accosted

Today at the girls' school, some random boy jumps in front of me, rubs my belly (I hate that word), and then proceeds to embrace me for several seconds. Fully embrace. Strange, little boy cheek to baby bump. Fingers splayed against my sides, gently rubbing to and fro. He finally finishes, but before he pulls away, he gazes up at me from my mid-section. "You finished?" He gives me a final squeeze and skips away. How weird is that? He's lucky that he had the benefit of surprise, otherwise I would have had my knee in his little chest, forcing him away.

boy dog

This is my mother and her youngest son, a min-pin named Dutch. Yes, he is wearing a hoodie. Yes, that glow in my mother's eye is a loving, maternal one. My father sent this to myself and my brother yesterday evening. I guess they wanted us to know we'd been replaced.

buggin' me

You are making me irritated. In a number of different ways. No, it's nothing new, but sometimes I just want to hit you in the head with a pot.

12-ish weeks

Yup. That's right. I'm just about finished. Hard to believe but true. I haven't gotten to the point where I'm done with this whole preggers thing, although sleeping at night is currently no picnic. My average number of trips to pee between midnight and 5 am is currently 4. Just so you know...

goodnight

For me endings are always difficult. The idea of letting go causes me to struggle to hold on even tighter, grasping to prolong the moment. An impossibility, I know. But I can't seem to help myself. I am unable to stop the tumult of images and deep-seated fears from rushing in and taking me in a head lock. I worry. About the pain being felt. The fears that must be present. The inevitable end the must and will come. The loss that those remaining will be left to contend with. I fight to remain rational. Act like a grown up. And yet still it trickles out. Settling between my shoulders. I wrestle it back again and trick myself into believing that it's not really forever. It's just for awhile. Not really a goodbye, but just a goodnight.

vomit burps

I have entered the heartburn phase of my pregnancy and have spent almost the entire morning and afternoon burp/vomiting into my mouth. Oatmeal and water shouldn't cause this to happen, right? Also note that I've consumed about 47 tums in an effort to combat my problem. Not working out so well.

whew!

I am so relieved!

I'm glad this election season is almost over. I'm hoping that Americans voted with their minds and not their phobias. I know that in my ultra-conservative neighborhood, McCain will be king. But maybe, just maybe the rest of the country voted for change.

stuff that freaked me out today

• Number of women I saw out and about that had facial hair...Not just a few random wiry sprouts either. I'm talking, full-blown, shave-every-day-or-get-5-o'clock-shadow BEARDS.
• Ex-gang member dude that drew my blood for my glucose test...He had 520 tattooed on more than one finger and lots of Old English writing scrawled on his neck. I'll admit though, he did a good job.
• Getting on the scale at the OB/GYN's after my cruise...whatever, skinny people.
• My "new" boss having some else re-do my work for no good reason, but not telling me there is/was a problem.
• Sales clerk at the motherhood store where I had to go to buy some preggers pants...Why do strangers always give me uncomfortably intimate details?
• Mother of extra-loud toddler at Sonora Lab place that had shaved off her eyebrows and then sharpie-ed some back on with a seriously unsteady hand.
• Picking a few items up at the "yucky Fry's"...Why does it smell like weird, old meat and who are all those people meandering aimlessly around the entrance?

i love these guys

I have been wearing these guys non stop for the last month. Granted they are a little bit hideous, but they are super comfy and I'm pregnant so I don't care how ridiculous I look. I'm thinking of buying them in a rainbow of colors....

recently spotted

There is a sliver SUV driving around my neighborhood that proudly sports this flag on its front bumper. I've seen her around many times, and I always wonder if she truly espouses those beliefs or if it's just an "I'm-from-the-South" type o' thing. This morning, I happen to be leaving the school parking lot behind her and spotted another interesting clue about the driver. A window cling that stated, "keep the Whitehouse a White House".

