Boy!

Pictures to follow.

Alive and well!

So, I disappeared from the internet. First my internet in Minneapolis died, and then I kind of moved to Georgia. So now I'm typing from a cute little house in Hephzibah (best name I've ever heard, and if you disagree you can shush). Things that have happened in the last few weeks:

-- Finished everything school-related. Not as hard as expected, really, and it's amazing to be done. I've been in school for almost a full decade.
-- Flew to Georgia to get married. Success! Anniversary: December 10.
-- Bought a car (er, Noah did, anyway) and drove it back to Minneapolis. In a blizzard. Did a little impromptu off-roading, but it all turned out okay.
-- Got my results back on the bloodwork for Buckethead - all is well! Except they had to take the blood out of my hand instead of my arm, which kind of gave me a sad.
-- Moved to Georgia, with the help of my amazing and long-suffering mother. We (pregnant lady and woman with heart and shoulder condition) had to carry all my stuff down three flights of stairs and over two shoulder-high snow drifts to my car. It was possibly the worst experience of my life, but it got done, and I didn't have to do it alone. So thanks, Mom, and I love you!
-- Moved in! This part was much easier. Mom and I mostly sat back (er, stood back - no furniture) and watched Noah carry everything. It was very satisfying.
-- Furnished a house on the cheap. Best buy: nice (ish - it's comfy, but needs a slipcover to hide the florals) love seat for $10.

Now we're mostly just relaxing. I just put dinner in the oven to cook (I'm a sucker for meatloaf, and for parenthetical expressions) and am sitting on the couch watching Noah wreck cars on his 360. Life is good.

As far as Buckethead-related events go, there's a slight hold-up on the insurance, so I can't go to the doctor straight away, but we're going to a local ultrasound place on Friday so Noah can see and to find out the gender. Hopefully I can post some adorable and terrifying pictures of our spawn after that.

15 weeks and a visit to the midwife.

Yarrgh. Things are hectic. This is the last week of school, and I have a ton of stuff to grade (plus my own work for classes), have to write a final, give the final, grade the final, and then move to Georgia. Crazy. At least we're getting some stuff done. Noah found us an awesome house to live in, and it's an amazing relief to have that taken care of. I didn't honestly realize how much it was worrying me until it was done. Now the only thing to do really is get a car (and get married, if possible, but that might have to wait until after I get moved down for real).

I went to my last midwife visit here on Friday. It was extremely uneventful - I didn't even have to take off my underoos! It was almost disappointing. We talked about the NT scan and I got the go-ahead to go have some blood drawn whenever I feel like it (probably tomorrow), and then we listened to Buckethead's heartbeat (160), and that was it.

---

How far along? 15 weeks.
Total weight gain/loss: Dropped last week's pound, so up five pounds total.
Maternity clothes? I tried - I really did. I went looking for maternity clothes Saturday because the situation is getting pretty dire. Alas, all pregnant women are apparently six feet tall, because all pants were far too long. Dresses were an acceptable length, but they all made me look like I'm about to give birth at any second. I don't think I'm at peace with the baby belly yet. So I didn't buy anything and went home cranky.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: Okay. I've settled into a nice routine of only waking up once per night to pee, so that's an improvement.
Best moment this week: Knowing that we're not going to have to live in a cardboard box in front of Fort Gordon.
Movement: Undetectable disco party?
Food cravings: Water. I feel like a camel (with the hump on the wrong side).
Gender: I don't know. I'm trying to talk Noah into going to a private ultrasound place as soon as I get to Georgia so we can see what it is.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: Clothes that fit.
What I am looking forward to: Moving! (Or, more accurately, being moved! Moving itself is going to suck.)
Weekly Wisdom: Dressing room panic attacks don't help anything.
Milestones: Going to the doctor and not showing anyone my vagina.

14 weeks (err, yesterday).

Not much to report, other than that Buckethead is developing fur (aka lanugo) all over the place. So now we match, Buckethead and I, in terms of fuzz.

