pregnancy weirdness #87

Today at church, Mina was sitting in (what remains of ) my lap, and eating raisins.  When I got home and changed out of my church clothes, a bunch of raisins fell out of my cleavage. 

And, just FYI, if another person tells my about how this one MUST be a boy, and maybe I'll finally get a boy, or some such comment, I am going to scream.  Boys are great and all, but we make awfully incredible girls here in the Nixon home!  My life is not going to be lesser if I fail to produce a boy. (Ultrasound is Wednesday! I'm very excited to find out the gender of this babe so that I can get sewing!) 

Also, if another person comments on "Wow, August, are you sure? You're so big already!"  Uh, yes I am sure.  So shut it, you rude stranger/friend/person. What's Your excuse for the extra poundage, huh?

Wisdom from Abby

On Friday, after a busy day, Abby said to me, "mom, I had a really good day today."  So I asked her what was so good about her day, expecting to hear something like how well her book report went, or the home reading prize she selected, or something fun that happened at recess.  You know, the usual expected school stuff.  Instead, she surprised me.  "I saw a Smart Car, a guy with a cool moustache, and a blue jay."  And I thought about that for the rest of the day, and the next day too.  Her response makes me really happy!  And it reminded me about simplicity, and beauty.  And how sometimes we "miss the forest for all the trees".  I know I do,  on a busy day.  It is so easy to forget all of the good and beautiful and simple things that make me happy.  I am going to remember smart cars, moustaches and blue jays. 

I am also going to clean out my car because the melty spring smell gags me and distracts me from beautiful things. I know there is a rotting piece of fruit in there, somewhere. Also, no one will buy the lovely little Toyota if it still has goldfish crushed into the carpet....  Reccomendations of mini vans anyone? Thanks.

A Funny Keith Story

A few weeks ago Keith told me this story.  For some reason, I could not stop laughing about it this morning!  Keith used to work for a guy who was a bit, flakey.  This guy went on mystic yoga retreats, only ate raw foods, and had crystals hanging in his window.  (Not that these things alone make someone flaky.  I'm just giving a little background here...)  So.  The plumbers would have staff meetings once in while, and the boss was really into "team building" and so on.  One time, he made all of the guys look eachother in the eyes for 60 seconds each.  So Keith had to sit there, looking deeply into the eyes of all his co-workers.  Including the guy who had only one eye, and the other was made of glass. They were supposed to be doing this so that they could see eachother as fellow human beings. 

I love my collection of funny stories about my loved ones.  My kids especially love hearing the ones about Gramma (specifically Windstorm, Hot Pepper and Butter Dish.)  Uncle Sean and his Flip Flops is also popular around here.   We should make a book... 

So there ya go.   Todays ha ha.  

Post Script

(SO much better than just PS, don't cha think?)


After going to bed last night, I thought I should have posted a picture of Keith's side of the counter around the fridge.  It contains: A coffee maker and a kettle, the sugar bowl and spoon.  And that is all.  If anything somehow lands on that side of the counter, a hair elastic, a book, a roll of tape, anything, it is promptly brought to MY side of the counter.  This is mirrored also in the state of our bed in the AM.  On my side, the blankets are all tangled up in knots, and on his side, you can barely tell that someone was even sleeping there.  I'm not sure what this means about Keith and I as people, or as a couple, or about our states of mind, but it sure is funny to me... ( there is a small chance that sometimes I put random objects on his side of the counter just to see what happens to them....) 

On another subject, being pregnant gives me weird, detailed dreams, that are really long and super crazy. And I always remember them.  Sometimes I look forward to going to sleep so I can find out what strange things await in my dreams... For example, last night, I had this very involved dream about a bizzare family holiday.  In part of this dream, Keith wanted to grow his hair long again, and was tired of waiting.  So, he got extentions.  

