Other Smaller Obsession: The Obamas

Me: I just found 2 great new Obama sites.
Husband: Whitehouse dot gov and c-span?
Me: No, This Week With Barack Obama dot blogspot dot com and Michelle Obama Watch dot com.

I'm sorry, I love the First Family. I love the video of Barack and Michelle reading to second graders, and I love the photos of the Obamas leaving on the helicopter for Chicago, with each daughter carrying a backpack. You know they did homework the entire way.

Michelle Obama Watch has short articles like "Video: First Lady Obama Visits Howard University - (”Be True to Yourself” Work/Life Balance)," "Cute Video From First Lady’s Visit to Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care- Hugs For Everyone," and "Michelle and Barack Understand the Value of Informal Gatherings." That last article says, Michelle and Barack Obama maintain what Amie Parnes describes as a "dizzying social calendar" to make sure organic relationships trump political maneuvering. Reporting for politico.com, Parnes reveals that the Obama's host informal gatherings where guests eat hot dogs, pizza and ice cream - and don't sit around talking about politics.

Obama Watch is a little more politically-oriented, which is understandable, but it still has fun posts like "Obama License Plates" (only available in Illinois) and "Ebony Magazine Obama Cover the Best Selling Ever." It, like the Michelle site, has good video and photos.

I prefer my political news interspersed with healthy amounts of feel-good video and paparazzi-like photos. Click here to read full entry.

New Obsession: Bob Jogging Stroller

I think I have shaken my obsession with the bugaboo Cameleon. I visited it at giggle in Greenwich yesterday, and realized that although it drives like a dream and is cute as sh!t, it truly is a pain to fold. The saleswoman told me that the Maclaren Quest Sport stroller (with orange accents!) is OK for babies 3 months or older- and at $225, 13 pounds, and a simple fold, that's a better deal than the 20 pound, $900 Cameleon! The Maclaren can also hold a kid up to 55 pounds, whereas the Cameleon can only hold a kid up to 40 pounds. So, until 3 months, I'll just use my Maclaren $80 frame with my Graco carseat, then I'll get me a Quest Sport or maybe just a Quest.

Dropping my bugaboo obsession leaves room for a new one: the Bob Revolution jogging stroller. It's 400 bucks, but also pushes incredibly smoothly, almost as smoothly as the Cameleon. It doesn't turn as sharply, but it got easily through the aisles at giggle. I am definitely going to get a jogger, so why not get the dreamy Bob? I hear great things about it from all my facebook friends, and one of them is a chemistry professor; who's going to argue with her?

I'm getting the Bob. It's only a question of when (I'm thinking a few weeks after baby is born?) and in what color (maybe light brown and light blue). The Bob does have a car seat adapter, but you can only walk with the baby until the pediatrician gives you the go-ahead to jog at 6-9 months. I think the doc has to make sure baby's neck and other important parts can handle the bumps.

I'm not supposed to work out until after I have this baby- doctor wants me to rest- so I am ITCHING to get moving as soon as I have recovered from delivery. I really like to move, and not working out has been very, very annoying for me. I'll get the Bob car seat adapter for my speed walks, because I need to do some damn cardio ASAP.

Bob, I already love you. I'm just waiting for the husband's approval to buy you. I'm also trying to decide if I should just get the dark blue or organge model, which is on sale at giggle for $311, or if I should pay $389 for the cuter light brown/blue model. So far, I'm leaning toward the sale item, mostly because it makes me feel justified in buying it like, tomorrow.

I have not completely forgotten the Cameleon. I know that no other stroller rides as smoothly, and thinking of my baby in his rickety Maclaren (well, rickety in comparison) hurts me just a teeny bit. I don't want to jiggle my baby, but Baby, $900 is a lot of money for a stroller, and Mommy wants the Bob, too. There's only room in the bank account for one over-priced stroller. Click here to read full entry.

Rain: I Like It

I know I’m such a sicko, but I love the rain.