How far along? 14 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Another pound, so six total.
Maternity clothes? I really should buy some (I'm down to two skirts that fit), but I hate the thought of buying new clothes just to move it all across country in three weeks.
Stretch marks? Nope.
Sleep: Kind of tricky at the moment. I can't sleep on my stomach anymore - it feels really weirdly compressed if I try. At least I can still sleep on my back for a while longer.
Best moment this week: Seeing Buckethead's creepy visage on ultrasound.
Movement: Wild and vigorous, but I can't feel it.
Food cravings: Chili with crackers.
Gender: Girl, maybe (just so I can put big flowery headbands on)? Little hooligan wouldn't show the goods.
Labor Signs: No, dammit!
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach. *sob*
What I am looking forward to: School being done in a couple weeks.
Weekly Wisdom: None. I feel mildly retarded this week.
Milestones: Finishing my first pack of prenatals (two months' worth!).

In other news, we got the results back from the NT scan. Buckethead's chance of developing Trisomy 13 or 18 is 1 in 10,000, which is great. The chance for Down syndrome is 1 in 500, which is not bad, but it should be 1 in 900 for my age, so we're probably going to get some second trimester bloodwork done to make sure everything is as it should be. I'll talk to the midwife about it at my Friday appointment.

Good day for staying inside with my slippers.

And as evidence for my current baby-brainedness, let me just say that the first thing that went through my head when I looked outside was "Buckethead is never going to see this kind of weather unless we go home for the holidays."

The second thing, of course, was "No way I'm going to school today."

More doctor adventures.

So, I went in for my NT scan yesterday. I expected it to take maybe an hour, but it turned out to be more like three hours, two of which were spent in waiting rooms. This resulted in my tragically missing my first class. Other than that, though, it all seemed to go well.

I first had to go back with the genetics counselor to give a family history and hear exactly what they were planning on doing to me. She was very nice, but one of those people that give constant eye contact, like you're in some kind of staring contest, so it was slightly weird. It was a bit troublesome having to attempt to give a complete health history of every person in both my and Noah's extended families, which was, of course, completely impossible. I tried, though, and at the end we had an extremely attractive family chart and a prognosis of probably healthy. She also promised that the required blood test would just be a finger-stick, which was delightful news. Despite my previous blood-drawing triumph, I am still a complete baby about it.


Somehow I am not shocked that my spawn appears to be all brains and mandibles.

At the end of this visit, I was somewhat dismayed to learn that I would need a full bladder for this ultrasound, since I had specifically asked the receptionist when I came in and she instructed me to go pee and not drink anything. So I wound up guzzling water for the next half hour until the nurse came to take me back for the ultrasound. I'm pleased to report that I've graduated from the dildo-cam and now get to have belly ultrasound, with extra-convenient warmed gel. I'm not sure why they didn't use the warmed gel for the trans-vaginal one last time, when it would've done a lot more good...


If mandibles don't do anything for you, how about this fine straight-out-of-the-X-files portrait?

Anyway, the ultrasound was kind of fun (and aided, of course, by the fact that I didn't have to strip). There was a student-doctor in there at the same time asking lots of questions that the nurse found to be stupid, and listening to her explanations to him was quite informative. She kept exclaiming joyfully about Buckethead's brain. "Look at this lobe development! This brain is absolutely textbook! Do you see this brain, Dr. Foolishness? Look at that!" So, Buckethead apparently has an exemplary brain.


Probably the best of the lot. There is a face and a potbelly and it's all very charming and less alien-like than the previous ones. Also you can see the exemplary textbook brain - in profile!

She tried to guess the gender as well for us, but alas, Buckethead was unwilling to show the goods. In addition to scrunching his legs up as tightly as possible, he also insisted on flailing about and refusing to hold still and be seen. This was, of course, extremely adorable (insofar as a creepy skeletal 2-D alien thing can be adorable) and very strange. Last time I saw Buckethead, the best comparison would be a potato. Now there is arm-waving and head-banging going on in there. Bizarre.


Skull and spine and baby belly and ridiculous little feets.

After a report that my fibroid is impressive and the nuchal fold (what they had to look at for the test - the liquid at the back of the neck) seemed normal (huzzah!), they sent me down for a blood draw. After waiting there for nearly an hour, lulled by the shrieks of some poor woman in the next room with apparently invisible veins, I discovered that the genetics counselor was a dirty liar and I would be getting stabbed with a massive needle by the same person who had failed repeatedly to get blood from the previous unhappy soul. Fortunately, I was able to take it valiantly, and I eventually escaped relatively intact, and that is the end of the story. I'll report on the test results when I get them at the end of this week.

