Horray, we got a lovely dusting of snow! We actually got more than the day they were predicting a Nor'easter. It's a nice treat because I adore December and I miss it when it's gone. I have whole new ways to celebrate the winter now. I'm thinking about buying some snowshoes. I usually just use my heavy winter boots for the snow.
J got me a Panasonic camera, it's super lightweight and takes lovely photos. Almost everyone at the family gathering was trying to fight clutter - so most of the presents were pure necessity. Gloves. Winter boots and blankets. Datebooks. A few packages of hot chocolate and spices.
The one luxury item was books. Sweet cookbooks, fiction, bird books and art museums. Ah, I love books!! They're borderline necessity, in my mind - but I bought many new books - not good for the forests. I should be using the library or our used book store more often. I won't bore anyone with Resolutions (yet) but in past years I've focused on replacing plastic and meat, and wasteful packaging. This year I must focus on my passion: preserving habitat. Deforestation and cropland will be my focus.
I have the feeling that in the year 2010, we're going to see more Greenwashing than ever before. Businesses and product makers are getting saavy about how they present themselves. They are following the science and keeping up with terms that will impress the public.
Eco-friendly is not just a trend these days, it's a real concern that people have. I'm convinced that commercials will bombard us more than ever with messages that are designed to conceal and confuse. This drives me batty and I hope to debunk these dirty tricks and write (in a fun way) about the truth. So we can all benefit.
And hopefully, I'm going to keep this year light and cheerful, and rustic as well. :D
What happens when your actor brother from the Big Apple comes in town to celebrate the holidays and readily admits I don't know how to relate to children ???
You round them all up of course. Shout GROUP PHOTO WITH UNCLE TOMMY!!! Begin piling them onto the couch beside him. Shove one onto his lap. Try to tuck this one up into his armpit. Quick! Quick! Quick!
I'm not sure who's more freaked. Uncle Tommy. Or any one of my three children. Picture taking is torture, I tell you. Pure torture. I'm going to stop threatening with time outs and instead say, Okay ____________, you do that one more time and it's a portrait session for you!!!
Thanks for being a good sport brother of mine. Safe travels back to NYC. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX !!!
How far along? - 13 weeks - doesn't matter WHICH scale you go by, this is the second trimester!
Total weight gain? - Official weight gain/loss for first tri: down 3 lbs.
How big is baby? - A shrimp (approximately 3" from head to rump).
Symptoms? -
The usual: food
aversions, random bouts of nausea, & exhaustion (Christmas Eve/Christmas Day kicked my butt!).
Maternity clothes? - There is no denying this bump - which is, in fact, a real bump & no longer bloat. The pre-pregnancy jeans don't button anymore, although they still fit everywhere else.
Stretch marks? - Same as ever.
Sleep? - Still waking during the night often, but sleeping later than I was.
Best moment this week? - The first u/s on my birthday! I don't think there could have been a better birthday gift than a strong heartbeat & active baby bouncing around in there.
Movement? - None that I can feel, but this baby is ALL OVER THE PLACE in my uterus, as evidenced by our NT scan!
Gender? - Still guessing blue.
Labor signs? - None, & let's keep it that way for at least another 24 weeks.
Cravings? - Right now, fruit - pineapple, strawberries, peaches, plums, watermelon. In other words, all the yummy summer fruit that isn't good right now! :(
Aversions?
- Still hanging onto the beef & tomato-based foods aversions... ick.
Belly button in or out? - In!
What I'm looking forward to?
- Seeing all the family in Pgh for the first time during this pregnancy!
What I miss? - Right now, not much. I'm a happy camper, knowing that this little one is growing healthy & strong in there! :)
Weekly wisdom? - Just trust - there's no use in worrying, because it won't help anything.
Weekly joy? - Seeing the husband's face at our u/s on Tuesday - nothing beats the expression on his face at seeing our baby for the first time. :)
To pull off this feat, here are the necessary steps.
1. A year or less before or after your birth your parents decide to tempt fate once again and nine months later successfully have another child.
2. You and your sibling make it to adulthood growing up surviving whatever it is your family does for all those years.
3. Once you and your sibling are out of the house--you both date/fall in love/ find THE ONE with whom you wouldn't mind mixing your gene pools together.
4. You both decide to live in the same city--a short jaunt from one another's homes.
5. You both (are legally insane) decide you must have some babies NOW. And hop to it.
6. You both conceive at regular intervals within a few months of each other. Uhh. Huh. I know what you were doing on such and such date....
7. After all is said and done, you still like each other enough, trust each other enough, love each other enough to expose your little wonders to your sibling's little darlings as often as possible.
Simple, really. Only 28 years in the making.
End result: so so so close cousins.
Stephan's nana & papa got him a Fisher-Price camera for Christmas and he's spent time wandering around snapping pictures. Gotta love seeing things from a 3 1/2-year-old's perspective
I started him his own Picasa site and if you'd like to see his first album, the link is here. I weeded through about 2/3rds of the pictures, most of the floor, wall or ceiling and a few too blurry to recognize.
Enjoy my budding photographer!
Hey everyone! I hope you all had an amazing Holiday!! :)
For the New Year, I just thought I'd post links to 3 of my favorite charites. I'll go into more detail on each one later, but for now check out their websites. All are real players working for our planet.
The New England Wildflower Society
I almost went to bed and forgot to do this whole writing thing. Now, I could have coped out and cited my earlier work on this wedding website of ours as my writing of the day. I managed to conquer the elusive 'our story' page as well as the 'yes we are getting married way the fuck in croatia, here are the details' page. So, that was a plus.
See you in 2010!