I don’t love it if I have to walk around NYC all day, although I did have a chuckle this summer when I walked a few blocks for takeout in a drizzle in NYC, and on the way home, the rain and wind kicked up. I had to walk with my umbrella horizontal while rain pelted me. I couldn't see where I was going, and my jeans got soaked up to the knees. I was staying alone at my friend's apartment, so I had no one to complain to.  All I could do was find it funny.

I do like rain when I’m home. Right now, I’m in my house, it’s raining, and I’m cozy. Still, I see how sun cheers some people up. Not me; I’m prone to carcinoma. I only like the sun if there’s a good reason for it, like a ride on a friend’s boat, tennis in the morning, or a Memorial Day BBQ. Maybe I do like sun.

But rain is beautiful. At this time of year, fall, it’s beautiful. Winter rain? Not as nice because it freezes and driving gets sketch. That’s short for sketchy. My younger sister inspired me a couple of years ago with “whatev,” and now I abbreviate whatever I want. Yesterday I said, “… or is it my imag?” Why add the extra 3 syllables if everyone knows what you mean? I challenge you to find some cut-offable words in your life.

Oh- and I like dramatic rain. It poured last… Friday? Monday? And it was grand! The leak in our ceiling ratcheted up, but it’s a rental, and the drip is always in that one place, so whatev. Just put a towel town.

And you know what, we should appreciate this rain. Soon it’s going to be snow, and not even snow; it’s going to be that gross slushy mix that makes driving hard, then it freezes overnight on your car!!! Rain, on the other hand, is both pretty and convenient: you’ll never have to shovel it out of your driveway at 6 am before struggling to work. What’s wrong with rain?

I think my love of rain may have started with a Langston Hughes poem, which I saw on one of those large easels when I volunteered at a second grade classroom in college. Anton and I worked or writing, and he did a great job. One day he wanted to show me his new puppy, so we walked over to his house across the street. He went in and got the puppy, and I got in a pet or two before his mom screamed at him from somewhere in the apartment. As he shut the door on me, he gave me a scared look that said, “sorry,” and I could tell he was mortified. I have never forgotten that look. When I think of Anton, I think of this poem. I only remembered the last line, but a few years ago I came across the whole poem.

Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain

Click here to read full entry.

Obsessions: Nursery, the Color Orange, Bugaboo

My to-do list is far too long to write a coherent blog post, so I'll make this a several-topic, list-form post.

1. I am totally obsessed with my baby's nursery. I hang out in here all the time. It's actually the only place in the house I really hang out. I look up stuff on my laptop and look through my baby binder (has to-do lists, receipts, doctor info, lists of stuff I still need, etc.) Then, I either make a phone call related to the to-do list, or get up and do something, like baby laundry or get a drink of water, or pee, which I seem to be doing a lot. The doctor said the baby is pretty much sitting on my bladder. Well, sitting with his head, because my little angel is already head down. Good job, baby!

Today I am going to put together a little table from IKEA that will go beside my chair in here. Right now, I'm using the Diaper Dekor as my chairside table. It's actually quite good, but once there are stinky diapers in there, I probably won't want to set my coffee on it.

2. I truly am obsessed with the color orange. My wedding flowers were orange and light blue, the baby's room is light blue and my favorite sheets are the orange striped ones, and the concert poster I need to hang on the baby's wall has orange in it. There were orange dots on my wedding cake. And I bought a stuffed animal with orange in it.

3. The rumors I hear about Chris Brown, one of my celeb crushes, assaulting his girlfriend Rihanna, had better not even be the slightest bit true, or he is OFF my list of celebrity crushes.

4. I am obssessed with the bugaboo Cameleon stroller. This stroller is unfortunately $900. Since I can't have it, I am obsessed with it. I view the cost of all items in terms of a bugaboo. Example: "This dinner cost a hundred bucks!?! That's 1/9 of my bugaboo!" Or, "That IKEA chest is $240? That's almost a quarter of my bugaboo." The bugaboo comes in orange, which as you can imagine, only fans the flames of my bugaboo ardor.