Second trimester requires celebratory egg rolls.

As you can see, Buckethead now has a more appropriately-sized head. Could stand to work on the ears a bit more, though - the child apparently procrastinates like its mother...

Also important to note: we made it to the second trimester*! This is important because, first, it sounds very mighty and impressive, and second, it means the miscarriage risk is much much lower. I've been worrying so much about that lately. I can't wait to go in for my NT scan (9:30 tomorrow morning!) and see that everything is (hopefully...) just fine.

* Okay, well, there's some debate about when that starts. Some say 12 weeks, some say 14. I'm splitting the difference and going with 13.

---

How far along? 13 weeks tomorrow!
Total weight gain/loss: Up another pound, but I think this one is Chinese food, not baby. Still, that's five pounds in the first trimester, which is apparently right on target (doctor said 3-6 pounds in the first tri).
Maternity clothes? Not quite. I've been having to use some sneaky tricks to get some of my clothes to fit, though. This is especially problematic since my winter coat barely fits right now (especially in the boobage region, which has grown more than the belly, actually), and it's cold and snowy outside. Don't want to buy a new one, though, since I'll never use it again once I move to Georgia.
Stretch marks? Nej.
Sleep: Eight hours is enough now (big change from eleven or twelve a few weeks ago).
Best moment this week: It went by way too fast to tell. I hope things slow down a bit once I get moved and don't have as much stuff to do constantly.
Movement: Nein.
Food cravings: Chinese. Yum yum yum.
Gender: Back to thinking it's a boy. Maybe they'll give me a peak tomorrow...
Labor Signs: Nyet.
Belly Button in or out? In!
What I miss: Not being tired after one flight of stairs.
What I am looking forward to: My NT scan tomorrow morning!
Weekly Wisdom: Don't stress. Don't stress. Don't stress.
Milestones: Second trimester! Seriously for reals.

Why do they use food for comparison purposes?

So, Buckethead will apparently be the length of a shrimp in a couple days, and now I've got the most unholy craving for shrimp, accompanied with a pleasant side of guilt (representations of mah babby make me hungry? really?). I am currently dismantling a couple of spring rolls to get at the shrimp inside*. Pathetic.

* The bastards put cilantro in them, rendering the rest of the rolls completely inedible.

Fur.

Or body hair, if you want to be crude about it...

Specifically, I am sprouting it. Plenty of it. My arm hair is getting dark and luxuriant. My stomach apparently feels the need to protect itself with a coat of increasingly-irritating down. My legs develop a fine 5 o'clock shadow by the end of the day. Worst of all? I could probably now hold whisker competitions with Bruce and have a fighting chance.

Turning into a wookie is apparently fairly normal, but while I'm sure Chewbacca is the absolute image of maternal beauty, it's rather upsetting.

I suppose my main dilemma now is: should I wax it or... wax it?


Big decisions here, folks.

Playing hookie...

...on account of nearly puking on my slippers every time I move towards the door.

Curse you, baby hormones - I thought we were over this!


Diabolical, no?

12 weeks today!

So this is the very last week of the first trimester - yay! It's kind of crazy thinking I'm almost a third done already. Buckethead is about 2.5" long, which is extremely mighty and impressive, and is apparently slurping down amniotic fluid and peeing it back out. Urinating, as it were. Inside my uterus.

...

Right.

Anyway, here is the standard weekly update:

How far along? 12 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Up a pound from last week, so four pounds total.
Maternity clothes? No, but my clothes are all getting kind of tight. I looked at maternity stuff at Target the other day, but it was way too intimidating so I left without buying anything (except three metric tons of grapes).
Stretch marks? Not any new ones.
Sleep: The best thing in the world. I go to bed at like 10pm now, which is kind of bizarre.
Best moment this week: Hard to say - it's been uneventful. Best non-event was not feeling sick much at all!
Movement: Nope.
Food cravings: Grapes and pepperjack cheese and I have both right in front of me now! *cue maniacal laughter*
Gender: No idea. I've been flip-flopping back and forth.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? In.
What I miss: Roast beef sandwiches.
What I am looking forward to: Being done with this semester so I can move down with Noah already.
Weekly Wisdom: Hats with ears are probably the best thing in the world. That's not wisdom, you say? Prove it.
Milestones: Last week of the first trimester! Holy crap that went fast.

