I am a happy woman again. Adam is home as of this evening. We had a nice meal--I made vegetable biryani from scratch--and we watched a movie we've been anxiously waiting to view (animated "Wonder Woman").
In true Adam-Lauren form, we are back to our old routine of Ads cracking farts and me complaining. Then he giggles and says a raspy little "sorry" before accusing me of feeding him too much dairy (he's rather lactose intolerant). I am flatulence intolerant.
Life is indeed back to normal. Oh yeah, he also felt baby kicking the hell outta my abdomen this evening, so he has some appreciation for what I've been dealing with the last several months. However, while I am in constant pain and discomfort (through the wonder of it all), he just keeps saying, "It's like there's an alien in your belly!" He's watched too many Sigourney Weaver movies, I think.
Good night.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Give 'Em The Slip
This post is coming a little late, but the last week has been exhausting between 11-hour work days, prenatal classes, yoga classes, and taking Kika to the park (not to mention anxiously awaiting Adam's arrival home). However, I couldn't neglect to blog about my friend Daniela's visit to Michigan, where she did a bang-up job of taking care of my obstinate butt!
I tried to wine and dine her as much as possible while she was in town; while i appreciated her grand efforts to take care of me, I wanted her to have a bit of a holiday while she was in town, too. Not that this little town has much in the way of sight-seeing, but at least she got to live in my world for a wee time. We spent her first night in town seeing our minor league team, the Lansing Lugnuts, get their arses handed to them on a tray by the visiting team. Meanwhile, an obnoxious 10-year old screamed, burped and cheered for the opposing side just behind us the entire game, encouraged by his equally obnoxious family. I actually had to turn around at one point and tell him to can it...ever so politely.
Saturday I took her to the greenhouse where I volunteer on the weekend, and she had the chance to see the beginnings of this year's vegetable garden, in the making. I'm in the process of germinating seeds for eventual transplant. Later that night, we met up with a couple girlfriends to do dinner and drinks at PF Chang's. Daniela had surprised me with an awesome dress that she thought might look fabulous over my pregger belly, and boy was she right! It fit perfectly and the colors were great. After donning a pair of heels to match, we were ready for a night on the town. Halfway through dinner, I had the insatiable urge to excuse myself to the ladies' room for a now-ritualistic pee break. As I was walking, I had the thought that the floors underfoot seemed awfully slippery, so I walked slowly and gently to the bathroom, fortunately avoiding any accident. On the way back to the table, however, despite my best efforts, my right foot slipped from underneath me, and I ended up crash-landing on my right hip bone. Of course, the restaurant of patrons saw the big pregnant lady fall, and everyone was pretty much aghast. How humiliating. I had to assure them all that I was fine--actually, I had already prepared myself for this eventuality, so I fell on me, not the baby--and immediately got up and walked slowly but confidently to my table. Immediately after, I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir.
We girls at PF Changs...before the big slip-up...
Daniela coo-ing with Greg House
Sunday, I took Daniela to the best pancake house east of the Missisippi--Sawyer's Pancake House--and we enjoyed some blueberry flapjacks. Actually, she enjoyed those while I suffered through a new breakfast entree that didn't quite do it for me. In the future, I'll know to stick with the tried and true. We picked up the stroller that Ads and I had picked out at Xmas at Baby Depot, and then she helped me organize all my baby gifts so I can finally get around to those thank you cards. Daniela was a huge help to me.
She was rewarded for her efforts by having her flight cancelled on Sunday evening, so she improved her chances of attaining patron sainthood by preparing a gourmet meal for me, complete with bread and dipping sauce, salad, tortellini in carbonara sauce and marionberry pie. Okay, so we bought the pie, but it was still an awesome meal...
So, here's a shout out to my girl Daniela. There is a reason I still keep in touch with you after all these years, honey.
I tried to wine and dine her as much as possible while she was in town; while i appreciated her grand efforts to take care of me, I wanted her to have a bit of a holiday while she was in town, too. Not that this little town has much in the way of sight-seeing, but at least she got to live in my world for a wee time. We spent her first night in town seeing our minor league team, the Lansing Lugnuts, get their arses handed to them on a tray by the visiting team. Meanwhile, an obnoxious 10-year old screamed, burped and cheered for the opposing side just behind us the entire game, encouraged by his equally obnoxious family. I actually had to turn around at one point and tell him to can it...ever so politely.
