When I first started this blog, I said I wouldn't post more than once a week. However, I'm having trouble finding a reason to post even that often at this point. Things are pretty mellow around here. Partially, I'm afraid of boring people with pregnancy/baby updates, but that seems to be the thing that changes the most in our lives so it will probably come up in this blog. (Note: This is your warning for those of you who are bored stiff by that idea.)
There are other things happening, too, though. About a month ago, Patrick was called as an advisor to the Teacher's Quorum at church (that's the 14-15-year-old boys). We love that we are both working with the teenagers now. We both teach classes on Sunday (Patrick does twice a month and I do every other month--July is my month off) and we also attend Wednesday night activities.
For Wednesday night activities, one week the boys had a cook out and played golf. Another week, they played disc golf at a park with a disc golf course. One of the other leaders brought a disc golf set, which Patrick thought was fantastic, so he used some of his birthday money to get himself a set. He's already put it to good use. When they first arrived, we went out and made up our own "course" at the closest park. A few days later, the two of us along with Aunt Mickie and Aunt Pattie went to the park with the actual disc golf course and he got to use his fancy frisbees again. And then another week for the boys' activity, they went boating on the lake. Patrick tried wakeboarding and was very frustrated that he couldn't get up. He thinks he knows what he did wrong, so if anybody has a boat and a wakeboard and wants to take him back out to try again, you may be amazed at his abilities. Even without being able to get up, he felt as though he got plenty of exercise because he was pretty sore the next few days.
As far as teaching, there isn't an exact order to the lessons they have to teach in the Teacher's Quorum, so one week when Patrick was going to have to teach, he asked me several times for ideas. Then, that Sunday morning he pulled me from the chair I was sitting on and said, "C'mon. We're going hunting." We went out into the yard and collected about a dozen rocks from Pattie's rock garden. Then, we went inside and Patrick borrowed paint from Pattie and began painting "PRAY" on the rocks. I sat and watched him and asked jokingly after a while, "So, you decided to teach a lesson on prayer?" Patrick smiled back and said, "Nope." The funny part was that he wasn't joking. "I'm teaching about quorum unity," he explained. "I want this to remind them to pray for each other." Of course that made sense, but his initial response seemed pretty ridiculous with all these rocks piled around him that said "PRAY" in big capital letters.
As for the promised pregnancy update, things are going well. The baby seems as though he's already outgrowing my stomach and we still have two months, so I'm not sure what that means for the next sixty days. Well, I have a guess that it means I'm going to be stretched an unfathomable amount, but it is sort of difficult to comprehend. Also, on Saturday, my friend Michelle threw me a baby shower. I'm not the best at being the center of attention, but I did have a good time. Michelle planned it really well and it's always wonderful to see family (Pattie, Mickie, Janet, and Julie) and it was wonderful to see friends that I rarely get to see. The only big thing we really need to get before the baby comes now is the mattress and then we'll be able to handle him, even if we don't have all the extra things we'll discover are useful and go out and buy after he's here. So we're nearly set. I'm pushing for us going to get it soon, though Patrick doesn't feel much need to hurry. (If he were in my stomach (or my stomach were in him rather) he might feel differently.) We're planning to install the car seat when we return from the family reunion later in July. That is also when we begin the prenatal classes. There is an awful lot we don't know-- and I even mean the really, really basic birth/baby things--so I'm excited to be taking the class. We are guaranteed to learn a ton!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Reading Books
Oh, the Irony
Before I discuss the books I've been reading this summer, I would like to share (because I noticed how popular my last blog was) the really funny thing about that blog for those of you who hadn't heard the story. So I wrote that last Wednesday and then I went to a Young Women's activity at church because I teach the 12- and 13-year-olds. All the girls (12 to 18 years old) were together for this activity and it didn't involve a lot of participation from me since they were planning for Girls' Camp (which apparently I can't attend when I'm pregnant), so I was sitting visiting with another woman.
One of the Laurels (16-year-old girl) came and sat down beside us while we talked and said very directly, "You're all ready to go. You're sticking out just like a turkey. You're all set!"
