Day 122: Gotta Travel On

Wow. I have been on a whirlwind adventure – three countries in 15 days. It was great but I am SO happy to be home. Traveling while being pregnant is different. I am used to my normal routine while in a foreign country — sleep as little as possible and take in as much as possible. It turns out that that’s not so easy right now.

My mom and I met in Paris, where we had five days to hang out. We decided to spend our time walking around – not visiting the Louvre, or the Eiffel, etc. It was truly an amazing experience. My highlights were going to cafe Angelina where I had the best hot chocolate I have ever had, sitting in the garden of the Rodin Museum in front of The Thinker and munching on a fresh baguette and yummy French cheese, and of course discovering neighborhoods in Paris where every corner is more beautiful than the last. Somewhere along the way I forgot about morning sickness and food aversions.

It was not only a great trip because of how beautiful it was, but also because I got to spend so much quality time with my mom at a time when I am contemplating motherhood. We talked a lot, about all sorts of things, including the past and the future. It was amazing to me how similar we are; how much I have grown to mimic her in so many ways.

I look back at my childhood and I realize that it was not the easiest; definitely not the hardest either. I dealt with a somewhat messy divorce and parents that were not always thinking. Through all the good and bad, I somehow still managed to grow up to be a decent person — my point — my mom didn’t read books on how to discipline me, on how to be a mom, or on how many hours I should sleep, more than that, my parents got divorced so I’m sure some statistic somewhere puts me in some category for being messed up for life. The moral of the story is that I don’t need to read all the books, or freak out if I do something that some book considers incorrect parenting. We are going to parent in the best way we know how, and I’m sure we will make mistakes along the way, but I’m also sure that they will not screw our kids up for life.

SO – we loved Paris, and definitely enjoyed it to the fullest, foie gras and all. Next we went to Germany where I had to attend a conference. We took the train to Cologne, and well it was pretty rainy and gray for a few days. Not to mention that I suddenly had to wake up at 7 a.m. to go to work. By this point I think my stomach had expanded a little and it became obvious that I was pregnant. When I would walk into a room and there were no seats, people would stand and let me sit — we are talking about scientists here — I was shocked. Overall I didn’t love Cologne, but I also didn’t have much time to give it a chance. The last night we went out for a traditional German dinner at a beer house, it was delicious — especially the apple strudel in vanilla sauce! I said goodbye to my mom and headed off to Israel for the weekend and my little sisters bat-mitzvah.

It was nice being in Israel, even if only for a few days. Everyone I saw was congratulating me and asking me lots of questions. On Sunday we went to the old city in Jerusalem. It is one of the most magical places on Earth. The history that lies in the walls of the city is immense and terrifying. It was very emotional for me to be there, I’m not exactly sure why (could be the hormones). We did a tour of the catacombs which just clinched how cool the city is.

So in the end I came home and could not be happier to be here. I had a great trip, but I was homesick and I am happy to be sleeping in my own bed and not having to think about the next 13 hour plane ride. (Though I did get a sweet seat on my flight home yesterday – thank you pregnancy.)

Week 17 Photo

Week 16 Photo

Freedom Pregnant

Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain

I have to admit, I’m totally a geek for clever applications and presentations of large amounts of data. Check out The Baby Name Wizard’s NameVoyager to see an example.

You can either move your mouse along the graph to show statistics for different names over time or narrow your search and check a box for gender and/or search on names that begin with a given letter or letter combination.

So cool!

(thanks to JM for the rec)

Day 109: MERDE!

Does Babies ‘R’ Us sell GPS devices?

Anat and her Mom have been walking around two specific blocks in Paris for anywhere from 2 – 4 hours trying to find a flat that a colleague of Anat’s is lending her for the next few days. They were given directions relative to some arc (not de Triomphe) and a code to use on the door. When they couldn’t actually find the right address they started punching in the code into every door they could find. After a few hours they realized there was another arc a block or so away and they should be in any minute now… or arrested.

ACTION UPDATE/CORRECTION FROM PARIS:

Just got a call from inside the apartment. Anat told me they’ve been all around the city exploring etc. So I asked what they did with their luggage if they’ve been around town and couldn’t find the apartment. She said, they dropped it off. I asked where did they drop it off. She said in the apartment. Huh? Apparently a friend of her colleague’s had let them in earlier. So the 3 hours they spent trying to find the apartment was after they had already once been in there. The crux of the problem was that this time… this time it was dark outside.

The Coast of California Must be Somewhere Over Here

I was wondering if this was really appropriate for the blog since it’s not technically baby-related, but in it there’s at least one funny pregnancy-related story, and also, a friend recently reminded me that having a kid and having a relationship with your spouse are not mutually exclusive. With that out of the way, here goes:

This past weekend we celebrated our 1^st wedding anniversary by driving up the Central Coast of California. We left after lunch on Friday. Our first stop was Santa Barbara where over the years we’ve developed something of an addiction for La Super Rica, a hole-in-the-wall (actually this place doesn’t really have walls) that serves the best Mexican food we’ve ever had. Those of you who’ve been, am I right or am I right? After some tamales, pasilla peppers, and chorizo quesadillas, we were back on the road.

