New Things 2012: The Final Tally

One of my New Years Goals for 2012 was to do at least twelve new things during the year.  The plan, loosely, was to do something once a month, but I know how to write goals so that I don't fail and give up. ;)   So I left it at twelve, to be distributed as they would be.

Here's what we've done:

1. Hiked up Mount McCoy to take pictures at Sunset after taking a lecture-style photography class (January)

2. Visited Solvang (February)

3. Re-finished a table (February)

4. Ran a 5K (April)

5. Attended the Oxnard Strawberry Festival (May)

6. Visited New York City (June)

7. Took a Behind-the-Scenes tour of the Aquarium of the Pacific (June)

8. ChEARed for a friend at the Disneyland Half Marathon (August)

9. Took a road trip to Texas and the Grand Canyon (September)

10. Saw Book of Mormon (September)

11. Took a photography class where you actually learn how to take pictures (September)

12.Went to the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival (October)

13. Went to a Dinner Detectives show (November)

14. Visited Walt Disney World (December)

Much like New York, Walt Disney World wasn't new for me.  But we did some things I'd never done.  We ate in restaurants I'd never eaten in, stayed at a resort I'd never stayed at, tried rides or attractions I'd never tried.  And I did it pregnant, which was a new twist.  (I didn't get to do many of my old standbys: Rockin' Roller Coaster, I'm looking at you.)  And it was Steve's first time there.

*~*~*

2012 was quite a year.  Steve and I celebrated our first anniversary.  We found out we were pregnant--twice.  We went through the heartbreak of losing our first baby, which is an experience that I think will be with us our whole lives.  But that experience didn't overshadow the whole year.  I'm proud of us that we accomplished our Twelve Fourteen! New Things.  Our first full year as a married couple was truly excellent.

I don't know if--realistically--I can count on doing another Twelve New Things in 2013.  We traveled and took classes this year; next year, we'll have an infant.  Maybe we can do twelve smaller things.  See classic movies we've never seen, cook new dishes, craft new projects.  We'll see!

Good-bye, 2012!  And Happy New Year's Eve!

Catch-up! 23--Christmas!--24

23 Weeks

Oh, Christmas craziness.  We have a love/hate relationship.  My intention, truly, was to make things simpler this year.  I'm not sure if I succeeded in that.

I wasn't going to put up a tree.  We were out of town the weekend I would have ordinarily done it.  Last year, we decorated the house and tree, only to have our cat (Renny, of course) climb up into the tree and systematically toss ornaments onto the floor.  Luckily, I caught his intentions before he got to anything breakable, and undecorated it. 

Steve got the tree down out of the attic (someday, we'll have a real tree again... sigh), and I'm glad he did.  I really do love sitting downstairs with a mug of hot chocolate or tea, with just the lights on the tree on.

I didn't, however, decorate the house.  And all I put in the tree were candy canes, which have miraculously stayed put.  I don't know if Renny doesn't like peppermint, or if he's over his ornament-tossing ways.  I'm hoping for the latter.

We had family mail gifts here (and had gifts to each other mailed here), so that we don't have bring much back with us.  We didn't wrap any of it... but that's okay.  I also mailed everything I could home, as to not have to deal with it on the airplane.  It meant a frenzied wrapping party once we got there, but so worth it.

I really do love Christmas.  I love Christmas movies and Christmas music.  I love seeing family--including cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents--even though it means red-eye overnight flights and only two full days (plus two half days) in Illinois and traveling back to California on Christmas day (with airport delays, delays, delays).  I love Field's specials for dinner and "Silent Night" by candlelight.  I loved squeezing in a dinner with friends and their adorable children, and meeting one friend's brand-new baby.

Half of our crazy family

There are lots of pictures from Christmas, but none of them are on my camera.  (Hint, hint, Mom ;)  We had a wonderful trip home and I'm so, so thankful I was able to get the 24th off so I could actually go.  Fingers crossed for a whole week next year!

24 Weeks - taken using my new tripod!

This week, I'm getting sick.  Blah.  I had an exceptionally healthy 2012... until yesterday.  I suppose I tend to catch a cold around New Year's every year, probably from holiday air travel.  But this year, I'm not sure I can take any medication to help.  So far, a hot shower has lessened the congestion and a steaming cup of orange tea with honey and lemon has soothed my throat a bit.  

My non-pregnancy-related excitement involved getting hit by a tiny rock on the freeway, which I had intended to take care of this weekend... and the chilly temperatures (I imagine) overnight yesterday very quickly turned a smallish crack into one about six inches long.  So I've got an auto glass company meeting me at work today to replace the windshield.  Yay? 

22 Weeks & The Cat Who Pre-Babyproofs

Around 18 weeks, I started to suspect that what I was feeling might be baby movements.  It took another week or two to be certain.  But this week, Steve got to feel it, too!

 

My paparazzi shot

This second picture was Steve trying to encourage me to take my picture for this post... right after  I'd he'd woken up.  (I woke up at 5:00, and by 6:00 it was clear that I wasn't falling back asleep, so I came in to finish ordering those last few Christmas gifts online.  He sleepily stumbled in looking for me sometime after 7.)