A girl would be kind of nice.

I'll need to study this.

Click to enlarge.

Morning sickness...

...is the weirdest thing ever. It's stopped with the all-day nausea, which is great, but now it's switched to random intense occurrences. I'll just be walking down the street, all happy, feeling great, everything's just wonderf- holyshitihavetothrowupRIGHTNOW. It's kind of hilarious, really.

Otherwise, it's been an uneventful week as regards Buckethead. Noah and I are making a little bit of headway on the moving situation. We got a suggestion from my dad regarding a moving option we hadn't thought about, so that might make things kind of easier. It still is going to take an awful lot of planning, though. I got some boxes today so I can start packing right away. I don't want to be left trying to pack my entire apartment during finals week right before moving...

11 week update.

How far along? 11 weeks, can't you read?
Total weight gain/loss: Same as last week - up three pounds.
Maternity clothes? Nope.
Stretch marks? Not any new ones.
Sleep: Satisfying. I can still sleep on my stomach, which is very nice.
Best moment this week: Getting a speculum jammed up in my business. Oh wait, that wasn't any fun at all...
Movement: Nope.
Food cravings: Grapes and chicken and I don't have either. Whaaaaaah!
Gender: I dunno. Noah's got me thinking girl now.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? In for the duration, I hope.
What I miss: Extremely rare meat.
What I am looking forward to: My first trimester screening, scheduled two weeks from today, when I'll be 13 weeks along.
Weekly Wisdom: Jiminy, I'm incubating an alien here - you expect wisdom, too?
Milestones: I've officially got a fetus here - Buckethead is no longer an embryo!

And now I'm craving key lime pie.

We're 11 weeks along tomorrow, and apparently Buckethead is fine-tuning the details. Bones are starting to harden up, fingernails are coming along, and hair follicles and tooth buds are developing. The head is still the same size as the rest of the body put together, though, which is slightly hilarious. He might have proper people features, but he is still pretty damn silly-looking.

The weirdest thing to me is that apparently Buckethead is now the size of a lime (or a fig, according to some, but I'm still craving citrus, so we're going with lime). That's about 1.6" long and a quarter of an ounce, and big enough that all the bits and pieces are visible to the naked eye.

At least I don't have syphilis.

So I went for my second prenatal appointment today and was all excited because the receptionist told me last time that I was scheduled for another ultrasound this time. Alas, it was not so. No ultrasound. No baby heartbeat, either. All I got were my blood test results (negative on everything bad, awesome on everything good), my blood pressure reading (104/62 - good, apparently), and a date with the speculum. Now I smell like nasty hospital lube.

Oh, and they pushed my due date back to June 1, based on the date of my last period. My next appointment is December 3, at the ungodly hour of 9:30 in the morning. I don't think I'm supposed to have an ultrasound then either. Sad face.

On the up side, I contacted my insurance company about first trimester screening, where they measure the baby's neck folds (nice mental image) to see what the chance of chromosomal issues is. Apparently it costs about $3000, but my insurance company will cover all of it, so I'm going to make an appointment for that on Monday. I'm not really worried about any defects, but it will at least make sure I get another ultrasound before the 20-week gender ultrasound. Take that, evil midwives.* Your dastardly plan to stop me from peeking at Buckethead has been foiled!

*I kid - they are all very nice. Still foiled, though.

*hyperventilates*

Important things that have already been done:
-- Noah passed DLPT, thus making everything awesome. Yay!
-- I finally told my professor I was leaving, and he was nice and supportive (though a tad disappointed).

Important things that need to be done still:
-- Noah moves to Georgia.
-- Noah gets driver's license.
-- Get married.
-- Find a house.
-- Get a car.
-- Finish semester.
-- Figure out all the crazy military paperwork.
-- Move me and all my stuff to Georgia (which the military probably will not pay for, as it turns out).
-- Find a new OB/GYN in Georgia and get all medical stuff transferred.
-- Take a 30-second breather.
-- Get ready for imminent arrival of Buckethead.

*sigh* One thing at a time is much easier said than done. This is why I generally prefer to cower in the bathtub and pretend nothing needs to be done.

