Month Four was a honeymoon period for me. My constant fatigue disappeared, my appetite grew, and I had the energy of a body sans baby. My fifth month has put a damper on my energy. Fatigue has rolled back into my late mornings, and, with my growing appetite, my tummy has ballooned. I strain to tie my shoelaces or wash my feet in the shower, and if I'm active for too long my back begins to ache.
On a happy note, the fetus has started kicking regularly, especially when I sit at rest. It is a disconcerting and eerie feeling. The first time, I had a magazine propped on my tummy, and, while I read, the magazine would suddenly pop up. Sometimes, I catch a sharp, quick, bulging movement from the corner of my eye as my body feels a jolt on the side that the baby has kicked. Robby has also been so pleased that he can feel the presence of the baby too. I wonder if it gets motion sickness. I imagine it, floating around as if in a zero-gravity chamber, with its eyes shut tightly. Then I imagine it stretching its arms and legs (that's when I feel the kicking).
This pregnancy phenomenon is no stranger than science fiction, which has spawned a plethora of stories about beings growing inside of other beings. When I think about Aliens, I forget that this is a very human, very common occurrence.
Robby has been extremely busy in the last few weeks. He had a paper submission deadline on Friday, November 6th, for the ICA (International Communication Association) Conference. He is determined to go to its conference in Singapore next May, so he submitted five papers. He is eager to take me & our 3-month-old baby as well. We'll see about that!
Robby also attended the Presence Conference in Marina del Rey this past week. That meant a lot of entertaining of out-of-towners, drinking, karoake, networking, late nights, etc. I participated when I could, but left Robby to his own devices most evenings. This kept him away from Counterstrike. Plus, we had two swell Swiss guests, Bart & David, stay in our living room for a week. They explored Los Angeles, enjoyed large American breakfasts, ate a few hamburgers, checked out Annenberg's video games lab, and frequented a few hopping bars in Los Angeles. They appreciated out 75-degree weather over Switzerland's 3-degree weather. & they said that one would never be able to find American coffee anywhere in Switzerland, where everyone drinks espressos.
I have two large final papers due at the beginning of December, when the fall semester ends. I'm finding it difficult to be motivated enough to sit down & actually write them. Frankly, it has felt like pulling teeth. I've turned to the Huffington Post & Hulu to distract me. I haven't felt this amount of procrastination in a long time, and I'm ashamed that I can't be more productive. Oh, that's also why I'm writing his blog entry - to avoid writing these final papers.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
What's on our plate these days?
Hello, everyone!
October was a rough and tumble month, & it won't stop until the Christmas holiday.
Robby and I traveled up to San Francisco for my sister's baby shower during the first weekend of October. We compared bellies and traded pregnancy experiences. Robby and I made it to Bea & Eric's birthday party - bowling at Strikes! in Cupertino, a way-too-cool place for a not-too-cool city. A lot of over-stimulation, if you ask me.
Then we drove up to the Bay Area again a few weeks later for Robby's 5th year reunion at Stanford. That the first time I felt like a trophy wife. Throughout the opening social night, Robby dragged me around the Computer History Museum and announced that he got married and was having a baby. I was the living proof. He would point to my belly with a satisfied look on his face.
I got a chance to observe three fabulous teachers at Dorsey High ad reconnected with some old colleagues from 2000 when I was teaching there and getting my credential and masters. The campus is beautiful as always, and the kids are vibrant and energetic.
We visited a perinatologist and saw 3D images of our baby. That was a bit scary. It looked like a roughly sculpted figure from Rodin's Gate of Hell.
Robby's dad & stepmom came for a few days. Robby & his dad had a heated political and philosophical discussion/argument over Korean BBQ. & we took them to San Gabriel for $15/hour massages & a visit to my super-cool aunties.
Halloween was a blast. We spent the afternoon decorating our front porch with our neighbor Sandra's outdoor decorations. Robby threw on his Jesus costume & I dressed up as Juno (yeah, a lazy-man's costume). I kept a tally of the number of trick-or-treaters, and our total was 170!! Lots of princesses this year. My favorite costumes were the ones where the parents matched the kids. 
