Elder Son and I wound down a busy day watching fireworks from our front yard, which is two blocks away from the town park. Haven't figured out the occasion for the fireworks, but it was fun, even if I think we startled Bunky half to death several times. But he's still kicking, so we're now prepared for next year's Fourth.
Elder Son got registered for his new school today. He's taking Astronomy, Latin 2, World History I Honors, AP US History, Advanced Phys Ed, Driver Ed/Fitness, English 11 Honors, and Algebra II. I'm proud of him for not shirking away from the challenges and hope I can help him with the motivation, confidence and organizational issues he had while living with his dad. We also got a state ID card for him and picked up the manual for him to get his learner's permit. Fingers crossed that he'll be a licensed driver come spring, and I've been joking that I'll have him trained on the stick shift in enough time for him to drive me to the hospital when I go into labor but I won't be capable of being his "supervision" that he has to have to drive with a learner's permit. Ha!
I'm still a couple of weeks shy of third trimester but two of its unpleasantries that I remember from Elder Son have already started to set in: my ankles have swollen up twice, although I suspect it's the heat and the struggle to stay hydrated, and at my checkup this week my blood pressure was 135/85, which is higher than the midwife would like--mostly because she "doesn't want the OB to steal" me away from her. A little mindful meditation later, we ran it again and got 124/66. This just reinforces for me how important it is for me to stay in touch with my body.
I just wish I had air conditioning, now that it's muggy, or at least more fans in the house. But it's only been bad for a week or so, and it's just a few more weeks of dog days. One thing today made me realize is that I don't have any shorts, much less shorts I can wear pregnant! So I went down to the local Evil Box Store and got two pairs of extra-large, elastic waistband workout shorts that I will never wear in public but am so glad I have for wearing around the house and under dresses, now.
As for my ankles, I looked up compression stockings and my GOD, they are expensive, and I have no idea whether they will fit! Where does one find affordable ones, and how does one know what size to get? (I have heavy thighs, to the point that being nearly 6 mos. pregnant mostly just makes my belly look proportional to them, so sizing is difficult even when I'm not pregnant--size 12 waist with a size 20 thigh. ugh.) Finding maternity clothes in stores is impossible anymore, too. I'm sick of Target's offerings, but can't seem to find maternity sections anywhere else. There used to be one at my local Kohl's, buried in a corner behind the infants section, but as they've remodeled, the section has vanished. And I hate paying boutique prices, having enough trouble keeping up with the mortgage.
So cheap workout shorts it is. At least I feel a bit cooler now.
One last weird symptom, because I seem to have all of them: geographic tongue. The little bumps are falling off my tongue, leaving strange creases and white borders around patches of weirdness that almost look like outlines on a map, and are different each day (hence the name "geographic tongue"---partly because it looks like a map and partly because the lines 'wander'). Not much is known about this disorder, but apparently it's hormonal in nature, mostly harmless (stings a bit with hot or cold), and should go away after my hormones come back into balance.
Showing posts with label teenagers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teenagers. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
It's Full of Stars
Someone said to me the other day that I picked a good summer to be pregnant. It's true. I don't have air conditioning and to tell the truth I've only missed it on a couple of days when it's gotten really miserable. But for it to be late July in Virginia and under 70 degrees at night is kind of amazing! And it's really been like this all summer long, one of the mildest I can remember, honestly.
I live in a fairly small town in northwestern Virginia, in the northern half of the Shenandoah Valley and near one of the entrance points to Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. It's still within hurling distance of Northern Virginia, so two or three days a week I slog into the sprawl to work at my office. The other two or three business days I work from home.
I guess sometimes I take for granted how beautiful it is where I live. I don't always remember to notice it, living right in the middle of town. My husband's parents live on several acres about 10 miles south of here, outside of town and right underneath the mountains. We spent the day there, along with my son, and my stepdaughter, who brought a friend along. After a cookout and lots of frisbee time for the guys, Doodlemaier took the kids down to the creek to build a campfire, where they made S'mores.
I mostly sat by and watched, augmenting my recipe collection from various magazines that have been piling up, when suddenly I was ready to keel over and nap. Wasn't really up for the campfire anyway; the smoke is overwhelming for me even when I'm not pregnant. But it really was campfire weather--as I slept and the sun went down, the air actually took on a chill.
The kids woke me up around 10. You lose track of time out there--I have no idea what time I conked out, but when a passel of tweens and teens come charging through the house demanding ice cream (the S'mores, it turned out, had not gone so well--the chocolate had turned out to be of the unsweetened baker's variety). After some time relaxing in the living room, with Doodlemaier curled up next to me, murmuring silly things to my thumping belly, Elder Son on and I got ready to go--hubby and his daughter were sleeping over. As we walked out to the car, an overwhelming feeling of peace came over me. I looked up in the sky and thousands of stars... THOUSANDS! were scattered across the sky in patterns that came back to my memory easily. I said something to Elder Son about it, pointing out the Big Dipper, and he said, "Wow, you're right, I've never seen it so clearly." Coming across the sky, I pointed out Cassiopeia, and Perseus. Elder Son asked about the bright star dead center overhead, and I said, "That's Vega. It's a star in the swan." "Cygnus?" he said. Yep. (except I'm wrong: it's actually in the lyre, right next to the swan. but not bad for dredging up information I hadn't looked at since Elder Son was about 9.)
Then I pointed out the swath of mist in the sky behind these summer constellations, explaining that it was the Milky Way, and not a cloud at all. That it's full of stars, stars so finely grained and clustered that they look like a thin wisp of atmosphere, stretched in a ribbon from one side of the sky to the other.
