25 weeksWith morning sickness long behind me and a happy protruding belly in front of me, I've finally entered the strange pregnancy food hall of fame, at least at Perkins.
After enjoying an inspiring Andrew Bird performance at the Guthrie Friday, Joe, his brother James and sister-in-law Nikki and I headed to Perkins for a late night meal.
We had possibly one of the most excited waiters I've ever seen serve people at 11:45 in a restaurant that closes at midnight, we'll call him Ted.
Brooke: "Are the gingerbread pancakes spicy?"
Ted: "No ... they're pretty much just sweet, like gingerbread. This is Perkins; it's sweet."
James, Joe, Nikki: various strange looks shooting my way.
Brooke: "I'll take the gingerbread pancakes."
Shortly after taking my first bite I come to realize that they a) do not taste very good at all and b) are grossly undercooked. Ted offers to make me more pancakes (cooked ones) but I opt for a waffle instead.
Powdered-sugar dusted waffle in front of me, I dig in and find it satisfying. But half way through I spot Ted and call him over.
Brooke: "Can you bring me some hot sauce?"
Ted: scampers off dutifully.
Joe: crazy-blue-eyes look.
Brooke: "What? The waiter didn't say anything about it, if he doesn't say anything about it, neither can you."
waiter returns.
Ted: "I just have to ask, are you going to use that on your waffle?"
Ted goes on to respond that if I do I have to tell him because they keep a list of all of the strange requests they get, which is passed on from waiter to waiter as tradition.
I later tell him it was delicious and he should try it. I'm pretty sure I will live on in perpetuity at the Perkins at 494 and France as that crazy lady who ate a Belgan Waffle with whipped cream and Tabasco.
Throughout this pregnancy I have felt a kinship with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Pregnancy hunger has been like no other hunger I can remember feeling, though I expect it is something like the hunger you feel when you are very young.
Pre-pregnancy I'd grow hungry over a period of time. First feeling a slight twinge that would become more and more uncomfortable until I ate.
Sometimes it seems I can go from not hungry to extremely hungry at the drop of a hat. And sometimes, like the caterpillar, I can eat and eat and still imagine eating my way through an apple, an orange, a pear and piece of cake.
This began early. In Iceland we called this hunger "The Urge" because it was like a beast that would awaken me in the middle of night and beg to be fed. It could not be ignored and I had to purchase little midnight snacks to keep close to the bed so that I could feed myself when the "the urge" struck.
One night on the eastern side of the Iceland Joe awoke to what he thought sounded like a raccoon foraging in our room. It was me, furiously eating away.
Suffice it to say, I will have great sympathy for the little crying child that wakes me up at night to feed. I'll look at their sweet baby face and think, "believe me, I know kid."
I'm migrating most of the baby talk over to this blog. A few things will still be cross-posted, but in the future this will be the place to find baby photos. For now, I feel the urge to update.
At 23 weeks the baby is about 11 inches long (according to online sources) and is continuing to develop its ninja-like skills, seeming to be in multiple locations at once and stealthily waiting prior to striking. On occasion it will appear shy when Joe tries to say hello. But we must not be fooled, for when Joe placed his face near my belly, the baby was sure to kick it.
As you can see, the baby is already displaying its fine sense of humor.
Joe is reading some of Dr. Suess's finest to the baby because he or she can now hear us (and you, if you're around).
For a photo of my belly, see the post below.
(I'm 23 weeks, or about five and a half months here)
While I was on vacation in San Diego my family threw me an early baby shower. Among the mound of awesome gifts bestowed upon Spellbound Baby was this stroller, which we came in the mail yesterday and was assembled this evening. We brought the baby over to get acquainted with its ride.
It's amazing how much thought goes into choosing each of these baby things. After what seemed like a complicated series of algorithms, we decided on this one because it offered us a full sized stroller that was light weight.
Plus, it matches the blog =)
Thanks for the stroller Dad and Sally. I'll post more pictures of the baby shower once I get them from my mom.
Spellbound baby is halfway here. So I thought I'd post a little update:
We kind of think the baby is a boy. We have no reason for thinking this because we're not finding out the sex ahead of time. But for whatever reasons we find ourselves saying "he is kicking" or "I wonder if he ..." When we do this, we usually recover with "or she," because the baby might be able to hear us now and we don't want to give her a complex if she is a girl.
My mom, niece Elizabeth and friend Amy think its a girl. Feel free to guess for yourself; the odds are great.
As implied above, I can feel the baby kicking now. I started feeling him or her around 16 weeks, but the movement of their little hands and feet are a lot more regular now. Joe even felt the baby the other day, but that was a super-ninja kick.
After the baby is born we will stick their ninja feet in these starfish booties.
In other news, I'm headed to San Diego tomorrow to visit family. I'll be gone for a week.
Photo from our wedding
by Michelle King, MK Photography
As most of you know, we're expecting a baby around April 1st. The midwife due date has moved up to March 31. Maybe we'll have to get a pool started =). The baby and I are both doing great, now that I have recovered from my crazy bought with pneumonia. The illness doesn't seem to have affected Spellbound baby, who's measuring perfectly on schedule.
A few things about Spellbound baby:
First I thought it was a girl. Then we both thought it was a boy. Now I think it's a girl again. Whoever said the mother is 65% right, wasn't counting on me changing my mind =). At this rate, I'm going to be 100% right.
He or she is a wiggle-worm, ninja-kicker. Though I can't feel it yet, the baby was wiggling and kicking a ton when we had an ultrasound two weeks ago. Yesterday the baby kicked the machine the midwife uses to listen to the baby's heartbeat.
If our memory of genetics is as clear as we think it is (no guarantees) our baby will almost certainly have blue eyes, dimples and either positive or negative type O blood.
He or she will also have an awesome name we're not ready to share.
And, because the joke has already been said: Yes, this will be a highly photographed child.