Silly Buckethead. Doesn't know where ears go.

Please see to it that they are moved upwards shortly, or else there will be a great many extra-long hats in your future.

10 weeks!

Okay, it's not second trimester or anything, but double-digit weeks is something, yeah? Plus the morning sickness is getting better, which is always a delight, and I no longer feel like collapsing into a coma all day every day. Life is good.

Life is apparently good for Buckethead, too, who is roughly kumquat-sized and has a giant bulging brain like an alien telepath from an old sci-fi movie.

(picture ruthlessly ganked from Baby Center)

An update on the pregnancy statistics:

How far along? 10 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: Mysteriously dropped a pound last week, so up three pounds total.
Maternity clothes? Not yet. Hopefully not for a few more weeks.
Stretch marks? Not any new ones.
Sleep: Not as necessary as it was before. I'm satisfied with eight or nine hours a night, minus a potty break or two every night because my bladder is a complete wuss.
Best moment this week: Realizing my morning sickness is much improved.
Movement: Nope.
Food cravings: Oranges. Lemons, too.
Gender: Won't know for another eight weeks or so, but I'm thinking boy.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? In, and it better stay that way.
What I miss: Gin.
What I am looking forward to: My ultrasound on Friday! Yay for seeing Buckethead again. Apparently s/he'll even look sort of human this time.
Weekly Wisdom: Morning sickness doesn't last forever. *fingers crossed*
Milestones: 10 weeks out of 40 weeks = about 25% done. That sounds impressive, no?

Futile moaning.

My biggest problem at the moment is telling people at school. I'm basically committing High Blasphemy against the God of Academia by quitting grad school to go have babies, and most of the people in my department are both extreme feminists and very dismissive of all non-academic pursuits, so I am really nervous about telling people. I've told a couple of friends, who reacted well enough, and I told the person in charge of teaching assignments that I wouldn't be back next semester (but didn't tell her why), so I'm not completely in the closet, but I still need to tell the head of graduate studies and the guy in charge of my particular field of study.

It's the last one that I'm most worried about. I'm a Germanic medievalist, and there aren't many of us around. At my school, there are four of us right now, which is great because it means we can almost fill any class we want to have (five students are required for a class, so we only need to dig up one more). Unfortunately, one of us is graduating this semester and I'm leaving, so that leaves the medievalists with only two students, which means they're kind of at the mercy of the department, so my leaving hurts the program in a very real way.

It doesn't help that the very first day I met this guy he told me about a promising female student that he had who quit to 'go be her husband's wife.' So I've got a feeling he's not going to be particularly pleased with my news.

Aside from the awkwardness involved in telling people, I am actually not upset at all to be leaving. I've been in school for close to a decade (and for practically no reason - there are no jobs out there for Germanic medievalists), and I am incredibly sick of it. It'll be nice to join the real world, and it'll be especially nice to quit doing the long-distance thing and go settle down with Noah (although, with him being in the Navy and all, I can't realistically expect this to be the last time we'll be apart). And, to be perfectly honest, I will be delighted to stop being surrounded by ridiculous intellectual types. I know technically I'm one of them, but they really get on the nerves after a while...

And who knows, maybe after things settle down I'll even have enough time to bake some decent pie again. I miss my oven.

Move along, no baby stuff to see here.

Bruce snoozes happily, if a bit awkwardly.



Bruce becomes aware that he is under observation.



Bruce discovers who is watching.



Bruce attempts to register his dismay.



Bruce sulks childishly.

Three things which are not awesome about being in the Family Way.

1. Waking up two hours before the alarm goes off every morning due to reduced bladder capacity.

2. Being out of breath after a single flight of stairs.

3. Dry-heaving every time I cough. Seriously.

A bit of record-keeping.

How far along? 9 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain/loss: Up 4 pounds, bah.
Maternity clothes? Nope, but a few skirts are getting a bit tight. Not sure if that's Buckethead or Jimmy John's, though.
Stretch marks? Heh. I've had stretch marks on the boobs since I was 12. No new ones anywhere, though.
Sleep: 12 hours a day, hallelujah.
Best moment this week: Discovering how delicious cheerios are.
Movement: Nein.
Food cravings: Anything greasy.
Gender: No clue.
Labor Signs: Nej.
Belly Button in or out? In, and it better stay that way.
What I miss: Not being sick.
What I am looking forward to: This week being over so I can sleep all weekend. What's that? You mean to tell me it's only Tuesday? *sob*
Weekly Wisdom: More sleeping, less thinking.
Milestones: Very nearly throwing up on the bus yesterday. Excitement!