Saturday I took her to the greenhouse where I volunteer on the weekend, and she had the chance to see the beginnings of this year's vegetable garden, in the making. I'm in the process of germinating seeds for eventual transplant. Later that night, we met up with a couple girlfriends to do dinner and drinks at PF Chang's. Daniela had surprised me with an awesome dress that she thought might look fabulous over my pregger belly, and boy was she right! It fit perfectly and the colors were great. After donning a pair of heels to match, we were ready for a night on the town. Halfway through dinner, I had the insatiable urge to excuse myself to the ladies' room for a now-ritualistic pee break. As I was walking, I had the thought that the floors underfoot seemed awfully slippery, so I walked slowly and gently to the bathroom, fortunately avoiding any accident. On the way back to the table, however, despite my best efforts, my right foot slipped from underneath me, and I ended up crash-landing on my right hip bone. Of course, the restaurant of patrons saw the big pregnant lady fall, and everyone was pretty much aghast. How humiliating. I had to assure them all that I was fine--actually, I had already prepared myself for this eventuality, so I fell on me, not the baby--and immediately got up and walked slowly but confidently to my table. Immediately after, I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir.
We girls at PF Changs...before the big slip-up...
Daniela coo-ing with Greg House
Sunday, I took Daniela to the best pancake house east of the Missisippi--Sawyer's Pancake House--and we enjoyed some blueberry flapjacks. Actually, she enjoyed those while I suffered through a new breakfast entree that didn't quite do it for me. In the future, I'll know to stick with the tried and true. We picked up the stroller that Ads and I had picked out at Xmas at Baby Depot, and then she helped me organize all my baby gifts so I can finally get around to those thank you cards. Daniela was a huge help to me.
She was rewarded for her efforts by having her flight cancelled on Sunday evening, so she improved her chances of attaining patron sainthood by preparing a gourmet meal for me, complete with bread and dipping sauce, salad, tortellini in carbonara sauce and marionberry pie. Okay, so we bought the pie, but it was still an awesome meal...
So, here's a shout out to my girl Daniela. There is a reason I still keep in touch with you after all these years, honey.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
His Moral Compass
I just got off the phone with Adam and talked him into letting me post this little story on the blog. I think it's hilarious; evidently he does too, or else he wouldn't have called me in the midst of a five-hour hike through the forest to relay the details to me.
So without going into too much detail, Adam's in his last week of basic training, and he is required to pass a navigation test in a large forest, where he takes compass bearings, plots points on a map and has to navigate to those points to find a number that he'll pick up. Easy enough, right? Well, five straight hours of fast walking/hiking through the woods (on his bum ankle, no less) isn't exactly the easiest task to complete. Keep in mind he and his comerades are under several layers (not to mention pounds!) of uniform and equipment during the hike, so they're carrying around quite a heavy load.
In any case, this morning, just as Ads was getting to one of his points, he realized he needed to take a leak. He walked off the beaten path, relieved himself, and was just starting to button back up when he heard a small voice nearby yelp, "Help!"
He got himself situated then ventured off to find the source of the voice. He encountered a female comerade, who'd evidently had the same idea as he did--peeing off to the side--but wasn't nearly as successful at it. Evidently, she had tried to lean against a fallen tree in order to balance herself during her pee break, but the tree sloped down into a ravine, the ravine was wet and slippery from recent rains, and the woman had lost her balance and fallen over. Fallen over...pants down and all.
Ads said the forest was dark and so there was nothing to see, and he avoided his gaze anyway (husband speak for "you don't need to know what I saw!"). He helped the young woman to her feet, trying to lessen her embarassment over the situation. Luckily, they didn't know each other (that would have been so much worse, at least I think it would have been for me if I'd been in the same situation!). Ads then went on his way to complete the test and called me to tell me his funny story for the morning. He says I owe him big time for letting me put this story on the blog. He comes home in four days; I guess I'll see how he'll make me pay up *smirk*
So without going into too much detail, Adam's in his last week of basic training, and he is required to pass a navigation test in a large forest, where he takes compass bearings, plots points on a map and has to navigate to those points to find a number that he'll pick up. Easy enough, right? Well, five straight hours of fast walking/hiking through the woods (on his bum ankle, no less) isn't exactly the easiest task to complete. Keep in mind he and his comerades are under several layers (not to mention pounds!) of uniform and equipment during the hike, so they're carrying around quite a heavy load.
In any case, this morning, just as Ads was getting to one of his points, he realized he needed to take a leak. He walked off the beaten path, relieved himself, and was just starting to button back up when he heard a small voice nearby yelp, "Help!"
He got himself situated then ventured off to find the source of the voice. He encountered a female comerade, who'd evidently had the same idea as he did--peeing off to the side--but wasn't nearly as successful at it. Evidently, she had tried to lean against a fallen tree in order to balance herself during her pee break, but the tree sloped down into a ravine, the ravine was wet and slippery from recent rains, and the woman had lost her balance and fallen over. Fallen over...pants down and all.