Week 15 Photo

On Cannery Row in Monterey, CA

Day 104: Ticking Away

Whoa!

I just had a thought… the kid won’t graduate high school until 2026.

Whoa!

Day 103: Baby K’s First Temblor

WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN GOIN ON
Jerry Lee Lewis

Come on over baby
Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on
Yes I said come on over baby
Baby you can’t go wrong
We ain’t fakin’ – Whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on

Early this morning, just before 1am, I woke to a bit of confusion. Our apartment felt like someone had crashed a dump truck into it. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on. What surprised me, was that the place was still rockin’ even after I woke up and recognized what was going on. Once it stopped I went to the computer to see that we had had a 4.5 earthquake centered in Simi Valley (about 30 miles away), home of the Reagan Library and a particularly funny scene from The Big Lebowski where the Dude and Walter are supposed to deliver the ransom money but instead leave a satchel of dirty underwear and shoot up their own car with an Uzi, but I digress.

So… baby and baby-mama of course slept through the whole thing but it got me thinking that we’re probably going to have to earthquake-proof the pictures and bookshelves (something we should’ve done long ago) and be extra careful where we put the kid. It’s funny, I’ve enjoyed the few earthquakes I’ve felt since we moved. Of course none have been very traumatic so I just see them as a fun reminder of how awesome and alive the Earth is. I remember once I was on the phone with my mother-in-law, working from home, when one hit. It shook for a surprisingly long time and I even told her, “cool – the building is shaking.” Of course then she said, “idiot, don’t you want to go outside?” She had a point but I didn’t see it this way. This time around though, while I still was excited, I also thought that months or weeks from now, I’ll have to worry about getting a less than mobile wife and/or child down 2 flights of stairs, which of course takes some of the fun out of quakes. I guess it’s a trade-off — I get to enjoy quakes less, but I have a good reason to start going back to Chuck-E-Cheese’s.

Day 102: I Think That I Know What I Haven’t Known Yet

An idiotic man once said: “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”

Lately I haven’t slept too well. For a while I thought it had to do with my recent visit to The Yentagon, the associated jetlag, and the break in my day-to-day routine. I’ve been back almost two weeks though and I’m still not resting well. It could have to do with my wife’s ever-growing uterus and simultaneously shrinking bladder and subsequent midnight #1’s. I eat well and exercise and everything’s fine at work. So, the smart money’s probably on this baby thing.

Day 102: Yeah, Definitely Pregnant, Definitely

I woke up this morning and decided to embrace my pregnancy.

I’m not sure what happened yesterday, but it suddenly became obvious to me and Aaron that I had a belly. It was just suddenly there — all round and protruding. So when I woke up this morning I decided that instead of wearing the really baggy tank tops I have been wearing, I am going to dress like I normally do and stop trying to hide the fact that I am growing horizontally.

See, this is a very strange time in pregnancy-wear. I am still too small to fit in most maternity clothes, but too big to fit in my normal clothes. My only option is to wear really loose shirts and pants/shorts that sit really low on my hip (aka my fat pants). You know, the ones you wear two days a month when you feel bloated and ugly. Well, those two days are now my next six months, or as long as they still fit.

So today I am taking a new approach. I am wearing a tighter tank top and a button down and it is completely obvious that I am pregnant, and I love it! Though I must admit that it is strange that people’s gazes have shifted from my white hair to my abdomen.

Week 14 Photo

This Must Be the Place

Today a coworker and new father recommended we consider a home birth. He and his wife had one and are very pleased with the experience. While aspects of it sounded intriguing, I guess ultimately we’re not so into the idea. The WaPo had an interesting article about it here. Now, I’m not looking to judge other would-be parents. It’s just that in this case I certainly see ourselves as highly risk-averse; ultimately we’ll probably definitely go with the hospital. I mean, there are some things I’ll DIY: I rather enjoy cooking for myself and painting a room seems like fun, but fixing the brakes on my car or dealing with a root canal, I’ll leave to the pros.

Day 95: Virtual Planetoid

Anat had her second ultrasound yesterday. Sadly, I couldn’t get out of work in time to join her, but her excitement when she came home was palpable for both of us. The scans below aren’t the greatest but in the original you can better see the kid’s right arm along its side, legs crossed over its belly, and left arm on its large head (takes after me). S/he’s got a CRL (crown-rump length) of 3 inches; that’s 8 times its size from last month. A few more weeks and s/he’ll be able to dunk (like me). Oh right, Anat said that the ultrasoundista said that the baby is sleeping but c’mon, isn’t the baby always sleeping? Lazy freeloader.

 

(Click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)

 

PS – Happy Birthday Jerry!