Never Full but Fulfilled
We had a lovely weekend organizing the attic studio and harvesting things from the garden that roughly approximate the size of the baby--crookneck squashes, broccoli florets, hothouse cucumbers. We also pulled about a hundred tiny apples off the tree that was so weighted down with fruit its branches were touching the ground. Last year we got four apples total and the squirrels took bites out of two of them just before they ripened; this year we'll have to make tarts and pies and learn how to can and maybe even wrap bushels in baby blankets and leave them on foundling-friendly doorsteps throughout the neighborhood. But first, apple pies--the perfect excuse for ice cream.
And while we're on the subject of stuffing my pie hole, on Friday night (or rather Saturday morning) I was jolted awake at 5 a.m. with some seriously painful hunger pangs. After trying unsuccessfully to fall back asleep for twenty minutes, I finally got up, found a corn muffin made a few days prior, and stood over the sink in the dark with my eyes closed, forcing its stale, unbuttered dryness down my throat as quickly as I could so I could just get back to sleep already. Simon heard me get up and, when I didn't come back to bed after a few minutes, ventured into the kitchen to see what was wrong. He said he was sure he'd find me sprawled out unconcious on the floor, despite the lack of terrible racket that would have made.
Watching my pathetic attempt to force down that muffin, he put a hand on my back and offered to make me a fried egg (he makes the most perfect--like from the glossy pages of Martha Stewart Living perfect--fried eggs you've ever seen; it involves the use of not one but two spatulas) and when I told him that no, I'd be fine with just this muffin and a glass of water, he went back to bed. And then I started crying because WAH, I have to get up in the middle of the night and eat a muffin I don't want to eat and that is SO UNFAIR. For context, you should know that I also started crying about ten seconds in to the completely inane Jon and Kate Plus 8 "music video" (misnomer alert!) because WAH they just love each other SO MUCH. I think it's safe to say that the pregnancy hormones are in full force these days, which is good because sometimes the lack of symptoms is both blessed and worrisome. But now that I'm all caught up, I feel like a welcome member of the sleepy, weepy, gassy, sore-chested club. Um...hooray?
In other ways, though, I'm ahead of the curve. Week 15: "Your baby might start sucking his thumb soon," the calendars tell me. Our baby was thumbsucking at thirteen weeks. Our baby is a thumbsucking prodigy! This week, Week 16, is when a lot of people start feeling the baby move for the first time. I could feel our baby at twelve-and-a-half weeks. I am a baby-feeling prodigy!
The baby also seems to be able to tell time already, without watch or a sundial even, because between about eight and nine each night s/he really gets to jamming around in there. (Either that or it's between eight and nine each night that I'm completely exhausted and most likely sprawled like a starfish on the couch and best able to feel the subtle taps and swirls). Over the weekend, though, Simon was even able to feel some movement from the outside--a few taps and one good, solid roll (that usually doesn't happen until about Week 22; he's a feeling-baby-from-the-outside prodigy!)--and, oh my, again with the waterworks. I can't help it, though, when there a dozen moments each day when I feel the world stop moving and the only thing that exists is Us. I know I sound like a broken record these days, but Oh My God Can You Believe This Is Happening? To Me? I'm still simply flabbergasted.
Saw my first episode the other night and HATED IT. Was HORRIFIED that he took three tiny boys actual GOLFING! For boys day out. What happened to, I dunno, the zoo, the park, the amusement park, riding big wheels around and around in dirt, the
beach, a petting zoo, mini-golf even??? Actual, by and for pre-school boy children activities? Hated it. And I think she's a obsessive sexist mom. What's with all, the boys, the girls, blah blah blah. Can't really let the girls help.
Yuck, yuck, yuck. Although my 9 weeks pregnant self might have opposite of your hormones. I really thought it was a disaster. Oh, and the thing about the drapes????
Yay for apple butter and applesauce too. And you guys are such cute overacheivers!
Simon is, indeed, a great maker of fried eggs - even better when he pulls out the little triangular mold thingie and makes homemade Egg McMuffins.