Ads said the forest was dark and so there was nothing to see, and he avoided his gaze anyway (husband speak for "you don't need to know what I saw!"). He helped the young woman to her feet, trying to lessen her embarassment over the situation. Luckily, they didn't know each other (that would have been so much worse, at least I think it would have been for me if I'd been in the same situation!). Ads then went on his way to complete the test and called me to tell me his funny story for the morning. He says I owe him big time for letting me put this story on the blog. He comes home in four days; I guess I'll see how he'll make me pay up *smirk*
Noxious Fumes
I will describe my weekend with my girlfriend Daniela as soon as I can get my laptop at home to reconnect to the internet, in which case I can upload a few pix from our Grrrls Adventure onto the blog. But, in the meantime, just to keep folks a wee bit entertained, I thought I'd blog about the events of last night.
I got home from a relatively quickly-passing day at work to the distinct smell of foulness emanating from somewhere in the house. My first thought was that Kika had laid a dump and not followed it up with her customary ritual of eating it afterward. I was so overwhelmed by the stink that I immediately took her outside to do her business, gulping some fresh air down before I had to re-enter the house and deal with the funk. Once inside, the noxious smell once again filled my nostrils and I quickly canvassed the house, desperately looking for the source of the offending odor. Nothing. I finally found a small puddle of urine where Kiks had relieved herself at some point during my workday, but after cleaning it up, I realized the foul odor was stronger than ever. Where was it coming from??? I checked the kitchen garbage, hoping I'd thrown something away that could quickly be tied up and thrown outside, but the garbage was no more offensive than usual. My thoughts drifted to other possibilities, including the least of which I wanted to deal with--a dead animal. With Greg House living with us, we didn't have sign of even one mouse this past winter (highly unusual for our almost 100-year old house, and the first time we haven't had a mouse in the seven years we've lived there). So, maybe he'd gotten a mouse but hadn't fully consumed it; thoughts of mutilated, half-chawed mouse remains scattered throughout my house filled my head.
I didn't have much time to give it too much thought as I had to leave for my yoga class. I had hopes that the smell would have dissipated by the time I came back home. No such luck; two and half hours later, the stench was strong as ever. I was still stumped by what could have caused it, but at 9:30 at night, too tired to give much care to it. I settled onto the couch to talk to Ads for a few moments before tuning into my Monday night junk food tv--"Medium." Kika was by my side, curled up in a tight ball, sleeping peacefully, while Greg House sat on the opposite couch, licking himself and finally settling into a peaceful slumber. All was well until a sudden waft of offensive odor penetrated my nostrils. It was like a ramped-up version of what I'd been smelling all evening. I sat up--what the...? I realized Kika was letting loose some farts that would have cracked the fault line wide open. And she didn't stop. And she was cracking them in her sleep! Could it be that it was Kika's farts I'd been smelling in the house the whole time? No eleven pound dog could really stink up an entire house that badly, could she?
I woke up this morning to the same smell in the house, just to a lesser degree. Kika had been in bed with me all night, but I didn't notice any dutch oven effects during the night, so I have no idea what's going on. Maybe I'd better start sniffing around Greg House...
I got home from a relatively quickly-passing day at work to the distinct smell of foulness emanating from somewhere in the house. My first thought was that Kika had laid a dump and not followed it up with her customary ritual of eating it afterward. I was so overwhelmed by the stink that I immediately took her outside to do her business, gulping some fresh air down before I had to re-enter the house and deal with the funk. Once inside, the noxious smell once again filled my nostrils and I quickly canvassed the house, desperately looking for the source of the offending odor. Nothing. I finally found a small puddle of urine where Kiks had relieved herself at some point during my workday, but after cleaning it up, I realized the foul odor was stronger than ever. Where was it coming from??? I checked the kitchen garbage, hoping I'd thrown something away that could quickly be tied up and thrown outside, but the garbage was no more offensive than usual. My thoughts drifted to other possibilities, including the least of which I wanted to deal with--a dead animal. With Greg House living with us, we didn't have sign of even one mouse this past winter (highly unusual for our almost 100-year old house, and the first time we haven't had a mouse in the seven years we've lived there). So, maybe he'd gotten a mouse but hadn't fully consumed it; thoughts of mutilated, half-chawed mouse remains scattered throughout my house filled my head.