I mentioned that last week we'd been on vacation.  (Just for my own accountability: I will do that vacation post.)  While we were gone, prior-roommate Gen came by to check on the cats.

And this is what she came in to:

Our year-old flat screen TV flat on the floor.  Luckily, neither cat was hurt and the TV seems to be fine, once we got it back up on the stand and plugged it in again.  And you know what?  Lesson learned.  TVs are no longer solid, nearly immovable boxes.  Ours is now strapped down to the stand and won't be tipping over again.

I'm glad it happened, and I'm glad it was the cat, who probably pushed it over from on top of it, trying to launch himself up onto the windowsill above the sliding door, instead of a toddler pulling it down onto himself.

We lovingly refer to Renny as the Devil Cat (he's really really bad, when he's not being really, really cute and sweet), but he's our little pre-babyproofer.  All our cabinets already have little hooks inside the doors so that the contents (cleaning supplies, etc.) can't be pulled out onto the floor, and now our TV is strapped down.

21 Weeks

This was a big week: Baby's first trip to Walt Disney World!  (I'll do a dedicated Family Vacation post later, once I've weeded through the 271 pictures we took.)

I'm not sure why the picture is so dark...

It was also fun to reveal the sex of the baby to my family in person.

The Big Reveal

And... here it is!

It's a boy!

We're so excited!  I mean, we would have been equally excited if it was a girl, but still.  A boy!  I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but hopefully he'll be a big brother someday (to either a little sister or brother).  I never had a big brother, but they always seemed like cool people to have around.

I have to say, I really had no idea what the baby's sex would be.  I wish I could say I had a feeling, but I really didn't.  A lot of people told me they thought it would be a girl.  I had two dreams in which the baby was a girl.  But nearly all my friends have had boys (eleven boys to two girls, at last count), I'm around baby/little boys a lot more, and I found myself referring to this little one as a "he" in my head. Just like the old wives' tales, it could have gone either way.

There used to be a commercial on back in the 90's, I think, for 1-800-COLLECT or one of those various collect-call services.  Remember how you could record your name, and then the person on the other line could decide whether to accept the charges or not?  (Side note: this baby will possibly never see a pay phone in his life, let alone know what a collect call is.)  The commercial had a man calling people collect after the birth of his child and stating his name as "Bob Wehadthebabyit'saboy!"  I keep thinking about that. It would have been fun to learn in the delivery room, but it's fun to know now, too.

My one big fear is that the doctor could be wrong.  I know he's not.  I saw with my own eyes, and that ultrasound was so detailed as to show blood flow around and through organs, so I'm pretty sure determining the baby's sex was the easiest part.  But deliberately going gender-neutral with everything because we don't know is one thing; buying a bunch of boy things and then coming home with a girl (or vice versa, as the case could have been) freaks me out.  It's a silly fear.

I am so excited to meet this little guy!  And now we can get down to business with figuring out his name.

20 Weeks - Halfway There!

Every time we're halfway to anything, Steve breaks out the Bon Jovi.  Like you do.

We had our 20-week fancy-schmancy ultrasound yesterday.  It's truly amazing what they could see!  Not only could he tell us that each vital organ looked perfect, but he could even tell what the blood flow was doing.

I was undecided about finding out the sex, pretty much right up until the doctor asked if we wanted to know.  Steve had said he'd "be okay with knowing now" (translation: he would be okay with waiting if I really wanted to, but did not share my enthusiasm for the delivery surprise) and when he smiled at me when the doctor asked, I had to say yes, we want to know.

 (I'll be seeing my parents in person in two days, so I won't be mentioning it here just yet.)

When the doctor found his answer and announced it rather suddenly, I gasped.  He said, "You did say you wanted to know, right?"  Yes, yes, it's just exciting hearing it out loud!

So, about half of the old wives' tests were correct.

We had to take a break in the middle of the ultrasound because the baby scrunched all up with both arms and one leg over its head, making it impossible to see the brain, nasal bone, and jaw bone.  Steve and I went down to a little coffee shop around the corner and got mango juice to drink, then went back up.  The baby cooperated enough to get the nasal bone measurement and view the brain, but was still doing a pretty good job at hiding the jaw bone.  So I have to go back today and get that final measurement.


The only areas to keep an eye on is a low-ish placenta that needs to move up to avoid a C-section, and a fibroid that won't affect the baby at all, but could cause pain to me during labor.  To which I say, labor's painful anyway.  How will I know the difference between regular labor pain and fibroid pain?  As long as the baby will be fine, I'm not too concerned.

The baby looks 100% healthy and perfect in every way.  It was energetic and moving around until it settled in to sleep at the end.  It's measuring a bit bigger than average, thanks, most likely, to Steve's 6'2".

And the doctor said there's "nearly a zero-percent chance that anything other than a healthy delivery will happen now."

