35 weeks and counting...

Sorry I've been too bored to blog. The novelty of being a walking biology project is wearing thin. I've ramped up my efforts to stay engaged with the world at large these last couple of weeks. I've learned to purl in addition to the normal knit stitch, so I've started knitting a scarf in stockinette stitch with a garter stitch border to keep it from rolling up around the edges. If this is greek to you, ignore it. It's boring knitter talk and to think that I was a non-knitter 2 or 3 months ago.

In other useless skills, I've learned all 53/54 African country names and locations. The number fluctuates according to who consider which islands as countries and Western Sahara, the country next to Morocco, is disputed as being a country. By whom, I don't know, but it's usually listed as being anywhere from 52 to 54 countries.

I'd learned them before as a child, but then the country names changed. And I learned it again freshmen year at Howard as part of induction processes for our freshmen year mini-sorority and again the names changed. Zaire no longer exists - it's the Democratic Republic of Congo(Kinshasa), as opposed to the plain ol' Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). Rhodesia is really old school - hasn't existed in awhile. The islands considered countries are generally Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius and Cape Verde.

I've now undertaken the US States, since I've rocked Africa so well and the only states that throw me are all the teeny NE ones. I've started on Europe, but I've got to admit that I lose interest when I get too deep into the Eastern European former USSR stuff. There are SO many small countries that it's just overwhelming a little bit. I'm good with the nice big ones, but there are so many small ones that don't make the news often. Of course, I know all the countries whose food I like - anything close to Greece or Turkey is yummy! The best part of LA cuisine to me is the Turkish/Greek/Armenian stuff. What they do with chicken and garlic sauce is amazing! Not a big fan of Mexican yet, although I've had some truckstand tacos that make you want to smack your mama.

I'm reading all the child-rearing baby books again now that it's getting closer. I find them mostly boring after about 20 minutes, but there's good info in them. I'm also packing my hospital bag - well, collecting stuff in a corner of the nursery. Making wall art stuff for the baby's room. Found some baby pictures of me (not too many exist, but luckily these 3 from a professional photog have come in handy) to play with in Photoshop. Here's some of my handiwork:

got changed to this:

and this:

from this:

and this:

gave me this:

Bottom line is I'm trying to be useful in a very un-useful state. I've had at least one day a week for the last week where something random made me want to cry. Today I looked up something in the yellow pages for Burbank and got all misty realizing that we don't live there anymore. Pictures of peoples' kids and other things just make me all borderline emotional. I say borderline because I have some type of emotional crossing guard who observes dispassionately and stops the teary traffic from making its way through, but I at least see it across the intersection, threatening to run as soon as the light turns green. My great aunt has a convention and can't come to my baby shower, and this nearly sent me into depression yesterday. All my crazy out of town friends and sister were trying to come which I think is overkill and not that necessary didn't upset me, but my in-town great aunt and her best friend's absence made me all sad.

I bore myself because I'm starting to get complain-y. I don't like that. I don't complain for long. If something bugs me, I change it. If it's unchangeable and necessary I accept it. I think the 3rd trimester is a serious test of patience. I've adjusted to a lot of things, but now that I'm gaining about a pound a week, things change too quickly to adjust. When I think I've learned how to sleep comfortably, the baby learns a new trick. When I think that I've escaped stretch marks or waddling, it creeps up on me. I think the low quality of sleep I'm getting is also making me crotchety, and I can't really unload on anyone because I'm bored with the words coming out of my mouth. Same old tune again? My back hurts, my stomach hurts, hemorrhoids aren't your friend, I can't eat much, I can't breathe, yaddah yaddah yaddah. It's so unoriginal. Every mother has gone through this, so it' not some unique experience.

But I want my cake and to eat it too. I want the baby to stay in - the longer the better. It gives me time to finish his room once I'm off of bedrest, it is also easier to care for him on the inside that in the world, so I'm not rushing him by any means. I still get my last chance to have a dinner out with Mark, I get a chance to see a movie or two before he's born, so I definitely want this to last to term.

Yet, I'm getting a little tired of feeling CONTINUOUSLY like I'm a balloon waiting to pop. It used to last a day or two maximum, but now that he's growing at leaps and bounds, I've been stretched feeling for at least 4 or 5 days in a row, with no signs of slow-down or relief! Maybe the weekend will be better.

Did I tell you that my inlaws have a webcam and are getting jiggy with technology? My MIL sent me some GREAT pictures of Mark as a baby. That made my day - trying to figure out what our kid is going to look like. My sister also bought a webcam, but we haven't had time to try it out yet. I swear I look forward to the most mundane stuff now...