I didn't have much time to give it too much thought as I had to leave for my yoga class. I had hopes that the smell would have dissipated by the time I came back home. No such luck; two and half hours later, the stench was strong as ever. I was still stumped by what could have caused it, but at 9:30 at night, too tired to give much care to it. I settled onto the couch to talk to Ads for a few moments before tuning into my Monday night junk food tv--"Medium." Kika was by my side, curled up in a tight ball, sleeping peacefully, while Greg House sat on the opposite couch, licking himself and finally settling into a peaceful slumber. All was well until a sudden waft of offensive odor penetrated my nostrils. It was like a ramped-up version of what I'd been smelling all evening. I sat up--what the...? I realized Kika was letting loose some farts that would have cracked the fault line wide open. And she didn't stop. And she was cracking them in her sleep! Could it be that it was Kika's farts I'd been smelling in the house the whole time? No eleven pound dog could really stink up an entire house that badly, could she?
I woke up this morning to the same smell in the house, just to a lesser degree. Kika had been in bed with me all night, but I didn't notice any dutch oven effects during the night, so I have no idea what's going on. Maybe I'd better start sniffing around Greg House...
Friday, April 17, 2009
Splendor In The Grass(lands)
Yesterday, my coworker Ben and I headed out into the field to start collecting GPS bearings for the study sites our field crew will be sampling this summer. We also visited a couple prairie sites, taking out sampling equipment from last summer. It was a beautiful day--mid to high 60s and full sunshine--and I couldn't have been happier to be traipsing around a Michigan prairie for hours on end, looking for obscure white stakes. In the end, I found that the hardest part about conducting fieldwork while pregnant is that one must consume vast quantities of water to keep hydrated; however this also forces one to stop every 15-20 minutes at seedy gas station bathrooms to relieve oneself. I really wish David Sedaris would market his Stadium Pal idea to women, too; it could really help a sistah out, man! Ben was a good sport, stopping off the highway everytime I needed to go; but then again, I guess really he didn't have any other choice...!
I asked him to take some shots of me in the field as evidence to my future child that even at 8 1/2 months preggers, his/her mum could still rock it out!
My guess is that it's the nest of a sparrow species, but I'm not sure?
Checking it out for eggs...not a one!
After 2 1/2 hours walking through prairie, I'm ready to head back to the truck and grab some water!
I asked him to take some shots of me in the field as evidence to my future child that even at 8 1/2 months preggers, his/her mum could still rock it out!
My guess is that it's the nest of a sparrow species, but I'm not sure?
Checking it out for eggs...not a one!
After 2 1/2 hours walking through prairie, I'm ready to head back to the truck and grab some water!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
On The Flip Side
So tonight I got the third opinion (and actually a fourth, as two of the midwives were examining me), and they are certain that baby is indeed head-down, all ready for a regular delivery. I'm very glad to know that; although having a breech baby for the next few weeks might have made me feel like I had gotten the "complete pregnancy experience," the thought that baby might not turn back around in time for delivery was not appealing. So...good, baby! You're already listening to what your mum tells you!
In other news, last night Kika peed on the dining room floor right in front of me. To top it off, I was paying bills, had just finished watching last week's episode of "House" (still won't ruin it for those who saw it, but it's a tearjerker!), and had also just finished watching Susan Boyles stun the smirk off of Britain's collective faces with her beautiful bravatto. So, in any case, I was already near tears as I was writing out the check to the power company; hearing the none-too-welcome sound of pee hitting floor did nothing to pick up my spirits. I was p-ssed! I yelled at her then picked her up and made her go outside. I dropped her a little too far from the ground, though, and I think I sprained her little leg because she was limping the rest of the night, which made me want to cry even more, so I snuggled with my little 14-year old in bed for the rest of the night. Today, she pooped her way through two diapers. I had to bathe her each time, so now she's smelling of peppermint shampoo while I deliberate doing a load of laundry before bed.
*sigh*
I don't think I have anything left to say. Good night.
In other news, last night Kika peed on the dining room floor right in front of me. To top it off, I was paying bills, had just finished watching last week's episode of "House" (still won't ruin it for those who saw it, but it's a tearjerker!), and had also just finished watching Susan Boyles stun the smirk off of Britain's collective faces with her beautiful bravatto. So, in any case, I was already near tears as I was writing out the check to the power company; hearing the none-too-welcome sound of pee hitting floor did nothing to pick up my spirits. I was p-ssed! I yelled at her then picked her up and made her go outside. I dropped her a little too far from the ground, though, and I think I sprained her little leg because she was limping the rest of the night, which made me want to cry even more, so I snuggled with my little 14-year old in bed for the rest of the night. Today, she pooped her way through two diapers. I had to bathe her each time, so now she's smelling of peppermint shampoo while I deliberate doing a load of laundry before bed.
*sigh*
I don't think I have anything left to say. Good night.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Never Been Kissed
In case you haven't seen this yet, it's gotten over 3 million hits on YouTube in the last week...and it left me in (happy) tears...check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
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