See? See the cake? With the orange dots?

Click here to read full entry.

I Just Cursed at My Unborn Baby!

"Ow, you #@$&ing baby!" I just said, and was wracked with guilt for cursing at him. I feel so bad, but he is grinding into the lower left quadrant of my abdomen, and it hurts. It feels like he's trying to squeeze a leg through my ab muscles. He's getting bigger and stronger, so that's not so pleasant.

My tummy is not getting too much larger, but I think that's because he's lying sideways. And, my torso is a good inch or two longer than most people's, so baby's got a lot of room to spread out. I compared my torso to a friend's yesterday; I had a good 3-4 inches on her. When she was pregnant, her baby kept stepping on her spine- pressing with both feet, and pushing- and she was in a lot of pain. One of her friends passed out when her in utero baby kicked her in the heart. Did you hear me? The kid kicked her in the heart. And she passed out. So, I guess my ab discomfort ain't so bad.
Sorry, baby.

Oh- baby put on a good show for my last class of the day. I could feel him moving, so I sat down, made the kids look at my stomach, smoothed my shirt out, and leaned back, because he often moves when I'm lying/leaning back. The kids could see him move from across the room. Some were grossed out, and some were interested.

Either way, it's fun to play with the baby.

He's moving right now, and frankly, it's rather grotesque. Click here to read full entry.

Fight or Flight: I'll Kill You, and Your Little Dog, Too

In my sister's little one street neighborhood in Mississippi, the neighbors all let their dogs run loose. If I go out walking or jogging, there are usually 4 or 5 dogs wandering around. They might bark at me from afar, but I think it's just to say "Hey, who are you?" Some of the dogs are big, but over the 2 or so years I've visited here, they've proven themselves to be harmless. They rarely come up to me.

Every few months, a new dog seems to appear. Today, a scraggly brown dog I hadn't seen before skulked near me as I was starting my 30 minute brisk walk. Strange dogs can be a little scary, but I wasn't too worried. I was fairly certain that if the dog bothered me, I would destroy it. I could completely see myself kicking it in the ribs, gauging its eyes out, and strangling it with my bare hands. That seemed completely feasible.

I attribute my ease of violence to the fact that pregnancy activates something where you are very defensive of your personal space. In the fight or flight, your flight is impaired by oh, 20, 30, 40 extra pounds, so you're ready for a fight. I truly think I am jacked up on some hormone. I feel ready to punch anyone in the face who bothers me or gets near my stomach.

I hope I never have the need to do that, but I'm just saying to the world in general, I will $&*@ing kill you if you threaten my physical safety.

Here's a pic of my sister's hood. Lots of open space between the houses, a cotton field at one end of the street, and a cow pasture behind the house on the other end. It's a little annoying and dull to walk up and down the road 5 times to get in my 30-40 minutes, but there is hardly any traffic. It's much safer and more pleasant than my neighborhood in CT. Click here to read full entry.

Random Pregnancy Stories: I Amuse Myself

1. Me to ladies at fancy maternity store: "Yeah, only one of the 3 pairs of jeans I bought here really fits perfectly, so I pretty much wear them every day."
Lady: "Oh! Do you want us to order you another pair of the same one?"
Me: "Oh, god no. I just wear them dirty. It's no biggie."
Looks of horror of both ladies' faces.
Me, trying to make her feel better: "I mean, I alternate them every other day."

It's sort of true, I don't usually wear them to work two days in a row. Only if I'm really lazy, or, if on the previous day, I wore a longer shirt that hid the identifying pockets. I do put them on almost every day, though. Even if I don't wear them to work, I'll wear them out to dinner. They are so comfy and, unlike the other 2 pairs I bought, actually stay up. This is the only full body shot I have of my fave jeans; I'm putting my hair in a pony tail here. 