♥

Melancholy Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday.  It was also the due date of the baby we lost.  I kept thinking, I could have been a mom now.  Or, we probably wouldn't have hosted Thanksgiving if we'd been having that baby.  I think that, combined with the fact that almost all of the friends I invited to do some kind of birthday celebration with ended up cancelling on me, made this a birthday that won't go down among my favorites.

But!  Despite all that, there was a lot of good!  Way more good than bad.  The office I was at yesterday went out of their way to make it a good day.  They surprised me with a slice of truly delectable red velvet cake (which I shared), and one of my coworkers gave me a gorgeous hand-made scarf and hat set she'd had her sister crochet for me.

I had a doctor's appointment and got to peek in at our (very sleepy) little baby. ♥

Steve and I stopped at the T-Mobile store on a whim to see if they could do something about the fact that my phone often goes straight to voicemail without ringing (albeit almost exclusively when my mom calls), and they decided the only solution was to order me a new phone, since mine is fifteen days from the end of its warranty.  I'm pretty sure the issue is not the phone's fault, but still.  When does anything warranting product replacement ever happen before the warranty ends?

We topped it off with a low-key dinner out, with leftovers for tonight.

It was definitely a good day.  And I already know it'll be a good year!

19 Weeks

A little late this week, but here it is:

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out our nursery arrangement.  We have a full-sized bed, currently our guest bed, that is in awesome condition.  I haven't yet been able to bring myself to sell or donate it, but it won't make it through the opening to the attic or into the little storage unit we have outside.  What to do?

I have two options, the way I see it.

1)  A coworker recommended I leave the bed in the nursery so that there's a place to lay down when nursing or... whatever one does with a baby in the middle of the night while everyone should be sleeping, to allow the other one of us to get some babyless sleep.  The problem?  The nursery is pretty small.

2) If we don't leave the bed as a bed, but still decide to keep it, I was thinking we could turn the mattress up on its end in our bedroom, as a headboard to our bed (since we don't already have a headboard).  And then the box spring could be strapped to the wall in the baby's room.  We could cover it in cute material and build a shelf above it, and it will act as nursery decoration/storage space.

I haven't completely decided which way to go.  I'm afraid a bed and a crib and a dresser and whatever else in the small room might feel too cramped, even though I like the idea of having that extra laying-down option.  And, bonus, if we do have guests stay with us, Steve and I could sleep in the baby's room and leave our bed for my mom, for example.  I don't know.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you ever have one of those days where you're sad, and you don't know why?  Yesterday was that day for me.  I probably spent two solid hours crying big, fat, ugly tears alone in my house, for no good reason. 

Because there is so much good in my life right now!

Like Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love that there's not much commercialism surrounding it (ignoring Black Friday, like I do) and it's all about spending time with the people you love, and it's a holiday everyone (in America, at least) celebrates, so you don't have to feel weird or hesitant about greeting strangers with "Have a happy Thanksgiving!"  Also?  Delicious food.

I haven't been "home" for Thanksgiving in seven years, and it's still a little strange and sad to not spend it with my family, but I have an awesome family here in California.

This year, it included Steve's parents, two brothers, and brothers' girlfriends, our friends D and T who came out from Palm Springs, Gen, her boyfriend, and her mom who is visiting.  It was fun that D and T, Gen, and her mom are all also from Illinois.

If you're counting, that's thirteen total, which I was a little concerned about having seating for.  (It could have been seventeen, if everyone invited had been able to make it.)  We had our newish table-with-leaves and two card tables end-to-end, and we fit!

Most of our party fits in the picture

Steve made the turkey and a mint-chocolate cheesecake.  I made mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cheat potato pie (made with butternut squash instead of sweat potatoes), and pretzel jello.  There was also a rice casserole, farrow salad, "Gen Special" pumpkin pie, Scotch bars, Scottish shortbread, and mint chocolate chip cookies.

I mean, there was food. 

There still is.  Steve and I have had leftovers for breakfast for two days, and for dinner with his parents last night, and we could probably go a few more rounds with what's left in the fridge.  Seriously.

Steve with his (half carved) gorgeous turkey

It shouldn't take a holiday to take stock of what we're thankful for, but it's a good reminder.  I'm thankful for my family: by blood, marriage, and good friendship.  I'm thankful for my animals, who may be trouble, but are always good for a purr, a lick, a tail wag, or a snuggle.  I'm thankful for this baby we'll meet in *gasp* less than five months.  I'm thankful for the baby we lost earlier this year, because, among other things, it allowed us to be that much more thankful for this little one-to-be.  I'm thankful for our home and our jobs and our health, and that Steve and I both have wonderful grandparents to share our lives with, however far away they live.  I'm thankful for the technology that keeps friends and family close.

You know, life's pretty darn good!

18 Weeks

I still haven't decided if I want to find out for real if we're having a boy or a girl at our super-schnazzy ultrasound appointment on Monday the 28th.  In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun testing out old wives' tales.

I already told you about the one-for-boy, one-for girl baking soda tests. So: ???

When I held a needle on thread over my hand, it swung in circles.  Which, according to some websites means girl, and to some means boy.  So: ???

