Babies R Us

Some friends of Curtis's mother are throwing me a baby shower over Christmas break. (I know, totally generous of them!) This forced me into registering for gifts. Now, I had been avoiding Babies R Us, imagining it to be a nightmare of cutsie, useless, over-commercialized junk. In my mind, it was probably going to be a lot like David's Bridal, which I found to be the example of everything wrong with the "wedding industry."

Surprisingly, Babies R Us is nowhere near that bad. They have lots of unfun, uncutsie, but practical items like books, safety locks for toilets, doors, and cabinets, cloth diapers, ointments & medicines, etc. I was three-quarters of the way through the store before I got cutsied-out. I was looking at bedding (which all seemed to feature fat, cartoony animals) and whining to myself, "Don't they have anything that ISN'T cute? I mean this has to go in our bedroom." Fortunately, the next aisle had nice solid colors and plaids. I mean, I like cute baby things, but not on every surface the baby MIGHT come in contact with. (The cute bottles of laundry detergent were just over-the-top.)

All in all it was kinda fun, though it seems like many items might be cheaper elsewhere or available used. Their registry process is very easy and you can tell they are used to dealing with pregnant women. Right after they explain how to use the scanner, they point out where the bathrooms are in the store. The one thing they didn't have was water and snacks.

After being so long in the store, I felt terrible from not eating. I only had $2 and 15 minutes before my prenatal exercise class. I got a sandwich at McDonald's, but I learned that not drinking enough water can do bad things to you. When I got home, I called my doctor, who very nicely told me that everything was fine, but nagged me to drink more water. That'll be the last time I forget to carry a water bottle.

Las Vegas Marathon

Yesterday was the Las Vegas Marathon. It's actually two events. The real marathon went all over town including down the next major street to the East from us (huge traffic tangle). It was of course won by a Kenyan (who got $65,000 prize money).
The main event, though, is the mini-marathon that went down the strip. It was a total Vegas affair. 7 couples were married as they raced and another 11 renewed their vows. There were also 65 running Elvi. Last week, there was The Great Santa Run, where they attempted to set the world's record for most number of people racing in Santa suits. I haven't heard yet if they succeeded. Speaking of Santa, Curtis and I saw him Saturday driving a red convertible and towing his sleigh on a trailer. Real beard, suit, and everything. People were going nuts, honking and waving, while we were all stopped at a red light.

Ultimate Winter Pregger Shoes

It's becoming more and more difficult to reach my own feet. Currently, I can do it, but it's a stretch and I can't breathe. My mom said I needed some slip on shoes. None of my slip ons are warm enough for winter though (not that it's super cold here, but still). Curtis found these shearling boots for me at Costco. Like wearing warm, fuzzy slippers and I only need to reach my calf to put them on. Don't even need to get socks on.

Catblogging and Yesterday's Doctor Appt.

Had my monthly doctor appointment yesterday. Everything still completely normal. I've gained 12 lbs, which is right on track. Gestational diabetes test came back negative and nothing unusual on the sonogram.

The great news is that my doctor will let me go to Sam and Matt's wedding in Colorado in March. I think they started dating before the boy and I did and Sam caught the bouquet at our wedding. I had called the doctor's office and they had told me that they could not recommend travel in the ninth month (and you have to have a doctor's note to fly when you are very pregnant), the doctor's assistant said the same thing. When I asked my doctor, though, she was totally cool about it; said it happened all the time, and that I would need a note from her and copies of all my labs in case I went into labor.

Since every post should have a picture, here's one of Beckham from this morning wearing its tail as a scarf.

Decorations

We got a fake tree during the Black Friday sales. It's our first real Christmas tree. I also found some Christmas lights in the closet that we put out on the patio and around the fireplace. Looks quite festive in here.

More Sonogram Pictures

Hands, a foot, and the whole baby demonstrating his flexibility. I wish I could put my feet on my forehead. As I said in the last post, he is one pound and confirmed to be a boy.

On the road again . . .

