Thanks
In honor of the recently-passed holiday, a list of things (some more mundane than others) for which I am thankful:
- Family and friends - Thanksgiving has, for many years now, been a much bigger deal in my family than Christmas. However, owing to my class schedule (which went into the evening on Wednesday), we have not been able to make the trip to Maryland for the last two years. Although this is somewhat sad in itself, it saves us some of the manic driving around that we've done in the past (5 states in 10 days anyone?) and it means we got to spend the holiday with some good friends who were also in town. Cooking, while a bit stressful, is far less so than driving, and something I've been able to do a lot less lately. Lots of yummy food, visiting with friends, some calls to the family, and we got to sleep in our own bed. We're saving the big trip for Christmas, when there's more time.
- Good food - Although we ate a fair bit more Kroger-food on this particular day than we have been, I've been most grateful for the local farmers who have provided us with good produce all summer, pumpkins, organic lamb, fantastic heritage turkeys, and (most recently) six free-range chickens. We have no room in the fridge or freezer, so we'd better get creative quick. Anyhow, I've really loved knowing exactly where my food came from, and what went into producing it. For that, I thank our local farmers.
- Only two more days of Intro, ever - Petty, maybe, but a serious load off my mind. My last presentation was last week, and it went well (and I even had a brief moment of bonding from the Professor Who Shall Not Be Named), but I cannot wait until this little boot camp experience is over.
- A healthy pregnancy - I am just past the halfway point, and everything has gone swimmingly. Minimal morning sickness, my brief bout with low blood pressure seems to have passed (as had the wicked cold), and the baby is wiggling around and kicking. The ultrasound this morning showed everybody healthy, and my AFP Tetra screening came back negative. If I can figure out how to sleep properly, we'll be golden.
- A healthy cat - It's kind of amazing that Hardee, at 15+ years of age, is still in the pink of health. Chattier than ever, prone to walking on our heads in the morning, and aside from a thyroid pill every day and a diet change, she shows no signs of aging at all. Our vet always sounds stunned.
So, one more week of classes, work on the thesis, then papers and exams to grade. After that I get to work on the baby's room and Joe and I (with any luck) get a short vacation before the next holiday.
garden progress: Oh, please - it's December ferpetessake!
house progress: Dresser repainted (thanks to Gillian and Joe) and upstairs, and Joe cleaned out about half the garage.
what's for dinner? Leftovers, naturally. Our friend Julia invented a tasty-sounding recipe for sweet potatoes cooked with pork and onions. Yummm.
Labels: milestones, the baby game
A passing
RIP, Ed Bradley. A tremendously underrated journalist, and a class act.
Labels: milestones
Well that's a plus...
Note: this post was originally begun on August 11, but was not posted until now for reasons that will soon become patently obvious. Also, those of you who are concerned about Too Much Information may wish to skip straight to the bottom.
Many months ago, Joe and I started trying (again - long story) to have a baby.
Three weeks ago, my Ob/Gyn informed me that I was only ovulating every other month (not in May, yes in June, not in July, etc.), and that when I was the eggs were not viable. As a result, my likelihood of conceiving a child without medical assistance was not good, and he recommended Clomid. After the initial shock wore off several days later, Joe and I decided we'd give it a try, but not until after he'd had a check-up and I'd grilled my doctor about all the possible side-effects.
Four days ago, I realized I was 4 days late. In all the to-do about not being able to conceive, I'd completely forgotten when I was due. Confused, I bought a three-pack of home pregnancy tests, carefully dodging a guy I knew as I went to the Kroger checkout. Home, take the test, occupy time with attempting to repair a downspout while checking the clock constantly.
Two minutes later, a definite plus-sign on the test.
The next morning, I took a second test, and Joe and I waited for the results together, although we didn't need to wait long. The plus sign appeared after only a few seconds this time. I stopped to take a blood test at the doctor's office on my way to work, just because it seemed so implausible.
By Wednesday, it was official.
I am pregnant.
Moreover, I was pregnant when I sat in the doctor's office being told that I wasn't likely to get pregnant. Which means I was also pregnant when I had that drink, and when I sucked down caffiene trying to get home from ball games awake at 3am ... oops. Luckily, I've been reassured that everything is pretty well-protected at this stage of the game, and as long as I steer clear from here on out everything should be fine.
Doesn't give one much faith in the medical profession (not that I ever had much), but I'm pretty pleased with my ability to overcome the naysaying.
As of right now, I am 5 weeks pregnant, or at least that's the best estimate. The baby is about the size (and shape) of a sea monkey, but it has started developing internal organs already. Sometime this week, its heart will divide into chambers and begin to pump blood.