I replied a little tensely, "Actually, I have three more months to go still."
"Well," she said, completely oblivious to me personally and to the situation socially, "You're fat. No offense."
First, I was slightly offended. However, I couldn't think of any proper response, so I just sat there and took that. Second, I made myself accept this as a humbling situation and swallowed my pride. Third, I was so amused. After all, the timing and the things she said just made the whole thing very, very ironic. So maybe I got a little worked up about it all in the blog. In the end, you might as well laugh because you can't control what people say. And it makes for a great story. (The other funny thing about it, was the flashback to my teenage years when I wanted to slug people who said "no offense." I wanted to inform them, "If you have to say 'no offense' you're probably being offensive. So shut your trap!)
Books
The first book I read was The Bonesetter's Daughter. I liked it. It was a good way to start the summer. It was different and a little challenging. I really had to use my imagination for some of it because the culture was just so different in some respects than ours. The read wasn't a challenge, though, so that was perfect as my transition from school to summer.
I then read A Thousand Splended Suns by the author who wrote Kite Runner (which I still haven't read). I really liked it. Some of it was very sad, but I thought the characters were well-developed. Also, there was a glimpse into the history of Afganistan from a civilian's perspective, so it was informative without being overwhelming (since what I wanted was a novel). It's a book that made me think and ask questions.
Now, I'm reading New Moon with Aunt Pattie. We read Twilight already and are almost finished with this book, too. Part way through Twilight I was getting pretty sick of the stupid teenage romance and we gave it up, but we picked it back up again after encouragement from a friend. I have really mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, I really hate some things about it. This is nerdy, but from an editor's perspective the number of really obvious errors in the book really bugged me. In the first book, the errors were excusable, but by the second book they knew these books were huge and were going to sell so you'd think they would have devoted more effort to making them as error-free as possible. I'm interested to see what happens in the third book in that regard. If we weren't borrowing the books, I think I'd probably be marking the errors in red. It's not a matter of commas, either. I mean, it's repeat words or missing words and it's way more than should have been allowed, I think.
Even more irritating to me from an editor's perspective is the substantive edits that I wish they would have done. I mean, come on! Let's cut out about 75% of the references to Edward's beauty and perfection. She could have made the point just as well without actually saying it so stinking much. It got to the point where you just want to roll your eyes and gag. So, the book is read by thirteen-year-old girls and maybe it doesn't bug them, but it wouldn't hurt them to use their imagination and just remember that, okay, he's supposed to be extremely good-looking. Let's cut the adjectives, my friend. It's killing me.
I'm also annoyed by the teenage romance. The girl says things about how you don't do rational things when you're in love and the she compares her love life to Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo and Juliet came into the picture, that didn't bode well for me. I have never liked that story. Give me Merchant of Venice or Much Ado About Nothing or The Tempest or Julius Caesar or Henry V, but dang it I want to shoot Romeo and Juliet myself a good deal of the time. The story loses me near the beginning when Romeo's mooning over Rosaline one minute and then gets spurned and falls madly in love with Juliet. And then the constancy and the whole drama of the thing just annoy me. So throw some of that into a modern setting and, again, I'm gagging. This character is so morose and obsessed and says all sorts of stupid things about being irrational in love (and she's seventeen by the way) and she's dying to become a vampire. Psh!
So, you ask, why am I still reading this book? Why am I probably going to finish the entire series? Because the action is pretty interesting. Because the author really does have some fun ideas in the plot. For example, the vampire (unknown to the Italians) who is considered a saint for getting out all the vampires . . . even though he's still living in the city with quite a large little society of vampires with him (again, unknown to the citizens)-- I mean, that's kind of funny. And because the plot keeps you coming. Those are the reasons. And I just push my way through the main character's long bouts of depression and shrug off her stupid ideas about love. I don't, however, think that I will read these books more than once and they definitely won't make "My Top Favorites" list.
