Sushi Sushi Sushi Bar

I've been neglecting the laundry for quite some time now. This is dangerous when I only have two pairs of pants and one skirt suitable for work. I ran out of pants yesterday and I can't very well wear the same skirt two days in a row. I was able to squeeze into a pair of normal khakis this morning but I think that I've bisected my child.

I had a nice dinner for my birthday. The first two places The Husband wanted to take me were closed so we settled on Japanese. I ate too much but it was good. Actually I've eaten too much since Friday and it's not a pregnancy thing it's just that we've been out every single night. I wouldn't even worry about it normally except I'm now weighed every two weeks by someone hovering over the scale with a chart in their hands.

I'm slowly starting to pull things together for The Baby's space (we don't have enough room for a nursery but we can afford her a corner in a room shared with the computer). I would like to co-sleep for a while and use and Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper. I keep waffling between the mini and the full-size. We don't have a lot of space but the full size seems much more versatile. Does anyone have any experience with either?

Rainy Day

I never knew that The Cure did a cover of The Door's Hello I Love You. I feel like I missed something very important during my formative years.

It was a very sad weekend but we all made it. You know it's sad when the normally non-emotional husband sulks himself to sleep.

The Baby is not good for party tricks. She would kick and kick until I'd grab someone's hand and she'd stop. She's so coy. Little demon.

New Toys

We got a new toy in the mail this weekend thanks to two fabulous Beantown residents. I had to set it up immediately and coaxed the kitties in for a photo-op. It took a lot of cat nip but now they love their new seat. Hopefully they will be willing to share it with The Baby.



Ok, here it is, the "belly shot". This is me at thirty weeks on my way to what was a rehearsal dinner. It a way it was a sort of rehearsal for the party this evening that will take the place of the wedding reception.

Change of Plans

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. The house is in dire need of cleaning, I have to murder some vines with toxic chemicals, and I have a small amount of painting to do.

I was going to take Monday off from work (we don't get it automatically) but since I will not be out on Sunday night, I'm sure that the vacation day will come in much more handy when the baby is born.

Mysterious boxes keep arriving from amazon.com addressed to The Husband and I KNOW they contain birthday presents. I cannot be trusted to wait until Monday.

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

"I was thinking about you last night. You make a very pretty pregnant person. You have that 'pregnancy glow'." Co-worker who has since been moved off THE LIST

Looks like I can wear flip-flops all weekend since the wedding has been called off. Had drinks with the groom last night and will have lunch with the bride today. If this were a movie, last night resembled St. Elmo's Fire especially when our favorite bartender extended a personal "good-bye" to everyone individually as she ended her shift. Un/fortunately, no one's head got dunked in the toilet. My mom inquired, "what's wrong with your friends?" when I told her the news. Quite a few of my friends have had trouble with marriage and commitment. In the past two years we've witnessed two and a half divorces, two last minute wedding cancellations and a few indiscretions. I don't know what's wrong with my friends. Is this an American epidemic or merely the result of hanging out with a bunch of lovable cynics?

I brought a big box of heart-shaped cookies to work today. This is ironic because well... we sure do like cookies here.

I have an all morning meeting but I'm not staying much past 11:30 in order to get downtown for my lunch date.

This sucks, this really sucks.

Slum Lords Unite!

I feel like such a schmuck. The plumbers came to see the hot water heater and told me that it could very well blow up. I asked them if it were possible for them to ensure that only the shed housing the water heater would blow up and leave the house standing (I want that shed GONE) but they just looked at me like I was crazy. I am ya know.

So, being a responsible landlord, I am buying a new water heater for my tenants. The problem is that it cannot be installed until tomorrow afternoon. For this I feel horrible. That's two days without hot water. Should I offer a discount in rent? $50? $100? I'm leaning towards $50 'cause it really is the gesture that counts. What do you think?

Wedding Fever

Thirty weeks today!

So yeah, thirty weeks.... that's thirty out of forty for you non pregnant people. The baby is actually "to term" in seven weeks. That's right folks, we're looking at seven to twelve weeks to go. Please excuse me while I run off and hide.

