting than the sweet Cherokee Purple tomato…but the Cherokee Purple did have better texture.  It was very meaty whereas the green zebra had a bit more “watery-ness” to it.  Overall, though, I preferred the green zebra and would plant more of them in lieu of the cherokee purple. Of course there are a bunch of green tomatoes out there just waiting to ripen and change my mind!

Still waiting on three other plants to product ripe fruit, too!!

Things are going well.  Heard the baby’s heartbeat or a horse on a racetrack…one of the two.  Scheduled the big gender ultrasound for Sep 3rd.

I was in the waiting room with a woman and ALL her friends and relations (it was her 20wk ultrasound day).  She gets on the scale, gets off. Nurse says she gained two pounds.  (for the record, the rule of thumb is one pound per week after the first trimester, so she’s at half her “allowed” gain)  The husband looks at her and says “you gained TWO POUNDS in a MONTH?!”  and repeats it two or three times in disgust/wonder.  Wife is skinny blond.  Husband is gross fatty.  It took everything I had not to say “wow–you got yourself a real winner there.”

I also gained two pounds last month, putting my total gain at 4lbs.  This is great news because it puts me about 10-15 lbs under my weight at this point with Will!  Apparently exercise videos and not eating constantly really are the trick to not gaining 50lbs during pregnancy. 

I’ve been up twice tonight and finally gave up trying to go back to sleep at 4:00.  One of the the things I remember most fondly about being pregnant with Will was waking up at odd hours of the night and being totally awake.  By that time I was out of the Air Force (which makes me think it’s a little early for it already to be happening again!!) and so there was no need for concern–I could sleep in the next day!  I’d go into the front room and sit in the leather chair and read.  I read a lot of Jane Austen, I reread Gone with the Wind, and a couple of others that I can’t remember now.  It felt so cozy being alone with Will and a book.

This time it’s bound to be a little different, but hopefully I’ll still be able to enjoy the quiet hours.  Like right now I’ve got a creme brulee cooling on the oven (the frozen broil at home kind) and my email inbox waiting for me to tackle!

We’re lounging in the living room this Sunday morning–I’m downloading pictures and Will is watching his favorite show–Special Agent Oso (or “Special Oso”).  He’s wearing a shirt but has of course lost his pajama pants in the course of the morning.  I hear the words “I’m making bigger” in a sing-song voice and look over to see Will playing with his weiner.  I very carefully went back to working and saw out of the corner of my eye Will drop his hands and sing-song “I’m making smaller weiner.”

Oh the magic.

Bernadette says when Will turns 18 she’s going to print out all of my Will weiner twitters and put them in a leather bound volume for him. 

Nic and I got a sitter for Will tonight so Nic and I could go to dinner/a movie, but after the following conversation, it’s likely that I’ll be left with the sitter and Nic will be taking WILL out for dinner:

(nic spent the morning working on his jeep and is now taking will to the zoo)

Will entering the garage:  “Oh it’s so beautiful!”

Nic:  “What?  The cars?”

Will:  “Yes.  Daddy’s monster truck.  It’s so so beautiful.  Thank you for fixing my monster truck, Daddy!!”

For the last few days, Will has been all about the role play.  In the course of 20 minutes we can be cowboy/horse, mommy crocodile/baby crocodile, and cat/dog.

Playing his characters really just involves doing what we were already doing, but having every statement made to the other person include their pretend name.  Like “Mommy Crocodile?”  “Yes, baby crocodile?”

Some of his pairings have been funny.  Like when he wants me to be Handy Manny, he is “Tools” collectively.  When he first started to be Buzz Lightyear, I was “Toy Story” (I have since asked if I could be Woody and this was deemed acceptable).  When he is “Captain Janeway” I am “Galaxy.”

I might even dare to call it a love!  Will is slowly becoming more of a reader.  He’s received a bunch of new books this summer, which definitely seems to create a new excitement in reading.  Joan brought a bunch of Caldecott winners with her when she came to visit in June, and he occasionally brings one to me during the day.  But two weeks ago when I got Knuffle Bunny Too, I also picked up One Was Johnny and Chicken Soup with Rice, knowing how much Will likes to sing.  And these three books have become instant favorites.  Will walks around singing “chicken soup, chicken soup, chicken soup and RICE” and asks to be read these stories throughout the day.  In fact, it’s now the first thing he asks for when he wakes up!

Knuffle Bunny Too is a big hit–yesterday Will acted out each scene while Nic read it.  He plays such close attention to Trixie’s facial expressions and the way she holds onto the bunnies!