Dear Betina,

I hoped maybe that showing you my counter top of doom might make you feel better.  On it you can see the following:

• Knitting project.
• Abby's reading log, DNA folder and homework.
• Book about the politics of birth.  ( I know, I know...)
• Cheque book with no cheques left in it, reminding me to order more.
• Take out menu.  Because sometimes I resort to pizza just to get Mina to eat SOMETHING without telling me how disgusting it is.  
• Tax forms and what not that I still need to file.  Better yet, I need to just do the taxes for last year...
• Many sticky notes with lists of things I need to do/buy/plan/think about.
• Some other things that are under the pile that I forgot about.  

And  on the wall behind the phone is are "awards" that the girls made for me, for being a great mom. 

We all have a counter of doom.  Mine haunts me too.  But then I look up and see my trophy's and go back to building the lego towers because that is how I earned the awards. (And under the counter of doom is our "Drawer of Requirement."  If there is anything you need, it will be there.  Except the SSRI's of course.  Those are kept locked up.)

Does this count?

I think as far as mormon stuff goes, blogging on a Sunday is A-OK.  To me it is like journaling, which is heavily reccomended for a Sunday afternoon activity.  And shoveling the snow is A-OK too, as long as you make it a service to others and shovel both of your neighbours walks too. Which was nice to do today because my one neighbour has gotten to it first for the past few snowfalls, taking away my good deed intentions.  I think retired people must sit all day looking out of the window, just waiting for that last snow flake to fall so they can get out there with their fancy snow removal tools. 

So, my secret it all the way out.  I finally got the courage to tell work about the baby-to-be, and there is just no hiding it in Sunday clothes anymore.  Keith was laughing a bit about my attempts, ha ha, so I finally just gave in.  I got really fat right away this time, which my doctor said probably was because I had to stop 3 of my medications at once, and that apparantly is a recipe for getting fat.  Anyhow, I always like the first few months of pregnancy, having this little secret that only a few select people know about.  Watching other people try so hard to bite their tongues trying not to ask the seemingly obvious.  And the day you finally give in to the elastic waisted pants and feel soooo much better.  I also like the day or two when it is just me and only me who knows about it.  It is like this incredible sparkly present that you get to give to the one you love the most.  Even if it is an unexpected present. 

Kid update:

Mina cannot for the life of her say the word "envelope".  She says something like "antelope" instead.  Also, the other day we had a conversation about being old. 
Mina: Mom, are you old?
Me: I'm older than you.
Mina: But are you old?
Me: I'm old enough. 
Mina: Is Daddy old?
Me: He's old enough too.
Mina: (getting frusturated with me)  But is he old, like an old shoe?
ha ha ha. 

I took Abby to a Harry Potter day at the University science department.  They had all of these booths set up where you could do science experiments and check out "magical" things. They had the expected acid base things, and dry ice, but she also got to extract her own DNA from a saliva sample!  How cool is that?  I was so proud of her - she knew all of the answers to questions about obscure animals - like that a male platypus has a poisonous claw on his hind feet!  She was shown a skull and identified it as the skull of a Komodo Dragon. This girl is incredible!  (She also knew all of the answers to a Harry Potter quiz, but I expected that.) 

Thats all for now folks.  Oh, and I joined facebook.  (I was planning to never ever do so, but that is where my midwife updated her clients if she has to rebook an appointment. )

Musings... A bullet List

• I was going to blog about how much I hate the bleeping cold.  But, it has warmed to only -24 degrees, so I feel much better about it.  I was not enjoying the -44 of yesterday.  
• I keep telling myself that it is cheaper and more practical to by new car seats and booster seats than it is to buy a new car.  But the Mazda 5 is calling me!  Alas, a couple of Britax Marathon's should do the trick.  Or  perhaps the Radian 65's which are also narrow.  
• I made the most delicious lasagne over the weekend.  It was golden and bubbly and perfect.  I even took a picture of it for my archive of fantastic food that I have made.  I also have many pictures of various yorkshire puddings and apple pies. 
• The museum is having a Chair exhibit and I am unreasonably excited.  People thing I am a bit strange, but I can't wait!    

I should really not have started this list now, because I have to go get Abby.  More later!  TTFN!!