Weekend Update

• went to see "Fame" at WPC on Friday evening - much fun had by the very large cast, some very excellent singers (particularly among the 'shy' students). Both fun and terrifying to be back in a high school. We now await Josh's report on whether his students are now aware that I am preggers.
• Italian Market Saturday afternoon, where there were no ducks for Bittman's cassoulet. All in good time. We did pick up fresh tortillas at the tortilleria and about $50 worth of tea and spices from the spice shop. The Spice Lady as we walked in was educating her male friend on where to put the awl if you really want to damage someone's tires..."right on the Firestone!" When we only had $27 in cash she said "just give it to me - it's for the baby." We protested. "Don't talk back." We shut our traps, thanked her, and wandered on home against the wind.
• Josh made chili powder and I made chili. He made cornbread. A good time was had by all. 
• Kima is pretty gimpy these days after naps. Time for a check-up (and some more Trader Joe's Doggie Glucosamine?).
• Sunday; more futzing on the internet and finishing of paper about Kongwa for which data was collected three years ago. Hit send to my colleagues for final review. 
• Vacuuming; epic walk with Kima (if only because she was able to chase the first squirrel of the new year); 'prepping' her new bed with a pile of Norton Anthologies as it was much too poofy for her to handle at first (will post photos later). 
• Adding diced candied ginger to brownies is not a bad idea!
• Bug has been awfully wiggly. Also Braxton-Hicksy. 
• Next weekend - dinner party!

Observations

1. Wow! I am now an official PhD student.

2. Sitting in one's advisor's office with computer but no internet access for an entire afternoon is VERY productive.

3. Trains in Switzerland can be very picturesque in the winter.

4. Things to think about, "all in good time".

Now off to the train station to buy victuals. Possibly a nap later.

"Guest Blogging"

I offered to be interviewed by a sweet bicycle blog, Girls and Bikes, about cycling while pregnant - and here's the piece. Special thanks to Simply Bike for facilitating.

Halfway there!

20 weeks down, 20 to go!

So in the first half of pregnancy:
- no nausea (yay!)
- lots of saliva (!) and thirst in the 1st trimester
- a little bit tired somedays
- enjoying biking to the train stations, to work, and to my appointments
- a few little blurps and blops around week 15-16, now sometimes more solid blurps
- coolest ultrasound ever where I saw the baby moving its mouth (the tech confirmed that it was 'practicing eating')
- along with awesome 3D picture of its little hand (in previous post)
- good hang out times with Jenny, Kira, Lisa, Edith, Sean and Marin
- who knew maternity pants were so comfy?
- Bug is now about 9oz; am a little weirded out that it will gain another 6 or more pounds in the next 20 weeks! But all looks good on the ultrasound and other tests, so we are hoping for a nice healthy baby.
- lots of great support at work - although right before I told my boss, he declared at a staff meeting that no one on the team was going to get to go to any more weddings, or have friends, or get married themselves, and certainly no babies. Sorry boss!
- tons of love and support from Josh - including pushing me to eat my veggies and picking up the dog poo.

And just to say again, that it is WILD that there is a tiny being inside of me. Who are you, little person?

In the next 20 weeks - more prenatal yoga! A trip to Geneva! Babymoon travel to NYC and an undetermined warm location! Even, more, nesting!

(so far nesting has included a lot of measuring of rooms and furniture with a tape measure and inputting everything into Adobe Illustrator, to see if we can cram nursery stuff into Josh's office, and Josh's office into the guest room. It's also manifested as a strong desire not to go to movie theaters in Philadelphia that have consistently been reviewed as sticky, dirty, and full of people talking on their cellphones through the whole movie).

New cool watch

Here's my new cool watch for the research study! I have to wear it for a week straight (including in the shower), and then tell it when I'm going to sleep (and waking up). It tracks activity and sleep patterns.

The dog is walked, and it's time for lunch - then budgeting for Mali!

Dreaming

Last night I dreamt that Josh and I were going to get our 19-week ultrasound, to find out the sex of the baby. But we were in Bamako at the regional hospital, where I had been before, and there were a number of people with us - both sets of future grandparents, Josh's department chair, one of my co-consultants from the Tanzania trip, and maybe 2-3 others (college friends? work friends?). I told them to wait outside under the mango tree since really, it would be too crowded in the exam room and wasn't this really a nice private moment for Josh and I anyway?

We were running late; but checked in at the desk for the ultrasound (which was just like Pennsy's check-in desk, but dustier and with more ugly curtains).

And it was a girl!

hullo there!

(stay tuned for more real life news!)

Real Changes

1. None of my pants fit anymore, except my very stretchy made-for-rock-climbing one-size-too-big Prana jeans.
2. Not entirely comfortable riding my road bike, so it has been retired to the basement while the old upright mixte Peugeot is getting a tune-up in preparation for winter use around Philly.
3. Flutters? Gas? Muscle twitches? Fetal movement? unclear.
4. Awaiting arrival of first attempt at maternity clothes. Not sure what I will wear to the big conference all this week, besides my comfy maternity tights and dresses.

In other news. need to cut about 15 slides from a last-minute presentation I get to give in front of a variety of VIP Tanzania government types on Wednesday. Politically sensitive issue. But should be doable.

And Josh is chaperoning his first high school dance...I will let him blog about this experience later on.