My hands are usually rather dry.  If anything, this has gotten worse in pregnancy.  So: Boy.

I have most definitely not been craving protein (boy), but I'm not sure I've been craving sweets (girl) more than usual, either. I've been craving carbs.  So: ???  Or, because carbs turn to sugar: Girl?

My hair might be shinier than usual.  I don't think it's duller.  So: Boy.

My left boob is bigger than my right.  Girl.

I'm definitely breaking out like crazy.  So: Girl.

I can't tell if I'm carrying high or low, all around or out in front.  I think that'll come later.  So: ???

When I walk into a baby clothes store, whether I look at boy clothes or girl clothes first depends mostly on which one is stationed closest to the door.  Although, I was in a second-hand shop this weekend and there was a really cute boy's outfit on display that I picked up, and it was way cuter than the girl's outfit on display, which hardly glanced at.  So: Boy?

Conclusion: It's all pretty darn inconclusive.

I had my first random person ask when I'm due.  Actually, the conversation went something like this:

Customer: "What do you do?"

Me: "What do I do?  I'm their auditor."  To be fair, people ask me what I do a lot, because I'm only in any office once a week so I'm a new face to a lot of people who don't come in often.

Customer: "No, when are you due?"

Me: "Oh!  April."

I guess I've tipped towards more obviously pregnant on the Fat/Pregnant Scale.  I'll be more prepared for that question next time!

On the other hand, I ran into my neighbors in the grocery store the other day and noticed that they are expecting another baby.  I had a wool coat on and she was just wearing a thermal vest, so I was pretty covered.  But they were both surprised when I said "me too."  And possibly even more surprised when my due date is just two weeks after theirs.  So, I don't know!

Random cute:

She's giving me the "you disturbed me" glare

Several weeks ago, I left a folded towel on the bathroom counter because it's hard for me to reach the top shelf of the cabinet the towels go on.  Monet totally commandeered the towel as her New Most Favorite Place, and I can find here there quite frequently.  (I think it helps that it's someplace Renny doesn't bother to follow her and pester her.)  I now washed that towel whenever I do a load of our towels, and put it back on the counter for her.

Two Strikes

I'm annoyed, and I'm going to vent.

At my 12-week appointment, my doctor gave me a list of perinatologists for my 2nd trimester "fancy" ultrasound, which she wanted me to schedule for 18-20 weeks.

That very day, I called the first one on the list, because that's what you do.  Also, he had a location that was both near my home and close to one of my offices.  And it was the closest one to Steve's office, and he already has to drive over an hour to get there from work.

I gave the woman who answered the phone my due date, and she told me appointments were "wide open" during the time frame I'd come in.  I told her I needed either the first or last appointment of the day, so that Steve could be there.  (Driving over an hour to and from an appointment is just not feasible in the middle of the work day!)  We set the appointment for 4:30 on November 19th.

She directed me to their website, "high risk OB dot com," to download the medical paperwork I needed to send in ahead of time.

I was confused.  The website was for an office in Washington.  So I did some Googling, and realized that the website to this office was hi risk OB dot com.  Strike One.  Grammar like that makes me twitchy.  Also, I felt that the website was unnecessarily preachy.

I filled out my 13 pages of medial history, which I finally sent in last week.  Yesterday, something made me call and make sure they'd gotten it.  (They had.)  And something made me double-check my appointment.

"4:30?  No, your appointment is at 11."  Strike Two.

"No, I specifically scheduled it for 4:30.  Six weeks ago."

She said she'd call the 4:30 and see if she would switch with me.  Fat chance.

When she called me back to say that around the holidays, appointments are pretty tight.  Well, sure.  That's why I scheduled my appointment six weeks ago.  When things were "wide open".

"Also," she said, "You'll just be 18 weeks on the 19th.  You should really be closer to 20 weeks.  I don't know why you scheduled it at 18."  Well, I gave you my due date, you chose the date for my appointment.  (I didn't say that.)

So my new appointment is at 3:15 a week later, causing me to have to reschedule an appointment I already had for that day with my regular doctor.  It is not the last appointment of the day, but is as close as we could get.  Oh, and there was absolutely nothing available at that close-for-Steve-and-me location, so we have to go to one that's a half-hour farther away.

Annoyed.  This doctor happened to get very good reviews online (although, unsurprisingly, not for "convenience/ease of scheduling"), so I'm hopeful that these hiccups are just that, hiccups. 

17 Weeks

In fewer than five months, I will be out on maternity leave.  OH MY GOSH.  Suddenly, there is so much to do!  There are things to buy!  Closets to clean!  Bedrooms to move!  Names to decide!

This is my superhero pose

For the last *mumblemumble* weeks, I've felt too queasy or exhausted to do anything about working out.  Which is horrible!  I know it's horrible.  This week, I brought the mini-elliptical upstairs so that I could hop on it in the morning while watching the news.  It means less putzing-around-on-the-internet time, but I feel more productive.

I tried the baking soda gender prediction test.  Twice.  It's supposed to fizz if it's a boy, and not fizz if it's a girl.  Well, once it fizzed a lot, once it didn't at all.