Robby gave kids over 10 a math problem, like 34 + 17. I was pretty disappointed that they were slow to calculate these double-digit numbers in their head. My niece is already adding double digits in her head and she's six! Originally, we wanted a quiet evening with a horror movie, but we ended up having 7 people over in our little apartment. We watched 28 Weeks Later (not bad) & the boys played knee hockey with a newspaper ball wrapped in masking tape. It was a fun evening.
On a sad note, my grandpa fell at home and fractured his hip, so my recent weeks have been full of visits to Orange County. For a 95 year old, he has improved dramatically since his partial hip replacement. I'm very proud of him. As much as he moans and complains, he has the will to survive this accident. He's still got a mighty set of lungs too. Hear him hell in his cantankerous way, and you wouldn't think he was in the hospital last week.
As for the bun in my oven, it's brewing nicely. I'm getting bigger much faster than I expected. Robby felt the baby kick for the first time last night. At first, he thought that the movement was an involuntary tightening of a stomach muscle, but I had to remind him that I haven't used my stomach muscles in months! Nope, that was the baby moving around. I feel it most when I'm sitting in a reclining position.
I hope you all had an eventful and happy October. Gearing up for Thanksgiving yet?
October was a rough and tumble month, & it won't stop until the Christmas holiday.
Robby and I traveled up to San Francisco for my sister's baby shower during the first weekend of October. We compared bellies and traded pregnancy experiences. Robby and I made it to Bea & Eric's birthday party - bowling at Strikes! in Cupertino, a way-too-cool place for a not-too-cool city. A lot of over-stimulation, if you ask me.
Then we drove up to the Bay Area again a few weeks later for Robby's 5th year reunion at Stanford. That the first time I felt like a trophy wife. Throughout the opening social night, Robby dragged me around the Computer History Museum and announced that he got married and was having a baby. I was the living proof. He would point to my belly with a satisfied look on his face.
I got a chance to observe three fabulous teachers at Dorsey High ad reconnected with some old colleagues from 2000 when I was teaching there and getting my credential and masters. The campus is beautiful as always, and the kids are vibrant and energetic.
We visited a perinatologist and saw 3D images of our baby. That was a bit scary. It looked like a roughly sculpted figure from Rodin's Gate of Hell.
Robby's dad & stepmom came for a few days. Robby & his dad had a heated political and philosophical discussion/argument over Korean BBQ. & we took them to San Gabriel for $15/hour massages & a visit to my super-cool aunties.
Halloween was a blast. We spent the afternoon decorating our front porch with our neighbor Sandra's outdoor decorations. Robby threw on his Jesus costume & I dressed up as Juno (yeah, a lazy-man's costume). I kept a tally of the number of trick-or-treaters, and our total was 170!! Lots of princesses this year. My favorite costumes were the ones where the parents matched the kids. 
Robby gave kids over 10 a math problem, like 34 + 17. I was pretty disappointed that they were slow to calculate these double-digit numbers in their head. My niece is already adding double digits in her head and she's six! Originally, we wanted a quiet evening with a horror movie, but we ended up having 7 people over in our little apartment. We watched 28 Weeks Later (not bad) & the boys played knee hockey with a newspaper ball wrapped in masking tape. It was a fun evening.
On a sad note, my grandpa fell at home and fractured his hip, so my recent weeks have been full of visits to Orange County. For a 95 year old, he has improved dramatically since his partial hip replacement. I'm very proud of him. As much as he moans and complains, he has the will to survive this accident. He's still got a mighty set of lungs too. Hear him hell in his cantankerous way, and you wouldn't think he was in the hospital last week.
As for the bun in my oven, it's brewing nicely. I'm getting bigger much faster than I expected. Robby felt the baby kick for the first time last night. At first, he thought that the movement was an involuntary tightening of a stomach muscle, but I had to remind him that I haven't used my stomach muscles in months! Nope, that was the baby moving around. I feel it most when I'm sitting in a reclining position.
I hope you all had an eventful and happy October. Gearing up for Thanksgiving yet?
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