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We're in Fresno. The 7 hr drive took more like 8 and a half with the traffic in Vegas and the three bathroom breaks. The cat completely took the road trip in stride. It lay curled up on my lap pretty much the whole trip. Beckham isn't wild about Max (the dog), but was quite happy to spend the day sleeping on the corner of the bed in a sunbeam. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Slate's, a fancy Fresno restaurant, with Gramy and Curtis's parents. We also took some pictures for our Xmas cards.

Wednesday was my uber-ultrasound appointment. I got several pictures, but forgot them in my car. I'll post some when we get home Sat or Sun. The short of it is that there's no evidence of any birth defects or heart problems. According to the measurements made, the baby now weighs one pound and the feet I feel kicking me are each only an inch and a half long. It's also definitely a boy.

Tomorrow, we're going out early for some Black Friday shopping. Lot's of fun with the crowds. Brought my Santa hat and everything. There's also rumors that Mom and Dad might put up the tree tomorrow. Since I've never seen their house decorated for Christmas in the 4 years I've been married to their son, I'm pretty excited. UPDATE: The tree is up after a seven year hiatus!!!!

Home, Sick Home

I had a great morning. After showering, folding laundry, and packing (the newlyweds weren't up yet), I went to Mass at the newly reopened Baltimore Basilica. (It was closed 2 yrs for restoration.) Built in 1806, it's really gorgeous inside, very light, open, and airy. I went to a Latin Novus Ordo Mass. It was the first Latin Mass since it reopened. There were maybe 100 people in the huge interior. I should have known that it was going to be sparsely attended when it took me three tries to find a door that wasn't locked. I'd never been to a Latin Mass before, but they passed out missals as you came in. I sat near the front. After Mass, the monsignor complimented me and thanked me for participating. Apparently, I was the only response he could here (not surprising, considering the woman behind me who knew what was going on only spoke in a whisper). All in all, it was pretty awesome and I'd definitely do Latin again. Here's a picture of the dome over the altar. The whole ceiling has those flowers on it.

Afterwards, I decided to go over to St. Alphonsus Church around the corner and catch the last half of their English Mass. There were about 50 people at that one. The interior of St. Alphonsus is the total opposite of the Basilica, but breathtaking. It's pretty dark inside, lots of stained glass, ornate carvings, and tons of statues of saints. I tried to take some pictures, but the light was terrible. Baltimore seems to have a wealth of beautiful churches (I didn't visit any of the shrines), but not many people attend, because they are downtown.
When I got back to the apartment, we had official Maryland crabcakes and watercress salad for lunch. Real crabcakes are huge are basically chunks of crabmeat slightly bound together. Expensive, but delicious. Flew home, back to poor Mr. Headcold, the King of Kleenex, who is currently snoring on the couch. Well, at least the cat is excited to see me.

The Geek

Christa came down from Princeton to visit on Saturday. The four of us went to the Baltimore aquarium. It's an awesome aquarium. We saw the dolphin show. The best part was seeing the 400 lb dolphin jump 22 ft above the water. Christa and I then went out for dinner, because after visiting an aquarium I always crave seafood. We had a really nice chat over the live jazz going on behind us. She seems happy and looks very slim and trim. It's pretty obvious, though, that we don't swim in the same gene pool. She's not even standing up straight in this picture.

At last in Baltimore

We made it to Baltimore Wednesday night. Today was shopping for the apartment at IKEA and Target. When Jonathan got home, we had an IKEA party building bookshelves. I have a picture of me and my pregnant tummy alongside the 7 foot bookcase we built. I'll upload it to the blog when I get back Sunday or if I find a connector cable. Tomorrow, the movers arrive with all the stuff. Should be plenty exciting.

UPDATE: Here's the pic.

Day 7: Evanston, IL

Saw Emily's show yesterday. It was Cole Porter's "lesser known" works. I had only heard of 1 of the 20+ songs performed. Jonathan flew in Friday night and is about to leave for the airport. Ah, the life of those who have to get back to work. The plan is to hang around Chicago today and find some awesome pizza. Tomorrow we're off to Michigan to see Tilda (yay!) and head to Baltimore on Wednesday. Bum around Baltimore on Thursday and the truck with all the furniture arrives on Friday morning. Having a good time, but my stomach seems to grow every day. It's now noticable pretty much whatever I'm wearing.