I also consulted the guaranteed-to-be-accurate (at least 50% of the time) Ancient Chinese Gender Chart, which says girl--if I know my conception date, which is a bit of a guess and close to a month switch-over.

So!  I think I can pretty certainly say that we're having a either boy or a girl.

This week's outtake: upside down

We also got our very first piece of nursery furniture.  A glider, free from a friend who's done having babies.  It was such perfect timing, actually.  Steve and I had gone to Babies R Us to check out furniture.  We sat in all the gliders and decided we probably wanted one.  Later that same evening, there was the glider, being offered for free on Facebook to anyone willing to pick it up.  Score!

Super Sleuths

Last night, Steve and I went with our friends D and T to a Dinner Detectives show.  What's that?  It's an interactive dinner/murder mystery.  You don't know who all the actors are and you have to figure out whodunnit.

First, everyone had to put on a name tag.  But not with your own name, no.  They suggested things like "Bonnie and Clyde, or a famous detective, celebrity, something like that."  Steve and I went as Mulder and Scully, naturally.  D and T were Batman and Robin.

We were seated at a table with one other couple.  Lots of people were celebrating birthdays, and you can buy special packages to have a member of your party involved in the story somehow.  So lots of guests ended up being suspects, and there were actors mixed in at the tables, too.  (That couple we were sitting with?  Yep, actors.  I got suspicious very early on.)

You had to go around the room and "interrogate" people.  Anyone with a name tag, which included the wait staff and bartender along with all the guests, were fair game.

I ended up interviewing one of the waiters.  Just one.  And I asked him just one of the suggested questions.  ("Have you ever been arrested?  What for?")  That turned out to be my golden ticket.

Then the clues started coming out.  Things happened.  They passed out copies of the clues to each table. 

Steve got pulled into the action and was dubbed "The Rookie" by the two cops.  They stuck a new name tag over his.  (No more Mulder to my Scully!)  They made him do all sorts of ridiculous things, like go around the room and find out how many women were married or had boyfriends vs. single, and how many of the not-singles would be willing to stray.  They put a cloth napkin on his head and made him be a table.  He had to kick in the invisible door once.  He was a really, really good sport.  D, T, and I spent a lot of time laughing.

Two other people were killed.  There were lots of bits and pieces to put together, but once I figured out the name of the victim the killer was avenging, I got the killer's name, and the first name of the killer matched the first name on the name tag of the one waiter I'd interviewed.  And then things started falling into place.  The answer he'd given me to my question fit in with the story.  And a bunch of other stuff did, too.

We were each handed an answer form to fill out.  The person giving the correct answer with the most detail would win a prize.

I'm pretty sure I would have won, until Steve decided to take things a step further and include in his answer how the other two murders were tied in.  (I didn't even think of doing that; we were tasked to solve only the first murder.  That's why Steve's an excellent detective!)

Steve won, and I think the host was happy to give the prize to someone who'd been such a willing participant in all the shenanigans all evening long.

It was very, very fun.  Part of Steve's prize was a free admission for a future show, so we'll probably go back once they change the storyline.

Dinner Detectives shows are in several cities.  If there's one near you, check it out.  I give it two thumbs up!

16 Weeks, Crafty, and Costumed

We had our 16 week appointment Thursday, and everything looks great.  The baby is very active--I wish I could feel it!  Gah!

He or she was kicking like crazy during the ultrasound--especially when I laughed--and even flipped over from its back to its side, giving us a great view of a perfect little spine.

Dr. S said, "You've got an athlete in there!"  I don't want an athlete!  I want an artist or a musician or a scientist.  I don't want to go to ball games every weekend!  Of course, whatever this child wants to be involved in, I'll happily go along.  (But really, little Bean, try not to like sports too much.  Your geeky parents will be way out of their element.)

New month, new shirt?

I've spent my entire life sucking in my tummy.  It's weird that I can't.

Last week, I was getting a lot of headaches.  Possibly due to unseasonably warm, extremely windy, and very dry weather which then changed pretty rapidly this past week.  I've always been sensitive to atmospheric pressure (back in Illinois, I'd always get a headache the day before it would rain), so maybe the headaches were due to weather.  My other hypothesis was that the headaches were due to wearing my contacts, since the few times I wore glasses, I didn't have a headache.

So... coincidence?  Was the headache weather-related or contacts-related?  I'd really prefer if it was the weather, because I kind of hate wearing my glasses.  They're too loose and I can't wear sunglasses while I drive.  Woe is me!  I'm back to contacts today as a test.

(I did mention this all to my doctor, and she said either cause was a possibility, or any number of pregnancy-related causes are also possible.)

But back to the baby.  I'm finally relaxing a little bit about this pregnancy.  I spent the last month trying very hard not to be a worry-wart, and now that things are still progressing exactly as they should, I'm feeling better about everything.  Finally!

*~*~*

Last weekend, Steve and I both worked on projects.  Steve bought a window screen kit and finally, after four years, there is a screen in our bedroom the baby's future room window.  It's wonderful!