I made a gazillion cookies last night. I've realized that this whole cookie-for-profit idea is going to have to be put on hold until we get central AC - not one minute before. What a foolish idea.

Yesterday morning I called the electrician to check on a non-functioning light switch in the tenant's apartment. When I got home after work, it was brought to my attention that their hot water heater is no longer working. Ah, the joys of home ownership.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. We have a wedding to go to on Sunday and we will be staying in an actual hotel that night. Granted, said hotel is only 4.4 miles from our house but I am one lazy girl. I actually booked the room before I become pregnant and I'm glad I did. It'll be heaven to leave the reception, get on the elevator and walk ten paces rather than fight French Quarter traffic. Besides, it's the same hotel where The Husband and I stayed for our wedding weekend.

The Husband is in the wedding so he'll be sporting a fancy tux and I'll be sporting this - not so sure about the shoes though. Are flip-flops acceptable? The MOST exciting thing? We get two free dinners out of the deal!

Temper Tantrum

Formerly pregnant co-worker #2 just stopped by with her baby. It was good to see her. She looks great and did it all 100% naturally - there is hope. The baby is, of course, cute. I was thanked for the onsie that I sent:



Did I mention how good the mom looked? More hope.

:: ::: ::
I will blame my pregnancy hormones for some of my strange behavior as of late. It goes beyond the snippy things that I've said to people including a poor Barista the other day. I'm talking about carrying our 19" TV outside and threatening to smash it. That sort of craziness. I'm beginning to wonder if I should be responsible for another human being seeing that I've regressed to the tender age of two.

:: ::: ::
Ok, this is not quite baby related but my brother not only graduated from American University College of Law this past weekend but got engaged as well! It looks like it'll be a spring wedding in Florida and I've got my fingers crossed for Disney World.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow (Wo)Man

The good news? I can still wear my wedding ring. The bad news? My feet look like marshmallows.

I had a terribly busy end of the week. Between two choral performances on Thursday and Saturday, dinner with friends on Friday and a mad rush to pull everything together for a bridal shower on Sunday... I'm a little exhausted.

I'm not sure what possessed me but I've volunteered to make 10 dozen cookies for Thursday. Not just regular chocolate chip and peanut butter, no, we're talking different colored icing and fun shapes. I'm a sucker for a bride who's fiance is M.I.A. six days before the wedding.

I need a nap and quite possibly and lobotomy.

mr. nice guy

Some things I just have to share.

Baby Boom

Within the last week, two of my friends have told me that they are in the early stages of pregnancy. Their babies are due within days of each other. Very strange.

The performance went well last night. We have one more tomorrow. I have tonight off (thank goodness). It's no wonder my feet have been swelling with all of the standing. It all makes sense now.

As I sat behind the trombone section last night and a few feet from the timpani, I was unsure as to whether I was endangering my child or enriching her. Now that she can respond to loud noises, she was having one hell of a dance party during the concert. We'll see if she comes out with a penchant for Verdi.

Appointment #7 - Sucker

Life with Me:

"This whole week it's been about YOU, YOU, YOU! My shoes don't even fit anymore!!!"

"That's ok, we'll just buy new ones."

"They are new shoes!!!"

I went to work briefly this morning to cram in as much paperwork as I could before my doctor's appointment. Because of this, I felt justified taking a slight detour on my way back to the office. I stopped by the mall to get a couple of cards and a graduation gift for my brother. The main reason for stopping however was to buy a long sleeve, black, v-neck shirt to wear for our performance this evening.

I knew it was a mistake to step foot into Mimi Maternity but I was desperate and seeing as how the concert is tonight and the only thing that I had was a black wool sweater that would not only expose my belly but make me die of heat exhaustion, I went in. They had not one but THREE long sleeve, black, v-neck shirts and I liked the most expensive one. I had the salesperson hold it for me as I walked around the mall trying to justify paying $70 for a shirt that I would only be wearing for two months. It didn't take much convincing. "Sucker", that's me.