I've long said that one of the joys of parenthood is transmitting a sense of wonder at the world and the universe. We had one of those moments tonight, and it's so rare with a teenager that I'm pondering on it tonight. We'll have many of those moments with Bunky, after so many missed with Elder Son and Lil'D, my stepdaughter, because of custody stuff. But each of those moments that we share with our children is a gift, one that will carry them into adulthood, as they get in touch with their own sense of wonder and transmit it to their own children some day.
I live in a fairly small town in northwestern Virginia, in the northern half of the Shenandoah Valley and near one of the entrance points to Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. It's still within hurling distance of Northern Virginia, so two or three days a week I slog into the sprawl to work at my office. The other two or three business days I work from home.
I guess sometimes I take for granted how beautiful it is where I live. I don't always remember to notice it, living right in the middle of town. My husband's parents live on several acres about 10 miles south of here, outside of town and right underneath the mountains. We spent the day there, along with my son, and my stepdaughter, who brought a friend along. After a cookout and lots of frisbee time for the guys, Doodlemaier took the kids down to the creek to build a campfire, where they made S'mores.
I mostly sat by and watched, augmenting my recipe collection from various magazines that have been piling up, when suddenly I was ready to keel over and nap. Wasn't really up for the campfire anyway; the smoke is overwhelming for me even when I'm not pregnant. But it really was campfire weather--as I slept and the sun went down, the air actually took on a chill.
The kids woke me up around 10. You lose track of time out there--I have no idea what time I conked out, but when a passel of tweens and teens come charging through the house demanding ice cream (the S'mores, it turned out, had not gone so well--the chocolate had turned out to be of the unsweetened baker's variety). After some time relaxing in the living room, with Doodlemaier curled up next to me, murmuring silly things to my thumping belly, Elder Son on and I got ready to go--hubby and his daughter were sleeping over. As we walked out to the car, an overwhelming feeling of peace came over me. I looked up in the sky and thousands of stars... THOUSANDS! were scattered across the sky in patterns that came back to my memory easily. I said something to Elder Son about it, pointing out the Big Dipper, and he said, "Wow, you're right, I've never seen it so clearly." Coming across the sky, I pointed out Cassiopeia, and Perseus. Elder Son asked about the bright star dead center overhead, and I said, "That's Vega. It's a star in the swan." "Cygnus?" he said. Yep. (except I'm wrong: it's actually in the lyre, right next to the swan. but not bad for dredging up information I hadn't looked at since Elder Son was about 9.)
Then I pointed out the swath of mist in the sky behind these summer constellations, explaining that it was the Milky Way, and not a cloud at all. That it's full of stars, stars so finely grained and clustered that they look like a thin wisp of atmosphere, stretched in a ribbon from one side of the sky to the other.
I've long said that one of the joys of parenthood is transmitting a sense of wonder at the world and the universe. We had one of those moments tonight, and it's so rare with a teenager that I'm pondering on it tonight. We'll have many of those moments with Bunky, after so many missed with Elder Son and Lil'D, my stepdaughter, because of custody stuff. But each of those moments that we share with our children is a gift, one that will carry them into adulthood, as they get in touch with their own sense of wonder and transmit it to their own children some day.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Hyperactive in the Womb! And Teenager Successes!
Bunky has been so active today that I'm not entirely sure he's rested at all. We got up at 6 a.m. and he was happily obliging his father with palpable kicks... that have continued all day. Even now, it's like popcorn going off in my belly. I can't get over it--I really don't remember my first son being this active, but... 17 years is a long time to remember much of anything I didn't write down. (Part of the reason I blog as much as I do.)
But a weird thing happened at work today. One of the co-workers from the other side of the building came round the corner and gasped when she saw me. "You look so skinny!" she exclaimed. "Is there something you need to tell us?"
Some days I show, some days I don't. I am just heavy-set-but-big-boned enough that I still just look plump in most clothes, but anything cut for maternity makes me look more maternal.
I just feel like a freak show, though. The attention I get kills me. I'm not sure what I expected (ha!) but it's been very difficult to enjoy this pregnancy
But on a totally different note, Elder Son made his debut today on the radio, at the college station at the university where I'm working on my master's. He came off the air absolutely beaming, and filled with enthusiasm for the medium. Since I spent 10 years as a journalist and 4 as a club DJ, I'm completely squee about the idea of him following in my footsteps, but on radio--but even more so after seeing him so full of joy. We finally have almost everything together to enroll him in the new high school, and I'm finally starting to feel optimistic that things are going to work out just fine.
If I could just get all the bills caught up...
But a weird thing happened at work today. One of the co-workers from the other side of the building came round the corner and gasped when she saw me. "You look so skinny!" she exclaimed. "Is there something you need to tell us?"
Some days I show, some days I don't. I am just heavy-set-but-big-boned enough that I still just look plump in most clothes, but anything cut for maternity makes me look more maternal.
I just feel like a freak show, though. The attention I get kills me. I'm not sure what I expected (ha!) but it's been very difficult to enjoy this pregnancy
But on a totally different note, Elder Son made his debut today on the radio, at the college station at the university where I'm working on my master's. He came off the air absolutely beaming, and filled with enthusiasm for the medium. Since I spent 10 years as a journalist and 4 as a club DJ, I'm completely squee about the idea of him following in my footsteps, but on radio--but even more so after seeing him so full of joy. We finally have almost everything together to enroll him in the new high school, and I'm finally starting to feel optimistic that things are going to work out just fine.
If I could just get all the bills caught up...
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