alternatives to food

Every day, all day long, I find myself faced with alternatives. Salt and Vinegar or Cheddar Sour Cream? Funyuns or Ruffles? Pancakes or waffles? Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper? Italian or Chinese?

Yes, of course, I realize that all of these decisions are based on food. Do you really think a 4 1/2 months pregnant woman thinks about anything else? Let me pop that bubble of disillusion you are living in. Yes, I'm ecstatic that I'm having a baby. Yes, I think about the unborn child constantly. Yes, I can't wait to hold that child in my arms for the first time. But the driving force behind every thought of every day is - What should I eat? This question is followed closely by - How long will it take for said food to get into my greedy little hands?

That's it. Quite simple. I'm sure every pregnant women in the world would agree with me. Questions of food are not to be taken lightly. The ones who are no longer pregnant and are caring for their children instead have no remembrance of what I'm talking about. Instead, childbirth has erased the memories of the clawing, gnawing desire for powdered donuts that is a constant part of their lives. It has been replaced with chubby, squishable, delicious thighs and baby cheeks. They're right up there with Funyuns, I'm sure.

But over the last few days a new alternative has been filling my mind. The hunger is still there but now it's joined with a new thought - Boy or Girl?

I find out next week the sex of our baby. I am using every ounce of willpower I possess NOT to obsess constantly about what it will be. Or to get my hopes up for the choice I would prefer. I know every woman says she will be happy regardless of the outcome but deep down, it the way-back secret places, they hope for something specific. The child they've dreamed of having since they were six, playing house with their Barbies and their brother's action figures.

Those who know me best know what I'm hoping for. I won't write it here though. Heaven forbid, years from now, my child reads this post and thinks for a second I didn't want them. Because that would be the biggest lie in the world. Right up there with "skinny jeans look good on everyone."

gag me with a spork

A new and exciting side effect of pregnancy has reared it's ugly head. A super sensitive gag reflex. And don't try to tell me it's not that bad of a symptom. Because it is! It's horrible! I've never had problems with it before but now the littlest thing can make me lose my lunch. And dinner.

I had escaped the usual side effect of morning sickness - vomiting- during the first trimester and had just been dealing with the nausea. Then comes the second trimester. And I'm throwing up at the drop of a hat. Well, maybe not the drop of a hat but certainly even the thought of vomiting. I have to be very careful about how I brush my teeth, how I swallow pills and even sneezing is enough to set it off.

I choked on a nausea pill the other night. How apropos. It didn't stay down long enough to help. I really hope this isn't going to be the norm for this trimester.

rebooted

Yesterday was what I like to call a "throw away day." I had all of my work done by 10:30am, it was 76 degrees in the office because the A/C wasn't working and the rest of the afternoon loomed like an avalanche waiting to smother me.

I texted Jason that I was bored. Oh so bored. Slash my wrists bored. He felt the same. So we conspired to mutiny and ditch work early. Decided that a cool, dark theater was a much better place to be than work. So we played hooky and went to a movie.

We chose X-Men Origins: Wolverine because we already have our tickets for Star Trek on Saturday and we both love a good comic book movie. So we sat through the previews with a dozen other work-ditchers and anxiously awaited the start of the movie when something weird happened. The movie started - but not quite how I expected it to be. It's was space. With a starship. In space. With aliens. And Star Trek logos.

What the hell! Really? Are they really going to show us Star Trek? A DAY EARLY? It hasn't even officially been released yet! Frackin' awesome!

But as soon as some of the other patrons figured out what was going on, they were up like jack in the boxes. Half a dozen, all at once, rushed out of the theater. My heart sank. I wanted to scream, Shut up and sit back down! Don't ruin this good thing. But I didn't. I really couldn't blame them since it wasn't the movie we had paid to see. Star Trek was stopped, the previews ran again, and finally Wolverine was on screen.

At the end I was pissed. The comic nerds should have just shut up and let the Trekkies win. The movie wasn't worth the victory.

random shout-outs from another state

My brother emailed me this morning to let me know Jason and I were brought up in a couple of random conversations he had with my 4 year old nephew, Carter, over the weekend.

While trying to get Carter to put his shoes on, Chad told him to hurry up because a lot of his friends would be at the picnic they were going to. He replied by asking if Jason and I would be there.

Then last night while taking his bath, Carter was playing with some of those awesome cut out toys you stick to the wall of the shower. These ones happened to be pirate themed. The following exchange took place:

Chad: Carter, what are you looking for?
Carter: My Jamie and Jason pirates. Oh, here they are.
Chad: Jamie has a nice beard.
Carter: I know, it's kooky.

More than I love the wild randomness of these two conversations, I love the fact that he remembers us.

I moved to Utah from Arizona when Carter was just 5 months old. I was there at the hospital when he was born, crying my eyes out while staring into the nursery but then I moved and the inevitable happened. He was little and he didn't remember me. For almost three years after he was born, he would have to be reminded of who I was every time I saw him and be told by his parents that, no, I wasn't going to kidnap him and that I wasn't Stranger Danger. It broke my heart every time.

Now he's naming pirates after me?!?! I couldn't feel more loved.