I know that if I don't start this diary again right now, I will deeply regret it.
I've written entries in the past six months, but none are online, so this will be how you learn the news: I am 5.75 months pregnant.
I think I have the most wonderful husband on the planet and everything is prefectly normal with the pregnancy. We are excited and nervous. I know a ton about kids age 3 and up, but nothing about newborns beyond what I've read in my What to Expect... book.
Here's my attempt to briefly catch you up on my life...
*Housing
We decided to fulfill our many-year goal of buying a home this spring. We got an agent and went to look at houses to see what we liked. We looked at a half dozen the first day and Matthew really liked one and convinced me that we should buy it. We bid but lost. I was relieved. We went to look at houses a second time, and I really liked one, despite it's hideous pink exterior. Matthew also liked "the pink house". We decided to buy it. We went back to look at it a second time and also to look at some other places in the neighborhood. There was one great house with hardwood floors and a pool. I said to Matthew, "We'll never be able to afford this." We spent three minutes there and left.
We bid on and lost "the pink house". Since the house with the pool had the same list price, and all the paperwork was done for the loan at that price, I asked our agent to also bid on the house with the pool, just for fun. Our agent went back to the house, looked it over, talked to the residents, and called Matthew. She said the house was fabulous and convinced Matthew that we should go for it. I was sure we wouldn't get it, but we decided to try anyway. I sold almost all my stocks, and used all the extra money I was saving to pay the capital gains taxes on those stock sales. We got the house, despite someone else offering $45,000 more than us. I am going to be in big trouble when my taxes come due this year, but I am trying not to think about it.
*Pregnancy
So, we now owned a house that I had only seen once for three minutes. In the middle of signing the papers for the bid and tranfering the money for the down payment, I got really sick. I took off almost and entire week from teaching and called in sick to my nanny job for the first time in two years. It was terrible. My period was due in the middle of me being sick (mid-February) and when it didn't come I assumed that my illness had messed up my normally regular cycle. After I was a week late I decided I ought to call the doctor to find out what was wrong. I really dislike doctors, so I was stalling. I decided to take a pregnancy test. For the first time in my 27 years, I went to the drugstore and bought a pregnancy test. I saw the most beautiful rainbow that day.
I went home and got out the stick I was supposed to pee on. It had two areas on it, one where a vertical control line would appear, and one where I would get a plus sign for pregnant and a minus sign for not pregnant. I peed on the stick and watched the clock. I looked at the results and saw I had two lines (one in each area). Not pregnant. I still didn't call the doctor.
I did something around the house and then went to throw my pee stick away. When I looked at it, I realized that it had two vertical lines. I didn't get a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-), just a vertical line (|). I didn't know what that meant. I looked online and several people complained about having the same problem with that test. I decided I would have to take another one.
I bought a "digital" pregnancy test, where you pee on the stick and then it says "pregnant" or "not pregnant" on the little display. Matthew was home from work and playing video games. I told him about my vertical line debacle. I also said the words, "I am 100% sure I am not pregnant." Then I peed on the stick and the display read "pregnant". This was the end of March.
We made plans for our moms to come visit so they could see the new house. On Friday, April 1st, we told them we were pregnant. They didn't think it was an April Fool's joke. They are both so excited they can hardly contain themselves (we are both the oldest and we waited 7 years before getting married).
We were planning to start "trying to get pregnant" in May. So we got pregnant 3 months before we started trying...
I got a recommendation for a doctor. She wouldn't see me until I was 9 weeks. I was really nervous until the first appointment, when she took an ultra-sound of our one-inch-long baby.
*Moving
Our escrow closed mid-April and we had a move-in date in mid-May. Matthew's mom & sister came up to help paint; I didn't paint because I wasn't supposed to breathe the fumes.
We made a moving-truck rental reservation and begged some friends to help us move. That morning, U-Haul said the truck wasn't in. After an hour or so, we called a different company and got a truck. It cost several hundred extra, unbudgeted dollars, and made Matthew and I grouchy. Moving is stressful enough.
We moved in. We don't need any new furniture (except baby stuff). We have now unpacked enough stuff to live, though at least half the boxes are untouched in the garage. We can't find our kitchen utensils (can opener, garlic press, etc.) and our spices (salt, pepper, etc.) but we seem to have found most other things. I bought a new can opener after a month without one.