I was browsing the internet (like you do) looking for organization inspiration, and I found this fancy mail center.

I hate mail.  Hate, hate, hate.  I mean, I love getting cards and things, but most of what ends up in the mailbox is... not cards.  It's generic ads, political propaganda, statements, bills, etc., etc., etc.  I go through it, pay the bills, sort out anything that looks interesting, and leave the rest in a pile on the table.  When that pile gets big enough, I bring it upstairs "to file", and leave it in a pile up here.  When that pile gets big enough--once every several months--I sit down, sort through it all, and shred/recycle/file everything.  It's overwhelming and it sucks.  So!

Mail Center

Organization as it comes in the door

 *~*~*

Not to leave out Halloween, which was also last week.  I'm sad that, since my company was taken over by Big Company a few years ago, we can no longer have any fun dress up for Halloween.  But Steve can!

Monsieur Steve

This was Steve's first-place-winning costume.  Pretty awesome, huh?

We got five trick-or-treaters.  Five.  There are lots of kids living in our complex!  Apparently, we are trumped by the gated community across the street, who go all out to the point of having a haunted house set up.  Oh well.

All in all, a good week!

Pun'kin Time

Every year, my friend R has a pumpkin carving party.

Pumpkin preview!

This year, about a week before the party, I got a craving for caramel dipped apples, so I asked if I could bring some.

R is vegan.  When we lived together, I was on top of vegan cooking and appropriate substitutions, but it's been... wow, about seven years.  So I'm not on my A-game anymore.  It didn't occur to me that the easy-peasy melt-down-some-caramels method of making caramel-dipped apples was not vegan.  (Caramels are, apparently, made with milk!)

I can make vegan caramel, I thought.  I went to the handy internet and started searching for recipes.  Many called for a wide variety of what seemed like they'd be difficult-to-find ingredients.  Like soy yogurt.  (When I was experimenting with the possibility of being allergic to milk protein, I went on a hunt for soy yogurt.  Not so easy to find.)

Then a friend gave me a caramel recipe that called for margarine, so I thought that swapping it for Earth Balance might do the trick.

Wrong.

The caramel looked good and smelled good, but it was seeping oil.  It didn't stick to the apples unless I pressed it on and waited for it to cool, and then it hardened into a solid caramel shield.  (I'm not sure if I cooked it too long, or if the seeped-out oil made it less pliable.)  I made two rock-hard apples before pouring the rest onto wax paper to make candy.  (The oil seeped out of that, too, all over my counter.)  The candy came out equally hard, but tasty at least!

So I tried another recipe that called for soy milk.  A cup of soy milk, which seemed like way too much liquid when the first recipe had been essentially the same, minus the milk, but I tried it anyway.  It never thickened up into anything useful, although again, if I'd wanted to drink it, the flavor was good.  (I didn't want to drink it.  Down the sink it went.)

After that, my time was getting short.  I gave up on experimenting and went with the tried-and-true caramel-melting method.  I actually had to run to the store mid-dipping to get another set of caramels, but I had success.  Two vegan apples and the rest... not.

The final result

These two (front) are vegan, but possibly hard as a rock.

All in all, the apples went over famously.  There was lots of delicious food, and then we got down to business.  Not everyone carved a pumpkin, but I think they all turned out great.

My owl

J was having a hard time coming up with something to carve.  She wanted to do a Disney princess off a stencil, but they all seemed too complicated (and too big for her pumpkin).  J is a statistician and loves math, so someone said she should do a math pumpkin.

"Do a calculator with hearts!" someone suggested.

"Numbers!"

"How about pi?" I suggested.  "Pumpkin pi!"

J's Pi and Steve's scared ghost

Then C started calling it Pun'kin Pi, because it's a pun.  Ha ha.

Lots of fun.  And I've got pumpkin seeds on the counter about ready to roast, which is a large part of the reason I carve pumpkins in the first place.  Yum!

15 Weeks

There's a small contingent of early-morning (as in, pitch dark outside) dog-walkers in my complex.  We do this elaborate dance wherein we try to be friendly to each other while simultaneously avoiding one another so our dogs don't get all riled up and excited while most of our neighbors are still sleeping.

This morning, one of my neighbors called, "Good morning, young mama!  I heard the news!  Congratulations!" while pulling his two playful King Charles spaniels in the other direction.

No outtakes today!

This week--I hesitate to say it, in case I jinx it all!--the nausea seems to be improving.

Every night I lay as still as possible in bed and try to feel baby movements.  I'm pretty sure I can't feel anything yet.  Sigh.

Because a few people have expressed concern over the amount of protein I'm getting since I haven't been eating meat, I counted up the protein I'll be eating today.  Between the 29 grams in the smoothie I had for breakfast, the 47 grams in various lunch and snack items for my workday, and the 12 grams in the last portion of leftover casserole for dinner, that's 88 grams.  The Internets tell me pregnant women need somewhere between 60 and 90 grams of protein per day.

I'm already encountering lots of people who are sure I'm having a girl, or positive I'm having a boy.  It's entertaining.