9 weeks tomorrow!

One inch long and looking like a malevolent gummy bear...



Just kidding, Buckethead. I'm sure you're adorable, in all your slimy googly-eyed-ness.

Doctors. Eek.*

I got there about an hour early because I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there. This left me sitting in the waiting room for about fifty minutes watching a million pregnant ladies wander past and wondering if I'm going to get that huge. Survey says: most likely. :(

Then! Ultrasound. Turns out that at this early period (7 weeks, 4 days at that point) you can't get the nice friendly belly ultrasound. Instead they have to be all intrusive and do a transvaginal ultrasound, which meant I had to take off everything on the bottom. The tech said I could just pull my skirt up instead if I wanted, but that sounded a little too back-of-the-station-wagon for my tastes, so I opted for partial nudity instead.

It actually wasn't bad at all, besides the freezing cold goo they lubed it up with. It wasn't even noticeable once it was in, and I was too distracted looking at stuff anyway. They looked around to see how many babbies there were in there (just one, hallelujah glory be), and they checked out my ovaries (nondescript, but one has a kick-ass fibroid, apparently). And I got to hear a hearbeat. 161 beats per minute, apparently, which is nice and healthy. ("My son has a strong heart!" said Noah, in a fit of manly chest-beating.)



The ultrasound tech thought this one was particularly cute. I suppose she is correct, if you find nondescript cell-blobs to be adorable, which apparently I do, since I got all teary-eyed.

After all this, I got to go to the nurse and tell her all the sordid details of my medical history. This mostly consisted of her listing diseases and me saying "No. Nope. Huh uh." Then I got a huge packet of information on what to eat and not eat, and what medicine will kill Buckethead and what won't, and how not to screw everything up in general.

Lastly, blood. Lots of it. They took six vials. They had the door to the blood-taking room open, so I had the pleasure of watching the guy before me go first. It was this big tall Somali gent with the hat and robes and everything, and he was a complete baby about it. The nurse practically had to restrain him. I was very proud afterwards when I only had to be told to relax about four times and otherwise did not humiliate myself.

And that is all. I'm going to meet the midwife on November 5, when I will be almost 11 weeks along, and probably I'll get another ultrasound then. Hopefully by that point Buckethead will have some cool limbs to gawk at.

*Actually I saw no doctors, just an ultrasound technician and a nurse. They were both very nice though.

7 weeks tomorrow.

And it's finally starting to feel real. Or maybe that's just because I've finally got some morning sickness, I have to pee every three minutes, and (TMI - look away!) my boobs hurt like hell. More minor symptoms include crazy cravings/aversions, weird yet apparently normal cramping/pulling sensations in the lower abdomen, and a superhero sense of smell. Fortunately I haven't actually gained any weight yet - I'm trying to keep that under control. I've got an unfortunate tendency to think: "Hmm. I want ice cream. That means baby wants ice cream! Baby shall have ice cream."

Buckethead is getting enormous, if supermarket blueberries are enormous. At least he's visible to the naked eye now, which is always a plus. Apparently he looks approximately like so:

Which is, frankly, terrifying. I mean, really. Arms and legs? Hilarious webbed toes? What's next, a beating heart? Oh wait, he's already got that.

Crazy.

Babies are jerks.

Or halfway-developed embryos, as the case may be.

I haven't been having any morning sickness, but I've been having food cravings and aversions like mad. Yesterday they got combined into one. I got home from school and could not think about anything except eating a delicious crunchy sweet wonderful apple. So I found myself an apple, and bit into it, and it was amazing. And then two bites later the aversion kicked in and suddenly there was nothing on earth that sounded more revolting and horrifying than a horrible disgusting apple, and I just about threw up all over myself, since I was in the midst of eating it.

Not cool, Buckethead.

Scary.