So, to sum up for the squeamish, I'm pregnant, due end of April, and somewhere between thrilled and terrified. Joe periodically gets this sort of dazed look on his face and says "Eep!" Each of us has had one substantial freak-out, but the first round seems to be passing. I'm certain there will be more.
And very soon, I will have two hearts. Which may be about the most poetic way to describe this whole business.
Since writing this initially, I have gained not only an extra heart, but an extra liver, spleen, and appendix. Yes, it's a totally pointless organ, but the appendix is one of the first to show up on the scene. Odd In exchange for this bounty, I have given up my regular sleep schedule and the ability to wear a belt. I'm not showing yet, but my waistline is non-existent so it's just a matter of time. It's public news at school, and so far everyone is taking it well, even if I do occasionally feel like a walking sideshow. All in all, pretty nice.
garden progress: Put in a makeshift raised bed (it's just interlocking pieces of 1x10, slotted together Lincoln-Logs style), and finally got my Brussels sprouts seedlings and a bunch of mums in the ground. I am hoping the former have enough time to bear fruit.
house progress: Making a list of everything that Really Needs To Be Done Soon. It is Massive.
what's for dinner? Well, on the night I first wrote this post, it was WillyBob's barbecue. Best Q in Ohio (which I know sounds like a paradox) and it rocks. Tonight it's a whole lot more mundane - leftovers, and maybe some homemade baba ganoush. It's "clean out the fridge" night.
Labels: milestones, the baby game
Miss Ethel Williams is Still Waiting
A little under a year ago, her house was demolished.
About four months ago, she became a presidential photo-op.
She's not angry, and she still has faith, but she's still waiting.
Labels: milestones
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Been a long time, and the summer is flying by. What have I been doing with my time? Well you may ask. Since classes ended in mid-June, we have:
- Gone to the beach
- Gone to a wedding
- Celebrated my 37th birthday, July 4, and our 6th wedding anniversary
- Hosted my mother for a week
What time has not been spent in these endeavors I've been using to battle groundhogs, mow, clean, and read about
opera buffe, Mozart, and 18th-century Vienna. I've also been rethinking this blog (as you do), trying to figure out if I need to give myself a more specific focus in order to keep it going amid everything else. Alternately, I'm contemplating moving myself over to a platform that supports categorization better.
Oh yeah - I've also been working on my
photo gallery. If any of you have troubles with it owing to screen resolution or some such, please let me know.
My favorite photo is the
truck.
garden progress: The new birdhouse is up, and someone has moved in. I seem to be winning my battle against whoever was digging up the plants on the porch, and the hanging baskets are flourishing.
house progress: The back room is vastly improved, in preparation for our impending
houseguests.
what's for dinner? Leftover chicken, and salad, as part of our ongoing effort to get rid of some of our CSA lettuce.
Labels: milestones
Cycles
The Kenyon academic year is at a close. The seniors graduate in less than a week, and most of my friends are scrambling to get grades turned in. Summery things are already starting up - we got our first batch of CSA produce this weekend (lettuce, spinach, asparagus, honey, and maple syrup), and folks are preparing for reunion weekend. OSU still has a few weeks left, so I am scrambling to get papers written and reading finished.
I knew it would be tough to get my work finished while Kenyon was already done with its year. What I had not counted on was the distractions of the last few weeks of the Kenyon semester. Here's the thing: for some of our friends, the end of the school year means they leave. Mike, Fred, and Emily were all here on one-year contracts, filling in for people on leave. Once graduation is over, they will all scatter - Fred to Rhode Island, Emily to the DC area, and Mike to California. As a result, all those "we should really do n" things we've talked about all year need to happen in the next week, or they won't ever happen.
I'm not yet acclimated to the one-year faculty phenomenon. The student cycle is one thing - every now and then I even see someone and wonder aloud "didn't they graduate already?" With every year the students seem more and more separate from my life. This is a good and healthy thing. Faculty are another story. These are my friends - the people with whom I spend nearly every Friday night. We sing together in choir, play Settlers of Catan, watch each other's concerts, meet each other's significant others, play with each other's dogs. I am not yet prepared for these people to vanish from my day-to-day life.
This weekend Fred and Mike and Joe and I made beer - one of the items on that to-do list. We've promised to send them each a few bottles. I'd rather be able to sit down and share it with them, but you take what you can get, and I suppose email and letters are better than nothing.
Labels: milestones
A Good Run
Rest in Peace, Gus
He was a good little guy, and I wish we'd had longer with him, but he died at home with his family, and he had a pretty good life while it lasted.
If you have pets at home, give them some good scritching tonight.
Labels: milestones, oddities