Cookin' Fool

I like to prepare as much of the week's food on Sundays as possible, but yesterday I spent an unusual amount of time in the kitchen.

First, talking about those pumpkin spice muffins encouraged me to use up the rest of the can of pumpkin I'd had in the fridge from making pumpkin waffles last weekend. 

Mmm, pumpkin spice muffins.

This pregnancy is doing some unusual things to my palate.  I've never been a die-hard carnivore, but I wouldn't be surprised if this child ends up a vegetarian, based on the amount of meat I've wanted to eat.

I used to be content with a turkey wrap every day in my lunch, but lately lunches have been more difficult.  No turkey for me, and to make matters worse, I'm not able to eat the same thing week after week anymore.

Time to get creative.  This week?  Quinoa salad with cucumbers, onions, and sweet plum tomatoes (my newly discovered favorite type of tomato).

Improvised quinoa salad

Once the muffins were out of the oven and while the quinoa was cooking on the stove, I started on baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese (for me) and leftover spicy ground turkey (for Steve) for dinner.

And then, did I mention this pregnancy is messing with my taste buds?  I was browsing through a slow cooker cook book for dinner ideas for the week, and I came across a ravioli casserole recipe that looked good. 

Me!  The girl who doesn't eat pasta!

I made my first ever mostly-from-scratch pasta sauce in preparation, to pair with frozen spinach ravioli (I'm not quite ambitious enough to make my own pasta...) in the crock pot to cook during the day today.

Our refrigerator is packed. 

Pumpkin Time

Our New Things for 2012 continued this weekend with October's activity: the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival.

Fun fact: Calabasas is derived from the Spanish word for pumpkin or gourd, calabaza.  I'm taking the Internet's word for it that that's an accurate translation.

(Of course, I forgot my camera and it never even occurred to me that I could have taken pictures with my cell phone, so this post has no photographic evidence.  Darn.)

But! There were local artists and crafters, which I love.  The day was overcast and a little dreary, but very fall-like.  It involved parking a bajillion miles away, so we got a good walk out of it, and, and!  There were pumpkin treats.  Of course!

I'm a sucker for pumpkin anything (a tall, skim, decaf pumpkin spice latte is my special treat this autumn, and can of pumpkin + box of spice cake mix = a favorite seasonal dessert), and this festival was like a gold mine.  Similar to the Oxnard Strawberry Festival, but more creative with the food options.

We tried/tasted/shared savory pumpkin empanadas, pumpkin stew, a not-too-sweet dessert pumpkin tamale, and topped it off with a pumpkin shake, made with real pumpkin and spices.  There was also fried pumpkin, pumpkin beer, pumpkin tempura, Greek pumpkin pie, regular pumpkin pie, roasted pumpkin seeds,

Oh. My. Goodness.

It reminded me of the time in college my roommate Aarti and I bought a pumpkin and figured out how to turn it into pumpkin soup. I might be motivated to try it again this year.

I think I'd like to make the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival an annual tradition. 

14 Weeks

I'm halfway to my next doctor's appointment.  Dr. H was right when she said this is the Faith Period, and boy is it hard!  It's hard to wait a month without evidence the little Bean is doing well.  We lost the first baby and didn't know it for two weeks; it's hard not to wonder and worry.  I can't wait until I can feel movement!

(I almost didn't remember my "weeks" board.  In fact, I took an entire set of pictures without it, and only remembered when I went to upload them.)

Last week you got an up-the-nose shot.  This week's outtake: Artful Blur

This is what happens when, I imagine, the camera focuses on you right up close as you push the timed start, and then isn't focused at all on the place you'll be when the picture is actually taken.  (Also notice: no board.)

New this week?  Not much.  Still nauseated several evenings a week, but I think it's maybe getting better?  Maybe.  Still pretty tired a lot of the time.  On Tuesday, I fell asleep on the couch at 7:00 and missed the last half-hour of the debate.

I've told most people at work now.  It's such an awkward thing to bring up!  I know gossip spreads like wildfire, so I wanted to tell my offices myself, but I find myself stalling and putting it off.  One of my coworkers made it easy; I'm not Facebook friends with her, but I am friends with her brother, who spilled the beans to her for me.

A post about my awesome time visiting with my family last weekend to follow.  For now, I need to start emptying my closet of clothes that don't/won't fit, so I don't spend twenty frustrated minutes every morning trying to find something to wear.  I got some fabulous new clothes, thanks in large part to my mom, to take over some of the space I'll create.

Side note: Even though I didn't think I was bump-y enough for them, I've stepped into the world of maternity pants.  My sister talked me into trying them, based on her friends' experiences, and they are actually far more comfortable than wearing my regular work slacks with the fly rubberbanded shut and a Bella Band to hide it.  Score!  A pair or two of those and some stretchy dresses and I might just make it through this pregnancy in work-appropriate style.

13 Weeks

13 Weeks

What's new in Week 13?

Aside from a bad hair day, and the fact that I bought a board to write "13 weeks" on to have in the picture, and I completely forgot...