So I've got my first doctor's appointment for *gasp* the baaaaby. It's Friday, October 15, so I'll be about 8 weeks along. Ish. That's 20% done, which seems like an awful lot. Apparently I'll be getting an ultrasound, so I'll hopefully have a lovely black and white picture of a blob to post. Maybe I'll get to hear a heartbeat too. That would be really awesome (might make it seem real), but they can't always do it that early, so I will try not to hold my breath.

On the downside, they'll also be sucking out a ridiculous amount of my blood for various tests. Last time I had blood drawn, it took three nurses to distract me and hold my arm down so one could do it. I'm hoping I've got a little more self-control this time.

Maybe it'll only take two nurses.

Codename: Buckethead

Holy shit.

Aww.

Probably the best thing I have ever eaten.

$267.60

From top to bottom:

An Introduction to Old Norse by E. V. Gordon - For learning Old Norse, of course, from the illustrious Anatoly Liberman. This was the single most expensive book here. New, it costs about a hundred dollars. I got the used copy for around $65.

Prisma's Abridged English-Swedish and Swedish-English Dictionary - I'm starting Swedish this fall. Huzzah! Or whatever they say in Swedish, which I will soon be able to tell you.

The Oxford History of Medieval Europe by George Holmes - One of the main texts for the class I'm helping teach.

Agricola and Germania by Tacitus - I have this already, but mine is in a side by side Latin / German - this is an English translation that I will need for the class I'm helping teach.

The Nibelungenlied - I have this too, but in a side by side Middle High German / Modern German text. I'll need this English one for the class I'm helping teach.

The Life of Charlemagne by Einhard - Another one for the class I'm helping teach. I know I had a copy of this, but I have no idea where it is, and I think it was a different translation anyway.

An Introduction to Middle Dutch by Colette M. van Kerckvoorde - For learning Middle Dutch, once again from the infamous Professor Liberman.

På svenska! by Ulla Göransson and Mai Parada - This is the main text for the Swedish class. The blue one seems to be the actual textbook; the grey one is a grammar guide, and the green is a workbook.

Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC-AD 1000 by Barry Cunliffe - For an anthropology course I'm taking on the beginnings of civilization in western Europe.

Housing upgrades.

So, with nothing better to do over the summer, I've had some time to do a few projects around the apartment. Previously, I tended to leave my apartments austere and empty, save a few (or a great many) empty bottles and pizza boxes. My goal this time was to make it look like somebody actually lives here.



This is what the living room looked like previously. Not awful, but the couch really irritated me.



This is what it looks like currently. I painted some frames orange and put some silly prints in them, and I put a slipcover on the couch and made some pillow covers and curtains. I don't think I like the orange one - with the black it looks a bit home-made and Halloween-y. I want something to tie it in with the orange picture frames though. A different shade, maybe? I dunno. Work in progress.



I also put some pictures over the table, so I'd have something to look at while chopping stuff up. Yes, there are two empty frames - I put them up because it looked weird without those two, but I haven't decided what I want in them yet. Ignore the mess on the table. I'm in the middle of making some really kickass potato-carrot soup.



The bedroom previously. Big empty wall. Very depressing.



The bedroom now. Pictures on wall. Much improved, I think. The stein on the bedside table thingy is for plant watering purposes only. Not shown: Bruce snoozing on the end of the bed.

That's the end of my semi-finished projects. I'm in the middle of a couple sewing things. I'm trying to make a few little bags to get practice putting in zippers. Once I feel better about that, who knows - maybe something more complicated and scary.

Poor Bruce.

I'm planning on going to visit Noah in CA over Labor Day weekend. Alas, it's the first time I've ever tried to make a trip while having a pet who needs to be fed regularly. So, with much trepidation, I made a call today to a boarding place to see what can be arranged. The phone conversation itself was a bit of a trial - the lady on the other end just couldn't seem to believe that Bruce is called Bruce, so I had to spell it out twice. Still, the matter was eventually arranged, and Bruce will be staying here for five days in the beginning of September. It seems to be a rather nice place (can't have poor toothless Bruce languishing in some grungy cage where he can't stretch out for a good nap), but I'll bet he'll still be pretty traumatized.

Ah well. It's a good trial run for when I'll be gone for two weeks over Christmas. Hopefully it works out.

Guess what.

I assure you I do have more than three fingers on that hand.

Just a brief comment...