My doctor's appointment was fine. The Baby kicked the fetal dopplar which was funny. I've gained nearly four pounds in two weeks. I'm pretty sure it's water retention given the size of my feet but I'm going to be a little more careful and convince The Husband that The Doctor has ordered him to walk with me regularly. Oh, and I need to DRINK MORE WATER as counterintuitive as that sounds.

Oh and yesterday? I fell into a hole in the curb walking to rehearsal and then tripped over uneven pavement on the way back, landing on my face. I only have THREE pairs of pants that I can wear, I can't go around falling all of the time! This city is trying to kill me. My belly was so not involved in these two tumbles. Instinctively my knees and calves took the beating. Thanks, Instinct.

Proposal

I'm laying it down today. It's time. I'm meeting with Human Resources with my boss with my little memo outlining what my wants are and what I will give them in return. I am prepared to tell them my intentions if my needs are not met. I am prepared to phrase that in such a way that it does not sound like an ultimatum.

Wish me luck.

Update: Well, it's done. The CEO won't be back in the office until Friday so I'll probably hear something early next week. Part of me wanted to ride out the rest of my pregnancy, use up my sick time and vacation leave and THEN make a proposal or quit outright. However, I hate leaving things up in the air and I would rather NOT burn bridges here. It helps that my boss is behind me but my request to work part-time could set a strange precedent. Our HR person seemed surprised that I'm not busy. How do I explain that the person in this position before me was very good at looking busy for sixteen years ... especially when she still works here? We'll see.

Lines

I received an unexpected gift last night from a member of the chorus that I sing with. I made The Husband open it when I arrived home. It was a handmade receiving blanket. Very cute and incredibly thoughtful.

:: ::: ::
I've learned that I am never going to be completely satisfied with a tenant because tenants are just weird and they have weird requests like... "can you plane the bottom of the door so that it will fit over our new rug?" Our interior doors are 100 years old. 'Nough said.

:: ::: ::
Recent Developments:
Stretch Marks
Swollen Feet
Linea Negra

I'm 29 weeks today. I think that I might have a breakdown next week when I hit 30 weeks and anything over 32 is going to put me in total freakout mode.

:: ::: ::
iPod Update: I still need about five more people - maybe more - to click here and sell their information. I'd bribe you but I don't know with what... um... a crawfish boil in your honor if you're ever in New Orleans? I have some random items that didn't sell in our last yard sale that I could mail out. Anybody interested in paperbacks about Tudor plays?

Pimpin'

Ok, here's the deal. My birthday is coming in less than two weeks. I have a baby coming in about two months. Mama wants an iPod - not desperately enough to buy one herself of course (think of how many diapers I could buy with that money!). Sign up for a stupid offer through this link and I'll love you forever. Be one of the LUCKY FOLKS to make my day! I chose the Blockbuster offer 'cause the last thing that I need is another credit card.

20 GB will keep me rocking through labor and will save the husband from having to hear Babes in Toyland and The White Album for thirty hours.

:: ::: ::
Ok, enough begging.

I met with the pediatrician yesterday. I was concerned that The Husband would not be able to come and considered changing the appointment for Friday but it was important to me that I meet with the owner of the practice and who interviews only on Mondays.

"Will your husband be joining us?"
"No, he's in a trial."

I said that twice. Once to the office manager and once to the doctor. Booo.

Regardless, I really liked the practice. The main doctor has been a pediatrician in New Orleans for twenty-five years and he has three female associates who all have small children. They work part-time during the week. There are NO NURSES! This didn't register at first but as the day went on, I realized what a wonderful feature this is. I thought about how much time I spent as a child getting shots and about the time I currently spend in my OB's office with her nurse. I imagined not having to explain symptoms twice during a visit. It's ideal. If I call into that office with a problem, I get a call back from a doctor.

In addition they are very good about seeing people on time and saving appointments during the day for emergencies. There are special waiting areas: a nursery, a well child playroom and a couple of rooms set aside for sick kids.

I couldn't be more pleased with the office and the demeanor of the the doctor. We sat in his office where he also treats his patients and chatted about vitamin K, Vermont and the use of antibiotics.