Before I discuss the books I've been reading this summer, I would like to share (because I noticed how popular my last blog was) the really funny thing about that blog for those of you who hadn't heard the story. So I wrote that last Wednesday and then I went to a Young Women's activity at church because I teach the 12- and 13-year-olds. All the girls (12 to 18 years old) were together for this activity and it didn't involve a lot of participation from me since they were planning for Girls' Camp (which apparently I can't attend when I'm pregnant), so I was sitting visiting with another woman.
One of the Laurels (16-year-old girl) came and sat down beside us while we talked and said very directly, "You're all ready to go. You're sticking out just like a turkey. You're all set!"
I replied a little tensely, "Actually, I have three more months to go still."
"Well," she said, completely oblivious to me personally and to the situation socially, "You're fat. No offense."
First, I was slightly offended. However, I couldn't think of any proper response, so I just sat there and took that. Second, I made myself accept this as a humbling situation and swallowed my pride. Third, I was so amused. After all, the timing and the things she said just made the whole thing very, very ironic. So maybe I got a little worked up about it all in the blog. In the end, you might as well laugh because you can't control what people say. And it makes for a great story. (The other funny thing about it, was the flashback to my teenage years when I wanted to slug people who said "no offense." I wanted to inform them, "If you have to say 'no offense' you're probably being offensive. So shut your trap!)
Books
The first book I read was The Bonesetter's Daughter. I liked it. It was a good way to start the summer. It was different and a little challenging. I really had to use my imagination for some of it because the culture was just so different in some respects than ours. The read wasn't a challenge, though, so that was perfect as my transition from school to summer.
I then read A Thousand Splended Suns by the author who wrote Kite Runner (which I still haven't read). I really liked it. Some of it was very sad, but I thought the characters were well-developed. Also, there was a glimpse into the history of Afganistan from a civilian's perspective, so it was informative without being overwhelming (since what I wanted was a novel). It's a book that made me think and ask questions.
Now, I'm reading New Moon with Aunt Pattie. We read Twilight already and are almost finished with this book, too. Part way through Twilight I was getting pretty sick of the stupid teenage romance and we gave it up, but we picked it back up again after encouragement from a friend. I have really mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, I really hate some things about it. This is nerdy, but from an editor's perspective the number of really obvious errors in the book really bugged me. In the first book, the errors were excusable, but by the second book they knew these books were huge and were going to sell so you'd think they would have devoted more effort to making them as error-free as possible. I'm interested to see what happens in the third book in that regard. If we weren't borrowing the books, I think I'd probably be marking the errors in red. It's not a matter of commas, either. I mean, it's repeat words or missing words and it's way more than should have been allowed, I think.
Even more irritating to me from an editor's perspective is the substantive edits that I wish they would have done. I mean, come on! Let's cut out about 75% of the references to Edward's beauty and perfection. She could have made the point just as well without actually saying it so stinking much. It got to the point where you just want to roll your eyes and gag. So, the book is read by thirteen-year-old girls and maybe it doesn't bug them, but it wouldn't hurt them to use their imagination and just remember that, okay, he's supposed to be extremely good-looking. Let's cut the adjectives, my friend. It's killing me.
I'm also annoyed by the teenage romance. The girl says things about how you don't do rational things when you're in love and the she compares her love life to Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo and Juliet came into the picture, that didn't bode well for me. I have never liked that story. Give me Merchant of Venice or Much Ado About Nothing or The Tempest or Julius Caesar or Henry V, but dang it I want to shoot Romeo and Juliet myself a good deal of the time. The story loses me near the beginning when Romeo's mooning over Rosaline one minute and then gets spurned and falls madly in love with Juliet. And then the constancy and the whole drama of the thing just annoy me. So throw some of that into a modern setting and, again, I'm gagging. This character is so morose and obsessed and says all sorts of stupid things about being irrational in love (and she's seventeen by the way) and she's dying to become a vampire. Psh!