Day 4: St. Louis, MO

In St. Louis, I stayed with my sister Marla. Her boyfriend, Craig, came up for a visit. We went to the famous Ted Drewes frozen custard stand (with temps in the 30's) and the Catholic Supply store. Check out her fancy badge for arresting shoplifters.

Day 2: Mapelton, UT

Here's willowlaughter and her aunt. Cousin Thomas is at school to prepare for some branch of the military, though I can't remember which. I tried to post this from my phone, but it failed. I'm currently in St. Louis at my sister's house. Tomorrow, we head to Chicago to meet up with willowlaughter's sister, Emily. Sunday, we're going to a professional show where Emily is the stage manager.

Road Trip!!

So tomorrow I'm heading off on a major road trip to Baltimore with willowlaughter. She and Jonathan are moving to Baltimore for his new job. Highlights of the trip will be seeing my sister in St. Louis, going to a Cole Porter review in Chicago, the Baltimore Basilica, and hanging out with my sister-in-law who'll come down from Princeton. I'm going to try and send messages from my phone to the blog along the way, but if that doesn't work, I'll be back here on the 20th.

Halloween

Curtis's last-minute Halloween costume. He was one of the best costumed teachers. One student commented that she found it difficult to take him seriously in a kilt. When he told her that the alternate costume was a Hawaiian shirt and coconut bra, she said that would have been impossible to take seriously.

Best joke of the day:
Q: Do you know why it's called a kilt?
A: Because I kil't the last person who called it a skirt.

Busy weekend

Thursday night there was a middle school football game at 4 (we lost 24-0) followed by a high school game at 7. Curtis worked as bouncer for the gate onto the field for the high school game. I left early since it was pretty chilly and I wasn't feeling well. It was the last home game for both teams. The middle school has one more game on Saturday. If they win, they'll be 0.500 for the season.

Friday, it was Nevada Day (a state holiday, NV entered the union on 10/31) and Curtis had the day off. We decided to spend the three day weekend in Palm Springs visiting Curtis's grandparents. I had met them at their house in Washington, but hadn't seen their place in Palm Springs. It's only a 4 1/2 or 5 hour drive. The exciting discovery was that there is a Tommy's in Baker (Lenwood Dr just south of the 58). I hadn't had a Tommy's chilli burger in way too long. We had to stop there on the way back as well.

We had a nice visit. Grandma and Grandpa Pehl are pretty awesome for people in their 80's. It probably helps that I haven't been hearing all their stories since birth. We also went to an awesome date farm and I saw my first date palm. I had no idea there were 119 different varieties of dates. We also went and visited my field area from my Ph.D. thesis. Since I got the samples from the geology building basement, I had never actually been to Palm Canyon. There was a gift shop, but it was long on Indians and had nothing on the geology. I found this nice little outcrop of mylonite and had to have my picture taken with it.

The Kids He Loves to Yell At

Nesting

I looked at Craigslist today and bought a couple of things.

I only spent $100 though and I got a stroller, swing, vibrating seat, bathtub, 45 pieces of boy clothing up to 3 months, and a big, stuffed dog for Curtis.

1st Appointment

Had my 1st doctor's appointment (finally!!). Things look pretty good. My BP was 100/57, weight 164 (gained a couple of pounds).

The doctor did an ultrasound. There really is a baby in there. The baby was pretty active and moving around. It was weird seeing the baby move on the screen, but not feeling anything. The arrow in this image is not pointing at the face, but at the shoulder. You can see the profile of the face above that. She also looked at the heart. We listened to the heart beat. The ultrasound recorded it as 159 bpm, very normal.

I asked her if she could tell the sex of the baby. She said it was hard with babies in breech position (butt down). But after some searching, she came up with this image. She says that there is two testicles and a penis, but I just see a blob. I asked her how certain she was. "I would bet large amounts of money that it's a boy."