2. My new favorite song, David Archuleta's "Crush," came on our radio in the living room.
Me to husband: "Dance with me."
Husband runs away.
Me: Fine. I'll just dance with the other man in my life.
I dance around holding my stomach.

Click here to see the video on youtube. Actually, I recommend not watching the teeny bopper video. Just listen to the music. The video imagery is cheesy and nauseating; my husband says the actual song is cheesy, generic and overproduced, but I like it. Click here to read full entry.

Mystery of Superior Earth Mothers Revealed

I find myself doing things that I found vaguely annoying when I saw pregnant ladies doing them.

1. Resting one hand on your stomach. That always looked fake maternal to me. Like, "Ooh I'm pregnant, i'm resting my hand on my unborn baby because I'm an earth mother."
No.
Pregnant people are doing that because they feel the baby kicking. Or, the baby is moving and they're trying to figure out what he's doing, and that's probably more interesting to them than the boring conversation of the people around them.

2. Holding stomach wtih both hands. That looked obnoxious to me, like they were putting their belly on display. Now I realize the mom is thinking, "Holy shit, there's actually an almost full grown baby in there." Or, "What the %#$@ happened to my flat stomach?" Or, "Good god, is that hard structure in my abdomen a head or a butt?"

That's really all I can think of. But in general, pregnant people always seemed to act superior. Now I realize they were just:
-completely distracted
-thinking about how weird they feel
-thinking about how they have so much to do to get ready for a new person in the house and they are just too tired to do it
-uninterested in what I was saying because they had so much else on their mind.
Click here to read full entry.

Thoughts on My Other Blog

1. That I love posting about my husband. He is such a funny person, but so much more private and reserved than me, so I am always so gleeful when I mention him on a site that over 200 people read every day. For example, in today's post, I mention that he implied I burned down his favorite restaurant.

2. That it makes me tougher. My readers tend to be really positive (I have no idea why I get that lucky- I think I just happen to have cool readers), but occasionally, someone will say something rude. For example, the other day someone called me a sellout for considering buying a Mercedes crossover wagon (used!!! it's used!!! OK!!!). For an instant, I felt bad, then that was washed away by a "Whatever." Followed by "It's kind of funny to be called a sellout." I mean, to receive attention of any sort is pretty flattering!
Also, I like that other people have opinions.  I love expressing my opinions, and people read me because I have strong opinions. Why shouldn't they express theirs?

3. That I'm born to blog. I have a constant stream of words in my head. I'm always thinking, talking to myself in my head, thinking about what I'm doing and seeing and what I can do with that info. I've always done that, at least since college, and probably before.  I used to put all that in my journal, and it rarely ended up turning into any sort of writing piece. I would not call most of my blog post "pieces," but I've turned a couple posts into columns for a local paper, and I do think a few of my posts are well written. Now I only journal to get my feelings out. I miss journalling a little, but I tell my husband most of what I think, so I need my journal less now. Before the husband and blog, I had a LOT of thoughts floating around that I needed to capture and put into a semblance of order.

I could think of a lot more, but it's 3 am, and I should get back to bed because I am not really sure school will actually be cancelled tomorrow due to snow. Cough woke me up, plus, when I go to bed before 10, I tend not to sleep through I've been up since 12:30 or so, blogging, reading my google reader, etc. Click here to read full entry.

Hyper Fetus?

I'm getting ridiculous movement in my stomach the past few days. Not only can I see my stomach moving through my clothes, the movements are much more than kicks. They're like, rolls, and palpitations, and super-fast tapdancing, and pushing on my ab muscles. It's fun, but it's a little freaky because it's impossible to ignore. I can't not say, "Whoa!" when I feel a totally new type of movement. What will he think of next?

My husband keeps telling me he was a hyper child. I can't help but wonder if this baby is going to be hyper. I have a little ADD going on, so I hope this kid is not a total space cadet. I mean, I don't mind if he is, but his life will be easier if he's not head in the clouds hyperactive.

That's a photo of my stomach while I was doing this blog post. Click here to read full entry.