Although I generally choose woman doctors, I feel like I am getting the best of both worlds. I will have a doctor for my child who came highly recommended and has a quarter of a century's worth of experience under his belt as well as three female associates for my child to become familiar with.

:: ::: ::
My belly is really fat. Just in case you wanted to know. I'll take some pictures this weekend in my new cute preggo outfits.

It's Baaaaaack!

I puked this morning. Blech.

The Husband and I did some clothes shopping yesterday. I bribed him with a new suit as well as a few new shirts and a fabulous tie. This kept him going for about four hours and six different stores. It's a new record. I was in desperate need of some new shirts and was disappointed by most everyone's pregnancy selection. I did get a very cute seersucker skirt at Target for $10. I don't wear skirts often but I've got a few events coming up that will require something slightly more dressy than preggo pants 1, 2, and 3. I found a few tops and I hope that they will last me for the next three months.

The new tenants moved in and they are great! They even asked us how to properly care for the wood floors. Our response? Don't scratch 'em and don't get paint on 'em like we did. They are very considerate thus far and are apparently happy with the apartment.

I meet with the pediatrician today. Our biggest priorities are delaying the eye ointment and other tests until two hours after birth and I'd like to learn more about vitamin K shots. I'm ok with vaccinations. I know they're controversial but I also believe in our social responsibility to those around us.

Oy, so much to do today and I already need a nap.

Good News and More Good News

I had myself a hearty laugh this morning when my boss told me that the woman hired for the position that I was turned down for was no longer with us. She lasted about a week. Was she fired? Did she quit? Who cares?!! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!

The second bit of good news was that I passed my glucose tolerance test with “flying colors” and I’m not anemic to boot! Hoorah for me! Now I can continue to eat massive amounts of sugar!

I was running our social calendar by The Husband last night. We have something nearly every weekend between now and our child’s due date. This is a bit overwhelming but a lot of fun.

In a moment of pure genius, I’ve decided to decorate cookies for a living. Sure we already have the “Cookie Lady” here in New Orleans but she can’t have a monopoly on sweet delicacies. Besides it will allow me to use my creative talents AND assume my proper gender role by never leaving the kitchen!

Sharing is Caring

I just feel the need to share what a crazy co-worker just said to me:

"I didn't realize that you were expecting until someone just told me."

Mind you, I've eaten lunch at the same time as her in the same room for the past two days. All I can figure out is that she went to someone after seeing me during lunch and said, "boy, that Kelly sure is packing on the pounds!" I'm six months pregnant. I even LOOK pregnant now. My belly is all round. WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?

Now I understand that she has a lot on her mind since leaving her husband for someone that she met in a DISNEY ONLINE CHAT ROOM. This is the same woman in all seriousness said to me, "sometimes I just fantasize about my husband being dead" and "we get into a lot of debt but then someone dies and we are able to pay it off."

Oh Lord Jehovah God.

Mmmm ... Doughnuts

The Husband and I attended our "free", hospital sponsored birth class last night. I am most interested in the tour and the after care plus, ya know, some instruction on what one is to do with a baby.

Last night's class was about labor and childbirth. We know all about that already. We're pros. The class attendees were much more diverse than our Bradley class which is to be expected. I was surprised however that the racial makeup of the class was still not reflective of the city's demographics. There was a very young couple there - maybe 19 years old. I think that they get their highlights done at the same salon. Then there was another couple including a character whom I will refer to as Thuggy McThuggerson. They talked through the whole thing and played with their cell phones. There were nearly twenty couples total. It made me miss my Bradley classmates.

I have a problem that sprouted during pregnancy. Whenever a food is mentioned, I must have that food immediately. I just sounds so good. Last night when the instructor was discussing what the cervix looks like, she compared it to a malformed doughnut without a whole in the middle. For the next five minutes I sat there thinking "dooooughnut, mmmm, dooooughnut." I've turned into Homer Simpson.

I only makes sense that because the hospital elevator smelled like pizza on the way out, we had to stop buy Nino's to get a slice. Fortunately for us, The Husband was wearing his badge which allowed us to get the special "cop rate" because hey, cops... assistant district attorneys... they all play for the same team. And all this time I thought that the badge would only get us out of speeding tickets.