Oh, forget canning, it's all botulism this and mold that. Just make pie filling (or applesauce, I guess), pour into gallon ziplocs, and freeze! You'll have pie for the whole year.
We have a doorstep that would welcome a blanket-wrapped bundle of apples, for sure. I mean, they'd probably be stolen by the crackheads and hookers first, but still.
you're all... I was up in the middle of the night to eat
and I'm "ME TOO"
You crammed food down your throat...
"ME TOO!"
You're always hungry...
"ME TOO!"
You're pregnant...
Oops, nevermind. I just eat too much.
LOL. Sounds like you have a nice hubby, too :)
you're all... I was up in the middle of the night to eat
and I'm "ME TOO"
You crammed food down your throat...
"ME TOO!"
You're always hungry...
"ME TOO!"
You're pregnant...
Oops, nevermind. I just eat too much.
LOL. Sounds like you have a nice hubby, too :)
Oh my gosh, I abandon the internet for a year and you go and get yourself knocked up! Congratulations! Couldn't happen to two nicer, lovelier people. What a lucky kid, to get you two as parents.
I feel like a broken record, but I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS.
You are breeding a genius. Of this I am sure.
Oh I HATE the wake-you-up-in-the-dark hunger pangs that refuse to be ignored. HATE. So inconvenient. I've kept trail mix and water by my bed in the past (I got breastfeeding hunger pangs, too) but trying to chew and swallow while lying down and without waking up is SUCH a trial. =)
So since the next ultrasound is coming up soon are you guys going to try and find out the baby's sex?
I have been reading you for over a year now (me thinks...) and I've never gone and read your archives. I've just started skimming through some this past week and I've got to tell you that I'm now even more stoked for you! There were so many times I just wanted to comment with a long list of blog posts and be like, Leah! do you remember when you wrote this?? Can you believe it's finally happening for you?? Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you!!
But then I was like, I'm some random chick from North Carolina...and you would probably have rights to add "crazy" to that list if I had of followed through.
So instead I'll tone it down a little and just tell you, I could not be happier for you and Simon and the place in your lives right now. You guys deserve to have such happiness.
Beck--I think we're about 96 percent committed to finding out the sex. So many decorating and purchasing decisions have been put on hold because of it that now it's pretty much a given. I CAN'T WAIT!
Stephanie--I think about that stuff every day. I seriously feel like I'm living in a dream to be here, now, doing this thing with this guy. (Trust me when I say that although there's a lot on the blog, you guys really don't even know the half of what's gone on to get me to this point. So much drama, so very much I couldn't write about...)
Is it alright if seeing it happening to you makes me think that one day it will happen to me too? If not then just a plain woo-hoo so happy for you and can't wait to be introduced to the little one before the end of the year.
That baby looked mighty cute from the pictures you posted!
Sorry I don't comment on every single one-but I'm loving these posts. You sound incredibly happy.
Congratulations, again! I'm so happy for all THREE of you, with your prodigy-ness and all :)
Oh, this is so sweet! (I'm new to your blog, so if you sound like a broken record, I have no idea). I don't have kids (yet) myself, but my sister had twins in February and I am SO AMAZED by them. I can't even imagine the feeling when a kid is your own.
Flabbergasted about sums it up. And for me? I'm not sure that feeling ever abates!
Apple pie sounds dreamy right about now. And your freaking cute baby is going to be a WONDERBABY.
You are a baby-feeling prodigy =) I didn't feel mine for sure until the 18th week. Glad to hear that things are going smoothly with the pregnancy.
You just brought me back to baby night jamming. Your second guess is the correct one-- when you're walking and moving a bunch, it tends to put the baby to sleep. So when YOU slow down and sleep, the baby wakes up. I miss the days of getting to poke back at it!!!!
And I bet that your baby will also be a real life prodigy!
Yay! I'm the first to comment after the blatant spam! Yippee!
I think it is hilarious to read comments people post here. The most exuberant tend to be those without children. The rest of us nod, smile and wish you well. :-)
Put butter on any and all post-midnight muffins. Calories don't count after 10 p.m., plus you are eating for 1 and 1/3.