Wow.

harris family jamboree 2008

At the end of the day at Castaway Cay Chillin' on the beach in the Bahamas Pretty sure we're headed to eat She thinks she's cool They're a little excited

winner, winner, chicken dinner

I have to say I wasn't terribly impressed with Gov. Palin's VP Debate debut this evening. She didn't win me over with her folksiness nor her clever quips. I was entertained by her struggle with her false eyelashes though (search Palin and eyelash trouble). She struck me as overly scripted and disingenuous. I also take issue with the number of times she used the word "Maverick".

Despite my own pet peeves, I will admit that Mrs. Palin did not make any huge gaffes as I had hoped she would. I was not so silently rooting for some incidents a la Katie Couric's interview.

Alas, I was disappointed.

deadline

Monday, October 6th is the deadline to register to vote in AZ. If you haven't done, do it! https://servicearizona.com/webapp/evoter/

seriously

This excerpt is from an article Michael Seitzman wrote on Sept. 11th for huffingtonpost.com. It spoke to me on so many levels. Thought I'd share.

Stop voting for people you want to have a beer with. Stop voting for folksy. Stop voting for people who remind you of your neighbor. Stop voting for the ideologically intransigent, the staggeringly ignorant, and the blazingly incompetent. Vote for someone smarter than you. Vote for someone who inspires you. Vote for someone who has not only traveled the world but who has also shown a deep understanding and compassion for it. The stakes are real and they're terrifyingly high. This election matters. It matters. It really matters. Let me say that one more time. This. Really. Matters.

sugar n spice

We are having our third girl. I'm excited and more than a little relieved. I'm not sure I was prepared for a boy and all the rugged items that go with it. After some bitterness, Taylor has reconciled herself with the fact that she won't have a little brother like she wanted. Dylan was thrilled to see the lack of a dangling participle on the sonogram screen. Everyone keeps worrying about Mitchell and his need for male offspring to carry on his lineage, but he seemed unfazed by the lack of penis.

rant

After I returned home from picking up the girls, my neighbor called ... the church-y one. Of course she needed a favor. Of course she wanted me to hop BACK in my car and run and get her kids from school then keep them til she got home. This isn't the surprising/frustrating part. Wait for it. Here it comes.... Her husband was driving home in the car ahead of mine as I headed home. We pulled into our driveways almost simultaneously. Unloading our belongings in sync, mine being girls and school paraphernalia. His being bags or something. We exchanged pleasantries, and I went inside. Two minutes later his wife is calling me to pick up and keep their kids. WTF? How did I become #1 on the Who-to-Call-When-I-Can't-Pick-Up-My-Kids List? Ahead of the father of said children. I was more than happy to be able to inform her that her husband was currently at home. Available to pick up their kids and all she needed to do was give him a ring.

butt problems

Last April, I mysteriously injured my coccyx while riding on one of the rickety-ass rides featured at the Pima County Fair. Since then, I have experienced varying degrees of butt pain while sitting. Being preggo has only exacerbated the problem which has led me to finally complain to my ob/gyn about the situation. She in turn referred me to a physical therapist. WEIRD. First of all, the questionaire she sent me contained entirely too many questions about urine seepage and alleged difficulties with pooping. Then there was the rather disturbing initial phone conversation which involved the words "rectal" and "manipulation". Aside from having to answer uncomfortable questions about the number of times per week I am or am not pooping and whether or not I pee myself when I cough or sneeze, the whole thing went off fairly well. Thankfully I survived my first session sans any invasive internal probing.

cycle 11

Yea for the CDub! ANTM is back. Last Wednesday's season premiere was pretty amazing. Tyra was as ridiculous as ever, which I L-O-V-E-D. This year's opening had a futuristic theme, which featured some extremely low-budget special effects. Not very futuristic. But Tyra tried her best to make up for it by attempting to act like a robot, or "Tyra-Bot". It was very much a train wreck, but like most horrible scenes, I could not bring myself to look away.

pool mouse

I scooped this unlucky little sucker out of our pool Tuesday. Poor little guy. I'm hoping he was accidentally dropped after expiring by a clumsy bird of prey flying over our backyard.

Is it weird that I was compelled to record his image photographically?