Not a lot.  I'm mentally rearranging our two-bedroom condo to fit a third human, which will likely involve Steve and me moving into the guest/computer room as our bedroom.  As much as I hate the thought of sleeping just a few feet away from our computers, I haven't come up with a good alternative to keeping them where they are. 

Despite the fact that all the pregnancy websites assure me that morning sickness should subside after that magical twelfth week, my nausea seems to only be getting worse.  Lucky me!

And, because I think it's kind of funny, have a shot straight up my nose:

First try with without the timer...

My family is coming out to visit this weekend, and they arrive tonight.  I can't wait to see them!

On a Roll

I had the day off yesterday in honor of Mr. Columbus, and I was all gung-ho on being productive.  I got up at my usual weekday time and had cleaned both bathrooms, vacuumed the entire house (including the stairs--I hate vacuuming the stairs!), dusted, de-pet-haired the couches, and done three loads of laundry before I ate lunch.

I made enough egg salad for lunches for both Steve and me for the week (avocado and tomato sandwiches are out, by the way) and the fillings for the breakfast burritos Steve was craving.

I made my 18-week ultrasound appointment with the perinatologist for November. (We get to bring a blank DVD with us and they'll record it for us to keep!)

My friend Elaina urged me to announce our pregnancy in a "cute" way, so she scoured Pinterest for ideas.  (For the record, I may have cried looking at the lot of them.)  I took some pictures outside, hit up Goodwill to see if they have maternity clothes for future reference (they don't seem to), and went to the produce store for the week's fruits and veggies.

Pregnancy announcement

 And then I hit a wall.

I fell asleep on the couch around 4:00 and woke up when Steve got home from work.  And I woke up feeling pretty gross and pukey.  (Not that I puked, let's be clear.  But feeling like I might is just as bad.)

I couldn't eat anything for dinner until Steve talked me into letting him go to the store for cous cous.

So this marks the first time Steve's had to run out to satisfy a craving, if you could call it that. (Is it a craving when it's just the only thing that sounds stomach-able?)  

(This post brought to you by parentheses.  Seriously.)

12 Weeks*

I've been holding my breath for the last four weeks.

Last time, it was in between weeks 8 and 12 that we lost the baby, and we didn't know about it until our 12-week appointment.  This pregnancy has been 180° different from the last one: (thankfully mild) nausea every day starting around 11:30 in the morning and lasting through most of the rest of the day, no bleeding (knock on wood), etc.

But still.  I worked myself up into a nervous wreck before the ultrasound, enough that the nurse taking my blood pressure commented on it.  Again.

And then the doctor came in and asked if we wanted to hear the heartbeat.  Um, yes please!

She couldn't find it.

"This seems like cruel and unusual punishment," Dr. H said.  "Let's just take a look."

And there on the ultrasound screen, bouncing around like a tiny, flailing jumping bean, was our little bean.  Kicking and flinging limbs around with that perfect little flutter of a heartbeat.  And it looked like a baby!

I let out an audible sigh of relief.  (They should really take your blood pressure after you know things are okay.)

Once we knew everything was good, Dr. H went back in with the Doppler and, after a lot of searching, found the soft bump-bump-bump of a heartbeat.  (My amateur explanation is that this difficulty might have something to do with my tipped uterus.)

Starting to get a baby bump

Dr. H calls this the Faith Period, when you're (hopefully) feeling less queasy but you can't yet feel the reassuring baby movements.  She invited me to come in for a quick five-minute ultrasound if anytime this month I start feeling like I can't wait another day to know that the baby is okay. 

So.  Cautiously excited!

*~*~*

Telling the boss.

I don't know when you're "supposed" to tell your boss you're pregnant.  For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it until after I'd had this last good ultrasound.  I couldn't teller her before I knew it seemed to be sticking, after the way things went down last time.

"I kinda figured," she said when I told her.  "When are you due?"

"April."

"Given your history, they'll probably put you on bed rest if there are any complications."

Um ... okay, yeah, maybe, but...? "There haven't been." I said.  "This pregnancy has been completely different from the last one.  Everything's been okay."

"Well, if they do put you on bed rest, you'll have to go out early."

Yeah, I guess so.  I didn't know what to say!  There was finally a congratulations somewhere in the middle of the conversation, and then she seemed to loosen up and talked about maternity clothes and those parties people have these days where a friend gives the bakery a sealed envelope with the gender, and the parents find out if they're having a boy or a girl along with all their friends when they slice the cake.

*~*~*

Telling my grandparents they're going to be great-grandparents was a lot more fun.  Grandma said she'd come up with a list of names in case we don't find one we like, so that the baby doesn't come home from the hospital without a name.

They said they'd like a boy or a girl, or both!  I said this one's just one, and Grandpa said he'd love for us to have two or three or more.

This little bean is already loved by several generations of my family.  Even if it's an inconvenience to my boss. ;)

* By my calculations,  my weeks roll over on Fridays.  My doctor's office has that happening on Thursdays.  Just goin' with the flow.