There was a comic in the paper the other day that sort of summed up my approach to this whole blog thing. Of course I can't remember which comic it was (I can hardly remember my own name these days), and I can't find the !@#$ paper either, but it essentially was about how one starts out with high expectations and aspirations for writing monumentally important thoughts and ideas but eventually ends up reporting the simple, mundane, everyday stuff, such as what was served for dinner the night before.

That is exactly what has happened here. I mean, sure, I do want to talk about some the mundane stuff, because a year from now I'll have forgotten that I was craving fig newtons and felt like a Mack truck had run over me for most of the last month, but I also was hoping to find a place to share some of my "deeper" thoughts and feelings about this pregnancy and about the person I am currently creating here in my uterus and I really haven't done much of that. I certainly think about such things all the time, but I never seem to get what's swirling around in my head to come out here on the screen.

So what stops me from being able to share that stuff? It's just too much work? Lack of writing ability? I'm afraid it'll sound trite? Or stupid? I get bored and distracted too easily? A lack of time?

All of the above?

Sigh.

Oh well, I am hereby making a promise to myself to do better next time. Right now the cleaners are here and I have to find somewhere to hide out.

Hi Benjamin,
Well, we had our baby shower today. We had a nice turnout--Aunt Liz seems to feel that approximately 50 people were here--and we (well, you more so than me) received a lot of lovely gifts.

I'm glad it's all over though, to be honest. I was combing my hair earlier in the day while getting ready and I pulled a muscle in my back. So it was tough having to play the happy & polite hostess when all I really wanted to do was go lie down and make my back stop hurting. Not to mention that the six women who threw the shower for me (Aunt Liz, my mother, Shaile, Rayna, Willa, & Kristen) all ended up nearly killing each other, which was pretty stressful for me. Not that any of them were rude or ugly to each other today (well, except for maybe one little episode), still. . . It was fun and it was nice seeing everyone, but it's also nice that it's over.

Even though we got a lot of stuff, I still have many things to get. We didn't get a swing, or a playpen, or a car seat thingy for the stroller, or a diaper bag, or nearly enough blankets, or any wipes and diapers (we're going to use cloth, but they recommend not starting those until two weeks after you're born), or a breast pump. . . Anyway, point is, I now have a lot of shopping to do and not too much time to do it in.

Well, your father, it seems, overindulged in the wine today and is now snoring loudly here beside me, so I think it's time for me to go harass him and keep him awake until it's closer to bedtime. (Plus he said he'd rub my back and I intend to make him live up to that promise.)

Much love,
Mommy

Hi Benjamin!

It's been a little while since I checked in here, just thought I'd write and give a brief update on how things are going.


Actually, not too much going on lately, which is good. I don't expect much action for another month or so. You're growing, I'm growing, we're both doing well.


We have finally gotten the nursery painted and most of the furniture in it (we're still waiting on the dresser to come in) and it's all coming together nicely, as I envisioned it. There are still some small things to do in there, such as hang artwork and put books and toys on your shelves, but that's just "fun" stuff that I can wait to do even after you're here. Especially considering as how you will mostly be in my room in a bassinet for the first few months after you're born. Mommies are very paranoid and feel the need to keep the baby close by. (Or at least this mommy is like that, anyway.)


This weekend your aunt, your sister, and several of my friends are putting together a baby shower at our house. I'm looking forward to it. Mainly because after this weekend I'll know for sure what I don't have and can go out and get it. I have held off buying a lot of things until after this shower in the event that someone else gets it. (I'm not the best about returning stuff, so it's better that I only have one of something.) Of course I'm also looking forward towards seeing everyone and eating lots of yummy things. :-)

Speaking of yummy things, your father sent me a link to some study wherein pregnant rats who ate a lot of junkfood had baby rats who preferred junkfood. Now I'm not a rat and neither are you, and the study did say that a human correlation really couldn't be had at this time, but IF there's any truth to it then I think you're doomed to like junkfood because these days sweets are high on the list of foods that sound appealing to me (which is a rather short list most days). Some of my current "favorite" sweet things are: fig newtons, figs & goat cheese on crackers, ice cream (preferably in a waffle cone), pudding (I do try to limit it to sugar free), oreos, Loco Pops (Mexican Popsicles available only in Durham/Chapel Hill), and Mellow Mushroom's oatmeal cookies.

Besides sweets I still have a thing for Mexican and Indian foods. Other than that, though, it gets tough sometimes to think of things to eat that sound good. Some days I have to force myself to eat dinner simply because I know I need to.

Other pregnancy goings on? I am getting tired again, sort of a repeat of the way I felt the first trimester. Bone tired. Dog tired. Want to lie down and nap all the time tired. It doesn't help any that we've had a couple of intense heat waves where the temp has been >100 degrees F for several days in a row. Heat like that saps the strength out of "normal" people and it really does a number on those of us of the pregnant persuasion.

Oh well, speaking of tired, I think it's about time to call it a night.

Love you!

Mommy