{Not} Living Vicariously

Baby goes Vegetarian

While I enjoy eating meat-free, I am not nor do I have any desire to be a vegetarian. We also do not allow for picky eaters in our family. My neices and nephews are quite adventurous and enjoy all sorts of very tasty foods from around the world. I hope our child will be the same. However, my first trimester had me nervous. I could not fathom the smell or taste of meat the entire first trimester and what fruits and veggies I was able to eat were extremely limited (causing it to be a completely NON balanced diet). We spent quite a bit of time explaining to Tadpole/Polliwog that this would not be tolerated for long and was definitely NOT acceptable behavior. S/he seems to have listened as once again I'm allowed to enjoy a more diverse diet. Still not as varied as I am used to eating (but that would be the heartburn speaking!) so there is hope for this child.

I have to say though, I spent a lot of time talking to my vegetarian and vegan friends trying to find things I could eat that first trimester and I look forward to continuing to try several of their suggestions.We joke a lot about how narrow Americans are in terms of the animals they will eat, it is also very true how narrow we are in terms of the plants we will eat. While I absolutely love quinoa and couscous and some of the more mainstream grains, I don't eat millet or amaranth or farrow. I should eat more bulgar and grits. I need to expand my own horizons in this area. Anyone have some good recipes for me to try?

Wednesday Words #6

"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish." -- J. R. R. Tolkien

(Not Our) Home Improvement Update 2: a Back Deck

One of my dreams is to have a bigger (and screened in) back deck. This will not be happening as soon as I had hoped however Aaron was asked by a friend of ours if he would like to help out last Saturday with a deck tear down and rebuild. He enthusiastically volunteered in order to learn a little something about how one goes about doing this sort of project. It helps that the friend is in construction and can actually teach as they work.

There is an interesting twist to the story though. While out there and hard at work, Aaron started to feel a little "off" so he went to go sit down for a few minutes and catch his breath. Next thing he knows, he is staring up at the sky with quite a few guys standing around him (thanks Geoff for taking care of his glasses) and no one quite sure what happened. Apparently at first they thought he was goofing off, until they realized he was lying on boards with nails sticking out of them - not exactly comfortable for a joke. They sat him down in a chair next and made him drink two bottles of water. After all that, he was completely fine and was able to both work some more that day and hang out at the ice cream/karaoke event that night.

Corey claims that Aaron actually turned green on him. I think I'm glad I didn't know about any of this until it was ALL OVER.

First Trimester Done

What a ride this has been! I have to say I was not a fan of the first trimester at all. Starting in puberty I developed motion sickness and learned to avoid several activities that would trigger those feelings. However, in my early 20s my brother and I took our Granny on a Walt Disney Cruise. My brother had been on cruises before, but this was the first one for me and Granny. She had a great time. I was sicker than sick and spent quite a bit of time "mad" at the ship because it wouldn't stop moving. Logical, I know. However that was my body's reaction to the motion. Some people find it soothing, many people (even those with motion sickness) don't have a problem on something that large. Me? I hated every moment of it. Well that describes the first trimester for me. I felt seasick the ENTIRE time.

What was really annoying, to me at least, was that none of the standard remedies seemed to do any good at all. Cinnamon, Ginger, and Peppermint were all wastes of time. I also tried bland foods and spicy foods. No matter what, there never seemed to be a good pattern. Some days I could stomach a baked potato just fine, other days I headed straight back to the bathroom.

And lest one think I'm just whining (well I am, but I'm going to anyway), even the highest prescription medicine the doctors were willing to give me as I was losing weight and they were worried about dehydration due to my vomiting did absolutely no good! I threw up just as much while on the medicine as I did while not taking it. My body did not handle the first trimester well at all!

Now, as I move into the second trimester, I seem to not be having my evening "morning" sickness. However the heartburn? the indigestion?? they have hit in FULL force. Poor Aaron. When it isn't one thing, it is another. Luckily he is so excited about the whole process nothing I do seems to spoil his mood.

Home Improvement Update 1: Dimmer Switch

So I recently discovered the blog of Thrifty Decor Chick and when she explained how easy it was to install a dimmer switch (why yes, I did read all the way through the blog from the beginning over the past few months) I decided I wanted the living room fan/light to be on a dimmer, immediately. Wonderful husband Aaron decided he could/would make this happen for me. What a comedy it turned out to be. She claims it is easy peasy and can be done quickly. I don't disagree . . . if you pay attention to what you are doing.

Our first mistake? Not reading the instructions on the packages very well. There are single pole and three way switches. I thought a three way switch meant low, medium, high (or low, high, off) like those lamps back in the day. I didn't want that so we bought a single pole switch. He installed it - didn't work. Because our light is controlled by two switches, we needed the three way switch. Oh! Back to the Toy Store (Lowe/Depot) he went. He came home with the correct type switch and installed it - still didn't work. I read the package which said "must be used with dimmable light bulbs" of which we did not have (second mistake). And again he went back to the Toy Store. He came home with some dimmable CFL bulbs (third mistake) and installed them - worked but was awfully bright even with the switch at the lowest, plus one was a bad bulb. He did not go back to the Toy Store that day, but did the next. After speaking with a knowledgable employee, he came home with a different brand of light bulbs, installed them, and we are very happy to have dimmable lights in the living room.

So yes, easy peasy, once you know what you are doing. And I look forward to our next home improvement project.

February 17th, 2013

is the day after my forty-first birthday and is the due date of our first child. Yes, there is a very good reason my blogging has been so sporadic lately. After just about coming to terms with the fact that we were not meant to have children (we have had two miscarriages), we unexpectedly did get pregnant and I have never been this sick in my life. The all day naseua has been interesting, the losing weight because I couldn't keep food down was depressing, and the being sick later in the day meant I have been extremely unproductive other than work. Luckily for work, I tend to wake up feeling fairly good and make it through an entire day before I poop out so it is only at home that chores and fun have suffered. However, I'm finishing up my first trimester and I'm determined that I will start to have some fun again! Here's to a productive second trimester . . . I have a nursery to plan.

Wednesday Words #5

Who doesn't know and love this Groucho Marx quote? "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

Wednesday Words #4

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." -- Jorge Luis Borges