So, you ask, why am I still reading this book? Why am I probably going to finish the entire series? Because the action is pretty interesting. Because the author really does have some fun ideas in the plot. For example, the vampire (unknown to the Italians) who is considered a saint for getting out all the vampires . . . even though he's still living in the city with quite a large little society of vampires with him (again, unknown to the citizens)-- I mean, that's kind of funny. And because the plot keeps you coming. Those are the reasons. And I just push my way through the main character's long bouts of depression and shrug off her stupid ideas about love. I don't, however, think that I will read these books more than once and they definitely won't make "My Top Favorites" list.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Pregnancy
My favorite thing about pregnancy is that I can feel the baby kicking often now. I love feeling like he's there and he's doing things. I also love that sometimes he reacts to me: I push in on him and he kicks back at me. I like to think he knows something is going on out here. The other day, he wasn't being active before we went to bed but Patrick was unusually interested in feeling him so he kept pushing in on my stomach in different spots. Right after he gave up, the baby started moving, so apparently Patrick did wake him up. Sometimes the activity makes it harder to sleep, but I still thought this instance was funny. I also like that I can actually see the baby moving now. Sometimes it looks (and feels) like my stomach is having these funny little spasms. These are my favorite things and I think that they are likely to be my favorite things until the baby is actually born. Then it will be weird not to have my stomach spasm unpredictably. I may be a little disoriented by that. Of course, at nine months . . . probably not.
Although I have been so, so fortunate throughout this pregnancy, I do have a few discomforts. My physical discomforts include an aching back, a cramped stomach (sort of between my chest and my stomach), occassional leg cramps in the middle of the night-- although that's not such a problem since I have been consuming more calcium, a return to the first trimester fatigue beginning this week, frequent need for the bathroom to relieve myself, and other minor irritants like that.
Because I know that the above listed discomforts are nothing compared to what women throughout time have dealt with and even what women in this modern time deal with, that isn't the most frustrating thing to deal with. I mostly think, "Well, okay. This I can handle even if it is uncomfortable."
What does drive me crazy, you ask? What is much, much more distressing is the feeling that I am a community pet. Sometimes I feel as though the world believes that pregnant women are a communal responsiblity so they feel free to make comments that I just wish people wouldn't make. And it is the comments that bother me. People touching my stomach hasn't been a big issue. Mostly so far the people who do it are family and many family members ask permission and are actually very respectful of personal boundaries. Those that aren't, mostly don't bother me (so far) because I think their enthusiasm is fun. Yesterday was the first time someone not related to me had reached out and touched my stomach and it wasn't a big deal (but don't test it without asking permission). No, it's the comments.
These are the things I have concluded:
1. I don't want to discuss my size with other people. I recognize that I have a distorted perception of what I look like compared to other pregnant women and I don't need people's stupid comments in my head to mess up my perception even more. Most of the time I can accept that I am bulky and heavy just because I am pregnant and this is not a permanent condition, but I don't want to hear that I am "huge" or "look very pregnant." Sandy (Patrick's cousin) loaned me a book (which is actually quite funny) called The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy or something like that, and the author recommends that you don't pay attention to your weight. If there's a problem, the doctor will make you aware of it, but why stress about it when there is only so much control you have over the situation and you are supposed to gain weight (25-30 lbs according to my friend studying dietetics).
2. I don't want to hear about my belly button. All right, it sticks out. I said it. Now everyone else can feel free to not comment on it. Patrick can get away with making fun of it, but he's pretty much the only one so, everyone else, beware!
3. I don't want to discuss my eating habits with you. Don't tell me what pregnant women should and should not eat. There are lists online and between all of the lists one can find, one can pretty much rule out every food I'm interested in eating. As not eating is also not healthy, you just let me do my thing and I'll let you do yours. Of course, if it really could harm the baby and you are absolutely sure that it could, all right, then you can tell me and I'll look into it myself.
4. Don't make comments about the future health and well-being of my child. I don't want to hear that anything I'm doing or not doing could damage his IQ or lungs or heart. I appreciate your concern, but I worry enough without your help, thank you very much. I pretty much think my kids are going to be healthy and normal and I'd just like to keep deluding myself that way until I have to start sending them to therapists and things.
