Cat in the Hat

Big ups to Sandeep, our cat, for being such a willing fit model. He's modeling a hat I just finished for el Nino.

Now is this not the face of a proud Papa?

Eat Your Wheaties

Before I announced el Niño was on the way I wrote a post about weird dreams (linked here). Now that I’m sooooo much wiser as a 16week pregnancy veteran I know that progesterone is the culprit to my wildly vivid dreams. Last night's, was…well.... doubly weird.

I’m sitting on the grass with a friend and she says, let me see your chest and she lifts up my shirt and I have stalks of wheat growing from my nipples. We begin to pull them out and she says, “oh ya, I had that too, I just wanted to check.”

Um okay, does this mean I’ll be a bountiful lactate-ress, that I'm the personification of the harvest land?

Bring on the snails & puppy dog tails because....

This here baby is a boy!

Now, Sir Mallet just has pick one of the two names we've narrowed it down to. I'm ready to call this kid by name, but for now he'll be el Niño.

No Honeymoon

Question: If this is what I look like at 14 weeks 4 days, how big will I look at 40 weeks?

Statement: The second trimester is commonly called the honeymoon period of pregnancy.

Realization: The above statement does not apply to me.

Explanation: The 2nd trimester has brought with it aches & pains from stretching body parts, awkward walking, crankiness and an anti-nesting, no-cooking instinct .

By comparison the first trimester was great for me. I had no morning sickness, wasn't all that tired and food tasted really good which moved me to do all sorts of cooking. Now when I present dinner choices to dear Alex, it goes something like this: "What do you want for dinner, eggs or macaroni and cheese out of a box?" To which Alex replies, "How about some protein with that macaroni and cheese?" "Okay, how about a side of bacon?"

Tacky Pants

Remembering this little sidebar from this week's New Yorker, has brought on random outbursts of the giggles.

From the Boston Globe:

Because of a reporting error, Dr. Arleigh Dygert Richardson III, former teacher at Lawrence Academy in Groton, was described in his obituary yesterday as favoring tacky pants with tweed jackets and Oxford shirts. Dr. Richardson favored khaki pants.

Rights-Managed Me

My images managed by Age Fotostock have finally been uploaded to their site. There are 10 of them, each very carefully code-worded for super-duper exposure and saleability. Have a look if you're so inclined.

Bold Browned Susan
Zen Rock Garden
Mt. Rainier
Seattle
Tombs
Alex on the diving board
Chloe Swinging
Dreamy Alex
Botanical Claire
Worn Tools

A Cat Lady's Transition to Kid Lady

Sandeep and his Mom, by Steph Dav

I’m far from really comprehending what's going to happen when MiniMallet comes into the scene, but I think I'm starting to get closer. Recently I’ve been introduced to some of the realities of parenthood and I'm totally freaked out.

My photog friend Stefanie came across her feeding and diapering record for her daughter Madison and happily shared it with me. I was not prepared for what I saw, which looked something like this:

12:00am feeding
1:40am feeding, poop and pee
3:00am feeding
4:50am feeding, poop and pee
6:20am feeding, pee
8:00am feeding
10:00am feeding poop and pee
12:00pm
2:00pm feeding pee
4:20pm feeding poop and pee
6:50pm feeding
8:45pm feeding, pee
10:30pm feeding, poop and pee
(start at the top again, different day, same routine)

Sure, I know there’s a lot time spent feeding and diapering but I had never actually seen hard data proving the frequency of this scenario. I'm starting to understand why so many people are telling me to enjoy sleep now, while I can.

He Speaketh The Truth

Ipod + Donuts= Bad

Two things I thought I loved have fallen from grace, namely donuts and ipods.

Donuts
My craving and belief that I would like to eat donuts has ceased. Dear Alex brought me some and when I took one look at the grease stains on the bag holding them I knew this was going to be a short lived pregnancy craving. Donuts are the junkiest of junk food, they’re toxically sweet and TransFattyAcid greasy. Yuck. Three cheers to Alex for curing me.

Ipods
My 2nd Ipod in 3 years is dead. The first, the 30 gig sort, succumb to Alex’s Gatorade. The second, the 40 gig variety, and most recently deceased went haywire yesterday for no reason (think clicking and the file folder with exclamation icon). The warranty is expired and so I’m throwing in the Ipod towel and going for a cheaper, not so chic option.

MeHim, An Introduction

Well, it's officially official--Alex and I are having a little human!

There’s not much to report other than the above ultrasound images and that I’ve busted out of all my jeans.

Seriously, this seems like it's been way too easy--no nausea, no aching chest, etc. My only real complaints are the nightly sweats (the 'soaking-2-towels-and-then-the-sheets' sort of sweats) and hunger (the 'I’m-up-at-3:00am-to-eat-another-banana' sort of hunger).

Speaking of hunger, I have had some very, at least for me, unusual cravings. For instance, I used to loathe blueberries—they were just too sweet. Now I can't get enough. Salsa and marinara sauce have become worthy of straight from the jar, cold from the fridge kind of eating. The next . . . I'm embarrassed to say so I’ll let the photo do the talking.



I know it’s snobby and ridiculous but I always considered the taste-return on calorie- investment a waste. I’m also embarrassed because I just don’t eat low quality junk like this. My, how things change.

I want the sort that you see here, but I can't find them here and I can’t get them on mail order (yes, I did a thorough investigation) so donut holes will have to suffice.

Yesterday I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn't even bring myself to say the name of what I wanted. I just pointed and said "I'll have 2 white and 2 brown please,"

So back to the point, which is not food or my snobby perceptions of it, rather it's Mini Mallet, due to enter the scene on August 14!

City Bench

People Rainbow

little man 2

Website Debut (insert drumroll)

My near and dear friend, and fellow photographer, Stefanie Kimball has just released her photography business website. She does amazing maternity and childrens' portraiture so if you're preggers or once was, you should have her work her wonders on you and your kinfolk.

www.stefanielynnphotography.com

P.S. Pass the it on!

Smoke Break

The Cutest, Eva

This is Arjunan Chatani Easwarachandran (aka the cutest little man eva). Brought to you by our smart, gorgeous, and-all-that-other-good-stuff, friends Kiran and Kohi.

Best Photographs of 2005

Big ups to my oldest friend Nancy for pointing me to this amazing collection of the year's best photos. My favorite is the Buddhist monks walking across the waterfall.

Check them out here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10467269

Lanterns

Kittens and Kigali

I've always had vivid dreams. Lately, things are becoming more so.

This week's REM

I’m ordering Mexican hot chocolate from a peasant woman. She pours milk into a jar she has on a shelf and something inside the jar starts moving. I asked her what it is. She informs me that this is the way authentic Mexican hot chocolate is made, with a kitten in a jar. You simply add chocolate and milk and let the kitten get a mixing.

Being the cat lady I protested and demanded the kitten be let out of the jar. The woman told me to “relax, it's only in there 8 hours a day.”

I'm in Kigali at a UN conference then something goes very wrong and I'm running through the jungle and across coffee plantations to escape the Hutus who are trying to get me and some Tutsi guy I met at the conference.

The only green seen