2010 January | KaiserTales

Archive for January, 2010

The touchy subject of the baby bump

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

I’m 3.5 months along. 16 weeks, to be exact. And up through Martin Luther King weekend (when I was 15 weeks along), I hadn’t gained any weight and had no noticeable baby bump. I’m pretty pleased with that fact, cuz I’m rather vain. The thought of getting really big (and yes, I know it will eventually happen) makes me nervous.

But I think it’s starting to happen. My belly is beginning to grow. Let me back up a minute and clarify that other things have grown quite rapidly since I’ve learned I was pregnant… I had to go buy bras a full 2-sizes bigger, and my doctor says they’re not “done” yet. Oy. But up until this point, my belly was not included in the growth spurt. And then yesterday, as I was getting dressed and whining about not being able to breathe, Nate said out loud, “You’ve lost a LOT of definition in your belly.” I didn’t take it personally. I just looked down and rebutted, “I know. I’m pregnant.”

And it’s true. I know. I’m pregnant.

Today in the bath (yes, GASP! I took a bath while pregnant and it was glorious and necessary) I noticed that my belly sticks out a bit more. Not only that, but I think I have one of those belly buttons that’s gonna pop out as my belly grows. It’s definitively less embedded than typical. Silly question, but do they go back in again? Charting my baby bump via how far out my belly button has come is certainly one way to track things, but I hope it goes back down again after Dim Sum makes his/her appearance. (Back to that vanity bit.)

So I guess it’s time to embrace the growing belly, no matter how small. And it’s time to stop being frustrated and annoyed when well-intentioned friends ask “how’s the baby bump?” I can now respond, “small, but growing.” But beware: If I answer “FINE” and then wrap my arms around myself, know that I’m probably in a pissy mood. It might be a good time to tell me how good I look and how you can’t even tell I’m pregnant (… add “from behind” depending on how far along I am at the time). I’m sure you’ll make my day, and then my mood will shift again in an hour because I’m pregnant and that’s what happens with all these hormones. Or so I’m told.

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Can I take a re-do?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Last weekend was amazing. It was a three-day weekend, thanks to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and we partied it up with all sorts of fun folks… Marina had her birthday, and now she’s now an old bat at 25. My family all got together to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday, who’s really an old bat at 82 (but she’s as youthful and full of life as Marina is at 25 ) And we had a “sleepover” with the Swifts at my family condo on Snoqualmie Summit. Galt had a BLAST playing with 9-year old Alison in the snow, and we even took in a few tele-turns.

But last week sucked, and I want a do over. Sadly, it began the moment the long weekend started to wane–on the way home from the Summit. I felt a little nauseous (not uncommon for a pregnant woman), and I started to develop a headache. The uncomfortable state of the car ride home only worsened as the evening and week went on. By the time the Tuesday work day ended, I was begging for an appointment with my chiropractor, whom I was certain would help abate the raging pain in my temple. The chiropractic adjustment worked just fine, but it was out with one ailment and in with the next, so to speak. As soon as my headache abated, my throat got a little itchy, my nose started to run, and I came down with an awful head cold.

I thought I’d be tough, stick it out for a couple of days, and get better by the weekend, but that hasn’t happened. In fact, this damn head cold has kept me up at night and made it really hard to breath. I was fine to lose a few weeknights last week, but I’m PISSED to have lost this whole gorgeous weekend to a stupid virus. When I talked to the pharmacist on Thursday, she advised me to take Tylenol or Loratadine (Claritin for those of you who prefer brand names). But after suffering for the past five days, I’ve decided further action is needed. I need something to knock me on my pillow and give me more than 2 hours sleep at a time. The doc says I can start with Benadryl and we’ll work our way up from there. If I graduate to Sudafed, I’m not supposed to take it for more than a couple of days… all because of Dim Sum. (If it weren’t for Dim Sum, you know I’d be taking the Nyquil, sipping the Theraflu, and popping the Codine.)

So yeah, this weekend was pretty much a wash for me. If I could rewind and have it play out differently, I’d be much happier. It DUMPED today on all the mountains at all the local ski resorts, and I’ve been home sick watching it from my television and reading about it on Facebook. I tried to console myself with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a chocolate chip cookie, and I couldn’t taste a THING. What a waste of calories and a good cookie!

If there was a bright side, at least I got to go to Teatro Zinzani last night. And I didn’t have to pay for it. The show was super fun and I laughed the whole way through… even though my nose was running the whole time. Nate’s new company is pretty cool to have treated its employees and their significant others to dinner theatre for their holiday party. Guess there’s always a silver lining.

So here’s hoping next week is waaaayyyy better than this last one.

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Starting the new year right… on the mountain

Monday, January 4th, 2010

New Year's Eve snowstorm over I-90

I have to say, it was a KICK ASS new years. For New Year’s Eve, Nate and I packed up the truck with plenty of food, ski gear and the dog, and headed to the Kaiser family cabin. We made the somewhat treacherous drive over the I-90 Pass, going 35 MPH for much of it, but made it all the way to Eastern Washington without incident. In fact, it was a gorgeous trip, surrounded by winter white! And Nate and I were thrilled that it was snowing, since that meant fresh powder for us once we hit the slopes!

We chilled by ourselves that evening, enjoying a delicious home-cooked meal and watching Uncle Buck on VHS (remember those?!?!) I hadn’t seen the movie in years, and I’m reminded how much I love John Candy and the young Macaulay Caulkin. Our evening was spotted by the occasional cat-nap on the way to midnight, but we somehow managed to be up for the ball drop. Ten years ago, Nate was in Times Square, watching the millennium change over. This year, he was in his jammies laying on the couch. How times have changed…

The next morning, Nate ignored my pleas to sleep in a bit more, and we packed up to hit the slopes. I’m glad he insisted on getting up when we did cuz by the time we got to Mission Ridge, put on all our gear, picked up our ski passes and made it to the lifts, the fresh stuff was just about all scraped off. Bummer. That’s what I get for a lazy morning. We were still on the mountain by 10:15, and we love the terrain at Mission Ridge no matter what the conditions but an hour earlier would have been better. Nonetheless, we ripped through the day, taking in as many turns as possible. We skied HARD and by 2 p.m. both of us were done. On our last run of the day, Nate fell three times in about five turns, and I figured it was definitely time to head back to the cabin. Besides, our puppy was waiting for us!

New Year's Day

That night, making New Year’s Day even BETTER, Ailey and Ritchie joined us. Time with family, especially family that you consider friends, is so special. We hit Mission Ridge again the next day, and Ritchie experienced his 2nd day ever on skis. He ROCKED! Half way through the day, we took him up Liberator (the high-elevation quad chair) and he made it down a whole series of blue runs… mostly upright The whole day was awesome, and it marked one hell of a way to kick off 2010. If the rest of the year keeps up like this, it’s gonna be a great year!