House Rules

As I sit firmly in my 6th month of pregnancy (and trying NOT to count down from twelve weeks), I feel pretty confident in reporting the stupidest thing said to me thus far. It was early on... about 16 or 17 weeks in when most normal people stop puking. We were hosting two ungrateful houseguests. One night after I made them dinner and consumed my portion, I promptly threw it up. Ungrateful Houseguest #1 (the one who ate an entire new box of cereal I had purchased and drank all of my apple juice) said:

"Aren't pregnant women only supposed to get sick in the morning?"

She said it with such authority that I felt like she was questioning the validity of my pregnancy. I calmly explained that no, "morning sickness" is a misnomer.

This brings me to two very important rules for the duration of my pregnancy:

1. Don't mess with my food, especially the apple juice and apples that kept me alive for the first five months of gestation.
2. Don't tell me how pregnant women are "supposed" to be.

In addition, let me lay down the rules for houseguests. They're pretty simple. We live in a tourist town and we have hosted a wide array of people - even near strangers. There are those that will never be welcome back.

1. Do not ask for us to leave our house for a few hours so that you and your boyfriend can have some "private time".
2. Buy us dinner one night as a small token of appreciation for housing your ass and carting it around town. It doesn't have to be fancy. Popeye's is fine with me. If dinner is not an option, I really like daisies and there is a flower shop around the corner.

Now that we are expecting an addition to our household, I think that more rules will be added including:

1. No one will be allowed to stay overnight unless we have seen them, spoken with them, or received a holiday greeting from them the previous year. Holidays include but are not limited to Christmas, New Years, birthdays, Halloween and Passover.
2. No one will be welcome more than two nights unless they are family or my dear friends.
3. If you don't know that I'm pregnant yet, don't even bother calling.

Barrel of Kittens

My time in the yard yesterday was very productive. I cleaned up a lot of limbs and waged war on the cat's claw that covers our fencing and shed. As a result, my arms look like I spent the day wrestling with kittens. I still have not eradicated all of the vine but I'm getting there. I need something toxic to kill the plant for good. Don't worry, I'll let The Husband deal with it. My best investments as of late were a pair of gardening gloves and pruning shears - kitchen shears can only do so much in the yard.

My belly's pretty big, just for the record. I've gone from seeing pregnant women everywhere and thinking, "I'll soon look like you!" to going to Home Depot the other day and feeling very conspicuous. Where did all of the pregnant women go? They probably had enough sense to have their babies before it got hot.

Unfit for Public

I'm taking the day off today. I've noticed that I've become slightly more aggressive and cantankerous during pregnancy - especially in my car. I am not in the habit of disobeying the police but I did just that yesterday when confronted with a traffic cop who was ignoring me and the cars behind me for quite some time. My logic at the time was, "This place is a mad house, she's not going to write me a ticket or anything." My disobedience resulted in her pounding on the exterior of my car and my feigned apology. I was in a hurry and late for birthing class. I mean, come on! Anyway, I need to chill before I get beaten up or put in jail. After being woken up around 2AM this morning by The Husband, I was unable to get back to sleep (mostly because I started yelling at him) and it was then that I decided I am still a public danger today and should remain on my property.

Our last birth class was last night. It was a pot luck and I brought skewered chicken marinated in some thai sort of sauce along with peanut and coconut milk dipping sauce. It was really tasty. The chicken was of course cold since our ten minute ride turned into forty minute hell due to the aforementioned traffic. Now The Husband and I have classes at the hospital itself to learn about their policies and to get a tour.

I plan to spend the day doing yard work and laundry - all of the stuff I was supposed to do yesterday but The Husband put in the EXTENDED version of Ray which took us about six hours to watch because we broke in the middle to make shrimp creole. Nearly every bar scene was a bar that we have frequented her in New Orleans. It's good to know that our city is so run down and antiquated that a bar can pass for 1940's Chicago without much dressing.