*Work
As the summer approached, I found a job as a full-time nanny for a two-year-old in San Jose whose mother wanted me to make preschool curriculum for the child. The job turned out to be terrible, with her asking me to wash out containers from the fridge while her four housekeeps we cleaning the house and all sorts of other ridiculousness. I worked there for two weeks, then started working part time for one of the families I will be nannying next year and also subbing at the preschool. I thought I would be able to use my free time to garden and finish unpacking, but it is very hot here, and we have no air conditioning, so I hide inside or run errands during the days when I'm home.
I will be returning to preschool teaching at the end of August, and to nannying two girls in the afternoons. The baby is due on Thanksgiving, so I will be taking my maternity leave from Thanksgiving through the New Year.
*Online
In the past year, I have had a brief obsession with 43 Things. I currently have the following 43 things listed on my page:
- Do something new every month
- figure out in what city each of my great grandparents was born
- write a novel
- exercise
- see the northern lights
- work because I like to, not because I have to
- floss regularly
- take better care of my teeth
- have more energy
- find out why i'm so tired all the time
- write more letters
- write more love letters
- Write more thank you notes
- finish writing our thank you cards from our wedding
- eat more plantains
- Tidy my room and keep it that way
- be more organized
- Minimize existing clutter and excess possessions
- backup my data more often
- Be more polite
- have children
- be a great mom
- Practice Yoga
- Give away a bunch of clothes I've been meaning to give away for a long time
- design one, just one, awesome poster. okay okay, *at least* one awesome poster. more than one would be even more awesome.
- start a magazine
- finish my personal projects
- become known as an expert in my field
- Learn to speed read
- learn to paint
- Learn to surf
- Remember names
- celebrate my 100th birthday
- build my own furniture
- remodel my kitchen
- re-learn french
- project movies on my wall
- watch the IMDB.com Top 100 movies
- watch the IMDB.com Top 250 movies
- save someone's life
- Have an underground lair
- watch the AFI Top 100 American movies
- make and send my own circle journals
We actually are projecting movies on the wall. Matthew has just finished setting up our new home theater, complete with a digital DLP projector.
For a while I was really into tracking money with Where's George? but the ads on the site really annoy me. My profile shows my success rate.
I have been obsessed with being listed on every social networking site available. Thus far, I have...
I am currently totally, utterly, and completely obsessed with the Wikipedia, which is a free encyclopedia anyone can edit. I am talking obsessed to the tune of thousands of edits this month. I am making my husband bonkers with this one!
I still prefer to do all my shopping at Amazon.
I have been having a bit of a break from genealogy, but I expect to dive right back in soon.
*Growing baby
I did have serious nausea the first trimester, but I managed to throw up less than a dozen times. I didn't miss very much work.
Starting in the fourth month I got terrible stretch marks on my breasts. Every time I look at them I think they are ruined. I used to have really nice breasts. In addition, I began to feel baby kicking me all the time.
Starting in the fifth month I began occasionally leaking milk. Everyone says it is so magical to feel the baby move but I think it's a little gross. I am really terrified of the idea that I am supposed to continue growing for the next four months. I feel so huge already.
I had an irrational fear (and I knew it was irrational) that our baby would be deformed until we got the 5 month ultrasound (this will be our only ultrasound). My doctor is not supportive of my vegan diet but the baby is growing perfectly!
All of our tests, and the ultrasound, were perfectly normal. I did have one night when I woke up leaking fluid and had to go to the hospital at 3 am. But everything checked out, and I haven't done any of the jumping in Dance Dance Revolution since then.
I am finding registering for baby stuff to be a bit crazy. It stresses me out more than it should. Matthew and I are planning to use a travel crib as our only crib, and no one supports this idea. I've wound up making three registries:
We refer to the baby as Tinyface (based on the fact that I call my husband Big Face). We are not going to find out the gender. At my doctor's office, they said that over 95% of their patients find out the gender, so we feel special.
I like to joke that Tinyface is 50% composed of fruit because i have eaten so much fruit this summer.
It is really hot and Tinyface is kicking. I think I'm going to go step into the pool in an attempt to cool off and relieve the weight of this baby. You will be hearing from me again tomorrow!
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