I'm not actually an angsty person, and possibly after the pregnancy hormones have worn off I will be embarrassed by this blog, but for now, I feel okay about it. Of course, I appreciate some unsolicited avice, but I'm not certain enough of what kind to be able to lay it out for you . . . so advise at your own risk. And if I ask for advice that's a whole different story. Either way I think a little sensitivity may be in order here.
Finally, this isn't actually meant to single anyone out or to pass on unknown passive aggressive feelings. It's really just a rant at people sometimes being stupid who aren't even really stupid people. Now, if only I can remember this advice for other pregnant women, the world will be a beautiful place.
Although I have been so, so fortunate throughout this pregnancy, I do have a few discomforts. My physical discomforts include an aching back, a cramped stomach (sort of between my chest and my stomach), occassional leg cramps in the middle of the night-- although that's not such a problem since I have been consuming more calcium, a return to the first trimester fatigue beginning this week, frequent need for the bathroom to relieve myself, and other minor irritants like that.
Because I know that the above listed discomforts are nothing compared to what women throughout time have dealt with and even what women in this modern time deal with, that isn't the most frustrating thing to deal with. I mostly think, "Well, okay. This I can handle even if it is uncomfortable."
What does drive me crazy, you ask? What is much, much more distressing is the feeling that I am a community pet. Sometimes I feel as though the world believes that pregnant women are a communal responsiblity so they feel free to make comments that I just wish people wouldn't make. And it is the comments that bother me. People touching my stomach hasn't been a big issue. Mostly so far the people who do it are family and many family members ask permission and are actually very respectful of personal boundaries. Those that aren't, mostly don't bother me (so far) because I think their enthusiasm is fun. Yesterday was the first time someone not related to me had reached out and touched my stomach and it wasn't a big deal (but don't test it without asking permission). No, it's the comments.
These are the things I have concluded:
1. I don't want to discuss my size with other people. I recognize that I have a distorted perception of what I look like compared to other pregnant women and I don't need people's stupid comments in my head to mess up my perception even more. Most of the time I can accept that I am bulky and heavy just because I am pregnant and this is not a permanent condition, but I don't want to hear that I am "huge" or "look very pregnant." Sandy (Patrick's cousin) loaned me a book (which is actually quite funny) called The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy or something like that, and the author recommends that you don't pay attention to your weight. If there's a problem, the doctor will make you aware of it, but why stress about it when there is only so much control you have over the situation and you are supposed to gain weight (25-30 lbs according to my friend studying dietetics).
2. I don't want to hear about my belly button. All right, it sticks out. I said it. Now everyone else can feel free to not comment on it. Patrick can get away with making fun of it, but he's pretty much the only one so, everyone else, beware!
3. I don't want to discuss my eating habits with you. Don't tell me what pregnant women should and should not eat. There are lists online and between all of the lists one can find, one can pretty much rule out every food I'm interested in eating. As not eating is also not healthy, you just let me do my thing and I'll let you do yours. Of course, if it really could harm the baby and you are absolutely sure that it could, all right, then you can tell me and I'll look into it myself.
4. Don't make comments about the future health and well-being of my child. I don't want to hear that anything I'm doing or not doing could damage his IQ or lungs or heart. I appreciate your concern, but I worry enough without your help, thank you very much. I pretty much think my kids are going to be healthy and normal and I'd just like to keep deluding myself that way until I have to start sending them to therapists and things.
I'm not actually an angsty person, and possibly after the pregnancy hormones have worn off I will be embarrassed by this blog, but for now, I feel okay about it. Of course, I appreciate some unsolicited avice, but I'm not certain enough of what kind to be able to lay it out for you . . . so advise at your own risk. And if I ask for advice that's a whole different story. Either way I think a little sensitivity may be in order here.
Finally, this isn't actually meant to single anyone out or to pass on unknown passive aggressive feelings. It's really just a rant at people sometimes being stupid who aren't even really stupid people. Now, if only I can remember this advice for other pregnant women, the world will be a beautiful place.
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