November Prego Update

Here's 7 and 1/2 months. Camille's growing a lot and getting stronger. Her movements are less spastic and fluttery; definitely more coordinated and deliberate. You can feel hard bumps in my belly when she's pushing something out or moving around.

I'm feeling very good for the most part. Not overly tired, not really uncomfortable. Every few days or so, I'll have an uncomfortable day, though. As she takes up more room and punches my insides more, other parts of me don't want to work as well, so that creates some discomfort at times. Still, I can't complain! Doctor says everything is looking good. I can't believe she's due in 5 weeks now!

We're in the middle of a childbirth class that we find somewhat informative and mostly amusing. It's a bit syrup-y for our tastes and has about 4 hours of solid, usable content for the 12 that we're supposed to be there for, but I'm glad we're doing it. One of the cheezy videos told me I need to stay away from "street drugs" while I'm pregnant. Note to self..... And we're always laughing during the relaxation and breathing exercises. I've never been good at play-acting, and we can't help but make fun of ourselves. But it has been good at explaining what will happen and what I'll experience and how to handle it, so I'm feeling better about the labor process. As G.I. Joe says, "Knowing is half the battle." (Jake, was it you or I who took issue with this statement growing up? I forget now.)

Michael and I went shopping on Sunday for the basic items we'll need. We got almost everything, but are still waiting on a few items that either the store is out of at the moment or that we're not sure we need right away. We used the gift cards everyone gave us and still have more to use! Thank you, everyone, for your amazing generosity!! Know that we feel so blessed with such wonderful family and friends!! Of everything we got, my favorite has to be an uber soft little stuffed animal that Michael picked out for his baby girl. His little warrior princess.

Of Mice and Music

Usually when Michael and I get in my car to go somewhere and I've got a CD in, the conversation inevitably goes like this:

Michael: "Who's this?"
Me: "It's….(something more mellow than Alice In Chains, Metalica, Tool, etc.)
Michael: "Oh." Pause. "Can I change it?"

And he reaches for my Evanescence CD because I don't have anything harder (or the soundtrack that has Low Rider on it, for which he has a soft spot).

Even though he does have a good range of music tastes, he is quite fond of metal. When I married him, I considered him my metal-head husband. Not an unfair assessment, even considering that a month after we were married, Prince's Raspberry Beret came on the radio - and he sang along with every word. I was floored.

When Wyckoff stopped in town for a visit a little while ago he told us about a certain study involving music and mice. Just a cursory internet search will find that this has been done a number of times by different people, and mostly dealing with the correlation between music and education.

Researchers set up one group of mice who listen to classical music on a continual basis. Then they set up another group of mice who listen to heavy metal or hard rock on a continual basis. The mice in the classical music environment showed an unmistakeable improvement in their cognitive skills; basically they get along with eachother, they mate, they run the mazes faster and better than mice in other groups.

The mice in the heavy metal environment, however, became more aggressive and in a short period of time, ATE EACHOTHER.

Not a little bit creepy. Sometimes I wonder if I should be worried about my metal-head husband. But then I picture that raspberry beret, and I think, 'yes, be very afraid.'

The Great Pumpkin

Jake and I used to go out in the garage with Dad a couple days before Halloween to carve our pumpkin. Mom would bake the seeds. I loved it. So because I wanted to relive a portion of my childhood and favorite time of year, I decided to have a party to make other people do it, too! And they were more than happy to oblige.

So Sunday afternoon we hosted a pumpkin carving party. People brought over pumpkins and those little carving tools, and we spread out on the patio/deck area by our front door. We we had pumpkin-y desserts and trick-or-treat candy. We of course baked the seeds, watched a bit of Ghostbusters, and then It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

And for a while the whole scene even reverted to middle school dance days: all the girls on one side of the room (…or outside carving pumpkins) and all the boys on the other side of the room (…meaning inside playing Catan - Michael has created a few junkies). Good times!

The pumpkin in the middle of the pic above, the one that looks like it's melting into the floor, that was the only one carved by one of the guys. The itty-bitty one in the front middle has a face etched on it. And the ears on the happy one just to the left of it resulted in our only knife injury.

Guess which pumpkin is mine. The second from the left….in the back. Yep, not even carved. After all the 'have a party to carve a pumpkin,' I didn't feel like it. I chatted and separated seeds from guts while everyone else carved theirs. Ah, well! :o)