...to note that the weather has finally cooled down! I could actually utilize a blanket last night, and did not wake up completely dehydrated in a pool of sweat. Hallelujah.



Bruce is also pleased with the weather, though he tries his best not to show it.

A mighty triumph.

Ambivalent.



Smug.



Delighted.

Despite my apparent emotional turbulence, I'm actually moderately pleased with how it turned out. I only screwed up a couple of things. The bit where the top part and the skirt are joined together is kind of rugged on the edges, and the buttonhole is terrible, but hey, it's actually finished, and it is recognizably an apron.

Also, the button on the back of the behind-the-head straps is shaped like a fishy.



On the up side, the terrible photo quality partially masks the horror of the buttonhole itself.

Also, what in tarnation does one do with beets?

So I went to the farmers' market this morning and got a ton of stuff, including some pretty and brightly-colored beets, and now I realize that I have no idea how to cook beets. Good thing I like experimenting.

How to complete a sewing project with a cat in the room.

Step 1: Hope the cat's interest does not increase.



Step 2: Curse your naivety.



Step 3: Remove cat to couch, where he will look forlorn.



Step 4: Insert one pin.



Repeat steps 1-4 until cat tires of pincushions and crinkly pattern paper and decides to helpfully cover fabric stash with cat hair.

Step 5: Eat ice cream and/or take nap.

I actually did manage to finish this. I'll take some pictures eventually and post them up to demonstrate my improbable success.

Supper.

I live almost entirely on vegetables and ice cream.

Green things.

Now that it's spring (and I'm no longer living in terror of frostbite), the Minneapolis Farmers' Market is up and running. I went last weekend for the first time, and it was fairly interesting, but just a tad intimidating. Here in Minnesota, the locals are so starved for amusement apparently that the farmers' market is the next best thing to a carnival, so it's pretty much thronged with people and baby carriages and street musicians and food stands (roasted sweet corn is apparently the big thing here) in addition to the actual produce and so forth. So it's crazy and scary.

But I went! Alas, last weekend was a little early for things to really be growing, so all the vegetables I came back with were some chives and scallions, which went on top of pretty much everything I ate this week. I've been making up excuses to bake potatoes so that I could load them up with sour cream and chives. Amazing, I must say.

So, the vegetables were lacking, but there were plenty of people there selling plants, and I got talked into buying some little herb plants. I mean, really, four for five dollars? How could I go wrong? Turns out it was more like thirty dollars, after buying pots and potting soil and various other plant-growing accessories - it turns out plants don't really care to stay in those tiny little plastic cubes. Apparently they also enjoy feeding off of dried blood, which makes me feel a little nervous about having them at the foot of my bed. But still, now I have some pretty little herbs on my windowsill, and Bruce hasn't touched them, and they are still alive one week later. Now hopefully they'll actually grow, since I'd like to actually eat them.


Just to prove that I do, in fact, have plants. The oregano, spearmint, and basil all seem to be doing well, but apparently half of the rosemary is dying. I do not understand. The other half is just dandy.

Be sure to note also my ghetto pot in the middle. I bought the long planter thing and realized when I got home that it had no drainage holes in the bottom, so I punched some holes in, only to then realize that I had nothing to put under it to keep it from leaking everywhere. So I found a shoe box of approximately the correct size and lined it with a plastic bag so the water wouldn't seep through. Attractive? Perhaps not. Resourceful? Uh, maybe it would've been easier to just buy a better pot, but, um, sure!

So today I went back to the market and there were actual vegetables! I walked away with a great big bag of spinach and some parsnips. I have no idea how to cook parsnips or what they taste like, but I'm sure I'll figure it out. There was also a guy selling cheese - I bought some of his smoked gouda out of obligation after eating a bunch of his samples. I got some free-range (hopefully nuclear orange) eggs, too, and maple syrup from Wisconsin. It was a pretty good haul today.


No journey is complete without photographic proof.

I think tomorrow I'm going to wake up to a nice omelette filled with smoked cheese and spinach. Or hell, maybe I'll just have that for supper.

In which I retitle this blog, "omg look what mah kitteh did LOL!!!!!1"

From Bruce

Came in to find Bruce playing dead like a preschooler, tongue sticking out and legs akimbo. Naturally, I took a picture before I poked him to see if he still lived.