Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for this year - wonderful family and friends, meaningful work, education, a full pantry and a warm place to sleep each night. And, of course, Smaldo!

I'm off to Connecticut to spend the holiday with family. Cross your fingers that the pie will be intact when I arrive (why do I never remember that I need a pie carrier until right before I have to leave?!). Steve has to work all day, all weekend, unfortunately. I'll miss him.

Today is the day

I have given up and am wearing maternity jeans. I have six hours of class on Wednesdays, which is a lot of sitting and I get pretty uncomfortable, so I figured today was a good day to finally take the tags off and wear them. They are so much more comfortable! I can still wear my regular jeans with the bella band, so I'll keep them in rotation for a while, at least until I have time to buy more maternity pants. Big step.

Musings and wanderings...

Not much new to report on the baby front. I thought the morning sickness was gone. I was wrong. My belly seems to be growing a bit, and I think I'm at the point where I look sort of thick and chubby, but you wouldn't guess I was preggers if you didn't know. It seems kind of an awkward stage because most of my clothes are just not flattering, but I'm not really big enough for maternity clothes. All in good time, I'm sure. I have been meaning to take belly pictures, but keep forgetting to ask Steve to do when he is home and awake (a moving target lately since he's working nights). Soon!

More on strollers... have gotten several pro-Bob comments so we'll need to investigate that a bit more. We thought they didn't collapse to go in the car, but maybe that's okay? It should be since our car is half a mile away and we almost never use it. However, it seems like the stroller should at least be able to go in the car in theory. I also had an epiphany about the red Bugaboos - they stand out when crossing the terrifying streets. A-ha!

Had a good weekend - a long overdue haircut and then Burdicks with June and Viesia in Harvard Square. It was great to catch up with them and have some super yummy cocoa. Then a technology meltdown that led to a FREEZING cold walk to get a new router. Good excuse to make pumpkin bread while technical support came to the rescue. Back online and back to homework. It is so much easier to study on a sunny day when it's below freezing, and unbearable with the wind chill. Thank goodness for down coats. I swore I wouldn't wear mine till after Thanksgiving and while I failed at that, I have been a smidge warmer in this ridiculous weather.

Happy Birthday, Mom! You are the best.

Boy or girl...?

Early on we started to think that the baby would be a boy. I'm not really sure why - just gut feeling I guess, but it's also hard to know how much we've been influenced by the not so gender neutral name Smaldo. I have used the ancient Chinese fertility calculator, which predicts a boy, and checked out the old wives tales online (http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregnancy/pbabyprep/0,,j012,00.html, among others).

I think my morning sickness was relatively mild (I felt awful, but luckily it stopped there) and the baby's heart rate has been higher than 140bpm. Hard to say where the weight is yet, but I have been craving protein. My pillow faces northeast, I think (but really, if we moved the bed, would the baby turn into a girl?), Dad-to-be doesn't have time to eat, so he can't gain weight with me. People have been telling me that my hair looks better than normal, and I've had headaches. When I add my age to the month of conception, it's an odd number. My wedding ring swings in back and forth and then in circles (I refuse to think about the implications of this). I always crave fruit, especially citrus. Although yesterday I did buy a big box of satsumas (hurray for the holiday season!) and I've made a dent in eating them already. All this suggests that maybe Smaldo is a girl, or maybe a boy.

What do you think? Did any of you moms out there just know it? Were you right?

We're supposed to find out in two and a half weeks, as long as the baby shows us "the goods" as the nurse put it.

Stroller-gawking

Apparently, I'm not a good blogger after all. I promised a post on strollers, but then went all political, and never got back to the strollers. But don't worry, with another week of walking around Boston I can just add to my n.

A few weeks ago while my mom was visiting we went to Cape Ann. It's too bad I didn't take any photos because it was a beautiful fall day. We took a lovely walk at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester and then had lunch in Rockport overlooking the harbor. After lunch we wandered around Bear Skin Neck (no idea where that name came from, but it's charming), and apparently we were not so subtly ogling a stroller coming toward us. The young man stopped and said to Steve, "one day you're checking out bikes and the next it's strollers. And it doesn't get any better." He stopped to chat and showed off his 2 month old son and groovy wheels. This was actually the second time in three days that someone had stopped to chat strollers because they could tell we were examining theirs.

15 weeks ago, I had no idea about stroller brands, but Steve has done a bit of research and we have learned about the whole Bugaboo for city vs. strollers more suitable for the suburbs debate. Actually, around here there doesn't seem to be any debate - Bugaboos are EVERYWHERE. And they're almost all red (something to do with the BoSox?). Every once in a while, there's an Uppity Baby or a Bob, but 9 out of 10 strollers in our part of the city are Bugaboos. We haven't made up our minds yet, but given that there are cobblestones between us and almost anyplace we want to go, we're looking for good suspension.

Who knew I could write almost three hundred words about strollers? What's next?! Tomorrow I go to the doctor and since Steve is working nights now, he will get to join me. I'm hoping he'll get to hear the heartbeat. Perhaps the most beautiful sound in the world.

To the future!

Just after 11pm last night, I got a text from Emily in San Francisco saying "Here's to change and the audacity to hope that we could make it happen!"

I think that sums it up pretty well. Then my brother called and as we celebrated, I told him how happy I am about the outcome as it affects Smaldo's future. He said he had just been thinking the same thing when he called. Yay for Change and Hope and for our baby having an uncle that cares!

I am so excited as I read about the millions people all over the country and the world who are overwhelmed with joy about the outcome of this election. And I am inspired and reminded why I'm working toward a career in public service. Yes we can make a difference. Yes we can raise Smaldo to do the same.

For some fun reading, check out the comments on the Times election blog at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/reactions-from-around-the-world/ (scroll down to see comments from Taiwan, Sweden, South Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, etc.).

The best part so far...

about being pregnant is telling people! Well, having a baby in my tummy is probably the most wonderful part, but a close second is how happy everyone seems to be for us. I had no idea how emotional peoples' reactions would be and now that I know, I'm really glad I have tried to tell as many people in person or on the phone as possible. My mother's voice went up approximately five octaves, my father-in-law stopped dead in his tracks and stared at us and then his voice went up five octaves also, Lindee (reportedly) leaped around the apartment saying baby, my brother couldn't stop saying how cool it is, Rachel and her mom were together so it was super cool to talk to both of them, and Megan already had Michigan onesies ready to go (Go Blue, that is). And this doesn't count the people who for various reasons said they knew it! It's interesting to hear how they had guessed (Andrea, Sarah, Erica) - since none of them had seen me almost busting out of my bridesmaid's dress last month!

Next up... stroller gawking! A preview - Boston is decidedly a Bugaboo city, red ones at that.