By Any Other Name

The Office of Social Security has posted the most popular names for 2004. I was surprised that Madison is #3 since it is a pretty common stripper name. Daddy must've had a good night! The Husband will be informed that Isabella has gone from #11 to #7. It's a nice name but every time I pick up a baby magazine, some writer undoubtedly has a child named Isabella. Too common and therefore off the list. Amelia is #96 so that's a no-go - The Husband didn't like that one anyway. I also keep a list of boy names (just in case!) and recently added Isaiah which came in at #45 for last year. Currently scratching Isaiah off the list.

Our favorite names including Equi'Nox, Toshiba, Nosmoking and Marijuana-Tequila are out of the top 1,000 for 2004 and are therefore still in the running.

Appointment #6 - I've Got My Orange Crush

I took my glucose tolerance test this morning. It was preceded by frantic dreams of forgetting to drink the dose at the right time or on the right day. I had the orange stuff and it wasn't NEARLY as bad as I was expecting. I thought it would be the consistency of cough syrup but it was rather like orange soda. After the blood was drawn, I treated myself to a muffin and some iced-chai. I've been treating myself to a lot of Starbucks lately. So much in fact that my husband used my addiction in the opening statements of a recent trial.

The doc didn't say that anything was bad so I'll assume that all is good. We listened to the heartbeat and The Baby's hiccups. I actually had a couple of questions today about pediatricians and a practice I had recently heard about where doctors will put women on pitocin drips after the birth (even natural births) in order to make the uterus contract. My doctor doesn't do this for everyone, only if the uterus is not contracting on it's own. I also asked her if I could take a bath since I was a little confused about the hot tub/bath rule. She said that of course I could take baths but not to make it too hot (whatever too hot is). I'm not a big fan of baths but I sure wanted one a couple of weeks ago during a strange bout of braxton hicks.

I like my doctor more and more each visit. She's very laid back and I feel that I am lucky to have found her. Oh, I almost forgot! I've graduated to the "appointment every two weeks" mark. Yikes!!!

::: :: :::
I've been busy building a new website for my employers. I have a limited knowledge of HTML and I've been using Dreamweaver to pull the thing together. I haven't taken any Dreamweaver classes, only the tutorial that comes with the program. I understand the basics of it but I sometimes feel like the pages would look better if I just went with straight HTML code. My employers are too cheap to hire a real designer and too cheap to train me any better. All in all I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished, especially my forms!

Slap Happy

As I walk around my home and notice the thick layer of dust under the furniture and the uncovered outlets, I am thankful that infants are not mobile. There are two nails protruding from our closet that I just don't know how to cover up. They're about two feet off the ground and I can therefore justify not dealing with them for at least another year.

My child is doomed I tell ya.

I dreamt last night that I was slapping around a neighborhood kid because she was looking into the rental side of the house and wouldn't get off the porch. I had only socks on my feet and had the presence of mind in my dream to watch out for deadly BUCKMOTH CATERPILLARS.

This dream might give someone the impression that I am going to be overprotective of my new tenants (who paid their rent EARLY for this month by the way) but in actuality the dream merely reiterates the fact that I am terrified of two-inch long caterpillars (personified by a small child) that have descended on the city like the plague. No, wait, it IS the plague. The Big Easy is going to be called to task and we're all going to hell.

Does this mean that I can start drinking again?

Da Parish

I went to Sandy’s funeral yesterday. It was heartbreaking. I had to see a lot of people who I used to work with and would like to have never seen again. I saw Sandy’s abusive ex-husband. I didn’t see most of the people who she worked with for over ten years. They must have been too busy to make it out of the office. I endured a memorial service that was less about Sandy than about her mother’s faith in her god and evangelistic prose. I cried before the service as her pre-teen daughter said her final goodbyes wracked with grief. I cried when Sandy’s boyfriend got up and read a poem that he had written about her. I cried at the grave site as I said “good-bye” and told her that she finally got me out to Chalmette.

A shrimp po-boy made for a good lunch in her honor. A french-fry po-boy would have been more fitting but I’m not sure that I’ll ever convince myself that it’s a good idea to eat a loaf of French bread filled with french-fries and gravy.